nor perpetuated by the scant measure of the purest human love. “Herein is love; not that we have loved (jyam7jxaper) God, but that He loved us (#ydarncev, associating His love witha definite act) and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
If the self-accusation is morbid and unfounded, a freak of a diseased religious fancy, rather than a truthful verdict of a healthy conscience, the complex and confused witness of our ignorant heart is resolved into the simple testimony of love. I am God’s child. At my Father’s hand I shall meet with no encouragement to continue in sin, but with pardon for my sin; with tonics for my morbid conditions ; with allowance for my infirmity. Only by that perfect wisdom will the error be duly weighed; only by that perfect love will it be forgiven ; only by that perfect strength will the soul be energized to renew the life-long fight with sin. If we are trembling lest the things of which our heart accuses us be the warrant for disinheriting us of our position and privilege, we are pointed past our individual lapses and errors to the great, dominant sentiment of our relation to God. We love Him, we love the brethren, therefore we are His children; erring children no doubt, but still His. Will He disinherit His child ?
Observe again, how John finds comfort in the fact of omni- science. We-shail assure our heart because God knoweth all things. The natural instinct of imperfection is to evade the contact and scrutiny of perfection. But that instinct is false and misleading. The Gospel creates a contrary instinct, in creating a filial consciousness. If God’s holiness shames our sinfulness, and God’s perfect wisdom dwarfs our folly, nevertheless, per- fection is the only safe refuge for the imperfect. No man wants to be tried before an ignorant or a corrupt judge. If that omniscient knowledge sees deeper into our sin than we do, it also sees deeper into our weakness. If it weighs the act in more nicely-poised scales, it weighs the circumstances in the same scales. If it knows our secret faults, it knows likewise our frame and our frailty. If it discerns aggravations, it equally discerns palliations. If infinite knowledge compasses the sin, so does infinite love. There mercy and truth meet to- gether, and righteousness and peace kiss each other.