"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." -JOHN iii. 14.
"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." -1 JOHN iv, 8.
MUTUAL love the token be,
Lord, that we belong to The;
Love, Thine image, love impart;
Stamp it on our face and heart;
Only love to us be given;
Lord, we ask no other heaven.
-C. WESLEY
OH, how many times we can most of us remember when we would gladly have made the most costly sacrifice to God, if He would only excused us from this duty of loving, of which our nature seemed utterly incapable. It is far easier to feel kindly, to act kindly, toward those with whom we are seldom brought into contact, whose tempers and prejudices do not rub against ours, whose interests do not clash with ours, than to keep up an habitual, steady, self-sacrificing love towards those whose weakness and faults are always forcing themselves upon us, and are stirring up our own. A man may pass god muster as a philanthropist who makes but a poor master to his servants, or father to his children.
F. D. MAURICE
