ardor of Divine Love! So man, who was created to be the image and likeness of God, and therefore, also, a form of love in his finite degree,—was intended for an active being. When acting, doing something, producing, pouring out, he resembles the great Creator who is ever pouring out from Himself upon all His creatures; and at such times, too, man is, as it were, a little sun, a star, which, though it gives comparatively but a feeble and twinkling light, still shines, and so has its place in the glittering host,—whose united light, though little in comparison with the sun's, is yet sufficient to cheer the traveler on his path, or to guide the mariner on his way across the sea. Or, man may more properly be compared to the household fire, which, though its rays are confined to a small circle, yet is able to shed cheerfulness and warmth through that little sphere,—while God, like the great sun, sends light and warmth through the vast circle of the universe.
Even the imprisoned criminal, therefore, while engaged in some useful employment, is so far fulfilling a law of his nature and of Divine order. And, evil though he may be, yet he finds and feels the blessing of that fulfilment; for every law of Divine order, obeyed, renders man just in that degree a recipient of Divine blessing. And this is the secret source of his cheerfulness, while working. For all cheerfulness, as well as every other form and kind of happiness or good, flows in from above, from heaven and from the Lord. Cheerfulness is no resident in the mind (as we are too apt to think,) but is a perpetual gift from God; as the blessings of heat and light have no residence in the earth, but perpetually flow from the sun. Now, it is a law that "influx is proportioned to efflux:"—that is to say,
