"If it be bliss, as it really is, to possess all that we desire and wish, the individual that possesses true godliness must be truly blessed, because he unites his will with God's which is always accomplished. Formerly he was pained and tormented in the infernal flame of his own will, which rendered him so frequently dissatisfied. One thing or another was always wrong, in the opinion of his perverse self-will. He writhed and agonized day and night, within himself, in doleful apprehension, care, grief, uneasiness, and anxiety, like a gnawing worm to the injury of both body and soul. Now he has entirely and unconditionally resigned his will in the exercise of real faith, and thorough self-denial, into the hands of God, in such a manner that the will of God alone influences and operates in him, by which the soul is placed in a tranquil and very peaceful state."

~Gerhard Tersteegen

Soil not thy plumage, gentle dove,
With sublunary things,
Till in the fount of light and love
Thou shalt have bathed thy wings.

Shall nature from her couch arise
And rise for thee in vain?
While heaven, and earth, and seas, and skies,
Such types of truth contain?

See - where the sun of Righteousness
Unfolds the gates of day:
Go - meet Him in His glorious dress
And quaff the orient ray.

There, where ten thousand seraphs stand,
To crown the circling hours -
Soar thou - and from that blissful land
Bring down unfading flowers:

Some Rose of Sharon, dyed in blood,
Some spice of Gilead's balm,
Some lily washed in Calvary's flood,
Some branch of heavenly palm!

And let the drops of sparkling dew
From Shiloh's spring be shed,
To form a fragrance fresh and new,
A halo round thy head.

Spread thou thy plumes of faith and prayer
Nor fear to wend away,
And let a glow of heavenly air
Gild every earthly day.

~Brydges

Song Of Love

I wrote this poem on the occasion of a friend's wedding some years ago. It brings out a wonderful truth.

God took a rib from Adam's side
And fashioned for His man a bride.
Adam took her for his own -
Flesh of flesh and bone of bone.

'Twas but himself he found in her,
'Twas but herself she found in him;
And so the two became as one -
Like vale and hill, like tree and limb.

An echo of that love is here-
A woman and a man daw near;
Each finds themself within the other -
The two are one in one another.

From his side - his heart - it seems
He finds in her his hopes and dreams.
But his love doesn't stand alone -
His hopes and dreams are her very own.

But now we see another bride,
Another man with wounded side;
Everything He has He gives -
She takes the gift of life and lives.

He walks to you on wounded feet;
Without you He'll not be complete.
Come, be married to the Son -
Where there were two - let there be one.