the Almighty in imposing penalties for violated law, and in this
lies the sum and substance of all I know regarding salvation. It
is what it seems to me the position of man imperatively demands
for his preservation, for keeping him from the commission of
sin or yielding his heart to that which is evil. If any of us will
carefully study our own selves, turn away from the dependence
Essays and Sermons 459
upon anything else outside of us, lay aside our prejudices, and
carefully examine that which we have known for ourselves, we
will find that there is not a day passes, scarcely a moment in our
lives, that we do not need this kind of preservation, the aid of
some power higher than our own, to keep us from yielding to the
improper promptings of desire, and therefore the commission of
evil, and right here, beloved Friends, to me comes in the beautiful
lesson of the life of Jesus. The reasons I understand that dif-
ferently from the interpretation which has been taught in the world
are these ; Adam was not obedient to the law which God had given
him ; he fell from that state ; he lost his place in Paradise. Others
who followed him also lost their happy condition, not because he
had, but through similar means. A state of idolatry grew up
among the people ; while there was a recognition of the need of a
worship of a higher power; while there was still implanted in
their beings something which naturally taught them that there
must be a dependence upon a power higher than their idols, yet
because that being was invisible to the naked eye, because they
couldn't hold a conference with it with the natural ear, they must
fain make an image of their idea, and this led up to the idolatry
which has so often marked the history of the world. They
were then departing from their original condition, and still God
loved them through all this, still He thought of them, and
adapted His law to meet their condition, continually reminding
them, however, through the prophets, that there was but the one
God and Him only must they serve ; continually drawing their
attention away from the idolatrous worship into which they had
been lapsing. Such was the condition of the world when Jesus
came. Though the Israelites had been brought back from the land
of their captivity, a condition brought about by their idolatrous
worship, and while they had for the time being forsaken the
worship of their idols, there was still the worship of the law ;
there was that which carried their attention to something outward,
and so Jesus was sent into the world to live before them that
perfect life, meeting the temptations and trials that surround the
460 Autobiography of John J. Cornell
human family, tempted in all points, as we are, ā that is, having
the same passions and dispositions, the same propensities, the same
powers with which the natural man is endowed, ā passing through
the temptations you are all familiar with when Satan is repre-
sented as trying to tempt him (which temptations I understand
simply refer to that which was going on in his own mind, hoping
that the human will that dwelt within Him would permit Him
to do something before the world to make them recognize Him
as their king, as their deliverer, as their Messiah), but able to
reject all this and simply carry out the purposes for which He
was sent into the world, to show that there was a possibility that
such a humanity could be controlled by the Divine Power dwelling
in it, in its fulness, for the object for which He was sent into the
world, showing that His salvation lay not in something that was
to be done by something without Him, or something that might
be done by and by, but that He was preserved from the commission
of sin by constant continual obedience to what the Father required
of Him, and so may we be. Such is my faith at least ; such is my
religion. I have never been acquainted with any power that
tempted me except that within my own self. That being properly
used was always good. I might draw example after example to
illustrate this thought, but I am speaking to intelligent people,
who can carry out the thought perhaps just as well as I can. I
ask you to examine it carefully, and see whether you cannot
find a reason within yourselves and within your own lives for all
the temptations you have ever known, and whether, when you
have been preserved from these temptations, you did not find this
preservation by listening to the voice of the Lord, to the higher
power impressing on you what was right for you to do.
I know that in these expressions I would seem to contradict the
popular idea, so long entertained, that Jesus was the Saviour of
the world. I know this thought strikes very closely in some
minds. I realize its force, because of the reverence that has been
paid in the past, and from the educational ideas that have been
entertained, but I must, if I declare anything, declare what I know
Essays and Sermons 461
to be true, though it may strike at some of these prejudices;
though it may be different from that which many have held. I
know how hard it is to break away from our early teachings and
to dissociate in the mind those teachings from that which may
really be true and which we have not heretofore comprehended.
As I often have said before you at other times, I recognize Christ
as the Saviour, but not Jesus. I make a distinction here; Jesus,
the name of the humanity that appeared before men for the pur-
pose of teaching man how to live ; Christ, the power of God, the
spirit of God, as present in the heart of every man and every
woman, to save from evil, to save from sin ; that the Christ
dwelt in Jesus in its fulness, for He had a larger work to perform
than we. He came to live that life before men, coming as their
Messiah, to the Jews. Now Messiah does not mean saviour ; it
means anointed. Coming as the anointed of God among the Jews,
to live before them that practical life, to show them, to prove the
character of His teachings, that by obedience unto what they
knew to be right they would be preserved from the commission
of wrong, and man could be kept from sin, that which kept
him, that which preserved him was the Christ, the power and the
wisdom of God. The Son of God is a spirit. That Christ is
present to-day in our hearts if we allow Him to come there ; that
medium through which God reveals Himself to man and points
to him the path which he has to walk in and which will preserve
him from the commission of evil, is just as present in our hearts
to-day as it was in Jesus. That is the Saviour I acknowledge ;
that is the Christ I acknowledge as my Saviour; the Christ I ac-
knowledge as my Restorer. When I have committed a wrong,
when I have yielded to the influences of passion, when I have dis-
obeyed God's law, I have found in the cool of the day, in moments
of reflection, that spirit of the Lord I call Christ communing with
me, convicting me of my error, and pointing out the path to be
pursued in the future that I may retrace my steps. That I under-
stand to be my Christ, my Saviour, my Restorer, and I have found,
as I have been obedient to it, it has always brought me back again,
462 Autobiography of John J. Cornell
even though sometimes carrying me down into that deep humility
of soul, requiring me to make open acknowledgment of my fault
and of my mistakes. When we remember then, beloved Friends,
that all these things are carried on within us, that each individual
of us is responsible for the evil he commits, that every evil he
knows, so far as himself is concerned, originates within himself, ā
when he becomes conscious of this fact, I claim it will make him
more watchful over his life, he will feel a deeper responsibility
resting upon him for his own happiness. When he can lay the
blame upon another, when he can think that he is placed in posi-
tions where he cannot help himself, because other and more power-
ful influences are seeking to direct his life, he finds a sort of pallia-
tion for the wrong done, and will not make the earnest, zealous
effort to overcome the wrong that he will when he becomes con-
scious that he himself makes his own sin by the transgression of
that which he knew was right. This brings him then to realize
that if he would be preserved from the commission of wrong, kept
from entering into a state of evil, he must, because he cannot by
his own powers or own reasoning, or his own will, thus control
the promptings within himself, be dependent upon a power higher
than his own; it will lead him then to seek for that power more
earnestly, more strongly and more devotedly, that he may be pre-
served from the commission of that which does so much to disturb
and destroy his own peace, and in its effect on those upon whom
he may exert an influence be also detrimental.
When we find that there is within ourselves the power that will
enable us to thus control the promptings of our desires ; that the
Christ is not way off yonder, ā as Whittier so beautifully expresses
it,
" The dear Christ lives not afar,
The king of some remoter star,
Listening at times with flattered ear
To homage wrung from selfish fear;
But here amid the poor and blind,
The lame and suffering, of our kind,
In lives we live, in prayers we pray,
Life of our life, he lives to-day," ā
Essays and Sermons 463
When we realize He is just as universally present in our hearts as
the sunlight that illuminates the whole material world ; we need
not go back to men who lived in the past, nor need we go to
those who are living in the present, however pure may be their
lives, to know what this Christ would have us do to keep us from
the commission of evil; but we will find it right within ourselves
if we will turn there and commune with it. It will lead us so that
though the world may not always understand our actions, while it
may condemn much that we do, yet we may be at peace with God,
and may be prompted to do that which is good in the Divine sight,
although it may not always meet the approval of man.
O, beloved Friends, my heart warms with love toward you, as
you are gathered here this morning; I am not speaking this as a
criticism or to hurt ; but because I want to draw your souls nearer
to God ; I want you to realize in life every day, and I want to
see realized in all men's lives every day, the aspiration of that
beautiful hymn, " Nearer, My God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee," ā
that it may not be simply the sound that is pleasant to the ear, but
the experience of a life, and one that we may find around us every
moment that we live, drawing nearer to God, recognizing His
power and presence within us in our different vocations in life, in
our social enjoyments as well as in our religious ones. While it
will often restrain us from the commission of an act that will dis-
turb our own happiness or interfere with the happiness of others,
it will at the same time give latitude to all that is innocent and
pure and blissful, to all that will enable us to bless ourselves and
to bless our fellow-creatures. By blessing our fellow-beings, we
bless ourselves the more. It enlarges the life; it leads us to do
good, kind acts towards those who are in less favorable condition
than ourselves. It leads us to help those who are in need, and
at the same time to extend a loving feeling and kind, tender sym-
pathy to those who may be in a spiritual condition under a state of
depression, ā the loving influence of a life led always by the Divine,
as is so beautifully illustrated in the life of Jesus, in His going
464 Autobiography of John J. Cornell
about doing good, declaring the truth, even though that truth was
at variance with the professed theology of the day, constantly
doing good to those who would persecute Him and who eventually
put Him to death, ā that I need not show in detail how it will be
illustrated in our own lives in our measure.
O beloved Friends, let our religion become of this practical char-
acter. Let us seek to satisfy ourselves as to what we are, what
we may know, and we will find a vast field in which to employ our
talent. We have God all the time, and we realize day by day there
will be a growing, a deeper and a purer love for God, and a
deeper, a broader, and purer love for man.
Essays and Sermons 465
THE SPIRITUAL RESURRECTION.
" Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it
shall be opened unto you : for every one that asketh, receiveth ; and he
that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."
I have not been unmindful that all over our land, and in fact
in all Christian countries, the present is a day set apart for peculiar
services with the view of commemorating the generally-under-
stood resurrection of Jesus. It is a day, to the Christian world,
of peculiar significance; and yet we who gather here have not
found it our place to take part in these ceremonial observances,
but have gathered in our usual unostentatious way for worship.
And yet it may not be amiss that our thoughts shall be somewhat
turned towards the lessons that are involved in these ceremonial
observances, that we may draw therefrom some spiritual lesson
which may fasten more deeply upon our minds the necessity of an
entire dependence upon a spiritual Christ, knowing Him to have
been arisen in our own hearts.
While the text I have quoted does not seem to have as peculiar
a significance or application toward these ceremonies, it neverthe-
less has an application toward this spiritual understanding, and an
aid to our spiritual advancement, by calling our attention indirectly
to the necessity of a dependence upon the immediate presence of
the Divine Spirit or Christ of God in our own hearts.
To ask that we may receive, to seek that we may find, to knock
that it may be opened unto us, involves first, the consciousness
of our needs ; a consciousness that there is something we do not
have, and which we cannot, by our own unaided powers obtain;
for this passage was designed to teach a spiritual lesson, and is,
so far as I understand it, only applicable to man's spiritual needs
30
466 Autobiography of John J. Cornell
or wants. We are not to receive the things of this world simply
by asking for them; we do not always obtain them by seeking
for them, nor is the wisdom of the world always opened unto us
by knocking. But in our spiritual life it is different. There must
first come the consciousness that we need something more than
we have; that the human powers, however highly they may be
cultivated, cannot give us that which the soul life needs. This
requires of us a humility of spirit, a humbling before the power
that can give ; it demands of us a recognition of a power higher
than our own, ā a power to which we have ascribed the name of
God. And not only a recognition of a power omnipotent and om-
niscient, as we call God, but of a loving Father. We are to recog-
nize that even though we may be conscious we have not done all
we should have done, or have clone that which we should not
have done, yet there is One to whom we can go, of whom we can
ask, whom we may seek for the treasures of His knowledge and
love. We may knock at this door assured that there will be,
in accordance with our varied conditions, our varied needs, an
opening to us.
To those who have not wilfully trangressed a Divine Law, if
there be any such ; who have done the best the}' could under the
circumstances in which they have been placed, in living out the
instructions that have been given them by those under whose care
they have been placed, there will come a time, as there always does
come a time, when there is a consciousness that this instruction
does not meet all the needs of spiritual life. There is a longing
in the soul for a higher knowledge or a clearer perception of the
lines of duty that are requisite to follow. Then comes with this
consciousness the need of asking, ā that means prayer ; ā an earnest
inquiry into our own course of life, the difficulties by which we are
surrounded, the course which may be best for us to enter, by which
we may receive that which we are desiring. It is, in short, an
introversion of spirit, an earnest examination of ourselves, as to
what we are and what we may reallv need.
Essays and Sermons 467
To aid us in this work, the Divine Father has placed within each
one of us a witness for Himself, as we usually term it. We some-
times call it the Inner Light, but we mean the Spirit of God, the
Christ of God, ā the attribute of Deity by which He holds this im-
mediate communion with the souls of the children of men.
When we thus recognize our needs, and become willing to ask that
they be supplied, and at the same time ask with the feeling that
not our will but the Lord's will shall be done, we will assuredly
receive, and receive just that which is needed for us ; just that
which is necessary for us to know, to understand or to do. And
while it may not be just in the line we desire, while it may not
satisfy the ambition of the human mind, yet if we are willing to
receive it, to accept it, to follow it, we shall find it will produce
for us just that condition our spiritual nature most needs, it will
place us in that line of action which will best promote our own
interests and the interests of those with whom we are brought in
contact.
The revelation of that law then is the recognition of that higher
power, or Spirit of God, and brings us to a condition of ex-
perience where we know for ourselves that Christ is risen in our
hearts. Not necessarily as a resurrecting power, for there could
be no resurrection until there was a death, but it is not requisite,
it was not designed by the Father, that man should enter into a
state of death in order to be resurrected, to know Christ arisen.
Death is an abnormal condition, produced by man's transgressions.
Hut along this same line of obedience in the changing from the
government of the powers of the man to the government of the
powers of the Spirit, there is this rising of the Christ in the heart
as a law-giver, a director, and a rewarder, bringing to us happi-
ness, or, in other words, a heaven within us, as the result of our
obedience to it.
Here then we have this blessed promise, as a word of encourage-
ment to us, that when we find ourselves in these conditions, when
we need more light, or a clearer understanding than we have, the
468 Autobiography of John J. Cornell
Christ of God is ready to rise in our hearts and supply all our
needs. And while we may find much help in the use of the instru-
mentalities which God has so kindly given, yet there are periods
when this cannot effect the work for us, ā when there must be a
close affiliation between the spirit of man and the Spirit of God, or
the Christ of God, that in this experience we may realize that
Christ has risen in our heart, and the work of regeneration has
been commenced. It may not be at once fully accomplished ; it
is not always the work of a moment, ā in fact I do not believe it
is ever the work of a moment. No man changes his whole course
of life or whole line of thought in a moment. He may form reso-
lutions at once ; he may see before him what he believes to be the
path of duty, and he may resolve to enter that path. He may
covenant in his heart with this Divine Spirit that in the future he
will follow and be guided by it, but he will find his higher progress
in endeavoring to be obedient to it. He will find that there will be
many times of faltering, if not actual falling, and he will find, if he
continues faithful, if he neither falters nor fails, that there will be
larger and wider openings ; and more and more of the human
to bring into subjection. The law which man is to obey is not
all given at once ; the work is gradual ; ā the Christ risen in the
heart, as we are obedient to it as we follow its directions, as we
receive that for which we are working, makes a work and a de-
mand for more; and this can only be found by a continued life
of humble obedience to what this Christ power opens unto us.
Then again from that condition when the mind is clouded and
darkened by events of life over which it has no control, when dis-
appointments cross our path, when afflictions come, when our
loved ones are removed, or when there come periods of depression,
and we cannot understand why they are permitted, there is an out-
reaching feeling, an earnest desire for that same light, that same
clearness of view and enjoyment of rest that has been known
before. To those then this text applies with equal force, and if
we ask rightly, if there be in the heart the uprising of prayer, not
Essays and Sermons 469
always formulated in words, but in the earnest desire of the heart,
that the Father may, in His own time, remove these untoward
conditions, if there be a willingness to patiently bear until the Lord
shall in His own way remove them, or bring us to that conscious-
ness which shall relieve the pressure of the burden under which
we are resting, we shall find that the Divine Father, by His Christ
within ns will reach this condition, and that our text is quite as
applicable to it as to the other to which I have referred. If He
who numbereth the hairs of our head, without whose knowledge
the sparrow is not permitted to fall to the ground, and who is
ever cognizant of all the souls that He has created, knows the in-
dividual needs of each, and will apply to each just that remedy that
is needful for him ; if there be this humble condition, willingness
to ask, willingness to seek, willingness to knock ā the answer will
be sure.
Then too the text has an equal application to those who have
neglected or refused to be obedient to the law unfolded to them.
These are the wilful transgressors of divine law, who enter into a
spiritual death; these are they who reap the reward or wages of
sin, for this is death. A wilful transgression of a known law ; the
commission of a thing which we know to be wrong, and the
omission of a thing which we know to be right, ā this produces the
death to the soul, the loss of divine life, and consequent unhappi-
ness and misery, ā a loss of heavenly condition, and one from
which men need a resurrection.
As Jesus said further on in His testimony : " He that believeth
on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." If there still be a
recognition, as there will be in the minds of those who have for-'
saken the true instructor, their real Guide, their real Saviour, that
they have done that which they know to be wrong, there is yet a
consciousness that there is a power higher than their own, a power
not only able, but willing, to save. They know from the convic-
tion of what we call conscience, the disturber of their rest and
quiet, that that power is pleading with them : that power is meeting
470 Autobiography of John J. Cornell
with them as it met with our first parents in the garden, and call-
ing in our cool, reflective moments to us in that familiar language,
" Adam, where are thou ? " bringing before us a recognition of our
real state, or what we have lost. Then, in that state of feeling, in
that realization of our needs, in that desire to go back again to
the condition whence we have fallen, to realize again a state of
happiness, we may ask for forgiveness, we may ask for strength
to cease doing the wrong and to strive to do the right. And he
that asketh under these conditions will receive the strength, will
find the power underneath to support, that will enable him to go
through all the baptisms requisite, even if it be the deep humility
of acknowledging his error before men, in order to again know
of this state of life. For this is the Christ that thus communes
with him, that thus shows him his real state, that thus makes him
cognizant of what he has lost, ā who becomes the resurrection, the
risen Christ. He knows in his practical spiritual experience what
is meant by a resurrection from the dead in the spirit life. He
knows that that condition of death into which he had entered
because of his trangression, is removed, and he is brought again
to enjoy the loving kindness and care of an all-loving Father.
Here then, beloved Friends, it seems to me our text reaches
out to almost every condition in which the human family may find
itself placed. A beautiful, encouraging promise, but which re-
quires work on our part ; we cannot sit down at our ease and ex-
pect that the Lord is going to do the work without our co-operat-
ing with Him. There is labor in seeking ; there is an earnest work
in knocking ; there must be abasement of soul in prayer to ask,