Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-11-04
The Spiritual Life.
BY ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS.

There is a form of the mental life
which we call spiritual This is the
highest, as it is the finest, phase of the
mystery that we name existence Cole
ridge expressed what l mean when he
said that "faith is itself a higher rea-
son, and corrects the errors of sense" AS
the physical life is revealed by it's phe-
nOmena, as the mental life possesses its
expression, so the spiritual life has its
manifestation. This is fact As such
it is to be respected.
As we depend upon the senses to make
clear to us the presence of the sunrise,
as we rely upon the reason to explain
to us the nature of a thought, so we lean
upon faith to reveal to to us the nature
of spirit.
While the eye brings to us the color
of the dawn, it can do no more; the op-
tic nerve of an idiot, though it quiver in.
precise obedience to the laws of his phys
ical organization, for threescore years
and ten, will never reveal to him the
rapture of the morning. Sense and rea-
son, must act together. So the reason,
left to itself, informs us of the character
of the thought or the feeling which we
have about the sunrise; then it comes,
and there it must come, against its lin
itation. The intellect of a skeptic,
though he cultivate it till he is in his
grave, will never produce a prayer for
the guidance, or endurance, or delight
of the day that is about to be his. Rea-
son and faith must work together. So,
we might add, as disconnected facul-
ty, cannot result in true devotion. Un-
less guided by reason, the devOtee may
become bowling dervish, or hysteric
nun. The sense, the mind, and the spi-
rit must live together.
Like the life physical, like the life in
tellectual, the spiritual life, while yet
confessing an interdependence upon
these other forms of life, possesses, like
them, an individual existence.
MY soul to me a kingdom is" In
this kingdam there are laws: there is
obedience or disobedience; there is an
archy or order; there is the separation
of government; there is the history of
growth and decline. This is fact. As
such it is to be respected.
A broken physical law involves its
penalty. A denied intellectual law i'm
plies punishment. A defied spiritual
law presumes its retributiOn.
Leap into the ocean; no opposing law
of salvation interfering, you will drown.
Defraud the hours of rest for study or
for dissipation; you lose the mental pow
er of controlling natural sleep. Contest
against that surrender of the soul to it's
Creator which we call the religious life;
the religious life withdraws itself from
you. Unbelief closes over the willing
unbeliever, like the waves of the sea or
the tides of insomnia. These are facts.
As such they are to be respected.
Again: the great law of development
is the law of action. Every natural
power grows by exercise. Any school
boy knows that he can create the iron
ball of muscle on his arm only by the
use and training of the muscle. Any
college girl understands that the various
faculties of the brain, the mathematical
skill of the accountant, the acquisitive
pONCA VI OllS ulos, OAAO OOONAOhO
ory, or what is called the conservative
power, of the historian, as well as the
rhythmical facility of the poet, the man.
ual dexterity of the musician, and the
balanced imagination of both, become
serviceable only through action, as they
become through inactiOn inert. As with
the Drawn, rs with the brain. SO with
the spirit.
To exercise spiritual power, is to de-
velop and strengthen it. To disuse it is
to repress or extinguish it.
AS the body has its senses, so has the
soul. Burns speaks of "those senses of
the mind by which great religious
truths are apprehended. Spiritual truth
is received by the spiritual powers. Spi-
ritual fact is perceived by the spiritual
eye, heard by a spiritual ear, handled by
spiritual touch. "The true saint" says
Dr. Holmes, "can be entirely apprehend-
ed only by sanity natures"
Spiritual power is the flower of the
human growth. In spiritual character
we find the highest, finest, and most
complex form of the species. All other
nature, whether physical or mental. is
embryonic to spiritual nature. Spiritual
culture is the elimination of human ed
ucation.-November Atlantic.