Page:The Parable of Creation.djvu/93

Rh the Lord as lighting with his love our world of life. I speak, of course, of those who do recognize God's providence as permeating all our ways. But when all is dark and hope is waning, and evils overflow our heart-land, and even outward life seems all unhinged—when it is night time on the soul, then the faith we have that God is true, the faith we hold in his mercy and love as things that never die, the faith we still maintain that the night will pass away and the day will come—that faith sustains us in adversity, in trial, in temptation, in doubt, yea raises us even from the depths of despair. Thus it is, that with him who has so far progressed on the upward way of regeneration, it is the sun, or love of God, which rules in the soul by day, but the moon, or faith in God, which rules therein by night.

That the stars symbolize knowledges of the Lord and of what is true and good may be illustrated by these considerations: In the absence of any correct understanding of things, a knowledge of its rules and principles light our way to some extent. As I have elsewhere remarked, knowledge is one thing, understanding what we know another, and a loving life of what we understand another still. We may have a knowledge of the customs of polite society. They are mere outward show, but, nevertheless, they smooth our path in the world. But if we understand the ethics of true kindliness and