William G T Shedd - Sermons to the spiritual man

SERMONS

TO THE

SPIRITUAL MAN

BY

WILLIAM G. T. SHEDD, D.D.

This volume iscomplementary to another, published in 1871, under the titl e of Sermons to the Natural Man." In the earlier volume, theauthor aimed to address the human conscience. In this, he would speak to theChristian heart. The former supposed original and unpardoned sin, and en deavored to produce the consciousness of it. The latter supposes forgiven and indwelling sin, and wouldaid in the struggle and victory over it. The writer has had evidence, both fromthis country and from abroad, that theological sermonizing and the closeapplication of truth are not so unwelcome a ndunpopular, as they are sometimes represented to be. This encourages him to hopethat the present volume, which takes a wider range, and brings to view theexperi ences and aspirations of the regeneratebeliever, may find a yet larger class of sympatheti creaders. At the same time, the author is well aware that both volumes are outof all keeping with some existing tendencies in the religious world. But thesetendencies are destined to disappear, whenever the blind guides shall cease tolead the blind, an d honest self-knowledge shall takethe place of self-flattery and re ligious delusion.That this will happen, is as certain as that the Holy Spirit has not forsakenthe world for which God incarnate died, but will, in His own way, again searchand illumine the human soul, as in "the times ofrefreshing from the presence of the Lord."

Union Theological Seminary, New Yor k , April 15, 1884

P salm 54: 4." My meditation of Him shall be sweet."

There is nobeing with whom man stan ds in such close andimportant relations as with the invisible God, and yet there is no being withwhom he finds it so difficult to have communication. The earth he can see andtouch. His fellow-man he can look in the eye and speak to. But "no man hathsee n God at any time." Century after centurypasses by, and the Highest utters no voice that is audible to the outward ear.Thousands and millions of human supplications are sent up to Him who dwells inthe heavens, but the heavens are not rent, no deity come s down, and no visible sign is made. The skies are silent. Theimpenetrable vail between man's body and God's spirit is not withdrawn even foran instant.

As this continues to be the casegeneration after gener ation, and century aftercentury, it is natur al that those who know of nothingbut an external and visible commu nication betweenthemselves and their Maker should be come scepticalconcerning his actual existence. Like the paganidolater, they demand a God who can be seen and handled. Like him, too , they hanker after prodigies and wonders, and desire to beput into palpable communica tion with the CelestialPowers. This generation seeketh after a sign." It is not surprising,consequently, that the natural man, finding no response to his passionate and baf f ledattempts to penetrate the invisible and eternal by the method of the fivesenses, falls into unbelief, and concludes in his heart that a deity who nevershows him self has no real being.

Thus the natural tendency of allmen who hold no prayerfu l and spiritual communicationwith their Maker is to atheism, so long as they live in a world where he makesno external displays of his person and his presence. A time is indeed coming,when an outward vision of God will break upon them so palpable and ev ident that they will call upon the rocks and mountains tocover them from it; but until that time they are liable to a scepticism whichoften renders it difficult, even when they make some efforts to the contrary,to believe that there is a God.

But the ch ild of Godthe believing, the spiritual, the prayerful manis deliveredfrom this atheism. For he knows of an intercourse with his Maker, which, thoughunattended by signs and wonders, by palpability and tan gibility for the bodily senses, is as real and c onvincingas anything outward or visible can be. He has experienced the forgiveness ofsin, and found the disquieting remorse of his soul displaced by the peace ofGod in his conscience, and the love of God in his heart. He has known thedoubts and fears o f a sick bed to give way beforeGod's inward assurance of mercy and acceptance. He has been in a horror ofgreat mental darkness, and into that black void of his soul God has suddenlymade a precious prom ise, or a comforting truth ofhis word, to shine ou t clear, distinct, andglittering, like a star shooting up into a mid nightsky. He has had love, and peace, and joy, and the whole throng of devout andspiritual affections, flow in cur rents through hisnaturally hard and parched soul, at the touch of a Spirit,at the breath of a Being, not of earth or of time. And perhaps more convincingthan all, he has offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying andtears, for a strength that was not in himself but which he must get or die, fora blessing that his hungry famine-struck soul mustobtain or be miserable, and has been heard in that he feared. Thus theChristian's belief in the Divine existence is a vital one. In a higher sensethan that of the poet, it is felt in the blood, and felt along the heart." It is part and particle of his consciousness,waning only as his religious experience wanes, and dying only when thatdeathless thing shall die.

Yet there are fluctuations in theChristian's faith and sense of God. He needs to school and train hims elf in this reference. God himself has appointedinstrumentali ties by which to keep the knowledge ofhimself pure, clear, and bright in the souls of his children," until theday break and the shadows flee away;" and among them is the habit ofdevout refle ction upon his being and attributes.

The uses of religious meditation upon God,to which we are urged by both the precept and the example of the Psalmist, maybe indicated in the three following propo sitions: Meditation upon God is a loftyand elevatin g act, because God is infinite in hisbeing and perfections. 2. It is a sanctifying act, because God is holy in hisnature and attributes. 3. It is a blessed act of the mind, because God isinfinitely blessed, and communicates of his fullness of joyto all who contemplate it.

I. In thefirst place, meditation upon God is a high and elevating mental act, because of theimmensity of the Object. Behold the heaven of heavens cannot containthee," said the awe-struck Solomon. God is a most pure spirit, immutab le, immense," says the Creed. Reflection upon thatwhich is infinite tends of itself to enlarge and ennoble. Meditation upon thatwhich is immense produces a lofty mood of mind. This is true even of merelymaterial immensity. He who often looks up into the firmament, and views the great orbs that fill it, and the great move ments that take place in it, will come to possess a spiritakin to this material grandeurfor the astronomical spirit is a lofty onewhilehe who keeps his eyes upon the ground, and look s atnothing but his little plot of earth, and his own little life with its littlemotions, will be apt to possess a spirit groveling like thethings he lives among, and mean like the dirt he treads upon. Says the thought ful and moral Schiller:

B u t if this is true of the immensity of Nature, much more is it ofthe immensity of God. If the sight of the heavens and the stars, of the earthand the vast seas, has a natural tendency to elevate and ennoble the humanintel lect, much more will the vision grant ed only to the pure in heartthe vision of the infiniteBeing who made all these thingsexalt the soul above all the created universe.For the immensity of God is the immensity of mind. The in finity of God is an infinity of truth, of purity, ofjustice, o f mercy, of love, and of glory. When thehuman intel lect perceives God, it beholds what theheaven of heavens does not possess and cannot contain. His grandeur andplenitude is far above that of material creation; for he is the source and thefree power w hence it all came. The magnificence andbeauty of the heavens and earth are the work of his fingers; and there isnothing which the bodily sense can apprehend, by day or by night, howeversublime and glorious it may be, that is not infinitely inferior to t he excelling, transcending glory of God.