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Two general, innate, conflictual forces work
within the psyche to form character. Susceptibility to emotional
excitement and susceptibility to impulses and inhibitions
(212). The former is the voice of consent; the "yes" that gives
one permission to act. The latter is the inhibitor; the "no"
voice. The resolution of the conflict between these susceptibilities is
the making up of one's mind either to do something or not, inhibited or
uninhibited, or with shades of inhibition.
The lack of natural inhibition in some gives these highly charged individuals the impression that the "omnipotent obstacles" to their fulfillment of needs or desires might be broken down by their own will, or by the will of God through their uninhibited actions. In the latter case, uninhibited actions often include one's complete self-surrender to the "Ideal Power" (220), as exemplified by Constant's complaint: he was indecisive due to his inability to "give things up" (215). In varying degrees, the result of conversion is a freedom from inhibitions through the deterioration of internal barriers or "hardness of heart." Although hardness may eventually return (resulting in the former, backsliding behaviors like smoking, swearing, fighting, etc.), those whose walls have completely crumbled may overcome all hindrances to acting out and becoming their ideal (217). James calls the characteristic self-renunciation and benevolence of such people as Fox and Brown saintliness. The psychological and theological process through which one becomes saintly is a genuine mystery to James (220). But he graciously admits of that "the fruits of religious experience [thus of saintliness] are the best things that history has to show" (211). The features of saintliness are four. (1) A sense of a personified "Ideal Power," and of cosmos. He richly describes this feeling as "enveloping friendliness." (2) A surrender to the benevolence of the Power conveys (3) a sense of liberty and ecstasy, and (4) a system shift toward "emotional excitement" and boldness (220). Likewise, the consequences of saintliness are four: (1) a tendency toward asceticism and self-immolation, (2) abandonment of fear and anxiety, (3) purity from the influence of culture (James says "worldly pursuits"), and (4) charity, or "brotherly love" (225). The rest of the lectures details what I would term "saintliness as...." Saintliness as Love James details his theology of love based on the Bible: The liminality of conversion leads to an assurance of God's presence, which further leads to care for one another, since "God is the Father of all, and all men are brothers (sic)." Christ, divine and also brotherly, commanded his followers to love their enemies. The reason: "So that you may be children of the Father" (225). "Love thy enemies" is the theme of saintliness. In addition, it is a universal principle, harmonious with all the great religions and philosophies. If followed radically, "we should be born into another kingdom of being" (229). Saintliness as Resignation Resignation is the abandonment of self-responsibility and the taking on of "living moment by moment." The result of resignation is tranquil-mindedness. There are two manners of resignation: (1) trust of the Ideal through suffering or denigration for the constitutionally somber, and trust in spite of suffering for the constitutionally cheerful (231). Saintliness as Purity Purity means surrendering harmful habits, living one's convictions, quitting sins such as pride, withdrawal and asceticism (233-4). As I was reading, I was thinking about the asceticism of the Beloved Henry Suso, and then, turning the page, was Suso's case! Asceticism deserved six psychological levels, which can be summarized as (1) disgust, (2) temperance, (3) for love of God, (4) self-reproof, (5) obsessive penance, and (6) pain/pleasure perversion (239). Henry Suso's remarkable case fits in category five or six. Finally... Saintliness as Poverty The godly impoverished lack knowledge and/or material wealth. The "men who are" are favorably contrasted with the "men who have" (254). I want to draw some parallels to the biblical, theological, and practical. I don't think I will have enough room to pull James in throughout, but the similarities should be apparent after reading page 1. "Saintliness" is James' psychological term that describes a state of being. Those who are saintly are saints. Saintliness is not a Bible term: in bible-speak, the sanctified are saints. Therefore (if I may), the "saintly" of James are the "sanctified" of the Bible. To sanctify is to (1) "set apart: God sanctified the Sabbath (Gen 2:3) and called for the sanctification of the first-born (Exo 13:2). (2) It means "to cleanse:" Moses sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes (Exo 19:14). It means "chosen:" Aaron was anointed with oil to sanctify him (Lev 8:12). The Greek scriptures mirror the Hebrew. Paul admonishes the Romans: gentile dogs were acceptable (set apart) to God through sanctification (15:16). Indeed, to be sanctified meant to belong wholly to God, abstaining from fornication (sexual and spiritual) (1 Th 4:3). Sanctifying also meant the cleansing of immersion to Pseudo-Paul (Eph 5:26). Saints are the sanctified, and partakers in a covenant of sanctity with God (Psa 50:5, 1 Cor 6:2). Saints are no longer members of this world (Eph 2:19): they are in but not of. The saints of God are to judge the world now (and are, especially those within liberation and creation theologies), and will judge in the eschaton (1 Cor 6:2). In Wesleyan theology, one does not say that saints are saintly (redundant), but holy. As a saint, one strives for holiness through total self-surrender. Humankind is not created in the image of God, but born. Conversion, a work of God's grace, is primarily of the crisis type. At conversion, one is regenerated in the image of God, thus justified before God and sanctified in some "lower sense." Full sanctification, synonymous with "full salvation," "perfection," comes as a second work of grace extemporaneously with conversion - that is, later. Through a life of holiness and continual self-surrender, one can expect to be perfected in love, becoming a perfect saint. There is a maturing in "saintliness" to the point (in the minority of saints) of crisis, when one knows without a doubt he/she has been perfected. This happens near life's end, so Wesley thought, and he claimed to have been perfected (sinless) in his old age. It seems that the bridge between James and Wesley might be Charles Wesley, in a left-brained sort of way. Look at a few verses from the hymn God of All Power and Truth and Grace. We clearly see a richness in both John Wesley's theology and James' psychology.
Wesleyan doctrine was interpreted in a variety of ways, of course. In James' day perfection, or my new psychological term, "full saintliness," was thought to happen instantly, skipping all of James' steps as well as Wesley's ideas of growing into perfection. One would pray for perfection, claim it, then experience it as a sensation of electricity or fire.
I had no reason to doubt LeRoy's claim. He did seem to have "full sainthood." I met many others who claimed full sanctification and perfection. I tried to achieve it myself, but didn't get it all at once, although I have been growing and going forward since I recorded LeRoy's story. {note 2/1/2001: I hadn't had any contact with LeRoy since 1983. Recently I contacted his relative who said that he went out to chop wood during a family Thanksgiving in 1985. When he didn't return, the family found him dead in the yard of an apparent heart attack. I am certain that his fate was sealed long before, and that he is now in the resurrection kingdom.} <Back Top^ |