BV A615 .M285 1913 M'Hardy, George. The higher powers of soul the THE SHORT COURSE SERIES THE HIGHER POWERS OF THE SOUL GENERAL PREFACE The title of the present series is a sufficient indication of its purpose. Few preachers, or congregations, will face the long courses of expository lectures which characterised the preaching of the past, but there is a growing conviction on the part of some that an occasional short course, of six or eight connected studies on one definite theme, is a necessity of their mental and ministerial life. It is at this point the pro- jected series would strike in. It would suggest to those who are mapping out a scheme of work for the future a variety of subjects which might possibly be utilised in this way. The appeal, however, will not be restricted to ministers or preachers. The various volumes will meet the needs of laymen and ii General Preface Sabbath-school teachers who are interested in a scholarly but also practical exposition of Bible history and doctrine. In the hands of office-bearers and mission-workers the " Short Course Series " may easily become one of the most convenient and valuable of Bible helps. It need scarcely be added that while an effort has been made to secure, as far as possible, a general uniformity in the scope and character of the series, the final re- sponsibility for the special interpretations and opinions introduced into the separate volumes, rests entirely with the individual contributors. A detailed list of the authors and the subjects will be found at the close of each volume. !!i Volumes already Published A Cry for Justice: A Study in Amos. By Prof. John E. McFadyen, D.D. The Beatitudes. By Rev. Robert H. Fisher, D.D. The Lenten Psalms. By the Editor. The Psalm of Psalms. By Prof. James Stalker, D.D. The Song and the Soil. By Prof. W. G. Jordan, D.D. The Higher Powers of the Soul. By Rev. George M 'Hardy, D.D. Price 6o cents net per Volume CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS XLbc Sbort Courge Series EDITED BY Rev. JOHN ADAMS, B.D. ^Of P«W^ SEP 25 1914 12LoeicAi «>^ ..v5 THE HIGHER POWERS OF THE SOUL BY Rev. GEO. M'HARDY, D.D. AQTHOX OF "SAVONAROLA" AND " SCENES AND CHARACTERS OV THB EARLY WORLD** NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER^S SONS 1913 TO MY CONGREGATION AT KIRKCALDY CONTENTS PAGE I. The Treatment of Conscience . . i II. The Sanctification of Reason . .17 III. The Responsibilities of Memory . 33 IV. The Higher Uses of the Imagination 49 V. The Inspirational Force of Faith AND Hope .... VI. The Discipline of the Will VII. The Hallowing of Love . VIII. Christ's Knowledge of the Soul Appendix • . . . Index ..... 65 81 97 115 '131 133 vu " For I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons, or your properties, but first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul." Socrates. " Take all in a word : the truth in God's breast Lies trace for trace upon ours impressed : Though He is so bright and we so dim, We are made in His image to witness Him." Browning. vm I. THE TREATMENT OF CONSCIENCE. THE TREATMENT OF CONSCIENCE. ** And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men." — Acts xxiv. i6. "Holding ... a good conscience." — i Tim. i. 19. " The light of the body is the eye ; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of dark- ness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness ! " — Matt. vi« 22, 23. " Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?" — Luke xii. 57. In an arresting picture, entitled "The Dweller in the Innermost," George Frederick Watts represents conscience as an ethereal womanly figure, sitting retired in a shrine of mystery, listening — listening intently — and rapt in thought. On her head is a crown, gemmed in front with a 3 The Higher Powers of the Soul gleaming star. In her hand she holds a trumpet ready ; while a number of sharp- pointed darts are laid across her knees. She is waiting to hear a higher voice, prepared to sound forth the message when it comes, and to hurl the darts if the message be not obeyed. That picture is a striking symbolic re- presentation of the function which conscience is meant to fulfil in the life of man. Con- science is the witness for God in the inner depths of our nature. It is the organ or faculty through which the Divine Spirit speaks, sometimes with a note that is loud, and even startling, but often in softer tones, gentle, appealing, yet marvellously penetrat- ing and not to be heedlessly ignored. As Byron says, — ** Yet still there whispers the small voice within, Heard through Gain's silence, and o'er Glory's din. Whatever creed be taught, or land be trod, Man's conscience is the oracle of God." It is one of the lessons forced on us as we move forward in life, that character and well- being largely depend on the treatment of conscience ; and the treatment of conscience The Treatment of Conscience is a point to which both Jesus and Paul specially refer. For conscience is given as a means of guidance for conduct ; and although it exists in all, it may be so dealt with by different persons as to be far more of a blessing and help to some than it is to others. Experience perpetually teaches that a sound, vigorous condition of the conscience is absolutely essential to real worth and happiness. And if this high faculty is to serve the gracious purpose for which it was designed, it becomes imperative on us to " exercise '* ourselves, like the Apostle, in securing for it its due place and power in our life. I. It must be Alert. The first point to be aimed at is to keep the conscience alert. There is such a thing as a torpid conscience. It may fall into a state of sluggish dulness, incapable of giving a quick or clear decision on a question of right and wrong. This may be brought about by a continued process of easy-going indifference, or by fevered engrossment in 5 The Higher Powers of the Soul superficial vanities, sordid aims, selfish ex- pediences and gratifications. These things may so act upon a person's conscience that it grows benumbed ; he loses his susceptibility to the voice and call of duty. The inner witness is reduced to a condition of semi- torpor, and the man goes blundering on, tampering with the eternal laws of truth and right, not realising the moral and spiritual harm he is working for himself and for others. Endless is the mischief caused in the world by a dull and blunted conscience. It is of untold moment, therefore, that a steady effort be made to fight clear of every practice or form of self-indulgence which may have a deadening eflFect, and to keep carefully within the range of sacred in- fluences, — that the conscience may be stirred to sensitiveness, and set on the alert. To constrain the mind to dwell in the pure atmosphere of Christ's spirit and Christ's ideas is to gain a quickened conscience, a keener power to distinguish the high and noble in thought or action from the low and the mean. And thereby a person acquires 6 The Treatment of Conscience some clear assurance that the way he is prompted to take is the way directed by the Lord. 2. It must be Enlightened. A second point is to get the conscience enlightened. The conscience may be educated, just as any of the bodily organs may be. The eye may be educated to discern greater niceties of colour and of form ; the ear may be educated to appreciate subtler harmonies or discords in sounds ; and the sense of touch may be educated to an extraordinary degree of delicacy and correctness of feeling. And so, also, this organ of spiritual sense. Conscience, needs educating to bring it to its most reliable point of efficiency. It is well known how the standard of right has differed at different stages of the world's history, — how, in fact, it has gradually risen as the centuries rolled by. Good men in the past tolerated certain features in their lives which are now held to be unworthy, without feeling them to be unworthy, — as, for 7 The Higher Powers of the Soul example, passionate cruelty to enemies, the fondness for revenge, the holding of slaves, or sharing in the gains of slavery, the persecution of those who professed unrecog- nised religious opinions. It was due mainly to the want of enlightenment. The conscience was not sufficiently educated to see the evil that may lie in forms of action which have been long sanctioned by habit and usage. And in the same way still, well-meaning people may do things that are really wrong, without being aware that they are wrong ; or they may neglect obligations of duty without perceiving them to be obligations. They act according to conscience, so far, but their conscience needs enlightenment, — needs to be brought right into the presence of a higher ideal, — that its conceptions of truth and goodness may be enlarged, made more delicate and refined. This is what happens when the conscience is drawn under the influence of Jesus Christ. In His presence conscience recognises its sovereign Lord and King. There begins to dawn then a new delicacy of moral and 8 The Treatment of Conscience spiritual perception. The moment we turn our minds seriously to the life and words of the Master, our ideas of duty become clearer, sharper, more vivid, and we discover a right and a wrong in things which before had appeared indifferent. Now and again, indeed, as we reflect on the pure elevation of Jesus, we become aware of some fault or other in our disposition or ways of acting which had never previously struck us^ and we say to ourselves with a start, " I never thought of it before ; 1 never saw it in that light, else I would have been ashamed of it long ago." Here we find one of the special benefits to be derived from earnest and frequent attendance on Christian teaching. It ill- umines the conscience by bringing it close into contact with the highest standard of feeling and conduct. It stimulates the moral sense by setting before it the vision of a peerless goodness. And nothing is better fitted to educate the conscience and make it a sure guide in matters of right and duty, than to keep the Lord Jesus ever in view, endeavour- 9 The Higher Powers of the Soul ing to see things in the light which His life and truth reveal. In all questions of re- sponsibility, when we are uncertain or perplexed, it is always salutary and helpful to place ourselves in imagination by His side, and try to conceive what, in our circumstances, Jesus would be likely to do. That would develop our power of moral discernment. It would vivify our better feelings. It would heighten our ideas as to what life and character should be. And it would deliver us from the blinding errors of moral judgment which so often lead us astray and spoil our peace. 3. It must be True. A third point to be aimed at is to preserve the conscience true. We sometimes hear of a ship being wrecked through the deflection of the compass. It was a good ship, with a compass in sufficiently good order and quite well fitted to serve its use when it left the maker's hands. But there was some part of the cargo taken on board of that ship which acted injuriously on the movements of the 10 The Treatment of Conscience compass — some kind of metal, perhaps, which by its subtle influence drew the needle aside, so that it could not keep its point steadily directed towards the magnetic pole — with the result that the ship was diverted from its course, and struck on hidden rocks that were supposed to be far away. Well, conscience is the moral compass for the voyage of life, and it likewise may be deflected, warped. Many launch forth on the great world-ocean, like a fine vessel, finely equipped for plough- ing a sure way amid winds and waves. They are full of promise and hope ; their conscience is in a fairly good condition, awake and alert, enlightened and educated also to a favourable degree. But at one port of call or another in the great life- voyage, they take into their heart some particular taste, some inclination or ambition, which contains in it an element of risk. It may be an anxious greed of gain to which they give place and room, or an eager passion for praise, position, or showy display, or a secret craving for some form of self-indulgent pleasure. And any one of these feelings II The Higher Powers of the Soul may put the conscience in danger by the subtle influence it begins to exert. It is easy for people to persuade them- selves that all is well, and to make-believe that what they are doing is right, because it happens to fall in with the self-gratifying inclinations they are cherishing. The com- pass of their life, their moral sense, seems to correspond with their personal likings and wishes. Yes ; but what if that compass has been deflected, and the moral sense swayed aside from its true direction by those very likings and wishes ? What if conscience has been twisted to suit the demands of selfish expediency ? Then, unless care be taken in time, life's voyage may end on a barren shore of dreary disappointment, if not in spiritual wreck and disaster. It is of the highest importance, therefore, that we should, from time to time, endeavour to do what every competent ship-captain is careful to do — test our compass. The captain brings out his sextant, and, holding it up to the sun at mid-day, takes his bearings, and finds out whether the needle is pointing true 12 The Treatment of Conscience to the pole ; and if it is not, he re-arranges his cargo accordingly. So it is our part also, now and again, to bring out our New Testa- ment, or what we know of its teaching, and, holding that up in the light of serious thought, take our bearings likewise, and find out whether our conscience is still pointing true to Christ, its proper direction and aim. That is one of the uses to which we can apply our Sabbath leisure, and our occasional hours of private meditation and devotion. That is testing our compass. And if at any time we discover that our sense of duty or right is being warped from the straight line of fidelity to Christ, our first obligation is to put those inclinations or interests which are tending to warp it into a subordinate place in our hearts, thrusting them away where it will be less possible for them to exert their baleful power. 4. It must be Trusted. Another point is, that the conscience be trusted. What I mean is this : in so far as 13 The Higher Powers of the Soul we feel our conscience to be awake, en- lightened, and, tested in the light of Christ, to be true, we should fling ourselves honestly on its guidance. We should believe in our conscience when it speaks clearly within us. There is a sort of instinct which tells us when it is speaking clearly. And were we only to accept and follow its dictates when that in- stinct assures us of their truth, we should be armed with an amazing confidence and strength. That person who trusts his con- science, and throws his will out to act on its promptings, is lifted to a height of feeling which is one of the most precious experiences in life. Nothing yields a purer, richer satis- faction. To have a conscience kept en- lightened by the life and teaching of the Lord Jesus, and to trust its leading loyally, with that same Lord ever in view — that may cost many a struggle with earthly inclination and selfish desire ; yet it is an infallible secret of that inward peace for which all so passionately yearn. It renders the haunting horrors of guilty memories impossible. It lays the spectres of terror and fear. It stirs 14 The Treatment of Conscience the upholding sense of being in the sure path to all that is best and most worth possessing at last. If, then, we have any genuine reverence for the redeeming Christ, and would gain the real good of life, we are bound to com- mit our way to the bidding of that mysterious " Dweller in the Innermost," the witness for the Divine within our breast, and " exercise " ourselves " always to have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men." That will open the soul to the sunshine of heaven, and to the brightening sweetness of the Father's smile. And as for the future — "a good conscience" before God can meet that with unshrinking trust. IS II. THE SANCTIFICATION OF REASON. 17 II. THE SANCTIFICATION OF REASON. ** They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews ; and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." — Acts xvii. i, 2. It is an impressive spectacle — and it becomes more impressive as we take time to consider it — to see one man facing a group or an assembly of his fellow-men, and endeavouring to change their convictions, and thereby shape their conduct. For what is it that we witness going on there ? It is the subtle, mystic action of mind upon mind in virtue of a marvellous gift possessed in common by speaker and hearers — the God-like gift of reason. When Paul stood up in the synagogue at Thessalonica or elsewhere, and sought to win acceptance for the beliefs 19 The Higher Powers of the Soul he held, he was bringing his own reason to bear on the reason of those listening to him. He took for granted that the same gift of reason which belonged to himself was also in the possession of every one before him, and therefore he appealed to it, and worked upon it, in the hope that he might lead his audience round to his point of view, and persuade them to see the matters he spoke of as he saw them. This gift of reason is an essential part of our human nature, and its exercise is called for, more or less, in every detail of our daily transactions. If our work is to be of any avail, or our efforts to come to any good, we must think and put things together ; we must know what we are doing or intend to do ; we must consider how we are to lay out our time and deal with the affairs that de- mand our attention. There is not a day we can pass, nor a step we can take, without having our reason thus summoned into action ; and apart from the exercise of reason life would be a tangle of confusion, — a blind, aimless, baffling business. 20 The Sanctiiication of Reason It is of supreme moment, therefore, that a faculty which enters so incessantly into all our doings should be brought, and kept, under the control of the highest motives. And to secure this result is one of the dis- tinctive aims of the Christian Gospel. There have been periods in history when the notion was entertained that religion represses reason, and that reason is antagonistic to religion. That notion has now been exploded. It has been proved that religion, if it is to have any profound and lasting effect, must address itself to the reason as well as to the other capacities of the mind of man. It has been proved that religion, the religion of Jesus Christ, welcomes the exercise of reason, that it quickens and develops the reason by the very grandeur of the truths it reveals, and, moreover, that it gives the reason a loftier direction by the high and earnest spirit it enkindles. Plain men and women have had their intelligence strengthened in grasp and widened in range by the influence which Christ and His Gospel have exerted upon them. That is the sanctification of reason ; and 21 The Higher Powers of the Soul It is urgently required. For reason is in danger of being perverted to unworthy uses by the clamorous greeds and selfish passions that are for ever pressing their claims. And if this sublime faculty is to be turned to its best account, it can only be when it is governed by the sacred promptings and aspirations of a sincere religious faith. Then only can it be safely trusted as a guide in the great concerns of life. I. The Interpretation of Facts. Keeping this in view, consider, in the first place, the part which reason plays in the Interpretation of Facts, It is the function of reason to pierce below the surface and find out the explanations of things. Through reason, searching and inquiring, the sciences have been carried to the stage of advance they have reached. It is through the exercise of reason that men have discovered how the rocks were built up, and hills and valleys formed, — how the varied species of plants and animals have grown and spread, how the 22 The Sanctification of Reason stars are wheeled in their orbits, and the mysterious comets guided in their vast and far-travelled course. The whole world of Nature has been robed in richer glory for us, because reason has so far interpreted its visible facts and traced the laws and forces that work behind them. And that great achievement is not unfavourable to religion, as many for a while feared. It has furnished larger scope for the wonder and adoration of the reverent soul, and given men new con- ceptions of the might and majesty of the Creator. Then there is the stirring world of Human Life, in which we are all mixed up. Every- thing that happens there* also has a meaning deeper than appears on the surface. And one of the foremost essentials to our good is the ability to interpret the facts of our own experience, and see the meaning that lies beneath. Some of those facts baffle us. There are crosses and trials which are beyond our power, for the time at least, to explain. Their design or purpose is veiled in mystery. Yet, if we can wait and trust, some day 23 The Higher Powers of the Soul perhaps, when devoutly pondering over what we have come through, our reason may be surprised by a flash of illumination, and we shall see. Many of the uses and meanings of the divine dealings are only discernible in the clearer after-light of retrospect, not in the dark, agitating season of actual experience. As in the case of Moses at Sinai, anxious to understand the drift of the divine designs (Exodus xxxiii. 21-23), so with us also; — often it is only from behind, and after God in His sterner dealings has passed by, that we discover the explanation of His ways which we pine so wistfully to know. And although the explanation is not reached till the severe ordeal has passed, still it is to reason that the explanation is revealed, — to reason devoutly searching and inquiring into the hidden purpose of the Lord ; and when it is revealed, it becomes a source of strength and encouragement for other ordeals that may yet have to be undergone. Moreover, there are the facts of our material position, the circumstances amid which we have to move and act. Unless we 24 The Sanctification of Reason can in some measure understand these, and discern the line of duty to which they point, we are sadly crippled. In this matter all depends on the spirit and motives by which our reason is swayed. It is a familiar saying that the eye sees only what it brings with it the power of seeing. And so it is with the mind likewise. " The wish is father to the thought '' ; and as a rule the mind finds in the circumstances it has to deal with just what it is prepared by its own disposition to find. Thus, many a time, the difficulties which to one person are a depressing hind- rance and a ground of complaint, are to another a stimulus to more courageous effort, or to greater patience and firmness of resolve. In such a case there is a difference in the way of reading the meaning of facts. And that is due to a difference in the spirit by which the reason is impelled. If the reason is actuated by self-caring, self-saving desires, it will interpret everything by the standard of selfish ease, and the life consequently will be a poor, shifty affair. But if, behind reason, there be a nobler impulse at work, a 25 The Higher Powers of the Soul sense of responsibility to God and truth, then the interpretation arrived at will be like a bracing trumpet-call to the soul, and the harder tasks, which make others shrink, will shine with the glow of divinely-given oppor- tunities. And that is a secret of richest blessing. 2. The Judgment of Values. A second function of reason consists in the Judgment of Values, Amid the multitude of objects that surround us here on earth it is absolutely necessary to make some choice as to those which are best entitled to claim our interest and engage our energies. To plunge into life haphazard, and grasp blindly the glittering attractions that thrust them- selves upon us, would be to court disaster. But we are dowered with the gift of reason that we may compare things, and form an estimate of their worth and of their bearing on our happiness, and act accordingly. To bring reason thus into exercise is an im- perative obligation if our true well-being is 26 The Sanctification of Reason to be consulted. For "all that glitters is not gold " ; and many things wear a shining glamour which is hollow and delusive. We need to judge wisely, therefore, if we are not to be ensnared to our injury. Our reason must be brought to bear on gauging and estimating the objects that compete for our regard. But it must be reason purified in its aim by reverence for the truth and mind of Christ, — reason looking to Christ for its standard of valuation, trying to see things with His eyes, and in the light He sheds. Only thus is it possible to distinguish between what is really important to our highest interests, and what is of slighter account, between what is worthy of the heart's devotion and what is transient and vain. And nothing has a more direct influence on our life's true good than the decisions we thus form. All that is most vital to us hangs on the choice we make as to the things on which the ardour of our ambition is to be set. A mistake here means ultimate blight to our hopes of genuine satisfaction. If the reason is not sanctified by the power of 27 The Higher Powers of the Soul earnest motives, the glare of the alluring and the showy will be apt to dazzle, and lead it astray. Then, too, there will be the risk of accepting conventional valuations, and timidly following the superficial judgments of fashion or the prevailing popular taste. That is slavery, and it may mean beggary of soul and happiness ere all is done. There is no safeguard amid the manifold allurements of life, but a reason governed by a devout reverence for Christ's standard of worth. Then that God-given faculty be- comes an incalculable help. It enables us to distinguish the solid substance from the empty sham, the real good from the counter- feit, the reward which is worth any sacrifice to gain from the reward that curses as soon as it is grasped. 3. The Adaptation of Means to Ends. A third function of reason is the Adapta- tion of Means to Ends. Of what reason has accomplished in this direction we have numberless illustrations on every hand. The machinery that drives our factories and 28 The Sanctification of Reason keeps our industries going, the means of locomotion on land and sea, the appliances for rapid communication across the earth and through the air, our political organisations and public institutions — are all the inventions of reason, planning and devising to attain certain results in the sphere of material and social affairs. But there is scope and need for applying the same power of planning and devising in the management of individual life. Many a person stumbles sadly and misses much that is dear to his heart and hopes, because there is some defect in his manner of employ- ing his reason to secure the end he desires. You may set your heart on a true and worthy object, but in order to reach it you must contrive and use the appropriate means. Your line of conduct must be adapted to the result at which you aim. If you want the glow of high thought as a source of satisfying happiness, you must nourish your mind by communing with the great thinkers who have poured out their inspiring thoughts in their books. If you want to attain the 29 The Higher Powers of the Soul deep peace of a clean conscience, you must take such measures as you can to avoid occasions of temptation, and to protect your- self against what you know to be your besetting weakness. If it is worth of soul to which you aspire, and you wish to possess an inward wealth which shall be a treasure to you, whatever your outward fortunes, you must bend your reason to find out and follow the ways of living and acting which Christ guides you to employ. You must endeavour to discover what principles of behaviour, what practices of devotion and of fellowship with the unseen, are best fitted to cultivate the dispositions and feelings that make the spirit rich within. And if you are alive to the eternal issues of life and long to have your destiny beyond the grave secured, you must deliberately order your course of conduct on a plan that is calculated to lead to a result so grand. It is all a question of adaptation, the devis- ing and employment of means suited to accomplish a definite end. And just here it is, in those matters of transcendent moment, 30 The Sanctification of Reason that failures often occur. It is lamentable to see the slipshod fashion of managing their religious life which some people display. They have high enough aims and a certain degree of spiritual desire, but they have no method or order, no intelligent arrangement of their habits and their time, with a view to promoting the objects they profess. They take their seasons of worship and their re- ligious devotions by fits and starts. They trifle with ensnaring distractions, though secretly aware that these spoil their relish for sacred things. They leave the feeding of their souls and the quickening of their spiritual feelings very much to chance. In all this there is a failure to apply the reason seriously to the most solemn concerns with which men and women have to do. For reason, if consulted in the light of Christ, would show that such blessings as peace of conscience, elevation of soul, inward wealth and preparation for immortality, cannot be gained by the careless, random ways of acting with which those persons are inclined to be content Common sense would tell them 31 The Higher Powers of the Soul that the means they take are not at all adapted to the end required. And indeed a sanctified common sense is one of the best helps that can be possessed in the right ordering of life. It is simply reason imbued with a sacred purpose and a spirit of reverence for Christ and Christlike things. And when reason is thus graciously influenced it becomes a faculty of spiritual insight, and is beyond price in the working out of our highest weal. It gives sagacity and prudence in the regulation of conduct, and prevents thoughtless tamperings with moral risks. It gives tact and discretion in the wise performance of duty, and saves the good a person has from being evil spoken of. It keeps the soul in trim for embracing opportunities of progress and usefulness. It steadies the bent of the life on one lofty aim, and thereby makes it possible to go from strength to strength, growing in grace, and doing ever better service for the Lord. And thus the Godlike gift implanted in us be- comes more Godlike still, when hallowed by a Godlike purpose and devoted to Godlike ends. 32 III. THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF MEMORY. 33 III. THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF MEMORY. ** Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee." — Deut. viii. 2. The power to remember is quite as familiar to us as the power to touch or the power to see. Indeed, so familiar is it that we are apt to take it as a matter of course and scarcely realise how immensely indebted to it we are in all we do. Memory is one of the most astonishing of our manifold endowments. It is that capacity which the mind possesses to treasure up what it has gone through, what it has felt and seen, and to keep it in reserve for future use. It is the capacity for retaining the informa- tion we acquire, the impressions we receive, and without it we could never grow in know- ledge, nor derive any advantage from the 35 The Higher Powers of the Soul sights and events we have witnessed. In short, were it not for memory, seizing hold of each hour's and each year's occurrences, and storing them away within, to be called forth again (more or less clearly) from time to time, we should continue in a state of intellectual babyhood to the end of our days. Memory, then, preserves the past for us. It enables us to bind the past to the present, and thus to bring the light of the past to bear on the present and on the management of its affairs. The possession of such a power involves necessarily a tremendous responsibility. In some cases the memory is specially sus- ceptible. It registers events and impressions with great celerity and ease. In other cases, though the memory may not be so quickly receptive, its retentiveness of what it does receive may be extraordinary. In fact, many of those who have studied the science of the mind assure us that nothing which has once been taken into the memory can ever be altogether effaced, but is kept locked up in secret cells, and certain to emerge and spring 36 The Responsibilities of Memory into consciousness some time or other. Marvellous indeed, and often startling, are the revivals of long-past things which were deemed to be left for ever behind, dead and buried. A chance word, the sight of a face, a waft of music, the scent of a flower, may- set in motion a train of associations, and suddenly, spontaneously, the long-buried thing of the past wakes up and leaps into life again, fresh and vivid. Memory, however, does not always yield up its stores with such spontaneous readiness. There are times when it is only by an effort of will that the past can be recalled and made to live again. And it is to the putting forth of this effort that the text chosen from the old Hebrew Scripture urges. Yes ; but what part of our past is it which it is most important to recall and to cherish in remembrance ? That is the decisive point. That determines the value of memory to us, for the present and for the future. It is for what we deliberately /ry to recall and are most anxious to cherish in remembrance that we are responsible. The Higher Powers of the Soul I. The Deepening of Reverence and Gratitude. That being the case, then, it follows, first of all, that those recollections should be cherished that tend to deepen reverence ana gratitude. This was the drift of the teacher of ancient Israel when he said, "Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee." He desired the people to summon up the remembrance of what Jehovah had done for them, that they might be impressed with a sense of His greatness and feel the magnitude of their obligations to Him. And there are passages in the lives of all of us which, if recalled and dwelt upon, are fitted to produce a similar effect upon our mind. We have seen much of the divine dealings in the past that should strike us with wonder and awe in presence of the infinite majesty and power that gird us round on every hand. But we must rouse ourselves to consider what we have seen, to bring it back to thought again and again, in order that the wonder and awe 38 The Responsibilities of Memory may be stirred, and kept stirring, within us. That is how our reverence for the highest can alone be maintained, and it is our duty thus, by the exercise of memory, to en- deavour to maintain it. It is also the way to foster the spirit of gratitude. In a French school for deaf and dumb boys, taught by the Abb6 Sicard many years ago, one of the pupils was asked to state what he understood by the word " gratitude " ; and immediately he wrote down, "Gratitude is the memory of the heart." A better answer could scarcely be given. For it is the willingness to remember the good received in days gone by, the help that came under dreary burdens, the glimpses of divine mercy that beamed out when the path was clouded, — it is the willingness to remember these things and ponder them seriously that warms and intensifies the grateful feeling. The past may have had its ruggedness and trial, its struggle and its gloom ; and some may be disposed to brood darkly over such aspects of its sternness. But the past had its bounties and benefits, 39 The Higher Powers of the Soul and its seasons of brightness too, and these should never be dropped out of sight as if they had not been. To forget the streaks of sunshine that so often softened the shadows, would be sheer unfaithfulness. And we are neither fair to God nor fair to ourselves if the sunnier side of our life is not held in remembrance. 2. The Teaching of Practical Wisdom. In the second place, those recollections should be cherished that teach lessons of 'practical wisdom. It is through the aid of memory that many of the best elements of our education are acquired. In passing from one phase of our existence to another we meet with a variety of persons and circum- stances, and we are moved by a variety of thoughts and feelings ; and as memory gathers these together in its stores we can learn much for the right guidance of our conduct. We can draw hints and rules of action from what memory has preserved in its records — from the good deeds we have 40 The Responsibilities of Memory ever done, the noble examples we have heard of, or the mistakes we have made, the difficulties we have encountered, and even the failures into which we have stumbled. Thus it is that we gain benefit from the school of experience. If we consider the facts which memory can set in array before us, we get an insight into many questions which directly affect our happiness, — such questions, for instance, as, what are the real sources of satisfaction, and the objects most worth striving for ? What are the dangers to be shunned, and the principles of con- duct best calculated to secure the welfare of the soul and the peace of the conscience ? With regard to these questions every person's experience affords the means of gathering some definite instruction which memory can retain for use in the grave business of life. And the point to be laid to heart is this, — that if the wise lessons of experience are ignored and the memory of them be muffled and stifled, there is a deplorable failure in responsibility. That person violates one of the most solemn of all obligations who 41 The Higher Powers of the Soul pushes from him, or refuses to consider, what memory teaches. He does wrong to his own nature ; he spoils the best possi- bilities of his life, he defeats the purpose of God in conferring such an endowment as memory upon him. For memory is designed to provide every man with lights of wisdom from the experiences he has undergone, so that at each new stage of his course he may see more clearly where the true good lies, and be enabled thereby to act and strive with more certainty of attaining it. 3. The Fostering of Higher Ideals. Again, those recollections should be cher- ished which furnish ideals of loftier endeavour. Probably we have all had our times of gener- ous enthusiasm, when we thought of the high line of action we should like to take, and we resolved, if spared, by and by to take it. At such times we caught a glimpse of the true direction in which our aspiration should be bent, the excellence of life and character we should aim to reach. Our 42 The Responsibilities of Memory hearts were warmed and uplifted, and we vowed to ourselves to play the worthy part which our generous moods suggested. Do we try now to preserve our grasp on those higher resolutions ? Do we find a freshening interest in calling them up and thinking over the circumstances that gave them birth, that we may be incited to greater devotedness in our present efforts ? That is one of the functions for which the gift of memory was bestowed. It was meant as an aid in keeping hold of our best ideals, and in carrying them forward with us from day to day and year to year, that so their beauty might continue to inspire us, and that we might be impelled to work them out and translate them into reality. Pitiful is the case of those who once had bright and noble ideals, and sincere resolu- tions to follow them, but have allowed those ideals to drop into oblivion, and are quite content to leave them unremembered. Such persons may prosper fairly well in many surface ways, yet they have lost the high stimulating purpose that would have led 43 The Higher Powers of the Soul their life on to sterling worth and usefulness. And they have burdened themselves with a stupendous responsibility. For, to have once seen and felt a particular line of action to be right and high, and demanded by the conscience, is to be bound henceforth to strain as far as possible to follow it. And if it is not followed, if the very remembrance of the impulse to follow it is smothered, then the life must fall miserably short of that which God meant it to be. Blessed are those who are anxious to retain their grip on the highest thoughts and the highest conceptions of good which have once flashed upon their vision, — who hold fast the most sacred resolutions of the past, to exalt their aims and shape their endeavours for the present. Such persons press memory into the service of their spiritual sanctification. 4. The Strengthening of Courage and Faith. Once more those recollections should be cherished which help to nurse moral courage 44 The Responsibilities of Memory and faith, Tennyson In " Locksley Hall," echoing the idea of an older poet, declared — **That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things," But Tennyson was in his youth when he penned that statement. In after years, when he had seen and learned more of life, he dis- covered — as is shown in " In Memoriam " — that sorrow can be relieved, and relieved amaz- ingly, by the remembrance of happier things. Bruised hearts without number have found solace and strength unspeakable in casting the thoughts away back to sunny spots in the past on which it is soothing to dwell. The Land of Memory may be shadowed here and there by heavy regrets ; but it has its pleas- ant places also, not a few, lit up by the radiance of kindly providences and countless mercies, that gladdened and blessed ; and to let the mind wander amongst these is to enjoy a refuge from pressing vexations and griefs. Often, indeed, in hours of despond- ency and wasting care, men and women obtain a wondrous comfort in taking a stroll 45 The Higher Powers of the Soul in thought through the country of " Auld Lang Syne.** It gives them a respite from their troubled feelings to be thus transported to the happy scenes and genial delights of brighter days they once knew. And it does more ; it braces the soul to confidence too. For the restrospect of past blessings supplies ground for the assurance that the same goodness which bestowed those blessings, rules and reigns still, and that the coming days may be bright with mercies as former days have been. And that assurance is confirmed when the love of the cross is brought into view, and when the pathway of life is looked at in the glow of hope it sheds. Then courage revives — courage, and a firmer faith. In the light of the cross and its burning love, it becomes refreshingly clear that the gifts of divine goodness are never exhausted, and that the heart of the Father, which the cross reveals, has more kindness yet to show as the years roll by. It is vital to our happiness and to all that is most precious for us in life that we cherish the remembrances of the past which 46 The Responsibilities of Memory strengthen faith. Thus the spirit can front whatever is yet to come, nerved with the confidence that goodness and mercy are waiting for us along the path, ready to meet us again as we step forward. Think often, and think much, of the gleams of joy with which the past was illumined. They were not given to be slighted and left forgotten ; and it is to his lasting detriment that any one permits himself to slight or forget them. Call them up to your recollection when the spirit is bruised or burdened, and find in them a warrant for the brave trust that the God who has brightened your lot with smiles in former days will lift up the light of his countenance upon you again, and will never suffer you to be overwhelmed in darkness. 47 IV. THE HIGHER USES OF THE IMAGINATION. 49 IV, THE HIGHER USES OF THE IMAGINATION, ** Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto . . ." — Matt. xiii. 24. " All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables ; and without a parable spake He not unto them." — Matt. xiii. 34. A CONSPICUOUS feature in the teaching of Jesus was the extent to which He dealt in parables. Sometimes those parables were very brief. He would take some little Incident with which everybody was familiar, and turn it Into a figure to shadow forth the idea He wished to con- vey. At other times He would frame a story, and hold attention riveted as He described the doings or experiences of the persons brought into view ; and He did this in a style so graphic and simple that everything seemed to live and move before people's eyes. 51 The Higher Powers of the Soul In these stories there was always some hidden meaning wrapped up which He meant those listening to Him to find out and apply for themselves. The lesson He desired to teach might be rather unpalatable ; or it might seem too tame if presented in bare, prosaic words. And so He sought to flash it on the mind in the form of a picture which His hearers could carry with them, and think over, until its deeper suggestions dawned upon them and they felt its force. Now, what was all this but an appeal to the imagination ? It was an effort to work on that remarkable gift the human soul has — the gift of seeing in things visible and tangible the hints and emblems of things that are higher. It is through this gift of imagi- nation that we are able to rise above the dull surroundings of life, and form conceptions of what is grand and inspiring. It is by the gift of imagination that we can make what we actually know the means of realising and rendering clear to ourselves the vague ideas we are dimly straining to grasp. Some have asserted in recent years that 52 Higher Uses of the Imagination this is a vanishing gift — that the power of imagination is on the wane in the present generation. Whether that be the case or not, one thing at least is patent — that many are inclined to speak disparagingly of the influence of the imagination. They think that to give it much play unfits a person for the practical demands of life. It renders the mind impatient of the matter-of-fact details of work-a-day existence. And not a few are particularly afraid of the effect of imagination in religion. It makes vision- aries and dreamy sentimentalists, they declare. It carries people away from the simple reali- ties of the faith, and tempts them to indulge in vagaries and fancies of their own invention. Yet here is the fact staring us in the face that Jesus devoted a large part of His teach- ing to the wakening up of the imagination ; and He was neither a sentimentalist nor a visionary, but seriously practical. He drew striking analogies and told tales of moving interest which set the imagination to work. He wanted to fill men's minds with pictures drawn from the natural course of things, 53 The Higher Powers of the Soul pictures which might rouse them to think of likenesses and correspondences to other things that did not appear on the surface. Obviously, He placed great confidence in the power of the imagination to enlarge the range of men's perceptions, and to lift them to heights of thought and feeling which they could not otherwise reach. There can be no doubt that imagination is a divinely given endowment of the soul, designed to serve divinely-appointed ends ; and this clearly was Jesus' conviction. It may be prostituted, turned to ends that are unworthy, as any other endowment may be. Nevertheless it has its higher uses in the wise purpose of God, and when earnestly employed for those higher uses it is sure to prove an inestimable good. I. The Power of Visualising. One important use of the imagination is to hold stirring scenes of life before the mind in a way that shall be vivid and arresting. This probably is the simplest form in which 54 Higher Uses of the Imagination the imagination can be exercised. When we read or hear an account of any notable action, we have all of us a certain power to call up the vision of it in our mental eye. We can so conceive the persons, the places, and the deeds done, that the whole scene becomes living to us. We seem to see it ; we catch the spirit of it : the impression of its heroism, high faith, or self-devotion darts upon us and thrills us. This is one of the benefits which imagina- tion enables us to derive from books of travel, from books of biography and history. It enriches the chambers of our thought with pictures of daring or nobleness, of generosity or sacrifice, of resolute struggle against oppression and wrong ; and it makes these pictures living, full of interest, and full also of uplifting suggestions that stimulate our better feelings. Thus we can see Savonarola mounting the scaffold and calmly facing the crowd he had laboured to lead to righteous- ness and God ; and our hearts throb as we feel the spell of his courageous fidelity. We can see Luther, baited and brow-beaten by 55 The Higher Powers of the Soul the assembled magnates at Worms, yet calmly declaring his refusal to recant ; and our pulse beats fast as we mark his unflinch- ing steadfastness. We can see Mungo Park, in his hour of despair, bending over the tuft of moss in the lone African wilds, and draw- ing from it the assurance that a divine care was guarding him still ; and a fresh breath of hope swells our own bosom. It is as if we had been there, spectators on the spot, witnesses of the whole transaction. Such is the power which imagination supplies. And it is a power worth cultivat- ing. Provided we withhold its exercise from everything low or coarse, and deliberately engage it on what is elevating and pure, it can be of immense service in numberless ways. It is an unspeakable help, for in- stance, when we bring its influence to bear on the events and incidents of the Gospel narrative. What a new zest we find in the life and doings of the Lord Jesus when we call up before the mind's view the varied scenes of which that narrative tells ! It is the imagination that enables us to do this. 56 Higher Uses of the Imagination It enables us to picture to ourselves the very figure of the Master as He spoke and acted and moved about amongst men. We visual- ise the description. The quiet hills of Galilee and the busy lake-shore, the tree- shaded streets of Jericho, the wooded slopes of Olivet, the crowded temple-courts of Jeru- salem, the tragic cross on Calvary, — all rise clear to our mental gaze as we read the sacred story ; and the gracious Form of Jesus stands out vivid to us as if we actually looked upon His face. And thus the Person of the Lord grows real to our apprehension. We feel the wonder and the beauty of His actions. We enter into their spirit and purpose. He becomes to us a living Pres- ence, wooing and touching our hearts. And it is by the aid of imagination that this inspiring effect is wrought. 2. The Grasping of the Spiritual. A second use of the imagination is to give shape and colour to great spiritual truths. It has often been said that everything in 57 The Higher Powers of the Soul life is double. As Shelley has expressed ** Nothing in the world is single ; All things by a law divine In one another's being mingle." And that is veritably true. Everything that is visible and material bears in it a correspondence or resemblance to something else in a more mysterious realm of being. In all that the senses perceive going on around us there are hidden symbols and images of things which the senses cannot grasp. What is seen does not stand by itself, nor does it exist for itself; — it is always the type or sign of something that is not seen and higher than itself. Hence the world is crammed full of analogies, emblematic figures, that shadow forth invisible realities, too grand to be put into plain ordinary speech. And to discover these analogies, to lay hold of them and keep them before the mind, is the function of the imagination. It is a splendid thing to grasp a great truth or a noble thought, and to be able to link it 58 Higher Uses of the Imagination on to some palpable circumstance in life with which you are familiar. Then the palpable, familiar circumstance becomes to you the image or symbol of that great thought or truth. It gives it body and form and colour, and makes the thought or truth itself more intensely vivid to your heart and feeling. When, for example, the Psalmist caught hold of the idea of the divine faithful guidance and guardianship in the events of his experience, what an enormous help to his inward comfort it must have been when he found he could link on that idea to the homely incidents of the shepherd's calling which he knew so well, and say, " The Lord is my Shepherd ! " Henceforth he could never see the herdsman on the hills, lead- ing his flock, without having the reality of the divine care made more clear and com- prehensible to his soul. That is but one illustration among many of the power of the imagination to seize upon comparisons and analogies drawn from earthly things and scenes, and so give body and colour to high truths which otherwise 59 The Higher Powers of the Soul would be vague and dim. It was to kindle the imagination and assist it in doing this that Jesus dealt in parables so largely. " Earth," as one of the poets has said, " is the shadow of heaven," and imagination is granted that we may use it to find in the sights and occurrences of earth the figures and pictures of heavenly ideas, which are true for all time and vital to our happiness. 3. The Redeeming of the Commonplace. This leads on to a third use of the imagination, and that is— to irradiate the commonplace with the glow of lofty mean- ings. Wordsworth speaks of the power of the poet to illumine the common affairs of life by the magical gift he possesses. He can " Add the gleam, The light that never was on sea or land," to brighten up the most prosaic sights and objects around him. And we have all a little of the poet in us, because we all have a little of the same magical gift of imagina- 60 Higher Uses of the Imagination tion. And this gift may be turned to priceless service if we bring the sacred revelations of religion to bear upon its exercise. For those revelations convey the assurance of a real divine purpose working itself out in the common round of every one's tasks and cares, a divine purpose even in the most monotonous daily grind. And to grasp that conception, and realise that in your hum-drum circumstances and duties you have some end to fulfil worth God's placing you there — to grasp that, and hold it steadily in your mind, sheds a radiance on your lot and on your honest efforts which is marvellously brightening. It lights up your commonplace toil and struggle with high and wondrous meanings. It connects the flat routine of your days with the vast scheme of the Almighty. It is like a halo of sacredness thrown round your life. Yield your imagination to the Spirit's quickening touch, and you will see the halo. Try to see it ; and when it flashes on you, never lose sight of it ; keep it in view steady and clear. And in many a despondent 6i The Higher Powers of the Soul hour, when your way is dull and dark, the gleam of some divine end you are serving will light up the drudgery of your lot, and revive and strengthen your heart. 4. The Vision of the Ideal. A fourth use of the imagination is to spur the mind by the vision of attainments not yet reached. For imagination has a remarkable capacity for stretching away from the present to the future, from the actual to the ideal. It is through the exercise of the imagination that a man conceives to himself the advance- ment in his position, the extension of his business, the improvement of his methods and machinery, the increase of his knowledge and culture, which may be possible for him, and minister to his success. In the silent chambers within he sketches and paints it, until he sees it all shining before his mental eye. And as he sees it, his ambition is whetted ; and unless he be a mere builder of castles in the air, he rouses his will and energies to work forward, as far as he can, 62 Higher Uses of the Imagination towards realising what he sees. Imagination has furnished him with the vision of an ideal, and that spurs him on. But imagination may be used to stir the mind by the charm of a far higher vision. It may be used to picture the nobleness of a brave, devoted, Christ-like life. That was what the Apostle meant when he prayed on behalf of the Ephesians that " Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith " (Eph. iii. 17). He was thinking of the image of Christ kept gleaming before their inward gaze, to draw them onwards to close resemblance to the Saviour's beauty and grace. And there is a great secret here — the secret of making the best of life and its precious possibilities. To have the mind's eye filled with a vision of the good and brave things we may do, the lofty aims for which we may strive, the self-denying battle we may fight for Christ and conscience' sake — how that kindles aspiration and sets the soul straining towards purer heights and better things ! Let a man cherish every such vision when it flashes upon him ; let his 63 The Higher Powers of the Soul imagination seize it and hold it floating before his view ; then he will have the grandest of all ideals to give his life its true bent, and to urge him on to the nobleness and spiritual worth which Christ lived and suffered to help him to reach. 64 THE INSPIRATIONAL FORCE OF FAITH AND HOPE. B 6s V. THE INSPIRATIONAL FORCE OF FAITH AND HOPE. *