Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 1.pdf/158

 pose, and when they rose up: it was to be their first and last in all things. O precious Truth! the glorious light of man's little world of mind, and the bright morning star of all his religious knowledge. This truth, the Divine Unity, is not only stated in the Word of God, in language that cannot be mistaken, such as, "I am God, and there is none else" (Isa. xlvi. 9); "A just God and a Saviour, there is none beside Me" (xlv. 21); "Beside Me there is no Saviour" (xliii. 11): but it is presented to our bodily senses in that perfect unity of design apparent in all creation. One sun in the system, whence all planets are enlightened, proclaims one God in the church, whence all her members derive knowledge. Let but religious teachers swerve from this truth, and that moment the sun will go down over the prophets, and the once beautifully enlightened scene become dark, dreary, and mysterious. The light of faith ceases to shine in the church, and the bright stars of heavenly knowledge fall from their high standing in the human soul. All the truths of Divine Revelation derive their brightness and power from this first truth—Divine Unity. It is the Truth of truths, and, as it were, the rising sun of all knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. Men may differ among themselves in their views of truth; but if charity and love glow in their bosoms, these differences will be only as pleasing varieties, exhibiting the state or condition of each mind in its reception of the one light; just as the light from the one sun makes apparent the varying colours and tints of flowers in a well-cultivated garden. Still, with all these variations, the truth itself remains the same, unchanged and immutable; for divine