The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 237

power of the cross of Christ.. The spirit of Christianity is a spirit of love and ha■ elJectoo a blossro chn.nge in the moral condition of humanity. Without dbparaging t.he ~tcrner virtues, our religion hns exalted those which aro moro tender. Jesus has been, nnd is, loved as none other in the history of mankind. IY. IT 1B A88ERTED BY CHRIST THAT H[B LOVE IS TIIE ONB GREAT MOTIVB TO OBEDI• F.NCE •. ~- Willing end cheerful obedience is the_ only obe<lic_uce which is acceptable to our D1nne Lord. Earthly governors s.'\y nothing concernma tho ten1per in which obed:ence is rendered; all they ask is compliance with thoir ;;J'icts and laws. Observ- ing the threats end pcnaltirs nttnched to disobedience, we may Wt?ll conclude that the spirit of the Lawgiver is, " If ye foar me, keep my commandments. n It is not so with the Lord Christ. He values the spiritual consent, which expre8SOS itself in outward acta of seI"Vice. 2. Love is a po1verfuJ.. becauso a personnl, motive to obey. He who is capable of affection can foci the force of the appeal made by the father, the superior, whom he both reveres and loves. They who deny a personal God sacrifice this motive. They do not believe,aa the Christian does, that obedience gives satisfaction and plensure to the suprome Power of the universe. They simply yield to unconscious and unap- proving law. 3. As love is sincere, its expression will be practical, To profess love to Christ, and at the same time to disregard his will and to defy his authority is hypocrisy. \Ve are exhorted to prove the sincerity of our love. 4. Law and love: as blended in Christ, are the revelation of the highest morality. They are not to be set over against each other, for they arc in perfect harmony. It is the highest righteous- ness to love Christ ; it is the purest love to obey him; for his will and his heart are alike Divine. 1 V. TBE l'lU.CTICAL ACKNOWLEDGME~ OF THIS PnINCIPLB BY CBBisT'S APOSTLES WA& TBE EJ.Bl,'EST OF rrs UNIVERSAL PREV ALUCE. The Lord did not rely in rnin upon this new motive. It speedily }lrovcd its power to work unparalleled marvels. It enabled men to love one another, to labour for the welfare of their fellow-men, to welcome persecution when engaged in the effort to fulfil the commission they had received, And from their time it has been e'"ident that Divine love is in the S]liritnal universe what gravitation is in the universe of matter, Christ is the central Stm, nnd the power of love e&UBell every loyal soul to move as in even revolutions aronud him. And the purposes of Divine wisdom and compassion shnll be comploted when Christ's· friends shall be his subjects, each one fulfilling his appointed service, yet all in happy harmony with one another because in perfect obedience to him. APPLICATION. These words of our Lord are a rebuke and an ad.monition : 1. To those who think they love, but do not obey. 2. To those who think they obey, but do not love. 3. To those who are conscious that they neither obey nor love the Saviour.-T. Ver. 16.-" .Arwt'Jw- Comforter." This designation of the Holy Spirit brings forward into promi.Denoe his work on earth and his relation to men. And this is the aspect in which the Spirit of God has most intere~t for us. The theologian properly studies the Third Person of the Trinity in relation to the Father and the Son. llut to the Christian desirous of appropriating the blessings revealed by religion, there is great encourage- ment in this designation, "another Comforter." L THE PBOHISB u SUGGESTIVE OF null.AN NERDS, Why should a "Comforter" be provided? There must be something in the condition of men which makes the promise of a Di vine Friend .so appropriate and welcome. Men suffer from ignorance and proneness to error aud delusion. They are encompassed with temptations which act powerfully, sometimes fatally, upou their frail &llJ feeble nature. And those who are bent upon attaining true knowledge and practising true virtue are exi,osed to the bitter hostility and oppoeition of the world. JI. THE PllO.WSE IS SUGGESTIVE OF TIIE CHABA.CTEB AND THE OFFICES OF CHBIS'l' HillilELF. In promising another Comforter to come upon his own departure, Jesus wa.,; really claiming to be a Comforter, whose loss must needs be sorely folt. And such he waa. He had been very much in the society of bis disciples, was always sympa- thetic, always wiBe in counsel. al ways faithful in admonition, ahvay11 gracious iri encouragement.. Nor, indeed, did he cease to be the Paraclete, the Advocate, of his people, when he quitted the world which he ruited in order to befriend and save its guilty and helpleiis inhabitants. CIT. xiv. 1-31.] TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOIIN. 245