Christ, the Redeemer of the intellect.
I. THE EXTREME OF HUMAN DEGRADATION AND MISERY. Bondage, impotent violence, suicidal mania. We cannot make out a theory of the facts; the facts are certain, and sad enough in this as in that age. There may be a duplicity in the consciousness of man, so that the being is threatened with a rending asunder. There is a certain reflection of this duplicity in all of us.
II. VIOLENT CONFLICT PRECEDES HAPPY CHANGE. There are crises when we dread the presence of the power of good; it means a sharp struggle at hand in the depths of the soul for our very life. Men will sometimes endure the present misery rather than undergo the pain which is to cure it. But the surgeon is no cruel tormentor; nor is the faithful teacher of the truth to be feared, but loved.
III. THE BLESSING OF A SOUND MIND. It may be lest; thank God it may be recovered. As there are parasites which prey upon the lower forms of animal and vegetable life, so there are ideas which may possess the imagination and confound the whole conscious life of the soul. Nowhere do we find the hope of salvation in all its senses, from physical and moral maladies, and those inscrutable to science, so clearly held out as in the gospel.
IV. THE DIVINE POWER AND PITY. "Tell thy friends how much the Lord has done for thee, and that he pitied thee." Power and pity fused in love: this is the soul of the world, the principle of its redemption. It has infused its strong enchantment into nature, and healing is ever open to us if we will yield to its influence on our being.—J.