Sacred-Texts Christianity Angelus Silesius
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229 (V. 242)
THE HIGHEST GOOD
| What is the highest Good? Much talk hath been hereof And high debate: I swear the highest Good is Love. |
230 (V. 241)
EVERYTHING IS SUBJECT TO LOVE
| Love is the Lord of All. Even the Trinity Hath been in thrall to Love from all eternity. |
231 (V. 243)
THE NATURE OF GOD
| Love is God's nature. He can do naught else. Wouldst thou Be God, then likewise love in every instant's Now. |
232 (V. 292)
BEAUTY COMETH FROM LOVE
| Beauty is born of Love alone. The Countenance Divine Hath all its Loveliness from Love— Else it would cease to shine. |
233 (V. 295)
THE MORE LOVING, THE HAPPIER
| Love is the measure of the heart's Felicity; The more 'tis filled with Love, the happier thou wilt be. |
234 (V. 320)
THE SHORTEST WAY TO GOD
| Pass through Love's gate if thou wouldst go The shortest way to God: Who takes the Path of Knowledge, long Must tarry on the road. |
235 (V. 307)
LOVE HATH MORE IN COMMON WITH GOD THAN WISDOM
| Love unannounced goes in to God, Hath instant audience: Long in the antechamber wait Wit and intelligence. |
236 (II. 47)
LOVE SEEKETH NOT REWARD
| Man, if thou lovest God and seekest hire for this, 'Tis plain thou tastest not what Love and Loving is. |
237 (V. 303)
THE TOKEN OF FALSE LOVE
| Wouldst thou discern false Love from true, the token's this— False Love seeks self and fades under adversities. |
238 (III. 205)
HE WHO IS MOST IN LOVE IS MOST HOLY
| Who is the greatest saint? He who is most in love. For saintship Love alone is warranty enough. |
239 (V. 226)
THE NATURE OF HOLINESS
| The more thou lovest—Love's the very heart Of Holiness—the holier thou art. |
240 (III. 173)
LOVE IS THE SIGN
| Thou askest which of all the people are God's friends? Behold the folk who carry Love in heart and hands! |
241 (III. 164)
LOVE IS THE SOUL OF BELIEF
| Belief alone is dead. It cannot live or move Until united with its soul—its soul is Love. |
242 (V. 108)
BELIEF ALONE IS A HOLLOW CASK
| Belief alone, all void of Love, (So have I weighed it in my thought) Is like unto a hollow Cask— It soundeth, but within is naught. |
243 (V. 161)
NONE LAYETH HIS HEAD ON CHRIST'S BREAST BUT JOHN
| Ah, think not, Child, that thou canst lay thy head upon The breast of the Lord Christ ere thou becomest John. |
244 (VI. 204)
THE SPIRlTUAL PASSWORD
| Love is the password. He to whom it is not given Must never hope to cross the frontier-line of Heaven. |
245 (V. 297)
GOD CANNOT BE LOVED WITHOUT GOD
| Did not God love Himself through thee and in thee, Man, Thy love for Him would ever fail of its full span. |
246 (III. 201)
GOD LOVETH TO GIVE GREAT GIFTS
| Being Himself so great, greatly God loves to give, But ah! man's little heart is so small to receive. |
247 (V. 210)
NEW AND OLD LOVE
| When Love is new, it foams like young and heady wine: When stiller grown, 'tis proof that it is old and fine. |
248 (I. 163)
MAN SHOULD LOVE MANKIND
| Thou lovest none? 'Tis well. He has the better mind Who loves not any man, but loves in man Mankind. |
249 (II. 60)
OF LOVE
| He wills and loveth right who wills and loveth naught: Who loveth what he wills, loveth not what he ought. |
250 (V. 289)
VIRTUE WITHOUT LOVE IS NOTHING WORTH
| Before God Virtue cannot stand Naked and bare; It must put on the robe of Love— Then is it fair. |
251 (II. 130)
IT MUST BE GILDED
| All that thou dost must be o'erlaid With gold of Love—if otherwise, Thyself and all thy works will find But little favour in God's eyes. |
252 (V. 299)
AS THE PERSON, SO THE MERIT
| Richer reward the Bride doth earn From God with but a single kiss, Than all the hirelings though they wear Themselves to death with drudgeries. |
253 (II. 234)
CHOOSE WHICH THOU WILT
| Love is the Queen; the Virtues are The Maids who wait upon her; The serving-women, Work and Deed— Which wilt thou choose to honour? |
254 (V. 302)
THE QUICKEST
| Love is the quickest thing and of itself can fly To topmost Heaven in but the twinkling of an eye. |
255 (V. 306)
AN UNWOUNDED HEART IS UNSOUND
| A Heart which God hath never wounded with Love's wound, Scatheless though it appear, is never whole and sound. |
256 (V. 211)
SERAPHIC LOVE
| The purest Love—seraphic— Is not easy to divine, Because it is so quiet, By any outward sign. |
257 (VI. 159)
THE HEART MUST BE LOADED WITH BALL
| Put a live charge into your gun! A puff of smoke and is that all? Why, if you only load with blank, The bang is there, but where's the ball? |
258 (VI. 164)
THE ORDINANCE IS AS WE ORDAIN
| To him who wills his neighbour's weal God gives what he soliciteth: But if he wish his neighbour ill, O then he prays for his own death! |
259 (V. 308)
GOD'S COMMUNALITY
| How broad God's communality! He teacheth whomso'er He list, The peasant lass no less than thee, The art whereby He may be kissed. |
260 (III. 138)
LOVE IS DEAD
| Alas, Alas, Love's dead! How came she then to die? She perished of the cold, for all men passed her by. |