The life of those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High may be called a Hidden Life, because the animating principle, the vital or operative element, is not so much in itself as in another. It is a life grafted into another life. It is the life of the soul, incorporated into the life of Christ; and in such a way, that, while it has a distinct vitality, it has so very much in the sense, in which the branch of a tree may be said to have a distinct vitality from the root.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Partial and Universal Love

There is a love; a love for one;
On one alone its blessings fall;
But heavenly love is like the sun;
It throws its golden light on ALL.

The love, which holy heaven imparts,
To narrow limits unconfin'd,
Extends the sympathy of hearts
To friends, to foes, to all mankind.

There's nothing which it calls its own;
In self it hath no power to live;
And 'tis by this its life is known,
That what it hath, it hath to give.

Oh holy Love! Oh heavenly Love!
To hearts of truth and virtue given;
The Love, that lives in hearts above;
The Love, that makes of earth a heaven.

Christ in the Soul (1872) IX.

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