tilt, IMNHI 
 
No. 105. 
 
 DO YOU LOVE GOD ? 
 
 Wc like to think of those we love. When 
 we become attached to an individual, 
 1 hat one is often and much in our thought*. 
 Do you think often of God ? Do you 
 'think much of him ? Do you lone to'think 
 •of God? And when you do think of 
 him, is it with delight, or with dread ? — 
 -Are thojsghts of him precious f Do ) on 
 ^cherish thoughts of God ; or do you ban- 
 ish them as soon as you can ? 
 
 ^V e delight in the society of those we 
 love. We wish to he much and often 
 with them. We cannot bear a long ab- 
 sence 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 ofteu ? D,> you pray, once a May ? 
 once a week? once a month? Do you 
 
pray in jour closet? in your family? la- 
 public? Did you ever pray f 
 
 We endeavor to please those we love. — 
 Do you endeavor to pleas© God? From 
 what do you abstain, that you may please 
 'him ? What do you do, that you ms^y 
 please him ? Do you seek his pleasure 
 in anything? How or in what do you 
 serve him I Do 3^0 u delight in his service ? 
 Do you obey him ? He commands all 
 men everywhere to repent. Acts xvii : 30. 
 Do you obeytik&b command ? And if you 
 do not obey God, how can you please 
 him ? A«d 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 feel- 
 ings, 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 threaten ings, 
 nor accept his invitations, nor embrace 
 his Son, nor yield to his Spirit, nor live 
 to his glory. Suppo&e a native from the 
 w«stePn 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 
 necesssary, 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 in- 
 terest those ive love. "What interests them, 
 interests us. Tfo conversion of sinners 
 interests the Godhead. As angels love 
 God, so fhey rejoice over repenting sin- 
 ners. Luke xv : 10. So do Christians 
 and all holy beings. But the repentance 
 
1 of a sinner excites no joy in your heart. 
 You are not interested in the advance- 
 ment of the cause of Christ, and the con- 
 version and salvation of men. If you are, 
 why not repent yourself, 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 re- 
 joice over you ? 
 
 We love the friends of those we love. — 
 As the circle of their friendship^ endear- 
 ed to them, so is it to us. Thei friendf 
 are ours, and we love them, Chiistians 
 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 ? Je- 
 sus Christ is the well-beloved of the Fath- 
 er, 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 re- 
 ject 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 cot. Je- 
 sus says, ir Johnv: 43, "I am come in 
 my Fathers name, and ye receive me 
 not." This he says in proof of the pre- 
 ceding declaration, "Ye have not the 
 love of Go 1 in you ; " for how could they 
 — how can you, love the Father, when 
 they and 3 ou receive not the Son ? 
 
 But further, you dislike to have the claim* 
 of God ui (jed v-jpon you. Let the preach- 
 ing you hear be plain and pointed, or let 
 Christians be faithful in conversation, 
 and very likely you will be offended. — 
 Why ? If you loved God, you would de- 
 light to hear his truth plainly and faith- 
 fully preached, to have your duty plainly 
 and faithfully, but affectionately urged 
 upon you. And how can you love God, 
 when thus opposed to his claims, and 
 displeased when they are pressed upon 
 your attention? 
 
 Again, you have broken the law of God, 
 and yet you feel no sorrow for it. You are 
 not grieved that you have broken the 
 law of God, and set at naught his com- 
 mands; how then can you love him? — 
 Love always leads us to embrace the first 
 
opportunity to confess our faults to those 
 whom we have injured ; but when did 
 you confess your sins to God? You 
 have injured him by your transgressions ; 
 but when and where have you made con- 
 fession, and sued for his forgiveness? 
 
 And what regard have you for God's hon- 
 or and glory ? Are you grieved when his 
 name is dishonored and his law broken ? 
 Do rivers of waters run down your eyes 
 because men keep not his law ? Psa. 119: 
 136. But how do you treat his law, his 
 Bible, his S#)bath, his sanctuary, his wor- 
 ship, his ordinances, his people? Are 
 you honoring and .glorifying God? Is 
 this your aim ? Is God honored and glo- 
 rified by your unholy an"d prayerless and 
 irreligious life ? But, reader, not to reas- 
 on further, I ask you plainly, must you 
 not confess that you have not the love of 
 God in you? Are you not con vinced that 
 you are wholly destitute of all true evan- 
 gelical love to God ? "Whether convinced 
 or not, remember the Saviour says, and it 
 is true", I know you, that you have not the 
 love of God in you. This is your condi- 
 tion ; I would to God you might realize 
 it, repent of it, and forsake it. 
 
In the above, do we not see most clearly 
 that, 
 
 1. Sinners, unrenewed, are not fit for 
 heaven. Reader, what would you do in 
 heaven, if admitted there ? You have no 
 love to God. You could not delight in 
 his praise. You could not be happy in 
 the society of those who are filled with 
 the love of God. Negative goodness, be it 
 remembered, is not sufficient. Nor is 
 morality sufficient. Many, it would seem, 
 pride themselves on their harmlessness. — 
 They have injured no one; they have 
 done, they say, nothing very bad. This 
 is the amount of their righteousness. On 
 this they build their hopes of heaven. — 
 But such hopes are vain. To be destitute 
 of good fruits is damning. Matt. xxv:*4l 
 — 43, and 14 — 30. " Ye have not the love 
 of God in you," is the description and con- 
 demnation of impenitent, unregenerate 
 men. John v: 42, It is a sufficient crime 
 to be destitute of love to God. Of this 
 crime you are guilty. You do not love 
 God. This has been proved. You there- 
 fore are not fit for heaven. You know 
 yon are not, you feel that you are not. If 
 
you die as you at e, you must be forever 
 excluded from tbe paradise of God. Are 
 you willing thus to die, and sink down in 
 endless despair ? I know you are not.— 
 Then why not turn and live ? Wh) need 
 so much urging, so much entreaty? 
 
 2. Again I remark, you must be born 
 again, or perish. There is no escape. To 
 dream of going to heaven as you are, 
 without the love of God in you, with a 
 heart opposed to God and at enmity w ith 
 him, Rom. viii: 7, is folly and madness. 
 There must be a change, or you are lo^t. 
 The enmity of your" heart must be suh* 
 dued, and a principle of holy love be be- 
 gotten within you. You must be renew 
 ed in the spirit ot your mind, Eph. iv : 23 
 —become a new creature in Christ Jesus, 
 2 Cdr. v: 17 — experience the washing of 
 regeneration and renewing of the Holy 
 Ghost, Titus iii : 5 — be born again, John, 
 iii: 5-8 — born of the Spirit, or you wilL 
 perish in you sins and^ink to hell. A.8^, 
 that you may receive. Lukexi; 1*— 18. 
 And byware how you resist and griave the. 
 Spirit! Me will not always strive, Gen, 
 vi: 3- 
 
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