all-powerful Protector and Sustainer, but rises and goes forth to his business, as the brute beast issues from his stall. O man, thus doing, call not thyself a man of honor! Thou hast not discharged thy first debt;—thou art lying under a weight of obligation, for which thou hast not nobleness or common justice enough to make the slightest acknowledgment. Is this true-heartedness? is it honorableness? is it even common honesty and morality?
No! the first demand of religion on man is the duty of simple gratitude. The truly honorable and just-minded man, conscious of having received, and of daily receiving, the greatest benefits from his Maker and Heavenly Father,—yet conscious of his inability to make any adequate return for that goodness,—rejoices to make the little return that is in his power, that of gratitude and thankfulness. On rising, therefore, in the morning, he is unwilling to go forth to his worldly business, till he has first on his knees looked up in a simple prayer of acknowledgment, to Him whose sleepless eye and mighty arm have been over him and around him, through the darkness and stillness of the night. He utters in truthfulness the Divine prayer, "Our Father, who art in the heavens, hallowed be thy name." He knows, indeed, there is little need of words—for the Lord sees his thoughts and his heart; but yet he does express himself in words, both to make his thoughts more distinct to himself, and also to lead on his thoughts and to warm up his feelings; for, by a law of the mind, utterance helps thought, as the stream runs itself clear.
But having uttered his prayer of thanksgiving, he does not stop there, but continues and offers up a
