24-26).
But when Satan comes as an angel of light he will, under guise of
love for and loyalty to the truth, introduce the spirit of
intolerance. It was this spirit that crucified Jesus; that burned
Huss and Cranmer at the stake; that strangled Savonarola; that
inspired the massacre of St. Bartholomew and the horrors of the
Inquisition; and it is the same spirit, in a milder but possibly
more subtle form, that blinds the eyes of many professing
Christians to any good in those who differ from them in doctrine,
forms of worship or methods of government. They murder love to
protect what they often blindly call truth. What is truth without
love? A dead thing, an encumbrance, the letter that killeth!
The body is necessary to our life in this world, but life can
exist in a deformed and even mutilated body; and such a body with
life in it is better than the most perfect body that is only a
corpse. So, while truth is most precious, and sound doctrine to
be esteemed more than silver and gold, yet love can exist where
truth is not held in its most perfect and complete forms, and
love is the one thing needful.
"The love of God is broader
Than the measure of man's mind:
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind."
4. The Holy Ghost begets a spirit of unity among Christians.
People who have been sitting behind their sectarian fences in
self-complacent ease, or proud indifference, or proselytising
zeal, or grim defiance, are suddenly lifted above the fence, and
find sweet fellowship with each other, when He comes into their
hearts.
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