tihv<xvy of t:he theological ^tmxnavy
PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY
FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE
REVEREND CHARLES ROSENBURY ERDMAN
D.D., LL.D.
BV 4501 .S33'"l908 ^
Schofield, A. T. 1846-1929.
Christian sanity
eL^^^.£<^
>--4-r<S»-«''V\
CHRISTIAN SANITY
CHRISTIAN
SANITY
A. T. SCHOFIELD, A.D
Author ol "The Unconscious Mind," "'The Knowledge of God,
"With Christ in Palestine," &c., &c.
WITH A PREFACE BY
DR. HANDLEY AOULE
(Bishop 0/ Durham)
Xa)(f)pov7jcraT€ >
New York
A. C ARMSTRONG & SON
3 AND 5 West Eighteenth Street
1908
R. W. SIMFSON AND CO , LTD..
PRINTERS,
RICHMOND AND LONDON.
''Me sbouit) live 60berl^ an& riabteouel^
ant) QOM^ in tbis present worlD/'
'* %ox^f %ot^, Mt) we not propbes^ b^ ^bl?
IRame, anC) bp ^bp IRame cast out devils,
anO bp tlb^ IRame t)o man^ migbt^ worfts?*'
**H)epact tcom me, se tbat \oot\i iniquity!''
PREFACE
(By the Lord Bishop of Durham.)
My friend, Dr. Schofield, has been good enough to
shew me in proof some important specimens of his
work, Christian Sanity. The topic to which he
addresses himself is of permanent and now also of
peculiar and pressing gravity.
In every direction we are met with theories of
spiritual life, and with actual or alleged phenomena
of spiritual or psychical experience which force upon
the Christian observer the anxious question, What
are these teachings, what are these experiences ?
What must I think of their relation alike to the
promises and the warnings of Scripture ? What is
their place in the study of religion ? What is their
bearing on the salvation and sanctification of man ?
Dr. Schofield has long given his attention, the
attention of a highly skilled and widely experienced
physician, who is also the convinced and devout
believer in our Lord Jesus Christ and His Word,
X PREFACE
to topics which lie close to those to which he
addresses himself in Christian Sanity.
The specimens of his work on this subject
which I have been permitted to see in advance,
along with my antecedent confidence in the writer's
high competency as student and teacher, lead me to
welcome the appearance of the work as one which is-
timely in a high degree. May it powerfully aid the
cause of what St. Paul so often calls in his latest
Epistles, " the healthful doctrine."
Handley Dunelm.
December 2nd, 1907.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER Page-.
I. General Scope of The Subject - - i
II. The Bible on Christian Sanity - 12
III. What Is Sanity in Christianity? - - 32
IV. Sanity in Childhood and Youth - 50
V. Sanity in Revivals, Conventions and
Missions - - - - 69
VI. Sanity in Revivals, Conventions and
MissiO'i^S— continued - - 86
VII. Sanity in the Higher Life - - 125
VIII. The Wiles of the Devil - • 142
IX. From a Medical Standpoint - - i54-
TO THE READER
I AM asked to write this book for two reasons.
First, there seems to be at the present time
a special need for some serious attempt to be
made to indicate the line that divides sound
from unsound Christian practice, more especially in
large gatherings and in the more advanced stages
of the Christian life. Secondly, I presume the
subject is placed in my hands because, as a Christian
physician, I have been for so many years exclusively
engaged in seeing and trying to help nerve sufferers
of all sorts, including large numbers of Christian
people who have lost their health through religious
excesses of various kinds, or through some morbid
forms of religious exercises.
Personally I think that a clergyman would be,
for many reasons, much better fitted than myself
for this difficult and delicate, though perhaps neces-
sary task ; but as it has fallen to my lot I will
endeavour to throw what light I am able to do on
xiv TO THE READER
the subject. I, of course, write as one in full
sympathy with all forms of religious life, and as
holding all the ordinary articles of the Christian
faith ; and especially in regarding the inspired Word
of God as a final court of appeal in all matters
pertaining to faith and doctrine. I shall have to
touch upon other topics of great interest, besides
those directly concerning sanity ; such as Christian
life in childhood and youth.
One thing however is impressed upon me already,
as I write these opening lines, that although to some
extent I may be qualified to be a mentor, as being
for so long a time acquainted with Christian aberra-
tions, it is well to remember that in touching
Christians one is touching those who have touched
the Divine ; and one must move cautiously and
reverently amongst soul-mysteries where God is
never very far off; and be very careful before one
lays down rules of right conduct on the lines
of ordinary mental and medical science, for the
limitation of the servants of a Divine Master.
Still, after all there is such a thing as Christian
Sanity, and there is a life in accordance with it
that is in favour with God and with wise and
thoughtful men ; while, on the other hand, there is
an un-Christian insanity, which, however high flown
TO THE READER xv
its pretensions or mystic its language, brings neither
glory to God nor help to men.
It is therefore with a due sense of the importance
and delicacy of the work that I will try and indicate
as far as possible the line of demarcation between
these two.
I cannot of course please all, nor would it be
desirable if I could. I can only point out what I
think is comprehend(id and what is excluded by the
title of this book, from the long and often painful
experience I have acquired not only of the psychology
but of the pathology of Christianity. I am indeed
constrained to write it in the hope of pointing out
that line of conduct which Scripture specially
enjoins for those who live in these closing days.
ALFRED T. SCHOFIELD, M.D.,
19, Harley Street,
London, W.
January^ igo8.
CHAPTER L
General Scope of the Subject
THERE is no country where deviation from
the normal is so severely looked upon as in
these Isles. On the Continent and in a
marked degree as we travel further and
further from these shores, passionate words and
actions, and manifestations of excitement pass with-
out comment, which would be regarded here as
almost maniacal and certainly not compatible with
full sanity. This is especially so in the whole
of the East, for there conditions pass unnoticed,
that at home would demand an asylum or a strait-
jacket.
Nor do we find, taking England again as a starting
point, and travelling West instead of East, that the
idea of what constitutes sanity is more restricted
On the contrar}', there again, and especially in
Christian circles, all sorts of vagaries and extrava-
gances are tolerantly regarded, and by no means
looked upon as signs of mania.
There can be no doubt at all that in this country
the limits of what is regarded as sane and sober
' B
2 CHRISTIAN SANITY
conduct are narrower than elsewhere, and that if a
man can pass muster here, he will not be regarded
anywhere else with suspicion.
This may account for the demand for a book on
this subject, and there is perhaps the greater open-
ing for this monograph, because as far as I have
been able to ascertain, no similar work has yet
appeared ; and while I could wish the subject had
been treated by abler hands, I do not think it could
have been approached with a deeper sense of its
importance, and its value at the present day.
To understand what is meant bj^ sanity and by
Christian sanity, some sort of definition is indispens-
able, for we must understand what we mean by the
words we use. It is, however, easier to ask for
definitions than to get them, and especially in such
a case as this. As far as I know, no definition of
either sanity or insanity thai will cover all cases has
ever yet been given, and even in studying individual
cases there are always those so exceedingly doubtful,
that since the dividing line has never yet been
drawn, it is impossible to pronounce them either sane
or insane. As Burke has so wisely said, while * no
man has ever been able to say exactly when twilight
begins or ends, all men can distinguish between day
and night.' The law of the land only recognizes sane
and insane, and so far has steadily refused to accept
a borderland class ; chiefly on account of the
impossibility of making a valid distinction as the
dividing line is approached. It would be of th§
GENERAL SCOPE OF THE SUBJECT 3
greatest possible service in hundreds of mild and
doubtful cases could the sufferers receive some care
without being placed in asylums. As it is, there are
numbers there for whom they are not intended ; while
on the other hand very many are at large to their
own danger who ought to receive some care ; but no
institution has yet been opened for their relief.
If there then be such difficulty of judging of some
people's mental condition in ordinary affairs, how
far more complicated does the problem become if we
look at it with regard to Christian life, and from the
standpoint moreover of a Christian rather than that
of a medical man.
I hope in the third chapter to describe as well as
I can what I mean by Christian sanity. But in
doing so we must remember that it is not for us to
deny the action of the Spirit of God in Almighty
power on the hearts and lives of men, nor to lay
down any laws for His action.
We thus see at once how dangerous it is to pro-
nounce any spiritual effects in Christian lives to be
sane or insane, according to our preconceived ideas,
based solely on human phenomena.
At the same time, while confessing the great diffi-
culty of the task and fully aware of the caution
required, we cannot shut our eyes to the crying need
there is at the present day at least to attempt it.
Everywhere^the name of Christ is blasphemed
through the wild excesses and fanatical outbursts of
Christian, or so-called Christian, men and women.
4 CHRISTIAN SANITV
Such has been the case in all ages of the Church,
and the wildest insanities have been permitted under
the name of Christ and Christianity.
But in the present day the matter is much worse.
Not because the excesses are greater, but because
the standard of rational life is higher, and though
not yet defined, the limits of sanity are certainly
better understood, and any outrages on the name of
Christ are more flagrant and more disastrous to
Christianity.
I write this book because of the Holy Name by
which we are called, and one cannot but shudder
to see how it is dragged through the mire of this
world's ridicule owing to extravagances whose claim
to be Christian, should never have been allowed.
All who profess and call themselves Christians
must account it one of the dearest wishes of their
hearts to see that Name reverenced and its dignity
upheld by the conduct and practice of those who
profess it.
I know well that the love of God when it reaches
and touches the heart of banished man and brings
him back to his Father's arms, may occasion such
transports of joy as marked the return of the prodigal
son in the parable. But though these may be
misunderstood by those who do not share them
(as by the elder son in the parable), they are divided
by a wide gulf from the excesses of which I speak,
and are as different in their character as in their
source.
GENERAL SCOPE OF THE SUBJECT 5
It is quite possible that many who read these
lines are wholly unaware of the extravagancies to
which I refer.
Their lives have been guarded and secluded, and
they may not even have heard of much that has
caused this book to be written. But they have seen
and do know how unbalanced and easily shaken the
faith of multitudes is ; and how little is known in
many places of that Christian stedfastness and
steady sanity that characterized earlier and quieter
days. The wildest doctrines, the newest up-to-date
theology, the most mystic nonsense have only got to
be spread abroad and their dogmas ventilated and
discussed and gratuitously published far and wide
by the cheaper papers, and one sees scores and
hundreds of men and women, whom hitherto we
deemed to be steady and sober-minded Christian
people, carried off their feet by the flood, and joining
the throng of worshippers at any new shrine ; at
which, though many old names are retained, a new
worship is offered and a new God adored. It is
the devastating effect of these novel cults that
demonstrates how little ballast there is of sober
sanity in the average twentieth century Christian
man.
But one need not, alas, go to strange creeds to
see practices that can hardly be described as
sane. Right in evangelical and ultra-protestant
circles deeds are done and scenes enacted that by
half the spectators are described as manifestations
6 CHRISTIAN SANITY
of God's Holy Spirit, and by the other half as
demonstrations of Satanic power.
Surely in the present day a Christian of sane and
sober mind should be able to distinguish between
the operations of the Spirit of God and the out-
breaks of diabolic energy ; and Christians should
not be led away by the latter, as they undoubtedly
are. I shall endeavour in this monograph to trace
out some of the causes to which this unsteadiness
and want of discernment are probably due.
There is yet another additional reason for sobriety
and sanity, and that is because the end approaches.
Whatever may be our views as to the future, all
Christian men and women know that we are nearing
the close of the age and that there is much predicted
in the Bible that is not yet fulfilled, but will shortly
come to pass.
When, in the language of St. Peter, the adversary,
the devil, goes about "as a roaring lion," our
only safety is to follow the Apostle's advice and to
*' be sober," as well as " vigilant." It is well for us
to lay to heart the very last words of this Apostle
that have been given to the Christian church, for
they are full of solemn meaning to us at the present
day.
"Ye therefore beloved, seeing ye know these
things before, beware lest ye also, being led away
with the error of the wicked, fall from your own
stedfastness."
If this verse had been more heeded there would
GENERAL SCOPE OF THE SUBJECT 7
be no occasion for this book ; and the Church of
God would have been spared much that has
disgraced it.
In considering the subject I may point out that
the personal and the racial factor must of necessity
be taken into account. The Celt is not the
Anglo-Saxon and never will be, and aline of conduct
that may be congruous and sane in the one, becomes
incongrous, if not insane, in the other — another
instance of the impossibility of absolutely drawing
a rigid line of demarcation. Because certain
things happened at the Welsh revival among Celts
that is no possible reason why they should happen
in England amongst Anglo-Saxons.
It was through the want of seeing this that the
attempt was made, and incongruous and unseemly
scenes occurred recently at one of our largest
Conventions.
St. Paul, after giving the most exhaustive instruc
lions for the conduct and procedure of the Church
of God in all its assemblies, sums up his whole
Apostolic charge in one pregnant sentence, as he
concludes with the comprehensive and important
exhortation, " Let all things be done decently and
in order."
In this first chapter, which only indicates the
subject that is to occupy us, I cannot lay down in
detail how this is best to be done. There is no
doubt that the exhortation must not be interpreted
in too rigid or frigid a sense, but with the warmth
8 CHRISTIAN SANITY
and love and liberty that must ever characterise true
Christian procedure. Indeed, as I have indicated,
it is by no means impossible or uncommon to set
sanity before Christianity.
It is quite easy to be sane if we are dead ; and no
one can say that where there is no life there is any
insanity. Indeed, insanity itself is a proof of life,
although grievously disordered.
One has therefore but scant patience with those
censors, who because themselves dead in spirit to
the higher Christian realities, condemn as insane all
active proofs of Christian life. It is cheap and easy
so to do, but grossly misleading.
It is indeed impossible, as the Apostle argues in
the first of Corinthians (chap, ii), for a man to know
anything but " the things of a man," with which the
" things of God " are placed in sharp contrast.
These latter, says the Apostle, are known by none
but the Spirit of God and the " natural man," that
is, the man not living the spiritual life, not only
cannot know these things of God, but they appear
to him foolish or insane, as so many things do to
us which are beyond our comprehension.
A stolid Anglo-Saxon tourist surveying with
British phlegm the antics and gesticulations in an
excited French quarrel might well deem the men
mad because he understands neither their language
nor their spirit.
I do not therefore attempt here to answer any
common outcries against Christians generally as
GENERAL SCOPE OF THE SUBJECT g
insane, for these have been common in all ages from
New Testament times. Indeed the first Christian
gathering ever recorded was looked upon by many
as an assembly of drunkards, if not of the insane.
("These men are full of new wine." Acts ii. 13).
But although much of the outcry against the
so-called " insane " conduct of Christians may be
safely disregarded, especially when it proceeds from
those who have no real knowledge of, or sympathy
with Christianity, there still remains, as I have
already said, quite enough that is a reproach to
religion in the eyes of most earnest Christian people.
We must remember, in enumerating some of the
causes of this, that an ill-balanced or diseased mind
does not necessarily become balanced and sound
when Christianity is embraced, and in writing of
vagaries and excesses one must always consider by
whom they are committed, as the mental state so
often explains all : and if on the one hand it clearly
shows that the acts complained of are not of
Divine or Spiritual origin, it equally shows they are
not of the devil, as one is often too ready to assume,
but are the natural products of a weak brain.
We may indeed, in searching out causes for the
various scenes and acts that bring disgrace on
Christianity, find three that are prominent. One
is that which I have just mentioned — the mental
condition of the individual in question. Another is
the effect of false teaching and example. The third
lies at the door of religious parents and teachers in
t& CHRISTIAN SANITV
not sufficiently warning and strengthening their
children or pupils as they grow up against all
excesses and extravagances associated with
Christianity.
* *****
It only remains for me now briefly to indicate
the plan of this book. I propose in the first place
to examine what is said respecting sanity in
Christian practice in the New Testament, and then
having laid our foundations on the solid rock of
Scripture, proceed to see what practically constitutes
sanity in Christianity at the present day, and
review the development of Christian life in different
stages and at different ages.
The next thing will be to examine the teaching
and practices in conversions, revivals, missions,
and Christian conventions, and see how far much
that has transpired lately is to be recognised as the
outcome of a sound mind, or as the action of the
Spirit of God.
We may then consider Christian sanity in relation
to the higher spiritual experiences, and carefully
examine the special dangers that beset the path
f more advanced Christians. Lastly it may be
well to examine the pathology of Christianity, that
is, those forms of religious aberration that seem to
arise from certain misuses of Christian doctrines
and practices.
In other words, in this last chapter we may look
at our subject of Christian sanity a little from
GENERAL SCOPE OF THE SUBJECT ii
the medical point of view rather than simply from
the Christian standpoint.
It is to be hoped that when we have traversed
this ground together we may have learned some-
thing more of the gravity and importance of the
whole matter, and be better qualified to discern
what is not of God or of the Holy Spirit; while
at the same time we may be able to recognise and
endorse every action of Divine power.
CHAPTER 11.
The Bible on Christian Sanity.
ON opening our New Testaments two points
at once strike us respecting our subject*
The one is how often Christians (and their
Master) were accounted mad ; and theif
other, how constantly they are exhorted to be sane.^j
We may get some vahiable general light upon^
our subject by first of all briefly reviewing the
passages in question.
I will begin with insanitj^, first as to the Master
and then with regard to His servants. Four times
our Lord was said to " have a devil," and once to
be "mad" or maniacal, and once to be "basida
himself" or bewitched {e^i(^r<yfiL), a milder word. [
will take the passages in their order.
Mark iii. 21, Luke xi. 15. " And when his friends
heard it, they went out to lay hold on him: for
they said ' He is beside himself.' And the scribes
which came down from Jerusalem (to Capernaum)
said ' He hath Beelzebub,' " The setting of this
scene is remarkable. Just before, St. Matthew (xii.
18-21) gives us God's estimation of the man Christ
12
THE BIBLE ON CHRISTIAN SANITY 13
Jesus at that very time ; and it forms an interesting
contrast to that of His " friends."
God says, " Behold my servant whom I have
chosen ; My beloved in whom my soul is well
pleased ; I will put my Spirit upon him. And he
shall declare judgment to the Gentiles. He shall
not Btrive nor cry aloud ; neither shall any one hear
his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he
not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench,
till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in
his name shall the Gentiles trust."
His friends at this very time go out to lay hold of
him as insane.
His enemies say He has a devil. Here is a three-
fold simultaneous estimation of Christ, and it is not
without warning at the present day, and may well
cause Christian " friends," as well as the writer of
this book, to proceed with caution, lest their judg-
ment should be found equally grievously astray !
The immediate ground for supposing insanity here
appears to be that our Lord had no time for any
set meals. In Matt. xi. 18 He had already pointed
out to His disciples that this abstinence from food
caused John the Baptist to be condemned as having
a devil. This attitude of His friends gives us
an instance of the very slight grounds upon
which we are sometimes led to doubt one another's
sanity.
With regard to His enemies, they then and there
committed that special sin against the Holy Ghost
14 CHRISTIAN SANITY
concerning which our Lord speaks in such solemn
terms.
Here then at the very outset we get a fearful
warning against hastily assuming that unusual and
unconventional phenomena in Christian work are
necessarily of Satanic agency. It calls, upon us,
indeed, perhaps more than any other passage in
Scripture, to exercise the greatest care in judging
any manifestations that claim to be those of the
Spirit of God. This whole passage has much to
say to us to-day.
The next instance is John vii. 20. "The multitude
answered, ' Thou hast a devil,' who seeketh to kill
thee ? " The accusation here is for quite another
reason, and appears to be rather a malicious remark
than the utterance of the deliberate judgment of His
" friends." Our Lord had revealed the thoughts ot
His hostile audience suddenly and in a most
disquieting manner by quietly saying, " Why seek
ye to kill me ? " They, conscious, or perhaps as
yet but semi-conscious, of the impulse that lay deep
in their hearts, tried to attribute the idea to a delusion
of the devil and to regard Christ as one possessed.
The next instance is in John viii. 48. " The
Jews answered and said unto him, ' Say we
not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a
devil?'" and (v. 52) "Now we know that thou hast
a devil." This was on the occasion when our Lord
was teaching divine truths of the Fatherhood of God,
culminating in the claim to be in His own Person
THE BIBLE ON CHRISTIAN SANITY 15
the " Jehovah " of His people. And for this they
would have stoned Him ; no comforting thought of
the "Divine imminence" in the hearts of all men
being present to lessen the startling effect of the
tremendous truth.
The last instance is in John x. 20, " And many of
them said, He hath a devil and is mad ; why hear ye
him ? " The occasion here was the truth concerning
the resurrection that our Lord was teaching them in
these words, " I lay down my life that I may take it
again. No one taketh it away from me I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to take
it again."
I have shown how the first occasion on which our
Lord was accounted mad might be repeated now in
a very similar way with regard to Christians con-
sidering the differences of time and place ; and with
regard to the last three, if men become uneasy in
conscience as here (John vii. 20), it is no uncommon
thing for them to abuse the preacher ; while with
regard to the other two, staunch upholders of the
Deity of our Lord (with which the virgin birth is
generally connected), and of His literal bodily
resurrection are still not infrequently accounted —
at any rate foolish and credulous.
The occasion on which our Lord was said to be
"beside himself" or bewitched is in Mark iii. 21,
and has already been referred to in the first of the
four passages. Besides these Christ suffered from
being called many opprobrious names, but we
i6 CHRISTIAN SANITY
restrict ourselves here to the limits of our direct
subject.
* * # * » *
Turning now from Christ to Christians, we must
remember these words :
*' A servant is not above his master nor a disciple
above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that
he be as his master, and the servant as his Lord.
If they have called the master of the house Beelze-
bub, how much more shall they call them of his
household ? "
The first case is St. John the Baptist, and they
could not begin earlier than with the forerunner of
Christ. He, because he came neither eating nor
drinking, was said to " have a devil." Ascetics in
all ages have often had similar epithets cast at them.
The next case is most interesting, and is that of a
servant girl called Rhoda, who, because she came
and told the members of a prayer-meeting (not
sceptics or careless people) that their prayers were
answered, was declared to be mad. The passage is
in Acts xii. 12, and lest I should be thought to have
overstated the case I quote the verses. " Peter came
to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose
surname was Mark (the evangelist), where many
were gathered together and were praying." (For
the subject of their prayers see v. 5. " But prayer
was made earnestly of the church unto God for
Peter.")
The prayer was answered by the release of St.
THE BIBLE ON CHRISTIAN SANITY 17
Peter, who actually came and knocked at the gate
while the meeting was being held. The maid went
to the door and recognised St. Peter's voice with-
out, as he was well known at this house. Leaving
the gate still locked she rushed back into the prayer-
meeting and told them their request was granted
and St. Peter was released. She was declared mad,
and when she kept to her statement and maintained
it to be true, sooner than believe their prayers were
effectual they concluded he had been executed in
prison, and his departed spirit had come to visit
them. I wonder if St. James who afterwards wrote
"The prayer of faith shall save the sick," was in
this prayer-meeting, for there would appear to
be a most entire absence of this quality in the
prayers that night. But St. Peter kept on knocking,
and at last convinced them their request had been
granted, and they were most astonished. Nothing
really seems quite so incredible to many men, and
Christian men too, as an answer to prayer.
I think here, too, we may find a parallel to-day ;
for Miiller and others who looked on prayer as
indeed a power, and proved it to be so, were long
accounted very visionary if not insane. This is an
important part of our subject, for the question often
arises " How far is it safe to trust God to answer
our prayers for material things ? " And though of
course we all say at first " What a dreadful ques-
tion ! " when it practically comes to the point, the
answers are very diverse and the practice still more
c
i8 CHRISTIAN SANITY
so, in spite of the wonderful examples of Miiller and
others. I was dining with a man some time ago who
many years before had been used by God to lay the
foundation of the higher spiritual life in England
from which sprang the Keswick and other conven-
tions ; and he asked me with real interest if I could tell
him what was the secret of the immense power that
prevailed in all his meetings at that time, for it had
always puzzled him. I said I thought it was
because he seemed to have brought home to the
Christians of England that if God were only trusted
He would be as good as His word. " I suppose
that must be it," he said.
Perhaps here I should turn back to Acts ii. 13.
When the first Christian assembly was held it was
thought by some to be a gathering of drunkards (as
I have pointed out elsewhere). "They are filled
with new wine." Such a charge almost amounts to
one of temporary insanity.
We pass on to St. Paul's case in Acts xxvi. 24,
25. " Festus said with a loud Yoice, Paul, thou art
mad; thy much learning doth turn thee to
madness. But Paul saith, I am not mad, most
excellent Festus, but speak forth words of truth and
soberness."
This again was on an occasion when St. Paul was
speaking of the resurrection of Christ ; and there
is little doubt that it was this truth, coupled
with St. Paul's account of his conversion that
caused Festus to exclaim that he was a madman.
THE BIBLE ON CHRISTIAN SANITY 19
There was evidently nothing in his manner or
bearing to induce such a charge.
St. Paul, however, speaking of his own conduct
previous to his conversion says that he was
" exceedingly mad " against the Christians, using
practically the same expression against himself that
Festus used with regard to him when he was being
persecuted in his turn. There is no doubt that
Festus would consider St. Paul's action in persecut-
ing the Church as exceedingly sane.
So that we observe here that conduct which would
be ordinarily thought sane, may by Christians be
considered mad ; while conduct thought to be mad
by others, may by Christians be looked on as sane.
The next passage I shall adduce is in i Cor. xiv.
23. " If therefore the whole church be assembled
together, and all speak with tongues, and there
come in men unlearned or unbelieving, v/ill they not
say that ye are mad ? "
This is, I think, a very important passage, because
it shows that though unlearned or unbelieving men
may (as in this case) be erroneous in their judgment,
it is not therefore to be disregarded. All occasion
for such a mistake is to be removed, and all is to be
done with sobriety and intelligence.
The last passage is in 2 Cor, v. 13. " For
whether we are beside ourselves, it is unto God ; or
whether we are of sober mind, it is unto you."
The apostle here acknowledges that in the trans-
ports of Divine love the soul is as it Vv^ere for the
20 CHRISTIAN SANITY
time "bewitched" or "beside itself" with joy;
sobriety comes when face to face with human need
and misery.*
This also is a passage we do well to ponder
as it shows that there is a sense in which one can
be "beside oneself" rightly and with God, and
indeed while actually entirely in one's right mind.
******
These few passages have already thrown valuable
light upon one side of our subject, and we doubt
not the other side will be illumined still more by the
numerous passages in which sobriety is enjoined.
One wo rd onl y, with its five derivations, is used in
the New Testament to denote soundness of mjnd,
and that is aoo^^oiv. Its derivations are the noun
acocppoavvT] — wisdom ; the adverb aco(fip6va)<i — wisely ;
the noun aw^povia^i6<; — soundness of mind; and
the two verbs aw^poveco and aw^povi^w — to be
wise ; (xdocppcov and its derivatives are translated
sober, temperate, discreet, of a sound mind, of a
sober mind, and of a right mind. The passages are
twelve in number.
I. The first is Acts xxvi. 25. "But Paul saith,
1 am not mad, most noble Festus ; but speak forth
words of truth and soberness." Here soberness is
placed in direct opposition to madness and is
equivalent to sanity. Here the words are sane
words.
*An analogous passage is, " Be not drunk with wine, wherein
is excess ; but be filled with the Spirit " (Eph. v. 18).
THE BIBLE ON CHRISTIAN SANITY 2i
2. The next passage is Romans xii. 3. "For
I say, through the grace that was giYen me, to
every man that is among you, not to think of him-
self more highly than he ought to think ; but so to
think as to think soberly, according as God hath
dealt to each man a measure of faith." Here we
see that our thoughts are to be sane thoughts, as
well as our words sane words.
3. 2 Cor. V. 13. " Whether we are beside our-
selves it is unto God ; or whether we are of sober
(sane) mind, it is unto you." This seems to teach,
as I have already pointed out, that whatever our
transports in our devotion and worship, in our ser-
vice to man, a sane mind is always to be conspicu-
ously present. This is sanity in service.
4. I Tim. ii. g. "In like manner that women
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-
fastness and sobriety." The first word diSox:
" shamefastness " or " shamefacedness " is only used
once elsewhere in the New Testament, Heb. xii.
28, "with reverence {atSco'i) and godly fear; for
our God is a consuming fire." This then, this holy
reverence and awe together with sanity is to adorn
all Christian women. Nothing could be more,
opposed in its spirit to the levity and flippancy audi
familiarity, to say nothing of the undue excitement}
with which holy mysteries are too often approached
in the present day. Here we get sanity in women.
5. I Tim. ii. 15. "She shall be saved through
the (or her) child bearing, if they continue in faith
92 CHRISTIAN SANITY
and love and sanctification with sobriety or (sanity)."
I will not discuss this somewhat obscure passage
now, as it does not concern our subject, but merely
remark that here we get sanity in connection with
motherhood.
6. 2 Tim. i. 7. "For God gave us not a spirit of
fearfulness, but of power and love and discipline "
(or a sound or a sane mind). Here is a text worthy
of close study, and yet I am unable here to do more
than glance at it. Three things are here placed
together, not only as not being incompatible with
each other, but positively harmonious and forming
the three sides of a true Christian character.
Spiritual power is often made an excuse for
extravagances of conduct ; not so here. Love,
too, is made to cover more sins than were
ever contemplated by the apostle Peter (i Pet.
iv. 8) and condone all sorts of excesses ; not so here.
With both power and love are coupled, to maintain
the balance of Christian conduct, the essential
element of a sane mind. But then there is the other
side. Of little value is this boasted sanity unless it
acts as a handmaid to the two great qualities of
power and love. Power that propels the life and
love that guides its direction. A little reflection
will show us how perfectly the last of the three is
the complement of the other two. So that here we
get sanity in mind.
7. Titus i. 8. (The bishop must be) ** giyen to
hospitality, a lover of good, sober (or sane) minded,
THE BIBLE ON CHRISTIAN SANITY 23
just, holy, temperate." We here get as an essential
quality in a church dignitary that sanity and sobriety
of which I speak. So that here we get sanity in
office.
8. Titus ii. 2. " That aged men be temperate /
grave, sober-minded." This is perhaps the easiest I
exhortation to follow that we have yet found. For \
when the hot blood of youth is spent and the years
of discretion attained, it is comparatively easy to be
sober-minded. Here then we get sanity in old age.
g. Titus ii. 5. "The young women to be sober-
minded, chaste, workers at home." The exhorta-
tion to sobriety in v. 4 found in the authorized
version is left out in the revised, and I do not there-
fore give it. But here in v. 5 is the special
exhortation to young wives to be sober in their
general conduct. This then is sanity in marriage.
10. Titus ii. 6. " The younger men likewise
exhort to be sober minded." The Bible does not\
seem to leave a condition of life without its especial '
exhortation to sober-mindedness, so important a j
place does this subject occupy in Scripture. Here, '
indeed, the exhortation is needed, though not always
heeded. While the right place must be given to
enthusiasm, and to zeal and devotion, there must be
this sober-mindedness with it all. And this is not
always popular ; though if we consider the supreme
importance that the name of Christ should be
honoured through the conduct and character of
those who proclaim themselves His followers, the
24 CHRISTIAN SANITY
great part this sober-mindedness plays in the
conduct of young men is at once apparent. This
then is sanity in youth.
II. Titus ii. II, 12. " For the grace of God hath
appeared bringing salvation to all men, instructing
us to the extent that, denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly and right-
eously and godly in this present world."
The grace of God brings salvation, but it also
instructs the one who is saved, the Christian man, in
his threefold bearing towards himself, his neighbour,
and his God. In his own conduct there is but one
quality enjoined — sobriety or sanity. This must be
well marked. Towards his neighbour he is to be
righteous, towards God, godly. And the three begin
with sobriety and sanity. Does not this passage
truly give a foremost place to our subject ? Suppose
for a moment it said instructing us to speak in
tongues or to work miracles, or even to heal the sick.
But no ! the first and foremost instruction of the
grace of God is none of these things, nor any gift
whatever, but sanity and sobriety in bearing and
conduct.
I think those who give full weight to this passage
will feel that sanity could not be put in a more
prominent or important place. So that here we get
sanity in conduct.
12. I Pet. iv. 7. " But the end of all things is at
hand, be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober
ojito prayer." The word sober here we have not
THE BIBLE ON CHRISTIAN SANITY 25
met before, but will discuss later ; it is the sound
mind that belongs to the root ' aax^pcov ' which we
are now considering. Here is a fitting exhortation
for a last word in sanity, and the word therefore
comes to us with great force in connection with the
end of all things which draws near. We began
with sanity and we must end with it, too, and for a
special reason. Those who carefully study 2 Peter
ii. will soon discover the reason, for it is in the days
of disorder, when much insanity abounds, that
sanity is hard to find, and hence it is so earnestly
enjoined here.
This then is sanity to the end.
Let me sum up the wonderful counsels connected >
with this one word ' aoi^poiv.' It is earnestly enjoined
as a distinguishing characteristic to young men, young
women, married women, mothers and old men. It
is enjoined in conduct, in office, in mind, in service,
in thought, and in word, and lastly it is to continue/
to the end.
We may notice here that o f the t w el yejjjass ages,
nine are from epistles to individuals and not to the
C hu r ch7"sHe wi ng~th at sanity is essentially a quality
appertaining to each ipdividual Christian, rather
than to corporate bodies ; for after all, it is this
sanity in individual lives that checks all unseemly
displays in large gatherings of people.
Before leaving this subject I should like to call
attention to four other Greek words enjoining
virtues akin to sanity.
26 CHRISTIAN SANITY
\ The first is the one beloved of Matthew Arnold,
iTrieUeLa and translated by him " sweet reason-
ableness." It occurs seven times, Acts xxiv. 4 ; 2
/ Con X. I ; Phil. iv. 5 ; i Tim. iii. 3 ; Titus iii. 2 ;
James iii. 17 ; i Pet. ii. 18 ; and five times it is
translated gentle and gentleness, once forbearance,
and once clemency.
It is an eminently sane quality. The better
balanced a man is, the wiser, the more sure of him-
self, the gentler does he become, the more reasonable
is his bearing to all. To me this sweet reasonable-
ness of Christianity is a most precious and fragrant
quality ; and sometimes when one has unhappily
been immersed for hours in some scene of strife or
bigotry amongst Christians, it is like an oasis in the
desert to come across a spirit graced with this
iTTieUeia.
Let no bitter or narrow spirit cry out that it is
easy to be gentle if indifferent.
It is not easy to be gentle, the eTrieUeia of which
the Bible speaks, comes from companying with the
Master, and is a heavenly grace. It has also no
connection with indifference, but a very close con-
nection with sanity.
A brief study of the passages, for which I have not
time here, will well repay the trouble and bring forth
some of the hidden beauties of the word.
The next word is vi](})co and its derivative
vr](paXe6';. This means a watchful soberness, and
includes also the sobriety that comes from abstinence.
THE BIBLE ON CHRISTIAN SANITY 27
It is not exactly the sobriety of sanity of which we
have spoken, but the sobriety of being on the watch
and alert.
The passages are i Thess. v. 6, 8 ; i Tim. iii., 2,
II; 2 Tim. iv. 5; Titus ii. 2 ; i Pet. i. 13, iv. 7,
V. 8, _
Six times the word is translated sober, and thrice
temperate. It is closely akin to sanity. Each
passage should be carefully studied.
The third word is iyKpareia, which again means
temperate or sober, but from yet another different
standpoint — that of self-control. If anyone wishes
to spend a profitable hour and has the most
elementary knowledge of Greek, let him with a good
concordance and a good dictionary look up the
meaning and uses in the New Testament of these
three forms of sobriety : the sobriety of the sound
mind {aco(f)pa)v), the sobriety of watchfulness
{vi](j)o)), and the sobriety of self-control {iyKpdreia).
This word is only used six times, and five times it
is translated temperance or self-control and once
continence. The passages are remarkable and
worth a brief reference.
I. Acts xxiv. 25. "And as Paul reasoned of
righteousness and temperance and the judgment to
come, Felix trembled." Compare this last word
carefully with Titus ii. 12 and note the three
subjects in each ; one personal, one relative, and one
divine.
In Titus the grace of God instructs us to be sober
28 CHRISTIAN SANITY
in ourselves, righteous to our neighbour, and godly
to God.
In the Acts, St. Paul speaks of self-control of
ourselves, righteousness with our neighbour, and
the coming judgment before God. It is again most
remarkable that of all the qualities of human conduct
and character St. Paul speaks of but one, temperance
or self-control. This is, of course, closely akin to
sanity.
2. The next passage is i Cor. vii. 9, where the
self-control of the body is spoken of.
3. The next is i Cor. ix. 25 : "Every man
that striveth in the games is temperate (self-control)
in all things," So in the Christian race. He that
would win and wear the crown must through his
life be sane and self-controlled.
4. The next is Gal. v. 23, where this virtue is
one of the fruits of the Spirit, and one without which
the Christian would be very incomplete and bring
but little glory to God.
5. Titus i. 8. Here the virtue is an essential
quality in a bishop, as well as we have already seen
— a sound mind.
6. 2 Peter i. 5,6: In your faith supply virtue
and in your virtue, knowledge ; and in your know-
ledge, temperance ; and in your temperance,
patience ; and in your patience, godliness."
Here in St. Peter's famous addition sum, so hard to
work and get the answer right, one of the most
THE BIBLE ON CHRISTIAN SANITY 29
important figure is self-control, and it is the want
of this virtue that so often makes the total
wrong.
The fourth and last of the words I would group
round acocjipcov is vyidtvo) and its derivative, v'yiy]<i
This means sound in the sense of healthy,
or whole, and is applied to both body and mind.
Omitting the former passages, we find ten that refer
to mental action. A whole, healthy mind is un-
doubtedly a sane mind, and these ten passages
have therefore a very close bearing on Christian
sanity. They differ, however, greatly in their use
from those we have already considered. The pas-
sages are i Tim. i. 10 ; vi. 3 ; 2 Tim. i. 13 ; iv. 3 ;
Titus i. 9 ; i. 13 ; ii. i ; ii. 2 ; ii. 8 ; and
3 John 2.
The words we have reviewed so far refer almost
entirely to personal sanity of conduct and character ;
but this word, with the one exception of 3 John 2,
which after all may refer to the body, has nothing
personal about it, but refers entirely to the doctrine,
teaching, and faith of the person. This is a question
of sanity in teaching of wholesome, healthy, hygienic,
sane words and doctrine, and this word completes
our subject, because sanity in doctrine and teaching
is as important to-day as sanity in conduct, and
wholesome words as much needed as a self-controlled
life.
The passages where this word occurs are so
important that I must touch on one or two. In
3© CHRISTIAN SANITY
the second (i Tim. vi. 3) these " sound " words are
said to be the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
there is the most solemn warning to keep to them.
The next passage (2 Tim. i. 13) is )'et more emphatic.
" Hold the pattern of sound words which thou hast
heard from me."
In the midst of the advanced and new teaching
that abounded even then, the pattern of sound v/ords
was to be zealously maintained ; and now standing
at a period of nearly two millenniums later, this
pattern has not become obsolete or of less value.
But the next passage shews that it is certainly less
acceptable and cannot compete in popularity with
the new phases of faith or " unfaith " that abound.
2 Tim. iv. 3 : " For the time will come when they
will not endure the sound doctrine ; but having
itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after
their own lusts." Titus, too, is earnestly enjoined
by the apostle in his Epistle (Titus i. 13) to reprove
the Cretans sharply, that " they may be sound in the
faith," not giving heed to Jewish fables. He tells
Titus himself (Titus ii. i) to speak " the things which
befit the sound doctrine," and ever in his doctrine
to shew " uncorruptness, gravely sound speech
that cannot be gainsaid " all of which points to the
supreme importance which St. Paul attached to this
quality of soundness of speech and of mind in
speech.
So that now we have the full teaching of the New
Testament that bears upon our subject, and most
THE BIBLE ON CHRISTIAN SANITY 31
wonderful it is, may I illustrate the five words
thus : —
eTneUeta iyfcpdT€ta
(gentleness.) -.^.^^ ^^.^^ (self-control.)
tn^PO^TNH
- (SANITY.) ^.^^^^^
vi](f)aX€6^ ""'^ ^^ vyidu'Q)
(sobriety.) (soundness.)
CHAPTER III.
What is Sanity in Christianity ?
HUMAN minds are quite competent to judge
of all human affairs, and the "common
sense " of civilised humanity has long
since laid down a rough but intelligible and generally-
workable standard of sober and rational conduct as
contrasted with that of inebriety or insanity. The
rational common sense of the community compre-
hends what is meant by sanity and insanity, how-
ever impossible they may find the words to be of
definition. If we turn to the dictionaries, this
difficulty of definition is ludicrously obvious.
Murray, in his monumental work can only define
" insanity " as *' unsound in mind." This dictionaiy,
unfortunately, is not yet completed as far as
" sanity."
Webster defines " sane " as " possessing a
rational mind ; having the mental faculties in such
condition as to be able to anticipate and judge of
the effects of one's actions in an ordinary manner."
A most cumbrous and unsatisfactory definition,
that leaves us rather worse off than before, as we read
83
WHAT IS SANITY IN CHRISTIANITY? 33
it ; for if such a test were applied to all our actions
few of us would be pronounced " sane."
The Century dictionary gives "sane " as " mentally
sound " — which we knew before.
I merely adduce these instances to show that even
to the highly-trained minds of these dictionary
authorities these words are really undefinable.
Nevertheless practically, everyone pronounces with
great assurance whether such a person or such
action were sane or insane.
It is, as I h?ve already suggested in the first
chapter, quite another matter when we have to deal
with life and conduct into which a fresh and higher
motive power has entered. On this point indeed it
is necessary to have a clear understanding if we are
to really grasp our subject.
There certainly is such a thing as a higher
spiritual life which all men have not entered. Those
who have are, in the language of Scripture, " born
again"; and the time or occasion of entrance, if
at all marked or sudden, is called " conversion,"
concerning which I shall bring forward some most
interesting facts in the next chapter. Those thus
spiritually awake are called in a special sense
" Children of God," as in John i. 12 where this
birthright is made conditional upon " receiving "
Christ and not upon natural birth. They are also
in an especial way indwellt by the Holy Spirit of
God (Romans viii. 10, 11). To some, of course, this
" new birth " is said to be the time when man
D
34 CHRISTIAN SANITY
awakes to his right and true status. Such is gener-
ally the teaching of the " new theology " school.
To the Bible, however, the awakening is the dis-
covery of one's sinful state and need of Divine
mercy, and the " new birth " is not the recognition
of any existing condition, but of entrance into the
new life by the external agency of the Spirit (John
iii. 5) and that of the Word of God* (i Peter i. 23).
I merely allude to the new birth to show that by it,
*Water is possibly mentioned, both in its typical meaning
as representing God's word, and in its literal significance in
Christian baptism as connected with belief. This literal mean-
ing is, I know, often denied ; but it is a little strained to think
that to a self-righteous, though enquiring Pharisee, our Lord
would use water without explanation to mean the word of God,
of which it is not generally regarded as a type ; a sword and
fire being both better known figures. On the other hand, it is not
unlikely Christ may have referred to literal water, if, as has
been supposed, Nicodemus was one of those who stayed up in
Jerusalem, and did not go down, as did others, to John to be
baptized in the Jordan, confessing their sins. This use of water
would at once bring the matter home to his conscience, and
may be taken as a parallel to the fire of coals in the resurrec-
tion, carrying Peter's thoughts back to the fire, by the side of
which he had denied his Lord. To suppose, however,
that it teaches baptismal regeneration and that water
so used has any saving efficacy, is beside the tenor of
the passage ; as there can be no doubt that of the two, it is
the Spirit that is the agent of the new birth ; for it is the Spirit
that quickeneth and giveth life, and not water. But I must not
discuss the subject here ; and only mention it as a protest
against arbitrarily limiting any Scripture to a single interpreta-
tion.
WHAT IS SANITY IN CHRISTIANITY? 35
one is lifted into a higher spiritual existence in
which the soul is in touch with God, in the special
relationship of a child with a father.
Observe, without this spiritual life one cannot
" see the Kingdom of God."
Perhaps one can understand this more readily
if one considers for a moment the conditions by
which life in various stages is limited.
Take a fish and a frog ; the former dies in agonies
out of water, whereas the frog is perfectly happy.
Moreover the frog can breathe the pure air of heaven
with lungs, the fish only the aerated water with gills.
The parallel is far from perfect, but it will suffice ; for
the difference between what the Bible calls "the
natural man " and " the spiritual man " is just as
marked. The former is perfectly adapted for his
milieu ; and with things around he is in perfect
touch — it is the things above that puzzle him. He is
a kind and good man and admirably adapted to
adorn the plane on which he lives. But he is not a
spiritual man. Supposing some text, some whisper
of the Divine Spirit awake him to a higher life ; in
the language of our Lord he is " born again " as
" from above " ; and the result is a Christian life. He
can now breathe a spiritual air that would have been
positively poison to him before. He can live in a
Christian environment and society that he would
not go near before ; and the man who can do this,
can and will breathe the pure air of heaven when he
exchanges this world for the next ; while previous
36 CHRISTIAN SANITY
to the change, he could not live in heaven even were
he taken there — the air is too rarified.
That is why Christ said " Ye must be born again."
It is no question of expediency, nor can we say that
even if we are not, the love of God will still take us
to heaven all the same. Such an action would
be cruelty, not mercy. We must be fitted for
a sphere before we can Hve in it ; and Scripture
shows conclusively that the "fitting" does not
consist in education or ethics, or in any sort of
improvement of the old life, but in the raising of
the man to a new and higher life.
This being clearly understood, it will be readily
apprehended that many of the rules and regulations
so admirably adapted for the material life fail in their
application to the spiritual ; but the Christian does
not, therefore, in Christian matters, give up his
common sense. On the contrary, the Apostles'
stern command that in Christian gatherings and
procedure " All things were to be done decently and
in order " (i Cor. xiv. 40) is emphatic, and can be
thoroughly understood and warmly approved of by
all. Only we must remember that, though in the
spiritual world there is nothing contrary to reason,
there is much that is above and beyond it, much that
" The world's coarse thumb
And finger failed to plumb."
And therefore we cannot fully accept the judgment
of the natural man as to what is sane or insane in
WHAT IS SANITY IN CHRISTIANITY? 37
such matters. As I have shown in the person of
Festus, he is ready to call much conduct 'mad,' that
is not so at all. The Christian, however, using the
same common sense, but enlightened by a spiritual
understanding and using a spiritual judgment,
should be able to discern the one from the other.
I think the following remarks of Lord Penzance,
the famous judge, are of great value in this
connection : —
** It is not assuredly in the region of enthusiasm
that we must look for the calm exercise of pure
reason and temperate and well-balanced ideas. Still
less must we expect that the fervour of fanaticism
will follow in the slow steps of philosophy."
" It is hardly then by the mere test of their reason-
ableness that the wild thoughts of religious
enthusiasts can be brought to a standard for judg-
ment of their sanity."
" But there are surely limits even to so mythical a
subject, within which the human mind in a state of
health is unreasonable or extravagant ; and the
common experiences of life give us a sense of those
limits sufficient for the formation of judgment in
most cases. To draw the exact line — if there be
one — which defines such limits may be impossible,
but to affirm that some instances surpass it, is not so."
This passage is admirable in its strong common
sense, and though showing no special sympathy
with Christian thought, has a tone that commends
itself to every honest mind,
38 CHRISTIAN SANITY
The standpoint from which we study this question
is of all importance in coming to our conclusions.
To understand this subject, we must at any rate
avoid two positions. One, that of the asylum doctor
who brands all above the dead level of common
experience, such as the recognition of the blackness
of sin, or the joy of deliverance from it, as insane;
the other that of the extreme religionist who
passes all absurdities as normal and sane, if only
they are done in the name of God.
The only safe standpoint is that of strong common
, sense enlightened by a Christianity whose judg-
ments are guided by the Bible.
' t The standards of sanity are of course as diverse
{ I as those of rfght and wrong ; for one man — as the
; proverb runs — " may steal a horse, while another must
: not look over the hedge."
To the mere materialist, to talk of and believe in
, a spiritual world at all is insanity,
f To the man of the world, however, who accepts
conventional religion, such talk may be sane, but
to display any active interest in the subject is not.
To the ordinary Churchman such interest is sane,
but to go about slumming or preaching in the
streets is bordering on the insane.
To the earnest worker this preachingand slumming
may be sane conduct, while to speak of a " clean
heart " and complete deliverance from the taint of sin,
is not sane doctrine.
To the perfectionist this is sober sanity, but to
WHAT IS SANITY IN CHRISTIANITY? 39
indulge in the tenets of the *' Agapemone " or the
antics of the saltatory Christian damsels that lately
visited England is decidedly not. While to these
damsels themselves of course their own conduct is
sane and scriptural.
Here are six progressive standards of sanity, and
we might easily have made six more.
Obviously with such diverse opinions we must have
some reliable guide, and this is only to be found m
the Word of God.
Our last chapter, speaking of the Word of God,
enshrined in five words what must characterize
Christian conduct. It is well to repeat them. It V
must be sober, it must be self-controlled, it must be )
gentle, it must be sane, and it must be of sound/
mind.
Considering how lightly people now change or
give up their faith, and the force with which winds
of doctrine and other disturbing gales are now
blowing, these five may well be supplemented by one *
other eminent quality of Christian sanity, and that [
is steadfastness.
We have in the New Testament four separate
words to designate this invaluable characteristic.
y3e/3ato9 (2 Cor. i. 7, 8), steadfast or confirmed.
<nepe6<i (2 Tim. ii. ig), steadfast or solid, ehpalo'^
(i Cor. XV. 58), steadfast or seated. aTrjpcy/j.o'i (2 Pet.
iv. ig), steadfast or settled. The first, /^e/Saio?, is a
steadfastness arising from evidence. It occurs also
in Heb. ii. 2 ; iii. 6, 14; vi. ig, and elsewhere. It is
40 CHRISTIAN SANITY
the result of the faith that is founded on the rock, on
a hope that is anchored within the veil, and of a love
from which nothing can separate us. It is a sort of
steadfastness that springs from a power outside our-
selves ; from the living power of Christ, from the un-
changeableness of God, from the teaching of the Spirit
The second cxrepeo'i occurs also i Peter v. g, where
we are exhorted to be steadfast in the faith. In the
first passage quoted, in 2 Tim. ii. ig, it is the
foundation of God that is steadfast. In both cases the
special meaningof the word is " solid." Stearic acid
is a solid acid, stearine is a solid fat, and crrepeo?
means solid. Here the steadfastness depends on an
inward quality, and not upon an outward support.
This inward quality is the reverse of what
characterized Reuben, " Unstable as water, thou
shalt not excel." Fluid Christians are of little use.
They run freely and temporarily adopt the shape of
any mould into which they are poured, but they are
utterly unreliable in character and creed. These
characters abound to-day when all things are being
shaken. And though fluidity and change may be no
proof of insanity, there can be no doubt that
stability from solidity is a condition of sanity. Nor
is this solidity the solidity of an iceberg, which after
all soon melts when it meets the warm gulf stream
of the higher criticism, or advanced thought. No !
this is a solidity not due to coldness, but one
combined with great warmth, with fervent love, with
every Christian grace,
WHAT IS SANITY IN CHRISTIANITY? 41
The next form of steadfastness is e8palo<i. This
is also found in Col. i. 23, and is dependent upon
position rather than on condition. It means " seated,"
not standing, still less "halting between two
opinions."
Sitting " on the fence " is not the sitting referred to
here ; but sitting solid on the truth itself and refusing
to move. This form of steadfastness is that of the
man who has bought the truth and will not sell it.
It is not a popular attitude to-day. It is said to
savour of bigotry and conceit to be so sure of one's
position. It is better, we are told, to stand on one
leg, ready to hop off when the next learned critique
appears ; or better still, planting one foot on the old
theology and the other on the new, to rest the weight
first on one leg and then on the other, so as to
show no undue partiality. It is called a liberal
spirit, but it is liberal with that which is Another's,
and that is God's.
The other day a well-known Archdeacon of the
Anglican Church pleading for a greater liberality on
the grounds that after all the Spirit had " diversities
of operations," specially urged the acceptance of
the " theological Liberal," who (I quote his own
words) " while holding the highest, deepest view of
the Anglican branch of the Holy Catholic Church, is
convinced that narrowness of definition is never an
effective spiritual force, and who, feeling strongly
the bondage of certain conventional standpoints,
preaches boldly, not the unsearchable riches of
42 CHRISTIAN SANITY
Christ, but the universal immanence of God. His
basis is that what comes forth from the Creator
must partake of the Creator's nature, therefore God
and man are essentially inseverable. This basis
implies an absolute universalism, and a negative of
the essentiality of evil, which, if essential, must be
the antithesis of God. Yet for this teaching he is
sneered at as a Unitarian, condemned as a heretic,
branded as dangerous and unorthodox, and but for
the protection of his position as an incumbent of the
established Church, would be cast out and silenced."
Only one greater injustice could be done to such
an one, and that would be to call him a Christian,
or to confound him with one. Such utterances
savour strongly of Mrs. Eddy, whether coming from
incumbents of churches or from the minister of a
Temple ; and the worthy Archdeacon assures us
these "Liberals" exist in great numbers, and is
evidently proud of it. One thing is certain, such
tenets and those who hold them find little quarter
and scant courtesy in the Roman Church ; which
overlaid with error and superstition as it undoubt-
edly is, shows a solidity and steadfastness in sitting
firmly on the old foundations, that some agile and
unstable members of the Anglican Church would
do well to copy.
The Christian religion seems to have expanded
into the very largest cloak that ever was made ; for
innumerable and incongruous crowds are gathered
together beneath its shelter ; or, to use the Scriptural
WHAT IS SANITY IN CHRISTIANITY? 43
simile, the kingdom of heaven has indeed become
" a great tree," and exceedingly rare and curious fowls
both "clean" and "unclean" now "lodge in the
branches thereof."
The fourth variety of steadfastness is a-TTjpcyfjioq
which is found only in 2 Pet. iii. 17. Here it is
evidently steadfastness from duration of time. The
Apostle is clearly addressing experienced Christians
who had long known the truth, for in iii. i he writes
to stir up their •' pure hearts by way of remembrance."
To my knowledge this form of steadfastness is
much needed to-day ; for I have been amazed at the
old and experienced Christian men who have lost
this quality, and who are now drifting about on a
sea of doubt.
Steadfastness, then, is enjoined by St. Paul and
St. Peter (for all our illustrations are from them) on
four grounds : —
On account of the confirmation of the truth.
On account of the condition of the believer.
On account of the position of the believer.
On account of the duration of time since he
believed.
No quality is a greater check to insanity
amongst Christians. There can be no doubt that
Christianity does ample justice to all the varied
mental phenomena. It gives to each faculty its
own place. It appeals to the whole man. I don't
say "religion" does this, but Christianity; and I
feel sure that it is from lives confined in narrow
44 CHRISTIAN SANITY
religious grooves instead of expanded on broad
Christian lines that much of the insanity comes. A.
very one-sided character is sure to tumble over,
sooner or later, for there is no balance.
We must not however for a moment suppose that
all must be accounted insane who do not conform to
the five requirements I have enumerated from
the New Testament. It is not so ; though there can
be no doubt that the limits of perfect sanity are
narrower in the Bible than in the world. And this
is what we should expect, for the standard in every-
thing is necessarily higher. Even amongst men
few of us are perfectly sane, and how much smaller
in proportion is the number among Christians who
reach the perfectly balanced level. Therefore
instead of the standard of sanity being more lax, as
is often supposed, it is really more rigid ; only those
who coms short of the five qualities I have
named may still be sane, if they possess one of them.
How, then, is the path of sanity and steadfastness
to be found ? How is one to learn to be sober, and
gentle, and sound, and self-controlled ? The great
secret, I am firmly convinced, and I beg for earnest
} consideration of it, is to keep nearer to God than to
Christians. One can stand anything if one dwells
in the secret place of the Most High. Our Lord
could face all the contradictions of sinners against
Himself, in the irritating misunderstandings and
unbelief of His own family at Nazareth, because He
4welt (not there) but in the bosom of His Father,
WHAT IS SANITY IN CHRISTIANITY? 45
So you and I can do likewise, and only doing so
can we discover the path ' the vulture's eye hath not
seen'— the path of wisdom. 'The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of knowledge' (and of sanity). Con-
tact with the Divine is essential to the Christian life,
and when through feeling after Him, eventually we
find Him ("though He be not far from any one of
us"), the first touch of His hand in the dark is
never, never forgotten.
Oh what power, what steadiness, what gentle-
ness, what sobriety, what self-control flows into
my life, when I feel God has gripped my hand,
and I have touched His ! God is so great, and
we are so little, that when we reach this shelter it
is like a small rowing boat, which has been tossing
in the water, running for shelter to the lee side of a
mighty man-of-war where all the water lies calm
and still. Here is perfect sanity.
Only I must insist that God must be nearer to me
than Christians, that is. He must be between me and
them. Not that they are enemies, but God must be
nearest. There are Christians and Christians, but
there is only one God, and He is my Father, and
I can trust Him. But I cannot and must not
trust Christians as such — for there are many insane
Christians and erratic spirits of ail sorts. With God
alone I am safe ; but having Him nearest and
dearest, I can love all the family and soon discern
the sober members, and those who are pleasing my
dear Father ; for the knowledge of God gives
46 CHRISTIAN SANITY
wisdom to the foolish ; and one who would be sorely
puzzled to decide on the sanity of certain practices
soon comes to a right conclusion when he lives
where Christ lived.
Listen to a description of a man who lives with
God. Can anything be more sane ? " When a man
lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet as the
murmur of the brook, and the rustle of the corn.
He will weave no longer a spotted life of shreds
and patches ; but he will live with a Divine unity.
He will cease from what is base and frivolous in
his life, and be content with all places, and any
service he can render. He will calmly front the
morrow in the negligency of that trust which carries
God with it, and so has the whole future in the
bottom of his heart."
It is quite clear that this is a far higher type of
sanity than is considered necessary in worldly
affairs. There can be no doubt, I repeat, that the
operation of the Spirit of God in the human heart
and mind is favourable to the development of a
greater, and not lesser, soundness of mind, from
being brought into contact with that Divine
wisdom which cometh from above.
Again, a man may be insane in many of his acts
as a Christian, and yet perfectly sane in his worldly
dealings. We must distinguish between personal
and relative insanity. In leading a forlorn hope or
a desperate assault men often act as insane who
are quite sober-minded in themselves. And at
WHAT IS SANITY IN CHRISTIANITY? 47
certain crises of the Church of God, when in fierce ^
combat, similar things may occur, though such are \
not of course for a moment to be defended, for ,'
God is able to keep men sober at all times ; only
we must distinguish between the normal and the ■
exceptional.
Again, we must allow for the personal factor. St.
James, we presume, would always be sober-minded,
while St. Peter, as we know, acted in many ways
that could not be so characterized ; and so did St.
Paul at Jerusalem.
In fact we come back to the point which we have
touched on already, that no two persons can agree
on the limit where normal religious experience and
action passes into the abnormal and pathological.
In a beautiful passage in the Phsedrus of Plato,
Socrates points out that those who seek God are
accounted mad. I will quote it. " They endeavour
to discover of themselves the nature of God, and
when they grasp him with their memory — being
inspired by him — they receive from him their
manners and pursuits, so far as it is possible for
man to participate of God Anyone
who is reminded of this time begins to recover
his wings, and having recovered them, longs to
soar aloft ; but being unable to do so, looks upward
like a bird (a striking and pathetic simile) and
despising things below, is deemed affected with
madness. When they see any resemblance of things
there (in heaven) they are amazed, and no longer
48 CHRISTIAN SANITY
master of themselves ; (remembering) when they
beheld in the pure light — perfect, simple, calm,
and blessed visions."
Does not this heathen philosopher approach in
thought very nearly to St. Paul when he says (2
Cor. V. 13) "For whether we be beside ourselves
it is to God ? "
In the same way the feelings and practises of the
higher phases of Christian life often seem very
strange not only to men of the world, but to the
average Christian man. He cannot understand this
" agonizing in prayer," this " realization of God,"
this " transport of joy," and these " visions of glory."
Enough for him to be on the road to heaven, com.-
fortably and quietly as may be. We must therefore
make full allowances for much with which we our-
selves may not quite sympathize, or perhaps wholly
understand.
And Christianity must be alive or it is nothing.
There must be a fire in the core of every vital
religion or it becomes a mere cinder.
I have pointed out one great means of judging
and estimating Christian sanity in others, by being
personally in contact with God. I will conclude by
alluding to a second means — a close study of His
Word.
A thorough knowledge of the limits the Bible
marks out for Christian conduct, a careful study of the
practice of the Apostle in missionary and other
meetings in the Acts, and of the rules the Bible lays
WHAT IS SANITY IN CHRISTIANITY? 49
down in the Epistles for the guidance of gifts in the
Church, together with a thoughtful and prayerful
examination of the various passages I have quoted
in the last chapter, will give abundant material on
which to form a sound and reliable judgment on
any phase of Christian movement that may be in
question.
Christian judgment and action, however, become
paralyzed if we admit that the modern progress
of thought and life in the twentieth century forbids
any criticism based on rules framed in the first ; in
short that the Bible is not a sufficient guide to-day,
and that by it the " man of God " cannot be perfect,
nor can he be "thoroughly furnished unto all good
works." (See 2 Tim. iii. 17).
Those who fail to judge righteous judgment re- /
specting extravagances and insanities practised in
the name of Christ, generally do so from one of two
reasons. They either take the ground that Scripture
does not give enough instruction upon which to
form a judgment at the present day, or, admitting
the Scriptures are sufficient, they fail to study them.
The latter class are, I judge, almost as numerous as
the former, for ignorance of the Scriptures is a
feature of the present day quite as much as a dis-
belief in them. Of course the two constantly go
together.
CHAPTER IV.
Sanity in Childhood and Youth.
I PROPOSE in this chapter to consider our
subject first of all somewhat generally in
relation to childhood and youth, and then
with special regard to the religious history and
experience at that time.
There can be no doubt that young childhood is a
period of intense sanity, while youth is a time of
unrest and instability.
The sanity which is expressed in an infant's eyes is
often appalling to a frivolous mind, and almost equals
the calm reproach of anything foolish in the liquid
eyes of a collie. One direction in which the baby
shows its sanity as well as its lofty origin — bearing
testimony to the truth of Wordsworth's beautiful
conception — is in its startling sense of justice. It
will have justice to itself and justice in the nursery,
and is, at a year old, often a calm arbiter of right and
wrong.
For a young child seems, as Wordsworth says,
to be
" Trailing clouds of glory,"
and to retain distinct traces of its heavenly
home in its innate sense of love and justice,
50
SANITY IN CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 51
which are surely a reflection of the Love and Light
which are the two sides of the Divine character
as revealed to us.
I want to dwell a little on the absolute sanity
of a normal infant. No nonsense there, no
trifling with truth, or indeed with anything else ; all
is seen in the calm white light of pure reason.
Every fresh article submitted to the infant judge is
quietly surveyed, turned over, perhaps solemnly
tasted, before a decision is arrived at by the aid of
these three special senses. The whole process is
impressive in its sanity. But by degrees as the baby
degenerates into the child, it becomes more and more
earthly and less heavenly (that is, if it is going to
live), and above all less serenely sane. This deteri-
orating process of accommodating its lofty ideas to
its earthly environment goes on until at last the
carnal, full-blown, but somewhat mad product is
arrived at, in the shape of the British schoolboy or
girl.
No doubt children seem mad and wild in relation
to the unapproachable calm of infancy — but they are
very sane, terribly sane often in relation to " grown-
ups ! " There is still in the sanity, simplicity, and
purity of the child much that awes the careless adult,
and bad men especially are ill at ease with children as
well as with wise dogs, because both see through
them.
Then comes the great disturbance of puberty, when
the sex problem first looms on the horizon, but is
52 CHRISTIAN SANITY
not as yet by any means understood. Sanity now is
no longer conspicuous, the whole cerebral system is
developing so rapidly that it is in a state of very
unstable equilibrium, and all sorts of fads and fancies
and vagaries flourish ; new ideas take root and sprout
with alarming rapidity. All this, as we shall see,
means much when we come to consider Christianity
in youth.
The bearing of this time on the future of the
subsequent man or woman cannot be sufficiently
estimated. If the five words of Scripture of which
I have spoken, sanity, sound-mindedness, sobriety,
self-control and gentleness, are engrafted into the
character of a child at this age, there cannot be much
fear for his religious future.
But if this critical time be missed he may be
unstable all his life.
" Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control.
These three alone lead life to sovereign power,"
Tennyson truly says in his CEnone ; and child-
hood is the time when these virtues can be best
acquired, and there can be no doubt that much of
the present instability of Christian character would
never have been seen had children been so trained.
But child training and above all real Christian home
training has well nigh ceased, and hence the disas-
trous results. Listen to Professor Felkin who says,
" We are producing in this country at the present
day a race of self-willed, self-centered, self-conceited
SANITY IN CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 53
young people, devoid of respect for God or man or
devil ! Obedience and self-restraint are prime factors
in a healthy existence and must be learned early.''
*' There never were such children in England before.
For while much is improved in physique and stature,
especially in girls, there is a still more marked change
for the worse in their attitude towards God."
The doubts of the authority of the Bible sown
broadcast by the Higher Critics have resulted in a
crop of evils that many of the sowers would be the
first to regret. The decline and practical abolition
of family prayer is largely due to this teaching. That
shrine known as the "family altar" has been cast
down, and the young people of to-day too often
have the sobriety and reverence and the self-control
that the early study of the Bible teaches, and wise
religious instruction imparts, replaced by the quali-
ties of which Professor Felkin speaks — self-will, self-
indulgence, and self-conceit — poor substitutes indeed !
These do not afford much foundation on which to
build a stable character. What can parents do to
alter this ? What can they do to strengthen and
fortify their children in their conflict with evil ? I may
very briefly enumerate twelve things they can do; to
which my readers doubtless can add many more.
1. They can control the child's surroundings so as
to make them ever the medium of good suggestions,
physical, mental, moral, and spiritual.
2. They can by example and story fill the child's
mind with inspiring, lofty, and Christian ideals.
54 CHRISTIAN SANITY
3. They can form habits of moral and religious
value, and allow none others to be acquired.
4. They can feed the child's mind with ideas, the
character of which they can wholly control.
5. They can exercise and strengthen the child's
moral powers by circumstances which they can
arrange, taking care that the trial is not too hard.
6. They can by watching hereditary tendencies
foster one and restrain another, so as to produce a
more even character.
7. They can strengthen the will and make it act
with energy and decision.
8. They can educate and train the moral sense ;
keeping it sensitive and tender to evil, and must only
set up such standards of right and wrong that
are true and will last through life ; so that no arti-
ficial conscience is created.
g. They can increase the sense of moral responsi-
bility to oneself, to others, and to God,
10. They can directly teach moral principles, and
the sequence of cause and effect.
11. They can inspire faith in God and in Christ,
and the spirit of reverence and humility.
12. They can thus obey the two exhortations
*' Train up a child in the way he should go," and
" Offend not one of these little ones."
There is, of course, another side to a child than
that of which I have spoken. For instance, there is
in many a distinct vein of cruelty, or a disregard for
truth. These both can be made to disappear by
sound training.
SANITY IN CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 55
One has, however, only to allude to these sub-
jects to feel how entirely child-training is neglected ;
and it is, I repeat, this neglect which is answerable
for much of the instability and gullibility of Christians
in matters specially pertaining to religion.
There can be no doubt that the period when the
child changes into the budding man or woman is
the time when altruism, the social instincts of the
religious feeling, sets in. The child's interest is all
in the central " ego." Its feelings and ideas are truly
nearly all objective, there is no introspection ; but
nevertheless the child in its life and actions is self-
centred and selfish. As a youth this gives way to
the feelings I have just described.
It must be remembered too that youth is a period
when all the faculties are ill-balanced owing to
rapid growth, when the emotional system especially
is easily and often disastrously aroused, when all
sorts of disordered nerves abound. It is indeed rare
and difficult to get through this period into calmer
waters without a crisis of some sort.
It is very doubtful wisdom to induce extreme
spiritual activity at this age. The ethical instincts or
conscience, the sesthetic or emotional feelings, and
the intellectual and moral centres are all extremely
active in themselves, and need guiding rather than
stimulating. It is of course supremely difficult to
ensure that all the best objective and subjective
influences are brought to bear upon any individual
in youth ; and hardly a week passes in my consulting
56 CHRISTIAN SANITY
rooms but some mother, in tears, is asking herself
the question Has she succeeded in this ? as she
brings some child wrecked in nerves or mind.
Even without " conversions " religious childhoods
are quite common, and it is certainly well not to
force the young growing plant, and to keep children
from all premature discussion of dogmas.
It seems indeed that the children of some
Christian parents are treated like young and tender
plants and are placed in religious hot-houses, and
forced artificially to blossom and bear fruit long
before their time. Such plants, too, are weak and
sickly, and once the protection of the greenhouse is
taken away the first rough wind snaps them off
short ; and at the age when they should be at their
strongest they are already fading.
That growth is best which is most natural, where
the child has the full enjoyment of its childhood,
and the youth of its youth, tempered and sobered
everywhere by the loving, gentle, spiritual atmo-
sphere of true and quiet Christianity. Such children
will not be show children, but will be far more
likely to make sane Christians than the former class.
We shall understand more about this if we turn
to the religious history of the young.
First of all as to the fact of " conversion." That
these sudden awakenings occur even in children,
coupled with entrance into higher spiritual life, none
who can be convinced by evidence can deny. That
innumerable spurious cases occur is also true ; and
SANITY IN CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 57
likewise that many of the greatest saints on earth
never experienced such a crisis at all. To some
people, of course, all sudden conversion seems
incompatible with full sanity. Professor Sidis, for
instance, considers that sudden conversions are
phenomena of "revival" insanity, as it is termed
in America, or of religious insanity, as it would be
called here. We believe this verdict is passed
incorrectly because the Professor fails to take into
account, or does not believe in the supernatural side
of the process. It is not of course an ordinarily
sane process, suddenly in a moment to change all
one's ideas and views. It is only when we admit
that the new birth is of the Holy Spirit, and that this
Spirit is not a part of our spirit,* but is Divine and
is God and Omnipotent, that we can reasonably
understand that He who by His almighty Word
said in the beginning "Let there be (physical) light"
and " there was light," can say now to the soul
"Let there be (spiritual) light," and it is so. Leave
God out and much that is Christian is insane ; but
then that's just what I shall not do in this book,
and I therefore conclude that conversions occurring
even in the young are not the slightest proof of want
of mental balance.
Of course I do not say for a moment that all
* In view of much that is now current I may shew that this,
at any rate, is the Bible teaching. " The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit" (Rom. viii. 16), and "Strengthened
with might by his Spirit in the inner man, " both shew that our
spirit is distinct from the Holy Spirit.
SS CHRISTIAN SANITY
Christianity is taught or revealed at once to any
man. It is only the " entrance into life " of
which I speak.
As F. W. H. Myers, in his wonderful poem on St.
Paul, says : —
" Let no man think that sudden, in a moment,
All is accomplished, and the work is done.
Though with thine earliest dawn though did'st begin it,
Scarce were it ended in thy setting sun."
Turning to conversions I will give a few interest-
ing and well-tested statistics collected by Dr.
Starbuck, as exhibiting the actual experiences in
ordinary Christian life.
Out of 1,000 Christians
6g5, or nearly | were converted under 20.
208, or I were converted between 20 and 30.
69
19
6
2
I
30 and 40.
40 and 50.
50 and 60.
60 and 70.
70 and 75.
1000
This shows that if conversions are not to take
place amongst young people three-fourths of the
present Christians would not be Christians at all.
As we look more closely at these figures we shall
see how remarkably the spiritual unfolding co-
incides with material changes. Indeed conversions
SANITY IN CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 59
follow puberty with a little interval, so regularly
that it seems as if the one were connected with the
other. Amongst girls the awakening or arousing to
a sense of need of salvation and of entrance into a
higher life, in fact the real opening of the mind to
spiritual realities takes place mainly from 10-16,
amongst boys 14-T6 ; and this awakening takes
place as a rule a year before conversion.
Conversions amongst girls are as follows : — For
every 40 at sixteen we get 36 at thirteen, and 12 at
twenty, and 5 at nine and twenty-four. That is to
say conversions at 16 are more numerous than at
13 and three times as numerous as at 20. They are
also eight times as numerous at 16, as at 9 or 24.
In other words the age of most conversions is
undoubtedly that of fully-developed puberty.
Amongst boys for 40 cases at sixteen we get 13
cases at thirteen or twenty, and 4 cases at nine and
twenty-four, and conversions are rare after thirty.
Here again the dawning manhood is the period
for conversions ; these being three times as numerous
then as they are four years sooner or later, and ten
times as numerous as eight years sooner or later ;
while at double the age they hardly occur at all.
There can be no doubt whatever that the most
common time for conversions is 16 or thereabouts :
and there can be little doubt that the period chosen
for confirmation has some connection with this.
Spontaneous awakenings and conversions, that is
apart from external agencies, are most common at 15.
6o CHRISTIAN SANITY
In conversion the influence of the home life is
more marked in boys than girls ; though in girls also
home influence is the most common cause. Next
to home the influence of friends is the greatest
cause, and next to that the Church or ministry.
Girls suffer in the deep effect on their emotions, more
at the time than young men. Of course in all
statistics and in all religious education the needs and
conditions of each personality must be taken into
account. I can only give the general result, which
must not be too closely pressed, for we have many
** Samuels " and not a few " Philippian gaolers " : so
that it must not be supposed on the one hand that
there must be no thought of God till one is i6 ; nor
on the other that there is no hope afterwards.
Following up the history of conversions, we find
there are four distinct lines of subsequent religious
experience.
1. Smooth progress in Christianity into spiritual
manhood with no relapse or breakdown.
2. A temporary apparent extinguishing of religious
faith and hope.
3. No progress after conversion.
4. Conversion at adolesence and definite sancti-
fication on entering a still higher spiritual life in
maturity.
The final condition varies less than would be sup-
posed in these four cases ; it is the experience by
the way that differs the most.
Amongst ordinary true conversions the relapse is
SANITY IN CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 6i
only about 5 per cent. ; but about one-half become
indifferent and the spiritual growth seems arrested.
About one quarter have severe fights with old
habits which reassert their power in a varying time
after conversion.
As many as three quarters of the whole pass at
some time through a period of great stress and
struggle ; while about one half experience great
doubts.
The essential difference from a human point of
view of the life of the converted and that of the
" moral " unconverted appears to be that in the
former its virtues are more positive, in the latter
they are more negative ; in fact, in Christians it is
more the expression of a new life, while in those
who make no such profession, in the sense we are
now using the word, but are strictly moral, it is rather
the repression of the old ; though, of course, not
exclusively so.
On the whole, amongst the converted there are
some who pay less attention to conduct than some
unconverted. But the unconverted pay much less
attention to Christ. Of course I do not for a moment
defend the former attitude. I only state what is
arrived at from the careful study of a large number
of lives.
After conversion, as I have said, the spiritual
attitude of soul is really permanent in all but 5 per
cent., but the feelings fluctuate, and the experiences
widely differ. It is important to remark here, to avoid
62 CHRISTIAN SANITY
grave misunderstanding, that the statistics I have
presented are taken from the experience of average
Christian men and women attending church and
chapel. They represent the present condition of
things fairly well ; which in many respects is very far
from what it should be.
There can be no doubt, for instance, that in truly
Christian families the children should grow up from
their earliest years in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord ; and such a thing as conversion should be
rare.
A great evil is done to children ot Christian
parents in treating them as hardened sinners and
expecting sudden repentance and conversion. To
me such a result would be rather a sign that their
early training had failed, than that it had succeeded !
There can be no doubt that the simple presenta-
tion of Christ to the young soul as Saviour, Shep-
herd, Friend, is not only attended with the best
results ; but what is of importance to our subject,
is never attended with evil ones.
And this brings me to my other point, and that is
children who have not such Christian homes, but
who are under definite simple Christian teaching,
such as is obtained at the many Christian Orphan
Homes, are constantly brought to Christ long before
puberty.
I repeat, therefore, that the figures I have given
are only of value if it is clearly understood that they
represent in no way the best possible results, but
SANITY IN CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 63
merely those actually attained in average Christian
life of all sorts.
To go a little more into the period of doubt and
distress. Two-thirds of Christians as a whole have
distinct times of doubt as follows : four-fifths of the
men and half the women. The difference of the
causes in the sexes is of great interest. Doubt in
women is more emotional, in men it is connected
with reason and the intellect.
The greatest source of doubt in men arises from
the books they read ; in women it generates
spontaneously in the mind, or from some influence
they are under. What women doubt most is the
existence of the Christian God ; that is, a God who
is a Father and who cares for them. What men
most doubt are the orthodox beliefs and creeds or
the inspiration of the Bible, or both. During the
period of doubt, ethics and good deeds of all sorts
tend to take the place of active religious work.
Besides doubt, which does not trouble some
natures, a period of religious upset from different
causes, of storm and stress, of anything but peace
and joy, is found in more than half the Christians
whose history was examined. It consisted of an
acute sense of sin, agonized strivings for entire
sanctification, fear of eternal punishment, with loss
of peace with God, brooding and self-introspection,
and also, of course, various difficulties and fears. I
must point out here that deep and painful work in
the soul and the wrestling with trials and difficulties
64 CHRISTIAN SANITY
(though not necessary with doubts) is often conducive
to strong life afterwards. A butterfly has great
difficulty in emerging from the crysalis with its delicate
wings that look as if they would be torn to pieces. A
friend of mine pitied one so much that she aided it,
and got it out without effort ; but the butterfly never
flew : and she learnt that the struggle was essential
to the delicate circulation in the wings, and was
necessary for subsequent flight.
Of the seventy per cent, of these Christians who
suffered from some form of severe religious trouble
it was found that only twenty-two per cent, were
engaged in active religious work, which rather
suggests that this is a good and safe antidote
to these soul disturbances.
In adolescence, &c., the greatest care and delicacy
is needed to help and guide the soul through such
troubled waters into peace and harmony — which is
sanity.
Much of the storm and stress that often accom-
panies the time of conversion find their parallel in
the pangs which accompany birth. In merely
mental science the digesting of a new idea is often
most painful ; it is therefore not to be wondered at,
that these Divine mysteries often cause great trouble
in the human heart, especially when we consider the
emotional age at which they usually affect it ; to say
nothing of the agitation possibly caused by the
powers of darkness. It is indeed often more on
the religious than on the material side that the
SANITY IN CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 65
dangers of adolescent life are most marked. These
latter are bad enough, and we know how many of
our young men and young women go on the rocks
at this time.
I may remark also here that all these after results
are not presented as necessary to Christian life, but as
what actually occurs in the average Christian of the
day. With better and more careful training, there can
be no doubt that the troubles and difficulties could
be minimized, and the proportion of backsliders
greatly lessened.
I may say that not only the brain and
emotions are very unstable in youth, but that it is a
period when all external influences are most active, for
good or evil. How important is it, then, that these
be pure and spiritual ?
It is a remarkable fact that in all nations and
amongst all religions the time of puberty is marked
by religious rites, sometimes of a most elaborate
nature. In the English Church, of course, this rite
is called confirmation ; and as we have seen, apart
from all rites and ceremonies, the union of the soul
with God in the power of the new life, in the new
birth by the Spirit, occurs constantly also at this
very period.
It is also, alas ! at this period that mental balance
is so often lost and nerves so often wrecked through
overpressure from religious teaching, or too close
attendance at camp meetings, missions, conventions,
&c. As I have to speak of these in considerable
66 CHRiSTtAN SANfTY
detail in the next two chapters, I will not say more
about them here.
Another feature I should like to point out is the
greater stability of the Christianity, and the greater
after-freedom from storm and stress among those
converted through the ordinary Christian ministry
as compared with those that are brought in through
special gatherings for the purpose. Of course the
converts are more numerous at these latter, but they
are not so steady.
One important point that must be faced is the
fact that our young people are growing up more and
more ignorant of the Word of God and ever less
stable in their faith, and less able to resist the
attacks of the devil, or to discern him in any pseudo-
Christian movement, where he may masquerade
as an angel of light.
For centuries the knowledge of the Bible has
been the glorious distinction of this country. Now
through the unhappy wrangles on education, and
the jealousy of the contending parties, through the
general atmosphere of doubt thrown over the Bible
by destructive criticism, through the apathy of
parents, and the rush and pressure of modern life,
the Bible is more and more pushed aside and
neglected.
Knowing this, it is incumbent on all clergymen and
teachers and instructors of the young to do
their best to supply the lack of home training by
classes for pure Bible study. There is no danger
SANITY IN CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 67
in these, but on the contrary they would be great
safeguards against future religious troubles.
It is the unenlightened and the ignorant who,
suddenly brought face to face with the tremendous
questions of eternity, are overwhelmed and un-
balanced.
I would therefore suggest for children the simple
stories of the Bible, and particularly of the
Gospels, with as much about the Person of Christ as
possible, and as little doctrine as is needed to make
the story intelligible ; and then when the age of 10
or 12 is reached more careful and detailed religious
instruction, combined always with plain and strong
ethical teaching. All the time the child should
take a personal interest in, and shew appreciation of
these great truths, and a real acceptance of them
should be evidenced long before 16 is reached.
Prayer, too, should be taught with the utmost
simplicity and reality, and the immanence of God (in
the true sense) in all His works everywhere shown.
The exercises of the young soul, even with the
most careful training, are often quite severe, when
the reality of the Gospel truths dawn upon the
mind ; but there is no fear, if there be no undue
external excitement or unhealthy stimulus or
hereditary want of balance, of these exercises doing
anything but good in deepening the reality of the
work that is going on. They should therefore on no
account be rashly checked for the fear of harm,
and the child thrown back upon itself.
68 CHRISTIAN SANITY
What one can do at such a time is to get the child's
confidence in loving sympathy and so relieve it of half
its fears ; while at the same time one should see that
the simple material needs, of good and sufficient food,
and outdoor exercises and games are not neglected in
the consideration of these great religious truths.
A v^ise and loving mother who is capable of meeting
the spiritual needs of her children is a veritable gift
of God. Such a mother will be fully alive to the need
of guiding with double care a neurotic child or one
convalescing from fever or from influenza.
There is great encouragement in knowing that
once this critical time is passed and the young soul
well anchored in Divine love, a good foundation has
been laid for a sound and useful life, and the whole
being has been brought at these early years into
harmony with its Maker and itself.
Early Christianity has a singularly beautifying
effect upon the character, which in its humility and
reverence is as far removed as the poles from the
conceit and pride of some who are alas, the subjects
of religious emotion rather than of true conversion.
I may quote here one specially sobering text that
was hung up in each of our bedrooms, when I formed
one of a large circle of Christian children, for it
was of great value at the time. " If any have
children or grandchildren let them learn first to
show piety first towards their own family, and to
requite their parents ; for this is acceptable in the
sight of God." (I Tim. v. 4).
CHAPTER V.
Sanity in Revivalst Conventions and
Missions.
IN this and the next chapter I intend first to
describe various religious movements at
different times, both rational and irrational,
with the utmost possible brevity ; then to
turn to specially consider some supposed miraculous
gifts and their manifestations to-day ; and lastly
to carefully examine what is sane and insane in
these matters, and in some way seek to indicate
if possible the safeguards that may be relied upon
in times of perplexity. This last, however, is such
a wide subject that it will require still another
chapter to itself.
There can be no doubt whatever both of the
danger and difficulty of my task, and I feel most
strongly the extreme care that is needed.
At the same time I think a quiet consideration of
the subject here must be helpful ; and I shall
endeavour with much caution and with all possible
care to give what little assistance I am able to afford
to many who are greatly perplexed.
70 CHRISTIAN SANITY
Of course there are now, as always, large numbers
of people who have never even heard of anything out
of the ordinary taking place in religious life ; but I
think these will become fewer and fewer every day.
If I read the Bible aright, we are I judge as yet
only at the "beginning of sorrows," and not only
evil men but seducing spirits will wax worse and
worse as time goes on ; and at all times it is well for
us to remember that in our own wisdom we can
never expect to be a match for " the old Serpent. "
Such being the case, let us to our task and
consider first some historical instances of religious
movements in the Church. Nine great revivals of
religion may be noted.
The first lasted from the twelfth to the middle of
the thirteenth century.
The second was that of the Franciscan and
Dominican Friars, and lasted a century.
The third was that of Wycliffe, preceding the
Reformation.
The fourth was the Reformation.
The fifth was the Puritan revival, leaders of
which founded the United States in America and
the Commonwealth in England.
The sixth was the Quaker revival.
The seventh was the Wesleyan movement, in
which convulsions, hysterics, sobbing, &c., occurred.
These features were very marked at that time in
North Wales.
The eighth was the general revival of 1859,
SANITY IN REVIVALS 71
beginning in America in 1857. This was of great
power in the North of Ireland, where again physical
signs abounded.
The ninth was the Welsh revival of 1905, associated
with Evan Roberts.
These, one and all, were doubtless manifestations
of the power of God, and were a means of blessing to
many; and though at none of them, all that was
said or done could be endorsed as sane, the general
tendency was for good. Let us examine the one
nearest to our own day — the Welsh revival — a little
more closely.
Everywhere the authorities and all conditions of
men in Wales have freely testified to the real and
lasting change effected in the lives of hardened
sinners, while the pastors of the various churches
increased their membership by thousands.
The vast congregations were, on the whole, sober,
sane and orderly. This last may be questioned in
the face of the offering of many prayers simul-
taneously, and both singing and prayer going on
together ; but even to clergyman and others accus-
tomed to much formality all was conducted with such
reality and reverence that it was not accounted
disorder. Many of the services were as reverent
in the Welsh revival as those under the dome of
St. Paul's ; though in some, scenes of great excite-
ment were witnessed ; indeed, all was aflame with a
vast amount of religious enthusiasm.
Considering the character of the Celtic nature.
72 CHRISTIAN SANITY
there was little that was wild, violent, hysterical ;
but everywhere a solemn gladness in hundreds of
serious men and thoughtful women.
There was no leader. The last person to attempt
to control the meeting would have been Evan
Roberts. There was no pastor, no organ, no
hymn-books; all was in the hearts of the people,
and in the hands and ordering of the Holy Spirit of
God.
Remarkable visions were seen by Mr. Evan
Roberts himself. Every morning for three or four
months, before the movement commenced, though
wide awake, he passed into a sort of trance between
I and 5 a.m., and found himself in the very presence
of God.
This changed his thoughts and nature and
prepared him for the great revival.
Many great leaders have had such visions, J.
Boehme, Madame Guyon, Loyola, Fox, St. Teresa,
St. Catherine, and many others. It was not Christ
specially who was before the soul at these times, but
God the Father or the Triune God. In the chapel
Evan Roberts sometimes saw a blinding light. This
was so bright that he could not see the minister in
the pulpit. This reminds us of the visions of St.
Paul, Constantine, Col. Gardner, &c.
I pass over some of the painful later scenes,
which were so clearly due to overwrought nerves,
that they excite our sympathy rather than pur
criticism.
SANITY IN REVIVALS 73
Evan Roberts lays down five conditions as neces-
sary for what he terms the " outpouring " of the Holy
Spirit :
1. Confession of all known sin.
2. The forsaking of all doubtful things.
3. Implicit obedience to the Spirit.
4. The Confession of Christ.
Please note and bear in mind the third of these
requisites, because I shall have a good deal to say
upon it, and it is here that unseemly practises creep
in and much error arises.
I give now a couple of isolated cases of the sudden
manifestations of the Spirit's power without any
breaches of decorum, just as samples of hundreds
such, not connected with general revivals.
In 1630 at the Kirk o' Shotts in Scotland a carriage
containing some ladies broke down. The minister
kept them at the manse during the repair of the
carriage. They were so pleased with his care that
they built him a new manse, much superior to the old
one, and invited some ministers they knew to the
first Communion, which was celebrated on June 21st,
after the house was completed ; and one of the
ministers they had asked preached on the Monday,
after a prayer-meeting held all through the preceding
Sunday night, and 500 were converted on the spot.
In July, 1861, there was a school in Yorkshire
where a small prayer-meeting among a few of the
boys who were Christians had been held for some
time, Suddenly one night while they were at prayer
74 CHRISTIAN SANITY
there came upon them, with the suddenness of a
thunder-shower, a spirit of intense earnest seeking
after God for the forgiveness of sins and for consecra-
tion. The headmaster was told of what was going
on, and stopped all the preparation classes that night
so that the boys could attend. There was no sing-
ing, only the Bible was read, and there were brief
exhortations, confessions of sins, and requests for
prayer. On that memorable night forty boys out of
a total of fifty were "converted" and turned to God.
" The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence
it Cometh and whither it goeth ; so is every one that
is born of the Spirit."
* *****
Turning now to Conventions and taking Keswick
as a type, we notice that as a rule these meetings are
particularly sane. There is no excitement, nor
special efforts to work the people up ; all is done
decently and in order.
At Keswick seven stages are recognised in the
teaching according to Dr. A. T. Pierson.
1. Immediate abandonment of every known sin,
doubtful indulgence, or conscious hindrance to holy
living.
2. The surrender of the will and whole being to
Jesus Christ, in loving and complete obedience, as
not only Saviour but Master and Lord.
3. The appropriation in faith of God's presence
and power for holy living.
SANITY IN REVIVALS 75
4. The voluntary renunciation and mortifying of
the self-life that centres in self-indulgence and self-
dependence, that God may be all-in-all.
5. Gracious renewal or transformation of the
inmost temper and disposition.
6. Separation unto God for sanctification, con-
secration and service.
7. Enduement with power and filling of the Holy
Ghost.
Amongst these seven, note specially No. 2, to
which we shall recur, as we shall to No. 3 of Evan
Roberts' quartette ; seeing that both contain an
element of danger that requires to be guarded against
most carefully.
Speaking generally, there is no new doctrine taught
officially at Keswick.
I say "officially " because one must acknowledge
that in many of the unauthorized meetings not under
the guidance of the Convention, not only new but
very strange doctrines are annually put forth.
Keswick has been blessed to the deepening and
strengthening of the spiritual life in thousands of
Christians, and in increasing the efficacy of
thousands of the clergy and ministers. It is rem.ark-
able that it is not found to cause either dissensions or
divisions in churches, but is, on the contrary, in
many cases a most happy bond of union.
Side by side with these wonderful and helpful
revivals and conventions there have been revivals and
missions of a very different character.
76 CHRISTIAN SANITY
In 1374 there was a dreadful religious dancing mania
which began at Aix. There were hundreds of danc-
ing men and women screaming and foaming at the
mouth, and all this coupled with wonderful visions
of Christ and the Saints. There were many cases
of recovery of sight to the blind. This mania spread
all over that part of Germany like wild fire, and yet
there can be no doubt that multitudes carried away
by it were earnest and true Christians.
In Italy, at another time, thousands of people
were suddenly affected with the literal " fear " of
God ; and persons of noble and ignoble birth, men
and women and even children five years old, walked
naked in public two and two, each with a scourge of
leather thongs, and lashed themselves on their bare
backs, with tears and blood accompanying the act.
There were many thousands thus all over Italy crying
to God for mercy.
In 1707 and following years London was disturbed
by a noisy group of French and English fanatics, who
combined the highest religious pretensions and the
most Scriptural language with prophecies, speaking
in tongues which were accompanied by all sorts of
contortions and by many immoralities. The
movement began by three French Protestant
refugees coming over in the reign of Queen Anne ;
and amongst their followers were Sir Richard
Bulkeley a wealthy baronet, a prebendary of Salis-
bury Cathedral, several physicians, a learned
scientist, the tutor of the Duke of Bedford, Lady
SANITY IN REVIVALS 77
Jane Forbes, and many others. These do not
seem to have been deceivers, but earnest Christian
men deceived and deluded by lying spirits, which
they firmly believed were the Holy Spirit of God.
Coming to more modern times I will touch upon
the Irvingite movement, and the recent outbreaks of
tongues in India and America and elsewhere. I
might of course write about hundreds of such out-
breaks, for they abound in all ages, but I think by
taking these few instances their general character will
be sufficiently understood.
I give first a condensed extract from a remarkable
document by Mr. Robert Baxter called a " Narrative
of Facts," and beg for its careful perusal. The story
gains much additional weight when the reader
realizes that in Mr. Robert Baxter one has to do
with a slow, cautious, and somewhat heavy Scotch
lawyer, of considerable eminence in London at the
Parliamentary bar. An intimate friend of mine was
his personal friend for twenty years, and describes
him as singularly clear, level-headed, and reliable
in every way, and one who was regarded generally
as a man of sound and solid judgment as well as
being a highly-taught Christian. The narrative is
in his own words : —
" Conceiving as I did, and still do, that there is
no covenant in Scripture for limiting the manifesta-
tions of the Spirit to the apostolic times, and deeply
sensible of the growth of infidelity ; in the face of
the prevalence of formality and lukewarmness in the
78 CHRISTIAN SANITY
Church, I wag ready to examine the claims to
inspiration, and even anxious for the presence of the
gifts of the Spirit, according as it seemed to me to
that apostoHc command, " coYet earnestly the best
gifts;" conscious that nothing but an abundant out-
pouring of the Spirit of God could quicken the
Church into active life ; and that nothing less than
the power of God, put forth in testimony, could
stem the torrent of infidelity which was flowing in
upon us ; I longed greatly and prayed much for
such an outpouring and testimony.
" When I saw, as it seemed to me, that those who
claimed these gifts were walking honestly, and that
the power manifested in them was evidently super-
natural ; and moreover bore testimony to Christ come
in the flesh, I welcomed it at once as the work of
God.
" In the midst of a prayer-meeting for the first
time I was myself seized upon by the power, and
in much struggling against it was made to cry out (in
a loud and commanding voice) and myself give forth
a confession of sin, a prophecy that the messengers
of the Lord would go forth and publish to the ends
of the earth .... the near coming of the Lord
Jesus.
** I was overwhelmed by this occurrence. I was
distinctly conscious of a power acting in me.
" In private prayer one day I was much distressed
at my wandering thoughts, when suddenly the power
came down upon me, and I found myself lifted up
SANITY IN REVIVALS 79
in soul to God, my thoughts were riveted, and
calmness of mind given me.
" By a constraint I cannot describe, I was made
to speak, at the same time shrinking from utterance.
The utterance was a prayer that the Lord would be-
stow on me the gifts of His Spirit, the gift of wisdom,
of knowledge, of faith, the working of miracles, the
gifts of healing, of prophesy, of tongues, and that he
would open my mouth to declare His glory. This
prayer was forced from me by the constraint of the
power which acted upon me : and the utterance was
so loud that I put my handkerchief to my mouth to
stop the sound that I might not alarm the house.
When I had reached the last word the power died
off me, and left me filled with amazement, and with
a strong conviction, ' This is the Spirit of God.'
" I must testify that looking back upon all that is
past (now I know it is of the devil) whenever the
power rested on me, I seemed to have joy and
peace in the Holy Ghost, and I cannot even now,
by feeling alone, discern that it was not really such !
" At a meeting while the pastor was speaking
the power fell upon me and I was made to speak
(in a loud voice), and for two hours or upwards I gave
forth prophecies concerning the church ; declaring its
present state and coming glory, and the return of
the Lord. I had no excitement ; to myself it was
calmness and peace. The words flashed into my mind
without forethought, without expectation, without
any plan or arrangement ; all was the work of the
8o CHRISTIAN SANITY
moment, and I was as the passive instrument of the
power which used me.
" Mr. Irving said he had doubts as to allowing me
to speak in his church ; and the power came on me,
rebuking him, and reasoning with him, until he sat
down and said he did not know what to do. Then
the power came on Miss H., who said he must not
forbid my speaking. This satisfied him, and he
yielded at once.
" To those who have never been visited with any
power beyond the mere vagaries of excitement it
may seem inexplicable how persons can be brought
to surrender their own judgment and act upon
impulse without daring to question the power. But
the process is very simple and perfectly logical.
" Though accustomed to try the power of my own
mind in public and in private, in business and in
religious meetings, in reasoning and in exposition, I
found, in a sudden, in the midst of my accustomed
course, a power coming upon me which was alto-
gether new, an unnatural and in many cases a most
appalling utterance given to me with great clearness
of view in the word of God, great freedom in prayer.
It was manifest to me the power was supernatural ;
it was therefore a spirit. It seemed to me to bear
testimony to Christ, and the conclusion was inevit-
able, that it was the Spirit of God.
"The mistake is awfal, if a seducing spirit is
entertained as the Holy Spirit. The more devoted
the Christian seduced, the more implicit the
SANITY IN REVIVALS 8i
obedience ; and unless God graciously interpose,
there can be no deliverance.
" About this time was consummated the master-
piece of doctrinal delusion in the development of
the "baptism of fire" as it was thenceforth
expounded by me. It was declared " in utterance "
that the Lord would again send apostles, by the
laying on of whose hands should follow the baptism
of fire, which should subdue the flesh, and burn
out sin, and give to the disciples of Christ the full
freedom of the Holy Ghost, and final victory over
the world.
"The simultaneous action of the power upon
two or more continually occurred, leading them to
utter the same words.
" In the midst of minds duly prepared, Satan can
gradually develop the subjects of his delusion ; and
going on step by step, can unwarily lead his victims
into extravagancies, first by doctrine and next by
conduct, which they would, without such gradual
preparation, shudder to contemplate.
" Some amongst us were found to be speaking by
an ' evil spirit ' and Mrs. C. and Mrs. E. C. had been
much in power to declare it. This troubled me
greatly, for I had been led in power to declare
the call of one of them to the spiritual ministry.
" I treated, however, any doubt as a temptation, I
rested implicitly upon the text, " every spirit that
confesseth Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God,"
and felt assured that no spirit making that
G
82 CHRISTIAN SANITY
confession could be of Satan. I had heard the
confession made several times by the spirit which
spoke in myself and others. I ought lo have seen that
the mere confession in words is not of itself a proof
of the spirit being of God, and searched out more
fully whether the spirit did really set forth the truth.
" At this time Mr. Irving's views became known
that the law of the flesh and the law of sin was in
Jesus, and only kept down by the Holy Spirit. In
April, 1832, Mr. Irving wrote to me : " I believe
the flesh of Christ to have been no better than other
flesh ; but he received such a measure of the Holy
Spirit as sufficed to resist its own proclivity to the
world and to Satan ! "
" I then called on Mr. Irving and told him my con-
viction that we had all been speaking by a lying
spirit and not the Spirit of the Lord. One point in
these manifestations is the manifest denouncement
and debasement of the understanding. It is true
the understanding must bow, as well before Divine
mysteries as before the teaching of the Holy Ghost.
" But the Apostle exhorts us, be not children in
understanding, but in understanding be men, and
prays for the Ephesians, " the eyes of your under-
standing being enlightened," and for the Colossians,
" In all wisdom and spiritual understanding," and
for Timothy " The Lord give thee understanding in
all things." It is manifest that the grace of God and
the teaching of the spirit of God purifies and
enlarges the understanding, and gives us to discern
SANITY IN REVIVALS 83
by the understanding between truth and error.
The understanding is to be used and strengthened
by the Word and the Spirit, and the man of God
walks according to an enhghtened understanding in
the degree of Hght God gives him. Now I am
assured that the spirit, manifested in us all, has
always striven to put aside the understanding, and
bring its followers into absolute submission to the
utterances.
" Another characteristic to which I would allude is
the spirit of separation which marks out a line by j
the reception or rejection of these utterances. It '
casts off the great mass of orthodox professors and
raises up those who receive the utterances into
"the Church."
" With many of these there is, however, a Christian
spirit and a sincere love of the truth. They are
deceived and not deceivers, save instrumentally.
There is no intentional deceit or guilt about them ;
they are really acted upon by a supernatural power,
and they worship it as the Holy Spirit of Jehovah.
The text, " Every spirit which confesseth that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God," is
given us explicitly as the test whereby to try the
spirit, and it must therefore be decisive. In some
the spirit was not permitted to confess it, even verbally
(as in Gloucestershire). But I have "under power,"
declared it, and so has my brother.
" It appears that a mere verbal confession is not
all that is required; for the devils said, "I know
84 CHRISTIAN SANITY
Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God." The
confession should be sought on any points which
create suspicion as to soundness of faith.
" My persuasion concerning the ''unknown tongue,"
as it is called, is that it is no language whatever, but
a mere collection of words and sentences, and is
much of it a jargon of sounds.
" The whole work is a mimicry of the gifts of the
Spirit in the utterance, the tongues, the prophesy-
ings, and all the other works of " the power." It
is Satan, as an angel of light imitating, as far as
permitted, the Holy Spirit of God.
" It has been most fully manifested that a false
spirit does bear witness against Satan. The warn-
ings against Satan were very abundant. The spirits
are ' lying spirits,' and one lie will be ministered to
one and another (the opposite) to the other."
** I was with gifted persons in London who all gave
the same testimony, but gifted persons in Port
Glasgow spoke against me and others.
" To those who have never experienced or witnessed
the effect of delusion in perverting the judgment
and shutting the eyes of the understanding, its
workings are incredible. I have found in myself
such woful darkness, and such credulity, that
when I think of it I am almost afraid of making a
statement, or advancing an opinion, lest I should
still be under its influence.
" One circumstance cannot but force itself upon
observation : that is, the continual use which was
SANITY IN REVIVALS Ss
made of the doctrine of the second Advent of our i
Lord. The same thing has, as far as we are |
informed, attended every putting forth of assumed
prophetic power from the earhest times. With the
French prophets at the beginning of the i8th century,
with the followers of Joanna Southcote, the nearness
of the second Coming has been the leading doctrine.
" At the first advent of our Lord many false
Christs came and drew away many. We are also
expressly warned with reference to the second
Advent, " There shall come false Christs and false
prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,
insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceiYS
the very elect."
" Long after I gave up the delusion, "the power"
so continued with me that I was obliged to resist it
continually."
******
I might give much more, but this will suffice, and
with it I will close this chapter, reserving further
considerations of revivals, missions, and conventions
to the next.
CHAPTER VL
Sanity in Revivals, Conventions and
Missions — continued.
THE remarkable and pathetic narrative by a
great and good man given in the last
chapter, who fell into the snare of the devil
through reasons he himself afterwards
clearly discerned, may now be compared and con-
trasted with the following brief account of how a
weak woman, the well-known Charlotte Elizabeth,
the authoress, was assailed, but instead of falling
under the Satanic power, how remarkably she
escaped. Her action is full of instruction in the
; present day, and if only her course of procedure were
' generally followed, there would be little need of this
or any other such work to guard and guide unwary
souls.
These extracts are from a small volume called
*' Personal Recollections of Charlotte Elizabeth."
" The first thing that aroused my attention to the
new doctrines of Mr. Irving was the singular case of
Miss Fancourt. Had it been a person unknown to
me I might have thought less about it, but I knew
86
SANITY IN REVIVALS 87
her and her family; and I was and am perfectly
certain that the least attempt at deception was never
practised, never thought of by them.
A sweet, patient, suffering child of God, guileless as
a babe, and whose bodily affliction had moved my
tenderest sympathy as I sat beside her couch of pain ;
the intelligence of her instantaneous recovery, of her
having walked from her father's house at Hoxton to
that of myhospitable friend Mr. Hawtry, in Hackney,
and back, with my intimate knowledge alike of the
localities and the individuals concerned, came upon
me with a reality the most overwhelming ; I certainly
held it to have been a miraculous answer to faithful
prayer, and I was strongly predisposed to receive
whatever might be placed before me on the same
basis.
" Just then, within two or three days afterwards,
a lady to whom I looked up as a most enlightened,
zealous Christian, wrote me a glowing letter, enclos-
ing two little pamphlets, or rather tracts, on the
subject of miraculous gifts in the church, as set
forth in the 14th chapter of i Corinthians, which
was quoted in full. She also gave me an account of
the " tongues," and exhorted me to pray for
miraculous gifts, and to devote my pen immediately
and wholly to this great cause. She added that her
parents were violently opposed, but she hoped to
obtain the " gifts " herself, and by that means to
silence all.
" I was confounded. I read the tracts, and all
88 CHRISTIAN SANITY
the Scriptures pointed out in them, as confirmatory
of the view taken, and which certainly made
out a strong case ; but I felt, too, that a
reference to single texts would not suffice ; I had
always read the Bible as a continuous book, not as a
collection of scraps.
"Accordingly I that night took the New Testament
up, kneeled, and fervently, most fervently prayed
to be guided to all truth, kept from presumptuous
sin, and led to glorify God by humbly receiving
what He was pleased to reveal. I then seated
myself on the side of my bed, and read the whole of
the New Testament from the first chapter of
Matthew to the Epistle of Jude, and the first seven
I chapters of the Revelation, finishing that book on
j the morrow. The result was such as to make me
' decidedly reject the new pretensions.
** I cannot go over the subject here, it would be a
treatise in itself; and my object is to recommend to
you and others the same process, that each may have
his own convictions based on the Word of God, and
not on the convictions of a fellow mortal. I was
quite sure that if such an important change was to
take place in the character of the dispensation, and
women to become public teachers of men, I should
find some express warrant for it, since God would
never require us to believe a miracle not wrought
according to His Word.
" I found that signs and wonders in the last
days were the predicted marks of what was not to
SANITY IN REVIVALS 89
be received or followed, and I began to regard with
jealous suspicion this assumption ; resolved to
watch most narrowly the doctrines he (Mr. Irving)
might preach. Miss Fancourt's case was argued at
large in the Record newspaper, and I soon came to the
conclusion, from which I have not swerved, that it
was one of nervous, not organic disease ; and while
ascribing all glory to God as the hearer of her prayer
and healer of her sickness, I believe that it had been
accomplished by the natural operation, mercifully
ordered by Him, of a natural cause.
" In this state of mind I remained, when a letter
from a friend in Scotland brought me some account
of a meeting where he had heard Mr. Irving expound
on the subject of our adorable Lord's human nature,
and which, he said, perplexed him. He stated the
outline, slightly ; but sufficiently to convince me that
some great error lay beneath the surface, and this
rendered me the more thankful that I had not lightly
admitted the claim to supernatural powers, which,
once acknowledged, would have given weight to any
doctrine associated with them.
" A little time brought me better acquainted with
the nature of this heresy. . . . He maintained
that the human nature in which our Divine Lord
was pleased to become incarnate was not only the
likeness of sinful flesh, but flesh inherently sinful. . . .
" I was far from denying the probability of super-
natural agency, for the doctrine was so truly
diabolical that Satan might be likely enough to
go CHRISTIAN SANITY
strengthen it with such signs and wonders as he was
permitted to show, in order to try the faith of God's
people; and I know of nothing that would sooner
put me on my guard against any new theory than
seeing it backed by seeming miracles.
" That Satan can work miracles there is no doubt,
and that he will yet do so we are plainly warned.
He seems to withhold his hand now, in order to
conceal the fact of his existence ; but there will be
a snare provided for each individual, according to
his natural disposition, and the most devoutly
disposed are just those who have need to watch the
most carefully against spiritual wickedness in high
places."
I now pass on to some manifestations in the present
day, of a similar character to those seen in
Irvingism, and will first of all give without names
some extracts from a correspondent in India that
will perhaps suffice to show how the same features
are reproduced, and succeed in carrying away un-
doubtedly true-hearted and earnest Christian people
now, as formerly.
April, 1907. " I believe this movement to be
an incipient Agapemone, and the dear people
entangled are just where Piggott (the Clapton
*' Messiah ") and others were twenty-two years ago.
" For three days and nights I have passed through
the deepest travail of soul I have ever known. All
SANITY IN REVIVALS 91
the spiritually-minded men in South India whom
we are in touch with are opposed to the movement.
" We were told God's presence was manifested at a
meeting near, and would we come over. I refused on |
the ground they were teaching what was contrary ]
to Scripture,
" There are two chief points in the awful delusion
that is now working here. Satan is subtly offering
stones to hungry souls, and they believe them to be
bread. Then having succeeded in getting his
stones accepted for bread, Satan goes on to say,
* Cast thyself down ? The angels have charge
over thee.' That is, ' give over the control of your '
personality. Let go ! Let yourself go ! Lose con-
trol and pass out of the condition of consciousness.' "
I need scarcely point out here how closely this
resembles Mr. Robert Baxter's awful experience
of Irvingism nearly eighty years before.
The two points on which he was led astray were
the same as in this case. First, accepting stones '
as bread — that is false doctrines as the Word of
God. Second, letting himself go and letting " the
power" master him, and speak through him.
The similarity of the methods of deception is
startling, though so much else differs. To proceed :
" Those who accept this condition do indeed lose
control and become like persons insane, or in
convulsions or hysterical, and in this condition
shameful things happen.
•* St. Paul says: ' I keep my body in subjection,' i.e.,
92 CHRISTIAN SANITY
I retain my rightful rule and control over the body
' lest I should become a castaway.' The next step
naturally follows, and the soul accepts Satan for
God, and a spirit of delusion for the Spirit of God.
" Here it is said ' Speaking with tongues is the
sole evidencing sign that one has received the true
Pentecostal Baptism ' ! They also say, ' An
essential condition is the renunciation of all control
over the bodily movements, &c. ' !
" The atmosphere in their gatherings is most
peculiar and intoxicating.
" I told the lady most implicated that the movement
was of the ' depths of Satan.' That I had been
mercifully held back twenty-two years before when
trifling on the brink of the same awful pit (Piggott,
&c.). I told her she was under hypnotic influence.
" This delusion cannot stand the Word of God.
Bring this to bear upon it, and it falls to pieces like
a house of cards. Scarcely one spiritual man of
standing has been deceived.
'* On one occasion the leader spoke on the
wise and foolish virgins, and said that speaking with
tongues was as the oil in the vessels of the wise
virgins, and that those who did not obtain it would
go to Hell. After there were the most dreadful
shrieks in the meeting, and a group of sisters were
on the floor, with one stretched full length and
groaning in their midst.
" In another meeting the leader did his utmost
to work up the excitement and keep it at boiling
SANITY IN REVIVALS 93
pitch. He commenced crooning a weird song
without words, moving his head and his hands
gently with the tune ; but soon he got more excited,
and this increased till every member of his body was
shaking at a fearful rate, and his head shook as though
it would soon shake itself off and his song jerked itself
out in gasps. All was most painful to witness.
" He then made passes over an Indian pastor
by him, caught him by the wrists, and shook
him most vigorously, while he himself was shaking
in every limb, at the same time praying in a most
passionate manner, ' Lord, finish this man off.'
Then he would rub his hand over the poor man's
head. Gradually, as I watched the process, the
pastor became more and more under the
influence, and at last lost control and fell over.
Then he knelt up again and began to pray in an
ecstacy, but without any coherence.
" I heard him repeat rapidly the word preaching
(prasangain) in Tamil many times, and then at last he
seemed to lose all knowledge of what he was doing or
saying, and with his arms and face working desper-
ately he commenced repeating the word * Bramha,
Bramha,' perhaps a hundred times, as fast as he could
get the word out. It was the vocative of Bramha,
the first person of the Hindu Trinity of Bramha,
Vishnu, and Siva. Had I needed any further proof
of the devilish character of some of these practices
in these meetings I had it now to the full.*
*I believe the pastor was very soon after delivered from the snare.
94 CHRISTIAN SANITY
" And yet in this same meeting I noticed the
sisters' prayers were sweet and reasonable, and
the hymns and choruses full of adoration.
" I am deeply convinced that whoever seeks to
follow and preach Christ will have, in days to come,
real hand-to-hand conflicts with Satanic hosts, and
will only be able to withstand in the evil day if
clothed in the whole armour of God."
I now give a brief account from Los Angeles from
the pen of one well known to me, which seems to
show the exceedingly corrupt source from which so
much of the movement springs.
" Los Angeles, California, is the common source
of the present speaking with tongues, &c.
''This is a strange place. First there are thousands
of heathens with their idolatries and filthinesses,
which means the presence of demons in their homes.
There, then, is the widespread theosophy, new
thought, mysticism, sorcery, clairvoyance, and
necromancy. One feels the air is infected in a
peculiar way.
" On Friday night at a meeting I heard a man
begin to draw in his breath between his teeth with
a peculiar hiss. I knew at once what that meant ;
that he was a man who had some connection with
the ' tongues ' movement in the city where there
is any amount of the demon imitation of the things
of God. He rose to give his testimony ; how he
had had his baptism and spoke with tongues, and
gvery one on whom he laid his hands for healing
SANITY IN REVIVALS 95
had been healed instantaneously, &c. His voice
rose higher and higher with the peculiar drawn-out
intonation that always indicates to me demon posses-
sion, and he raved and raved and then began to gabble
in some unknown gibberish, and his arms became
rigid.
" On Monday a woman began to bark like a dog.
Another went off into hysterics and fainted. She then
rose up and with a fixed stare and arms rigidly
stretched out, began to wander round the room,
creeping and gliding like a snake. She remained in
this state twenty minutes, and one said to me, " She
has a familiar spirit, and it is all of the devil."
Then the woman glided back to her seat.
" A coloured girl then pushed to the front and sang
a hymn all by herself. One felt that too was of
the enemy.
" I can trace much here to what has gone on in the
* tongue ' meetings where the enemy has got in,
and the devils seem to have cleverly simulated the
work of God, and these people, being nearly all
of them ignorant of their Bibles, are easily led
astray.
" 1 have been thinking a good deal about this
demon possession, and considering that here the
heathen are pouring in, Chinese, Japanese, and
Hindoos, and have brought their heathenism, and
the idols are here, and the demons are behind
them. It is becoming a residence for demons. At
San Diegos a great colony exists, led by a Mrs.
96 CHRISTIAN SANITY
Tingley, who is the head of a cult for the worship
of Isis, where she has a temple for this. The
inner life and practices are never shown."
This movement, with its tongues and other signs,
has spread from Los Angeles all over America to
Norway and Sweden, to India as we have seen, and
doubtless to many other parts. Here is a very brief
extract from Pittsburgh, U.S.A.
" What we see here corresponds well with the
general reports from elsewhere. The meetings are
' bedlam,' everything is confusion ; prayers to God
are yelled or groaned or barked or yelped. Now
and then some one gets ' the blessing ' and falls in a
trance-like condition on the floor to remain rigid,
perhaps for hours. Another begins to talk some
sort of gibberish* interspersed with English.
'* Another in a different guttural mumbles and
then gives an interpretation in English. These are
said to have the ' unknown tongues ' of Pentecost.
The people in attendance pay little heed to what is
uttered by these ' tongues ' and their interpretations.
Some are simply curious, others are too engrossed
with their desire to have a trance or an ' unknown
tongue,' to do anything else than groan their
prayers to God for those gifts as evidence of His
favour. Frenzied hugging and kissing and rolling
*One must ever remember that all that is called s^ibberish is
not always so. I heard a woman saying repeatedly " Ah che
chela ma Helo^'' which I thought gibberish, till I learnt that on
the Congo it meant '' Hallelujah to my Saviour,"
SANITY IN REVIVALS 97
on the floor are amongst the evidences that these
poor people are surely under some spirit influence.
And it certainly does not appear to be ' the spirit of
a sound mind ' (2 Tim. i. 7).
" In Los Angeles a woman got this so-called gift of
tongues, and a reputable Chinaman hearing her,
said that he understood her quite well — that she
spoke his dialect of Chinese. Pressed for an inter-
pretation he declined, saying that the utterance was
the vilest of the vile.
" In our judgment the facts justify the con-
clusion that these ' signs ' are of an unholy spirit of
Satan ; that he is now producing a poor counterfeit
for the deception of a class whom he cannot reach
otherwise."
******
Having given, for the sake of juxtaposition,
accounts from India and America of the efforts of
Satan to counterfeit the gifts of the Holy Ghost, it
will be well now to give brief accounts from reliable
eye witnesses of some manifestations which appear
from the fruits of the work, to proceed from the power
of the Spirit of God.
The close and careful study I have been obliged
to give to this question leads me to the conclusion
that those who declare the whole of what is going on
to be of the devil, and those who declare it to be of
God are both alike wrong.
In the first place, as a medical man, I feel that while
much extravagant behaviour can be attributed to
H
98 CHRISTIAN SANITY
mere imitative hysteria, some of the power behind
the manifestations is supernatural rather than patho-
logical in character.
It seems from the evidence that this power is of
two sorts — the genuine and the false. The former
is quite distinguishable from the latter by the godly
and Christian results of real converts from
heathenism, sound in faith and doctrine ; the latter
while exaggerating and caricaturing some of the
outward signs of the power of the Holy Spirit,
fails to produce what cannot be imitated — lives
changed by the power of God.
The task of distinguishing between the two is not,
however, quite so simple as it would appear; because
in many cases where a genuine work of God is going
on, counterfeits are introduced by the enemy. In
other words, while the results of the general mission
work may be of God, many of the accompanying
phenomena may not be.
I will give a few extracts by a reliable eye-witness
I descriptive of scenes, some of which do appear to
proceed from the action of the Holy Spirit.
The origin of this class of work in India seems
to be the Welsh Revival ; that of the other I have
described was Los Angeles, California ; and these are
certainly two very different sources.
" According to the laws of the spiritual kingdom
it was quite in order that the Welsh Revival should
be reproduced on the Welsh corner of the Indian
Mission Field,
SANITY IN REVIVALS 99
"For ten days before the Pariong Presbytery, we
had daily prayer meetings to ask God to send His
Holy Spirit on us in that Presbytery. We felt that
God was very near to us, and had a strong hope of
seeing something wonderful, so went in good
numbers, both men and women. We were not
disappointed, for we saw with our own eyes in very
truth the Holy Spirit descending with power on the
people assembled there. Never had we experienced
such a thing before, and we praise God for it. After
returning we had a meeting in Ranthong at which
nearly all the Christians were present. We told of
the marvellous things the Lord had done at Pariong,
and afterwards, while we were pra3'ing, the Spirit
descended on us also.
" From that day many of our friends are like new
creatures ; they love the services, they love the Word,
they are more earnest in prayer, they love their
neighbours better, and they are bolder and more
active in preaching and speaking the Gospel of
Christ. The heathen wonder at the transformation
of the Christians, and many come to hear the
Gospel."
The following is from another district.
" The next evening, June 30th, while P. R.
was expounding John viii. in the daily prayer
meeting in her usual quiet way, the Holy
Spirit descended with power, and all the
girls began to pray aloud so that she had to
cease talking. Little children, middle-sized girls,
loo CHRISTIAN SANITY
and young women, wept bitterly and confessed their
sins. Some few saw visions and experienced the
power of God, and things that are too deep to be
described. Two httle girls had the spirit of prayer
poured on them in such torrents that they continued
to pray for hours. They were transformed with
heavenly light shining on their faces.
" The news of the Revival in Wales brought
gladness to R. In January, 1905, she told her
pupils about it, and called for volunteers to meet
with her daily for special prayer for a Revival in
India. Seventy came forward, and from time to time
others joined. In June, 550 were meeting twice
daily in this praying Band.
" Prayer continued all night in the various com-
pounds on more than one occasion. The Bible
school was filled with those crying for mercy. Such
repentance, such heart-searching, such agony over
sin, and tears, as they cried for pardon and cleansing
and a baptism of the Holy Ghost ! Then a baptism
like a fire within them came upon them. They
seemed to have their eyes opened to see " the body of
sin " in themselves. Then came a strong realization
of Christ's work upon the cross ; then peace,
followed by intense joy. It often took a soul hours
to pass through all these experiences. The Lord
used the Word greatly, and the work went on rapidly
for three days. Satan was also busy and tried to
counterfeit all he saw. Some who saw the joy
thought they could get it by imitating what they had
SANITY IN REVIVALS loi
seen the others do. Yet the work went on, and thus
early a spirit of prayer and suppHcation for a
Revival in India was poured out like a flood.
"* Perhaps,' says Rev. A. L.Wiley, who chronicled
these experiences, * some will say this is all
imaginary ; but if it has been once experienced, or
witnessed even, no doubt will remain.' He con-
tinues : ' Simultaneous prayer is not confined to the
meetings only. Wherever two or three are gathered
together at all hours of the day or night, there will be a
season of simultaneous prayer. It is not an unusual
thing to awake in the middle of the night, to hear a
roar of prayer in the orphanage or in other places.'
" Is it all real ? To those of us who have gone
through it, this question seems out of place. We
also reply, ' By their fruits ye shall know them.'
Differences of long standing have been made up, and
a beautiful harmony and unity prevail. Restitution
has been made. Silver and gold ornaments have
been thrown into the collecting bag. Those who
were afraid to testify for Christ in public, testify
now with beaming faces. Many who never gave the
message before to the heathen, or who went in fear
and trembling, now go with great boldness and
rejoicing to tell of Him who has changed their lives.
Yes, they have looked unto Him and have become
radiant with His own glory and beauty. Many
although baptized had never experienced any change
of life, had never been converted; but all have
experienced that change now."
102 CHRISTIAN SANITY
A later account says : —
*'One Sunday, as I was coming out of the
Church, after the morning service, I saw some girls
standing near the door of a worker's room. They
seemed greatly excited and wondering. I soon
found out the cause of their wonder. A girl was
praying aloud, and praising God in the English
language. She did not know the language. Some
of us gathered around her in the room, and joined
her mentall}^ in prayer. She was perfectly un-
conscious of what was going on, her eyes were fast
closed, and she was speaking to the Lord Jesus very
fluently in English. I had heard her and some
other girls uttering only a few syllables. Some of
them repeated certain words over and over again ;
some spoke one or more sentences, and some were
simply groaning as if under a great agony of heart
and mind and carrying a great burden of soul.
" So far as I can judge people by their daily
life, I am convinced more and more, that those who
have received the gift of tongues, have been greatly
helped to lead better lives, and are filled with zeal
for the salvation of others, and are given to more
earnest prayer than they were formerly.* The Lord
has been most graciously visiting His children
here for the last two years, and He has blessed
some with this special gift. Many others have not
* We give this judgment of the writer here, but do not thereby
endorse "the gift of tongues" as Divine. As will be seen, it
is too soon for those at a distance to pronounce a judgment.
SANITY IN REVIVALS 163
had this gift, but they have been much blessed in
other ways.
" As a result of this visitation, these people
are beginning to feel their responsibility, to
give the Gospel of Christ to others. They are
doing their work in a very humble way without
being paid for it, and without expecting any reward
in this world. They are magnifying Christ, giving
Him all glory, and travailing in prayer for the lost
souls living around them. They do not act
foolishly, or do extravagant things in their daily life.
They are very humble and unpretending people,
walking in the fear of the Lord. This sort of fruit
is not borne by the branches * of the vine of the
earth,' but is the fruit of the True Vine.
" I have to learn a great deal more than I know
at present, so shall wait upon the Lord, and a^
Him to teach me and lead me as He will. It is
neither safe nor right to say, that every physical
manifestation, and other signs which are appearing
among people visited by the present Holy Ghost
revival are from the devil."
I will now give a very brief account of a remark-
able work in Korea as described by the Rev. Lord
W. Gascoyne-Cecil in The Times. He says : —
" There is in the north of Korea a town called
Pyeng Yang, in which work two bodies of American
missionaries, with ordinary even if rather successful
missions. They had a practice of summoning all
their converts from the country round to come for
104 CHRISTIAN SANITY
ten days in Spring to receive further instruction in
the faith, for the ignorance of professing Christians
is at all times a great difficulty to the missionaries.
This meeting was purely educational. There were
no moving hymns, no emotional speeches.
"The mission chiefly concerned was a Presbyterian
mission conducted by Americans whose Scottish
origin was obvious, not only in their names, but in
every line of their faces and demeanour. Except for
the accent, one would have thought oneself in the
presence of representatives of the cold and canny race
that lives in our northern kingdom, and I only dilate
on this point because it is necessary to separate the
phenomena I am going to relate from those
emotional manifestations of religion with which
most of us are conversant under the name of revival
meetings, and which most of us distrust.
" The meetings held on the first seven days were
common-place. The usual syllabus of instruction was
followed, and at the end of the week, to all appear-
ance, the meetings might be expected to go on as
they always had done till they closed on the tenth day.
But just at the end, to the surprise of the missionary
who was conducting the meeting, one of the Korean
men arose and expressed a desire to speak, as some-
thing was on his mind which lay so heavily on his
conscience that he could no longer sit still.
"This caused a feeling of annoyance to theconductor
of the service, for it was in the nature of an interrup-
tion, but he thought it wiser to give the man leave to
SANITY IN REVIVALS 105
unburden his conscience. The sin turned out to be
merely a feeling of animosity and injury on account
of a fancied slight which he had received a year ago
from the missionary. To settle his doubt the
missionary assured him that he forgave him for his
ill-temper, and then began to say a prayer. He
reached only the word * My Father,' when, with a
rush, a power from without seemed to take hold of
the meeting.
*' The Europeans described its manifestations
as terrifying. Nearly everybody present was
seized with the most poignant sense of mental
anguish, before each one his own sins seemed to be
rising in condemnation of his life. Some were
springing to their feet pleading for an opportunity to
relieve their consciences by making their abasement
known, others were silent but rent with agon}^,
clenching their fists and striking their heads against
the ground, in the struggle to resist the Power that
would force them to confess their misdeeds.
" From eight in the evening to two in the morning
did the scene go on, and then the missionaries, horror-
struck at some of the sins confessed, frightened
by the presence of a Power which could work such
a wonder, reduced to tears by sympathy w^ith the
mental agony of the Korean disciples whom they
loved so dearly, stopped the meeting. Some went
home to sleep, but many of the Koreans spent the
night awake : some in prayer, others in terrible
spiritual conflict.
io5 CHRISTIAN SANITY
*' Next day the missionaries hoped that the
storm was over, and that the comforting teaching
of the Holy Word would bind up the wounds
of yesternight, but again the same anguish the
same confession of sins, and so it went on for
several days. It was with mingled feelings of horror
and gratitude that the missionaries heard the long
list of crimes committed by those whom they had
hoped were examples of righteousness.
"One man confessed a crime not so horrible to their
minds as to ours — viz., that of murdering his infant
daughter ; another confessed a crime worse even to
Korean ears than it is to our own, that of killing his
old and infirm mother to escape from the burden of
her maintenance. A trusted native pastor confessed
to adultery, and of sexual sins both natural and
unnatural there were no lack.
" Not only was there confession, but, where it was
possible, reparation was made. One man sold his
house to repay money he had embezzled, and has
since been homeless ; another returned a wedge of
gold he had stolen years before. Some did not
find peace for many days. One man struggled till
it seemed as if his health would give way, to resist
the power that was forcing him to confession, and
then at last with pale face and downcast eyes came to
tell his sin. He was the trusted native preacher,
and he had misused his position to rob the mission.
He furnished an exact account of his defalcations,
and has since repaid every penny of the money.
SANITY IN REVIVALS 107
** When we reached Pyeng Yang the storm was
over. At the meeting I attended wnat struck me
most was the look of quiet devotion which shone on
many faces. There were no exclamations of
theatrical piety, no reference to a man's own sins and
conversion. The meeting took these for granted.
At first it was feared that the confession of such
heinous sins would injure the Christian body in
the eyes of the heathen ; but, on the contrary, they
were deeply impressed, for they said, " These men
under torture would not have confessed such sins,
how great must be the power of this religion." This
was told me as the opinion of a heathen Korean
expressed to an English layman. Bishop Turner
said that what most impressed him about this great
turning to Christ was that the Koreans as a nation
were not emotional."
Having given these extracts from India and
Korea, I will comment briefly on some of the won-
derful manifestations that have accompanied the
movement, leaving for the moment the special
question of ** tongues."
Taking into consideration the remarkable fact
that these are stories of the direct action of the
Spirit of God upon heathen people of the Far East,
deeply imbued with demon worship, incantations,
and prodigies of all sorts, the first point that strikes
me is the decided sobriety of the narrations ; as
well marked, indeed, as that which describes the
early years of our Lord in the Gospels, when com-
to8 CHRISTIAN SANITY
pared with the weird, sensational, and unnatural
stories that abound in the apocryphal narratives of
His childhood.
In reading the accounts two things at least must
be borne in mind. The first is, that since the days
of Pentecost there is no record of the sudden and
direct work of the Spirit of God upon the souls of
men that has not been accompanied by events more
or less abnormal. It is, indeed, on consideration,
only natural that it should be so. We cannot expect
an unusual inrush of Divine light and power, so
profoundly affecting the emotions and changing the
lives of men, without remarkable results. As well
expect a hurricane, an earthquake, or a flood, to
leave nothing abnormal in its course, as to expect
a true Revival that is not accompanied by events
quite out of our ordinary experience.
The second point is that there is no nation on
earth more narrow in its ideas of what is fit and not
fit, what is proper and not proper, what is legitimate
and what not, than the English ; and none more
slow to comprehend the difference between the East
and the West. This is remarkably shown in the
misunderstanding of what is of the East in the
Bible — and how much there is ! As Dr. Bullinger
and others have so well shown, the Bible is con-
stantly wrongly interpreted, through the utter want
of knowledge and sympathy with the Eastern style
of language and thought that pervades it.
Having then grasped these two points, let us
SANITY IN REVIVALS 109
consider the abnormal (to us) in this work. We
come across dreams, visions, waking visions, and a
good deal of noise and irregular procedure. Attempts
made to introduce greater outward decorum were
apparently attended with no good results, and so
they were abandoned.
There were visional illusions of different sorts,
such as seeing a girl on fire — which, after all, is not very
different from seeing a light shining on a girl's face.
We get wailing, laughter, trembling, visions of
the Saviour, and healing of disease, and intoxication
with joy.
We get also possession of demons, beating of
breasts, and rolling on the ground. We also get
sounds of rushing wind, feelings of inward burning,
and visions of fire.
And really this is about all besides the " tongues."
Some of course, will say it is enough, and others
that it is too much.
It must be remembered, however, that in Belfast
and in South Wales many of us can remember
manifestations at least as remarkable; which in
cases specially examined were demonstrated to be
genuine, and free from fraud or exaggeration.
It may be worth our while briefly to consider these
phenomena. They may be classified as follows : —
Dreams and visions when asleep (See Acts ii. 17).
Emotional actions ) (see many passages in the
Emotional feelings) Gospels).
Possession of demons (See Mark xvi. 17, &c.).
no CHRISTIAN SANITY
Healing of diseases (see Mark xvi. i8, &c.).
Ocular phenomena (see Acts ii. 3).
Auditory phenomena (see Acts ii. 2).
I have set down opposite each one a passage of
Scripture where similar abnormalities occur.
Let us remember, in considering these, that in
India at least, they are commonplaces ; that in
English Revivals they also occur ; and that, above
all, they are not the abnormalities and the marvels
of the movement at all. These consist in changed
hearts and lives, in men and women transformed
from darkness to light in a moment ; and the very
practical demonstration of this by the payment of
old debts, by loving their neighbours, by an entire
alteration of life. Without these real wonders the
cries and visions and dreams would attract little
notice.
What, however, we are particularly prone to as
Anglo-Saxons in the West is, to attempt to dis-
credit the real marvels on account of their (to our
ideas) somewhat unnatural and indecorous accom-
paniments. Now to understand these manifestations
in any way we must know a little, a very little, about
the mind of man and its wonders.
We must understand that the eye of conscious-
ness can see only a portion of our mental thoughts,
emotions, and actions, and that a vast district of
instincts, emotions, and thoughts, remain hidden
from our ken in unconsciousness. It is indeed here
in the unconscious mind that we find the seat of the
SANITY IN REVIVALS m
character, of the personahty, of the ego ; and here i
also is the seat of the new hfe, the sphere of the new I
birth, the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. '
The presence of the Spirit is not the subject of f
direct consciousness. Visions, meditations, prayers,
and dreams, have been undoubtedly occasions of
spiritual revelations.
A clergyman of great experience told me that he
believed that in one-third of the Christian people in
England dreams were connected with their conver-
sion, and it is quite certain that many are thus
influenced.
In view of these facts, what room is left for
amazement or cavil at the manifestations recorded
here in connection with a people so prone to sub-
jective phenomena ?
For we must remember that ocular and auditory
phenomena may be subjective or objective ; and it
really matters little which. The point in all these
wonders is the permanent effect for good that results
in the lives of the subjects of them — and here the
record seems clear. As to the emotional cries and
actions, little need be said, when we remember
how extravagant men may become even in England
in times of deep sorrow or sudden joy. The conduct
of thousands of otherwise sober people was just as
amazing during the Boer war (Mafeking night, &c.).
The Apostle writes of being "beside himself"
with joy, and of " being filled with the Spirit," as
contrasted with drunkennesg,
112 CHRISTIAN SANITY
It will be observed that the seeing and feeling of
fire is probably directly traceable to the prominence
given in all these Revivals in the present day to the
teaching that Matt. iii. ii refers to the Holy Ghost
coming as fire,* and to the hymns addressed to the
*' Spirit of Burning " ; so that undoubtedly the ideas
of all the manifestations and sounds and feelings were
all there in the atmosphere and minds of the people.
Under these circumstances it is quite natural that
an impressionable people should see, hear, and feel,
in accordance with their thoughts. Why even we
may shiver with cold in a warm room if we hear a
graphic account of suffering in the Arctic regions.
Hence I am inclined to believe these records are
true and unexaggerated ; the real marvel being, I
I again repeat, not the manifestations at all, but that
[hidden work of the Spirit which accompanied them
in such power as to transform the men and women
who experienced them into new creatures in Christ
Jesus.
I should like here to say one word about the
"possession with demons."
I think those who know the East cannot doubt
that Satan's power there is beyond all dispute, and
any who have read the painfully realistic pages of
* It is thought by many that v. 12 gives the true interpretation
of V. II. That the work of the Holy Ghost is to " Gather the
wheat into his garner," and that of the fire to burn up the chaff.
It is most important to notice that when Pentecost is foretold
in Acts i. 5 no fire is mentioned, but the Holy Ghost is.
SANITY IN REVIVALS 113
Things as They Are must know how devil-possessed
many in India are. Lunacy is a general word that
covers any departure from sanity, but I think that
at times it covers even more. My experience even
in England goes to show, and I think the experience
of all skilled men directly connected with mental
diseases proves conclusively, that here and there
one comes across a case that is evidently "pos-
sessed " by some evil spirit.
I have seen a marked and special malignity against
God in a lady, naturally of a gentle and reverent
character, with a use of the most abominable words
which could never have been even heard, and a delight
in evil entirely contrary to her life and ways, that
compels one to believe in actual " possession " in
such a case.
With regard to the " tongues," from many quarters
one gets glowing accounts of their use far exceeding
the short extract I have given.
But in view of the facts so solemnly recorded in
Mr. Baxter's remarkable narrative, where we get a
most sober and clever Christian man entirely led
astray by them, believing firmly all the time it was
the Spirit of God, and also the terrible history of
the "tongues" in London in the i8th Century, I
feel one must suspend one's judgment ; it being
quite possible that godly men wholly in earnest
may find later on that they are mistaken. Time is
certainly often required to judge ; all one can say,
that hitherto these "gifts of tongues" have been
114 CHRISTIAN SANITY
sources of great distress and error in the Christian
Church.
In certain cases, as we have seen, there can be no
doubt there is a delusion of the enemy ; but in other
cases, apparently, the question is doubtful, as there
appears at present to have been edification and real
Spiritual blessing. I think, however, in view of
terrible past experiences, the reasonable course is to
defer one's judgment for the present.
I may add one word more which may help some
who rightly find a difficulty in believing many of the
occurrences in a true revival to be of God, It does
not in the least follow, when the Holy Spirit comes
in power in an individual or a meeting, that the
often trying manifestations and actions are of
Divine origin at all. Neither need they be in the least
Satanic. The cries, contortions, trances, &c., may
be merely the natural reaction of the person under
sudden and strange feelings. So that while the
work may be of God, there is not the least need to
suppose that all the manifestations are ; for much
that is human accompanies it. At the same time it
is quite possible that the imitations by Satan which
I have spoken of and will further describe, may
accompany a true revival. One can never, therefore,
even in a genuine work, be sure that all one sees is
of God ; but must be prepared to distinguish
between the Divine, the human, and possibly also
the evil elements present.
A good sovereign is worth twenty shillings at all
SANITY IN REVIVALS 115
times, and its value endures. A false one may pass
current with the unwary once or twice, but is soon
found to be worthless ; and it could never circulate at
all if there were not good ones current at the time. It
is the genuine work that makes the false imitation
possible. It is quite probable that elsewhere genuine
and remarkable manifestations of Divine power have
been seen and borne solid fruit as well as in India.
Only it will always be found that at many such centres
the devil is also active and counterfeits the genuine
work of God as well as he is able.
Of course, time always shows ; for what is not of
God must come to naught in spiritual things ; and
as I have said, in the case of speaking with tongues,
I think there are weighty reasons from the past for
suspending one's judgment.
With regard to these I may add a word from
personal experience. No doubt I was fortunate in
lately being amongst an exceedingly earnest body
of Christian people with an able and quiet and
experienced Christian leader, who did not himself
speak with tongues at all — but who was waiting for the
gift. I attended a long meeting (three hours) and was
much struck with the simple earnest faith of the
people; with their intelligence and joyful acceptance
of the leading articles of Christian faith, the atoning
work of Christ, the value of His blood, of death and
burial with Him, of resurrection life, of the power of
the indwelling Spirit, these all being specially empha-
sized.
ii6 CHRISTIAN SANITY
Not only so, but no one could see them without
a strong impression that there was no conscious
effort to work up any excitement, but that the
whole desire of the meeting was for the glory of
God, and that some of the leaders at any rate were
guarded and watchful against anything of evil
influence.
Having said this, I must add that to me there was
much also that disfigured what would otherwise have
been an exceptionally bright and helpful gathering.
For an hour or more there were low mutterings and
jabberings about the room louder and softer ; sup-
posed I believe to be " tongues," but to me, in
part at any rate, simply uncouth sounds uttered
with great rapidity, and not any real language
at all.
I was told that when the tongues were received at
first by anyone (as a result of laying on of hands) the
person often jabbered incessantly for two or three
days as if practising them, and then got more
orderly ; but at no time was the use subject to his
will or control, as to time or method ; but at times he
could avoid giving audible utterance. I gathered
that as a rule the speaker in tongues had no intelli-
gence of what he was saying.
Those in the meeting also spoke constantly of
tongues and other signs as receiving a " Pentecost,"
and these signs were regarded as oil in the lamps of
the faithful — a dangerous line to take, leading rapidly
to the formation of an exclusive class, and possibly
SANITY IN REVIVALS 117
a denial of true Christianity to those who did not
possess them.
There were also loud shrill utterances in
" unknown tongues " with a very rapid interpretation
repeated twenty or thirty times at great speed, and
also hissing sounds all over the room as the breath
was drawn in sharply between the teeth. Two near
me, a girl and a curate, appeared in a trance for over
an hour, quite unconscious of what was passing.
The girl was saying " li-li-li-li " with great rapidity,
while smiling foolishly, while the curate was earnestly
jabbering at a high speed in guttural sounds ; and
yet I was told that the girl two days before had
given a most touching address, and I had heard the
curate earlier give a short and lucid account of his
experiences.
The final impression on my mind was that these
were good earnest Christian people, who through
perhaps wrong and undue pressing of the value of signs
and gifts, &c., had unconsciously produced these with
more or less success by imitation and action of the
mind. To me the part that was of God was the
joy and simple faith, and the error lay in seeking
these signs and calling them Pentecost. Evil
agencies also were undoubtedly at work and probably
often mistaken for the work of God. Several there
were said to have had "devils" cast out of them;
one being the curate, that very afternoon.
With regard to the power at work, I know
of only three agencies at most that can use
ii8 CHRISTIAN SANITY
the body. There is myself, and then there are the
supernatural powers of good and evil. Respecting
the two latter most people think they know a good
deal ; and the power of the Holy Ghost, or of evil
forces in opposition seem quite familiar to those
who are mixed up with these recent manifestations.
What is not seen nor understood and cannot be
believed, is the extent to which one's own mind can
energize the body without any conscious knowledge
and consent. Such action is continually attributed
to external agencies, but is really from within.
Two things must be understood, first, that the
mind extends far beyond the limits of consciousness
and that the unconscious part has entire power
over the body ; not only in causing and curing
' disease, but in producing under certain conditions,
without the knowledge or will of the conscious
mind, but chiefly as the .result of suggestion —
stigmata or wounds and bruises all over the body,
sometimes in perfect imitation of the five wounds of
our Lord, trances, contortions of all sorts under
emotion, cries and languages not previously spoken,
also mysterious utterances or strange voices, and
many other phenomena well known in spiritualistic
circles.
The best conditions for producing these natural
but rare phenomena are a weakened body, over-
strained nerves, the presence of numbers, concentra-
tion on the desired signs or gifts, strong suggestions
as to possessing them, and powerful influences.
SANITY IN REVIVALS 119
These seemed all present at the meeting I was at ;
and I should therefore be very slow to attribute to
supernatural power, least of all to God's Holy Spirit,
any of the unseemly sights and sounds I witnessed.
In reviewing and considering the various
manifestations of Satan's power in India and
California as compared with those of Irvingism we
at once notice the difference of the atmosphere. In
the narrative of Robert Baxter one cannot but be
stfuck with the reverence and solemnity and close
obedience to Scripture that characterizes it; where-
as in the latter these characteristics are not at all
conspicuous. Mr. Baxter ascribes all his errors to
a want of close attention and obedience to the Word
of God. In the present day, owing perhaps to the
widely-spread scepticism, the Bible is more lightly
esteemed, and there is by no means the same
reverence or distrust of one's own judgment as
there was fifty years ago. The result is that the
spirits in this last manifestation do not seem either
so subtle or so reverent as in the old days.
There can be no doubt that in both cases it is
the same class of people who are deceived ; as also
in the eighteenth century. Earnest godly people,
who are ever eager to hear and to know about the
latest sensation in religion, and who, having
embraced the higher teaching, of which I shall
have more to say in another chapter, are eager to
surrender every faculty they possess, if thereby God
may be glorified. They have zeal in abundance ;
120 CHRISTIAN SANITY
all they lack is that quality that is ever at a discount
— discretion.
Large meetings of all sorts, and especially con-
ventions, constitute in themselves a great danger,
however soberly they may be conducted, because
such danger is absolutely inseparable from any
gathering of a large number of people whose
minds are all set in one direction, and in whom the
supernatural element is prominent.
I There is much hypnotic power, both conscious
I and unconscious, in large crowds. Slow, monotonous
singing while bowed in prayer, with constant
repetition greatly favours this. But let me here
remark that religious hypnosis is not necessarily
(an evil; but a power that may be used by God
I for good. It is not of itself evil ; and the
Devil does not originate it. It is a natural
phenomenon, and its value consists in the fact that
when partially or wholly in this condition suggestions
''of all sorts have great and permanent power.
If these suggestions be good and spiritual, real and
lasting good is done. Much more good indeed than
would be possible if there were only a handful in the
j tent or hall. But, alas, all extremes of excitement and
of hypnosis are too easily regarded as sane behaviour,
I and are accepted as of God, provided they occur in
'connection with religious assemblies.
Much danger, however, lies in the strain on the
emotional centres in religious revivals ; and the feel-
ings thus induced too often leaves no permanent
SANITY IN REVIVALS 121
spiritual result behind. The emotions are wrought
upon by constant affirmation, repetition, and the
contagion of crowds.
Positive injury, sometimes of a permanent kind,
results from this surrender of the highest brain
centres to mere emotion.
One should be temperate in all things ; religion
should show itself in a clean life, and in a pure
heart. Sterile emotions are not religion, and may
be as intoxicating as alcohol and even more
dangerous, because they are even more insidious,
and screen themselves under the sacred name of
Christ.
There should ever be a stern rebuke of all religious
revivals, missions, or conventions that deliberately
seek to work up the emotions, with painful or un-
seemly additions.
Much of the curious phenomenal displays in
religious revivals are really the result of hypnotic
suggestions.
These emotional crises resulting in a superficial
" conversion " or ''consecration," and, in joining the
church, too often end in utter indifference in six to
nine months ; some subsequently may be truly con-
verted, but many are not.
In a recent mission over ninety were " converted,"
Two-thirds relapsed in six weeks, and of one-third
received into church-fellowship, more than half
lapsed, leaving thus one-eighth only standing firm.
In the ordinary work at the same church out ot
122 CHRISTIAN SANITY
seventy converted, one quarter lapsed in six weeks,
three-quarters joined the church, and four-fifths
instead of one-eighth stood firm.
Of course many more are converted in revivals in
proportion to the time expended ; but then in many
cases much evil is done by the excitement, the
extravagances, and above all by the subsequent
[relapses. There can be no doubt that chronic
I religious excitement is extremely destructive to
the real higher religious life.
I must now, before I conclude, refer to two
points that I promised to touch upon. The one is
the third requisite for the so-called " outpouring " of
the Holy Spirit as stated by Evan Roberts, and runs
as follows : — " Implicit obedience to the Spirit."
The other is the second of the Keswick requisites, as
stated by Dr. A. T. Pierson, " The surrender of the
will and whole being to Jesus Christ."
It is unnecessary to say these are both good and
true requisites ; but neither must be pressed to
mean an abandonment of one's faculties, under-
standing, sound mind, judgment, and common
sense. These, sanctified by God and in subjection
to the Spirit, must be active and in use ; and it is
the interpretation of "surrender" and "implicit
obedience" to mean the divesting of oneself of every
faculty, that has caused so many to be led astray.
Many will remember the blasphemous arguments
as to the limitations of our Lord's mind owing to
the Kevocn,<^ in Philippians (emptying Himself) being
SANITY IN REVIVALS 123
pressed unduly ; and it seems to me that Christians
are often called upon to empty themselves unduly in
this forced manner without the slightest warrant
from Scripture. Much of the high-flown language of
the present day in connection with this is contrary to
the Word of God, which never asks us to lay aside
our sound mind, our sobriety, our self-control, our
reasonableness, and our judgment ; but to exercise
these faculties in accordance with His Word.
It is the conjunction of hypnotic power with false
doctrine on this point that has done so much harm.
And the distressing part is that it is those who
are most anxious to do right and to follow and obey
God, who, neglecting the caution of the Word, get
into the greatest trouble, while the careless escape.
I would earnestly beg any who read these pages,
and who may attend large conventions and other
scenes of religious power, to be most careful to see
that they are always fully conscious of what they
are doing ; that their will and judgment are active ;
and that they do not give up their intelligence
and power of mind to another human being ; but
that while fully surrendering the direction of their
lives and wills, and opening their hearts to all the
holy influences around, they retain their sane and
quiet minds and judgment. Those who take this
precaution are not liable to be carried away by
excitement or to fall into any of Satan's snares. If
one feels oneself losing self-control and becoming
hypnotized and carried away, it is often better to
124 CHRISTIAN SANITY
leave the meeting, or if one stays, resolutely to
refrain from any action while in such condition.
A great deal of misconception indeed exists upon
this whole question ; and being "filled with the Spirit"
is by many synonymous with bidding farewell to all
one's natural reasoning powers. Such is not the
case. As has been already said in this chapter, our
understandings have their part in the highest con-
ditions of spiritual life ; and the Christian, however
spiritual, is always to remain the sane and sober
man, with his faculties so far from being abolished,
dedicated to the service and glory of God.
This watchful care, together with, when needed,
a real and not perfunctory trying of the spirits as
directed in i John iv. i, 2, will safeguard many who
would otherwise be deceived.
CHAPTER VII
Sanity in the Higher Life
THERE can be no doubt that it is specially in
the developments of Christian life that
care is needed and that difficulties and
dangers abound. As I have said, those
completely dead to the spiritual life cannot shew
any signs of insanity in Christian things. It is
equally true that those who are half dead are seldom
tempted to do so either. It is the wide-awake, the
enquiring, the advancing, the whole-hearted, the
true witnesses and soldiers of the Cross who are
naturally the mark for Satan's arrows, or for his
wiles. As long as we sit in our arm-chairs we can
never take a wrong turning ; it is when we are
pushing on towards our Home along lonely roads
that we are apt to go astray, if we neglect to study
the signposts that our loving Father has placed
along the way.
In the last two chapters I considered some of the
dangers connected with revivals, missions, conven-
tions, &c. Now we will consider the life of the
individual Christian in the more advanced stages of
125
126 CHRISTIAN SANITY
his career, for it is here, as I have said, that the
danger mostly lies.
I will first give a few particulars as to ideals and
objects in the normal Christian life.*
From childhood, of which I have spoken in
Chap, iv., to maturity, the general trend of
development is away from the self-assertive " ego "
centre and instincts, towards God and man, to
spiritual and altruistic activities.
The ideals aimed at by individual Christians, as
ascertained by large statistics, are very different to
what many suppose, and are somewhat as follows : —
The chief ideal is that of doing good to others.
This is the first of all, and is given by more than one
half of the whole number as the chief object in their
Christian life.
To perfect oneself as a Christian is the ideal
with over one quarter.
Complete harmony and communion with God is
the ideal of one fifth.
Those who have altruistic ideals are double the
numberof those whose ideals are egoistic and relative
to self-growth and perfection.
The most prominent thoughts occupying the
minds of Christians are as follows: —
Nearly half have God before their minds most
*It must again be noted here that these facts relate entirely
to the ordinary Christian experience of the average Churchman
or Dissenter. They do not represent ideals, nor results
obtained in special religious circles.
SANITY IN THE HIGHER LIFE 127
of all. One third have Christ ; and about one quarter
the thought of immortality ; while the rest state
that good conduct predominates in their thoughts.
Generally speaking, it may be stated that the
majority of Christians over forty years of age set the
thought of God and good conduct principally before
them.
Dependence, reverence, and praise to God are
ascertained to be the three most prominent Christian
feelings. Faith, happiness, and peace are quite
secondary.
Peace and holiness is the Christian's principal
desire between twenty and fifty, and after that period
the interest in God and others increases, and that in
self distinctly lessens.
As women grow up in Christian life religion of the
intellect as a rational system almost disappears, and
their Christianity becomes more of an emotional
type.
A stable, spiritual maturity is seldom reached
before the stable physical maturity of full man and
womanhood. Some may object to the statistics
given here and in Chapter iv. in connection
with such spiritual matters. They are certainly
novel, but are the sober and true statements of a
large number of Christian men and women who
voluntarily gave their religious experience in answer
to a number of carefully-arranged questions ; and
as far as they go they represent facts, which are
so singularly difficult to get hold of as to the
128 CHRISTIAN SANITY
Christian life ; and I think they are of value, in that
the results differ widely from our common ideas on
this subject. I do not, of course, attach extreme
importance to them; but the light they throw on
conversion and Christian experience is certainly both
interesting and novel, and to some extent instructive.
Now it is when we pass beyond these ordinary
lines of Christian development that danger begins.
The danger is not at all from the advance by natural
growth in the knowledge of God and of Christ and a
steady development on the Christian side of a well-
balanced ordinary life with its round of duties. The
danger really is when some special line of truth,
correct enough in itself, is pressed unduly, and grows
to fill the whole mental horizon.
And this danger is greatly increased if this special
line be enforced by powerful and magnetic teaching
upon it in large and excited gatherings ; or if it be
taught privately to small selected circles of followers
by some favourite teacher ; in either case great care
is needed lest the balance of proportion be lost, and
the soul carried away.
There can be no doubt of the overwhelming power
and blessedness of the sense of the presence of God.
There can be no doubt of the power of the Holy
Spirit in certain gatherings, and there can also be
no doubt of the uplifting power of certain truths
when they are felt and realized in the soul, and
these of course all do good to natures otherwise
sound and sane.
SANITY IN THE HIGHER LIFE 129
Indeed, I may go further and say that I think
the more of spiritual feehng a man can constantly
experience without its becoming an overmastering
excitement, overbalancing the soundness of one's
judgment and unsteadying any of one's actions, the
better for the development of the spiritual nature.
Sanctification is the identification of the ego with
the new life in the Spirit. He that is joined to the
Lord is one Spirit — the Holy Ghost is one with the
believing human spirit.
But this is not at all what is understood by sancti-
fication in advanced schools.
In these the whole nature is searched for any taint
of evil, and all is to be cast out or burnt out by
"fire," and the whole nature "cleansed" until
nothing remains but what is of Divine purity in
the entire man — spirit, soul, body.
With many this is actually pressed so far that the
very breath and sometimes the very blood of the
body is believed to be changed, and to become of
spiritual origin and purity.*
Here, of course, we leave the sound mind just in
proportion as we leave the Word of God, or perhaps
I may say in proportion as we press its words beyond
their evident signification ; which undue straining of
the Word is the origin of most heresies. Few heresies,
* The Scripture <' who shall fashion anew the body of oar
humiliation" (Phil. iii. 21), is behaved by such teachers to
mean that the bodies of behevers are now being physically-
changed, so that in the very words of one, " the whole physical
make-up becomes instinct with Deity.'
130 CHRISTIAN SANITY
if any, were originated by wicked people ; but rather
by the greatest saints, who were beguiled into
making a creed out of a single doctrine, and pressing
it beyond the limits of any sound judgment.
Of course, in all this we must remember the point
that is frequently overlooked. Each Christian is too
often considered to be uniform in character with
all other Christians, and to have no personality
beyond his Christianity ; and it is quite forgotten that
each one carries with him into his Christian life all
his original characteristics. St. Paul, the Christian,
could never be confounded with St. Peter, the
Christian ; and this not on account of the differences of
their Christian growth, but on account of the natural
differences of temperament bet\\een the two men.
So we get some men naturally well-balanced, of
sound mind and judgment. These are they who can
most safely pass on to the greatest spiritual heights.
Then we get neurotic men and women and people
with ill-health and unbalanced minds, all of whom
should understand that they can only approach the
deep things of God with great humility and caution
and sobriety.
It is vaguely thought b}^ those persons who really
do not think at all, that Christianity ought to level
all natural differences. As a matter of fact it does
not do so, and it is because this truth is not under-
stood or heeded, that people get worked up beyond
themselves in conventions, and eventually too often
fall victims to nervous disease.
SANITY IN THE HIGHER LIFE 131
Of course I know that a false idea of " power " and
self-surrender is abroad, and it is thought that only
when a person is carried away and has evidently lost
all will and judgment that the Holy Spirit is really
working. It is not so. The spirit of "power" and
"love" is inseparable from a "sound mind," and
it is the sanctioned divorce between these three that
has led to so much trouble and sorrow.
The time has come when we should emphatically
deny that the culminating or pattern type of religious
experience is a state in which the natural self-control
lapses. Some object to the word self-control and
would substitute "Christ" or " God " control, but
this is only a quibble ; for it is the self that is con-
trolled, the power being the will, energized no
doubt, and directed by Divine power ; and not as so
many would teach, paralyzed and destroyed by the
same power.
We are very eager to grasp the promises of God :
but it must be remembered that something is to be
added to the faith that laj's hold of them ; and it is
not excitement and surrender of one's faculties, but
according to the Apostle (2 Pet. i. 5)— "In your
faith supply virtue, and in virtue knowledge, and in
knowledge temperance " or self control. There
are other qualities, but add these three ingredients
alone to the faith that grasps the promise, and we
shall see no more unseemly excesses.
" What manner of persons ought ye to be ? "
asks the same Apostle (2 Pet. iii. 11) "in all holy
132 CHRISTIAN SANITY
living and godliness ? " in view of the coming judg-
ment. I fear St. Peter would hardly recognize as
features of the higher Christian life much that passes
as such in the present day, so lacking is it in sobriety
and self-control.
I may go further, and say I am fully persuaded that
it is only possible to reach the highest heights if one
has Christian sanity. Witness indeed the Apostle
Paul, who, though he calls himself mad before his
conversion, and afterwards was accounted mad by
Festus, was an eminently well-balanced and highly
educated man. Look at the heights to which he
soared ; study the profound star-depths to which
his spiritual vision extends in Ephesians, mark the
way in which he strains the Greek tongue to the
utmost to try and make it express his sense of the
love and wisdom of God ; and j^et we all feel and
know he never surrendered his self-control. Indeed,
so far from this, he declared that if he did, he himself
would be no longer fit for such high service, but
would as to his work become a castaway.
One finds also amongst Christians great spiritual
attainments combined with perfect sobriety.
Let me give an instance of deep spiritual thought
in one eminently sane. I allude to Dr. Butler, Master
of Trinity College, Cambridge, and I quote from the
Cambridge Theological Essays, p. 585.
" The person of Jesus takes captive one soul after
another with no distinction of rank or race or sex.
It is not the evidence for the truth of the sacred
SANITY IN THE HIGHER LIFE 133
books, it is not the wisdom or the poetry, or the
literary beauty of the words of these books — it is not
these save in a very inferior degree, which draw the
heart and overcome the prejudice or the indifference
of man or woman or child. It is the Person — the
Life — Past, Present and to come — of one Character
m all history — the Lord Jesus Christ, the Jesus of
Bethlehem, of Nazareth, of Capernaum, of Nain, of
Tyre and Sidon, of Bethany, of Jerusalem, of Geth-
semane, of Calvary, of Emmaus, of the early morn-
ing by the Sea of Galilee, of the Holy Mount, of the
Ascension — it is this Person even more than His
sacred teaching who has been the ideal and the hope
of every contrite heart ; it is the Person, whom
having not seen, the poorest, the meanest, the
guiltiest amongst us cannot choose but 'love.' "
" And now may we not add to this lively sense, as
apart of it, and an essential part of it, that adoration,
that joyous pride of prostrate worship which may
almost be called the keynote of the Apocalypse ?
The whole universe (Rev. v.) prostrate at the feet of
Him through whom all things were made, even of
the Lamb, who by His blood brought back . . .
to His Father those that had wandered from the
fold. Is it not the same great vision that haunts and
soothes and humbles and uplifts the minds and the
hearts of all true Christians now ? "
Consider also the great sanity of men foremost in
the Church — of Liddon, of Lightfoot, of Westcott, to
whom I may specially add Dr. Moule, present Bishop
t34 CHRISTIAN SANITY
of Durham ; all conspicuous for profundity of insight
into Divine mysteries, as well as for a childlike faith,
and a character best described by the beautiful word
i'TrteUeLa (sweet reasonableness or gentleness).
Turning to the Mission world, consider the per-
sonal characters of Hudson Taylor, of Paton, of
Moffat, of Carey, of Hannington, of Moody, of
Torrey, of Pierson.
Look at the composition of what is known as the
" Keswick platform " for the last twenty years as
representing the higher spiritual life ; and observe
how carefully, while endeavouring to teach the
highest truths, and give full liberty to the action of
the Spirit of God, every effort is made to subdue
excitement and to do away with any mere emotion,
and to promote reasonableness and self-control.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt when we approach
the mystics that we find the balance more difficult
to hold.
Still, mysticism was the very salt of the mediaeval
church that kept it from going to corruption.
Henry Suso, Tauler, Jacob Boehme, Pascal,
Fenelon, and other "friends of God" all belonged
to this school.
One of the mystics who perhaps most departed
from the Christian sanity of which I speak was
Madam Guyon. She scourged herself with iron
points, and tore herself with brambles, thorns, and
nettles, which she kept on her. She says, " If I
walked I placed stones in my shoes. It was, O my
SANITY IN THE HIGHER LIFE 135
God, what you inspired me from the first to do."
She adored a paper image of our Lord, who held in
his hands little crosses for distribution. She carried
a piece of the " true " cross on her neck. She tried
to annihilate self, and become absorbed in God.
This point is important, as it is now again after 350
years much to the front, not only in orthodox
Christian teaching, but in Christian Science, and
elsewhere. It closely resembles the Quietism of
the heathen.
That which shone forth with such an extra-
ordinar}^ lustre in Madam Guyon's life was the
same light of which Eastern sages had caught a
fleeting glimpse. " It is ancient Buddhism," says
Miss A. R. Habershon, " that teaches concerning
the true Nirvana, that only when the self-centre
is lost, the Divine Spirit can take its place."
A Book on the Quietism of India, written by a
French traveller, Bernier, in Madam Guyon's time
(1688), gives the following description, which is
wonderfully applicable to Madam Guyon's teaching :
" Among the different fakirs or pagan religieiix
there are those who are called Jogees (Yogi's) —
that is to say, saints, ilhimines, perfect, or perfectly
united to the Sovereign Being — to the First and
Sovereign Principle of all things. They are people
who appear to have totally renounced the world,
and who ordinarily withdraw into some secluded
garden, like hermits with a few disciples, who,
modest and submissive, are only too happy to listen
136 CHRISTIAN SANITY
to them and serve them. If food is brought them
they receive it ; if they are forgotten, it is said they
do without it, and that they Hve by the grace of
heaven in fasts and perpetual austerities, and are
sunk in contemplation ; I say sunk {abiines), for they
enter so deeply therein that it is said they pass
whole hours ravished and in ecstacy. Their
external senses appear wholly inert, and they
maintain that they see the Sovereign Being as a
living and indescribable Light, with a joy and
satisfaction inexpressible, which is followed by a
contempt of and total detachment from the world."
A great deal that is popular to-day is founded
upon Madam Guyon's teaching as well as on her
practice, and particularly with regard to self-
crucifixion.
She says : " We never lose ourselves in God save
by total death, the mortification of our own
intellect, and our * own ' will, commencing by the
loss of our ' own ' activities. This is never effected
without profound prayer, no more than the death of
the senses will ever be entire without profound
concentration joined to mortification."
But the Bible never teaches that we are to crucify
ourselves, nor does God call for the death of the
senses. The Epistles teach us that believers have
BEEN crucified with Christ* ; it is past, an accom-
* Observe Gal. ii. 20 reads : "I !iave been crucified with
{(TvaTcwpoco) Christ"; Gal. vi. 14.: "The woj?ld /;a//i iee;t cruci-
fled unto me" ; Romans vi. 6 : "Our old man was (or has
^een) crucified with hin»."
SANITY IN THE HIGHER LIFE 137
plished fact, and we are to reckon ourselves dead.
Experience must come from fact, and not fact from
experience.
It has been pointed out that if we were able to
crucify ourselves, we should be alone on the cross ;
our Lord is not there. He was taken down from
the cross, buried, and on the third day rose again.
In union with Him, we rose too, and are called
to live in " newness of life " : we are not hanging
upon the cross, and we are never told to try and i
kill ourselves. Our senses, our powers, our will, our j
every faculty, are to be consecrated, not killed.
It has been well said that when we cease to
" reckon " we have to " mortify." If we do not reckon
ourselves to have died with Christ, sin will reign,
active sins will be the result ; and these are the mem-
bers which we are told in Col. ii. 5 must be mortified.
And yet from the lips of honoured teachers of
this higher life we get such exhortations as to " Take
our position as crucified," "Accept crucifixion in
Christ," " Escape to a place in Christ on the cross,"
&c., all of which, though well meant, puts, as an
optional Christian experience, that which the Word
of God gives us as a fundamental fact, true of every
child of God, and not a matter of attainment at all.
Tauler, of Strasbourg, gives us a conversation with
a beggar which I may repeat here as illustrative of
true Christian mysticism : —
Tatder. I give you good day.
Beggar, I never have a bad day.
138 CHRISTIAN SANITY
T. God give you a happy life.
B. I thank God I am never unhappy.
T. Never unhappy ! What do you mean ?
B. Well, when it is fine, I thank God ; when it
rains, I thank God ; when I have plenty, I thank
God ; when I am hungry, I thank God. Since
God's will is my will, and whatsoever pleases Him
pleases me, why should I say I am unhappy when I
am not ?
T. But what if God were to cast you into hell ?
How then ?
B. And if He did, I should have to embrace
Him with the arm of my faith and the arm of my
love ; and I would infinitely rather be with Him there
than anywhere else without Him.
T. But who are you ?
B. I am a king.
T. A king ! Where is your kingdom ?
B. In my own heart ; for Thine is the Kingdom
and the power and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
This "practice of the presence of God "was Jeremy
Taylor's third instrument for holy living.
Another who understood it and from whom we
learn much was Nicholas Herman, known as
Brother Lawrence, a peasant monk in Paris, who
lived at the same time as Madam Guyon, but from
whom he differed so widely in practice. He says :
" There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet
and delightful than that of a continual conversation
SANITY IN THE HIGHER LIFE 139
with God. It is not necessary for being with God
to be always at church ; we may make an oratory in
our hearts, wherein to retire from time to time to
converse with Him in meekness, humility, and love.
When we come to love God we shall think of Him
often, for our hearts will be with our treasure."
We are told he was always " pleasing himself" in
every condition, by doing little things for the love of
God. He was more united to God in his outward
employment than when he left them for devotion in
retirement. He began to live as if there were none
but God and he in the world. He walked before God
simply in faith, with humility and with love, and he
applied himself diligently to do nothing and to think
nothing which might displease Him. He had a
habitual silent and secret conversation of the soul
with God, which caused in him so great joys and
raptures that he was forced to use means to moderate
them. A week before his death he said " I hope
from God's mercy the favour to see Him within a few
days."
Here then is the utmost possible exaltation of
soul and communion with God combined with
Christian sanity ; for he was a very hard-working
servant — a remarkably good cook and a good judge
of wine, which he always had to buy for the community.
Sanity, I submit, is compatible with the deepest
spiritual exercises of which the soul is capable, pro-
vided they be natural and not forced nor contrary to
the teaching of the word of God.
t4o CHRISTIAN SANITY
In the Holy Communion the soul is sometimes
so carried away as to be quite oblivious of things
around. H. Ward Beecher writes : " There are
times when it is not I that am talking. When I
am caught up and carried away so that I know not
whether I am in the body or out of the body,"
which corresponds closely with the experience of
Evan Roberts and many others.
There are few mj'stics but have been at times quite
unconscious of being in the body ; but even this
exaltation does not necessarily imply undue excite-
ment or extravagance of any sort.
The presence of God gives the very deepest joy
that the human heart can ever know. It gives the
highest spiritual exaltation and boundless happi-
ness, and it is in this connection that the Apostle is
obliged to speak of being " besids himself." It
produces the most perfect and indescribable con-
tentment, trust, and peace. The soul feels abso-
lutely impregnable.
But it has also other sides in the experiences that
flow from it.
It produces perfect calm and quietness. He that
believes does not "make haste." There is great
sobriety and the absence of all excitement.
The language of the man who walks with God is
wonderfully restrained and rational, and above all
perfectly natural.
There is very little talk about God, but there is
profound and manifest reverence. Above all there
SANITY IN THE HIGHER LIFE. 14I
is a deep and strong sanity and self-control and
sobriety, and soundness, and gentleness. In fact all
the traits in which God delights. He Himself pro-
duces, without effort on their part, in His children
by the fact of His enjoyed presence in the soul.
The truest sanity is in Christians ; for they alone
can survey the whole of life past, present, and future,
and not be afraid ; but are filled with the peace and
with the serene intelligence that contact with the
Divine gives to the soul.
They fulfil Browning's lines,
" Trust God, see all, be not afraid."
Moreover their lives are sane and full of good
works. To be under the guiding eye of God con-
sciously and constantly, to see Him alwaj/s before
us, is to have Him even at our right hand, so that
we cannot be moved.
I might of course say very much more, but I
think I have said enough to show that the greatest
enjoyment of the highest privileges and communion
are all compatible with sanity. Indeed to suppose
otherwise were to make God the author of confusion.
It is not so.
The man whose whole being is in harmony with
itself and with God is the man who is furthest
removed from folly of mind or action.
But we must remember there are counterfeits and
imitations everywhere, and that the devil always lurks
beneath the shadow of the Church.
CHAPTER VIII
The Wiles of the Devil
STUDENTS of Scripture are well aware that
Satan is termed the God of this world. They
know (2Thessalonians and the Revelation) that
he will 3^et become the Antichrist, indwelling in some
human being. It only remains for him to usurp the
place of the third person of the Trinity — the Holy
Ghost. And this appears to be his special role at the
present day, and in Irvingism and similar delusions.
The Person and work of the Holy Spirit have been
specially prominent in Christian doctrine of late
years, and this is undoubtedly Satan's point of
attack, in simuktting the energy and work of the
Holy Ghost.
In Spiritualism, which is not all charlatanism,
there is reason to believe that evil spirits have posed
as those of departed friends, but now we get them
speaking with the voice and authority of the Spirit
of God.
Not only so, but in any mystic cult, in every
thought-healing centre, in Christian Science and in
all the new theology teaching, even in the cult of
112
THE WILES OF THE DEVIL 143
Isis in London, and other strange faiths, the Bible
is everywhere freely quoted and referred to and
apparently honoured. The one thing that is not
done is to make confession of "Jesus Christ
come in the flesh," which St. John points out is
the test no evil spirit can stand; in short the
revelation of our Divine Saviour in human form in
His birth, death and resurrection. The operations of
evil spirits are very various, and well adapted to
different minds and faiths ; but they have one point
of union, denial of the Person and work of the Son
of God in some form or other.*
There seems reason to believe that quite apart
from a human liability to sin, and proneness to err,
we get in religion, special temptations amongst
Christians to sins, which are one and all utterly alien
to the spirit of Christianity. It is quite remarkable
under the name of religion what enmity, strife,
jealousy, wrath, factions, divisions, heresies, envy-
ings, lying, malice, hypocrisy, and hatred abound
(Gal. v. 19).
One cannot but think that the promotion of these
evils is the work of the enemy ; as the sowing of
the tares among the wheat. There seem to be
specially devised snares set for Christians at every
stage of their life.
*It is true that in the Irvingite movement there was a mere
verbal assent to the phrase "Jesus Christ come in the flesh,"
but further examination showed that doctrines denying this were
taught.
144 CHRISTIAN SANITY
The dead level easy-going Christian is already
overcome by sloth and inertia, and needs no
further attention. He will never give much trouble
to the enemy.
The Christian of "open and inquiring mind" is
agog for new vagaries and ideas of every sort, and
greedily swallow^s the latest new thing in theology,
which is carefully prepared for his consumption.
The "doctrinal " Christian is the prey of various
heresies, mostly consisting in truths distorted in
different ways, and used as centres for dispute and
division.
The emotional and "higher-life" Christian is
however the one for whom most snares are set,
and it is utterly futile for him to dream of being
" able to stand against the wiles of the devil," unless
he closely obeys the Apostle's detailed direction for
the conflict as given in Eph. vi. 10-18. The whole
armour of God, every piece of it, is needed ; and
above all the sword of the Spirit which is the Word
of God, and the attitude of prayer.
I think the most careless one who reads this
passage must be struck by the tremendous nature
of a conflict that requires such elaborate armour.
The Christian's danger of course begins with his
progress, and his attempts to make good his footing
on high and holy truths, and in short to fit himself
entirely for the service of God.
I have already indicated some of the subtle
dangers that beset his path. There is that con-
THE WILES OF THE DEVIL 145
nected with " full surrender " when pressed, as was
the Kevocrt<; (emptying) of our Lord, far beyond its
Scriptural meaning.
There is the misuse of crucifixion, as an active
voluntary process instead of an accomplished fact.
There are many errors connected with the power
and work of the Holy Spirit.
Special caution is needed with regard to all
miraculous, or partly miraculous gifts such as the
gift of tongues, prophesying, healing the sick, &c., all
these being easily and freely counterfeited by Satan.
Respecting the gift of tongues I should like to say
a word here. It has been pointed out to me that it
is at least very doubtful whether the miraculous
gifts of apostolic da3's were intended to be con-
tinued. There was a very special reason for pro-
phesying and speaking by the Spirit when the
churches had no Bible and Christians were veritably
like children. Now we have the full Bible and the
need is not the same (See i Cor. xiii. 11).
All miracles have been for special seasons only.
The miracles prepared for the deliverance of Israel
from Egypt were not needed in the wilderness.
Those in the wilderness ceased when the Jordan
was crossed. It would not have been according to
the mind of God had they prayed ever so long and
earnestly for the pillar of cloud to lead the tribes to
their various inheritances. It had served its purpose
and ceased to exist, and if we examine into the gifts
of tongues we may find something very similar.
K
146 CHRISTIAN SANITY
It is remarkable in the first place that there is no
mention of them in Ephesians, Philippians,Colossians,
Timothy, Titus, Epistles of St. James, St. Peter, and
St. John, all written subsequently to Corinthians. We
must, in looking at these questions, have some idea of
the various dispensations and what belonged to them ;
and I think a close consideration of the tongues will
show they were specially employed when God finally
gave up His ancient people and turned to the
Gentiles.
St. Paul tells us that the gift of tongues was " for
a sign ... to them that believe not," and his
quotation from Isaiah xxviii. ii, 12, clearly shows
that these were not unbelieving Gentiles, but the
unbelieving Jewish nation. It is very significant
that it is at Corinth we hear so much about
them. If we turn to the history of the founding of
this church (Acts xviii.) we find that it corresponds
with one of the great crises in the book of the Acts
when the Jews once more rejected the Gospel.
"They opposed themselves and blasphemed" and
Paul therefore said, " Henceforth I will go unto the
Gentiles." He left the synagogue and went next
door to the house which joined " hard to the
synagogue," and there, " Many of the Corinthians
hearing, believed."
It was in this church thus formed that the "gifts "
were so abundantly manifested, and for a special
reason. The Jews in the adjoining synagogue must
have heard of them, and had they understood Isaiah
THE WILES OF THE DEVIL 147
xxvili. would have known that these tongues were a
sign from God that he had taken up the Gentiles.
No such state of things is found to-day. But to
pass on.
There is a special danger connected with erroneous
teaching concerning the second coming of Christ.
In every outburst of evil teaching the Second
Advent has been prominent, and if Satan is to
come forth eventually as Antichrist, one can under-
stand how he could misuse the special truths to
serve his own purposes. There is also great danger
attaching to the pressing of Christian perfection
beyond scriptural limits.
And connected with this. Is there not great
danger in a teaching which makes those who embrace
these doctrines into a special class with special
privileges, such as being those who alone will be
taken away at our Lord's coming ?
Such a doctrine is peculiarly subtle in its results, as
those who are left behind at this time can still regard
themselves as Christians and as such form a body of
worshippers of one who will present himself to them
as Christ, but who in reality is Antichrist.
The " rightly dividing " the word of truth by
means of a knowledge of the various dispensations
is in itself another safeguard against error.
With regard to meetings of all sorts, special
dangers may be pointed out, only it is my earnest
wish while forewarning the unstable not to deter any
from seeking every blessing God has to give them.
T48 CHRISTIAN SANITY
No one, therefore, must imagine for a moment that I
do not fully appreciate the value of religious meet-
ings, because I point out certain dangers which may
lie in them for some, if watchfulness and care be
not exercised.
In the first place we must remember that in all
great crowds assembled with a special object,
particularly if it be a religious one, there is a strong
hypnotic power absolutely inseparable from them,
and not dependent on the speakers. It is just as
common as the exhaustion of the air. Quiet, mono-
tonous singing greatly intensifies this hypnotic
influence, and especially with the head bowed and
the eyes shut — so does prolonged prayer and so do
impassioned speakers — and yet none of them nor all of
them together are in themselves bad in any way ;
and as I have said, God can use the power of crowds
to His glory just as He can use the quietness of the
closet. It is only that one has to be on one's guard
against mere ephemeral emotion. I may give an
illustration of this.
I remember well in one of Moody's great meetings
in the East of London I was sitting behind a remark-
able-looking man in the after-meeting, and I
entered into conversation with him — while the choir
on the platform was crooning in low plaintive tones
the words "Come to Jesus, come to Jesus." After
a while he said, " I would rather you did not say
more to me now, for I shall come to no decision at
the present moment. I feel I am carried away just
THE WILES OF THE DEVIL 149
now, and not master of myself, and should not like
to decide on such an important matter in my
present condition," Two days afterwards he called
to see me at the London Hospital, and told me his
whole life had been changed and that he was now an
earnest Christian. But, he added, it was no words of
yours that did it. It was the endless repetition of
that choir ; I could resist the call a dozen times, but
I could not stand it for a hundred ! I found he was
the head of an eminent firm of City lawyers, and a
very clever man.
Now this shows two things, his recognition of his
emotional state and his desire not to build on that ;
and at the same time God's use of the undoubted
hypnotic power of the low monotonous repetition of
the choir.
All manifestations of supernatural power are of
course very upsetting to the mental balance, and
here we must once more repeat that wherever God
begins any great work it is simultaneously counter-
feited or corrupted by evil agencies. In the teaching
at such assemblies there are certain points that may
awaken caution in the hearer; such as earnest and
persistent calling and praying for gifts and miracles, a
neglecting of the foundations of truth, and as I have
said, special teachings respecting the Second Advent,
all of which have been much employed by the enemy*
Secret teaching and initiation, despising and
* This caution must not lead us to regard Second Advent
teaching, which is so greatly needed, as of danger in itself.
ISO CHRISTIAN SANITY
ignoring other Christians of different sects, the
formation of special coteries and circles, working up
of excitement and forcing of testimony, abnormal
physical manifestations, incoherences and mysticism
are all practices that should be avoided.
In the present day it must not for a moment be
imagined that if teachers are men of pure and
righteous lives, exhibiting the fruits detailed in
Galatiansv. and well instructed in the Bible, that it
is of itself sufficient proof they are of God.
It is now the day of 2 Cor. xi. Satan is now an
" angel of light," and little else : his ministers are
" ministers of righteousness," and stern denouncers
of immorality.
It is useless hunting for Satan only in the vicious
purlieus of the City, when he may occupy the
fashionable pulpits and preach sound ethics.
I may add a few further cautions even at the risk
of some repetition.
Never surrender consciousness, a sound mind, a
good understanding, self-control, a reasonable gentle
disposition, and general sanity. God uses and
sanctifies these gifts of His for His praise and glory ;
He does not abolish them.
There must be sound common sense in full
activity, combined with humility, reverence, and
submission to God's will.
To be emptied of self, including almost an
annihilation of all reasoning and intellectual facul-
ties was, as I have said before, much pressed in
THE WILES OF THE DEVIL 151
a recent heresy as true of Christ in PhiL ii. 7, but
is neither true of the Master, nor should it ever
be true of the servant.
Next I would suggest, with regard to any
magnetic speaker whom one is following, a
very careful examination of his teaching respecting
the Person and work of Christ.
I was lunching with an eminent religious teacher
once, who boasted to me of his complete emancipa-
tion from the old and effete doctrine of man's lost
condition, the need of a Saviour, the atonement by
blood, etc., and at the same time said he was agree-
ably surprised to see what an immense circulation his
books had in orthodox Christian houses ; the readers
apparently never noticed that none of the truths on
which their hopes were built were ever found in his
books.
Another point to bear in mind when miraculous
gifts are pressed as essential, is that the passage in
the Bible on which they are chiefly founded is of
doubtful origin* (Mark xvi. 17, 18). It is not,
as most are aware, found in the great manuscripts
at all, and first occurs about the fifth century. It
is, therefore, possibly of no apostolic authority.
Another point to notice is that our Lord's miracles
of healing were not performed with a view to
banishing all diseases, but were for signs ; and more-
over, were not wrought on converts in answer to the
prayers of faith, but on sinners.
* The verses are not found in Sinaitic or Vatican MSS.
152 CHRISTIAN SANITV
The reason the existence of the gifts (prophesying,
tongues, etc.) in the very early Church, I repeat,
appears to be because there was then no Bible ; for
even the Old Testament was exceedingly rare and
hard to get, and of course the New did not exist.
Thus they were as children, and had to be instructed
by the direct voice of the Spirit.
But now we have the full and completed Word of
God, and it would seem that the gifts are no longer
needed {see i Cor. xiii.)
Not only so, but there is a great danger of founding
doctrines, or lines of conduct on the " voice of the
Spirit" instead of on the written word of God,
which is able to furnish the " man of God " with all
he needs. Such " voices " have been the source of
countless errors and grievous sins and immoralities
wherever they have occurred.
It is, I repeat, well to note that there is not a
word about tongues in the other churches : nor in
the instruction to Timothy, Titus, or by St. Peter ;
and the omission is most significant.
With regard to healing, that, too, seemed to
have passed away, at any rate as a practice,
when Israel was finally rejected ; for we find
Trophimus and Epaphroditus left sick, and
Timothy counselled what to take for his dyspepsia.
This may seem trivial, but is all of weighty
meaning.
I may close with a word or two of general
advice.
THE WILES OF THE DEVIL 153
Never rashly pronounce any unusual manifesta-
tions to be of God or the Devil. Wait and see ;
most probably they are mere natural excitement.
If convinced of a supernatural element, prove the
spirit, carefully and thoroughly, as directed in i John
iv. I, 2.
Be very careful in your decision, and never act on
it until some time has elapsed.
Remember how many greater and wiser than our-
selves have been deceived.
At the same time do not denounce what you do
not understand, and speak evil of no man. Re-
member that to attribute the genuine works of the
Spirit to Satanic agency is akin to the " unpardon-
able sin " of the Gospels.*
Great and prayerful study of the Word of God and
close adherence to it is, I am convinced, the best
safeguard when dealing with rare spiritual
phenomena.
Don't follow even the best man into what you
judge as doubtful doctrines or ways. Be fully per-
suaded of all you do in your own mind, and ever
pray earnestly for Divine guidance.
*But there is a great difference I The "unpardonable sin
was the maUcions attributing the Spirit's work to the Devil,
through hatred of heart, and resisting the truth by unconverted
men. No Christian can commit this sin; and an error in
judgment is after all a sin of ignorance ; and the desire and
purpose is good ; whereas in this case it was the evil desire
that prompted the blasphemous utterance.
CHAPTER IX
From a Medical Standpoint
SO far I have used the words sanity and
insanity in the loosest possible way, and one
professionally quite unworthy of a medical
man. But I did so purposely, desiring to
write as a layman to laymen, or rather I would say
as a Christian to Christians. In this last chapter,
however, I wish to treat my subject rather from the
standpoint that comes before one week by week in a
class of people that prove the most perplexing of all
my patients. I am sorry to have to talk about my
own work at all, but it is inevitable. I must draw
upon my own experience if I am to make this
chapter of any use, and I earnestly hope that its
careful perusal and consideration may be helpful in
keeping some who are drifting towards these
insidious dangers of which it treats, out of the
doctor's hands.
It is quite lamentable to see how many Christians
suffer from nervous disorders, and while I hold no
belief that Christianity is in any sense a specific
against disease or a guarantee against accidents, I
do believe that there are a large number who never
151
FROM A MEDICAL STANDPOINT 155
need have been ill at all, had their Christianity been
of the right sort.
I should like to be understood in what I say : I see
numbers of nervous invalids who have become so by
chafing against adverse fate, uncongenial ties,
unkindness, and misunderstanding and neglect,
want of love and sympathy ; or perhaps it may
have been active persecution, misrepresentation, and
slander, loss of money or friends, want of occupation
or of an object or ideal in life, or from monotonous
work or drudgery.
"And surely," you say, "this is enough to
destroy the nerve force of any man or woman."
Yes, it is, but not of any Christian, if he knows how
to meet it aright. A careful consideration of Psalms
xxxi. 19, 20 ; xci. i ; and Isaiah xl. 28-31, and Phil. iv.
6, 7, will reveal that the Christian has a practical and
available refuge from chafing and irritation, from
wear and tear of spirit and nerve exhaustion, that
makes for health, if he only knows how to use it.
Indeed, the picture presented to us in Phil. iv. is
that of a heart actually garrisoned by God, in such a
way that it cannot be reached save through Him ; and
in passing through His grace and love the sharpest
venom loses its poison, and the most malignant dart
falls harmless. It was thus our Lord was kept in
perfect peace of spirit through all the wearing unbelief
and misunderstanding of the little home in Nazareth,
and against the vile slanders (see Matt, xi.) of later
years. And so w^e may be kept if we only will.
iS6 CHRISTIAN SANITY
Nosmall number, indeed, of my patients are afflicted
mentally (like the poor 'bus horses physically) with
" sore necks " from trying to draw the heavy load of
life with collars that do not fit, being lined with
self, and pride, and ambition, Christ in vain cries
to some of us : " Take My yoke upon you and learn
of Me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart." He offers
us His own yoke or collar with which He drew the
load of life, and it can never chafe the neck, because
it is padded with meekness and lowliness of
) heart. No small amount of nerve exhaustion
comes from disappointed pride and unsatisfied
ambition.
Another religious trouble that comes before me
is that of obsession or the " idee fixe.'" This is when
I one idea obtains command of the whole mental
horizon to such an extent as to render the mind
unbalanced, and the conduct unreasonable. Pushed
to an extreme, this becomes monomania. It is
connected with a fixed mental background ; that is
to say, an impossibility of looking at anything, how-
ever different the objects, save from one fixed stand-
point. When this background is absolutely fixed,
the patient is no longer sane.
Obsessed people are impervious to argument,
however reasonable, and are entrenched in their
own ideas. There is an entire absence in them of
that eiTLeUeia, or sweet reasonableness, which I have
adduced as an important sign of Christian sanity.
This of itself does not amoint to disease, unless it
FROM A MEDICAL STANDPOINT 157
renders the person unreasonable in daily life and
conduct.
The most obstinate and worst cases are those con-
nected with religion, and the greatest care should
be taken never to let one single aspect of Divine
truth, or even religious truth alone, entirely dominate
the soul. God should do so, but then His Spirit
leads into all truth, which is many-sided and as wide
as its Author.
I have said much as to the dangers of puberty. I
may add a word here regarding the perils of the
climacteric, and how much want of balance, sudden
obsessions, extravagances of all sorts are found
amongst women between the ages of forty and fifty.
Those of high spiritual attainments may consider
these remarks as on a low plane, and possibly as
" wanting in faith," but they cannot be disregarded
with impunity, for they are the laws of God for the
body.
But I do not write this chapter to speak of the
general relations of Christianity and health, fascina-
ting though the subject be, but only of those whose
nerves or mental balance is upset with regard to
religious matters. I will point out some of the
principal causes, nearly all of which are preventable.
First, as to the body. What practices are likely to
lead to a loss of balance of nerve or mind ?
Want of sleep is one. Many evangelists I know
boast of their power to set all laws of nature aside in
their own case, and for a time they defy them, and
158 CHRISTIAN SANITY
apparently nothing disastrous happens ; but sooner
or later Nature exacts a most terrible retribution,
and the labourer is either permanently laid aside
with illness or broken down for a long period. In
such cases, indeed, where there was a latent weak-
ness or predisposition, reason itself may be lost.
"What!" you ask, "in the service of God?"
Yes, in serving God — with zeal, but not accord-
ing to knowledge. " He knoweth our frame, He
remerabereth that we are dust " ; it is we who
forget it !
Now, have we any warrant to believe that
if we persistently set the laws of Nature at
defiance, God will miraculously interpose and guard
us against our folly ? I do not think so. I quite
grant that there are exceptional times when God
may call His servants to do without their natural
rest, or to deny themselves in some other way, but
these are very special occasions, and one should
carefully see that, after the strain is over, extra rest
is taken to make good the waste. In short, a
sound mind and sober common sense should ever
accompany the most entire devotion to God. But
there are times when one may, with deliberate
purpose, lay down one's very life in God's service if
called upon to do so, as my brother did in China.
But this is far different from the reckless and care-
less and sinful neglect of the natural needs of the
body so often seen in excited revivals and prolonged
spiritual exercises.
FROM A MEDICAL STANDPOINT 159
Neglect of food is another of the practices Hkely
to injure health and nerves. We all know the
important position fasting occupies, both in the
Bible and in the church, and do not for a moment
say the practice should be aboHshed ; for, conducted
with due moderation, it is of great service at special
seasons and on suitable occasions. But what I
wish to point out is the serious injury likely to arise
from the habitual neglect to take sufficient
nourishing food, for I know well that sound thoughts
cannot proceed from an unsound and ill-nourished
brain, and that if food is withheld too long there is
not only faintness, but the thoughts become
disordered, and delusions arise. A.gain, ill-health
comes from neglect of physical exercise, and still
more from want of rest of that part of the brain
which is so actively employed in religious services
and exercises.
He is indeed a wise man who knows the true
value of re-creation, and who, in his intervals of
saving souls and edifying believers, follows actively
some healthy hobby that really has power to occupy
his mind, and that suits his tastes and age.
The best varieties, of course, are those that keep
him in the open air, give him moderate but
sufficient and really active exercise, and contain
enough interest for him to enable the overworked
parts of his brain to lie fallow, while the unused
parts are busily employed.
The great point is that the recreation should be
i6o CHRISTIAN SANITY
as different as possible in its nature and surround-
ings from the ordinary work of his life.
Another great danger that leads to loss of balance
is working at high pressure when convalescing from
any weakening disease, and above all from influenza.
This deadly brain poison requires proper rest, as it
affects the nerve centres almost more than any other.
Another cause of trouble is running the mind
always in the same groove, and ignoring all the other
faculties and gifts with which God may have
endowed us for the sake of that one. Specialists
always tend to be one-sided, and are often ill-
balanced ; and not the less so when the specialism
is religion.
I know the study of Christianity is so lovely, so
absorbing, so vast, as to demand all one's powers ;
and it requires a strong sense of what is right to
oneself, and what is, after all, to the greater glory
of God, resolutely to turn away from it, and to
heartily take up something that develops another of
our faculties. Let me here say a word to parents
to be most careful as to this. However well the
fully-grown brain and matured intellect can stand
the strain of perpetually playing on one string of the
mental harp, there is no doubt that in youth it is
extremely dangerous. Adolescence is a most
unstable time of life, when there are most nervous
sufferers, and when the balance may be lost in every
possible way.
It is also the time, as I have shown, when three-
FROM A MEDICAL STANDPOINT i6i
fourths of all conversions occur, and when religious
exercises abound. It is likewise the period when
the brain itself is most rapidly developing and the
whole organism is changing from that of the boy
and girl into the man and woman. No time in life
requires such careful handling as I have pointed out
in Chapter iv., and all I need do now is to remind
parents to see that their children get a good all
round development for spirit, soul, and body.
With regard to actual disease, I find nearly all
who have lost their Christian sanity are alike in
two respects. They are all "publicans" in their
ready confessions of their sins, real or imaginary,
and all have morbid consciences. One finds
absolutely no Pharisees among them. There is
generally some " unpardonable sin " weighing upon
them, and this is what they describe as the sin
against the Holy Ghost. Not one in a hundred of
them, however, has any idea of the real character of
that awful sin. All peace of mind is of course lost,
the person has deceived himself and others, and
ever and always will tell you endless stories of his
wickedness in thought, mind, and deed. Such
sufferers never seem to overrate themselves, or
exhibit any of the signs of spiritual pride.
So far, you say, so good. Perhaps so, but in prac-
tice I find it easier on the whole to pull a man off a
pedestal than to lift him out of his morbid depths.
In short, my experience is, that whenever Christian
sanity is lost in the medical sense, and the person is
L
i62 CHRISTIAN SANITY
plunged into religious depression or melancholia,
argument and expostulation are absolutely useless,
and to restore such a patient from three months
to a year requires to be spent preferably under the
care of Christian people who can sympathise,
though they never pander to the ailment. The time
should be filled with action, and enforced work
of an engrossing kind, with an utter absence
of all Christian teaching and exercises as far as
practicable.
I have seen cures in the most hopeless and deplor-
able cases (where indeed the sufferer had to be
protected against himself), and therefore I despair of
none. At the same time I must utter the most
solemn warning possible, to those who in God's
mercy have possession of their faculties not to dare
to trifle with them, to avoid all dangerous excesses of
spiritual excitement, to care conscientiously for their
bodies as to food, and rest, and exercise, and change
of thought and work.
Religion and love touch the two deepest emotional
centres in our being, and are the two most potent
exciting causes of loss of mental balance, except the
direct nerve poison of influenza. Of course heredity
is a predisposing cause that must ever be kept in
sight, but it need never give trouble if the life be
ordered wisely.
It is so easy to lose the balance and so hard to
regain it. Indeed, few are ever the same again, and
when I so often meet with devoted servants of God
FROM A MEDICAL STANDPOINT 163
wrecked in mind or body, I wonder whether, after all
this can be the will of God concerning them. I feel
sure many of us would last much longer if we went
a little slower.
Turning now to the morbid conscience, let me
utter a most earnest warning against the manufacture
of an artificial one.
The Pharisees were past masters of this art, and a
pious Jew felt condemned if he ate an egg on a
Sunday, as it was probably laid on the Sabbath,
causing the hen thereby to work on that day.
Hardly less ridiculous are the countless artificial
laws and restraints whereby we seek to regulate one
another's lives as Christians, and do infinite mischief
thereby. I must not dwell on these human laws,
but in certain circles the consequences are terrible,
and I am not overstating the case when I say
deliberately that I know more than one person now
an inmate of an asylum from the direct result of the
artificial over-pressure of a sensitive conscience.
I find far more evils arise from too much conscience
than from too little, at any rate from a medical point
of view ; and I think if more were done in explaining
the law of Christian love and liberty and the " guid-
ance with the eye," instead of manufacturing laws of
bondage, and bits and bridles, a great deal of sorrow
would be prevented.
The narrow Puritan school, necessary as it may
have been at the time of its institution as a godly
protest against the outrageous license of the day, is
i64 CHRISTIAN SANITY
after all no true type of Christianity. Love, not
asceticism, is the spirit of health and sanity, and the
essence of Christianity.
Want of religious balance, especially in women, is
often due to simple ill-health, and not to any error in
Christian training ; and there are many cases of
religious breakdown not due to any religious cause,
but to a weakening of the nerve force from ordinary
illness. It is at a time like this that the value of a
quiet, sane, Christian character comes in, so that the
balance is preserved in the time of weakness ; the
religion in this case being a help and not a disturbing
element.
Amongst medical men religious melancholia is
looked upon as a most hopeless variety of the disease,
and in my experience I have known religious
depression continue for years in the most earnest
Christians, long after every contributory cause of
nerve weakness, etc., had been put right. Of course
this is only natural ; because, as I have said, it is
religion that touches the most profound depths of
our being.
But, you say, why does not God intervene and
save these. His children, from such a fate ? I cannot
tell you why ; all I know is that He who is Infinite
Love and Infinite Justice, and who is our Heavenly
Father, does notf for some all wise and sufficient
reason, always protect His children against their
own foolishness.
Knowing this, it behoves us to see that we
FROM A MEDICAL STANDPOINT 165
use the reason God has given us, and carefully
avoid trifling with, or overtaxing those powers
with which He has endowed us. I feel quite
sure that none of my readers who study and
follow the Divine directions given, as detailed in
Chapter ii., will ever be led, under any plea, into
excesses that may cause them to lose their balance,
and become victims of religious depression.
What, then, is the conclusion of the whole
matter ?
Simply that the path of true glory to God, of
safety for ourselves, and of deliverance from the
snare of the devil, lies in ordering our life by the
Word of God in every detail ; and that neglect of
this may lead us into prolonged suffering and sorrow,
from which we must not expect to be saved by Divine
interposition.
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