After a while he turned about and retraced his steps, entered the church again, and took a seat behind the stove over in the corner. The people gathered and Mr. Moody ascended the plat- form and began to preach. All the time that Mr. Moody preached, the man was weep^'ng in the corner. Mr. Moody's quick eye caught sight of him, and at the close of the service he hurried to him and sat down beside him. " What are you crying about, my friend ? " he said gently. " What was it in the sermon that touched you ? " The man replied, " There was nothing in the
^ J. M. Gibbon, Tlie Gospel of Fatherliood, 11.
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sermon that touched me. I did not hear a word of your sermon." " Well, what was it then that touched you ? " asked Mr. Moody. " That sentence," pointing to the words in fire, " that sentence, 'God is love.'" Mr. Moody opened his Bible and showed the man from the Bible how God loved him, and how Jesus was an all-sufficient Saviour for all who take Him. The man listened and accepted Christ, and went away that night a saved man.^
Love came to me when I was young;
He brought me songs, he brought me flowers; Love wooed me lightly, trees among,
And dallied under scented bowers ; And loud he carolled: "Love is King!" For he was riotous as spring.
And careless of the hours, — When I was young.
Love lingered near when I grew old ;
He brought me light from stars above; And consolations manifold;
He fluted to me like a dove; And Love leaned out of Paradise, And gently kissed my faded eyes,
And whispered, "God is love," — When I grew old.^
L
Love in the Being of God.
1. Love is the central emotion in God. — When the Apostle tells us that God is love, he means to say, not that God has this attribute and no other, and not that He has this attribute paramount to others ; for, as the attributes of any mind must partake of the character of the mind which exercises them, so the attributes of God must partake of the essence of God, and be in all aspects, therefore, infinite and Divine ; none, therefore, can be more than infinite, none less than Divine. Each attribute — His truth, His power. His wisdom, and the like — must stand on the same footing as His love, and be equally great and glorious. But, by the expression " God is love," St. John evidently wishes to 1 R. A. Torrey. 2 Francis H. Williams.
I JOHN IV. 8 331
convey to us the idea that love is the great motive power of the Divine Being. Love is that which shapes and guides all His attributes ; so that each is manifested under the working of love, and each directed to the securing of love.
^ All God's attributes are inflections or phases of love. Love is not one of His attributes ; it is all of them. His holiness is the wholeness of His love. His righteousness is the eternal conformity of His life to love. His justice is love looking out on the great mass of His creatures. His beneficence is love showing itself in deeds which we recognize as helpful. His pity is love toward the sorrowing. His mercy is love toward the sinful. But whether He be merciful or beneficent or just or righteous or holy, He is love.^
^ The old Greeks, whose civilization developed along the line of architecture, and painting, and the decorative arts, said, " God is beauty." The Eomans, led by the Csesars on a hundred battle- fields to victory, until they boasted that the Eoman eagles never turned backward, said, " God is strength." The Jew, inheriting from Moses, the great law-giver, said, " God is law." It was not until John had laid his head upon the Saviour's bosom and communed with Jesus Christ that any man was able to say with confident heart, " God is love." ^
2. Love implies fellowship. — Love means an outpouring ; it cannot exist without an object. Strictly, there cannot be self- love, for selfishness is the negation of love. It is no answer to say that the capacity to love was in God before by creation He found an object for His love. The capacity to love is not love ; it does hut accentuate the void. Is it conceivable that through an eternity the Infinite Perfection should have been yearning in unsatisfied longing for something to love ? In the light of the Trinity, however, the difficulty vanishes. In the love of the Eternal which Jesus reveals to us there is the fulness of life, pe, feet fellowship, infinite and eternal love. Love is the very CO istitution and law of Gf od's Being. God only exists as a three- fo d relation of lover, tjjeloved, and love — the Father for ever o\ tpouring Himself in love to the Son ; the Son for ever in complete self-surrender |:-eturning that love to the Father; the J^pirit ceaselessly uniting Father and Son, Himself the Bond of Ijve. 1
> Lyrtian Abbott. ^ ' L. A. Banks.
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^ The Love of the Trinity is nameless : human tongue has no words to express it ; no creature may inquisitively look into its eternal depths. It is the great and impenetrable mystery. We listen to its music and adore it ; but when its glory has passed through the soul the lips are still unable adequately to describe any of its features. God may loose the tongue so that it may shout and sing to the praise of eternal Love, but the intellect remains powerless.