VIII

_THE INSEPARABLE COMPANION_

As the soul moves along its upward pathway it gradually becomes

conscious of many inspiring truths. Among the most delightful and

helpful of these is the fact that it is never alone, but is one of a

great company all pressing toward the same goal and all passing through

substantially the same experiences. In the midst of these

companionships, which are variable, and of these experiences which can

seldom be predicted, it slowly becomes aware that there is one

companionship which is constant, beneficent, and singularly

illuminating. The realization of this fellowship is intensely

individual. Of it others may speak, but concerning it they can give

little information. The full consciousness is always a personal one.

Having once enjoyed communion with the Over-soul it is difficult to

imagine that any are ever without this supreme spiritual privilege.

Sometimes the sense of spiritual coöperation is so vivid and continuous,

so compassionate and helpful, as to be almost startling--in those

moments when it seems to beset us behind and before. The process by

which a soul becomes conscious that it is forever attended by a

companion, whose one object seems to be to help it toward the spiritual

heights, will repay the most careful examination. To that delightful and

difficult study we will now turn.

Before it has advanced far on its pathway the soul becomes painfully

aware of the dangers by which it is surrounded and of the obstacles

which it must overcome. The road before it seems to be infested with

enemies. Its defeats are frequent and humiliating. It learns much by

experience; but the more it learns the clearer it seems to discern the

difficulties which it must meet. In the midst of the confusion and

failure it slowly becomes aware that warning voices are speaking, and

that they are loudest when moral peril is near. This is one of those

simple facts which may be verified by every thoughtful man, but which no

thoughtful man would ever dream of trying to explain. So simple and

elemental is this truth that it may best be enforced by commonplace

illustrations, and by something like a personal appeal.

A very distinguished man was one day walking with a friend along a

street in Edinburgh, when they came to one of the numerous wynds which

lead from the main thoroughfare into the midst of huge and gloomy

buildings. There the man stopped and asked to be excused while he

entered the wynd. Returning, after a moment, he explained his act by

saying that, in his young manhood, he had been tempted to do something

which would have wrecked his life. Just as he came to the place that he

had visited there sounded in his ears such a vivid warning as made it

morally impossible for him to proceed on his course of wrong-doing. He

felt sure that that voice was from above, for his whole nature, until

that instant, seemed to have been set on what would have led to moral

ruin.

Another person testified that he was once on the verge of doing what

would have brought him undying disgrace when, as if she had been drawn

out of the air, his mother stood before him, looking reproachfully at

him. Thus the fascination of temptation was broken by what he always

believed to have been a veritable spiritual presence.

Another experience is perfectly attested. A man in a distinguished

position did wrong, and was in peril of still greater wrong when

something, he could not have explained what, not only warned him but

kept warning him and following him so that he could not escape. If he

closed his eyes his danger became more vivid; if he stopped his ears

voices of reproach found their way in. He loved his wrong and would move

toward it, but then invisible hands seemed to hold him back until the

time of danger was past, and he was confirmed in right ways. Such

experiences are too numerous and varied to be doubted. No facts are

better attested. It may be said that they are only the usual warnings of

conscience. Be it so. Then what is conscience? The factors in the

problem are not materially changed, for the phenomena of conscience are

as remarkable, constant, and verifiable as light and heat. Most men who

have recorded their experiences, and who have observed with care the

workings of their own faculties, have been conscious of being attended

by some invisible presence warning them against evil. The explanation of

this phenomenon may be left for later consideration.

Closely allied to warnings against moral danger, which are so vivid as

sometimes to be almost audible, are the evidences of what may be called

spiritual protection. The idea of guardian angels and tutelary deities

arose naturally and inevitably. Many who have been astonishingly

delivered from spiritual peril have been able to find no other

explanation of their escape. Those who receive the confidences of their

fellow-men have little difficulty in believing such a story as was once

confided to me. An able and prominent man who had, resolutely as he

thought, turned from a course of conduct which threatened disaster,

found himself drawn toward the evil from which he supposed that he had

been forever delivered. The attraction seemed to be resistless. Again

and again he was on the verge of falling when the fall would have been

ruin. Then something made it morally impossible for him to enter upon

the path which he had determined to follow. The means used to dissuade

him were various. Sometimes a friend would call, then a duty would

intervene, then some obligation would press until, to use his own way of

phrasing it,--"it seemed as if some unseen person who could read my

thoughts and desires was walking by my side and, as fast as I was in

danger of yielding to evil, ordering events so as to prevent me from

doing what I wanted to do."

Few men who are trying to live on spiritual levels would hesitate to

acknowledge that they have been the subjects of similar protection. The

peculiar feature about it all is that the agents used are so often

entirely unconscious of the influence which they are exerting. An

unseen hand seems to be guiding our moves on the chess-board of life, so

as to check us every time that we are inclined to play falsely. I do not

mean that all are persuaded toward virtue, but I do mean that enough are

protected from moral evil and spiritual peril to justify the belief that

such ministries are around all; and that those who choose to do wrong do

so in the face of spiritual appeals which, if they would but give them

heed, would make resistance of evil easy and successful. If any one who

reads these words doubts my conclusions, let him study his own life,

with a little care, and learn for himself whether there are not many

hours in which he is almost persuaded to accept the ancient doctrine of

guardian angels.

This phase of the spiritual experience is rendered still more vivid when

we remember that the souls of men are perpetually dissatisfied with

present attainments, and ever eager in their efforts to explore the

unseen. The history of human thought, if it could be written, would show

that the mind has never been satisfied with what it has possessed, and

that each new glimpse of truth has stimulated still more ardent inquiry.

The more it is pondered the more impressive this fact becomes. The soul

seems to have had just before it, in all the stages of its development,

a spiritual forerunner opening a way into larger and fairer realms. This

consciousness is not akin to a passion for wealth. A man with enormous

riches often ceases to acquire, and devotes himself to the enjoyment of

what he possesses; but who ever heard of a thoughtful man who felt that

he might cease investigating and devote himself to the pleasures of

knowledge? Such instances there may have been, but they are not numerous

and have never been recorded.

Of course there are many, who in no true sense can be called seekers

after truth, who do not trouble themselves with questions about the

Unseen. They chew the cud of custom with all the placidity of

good-natured oxen. They do not live,--they simply exist. It is possible

for any man to shut his eyes to the light, but that does not banish the

light. It envelops him, and pours its splendors around him, regardless

of his wilful blindness. Millions are so engrossed with selfishness, or

animalism, that they catch the accents of no spiritual message, but

those appeals are never hushed. The deafness of the multitudes who will

not hear does not prove that no voices are calling.

In some way men have been kept dissatisfied with their ignorance and

persistent in their search for truth. I make no distinction between

sacred and secular here because all truth is sacred. Scientist and

theologian alike have to do with reality. Whether we examine the tracks

of an extinct animal on ancient rocks, or bow our heads in prayer, we

are facing a real world which is steadily enlarging. For centuries men

have sought the causes of things; they have been made to feel that they

ought to do right, and then have been inspired with a passion to

discover the right. This is very wonderful. The being who has almost

limitless powers of physical enjoyment, whose senses are exquisitely

fitted for pleasure, is not satisfied with pleasure, but, in obedience

to unseen attractions, ever seeks for higher things. Whence does this

eagerness come? Is it from man himself? Then our problem is great

indeed, for, at one and the same time, something within himself impels

him upward, and another something drags him downward. But the point for

special consideration now is that the soul is never satisfied with

anything but truth, that the history of thought is the record of the

search for truth, that every new discovery has acted as a stimulus to

still more ardent exploration, and that the search is always for

elemental realities, the causes of phenomena, for "things as they are."

The promise of Jesus was fulfilled long before it was spoken. Some one,

in all the ages, has been leading into truth and showing things to come;

and the process was never more evident than after all these years of

intellectual and spiritual progress. I say some one has led. By that I

mean a personal spirit, unseen, but ever present; for how could he whose

home is in the mire be supposed, steadily and unwaveringly, to reach

toward the skies unless there was some attraction in the skies? The only

attraction for one spirit is another spirit. This age-long, unwavering

passion for truth and progress, the wisest of men have believed to have

been inspired by Providence or God or by guardian angels--which after

all are only other ways of stating the doctrine of Jesus concerning the

Holy Spirit.

Another phase of this subject is the power, which has seemed to come

from outside the soul, to sustain and help those who have been called to

endure bitter and long-continued sorrow and pain. Those who feel

themselves to be weak as water under the stress of severe trial, almost

without previous suggestion, assume the proportions of heroes. They

endure and suffer with patience what would crush those who are only

physically brave and strong. A woman who seemed to have few resources in

herself, suddenly lost four children. In speaking of it, she very simply

but forcefully, said: "I could never have endured it myself." She

believed that her fragility had been reinforced by one stronger than

herself. Exceptional physical courage will account for deeds of amazing

heroism like that displayed at the sinking of the Merrimac in the

harbor of Santiago. Some persons are thus gifted by nature, as others

have a poetic temperament. But exhibitions of physical valor, stimulated

by the consciousness of world-wide applause, are very different from the

patience with which weak persons accept heavy burdens without a murmur,

and carry them apparently without assistance, sustained only by the

consciousness of being right.

How shall we explain the singular devotion of Monica to Augustine? By

mother-love? But mother-love might have been content with the greatness

of her son, and his regard for her. She bore on her heart "the salvation

of his soul," and would not cease in her quest for his spiritual

welfare. A profligate father, the degraded ideals which justified vice,

distances which seemed to be almost world-wide, did not daunt her.

Without haste and without rest she sought to bring her gifted son to

his Saviour. He had fame, and at least all the wealth that he needed,

but Monica never faltered in her prayers, or in her service, until her

son bowed before the cross, albeit for years she carried a heavy heart.

The age of martyrdom has passed but not the age in which men of vision

and strength have to serve their fellow-men with neither pecuniary

compensation nor expressed approval. And yet the number is steadily

increasing who quietly undertake herculean tasks for their fellow-men,

knowing that they will be neither appreciated nor understood, but,

instead, will have to suffer social ostracism, which is sometimes quite

as hard to endure as physical martyrdom. When a strong and earnest man

undertakes a service in which he must be misunderstood, and seldom if

ever applauded, when he chooses suffering with joy in order that he may

serve others, when he is willing to accept discomfort, social hunger,

physical pain, and without complaint continue in such a path, although

opportunities of worldly emolument and honor make their appeals to him,

it is difficult to explain the phenomena by simply saying that he is

finding strength in some hitherto unknown chamber of his own

personality. It would be easy to make a list of illustrations, long and

pathetic, of those who have patiently endured tribulation, who have

accepted heavy burdens and carried them without flinching that others

might be relieved, who have had physical deformity, depression of mind,

and pain of body, and yet who have never faltered as to their duty even

when the way was dark. The world's noblest heroes are to be found among

those who suffer but still endure and aspire in the night and silence,

clinging to duty when no one understands, and much less approves. Such

heroisms need explanation, and they have it in the inspiration and the

regeneration which are mediated by the Inseparable Spiritual Companion.

Phenomena like those of which I have thus far been speaking have been

observed in every age and every land. Some like Socrates have felt

themselves warned against evil courses; others like Augustine have been

protected from moral and spiritual death; others like Sakya-Muni have

been led to give up wealth and power for truth and service; others, who

could draw upon no hidden source of strength, have been sustained in the

midst of trials which have seemed heavy enough to crush; and, most

wonderful of all, in spite of all vices and crimes, all darkness and

ignorance, all bondage to ignoble ideals and slavery to commercialism

and pleasure, the race of man has never been content with things as they

have been. As the moon draws the tides by unseen attractions, so by

unseen attractions the souls of men have been made dissatisfied, and

drawn toward truth and beauty, love and holiness; and this desire for

some better country has never been absent. The passage from Egypt to the

promised land is the eternal parable of humanity, which is always

getting out of some Egypt, with its slavery and tyranny, and pressing

toward some intellectual and spiritual Canaan. This is one of the most

marvelous facts in the history of our race--its discontent with things

as they are, its faith in something better, and the perfect confidence

with which it embarks on unknown seas in its search for ampler and

fairer worlds.

The history of the past is the record of the weak receiving strength, of

the wicked being made uncomfortable in their wickedness, of limited and

provincial creatures reaching out to broad and high horizons, of

weakness, suffering, agony, willingly endured in the confidence that

relief and blessing will come at last, though far off, to all.

Moreover, there is no indication of any cessation of such phenomena. In

these days, when we say that no man should be asked to affirm anything

which he cannot verify, voices of warning and entreaty are vivid, the

consciousness of protection is distinct, support in trial is frequent,

and the evidence that some force, or some person, is steadily leading

humanity toward truth and righteousness is as convincing and constant as

ever.

What shall be said of these facts which are so numerous and so evident

as to make an effort at classification and explanation imperative?

Four answers to this inquiry are possible. Is the old doctrine of

Guardian Angels true? Possibly we may be, individually, under the care

of spiritual beings who are appointed for that service. That conviction

often prevails, although so far as I have observed, not usually in

association with perfect sanity. A man of noble bearing and grave and

solemn manner who was talking about using the telephone for

trans-Atlantic communication, once declared that all men living now are

under the leadership of those who have gone, and that the great of other

times are continuing their work through those now on earth. He added: "I

am confident of my success for I am the representative in these days of

Sir Isaac Newton." Subsequent events proved that Sir Isaac Newton must

have lost most of his common sense since his departure from the earth,

or he would have chosen a more rational representative.

This theory in no way solves the problem before us, but rather

complicates it, because it does not explain how the relation of souls is

adjusted. That there may be some truth in this speculation may be freely

granted. One text at least appears to give it a little confirmation:

"Are not their angels ministering spirits sent forth to minister to such

as shall be the heirs of salvation." That seems to teach that some who

have never dwelt in earthly bodies are the appointed ministers of those

who live on the earth.

Many other persons dismiss this subject by saying that all souls, like

all objects in nature and events in history, are parts of an everlasting

and universal process, and that speculation is useless and a weariness

to the flesh. That is the easiest way out of the difficulty, but it can

be taken only by ignoring the facts. Are all ideas concerning spiritual

ministry delusions? Then how shall we account for the imagination which

is capable of giving birth to such magnificent dreams? And we may

venture to ask also--Who started this movement in which we are all

involved? How comes it that in this cosmic loom such a wondrous fabric

is being woven, if there is no pattern, and no weaver, and will be no

one to enjoy the work when it is finished?

Possibly no one is warned against sin, impelled toward virtue, supported

in sorrow, led into larger visions of truth; and, possibly, truth and

right are also dreams, and the mind itself a delusion; and, possibly,

there is nothing but delusion. Then all study and struggle are useless;

let us go to sleep. But, some one else says, perhaps the phenomena of

which you speak are, in one sense, realities but caused by reactions of

the soul on itself. First it imagines that some spiritual leadership is

desirable, and then it concludes that that leadership is discernible. In

other words, sorrow, sin, relief, joy, truth, right, are only

imaginations born of other imaginations. If any are satisfied with such

reasoning the task of enlightening them is hopeless.

There is another explanation of the sublime, ancient, and world-wide

facts which are before us. It is the answer of Jesus, which is simple,

profound, rational, and satisfying. He told His disciples, when they

were grieving that they should see Him no more, that they would always

have with them the Spirit of Truth who would convict of sin, show things

to come, and lead into all truth. That Spirit in the Scriptures is

called by one of the sweetest and dearest names in the languages of

men--the Comforter. Some have wrongly imagined that the New Testament

teaches that the presence of the Comforter is a new event in human

history. Not so. The Spirit of Truth inspired and sustained the Apostles

and Martyrs as He had sustained the Patriarchs and Prophets and the same

Spirit which is represented as descending upon Jesus at His baptism

brooded upon the face of the waters when the earth was without form and

void.

Jesus teaches that God, as a Spirit, has never been absent from His

creation and never out of touch with the spirits of men. In the

beginning He created; later He inspired, supported, taught, comforted;

and always and everywhere He is present to sustain, to lead, to comfort,

to help, to save, and to bless. How simple, rational, and satisfying is

this interpretation of the phenomena of human history!

We study our own spiritual experiences and discover that when we have

been in danger of being contented with moral failure we have been made

ashamed and disgusted by it; that when we have been on the verge of

yielding to temptation we have been strangely and almost preternaturally

protected; that when sorrows have come which would have crushed our

unaided strength we have experienced strange peace and have had

undreamed-of strength; and that never for a moment have we found rest or

peace except as they have come to us in hand with truth and right. A

wider study shows us that our experiences are in harmony with the common

human experience. All forces and all events, in all ages, have been

working for the welfare of individuals, society, the whole world. A

steady, unfailing, universal attraction has been drawing the human race

away from animalism, error, sorrow, war, separation and division, toward

righteousness, truth, love, brotherhood, the life of the Spirit, and the

unity and happiness of the children of God.

That attraction is interpreted by Jesus in a simple and beautiful way.

He has taught us that the same Being who created the universe, and who

has revealed and is revealing Himself in creation, in history, and in

the earthly ministry of the Christ, is now, always has been, and always

will be in the most intimate, personal, and loving relations with men.

He warns them against evil, protects them in danger, comforts them in

sorrow, lifts their thoughts and desires toward the true, the beautiful,

and the good; and what He is doing for individuals He is also doing for

humanity and the universe. This is the culmination of the Christian

Revelation. This is to be the consummation and splendor of the Kingdom

of God. All the disciples of Jesus are followers of the Spirit of Truth.

The Spirit of Truth is the inspiration of all that is vital and enduring

in literature, art, government, society; and each individual, and "the

whole cosmic process" are being led by Him toward the beatitude of the

Children of God.