12. Having reached this point of my
discourse, and being reminded of the passages just before mentioned, in
which God was addressed as the Father of men, I am greatly amazed at
men’s insensibility. For God with unspeakable
loving-kindness deigned to be called the Father of men,—He in
heaven, they on earth,—and He the Maker of Eternity, they made in
time,—He who holdeth the earth in the hollow of His hand,
they upon the earth as grasshoppers Is. xl. 12
and 22.. Yet man
forsook his heavenly Father, and said to the stock, Thou art my
father, and to the stone, Thou hast begotten me Jer. ii. 27.. And for this reason, methinks, the
Psalmist says to mankind, Forget also thine own people, and thy
father’s house Ps. xlv. 10., whom thou hast
chosen for a father, whom thou hast drawn upon thyself to thy
destruction.