The love of Christ is a deep that knows no fathoming. It passeth knowledge, and telling too, but, thank God, we can know it, and speak of it too, according to our capacity.

But let it be understood that we could never have merited it. There was nothing in us but defilement and alienation from God. Therefore, if we are the objects of such love, it is wholly because it was in Him to love us. And if we do love Him, it is because we have known His love, and have been begotten of God, who has given us a life and nature to love.

There are three aspects of the love of Christ, according to Eph. 5:25-33. Let us ponder them for a little.

1st. "Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it."

At this time, where was the Church ? All in the future, and its members sunk in sin and distance from God. Yet He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.

Looking through the glass of God's purpose, He saw where the Church was, and would possess Himself of that Church, and would lift it up into union with Himself. But that was a stupendous work, which involved all the horrors of Calvary's cross, of which the sorrows of Gethsemane were but the dark foreshadowing.

In Gethsemane He was in communion with His Father; but on the cross, during those dreadful hours of darkness, He was having to do with God about sin, and hence the bitter cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?"

Did He love the Church ? would He redeem it ? would He possess it for Himself ? would He bring it into eternal union with Himself ? would He share His glory and kingdom with His Church ? Then all this must be endured. There was no other way. The deep waters of death-and that the death of the cross-must be passed through before all this could be brought about.

So, alone He entered the darkness and conflict of that awful scene, which caused nature itself to veil its face in the presence of the death of its Maker. There was not a wave that did not pass over his sinless soul; there was not a cloud that did not burst upon His head; there was not a stroke that did not fall on Him; there was not a drop in that cup of woe that He did not drink; until expiation for sin was made, the mighty work of redemption accomplished, and eternal peace brought in by the expiring words of the divine Substitute, " It is finished," and He bowed His head and died.

Who can tell the greatness of that work ? who can measure the unmeasurable extent of that work ? who can speak forth the eternal consequences of that work ? Who can fathom the love expressed in it all ?

Oh, let it be written in gold across the sky of eternity, '' Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it".'

But He is risen. The glory of the Father claimed Him from the tomb. The One "crucified through weakness liveth by the power of God," and as Victor has ascended and set Himself down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high. God greeted Him, and said, " Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool" (Ps. 110:1). So He sat down, expecting until His enemies are made His footstool (Heb. 10:13).

But has He forgotten His Church in all her toils, and needs, and defilements, as she sojourns here in this the land of her pilgrimage ? Ah, no; that could not be. What He endured for her on the cross forbids the thought that He could ever forget her, or the least one that forms a part of her.

Hence it is written, "That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word." This is His present ministry of love for His Church- He "nourisheth and cherisheth it." He has not forgotten or forsaken the Church, and He assures us in Matt. 16:18 that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

His great work now is to sanctify the Church which He has redeemed for Himself by His precious blood. Down here she is in the midst of evil; contamination abounds on every hand. She is in danger of association with the world, of allowing the flesh to act, of Satan's wiles, of doctrinal evils; therefore the need of His present ministry as High Priest and Advocate. His great work is to sanctify the Church, to keep it morally clean, to purify it from every pollution, so that it might enjoy its privileges of communion and worship (Heb. 10:19-22), and fulfil its responsibilities as His representative and witness in this world.

This ministry of love will go on all the while the Church is here. And what a ministry it is! It is not a hard, righteous ministry, but what is set forth in John 13. Having loved His own, He loves them unto the end. During supper He lays aside His garments, and takes a towel and girds Himself, and then pours water into a basin, and proceeds to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. How beautiful! How gracious ! Yea, how divine! Grace shines in every act of the blessed Lord in this remarkable scene. It all speaks of what He is doing on high for His wayworn and often defiled saints as they wend their way through a scene altogether hostile to them. They are not of the world, therefore the world hates them; and Satan's great object is to break up, and be smudge, every bit of testimony for Christ. Hence his craft, his subtlety, to lead the people of God into unholy associations, to allow the flesh, or tolerate evil doctrine-anything that will bring in the sense of distance between their souls and God, that will becloud their communion, and darken their testimony. Alas, how often he succeeds!

But the present ministry of Christ's love is to purify, to sanctify, to remove all such by the wholesome exercise and self-judgment of the saints, and the application of the water of the Word. As in Peter's case, so in the case of each one. This is real work. Ps. 51 speaks of the experience of a saint away from God; Peter's bitter tears also. Restoration to God from failure is no parrot work; it goes down deep into the depths of one's moral being, as the sin is seen in the light of God's holiness, and especially in the light of that love that led the Saviour to that cross of shame to put it away.

Into what depths of darkness have not saints of God had to pass because of their failures! and nothing but the all-prevailing intercession of their great High Priest, and the grace of their Advocate, sustained them as they cried, "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee" (Ps. 51:12, 13).

But soon all this will be changed, and the day will come of which it is written, " That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish " (Eph. 5:27).

In Eve's being presented to Adam we have a faint picture of this (Gen. 2:21-23). Adam's sleep points to the death of Christ. The Lord God forms the woman out of that sleeping man's bones and flesh, and then presents her to Adam. Our Lord died for us. He rose again; He has communicated His own life to us; He has made us "one spirit" with Himself-a very part of Himself; and now He awaits the time when we shall be presented to Him, the last Adam, and presented in all the beauty and glory that He will put upon us, and all as the fruit of His own ministry of love on the cross, and now in heaven.

What more blessed than this, "That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish " ? As freed from all the imperfections that characterize her now, how glorious the Church will be in that day! There will be no sign of defilement or old age, but, holy and without blemish, she will be suited to the eye and heart of her beloved Lord and Saviour.

Exceeding joy will fill His heart as she is presented before the presence of His glory; and chastened joy will fill her's as she finds herself presented to Him who loved her even unto death. What thoughts of gratitude and praise will fill her heart as she remembers what she once was, and what she is then, and all the fruit of His own love to her told out in such a remarkable way!

If the Lord's present ministry of love is to nourish and cherish the Church, what an example for us in our dealings one with another! But, alas, how little we know how to lay aside our garments (all that is official), and in the instinct of holy love get down to wash one another's feet! The desire would fill our heart-if in communion with our Lord-to remove from each other all that which clouds communion with God, brings in the sense of distance, and hinders our fellowship with each other.

If one of the members of our body gets hurt in any way, every other member in the body seeks to nourish and cherish that member, and they rest not until it is restored to health. So should it be with the members of the Church of God. To revive, to recover, to restore, to strengthen, should be the object before the mind, and not to crush, and bruise, and dishearten. The look of love the Lord gave to "Peter, after he denied Him, broke his heart, and sent him out to weep bitterly. It was a look of love.

Oh for the ministry of love among the saints of God! holy love surely, but love that seeks the good and not the hurt, the uplifting and not the crushing of the fallen one; that nourishes and cherishes according to the example of our blessed Lord.

Well it is to remember that while everything else may fail, " Love never faileth " (1 Cor. 13:8).
E. A.