But the little girl was strong in hope ; she got on the train away up in Vermont, and started off to Washington. When she reached the White House the soldiers refused to let her in ; but she told her pitiful story, and they allowed her to pass. When she got to the Secretary's room, where the President's private secretary was, he refused to allow her to enter the room where the President was. But the little girl told her story, and it touched the heart of the private secretary ; so he passed her in. As she went into Abraham Lincoln's room, there were United States senators, generals, governors, and leading politicians, who were there upon important business about the war ; but the Presi- dent happened to see that child standing at the door. He wanted to know what she wanted, and she went right to him and told her story in her own language. He was a father, and the great tears trickled down Abraham Lincoln's cheeks. He wrote a dispatch and sent it to the army to have that boy sent to Washington at once. When he arrived, the President pardoned him, gave him
i88 THE LOVE OF CHRIST
thirty days' furlough, and sent him home with the little girl to cheer the hearts of the father and mother.^
(2) It is a transforming love. — It is a love that makes all things new, for St. Paul says, " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; old things are passed away ; behold, all things are be- come new. And all things are of God." God wants to transform us. T'^ansformation gives a man a new character, a new life, a new nature, and the Gospel is a gospel of transformation, not a gospel of reformation.
^ At one of the missions last December there was a young man with whom the Spirit of God had been striving. Three times in one day he came up to the rectory drunk, and then we had prayer with him, and he gave himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. The next day he came up to the house in order to get a Bible, and one of the ladies who had seen him the day before came up to me and said, " Mr. Grubb, are you quite sure that that is the same man who was here yesterday?" And I said, "Yes, the same man, only he is a new creature in Christ Jesus to-day." ^
(3) It is a restoring love. — The most sorrowful condition of soul in the world is that of a backslider, for a backslider can be satisfied with nothing ; he cannot be satisfied with the world ; he cannot be satisfied with sin ; and he is not satisfied with Jesus. He knows what Christ was once to him ; he knows that at one time in his life he used to love to pray ; he knows that at one time in his life the society of Jesus was a reality to him; he knows that at one time in his life the Word of God used to speak to his heart ; but all that has passed ; Christ is a misty shadow to him now, if, indeed, there be such a person at all. Yet God is near, watching all the while over His wayward one, yearning for his return and using means to bring him back.
Love for all ! and can it be ? Can I hope it is for me ? I, who strayed so long ago, Strayed so far, and fell so low?
I, the disobedient child. Wayward, passionate, and wild; I, who left my Father's home In forbidden ways to roam !
» D. L. Moody, The Warj to God, 20.
2 G. C. Grubb, The LigU of His Countenance, 27.
EPHESIANS III. 17-19 -'189
I, who spurned His loving hold ;
I, who would not be controlled;
I, who would not hear His call;
I, the wilful prodigal.
To my Father can I go ? — At His feet myself I'll throw: In His house there yet may be Place, a servant's place, for me.
See, my Father waiting stands; See, He reaches out His hands: God is love! I know, I see, There is love for me, — even me ^
VI.
A Love that Passes Knowledge.
1. What is it that so raises the Apostle's soul and gives him a tongue of fire? It is nothing that is beyond the feelings and sympathy of man. It is no mystery which only a few can pene- trate, and which is not for the many. It is the " love of Christ which passeth knowledge." We can understand what love means. All can understand being touched and melted by love. True, he calls the " love of Christ " a love that passeth knowledge — a love so great and astonishing that no thought of man can embrace it in its fullness, or sound it in its depths. But though its unsearchable- ness adds to its wonder, it does not prevent us from understanding that it is love, love shown to us and felt for us in a way that it was never shown or felt before. This is what St. Paul is talking of, this is what sets his soul on fire.