And then we may be certain that God will also fulfil to us the
glorious promises which we find in another Psalm: "If thy children
will keep my covenant and my testimonies, which I shall learn them,
this land shall be my rest for ever. Here will I dwell, for I have a
delight therein. I will bless her victuals with increase, and
satisfy her poor with bread. I will deck her priests with health,
and her holy people shall rejoice and sing."
XVIII--NATIONAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS
And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all; that ye
say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to
serve wood and stone. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a
mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out,
will I rule over you. . . . And ye shall know that I am the Lord.--
EZEKIEL xx. 32, 33, 38.
A father has two ways of showing his love to his child--by caressing
it and by punishing it. His very anger may be a sign of his love,
and ought to be. Just because he loves his child, just because the
thing he longs most to see is that his child should grow up good,
therefore he must be, and ought to be, angry with it when it does
wrong. Therefore anger against sin is a part of God's likeness in
us; and he who does not hate sin is not like God.
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