Heaven's Cement

“Love is a grace that will make us industrious for the good of others, and therefore we read of the ‘labour of love (i Thess. i. 3.) It is gluten animarum, the glue of souls, the cement and solder of the church; the joiiitijig that rimneth throughout all the living and squared stones (Col. iii. 14.) By this souls are mingled, and all mutual offices are cheejfully

^erformedP O for more of this sacred cement. The walls of many churches gape with huge cracks for lack of it. Building with untempered mortar is an ancient fault, but nowadays some build with no mortar at all. Professors seem to be piled together like a load of bricks, without life, love, or living truth to unite them; and the promise is forgotten, “I will lay thy stones with fair colours.’ Will not our reader, if he be a believer, endeavour to furnish his portion of the sacred cement of love, which is the perfect bond? This will be far more useful than complaining of the lack of unity, for this complaint often creates the evil which it deplores. Critics pick out from between the stones the mortar, of which there is little enough already; but loving hearts fill up the cracks, and do their best to keep the structure whole. Blessed are the peace-makers.”

How am I acting 1 Am I a bond in the building, or do I, like the foolish woman in the Proverbs, pluck down the house with my hands? O Lord of peace, make me more and more a lover of peace.