Love's Dominion
’ Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” — Genesis 1.26.
The image of God is love, and love is the most ambitious thing in the world. Wherever it rises, it claims universal dominion. There are four things over which love claims dominion. The first is “the fish of the sea “— the little nibbles on the waters of life. Does that seem a small claim r It is a tremendous one. It requires more love to stand worry than to stand grief. The second is “the fowl of the air’’ — the restless thoughts of the heart. Love can arrest unrest. It can remain unmoved amid the flight of old forms of faith; it can recognise the one presence beneath the constant change of apparel. The third is “the cattle” — the earthly or animal nature. Love can overcome that. How many a young man has it made pure! How many a sensuous soul has it refined and beautified! Love has done more than law to lift the heart above the mire. The fourth is the thing that “creepeth upon the earth” — the moments of human insignificance in which it seems presumptuous in man to hope. There are seasons in which I ask myself, What is my petty life amid the vastness of the stars! But love makes me stand erect. It gives me a sense of immortality, of imperishableness. It lifts me above all material things, however magnificent. It tells me there is room in the inn amid the guests of my Father. It carries me up from the manger of my own humiliation. It makes me say, “What a piece of work is man!”
“Strong Son of God, Immortal Love,” give me the dominion over these four! Give me the dominion over the fish of the sea — the power to do Martha’s service with Mary’s unencumberedness! Give me the dominion over the fowl of the air — the power to meet
Peter’s shipwreck with John’s quiet rest! Give me the dominion over the beast of the field — the power to wash the leper’s spots with Magdalene’s tears! Give me the dominion over the creeping thing — the thing which makes me crouch, called Death! It is the last enemy which shall be left Thee to conquer. Reveal Thyself, O Love, in the valley! Reveal the immortality of Thy youth in the midst of decay! Reveal Thy spring-time in the winter. Thy Nebo in the desert, Thy singing on the leafless tree! Reveal that there is something which passes not away when tongues shall cease and prophets fail! Reveal that Thou art seen face to face when other things appear through a glass darkly! Then shall I walk, not creep, through the valley of the shadow of death; in the vision of Thy crown I shall crouch no more.