is love." " God is love ; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him" " If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in use." It is hy the exercise of this divine principle that " we know we have passed from death unto life;" and "by it we are recognized by all men as Christ's disciples f." The proper operations of this principle are distinctly and fully marked in the First Epistle to the Corin- thians S; and they are most beautifully exemplified in the con- duct of the primitive Christians h. Such will every church be, where love reigns : the graces of the whole collective body will flourish with ever increasing beauty and fruitfulness s ; and that will be verified which God promised previously to every sab- batic year, " I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years V
Say then, Whether Christian love and unity be not "good?''' Say whether any thing in the universe can tend so much to the perfection of our nature as this ; or whether there be any thing that will so advance us in a meetness for our heavenly inheritance ? ]
Application —
[Cultivate then this heavenly principle. If you seek only your own personal happiness, there is nothing that will contri- bute to it like this Nor will any thing so advance the
welfare of the Church. Christians are one body in Christ : and when every member and every joint supplies its proper portion of this divine unction, " the whole body will grow unto the edifying of itself in love," and will in due time " attain the full
measure of the stature of Christ1" And need I say,
how God will be glorified, when his enemies are constrained to exclaim, " Behold, how these Christians love one another ! "
Guard then against every disposition contrary to love
And " if there be any among you who would cause divisions
and offences, avoid them" In mutual forbearance and
forgiveness, follow the example of Christ himself™ Thus
shall you be fitted for those realms of love and joy, where all the countless multitudes of the redeemed unite in one harmonious song of praise to God and to the Lamb for ever and ever.]
e 1 John iv. 7, 8, 12, 16. f 1 John iii. 14. and John xiii. 35.
s 1 Cor. xiii. 4 — 7. h Acts iv. 32.
' Hos. xiv. 4 — 7. k Lev. xxv. 21.
1 Eph. iv. 13, 15, 16. m Eph. iv. 31, 32. and v. 1, 2.