Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/60

56 his disciples in the true nature of love, says, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. If a man love me, he will keep my words. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings," John xiv. 21, 23, 24. And again, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. This is my commandment, That ye love one another," John xv. 10, 12. On the other hand, there are, in opposition to the two loves above described, two other universal loves, from which flow all evils and falses; these are the love of self, and the love of the world: and these two, when they become the ruling principles of a man's life, constitute hell in him here, and hell both within and without him hereafter. Self-love consists in wishing well to ourselves alone, without any concern for the welfare of others, except so far as it may be connected with our own. It therefore disregards the interests of the church, of our country, of the particular society to which we belong, and of our fellow-citizens in general. It also considers all other persons and things merely as subservient to it's own advantage; and would, if uncontrolled, usurp and exercise an universal dominion. It's offspring and companion, the love of the world, consists in a desire of appropriating to ourselves, by any means whatever, that which belongs to another; as also in placing our affections on riches, and in suffering the world, with it's delights and pleasures, to seduce our mind from love to our neighbour, and thereby from love to the Lord.

From a due attention to the different kinds of love, and to their innumerable varieties and derivations, together with the delights belonging to each, we may discover what is the true nature of love both in general and in particular. And seeing this, we shall be