^| You say there is another kind of intelligence that men lawfully respect, which is called shrewdness, or practical acquaint- ance with affairs. But is not that, too, provided for in the New Testament ? Do you suppose it was irrespective of their practical experience among men, that Christ chose His first disciples, the foremost representatives of His truth, from among tax-gatherers, fishermen, tent - makers, and physicians ? Or will you look through literature or biography, or the marts of commerce, or the boards of the exchange, for a shrewder insight into all the ways and windings of human nature than lurked in the sharp eye and wakeful perception of that leading Apostle, who turned the world upside down with his calm hand, carried his points with the dignitaries of provinces, foiled Felix and Agrippa, fore- saw and forearmed himself against all that men could do to him, and in his Epistles tears open even the most cunning wrappages of self-deception with his holy satire, — conquering Greek sophists and Koman disciplinarians with weapons out of their own quiver ?
You instance courage ; and is there not enough of that in that
396 THE CARNAL AND THE SPIRITUAL
pioneering rank of the " noble army of martyrs," whom there was no dungeon dark enough to terrify from Jerusalem to Eome, and who would not blench, or even revile or murmur, under all the scourges of Jewry, the whips of dainty Philippi, or the lion's teeth in the Eoman amphitheatre ?
Generosity, you say, is manly; but who will so disown his own reason as to confess he finds no generosity in that faith whose primal lesson is self-sacrifice, whose chosen badge and emblem is a cross, and which was taught and sealed by Him who gave His very life for the life of His followers ?
You mention hospitality; and is not hospitality enjoined, with repetition and emphasis, by both Paul and Peter, as the attribute of saints, the grace of bishops, and the duty of all believers ?
Of patriotism; and who was He that cried, weeping, "0 Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! if thou hadst known how often I would have gathered thy children " ?
Of the taste and love for the beautiful; but whose finger was that which pointed most admiringly, as He discoursed, to the summer glories, the waving wheat and nodding lilies, the trees and lakes and gorgeous skies of Palestine ? — whose eye, that rested with sweetest satisfaction on the affluent and varied scenery ? — whose word, that blended the mystic openings of the sunrise with the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and so taught us how the relish of all that is sublime or lovely should rise at last and culminate in the worship of the Father, even as every manly and heroic quality is perfected only in the soul that is united to the Son ? x
\ In one of the bright books of the day, I find a courageous and impulsive young English fox-hunter saying to a clerical Oxford cousin : " I feel that the exercise of freedom, activity, foresight, daring, independent self-determination, even in a few minutes' burst across country, strengthens me in mind as well as in body. It sweeps away the web of self-consciousness. As for bad company, when those that have renounced the world give up speculating in the stocks, you may quote pious people's opinions. We fox-hunters see that the ' religious world ' is much like the ' great world,' and the ' sporting world,' and the ' literary world ' ; and that, because this happens to be a money-making country, and money -making is an effeminate pursuit, therefore all sedentary sins, like covetousness, slander, bigotry, and self-conceit, are to be plastered over, while the more masculine vices are hunted down by your cold-blooded religionists. Be sure that, as long as
1 F. D. HuutiiiL-ton.
ROMANS vm. 6 397
you make piety a synonym for this weak morality, you will never convert me or any other good sportsman." x
4. One of the strangest things about this character of spiritual- mindedness is the way in which so many people think of it negatively instead of positively. To them, to be a spiritual man simply means to be incapable of the occupations and pleasures which make up most of their own life. There are many of the boldest struggles of ambition and the most applauded victories of popularity of which a man becomes incapable when he takes to himself the new life of spiritual-mindedness ; as the artist, who learns to do sweet and subtle things with his ringers, finds those fingers incapable of wielding sledge-hammers, or lifting blocks of granite. And it is often hard, because of the worship we have for mere capacity independently of the value of the task which it can do, for one to own that his struggle after spirituality makes him incapable of many things which the world thinks it most line and glorious to do. But think of the Divine incapacity of Christ ! We dwell with wonder upon all that He could do, but it seems scarcely less wonderful to think of all that He could not do. He could not turn aside for ease and comfort; He could not covet the world the devil showed him ; He could not be tempted into bigotry or tortured into rage. When we succeed in making Him our standard, we shall know that there are inabilities as glorious and honourable as any ability can be. It is better always to be incapable of cheating and lying than to be capable of chivalrously laying down one's life in some great stress of duty. But there is no less a positive power of spirituality ; and that is most clearly seen in the way in which it brings out the best colours of the best experiences and thoughts of men ; and the growth of a man from un spiritual to spiritual existence is largely witnessed by the way in which his virtues graduate from the partial to the perfect life.