November 23

Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.—Psalm exlix. 2.

WHAT is Israel? "Seeing God:" for this is the meaning of the name Israel. He who seeth God, rejoiceth in him by whom he was made. What is it then, brethren? we have said that we belong to the church of the saints: do we already see God? and how are we Israel if we see not? There is one kind of sight belonging to this present time; there will be another belonging to the time hereafter: the sight which now is, is by faith; the sight which is to be, will be in reality. If we believe, we see; if we love, we see: see what? God. Ask John: God is love; let us bless his holy name, and rejoice in God by rejoicing in love. Whoso hath love, why send we him afar to see God? Let him regard his own conscience, and there he seeth God. If love dwelleth not there, neither doth God; but if love dwell there, so doth God. Perchance he wisheth to see him seated in heaven; let him have love, and so he dwelleth in him, as he doth in heaven. Let us then be Israel, and let us rejoice in him that made us. Let Israel rejoice in him who made him. We, my brethren, commend not ourselves to you: we commend God to you, for we commend you to God. How do we commend God to you? For you to love him for your own good, not for his good; for if ye do not love him, it is to your own hurt, not to his. For God will not the less possess his Godhead, because man hath not love towards him. Thou increasest through God, not he through thee: and yet so greatly did he love us first before we loved him, that he sent his only-begotten Son to die for us. He who made us, became one of us. How made he us? All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made. How became he one of us? The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. This then is he in whom we ought to rejoice. Let no man claim to himself what belongs to him: from him is the joy, which maketh us happy. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him.

And let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. The sons of the church are Israel. For Zion indeed was one city, which fell: amid its ruin certain saints dwelt after the flesh:

30 but the true Zion, the true Jerusalem, (for Zion and Jerusalem are one,) is eternal in the heavens, and is our mother. She it is that hath given us birth, she is the church of the saints, she hath nourished us, she, who is in part a pilgrim, in part abiding in the heavens. In the part which abideth in heaven is the bliss of angels, in the part which wandereth in this world, is the hope of the righteous. Of the former is said, Glory to God in the highest; of the latter, and on earth peace, good will to men. Let those then who, being in this life, groan, and long for their country, run by love, not by bodily feet; let them seek not ships but wings, let them lay hold on the two wings of love. What are the two wings of love? The love of God, and of our neighbor.

"Through thee, who all our sins hast borne, Truly and graciously forgiven, With songs to Zion we return, Contending for our native heaven; That palace of our glorious King,— We find it nearer while we sing."

"Raised by the breath of love divine, We urge our way, with strength renew'd; The church of the first-born to join, We travel to the mount of God; With joy upon our heads arise, And meet our Saviour in the skies."