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III. |
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Part II |
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IV. |
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V. |
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VI. |
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Part III |
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VII. |
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VIII. |
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IX. |
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| page^ |
IT
was a great thing for London that we were able to induce one of the best-known
writers on the Spiritual Life, to undertake our Lenten book for this year.
I have read it carefully through twice, and I shall be surprised if it is not
considered one of the deepest and most helpful books of the kind she has written.
The first advice which I should give to the reader of it is that it shall be read through very carefully, first once and then twice, otherwise the deep thought and spiritual experience which underlies it might be missed.
The truths that have gone home most to me (others may find messages in it which more appeal to them) are:
(1) How few and great are the solid facts which underlie
all religion.
We discuss and dispute over so many things which lie on the surface, but "I
believe in God " carries us right down into the heart of Eternal Mystery.
"The Christian creed," says the author, "is a hand-list of the
soul's essential requirements:
the iron ration of truths, the knowledge of mighty realities"
(2)
The second fact which comes out in this book is how practical mystics are.
I suppose that Miss Evelyn Underbill is best known as a writer on Mysticism,
and yet you could not find a more practical book than this is.
"What
theology means by the Incarnation is the eternal Charity of God finding utterance
within His creation."
"A Light we can bear to look at, and looking at must adore, comes to us
from a Light we cannot bear to look at even whilst we worship it."
"Christ was trained in a carpenter's shop; and we persist in preferring
a confectioner's shop.
But the energy of rescue, the outpouring of sacrificial love, which the supernatural
life demands, is not to be got from a diet of devotional meringues and eclairs."
"The spiritual life does not begin in an arrogant attempt at some peculiar
kind of other-worldliness, a rejection of ordinary experience. It begins in
the humble recognition that human things can be very holy, full of God."
All these are great sayings and are eminently practical.
(3)
That last quotation leads up to another fact very encouraging to us ordinary
people, and that is the capability of all of us to live the spiritual life.
"After all, the shepherds got there long before the Magi; and even so,
the animals were already in position when the shepherds arrived."
"The essence of the story of the Magi is that it is no use to be too clever
about life.
Only in so far as we find God in it, do we find any meaning in it."
And more than that.
"The child who began by receiving those unexpected pilgrims had a woman
of the streets for His most faithful friend, and two thieves for His comrades
at the last."
"The third-rate little town in the hills, with its limited social contacts
and monotonous manual work, reproves us when we begin to fuss about our opportunities
and our scope."
(4) But passing over for lack of space the fine chapters on the Cross and the
Church—what will stay by me in this book is the description of the Star-life
possible to us here and which will continue in the after life.
"We have been shown the sky of stars, enchanting and overwhelming us:
and now we realize that we are living the star-life too."
"We recognize God's ceaseless pressure on and in our spirits, His generous
and secret self-giving on which we depend so entirely." And this life,
which is Eternal Life, cannot, it is clear, be ended by Death.
"I expect the life of the age that is drawing near," and therefore
we end in our Creed on a " note of inexhaustible possibility and hope."
"God is the Lord, through whom we escape death."
"It is true that we cannot conceive all that it means and all that it
costs to stand in that world of purity and wonder from which the saints speak
to us ... but because we believe in One God, the Eternal Perfect ... so we
believe in that world prepared for all who love Him; where He shall be All,
in all."
May this noble book stimulate us all to a nobler life!
A. F. LONDON.
page^
IN
this little book, which is based upon the principal articles of the Nicene
Creed, I have tried to suggest to the modern Christian how close the connection
is between the great doctrines of his religion and that "inner life" which
is too often regarded as a more spiritual alternative to orthodoxy:
how rich and splendid is the Christian account of reality, and how much food
it has to offer to die contemplative soul.
We sometimes forget that, with hardly an exception, the greatest masters
of the spiritual life speak to us from within the Church; accept its teachings,
and are supported by its practices.
They tell us, because of their own vivid sense of God, what full life within
that Church really means and can be;
they do not invite us to contract out of it.
Their chief gift to us, their average brothers and sisters, does not consist
in the production of striking spiritual novelties, but rather in the penetrating
light which they cast on the familiar truths of religion;
showing us that these truths are many-levelled, and will only yield up their
unspeakable richness and beauty to those who take the trouble to dig below
the surface, and seek for the Treasure which is still hidden in the field.
If these chapters encourage others to explore their resources, and do a little
quiet home digging for themselves—instead of relying upon foreign imports,
doubtfully labelled "Higher Wisdom," "Eastern Mysticism," and
the rest—their main purpose will have been achieved.
The
first part of the book deals with the ruling fact of religion, the Reality
and Nature of God;
the second with the way that Reality and Nature are revealed within human
life, and we lay hold of them;
the third, with the kind of life they demand from us, and make possible.
These are truths common to all Christians, whatever their "theological
colour" may be;
and moreover they are the truths which lie at the root of all valid Christian
action, and give its special colour to the Christian outlook on the world.
So, if it be thought that these meditations dwell too exclusively on the
inner life and have no obvious practical bearing on the social and moral
problems which beset us, let us remember that such a retreat to the spiritual
is the best of all preparations for dealing rightly with the actual.
For our real hope of solving these problems abides in bringing them into
relation with the eternal truth of God;
placing them within the radiance
of Charity.
Feast of St. Mary Magdalen, 1933.