HE is our Father, and we are his children. He watches over us with a tender care; and, "as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." This tender and indissoluble relation binds us to him by the strongest ties, and is calculated to excite the most ardent filial affection and gratitude. He is our Sovereign and Law-giver, and we are his subjects; and all his laws are framed on the principles of eternal and immutable rectitude, and are calculated to promote the harmony and happiness of the whole intelligent creation. He is our Master, and we are his servants; and "his commandments are not grievous." He is our Friend in adversity, our Protector in danger and in distress, our Instructor who has imparted to us knowledge and understanding, and our Redeemer who "spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all," that we might be rescued from the gulf of depravity and ruin, and exalted to a state of consummate felicity. In fine, he is that being who is the inexhaustible fountain of light of life and of joy, to all things, on whom depend all our future prospects in this world, and all the transporting scenes to which we look forward in an interminable state of existence.
All these and many other relations in which we stand to the God of heaven, demonstrate that supreme love to this beneficent Being, is the first and highest duty of every rational creature; and they present the most powerful motives to stimulate us to its exercise. Thos. Dick, LL. D.