WE OUGHT TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

 

 We ought to love one another.
I John 4:11

 
THIS is a self-evident truth.
 
If we are children of the same family,
  subject of the same government,
  travelers in the same road,
  partakers of the same hope, and
  are destined to live for ever in the same home,
    we ought to love one another.
 
But God's great love to us is assigned as
  the principal reason why we should do so.
 
God loves all his children alike.
 
He gave his Son to die for every one of them.
He sends his Spirit into all their hearts.
He has given his exceeding great and
  precious promises to the whole of them.
 
He has prepared heaven, as the family mansion,
  where they are all to dwell for ever.
 
He has laid his command upon them,
  to love one another.
 
Beloved, our love should be as extensive
  as the love of God;
  it should embrace all that he embraces.
 
We can never be justified in excluding from
  our love one whom God has included in his.
 
We ought to love every Christian, and
  to love all believers constantly, tenderly, and

  as brethren;  or even as Christ has loved us.
 
Let us ask conscience this morning,
  do we really and heartily love all that
  we have reason to believe
    love the Lord Jesus Christ?
 

Heirs of the same immortal bless,

Our hopes and fears the same,

In bonds of peace our hearts unite,

With mutual love inflame.

 
James Smith 1849