Charles Wagner: I Am A Voice

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[00:00:30] Revived Thoughts is a production of Revived Studios

[00:00:38] This is Troy Angel and you're listening to Revived Thoughts

[00:00:47] Identifying himself completely with his role as the precursor

[00:00:52] He found perfect happiness and shrinking himself in the glory of Christ

[00:00:56] Just as the dawn disappears in the spunders of the morning

[00:01:00] Every episode we bring you a different voice from history and a sermon that they delivered

[00:01:06] The sermon is given to us by Charles Wagner

[00:01:08] It was preached in the late 1800s that's titled, I am a Voice

[00:01:12] Troy! How are you doing?

[00:01:16] I am allergy-rican and you are recovering from a cold so we have a nasally gang together today

[00:01:26] We do and not a cold of flu

[00:01:28] I was out

[00:01:30] I was unable to move, it was terrible

[00:01:32] It's spring break where we are

[00:01:34] The kids are out of school for a week

[00:01:36] We should have been able to have all kinds of fun

[00:01:38] And I was completely worthless

[00:01:40] And I felt very bad about it

[00:01:42] I was really looking forward to all the spring break shenanigans that could get into it with the kids

[00:01:46] And I wasn't able to get into any of them

[00:01:48] So that was disappointing

[00:01:50] You sound like you have allergies

[00:01:52] And if I remember Kansas City where you are at, that means you're going to have lots of pollen

[00:01:56] And then probably two more snows before summer comes

[00:02:00] Out of control

[00:02:02] We got a second winner that's still coming but in the meantime we're going to hit with the freight train of pollen

[00:02:06] Worst than it's ever in my life

[00:02:08] It is awful

[00:02:10] To the point where I'm considering a sick date

[00:02:14] Legitimately, I cannot function and interact with people

[00:02:18] Because my eyes are too watering and too itchy

[00:02:20] And I'm sneezing constantly

[00:02:22] And it's just wild

[00:02:24] But I am glad you're feeling better, Troy

[00:02:28] That's no fun, that stinks

[00:02:30] It is kind of a surreal thing for an adult to be so sick that you

[00:02:34] You just like have to lay for a whole day

[00:02:38] I've been there and it's weird to be like

[00:02:42] This is life

[00:02:44] I feel like someone oversees who gets a lot of stomach bugs, gets a lot of migraines

[00:02:48] And stuff like that, or has gone through a lot of those

[00:02:50] I'm not, it's not unusual to get sick

[00:02:52] Overseas is pretty normal thing to have those moments

[00:02:54] I have not been stuck in bed

[00:02:56] And my head hurting so bad

[00:02:58] I can't even pick up my phone

[00:03:00] So I'm literally just, there's nothing going on

[00:03:02] But I also am in too much pain to sleep

[00:03:04] That was a very, like I haven't experienced that

[00:03:06] I feel like in a very long time

[00:03:08] But anyway, so we're revived thoughts

[00:03:10] And if you're new, this is, we don't normally start the show

[00:03:12] With so much complaining

[00:03:14] It's just sick to have

[00:03:16] Good timing on that coffee

[00:03:20] Yeah, yeah, yeah

[00:03:22] So there have been some positive responses to revive thoughts

[00:03:24] I wanted to read a few of those

[00:03:26] From Phil over on Twitter

[00:03:28] Another great episode from revive thoughts

[00:03:30] I think we all fall into these traps

[00:03:32] And I definitely like to see a reclaiming of teaching church history

[00:03:34] And history in general, properly more objectively

[00:03:36] And a storytelling manner

[00:03:38] And that was on our episode how not to teach church history

[00:03:40] That he shared out on Twitter

[00:03:42] Thank you for sharing that Phil

[00:03:44] And also, I gotta tell you, we've heard a lot of people

[00:03:46] Just personal people reaching out

[00:03:48] And sending messages about that episode

[00:03:50] And we really are really glad

[00:03:52] Both on revive thoughts and martyrs of missionaries

[00:03:54] People have been saying yeah, I needed to hear this

[00:03:56] You know, we need more of this

[00:03:58] How do we teach church history

[00:04:00] And so I'm glad that that's been able to kind of get

[00:04:02] People thinking about that important subject

[00:04:04] Now, this is what I really like this one

[00:04:06] Mark

[00:04:08] Mark Stodock

[00:04:10] I'm not sure

[00:04:12] On Twitter says my boy

[00:04:14] He's a access friend at Breaking Itals

[00:04:16] Got a cool shout out on my on the

[00:04:18] I'm sorry, I'm reading it as he said

[00:04:20] On my on the at revive thoughts podcast

[00:04:22] He's pretty much famous now

[00:04:24] And they said no

[00:04:26] Yes, I'm just not listening to something that was from mid-January

[00:04:28] I was busy, get off my back

[00:04:30] Well, Mark, I'm gonna get off your back

[00:04:32] About listening to that episode

[00:04:34] And being a little late on it

[00:04:36] Because I think I'm a little bit late to reading this comment

[00:04:38] It's been like probably a week and a half since you made it

[00:04:40] However, Mark, I just wanna say

[00:04:42] Now you got a cool shout out

[00:04:44] For shouting out Breaking Itals

[00:04:46] You got a cool shout out

[00:04:48] And now we've created like a shout out cycle now

[00:04:50] And I hope there's some other guy

[00:04:52] We'll go hey look, Mark was on

[00:04:54] Continue war texting and we'll see where it goes

[00:04:56] We also have a kaiw book

[00:04:58] All these are on Twitter today

[00:05:00] He was sharing our link on Spotify

[00:05:04] An older episode he shared out from

[00:05:06] BB Warfield, the example of the incarnation

[00:05:08] That is an old one

[00:05:10] And he shared I've been checking out some of the older episodes of the quote

[00:05:12] Of quote the world's best

[00:05:14] Church history podcast

[00:05:16] In quote I hope that's just a phrase

[00:05:18] You've been using around the office or something

[00:05:20] Like I don't think that's one of our slogans

[00:05:22] So thank you for giving us that name.

[00:05:23] Instead of you not listening to revive thoughts

[00:05:25] You are missing a true treasure

[00:05:27] And then he hashtagged it Eric with a k

[00:05:29] Thank you kaiw book or Eric with a k

[00:05:31] Not sure which one we got there for sure

[00:05:33] But we appreciate you listening some of those older episodes

[00:05:35] I'm always excited when people go back

[00:05:37] And listen to the treasure show

[00:05:39] We have almost five years worth of content

[00:05:41] And all of the sermons are just as revived

[00:05:43] Four years ago

[00:05:45] As the ones that are revived fresh every Thursday

[00:05:47] So they're great for enjoying

[00:05:49] And we hope you guys will continue to go back

[00:05:51] And check them out

[00:05:53] Yeah he was linking an old episode back when we had the orange

[00:05:57] Low by the orange icon

[00:05:59] That feels like a lifetime ago

[00:06:01] But listeners if you were following us back in the orange thumbnail

[00:06:05] Era you're the real

[00:06:07] You're the OGs, the original listeners

[00:06:11] You know if you're out there and you remember the orange icon

[00:06:13] Because you were there from back when that was the orange icon

[00:06:15] You should shout us out when this episode comes out

[00:06:17] And this is something on twitter or instagram or somewhere

[00:06:19] Let us know and say hey i remember the orange icon

[00:06:21] We'd love to hear from those orange icon fans

[00:06:25] Alright Charles Wagner, what is our confidence level

[00:06:29] Give me a 0 to 100% on if this is pronounced Wagner or Wagner

[00:06:33] So we're saying Wagner

[00:06:35] But he's northeast France

[00:06:39] There is, I have to say that I'm not sure

[00:06:41] I'm not sure

[00:06:43] He's northeast France

[00:06:45] There is, I'd say

[00:06:47] Yeah

[00:06:49] I would say the majority percentage

[00:06:51] 60% chance he was called a Wagner

[00:06:53] What do you think

[00:06:55] No i actually agree with you

[00:06:57] I think percentage wise

[00:06:59] You are correct

[00:07:01] But our ability to be forgiven

[00:07:03] Is higher if we err on the side of Wagner

[00:07:07] In case that he's not

[00:07:09] If we call him Wagner and he's actually Wagner

[00:07:11] Or he's from France

[00:07:13] I don't know how you know

[00:07:15] Charlie Wagner

[00:07:17] Maybe that's not a more vampire than his French

[00:07:21] Wagner oh boy

[00:07:23] Boy you've been to France Joel

[00:07:25] You should know how to say this

[00:07:27] Yeah that's how that works

[00:07:29] You visit ones in your linguistic history

[00:07:31] We're going to go with Wagner

[00:07:33] Peerly out of i think that makes it easier to forgive us if we're wrong

[00:07:37] Well i mean like true Wagner's that live in America now

[00:07:41] Are usually called Wagner's by now

[00:07:43] Like it's been

[00:07:45] Americanized over the years

[00:07:47] I don't know we'll probably get some people writing in about that

[00:07:51] I don't know i've definitely known Wagner's

[00:07:53] That were definitely Wagner's

[00:07:55] 500 years ago

[00:07:57] You know so now they're Wagner's

[00:07:59] I'm going to come

[00:08:01] Charles Wagner born in northeast France

[00:08:03] In the year 1852

[00:08:05] From a Lutheran family

[00:08:07] His pastor was part of the local Lutheran church

[00:08:11] At 14 years old he moved away to Strasbourg

[00:08:13] To work on his college degree

[00:08:15] And back in the day

[00:08:17] Strasbourg at the time

[00:08:19] Was a big deal

[00:08:21] Was one of the biggest cities in the region in France there

[00:08:23] And this was like a pretty common thing

[00:08:25] In this era

[00:08:27] I mean i guess we still see it in today

[00:08:29] But not as much as far as just like sending your kid away

[00:08:31] To a major city

[00:08:33] To study

[00:08:35] It sounds like that

[00:08:37] That's scary

[00:08:39] The number of times especially in this era of like continental Europe

[00:08:41] Where like someone's just like

[00:08:43] And then at 12 I sent my child off to a city far away to learn to study

[00:08:47] And we say it so casually

[00:08:49] But i feel like it would be terrifying

[00:08:51] In a pre internet

[00:08:53] Prephone age

[00:08:55] To just be like your 12 now son

[00:08:57] I'm sending you to London to go learn to study

[00:08:59] Don't get in any shenanigans

[00:09:01] You know don't be doing anything bad while we're gone

[00:09:03] I feel like that's just i don't know

[00:09:05] It stood out to me for the first time

[00:09:07] For the first time in a year

[00:09:09] To my homuncle letter from you

[00:09:11] Yeah

[00:09:13] I can't wait to hear how all as well

[00:09:15] And we'll let you know if all of your brothers and sisters are still alive

[00:09:17] And those monthly letters

[00:09:19] Yeah

[00:09:21] That is a different

[00:09:23] Different mindset of raising families for share

[00:09:27] After he finished his schooling there in

[00:09:29] Strasbourg

[00:09:31] He moved to Germany to further study

[00:09:33] And he finished with some theological degrees

[00:09:35] Now up into this point

[00:09:37] Again he was kind of raised in that Lutheran tradition

[00:09:39] So he considered himself

[00:09:41] Lutheran

[00:09:43] But after finishing his studies

[00:09:45] He wanted to be a part of what is called

[00:09:47] Quote the French Protestant Church

[00:09:49] It's something that

[00:09:51] Troy correct me on this

[00:09:53] We would think of it more as like a reform theology today

[00:09:55] Yeah

[00:09:57] Yeah it is considered that

[00:09:59] And you go to Wikipedia the first thing he says is he's considered a reformed theologian

[00:10:01] So at least of his time

[00:10:03] That would be where that comes from

[00:10:05] However

[00:10:07] He would be considered I think

[00:10:09] In the liberal wing of the reformed theologian camp

[00:10:11] And if those titles don't mean anything to you

[00:10:13] Then don't worry about them

[00:10:15] But if you're very interested in stuff like that

[00:10:17] That's where you would go

[00:10:19] For a few years

[00:10:21] He worked a small church before deciding

[00:10:23] He was a newly married wife that he would like to move out of Strasbourg

[00:10:25] Out of Germany, out of those places

[00:10:27] He's been living in and go to Paris

[00:10:29] Paris you know just as it is today

[00:10:31] The center of France

[00:10:33] But when he got there

[00:10:35] He found that none of the churches were interested in letting him preach

[00:10:37] Maybe because of his back and forthing

[00:10:39] Maybe because they weren't really sure what quote

[00:10:41] The French Protestant churches were

[00:10:43] This new kind of domination

[00:10:45] Which is interesting because Protestant and France

[00:10:47] Seems like it's something they understood

[00:10:49] They had a whole movement called the Huguenots

[00:10:51] If you've never listened to Elise's martyrs emissionaries

[00:10:53] You should go check it out on them

[00:10:55] But this French Protestant church as labeled

[00:10:57] As I just said, it seems to be like a new

[00:10:59] Kind of movement

[00:11:01] Echiminical reformed movement that he was leading

[00:11:03] And people just didn't know who he was

[00:11:05] So instead of

[00:11:07] Getting a church to let him start preaching

[00:11:09] The French Protestant church movement

[00:11:11] He was a part of said

[00:11:13] You can start your own Sunday school in church right where you are

[00:11:15] Now Wagner, I don't think he grew up rich

[00:11:17] Like I didn't see any evidence

[00:11:19] He was poor, he seemed like he lived

[00:11:21] Upper, you know, maybe middle class

[00:11:23] At least not

[00:11:25] He wasn't peasant poor, he wasn't dl moody poor

[00:11:27] He seemed like he was doing fine

[00:11:29] But when he moved to Paris

[00:11:31] Him and his wife purposely took up a tiny apartment

[00:11:33] And the poor district of Paris

[00:11:35] And that's also where they set up the church

[00:11:37] They figured that in their minds

[00:11:39] His kind of philosophy was

[00:11:41] Who needs the power of God's hope the most

[00:11:43] The poor who are the people

[00:11:45] Who needs the power of God's hope the most

[00:11:47] The poor who are in the most suffering

[00:11:49] So that's where the church should set up

[00:11:51] His front door and that's where

[00:11:53] The pastor of that church should be

[00:11:55] Sharing the good news with the people who need it the most

[00:11:57] Yes, he would eventually get his church

[00:11:59] Built for the equivalent of a cool

[00:12:01] $60,000

[00:12:03] And that's in today

[00:12:05] A US-adjusted money

[00:12:07] So a bargain

[00:12:09] And a quarter of that would end up coming from

[00:12:11] Americans

[00:12:13] Because, and this is very interesting

[00:12:15] He's quite an entrepreneurial man here

[00:12:19] He was a relatively successful author book publisher

[00:12:23] He published several books

[00:12:25] And would sell them around the world

[00:12:27] And they resonated well with Americans

[00:12:31] Specifically

[00:12:33] Theodore Roosevelt was a big fan

[00:12:35] Of Charles Wagner's writings

[00:12:37] Which is like the best promotion you can get

[00:12:41] And with Theodore Roosevelt is pedal in your book

[00:12:43] You're doing alright

[00:12:45] So much so that again

[00:12:47] A quarter of their church fund came from

[00:12:51] Americans buying his books

[00:12:53] He wrote a lot

[00:12:55] His most famous book is called The Simple Life

[00:12:57] And this is interesting

[00:12:59] It's actually a concept that I've seen

[00:13:01] Re-surface

[00:13:03] More recently, I wonder

[00:13:05] There's like a current author

[00:13:07] Called John Mark Comer

[00:13:09] Similar concepts

[00:13:11] And surely had

[00:13:13] We've been semi-inspired to it

[00:13:15] But talking about how

[00:13:17] One of the major problems about society

[00:13:19] And life was that it has become too complex

[00:13:21] There were too many things

[00:13:23] To do too many things to keep track of

[00:13:25] Between business and politics and sports

[00:13:27] And economics, all of these things

[00:13:29] Were too much to keep track of

[00:13:31] And we're not like really meant to keep track of that

[00:13:33] And in The Simple Life

[00:13:35] The book challenges us to let go of all that

[00:13:37] And to live a more simple life

[00:13:39] To weatel down how busy we are

[00:13:41] Again, Roosevelt loved it

[00:13:43] It was a huge sensation

[00:13:45] I think it's interesting

[00:13:47] Just a thing about

[00:13:49] Someone 200 years ago

[00:13:51] Saying we're too busy

[00:13:53] And then looking at our lives today

[00:13:55] Realizing we're way busier than

[00:13:57] People were 200 years ago

[00:13:59] And surely the same concepts

[00:14:01] Apply to us here and now

[00:14:03] I mean, there's another 200 years

[00:14:05] It's a great point

[00:14:07] Because back then

[00:14:09] When they went to bed at night

[00:14:11] There was no device or anything to keep them awake

[00:14:13] They closed their eyes

[00:14:15] And when there was no

[00:14:17] Important pressing revive thoughts podcast

[00:14:19] To catch up on

[00:14:21] Their lives were in that way a lot easier than they are today

[00:14:23] So it's an interesting point

[00:14:25] If 100 years ago people needed to simplify things

[00:14:27] And that was a big hit

[00:14:29] How much more is it now?

[00:14:31] But then, the reverse of that is true too

[00:14:33] And then, a few years ago to simplify

[00:14:35] And no one listened

[00:14:37] And you know how many times

[00:14:39] No matter how much we seem to know

[00:14:41] That we get ourselves too busy

[00:14:43] And we make ourselves

[00:14:45] We make our lives too full of stuff

[00:14:47] We don't ever actually stop

[00:14:49] We just keep adding more and more in

[00:14:51] So listeners, look at your life

[00:14:53] Are you too busy?

[00:14:55] Maybe maybe you need to take the subscriptions

[00:14:57] That aren't revived thoughts and martyrs and missionaries

[00:14:59] And sort of down

[00:15:03] So he agreed to go along

[00:15:05] He goes to America and speaks at the White House

[00:15:07] You know, preaches there

[00:15:09] It goes very well

[00:15:11] He does a little tour through America

[00:15:13] And that's how he's able to raise a lot of the money

[00:15:15] He needs to build that church

[00:15:17] And that poor part of

[00:15:19] Paris where he wanted to reach the poor and the hurting

[00:15:21] He did a few other things too

[00:15:23] He helped get

[00:15:25] We started this committee

[00:15:27] That helped get working men jobs

[00:15:29] So they wouldn't be just kind of on the streets

[00:15:31] He also, this one that thought was interesting

[00:15:33] And I will say like look

[00:15:35] I don't even know if I agree with this

[00:15:37] But it's something I could see people doing today

[00:15:39] That's why I thought it was worth bringing up

[00:15:41] He set up something called the Moral Action Committee

[00:15:43] Which basically sought to unite people from different backgrounds

[00:15:47] Whether they were atheists, Christian, Jewish

[00:15:49] Or undecided

[00:15:51] To fight for what was right for France

[00:15:53] And what he meant by that was

[00:15:55] Basically the Moral Action Committee

[00:15:57] This group that he formed

[00:15:59] Like a political group almost

[00:16:01] Not like a political party

[00:16:03] But like a political lobbyist group

[00:16:05] I'm not sure

[00:16:07] But the idea was not

[00:16:09] We're all on the same page about God

[00:16:11] But we are all on the same agreement

[00:16:13] That we need to stand up for what is moral before it gets worse

[00:16:19] And what was interesting to me about that

[00:16:21] Was I feel like

[00:16:23] I'm not saying it's even good

[00:16:25] I feel like that's something that people could start

[00:16:27] In America today a Moral Action Committee

[00:16:29] Where they say look

[00:16:31] Atheists, you know the same exact group

[00:16:33] Atheist Christians, Catholics, Jews

[00:16:35] Whoever you Christians, wherever you are

[00:16:37] We don't all agree in the same afterlife

[00:16:39] But we all agree that the direction things are going today

[00:16:41] Aren't good

[00:16:43] And I just thought it was interesting

[00:16:45] I can't think of another guy I've seen try to do that

[00:16:47] Where he...

[00:16:49] Really hard to imagine that happening

[00:16:51] And today's

[00:16:53] Really I actually think the opposite

[00:16:55] I almost think that that is something that a lot of people

[00:16:57] Would actually get behind where they go

[00:16:59] Yeah, we all agree

[00:17:01] In some ways you can almost argue the political parties are that

[00:17:03] Aren't they? Where they don't really agree on God

[00:17:05] But they agree on the morality of where things should go

[00:17:07] Interesting. We had the exact...

[00:17:09] Exact opposite

[00:17:11] I mean I would love for it to happen

[00:17:13] But I did

[00:17:15] I think it's so good

[00:17:17] I don't know if it's good

[00:17:19] We were like in the exact opposite

[00:17:21] Exactly opposite

[00:17:23] We are as fully... I would say I could see it happening

[00:17:25] But I don't know that it's a good thing to try to get these different groups to unite

[00:17:29] Because I think that

[00:17:31] As Christians we should really work

[00:17:33] With Christians and be evangelizing the laws

[00:17:35] And yeah, I guess

[00:17:37] Is that what a political party is

[00:17:39] Boy he really got me there

[00:17:41] So I don't know if I'm just not philosophical enough to be able to handle this

[00:17:43] But hey

[00:17:45] So that was what he started

[00:17:47] And I don't know how well it worked

[00:17:49] This France was in World War I

[00:17:51] And I think that kind of changed the direction of France dramatically

[00:17:53] Alright so this is Charles Wagner

[00:17:55] Very interesting guy

[00:17:57] Had a very interesting life

[00:17:59] And this is his sermon

[00:18:01] I am a voice

[00:18:03] I am the voice of one crying in the loiterness

[00:18:05] Make straight the way of the Lord

[00:18:07] John chapter 1 verse 23

[00:18:09] Nothing is rare than an independent personality

[00:18:13] So many causes both interior and exterior

[00:18:17] Hinder the normal path

[00:18:19] And the way of the Lord

[00:18:21] And the way of the Lord

[00:18:23] And the way of the Lord

[00:18:25] And the way of the Lord

[00:18:27] And the way of the Lord

[00:18:29] And the way of the Lord

[00:18:31] And an exterior

[00:18:33] Hinder the normal development of human beings

[00:18:35] So many hostile forces crush them

[00:18:37] So many illusions lead them astray

[00:18:39] That it requires a working

[00:18:41] Of extraordinary circumstances

[00:18:43] To render possible the existence of an independent character

[00:18:47] But when God alone knows at the cost of what efforts and of what happy accidents

[00:18:53] A vigorous and original personality has been able to unfold

[00:18:57] Nothing is rare than not to see it to generate

[00:19:00] into a mere celebrity. History teaches us that men exceptional and will and

[00:19:05] energy almost always become obstructive and mischievous. They start by serving

[00:19:11] a cause and end by taking possession of it so completely that from being at

[00:19:16] servants they become its masters. Instead of being men of a cause, they make the

[00:19:22] cause that of a man, and they degrade the most sacred realities to the

[00:19:27] paltry level of their ambitious egoism. So when we meet with those of strong

[00:19:32] natures in doubt with the secret of leadership and command yet able to resist

[00:19:37] the subtle temptation to which so many of the finer spirits have succumbed, it

[00:19:41] behooves us to bow into salute them. If ever a soul encompass this greatness

[00:19:47] it was that of John the Baptist. John is little known of him there remain only

[00:19:53] a few traits of looks and a few snatches of his speeches, but these snatches are

[00:19:58] full of character. These traits give us the vision of a sculpture just as with

[00:20:03] the broken shrunks of columns, these fragments of stones, with all that is left

[00:20:08] of temples that were once marvels of ancient art, they enable us to conceive

[00:20:13] of the grandeur of the whole structure to which they once belonged. John was at

[00:20:18] once strong and humble, energetic and self-attached. Never has an individuality

[00:20:24] so well tempered, been less personal, identifying himself completely with his

[00:20:29] role as the precursor. He found perfect happiness in shrinking himself in the

[00:20:34] glory of Christ, just as the dawn disappears in the splendors of the morning.

[00:20:39] History is full of precursors who impede and withstand those whom they had first

[00:20:44] announced. When the time comes to retire and to give away to those for whom they

[00:20:49] prepared the way, they don't have the courage to sacrifice themselves. They go on

[00:20:54] forever and often become the worst enemies of the cause they have defended.

[00:20:58] John knew nothing of these failings which are the perpetual scandal in the

[00:21:02] development of the kingdom of God. Not only did he say speaking of Jesus, he must

[00:21:07] increase but I must decrease, but he made all his acts conform to these words.

[00:21:13] This is my joy, therefore fulfilled. He said, is he dwelt upon the first

[00:21:18] advances of the gospel and he expressed a sweetness of sacrifice forever unknown

[00:21:23] to personal souls that remain vulgar in spite of their genius. Finally John

[00:21:28] described himself metaphorically in an inimitable prophetic speech which

[00:21:33] explains in full the idea that he formed for himself of his ministry. Under

[00:21:37] this sway of a morbid curiosity, the crowd more perplexed by the appearance of the

[00:21:42] worker than attentive to the work, pestered him with questions. Who then are you

[00:21:47] mysterious preacher? Are you one of the old prophets of Israel escape from his

[00:21:51] rocky tomb or are you the perchance he whom we await? No answer John. I am neither

[00:21:57] one of the prophets nor the Messiah himself. I am no one. I am a voice. I am a voice.

[00:22:03] This is not a formula that sums up the vocation of the prophets solely or of all

[00:22:09] those who in the pulpit or in the Tribune by the panor by the public discourse

[00:22:13] exert an influence upon their contemporaries. These words are addressed to

[00:22:18] everyone. They define for every man the humble yet great duty of the truth that

[00:22:24] he's called the fulfillment of his sphere and according to the measure of

[00:22:27] his ability. At the epoch in which we live, such a device is so applicable to the

[00:22:32] time being so pressing, so needful for us to hear that it is wise to engrave it in

[00:22:38] the very foreground of our consciousness. To become a voice we must begin by

[00:22:43] keeping still. We must listen. The whole world's a tongue of which the spirit is

[00:22:48] the meaning. God engraved its fiery capitals in the

[00:22:52] immensity of the heavens and traced its delicate smaller letters on the flower,

[00:22:57] on the grass, on the human soul as rich, incommensurable as the abyss of space.

[00:23:04] Whoever you are, brother, before letting yourself utter one word,

[00:23:08] lend your ear to that voice that seeks you. I might also add that implores you.

[00:23:14] Listen. Listen to the confused murmur that arises from the human depths and that comprising in

[00:23:21] all its tears, all torments as well as all joys becomes the sigh of creation.

[00:23:27] Listen in your heart to remorse. The sad and poignant echo that sin traversing life leaves

[00:23:33] everywhere upon its passage. Shut your ear to no sound, however unobtrusive,

[00:23:39] however sad it may be. There are voices that issue from the tombs, others that call to you

[00:23:45] from out the abyss of past ages. Repel them not. Listen. One and all. They have something to

[00:23:51] say to you. But do not be content with listening to man, pierce nature, and invisible creation as is

[00:23:58] the invisible sanctuary of souls. Watch attentively for the revelation of him, whose eternal thought of

[00:24:05] every living thing humble or sublime translates after its own fashion. He speaks to you in the dark

[00:24:12] nights and in the bright light of dawn, in the infinite radiance of the worlds beyond all reckoning,

[00:24:17] and in the humble cornstock that awaits in the valley bottom. It's ray of light and it's drop of

[00:24:24] dew. Listen, if there is anguish in the voice of poor humanity, they're in great nature profound

[00:24:31] words of soothing, of hope. Look at the flowers of the field. Listen to the birds of the skies.

[00:24:37] After the distressed voices that perturb you, you will know the voices that relieve and console.

[00:24:44] All those who have become voices have traveled this way. At potmos or in the desert,

[00:24:50] on Horeb or on Sinai, they've trembled with fright or started with joy. But everything has its time.

[00:24:57] There comes a day when all voices softer, terrible that man has heard, grow still.

[00:25:02] To let there only be one heard. The voice which cries to him, go, go now and be a witness of the things

[00:25:10] you have heard. Go, I send you forth as lambs among wolds. Go, I send you toward men whose brow is harsh,

[00:25:17] whose heart is wicked, but fear nothing. I will embolden your face. I will give you a heart of

[00:25:22] brass in a forehead of diamond. When that moment has come, one must, in order to remain faithful to

[00:25:28] his mission, remember that after all he is only a voice. Truth does not belong to us. It is we who

[00:25:35] belong to truth. Woe to him who possesses it and treats it as something that belongs to himself.

[00:25:41] Happy as he who is possessed by it. No preference, no kinship, no sympathy counts here.

[00:25:48] Alas, it is not so that men understand it. It is for this reason that they degrade truth and

[00:25:54] that it becomes without power in their hands. Instead of winging its way heavenward and vigorous flight,

[00:26:00] it crawls along the earth like an eagle whose wings have been broken. Nothing is sadder than to see

[00:26:06] how those who ought to lend their voice to truth turn it to their own uses and play with it.

[00:26:12] The voice, human speech, that sacred organ whose whole worth lies in sincerity has all ages been

[00:26:19] the victim of odious profanities. But in this age it is more than ever attained to the evil from

[00:26:27] which it suffers as defilement. At certain epochs a word was as good as a man. It was an

[00:26:34] act totally supreme guaranteed by the whole of life. There was no need to sign, to stamp,

[00:26:40] to legalize. Speech was held between friends and enemies alike. More sacred than any sanctuary.

[00:26:47] And man maintained it with the obscure but just sentiment that it is at the base of society.

[00:26:53] And that if words lose their value there's no longer any society possible.

[00:26:58] Later the written word was considered sacred and coming nearer to our own day.

[00:27:03] We've been able to see the masses guided ever by that quite legitimate sentiment of the

[00:27:08] holiness of speech, regard everything printed as gospel true. Those times are no more.

[00:27:14] We've lied too much by the living word, the pen and the press. We've said in printed too much

[00:27:20] that's light, false, wittingly disfigured. Armed with an instrumentality that multiplies thought

[00:27:27] and spreads its broadcast to the four corners of the earth with a rapidity unknown to our fathers,

[00:27:32] we've made use of it for the most part to extend slander more widely in the cause a greater

[00:27:38] amount of doubtful intelligence to swarm upon the earth. So well have we spun speech out in all

[00:27:44] our mouths so thoroughly have we deprived it of its proper nature and caused it to become sophisticated

[00:27:51] that it's no longer of the least value. The confidence of the masses in authority,

[00:27:56] which is one of the slowest and most difficult concoys of humanity, we have lost like a thing of

[00:28:01] no worth. But no longer say to anyone who now lifts up his voice, who are you? But what are you

[00:28:08] trying to gain? What party do you serve by what interest are you led by whom have you been bought?

[00:28:15] That there may be a sacred truth loved respected adored a truth that's worth more than life

[00:28:21] to which one may give himself holy and with happiness. This idea is lost to the cynics

[00:28:27] and makes those whom the cruel experiences of life have rendered distrustful shake their heads.

[00:28:32] If ever an epoch is needed to rehabilitate human speech, it's our own. What good are we if it's good

[00:28:38] for nothing since it's at the root of all our institutions? Who will give back its power? They who

[00:28:45] will know how to resign themselves to being only a voice. Permit me to bring home to you by means of

[00:28:53] very modest example what man may gain in force by being but a voice. Look at that clock.

[00:28:59] When the hours come it marks it whether it be the hour of birth or death, the hour of joy or

[00:29:05] sorrow, the hour of long form meetings or of heartbreaking farewells. The clock strikes that

[00:29:13] hour. It's only a mechanism but it's scrupulously exact. It measures that time which descends to us

[00:29:19] dropped by drop from the bosom of eternity. And when the hammer falls on the breeze and bell

[00:29:25] the entire universe confirms what it announces. The sun and the world's mark at this very moment

[00:29:32] in the immortal light, the same point of time that's indicated below on our some starless night

[00:29:38] by the humblest village clock. We must imitate the clock in full consciousness through absolute submission.

[00:29:46] Man should make himself the humble instrument of truth and go through supreme servitude to

[00:29:52] supreme power. When he does not do this he's only an imperfect timepiece but when bound by his

[00:29:58] word chain to the truth that he serves, he has become its slave and when without hate,

[00:30:04] without preference, without human fear, without other desire than of being faithful,

[00:30:08] he proclaims what is just right true good. The rocks are less firm on their base than this man

[00:30:15] for he is a voice. A voice, if you like, a slight thing. Still as soon as it awakened

[00:30:23] it's only heard by a few and only for a little while. It said that singers are greatly to be

[00:30:28] pitted since posterity cannot hear them. Nothing of that remains. And yet how many marvelous

[00:30:34] forces underlie this apparent fragility? The thunder has its roar, the breeze has its tenderness

[00:30:41] but their powers transitory. Their sounds and not voices. A voice is a living sound, it's the vibrant

[00:30:48] echo of a soul. It's doubtless that most fragile thing a breath but joined to that which is most

[00:30:55] durable, spirit. And it's for this reason that if the instant when it is born sees it die centuries

[00:31:02] of centuries cannot destroy its effect. The truth which is in it confers immortality upon it

[00:31:09] and when this voice escapes from the human heart he who speaks, sings or weeps feels indeed

[00:31:16] that eternity has concluded in alliance with him. The holy labor is entrusted to the voice can

[00:31:22] never be counted because of the very fact that it lives and contains a soul. It's the great

[00:31:28] awaker, the incomparable evoker. When obscure still and unknown I thought distracts us and slumbers

[00:31:35] at the bottom of our being a voice is all that's needed to make it emerge into the light.

[00:31:41] With maternal tenderness the voice borrows all the energies of incubation to infuse with warmth

[00:31:47] to fortify the nascent germs of spiritual life. In it lives and breaks out what in the evolving soul

[00:31:55] tends feebly and furtively toward the flowering. In short, the voice speech the tongue condenses in a

[00:32:02] single focus incalculable quantities of rays. Only think of the efforts that human thought must have

[00:32:09] made to reach that clearness that enables it to become speech. Every word that you utter without

[00:32:15] giving it a thought is a monument toward which centuries and multitudes of minds have brought.

[00:32:21] A world's contained in it, poor words, one man dex himself out on them, another wraps himself

[00:32:28] up in them. But how few know of the warmth of the life and love that's put them into the world

[00:32:33] that they may be forever witnesses of the past for posterity? No matter, for when they have been made

[00:32:39] sufficiently to resound like an inanimate symbol there comes an hour where they revive under the

[00:32:45] breath of a true and living being and they depart to spread life. Then they fulfill their role as

[00:32:51] teachers. To teach is to explain a being to itself and this is the benign service that the voice

[00:32:57] performs. It tells us what we think better than we can ourselves. It unbinds the chains of the captive

[00:33:04] soul and permits it to take its flight. Happy the child, happy the young man who meets with a voice

[00:33:10] to decipher him to himself. This is what Christ did in those blessed hours when he reunited the

[00:33:16] children of his people as a bird reunites its brood under its wings. When the voice does in detail,

[00:33:23] it continues to accomplish on the larger scale. At certain moments, societies seem a prey to a sort of

[00:33:30] chaos. A number of contradicting forces clash and perturb them as they perturb and tear at individual

[00:33:37] souls. Men seek feeling their way a road that seems to elude them, a crowd of spirits by the very

[00:33:45] fact of their coexistence. Feel themselves distracted and agitated all in the same way. Confusedly

[00:33:52] in provoked by the same sufferings, they elaborate the same ideal and formulate the same desires.

[00:33:58] But they all wander along twilight paths on the side of the night where the light seems to be

[00:34:03] breaking through without however being able to pierce the darkness. These are the preliminary agonies

[00:34:09] of the great historically pox. Then, let it be more powerful, more vital, an elect soul that's

[00:34:16] passed through this phase and conquered these shadows becoming carnage in a voice. That's enough.

[00:34:23] The personal word which expresses the soul of that epoch in response to its needs is found.

[00:34:29] It sounds through the world like a new let there be light. Everywhere, in those who listen to it

[00:34:35] and feel its secret affinities with it in themselves, it constitutes a magnificent revelation of light

[00:34:43] and life. All these hearts vibrate in unison with one and gathering up all these sacred notes

[00:34:50] into a single harmony, he who expresses the sentiments of all renders an account of the wonderful

[00:34:56] power of which he's the instrument. No, it's no longer a man that speaks. What sounds upon his lips

[00:35:03] is the whole soul of a people as a whole epoch is a new world. A voice is also that inimitable

[00:35:11] sigh, that pure sob which tells of grief because it issues from a suffering heart.

[00:35:17] It's pity and compassion. It's the angel of God arriving among us on the caressing breath.

[00:35:22] A messenger of mercy and pouring into the tortured depth of our poor heart with its healing do.

[00:35:29] It's Jesus saying to Mary and in her to all those whom grief afflicts, why do you weep?

[00:35:35] It's David singing. Why are you cast down on my soul? It's Isaiah crying. Come for it you. Come for

[00:35:41] you my people. Speak you comfortably to Jerusalem. A voice is on the solitary path where our will

[00:35:48] strays. The faithful shepherd calling his sheep. It's every sign even though it's made by the hand

[00:35:54] of a child which in the days of forgetfulness and unrestrained suddenly wakes up and warns us

[00:36:01] that our feet are crossing into the abyss. Then after the work of teaching of creation of pity

[00:36:08] comes the work of severity of punishment of destruction. The voice has been compared to a sword

[00:36:16] like it. It burns and punishes. A voice is Nathan rising up before the criminal king and calling

[00:36:21] down upon his head the avenging lightning of his word. You are the man, the sword attacks,

[00:36:28] destroys but it defends also and this is its fairest work. Never is the voice more touching than

[00:36:35] one that's lifted in favor of the weak. And when suddenly in the midst of inequities of brute

[00:36:41] forest that it denounces marks with a stigma it causes justice to shine out and truth to be felt

[00:36:47] in the holy soul traversing thrill that God himself is there and that his hour has come.

[00:36:54] A voice has its echo. When this echo sympathetic it's in doubt with the sweetest recompense

[00:37:00] and obliterates the memory of many sorrows but this echo is often hostile. It arises from wrath

[00:37:08] and is increased by hatred. Then its resistance riot that rumbles. It's the passions and the

[00:37:15] scorched vices that twist and bellow like horses under the lash of the trainer. How many times

[00:37:21] oath faithful voices, souls of peace and truth has the spirit that animates you driven you to these

[00:37:27] fearful encounters. You who have heard in the silence of your hearts the holy truth and who know

[00:37:32] their worth. You are obliged to go bearing them in the face of menace, of mockery, of trembling rage

[00:37:39] where they seem to us like Daniel and the lions then a terrible ordeal.

[00:37:44] But one before which the testifying voices have never recoiled, Luther who knew the emotions of

[00:37:51] the great battles of the spirit where one man is alone in the face of a thousand,

[00:37:55] where Tinder the growing clamors and the cries of death, a voice struggles like a torch in a hurricane

[00:38:02] has given to the servants of truth a council that's the alpha and the omega of their austere mission.

[00:38:08] When they've said all done all written all put all their being and all their love into the

[00:38:13] proclamation of what they have to announce then he says let them be ready to be hooded at and spat

[00:38:20] upon. And not only should they be ready but they should accept this lot with happiness.

[00:38:26] Christ said to them, happier they that are outraged and persecuted for the sake of justice.

[00:38:32] Alas, the rudest proof of him who speaks the truth is not to arouse indignation

[00:38:38] that at least is a result and however sad it may be, it bears witness to him who's spoken.

[00:38:44] Certain protests despite their fury are sort of involuntary homage.

[00:38:49] The supreme trial for a voice is indifference. When Sean caught himself a voice in the wilderness

[00:38:56] he alluded to that external solitude where his voice was raised but this solitude on certain days

[00:39:02] was full of life and the gospel sites for our benefit certain facts which prove that the words

[00:39:07] with which it resounded were not lost in the empty spaces. They moved and struck home from the

[00:39:13] humblest regions of society to the exalted spheres to the royal throne itself. John garnered love and

[00:39:20] hate blessing and curse the desirable fruits of all energetic action. After having spoken of

[00:39:27] the different voices of their power of the effects let us bestow a compassionate remembrance

[00:39:32] upon the lost voices on those who were or who are still in the most lamentable sense of that word

[00:39:39] voices in the wilderness. To be a man, a soul, to have felt the lightning of a holy flame within one

[00:39:47] cell to love truth and justice, to feel the pain of contact with a life ruled over by falsehood

[00:39:53] and violence at the heart of this poignant contrast between a divine ideal and a heart-rending reality

[00:39:59] to receive from his conscience, from God himself the command to speak, to put his life into this

[00:40:05] work, to run out everything to be only a voice. And after all this to see himself forsaken and

[00:40:13] neglected despised, to wear oneself out slowly in a strife obscure and without issue to perish

[00:40:21] without having aroused either sympathy or opposition that disappear into oblivion before disappearing

[00:40:28] in the tomb. Ah, all the furies, all the bloody reprisals, the dungeon, the gibbots, the massacres,

[00:40:35] all the martyrdoms by which human wickedness strove this stifle the voice of the just are less

[00:40:41] horrible than this extermination by apathy. And yet not to press things into this cruel extremity

[00:40:47] but remembering the parable of the sower where so many seeds are lost for the few that take

[00:40:53] root and flourish. Are we not willing to be in the greatest number of cases, voices in the wilderness

[00:40:59] only too happy if our thankless labor is recompensed elsewhere by an encouraging echo?

[00:41:04] Have we not here on the contrary the image of human life?

[00:41:09] We are always aspiring toward an idea more elevated than that which we realize.

[00:41:14] We are always precursors and it becomes us to accept humbly with that destiny holds a

[00:41:20] both pain and beauty. Besides, do we know whether voices that seem to be lost or truly lost

[00:41:27] are the stones that are hidden in the foundations of a beautiful structure and thanks to which the

[00:41:32] whole fabric is supported lost because no one sees them? In the same way it must be that many voices

[00:41:39] are forgotten apparently until such time as added together and finding each other in mutual support

[00:41:45] they end by emerging into the full light of day. To wait and to work, to do his duty

[00:41:51] and leave the rest to God, to journey through life gathering truth into his heart and then into

[00:41:57] the family, the church, the city, to be its faithful voice. This is the best use a man can make

[00:42:04] of his mortal days. And should it be your lot to be voices in the wilderness among your children

[00:42:10] deaf to your cries, among your neighbors insensible to your warnings, console yourself.

[00:42:16] Greater than you have suffered the same fate. You knight yourself in spirit to their company

[00:42:21] and be happy to suffer with them. At least you come to understand more and more from day to

[00:42:26] day that truth cannot perish and that it is power even on feeble lips. You'll establish in your

[00:42:33] hearts faith in the world that endures and you'll be less astonished and less disconcerted when you see

[00:42:39] the face of this world pass away. You'll live by the sacred fire cherished in your souls.

[00:42:45] Become old, your hope will not perish. Like Moses on Nibo, you will enter the silence,

[00:42:52] having filled your dying eyes with the spectacle of the promised land.

[00:42:57] Thank you for listening to today's episode of Revived Thoughts Today's Sermon

[00:43:12] Wasneherented by John Reiner. Guys, John Reiner is a pretty big deal. He has done voice projects

[00:43:19] for Brad Pitt, Sony for General Electric. You can check out his work at JohnReiner.com and

[00:43:26] hire him if you have any voice work needs. John Reiner has also done several episodes for Revived Thoughts.

[00:43:33] If you haven't listened to some of his others, he's fantastic and you need to go listen to

[00:43:38] as many of them as you can't. We have every listener, every speaker is wonderful but we do have

[00:43:42] some people who've been able to do several repeat episodes and Reiner is one of the best. You should

[00:43:47] definitely, if you have voice work go to him. He's amazing. If you enjoyed this episode of Revived Thoughts,

[00:43:52] all we're going to ask is that you leave us a rating somewhere, especially if it's Apple, but if

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[00:44:01] Let other people know that you were listening to Revived Thoughts. It helps us and we read all of them

[00:44:06] as they come. This is Troy Angel and this is Revived Thoughts.

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