The Greatest Thing In the World and Other Addresses by Henry Drummond
page 21 of 118 (17%)
page 21 of 118 (17%)
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pray. But these things alone will not bring love into our nature. Love
is an _effect_. And only as we fulfill the right condition can we have the effect produced. Shall I tell you what the _cause_ is? If you turn to the Revised Version of the First Epistle of John you find these words: "We love because He first loved us." "We love," not "We love _Him_." That is the way the old version has it, and it is quite wrong. "_We love_--because He first loved us." Look at that word "because." It is the _cause_ of which I have spoken. "_Because_ He first loved us," the effect follows that we love, we love Him, we love all men. We cannot help it. Because He loved us, we love, we love everybody. Our heart is slowly changed. Contemplate the love of Christ, and you will love. Stand before that mirror, reflect Christ's character, and you will be changed into the same image from tenderness to tenderness. There is no other way. You cannot love to order. You can only look at the lovely object, and fall in love with it, and grow into likeness to it. And so look at this Perfect Character, this Perfect Life. Look at THE GREAT SACRIFICE as He laid down Himself, all through life, and upon the Cross of Calvary; and you must love Him. And loving Him, you most become like Him. Love begets love. It is a process of induction. Put a piece of iron in the presence of an electrified body, and that piece of iron for a time becomes electrified. It is changed into a temporary magnet in the mere presence of a permanent magnet, and as long as you leave the two side by side, they are both magnets alike. Remain side by side with Him who loved us, and |
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