These three things go far toward forming a well-rounded life. Some
of us may not have these ingredients in their right proportion,
but if you are lacking in one or the other of them, then pray for
it and work for it that your life may be rounded and complete as
God intended it should be.
Pax Vobiscum.
I once heard a sermon by a distinguished preacher upon "Rest."
It was full of beautiful thoughts; but when I came to ask myself,
"How does he say I can get Rest?" there was no answer. The sermon
was sincerely meant to be practical, yet it contained no experience
that seemed to me to be tangible, nor any advice that I could
grasp--any advice, that is to say, which could help me to find the
thing itself as I went about the world.
Yet this omission of what is, after all, the only important problem,
was not the fault of the preacher. The whole popular religion is
in the twilight here. And when pressed for really working specifics
for the experiences with which it deals, it falters, and seems to
lose itself in mist.
The want of connection between the great words of religion and
every-day life has bewildered and discouraged all of us. Christianity
possesses the noblest words in the language; its literature overflows
with terms expressive of the greatest and happiest moods which can
fill the soul of man. Rest, Joy, Peace, Faith, Love, Light--these
words occur with such persistency in hymns and prayers that an
observer might think they formed the staple of Christian experience.
But on coming to close quarters with the actual life of most of us,
how surely would he be disenchanted. I do not think we ourselves
are aware of how much our religious life is
Made up of phrases;
how much of what we call Christian Experience is only a dialect
of the Churches, a mere religious phraseology with almost nothing
behind it in what we really feel and know.
To some of us, indeed, the Christian experiences seem further away
than when we took the first steps in the Christian life. That life
has not opened out as we had hoped. We do not regret our religion,
but we are disappointed with it. There are times, perhaps, when
wandering notes form a diviner music stray into our spirits; but
these experiences come at few and fitful moments. We have no sense
of possession in them. When they visit us, it is as surprise.
When they leave us, it is without explanation. When we wish their
return, we do not know how to secure it.
All of which means a religion without solid base, and a poor and
flickering life. It means a great bankruptcy in those experiences
which give Christianity its personal solace and make it attractive
to the world, and a great uncertainty as to any remedy. It is as
if we knew everything about health--except the way to get it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account