“The love of God is like himself—
Constant,
Not capable of augmentation or diminishing.
It is like the sun,
Always the same in its light,
Though a cloud may sometimes interpose.
On whom the Father fixes his love,
He loves unto the end....
“As God manifests a sense of his love to us
It seems various and changeable;
Sometimes more, sometimes less;
Now he shines
Then he hides his face,
As it may be for our profit.
Our Father will not always chide,
Lest we be cast down;
He does not always smile,
Lest we become full and neglect him:
but yet, still his love in itself is the same.
When for a little moment he hides his face,
Yet he gathers us with everlasting kindness....
“He loves us because he will;
There was and is nothing in us for which we should be beloved.
His love is unchangeable:
Though we change every day,
Yet his love does not.”
~John Owen, Works, 11:29-34, quoted in Voices from the Past, Vol II
