By G.D. Watson
Love is the very substance and marrow of moral perfection. Faith is the condition of forgiveness and cleansing; and the removing of actual and indwelling sin is the condition of the fullness of love. Many seek only for partial holiness; they seek it merely as a cure for some besetting sin; others seek it as a boon for some sorrow; others seek it in a mere negative form of cleansing; but the true idea is, that the whole being shall be made complete in God's love.
There is a danger of the leakage of love out of the heart that many are not aware of. Love is like a flame or a volatile fluid; it is not like a rigid, fixed substance. It is ever in a fine, subtle motion, and needs constant feeding. A piece of wood is solid and stationary in its form, remaining the same year after year; but the soft quivering flame is very different. So you may have the clear, specific doctrine of sanctification fixed as an unchanging truth in your mind, and yet the quivering flame of love in your heart is another thing; and persons who were once truly sanctified may go on holding the well-defined doctrine and testimony of holiness, while, unconsciously, the fragrance and warmth of holy love have leaked out of the heart. It is much easier to retain certain truths fixed in the reason, than to retain a fixedness in the affections. Our emotions glide away imperceptibly; our affections leak out of the soul unawares. It requires much diligence and the adding of heart fuel to keep a lowly, loving flame in the soul.
Occasionally you will find a person who has been sanctified, still holding the profession, and grasping the clear doctrine, but who has, from various causes, allowed the warm, loving spirit to leak out; and he is restive, impatient, and harsh under neglect, persecution and opposition.
Those things which are the sweetest are susceptible of being turned into the most sour; and perfect love, losing itself in the fermentation of spirit and turning into sour, is one of the harshest, bitterest things on earth.
As there is a physical law by which sweet juices can be kept from fermenting into sour, so there is a spiritual law to keep pure love from losing its love power, and turning into moral vinegar. When a soul is thoroughly sanctified, it is wondrously illuminated. It sees the church, the obligations of the ministry, the duties of religion, and human character, under an intensity of light and solemnity of conviction, almost indescribable; and it will act and judge and speak according to this intensity of vision. Other believers, whose hearts are still partially veiled by the carnal reason, can have no conception of the intense light of the fully sanctified. Hence, that which seems harmless to the partially blind, may be monstrous and offensive to the fully illuminated.
Now it will take an immense amount of love to keep the gentleness and charity of the heart up equal to the sharp discernment of the mind.
Mr. Wesley often observed that great light upon religious matters, without great love, was dangerous.
If the flow of love in the heart is not kept up to the measure of conviction, then the sharply defined convictions will assume a harsh and unkind edge that will cut contrary to the mind of Jesus. We must keep the affections pure, and warm, and tender, at any cost.
