^ How should I describe the relations to each other of these factors of our human fabric ? Should I call the body the sheath of the soul and the soul the sheath of the spirit. So saith the Latin father Tertullian. Or should I say that the body is the organ of the soul and the soul the organ of the spirit ? Or the first the utterance of the second and the second the expression of the third ? What is the body for ? Not for intemperance, not for drunkenness, not for incontinence, not for the greed of avarice :
^ Bishop A. F. W. Ingram, Secrets of SLrength, 211. 8 A. RowlaiKl, Tlic B^irdcri!'. of life, 1 17.
56 A PRAYER FOR SANCTITY
but the body, saith St. Paul, is for the Lord. He is the pro- prietor of it. He is the builder of the body and redeemer of it ; doubly owner of it and twice proprietor, first by creation and then by redemption. His body, pierced on the cross, redeemed ours ; and we were then bought with a price. K then we would live to the Lord who died to make us His own again, let us keep our bodies in temperance, soberness, and chastity ; if we do not He will cast us into outer darkness. But what did I say ? Let us keep the body in order ? Why, the body is the organ of the soul ; the soul rules it with a will, uses it with a will, bids it walk with feet, touch with hand, taste with tongue, speak with mouth, see with eyes. The soul stares and peers through the eyes of a bad man with looks of lust, of pride, of hate : for the eyes of the body are the windows of the soul surveying through them this material world of sun and moon, of mountains and cities : while the hands and feet are the willing servants of the soul, executing its will, doing its bidding and going on its errands. Eyes, hands, feet, tongue, all instruments of unrighteousness to the soul of a bad man, of righteousness to the soul of the good. So then if the soul rules the body, let us keep the body in order. How ? Clearly by keep- ing the soul in order, filling it with good desires, with pure motives, with wise counsels, with noble aims and aspirations : but what was I saying ? Let us keep the soul in order, that through it we may keep the body in order ? Yes, but quis custodiet ipsam custodem ? What is to keep the soul in order ? Why the soul itself is con- trolled by that of which it is the organ and the expression, even by the spirit. So then let each of us fill our highest nature, even the spirit, with good desires, with pure motives, with noble aspira- tions, with lofty thoughts of God's Paradise and the glories of the coming Kingdom. What is this ? That the body may be kept in order by its superior the soul, and the soul kept in order by its superior the spirit, let us each fill his own spirit with good desires ? Let us ? Can we ? Is a man's ego or self outside a man that he should pour into his own spirit good desires, as he would pour water into a cistern ? A man's ego is inside the man, whether it be seated in the soul or in the spirit or in both. Por behind the body is its ruler and director the soul, behind the soul is its ruler the spirit : but behind the spirit of man is what ? Is there no superior? No controller behind that? Why, yes, some unseen power there is that plays the part of King David to the harp and makes the music of the instrument ; that suggests, that inspires, that persuades, drawing to virtue or tempting to vice. An evil power drawing to evil, a good power to good. Certainly behind the human spirit of a good man is that which is akin to it, even
I THESSALONIANS v. 23 57
the Divine Spirit of the unseen Christ breathing into it good desires, pure motives, lofty inspirations, instilKng a steady belief in a better world and a quiet assurance of a blessed immortality hereafter ; shedding meekness, gentleness, purity, charity, a high nature filling with joy and peace a lower kindred nature, like sunshine filling dayhght.^
III.
The Means and the Motive.
1. Though, as we have seen, our own will must co-operate with God's will in our sanctification, yet sanctification is not the result of our own effort. Our text, especially in the original, where emphasis is strong on "God himself," suggests that it is in Him, not in ourselves, that we have hope. This is clearer in the Eevised Version. In the verses immediately preceding the text St. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians as to what they were to do. Then suddenly he turns from the work of the human will to the work of the Divine Spirit, and says, " The God of peace himself sanctify you wholly." And in the next verse he encourages them to believe that this will be so by the declaration, " Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it."