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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pursuit of God, by A. W. Tozer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Pursuit of God
+
+Author: A. W. Tozer
+
+Release Date: April 23, 2008 [EBook #25141]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PURSUIT OF GOD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Free Elf, Colin Bell, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                           The Pursuit of God
+
+
+
+                  "Then shall we know,
+                          if we follow on to know the Lord:
+          his going forth is prepared as the morning."
+
+                                             HOSEA 6:3
+
+
+
+
+                              by A. W. Tozer
+
+
+                             introduction by
+                           Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer
+
+                 CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS, INC. HARRISBURG, PA.
+
+
+             COPYRIGHT MCMXLVIII BY CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS, INC.
+
+                        _Printed in United States_
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+      Introduction                                               5
+
+      Preface                                                    7
+
+    I Following Hard after God                                  11
+
+   II The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing                     21
+
+  III Removing the Veil                                         33
+
+   IV Apprehending God                                          49
+
+    V The Universal Presence                                    61
+
+   VI The Speaking Voice                                        73
+
+  VII The Gaze of the Soul                                      85
+
+ VIII Restoring the Creator-creature Relation                   99
+
+   IX Meekness and Rest                                        109
+
+    X The Sacrament of Living                                  117
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+Here is a masterly study of the inner life by a heart thirsting after
+God, eager to grasp at least the outskirts of His ways, the abyss of His
+love for sinners, and the height of His unapproachable majesty--and it
+was written by a busy pastor in Chicago!
+
+Who could imagine David writing the twenty-third Psalm on South Halsted
+Street, or a medieval mystic finding inspiration in a small study on the
+second floor of a frame house on that vast, flat checker-board of
+endless streets
+
+    Where cross the crowded ways of life
+    Where sound the cries of race and clan,
+    In haunts of wretchedness and need,
+    On shadowed threshold dark with fears,
+    And paths where hide the lures of greed ...
+
+But even as Dr. Frank Mason North, of New York, says in his immortal
+poem, so Mr. Tozer says in this book:
+
+    Above the noise of selfish strife
+    We hear Thy voice, O Son of Man.
+
+My acquaintance with the author is limited to brief visits and loving
+fellowship in his church. There I discovered a self-made scholar, an
+omnivorous reader with a remarkable library of theological and
+devotional books, and one who seemed to burn the midnight oil in pursuit
+of God. His book is the result of long meditation and much prayer. It is
+not a collection of sermons. It does not deal with the pulpit and the
+pew but with the soul athirst for God. The chapters could be summarized
+in Moses' prayer, "Show me thy glory," or Paul's exclamation, "O the
+depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" It is
+theology not of the head but of the heart.
+
+There is deep insight, sobriety of style, and a catholicity of outlook
+that is refreshing. The author has few quotations but he knows the
+saints and mystics of the centuries--Augustine, Nicholas of Cusa, Thomas
+à Kempis, von Hügel, Finney, Wesley and many more. The ten chapters are
+heart searching and the prayers at the close of each are for closet, not
+pulpit. _I felt the nearness of God while reading them._
+
+Here is a book for every pastor, missionary, and devout Christian. It
+deals with the deep things of God and the riches of His grace. Above
+all, it has the keynote of sincerity and humility.
+
+                                                      _Samuel M. Zwemer_
+
+New York City
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears:
+within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found
+increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a
+growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities
+and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with
+correct "interpretations" of truth. They are athirst for God, and they
+will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of
+Living Water.
+
+This is the only real harbinger of revival which I have been able to
+detect anywhere on the religious horizon. It may be the cloud the size
+of a man's hand for which a few saints here and there have been looking.
+It can result in a resurrection of life for many souls and a recapture
+of that radiant wonder which should accompany faith in Christ, that
+wonder which has all but fled the Church of God in our day.
+
+But this hunger must be recognized by our religious leaders. Current
+evangelicalism has (to change the figure) laid the altar and divided the
+sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and
+rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire
+upon the top of lofty Carmel. But God be thanked that there are a few
+who care. They are those who, while they love the altar and delight in
+the sacrifice, are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued
+absence of fire. They desire God above all. They are athirst to taste
+for themselves the "piercing sweetness" of the love of Christ about Whom
+all the holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing.
+
+There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the
+principles of the doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem
+satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year,
+strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence,
+nor anything unusual in their personal lives. They minister constantly
+to believers who feel within their breasts a longing which their
+teaching simply does not satisfy.
+
+I trust I speak in charity, but the lack in our pulpits is real.
+Milton's terrible sentence applies to our day as accurately as it did to
+his: "The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed." It is a solemn thing,
+and no small scandal in the Kingdom, to see God's children starving
+while actually seated at the Father's table. The truth of Wesley's words
+is established before our eyes: "Orthodoxy, or right opinion, is, at
+best, a very slender part of religion. Though right tempers cannot
+subsist without right opinions, yet right opinions may subsist without
+right tempers. There may be a right opinion of God without either love
+or one right temper toward Him. Satan is a proof of this."
+
+Thanks to our splendid Bible societies and to other effective agencies
+for the dissemination of the Word, there are today many millions of
+people who hold "right opinions," probably more than ever before in the
+history of the Church. Yet I wonder if there was ever a time when true
+spiritual worship was at a lower ebb. To great sections of the Church
+the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come
+that strange and foreign thing called the "program." This word has been
+borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of
+public service which now passes for worship among us.
+
+Sound Bible exposition is an imperative _must_ in the Church of the
+Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any
+strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such
+way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment
+whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God
+Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal
+experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible
+is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and
+satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may
+delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the
+very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.
+
+This book is a modest attempt to aid God's hungry children so to find
+Him. Nothing here is new except in the sense that it is a discovery
+which my own heart has made of spiritual realities most delightful and
+wonderful to me. Others before me have gone much farther into these holy
+mysteries than I have done, but if my fire is not large it is yet real,
+and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame.
+
+A. W. Tozer Chicago, Ill. June 16, 1948
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+_Following Hard after God_
+
+     My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth
+     me.--Psa. 63:8
+
+
+Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which
+briefly stated means this, that before a man can seek God, God must
+first have sought the man.
+
+Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have
+been a work of enlightenment done within him; imperfect it may be, but a
+true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking
+and praying which may follow.
+
+We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within
+us that spurs us to the pursuit. "No man can come to me," said our Lord,
+"except the Father which hath sent me draw him," and it is by this very
+prevenient _drawing_ that God takes from us every vestige of credit for
+the act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but
+the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all
+the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand: "Thy right hand
+upholdeth me."
+
+In this divine "upholding" and human "following" there is no
+contradiction. All is of God, for as von Hügel teaches, _God is always
+previous_. In practice, however, (that is, where God's previous working
+meets man's present response) man must pursue God. On our part there
+must be positive reciprocation if this secret drawing of God is to
+eventuate in identifiable experience of the Divine. In the warm language
+of personal feeling this is stated in the Forty-second Psalm: "As the
+hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O
+God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come
+and appear before God?" This is deep calling unto deep, and the longing
+heart will understand it.
+
+The doctrine of justification by faith--a Biblical truth, and a blessed
+relief from sterile legalism and unavailing self-effort--has in our time
+fallen into evil company and been interpreted by many in such manner as
+actually to bar men from the knowledge of God. The whole transaction of
+religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless. Faith may
+now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without
+embarrassment to the Adamic ego. Christ may be "received" without
+creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver. The man
+is "saved," but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God. In fact he is
+specifically taught to be satisfied and encouraged to be content with
+little.
+
+The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world; we
+Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His
+Word. We have almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such, can be
+cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able
+to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by
+another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and
+loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be
+explored.
+
+All social intercourse between human beings is a response of personality
+to personality, grading upward from the most casual brush between man
+and man to the fullest, most intimate communion of which the human soul
+is capable. Religion, so far as it is genuine, is in essence the
+response of created personalities to the Creating Personality, God.
+"This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
+Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
+
+God is a Person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills,
+enjoys, feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may. In
+making Himself known to us He stays by the familiar pattern of
+personality. He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds,
+our wills and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed
+interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed
+man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion.
+
+This intercourse between God and the soul is known to us in conscious
+personal awareness. It is personal: that is, it does not come through
+the body of believers, as such, but is known to the individual, and to
+the body through the individuals which compose it. And it is conscious:
+that is, it does not stay below the threshold of consciousness and work
+there unknown to the soul (as, for instance, infant baptism is thought
+by some to do), but comes within the field of awareness where the man
+can "know" it as he knows any other fact of experience.
+
+You and I are in little (our sins excepted) what God is in large. Being
+made in His image we have within us the capacity to know Him. In our
+sins we lack only the power. The moment the Spirit has quickened us to
+life in regeneration our whole being senses its kinship to God and leaps
+up in joyous recognition. That is the heavenly birth without which we
+cannot see the Kingdom of God. It is, however, not an end but an
+inception, for now begins the glorious pursuit, the heart's happy
+exploration of the infinite riches of the Godhead. That is where we
+begin, I say, but where we stop no man has yet discovered, for there is
+in the awful and mysterious depths of the Triune God neither limit nor
+end.
+
+    Shoreless Ocean, who can sound Thee?
+    Thine own eternity is round Thee,
+        Majesty divine!
+
+To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love,
+scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in
+happy experience by the children of the burning heart. St. Bernard
+stated this holy paradox in a musical quatrain that will be instantly
+understood by every worshipping soul:
+
+    We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread,
+      And long to feast upon Thee still:
+    We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead
+      And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.
+
+Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel
+the heat of their desire after God. They mourned for Him, they prayed
+and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and
+when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long
+seeking. Moses used the fact that he knew God as an argument for knowing
+Him better. "Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy
+sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace
+in thy sight"; and from there he rose to make the daring request, "I
+beseech thee, show me thy glory." God was frankly pleased by this
+display of ardor, and the next day called Moses into the mount, and
+there in solemn procession made all His glory pass before him.
+
+David's life was a torrent of spiritual desire, and his psalms ring with
+the cry of the seeker and the glad shout of the finder. Paul confessed
+the mainspring of his life to be his burning desire after Christ. "That
+I may know Him," was the goal of his heart, and to this he sacrificed
+everything. "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the
+excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have
+suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I
+may win Christ."
+
+Hymnody is sweet with the longing after God, the God whom, while the
+singer seeks, he knows he has already found. "His track I see and I'll
+pursue," sang our fathers only a short generation ago, but that song is
+heard no more in the great congregation. How tragic that we in this dark
+day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made
+to center upon the initial act of "accepting" Christ (a term,
+incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected
+thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have
+been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we
+have found Him we need no more seek Him. This is set before us as the
+last word in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught
+Christian ever believed otherwise. Thus the whole testimony of the
+worshipping, seeking, singing Church on that subject is crisply set
+aside. The experiential heart-theology of a grand army of fragrant
+saints is rejected in favor of a smug interpretation of Scripture which
+would certainly have sounded strange to an Augustine, a Rutherford or a
+Brainerd.
+
+In the midst of this great chill there are some, I rejoice to
+acknowledge, who will not be content with shallow logic. They will admit
+the force of the argument, and then turn away with tears to hunt some
+lonely place and pray, "O God, show me thy glory." They want to taste,
+to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that
+is God.
+
+I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack
+of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden
+quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy
+desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute
+desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to
+His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits
+so long, so very long, in vain.
+
+Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of
+religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found
+among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world
+of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never
+satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner
+experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of
+the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in
+this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at
+all.
+
+If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first
+determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as
+always God discovers Himself to "babes" and hides Himself in thick
+darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to
+Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be
+blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with
+the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will
+quickly respond.
+
+When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other
+than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking _God-and_ effectively
+prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the "and" lies our
+great woe. If we omit the "and" we shall soon find God, and in Him we
+shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.
+
+We need not fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or
+restrict the motions of our expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We
+can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the
+many for the One.
+
+The author of the quaint old English classic, _The Cloud of Unknowing_,
+teaches us how to do this. "Lift up thine heart unto God with a meek
+stirring of love; and mean Himself, and none of His goods. And thereto,
+look thee loath to think on aught but God Himself. So that nought work
+in thy wit, nor in thy will, but only God Himself. This is the work of
+the soul that most pleaseth God."
+
+Again, he recommends that in prayer we practice a further stripping down
+of everything, even of our theology. "For it sufficeth enough, a naked
+intent direct unto God without any other cause than Himself." Yet
+underneath all his thinking lay the broad foundation of New Testament
+truth, for he explains that by "Himself" he means "God that made thee,
+and bought thee, and that graciously called thee to thy degree." And he
+is all for simplicity: If we would have religion "lapped and folden in
+one word, for that thou shouldst have better hold thereupon, take thee
+but a little word of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, for
+even the shorter it is the better it accordeth with the work of the
+Spirit. And such a word is this word GOD or this word LOVE."
+
+When the Lord divided Canaan among the tribes of Israel Levi received no
+share of the land. God said to him simply, "I am thy part and thine
+inheritance," and by those words made him richer than all his brethren,
+richer than all the kings and rajas who have ever lived in the world.
+And there is a spiritual principle here, a principle still valid for
+every priest of the Most High God.
+
+The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many
+ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them,
+the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be
+necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he
+will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things
+he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he
+may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and
+he has it purely, legitimately and forever.
+
+_O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and
+made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further
+grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want
+to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more
+thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee
+indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul,
+"Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to
+rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so
+long. In Jesus' Name, Amen._
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+_The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing_
+
+     Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of
+     heaven.--Matt. 5:3
+
+
+Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him by
+creating a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and
+delight. In the Genesis account of the creation these are called simply
+"things." They were made for man's uses, but they were meant always to
+be external to the man and subservient to him. In the deep heart of the
+man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was
+God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him.
+
+But sin has introduced complications and has made those very gifts of
+God a potential source of ruin to the soul.
+
+Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and
+"things" were allowed to enter. Within the human heart "things" have
+taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God
+is crowned there no longer, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and
+aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the
+throne.
+
+This is not a mere metaphor, but an accurate analysis of our real
+spiritual trouble. There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root
+of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets
+"things" with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns "my" and "mine"
+look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is
+significant. They express the real nature of the old Adamic man better
+than a thousand volumes of theology could do. They are verbal symptoms
+of our deep disease. The roots of our hearts have grown down into
+_things_, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have
+become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's
+gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset
+by the monstrous substitution.
+
+Our Lord referred to this tyranny of _things_ when He said to His
+disciples, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and
+take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall
+lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it."
+
+Breaking this truth into fragments for our better understanding, it
+would seem that there is within each of us an enemy which we tolerate at
+our peril. Jesus called it "life" and "self," or as we would say, the
+_self-life_. Its chief characteristic is its possessiveness: the words
+"gain" and "profit" suggest this. To allow this enemy to live is in the
+end to lose everything. To repudiate it and give up all for Christ's
+sake is to lose nothing at last, but to preserve everything unto life
+eternal. And possibly also a hint is given here as to the only effective
+way to destroy this foe: it is by the Cross. "Let him take up his cross
+and follow me."
+
+The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul
+poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the
+Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have
+rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. These are the "poor in
+spirit." They have reached an inward state paralleling the outward
+circumstances of the common beggar in the streets of Jerusalem; that is
+what the word "poor" as Christ used it actually means. These blessed
+poor are no longer slaves to the tyranny of _things_. They have broken
+the yoke of the oppressor; and this they have done not by fighting but
+by surrendering. Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet
+possess all things. "Theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
+
+Let me exhort you to take this seriously. It is not to be understood as
+mere Bible teaching to be stored away in the mind along with an inert
+mass of other doctrines. It is a marker on the road to greener pastures,
+a path chiseled against the steep sides of the mount of God. We dare not
+try to by-pass it if we would follow on in this holy pursuit. We must
+ascend a step at a time. If we refuse one step we bring our progress to
+an end.
+
+As is frequently true, this New Testament principle of spiritual life
+finds its best illustration in the Old Testament. In the story of
+Abraham and Isaac we have a dramatic picture of the surrendered life as
+well as an excellent commentary on the first Beatitude.
+
+Abraham was old when Isaac was born, old enough indeed to have been his
+grandfather, and the child became at once the delight and idol of his
+heart. From that moment when he first stooped to take the tiny form
+awkwardly in his arms he was an eager love slave of his son. God went
+out of His way to comment on the strength of this affection. And it is
+not hard to understand. The baby represented everything sacred to his
+father's heart: the promises of God, the covenants, the hopes of the
+years and the long messianic dream. As he watched him grow from babyhood
+to young manhood the heart of the old man was knit closer and closer
+with the life of his son, till at last the relationship bordered upon
+the perilous. It was then that God stepped in to save both father and
+son from the consequences of an uncleansed love.
+
+"Take now thy son," said God to Abraham, "thine only son Isaac, whom
+thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there
+for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee
+of." The sacred writer spares us a close-up of the agony that night on
+the slopes near Beersheba when the aged man had it out with his God, but
+respectful imagination may view in awe the bent form and convulsive
+wrestling alone under the stars. Possibly not again until a Greater than
+Abraham wrestled in the Garden of Gethsemane did such mortal pain visit
+a human soul. If only the man himself might have been allowed to die.
+That would have been easier a thousand times, for he was old now, and to
+die would have been no great ordeal for one who had walked so long with
+God. Besides, it would have been a last sweet pleasure to let his
+dimming vision rest upon the figure of his stalwart son who would live
+to carry on the Abrahamic line and fulfill in himself the promises of
+God made long before in Ur of the Chaldees.
+
+How should he slay the lad! Even if he could get the consent of his
+wounded and protesting heart, how could he reconcile the act with the
+promise, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called"? This was Abraham's trial
+by fire, and he did not fail in the crucible. While the stars still
+shone like sharp white points above the tent where the sleeping Isaac
+lay, and long before the gray dawn had begun to lighten the east, the
+old saint had made up his mind. He would offer his son as God had
+directed him to do, and _then trust God to raise him from the dead_.
+This, says the writer to the Hebrews, was the solution his aching heart
+found sometime in the dark night, and he rose "early in the morning" to
+carry out the plan. It is beautiful to see that, while he erred as to
+God's method, he had correctly sensed the secret of His great heart. And
+the solution accords well with the New Testament Scripture, "Whosoever
+will lose for my sake shall find."
+
+God let the suffering old man go through with it up to the point where
+He knew there would be no retreat, and then forbade him to lay a hand
+upon the boy. To the wondering patriarch He now says in effect, "It's
+all right, Abraham. I never intended that you should actually slay the
+lad. I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart that I
+might reign unchallenged there. I wanted to correct the perversion that
+existed in your love. Now you may have the boy, sound and well. Take him
+and go back to your tent. Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that
+thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me."
+
+Then heaven opened and a voice was heard saying to him, "By myself have
+I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast
+not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless
+thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the
+heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall
+possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations
+of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."
+
+The old man of God lifted his head to respond to the Voice, and stood
+there on the mount strong and pure and grand, a man marked out by the
+Lord for special treatment, a friend and favorite of the Most High. Now
+he was a man wholly surrendered, a man utterly obedient, a man who
+possessed nothing. He had concentrated his all in the person of his dear
+son, and God had taken it from him. God could have begun out on the
+margin of Abraham's life and worked inward to the center; He chose
+rather to cut quickly to the heart and have it over in one sharp act of
+separation. In dealing thus He practiced an economy of means and time.
+It hurt cruelly, but it was effective.
+
+I have said that Abraham possessed nothing. Yet was not this poor man
+rich? Everything he had owned before was his still to enjoy: sheep,
+camels, herds, and goods of every sort. He had also his wife and his
+friends, and best of all he had his son Isaac safe by his side. He had
+everything, but _he possessed nothing_. There is the spiritual secret.
+There is the sweet theology of the heart which can be learned only in
+the school of renunciation. The books on systematic theology overlook
+this, but the wise will understand.
+
+After that bitter and blessed experience I think the words "my" and
+"mine" never had again the same meaning for Abraham. The sense of
+possession which they connote was gone from his heart. _Things_ had been
+cast out forever. They had now become external to the man. His inner
+heart was free from them. The world said, "Abraham is rich," but the
+aged patriarch only smiled. He could not explain it to them, but he knew
+that he owned nothing, that his real treasures were inward and eternal.
+
+There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of
+the most harmful habits in the life. Because it is so natural it is
+rarely recognized for the evil that it is; but its outworkings are
+tragic.
+
+We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of
+fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are
+loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord
+came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to
+Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.
+
+Our gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be
+recognized for what they are, God's loan to us, and should never be
+considered in any sense our own. We have no more right to claim credit
+for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong muscles. "For who
+maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst
+not receive?"
+
+The Christian who is alive enough to know himself even slightly will
+recognize the symptoms of this possession malady, and will grieve to
+find them in his own heart. If the longing after God is strong enough
+within him he will want to do something about the matter. Now, what
+should he do?
+
+First of all he should put away all defense and make no attempt to
+excuse himself either in his own eyes or before the Lord. Whoever
+defends himself will have himself for his defense, and he will have no
+other; but let him come defenseless before the Lord and he will have for
+his defender no less than God Himself. Let the inquiring Christian
+trample under foot every slippery trick of his deceitful heart and
+insist upon frank and open relations with the Lord.
+
+Then he should remember that this is holy business. No careless or
+casual dealings will suffice. Let him come to God in full determination
+to be heard. Let him insist that God accept his all, that He take
+_things_ out of his heart and Himself reign there in power. It may be he
+will need to become specific, to name things and people by their names
+one by one. If he will become drastic enough he can shorten the time of
+his travail from years to minutes and enter the good land long before
+his slower brethren who coddle their feelings and insist upon caution in
+their dealings with God.
+
+Let us never forget that such a truth as this cannot be learned by rote
+as one would learn the facts of physical science. They must be
+_experienced_ before we can really know them. We must in our hearts live
+through Abraham's harsh and bitter experiences if we would know the
+blessedness which follows them. The ancient curse will not go out
+painlessly; the tough old miser within us will not lie down and die
+obedient to our command. He must be torn out of our heart like a plant
+from the soil; he must be extracted in agony and blood like a tooth from
+the jaw. He must be expelled from our soul by violence as Christ
+expelled the money changers from the temple. And we shall need to steel
+ourselves against his piteous begging, and to recognize it as springing
+out of self-pity, one of the most reprehensible sins of the human heart.
+
+If we would indeed know God in growing intimacy we must go this way of
+renunciation. And if we are set upon the pursuit of God He will sooner
+or later bring us to this test. Abraham's testing was, at the time, not
+known to him as such, yet if he had taken some course other than the one
+he did, the whole history of the Old Testament would have been
+different. God would have found His man, no doubt, but the loss to
+Abraham would have been tragic beyond the telling. So we will be brought
+one by one to the testing place, and we may never know when we are
+there. At that testing place there will be no dozen possible choices
+for us; just one and an alternative, but our whole future will be
+conditioned by the choice we make.
+
+_Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its
+toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try
+to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do
+come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished
+so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that
+Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make
+the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the
+sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall
+be no night there. In Jesus' Name, Amen._
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+_Removing the Veil_
+
+     Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by
+     the blood of Jesus.--Heb. 10:19
+
+
+Among the famous sayings of the Church fathers none is better known than
+Augustine's, "Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are
+restless till they find rest in Thee."
+
+The great saint states here in few words the origin and interior history
+of the human race. God made us for Himself: that is the only explanation
+that satisfies the _heart_ of a thinking man, whatever his wild reason
+may say. Should faulty education and perverse reasoning lead a man to
+conclude otherwise, there is little that any Christian can do for him.
+For such a man I have no message. My appeal is addressed to those who
+have been previously taught in secret by the wisdom of God; I speak to
+thirsty hearts whose longings have been wakened by the touch of God
+within them, and such as they need no reasoned proof. Their restless
+hearts furnish all the proof they need.
+
+God formed us for Himself. The _Shorter Catechism_, "Agreed upon by the
+Reverend Assembly of Divines at Westminster," as the old _New-England
+Primer_ has it, asks the ancient questions _what_ and _why_ and answers
+them in one short sentence hardly matched in any uninspired work.
+"_Question_: What is the chief End of Man? _Answer_: Man's chief End is
+to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." With this agree the four and
+twenty elders who fall on their faces to worship Him that liveth for
+ever and ever, saying, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
+honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure
+they are and were created."
+
+God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we as well as He
+can in divine communion enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of
+kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw
+our life from His smile. But we have been guilty of that "foul revolt"
+of which Milton speaks when describing the rebellion of Satan and his
+hosts. We have broken with God. We have ceased to obey Him or love Him
+and in guilt and fear have fled as far as possible from His Presence.
+
+Yet who can flee from His Presence when the heaven and the heaven of
+heavens cannot contain Him? when as the wisdom of Solomon testifies,
+"the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world?" The omnipresence of the Lord
+is one thing, and is a solemn fact necessary to His perfection; the
+_manifest_ Presence is another thing altogether, and from that Presence
+we have fled, like Adam, to hide among the trees of the garden, or like
+Peter to shrink away crying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O
+Lord."
+
+So the life of man upon the earth is a life away from the Presence,
+wrenched loose from that "blissful center" which is our right and proper
+dwelling place, our first estate which we kept not, the loss of which is
+the cause of our unceasing restlessness.
+
+The whole work of God in redemption is to undo the tragic effects of
+that foul revolt, and to bring us back again into right and eternal
+relationship with Himself. This required that our sins be disposed of
+satisfactorily, that a full reconciliation be effected and the way
+opened for us to return again into conscious communion with God and to
+live again in the Presence as before. Then by His prevenient working
+within us He moves us to return. This first comes to our notice when our
+restless hearts feel a yearning for the Presence of God and we say
+within ourselves, "I will arise and go to my Father." That is the first
+step, and as the Chinese sage Lao-tze has said, "The journey of a
+thousand miles begins with a first step."
+
+The interior journey of the soul from the wilds of sin into the enjoyed
+Presence of God is beautifully illustrated in the Old Testament
+tabernacle. The returning sinner first entered the outer court where he
+offered a blood sacrifice on the brazen altar and washed himself in the
+laver that stood near it. Then through a veil he passed into the holy
+place where no natural light could come, but the golden candlestick
+which spoke of Jesus the Light of the World threw its soft glow over
+all. There also was the shewbread to tell of Jesus, the Bread of Life,
+and the altar of incense, a figure of unceasing prayer.
+
+Though the worshipper had enjoyed so much, still he had not yet entered
+the Presence of God. Another veil separated from the Holy of Holies
+where above the mercy seat dwelt the very God Himself in awful and
+glorious manifestation. While the tabernacle stood, only the high priest
+could enter there, and that but once a year, with blood which he offered
+for his sins and the sins of the people. It was this last veil which was
+rent when our Lord gave up the ghost on Calvary, and the sacred writer
+explains that this rending of the veil opened the way for every
+worshipper in the world to come by the new and living way straight into
+the divine Presence.
+
+Everything in the New Testament accords with this Old Testament picture.
+Ransomed men need no longer pause in fear to enter the Holy of Holies.
+_God wills that we should push on into His Presence and live our whole
+life there._ This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is
+more than a doctrine to be held, it is a life to be enjoyed every moment
+of every day.
+
+This Flame of the Presence was the beating heart of the Levitical order.
+Without it all the appointments of the tabernacle were characters of
+some unknown language; they had no meaning for Israel or for us. The
+greatest fact of the tabernacle was that _Jehovah was there_; a Presence
+was waiting within the veil. Similarly the Presence of God is the
+central fact of Christianity. At the heart of the Christian message is
+God Himself waiting for His redeemed children to push in to conscious
+awareness of His Presence. That type of Christianity which happens now
+to be the vogue knows this Presence only in theory. It fails to stress
+the Christian's privilege of present realization. According to its
+teachings we are in the Presence of God positionally, and nothing is
+said about the need to experience that Presence actually. The fiery urge
+that drove men like McCheyne is wholly missing. And the present
+generation of Christians measures itself by this imperfect rule. Ignoble
+contentment takes the place of burning zeal. We are satisfied to rest in
+our _judicial_ possessions and for the most part we bother ourselves
+very little about the absence of personal experience.
+
+Who is this within the veil who dwells in fiery manifestations? It is
+none other than God Himself, "One God the Father Almighty, Maker of
+heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible," and "One
+Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God; begotten of His Father
+before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God;
+begotten, not made; being of one substance with the Father," and "the
+Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceedeth from the Father
+and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and
+glorified." Yet this holy Trinity is One God, for "we worship one God in
+Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons, nor
+dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another
+of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the
+Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one: the glory equal
+and the majesty co-eternal." So in part run the ancient creeds, and so
+the inspired Word declares.
+
+Behind the veil is God, that God after Whom the world, with strange
+inconsistency, has felt, "if haply they might find Him." He has
+discovered Himself to some extent in nature, but more perfectly in the
+Incarnation; now He waits to show Himself in ravishing fulness to the
+humble of soul and the pure in heart.
+
+The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church
+is famishing for want of His Presence. The instant cure of most of our
+religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritual experience,
+to become suddenly aware that we are in God and that God is in us. This
+would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be
+enlarged. This would burn away the impurities from our lives as the bugs
+and fungi were burned away by the fire that dwelt in the bush.
+
+What a broad world to roam in, what a sea to swim in is this God and
+Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is _eternal_, which means that He
+antedates time and is wholly independent of it. Time began in Him and
+will end in Him. To it He pays no tribute and from it He suffers no
+change. He is _immutable_, which means that He has never changed and can
+never change in any smallest measure. To change He would need to go from
+better to worse or from worse to better. He cannot do either, for being
+perfect He cannot become more perfect, and if He were to become less
+perfect He would be less than God. He is _omniscient_, which means that
+He knows in one free and effortless act all matter, all spirit, all
+relationships, all events. He has no past and He has no future. He _is_,
+and none of the limiting and qualifying terms used of creatures can
+apply to Him. _Love_ and _mercy_ and _righteousness_ are His, and
+_holiness_ so ineffable that no comparisons or figures will avail to
+express it. Only fire can give even a remote conception of it. In fire
+He appeared at the burning bush; in the pillar of fire He dwelt through
+all the long wilderness journey. The fire that glowed between the wings
+of the cherubim in the holy place was called the "shekinah," the
+Presence, through the years of Israel's glory, and when the Old had
+given place to the New, He came at Pentecost as a fiery flame and rested
+upon each disciple.
+
+Spinoza wrote of the intellectual love of God, and he had a measure of
+truth there; but the highest love of God is not intellectual, it is
+spiritual. God is spirit and only the spirit of man can know Him really.
+In the deep spirit of a man the fire must glow or his love is not the
+true love of God. The great of the Kingdom have been those who loved God
+more than others did. We all know who they have been and gladly pay
+tribute to the depths and sincerity of their devotion. We have but to
+pause for a moment and their names come trooping past us smelling of
+myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces.
+
+Frederick Faber was one whose soul panted after God as the roe pants
+after the water brook, and the measure in which God revealed Himself to
+his seeking heart set the good man's whole life afire with a burning
+adoration rivaling that of the seraphim before the throne. His love for
+God extended to the three Persons of the Godhead equally, yet he seemed
+to feel for each One a special kind of love reserved for Him alone. Of
+God the Father he sings:
+
+    Only to sit and think of God,
+      Oh what a joy it is!
+    To think the thought, to breathe the Name;
+      Earth has no higher bliss.
+
+    Father of Jesus, love's reward!
+      What rapture will it be,
+    Prostrate before Thy throne to lie,
+      And gaze and gaze on Thee!
+
+His love for the Person of Christ was so intense that it threatened to
+consume him; it burned within him as a sweet and holy madness and flowed
+from his lips like molten gold. In one of his sermons he says, "Wherever
+we turn in the church of God, there is Jesus. He is the beginning,
+middle and end of everything to us.... There is nothing good, nothing
+holy, nothing beautiful, nothing joyous which He is not to His servants.
+No one need be poor, because, if he chooses, he can have Jesus for his
+own property and possession. No one need be downcast, for Jesus is the
+joy of heaven, and it is His joy to enter into sorrowful hearts. We can
+exaggerate about many things; but we can never exaggerate our obligation
+to Jesus, or the compassionate abundance of the love of Jesus to us. All
+our lives long we might talk of Jesus, and yet we should never come to
+an end of the sweet things that might be said of Him. Eternity will not
+be long enough to learn all He is, or to praise Him for all He has done,
+but then, that matters not; for we shall be always with Him, and we
+desire nothing more." And addressing our Lord directly he says to Him:
+
+    I love Thee so, I know not how
+    My transports to control;
+    Thy love is like a burning fire
+    Within my very soul.
+
+Faber's blazing love extended also to the Holy Spirit. Not only in his
+theology did he acknowledge His deity and full equality with the Father
+and the Son, but he celebrated it constantly in his songs and in his
+prayers. He literally pressed his forehead to the ground in his eager
+fervid worship of the Third Person of the Godhead. In one of his great
+hymns to the Holy Spirit he sums up his burning devotion thus:
+
+    O Spirit, beautiful and dread!
+    My heart is fit to break
+    With love of all Thy tenderness
+    For us poor sinners' sake.
+
+I have risked the tedium of quotation that I might show by pointed
+example what I have set out to say, viz., that God is so vastly
+wonderful, so utterly and completely delightful that He can, without
+anything other than Himself, meet and overflow the deepest demands of
+our total nature, mysterious and deep as that nature is. Such worship as
+Faber knew (and he is but one of a great company which no man can
+number) can never come from a mere doctrinal knowledge of God. Hearts
+that are "fit to break" with love for the Godhead are those who have
+been in the Presence and have looked with opened eye upon the majesty
+of Deity. Men of the breaking hearts had a quality about them not known
+to or understood by common men. They habitually spoke with spiritual
+authority. They had been in the Presence of God and they reported what
+they saw there. They were prophets, not scribes, for the scribe tells us
+what he has read, and the prophet tells what he has seen.
+
+The distinction is not an imaginary one. Between the scribe who has read
+and the prophet who has seen there is a difference as wide as the sea.
+We are today overrun with orthodox scribes, but the prophets, where are
+they? The hard voice of the scribe sounds over evangelicalism, but the
+Church waits for the tender voice of the saint who has penetrated the
+veil and has gazed with inward eye upon the Wonder that is God. And yet,
+thus to penetrate, to push in sensitive living experience into the holy
+Presence, is a privilege open to every child of God.
+
+With the veil removed by the rending of Jesus' flesh, with nothing on
+God's side to prevent us from entering, why do we tarry without? Why do
+we consent to abide all our days just outside the Holy of Holies and
+never enter at all to look upon God? We hear the Bridegroom say, "Let me
+see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice and
+thy countenance is comely." We sense that the call is for us, but still
+we fail to draw near, and the years pass and we grow old and tired in
+the outer courts of the tabernacle. What doth hinder us?
+
+The answer usually given, simply that we are "cold," will not explain
+all the facts. There is something more serious than coldness of heart,
+something that may be back of that coldness and be the cause of its
+existence. What is it? What but the presence of _a veil in our hearts_?
+a veil not taken away as the first veil was, but which remains there
+still shutting out the light and hiding the face of God from us. It is
+the veil of our fleshly fallen nature living on, unjudged within us,
+uncrucified and unrepudiated. It is the close-woven veil of the
+self-life which we have never truly acknowledged, of which we have been
+secretly ashamed, and which for these reasons we have never brought to
+the judgment of the cross. It is not too mysterious, this opaque veil,
+nor is it hard to identify. We have but to look in our own hearts and we
+shall see it there, sewn and patched and repaired it may be, but there
+nevertheless, an enemy to our lives and an effective block to our
+spiritual progress.
+
+This veil is not a beautiful thing and it is not a thing about which we
+commonly care to talk, but I am addressing the thirsting souls who are
+determined to follow God, and I know they will not turn back because the
+way leads temporarily through the blackened hills. The urge of God
+within them will assure their continuing the pursuit. They will face the
+facts however unpleasant and endure the cross for the joy set before
+them. So I am bold to name the threads out of which this inner veil is
+woven.
+
+It is woven of the fine threads of the self-life, the hyphenated sins of
+the human spirit. They are not something we do, they are something we
+_are_, and therein lies both their subtlety and their power.
+
+To be specific, the self-sins are these: self-righteousness, self-pity,
+self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host
+of others like them. They dwell too deep within us and are too much a
+part of our natures to come to our attention till the light of God is
+focused upon them. The grosser manifestations of these sins, egotism,
+exhibitionism, self-promotion, are strangely tolerated in Christian
+leaders even in circles of impeccable orthodoxy. They are so much in
+evidence as actually, for many people, to become identified with the
+gospel. I trust it is not a cynical observation to say that they appear
+these days to be a requisite for popularity in some sections of the
+Church visible. Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is
+currently so common as to excite little notice.
+
+One should suppose that proper instruction in the doctrines of man's
+depravity and the necessity for justification through the righteousness
+of Christ alone would deliver us from the power of the self-sins; but it
+does not work out that way. Self can live unrebuked at the very altar.
+It can watch the bleeding Victim die and not be in the least affected by
+what it sees. It can fight for the faith of the Reformers and preach
+eloquently the creed of salvation by grace, and gain strength by its
+efforts. To tell all the truth, it seems actually to feed upon orthodoxy
+and is more at home in a Bible Conference than in a tavern. Our very
+state of longing after God may afford it an excellent condition under
+which to thrive and grow.
+
+Self is the opaque veil that hides the Face of God from us. It can be
+removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction. As well
+try to instruct leprosy out of our system. There must be a work of God
+in destruction before we are free. We must invite the cross to do its
+deadly work within us. We must bring our self-sins to the cross for
+judgment. We must prepare ourselves for an ordeal of suffering in some
+measure like that through which our Saviour passed when He suffered
+under Pontius Pilate.
+
+Let us remember: when we talk of the rending of the veil we are speaking
+in a figure, and the thought of it is poetical, almost pleasant; but in
+actuality there is nothing pleasant about it. In human experience that
+veil is made of living spiritual tissue; it is composed of the sentient,
+quivering stuff of which our whole beings consist, and to touch it is to
+touch us where we feel pain. To tear it away is to injure us, to hurt us
+and make us bleed. To say otherwise is to make the cross no cross and
+death no death at all. It is never fun to die. To rip through the dear
+and tender stuff of which life is made can never be anything but deeply
+painful. Yet that is what the cross did to Jesus and it is what the
+cross would do to every man to set him free.
+
+Let us beware of tinkering with our inner life in hope ourselves to rend
+the veil. God must do everything for us. Our part is to yield and trust.
+We must confess, forsake, repudiate the self-life, and then reckon it
+crucified. But we must be careful to distinguish lazy "acceptance" from
+the real work of God. We must insist upon the work being done. We dare
+not rest content with a neat doctrine of self-crucifixion. That is to
+imitate Saul and spare the best of the sheep and the oxen.
+
+Insist that the work be done in very truth and it will be done. The
+cross is rough, and it is deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep
+its victim hanging there forever. There comes a moment when its work is
+finished and the suffering victim dies. After that is resurrection glory
+and power, and the pain is forgotten for joy that the veil is taken away
+and we have entered in actual spiritual experience the Presence of the
+living God.
+
+_Lord, how excellent are Thy ways, and how devious and dark are the ways
+of man. Show us how to die, that we may rise again to newness of life.
+Rend the veil of our self-life from the top down as Thou didst rend the
+veil of the Temple. We would draw near in full assurance of faith. We
+would dwell with Thee in daily experience here on this earth so that we
+may be accustomed to the glory when we enter Thy heaven to dwell with
+Thee there. In Jesus' name, Amen._
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+_Apprehending God_
+
+     O taste and see.--Psa. 34:8
+
+
+It was Canon Holmes, of India, who more than twenty-five years ago
+called attention to the inferential character of the average man's faith
+in God. To most people God is an inference, not a reality. He is a
+deduction from evidence which they consider adequate; but He remains
+personally unknown to the individual. "He _must_ be," they say,
+"therefore we believe He is." Others do not go even so far as this; they
+know of Him only by hearsay. They have never bothered to think the
+matter out for themselves, but have heard about Him from others, and
+have put belief in Him into the back of their minds along with the
+various odds and ends that make up their total creed. To many others God
+is but an ideal, another name for goodness, or beauty, or truth; or He
+is law, or life, or the creative impulse back of the phenomena of
+existence.
+
+These notions about God are many and varied, but they who hold them have
+one thing in common: they do not know God in personal experience. The
+possibility of intimate acquaintance with Him has not entered their
+minds. While admitting His existence they do not think of Him as
+knowable in the sense that we know things or people.
+
+Christians, to be sure, go further than this, at least in theory. Their
+creed requires them to believe in the personality of God, and they have
+been taught to pray, "Our Father, which art in heaven." Now personality
+and fatherhood carry with them the idea of the possibility of personal
+acquaintance. This is admitted, I say, in theory, but for millions of
+Christians, nevertheless, God is no more real than He is to the
+non-Christian. They go through life trying to love an ideal and be loyal
+to a mere principle.
+
+Over against all this cloudy vagueness stands the clear scriptural
+doctrine that God can be known in personal experience. A loving
+Personality dominates the Bible, walking among the trees of the garden
+and breathing fragrance over every scene. Always a living Person is
+present, speaking, pleading, loving, working, and manifesting Himself
+whenever and wherever His people have the receptivity necessary to
+receive the manifestation.
+
+The Bible assumes as a self-evident fact that men can know God with at
+least the same degree of immediacy as they know any other person or
+thing that comes within the field of their experience. The same terms
+are used to express the knowledge of God as are used to express
+knowledge of physical things. "O _taste_ and see that the Lord is good."
+"All thy garments _smell_ of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the
+ivory palaces." "My sheep _hear_ my voice." "Blessed are the pure in
+heart, for they shall _see_ God." These are but four of countless such
+passages from the Word of God. And more important than any proof text is
+the fact that the whole import of the Scripture is toward this belief.
+
+What can all this mean except that we have in our hearts organs by means
+of which we can know God as certainly as we know material things through
+our familiar five senses? We apprehend the physical world by exercising
+the faculties given us for the purpose, and we possess spiritual
+faculties by means of which we can know God and the spiritual world if
+we will obey the Spirit's urge and begin to use them.
+
+That a saving work must first be done in the heart is taken for granted
+here. The spiritual faculties of the unregenerate man lie asleep in his
+nature, unused and for every purpose dead; that is the stroke which has
+fallen upon us by sin. They may be quickened to active life again by the
+operation of the Holy Spirit in regeneration; that is one of the
+immeasurable benefits which come to us through Christ's atoning work on
+the cross.
+
+But the very ransomed children of God themselves: why do they know so
+little of that habitual conscious communion with God which the
+Scriptures seem to offer? The answer is our chronic unbelief. Faith
+enables our spiritual sense to function. Where faith is defective the
+result will be inward insensibility and numbness toward spiritual
+things. This is the condition of vast numbers of Christians today. No
+proof is necessary to support that statement. We have but to converse
+with the first Christian we meet or enter the first church we find open
+to acquire all the proof we need.
+
+A spiritual kingdom lies all about us, enclosing us, embracing us,
+altogether within reach of our inner selves, waiting for us to recognize
+it. God Himself is here waiting our response to His Presence. This
+eternal world will come alive to us the moment we begin to reckon upon
+its reality.
+
+I have just now used two words which demand definition; or if definition
+is impossible, I must at least make clear what I mean when I use them.
+They are "reckon" and "reality."
+
+What do I mean by _reality_? I mean that which has existence apart from
+any idea any mind may have of it, and which would exist if there were no
+mind anywhere to entertain a thought of it. That which is real has being
+in itself. It does not depend upon the observer for its validity.
+
+I am aware that there are those who love to poke fun at the plain man's
+idea of reality. They are the idealists who spin endless proofs that
+nothing is real outside of the mind. They are the relativists who like
+to show that there are no fixed points in the universe from which we can
+measure anything. They smile down upon us from their lofty intellectual
+peaks and settle us to their own satisfaction by fastening upon us the
+reproachful term "absolutist." The Christian is not put out of
+countenance by this show of contempt. He can smile right back at them,
+for he knows that there is only One who is Absolute, that is God. But he
+knows also that the Absolute One has made this world for man's uses,
+and, while there is nothing fixed or real in the last meaning of the
+words (the meaning as applied to God) _for every purpose of human life
+we are permitted to act as if there were_. And every man does act thus
+except the mentally sick. These unfortunates also have trouble with
+reality, but they are consistent; they insist upon living in accordance
+with their ideas of things. They are honest, and it is their very
+honesty that constitutes them a social problem.
+
+The idealists and relativists are not mentally sick. They prove their
+soundness by living their lives according to the very notions of reality
+which they in theory repudiate and by counting upon the very fixed
+points which they prove are not there. They could earn a lot more
+respect for their notions if they were willing to live by them; but
+this they are careful not to do. Their ideas are brain-deep, not
+life-deep. Wherever life touches them they repudiate their theories and
+live like other men.
+
+The Christian is too sincere to play with ideas for their own sake. He
+takes no pleasure in the mere spinning of gossamer webs for display. All
+his beliefs are practical. They are geared into his life. By them he
+lives or dies, stands or falls for this world and for all time to come.
+From the insincere man he turns away.
+
+The sincere plain man knows that the world is real. He finds it here
+when he wakes to consciousness, and he knows that he did not think it
+into being. It was here waiting for him when he came, and he knows that
+when he prepares to leave this earthly scene it will be here still to
+bid him good-bye as he departs. By the deep wisdom of life he is wiser
+than a thousand men who doubt. He stands upon the earth and feels the
+wind and rain in his face and he knows that they are real. He sees the
+sun by day and the stars by night. He sees the hot lightning play out of
+the dark thundercloud. He hears the sounds of nature and the cries of
+human joy and pain. These he knows are real. He lies down on the cool
+earth at night and has no fear that it will prove illusory or fail him
+while he sleeps. In the morning the firm ground will be under him, the
+blue sky above him and the rocks and trees around him as when he closed
+his eyes the night before. So he lives and rejoices in a world of
+reality.
+
+With his five senses he engages this real world. All things necessary to
+his physical existence he apprehends by the faculties with which he has
+been equipped by the God who created him and placed him in such a world
+as this.
+
+Now, by our definition also God is real. He is real in the absolute and
+final sense that nothing else is. All other reality is contingent upon
+His. The great Reality is God who is the Author of that lower and
+dependent reality which makes up the sum of created things, including
+ourselves. God has objective existence independent of and apart from any
+notions which we may have concerning Him. The worshipping heart does not
+create its Object. It finds Him here when it wakes from its moral
+slumber in the morning of its regeneration.
+
+Another word that must be cleared up is the word _reckon_. This does not
+mean to visualize or imagine. Imagination is not faith. The two are not
+only different from, but stand in sharp opposition to, each other.
+Imagination projects unreal images out of the mind and seeks to attach
+reality to them. Faith creates nothing; it simply reckons upon that
+which is already _there_.
+
+God and the spiritual world are real. We can reckon upon them with as
+much assurance as we reckon upon the familiar world around us.
+Spiritual things are there (or rather we should say _here_) inviting
+our attention and challenging our trust.
+
+Our trouble is that we have established bad thought habits. We
+habitually think of the visible world as real and doubt the reality of
+any other. We do not deny the existence of the spiritual world but we
+doubt that it is real in the accepted meaning of the word.
+
+The world of sense intrudes upon our attention day and night for the
+whole of our lifetime. It is clamorous, insistent and
+self-demonstrating. It does not appeal to our faith; it is here,
+assaulting our five senses, demanding to be accepted as real and final.
+But sin has so clouded the lenses of our hearts that we cannot see that
+other reality, the City of God, shining around us. The world of sense
+triumphs. The visible becomes the enemy of the invisible; the temporal,
+of the eternal. That is the curse inherited by every member of Adam's
+tragic race.
+
+At the root of the Christian life lies belief in the invisible. The
+object of the Christian's faith is unseen reality.
+
+Our uncorrected thinking, influenced by the blindness of our natural
+hearts and the intrusive ubiquity of visible things, tends to draw a
+contrast between the spiritual and the real; but actually no such
+contrast exists. The antithesis lies elsewhere: between the real and the
+imaginary, between the spiritual and the material, between the temporal
+and the eternal; but between the spiritual and the real, never. The
+spiritual _is_ real.
+
+If we would rise into that region of light and power plainly beckoning
+us through the Scriptures of truth we must break the evil habit of
+ignoring the spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the
+unseen. For the great unseen Reality is God. "He that cometh to God must
+believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
+seek him." This is basic in the life of faith. From there we can rise to
+unlimited heights. "Ye believe in God," said our Lord Jesus Christ,
+"believe also in me." Without the first there can be no second.
+
+If we truly want to follow God we must seek to be other-worldly. This I
+say knowing well that that word has been used with scorn by the sons of
+this world and applied to the Christian as a badge of reproach. So be
+it. Every man must choose his world. If we who follow Christ, with all
+the facts before us and knowing what we are about, deliberately choose
+the Kingdom of God as our sphere of interest I see no reason why anyone
+should object. If we lose by it, the loss is our own; if we gain, we rob
+no one by so doing. The "other world," which is the object of this
+world's disdain and the subject of the drunkard's mocking song, is our
+carefully chosen goal and the object of our holiest longing.
+
+But we must avoid the common fault of pushing the "other world" into the
+future. It is not future, but present. It parallels our familiar
+physical world, and the doors between the two worlds are open. "Ye are
+come," says the writer to the Hebrews (and the tense is plainly
+present), "unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the
+heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the
+general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in
+heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
+perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood
+of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." All these
+things are contrasted with "the mount that might be touched" and "the
+sound of a trumpet and the voice of words" that might be heard. May we
+not safely conclude that, as the realities of Mount Sinai were
+apprehended by the senses, so the realities of Mount Zion are to be
+grasped by the soul? And this not by any trick of the imagination, but
+in downright actuality. The soul has eyes with which to see and ears
+with which to hear. Feeble they may be from long disuse, but by the
+life-giving touch of Christ alive now and capable of sharpest sight and
+most sensitive hearing.
+
+As we begin to focus upon God the things of the spirit will take shape
+before our inner eyes. Obedience to the word of Christ will bring an
+inward revelation of the Godhead (John 14:21-23). It will give acute
+perception enabling us to see God even as is promised to the pure in
+heart. A new God consciousness will seize upon us and we shall begin to
+taste and hear and inwardly feel the God who is our life and our all.
+There will be seen the constant shining of the light that lighteth every
+man that cometh into the world. More and more, as our faculties grow
+sharper and more sure, God will become to us the great All, and His
+Presence the glory and wonder of our lives.
+
+_O God, quicken to life every power within me, that I may lay hold on
+eternal things. Open my eyes that I may see; give me acute spiritual
+perception; enable me to taste Thee and know that Thou art good. Make
+heaven more real to me than any earthly thing has ever been. Amen._
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+_The Universal Presence_
+
+     Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from
+     thy presence?--Psa. 139:7
+
+
+In all Christian teaching certain basic truths are found, hidden at
+times, and rather assumed than asserted, but necessary to all truth as
+the primary colors are found in and necessary to the finished painting.
+Such a truth is the divine immanence.
+
+God dwells in His creation and is everywhere indivisibly present in all
+His works. This is boldly taught by prophet and apostle and is accepted
+by Christian theology generally. That is, it appears in the books, but
+for some reason it has not sunk into the average Christian's heart so as
+to become a part of his believing self. Christian teachers shy away from
+its full implications, and, if they mention it at all, mute it down till
+it has little meaning. I would guess the reason for this to be the fear
+of being charged with pantheism; but the doctrine of the divine Presence
+is definitely not pantheism.
+
+Pantheism's error is too palpable to deceive anyone. It is that God is
+the sum of all created things. Nature and God are one, so that whoever
+touches a leaf or a stone touches God. That is of course to degrade the
+glory of the incorruptible Deity and, in an effort to make all things
+divine, banish all divinity from the world entirely.
+
+The truth is that while God dwells in His world He is separated from it
+by a gulf forever impassable. However closely He may be identified with
+the work of His hands _they_ are and must eternally be _other than He_,
+and He is and must be antecedent to and independent of them. He is
+transcendent above all His works even while He is immanent within them.
+
+What now does the divine immanence mean in direct Christian experience?
+It means simply that _God is here_. Wherever we are, God is here. There
+is no place, there can be no place, where He is not. Ten million
+intelligences standing at as many points in space and separated by
+incomprehensible distances can each one say with equal truth, God is
+here. No point is nearer to God than any other point. It is exactly as
+near to God from any place as it is from any other place. No one is in
+mere distance any further from or any nearer to God than any other
+person is.
+
+These are truths believed by every instructed Christian. It remains for
+us to think on them and pray over them until they begin to glow within
+us.
+
+"In the beginning God." Not _matter_, for matter is not self-causing. It
+requires an antecedent cause, and God is that Cause. Not _law_, for law
+is but a name for the course which all creation follows. That course had
+to be planned, and the Planner is God. Not _mind_, for mind also is a
+created thing and must have a Creator back of it. In the beginning God,
+the uncaused Cause of matter, mind and law. There we must begin.
+
+Adam sinned and, in his panic, frantically tried to do the impossible:
+he tried to hide from the Presence of God. David also must have had wild
+thoughts of trying to escape from the Presence, for he wrote, "Whither
+shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?"
+Then he proceeded through one of his most beautiful psalms to celebrate
+the glory of the divine immanence. "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 parts of the sea; even
+there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." And he
+knew that God's _being_ and God's _seeing_ are the same, that the seeing
+Presence had been with him even before he was born, watching the mystery
+of unfolding life. Solomon exclaimed, "But will God indeed dwell on the
+earth? behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee:
+how much less this house which I have builded." Paul assured the
+Athenians that "God is not far from any one of us: for in him we live,
+and move, and have our being."
+
+If God is present at every point in space, if we cannot go where He is
+not, cannot even conceive of a place where He is not, why then has not
+that Presence become the one universally celebrated fact of the world?
+The patriarch Jacob, "in the waste howling wilderness," gave the answer
+to that question. He saw a vision of God and cried out in wonder,
+"Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not." Jacob had never
+been for one small division of a moment outside the circle of that
+all-pervading Presence. But he knew it not. That was his trouble, and it
+is ours. Men do not know that God is here. What a difference it would
+make if they knew.
+
+The Presence and the manifestation of the Presence are not the same.
+There can be the one without the other. God is here when we are wholly
+unaware of it. He is _manifest_ only when and as we are aware of His
+Presence. On our part there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for
+His work it is to show us the Father and the Son. If we co-operate with
+Him in loving obedience God will manifest Himself to us, and that
+manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life
+and a life radiant with the light of His face.
+
+Always, everywhere God is present, and always He seeks to discover
+Himself. To each one he would reveal not only that He is, but _what_ He
+is as well. He did not have to be persuaded to discover Himself to
+Moses. "And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there,
+and proclaimed the name of the Lord." He not only made a verbal
+proclamation of His nature but He revealed His very Self to Moses so
+that the skin of Moses' face shone with the supernatural light. It will
+be a great moment for some of us when we begin to believe that God's
+promise of self-revelation is literally true: that He promised much, but
+promised no more than He intends to fulfill.
+
+Our pursuit of God is successful just because He is forever seeking to
+manifest Himself to us. The revelation of God to any man is not God
+coming from a distance upon a time to pay a brief and momentous visit to
+the man's soul. Thus to think of it is to misunderstand it all. The
+approach of God to the soul or of the soul to God is not to be thought
+of in spatial terms at all. There is no idea of physical distance
+involved in the concept. It is not a matter of miles but of experience.
+
+To speak of being near to or far from God is to use language in a sense
+always understood when applied to our ordinary human relationships. A
+man may say, "I feel that my son is coming nearer to me as he gets
+older," and yet that son has lived by his father's side since he was
+born and has never been away from home more than a day or so in his
+entire life. What then can the father mean? Obviously he is speaking of
+_experience_. He means that the boy is coming to know him more
+intimately and with deeper understanding, that the barriers of thought
+and feeling between the two are disappearing, that father and son are
+becoming more closely united in mind and heart.
+
+So when we sing, "Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord," we are not
+thinking of the nearness of place, but of the nearness of relationship.
+It is for increasing degrees of awareness that we pray, for a more
+perfect consciousness of the divine Presence. We need never shout across
+the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than
+our most secret thoughts.
+
+Why do some persons "find" God in a way that others do not? Why does God
+manifest His Presence to some and let multitudes of others struggle
+along in the half-light of imperfect Christian experience? Of course the
+will of God is the same for all. He has no favorites within His
+household. All He has ever done for any of His children He will do for
+all of His children. The difference lies not with God but with us.
+
+Pick at random a score of great saints whose lives and testimonies are
+widely known. Let them be Bible characters or well known Christians of
+post-Biblical times. You will be struck instantly with the fact that
+the saints were not alike. Sometimes the unlikenesses were so great as
+to be positively glaring. How different for example was Moses from
+Isaiah; how different was Elijah from David; how unlike each other were
+John and Paul, St. Francis and Luther, Finney and Thomas à Kempis. The
+differences are as wide as human life itself: differences of race,
+nationality, education, temperament, habit and personal qualities. Yet
+they all walked, each in his day, upon a high road of spiritual living
+far above the common way.
+
+Their differences must have been incidental and in the eyes of God of no
+significance. In some vital quality they must have been alike. What was
+it?
+
+I venture to suggest that the one vital quality which they had in common
+was _spiritual receptivity_. Something in them was open to heaven,
+something which urged them Godward. Without attempting anything like a
+profound analysis I shall say simply that they had spiritual awareness
+and that they went on to cultivate it until it became the biggest thing
+in their lives. They differed from the average person in that when they
+felt the inward longing they _did something about it_. They acquired the
+lifelong habit of spiritual response. They were not disobedient to the
+heavenly vision. As David put it neatly, "When thou saidst, Seek ye my
+face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek."
+
+As with everything good in human life, back of this receptivity is God.
+The sovereignty of God is here, and is felt even by those who have not
+placed particular stress upon it theologically. The pious Michael Angelo
+confessed this in a sonnet:
+
+    My unassisted heart is barren clay,
+    That of its native self can nothing feed:
+    Of good and pious works Thou art the seed,
+    That quickens only where Thou sayest it may:
+    Unless Thou show to us Thine own true way
+    No man can find it: Father! Thou must lead.
+
+These words will repay study as the deep and serious testimony of a
+great Christian.
+
+Important as it is that we recognize God working in us, I would yet warn
+against a too-great preoccupation with the thought. It is a sure road to
+sterile passivity. God will not hold us responsible to understand the
+mysteries of election, predestination and the divine sovereignty. The
+best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to
+God and in deepest reverence say, "O Lord, Thou knowest." Those things
+belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's omniscience. Prying
+into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints.
+
+Receptivity is not a single thing; it is a compound rather, a blending
+of several elements within the soul. It is an affinity for, a bent
+toward, a sympathetic response to, a desire to have. From this it may be
+gathered that it can be present in degrees, that we may have little or
+more or less, depending upon the individual. It may be increased by
+exercise or destroyed by neglect. It is not a sovereign and irresistible
+force which comes upon us as a seizure from above. It is a gift of God,
+indeed, but one which must be recognized and cultivated as any other
+gift if it is to realize the purpose for which it was given.
+
+Failure to see this is the cause of a very serious breakdown in modern
+evangelicalism. The idea of cultivation and exercise, so dear to the
+saints of old, has now no place in our total religious picture. It is
+too slow, too common. We now demand glamour and fast flowing dramatic
+action. A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and
+automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of
+reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods
+to our relations with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions
+and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by
+attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story
+told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar.
+
+The tragic results of this spirit are all about us. Shallow lives,
+hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun
+in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious
+externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the
+mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit: these and
+such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious
+malady of the soul.
+
+For this great sickness that is upon us no one person is responsible,
+and no Christian is wholly free from blame. We have all contributed,
+directly or indirectly, to this sad state of affairs. We have been too
+blind to see, or too timid to speak out, or too self-satisfied to desire
+anything better than the poor average diet with which others appear
+satisfied. To put it differently, we have accepted one another's
+notions, copied one another's lives and made one another's experiences
+the model for our own. And for a generation the trend has been downward.
+Now we have reached a low place of sand and burnt wire grass and, worst
+of all, we have made the Word of Truth conform to our experience and
+accepted this low plane as the very pasture of the blessed.
+
+It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to
+wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times and return to Biblical
+ways. But it can be done. Every now and then in the past Christians have
+had to do it. History has recorded several large-scale returns led by
+such men as St. Francis, Martin Luther and George Fox. Unfortunately
+there seems to be no Luther or Fox on the horizon at present. Whether or
+not another such return may be expected before the coming of Christ is a
+question upon which Christians are not fully agreed, but that is not of
+too great importance to us now.
+
+What God in His sovereignty may yet do on a world-scale I do not claim
+to know: but what He will do for the plain man or woman who seeks His
+face I believe I do know and can tell others. Let any man turn to God in
+earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek
+to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience
+and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in
+his leaner and weaker days.
+
+Any man who by repentance and a sincere return to God will break himself
+out of the mold in which he has been held, and will go to the Bible
+itself for his spiritual standards, will be delighted with what he finds
+there.
+
+Let us say it again: The Universal Presence is a fact. God is here. The
+whole universe is alive with His life. And He is no strange or foreign
+God, but the familiar Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whose love has for
+these thousands of years enfolded the sinful race of men. And always He
+is trying to get our attention, to reveal Himself to us, to communicate
+with us. We have within us the ability to know Him if we will but
+respond to His overtures. (And this we call pursuing God!) We will know
+Him in increasing degree as our receptivity becomes more perfect by
+faith and love and practice.
+
+_O God and Father, I repent of my sinful preoccupation with visible
+things. The world has been too much with me. Thou hast been here and I
+knew it not. I have been blind to Thy Presence. Open my eyes that I may
+behold Thee in and around me. For Christ's sake, Amen._
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+_The Speaking Voice_
+
+     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
+     Word was God.--John 1:1
+
+
+An intelligent plain man, untaught in the truths of Christianity, coming
+upon this text, would likely conclude that John meant to teach that it
+is the nature of God to speak, to communicate His thoughts to others.
+And he would be right. A word is a medium by which thoughts are
+expressed, and the application of term to the Eternal Son leads us to
+believe that self-expression is inherent in the Godhead, that God is
+forever seeking to speak Himself out to His creation. The whole Bible
+supports the idea. God is speaking. Not God spoke, but _God is
+speaking_. He is by His nature continuously articulate. He fills the
+world with His speaking Voice.
+
+One of the great realities with which we have to deal is the Voice of
+God in His world. The briefest and only satisfying cosmogony is this:
+"He spake and it was done." The _why_ of natural law is the living Voice
+of God immanent in His creation. And this word of God which brought all
+worlds into being cannot be understood to mean the Bible, for it is not
+a written or printed word at all, but the expression of the will of God
+spoken into the structure of all things. This word of God is the breath
+of God filling the world with living potentiality. The Voice of God is
+the most powerful force in nature, indeed the only force in nature, for
+all energy is here only because the power-filled Word is being spoken.
+
+The Bible is the written word of God, and because it is written it is
+confined and limited by the necessities of ink and paper and leather.
+The Voice of God, however, is alive and free as the sovereign God is
+free. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
+life." The life is in the speaking words. God's word in the Bible can
+have power only because it corresponds to God's word in the universe. It
+is the present Voice which makes the written Word all-powerful.
+Otherwise it would lie locked in slumber within the covers of a book.
+
+We take a low and primitive view of things when we conceive of God at
+the creation coming into physical contact with things, shaping and
+fitting and building like a carpenter. The Bible teaches otherwise: "By
+the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by
+the breath of his mouth.... For he spake, and it was done; he commanded,
+and it stood fast." "Through faith we understand that the worlds were
+framed by the word of God." Again we must remember that God is referring
+here not to His written Word, but to His speaking Voice. His
+world-filling Voice is meant, that Voice which antedates the Bible by
+uncounted centuries, that Voice which has not been silent since the dawn
+of creation, but is sounding still throughout the full far reaches of
+the universe.
+
+The Word of God is quick and powerful. In the beginning He spoke to
+nothing, and it became _something_. Chaos heard it and became order,
+darkness heard it and became light. "And God said--and it was so." These
+twin phrases, as cause and effect, occur throughout the Genesis story of
+the creation. The _said_ accounts for the _so_. The _so_ is the _said_
+put into the continuous present.
+
+That God is here and that He is speaking--these truths are back of all
+other Bible truths; without them there could be no revelation at all.
+God did not write a book and send it by messenger to be read at a
+distance by unaided minds. He spoke a Book and lives in His spoken
+words, constantly speaking His words and causing the power of them to
+persist across the years. God breathed on clay and it became a man; He
+breathes on men and they become clay. "Return ye children of men" was
+the word spoken at the Fall by which God decreed the death of every man,
+and no added word has He needed to speak. The sad procession of mankind
+across the face of the earth from birth to the grave is proof that His
+original Word was enough.
+
+We have not given sufficient attention to that deep utterance in the
+Book of John, "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that
+cometh into the world." Shift the punctuation around as we will and the
+truth is still there: the Word of God affects the hearts of all men as
+light in the soul. In the hearts of all men the light shines, the Word
+sounds, and there is no escaping them. Something like this would of
+necessity be so if God is alive and in His world. And John says that it
+is so. Even those persons who have never heard of the Bible have still
+been preached to with sufficient clarity to remove every excuse from
+their hearts forever. "Which show the work of the law written in their
+hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the
+mean while either accusing or else excusing one another." "For the
+invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
+being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
+Godhead; so that they are without excuse."
+
+This universal Voice of God was by the ancient Hebrews often called
+Wisdom, and was said to be everywhere sounding and searching throughout
+the earth, seeking some response from the sons of men. The eighth
+chapter of the Book of Proverbs begins, "Doth not wisdom cry? and
+understanding put forth her voice?" The writer then pictures wisdom as a
+beautiful woman standing "in the top of the high places, by the way in
+the places of the paths." She sounds her voice from every quarter so
+that no one may miss hearing it. "Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice
+is to the sons of men." Then she pleads for the simple and the foolish
+to give ear to her words. It is spiritual response for which this Wisdom
+of God is pleading, a response which she has always sought and is but
+rarely able to secure. The tragedy is that our eternal welfare depends
+upon our hearing, and we have trained our ears not to hear.
+
+This universal Voice has ever sounded, and it has often troubled men
+even when they did not understand the source of their fears. Could it be
+that this Voice distilling like a living mist upon the hearts of men has
+been the undiscovered cause of the troubled conscience and the longing
+for immortality confessed by millions since the dawn of recorded
+history? We need not fear to face up to this. The speaking Voice is a
+fact. How men have reacted to it is for any observer to note.
+
+When God spoke out of heaven to our Lord, self-centered men who heard it
+explained it by natural causes: they said, "It thundered." This habit
+of explaining the Voice by appeals to natural law is at the very root of
+modern science. In the living breathing cosmos there is a mysterious
+Something, too wonderful, too awful for any mind to understand. The
+believing man does not claim to understand. He falls to his knees and
+whispers, "God." The man of earth kneels also, but not to worship. He
+kneels to examine, to search, to find the cause and the how of things.
+Just now we happen to be living in a secular age. Our thought habits are
+those of the scientist, not those of the worshipper. We are more likely
+to explain than to adore. "It thundered," we exclaim, and go our earthly
+way. But still the Voice sounds and searches. The order and life of the
+world depend upon that Voice, but men are mostly too busy or too
+stubborn to give attention.
+
+Everyone of us has had experiences which we have not been able to
+explain: a sudden sense of loneliness, or a feeling of wonder or awe in
+the face of the universal vastness. Or we have had a fleeting visitation
+of light like an illumination from some other sun, giving us in a quick
+flash an assurance that we are from another world, that our origins are
+divine. What we saw there, or felt, or heard, may have been contrary to
+all that we had been taught in the schools and at wide variance with all
+our former beliefs and opinions. We were forced to suspend our acquired
+doubts while, for a moment, the clouds were rolled back and we saw and
+heard for ourselves. Explain such things as we will, I think we have not
+been fair to the facts until we allow at least the possibility that such
+experiences may arise from the Presence of God in the world and His
+persistent effort to communicate with mankind. Let us not dismiss such
+an hypothesis too flippantly.
+
+It is my own belief (and here I shall not feel bad if no one follows me)
+that every good and beautiful thing which man has produced in the world
+has been the result of his faulty and sin-blocked response to the
+creative Voice sounding over the earth. The moral philosophers who
+dreamed their high dreams of virtue, the religious thinkers who
+speculated about God and immortality, the poets and artists who created
+out of common stuff pure and lasting beauty: how can we explain them? It
+is not enough to say simply, "It was genius." What then is genius? Could
+it be that a genius is a man haunted by the speaking Voice, laboring and
+striving like one possessed to achieve ends which he only vaguely
+understands? That the great man may have missed God in his labors, that
+he may even have spoken or written against God does not destroy the idea
+I am advancing. God's redemptive revelation in the Holy Scriptures is
+necessary to saving faith and peace with God. Faith in a risen Saviour
+is necessary if the vague stirrings toward immortality are to bring us
+to restful and satisfying communion with God. To me this is a plausible
+explanation of all that is best out of Christ. But you can be a good
+Christian and not accept my thesis.
+
+The Voice of God is a friendly Voice. No one need fear to listen to it
+unless he has already made up his mind to resist it. The blood of Jesus
+has covered not only the human race but all creation as well. "And
+having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile
+all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth,
+or things in heaven." We may safely preach a friendly Heaven. The
+heavens as well as the earth are filled with the good will of Him that
+dwelt in the bush. The perfect blood of atonement secures this forever.
+
+Whoever will listen will hear the speaking Heaven. This is definitely
+not the hour when men take kindly to an exhortation to _listen_, for
+listening is not today a part of popular religion. We are at the
+opposite end of the pole from there. Religion has accepted the monstrous
+heresy that noise, size, activity and bluster make a man dear to God.
+But we may take heart. To a people caught in the tempest of the last
+great conflict God says, "Be still, and know that I am God," and still
+He says it, as if He means to tell us that our strength and safety lie
+not in noise but in silence.
+
+It is important that we get still to wait on God. And it is best that we
+get alone, preferably with our Bible outspread before us. Then if we
+will we may draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak to us in our
+hearts. I think for the average person the progression will be something
+like this: First a sound as of a Presence walking in the garden. Then a
+voice, more intelligible, but still far from clear. Then the happy
+moment when the Spirit begins to illuminate the Scriptures, and that
+which had been only a sound, or at best a voice, now becomes an
+intelligible word, warm and intimate and clear as the word of a dear
+friend. Then will come life and light, and best of all, ability to see
+and rest in and embrace Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and All.
+
+The Bible will never be a living Book to us until we are convinced that
+God is articulate in His universe. To jump from a dead, impersonal world
+to a dogmatic Bible is too much for most people. They may admit that
+they _should_ accept the Bible as the Word of God, and they may try to
+think of it as such, but they find it impossible to believe that the
+words there on the page are actually for them. A man may _say_, "These
+words are addressed to me," and yet in his heart not feel and know that
+they are. He is the victim of a divided psychology. He tries to think of
+God as mute everywhere else and vocal only in a book.
+
+I believe that much of our religious unbelief is due to a wrong
+conception of and a wrong feeling for the Scriptures of Truth. A silent
+God suddenly began to speak in a book and when the book was finished
+lapsed back into silence again forever. Now we read the book as the
+record of what God said when He was for a brief time in a speaking mood.
+With notions like that in our heads how can we believe? The facts are
+that God is not silent, has never been silent. It is the nature of God
+to speak. The second Person of the Holy Trinity is called the _Word_.
+The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God's continuous speech. It is
+the infallible declaration of His mind for us put into our familiar
+human words.
+
+I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we
+approach our Bible with the idea that it is not only a book which was
+once spoken, but a book which is _now speaking_. The prophets habitually
+said, "Thus _saith_ the Lord." They meant their hearers to understand
+that God's speaking is in the continuous present. We may use the past
+tense properly to indicate that at a certain time a certain word of God
+was spoken, but a word of God once spoken continues to be spoken, as a
+child once born continues to be alive, or a world once created continues
+to exist. And those are but imperfect illustrations, for children die
+and worlds burn out, but the Word of our God endureth forever.
+
+If you would follow on to know the Lord, come at once to the open Bible
+expecting it to speak to you. Do not come with the notion that it is a
+_thing_ which you may push around at your convenience. It is more than
+a thing, it is a voice, a word, the very Word of the living God.
+
+_Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary
+with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them. Give
+me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, "Speak, for thy
+servant heareth." Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart. Let me get used
+to the sound of Thy Voice, that its tones may be familiar when the
+sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy
+speaking Voice. Amen._
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+_The Gaze of the Soul_
+
+     Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.--Heb. 12:2
+
+
+Let us think of our intelligent plain man mentioned in chapter six
+coming for the first time to the reading of the Scriptures. He
+approaches the Bible without any previous knowledge of what it contains.
+He is wholly without prejudice; he has nothing to prove and nothing to
+defend.
+
+Such a man will not have read long until his mind begins to observe
+certain truths standing out from the page. They are the spiritual
+principles behind the record of God's dealings with men, and woven into
+the writings of holy men as they "were moved by the Holy Ghost." As he
+reads on he might want to number these truths as they become clear to
+him and make a brief summary under each number. These summaries will be
+the tenets of his Biblical creed. Further reading will not affect these
+points except to enlarge and strengthen them. Our man is finding out
+what the Bible actually teaches.
+
+High up on the list of things which the Bible teaches will be the
+doctrine of _faith_. The place of weighty importance which the Bible
+gives to faith will be too plain for him to miss. He will very likely
+conclude: Faith is all-important in the life of the soul. Without faith
+it is impossible to please God. Faith will get me anything, take me
+anywhere in the Kingdom of God, but without faith there can be no
+approach to God, no forgiveness, no deliverance, no salvation, no
+communion, no spiritual life at all.
+
+By the time our friend has reached the eleventh chapter of Hebrews the
+eloquent encomium which is there pronounced upon faith will not seem
+strange to him. He will have read Paul's powerful defense of faith in
+his Roman and Galatian epistles. Later if he goes on to study church
+history he will understand the amazing power in the teachings of the
+Reformers as they showed the central place of faith in the Christian
+religion.
+
+Now if faith is so vitally important, if it is an indispensable _must_
+in our pursuit of God, it is perfectly natural that we should be deeply
+concerned over whether or not we possess this most precious gift. And
+our minds being what they are, it is inevitable that sooner or later we
+should get around to inquiring after the nature of faith. What _is_
+faith? would lie close to the question, Do I _have_ faith? and would
+demand an answer if it were anywhere to be found.
+
+Almost all who preach or write on the subject of faith have much the
+same things to say concerning it. They tell us that it is believing a
+promise, that it is taking God at His word, that it is reckoning the
+Bible to be true and stepping out upon it. The rest of the book or
+sermon is usually taken up with stories of persons who have had their
+prayers answered as a result of their faith. These answers are mostly
+direct gifts of a practical and temporal nature such as health, money,
+physical protection or success in business. Or if the teacher is of a
+philosophic turn of mind he may take another course and lose us in a
+welter of metaphysics or snow us under with psychological jargon as he
+defines and re-defines, paring the slender hair of faith thinner and
+thinner till it disappears in gossamer shavings at last. When he is
+finished we get up disappointed and go out "by that same door where in
+we went." Surely there must be something better than this.
+
+In the Scriptures there is practically no effort made to define faith.
+Outside of a brief fourteen-word definition in Hebrews 11:1, I know of
+no Biblical definition, and even there faith is defined functionally,
+not philosophically; that is, it is a statement of what faith is _in
+operation_, _not_ what it is _in essence_. It assumes the presence of
+faith and shows what it results in, rather than what it is. We will be
+wise to go just that far and attempt to go no further. We are told from
+whence it comes and by what means: "Faith is a gift of God," and "Faith
+cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." This much is clear,
+and, to paraphrase Thomas à Kempis, "I had rather exercise faith than
+know the definition thereof."
+
+From here on, when the words "faith is" or their equivalent occur in
+this chapter I ask that they be understood to refer to what faith is in
+operation as exercised by a believing man. Right here we drop the notion
+of definition and think about faith as it may be experienced in action.
+The complexion of our thoughts will be practical, not theoretical.
+
+In a dramatic story in the Book of Numbers faith is seen in action.
+Israel became discouraged and spoke against God, and the Lord sent fiery
+serpents among them. "And they bit the people; and much people of Israel
+died." Then Moses sought the Lord for them and He heard and gave them a
+remedy against the bite of the serpents. He commanded Moses to make a
+serpent of brass and put it upon a pole in sight of all the people, "and
+it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh
+upon it, shall live." Moses obeyed, "and it came to pass, that if a
+serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he
+lived" (Num. 21:4-9).
+
+In the New Testament this important bit of history is interpreted for us
+by no less an authority than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is
+explaining to His hearers how they may be saved. He tells them that it
+is by believing. Then to make it clear He refers to this incident in the
+Book of Numbers. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
+so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him
+should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15).
+
+Our plain man in reading this would make an important discovery. He
+would notice that "look" and "believe" were synonymous terms. "Looking"
+on the Old Testament serpent is identical with "believing" on the New
+Testament Christ. That is, the _looking_ and the _believing_ are the
+same thing. And he would understand that while Israel looked with their
+external eyes, believing is done with the heart. I think he would
+conclude that _faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God_.
+
+When he had seen this he would remember passages he had read before, and
+their meaning would come flooding over him. "They looked unto him, and
+were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed" (Psa. 34:5). "Unto
+thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold,
+as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the
+eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon
+the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us" (Psa. 123:1-2). Here
+the man seeking mercy looks straight at the God of mercy and never takes
+his eyes away from Him till mercy is granted. And our Lord Himself
+looked always at God. "Looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and
+gave the bread to his disciples" (Matt. 14:19). Indeed Jesus taught that
+He wrought His works by always keeping His inward eyes upon His Father.
+His power lay in His continuous look at God (John 5:19-21).
+
+In full accord with the few texts we have quoted is the whole tenor of
+the inspired Word. It is summed up for us in the Hebrew epistle when we
+are instructed to run life's race "looking unto Jesus the author and
+finisher of our faith." From all this we learn that faith is not a
+once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God.
+
+Believing, then, is directing the heart's attention to Jesus. It is
+lifting the mind to "behold the Lamb of God," and never ceasing that
+beholding for the rest of our lives. At first this may be difficult, but
+it becomes easier as we look steadily at His wondrous Person, quietly
+and without strain. Distractions may hinder, but once the heart is
+committed to Him, after each brief excursion away from Him the attention
+will return again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird coming back to
+its window.
+
+I would emphasize this one committal, this one great volitional act
+which establishes the heart's intention to gaze forever upon Jesus. God
+takes this intention for our choice and makes what allowances He must
+for the thousand distractions which beset us in this evil world. He
+knows that we have set the direction of our hearts toward Jesus, and we
+can know it too, and comfort ourselves with the knowledge that a habit
+of soul is forming which will become after a while a sort of spiritual
+reflex requiring no more conscious effort on our part.
+
+Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues. It is by its very
+nature scarcely conscious of its own existence. Like the eye which sees
+everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with
+the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all.
+While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves--blessed riddance.
+The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but
+repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering
+with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at
+Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting
+done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do.
+
+Faith is not in itself a meritorious act; the merit is in the One toward
+Whom it is directed. Faith is a redirecting of our sight, a getting out
+of the focus of our own vision and getting God into focus. Sin has
+twisted our vision inward and made it self-regarding. Unbelief has put
+self where God should be, and is perilously close to the sin of Lucifer
+who said, "I will set my throne above the throne of God." Faith looks
+_out_ instead of _in_ and the whole life falls into line.
+
+All this may seem too simple. But we have no apology to make. To those
+who would seek to climb into heaven after help or descend into hell God
+says, "The word is nigh thee, even the word of faith." The word induces
+us to lift up our eyes unto the Lord and the blessed work of faith
+begins.
+
+When we lift our inward eyes to gaze upon God we are sure to meet
+friendly eyes gazing back at us, for it is written that the eyes of the
+Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth. The sweet language of
+experience is "Thou God seest me." When the eyes of the soul looking out
+meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on this
+earth.
+
+"When all my endeavour is turned toward Thee because all Thy endeavour
+is turned toward me; when I look unto Thee alone with all my attention,
+nor ever turn aside the eyes of my mind, because Thou dost enfold me
+with Thy constant regard; when I direct my love toward Thee alone
+because Thou, who art Love's self hast turned Thee toward me alone. And
+what, Lord, is my life, save that embrace wherein Thy delightsome
+sweetness doth so lovingly enfold me?"[1] So wrote Nicholas of Cusa four
+hundred years ago.
+
+I should like to say more about this old man of God. He is not much
+known today anywhere among Christian believers, and among current
+Fundamentalists he is known not at all. I feel that we could gain much
+from a little acquaintance with men of his spiritual flavor and the
+school of Christian thought which they represent. Christian literature,
+to be accepted and approved by the evangelical leaders of our times,
+must follow very closely the same train of thought, a kind of "party
+line" from which it is scarcely safe to depart. A half-century of this
+in America has made us smug and content. We imitate each other with
+slavish devotion and our most strenuous efforts are put forth to try to
+say the same thing that everyone around us is saying--and yet to find an
+excuse for saying it, some little safe variation on the approved theme
+or, if no more, at least a new illustration.
+
+Nicholas was a true follower of Christ, a lover of the Lord, radiant and
+shining in his devotion to the Person of Jesus. His theology was
+orthodox, but fragrant and sweet as everything about Jesus might
+properly be expected to be. His conception of eternal life, for
+instance, is beautiful in itself and, if I mistake not, is nearer in
+spirit to John 17:3 than that which is current among us today. Life
+eternal, says Nicholas, is "nought other than that blessed regard
+wherewith Thou never ceasest to behold me, yea, even the secret places
+of my soul. With Thee, to behold is to give life; 'tis unceasingly to
+impart sweetest love of Thee; 'tis to inflame me to love of Thee by
+love's imparting, and to feed me by inflaming, and by feeding to kindle
+my yearning, and by kindling to make me drink of the dew of gladness,
+and by drinking to infuse in me a fountain of life, and by infusing to
+make it increase and endure."[2]
+
+Now, if faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but
+the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God, then
+it follows that it is one of the easiest things possible to do. It would
+be like God to make the most vital thing easy and place it within the
+range of possibility for the weakest and poorest of us.
+
+Several conclusions may fairly be drawn from all this. The simplicity of
+it, for instance. Since believing is looking, it can be done without
+special equipment or religious paraphernalia. God has seen to it that
+the one life-and-death essential can never be subject to the caprice of
+accident. Equipment can break down or get lost, water can leak away,
+records can be destroyed by fire, the minister can be delayed or the
+church burn down. All these are external to the soul and are subject to
+accident or mechanical failure: but _looking_ is of the heart and can be
+done successfully by any man standing up or kneeling down or lying in
+his last agony a thousand miles from any church.
+
+Since believing is looking it can be done _any time_. No season is
+superior to another season for this sweetest of all acts. God never made
+salvation depend upon new moons nor holy days or sabbaths. A man is not
+nearer to Christ on Easter Sunday than he is, say, on Saturday, August
+3, or Monday, October 4. As long as Christ sits on the mediatorial
+throne every day is a good day and all days are days of salvation.
+
+Neither does _place_ matter in this blessed work of believing God. Lift
+your heart and let it rest upon Jesus and you are instantly in a
+sanctuary though it be a Pullman berth or a factory or a kitchen. You
+can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to love and obey Him.
+
+Now, someone may ask, "Is not this of which you speak for special
+persons such as monks or ministers who have by the nature of their
+calling more time to devote to quiet meditation? I am a busy worker and
+have little time to spend alone." I am happy to say that the life I
+describe is for everyone of God's children regardless of calling. It is,
+in fact, happily practiced every day by many hard working persons and is
+beyond the reach of none.
+
+Many have found the secret of which I speak and, without giving much
+thought to what is going on within them, constantly practice this habit
+of inwardly gazing upon God. They know that something inside their
+hearts sees God. Even when they are compelled to withdraw their
+conscious attention in order to engage in earthly affairs there is
+within them a secret communion always going on. Let their attention but
+be released for a moment from necessary business and it flies at once to
+God again. This has been the testimony of many Christians, so many that
+even as I state it thus I have a feeling that I am quoting, though from
+whom or from how many I cannot possibly know.
+
+I do not want to leave the impression that the ordinary means of grace
+have no value. They most assuredly have. Private prayer should be
+practiced by every Christian. Long periods of Bible meditation will
+purify our gaze and direct it; church attendance will enlarge our
+outlook and increase our love for others. Service and work and activity;
+all are good and should be engaged in by every Christian. But at the
+bottom of all these things, giving meaning to them, will be the inward
+habit of beholding God. A new set of eyes (so to speak) will develop
+within us enabling us to be looking at God while our outward eyes are
+seeing the scenes of this passing world.
+
+Someone may fear that we are magnifying private religion out of all
+proportion, that the "us" of the New Testament is being displaced by a
+selfish "I." Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all
+tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are
+of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard
+to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers met
+together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each
+other than they could possibly be were they to become "unity" conscious
+and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
+Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body
+becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole Church of
+God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a
+higher life.
+
+All the foregoing presupposes true repentance and a full committal of
+the life to God. It is hardly necessary to mention this, for only
+persons who have made such a committal will have read this far.
+
+When the habit of inwardly gazing Godward becomes fixed within us we
+shall be ushered onto a new level of spiritual life more in keeping with
+the promises of God and the mood of the New Testament. The Triune God
+will be our dwelling place even while our feet walk the low road of
+simple duty here among men. We will have found life's _summum bonum_
+indeed. "There is the source of all delights that can be desired; not
+only can nought better be thought out by men and angels, but nought
+better can exist in mode of being! For it is the absolute maximum of
+every rational desire, than which a greater cannot be."[3]
+
+_O Lord, I have heard a good word inviting me to look away to Thee and
+be satisfied. My heart longs to respond, but sin has clouded my vision
+till I see Thee but dimly. Be pleased to cleanse me in Thine own
+precious blood, and make me inwardly pure, so that I may with unveiled
+eyes gaze upon Thee all the days of my earthly pilgrimage. Then shall I
+be prepared to behold Thee in full splendor in the day when Thou shalt
+appear to be glorified in Thy saints and admired in all them that
+believe. Amen._
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Nicholas of Cusa, _The Vision of God_, E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New
+York, 1928. This and the following quotations used by kind permission of
+the publishers.
+
+[2] _The Vision of God_
+
+[3] _The Vision of God_
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+_Restoring the Creator-creature Relation_
+
+     Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above
+     all the earth.--Psa. 57:5
+
+
+It is a truism to say that order in nature depends upon right
+relationships; to achieve harmony each thing must be in its proper
+position relative to each other thing. In human life it is not
+otherwise.
+
+I have hinted before in these chapters that the cause of all our human
+miseries is a radical moral dislocation, an upset in our relation to God
+and to each other. For whatever else the Fall may have been, it was most
+certainly a sharp change in man's relation to his Creator. He adopted
+toward God an altered attitude, and by so doing destroyed the proper
+Creator-creature relation in which, unknown to him, his true happiness
+lay. Essentially salvation is the restoration of a right relation
+between man and his Creator, a bringing back to normal of the
+Creator-creature relation.
+
+A satisfactory spiritual life will begin with a complete change in
+relation between God and the sinner; not a judicial change merely, but a
+conscious and experienced change affecting the sinner's whole nature.
+The atonement in Jesus' blood makes such a change judicially possible
+and the working of the Holy Spirit makes it emotionally satisfying. The
+story of the prodigal son perfectly illustrates this latter phase. He
+had brought a world of trouble upon himself by forsaking the position
+which he had properly held as son of his father. At bottom his
+restoration was nothing more than a re-establishing of the father-son
+relation which had existed from his birth and had been altered
+temporarily by his act of sinful rebellion. This story overlooks the
+legal aspects of redemption, but it makes beautifully clear the
+experiential aspects of salvation.
+
+In determining relationships we must begin somewhere. There must be
+somewhere a fixed center against which everything else is measured,
+where the law of relativity does not enter and we can say "IS" and make
+no allowances. Such a center is God. When God would make His Name known
+to mankind He could find no better word than "I AM." When He speaks in
+the first person He says, "I AM"; when we speak of Him we say, "He is";
+when we speak to Him we say, "Thou art." Everyone and everything else
+measures from that fixed point. "I am that I am," says God, "I change not."
+
+As the sailor locates his position on the sea by "shooting" the sun, so
+we may get our moral bearings by looking at God. We must begin with God.
+We are right when and only when we stand in a right position relative to
+God, and we are wrong so far and so long as we stand in any other
+position.
+
+Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our
+unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We
+insist upon trying to modify Him and to bring Him nearer to our own
+image. The flesh whimpers against the rigor of God's inexorable sentence
+and begs like Agag for a little mercy, a little indulgence of its carnal
+ways. It is no use. We can get a right start only by accepting God as He
+is and learning to love Him for what He is. As we go on to know Him
+better we shall find it a source of unspeakable joy that God is just
+what He is. Some of the most rapturous moments we know will be those we
+spend in reverent admiration of the Godhead. In those holy moments the
+very thought of change in Him will be too painful to endure.
+
+So let us begin with God. Back of all, above all, before all is God;
+first in sequential order, above in rank and station, exalted in dignity
+and honor. As the self-existent One He gave being to all things, and all
+things exist out of Him and for Him. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to
+receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things,
+and for thy pleasure they are and were created."
+
+Every soul belongs to God and exists by His pleasure. God being Who and
+What He is, and we being who and what we are, the only thinkable
+relation between us is one of full lordship on His part and complete
+submission on ours. We owe Him every honor that it is in our power to
+give Him. Our everlasting grief lies in giving Him anything less.
+
+The pursuit of God will embrace the labor of bringing our total
+personality into conformity to His. And this not judicially, but
+actually. I do not here refer to the act of justification by faith in
+Christ. I speak of a voluntary exalting of God to His proper station
+over us and a willing surrender of our whole being to the place of
+worshipful submission which the Creator-creature circumstance makes
+proper.
+
+The moment we make up our minds that we are going on with this
+determination to exalt God over all we step out of the world's parade.
+We shall find ourselves out of adjustment to the ways of the world, and
+increasingly so as we make progress in the holy way. We shall acquire a
+new viewpoint; a new and different psychology will be formed within us;
+a new power will begin to surprise us by its upsurgings and its
+outgoings.
+
+Our break with the world will be the direct outcome of our changed
+relation to God. For the world of fallen men does not honor God.
+Millions call themselves by His Name, it is true, and pay some token
+respect to Him, but a simple test will show how little He is really
+honored among them. Let the average man be put to the proof on the
+question of who is _above_, and his true position will be exposed. Let
+him be forced into making a choice between God and money, between God
+and men, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human
+love, and God will take second place every time. Those other things will
+be exalted above. However the man may protest, the proof is in the
+choices he makes day after day throughout his life.
+
+"Be thou exalted" is the language of victorious spiritual experience. It
+is a little key to unlock the door to great treasures of grace. It is
+central in the life of God in the soul. Let the seeking man reach a
+place where life and lips join to say continually "Be thou exalted," and
+a thousand minor problems will be solved at once. His Christian life
+ceases to be the complicated thing it had been before and becomes the
+very essence of simplicity. By the exercise of his will he has set his
+course, and on that course he will stay as if guided by an automatic
+pilot. If blown off course for a moment by some adverse wind he will
+surely return again as by a secret bent of the soul. The hidden motions
+of the Spirit are working in his favor, and "the stars in their courses"
+fight for him. He has met his life problem at its center, and
+everything else must follow along.
+
+Let no one imagine that he will lose anything of human dignity by this
+voluntary sell-out of his all to his God. He does not by this degrade
+himself as a man; rather he finds his right place of high honor as one
+made in the image of his Creator. His deep disgrace lay in his moral
+derangement, his unnatural usurpation of the place of God. His honor
+will be proved by restoring again that stolen throne. In exalting God
+over all he finds his own highest honor upheld.
+
+Anyone who might feel reluctant to surrender his will to the will of
+another should remember Jesus' words, "Whosoever committeth sin is the
+servant of sin." We must of necessity be servant to someone, either to
+God or to sin. The sinner prides himself on his independence, completely
+overlooking the fact that he is the weak slave of the sins that rule his
+members. The man who surrenders to Christ exchanges a cruel slave driver
+for a kind and gentle Master whose yoke is easy and whose burden is
+light.
+
+Made as we were in the image of God we scarcely find it strange to take
+again our God as our All. God was our original habitat and our hearts
+cannot but feel at home when they enter again that ancient and beautiful
+abode.
+
+I hope it is clear that there is a logic behind God's claim to
+pre-eminence. That place is His by every right in earth or heaven. While
+we take to ourselves the place that is His the whole course of our
+lives is out of joint. Nothing will or can restore order till our hearts
+make the great decision: God shall be exalted above.
+
+"Them that honour me I will honour," said God once to a priest of
+Israel, and that ancient law of the Kingdom stands today unchanged by
+the passing of time or the changes of dispensation. The whole Bible and
+every page of history proclaim the perpetuation of that law. "If any man
+serve me, him will my Father honour," said our Lord Jesus, tying in the
+old with the new and revealing the essential unity of His ways with men.
+
+Sometimes the best way to see a thing is to look at its opposite. Eli
+and his sons are placed in the priesthood with the stipulation that they
+honor God in their lives and ministrations. This they fail to do, and
+God sends Samuel to announce the consequences. Unknown to Eli this law
+of reciprocal honor has been all the while secretly working, and now the
+time has come for judgment to fall. Hophni and Phineas, the degenerate
+priests, fall in battle, the wife of Hophni dies in childbirth, Israel
+flees before her enemies, the ark of God is captured by the Philistines
+and the old man Eli falls backward and dies of a broken neck. Thus stark
+utter tragedy followed upon Eli's failure to honor God.
+
+Now set over against this almost any Bible character who honestly tried
+to glorify God in his earthly walk. See how God winked at weaknesses
+and overlooked failures as He poured upon His servants grace and
+blessing untold. Let it be Abraham, Jacob, David, Daniel, Elijah or whom
+you will; honor followed honor as harvest the seed. The man of God set
+his heart to exalt God above all; God accepted his intention as fact and
+acted accordingly. Not perfection, but holy intention made the
+difference.
+
+In our Lord Jesus Christ this law was seen in simple perfection. In His
+lowly manhood He humbled Himself and gladly gave all glory to His Father
+in heaven. He sought not His own honor, but the honor of God who sent
+Him. "If I honour myself," He said on one occasion, "my honour is
+nothing; it is my Father that honoureth me." So far had the proud
+Pharisees departed from this law that they could not understand one who
+honored God at his own expense. "I honour my Father," said Jesus to
+them, "and ye do dishonour me."
+
+Another saying of Jesus, and a most disturbing one, was put in the form
+of a question, "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another,
+and seek not the honour that cometh from God alone?" If I understand
+this correctly Christ taught here the alarming doctrine that the desire
+for honor among men made belief impossible. Is this sin at the root of
+religious unbelief? Could it be that those "intellectual difficulties"
+which men blame for their inability to believe are but smoke screens to
+conceal the real cause that lies behind them? Was it this greedy desire
+for honor from man that made men into Pharisees and Pharisees into
+Deicides? Is this the secret back of religious self-righteousness and
+empty worship? I believe it may be. The whole course of the life is
+upset by failure to put God where He belongs. We exalt ourselves instead
+of God and the curse follows.
+
+In our desire after God let us keep always in mind that God also hath
+desire, and His desire is toward the sons of men, and more particularly
+toward those sons of men who will make the once-for-all decision to
+exalt Him over all. Such as these are precious to God above all
+treasures of earth or sea. In them God finds a theater where He can
+display His exceeding kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. With them God
+can walk unhindered, toward them He can act like the God He is.
+
+In speaking thus I have one fear; it is that I may convince the mind
+before God can win the heart. For this God-above-all position is one not
+easy to take. The mind may approve it while not having the consent of
+the will to put it into effect. While the imagination races ahead to
+honor God, the will may lag behind and the man never guess how divided
+his heart is. The whole man must make the decision before the heart can
+know any real satisfaction. God wants us all, and He will not rest till
+He gets us all. No part of the man will do.
+
+Let us pray over this in detail, throwing ourselves at God's feet and
+meaning everything we say. No one who prays thus in sincerity need wait
+long for tokens of divine acceptance. God will unveil His glory before
+His servant's eyes, and He will place all His treasures at the disposal
+of such a one, for He knows that His honor is safe in such consecrated
+hands.
+
+_O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth's
+treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life.
+Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be
+above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the
+earth. Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it mean the loss of
+bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses I shall keep my vow
+made this day before Thee. Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me
+ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity
+and my name be forgotten as a dream. Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place
+of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my
+family, my health and even my life itself. Let me decrease that Thou
+mayest increase, let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. Ride forth
+upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little
+beast, a colt, the foal of an ass, and let me hear the children cry to
+Thee, "Hosanna in the highest."_
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+_Meekness and Rest_
+
+     Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.--Matt. 5:5
+
+
+A fairly accurate description of the human race might be furnished one
+unacquainted with it by taking the Beatitudes, turning them wrong side
+out and saying, "Here is your human race." For the exact opposite of the
+virtues in the Beatitudes are the very qualities which distinguish human
+life and conduct.
+
+In the world of men we find nothing approaching the virtues of which
+Jesus spoke in the opening words of the famous Sermon on the Mount.
+Instead of poverty of spirit we find the rankest kind of pride; instead
+of mourners we find pleasure seekers; instead of meekness, arrogance;
+instead of hunger after righteousness we hear men saying, "I am rich and
+increased with goods and have need of nothing"; instead of mercy we find
+cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt imaginings; instead of
+peacemakers we find men quarrelsome and resentful; instead of rejoicing
+in mistreatment we find them fighting back with every weapon at their
+command.
+
+Of this kind of moral stuff civilized society is composed. The
+atmosphere is charged with it; we breathe it with every breath and drink
+it with our mother's milk. Culture and education refine these things
+slightly but leave them basically untouched. A whole world of literature
+has been created to justify this kind of life as the only normal one.
+And this is the more to be wondered at seeing that these are the evils
+which make life the bitter struggle it is for all of us. All our
+heartaches and a great many of our physical ills spring directly out of
+our sins. Pride, arrogance, resentfulness, evil imaginings, malice,
+greed: these are the sources of more human pain than all the diseases
+that ever afflicted mortal flesh.
+
+Into a world like this the sound of Jesus' words comes wonderful and
+strange, a visitation from above. It is well that He spoke, for no one
+else could have done it as well; and it is good that we listen. His
+words are the essence of truth. He is not offering an opinion; Jesus
+never uttered opinions. He never guessed; He knew, and He knows. His
+words are not as Solomon's were, the sum of sound wisdom or the results
+of keen observation. He spoke out of the fulness of His Godhead, and His
+words are very Truth itself. He is the only one who could say "blessed"
+with complete authority, for He is the Blessed One come from the world
+above to confer blessedness upon mankind. And His words were supported
+by deeds mightier than any performed on this earth by any other man. It
+is wisdom for us to listen.
+
+As was often so with Jesus, He used this word "meek" in a brief crisp
+sentence, and not till some time later did He go on to explain it. In
+the same book of Matthew He tells us more about it and applies it to our
+lives. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
+give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and
+lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is
+easy, and my burden is light." Here we have two things standing in
+contrast to each other, a burden and a rest. The burden is not a local
+one, peculiar to those first hearers, but one which is borne by the
+whole human race. It consists not of political oppression or poverty or
+hard work. It is far deeper than that. It is felt by the rich as well as
+the poor for it is something from which wealth and idleness can never
+deliver us.
+
+The burden borne by mankind is a heavy and a crushing thing. The word
+Jesus used means a load carried or toil borne to the point of
+exhaustion. Rest is simply release from that burden. It is not
+something we do, it is what comes to us when we cease to do. His own
+meekness, that is the rest.
+
+Let us examine our burden. It is altogether an interior one. It attacks
+the heart and the mind and reaches the body only from within. First,
+there is the burden of _pride_. The labor of self-love is a heavy one
+indeed. Think for yourself whether much of your sorrow has not arisen
+from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up
+as a little god to which you must be loyal there will be those who will
+delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can you hope to have
+inward peace? The heart's fierce effort to protect itself from every
+slight, to shield its touchy honor from the bad opinion of friend and
+enemy, will never let the mind have rest. Continue this fight through
+the years and the burden will become intolerable. Yet the sons of earth
+are carrying this burden continually, challenging every word spoken
+against them, cringing under every criticism, smarting under each
+fancied slight, tossing sleepless if another is preferred before them.
+
+Such a burden as this is not necessary to bear. Jesus calls us to His
+rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is
+greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the
+world is not worth the effort. He develops toward himself a kindly sense
+of humor and learns to say, "Oh, so you have been overlooked? They have
+placed someone else before you? They have whispered that you are pretty
+small stuff after all? And now you feel hurt because the world is saying
+about you the very things you have been saying about yourself? Only
+yesterday you were telling God that you were nothing, a mere worm of the
+dust. Where is your consistency? Come on, humble yourself, and cease to
+care what men think."
+
+The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own
+inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as
+strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has
+accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and
+helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at
+the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than
+angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto. He
+knows well that the world will never see him as God sees him and he has
+stopped caring. He rests perfectly content to allow God to place His own
+values. He will be patient to wait for the day when everything will get
+its own price tag and real worth will come into its own. Then the
+righteous shall shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father. He is
+willing to wait for that day.
+
+In the meantime he will have attained a place of soul rest. As he walks
+on in meekness he will be happy to let God defend him. The old struggle
+to defend himself is over. He has found the peace which meekness
+brings.
+
+Then also he will get deliverance from the burden of _pretense_. By this
+I mean not hypocrisy, but the common human desire to put the best foot
+forward and hide from the world our real inward poverty. For sin has
+played many evil tricks upon us, and one has been the infusing into us a
+false sense of shame. There is hardly a man or woman who dares to be
+just what he or she is without doctoring up the impression. The fear of
+being found out gnaws like rodents within their hearts. The man of
+culture is haunted by the fear that he will some day come upon a man
+more cultured than himself. The learned man fears to meet a man more
+learned than he. The rich man sweats under the fear that his clothes or
+his car or his house will sometime be made to look cheap by comparison
+with those of another rich man. So-called "society" runs by a motivation
+not higher than this, and the poorer classes on their level are little
+better.
+
+Let no one smile this off. These burdens are real, and little by little
+they kill the victims of this evil and unnatural way of life. And the
+psychology created by years of this kind of thing makes true meekness
+seem as unreal as a dream, as aloof as a star. To all the victims of the
+gnawing disease Jesus says, "Ye must become as little children." For
+little children do not compare; they receive direct enjoyment from what
+they have without relating it to something else or someone else. Only
+as they get older and sin begins to stir within their hearts do jealousy
+and envy appear. Then they are unable to enjoy what they have if someone
+else has something larger or better. At that early age does the galling
+burden come down upon their tender souls, and it never leaves them till
+Jesus sets them free.
+
+Another source of burden is _artificiality_. I am sure that most people
+live in secret fear that some day they will be careless and by chance an
+enemy or friend will be allowed to peep into their poor empty souls. So
+they are never relaxed. Bright people are tense and alert in fear that
+they may be trapped into saying something common or stupid. Traveled
+people are afraid that they may meet some Marco Polo who is able to
+describe some remote place where they have never been.
+
+This unnatural condition is part of our sad heritage of sin, but in our
+day it is aggravated by our whole way of life. Advertising is largely
+based upon this habit of pretense. "Courses" are offered in this or that
+field of human learning frankly appealing to the victim's desire to
+shine at a party. Books are sold, clothes and cosmetics are peddled, by
+playing continually upon this desire to appear what we are not.
+Artificiality is one curse that will drop away the moment we kneel at
+Jesus' feet and surrender ourselves to His meekness. Then we will not
+care what people think of us so long as God is pleased. Then _what we
+are_ will be everything; what we appear will take its place far down
+the scale of interest for us. Apart from sin we have nothing of which to
+be ashamed. Only an evil desire to shine makes us want to appear other
+than we are.
+
+The heart of the world is breaking under this load of pride and
+pretense. There is no release from our burden apart from the meekness of
+Christ. Good keen reasoning may help slightly, but so strong is this
+vice that if we push it down one place it will come up somewhere else.
+To men and women everywhere Jesus says, "Come unto me, and I will give
+you rest." The rest He offers is the rest of meekness, the blessed
+relief which comes when we accept ourselves for what we are and cease to
+pretend. It will take some courage at first, but the needed grace will
+come as we learn that we are sharing this new and easy yoke with the
+strong Son of God Himself. He calls it "my yoke," and He walks at one
+end while we walk at the other.
+
+_Lord, make me childlike. Deliver me from the urge to compete with
+another for place or prestige or position. I would be simple and artless
+as a little child. Deliver me from pose and pretense. Forgive me for
+thinking of myself. Help me to forget myself and find my true peace in
+beholding Thee. That Thou mayest answer this prayer I humble myself
+before Thee. Lay upon me Thy easy yoke of self-forgetfulness that
+through it I may find rest. Amen._
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+_The Sacrament of Living_
+
+     Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to
+     the glory of God.--I Cor. 10:31
+
+
+One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace which the Christian
+encounters is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas, the
+sacred and the secular. As these areas are conceived to exist apart from
+each other and to be morally and spiritually incompatible, and as we are
+compelled by the necessities of living to be always crossing back and
+forth from the one to the other, our inner lives tend to break up so
+that we live a divided instead of a unified life.
+
+Our trouble springs from the fact that we who follow Christ inhabit at
+once two worlds, the spiritual and the natural. As children of Adam we
+live our lives on earth subject to the limitations of the flesh and the
+weaknesses and ills to which human nature is heir. Merely to live among
+men requires of us years of hard toil and much care and attention to the
+things of this world. In sharp contrast to this is our life in the
+Spirit. There we enjoy another and higher kind of life; we are children
+of God; we possess heavenly status and enjoy intimate fellowship with
+Christ.
+
+This tends to divide our total life into two departments. We come
+unconsciously to recognize two sets of actions. The first are performed
+with a feeling of satisfaction and a firm assurance that they are
+pleasing to God. These are the sacred acts and they are usually thought
+to be prayer, Bible reading, hymn singing, church attendance and such
+other acts as spring directly from faith. They may be known by the fact
+that they have no direct relation to this world, and would have no
+meaning whatever except as faith shows us another world, "an house not
+made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
+
+Over against these sacred acts are the secular ones. They include all of
+the ordinary activities of life which we share with the sons and
+daughters of Adam: eating, sleeping, working, looking after the needs of
+the body and performing our dull and prosaic duties here on earth. These
+we often do reluctantly and with many misgivings, often apologizing to
+God for what we consider a waste of time and strength. The upshot of
+this is that we are uneasy most of the time. We go about our common
+tasks with a feeling of deep frustration, telling ourselves pensively
+that there's a better day coming when we shall slough off this earthly
+shell and be bothered no more with the affairs of this world.
+
+This is the old sacred-secular antithesis. Most Christians are caught in
+its trap. They cannot get a satisfactory adjustment between the claims
+of the two worlds. They try to walk the tight rope between two kingdoms
+and they find no peace in either. Their strength is reduced, their
+outlook confused and their joy taken from them.
+
+I believe this state of affairs to be wholly unnecessary. We have gotten
+ourselves on the horns of a dilemma, true enough, but the dilemma is not
+real. It is a creature of misunderstanding. The sacred-secular
+antithesis has no foundation in the New Testament. Without doubt a more
+perfect understanding of Christian truth will deliver us from it.
+
+The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our perfect example, and He knew no
+divided life. In the Presence of His Father He lived on earth without
+strain from babyhood to His death on the cross. God accepted the
+offering of His total life, and made no distinction between act and act.
+"I do always the things that please him," was His brief summary of His
+own life as it related to the Father. As He moved among men He was
+poised and restful. What pressure and suffering He endured grew out of
+His position as the world's sin bearer; they were never the result of
+moral uncertainty or spiritual maladjustment.
+
+Paul's exhortation to "do all to the glory of God" is more than pious
+idealism. It is an integral part of the sacred revelation and is to be
+accepted as the very Word of Truth. It opens before us the possibility
+of making every act of our lives contribute to the glory of God. Lest we
+should be too timid to include everything, Paul mentions specifically
+eating and drinking. This humble privilege we share with the beasts that
+perish. If these lowly animal acts can be so performed as to honor God,
+then it becomes difficult to conceive of one that cannot.
+
+That monkish hatred of the body which figures so prominently in the
+works of certain early devotional writers is wholly without support in
+the Word of God. Common modesty is found in the Sacred Scriptures, it is
+true, but never prudery or a false sense of shame. The New Testament
+accepts as a matter of course that in His incarnation our Lord took upon
+Him a real human body, and no effort is made to steer around the
+downright implications of such a fact. He lived in that body here among
+men and never once performed a non-sacred act. His presence in human
+flesh sweeps away forever the evil notion that there is about the human
+body something innately offensive to the Deity. God created our bodies,
+and we do not offend Him by placing the responsibility where it
+belongs. He is not ashamed of the work of His own hands.
+
+Perversion, misuse and abuse of our human powers should give us cause
+enough to be ashamed. Bodily acts done in sin and contrary to nature can
+never honor God. Wherever the human will introduces moral evil we have
+no longer our innocent and harmless powers as God made them; we have
+instead an abused and twisted thing which can never bring glory to its
+Creator.
+
+Let us, however, assume that perversion and abuse are not present. Let
+us think of a Christian believer in whose life the twin wonders of
+repentance and the new birth have been wrought. He is now living
+according to the will of God as he understands it from the written Word.
+Of such a one it may be said that every act of his life is or can be as
+truly sacred as prayer or baptism or the Lord's Supper. To say this is
+not to bring all acts down to one dead level; it is rather to lift every
+act up into a living kingdom and turn the whole life into a sacrament.
+If a sacrament is an external expression of an inward grace than we need
+not hesitate to accept the above thesis. By one act of consecration of
+our total selves to God we can make every subsequent act express that
+consecration. We need no more be ashamed of our body--the fleshly
+servant that carries us through life--than Jesus was of the humble beast
+upon which He rode into Jerusalem. "The Lord hath need of him" may well
+apply to our mortal bodies. If Christ dwells in us we may bear about the
+Lord of glory as the little beast did of old and give occasion to the
+multitudes to cry, "Hosanna in the highest."
+
+That we _see_ this truth is not enough. If we would escape from the
+toils of the sacred-secular dilemma the truth must "run in our blood"
+and condition the complexion of our thoughts. We must practice living to
+the glory of God, actually and determinedly. By meditation upon this
+truth, by talking it over with God often in our prayers, by recalling it
+to our minds frequently as we move about among men, a _sense_ of its
+wondrous meaning will begin to take hold of us. The old painful duality
+will go down before a restful unity of life. The knowledge that we are
+all God's, that He has received all and rejected nothing, will unify our
+inner lives and make everything sacred to us.
+
+This is not quite all. Long-held habits do not die easily. It will take
+intelligent thought and a great deal of reverent prayer to escape
+completely from the sacred-secular psychology. For instance it may be
+difficult for the average Christian to get hold of the idea that his
+daily labors can be performed as acts of worship acceptable to God by
+Jesus Christ. The old antithesis will crop up in the back of his head
+sometimes to disturb his peace of mind. Nor will that old serpent the
+devil take all this lying down. He will be there in the cab or at the
+desk or in the field to remind the Christian that he is giving the
+better part of his day to the things of this world and allotting to his
+religious duties only a trifling portion of his time. And unless great
+care is taken this will create confusion and bring discouragement and
+heaviness of heart.
+
+We can meet this successfully only by the exercise of an aggressive
+faith. We must offer all our acts to God and believe that He accepts
+them. Then hold firmly to that position and keep insisting that every
+act of every hour of the day and night be included in the transaction.
+Keep reminding God in our times of private prayer that we mean every act
+for His glory; then supplement those times by a thousand thought-prayers
+as we go about the job of living. Let us practice the fine art of making
+every work a priestly ministration. Let us believe that God is in all
+our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.
+
+A concomitant of the error which we have been discussing is the
+sacred-secular antithesis as applied to places. It is little short of
+astonishing that we can read the New Testament and still believe in the
+inherent sacredness of places as distinguished from other places. This
+error is so widespread that one feels all alone when he tries to combat
+it. It has acted as a kind of dye to color the thinking of religious
+persons and has colored the eyes as well so that it is all but
+impossible to detect its fallacy. In the face of every New Testament
+teaching to the contrary it has been said and sung throughout the
+centuries and accepted as a part of the Christian message, the which it
+most surely is not. Only the Quakers, so far as my knowledge goes, have
+had the perception to see the error and the courage to expose it.
+
+Here are the facts as I see them. For four hundred years Israel had
+dwelt in Egypt, surrounded by the crassest idolatry. By the hand of
+Moses they were brought out at last and started toward the land of
+promise. The very idea of holiness had been lost to them. To correct
+this, God began at the bottom. He localized Himself in the cloud and
+fire and later when the tabernacle had been built He dwelt in fiery
+manifestation in the Holy of Holies. By innumerable distinctions God
+taught Israel the difference between holy and unholy. There were holy
+days, holy vessels, holy garments. There were washings, sacrifices,
+offerings of many kinds. By these means Israel learned that _God is
+holy_. It was this that He was teaching them. Not the holiness of things
+or places, but the holiness of Jehovah was the lesson they must learn.
+
+Then came the great day when Christ appeared. Immediately He began to
+say, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time--but _I_ say
+unto you." The Old Testament schooling was over. When Christ died on the
+cross the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom. The Holy of
+Holies was opened to everyone who would enter in faith. Christ's words
+were remembered, "The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this
+mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.... But the hour
+cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
+in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God
+is Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
+truth."
+
+Shortly after, Paul took up the cry of liberty and declared all meats
+clean, every day holy, all places sacred and every act acceptable to
+God. The sacredness of times and places, a half-light necessary to the
+education of the race, passed away before the full sun of spiritual
+worship.
+
+The essential spirituality of worship remained the possession of the
+Church until it was slowly lost with the passing of the years. Then the
+natural _legality_ of the fallen hearts of men began to introduce the
+old distinctions. The Church came to observe again days and seasons and
+times. Certain places were chosen and marked out as holy in a special
+sense. Differences were observed between one and another day or place or
+person, "The sacraments" were first two, then three, then four until
+with the triumph of Romanism they were fixed at seven.
+
+In all charity, and with no desire to reflect unkindly upon any
+Christian, however misled, I would point out that the Roman Catholic
+church represents today the sacred-secular heresy carried to its
+logical conclusion. Its deadliest effect is the complete cleavage it
+introduces between religion and life. Its teachers attempt to avoid this
+snare by many footnotes and multitudinous explanations, but the mind's
+instinct for logic is too strong. In practical living the cleavage is a
+fact.
+
+From this bondage reformers and puritans and mystics have labored to
+free us. Today the trend in conservative circles is back toward that
+bondage again. It is said that a horse after it has been led out of a
+burning building will sometimes by a strange obstinacy break loose from
+its rescuer and dash back into the building again to perish in the
+flame. By some such stubborn tendency toward error Fundamentalism in our
+day is moving back toward spiritual slavery. The observation of days and
+times is becoming more and more prominent among us. "Lent" and "holy
+week" and "good" Friday are words heard more and more frequently upon
+the lips of gospel Christians. We do not know when we are well off.
+
+In order that I may be understood and not be misunderstood I would throw
+into relief the practical implications of the teaching for which I have
+been arguing, i.e., the sacramental quality of every day living. Over
+against its positive meanings I should like to point out a few things it
+does not mean.
+
+It does not mean, for instance, that everything we do is of equal
+importance with everything else we do or may do. One act of a good
+man's life may differ widely from another in importance. Paul's sewing
+of tents was not equal to his writing of an Epistle to the Romans, but
+both were accepted of God and both were true acts of worship. Certainly
+it is more important to lead a soul to Christ than to plant a garden,
+but the planting of the garden _can_ be as holy an act as the winning of
+a soul.
+
+Again, it does not mean that every man is as useful as every other man.
+Gifts differ in the body of Christ. A Billy Bray is not to be compared
+with a Luther or a Wesley for sheer usefulness to the Church and to the
+world; but the service of the less gifted brother is as pure as that of
+the more gifted, and God accepts both with equal pleasure.
+
+The "layman" need never think of his humbler task as being inferior to
+that of his minister. Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is
+called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is
+not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or
+secular, it is _why_ he does it. The motive is everything. Let a man
+sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common
+act. All he does is good and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For
+such a man, living itself will be sacramental and the whole world a
+sanctuary. His entire life will be a priestly ministration. As he
+performs his never so simple task he will hear the voice of the seraphim
+saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is
+full of his glory."
+
+_Lord, I would trust Thee completely; I would be altogether Thine; I
+would exalt Thee above all. I desire that I may feel no sense of
+possessing anything outside of Thee. I want constantly to be aware of
+Thy overshadowing Presence and to hear Thy speaking Voice. I long to
+live in restful sincerity of heart. I want to live so fully in the
+Spirit that all my thought may be as sweet incense ascending to Thee and
+every act of my life may be an act of worship. Therefore I pray in the
+words of Thy great servant of old, "I beseech Thee so for to cleanse the
+intent of mine heart with the unspeakable gift of Thy grace, that I may
+perfectly love Thee and worthily praise Thee." And all this I
+confidently believe Thou wilt grant me through the merits of Jesus
+Christ Thy Son. Amen._
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pursuit of God, by A. W. Tozer
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pursuit of God, by A. W. Tozer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
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+Title: The Pursuit of God
+
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+
+Release Date: April 23, 2008 [EBook #25141]
+
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+
+<h1>                           The Pursuit of God</h1>
+
+
+<div style="width: 30em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p><i><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">"Then shall we know,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;">if we follow on to know the Lord:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">his going forth is prepared as the morning."</span></i><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 22.5em;" class="smcap">hosea 6:3</span><br /><br />
+</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center"><span style="font-size: large;">
+by A. W. Tozer<br/><br/>
+
+introduction by<br/>
+Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer</span><br/><br/>
+CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS, INC.&nbsp;&nbsp;HARRISBURG, PA.<br/>
+COPYRIGHT MCMXLVIII BY CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS, INC.<br/><br/>
+<i>Printed in United States</i></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a><i>Contents</i></h2>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table class="TOC" border="0" style="padding: 20px;" summary="Contents">
+
+<tr><td align="right"></td><td align="left"><i>Introduction</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right"></td><td align="left"><i>Preface</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">I</td><td align="left"><i>Following Hard after God</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">II</td><td align="left"><i>The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">III</td><td align="left"><i>Removing the Veil</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">IV</td><td align="left"><i>Apprehending God</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">V</td><td align="left"><i>The Universal Presence</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">VI</td><td align="left"><i>The Speaking Voice</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">VII</td><td align="left"><i>The Gaze of the Soul</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">VIII</td><td align="left"><i>Restoring the Creator-creature Relation</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">IX</td><td align="left"><i>Meekness and Rest</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">X</td><td align="left"><i>The Sacrament of Living</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Introduction" id="Introduction"></a><i>Introduction</i></h2>
+
+
+<p>Here is a masterly study of the inner life by a heart
+thirsting after God, eager to grasp at least the outskirts
+of His ways, the abyss of His love for sinners, and the
+height of His unapproachable majesty&mdash;and it was
+written by a busy pastor in Chicago!</p>
+
+<p>Who could imagine David writing the twenty-third
+Psalm on South Halsted Street, or a medieval
+mystic finding inspiration in a small study on the
+second floor of a frame house on that vast, flat checker-board
+of endless streets</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><i>
+<span class="i0">Where cross the crowded ways of life<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where sound the cries of race and clan,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In haunts of wretchedness and need,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On shadowed threshold dark with fears,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And paths where hide the lures of greed ...<br /></span>
+</i></div></div>
+
+<p>But even as Dr. Frank Mason North, of New
+York, says in his immortal poem, so Mr. Tozer says
+in this book:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><i>
+<span class="i0">Above the noise of selfish strife<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We hear Thy voice, O Son of Man.<br /></span>
+</i></div></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>My acquaintance with the author is limited to
+brief visits and loving fellowship in his church. There
+I discovered a self-made scholar, an omnivorous reader
+with a remarkable library of theological and devotional
+books, and one who seemed to burn the midnight oil
+in pursuit of God. His book is the result of long meditation
+and much prayer. It is not a collection of sermons.
+It does not deal with the pulpit and the pew but
+with the soul athirst for God. The chapters could be
+summarized in Moses' prayer, "Show me thy glory,"
+or Paul's exclamation, "O the depth of the riches both
+of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" It is theology
+not of the head but of the heart.</p>
+
+<p>There is deep insight, sobriety of style, and a
+catholicity of outlook that is refreshing. The author has
+few quotations but he knows the saints and mystics
+of the centuries&mdash;Augustine, Nicholas of Cusa,
+Thomas &agrave; Kempis, von H&uuml;gel, Finney, Wesley and
+many more. The ten chapters are heart searching and
+the prayers at the close of each are for closet, not pulpit.
+<i>I felt the nearness of God while reading them.</i></p>
+
+<p>Here is a book for every pastor, missionary, and
+devout Christian. It deals with the deep things of God
+and the riches of His grace. Above all, it has the keynote
+of sincerity and humility.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right;">
+<i>Samuel M. Zwemer</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>New York City</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Preface" id="Preface"></a><i>Preface</i></h2>
+
+
+<p>In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering
+gleam appears: within the fold of conservative Christianity
+there are to be found increasing numbers of
+persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing
+hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual
+realities and will not be put off with words, nor will
+they be content with correct "interpretations" of truth.
+They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied
+till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living
+Water.</p>
+
+<p>This is the only real harbinger of revival which
+I have been able to detect anywhere on the religious
+horizon. It may be the cloud the size of a man's hand
+for which a few saints here and there have been looking.
+It can result in a resurrection of life for many souls
+and a recapture of that radiant wonder which should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+accompany faith in Christ, that wonder which has all
+but fled the Church of God in our day.</p>
+
+<p>But this hunger must be recognized by our religious
+leaders. Current evangelicalism has (to change
+the figure) laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into
+parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and
+rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not
+a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel. But God
+be thanked that there are a few who care. They are
+those who, while they love the altar and delight in the
+sacrifice, are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the
+continued absence of fire. They desire God above all.
+They are athirst to taste for themselves the "piercing
+sweetness" of the love of Christ about Whom all the
+holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing.</p>
+
+<p>There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth
+correctly the principles of the doctrines of Christ, but
+too many of these seem satisfied to teach the fundamentals
+of the faith year after year, strangely unaware
+that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence,
+nor anything unusual in their personal lives. They minister
+constantly to believers who feel within their
+breasts a longing which their teaching simply does not
+satisfy.</p>
+
+<p>I trust I speak in charity, but the lack in our
+pulpits is real. Milton's terrible sentence applies to
+our day as accurately as it did to his: "The hungry
+sheep look up, and are not fed." It is a solemn thing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
+and no small scandal in the Kingdom, to see God's
+children starving while actually seated at the Father's
+table. The truth of Wesley's words is established before
+our eyes: "Orthodoxy, or right opinion, is, at best, a
+very slender part of religion. Though right tempers
+cannot subsist without right opinions, yet right opinions
+may subsist without right tempers. There may be
+a right opinion of God without either love or one right
+temper toward Him. Satan is a proof of this."</p>
+
+<p>Thanks to our splendid Bible societies and to
+other effective agencies for the dissemination of the
+Word, there are today many millions of people who
+hold "right opinions," probably more than ever before
+in the history of the Church. Yet I wonder if there was
+ever a time when true spiritual worship was at a lower
+ebb. To great sections of the Church the art of worship
+has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that
+strange and foreign thing called the "program." This
+word has been borrowed from the stage and applied
+with sad wisdom to the type of public service which
+now passes for worship among us.</p>
+
+<p>Sound Bible exposition is an imperative <i>must</i> in
+the Church of the Living God. Without it no church
+can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning
+of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such
+way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual
+nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words
+that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+and until the hearers find God in personal experience
+they are not the better for having heard the truth. The
+Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men
+to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that
+they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His
+Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of
+the very God Himself in the core and center of their
+hearts.</p>
+
+<p>This book is a modest attempt to aid God's hungry
+children so to find Him. Nothing here is new except
+in the sense that it is a discovery which my own heart
+has made of spiritual realities most delightful and wonderful
+to me. Others before me have gone much farther
+into these holy mysteries than I have done, but if my
+fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those
+who can light their candle at its flame.</p>
+
+<p>
+A. W. Tozer<br />
+Chicago, Ill.<br />
+June 16, 1948<br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="I_Following_Hard_after_God" id="I_Following_Hard_after_God"></a>I&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Following Hard after God</i></h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>My soul followeth hard after thee:
+thy right hand upholdeth me.&mdash;<i>Psa. 63:8</i></p></div>
+
+<p>Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient
+grace, which briefly stated means this, that before a
+man can seek God, God must first have sought the man.</p>
+
+<p>Before a sinful man can think a right thought of
+God, there must have been a work of enlightenment
+done within him; imperfect it may be, but a true work
+nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and
+seeking and praying which may follow.</p>
+
+<p>We pursue God because, and only because, He
+has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit.
+"No man can come to me," said our Lord, "except
+the Father which hath sent me draw him," and it is
+by this very prevenient <i>drawing</i> that God takes from us
+every vestige of credit for the act of coming. The impulse
+to pursue God originates with God, but the out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>working
+of that impulse is our following hard after
+Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him we are
+already in His hand: "Thy right hand upholdeth me."</p>
+
+<p>In this divine "upholding" and human "following"
+there is no contradiction. All is of God, for as von
+H&uuml;gel teaches, <i>God is always previous</i>. In practice,
+however, (that is, where God's previous working meets
+man's present response) man must pursue God. On
+our part there must be positive reciprocation if this
+secret drawing of God is to eventuate in identifiable
+experience of the Divine. In the warm language of
+personal feeling this is stated in the Forty-second
+Psalm: "As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
+so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth
+for God, for the living God: when shall I come
+and appear before God?" This is deep calling unto
+deep, and the longing heart will understand it.</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of justification by faith&mdash;a Biblical
+truth, and a blessed relief from sterile legalism and unavailing
+self-effort&mdash;has in our time fallen into evil
+company and been interpreted by many in such manner
+as actually to bar men from the knowledge of God.
+The whole transaction of religious conversion has been
+made mechanical and spiritless. Faith may now be
+exercised without a jar to the moral life and without
+embarrassment to the Adamic ego. Christ may be "received"
+without creating any special love for Him in
+the soul of the receiver. The man is "saved," but he is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+not hungry nor thirsty after God. In fact he is specifically
+taught to be satisfied and encouraged to be
+content with little.</p>
+
+<p>The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders
+of His world; we Christians are in real danger of
+losing God amid the wonders of His Word. We have
+almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such,
+can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in
+personality to be able to know other personalities, but
+full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be
+achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and
+loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of
+both can be explored.</p>
+
+<p>All social intercourse between human beings is a
+response of personality to personality, grading upward
+from the most casual brush between man and man to
+the fullest, most intimate communion of which the
+human soul is capable. Religion, so far as it is genuine,
+is in essence the response of created personalities to the
+Creating Personality, God. "This is life eternal, that
+they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
+Christ, whom thou hast sent."</p>
+
+<p>God is a Person, and in the deep of His mighty
+nature He thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires
+and suffers as any other person may. In making Himself
+known to us He stays by the familiar pattern of
+personality. He communicates with us through the
+avenues of our minds, our wills and our emotions. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and
+thought between God and the soul of the redeemed
+man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion.</p>
+
+<p>This intercourse between God and the soul is
+known to us in conscious personal awareness. It is personal:
+that is, it does not come through the body of
+believers, as such, but is known to the individual, and
+to the body through the individuals which compose it.
+And it is conscious: that is, it does not stay below the
+threshold of consciousness and work there unknown to
+the soul (as, for instance, infant baptism is thought
+by some to do), but comes within the field of awareness
+where the man can "know" it as he knows any
+other fact of experience.</p>
+
+<p>You and I are in little (our sins excepted) what
+God is in large. Being made in His image we have
+within us the capacity to know Him. In our sins we
+lack only the power. The moment the Spirit has quickened
+us to life in regeneration our whole being senses
+its kinship to God and leaps up in joyous recognition.
+That is the heavenly birth without which we cannot
+see the Kingdom of God. It is, however, not an end
+but an inception, for now begins the glorious pursuit,
+the heart's happy exploration of the infinite riches of
+the Godhead. That is where we begin, I say, but where
+we stop no man has yet discovered, for there is in the
+awful and mysterious depths of the Triune God
+neither limit nor end.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><i>
+<span class="i0">Shoreless Ocean, who can sound Thee?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thine own eternity is round Thee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Majesty divine!<br /></span>
+</i></div></div>
+
+<p>To have found God and still to pursue Him is the
+soul's paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied
+religionist, but justified in happy experience
+by the children of the burning heart. St. Bernard stated
+this holy paradox in a musical quatrain that will be
+instantly understood by every worshipping soul:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><i>
+<span class="i0">We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And long to feast upon Thee still:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.<br /></span>
+</i></div></div>
+
+<p>Come near to the holy men and women of the past
+and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after
+God. They mourned for Him, they prayed and
+wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season
+and out, and when they had found Him the finding
+was all the sweeter for the long seeking. Moses used
+the fact that he knew God as an argument for knowing
+Him better. "Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have
+found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I
+may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight"; and
+from there he rose to make the daring request, "I
+beseech thee, show me thy glory." God was frankly
+pleased by this display of ardor, and the next day called
+Moses into the mount, and there in solemn procession
+made all His glory pass before him.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>David's life was a torrent of spiritual desire, and
+his psalms ring with the cry of the seeker and the glad
+shout of the finder. Paul confessed the mainspring of
+his life to be his burning desire after Christ. "That I
+may know Him," was the goal of his heart, and to this
+he sacrificed everything. "Yea doubtless, and I count
+all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
+of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered
+the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that
+I may win Christ."</p>
+
+<p>Hymnody is sweet with the longing after God,
+the God whom, while the singer seeks, he knows he
+has already found. "His track I see and I'll pursue,"
+sang our fathers only a short generation ago, but that
+song is heard no more in the great congregation. How
+tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking
+done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to
+center upon the initial act of "accepting" Christ (a
+term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible)
+and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further
+revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared
+in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we
+have found Him we need no more seek Him. This is
+set before us as the last word in orthodoxy, and it is
+taken for granted that no Bible-taught Christian ever
+believed otherwise. Thus the whole testimony of the
+worshipping, seeking, singing Church on that subject
+is crisply set aside. The experiential heart-theology of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+a grand army of fragrant saints is rejected in favor of
+a smug interpretation of Scripture which would certainly
+have sounded strange to an Augustine, a Rutherford
+or a Brainerd.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of this great chill there are some, I
+rejoice to acknowledge, who will not be content with
+shallow logic. They will admit the force of the argument,
+and then turn away with tears to hunt some
+lonely place and pray, "O God, show me thy glory."
+They want to taste, to touch with their hearts, to see
+with their inner eyes the wonder that is God.</p>
+
+<p>I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing
+after God. The lack of it has brought us to our
+present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about
+our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire.
+Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth.
+Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation
+of Christ to His people. He waits to be
+wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so
+long, so very long, in vain.</p>
+
+<p>Every age has its own characteristics. Right now
+we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity
+which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its
+stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world
+of nervous activities which occupy time and attention
+but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The
+shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of
+our worship, and that servile imitation of the world<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+which marks our promotional methods all testify that
+we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the
+peace of God scarcely at all.</p>
+
+<p>If we would find God amid all the religious externals
+we must first determine to find Him, and then
+proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God
+discovers Himself to "babes" and hides Himself in
+thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We
+must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip
+down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly
+few). We must put away all effort to impress,
+and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If
+we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.</p>
+
+<p>When religion has said its last word, there is little
+that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit
+of seeking <i>God-and</i> effectively prevents us from finding
+God in full revelation. In the "and" lies our great
+woe. If we omit the "and" we shall soon find God, and
+in Him we shall find that for which we have all our
+lives been secretly longing.</p>
+
+<p>We need not fear that in seeking God only we
+may narrow our lives or restrict the motions of our
+expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We can well
+afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice
+the many for the One.</p>
+
+<p>The author of the quaint old English classic, <i>The
+Cloud of Unknowing</i>, teaches us how to do this. "Lift
+up thine heart unto God with a meek stirring of love;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>
+and mean Himself, and none of His goods. And thereto,
+look thee loath to think on aught but God Himself.
+So that nought work in thy wit, nor in thy will, but
+only God Himself. This is the work of the soul that
+most pleaseth God."</p>
+
+<p>Again, he recommends that in prayer we practice
+a further stripping down of everything, even of our
+theology. "For it sufficeth enough, a naked intent direct
+unto God without any other cause than Himself."
+Yet underneath all his thinking lay the broad foundation
+of New Testament truth, for he explains that by
+"Himself" he means "God that made thee, and bought
+thee, and that graciously called thee to thy degree."
+And he is all for simplicity: If we would have religion
+"lapped and folden in one word, for that thou shouldst
+have better hold thereupon, take thee but a little word
+of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, for even
+the shorter it is the better it accordeth with the work of
+the Spirit. And such a word is this word GOD or this
+word LOVE."</p>
+
+<p>When the Lord divided Canaan among the tribes
+of Israel Levi received no share of the land. God said
+to him simply, "I am thy part and thine inheritance,"
+and by those words made him richer than all his brethren,
+richer than all the kings and rajas who have ever
+lived in the world. And there is a spiritual principle
+here, a principle still valid for every priest of the Most
+High God.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>The man who has God for his treasure has all
+things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied
+him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment
+of them will be so tempered that they will never be
+necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go,
+one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for
+having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction,
+all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose
+he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in
+One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.</p>
+
+<p><i>O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has
+both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am
+painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am
+ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God,
+I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing;
+I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy
+glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed.
+Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to
+my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come
+away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up
+from this misty lowland where I have wandered so
+long. In Jesus' Name, Amen.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="II_The_Blessedness_of_Possessing_Nothing" id="II_The_Blessedness_of_Possessing_Nothing"></a>II&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing</i></h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Blessed are the poor in spirit: for
+theirs is the kingdom of heaven.&mdash;<i>Matt. 5:3</i></p></div>
+
+<p>Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He
+first prepared for him by creating a world of useful and
+pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the
+Genesis account of the creation these are called simply
+"things." They were made for man's uses, but they
+were meant always to be external to the man and subservient
+to him. In the deep heart of the man was a
+shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within
+him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God
+had showered upon him.</p>
+
+<p>But sin has introduced complications and has
+made those very gifts of God a potential source of ruin
+to the soul.</p>
+
+<p>Our woes began when God was forced out of His
+central shrine and "things" were allowed to enter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+Within the human heart "things" have taken over.
+Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts,
+for God is crowned there no longer, but there in the
+moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight
+among themselves for first place on the throne.</p>
+
+<p>This is not a mere metaphor, but an accurate
+analysis of our real spiritual trouble. There is within
+the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life
+whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets
+"things" with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns
+"my" and "mine" look innocent enough in print, but
+their constant and universal use is significant. They
+express the real nature of the old Adamic man better
+than a thousand volumes of theology could do. They
+are verbal symptoms of our deep disease. The roots of
+our hearts have grown down into <i>things</i>, and we dare
+not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become
+necessary to us, a development never originally intended.
+God's gifts now take the place of God, and
+the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous
+substitution.</p>
+
+<p>Our Lord referred to this tyranny of <i>things</i> when
+He said to His disciples, "If any man will come after
+me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
+follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose
+it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall
+find it."</p>
+
+<p>Breaking this truth into fragments for our better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+understanding, it would seem that there is within each
+of us an enemy which we tolerate at our peril. Jesus
+called it "life" and "self," or as we would say, the <i>self-life</i>.
+Its chief characteristic is its possessiveness: the
+words "gain" and "profit" suggest this. To allow this
+enemy to live is in the end to lose everything. To repudiate
+it and give up all for Christ's sake is to lose
+nothing at last, but to preserve everything unto life
+eternal. And possibly also a hint is given here as to
+the only effective way to destroy this foe: it is by the
+Cross. "Let him take up his cross and follow me."</p>
+
+<p>The way to deeper knowledge of God is through
+the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of
+all things. The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom
+are they who have repudiated every external thing and
+have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing.
+These are the "poor in spirit." They have reached an
+inward state paralleling the outward circumstances of
+the common beggar in the streets of Jerusalem; that is
+what the word "poor" as Christ used it actually means.
+These blessed poor are no longer slaves to the tyranny
+of <i>things</i>. They have broken the yoke of the oppressor;
+and this they have done not by fighting but by surrendering.
+Though free from all sense of possessing, they
+yet possess all things. "Theirs is the kingdom of
+heaven."</p>
+
+<p>Let me exhort you to take this seriously. It is not
+to be understood as mere Bible teaching to be stored<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+away in the mind along with an inert mass of other
+doctrines. It is a marker on the road to greener pastures,
+a path chiseled against the steep sides of the mount of
+God. We dare not try to by-pass it if we would follow
+on in this holy pursuit. We must ascend a step at a
+time. If we refuse one step we bring our progress to
+an end.</p>
+
+<p>As is frequently true, this New Testament principle
+of spiritual life finds its best illustration in the Old
+Testament. In the story of Abraham and Isaac we have
+a dramatic picture of the surrendered life as well as
+an excellent commentary on the first Beatitude.</p>
+
+<p>Abraham was old when Isaac was born, old
+enough indeed to have been his grandfather, and the
+child became at once the delight and idol of his heart.
+From that moment when he first stooped to take the
+tiny form awkwardly in his arms he was an eager love
+slave of his son. God went out of His way to comment
+on the strength of this affection. And it is not hard to
+understand. The baby represented everything sacred to
+his father's heart: the promises of God, the covenants,
+the hopes of the years and the long messianic dream.
+As he watched him grow from babyhood to young
+manhood the heart of the old man was knit closer and
+closer with the life of his son, till at last the relationship
+bordered upon the perilous. It was then that God
+stepped in to save both father and son from the consequences
+of an uncleansed love.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+"Take now thy son," said God to Abraham, "thine
+only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
+land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering
+upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."
+The sacred writer spares us a close-up of the agony
+that night on the slopes near Beersheba when the aged
+man had it out with his God, but respectful imagination
+may view in awe the bent form and convulsive
+wrestling alone under the stars. Possibly not again
+until a Greater than Abraham wrestled in the Garden
+of Gethsemane did such mortal pain visit a human
+soul. If only the man himself might have been allowed
+to die. That would have been easier a thousand times,
+for he was old now, and to die would have been no
+great ordeal for one who had walked so long with God.
+Besides, it would have been a last sweet pleasure to
+let his dimming vision rest upon the figure of his stalwart
+son who would live to carry on the Abrahamic
+line and fulfill in himself the promises of God made
+long before in Ur of the Chaldees.</p>
+
+<p>How should he slay the lad! Even if he could get
+the consent of his wounded and protesting heart, how
+could he reconcile the act with the promise, "In Isaac
+shall thy seed be called"? This was Abraham's trial
+by fire, and he did not fail in the crucible. While the
+stars still shone like sharp white points above the tent
+where the sleeping Isaac lay, and long before the gray
+dawn had begun to lighten the east, the old saint had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+made up his mind. He would offer his son as God had
+directed him to do, and <i>then trust God to raise him
+from the dead</i>. This, says the writer to the Hebrews,
+was the solution his aching heart found sometime in
+the dark night, and he rose "early in the morning" to
+carry out the plan. It is beautiful to see that, while he
+erred as to God's method, he had correctly sensed the
+secret of His great heart. And the solution accords well
+with the New Testament Scripture, "Whosoever will
+lose for my sake shall find."</p>
+
+<p>God let the suffering old man go through with it
+up to the point where He knew there would be no
+retreat, and then forbade him to lay a hand upon the
+boy. To the wondering patriarch He now says in
+effect, "It's all right, Abraham. I never intended that
+you should actually slay the lad. I only wanted to
+remove him from the temple of your heart that I might
+reign unchallenged there. I wanted to correct the perversion
+that existed in your love. Now you may have
+the boy, sound and well. Take him and go back to
+your tent. Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing
+that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son,
+from me."</p>
+
+<p>Then heaven opened and a voice was heard saying
+to him, "By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord,
+for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not
+withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I
+will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
+seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which
+is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the
+gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations
+of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my
+voice."</p>
+
+<p>The old man of God lifted his head to respond to
+the Voice, and stood there on the mount strong and
+pure and grand, a man marked out by the Lord for
+special treatment, a friend and favorite of the Most
+High. Now he was a man wholly surrendered, a man
+utterly obedient, a man who possessed nothing. He
+had concentrated his all in the person of his dear son,
+and God had taken it from him. God could have begun
+out on the margin of Abraham's life and worked inward
+to the center; He chose rather to cut quickly to the
+heart and have it over in one sharp act of separation.
+In dealing thus He practiced an economy of means
+and time. It hurt cruelly, but it was effective.</p>
+
+<p>I have said that Abraham possessed nothing. Yet
+was not this poor man rich? Everything he had owned
+before was his still to enjoy: sheep, camels, herds, and
+goods of every sort. He had also his wife and his friends,
+and best of all he had his son Isaac safe by his side.
+He had everything, but <i>he possessed nothing</i>. There
+is the spiritual secret. There is the sweet theology of
+the heart which can be learned only in the school of
+renunciation. The books on systematic theology overlook
+this, but the wise will understand.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+After that bitter and blessed experience I think
+the words "my" and "mine" never had again the same
+meaning for Abraham. The sense of possession which
+they connote was gone from his heart. <i>Things</i> had
+been cast out forever. They had now become external
+to the man. His inner heart was free from them. The
+world said, "Abraham is rich," but the aged patriarch
+only smiled. He could not explain it to them, but he
+knew that he owned nothing, that his real treasures
+were inward and eternal.</p>
+
+<p>There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging
+to things is one of the most harmful habits in the
+life. Because it is so natural it is rarely recognized for
+the evil that it is; but its outworkings are tragic.</p>
+
+<p>We are often hindered from giving up our treasures
+to the Lord out of fear for their safety; this is
+especially true when those treasures are loved relatives
+and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord
+came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe
+which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe
+which is not so committed.</p>
+
+<p>Our gifts and talents should also be turned over
+to Him. They should be recognized for what they are,
+God's loan to us, and should never be considered in
+any sense our own. We have no more right to claim
+credit for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong
+muscles. "For who maketh thee to differ from another?
+and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+The Christian who is alive enough to know himself
+even slightly will recognize the symptoms of this
+possession malady, and will grieve to find them in his
+own heart. If the longing after God is strong enough
+within him he will want to do something about the
+matter. Now, what should he do?</p>
+
+<p>First of all he should put away all defense and
+make no attempt to excuse himself either in his own
+eyes or before the Lord. Whoever defends himself will
+have himself for his defense, and he will have no
+other; but let him come defenseless before the Lord
+and he will have for his defender no less than God
+Himself. Let the inquiring Christian trample under
+foot every slippery trick of his deceitful heart and
+insist upon frank and open relations with the Lord.</p>
+
+<p>Then he should remember that this is holy business.
+No careless or casual dealings will suffice. Let
+him come to God in full determination to be heard.
+Let him insist that God accept his all, that He take
+<i>things</i> out of his heart and Himself reign there in
+power. It may be he will need to become specific, to
+name things and people by their names one by one. If
+he will become drastic enough he can shorten the time
+of his travail from years to minutes and enter the good
+land long before his slower brethren who coddle their
+feelings and insist upon caution in their dealings
+with God.</p>
+
+<p>Let us never forget that such a truth as this can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>not
+be learned by rote as one would learn the facts of
+physical science. They must be <i>experienced</i> before we
+can really know them. We must in our hearts live
+through Abraham's harsh and bitter experiences if
+we would know the blessedness which follows them.
+The ancient curse will not go out painlessly; the tough
+old miser within us will not lie down and die obedient
+to our command. He must be torn out of our heart like
+a plant from the soil; he must be extracted in agony and
+blood like a tooth from the jaw. He must be expelled
+from our soul by violence as Christ expelled the money
+changers from the temple. And we shall need to steel
+ourselves against his piteous begging, and to recognize
+it as springing out of self-pity, one of the most reprehensible
+sins of the human heart.</p>
+
+<p>If we would indeed know God in growing intimacy
+we must go this way of renunciation. And if we
+are set upon the pursuit of God He will sooner or later
+bring us to this test. Abraham's testing was, at the time,
+not known to him as such, yet if he had taken some
+course other than the one he did, the whole history
+of the Old Testament would have been different. God
+would have found His man, no doubt, but the loss to
+Abraham would have been tragic beyond the telling.
+So we will be brought one by one to the testing place,
+and we may never know when we are there. At that
+testing place there will be no dozen possible choices<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+for us; just one and an alternative, but our whole future
+will be conditioned by the choice we make.</p>
+
+<p><i>Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward
+heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them
+without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from
+Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but
+I do come. Please root from my heart all those things
+which I have cherished so long and which have become
+a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest
+enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou
+make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my
+heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself
+wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there.
+In Jesus' Name, Amen.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="III_Removing_the_Veil" id="III_Removing_the_Veil"></a>III&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Removing the Veil</i></h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Having therefore, brethren, boldness
+to enter into the holiest by the blood
+of Jesus.&mdash;<i>Heb. 10:19</i></p></div>
+
+<p>Among the famous sayings of the Church fathers none
+is better known than Augustine's, "Thou hast formed
+us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find
+rest in Thee."</p>
+
+<p>The great saint states here in few words the origin
+and interior history of the human race. God made us
+for Himself: that is the only explanation that satisfies
+the <i>heart</i> of a thinking man, whatever his wild reason
+may say. Should faulty education and perverse reasoning
+lead a man to conclude otherwise, there is little
+that any Christian can do for him. For such a man I
+have no message. My appeal is addressed to those who
+have been previously taught in secret by the wisdom of
+God; I speak to thirsty hearts whose longings have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+been wakened by the touch of God within them, and
+such as they need no reasoned proof. Their restless
+hearts furnish all the proof they need.</p>
+
+<p>God formed us for Himself. The <i>Shorter Catechism</i>,
+"Agreed upon by the Reverend Assembly of
+Divines at Westminster," as the old <i>New-England
+Primer</i> has it, asks the ancient questions <i>what</i> and <i>why</i>
+and answers them in one short sentence hardly
+matched in any uninspired work. "<i>Question</i>: What is
+the chief End of Man? <i>Answer:</i> Man's chief End is
+to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." With this agree
+the four and twenty elders who fall on their faces to
+worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, saying,
+"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour
+and power: for thou hast created all things, and for
+thy pleasure they are and were created."</p>
+
+<p>God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed
+us that we as well as He can in divine communion
+enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred
+personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with
+Him and draw our life from His smile. But we have
+been guilty of that "foul revolt" of which Milton speaks
+when describing the rebellion of Satan and his hosts.
+We have broken with God. We have ceased to obey
+Him or love Him and in guilt and fear have fled as
+far as possible from His Presence.</p>
+
+<p>Yet who can flee from His Presence when the
+heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+Him? when as the wisdom of Solomon testifies, "the
+Spirit of the Lord filleth the world?" The omnipresence
+of the Lord is one thing, and is a solemn fact necessary
+to His perfection; the <i>manifest</i> Presence is another
+thing altogether, and from that Presence we have fled,
+like Adam, to hide among the trees of the garden, or
+like Peter to shrink away crying, "Depart from me, for
+I am a sinful man, O Lord."</p>
+
+<p>So the life of man upon the earth is a life away
+from the Presence, wrenched loose from that "blissful
+center" which is our right and proper dwelling place,
+our first estate which we kept not, the loss of which is
+the cause of our unceasing restlessness.</p>
+
+<p>The whole work of God in redemption is to undo
+the tragic effects of that foul revolt, and to bring us
+back again into right and eternal relationship with
+Himself. This required that our sins be disposed of
+satisfactorily, that a full reconciliation be effected and
+the way opened for us to return again into conscious
+communion with God and to live again in the Presence
+as before. Then by His prevenient working within us
+He moves us to return. This first comes to our notice
+when our restless hearts feel a yearning for the Presence
+of God and we say within ourselves, "I will arise
+and go to my Father." That is the first step, and as the
+Chinese sage Lao-tze has said, "The journey of a thousand
+miles begins with a first step."</p>
+
+<p>The interior journey of the soul from the wilds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+of sin into the enjoyed Presence of God is beautifully
+illustrated in the Old Testament tabernacle. The returning
+sinner first entered the outer court where he
+offered a blood sacrifice on the brazen altar and washed
+himself in the laver that stood near it. Then through a
+veil he passed into the holy place where no natural
+light could come, but the golden candlestick which
+spoke of Jesus the Light of the World threw its soft
+glow over all. There also was the shewbread to tell
+of Jesus, the Bread of Life, and the altar of incense,
+a figure of unceasing prayer.</p>
+
+<p>Though the worshipper had enjoyed so much,
+still he had not yet entered the Presence of God. Another
+veil separated from the Holy of Holies where
+above the mercy seat dwelt the very God Himself in
+awful and glorious manifestation. While the tabernacle
+stood, only the high priest could enter there, and
+that but once a year, with blood which he offered for
+his sins and the sins of the people. It was this last veil
+which was rent when our Lord gave up the ghost on
+Calvary, and the sacred writer explains that this rending
+of the veil opened the way for every worshipper
+in the world to come by the new and living way straight
+into the divine Presence.</p>
+
+<p>Everything in the New Testament accords with
+this Old Testament picture. Ransomed men need no
+longer pause in fear to enter the Holy of Holies. <i>God
+wills that we should push on into His Presence and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+live our whole life there.</i> This is to be known to us
+in conscious experience. It is more than a doctrine to
+be held, it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of
+every day.</p>
+
+<p>This Flame of the Presence was the beating heart
+of the Levitical order. Without it all the appointments
+of the tabernacle were characters of some unknown
+language; they had no meaning for Israel or for us.
+The greatest fact of the tabernacle was that <i>Jehovah
+was there</i>; a Presence was waiting within the veil. Similarly
+the Presence of God is the central fact of Christianity.
+At the heart of the Christian message is God
+Himself waiting for His redeemed children to push
+in to conscious awareness of His Presence. That type
+of Christianity which happens now to be the vogue
+knows this Presence only in theory. It fails to stress the
+Christian's privilege of present realization. According
+to its teachings we are in the Presence of God positionally,
+and nothing is said about the need to experience
+that Presence actually. The fiery urge that drove men
+like McCheyne is wholly missing. And the present
+generation of Christians measures itself by this imperfect
+rule. Ignoble contentment takes the place of burning
+zeal. We are satisfied to rest in our <i>judicial</i>
+possessions and for the most part we bother ourselves
+very little about the absence of personal experience.</p>
+
+<p>Who is this within the veil who dwells in fiery
+manifestations? It is none other than God Himself,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
+"One God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and
+earth, and of all things visible and invisible," and "One
+Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God;
+begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God,
+Light of Light, Very God of Very God; begotten, not
+made; being of one substance with the Father," and
+"the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, Who
+proceedeth from the Father and the Son, Who with
+the Father and the Son together is worshipped and
+glorified." Yet this holy Trinity is One God, for "we
+worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;
+neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.
+For there is one Person of the Father, another
+of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the
+Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
+Ghost, is all one: the glory equal and the majesty co-eternal."
+So in part run the ancient creeds, and so the
+inspired Word declares.</p>
+
+<p>Behind the veil is God, that God after Whom the
+world, with strange inconsistency, has felt, "if haply
+they might find Him." He has discovered Himself to
+some extent in nature, but more perfectly in the Incarnation;
+now He waits to show Himself in ravishing
+fulness to the humble of soul and the pure in heart.</p>
+
+<p>The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge
+of God and the Church is famishing for want of His
+Presence. The instant cure of most of our religious ills
+would be to enter the Presence in spiritual experience,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+to become suddenly aware that we are in God and that
+God is in us. This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness
+and cause our hearts to be enlarged. This
+would burn away the impurities from our lives as the
+bugs and fungi were burned away by the fire that dwelt
+in the bush.</p>
+
+<p>What a broad world to roam in, what a sea to
+swim in is this God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
+He is <i>eternal</i>, which means that He antedates time and
+is wholly independent of it. Time began in Him and
+will end in Him. To it He pays no tribute and from it
+He suffers no change. He is <i>immutable</i>, which means
+that He has never changed and can never change in
+any smallest measure. To change He would need to go
+from better to worse or from worse to better. He cannot
+do either, for being perfect He cannot become
+more perfect, and if He were to become less perfect
+He would be less than God. He is <i>omniscient</i>, which
+means that He knows in one free and effortless act all
+matter, all spirit, all relationships, all events. He has
+no past and He has no future. He <i>is</i>, and none of the
+limiting and qualifying terms used of creatures can
+apply to Him. <i>Love</i> and <i>mercy</i> and <i>righteousness</i> are
+His, and <i>holiness</i> so ineffable that no comparisons or
+figures will avail to express it. Only fire can give even
+a remote conception of it. In fire He appeared at the
+burning bush; in the pillar of fire He dwelt through
+all the long wilderness journey. The fire that glowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+between the wings of the cherubim in the holy place
+was called the "shekinah," the Presence, through the
+years of Israel's glory, and when the Old had given
+place to the New, He came at Pentecost as a fiery flame
+and rested upon each disciple.</p>
+
+<p>Spinoza wrote of the intellectual love of God, and
+he had a measure of truth there; but the highest love
+of God is not intellectual, it is spiritual. God is spirit
+and only the spirit of man can know Him really. In
+the deep spirit of a man the fire must glow or his love
+is not the true love of God. The great of the Kingdom
+have been those who loved God more than others did.
+We all know who they have been and gladly pay
+tribute to the depths and sincerity of their devotion.
+We have but to pause for a moment and their names
+come trooping past us smelling of myrrh and aloes and
+cassia out of the ivory palaces.</p>
+
+<p>Frederick Faber was one whose soul panted after
+God as the roe pants after the water brook, and the
+measure in which God revealed Himself to his seeking
+heart set the good man's whole life afire with a burning
+adoration rivaling that of the seraphim before the
+throne. His love for God extended to the three Persons
+of the Godhead equally, yet he seemed to feel for each
+One a special kind of love reserved for Him alone. Of
+God the Father he sings:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><i>
+<span class="i0">Only to sit and think of God,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh what a joy it is!</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span><br />
+<span class="i0">To think the thought, to breathe the Name;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Earth has no higher bliss.<br /></span>
+</i></div><div class="stanza"><i>
+<span class="i0">Father of Jesus, love's reward!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">What rapture will it be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Prostrate before Thy throne to lie,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And gaze and gaze on Thee!<br /></span>
+</i></div></div>
+
+<p>His love for the Person of Christ was so intense
+that it threatened to consume him; it burned within
+him as a sweet and holy madness and flowed from his
+lips like molten gold. In one of his sermons he says,
+"Wherever we turn in the church of God, there is
+Jesus. He is the beginning, middle and end of everything
+to us.... There is nothing good, nothing holy,
+nothing beautiful, nothing joyous which He is not to
+His servants. No one need be poor, because, if he
+chooses, he can have Jesus for his own property and
+possession. No one need be downcast, for Jesus is the
+joy of heaven, and it is His joy to enter into sorrowful
+hearts. We can exaggerate about many things; but we
+can never exaggerate our obligation to Jesus, or the
+compassionate abundance of the love of Jesus to us.
+All our lives long we might talk of Jesus, and yet we
+should never come to an end of the sweet things that
+might be said of Him. Eternity will not be long enough
+to learn all He is, or to praise Him for all He has done,
+but then, that matters not; for we shall be always with
+Him, and we desire nothing more." And addressing
+our Lord directly he says to Him:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><i>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+<span class="i0">I love Thee so, I know not how<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My transports to control;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thy love is like a burning fire<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Within my very soul.<br /></span>
+</i></div></div>
+
+<p>Faber's blazing love extended also to the Holy
+Spirit. Not only in his theology did he acknowledge
+His deity and full equality with the Father and the
+Son, but he celebrated it constantly in his songs and in
+his prayers. He literally pressed his forehead to the
+ground in his eager fervid worship of the Third Person
+of the Godhead. In one of his great hymns to the
+Holy Spirit he sums up his burning devotion thus:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><i>
+<span class="i0">O Spirit, beautiful and dread!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My heart is fit to break<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With love of all Thy tenderness<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For us poor sinners' sake.<br /></span>
+</i></div></div>
+
+<p>I have risked the tedium of quotation that I might
+show by pointed example what I have set out to say,
+viz., that God is so vastly wonderful, so utterly and
+completely delightful that He can, without anything
+other than Himself, meet and overflow the deepest
+demands of our total nature, mysterious and deep as
+that nature is. Such worship as Faber knew (and he
+is but one of a great company which no man can number)
+can never come from a mere doctrinal knowledge
+of God. Hearts that are "fit to break" with love for the
+Godhead are those who have been in the Presence and
+have looked with opened eye upon the majesty of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+Deity. Men of the breaking hearts had a quality about
+them not known to or understood by common men.
+They habitually spoke with spiritual authority. They
+had been in the Presence of God and they reported
+what they saw there. They were prophets, not scribes,
+for the scribe tells us what he has read, and the prophet
+tells what he has seen.</p>
+
+<p>The distinction is not an imaginary one. Between
+the scribe who has read and the prophet who has seen
+there is a difference as wide as the sea. We are today
+overrun with orthodox scribes, but the prophets, where
+are they? The hard voice of the scribe sounds over
+evangelicalism, but the Church waits for the tender
+voice of the saint who has penetrated the veil and has
+gazed with inward eye upon the Wonder that is God.
+And yet, thus to penetrate, to push in sensitive living
+experience into the holy Presence, is a privilege open
+to every child of God.</p>
+
+<p>With the veil removed by the rending of Jesus'
+flesh, with nothing on God's side to prevent us from
+entering, why do we tarry without? Why do we consent
+to abide all our days just outside the Holy of
+Holies and never enter at all to look upon God? We
+hear the Bridegroom say, "Let me see thy countenance,
+let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice and thy
+countenance is comely." We sense that the call is for
+us, but still we fail to draw near, and the years pass<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+and we grow old and tired in the outer courts of the
+tabernacle. What doth hinder us?</p>
+
+<p>The answer usually given, simply that we are
+"cold," will not explain all the facts. There is something
+more serious than coldness of heart, something
+that may be back of that coldness and be the cause of
+its existence. What is it? What but the presence of
+<i>a veil in our hearts</i>? a veil not taken away as the first
+veil was, but which remains there still shutting out the
+light and hiding the face of God from us. It is the
+veil of our fleshly fallen nature living on, unjudged
+within us, uncrucified and unrepudiated. It is the close-woven
+veil of the self-life which we have never truly
+acknowledged, of which we have been secretly
+ashamed, and which for these reasons we have never
+brought to the judgment of the cross. It is not too
+mysterious, this opaque veil, nor is it hard to identify.
+We have but to look in our own hearts and we shall
+see it there, sewn and patched and repaired it may be,
+but there nevertheless, an enemy to our lives and an
+effective block to our spiritual progress.</p>
+
+<p>This veil is not a beautiful thing and it is not a
+thing about which we commonly care to talk, but I am
+addressing the thirsting souls who are determined to
+follow God, and I know they will not turn back because
+the way leads temporarily through the blackened hills.
+The urge of God within them will assure their continuing
+the pursuit. They will face the facts however<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+unpleasant and endure the cross for the joy set before
+them. So I am bold to name the threads out of which
+this inner veil is woven.</p>
+
+<p>It is woven of the fine threads of the self-life, the
+hyphenated sins of the human spirit. They are not
+something we do, they are something we <i>are</i>, and therein
+lies both their subtlety and their power.</p>
+
+<p>To be specific, the self-sins are these: self-righteousness,
+self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration,
+self-love and a host of others like them.
+They dwell too deep within us and are too much a
+part of our natures to come to our attention till the
+light of God is focused upon them. The grosser manifestations
+of these sins, egotism, exhibitionism, self-promotion,
+are strangely tolerated in Christian leaders
+even in circles of impeccable orthodoxy. They are so
+much in evidence as actually, for many people, to become
+identified with the gospel. I trust it is not a cynical
+observation to say that they appear these days to be
+a requisite for popularity in some sections of the
+Church visible. Promoting self under the guise of promoting
+Christ is currently so common as to excite little
+notice.</p>
+
+<p>One should suppose that proper instruction in the
+doctrines of man's depravity and the necessity for justification
+through the righteousness of Christ alone
+would deliver us from the power of the self-sins; but
+it does not work out that way. Self can live unrebuked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+at the very altar. It can watch the bleeding Victim die
+and not be in the least affected by what it sees. It can
+fight for the faith of the Reformers and preach eloquently
+the creed of salvation by grace, and gain
+strength by its efforts. To tell all the truth, it seems
+actually to feed upon orthodoxy and is more at home
+in a Bible Conference than in a tavern. Our very state
+of longing after God may afford it an excellent condition
+under which to thrive and grow.</p>
+
+<p>Self is the opaque veil that hides the Face of God
+from us. It can be removed only in spiritual experience,
+never by mere instruction. As well try to instruct
+leprosy out of our system. There must be a work of God
+in destruction before we are free. We must invite the
+cross to do its deadly work within us. We must bring
+our self-sins to the cross for judgment. We must prepare
+ourselves for an ordeal of suffering in some measure
+like that through which our Saviour passed when
+He suffered under Pontius Pilate.</p>
+
+<p>Let us remember: when we talk of the rending
+of the veil we are speaking in a figure, and the thought
+of it is poetical, almost pleasant; but in actuality there
+is nothing pleasant about it. In human experience that
+veil is made of living spiritual tissue; it is composed of
+the sentient, quivering stuff of which our whole beings
+consist, and to touch it is to touch us where we feel
+pain. To tear it away is to injure us, to hurt us and make
+us bleed. To say otherwise is to make the cross no cross<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>
+and death no death at all. It is never fun to die. To rip
+through the dear and tender stuff of which life is
+made can never be anything but deeply painful. Yet
+that is what the cross did to Jesus and it is what the
+cross would do to every man to set him free.</p>
+
+<p>Let us beware of tinkering with our inner life
+in hope ourselves to rend the veil. God must do everything
+for us. Our part is to yield and trust. We must
+confess, forsake, repudiate the self-life, and then
+reckon it crucified. But we must be careful to distinguish
+lazy "acceptance" from the real work of God.
+We must insist upon the work being done. We dare
+not rest content with a neat doctrine of self-crucifixion.
+That is to imitate Saul and spare the best of the sheep
+and the oxen.</p>
+
+<p>Insist that the work be done in very truth and it
+will be done. The cross is rough, and it is deadly, but
+it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging there
+forever. There comes a moment when its work is finished
+and the suffering victim dies. After that is resurrection
+glory and power, and the pain is forgotten for
+joy that the veil is taken away and we have entered
+in actual spiritual experience the Presence of the
+living God.</p>
+
+<p><i>Lord, how excellent are Thy ways, and how
+devious and dark are the ways of man. Show us how to
+die, that we may rise again to newness of life. Rend
+the veil of our self-life from the top down as Thou<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+didst rend the veil of the Temple. We would draw
+near in full assurance of faith. We would dwell with
+Thee in daily experience here on this earth so that
+we may be accustomed to the glory when we enter Thy
+heaven to dwell with Thee there. In Jesus' name,
+Amen.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="IV_Apprehending_God" id="IV_Apprehending_God"></a>IV&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Apprehending God</i></h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>O taste and see.&mdash;Psa. 34:8</p></div>
+
+<p>It was Canon Holmes, of India, who more than twenty-five
+years ago called attention to the inferential character
+of the average man's faith in God. To most people
+God is an inference, not a reality. He is a deduction
+from evidence which they consider adequate; but He
+remains personally unknown to the individual. "He
+<i>must</i> be," they say, "therefore we believe He is." Others
+do not go even so far as this; they know of Him only
+by hearsay. They have never bothered to think the
+matter out for themselves, but have heard about Him
+from others, and have put belief in Him into the back
+of their minds along with the various odds and ends
+that make up their total creed. To many others God is
+but an ideal, another name for goodness, or beauty, or
+truth; or He is law, or life, or the creative impulse back
+of the phenomena of existence.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+These notions about God are many and varied,
+but they who hold them have one thing in common:
+they do not know God in personal experience. The
+possibility of intimate acquaintance with Him has not
+entered their minds. While admitting His existence
+they do not think of Him as knowable in the sense that
+we know things or people.</p>
+
+<p>Christians, to be sure, go further than this, at least
+in theory. Their creed requires them to believe in the
+personality of God, and they have been taught to pray,
+"Our Father, which art in heaven." Now personality
+and fatherhood carry with them the idea of the possibility
+of personal acquaintance. This is admitted, I say,
+in theory, but for millions of Christians, nevertheless,
+God is no more real than He is to the non-Christian.
+They go through life trying to love an ideal and be
+loyal to a mere principle.</p>
+
+<p>Over against all this cloudy vagueness stands the
+clear scriptural doctrine that God can be known in
+personal experience. A loving Personality dominates
+the Bible, walking among the trees of the garden and
+breathing fragrance over every scene. Always a living
+Person is present, speaking, pleading, loving, working,
+and manifesting Himself whenever and wherever His
+people have the receptivity necessary to receive the
+manifestation.</p>
+
+<p>The Bible assumes as a self-evident fact that men
+can know God with at least the same degree of imme<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>diacy
+as they know any other person or thing that
+comes within the field of their experience. The same
+terms are used to express the knowledge of God as are
+used to express knowledge of physical things. "O <i>taste</i>
+and see that the Lord is good." "All thy garments <i>smell</i>
+of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces."
+"My sheep <i>hear</i> my voice." "Blessed are the pure
+in heart, for they shall <i>see</i> God." These are but four
+of countless such passages from the Word of God. And
+more important than any proof text is the fact that the
+whole import of the Scripture is toward this belief.</p>
+
+<p>What can all this mean except that we have in
+our hearts organs by means of which we can know
+God as certainly as we know material things through
+our familiar five senses? We apprehend the physical
+world by exercising the faculties given us for the purpose,
+and we possess spiritual faculties by means of
+which we can know God and the spiritual world if
+we will obey the Spirit's urge and begin to use them.</p>
+
+<p>That a saving work must first be done in the heart
+is taken for granted here. The spiritual faculties of the
+unregenerate man lie asleep in his nature, unused
+and for every purpose dead; that is the stroke which
+has fallen upon us by sin. They may be quickened
+to active life again by the operation of the Holy Spirit
+in regeneration; that is one of the immeasurable benefits
+which come to us through Christ's atoning work
+on the cross.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+But the very ransomed children of God themselves:
+why do they know so little of that habitual conscious
+communion with God which the Scriptures
+seem to offer? The answer is our chronic unbelief.
+Faith enables our spiritual sense to function. Where
+faith is defective the result will be inward insensibility
+and numbness toward spiritual things. This is the
+condition of vast numbers of Christians today. No
+proof is necessary to support that statement. We have
+but to converse with the first Christian we meet or
+enter the first church we find open to acquire all the
+proof we need.</p>
+
+<p>A spiritual kingdom lies all about us, enclosing
+us, embracing us, altogether within reach of our inner
+selves, waiting for us to recognize it. God Himself is
+here waiting our response to His Presence. This eternal
+world will come alive to us the moment we begin to
+reckon upon its reality.</p>
+
+<p>I have just now used two words which demand
+definition; or if definition is impossible, I must at least
+make clear what I mean when I use them. They are
+"reckon" and "reality."</p>
+
+<p>What do I mean by <i>reality</i>? I mean that which
+has existence apart from any idea any mind may have
+of it, and which would exist if there were no mind anywhere
+to entertain a thought of it. That which is real
+has being in itself. It does not depend upon the observer
+for its validity.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>I am aware that there are those who love to poke
+fun at the plain man's idea of reality. They are the
+idealists who spin endless proofs that nothing is real
+outside of the mind. They are the relativists who like
+to show that there are no fixed points in the universe
+from which we can measure anything. They smile
+down upon us from their lofty intellectual peaks and
+settle us to their own satisfaction by fastening upon us
+the reproachful term "absolutist." The Christian is not
+put out of countenance by this show of contempt. He
+can smile right back at them, for he knows that there
+is only One who is Absolute, that is God. But he knows
+also that the Absolute One has made this world for
+man's uses, and, while there is nothing fixed or real
+in the last meaning of the words (the meaning as applied
+to God) <i>for every purpose of human life we are
+permitted to act as if there were</i>. And every man does
+act thus except the mentally sick. These unfortunates
+also have trouble with reality, but they are consistent;
+they insist upon living in accordance with their ideas
+of things. They are honest, and it is their very honesty
+that constitutes them a social problem.</p>
+
+<p>The idealists and relativists are not mentally sick.
+They prove their soundness by living their lives according
+to the very notions of reality which they in
+theory repudiate and by counting upon the very fixed
+points which they prove are not there. They could earn
+a lot more respect for their notions if they were willing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+to live by them; but this they are careful not to do.
+Their ideas are brain-deep, not life-deep. Wherever
+life touches them they repudiate their theories and live
+like other men.</p>
+
+<p>The Christian is too sincere to play with ideas for
+their own sake. He takes no pleasure in the mere spinning
+of gossamer webs for display. All his beliefs are
+practical. They are geared into his life. By them he
+lives or dies, stands or falls for this world and for all
+time to come. From the insincere man he turns away.</p>
+
+<p>The sincere plain man knows that the world is
+real. He finds it here when he wakes to consciousness,
+and he knows that he did not think it into being. It
+was here waiting for him when he came, and he knows
+that when he prepares to leave this earthly scene it
+will be here still to bid him good-bye as he departs.
+By the deep wisdom of life he is wiser than a thousand
+men who doubt. He stands upon the earth and feels
+the wind and rain in his face and he knows that they
+are real. He sees the sun by day and the stars by night.
+He sees the hot lightning play out of the dark thundercloud.
+He hears the sounds of nature and the cries of
+human joy and pain. These he knows are real. He lies
+down on the cool earth at night and has no fear that
+it will prove illusory or fail him while he sleeps. In the
+morning the firm ground will be under him, the blue
+sky above him and the rocks and trees around him as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+when he closed his eyes the night before. So he lives
+and rejoices in a world of reality.</p>
+
+<p>With his five senses he engages this real world.
+All things necessary to his physical existence he apprehends
+by the faculties with which he has been
+equipped by the God who created him and placed
+him in such a world as this.</p>
+
+<p>Now, by our definition also God is real. He is real
+in the absolute and final sense that nothing else is.
+All other reality is contingent upon His. The great
+Reality is God who is the Author of that lower and
+dependent reality which makes up the sum of created
+things, including ourselves. God has objective existence
+independent of and apart from any notions
+which we may have concerning Him. The worshipping
+heart does not create its Object. It finds Him here
+when it wakes from its moral slumber in the morning
+of its regeneration.</p>
+
+<p>Another word that must be cleared up is the word
+<i>reckon</i>. This does not mean to visualize or imagine.
+Imagination is not faith. The two are not only different
+from, but stand in sharp opposition to, each other.
+Imagination projects unreal images out of the mind
+and seeks to attach reality to them. Faith creates nothing;
+it simply reckons upon that which is already <i>there</i>.</p>
+
+<p>God and the spiritual world are real. We can
+reckon upon them with as much assurance as we
+reckon upon the familiar world around us. Spiritual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+things are there (or rather we should say <i>here</i>) inviting
+our attention and challenging our trust.</p>
+
+<p>Our trouble is that we have established bad
+thought habits. We habitually think of the visible
+world as real and doubt the reality of any other. We
+do not deny the existence of the spiritual world but we
+doubt that it is real in the accepted meaning of the
+word.</p>
+
+<p>The world of sense intrudes upon our attention
+day and night for the whole of our lifetime. It is
+clamorous, insistent and self-demonstrating. It does
+not appeal to our faith; it is here, assaulting our five
+senses, demanding to be accepted as real and final.
+But sin has so clouded the lenses of our hearts that we
+cannot see that other reality, the City of God, shining
+around us. The world of sense triumphs. The visible
+becomes the enemy of the invisible; the temporal, of
+the eternal. That is the curse inherited by every member
+of Adam's tragic race.</p>
+
+<p>At the root of the Christian life lies belief in the
+invisible. The object of the Christian's faith is unseen
+reality.</p>
+
+<p>Our uncorrected thinking, influenced by the
+blindness of our natural hearts and the intrusive ubiquity
+of visible things, tends to draw a contrast between
+the spiritual and the real; but actually no such contrast
+exists. The antithesis lies elsewhere: between the real
+and the imaginary, between the spiritual and the mate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>rial,
+between the temporal and the eternal; but between
+the spiritual and the real, never. The spiritual
+<i>is</i> real.</p>
+
+<p>If we would rise into that region of light and
+power plainly beckoning us through the Scriptures of
+truth we must break the evil habit of ignoring the
+spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to
+the unseen. For the great unseen Reality is God. "He
+that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that
+he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." This
+is basic in the life of faith. From there we can rise to
+unlimited heights. "Ye believe in God," said our Lord
+Jesus Christ, "believe also in me." Without the first
+there can be no second.</p>
+
+<p>If we truly want to follow God we must seek to
+be other-worldly. This I say knowing well that that
+word has been used with scorn by the sons of this
+world and applied to the Christian as a badge of reproach.
+So be it. Every man must choose his world. If
+we who follow Christ, with all the facts before us and
+knowing what we are about, deliberately choose the
+Kingdom of God as our sphere of interest I see no
+reason why anyone should object. If we lose by it, the
+loss is our own; if we gain, we rob no one by so doing.
+The "other world," which is the object of this world's
+disdain and the subject of the drunkard's mocking
+song, is our carefully chosen goal and the object of
+our holiest longing.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>But we must avoid the common fault of pushing
+the "other world" into the future. It is not future, but
+present. It parallels our familiar physical world, and
+the doors between the two worlds are open. "Ye are
+come," says the writer to the Hebrews (and the tense
+is plainly present), "unto Mount Zion, and unto the
+city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
+an innumerable company of angels, to the general
+assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
+in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the
+spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the
+mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
+sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of
+Abel." All these things are contrasted with "the mount
+that might be touched" and "the sound of a trumpet
+and the voice of words" that might be heard. May we
+not safely conclude that, as the realities of Mount Sinai
+were apprehended by the senses, so the realities of
+Mount Zion are to be grasped by the soul? And this not
+by any trick of the imagination, but in downright actuality.
+The soul has eyes with which to see and ears
+with which to hear. Feeble they may be from long disuse,
+but by the life-giving touch of Christ alive now
+and capable of sharpest sight and most sensitive
+hearing.</p>
+
+<p>As we begin to focus upon God the things of the
+spirit will take shape before our inner eyes. Obedience
+to the word of Christ will bring an inward revelation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
+of the Godhead (John 14:21-23). It will give acute
+perception enabling us to see God even as is promised
+to the pure in heart. A new God consciousness will
+seize upon us and we shall begin to taste and hear and
+inwardly feel the God who is our life and our all. There
+will be seen the constant shining of the light that lighteth
+every man that cometh into the world. More and
+more, as our faculties grow sharper and more sure, God
+will become to us the great All, and His Presence the
+glory and wonder of our lives.</p>
+
+<p><i>O God, quicken to life every power within me,
+that I may lay hold on eternal things. Open my eyes
+that I may see; give me acute spiritual perception;
+enable me to taste Thee and know that Thou art good.
+Make heaven more real to me than any earthly thing
+has ever been. Amen.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="V_The_Universal_Presence" id="V_The_Universal_Presence"></a>V&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>The Universal Presence</i></h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
+or whither shall I flee from thy
+presence?&mdash;<i>Psa. 139:7</i></p></div>
+
+<p>In all Christian teaching certain basic truths are found,
+hidden at times, and rather assumed than asserted, but
+necessary to all truth as the primary colors are found
+in and necessary to the finished painting. Such a truth
+is the divine immanence.</p>
+
+<p>God dwells in His creation and is everywhere
+indivisibly present in all His works. This is boldly
+taught by prophet and apostle and is accepted by
+Christian theology generally. That is, it appears in the
+books, but for some reason it has not sunk into the
+average Christian's heart so as to become a part of his
+believing self. Christian teachers shy away from its
+full implications, and, if they mention it at all, mute
+it down till it has little meaning. I would guess the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+reason for this to be the fear of being charged with
+pantheism; but the doctrine of the divine Presence is
+definitely not pantheism.</p>
+
+<p>Pantheism's error is too palpable to deceive anyone.
+It is that God is the sum of all created things.
+Nature and God are one, so that whoever touches a
+leaf or a stone touches God. That is of course to degrade
+the glory of the incorruptible Deity and, in an effort
+to make all things divine, banish all divinity from the
+world entirely.</p>
+
+<p>The truth is that while God dwells in His world
+He is separated from it by a gulf forever impassable.
+However closely He may be identified with the work
+of His hands <i>they</i> are and must eternally be <i>other than
+He</i>, and He is and must be antecedent to and independent
+of them. He is transcendent above all His works
+even while He is immanent within them.</p>
+
+<p>What now does the divine immanence mean in
+direct Christian experience? It means simply that <i>God
+is here</i>. Wherever we are, God is here. There is no
+place, there can be no place, where He is not. Ten
+million intelligences standing at as many points in
+space and separated by incomprehensible distances
+can each one say with equal truth, God is here. No
+point is nearer to God than any other point. It is exactly
+as near to God from any place as it is from any other
+place. No one is in mere distance any further from or
+any nearer to God than any other person is.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>These are truths believed by every instructed
+Christian. It remains for us to think on them and pray
+over them until they begin to glow within us.</p>
+
+<p>"In the beginning God." Not <i>matter</i>, for matter
+is not self-causing. It requires an antecedent cause, and
+God is that Cause. Not <i>law</i>, for law is but a name for
+the course which all creation follows. That course had
+to be planned, and the Planner is God. Not <i>mind</i>, for
+mind also is a created thing and must have a Creator
+back of it. In the beginning God, the uncaused Cause
+of matter, mind and law. There we must begin.</p>
+
+<p>Adam sinned and, in his panic, frantically tried
+to do the impossible: he tried to hide from the Presence
+of God. David also must have had wild thoughts
+of trying to escape from the Presence, for he wrote,
+"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall
+I flee from thy presence?" Then he proceeded through
+one of his most beautiful psalms to celebrate the glory
+of the divine immanence. "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 parts of the sea; even there shall
+thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
+And he knew that God's <i>being</i> and God's <i>seeing</i> are
+the same, that the seeing Presence had been with him
+even before he was born, watching the mystery of unfolding
+life. Solomon exclaimed, "But will God indeed
+dwell on the earth? behold the heaven and the heaven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+of heavens cannot contain thee: how much less this
+house which I have builded." Paul assured the Athenians
+that "God is not far from any one of us: for in
+him we live, and move, and have our being."</p>
+
+<p>If God is present at every point in space, if we
+cannot go where He is not, cannot even conceive of a
+place where He is not, why then has not that Presence
+become the one universally celebrated fact of the
+world? The patriarch Jacob, "in the waste howling
+wilderness," gave the answer to that question. He saw
+a vision of God and cried out in wonder, "Surely the
+Lord is in this place; and I knew it not." Jacob had
+never been for one small division of a moment outside
+the circle of that all-pervading Presence. But he knew
+it not. That was his trouble, and it is ours. Men do not
+know that God is here. What a difference it would
+make if they knew.</p>
+
+<p>The Presence and the manifestation of the Presence
+are not the same. There can be the one without
+the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware
+of it. He is <i>manifest</i> only when and as we are aware
+of His Presence. On our part there must be surrender
+to the Spirit of God, for His work it is to show us the
+Father and the Son. If we co-operate with Him in
+loving obedience God will manifest Himself to us, and
+that manifestation will be the difference between a
+nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light
+of His face.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>Always, everywhere God is present, and always
+He seeks to discover Himself. To each one he would
+reveal not only that He is, but <i>what</i> He is as well. He
+did not have to be persuaded to discover Himself to
+Moses. "And the Lord descended in the cloud, and
+stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the
+Lord." He not only made a verbal proclamation of His
+nature but He revealed His very Self to Moses so
+that the skin of Moses' face shone with the supernatural
+light. It will be a great moment for some of us when
+we begin to believe that God's promise of self-revelation
+is literally true: that He promised much, but promised
+no more than He intends to fulfill.</p>
+
+<p>Our pursuit of God is successful just because He
+is forever seeking to manifest Himself to us. The revelation
+of God to any man is not God coming from a
+distance upon a time to pay a brief and momentous
+visit to the man's soul. Thus to think of it is to misunderstand
+it all. The approach of God to the soul or
+of the soul to God is not to be thought of in spatial
+terms at all. There is no idea of physical distance involved
+in the concept. It is not a matter of miles but
+of experience.</p>
+
+<p>To speak of being near to or far from God is to
+use language in a sense always understood when applied
+to our ordinary human relationships. A man may
+say, "I feel that my son is coming nearer to me as he
+gets older," and yet that son has lived by his father's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+side since he was born and has never been away from
+home more than a day or so in his entire life. What
+then can the father mean? Obviously he is speaking
+of <i>experience</i>. He means that the boy is coming to
+know him more intimately and with deeper understanding,
+that the barriers of thought and feeling between
+the two are disappearing, that father and son
+are becoming more closely united in mind and heart.</p>
+
+<p>So when we sing, "Draw me nearer, nearer,
+blessed Lord," we are not thinking of the nearness of
+place, but of the nearness of relationship. It is for increasing
+degrees of awareness that we pray, for a more
+perfect consciousness of the divine Presence. We need
+never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is
+nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret
+thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>Why do some persons "find" God in a way that
+others do not? Why does God manifest His Presence
+to some and let multitudes of others struggle along in
+the half-light of imperfect Christian experience? Of
+course the will of God is the same for all. He has no
+favorites within His household. All He has ever done
+for any of His children He will do for all of His children.
+The difference lies not with God but with us.</p>
+
+<p>Pick at random a score of great saints whose lives
+and testimonies are widely known. Let them be Bible
+characters or well known Christians of post-Biblical
+times. You will be struck instantly with the fact that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+the saints were not alike. Sometimes the unlikenesses
+were so great as to be positively glaring. How different
+for example was Moses from Isaiah; how different was
+Elijah from David; how unlike each other were John
+and Paul, St. Francis and Luther, Finney and Thomas
+&agrave; Kempis. The differences are as wide as human life
+itself: differences of race, nationality, education, temperament,
+habit and personal qualities. Yet they all
+walked, each in his day, upon a high road of spiritual
+living far above the common way.</p>
+
+<p>Their differences must have been incidental and
+in the eyes of God of no significance. In some vital
+quality they must have been alike. What was it?</p>
+
+<p>I venture to suggest that the one vital quality
+which they had in common was <i>spiritual receptivity</i>.
+Something in them was open to heaven, something
+which urged them Godward. Without attempting anything
+like a profound analysis I shall say simply that
+they had spiritual awareness and that they went on to
+cultivate it until it became the biggest thing in their
+lives. They differed from the average person in that
+when they felt the inward longing they <i>did something
+about it</i>. They acquired the lifelong habit of spiritual
+response. They were not disobedient to the heavenly
+vision. As David put it neatly, "When thou saidst,
+Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face,
+Lord, will I seek."</p>
+
+<p>As with everything good in human life, back of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+this receptivity is God. The sovereignty of God is here,
+and is felt even by those who have not placed particular
+stress upon it theologically. The pious Michael Angelo
+confessed this in a sonnet:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"><i>
+<span class="i0">My unassisted heart is barren clay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That of its native self can nothing feed:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of good and pious works Thou art the seed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That quickens only where Thou sayest it may:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Unless Thou show to us Thine own true way<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No man can find it: Father! Thou must lead.<br /></span>
+</i></div></div>
+
+<p>These words will repay study as the deep and serious
+testimony of a great Christian.</p>
+
+<p>Important as it is that we recognize God working
+in us, I would yet warn against a too-great preoccupation
+with the thought. It is a sure road to sterile passivity.
+God will not hold us responsible to understand the
+mysteries of election, predestination and the divine sovereignty.
+The best and safest way to deal with these
+truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence
+say, "O Lord, Thou knowest." Those things
+belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's
+omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians,
+but it will never make saints.</p>
+
+<p>Receptivity is not a single thing; it is a compound
+rather, a blending of several elements within the soul.
+It is an affinity for, a bent toward, a sympathetic
+response to, a desire to have. From this it may be gathered
+that it can be present in degrees, that we may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+have little or more or less, depending upon the individual.
+It may be increased by exercise or destroyed
+by neglect. It is not a sovereign and irresistible force
+which comes upon us as a seizure from above. It is a
+gift of God, indeed, but one which must be recognized
+and cultivated as any other gift if it is to realize the
+purpose for which it was given.</p>
+
+<p>Failure to see this is the cause of a very serious
+breakdown in modern evangelicalism. The idea of
+cultivation and exercise, so dear to the saints of old,
+has now no place in our total religious picture. It is
+too slow, too common. We now demand glamour and
+fast flowing dramatic action. A generation of Christians
+reared among push buttons and automatic machines
+is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching
+their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age
+methods to our relations with God. We read our
+chapter, have our short devotions and rush away,
+hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by
+attending another gospel meeting or listening to another
+thrilling story told by a religious adventurer
+lately returned from afar.</p>
+
+<p>The tragic results of this spirit are all about us.
+Shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance
+of the element of fun in gospel meetings,
+the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities,
+quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the
+mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+Spirit: these and such as these are the symptoms of an
+evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.</p>
+
+<p>For this great sickness that is upon us no one
+person is responsible, and no Christian is wholly free
+from blame. We have all contributed, directly or indirectly,
+to this sad state of affairs. We have been too
+blind to see, or too timid to speak out, or too self-satisfied
+to desire anything better than the poor average diet
+with which others appear satisfied. To put it differently,
+we have accepted one another's notions, copied
+one another's lives and made one another's experiences
+the model for our own. And for a generation the trend
+has been downward. Now we have reached a low place
+of sand and burnt wire grass and, worst of all, we have
+made the Word of Truth conform to our experience
+and accepted this low plane as the very pasture of
+the blessed.</p>
+
+<p>It will require a determined heart and more than
+a little courage to wrench ourselves loose from the grip
+of our times and return to Biblical ways. But it can
+be done. Every now and then in the past Christians
+have had to do it. History has recorded several large-scale
+returns led by such men as St. Francis, Martin
+Luther and George Fox. Unfortunately there seems
+to be no Luther or Fox on the horizon at present.
+Whether or not another such return may be expected
+before the coming of Christ is a question upon which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
+Christians are not fully agreed, but that is not of too
+great importance to us now.</p>
+
+<p>What God in His sovereignty may yet do on a
+world-scale I do not claim to know: but what He will
+do for the plain man or woman who seeks His face
+I believe I do know and can tell others. Let any man
+turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise himself
+unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers
+of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility,
+and the results will exceed anything he may
+have hoped in his leaner and weaker days.</p>
+
+<p>Any man who by repentance and a sincere return
+to God will break himself out of the mold in which
+he has been held, and will go to the Bible itself for his
+spiritual standards, will be delighted with what he
+finds there.</p>
+
+<p>Let us say it again: The Universal Presence is a
+fact. God is here. The whole universe is alive with His
+life. And He is no strange or foreign God, but the
+familiar Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whose love
+has for these thousands of years enfolded the sinful
+race of men. And always He is trying to get our attention,
+to reveal Himself to us, to communicate with us.
+We have within us the ability to know Him if we will
+but respond to His overtures. (And this we call pursuing
+God!) We will know Him in increasing degree
+as our receptivity becomes more perfect by faith and
+love and practice.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+<i>O God and Father, I repent of my sinful preoccupation
+with visible things. The world has been
+too much with me. Thou hast been here and I knew
+it not. I have been blind to Thy Presence. Open my
+eyes that I may behold Thee in and around me. For
+Christ's sake, Amen.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VI_The_Speaking_Voice" id="VI_The_Speaking_Voice"></a>VI&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>The Speaking Voice</i></h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>In the beginning was the Word,
+and the Word was with God, and
+the Word was God.&mdash;<i>John 1:1</i></p></div>
+
+<p>An intelligent plain man, untaught in the truths of
+Christianity, coming upon this text, would likely conclude
+that John meant to teach that it is the nature of
+God to speak, to communicate His thoughts to others.
+And he would be right. A word is a medium by which
+thoughts are expressed, and the application of
+term to the Eternal Son leads us to believe that self-expression
+is inherent in the Godhead, that God is
+forever seeking to speak Himself out to His creation.
+The whole Bible supports the idea. God is speaking.
+Not God spoke, but <i>God is speaking</i>. He is by His
+nature continuously articulate. He fills the world with
+His speaking Voice.</p>
+
+<p>One of the great realities with which we have to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+deal is the Voice of God in His world. The briefest
+and only satisfying cosmogony is this: "He spake and
+it was done." The <i>why</i> of natural law is the living Voice
+of God immanent in His creation. And this word of
+God which brought all worlds into being cannot be
+understood to mean the Bible, for it is not a written
+or printed word at all, but the expression of the will
+of God spoken into the structure of all things. This
+word of God is the breath of God filling the world with
+living potentiality. The Voice of God is the most powerful
+force in nature, indeed the only force in nature,
+for all energy is here only because the power-filled
+Word is being spoken.</p>
+
+<p>The Bible is the written word of God, and because
+it is written it is confined and limited by the necessities
+of ink and paper and leather. The Voice of God, however,
+is alive and free as the sovereign God is free.
+"The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and
+they are life." The life is in the speaking words. God's
+word in the Bible can have power only because it corresponds
+to God's word in the universe. It is the present
+Voice which makes the written Word all-powerful.
+Otherwise it would lie locked in slumber within the
+covers of a book.</p>
+
+<p>We take a low and primitive view of things when
+we conceive of God at the creation coming into physical
+contact with things, shaping and fitting and building
+like a carpenter. The Bible teaches otherwise: "By<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all
+the host of them by the breath of his mouth.... For
+he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood
+fast." "Through faith we understand that the worlds
+were framed by the word of God." Again we must
+remember that God is referring here not to His written
+Word, but to His speaking Voice. His world-filling
+Voice is meant, that Voice which antedates the Bible
+by uncounted centuries, that Voice which has not been
+silent since the dawn of creation, but is sounding still
+throughout the full far reaches of the universe.</p>
+
+<p>The Word of God is quick and powerful. In the
+beginning He spoke to nothing, and it became <i>something</i>.
+Chaos heard it and became order, darkness
+heard it and became light. "And God said&mdash;and it was
+so." These twin phrases, as cause and effect, occur
+throughout the Genesis story of the creation. The <i>said</i>
+accounts for the <i>so</i>. The <i>so</i> is the <i>said</i> put into the
+continuous present.</p>
+
+<p>That God is here and that He is speaking&mdash;these
+truths are back of all other Bible truths; without them
+there could be no revelation at all. God did not write a
+book and send it by messenger to be read at a distance
+by unaided minds. He spoke a Book and lives in His
+spoken words, constantly speaking His words and
+causing the power of them to persist across the years.
+God breathed on clay and it became a man; He
+breathes on men and they become clay. "Return ye<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+children of men" was the word spoken at the Fall by
+which God decreed the death of every man, and no
+added word has He needed to speak. The sad procession
+of mankind across the face of the earth from birth
+to the grave is proof that His original Word was
+enough.</p>
+
+<p>We have not given sufficient attention to that
+deep utterance in the Book of John, "That was the
+true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into
+the world." Shift the punctuation around as we will
+and the truth is still there: the Word of God affects
+the hearts of all men as light in the soul. In the hearts
+of all men the light shines, the Word sounds, and
+there is no escaping them. Something like this would
+of necessity be so if God is alive and in His world. And
+John says that it is so. Even those persons who have
+never heard of the Bible have still been preached to
+with sufficient clarity to remove every excuse from
+their hearts forever. "Which show the work of the law
+written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing
+witness, and their thoughts the mean while either
+accusing or else excusing one another." "For the invisible
+things of him from the creation of the world
+are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
+are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so
+that they are without excuse."</p>
+
+<p>This universal Voice of God was by the ancient
+Hebrews often called Wisdom, and was said to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+everywhere sounding and searching throughout the
+earth, seeking some response from the sons of men.
+The eighth chapter of the Book of Proverbs begins,
+"Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth
+her voice?" The writer then pictures wisdom as a
+beautiful woman standing "in the top of the high
+places, by the way in the places of the paths." She
+sounds her voice from every quarter so that no one
+may miss hearing it. "Unto you, O men, I call; and
+my voice is to the sons of men." Then she pleads for
+the simple and the foolish to give ear to her words.
+It is spiritual response for which this Wisdom of God
+is pleading, a response which she has always sought
+and is but rarely able to secure. The tragedy is that
+our eternal welfare depends upon our hearing, and we
+have trained our ears not to hear.</p>
+
+<p>This universal Voice has ever sounded, and it has
+often troubled men even when they did not understand
+the source of their fears. Could it be that this
+Voice distilling like a living mist upon the hearts of
+men has been the undiscovered cause of the troubled
+conscience and the longing for immortality confessed
+by millions since the dawn of recorded history? We
+need not fear to face up to this. The speaking Voice is
+a fact. How men have reacted to it is for any observer
+to note.</p>
+
+<p>When God spoke out of heaven to our Lord, self-centered
+men who heard it explained it by natural<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+causes: they said, "It thundered." This habit of explaining
+the Voice by appeals to natural law is at the
+very root of modern science. In the living breathing
+cosmos there is a mysterious Something, too wonderful,
+too awful for any mind to understand. The believing
+man does not claim to understand. He falls to his
+knees and whispers, "God." The man of earth kneels
+also, but not to worship. He kneels to examine, to
+search, to find the cause and the how of things. Just
+now we happen to be living in a secular age. Our
+thought habits are those of the scientist, not those of
+the worshipper. We are more likely to explain than to
+adore. "It thundered," we exclaim, and go our earthly
+way. But still the Voice sounds and searches. The
+order and life of the world depend upon that Voice,
+but men are mostly too busy or too stubborn to give
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>Everyone of us has had experiences which we
+have not been able to explain: a sudden sense of loneliness,
+or a feeling of wonder or awe in the face of the
+universal vastness. Or we have had a fleeting visitation
+of light like an illumination from some other sun, giving
+us in a quick flash an assurance that we are from
+another world, that our origins are divine. What we
+saw there, or felt, or heard, may have been contrary
+to all that we had been taught in the schools and at
+wide variance with all our former beliefs and opinions.
+We were forced to suspend our acquired doubts while,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
+for a moment, the clouds were rolled back and we saw
+and heard for ourselves. Explain such things as we
+will, I think we have not been fair to the facts until we
+allow at least the possibility that such experiences may
+arise from the Presence of God in the world and His
+persistent effort to communicate with mankind. Let
+us not dismiss such an hypothesis too flippantly.</p>
+
+<p>It is my own belief (and here I shall not feel
+bad if no one follows me) that every good and beautiful
+thing which man has produced in the world has
+been the result of his faulty and sin-blocked response
+to the creative Voice sounding over the earth. The
+moral philosophers who dreamed their high dreams
+of virtue, the religious thinkers who speculated about
+God and immortality, the poets and artists who created
+out of common stuff pure and lasting beauty: how
+can we explain them? It is not enough to say simply,
+"It was genius." What then is genius? Could it be
+that a genius is a man haunted by the speaking Voice,
+laboring and striving like one possessed to achieve ends
+which he only vaguely understands? That the great
+man may have missed God in his labors, that he may
+even have spoken or written against God does not
+destroy the idea I am advancing. God's redemptive
+revelation in the Holy Scriptures is necessary to saving
+faith and peace with God. Faith in a risen Saviour is
+necessary if the vague stirrings toward immortality are
+to bring us to restful and satisfying communion with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
+God. To me this is a plausible explanation of all that
+is best out of Christ. But you can be a good Christian
+and not accept my thesis.</p>
+
+<p>The Voice of God is a friendly Voice. No one
+need fear to listen to it unless he has already made
+up his mind to resist it. The blood of Jesus has covered
+not only the human race but all creation as well.
+"And having made peace through the blood of his
+cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by
+him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things
+in heaven." We may safely preach a friendly Heaven.
+The heavens as well as the earth are filled with the
+good will of Him that dwelt in the bush. The perfect
+blood of atonement secures this forever.</p>
+
+<p>Whoever will listen will hear the speaking
+Heaven. This is definitely not the hour when men take
+kindly to an exhortation to <i>listen</i>, for listening is not
+today a part of popular religion. We are at the opposite
+end of the pole from there. Religion has accepted the
+monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity and bluster
+make a man dear to God. But we may take heart. To
+a people caught in the tempest of the last great conflict
+God says, "Be still, and know that I am God," and
+still He says it, as if He means to tell us that our
+strength and safety lie not in noise but in silence.</p>
+
+<p>It is important that we get still to wait on God.
+And it is best that we get alone, preferably with our
+Bible outspread before us. Then if we will we may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak to us
+in our hearts. I think for the average person the
+progression will be something like this: First a sound
+as of a Presence walking in the garden. Then a voice,
+more intelligible, but still far from clear. Then the
+happy moment when the Spirit begins to illuminate
+the Scriptures, and that which had been only a sound,
+or at best a voice, now becomes an intelligible word,
+warm and intimate and clear as the word of a dear
+friend. Then will come life and light, and best of all,
+ability to see and rest in and embrace Jesus Christ as
+Saviour and Lord and All.</p>
+
+<p>The Bible will never be a living Book to us until
+we are convinced that God is articulate in His universe.
+To jump from a dead, impersonal world to a
+dogmatic Bible is too much for most people. They
+may admit that they <i>should</i> accept the Bible as the
+Word of God, and they may try to think of it as such,
+but they find it impossible to believe that the words
+there on the page are actually for them. A man may
+<i>say</i>, "These words are addressed to me," and yet in his
+heart not feel and know that they are. He is the victim
+of a divided psychology. He tries to think of God as
+mute everywhere else and vocal only in a book.</p>
+
+<p>I believe that much of our religious unbelief is
+due to a wrong conception of and a wrong feeling
+for the Scriptures of Truth. A silent God suddenly
+began to speak in a book and when the book was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+finished lapsed back into silence again forever. Now
+we read the book as the record of what God said when
+He was for a brief time in a speaking mood. With
+notions like that in our heads how can we believe?
+The facts are that God is not silent, has never been
+silent. It is the nature of God to speak. The second
+Person of the Holy Trinity is called the <i>Word</i>. The
+Bible is the inevitable outcome of God's continuous
+speech. It is the infallible declaration of His mind
+for us put into our familiar human words.</p>
+
+<p>I think a new world will arise out of the religious
+mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that
+it is not only a book which was once spoken, but a book
+which is <i>now speaking</i>. The prophets habitually said,
+"Thus <i>saith</i> the Lord." They meant their hearers to
+understand that God's speaking is in the continuous
+present. We may use the past tense properly to indicate
+that at a certain time a certain word of God was
+spoken, but a word of God once spoken continues to
+be spoken, as a child once born continues to be alive,
+or a world once created continues to exist. And those
+are but imperfect illustrations, for children die and
+worlds burn out, but the Word of our God endureth
+forever.</p>
+
+<p>If you would follow on to know the Lord, come
+at once to the open Bible expecting it to speak to you.
+Do not come with the notion that it is a <i>thing</i> which
+you may push around at your convenience. It is more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+than a thing, it is a voice, a word, the very Word
+of the living God.</p>
+
+<p><i>Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy
+and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous
+sounds which continuously assault them. Give me the
+spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, "Speak,
+for thy servant heareth." Let me hear Thee speaking
+in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Thy
+Voice, that its tones may be familiar when the sounds
+of earth die away and the only sound will be the music
+of Thy speaking Voice. Amen.</i>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VII_The_Gaze_of_the_Soul" id="VII_The_Gaze_of_the_Soul"></a>VII&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>The Gaze of the Soul</i></h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Looking unto Jesus the author and
+finisher of our faith.&mdash;<i>Heb. 12:2</i></p></div>
+
+<p>Let us think of our intelligent plain man mentioned
+in chapter six coming for the first time to the reading
+of the Scriptures. He approaches the Bible without
+any previous knowledge of what it contains. He is
+wholly without prejudice; he has nothing to prove and
+nothing to defend.</p>
+
+<p>Such a man will not have read long until his
+mind begins to observe certain truths standing out
+from the page. They are the spiritual principles behind
+the record of God's dealings with men, and
+woven into the writings of holy men as they "were
+moved by the Holy Ghost." As he reads on he might
+want to number these truths as they become clear
+to him and make a brief summary under each number.
+These summaries will be the tenets of his Biblical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
+creed. Further reading will not affect these points
+except to enlarge and strengthen them. Our man is
+finding out what the Bible actually teaches.</p>
+
+<p>High up on the list of things which the Bible
+teaches will be the doctrine of <i>faith</i>. The place of
+weighty importance which the Bible gives to faith will
+be too plain for him to miss. He will very likely conclude:
+Faith is all-important in the life of the soul.
+Without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith
+will get me anything, take me anywhere in the Kingdom
+of God, but without faith there can be no approach
+to God, no forgiveness, no deliverance, no
+salvation, no communion, no spiritual life at all.</p>
+
+<p>By the time our friend has reached the eleventh
+chapter of Hebrews the eloquent encomium which is
+there pronounced upon faith will not seem strange
+to him. He will have read Paul's powerful defense of
+faith in his Roman and Galatian epistles. Later if
+he goes on to study church history he will understand
+the amazing power in the teachings of the Reformers
+as they showed the central place of faith in the Christian
+religion.</p>
+
+<p>Now if faith is so vitally important, if it is an
+indispensable <i>must</i> in our pursuit of God, it is perfectly
+natural that we should be deeply concerned
+over whether or not we possess this most precious gift.
+And our minds being what they are, it is inevitable
+that sooner or later we should get around to inquiring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+after the nature of faith. What <i>is</i> faith? would lie
+close to the question, Do I <i>have</i> faith? and would
+demand an answer if it were anywhere to be found.</p>
+
+<p>Almost all who preach or write on the subject of
+faith have much the same things to say concerning it.
+They tell us that it is believing a promise, that it is
+taking God at His word, that it is reckoning the Bible
+to be true and stepping out upon it. The rest of the
+book or sermon is usually taken up with stories of
+persons who have had their prayers answered as a
+result of their faith. These answers are mostly direct
+gifts of a practical and temporal nature such as health,
+money, physical protection or success in business. Or
+if the teacher is of a philosophic turn of mind he may
+take another course and lose us in a welter of metaphysics
+or snow us under with psychological jargon as
+he defines and re-defines, paring the slender hair of
+faith thinner and thinner till it disappears in gossamer
+shavings at last. When he is finished we get up disappointed
+and go out "by that same door where in we
+went." Surely there must be something better than
+this.</p>
+
+<p>In the Scriptures there is practically no effort
+made to define faith. Outside of a brief fourteen-word
+definition in Hebrews 11:1, I know of no Biblical definition,
+and even there faith is defined functionally,
+not philosophically; that is, it is a statement of what
+faith is <i>in operation</i>, <i>not</i> what it is <i>in essence</i>. It assumes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+the presence of faith and shows what it results in,
+rather than what it is. We will be wise to go just that
+far and attempt to go no further. We are told from
+whence it comes and by what means: "Faith is a gift
+of God," and "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
+by the word of God." This much is clear, and, to paraphrase
+Thomas &agrave; Kempis, "I had rather exercise faith
+than know the definition thereof."</p>
+
+<p>From here on, when the words "faith is" or their
+equivalent occur in this chapter I ask that they be
+understood to refer to what faith is in operation as
+exercised by a believing man. Right here we drop the
+notion of definition and think about faith as it may be
+experienced in action. The complexion of our thoughts
+will be practical, not theoretical.</p>
+
+<p>In a dramatic story in the Book of Numbers faith
+is seen in action. Israel became discouraged and spoke
+against God, and the Lord sent fiery serpents among
+them. "And they bit the people; and much people of
+Israel died." Then Moses sought the Lord for them and
+He heard and gave them a remedy against the bite of
+the serpents. He commanded Moses to make a serpent
+of brass and put it upon a pole in sight of all the people,
+"and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten,
+when he looketh upon it, shall live." Moses obeyed,
+"and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any
+man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived"
+(Num. 21:4-9).</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+In the New Testament this important bit of history
+is interpreted for us by no less an authority than
+our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is explaining to
+His hearers how they may be saved. He tells them that
+it is by believing. Then to make it clear He refers to
+this incident in the Book of Numbers. "As Moses lifted
+up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son
+of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him
+should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15).</p>
+
+<p>Our plain man in reading this would make an important
+discovery. He would notice that "look" and
+"believe" were synonymous terms. "Looking" on the
+Old Testament serpent is identical with "believing"
+on the New Testament Christ. That is, the <i>looking</i>
+and the <i>believing</i> are the same thing. And he would
+understand that while Israel looked with their external
+eyes, believing is done with the heart. I think he would
+conclude that <i>faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving
+God</i>.</p>
+
+<p>When he had seen this he would remember passages
+he had read before, and their meaning would
+come flooding over him. "They looked unto him, and
+were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed"
+(Psa. 34:5). "Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou
+that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of
+servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as
+the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he
+have mercy upon us" (Psa. 123:1-2). Here the man
+seeking mercy looks straight at the God of mercy and
+never takes his eyes away from Him till mercy is
+granted. And our Lord Himself looked always at God.
+"Looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave
+the bread to his disciples" (Matt. 14:19). Indeed Jesus
+taught that He wrought His works by always keeping
+His inward eyes upon His Father. His power lay in
+His continuous look at God (John 5:19-21).</p>
+
+<p>In full accord with the few texts we have quoted
+is the whole tenor of the inspired Word. It is summed
+up for us in the Hebrew epistle when we are instructed
+to run life's race "looking unto Jesus the author and
+finisher of our faith." From all this we learn that faith
+is not a once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the
+heart at the Triune God.</p>
+
+<p>Believing, then, is directing the heart's attention
+to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to "behold the Lamb of
+God," and never ceasing that beholding for the rest
+of our lives. At first this may be difficult, but it becomes
+easier as we look steadily at His wondrous Person,
+quietly and without strain. Distractions may hinder,
+but once the heart is committed to Him, after each
+brief excursion away from Him the attention will
+return again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird
+coming back to its window.</p>
+
+<p>I would emphasize this one committal, this one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+great volitional act which establishes the heart's intention
+to gaze forever upon Jesus. God takes this intention
+for our choice and makes what allowances He must
+for the thousand distractions which beset us in this evil
+world. He knows that we have set the direction of our
+hearts toward Jesus, and we can know it too, and comfort
+ourselves with the knowledge that a habit of soul
+is forming which will become after a while a sort of
+spiritual reflex requiring no more conscious effort on
+our part.</p>
+
+<p>Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues.
+It is by its very nature scarcely conscious of its own
+existence. Like the eye which sees everything in front
+of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the
+Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to
+itself at all. While we are looking at God we do not
+see ourselves&mdash;blessed riddance. The man who has
+struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but
+repeated failures will experience real relief when he
+stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the
+perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things
+he has so long been trying to do will be getting done
+within him. It will be God working in him to will and
+to do.</p>
+
+<p>Faith is not in itself a meritorious act; the merit is
+in the One toward Whom it is directed. Faith is a redirecting
+of our sight, a getting out of the focus of our
+own vision and getting God into focus. Sin has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>
+twisted our vision inward and made it self-regarding.
+Unbelief has put self where God should be, and
+is perilously close to the sin of Lucifer who said, "I
+will set my throne above the throne of God." Faith
+looks <i>out</i> instead of <i>in</i> and the whole life falls into line.</p>
+
+<p>All this may seem too simple. But we have no
+apology to make. To those who would seek to climb
+into heaven after help or descend into hell God says,
+"The word is nigh thee, even the word of faith." The
+word induces us to lift up our eyes unto the Lord and
+the blessed work of faith begins.</p>
+
+<p>When we lift our inward eyes to gaze upon God
+we are sure to meet friendly eyes gazing back at us, for
+it is written that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro
+throughout all the earth. The sweet language of experience
+is "Thou God seest me." When the eyes of the
+soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in,
+heaven has begun right here on this earth.</p>
+
+<p>"When all my endeavour is turned toward Thee
+because all Thy endeavour is turned toward me; when
+I look unto Thee alone with all my attention, nor ever
+turn aside the eyes of my mind, because Thou dost
+enfold me with Thy constant regard; when I direct my
+love toward Thee alone because Thou, who art Love's
+self hast turned Thee toward me alone. And what,
+Lord, is my life, save that embrace wherein Thy
+delightsome sweetness doth so lovingly enfold me?"<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
+So wrote Nicholas of Cusa four hundred years ago.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>
+I should like to say more about this old man of
+God. He is not much known today anywhere among
+Christian believers, and among current Fundamentalists
+he is known not at all. I feel that we could gain
+much from a little acquaintance with men of his spiritual
+flavor and the school of Christian thought which
+they represent. Christian literature, to be accepted and
+approved by the evangelical leaders of our times, must
+follow very closely the same train of thought, a kind
+of "party line" from which it is scarcely safe to depart.
+A half-century of this in America has made us smug
+and content. We imitate each other with slavish devotion
+and our most strenuous efforts are put forth to try
+to say the same thing that everyone around us is saying&mdash;and
+yet to find an excuse for saying it, some little
+safe variation on the approved theme or, if no more,
+at least a new illustration.</p>
+
+<p>Nicholas was a true follower of Christ, a lover
+of the Lord, radiant and shining in his devotion to the
+Person of Jesus. His theology was orthodox, but
+fragrant and sweet as everything about Jesus might
+properly be expected to be. His conception of eternal
+life, for instance, is beautiful in itself and, if I mistake
+not, is nearer in spirit to John 17:3 than that which is
+current among us today. Life eternal, says Nicholas,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
+is "nought other than that blessed regard wherewith
+Thou never ceasest to behold me, yea, even the secret
+places of my soul. With Thee, to behold is to give life;
+'tis unceasingly to impart sweetest love of Thee; 'tis to
+inflame me to love of Thee by love's imparting, and to
+feed me by inflaming, and by feeding to kindle my
+yearning, and by kindling to make me drink of the
+dew of gladness, and by drinking to infuse in me a
+fountain of life, and by infusing to make it increase
+and endure."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>Now, if faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and
+if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet
+the all-seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one
+of the easiest things possible to do. It would be like
+God to make the most vital thing easy and place it
+within the range of possibility for the weakest and
+poorest of us.</p>
+
+<p>Several conclusions may fairly be drawn from all
+this. The simplicity of it, for instance. Since believing
+is looking, it can be done without special equipment
+or religious paraphernalia. God has seen to it that the
+one life-and-death essential can never be subject to the
+caprice of accident. Equipment can break down or get
+lost, water can leak away, records can be destroyed by
+fire, the minister can be delayed or the church burn
+down. All these are external to the soul and are subject<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
+to accident or mechanical failure: but <i>looking</i> is of the
+heart and can be done successfully by any man standing
+up or kneeling down or lying in his last agony a
+thousand miles from any church.</p>
+
+<p>Since believing is looking it can be done <i>any time</i>.
+No season is superior to another season for this sweetest
+of all acts. God never made salvation depend upon
+new moons nor holy days or sabbaths. A man is not
+nearer to Christ on Easter Sunday than he is, say, on
+Saturday, August 3, or Monday, October 4. As long as
+Christ sits on the mediatorial throne every day is a
+good day and all days are days of salvation.</p>
+
+<p>Neither does <i>place</i> matter in this blessed work of
+believing God. Lift your heart and let it rest upon Jesus
+and you are instantly in a sanctuary though it be a
+Pullman berth or a factory or a kitchen. You can see
+God from anywhere if your mind is set to love and
+obey Him.</p>
+
+<p>Now, someone may ask, "Is not this of which
+you speak for special persons such as monks or ministers
+who have by the nature of their calling more time
+to devote to quiet meditation? I am a busy worker and
+have little time to spend alone." I am happy to say that
+the life I describe is for everyone of God's children
+regardless of calling. It is, in fact, happily practiced
+every day by many hard working persons and is beyond
+the reach of none.</p>
+
+<p>Many have found the secret of which I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
+speak and, without giving much thought to what is
+going on within them, constantly practice this habit
+of inwardly gazing upon God. They know that something
+inside their hearts sees God. Even when they are
+compelled to withdraw their conscious attention in
+order to engage in earthly affairs there is within them
+a secret communion always going on. Let their attention
+but be released for a moment from necessary business
+and it flies at once to God again. This has been
+the testimony of many Christians, so many that even
+as I state it thus I have a feeling that I am quoting,
+though from whom or from how many I cannot
+possibly know.</p>
+
+<p>I do not want to leave the impression that the
+ordinary means of grace have no value. They most
+assuredly have. Private prayer should be practiced by
+every Christian. Long periods of Bible meditation will
+purify our gaze and direct it; church attendance will
+enlarge our outlook and increase our love for others.
+Service and work and activity; all are good and should
+be engaged in by every Christian. But at the bottom
+of all these things, giving meaning to them, will be
+the inward habit of beholding God. A new set of eyes
+(so to speak) will develop within us enabling us to be
+looking at God while our outward eyes are seeing the
+scenes of this passing world.</p>
+
+<p>Someone may fear that we are magnifying private
+religion out of all proportion, that the "us" of the New<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
+Testament is being displaced by a selfish "I." Has it
+ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned
+to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other?
+They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each
+other, but to another standard to which each one must
+individually bow. So one hundred worshippers met
+together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart
+nearer to each other than they could possibly be were
+they to become "unity" conscious and turn their eyes
+away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social
+religion is perfected when private religion is purified.
+The body becomes stronger as its members become
+healthier. The whole Church of God gains when the
+members that compose it begin to seek a better and
+a higher life.</p>
+
+<p>All the foregoing presupposes true repentance and
+a full committal of the life to God. It is hardly necessary
+to mention this, for only persons who have made
+such a committal will have read this far.</p>
+
+<p>When the habit of inwardly gazing Godward
+becomes fixed within us we shall be ushered onto a
+new level of spiritual life more in keeping with the
+promises of God and the mood of the New Testament.
+The Triune God will be our dwelling place even while
+our feet walk the low road of simple duty here among
+men. We will have found life's <i>summum bonum</i> indeed.
+"There is the source of all delights that can be
+desired; not only can nought better be thought out by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>
+men and angels, but nought better can exist in
+mode of being! For it is the absolute maximum of every
+rational desire, than which a greater cannot be."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p><i>O Lord, I have heard a good word inviting me to
+look away to Thee and be satisfied. My heart longs to
+respond, but sin has clouded my vision till I see Thee
+but dimly. Be pleased to cleanse me in Thine own precious
+blood, and make me inwardly pure, so that I
+may with unveiled eyes gaze upon Thee all the days
+of my earthly pilgrimage. Then shall I be prepared to
+behold Thee in full splendor in the day when Thou
+shalt appear to be glorified in Thy saints and admired
+in all them that believe. Amen.</i></p>
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Nicholas of Cusa, <i>The Vision of God</i>, E. P. Dutton &amp; Co., Inc.,
+New York, 1928. This and the following quotations used by
+kind permission of the publishers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>The Vision of God</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>The Vision of God</i></p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VIII_Restoring_the_Creator-creature_Relation" id="VIII_Restoring_the_Creator-creature_Relation"></a>VIII&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Restoring the Creator-creature Relation</i></h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Be thou exalted, O God, above the
+heavens; let thy glory be above
+all the earth.&mdash;<i>Psa. 57:5</i></p></div>
+
+<p>It is a truism to say that order in nature depends upon
+right relationships; to achieve harmony each thing
+must be in its proper position relative to each other
+thing. In human life it is not otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>I have hinted before in these chapters that the
+cause of all our human miseries is a radical moral dislocation,
+an upset in our relation to God and to each
+other. For whatever else the Fall may have been, it
+was most certainly a sharp change in man's relation to
+his Creator. He adopted toward God an altered attitude,
+and by so doing destroyed the proper Creator-creature
+relation in which, unknown to him, his true
+happiness lay. Essentially salvation is the restoration
+of a right relation between man and his Creator, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
+bringing back to normal of the Creator-creature
+relation.</p>
+
+<p>A satisfactory spiritual life will begin with a complete
+change in relation between God and the sinner;
+not a judicial change merely, but a conscious and experienced
+change affecting the sinner's whole nature.
+The atonement in Jesus' blood makes such a change
+judicially possible and the working of the Holy Spirit
+makes it emotionally satisfying. The story of the prodigal
+son perfectly illustrates this latter phase. He had
+brought a world of trouble upon himself by forsaking
+the position which he had properly held as son of his
+father. At bottom his restoration was nothing more
+than a re-establishing of the father-son relation which
+had existed from his birth and had been altered temporarily
+by his act of sinful rebellion. This story overlooks
+the legal aspects of redemption, but it makes
+beautifully clear the experiential aspects of salvation.</p>
+
+<p>In determining relationships we must begin somewhere.
+There must be somewhere a fixed center against
+which everything else is measured, where the law of
+relativity does not enter and we can say "IS" and make
+no allowances. Such a center is God. When God would
+make His Name known to mankind He could find no
+better word than "I AM." When He speaks in the first
+person He says, "I AM"; when we speak of Him we
+say, "He is"; when we speak to Him we say, "Thou
+art." Everyone and everything else measures from that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
+fixed point. "I am that I am," says God, "I change not."</p>
+
+<p>As the sailor locates his position on the sea by
+"shooting" the sun, so we may get our moral bearings
+by looking at God. We must begin with God. We are
+right when and only when we stand in a right position
+relative to God, and we are wrong so far and so long
+as we stand in any other position.</p>
+
+<p>Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems
+from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust
+our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify
+Him and to bring Him nearer to our own image. The
+flesh whimpers against the rigor of God's inexorable
+sentence and begs like Agag for a little mercy, a little
+indulgence of its carnal ways. It is no use. We can get
+a right start only by accepting God as He is and learning
+to love Him for what He is. As we go on to know
+Him better we shall find it a source of unspeakable joy
+that God is just what He is. Some of the most rapturous
+moments we know will be those we spend in
+reverent admiration of the Godhead. In those holy
+moments the very thought of change in Him will be
+too painful to endure.</p>
+
+<p>So let us begin with God. Back of all, above all,
+before all is God; first in sequential order, above in
+rank and station, exalted in dignity and honor. As the
+self-existent One He gave being to all things, and all
+things exist out of Him and for Him. "Thou art worthy,
+O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
+thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they
+are and were created."</p>
+
+<p>Every soul belongs to God and exists by His pleasure.
+God being Who and What He is, and we being
+who and what we are, the only thinkable relation between
+us is one of full lordship on His part and complete
+submission on ours. We owe Him every honor
+that it is in our power to give Him. Our everlasting
+grief lies in giving Him anything less.</p>
+
+<p>The pursuit of God will embrace the labor of
+bringing our total personality into conformity to His.
+And this not judicially, but actually. I do not here refer
+to the act of justification by faith in Christ. I speak of
+a voluntary exalting of God to His proper station over
+us and a willing surrender of our whole being to the
+place of worshipful submission which the Creator-creature
+circumstance makes proper.</p>
+
+<p>The moment we make up our minds that we are
+going on with this determination to exalt God over
+all we step out of the world's parade. We shall find
+ourselves out of adjustment to the ways of the world,
+and increasingly so as we make progress in the holy
+way. We shall acquire a new viewpoint; a new and
+different psychology will be formed within us; a new
+power will begin to surprise us by its upsurgings and
+its outgoings.</p>
+
+<p>Our break with the world will be the direct outcome
+of our changed relation to God. For the world of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>
+fallen men does not honor God. Millions call themselves
+by His Name, it is true, and pay some token
+respect to Him, but a simple test will show how little
+He is really honored among them. Let the average man
+be put to the proof on the question of who is <i>above</i>,
+and his true position will be exposed. Let him be forced
+into making a choice between God and money, between
+God and men, between God and personal ambition,
+God and self, God and human love, and God will
+take second place every time. Those other things will
+be exalted above. However the man may protest, the
+proof is in the choices he makes day after day throughout
+his life.</p>
+
+<p>"Be thou exalted" is the language of victorious
+spiritual experience. It is a little key to unlock the door
+to great treasures of grace. It is central in the life of
+God in the soul. Let the seeking man reach a place
+where life and lips join to say continually "Be thou
+exalted," and a thousand minor problems will be solved
+at once. His Christian life ceases to be the complicated
+thing it had been before and becomes the very essence
+of simplicity. By the exercise of his will he has set his
+course, and on that course he will stay as if guided
+by an automatic pilot. If blown off course for a moment
+by some adverse wind he will surely return again as
+by a secret bent of the soul. The hidden motions of
+the Spirit are working in his favor, and "the stars in
+their courses" fight for him. He has met his life prob<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>lem
+at its center, and everything else must follow along.</p>
+
+<p>Let no one imagine that he will lose anything of
+human dignity by this voluntary sell-out of his all to
+his God. He does not by this degrade himself as a man;
+rather he finds his right place of high honor as one
+made in the image of his Creator. His deep disgrace
+lay in his moral derangement, his unnatural usurpation
+of the place of God. His honor will be proved by
+restoring again that stolen throne. In exalting God over
+all he finds his own highest honor upheld.</p>
+
+<p>Anyone who might feel reluctant to surrender his
+will to the will of another should remember Jesus'
+words, "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of
+sin." We must of necessity be servant to someone,
+either to God or to sin. The sinner prides himself on
+his independence, completely overlooking the fact that
+he is the weak slave of the sins that rule his members.
+The man who surrenders to Christ exchanges a cruel
+slave driver for a kind and gentle Master whose yoke
+is easy and whose burden is light.</p>
+
+<p>Made as we were in the image of God we scarcely
+find it strange to take again our God as our All. God
+was our original habitat and our hearts cannot but feel
+at home when they enter again that ancient and beautiful
+abode.</p>
+
+<p>I hope it is clear that there is a logic behind God's
+claim to pre-eminence. That place is His by every right
+in earth or heaven. While we take to ourselves the place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+that is His the whole course of our lives is out of joint.
+Nothing will or can restore order till our hearts make
+the great decision: God shall be exalted above.</p>
+
+<p>"Them that honour me I will honour," said God
+once to a priest of Israel, and that ancient law of the
+Kingdom stands today unchanged by the passing of
+time or the changes of dispensation. The whole Bible
+and every page of history proclaim the perpetuation of
+that law. "If any man serve me, him will my Father
+honour," said our Lord Jesus, tying in the old with the
+new and revealing the essential unity of His ways
+with men.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes the best way to see a thing is to look
+at its opposite. Eli and his sons are placed in the priesthood
+with the stipulation that they honor God in their
+lives and ministrations. This they fail to do, and God
+sends Samuel to announce the consequences. Unknown
+to Eli this law of reciprocal honor has been all
+the while secretly working, and now the time has come
+for judgment to fall. Hophni and Phineas, the degenerate
+priests, fall in battle, the wife of Hophni dies in
+childbirth, Israel flees before her enemies, the ark of
+God is captured by the Philistines and the old man
+Eli falls backward and dies of a broken neck. Thus
+stark utter tragedy followed upon Eli's failure to honor
+God.</p>
+
+<p>Now set over against this almost any Bible character
+who honestly tried to glorify God in his earthly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+walk. See how God winked at weaknesses and overlooked
+failures as He poured upon His servants grace
+and blessing untold. Let it be Abraham, Jacob, David,
+Daniel, Elijah or whom you will; honor followed honor
+as harvest the seed. The man of God set his heart to
+exalt God above all; God accepted his intention as fact
+and acted accordingly. Not perfection, but holy intention
+made the difference.</p>
+
+<p>In our Lord Jesus Christ this law was seen in
+simple perfection. In His lowly manhood He humbled
+Himself and gladly gave all glory to His Father in
+heaven. He sought not His own honor, but the honor
+of God who sent Him. "If I honour myself," He said
+on one occasion, "my honour is nothing; it is my
+Father that honoureth me." So far had the proud Pharisees
+departed from this law that they could not understand
+one who honored God at his own expense. "I
+honour my Father," said Jesus to them, "and ye do
+dishonour me."</p>
+
+<p>Another saying of Jesus, and a most disturbing
+one, was put in the form of a question, "How can ye
+believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek
+not the honour that cometh from God alone?" If I
+understand this correctly Christ taught here the alarming
+doctrine that the desire for honor among men made
+belief impossible. Is this sin at the root of religious
+unbelief? Could it be that those "intellectual difficulties"
+which men blame for their inability to believe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+are but smoke screens to conceal the real cause that lies
+behind them? Was it this greedy desire for honor from
+man that made men into Pharisees and Pharisees into
+Deicides? Is this the secret back of religious self-righteousness
+and empty worship? I believe it may be. The
+whole course of the life is upset by failure to put God
+where He belongs. We exalt ourselves instead of God
+and the curse follows.</p>
+
+<p>In our desire after God let us keep always in mind
+that God also hath desire, and His desire is toward the
+sons of men, and more particularly toward those sons
+of men who will make the once-for-all decision to exalt
+Him over all. Such as these are precious to God above
+all treasures of earth or sea. In them God finds a theater
+where He can display His exceeding kindness toward
+us in Christ Jesus. With them God can walk unhindered,
+toward them He can act like the God He is.</p>
+
+<p>In speaking thus I have one fear; it is that I may
+convince the mind before God can win the heart. For
+this God-above-all position is one not easy to take. The
+mind may approve it while not having the consent of
+the will to put it into effect. While the imagination
+races ahead to honor God, the will may lag behind and
+the man never guess how divided his heart is. The
+whole man must make the decision before the heart
+can know any real satisfaction. God wants us all, and
+He will not rest till He gets us all. No part of the
+man will do.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>Let us pray over this in detail, throwing ourselves
+at God's feet and meaning everything we say. No one
+who prays thus in sincerity need wait long for tokens
+of divine acceptance. God will unveil His glory before
+His servant's eyes, and He will place all His treasures
+at the disposal of such a one, for He knows that His
+honor is safe in such consecrated hands.</p>
+
+<p><i>O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions.
+Nothing of earth's treasures shall seem dear unto me
+if only Thou art glorified in my life. Be Thou exalted
+over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt
+be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone
+in the midst of the earth. Be Thou exalted above
+my comforts. Though it mean the loss of bodily
+comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses I shall keep
+my vow made this day before Thee. Be Thou exalted
+over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee
+even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my
+name be forgotten as a dream. Rise, O Lord, into Thy
+proper place of honor, above my ambitions, above my
+likes and dislikes, above my family, my health and
+even my life itself. Let me decrease that Thou mayest
+increase, let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. Ride
+forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem
+mounted upon the humble little beast, a colt, the foal
+of an ass, and let me hear the children cry to Thee,
+"Hosanna in the highest."</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="IX_Meekness_and_Rest" id="IX_Meekness_and_Rest"></a>IX&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Meekness and Rest</i></h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Blessed are the meek: for they shall
+inherit the earth.&mdash;<i>Matt. 5:5</i></p></div>
+
+<p>A fairly accurate description of the human race might
+be furnished one unacquainted with it by taking the
+Beatitudes, turning them wrong side out and saying,
+"Here is your human race." For the exact opposite of
+the virtues in the Beatitudes are the very qualities
+which distinguish human life and conduct.</p>
+
+<p>In the world of men we find nothing approaching
+the virtues of which Jesus spoke in the opening words
+of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Instead of poverty
+of spirit we find the rankest kind of pride; instead
+of mourners we find pleasure seekers; instead of meekness,
+arrogance; instead of hunger after righteousness
+we hear men saying, "I am rich and increased with
+goods and have need of nothing"; instead of mercy we
+find cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt imagin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>ings;
+instead of peacemakers we find men quarrelsome
+and resentful; instead of rejoicing in mistreatment we
+find them fighting back with every weapon at their
+command.</p>
+
+<p>Of this kind of moral stuff civilized society is
+composed. The atmosphere is charged with it; we
+breathe it with every breath and drink it with our
+mother's milk. Culture and education refine these
+things slightly but leave them basically untouched. A
+whole world of literature has been created to justify
+this kind of life as the only normal one. And this is
+the more to be wondered at seeing that these are the
+evils which make life the bitter struggle it is for all of
+us. All our heartaches and a great many of our physical
+ills spring directly out of our sins. Pride, arrogance,
+resentfulness, evil imaginings, malice, greed: these are
+the sources of more human pain than all the diseases
+that ever afflicted mortal flesh.</p>
+
+<p>Into a world like this the sound of Jesus' words
+comes wonderful and strange, a visitation from above.
+It is well that He spoke, for no one else could have done
+it as well; and it is good that we listen. His words are
+the essence of truth. He is not offering an opinion;
+Jesus never uttered opinions. He never guessed; He
+knew, and He knows. His words are not as Solomon's
+were, the sum of sound wisdom or the results of keen
+observation. He spoke out of the fulness of His Godhead,
+and His words are very Truth itself. He is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+only one who could say "blessed" with complete authority,
+for He is the Blessed One come from the world
+above to confer blessedness upon mankind. And His
+words were supported by deeds mightier than any performed
+on this earth by any other man. It is wisdom
+for us to listen.</p>
+
+<p>As was often so with Jesus, He used this word
+"meek" in a brief crisp sentence, and not till some
+time later did He go on to explain it. In the same book
+of Matthew He tells us more about it and applies it
+to our lives. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and
+are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
+yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and
+lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
+For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Here
+we have two things standing in contrast to each other,
+a burden and a rest. The burden is not a local one,
+peculiar to those first hearers, but one which is borne
+by the whole human race. It consists not of political
+oppression or poverty or hard work. It is far deeper
+than that. It is felt by the rich as well as the poor for
+it is something from which wealth and idleness can
+never deliver us.</p>
+
+<p>The burden borne by mankind is a heavy and a
+crushing thing. The word Jesus used means a load
+carried or toil borne to the point of exhaustion. Rest is
+simply release from that burden. It is not something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+we do, it is what comes to us when we cease to do.
+His own meekness, that is the rest.</p>
+
+<p>Let us examine our burden. It is altogether an
+interior one. It attacks the heart and the mind and
+reaches the body only from within. First, there is the
+burden of <i>pride</i>. The labor of self-love is a heavy one
+indeed. Think for yourself whether much of your sorrow
+has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly
+of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god
+to which you must be loyal there will be those who
+will delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can
+you hope to have inward peace? The heart's fierce
+effort to protect itself from every slight, to shield its
+touchy honor from the bad opinion of friend and
+enemy, will never let the mind have rest. Continue this
+fight through the years and the burden will become
+intolerable. Yet the sons of earth are carrying this
+burden continually, challenging every word spoken
+against them, cringing under every criticism, smarting
+under each fancied slight, tossing sleepless if another
+is preferred before them.</p>
+
+<p>Such a burden as this is not necessary to bear.
+Jesus calls us to His rest, and meekness is His method.
+The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he,
+for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the
+world is not worth the effort. He develops toward himself
+a kindly sense of humor and learns to say, "Oh, so
+you have been overlooked? They have placed someone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>
+else before you? They have whispered that you are
+pretty small stuff after all? And now you feel hurt
+because the world is saying about you the very things
+you have been saying about yourself? Only yesterday
+you were telling God that you were nothing, a mere
+worm of the dust. Where is your consistency? Come
+on, humble yourself, and cease to care what men
+think."</p>
+
+<p>The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted
+with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be
+in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as
+Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself.
+He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He
+knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared
+him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time
+that he is in the sight of God of more importance than
+angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That
+is his motto. He knows well that the world will never
+see him as God sees him and he has stopped caring.
+He rests perfectly content to allow God to place His
+own values. He will be patient to wait for the day
+when everything will get its own price tag and real
+worth will come into its own. Then the righteous shall
+shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father. He is willing
+to wait for that day.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime he will have attained a place of
+soul rest. As he walks on in meekness he will be happy
+to let God defend him. The old struggle to defend<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+himself is over. He has found the peace which meekness
+brings.</p>
+
+<p>Then also he will get deliverance from the burden
+of <i>pretense</i>. By this I mean not hypocrisy, but the common
+human desire to put the best foot forward and
+hide from the world our real inward poverty. For sin
+has played many evil tricks upon us, and one has been
+the infusing into us a false sense of shame. There is
+hardly a man or woman who dares to be just what he
+or she is without doctoring up the impression. The fear
+of being found out gnaws like rodents within their
+hearts. The man of culture is haunted by the fear that
+he will some day come upon a man more cultured than
+himself. The learned man fears to meet a man more
+learned than he. The rich man sweats under the fear
+that his clothes or his car or his house will sometime
+be made to look cheap by comparison with those of
+another rich man. So-called "society" runs by a motivation
+not higher than this, and the poorer classes on
+their level are little better.</p>
+
+<p>Let no one smile this off. These burdens are real,
+and little by little they kill the victims of this evil and
+unnatural way of life. And the psychology created by
+years of this kind of thing makes true meekness seem
+as unreal as a dream, as aloof as a star. To all the victims
+of the gnawing disease Jesus says, "Ye must become
+as little children." For little children do not
+compare; they receive direct enjoyment from what they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+have without relating it to something else or someone
+else. Only as they get older and sin begins to stir within
+their hearts do jealousy and envy appear. Then they
+are unable to enjoy what they have if someone else has
+something larger or better. At that early age does the
+galling burden come down upon their tender souls,
+and it never leaves them till Jesus sets them free.</p>
+
+<p>Another source of burden is <i>artificiality</i>. I am sure
+that most people live in secret fear that some day they
+will be careless and by chance an enemy or friend will
+be allowed to peep into their poor empty souls. So they
+are never relaxed. Bright people are tense and alert
+in fear that they may be trapped into saying something
+common or stupid. Traveled people are afraid that they
+may meet some Marco Polo who is able to describe
+some remote place where they have never been.</p>
+
+<p>This unnatural condition is part of our sad heritage
+of sin, but in our day it is aggravated by our whole
+way of life. Advertising is largely based upon this
+habit of pretense. "Courses" are offered in this or that
+field of human learning frankly appealing to the victim's
+desire to shine at a party. Books are sold, clothes
+and cosmetics are peddled, by playing continually
+upon this desire to appear what we are not. Artificiality
+is one curse that will drop away the moment we kneel
+at Jesus' feet and surrender ourselves to His meekness.
+Then we will not care what people think of us so long
+as God is pleased. Then <i>what we are</i> will be every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>thing;
+what we appear will take its place far down the
+scale of interest for us. Apart from sin we have nothing
+of which to be ashamed. Only an evil desire to shine
+makes us want to appear other than we are.</p>
+
+<p>The heart of the world is breaking under this load
+of pride and pretense. There is no release from our burden
+apart from the meekness of Christ. Good keen
+reasoning may help slightly, but so strong is this vice
+that if we push it down one place it will come up
+somewhere else. To men and women everywhere
+Jesus says, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest."
+The rest He offers is the rest of meekness, the blessed
+relief which comes when we accept ourselves for what
+we are and cease to pretend. It will take some courage
+at first, but the needed grace will come as we learn that
+we are sharing this new and easy yoke with the strong
+Son of God Himself. He calls it "my yoke," and He
+walks at one end while we walk at the other.</p>
+
+<p><i>Lord, make me childlike. Deliver me from the
+urge to compete with another for place or prestige or
+position. I would be simple and artless as a little child.
+Deliver me from pose and pretense. Forgive me for
+thinking of myself. Help me to forget myself and find
+my true peace in beholding Thee. That Thou mayest
+answer this prayer I humble myself before Thee. Lay
+upon me Thy easy yoke of self-forgetfulness that
+through it I may find rest. Amen.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="X_The_Sacrament_of_Living" id="X_The_Sacrament_of_Living"></a>X&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>The Sacrament of Living</i></h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Whether therefore ye eat, or drink,
+or whatsoever ye do, do all to the
+glory of God.&mdash;<i>I Cor. 10:31</i></p></div>
+
+<p>One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace which
+the Christian encounters is the common habit of dividing
+our lives into two areas, the sacred and the secular.
+As these areas are conceived to exist apart from each
+other and to be morally and spiritually incompatible,
+and as we are compelled by the necessities of living to
+be always crossing back and forth from the one to the
+other, our inner lives tend to break up so that we live
+a divided instead of a unified life.</p>
+
+<p>Our trouble springs from the fact that we who
+follow Christ inhabit at once two worlds, the spiritual
+and the natural. As children of Adam we live our lives
+on earth subject to the limitations of the flesh and the
+weaknesses and ills to which human nature is heir.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
+Merely to live among men requires of us years of
+hard toil and much care and attention to the things
+of this world. In sharp contrast to this is our life in the
+Spirit. There we enjoy another and higher kind of
+life; we are children of God; we possess heavenly status
+and enjoy intimate fellowship with Christ.</p>
+
+<p>This tends to divide our total life into two departments.
+We come unconsciously to recognize two sets of
+actions. The first are performed with a feeling of satisfaction
+and a firm assurance that they are pleasing to
+God. These are the sacred acts and they are usually
+thought to be prayer, Bible reading, hymn singing,
+church attendance and such other acts as spring directly
+from faith. They may be known by the fact that
+they have no direct relation to this world, and would
+have no meaning whatever except as faith shows us
+another world, "an house not made with hands, eternal
+in the heavens."</p>
+
+<p>Over against these sacred acts are the secular ones.
+They include all of the ordinary activities of life which
+we share with the sons and daughters of Adam: eating,
+sleeping, working, looking after the needs of the body
+and performing our dull and prosaic duties here on
+earth. These we often do reluctantly and with many
+misgivings, often apologizing to God for what we consider
+a waste of time and strength. The upshot of this
+is that we are uneasy most of the time. We go about
+our common tasks with a feeling of deep frustration,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
+telling ourselves pensively that there's a better day
+coming when we shall slough off this earthly shell and
+be bothered no more with the affairs of this world.</p>
+
+<p>This is the old sacred-secular antithesis. Most
+Christians are caught in its trap. They cannot get a
+satisfactory adjustment between the claims of the two
+worlds. They try to walk the tight rope between two
+kingdoms and they find no peace in either. Their
+strength is reduced, their outlook confused and their
+joy taken from them.</p>
+
+<p>I believe this state of affairs to be wholly unnecessary.
+We have gotten ourselves on the horns of a dilemma,
+true enough, but the dilemma is not real. It is a
+creature of misunderstanding. The sacred-secular antithesis
+has no foundation in the New Testament. Without
+doubt a more perfect understanding of Christian
+truth will deliver us from it.</p>
+
+<p>The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our perfect
+example, and He knew no divided life. In the Presence
+of His Father He lived on earth without strain from
+babyhood to His death on the cross. God accepted
+the offering of His total life, and made no distinction
+between act and act. "I do always the things that please
+him," was His brief summary of His own life as it
+related to the Father. As He moved among men He
+was poised and restful. What pressure and suffering
+He endured grew out of His position as the world's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>
+sin bearer; they were never the result of moral uncertainty
+or spiritual maladjustment.</p>
+
+<p>Paul's exhortation to "do all to the glory of God"
+is more than pious idealism. It is an integral part of the
+sacred revelation and is to be accepted as the very
+Word of Truth. It opens before us the possibility of
+making every act of our lives contribute to the glory
+of God. Lest we should be too timid to include everything,
+Paul mentions specifically eating and drinking.
+This humble privilege we share with the beasts that
+perish. If these lowly animal acts can be so performed
+as to honor God, then it becomes difficult to conceive
+of one that cannot.</p>
+
+<p>That monkish hatred of the body which figures
+so prominently in the works of certain early devotional
+writers is wholly without support in the Word of God.
+Common modesty is found in the Sacred Scriptures,
+it is true, but never prudery or a false sense of shame.
+The New Testament accepts as a matter of course that
+in His incarnation our Lord took upon Him a real
+human body, and no effort is made to steer around the
+downright implications of such a fact. He lived in that
+body here among men and never once performed a
+non-sacred act. His presence in human flesh sweeps
+away forever the evil notion that there is about the
+human body something innately offensive to the Deity.
+God created our bodies, and we do not offend Him by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>
+placing the responsibility where it belongs. He is not
+ashamed of the work of His own hands.</p>
+
+<p>Perversion, misuse and abuse of our human
+powers should give us cause enough to be ashamed.
+Bodily acts done in sin and contrary to nature can
+never honor God. Wherever the human will introduces
+moral evil we have no longer our innocent and harmless
+powers as God made them; we have instead an
+abused and twisted thing which can never bring glory
+to its Creator.</p>
+
+<p>Let us, however, assume that perversion and
+abuse are not present. Let us think of a Christian believer
+in whose life the twin wonders of repentance
+and the new birth have been wrought. He is now living
+according to the will of God as he understands it from
+the written Word. Of such a one it may be said that
+every act of his life is or can be as truly sacred as prayer
+or baptism or the Lord's Supper. To say this is not
+to bring all acts down to one dead level; it is rather to
+lift every act up into a living kingdom and turn the
+whole life into a sacrament.</p>
+
+<p>If a sacrament is an external expression of an
+inward grace than we need not hesitate to accept the
+above thesis. By one act of consecration of our total
+selves to God we can make every subsequent act express
+that consecration. We need no more be ashamed of our
+body&mdash;the fleshly servant that carries us through life&mdash;than
+Jesus was of the humble beast upon which He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+rode into Jerusalem. "The Lord hath need of him"
+may well apply to our mortal bodies. If Christ dwells
+in us we may bear about the Lord of glory as the little
+beast did of old and give occasion to the multitudes to
+cry, "Hosanna in the highest."</p>
+
+<p>That we <i>see</i> this truth is not enough. If we would
+escape from the toils of the sacred-secular dilemma the
+truth must "run in our blood" and condition the complexion
+of our thoughts. We must practice living to
+the glory of God, actually and determinedly. By meditation
+upon this truth, by talking it over with God often
+in our prayers, by recalling it to our minds frequently
+as we move about among men, a <i>sense</i> of its wondrous
+meaning will begin to take hold of us. The old painful
+duality will go down before a restful unity of life. The
+knowledge that we are all God's, that He has received
+all and rejected nothing, will unify our inner lives and
+make everything sacred to us.</p>
+
+<p>This is not quite all. Long-held habits do not die
+easily. It will take intelligent thought and a great deal
+of reverent prayer to escape completely from the sacred-secular
+psychology. For instance it may be difficult for
+the average Christian to get hold of the idea that his
+daily labors can be performed as acts of worship acceptable
+to God by Jesus Christ. The old antithesis will
+crop up in the back of his head sometimes to disturb
+his peace of mind. Nor will that old serpent the devil
+take all this lying down. He will be there in the cab<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+or at the desk or in the field to remind the Christian
+that he is giving the better part of his day to the things
+of this world and allotting to his religious duties only
+a trifling portion of his time. And unless great care is
+taken this will create confusion and bring discouragement
+and heaviness of heart.</p>
+
+<p>We can meet this successfully only by the exercise
+of an aggressive faith. We must offer all our acts to God
+and believe that He accepts them. Then hold firmly to
+that position and keep insisting that every act of every
+hour of the day and night be included in the transaction.
+Keep reminding God in our times of private
+prayer that we mean every act for His glory; then supplement
+those times by a thousand thought-prayers as
+we go about the job of living. Let us practice the fine
+art of making every work a priestly ministration. Let
+us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn
+to find Him there.</p>
+
+<p>A concomitant of the error which we have been
+discussing is the sacred-secular antithesis as applied to
+places. It is little short of astonishing that we can read
+the New Testament and still believe in the inherent
+sacredness of places as distinguished from other
+places. This error is so widespread that one feels all
+alone when he tries to combat it. It has acted as a kind
+of dye to color the thinking of religious persons and
+has colored the eyes as well so that it is all but impossible
+to detect its fallacy. In the face of every New<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
+Testament teaching to the contrary it has been said and
+sung throughout the centuries and accepted as a part
+of the Christian message, the which it most surely is
+not. Only the Quakers, so far as my knowledge goes,
+have had the perception to see the error and the courage
+to expose it.</p>
+
+<p>Here are the facts as I see them. For four hundred
+years Israel had dwelt in Egypt, surrounded by the
+crassest idolatry. By the hand of Moses they were
+brought out at last and started toward the land of promise.
+The very idea of holiness had been lost to them.
+To correct this, God began at the bottom. He localized
+Himself in the cloud and fire and later when the tabernacle
+had been built He dwelt in fiery manifestation in
+the Holy of Holies. By innumerable distinctions God
+taught Israel the difference between holy and unholy.
+There were holy days, holy vessels, holy garments.
+There were washings, sacrifices, offerings of many
+kinds. By these means Israel learned that <i>God is holy</i>.
+It was this that He was teaching them. Not the holiness
+of things or places, but the holiness of Jehovah was the
+lesson they must learn.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the great day when Christ appeared.
+Immediately He began to say, "Ye have heard that it
+was said by them of old time&mdash;but <i>I</i> say unto you."
+The Old Testament schooling was over. When Christ
+died on the cross the veil of the temple was rent from
+top to bottom. The Holy of Holies was opened to every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>one
+who would enter in faith. Christ's words were
+remembered, "The hour cometh, when ye shall neither
+in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
+Father.... But the hour cometh, and now is, when
+the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
+and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship
+Him. God is Spirit, and they that worship him must
+worship him in spirit and in truth."</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after, Paul took up the cry of liberty and
+declared all meats clean, every day holy, all places
+sacred and every act acceptable to God. The sacredness
+of times and places, a half-light necessary to the
+education of the race, passed away before the full sun
+of spiritual worship.</p>
+
+<p>The essential spirituality of worship remained the
+possession of the Church until it was slowly lost with
+the passing of the years. Then the natural <i>legality</i> of
+the fallen hearts of men began to introduce the old
+distinctions. The Church came to observe again days
+and seasons and times. Certain places were chosen and
+marked out as holy in a special sense. Differences were
+observed between one and another day or place or person,
+"The sacraments" were first two, then three, then
+four until with the triumph of Romanism they were
+fixed at seven.</p>
+
+<p>In all charity, and with no desire to reflect unkindly
+upon any Christian, however misled, I would
+point out that the Roman Catholic church represents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>
+today the sacred-secular heresy carried to its logical conclusion.
+Its deadliest effect is the complete cleavage it
+introduces between religion and life. Its teachers attempt
+to avoid this snare by many footnotes and multitudinous
+explanations, but the mind's instinct for logic
+is too strong. In practical living the cleavage is a fact.</p>
+
+<p>From this bondage reformers and puritans and
+mystics have labored to free us. Today the trend in
+conservative circles is back toward that bondage again.
+It is said that a horse after it has been led out of a
+burning building will sometimes by a strange obstinacy
+break loose from its rescuer and dash back into the
+building again to perish in the flame. By some such
+stubborn tendency toward error Fundamentalism in
+our day is moving back toward spiritual slavery. The
+observation of days and times is becoming more and
+more prominent among us. "Lent" and "holy week"
+and "good" Friday are words heard more and more
+frequently upon the lips of gospel Christians. We do
+not know when we are well off.</p>
+
+<p>In order that I may be understood and not be misunderstood
+I would throw into relief the practical implications
+of the teaching for which I have been arguing,
+i.e., the sacramental quality of every day living.
+Over against its positive meanings I should like to
+point out a few things it does not mean.</p>
+
+<p>It does not mean, for instance, that everything
+we do is of equal importance with everything else we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+do or may do. One act of a good man's life may differ
+widely from another in importance. Paul's sewing of
+tents was not equal to his writing of an Epistle to the
+Romans, but both were accepted of God and both were
+true acts of worship. Certainly it is more important to
+lead a soul to Christ than to plant a garden, but the
+planting of the garden <i>can</i> be as holy an act as the
+winning of a soul.</p>
+
+<p>Again, it does not mean that every man is as useful
+as every other man. Gifts differ in the body of Christ.
+A Billy Bray is not to be compared with a Luther or a
+Wesley for sheer usefulness to the Church and to
+the world; but the service of the less gifted brother is
+as pure as that of the more gifted, and God accepts
+both with equal pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>The "layman" need never think of his humbler
+task as being inferior to that of his minister. Let every
+man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his
+work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is
+not what a man does that determines whether his work
+is sacred or secular, it is <i>why</i> he does it. The motive
+is everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his
+heart and he can thereafter do no common act. All he
+does is good and acceptable to God through Jesus
+Christ. For such a man, living itself will be sacramental
+and the whole world a sanctuary. His entire life will
+be a priestly ministration. As he performs his never so
+simple task he will hear the voice of the seraphim say<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>ing,
+"Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole
+earth is full of his glory."</p>
+
+<p><i>Lord, I would trust Thee completely; I would be
+altogether Thine; I would exalt Thee above all. I
+desire that I may feel no sense of possessing anything
+outside of Thee. I want constantly to be aware of Thy
+overshadowing Presence and to hear Thy speaking
+Voice. I long to live in restful sincerity of heart. I want
+to live so fully in the Spirit that all my thought may
+be as sweet incense ascending to Thee and every act
+of my life may be an act of worship. Therefore I pray
+in the words of Thy great servant of old, "I beseech
+Thee so for to cleanse the intent of mine heart with
+the unspeakable gift of Thy grace, that I may perfectly
+love Thee and worthily praise Thee." And all this I
+confidently believe Thou wilt grant me through the
+merits of Jesus Christ Thy Son. Amen.</i></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pursuit of God, by A. W. Tozer
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,3240 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pursuit of God, by A. W. Tozer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Pursuit of God
+
+Author: A. W. Tozer
+
+Release Date: April 23, 2008 [EBook #25141]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PURSUIT OF GOD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Free Elf, Colin Bell, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                           The Pursuit of God
+
+
+
+                  "Then shall we know,
+                          if we follow on to know the Lord:
+          his going forth is prepared as the morning."
+
+                                             HOSEA 6:3
+
+
+
+
+                              by A. W. Tozer
+
+
+                             introduction by
+                           Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer
+
+                 CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS, INC. HARRISBURG, PA.
+
+
+             COPYRIGHT MCMXLVIII BY CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS, INC.
+
+                        _Printed in United States_
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+      Introduction                                               5
+
+      Preface                                                    7
+
+    I Following Hard after God                                  11
+
+   II The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing                     21
+
+  III Removing the Veil                                         33
+
+   IV Apprehending God                                          49
+
+    V The Universal Presence                                    61
+
+   VI The Speaking Voice                                        73
+
+  VII The Gaze of the Soul                                      85
+
+ VIII Restoring the Creator-creature Relation                   99
+
+   IX Meekness and Rest                                        109
+
+    X The Sacrament of Living                                  117
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+Here is a masterly study of the inner life by a heart thirsting after
+God, eager to grasp at least the outskirts of His ways, the abyss of His
+love for sinners, and the height of His unapproachable majesty--and it
+was written by a busy pastor in Chicago!
+
+Who could imagine David writing the twenty-third Psalm on South Halsted
+Street, or a medieval mystic finding inspiration in a small study on the
+second floor of a frame house on that vast, flat checker-board of
+endless streets
+
+    Where cross the crowded ways of life
+    Where sound the cries of race and clan,
+    In haunts of wretchedness and need,
+    On shadowed threshold dark with fears,
+    And paths where hide the lures of greed ...
+
+But even as Dr. Frank Mason North, of New York, says in his immortal
+poem, so Mr. Tozer says in this book:
+
+    Above the noise of selfish strife
+    We hear Thy voice, O Son of Man.
+
+My acquaintance with the author is limited to brief visits and loving
+fellowship in his church. There I discovered a self-made scholar, an
+omnivorous reader with a remarkable library of theological and
+devotional books, and one who seemed to burn the midnight oil in pursuit
+of God. His book is the result of long meditation and much prayer. It is
+not a collection of sermons. It does not deal with the pulpit and the
+pew but with the soul athirst for God. The chapters could be summarized
+in Moses' prayer, "Show me thy glory," or Paul's exclamation, "O the
+depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" It is
+theology not of the head but of the heart.
+
+There is deep insight, sobriety of style, and a catholicity of outlook
+that is refreshing. The author has few quotations but he knows the
+saints and mystics of the centuries--Augustine, Nicholas of Cusa, Thomas
+a Kempis, von Huegel, Finney, Wesley and many more. The ten chapters are
+heart searching and the prayers at the close of each are for closet, not
+pulpit. _I felt the nearness of God while reading them._
+
+Here is a book for every pastor, missionary, and devout Christian. It
+deals with the deep things of God and the riches of His grace. Above
+all, it has the keynote of sincerity and humility.
+
+                                                      _Samuel M. Zwemer_
+
+New York City
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears:
+within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found
+increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a
+growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities
+and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with
+correct "interpretations" of truth. They are athirst for God, and they
+will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of
+Living Water.
+
+This is the only real harbinger of revival which I have been able to
+detect anywhere on the religious horizon. It may be the cloud the size
+of a man's hand for which a few saints here and there have been looking.
+It can result in a resurrection of life for many souls and a recapture
+of that radiant wonder which should accompany faith in Christ, that
+wonder which has all but fled the Church of God in our day.
+
+But this hunger must be recognized by our religious leaders. Current
+evangelicalism has (to change the figure) laid the altar and divided the
+sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and
+rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire
+upon the top of lofty Carmel. But God be thanked that there are a few
+who care. They are those who, while they love the altar and delight in
+the sacrifice, are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued
+absence of fire. They desire God above all. They are athirst to taste
+for themselves the "piercing sweetness" of the love of Christ about Whom
+all the holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing.
+
+There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the
+principles of the doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem
+satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year,
+strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence,
+nor anything unusual in their personal lives. They minister constantly
+to believers who feel within their breasts a longing which their
+teaching simply does not satisfy.
+
+I trust I speak in charity, but the lack in our pulpits is real.
+Milton's terrible sentence applies to our day as accurately as it did to
+his: "The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed." It is a solemn thing,
+and no small scandal in the Kingdom, to see God's children starving
+while actually seated at the Father's table. The truth of Wesley's words
+is established before our eyes: "Orthodoxy, or right opinion, is, at
+best, a very slender part of religion. Though right tempers cannot
+subsist without right opinions, yet right opinions may subsist without
+right tempers. There may be a right opinion of God without either love
+or one right temper toward Him. Satan is a proof of this."
+
+Thanks to our splendid Bible societies and to other effective agencies
+for the dissemination of the Word, there are today many millions of
+people who hold "right opinions," probably more than ever before in the
+history of the Church. Yet I wonder if there was ever a time when true
+spiritual worship was at a lower ebb. To great sections of the Church
+the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come
+that strange and foreign thing called the "program." This word has been
+borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of
+public service which now passes for worship among us.
+
+Sound Bible exposition is an imperative _must_ in the Church of the
+Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any
+strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such
+way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment
+whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God
+Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal
+experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible
+is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and
+satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may
+delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the
+very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.
+
+This book is a modest attempt to aid God's hungry children so to find
+Him. Nothing here is new except in the sense that it is a discovery
+which my own heart has made of spiritual realities most delightful and
+wonderful to me. Others before me have gone much farther into these holy
+mysteries than I have done, but if my fire is not large it is yet real,
+and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame.
+
+A. W. Tozer Chicago, Ill. June 16, 1948
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+_Following Hard after God_
+
+     My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth
+     me.--Psa. 63:8
+
+
+Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which
+briefly stated means this, that before a man can seek God, God must
+first have sought the man.
+
+Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have
+been a work of enlightenment done within him; imperfect it may be, but a
+true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking
+and praying which may follow.
+
+We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within
+us that spurs us to the pursuit. "No man can come to me," said our Lord,
+"except the Father which hath sent me draw him," and it is by this very
+prevenient _drawing_ that God takes from us every vestige of credit for
+the act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but
+the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all
+the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand: "Thy right hand
+upholdeth me."
+
+In this divine "upholding" and human "following" there is no
+contradiction. All is of God, for as von Huegel teaches, _God is always
+previous_. In practice, however, (that is, where God's previous working
+meets man's present response) man must pursue God. On our part there
+must be positive reciprocation if this secret drawing of God is to
+eventuate in identifiable experience of the Divine. In the warm language
+of personal feeling this is stated in the Forty-second Psalm: "As the
+hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O
+God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come
+and appear before God?" This is deep calling unto deep, and the longing
+heart will understand it.
+
+The doctrine of justification by faith--a Biblical truth, and a blessed
+relief from sterile legalism and unavailing self-effort--has in our time
+fallen into evil company and been interpreted by many in such manner as
+actually to bar men from the knowledge of God. The whole transaction of
+religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless. Faith may
+now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without
+embarrassment to the Adamic ego. Christ may be "received" without
+creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver. The man
+is "saved," but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God. In fact he is
+specifically taught to be satisfied and encouraged to be content with
+little.
+
+The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world; we
+Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His
+Word. We have almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such, can be
+cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able
+to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by
+another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and
+loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be
+explored.
+
+All social intercourse between human beings is a response of personality
+to personality, grading upward from the most casual brush between man
+and man to the fullest, most intimate communion of which the human soul
+is capable. Religion, so far as it is genuine, is in essence the
+response of created personalities to the Creating Personality, God.
+"This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
+Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
+
+God is a Person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills,
+enjoys, feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may. In
+making Himself known to us He stays by the familiar pattern of
+personality. He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds,
+our wills and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed
+interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed
+man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion.
+
+This intercourse between God and the soul is known to us in conscious
+personal awareness. It is personal: that is, it does not come through
+the body of believers, as such, but is known to the individual, and to
+the body through the individuals which compose it. And it is conscious:
+that is, it does not stay below the threshold of consciousness and work
+there unknown to the soul (as, for instance, infant baptism is thought
+by some to do), but comes within the field of awareness where the man
+can "know" it as he knows any other fact of experience.
+
+You and I are in little (our sins excepted) what God is in large. Being
+made in His image we have within us the capacity to know Him. In our
+sins we lack only the power. The moment the Spirit has quickened us to
+life in regeneration our whole being senses its kinship to God and leaps
+up in joyous recognition. That is the heavenly birth without which we
+cannot see the Kingdom of God. It is, however, not an end but an
+inception, for now begins the glorious pursuit, the heart's happy
+exploration of the infinite riches of the Godhead. That is where we
+begin, I say, but where we stop no man has yet discovered, for there is
+in the awful and mysterious depths of the Triune God neither limit nor
+end.
+
+    Shoreless Ocean, who can sound Thee?
+    Thine own eternity is round Thee,
+        Majesty divine!
+
+To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love,
+scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in
+happy experience by the children of the burning heart. St. Bernard
+stated this holy paradox in a musical quatrain that will be instantly
+understood by every worshipping soul:
+
+    We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread,
+      And long to feast upon Thee still:
+    We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead
+      And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.
+
+Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel
+the heat of their desire after God. They mourned for Him, they prayed
+and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and
+when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long
+seeking. Moses used the fact that he knew God as an argument for knowing
+Him better. "Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy
+sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace
+in thy sight"; and from there he rose to make the daring request, "I
+beseech thee, show me thy glory." God was frankly pleased by this
+display of ardor, and the next day called Moses into the mount, and
+there in solemn procession made all His glory pass before him.
+
+David's life was a torrent of spiritual desire, and his psalms ring with
+the cry of the seeker and the glad shout of the finder. Paul confessed
+the mainspring of his life to be his burning desire after Christ. "That
+I may know Him," was the goal of his heart, and to this he sacrificed
+everything. "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the
+excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have
+suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I
+may win Christ."
+
+Hymnody is sweet with the longing after God, the God whom, while the
+singer seeks, he knows he has already found. "His track I see and I'll
+pursue," sang our fathers only a short generation ago, but that song is
+heard no more in the great congregation. How tragic that we in this dark
+day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made
+to center upon the initial act of "accepting" Christ (a term,
+incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected
+thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have
+been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we
+have found Him we need no more seek Him. This is set before us as the
+last word in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught
+Christian ever believed otherwise. Thus the whole testimony of the
+worshipping, seeking, singing Church on that subject is crisply set
+aside. The experiential heart-theology of a grand army of fragrant
+saints is rejected in favor of a smug interpretation of Scripture which
+would certainly have sounded strange to an Augustine, a Rutherford or a
+Brainerd.
+
+In the midst of this great chill there are some, I rejoice to
+acknowledge, who will not be content with shallow logic. They will admit
+the force of the argument, and then turn away with tears to hunt some
+lonely place and pray, "O God, show me thy glory." They want to taste,
+to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that
+is God.
+
+I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack
+of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden
+quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy
+desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute
+desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to
+His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits
+so long, so very long, in vain.
+
+Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of
+religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found
+among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world
+of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never
+satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner
+experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of
+the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in
+this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at
+all.
+
+If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first
+determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as
+always God discovers Himself to "babes" and hides Himself in thick
+darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to
+Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be
+blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with
+the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will
+quickly respond.
+
+When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other
+than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking _God-and_ effectively
+prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the "and" lies our
+great woe. If we omit the "and" we shall soon find God, and in Him we
+shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.
+
+We need not fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or
+restrict the motions of our expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We
+can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the
+many for the One.
+
+The author of the quaint old English classic, _The Cloud of Unknowing_,
+teaches us how to do this. "Lift up thine heart unto God with a meek
+stirring of love; and mean Himself, and none of His goods. And thereto,
+look thee loath to think on aught but God Himself. So that nought work
+in thy wit, nor in thy will, but only God Himself. This is the work of
+the soul that most pleaseth God."
+
+Again, he recommends that in prayer we practice a further stripping down
+of everything, even of our theology. "For it sufficeth enough, a naked
+intent direct unto God without any other cause than Himself." Yet
+underneath all his thinking lay the broad foundation of New Testament
+truth, for he explains that by "Himself" he means "God that made thee,
+and bought thee, and that graciously called thee to thy degree." And he
+is all for simplicity: If we would have religion "lapped and folden in
+one word, for that thou shouldst have better hold thereupon, take thee
+but a little word of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, for
+even the shorter it is the better it accordeth with the work of the
+Spirit. And such a word is this word GOD or this word LOVE."
+
+When the Lord divided Canaan among the tribes of Israel Levi received no
+share of the land. God said to him simply, "I am thy part and thine
+inheritance," and by those words made him richer than all his brethren,
+richer than all the kings and rajas who have ever lived in the world.
+And there is a spiritual principle here, a principle still valid for
+every priest of the Most High God.
+
+The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many
+ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them,
+the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be
+necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he
+will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things
+he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he
+may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and
+he has it purely, legitimately and forever.
+
+_O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and
+made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further
+grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want
+to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more
+thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee
+indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul,
+"Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to
+rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so
+long. In Jesus' Name, Amen._
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+_The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing_
+
+     Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of
+     heaven.--Matt. 5:3
+
+
+Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him by
+creating a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and
+delight. In the Genesis account of the creation these are called simply
+"things." They were made for man's uses, but they were meant always to
+be external to the man and subservient to him. In the deep heart of the
+man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was
+God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him.
+
+But sin has introduced complications and has made those very gifts of
+God a potential source of ruin to the soul.
+
+Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and
+"things" were allowed to enter. Within the human heart "things" have
+taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God
+is crowned there no longer, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and
+aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the
+throne.
+
+This is not a mere metaphor, but an accurate analysis of our real
+spiritual trouble. There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root
+of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets
+"things" with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns "my" and "mine"
+look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is
+significant. They express the real nature of the old Adamic man better
+than a thousand volumes of theology could do. They are verbal symptoms
+of our deep disease. The roots of our hearts have grown down into
+_things_, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have
+become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's
+gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset
+by the monstrous substitution.
+
+Our Lord referred to this tyranny of _things_ when He said to His
+disciples, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and
+take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall
+lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it."
+
+Breaking this truth into fragments for our better understanding, it
+would seem that there is within each of us an enemy which we tolerate at
+our peril. Jesus called it "life" and "self," or as we would say, the
+_self-life_. Its chief characteristic is its possessiveness: the words
+"gain" and "profit" suggest this. To allow this enemy to live is in the
+end to lose everything. To repudiate it and give up all for Christ's
+sake is to lose nothing at last, but to preserve everything unto life
+eternal. And possibly also a hint is given here as to the only effective
+way to destroy this foe: it is by the Cross. "Let him take up his cross
+and follow me."
+
+The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul
+poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the
+Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have
+rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. These are the "poor in
+spirit." They have reached an inward state paralleling the outward
+circumstances of the common beggar in the streets of Jerusalem; that is
+what the word "poor" as Christ used it actually means. These blessed
+poor are no longer slaves to the tyranny of _things_. They have broken
+the yoke of the oppressor; and this they have done not by fighting but
+by surrendering. Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet
+possess all things. "Theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
+
+Let me exhort you to take this seriously. It is not to be understood as
+mere Bible teaching to be stored away in the mind along with an inert
+mass of other doctrines. It is a marker on the road to greener pastures,
+a path chiseled against the steep sides of the mount of God. We dare not
+try to by-pass it if we would follow on in this holy pursuit. We must
+ascend a step at a time. If we refuse one step we bring our progress to
+an end.
+
+As is frequently true, this New Testament principle of spiritual life
+finds its best illustration in the Old Testament. In the story of
+Abraham and Isaac we have a dramatic picture of the surrendered life as
+well as an excellent commentary on the first Beatitude.
+
+Abraham was old when Isaac was born, old enough indeed to have been his
+grandfather, and the child became at once the delight and idol of his
+heart. From that moment when he first stooped to take the tiny form
+awkwardly in his arms he was an eager love slave of his son. God went
+out of His way to comment on the strength of this affection. And it is
+not hard to understand. The baby represented everything sacred to his
+father's heart: the promises of God, the covenants, the hopes of the
+years and the long messianic dream. As he watched him grow from babyhood
+to young manhood the heart of the old man was knit closer and closer
+with the life of his son, till at last the relationship bordered upon
+the perilous. It was then that God stepped in to save both father and
+son from the consequences of an uncleansed love.
+
+"Take now thy son," said God to Abraham, "thine only son Isaac, whom
+thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there
+for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee
+of." The sacred writer spares us a close-up of the agony that night on
+the slopes near Beersheba when the aged man had it out with his God, but
+respectful imagination may view in awe the bent form and convulsive
+wrestling alone under the stars. Possibly not again until a Greater than
+Abraham wrestled in the Garden of Gethsemane did such mortal pain visit
+a human soul. If only the man himself might have been allowed to die.
+That would have been easier a thousand times, for he was old now, and to
+die would have been no great ordeal for one who had walked so long with
+God. Besides, it would have been a last sweet pleasure to let his
+dimming vision rest upon the figure of his stalwart son who would live
+to carry on the Abrahamic line and fulfill in himself the promises of
+God made long before in Ur of the Chaldees.
+
+How should he slay the lad! Even if he could get the consent of his
+wounded and protesting heart, how could he reconcile the act with the
+promise, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called"? This was Abraham's trial
+by fire, and he did not fail in the crucible. While the stars still
+shone like sharp white points above the tent where the sleeping Isaac
+lay, and long before the gray dawn had begun to lighten the east, the
+old saint had made up his mind. He would offer his son as God had
+directed him to do, and _then trust God to raise him from the dead_.
+This, says the writer to the Hebrews, was the solution his aching heart
+found sometime in the dark night, and he rose "early in the morning" to
+carry out the plan. It is beautiful to see that, while he erred as to
+God's method, he had correctly sensed the secret of His great heart. And
+the solution accords well with the New Testament Scripture, "Whosoever
+will lose for my sake shall find."
+
+God let the suffering old man go through with it up to the point where
+He knew there would be no retreat, and then forbade him to lay a hand
+upon the boy. To the wondering patriarch He now says in effect, "It's
+all right, Abraham. I never intended that you should actually slay the
+lad. I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart that I
+might reign unchallenged there. I wanted to correct the perversion that
+existed in your love. Now you may have the boy, sound and well. Take him
+and go back to your tent. Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that
+thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me."
+
+Then heaven opened and a voice was heard saying to him, "By myself have
+I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast
+not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless
+thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the
+heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall
+possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations
+of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."
+
+The old man of God lifted his head to respond to the Voice, and stood
+there on the mount strong and pure and grand, a man marked out by the
+Lord for special treatment, a friend and favorite of the Most High. Now
+he was a man wholly surrendered, a man utterly obedient, a man who
+possessed nothing. He had concentrated his all in the person of his dear
+son, and God had taken it from him. God could have begun out on the
+margin of Abraham's life and worked inward to the center; He chose
+rather to cut quickly to the heart and have it over in one sharp act of
+separation. In dealing thus He practiced an economy of means and time.
+It hurt cruelly, but it was effective.
+
+I have said that Abraham possessed nothing. Yet was not this poor man
+rich? Everything he had owned before was his still to enjoy: sheep,
+camels, herds, and goods of every sort. He had also his wife and his
+friends, and best of all he had his son Isaac safe by his side. He had
+everything, but _he possessed nothing_. There is the spiritual secret.
+There is the sweet theology of the heart which can be learned only in
+the school of renunciation. The books on systematic theology overlook
+this, but the wise will understand.
+
+After that bitter and blessed experience I think the words "my" and
+"mine" never had again the same meaning for Abraham. The sense of
+possession which they connote was gone from his heart. _Things_ had been
+cast out forever. They had now become external to the man. His inner
+heart was free from them. The world said, "Abraham is rich," but the
+aged patriarch only smiled. He could not explain it to them, but he knew
+that he owned nothing, that his real treasures were inward and eternal.
+
+There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of
+the most harmful habits in the life. Because it is so natural it is
+rarely recognized for the evil that it is; but its outworkings are
+tragic.
+
+We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of
+fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are
+loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord
+came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to
+Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.
+
+Our gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be
+recognized for what they are, God's loan to us, and should never be
+considered in any sense our own. We have no more right to claim credit
+for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong muscles. "For who
+maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst
+not receive?"
+
+The Christian who is alive enough to know himself even slightly will
+recognize the symptoms of this possession malady, and will grieve to
+find them in his own heart. If the longing after God is strong enough
+within him he will want to do something about the matter. Now, what
+should he do?
+
+First of all he should put away all defense and make no attempt to
+excuse himself either in his own eyes or before the Lord. Whoever
+defends himself will have himself for his defense, and he will have no
+other; but let him come defenseless before the Lord and he will have for
+his defender no less than God Himself. Let the inquiring Christian
+trample under foot every slippery trick of his deceitful heart and
+insist upon frank and open relations with the Lord.
+
+Then he should remember that this is holy business. No careless or
+casual dealings will suffice. Let him come to God in full determination
+to be heard. Let him insist that God accept his all, that He take
+_things_ out of his heart and Himself reign there in power. It may be he
+will need to become specific, to name things and people by their names
+one by one. If he will become drastic enough he can shorten the time of
+his travail from years to minutes and enter the good land long before
+his slower brethren who coddle their feelings and insist upon caution in
+their dealings with God.
+
+Let us never forget that such a truth as this cannot be learned by rote
+as one would learn the facts of physical science. They must be
+_experienced_ before we can really know them. We must in our hearts live
+through Abraham's harsh and bitter experiences if we would know the
+blessedness which follows them. The ancient curse will not go out
+painlessly; the tough old miser within us will not lie down and die
+obedient to our command. He must be torn out of our heart like a plant
+from the soil; he must be extracted in agony and blood like a tooth from
+the jaw. He must be expelled from our soul by violence as Christ
+expelled the money changers from the temple. And we shall need to steel
+ourselves against his piteous begging, and to recognize it as springing
+out of self-pity, one of the most reprehensible sins of the human heart.
+
+If we would indeed know God in growing intimacy we must go this way of
+renunciation. And if we are set upon the pursuit of God He will sooner
+or later bring us to this test. Abraham's testing was, at the time, not
+known to him as such, yet if he had taken some course other than the one
+he did, the whole history of the Old Testament would have been
+different. God would have found His man, no doubt, but the loss to
+Abraham would have been tragic beyond the telling. So we will be brought
+one by one to the testing place, and we may never know when we are
+there. At that testing place there will be no dozen possible choices
+for us; just one and an alternative, but our whole future will be
+conditioned by the choice we make.
+
+_Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its
+toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try
+to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do
+come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished
+so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that
+Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make
+the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the
+sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall
+be no night there. In Jesus' Name, Amen._
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+_Removing the Veil_
+
+     Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by
+     the blood of Jesus.--Heb. 10:19
+
+
+Among the famous sayings of the Church fathers none is better known than
+Augustine's, "Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are
+restless till they find rest in Thee."
+
+The great saint states here in few words the origin and interior history
+of the human race. God made us for Himself: that is the only explanation
+that satisfies the _heart_ of a thinking man, whatever his wild reason
+may say. Should faulty education and perverse reasoning lead a man to
+conclude otherwise, there is little that any Christian can do for him.
+For such a man I have no message. My appeal is addressed to those who
+have been previously taught in secret by the wisdom of God; I speak to
+thirsty hearts whose longings have been wakened by the touch of God
+within them, and such as they need no reasoned proof. Their restless
+hearts furnish all the proof they need.
+
+God formed us for Himself. The _Shorter Catechism_, "Agreed upon by the
+Reverend Assembly of Divines at Westminster," as the old _New-England
+Primer_ has it, asks the ancient questions _what_ and _why_ and answers
+them in one short sentence hardly matched in any uninspired work.
+"_Question_: What is the chief End of Man? _Answer_: Man's chief End is
+to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." With this agree the four and
+twenty elders who fall on their faces to worship Him that liveth for
+ever and ever, saying, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
+honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure
+they are and were created."
+
+God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we as well as He
+can in divine communion enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of
+kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw
+our life from His smile. But we have been guilty of that "foul revolt"
+of which Milton speaks when describing the rebellion of Satan and his
+hosts. We have broken with God. We have ceased to obey Him or love Him
+and in guilt and fear have fled as far as possible from His Presence.
+
+Yet who can flee from His Presence when the heaven and the heaven of
+heavens cannot contain Him? when as the wisdom of Solomon testifies,
+"the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world?" The omnipresence of the Lord
+is one thing, and is a solemn fact necessary to His perfection; the
+_manifest_ Presence is another thing altogether, and from that Presence
+we have fled, like Adam, to hide among the trees of the garden, or like
+Peter to shrink away crying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O
+Lord."
+
+So the life of man upon the earth is a life away from the Presence,
+wrenched loose from that "blissful center" which is our right and proper
+dwelling place, our first estate which we kept not, the loss of which is
+the cause of our unceasing restlessness.
+
+The whole work of God in redemption is to undo the tragic effects of
+that foul revolt, and to bring us back again into right and eternal
+relationship with Himself. This required that our sins be disposed of
+satisfactorily, that a full reconciliation be effected and the way
+opened for us to return again into conscious communion with God and to
+live again in the Presence as before. Then by His prevenient working
+within us He moves us to return. This first comes to our notice when our
+restless hearts feel a yearning for the Presence of God and we say
+within ourselves, "I will arise and go to my Father." That is the first
+step, and as the Chinese sage Lao-tze has said, "The journey of a
+thousand miles begins with a first step."
+
+The interior journey of the soul from the wilds of sin into the enjoyed
+Presence of God is beautifully illustrated in the Old Testament
+tabernacle. The returning sinner first entered the outer court where he
+offered a blood sacrifice on the brazen altar and washed himself in the
+laver that stood near it. Then through a veil he passed into the holy
+place where no natural light could come, but the golden candlestick
+which spoke of Jesus the Light of the World threw its soft glow over
+all. There also was the shewbread to tell of Jesus, the Bread of Life,
+and the altar of incense, a figure of unceasing prayer.
+
+Though the worshipper had enjoyed so much, still he had not yet entered
+the Presence of God. Another veil separated from the Holy of Holies
+where above the mercy seat dwelt the very God Himself in awful and
+glorious manifestation. While the tabernacle stood, only the high priest
+could enter there, and that but once a year, with blood which he offered
+for his sins and the sins of the people. It was this last veil which was
+rent when our Lord gave up the ghost on Calvary, and the sacred writer
+explains that this rending of the veil opened the way for every
+worshipper in the world to come by the new and living way straight into
+the divine Presence.
+
+Everything in the New Testament accords with this Old Testament picture.
+Ransomed men need no longer pause in fear to enter the Holy of Holies.
+_God wills that we should push on into His Presence and live our whole
+life there._ This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is
+more than a doctrine to be held, it is a life to be enjoyed every moment
+of every day.
+
+This Flame of the Presence was the beating heart of the Levitical order.
+Without it all the appointments of the tabernacle were characters of
+some unknown language; they had no meaning for Israel or for us. The
+greatest fact of the tabernacle was that _Jehovah was there_; a Presence
+was waiting within the veil. Similarly the Presence of God is the
+central fact of Christianity. At the heart of the Christian message is
+God Himself waiting for His redeemed children to push in to conscious
+awareness of His Presence. That type of Christianity which happens now
+to be the vogue knows this Presence only in theory. It fails to stress
+the Christian's privilege of present realization. According to its
+teachings we are in the Presence of God positionally, and nothing is
+said about the need to experience that Presence actually. The fiery urge
+that drove men like McCheyne is wholly missing. And the present
+generation of Christians measures itself by this imperfect rule. Ignoble
+contentment takes the place of burning zeal. We are satisfied to rest in
+our _judicial_ possessions and for the most part we bother ourselves
+very little about the absence of personal experience.
+
+Who is this within the veil who dwells in fiery manifestations? It is
+none other than God Himself, "One God the Father Almighty, Maker of
+heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible," and "One
+Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God; begotten of His Father
+before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God;
+begotten, not made; being of one substance with the Father," and "the
+Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceedeth from the Father
+and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and
+glorified." Yet this holy Trinity is One God, for "we worship one God in
+Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons, nor
+dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another
+of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the
+Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one: the glory equal
+and the majesty co-eternal." So in part run the ancient creeds, and so
+the inspired Word declares.
+
+Behind the veil is God, that God after Whom the world, with strange
+inconsistency, has felt, "if haply they might find Him." He has
+discovered Himself to some extent in nature, but more perfectly in the
+Incarnation; now He waits to show Himself in ravishing fulness to the
+humble of soul and the pure in heart.
+
+The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church
+is famishing for want of His Presence. The instant cure of most of our
+religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritual experience,
+to become suddenly aware that we are in God and that God is in us. This
+would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be
+enlarged. This would burn away the impurities from our lives as the bugs
+and fungi were burned away by the fire that dwelt in the bush.
+
+What a broad world to roam in, what a sea to swim in is this God and
+Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is _eternal_, which means that He
+antedates time and is wholly independent of it. Time began in Him and
+will end in Him. To it He pays no tribute and from it He suffers no
+change. He is _immutable_, which means that He has never changed and can
+never change in any smallest measure. To change He would need to go from
+better to worse or from worse to better. He cannot do either, for being
+perfect He cannot become more perfect, and if He were to become less
+perfect He would be less than God. He is _omniscient_, which means that
+He knows in one free and effortless act all matter, all spirit, all
+relationships, all events. He has no past and He has no future. He _is_,
+and none of the limiting and qualifying terms used of creatures can
+apply to Him. _Love_ and _mercy_ and _righteousness_ are His, and
+_holiness_ so ineffable that no comparisons or figures will avail to
+express it. Only fire can give even a remote conception of it. In fire
+He appeared at the burning bush; in the pillar of fire He dwelt through
+all the long wilderness journey. The fire that glowed between the wings
+of the cherubim in the holy place was called the "shekinah," the
+Presence, through the years of Israel's glory, and when the Old had
+given place to the New, He came at Pentecost as a fiery flame and rested
+upon each disciple.
+
+Spinoza wrote of the intellectual love of God, and he had a measure of
+truth there; but the highest love of God is not intellectual, it is
+spiritual. God is spirit and only the spirit of man can know Him really.
+In the deep spirit of a man the fire must glow or his love is not the
+true love of God. The great of the Kingdom have been those who loved God
+more than others did. We all know who they have been and gladly pay
+tribute to the depths and sincerity of their devotion. We have but to
+pause for a moment and their names come trooping past us smelling of
+myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces.
+
+Frederick Faber was one whose soul panted after God as the roe pants
+after the water brook, and the measure in which God revealed Himself to
+his seeking heart set the good man's whole life afire with a burning
+adoration rivaling that of the seraphim before the throne. His love for
+God extended to the three Persons of the Godhead equally, yet he seemed
+to feel for each One a special kind of love reserved for Him alone. Of
+God the Father he sings:
+
+    Only to sit and think of God,
+      Oh what a joy it is!
+    To think the thought, to breathe the Name;
+      Earth has no higher bliss.
+
+    Father of Jesus, love's reward!
+      What rapture will it be,
+    Prostrate before Thy throne to lie,
+      And gaze and gaze on Thee!
+
+His love for the Person of Christ was so intense that it threatened to
+consume him; it burned within him as a sweet and holy madness and flowed
+from his lips like molten gold. In one of his sermons he says, "Wherever
+we turn in the church of God, there is Jesus. He is the beginning,
+middle and end of everything to us.... There is nothing good, nothing
+holy, nothing beautiful, nothing joyous which He is not to His servants.
+No one need be poor, because, if he chooses, he can have Jesus for his
+own property and possession. No one need be downcast, for Jesus is the
+joy of heaven, and it is His joy to enter into sorrowful hearts. We can
+exaggerate about many things; but we can never exaggerate our obligation
+to Jesus, or the compassionate abundance of the love of Jesus to us. All
+our lives long we might talk of Jesus, and yet we should never come to
+an end of the sweet things that might be said of Him. Eternity will not
+be long enough to learn all He is, or to praise Him for all He has done,
+but then, that matters not; for we shall be always with Him, and we
+desire nothing more." And addressing our Lord directly he says to Him:
+
+    I love Thee so, I know not how
+    My transports to control;
+    Thy love is like a burning fire
+    Within my very soul.
+
+Faber's blazing love extended also to the Holy Spirit. Not only in his
+theology did he acknowledge His deity and full equality with the Father
+and the Son, but he celebrated it constantly in his songs and in his
+prayers. He literally pressed his forehead to the ground in his eager
+fervid worship of the Third Person of the Godhead. In one of his great
+hymns to the Holy Spirit he sums up his burning devotion thus:
+
+    O Spirit, beautiful and dread!
+    My heart is fit to break
+    With love of all Thy tenderness
+    For us poor sinners' sake.
+
+I have risked the tedium of quotation that I might show by pointed
+example what I have set out to say, viz., that God is so vastly
+wonderful, so utterly and completely delightful that He can, without
+anything other than Himself, meet and overflow the deepest demands of
+our total nature, mysterious and deep as that nature is. Such worship as
+Faber knew (and he is but one of a great company which no man can
+number) can never come from a mere doctrinal knowledge of God. Hearts
+that are "fit to break" with love for the Godhead are those who have
+been in the Presence and have looked with opened eye upon the majesty
+of Deity. Men of the breaking hearts had a quality about them not known
+to or understood by common men. They habitually spoke with spiritual
+authority. They had been in the Presence of God and they reported what
+they saw there. They were prophets, not scribes, for the scribe tells us
+what he has read, and the prophet tells what he has seen.
+
+The distinction is not an imaginary one. Between the scribe who has read
+and the prophet who has seen there is a difference as wide as the sea.
+We are today overrun with orthodox scribes, but the prophets, where are
+they? The hard voice of the scribe sounds over evangelicalism, but the
+Church waits for the tender voice of the saint who has penetrated the
+veil and has gazed with inward eye upon the Wonder that is God. And yet,
+thus to penetrate, to push in sensitive living experience into the holy
+Presence, is a privilege open to every child of God.
+
+With the veil removed by the rending of Jesus' flesh, with nothing on
+God's side to prevent us from entering, why do we tarry without? Why do
+we consent to abide all our days just outside the Holy of Holies and
+never enter at all to look upon God? We hear the Bridegroom say, "Let me
+see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice and
+thy countenance is comely." We sense that the call is for us, but still
+we fail to draw near, and the years pass and we grow old and tired in
+the outer courts of the tabernacle. What doth hinder us?
+
+The answer usually given, simply that we are "cold," will not explain
+all the facts. There is something more serious than coldness of heart,
+something that may be back of that coldness and be the cause of its
+existence. What is it? What but the presence of _a veil in our hearts_?
+a veil not taken away as the first veil was, but which remains there
+still shutting out the light and hiding the face of God from us. It is
+the veil of our fleshly fallen nature living on, unjudged within us,
+uncrucified and unrepudiated. It is the close-woven veil of the
+self-life which we have never truly acknowledged, of which we have been
+secretly ashamed, and which for these reasons we have never brought to
+the judgment of the cross. It is not too mysterious, this opaque veil,
+nor is it hard to identify. We have but to look in our own hearts and we
+shall see it there, sewn and patched and repaired it may be, but there
+nevertheless, an enemy to our lives and an effective block to our
+spiritual progress.
+
+This veil is not a beautiful thing and it is not a thing about which we
+commonly care to talk, but I am addressing the thirsting souls who are
+determined to follow God, and I know they will not turn back because the
+way leads temporarily through the blackened hills. The urge of God
+within them will assure their continuing the pursuit. They will face the
+facts however unpleasant and endure the cross for the joy set before
+them. So I am bold to name the threads out of which this inner veil is
+woven.
+
+It is woven of the fine threads of the self-life, the hyphenated sins of
+the human spirit. They are not something we do, they are something we
+_are_, and therein lies both their subtlety and their power.
+
+To be specific, the self-sins are these: self-righteousness, self-pity,
+self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host
+of others like them. They dwell too deep within us and are too much a
+part of our natures to come to our attention till the light of God is
+focused upon them. The grosser manifestations of these sins, egotism,
+exhibitionism, self-promotion, are strangely tolerated in Christian
+leaders even in circles of impeccable orthodoxy. They are so much in
+evidence as actually, for many people, to become identified with the
+gospel. I trust it is not a cynical observation to say that they appear
+these days to be a requisite for popularity in some sections of the
+Church visible. Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is
+currently so common as to excite little notice.
+
+One should suppose that proper instruction in the doctrines of man's
+depravity and the necessity for justification through the righteousness
+of Christ alone would deliver us from the power of the self-sins; but it
+does not work out that way. Self can live unrebuked at the very altar.
+It can watch the bleeding Victim die and not be in the least affected by
+what it sees. It can fight for the faith of the Reformers and preach
+eloquently the creed of salvation by grace, and gain strength by its
+efforts. To tell all the truth, it seems actually to feed upon orthodoxy
+and is more at home in a Bible Conference than in a tavern. Our very
+state of longing after God may afford it an excellent condition under
+which to thrive and grow.
+
+Self is the opaque veil that hides the Face of God from us. It can be
+removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction. As well
+try to instruct leprosy out of our system. There must be a work of God
+in destruction before we are free. We must invite the cross to do its
+deadly work within us. We must bring our self-sins to the cross for
+judgment. We must prepare ourselves for an ordeal of suffering in some
+measure like that through which our Saviour passed when He suffered
+under Pontius Pilate.
+
+Let us remember: when we talk of the rending of the veil we are speaking
+in a figure, and the thought of it is poetical, almost pleasant; but in
+actuality there is nothing pleasant about it. In human experience that
+veil is made of living spiritual tissue; it is composed of the sentient,
+quivering stuff of which our whole beings consist, and to touch it is to
+touch us where we feel pain. To tear it away is to injure us, to hurt us
+and make us bleed. To say otherwise is to make the cross no cross and
+death no death at all. It is never fun to die. To rip through the dear
+and tender stuff of which life is made can never be anything but deeply
+painful. Yet that is what the cross did to Jesus and it is what the
+cross would do to every man to set him free.
+
+Let us beware of tinkering with our inner life in hope ourselves to rend
+the veil. God must do everything for us. Our part is to yield and trust.
+We must confess, forsake, repudiate the self-life, and then reckon it
+crucified. But we must be careful to distinguish lazy "acceptance" from
+the real work of God. We must insist upon the work being done. We dare
+not rest content with a neat doctrine of self-crucifixion. That is to
+imitate Saul and spare the best of the sheep and the oxen.
+
+Insist that the work be done in very truth and it will be done. The
+cross is rough, and it is deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep
+its victim hanging there forever. There comes a moment when its work is
+finished and the suffering victim dies. After that is resurrection glory
+and power, and the pain is forgotten for joy that the veil is taken away
+and we have entered in actual spiritual experience the Presence of the
+living God.
+
+_Lord, how excellent are Thy ways, and how devious and dark are the ways
+of man. Show us how to die, that we may rise again to newness of life.
+Rend the veil of our self-life from the top down as Thou didst rend the
+veil of the Temple. We would draw near in full assurance of faith. We
+would dwell with Thee in daily experience here on this earth so that we
+may be accustomed to the glory when we enter Thy heaven to dwell with
+Thee there. In Jesus' name, Amen._
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+_Apprehending God_
+
+     O taste and see.--Psa. 34:8
+
+
+It was Canon Holmes, of India, who more than twenty-five years ago
+called attention to the inferential character of the average man's faith
+in God. To most people God is an inference, not a reality. He is a
+deduction from evidence which they consider adequate; but He remains
+personally unknown to the individual. "He _must_ be," they say,
+"therefore we believe He is." Others do not go even so far as this; they
+know of Him only by hearsay. They have never bothered to think the
+matter out for themselves, but have heard about Him from others, and
+have put belief in Him into the back of their minds along with the
+various odds and ends that make up their total creed. To many others God
+is but an ideal, another name for goodness, or beauty, or truth; or He
+is law, or life, or the creative impulse back of the phenomena of
+existence.
+
+These notions about God are many and varied, but they who hold them have
+one thing in common: they do not know God in personal experience. The
+possibility of intimate acquaintance with Him has not entered their
+minds. While admitting His existence they do not think of Him as
+knowable in the sense that we know things or people.
+
+Christians, to be sure, go further than this, at least in theory. Their
+creed requires them to believe in the personality of God, and they have
+been taught to pray, "Our Father, which art in heaven." Now personality
+and fatherhood carry with them the idea of the possibility of personal
+acquaintance. This is admitted, I say, in theory, but for millions of
+Christians, nevertheless, God is no more real than He is to the
+non-Christian. They go through life trying to love an ideal and be loyal
+to a mere principle.
+
+Over against all this cloudy vagueness stands the clear scriptural
+doctrine that God can be known in personal experience. A loving
+Personality dominates the Bible, walking among the trees of the garden
+and breathing fragrance over every scene. Always a living Person is
+present, speaking, pleading, loving, working, and manifesting Himself
+whenever and wherever His people have the receptivity necessary to
+receive the manifestation.
+
+The Bible assumes as a self-evident fact that men can know God with at
+least the same degree of immediacy as they know any other person or
+thing that comes within the field of their experience. The same terms
+are used to express the knowledge of God as are used to express
+knowledge of physical things. "O _taste_ and see that the Lord is good."
+"All thy garments _smell_ of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the
+ivory palaces." "My sheep _hear_ my voice." "Blessed are the pure in
+heart, for they shall _see_ God." These are but four of countless such
+passages from the Word of God. And more important than any proof text is
+the fact that the whole import of the Scripture is toward this belief.
+
+What can all this mean except that we have in our hearts organs by means
+of which we can know God as certainly as we know material things through
+our familiar five senses? We apprehend the physical world by exercising
+the faculties given us for the purpose, and we possess spiritual
+faculties by means of which we can know God and the spiritual world if
+we will obey the Spirit's urge and begin to use them.
+
+That a saving work must first be done in the heart is taken for granted
+here. The spiritual faculties of the unregenerate man lie asleep in his
+nature, unused and for every purpose dead; that is the stroke which has
+fallen upon us by sin. They may be quickened to active life again by the
+operation of the Holy Spirit in regeneration; that is one of the
+immeasurable benefits which come to us through Christ's atoning work on
+the cross.
+
+But the very ransomed children of God themselves: why do they know so
+little of that habitual conscious communion with God which the
+Scriptures seem to offer? The answer is our chronic unbelief. Faith
+enables our spiritual sense to function. Where faith is defective the
+result will be inward insensibility and numbness toward spiritual
+things. This is the condition of vast numbers of Christians today. No
+proof is necessary to support that statement. We have but to converse
+with the first Christian we meet or enter the first church we find open
+to acquire all the proof we need.
+
+A spiritual kingdom lies all about us, enclosing us, embracing us,
+altogether within reach of our inner selves, waiting for us to recognize
+it. God Himself is here waiting our response to His Presence. This
+eternal world will come alive to us the moment we begin to reckon upon
+its reality.
+
+I have just now used two words which demand definition; or if definition
+is impossible, I must at least make clear what I mean when I use them.
+They are "reckon" and "reality."
+
+What do I mean by _reality_? I mean that which has existence apart from
+any idea any mind may have of it, and which would exist if there were no
+mind anywhere to entertain a thought of it. That which is real has being
+in itself. It does not depend upon the observer for its validity.
+
+I am aware that there are those who love to poke fun at the plain man's
+idea of reality. They are the idealists who spin endless proofs that
+nothing is real outside of the mind. They are the relativists who like
+to show that there are no fixed points in the universe from which we can
+measure anything. They smile down upon us from their lofty intellectual
+peaks and settle us to their own satisfaction by fastening upon us the
+reproachful term "absolutist." The Christian is not put out of
+countenance by this show of contempt. He can smile right back at them,
+for he knows that there is only One who is Absolute, that is God. But he
+knows also that the Absolute One has made this world for man's uses,
+and, while there is nothing fixed or real in the last meaning of the
+words (the meaning as applied to God) _for every purpose of human life
+we are permitted to act as if there were_. And every man does act thus
+except the mentally sick. These unfortunates also have trouble with
+reality, but they are consistent; they insist upon living in accordance
+with their ideas of things. They are honest, and it is their very
+honesty that constitutes them a social problem.
+
+The idealists and relativists are not mentally sick. They prove their
+soundness by living their lives according to the very notions of reality
+which they in theory repudiate and by counting upon the very fixed
+points which they prove are not there. They could earn a lot more
+respect for their notions if they were willing to live by them; but
+this they are careful not to do. Their ideas are brain-deep, not
+life-deep. Wherever life touches them they repudiate their theories and
+live like other men.
+
+The Christian is too sincere to play with ideas for their own sake. He
+takes no pleasure in the mere spinning of gossamer webs for display. All
+his beliefs are practical. They are geared into his life. By them he
+lives or dies, stands or falls for this world and for all time to come.
+From the insincere man he turns away.
+
+The sincere plain man knows that the world is real. He finds it here
+when he wakes to consciousness, and he knows that he did not think it
+into being. It was here waiting for him when he came, and he knows that
+when he prepares to leave this earthly scene it will be here still to
+bid him good-bye as he departs. By the deep wisdom of life he is wiser
+than a thousand men who doubt. He stands upon the earth and feels the
+wind and rain in his face and he knows that they are real. He sees the
+sun by day and the stars by night. He sees the hot lightning play out of
+the dark thundercloud. He hears the sounds of nature and the cries of
+human joy and pain. These he knows are real. He lies down on the cool
+earth at night and has no fear that it will prove illusory or fail him
+while he sleeps. In the morning the firm ground will be under him, the
+blue sky above him and the rocks and trees around him as when he closed
+his eyes the night before. So he lives and rejoices in a world of
+reality.
+
+With his five senses he engages this real world. All things necessary to
+his physical existence he apprehends by the faculties with which he has
+been equipped by the God who created him and placed him in such a world
+as this.
+
+Now, by our definition also God is real. He is real in the absolute and
+final sense that nothing else is. All other reality is contingent upon
+His. The great Reality is God who is the Author of that lower and
+dependent reality which makes up the sum of created things, including
+ourselves. God has objective existence independent of and apart from any
+notions which we may have concerning Him. The worshipping heart does not
+create its Object. It finds Him here when it wakes from its moral
+slumber in the morning of its regeneration.
+
+Another word that must be cleared up is the word _reckon_. This does not
+mean to visualize or imagine. Imagination is not faith. The two are not
+only different from, but stand in sharp opposition to, each other.
+Imagination projects unreal images out of the mind and seeks to attach
+reality to them. Faith creates nothing; it simply reckons upon that
+which is already _there_.
+
+God and the spiritual world are real. We can reckon upon them with as
+much assurance as we reckon upon the familiar world around us.
+Spiritual things are there (or rather we should say _here_) inviting
+our attention and challenging our trust.
+
+Our trouble is that we have established bad thought habits. We
+habitually think of the visible world as real and doubt the reality of
+any other. We do not deny the existence of the spiritual world but we
+doubt that it is real in the accepted meaning of the word.
+
+The world of sense intrudes upon our attention day and night for the
+whole of our lifetime. It is clamorous, insistent and
+self-demonstrating. It does not appeal to our faith; it is here,
+assaulting our five senses, demanding to be accepted as real and final.
+But sin has so clouded the lenses of our hearts that we cannot see that
+other reality, the City of God, shining around us. The world of sense
+triumphs. The visible becomes the enemy of the invisible; the temporal,
+of the eternal. That is the curse inherited by every member of Adam's
+tragic race.
+
+At the root of the Christian life lies belief in the invisible. The
+object of the Christian's faith is unseen reality.
+
+Our uncorrected thinking, influenced by the blindness of our natural
+hearts and the intrusive ubiquity of visible things, tends to draw a
+contrast between the spiritual and the real; but actually no such
+contrast exists. The antithesis lies elsewhere: between the real and the
+imaginary, between the spiritual and the material, between the temporal
+and the eternal; but between the spiritual and the real, never. The
+spiritual _is_ real.
+
+If we would rise into that region of light and power plainly beckoning
+us through the Scriptures of truth we must break the evil habit of
+ignoring the spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the
+unseen. For the great unseen Reality is God. "He that cometh to God must
+believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
+seek him." This is basic in the life of faith. From there we can rise to
+unlimited heights. "Ye believe in God," said our Lord Jesus Christ,
+"believe also in me." Without the first there can be no second.
+
+If we truly want to follow God we must seek to be other-worldly. This I
+say knowing well that that word has been used with scorn by the sons of
+this world and applied to the Christian as a badge of reproach. So be
+it. Every man must choose his world. If we who follow Christ, with all
+the facts before us and knowing what we are about, deliberately choose
+the Kingdom of God as our sphere of interest I see no reason why anyone
+should object. If we lose by it, the loss is our own; if we gain, we rob
+no one by so doing. The "other world," which is the object of this
+world's disdain and the subject of the drunkard's mocking song, is our
+carefully chosen goal and the object of our holiest longing.
+
+But we must avoid the common fault of pushing the "other world" into the
+future. It is not future, but present. It parallels our familiar
+physical world, and the doors between the two worlds are open. "Ye are
+come," says the writer to the Hebrews (and the tense is plainly
+present), "unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the
+heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the
+general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in
+heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
+perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood
+of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." All these
+things are contrasted with "the mount that might be touched" and "the
+sound of a trumpet and the voice of words" that might be heard. May we
+not safely conclude that, as the realities of Mount Sinai were
+apprehended by the senses, so the realities of Mount Zion are to be
+grasped by the soul? And this not by any trick of the imagination, but
+in downright actuality. The soul has eyes with which to see and ears
+with which to hear. Feeble they may be from long disuse, but by the
+life-giving touch of Christ alive now and capable of sharpest sight and
+most sensitive hearing.
+
+As we begin to focus upon God the things of the spirit will take shape
+before our inner eyes. Obedience to the word of Christ will bring an
+inward revelation of the Godhead (John 14:21-23). It will give acute
+perception enabling us to see God even as is promised to the pure in
+heart. A new God consciousness will seize upon us and we shall begin to
+taste and hear and inwardly feel the God who is our life and our all.
+There will be seen the constant shining of the light that lighteth every
+man that cometh into the world. More and more, as our faculties grow
+sharper and more sure, God will become to us the great All, and His
+Presence the glory and wonder of our lives.
+
+_O God, quicken to life every power within me, that I may lay hold on
+eternal things. Open my eyes that I may see; give me acute spiritual
+perception; enable me to taste Thee and know that Thou art good. Make
+heaven more real to me than any earthly thing has ever been. Amen._
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+_The Universal Presence_
+
+     Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from
+     thy presence?--Psa. 139:7
+
+
+In all Christian teaching certain basic truths are found, hidden at
+times, and rather assumed than asserted, but necessary to all truth as
+the primary colors are found in and necessary to the finished painting.
+Such a truth is the divine immanence.
+
+God dwells in His creation and is everywhere indivisibly present in all
+His works. This is boldly taught by prophet and apostle and is accepted
+by Christian theology generally. That is, it appears in the books, but
+for some reason it has not sunk into the average Christian's heart so as
+to become a part of his believing self. Christian teachers shy away from
+its full implications, and, if they mention it at all, mute it down till
+it has little meaning. I would guess the reason for this to be the fear
+of being charged with pantheism; but the doctrine of the divine Presence
+is definitely not pantheism.
+
+Pantheism's error is too palpable to deceive anyone. It is that God is
+the sum of all created things. Nature and God are one, so that whoever
+touches a leaf or a stone touches God. That is of course to degrade the
+glory of the incorruptible Deity and, in an effort to make all things
+divine, banish all divinity from the world entirely.
+
+The truth is that while God dwells in His world He is separated from it
+by a gulf forever impassable. However closely He may be identified with
+the work of His hands _they_ are and must eternally be _other than He_,
+and He is and must be antecedent to and independent of them. He is
+transcendent above all His works even while He is immanent within them.
+
+What now does the divine immanence mean in direct Christian experience?
+It means simply that _God is here_. Wherever we are, God is here. There
+is no place, there can be no place, where He is not. Ten million
+intelligences standing at as many points in space and separated by
+incomprehensible distances can each one say with equal truth, God is
+here. No point is nearer to God than any other point. It is exactly as
+near to God from any place as it is from any other place. No one is in
+mere distance any further from or any nearer to God than any other
+person is.
+
+These are truths believed by every instructed Christian. It remains for
+us to think on them and pray over them until they begin to glow within
+us.
+
+"In the beginning God." Not _matter_, for matter is not self-causing. It
+requires an antecedent cause, and God is that Cause. Not _law_, for law
+is but a name for the course which all creation follows. That course had
+to be planned, and the Planner is God. Not _mind_, for mind also is a
+created thing and must have a Creator back of it. In the beginning God,
+the uncaused Cause of matter, mind and law. There we must begin.
+
+Adam sinned and, in his panic, frantically tried to do the impossible:
+he tried to hide from the Presence of God. David also must have had wild
+thoughts of trying to escape from the Presence, for he wrote, "Whither
+shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?"
+Then he proceeded through one of his most beautiful psalms to celebrate
+the glory of the divine immanence. "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 parts of the sea; even
+there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." And he
+knew that God's _being_ and God's _seeing_ are the same, that the seeing
+Presence had been with him even before he was born, watching the mystery
+of unfolding life. Solomon exclaimed, "But will God indeed dwell on the
+earth? behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee:
+how much less this house which I have builded." Paul assured the
+Athenians that "God is not far from any one of us: for in him we live,
+and move, and have our being."
+
+If God is present at every point in space, if we cannot go where He is
+not, cannot even conceive of a place where He is not, why then has not
+that Presence become the one universally celebrated fact of the world?
+The patriarch Jacob, "in the waste howling wilderness," gave the answer
+to that question. He saw a vision of God and cried out in wonder,
+"Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not." Jacob had never
+been for one small division of a moment outside the circle of that
+all-pervading Presence. But he knew it not. That was his trouble, and it
+is ours. Men do not know that God is here. What a difference it would
+make if they knew.
+
+The Presence and the manifestation of the Presence are not the same.
+There can be the one without the other. God is here when we are wholly
+unaware of it. He is _manifest_ only when and as we are aware of His
+Presence. On our part there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for
+His work it is to show us the Father and the Son. If we co-operate with
+Him in loving obedience God will manifest Himself to us, and that
+manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life
+and a life radiant with the light of His face.
+
+Always, everywhere God is present, and always He seeks to discover
+Himself. To each one he would reveal not only that He is, but _what_ He
+is as well. He did not have to be persuaded to discover Himself to
+Moses. "And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there,
+and proclaimed the name of the Lord." He not only made a verbal
+proclamation of His nature but He revealed His very Self to Moses so
+that the skin of Moses' face shone with the supernatural light. It will
+be a great moment for some of us when we begin to believe that God's
+promise of self-revelation is literally true: that He promised much, but
+promised no more than He intends to fulfill.
+
+Our pursuit of God is successful just because He is forever seeking to
+manifest Himself to us. The revelation of God to any man is not God
+coming from a distance upon a time to pay a brief and momentous visit to
+the man's soul. Thus to think of it is to misunderstand it all. The
+approach of God to the soul or of the soul to God is not to be thought
+of in spatial terms at all. There is no idea of physical distance
+involved in the concept. It is not a matter of miles but of experience.
+
+To speak of being near to or far from God is to use language in a sense
+always understood when applied to our ordinary human relationships. A
+man may say, "I feel that my son is coming nearer to me as he gets
+older," and yet that son has lived by his father's side since he was
+born and has never been away from home more than a day or so in his
+entire life. What then can the father mean? Obviously he is speaking of
+_experience_. He means that the boy is coming to know him more
+intimately and with deeper understanding, that the barriers of thought
+and feeling between the two are disappearing, that father and son are
+becoming more closely united in mind and heart.
+
+So when we sing, "Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord," we are not
+thinking of the nearness of place, but of the nearness of relationship.
+It is for increasing degrees of awareness that we pray, for a more
+perfect consciousness of the divine Presence. We need never shout across
+the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than
+our most secret thoughts.
+
+Why do some persons "find" God in a way that others do not? Why does God
+manifest His Presence to some and let multitudes of others struggle
+along in the half-light of imperfect Christian experience? Of course the
+will of God is the same for all. He has no favorites within His
+household. All He has ever done for any of His children He will do for
+all of His children. The difference lies not with God but with us.
+
+Pick at random a score of great saints whose lives and testimonies are
+widely known. Let them be Bible characters or well known Christians of
+post-Biblical times. You will be struck instantly with the fact that
+the saints were not alike. Sometimes the unlikenesses were so great as
+to be positively glaring. How different for example was Moses from
+Isaiah; how different was Elijah from David; how unlike each other were
+John and Paul, St. Francis and Luther, Finney and Thomas a Kempis. The
+differences are as wide as human life itself: differences of race,
+nationality, education, temperament, habit and personal qualities. Yet
+they all walked, each in his day, upon a high road of spiritual living
+far above the common way.
+
+Their differences must have been incidental and in the eyes of God of no
+significance. In some vital quality they must have been alike. What was
+it?
+
+I venture to suggest that the one vital quality which they had in common
+was _spiritual receptivity_. Something in them was open to heaven,
+something which urged them Godward. Without attempting anything like a
+profound analysis I shall say simply that they had spiritual awareness
+and that they went on to cultivate it until it became the biggest thing
+in their lives. They differed from the average person in that when they
+felt the inward longing they _did something about it_. They acquired the
+lifelong habit of spiritual response. They were not disobedient to the
+heavenly vision. As David put it neatly, "When thou saidst, Seek ye my
+face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek."
+
+As with everything good in human life, back of this receptivity is God.
+The sovereignty of God is here, and is felt even by those who have not
+placed particular stress upon it theologically. The pious Michael Angelo
+confessed this in a sonnet:
+
+    My unassisted heart is barren clay,
+    That of its native self can nothing feed:
+    Of good and pious works Thou art the seed,
+    That quickens only where Thou sayest it may:
+    Unless Thou show to us Thine own true way
+    No man can find it: Father! Thou must lead.
+
+These words will repay study as the deep and serious testimony of a
+great Christian.
+
+Important as it is that we recognize God working in us, I would yet warn
+against a too-great preoccupation with the thought. It is a sure road to
+sterile passivity. God will not hold us responsible to understand the
+mysteries of election, predestination and the divine sovereignty. The
+best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to
+God and in deepest reverence say, "O Lord, Thou knowest." Those things
+belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's omniscience. Prying
+into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints.
+
+Receptivity is not a single thing; it is a compound rather, a blending
+of several elements within the soul. It is an affinity for, a bent
+toward, a sympathetic response to, a desire to have. From this it may be
+gathered that it can be present in degrees, that we may have little or
+more or less, depending upon the individual. It may be increased by
+exercise or destroyed by neglect. It is not a sovereign and irresistible
+force which comes upon us as a seizure from above. It is a gift of God,
+indeed, but one which must be recognized and cultivated as any other
+gift if it is to realize the purpose for which it was given.
+
+Failure to see this is the cause of a very serious breakdown in modern
+evangelicalism. The idea of cultivation and exercise, so dear to the
+saints of old, has now no place in our total religious picture. It is
+too slow, too common. We now demand glamour and fast flowing dramatic
+action. A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and
+automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of
+reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods
+to our relations with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions
+and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by
+attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story
+told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar.
+
+The tragic results of this spirit are all about us. Shallow lives,
+hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun
+in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious
+externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the
+mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit: these and
+such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious
+malady of the soul.
+
+For this great sickness that is upon us no one person is responsible,
+and no Christian is wholly free from blame. We have all contributed,
+directly or indirectly, to this sad state of affairs. We have been too
+blind to see, or too timid to speak out, or too self-satisfied to desire
+anything better than the poor average diet with which others appear
+satisfied. To put it differently, we have accepted one another's
+notions, copied one another's lives and made one another's experiences
+the model for our own. And for a generation the trend has been downward.
+Now we have reached a low place of sand and burnt wire grass and, worst
+of all, we have made the Word of Truth conform to our experience and
+accepted this low plane as the very pasture of the blessed.
+
+It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to
+wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times and return to Biblical
+ways. But it can be done. Every now and then in the past Christians have
+had to do it. History has recorded several large-scale returns led by
+such men as St. Francis, Martin Luther and George Fox. Unfortunately
+there seems to be no Luther or Fox on the horizon at present. Whether or
+not another such return may be expected before the coming of Christ is a
+question upon which Christians are not fully agreed, but that is not of
+too great importance to us now.
+
+What God in His sovereignty may yet do on a world-scale I do not claim
+to know: but what He will do for the plain man or woman who seeks His
+face I believe I do know and can tell others. Let any man turn to God in
+earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek
+to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience
+and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in
+his leaner and weaker days.
+
+Any man who by repentance and a sincere return to God will break himself
+out of the mold in which he has been held, and will go to the Bible
+itself for his spiritual standards, will be delighted with what he finds
+there.
+
+Let us say it again: The Universal Presence is a fact. God is here. The
+whole universe is alive with His life. And He is no strange or foreign
+God, but the familiar Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whose love has for
+these thousands of years enfolded the sinful race of men. And always He
+is trying to get our attention, to reveal Himself to us, to communicate
+with us. We have within us the ability to know Him if we will but
+respond to His overtures. (And this we call pursuing God!) We will know
+Him in increasing degree as our receptivity becomes more perfect by
+faith and love and practice.
+
+_O God and Father, I repent of my sinful preoccupation with visible
+things. The world has been too much with me. Thou hast been here and I
+knew it not. I have been blind to Thy Presence. Open my eyes that I may
+behold Thee in and around me. For Christ's sake, Amen._
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+_The Speaking Voice_
+
+     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
+     Word was God.--John 1:1
+
+
+An intelligent plain man, untaught in the truths of Christianity, coming
+upon this text, would likely conclude that John meant to teach that it
+is the nature of God to speak, to communicate His thoughts to others.
+And he would be right. A word is a medium by which thoughts are
+expressed, and the application of term to the Eternal Son leads us to
+believe that self-expression is inherent in the Godhead, that God is
+forever seeking to speak Himself out to His creation. The whole Bible
+supports the idea. God is speaking. Not God spoke, but _God is
+speaking_. He is by His nature continuously articulate. He fills the
+world with His speaking Voice.
+
+One of the great realities with which we have to deal is the Voice of
+God in His world. The briefest and only satisfying cosmogony is this:
+"He spake and it was done." The _why_ of natural law is the living Voice
+of God immanent in His creation. And this word of God which brought all
+worlds into being cannot be understood to mean the Bible, for it is not
+a written or printed word at all, but the expression of the will of God
+spoken into the structure of all things. This word of God is the breath
+of God filling the world with living potentiality. The Voice of God is
+the most powerful force in nature, indeed the only force in nature, for
+all energy is here only because the power-filled Word is being spoken.
+
+The Bible is the written word of God, and because it is written it is
+confined and limited by the necessities of ink and paper and leather.
+The Voice of God, however, is alive and free as the sovereign God is
+free. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
+life." The life is in the speaking words. God's word in the Bible can
+have power only because it corresponds to God's word in the universe. It
+is the present Voice which makes the written Word all-powerful.
+Otherwise it would lie locked in slumber within the covers of a book.
+
+We take a low and primitive view of things when we conceive of God at
+the creation coming into physical contact with things, shaping and
+fitting and building like a carpenter. The Bible teaches otherwise: "By
+the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by
+the breath of his mouth.... For he spake, and it was done; he commanded,
+and it stood fast." "Through faith we understand that the worlds were
+framed by the word of God." Again we must remember that God is referring
+here not to His written Word, but to His speaking Voice. His
+world-filling Voice is meant, that Voice which antedates the Bible by
+uncounted centuries, that Voice which has not been silent since the dawn
+of creation, but is sounding still throughout the full far reaches of
+the universe.
+
+The Word of God is quick and powerful. In the beginning He spoke to
+nothing, and it became _something_. Chaos heard it and became order,
+darkness heard it and became light. "And God said--and it was so." These
+twin phrases, as cause and effect, occur throughout the Genesis story of
+the creation. The _said_ accounts for the _so_. The _so_ is the _said_
+put into the continuous present.
+
+That God is here and that He is speaking--these truths are back of all
+other Bible truths; without them there could be no revelation at all.
+God did not write a book and send it by messenger to be read at a
+distance by unaided minds. He spoke a Book and lives in His spoken
+words, constantly speaking His words and causing the power of them to
+persist across the years. God breathed on clay and it became a man; He
+breathes on men and they become clay. "Return ye children of men" was
+the word spoken at the Fall by which God decreed the death of every man,
+and no added word has He needed to speak. The sad procession of mankind
+across the face of the earth from birth to the grave is proof that His
+original Word was enough.
+
+We have not given sufficient attention to that deep utterance in the
+Book of John, "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that
+cometh into the world." Shift the punctuation around as we will and the
+truth is still there: the Word of God affects the hearts of all men as
+light in the soul. In the hearts of all men the light shines, the Word
+sounds, and there is no escaping them. Something like this would of
+necessity be so if God is alive and in His world. And John says that it
+is so. Even those persons who have never heard of the Bible have still
+been preached to with sufficient clarity to remove every excuse from
+their hearts forever. "Which show the work of the law written in their
+hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the
+mean while either accusing or else excusing one another." "For the
+invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
+being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
+Godhead; so that they are without excuse."
+
+This universal Voice of God was by the ancient Hebrews often called
+Wisdom, and was said to be everywhere sounding and searching throughout
+the earth, seeking some response from the sons of men. The eighth
+chapter of the Book of Proverbs begins, "Doth not wisdom cry? and
+understanding put forth her voice?" The writer then pictures wisdom as a
+beautiful woman standing "in the top of the high places, by the way in
+the places of the paths." She sounds her voice from every quarter so
+that no one may miss hearing it. "Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice
+is to the sons of men." Then she pleads for the simple and the foolish
+to give ear to her words. It is spiritual response for which this Wisdom
+of God is pleading, a response which she has always sought and is but
+rarely able to secure. The tragedy is that our eternal welfare depends
+upon our hearing, and we have trained our ears not to hear.
+
+This universal Voice has ever sounded, and it has often troubled men
+even when they did not understand the source of their fears. Could it be
+that this Voice distilling like a living mist upon the hearts of men has
+been the undiscovered cause of the troubled conscience and the longing
+for immortality confessed by millions since the dawn of recorded
+history? We need not fear to face up to this. The speaking Voice is a
+fact. How men have reacted to it is for any observer to note.
+
+When God spoke out of heaven to our Lord, self-centered men who heard it
+explained it by natural causes: they said, "It thundered." This habit
+of explaining the Voice by appeals to natural law is at the very root of
+modern science. In the living breathing cosmos there is a mysterious
+Something, too wonderful, too awful for any mind to understand. The
+believing man does not claim to understand. He falls to his knees and
+whispers, "God." The man of earth kneels also, but not to worship. He
+kneels to examine, to search, to find the cause and the how of things.
+Just now we happen to be living in a secular age. Our thought habits are
+those of the scientist, not those of the worshipper. We are more likely
+to explain than to adore. "It thundered," we exclaim, and go our earthly
+way. But still the Voice sounds and searches. The order and life of the
+world depend upon that Voice, but men are mostly too busy or too
+stubborn to give attention.
+
+Everyone of us has had experiences which we have not been able to
+explain: a sudden sense of loneliness, or a feeling of wonder or awe in
+the face of the universal vastness. Or we have had a fleeting visitation
+of light like an illumination from some other sun, giving us in a quick
+flash an assurance that we are from another world, that our origins are
+divine. What we saw there, or felt, or heard, may have been contrary to
+all that we had been taught in the schools and at wide variance with all
+our former beliefs and opinions. We were forced to suspend our acquired
+doubts while, for a moment, the clouds were rolled back and we saw and
+heard for ourselves. Explain such things as we will, I think we have not
+been fair to the facts until we allow at least the possibility that such
+experiences may arise from the Presence of God in the world and His
+persistent effort to communicate with mankind. Let us not dismiss such
+an hypothesis too flippantly.
+
+It is my own belief (and here I shall not feel bad if no one follows me)
+that every good and beautiful thing which man has produced in the world
+has been the result of his faulty and sin-blocked response to the
+creative Voice sounding over the earth. The moral philosophers who
+dreamed their high dreams of virtue, the religious thinkers who
+speculated about God and immortality, the poets and artists who created
+out of common stuff pure and lasting beauty: how can we explain them? It
+is not enough to say simply, "It was genius." What then is genius? Could
+it be that a genius is a man haunted by the speaking Voice, laboring and
+striving like one possessed to achieve ends which he only vaguely
+understands? That the great man may have missed God in his labors, that
+he may even have spoken or written against God does not destroy the idea
+I am advancing. God's redemptive revelation in the Holy Scriptures is
+necessary to saving faith and peace with God. Faith in a risen Saviour
+is necessary if the vague stirrings toward immortality are to bring us
+to restful and satisfying communion with God. To me this is a plausible
+explanation of all that is best out of Christ. But you can be a good
+Christian and not accept my thesis.
+
+The Voice of God is a friendly Voice. No one need fear to listen to it
+unless he has already made up his mind to resist it. The blood of Jesus
+has covered not only the human race but all creation as well. "And
+having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile
+all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth,
+or things in heaven." We may safely preach a friendly Heaven. The
+heavens as well as the earth are filled with the good will of Him that
+dwelt in the bush. The perfect blood of atonement secures this forever.
+
+Whoever will listen will hear the speaking Heaven. This is definitely
+not the hour when men take kindly to an exhortation to _listen_, for
+listening is not today a part of popular religion. We are at the
+opposite end of the pole from there. Religion has accepted the monstrous
+heresy that noise, size, activity and bluster make a man dear to God.
+But we may take heart. To a people caught in the tempest of the last
+great conflict God says, "Be still, and know that I am God," and still
+He says it, as if He means to tell us that our strength and safety lie
+not in noise but in silence.
+
+It is important that we get still to wait on God. And it is best that we
+get alone, preferably with our Bible outspread before us. Then if we
+will we may draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak to us in our
+hearts. I think for the average person the progression will be something
+like this: First a sound as of a Presence walking in the garden. Then a
+voice, more intelligible, but still far from clear. Then the happy
+moment when the Spirit begins to illuminate the Scriptures, and that
+which had been only a sound, or at best a voice, now becomes an
+intelligible word, warm and intimate and clear as the word of a dear
+friend. Then will come life and light, and best of all, ability to see
+and rest in and embrace Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and All.
+
+The Bible will never be a living Book to us until we are convinced that
+God is articulate in His universe. To jump from a dead, impersonal world
+to a dogmatic Bible is too much for most people. They may admit that
+they _should_ accept the Bible as the Word of God, and they may try to
+think of it as such, but they find it impossible to believe that the
+words there on the page are actually for them. A man may _say_, "These
+words are addressed to me," and yet in his heart not feel and know that
+they are. He is the victim of a divided psychology. He tries to think of
+God as mute everywhere else and vocal only in a book.
+
+I believe that much of our religious unbelief is due to a wrong
+conception of and a wrong feeling for the Scriptures of Truth. A silent
+God suddenly began to speak in a book and when the book was finished
+lapsed back into silence again forever. Now we read the book as the
+record of what God said when He was for a brief time in a speaking mood.
+With notions like that in our heads how can we believe? The facts are
+that God is not silent, has never been silent. It is the nature of God
+to speak. The second Person of the Holy Trinity is called the _Word_.
+The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God's continuous speech. It is
+the infallible declaration of His mind for us put into our familiar
+human words.
+
+I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we
+approach our Bible with the idea that it is not only a book which was
+once spoken, but a book which is _now speaking_. The prophets habitually
+said, "Thus _saith_ the Lord." They meant their hearers to understand
+that God's speaking is in the continuous present. We may use the past
+tense properly to indicate that at a certain time a certain word of God
+was spoken, but a word of God once spoken continues to be spoken, as a
+child once born continues to be alive, or a world once created continues
+to exist. And those are but imperfect illustrations, for children die
+and worlds burn out, but the Word of our God endureth forever.
+
+If you would follow on to know the Lord, come at once to the open Bible
+expecting it to speak to you. Do not come with the notion that it is a
+_thing_ which you may push around at your convenience. It is more than
+a thing, it is a voice, a word, the very Word of the living God.
+
+_Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary
+with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them. Give
+me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, "Speak, for thy
+servant heareth." Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart. Let me get used
+to the sound of Thy Voice, that its tones may be familiar when the
+sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy
+speaking Voice. Amen._
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+_The Gaze of the Soul_
+
+     Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.--Heb. 12:2
+
+
+Let us think of our intelligent plain man mentioned in chapter six
+coming for the first time to the reading of the Scriptures. He
+approaches the Bible without any previous knowledge of what it contains.
+He is wholly without prejudice; he has nothing to prove and nothing to
+defend.
+
+Such a man will not have read long until his mind begins to observe
+certain truths standing out from the page. They are the spiritual
+principles behind the record of God's dealings with men, and woven into
+the writings of holy men as they "were moved by the Holy Ghost." As he
+reads on he might want to number these truths as they become clear to
+him and make a brief summary under each number. These summaries will be
+the tenets of his Biblical creed. Further reading will not affect these
+points except to enlarge and strengthen them. Our man is finding out
+what the Bible actually teaches.
+
+High up on the list of things which the Bible teaches will be the
+doctrine of _faith_. The place of weighty importance which the Bible
+gives to faith will be too plain for him to miss. He will very likely
+conclude: Faith is all-important in the life of the soul. Without faith
+it is impossible to please God. Faith will get me anything, take me
+anywhere in the Kingdom of God, but without faith there can be no
+approach to God, no forgiveness, no deliverance, no salvation, no
+communion, no spiritual life at all.
+
+By the time our friend has reached the eleventh chapter of Hebrews the
+eloquent encomium which is there pronounced upon faith will not seem
+strange to him. He will have read Paul's powerful defense of faith in
+his Roman and Galatian epistles. Later if he goes on to study church
+history he will understand the amazing power in the teachings of the
+Reformers as they showed the central place of faith in the Christian
+religion.
+
+Now if faith is so vitally important, if it is an indispensable _must_
+in our pursuit of God, it is perfectly natural that we should be deeply
+concerned over whether or not we possess this most precious gift. And
+our minds being what they are, it is inevitable that sooner or later we
+should get around to inquiring after the nature of faith. What _is_
+faith? would lie close to the question, Do I _have_ faith? and would
+demand an answer if it were anywhere to be found.
+
+Almost all who preach or write on the subject of faith have much the
+same things to say concerning it. They tell us that it is believing a
+promise, that it is taking God at His word, that it is reckoning the
+Bible to be true and stepping out upon it. The rest of the book or
+sermon is usually taken up with stories of persons who have had their
+prayers answered as a result of their faith. These answers are mostly
+direct gifts of a practical and temporal nature such as health, money,
+physical protection or success in business. Or if the teacher is of a
+philosophic turn of mind he may take another course and lose us in a
+welter of metaphysics or snow us under with psychological jargon as he
+defines and re-defines, paring the slender hair of faith thinner and
+thinner till it disappears in gossamer shavings at last. When he is
+finished we get up disappointed and go out "by that same door where in
+we went." Surely there must be something better than this.
+
+In the Scriptures there is practically no effort made to define faith.
+Outside of a brief fourteen-word definition in Hebrews 11:1, I know of
+no Biblical definition, and even there faith is defined functionally,
+not philosophically; that is, it is a statement of what faith is _in
+operation_, _not_ what it is _in essence_. It assumes the presence of
+faith and shows what it results in, rather than what it is. We will be
+wise to go just that far and attempt to go no further. We are told from
+whence it comes and by what means: "Faith is a gift of God," and "Faith
+cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." This much is clear,
+and, to paraphrase Thomas a Kempis, "I had rather exercise faith than
+know the definition thereof."
+
+From here on, when the words "faith is" or their equivalent occur in
+this chapter I ask that they be understood to refer to what faith is in
+operation as exercised by a believing man. Right here we drop the notion
+of definition and think about faith as it may be experienced in action.
+The complexion of our thoughts will be practical, not theoretical.
+
+In a dramatic story in the Book of Numbers faith is seen in action.
+Israel became discouraged and spoke against God, and the Lord sent fiery
+serpents among them. "And they bit the people; and much people of Israel
+died." Then Moses sought the Lord for them and He heard and gave them a
+remedy against the bite of the serpents. He commanded Moses to make a
+serpent of brass and put it upon a pole in sight of all the people, "and
+it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh
+upon it, shall live." Moses obeyed, "and it came to pass, that if a
+serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he
+lived" (Num. 21:4-9).
+
+In the New Testament this important bit of history is interpreted for us
+by no less an authority than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is
+explaining to His hearers how they may be saved. He tells them that it
+is by believing. Then to make it clear He refers to this incident in the
+Book of Numbers. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
+so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him
+should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15).
+
+Our plain man in reading this would make an important discovery. He
+would notice that "look" and "believe" were synonymous terms. "Looking"
+on the Old Testament serpent is identical with "believing" on the New
+Testament Christ. That is, the _looking_ and the _believing_ are the
+same thing. And he would understand that while Israel looked with their
+external eyes, believing is done with the heart. I think he would
+conclude that _faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God_.
+
+When he had seen this he would remember passages he had read before, and
+their meaning would come flooding over him. "They looked unto him, and
+were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed" (Psa. 34:5). "Unto
+thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold,
+as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the
+eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon
+the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us" (Psa. 123:1-2). Here
+the man seeking mercy looks straight at the God of mercy and never takes
+his eyes away from Him till mercy is granted. And our Lord Himself
+looked always at God. "Looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and
+gave the bread to his disciples" (Matt. 14:19). Indeed Jesus taught that
+He wrought His works by always keeping His inward eyes upon His Father.
+His power lay in His continuous look at God (John 5:19-21).
+
+In full accord with the few texts we have quoted is the whole tenor of
+the inspired Word. It is summed up for us in the Hebrew epistle when we
+are instructed to run life's race "looking unto Jesus the author and
+finisher of our faith." From all this we learn that faith is not a
+once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God.
+
+Believing, then, is directing the heart's attention to Jesus. It is
+lifting the mind to "behold the Lamb of God," and never ceasing that
+beholding for the rest of our lives. At first this may be difficult, but
+it becomes easier as we look steadily at His wondrous Person, quietly
+and without strain. Distractions may hinder, but once the heart is
+committed to Him, after each brief excursion away from Him the attention
+will return again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird coming back to
+its window.
+
+I would emphasize this one committal, this one great volitional act
+which establishes the heart's intention to gaze forever upon Jesus. God
+takes this intention for our choice and makes what allowances He must
+for the thousand distractions which beset us in this evil world. He
+knows that we have set the direction of our hearts toward Jesus, and we
+can know it too, and comfort ourselves with the knowledge that a habit
+of soul is forming which will become after a while a sort of spiritual
+reflex requiring no more conscious effort on our part.
+
+Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues. It is by its very
+nature scarcely conscious of its own existence. Like the eye which sees
+everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with
+the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all.
+While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves--blessed riddance.
+The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but
+repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering
+with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at
+Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting
+done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do.
+
+Faith is not in itself a meritorious act; the merit is in the One toward
+Whom it is directed. Faith is a redirecting of our sight, a getting out
+of the focus of our own vision and getting God into focus. Sin has
+twisted our vision inward and made it self-regarding. Unbelief has put
+self where God should be, and is perilously close to the sin of Lucifer
+who said, "I will set my throne above the throne of God." Faith looks
+_out_ instead of _in_ and the whole life falls into line.
+
+All this may seem too simple. But we have no apology to make. To those
+who would seek to climb into heaven after help or descend into hell God
+says, "The word is nigh thee, even the word of faith." The word induces
+us to lift up our eyes unto the Lord and the blessed work of faith
+begins.
+
+When we lift our inward eyes to gaze upon God we are sure to meet
+friendly eyes gazing back at us, for it is written that the eyes of the
+Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth. The sweet language of
+experience is "Thou God seest me." When the eyes of the soul looking out
+meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on this
+earth.
+
+"When all my endeavour is turned toward Thee because all Thy endeavour
+is turned toward me; when I look unto Thee alone with all my attention,
+nor ever turn aside the eyes of my mind, because Thou dost enfold me
+with Thy constant regard; when I direct my love toward Thee alone
+because Thou, who art Love's self hast turned Thee toward me alone. And
+what, Lord, is my life, save that embrace wherein Thy delightsome
+sweetness doth so lovingly enfold me?"[1] So wrote Nicholas of Cusa four
+hundred years ago.
+
+I should like to say more about this old man of God. He is not much
+known today anywhere among Christian believers, and among current
+Fundamentalists he is known not at all. I feel that we could gain much
+from a little acquaintance with men of his spiritual flavor and the
+school of Christian thought which they represent. Christian literature,
+to be accepted and approved by the evangelical leaders of our times,
+must follow very closely the same train of thought, a kind of "party
+line" from which it is scarcely safe to depart. A half-century of this
+in America has made us smug and content. We imitate each other with
+slavish devotion and our most strenuous efforts are put forth to try to
+say the same thing that everyone around us is saying--and yet to find an
+excuse for saying it, some little safe variation on the approved theme
+or, if no more, at least a new illustration.
+
+Nicholas was a true follower of Christ, a lover of the Lord, radiant and
+shining in his devotion to the Person of Jesus. His theology was
+orthodox, but fragrant and sweet as everything about Jesus might
+properly be expected to be. His conception of eternal life, for
+instance, is beautiful in itself and, if I mistake not, is nearer in
+spirit to John 17:3 than that which is current among us today. Life
+eternal, says Nicholas, is "nought other than that blessed regard
+wherewith Thou never ceasest to behold me, yea, even the secret places
+of my soul. With Thee, to behold is to give life; 'tis unceasingly to
+impart sweetest love of Thee; 'tis to inflame me to love of Thee by
+love's imparting, and to feed me by inflaming, and by feeding to kindle
+my yearning, and by kindling to make me drink of the dew of gladness,
+and by drinking to infuse in me a fountain of life, and by infusing to
+make it increase and endure."[2]
+
+Now, if faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but
+the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God, then
+it follows that it is one of the easiest things possible to do. It would
+be like God to make the most vital thing easy and place it within the
+range of possibility for the weakest and poorest of us.
+
+Several conclusions may fairly be drawn from all this. The simplicity of
+it, for instance. Since believing is looking, it can be done without
+special equipment or religious paraphernalia. God has seen to it that
+the one life-and-death essential can never be subject to the caprice of
+accident. Equipment can break down or get lost, water can leak away,
+records can be destroyed by fire, the minister can be delayed or the
+church burn down. All these are external to the soul and are subject to
+accident or mechanical failure: but _looking_ is of the heart and can be
+done successfully by any man standing up or kneeling down or lying in
+his last agony a thousand miles from any church.
+
+Since believing is looking it can be done _any time_. No season is
+superior to another season for this sweetest of all acts. God never made
+salvation depend upon new moons nor holy days or sabbaths. A man is not
+nearer to Christ on Easter Sunday than he is, say, on Saturday, August
+3, or Monday, October 4. As long as Christ sits on the mediatorial
+throne every day is a good day and all days are days of salvation.
+
+Neither does _place_ matter in this blessed work of believing God. Lift
+your heart and let it rest upon Jesus and you are instantly in a
+sanctuary though it be a Pullman berth or a factory or a kitchen. You
+can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to love and obey Him.
+
+Now, someone may ask, "Is not this of which you speak for special
+persons such as monks or ministers who have by the nature of their
+calling more time to devote to quiet meditation? I am a busy worker and
+have little time to spend alone." I am happy to say that the life I
+describe is for everyone of God's children regardless of calling. It is,
+in fact, happily practiced every day by many hard working persons and is
+beyond the reach of none.
+
+Many have found the secret of which I speak and, without giving much
+thought to what is going on within them, constantly practice this habit
+of inwardly gazing upon God. They know that something inside their
+hearts sees God. Even when they are compelled to withdraw their
+conscious attention in order to engage in earthly affairs there is
+within them a secret communion always going on. Let their attention but
+be released for a moment from necessary business and it flies at once to
+God again. This has been the testimony of many Christians, so many that
+even as I state it thus I have a feeling that I am quoting, though from
+whom or from how many I cannot possibly know.
+
+I do not want to leave the impression that the ordinary means of grace
+have no value. They most assuredly have. Private prayer should be
+practiced by every Christian. Long periods of Bible meditation will
+purify our gaze and direct it; church attendance will enlarge our
+outlook and increase our love for others. Service and work and activity;
+all are good and should be engaged in by every Christian. But at the
+bottom of all these things, giving meaning to them, will be the inward
+habit of beholding God. A new set of eyes (so to speak) will develop
+within us enabling us to be looking at God while our outward eyes are
+seeing the scenes of this passing world.
+
+Someone may fear that we are magnifying private religion out of all
+proportion, that the "us" of the New Testament is being displaced by a
+selfish "I." Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all
+tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are
+of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard
+to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers met
+together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each
+other than they could possibly be were they to become "unity" conscious
+and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
+Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body
+becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole Church of
+God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a
+higher life.
+
+All the foregoing presupposes true repentance and a full committal of
+the life to God. It is hardly necessary to mention this, for only
+persons who have made such a committal will have read this far.
+
+When the habit of inwardly gazing Godward becomes fixed within us we
+shall be ushered onto a new level of spiritual life more in keeping with
+the promises of God and the mood of the New Testament. The Triune God
+will be our dwelling place even while our feet walk the low road of
+simple duty here among men. We will have found life's _summum bonum_
+indeed. "There is the source of all delights that can be desired; not
+only can nought better be thought out by men and angels, but nought
+better can exist in mode of being! For it is the absolute maximum of
+every rational desire, than which a greater cannot be."[3]
+
+_O Lord, I have heard a good word inviting me to look away to Thee and
+be satisfied. My heart longs to respond, but sin has clouded my vision
+till I see Thee but dimly. Be pleased to cleanse me in Thine own
+precious blood, and make me inwardly pure, so that I may with unveiled
+eyes gaze upon Thee all the days of my earthly pilgrimage. Then shall I
+be prepared to behold Thee in full splendor in the day when Thou shalt
+appear to be glorified in Thy saints and admired in all them that
+believe. Amen._
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Nicholas of Cusa, _The Vision of God_, E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New
+York, 1928. This and the following quotations used by kind permission of
+the publishers.
+
+[2] _The Vision of God_
+
+[3] _The Vision of God_
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+_Restoring the Creator-creature Relation_
+
+     Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above
+     all the earth.--Psa. 57:5
+
+
+It is a truism to say that order in nature depends upon right
+relationships; to achieve harmony each thing must be in its proper
+position relative to each other thing. In human life it is not
+otherwise.
+
+I have hinted before in these chapters that the cause of all our human
+miseries is a radical moral dislocation, an upset in our relation to God
+and to each other. For whatever else the Fall may have been, it was most
+certainly a sharp change in man's relation to his Creator. He adopted
+toward God an altered attitude, and by so doing destroyed the proper
+Creator-creature relation in which, unknown to him, his true happiness
+lay. Essentially salvation is the restoration of a right relation
+between man and his Creator, a bringing back to normal of the
+Creator-creature relation.
+
+A satisfactory spiritual life will begin with a complete change in
+relation between God and the sinner; not a judicial change merely, but a
+conscious and experienced change affecting the sinner's whole nature.
+The atonement in Jesus' blood makes such a change judicially possible
+and the working of the Holy Spirit makes it emotionally satisfying. The
+story of the prodigal son perfectly illustrates this latter phase. He
+had brought a world of trouble upon himself by forsaking the position
+which he had properly held as son of his father. At bottom his
+restoration was nothing more than a re-establishing of the father-son
+relation which had existed from his birth and had been altered
+temporarily by his act of sinful rebellion. This story overlooks the
+legal aspects of redemption, but it makes beautifully clear the
+experiential aspects of salvation.
+
+In determining relationships we must begin somewhere. There must be
+somewhere a fixed center against which everything else is measured,
+where the law of relativity does not enter and we can say "IS" and make
+no allowances. Such a center is God. When God would make His Name known
+to mankind He could find no better word than "I AM." When He speaks in
+the first person He says, "I AM"; when we speak of Him we say, "He is";
+when we speak to Him we say, "Thou art." Everyone and everything else
+measures from that fixed point. "I am that I am," says God, "I change not."
+
+As the sailor locates his position on the sea by "shooting" the sun, so
+we may get our moral bearings by looking at God. We must begin with God.
+We are right when and only when we stand in a right position relative to
+God, and we are wrong so far and so long as we stand in any other
+position.
+
+Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our
+unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We
+insist upon trying to modify Him and to bring Him nearer to our own
+image. The flesh whimpers against the rigor of God's inexorable sentence
+and begs like Agag for a little mercy, a little indulgence of its carnal
+ways. It is no use. We can get a right start only by accepting God as He
+is and learning to love Him for what He is. As we go on to know Him
+better we shall find it a source of unspeakable joy that God is just
+what He is. Some of the most rapturous moments we know will be those we
+spend in reverent admiration of the Godhead. In those holy moments the
+very thought of change in Him will be too painful to endure.
+
+So let us begin with God. Back of all, above all, before all is God;
+first in sequential order, above in rank and station, exalted in dignity
+and honor. As the self-existent One He gave being to all things, and all
+things exist out of Him and for Him. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to
+receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things,
+and for thy pleasure they are and were created."
+
+Every soul belongs to God and exists by His pleasure. God being Who and
+What He is, and we being who and what we are, the only thinkable
+relation between us is one of full lordship on His part and complete
+submission on ours. We owe Him every honor that it is in our power to
+give Him. Our everlasting grief lies in giving Him anything less.
+
+The pursuit of God will embrace the labor of bringing our total
+personality into conformity to His. And this not judicially, but
+actually. I do not here refer to the act of justification by faith in
+Christ. I speak of a voluntary exalting of God to His proper station
+over us and a willing surrender of our whole being to the place of
+worshipful submission which the Creator-creature circumstance makes
+proper.
+
+The moment we make up our minds that we are going on with this
+determination to exalt God over all we step out of the world's parade.
+We shall find ourselves out of adjustment to the ways of the world, and
+increasingly so as we make progress in the holy way. We shall acquire a
+new viewpoint; a new and different psychology will be formed within us;
+a new power will begin to surprise us by its upsurgings and its
+outgoings.
+
+Our break with the world will be the direct outcome of our changed
+relation to God. For the world of fallen men does not honor God.
+Millions call themselves by His Name, it is true, and pay some token
+respect to Him, but a simple test will show how little He is really
+honored among them. Let the average man be put to the proof on the
+question of who is _above_, and his true position will be exposed. Let
+him be forced into making a choice between God and money, between God
+and men, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human
+love, and God will take second place every time. Those other things will
+be exalted above. However the man may protest, the proof is in the
+choices he makes day after day throughout his life.
+
+"Be thou exalted" is the language of victorious spiritual experience. It
+is a little key to unlock the door to great treasures of grace. It is
+central in the life of God in the soul. Let the seeking man reach a
+place where life and lips join to say continually "Be thou exalted," and
+a thousand minor problems will be solved at once. His Christian life
+ceases to be the complicated thing it had been before and becomes the
+very essence of simplicity. By the exercise of his will he has set his
+course, and on that course he will stay as if guided by an automatic
+pilot. If blown off course for a moment by some adverse wind he will
+surely return again as by a secret bent of the soul. The hidden motions
+of the Spirit are working in his favor, and "the stars in their courses"
+fight for him. He has met his life problem at its center, and
+everything else must follow along.
+
+Let no one imagine that he will lose anything of human dignity by this
+voluntary sell-out of his all to his God. He does not by this degrade
+himself as a man; rather he finds his right place of high honor as one
+made in the image of his Creator. His deep disgrace lay in his moral
+derangement, his unnatural usurpation of the place of God. His honor
+will be proved by restoring again that stolen throne. In exalting God
+over all he finds his own highest honor upheld.
+
+Anyone who might feel reluctant to surrender his will to the will of
+another should remember Jesus' words, "Whosoever committeth sin is the
+servant of sin." We must of necessity be servant to someone, either to
+God or to sin. The sinner prides himself on his independence, completely
+overlooking the fact that he is the weak slave of the sins that rule his
+members. The man who surrenders to Christ exchanges a cruel slave driver
+for a kind and gentle Master whose yoke is easy and whose burden is
+light.
+
+Made as we were in the image of God we scarcely find it strange to take
+again our God as our All. God was our original habitat and our hearts
+cannot but feel at home when they enter again that ancient and beautiful
+abode.
+
+I hope it is clear that there is a logic behind God's claim to
+pre-eminence. That place is His by every right in earth or heaven. While
+we take to ourselves the place that is His the whole course of our
+lives is out of joint. Nothing will or can restore order till our hearts
+make the great decision: God shall be exalted above.
+
+"Them that honour me I will honour," said God once to a priest of
+Israel, and that ancient law of the Kingdom stands today unchanged by
+the passing of time or the changes of dispensation. The whole Bible and
+every page of history proclaim the perpetuation of that law. "If any man
+serve me, him will my Father honour," said our Lord Jesus, tying in the
+old with the new and revealing the essential unity of His ways with men.
+
+Sometimes the best way to see a thing is to look at its opposite. Eli
+and his sons are placed in the priesthood with the stipulation that they
+honor God in their lives and ministrations. This they fail to do, and
+God sends Samuel to announce the consequences. Unknown to Eli this law
+of reciprocal honor has been all the while secretly working, and now the
+time has come for judgment to fall. Hophni and Phineas, the degenerate
+priests, fall in battle, the wife of Hophni dies in childbirth, Israel
+flees before her enemies, the ark of God is captured by the Philistines
+and the old man Eli falls backward and dies of a broken neck. Thus stark
+utter tragedy followed upon Eli's failure to honor God.
+
+Now set over against this almost any Bible character who honestly tried
+to glorify God in his earthly walk. See how God winked at weaknesses
+and overlooked failures as He poured upon His servants grace and
+blessing untold. Let it be Abraham, Jacob, David, Daniel, Elijah or whom
+you will; honor followed honor as harvest the seed. The man of God set
+his heart to exalt God above all; God accepted his intention as fact and
+acted accordingly. Not perfection, but holy intention made the
+difference.
+
+In our Lord Jesus Christ this law was seen in simple perfection. In His
+lowly manhood He humbled Himself and gladly gave all glory to His Father
+in heaven. He sought not His own honor, but the honor of God who sent
+Him. "If I honour myself," He said on one occasion, "my honour is
+nothing; it is my Father that honoureth me." So far had the proud
+Pharisees departed from this law that they could not understand one who
+honored God at his own expense. "I honour my Father," said Jesus to
+them, "and ye do dishonour me."
+
+Another saying of Jesus, and a most disturbing one, was put in the form
+of a question, "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another,
+and seek not the honour that cometh from God alone?" If I understand
+this correctly Christ taught here the alarming doctrine that the desire
+for honor among men made belief impossible. Is this sin at the root of
+religious unbelief? Could it be that those "intellectual difficulties"
+which men blame for their inability to believe are but smoke screens to
+conceal the real cause that lies behind them? Was it this greedy desire
+for honor from man that made men into Pharisees and Pharisees into
+Deicides? Is this the secret back of religious self-righteousness and
+empty worship? I believe it may be. The whole course of the life is
+upset by failure to put God where He belongs. We exalt ourselves instead
+of God and the curse follows.
+
+In our desire after God let us keep always in mind that God also hath
+desire, and His desire is toward the sons of men, and more particularly
+toward those sons of men who will make the once-for-all decision to
+exalt Him over all. Such as these are precious to God above all
+treasures of earth or sea. In them God finds a theater where He can
+display His exceeding kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. With them God
+can walk unhindered, toward them He can act like the God He is.
+
+In speaking thus I have one fear; it is that I may convince the mind
+before God can win the heart. For this God-above-all position is one not
+easy to take. The mind may approve it while not having the consent of
+the will to put it into effect. While the imagination races ahead to
+honor God, the will may lag behind and the man never guess how divided
+his heart is. The whole man must make the decision before the heart can
+know any real satisfaction. God wants us all, and He will not rest till
+He gets us all. No part of the man will do.
+
+Let us pray over this in detail, throwing ourselves at God's feet and
+meaning everything we say. No one who prays thus in sincerity need wait
+long for tokens of divine acceptance. God will unveil His glory before
+His servant's eyes, and He will place all His treasures at the disposal
+of such a one, for He knows that His honor is safe in such consecrated
+hands.
+
+_O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth's
+treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life.
+Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be
+above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the
+earth. Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it mean the loss of
+bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses I shall keep my vow
+made this day before Thee. Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me
+ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity
+and my name be forgotten as a dream. Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place
+of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my
+family, my health and even my life itself. Let me decrease that Thou
+mayest increase, let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. Ride forth
+upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little
+beast, a colt, the foal of an ass, and let me hear the children cry to
+Thee, "Hosanna in the highest."_
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+_Meekness and Rest_
+
+     Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.--Matt. 5:5
+
+
+A fairly accurate description of the human race might be furnished one
+unacquainted with it by taking the Beatitudes, turning them wrong side
+out and saying, "Here is your human race." For the exact opposite of the
+virtues in the Beatitudes are the very qualities which distinguish human
+life and conduct.
+
+In the world of men we find nothing approaching the virtues of which
+Jesus spoke in the opening words of the famous Sermon on the Mount.
+Instead of poverty of spirit we find the rankest kind of pride; instead
+of mourners we find pleasure seekers; instead of meekness, arrogance;
+instead of hunger after righteousness we hear men saying, "I am rich and
+increased with goods and have need of nothing"; instead of mercy we find
+cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt imaginings; instead of
+peacemakers we find men quarrelsome and resentful; instead of rejoicing
+in mistreatment we find them fighting back with every weapon at their
+command.
+
+Of this kind of moral stuff civilized society is composed. The
+atmosphere is charged with it; we breathe it with every breath and drink
+it with our mother's milk. Culture and education refine these things
+slightly but leave them basically untouched. A whole world of literature
+has been created to justify this kind of life as the only normal one.
+And this is the more to be wondered at seeing that these are the evils
+which make life the bitter struggle it is for all of us. All our
+heartaches and a great many of our physical ills spring directly out of
+our sins. Pride, arrogance, resentfulness, evil imaginings, malice,
+greed: these are the sources of more human pain than all the diseases
+that ever afflicted mortal flesh.
+
+Into a world like this the sound of Jesus' words comes wonderful and
+strange, a visitation from above. It is well that He spoke, for no one
+else could have done it as well; and it is good that we listen. His
+words are the essence of truth. He is not offering an opinion; Jesus
+never uttered opinions. He never guessed; He knew, and He knows. His
+words are not as Solomon's were, the sum of sound wisdom or the results
+of keen observation. He spoke out of the fulness of His Godhead, and His
+words are very Truth itself. He is the only one who could say "blessed"
+with complete authority, for He is the Blessed One come from the world
+above to confer blessedness upon mankind. And His words were supported
+by deeds mightier than any performed on this earth by any other man. It
+is wisdom for us to listen.
+
+As was often so with Jesus, He used this word "meek" in a brief crisp
+sentence, and not till some time later did He go on to explain it. In
+the same book of Matthew He tells us more about it and applies it to our
+lives. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
+give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and
+lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is
+easy, and my burden is light." Here we have two things standing in
+contrast to each other, a burden and a rest. The burden is not a local
+one, peculiar to those first hearers, but one which is borne by the
+whole human race. It consists not of political oppression or poverty or
+hard work. It is far deeper than that. It is felt by the rich as well as
+the poor for it is something from which wealth and idleness can never
+deliver us.
+
+The burden borne by mankind is a heavy and a crushing thing. The word
+Jesus used means a load carried or toil borne to the point of
+exhaustion. Rest is simply release from that burden. It is not
+something we do, it is what comes to us when we cease to do. His own
+meekness, that is the rest.
+
+Let us examine our burden. It is altogether an interior one. It attacks
+the heart and the mind and reaches the body only from within. First,
+there is the burden of _pride_. The labor of self-love is a heavy one
+indeed. Think for yourself whether much of your sorrow has not arisen
+from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up
+as a little god to which you must be loyal there will be those who will
+delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can you hope to have
+inward peace? The heart's fierce effort to protect itself from every
+slight, to shield its touchy honor from the bad opinion of friend and
+enemy, will never let the mind have rest. Continue this fight through
+the years and the burden will become intolerable. Yet the sons of earth
+are carrying this burden continually, challenging every word spoken
+against them, cringing under every criticism, smarting under each
+fancied slight, tossing sleepless if another is preferred before them.
+
+Such a burden as this is not necessary to bear. Jesus calls us to His
+rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is
+greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the
+world is not worth the effort. He develops toward himself a kindly sense
+of humor and learns to say, "Oh, so you have been overlooked? They have
+placed someone else before you? They have whispered that you are pretty
+small stuff after all? And now you feel hurt because the world is saying
+about you the very things you have been saying about yourself? Only
+yesterday you were telling God that you were nothing, a mere worm of the
+dust. Where is your consistency? Come on, humble yourself, and cease to
+care what men think."
+
+The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own
+inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as
+strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has
+accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and
+helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at
+the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than
+angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto. He
+knows well that the world will never see him as God sees him and he has
+stopped caring. He rests perfectly content to allow God to place His own
+values. He will be patient to wait for the day when everything will get
+its own price tag and real worth will come into its own. Then the
+righteous shall shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father. He is
+willing to wait for that day.
+
+In the meantime he will have attained a place of soul rest. As he walks
+on in meekness he will be happy to let God defend him. The old struggle
+to defend himself is over. He has found the peace which meekness
+brings.
+
+Then also he will get deliverance from the burden of _pretense_. By this
+I mean not hypocrisy, but the common human desire to put the best foot
+forward and hide from the world our real inward poverty. For sin has
+played many evil tricks upon us, and one has been the infusing into us a
+false sense of shame. There is hardly a man or woman who dares to be
+just what he or she is without doctoring up the impression. The fear of
+being found out gnaws like rodents within their hearts. The man of
+culture is haunted by the fear that he will some day come upon a man
+more cultured than himself. The learned man fears to meet a man more
+learned than he. The rich man sweats under the fear that his clothes or
+his car or his house will sometime be made to look cheap by comparison
+with those of another rich man. So-called "society" runs by a motivation
+not higher than this, and the poorer classes on their level are little
+better.
+
+Let no one smile this off. These burdens are real, and little by little
+they kill the victims of this evil and unnatural way of life. And the
+psychology created by years of this kind of thing makes true meekness
+seem as unreal as a dream, as aloof as a star. To all the victims of the
+gnawing disease Jesus says, "Ye must become as little children." For
+little children do not compare; they receive direct enjoyment from what
+they have without relating it to something else or someone else. Only
+as they get older and sin begins to stir within their hearts do jealousy
+and envy appear. Then they are unable to enjoy what they have if someone
+else has something larger or better. At that early age does the galling
+burden come down upon their tender souls, and it never leaves them till
+Jesus sets them free.
+
+Another source of burden is _artificiality_. I am sure that most people
+live in secret fear that some day they will be careless and by chance an
+enemy or friend will be allowed to peep into their poor empty souls. So
+they are never relaxed. Bright people are tense and alert in fear that
+they may be trapped into saying something common or stupid. Traveled
+people are afraid that they may meet some Marco Polo who is able to
+describe some remote place where they have never been.
+
+This unnatural condition is part of our sad heritage of sin, but in our
+day it is aggravated by our whole way of life. Advertising is largely
+based upon this habit of pretense. "Courses" are offered in this or that
+field of human learning frankly appealing to the victim's desire to
+shine at a party. Books are sold, clothes and cosmetics are peddled, by
+playing continually upon this desire to appear what we are not.
+Artificiality is one curse that will drop away the moment we kneel at
+Jesus' feet and surrender ourselves to His meekness. Then we will not
+care what people think of us so long as God is pleased. Then _what we
+are_ will be everything; what we appear will take its place far down
+the scale of interest for us. Apart from sin we have nothing of which to
+be ashamed. Only an evil desire to shine makes us want to appear other
+than we are.
+
+The heart of the world is breaking under this load of pride and
+pretense. There is no release from our burden apart from the meekness of
+Christ. Good keen reasoning may help slightly, but so strong is this
+vice that if we push it down one place it will come up somewhere else.
+To men and women everywhere Jesus says, "Come unto me, and I will give
+you rest." The rest He offers is the rest of meekness, the blessed
+relief which comes when we accept ourselves for what we are and cease to
+pretend. It will take some courage at first, but the needed grace will
+come as we learn that we are sharing this new and easy yoke with the
+strong Son of God Himself. He calls it "my yoke," and He walks at one
+end while we walk at the other.
+
+_Lord, make me childlike. Deliver me from the urge to compete with
+another for place or prestige or position. I would be simple and artless
+as a little child. Deliver me from pose and pretense. Forgive me for
+thinking of myself. Help me to forget myself and find my true peace in
+beholding Thee. That Thou mayest answer this prayer I humble myself
+before Thee. Lay upon me Thy easy yoke of self-forgetfulness that
+through it I may find rest. Amen._
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+_The Sacrament of Living_
+
+     Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to
+     the glory of God.--I Cor. 10:31
+
+
+One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace which the Christian
+encounters is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas, the
+sacred and the secular. As these areas are conceived to exist apart from
+each other and to be morally and spiritually incompatible, and as we are
+compelled by the necessities of living to be always crossing back and
+forth from the one to the other, our inner lives tend to break up so
+that we live a divided instead of a unified life.
+
+Our trouble springs from the fact that we who follow Christ inhabit at
+once two worlds, the spiritual and the natural. As children of Adam we
+live our lives on earth subject to the limitations of the flesh and the
+weaknesses and ills to which human nature is heir. Merely to live among
+men requires of us years of hard toil and much care and attention to the
+things of this world. In sharp contrast to this is our life in the
+Spirit. There we enjoy another and higher kind of life; we are children
+of God; we possess heavenly status and enjoy intimate fellowship with
+Christ.
+
+This tends to divide our total life into two departments. We come
+unconsciously to recognize two sets of actions. The first are performed
+with a feeling of satisfaction and a firm assurance that they are
+pleasing to God. These are the sacred acts and they are usually thought
+to be prayer, Bible reading, hymn singing, church attendance and such
+other acts as spring directly from faith. They may be known by the fact
+that they have no direct relation to this world, and would have no
+meaning whatever except as faith shows us another world, "an house not
+made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
+
+Over against these sacred acts are the secular ones. They include all of
+the ordinary activities of life which we share with the sons and
+daughters of Adam: eating, sleeping, working, looking after the needs of
+the body and performing our dull and prosaic duties here on earth. These
+we often do reluctantly and with many misgivings, often apologizing to
+God for what we consider a waste of time and strength. The upshot of
+this is that we are uneasy most of the time. We go about our common
+tasks with a feeling of deep frustration, telling ourselves pensively
+that there's a better day coming when we shall slough off this earthly
+shell and be bothered no more with the affairs of this world.
+
+This is the old sacred-secular antithesis. Most Christians are caught in
+its trap. They cannot get a satisfactory adjustment between the claims
+of the two worlds. They try to walk the tight rope between two kingdoms
+and they find no peace in either. Their strength is reduced, their
+outlook confused and their joy taken from them.
+
+I believe this state of affairs to be wholly unnecessary. We have gotten
+ourselves on the horns of a dilemma, true enough, but the dilemma is not
+real. It is a creature of misunderstanding. The sacred-secular
+antithesis has no foundation in the New Testament. Without doubt a more
+perfect understanding of Christian truth will deliver us from it.
+
+The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our perfect example, and He knew no
+divided life. In the Presence of His Father He lived on earth without
+strain from babyhood to His death on the cross. God accepted the
+offering of His total life, and made no distinction between act and act.
+"I do always the things that please him," was His brief summary of His
+own life as it related to the Father. As He moved among men He was
+poised and restful. What pressure and suffering He endured grew out of
+His position as the world's sin bearer; they were never the result of
+moral uncertainty or spiritual maladjustment.
+
+Paul's exhortation to "do all to the glory of God" is more than pious
+idealism. It is an integral part of the sacred revelation and is to be
+accepted as the very Word of Truth. It opens before us the possibility
+of making every act of our lives contribute to the glory of God. Lest we
+should be too timid to include everything, Paul mentions specifically
+eating and drinking. This humble privilege we share with the beasts that
+perish. If these lowly animal acts can be so performed as to honor God,
+then it becomes difficult to conceive of one that cannot.
+
+That monkish hatred of the body which figures so prominently in the
+works of certain early devotional writers is wholly without support in
+the Word of God. Common modesty is found in the Sacred Scriptures, it is
+true, but never prudery or a false sense of shame. The New Testament
+accepts as a matter of course that in His incarnation our Lord took upon
+Him a real human body, and no effort is made to steer around the
+downright implications of such a fact. He lived in that body here among
+men and never once performed a non-sacred act. His presence in human
+flesh sweeps away forever the evil notion that there is about the human
+body something innately offensive to the Deity. God created our bodies,
+and we do not offend Him by placing the responsibility where it
+belongs. He is not ashamed of the work of His own hands.
+
+Perversion, misuse and abuse of our human powers should give us cause
+enough to be ashamed. Bodily acts done in sin and contrary to nature can
+never honor God. Wherever the human will introduces moral evil we have
+no longer our innocent and harmless powers as God made them; we have
+instead an abused and twisted thing which can never bring glory to its
+Creator.
+
+Let us, however, assume that perversion and abuse are not present. Let
+us think of a Christian believer in whose life the twin wonders of
+repentance and the new birth have been wrought. He is now living
+according to the will of God as he understands it from the written Word.
+Of such a one it may be said that every act of his life is or can be as
+truly sacred as prayer or baptism or the Lord's Supper. To say this is
+not to bring all acts down to one dead level; it is rather to lift every
+act up into a living kingdom and turn the whole life into a sacrament.
+If a sacrament is an external expression of an inward grace than we need
+not hesitate to accept the above thesis. By one act of consecration of
+our total selves to God we can make every subsequent act express that
+consecration. We need no more be ashamed of our body--the fleshly
+servant that carries us through life--than Jesus was of the humble beast
+upon which He rode into Jerusalem. "The Lord hath need of him" may well
+apply to our mortal bodies. If Christ dwells in us we may bear about the
+Lord of glory as the little beast did of old and give occasion to the
+multitudes to cry, "Hosanna in the highest."
+
+That we _see_ this truth is not enough. If we would escape from the
+toils of the sacred-secular dilemma the truth must "run in our blood"
+and condition the complexion of our thoughts. We must practice living to
+the glory of God, actually and determinedly. By meditation upon this
+truth, by talking it over with God often in our prayers, by recalling it
+to our minds frequently as we move about among men, a _sense_ of its
+wondrous meaning will begin to take hold of us. The old painful duality
+will go down before a restful unity of life. The knowledge that we are
+all God's, that He has received all and rejected nothing, will unify our
+inner lives and make everything sacred to us.
+
+This is not quite all. Long-held habits do not die easily. It will take
+intelligent thought and a great deal of reverent prayer to escape
+completely from the sacred-secular psychology. For instance it may be
+difficult for the average Christian to get hold of the idea that his
+daily labors can be performed as acts of worship acceptable to God by
+Jesus Christ. The old antithesis will crop up in the back of his head
+sometimes to disturb his peace of mind. Nor will that old serpent the
+devil take all this lying down. He will be there in the cab or at the
+desk or in the field to remind the Christian that he is giving the
+better part of his day to the things of this world and allotting to his
+religious duties only a trifling portion of his time. And unless great
+care is taken this will create confusion and bring discouragement and
+heaviness of heart.
+
+We can meet this successfully only by the exercise of an aggressive
+faith. We must offer all our acts to God and believe that He accepts
+them. Then hold firmly to that position and keep insisting that every
+act of every hour of the day and night be included in the transaction.
+Keep reminding God in our times of private prayer that we mean every act
+for His glory; then supplement those times by a thousand thought-prayers
+as we go about the job of living. Let us practice the fine art of making
+every work a priestly ministration. Let us believe that God is in all
+our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.
+
+A concomitant of the error which we have been discussing is the
+sacred-secular antithesis as applied to places. It is little short of
+astonishing that we can read the New Testament and still believe in the
+inherent sacredness of places as distinguished from other places. This
+error is so widespread that one feels all alone when he tries to combat
+it. It has acted as a kind of dye to color the thinking of religious
+persons and has colored the eyes as well so that it is all but
+impossible to detect its fallacy. In the face of every New Testament
+teaching to the contrary it has been said and sung throughout the
+centuries and accepted as a part of the Christian message, the which it
+most surely is not. Only the Quakers, so far as my knowledge goes, have
+had the perception to see the error and the courage to expose it.
+
+Here are the facts as I see them. For four hundred years Israel had
+dwelt in Egypt, surrounded by the crassest idolatry. By the hand of
+Moses they were brought out at last and started toward the land of
+promise. The very idea of holiness had been lost to them. To correct
+this, God began at the bottom. He localized Himself in the cloud and
+fire and later when the tabernacle had been built He dwelt in fiery
+manifestation in the Holy of Holies. By innumerable distinctions God
+taught Israel the difference between holy and unholy. There were holy
+days, holy vessels, holy garments. There were washings, sacrifices,
+offerings of many kinds. By these means Israel learned that _God is
+holy_. It was this that He was teaching them. Not the holiness of things
+or places, but the holiness of Jehovah was the lesson they must learn.
+
+Then came the great day when Christ appeared. Immediately He began to
+say, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time--but _I_ say
+unto you." The Old Testament schooling was over. When Christ died on the
+cross the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom. The Holy of
+Holies was opened to everyone who would enter in faith. Christ's words
+were remembered, "The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this
+mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.... But the hour
+cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
+in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God
+is Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
+truth."
+
+Shortly after, Paul took up the cry of liberty and declared all meats
+clean, every day holy, all places sacred and every act acceptable to
+God. The sacredness of times and places, a half-light necessary to the
+education of the race, passed away before the full sun of spiritual
+worship.
+
+The essential spirituality of worship remained the possession of the
+Church until it was slowly lost with the passing of the years. Then the
+natural _legality_ of the fallen hearts of men began to introduce the
+old distinctions. The Church came to observe again days and seasons and
+times. Certain places were chosen and marked out as holy in a special
+sense. Differences were observed between one and another day or place or
+person, "The sacraments" were first two, then three, then four until
+with the triumph of Romanism they were fixed at seven.
+
+In all charity, and with no desire to reflect unkindly upon any
+Christian, however misled, I would point out that the Roman Catholic
+church represents today the sacred-secular heresy carried to its
+logical conclusion. Its deadliest effect is the complete cleavage it
+introduces between religion and life. Its teachers attempt to avoid this
+snare by many footnotes and multitudinous explanations, but the mind's
+instinct for logic is too strong. In practical living the cleavage is a
+fact.
+
+From this bondage reformers and puritans and mystics have labored to
+free us. Today the trend in conservative circles is back toward that
+bondage again. It is said that a horse after it has been led out of a
+burning building will sometimes by a strange obstinacy break loose from
+its rescuer and dash back into the building again to perish in the
+flame. By some such stubborn tendency toward error Fundamentalism in our
+day is moving back toward spiritual slavery. The observation of days and
+times is becoming more and more prominent among us. "Lent" and "holy
+week" and "good" Friday are words heard more and more frequently upon
+the lips of gospel Christians. We do not know when we are well off.
+
+In order that I may be understood and not be misunderstood I would throw
+into relief the practical implications of the teaching for which I have
+been arguing, i.e., the sacramental quality of every day living. Over
+against its positive meanings I should like to point out a few things it
+does not mean.
+
+It does not mean, for instance, that everything we do is of equal
+importance with everything else we do or may do. One act of a good
+man's life may differ widely from another in importance. Paul's sewing
+of tents was not equal to his writing of an Epistle to the Romans, but
+both were accepted of God and both were true acts of worship. Certainly
+it is more important to lead a soul to Christ than to plant a garden,
+but the planting of the garden _can_ be as holy an act as the winning of
+a soul.
+
+Again, it does not mean that every man is as useful as every other man.
+Gifts differ in the body of Christ. A Billy Bray is not to be compared
+with a Luther or a Wesley for sheer usefulness to the Church and to the
+world; but the service of the less gifted brother is as pure as that of
+the more gifted, and God accepts both with equal pleasure.
+
+The "layman" need never think of his humbler task as being inferior to
+that of his minister. Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is
+called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is
+not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or
+secular, it is _why_ he does it. The motive is everything. Let a man
+sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common
+act. All he does is good and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For
+such a man, living itself will be sacramental and the whole world a
+sanctuary. His entire life will be a priestly ministration. As he
+performs his never so simple task he will hear the voice of the seraphim
+saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is
+full of his glory."
+
+_Lord, I would trust Thee completely; I would be altogether Thine; I
+would exalt Thee above all. I desire that I may feel no sense of
+possessing anything outside of Thee. I want constantly to be aware of
+Thy overshadowing Presence and to hear Thy speaking Voice. I long to
+live in restful sincerity of heart. I want to live so fully in the
+Spirit that all my thought may be as sweet incense ascending to Thee and
+every act of my life may be an act of worship. Therefore I pray in the
+words of Thy great servant of old, "I beseech Thee so for to cleanse the
+intent of mine heart with the unspeakable gift of Thy grace, that I may
+perfectly love Thee and worthily praise Thee." And all this I
+confidently believe Thou wilt grant me through the merits of Jesus
+Christ Thy Son. Amen._
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pursuit of God, by A. W. Tozer
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