Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/88

88THE HALLIG.

the sun can only in tho lower and heavier regions of
the atmosphere give his wings the impetus necessary to
bear him calmly and smoothly aloft. A faith, which
proceeds not from Him whom whosoever seeth hath
seen the Father also, will feel the want of that media-
tion by which alone may be raised to the one eternal
Spirit a soul for which the body is not only a necessary
tenement, but to whose proper being and existence it
belongs, so that even if its earthly tabernacle be dis-
solved, it must yet again be clothed upon with that
house which is from Heaven. Even when the mere
common feeling of devotion raises man to the eternal
heights, and overcoming the timid senses allows him to
repose on the paternal bosom of the father, with as cer-
tain a confidence as if faith had become sight, yet he
soon loses himself again in the depths of the Godhead,
without having found a firm resting-place, and the
fruits of his devotion vanish in a floating confusion of
thought and feeling. But especially is it difficult for
him in trouble to draw sure and lasting consolation
from Him who knows no sorrow, where he finds no
point of sympathy for the griefs which afflict him, and
therefore often strives in vain to let go that end of the
chain of thought by which he is bound to suffering, and
seize the other, endeavoring thereby to raise himself
heavenward. In Christ, these two ends are conjoined.
In Him the sufferer sees united a heaven of peace and
an earth of trial. He sees the bleeding image of his
own wounded heart, and at the same glance, he sees
that victory which overcometh the world, that peace
which comes down from heaven and leads thither again.
So by the hand of Christ the way to the Father is