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Last Updated on :
Saturday, November 22, 2014

 

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Letters To The Elect Of God
In A Time of Trouble


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The Consolations Of Trouble


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For the last time at present, I greet you in the name of the Lord, wishing you all the comfort and fortitude and joy which Christ intended his disciples to receive from his loving and sympathising words at l the table before he left them; and which they would always impart to us, if our minds were capable of continuous and lively remembrance.


THE  REALITY   OF  DIVINE  LOVE KNOWN  AND  LOVED  OF  GOD,  AND  DEARLY   BE­ LOVED BY  CHRIST,
It is one of the many evils of our present situation that the  endearments  of the  truth  seem empty  phrases.    As it is with the name of God's family the elect so it is with the love that  belongs  to  them;  it  is talked  of only  to  seem a  mockery   or  a   thing  that   strong   men  are   ashamed   of. But  it  is none  the less a  precious  reality.    It may  seem  as absent  and  dead  as  the  flowers of  summer  in  the  depth  of winter,  but it exists as actually  as the  roots and  seeds under the  snow,  and  will come  forth  in  beauty  and  fragrance   in due  season.
Paul  speaks  of  "the   comfort  of  love."                
Love  is  comforting.    We all  feel  the  comfort  of  it,  whether  we are  the subject  or  the object  of it.   It is the most  beneficent mental activity  in  the  universe.    It blesses giver  and  receiver alike.
It  is  the  highest  phase  of  the  Eternal   Power,  from  which all  things  have  sprung:   God  is  love.      He  is  truly  many things  besides:  but  love  inspires  and  directs  them  all.
You  do  not  experience   much  of  love  upon  earth   at present.*     You  are,   in  fact,   languishing   for   want  of  it. A  mother's  love sweetened  the early  years of your  life:  the love of companions  and  friends  continued  the  sweetness for a   time:   but  as  life  rolled   on  and   experience   of  human weakness increased in yourselves and  others, the sweetness had  gradually  disappeared   with  the  inrush  of  the  bitter waters of a more accurate knowledge of all human things.
And  now you find yourselves in a desert  in  the midst of many people, you are alone, and where love is mainly a thing  of  memory  or  of  painful  desire.    And  you  groan within yourselves and  pine for love, both to receive and bestow.
Now, there is an antidote to the unutterable sadness of this position, if we can but open the mind to its application. It  lies in the fact that the elect, in the midst of their afflictions,  are  "known  and  loved of  God  and  dearly  beloved by Christ."    You  have only to  believe the fact  to feel the comfort  of  it.    You  cannot  feel  it  by looking  into  your own heart.   The fact does not lie in your feelings, but quite outside of them,  just as any friend's  love is a  fact  outside of your own feelings.   To feel the comfort  of your friend's love, you look at  its indications his acts, his words, his looks.   These inspire  you  with the confidence of  his  love, and  the confidence brings comfort.   If you trusted  to  your own  sensations  apart  from  the  tokens  of  love, you  could not feel either the confidence or  the comfort.
It is much more so with the love of God.   If you trust to  your  feelings, you  will never  know  it, for  there  is  no point of contact between human feeling and divine thoughts. God's  thoughts are outside of us, and as much higher than our  thoughts  as  heaven  is higher  than  the  earth,  as  God says  (Isa. 55:12).
What you must do is to look at its tokens.   These are of a  somewhat different  order  from  the  tokens  of  human love, yet it will be found  upon reflection that  they are  not less tangible or convincing.  There are words and acts (historically  reflected)  there  are  looks.     The  difference is that  they are  not personal to ourselves.   Doubtless,  this is a great difference as regards our ability to appropriate  the comfort;  still it  does  not  affect the  essence of  the  thing: the tokens have only to be looked at steadily to bring the conviction  that  will produce  the  comfort.


*  That  is, outside the Body of Christ.    Even inside the Brother­ hood, love is sometimes lacking, and  we feel a desire for  the warm assurance  of  understanding  affection  based  on  the  common  acceptance of  the  Truth,  and  a  mutual  co-operation  in  its  activities  and ideals.    When  this  is lacking,  we  can  always  turn  to  the  Father through  prayer and bask in the warmth of His love, recognising that "God  is love," and if He be for  us, who can successfully oppose us.

 


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