but this is only whilst they can shake off reflection. No man can think of God and of eternity without many fears and mis- givings : and the very efforts which men use to dissipate all serious thought, clearly shew, that they do not dare to think, and that God is to them an object of dread, and not of love.]
But " love will cast out fear " —
[The two passions are opposed to each other, and coun- teract each other, as light and darkness : " there is no fear in love" nor any love in fear : if love arise in the soul, fear will be dispelled, like the clouds of the morning : but if fear prevail again, it will draw over the soul the curtains of night. Fear is excited by a view of God, as formidable in himself, and as hostile to us : but love views him as altogether lovely in him- self, and as loving to us; and, consequently, banishes from the soul the sensations which a different view of the Deity had produced. Love regards him as a Father, a Friend, a Saviour, " a Portion," an " eternal great reward." What room is there for fear, when such views are realized in the soul ? I speak not, indeed, of a filial fear ; because that is a very essential part of love : but a slavish fear, a "fear that has torment" can find no place in a bosom that is filled with love. To a person who truly loves God, the thought of him will be sweet to the soul : and the more intimate he feels his access to God, the more sublime will be his joy. As for death, to such an one it has lost its sting : it is even numbered amongst his richest treasures : " All things, says he, are mine, whether life or death e." And so far is he from dreading the approach of the eternal state, that " he looks for, and hastes unto, the coming of the day of Christf;" and "longs to be dissolved, that he may be with Christ8." I say not, that this feeling is constant, or without any alloy ; but that to effect this is the proper influence of love ; and that it will be effected in proportion as love abounds in the soul.]
This view of love naturally leads us to consider, II. Its importance as a test —
It is our privilege to be "made perfect in love" —
[Love, like every other grace, is weak in its beginnings. But it should not be always so : like patience, it should " have its perfect work, that we may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." The command of God is, that we should " love him with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength." And if we owe to him this measure of love as our Creator, much more do we as our Redeemer. After this, therefore, we should aspire: and, whatever our attainments in it be, we
e 1 Cor. iii. 22. f 2 Pet. iii. 12. s Phil. i. 21.