The Philosophy of the Fall—ii - Chambers, Oswald
The quotations are from the book entitled Theological germanica .
Chapter III
By the fall man not only died from god, but he fell into disunion with himself; that means it became possible for him to live in one of the three parts of his nature. We want to live a spiritual life, but we forget that that life has to work out in rational expression in our souls; or we want to live a clear life in the soul and forget altogether that we have a body and spirit; or else we want to live the life of a splendid animal and forget altogether the life of the soul and spirit. When a man is born again of the spirit of god he is introduced to life with god and union with himself. The one thing essential to the new life is obedience to the spirit of god who has energised our spirits; that obedience must be complete in spirit, soul and body. We must not nourish one part of our being apart from the other parts.
Margins of the spirit (Galatians 5:1924)
The margins of our spirit retain the damage done by the fall, even after sanctification, and unless we are energised by the spirit of god and continually draw our life from god, Satan will come in as an angel of light and deceive us, and the first way he does it is by habits of ecstasy.
(a) habits of ecstasy
Habits of ecstasy, that is, the tendency to live a spiritual life before god apart from the rational life of our soul and the physical life of our body. In many a life the idea that creeps in slowly is that we must develop a spiritual life altogether apart from the rational and the physical life. God is never in that type of teaching. There are people we call naturally spiritual people who devote all their time to developing the spirit, forgetting altogether the rational life and the physical life. When we look at them or read about them they seem all right, spiritual and fine, but they lack the one marvellous stamp of the religion of jesus christ which keeps spirit, soul and body going on together. God never develops one part of our being at the expense of the other; spirit, soul and body are kept in harmony. Remember, our spirit does not go further than we bring our body. The spirit of god always drives us out of the visionary, out of the excitable, out of the ecstasy stages, if we are inclined that way. This blind life of the spirit, a life that delights to live in the dim regions of the spirit, refusing to bring the leadings of the holy spirit into the rational life, gives occasion to supernatural forces that are not of god. It is impossible to guard our spirit, the only one who can guard all its entrances is god. Never give way to spiritual ecstasy unless there is a chance of working it out rationally, check it every time. Nights and days of prayer and waiting on god may be a curse to our souls and an occasion for satan. So always remember that the times we have in communion with god must be worked out in the soul and in the body.
(b) habits of election of days (Galatians 4:811)
The habits paul refers to here are superstitious habits in which the mind fixes on days, and months, and seasons, and years (rv )on certain days god will bless us, on other days he wont; if i am careful about this and that, it will bring me into the presence of god. The days, and months, and seasons, and years are appointed by god, but the galatians were fixing on them altogether apart from god, and paul says, i am afraid of you, lest by any means i have bestowed labour upon you in vain (rv). Nowadays superstition is growing again, and people are held in bondage to it. Are we in danger of fixing on means other than god for maintaining our spiritual life? Do we put the
Means of grace in the place of grace itself ? If we make devotional habits the source from which we draw our life, god will put us through the discipline of upset- ting those times. You say, god does not upset them in other lives, why should he in mine? Because you are putting them in the place of god. When you put god first you will easily get your times of communion, because god can entrust them to the soul who does not use them in an irrational way and give occasion to the enemy to enter in. When our spirit is awakened by god we must bring ourselves into subordination to the spirit of god and not fly off at a tangent, fixing on days and seasons and ritual, thus giving a chance to the mysterious background of our life that we know nothing about but which the bible reveals, and which satan is on the watch for all the time. The only soul satan cannot touch is the soul whose spiritual life and rational life and physical life is hid with christ in god; that soul is absolutely secure.
(c) habits of enervation by dreaming ( jude 8)
Ecstasy of spirit leads to external ritual in the rational life, and makes the bodily life spend its time in dreaming. The lassitude that creeps over an unhealthy soul produces the physical madness of hysteria. All animal magnetism, all the power of one person over another, and all the hysterics of self-pity that makes some people absolutely useless unless they are in the presence of certain other people, all spring from this source. It begins in a wrong relationship to god first; a real life with god was started, but instead of drawing the whole life from god and working it out through the body, the bodily life is spent in dreams, in fastings, in prayings, and slowly there develops a madness of the nerves, which is what hysteria really is. Hysteria is a physical morbid craving for sympathy from other people, which can go to such an extent that people cannot live apart from certain other people. There is no power of god in such lives. Hysteria is the actual nervous manifestation of fundamental self-pity, consequently it has been regarded for long by the medical world as a psycho-physical disease; it is more a disposition than a disease. In this domain we get the sympathy cures of christian science, i. E. A stronger personality coming in contact with a soul that has got out of touch with god through disobedience can soothe the hysteria of the nerves and inject a cure by its sympathy which has nothing to do with god or with the devil, but entirely to do with the influence of a strong personality over a weak one. Animal magnetism does not come from the devil, but remember that animal magnetism always gives occasion to the devil. In reading the records of french physicians, who used hypnotism in operating in the past more than they do now, case after case is recorded where a good-living physician used hypnotism but always stated his dread and dislike of it, simply because he found that he could never be sure what would happen to the person after the cure had been effected. And to-day we find over and over again that cures are genuine, the disease disappears, but there is a derangement in the life towards god and towards men. In every case of healing by god it comes through a child-like trust in jesus christ. Any man or woman who is inclined to spend their time dreaming when they should be working out actually through the finger-tips what the spirit of god is working in, is in danger of degenerating into those who in their dreamings defile the flesh. God never allows a christian to carry on his life in sections so much time for study and meditation and so much for actual work; the whole life, spirit, soul and body must progress together. Are you forming habits of ecstasy? Beware. Are you forming habits of ritual? Habits of physical dreaming, wanting to get away from the active rush of things? Beware. When we get into the healthy life of god all the margins of spirit and soul and body are merged in a complete oneness with god. . . . That ye may be filled unto all the fulness of god (ephesians 3:19 rv).
(d) habits of envy (proverbs 27:4)
Spiritual envy starts from having got something from god in the way of quickening and then trying to use it in our way, not gods. Spiritual envy is a terrible evil of the soul, and will always follow the tendency to develop a spiritual life apart from the rational life and the bodily life. All kinds of sour distempers will be ours spiritually, we shall be envious of people who are growing in their life with god in ways we are not, and we will have almost diabolical suggestions about them, suggestions we would never have got through our own unaided spirit. Spiritual envy is an awful possibility to any soul who does not obey the spirit of god (cf. 1 corinthians 13:4).
(e) habits of emotions of dread (colossians 2:18)
If we separate the life of the spirit from the rational life, we experience emotions of dread, forebodings and spiritual nightmares in the soul, which are not imaginary but real. The cause is not always to be found in the physical condition, but in the margins of our spirit life. Remember that through the fall man fell into dis-union, spirit, soul and body were separated from one another, that means we are liable to influences from god or from the devil. It is only when we get full of dread about life apart from god that we leave ourselves in his hands. Immediately we try to live a spiritual life with god and forget our soul and body, the devil pays attention to our body, and
When we pay attention to our body he begins to get at our spirit, until we learn there is only one way to keep right to live the life hid with christ in god, then the very life and power of god garrisons all three domains, spirit, soul and body, but it depends on us whether we allow god to do it. God cannot garrison us if we try to live a spiritual life on a life of our own, or if we go off on emotions in our rational life. God never garrisons us in bits. Whenever marrings come to our lives it is because we have got twisted off somewhere, we are not living in simple, full, child- like union with god, handing the keeping of our lives over to him and being carefully careless about everything saving our relationship to him; keep that right, and he will guard every avenue. Kept by the power of god. (f ) habits of exceptional drugging ( jude 1213) there are hidden perils in our life with god when- ever we disobey him. If we are not obeying god physically we experience a craving for drugs, not only physical drugs out of a bottle, but drugs in certain types of meetings and certain types of company anything that keeps away the realisation that the habits of the bodily life are not in accordance with what is gods will. If in the providence of god, obedience to god takes me into contact with people and surroundings that are wrong and bad, i may be perfectly certain that god will guard me; but if i go there out of curiosity, god does not guard me, and the tendency is to drug it over i went with a good idea to try and find out about these things. Well, you plainly had no business to go, and you know you had no business to go because the spirit of god is absolutely honest. The whole thing starts from disobedience on a little point. We wanted to utilise gods grace for our own purposes, to use gods gifts for our own reasoning out of things in a particular way.
(g) habits of enmity (romans 8:7)
The carnal mind is a dangerous power alongside the spirit of god in our personality before identification with jesus christ in his death and resurrection is reached. When a man has received the holy spirit, the watching of satan is keen, his whole desire is to split up the personality. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other (galatians 5:17 rv). The carnal mind is enmity against god, and it is the carnal mind which connects us with the body of sin of which satan is the head, and of which there is ultimately to be a new manifestation (see 2 thessalonians 2:3). Every soul who enters into the experience of entire sanctification limits the body of sin, consequently the great yearning eagerness of the preaching of the gospel is to get gods children to the place of sanctification where spirit, soul and body are one, one personality absolutely ruled by god, where the life of the spirit is instantly manifested in the life of the soul and body (see 1 thessalonians 5:23). If this place of entire sanctification is not reached, there is always that in us which has a strong affinity with the devil, and this is the remarkable thing, we never knew it before we were introduced into the kingdom of god by the initial experience of regeneration; but we find after a while the strong lustful hate of some- thing in us against what the spirit god has put in, and the lust is for one thing i want to dominate this personality.
(h) habits of earnest devotions (colossians 2:2023)
Have we any helps to keep us living a godly life? That is the risk. Slowly and surely god will purify our lives from props that separate us from him. Immediately the means of grace are taken to be grace itself, they become a direct hindrance to our life with god. The means are simply scaffolding for the time being, and as long as they are in their right place they are an assistance, immediately we put them as the source, we give occasion to the enemy. Have we helped our- selves in work for god from any other source than god? Ye are complete in him (colossians 2:10).
(i) habits of extraordinary defying (2 thessalonians 2:912)
a spiritual man or woman going astray can use the extraordinary powers awakened by the spirit of god against god. The only safeguard, and it is an absolute safeguard, is to live the life hid with christ in god. The life that steadily refuses to think from its right to itself, that steadily refuses to trust its own insight, is the only life that satan cannot touch. Watch every time you get to a tight feeling spiritually, to a dry feeling rationally, to a hindered feeling physically, it is the spirit of gods quiet warning that you should repair to the heavenly places in christ jesus. There is never any fear for the life that is hid with christ in god, but there is not only fear, but terrible danger, for the life unguarded by god. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most highonce there, and although gods providence should take you into hell itself, you are as safe and secure as almighty god can keep you.
