LOTS, FEAST OF (16ts, fest Ov). See PURIM.
LOVE (liiv), (Heb. d-hab-aw' ; Gr. dydirri, ag-ah'fiay), Love may be regarded either as the internal feeling of good-will and kindness which one in telligent being bears to another, cr the expression of that benevolence in words and acts which gratifies and benefits another; but in its full and proper sense, love is the union of these two—of the internal emotion with the outward act : whence it appears that neither doing good nor wishing good to another can in strict propriety be denom inated love. The definition also shows that love is restricted to intelligent beings, takes place only between persons, and cannot be predicated of things, being used in a merely derivative and sec ondary sense whenever we speak of loving aught but rational beings. It also appears that the emo tion implies two intelligent existences; indeed, reciprocity seems an almost essential element in the idea of love. Certainly all durable love is mutual; and if love implies two, then, prior to creation, God, however good he might be, could hardly be said to love; so that love is a con sequence of creation, a result of the relations in which God was pleased to place himself in re gard to man; and since these relations are best declared, if they are not exclusively made known, by the sacred Scriptures, love is a doctrine which takes its source in revelation. where indeed. con sidered as existing between God and man, it finds at once its highest sanctions and best supports.
(1) Love of God. The New Testament speaks in its great bearings of the love of God towards Christ and towards man. The Son of God, as the most perfect image of the Heavenly Father, is represented as the special object of the divine love; as a consequence of which affection God communicates to Christ all spiritual gifts needful for the redemption of mankind: 'The Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things what soever he doeth' (John v:2o) ; doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again' (John x:17) ; thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world' (John xvii:24), 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever be lieveth in him should not perish, but have ever lasting life' (John iii:t6). And so, 'He that spared not his only Son, but freely gave him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?' (Rom. viii :32) : accordingly 'the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us' (Rom.
v:5: see the following verses). The following passages will aid the reader in pursuing this in teresting subject into its Scriptural particulars, which want of space compels us to be content with pointing out, namely: Rom. viii:35; 2 Cor. xiii:11; Eph. ii:4; 2 Tbess. iii:5; John iv; I Tim. i:14, 15; Titus ii:to; John xiii:35; COMp. XV :17; Mark Xii :3o.
(2) Love to Christ. Love to Christ is repre sented in Scripture as a natural consequence of Christ's love to man, and as a necessary concomi tant of the love of God, with which it is kindred in nature, causes, operation, and effects. This holy affection manifests itself not in idle reveries nor warm protestations, hut in meek and lowly obedience to Jesus as the Mediator between God and man; and has for its highest reward the love which God displays towards all those who honor his son; which love, springing from God, fills and sanctifies the heart of man (John viii :42; xiv :15, 21, 23, 28; xvi:27).
(3) Love to Man. Love to man ensues from the universal love of God, as the one Creator and Father of all men. The measure and test of love to others is the surrender of personal am bition and the complete abandonment of self in our devotion to others, conformable to the higher and perfect model which Jesus has given in his own life and death (Matt. xxii :39; Mark xii :31; John xv :12; comp. xiii :15 : Peter ii :21; 1 John ii :6).
(4) Christian Love. This general good-will and active beneficence may be enhanced. and in vigorated by those nearer relations which take place between kindred minds, men of 'like pre cious faith,' whose hearts and aims are one, and who have alike received the gracious and all-pre vailing influences of God's spirit ; so that Chris tianity not only places mankind in immediate con nection with God, and thus renders all equal and all worthy of each other's love, but creates a new, peculiar, and very intimate relation, making all true disciples one with each other and with the great Head of the church, and thus one, ulti mately, with God (John xiii :34, 35; XV :I2 ; Rom. xiii :8, to; Cor. xiii). And it is this specific Christian affection—the love of man as a brother, purified and enlarged by the consciousness of be ing an object of Divine mercy and goodness so as to become a properly Christian emotion—which is to actuate the disciples of Christ in their benev olent efforts for the good of others, and specially for their rescue from the evil that is in the wortd that bringeth death (2 Cor. v :14, 19, 2o, 21 ; Acts xx:24).