A Life of Feeling 467
A Christian should recognize that “feeling” is exclusively a part of
the soul. When he lives by sensation, no matter what the kind, he is
being soulish. During the period that he feels joyful, is loving the
Lord and senses His presence, he is walking by feeling; likewise,
during the period that he feels just the opposite he is still walking by
feeling. just as he is soulish whose life and labor are dictated by a
refreshing, bright and joyous sensation, so is he equally soulish
whose walk and work are determined by a dry, gloomy and painful.
one. A real spiritual life is never dominated by, nor lived in, feeling.
Rather does it regulate feeling. Nowadays Christians mistake a life of
feeling for spiritual experience. This is because many have never
entered into genuine spirituality and hence interpret happy sensation
to be spiritual experience. They do not know that such feeling is still
soulical. Only what occurs in the intuition is spiritual experience—
the rest is merely soulical activity.
It is here that Christians make one of the grossest mistakes. Under
the stimulation of emotion a child of God may feel he has ascended
to heaven. And naturally he assumes he has an ascended life. But he
does not realize this is solely how he feels. He thinks he possesses
the Lord whenever he is conscious of His presence, yet he believes
he has lost the Lord whenever he cannot sense Him; once more he
knows not that this is but the way he feels. He thinks he is truly
loving the Lord as he senses a warmth in his heart; but should there
be no burning sensation then he concludes that he has veritably lost
his love for Him; yet again he is ignorant of the truth that such are
only his feelings. We know that fact may not agree with feeling for
the latter is exceedingly untrustworthy. Indeed, whether one senses
much or senses nothing, the fact remains he is unchanged. He may
feel he is progressing and yet may make no progress at all; he may
likewise feel he is regressing and yet may not regress in the slightest.
These are simply his feelings. When full of lively stirrings he
reckons he is advancing spiritually; this, however, is just a time of
emotional excitement which soon will subside to its former state. The
working of emotion seems to assist soulical people to advance but