And therefore these words are said to you and me.  We English are neither monks nor nuns, nor likely (thank God) to become so.  We are in the world, with our own family ties and duties, our own worldly business.  And to us, to you and me, as to those old Jews, the first and great commandment is, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’

What, then, does it mean?  Does it mean that we are to have the same love toward God as we have toward a wife or a husband?

Certainly not.  But it means at least this—­the love which we should bear toward a Father.  All, my friends, turns on this.  Do you look on God as your Father, or do you not?  God is your Father, remember, already.  You cannot (as some people seem to think) make Him your Father by believing that He is one; and you need not, thanks to His mercy.  Neither can you make Him not your Father by forgetting Him.  Be you wise or foolish, right or wrong, God is your Father in heaven; and you ought to feel towards Him as towards a father, not with any sentimental, fanciful, fanatical affection; but with a reverent, solemn, and rational affection; such as that which the good old Catechism bids us have, when it tells us our duty toward God.

’My duty towards God is to believe in Him, to fear Him, and to love Him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength; to worship Him, to give Him thanks, to put my whole trust in Him, to call upon Him, to honour His holy Name and His Word, and to serve Him truly all the days of my life.’

Now, I ask you—­and what I ask you I ask myself,—­Do we love the Lord our God thus?  And if not, why not?

I do not ask you to tell me.  I am not going to tell you what is in my heart; and I do not ask you to tell me what is in yours.  We are free Englishmen, who keep ourselves to ourselves, and think for ourselves, each man in the depths of his own heart; and who are the stronger and the wiser for not talking about our feelings to any man, priest or layman.

But ask yourselves, each of you,—­Do I love God?  And if not, why not?

There are two reasons, I believe, which are, alas! very common.  For one of them there are great excuses; for the other, there is no excuse whatsoever.

In the first place, too many find it difficult to love God, because they have not been taught that God is loveable, and worthy of their love.  They have been taught dark and hard doctrines, which have made them afraid of God.

They have been taught—­too many are taught still—­not merely that God will punish the wicked, but that God will punish nine-tenths, or ninety-nine-hundredths of the human race.  That He will send to endless torments not merely sinners who have rebelled against what they knew was right, and His command; who have stained themselves with crimes; who wilfully injured their fellow-creatures:  but that He will do the same by little children, by innocent young girls,