'I tremble when I think How much I love him; but I turn away From thinking of it, just to love him more;-- Indeed, I fear, too much.' 'Dear Eleanor, Do you love him as much as Christ loves us? Let your lips answer me.' 'Why ask me, dear? Our hearts are finite, Christ is infinite.' 'Then, till you reach the standard of that love, Let neither fears nor well-meant warning voice Distress you with "too much." For He hath said _How_ much--and who shall dare to change His measure? "_That ye should love as I have loved you._" O sweet command, that goes so far beyond The mightiest impulse of the tenderest heart! A bare permission had been much; but He Who knows our yearnings and our fearfulness, Chose graciously to _bid_ us do the thing That makes our earthly happiness, A limit that we need not fear to pass, Because we cannot. Oh, the breadth and length, And depth and height of love that passeth knowledge! Yet Jesus said, "As I have loved you."' 'O Beatrice, I long to feel the sunshine That this should bring; but there are other words Which fall in chill eclipse. 'Tis written, "Keep Yourselves from idols." How shall I obey?' 'Oh, not by loving less, but loving more. It is not that we love our precious ones Too much, but God too little. As the lamp A miner bears upon his shadowed brow Is only dazzling in the grimy dark, And has no glare against the summer sky, So, set the tiny torch of our best love In the great sunshine of the love of God, And, though full fed and fanned, it casts no shade And dazzles not, o'erflowed with mightier light.' There is no love so deep and wide as that which is kept for Jesus. It flows both fuller and farther when it flows only through Him. Then, too, it will be a power for Him. It will always be unconsciously working for Him. In drawing others to ourselves by it, we shall be necessarily drawing them nearer to the fountain of our love, never drawing them away from it. It is the great magnet of His love which alone can draw any heart to Him; but when our own are thoroughly yielded to its mighty influence, they will be so magnetized that He will condescend to use them in this way. Is it not wonderful to think that the Lord Jesus will not only accept and keep, but actually _use_ our love? 'Of Thine own have we given Thee,' for 'we love Him because He first loved us.' Set apart to love Him, And His love to know; Not to waste affection On a passing show; Called to give Him life and heart, Called to pour the hidden treasure, That none other claims to measure, Into His beloved hand! thrice blessed 'set apart'! Chapter XII. Our Selves kept for Jesus.