Take away all the moral beauty and sweetness in the Word, and the Bible is left wholly a dead letter, a dry, lifeless, tasteless thing. By this is seen the true foundation of our duty, the worthiness of God to be so esteemed, honoured, loved, submitted to, and served, as He requires of us, and the amiableness of the duties themselves that are required of us. And by this is seen the true evil of sin; for he who sees the beauty of holiness must necessarily see the hatefulness of sin, its contrary. By this men understand the true glory of heaven, which consists in the beauty and happiness that is in holiness. By this is seen the amiableness and happiness of both saints and angels. He that sees beauty of holiness, or true moral good, sees the greatest and most important thing in the world, which is the fulness of all things, without which all the world is empty, no better than nothing, yea, worse than nothing. Unless this is seen, nothing is seen that is worth the seeing; for there is no other true excellency or beauty. Unless this be understood, nothing is understood that is worthy of the exercise of the noble faculty of understanding. This is the beauty of the Godhead, and the divinity of Divinity (if I may so speak), the good of the infinite Fountain of good; without which, God Himself (if that were possible) would be an infinite evil; without which we ourselves had better never have been; and without which there had better have been no being.Jonathan Edwards
About This Quote
Thomas Traherne was a 17th century Anglican minister and poet. He wrote a poem, The Divine Image, which is a beautiful description of the relationship between man and God. In this poem, Traherne discusses the beauty of God while ignoring the evil that exists in our world. He discusses the majesty of the Creator without mentioning the evil that exists in the world.
In contrast to other poets, who focused on evil and pain, he discussed God’s beauty without mentioning the suffering. While other poets show their readers how to view God’s beauty from a negative perspective, he showed them how to view it from a positive perspective by seeing it through other eyes.
Source: The Religious Affections
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