The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 608

— LOVE

568

And

for Jesus can not exist but with hatred for Satan.

measure

God

for the love of

in

our hearts

the best

the depth of contempt

is

for sin.

He

that loves the world hates God,

enemy;

and has made God his

"By

as the Catechism correctly remarks:

nature

we

are

prone to hate God and our neighbor." " The carnal mind is enmity against God." But the man whose soul overflows with the love of

God

hates the unholy spirit of the world in and around him, and it until the hour of his death. David's testimony

fights against

Do I not hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? I hate them with perfect hatred " (Psalm cxxxix. 21) is only the reverse of the stamp "

—

And if among was one who could truly

those born of the will of

of love.

tred"; yet there

who

say, " Lord,

was One

"

that

He

man

there never

hate them with perfect ha-

whose heart

in

alone could say

I

this hatred

loved

was deep and

God with

all His heart and soul and mind and strength." This mutual position is therefore very clear. There are degrees both in love and in hatred. In proportion as the heart beats strongly or feebly, i.e., in proportion as the spirit of this world or the Holy Spirit dwells in us and animates us to stronger expres-

true,

sion, in that proportion that love or that hatred shall rise in us in

higher degree.

And

according to that degree shall the proportion

of our present conflict, sorrow, and suffering be. "

Through

suffering to glory

" is

true especially with reference Being love, it can not be neutral or insensible. And while contact with men causes it much suffering, this suffering is in-

to love. Its

its own bosom. For this pure, holy love loves itself, but only in a holy sense. Altho it can not purge its heart all at once from all unholiness and impurity, yet it constantly wars against them and separates itself from them. And since in that conflict it is often convinced of its own lack of love and faithfulness, and of having grieved the divine Love, it sorrows much. Frequently it feels so humbled in the

creased by the conflict in

presence of Jesus that

it

humbled before

up

scarcely dares look

in the presence of His cross

;

conscious of

its

to

Him humbled ;

inability to self-sacri-

own loved ones whom

it ought to bless, and especially in the presence of the Holy Spirit, who tenderly sought to animate it, and whom it often silenced by this lack of courage and will power.

fice;

whom

it

And

its

frequently injures

;

this grieves the soul of the saint,

who

seeks in vain for the

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen