And if this be true of things earthly and temporary, how much more of things heavenly and eternal?  We must begin by loving whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, honest, and of good report.  We must begin, I say, by loving them with a sort of child’s love, without understanding them; by that simple instinct and longing after what is good and beautiful and true, which is indeed the inspiration of the Spirit of God.  But as we go on, as St Paul bids us, to meditate on them; and “if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, to think on such things,” and feed our minds daily with purifying, elevating, sobering, humanizing, enlightening thoughts:  then we shall get to love goodness with a reasonable and manly love; to see the beauty of holiness; the strength of self-sacrifice; the glory of justice; the divineness of love; and in a word—­To love God for His own sake, and to give Him thanks for His great glory, which is:  That He is a good God.

This thought—­remember it, I pray—­brings me to the last point.  This Spirit is also the spirit of the fear of the Lord.  And that too, my friends, must be a spirit of love not only to God, but to our fellow-creatures.  For if we but consider that God the Father loves all; that His mercy is over all His works; and that He hateth nothing that He has made:  then how dare we hate anything that He has made, as long as we have any rational fear of Him, awe and respect for Him, true faith in His infinite majesty and power?  If we but consider that God the Son actually came down on earth to die, and to die too on the cross, for all mankind:  then how dare we hate a human being for whom He died:  at least if we have true honour, gratitude, loyalty, reverence, and godly fear in our hearts toward Him, our risen Lord?

Oh let us open our eyes this Whitsuntide to the experience of our past lives.  Let us see now—­what we shall certainly see at the day of judgment—­that whenever we have failed to be loving, we have also failed to be wise; that whenever we have been blind to our neighbours’ interests, we have also been blind to our own; whenever we have hurt others, we have hurt ourselves still more.  Let us, at this blessed Whitsuntide, ask forgiveness of God for all acts of malice and uncharitableness, blindness and hardness of heart; and pray for the spirit of true charity, which alone is true wisdom.  And let us come to Holy Communion in charity with each other and with all; determined henceforth to feel for each other and with each other; to put ourselves in our neighbours’ places; to see with their eyes, and feel with their hearts, as far as God shall give us that great grace; determined to make allowances for their mistakes and failings; to give and forgive, live and let live, even as God gives and forgives, lives and lets live for ever:  that so we may be indeed the children of our Father in heaven, whose name is Love.  Then we shall indeed discern the Lord’s body—­that it is a body of union, sympathy, mutual trust, help, affection.  Then we shall, with all contrition and humility, but still in spirit and in truth, claim and obtain our share in the body and the blood, in the spirit and in the mind, of Him Who sacrificed Himself for a rebellious world.