Part 1 (1/2)
Subconscious Religion.
by Russell H. Conwell.
Chapter I
Does G.o.d Answer Christians Only?
What might be the consensus of opinion found in a digest of all the testimonies of mankind cannot be surmised, but it did not appear that G.o.d was ”a respecter of persons” through those years of prayer at the Baptist Temple. The prevailing belief, however, was that G.o.d was more willing to answer the sincere disciple than he was to heed the requests of a great sinner. But the fact was also evident that G.o.d does answer the just and the unjust. The a.s.sertion of the blind man before the Pharisees that ”G.o.d heareth not sinners” was evidently a quotation from the Pharisees' creed and not a gospel precept. As all have sinned and come short of the glory of G.o.d, no one would be heard if G.o.d would not hear sinners. Jesus was more inclined to heed the requests of John and Peter than he was to listen to the requests of the sacrilegious Sadducee. But a repentant Sadducee would not be neglected, and the fact is apparent that there is a clear distinction between the influence with G.o.d of a righteous man and the influence of a wicked or a frightened sinner.
Here are a few of the testimonies which have a bearing on this important subject. One hardened sinner was so convicted of his completely lost condition that he spent the night in agony, calling on G.o.d for forgiveness. He was determined to fight the battle alone, but his strength failed and he was certain that he was condemned irrevocably to eternal punishment. His prayer availed him nothing. When, at last, he opened his heart to a faithful Christian friend, that friend's prayer was heard instantaneously, and the seeker knew by an instinct axiomatic that he was received by the Lord.
There is a general belief that G.o.d does hear the pure Christian more readily than he does the vile reprobate. That belief is founded in the moral laws universally recognized in human relations. There may also be a semiscientific reason. The soul which is in tune with the Infinite can more effectively detect and understand the ”sound waves” from the spirit world than the soul which is out of tune with G.o.d. In the ma.s.s of the correspondence about which this book is written there are strong testimonies to the necessity and attainableness of a practical harmony with the Spirit of G.o.d. One man who has been long a teacher of psychology wrote that he had made a deliberate test of the matter, and a condensed report of his experience is here given. He sought ”to place his soul in communion with G.o.d.” He desired that state of spiritual harmony with the divine character which would make him sensitive to every spiritually divine impression. Hence, he prepared himself in this way: he locked himself in his room and gave himself up to the serious business of getting into communication with G.o.d. He began to count his sins of commission and earnestly asking forgiveness; he promised the Lord that he would guard himself against them evermore. He then tried to comprehend the awful list of sins of omission which for a while made him hopeless of G.o.d's favor. But in deep and prayerful meditation, thinking long on the great mercy of G.o.d and of the propitiation Christ had given, he felt his soul slowly emerge from the slough of despond. Suddenly a strange confidence took possession of his soul and a feeling of glad triumph overcame all doubt of his forgiveness. The a.s.surance that he was getting into harmony with the Spirit of G.o.d became complete. He threw himself across his bed and ”let go of himself,” making an absolute surrender to the spiritual impressions.
Into such a state the apostles and prophets must have entered to feel the spiritual impulses and see the visions which they recorded. It as an exaltation of the whole being--a temporarily superhuman experience which may be the state of the soul when released from the body. The joy of that hour of oneness with G.o.d cannot be described to one who has not known it. It is higher, purer, more real than other feelings. It is so unlike any other experience on earth. ”The soul is lost in G.o.d.” The wors.h.i.+per is outside and above himself. Life gleams as a cloud glows in some heavenly morning. Disease, pain, human limitations, care, or anxiety is nonexistent. A pure peace which pa.s.seth all understanding permeates the whole being. Underneath are the everlasting arms; over him is the spirit face of Christ. But why should he try to convey an idea of that growing answer to his prayer? He knows he is with his Lord. But the less he tries to tell his experience the more confidence his unbelieving friends will have in his sanity. That such harmony with the divine is subject to certain laws is seen in the fact that such elevation of soul is gained only by a full compliance with certain conditions. Some of these conditions are found by experience to be those which are laid down in the Scriptures. The seeker must force out of his heart all malice, jealousy, hate, selfishness, covetousness, unbelief, and give himself up to the opposite feelings. We must go over wholly to pure intentions, holy aspirations, truth-living, kindness, forgiveness, love for all, inflexible adherence to the right, and all in all harmonizing with the divine disposition. Pure holiness must be sought, without which no man can please G.o.d. All those who give themselves over to such a state of surrender to G.o.d have the full a.s.surance of faith which is promised to those who love G.o.d with all their hearts and with all their minds.
Such servants of G.o.d can offer prayer which avail much more than the frightened call of the worldly minded, egotistic, and selfish enemy of good people and good principles. G.o.d loves all men with an everlasting affection. But the kind of intensity of his affection for the saint and the transgressor is quite different. Christ loved the priest and the Levite in a true sense, but he loved the Good Samaritan more. He can love and care for his own without encouraging evil. He could not be just and show no partiality for those who obey him fully. He never fails to hear the cry of any contrite heart, but even among the disciples John was especially beloved.
Chapter II
Conflicting Prayers
This chapter leads into the wilderness. Just beyond it is the insane asylum. The most bewildering, confusing, and dangerous region is the mora.s.s of conflicting prayers. No human theory concerning them is even helpful. The labyrinth is absolutely trackless to the human mind when once the wors.h.i.+per becomes entangled therein. So we will not attempt to explain any of the even unthinkable intricacies of its strange region.
Nowhere in the Bible does the Lord answer the questions which millions have asked about it. Two persons, equally sincere, pray for success in a matter where the victory of one must be the defeat of the other. Nations at war pray hard and long for victory, and not even G.o.d can answer both.
Something must be taken from one to give to another, while the one in possession is praying that he may keep it. One's loss is another's gain.
The employer prays for a profit on his business, and the laborer prays for higher wages. The white man and the colored man prays for his own tribe. The Samaritan and Jew, wors.h.i.+ping the same G.o.d and having the same family inheritance, believe it is a duty to hate each other, and each calls for G.o.d's curses on the other. Many an honest investigator has entered this region of doubt and mystery and managed to back out while still in his right mind. But he has returned the worse for the experience. All sorts of foolish speculations have been given creedal expression until men have declared, with strange a.s.surance, that man cannot trust his reason or his conscience in any matter. They have tried to prove that the laws of nature are inflexible and that prayer cannot have any influence whatever in current events. Gifted men and women of culture and high purpose have convinced themselves that there is no evil, that men never sin, that the Bible theories concerning prayer are fanciful and too miraculous to be possible. ”Too much study hath made thee mad,” said the practical Roman to the Apostle Paul. The old Roman had probably seen so many religions that he had no faith in any. The religious maniacs are those men who have broken down their brains by laborious study over these insoluble problems. Therefore, while no one should discourage reasonable research anywhere, and while it is not sacrilegious or foolish to think on these things, it does seem best to admit that to the most faithful Christian there are unsearchable things of G.o.d which he cannot sanely hope to understand in this life. ”My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” We cannot expect to achieve a knowledge as great and extensive as that of the Creator, and must be content with our reasonable limitations. ”What I do ye know not now, but ye shall know hereafter.” Satisfied, then, with the promise of that future full revelation we should study all that Providence places before us for investigation and never let go of what we are sure we do know. We will distinguish, as clearly as possible, between our imagination and our knowledge, and with a level head and our feet on solid ground we will live by a faith that is reasonable and never become blindly reckless.
The lightning struck a tree near a neighbor's residence last week. He knows that to be a hard fact. He does not know much about the electric currents in the atmosphere, neither does the most experienced scientist; but the neighbor knows that the lightning did splinter that tree. From that fact he entertains a faith in a possible return of that event and by faith he puts up a lightning rod on his barn.
The observer notices that sin brings its own punishment in many cases, and he has faith that such will be the universal experience of the future. So he keeps his soul insured by safe and sane investment in righteousness. Every sane man knows that we must at all times walk largely by faith. Faith is a const.i.tuent part of the natural human const.i.tution. The degree of faith determines the character of the individual. Faith, like water, seeks its level. But the greater its safe elevation, the greater its power. Faith must grow reasonably, like a grain of mustard seed. It also develops mysteriously by natural increase until the fowls of the air nest in its branches and its growing root will cleave off the side of the mountain. The patriot, earnestly seeking victory, lets no possible agency pa.s.s unused to overcome the enemy. When he has prepared fully and laboriously for the battle he will then pray for the help which G.o.d may give him. Even should he strongly doubt that the Great Power moving on events beyond his knowledge can or will hear him, yet he will not fail to pray. Any man who calls on the Christian's G.o.d will not ask him to aid an unholy cause. A murderer seeking an opportunity to kill will not call on G.o.d for aid. The thief ever fears some providential interference with his plans. The Christian ever hopes for G.o.d's aid, and asks for it because his aim is a G.o.dly one.
Herein is found the safe position for the believer to take. We can pray for the heathen, although they do pray against their own good. We can pray for victory in some holy war, because the enemy are praying really against their own good. Because their cause is unrighteous, their victory would be a great loss to them. Hence, even the great prayers which sublimely pet.i.tion for the nations, and which include the whole world in their range of vision, are consistent only when man realizes his weakness and his ignorance, and adds to every prayer the reservation, ”nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.”
He is the wisest servant of G.o.d who can pray from the camp that he may conquer if his cause be really just. The preacher who enters his pulpit with an almost agonizing prayer that G.o.d would aid him in his presentation of the Christ to men must ever ask that G.o.d will turn aside any arrow which would do harm to the cause. In his ignorance or weakness he may mistake the Gospel message, or may not present the whole truth, and he must ever ask that, whether he gain or lose in the esteem of his congregation, the truth shall always prevail. Christian nations are often wrong in their diplomacy or in their wars, as they discover after a while. The Lord, therefore, gave them that for which they would have asked had their hearts been right with G.o.d and their intentions been Christlike toward men.
Sometime we shall understand. But now the seeming inconsistency of asking the Lord to aid his own cause, or praying that Christ may soon come into his own kingdom, is ever a stumbling block to the doubtful ones. If the Lord has all power and has a sincere desire to make the world good, why does he not do it by one sweep of his hand or by one magic word? What is the reason for his commandment to pray to him and to ask him to do that which he wishes to do and can do himself? All these questions lead into the wilderness. We do not know. We cannot suggest any hypothesis which would make the sovereignty of G.o.d and the free will of man reconcilable. Man's mind is so constructed that it is impossible to believe that the Creator controls all things and arranges the details of even our thoughts and yet leaves man free to choose to defeat the Lord by his own thoughts and actions. It is impossible fully to believe that man can voluntarily do evil without in some way interfering with the designs and power of G.o.d. If G.o.d undertakes to save the world, and ”would not that any should perish,” but that all should come unto him and live, and yet sinful man can defeat or hinder the accomplishment of his purpose, then the thinker must conclude that G.o.d is not supreme. Yet when we keep our minds within their reasonable limits and fall back on our common sense we must believe that G.o.d is all-powerful and also that man is free to be sinful. The facts are actual facts, although we cannot reconcile them. There is but little we frail mortals can understand about such matters. Let us, therefore, carefully hold to the facts which we can comprehend, and never a.s.sume that things which are, surely are not, or that things which are not, most surely are. There was a bowlder in the highway yesterday. We don't know how it came to be there. We know it should not be there. But there it is, and he would be idiotic who tried to go on as if the stone were not there. Behold! there is set before every man good and evil. ”Choose good that thou and thy seed may live.” We know that in a thousand matters we can choose the good or choose the evil. We see also that liberty is limited by great laws and there are a myriad of things a man cannot possibly do and about which he has no choice. When a man reaches those limitations his responsibility for choosing ceases.
With these simple facts the teaching of the Bible is fully in accord.
The necessity for sustenance and protection beyond our ability to supply is ever a great apparent fact. The recognition of that fact leads the thoughtful man to prayer. Let us, therefore, have a care not to venture too far into the wilderness of the seeming theological inconsistencies.
That G.o.d does answer men and women, thousands can testify. They have tried it fully. They cannot explain why G.o.d thus works out his complicated schemes, but they know that he does work in that way. It is established fact. The Great Teacher and Saviour also prayed. That is enough.
Chapter III
Subconscious Religion