Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-08-13
10 be continued
DELIGHT TO co9Ey
And c,rGCt and UrSnistakable Are
til h.1le2iS That Come
nom Above.

It i a great moment when one can
look lex over his experience and can
say with earnestaess and confidence,
as Paul did, Il was not disobedient
unto the heavenly vision. Heavenly
visions are not infrequent. They
come TO us right often. The spiritual
influences come as quietly and as I'M
seen as the elect ic current, and with
somet"ng, too. of its magnetic energy.
The Holy Spirit causes a still small
voice to be heard in the soul Duty
impres3es itself with peculiar force on
the spirit. The attractiveness of right
eousness, the beauty of goodness, the
call of the good-it is a dull and I'M
spiritual soul that does not see and
hear these things. Heaven is all about
us, not only in our infancy, as Words
worth declares in the poem, but also
in our maturity. How direct and I'M
mistakable are the appeals and the
calls that come from above.
A habit of obedieace to the heaven
ly visions marks those that are max
ing greatest religious and spiritual
progress. The thing that means most
Sor spiritual development is a deter
mination to respond to those impulses
which come from God. Jesus Christ
leads those who will follow. He opens
new experiences to those that are
obedient. He discovers the deeper
tbiI1Tc nf truth 70 thnCn Nrhn nhnu
tales all those who are willing to be
led into the richer experiences Of
Christian living.
The deepest personal humiliation in
to which one can enter is the con-
seriousness that he has not been obedi-
ent to the spiritual influences that
have touched his life. Esau, mourning
over the birthrigbt he had bartered
foolishly away; Saul, feeling the might
of Jehovah upon him and his whole
soul aflame with great visions and
ideals, and yet, unresponsive to them
all; Peter, mourning over his failure
to be heroic and strong and true when
he had thought to play the man-these
all are illustrations of the distress and
humiliation felt when one has been
untrue to the spiritual impulses that
have come into his life.
Descent Into Darkness.
Doubtless there are many who know
the deep darkness into which a good
man descends when he has been dis
loyal to Gods call in his soul. There
is no deeper sorrow than that which
grows out of sef-reproach. The
Quaker poet did not exaggerate when
he said, "Of all sad words of tongue
or pen, the saddest are these-'It
might have BEEN"
There Is danger that men and WON
en- may become so interested in the
ambitions and enjoynents of the mate
rial world that they shall fail to see
the heavenly vision. Sometimes the
music of this world sounds so appeal
ingly that we fail to catch the celestial
music. There were those Of old time
who merely said that it Numbered
when the heavenly father himself
spoke out of the open skies and said
"This is my beloved son, hear We him.
1t is tragedy when the interests Of
this present world serve to dull the
spiritual apprehension.
Keep the soul open to the influences
that come from above. Determine
that the nature shall always be quick
ly sensitive to spiritual impression
The way that opens with absolute Ger
tainty into the deepest satisfaction O.
the Christian life has over its gate
way this one word-"Obedienc One
has reached great Christian attain
ment when he is able to look bacl
over his life and say with confidence
l have not failed to respond when Goo
spoke to me by his spirit, have no
been disobedient unto the heavenl!
vision.