For those Christ loves He will undertake altogether. He gives them His peace, His joy, His smile, His arm, His hand, His home. For _He gave Himself._ There are all treasures in Him. Strength for every need, wisdom for every question, comfort for every sorrow, healing for every wound, provision for every day. "For _me,_" so insignificant, unworthy, so bad; for me, whose iniquities have darkened the blue heavens; for me, a slave of sin. "Why was I made to hear Thy voice And enter while there's room, While thousands made a wretched choice, And rather starve than come? 'Twas the same love that spread the feast, That gently forced me in, Else I had still refused to taste, And perished in my sin." --_F. Harper, M.A._ _The Love of the Son of God to Men._ +I. The existence of this amazing affection.+--Let not the strangeness of the love stagger us into doubt or disbelief, but let us receive and rest in the revealed fact. Viewed from the side of the Divine, it is affection from a superior towards those vastly inferior. Viewed from the side of the human beings beloved, it is an affection altogether undeserved. The contrast between His dignity and our demerit is the background on which His love stands out conspicuously. +II. The proof of affection He gave.+--Not left to assertion or speculation, but proved by a public act. What he _did_ expresses what He felt. He showed it openly by self-denial and self-surrender. He gave not His substance or possessions, not another being, but to procure our salvation and express His love He delivered up His own person. +III. The personality or individuality of the affection.+--He died for all and for each. His love to each human being might be inferred from that to the whole race, but it is affirmed directly. Each singly had a distinct place in His loving death. Each was a unit before Him, and had a personal interest in His affection.--_W. Smiley, B.A._ _The Life of Faith._ +I. The life which the apostle lived in the flesh.+--1. _His whole life was a life of religious decision._ He made his choice and never faltered in it. He saw what he had to do, and he began to do it at once. He allowed no parley with the enemy. Nor was this resolution fleeting; it continued through life. 2. _His life was marked by a solemn regard and care for his own personal salvation._--There are two sources of religious danger of which we are not always sufficiently aware--zeal for doctrinal truth, and active employment in promoting the spread of truth. How possible it is that, through the treachery of our hearts, even these may be allowed insensibly to sap the very foundations of that solemn fear, as to our own selves, which ought to influence us! Remember that truth is not the substance of salvation but its instrument. Water others, but neglect not your own vineyard.