The Mode of Discerning the Spirit
‘But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” — x Cor. ii. 14.
ND so there were Agnostics in Paul’s day too! There were those who called themselves “natural men” — the men of the five senses. They refused to believe that anything was in the universe which did not nome through these gates. And yet in that conclusion they were most unnatural. The largest part of what I call Nature never came to me through the five gates. Where did I get my idea of beauty? Came it from the hilltop or from the valley or from the plain? Nay, nor from anything without my own soul. Where did I get my sense of music? Came it from the vibrations of the air? All the vibrations in the world would not make one note of music; the kingdom of melody is within me. Where did I get my thought of natural law? Came it from the observations of science? Science L itself would have been impossible if that thought had not been born before it. It came from my own mind — from that sense of order which belongs to mind alone; I never could have seen it in the stars if I had not first felt it in my soul.
O Thou that comest not through the five gates, help me to discern Thee by Thine own light. Teach me that there are other gates than the five. Tell me that there are portals more golden than the eye or the ear. Once didst Thou call a disciple blessed because he saw in Thee what flesh and blood could not reveal. Be mine that blessedness for evermore. Enable me to see Thy glory beneath that form which was more marred than the sons of men. Help me to detect Thy majesty gleaming through the rent side and the pierced hands. Teach me to recognise Thine uplifting above the earth in the very hour of Thy humiliation upon the cross. Inspire me with the knowledge that Thou art a king in the very moment when Thou art discrowned by Pilate’s judgment seat. Show me the power of Thy sacrifice, the glory of Thy shame, the strength of Thy gentleness, the empire of Thy love. When I have received Thine image in my heart nothing shall be so natural as the vision of Thee; when Thy Spirit of unselfishness is mine Thy beauty shall be spiritually discerned.
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