The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-07-29

DF. Radcliffe apd Ris spiritual PhlIos-
OPhy.

@Hs @N-NAAAAN - -"
Ophy.
FrOn The LOadsa Spectator,
Dr.. Radcliffe may bs quite right that
there are, and have been In all pges,
dIeamsn Of dreams who saw In their
dreams more Of the spiritual world than
they could have 0 in tAslr waking
hours; that there 10 such q thing - . gain
Of spiritual liberty when the senses are
laid to sleep, instead Of Q loss, When st.
Peter saw the vision telling him that what
God had clesnsed he was not permitted to
call common-Yhen ST. Paul saw In . Wis
len the man Of Macedonia implorinR him
/ come over and hSlp the people Of Mac.
edoniA-nAy, when St. John heard - hia
vision the various messages 70 the seven
Churches which DO was 70 deliver IN hi!
Lord's name, no doubt the quieecence Of
these dreAmerB' bodily faculties had
helped 70 render their spirits more
open to the higher impressions which
the Divine Mind impressed upon them
than they would have been In active ltlei
and o far they were In . more living
spiritual world with their senses qulescelt
than they would have been with their
l~senses in full activity, And, no Doubt
there are plenty OF occAsiona from time 70
tima-thongh occaaions relatively very
rare-in every country and every age,
when the came thing, In q minor sense, 10
true Of more ordinary men when, a. DE-
Carpenter, in his interesting book on men
tai physiology, shows, the light 0 the mind
10 all the clearer for the sleep Of Of least .
large portion OF the body; when problems
are solved in Q state OF somnambulism
which were beyond the mind which
solved them In itS ordinary state. But 90
surely as this Is exceptionally true, 90
surely 10 1t ordinarily false. For the most
part, our dreama are the grotetque records
Experimentation breaking away with:
out meaning or reason into oil sorts OF
misleading tricks, connecting ul not only
with real bSinRS, but with stray Whifs
aud sounds and glimpSes OF reAllite pisc'
ing together the odds and ends, the rags
and tags Of experience, in the most capri
cioua manner, and introducing uH
neither 70 the spiritual world nor
10 the material world, but 10 Q diSordsrly
chaos Of confused emotions and
waits and strayB Of perception, For thu
most part II cannot DO denied that the sans
man must keep his senses vlgilant, In Or
der that his spirit may be at its highest
vigilance too. The spiritual realities Of
lie are not usually attained through any
extra.natural or p~reternaturAl exercise Of
spiritual faculties In the paralysis OF the
bodily faculties, but through the highest
energies Of the bodily fAeultiea-A highest
energy which they only attain when they
pay due obedience 10 the control OF the
spirit. We do mot deny that 10Y and
again, % Il 10 proof Of the very partial
character Of the experience oil our present
life, We ONE cross true instances In
which the spirit seems not only independ'
emit Of the body, but to have fuller life
through that independence, But Tor the
most part II 10 not 90. Our highest con.
science, our highest Imagination, our high
est sympathy, our highest reason, our
highest memory, our highest will, and our
highest faith are reached, not through the
-abdlcAtion Of our bodily powers, but
through their fullest and heAlthiest &C.
tivity. In other words, we have not free
access, In our Ordinary condition, to that
infinite spiritual world 10 which Dr., Rad,
clife thinks that spirits wander at their
ease. We are anchored By, our bodies TO
given and very limited portions Of time
and space. Only, In these portions oil
time and space we discern nothing truly,
except under due submission TO spiritual
laws, and In the full recognition Of spirit
ual authority. When ProSpero said what
Dr.. Radcliffe quotes from the Tempest"
I'VE are euch stuff 40 dreams are made Of,
and our little lie 10 rounded With y Sleep"