To grasp the way God thus works, we can describe it as a sense of firmness imparted to the soul by the perceived presence of God. A comparison, however inadequate, suggests to us in what manner this is effected.
The mere presence of others gives us a courage that we should probably not have experienced if alone. A child having to undergo some slight operation or some test of pain, is usually willing to bear it patiently if only its mother will hold its hand. It is of course not that the pain is in this way rendered any the less, but that a feeling of bravery is imparted by the mere presence of the mother.
In a still more striking way, it is similar with children in the dark. They are frightened by the loneliness of it. If another is in the room, though he may not be seen nor heard, without any sensible appreciation of the presence and sustained only by the knowledge of the nearness, the child is at once reinforced by a courage that springs entirely from the other’s proximity. An invalid will grow querulous when he knows he is alone. The mere presence of an onlooker will nerve us to bravery without a word being spoken or a thing being done. Similarly, our soul is encouraged by the perceived presence of the Holy Spirit, despite its natural or acquired timidity, to persevere.
Thus, it will be seen that the paradox has been reconciled. The perception of the presence has not been our own doing, still less has the nearness of God been through any merit of our own. However, the mere indwelling of the Holy Ghost has itself refined the perceptive faculties of the will so they are strengthened by the divine Friend.
