O    Patience is another attribute of love. 
     Patience also applies to an emotional state.  As an emotion, patience designates a calm and an unruffled state of feelings under circumstances that normally would excite anger or impatience.  Patience as an emotion is purely an involuntary state of mind, and although it is a pleasing and good-natured manifestation, this kind of patience is not properly virtue.  Now, patience as an emotion is often the result of patience as a phenomenon of the will, which is the result of virtue.  However, patience is not virtue all by itself.  This good-natured temper often proceeds from our constitutional behavior, and from circumstances and habits. 
     Patience as a virtue must be a voluntary state of mind.  True patience must be an attribute of love because all virtue, as we have seen and as the Bible teaches, is no more than unselfish love.  The Greek term, ‘upomone’, so often rendered patience in the New Testament, means ‘perseverance under trials, continuance, bearing up under affliction, or deprivations, steadfastness of purpose in spite of obstacles’.  We can use the word patience in a good or a bad sense.  Thus, a selfish man may patiently pursue his goal and may stand his ground under tremendous opposition to his course of action.  This patience is an attribute of selfishness, and is patience in a bad sense of the word.  Patience in the good sense of this word is an attribute of love.  Patience is a consistent quality that steadfastly bears up under trials, afflictions, crosses, persecutions, or discouragements.  This must be an attribute of love.  Whenever patience ceases, when patience cannot hold out any longer, when discouragement prevails and the will relinquishes its end, love ceases. 
     Patience, when it comes from our will, leads to patience as an emotion.  An intention that is steadfast and fixed naturally tends to suppress impatience.  But because our emotions are not directly under the control of our will, there may be irritable or impatient feelings even when our heart remains steadfast.  Facts or falsehoods may be suggested to our mind, which may produce a ruffling of our emotions in spite of our will, even when our heart remains patient.  The only way we can eliminate a temptation like this, is to draw our attention away from whatever created the temptation.  Our will does not directly control our feelings.  Because of this, it often happens that those feelings that relate to our will simply aren’t there.  In fact, we often experience emotions that are just the opposite of the state of our will.  We experience most of our temptations when this situation exists.  Temptation would never be a serious problem if our feelings always corresponded with the state of our will.  Sin consists in willing to gratify our feelings or our constitu­tional impulses in opposition to the law of our reason.  But if these desires and impulses never existed in opposition to the law of our reason and in opposition to a present holy choice, then a holy being could never be tempted.  He would have no temptation or occasion to sin.  If our mother Eve never had feelings of desire in opposition to the state of her will she never would have desired the forbidden fruit, and, of course, would not have sinned. 
     I now want to clearly say that exercising our will does not control our feelings, desires, or emotions to the point that they can never be excited by Satan or by circumstances in opposition to our will, and so they can become powerful temptations to seek their gratification, instead of seeking the highest good of others.  Feelings, the gratification of which would be opposed to every attribute of love, may coexist with love at times and be a temptation to sin; but opposing acts of will cannot exist within us at the same time.  All that we can say is, that once our will has an indirect control over our feelings, desires, appetites, passions, etc., our will can suppress feelings when they arise by diverting our attention from their causes, or by taking into consideration views and facts that will calm or change our feelings.  Suppressing these feelings however, may take a consider­able amount of time.  Ill health, irritable nerves, or many things over which our will has no direct control can easily cause irritable feelings or impatience.  This is not a sinful impa­tience.  If these feelings are not allowed to influence our will; if our will is patient; if such feelings are not cherished, and are not allowed to shake the integrity of our will; they are not sin.  If our will does not consent to those contrary feelings, there is no sin.  They are only temptations.  If those temptations are allowed to control our will, if they are allowed to break forth in words and actions, then there is sin; but the sin does not consist in our feelings, but in the consent of our will to gratify them.  Thus the apostle says, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down on your anger” (Eph. 4:26)  That is, if anger rises up within you, do not sin by allowing it to control your will.  Do not cherish your anger, and don’t let the sun go down on it.  For cherishing anger is sin.  When one cherishes any temptation, when your will consents and broods over the cause of it, you are sinning.  But, if you do not cherish it, then no sin is committed. 
     Our physical actions will correspond with the actions of our will, provided no physical obstacle opposes them.  But the belief, that feelings and desires cannot exist contrary to the states or decisions of our will, is not true.  If this was a universal truth, temptation could not exist.  Our physical actions will always reflect our will and they usually reflect our feelings.  Feelings will usually correspond to whatever our will chooses, but occasionally we will experience feelings that oppose our willful choice.  These exceptions may and do exist in holy beings.  They existed in Eve before she consented to sin, and if she had resisted them she would have not sinned. 
     No doubt, they existed in Christ, or He could not have been tempted in all points like we are.  If there are no emotional desires or impulses contrary to the state of our will, there can be no tempta­tions.  We must first become aware of the desire before it moves us to perform a sinful action, even before there is a temptation to indulge selfishly.  Just as surely as a holy being may be tempted and not sin, so certainly emotions of any kind, or of any strength, may exist in our soul without sin.  If we do not indulge in these emotions, if our will does not consent to gratify them, we are no less virtuous by their presence.  Patience that results from exercising our will must strengthen and gird itself under such circumstances, so that it exists in exact proportion to our impatience.  The more impatience we have, the more willful patience we need, or virtue will cease altogether.  So, it is not always true that our virtue is the strongest when our emotions are calm, placid, and patient.  When Christ passed through His greatest conflicts, His virtue as a man was undoubtedly the most intense.  When He agonized in the garden, so great was the anguish of His soul, that He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood.  This, He says, was the hour of the prince of darkness.  This was His great trial.  But did He sin?  No, indeed!  Why?  Was He calm and placid as a summer’s evening?  As far from it as possible. 
     Patience, then, as an attribute of love does not consist in placid feelings but in perseverance under trials and emotional upheavals that normally lead to selfishness.  This is only love under circumstances of discouragement, of trial, or temptation.  “This is the patience of the saints” (Rev. 13:10) 
     Before I move on to the next attribute of love, I would like to say that the steadfast­ness of our heart tends so strongly to secure patience, that if an opposite emotional state lasts for any significant length of time, then we can presume that our heart is not steadfast in love.  The first feelings of opposition will produce an immediate effort to suppress it.  If the opposition continues, this is evidence that we are allowing our attention to dwell on the cause of that opposition.  This shows that our will is, to some degree, indulging in it. 
     If it goes so far as to influence our will to manifest itself in impatient words and actions, there must be a yielding of our will.  Once we yield our will, we loose our patience.  If our emotions were perfectly and directly under the control of our will, the least degree of impatience would imply sin.  But, since our feelings are only indirectly under the control of our will, momen­tary impatience, when it does not influence our will and when we do not indulge in it, does not indicate a sinful state of our will.  Remember, that neither patience nor impatience, in the form of a mere feeling, existing for any length of time and in any degree, is all by itself either holy on the one hand or sinful on the other.  All we can say about these emotional states is that they generally indicate the attitude of our will.  When our will is steadfast in its patience for a long time, the result is great patience of feeling and temper.  In fact, many advanced saints experience the most consistent patience year after year after year.  This does not constitute their holiness, but it is a sweet fruit of it.  We must regard patience as a reward of holiness, rather than holiness itself.

P     Another attribute of love is Meekness.        
  Meekness, when our will produces it, is a virtue.  This term also expresses an emotion.  When meekness is an emotion, it is very similar to patience.  It is a sweet and forbearing temper under provocation.  Willful meekness is the opposite of resistance to injury and retaliation.  It is forbear­ance under harmful treatment.  This certainly is an attribute of God, as our existence and our being out of hell clearly demonstrate.  Christ said that He was “meek and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29), and this surely was no vain boast.  How admirably, and how continuously did this attribute of His love manifest itself!  The fifty‑third chapter of Isaiah is a prophecy that exhibits this attribute in a most affecting light.  Indeed, hardly any feature of the character of God and of Christ is more strikingly demonstrated than this.  It is obviously an attribute of love.  Love is good will to all beings.  We are naturally meek toward those whose good we honestly and diligently seek.  If our hearts are determined to do them good, we will naturally exercise a lot of meekness towards them.  God has greatly demonstrated His meekness for us, in that while we were His enemies, rather than punish us; He gave His Son to die for us.  Meekness is a sweet and amiable attribute.  It effectively displayed itself in the hall of Pilate as well as on the cross.  “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not his mouth.”  (Isaiah 53:7) 
     This attribute has many opportunities in this world to develop and display itself in the saints.  There are daily occasions for the exercise of this form of virtue.  Indeed, we need to exercise all the attributes of love in this school of discipline here on earth.  This is indeed a suitable world in which to train God’s children, to develop and strengthen every form of holiness.  This attribute must always appear where love exists and wherever there is an opportunity to exercise it. 
     It is delightful to contemplate the perfection and glory of that love that constitutes obedience to God’s law.  As situations arise, we see love developing one attribute after another, and many attributes and forms of love may exist that we don’t even know about yet.  These will manifest under special circumstances.  I believe that the attributes of love were very imperfectly known in heaven before sin existed in the universe, and that if it weren’t for sin, the universe would not have seen many of these attributes.  But, the existence of sin, great as the evil is, has provided an opportunity for love to manifest its beautiful phases and to develop its sweet attributes in a most enchanting manner.  Thus, the divine economy of love brings good out of so much evil. 
     A hasty and aggressive spirit always demonstrates a lack of love or true religion.  Meekness is, and must be, a peculiar characteristic of the saints in this world where there is so much aggression.  Christ frequently and strongly enforced the obligation to be meek.  “But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on your right cheek; turn the other to him also.  If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two” (Matt. 5:41)  How beautiful! 

Q    Humility is another form or attribute of love. 
     This word is often used to express a sense of unworthiness, of guilt, of ignorance, and of nothingness, to express a feeling of ill‑desert.  People commonly use the word humility to express the condition of our mind when we are clearly aware of our guilt.  When used to designate an emotion, humility represents those feelings of shame and unworthiness, of ignorance, and of nothing­ness.  These feelings seem the strongest when the Holy Spirit reveals our true character to us. 
     As a willful attribute of love, humility consists in a willing to let others know and appreciate us according to our real character.  Humility, as a feeling, may coexist with great pride of heart.  Pride is a desire to exalt self, to rise above others, to hide our defects, and to pass for more than what we are.  Deep conviction of sin, deep feelings of shame, and of ignorance, and even the feeling that we deserve hell, may coexist with a strong unwillingness to confess and let others see us just as we are, and to allow others to be appreciated according to our real character.  There is no virtue in this type of humility.  However, virtuous humility consists in our willful consent to let others know us; to confess, and to take our proper place in the scale of everything that exists.  It is that peculiar aspect of love that wills the good of others so unselfishly, that we are not willing to pretend to be anyone other than who we are.  This is an honest, a sweet, and a pleasant feature of love.  It seems to be peculiar to those who have sinned.  This attribute renders confession of sin to God and man natural, and even makes it a luxury.  It is easy to see that if it wasn’t for this attribute, the saints could not be happy in heaven.  God has promised to judge every work and every secret thing whether it is good or whether it is evil.  Now as long pride exists, that person doesn’t really want to have his character revealed, so unless humility really is an attribute that belongs to the saints, they will be ashamed at the judgment, and filled with confusion even in heaven itself.  But this sweet attribute will secure them against that shame and confusion of face that would otherwise turn heaven itself into a hell for them.  They will be perfectly willing and happy to be known and estimated according to their true characters.  This attribute will secure in all the saints on earth that confession of faults one to another, which is so often commanded in the Bible.  This does not mean that Christians will always think that it is wise and necessary to confess all their secret sins to each other.  But it does mean that they will confess to those whom they have injured and to all whom love demands that they should confess.  This attribute secures the one who possesses it against spiritual pride, against ambition to get above others.  It is a modest and unassuming state of mind.

R    Self‑denial is another attribute of love. 
     If we love anyone more than ourselves, we of course deny ourselves when our own interests come in competition with his.  Love is goodwill.  If I will good to others more than to myself, it is absurd to say that I will not deny myself when my own preferences conflict with their good.  Now the love required by the law of God is good will, or willing the highest good of others for its own sake, or as an end.  Since self-interests are not regarded because they belong to self, but because of their relative importance, self‑denial for the sake of promoting the higher interests of God and of the universe must be an attribute of love. 
     The very idea of unselfish love implies abandoning the spirit of selfishness.  It is impossible to become filled with love without ceasing to be selfish.  In other words, perfect self‑denial is implied in being filled with love.  Self‑indulgence ends where true love begins.  This must be.  Love consecrates all of our powers to the highest good of others as a goal.  This is completely inconsistent with consecrating ourselves to self‑gratification.  Selfishness makes good to self the end of every choice.  Unselfish love makes good for others the end of every choice.  True love, then, implies complete self‑denial.  That is, it implies that we never choose something simply because it belongs to self, but only because of its importance to God and our neighbor. 
     I said the only true love is unselfish love.  Selfish love occurs when we will the good of others as a means of our own happiness, or because of its importance to us.  Thus, a man might will the good of his family, or of his neighborhood, or country, or of anyone that has such a relationship to him that it directly affect his own interests.  When his ultimate reason why he wills good to others is because he wants to promote his own interests, this is selfishness.  It is making good to self his goal.  A sinner may love God this way.  He may love to be active in the church, and promote the interests of religion in general.  Selfish love motivates him.  He is willing good only for himself, and good to others only as a means of promoting his own good. 
     When our feelings govern our will and directs the good that we do for others, this is a selfish love.  For example: let’s say that the presence of a blind beggar in misery stirs up my feeling of compassion.  This feeling becomes so intense, and produces such a strong emotion that my will consents to gratify my emotion.  For the time being, this emotion becomes stronger than any other feeling.  I yield to it, giving all the money I have in my wallet to relieve the sufferer.  I even take my shirt off and give it to him.  Now, in this situation, I am just as selfish as if I had spent my money to gratify my appetite for alcohol.  Gratifying my feelings was the reason why I did what I did.  This is one of the subtlest and the most deceptive forms of selfishness. 
     When one makes his own salvation the reason for praying, for tithing, or the reason for all his religious duties, this is selfishness.  It is not true religion; no matter how much effort he might exert doing these things.  This is only selfish love. 
     From the very nature of true love, it is impossible that we should not regard every interest according to its relative importance.  When I see that another interest is more important to God and the universe than my own interest, and when I see that, by denying myself, I can promote that interest, it is certain that, if I truly love God, I will do it.  I cannot fail to do it without failing love God with all my heart.  Therefore, the unselfish man will honestly weigh each interest in the balance of his own best judgment, and he will always prefer the more important interest, provided he believes that he can reasonably secure it by his efforts, and by his self‑denial. 
     That self‑deni­al is an attribute of Divine love, is seen in God’s gift of His Son to die for us.  Christ also manifested this attribute when He denied Himself and took up His cross and suffered for His enemies.  It was not for His friends that Christ gave Himself.  It was not for unfortunate nor innocent sufferers that God gave His Son.  It was for His enemies.  It’s not so God could make slaves of sinners that He gave His Son, nor did God give His Son because of any selfish consideration whatsoever, but because God saw ahead of time that by making this sacrifice Himself, He could secure for the universe a greater good than His sacrifice.  Self-denial caused God to give His Son to suffer so much.  Total unselfish love alone led Him to deny Himself for the sake of a greater good to the universe.  Now Christ would not have made this sacrifice unless God felt that it was the lesser of two natural evils.  That is, God considered that the sufferings of Christ, great and overwhelming as they were, were a lesser evil than the eternal sufferings of the entire human race.  This influenced Him to make the sacrifice for His enemies.  It did not matter whether it was for friends or for enemies, if He could have, He would have made a less sacrifice to secure a greater good to them. 
     Remember, that a self‑indulgent spirit is never consistent with true love.  No form of self‑indulgence can exist where true love exists.  The fact is, self‑denial must exist wherever love reigns.  Christ has clearly made wholehearted self‑denial a condition of discipleship; which is the same thing as saying that self-denial is an essential attribute of holiness or love; and you cannot even begin to have true virtue without it. 
     A lot that looks likes self‑denial is only a disguised form of self‑indulgenc­e.  The penances and the self‑mortifications of the superstitious are nothing but manifestations of a spirit of self‑indulgence.  A priest abstains from marriage to obtain the honor and the influence of his priestly duties here, and eternal glory hereafter.  A nun takes the veil and a monk hides himself in a monastery; a hermit forsakes human society, and shuts himself up in a cave; an ascetic makes a pilgrimage to Mecca, and a martyr goes to the stake.  Now if these people do these things for their own selfish glory and happiness, even though they appear to be examples of great self‑denial, they are really, only manifestations of a spirit of self‑indulgence and self‑seeking.  They are only following their strongest selfish desire. 
     There are many errors on this subject.  For example: it is common for people to deny self in one form for the sake of gratifying self in another form.  Let’s say that, in one man, greed is his ruling passion.  He labors hard, rises early, stays up late, eats the bread of carefulness, and denies himself even the basic necessities of life for the sake of accumulating wealth.  Everyone can see, that he is denying himself certain ways merely so he can gratify himself in other ways.  Yet, this man will complain bitterly about the self‑indulgent spirit that others manifested.  He will complain about their extravagance and lack of piety.  One man will deny all his bodily appetites and passions for the sake of his reputation with his friends.  Another will sacrifice his earthly pleasures to obtain an eternal inheritance and be just as selfish as the man who sacrifices his soul and all the riches of eternity for the things of this world. 
     Now, unselfish self-denial must suppress all the other preferences of our soul.  True self-denial must suddenly or gradually, completely subdue and quiet every other preference that we have.  Our selfish desires will suddenly or gradually be slain to the point that our emotion will become basically dead to those objects that so often and so easily excited it.  It is a law of every desire and passion, that indulging in our emotions develops and strengthens them, and denying our emotions suppresses them.  True love consists in refusing to gratify those feelings, and obeying our reason instead.  Therefore, it must be true that denying our emotions will suppress them; while indulging in our emotions will develop them.  Thus, selfishness tends to weaken our mind while true love tends to strengthen our mind.  

S     Condescension is another attribute of love. 
     This attribute consists in a tendency to descend to the poor, the ignorant, or the vile to secure their good.  It is a tendency to seek the good of those whom providence has placed below us, by stooping, by descending, by coming down to them for their benefit.  It is a peculiar form of self‑denial.  God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, display infinite condescension in efforts to secure the good of sinners, even the most vile and degraded sinners.  Christ calls this attribute, lowliness of heart.  God is said to humble Himself, that is, to condescend when He beholds the things that are done in heaven.  This is true, for every creature is and must forever be infinitely below Him in every respect.  But that condescension that comes down to earth, even to the lowest and most degraded of earth’s inhabitants, out of love for them, must be infinitely great!  This is a precious form of love. 
     Most people, especially infidels, seem to regard condescension as more of a weakness than a virtue.  Skeptics clothe their imaginary God with attributes that are often the opposite of true virtue.  They think it is completely beneath the dignity of God to come down, even to notice mankind, let alone to interfere with their concerns.  But hear the word of the Lord: “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones’” (Isaiah 57:15)  And again, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is my footstool.  Where is the house that you will build Me?  And where is the place of My rest?  For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,’ says the Lord.  ‘But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.’”  (Isaiah 66:1‑2)  Thus, the Bible represents God as clothed with condescension as with a cloak.
     Condensation is not only an attribute of love but also an attribute of true greatness.  The natural perfections of God appear even more wonderful when we consider that He knows, thinks about, leads, and guides, not only the highest, but also the lowest of all His creatures; that He is just as able to attend to every need of every creature as if this is the only thing on His mind.  So His moral attributes appear even more lovely and engaging when we consider that His “tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalms 145:9), “that not a sparrow falls to the ground without Him”  (Matt. 10:29), that He condescends to number the very hairs of the heads of His servants and that not one of them can fall without Him.  When we consider that no creature is too low, too filthy, or too degraded for Him to condescend to, this places His character in a most wonderful light.  Love is good will to all living beings.  Of course, one of the characteristics of love must be condescension to those who are below us.  Condescension in God is infinite.  He is infinitely above all creatures.  For Him to hold communion with His creatures is infinite condescension. 
     You can find this attribute in everyone who loves God with all his or her heart.  With the lowest moral beings, it may only develop in their relationships to living creatures below the rank of moral agents, because there are simply no moral agents below them to whom they can stoop.  God’s condescen­sion stoops to all ranks of created beings.  This is also true with every one who loves God and their neighbor with all their hearts.  Condensation seeks the good of others in general, and never thinks that any one is too low to minister to and cared for according to their relative importance.  Love cannot possibly keep its own essential nature, and yet be above any degree of condescension that can produce the greatest good.  True love does not, and cannot know anything about that lofty spirit that considers it too degrading to stoop anywhere, or to any being whose interests need to be promoted by such condescension.  Love has its goal, and it must seek that goal, and it cannot think that anything, that is demanded to secure that goal, is below it. 
     The shame, the infinite folly and madness of pride, and every form of selfishness!  How infinitely unlike God it is!  Christ could condescend to be born in a manger; to be brought up in a humble life; to be poorer than the fox of the desert, or the fowls of heaven; to associate with fishermen; to mingle with and seek the good of all kinds of people; to be despised in life, and die between two thieves on the cross.  His love “endured the cross and despised the shame” (Heb. 12:2)  He was “meek and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29)  The Lord of heaven and earth is as much more lowly in heart than any of His creatures as he is above them in His infinity.  He can stoop to anything but to commit sin.  He can stoop infinitely low.  

T     Stability is another attribute of love.         
True love is not a mere feeling or an emotion that effervesces for a moment and then it cools down and disappears.  Nor is it simply a willful act that accomplishes its object and then rests.  Love is choosing an end, a supreme end.  It is an intelligent choice - the most intelligent choice that you can make.  It is a considerate choice, a deliberate choice, and a reasonable choice, which will always commend itself to the highest perceptions of the mind.  It is intelligent and impartial, because it is completely consecrating your self to the highest goal in the universe.  It is the most important and it is captivating in its influence.  Now, stability must be a characteristic of such a choice as this.  By stability, I do not mean that we may not change our choice, or that our decision has never changed, but when we consider the attributes of this choice, it appears as if stability, as opposed to instability, must be an attribute of this choice.  It is a new birth, a new nature, a new creature, a new heart, a new life.  These things and many things just like these are represented throughout scripture.  Do these things represent an unstable, temporary state?  The beginning of unselfish love within us is represented as the death of sin, as a burial, being planted, a crucifixion of the old man, and many similar things.  Do these things describe what we so often see among professing Christians today?  The nature of the change itself would seem to be a guarantee that it is stable.  We might reasonably suppose that we would abandon any other choice before we would abandon this choice; that any other state of mind would fail sooner than love.  It is useless to reply to those who claim that the facts prove that the opposite is true.  I say, what facts?  Who can prove that they are facts?  Shall we appeal to the instability of many people who claim to be Christians; or shall we appeal to the very nature of the choice and to the scriptures?  No doubt, we must appeal to the very nature of the choice as well as the scriptures.  As far as philosophy goes, we might defy the world to produce an instance of choice that has so many chances for stability.  Scripture is filled with passages proclaiming stability.  What then shall we say about those unstable, so called ‘Christians’ who are soon hot and soon cold; whose religion constantly fluctuates; “whose goodness is as the morning cloud and the early dew, which goes away?”  (Hosea 6:4)  We must conclude that they never had the root of true love in them.  We can see that they are not dead to sin and to the world.  We can see that they are not new creatures, that they do not have the spirit of Christ, that they do not keep His commandments.  What then shall we conclude?  That they are stony‑ground hearers!

U     Holiness is another attribute of true love.             
The Bible uses this word to mean the same as moral purity.  In a ceremonial sense, the Bible applies holiness to both people and things.  To make holy and to sanctify mean the same thing.  To sanctify and to consecrate, or set apart for sacred use, are identical.  Many things were in this sense, sanctified, or made holy, under the Jewish economy.  We can apply the word holiness to anything that is set apart for a sacred use.  It especially applies to one who is set apart for God’s service. 
     As an attribute of love, holiness denotes that quality which tends to seek to promote our happiness when we conform to moral law.  As a moral attribute of God, holiness is that attribute of His love that secures happiness against all efforts to obtain it by any other means than those means that are morally and perfectly pure.  God’s love aims to make sure our happiness by means of moral law and moral government, and to make sure we conform to His own subjective idea of right.  In other words, holiness in God is that quality of His love that makes sure we conform, in all our efforts and manifestations, to God’s Divine idea of right.  Sometimes, we use holiness to express the moral character of the Godhead.  It sometimes seems to designate an attribute and sometimes a quality of His moral attributes.  There is no doubt that holiness is a characteristic or a quality of each and all of His moral attributes.  All of God’s moral attributes will harmonize in holiness, that not one of them can consent to do anything else than conform to the law of moral purity, as revealed in the Divine Reason. 
     That holiness is an attribute of God is everywhere assumed, and frequently mentioned in the Bible.  If holiness is an attribute of God, it must be an attribute of love; for God is love.  Holiness is celebrated in heaven as one of those aspects of God’s Divine character that gives indescribable delight.  Isaiah saw the seraphim standing around the throne of Jehovah, and crying one to another, “Holy!  Holy!  Holy!”  (Isaiah 6:3)  John also had a vision of worship of heaven, and says, “They rest not day nor night, saying, Holy!  Holy!  Holy!  Lord God Almighty” (Rev. 4:8)  When Isaiah beheld the holiness of Jehovah, he cried out “Woe is me!  I am undone.  I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”  (Isaiah 6:5)  God’s holiness is infinite, and it is no wonder that a glimpse of it should affect the prophet this way. 
     Finite holiness must forever feel awed in the presence of infinite holiness.  Job says, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.  Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6)  There is no comparing the finite with the infinite.  The time will never come when creatures can contemplate, with open face, the infinite holiness of Jehovah without being like people overcome with a harmony too intensely delightful to be calmly borne.  Heaven is not able to endure it without breaking forth into strains of inexpressible rapture. 
     The statements of Isaiah and Job don’t necessarily imply that at the time, they were in a sinful state, but their statements do reveal the fact that they had been guilty of past sins.  In the light of Jehovah’s holiness, they saw the comparative pollution of their whole character.  This view will always deeply affect the saints.  This must be; and yet, in another sense, they are as holy in their measure as He is.  They may be as perfectly conformed to what light or truth they have, as God is.  This is what Christ intended when He said, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect”.  (Matt. 5:48)  The meaning is, that they should live for the same goal and consecrate themselves to that same goal just like He is.  This is what they must do to be truly virtuous or holy in any degree.  But even when they conform to the light that God gives them, a full view of God’s holiness would still amaze and overwhelm them.  If anyone doubts this, he has not properly thought about it.  He has not lifted up his thoughts, as he needs to do to contemplate infinite holiness.  No creature, no matter how much they love God or their neighbor, can see God’s Divine love without being overwhelmed with a clear vision of it.  This is also true of every attribute of God’s Divine love.  No matter how perfect our virtue may be, it is only finite, and when you bring your measure of virtue into the light of the attributes of infinite virtue it will appear like the dimmest star in the presence of the sun, lost in the blaze of God’s glory.  Let the most righteous man on earth, or in heaven, see and have a clear understanding of the infinite justice of Jehovah and it would no doubt fill him with unutterable awe.  In the same way, if the most merciful saint on earth, or in heaven, could clearly see God’s Divine mercy in its fullness, it would swallow up all thought and imagination, and no doubt, it would overwhelm him.  This is also true of every attribute of God.  Oh!  When we speak of the attributes of Jehovah, we often do not know what we are talking about.  If God completely revealed Himself to us, our bodies would instantly perish “No man”, says He, “can see My face and live” (Exodus 33:20)  When Moses prayed, “Show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18)  God hid him in the cleft of a rock, and covered him with His hand.  He passed by, and let Moses see only His back parts, informing him that he could not behold His face, that is, His unveiled glories, and live. 
     So holiness is an essential attribute of unselfish love.  This must be true from the way God created the universe, and from the very nature of love.  In us, holiness manifests itself in beautifully pure of conversations and manners, in a powerful hatred for all fleshly and spiritual impurities.  Let us not claim to have piety if we do not have holiness.  The love required by the law of God is pure love.  It seeks to make us happy only by making us holy.  Love manifests the greatest dislike of sin and all uncleanness.  In creatures, love longs for holiness.  It will never find a resting place, in such a sense, that it no longer desires to ascend any higher.  As love sees more and more of the fullness and infinity of God’s holiness, it will no doubt yearn and struggle to ascend to the eternal heights where God sits in light too intense for the strongest vision of the highest cherub. 
     Holiness of heart produces a desire for purity in our soul.  Our feelings become alive to the beauty of holiness and to the hatefulness of all spiritual impurity.  This is called the love of holiness.  Our emotion becomes ravished with the great loveliness of holiness, and it becomes disgusted with the opposite.  The least impure conversation or impure action quickly shocks one who is holy.  Impure thoughts, if suggested to the mind of a holy being, instantly feel highly offensive and painful.  The soul heaves and struggles to cast those impure thoughts out as very disgusting abominations.