The little time that you have been in the world, my child, you have spent wholly with me: and my love and tenderness to you, has made you look upon me as your only friend and benefactor, and the cause of all the comfort and pleasure you enjoy: your heart, I know, would be ready to break with grief, if you thought this was the last day that I should live with you. But, my child, tho’ you now think yourself mighty happy, because you have hold of my hand, you are now in the hands, and under the tender care of a much greater father and friend than I am, whose love to you is far greater than mine, and from whom you receive such blessings as no mortal can give. That God whom you have seen me daily worship; whom I daily call upon to bless both you and me, and all mankind; whose wondrous acts are recorded in those scriptures which you constantly read. That God who created the heavens and the earth; who brought a flood upon the old world; who saved _Noah_ in the ark; who was the God of _Abraham_, _Isaac_, and _Jacob_; whom _Job_ blessed and praised in the greatest afflictions; who delivered the _Israelites_ out of the hands of the _Egyptians_; who was the protector of righteous _Joseph_, _Moses_, _Joshua_, and holy _Daniel_; who sent so many prophets into the world; who sent his Son Jesus Christ to redeem mankind. This God, who has done all these great things; who has created so many millions of men; who lived and died before you was born, with whom the spirits of good men that are departed this life, now live; whom infinite numbers of angels now worship in heaven. This great God, who is the Creator of worlds, of angels, and men, is your loving Father and Friend, your good Creator and Nourisher, from whom, and not from me, you received your being ten years ago, at the time that I planted that little, tender _elm_ which you there see. 10. I myself am not half the age of this _shady oak_, under which we sit; many of our fathers have sat under its boughs; we have all of us called it ours in our turn, though it stands, and drops its _masters_, as it drops its _leaves_. You see, my son, this wide and large _firmament_ over our heads, where the _sun_ and _moon_, and all the _stars_ appear in their turns. If you was to be carried up to any of these bodies at this vast distance from us, you would still discover others as much above you, as the _stars_ that you see here are above the _earth_. Were you to go up or down, _east_ or _west_, _north_ or _south_, you would find the same height without any _top_, and the same depth without any _bottom_.