THE SOURCE OF LOVE by J. Vaughan

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jun 27, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 26.

THE SOURCE OF LOVE.

By J. Vaughan

“LOVE is of God.” 1 John 4:7.

Essentially and eternally, all love is of God, and all God is love. To reveal this to man, that stream of paradise was parted, and became into three heads. There was the electing love of God the Father, which gave His Son to the world, and the world to His Son; and there was the love of Jesus to the death, by which He gave Himself, the innocent Sufferer for a guilty race; and there was the love of the patient Spirit in sevenfold offices, and all to comfort those who were unhappy because they were wicked, and wicked because they were unhappy.

What do we mean when we say, “Love is of God?”— We mean, it is of the nature of God. All love is first in God. 2. Love is of God because it is His gift. Whoever wants real love must ask for it as a creation. It does not spring up here in the lower ground, but it comes down from heaven. If you find it hard to love anybody, you must remember that love is a fruit; and before there can be fruit there must be seed. 3. Love is of God because it is an emanation always flowing. This is the reason why those who live nearest to God grow the most loving. They catch the droppings; they get imbued with that with which they are in contact.

The shortest road to almost every good thing is through love. You will have to meet and to battle with many strong things; and not very long hence you will have to meet death, that mighty conqueror death. There is only one thing strong enough to be antagonistic to death—you must take it out of God's armory—“Love is strong as death.”—J. Vaughan.