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THE ONCE BORN [Newman]
"They see God, not as a strict Judge, not as a glorious Potentate; but as the animating Spirit of a beautiful harmonious world, Beneficent & Kind, Merciful as well as Pure. The same characters generally have no metaphysical tendencies: they do not look back into themselves. Hence they are not distressed by their own imperfections: yet it would be absurd to call them self-righteious; for they hardly think of themselves AT ALL. This childlike quality of their nature makes the opening of religion very happy to them: for they no more shrink from God, than a child from an emperor, before whom the parent trembles: in fact, they have no vivid conception of ANY of the qualities in which the severer qualities of God consists. He is to them the impersonation of Kindness & Beauty. They read his character, not in the disordered world of man, but in romantic & harmonious nature. Of human sin they know perhaps little in their own hearts and not very much in the world; and human suffering does but melt them to tenderness. Thus, when they approach God, no inward disturbance ensues; and without being as yet spiritual, they have a certain complacency and perhaps romantic sense of excitement in their simple worship."
THE ONCE BORN (Starbuck):
"A child who is early taught that he is God's child, that he may live and move and have his being in God, and that he has, therefore, infinite strength at hand for the conquering of any difficulty, will take life more easily, and probably will make more of it, than one is told that he is born the child of wrath and wholly incapable of good."
[[AS I READ THESE TWO DESCRIPTIONS in WILLIAM JAMES' BOOK, I COULD NOT BUT THINK OF THE MEMBERS OF "THE KINGLESS RACE" which I mentioned in my essay: "THE CORE OF GNOSIS" which can be found under Eve Lorgen's web page (cf. "FAVORITE LINKS" page)]] |
