18 ALFEED T. SCHOFIELD, M.D._, OX CHEISTIAX SAXITY. 



spiritual world at all is insane to a mere materialist. (2) The 

 ordinaiy man of the world might, however, pass this as sane, so 

 long as it was confined to an opinion only, but he would judge 

 otheiwise if actions followed the belief. 



(3) To the average churchman, however, the man would still be 

 sane, provided he did not go to any great excess and "sell all 

 that he had and give to the poor."' 



(4) To some earnest Christians even this might be passed as 

 sane, while the antics of some of the wilder religious sects 

 certainly would not. (5) Members of these sects, however, would 

 undoubtedly believe they were in full possession of their senses. 



Here, then, are five different estimates of Christian sanity in 

 the same country, and we might easily have adduced another 

 five. 



In Christian sanity as distinguished from legal or medical 

 sanity (on which I shall have a word to say at the close) our only 

 reliable standard, seeing we have such variable estimates, is 

 the AVord of G-od. As a result of a study of the subject in this 

 light I have arrived at a somewhat startHng conclusion, and that 

 is that the Biblical standard of Cbristian sanity is somewhat 

 narrower than either the legal, medical, or general standards of 

 ordinary sanity. I say " Christian sanity ; and by this I mean 

 not the mental condition of aU who call themselves Christians, 

 but that which is defined as sanity in the Word of God. 



I have already pointed out (in Greek and English) the five 

 qualities the possession of which constitutes peifect Biblical 

 sanity. How, then, are these five inestimable characteristics to be 

 obtained and practised ? They are received from God, and not 

 from Christians ; and the more He is the source of our Christian 

 life, and that we live in His fear and not in the fear of men, the 

 saner shall we be. Power, steadiness, gentleness, sobriety 

 and self-control are all the sure possessions of those who, like 

 Enoch of old, "walk with God." 



There are many insane and erratic Christians, and many 

 strange and fearful and unscriptural beliefs — with God alone is 

 absolute safety. Listen to a description of a man who so lives — 

 can anything be more sane than Emerson's picture ? : — 



" "WTien a man lives with God, his voice shaU be as sweet 

 as the murmur of the brook and the rustle of the com. 



" He wiU weave no longer a spotted life of shreds and patches^ 

 but he will live with a Divine unity. He will cease from what 



