No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
God has never been seen by physical sight and remains beyond human comprehension, but when people love one another He lives within them and brings His love to its full and intended expression in them. This love belongs to God's own nature, shown by sending His only Son to save sinners and give life, and its presence in believers is confirmed by the gift of His Spirit dwelling in them. Loving one another as Christ loved proves that God lives inside and that Christ is formed within, for no one can love God without loving his brother, and genuine love acts in deed and truth rather than in word alone. When this love is made complete it gives boldness in the day of judgment, purifies from selfishness, brings continual growth in grace, and brings the whole life into harmony with the divine. Kept in daily life it fulfills the law of loving God fully and neighbor as self, making God's unseen love visible through believers as living channels of grace to the world.
God Unseen Yet Indwelling
No one has ever seen God at any time with physical sight, for He remains unseen and not directly seen, beyond human comprehension. Though no one has seen Him, His presence is not absent, for the verse sets the unseen God alongside His dwelling in people. If people love one another, God dwells and lives in them, and His love is brought to completeness, full completion, and its intended full expression in them. That indwelling is the perpetual life of those who receive this love, producing great blessing in heart and mind. Where this mutual love is present, lovingkindness of heart, judgment, and righteousness are manifested to all in sanctified association and cooperation with Christ.
This indwelling is given through His Spirit and known by His Spirit given to believers, by which they dwell in Him and He in them. God dwells in people by the Holy Spirit working upon their hearts and minds. Feeling brotherly love for those around them is what allows that working, and without brotherly love the Holy Spirit cannot work upon heart and mind. Love for brethren is thus the proof and channel of God's indwelling, and this mutual love gives power for service. God made His unseen love understandable to the fallen race by the coming of Christ in human flesh. That love comes from God as the Source of all love, and it is perfected in believers when they love one another, making the invisible love visible in tangible form in daily life through kindness, forbearance, mercy, and love. In this way it is the privilege of every soul to be a living channel through which He communicates to the world the treasures of His grace and the unsearchable riches of Christ, representing His Spirit and character as a joy and blessing to human hearts.
Love Brought to Completeness
Though no one has ever seen God, He lives in those who love one another and His love is brought to completeness in them. This love is God's own nature and the mark of being born of God and knowing God, shown in sending His only Son into the world to give life and to atone for sins, which lays obligation on those so loved to love one another. Dwelling in love is dwelling in God and God in them, known by His Spirit given to them, making love complete so as to give boldness in the day of judgment.
Love brought to its full effect is the test of genuine religious experience and sanctification through the truth, clear and explicit, requiring action fashioned after the divine standard, not in word or tongue only but in deed and in truth. The love required is as broad and full as Christ's love, loving one another as He loved, keeping His commandments and abiding in His love, and it is the testimony to the world that Christ is formed within as the hope of glory. Its meaning was understood fully after Christ's sufferings, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and it faithfully portrays religious obligation to one another. When truth is received into the heart it produces sanctification, continual growth in grace, and readiness to do the work God has appointed, fulfilling the purpose of redemption. Faith works through love to purify the soul from selfishness and to bring the soul to perfection in love with tenderness and mercy. The love of Christ in the heart works like leaven, and its life-giving power shapes conduct and brings all of mind and soul and strength into complete harmony with the divine life.
Mutual love proves God lives inside, and there is no loveless Christian, because a heart where Christ lives cannot be without love. Completeness of Christian character is reached when helping and blessing others flows constantly from within, with heaven's sunshine filling the heart and showing in the life. This love lays down life for the brethren and opens compassion to meet a brother's need from this world's goods, and it calls for reformation in every family, institution, and church.
Love's Divine Origin
Love is of God and is God's own nature, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, for God is love. He who does not love does not know God, while he who dwells in love dwells in God and God in him. Charity with purity and fidelity is among the attributes most prized and sought in man by Him who was crucified to save and uplift mankind.
God's love was manifested in sending His only begotten Son into the world that people might live through Him. That sending was to save sinners and to be the propitiation and atonement for sins. Those so loved ought also to love one another.
In sending Christ, He took human nature and bound His divinity to humanity so that humanity might stand on vantage ground with God. By this union humanity may become partakers of the divine nature, and those who truly receive Christ receive power to become sons of God. That power is not mere nominal faith or legal religion but a faith that takes hold of God's richest gifts and pleads for the gift in order to give to others, receiving of His fullness grace for grace. The indwelling love thus received cannot be restrained but must overflow, making those in whom Jesus dwells think the thoughts of God and do the works of God and continue Christ's own soul-saving labor for those for whom He gave His life to obtain the joy set before Him.
The gift of His Spirit given to believers is the proof that they dwell in Him and He in them. By that Spirit love for the brethren becomes the proof and channel of God's indwelling.
Proof of Genuine Faith
Loving one another as Christ loved is the proof and channel and testimony that God lives inside, that Christ is formed within as the hope of glory, and that believers dwell in him and he in them through his Spirit. There is no loveless Christian, for a heart where Christ abides by faith cannot be without love, but reconciles the will to God's will and becomes one as Christ is one with the Father. Though no one has ever seen God, God dwells in those who love one another and his love is perfected and made complete in them and brought to its intended work, reaching its fullness in humility and conversion rather than stubbornly imposing personal views. Love and purity are qualities he prizes and that every Christian is to cherish, and this mutual love gives evidence to the world that he sent his Son.
It is impossible to love God without loving one's brother, for love for the brother is necessary evidence of fellowship with the unseen God and love for God cannot be separated from love for neighbor. The spirit shown toward brethren declares the spirit toward God, since the love of God in the heart is the only spring of love toward neighbor, and whoever fails to manifest mercy, kindness and love toward all breaks the law he professes to revere. Failure to cherish Christlike love for one another will condemn in the courts of heaven, and without it a person's case stands against him there.
Genuine love is not in word or in tongue only but in deed and in truth, as broad and full as Christ's love in keeping his commandments and abiding in his love. It perceives God's love in laying down his life in sending his only begotten Son to be the propitiation for sins that people might live through him, and returns that love by being ready to lay down life for the brethren and by opening compassion to meet a needy brother's need from this world's goods. Such action fashioned after the divine standard is the test of genuine religious experience, faithfully portraying religious obligation to one another and calling for reformation in every family, institution, and church.
Fulfilling God's Law
Loving one another fulfills the principle of the law, which is to love God with all heart, soul, mind, might and strength and to love neighbor as self, on which hang all the law and the prophets. Only by sharing the divine nature and becoming a partaker of it can this law be fulfilled, for the love of God in the heart is the only spring of love toward neighbor. What loving neighbor as self means is illustrated in the story of the good Samaritan and made manifest in the life and character of Jesus, which reveals the true significance of the law. The spirit shown toward brethren declares the spirit toward God, so whoever fails to manifest mercy, kindness and love toward all men breaks the law he professes to revere, while those who manifest it prove that God dwells in them and His love is made complete in them. This love must replace every man looking on his own things and closing his eyes to the interests of others, requiring prosperous institutions to care for struggling ones and to share abundance with disinterested liberality, leaving no nook or corner of the soul as a hiding place for selfishness. It is patient and kind, and it is evidence of being born of God and knowing God, for God is love.
When this love is acted out it is glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill toward men. Its manifestation glorifies the Lord when the great end of His law is achieved, and it is the living principle of brotherhood implanted in human hearts by the Holy Spirit from age to age, expressing divine unity and universal brotherhood. It brings heaven's order, plan, harmony, wisdom and mercy into every family, church and institution, producing order and harmony in the church, Christian refinement, noble principle, heavenly courtesy and charity toward the purchase of Christ's blood. It works moral transformation that imparts heaven's light and fits men and women for the society of heaven, from which selfish, rough, unkind and self-exalting persons are excluded unless changed to be meek, sincere and simple as a little child. It produces a heart full of generous sympathy for all who have made and are still making mistakes, that pays no attention to insult or depreciation but goes straight forward in duty, and having a tender, humble, sympathetic, pitying heart is not weakness to be ashamed of but strength derived from Christ. This indwelling love cannot be restrained but must overflow to continue Christ's own work of saving the souls for whom He gave His life to obtain the joy set before Him.
This testimony must go through the whole world, binding law and gospel together in a perfect whole, whose words give light and understanding to contrite hearts opened to receive them. Love exercised toward one another gives evidence to the world that God sent His Son, witnesses to the character of heaven's statutes, and quenches thinking evil and speaking evil against brethren. To love God supremely and to love others as self is the continuing and perpetual life of the church, and it is the work God intends His message to do in the heart and mind of every person. Where this love is received there is great blessing, the bright rays of the Sun of Righteousness are seen, and life and hope spring up in the heart through beholding Christ and applying the blood of the spotless Lamb to the heart. It must be kept glowing on the altar of the heart, for cares, selfishness, enmity, grievances and misunderstandings kill love for God and brethren and leave a person cold, hard and unsympathetic as an iceberg, while love first revealed in the home bursts its bonds to become a working power in the church, neighborhood, community and nations. Those who truly receive Christ receive power to become sons of God, not with mere nominal faith or legal religion but with a faith that takes hold of God's richest gifts and pleads for the gift in order to give to others, receiving of His fullness grace for grace.
Practicing Love Daily
Genuine love is unselfish, looking beyond one's own interests to care for the interests of others and to share abundance with those who need help. Prosperous institutions are therefore to care for struggling ones that are meant to live and prosper, sharing with disinterested liberality instead of every one looking on his own things and closing the eyes to the needs of others. This love leaves no nook or corner of the soul as a hiding place for selfishness, fulfills the law of loving God with all heart, might, mind and strength and neighbor as self, and when its great end is achieved brings glory to God in the highest with peace and goodwill to men.
Brotherly love proves abiding in the heart by faith, reconciles the will to the divine will, and must be kept glowing on the altar of the heart. Cares, selfishness, enmity, grievances and misunderstandings kill love for God and brethren and leave a person cold, hard, unsympathetic and frozen like an iceberg, with no room for the peace of Christ and no practice of His instruction, forbearance and love. Love exercised toward one another quenches evil thinking and evil speaking against brethren, and love first revealed in the home bursts its bonds to become a working power in the church, neighborhood, community and nations, giving evidence that the Son was sent.
There is sacred obligation to love those connected in faith, to be a help and blessing to every brother and sister in every way, to jealously guard each one, and to work in harmony, which purifies the soul. Fastening upon a brother or sister with words of condemnation and reproof is forbidden; bitterness is to be put away in repentance and return to the love once shown, walking in perfect harmony and cultivating love. The tenderness shown toward brethren is the example to follow, for expressing such love discourages jealousy and builds loving confidence between brethren.
Beholding with spiritual vision the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, appreciating the virtues of that character, and keeping that pattern ever before the mind changes believers from glory to glory into that likeness and makes them one in spirit for telling of that love and of the love to be manifested for one another. Where this love is received there is great blessing, the bright rays of the Sun of Righteousness are seen, and life and hope spring up in the heart through beholding and through applying the blood of the spotless Lamb to the heart. This is the work the message is intended to do in the heart and mind of every person, and it is the perpetual life of the church to love God supremely and to love others as self.
If the divine presence dwells within, there will be no robbery toward God or man but the strictest integrity on all occasions in living out the law in love. Living communion brings the presence of a living Saviour within, makes a person a blessing to the church, strengthens a brother when love is cherished toward him and confidence is shown in him, and brings completeness in the One who gave His life. That love perpetuated draws believers together around the cross, divests them of all selfishness, and binds them to God and to one another.
The unseen love was made understandable to the fallen race by the coming in human flesh, and it is perfected when believers love one another, making the invisible love visible in tangible form. Ministers are to make this subject plain and simple by precept and example, and every believer, though fallen, can reveal to the world and the heavenly universe that this same divine love dwells in the heart by manifesting kindness, forbearance, mercy and love in daily life. Those who have accepted present truth must be sanctified through the truth in this mutual love, otherwise profession lies against the truth, for when the indwelling is real the thoughts are the thoughts of God and the works are the works of God. Faith works through love, purifies the soul from selfishness, brings the soul to perfection in love, and calls for tenderness and mercy.
Love and purity, with charity and fidelity, are attributes most valued and prized above others and are to be cherished by every Christian alongside purity. Loving one another proves birth from God and knowledge of God, fulfills the entire law upon which hang all the law and the prophets, and when acted out in agreement of the Spirit and the Word brings heaven's order, harmony, divine unity and universal brotherhood into the church. Such love produces a generous, tender, humble, sympathetic and pitying heart toward all who have made and are still making mistakes, pays no attention to insult or depreciation, and goes straight forward in duty with straight paths. Having such a heart is not weakness to be ashamed of but strength derived from Christ.
Teaching children about divine love requires teachers who have themselves experienced that love through genuine conversion, so they can communicate the knowledge they have received. The divine nature cannot be comprehended by any human mind and has never been looked upon, leaving people as ignorant as little children, so controversy over nature and personality is to be refused. Where attempts are made to describe God, silence is eloquence; instead the Scriptures are to be read in simple faith, ideas formed from the inspired Word, and God loved and obeyed as little children, which keeps back speculative ideas.
God has never been seen by physical sight and remains beyond human comprehension, but when people love one another He lives within them and brings His love to its full and intended expression in them. This love belongs to God's own nature, shown by sending His only Son to save sinners and give life, and its presence in believers is confirmed by the gift of His Spirit dwelling in them. Loving one another as Christ loved proves that God lives inside and that Christ is formed within, for no one can love God without loving his brother, and genuine love acts in deed and truth rather than in word alone. When this love is made complete it gives boldness in the day of judgment, purifies from selfishness, brings continual growth in grace, and brings the whole life into harmony with the divine. Kept in daily life it fulfills the law of loving God fully and neighbor as self, making God's unseen love visible through believers as living channels of grace to the world.
God Unseen Yet Indwelling
No one has ever seen God at any time with physical sight, for He remains unseen and not directly seen, beyond human comprehension. Though no one has seen Him, His presence is not absent, for the verse sets the unseen God alongside His dwelling in people. If people love one another, God dwells and lives in them, and His love is brought to completeness, full completion, and its intended full expression in them. That indwelling is the perpetual life of those who receive this love, producing great blessing in heart and mind. Where this mutual love is present, lovingkindness of heart, judgment, and righteousness are manifested to all in sanctified association and cooperation with Christ.
This indwelling is given through His Spirit and known by His Spirit given to believers, by which they dwell in Him and He in them. God dwells in people by the Holy Spirit working upon their hearts and minds. Feeling brotherly love for those around them is what allows that working, and without brotherly love the Holy Spirit cannot work upon heart and mind. Love for brethren is thus the proof and channel of God's indwelling, and this mutual love gives power for service. God made His unseen love understandable to the fallen race by the coming of Christ in human flesh. That love comes from God as the Source of all love, and it is perfected in believers when they love one another, making the invisible love visible in tangible form in daily life through kindness, forbearance, mercy, and love. In this way it is the privilege of every soul to be a living channel through which He communicates to the world the treasures of His grace and the unsearchable riches of Christ, representing His Spirit and character as a joy and blessing to human hearts.
Love Brought to Completeness
Though no one has ever seen God, He lives in those who love one another and His love is brought to completeness in them. This love is God's own nature and the mark of being born of God and knowing God, shown in sending His only Son into the world to give life and to atone for sins, which lays obligation on those so loved to love one another. Dwelling in love is dwelling in God and God in them, known by His Spirit given to them, making love complete so as to give boldness in the day of judgment.
Love brought to its full effect is the test of genuine religious experience and sanctification through the truth, clear and explicit, requiring action fashioned after the divine standard, not in word or tongue only but in deed and in truth. The love required is as broad and full as Christ's love, loving one another as He loved, keeping His commandments and abiding in His love, and it is the testimony to the world that Christ is formed within as the hope of glory. Its meaning was understood fully after Christ's sufferings, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and it faithfully portrays religious obligation to one another. When truth is received into the heart it produces sanctification, continual growth in grace, and readiness to do the work God has appointed, fulfilling the purpose of redemption. Faith works through love to purify the soul from selfishness and to bring the soul to perfection in love with tenderness and mercy. The love of Christ in the heart works like leaven, and its life-giving power shapes conduct and brings all of mind and soul and strength into complete harmony with the divine life.
Mutual love proves God lives inside, and there is no loveless Christian, because a heart where Christ lives cannot be without love. Completeness of Christian character is reached when helping and blessing others flows constantly from within, with heaven's sunshine filling the heart and showing in the life. This love lays down life for the brethren and opens compassion to meet a brother's need from this world's goods, and it calls for reformation in every family, institution, and church.
Love's Divine Origin
Love is of God and is God's own nature, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, for God is love. He who does not love does not know God, while he who dwells in love dwells in God and God in him. Charity with purity and fidelity is among the attributes most prized and sought in man by Him who was crucified to save and uplift mankind.
God's love was manifested in sending His only begotten Son into the world that people might live through Him. That sending was to save sinners and to be the propitiation and atonement for sins. Those so loved ought also to love one another.
In sending Christ, He took human nature and bound His divinity to humanity so that humanity might stand on vantage ground with God. By this union humanity may become partakers of the divine nature, and those who truly receive Christ receive power to become sons of God. That power is not mere nominal faith or legal religion but a faith that takes hold of God's richest gifts and pleads for the gift in order to give to others, receiving of His fullness grace for grace. The indwelling love thus received cannot be restrained but must overflow, making those in whom Jesus dwells think the thoughts of God and do the works of God and continue Christ's own soul-saving labor for those for whom He gave His life to obtain the joy set before Him.
The gift of His Spirit given to believers is the proof that they dwell in Him and He in them. By that Spirit love for the brethren becomes the proof and channel of God's indwelling.
Proof of Genuine Faith
Loving one another as Christ loved is the proof and channel and testimony that God lives inside, that Christ is formed within as the hope of glory, and that believers dwell in him and he in them through his Spirit. There is no loveless Christian, for a heart where Christ abides by faith cannot be without love, but reconciles the will to God's will and becomes one as Christ is one with the Father. Though no one has ever seen God, God dwells in those who love one another and his love is perfected and made complete in them and brought to its intended work, reaching its fullness in humility and conversion rather than stubbornly imposing personal views. Love and purity are qualities he prizes and that every Christian is to cherish, and this mutual love gives evidence to the world that he sent his Son.
It is impossible to love God without loving one's brother, for love for the brother is necessary evidence of fellowship with the unseen God and love for God cannot be separated from love for neighbor. The spirit shown toward brethren declares the spirit toward God, since the love of God in the heart is the only spring of love toward neighbor, and whoever fails to manifest mercy, kindness and love toward all breaks the law he professes to revere. Failure to cherish Christlike love for one another will condemn in the courts of heaven, and without it a person's case stands against him there.
Genuine love is not in word or in tongue only but in deed and in truth, as broad and full as Christ's love in keeping his commandments and abiding in his love. It perceives God's love in laying down his life in sending his only begotten Son to be the propitiation for sins that people might live through him, and returns that love by being ready to lay down life for the brethren and by opening compassion to meet a needy brother's need from this world's goods. Such action fashioned after the divine standard is the test of genuine religious experience, faithfully portraying religious obligation to one another and calling for reformation in every family, institution, and church.
Fulfilling God's Law
Loving one another fulfills the principle of the law, which is to love God with all heart, soul, mind, might and strength and to love neighbor as self, on which hang all the law and the prophets. Only by sharing the divine nature and becoming a partaker of it can this law be fulfilled, for the love of God in the heart is the only spring of love toward neighbor. What loving neighbor as self means is illustrated in the story of the good Samaritan and made manifest in the life and character of Jesus, which reveals the true significance of the law. The spirit shown toward brethren declares the spirit toward God, so whoever fails to manifest mercy, kindness and love toward all men breaks the law he professes to revere, while those who manifest it prove that God dwells in them and His love is made complete in them. This love must replace every man looking on his own things and closing his eyes to the interests of others, requiring prosperous institutions to care for struggling ones and to share abundance with disinterested liberality, leaving no nook or corner of the soul as a hiding place for selfishness. It is patient and kind, and it is evidence of being born of God and knowing God, for God is love.
When this love is acted out it is glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill toward men. Its manifestation glorifies the Lord when the great end of His law is achieved, and it is the living principle of brotherhood implanted in human hearts by the Holy Spirit from age to age, expressing divine unity and universal brotherhood. It brings heaven's order, plan, harmony, wisdom and mercy into every family, church and institution, producing order and harmony in the church, Christian refinement, noble principle, heavenly courtesy and charity toward the purchase of Christ's blood. It works moral transformation that imparts heaven's light and fits men and women for the society of heaven, from which selfish, rough, unkind and self-exalting persons are excluded unless changed to be meek, sincere and simple as a little child. It produces a heart full of generous sympathy for all who have made and are still making mistakes, that pays no attention to insult or depreciation but goes straight forward in duty, and having a tender, humble, sympathetic, pitying heart is not weakness to be ashamed of but strength derived from Christ. This indwelling love cannot be restrained but must overflow to continue Christ's own work of saving the souls for whom He gave His life to obtain the joy set before Him.
This testimony must go through the whole world, binding law and gospel together in a perfect whole, whose words give light and understanding to contrite hearts opened to receive them. Love exercised toward one another gives evidence to the world that God sent His Son, witnesses to the character of heaven's statutes, and quenches thinking evil and speaking evil against brethren. To love God supremely and to love others as self is the continuing and perpetual life of the church, and it is the work God intends His message to do in the heart and mind of every person. Where this love is received there is great blessing, the bright rays of the Sun of Righteousness are seen, and life and hope spring up in the heart through beholding Christ and applying the blood of the spotless Lamb to the heart. It must be kept glowing on the altar of the heart, for cares, selfishness, enmity, grievances and misunderstandings kill love for God and brethren and leave a person cold, hard and unsympathetic as an iceberg, while love first revealed in the home bursts its bonds to become a working power in the church, neighborhood, community and nations. Those who truly receive Christ receive power to become sons of God, not with mere nominal faith or legal religion but with a faith that takes hold of God's richest gifts and pleads for the gift in order to give to others, receiving of His fullness grace for grace.
Practicing Love Daily
Genuine love is unselfish, looking beyond one's own interests to care for the interests of others and to share abundance with those who need help. Prosperous institutions are therefore to care for struggling ones that are meant to live and prosper, sharing with disinterested liberality instead of every one looking on his own things and closing the eyes to the needs of others. This love leaves no nook or corner of the soul as a hiding place for selfishness, fulfills the law of loving God with all heart, might, mind and strength and neighbor as self, and when its great end is achieved brings glory to God in the highest with peace and goodwill to men.
Brotherly love proves abiding in the heart by faith, reconciles the will to the divine will, and must be kept glowing on the altar of the heart. Cares, selfishness, enmity, grievances and misunderstandings kill love for God and brethren and leave a person cold, hard, unsympathetic and frozen like an iceberg, with no room for the peace of Christ and no practice of His instruction, forbearance and love. Love exercised toward one another quenches evil thinking and evil speaking against brethren, and love first revealed in the home bursts its bonds to become a working power in the church, neighborhood, community and nations, giving evidence that the Son was sent.
There is sacred obligation to love those connected in faith, to be a help and blessing to every brother and sister in every way, to jealously guard each one, and to work in harmony, which purifies the soul. Fastening upon a brother or sister with words of condemnation and reproof is forbidden; bitterness is to be put away in repentance and return to the love once shown, walking in perfect harmony and cultivating love. The tenderness shown toward brethren is the example to follow, for expressing such love discourages jealousy and builds loving confidence between brethren.
Beholding with spiritual vision the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, appreciating the virtues of that character, and keeping that pattern ever before the mind changes believers from glory to glory into that likeness and makes them one in spirit for telling of that love and of the love to be manifested for one another. Where this love is received there is great blessing, the bright rays of the Sun of Righteousness are seen, and life and hope spring up in the heart through beholding and through applying the blood of the spotless Lamb to the heart. This is the work the message is intended to do in the heart and mind of every person, and it is the perpetual life of the church to love God supremely and to love others as self.
If the divine presence dwells within, there will be no robbery toward God or man but the strictest integrity on all occasions in living out the law in love. Living communion brings the presence of a living Saviour within, makes a person a blessing to the church, strengthens a brother when love is cherished toward him and confidence is shown in him, and brings completeness in the One who gave His life. That love perpetuated draws believers together around the cross, divests them of all selfishness, and binds them to God and to one another.
The unseen love was made understandable to the fallen race by the coming in human flesh, and it is perfected when believers love one another, making the invisible love visible in tangible form. Ministers are to make this subject plain and simple by precept and example, and every believer, though fallen, can reveal to the world and the heavenly universe that this same divine love dwells in the heart by manifesting kindness, forbearance, mercy and love in daily life. Those who have accepted present truth must be sanctified through the truth in this mutual love, otherwise profession lies against the truth, for when the indwelling is real the thoughts are the thoughts of God and the works are the works of God. Faith works through love, purifies the soul from selfishness, brings the soul to perfection in love, and calls for tenderness and mercy.
Love and purity, with charity and fidelity, are attributes most valued and prized above others and are to be cherished by every Christian alongside purity. Loving one another proves birth from God and knowledge of God, fulfills the entire law upon which hang all the law and the prophets, and when acted out in agreement of the Spirit and the Word brings heaven's order, harmony, divine unity and universal brotherhood into the church. Such love produces a generous, tender, humble, sympathetic and pitying heart toward all who have made and are still making mistakes, pays no attention to insult or depreciation, and goes straight forward in duty with straight paths. Having such a heart is not weakness to be ashamed of but strength derived from Christ.
Teaching children about divine love requires teachers who have themselves experienced that love through genuine conversion, so they can communicate the knowledge they have received. The divine nature cannot be comprehended by any human mind and has never been looked upon, leaving people as ignorant as little children, so controversy over nature and personality is to be refused. Where attempts are made to describe God, silence is eloquence; instead the Scriptures are to be read in simple faith, ideas formed from the inspired Word, and God loved and obeyed as little children, which keeps back speculative ideas.