Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1883-08-20
8eligions department,
ALL CHRISTIANS HAVE SOME
LOVE TO CHRIST.

This is their distinguished charact-
eristic. And yet, the love of many
Christians, if not indeed of most |
Christians, is "cold and faint. 1t |
is very faint compared with what it
ought to be. And there are no
Christians whose love is so great but |
that it ought to be greater. Their |
appropriate prayer would be, "More
love to Thee" Christ is supremely
excellent in himself. He is possessed
of all projections, and in an infinite
degree. He is the Fathers beloved
Son, in whom He is well pleased.
In the s'Song of Songs" the bride, the
Lambs wife. being asked ''What is
thy Beloved more than another be-
loved?" after having specified various
excellencies as belonging to Him,
sums up the whole with the express
i've words: "Yea He IS altogether
loUely."
And lovely as He is in himself, He
has laid sinners of our race under in
finite obligations to Him by His infin-
tie condescension, and by His great
sufferings in their behalf. BY these,
He has purchased for them the favor
of their offended God, and eternal
life. He has redeemed them by His
precious blood. Though He was
rich, yet for their sakes He became
poor that they, through His poverty,
might be rich.
Such love is worthy of love in re-
turn, and in no ordinary degree.
The Christian never loves his Say
Jour in such measure but that He is
worthy of being loved yet more and
he never will. In Heaven he will
love Him perfectly with all his heart
and soul. But as his capacity for
loving shall be increased, his Saviour
will be worthy of being loved to the
limit of his enlarged capacity and
thus it will be to all eternity. AS the
redeemed shall know more and more
the worthiness of the Saviour, and
their Indebtedness to Him, their love
will become more and more fervent,
and their songs will become more and
more rapturous, and Christ shall see
in them more and more of the travail
of His soul, and be satisfied. And
this brings us to fact often lost
sight of by the Christian, that the Sc
cret of earthly happiness and the
guerdon of eternal life is love.
While men seek happiness in thou
sand and one ways here, and while
books are written to prove that the
pianist shall have heavenly piano
that never loses its pitch, and the or
ganist shall on some celestial instru-
ment
build bridge from dreamland for his lay,
and so on, we forget to 60 higher in
searching for the lower, and lose
sight of the truth that when love
completely possesses the heart there
are no heavy hours hanging their deat
weight upon the soul; there is ne
necessity for engaging in a hun
after pleasure. The Christians
whose love for his Master is we'll
nigh perfect and all-pervasive, neye
wonders how he will be happy il
Heaven nor pines for companionshi
on earth. And as love is the fulfill
ing of all law, so it is the end of lif
itself. Whether in the calm of qui
ct life or amid the turbulence of try
ing scenes, so long as the Divine LAY
of love is obeyed happiness is an eve
abiding guest. The heart filled wit
the double love, that of God an
ones fellow-man, preserves its white
ness; aud he who keeps that in thi
world, need have no fear of losing
in any her.-Christian at Work.