Robert E. Cushman - "The Time of Thy Visitation Vision" (December 16, 1956); John Baillie - "The Theology of Sleep" (January 20, 1957)

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Announcer	Sunday morning, December 16th, 1956.	0:04
	Preacher,	0:09
	Dr. Robert E Cushman,	0:10
	(choir singing)
	professor Duke Divinity School.	0:11
Minister	Let us pray.	4:49
	Glory be to thee oh Father Almighty,	4:54
	who hast given us thine only begotten son,	4:59
	that we might live through Him.	5:03
	Glory be to thee Lord Jesus Christ,	5:07
	who became man	5:13
	that we might become sons of God.	5:15
	Glory be to thee oh Holy Spirit,	5:21
	who does direct and rule our hearts.	5:25
	Oh glory be to thee	5:30
	Father, Son and Holy Spirit,	5:33
	one God, what are we without Him.	5:37
	We bless and the adore thee oh Christ,	5:44
	son of God,	5:48
	yet born of Mary.	5:51
	Son of God,	5:54
	yet our brother.	5:56
	Eternal world,	6:00
	yet a child without speech.	6:03
	Clothed in glory,	6:07
	yet wrapped in swaddling bands.	6:10
	Lord of heaven and earth,	6:15
	yet lying in a manger.	6:18
	We confess unto thee that we have lost	6:23
	our childlike innocence	6:26
	and have not attained to holiness.	6:29
	We have despised too often what is tender and pure	6:34
	and have corrupted ourselves with worldly opinions and ways.	6:40
	At this Christmas tide,	6:48
	forgive us oh God.	6:51
	And make us like little children	6:55
	in faith	6:59
	and hope	7:00
	and love,	7:02
	so that we may wonder	7:05
	and worship	7:07
	at thy manger throne.	7:09
	Hear us oh God	7:14
	and grant us pardon and remission of all our sins	7:16
	through the same Jesus Christ,	7:21
	our Lord.	7:25
	And now was our savior Christ has taught us,	7:28
	we humbly pray together saying.	7:32
	Our Father, Who art in heaven,	7:36
	hallowed be Thy name;	7:40
	Thy kingdom come;	7:43
	Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	7:45
	Give us this day, our daily bread	7:50
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive	7:53
	those who trespass against us	7:57
	and lead us not into temptation,	8:00
	but deliver us from evil.	8:03
	For thine is the kingdom and the power	8:05
	and the glory forever,	8:09
	amen.	8:12
	(choir singing)	8:16
	Hear the word of God,	11:10
	as it is spoken to us	11:13
	in the 1st chapter of St. Luke's gospel,	11:16
	in the words of the father of John the Baptist.	11:21
	And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit	11:27
	and prophesied saying,	11:31
	"blessed, be the Lord the God of Israel	11:35
	for he has visited and brought redemption for his people	11:39
	and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in	11:43
	the house of his servant David,	11:47
	as he spoke by the mouth of his prophets	11:50
	that have been from above.	11:55
	Salvation from our enemies and from	11:57
	the hand of them that hate us,	12:00
	to show mercy towards our fathers	12:03
	and to remember His holy covenant,	12:07
	the oath which He swear unto Abraham our father,	12:10
	to grant unto us that we being delivered out of	12:15
	the hands of our enemies,	12:18
	should serve him without fear in holiness	12:21
	and righteousness before him all our days.	12:25
	Yay and thou child shall be called	12:31
	the prophet of the Most High,	12:34
	or thou shalt go before the face of the Lord	12:37
	to make ready his ways,	12:40
	to give knowledge of salvation unto his people,	12:43
	in the remission of their sin.	12:46
	Because of the tender mercy of our God,	12:49
	whereby the dayspring from on high shall visit us.	12:53
	To shine upon them that sit in darkness	12:58
	and the shadow of death.	13:01
	To guide our feet into the way of peace.	13:04
	And from the 19th chapter	13:11
	of the same gospel according to Luke.	13:13
	"And when he drew nigh He saw the city	13:18
	and wept over it saying,	13:22
	'if thou hadst known in this day,	13:26
	even thou the things which belong unto peace,	13:28
	but now they are hide from thine eyes	13:33
	for the days shall come upon thee	13:37
	when dine enemies shall cast up abank about thee	13:39
	encompass thee round about	13:44
	and keep thee in on every side.	13:46
	They shall not leave in thee one stone upon another,	13:50
	because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation."	13:55
	Hear endeth the reading of the morning lesson.	14:02
	Amen	14:06
	and amen.	14:08
	(gentle music)	14:14
	(choir singing)	14:59
	The Lord to be with you.	19:17
Congregation	Let us pray.	19:20
-	Let us pray.	19:21
	Oh God,	19:30
	to Whom glory is song in the highest	19:32
	and peace proclaimed on earth to men of goodwill.	19:36
	Hear our litany of thanksgiving,	19:42
	intercession,	19:45
	and supplication.	19:47
	For the Christmas season	19:51
	and it's yearly reminder of the gift of Jesus Christ	19:54
	thy son, our Lord.	19:58
Congregation	We offer to thee our prayer	20:02
	of thanksgiving.	20:04
Minister	For the disclosure of thyself	20:06
	in thoughtful loving,	20:10
	and gracious humility	20:13
	through the child born at Bethlehem for our advantage.	20:16
Congregation	We offer to thee our prayer	20:21
	of thanksgiving.	20:24
Minister	For the indwelling of His spirit,	20:26
	which can make our lives the constant revelation	20:29
	of His presence on earth.	20:33
Congregation	We offer to thee our prayer	20:36
	of thanksgiving.	20:38
Minister	For our world which needs	20:41
	the love He manifested	20:45
	in its daily walk and conversation.	20:47
Congregation	We offer to thee our prayer	20:51
	of intercession.	20:53
Minister	For common folk and wise men,	20:56
	for kings and presidents,	21:00
	for all people everywhere.	21:03
Congregation	We go to thee our prayer of intersession.	21:06
Minister	For our weary creation,	21:11
	which cannot understand the things that make for its peace.	21:14
Congregation	We are to thee our prayer of intercession.	21:19
Minister	For the church,	21:24
	of which we are members, his continuing body in the world.	21:26
Congregation	We offer to thee our prayer	21:34
	of supplication.	21:35
Minister	For our homes, made radiant by the memory of	21:37
	the Christ child born into an earthly home.	21:42
Congregation	We offer to thee our prayer	21:47
	of supplication.	21:50
Minister	For ourselves,	21:52
	who could reveal to the world	21:55
	the Christ dwelling within us.	21:58
Congregation	We offer to thee our prayer	22:01
	of supplication.	22:03
Minister	Oh Father,	22:05
	who has declared thy love to men	22:07
	by the birth of the Holy Child at Bethlehem,	22:10
	help us to welcome Him with gladness	22:15
	and to make room for Him in our common days	22:19
	so that we may live at peace with one another	22:25
	and in goodwill with all thy family,	22:30
	through the same thy son,	22:35
	Jesus Christ,	22:38
	our Lord.	22:40
	Amen.	22:42
	(gentle music)	22:46
	(choir singing)	25:09
-	Our Father God,	30:19
	Who hast given unto us thy dearest gift in Jesus Christ	30:22
	accept these our gifts	30:30
	as symbols of our gratitude to thee,	30:34
	and our love for him.	30:38
	Amen.	30:41
	(gentle music)	30:44
Cushman	Let us pray.	31:14
	Oh God, Who hast so loved the world	31:19
	that thou has visited and redeemed thy people	31:24
	in Jesus Christ,	31:27
	open our eyes that we may behold and receive thy salvation,	31:30
	prepared before the face of all peoples,	31:37
	a light for revelation to the Gentiles	31:41
	and the glory of my people Israel.	31:46
	Amen.	31:50
	It may be that some of you,	32:02
	were as pressed as impressed as I was	32:05
	last Wednesday on Founder's Day.	32:10
	Impressed by the sage observations	32:15
	of Justice Parker on the occasion of the 100th anniversary,	32:19
	of the birthday of James B. Duke.	32:26
	As the Justice spoke, I had the impression	32:32
	that here was a man big enough for the day.	32:36
	And what the speaker had to say,	32:42
	came not only from breath	32:45
	and range of experience,	32:48
	many men have that.	32:50
	But from purposeful and mature reflection upon it,	32:53
	there was a refreshing vigor of conviction,	32:59
	coupled with a rightness of mind	33:03
	and with the rightness	33:07
	there went a capacity to pierce through	33:08
	the confusing and multitudinous aspects	33:11
	of our common life and to grasp it in it's essential.	33:16
	Now in this regard I was particularly struck	33:22
	by Justice Parker's assertion	33:27
	that what has made our country great	33:30
	is not her natural resources,	33:33
	not her legal and educational institutions,	33:37
	not even her business acumen,	33:42
	but a conviction at the very center of her life.	33:45
	I believe in the freedom	33:49
	and dignity of the individual man.	33:52
	If this is true and I think it is,	33:57
	then it plainly means that the source of	34:01
	whatever greatness we have as a people, is nothing material,	34:03
	nothing merely technological,	34:10
	not even anything constitutional.	34:13
	Although these have been instruments of our greatness,	34:17
	rather it suggests	34:21
	that the source and spring of our nation's greatness	34:23
	has always been an act of faith.	34:28
	A conviction about man.	34:31
	It is evidently a conviction which has had	34:35
	and can have no demonstration	34:39
	or anything that we call a scientific proof.	34:42
	Nevertheless, it is a faith we have lived by,	34:46
	and it is a faith which in our tormented century	34:52
	has been powerfully challenged by unbelievers.	34:57
	But there was something else about	35:03
	the Founder's Day address which impressed me.	35:05
	It was the invigorating realization	35:09
	that here before me,	35:13
	was a life and a mind	35:15
	that living out of a long past was yet fully	35:18
	alert to the present	35:21
	and liveth now with imagination	35:23
	and concern for the future.	35:27
	This in itself was startling	35:31
	for most of us die before we are 30.	35:34
	So far as sentiment and creative thinking are concerned,	35:37
	and we live thereafter pretty much on the measure we took of	35:42
	the world when we were young.	35:47
	In consequence, most of our reflection after 30, is only a	35:51
	kind of consultation of sentiments and opinions	35:55
	that long have been fixed.	35:59
	Thinking or a good deal of it under such circumstances	36:03
	tends to be come a shuffling around of prejudgments	36:08
	or what we call prejudice.	36:13
	Now this latter observation I pause to state,	36:17
	is distinctly not a message I intend you should carry home	36:21
	to your parents for Christmas.	36:25
	The education of your parents is not your specific vocation.	36:30
	Although it may be regarded in the most tenuous sense	36:37
	as your avocation.	36:40
	I have mentioned this matter of dying intellectually	36:45
	before 30, primarily as a warning to you.	36:47
	But also I have referred to it	36:53
	because it explains my satisfaction	36:54
	in Justice Parker's description of a certain progression	36:58
	through which American life has passed	37:03
	for its radical transformation	37:06
	in the course of three generations.	37:09
	But Justice said that when he was a boy in North Carolina,	37:13
	life was mainly local in range and interest.	37:17
	Later it became national in outlook.	37:22
	Eventually he said, "our life has become international	37:27
	in scope and perspective," and he added "in responsibility."	37:31
	Now this generalization may seem commonplace,	37:38
	but to have actually lived through these three phases	37:43
	and to have faced and understood their import	37:47
	is far from trivial.	37:51
	I for example, grew up in the second phase	37:54
	and have lived into the third phase.	37:58
	And I know from my parents and my grandparents, something of	38:01
	the character of the first or local phase.	38:05
	I know that with the passing of the local phase,	38:09
	something else passed, namely that	38:14
	which Henry Seidel Canby once called the Age of Confidence.	38:16
	Living in the third phase,	38:23
	those whose memories reach back far enough	38:25
	know through experience and shock	38:29
	that the relatively simple	38:33
	and conceptually manageable world	38:35
	of an earlier day is gone.	38:38
	And in its place,	38:41
	the fear full and tumultuous multiplicity	38:43
	of world events hammers on the doorstep of every home	38:47
	and in an unparalleled way,	38:53
	pours its tidings into the mind of every person.	38:57
	Daily lay the world pours it's word of war	39:03
	of human wheel and woe,	39:07
	of revolutions,	39:09
	national convulsion,	39:11
	of world unsettlement,	39:14
	and the mind staggers unto the avalanche	39:17
	of the interminable flow of portance	39:20
	of an comprehensible future.	39:24
	Fateful for human destiny	39:27
	and always a tangled mixture of promise and peril.	39:30
	The trouble is that the mind each of us	39:37
	is always at the center.	39:41
	And the vast cinematic flow of contemporary existence	39:44
	is however fragmentary or episodic in for.	39:50
	Comes into focus in the midst of us,	39:55
	and in our minds.	39:59
	At first, we are only bewildered	40:02
	and over run.	40:05
	Then as we eagerly search for some clue,	40:07
	some pattern of meaning in terms of which	40:11
	the boiling confusion may take on direction and purpose,	40:15
	bewilderment gives way to perplexity	40:20
	and perplexity to anxiety.	40:24
	Our search is no longer casual.	40:28
	It becomes frantic,	40:31
	and we try and fail to order and understand	40:33
	the overwhelming onslaught of events	40:38
	and hopelessly complex relations	40:42
	with which our lives are interwoven.	40:46
	Let us be honest now,	40:50
	for very many of our contemporaries,	40:52
	the landmarks are down and cosmos has given way to chaos.	40:56
	Now indeed, the age of anxiety replaces	41:03
	the age of confidence,	41:07
	for all of us have become the focus	41:09
	of a welter of world forces	41:13
	that defy our puny intellectual capacity to manage	41:16
	and the world becomes for us intellectually	41:22
	and emotional centerless.	41:27
	Now that the local world is totally penetrable,	41:31
	is proved by the fact that only last week,	41:37
	the Duke Chronicle reported an invasion of	41:42
	our provincial boundaries in the visit of Istvan Laszlo.	41:45
	Two short weeks earlier,	41:52
	he had been a student leader in one of	41:53
	the most courageous revolts, I believe	41:56
	against tyranny in the history of modern times.	42:00
	Now he was here, on this very campus,	42:05
	in your midst, not to leave you alone,	42:10
	but to plea that you students do something	42:14
	to help his countries cause in a fight for freedom.	42:17
	So the world penetrates our boundaries.	42:24
	When he indicated his intention to return to Hungary,	42:29
	he was asked if it would not be dangerous.	42:33
	He replied in words that for their moral authenticity	42:37
	deserve to be remembered on this campus.	42:41
	He said, "I do not know what will happen to me,	42:46
	but there is no security for anybody."	42:51
	Now here I think speaks the self forgetfulness,	42:55
	which causes men to transcend themselves	42:59
	and become greater than they are.	43:03
	And then the words, "no security for anybody."	43:06
	Certainly that would be known for Istvan Laszlo.	43:11
	And does he ask us to share his insecurity	43:15
	or rather is he saying that all of us do	43:20
	in fact share it.	43:23
	That all the misery and anguish of the world	43:25
	in the measure we have the attention to give it	43:29
	comes to focus on us here	43:32
	within the seemingly remote precincts of our ivied walls	43:35
	and storied halls.	43:40
	Even here, we are swept	43:43
	by the world's confused alarms of struggle and flight.	43:46
	Even here at Christmas time,	43:51
	the agony and the torment of our era	43:54
	far from having any geographical confinement	43:57
	cause sensitive minds to walk in darkness	44:01
	and in the land of the shadow of death.	44:06
	Not in spite of this,	44:11
	but because of it.	44:15
	It can be said	44:17
	the saving and wholesome thing	44:21
	is advent,	44:24
	which also comes to focus in our lives this time of year.	44:26
	It may be that what can save us both in	44:32
	and from our insecurity, what can overpower	44:35
	the anxiety of meaninglessness	44:39
	is not any rosy future prefigured by a glorified technology	44:42
	or wangled by source theological technic.	44:48
	It may be that what can save us	44:52
	if we will allow it to assert its claim upon us,	44:55
	is what we remember out of the past history of our race.	44:59
	What do I mean?	45:05
	I mean the personal event in our history,	45:07
	we remember as Jesus Christ.	45:11
	The Christ in whose life and ministry,	45:14
	we all know in our heart of hearts,	45:17
	if we will but let them testify, man's miserable existence	45:20
	was transfigured into the very image of the eternal God.	45:25
	And after all it is, this image we believe in	45:31
	that Justice Parker says, has been at the very center of	45:35
	our life as a nation, man,	45:39
	as set forth in promise in Jesus Christ.	45:43
	If we are not preoccupied these in days and giving	45:49
	and receiving gifts,	45:52
	it may be that we shall be open to God's gift of His Son.	45:55
	It may be we shall discovered in the form of his life,	46:00
	the pattern and purpose by which first we may order	46:04
	the chaotic world within ourselves	46:09
	as an indispensable preliminary to reshaping	46:13
	the world without.	46:17
	We need as the hymn writer said, "a principle within	46:20
	for the world menaces us with its own intelligibility	46:25
	until there comes to birth in us	46:29
	through an act of decision in faith,	46:32
	a principle of interpretation."	46:35
	And so Christmas wears down upon us once more,	46:39
	as a time for decision,	46:44
	as the time	46:46
	of our visitation.	46:49
	"Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel	46:52
	for he hath visited and redeemed his people.	46:57
	He has raised up a horn of salvation	47:01
	for us in the house of his servant, David."	47:04
	These words are those of Luke, the evangelist,	47:09
	which I've read you this morning.	47:14
	And he speaks with gladness of heart.	47:16
	And as he speaks, he snatches out of	47:20
	the mouth of Zacharias words of praise and thanks giving,	47:22
	for a redemptive deed of God	47:29
	in the ministry of Jesus Christ.	47:32
	In Christ there is for him, a visitation of God.	47:36
	The age old longing voiced by Isaiah is fulfilled.	47:42
	The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.	47:47
	They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death,	47:52
	upon them hath the light shined.	47:56
	Make no mistake about it,	48:01
	for Luke and his fellow Christians, the world is no longer	48:03
	without a center and a meaning and a loyalty.	48:08
	A horn of salvation has been lifted up,	48:13
	the symbol of sanctuary and refuge	48:16
	and Christ is sanctuary for St. Luke,	48:20
	because Christ is for him	48:24
	the ultimate word, God's word, not man's word,	48:27
	a word of meaning in and for life.	48:31
	Whereas the gospel of Luke begins on the note of exalt	48:38
	and praise, this is the part we like best to dwell upon.	48:42
	It approaches its close and tones of ultimate sadness.	48:48
	For when Jesus drew nigh to Jerusalem	48:53
	to make his final appeal, it reported, "He saw the city	48:56
	and wept over it saying, 'if thou has known in this day,	49:01
	even thou, the things that belong unto peace,	49:06
	but now they are hide from thine eyes,	49:11
	because thou knewest not, the time of life visitation.'	49:15
	He came unto His own."	49:21
	And here in lies the tragedy of human existence,	49:28
	that men will not receive the word ultimate meaning	49:32
	when it visits them,	49:36
	because it contradicts and even defies their expectations.	49:38
	So the old Israel,	49:45
	orphans still in an alien world,	49:47
	still waits looking for a future it does not yet know	49:51
	has already a come to pass in Jesus Christ.	49:56
	And present day political Zionism, is a deluded	50:00
	and disturbing anachronism in our world precisely	50:05
	because centuries ago, Israel did not know	50:09
	the time of its visitation.	50:13
	Blinded by fantasies of national self-realization, Israel	50:17
	could not credit the divine authorization	50:22
	of a humble carpenter who's only claim	50:25
	to man's loyalty was that He came not	50:29
	to be ministered unto, but to minister.	50:32
	How could a people who did not recognize in	50:36
	their own election God's call	50:39
	to subordinate national self foot to service?	50:43
	How could they recognize in him whose only purpose was	50:47
	to fulfill that calling in his own person?	50:51
	How could they recognize in him,	50:54
	the one who cometh?	50:57
	So, men's expectations	51:01
	are contrary	51:04
	and more glittery.	51:06
	The world does not want something	51:09
	so unpretentious as a human life absolutely submissive	51:11
	to the divine and therefore wholly transparent to	51:15
	the goodness at the heart of reality.	51:19
	But now Christmas comes to you,	51:25
	and to me once more.	51:28
	We do not really know how many more times it	51:31
	will come to us.	51:34
	And here we sit,	51:37
	you and I,	51:39
	as foresight into which the world pours	51:42
	it's endless flux	51:45
	of in conceivably interwoven events	51:47
	and our minds real under the impact	51:52
	within the midst stands the man, Jesus,	51:56
	with the words, "being not anxious."	51:59
	And is standing there is the time of our visitation.	52:04
	Shall it be said of us hast thou,	52:09
	but known the things that belong unto peace.	52:13
	We have to make answer.	52:19
	There is no one else to answer in our generation,	52:21
	this is our time.	52:25
	And the world about us so blinding,	52:28
	on every side, it rises up to distract us from the issue,	52:31
	even Santa Claus.	52:36
	That patron saint of good cheer is commandeered	52:39
	by the marketplace and transformed into	52:43
	an adversary of light.	52:47
	And men's gifting to one another becomes	52:50
	a screen to obstruct the consciousness of God's gift	52:53
	to man in His son.	52:57
	But these impediments I think, real as they are,	53:01
	are all only symptoms of our true blindness.	53:06
	The fact is that we have never grown up in	53:10
	our understanding of Christmas.	53:13
	In our hearts, one can count on a responsive thrill	53:17
	to the words of Zacharias.	53:22
	"Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel for he hath visited	53:25
	and redeemed his people."	53:30
	But there are not many adult Christians	53:32
	who could give a coherent account of how this is so.	53:36
	Year by year we hail the solitary star	53:42
	and with the shepherds listen for the angel song	53:47
	of peace and goodwill.	53:51
	Year by year in varying ways we gather around	53:53
	the rowed manger, the mother and the child.	53:57
	Year by year we listened with hushed breath	54:02
	to the astonishing incongruent of kings	54:06
	wending their way to an obscure province	54:10
	with fabulous gifts, to come at length	54:14
	to a humble barnyard stable,	54:18
	there to adore, a child of peasant birth.	54:21
	All this,	54:26
	discussly comes over us	54:28
	that the stories are parables in comparably, well suited	54:31
	to point us to the incredible spiritual majesty	54:36
	and an alterable goodness of a grown man.	54:40
	A man who turned the scale of human values upside down	54:45
	and in His own person, fulfilled the intention of God	54:50
	that the greatest are they who serve most.	54:55
	The stable of humanity.	55:00
	The whole life, the whole of our life	55:02
	is in Jesus transfigured	55:07
	as all that is in human in Him	55:10
	is not asserted, not claimed, but sacrifice	55:13
	to the purpose of God.	55:18
	And in that sacrifice, the election of Israel is fulfilled.	55:20
	My four year old daughter loves the Christmas season.	55:29
	Early in December she begged her mother to bring	55:35
	the creche from the attic.	55:38
	This will be the third season, it has been mauled.	55:41
	There is the stable, the crib of straw,	55:47
	the cattle and the shepherds	55:51
	and the wise men	55:55
	and there is Mary and Joseph and the Christ child.	55:57
	Beth loves the Christ child most of all	56:03
	and fondles it continuously.	56:06
	But Beth's baby Jesus is a girl.	56:10
	And I protested the other day that	56:16
	the baby Jesus was really a boy	56:18
	and she very promptly, "my baby Jesus is a girl.	56:22
	She is not the baby Jesus that grew up to be a man."	56:27
	There is a time in our lives when the baby Jesus	56:33
	must be allowed to become a man and be understood	56:37
	as the man he was, holy and without reserve,	56:41
	God's man.	56:45
	And when this happens, in our case, we like Luke	56:47
	and the other disciples, will find in him	56:52
	the one who with no constraint,	56:56
	other than his matchless love	57:00
	does win dominion over our lives	57:03
	and can receive our trust and devotion.	57:07
	That it is he who thereby restores to us	57:11
	a meaning and center for living.	57:16
	I leave you now with a word that comes fresh out of	57:21
	the maelstrom of Eastern Europe and the Hungarian revolt.	57:24
	It is a word from a youthful and valiant Protestant,	57:29
	who is laboring in Austria under great financial limitations	57:34
	to assist with something more than bread, the refugees.	57:40
	His word came Friday in time to be a word of God to you	57:47
	and from the heart of an oppressed humanity,	57:52
	and I read only one paragraph,	57:55
	"we faced a big task," he said,	57:58
	"most of these refugees have been away from God	58:01
	for the last 12 years and that which they know	58:05
	about religion is often a very superstitious thing.	58:08
	It is interesting too, that they seek very	58:13
	much a living faith.	58:16
	We asked what it was they missed most in Hungary.	58:18
	They answered, 'we did not have anything to believe in	58:22
	when that which we were told to believe in failed.'"	58:27
	Then he adds, "you in America are going to have	58:31
	a big responsibility helping these Hungarian immigrants	58:35
	find such a faith.	58:41
	Evidently man does not live by bread alone.	58:43
	And what is man, when he has nothing to believe in,	58:47
	but how can we help those who come to our shores	58:52
	unless we possess the faith that is their help."	58:56
	And so Christmas comes and offers Christ	59:01
	as the key to our lives meaning and most of us have	59:06
	that key already in our hand.	59:10
	Will we use it?	59:15
	Let us pray.	59:18
	Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,	59:28
	who according to his great mercy, begat us again,	59:34
	unto a living hope.	59:37
	And now may the blessing of God, All Mighty, Father, Son,	59:40
	and Holy Spirit, be amongst you and abide with you,	59:45
	now and ever more,	59:51
	amen.	59:53
	♪ Amen ♪	59:59
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:08
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:18
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:44
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:57
	♪ Amen ♪	1:01:17
	(church bell ringing)	1:01:34

Anchor	Sunday morning, January the 6th, 1957.	0:06
	Preacher, Dr. John Bailey,	0:11
	visiting professor of Union Theological Seminary	0:14
	in New York City.	0:17
	♪ The Lord is in his holy temple ♪	0:20
	♪ Let all the earth keep silence ♪	0:30
	♪ Before him ♪	0:40
	(organ playing stately music)	0:50
	♪ Joyful, joyful, we adore thee ♪	1:24
	♪ God of glory, Lord of love ♪	1:28
	♪ Hearts unfold like flowers before thee ♪	1:32
	♪ Opening to the sun above ♪	1:36
	♪ Melt the clouds of sin and sadness ♪	1:40
	♪ Drive the dark of doubt away ♪	1:44
	♪ Giver of immortal gladness ♪	1:48
	♪ Fill us with the light of day ♪	1:52
	♪ All thy works with joy surround thee ♪	1:59
	♪ Earth and heaven reflect thy rays ♪	2:03
	♪ Stars and angels sing around thee ♪	2:07
	♪ Center of unbroken praise ♪	2:11
	♪ Field and forest, valley and mountain ♪	2:16
	♪ Flowery meadow, flashing sea ♪	2:20
	♪ Chanting bird and flowing fountain ♪	2:24
	♪ Call us to rejoice in thee ♪	2:28
	♪ Thou art giving and forgiving ♪	2:34
	♪ Ever blessing, ever blessed ♪	2:38
	♪ Wellspring of the joy of living ♪	2:42
	♪ Ocean depth of happy rest ♪	2:47
	♪ Thou our Father, Christ our brother ♪	2:51
	♪ All who live in love are thine ♪	2:55
	♪ Teach us how to love each other ♪	2:59
	♪ Lift us to the joy divine ♪	3:03
	♪ Amen ♪	3:09
Dr. John Bailey	Let us offer unto God	3:31
	our unison prayer of confession.	3:33
	Let us pray.	3:36
	Oh, most merciful Father,	3:39
	we confess before thee, that we have done little	3:41
	to forward thy kingdom in the world,	3:45
	and to advance thy glory.	3:48
	We would humble ourselves before thee	3:50
	for our past neglects	3:53
	and seek for mercy and forgiveness.	3:55
	Pardon our shortcomings,	3:59
	give us greater zeal for thy glory.	4:01
	Make us more ready and diligent by our prayers,	4:04
	by our gifts, and by our examples	4:08
	to spread abroad, the knowledge of thy truth	4:12
	and to enlarge the boundaries of thy kingdom,	4:15
	may the love of Christ constrain us,	4:18
	and may we do all to thy glory.	4:21
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.	4:24
	And now as our savior Christ hath taught us,	4:29
	we humbly pray.	4:32
	Our father who art in heaven,	4:34
	hallowed be thy name.	4:37
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done	4:39
	on earth as it is in heaven.	4:42
	Give us this day our daily bread	4:45
	and forgive us our trespasses	4:48
	as we forgive those who trespass against us,	4:51
	and lead us none to temptation	4:55
	but deliver us from evil,	4:57
	for thine is the kingdom and the power	5:00
	and the glory, forever.	5:03
	Amen.	5:05
	(gentle organ music)	5:09
	(church choir singing)	6:00
	(gentle organ music)	7:19
	Hear the word of God	7:35
	as written in the book of Psalms	7:37
	two psalms, number 121	7:40
	and 127.	7:44
	I will lift up mine eyes onto the hills	7:50
	from whence cometh my help.	7:53
	My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth.	7:56
	He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.	8:01
	He that keepeth thee will not slumber.	8:04
	Behold He that keepeth Israel	8:08
	shall neither slumber nor sleep.	8:11
	The Lord is thy keeper,	8:14
	the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.	8:17
	The sun shall not smite thee by day	8:21
	nor the moon by night.	8:23
	The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil.	8:26
	He shall preserve thy soul.	8:30
	The Lord shall preserve	8:33
	thy going out and thy coming in	8:34
	from this time forth and even forever more.	8:37
	Except the Lord build the house,	8:45
	they labor in vain that build it.	8:48
	Except the Lord keep the city,	8:51
	the watchman waketh but in vain.	8:54
	It is vain for you to rise up early,	8:58
	to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows	9:01
	for so he giveth his beloved sleep.	9:05
	Your children are an heritage of the Lord	9:10
	and the fruit of the womb is his reward.	9:14
	As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man,	9:18
	so are children of the youth.	9:22
	Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.	9:25
	They shall not be ashamed,	9:29
	but they shall speak with the enemies in the gay.	9:31
	May God bless to us the reading of his holy word	9:35
	and to his name, be all praise and glory forever.	9:39
	(organ music)	9:48
	(church choir singing)	10:10
	The Lord be with you.	12:24
Church Members	(murmurs)	12:26
Dr. John Bailey	Let us pray.	12:27
	Oh God, eternal and changeless,	12:39
	who, through ever changing scenes of joy and pain,	12:44
	effort and rest, leades thy people	12:49
	to a nobler destiny,	12:52
	than they ever of themselves conceive.	12:55
	We give to thee our hearty thanks	12:59
	for the many blessings	13:02
	that thou has bestowed upon us.	13:04
	For the light that never failed	13:08
	and the grace that never left us in the days gone by.	13:11
	For the visions that dispelled our doubt,	13:16
	and the hopes that chastened our sorrow.	13:19
	We lift up our hearts to thee, in praise and joy.	13:22
	For the increasing mastery of special skills,	13:28
	for victory over ills which man has suffered	13:32
	through his own ignorance.	13:36
	For confidence in the reliable order of nature	13:39
	and for the wisdom which long experience	13:43
	adds to much learning.	13:46
	We lift up our hearts to thee in praise and joy.	13:49
	We also give thee thanks	13:54
	for the revelation of thyself	13:57
	in the person of Jesus Christ,	13:59
	and for his followers,	14:03
	who through the centuries have spread thy good news	14:05
	to the peoples of every country.	14:08
	Oh Lord, who has given us the church,	14:12
	we come with repentance for our misuse of thy gift.	14:18
	Forgive us of the pride, which convinces	14:25
	that our part of the body of Christ as the whole.	14:29
	For our harsh judgments,	14:34
	our prejudices nourished as a virtue,	14:37
	our scorn of others,	14:41
	and the denial of the worth of others views	14:44
	and our self will, we ask thy forgiveness.	14:47
	Receive our contrition and heal us of the sin,	14:52
	which keeps us apart.	14:56
	Open our eyes to the inside of others.	15:00
	Help us to appreciate those of other lands	15:04
	and of other races,	15:07
	who differing from a us in much,	15:09
	are yet one with us in faith.	15:12
	Let no little matter obscure the blinding fact of Christ,	15:15
	no small opinion hide from us,	15:20
	His power to redeem the world.	15:22
	Almighty father,	15:27
	who aren't afflicted in the afflictions of thy people,	15:30
	and art full of compassion and tender mercy,	15:34
	hear us as we pray for those who suffer.	15:38
	For those who have had to leave their homes	15:43
	and flee to another country	15:47
	because of their desire for the freedom	15:50
	which thou has given to all by children.	15:53
	For the members of their families	15:57
	who have not yet escaped.	15:59
	For those who are opening their hearts and homes	16:02
	to these dispossessed strangers.	16:06
	For all who are handicapped in the race of life,	16:10
	through no fault of their own.	16:15
	For the defective and the delicate	16:17
	and all who are permanently injured.	16:20
	For little children,	16:24
	whose surroundings hide from them thy love and beauty	16:26
	and for the fatherless and the motherless.	16:30
	For those who are in doubt and anguish of soul,	16:34
	for those who are over-sensitive and afraid.	16:39
	For those whose suffering is unreleased	16:44
	by the knowledge of thy love.	16:47
	And for those who suffer through their own wrongdoing.	16:51
	Set free, oh Lord, the souls of thy servants	16:57
	from all restlessness and anxiety.	17:02
	Give us that peace and power, which flow from thee.	17:06
	And keep us in all perplexities and the stresses,	17:10
	in all griefs and grievances,	17:15
	from any fear of faithlessness	17:18
	that so upheld by thy strength	17:21
	and stayed on the rock of thy faithfulness	17:25
	through storm and stress, we may abide in thee.	17:28
	Amen.	17:33
	(organ music)	17:39
	(church choir singing)	19:27
	(slow melodious music)	21:38
	(church choir singing)	23:03
-	Gracious God, we offer these gifts	23:41
	as a simple expression of our love to thee,	23:45
	our loyalty to thy church	23:49
	and our eagerness to sharing the work of thy kingdom.	23:52
	Accept these offerings of thy people	23:56
	and bless the causes to which they are devoted.	23:59
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.	24:03
	I take my text from one of the short Psalms	24:43
	that were writ as our lesson.	24:48
	The 127th Psalm, the first two verses.	24:51
	Except the Lord build the house,	24:56
	they labor in vain that build it.	24:59
	Except the Lord keep the city,	25:02
	the watchman waketh but in vain.	25:04
	It is vain for you to rise up early,	25:08
	to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows	25:12
	for so he giveth his beloved sleep.	25:16
	My subject is, "The Theology of Sleep."	25:20
	It's an unusual subject, but I make no apology for it.	25:25
	I think we hear too few sermons about sleep.	25:31
	After all,	25:36
	we spend a very large share of our lives, sleeping.	25:37
	I suppose that on an average,	25:42
	I've slept for eight hours out of every 24 hours	25:44
	during the whole of my life.	25:50
	And that means that I've been asleep	25:52
	for well over 20 years.	25:55
	What an old Rip Van Winkle I am.	26:00
	But then what Rip Van Winkles you all are	26:04
	or will soon become.	26:07
	Don't you agree then, that the Christian gospel	26:11
	should have something to say	26:13
	about the sleeping third of our lives	26:16
	as well as about the waking two-thirds of them?	26:19
	I believe it has something to say.	26:25
	And that this text from the 127th Psalm	26:28
	serves as a good beginning for the exposition of it.	26:33
	The point this Psalmist is making is	26:40
	that we should not carry our cares	26:43
	and anxieties to bed with us.	26:46
	Beds were made for sleeping in,	26:49
	not for worrying in.	26:52
	He takes two examples.	26:55
	If a man is building a house for himself	26:57
	how likely he is to carry the care of it to bed with him	27:01
	anxiously going over the details of it in his mind	27:05
	and counting up all the things	27:10
	that might possibly be going wrong.	27:13
	Or again, he says	27:16
	how often men lie awake from fear of danger.	27:19
	That would perhaps be more common	27:24
	in the Psalmist's day than in our own.	27:27
	The cities of Judea were not as well policed	27:31
	as New York or Washington or Duren,	27:34
	nor were the frontiers of Judea as well guarded	27:39
	against external enemies,	27:44
	as those of our own land today.	27:46
	And yet, I suppose there are some	27:50
	who are kept from sleep even now	27:53
	by the thought, shall I say, of burglars?	27:55
	Or perhaps a fire?	27:59
	But the Psalmist is only giving examples	28:02
	and we can think of many others.	28:05
	Do not many citizens of today,	28:08
	carry their business worries to bed with them?	28:10
	Do not housewives carry their household worries?	28:15
	Perhaps worries as to how to make the two ends meet	28:19
	or as to how one pair of hand	28:24
	as can do all the things	28:26
	that ought to be done on the (murmurs)	28:28
	And how well I know that many students	28:32
	carry their examination worries to bed with them.	28:35
	To the great detriment I may say,	28:40
	to the great detriment of the scripts they write.	28:43
	Well, what the psalmist says to all such is	28:47
	that they are forgetting God.	28:51
	They're forgetting that when they are asleep	28:54
	God is wide awake.	28:57
	They're forgetting what the other psalmist we read from	29:00
	had already taught them	29:03
	that the Lord is thy keeper.	29:05
	He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.	29:08
	What man can do towards the success of his plans	29:13
	is very little.	29:17
	Man proposes we say, but God disposes.	29:19
	What you and I can do for the security	29:23
	of those dear to us, is equally little	29:27
	if God is not caring for them.	29:30
	Except the Lord build the house,	29:34
	they labor in vain that build it.	29:37
	Except the Lord keep the city,	29:40
	the watchman waketh but in vain.	29:42
	Therefore it is vain for you to rise up early,	29:45
	to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows	29:49
	for so he giveth his beloved sleep.	29:52
	First then,	30:00
	sleep is one of God's most precious gifts.	30:01
	This is something that none know better	30:07
	than those who are the victims of insomnia.	30:10
	It has been ordained	30:15
	that our lives here below shall consist	30:16
	in an alternation of activity and rest,	30:20
	of sleeping and waking.	30:25
	But we could not support the activity	30:28
	if we had no rest or the waking hours,	30:31
	if we have no sleep.	30:34
	How blessed a thing it is then,	30:37
	that we're not expected	30:40
	to retain the conscious control of our lives	30:42
	by night as well as by day.	30:46
	But that we're allowed to lay the reigns in God's hands	30:48
	and trusting ourselves to his care	30:54
	when we're least able to care for ourselves.	30:57
	Only, we must really entrust ourselves.	31:01
	Sleep comes best to those	31:06
	who most put their trust in God.	31:08
	That is what the psalmist means by saying	31:12
	he giveth his beloved sleep	31:15
	because beloved means those who trust him.	31:18
	There is no better soporific than a trustful heart.	31:23
	There's no surer way of having a good night's rest	31:28
	than to commend ourselves to God's keeping,	31:33
	in believing prayer, before we go to sleep.	31:36
	Of course, some men and women	31:41
	are constitutionally light sleepers.	31:44
	But if the commonest cause of this	31:48
	is a mind unrelaxed from care,	31:53
	then its best cure is to cast all our cares	31:58
	upon the keeper of Israel,	32:03
	who neither slumbers nor sleeps.	32:05
	I suppose few people read	32:09
	Elizabeth Barrett Browning nowadays,	32:12
	and I don't much blame them.	32:15
	But perhaps no poem of hers is better remembered	32:19
	than the one that begins with a verse	32:24
	Of all the thoughts of God that are	32:27
	born inward into souls afar,	32:30
	along the psalmist's music deep.	32:33
	Now tell me if that any is,	32:37
	for gift or grace surpassing this,	32:40
	He giveth his beloved sleep.	32:43
	But no second,	32:49
	if instead of following the king James' version,	32:51
	we consult the revised version,	32:54
	we shall find this different rendering.	32:57
	He giveth unto his beloved, in sleep.	33:02
	He giveth unto his beloved, in sleep.	33:06
	And that is the rendering	33:10
	accepted by most of the commentators.	33:12
	It also embodies the rich (murmurs)	33:16
	for it speaks not only of the blessedness of sleep itself,	33:20
	but of the blessed things that are given us	33:24
	through its agency.	33:27
	When we sleep, we are not merely being released,	33:30
	we are also being restored.	33:34
	Without any effort of our own,	33:38
	a new supply of energy is being built up within us.	33:41
	We wake with fresh vigor,	33:46
	we look out on the world with different eyes.	33:49
	Our minds are clearer.	33:52
	And very often we find	33:55
	that the problems of the day before	33:57
	have settled themselves while we sleep.	34:00
	Settled of themselves, settled themselves we say.	34:04
	The psalmist would rather have said	34:09
	that God had settled them for us.	34:11
	My teacher of theology in Edinburgh, Hugh McIntosh	34:15
	used to quote a saying	34:20
	of the Scottish novelist, George McDonald,	34:24
	"Sleep is God's contrivance for giving man the help	34:30
	he cannot get into him while he is awake."	34:35
	You see, during the day we're so anxious	34:41
	to keep the reigns of our destiny	34:44
	so entirely in our own hands,	34:47
	that God has to wait until we're asleep,	34:51
	in order to do for us and in us,	34:56
	those things, which we cannot do for ourselves.	34:58
	Some of the saints have gone so far as to say	35:03
	that among the things God gives to his beloved in sleep	35:07
	is an increase in their love of him.	35:12
	They have claimed that their growth in grace	35:16
	has not been confined to their waking hours.	35:20
	For instance, in that beautiful little book,	35:24
	The Practice of the Presence of God,	35:28
	you will read how brother Lawrence,	35:31
	the 17th century monk of Lorraine, used to say,	35:35
	"Those whose spirits are stirred	35:40
	by the breath of the holy spirit of God,	35:43
	go forward even in sleep."	35:46
	That is, they wake up better men	35:50
	than they went to bed.	35:55
	Now, is that difficult to believe?	35:58
	Well, I think we find it difficult to believe	36:02
	only because we habitually suppose ourselves	36:05
	to be much more the masters of our own spiritual development	36:09
	than we actually are.	36:15
	If some of the processes	36:18
	that are necessary for our physical wellbeing,	36:20
	go on, as the doctors say they do	36:24
	more advantageously in sleep than in waking life	36:27
	because the will then relaxes	36:32
	it's too despotic control.	36:35
	Why then shouldn't the same be true	36:38
	of the processes that advance our spiritual wellbeing?	36:41
	Do you remember Wordsworth's lines,	36:48
	Nor less I deem that there are powers	36:51
	which of themselves, our minds impress,	36:54
	that we can feed this mind of ours in a wise passiveness.	36:58
	Think you, mid all this mighty stream	37:05
	of things, for ever speaking	37:08
	that nothing of itself will come,	37:11
	but we must still be seeking.	37:13
	I want to read you also, the prayer	37:17
	with which the great Dr. Arnold of rugby school	37:21
	that is, Matthew Arnold's father,	37:25
	the prayer that he used to repeat every morning	37:29
	before beginning his days work as headmaster in the school.	37:33
	Oh Lord, we have a busy world around us.	37:39
	Eye, ear and thought will be needed	37:44
	for all our work to be done in the world.	37:46
	Now, here we again, enter into it.	37:50
	We would commit eye, ear and thought to thee.	37:54
	Do thou bless them and keep their work thine	37:58
	that as through thy natural laws,	38:02
	our hearts beat and our blood flows	38:08
	without any thought of ours for them.	38:11
	So our spiritual life may hold on its course	38:13
	at those times when our minds	38:18
	cannot consciously turn to thee	38:21
	to commit each particular thought to thy service	38:24
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.	38:29
	That is a good prayer to say	38:33
	when we get up in the morning,	38:36
	but I would put it to you	38:39
	whether there is not one very like it	38:40
	which it is good to say when we lie down at night.	38:43
	But now, third and last,	38:51
	I can't leave the subject of the theology of sleep	38:54
	without saying something about the theology of dreams.	38:59
	Some people say they never dream.	39:05
	And if that's true of you,	39:09
	you don't need to listen to the rest of my sermon.	39:11
	But dreams have played a large part in religious history.	39:17
	All through the ages, men have believed	39:23
	that God visited them in dreams,	39:25
	ever since Jacob's dream at Bethel,	39:28
	from which he woke up saying to himself,	39:31
	"Surely the Lord is in this place."	39:34
	And do you remember Mercy's dream?	39:38
	Mercy's dream in John Bunyan's, Pilgrim's Progress.	39:41
	Let me remind you of it.	39:47
	I think this is a fine passage,	39:49
	wonderful English for one thing.	39:52
	Nobody could write better English ever,	39:56
	than John Bunyan, but also wonderful for its thought.	39:59
	Mercy's mother Christiana asked her one morning,	40:04
	"What was the matter with you that you did laugh	40:10
	in your sleep last night?	40:13
	I suppose you were in a dream."	40:15
	To which Mercy replied thus:	40:19
	"I was adream that I sat all alone in a solitary place	40:22
	and was bemoaning the hardness of my heart.	40:27
	Now I had not sat there long,	40:31
	but me thought many were gathered about me	40:34
	to see me and to hear what it was that I said.	40:37
	So they harkened and I still went on bemoaning	40:42
	the hardness of my heart.	40:46
	At this, some of them laughed out, laughed at me.	40:48
	Some called me fool	40:52
	and some began to thrust me about.	40:54
	With that me thought, I looked up	40:58
	and saw one coming with wings toward me.	41:00
	So he came directly to me and said,	41:04
	Mercy, what a live thee?	41:08
	Now, when he had heard me make my complaint, he said	41:11
	"Peace be to thee."	41:15
	He also wiped mine eyes with his handkerchief	41:17
	and clad me in silver and gold.	41:21
	He put a chain about my neck and earrings in my ears	41:24
	and a beautiful crown upon my head.	41:30
	Then he took me by the hand and said,	41:33
	"Mercy, come after me."	41:35
	So he went up and I followed	41:38
	till we came at a golden gate.	41:39
	Then he knocked.	41:42
	And when they within had opened, the man went in	41:43
	and I followed him up to a throne	41:46
	upon which one sat and said to me,	41:49
	"Welcome daughter."	41:52
	So I woke from my dream, but did I laugh?	41:54
	"Laugh?" Replied Christiana.	41:59
	"I and will you mate, to see yourself so well	42:03
	for you must give me leave to tell you	42:07
	that I believe it was a good dream	42:10
	and that as you have begun to find the first part true,	42:14
	so you shall find the second true at last.	42:18
	We need not." Christiana went on,	42:23
	"We need not when a bed lie awake to talk with God,	42:26
	he can visit us while we sleep	42:30
	and cause us to hear his voice.	42:33
	Our heart oft times wakes when we sleep	42:36
	and God can speak to it either by words,	42:40
	by proverbs, by signs and similitudes	42:43
	as well as if one was awake.	42:47
	"Well," said Mercy.	42:49
	"I am glad of my dream, for I hope	42:51
	and long to see it fulfilled	42:55
	to the making of me laugh again."	42:58
	I remember during the terrible bombing of London	43:03
	in the last war,	43:07
	a woman was heard to excuse herself	43:10
	for having stayed quietly in bed as the bombs fell.	43:14
	She said, "Well, I reflected	43:20
	that God does not sleep.	43:24
	And there seemed no reason	43:27
	why both of us should stay awake."	43:29
	Now, of course, the great change	43:36
	that has overtaken the theology of sleep is	43:39
	that the ancients believe dreams to be premonitory	43:43
	of the unborn future.	43:47
	Whereas we moderns, regard them	43:50
	as uprisings from the half buried past.	43:52
	Yes? But this difference of interpretation	43:57
	does not at all affect Christiana's main contention,	44:01
	namely that God can be with us even in our dreams.	44:07
	You see, you and I are still too apt to think	44:13
	that our dreams come to us by mere chance.	44:18
	That there's no rhyme or reason about them.	44:22
	And yet, such a notion is quite as much opposed	44:25
	by the modern Freudians as by the ancient soothsayers.	44:29
	Nothing happens by chance.	44:36
	Again, we think that we have no control over our dreams	44:40
	and indeed it is true	44:46
	that we have no direct control over them.	44:47
	We cannot, as we lie awake,	44:50
	exactly decide what we are going to dream about	44:52
	after we go to sleep.	44:56
	And yet we can be certain	44:58
	that the power which controls our dreams	45:00
	is the same power that controls our life as a whole.	45:03
	If we have surrendered our hearts to God in the sunlight,	45:08
	he will be with us no less during the hours of darkness.	45:13
	Nor can the devil get at us by night	45:19
	if we haven't allowed him some entry by day.	45:24
	It is certain that if there were no evil	45:29
	in our waking souls,	45:31
	there would be no evil in our dreams.	45:34
	But of course,	45:38
	of course, evil is always at our doors,	45:40
	at least in the form of temptation.	45:43
	Even the greatest saints have never got rid of that.	45:47
	So long as we remain in the flesh,	45:51
	suggestions of evil will continue to appear	45:55
	on the thresholds of our minds and imaginations.	45:58
	And I think,	46:03
	I think we shouldn't allow that to trouble us unduly	46:04
	so long as we do our best by God's help	46:08
	to refuse them any effective harbor.	46:12
	And if that is true of our waking life,	46:17
	how much more likely is it to be true of our dreams	46:20
	when sleep relaxes the will,	46:25
	when what the Freudians used to call the sensor	46:28
	and now call the super ego, is no longer on guard.	46:32
	If therefore our dreams are sometimes unsavory,	46:38
	I think we shouldn't let that worry us over much.	46:43
	We shouldn't brood over them.	46:48
	I think we should rather laugh at them.	46:51
	They are of the devil.	46:54
	And that wonderful English woman of the 14th century,	46:57
	Lady Juliana of Norwich, tells us	47:00
	that she always used to laugh at the devil.	47:04
	I refuse, she said,	47:09
	to take his caperings seriously.	47:10
	And yet, and yet,	47:14
	there is after all one way	47:17
	in which we can exercise some control,	47:20
	even over our dreams and that is	47:24
	by the proper direction of our thoughts before we retire.	47:28
	All experience goes to show	47:33
	that the quality of our night's rest,	47:37
	depends in large measure, on the frame of mind	47:40
	in which we go to bed	47:44
	and compose ourselves to sleep.	47:46
	I therefore conclude by saying this.	47:53
	I say it to you	47:57
	because it's something of which	47:58
	I find I have continually to remind myself.	48:00
	Every man who calls himself a Christian	48:08
	should go to sleep thinking about the love of God	48:14
	in Jesus Christ, our Lord.	48:19
	Is that too much	48:24
	for me to ask of myself?	48:27
	Is it too much for you to ask of yourselves?	48:32
	Every man who calls himself a Christian	48:37
	should go to sleep thinking about the love of God	48:41
	in Jesus Christ, our Lord.	48:46
	Let us pray.	48:50
	Although without whom nothing is good	49:03
	and nothing holy,	49:06
	grant that all our speaking and hearing at this time	49:10
	may be to our increase in holiness	49:15
	and to the glory of thy holy name	49:19
	in Jesus Christ, our Lord.	49:22
	And may the peace of God,	49:26
	which passeth all understanding	49:28
	keep your hearts and minds	49:31
	in the knowledge and love of God	49:33
	and of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.	49:35
	And the blessing of God, father, son and Holy Spirit	49:40
	descend upon you and remain with you, forever more.	49:44
	(church choir singing)	49:57

Item Info

Title:

Robert E. Cushman - "The Time of Thy Visitation Vision" (December 16, 1956); John Baillie - "The Theology of Sleep" (January 20, 1957)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4z60h33t

Date:

December 16, 1956
January 20, 1957

Speaker:

Cushman, Robert E.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0030
ref5281_czn
uachapelsermaud
duke:628142
dcrau002081
ark:/87924/r4z60h33t
3b78b582-9144-4a8d-b56d-4f09335d45b5

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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Transcript

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