Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1901-12-26

''No such thing as love at first sight.
Judgment must precede love"
So announced DR.. Monk Sunday in his
afternoon sermon to the congregation OF
ST. Marks Methodist church, assembled
at North avenue Presbyterian church.
DR.. Monks subject was the love Of God
for man. His text was from st. John,
III, Is: "God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son that whose
ever believeth on him should not perish
but have everlasting life"
Among other things, DR.. Monk said:
The uses of the word love are SO com
mon and so varied that we lose not only
much of the beauty but the power in the
thought of Gods love. How lightly we
accept its meaning even in human sense!
1t was not very long ago that heard a
woman declare that she loved potatoes!
Let us pity the soul that can love pota-
toes!
Our courts are filled with petitions for
divorce; although no woman will marry
man until she has been assured more
than once that he loves her, she may not
believe these words, but she must hear
them.
Do we know love when we find It?
Matrimonial mesalliance demonstrate
that many marriages are founded on adj
miration and fascination, and not on real
affection. There is no such thing as love
at first sight A young man sees beau
tiful girl. He is stirred with admiration,
and rushing into her presence, bends his
knee for her smile; but this is not love.
1t is said that we love our opposites.
This is not true. Like loves like. A man
does not love his opposite If he knows it.
When he pictures the woman he expects
to marry, he paints on fancy's canvas a
radiant creature with all the gifts that he
most admires. This picture is born OF
himself; it is his counterpart, made out OF
his heart. Like produces like, and it is
character that we love.
We are given only two commands to
love-"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.
and Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy
self"
We are to love only those like ourselves.
We are not told to love even the angels.
We ask, what is lover" and What is
God?" God is love, and we only are Gre
ated in the divine likeness. OF all the
creatures God has made, man alone Is
stamped with this mark Of Gods love; this
strand of divine affection following him
through the windings Of life and even to
the possibilities of Calvary's bloody brow
We can have interests; we can have likes,
but we can have love only for God and
man. A man can not love horse, and
have seen only q few women who SIN Iovs
a dog A man can not love money, until
he has abnormalized himself
Love is not silent. If you love me tell
me So Love has voice; love has lips; love
has feet; love has hands; love has pun Sc,
and can not be still or silent towards loves
object.
1t makes a difference who loves. Dewey
kissed a child and the family win cherish
the kiss for generations. Was kiss SO
much? No, it was the one who gave the
kiss.
God Almighty saw the splendid angels
fall, because of sin, over the battlements
Of heaven and into everlasting darkness,
unfollowed by His love. But when His
child was lost, nothing was too precious
to bring him back Parental love is the
longest and the strongest affection in the
universe.
Ali If you and ] could go beyond the
parting of the skies and the chanting an
gels. and. resting in His bosom. hear the
straining Of the.Heavenly Fathers heart
as it yielded to the sacrif1ce-whieh is no
~-,lrc--cf E's ,ni- - tier SOP. perhaps