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tinction from the infinity of his natural existence, nothing which constitutes God, remains; nothing to give birth to happy existences, nothing to protect them and to secure their happiness, nothing to give them confidence, nothing lovely, and nothing to be loved. Take away love from the divine nature, and what would remain would be either an infinite indifferent being, or an infinite Satan.

4. And, again, we argue that "God is love," because, without love as the permanent and controlling element of his nature, the rectitude or right of things could not be sustained.

There is, and must be, in the divine nature, everything that is expressed in the word ought; everything which corresponds to the claims of right and obligation; everything which ought to be. That we ought to love existence, simply because it is existence; that we ought to desire, and seek, and love the happiness of all who exist, simply because they do exist and are susceptible of happiness, is an affirmation founded on the spontaneous intimations of the moral sense, and which, therefore, is antecedent to and above reasoning. It is none the less a truth because it is suggested rather than deduced; because it is given by its own impulse of revelation, rather than extracted by the researches of a power distinct from and out of itself. The right or obligation of things is a law which exists by itself, which discloses its own exigencies and proclaims its own veracity; asking no counsel or support from that which is imperfect or created; never going back of or above itself for another and higher motive of action; but standing alone, immutable, universal, and eternal. On this ground, therefore, we affirm that God is love, namely, because he ought to be. The voice of our moral nature, which is the voice of

God himself, proclaims that it cannot be otherwise. He loves, he must love, he cannot help loving everything which exists.

5. Again, God is love, (the attribute of love constituting the essential and controlling part of his nature,) because, without love, he cannot be a happy being. Whatever may be regarded as the true elements of happiness, it is certain that permanency is essential to it. And it is a great truth, verified by universal experience as well as by enlightened reason, that there cannot be permanent happiness, if indeed there can be happiness at all, separate from love. It is hardly necessary to say that indifference is not happiness. It may not be misery, but it certainly cannot be happiness. Hatred, which is the opposite of love, and which of course must exist, if there is neither love nor indifference, is not happiness. On the contrary, there are always painful feelings involved in and attending it. God, therefore, if eternity is essential to his character, and if love is the foundation of happiness, is either eternal love, or must be described in terms which are abhorrent in the very utterance, as eternal misery. But a view of God, which characterizes him as miserable, is inadmissible. Love, then, taking it for granted that he is and ever will be a happy being, is an essential part of his everlasting

nature.

6. Again; love, by which we mean pure or holy love, cannot by any possibility exist in any but an Infinite Being, or in those beings who rest on the Infinite. Plants and flowers might as well grow upon rocks where there is no earth, as pure love grow out of the finite; we mean the finite, standing alone and sustained by its own strength. Such is the nature of this love, transcending as it does all limited interests, that it claims

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a natural and necessary affinity with the unlimited. other love is bounded. Pure love knows no bounds. does not ask whether the object of its regard is good or evil, a friend or an enemy. It transcends the restrictions, which are multiplied and piled up one upon another, of human passion and interest, and gives its affections without reward. Strong in its own divinity, it "casts out fear." Fear, which has no place in the infinite, is the necessary law of inferiority, except where the weak are united with the strong. All beings that are not God and are not united with God, in neither being the source of things nor being united with that great and benevolent source, are condemned to selfishness by their position, and are condemned to weakness and sorrow, to fear and shame, by their selfishness. Having nothing else to rest upon, their thoughts and their love turn to themselves. Pure love, which rejects all such restrictions, they have not and cannot have. But God's love, growing out of and constituting, or at least perfecting, a nature which is infinite, and which in being infinite knows no partial interests and has no fear, reaches all, encircles all, blesses all.

7. The declaration of the apostle, that God is love, is not a mere figure of speech. It does not merely mean, that he can love, or that he does love in some degree. The expression is emphatic, full of meaning. Its import has already been explained. And we add here, it cannot be too often repeated, in relation to God, that love stands as the centre of his being. Far more than anything else, it is the essential element of his life as God.

It is true, it is preceded in the order of nature by faith. This we have already had occasion to notice. In the natural order, faith is the antecedent of love; and is also its necessary condition. But while it can be truly said

that both faith and love have their appropriate place, and that both are essential; it is also true that love, considered as an element of the divine nature, stands nearer the centre of existence, and contains in itself the motive or active principle of being. All other things are subordinate to it. Infinite space and infinite time are its locality; infinite knowledge is its minister and handmaid; the conscience is its guard, pronouncing within and without its moral value; the will executes its decrees; but the moving principle, the essence, the life of the infinite as God, that which gives inspiration to knowledge, motion to power, and impulse to the will, is, and must be, LOVE.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE LOVE OF EXISTENCE IN DISTINCTION FROM THE LOVE OF CHARACTER.

Illustrations of the love of existence. - The mother and her sons. The wife and her husband. - Other illustrations. - Deductions from these views. On the love of our enemies. Without this love we cannot be the sons of God.

PURE love, as we have already had occasion to remark, is the love of existence or being, independently of character. Undoubtedly such love is remote from the common apprehension and experience; so much so that its nature is difficult to be understood and appreciated by most persons. Some further illustrations, therefore, -illustrations drawn from the situations and acts of those around us, -will aid us in a just view of the subject.

2. There lives in yonder dwelling a humble and praying mother, who has two sons; one of whom is eminent for his virtues, the other is equally distinguished for his vices. The virtuous son she not only loves with the love of benevolence, which is the same as the love of existence or being, but with the love of complacency. In other words, she not only loves him, but delights in him. His character, as well as his existence, commands her affections, and brings a rich reward.

But the other son is the son of her sorrow. He is deformed in person, ferocious in mind, addicted to unholy indulgences, and to all human appearance evil and only

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