Part 42 (1/2)

And here itletter of her husband, written several ives herto the Christian life, about which there has been no little difference of opinion:

NEW YORK, _April 16, 1879_

MY DEAR FRIEND:--Many thanks for your kind words about Urbane and His Friends So far at least as the aim and spirit of the book are concerned, no praise could exceed its le desire to honor Christ by aiding and cheering some of His disciples on their way heavenward At that tiood deal of discussion about ”the Higher Christian Life” and ”Holiness through Faith” She herself had felt some of the difficulties connected with the subject, and was anxious to reach out a helping hand to others similarly perplexed I do not think her mind was specially adapted to the didactic style, nor was itin that style her pen did not seem to be entirely at ease, or to move quite at its oill Careful stateical distinctions were not her forte And yet her rasp of Christian doctrine in its vital substance was very fir, thephenomena of the spiritual life was like an instinct A purer or more whole-hearted love of ”the truth as it is in Jesus,” I never witnessed in any hu At the saarded as experienced Christians I wish you could enjoy a tithe of the happiness that wasafter evening, she talked over with me the various points discussed in her book, and then read to olden hours indeed--hours in which was fulfilled the saying that is written--_And it caether and reasoned, Jesus His passed with her in such converse, they seelory of the risen Christ Nor aine what else than His presence could have rendered the and blissful

You refer to her fondness for the e debt of gratitude to such writers as Thoen, and others like them in earlier and later times, to whom ”the secret of the Lord” seemed in a peculiar manner to have been revealed, and ith seraphic zeal trod as well as taught the paths of peace and holiness While she riting the chapter on the Mystics, I showed her Coleridge's tribute to thereatly pleased her It is her own experience that she puts into the e's tribute, ”I have no recollection of ever reading this passage till today, but had _toiled out_ its truth for myself, and now set my hand and seal to it” [13] It is for her, too, as well as for himself, that Urbane speaks, where, in answer to Hermes' question, ”Who are the Mystics?” he says:

They are the e of the Church, who usually h the world completely misunderstood by their fellow-men Their very virtues sometimes appear to be vices They are often the scorn and contempt of their time, and are even persecuted and thrown into prison by those who think they thus do our Lord service But now and then one arises who sees, or thinks he sees, soh not of them, he feels a mysterious kinshi+p to them that makes him shrink with pain when he hears them spoken of unjustly Now, I happen to be such a man I have not built up any pet theory that I want to sustain; I aht for any school; but I should be e that I owe much of the sum and substance of the best part of my life to mystical writers--aye, and mystical thinkers, whonet, and say to all who cleave to Hiree with them on every point of doctrine: You love Christ, therefore I love you

Closely allied to her fondness for the Mystics was her delight in the doctrine of the indwelling Christ For more than thirty years it was a favorite subject of our Sunday and week-day talk The closing chapters of the Gospel of John, the Epistle to the Ephesians, and other parts of the New Testament, in which this most precious truth is enshrined, were especially dear to her So too, and for the sa,

O Jesus Christus, wachs in mir--

a hye, and which I do not doubt she repeated to herself many thousands of tiht, of rising above the bondage of ”fralorious liberty of the sons of God, is to become fully conscious of our actual union to Christ and of what is involved in this thrice-sacred union It is not enough that we trust in Hihteousness; He must also dwell in our hearts by faith as our spiritual life The union is indeed mystical and indescribable, but none the less real or less joy-inspiring for all that We want no metaphor and no mere abstraction in our souls; ant Christ Himself We want to be able to say in sublime contradiction, ”I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” And this, too, is the way of sanctification, as well as of rest of conscience For just in proportion as Christ lives in the soul, self goes out and with it sin Just in proportion as self goes out, Christ cohteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost

But as, in her view, the doctrine of an indwelling Christ did not supplant the doctrine of an atoning and interceding Christ, so neither did it supplant that of Christ as our Exareat law of self-sacrifice by which, following in His steps, we also are to be

Such is a brief outline of her teaching on this subject in Urbane and His Friends And from its publication until her death, her theory of the way of holiness reduced itself more andand teaching us how to live, and Christ in the Spirit living in us And this presence of Christ in the soul she regarded, I repeat, as an actual, as well as actuating, presence; mediated indeed, like His sacrifice upon the cross, by the Holy Ghost

But, as ”through the Eternal Spirit He offered HIMSELF without spot unto God,” even so in and through the same Eternal Spirit, He HIMSELF comes and takes up His abode in the hearts of His faithful disciples His indwelling is not a mere metaphor, not a bare moral relation, but the most blessed reality--a veritable union of life and love She thought thatand co this point inbefore her death, she reiterated very strongly her conviction on this subject, appealing to our Lord's teaching in the seventeenth chapter of John

[15]

And this brings me to what you say about the chapter entitled The Mystics of To-day; or, ”The Higher Christian Life,” and to your inquiry as to her later views on the question You are quite right in supposing that while writing this chapter she had a good deal of syher Life” doctrine She heartily agreed with thee of Christ's disciples to rise to a her state of holy love, assurance, and rest of soul than the most of them seem ever to reach in this world; and further, that such a spiritual uplifting may come, and sometimes does come, in the way of a sudden and extraordinary experience But it is never without a history She gives a beautiful picture of such an experience in the case of Stephanas, as ”as gay as any boy,” and then adds: ”Now, the descent of the blessing was sudden and lifted him at once into a neorld, but the preparation for it had been going on ever since he learned to pray”

But while agreeing with the advocates of the Higher Life doctrine in so with therew more decided in her later years The subject is often alluded to in her letters to Christian friends; and should these letters ever be published, they will answer your inquiry her Life” and ”Holiness through Faith” viehich she ly dissented from, related to the question of perfection The Christian life--this was her view--is subject to the great law of growth It is a process, an education, and not a ress e is conditioned by the one that went before: _first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear_ It embraces the whole spirit and soul and body; and its perfect develop the length and breadth, the depth and height of our entire being It is also, in its very nature, conflict as well as growth; the forces of evil h body, soul, or spirit, are very subtle, treacherous, and often occult, as well as very potent; the best man on earth, if left to hiious experience is oodness--the nearer they come to God, the more keen-eyed and distressed are they to detect evil in themselves Their sense of sin seems to be in a sort of inverse ratio to their freedom from its power And we meet with a similar fact in the natural life The finer and more exalted the sentiment of purity and honor, the htest approach to what is impure or dishonorable in one's own character and conduct Such is substantially her ground of dissent froher Life” theory Her own sense of sin was so profound and vivid that she shuddered at the thought of clai perfection for herself; and it seemed to her a very sad delusion for anybody else to claim it True holiness is never self-conscious; it does not look at itself in the glass; and if it did, it would see only Christ, not itself, reflected there This was her way of looking at the subject; and she caard all theories, still more all professions, of entire sanctification as fallacious and full of peril--not a help, but a serious hindrance to real Christian holiness

For several years she not only read but carefully studied the her Life” and ”Holiness through Faith”

doctrines, and her testimony was that they had done her harm ”I find myself spiritually injured by them,” she wrote to a friend less than two years before her death ”How do you explain the fact,” she added, ”that truly good people are left to produce such an effect? Is it not to shut us up to Christ? What a relief it will be to get beyond our oeaknesses, and those of others! I long for that day”

I have just alluded to her deep, vivid consciousness of sin It would have been an intolerable burden, had not her feeling of God's infinite grace and love in Christ been still ory in the ninth chapter of Urbane and His Friends expresses very happily this feeling

There are several other points in her theory of the Christian life, to which she attachedin sorace The cross the way to the crown--this thought runs, like a golden thread, through all the records of her religious history She expressed it while a little girl, as she sat one day with a young friend on a toain and again in her early letters; in one written in 1840 she says: ”I thought to myself that if God continued His faithfulness towardsmore of than the name”; in another written four years later, in the reat lessons of life yet to be learned; I believe Ias I have an earthly existence” And in after years, when it forard suffering, when sanctified by the word of God and by prayer, as the King's highway to Christian perfection This point is often referred to and illustrated in her various writings-- Heavenward and Golden Hours Possibly she carried her theory a little too far; perhaps it does not appear to be always verified in actual Christian experience; but, certainly, no one can deny that it is in har of inspired Scripture and with the spirit of catholic piety in all ages [16]

Another point, which also found illustration in her books, is the vital connexion between the habit of devout communion with God in Christ and all the daily virtues and charities of religion; another still is the close affinity between depth in piety and the highest, sweetest enjoyood

Her own Christian life was to hts and depths of its ohich awed me and which I could not fully penetrate Jonathan Edwards' exquisite description of Sarah Pierrepont at the age of thirteen, Mrs Edwards' own account of her religious exercises after her e, and Goethe's ”Confessions of a Beautiful Soul,” always reminded me of some of its characteristic features If ave any aid and coely due to her And as for ratitude to her as a spiritual helper and friend in Christ was, and is, and ever will be, unspeakable The instant I began to know her, I began to feel the cheering influence and uplifting power of her faith For more than a third of a century it was the ht in ious life Nor was it a human force alone; for surely faith like hers is in real contact with Christ Hied so to live andin love to Christ, that nobody could cohtway re to herself, in the words of an old Irish hymn: [17]

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within ht, Christ at my left, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me Such was her constant prayer; and it was answered in the experience of hter fla and so closely, in ht of her still re about Hiory referred to above is here given:

A benevolent ar-boy in the streets of a great city He took him, just as he was, to his own house, adopted hian to educate him But the boy learned very slowly, and his face was often sad His father asked him why he did not fix his mind more upon his lessons, and why he was not cheerful and happy, like the other children The boy replied that his mind was constantly occupied with the fear that he had not been really adopted as a son, and ht at any moment learn his mistake

_Father_ But can you not believe me when I assure you that you are my own dear son?

_Boy_ I can not, for I can see no reason why you should adopt me I was a poor, bad boy; you did not need any more children, for you had a house full of the for you