When I am crossing deep water I always find it best to be calm, go
slowly and steadily, and look well to the point where I expect to
land. The wrath of God is such only in _appearance_. The _real_ wrath
is in man, and upon man. Let me explain this. Our blessed Savior says:
"Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect:" "for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
There lies a man who gave himself up to intemperance. Alcohol had
permeated his body, carrying its deadly poison into every nerve, and
fibre, and tissue of his entire organism. He exposed himself to the
sun's rays on a very hot day, and he fell dead from _sunstroke_. The
WRATH of the sun destroyed his life. God made the sun to rise on the
morning of that day; and God filled the sun with its heat; but it was
wrathful to the man who was not prepared for it, and to no one else.
Nature everywhere rejoiced in its light and heat; the corn grew; the
hay was cured; and devout hearts thanked the Lord for that lovely day.
Right there, on that sand, is where a man once built his house. He was
told by many that it was not a safe place to build a dwelling house,
that it would certainly be in danger of being swept away by high
water. He would not hear, but went on building; and finally he moved
in. But great WRATH came upon him; for in one night his house, with
all in it, including himself, was washed away. Wise people all over
the land rejoiced to see the rain. It had been a dry time, and
everybody said: "What a fine rain! It has replenished our wells and
flushed up our springs. The mills can now start up again. When the
ground dries off a little people can go to plowing again." But this
very same rain was destruction and WRATH to the foolish man who had
built his house in the way of its flood.
You may now better understand what I mean by saying that the wrath of
God is not wrath as we usually understand the word to mean; but wrath
only in _appearance_. The Lord did not send the flood to destroy that
man's house; the flood was just as necessary as the rain, and its end
quite as benevolent. The destruction of the man's house was purely the
result of his own folly.
All just laws are founded upon love, because their highest end and aim
is to protect the good. But the law, "which is holy, just, and good,"
is full of WRATH to the evil doer when it overtakes and punishes him
for his crimes. But does the good law, which essentially is nothing
but love, change? Is it to-day in a good humor, and to-morrow angry?
Such is our heavenly Father. To the wise and good he is love, both in
appearance and essence; but to the foolish and evil, the very same
unchangeable love assumes the _appearance_ of anger and wrath. You are
now prepared for