THE FATHER

A young man stood in the center of a dim chamber, holding in his hands his first-born child. He stood in silence, with his eyes fixed on the tiny creature he held. Tears came into his eyes as he reflected on the utter helplessness of that unknowing being, that “little pilgrim of love, coming none knew whither.” “How strange, how wonderful,” thought the newly consecrated priest of the household, “that the great God, should entrust to a sinful mortal like me the care and training of one of his human spirits. How awful is the responsibility that has come upon me.  I feel that this is not my child alone, but that he is also the child of the Eternal God, and at my hands will his soul be required.  Not for my pleasure or for the stay of my old age is this dear infant given, so much as for my instruction in the things of God. I feel this hour that the universal Father has laid his hand on me in a most solemn charge. He bids me to interpret to my child the character of his heavenly Father in such a manner as shall give him a worthy and attractive idea of God. I would rather drop down now, and die this moment, than live to treat my boy in any manner that shall cause his heart to shrink back from God, when, in future years, He shall be presented to his mind in the character of a father. I hold thee, my unconscious child, and over thee I resolve, God helping me, that I will, to the utmost of my power, represent to thy un folding mind the justice, the wisdom, the mercy, the patience, and love of God, that when thou art told that He is thy ‘Father’ thou may’st long to hasten to his arms and look upon his face; that thy heart may willingly and gladly yield Him its service and homage.

“Father and Son are the staple figures of the gospel, and never, sweet son, may thine earthly father be so lost to his duty and his love to thee, as to libel, by his own behavior, the paternal character of the Father of us all. Thou art in my power, my babe—thy destiny for weal or wo is in my hands, thy character depends upon my treatment and training of thee, and I know that for all I do to thee I must account to Him who gave thee. Oh! child, God grant me grace to be a true father unto thee, or let Him take thee, whilst thou art unspotted, unto himself.”