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TABLE OF READINGS.

I

1. 23. 26. XIII 5. 22. 32. XXV 9. 17. 36. II 37. 49. 61. XIV 41. 54. 72. XXVI 45. 50. 66. III 73. 85. 97. XV 77. 89. 103. XXVII 81. 90. 106. IV 2. 21. 29. XVI 6. 14. 33. XXVIII 10. 19. 25. V

38. 59. 65. XVII 42. 60. 69. XXIX 46. 58. 64. VI 74. 86. 99. XVIII 78. 92. 100. XXX 82, 96. 107. VII 3. 18. 27. XIX 7. 15. 34. XXXI 11. 13. 28. VIII 39. 51. 71. XX 43. 56. 63. XXXII 47. 52. 68. IX 75. 95. 98. XXI 79. 87. 102. XXXIII 83. 93. 104. X 4. 16. 30. XXII 8. 20. 35. XXXIV 12. 24. 31. XI 40. 53. 62. XXIII 44. 55. 70. XXXV 48. 57. 67. XII 76. 88. 105. XXIV 80. 91. 101. XXXVI 84. 94. 108.

The references in the above Table are to the Sections in the first Nine Chapters.

GOD, OUR FATHER.

·000·

66

(1). Christ continually taught His disciples, and as many as believed on Him, to think of God as their Father, and to regard themselves as God's children. "When ye pray," He told them, say, Our Father which art in heaven." He also said to them, “Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of." And again, "I ascend to my Father and your Father."

The deep spring of paternal love is but the faint index of that ocean of love which is in our heavenly Father. A father's love to his offspring, purified, ennobled, elevated to an infinite excellency, is the way by which we may best gather an estimate of what God is to us and having done so, we have reached only a faint conception of the inexpressible love of the Eternal Father.

All that the most fond and affectionate parent can be supposed to feel for his offspring-all the sacrifices which a mother could make-all the protection which a father could bestow-these are the sentiments, and this the conduct of God towards man! How strongly does St. Paul express this-"I will receive you and

will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty:" and a similar feeling is described by Isaiah, with even greater tenderness of expression-"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget; yet will I not forget thee." Until therefore we can view God as a loving, anxious, Parent, we have not approached Him in the manner in which He desires to be regarded: we are still aliens to the privileges of adoption, and know not God as "our our God"—a Father, and a Friend.

It is awful to think that there should be estrangement between the soul and the God that made it; and that there should be any jealous suspicion of Him in man's breast, or any unwillingness to have Him for our Father and Friend. No conduct can be more unnatural than this, no ingratitude more monstrous and inexcusable. When a son hates his father, shuns his company, and leaves his house, we call his conduct unnatural and abominable. But what is this in comparison with the sinner who has ill treated the God that made him? The earthly ties of blood, the closest, dearest, relationships of men are as mere threads of air, when compared with the bonds which unite the creature and Creator together. Dislike of God then, must be a thing so hateful and monstrous, as to stand at the very top of human guilt! Surely He whose offspring we are, in whom we live and move and have our being, is our nearest, and ought to be our dearest relative of all in earth or heaven: nearer far than father or mother, brother or sister, husband or wife. These, no doubt, are names of tenderness and affection. They are relationships both close and dear. Yet how weak are all of them together, to convey even an idea of the near and tender relationship that subsists between the Creator and His offspring. The

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