God's love in Christ is not only an object which gathers; it is an activity which does so. Love is relative; it acts and shows itself. Hence God has acted. It is not the silent depths of self-consciousness which heathenism made of God as mere intellect, though erroneously supposing matter equally eternal and receiving merely form from God; though it then became active in generating thoughts, and delighted with them objectively, became active in creation to produce them according to truth. In this scheme they justly made primeval darkness the mother of all things. But such is not our God. They knew not love in God, save in benefits sensibly known in creation. Jesus revealed Him, and we thus know Him to be love, and light too. Blessed knowledge it is, as given to us in the word, eternal life; and this life is occupied with it, as we have seen, with the Father and the Son. But we can equally say that we know this sweet and blessed truth: “My Father worketh hitherto and I work.” it is the activity of love which is the power of gathering. “He gave himself.... That He might gather together in one the children of God which were scattered abroad.” even in Israel, “how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” here we have not only the attractive sanctifying object bringing into fellowship, but the activity of love, which acts, gives itself, in order to gather. In this we are allowed to have a part. It is this, while sanctifying and maintaining his holiness and making us partakers of it, which reveals God and gathers weary souls