Chapter VI.

Showing How Much Man Is Indebted To God For His Everlasting Love.

We love him, because he first loved us.—1 John 4:19.

In every benefit or gift there are three things to be considered: the giver, the receiver, and the gift itself. As, then, there is a natural obligation upon the receiver to the giver, it is manifest, that since man has received all that he has from God, so he owes all to him, and is under the strictest obligations of love and obedience to his great benefactor.

2. And as man consists of body and soul, so God has abundantly provided for the comfort and happiness of both.

3. As for his body, it is sustained and refreshed by the various productions of nature, so that the whole creation seems to call upon him, and put him in mind of his Creator: “Consider,” it saith, “O man, the benefits which thy Maker has bestowed upon thee, and what returns of gratitude and service thou owest him for the same. I (saith the heaven), give thee daylight to work in, and send darkness in which thou mayest sleep and take thy rest. I give thee the pleasant spring, the warm summer, the fruitful autumn, and the cold winter, in their proper seasons. I (saith the air), supply thee with breath, and every kind of birds. By me (saith the water), art thou washed, and thy thirst is quenched; by me thou art supplied with all kinds of fish. I bear thee and sustain thee (saith the earth), and satisfy thee with bread, wine, and flesh; by all which thou mayest know how much thou art beloved by Him who made thee, and me for thy use; all of whose favors are as so many bonds and obligations upon thee.”