and we must discover a wonderful uniformity! Penitence, conviction, humiliation, confession, conflict, hope, peace, joy, anticipation, felt by all,-patriarchs, Israelites, Christians! One heart, one pulse, in whole body of Christ! Thus, the Gospel Ministration is the perfection of that of Moses-it is the same, yet more glorious; as the glorified body will retain its identity, yet surpass the present in glory inconceivably; or as the future state will leave no glory to the present, "by reason of the glory that excelleth." What a glorious and blessed dispensation is that of the Gospel! What privileges it confers! What light, what grace, consolation, expectation! &c. What responsibility devolves upon us through our superior privileges! How escape if we neglect them? (Heb. ii. 3; xii. 25.) 1 John iv. 16. hath to us. VIII. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S LOVE. And we have known and believed the love that God God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. EXPOSITORS have generally esteemed the style of St. John obscure and difficult of interpretation:-yet his language is particularly simple; he has no long and involved arguments like those of St. Paul; nor do symbolic or figurative expressions abound in his epistles. Whence then the difficulty? It is to be traced to his profound spirituality! He lay in his Master's bosom, drank into his deep thoughts, and imbibed more of the abstract, sententious manner of his Master than any other of the disciples. Human learning and historical knowledge help us less in the interpretation of St. John's Epistles than in any part of Scripture: the best key to them is habitual spirituality of mind and earnest prayer for the illumination of the Holy Ghost. May his blessed influences descend upon us in the consideration of this heavenly topic! I. THE CHARACTER OF GOD HERE REVEALED TO US"God is love." II. THE KNOWLEDGE WHICH HIS PEOPLE HAVE OF THAT LOVE: "we have known and believed the love which God hath to us." III. THE BLESSED EFFECTS WHICH FLOW FROM THIS KNOWLEDGE: "they dwell in God, and they dwell in love." I. THE CHARACTER OF GOD AS HERE REVEALED: love." 1. This is a matter of pure revelation :— "He is -man of himself never discovered it; nor when revealed to him did he ever accept or retain it but by God's grace and help. This is argued at length by St. Paul in Romans i. True, man ought to see love in all around him-traces of the beneficence of the Creator may be discovered on every side; but the fact is that man never has done so: nor ever can! He wants the moral faculty, the spiritual perception. He discovers the footsteps of a Deity everywhere, and trembles! Gods of terror, of cruelty, of revenge, of lust, man has discovered, or feigned in his terrified conscience-but a God of love-nowhere! At Athens, He was "the unknown God"at Corinth, St. Paul testified that the wisdom of man could not discover him, "the world by wisdom knew not God" (1 Cor. i. 21): and throughout the heathen world, ancient and modern, there is not even a faint conception of a "God of love." 2. In revelation he is fully displayed to us : -yet not after the likeness which some men draw of Him: not an amiable, imbecile Deity-whose laws are in their institution weighty and terrible, but in their execution fickle, or uncertain, or pliant, as the corruptions of man! Not in such a sense a God of love, that he will wink at sin, or let the wilful sinner go unpunished: a good-natured easy, abstract being, who meddles little with the affairs of men, or interferes only to excuse and remit punishment! Such a God is nowhere revealed in Scripture! This is a metaphysical idol, the creation of men's minds, and not less differing from the true God than Baal or Dagon! Even in Holy Scripture the love of God is only to be discovered in one point of view, viz. "in the face of Jesus Christ." This is the meaning of the Apostle, (ver. 8,) "God is love;-but how is his love known? In the material world? or in Providence? &c. No-" in this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love! not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son," &c. This is the testimo ny (ver. 14); this is the love which we have known and believed," &c. Sinners can know nothing of the love of God but in Christ : out of Christ our " God is a consuming fire." (Heb. xii. 29.) If we would see God's love, we must go to Bethlehem-to Gethsemane to Mount Calvary-see that sight-God the Father puts his own Son to grief-hides his face from him -wounds him, bruises him—that the guilty sinners whom he loved might not perish. (Isaiah liii. 10.) There is JusTICE; a God so holy, so just,-that sooner than his word should fail or his law be trifled with, slays his own most holy Son! There is mercy; which wounded himself for our sins; a Deity "who took the manhood into God," and became one "in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily," that poor sinners might believe in him and live. Surely mercy and truth are met together," &c. (Psalm lxxxv. 10.) "Greater love hath no man than this," &c. (John xv. 13.) II. THE KNOWLEDGE WHICH HIS PEOPLE HAVE OF THIS LOVE. "We have known and believed the love that God hath to us." This is a distinguishing characteristic of believers. The world does neither know nor believe this love. righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." (John xvii. 25, 26.) So St. Paul, (1 Cor. ii. 9, 14,) " The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God," &c. " But God hath revealed them unto us by the Spirit," &c. 1. Believers know the love of God in Providence : -they trace" the love that he has to them, in every thing -they discern his peculiar Providence watching over them -guiding, protecting, delivering. "His hand ordereth all things"-not a sparrow falls without him—and in joy and sorrow, honour and dishonour, life and death, faith discerns his love. 2. They have known and believed his love in redemption : -time was when they knew it not,-when they felt not their need, their guilt, their danger: but now God has opened their eyes, they see their vileness, their want, their misery; and their penitent and heavy-laden souls look to Jesus alone and find " peace in believing." They can comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height" of this love. (Ephes. iii. 18.) They "know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." (ver. 19.) 3. They have known and believed the love which Christ has to them individually, by choice and election. 66 Men may dispute about systems, doctrines, and theoriesbut this is a matter of personal knowledge and experience. From the first moment when they mourned over sin, and looked through their tears to Jesus, they have "felt in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ," &c. (Article xvii.) -the witness of the Spirit witnesseth with their spirit that they are the children of God. (Rom. viii. 14-16.) They speak that they do know, and testify that they have seen.' And knowing the reality of God's love to them-“ the consolation which is in Christ Jesus and the comfort of love"they repose on it for the future-they believe God's love to be unchangeable they receive his promise, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love," &c. (Jer. xxxi. 3.) They know of whom it was said, that " having loved his own he loved them to the end." (John xiii. 1.) And they ask, "who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" &c. (Rom. viii. 35.) III. THE BLESSED EFFECTS WHICH FLOW FROM THIS KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S LOVE: -those who have known and believed the love which God hath to them, " dwell in love and dwell in God, and God in them!" What a habitation is this! to dwell in God and in his love as in a house of safety, beauty, and delight! Happy, blessed inmates of such a dwelling! See the effects of such a state of mind 1. Towards God: -every thing draws out affection to him. My daily bread 2. The effects on a man's own mind will be most beneficial. We are all disposed to be querulous, discontented, and perhaps peevish and fretful. Often are we our own tormentors, by means of the evil inmates of our hearts. But God's D love will still all these passions-it will produce that contented mind which is " a perpetual feast"-it will stifle the rebellious thought, create an humble, cheerful, thankful spirit, necessarily resulting in habitual peace of mind. Oh! to dwell in love is to dwell in a pure and blessed atmosphere! 3. Towards our fellow creatures, equally blessed dispositions will be displayed. Christians, be they ever so excellent, will be hated, envied, persecuted by some: as David by Shimei, as Jacob by Esau, and Isaac by Ishmael-as the Lord Jesus by the men of that generation who left his people this legacy-"Ye shall be hated of all men for my sake." But if we dwell in love, and dwell in God, we shall return good for evil-bless them that curse us, and do good to them that evil entreat us! We shall do more- -we shall "love our enemies"-pity them -pray for them-desire their conversion-and feel no sort of revenge" the love of God" will soften all-feeling our own continual need of mercy, we shall shew mercy and forgiveness to others. Well-meaning but mistaken brethren may grieve and vex us; many faults, failings, differences, may arise among those whom we love, and who also love Christ-these perhaps are more difficult to endure than the scoffs of enemies; but if we "dwell in love"-breathe the atmosphere of love-imbibe it continually from God himself, we shall be charitable, tender, kind, patient, considerate-making allowances for wounded feelings-hiding the faults of others,-putting the best construction upon their actions, and imputing the best motives to them. Sweet, heaven-descended grace! Pure, blessed Spirit. Oh, for such knowledge of God's love! How it glorifies God-what happiness it imparts-what peace of mind-and what blessedness it diffuses all around! 1. Christian brethren, cultivate this excellent spirit -it can flow only from the knowledge of God's love. Seek deeper acquaintance with the love of God: search for it in his holy word-wait for it in prayer, in ordinances, especially in the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. It is the fruit of the Spirit; it "is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us." (Rom. v. 5.) Pray then for the spirit: pray "that the Lord," the Spirit, would "direct your hearts into the love of God." (2 Thess. iii. 5.) Reduce this holy temper to practice: be patient and thankful in your own mind: be full of mercy and pity, even to scoffers and them that hate you-be very gentle and kind to Christian brethren who differ from you or oppose you. Thus fulfil the law of love. |