The Love That Hopeth And Endureth All Things
And when it can no longer believe, then love hopeth all things. Is any evil related of any man? Love hopes that the relation is not true, that the thing related was never done. Is it certain it was?—”But perhaps it was not done with such circumstances as are related; so that showing the facts, there is room to hope it was not so ill as it is reported.” Was the action apparently, undeniably evil? Love hopes the intention was not so. Is it clear the design was evil too?—”Yet might it not spring, not from the settled temper of the heart, but from a start of passion, or from some vehement temptation, which hurried the man beyond himself?” And even when it cannot be doubted but all the actions, designs, and tempers are equally evil, still love hopes that God will at last triumph with loving mercy; and that there shall be joy in heaven over this sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance.
Love “endureth all things.” This completes the character of him that is truly merciful. He endureth not some, not many things only, not most, but absolutely all things. Whatever the injustice, the malice, the cruelty of men can inflict, he is able to suffer. He calls nothing intolerable; he never says of anything, “this is not to be borne.” No: he can not only do but suffer all things through Christ which strengtheneth him. And all he suffers does not destroy his love, nor impair it in the least. It is proof against all. It is a flame that burns in the midst of the great deep. ” Many waters cannot quench his love, neither can the floods drown it.” It triumphs over all. It never faileth, neither in time or in eternity.
Thus in obedience to what heaven decrees,
Knowledge shall fail, and prophecy shall cease;
But lasting love’s more ample sway—
Nor bound by time, nor subject to decay—
In happy triumph shall forever live,
And endless good diffuse, and endless praise receive.
—John Wesley.
Alternate Reading: I John 4: 7-21.