Faith of Our Fathers

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 28, 19 July 1923, Page 41

Faith of Our Fathers

IA Weekly .Instruction fob Young and Old.] OF THE INEFFABLE GOODNESS AND LOVE OF GOD TOWARDS MAN AND OUR DUTY IN GRATITUDE TO KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. Not only does His love to us appear in the manifold benefits He heaps upon us by means of the inferior creation, but still more resplendently in the numberless favors which, by the disposition of His providence our fellow-creatures, men are made the instruments in His hands of procuring for us. What shall we say of the care and attention paid to our well-being by our parents in our infant state, when we cannot move a finger to help ourselves? What shall we say of the benefits of society, in which kings and princes, magistrates and rulers are employed by His Divine providence to protect and defend the meanest amongst us, to secure our property and defend us from injuries? What shall we say of that strict command He lays upon all, to love their neighbor as themselves, and the powerful motive He brings to enforce it, assuring us that what we do to the least of our brethren, He esteems as done to Himself? But what is still more surprising, fie has made such a connection among mankind by the amiable disposition of His providence, as to lay us under a necessity of helping and serving one another, insomuch that it is impossible for us to promote our own welfare without at the same time contributing to that of others, even of those we never saw, yea, even of those that are yet unborn. It is a most delightful consideration to reflect; on this, and to see what multitudes of men the goodness of God makes use of to serve us. Take one instance in the morsel of bread we eat for our daily aliment. How many, of our fellow-creatures have been employed to prepare it for our use? How many in laboring the ground where it grows; in sowing the seed; in reaping the corn ; in threshing it out in the barn; in grinding it at, the 'mill; in bringing it into market; in baking it into bread? How many artist"; have been. employed in preparing the necessary instruments for -each of these to perform their respective parts, in such a multiplicity of labors, carpenters, smiths, masons, and others such; nor is this all; the seed itself, from whence the bread is produced, could not have been sown, if it had net been provided by the labor and industry of others, and that in a- continued succession of husbandmen, and of all the various artists necessary for their work,' from the very beginning of the world. What ah amazing idea does this give us of the wonderful providence of God" and of His goodness towards us, in employing such multitudes of our brethren, who knew, nothing about us, who existed ages before we were in being, in preparing that morsel of bread which we eat for our daily food; and in putting them under such unavoidable necessity of • not being able to serve themselves, without at the same time helping us; the, same reflection is equally to be made in regard to every good thing we enjoy; in all the different kinds of meat and drink and clothing, in the various arts and sciences, in the studies of the learned, in the good books they publish, and in everything else that anyone does for the good and benefit of mankind: What infinite obligations then do we not lie under to our great Creator, Whose amiable providence has so beneficently disposed all things for our good? Truly "The Lord is sweet to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works!" (Ps. cxliv. 9.) Great indeed and admirable are all these effects of the Divine goodness; but it does not stop here: He not only has ordained all the visible creatures about us for our service, but He even employs His heavenly spirits. those Ibeings of such superior excellency to, us, to be our guardians and attendants, to guide and direct us, to guard us from our enemies, and to defend us from many dangers ; "There shall no evil come unto thee," says the royal prophet, "nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling; for He. hath given )■ His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways;'in their hands they shall bear thee irp, lest thou dash thy. foot against a stone" (Ps. xc. 10). "And are they not all ministering spirits," says St. Paul "sent to minister for them, who shall receive the inheritance of salvation!" (Heb. i. 14). What an exalted idea does this give us of the boundless love of God towards us when we consider, who we are; who are sent to guard uswho He is that sends them, and for what endl Oh! how

greatly are we honored by such goodness! how great is our^..V f obligation then to correspond with it, by a faithful obedience ' ffil to His holy commandments. • ' ... :. A> -, Such then are the general effects of the Divine good- >$ ness towards .all mankind; for "He makes His sun to rise -*& on the good and bad, and raineth on the just.and unjust" .-' (Matt, v. 45). It is true, in the distribution of these' ?&■% common benefits, He divides many of them in different X • degrees, giving to some more and to others less; but even - this He does for the most beneficent purposes, according as : •' -X* He knows to-be most proper for the real good of 'the v'o receivers. And this very unequal division of many of these ' benefits gives each of us another just occasion to see the " " particular goodness of God towards Himself, by considering - ; how liberal He has been to us, above what He is to many■■",. "V < others. How many do we find of our brethren,' who are' of the same mould and nature with ourselves, ■ deprived - of many of those good things which we enjoy, and subjected to many sufferings, of which we are free? Some are confined to their beds with lingering and painful distempers; ' some deprived of the integrity or use of some of their ./" members; many lame, blind, deaf, palsied, half men! many " reduced to extreme penury, without a house to receive W J them or clothes to cover them, and forced to seek their ".- bread from the charity of others. Let us cast our eyes'"',-/- • on all such, and ask ourselves this question, Why are these ■ "'« so miserable, and I so happy? why so many good thnigs to me, and so few to them? perhaps my sins deserve much , worse than theirs, and yet God treats me with such lenity - and mercy! What an'ample field does this afford us, to' ' admire and adore the infinite goodness of God to -us, and to excite in our hearts the most sensible affections of gratitude and love to Him! Nor must we imagine, that because these common' effects of the Divine goodness were made for all mankind J m general, therefore God has not any special regard for - each of us in particular: His holy word assures us' that f IP? 6 TO i eat and the Smal1 ' and hath ««««% care. for all' (Wisd. vi. 8); that "not a sparrow falleth to the . ground without your heavenly Father, or is forgotten before God , ; yea that, the very hairs of our head are all numbered" (Matt. x.-Luke xxi.). The goodness of God extends to each one in particular, no less than to all in general; and when He gave being to all the other creatures tor the use of man, He had each individual before His eyes, m regard to the proportion of those benefits He '. intended for him, as distinctly as He had the whole: o t bat each one of us in particular can say with the greatest truth, what the Divine Wisdom says of itself in another sense, When He prepared the heaven, I was there; when - with a certain law and compass He prepared the depthswhen He established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters-when He compassed the" sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters, that they should not I pass their limits-when He balanced the foundations of the < earth I was with Him" (Prov. viii. 27). Though I had " : not then received existence, yet I was distinctly present to ' His infinite knowledge, as the end of that great work ; ' for whose use and service He created it, and on the same c ground it .is that, though Christ died for all men uni- ■'** versally, yet St. Paul applies His death no less entirely t to himself than if He had died for him alone. "I live in the faith of the Son of God," said he, "who loved me, ' and delivered Himself for me" (Gal. ii. 20). How endear ing .a consideration is this! and what an affecting motive &4 does it afford, to excite us still more and more to love and ■serve that good and gracious God, who shows such special Jove and kindness to each of us in particular! Such then is the extension or breadth of the love .of God to man' • Kl considered only in regard to those good things which are "' in the order of nature. But what, an incredible addition \V< does it receive, when to these are also joined the ■ far v " more excellent goods which are in the order of grace' and -'?s glory! But as it is in them that we see the sublimity -• or height of the love of God, we shall particularly consider S them under that view. -