Page:The Parable of Creation.djvu/47

Rh problems. We know that the poetic faculty does not build machines, nor the mechanical faculty write poetry. Each faculty does its own work, and when it becomes a controlling quantity, it gives tone to the whole character of the man.

But these are all of the natural mind. They do the work of this world, each in its own sphere. Ascending above them, on a higher mental plane, there is a faculty which takes note of what is above nature. It is the spiritual faculty or mind. When this degree or faculty is in conscious activity, we think of, and interest ourselves in, spiritual things. We leave all earthly affairs its business, its fashions, its domestic duties, its pleasures, and we soar away into thoughts of the supernal. Here comes in our acknowledgment of, and affection for, God. Here we comprehend the immortality of the soul, and see the certainty of a never-ending life beyond the grave. Here we contemplate the exceeding loveliness of a spiritual life, of all those commands which lead to it, of those states of mind which grow happy in its presence. Here we love good and hate evil. Here we reflect upon the goodness of the Lord and realize our trust in Him. Here we worship, praise and pray. Here is our soul's heaven above; while worldly thoughts and states are our earth beneath, This is the firmament which previous to the beginning of our regeneration, when our mind was void