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SERMON XXVII.

WISE AND THOUGHTFUL LOVE.

PHILIPPIANS, i. 9, 10.

"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere, and without offence, till the day of Christ."

THE Philippian Christians seem to have inspired St. Paul with a peculiar affection, more joyful, more thankful, more hopeful and confiding, than he felt for any other of the churches which had been converted by his ministry. This prayer, therefore, on their behalf, may be said to spring from the tenderest and most earnest affection. It is his first prayer for them, and is suggested by the mention of the love he bore them. "God is my record," he says, "how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ;" and then he adds, " And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more." It was the best prayer, my brethren, which he could offer on their behalf; for he prays that they may have more and more of that in which there is no

satiety, the ever-enduring love of God, ever satisfying, yet never-failing, of which he that eateth "shall yet be hungry, and" he that drinketh "shall yet be thirsty." To love is the proper happiness of man. Love is the noblest of all our affections, and will never disappoint us if it be fixed upon a worthy object. But God is the one object who is really worthy of a boundless love. God, who made us for His own glory, redeemed us in the blood of His dear Son, and sanctifieth us by His holy Spirit, is the one Being whom we cannot love too well. The love we bear to any creature, even the purest and the best, must be guarded and measured, lest we fall into idolatry: but God is to be loved with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength. Well, therefore, does the Apostle pray for those who are dear to him, that their love may abound yet more and more. "More and more," he says; for it could not remain exactly what it was. If love do not increase it must diminish. Where growth has ceased, decay has begun.

But I would have you observe, my brethren, that he does not simply pray that their love may abound yet more and more, but that it may abound in a particular way, namely, "in knowledge and in all judgment."

Now it certainly is a remarkable fact, which all I think must have observed who have had to do with the religious education of Christian children, that where diligence, industry, and a care to learn

1 Ecclus. xxiv. 21.

are manifested, there, for the most part, is found a love of goodness, which is, indeed, the love of God: whereas, on the other hand, the child who is careless, slothful, and indifferent in school, is usually indifferent also and careless in the observance of God's commandments. I know that there are exceptions to this statement; and that the exceptions are frequent where education is conducted in a worldly or unbelieving spirit; but where the chief end of education is to form the immortal spirit of the child for communion with God, there it will be found as I have said.

In what spirit, then, should we, Christ's ministers, in these days, desire to see the younger members of our flocks endeavouring to attain the love of God? Surely our prayer for them should be the same that St. Paul offered for the Philippians. Yes, my brethren, what we desire to see in you all, what we would fain implant in the hearts of all, is a right judgment in heavenly things. To see you pausing and meditating with thoughtful consideration on the truths we teach you, and then making a deliberate choice of the better part-that would be the highest joy that we could have in you. We frequently see persons, naturally affectionate and warm-hearted, whose tears are ready when they hear a tale of distress, and equally ready when the love of Christ, the hope of heaven, and the terrible consequences of sin are pressed upon them-but they have no steadfastness to resist the allurements of bad companions; no perseverance in contending with difficulties, no abiding love of holiness. And this

want is commonly the consequence of their having despised knowledge (religious knowledge as well as the knowledge which would have fitted them for the duties of their calling) when it was offered them, and refused the discipline of meditation.

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Nor is this distinction merely a human speculation it is taught in holy Scripture. The difference between good men and bad, as we read it in the Bible, is not so much that the one is warm-hearted and affectionate, and the other colder and less easily moved, but that the one has deliberately chosen the way of truth, and the other has rejected it: one increases knowledge by the teaching of God, and exercises a sound judgment under His guidance, the other confesses, when misery has come upon him, "How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!" 2 The love that is founded in knowledge, and exercised in judgment, is that wisdom which Solomon chose, and which he commends in the lesson for this morning. "My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding, . . . . then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." And again; "When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant

2 Proverbs, v. 12, 13.

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* 22nd Sunday after Trinity.

unto thy soul; discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee.'

What we therefore would wish to see among our people, especially the younger ones, is not so much warm professions, or ardent, ill-regulated longings for something better than they now possess, but wise thoughtfulness, reverence for holy things, obedience to the commandments of God, and a willing submission to those who have authority over them; such a submission as our blessed Lord exhibited at twelve years old, when, after sitting in His Father's house among the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions, He went down with Joseph and His mother, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them." Our earnest desire is to see in you such a spirit as will lead you to refuse the evil and to choose the good; or, as St. Paul says, to "discriminate things that differ," that you may take to yourselves the more "excellent:" not deceived by great professions and vain promises, but having wisdom to choose with the gentle, thoughtful Mary, "that good part," "to sit at Jesus' feet and hear His words." "

But why should we prefer this quiet, retiring, thoughtful wisdom, to that more ardent, excited, warm profession, dependent upon passing feelings, of which so much is thought by some? Why should I dwell on deliberation, meditation, and a careful consideration, when I am speaking of love abounding more and more? For two reasons; first, that 5 St. Luke, ii. 51.

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• Proverbs, ii. 1-6, 10, 11.

6 St. Luke, x. 39, 42.