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, January 13, 2014

The Mystery of the Kingdom

The mystery of the kingdom lies
In this, that Christ "hath died for me"
But see, in that great sacrifice,
The other truth, "I die for Thee."

The life, on bleeding Calvary given,
Taught us the way our life to save.
All truth, all good, and God, and heaven,
Are found in giving all we have.

We  give up all, and all resume;
We die the death, and life is born;
Without the shadows of the tomb,
There comes no resurrection morn.

Down to the grave then let us haste,
By toiling, suffering, bleeding, giving;
'Tis only thus our souls can taste
The risen bliss of heavenly living.

— from Christ in the Soul (1872) V.

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