C. Holy Obedience—For You? For Me?
Chapter Five
A TESTAMENT OF DEVOTION
Part I
A. A Modern Saint
1. THe Lire or THomas KELLY
2. CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS MopERN SAINT
Part II
B. Five Messages
1. THE Licut WITHIN
2. HoLy OBEDIENCE
3. THE BLESSED COMMUNITY
4. THE ETERNAL Now anp SociAL CONCERN
5. THe SIMPLIFICATION OF LIFE
C. Holy Obedience—For You? For Me?
In the few years since Thomas R. Kelly's
Testament of Devotion was published, it has become a classic of the Christian life, and doubtless will live through the centuries. It breathes the spirit of "holy obedience" and responsive listening to God, and through it flows a deep, pure stream of Christian devotion.
GEORGIA HARKNESS
chapter five a TESTAMENT
OF OEVOTION
PpaRt One — A MOdERN Saint
To you in this room who are seekers, to you, young and old who have toiled all night and caught nothing, but who want to launch out into the deeps and let down your nets for a draught, I want to speak as simply, as tenderly, as clearly as I can. For God can be found. There zs a last rock for your souls, a resting place of absolute peace and joy and power and radiance and security. There is a Divine Center into which your life can slip, a new and absolute orientation in God, a Center where you live with Him and out of which you see all of life, through new and radiant vision, tinged with new sorrows and pangs, new joys unspeakable and full of glory(p. 18).+
These words from a lecture delivered at a Friends' meeting in January, 1938, express the main theme running through the five essays in A Testament of Devotion. One can find and know God, and the results are glory unspeakable. This little book is an appeal and a guide to a completely committed, God-centered, radiant Christian life.
1Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (New York: Harper & Bros., 1941), p. 18. This selection and all others from A Testament of Devotion quoted in this book, AN INTRODUCTION TO FIVE SPIRITUAL CLassics, are used by permission. Succeeding quotations are identified in the text only by the number of the page in A Testament of Devotion on which they appear, as in this instance.
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Speaking not from the pristine enthusiasm of early Christianity, not from the background of the Middle Ages, nor from the realm of Catholic mysticism, nor even from another continent, but out of the scientific, industrial, war-ridden, materialistic world of today, Thomas Kelly insists with passionate earnestness: Each one of us can live such a life of amazing power and peace and serenity, of integration and confidence and simplified multiplicity, on one condition—that is, 7f we really want to(p. 116).
Few indeed are the great devotional books. The majority of those available have come out of the experience of Roman Catholic saints of long ago. Eagerly then, we turn to this modern devotional classic written from a Protestant background, American in authorship, addressed chiefly to Quaker audiences, but with a universal appeal to Christians of all communions and nationalities. When it appeared in 1941, it was widely acclaimed by the religious press as meeting a long-felt need, ranking with the best in religious literature, ancient and modern. Ministers and church leaders were urged to keep it close at hand. Earnest seekers for a deeper life in Christ were referred to it as a guide book of unusual spiritual power meriting constant rereading. The Christian Century appraised it in these words: If this [book} does' not ultimately rank among the few great and undying books of devotion, it will be only because it is lost to view among the multitude of good but lesser books. That should not be allowed to happen.?
?From an excerpt printed on the jacket of A Testament of Devotion.
A TESTAMENT OF DEVOTION
That this has not been allowed to happen is evidenced by the fact that the book has gone through nine printings since 1942 and, according to its publishers, the demand for it is on the increase year after year. It has been published in the British Empire, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland, the editions in German, French, and Swedish, reaching beyond denominational and racial boundaries.
The occasion for the publishing of A Testament of Devotion was the untimely death of Thomas Kelly, in January, 1941. He was unexpectedly taken at the age of forty-seven, at the height of a career of rare spiritual contribution to his fellow men. Especially in the last three years of his life, he spoke and wrote with convincing power out of a deep and radiant experience of God. Only a few of his lectures and writings had appeared in print before his death. We are indebted to Douglas V. Steere, professor of philosophy at Haverford College, for gathering together these five essays and for writing the illuminating biographical memoir which precedes them. In a recent letter commenting on the wide use of the book, Douglas Steere wrote: It has been a great source of inspiration in many parts of the world. It has the flavor of Brother Lawrence's Practice of the Presence of God put into the vernacular of our time and with the authentic vindication that it has come out of a life lived in our own generation.
In starting to write about A Testament of Devotion, one is tempted to throw down the pen and urge, Just read it, every word of it, and reread it! It is all there in 124 pages, including the biographical sketch by Steere.
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You may find yourself, like many another, placing it. beside your Bible with your choicest devotional literature for frequent tastings, so deeply does it speak to the human heart. Yet, if bringing out a few facts and sharing with you some of the insights that have made this book precious to the writer will serve to awaken in you a desire to discover it for yourself, then it is well. That is the humble and sincere prayer for the pages that follow. the life of thomas kelly
Shall we first look into the life of Thomas Kelly? It is a benediction to read the memoir by Douglas Steere (pp. 1-28). It gives word pictures that infuse Kelly's essays with the personality of their writer. We should know little of him personally without this preface.
Thomas Kelly was born of Quaker parents in 1893, near Chillicothe, Ohio. He early absorbed the inner integrity and purposeful attitude toward life characteristic of the Friends. After his father died, when Thomas was four, his mother asssumed responsibility for the support of the family and for the education of the chil-— dren, Thomas and his sister Mary.
Attending college at Wilmington, Ohio, Kelly soon developed a passionate interest in science. His Quaker honesty sought truth without compromise, and science seemed to be the adequate medium for that quest. Pursuing further studies at Haverford College in 1913, he came under the influence of Rufus Jones, an outstanding Quaker philosopher and mystic; and to his scientific interest and training, Thomas Kelly began exploring
A TESTAMENT OF DEVOTION
courses in philosophy. Teaching philosophy eventually became his profession. But much was to happen before he arrived, twenty-three years later, at a place on the faculty of Haverford, in the very department in which he began his philosophic studies.
We can hear Kelly, in his student days, idealistic, hungry for life at its best, saying to Rufus Jones, "I am just going to make my life a miracle." Always sensitive to human needs, and with a deep religious vein, he volunteered as a missionary in 1916 and planned to go to Japan. In preparation he enrolled for ministerial training at the Hartford Theological Seminary, and received there his Bachelor of Divinity degree—but not before World War I had interrupted and changed his plans. During the war he volunteered his services as a Quaker, first in canteen duty with the Y.M.C.A. and later with German prisoners in England. This German contact was to lead to much richer service later.
It was in the associations at Hartford that he met Lael Macy, whom he married in 1919, and in whom he found an understanding life companion. She loyally supported him in the decisions and ventures of his personal and professional career. Into their home, through the years, came two children, Lois and Richard.
His deep and growing interest in philosophy led him to further studies at the Hartford Theological Seminary, where he took his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1924. Later, he had two years of philosophic study at Harvard University.
Before devoting himself to the field of philosophy, he held teaching positions in science and in Bible. At
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different periods he taught philosophy at Earlham, the Quaker college at Richmond, Indiana. In 1935 he accepted a position on the faculty of the University of Hawaii, hoping thus to become better versed in the philosophies of the East, for, as he wrote a friend, he had a deep desire— ...to be acquainted with the philosophic thought of the whole world, not merely with the thought of the Western World. To live solely within one's own cultural traditions...not actively familiar with the powerful thought of India, China and the rest impresses me as a provincialism not warranted by the spirit of philosophy itself (p. 13).
It was from this position in Hawaii that he was called to Haverford College for what proved to be his last term of service.
Mention should be made of his one book published before his death, entitled Explanation and Reality in the Philosophy of Emile Meyerson. It is a scholarly work, the result of seven years' intensive research in the field of philosophy and the thought of this French philosopher. Its publication was in a way a turning point in Kelly's career, seeming to release him for fresh, creative endeavor.
Twice through these years he was sent by the Friends to give leadership and ministry in Germany. Out of this special service came séme of the deepest experiences of his life, to which reference is made later.
He continued to work with and through the American Friends Service Committee in various capacities, giving special attention to work in the Far East. He never lost
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his interest in Japan. However, it was not in organization and committee work that he placed his greatest faith; it was in the impact of life upon life. His finest ministry was his contact with individuals, his students and the small intimate groups that met for fellowship and spiritual discovery. He was eager that individual Christians should come into the life of peace and power that is their rightful heritage. To him there was nothing more important in awakening other men to the love of God than ''a holy life, transformed and radiant in the glory of God' (p. 123). He was preparing to present a suggested devotional technique to help bring others into this transformation when he was suddenly taken from his labors in this time-bound world.
CHaRACteERIStics OF This MODERN Saint
What then are the outstanding characteristics of this modern saint? For a saint he was—without canonization—a saint whose life became the "miracle" that he longed for in his youth.
He was completely devoted to truth. In his nature was no dallying with half-truth, no patience with compromise. With the exactness of a scientist and the thoroughness of a research scholar, he followed his quest. In one of his lectures on "Reality of the Spiritual World" (not included here), he set up, one after another, the traditional arguments for the existence of God and showed their weakness. He then proceeded to give the one infallible proof—quite undemonstrable through methods of science or logic—yet vitally true to the individual, and openly valid by its fruits in society—the
«AN INTRODUCTION TO FIVE SPIRITUAL CLASSICS
experience of God in the heart of man, the man who lives by faith.
His religious hunger was the dominating factor in his life. His deepest yearning was to know God. All his studies and activities moved in that direction. In the words of another, on a similar quest, he knew the real meaning of life to be: .. mot self-fulfillment or anything that the self can create—but God, finding God, and finding oneself in God, and adoring God, and loving Him, and being loved by Him! "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." One does not know that until he knows God. Thereafter his life becomes a conscious panting after God, that is increasingly a conscious partaking of God.®
He gave himself with abandon to the will of God and the needs of the world. He entered into the agony and suffering of this generation and found his participation to be one of the pathways to God: There is a sense in which, in this terrible tenderness, we become one with God and bear in our quivering souls the sins and burdens, the benightedness and the tragedy of the creatures of the whole world, and suffer in their suffering, and die in their death(pp. 106-107).
During a brief visit at Pendle Hill, a small community center of study on the.edge of Philadelphia, where the simple way of Quaker life is shared and taught, and where Thomas Kelly was known, and loved, and listened
8Albert E. Day, An Autobiography of Prayer (New York: Harper & Bros., 1952), p. 53. Used by permission.
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to, I heard those who had known him, or known of him, speak of his unstinted sharing of himself. In fact, they said that there seemed to be two sides to his life: the deep abiding inner joy—''no one can take that from me!"— and the deep suffering from the weight of the world's misery. This joy and this vicarious suffering led him to spend himself unsparingly, even though he knew he had a weak heart.
He was utterly humble and sincere. We find little in his writings of Thomas Kelly himself, his wide variety of contacts, his travels, his achievements. Only here and there, as some experience could bring home a point of help to another, do we get a glimpse of him in action. Always we feel in his writings a personal warmth, a deep interest in people, a direct appeal, an earnest pleading from a heart made humble by the glory of its experience, and enkindled with a passion to pass on its joy.
He embodied "'the rugged feature of sincerity' which Rufus Jones picked out as basic to the Quaker way of life: This call to sincerity lies at the root of the Quaker attempt to live the simple life... .Simplicity at its best and truest is this utter honesty of heart and life, this complete sincerity of soul before God and in relation to our fellow men.*
Kelly's convictions on the importance of simplicity are forcefully expressed in the final chapter of the book.
4Rufus Jones, "Rethinking Quaker Principles," The Pendle Hill Reader, ed. Herrymon Maurer. (New York: Published in association with Pendle Hill by Harper & Bros., 1950), p. 172. Used by permission.
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webi ei jica
He was a great teacher. His students spoke of him as intellectually exciting. They loved and respected him. From Earlham College it was reported, "He was a great teacher here, always eager, ardent, alive in the classroom' (p. 10). In his learnedness he was not beyond and apart from his class. While in 1934 he anticipated that his writing and other work would tend toward closer and more detailed studies in "basic problems of research in metaphysics and epistemology'—the very terminology of which would seem to remove him from the orbit of the simple thinker—yet from 1938 to 1941 we find him earnestly speaking and writing in terms comprehensible and deeply moving to the everyday Christian.
He was an understanding friend.
He was the perfect friend, [wrote one who knew him well}, whether we shared the gay sunlight of humor, or ascended the peaks of highest vision together. I had especially marvelled to see how he grew always in insight and power, and rejoiced at the light he brought me and all men. He was a great strength to me. The thought of him was always a beatitude, a great light, a wind of courage
He had unusual warmth of personality. Perhaps this characteristic will have the greatest appeal to the readers of these pages. Thomas Kelly had his full share of the anxieties, uncertainties, disappointments, and ill health that enter into the life of the average individual. After one deep disappointment, he wrote to a friend, "the calibre of a man is found in his ability to meet disappointment successfully, enriched rather than narrowed
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by it' (p. 10). But throughout these vicissitudes there remained a warm attractiveness and lovableness that won to him even those who might disagree with his point of view. Quick in his sympathy, possessed of a tich sense of humor, he was always a lover of good fellowship, and in a group his hearty laugh was often heard. No ascetic, aloof from the world, was this saint. He was very much in the world. Eager, interested, vital—this is the picture we get from his biography, and the picture on the jacket of the book (I hope it is still there) shows a warm smile that draws one to him. We wish that we might have known him.
In a recent letter, Lael Kelly writes, "It was so wonderful to be the wife of such a person. He truly lived as he wrote—always loving, never one unkind word— not only was he that in his home but to all people." part two — five Messages
As we read the book itself, we shall discover it to be not a book about religion but rather a sharing of vital experience in the discovery of God. It is not a confession as such, though the record of spiritual experience is clear. It is not a handbook of instruction, though it is rich with pointed suggestions. It is not a book of theology, though it follows very largely the Quaker pattern and terminology; in fact, with its steady emphasis on the "inner witness," it strikes a most responsive chord in Methodist hearts. One does not detect here the exact scientist, or the learned philosopher, or the trained theologian, though Thomas Kelly was all three. These pages are written with the simplicity, the clarity, the
cAN INTRODUCTION TO FIVE SPIRITUAL CLASSICS
winsorhe sincerity that all will read with satisfaction. Of course one must have in mind that the book is not a single composition, but a collection of five writings. The essays have not been edited or correlated. Each one stands by itself, and it is not surprising, therefore, if we find repetition of ideas and expressions. But this very repetition only serves to emphasize the basic theme of God in the inner life.
Perhaps the unique appeal of this book to many will be the fact that of all the five classics introduced in this volume it is the only one written by a contemporary. He lived in places familiar to us. He attended and later taught in familiar colleges. He entered, in the role that his Quaker principles would allow, into the world struggle of war. He followed the accepted pattern of modern scholarship. He studied with men well known in the present generation. He produced a scholarly work as the result of years of study. Little did he dream that his most effective written contribution to the world would be this little book with its note of tenderness, its sensitiveness to the wounded, hurt, defeated lives about him; its yearning and reaching out to them that they might share his joy in the unsearchable riches that were flooding his own soul. With humble eagerness he seeks for just the right mode of expression or figure of speech that will carry conviction and inspire new hope.
And how well he finds those arresting phrases! Let us read. the light within The first of the essays, "The Light Within," was
A TESTAMENT OF DEVOTION
actually Thomas Kelly's final writing. Concerning it, Douglas Steere gives this information: Nine days before his death, he [Kelly} wrote me a letter which he sent to Portugal by clipper. In it he described the last piece of writing he was to do. "Spent last week (vacation) writing in' bare hope of publication, on practical procedure and conduct of the self in living by, and oriented toward, the Light within, both in private devotion and in public reaction to the world of men and events, seeing them in and through the Light. . .Read one at Pendle Hill last Sunday." These three chapters of rare grace and suggestiveness form the opening chapters of this little collection(p. 26).
His last earnest endeavor, then, was to lead others to a deepening devotional life. Having become keenly aware of the poverty of soul of many who call themselves Christian, and sensitive to the underlying hunger for God in the inadequate lives about him, he sounds a call to depth Christianity, and points out the path to "'an amazing Inward Life with Him''(p. 32), a life that is not only radiant and triumphant within but finds itself "bestirred to an outward life of unremitting labor' (p. 36). The secret of this continuous consciousness of God lies in those 'secret habits of unceasing orientation. . about the Inward Light, ways of conducting our inward life so that we are perpetually bowed in worship' (p. 31). He goes on to explain that life can be lived on two levels, the one of external affairs, the other at the profounder level where there is a continuous turning toward God, a quiet commitment to his will and guidance.
<AN INTRODUCTION TO FIVE SPIRITUAL CLASSICS
Do we'seem to hear Brother Lawrence telling of the habit of continuous conversation with God, referring to him all that we do, day by day, and hour by hour ?
But this is not the voice of an ascetic of the Middle Ages, but of a fun-loving saint of the twentieth century, proclaiming that this practice of inward worship and listening is still the heart of religion. Kelly said: A practicing Christian must above all be one who practices the perpetual return of the soul into the inner sanctuary, who brings the world into its Light and rejudges it, who brings the Light into the world with all its turmoil and its fitfulness and recreates it... ." (p. 35).
What is the Light Within? Let us return to Kelly's opening words of this essay: Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life. It is a dynamic center, a creative Life that presses to birth within us. It is a Light Within which illumines the face of God and casts new shadows and new glories upon the face of men. It is a seed stirring to life if we do not choke it. It is the Shekinah of the saul, the Presence in the midst. Here is the slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened, to become the soul we clothe in earthly form and action. . And He is within us all(p. 29).
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To establish the habit of inward prayet, of subjecting all of life to the penetrating and healing rays of the Inner Light, is not easy, even though Brother Lawrence may seem to imply that it is. It calls for continued application, complete self-giving, persistence in the face of frequent lapses, a humble submission to God's will, and a quiet thankfulness for his patient and gentle leading. But as this inner stream of quiet worship becomes steadier in its flow, we find the life changing, acquiring new evaluations, new interests, new glories.
We look out upon the world, and. ..we may be given to respond, in some increased measure, in ways dimly suggestive of the Son of Man(p. 45).
Two apparently opposite results appear.
He plucks the world out of our hearts, loosening the chains of attachment. And He hurls the world into our hearts, where we and He together carry it in infinitely tender love'' (p. 47).
Sometimes—not often—this inward prayer may reach such depths that prayer seems to flow through one "'like a mighty tide''(p. 45) ; sometimes for a particular person; sometimes reaching out to all the world.
This wonderfully unfolding inner experience, Thomas Kelly insists, is not merely for the saint or religious devotee or particular group. It is for every follower of Jesus Christ. It is for you and me. As we read this chapter, the words tug at our hearts as they describe this Inner Light—the Christ—present and waiting within us.
eAN INTRODUCTION TO FIVE SPIRITUAL CLASSICS
holy OBEdIENnce
The summer before Thomas Kelly presented his lecture on holy obedience in March, 1939, to the Yearly Quaker Meeting, he had spent some weeks in Germany visiting German Friends. He had been sent there, as previously noted, by the American Friends Service Committee to journey from place to place, living in the homes of the people, sharing their interests and problems as a spiritual leader and interpreter of the Quaker way of life.
These months of inner fellowship with families and individuals seem to have brought him to a high point of spiritual illumination. Douglas Steere quotes him as saying repeatedly on his return, "It is wonderful. I have been literally melted down by the love of God" (p. 21). He wrote to Rufus Jones that fall: I have had this summer, and still have, such a sweeping experience of "refreshment of the spirit'" so amazing, so sweet, and so prolonged as to go clear down to the roots of my being (p. 21).
Small wonder then that in this outstanding lecture of the year he should embody an appeal to holy obedience, a quality of life, or shall we say, a level of life, attained by the wholly committed, God-possessed soul. Listen to his description: The life that intends to be wholly obedient, wholly submissive, wholly listening, is astonishing in its completeness. Its joys are ravishing, its peace profound, its humility the deepest, its power world-shaking, its love enveloping, its simplicity that of a trusting child. ...And
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it is a life and power that can break forth in this tottering Western culture and return the Church to its rightful life as a fellowship of creative, heaven-led souls (pp. 54-55).
Holy obedience is no average goodness, no halfmeasure. It 1s complete surrender to God with no reservations whatsoever, "to follow God's faintest whisper."
One way into this holy obedience, says Kelly, is by profound mystical experience.
Then is the soul swept into a Loving Center of ineffable sweetness, where calm and unspeakable peace and ravishing joy steal over one(p. 56).
However, such exaltation is not essential. In fact, many heaven-dedicated souls never know it. But they do know the utter dedication of their will to the will of God, a dedication that may be achieved not all at once, but "piecemeal and progressively" (p. 59). It is the will that counts.
Four steps are suggested along the way. The first is the 'flaming vision of the wonder of such a life" (p. 59). How does such a vision come? He refers to the Scriptures and the lives of the saints, or some living example of the truly holy life. Personally I know of no modern work that supplies this vision more clearly than Thomas Kelly's own writings, or his own life.
His second step is an immediate beginning. "Begin where you are. Obey zow. .. .Live this present moment, this present hour. ..in utter submission and openness toward Him'(p. 60). The continuous inner prayer life described in "The Light Within" opens the way to
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adoration and submission and ever-increasing consciousness of the Presence.
Third, one must quickly recover from a slip or backward step. Immediately begin again. And fourth, do not try so hard.
Learn to live in the passive voice—a hard saying for Americans—and let life be willed through you.
Your life is "hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:36).
Among the many fruits of holy obedience, profound humility is clearly evident. "He only is near to God who is exceedingly humble' (p. 63). Yet this is not a selfdebasing, negative humility. Actually the selfless life of obedience, possessed of God, often leads to a selfforgetting boldness in witness to God's power. It is the utterly humble who can confound the mighty. It was so in the days of early Christianity. It is so under religious persecution today. Coupled with this complete humility there comes a craving for complete holiness, for absolute purity of heart. No compromise here. Honesty, gentleness, self-control, unwearied patience and thoughtfulness, are some of the "absolutes," reminding one of the "four absolutes" of the Oxford Group movement prominent over a decade ago; or of the principles held essential for members of the Disciplined Order of Christ who seek to affirm with Paul, 'I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20).
Thomas Kelly's experiences in Germany are poignantly with him as he describes entrance into suffering as another fruit of holy obedience. To become keenly sensitized to suffering is one of the penalties for drawing
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close to the heart of God, to the 'man of sorrows. . . acquainted with grief' (Isa. 53:3). God "has planted the Cross along the road of holy obedience" (p. 71).
With the spirit of a prophet, Kelly warns against giving in to pleasant, comfortable, self-centered living when the tragedies that have devastated the world could. eventually descend anywhere and find us spiritually unprepared to "'enter into the divine education and drastic discipline of sorrow, or rise radiant in the sacrament of pain' (p. 70). Remembering the blighted lives in Europe unprepared for the disasters that broke them, he pleads for this utterly dedicated life as the only preparation. He sees hope in the development of groups of those who are completely committed to live in peace and power in a confused and suffering world, to share in the burdens and suffering of others. Thomas Kelly once told of an hour on his knees in the Cathedral at Cologne when all the weight of the world's anguish seemed to descend upon him, ''a burden too terrible to be borne—but yet with His help bearable' (p. 21). Kelly's friends noted that this experience left an indelible impression upon him, deeply reflected in the last two years of his life.
One more fruit of holy obedience he gives is the simplicity of the trusting child, a simplicity that is actually maturity. Its mark is radiant joy. "In serene, unhurried calm it walks in time with the joy and assurance of Eternity' (p. 73). I have no words to state it as well as Kelly does, so I continue to quote: The wholly obedient life is mastered and unified and simplified and gathered up into the love of God and it
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lives and walks among men in the perpetual flame of that radiant love (p. 75).
Each of these essays (what an inadequate word to describe them!) contains at least one direct plea, an evangelistic note, as it were. Listen to these closing words: Hasten unto Him who is the chief actor of the drama of time and Eternity. It is not too late to love Him utterly and obey Him implicitly and be baptized with the power of the apostolic life(p. 76). the BlesseO COMMuNIty "When we are drowned in the overwhelming seas of the love of God''—so begins this chapter, '"The Blessed Community.'"' What a way to express the all-enveloping presence of God!
Such an experience of God, says Thomas Kelly, inevitably draws together those who have it. There is a hunger for fellowship with others who know Him in the deep intimacy of their souls. These others may be discovered one by one, or in groups. Many, and increasing in numbers, are the prayer groups throughout the Church, and in many walks of life, drawn together either _by the experience of God, or by the hunger to discover and know him. : "Let me read to you a description of our group," one leader began, in her prayer group one morning as she opened to this chapter, "The Blessed Community." "Of course," she continued, ''this is much larger in scope than we are, but see if you can find us in it."
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So together they went over the description of the holy fellowship of glowing hearts. A relationship of love, amazing in its riches, disciplining, transforming, ennobling, empowering. They recognized the "new alignment" of friendships that had come to them as the love of God had ever-increasing control; that some persons had begun to stand out in significance, while some apparently important persons began to recede. The group smiled understandingly at the description of some active leaders who are shown "in the X-ray light of Eternity, to be agitated, half-committed, wistful, self-placating seekers, to whom the poise and serenity of the Everlasting have never come," and they could almost name those with a "well-intentioned, but feverish over-busyness, not completely grounded in the depths of peace," concerning whom they could wish "they would not blur the beauty of their souls by fast motion' (p. 79). In fact, each one in the group pondered whether some of the description might not fit her.
They knew too, as it said, that their group fellowship far exceeded the mere sociability of a church fellowship program, both in quality and in depth. They were rooted and grounded in the love of God. They knew each other through him, and their fellowship had been in prayer and silences with him.
Going further in the chapter, they agreed that the spirit of their humble little prayer group was all-inclusive, for they were of different backgrounds and different economic levels. Kinship was felt with all who were at home with God. All would be welcome. No creeds or cultures or political viewpoints could restrict such a sa ace
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relationship. So they firmly believed, and let us hope that they would be proved right, should a testing come.
Yes, and they too felt the urge to widen their fellowship, to "find more friends for the soul' (p. 82) by reading the lives of the saints, The Imitation of Christ, The Practice of the Presence of God, and other devotional literature. Provocative, instructive, inspiring—this widening fellowship through reading had led them forward.
As they read further in the chapter, they sensed as never before the vastness of this wider fellowship of which they were a tiny part, individually and as a group. Members of one small prayer group, sincerely and earnestly seeking and finding God, they had not realized before that "within all groups [the fellowship} springs up, smiling at differences, for, existing in time, it is rooted in the Eternal One' (p. 85).
They paused for meditation over such expressions as: ...amazing group inter-knittedness of God-enthralled men and women who know one another in Him(p. 80).
Where the Fellowship is lacking the Church invisible is lacking (p. 86).
...the final pooling of joy and love in Him is accomplished in the silences of the Eternal (p. 87).
...such a man no one can touch except he touch God also (pp. 82-83). ; Can we make ai// our relations to our fellows relations
- which pass through Him... .the conductor on a trolley....the clerk who serves us in a store?.. .[We can} meet each person with a background of eternal expectation and a silent, wordless prayer of love(p. 88).
cA TESTAMENT OF DEVOTION
We know that today this prayer group is but one of many thousands of similar informal gatherings for ptayer—of praise, of discovery of a deep life with God, of intercession. A tremendous upsurge of spiritual hunger is expressing itself in various orders, fellowships, and simple prayer groups. Poor indeed is the church or Woman's Society of Christian Service or Wesleyan Service Guild that does not have at least ove such nucleus of "God-hungry" persons, permeating and leavening the total membership with their spiritual activity, and helping to bring to pass in their particular corner a measure of 'The Blessed Community."
the eternal now ano social concern
The "eternal now' —what does that mean?
To this time-blinded world, Thomas Kelly explains that "now" is merely an incidental point linking the past and the future, of no special importance. But to one who has known the wondrous experience of Divine Presence in his life, each Now is a meeting place with the Eternal, precious and significant. It is the place where Eternal Love breaks in upon time and .. heaven comes down our souls to greet, And glory crowns the mercy seat.®
Such experiences lift life from the level of time to the "evel of the Timeless." The world of time ceases to be all-important. The glorious secret of God's presence changes life from a cautious, anxious planning for the 5Hugh Stowell, "From Every Stormy Wind That Blows" (The Methodist Hymnal, No. 317).
AN INTRODUCTION TO FIVE SPIRITUAL CLASSICS
future— 'calculated wisdom," as he puts it—to a serene and joyous surrender to the guidance of the Spirit.
Instead of being the active, hurrying church worker and the anxious, careful planner of shrewd moves toward the good life, we become pliant creatures. . . .The energizing, dynamic center is not in us but in the Divine Presence in which we share (pp. 96-97).
God is seeking us in every Now.
He is anxious to swell out our time-nows into an Eternal Now by filling them with a sense of Presence (p. 97). For the Eternal is urgently, actively breaking into time, working through those who are willing to be laid hold upon, to surrender self-confidence and se/f-centered effort, . . .and let the Eternal be the dynamic guide in recreating, through us, our time-world (p. 99).
Vividly, appealingly, the fruits of this Spirit-led life ate portrayed here. A joy that sings within us and through us into the world; a love that "reloves" everyone and everything in a new way, that draws us to the suffering and the needy, that leads us into the fellowship of others who have this secret, that implants in us a yearning to share the secret so that still others may be found of God; and last, the peace that comes from a serene, unbroken faith. Out of such peace comes power—"...a life of amazing, victorious faith-living...' (p. 103), ".. breath-taking boldness. . amazing confidence' (p.105). ° One of Dr. Kelly's favorite words is "amazing." Repeatedly he uses it in describing some result of the experience of God in the life of the completely committed soul.
cA TESTAMENT OF DEVOTION
But what has this to do with "'social concern" ? The Friends are known the world over for their sense of social responsibility and their social service work. Thomas Kelly, as we. have seen, was continually active in humanitarian as well as educational and spiritual ministry. How is such work related to the "eternal now' ? Because, he says, 'Social concern is the dynamic
Life of God at work in the world...."'(p.111) and comes from this very experience of the Love of God described above. The impulse to saviorhood is a part of that love. This concern becomes world-wide in its outreach, but to each one of us are given particular responsibilities that are our special concerns, divinely entrusted to us, and upon which we should concentrate.
A final word in this chapter calls attention to the simplification of life which comes when one centers down to a few concerns and gives them faithful and unhurried attention. This idea makes an excellent introduction to the final chapter of the book, "The Simplification of Life." the simplification of life "This week is much too full." Does that have a familiar sound? For a really good description and analysis of the present day busyness of the average American, read the first four pages of this chapter. Thomas Kelly contrasts it with the "amazing power and peace and serenity" with which each one of us can live "if we really want to."
Here is this word "amazing" again. In fact, a study of the outstanding words of this essay almost tells the tale.
17D ee Pace
AN INTRODUCTION TO FIVE SPIRITUAL CLASSICS
On the one side, we find "breathless" used over and over. "Hurry," in one form or another, crops up four times. 'Frantic,' ''fretful," "feverish," are repeated. "Complexity," of course, stands out. On the other hand, we find "unhurried" used repeatedly. "Integrated" and "integration" comes in for seven counts. "Serenity" shows up four times. His favorite word, "amazing," appears six times. And that longed-for word, "peace," crowns them all with nine references.
It is not complexity that explains the hectic rush, he says, but a lack of inner integration. Instead of being centered around one mastering Will within us, we are a "whole committee of selves," pulled this way and that What is the solution? How can we have the deeper life of unshaken composure," this life that is "unhurried, cheery, fresh, positive," carrying a full load "with quiet joy and springing step," this life of "amazing equilibrium" and "amazing effectiveness'? (p. 116).
The answer has been given in previous chapters and is reiterated here. This "deeper life of unshaken composure" is found in the heaven-directed life by all who are "humbly walking in the presence and guidance and will of God." A life centered in him becomes simplified. Through him there is a re-evaluation of interests. He does this for us if we will let him. We come to understand what is important and to what we can say no. Many of the things we have been doing lose their interest and importance. The question is how deep is our desire to submit our crowded programs to his appraisal? John
eA TESTAMENT OF DEVOTION
Woolman, an early Quaker leader, refused to let his business grow beyond his actual needs. When it did, he sent customers elsewhere. Could we do that? Listen to Thomas Kelly's characteristically personal approach: Let me talk very intimately and very earnestly with you about Him who is dearer than life. Do you really want to live your lives, every moment of your lives, in His Presence?. . .Do you love His Presence?. . .Have you set yourselves to be His, and only His, walking every moment in holy obedience ?. . .This life, this abiding, enduring peace that never fails, this serene power and unhurried conquest, inward conquest over ourselves, outward conquest over the world, is meant to be ours. It is a life that is freed from strain and anxiety and hurry, for something of the Cosmic Patience of God becomes ours... . Do you want to live in such an amazing divine Presence that life is transformed and transfigured and transmuted into peace and power and glory and miracle? If you do, then you can (pp. 119-120).
And thereby comes simplification.
For all this, the desire must be deep, very deep and compelling. This total devotion to the inner Presence does not disrupt programs; nor is it time consuming. "One can have a very busy day, outwardly speaking, and yet be steadily in the holy Presence' (p. 120). The chapter, "Holy Obedience," has already shown how by quiet, persistent practice an inward adoration may be singing through the heart, a secret undercurrent of love and praise regardless of the surface occupation. For religion is not something added to life but is the very core and center of life.
eAN INTRODUCTION TO FIVE SPIRITUAL CLASSICS
There is need, of course, for some time for meditative reading and for going down into "the recreating silences" where God is, but "'one can carry the recreating silences within oneself, well-nigh all the time''(p. 121). And this life "hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3) has a splendor and glory beyond words.
This unhurried life, centered down to singleness of purpose, rooted and grounded in the love of God, cannot keep this radiant love to itself. A sense of commission is born. We love people as we never loved them before. We would be the means of awakening them to the transforming love of God, and so under God's devotion we find our bundle of responsibility and accept our portion in the vast world concern. Quietly we go forward under his guidance.
Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time. And it makes our life programs new and overcoming. We need not get frantic. He is at the helm. And when our little day is done we lie down quietly in peace, for all is well (p. 124).
Noly Opedience — For You? for Me?
Whoever reads these pages and considers them a substitute for reading the book is totally wrong. I cannot recommend too strongly that every seeking Christian. Possess this little volume and keep it in the devotional corner or on the bedside table for deep refreshment and inspiration toward holy living. We find in it the basic theme of John Wesley's teaching and of Methodism's
cA TESTAMENT OF DEVOTION
message, the inner witness of the heart cleansed and warmed by the presence of God—the Light Within. It sounds the call to holy obedience and points the way. We see the God-possessed life gravitating toward others of the kindled heart, becoming identified with a blessed community of those who are immersed in the love of God, living in his kingdom and quietly bringing others into it. We see this committed life free from the shackles of time and geared to eternity, lived each moment in God's presence as an eternal now, and impelled with burning heart out into the world to share and interpret this Eternal Love in social concern. And finally we see the simplification and winsomeness, the unhurried peace and power, that come to one who has surrendered hunself utterly to the will and guidance of God. We see this life, self-renounced and God-committed, going forth with heaven-born boldness to help meet the greatest need in the world today—the need for God. ; Much that Dr. Kelly has written may seem far beyond our humble experience. Yet something within us says that it is true. He opens windows and doors of the soul onto far vistas of spiritual attainment. We hear the divine whisper of invitation to step forward into a life of glorious fulfilment—the life with God.
There is just one question: do we really want to? Enough to go all the way?
It is ours for the asking, the taking, the willing, the complete self-giving.
BOOKS aBOUT The Classics
ano their authors
Books marked with an asterisk (*) may be ordered from Literature Headquarters, 7820 Reading Road, Cincinnati 37, Ohio. Other books in print may be ordered from The Methodist Publishing House in your territory. Your local church, public, and college libraries may be able to lend you the books marked "out of print."
St. AUGUSTINE, 354-430
APPLEGARTH, MARGARET T. Moment by Moment. "A
Tender Turtle is a Tender Turtle (St. Augustine speaks his mind to pampered persons and determined mothers).'' pp.
189-198. New York: Harper & Bros., 1955. $2.75.
ATKINS, G. G. Pilgrims of the Lonely Road. Chapter II, pp.
61-105. Westwood, N. J.: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1913. (Out of print.) AUGUSTINE, ST. The Confessions of St. Augustine. (Everyman's Edition, No. 91.) New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1951. $1.65.
AUGUSTINE, ST. The Confessions of St. Augustine.*}+ (A Cardinal Edition, C-27) New York: Pocket Books, Inc., 1952. 35 cents.
AUGUSTINE, ST. Basic Writings of St. Augustine. 2 vols. includes The Confessions, Twelve Treatises, The City of God, On the Trinity. ed. Whitney J. Oates. New York: Random House, 1948. $10.00. ; AUGUSTINE, ST. The City of God. 2 vols. (Everyman's Library Nos. 982, 983.) New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. 1945. $1.65 each. tEdition recommended for class study.
BATTENHOUSE, ROY W. (ed.) AC ompanion to the Study of St. Augustine. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1955. $5.50.
CHENEY, SHELDON. Men Who Walked with God. pp. 160-
163, and other small references. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948. $5.00.
DRAKE, F. W. Masters of the Spiritual Life. "Augustine and The Confessions,' Chap. 1, pp. 1-30. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1916. (Out of print.)
HUXLEY, ALDOUS. The Perennial Philosophy. pp. 69, 70, 92, 178, 209, 221, 292, 299. New York: Harper & Bros., 1945. $4.00.
KEPLER, THOMAS S. (comp.) The Fellowship of the Saints (An Anthology of Christian Devotional Literature). "Reflections on the Majesty and Mercy of God from The Confessions,"' pp. 75-80, "On Attaining the City of God from The City of God," pp. 82-88. Nashville: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1948. $7.50.
LUCE, CLARE BOOTHE (ed.). Saznts for Now. "St. Augustine" by Rebecca West, pp. 44-61. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1952. $3.50.
McDOUGALL, ELEANOR. St. Augustine (A Study in His Personal Religion). New York: Harper & Bros., 1930. (Out of print.)
PEERS, E. ALLISON, Behind That Wall (An Introduction to Some Classics of the Interior Life). "St. Augustine: The City of God," Chapter I, pp. 17-24. New York: MorehouseGorham Co., Inc., 1948. $2.50.
RAVEN, C. E. The Gospel and the Church. pp. 75-76, 117-
127, 197-199. New York: Scribner's Sons, 1940. (Out of print.)
SIMPSON, W. J. SPARROW. St. Augustine's Episcopate (A Brief Introduction to His Writings as'a Christian). London: SPCK, 1945. (Out of print.)
SPERRY, WILLARD L. Strangers and Pilgrims (Studies in the Classics of Christian Devotion). "The Confessions of Saint Augustine,' Chap. I, pp. 1-30. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1939. (Out of print.)
STUBER, STANLEY I. (comp. and ed.) The Christian Reader (Inspirational and Devotional Classics). Chap. VIII, "St. Augustine," Biographical note by Edward Bouverie Pusey, pp. 67-70; Selections from The Confessions and City of God, pp. 70-82. New York: Association Press, 1952. $4.75.
THOMAS, WILLIAM B. The Psychology of Conversion (with Special Reference to St. Augustine). London: Allenson & Co., Ltd., 1935. (Out of print.)
thomas a Kemps, 1379-1471 APPLEGARTH, MARGARET T. Moment by Moment. ''Blessed is the Man with Time to Spare for God. (Thomas a Kempis meditates, moment by moment.)":pp. 199-207. New York: Harper & Bros., 1955. $2.75.
APPLEGARTH, MARGARET T. Right Here, Right Now.
"Those who Feel the Gale of the Holy Spirit," pp. 229-246. New York: Harper & Bros., 1950. $2.75.
ATKINS, G. G. Pilgrims of the Lonely Road. Chap. Ill, pp.
106-148. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1913 (Out of print.) ; DRAKE, F. W. Masters of the Spiritual Life. "Thomas 3 Kempis and The Imitation of Christ," Chap. III, pp. 55-80. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1916. (Out of print.)
+Edition recommended for class study.
KEPLER, THOMAS S. (comp.) The Fellowship of the Saints (An Anthology of Christian Devotional Literature). ''Gerhard Groot (1340-1384) and Thomas a Kempis (1380-
1471), [Some Guides to a Christlike Life} from The Imitation of Christ," pp. 233-247. Nashville: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1948. $7.50.
MILLER, OSBORNE C. The Path of Prayer (An Anthology). pp. 91-92, 94. New York: Harper & Bros., 1954. $2.00 de MONTMORENCY, JAMES. Thomas 2 Kempis, His Age and His Book. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1906. (Out of print.)
PEERS, E. ALLISON. Behind That Wall (An Introduction to Some Classics of the Interior Life). "The Imitation of Christ,' Chap. IV, pp. 41-47. New York: Morehouse-Gorham Co., Inc., 1948. $2.50.
SPERRY, WILLARD L. Strangers and Pilgrims (Studies in the Classics of Christian Devotion). "The Imitation of Christ," Chap. III, pp. 59-85. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1939.
(Out of print.)
STEERE, DOUGLAS V. Doors Into Life (Through Five Devotional Classics). "The Imitation of Christ,' Chap. I, pp.
17-51. New York: Harper & Bros., 1948. $2.00.
STUBER, STANLEY I. (comp. and ed.) The Christian Reader (Inspirational and Devotional Classics) . '"Thomas a Kempis, biographical note and selections from The Imitation of Christ,' Chap. XVIII, pp. 162-191. New York: Association Press, 1952. $4.75. THOMAS & KEMPIS The Imitation of Christ.*+.(A Cardinal Edition, C-104.) New York: Pocket Books, Inc., 1952; or the Pocket Library Edition (P-L 5), 1954.) 35 cents.
WESLEY, JOHN. The Christian's Pattern (or an Extract from The Imitation of Christ by Thomas 2 Kempis). Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1954. $1.50.