Verse 14
Spiritual Discernment
I wish to show, by analogies and illustrations known to everybody, the reasonableness of the doctrine which is thus laid down by the Apostle Paul. There is nothing here which is not commonly acknowledged, and insisted on in the everyday walks of life. To show this may be a great help to some minds; to those, for example, who suppose that where there is no religion there is no mystery, and consequently that, if we could get clear of religion, we should get clear of all mystery. I believe that the true interpreter of God whenever he shall arise will be able to show that what is distinctively known as the Christian religion is only more mysterious because it is more sublime than any other part of the economy of life and nature. The one great mystery is God himself. All other mysteries are as shadows thrown by that burning light. Interpretation the power of seeing things as they are is not a question of culture so much as of sympathy and insight. Sympathy and insight cannot be taught in the schools. The highest gifts cannot be given to men through the medium of books; so, unless a man have the hearing ear and seeing eye as the direct gifts of God, he never can be taught to be a profound and sure interpreter. Right answers to hard questions have never been suggested by flesh and blood; they have always been given to the Peters of the world by the Father which is in heaven. God gives us the spirit of discernment, the power of seeing spiritual realities and relations. It is not a natural endowment common to the whole human species: it is a distinct and special gift of God. "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." And yet it has strangely come to pass in the study of religious problems, that some men have asserted the sufficiency of unaided reason. Strange, because the very men have in less important inquiries gladly availed themselves of all the instruments, mediums, and helps which inventive genius has supplied. I wish to show the inconsistency of the reasoning of such men; that they leave their common-sense behind them when they enter into the consideration of the elements which constitute profoundly true and successful religious inquiry.
Here, for example, is a large, brilliant diamond. You look at the stone, and it pleases you by its wondrous whiteness and lustre. You admire it, you praise it very highly. You say, "This stone is without fault of any kind a most beautiful and precious gem." The lapidary places in your hand a magnifying glass of great power, and bids you look at the centre of the stone. You look. The lapidary inquires what you see, and you reply, "Why, there is a black spot at its very centre! I did not see that without the glass. To the naked eye the stone looked perfectly white entirely without flaw or fault; and yet now that I look at the stone through the glass, why, I wonder that I could not have seen so great a speck as that!" The lapidary says the naked eye cannot receive it, neither can it know it, because it is microscopically discerned. And nobody arises to contest the reasoning of the lapidary; no man ventures to say to him, "Sir, you have introduced a most painful mystery into human thought and human inquiry." Such people are rather glad that a medium has been supplied by which the most hidden fault can be brought to light.
Yonder are two shining surfaces. You look at both of them and pronounce them intensely brilliant. You say, "There must be great fire there, otherwise such a glowing surface could not have presented itself." A scientific man who overhears you says, "One of those surfaces is not light at all, has not light in itself." And you, a man of independent judgment, a free-thinker and noble-minded inquirer, turn round upon him and tell him, circuitously but yet virtually, that he's a fool: can't you believe your own eyes? what were your eyes given to you for, if you could not see such evident realities before you? And you treat the scientific man with contempt and disdain. "Now," he says, "just look through this instrument, will you?" And he brings to you the polariscope, teaches you the use of that instrument. And when you have looked according to his directions, you turn to him and beg his pardon for having so rudely contradicted him: you say that you never could have supposed that the thing was as it has really been proved to be; you could not have seen that the one surface was primary light and the other was but reflected light, until you looked at both surfaces through the crystals of the polariscope. And now the scientific man says to you, "The naked eye cannot receive it, neither know it, because it is polariscopically discerned." You thank him as a philosopher; you are obliged to him as a discoverer.
And yonder are two men who have undertaken a mineral survey. It has been supposed by some people that there is iron in the field which these men are now traversing. One of the men is a mineralogist, a man of science, who knows the limitations of his condition, and who consequently avails himself of instruments which science has supplied. The other is a grand man, who believes that if he cannot find things out with his naked eyes and his naked fingers, that nothing can be found out or shall be found out. Not at all a bigot, observe. A man of latitudinarian spirit, of all-encompassing and all-hopeful charity; belongs to no sect, to no flag, to no banner, with no passwords, and does not believe in anything that is dogmatic or defined. He goes over the field, does this latter man he soon goes over it. Men of that kind have nothing to arrest them on the way; it is a pity they were not winged, that they might get away sooner. Having gone over the field, he says, "There is no iron there." But the scientific man is walking slowly over the same ground, holding in his hand a little box, a little crystal box, walking slowly, watching the instrument that is enclosed in that box. Presently the needle dips. The man stops there, and says, "In this place there is iron." Can you see it? No. Can you touch it? No. But in this place he repeats, "I tell you there is iron!" He walks on again. The needle is perfectly steady: yard after yard the needle is perfectly steady and still, but suddenly the needle dips. As the finger of God it points out to men the riches of the earth. The other man has gone home to tell everybody that there is no iron in that field, and of course, being an independent, free-minded, experienced man, he is instantly believed by every one. The other man says, "There is iron in that field, and in my judgment it will repay digging for." The scientific man then digs for iron and finds it, and then turns round to hear what men have to say about him and his discoveries. He says, "The naked eye, the unassisted faculty, cannot receive it, neither know it, for it is magnetically discerned." We then say that he is very clever, and tardily yield him the confidence which he has so richly deserved.
Look at this ruddy-faced boy. You cannot walk out with this boy forty yards but he challenges you to leap a five-barred gate, or to have a game at throwing stones at something, or leaping over ditches about twelve feet wide; and you, not being so boyish as he is, respectfully decline the challenge, but you say, "What a vigorous lad that is! what power, what spring he has! There will be a long life there and a happy one." A scientific man comes to your house; you talk physiology. The scientific man proposes to examine this ruddy-faced boy, your companion in the field. He applies an instrument to the region of the heart, and suddenly there is a changed expression of countenance on the part of the physician. Turning aside to you he says, "This boy will never see five-and-twenty. Has he had rheumatic fever? There is valvular affection of the heart, and before he is five-and-twenty I am afraid he will be gone." Of course you disbelieve it. You saw the boy in the field vaulting a gate, leaping a ditch, throwing stones many a yard, and you cannot disbelieve your eyes, that would be unmanly and unworthy of the independence of manhood. The doctor says, "Apply your ear to this instrument and listen for yourself." You do so, and hear an irregularity and peculiarity of beat, which you, not being a medical man, cannot understand; and yet you know that there is a discrepancy in the pulsations. The physician says to you, "The untrained, uneducated ear cannot receive this, neither know it, because it is stethoscopically discerned." And you tardily, as in the former case, give your confidence to the adviser, and beseech him to lend you his aid under circumstances so unexpected and distressing.
Here is a piece of paper, and you hand it round to your friends, to every man amongst them, and they say, "Whatever have you handed this blank piece of paper round for? are you playing a hoax upon us? There is nothing upon this piece of paper? Have we to write something upon it?" And you take it back and say, "Is there really nothing upon the paper?" and every voice says "No, cannot we believe our own eyes? We are unanimously of opinion that there is nothing upon it." You just hold it to the fire for the space of a minute or two, and lo, it is written all over! You have developed the secret ink.
Now, in all these things, we confess our need of instruments. The unassisted faculties of nature are not enough. We must be indebted to mediums. Imagine a man who disbelieves everything he cannot see with the naked eye. Suppose that it came to pass tomorrow that everything should be taken away which cannot be read by the naked eye, or that has not been discovered by the naked eye. What will come? Shut up the heavens, for astronomy must go; and cover over the fields, for botany tells but little to the naked eye. All science, indeed, would be impoverished, insulted, degraded. Yet the man who cannot read his own mother's letter without an eye-glass insists upon reading the infinite and eternal God by his own unassisted powers, declares that if he cannot settle this great question by natural reason, that there is nothing at all worth being settled, says that, whatsoever is too mysterious for his natural understanding is but worthy of insult, degradation, and contempt. I charge him, in God's house and before God's face, with insulting his own common-sense and contradicting the highest experiences of mankind.
The same principle may be illustrated in spheres where instruments are not required. Here are two men listening to the same piece of music. The one man is inspired, enraptured, thrilled, and says mentally, "I would this might go on for ever! The sweetness, the purity of that wondrous tone, let it never cease! I would abide here constantly." The other man is saying mentally, "I wonder when they will be done? it seems a long time!" He looks at the programme with weary eyes, and mentally resolves that that shall be the last occasion of the kind when he will be there. The best ear cannot receive these things or know them, for they are musically discerned. There are that have ears that cannot hear, and eyes that cannot see. The one man, the musical man, would be pained, really tormented, if one note were the thousandth part of a shade wrong, he would feel it intensely, it would go right through him like a spear. But all the notes might be wrong so far as the other man was concerned. If there was only noise enough, he would think it was not so very bad after all.
Here are two men looking at the same picture. The one man is chained to the spot: it is to him an enigma, a mystery, a wonder, and a delight; he has never seen such combinations before; he has never before thrilled under such wondrous effects. A man behind him with a thick shilling catalogue says that he does not see very much in that, and hastens on to something that has got superficies, no matter what the superficies may be: only let it be extensive enough. Paint for such men with a broom!
Now, the application of all these instances is to the things of God as accessible to the spirit of man. The things of God are not naturally discerned. "If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." There are blind minds as well as blind eyes. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." This is perfectly reasonable. If a man contends that mystery begins with the Bible, he knows not the world he is living in, or the elements by which he is surrounded. In the light of these reflections we may see the adaptation of the method of the Gospel to our human condition. What has God done in the matter of revelation? God has condescended to have a book written for us. Just as you condescended, when you were a long way from home, to sit up one whole hour to print about six lines in large hand for that little child of yours at home. And you were never so much a man, as when you were so much a child. God comes to us, knowing the dumbness and blindness of his creatures, and sets everything before us he possible can set, to appeal, in the first instance, to our lowest faculties; and then brings us on from that point until sanctuaries are no more wanted, printed Bibles are no more wanted, sun and moon are dismissed from their spheres, institutionalism goes down in spirituality the Lamb is the light, and God is the temple.
We may see, also, the reasonableness of Divine dependence in reading the Gospel. There are many things, as we have just shown, which cannot be read without instruments and mediums. God comes and says to us, "I have something to say to you, which you never could hear by your own unaided faculties; but I will give you the faculty, I will give you the capacity to receive, and that capacity to its utmost limits." I say this is not a mystery that is opposed to reason, though it may be a mystery which is above reason. We also see in the light of these illustrations the sublimity of the truths announced by the gospel. Instruments will read the works, but instruments cannot read the Word. Only God can reveal himself. What man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so, mark the connecting link the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. It is thus put upon reasonable grounds. As with men so with God. You cannot read the things that are in your brother's mind: no man can read the things that are in your mind, you alone can reveal them. The Apostle carries up the argument until he shows its bearing upon the infiniteness, the depth, the wonderfulness, the whole Godhead of God.
As ministers we are not to be discouraged and driven back in our godly work, because some people cannot understand us, and others say we are trifling with their reason or insulting their common-sense. Take it as a matter of fact, there will always be men in the world to whom your best preaching will be foolishness; simply because they have not the spiritual faculty of taking hold of what you are saying. Now, do we wish to have this discernment? "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not." Do not expect to see all things at once the whole breadth and lustre of the Godhead at once: begin at a little point. In the first place you may, in spiritual things as in material, see men as trees walking, dim outlines, flitting shadows; but do not despise the twilight! If we already have this discernment, then surely to him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. Inspiration is not a fixed quantity, it is a variable quantity, we may increase the volume of our inspiration by diligently, lovingly and patiently waiting upon God. "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings will God ordain praise. The first shall be last, and last shall be first. And by things that are not, will God secure great results in the world.
Do not let us therefore lose our present insight, our present power of interpretation, our present power of discernment and appreciation. Let us grow. We can only grow by prolonged intercourse with God. He who gives his days to study and his nights to prayer shall see heaven opened, and his whole life shall be a Jacob's dream: he will never, never miss that wonderful ladder which connects the worlds; that marvellous staircase of light up which the angels go, and in going bid us follow on. It doth not yet appear what we shall be. Thy home is with the humble, Lord! Have we a right spirit? God will not say anything to people who are boastful of their own wisdom, and who glorify themselves in the light of their own reason; but he never ceases talking to the child-heart that says in the dark midnight and the bright noonday, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."
Prayer
Almighty God, we bless thee that the foundation is laid, laid in Zion, and that there is a cornerstone, elect, precious, tried, a sure foundation: may we take heed how we build upon it, that our building may be in some measure worthy of the foundation upon which it rests. Quicken our eyes that we may see precisely what we are doing, what stones we are choosing, and how we are laying them. Take away from us the spirit of indolence and foolish trustfulness, and work in us the spirit of industry and keen watchfulness, that so we may do all things according to thy law, and thy will may be glorified in our industry. Thou hast so appointed our life as to make us all builders: may we take heed how we build: may it be our life care, may we think of nothing else, may we build for God, for eternity. Help us in all the toil, tell us that the day will soon be done, and that therefore, whatsoever our hand findeth to do, we should do it with our might, and therefore we should dry our tears because the toil will be followed by ineffable rest. If we have built aught in life that can stand the fire, the praise be God's; thou didst teach us how to build, thou didst show us what to choose; not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be all the praise. Amen.
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