e. I am worrying--have been worrying
for many years--just now I want someone to talk to--I want you to
listen."

"I'll do that, if that will help you," said the brother as he placed his
hat and stick on a table and shifted himself into a comfortable
position. The maid peeped in, but seeing the two men, retired again.

"I have preached hundreds of sermons on the being and nature of God,"
said the minister, now sitting erect and looking at his brother. "I have
spoken of Him as a Father, our Father, and all the time He has been out
in time and space, formless, homeless, unthinkable. He has never
appealed to heart or brain. Will God ever be more to me than a force in
and through all nature? Shall we ever see His face? Shall we ever feel
the cares of His hand and hear His voice, not in a figurative sense, but
in reality."

"Now brother"--said Uncle Gilbert again.

"Don't interrupt. You do not need to answer my questions--you couldn't
if you wanted to. Listen. What do you think of this: God is our Father,
in reality as we naturally understand it--Father of our spirits. We are,
therefore, His children. That is our relationship. Consequently we are
of a family of Gods. Admit that our Father is God, and that we are His
children, the conclusion is absolute. We are not worms of the dust, only
so far as we degrade our divine nature to that lowness.

"This Father of ours has in the past eternities trod through time and
space, learning,--yes, suffering, overcoming, conquering, becoming
perfect, until now He sits in the midst of glory, power, and eternal
lives. In might and majesty perfect, He can and does hold us all as in
the hollow of His hand. This little earth of ours, and all the shining
worlds on high are His workmanship. He holds them also by His allwise
power. And yet, my brother, come back to this simple proposition, we are
that great Being's sons and daughters, and if we walk in the way in
which He walked, we are heirs to all that He has! I am one of a great
family, so are you,--all of us. Our Father has but gone before and we
follow. The difference between us is only in degree of development and
not in kind.

"'O God, I think thy thoughts after Thee,' said Kepler, and thoughts
lead to deeds.

"Again, the Son, whom we know as Jesus Christ, came to reveal to us this
Father. He was in 'the form of God.' He was the 'image of the invisible
God.' Further, this Son was in the express image of the Father's person.
Jesus C