1 Jno 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us. Mlier. Jan 98 Rich and 1nd. The whole practise of [true] our religion presupposes the mutual play of reciprocal love as between God and us. Accordingly the Bible explains the fact that there is such a [double] twofold [love] interchange; tells, too, how this great love-story began; and measures its most precious results. It originated, on God parts, in nothing outside of Himself. It was [se] prompted by His own nature. The SS. make this clear. / / But how does it begin on our part when we love Him back again? If you reply 2 that it He who implants it within us, your reply is good. But how? What is the process He has adopted? Has He simply commanded us to love Him and left the matter there? Made it our duty and left us to discharge the obligation as best we may? Heartfelt love, however, obeys like the [circling] planets circling about their drawing centre only one law: the law of attraction. Beauty must capticate it availability must win it sympathy must charm it. Love refuses to be forced will not be deivece it must select and [choose] choose. It responds to the loveliness of another. / / If, therefore, you and I fail 3 to discover in God that which is truly, supremely irresistibly, lovely, you and I can never learn what it is [to do] to give Him more than [say] a lip- and-tongue love. But in what where is Gods drawing and holding attractiveness to be discerned? In His works? To an extent, yes. In His daily providences? Not always, for these sometimes repel and overawe. I hurry on to say at once that it is in His gospel His good-news in this alone that you behold that wondrous sight: and no less delightful and admirable that than marvellous the sight of the infinite God not creating, nor governing, nor law-thundering but God loving, and with all the might of His vast heart. And we may be sure that if 4 He can love, He is also loveable; and that if He love as never man loved He must be as lovable as no [man] human being was ever lovable It is God, then, occupying the attitude of [Saviour] Friend, Brother, Saviour, which summons forth the corresponding affective on our past. Men have, of course, always had an eye with which to behold the evidences of Gods wisdom, His power His omnipresence, and to trace many precious tokens of His goodness, all in the light of natures candle: but who [have] has ever yielded to Him the homage of His love, you. 4 1/2 [but who ever thought of giving [gave] to God his love, from] what he has thus seen of His majesty and His management. [in] You hear His thunderings in the law, [and behold] [His fiery footsteps] as He descends [the mount which quaked [wavers] at His presence] to execute its penalties or you witness [Hi] what seems to you the remorseless [goings] tramplings of His will in [ten thousand acts of determination] the woes and wailings of [a] dying sufferers [generations doomed, [one after another in in long succession] to disease [dithers] and death [and, [so that] if you] So that if you confine your contemplations of this dread Being so mighty and so mysterious to [these] such aspects of His character, what are your emotions likely to be? why, His terribleness is [all you can think of,] always present to your thoughts, and this both appalls an [aggreives] aggrieves you, hurts and hardens you. / Or, if you take a brighter view of Him, and summon yourself to kneel at His feet [in gratitude] when most grateful for His daily mercies, [you are still] [reminded of His] [those His] [the looks of [His] displeasure which serve] 5 [to darken [hinder], at some point of your very happiest] [experience, the efforts of your thankfulness: and] [so] you are apt to rise from your knees apprehensive still [lest] lest, out of the fairest sky that bends over you there may come [forth] [clouded] a hand to [blast] beat down your surest hopes. / / But, God has resolved not to be forever misunderstood; and, according, [has planned] [to] places Himself [before his earthly] [children in a light far different from that] in [which He is ordinarily seen,] in an altogether new [a] light which, whilst revealing Him as He truly is, explains Him [at the same time what] [He] [we could not otherwise understand, of His ways ] the soft, the subduing, the satisfying light of the gospels the beamings of His [love] reconciled face: rendering His as attractive as hitherto He had been repellent: for now we see Him not outwardly but [the] in[to those] the movements of His immense Heart. [every one of which says: Behold how [I love you!] my name is Love!] 6 [[and every one of which pleads,] Will you not give me your love in return? Thus] [He is no longer clothes, (except as to His outer garments] [if I may so speak) [with] no longer clothed as to] [His [?] mights and majesties, with vengeance. His] His arm here swings not in the region when thunderbolts we forged, but in the region where thunderbolts are [withheld] forgotten. / His hand opens, not in the manner that Moses saw [and trembled in concert with] when he & the [quaking] rocks trembled [the quaking rocks] together [in view of threatenings & terrors] under Gods threatening footsteps [for the purpose of letting down] [threats and terrors which are as immeasurable;] but in the manner every repeating sinner may now see, [for the purpose of letting] as [that hand with] from both Gods hands are let down [down blessings and benefits] only benedictions [which are as immeasurable] [as heaven]: for His throne has been [gloriously] transferred from smoking Sinai to smiling Sion; and the banners that wave before Him are not those of arguering battle but of [conquering benevolence] victorious beneficence 7 [It may, indeed, appear a strange, even an incredible] [thing [to us] that God desires to win our love to] [Himself; but He does so desire, or His revelations mean] [nothing; desire this, for His own sake, because] [He who so well knows how to love cannot be satisfied] [unless [it] He be also loved and for [owr] our] [sake as well, because until we shall have learned] [the secret of loving God we [must] will never serve Him] [so we ought; and not to serve Him with a fee] [and joyous soul is to be separated, first or last,] [from all freedom and all joy. This is, ?, not alone] [our foremost duty but is equally our foremost privilege;] [is, in fact our very salvation.] If, ?, we have and biggest debt of gratitude to pay to Him who made us and who has [sent] come to redeem us, the principal of this debt is formed in the double fact that He [permits] craves 8 our love, and that He has chosen to take the one only way to gain it i.e., by [every possible] the exhibition of His own love [towards] for us. / He who [created] [implanted] [our affections at the centre of our being,] made us well understands that our love, [the centre of this centre,] the citadel which commands our entire manhood is not to be broken into and subdued to a better Mastery than self or [Satan] sin is, by any artillery of an outside besiegement, by any [chanceof men] are [of] due to a mere sense of danger, by any opening up of the floodgates of a [threatened] threatening vengeance. / [You] A King may, indeed, by the show of [distinctive] his just anger, induce a [man] subject to lay aside from sheer fright the arms by which he has thought to damage [his] the royal authority: and thus [cow him] be cowed into [some] a certain constrained and sullen subserviency to a will more powerful than 9 his own and just because it is more powerful, even perhaps to the extent of compelling from his pallid but hypocritical lips the utterance of [fond and conciliating] penitent, even sobbing [words,] [of] words, that sound out the promise of a [amounting to promises of amendment and fatune] [present] better allegiance [allegiance.] But [by] no such machinery of scaring intimidation, [can] [a] [the way be won] can win the war [by] [which leads to the] to a conquest of the rebels heart, therein to awaken for [the] his King the tender and abiding and gladsome sinturient of willing love, [of attachment for his person.] [When] [one already loves his superior, he may be taught] [to feel the chastising rod, to restore the affection] [that has wandered but this affliction cannot] [thus be originally rooted in the soul.] Suppose, then, that God the King over all were to visit you for the purpose of gaining your [love] heart and, whilst holding over [your] you only the doom of pudition, [command] should order you to love Him, on the pains of hell. 10 Would you could you yield to this His ordering will? Must you not say to Him: I am ready, in view of such a terrifying prospect, to give up many of my ill-doings; I am prepared to tremble before thy greater Power, [and] even to acknowledge the justice of thy claim, and to give Thee my slavish obedience, not because I would but because I must: but oh, I cannot offer Thee my heart amid the awful manifestations of They hard and overwhelming anger! But God does not come, only to arraign and to blame. / He does indeed ply the wicked with arguments of fire, and with voice of stern authority, exclaim Obey or Perish! But this He does in order to shake souls out of their sleep of unconcern and to bring forth their tears of penitence, just as the thunder shakes refreshing rain from the otherwise reluctant clouds. 11 [from the burning [gailor] grasp of a dishonored & killing Law. But, when men [are] are thus awakened, He would have them learn that it is not their servile [fear] fearfulness He is after, but their cheerful friendship: and so, He proceeds to show that the Law was [simply] used simply as [a] the frowning messenger whose office it is to lead them to God in Christ for whom they shall hear other and softer words, and in quite another language in whom they shall find all the wooings, and solicitations, and urgencies of a divine love with which to captivate their [once] otherwise impossible love in return. / / Here, ?, in the Person of His Son God [has] puts on a look of melting graciousness, displays a face of most touching gentleness, a [dress] smile of festive welcome: showing Himself [a Father] as it were at the open door of an awaiting and in asking home where are only kisses and caresses to greet the returning prodigal 12 He declares, through the [ne] medium of every limsing [bond] accent which the human heart can understand, and which which it can be [touched] impressed, that, inasmuch as He could [consenate] not bend down upon [you] us any [direct] immediate glancing of tenderness from His throne [face], because He is an invisible King, He has more than made up for this by despatching His Son into the world, to publish peace on earth good-will to men: and [He] has bidden us to see, in His tears, and entreaties and sympathies in His [kindness, and gentleness] clemenc[y]ies and [grace] promises in His life which so affectingly witnesses to His love, [] and in His death which so [touchingly] [de] tellingly testifies to [its] that loves exhaustless depth He has begged us to see, in all this the unparalleled record of affection the fullness of that [the] divine beneficence which [so tenderly] so marvellously pleads for [trust and] gratitude and trust and obedience in [return for] response to it all. / He says: Hear not only what I have promised: See what I have done. I have laid upon any own dearest [Son] one the iniquities 28 [of [a world] you all and I have done away with every obstacle [to the [sinners] your return to me; [and] now ? that the pale of acceptance has been made so clear, being levelled by the power of him who travelled in the greatness of His strength now that my Justice has been satisfied by a bloody statement equal to all the [descends of law] exa[s]tions of legal penalty now that [the] [my] the law is no longer dishonored, but stands mended and re-instaled now that the whole universe must give in [their] a verdict of [right] acquittal in the case of every penitent and returning prodigal-son that the garments of everlasting righteousness are prepared for each believer in my Law heaven opened for their entrance thomes prepared for their occupancy eternity furnished for thou homes O will ye not see my love in all this, and give [10] 13 of you all have even slain Him rather than slay you have substituted His blood for yours have multiplied [counted] His sorrows that I might [not call for] mitigate yours and out of the fragments of His broken heart am prepared to make new [ones] hearts for you: and, now, that the pathway back to me is again made clear now that my Justice has become one with my mercy now that the Law [stands] has [been] in yr [behalf] behalf been re-instated in all its honors now that the whole universe must give in a verdict of righteous acquittal in behalf of every returning sinner now that the robe of an everlasting righteousness is prepared for [every] him who shall consent to [we] wear it now that the gate of heaven is fixed upon its [open] opened hinges to admit whomsoever [it is that] shall choose to enter, where [with no] I have [thiene] prepared a throne for his occupancy, and furnished [an] eternity itself [furnished] for his blissful residence Oh, will ye not see [30] 14 my love in all this so free as not to be freer so full as not to be added to so bright as never to be made more susplendant will [pleads for your heart [with] in [the] [those] accounts of tender entreaty] you not now be won to your Father and your Friends, ye sons [which whisper, in gentle peace, from the cross. Then] and daughters of men! [will you love Him as one who first loved you.] [Have faith then in Gods love! / It is this which] [will bring your hearts into contact with the regenerative] [influence of His grace [loving kindness]. / If] Ah, friends, if you do my believe in His love its reality and its greatness its existence will course, exert ero power over your affections: it will be even the same as if it did not exist at all. / It is not so much ? the inquietude of man, but his incredulity, which [lus] yarns a dark grief between his quiet & his reconciliation. / It is the obstinacy, and the sullenness, and the obduracy of unbelief which, denying the revelation of Gods love to man, stand as a wall of [?]. to oppose the return of [His] mans love to God [Only credit] [Let] [Let us] Heartily and joyfully credit what He says of the [greatness] largness, and [?]- -ness, & willingness, of His love & [you] we will [promptly] respond to you [14] [my love in all this so free that it cannot be made freer] [that it canot be added to, & so bright that it cannot be made] [more resplendent will you] [[send] me back [again] they your hearts, ye lost, but still loved,] [sons & daughters of men! And it is this that wins us] [not now be won to my heart, ye sons & daughters of men] [Believe me, [then,] my friends you will never have] [that love for God which brings the peace [of] which only He gives [heaven]] [[into the soul,] until you see Him in Christ. / Believe] [Him only in His displays of anger only in his threats] [of [vengeance] avengement only amid the terrors of a threatening judgment] [ and you will be compelled to fear Him with a] [fear full of distressing apprehensiveness] [which will disquiet your souls, and, perhaps, drive] [[it] you to do many things that you hope will pisfitiate] [the divine favor. / But you will never thus be won] [to love your Marker. / You must see Him as your] [Father your Friends your Savior your kind Benefactor] [ your sweetest and best Pertiene you must see Him as He] 15 it as surely as that [we] you are men as surely as that [we] you are not blocks or idiots as surely as that effect follows its cause as surely as that streams flow from their proper fountains. Till God in human flesh I see my thoughts no comfort find, The holy, just and sacred Three Are terrors to my mind. But, if Immanuels face appear, My hope, my joy, begins. His name forbids my slavish fear. His grace removes my sins. [Here, then at this cummunion board, I invite] [you I enge myself to a fresh view of Gods] [marvellous love for you and for me: for us all.] 16 [my love in all this a love] And here [ now] if anywhere [now if ever] is the place now, if ever, eis the time [for us], Xn. brethren, to renew our love for Him who [is] points [us] to His bleeding Son for a testimony of His love [for] for us a testimony which nothing but the blindness of stony-eyed infidelity can gainsay. Let us warm our hearts at the fire which burns on the altar of that greatest sacrifice to which Love ever set a consuming torch: a sacrifice which, had it never been made, how cold, how dreary, how homeless, would we be knowing no God except One [whom] who, if we dare approach Him at all, [we] must receive us [only to] at a throne black displeasure and and despair! but who, now, receives us at a throne bright with all the fascinations of help and hope. Could we, think you, have been 17 these are: they who, not dying as we are dying, nor struggling as we are struggling, nor hoping as we still hope, have gone to that place [where] which no eye of ours can survey, but which they the saints whose redemption has been gloriously completed enjoy [we] with raptures unspeakable. / Nevertheless, O Xn., [Nevertheless, for] For you, that kingdom of the just, Afar, doth, radiant, shine; And you the King of Kings shall see he majesty divine. It is yours every yours, whosoever you be who are walking [in] In the same paths they, triumphantly have trod, who have ascended to glory and to God. you may be faithful in every other way in [passing ye] [passingly] urging yr business, or farming yr pleasure, or adoring yr friendship and receive for this those crowns which the world must admiss and would obtain but faithful to Xt. this is the substance of all worthful human character, as worthiness is measured by the heavenly standard. Who is the faithful man? He that doth still, and strongly, good pursue To God, his neighbor, & himself most time: When neither force nor fawning can unpin, or wrench from giving all their due.