The Precedence of the Spirit

6 The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,” — GEN. i, 2,

BEFORE God said “Let there be light,” 4 He said “Let there be Spirit.” It was the key-note of all His voices to the human soul. It is no use to bring the light until you have brought the Spirit. Light will not make the waters of life glad unless the spirit of joy has already moved them. Light is only outward and the joy of the soul has its seat within. It is in vain you promise me the herb of the field and the bird of the air and the fish of the sea. It is in vain even that you bring me into contact with my fellow-men made in the image of God. If the Spirit has not moved on the face of the waters there can be no gladness in my face. That which makes me glad is not what I get but what I am, and what I am depends on the Spirit. Therefore it was well that the Spirit should come before all His gifts — before the light, before the firmament, before the herb A of the field. It was well that the joy in the heart should precede the joy in the universe. It was well that ere the light could rise, the Spirit should move on the face of the waters.

O Thou Divine Spirit whose breath preceded all things, I am seeking to invert the order of Thy work. I am asking for other things before Thee. I am crying for light, for sun and moon and star, for the green herb, for the bird of heaven. I am forgetting that without Thee the light would not charm, the grass would not grow, the bird would not sing. Come Thyself first of all and move upon the face of the waters. Come and give to the light its charm, to the herb its greenness, to the bird its song. Come and let me see the image of God in my brother-man, that I may learn to love him as my other self and in the joy of love may find universal joy. Without Thee the days of my creation are evenings without mornings; the nightless Sabbath shall have dawned when Thou shalt move upon the waters.