The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 653

XXXVIII. Christ or Satan. " But the greatest of these

— However heart, yet

1

Cor.

is

Love."

xiii. 13.

fearful the Scripture's revelation of the hardening of

it is

the only price at which the Almighty offers

man

the

blessed promise of Love's infinite wealth.

Light without shadow

and the purer and the and the more distinctly delineated the shadows must be. In like manner, faith is inconceivable without the opposite of doubt ; hope without the distressful tension of despair ; the highest enjoyment of love without the keenest incision of hatred. If this is so among men, how much more strongly must it appear when God sheds abroad His love by the Holy Spirit? Even among men love always loses in depth what it gains in

more

inconceivable

is

;

brilliant the light, the darker

breadth.

of men of whom all speak who, tho not pursued by hatred, are

Hence there are multitudes

well and no one speaks

ill

;

And

neither loved with passionate love.

one can treat with indifference

who

there are

men whom no

some with ardent love and others with violent hatred. How devoted the love of Timothy and Philemon for St. Paul, and with what hatred did the Jewish teachers persecute him How affectionate the attachment of the circle of German Reformers for Martin Luther, and how bitter the violence of the Romish hierarchy against him How deep and tender the love of our Christian people for Groen van Prinsteren, the noble champion of our Christian interests, and how fierce the ;

inspire

!

!

hatred and bitterness wherewith the

men

have pursued Petersburg almost worship the Russian Czar, while every nihilist abhors him as an incarnate devil.

him

all

And

The

of neutrality

the days of his

life

this is true in

every country and every age.

love has taken root in the friends and finds

itj;

!

soil

of

court circles of

principles, it

St.

As soon

as

separates the best

ooDOsite pole in the most fearful hatred.

Love

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