June 16
Companions of the Way (Evening)Thou, O Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work.
(Dr. More speaks)
I WOULD always be "Sub dio," if it were possible. . . . I can read, discourse, or think nowhere as well as in some arbour, where the cool air rustles through the moving leaves; and what a rapture of mind does such a scene as this always inspire within me! To a free and divine spirit how lovely, how magnificent is this state for the soul of man to be in, when, the life of God inactuating her, she travels through heaven and earth, and unites with, and after a sort feels herself the life and soul of, this whole world, even as God? This indeed is to become Deiform—not by imagination, but by union of life. God doth not ride me whither I know not, but discourseth with me as a friend, and speaks to me in such a dialect as I can understand fully, namely, the outward world of His creatures; so that I am in fact "Incola cæli in terra," an inhabitant of paradise and heaven upon earth; and I may soberly confess that sometimes, walking abroad after my studies, I have been almost mad with pleasure,—the effect of nature upon my soul having been inexpressibly ravishing, and beyond what I can convey to you.
J. H. SHORT- HOUSE
Y
LOVED HERE, AND THERE
