The Fetters of the Spirit

And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, neg knowing the things that shall befall me there.” — AcTS xx, 22,

GO bound in the Spirit.” There is an instinct in the world of the Spirit as there is an instinct in the world of

the animal; there is nothing so like the lowest

as the highest. The bee moves toward the making of its hive because it is bound to go.

It is impelled by a power it does not know,

directed by a voice it cannot understand. Even

so is it in the life of the Spirit. If I wait till I

can see the goal of my own actions I shall never

act at all. If I go to Jerusalem I must be content to go “not knowing the things that shall befall me there.” There is a binding of the

Spirit which is quite distinct from the voice of

reason. Sometimes it comes in a sense of duty,

sometimes in a flash of aspiration, sometimes in an impulse of love. But in whatever form it comes it takes no denial. It makes my action instinctively necessary. It commands and thence-

136 THE FETTERS OF THE SPikIT.

forth I am bound to go — without waiting for sunrise, without measuring the ground, without learning the name of the country; it must be written of me as of Abraham “he went out not knowing whither he went.”

Spirit of Christ, Thy chain is golden. The fetters Thou imposest are wings of freedom. There ‘is no liberty like the liberty of being bound to go. When Thou layest upon me the sense of obligation, that moment Thou settest my spirit free. When Thou sayest that I must, my heart says, “I can.” My strength is proportionate to the strength of those cords that bind me. I am never so unrestrained as when I am constrained by Thy love. Evermore, Thou divine Spirit, guide me by this instinct of the right. Put round about my heart the cord of Thy captivating love and draw me whither in my own light I would not go. Bind me to Thyself as Thou bindest the planets to the sun, that it may become the very law of my nature to be led by Thee. May I be content to know that goodness and mercy shall follow me without waiting to see them in advance of me. May I be content to feel that my God shall be my rearward without folding my hands till I find Him in the van. My journey to Jerusalem shall be fraught with power when in the strength of the Spirit I am bound to go.