itself shall remind him, it may be in agony of soul, of that which he
has forgotten. When he prays for comfort, the answer may come in dismay
and terror and the turning aside of the Father's countenance; for love
itself will, for love's sake, turn the countenance away from that which
is not lovely; and he will have to read, written upon the dark wall of
his imprisoned conscience, the words, awful and glorious, _Our God is a
consuming fire_.




THE CONSUMING FIRE.


_Our God is a consuming fire_.--HEBREWS xii. 29

Nothing is inexorable but love. Love which will yield to prayer is
imperfect and poor. Nor is it then the love that yields, but its alloy.
For if at the voice of entreaty love conquers displeasure, it is love
asserting itself, not love yielding its claims. It is not love that
grants a boon unwillingly; still less is it love that answers a prayer
to the wrong and hurt of him who prays. Love is one, and love is
changeless.

For love loves unto purity. Love has ever in view the absolute
loveliness of that which it beholds. Where loveliness is incomplete,
and love cannot love its fill of loving, it spends itself to make more
lovely, that it may love more; it strives for perfection, even that
itself may be perfected--not in itself, but in the object. As it was
love that first created humanity, so even human love, in proportion to