The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-01-02
LOST LOVE.


This is the fitting lament of Agnos-
ticism, the fashionable religious know
nothingism of to-day. 1t has not ami
hilated infinite love, but it has neces-
sarily lost the knowledge of it. Its
essential profession is that it simply does
not know. Was Jesus of Nazareth more
than manp 1t does not know. Did
he really rise from the deadP II does
not know. Is there God in the uni
verse, being of infinite wisdom and
love? IL does not know. Is another
life possible to man? II does not know.
Is there any near or "far-off Divine
event, TO which the whole creation
moves as to the solution of the great
enigma of good and evil; any coming
triumphant vindication OF the ways Of
God with men-if God there be at all?
1t does not know. Infinite knowledge,
infinite wisdom, infinite love--these are
hidden from its gaze, it finds them not,
can take of them no account. They
may still exist; but 10 Hie mind they are
as il they were not. Finite love, of
course, remains-love of kind, love of
country. love of family, love Of wife
these, happily. are not necessarily nor
probably lost to agnostics, however seri-
onsly the beauty of them may be tar
nished and the zest Of them abated.
But love at its highest, its noblest, its
longest, its best-this is gone. The loss
Is unspeakable. The calamity is inn
measurable. Life can, now that in
finite love is lost, never be what IL was
before. There was always before some
saving clause in the severest sentence OF
doom; some imaginable reserve in the
healing resources of Providence, some
thing better TO come, something more
cheering TO discover, some larger posi-
bility Of forgiving and healing mercy to
hope for, so long as God remained, and
so long as the abiding God must needs
continue TO be infinite, free, eternal
love.
No loss more serious than this can be
contemplated. so far, at least, as the
present healing and help Of the heart is
concerned. There Is nothing so dear to
us as love; nothing so full OF solace and
inspiration; nothing so fruitful in true
nobility of character; nothing so pro-
life OF strong and helpful actions.
Everything else goes down before the
majesty OF love. Love begins life, love
ends ii. Wealth, learning. position
all own the supremacy OF love. Give
us something to love, or we break our
hearts. Strip us of all other posses
sions, beggar us in everything else; but
only grant hearts to love us and accept
eur loEa, ,and s.iK in spite of all our
losses we are rich. No fact in science
is more sure than this. History attests
It. Myriads of living hearts declare its
truth. In short, there can be no scien-
tific account of the universe so much as
hopefully attempted which does not set
human nature clear out inIthe front be-
fore all forms Of nature outside man,
and which does not, in measuring man.
), pay supreme regard to the dimensions
of his love. The truest scie nee must be
that which takes most careful account
of the greatest, most fruitful, most mar
velous phenomena. Man, beyond all
question, the most wonderful natural
phenomenon which can be submitted
to philosophic investigation, is the phe-
nomenon Of humen love. Whence has
It Gomez What its secretp What its
end? How can il be best explainedp
These are questions TO which Agnost-
cism can give little or no answer. II
+ must still declare that it simply does
not know.
But where Agnostcsm fails, Chris
tian revelation succeeds. Finite love
has its roots In Infinite Love; mans
love springs from Gods. There Is no
breadth. no variety, no persistence, no
tenderness, no yearning, no pure de-
light in human love which does not
find It's adequate solution here. God is
love- lie made us TO love. BY His
ordainment loveless existence is un-
blessed. This resting Of human love
In the Irvine Is conception which
Satisfies the intellect; for not only does
IL In n general way assign an adequate
cause for a known effect, but IL finds a
creative pattern to the most various and
diverse manifestations Of the great
principle. Nature, II is true, TO the be-
lieving man, is full of illustrations Of
the manifold workings OF the love Of
God. But in Christ the very extremes
of love meetAits most diverse move
fnents are gloriously harmonized. In
Him Is satisfied the IDEAL which claims
OF us that we reconcile outgoings Of
love 50 diverse that they often appear
20 he conflicting. Christ loved His
enemies; lie loved His friends. He
fenderly pitied the fallen, the miser-
able, the outcast. the helpless, but He
loved the loveable, the appreciahye,
the faithful. the helpful, with choice
affection which took delight in all that
was Divine in the human, never once
decming that the gracious and the
beamfful were of no account A more
complex conception, more perfectly
harmonized. unified and explained than
that Of Christs love at once 70 tho
Y world and TO the Church can not DO no.
fiAcd There Is, however, much more
~ -aerc Intellectual completeness
why tn,.Athai mans love finds It's
rree,ariouco hare has