“Another property of light is to be beautiful and pleasant to behold. How dreadful is it to be in horrid darkness, how horrible is it to nature; and how pleasing is the light, how agreeable is it to the eyes.
Men manifest it as soon as they are born: how glorious and beautiful is the sun to behold; what a dismal, gloomy, dreadful place would this world be if it were not for the light. What is more beautiful and glorious that can be beheld with bodily eyes than the light?
So, likewise, Jesus Christ is infinitely the most beautiful and glorious object in the world. When the soul is enlightened by Christ to behold Him, the soul is greatly delighted with the sight of Him, as a little infant is delighted when gazing at the light.
‘Tis a far more pleasant thing to behold Jesus Christ than to look on the sun in his meridian glory, for Jesus Christ is an infinite excellency and beauty.”
–Jonathan Edwards, “Christ, the Light of the World,” in Sermons and Discourses 1720-1723, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 10, Ed. Wilson H. Kimnach (New Haven: Yale, 1992), 539. Edwards was 18 years old when he preached this sermon. It may be read here in its entirety.
