Spiritual sanity and other sermons

Front matter

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Foreword

I HAVE long been accustomed to say in response to questions about my sermons that if they were not in the Hves of my people they could not be found elsewhere. A handful of notes represents many years of preaching. The sermon has to me never been an end in itself, only a channel of blessing. And it is only in answer to the entreaty of a host of friends in many lands that I have arranged the sermons for this volume. The vividness and sudden sweep of thought may be missed by some. But that is the attendant of extempore preaching which has been my custom mainly for thirty years. Always happy in preaching, I feel a degree of pleasure in using this pulpit of our beloved American Tract Society.

Samuel H. Virgin.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Spiritual Sanity ...... 1

11. Spiritual Coxference ...... 16

II

**I conferred not with flesh and blood." — Galatians 1:16.

This declaration of the Apostle Paul, though only a bit of his experience as related in this first chapter of Galatians, is the key that unlocks the secret of his clear understanding of the truth of Christ and his masterly defence of the same. Though he had never seen the earthly body of the Lord nor listened to the pubhc and private teachings which enriched the souls of other Apostles, no one gives more lucid teaching, nor better unfolds the lessons, germ thoughts of which fell from the Master's lips. Though he was not called like Matthew, who from his place at the receipt of custom heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Follow me," he was none the less called to be an Apostle. Though unlike Mark in enjoying the pious instructions of a mother and the direct teaching of Peter in preparation for his holy work, he was none the less prepared for subtle argument and bold attack. Though the Evangelist Luke received his truth from eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word and bears the marks of Paul's instruction and hastens to acknowledge it in the outset of his writing, Paul acknowledges no> such teachers and fails not constantly to assert his independence of them, and yet his teaching was none the less authoritative. Though the beloved disciple enjoyed the friendship of John the Baptist and thus early was prepared for the close intimacy that followed with Jesus, yet even he in the sweet musings of his chastened and sanctified soul does not call forth richer harmony than that which swelled and poured forth from the soul of him who declared that he was as one bom out of due time. Herein is one of those strong illustrations of the spirituality of the Christian Faith, and the whole explanation of Paul's power is found in the words of the text, "I conferred not with flesh and blood."

Two valuable lessons confront us here. 1st. The source of true convictions. 2d. The source of successful activity.

1st. A spiritual manifestation of Jesus Christ had impressed Paul's soul, and in the longing for higher instruction concerning the revelation, for lasting benefit, for profounder movements upon his soul, he turned to the spiritual source of that which he had already received and conferred not with flesh and blood in reference to it. Out of this experience came tli^it matchless teaching given with no uncertainty botli to the Romans and the Corinthians concerning tlie revelations of the Divine Spirit, the beauty and force of Christian truth when it is spiritually discerned. Tlie example which is thus brought to our notice is too illustrious to be ignored; the precious fruits which were garnered under the spiritual instruction which Paul received are of too high a value to be despised or neglected. The necessities of our own spiritual nature are so great, its strength so feeble, its attainments so puerile, its parasitic tendency so evident and active that it is refreshing to behold a man of Hke passions with ourselves turning from the scaffolding of human invention, and without any conference with the powers of this world in flesh and blood, stand forth, flushed with health, a clear eye, a strong pulse, a vigorous soul, a quiet conscience, a firm purpose, every faculty of his being in happy holy exercise to make that purpose eff'ective, the cankering chains of sin's thralldom broken, every fetter unriveted, the man an absolute freeman in Christ Jesus.

The course pursued by Paul carries its powerful lesson to all who would attain like solidity of character, like poise of soul amid conflicting thoughts and emotions. With the wonderful revelation of spiritual truth which was made to him on the road to Damascus, there came a need of calm deliberation, of personal spiritual activity, divorced for a time from the suggestions and the helps of earthly friends, an adjustment of the truth received to the character and wants of the soul. This process is facilitated by special spiritual influences, is guided to bhssful re^ suits by the Divine Spirit himself. The deepest convictions of any soul are thus obtained and thus made permanent.

A conviction of the reahty of eternal things must have the atmosphere of eternity about it to attain legitimate proportions ; compared with things earthly, entering only into the computations of things that perish, measured only by the reach of things temporal, submitted only to the consideration and counsel of finite, limited, cramped intelligence, it fails of receiving that increased weight and producing that larger impression upon the truly spiritual nature that would accrue from conference with him who is Spirit and from whom alone proceeds every truly spiritual influence and impression, moving men to the higher ranges of thought and life. Weighty as are the thoughts of cultured minds, helpful as are the counsels of profound philosophers, strengthening as is the grasp of the loving hand, inspiring as is the sound of the voice of human sympathy, there are times when these all should be ignored for a season for a higher, holier, more spiritual conference than these afford and into which the intruding thought or voice of man must not be permitted to enter.

Paul is not an exceptional illustration of the course of those who have attained colossal spiritual proportions. Moses was thus prepared to bo the law-giver to Israel ; even Jesus declares it as fact in his life. All those who have at any time profoundly impressed the world with the strength of their spiritual character, the holy beneficence of their spiritual influence, have been the sons and daughters of spiritual conference. To flesh and blood they have said : "Stand aside for a season — that which is spiritual must be spiritually discerned." The struggles which have glorified man have not been upon the plains and hillsides, whose battle smoke has hid from pitying angels the stream of human blood, in which nations have sought to settle disputed claims, nor yet in chambers where the heated brain has melted ores of thought to flow in silvery eloquence, or clash in rugged conflict with opposing thought and lift on whirlwinds of debate men and parties into lasting prominence. Man is not glorified by the struggles that smut his hands with cankered gold, and waste the holy energies of mind and spirit in frantic paroxysms after fleeting fame. This is a struggle that weakens and often debases. In it the muscles knot and are not nourished and paralysis ensues.

There is a struggle that ends in strength. On plains far Hfted above these, on thoughts too mountainous for sluggish souls to climb, where the pet son is the sacrifice and the eye of God alone beholds the strife — away from the din, the clash, the snarl of earthly wranglers, the smitten soul has betaken itself, and God has beheld a struggle pregnant with glory, from which immortal happiness has sprung and on which has hinged the comforts of thousands on whom has poured the full light of benefactions whose roseate hue here dawned upon the wresthng soul. The forts and bastions whose fall has raised the loudest shout in heaven, and brought the most enduring worth to man, have been carried when, by conference with God and a resultant allied strength with him, the soul has attained a moral omnipotence before which the forces of sin have melted away like frost-work before the full blaze of the meridian sun.

It is not the arm of flesh that deals the mightiest blows ; it is not the brain in whose delicate tissues thought is most active that wields the sharpest scimeter; it is not the heart whose blood-beats are most regular and full, that pulses most of joy and sympathy and love into the human race; the arm may be feeble, the brain weak, the heart faltering, and before the giant strength of the soul dwelling in these crime may tremble, and personal sin be throttled and chained. The conviction of the right and the way of securing it may be so clear and regnant that nothing can stand before it. The great movements of soul that have lifted the accumulated crust of error and superstition in the different epochs of the world's history have been inaugurated and carried forward by those whose plans have been submitted to other conference than that of flesh and blood and whose pre-eminent peculiarity has been that of spiritual conviction, sustained and deepened by constant contact, with its primal inspiration.

Those men who in every period of the cluirch havo most contributed to her welfare by their succoiis in public preaching, in private ministrations or in moulding her statements of truth, and in their elucidation, have borne the stamp of that untranmieled conference with God apart from men to which the soul is invited and whither it must go for strength and blessing and the solution of every spiritual question. The rituals of no church, however carefully prepared, the ministrations of no preacher, however wisely directed, can suffice for that intimate communion with God, concerning the soul's wants, and his provision for its necessities — a conference into which only the spiritual elements of the problem are allowed to enter. We must he closeted with God. And the necessity is not only upon those who are to be the master spirits of every age, to mould its thought and guide its councils, whose names are to be before the world, and whose words are to be weighed by succeeding generations.

Spiritual conference is the need not only of the prominent but as well of the obscure ; not only of the mighty but as well of the weak ; not only of the learned but as well of the ignorant; not only of the teacher but as well of the taught ; not only of the aged but as well of the child ; the lesson is for all. The source of strong spiritual conrictions is in spiritual communion with God, and every such conviction must be made the subject of prolonged spiritual conference for its true place in moulding and controlling the being.

The impressions that come we know not whence, the impulses that quicken thought and f eehng are all to be examined, not in the family, the club, the church alone, but in the Mount of God, that their relation to the Divine may be known. This does not necessitate an absolute ignoring of all parental and friendly advice ; it does not raise one's head into the clouds far above the reach of loving words, nor does it imply a misanthropic spirit, a dislike of human councils, a separation from mankind to live with Thoreau on the banks of some Walden Pond; it does not require a fancied superiority of soul to decide all questions by some esoteric reflections and instruction, but rather an emphasis upon the spiritual nature and its divinely provided privileges and possibilities.

The glory of Protestantism is that every soul may have direct contact with God; that the intervening hand of man, the obtruding ear of man, the prattling tongue of man may be removed and Christ alone make the soul acquainted with God and at home in his presence. The first work then that invites a soul conscious in the least of its sin is a conference with God. Paul fled to Arabia, into the desert southeast of Damascus ; he was gone probably three years, then he came to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter, was driven away in a fortnight, "came afterwards into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ, but they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which, once he destroyed." His talk with God and examination of liis u life in view of the new conviction which he had received led him to a deep sense of his spiritual needs and the revelation of Christ satisfied that want. The work which was then in process was a purely personal work; those hours were more valuable to him as an individual than any others in his life, for, after all, the great value of his conversion toi Paul was not that he should preach the Gospel to the Gentiles and unfold Christ for future generations, but that he, Paul, should be saved, become a joint-heir with Christ to priceless riches in the Kingdom of God.

A like work pertains to each of us ; we may not go down into the desert and abide three years, but go into the close presence of God alone we must, if we would secure salutary results from our spiritual impressions, if we would have them deepened into convictions to rule our lives. They came from God whatever the channel which brought them into our spirits, and they call to God with a voice equal to their intensity. The conference with father or mother, with husband or wife, with pastor or friend is right, must be seasonable, but that is not the first work; go you, O stricken soul, immediately to God. Wherever you are on the instant of conviction, flee to the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty ; disclose to him the workings of your heart.

It is no childish play to talk aloud alone to God, and examine the secret workings of the soul. To it you are expressly called of God; conceal nothing — ^tell without fear of rebuke the sin which oppresses you, which stifles you — tell of the closeness of the moral atmosphere in which you dwell — tell the desire for pardon which you feel. The royalty of heaven will listen ; God incarnate in Jesus Christ shed tears at such recital on this earth ; unveil, disrobe the soul and stay with God till he has clad it in the robes of Jesus' righteousness and then come forth and confess him before men. If a fear and dread of earthly conference controls you, you need have no fear of spiritual conference; that, too, will fit for a subsequent work as nothing else will do within the soul's utmost possibilities. You will come forth weak and trembling perhaps, but only with that weakness which precedes compacted strength. You will resemble the buildings which the early visitors to the Peruvian settlements found along that coast — poorly built, thatched with straw and unilluminated by a single window but glowing within with tapestries of gold and silver, and in time the whole shall be rebuilt in beauty and in strength.

To-day the Divine Spirit waits to give counsel, to give hope and assurance. Obedience to this call of the Spirit alone secures settlement of the troubled and vexed questions that disturb the peace. Here no voice speaks of a more convenient season ; here is no parleying with fancied scientific errors ; liere the cosmogony of the universe does not intrude, nor the deluge of Noah trouble, nor the apparent inconsistencies of

Scripture narrative steal up like ghosts to frighten from the gospel ground. These all are chained to human conference and appear only as the least Important questions to vex the soul or hinder Its progress. The business relations of life dwindle into their proper Insignificance when viewed in their spiritual and eternal relations. Only as we hold such conference with God, can we properly understand the vastness of the claim he has upon us, and the enormity of that sin, w^hatever it be, that prevents hearty obedience to his revealed will.

Nor is this conference to be confined to the primary spiritual experiences. These all settled, other questions appear of such serious Importance and gravity that their decision may not be entrusted to human council. Motives to action are often subtle and well nigh obscured In the atmosphere of earth; they need to be taken into the rarer atmosphere of the high tablelands of faith and prayer ; they need to be made subjects of prolonged conference with God. The questions of right and wrong, the proper attitude for the soul to sustain towards men and parties and creeds and society standards and amusements, the principles that shall govern action In all doubtful hours and emergencies must be determined In these silent hours with God. The source of all strong convictions Is here. When stamped Into the being by the hand of God they become Indelible ; criticism of the world, condemnation of others does not affect them ; the fires of persecution

SPIRITUAL CONFERENCE n

cannot burn them out, nor the warning of the timid prevent their utterance.

Convictions are often troublesome in the world, but they are the evidence of spiritual communion that commands the careful consideration of all. Paul's mature thoughts and his grand system of truth was the fruit of his spiritual conference. Luther knew its power ; Bernard felt its inspiration ; Carey realized its worth, and they came forth to preach and sing, and evangelize the world against the sneers and persecution of lesser souls. If you will mature your thought and settle your doubts, and work out your difficulties in this way, this church will become mighty through God to the pulling down of the strongholds of sin. It is in hours of uncertainty that this becomes our choice privilege. Questions that are thus settled are apt to be settled right ; those that are decided on human advice alone are still unsettled.

2 — The Source of Successful Activity. Tliis is found at the source of wisdom and might. When convinced of the propriety of any step in the interest of the soul not yet taken, any progressive movement towards the high standards of life in Jesus Christ, then is the hour to adopt and conform to the words of tlie text. Will power is mighty, but the omnipotence of God is greater, and this is promised to the sons of faith. He only is faithful in this world who acts promptly and fully up to the mark of his spiritual convictions. How sliall one face the liowlin<j: crowd that blocks the way of him who turns from long habits of thought and declares them false to move successfully along a higher plane of thinking and living? How shall one be prepared for the desertion of friends ?

How shall one be made strong to speak his thoughts in critical and hostile ears ? How shall one endure the sneers of lips that oft have praised, the blistering words of captious critics, the malicious distortion of motives and the nightly owl hoots of constant watchers — how? but by the Pauline method of turning from flesh and blood and obtaining spiritual might from spiritual sources. However great the difficulty to be overcome in following the promptings of the soul, however small it be, the same course is commended to all, since the source of success in life and action is here. Led by the Divine Spirit has many a man pondered and groped his way through brambles and over rocks, and the value of his future work has been in proportion to the depth and character of his conference with God in the passing hours which he spent in the desert.

This course is not strange, nor out of harmony with the suggestions of reason. With higher convictions of duty, with clearer views of truth inflashed and infixed by God, day by day should men be seen mounting higher cliffs, seeking a nobler Hfe. Month by month should members of a congregation come forth from the audience chamber of God, filled with holy love, nerved with celestial strength, fortified by the conscious presence of their Lord and God. The glow should be on some face continually as it gleamed from the face of Moses as he came from the mount. One by one we are going into the heavens ; we are becoming pure spirits whether we will or not; our conferences with men cease, with God they must begin. It is well to be familiar with the Lord, to know his will, to be obedient to his commands, to have his approval upon every adopted plan of hfe.

I call to you to-day, young men, before whom roll the waves of a restless life, before you venture where the depth of sea shall give tremendous swell to the waves, hold conference with God that his strength may be imparted to you. Day follows day; weeks multiply ; earthly friends suffice for all you need, but at length the storm cloud hovers on the horizon, clouds the heavens, beats the sea to froth, opens seams in the vessel which creaks and cracks like egg shell in the grasp of strength. Then how shall you endure if you have sailed without any divine direction, if Christ be not on board to counsel, to steady and to save?

Confer with God, young maidens. Fashion, folly, vanity call for your time ; music, poetry, painting allure you to their salons ; the conference with tlie world is attractive; the demands of that mystic matron, society, are numerous, imperative, but wliilo you heed them, judiciously confer with God. Tliere may be for you a holier work than you have planned, a so SPIRIITJAL SANITY

more celestial mission than the hps of fashion have ever yet whispered. Leave flesh and blood awhile and lovingly confer with God.

O friends, what holier message could I bring you to-day than this, if by heeding it you found new joy and peace in God. Care, anxiety, grief are your daily portions ; of them you speak each day, as families you plan for their removal, or for their adjustment to your strength; the words concerning them are often upon your lips. Go talk of them to God. Take into the mount for a long conference, but most of all go with a burning wish to seek new spiritual strength, new spiritual hght to-day. Dear Church of Christ, would you present a solid, compacted strength to wrestle with sin in this community, w^ould you flash a clear, unspotted, undimmed radiance into all this region, then must you follow Paul as he followed Christ, and in the power of new unity, new love and new consecration come forth from the communion with the Divine Being to a grander work than yet has been achieved.

Only as the church becomes spiritual from fresh inspiration from the source of power can she meet a critical scholarship, a combative disposition, a worldly spirit and the oppositions of wicked spirits in high places ; but with the f urnishments from the spiritual armory her foes shall all be overcome for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. A spiritual man is the mightiest ally of truth ; a spiritual church is resistless.

Ill

**When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." John 1 : 48.

When these words were first spoken by the Lord they produced a starthng effect upon the guileless Israelite to whom they were addressed. He was not suddenly entrapped in a spiritual net that had been warily laid for him, yet he responded instantly to these words : ^'Rabbi, thou art the Son of God ; thou art the King of Israel."

It was not after years of profound teaching nor months of miracle working so that the land was full of his fame, but it was on the threshold of the Master's work that this conversation occurred.

Andrew and Peter had become disciples, Jesus had also called Philip, and these three men of Bethsaida were his followers. There is no record of any instruction that he had given. John had baptized him, tlie heavens had given their witness ; eTohn, too, had said, "Behold the Lamb of God." And now Philip has found his friend Nathanacl, brought him with the doubt and sneer still curling his lip to hear the greeting, "Behold h an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile." Thei sneer is lost in astonishment, and in reply to the question, "Whence knowest thou me?" the words of the text were given and Nathanael was a firm disciple.

What manner of man is this, we ask, that so slight an utterance in his hearing produces so stupendous an effect? Others listened to long discourses, sweet with the fragrance of heaven, persuasive with the eloquence of truth, and stirring with the power of gracious oratory, but turned away, rejecting the preaching and the preacher, sometimes enraged to the point of personal violence. This man yielded at a single sentence.

"With but httle persuasion thou wouldst fain make me a Christian," might the bystander say, "if this is a sample for us all," though the little of Paul's address to Agrippa was abundance compared with this remark to Nathanael.

Nor was this Israelite a weak and fickle man. The guilelessness of his spirit is not an evidence of puerility ; he is not a man of credulity, led by every new teacher and swayed readily by every new impulse, following the latest teacher who aspired to be a leader and crying "Rabbi" to every one who startled his intellect by the presentation of sparkling truths which might be errors in disguise. He was a calm, thoughtful man ; he had no impetuosity like Peter and was not easily betrayed into a false position. St. Augustine denies that he was one of the twelve disciples under the name of Bartholomew, on the ground that he was most likely a learned man in the law of Moses, and Christ preferred to choose unlettered men to confound the wise. When Philip met him he awakened his interest by the declaration, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

That he was a man of acute penetration and balanced powers is evident from the Kttle we know of him, and the cordiaHty of Christ's greeting is an assurance that he was both sensible and sound.

We must account, then, in some rational way for the effect of this simple sentence upon him. Why should the thought that he was observed as he sat under the dense shade of the fig tree have so quickly removed his doubt and given birth to such forcible testimony concerning him to whom Philip had brought him? A calm mind weighs evidence, adjusts so-called proofs before judgment is pronounced. A judicious spirit does not make proclamation of the deepest things in life on a cursory examination, and surely there is nothing deeper than the discovery of the presence of the Son of God, the King of Israel, and his acceptance as the soul's Rabbi or Master.

There was more to Nathanacl in this remark of Christ than appears on the surface. He put a powerful lens upon it and read great truths and saw miglity evidence of the greatness of him who stood before him. His purity of spirit enabled him to discern quickly what to others was clouded by their own defective spirituality. "The pure in heart shall see God." The guileless spirit shall detect the essence of divinity where others see but rude cabalistic signs.

It Avas because of the great cluster of truths and powers that he knew to be in the spirit of him who spoke these words that he gave him so instantly the trust of his heart. As Leverrier demonstrated the existence of a planet beyond Uranus by its own irregular movements before any eye had seen it, and at length, through a powerful telescope, the planet Neptune was found just where it had been shown that it ought to be, so did Nathanael, w^ith a wise penetration, discover what lay beyond by acute observation of that which was in sight, and it may be that that which flashed upon him will give its light also to us, and that which brought confession to his Hps will bring a yet more devout and fulsome utterance to ours.

It was a purely personal truth concerning Nathanael alone that Jesus made known. The value of the jewel did not disappear with the brilliant lustre that flashed upon him — the truth was not exhausted in its application to him. All that was good for him is equally available for us.

There is in every human life at times a sense of isolation. Often we long for it and cannot obtain it. We are so situated that the chains fetter us and hold us in connection T\^th our f ellowmen so that the wail of childhood, the monotone of business, the shriek of suffering, the wild whistle of the tempest gale of life sounds in our ears and disturbs the calm of our spirits. We fret under the constant attrition of the world. We sigh for the place of perfect rest, where no vibration of air, stirred by the pulse of human woe or want, shall break the quiet of our repose. We yearn for an hour in which we shall be secluded from all and hear only the beating of our own hearts, and note only the sensations of our own being ; where no< buzzing insect and no intruding bird shall startle the utter abandon of our spirits. We want an hour for scrutiny of self, where we can read aloud our deepest thoughts and put into words our most secret purposes ; where we can unfold our doubts, disclose our agonies and bury in surrounding silence the sins, the shames, the sorrows, the meannesses of our spirits.