Page:Catechismoftrent.djvu/345

 and sustain the indigent and the lowly, than to restrain and repress the arrogance of the rich, and the pride of the powerful. It was to remedy this evil, that the Apostle so forcibly pressed on the attention of the faithful this principle of fraternal charity.

When, therefore, O Christian, you are about to address this prayer to God, remember that you, as a son, approach God your Father; and when you begin the prayer, and utter the words "our Father," reflect, for a moment, how exalted the dignity to which the infinite love of God has raised you. He commands you to approach him, not with the reluctance and timidity of a servant approaching his Lord, but with the eagerness and the security of a child flying to the bosom of his father. Consider, also, with what recollection and attention, with what care and devotion, you should approach him in prayer. You must approach him as becomes a child of God: your prayers and actions must be such, as not to be unworthy of that divine origin with which it has pleased your most gracious God to ennoble you; a duty to which the Apostle exhorts, when he says, " Be ye, therefore, followers of God, as most dear children;" that of us may be truly said, what the Apostle wrote to the Thessalonians, " You are all the children of light, and the children of the day."

"Who ART IN HEAVEN"] All who have a correct idea of the Divinity agree, that God is everywhere present. This, however, is not to be understood, as if he consisted of parts, filling and governing one place with one part, another place with another; for God is aspirit, and is, therefore, indivisible. Who would presume to circumscribe within the limits of any place, or confine to any particular spot, Him, who says of himself, " Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" Yes, by his power and virtue he fills heaven and earth, and all things contained therein. He is present with all things, creating them, or preserving them when already created; whilst he himself is confined to no place, is circumscribed by no limits, is defined by nothing to prevent his being present everywhere by his immensity and omnipotence. " If," says the Psalmist, " I ascend into heaven, thou art there."

God, although present in all places, and in all things, and, as we have already observed, circumscribed by no limits, is, however, frequently said in Scripture, to have his dwelling in the heavens, because the heavens which we see are the noblest part of the visible world, undecaying in splendour, excelling all other objects in power, magnitude, and beauty, and moving with uniform and harmonious revolution. To elevate the soul of man to the contemplation of his infinite power and majesty, which shine forth with such splendour in the expanse of heaven, God, therefore, declares that his dwelling is in the heavens. He also frequently declares that there is no part of creation