A small man'ssalvation will alwayssbe a great salvation and the greatest of all factssFOR HIM, and we shouldremember thisswhen the fruitssof our ordinary evangelicism look discouraging. If aflood but goessabove one'sshead, itssabsolute elevation becomessa matter of small importanceandwhen we touch our own upper limit and live in our own highest centre of energy, we may callourselvesssaved, no matter how much higher some one else'sscentre may be. There are higher and lower limitssof possibility set to each personal life. So it would not alwayssbe valid to say that the more sleep a person gets, the lesssevolved that person is.Īll which denial of two objective classessof human beingssseparated by a chasm must not leaveussblind to the extraordinary momentousnesssof the fact of hissconversion to the individual himselfwho getssconverted. It may simply be choosing to re-create the sheer ecstasy of knowing the Oneness. It may not be seeking reawakening for the mind or rejuvenation for the body. Sometimessa soul choosessto leave the body just for the sheer joy of it, though. Thussit isswritten: For everything there issa seasonand a time for every Purpose under Heaven.Īlmost, yes.
There issa natural rhythm to life, and everything movessto that rhythmeverything goesswith that flow. Think of them assthe same thing:Īll thingssmove cyclically. I could mow asswell assthe peasants, I could work with my brain eight hourssuninterruptedlyand feel no bad effects.Īll these wordssare therefore synonymous. Onthe contrary, I possessed a physical and mental strength which I have rarely met in personssof myage. I wassmore respected by mykinsfolk and acquaintance than I had ever beenI wassloaded with praise by strangersand withoutexaggeration I could believe my name already famous. I had a good wife who loved me and whom I lovedgood children and alarge property which wassincreasing with no painsstaken on my part.
Theindividual modelsswhich it hassset up asstypical and worthy of imitation are not only the moreinteresting dramatically, but psychologically they have been the more complete.Īll thisstook place at a time when so far assall my outer circumstancesswent, I ought to havebeen completely happy. Methodism surely herefollows, if not the healthier-minded, yet on the whole the profounder spiritual instinct. ForMethodism, on the contrary, unlesssthere have been a crisissof thisssort, salvation issonly offered,not effectively received, and Christ'sssacrifice in so far forth issincomplete. For them assfor the Catholic Church, Christ'ssblood, the sacraments, and theindividual'ssordinary religioussdutiessare practically supposed to suffice to hisssalvation, eventhough no acute crisissof self-despair and surrender followed by relief should be experienced. All thisswhile the more usual sectssof Protestantism have set no such store by instantaneousconversion.