The Light is Rising O'er the Sky.

THE light is rising o'er the sky:
The dews are fading from the hill;­
But where's the joyous light to dry
The tears, that from my heart distil?

Tears, deep and hidden in their spring;
And well may those who weep despair,
If there's no sun or star to bring
Some ray of hope and comfort there.

E'en when thou speakest, see the light,
Oh sinner, brighter than the day;
And let the beam that cheers thy sight,
Its gladness to thy heart convey.

When angels sung "good will to men,"
Its splendor shone o'er Bethlehem's plain;
And shining now as bright as then,
It cheers the mourning soul again.

— American Cottage Life (1850).

Be Faithful in Little Things

Always make it a rule to do every thing, which it is proper and a duty to do, in the best manner and to the best of your ability. An imperfect execution of a thing, where we might have done better, is not only unprofitable but it is a vicious execution or in other words is morally wrong. He, who aims at perfection in great things, but is willing to be imperfect in little things, will find himself essentially an imperfect man. The perfection of the greater will be no compensation, and no excuse for the imperfection of the less. Such a person wants the essential principle of universal obedience. Consider well, therefore, what God in his Providence would have you perform; and if you feel the spirit of those directions, which require us to do all things as unto God rather than unto men, you will not do them with a false heart or a feeble hand. And thus in small things, as well as in great, in those which are unseen  as well as in those which attract notice, it shall be said of you, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

— Religious Maxims (1846) XXVI.

O God, We are Thine; For Ever Thine

No man ever arrived at Christian perfection, no man ever  can arrive at that ennobling state, who  walks by sight, rather than by faith, and of whom it cannot be said, as of the father of the faithful, "he went out, not knowing whither he went." Perhaps we may say, it is the highest attainment of the soul, (certainly it is the foundation of the highest or perfect state in all other Christian attainments,) that of entire and unwavering confidence in God. O God, we are thine; for ever thine. We will not let Thee go, until Thou bless us. And when Thou dost bless us, still we will not let Thee go. For without Thee, even blessing would be turned into cursing. Therefore we will ever trust in Thee.

— Religious Maxims (1846) XXV.

Faith, Even Without Consolation

We may be deprived of outward consolations; and still have consolations of heart. But this is not all. We may be deprived in the sovereignty of God, and for wise purposes, of inward consolations also; and may be left for a time in a state of mental barrenness and desolation. And yet faith, precious faith, discouraging as this state of things may seem, may still remain; and not feebly merely, but in the strength and fulness of its exercise. It is still our delightful privilege to say of God, that He is our God, our Father, our Friend and portion. "Blessed is the man, that trusteth in the Lord."

— Religious Maxims (1846) XXIV.

On Censuring Others

It  is one among the pious and valuable maxims, which are ascribed to Francis de Sales: "A judicious silence is always better than truth spoken without charity." The very undertaking to instruct or censure others, implies an assumption of intellectual or moral superiority. It cannot be expected, therefore, that the attempt will be well received, unless it is tempered with a heavenly spirit. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not CHARITY, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal."

— Religious Maxims (1846) XXIII.

Renunciation of the World or of the Self?

It  may sometimes be practically important  to make a distinction between a renunciation of the world and a renunciation of ourselves. A man may, in a certain sense and to a certain extent, renounce the world, and. yet may find himself greatly disappointed in his anticipations of spiritual improvement and benefit. He has indeed renounced the world as it presents itself to us in its externalities; he has renounced its outward attractions; its perverted and idle shows. He may have carried his renouncement so far as to seclude himself entirely from society, and to spend his days in some solitary desert. But it avails nothing or almost nothing, because there is not at the same time an internal renunciation; a crucifixion and renunciation of self. A mere crucifixion of the outward world may still leave a vitality and luxuriance of the selfish principle; but a crucifixion of self necessarily involves the crucifixion, in the Scripture sense, of everything else.

— Religious Maxims (1846) XXII.

God's Life in Humanity

From God all things come. To God, as the universal originator and governor, all things are in subjection. In ascertaining what God is, we necessarily ascertain the position and responsibilities of those beings that come from God, and are dependent on him. The life of his moral creatures, so far as it is a right and true life, is a reproduction, in a finite form, of the elements of his own life. "God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him." Gen. 1:27. The Saviour, in speaking of himself, in his incarnate state, says, "I am in the Father, and the Father in me." John 13:11. God, in carrying out and perfecting the great idea of a moral creation, subjects the infinity of his being to the limitations of humanity, and reproduces himself in the human soul. So that man's life may truly be described, as God's life in humanity.

Nor, in the strict sense of the terms, can any­ thing but the DIVINE LIFE, or the life of God in the soul, be called life. Those who have gone astray from God, just so far as they have lost the divine life, and have sunk into the natural life, are dead. Hence, the expressions of the apostle: — "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." Ephes. 2:1. The eternal vitality, the breath from the Infinite, the life of God in the soul, ceases to be in them. And being dead, by the absence of God as an indwelling principle, they must be recreated, or born again, by his restoration. It is not enough, that provision has been made, in the death of Christ, for man's forgiveness. Forgiveness, it is true, has its appropriate work. It cancels the iniquity of the past; but this is not all that is necessary. It is not without reason, that the learned Schlegel commences his profound work on the philosophy of history by saying, that "the most important subject, and the first problem of philosophy, is the restoration in man of the lost image of God." The immortal nature must be made anew, must be re-constituted, if we may so express it, on the principle of life linked with life, of the created sustained in the uncreated, in the bonds of divine union.

— A Treatise on Divine Union Part 1, Chapter 1.