ought
that gives to the universe of spiritual creatures a Father, that binds
them all in one family with God as the head, that mingles in the great
cup of universal existence of which countless millions of sentient
beings are daily partaking, the sweetness of a father's goodness; that
sees that goodness in the shining sun and falling shower, in the starry
firmament and the little flower, in the sweep of worlds and the drop of
dew, in the waving grain and the bubbling spring, in the changing
seasons and the still, calm moments as they fly, in the great race of
men, and in the individual members thereof. We often say "Our Father in
Heaven," but we seldom think of the majesty of the expression, nor the
glorious beauty of the thought it conveys. God's grandeur is as much in
his love as his power, as much in his goodness as his wisdom. He is as
sublime in his Fatherhood as in his supremacy. The ocean of his
tenderness is as deep as the mountain of his holiness is high. God, in
his character, sweeps over the infinite spaces of principle and gathers
in the infinite perfections of all characteristics of good. It is to
such a Being that we owe our existence and all that makes it blessed and
blissful. When we think of the earth as our present home, so wisely
arranged, so beautifully adorned, and of heaven as our final and
immortal scene of growing joy and blessedness; when we think of our own
wonderful powers of mind and heart, and the objects of love and thought
about us upon which to exercise them, progressive, immortal, Godlike in
their nature; when, added to these, we think of the Bible with its
blessed and elevating relations, its love of truth, its mines of
wisdom, its moral sanctions, and, more than all, its Divine Redeemer,
our Pattern Friend, Brother, and Saviour, we can not well fail to be
impressed with the infinite excellency of Him from whom we have received
such rich benefactions.

And when we think that all this is done for us of his own unpurchased
love, our obligations to our Divine Father become clear to our moral
perceptions. We then see that we have religious duties to perform,
duties which press upon us at all seasons and places, duties which we
must perform, or stand before the great white throne of Eternal Love
convicted of deep and dark ingratitude. We have received every thing,
and have the promise of every thing, and have given nothing. We have
been loved with an infinite affection, and have the promise