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CHAP. VI - OF THE RELIGION OF NATURE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
Summary
The kingliest King was crowned with thorns.
HEAVEN is happiness, the deliverance of man from all that makes him subject to sorrow; but not, therefore, can it be sought as happiness, for happiness is in the leaving off that search. There is no happiness like that of love, but it cannot be obtained by seeking. Love must be given us, must carry us away, must become our nature and our life. That which makes the happiness is gone when happiness is sought. Is the love of God less sacred than that of wife or friend? Can He accept a love which friend or wife would repudiate with disdain? We are compelled to love Him; that is the overmastering passion of our souls, the joy of our hearts, our life, and breath. Such passion we have felt faint traces of before, when most of loveliness has moved our souls to ecstasy, and bowed our hearts to worship. When we could not contain ourselves for joy, and earth was glorified by one presence everywhere, then was revealed to us the image and the shadow of the love of God. We love Him; it is the one fact of our life which flows into all things. To love Him is but to know Him, but to awake from sleep, to have sight given to our eyes, life to our hearts. One presence glorifies all the world, for all things are the presence of Him we love. All passions in this passion receive their fulfilment, reveal their true meaning, become absorbed, and die into life. All human passions mean the love of God, but men know it not.
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- Man and his Dwelling PlaceAn Essay towards the Interpretation of Nature, pp. 243 - 248Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1859