p. 6 | A Sound Mind by John N. Quinn

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 11, 1910

A Sound Mind

By John N. Quinn

JOHN N. QUINN

“WHY talk to the inmates of an insane asylum on the topic, ‘Fools’?”

The pastor of a New York City church, a man prominent in the religious world, had concluded the Sunday morning service, the subject of his sermon being “Fools,” based on the text of Scripture, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” His audience had given marked attention, and he had the feeling which comes to the servant of God when the word spoken has been in the power and demonstration of the Spirit. In the audience was the superintendent of an insane asylum, attracted there by the topic. He was pleased with what he heard, and waiting until the pastor was almost alone in the building, he requested that the sermon be repeated before the inmates of the institution of which he was superintendent. The request was so peculiar that it led to the question at the head of this article.

The superintendent assuring him that the inmates of the asylum would follow his line of thought attentively, and that this was an opportunity for the pastor to give at least an hour’s enjoyment to these unfortunates, he reluctantly accepted the invitation. The lecture-room was well filled, and all the assurances of the superintendent were verified. As the pastor came to his first characteristic of the fool, he was startled to see fingers pointed in all directions. This occurred each time he emphasized some peculiarity of a fool, and at last the meaning of the pointed fingers dawned upon him. These insane people could readily see the fool in the other insane one, but as not a finger was pointed inward, no one saw the fool in himself. There came to the pastor a new revelation of the characteristics of the fool.

Are all the people of unsound mind in the asylums?— If one applies the above test, the answer must be in the negative. How easy it is to apply some searching truth to others rather than to ourselves; how quick we are to discern the flaw in another’s character, yet with what hesitancy we acknowledge our own. At times it may become necessary to obey the instruction of the Word, and ‘rebuke . . . with all long-suffering and doctrine;’ but before so doing, how careful we should be that we are free from the failing we rebuke.

Did Jesus Christ denounce the spirit of covetousness and oppression which devoured widows’ houses, and for a pretense made long prayers?— He himself was absolutely void of the least taint of covetousness. Did he rebuke the impurity of the leaders of his time, and in the sand write their iniquity?— He could stand before them with the challenge, ‘Which of you convinceth me of sin?’ And in the infinite holiness of his being, he could speak the word which imparted the purity of his life to the defiled one in penitence at his feet. Did Christ in unmistakable terms assail the spirit that would place heavy burdens upon the shoulders of men?— He could invite them to come to him for rest, his yoke being easy, his burden light.

The mote may exist in the brother’s eye; but who would commit, to one whose sight is much impaired, the work of extracting from that delicate organ something very small? We are promised eye-salve, and when it is applied, the beam becomes more prominent than the mote. ‘God has given us the spirit of a sound mind’ (2 Tim. 1:7), the evidence of which is the turning of our gaze inward, inviting God to set our secret sins in the light of his countenance. This removes the fretful spirit, the feeling of annoyance, at the failings of others. Eph. 4:23; Rom. 12:2.