Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/96

 in His  own  way,  bring  home  to  Himself. God is not  only  the  Creator  but  the  Father  of  all  men without any  exception. He has  commanded  us to  address  Him  by  this  title :  '  Our  Father,  who art in  heaven.'  All  Christians  do  so;  and  a preacher,  in  his  opening  instructions,  would teach and  exhort  the  untutored  savage  to  believe in and  speak  to  Him  as  such.

" God  is  the  Father  of  all  men  and  eminently a  perfect  Father.  We  could  not  imagine  such  a father  casting  out,  expelling  from  his  home  forever a  child,  until  he  had  tried  the  proper  means to  keep  him  with  himself  —  until  the  child  deserts him,  or,  by  wilful,  obstinate,  persistent  disobedience to  his  father's  will,  necessitates  his own  expulsion.  Such  a  father  will  do  all  he well  can  for  the  Welfare  of  his  children  do everything  short  of  violence  to  enable  his  children to  succeed  in  all  that  is  for  their  good. The  dominant  desire  —  wish  —  will  of  such a  father  must  be  to  make  his  children  happy; his  dominant  dread  and  horror,  that  one  of  them should  be  unhappy.

"Our Lord  tells  us  how  easy  and  swift  true repentance  can  be  in  the  case  of  the  publican  — the  notorious  and  typical  sinner  —  who  by  making an  act  of  sorrow  for  his  sins,  in  seven  words, went  home  to  his  house  justified.  God  is  far more  ready  and  generous  in  forgiving  the  worst than  men  —  even  good  men  —  are  in  forgiving each  other,  and  bad  would  it  be  for  the  best  of us  if  He  were  not.

"By way  of  showing  the  effect  which  can  be produced  by  the  very  thought  of  God  Our Father,  and  belief  in  Him  as  such,  I  may  give a  fact  told  to  me  by  the  person  concerned  — now  dead  for  some  years.    He  fell  into  a  state