RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 137, 11 June 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

PRESENT-DAY OUTLOOK.

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER

FAITH IX THE SUPERNATURAL.

"The Christian Cliaracter, a Supernatural Life," is the title of a helpful article) in a recent issue of a London newspaper. Subjoined are notes taken from it.

Faith in the supernatural is sometimes expressed in such terms that it if difficult to distinguish it from belief in tho magical. Even when this error is. avoided the supernatural is frequently described as if it were concerned only with that, which is beyond the limits of this world. A brief consideration of the Christian character may serve to show more plainly than in any other way how cloeely the natural and the supernatural mar bo allied.

"What does belief in the supernatural imply? There is no reason for identifying it, with that which is merely mysterious or uncanny. Much that we cannot account for has no more relation to tho supernatural than the most obvious things before our ryes. We are not justified in concluding that everything for which it U difficult to find a place in our experience must belong to another sphere than that of the physical order. Wo need not be distressed if it seems impossible to provide an adequate description or definition of supernatural life. Let it, bo sufficient here and now to regard it as life transcending this world of time and and yet operative in human life, which i't purifies, ennobles, and carries to higher attainments and experiences than this world of time and space can provide.

Constant Interaction. T&oiigh we must distinguish, between the natural and the supernatural, we find that they are in constant interaction. It is impossible to draw a line and say: Here is that which belongs to nature, and there, as quite unconnected with it, is that which is supernatural. The poets discern a Divine self-revelation in nature and in human history which have become to them tho manifestation of God's character and the sphere of His action. Tho philosophers have also insisted on this interweaving of the natural and the supernatural life. Tho Christian goes farther than the poets and philosophers by regarding the natural as a means by which and through which, the supernatural becomes effective in human life. Quite independently of any theorie3 with regard to their mutual interaction the Christian believes that here and now he lives in two worlds, and he cannot appreciate his life's worth, or fully discharge tho duties it brings to him, until he recognises in it the close co-operation of the natural and the supernatural in all that makes up hie personality and affects his motives, thoughts and actions.

Lives of the Saints. It nrast be acknowledged that' many men who reject faith, in the supernatural, or give no thought at all to it, manifest virtues which adorn human life with gracious splendour; but it ie not inconsistent with this recognition to affirm that those who believe in the buperna-tural world and rule their lives in the light of that faith read , , a purity and noßllity, with a certain quality of character, impossible for those who live entirely on the natural plane. There are a beauty, strength and completeness in the lives of the eaints, that is in the lives of those which have lived most faithfully in tho power of the supernatural, which give them a special dignity in the hierarchy of human life. They exhibit a character which has its perfection in reliance on that which is supernatural, with its conscious Teeponse to Divine .iction in the soul. It is not separate from the natural, but rather it ■works in and transmutes the natural to a enpernatural purpose. In thie union we find tho source of the Christian character. When men recognise the realities of the supernatural life they find in prayer a communion with God in which they attain an intermediate knowledge of His Will, and learn the truth, about themselves and the world in which their duty lies. They live in the light of the eternal. If we would be assured of the reality of the supernatural we shall find it most clearly in those men and women who, taking their part in this world's duties and sharing all its stress and burdens, evidently live in conscious communion with the Divine Spirit and manifest moat attractively and convincingly the verity of the supernatural life.