PATERNAL or fatherly [Ps 103:13+] goodness and mercy, because He is my Father through Jesus Christ, and loves me as His child. It is DIVINE goodness and mercy, because God is love, [I John 4:16+] and only His unspeakable love could move Him to bestow His great benefits upon sinful men, even upon the wicked and unthankful. [Matt. 5:45+] 2. WITHOUT ANY MERIT OR WORTHINESS IN ME. [Gen. 32:10+] I have merited (deserved) nothing and I am worthy of nothing but punishment; for I am a sinful being, [Ps. 51:5] and I have broken God's law many times by thoughts and words and deeds. [Jer. 14:7] III. WHAT I OWE TO GOD IN RETURN. For all His goodness and mercy I AM IN DUTY BOUND [Ps. 116:12+, Ps. 50:14] 1. TO THANK AND PRAISE HIM. I must not receive God's benefits as a matter of course, but must recognize them as gifts of His grace, and daily thank and praise Him in my heart and with my lips. [Ps. 103:1+] 2. TO SERVE AND OBEY HIM. I must show my gratitude in my life by obeying God's commandments and giving myself with all my heart to His service. [Rom. 12:1+] THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY TRUE; namely, 1. That all the blessings I enjoy come from God, 2. That they are the gifts of His grace and that I am unworthy of them, 3. That I owe to God the fullest gratitude of heart and life. QUESTIONS.--1. What does "I believe" mean? 2. Why do we say "God the _Father_"? 3. What does "Almighty" mean? 4. What has God made? 5. Name His chief creatures. 6. What three things does Luther's explanation of this article tell us? 7. What has God done and what does He still do for us? 8. In creating us, what has God given us? 9. How does He preserve us? 10. Why does God do all this for us? 11. Why are we not worthy of it? 12. What do we owe to God in return? 13. What is meant by thanking and praising Him? 14. What is meant by serving and obeying Him? 15. What is most certainly true according to this article? SCRIPTURE VERSES.--Eph. 1:3. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Gen. 1:1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Job 33:4. The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. Col. 1:16. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. Gen. 2:7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Jas. 1:17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Acts 17:28. For in him we live, and move, and have our being.