a brighter perception...

If, as William Ellery Channing would have us believe, we are all known by God and are parts of his great unity, why do we often feel so disconnected?  How can we feel that intimate connection?  This is WEC's subject in the second part of his sermon, "The Father's Love for Persons..."  (note: if you are just checking in with this blog, this post is part of an Advent series all of which can be seen by clicking on the label The Perfect Life)

"II.—Thus having seen how consistent is the doctrine of God's care for the whole with the doctrine that He watches minutely over every Individual, let me now ask you to look at this doctrine more closely, in its practical applications. Consider what affecting ideas it involves! According to this truth, we are, each one of us, present to the mind of God. We are penetrated, each one of us, instant by instant, by His all-seeing eye; we are known, every single person of us, more interiorly by Him, than we are known to ourselves...

My hearers, I have thus turned your attention to this sublimely affecting subject of our vital connexion with God, not for the purpose of wakening temporary fervour, but that we may feel the urgent duty of cherishing these convictions. If this truth becomes a reality to us, we shall be conscious of having received a New Principle Of Life...

III.—How then can we attain to an abiding consciousness of living relationship with the Living God ? How can we reach the constant feeling that He is always with us, offering every aid consistent with our freedom, guiding us on to heavenly happiness, welcoming us into the immediate knowledge of His perfection, into a loving fellowship with Himself? Some one may say : "I am conscious of having thus far lived very much as if there were no God. My mind is dull, my heart is cold. How shall I awake to perceive, to feel, to love, to serve, to enjoy this Living God of whom you speak ? " There is time for but a brief reply; and I shall confine myself to what seems to be essential, as the first step, in this approach to true Communion with the Father of Spirits...

My belief is, that one chief means of acquiring a vivid sense of God's Presence is to resist, instantly and resolutely, whatever we feel to be evil in our hearts and lives, and at once to begin in earnest to obey the Divine Will as it speaks in conscience. You say that you desire a new and nearer knowledge of your Creator. Let this thirst for a higher consciousness of the Infinite Being lead you to oppose whatever you feel to be at war with God's Purity, God's Truth, and God's Righteousness. Just in proportion as you gain a victory over the evil of which you have become aware in yourself, will your spiritual eye be purged for a brighter perception of the Holy One...

For God, as the All-Good, can be known only through our own growing goodness. No man living in deliberate violation of his duty, in wilful disobedience to God's commands as taught by conscience, can possibly make progress in acquaintance with the Supreme Being. Vain are all acts of worship in church or in secret, vain are religious reading and conversation, without this instant fidelity. Unless you are willing to withstand the desire which the inward monitor, enlightened as it always is by this Divine Spirit, condemns, you must, you will, remain a stranger to your Heavenly Father. Evil passions and sensual impulses darken the intellect and sear the heart. Especially important is it—indispensable indeed—that self-indulgence and self-will shall be determinedly withstood. While these enthrall us, never can we comprehend the true glory of God. For His glory is Perfect Love. If we would have our souls become the temples of the Supreme Being, filled with His light and joy and peace, we must utterly cast out the foul spirits which are at enmity with the Divine purity and disinterestedness...


Would you really know your Creator, would you become truly penetrated with the consciousness of His Presence, would you become indeed alive to His Goodness, then show your sincerity by beginning at once an unflagging warfare with that habit, that passion, that affection, be it what it may, which conscience this moment assures you is hostile to God's Will. You need not go far to learn how you may gain more vivid views of God. The sin that now rises to memory as your bosom sin, let this first of all be withstood and mastered....

My friends, in this discourse I have spoken to you of the great Truth, that the Infinite God is for ever around and within each one of you; that our Heavenly Father is interested personally in each one of you; that the Author of the Universe is as near to you as your very life; that the Giver of all good is incessantly doing you good. By comprehending this Truth you can gain the means of a happiness, such as the whole world cannot give, and which no change in existence can take away : incorporate it with character. Let it call forth your love and trust in their intensest energy. And you will have found a resource, refuge, treasure, a fount of strength, courage, hope, and joy truly inexhaustible...Let the Living God be supreme in your thoughts and hearts, as He is supreme in the universe. Consecrate to Him unreservedly the Spirits which He called into being, that He might make them perfectly one with Himself."
 
Blessings