Editorial August 25, 1906 Issue

The Divine Fatherhood

Annie M. Knott

Father! the dearest, holiest name
That men or angels know!
Fountain of life that had no fount
From which itself could flow!

In all times the human heart has sought in the idea of the divine fatherhood a resting-place for its holiest hope and faith. Christians find in the Master's teaching and example their warrant for giving to the Almighty the tender name of Father, and Christian Science teaches us to think of God as the infinite Father-Mother. The troubled human sense has clung to the words, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him;" and because of this declaration it has argued that God must know evil and regard it somewhat as the human parent does. Now this parent grieves because he feels helpless to save his child from sin and suffering, but if he were conscious of power to avert every calamity, he could have no cause for sorrow. The mother does not weep when her babe cries out with fear at some unsightly object; rather does she smile at the needlessness of this fear, as she reassures the little one. The pity is that the mother does not always know that her own fear or that of her child is causeless. She does not know that the infinite Parent is never absent, but watches over her and her child so that "no evil shall befall" them. The human sense of parenthood sees only a little way; sometimes not at all. It mistakes the wise discipline of divine Love for the wrath of "an angry god," and so life's great and glorious lessons are not learned when they are most needed. Thus we have self-inflicted suffering, when divine Love waits ever to be gracious, to clasp close the trembler who has learned that naught else has power to soothe or to save.

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