The dog is the god of frolic.

Beecher’s epigram treats the dog as an emblem of unselfconscious joy: where humans often intellectualize pleasure, the dog seems to embody play as a kind of instinctive “religion.” Calling the dog a “god” of frolic elevates ordinary animal exuberance into something exemplary—an ideal of spontaneity, sociability, and wholehearted presence. The line also reflects a common nineteenth-century sentimental and moralizing view of domestic animals, especially dogs, as companions whose virtues (loyalty, cheerfulness, readiness for play) can rebuke human gloom or rigidity. In that sense, the quote is less about theology than about praising a temperament: the dog as a model for living lightly and gladly.