06 -- THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS IS THE BEAUTY OF LOVE
"Love is the one kind of holiness existing in different degrees in
various believers, " said an old writer. Holiness has been described as
Perfect Love -- "The loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and
strength, this implies that no wrong temper, none contrary to love, remains in
the soul and that all the thoughts, words and actions are governed by pure
love. "
Love is the master passion of the soul, hence Jesus placed all service and
all obedience and all fidelity to him on Love. He said: "Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy strength. "
Dr. Daniel Steele in describing his entrance into the experience of Perfect
Love said: "This has been accompanied with such a feeling of inward
cleanness, that I doubt not that the Purifier has taken up His abode in the
temple of my heart. But the direct testimony of the heavenly Guest is Love,
Love, all consuming Love, flaming in the heart of Jesus -- Woe to me, I feel
that sin cannot abide in the flames of this furnace kindled to such an
intensity about me. "
One of the most illuminating interpretations of love as set forth in
Thirteenth of First Corinthians has been by Professor Drummond in "The
Greatest Thing in the World. " He sets forth Love Contrasted, Love
Analyzed, Love Defended. In his analysis of Love he says:
"The spectrum of love has nine ingredients:
"Patience -- Love suffereth long.
"Kindness -- And is kind.
"Generosity -- Love envieth not.
"Humility -- Love vaunteth not itself; is not puffed up.
"Courtesy -- Doth not behave itself unseemly.
"Unselfishness -- Seeketh not her own.
"Good Temper -- Is not easily provoked.
"Guilelessness -- Thinketh no evil.
"Sincerity -- Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.
"
In that wonderful little book of the ages, "The Imitation of Christ,
" Thomas a'Kempisspeaking of the "Wonderful Effect of Divine Love,
" says:
"Love is circumspect, humble, and upright; not yielding to softness,
levity, or vanity; love is sober, steady, chaste, quiet, and keeps a guard over
all the senses.
"Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, nothing higher,
nothing broader, nothing more pleasant, nothing better, either in heaven or
earth, because love is born of God; and, rising above all created things, can
find its rest in Him alone.
"Love watches, and, slumbering, does not sleep; if weary, it wearies
not; if restrained, it is not straitened; if fearful, it is not dismayed; but
as a living flame and flowing torch it burst supward, and safely keeps its
onward course.
"If any man loves, he will know what is the utterance of love. "
Doddridge was touching this realm of Divine Love when he sang:
"Do not I love thee, O my Lord, Then let me nothing love;Dead be my
heart to every joy Where Jesus cannot move.
"Thou knowest I love thee, dearest Lord But O, I long to soar Far from
the sphere of mortal joys, And learn to love thee more. "
The consecration of our Love powers hold all things in proper proportion.
Thou art the sea of Love, Where all my pleasures roll, The circle where my
passions move And center of my soul.
My passions hold a pleasing reign When Love inspires the breast, Love the
divinest of the train, The Sovereign of the rest.
Perfection
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, who was given to the wild beasts at Rome when
one hundred and seven years of age, said: "I thank thee, O Lord, that Thou
vouchsafed to honor me with a perfect love towards Thee. "
Irenaeus taught that those were perfect "'who present soul, body, and
spirit faultless to the Lord. Therefore, those are perfect who have the spirit
and perseverance of God, and have preserved their souls and bodies without
fault. "
Marcarius taught the doctrine more clearly than any of the Fathers. Of our
duties and privilege, he says: "It is perfect purity from sin, freedom
from all the shameful lusts and passions, and the assumption of perfect virtue;
that is, the purification of the heart by the plenary and experimental
communion of the perfect and divine Spirit. "
