THE moral nature is a unit. One of the wonders of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness is the correlation between the loves and how they impact one another. In the Bible or in healthy human nature, austerity and monasticism have no proper place. There is not the slightest indication in either the Old Testament or the New Testament that the human soul is to reach its full potential apart from its race. The monastic order served its purpose briefly, but it also left behind names like “flowers that flowered in a desert” that the world will never forget. But because it is unnatural and lacks both a foundation in human nature and support from the Bible, it must disappear. It has established a record where miners are! Between the shadows of human weakness and evil, and the light of extraordinary valor and saintliness. The monks faced challenges that made it impossible for them to access the best human aids, which simultaneously exposed them to the dangers that come with breaking any rule set forth by God, whether it be found in his word or in the nature of man. Even though the system is dying, it continues to exist; however, it is doomed, and the experiment will not be repeated. Only through history and poetry will the cloister’s brand of Christianity endure. The Christianity of the future is that which, imitating its Master, goes about doing good, bringing its light into all the dark places of the earth, and, rather than nursing its own reveries in seclusion, brings the knowledge of the risen Jesus and the love of God into every human home and to every heating, aching, yearning, human heart.
It is impossible for religious character to grow really and perfectly in the absence of the social relationships that God has ordered and blessed. The joys of the family above are prepared for by the discipline of the earthly family. The foundation and preparation for the company of the believers in glory are provided by this place’s culture of Christian friendship and the exchange of Christian love. The entire family, both on earth and in heaven, is one.
One family we dwell in Him,
One Church above, beneath,
Though now divided by the stream,
The narrow stream, of death.
One of the wonders and mysteries of God’s grace is the fusion of human and divine love. Nobody can identify where one ends and the other starts. Not only are human emotions employed to symbolize the divine in the Holy Scriptures, but they are also used as its communication route in real life.
A intelligent and skeptic doctor observed the exercises in the altar one evening during a camp meeting in California and commented, “I like to hear your songs; their melody enchants me; and your rejoicings around the altar give me joy; but it is human excitement, sympathetic emotion.”
The response was, “You’re right, doctor. “It is human sympathy, but it is also more than that; it is both human and heavenly. God enjoys turning one into a conduit for the other. So, spirits are transformed. The glorious Spirit of the Lord enters the soul, making it receptive and responsive through the excitation of those aspects of human nature that are as much God’s creation as the soul itself, and that are connected in their essence and action to man’s entire existence and destiny.
He gave me a long, intent gaze before gently pressing my hand and saying:
I appreciate it, sir; I think I have a fresh insight.
He had, too. The fact that man’s moral essence is a single entity and that what we typically refer to as the natural and supernatural, the human and the divine, are actually one system helped him get over a problem that had previously stumped him and thousands of others. It marked a significant turning point in a soul’s journey. Since that time, this guy has been even more firmly rooted in the heavenly realms, to the point that the magnificent and glorious truths of the Christian religion have come to define the sweetness and joy of his life.
In light of these ideas, it is clear that the social instinct serves as both a mechanism for regulating interpersonal interactions and a source of earthly pleasure, as well as a conduit for the heavenly life to enter a willing soul. The exhilarating touch of the Holy Spirit of God causes the same chords that vibrate in response to human sympathy and affection to do so as well.
