^ God's love is reflected in His children. The veriest beam of light passing through the vault of heaven and smiling in through your windows is exactly the same as the great surging ocean of light in the distant sun. Catch that slender beam, split it open on your prism, and it will tell you what the sun is made of. The difference between the beam and the sun is only one of degree. One drop of water on the palm of your hand has in it all the tides and motions of the sea ; it is smaller, but the same.^
^ There is an Eastern legend of a rose so sweet that even the earth which lies around its roots becomes permeated with fragrance and little bits of it are sold as amulets and worn by princes. You and I are but common clay, but if we will lie close to Jesus Christ, His sweetness will flow through our very lives and make them fragrant and precious for ever.^
Faces, loving faces.
Lifting up their light, With a thousand graces,
Shining in the nightj
Lighting up with glory
All this darkened earth, Telling us the story
Of our heavenly birth.
' * J. M. Gibbon, Tlie Gospel of Fatherhood, 30. « H. van Dyke, The O^ten Door, 121.
I JOHN IV. 7 319
For, in holy faces,
Faces full of love, We may find the traces
Of our God above.
So to all the races,
So to us and all, By these loving faces
God to us doth call.i
4. Love can he readily learned in Christ's school. — The dullest scholar may be a very master of this art, and the most unlettered may read aright the signs and mysteries of love.
^ It is related of an eminent singer that his teacher kept him day after day, and even month after month, practising the scales, in spite of the pupil's entreaties for something more advanced. At last the master told him to go forth as the best singer in Europe, having mastered the scales. Not otherwise did our Lord teach His first disciples. For three years He taught them " to love " by miracle and parable, by prayer and sermon. He grounded them in love. When seated v^^ith them at the last supper He said : " A new commandment I give unto you," and behold it was the old one : " That ye love one another." After His resurrection, He met the disciples on the beach, and He took the repentant Peter and put him through the scales : " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ?" And then, having perfected them in love. He said : " Go ye into the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Having learned to love, their education was complete, their training ended. They could go everywhere and do all things.^
^ Some one showed me the other day one of the advertise- ments of a professional athlete, in which it was stated that the average man keeps himself in inferior health because he uses only a small proportion of his lung capacity ; there is an infinity of good air around him, but he is not breathing it. Moreover, he does not know how greatly he could enlarge the capacity he already possesses ; the more air he can use the more fully he lives. I dare say this is quite true of our physical organization, and it is true of our spiritual organization too. The more fully we breathe the more fully we live. Inhale as deeply as you can of the infini- tude of Divine love that is everywhere around and within you, inexhaustible, potent, free. Breathe it forth again in blessing
^ R. H. Story, in The Sunday Magazine, 1881, p. 788. * J. M. Gibbon, The Gos])cl of Fatherhood, 20.
320 THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD
upon the world. You cannot retain it for yourself; you must breathe it forth in order to live ; everybody must ; there is not a being on the face of God's earth who does not exhale something of eternal love in his relations with his fellows ; the great differ- ence between one person and another is the difference in spiritual lung capacity, so to speak.^
II.
Love in its Issues.
1. Love is the chief of the Christian graces. — It is the keystone of the arch which gives beauty and symmetry and permanency to the others. It is the crowning glory of the Christian character, the essential element of Christian perfectness, the highest exhibi- tion of Christian excellence. It is opposed to envy, to jealousy, to pride, to haughtiness, to injustice, to evil thoughts, to wrong desires, to unkind and ungenerous words, to sharp and offensive acts. It thinks no evil. It wishes no harm. It does no wrong. It is not given to falsehood, to fault-finding, to suspicion. It is not apt to mark the infirmities of others ; to dwell with pleasure upon their weaknesses, foibles, and sins ; to give currency to statements which will be damaging to the good name or peace of its neighbours. It is not concerned to stir up strife, to inter- meddle with other people's affairs, to disseminate injurious rumours, to promote dissension, to alienate friendship, or to create trouble. It is neither hasty nor vindictive ; lustful nor grasping ; litigious nor severe ; but is kind, gentle, and peaceable ; considerate of the good of others, forbearing to their faults, forgiving their injuries, casting the mantle of charity over their infirmities; it promotes their welfare, and does them all the good which it is in its power to render. Love heals divisions, softens asperities, removes alienations, promotes friendships, binds human hearts together in sweet and pleasant union, cherishes amiability and gentleness of temper, puts far away unholy feelings, and brings Christians to associate together as members of a common brother- hood— as a holy band, living and labouring for the glory of God.