The Penn's Grove record., 1903-07-03

pISeidte faFaQlse Lost, and equally slH
guar that John Milton could see nothing
IN The Prlnclpia." Obviously this was not
to the discredit Of either Paradise Lost
or The Principal" nor was it d reflection
upon the learning of either man. 1t sim
ply indicates that IN order to apprehend
truth IN any quarter a man must be sym
pathetlcally disposed toward it. Milton
had no mind for mathematics, nor Newton
Tor poetry. So the wisest of men, as he
World holds wisdom, may come to the
Scriptures and find nothing there; as the
soldiers of Titus, at the taking of Jerusa-
lem threw open the ark OF the covenant
and found it empty. 1t is a proverb that
none are so blind as those who will not
see; wherefore a man who world hear God
speaking through the Scriptures must di-
vest himself OF prejudice and be willing to
hear Him.
And at this point, again. we discover why
Christ is so often rejected as the inear-
nate word" There are multitudes who
regard Him as chiefest among tea thousand
and altogether lovely, but there are MANY
others who see in Him nothing but "a root
out OF a dry ground, who hath no form nor
comeilness that they should receive Him."
why this wide difference of viewy II is
que to the same difference in %reeeptiyity.
There are some who profoundly feel the
need OF Christ; the sense of sin lies heav-
ny upon them, and they would fain be de-
liyered from it. They wait, like aged SIM
con IN the temple. for the coming of the
mighty One, and. beholding Him, they in
stantly receive Him as the God-seut Word,
saying, Now lettest Thou Thy servant de-
part IN peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy
salvation!' They welcome the message be-
cause they were waiting for it. Others,
like Nathaniel. cry, Can any good thing
come out OF Nazareth" And prejudice
must be overcome before they can receive
HIM. Thus it is written, He came unto
HIS own, and His own received Him not;
but to as many as received Him to them
gave lie power to become the sons of God"
Prejudice is grounded in pride of worldly
wisdom, and this is the great obstacle be-
tween the soul and Christ as the word"
or message from God.
Illus 1T has come to pass that some who
have been distinguished for their attain
ments IN certain provinces of knowledge
have been wholly blind on the godward
SIDE. One cannot forget low Charles OAR
win, after spending his life in experiment.
ing along the lines of physical science, died
iamentng that his spiritual nature had
been starved In his childhood he had
been deeply religious, as he said, but he
had dwelt so long amid an environment Of
purely material things that God and i'm
mortality had become empty dreams to
him.. He called it "atrophy"-that is. a
wasting away for want of nourishment.
All through his life he had fostered the
natural man, or, as Paul calls it. psuchi-
kos, the psychical man. He could reason
indefinitely in the realm of material things,
but the supernatural was wholly ruled out.
And the principle referred to viii ac-
count, also, for the fact that the Holy
Ghost is nothing to many men. And there
IS more skepticism at this point, l believe,
than anywhere else In these days. We are
ttvinu rnGor thu I.anopeo+o - A. IT,
Ghost. He IS now the executive of Gods
kingdom on earth, and those who are in
the kingdom have to do officially with Him.
Yet there are many who characterize the
third person of the godhead by a neuter
pronoun and regard Him merely as an afiu-
ence or efiuenee. bearing no vital or per-
sonal relation to them.
There Is obviously a great difference OF
opinion here. Is the Holy Spirit the per-
sonal director of our life and service, or il
He not "He'-a all, but merely "it?" LII
He sustalns the former relation to us. it
Is because our souls are in harmony with
His great purposes concerning us and ad-
Iusted to receive communications from
Him. In this case We stand as Elijah did
on Horeb, his face wrapped in his mantle.
while he hardened to "the still small
Voice" And living thus we follow His
guidance, as did Abraham on his journey
from Ur of the Chaldees along the wind
ings of the Great River. ever needing the
direction of the Voice. pitching his tent or
moving on as the Spirit babe him. Other
wise We are like the m~ultitudes at Pente-
cost, who, despite the manifestations OF di-
vine power in the sound of the rushing
mighty wind and the miracle of tongues,
looked on in doubt and bewilderment. say
ing: These men are full Of new wine."
In a recent book on religious experience
the manifestations of pagan frenzy are co..
lated with the feelings and convictions of
Christian believers. and all alike are sub
jected to analysis by the so-calfed sscien-
tiic method" Thus judged, there is moth
ing in regeneration. nothing in sanctifica-
ton, nothing but infatuation in the up
lifting and transporting influence of the
Spirit of God.
In view of such considerations is it not
apparent that the soul is blind and deaf to
heavenly visions and revelations, unless it
is attuned to them? And what solemn sig
nificanee there is in the words of Jesus:
.He that hath ears to hear let him hear"
There are, indeed. so many voices and
none Of them without significatioE." but
the people standing by say: 1T thunder
ETH" o for the hearing ear and the un-
derstanding heartl What avails it to call
a commission of blind men to pass judg-
ment on the art of Titan or Rapbael2
What ayails it to bid a jury of deaf men
sit IN judgment on the oratorlo OF the
Creation" Thus when the philosophers
of Athens heard Paul preaching on Mars
Hill 'some Knocked and others said: We
will hear thee again concerning this mat
ter" The gospel is ''foolishpess to the
Greek, and to the Jews a stumbling block,
but to them that are saved it is the wis
dom and power of Cod" Men sit like
blind Bartimaeus in the Valley of Palms:
and its beauty is unknown to them until
the Lord of truth, passing by, says: Re
ceive thy sight" The five physical senses
are as five gates open to physical truth,
but faith is the sixth gate, at which alone
spiritual ~verities can enter. Wherefore 1T
is written: HE that eometh to God must
believe that He is and that He is a reward
er of them that diligently seek Him"