Saturday, May 17, 2008

The Father of Lights

Lake Geneva

The love of God changes us into its own image, so that what the Lord saith concerning us, we also can declare concerning him. God is love essentially, and when this essential love shines forth freely upon us, we reflect it back upon him. He is like the sun, the great father of lights and we are as the moon and the planets we shine in rays borrowed from his brightness. He is the golden seal, and we, his people, are the wax receiving the impression. Our heaven is to be likeness to Christ, and our preparation for heaven consists in a growing imitation of him in all things. See, brethren, how the Lord gives the word, and our heart, like an echo, repeats every syllable.

The Lord loveth his people, and we love him because he first loved us; he hath chosen his saints, and they also have made him the chosen heritage. The saints are precious to Jesus, and unto us who believe he is precious, Christ lived for us, and for us to live is Christ: we gain all things by his death, and for us to die is gain. The Church is the looking-glass in which Christ sees himself reflected; she is like a fair songstress taking up the refrain of Jesus’ canticles of love, while he sings, “My sister, my spouse,” she answers, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.”

From a sermon entitled "Choice Portions," delivered May 25, 1862. Flickr photo by Eric Hill; some rights reserved.

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