The Seat of the Spirit
“Strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.” — EPH. iii. 16,
= AUL’S great solicitude is for thezzmerman;
el A if he can only get that strengthened SA he feels that his work is done. And he is right. The inner man is the metropolis, the capital, the chief city; all the provinces take their tone from there. No man must begin with the provinces if he wants to make his fortune. In vain you adorn the body, in vain you amass the gold, in vain you seek the sights and sounds of beauty; the capital is the heart, and if the fashion of the heart be sombre, the whole is sad. But if the fashion of the heart be bright, I have no fear for the provinces; these will soon follow. The body may be meanly clad, the gold may be scarce and dim, the sights and sounds of beauty may be shut out by lane and alley, but if in the heart there be voices of laughter, they will fill all the land. If there be songs in the metropolis, I shall not be able to keep down my singing. I shall sing through all the provinces; I shall sing in the cold and in the snow; I shall sing in the dark and in the rain; I shall sing amid my struggles for daily bread. The life of joy is everywhere when there is gladness in the inner man. Therefore, Thou divine Spirit, I come to Thee. I want to have my youth renewed within — at the heart. I know that the heart should be ever young, but mine is old; and because my heart is old the whole tree of life is withered. Often have I pondered these words of Thine, “If the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall i# be salted,” — if the heart be old, if the principle of youth itself be withered, what can make us young? Thou, O Spirit, Thou canst give me back my youth; Thou canst restore my soul. The pastures are as green as ever, the waters are as quiet as of yore, but the withering of my soul has robbed them of their morning’s glow. Renew the sunshine of my heart; renew the childhood of my spirit. Give me back the freshness of the inward Spring — the buoyant expectation of to-morrow, the quenchless hope of the good time coming. Restore me the elastic bound that sorrow could not keep down, the lightness that burdens could not crush, the ardour that coldness could not cool. Then shall the pastures grow green again; then shall the waters ripple peace once more, for the new creature shall make the new creation, and the restoration of the soul shall be the restitution of all things. My strength shall be renewed like the eagle’s when Thou has strengthened my inner man.