iii. The fact that we shall soon meet God face to face. This same apostle brings Jehovah before us in the grandeur and the terror of that day, when at his coming the heavens shall pass away and the elements shall melt; and with that picture in view, he asks, "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness ?" The early Christians lived much in the fear of God, because they regarded the advent of Christ and the day of judgment as always impending. And surely, for every one of us, those scenes of majesty and glory to which prophetic Scripture points, are drawing daily nearer and nearer still. So let us live, that we shall not be amazed or ashamed at His APPEARING. BROTHERLY KINDNESS. CHARACTERISTICS OF BROTHERLY LOVE-GROUNDS OF THIS AFFECTION -THE TRUE FRATERNITY-THE HINDOO CONVERT-HOW TO CHERISH THIS LOVE. CRITICAL ANALYSIS. The term brotherly love so literally expresses the meaning of piλadeλpía that the original here calls for no further elucidation. It is worthy of note, however, that the classic writers of antiquity applied this term strictly to the affection for brothers or sisters in blood. It was reserved for Christianity to refine and exalt the term, by applying it to the mutual love of those "which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." In the New Testament the word is applied only to the love of Christians for their fellow-Christians. BROTHERLY KINDNESS. And to godliness BROTHERLY KINDNESS.-2 PETER i. 7. SOME former terms in this series of graces have called for minute analysis and definition. This was true especially of virtue, temperance, and godliness; neither of which, in its everyday use, conveys the meaning of the apostle as a distinctive grace in the Christian character. The term brotherly love hardly calls for explanation; but alas for the manifestation of the thing! It is the heart rather than the head that needs instruction in this grace. Yet this, more than any other single grace, is made the characteristic mark of a Christian. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if have love one to another." "We know ye that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." Our Lord himself made this a test commandment in the code of Christianity. In that tender hour of parting, when after the Last Supper-thenceforth exalted into a sacrament of love-Jesus washed the disciples' feet, and discoursed to them of humility and affection, he said, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Three times in that sacred discourse, when speaking of his own love for them and the love of the Father for himself, which they should share, he repeats with emphasis this one command: "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.” ... A new commandment, said Christ; but "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" was as old as the law at Sinai. All natural, domestic, and patriotic affections were enjoined by the Jewish code; and the all-embracing love of the human race was required as second only to the love of God. How, then, was this a new commandment? It was the old law of love proceeding from God, which had almost decayed among men, revived, renewed by him who was the embodiment of love-that law of general good-will from man to man renewed, and made |