Page:The works of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., late fellow of Lincoln-College, Oxford (IA worksofrevjohnwe3wesl).pdf/163

 ''the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust''.

2. But it is sure, there is a peculiar love which we owe to those that love God. So ''David, all my delight is upon the saints that are in the earth and upon such as excel in virtue''. And so a greater than he, ''a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another: as I have loved you, that ye also love another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another'': John xiii. 34, 35. This is that love on which the apostle John so frequently and strongly insists. This, saith he, ''is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another'', 1 John c. iii. 11. ''Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought'', if love should call us thereto, to lay down our lives for the brethren, v. 16. And again, ''Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is love'', c. iv. 7, 8. ''Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another'', v. 10, 11.

3. All men approve of this. But do all men practise it? Daily experience shews the contrary. Where are even the Christians who ''love one another, as he hath given us commandment''? How many hindrances lie in the way? The two grand, general hindrances are, first, that they