The Inward Light

There was a man; and he was blind;
And yet he said, the Lord is kind;
For, while he takes the outward sight,
He gives me more of inward light;
The inward light, the inward light,
He gives me more of inward light.

The outward sight is very dear,
With power to know, and power to cheer;
It visits field and fruit and flower,
And running stream and sunny bower;
But know, that not till that is seal'd,
Is all of inward light reveal'd.

The soul, to outward objects blind,
Opens the eyelids of the mind;
And to the sun-beams from the sky,
That light its deep, interior eye,
The truths, unseen before, are given,
Which shine like stars, and guide to heaven.

Oh God, the Universal Whole,
Visit the Temple of the soul;
Oh God, the living light within,
Dispel the shades and clouds of sin;
Take, if Thou wilt, the outward sight,
And quench its rays in sunless night,
But give, oh  give the inward light.

— Christ in the Soul (1872) LV.