devils feel. In Rev. 12:12 we read
these words: "The devil is come down unto you, having great WRATH,
because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

We can not, we dare not, think for a moment that the word _wrath_,
when spoken of God, means the same as when spoken of the devil. The
devil's wrath implies a feeling in him to do all the evil and mischief
he can. But the wrath of God cannot mean anything like this; because,
when his wrath burns the fiercest, he is still ever ready to forgive
all who repent and turn from evil. Nay, he even _entreats_ and
beseeches men to be reconciled to him, that his anger may be turned
away. I might quote many passages in proof of this. I have time to
give but one from the Old Testament. When the Lord made an end of
laying before the children of Israel the blessings and the curses, he
wound up all by saying: "And there shall cleave naught of the cursed
thing to thine hand: that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his
anger, and show thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and
multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; when thou shalt
hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God."

An appeal to the light of reason must convince any unprejudiced mind
that our heavenly Father is angry and wrathful toward no one, in the
sense of willing evil to him, or of seeking an opportunity to do him
mischief. _Men_ may, and no doubt often do, have this feeling; but it
is a wicked feeling. Perish the thought of such wrath ever having a
place in the heart of our heavenly Father. The Apostle Peter says:
"The Lord is long-suffering toward us, NOT WILLING that ANY SHOULD
PERISH, but that all should come to repentance."

But let us crown all this argument with the Lord's sunrise upon the
night of Nicodemus. Here it is: "God so loved the world,"--the very
worst, and wickedest, and most depraved and abandoned part of it; he
made no exceptions--"that he gave his only begotten Son, that
WHOSOEVER believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;
but that the world through him might be saved."

Do not imagine that God, our Creator, took a spell of love and good
will when he sent his Son into the world. God does not take spells,
either of love or wrath. He is the same yesterday, to-day and
forevermore. The same God who brought destruction upon the
disobedient, wayward, unthankful tribes of Israel, is the God who so
loved