Love, the Law of Life

Again, in ancient times religion quarreled with religion. Even in Christendom Protestants fought with Catholics, actually at times resorting to arms. Did not Luther himself say, ‘Kill the peasants!’”’"—a hundred thousand of them? And did not Calvin orde folk who sang songs should forthwith be exiled?

Furthermore, to the Arminians, who affirm man in this present existence might be pe cleansed, the Calvinists replied that while in the p world a man’s sins might be forgiven, he could n sanctified. Thus they frequently fought togethe in America Calvinists actually put to death bel! of other communions. The former violent contro sies of the Methodists with other sects are well kno to all. Thus in the religious world of the past men’ narrowness prompted them to fight over articles of faith, but we must discard these narrow views and in the spirit of tolerance spread our religion of love.

Today in the sphere of socialistic movements, anarchists and bolshevists dispute with each other, one side approving tyranny and centralized authority, while the other side demands free combinations. But in social movements as well as in spiritual, Paul’s “tolerant, compassionate love’? must be the basal motive. I deplore men taking such narrow positions, building citadels, as it were, in their own small bosoms. Why can they not be more tolerant? It is because they have no love.

Love is an emanation; it is like the rays of the sun. Love acts not from feelings of pity, but like the radiations from the sun, issues forth from within as light and warmth. ‘

In social progress there is of necessity a separative principle at work. Without it society would become onous. But it is inevitable that this divisive hould at the same time bring forth the evil tendgward jealousy. eligion jealousy is the forbidden thing. It is a 1 temptation. To be jealous of other religions ise they are prospering is to’ disobey religion’s ation of love. Not only are men jealous of other ons, but it is a sad fact that even among adherents the same faith jealousy exists. Besides this, in many heres we see this deplorable tendency to jealousy, the extreme examples being found among women and artists. In the histories of music there are stories of singers who possessed lovely voices, but who through the jealousy of their fellow singers were given poison to drink, which ruined their wonderful vocal organs. How terrible jealousy is! It is an obstruction to love. Love which has any taint of jealousy is not yet genuine

Men of real worth are never arrogant; they do not boast; and they are of course never discourteous. The ereat failing in the youth of the present day is loss of courtesy. The forms of politeness may change with the age, but courtesy itself exists eternally. Courtesy is, in brief, humanity’s art of conduct. If we would live in a world of beauty, we must first cultivate courtesy. It will not do to leave off bowing because it seems an empty form. The curved line of the profound bow is one of the elements which goes to create a beautiful world. To help create this world of beauty shall we not, when we greet our friends, together form these curved strokes of gracefulness? We must possess ourselves of a fresh courtesy. The courtesy which springs from the impulse of love will endure perennially. In love there must inevitably be courtesy. And at the same time there must be no pride, no boasting, but always humility.

These are the nuclei of love which are concerned with exterior relations; but we must further dissect the inner cells.

Never selfish, never irritated, never resentful.

Love is born as an organism. The cells within a. body do not think of self-interest, they do not get — indignant with one another. The nails and hair, which, are cut for the sake of the growth of the other parts, never getangry. Soitis the way of love not to descend to egotism nor to become incensed.

Furthermore, love does not take pleasure in evil, but is gladdened by goodness. In certain instances, how- — ever, love somehow seems to accompany evil, for from excess of love, people lean toward evil, though quite aware that it is evil. In such instances, they speak of love as if it transcended evil. But if this be not mistaken interpretation, it is self-deception. True love is ever righteous, always for the good. Gandhi’s strong point lies in his making true love to consist in “grasp of truth.””’ We must constantly press toward righteousness and grasp of truth.

Always slow to expose, always eager to believe the best, oo hopeful, always patient.

Love isan organism. In the system of love there are four general divisions: the first is the muscular; the second, the circulatory; the third, the respiratory; and the fourth, the skeletal frame.

“Slow to expose.’ The power to endure comes from this bearing of ill treatment. This is the muscular exercise—love develops from the muscular exercise of enduring; and love must at the same time be the motive force of production.

; “Eager to believe the best.” Love quite naturally / grows into confidence in personality. What we call / faith is nothing else than believing that God is love and trusting in Him. This is the very inception of faith.

By faith we are conscious of the love of God, and just as the red blood becomes the nourisher of life, so faith through love becomes the food of the spirit life. That is, love is the red blood, the circulatory system. If we are to attain to a living faith, a faith which cannot be held back, we must make love our starting point. If only we love God, our faith will never be restrained.

When a church organization comes to an impasse, it is because the course of love is clogged up. Our faith’s first step must begin from love.

“Always hopeful.’”’ Love ever grows. Therefore, in love we can possess hope. Love works miracles. Through folk who love, the new order is ever being created. Love is irresistible. The love of the lover is sweet, because it intimates the creation of new humankind.

Love is ever new. It knows the device for perennial metabolism. Love is always fired with hope. Progress toward the order of beauty is due alone to love. We must not forget that Darwin taught not only the doctrine of selection in the struggle for existence, but also that of selection due to the love of male and female.

Love breathes in God. Love is the respiratory organ of life. Love exhales the old, and inhales new strength from God.

“‘Always patient.” Love is patience sprung from deep roots. Do not parents practice this patience for two or three decades for the sake of the growth of the beloved child? The wife of Professor Warfield of Princeton Theological Seminary was injured by a runaway horse on the return from their wedding, and was permanently crippled. But Professor Warfield, far from deserting her, used always to place her in an invalid’s chair in his study and lovingly care for her. The reason for his not abandoning his wife in her misfortune was just because his love was enduring and patient.

Love always endures. It is love that upholds the world. Love is, then, the skeletal frame. We must possess the power of endurance which love supplies, love which is able to endure all hardships patiently. Jesus said, ‘Love to the end.”’ We also must attain a greater, more powerfully enduring love.

Paul, after citing the fourfold love system, writes of the eternality of love:

Love never disappears. As for prophesying, it will be superseded; as for ‘“‘tongues,’’ they will cease; as for knowledge, it will be superseded. For we only know bit by bit, and we only prophesy bit by bit; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I argued like a child; now that I am a man, I am done with childish ways.

At present we only see the baffling reflections in a mirror, but then it will be face to face; at present I am learning bit by bit, but then I shall understand, as all along I have myself been understood.

Thus ‘‘faith and hope and love last on, these three,” but the greatest of all is love.

Ah, how true! Love is the greatest thing in the universe.

The pyramids are mysterious remains of the faith of an ancient people. Mummies are reminders of a belief on the part of the ancients that far in the future there would be a day of resurrection of the dead. But in these days are mummies anything more than corpses?

Nothing that surpasses love can come into being. This love was first made known among mankind. There is no living force to move society beside love. Love is creative power; love builds the new order. Since love is fresh creative force, it discards the old. It is for this reason that the newly wedded pair practices a new mode of life, discarding old customs and traditions. The new husband and wife banish the old order. If Adam and Eve are born, nothing else at all is needed. Love is the new revolution. Love is the heart, the cells, the whole organism itself.

Love moves the cosmos. It warms the world to action. It is hotter than the sun’s heat of hundreds of thousands of degrees. Love is the white-hot flame that blazes up from the heart of all.

~.- Law is nothing other than love. There are those who speak of law as the expression of justice. There are those too who consider that law is the expression of the holy will of God. Further, there are thinkers who regard law as a form of covenant made by social contract. Then there are those who think of law as the natural and necessary physiological functions of an organism. Furthermore, there are those who, like Oppenheimer, consider law to be nothing more than the ‘expression of the conqueror’s will.

Human society develops. Law too evolves. As in human society there are comprised various elements, so in law there are included a variety of elements. But at least this fact is incontestable: there can be no law where there is no society.

It is the function of law to prescribe the scope of a people’s activities for the purpose of organizing a society. If in an organization of two or more people the scope of action of each is not defined, there may arise both conflict in space and disorder in time. Hence, what is called law is made with the aim of securing the best functioning of the social processes.

Some deride law as a superfluity, because they think of it as the yoke which the conqueror compels the conquered to wear. Others preach an extreme anarchism, claiming that as humanity is brought onward toward perfection, law becomes unnecessary. Indeed, to a perfect humanity law would seem to be unnecessary, but it would not be true even then that law is useless, but rather that humanity had perfected the law. As long as society endures, laws will remain. Just as in the physiological mechanism there are constant tendencies and functions, so in society there are constant tendencies and processes. Whether written or unwritten, these are denominated law.

Since society progresses under various forms, law too appears in varying systems. In present-day society two poles are bound together: the one, society’s power to unite, and the other, the cohesive force which maintains a united society. As applied to a race, the two poles are (1) the force which unites the race and (2) the power which keeps it victorious as a race in the struggle for existence. Without this power of combination, victory in the struggle for existence is impossible. But this inner affinity does not necessarily insure victory over a foreign enemy. For in addition to affinity, authority is employed.

This imposition of authority has given birth to various misconceptions of law. Thus law has come to be regarded as the regulations promulgated by the men in power and forced upon the people, or even believed to be another name for tyranny. Moreover, since this imposed authority delivers the society from a foreign foe, he is the representative of Divine authority, and the law which he promulgates has come to be considered the word of God.

It is permissible to state that the history of the world reveals a long struggle between these two forces, the force of social affinity and the force of social authority. In time of war society is bound together under the social authority, is unified by those who bear the military power, and fights for the society’s common aim, that of gaining victory in the struggle. Herein we discover the reason why, from very ancient times when tribal wars were rife, down to the present time of international conflicts, military governments—whatever may have been the form assumed—have always prevailed. For example, in that the Czarist and the Soviet régimes were military governments, no real distinction can be made between them. To state their only difference, it is the difference in the affinities which form the background of the two authorities. The Czar was an imported authority; the Soviet government is the authority representing the combination of producers.