ought that his father
loved him. Suppose the news had reached him that he was cast off, and
that his father did not care for him any more, would he have gone
back? Never! But the thought dawned upon him that his father loved
him still: so he rose up, and went back to his home. Dear reader, the
love of the Father ought to bring us back to Him. It was Adam's
calamity and sin that revealed God's love. When Adam fell God came
down and dealt in mercy with him. If any one is lost it will not be
because God does not love him: it will be because he has resisted the
love of God.

What will make Heaven attractive? Is it the pearly gates or the
golden streets? No. Heaven will be attractive, because there we shall
behold Him who loved us so much as to give His only-begotten Son to
die for us. What makes home attractive? Is it the beautiful furniture
and stately rooms? No; some homes with all these are like whited
sepulchres. In Brooklyn a mother was dying; and it was necessary to
take her child from her, because the little child could not
understand the nature of the sickness, and disturbed her mother.
Every night the child sobbed herself to sleep in a neighbor's house,
because she wanted to go back to her mother's; but the mother grew
worse, and they could not take the child home. At last the mother
died; and after her death they thought it best not to let the child
see her dead mother in her coffin. After the burial the child ran
into one room crying "Mamma! mamma!" and then into another crying
"Mamma! mamma!" and so went over the whole house: and when the little
creature failed to find that loved one she cried to be taken back to
the neighbors. So what makes heaven attractive is the thought that we
shall see Christ who has loved us and given Himself for us.

If you ask me why God should love us, I cannot tell. I suppose it is
because He is a true Father. It is His nature to love; just as it is
the nature of the sun to shine. He wants you to share in that love.
Do not let unbelief keep you away from Him. Do not think that,
because you are a sinner, God does not love you, or care for you. He
does! He wants to save you and bless you.

"When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly" (Rom. v. 6). Is that not enough to convince you that He
loves you? He would not have died for you if He had not loved you. Is
your heart so hard that you can brace yourself up against His love,
and spurn and despise it? Y