XXVII.

OUR FATHER.

O clap your hands, all ye nations; shout unto God with the voice of joy.--_Psa._ xlvi. 1.

My God, what would have become of us had You shown Yourself to us as the All-just instead of the All-loving One You are? Had You been more mindful of Your Majesty than of our need? We know so little how to comport ourselves in Your presence, that it might have seemed more fitting You should remain in the recesses of Your Godhead, manifest Yourself but dimly and rarely, and restrict our worship of You to the most distant homage. It would have been but the manifestation of another attribute in place of that sweet mercy which has shaped the whole course, not of redemption’s plan only, but of the inner life of each one of us.

My God, it might have been so--and what then would have become of us? Where would praise have been, and trust, and loving return to Your arms after a fall? Blessed be Your name that You willed to show Yourself our Father, willed that with the younger race, Your human family, mercy should ever be in the ascendant.

“Blessed be You for ever, my God, my Mercy,”[85] for having shown Yourself to our weak sight in this softened light, the light that begets love--as One easily appeased, as One constraining trust, as One with arms widespread to Your timid children--the All-forgiving, All-tender, All-compassionate--_our Father Who art in heaven_.

[85] _Cf._ Psa. lviii.