Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1902-07-12
LOVE-.
what 10 Means to the world-Dtvs,s
Aneotisa Retter Than Human,
because Wiser.


TO him.-St John. xiv. IL
Can you conceive what this old earth
would be IL there were no love in It =?
Love is the river Jordan in which we
are all baptized and consecrated to q
new life. 1t flows by every home in the
land, making green our lowland
meadows, irrigsting the desert places
and covering the sandy soil with flow
ers- Life would otherwise be = dirge.
but love makes it a paean OF praise.
Take all but love, and there is enough
left to make us content and happy;
give all but that and you may as well
give nothing, for he who gives all but
sunshine gives only frost and fee and
cold.
Our confidence and trust in each 9TH
er, our loyal friendship for each 9TH
er, our charity of Judgment toward
each other, our willingness to sacrifice
Tor each other-all born of love-are
the saving grace Of the world. They
are fragrance, they are music, and they
are the bow in the sky predicting a
heavenly morrow. Love points to God
and insists on immortality. If one is
pervaded by the spirit of love, not rs
kindled shavings, which burn intensely
and suddenly go out, but like the altar
fame Of the DruidS, which was never
extinguished, he need not argue about
immortality. for he has the right TO de-
mand it Of the Almighty. for such a
Divine passion is not satisfied with
this life, but seeks higher develop
ment in larger place, with larger OPP
portunity.
Love Is at once the prophecy and
proof OF eternal existence, and moth
ing else will satisfy the appetite which
God Himself has implanted. He would
hardly be Heavenly Father who
should go fashion VIZ that we should
End our supreme happiness and our
highest education in love, and then at
death suddenly blot It all out. II foods
power were limited, such a state OF af-
fairs would be conceivable, but with a
God whose resources are boundless IL
rs not conceivable-R symph ony hard
ly begun before IL is ended. That would
be curious exhibition OF wisdom and
power. On the other hand. It would
be distinct act of cruelty. The song
that is only partly sung when death
bids us hush must be finished in some
other cline; the task so nobly begun
but left incomplete must be resumed
elsewhere, or this Is the strangest
world ever heard OF. and the greatest
enigma, q world in which deaf IL more
powerful than God.
Think Of planet withou love. Itis
well-nigh impossible. Such q planet
would not be worth living In, One
would rather not be born than born in
such O world. Only your own advan-
tage TO be fought for and wont Greedy
souls clamoring for more and refusing
TO share 4 morsel with their neiChbors
"a life and death struggle to get for
yourself and 90 keep from others-a
wretched world, too forlorn for words
mo blue sky, no green fields, no rivu-
lets making music, only n drsary, bar
ren waste Of sand, with bat one high
way, and that leading Nowhere. 1t is
impossible 60 think OF such world
rntil God has been dethroned.
Mans love is very beautiful thing,
but it lacks the special peculiarities of
Gods love. Mans love is weak, but
Gods Is vice God loves Us 90 much
that He holds IA to our ideals, and
thongh merciful, He will tolerate moth
ing less He commands us TO be all
BE knows we can be, and assists us
with the whole trend and current OF
the universe, He will accept no I'm
perfect gift. There is a Ets-nness and
a glory In Gods love which we find it
difficult to understand, It is so unlike
our love,
When we love we e0ndopo ofrenses,
excuse faults, and so encourage both
The more we love. the more partial and
the less critical we are. It is because
our love Is human, while His IL Divine.
His love makes us nobler, develops and
educates, while ours, pure and sweet
as It IS, Is apt to have the contrary eff
feet There is no favoritism with BIN,
and when you have His approval you
may be sure that you have the quaN-
ties of character which can lawfully
claim It. His is the perfect love, while
ours Is imperfect
But even our human love brinsv
Heaven close to earth. Our family re-
lationE, shat OF father, neither, hus-
band, wife, child, are all separs&e
benedietions. They clear the rugged
path Of experience with that sympathy
which frightens temptation away and
fills the field with flowers and with a
happiness which can be had in no 9TH
er way. Better still, it tearfully and
joyfully points TO that perfect day IN
which our broken ties shall bind them
selves together once more, and in
which the mansions Of God shall be
filled with loving hearts which will
thenceforward know no parting
George II. Hepworth. IN N. Y. Herald.