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We like to think of those we love.
When we become attached to an individual, that one is often and much in
our thoughts. Do you think often of God? Do you think much of him? Do
you love to think of God? And when you do think of him, is it with delight,
or with dread?-- Are thoughts of him precious? Do you cherish thoughts
of God; or do you banish them as soon as you can?
We delight in the society of those we
love.
We wish to be much and often with them. We cannot bear a long absence
from them. Do you delight in the society of God? Do you love to hold communion
with him? Do you read your Bible for this purpose, and frequent your closet?
What testimony will your Bible and your closet bear in the judgment?--Do
you pray at all? When? where? how often? Do you pray once a day? once
a week? once a month? Do you pray in your closet? in your family? in public?
Did you ever pray?
We endeavor to please those we love.
-- Do you endeavor to please God? From what do you abstain, that you may
please him? What do you do, that you, may please him? Do you seek his
pleasure in anything? How or in what do you serve him? Do you delight
in his service? Do you obey him? He commands all men everywhere to repent.
Acts xvii: 30. Do you obey that command? And if you do not obey God, how
can you please him? And if you do not strive to please him, how can you
love him?
We are careful not to offend those we
love.
We do nothing to injure their feelings, nothing to incur their displeasure.
Are you careful not to offend God? But see how you live. You do not obey
his commands, nor regard his threatenings, nor accept his invitations,
nor embrace his Son, nor yield to his Spirit, nor live to his glory. Suppose
a native from the western wilds should visit your dwelling, and abide
with you a month or a year, see all you do, and hear all you say; could
he infer from your conduct that there is a God? Must he not conclude,
either that there is no God, or that, if there be a God, you do not believe
in his existence? Such a conclusion must be natural and necessary, for
he would see you eat and drink without thanking God or asking his blessing.
He would see you lie down and rise up without prayer; see you plough and
sow and attend to your affairs, without any reference to a superintending
Providence. In one word, he would see you living practically, to all intents
and purposes, without God, an atheist in the world. Does the pursuit of
such a course show a desire and purpose not to offend God? And if you
are not careful to avoid offending God, how can you love him? If you loved
God, could you live as you do?
We feel interested in the objects which
interest those we love.
What interests them, interests us. The conversion of sinners interests
the Godhead. As angels love God, so they rejoice over repenting sinners.
Luke xv: 10. So do Christians and all holy beings. But the repentance
of a sinner excites no joy in your heart. You are not interested in the
advancement of the cause of Christ, and the conversion and salvation of
men. If you are, why not repent youself, and turn to God? If interested
in the things which interest God, why not turn from your sins and live,
that God, angels, and men may rejoice over you?
We love the friends of those we love.
-- As the circle of their friendship is endeared to them, so is it to
us. Their friends are ours, and we love them. Christians are the friends
of God. Do you love Christians? Do you love them because they bear the
moral image of their divine Master? Do you love them at all? Jesus Christ
is the well-beloved of the Father, elect, precious. Do you love Jesus
Christ? How do you treat him? He is offered you as a Saviour from sin
and death, but you receive him not, you reject and despise him. This rejection
of Christ and your treatment of him show that you have not the love of
God in you. God says, "They will reverence my Son." Matt. xxi:
97. He has a right to expect this. But you reverence him not. Jesus says,
in John v: 43, "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me
not." This he says in proof of the preceding declaration, "Ye
have not the love of God in you;" for how could they --how can you,
love the Father, when they and you receive not the Son?
Funding from the Institute
of Museum and Library Services
supported the electronic publication of this title.
Text scanned (OCR) by Gina Cash
Text encoded by Elizabeth S. Wright and Natalia Smith
First edition, 2000
ca. 20K
Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
2000.
© This work is the property of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text.
