Spirit and life

Front matter

Shelf B-fe-7 St

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

THOUGHTS FOR TO-DAY y6Y AMORY H. BRADFORD, D.D.,

Preface

The most important of experiences is that which leads to a rational and credible idea of God. This cannot be taught in the schools. No man or body of men have authority to delineate it ; the largest and noblest conception of the Deity ever possessed, even though imparted by revelation, has been at the best but a ^' broken light.*' And yet, on clear views of God hang the glory and usefulness of human life. If there is no God, there is no hope, life is a dream, and he is happiest who knows no waking. If God exists but has no care for men, or is interested only in the universe and not in individuals, then for us it were as well if there were no God.

The sermons in this volume revolve around two thoughts : (i) God has manifested himself in a form which can be understood by men. The Incarnation is not simply a dogma of theology, but something demanded by the heart of man, and — spiritually discerned — appealing to his

O PREFACE.

highest reason. It gives the only adequate conception of humanity, and the only definite idea of God. The Incarnation is '' the light of men'* concerning Deity, duty, destiny, and is the standard by which all pretended revelations are to be tested. It has relation to all time, and to all the universe. The Being disclosed in the Christ is the God of all worlds and of the eternities, and all things are in his hands and will be forever. The Incarnation, in short, condenses all that is revealed of God, and of his purpose concerning man. (2) The Deity is never far from humanity ; he is always in contact with our spirits, and ^' the spiritual life '' is the life of God manifesting itself through the spirits of men. The Holy Spirit is not^' an influence," but God himself in spiritual operation and manifestation. The Christ declared that his work would be continued and completed by the Spirit which would abide forever in Christian hearts. This is fundamental. God is in living relation with all who submit their wills to his will, as it is made known in conscience and in Christ. Those who do that need no human teacher : they are led and inspired by the Spirit of God ; they ^' have an anointing from the Holy One."

These sermons are none of them polemical. Indeed, controversy about the infinite, and eternal among those who, however much they may differ among themselves, are all moving in the same

PREFACE, 7

direction and seeking the same ends, is sheer absurdity. If any good has resulted from the "• battles of the theologies '' in the past, it has been only because God has made the wrath of man to praise him.

Without attempting any orderly discussion of dogmatic themes, I have brought together here a few of the results of a pastor's practical labor, and offer in these discourses something of what a patient study of God's Word and a reverent scrutiny of his works — *^the two revelations'* — have suggested to me concerning the Spirit and the Life. The fact that these partial views of truth have helped many in a narrow field to more satisfying conceptions of God, and to a more constant reliance on his Spirit in their search for truth, and in their attempt to face bravely the conflict and mystery of life, is the only excuse for offering them to an audience which may be larger and may be smaller.

Of the following sermons, the four on *' The Holy Spirit '' and the one entitled '' The Appeal to Experience " have already appeared in The Christian ^ Union, "The Vicarious Principle in the Universe '' was read before the American Institute of Christian Philosophy, and " The Conditions of Spiritual Sight " was the first sermon preached before that Institute. Both have been published in Christian Thought. ''The Theological Thought of our Time " is the substance of the

8 PREFACE,

Baccalaureate Sermon before the class of 1884 of Wellesley College. It was afterward published in The Advance. The remaining sermons of the volume now appear in print for the first time, and all of them were originally prepared for my own congregation.

A. H. B.

First Congregational Church, Montclair, N. J.,

Contents

PAGE

I. The Holy Spirit the Fundamental Doctrine

OF Christianity, 7

II. The Holy Spirit in Individual Experience

*' Everything is mysterious, nothing is magical, in the process of conversion; the laws of our nature are observed therein, and we do not for a moment cease to be men." — Alexander Vinet.

** Christ is risen, and is a living presence in the household of his disciples, more a presence in his invisible church to-day than he ever was in the synagogues of Palestine, or even the upper chamber of Jerusalem. The resurrection of his body is a parable of a diviner resurrection, the uprising of the spirit when he has made it to live in him, endowed with a new being, and already, here and now, in fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, entering into life eternal." — Lyman Abbott, D.D.

** If the Holy Ghost were withdrawn, the Christ would be absent and of none effect to us. But if the Holy Ghost is present and active in us, we dwell in the full flood of the light and of the life of God, and of his Christ." — A. A. Hodge, D.D., LL.D.

'* Our blest Redeemer, ere he breathed His tender last farewell, A Guide, a Comforter, bequeathed With us to dwell.

And every virtue we possess,

And every victory won, And every thought of holiness

Are his alone." Harriet Auber.

II.

The Holy Spirit in Individual

Experience.

*' And as for you, the anointing which ye received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you." — i John ii. 12.

The Christian life is begun and sustained by the opening of the heart to a Spirit. It is not physical life. Its beginning, its continuance, and its consummation are all in the Spirit. We know what our hands feel and our eyes see ; we know also what we believe and whom we love. A bruise on the body hurts ; a bruise on the affections is equally painful. A fracture or a sprain causes suffering ; broken ideals or strained relations between friends cause suffering even more intense. That which concerns the spirit is as real as that which concerns the body, and far more permanent. The appeal of Christ was to the spiritual nature. Not once did he enter into rivalry with those who offered something material and visible. His disciples thought he came to found a kingdom : he said, *^ The kingdom of God is within you." His disciples looked for outward signs: he said, ''The kingdom of God Cometh not with observation."

He came to those who were lonely and de-solate, but gave them no visible friend ; he simply told them to lift their eyes and behold their Father — a Spirit. He came to those who expected an earthly deliverer, and went about improving their condition by forgiving their sins. There is a deep symbolism in the fact that he healed a man sick of the palsy by saying, ^* Thy sins be forgiven thee." By that he said, practically, " Get your spiritual nature right and the physical will take care of itself.'* All that he did for the body was in order that he might reach the soul.

Christ began his movement on the moral life by an appeal to the spirits of men. He told men that they were what their hearts were. ^* You judge by the outside ; that is Pharisaism ; God judges by what men think and will and love. Murder is not the killing, it is hating ; adultery is not outward act, but inward thought ; prayer is not simply asking for something — a man cannot begin to pray until he has done all he can to put himself in right relations with those who feel unkindly toward him.'' He said that the new life was from God, who is a Spirit ; that its beginning was viewless, like the wind, and its growth silent, like that of a seed. When he went away from the earth he left everything to the Spirit. So far as we know, he never wrote a word ; he left no book or letter or will ; he impressed his spirit upon the spirits of a few common people. He did not found a church; he did not organize a

THE SPIRIT: INDIVIDUAI EXPERIENCE. 33

society ; he did not write the Bible ; he lived and taught and died — that was all which was visible. Before he died, he told his followers that when he was gone they would have an imvisible and spiritual substitute for him ; that that substitute would recall his words to their remembrance, and show them what he himself had intended to teach, — would lead them into all truth. He named this guide ^^ the Spirit of truth." And this Spirit of truth is to remain. ^^ I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever."

On the earth our Lord made his appeal entirely to the spiritual nature; now that he has gone, the Spirit of truth remains. The life of the child of God is life in the care and under the guidance of the Spirit of truth. The time will never come when the appeal will be m^ade to any but spiritual motives. And any growth of organization or creed or ritual is earthly if it calls attention to itself and obscures our vision of God and of the love and service due to the immortal spirits around us. Christ teaches us to look at men, not as animals — movable bodies who may get in our way and have to be pushed aside ; not as things which may be put under our feet ; but rather as fellow-spirits. Man is more than a mass of matter to stay in its present position until the cement which keeps its particles together fails to hold ; he is the spirit-child of the Spirit- God. His organized body will become dust;

spirit is indestructible. Thus are we to think of men.

Life under guidance of the Divine Spirit is the life of the disciple of Christ. We put our aspirations into the hand of God, and his desires and ideals for us become our own desires and ideals. We put our hearts into God's hand, and what he chooses becomes our love for time and eternity. This may, to some, appear hard ; but those who seem to be living without love are only waiting for God's Spirit to lead them to their true and lasting affinity. We put our minds under the guidance of the Spirit of truth, and the man who does that cannot long believe an error.

Each man lives in two worlds ; in the upper world are spirits, in the under world are bodies. Man is like a steamship, in whose dark and lurid depths are a score or more of blazing furnaces ; at their open mouths stand half-naked men feeding them — heat, force, noise, confusion everywhere. If there were nothing but furnaces and engines, stokers and engineers, the steamer would soon be on the rocks. In those depths are fires blazing, engines throbbing, wheels turning — nothing but force ; it cannot see icebergs nor avoid breakers. Left to itself, steam is an agency of destruction ; but guided by intelligence, that force impels steamers, runs mills, spins cloth, binds the world into brotherhood. There is more to a steamer than furnaces and engines. Up in the light is a compass pointing northward ;

up in the sky is a star always telling where the north is ; on the deck is a man alert to know which way is north — a man who is guided by compass and star. Now, let the star stand for the Spirit of God, and the captain for your spirit and mine. The captain is directed by the star, and he in turn puts his hand upon the wheel w^hich connects with the rudder; thundering cranks, ponderous shafts, and that fierce and terrible screw straightway become obedient, and the ship, like a thing of life, flies wath a thousand souls on board from continent to continent, beneath benignant skies, through howling storms or blinding fogs. The higher life, itself under the direction of that which is highest, controls all below it. The ship's rudder is bound by invisible lines to the north star ; and the earthly life of every Christian is thrilled by inspirations from the Spirit of God along lines equally invisible. Without that Spirit man would be like a steamer amidst icebergs and breakers and fogs and storms, with furnaces roaring, engines thundering, screw hurrying, w4th no rudder, no captain, no north star.

This, then, is the first point emphasized to-day. The w^hole Christian experience is primarily and predominantly spiritual. Everything in business and politics and society is subservient to the Spirit of God.

Everything in the kingdom of God is individual. The principle of solidarity never interferes with individuality. In the profoundest experiences each is alone. Deepest griefs are incommunicable. Each is responsible for himself. There is no companionship in death. You and I are parts of the universe, and yet isolated from every creature. The sunlight rests upon all created things, and yet it singles out a lily-of-the-valley and a violet and pours its splendor on them as if there were no other flowers. The Spirit of God is for all men, and yet it is equally for each man. Each is dealt with according to his peculiarities. It does not follow that because we are all led by one Spirit we shall have the same theological opinions, any more than the same political opinions ; all will not be impelled to go as missionaries, or to use the same forms of worship. Individuality is a universal principle; everywhere the created thing is true to what distinguishes it, and the Creator reveals himself according to the laws of the object through which he works. God made men individuals, and it is probable that he means they shall continue such. Christ called his disciples individually ; he loved them individually ; he died for them individually. The appeals of the Gospel are to individuals ; its invitations are to individuals ; and the heart of each man craves individual recognition and help. Can you think of your children only in a group, and never separately? Do you love them in a lump ? Do you not adapt your training to the peculiarities of each ?

Do you expect the same things of the obtuse child as of the bright one ? Do you hold the deHcate, frail little creature to the same standards of accountability as the one who is strong and well ? Do you not ask whether your child knew what you wanted before punishing him for not doing? Do you give the same advice to your boys as to your girls? One mian is a poet, and the Spirit deals with him as a poet, and makes him a David, or an Isaiah, or a John ; or, coming to later times, a Milton, or a Tennyson, or a Whittier. Another has the gift of expressing truths in symbolical or pictorial forms, and the same Spirit leads him to paint a Madonna, or a Holy Family, or a Crucifixion, or to copy the colors of an autumnal landscape, or to show men God's beauty in the flaming splendors of a sunset. One has what we call mechanical genius, and the same Spirit makes him an inventor, a finder-out of nature's secrets, who causes steam to do the work of horses, makes cold and sullen metals breathe celestial harmonies, shows how invisible elements can carry messages of love and hate. Another has the faculty of expressing spiritual truth so as to be helpful to men, and he becomes a teacher or preacher. And all these are led by the same Spirit. It is not necessary that all should know their leader in order to feel his influence. Many are debtors to the Spirit of God who do not know it or will not confess it. He moves upon hearts as the wind upon an organ, bringing from each pipe the music which it is voiced to express.

He follows us wherever we go. That mother's face gathered out of the air, looking with tender, tearful, beseeching eyes, just as you were about to commit an awful sin, — where did it come from ? That voice which seemed to speak your very name clearly and distinctly in the midst of a thousand voices, — whose was it? That message from a stranger; that note from an old song ; that word spoken in church by one who never interested you before and which went straight to your heart, turning your w^hole nature toward hopes to which you had long been dead ; that faithful, hopeful, unreproachful, loving hand outstretched to you just at the moment when you felt that there was nothing ahead but a grave not far off, — who sent them to you? The peace and strength which have come to you like dew on a crushed flower, and which found you when you buried your heart and said, ^^ There is nothing for me now but desolation and death,'' — where did they come from ? And that patient, tireless, prayerful ministry of friends who will not stop praying for you whatever you do, and those silent influences which cannot be escaped, — whence are they? That unrest which will not cease until the profoundest questions of existence are answered ; that consciousness of isolation which separates a guilty soul from all the world and makes the very air seem full of blazing eyes staring at him, — whence are these ? And, last, and most wonderful of all, that strange and mystic force which, as silently as the day dawns, turns from selfishness, sensuality, and stubbornness, reveals a Father whose love is as fathomless as that shadowed by the cross, opens possibilities of service beginning here and ending never, changes the discord and despair of life into the music of endless hope, — whence is it ? These things cannot be from the depths, for the hands in the depths reach up to drag down ; they cannot be from those who are blind like ourselves ; they are explicable only as the fulfillment of the promise of Him who said, ^'I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you," and who said also, ^' He knoweth His own sheep by name."

'* How may we know whether we are led by the Spirit or not ?" Well, how do we know anything ? Test it, negatively and positively.

One thing may be laid down as an axiom : We who have reason and eyes and ability to decide between right and wrong ought seldom to be guided by mere impulse. People pray for the Spirit to lead them, and expect an inward impulse ; that is as likely to be wrong as right. It is absurd for a person who has powers of discernment to depend on impulses. They are no indication of the Spirit's leading.

The Spirit never leads a man to do a selfish or unkind thing, nor anything which, unless hindered by some outside force, will cause pain or injury to another. The Spirit is God continuing Christ's work of salvation without the physical manifestation. Am I led to do to some one around me something which, in the exercise of common honesty, I know the Lord Jesus Christ would not do if he were in my place ? Then I am acting from selfish motives. The Holy Spirit continues and extends the work of the Saviour; he never contradicts it. This principle can be easily applied. It tears the masks from multitudes of shams. Some, because of lack of personal recognition or fancied neglect, find an outlet for pique in desperate devotion to some ^^ principle " for v/hich in their hearts they care little. This is not of the Spirit. Loyalty to truth for truth's sake is always from God. The Spirit never leads a man to do an unkind, an ungenerous, an unmanly thing ; it never leads him to say of another that which he would be unwilling to have said of himself, if it were true ; it never leads him to misrepresent any truth, although the smallness of his nature may compel a partial and imperfect understanding and expression of truth. Nothing is from the Spirit which violates the teaching or example of Christ. This excludes the wild, hysterical, maniacal manifestations of ignorant religionists seen now chiefly at Southern and Western camp-meetings ; it shows the inspiration of those who defend truth with the methods of the devil ; it characterizes those who sit in chief seats in Christian churches and nurse hate and plot mischief ; it shows the motive of those who sell truth for money, and, from fear of high or low, keep back part of the message they were sent to deliver ; it shows in their true light those who luxuriate in wealth and ease and grind the faces of the poor, forgetting that the image of God was never yet utterly worn from any man.

If, now, we turn to the positive side of the question, we find it easy to determine whether we are led from above, or not.

Christ said, ^' He shall glorify me ; for he shall take of mine and shall declare it unto you." If the teachings and work of Christ are becoming more real to us, if in him we are more and more seeing the One who, if we w411 follow, will lead to the true and right life ; if we are more and more anxious to do his will ; if w^e are led to devise loving and helpful things to those around us, then we are led by the Holy Spirit. But if we are inclined to '' get even" with those who criticise or insult us, to speak unkindly, or to do anything dishonest or unfair, the Spirit is far away.

Christ said, '' When he is come, he w^ill convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." When we are led to see our own lives as not only unsatisfactory but wrong ; w^hen we are followed by remorse because of having wasted powers which were given for use ;

42 SPIIUT AND LIFE,

when there rises the fearfully real question, In what will all this end ? we are under the influence of the Spirit of God. Some are troubled because they realize their imperfection and are dissatisfied when they stand in the light of what conscience requires and Christ teaches ; but that is always a good sign. There is more hope for any other than for one who is satisfied. The first business of the Holy Spirit is to make a selfish, worldly, pleasure-loving soul uncomfortable ; and while discomfort may be no sign of improvement, it is a sure sign that you are not forsaken of God.

Christ said, " He shall teach you all things.'' If with the years there comes a clearer perception of the possibilities of man, a fuller disclosure of what it means to be a child of God, a deeper insight into the purpose and plan of the creation, a truer appreciation of the fact that the millions who throng this planet must reach the heights of perfect manhood, even though it be by slow processes of growth, struggle, and conflict — then we may know that we are led by the Spirit ; for we are being taught concerning those things to which the teaching of Christ pointed, but about which it did not clearly speak.

The Apostle Paul said, '' The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.'' He did not say that all these graces will be found in each individual before it can be known that the

Spirit is there ; but where any of them are, there the Spirit is, and where all are, there is a soul full of God. "^ By their fruits ye shall know them."

The promise of Christ was that the Spirit should be with men and never leave them. The Spirit of God is everywhere that God is. Where is that? Let the Psalmist answer: ^* If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there ; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there ; if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me.'' Where is God? Here. Everywhere. How may I know that I am touched and guided by the Spirit? I cannot get away from God. How may I know whether he leads me ? By asking and answering one question — Have I surrendered my will to him ? If you have, you are led by him. If the consecration is only partial, you are trusting God for certain things and trusting yourself for others. The Spirit leads us just so far as we will let him. ^^ But how may I know that he leads me in any given case?" Just as we know anything else. There is a train going east ; if I get on I shall go in that direction. An hour passes. Do I know which way I have gone ?

Let us now, for a moment, return to our text. When years had made sweeter and richer the experience of the man who was nearer to Jc^ius than any other, the Apostle John wrote to his dear people at Ephesus these words : " The anointing which ye received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you." He was writing to men and women hke ourselves. They had no more advantages than we have. They were surrounded by a peculiarly vicious civilization, in which there were more agencies of evil at work than now. And yet he said to them, You have the Holy Spirit in you, and do not need any human teacher. In these days, when we have turned av/ay from the simplicity of the time in which those nearest to Christ could thus speak, and have substituted creeds and catechisms and standards almost without number, it is an inspiration to get back to the simple teaching of him who said. You need neither books, nor sermons, nor confessions — helpful as these may be ; only one thing is essential, and that is that you keep your spirit wide open to the Spirit of God. We have largely lost confidence in the ability of God to lead his people and to do for them according to his own purposes. We feel that we must build fences and pile protections and make rules where the Apostle said. Ye have need of none of these things. You are in God's hands. Does God need the help of books and ceremonies and rituals and edicts?

I am persuaded that the chief peril of spiritual religion is, not novel views in theology, nor the inrush of a new philosophy which thinks of visible things as a growth rather than a mechanism ; but the danger is that men shall forget that God is as near to their spirits as the air to their bodies, and that the humblest child and the profoundest scholar are equally blind without him. This doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the present and everliving Christ, not beyond the stars, but even in our hearts, making clear, in his own time and way, everything which it is needful for us to know — our Teacher, our Comforter, our Helper, our Advocate, our never-dying and never- leaving Friend, the only infallible Interpreter of the word of God — this is the truth which makes it possible for us to wait and work and rejoice. This it is which shall support us, '' in the midst of time and twilight and midnight and sorrow," until day dawns and the shadows flee away.

III. The Holy Spirit and Christian Work

" Christ carries on the work of redemption to completion through the Holy Spirit whom he sends." — Dr. I. A. Dorner.

** The real life of humanity becomes henceforth the life of the Spirit." — Elisha Mulford, LL.D.

* ' For whether thou bear a scepter or a sledge-hammer, art thou not alive ; is not this thy brother alive ? * There is but one temple in the world/ says Novalis, ' and that temple is the body of man. Nothing is holier than this high form. Bending before men is a reverence done to this revelation in the flesh. We touch Heaven when we lay our hands on a human body.'" — Thomas Carlyle.

** The man most man, with tenderest human hands, Works best for men, as God in Nazareth."

Mrs. Brov^tning.

III.

The Holy Spirit and Christian Work.

" Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit/'