his struggle against images in churches. His Capitulare on the
subject is almost a series of sermons, pleading against things
which " dim instead of reveal the light of God's countenance." ^
^ C. L. Marson, The Psalms at Work, 9. 187
i88 THE FOUR ACTS OF RELIGION
2, The fourth and fifth verses contain four acts, those four acts which belong to the birth of the religious life — self-awakening, self-communion, self-confession, and self-abandonment. There is, first, the awakening of self-life to the presence of another law, a moral law which says, " Stand in awe, and sin not." There is, secondly, the communing of the soul with itself, the asking of that momentous question, "Am I in harmony with this moral law ? " There is, thirdly, the recognition of righteousness and the unreserved confession of sin and weakness. Lastly, there is the perception that the consciousness of merit is itself a want of harmony with law, and the soul by an act of self-forgetfulness loses its sense alike of merit and of demerit in the trust of the living God.
^ My soul, wouldst thou reach this blessed conclusion ? Wouldst thou arrive at this final haven of moral peace where thy weakness shall itself become thy strength? Thou mayest arrive at it, but it must be after a storm — a storm whose peculiarity shall be its inaudibleness to any ear but thine. Ere thou canst reach the final rest thou must enter into communion with thyself, must examine thine old nature in the stillness of solitude. Thine must be a struggle with thine own thoughts — a struggle where there is no clang of arms, but whose soreness lies in its very silence. How still is that communion which thy God requires of thee ! " Commune with thine own heart " ; what converse so silent as that ? " Thine own heart " ; not the heart of another. The heart of another would give more companionship, but it would give less test of truth. Thou mightest compare thy righteousness with the righteousness of thy brother, and go down to thy house rejoicing, and yet all the time thou mightest be in discord with the moral law of God. Only in thine own heart canst thou see thyself truly reflected, therefore it is with thyself that thy Father bids thee commune. " Commune upon thy bed " ; not alone with thine own heart, but with thine own heart in the stillest locality — in the silence of the midnight hour, where there is no distraction, and where there is no deception. There thou shalt learn what it is to be an indi- vidual soul. In the world thou art taught to forget this ; thy little life is swallowed up in the crowd, and thy moral good or ill seems an indifferent thing. But here the world's judgment is reversed. When thou art alone with God the crowd melts away, and thou art to thyself an universe. Thy very sense of sin reveals to thee the infinitude of thy being. Thy very moral
PSALM IV. 4, 5 189
struggle tells thee that in spite of thyself thou art an immortal. Commune with thine own heart, 0 my soul.^
T[f In Angelica, you have the entirely spiritual mind, wholly versed in the heavenly world, and incapable of conceiving any wickedness or vileness whatsoever.
In Salvator, you have an awakened conscience, and some spiritual power, contending with evil, but conquered by it, and brought into captivity to it.
In Diirer, you have a far purer conscience and higher spiritual power, yet, with some defect still in intellect, contending with evil, and nobly prevailing over it ; yet retaining the marks of the contest, and never so entirely victorious as to conquer sadness.
In Giorgione, you have the same high spiritual power and practical sense; but now, with entirely perfect intellect, con- tending with evil ; conquering it utterly, casting it away for ever, and rising beyond it into magnificence of rest.^
Self-Awakening.
"Stand in awe, and sin not."
1. "Stand in awe, and sin not." This seems to be a little remote from the phraseology of modern religious life. Our vocabulary is of a different type and order. Words like awe, fear, trembling, appear to be almost obsolete. Our speech finds its emphasis in such words as happiness, joy, peace, comfort. The Psalmist throws us back to quite a different plane. " Stand in awe, and sin not ! " This man has had a vision of the great white Throne. He has been contemplating the terrors of the Lord. He has listened to the awful imperatives. He has had a glimpse of the midnight of alienation. He spent his days in levity, as though God and duty were distant and irrelevant trifles. But now his eyes have come upon the whiteness of the Eternal, the unsullied sovereignty, the holiness that would not be trifled with, and his careless walk is sharply arrested. His levity is changed into trembling. His indifference is broken up in awe.
1 G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, 214. ^ Kuskiii, Modern Painters ( Works, vii. 373).
I90 THE FOUR ACTS OF RELIGION
We have seen the experience in miniature, even in the fellow- ship of man with man. One man has introduced a piece of indecent or questionable foolery in the presence of another man, and he has been immediately confronted with a face which chilled his blood and froze his levity into a stilled and wondering silence. No man's life will ever be deepened into fruitful awe if he has not seen similar features confronting him in the countenance of God. " The face of the Lord is against them that do evil." " Woe is me, for mine eyes have seen the King." We have to see the Face if we are to be checked in our frivolity, and if we are to feel our indecencies blazing within us like a destructive fire.