One of the most remarkable features of this first
sermon that Christ preached is the fact that He constantly
called God our Father. How beautifully His teachings
reveal the spirit of the Law of love! Listen
to Him attentively, and ponder upon His words:
“Take heed that you do not your justice before
men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall
not have a reward of your FATHER WHO is in heaven....
But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know
what thy right hand doth; that thy alms may be in
secret, and thy FATHER WHO seeth in secret will repay
thee.... Love your enemies; do good to them that
hate you; and pray for them that persecute and calumniate
you; that you may be the children of your FATHER WHO
is in heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the
good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.
“Behold the birds of the air, for they neither
sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns:
and your heavenly FATHER feedeth them. Are not
you of much more value than they?... If you, then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your FATHER WHO is in heaven give
good things to them that ask Him.... For if you
will forgive men their offenses, your heavenly FATHER
will forgive you also your offenses. But if you
will not forgive men, neither will your FATHER forgive
you your offenses.... Thus therefore shall you
pray: OUR FATHER Who art in heaven.”
From these and many other similar expressions found
in the very first sermon which Jesus Christ ever preached,
we learn that it is the expressed will of God that
we should look upon Him as our loving Father; and
that, however unworthy we may be, we should look upon
ourselves as His beloved children. There cannot
be a possible doubt of this, since it is taught so
positively by His only begotten Son, Who is “the
Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
[Illustration: Henry le Jeune.]
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*
Sinai (s[=i]’ n[=a]), a mountain in Arabia.
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56
“You are old, Father William,”
the young man cried;
“The few locks that are left you are
gray;
You are hale, Father William, a hearty old
man;
Now, tell me the reason, I pray.”
“In the days of my youth,”
Father William replied,
“I remembered that youth would fly
fast,
And abused not my health and my vigor at first,
That I never might need them at last.”
“You are old, Father William,”
the young man cried,
“And life must be hastening away;
You are cheerful, and love to converse upon
death!
Now, tell me the reason, I pray.”
“I am cheerful, young
man,” Father William replied;
“Let the cause thy attention engage;
In the days of my youth I remembered my God!
And He hath not forgotten my age.”
