To be near unto God - pagina 591

behalf of these wanderers, involuntarily, ascends from their troubled hearts. Even in the deepest parts of their inward life they undergo the noticeable influence of this change in the signs of the times. To be near unto God and to continue there is far easier when everything around you warmly calls for the honor of God, than when the spirit of the times opposes eveiything holJ^ This was the holy secret of a long period in the middle ages, the secret also of the fifteenth and a part of the sixteenth century. Almost everything pressed after God's nearness. Rehgion was the atmosphere which was breathed of itself. Hence the overpious traditions from both these periods. But the thermometer has since gone down. First it became cool, then cold, then shivery. Everything broke down, everything obstructed the way when the soul went out to seek God's nearness. O, so much that blossomed before, now froze. Hence the search after God and approach to his nearness demanded effort before unknown. It became a struggle. climbing with hands and feet in order to ascend the holy mountain. And in addition to this, what mists still interv'ene that cut off the outlook, what effort it still takes to keep oneself standing above it. And

A

all, what painful distance extends between high mountain top and the world below at

above this

the foot, which is still your world, and into which your daily task calls you. True, there is gain. That which results from this continuous, serious, and holy effort, ' goes deeper, is more enjoyable, and affords tenderer blessedness. He who in spite of current and storm drops anchor in the harbor, has higher joy 587

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