To be near unto God - pagina 473

prayed in his high-priestly prayer: "Holy Father, I in them and thou in me" (St. John 17:23). If, however, our mystical union with Christ shall maintain its true religious character, and not degenerate into sentimental Christolatry, this relation to Christ must never be taken as an end in itself. Christ is the Mediator, and there can

be no Mediator except for the sake of making our approach to God possible. To be near unto God, in sacred confidence to feel oneself to be close by here on earth in nearness to God and once, after death, to serve God eternally in the Fatherhouse above that is and remains the end and aim; and everything the Scripture reveals to us regarding the Mediatorship of Christ, must result in this, and can never rest in itself. Once Christ himself shall deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all. He who stops short with himself, or has no further desire than to be numbered with God's people, arrests spiritual progress

God, to

live

through

faith,

own

in his

The

soul.

end at which we aim, may and can than to enjoy God forever, and to for no other purpose than to glorify his ideal

not be exist

—

name.

less,

And

just because this is the ideal end, all

on earth

is imperfect, which does not already here bring us nearer to God, make us dwell in nearness to him, and induce us to spend all our strength and all our talent in his service. Piety that consists in soothing emotion and in spiritual recreation, lacks strength and inspiration.

religion

465

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