The tree holds on to its fruit, so far as it can, and only sheds it spontaneously when it is ripe. Dumb animals care for their young till they are old enough to shift for themselves. Human love and solicitude for children endure as long as life lasts, -- and not only for children, but for artistic creations of hand and mind. But God is of all living things the best, according to the Aristotelian definition (Metaph. XII, vii). He may be expected therefore to be more careful of His creatures than the tree of its fruit, than the animal of its young, than parent of child, than artist of his work.

Of God and His Creatures: 3.75