The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-07-09


anv such person as God" There is moth
ing in the world that can so destroy the
receptivity of the soul as this pride OF
worldly wisdom. No man can hear heav
enly message who is not instantly willing
to admit that God is wiser than he.
The fact that man is literally educated
in certain directions does not argue that
he is competent to receive divine com
muncation + In the middle OF the seven
teenth century there were two men living
in England whose names are equally ms
toric and illustrous for broad culture, One
of these was Sir Isaac Newton and the
other John Milton. Now it is singular
fact that Sir Isaac Newton could not ap
preciate paradise Lost" and equally SIM
eular that John Milton could see nothing
in 'The Principal" Obviously this was not
to the discredit of either Paradise Lost
upon the learning of either man. 1t sim.
ply indicates that IN order to apprehend
truth in any quarter man must be sym.
pathetically disposed toward it, Milton
had no mind for mathematics, nor Newton
for poetry. So the wisest OF men, as The
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 proverb that
>one are so blind as those who Will not
see; wherefore a man who would hear GOD
speaking Through tue OCIlpIuiS CD must VI
vest himself of prejudice and be willing te
hear Him.
And at this point, again, we discover why
Christ is so often rejected as the incar
nate word" There are multitudes who
regard Him as chiefest among ten thousand
and altogether lovely, but there are many
Others who see in Him nothing but "a root
out of dry ground, who hath no form nor
comeiness that they should receive Him."
Why this wide difference of view! 1t Is
due to the same difference in -receptivity.
There are some who profoundly feel the
need of Christ; the sense OF sin lies heav.
lily upon them, and they would fain be de-
livered 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-sent 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 He 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.
Thus it has come to pass that some who
have been distinguished for their attain
have been wholly blind on the godward
side. One cannot forget how Charles OAR
win, after spending his life in experiment.
ing along the lines of physical science, died
lamenting 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 "atropby'-that Is. a
wasting away for want OF nourlshment.
All through his life he had fostered the
natural man, or, as Paul calls it, psuchi-
kos, the psychical man. lie could reason
indefinitely in the realm of material things,
but the supernatural was wholly ruled out.
| And the principle referred to will ac-
count, also, for the fact that the Holy
Ghost is nothing to many men. And there
is more skepticism at this point believe,
| than anywhere else in these days. We are
living under the dispensation of the Holy
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 eodhead by a neuter
pronoun and regard Him merely as an atfiu-
ence or efhuence, bearing no vital or per-
| sonal rela ton 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 Is
He not HE" at ALL but merely ''it?" If
| He sustains the former relation to us, 1T
| IS because our souls are in harmony with
HIS great purposes concerning us and adj
| lusted 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
| lngs 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 multitudes 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 recent book on religious experience
the manifestations OF pagan frenzy are col
lated with, the feelings and convictions OF
| Christian believers. and all alike are sub
jeeted to analysis by the so-called ''scien-
tltlc method" Thus judged, there is moth
| ING IN regeneration. nothing in sanctifca-
80 nothing but infatuatioa in the up
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 ic
is attuned to them? And what solemn sig
nlhcance there is in the words of Jesus:
HE that hath ears to hear let him hear
There are. indeed. $50 many voices and
none of them without signi6cation." but
the peopie. standing by say: ct thunder
eth!'' Q for the hearing ear and the UNI
derstanding heart! What avails it to call
commission of blind men to pass iudg-
ment on the art of Titan or Raphael?
| What ayaiils it to bid jury of deaf men
st IN Judgment on the oratorio 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 'foolishness to the
Greek, and to the Jews a stumbling block.
| but to them that are saved it is the wis.,
dom and power of God" Men sit like
blind Bartimaeus in the Valley of Palms;
and its beauty is unknown to them until
the Lord Of truth, passing by, saws: ssRe-
| 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 It
IS written: He that cometh to God must
believe that He is and that He is a reward
er OF them that diligently seek Him."