Holy Love is a Gift of God

Holy beings are created after the divine model; but it is worthy of notice, here as elsewhere, that the existence, which stands for the model, is itself the creating power. — God is their Father. Man, in not being able to make himself, is not able to make that holy love, which is the center of himself. On the contrary, holy love is a gift, as divine in its source as it is divine in its nature. It is just as impossible for men to originate, by their own action, the principle of pure or holy love within them, as it is to originate their own existence, or the power of perception and memory. Pure love cannot be created on the basis of prudential calculations; nor can it be originated by any other human device. Device, calculation, cannot raise itself to that divine height. And the reason is, it is a constituent, something inherent and organic, something without which reason itself, in its pure and unbiased forms, could not have been brought into action; something which does not and cannot by any possibility exist, except as a nature. In God it is nature eternal; in all other holy beings it is nature given.

— A Treatise on Divine Union, Part 4, Chapter 4.

The Image of God

All holy beings, inasmuch as they come from God, are, and must be, formed originally in the divine image. It  is thus that angels and all angelic and seraphic natures are formed. They are miniatures of God. It is thus that man himself was originally formed. And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him." 

The likeness of God to man is not in form, for God is without form; — not in intellect, for the intellect of God embraces all things, while man can know only a part; — but in that which constitutes, more than anything else, the element, the life, of the divine nature, namely, HOLY LOVE. Man, in the infancy of his existence, was created a love being. Love, as the center of his existence, was not a speculation, but a nature;  not an accessory of life, but the life itself. Spontaneous in its action, acting because it had a principle of movement in itself, it did not wait for the slow deductions of reason, but flowed out in all directions, like a living stream. As man, thus formed in the love spirit, looked around upon the works of nature, he saw all things in the possession of life and beauty, and he rejoiced in all things, because all things had God in them. He loved the tree and the flower, which reflected the divine wisdom and goodness. But far more did he delight in the happiness of everything which had a sentient existence. He  called all animals to him. The birds dropped their wings at the sound of his voice, and came. The beasts of the field and of the forests flocked around him from their near or distant habitations. He loved them; and he gave them their names. When the occasion was presented, when the sentient object, no matter to what scale or degree of sentient being it belonged, was before him, his simple and pure heart flowed out at once. 

It  was thus, beyond all question, that the primitive man was constituted. Such is the representation of Scripture. Love, resting upon faith, was his nature And, coming from God, he could not have been constituted otherwise. God being what he is, he could not have created man otherwise than he did. The principles of right, which apply to the fact of creation as well as to the government of things created, are not susceptible of change.  It is impossible, therefore, to conceive of more than one pattern or model, according to which holy beings were at first created. And this one pattern, which, in being the true pattern, condemns and excludes all others, is that of the Divine Mind itself. The model, in being perfect, can never be altered; in being eternal, can never be broken.

— A Treatise on Divine Union, Part 4, Chapter 4.

Holiness and Knowledge

Wouldst thou the key of knowledge hold,
And with its mighty touch unfold
The secret in its breast that lies,
Of earth's and heaven's mysteries?

Hast thou the sacred, strong desire,
To truth's bright summit to aspire;
And with the aspiration glow,
Which seeks to know; as angels know?

Oh, then, that key of knowledge gain,
By pride, and self, and passion SLAIN;
Oh, then, that height of vision win,
By LIFE to God, and DEATH to sin.

It is pollution of the mind,
Which makes its power of knowledge blind;
'Tis PURITY, which pours the light
Of heavenly vision on the sight.

— Christ in the Soul (1872) XIX.

Christ Was Love: He Bled and Died

Leaving All With God

Oh  God, Thou knowest what is best,
And as my weakness cannot see
What things will make my spirit blest,
Help me to leave my choice with Thee.

With flattering lips if power or fame
Should ask me, that they may be mine,
Aid me against their tempting claim
To say, I have no choice but Thine.

Weakness is better far than power,
And poverty than house or land,
If, in their dark and trying hour,
Thy love shall hold me by the hand.

O let me in Thyself abide;
In Thee is wealth and power divine.
Rend from my grasp all else beside;
But let me know, that I AM THINE.

— Christ in the Soul (1872) XVIII.

The Sceptre of Love

I hold the sceptre in my hand,
Which rules the universe of things;
Which rules the ocean, rules the land,
And puts to shame the power of  kings.

The iron wheels of cruel war,
The swords and scimitars of strife!
They see its glories from afar,
And bow before its power of life.

Look up! Its lifted light behold;
Not fram'd by human power or art;
Not made of wood, or stone, or gold;
'Tis LOVE! the sceptre of the heart.

'Tis LOVE! All things shall love obey;
All things its high behests fulfill;
It holds the thunders in its sway;
It  says to stormy seas, "Be still."

My Father smiled, and bade me take,
My infant hand, that sceptre fair;
Beneath its power the nations shake,
For God's Omnipotence is there.

—  Christ in the Soul (1872) XVII.

Loving Our Enemies

It is right and reasonable that we should be required to love our enemies.  There are no passages of Scripture which have perplexed the unbelieving world more than those which have relation to this subject. "But I say unto you," says the Savior, "love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you."

It  will be noticed, that we are not commanded to love their enmity,— to love their detractions and ill usage, — but to love that which has enmity; the subject rather than the attribute; namely, their existence, their immortal natures. In the exercise of holy love, we may not only forgive them, but may earnestly seek their happiness; while, at the same time, we condemn their characters. Their characters may change, but not the essence of their being. Their enmity may die, but their nature is eternal.

We repeat, however. that this love cannot be  exercised  in its full extent, unless the soul has first passed into divine unity and become a partaker of the divine nature. It was this love, resting upon the principle of faith, which constituted Christ the true Son of God. And it is this love, resting upon the same principle of faith, which constitutes the sons of God in all times and all places. "Love your enemies," says the Saviour. And what is the reason which he assigns? "That  ye may be the children of your Father which it in heaven, for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so?  Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as  your  Father, which is in heaven, is perfect."

— A Treatise on Divine Union (1851) Part 4, Chapter 3.