God is Love by Stephen Charnock

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 22, 1857

God is Love.

By Stephen Charnock

God is love; and the manifestation of it to us was his sending "his only begotten Son into this world, that we might live through him." Hereby he not only declared himself placable—not only desirous of manifesting a scanty goodness to the creature, but to show that his nature was enriched with the choicest love and grace, and his desire that it should flow out in the highest manner through a Mediator to a polluted and rebellious world. In him God opened his bowels, which lay secretly yearning, and "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Both mercy and love were manifested. Love is a perfection of a higher strain than mercy. Mercy may be prevalent where love is absent. Mercy hath for its object a thing miserable. Love hath for its object a thing amiable; pardoning grace hath for its object a thing criminal. The mercy of God is manifested in the death of Christ for us when we wallowed in misery. The pardoning grace of God is declared upon us as we are loaded with guilt. Love is manifested in being well-pleased with us in Christ, his best Beloved, after we are united to him by faith, and made comely and amiable by his comeliness put upon us.—Charnock.