without God's help, would it make much difference to you? Suppose
an angel from heaven, as they say, was to come down and prove to you
clearly that there was no God, no blessed Jesus in heaven, that the
world made itself, and went on of itself, and that the Bible was all
a mistake, but that you need not mind, for your gardens and crops
would grow just as well, and your souls be saved just as well when
you died.

To how many of you would it make any difference? To some of you,
thank God, I believe it would make a difference. Here are some
here, I believe, who would feel that news the worst news they ever
heard,--worse than if they were told that their souls were lost for
ever; there are some here, I do believe, who, at that news, would
cry aloud in agony, like little children who had lost their father,
and say, 'No Father in heaven to love? No blessed Jesus in heaven
to work for, and die for, and glory and delight in? No God to rule
and manage this poor, miserable, quarrelsome world, bringing good
out of evil, blessing and guiding all things and people on earth?
What do I care what becomes of my soul if there is no God for my
soul to glory in? What is heaven worth without God? God is
Heaven!'

Yes, indeed, what would heaven be worth without God? But how many
people feel that the curse of this day is, that most people have
forgotten THAT? They are selfishly anxious enough about their own
souls, but they have forgotten God. They are religious, for fear of
hell; but they are not godly, for they do not love God, or see God's
hand in every thing. They forget that they have a Father in heaven;
that He sends rain, and sunshine, and fruitful seasons; that He
gives them all things richly to enjoy in spite of all their sins.