Reading: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” —2 Corinthians 4:6

The moon—a softer but not less beautiful object than the sun—returns and communicates to mankind the light of the sun in a gentle and delightful manner, exactly suited to the strength of the human eye: an illustrious and most beautiful emblem, in this and several other respects, of the Divine Redeemer of mankind, who, softening the splendour of the Godhead, brings it to the eye of the understanding in a manner fitted to the strength of the mind; so that, without being overwhelmed or distressed, it can thus behold “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the  face of Jesus Christ.”

—Dr. Timothy Dwight (1752–1817).