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Fundamentals of Christian Education
abandonment of sin. He taught them honesty, forbearance, mercy, and
compassion, enjoining upon them to love not only those who loved
them, but those who hated them, who treated them despitefully. In
this He was revealing to them the character of the Father, who is long-
suffering, merciful, and gracious, slow to anger, and full of goodness
and truth. Those who accepted His teaching were under the guardian
care of angels, who were commissioned to strengthen, to enlighten,
that the truth might renew and sanctify the soul.
Christ declares the mission He had in coming to the earth. He
says in His last public prayer, “O righteous Father, the world hath
not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that
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Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and
will declare it; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be
in them, and I in them.” When Moses asked the Lord to show him
His glory, the Lord said, “I will make all My goodness pass before
thee.” “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord,
The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty....
And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and
worshiped.” When we are able to comprehend the character of God
as did Moses, we too shall make haste to bow in adoration and praise.
Jesus contemplated nothing less than “that the love wherewith Thou
hast loved Me” should be in the hearts of His children, that they might
impart the knowledge of God to others.
O what an assurance is this, that the love of God may abide in
the hearts of all who believe in Him! O what salvation is provided;
for He is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by
Him. In wonder we exclaim, How can these things be? But Jesus will
be satisfied with nothing less than this. Those who are partakers of
His sufferings here, of His humiliation, enduring for His name’s sake,
are to have the love of God bestowed upon them as it was upon the
Son. One who knows, has said, “The Father himself loveth you.” One
who has had an experimental knowledge of the length, and breadth,
and height, and depth of that love, has declared unto us this amazing
fact. This love is ours through faith in the Son of God, therefore a
connection with Christ means everything to us. We are to be one
with Him as He is one with the Father, and then we are beloved by