Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1904-12-15
Tn asking to be convinced Of the spirit
Lal hu anna imnrassinn Of the sensea iva

ask the impossible. A sign to prove the
spiritual must itself be spiritual. If God
asks from man love, will some celestial ap-
pearance create love? If God asks from
man that free allegiance of the WILL could
voice from heaven or succession OF
voices subdue the mind and capture the
heart? If God asks for righteousness or
loyal obedience of the life to the law OF
life could anything material generate the
moral? There can be no sign given to men
who cannot see the sign which Jesus is
Himself. He authenticates the spiritual
to us. Seeing Him we must believe in
God. or if not how could we be made more
sure of God? Christ is the revealer of the
Father He is the sign and symbol and
evidence, of God. lie IS Emmanuel. the
Sign and Seal of God with us ana 600 Tor
us, the proof of the divine in our midst.
There shall be no sign giren to this gener-
alton other than that: there can be no
other. He is the highest sign, and if the
greater fails how can the lesser convince,
and as matter of fact Jesus has con.
WINGED the world of God. and is convincing
the world Through Him we, too, know
God. BY Him we have access to God. In
Him we recognize God. For His sake we
love God. The vision of Him is the vision
of God
This generation thirsteth for sign. We
think it an evidence of our spirituality
that we do SO thirst, and so we find many
modern versions of the demand OF the
Pharisees. Sometimes in the name of
science. sometimes in the name of religion.
We can even manufacture signs when they
seem to be lacking. Sometimes by enulat-
ing the methods Of medievalism, in which
the so-callcd lives of the saints are flouted
before us. and asking us to believe III the
great realities of spiritual life because of
some material sign. Answers to prayer, it
may be, providences which, however co.
gent to the individual concerned, have lit
tie meaning to others, or sometimes we
have recrudescence of the crudest spirit
ualism, spirit rapping, table turning, tea.
cup manipulating, after which the devo.
tees go home feeling that they themselves
have been assisting at some act OF pro-
found worship, as II the melodramatlc vul'
garisms of spiritualSm could prove any
thing but the folly of the race. Or again.
we have the same claims appear in more
pretentious garb in Theosophy, or Chris
tan Science. or whatever happens to be the
fashionable form of 1t at the time, where
csoteric mysteries of some kind are prac-
tced. The root of all such things is this
same unspirtual thirst for a sign, after
thaumaturgical wonders, faith healing and
other things pretty much on the level OF
conjurlng tricks.
All, me- All this is q sign in itself, a
sign OF the WEAKNESS and despair and
breakdown OF the black materialism Of our
day to satisfy the heart of man, but it has
the terrible danger of inducing a worse
form of materialism still, deceiving the
carnal heart by wearing the dress OF spirit.
ual rel gion. How unstable it is we see
from the constant swing OF the pen 1ulum
now from atheism and materalism to the
most outrageous supernaturalism as in the
case of Mrs. Besant and others. and now
III the opposite direction IRON nltra-myst.
cSm to ultra ratlonalism. The cause of
these seemingly contradictory changes it is
not far to seek. as both are really based OH
the same foundation-a wrong conception
OF what the spiritual is and therefore of
what is true evidence of the spiritual This
genera ton thirsteth for sign. There shall
be no sign given to 1t. No sign can be
given to an unsplritlal generation which
would Judge all things by material stand
ards, a generation that is blind to tie spir-
itual signs OF which life is already full.
There can be no voice from heaven to men
who are deaf to the heavenly voice of
which the whole world il already full; il
the spiritual does not evidence itself: II
man will not see God in Christ reconciling
the world TO Himself; ii the sign OF the
cross cannot convince the stubborn heart
and bend it to acknowledge its divine pow
er. If Jesus Himself is not seen to be His
own sign aud mlrac,r. His own evidence
and proof. there shall be no sign given;
there can be no sign gwen.
There shall he no sign given unto this
generation" j. that the last word? Is
that the Gang OF the cio.ed door in the
face oi a Seeking snnl, Master we would
see a sign from Thee" That pitiful cry
ii truly asked, not "a by those pharisees,
but craving for spiritual enlightenment
and spiritual communion, that pititul cry
has ever been answered. Never turned He
away from earnest, sincere, honest inquiry
after light aud truth. H. condesceuds TO
our weakness wheu we cry. "Oh. that [
knew where | might find Him" He meets
us by the way. He makes our hearts to
burn within Us as We walk with Him, con.
vincinQ us of His love, convincing lis of
the path, slowing Us The path, and it suf-
ticcth us When the heart thirsts with
deeper thirst than for a sign, when it
thirsts after the love Of God, when the
heart and flesh cry out, He shows us tina
signs OF His passion. Is with Thomas, Be
hold Ny hands and Ny feet" He COM
forts us. He comforts us with the sign of
the cross, and before that wondrous mani
festation of the eternal love, before that
revelation of the Fathers heart, we be-
lieve and worship, and adore and love, and
we say in penitence and in faith. My
Lord and my God" Do we believe?