Action Without Guidance

Any action of man's faculties, without the presence and inspiration of the mighty master of the mind who made them, is not guidance, but merely action. If man is in harmony with his Maker, he is in harmony with all moral truths and relations, and his faculties, under such circumstances, cannot fail to be rightly guided. Being in harmony with their Maker, their Maker becomes their life. If man is out of harmony with God, and just in proportion as this is the case, his faculties are not guided. They may be said to act, and it is action only. Sometimes the action is violent. There is the action of impulse, the action of selfish passion, the action of contradiction and strife; but there is no true guidance. The rightful authority, the authority which would carry them to their true goal, is in abeyance. Like another Phaeton, man has seized the reins of this chariot of fire; but the steeds know that it is not the hand of the true Apollo, and, frenzied in the want of that mastership which they need, they rush wildly on to destruction.

— A Treatise on Divine Union (1851) Part 3, Chapter 2.

Oneness of Life

If life on earth, and life in heaven,
As ancient seers and prophets say,
Is from the same great radiance given,
And burns with one celestial ray;

If brightness there, and brightness here,
Is in its central nature one;
And, shining in whatever sphere,
Is from the same imperial sun;

Oh, then, come down, and fill my heart,
Great God with Thine own life of love,
So that I may not stand apart
From the bright life, which shines above.

The secret of the heavens reveal,
And make its inward glory known,
Till all of thought and heart and will,
And life itself are made Thine own.

— Christ in the Soul (1872) X.

God is Love

Men make such idols as they choose,
And worship low before their throne;
But little know they what they lose,
By not enthroning LOVE alone.

Before great LOVE the angels bow,
Moving in radiant, joyful bands;
And Love, controlling here and now,
Unites our hearts, and joins our hands.

Remember, God himself is LOVE;
And is there other throne than His,
Who reigns below, who reigns above,
Supreme in truth, supreme in bliss?

Before celestial Love bow down;
All selfish deities remove;
Bright as the heavens shall be the crown
Of those, whose hearts are fill'd with LOVE.

— Christ in the Soul (1872) X.

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.

Little Trust, Little Love

"Little  love, little trust,"  says Archbishop Leighton. The converse of this is equally true. If there be but little trust, there will be but little love. If we believe the words of  our heavenly Father with the whole heart, it will be certain that we shall love him with the whole heart.

— Religious Maxims (1846) LVI.

Solitude

He, that is united to God, loves solitude. But it is solitude in the relative rather than the absolute sense. True, he is secluded from men; but while he is shut out from the world, he is shut up in God; and in the absence of human society, has the far better society of the Infinite Mind.

— Religious Maxims (1846) LV.

A Spirit of Entire Obedience

A spirit of entire obedience is one of the important characteristics of a sanctified state. Not obedience merely, but entire obedience. He who obeys in some things, but is fretful and rebellious in others, has not the reality; and it can hardly be said that he has even the appearance of holiness.

— Religious Maxims (1846) LIV.