NERVES
This brings us to the question of nerves. But, some one says, "If
you have holiness you will not know you have any nerves." If I were
Job I would say, "who knoweth not such things as these?" Such
theories have been spun up and down, warped and woven, preached and
argued, until they might be put to a long meter tune, but the song
would only be sounding brass or tinkling cymbals, and holy men's
nerves would continue to tingle, and peculiar sensations would still
surge through their bodies which the Psalmist insists are fearfully
and wonderfully made.
Let us examine the question from a common sense point of view and
see what conclusions we can reach. But some person insists that
grace is supernatural, and, hence not explainable by the rules of
common sense. Possibly common sense can not thus explain grace
(although we are not entirely willing to admit that, even in the
realm of grace, God ignores the highest faculty of man, his
intellect,) but nerves are not grace, and, to some extent, at least,
are governed by natural laws.
Nerves are spread throughout the bodies of all except the lowest
form of animals. They are like delicate electric wires scattered
throughout the body, with the receiving and dispatching center
located in the brain. Nerves are primarily physical organs, and,
hence, subject to disease, the same as other organs of the body; but
their peculiar nature, which in some ways approaches the mental,
their relation to both the brain and body, like connecting links
between mind and matter, makes them strange in their operations. It
is a mistake to suppose that all so-called nervous people are
controlled by some mental hallucination. The nerves can become
diseased (authorities differ widely on this subject,) and at such
times they are subject to unpleasant sensations the same as are the
muscles or other organs, and the fact is that the sensations of the
muscles and other organs are dependent on the nervous system for
their distress messages to the brain; under such diseased conditions
over these delicate wires are sent clicking, rasping, harrowing
messages from head to foot, producing all sorts and tones of
feelings, ranging all the way from a depression that carries the
whole being with it, to a jerky, hysterical mirth which is painful
even to the one in whom it is manifested. In their extreme
manifestation nervous diseases cause spasms, prostrations,
hysterics, insomnia, etc.
When the nerves are diseased or in any way disturbed, unpleasant
feelings may be caused by various circumstances and things, mental,
physical, external and internal, according to the peculiar make-up
of the person concerned. It is a mistake, as is often done, to
confuse nervousness with carnality, and to accuse the person whose
nerves are extremely sensitive with being carnal, or on the other
hand to excuse the person who gives away to carnality by saying he
is nervous.
Thus far we have dealt almost entirely with the physico-mental
manifestation of nerves, let us now see if we can join the thing up
and discover what connection nerves and holiness have with each
other, as that is the point at issue. In discussing this question we
must often bring in the mental and physical, for they are really
inseparable.
We are living in a nervous age, and especially in a nervous country.
We say Americans are full of ginger," "pep," that they are "nervy,"
etc. These are only slang methods of expressing the extremely
wrought up condition of the nerves of the average American citizen.
he can not be still. When he starts a job he is not content until it
is finished. If things do not move fast enough to suit him, he will
try to invent some method to hurry matters along. Hurry, hurry,
rush, rush, till there is no rest, and the head becomes sick with
the mighty strain! Yes, holiness will, to some extent, calm this
person down; but if he becomes too calm the devil will get ahead of
him and when he reaches the vineyard he will find nothing but
leaves; the devil will have plucked all the fruit.
We have heard of some persons who could get there and back again,
while some other person was making up his mind to go. Action,
action, do, do, -- we would say to this hair trigger person: Take
time to wait on the Lord, be calm, and if you can not be as calm as
some would have you, be as calm as you can, but keep clean.
Irritability is another manifestation of nerves. The Standard
Dictionary speaks of "irritable nerves." The writer once visited a
physician to inquire about some ailment. Among other questions the
doctor asked if he felt irritable, to which he replied: "Well,
doctor, I have just the same feelings as others do when they become
irritable, but I have religion." The doctor replied, "Well there is
something in that." And there is. In other words, the same rasping,
disagreeable sensations chase each other up and down the nerves, but
the spirit is steady. Thank God! If we may be allowed to testify
further: Several years ago we were in bed with nervous prostration.
Do you know what that is? In the community in which we lived there
was a great deal of opposition to the old-fashioned way. In the
adjoining house was a young lady who despised the preaching of the
cross and delighted in persecuting those who were saved. One day she
came out in the back yard and set up a very disagreeable noise. Our
nurse went out and asked her to please stop. But instead of obeying
she yelled all the louder, saying, "I'll try his religion." When the
nurse told us of her reply, we said, "She did not try our religion
very much, but the noise was rather severe on these poor nerves."
We have known people who would be horrified to acknowledge that they
were ever "annoyed" by untoward circumstances, to become quite
"annoyed," or something akin to it, by a barking dog, a crawling bed
bug, a buzzing fly, a cackling hen, or any other thing that
disturbed their rest. It rasped over their nerves like sand paper,
and set them so wild that rest was impossible.
Why don't those persons in the next tent who talk so loudly and so
harshly love their neighbor as themselves, and stop? Why does that
cricket get under my bed and insist on singing his shrill song all
night long? Oh, that the mother of that boisterous child would make
him stop his everlasting clatter! I just begin to feel sleep
stealing over me, when one of those noisy street cars comes
slam-banging by the house and with every turn of the wheels it goes
crashing through my screeching nerves!
Do persons who are thus annoyed have holiness? They may or they may
not, but one thing is sure, these things are not a test of
experience. We have known of the lifting of a latch or the breaking
of a straw to almost throw a super-nervous person into spasms. Did
you ever "enjoy" the toothache? Is it "delightful" to listen to that
dry, long-winded preacher? Does it "please" you, Mr. Preacher, when
your congregation sits listless or goes to sleep on your hands? Of
course you can sing, Praise God, etc., and keep saved when you are
in a hurry and your horse or Ford balks, but do you really "enjoy"
it?
The stirring of the carnal in the form of anger, or impatience, even
under such circumstances, shows a lack of holiness, but the rasping
of the nerves is a natural result that must inevitably; follow when
high-keyed nerves are rudely handled. The striking of a certain key
of the piano will jar a lose window pane; and the striking of
certain pleasant or unpleasant chords will cause a vibration in the
sensory nerves, but this vibration has no more to do with your
spiritual condition than does the pain a dentist produces when he
touches an exposed nerve in your tooth. Carnality is in the soul,
not in the nerves, be they diseased or healthy.
|