The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-05-22
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
The REV. JOHN c. AGER.
Theme: Casting Out Evil Spirits.

the new JSIusdiClu NoNSOSupOl gan I,
the pastor. the Rev. John Curtis Ager,
preached Sunday morning on Cast
ing Out Evil Spirits," a sermon sug-
gested by the Emmanuel Movement.
| The text was from Matthew 10:I:
And He called unto Him His twelve
disciples and gave them authority
! over unclean spirits TO cast them out. ="
Mr.. Ager said:
The Lords twelve disciples were
exceptional disciples only in the sense
| that they were types of representa-
/ tives of discipleship. That is, the
outward duties and powers and privi-
| leges which the Lord conferred upon
| these twelve men were divine types or
! symbols of the spiritual duties and
| powers and privileges that are con-
| ferred upon all true disciples of the
Lord. So this power or authority
| over unclean spirits TO cast them out
! every true disciple of the Lord pos
| sesses in the measure OF his disciple
ship, that is, in the measure in which
| he has come into the true order OF
his life.
This great truth lies at the founda-
! ton of certain lines of thought that
are attracting much attention at the
present time. These concern them
selves mainly with mans deliyerance
| from physical evils, or diseases, with
! only an obscure recognition of the
| fact that physical evils are mainly
the effects or results OF spiritual evils.
But the next step, that the spiritual
| evils that beset us are caused by our
affiliation with evil spirits, as these
words plainly imply, is regarded as
an absurd superstition.
|
| gives the least possible space and con-
| sideration TO the supernatural. 1t has
never found any place in its thinking
for an actual spiritual world, which is
the endless abode of all who have
passed out of this world through the
gate of death. It has even less re-
spect for the idea that those who have
! passed out of this world, wheverer
they may be, have any vital connec-
tlon with our experiences here.
This attitude of mind is most plain
| ly out of harmony with the apparent
teaching of the Gospels, which every
where take for granted the existence
OF spiritual beings, good and evil,
who hold most intimate relations to
men on the earth. So this aspect of
the Gospel teaching is something that
needs to be explain ed away, and the
| attempts to do this are numerous and
various.
TO the new church, on the other
hand, this is a vital truth, both as a
fundamental philosophical principle
: and as practical doctrine.
century and a half ago S>~~den-
! borg set forth with great fullness
truth that recent philosophy has been
making a good deal of, the truth of
! the solidarity of the human race.
| Protestant theology rested on pure In
! dividualism. But the truth that hu-
manity as a whole is a one, a vital
ard organic entity, has now come to
be clearly seen and its significance
recognized. Most thinkers, however,
| confine this truth to the present popu-
lation of this earth, while Sweden
! borg makes it include all humanity,
! the population of all worlds, includ-
! inE the spiritual world. He teach es,
! furthermore, that this universal or
! ganism is in the human form that is,
! Is a human organism, as all its parts
! and constituents are. In this organ
! ism each individual soul has it's place
and function, like the cells and fibres
o. the human body, each one vitally
| related TO every other. But while It
]
spirit could exist If cut off from every
other soul or spirit, yet every human
! soul is a separate individual, with
complete capability of determining
! tie character of its own life for itself
Another doctrine to which Sweden
! borg gives q unique importance is the
doctrine of influx.
Every individual soul in its true
order is finite image of the infinite,
and is therefore made up of number
! less functions and powers and parts,
| from highest to lowest. Into this
complex organism the divine life flows
in an unceasing stream. Modern
psychology teaches that our con-
sciousness covers only a part OF this
mental organism, the part that lies
next to our bodily sensations, and
! therefore the lowest or outermost
Part. And as consciousness is an es-
sential element of all choices and de-
| Examinations. and IL is by choices and
| determinations that character is de-
! termined, so 1t is only this lower or
outer conscious region of our life into
which spiritual disorder or evil can
enter.
All these regions OF the human
soul, from highest 10 lowest, are
merely organic vessels or receptive
ties, and are living only by virtue OF
! the unceasing inflow of life into them.
! Into the highest or inmost region of
the soul the divine life flows directly
from the Lord. This region lies
above or within all human and an
| gelic consciousness, and forms the
| eternal connection between the in
| finite and eternal life and the finite
life, ensurlng to the human soul its
endless existence. Into all the re-
gions of the soul below this highest
or inmost two streams OF life flow,
one inwardly from the Lord, one out
| wardly from other finite souls. And
IL is this latter interfow of life from
soul to soul that binds all Unite souls
into a single organism, the universal