The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-05

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dominating spiritual world He should
have access to the magazines of God S
resources. Let him talk with God. con-
verse with the angels, have visions OF
horses and chariots of fire, hear the
music of the skies, and be shot through
with the splendors of the sun of righte-
BUSINESS"
LECTURE NUMBER TWO.
Il spoke last evening of the promin-
ence of spiritual things as attested by
the Bible and the church Let me ad-
vert for a moment to the expression upon
this whole question given in our new
Testament, which is more emphatic than
the Old, pressing the statement of the
claims of the spiritual, intellectually
and ethically, upon us in a style that
is more simple and with less frequent
use of anthropomorphism Our citizenship
in the Kingdom of God is emphasized
and all forms of our life, individual and
social, are provided for in the spiritual
realm. The reality of these things is
the point to which we have to come in
conscious experience and here we are
met with difficulties at the outset.
THE physical and natural is first in
our experience and with that our life be-
gins. What is the process by which we
come into the knowledge of the spiritual,
which alone satisfies our highest need?
Men attempted to do this in past CEN
turtles by withdrawing from the natural
thus giving rise to monasticism But
this was and is impossible. We must
'apprehend the spiritual here in the midst
nf lln ctr nd
find a unity between the world of sense
IN which We live and the world of the
spirit. There is no antagonism between
the natural and the spiritual. 1t is all
Gods and he placed us here that we
might find in the world of work and
stress the higher things of the spirit
Those who have the finest intentions see
in the natural world a spiritual meaning
For this reason the poet, in the right
sense of the word, is the true interpreter
OF nature, seeing in it subtle meanings
which transcend nature and come from
the realm of the spirit.
I'VE first begin the apprehension of the
spiritual in childhood. Somehow, some
where, by some means we are touched
in our childhood by that which does not
belong to the natural. In our inner con-
seriousness there is a touch of the spir-
itual and life has a new meaning. 1t is
crude at first and there is no full APP
prehension of Gods whole nature, but it
is sufficient to bring TO a child the sense
of responsibility. There is no way to
explain this by mere natural processes
it must find it's explanation in a con-
seriousness of our relation to what we
call and feel to be God. This conscious
ness of God, dim at first in the child, is
really the foundation of all ethics and
there is no other force which can sus-
tain our social order.
Faith is the process by which in the
first instance we apprehend the spiritual.
The processes of science do not apply in
this really. We cannot analyze it or
measure it by any scientific methods In
spite of the sneers of scientists and bust
ness men faith underlies all our life,
even in the natural world. This faith is
defined by the writer of the Epistle to
the Hebrews to be the realization of
things hoped for and the conviction of
things not seen. What we hold by faith
we hold with as sure a grasp as we do
the things OF the natural world. BY this
process We come into a knowledge that
We are in the midst of forces unseen by
the natural eye, that the air teens with
multitudes of angelic beings, that the
heavens are bright with light that
never shone on sea or land. Voices are
sounding through our ears, and influences
are thrilling us to the inmost SOUL that
come not from the world about us. 1t
is the consciousness of God. The stir
Of the invisible and eternal things pos
sess us and they are, for us, the highest
reality. Faith makes this world more
substantial than the world OF sense about
us and a rapture thrills us that sensuous
things cannot furnish. An examination
of the state of scientific knowledge Of
substance. light, electricity. etc, reveals
the fact that our knowledge OF such
things is not certain. In fact we do not
know more of matter than we do of
shirt and the most real things to us
the realities of our inner spiritual
life.
..There is a tendency among men to