[Sidenote: Filial Nearness.] “Well, dear child, you have just given another mark by which you may know if you are a child of God. Do you love your Heavenly Father’s presence? Do you love prayer, [Sidenote: Prayer.] which brings you always near Him? and are you always unhappy when you forget prayer, which drives you away from God; or commit sin, which drives God away from you?”
“Oh, yes, dear grandmamma, I think I can say I am; but then, I often sin, and I fear”――
“Stop, my dear child,” said the old lady. “Remember, it is a great cause of grief to the true child of God, that the power of sin is so strong in his heart, and that the devil is so often tempting him.”
“But,” exclaimed Emma, “does not the Bible say, ‘We _cannot_ sin, because we are born of God’?”
[Sidenote: How the Child of God “cannot sin.”] “Yes, my child, you are correct; but I must tell you the real meaning of that verse, so that you may not be cast down by supposing it asks what you cannot give. That verse means, that God’s children cannot go on in a _course_ of sin. They cannot love sin, and continue _in_ sin; but it does not mean that their lives are so perfectly holy that they never can know what it is to have a bad heart and wicked thought. Alas! this never can be, till the adopted children of God get safe into their Father’s house in heaven!”
“Oh! how I wish,” said Emma, “I could love this kind Heavenly Father more than I have ever yet done; and hate sin more and more every day!――I am afraid, dear grandmamma, I tire you with my questions; but I have just one more to ask to‐night, and then I shall go to bed. You often speak of it being our duty to ‘_fear_ God.’ Now, how should we _fear_ a God that you have just been telling me to _love_?”
[Sidenote: What it is to “fear” God in Adoption.] “I do not wonder, my child, at your question. But there are two kinds of fear; the wicked ‘_fear_’ God as an awful Judge; they fear Him—that is, they are _afraid_ of Him, and tremble to think of His hatred of sin, and His judgment day. But the children of God ‘_fear_’ their Heavenly Father in another sense; they ‘_fear_’ to _offend_ Him. It is because they _love_ Him so very much, that they are _afraid_ of doing anything that would displease Him. The wicked man’s fear is what the Bible calls ‘the fear that hath torment.’ The other is the fear, and reverence, and godly awe of ‘perfect love.’