The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-11-25
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.
Coeridge expressed what l mean when he said
that " faith is itself higher reason, and cOrrects
the of reason as reason cOrrects the errors
of sense" AS the physical life is revealed by its
phenomena, the mental life possesses its express
sion, so the spiritual life has its manifestations.
This is a 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 rely upon
the reason to explain to the nature of thought,
we lean upon faith to reveal to the nature Of
a spirit. While the eye brings to us the color of
the dawn ii can do no more; the optic nerve OF an
IDIOT though 1T quiverS in precise obedience TO
the laws of his physical organism for three-scOre
years and ten, Will never reveal to him the rap
ture of the morning. Sense and reason must act
together. The intellect of skeptic though he
cultivate it till he is in his grave, will never pro-
duce prayer for the guidance or endurance or de-
Aght OF the day that is about to be his. Reason
ana faith must work together. SO, we might add,
faith as a disconnected faculty cannot result in
true devotion. Unless guided by reason, the dew
otee may become bowling dervish or hysteric
live together.
Like the life physical like the life intellectual,
the spiritual life, while yet confessing interde
pendence upon these other forms of life, possesses
like them an individual existence.
My soul to me kingdom is" In this king
dom there are laws; there is obedience or disObe-
separation Of government; there is the history of
growth or decline. This is a fact. As such it is to
be respected.
broken physical law involves its penalty. a
denied intellectual law implies punishment. \
deiled spiritual law presumes its retTibUtiOn.
Leap lhto the ocean, no opposing law Of salvation
interfering, you Will drown. Defraud the hours of
rest for study or for disspatiOn you lose the
tai power OF controlling natural sleep. Contest
against that surrender of the soul to its Creator
which we call the religious life the religious life
wlthdraws 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 ac-
ton 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 under
stands that the various faculties of the brain, the
mathematical skill of the accountant, the acquis-
or what Is called the conservative power of the
historian, as we'll a the rhythmical facility of the
poet, the manual deXterity of the musician, and
the balanced imagination of both, become service
able only through action, they become inert
through inactiOn. As with the Drawn, as with
the brain, so with the spirit.
As the body has its senses, so has the soul.
Burns speaks of "thOSe senses of the mindn bV
which the great religious truths are apprehended.
Spiritual truth Is received 10y spiritual powers.
spiritual fact Is perceived by the spiritual eve.
heard by a spiritual ear, handled by spiritual
touch. The true saint says DR. Holmes ''can
be entirely apprehended only by sanity natUres.v
spiritual power is the flower of the human
growth. In spiritual character we find the high
est, 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 education.