May 29, 2009
“But who shall know Thee, O! my God? He who shall seek with his whole heart to know Thee, who shall know himself with approbation no longer, and to whom all that is not Thou shall be as though it were not! The world cannot receive this saying because it is full of self, and vanity, and lies, and is empty of God; but I trust that there will always be souls hungering for God, who will relish the truth which I am about to set forth.”
Fenelon Christian Counsel
May 29, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Fenelon… interesting fellow.
Question: Suppose Troy came to me and say “all that is not Thou shall be as though it were not!” Wouldn’t I tell him to stop dishonoring me and to acknowledge and love the rest of his family too?
His hypothetical statement to me is more honoring in appearance only. The reality is quite different!
I think it is the same in our relationship with God. It is the defining relationship of our existence, but it is not the only one. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So there is approbation both of neighbor and of self. This love of creatures isn’t a problem unless it is without proper reference to God…. i.e., if we say to our neighbor, or to Self, “all that is not Thou shall be as though it were not!” That statement is dangerous no matter who is on the receiving end, it seems.
Even within God, this statement is never uttered. The Father cannot say it to the Son without disparaging the Holy Spirit, and so on and so forth. But then Quietists were never great Trinitarians.
Just a thought.
May 29, 2009 at 10:18 pm
I think you bring up a good point with the “Love your neighbor as yourself” verse. The way I took this thought was more along the lines of “if I am actually dead to all that is me and alive to that which is Him then I will obviously be acting on His wishes which clearly in His Word are love to others.”