When one compares man as he was then, weak and ignorant, and yet
seemingly so favoured by God, so near to God, with man as he is now,
strong and cunning, spreading over the earth and replenishing it;
subduing it with railroads and steamships, with agriculture and
science, and all strange and crafty inventions, and all the while
never visited by any Divine or heavenly appearance, but seemingly
left utterly to himself by God, to go his own way and do his own
will upon the earth, one asks with wonder, Can we be Adam's
children? Can the God who appeared to Adam, be our God likewise, or
has God's plan and rule for teaching man changed utterly?

No. He is one God; the same God yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
His will and purpose, his care and rule over man, have not changed.

That is a matter of faith. Of the faith which the holy Church
commands us to have. But it need not be a blind or unreasonable
faith. That our God is the God of Adam; that the same Lord God who
taught him teaches us likewise, need not be a mere matter of faith:
it may be a matter of reason likewise; a thing which seems
reasonable to us, and recommends itself to our mind and conscience
as true.

Consider, my friends, a babe when it comes into the world. The
first thing of which it is aware is its mother's bosom. The first
thing which it does, as its eyes and ears are gradually opened to
this world, is to cling to its parents. It holds fast by their
hand, it will not leave their side. It is afraid to sleep alone, to
go alone. To them it looks up for food and help. Of them it asks
questions, and tries to learn from them, to copy them, to do what it
sees them doing, even in play; and the parents in return lavish care