"God gives birth to the mind, that it may grow and rise for ever, and its progress is the end of all his works. This outward universe, with its sun and stars, and mighty revolutions is but a school in which the Father is training his children. God is ever present to the human mind, to carry on its education, pouring upon it instruction and incitement from the outward world, stirring up everlasting truth within itself, rousing it to activity by pleasure and pain, calling forth its affections by surrounding fellow-creatures, calling it to duty by placing it amidst various relations, awaking its sympathy by sights of sorrow, awakening its imagination by a world of beauty, and especially exposing it to suffering, hardship, and temptation, that by resisting it may grow strong, and by seeking help from above it may bind itself closely to its Maker. Thus He is the Father." William Ellery Channing.