You feel that yourselves
about other people. You will say "That man has a bad heart, for all
his respectable outside. He would be a rogue if he dared, and
therefore he IS a rogue." Just so, I say, my friends, take care lest
God should say of you, "He would be a sinner if he dared, and
therefore he is a sinner.
How can the hope of heaven, or the fear of hell, make a man do right?
The right thing, the true thing for a man, is to be loving, and do
loving things; and can fear of hell do that, or hope of heaven
either? Can a man make himself affectionate to his children because
he fancies he shall be punished if he is not so, and rewarded if he
is so? Will the hope of heaven send men out to feed the hungry, to
clothe the naked, visit the sick, preach the gospel to the poor?--The
Papists say it will. I say it will not. I believe that even in
those who do these things from hope of heaven and fear of hell, there
is some holier, nobler, more spiritual motive, than such everlasting
selfishness, such perfect hypocrisy, as to do loving works for
others, for the sake of one's own self-love.
What feeling then is there left which will bind a man to do good, not
once in a way, but always and habitually? to do good, not only to
himself, but to all around him? I know but of one, my friends, and
that is Love.
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