Charity never faileth.
—1 Corinthians 13:8

I. THE PRINCIPLE OF LOVE IN HEAVEN

By the principle of love in heaven I mean the love itself that fills and blesses the heavenly world, and that may be noticed both as to its nature and degree.

1. As to its nature. In its nature, this love is altogether holy and divine. Most of the love that there is in this world is of an unhallowed nature. But the love that has place in heaven is not carnal but spiritual. It does not proceed from corrupt principles or selfish motives, nor is it directed to mean and vile purposes and ends. As opposed to all this, it is a pure flame directed by holy motives, and aiming at no ends inconsistent with God’s glory and the happiness of the universe. The saints in heaven love God for His own sake, and each other for God’s sake—and for the sake of the relation that they have to Him, and the image of God that is upon them. All their love is pure and holy. We may notice this love, also,

2. As to its degree. In degree, it is perfect. The love that dwells in the heart of God is perfect, with an absolutely infinite and divine perfection. The love of angels and saints to God and Christ, is perfect in its kind, or with such a perfection as is proper to their nature. It is perfect with a sinless perfection, and perfect in that it is commensurate to the capacities of their nature. So it is said in the text that “when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” Their love shall be without any remains of any contrary principle, having no pride or selfishness to interrupt it or hinder its exercises. Their hearts shall be full of love. That which was in the heart on earth as but a grain of mustard-seed, shall be as a great tree in heaven…

In heaven there shall be no remaining enmity, distaste, coldness, or deadness of heart towards God and Christ. Not the least remainder of any principle of envy shall exist to be exercised toward angels or other beings who are superior in glory; nor shall there be aught like contempt or slighting of those who are inferiors. Those that have a lower station in glory than others, suffer no diminution of their own happiness by seeing others above them in glory. On the contrary, all the members of that blessed society rejoice in each other’s happiness, for the love of benevolence is perfect in them all…

There is undoubtedly an inconceivably pure, sweet, and fervent love between the saints in glory…Those that are highest in glory are those that are highest in holiness, and therefore are those that are most beloved by all the saints—for they most love those that are most holy, and so they will all rejoice in their being the most happy. And it will not be a grief to any of the saints to see those that are higher than themselves in holiness and likeness to God, more loved also than themselves, for all shall have as much love as they desire, and as great manifestations of love as they can bear; and so all shall be fully satisfied; and where there is perfect satisfaction, there can be no reason for envy…

And the superior in glory will be so far from slighting those that are inferior, that they will have most abundant love to them—greater degrees of love in proportion to their superior knowledge and happiness. The higher any are in glory, the more they are like Christ in this respect, so that the love of the higher to the lower will be greater than the love of the equals of the latter to them.

And what puts it beyond all doubt that seeing the superior happiness of others will not be a damp to the happiness of the inferior, is this: that their superior happiness consists in their greater humility and in their greater love to them, to God, and to Christ, than the inferior will have in themselves. Such will be the sweet and perfect harmony among the heavenly saints, and such the perfect love reigning in every heart toward every other, without limit, alloy, or interruption. No envy, malice, revenge, contempt, or selfishness shall ever enter there, but all such feelings shall be kept as far away as sin is from holiness, and as hell is from heaven!

II. THE EXCELLENT CIRCUMSTANCES OF HEAVEN

Let us next consider, The excellent circumstances in which love shall be exercised, blessed, and enjoyed in heaven.

1. Love in heaven is always mutual. It is always met with answerable returns of love, with returns that are proportioned to its exercise. Such returns love always seeks; and just in proportion as any person is beloved, in the same proportion is his love desired and prized. And in heaven, this desire of love, or this fondness for being loved, will never fail of being satisfied. No inhabitants of that blessed world will ever be grieved with the thought that they are slighted by those that they love, or that their love is not fully and fondly returned.

As the saints will love God with an inconceivable ardency of heart and to the utmost of their capacity, so they will know that He has loved them from all eternity, and still loves them, and will continue to love them forever. And God will then gloriously manifest Himself to them, and they shall know that all that happiness and glory which they are possessed of, are the fruits of His love…

2. The joy of heavenly love shall never be interrupted or damped by jealousy. Heavenly lovers will have no doubt of the love of each other. They shall have no fear that the declarations and professions of love are hypocritical; but shall be perfectly satisfied of the sincerity and strength of each other’s affection, as much as if there were a window in every breast so that everything in the heart could be seen. There shall be no such thing as flattery or dissimulation in heaven, but there perfect sincerity shall reign through all and in all. Every one will be just what he seems to be, and will really have all the love that he seems to have. It will not be as in this world, where comparatively few things are what they seem to be, and where professions are often made lightly and without meaning. But there every expression of love shall come from the bottom of the heart, and all that is professed shall be really and truly felt.

The saints shall know that God loves them, and they shall never doubt the greatness of His love. They shall have no doubt of the love of all their fellow inhabitants in heaven, and they shall not be jealous of the constancy of each other’s love. They shall have no suspicion that the love which others have felt toward them is abated, or in any degree withdrawn from themselves for the sake of some rival, or by reason of anything in themselves which they suspect is disagreeable to others, or through any inconstancy in their own hearts or the hearts of others. Nor will they be in the least afraid that the love of any will ever be abated toward them…

3. There shall be nothing within themselves to clog or hinder the saints in heaven in the exercises and expressions of love. In this world, the saints find much to hinder them in this respect. They have a great deal of dullness and heaviness. They carry about with them a heavy-molded body, a clod of earth, a mass of flesh and blood that is not fitted to be the organ for a soul inflamed with high exercises of divine love; but which is found a great clog and hindrance to the spirit, so that they cannot express their love to God as they would, and cannot be so active and lively in it as they desire…

But in heaven, they shall have no such hindrance. There they will have no dullness and unwieldiness, and no corruption of heart to war against divine love and hinder its expressions; and there no earthly body shall clog with its heaviness the heavenly flame. The saints in heaven shall have no difficulty in expressing all their love. Their souls being on fire with holy love shall not be like a fire pent up, but like a flame uncovered and at liberty…Nothing shall hinder them from communing with God, and praising and serving Him just as their love inclines them to do. Love naturally desires to express itself; and in heaven the love of the saints shall be at full liberty to express itself as it desires, whether it be towards God or to created beings.

4. In heaven, love will be expressed with perfect decency and wisdom. Many in this world that are sincere in their hearts, and have indeed a principle of true love to God and their neighbor, yet have not discretion to guide them in the manner and circumstances of expressing it. Their intentions, and so their speeches, are good, but often not suitably timed nor discreetly ordered as to circumstances, but are attended with an indiscreetness that greatly obscures the loveliness of grace in the eyes of others. But in heaven, the amiableness and excellence of their love shall not be obscured by any such means. There shall be no indecent, unwise, or dissonant speeches or actions—no foolish and sentimental fondness, no needless officiousness, no low or sinful propensities of passion, and no such thing as affections clouding or deluding reason, or going before or against it. But wisdom and discretion shall be as perfect in the saints as love is, and every expression of their love shall be attended with the most amiable and perfect decency, discretion, and wisdom.

5. There shall be nothing external in heaven to keep its inhabitants at a distance from each other, or to hinder their most perfect enjoyment of each other’s love. There shall be no wall of separation in heaven to keep the saints asunder, nor shall they be hindered from the full and complete enjoyment of each other’s love by distance of habitation, for they shall all be together, as one family, in their heavenly Father’s house. Nor shall there be any want of full acquaintance to hinder the greatest possible intimacy…

6. In heaven all shall be united together in very near and dear relations. Love always seeks a near relation to the one who is beloved; and in heaven they shall all be nearly allied and related to each other. All shall be nearly related to God the supreme object of their love, for they shall all be His children. And all shall be nearly related to Christ, for He shall be the head of the whole society, and the husband of the whole Church of saints, all of whom together shall constitute His spouse. And they shall all be related to each other as brethren, for all will be but one society, or rather but one family, and all members of the household of God.

7. In heaven all shall have property and ownership in each other. Love seeks to have the beloved its own; and divine love rejoices in saying, “My beloved is mine, and I am his” (Song 2:16). And in heaven, all shall not only be related one to another, but they shall be each other’s and belong to each other. The saints shall be God’s. He brings them home to Himself in glory as that part of the creation that He has chosen for His peculiar treasure. And on the other hand, God shall be theirs, made over to them in an everlasting covenant in this world, and now they shall be forever in full possession of Him as their portion.

And the saints shall be Christ’s, for He has bought them with a price; and He shall be theirs, for He that gave Himself for them will have given Himself to them. In the bonds of mutual and everlasting love, Christ and the saints will have given themselves to each other…

8. In heaven they shall enjoy each other’s love in perfect and uninterrupted prosperity. What often on earth alloys the pleasure and sweetness of worldly pleasure is that, though persons live in love, yet they live in poverty, or meet with great difficulties and sore afflictions whereby they are grieved for themselves and for one another. Though in such cases love and friendship in some respects lighten the burden to be borne, yet in other respects they rather add to its weight, because those that love each other become, by their very love, sharers in each other’s afflictions—so that each has not only his own trials to bear, but those also of his afflicted friends. But there shall be no adversity in heaven to give occasion for a pitiful grief of spirit, or to molest or disturb those who are heavenly friends in the enjoyment of each other’s friendship. But they shall enjoy one another’s love in the greatest prosperity, in glorious riches and comfort, and in the highest honor and dignity, reigning together in the heavenly kingdom—inheriting all things, sitting on thrones, all wearing crowns of life, and being made kings and priests unto God forever…

9. In heaven all things shall conspire to promote their love, and give advantage for mutual enjoyment. There shall be none there to tempt any to dislike or hatred; no busybodies or malicious adversaries to make misrepresentations, create misunderstandings, or spread abroad any evil reports; but every being and everything shall conspire to promote love and the full enjoyment of love. Heaven itself, the place of habitation, is a garden of pleasures, a heavenly paradise, fitted in all respects for an abode of heavenly love; a place where they may have sweet society and perfect enjoyment of each other’s love. None are unsocial or distant from each other. The petty distinctions of this world do not draw lines in the society of heaven, but all meet in the equality of holiness and of holy love.

10. The inhabitants of heaven shall know that they shall forever be continued in the perfect enjoyment of each other’s love. They shall know that God and Christ shall be forever with them as their God and portion, and that His love shall be continued and fully manifested forever, and that all their beloved fellow-saints shall forever live with them in glory, and shall forever keep up the same love in their hearts which they now have. And they shall know that they themselves shall ever live to love God and love the saints, and to enjoy their love in all its fulness and sweetness forever. They shall be in no fear of any end to this happiness, or of any abatement from its fulness and blessedness, or that they shall ever be weary of its exercises and expressions, or cloyed with its enjoyments, or that the beloved objects shall ever grow old or disagreeable, so that their love shall at last die away.
All in heaven shall flourish in immortal youth and freshness. Age will not there diminish anyone’s beauty or vigor; and their love shall abide in everyone’s heart as a living spring perpetually springing up in the soul, or as a flame that never dies away. And the holy pleasure of this love shall be as a river that is forever flowing clear and full, and increasing continually…

III. THE FRUITS OF THE LOVE OF HEAVEN

Of the many blessed fruits of it, I would at this time mention but two.

1. The most excellent and perfect behavior of all the inhabitants of heaven toward God and each other. Divine love is the sum of all good principles, and therefore the fountain whence proceed all amiable and excellent actions. And as in heaven this love will be perfect, to the perfect exclusion of all sin consisting in enmity against God and fellow creatures, so the fruit of it will be a most perfect behavior toward all. Hence life in heaven will be without the least sinful failure or error. None shall ever come short or turn aside from the way of holiness in the least degree, but every feeling and action shall be perfect in itself and in all its circumstances…

2. Perfect tranquillity and joy in heaven. Holy and humble Christian love is a principle of wonderful power to give ineffable quietness and tranquillity to the soul. It banishes all disturbance, and sweetly composes and brings rest to the spirit, and makes all divinely calm, sweet, and happy. In that soul where divine love reigns and is in lively exercise, nothing can cause a storm or even gather threatening clouds.

There are many principles contrary to love that make this world like a tempestuous sea. Selfishness, envy, revenge, jealousy, and kindred passions keep life on earth in a constant tumult; and make it a scene of confusion and uproar, where no quiet rest is to be enjoyed except in renouncing this world and looking to another. But oh! what rest is there in that world which the God of peace and love fills with His own gracious presence, and in which the Lamb of God lives and reigns, filling it with the brightest and sweetest beams of His love; where there is nothing to disturb or offend, and no being or object to be seen that is not surrounded with perfect amiableness and sweetness; where the saints shall find and enjoy all that they love, and so be perfectly satisfied; where there is no enemy and no enmity, but perfect love in every heart and to every being; where there is perfect harmony among all the inhabitants, no one envying another, but everyone rejoicing in the happiness of every other; where all their love is humble and holy, and perfectly Christian, without the least carnality or impurity; where love is always mutual and reciprocated to the full; where there is no hypocrisy or dissembling, but perfect simplicity and sincerity; where there is no treachery, unfaithfulness, inconstancy, or jealousy in any form; where there is no clog or hindrance to the exercises or expressions of love, no imprudence or indecency in expressing it, and no influence of folly or indiscretion in any word or deed; where there is no separation wall, and no misunderstanding or strangeness, but full acquaintance and perfect intimacy in all; where there is no division through different opinions or interests, but where all in that glorious and loving society shall be most nearly and divinely related, and each shall belong to every other, and all shall enjoy each other in perfect prosperity and riches, and honor, without any sickness, grief, persecution, sorrow, any enemy to molest them, or any busybody to create jealousy or misunderstanding or mar the perfect, holy, and blessed peace that reigns in heaven!

And all this in the garden of God—in the paradise of love, where everything is filled with love, and everything conspires to promote and kindle it, and keep up its flame; and nothing ever interrupts it, but everything has been fitted by an all-wise God for its full enjoyment under the greatest advantages forever! And all, too, where the beauty of the beloved objects shall never fade, and love shall never grow weary nor decay, but the soul shall more and more rejoice in love forever!…

And oh! what joy will there be, springing up in the hearts of the saints after they have passed through their wearisome pilgrimage, to be brought to such a paradise as this! Here is joy unspeakable indeed, and full of glory (1Pe 1:8)—joy that is humble, holy, enrapturing, and divine in its perfection!…All shall stand about the God of glory, Who is the great fountain of love, opening, as it were, their very souls to be filled with those effusions of love that are poured forth from His fullness, just as the flowers on the earth, in the bright and joyous days of spring, open their bosoms to the sun to be filled with his light and warmth, and to flourish in beauty and fragrancy under his cheering rays.

From Charity and Its Fruits, “Heaven, a World, of Charity or Love.”