The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Thessalonians — Section 88

the form of love ; nnoleanneBB usurps and degrades the MCred name of love. The ~enaual man ruin& in body and in soul those whom he prof88888 to love. He uses words of tendernees. He i11 the most cruel, the deadliest enemy in hie wicked selfishness. He cares not for the nearest and holiest ties. He sins against. the sanctity of matri- mony. He brings misery upon families. Seeking only the gratification of his own wicked Inst, he transgres~es ancl wrongs his brethren. But his sin will bring swift puniahment upon him. The Lord is the Avenger in all such things. He called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. Sanctification is the very sphere in which the new life mo,·es and energizes. Uncleanness is utterly alien to it. The Lord who called us in sanctification will punish with that awful vengeance which belongeth to him all who for their wicked pleasure sin against their brethren. 6. It is a 1m against God. God bath given us his Holy Spirit.. He bath given that great gift "unto you," the apostle says-to you Thessalonians. He gave it once, he is giving 1t st.ill. It is this great fact which makes uncleanness in Christians a sin of such exceeding awfulness. Their bodies are the temples of God the Holy Ghost. To bring impure thought int.o that most sacred presence, t.o defile that body which he has taken to be his Church and shrine, is an outrage, an insult t.o that Divine Majesty. Such a man bath done despite to the Spirit of grace. Of what punishment ~hall he be thought worthy? The Spirit of purity cannot abide in an impure heart. He will depart, as he once departed from Saul. There are awful things in Holy Scrip- ture said of those who resist the Holy Ghost, who will not listen to his still small voice speakir,g in the heart, but continue to vex him by wilful and persistent disobedience, I.ill at last his voice is beard no more, and his gracious influences are quenched. It is enough to fill the thoughtful Christian with shuddering awe when he reflects on that sanctificarion which the Word of God requires, and contrasts it with the fearful preva- ·lence of sins of impurity. LEssoNs. 1. Long after holiness, pray for it, struggle for it with the deepest yearn- ings of the heart, the most earnest efforts of the life. 2. Flee from the slightest touch of impurity-the thought, the look, the word. It is a dea<lly poison, a loathsome serpent; it stingeth unto death. 3. Remember God the Holy Gho~t dwells in the Christian's heart. Keep thyself pure.-B. C. C. Vers. 9-12.-The law of love. I. ON ITS POSITIVE BIDB. 1. II ., taught by God. God is love, and love is of God. The Church of God is the school of love. God him- self is the great Teacher. He teaches us by his own example. "So God loved the "'orld, he gave his only Son;" "The Son of God loved me, and gave himself for me." The cross of the Lord JP.sus Christ reveals to us the blessed love of God. God the Holy Ghost teaches his people to comprehend with all saints what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height, and t.o know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. Be shows Ill something of his own blessed love, and bids us learn of him. "This is my commandmelit, that ye love one another, as I have loved you:" We are hi8 disciple~, his pupils; we learn of him. What should we learn, if we learn not to love? It 1s the great task of life. Our lives are wasted if we have not learned that holiest lesson before we die; for heaven is the home of Tove. There is no place there for the soul that ~a.th not learned to love. God is the Teacher. He Lad taught the Thessalonians. They <lid love the brethren. They needed not, the apostle says in his tenderness, a human teacher. 2. Yet SI. Paul exhorts them. For love is a debt which is never fully paid. The "reat lesson of love is never fully learned. We are dull scholars. Our natural selfishnes; keeps us back. We need every incentive, every help. There must be a continual "rowth. To stand still is to lose ground. We must urge ourselves, we must urge other~, to abound more and more. The Lprd Jesus is our Example. ".d8 I have loved you," he says. The depth, the purity of that holiest love is altogether above us, out of our reacli; we cannot attain unto it. We see its effects in the lives of his saints. We know how the love of Christ constrained the holy apostle St. Paul to live no longer to himself, but to him who died for him and rose again. We despair of ever reaching that high degree of holy love; but it wust be the strongest yearning of onr heart.II to advance continually, t.o abound more and more. II. O• ITI NEGATIVE SIDE. 1. Christian ambition. Ambition (•1Aur1!£!11.) is• oom- moo woni in Greek ethics and history, a prominent characteristic of Greek political life. oe. 1v. 1-18.] THI•: FIRST EPISTLE 'fO THE THESSALONIANS. 8'1