and and sweet words of Saint Augustine, some of the
most beautiful that ever fell from the lips of a man: "Are you afraid of
God? Run to His arms!"

Thus our idea of God is completed,--the idea of Him whom, in a feeling
of filial confidence, we name the Father, and whom we call the
_Heavenly_ Father, while we adore that absolute holiness, of which the
pure brightness of the firmament is for us the visible and magnificent
symbol. Goodness is the secret of the universe; goodness it is which has
directed power, and placed wisdom at its service.

My object is not to teach this idea, but to defend it: it is not, I say,
to teach it, for we all possess it. There is no one here who has not
received his portion of the sacred deposit. This sacred idea may be
veiled by our sorrows, perverted by our errors, obscured by our faults;
but, however thick be the layer of ashes heaped together in the depth of
our souls--look closely: the sacred spark is not extinguished, and a
favorable breath may still rekindle the flame.

We have considered the essential elements of which our idea of God is
composed. And whence comes this idea? What is its historical origin? I
do not ask what is the historical origin of religion, for religion does
not take its rise in history; it is met with everywhere and always in
humanity. Those who deny this are compelled to "search in the darkness
for some obscure example known only to themselves, as if all natural
inclinations were destroyed by the corruption of a people, and as if, as
soon as there are any monsters, the species were no longer any
thing."[4] The consciousness of a world superior to the domain of
experience is one of the attributes characteristic of our nature. "If
there had ever been, or if there still anywhere existed, a people
entirely destitute of religion, it would be in consequence of an
exceptional downfall which would be tantamount to a lapse into
animality."[5] I am not therefore inquiring after the origin of the
idea and sentiment of the Deity, in a general sense, but after the
origin of the idea of the only and Almighty Creator as we possess it. In
fact, if religion is universal, distinct knowledge of the Creator is not
so.

Our own past strikes its roots into the historic soil which, in the
matter of creeds, is known by the name of paganism or idolatry. At first
sight what do we find in the opinions of that ancient world? No trace of
the divine unity. Adoration is dispersed over a t