There's a wideness in God's mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea; There's a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.
* J. A. Davies, Seven Words of Love, 144.
2 Norman MacLeod, D.D., ii. 373.
' J. H. Jowett, in The British Congregationalist, Jan. 28, 1909.
EPHESIANS HI. 17-19 181
There is no place where earth's sorrows Are more felt than up in heaven;
There is no place where earth's failings Have such kindly judgment given. . . .
For the love of God is broader Than the measures of man's mind;
And the Heart of the Eternal Is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more simple, We should take Him at His word ;
And our lives would be all sunshine In the sweetness of our Lord.^
(2) The Length. — To what length will the love of Christ go ? There is many a runner who is good for a hundred yards, but who fails at the mile. There is many a soldier who is good at a battle, but who fails at the campaign. There is many an oarsman who is fine at a spurt, but faints at the long spin. " Ye did run well ; what did hinder you ? " They failed at the length. To what length can we go in our loving ? When we begin to help a man, how far can we go with him ? If we take up a bit of hard social service what is our staying power ? It is well to ask questions like these before we turn to the Lord. For here is the way in which " the length " is described in the Word of God : " Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." " Having begun a good work in you, he will perfect it." Whenever the love of the Lord Jesus begins a ministry He never lays it down until He can say " It is finished."
^ "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him ? — I say not unto thee. Until seven times ; but, Until seventy times seven." — So said the Christ, multiplying perfection into itself twice — two sevens and a ten — in order to express the idea of boundlessness. And the law that He laid down for His servant is the law that binds Himself. What is the length of the love of Christ ? Here is one measure of it, — howsoever long drawn out my sin may be, this is longer ; and the white line of His love runs out into infinity, far beyond the point where the black line of my sin stops.^
^ F. W. Faber. » A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart, 46.
i82 THE LOVE OF CHRIST
^ The strength of affection is a proof not of the worthiness of the object, but of the largeness of the soul which loves. Love descends, not ascends. The might of a river depends not on the quality of the soil through which it passes, but on the inexhaust- ibleness and depth of the spring from which it proceeds. The greater mind cleaves to the smaller with more force than the other to it. A parent loves the child more than the child loves the parent ; and partly because the parent's heart is larger, not because the child is worthier. The Saviour loved His disciples infinitely more than His disciples loved Him, because His heart was infinitely larger.^
(3) Th& EeigU.—WhQ,t is the height of His love ? For love can have very small ambitions. A mother's love for her boy may soar no higher than wealth, or power, or distinction. And her love for her girl may be nothing but a desire that she be graceful, beautiful, admired, and that she may marry well and get a comfortable home. Love's aim always determines its height. You remember that word of Macaulay's mother : " I must have the wisdom of my child acknowledged by the angels before an assembled world," There is height. But turn to the height of the Lord's love : " I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am." It was the goal of His love that we should share His glory, and become " heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ." It is the supreme quest of His love that we should sit with Him " in heavenly places," and partake with Him in all the fullness of grace.
^ What we here can know or conceive of the heigJits of God may be to us like an infinite mountain-peak, eternally ascending above the highest-winged flight of created holiness and power — so that angel and archangel to Him are but like eagle or bright- winged insect which behold the snowy heights, still fixedly soaring, where their pinions and their very atmosphere fail. And yet if such a parable must be dwarfed into nothingness when once our parted spirits have caught one glimpse of God as He is ; then, again, St. Paul may well pray that even here we may be able to grasp something for ourselves of what that height of God is, lest we should never exclaim — " He is beyond my utmost conception ; and so I ever can know Him, never can love what is so separate from me. He is to me unknowable, unthinkable. He is to me as if He were not." Lest height should thus separate our souls