ower, and
asserts itself by complete abnegation of self and eager identification
of self with Christ. This new affection commands the whole life and the
whole nature. No more can the man spend himself in self-chosen
activities, in girding himself for great deeds of individual
glorification, or in walking in ways that promise pleasure or profit to
self; he willingly stretches forth his hands, and is carried to much
that flesh and blood shrink from, but which is all made inevitable,
welcome, and blessed to him through the joy of that love that has
appointed it.

But are we not thus pronouncing our own condemnation? This is, it is
easy to see, the true and natural education of the human spirit--to love
Christ, and so learn to see with His eyes and become enamoured of His
aims and grow up to His likeness. But where in us is this absorbing,
educating, impelling, irresistible power? To recognise the beauty and
the certainty of God's method is not the difficulty; the difficulty is
to use it, to find in ourselves that which carries us into the presence
of Christ, saying, "Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love
Thee." Admiration we have; reverence we have; faith we have; but there
is more than these needed. None of these will impel us to life-long
obedience. Love alone can carry us away from sinful and selfish ways.
But this testing question, "Lovest thou Me?" was not the first but the
last put to Peter by our Lord. It was only put after they had passed
through many searching experiences together. And if we feel that for us
to adopt as our own Peter's assured answer would only be to deceive
ourselves and trifle with the most serious of matters, we are to
consider that Christ seeks to win our love also, and that the ecstasy of
confessing our love with assurance is reserved even for us. It is
possible we may already have more love than we think. It is no uncommon
thing to love a person and not know it until some unusual emergency or
conjuncture of circumstances reveals us to ourselves. But if we are
neither conscious of love nor can detect any marks of it in our life, if
we know ourselves to be indifferent to others, deeply selfish, unable to
love what is high and self-sacrificing, let us candidly admit the full
significance of this, and even while plainly seeing what we are, let us
not relinquish the great hope of being at length able to give our heart
to what is best and of being bound by an ever-increasing love to th