1883 



JVVENIL^ GLEANINGS. 



?89 



Our Father which art ia heaven.— Matt. C : 9' 



fN one of the Home Papers of a few 

 months a^o, I told you that I had been 

 — ' in the habit of late of askinp^ myself 

 questions. I say '' of late," because I am 

 now in the prime of life, and my powers of 

 mind are probably as good as they ever will 

 be. My judgment and wisdom are probably 

 as bright and clear as they ever will be again 

 during my life. Well, you know it is a com- 

 mon expression to say, when we are discuss- 

 ing certain acts, etc., that common sense 

 ought to teach a man so and so. And now 

 t he question arises. What does common sense 

 teach ? what is common sense V I presume 

 we understand by the term, at least to a cer- 

 tain extent, that it is a kind of sense, or a 

 sort of wisdom, that all intelligent beings 

 will agree to. For instance, we have the 

 proposition that honesty is the best policy, 

 and all men agree to it— at least, they agree 

 to it in theory if not in practice. So wn may 

 say that common sense teaches that hone^ity 

 is the best policy. I might go on enumerat- 

 ing other propositions that common sense 

 would agree on or assent to, and the question 

 would soon arise, IIow broad is this common 

 sense, or how much is there in this world that 

 universally accepted ? Going still further, is 

 what does common sense teach us of God, 

 the Creator V How ought we to look toward 

 God, and what should be our relation to 

 him y What is there stamped in ourselves 

 that we can feel and see and know in regard 

 to the Supreme Being who reigns over all V 

 Jesus taught us to call him our Father — our 

 Father, too, " who art in heaven." Tiiis is 

 the language of our opening text, l^uke 

 says this was given in answer to a question 

 by one of the disciples, who asked him to 

 teach them how to pray. As the prayer is 

 given a little differently in Luke from what it 

 is in Matthew, Ave presume this was at an- 

 other time ; but his reply was the same, that 

 they should commence by saying, " Our 

 Father which art in heaven." We judge from 

 this, that Jesus deemed it best to teach them 

 in the outset to call God their Father, or 

 their heavenly Father, and that the relation- 

 ship between father and child was the best 

 illustration that could be given, of the rela- 

 tionship between ourselves and God. Well, 

 I have been often, of late, considering this 

 point of our relationship to God ; and the 

 more I study it, the more it seems to me that 

 common sense dictates, or my best wisdom 

 and judgment, if you choose, that the best 

 way we can think of God is as a heavenly 

 Father. Please excuse me for homely anci 

 commonplace illustrations, but in this line 

 I have been studying over and over the new 

 member of our household that God has so 

 recently sent us. What is it in our boy- baby 

 that I most love to see? what is it that 

 makes my heart thrill with joy, and pleases 

 me most? Is it not to notice his growing 

 faith and love for his papa? With that 

 growing faith and love, I am also pleased to 

 see him exhibiting a sort of right, or owner- 

 ship. His look and attitude seeiTi to say em- 



phatically, my papa. He owns me ; in one 

 sense, I am "his property, to a certain ex- 

 tent. 



Yesterday, for the first time, almost, since 

 the large engine was put in our factory, we 

 had somewhat of an accident with it. In 

 the middle of the day we had to stop. As I 

 passed around through the rooms, and notic- 

 ed how pleasant and comfortable all seemed 

 to be, I felt sad to think that very soon the 

 rooms would grow cold under the influence 

 of a pretty chilly, wintry day. The massive 

 iron pipes that had been giving out the heat 

 would soon cease to give it out, for the steam 

 was stopped. As we have dispensed with 

 all our stoves, business must come to a 

 standstill right speedily, and the prospect 

 was that some hundreds of dollars would 

 have to be expended before the work could 

 go buzzing along again. Well, I went over 

 to the house for something, and caught sight 

 of the baby. His face brightened up, and I 

 was greeted with a crow and one of his be- 

 witching smiles. He said by actions, "No, 

 papa, no matter what has happened, you 

 must not look troubled or gloomy when I am 

 around. You have always given me a pleas- 

 ant smile and word of cheer all my little life, 

 and you must give them to me still. It is 

 my right, and I demand it." And I was 

 glad he did demand it, friends. It did not 

 hurt me a bit, to be obliged to look pleasant to 

 somebody, and it admonished me that it was 

 my duty to trust in God, and to lean upon 

 God, even as the baby trusted and leaned up- 

 on me. Still further, it was my duty and right 

 to demand of God, (please bear in mind, dear 

 reader, that I use this word with reverence 

 and respect) grac^ and strength and peace 

 for all my trials. In other words, it was my 

 duty and my privilege to sink self; to pound 

 down, if that is the right expression, gloomy 

 or complaining feelings, and let God rule. If 

 it were an earthly father I was trusting or 

 appealing to, he might fail in judgment and 

 wisdom ; but our Father which art in heaven 

 can never fail ; his arm is never shortened ; 

 it is all his, and he has told us over and over 

 again, that he must be first and foremost 

 and supreme ; not even steam-engines, nor 

 factories full of busy workers, have any 

 light to push themselves up before liim,''for 

 I the Lord am a jealous God." He has told 

 us so, or he has said in substance, " I want 

 to reign in your hearts entire ; your love for 

 me must not be divided ; I can not accept of 

 a divided love." 



Suppose some other baby should be 

 brought into our home by friends or relatives, 

 and I should take it in my arms, with the 

 kisses and caresses that I have been giving 

 our own baby. Very likely he might have a 

 touch of jealousy ,for even babies often show 

 it. In one sense I should hate to have him 

 show unreasonable jealousy ; but in another 

 sense it would give me a great thrill of joy to 

 think I held such a place in his affections 

 that he could not bear to think of the love 

 being divided; that he wanted the whole o£ 

 it entire. 



Perhaps my illustration is a poor one, but 

 I think it answers the purpose, dear friends. 

 God is jealous of every thing or anybody that 

 can in any way divide our love to him. No 



