August 7

WHom have E in heaven but thee? — PSALM lxxiii. 25.

Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? — JOHN xxi. 15.

JESUS in tender compassion thus addressed Simon Peter, who had thrice denied him, but who afterward “went out and wept bitterly.” The avenue by which he approached him was love. “Lovest thou me?” The probe was gently inserted into the depths of his affections to prepare him for the sweet assurance of pardon, and for a wider and higher mission. The question was intensely personal. — “Lovest thou me?” Thus did the Saviour draw the sinner to himself “with cords of a man, with bands of love.”

“Lovest thou me more than these” — thy brethren — love me? Wilt thou again protest. “Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended”? In the school of experience he has learned so well the lessons of humility and self-distrust that he now avows his love most earnestly indeed, but without invidious and boastful comparisons.

We, too, should love Jesus with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, — far more than we love our possessions, employments, friends, and relatives, yea, more than life itself (Luke xiv. 26, 33). We should with holy emulation ever strive to love him more than others love him, and to prove our love by an earnest and consecrated service, in obedience to the divine injunctions, — “Feed my lambs.” “Feed my sheep,” and “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Robt. H. Hall.

Thou art the sea of love, Where all my pleasures roll; The circle where my passions move, And centre of my soul.

WATTS.