n of Righteousness.

Jesus said: "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for
one tittle of the law to fail." A tittle is a very small point in a
letter. Many Hebrew letters have dots or tittles. A change in the
tittles of the letters that compose a word changes the meaning of the
word. But Jesus says not a tittle shall pass from the law. It will to
eternity mean just what it means now, and will continue to be the bond
of union with saints and angels forever in heaven. It is all love.
Love is the alpha and the omega of the law; for the law is of God, and
"God is love."

Some people call MERCY God's _darling_ attribute. They clothe her in a
white robe down to the feet; they fill her eyes with the milk of human
kindness and her mouth with the tender words of forgiveness. But
JUSTICE is a very different personification in their eye. He is not
only masculine as to gender, but all his looks and ways have an air of
_condemnation_ in them. He is a dark-faced, frowning judge, forever
watching with keenest eye not only the outward life of every man, but
his mind and heart within; and is always ready to pass judgment
against every one guilty of the slightest transgression and
disobedience.

Such conceptions may not be sinful; but they are very far from
agreeing with the revelations God has made of himself to men. In these
he discloses himself as "a God merciful and gracious; abundant in
goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands; slow to anger; ready
to pardon; and of great kindness." (Nehemiah 9:17.) He is just, it is
true. But what is justice? I answer that justice, in its highest and
divinest sense, _is equal good and equal right_ to all. And does not
this imply love? I do unhesitatingly declare that there is quite as
much love in the administrations of justice as there is in the
bestowments of mercy.

In _justice_, however, the love appears in one light; and in _mercy_
or _grace_ the love appears in another. God's love for the holy angels
and the spirits of just men made perfect is unmixed love, or the love
of complacency. This manifestation of his love is JUSTICE in its
highest and purest sense. God's love for sinners who have transgressed
his law, and who, on this account, are "miserable and wretched, and
poor, and blind, and naked," is mixed love. It is mixed with pity, and
is what is called the love of compassion. This manifestation of his
love is GRACE in its highest and purest sense. This is just w