Marks or Characteristics of Perfect Love.
If the doctrine of Holiness or Christian Perfection is true, then it will follow that it is our duty and privilege, even in the present life, to realize in our own souls the fulfillment of that great command, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." In other words, we must possess what may properly be called perfect love. Accordingly it becomes a very important and interesting inquiry. When can our love properly be said to be perfect? It will be our object in the remarks which follow, to endeavor to answer this inquiry. In the first place, perfect love, (that is to say, such love as our Saviour requires us to exercise,) implies the removal or extinction of all selfishness. So long as there is selfishness in the heart, even in the least degree, there cannot be that perfect love which Christ requires. But in making this statement we ought perhaps to keep in mind the distinction, which mental philosophers make between self-love and selfishness. Self-love is the name for that implanted desire of happiness, which is natural to the human mind; and which, in its legitimate exercise, can never fail to be approved by the great Being who implanted it; selfishness, considered as a state of the mind, is the undue, excessive or inordinate exercise of the principle of self-love; an exercise which is inconsistent with the claims of our fellow men upon us, and particularly the claims of our heavenly Father. Selfishness, therefore, must be removed from the heart before there can be perfect love. In the second place, there must be not only a removal or extinction of that which is opposite to love; but also the affirmative or positive existence of love itself in the soul. But the question arises here, What is love? It may perhaps be difficult to define this state of mind with much exactness; but we find on a careful examination of it, that it is susceptible of being resolved into two elements: first, a complacency or pleasure in the mere contemplation of the object which is loved, and, second, a desire of good to that object. We are not only pleased with the object, which is one thing; but we desire also, which is of still greater moment, to co-operate with it in its own personal plans of action and happiness. We now proceed to inquire, when this love may be regarded as perfect; in other words, When shall we know, or at least have reasonable grounds to believe, that we fulfill in our own hearts that great and excellent command, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength? Love to a human object, it will be remembered, embraces two things: first, a pleasure or complacency in the object, and second, a desire to do good to that object. When speaking of God, who sustains to us a relation higher and different from that sustained by human beings, we may with propriety alter the form of expression slightly, although with essentially the same idea at the bottom, and say that love to God embraces two things: first, a pleasure or complacency in his character, and second, a desire to promote his glory. Accordingly the first mark of perfect love to God is an entire approbation of and delight in his character in all respects. In other words, approving and complacent emotion, without the least intermixture of doubt and dissatisfaction, arise in view of his power and justice, as well as of his goodness and mercy, so that we delight truly and continually in his whole character, and in all the exhibitions of his character, as they are actually made known to us in the Holy Scriptures or in any other way. A second mark of perfect love is, the existence of a desire to promote his glory, which is the other higher and more decisive characteristic of this complex mental state, in such a degree, that we are not conscious of having any desire or will at variance with the will of God. In other words, it is our sincere and constant desire to do and to suffer in all things the will of God. When such is the case, when there is an entire and cordial acquiescence of our own will to the will of God both to do and to suffer, we have the second mark, and probably we may add, the most important and satisfactory one, that our love is perfect. The nature of the human mind is such, that we never can have an entire and cordial acquiescence in the will of God in all things, without an antecedent approval of and complacency in his character and administration. Accordingly the second mark, viz., a will entirely accordant with and lost in the will of God, is of itself sufficient. And by this, as I suppose, we may know, whether love is or is not perfect. We may perhaps illustrate this view of the subject, by what we sometimes notice in the various forms and degrees of filial love. We will take, in the first place, the case of a child, who is sincerely attached to his father, but who, as we sometimes express it, exhibits "a will of his own." This child undoubtedly loves his father very much; but at the same time he does not always do with entire pleasure and readiness that which his father wishes him to do. He sometimes hesitates, exhibits a clouded brow, or utters an impatient expression, when certain things are required of him. He has certain little objects of his own which he is very much attached to; and if his father's plans happen to cross and oppose them, he exhibits in a greater or less degree, a disposition to set up for himself and to rebel. And when he outwardly obeys, it is found that he does it reluctantly, and not with a will harmonizing and blending with the paternal will. Now we say very truly that this child loves his father—perhaps he loves him very much—and yet it is clear he does not love him perfectly. But when we see a child who is happy only when he sees his father happy; whose delight it is to anticipate the father's wishes; whose will, by a sort of instinctive tendency, is invariably and powerfully united and blended with the paternal will, so that the least opposition between the two wills is a source of the greatest grief to him, we at once feel, and cannot help feeling, that the love of such a child may properly be called perfect. What other idea of perfection of love can we have than this? His heart is made one with another heart, and what could we ask for more? Thus then is the true mark of perfection in Christian love; viz., an entire coincidence of our own wills with the will of God; a full and hearty substitution of the divine mind in the place of our own minds; the rejection of the natural principle of life, and the adoption of the heavenly principle of life; the expulsion of self from the heart, and the enthronement of God there as its everlasting sovereign. This view, which is practically a very important one, seems to be confirmed by what the Saviour says of himself in a number of passages. John vi, 38. "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." John iv, 34. "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." Heb. x. 9. "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." The same idea, viz., that perfection of Christian love exists, and exists only in connection with a will united to and perfectly coincident with the will of God, is conveyed in that interesting passage, [Mark iii, 34, 35.] "And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister and mother." Matt. vii, 21. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven." A number of inferences follow from these views. First, A person who has perfect love will love his Bible above all other books. It will be dear to his heart, an inexpressible treasure. And the reason is obvious. It is because in the Bible he learns the will of God, which he delights, more than in anything else, to do and to suffer. Second, Perfect love will exhibit a trait of permanency and perseverance under the most trying circumstances. Our fears and hopes vary; our joys and sorrows vary; but we may reasonably expect that perfect love will continue the same. There is no reason why it should change, since the object at which it aims is the same with the immutable will of God. Accordingly, when in the providence of God we are afflicted, our joys will be less, but there will be no diminution of love. Joy flourishes in the sunshine, but love grows and flourishes in the storm also. God may hide his face from us, but hearts of love still look in that direction where his face is. The Saviour on a certain occasion was greatly afflicted. His language was, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." His joy was taken from him, but his love remained. He could still say while he prayed that the cup might, if possible, pass from him, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." Third, We are not at liberty to give up our hope of exercising an acceptable love to God, because we are tempted, tired, afflicted, or called in any way whatever to suffering, so long as we can truly say with our blessed Saviour, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt." So long as we can say this, "Our life is hid with Christ in God," we are safe in him; and in our troubles, although we may not have raptures, we shall have peace, abiding peace, such as the world knows not of. And when the day of our visitation is passed, when the light of the divine countenance shines through the clouds which he had pleased to throw around us, and we hear the saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant," which we shall sometimes hear, even in the present life, that peace will swell up into a full and solid strain of joy. Fourth, We shall love the brethren with peculiar strength. Perfect love is the image of Christ in the soul; and wherever we see that image, in whatever denomination of Christians, our hearts will recognize the divine relationship, and rejoice in it. Without this strong love to those who bear the divine image, we may be sure that our love is not perfect. It is God's great work, and highest delight, to create this image in the hearts of men, and if our will is swallowed up in his will, we shall rejoice in it in some degree as he does, and shall know the delightful meaning of those numerous passages of scripture which speak of the love of Christians to each other.—Christian Perfection.