,,the ,,inner ,,life                    
,illustration                           
,,the ,,macmillan ,,company             
,,new ,,york  ,,boston  ,,chicago       
,,dallas                                
,,atlanta  ,,san ,,francisco            
,,macmillan  ,,co41 ,,limited           
,,london  ,,bombay  ,,calcutta          
,,melbourne                        ,,the
 ,,macmillan ,,co4 ,,of ,,canada1 ,,ltd4
                                        
,,toronto                               
,,the ,,inner ,,life                    
,,by                        ,,rufus ,m4 
,,jones1 ,a4,m41 ,,litt4,d4             
,,professor ,,of ,,philosophy ,,in      
,,haverford ,,college                   
,,author ,,of 8,,studies ,,in ,,mystical
 ,,religion0                            
8,,spiritual ,,reformers10 ,,etc4       
,new ,york                              
,,the ,,macmillan ,,company             
#aiag                              ,all 
rights reserved                         
,,copyright1 #aiaf1                     

,,by ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company4       
,set up and electrotyped4 ,published    
,october1 #aiaf4                        
,reprinted ,january1 #aiag4             
,norwood ,press                    ,j4  
,s4 ,cushing ,co4--,berwick  ,smith ,co4
                           ,norwood1    
,mass41 ,u4,s4,a4                       
,,introduction      ,there is no inner  
life that is not also an outer life4 ,to
 withdraw from  the stress and strain of
 practical action and from the          
complication of  problems into the quiet
 cell of the inner life in order to     
build its  domain undisturbed is the    
sure way to lose the inner life4 ,the   
finest  of all the mystical writers of  
the fourteenth century--the author of   
,theologia ,germanica--knew this as     
fully as we of this psychologically     
trained generation know it4 ,he         
intensely desired a rich inner life1 but
  he saw that to be beautiful within he 
must live a radiant and effective  life 
in the world of men and events4 8,i     

would fain be10 he says1 8to the        
eternal ,god what a man's hand is to a  
man0--i4e4 he seeks1 with all the       
eagerness of his glowing nature1 to be  
an efficient instrument of ,god in  the 
world4 ,in the practice of the presence 
of ,god1 the presence itself  becomes   
more sure and indubitable4 ,religion    
does not consist of inward  thrills and 
private enjoyment of ,god2 it does not  
terminate in beatific  vision4 ,it is   
rather the joyous business of carrying  
the ,life of ,god into  the lives of    
men--of being to the eternal ,god what a
 man's hand is to a  man4    ,there is  
no one exclusive 8way0 either to the    
supreme realities or to  the loftiest   
experiences of life4 ,the 8way0 which we
 individuals select  and proclaim as the
 only highway of the soul back to its   
true home turns  out to be a revelation 
of our own private selves fully as much 
as it is  a revelation of a via sacra to
 the one goal of all human striving4    
,life is a very rich and complex affair 

and it forever floods over and          
inundates any feature which we pick out 
as essential or as pivotal to  its      
consummation4 ,god so completely        
overarches all that is and ,he is so    
genuinely the fulfillment of all which  
appears incomplete and potential  that  
we cannot conceivably insist that there 
shall be only one way of  approach from 
the multiplicity of the life which we   
know to the infinite  ,being whom we    
seek4    ,most persons are strangely    
prone to use the 8principle of          
parsimony40  ,they appear to have a kind
 of fascination for the dilemma of      
either-or  alternatives4 8,faith0 or    
8works0 is one of these great historic  
alternatives4 ,but this cleavage is too 
artificial for full-rounded  reality4   
,each of these 8halves0 cries for its   
other1 and there cannot be  any great   
salvation until we rise from the poverty
 of either half to the  richness of the 
united whole which includes both 8ways40
    ,so1 too1 we have had the           

alternative of 8outer0 or 8inner0 way   
forced  upon us4 ,we are told that the  
only efficacious way is the way of the  
cross1 treated as an outer historical   
transaction2 and we have1 again1  been  
told that there is no way except the    
inner way of direct experience  and     
inner revelation4 ,there are those who  
say1 with one of ,george  ,chapman's    
characters3        8,i'll build all     
inward--not a light shall ope      ,the 
common out-way4      ,i'll therefore    
live in dark2 and all my light          
,like ancient temples1 let in at my     
top40    ,over against the mystic who   
glories in the infinite depths of his   
own  soul1 the evangelical1 with        
excessive humility1 allows not even a   
spark  of native grandeur to the soul   
and denies that the inner way leads to  
anything but will-o'-the-wisps4 ,this is
 a very inept and unnecessary  halving  
of what should be a whole4 ,it spoils   
religious life1 somewhat as  the        
execution of ,solomon's proposal would  

have spoiled for both mothers  the      
living child that was to be divided4    
,twenty-five hundred years ago          
,heraclitus of ,ephesus declared that   
there is 8a way up and a way down and   
both are one40 ,so1 too1 there is an    
outer way and an inner way and both  are
 one4 ,it takes both diverse aspects to 
express the rich and complete  reality1 
which we mar and mangle when we         
dichotomize it and glorify our          
amputated half4 ,there is a fine saying 
of a medieval mystic3 8,he who can  see 
the inward in the outward is more       
spiritual than he who can only see  the 
inward1 in the inward40    ,this little 
book on the 8,inner ,life0 does not     
assume to deal with the  whole of the   
religious life4 ,it recognizes that the 
outer in the long  run is just as       
essential as the inner4 ,this one inner 
aspect is selected  for emphasis1       
without any intention of slighting the  
importance of the  other side of the    
shining shield4 ,men to-day are so      

overwhelmingly  occupied with objective 
tasks2 they are so busy with the field  
of outer  action1 that it is a          
peculiarly opportune time to speak of   
the interior  world where the issues of 
life are settled and the tissues of     
destiny  are woven4 ,there will         
certainly be some readers who will be   
glad to turn  from accounts of trenches 
lost or won to spend a little time with 
the  less noisy but no less mysterious  
battle line inside the soul1 and from   
problems of foreign diplomacy to the    
drama of the inner life4                
,,contents                              
,,page        ,,introduction            
v        ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,inner    
,,way                                   
#a            ,sec4 #a4 ,the ,momentous 
,choice                                 
#a            ,sec4 #b4 ,making a ,life 
#i            ,sec4 #c4 ,the ,spirit of 
the ,beatitudes                         
#ad            ,sec4 #d4 ,the ,way of   
,contagion                              

#bc            ,sec4 #e4 ,the ,second   
,mile                                   
#cj        ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the        
,,kingdom ,,within ,,the ,,soul         
#ci            ,sec4 #a4 ,bags that ,wax
 not ,old                               
#ci            ,sec4 #b4 ,otherism      
#df            ,sec4 #c4 ,scavengers and
 the ,kingdom                           
#ej            ,sec4 #d4 8,the ,beyond  
is ,within0                             
#ef            ,sec4 #e4 ,the ,attitude 
toward the ,unseen                      
#fa        ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,some      
,,prophets ,,of ,,the ,,inner ,,way     
#gj            ,sec4 #a4 ,the           
,psalmist's ,way                        
#gj            ,sec4 #b4 ,the ,new and  
,living ,way                            
#gg            ,sec4 #c4 ,an ,apostle of
 the ,inner ,way                        
#hb            ,sec4 #d4 ,the ,ephesian 
,gospel                                 
#ij        ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,way  
,,of ,,experience                       

#ig            ,sec4 #a4 ,waiting on    
,god                                    
#ig            ,sec4 #b4 ,in the ,spirit
                                        
#aje            ,sec4 #c4 ,the ,power of
 ,prayer                                
#aaa            ,sec4 #d4 ,the ,mystery 
of ,goodness                            
#aaf            ,sec4 #e4 8,as ,one     
having ,authority0                      
#abc            ,sec4 #f4 ,seeing ,him  
,who is ,invisible                      
#acc        ,,chapter ,v4 ,a            
,,fundamental ,,spiritual ,,outlook     
#ach        ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,what      
,,does ,,religious ,,experience ,,tell  
,,us ,,about ,,god       #afd           
,,the ,,inner ,,life          ,,chapter 
,i    ,,the ,,inner ,,way      ,i       
,,the ,,momentous ,,choice    ,every    
scrap of writing that sheds any light on
 the life of ,jesus1 and  every incident
 that gives the least detail about ,his 
movements or  ,his teaching are precious
 to us4 ,one can hardly conceive the joy

 and  enthusiasm that would burst forth 
in all lands1 if new fragments of       
papyrus or of parchment could be        
unearthed that would add in any measure 
to our knowledge of the way this        
,galilean life was lived 8beneath the   
,syrian blue40 ,but it may now probably 
be taken for granted that the  material 
will never be forthcoming--and it surely
 is not now in hand--for  an adequate   
biography of ,him4 ,the lives of ,jesus 
that have been written  in modern times 
have a certain value1 as suggestive     
revelations of what  the writers thought
 ,he ought to have been or ought to have
 done1 but  biographies1 in the true    
sense of the word1 they are not4 ,the   
,evangelists  performed for us an       
inestimable service1 but they did not   
furnish us the  sort of data necessary  
for a detailed biography1 expressed in  
clock-time  language4    ,our 8sources0 
are much more adequate when we turn our 
attention from  external events to the  
inner way which ,his life reveals1      

though they  still allow for free play  
of imagination and for much fluidity of 
subjective interpretation4 ,it is       
possible1 however1 ,i believe1 to look  
through the genuine words that are      
preserved and to see1 with clairvoyant  
insight1 the inner kingdom of the soul  
in that ,person whose interior life  was
 the richest of all those who have      
walked our earth4 ,there are curious    
little playthings to be bought in ,rome4
 ,if one looks through a pin-hole  peep 
somewhere in one of these tiny toys1 one
 sees to his surprise the  whole mighty 
structure of ,st4 ,peter's ,cathedral1  
standing out as large  as it looks in   
reality4 ,perhaps we can find some      
pin-hole peeps in the  gospels that in a
 similar way will let us see the        
marvelous inner world1  the             
extraordinary spiritual life1 of this   
,person whose outer biography so        
baffles us4    ,our first single glimpse
 of ,his interior life must be got      
without the  help of any actual word of 

,his4 ,it is given to us in the gospel  
accounts  of ,his discovery of ,his     
mission4 ,how long the consciousness of 
mission  had been gestating we cannot   
tell4 ,what books ,he read1 if any1 are 
never  named4 ,what ripening influence  
the days of toil in the carpenter shop  
may  have had1 is unnoted4 ,what dawned 
upon ,him as ,he meditated in silence is
  not reported4 ,what formative ideas   
may have come from the little groups  of
 8the quiet ones in the land0 can only  
be guessed at4 ,we are merely  told that
 ,he increased in wisdom as ,he advanced
 in stature1 which is  the only         
conceivable way that personality can be 
attained4 ,suddenly the  moment of clear
 insight came and ,he saw what ,he was  
in the world for4    ,it was usual for  
the great prophets of ,his people to    
discover their  mission in some such    
moment of clarified inward sight4       
,isaiah saw the  ,lord with ,his train  
filling the temple1 felt his lips       
cleansed1 and heard  the call 8who will 

go80 ,ezekiel saw the indescribable     
living creature  with the hands of a man
 under the wings of the ,spirit and     
heard himself  called to his feet for   
his commission4 ,so here1 there was a   
sudden  invading consciousness from     
beyond4 ,the world with its solid hills 
appears only the fragment1 which it is1 
and the ,world of wider ,reality  floods
 in and reveals itself4 ,the sky seems  
rent apart1 the ,spirit1 as  though once
 more brooding over a world in the      
making1 covers ,him from  above1 and    
gives inward birth to a conviction of   
uniqueness of ,life and  uniqueness of  
mission4 ,he feels ,himself in union    
with ,his ,father4#a    ,this experience
 of the invading ,life1 awakening a     
consciousness of  unique personal       
mission1 brought with it1 as an         
unavoidable sequence1  the stress and   
strain of a very real temptation4 ,the  
inner world of  self-consciousness has  
strange watershed 8divides0 that shape  
the  currents of the life as the        

mountain ridges of the outer world do   
the  rivers4 ,no new nativity1 no fresh 
awakening1 can come to a soul without   
forcing the momentous issue of its      
further meaning1 or without raising  the
 urgent question1 how shall the new     
insight1 the fresh light1 the  increased
 power be wrought into life8 ,the       
deepest issues turn1 not  upon the      
choice of 8things10 but upon the choice 
of the kind of self  that is to be1 and 
the most decisive dramas are those that 
are enacted  in the inner world before  
the footlights of our private theater4  
,the  temptation is described by the    
,evangelists in such conventional       
language  and in such popular and       
pictorial imagery that its immense inner
  reality is often missed by the reader4
 ,this oriental1 pictorial way of       
presenting the drama of the soul catches
 the western mind in the toils of       
literalism4 ,the picture is taken for   
the reality4 ,what we have here in  the 
temptation1 when we go into the heart of

 the matter1 is the momentous  choice of
 the kind of ,person that is to emerge4 
,it is the immemorial  battle between   
the higher and the lower self within4   
,it was the line of  least resistance to
 accept popular expectation1 to go forth
 to realize  the dream of the age4 ,a   
person conscious of divine anointing1   
fired with  passionate loyalty to the   
nation's hopes1 gifted with             
extraordinary power  of moving men to   
new issues would feel at once that he   
had only to put  himself forth as the   
expected ,messiah in order to carry the 
enthusiastic  people with him4 ,let him 
but come with the spectacular powers of 
the  ,messiah that was eagerly looked   
for1 the power to turn stones to bread1 
to leap from the pinnacle of the temple 
without injury1 to break the  ,roman    
yoke and make ,jerusalem once again the 
city of ,god's chosen  people--and      
success was sure to follow4 ,god's      
ancient covenant was an  absolute pledge
 to the faithful that ,he would in ,his 

own time make bare  ,his arm and deliver
 ,his people4 ,as soon as the anointed  
one appeared all  the forces of the     
unseen world would be at his command and
 his triumph  would be assured4    ,the 
appeal of a career like that is no      
fictitious 8temptation40 ,it is of  a   
piece with what besets us all4 ,it is   
out of the very stuff of nature4  ,at   
some such crossroad we have all         
stood--with the issue of our inner      
destiny in unstable equilibrium4        
,over against it1 another 8way0 is set1 
another kind of life is dimly  outlined1
 another type of anointed one is seen to
 be possible1 another  kingdom1 totally 
different from the one of popular       
expectation1 is  descried4 ,this kingdom
 of ,his spiritual vision cannot come by
 miracle  or by power2 it can come only 
through complete adjustment of will to  
the  will of the ,father-,god4 ,this    
anointed one of ,his higher aspiration  
will  be no temporal ruler1 no political
 king1 no spectacular wonder-worker4    

,he will rule only by the conquering    
power of love and goodness4 ,he  will   
venture everything on sheer faith in the
 ,father's love and on the  appeal of   
uncalculating goodness of heart and     
will4 ,this new kind of  life that draws
 ,him from the line of least resistance 
is a life of utter  simplicity1 which   
discounts what the world calls 8goods10 
which draws  upon an unseen environment 
for its resources and which expands     
inwardly1  rather than outwardly1 after 
the manner of the green bay tree4 ,the  
new  8way0 that opens to ,his sight1 and
 that beckons ,him from all other ways  
of glory1 is a way of suffering and     
sacrifice1 a way of the cross4 ,it      
offers itself not because self-giving is
 a better way than an easy1 happy  path1
 but because it is the only way by which
 love in a world like  ours can reach   
its goal2 it is the only way by which   
the kingdom of ,god  can be formed in   
the lives of men like us4    ,he came   
forth from those momentous days of inner

 struggle with the issue  settled1 and  
with the first step taken in the way of 
the ,kingdom4      ,,ii    ,,making ,a  
,,life    ,our present-day age has a    
kind of passion for the study of        
developing  processes4 ,we do not feel  
quite at home with any subject until we 
can  work our way back to its origin or 
origins and then follow it in its       
unfoldings1 explaining the higher and   
more complex stages in terms of the     
lower and more simple ones4    ,that    
method1 however1 cannot be successfully 
used to unlock the secret  of the       
gospels4 ,we do not find beginnings     
here2 we cannot follow genetic          
processes2 we are unable to discriminate
 higher and lower stages of  insight4   
,we must launch out at the very start in
 mid-sea4 ,whatever words  of ,christ   
one begins with indicate that ,he has   
already arrived at an  absolute         
insight--,i mean1 that ,he has found a  
way of living that is no  longer        
relatively good1 but intrinsically and  

absolutely good4    ,it is an inveterate
 habit with men like us to estimate     
everything in  terms of relative        
results4 ,we are pragmatists by the very
 push of our  immemorial instincts4 ,our
 first question1 consciously or         
unconsciously1  is apt to be1 what      
effects will come1 if ,i act so1 or so8 
,will this  course work well8 ,will it  
further some issue or some interest8    
,and this  deep-lying pragmatic         
tendency--this aim at results--appears  
woven into the  very fiber even of much 
of the religion of the world4           
,sometimes the results sought are near1 
sometimes they are remote2  sometimes   
they are sought for this world1         
sometimes they are sought  for the next 
world2 sometimes the pragmatic aim at   
results is crudely  and coarsely        
selfish1 sometimes it is refined1 or    
altogether veiled1  but religion has no 
doubt often enough been an impressive   
kind of  double-entry bookkeeping1 the  
piling up of credits or of merits which 

some day will bring the sure result that
 is sought4    ,just that entire        
pragmatic attitude ,christ has left     
forever behind4 ,his  inner way1 ,his   
interior insight1 passes on to a new    
level of life1 to a  totally different  
type of religious aspiration and to     
another method of  valuation4 ,for ,him 
the beyond is always within4 ,the only  
good thing is  a life that is           
intrinsically good2 the only blessedness
 worth talking  about is a kind of      
blessedness which attaches by a law of  
inner necessity  to the character of the
 life itself4 ,it makes no difference   
what world  one may eventually be in--if
 only it is still a world of spiritual  
issues--goodness1 holiness1 likeness to 
,god1 will still constitute  blessedness
 as they do in this world4    ,when once
 this insight is reached1 it affects all
 the pursuits and all  the valuations of
 the soul4 ,all 8other things0 at once  
become secondary1  and 8entering into   
life10 8seeking life10 8finding life10  

becomes the  primary thing4 8,making a  
life0 overtops in importance even       
8making a  living0--the life is more    
than meat1 more than raiment1 more than 
gaining  the whole world4 ,it is better 
to enter into life halt and maimed--with
  right hand cut off and eye plucked    
out--than bend all one's energies  to   
preserve the body whole and yet to miss 
life4 ,the way to life is  strait1 the  
entering gate is narrow4 ,one cannot    
enter without facing  the stern         
necessity of focusing the vision on the 
central purpose1  without getting 8a    
single eye10 without letting go many    
things for the  sake of one thing4      
,sacrifice1 surrender1 negation1 are    
inherently involved in any great        
onward-marching life4 ,they go with any 
choice that can be made of a rich  and  
intense life4 ,it is impossible to find 
without losing1 to get without  giving1 
to live without dying4 ,but sacrifice1  
surrender1 negation1 are  never for     
their own sake2 they are never ends in  

themselves4 ,they are  involved in life 
itself4    ,one great spiritual law     
comes to light and becomes operative1 as
 soon as  the interior insight is won1  
as soon as the inner way is found3 ,the 
law  that the soul can have what it     
wants4 ,this law of the interior life1  
of the inner way1 ,christ affirms again 
and again in varying phrase4 ,the  inner
 attitude1 the settled trend of desire1 
the persistent swing of the  will1 are  
the very things that make life4 ,the    
person who cherishes hate  in his soul  
forms a disposition of hatred and must  
live in the atmosphere  which that      
spirit forms4 ,the person who longs for 
deeds that are wrong1  and allows desire
 to play with free scope is inwardly as 
though he did  the deed4 ,he is what he 
wants to be4 ,and so1 too1 on the other 
hand1  the rightly fashioned will is its
 own reward and has its own peculiar    
blessedness4 ,the person who hungers and
 thirsts for goodness will get  what he 
wants4 ,he who seeks1 with undivided    

aspiration1 will always  find4 ,he who  
knocks with persistent desire for the   
gates of life to open  will see them    
swing apart for him to go through to his
 goal4 ,he who asks1  with the ground   
swell of his whole inner being1 for the 
things which  minister to life and feed 
its deepest roots1 will get what he asks
 for4  ,the very pity of the ,pharisee's
 way of life is that he has his         
reward--he  gets what he is seeking4    
,the glory of the other way is the glory
 of the  imperfect--the glory of living 
toward the flying goal of likeness to   
the  ,father in heaven4      ,,iii      
,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,the ,,beatitudes  
,in putting the emphasis for the moment 
on the inner way of religion1 we  must  
be very careful not to encourage the    
heresy of treating religion  as a       
withdrawal from the world1 or as a      
retreat from the press and  strain of   
the practical issues and problems of the
 social order4 ,that  is the road to    
spiritual disaster1 not to spiritual    

power4 ,christ gives  no encouragement  
to the view that the spiritual          
ideal--the ,kingdom of  ,god--can ever  
be achieved apart from the conquest of  
the whole of life or  without the       
victory that overcomes the world4       
,religion can no more be cut  apart from
 the intellectual currents1 or from the 
moral undertakings1  or from the social 
tasks of an age1 than any other form of 
life can be  isolated from its native   
environment4 ,to desert this world1     
which presses  close around us1 for the 
sake of some remote world of our dreams1
 is to  neglect our one chance to get a 
real religion4    ,but at the same time 
the only possible way to realize a      
kingdom of ,god  in this world1 or in   
any other world1 is to begin by getting 
an inner  spirit1 the spirit of the     
,kingdom1 formed within the lives of the
 few  or many who are to be the 8seed0  
of it4 ,the 8,beatitudes0 furnish one of
  these extraordinary pin-hole peeps1 of
 which ,i spoke in a former section1    

through which this whole inner world can
 be seen4 ,here1 in a few lines1  loaded
 with insight1 the seed-spirit of the   
,kingdom comes full into  sight4 ,we are
 given no new code1 no new set of rules1
 no legal system at  all4 ,it is the    
proclamation of a new spirit1 a new way 
of living1 a new  type of person4 ,to   
have a world of persons of this type1 to
 have this  spirit prevail1 would mean  
the actual presence of the ,kingdom of  
,god1  because this spirit would produce
 not only a new inner world1 but a new  
outer world as well4    ,the first thing
 to note about the blessedness          
proclaimed in the  beatitudes is that it
 is not a prize held out or promised as 
a final  reward for a certain kind of   
conduct2 it attaches by the inherent    
nature  of things to a type of life1 as 
light attaches to a luminous body1 as   
motion attaches to a spinning top1 as   
gravitation attaches to every  particle 
of matter4 ,to be this type of person is
 to be living the happy1  blessed life1 

whatever the outward conditions may be4 
,and the next thing  to note is that    
this type of life carries in itself a   
principle of  advance4 ,one reason why  
it is a blessed type of life is that it 
cannot  be arrested1 it cannot be       
static4 ,the beatitude lies not in      
attainment1  not in the arrival at a    
goal1 but in the way1 in the spirit1 in 
the  search1 in the march4    ,i suspect
 that the nature of 8the happy life0 of 
the beatitudes can  be adequately       
grasped only when it is seen in contrast
 to that of the  ,pharisee who is       
obviously in the background as a foil to
 bring out the  portrait of the new     
type4 ,the pity of the ,pharisee's aim  
was that it  could be reached--he gets  
his reward4 ,he has a definite limit in 
view--the  keeping of a fixed law4      
,beyond this there are no worlds to     
conquer4 ,once  the near finite goal is 
touched there is nothing to pursue4 ,the
 immediate  effect of this achievement  
is conceit and self-satisfaction4 ,the  

trail of  calculation and barter lies   
over all his righteousness4 ,there is in
 his  mind an equation between goodness 
and prosperity1 between righteousness   
and success3 8,if thou hast made the    
most ,high thy habitation there shall   
no evil befall thee2 neither shall any  
plague come nigh thy dwelling40  ,the   
person who has loss or trouble or       
suffering must have been an overt  or a 
secret sinner1 as the question about the
 blind man indicates4    ,the goodness  
portrayed in the 8beatitudes0 is        
different from this by  the width of the
 sky4 ,christ does not call the         
righteous person  the happy man4 ,he    
does not pronounce the attainment of    
righteousness  blessed1 because a       
8righteousness0 that gets attained is   
always external  and conventional2 it is
 a kind that has definable1 quantitative
  limits--8how many times must ,i       
forgive my brother80 8,who is my        
neighbor80  ,the beatitude attaches     
rather to hunger and thirst for         

goodness4 ,the  aspiration1 and not the 
attainment1 is singled out for blessing4
 ,in the  popular estimate1 happiness   
consists in getting desires satisfied4  
,for  ,christ the real concern is to get
 new and greater desires--desires for   
infinite things4 ,the reach must always 
exceed the grasp4 ,the heart must       
forever be throbbing for an attainment  
that lies beyond any present            
consummation4 ,it is the 8glory of going
 on10 the joy of discovering unwon      
territory beyond the margin of each1    
spiritual conquest4    ,poverty of      
spirit--another beatitude-trait--is     
bound up with hunger for  goodness as   
the convex side of a curve is bound up  
with the concave  side4 ,they are       
different aspects of the same attitude4 
,the poor in  spirit are by no means    
poor-spirited4 ,they are persons who see
 so much  to be1 so much to do1 such    
limitless reaches to life and goodness  
that  they are profoundly conscious of  
their insufficiency and incompleteness4 

,self-satisfaction and pride of         
spiritual achievement are washed clean  
out of their nature4 ,they are          
open-hearted1 open-windowed to all      
truth1  possessed of an abiding         
disposition to receive1 impressed with a
 sense  of inner need and of childlike  
dependence4 ,just that attitude is its  
own  sure reward4 ,by an unescapable    
spiritual gravitation the best things in
  the universe belong to open-hearted1  
open-windowed souls4 ,again1 in the     
beatitude on the mourner1 ,he reverses  
the ,pharisaic and popular judgment4    
,losses and crosses1 pains and burdens1 
heartaches and bereavements1  empty     
chairs and darkened windows1 are the    
antipodes of our desires and  last of   
all things to be expected in the list of
 beatitudes4 ,they were  then1 and still
 often are1 counted as visitations of   
divine disapproval4  ,christ rejects the
 superficial way of measuring the       
success of a life  by the smoothness of 
its road or by its freedom from trial1  

and ,he will  not allow the false view  
to stand2 namely1 that success is the   
reward  of piety1 and trouble the return
 for lack of righteousness4 ,there is   
no way to depth of life1 to richness of 
spirit1 by shun-pikes that go  around   
hard experiences4 ,the very discovery of
 the nearness of ,god1 of  the          
sustaining power of ,his love1 of the   
sufficiency of ,his grace1 has  come to 
men in all ages through pain1 and       
suffering and loss4 ,we always  go for  
comfort to those who have passed through
 deeps of life and we may  well trust   
,christ when ,he tells us that it is not
 the lotus-eater but the  sufferer who  
is in the way of blessing and is forming
 the spirit of the  ,kingdom4           
,meekness and mercy and peace-making are
 high among the qualities that          
characterize the inner spirit of the    
kingdom4 ,patience1 endurance1          
steadfastness1 confidence in the eternal
 nature of things1 determination  to win
 by the slow method that is right rather

 than by the quick and  strenuous method
 that is wrong are other ways of naming 
meekness4  ,mercy is tenderness of      
heart1 ability to put oneself in        
another's  place1 confidence in the     
power of love and gentleness1 the       
practice of  forgiveness and the joyous 
bestowal of sympathy4 ,peace-making is  
the  divine business of drawing men     
together into unity of spirit and       
purpose1  teaching them to live the     
love-way1 and forming in the very warp  
and  woof of human society the spirit of
 altruism and loyalty to the higher     
interests of the group4 ,these traits   
belong to the inmost nature of  ,god and
 of course those who have them are      
blessed1 and it is equally  clear that  
the ,kingdom is theirs4 ,there is       
furthermore1 in this happy  way of life1
 a condition of heart to which the      
vision of ,god inherently  attaches4 ,he
 is no longer argued about and          
speculated upon4 ,he is seen  and felt4 
,he becomes as sure as the sky above us 

or our own pulse beat  within us4 ,we   
spoil our vision with selfishness1 we   
cloud it with  prejudices1 we blur it   
with impure aims4 ,we cast our own      
shadow across  our field of view and    
make a dark eclipse4 ,it is not better  
spectacles  we need4 ,it is a pure1     
clean1 sincere1 loving1 forgiving1      
passionately  devoted heart4 ,god who is
 love can be seen1 can be found1 only by
 a  heart that intensely loves and that 
hates everything that hinders love4     
,,iv    ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,contagion    
,we have seen that religion cannot be   
sundered from the intellectual          
currents1 or from the moral             
undertakings1 or from the social tasks  
of the  world4 ,it cannot be merely     
inward4 ,it can preserve its inward     
power  only as it lives in actual       
correspondence with its whole           
environment and  becomes also outward4  
,but the primary thing for ,christ1 we  
saw1 was the  attainment of an inner    
spirit1 the seed-spirit of the ,kingdom1

 the spirit  of the beatitudes--the     
attainment of a type of life to which   
blessedness  inherently attaches4       
,the question at once arises1 how shall 
this inner spirit be spread and         
propagated8 ,how is religion of the     
inner type to grow and expand8 ,there   
are two characteristic ways of          
propagating religious ideas1 of carrying
  spiritual discoveries into the life of
 the world4 ,one way is the way of      
organization2 the other way is the way  
of contagion4 ,the way of  organization1
 which is as old as human history1 is   
too familiar to need  any description4  
,our age has almost unlimited faith in  
it4 ,if we wish to  carry a live idea   
into action1 we organize4 ,we select    
officials4 ,we  make 8motions40 ,we pass
 resolutions4 ,we appoint committees or 
boards or  commissions4 ,we hold endless
 conferences4 ,we issue propaganda      
material4  ,we have street processions4 
,we use placards and billboards4 ,we    
found  institutions1 and devise         

machinery4 ,we have collisions between  
8pros0  and 8antis0 and stir up         
enthusiasm and passion for our 8cause40 
,the  ,christian ,church is probably the
 most impressive instance of            
organization  in the entire history of  
man's undertakings4 ,it has become1 in  
its  historical development1 almost     
infinitely complex1 with organizations  
within organizations and                
suborganizations within                 
suborganizations4 ,it has  employed     
every known expedient1 even the sword1  
for the advancement of  its 8cause10 it 
has created a perfect maze of           
institutions and it has  originated a   
vast variety of educational methods for 
carrying forward its  truth4    ,but    
great as has been the historical        
emphasis on organization1 it            
nevertheless occupies a very slender    
place in the consciousness of  ,christ4 
,there is no clear indication that ,he  
appointed any officials1  or organized  
any society1 or founded any institution4

 ,there are two  8sayings0 in ,matthew  
which use the word 8,church10 but they  
almost  certainly bear the mark and     
coloring of a later time1 when the      
,church  had already come into existence
 and had formed its practices and its   
traditions4 ,and even though the great  
8saying0 at ,csarea ,philippi  were     
accepted as the actual words of ,jesus1 
it is still quite possible  to see in it
 the announcement of a spiritual        
fellowship1 spreading by  inspiration   
and contagion1 rather than the founding 
of an official  institution4 ,it is1 no 
doubt1 fortunate on the whole that the  
,church  was organized1 and that the    
great idea found a visible body through 
which to express itself1 though nobody  
can fail to see that the ,church1  while
 meaning to propagate the gospel1 has   
always profoundly modified and          
transformed it1 and that it has brought 
into play a great many tendencies       
foreign to the original gospel4         
,christ's way of propagating the        

truth--the way that inherently fits  the
 inner life and spirit of the gospel of 
the ,kingdom--was the way of  personal  
contagion4 ,instead of founding an      
institution1 or organizing  an official 
society1 or forming a system1 or        
creating external machinery1  ,he       
counted almost wholly upon the          
spontaneous and dynamic influence of    
life upon life1 of personality upon     
personality4 ,he would produce a  new   
world1 a new social order1 through the  
contagious and transmissive  character  
of personal goodness4 ,he practically   
ignored1 or positively  rejected1 the   
method of restraint1 and trusted        
absolutely to the  conquering power of  
loyalty and consecration4 ,it was ,his  
faith that1  if you get into the world  
anywhere a seed of the ,kingdom1 a      
nucleus  of persons who exhibit the     
blessed life1 who are dedicated to      
expanding  goodness1 who rely implicitly
 on love and sympathy1 who try in meek  
patience the slow method that is right1 

who still feel the clasping  hands of   
love even when they go through pain and 
trial and loss1 this  seed-spirit will  
spread1 this nucleus will enlarge and   
create a society4  ,if the new spirit of
 passionate love1 and of uncalculating  
goodness gets  formed in one person1 by 
a silent alchemy a group of persons will
 soon  become permeated and charged with
 the same spirit1 new conditions will be
  formed1 and in time children will be  
born into a new social environment  and 
will suck in new ideals with their      
mother's milk4    ,persons of the       
blessed life1 ,christ says1 are the     
saving salt of the  earth4 ,they carry  
their wholesome savor into everything   
they touch4 ,they  do not try to save   
themselves4 ,they are ready like salt to
 dissolve and  disappear1 but1 the more 
they give themselves away1 the more     
antiseptic  and preservative they become
 to the society in which they live4     
,they keep  the old world from spoiling 
and corrupting not by attack and        

restraint1  not by excision and         
amputation1 but by pouring the          
preservative savor  of their lives of   
goodness into all the channels of the   
world4 ,this  preservative and saving   
influence on society depends1 however1  
entirely  on the continuance of the     
inner quality of life and it will be    
certain to  cease if ever the salt lose 
its savor1 i4e4 if the soul of religion 
wanes or dies away and only the outer   
form of it remains4    ,but such lives  
are more than antiseptic and            
preservative2 they are  kindling and    
illuminative4 ,they become 8candles of  
the ,lord40 ,candles  emit their light  
and kindle other candles by burning     
themselves up and  transmitting their   
flame4 ,when a life is set on fire1 and 
is radiant with  self-consuming love1 it
 will invariably set other lives on     
fire4 ,such a  person may teach many    
valuable ideas1 he may organize many    
movements1  he may attack many evil     
customs1 but the best thing he will ever

 do will  be to fuse and kindle other   
souls with the fire of his passion4 ,his
 own  burning1 shining life is always   
his supreme service4        8,the       
greatest legacy the hero leaves his race
      ,is--to have been a hero40        
,such a person will be eager to decrease
 that his kindling power may  increase4 
,he will not care to save himself1 or to
 reap a reward for his  service4 ,he may
 not even know that he is shining1 like 
the early saint  who 8wist not that his 
face did shine40 ,but for all that1 men 
will see  the way by his light and will 
catch the glory of living because he    
exhibits it4 ,he can no more be hid than
 can a hill-top city1 or the  headlight 
of a locomotive1 or the newly risen sun4
    ,that is ,christ's way of spreading 
the life of the ,kingdom1 that is ,his  
method of propagating the inner spirit1 
and of producing a society of  blessed  
people4      ,v    ,,the ,,second ,,mile
    ,it may seem to some incongruous to 
be writing about an inner way of life   

in these days when action is felt by so 
many to be the only reality and  when in
 every direction outside there is dire  
human need to be met4        8,leave1   
then1 your wonted prattle1        ,the  
oaten reed forbear2      ,for ,i hear a 
sound of battle1        ,and trumpets   
rend the air40    ,but more than ever is
 it necessary for us to center down to  
eternal  principles of life and action1 
to attain and maintain the right inner  
spirit1 and to see what in its faith and
 essence ,christianity really  means4   
,precisely now when the ,sermon on the  
,mount seems least to be the  program of
 action and the map of life1 is it a    
suitable time for us to  endeavor to    
discover what ,christ's way means1 by   
looking through the  literal phrases in 
clairvoyant fashion to the spirit       
treasured and  embalmed within the      
wonderful words8    ,there is one phrase
 which seems to me to be1 in a rare and 
peculiar  degree1 the key to the entire 
gospel--,i mean the invitation to go    

8the  second mile03 8,if any man compel 
you to go a mile1 go two miles40 ,it is 
always dangerous1 ,i know1 to fly away  
from the literal significance of  words 
and to indulge in far-fetched           
8spiritual0 interpretations4 ,but it  is
 even more dangerous1 perhaps1 to read  
words of oriental imagery and  paradox  
as though they were the plain prose     
speech of the occidental  mind1 and to  
be taken only at their face value4      
,there will probably always be          
,tolstoys--great or small--who will make
 the  difficult1 and never very         
successful1 experiment of taking this   
and the  other 8commands0 of the ,sermon
 on the ,mount in a literal and         
legalistic  sense1 but to do so is      
almost certainly to be 8slow of heart10 
and  to miss ,christ's meaning4         
,whatever else may be true or false in  
our  interpretations of the teachings of
 ,christ1 it may always be taken for    
certain that ,he did not inaugurate a   
religion of the legalistic type1        

consisting of commands and exact        
directions1 to be literally followed    
and obeyed as a way to secure merit and 
reward4 ,to go 8the second mile10  then1
 is an attitude and character of spirit 
rather than a mere rule and  formula for
 the legs4    ,christ always shows a    
very slender appreciation of any act of 
religion or  of ethics which does not   
reach beyond the stage of compulsion4   
,what is  done because it must be done2 
because the law requires it1 or because 
society expects it1 or because          
convention prescribes it1 or because the
  doer of it is afraid of consequences  
if he omits it1 may1 of course1 be      
rightly done and meritoriously done1 but
 an act on that level is not yet  quite 
in the region where for ,christ the     
highest moral and religious  acts have  
their spring4 ,the typical ,pharisee was
 an appalling instance  of the          
inadequacy of 8the first-mile0 kind of  
religion and ethics4 ,he  plodded his   
hard mile1 and 8did all the things      

required0 of him4 ,in the  region of    
commands1 or 8touching the law0 he was  
8blameless40 ,but there  was no         
spontaneity in his religion1 no free    
initiative1 no enthusiastic  passion1 no
 joyous abandon1 no gratuitous and      
uncalculating acts4 ,he did  things     
enough1 but he did them because he had  
to do them1 not because  some mighty    
love possessed him and flooded him and  
inspired him to go not  only the        
expected mile1 but to go on without any 
calculation out beyond  milestones      
altogether4 ,just here appears the new  
inner way of ,christ's  religion4 ,the  
legalist1 like the rich young man1 8does
 all the things  that are commanded in  
the law10 but still painfully 8lacks0   
something4  ,to get into ,christ's way1 
to 8follow0 in any real sense1 he must  
cut his  cables and swing out from the  
moorings where he is tied4 ,he must     
catch  such a passion of love that      
giving either of his money or of        
himself1  shall no longer be for him an 

imposed duty but rather a joy of spirit4
    ,the parable of the 8great surprise0
 is another illustration1 a glorious    
illustration1 of the spirit of the      
8second mile40 ,the 8blessed ones0 in   
the picture 7which is an unveiling of   
actual everyday life in its eternal     
meaning rather than a portraiture of the
 day of judgment7 find themselves  at   
home with ,god1 drawn into ,his         
presence1 crowned with ,his approval1   
and  sealed with ,his fellowship4 ,they 
are surprised4 ,they had not been adding
  up their merits or calculating their  
chances of winning heaven4 ,they are    
beautifully artless and nave3 8,when saw
 we ,thee hungry and fed ,thee80  ,they 
have been doing deeds of love1 saying   
kind words1 relieving human  need1      
banishing human loneliness1 making life 
easier and more joyous1  because they   
had caught a spirit of love and         
tenderness1 and1 therefore1  8could not 
do otherwise10 and now they suddenly    
discover that those whom  they helped   

and rescued and served were bound up in 
one inseparable life  with ,god himself1
 so that what was done to them was done 
to ,him1 and they  find that their      
spontaneous and uncalculating love was  
one in essence  and substance with the  
love of ,god and that they are eternally
 at home  with ,him4    ,the tender1    
immortal stories of the woman who broke 
her alabaster vase of  precious nard and
 8filled all the house with the odor10  
and of the woman  7perhaps the same one7
 who had been a sinner and who from her 
passion of  love for her great          
forgiveness wet ,christ's feet with her 
tears1 even  before she could open her  
cruse of ointment1 are the finest       
possible  illustrations of the spirit of
 8the second mile40 ,they picture1 in   
subtly suggestive imagery1 the immense  
contrast between the spontaneous1       
uncalculating act of one who 8loves     
much0 and does with grace what love     
prompts2 and acts1 on the other hand1   
like that of ,simon the pharisaic  host1

 who offers ,jesus a purely conventional
 and grudging hospitality1  or like that
 of the disciples who sit indeed at the 
table with ,jesus but  come to it       
absorbed with the burning question1 8who
 among us is to be  first and greatest10
 not only at the table but 8in the      
,kingdom60    ,what grace and unexpected
 love come into action in the simple    
deed of the  8,samaritan0 who1 from     
nobility of nature1 does what official  
,priest and  ,levite leave undone6 ,the 
hated foreigner1 spit at and stoned as  
he walked  the roads of ,judea1 under no
 obligation to be kind or serviceable1  
is the  real 8neighbor10 the bearer of  
balm and healing1 the dispenser of love 
and sympathy4 ,he may have no ordination
 to the priesthood1 but he finely       
exhibits the attitude of grace which    
belongs in the religion of 8the  second 
mile40    ,but we do not reach the full 
significance of 8the second mile0 until 
we  see that it is something more than  
the highest level of human grace4  ,what

 shines through the gospels everywhere1 
like a new-risen sun1 is  the revelation
 that this--this grace of the second    
mile--is the supreme  trait and         
character-nature of ,god as well4 ,how  
surprising and unexpected  is that      
extraordinary unveiling of the divine   
nature in the story of  the prodigal    
boy6 ,it is wonderful enough that one   
who has wasted his  substance and       
squandered his own very life should     
still be able in his  squalor and misery
 to come to himself and want to go home2
 but the fact  which radiates this      
sublime story like a glory is the       
uncalculating1  ungrudging1 unlimited   
love of the ,father1 which remains      
unchanged by the  boy's blunder1 which  
has never failed in the period of his   
absence1 and  which bursts out in the   
cry of joy3 8,this my son was dead and  
is alive  again1 he was lost and is     
found40    ,it is1 and always has been1 
the very center of our ,christian faith 
that  the real nature and character of  

,god come full into view in ,christ1    
that ,god is in mind and heart and will 
revealed in the ,person whom we  call   
,christ4 8,the grace10 then1 8of the    
,lord ,jesus ,christ10 of which  we are 
reminded in that great word of apostolic
 benediction1 is a true  manifestation  
of the deepest nature and character of  
,god ,himself4 ,the  ,cross is not an   
artificial scheme4 ,the ,cross is the   
eternal grace1 the  spontaneous1        
uncalculating love of ,god made visible 
and vocal in our  temporal world4 ,it is
 the apotheosis of the spirit of the    
second mile4          ,,chapter ,,ii    
,,the ,,kingdom ,,within ,,the ,,soul   
,i    ,,bags ,,that ,,wax ,,not ,,old   
,the ancient world found it very        
difficult to keep money even after it   
was  got4 ,there were almost constant   
wars involving the dire stripping of the
  unprotected country districts1 and the
 siege and devastation of cities4  ,in  
those times almost everything was       
fragile4 ,it was never easy to  discover

 any form of wealth that was surely     
abiding4 ,even if the besom of  an      
invading army did not sweep away the    
labor of years1 still there were  other 
enemies to be feared4 ,tyrants were1    
always on the watch for ways of         
relieving wealthy men of their          
treasures4 ,there were robber bands     
lying  in wait for the traveler1 and    
neighborhood thieves found it a small   
matter to break into private houses and 
to steal hidden money4 ,it was no       
uncommon thing for men to dig in the    
ground and hide the talent which  they  
had saved1 or to bury the pearl of great
 price1 or other precious  jewel1 in a  
field4 ,if one invested his wealth in   
garments1 then another  enemy was to be 
feared4 ,the moth is as old as clothes1 
and he got in even  where the thief     
failed to break through4    ,the problem
 of getting an indestructible money-bag 
was1 thus1 a problem  of first          
importance4 ,a journey to ,jericho might
 any day reduce a man  to primitive     

conditions1 or a passing army might make
 him a beggar1 or  the visit of a thief 
might strip him of all his living1 or   
the silent  work of a brood of moths    
might ruin the savings of years4 ,there 
were no  perdurable purses1 no          
nonbreakable banks1 no irreducible forms
 of wealth4    ,christ evidently        
recognized that there was a value in    
money4 ,he did  not apparently demand   
from his follower the absolute          
renunciation of  ownership4 ,he         
expounded no new theory of economics4   
,but he was profoundly  impressed by the
 moral havoc and the social calamities  
caused by the  excessive ambition for1  
and pursuit of1 wealth4 ,he saw how the 
mad rush  for money and the             
overvaluation of it killed out the      
noblest fundamental  traits of the soul1
 and1 more than all else1 he felt the   
tragedy of human  lives being focused   
with intensity of strain and fixed with 
burning  passion on the pursuit of such 
pitiably fragile treasures--money-bags  

of  all sorts waxing old and becoming   
incapable of holding the hoard that     
absorbed the whole life4    ,christ1    
then1 proposes a new kind of purse1 an  
indestructible and  immutable           
treasure-bag--8make for yourselves bags 
that wax not old40 ,such  purses are not
 on the market1 they cannot be          
purchased1 they must be  woven by each  
person for himself1 and they must be    
woven1 if at all1 out  of the stuff of  
life itself4 ,we here pass over1 as so  
often in ,christ's  teaching1 from      
extrinsic wealth to intrinsic1 from the 
wealth which men  merely possess to the 
kind of wealth which they can themselves
 be4 ,we  once more find ourselves      
brought to an inner way of living1 where
 the  issue is no longer how to         
accumulate goods1 but rather how to     
become  good4 ,the problem is the       
problem of what men live by4 ,we are    
called to  loosen our grip on perishable
 treasures only that we may tighten our 
hold on heavenly1 i4e4 spiritual1       

treasure4 ,we are shown the folly of    
spending a life building barns for      
expanding earthly possessions1 while  we
 are taking no pains to make ourselves  
rich in ,god4    ,what is it1 then1 that
 men live by8 ,what will prove to be    
imperishable  wealth1 whether we are in 
this world1 or in any other world of    
real moral  issues8 ,it is obviously not
 money1 for men often live nobly after  
the  money-bag has waxed old and after  
the bank has failed1 and it is our most 
elemental faith that life blossoms out  
into its consummate richness after  all 
earthly affairs come to a complete      
close1 and after every penny  of visible
 wealth has been left forever behind4   
,money is plainly not  intrinsic        
treasure2 love is1 goodness is1 joy is4 
,a beloved disciple1 in  a moment of    
inspiration1 announced the profound     
truth that love is 8of  ,god40 ,men     
wrongly divide love into two types1     
8human love0 and 8divine  love10 but in 
reality there is only love4 ,wherever   

love has become  the nature of the soul1
 and it has become 8natural0 now to     
forget self  for others1 to seek to give
 rather than to get1 to share rather    
than to  possess1 to be impoverished in 
order that some loved one may abound1   
there a divine and ,godlike spirit has  
been formed4 ,and we now come upon  a   
new kind of wealth1 a kind that         
accumulates with use1 because it is  a  
law that the more the spirit of love is 
exercised1 the more the soul  spends    
itself in love1 so much the more love it
 has1 the richer it grows1  the diviner 
its nature becomes4 ,but at the same    
time1 it is a fact that  love is never  
complete1 never reaches its full scope  
and measure until  our love takes on an 
eternal aspect--until we love ,god in   
,himself or love  ,him in our loved     
ones4 ,one reason why love is exalted by
 death is that we  no longer love our   
immortal loved one in any narrow and    
selfish way2 we  love now for pure      
love's sake1 and the truest of all      

treasures which can  be laid up in      
imperishable bags is this stock of      
unalloyed love for that  which is most  
lovely--for ,god and for souls that are 
given to us to bring  some of ,his      
nature closer to our human hearts4      
,goodness is1 of course1 notoriously    
hard to define4 ,it is never an         
abstract quality that can be described  
by logical concepts4 ,it is a  way of   
living1 a way of acting1 a way of       
working out relationships4 ,it  is1 like
 love1 a cumulative thing4 ,to be good  
inherently means to be  becoming better1
 to be on the way to an unattained goal 
of action1 or  of character4 ,it is the 
glory of going on to be perfect like our
 ,father  in heaven4 ,to be rich in     
goodness of character1 therefore1 is to 
be on  the way to become ever richer1   
however long the journey lasts1 however 
far the spiral winds1 for goodness1 like
 love1 is of ,god1 and steadily         
assimilates our imperfect human nature  
to the perfect divine nature4    ,joy   

is1 perhaps1 not often thought of as one
 of the things men live  by1 as the     
soul's eternal wealth4 ,life is so full 
of sorrow and pain  that joy seems like 
a fleeting1 vanishing asset4 ,but that  
is because  joy is confused with        
pleasure4 ,true joy is not a thing of   
moods1 not a  capricious emotion1 tied  
to fluctuating experiences4 ,it is a    
state and  condition of the soul4 ,it   
survives through pain and sorrow and1   
like a  subterranean spring1 waters the 
whole life4 ,it is intimately allied and
  bound up with love and goodness1 and  
so is deeply rooted in the life  of     
,god4 ,joy is the most perfect and      
complete mark and sign of immortal      
wealth1 because it indicates that the   
soul is living by love and by  goodness1
 and is very rich in ,god4      ,,ii    
,,otherism    7,matt4 ,,vii4 #a-ab7     
,altruism is an honored word4 ,otherism 
is only recently coined and has not  yet
 become widely current in good speech4  
,we need1 however1 a word that  has more

 inward depth than altruism usually     
carries1 and perhaps otherism  will     
eventually take that vacant place4      
,not merely in these days of war1 but in
 all our human relations all the  time  
we greatly need to get the interior     
vision which enables us to  understand  
from within those with whom we live and 
work4 ,nobody sees life  correctly until
 he has corrected his own views by a    
true appreciation of  the views of      
others4 ,from the outside it is         
impossible to estimate any  life fairly4
 ,we have long ago learned that we can  
get no true account of  any historical  
character unless we have a historian who
 can put himself  in the place of the   
person he is describing4 ,he must have  
imagination  and be able to see clearly 
the conditions and forces1 the          
influences and  the atmosphere in which 
the man lived4 ,the problems which he   
had to deal  with1 the conceptions which
 governed men's thoughts when he        
lived--all  these must be understood1   

before we can get any estimate of the   
man  himself4 ,the same sort of         
imagination is necessary to judge the   
person  who lives next door4 ,we dare   
not pronounce upon him until we know all
  that he has to face4 ,if we could once
 feel his quivering spirit and could    
see his inward struggles1 we could not  
set up our private tribunal and  pass   
our cold individual judgment upon him4  
,the real remedy for this hard  critical
 spirit which breaks society up into    
independent units is the  spirit of     
love1 the spirit of otherism4    ,the   
moment we put ourselves in the place of 
others1 and pronounce no  judgment upon 
persons until we have seen all the      
circumstances of their  life1 a new     
state of things at once appears4        
,genuine sympathy1 clear  interior      
insight into the personality of others1 
immediately creates a  new world4 ,the  
trouble too often is that we see all the
 defects in others  and forget our own4 
,we want to take the mote out of another

 person's eye  while all the time there 
is a whole fence rail in our own4       
,christ's rule  is to make oneself      
perfect before one goes to correcting   
others4 8,let him  who is without sin   
cast the first stone40    ,there is     
another situation also which would be   
remedied if we learned  to put ourselves
 in the other person's place--if we had 
the spirit of  otherism4 ,christ sums it
 up in the proverb about casting pearls 
before  swine1 i4e4 giving what is a    
misfit4 ,many of our well-meant         
charities  are of this sort4 ,we blunder
 in our efforts to help poor needy      
people1  because we do not get their    
point of view4 ,we do not live our way  
into  their lives4 ,there is no fit     
between our gift and their need4 ,they  
get a  stone for bread4    ,the same    
thing happens in much of our public     
speaking4 ,many persons have  the       
barbarous habit of never imagining the  
listeners' point of view4 ,they  go on  
speaking as unconscious of the condition

 confronting them as the  hose pipe is  
when the water is turned on4 ,the remedy
 again is otherism4  ,it is impossible  
to help anybody with a message until you
 can in some  measure share his life4   
8,the ,holy ,supper is kept1 indeed1    
,in whatso we share with another's      
need40    ,this teaching is all summed  
up in the golden rule1 8,all things that
 ye  would that men should do unto you  
do ye also unto them40 ,it is clear at  
once that to do this one must cultivate 
both his spirit of love and his  power  
of imagination4 ,it is never enough to  
want to help a person4 ,we  must put    
ourself in his place and be able to do  
what really will help  him4 ,it would   
appear1 therefore1 that the most        
difficult and at the same  time the most
 heavenly attainment in the world is    
sympathy--the spirit of  otherism4      
,,iii    ,,scavengers ,,and ,,the       
,,kingdom    ,we no longer expect a     
world of perfect conditions to appear by
 sudden  intervention4 ,we have         

explained so many things by the         
discovery of  antecedent developmental  
processes that we have leaped to the    
working  faith that all things come that
 way4 ,we do1 no doubt1 find unbridged  
gaps  in the enormous series of events  
that have culminated in our present     
world1 and we must admit that nature    
seems sometimes to desert her usual     
placid way of process for what looks    
like a steeplechase of sudden  8jumps10 
but we feel pretty sure that even these 
8jumps0 have been slowly  prepared for  
and are themselves part of the          
process-method4    ,then1 too1 we find  
it very difficult to conceive how a     
spiritual  kingdom--a world which is    
built and held together by the inner    
gravitation  of love--could come by a   
fiat1 or a stroke1 or a jet4 ,the       
qualities which  form and characterize  
the kingdom of ,god are all qualities   
that are  born and cultivated within by 
personal choices1 by the formation of   
rightly-fashioned wills1 by the growth  

of love and sympathy in the heart1  by  
the creation of pure and elevated       
desires4 ,those traits must be won  and 
achieved4 ,they cannot be shot into     
souls from without4 ,if1 therefore1  we 
are to expect the crowning age that     
shall usher in a world in which  wrath  
and hate no longer destroy1 from which  
injustice is banished and  the central  
law of which is love like that of       
,christ's1 then we must look  for this  
age1 it seems to me1 to come by slow    
increments and gains of  advancing      
personal and social goodness1 and by    
divine and human processes  already at  
work in some degree in the lives of men4
    ,christ often seems to teach this   
view4 ,there is a strand in his sayings 
that certainly implies a kingdom coming 
by a long process of slow  spiritual    
gains4 ,there is first the seed1 then   
the blade1 then the  ear and finally the
 full corn in the ear4 ,the mustard     
seed1 though  so minute and tiny1 is a  
type of the kingdom because it contains 

the  potentiality of a vast growth and  
expansion4 ,the yeast is likewise a     
figure of ever-growing1 permeating1     
penetrating living force which in  time 
leavens the whole mass4 ,the kingdom is 
frequently described as an  inner life1 
a victorious spirit4 ,it 8comes0 when   
,god's will is done in a  person as it  
is done in heaven1 and1 therefore1 it is
 not a spectacle to  be 8observed10 like
 the passing of ,csar's legions1 or the 
installation  of a new ruler4 ,but1 on  
the other hand1 there are plainly many  
sayings  which point toward the         
expectation of a mighty sudden event4   
,we seem1  again and again1 to be       
hearing not of process1 but of          
apocalypse1 not  of slow development1   
but of a mysterious leap4 ,there can be 
no question  that most devout ,jews of  
the first century expected the world's  
relief  expedition to come by miracle1  
and it is evident that there was an     
intense hope in the minds of men that1  
in one way or another1 ,god  would      

intervene and put things right4 ,many   
think that ,christ shared  that hope and
 expectation4 ,it is of course possible 
that in sharing1 as  ,he did1 the actual
 life of man1 ,he partook of the hopes  
and travails  and expectations of ,his  
times4 ,but1 ,i think1 we need to go    
very slowly  and cautiously in this     
direction4 ,to interpret ,christ's      
message mainly  in terms of apocalypse  
and sudden interventions is surely to   
miss its  naturalness1 its spiritual    
vision1 and its inward depth4 ,we can   
well  admit that nobody then had quite  
our modern conception of process or our 
present day dislike of breaks1          
interruptions1 and interventions4 ,there
  was no difficulty in thinking of a new
 age or dispensation miraculously       
inaugurated4 ,only it looks as though   
,christ had discovered an ethical and   
spiritual way which made it unnecessary 
to count on miracle4 ,there was  much   
refuse to be consumed1 much corruption  
to be removed1 before the new  condition

 of life could be in full play1 but ,he 
seems to have seen that  the consuming  
fire and the cleansing work were an     
essential and inherent  part of the     
process that was bringing the kingdom4  
,when he was asked where men were to    
look for the kingdom1 ,his answer  was  
that they were to find a figure and     
parable of it in the normal  process of 
nature's scavengers4 ,the carcass lies  
decaying in the sun1  corrupting the air
 and tainting everything in its region4 
,there can  be no wholesome conditions  
of life in that spot until the          
corruption  is removed4 ,but nature has 
provided a way of cleansing the air4    
,the  scavenger comes and removes the   
refuse and corruption and turns it  by a
 strange alchemy into living matter4    
,life feeds on the decaying  refuse1    
raises it back into life1 and cleanses  
the world by making  even corruption    
minister to its own life processes4 ,we 
could not live  an hour in our world if 
it were not alive with a myriad variety 

of  scavenging methods that burn up     
effete matter1 transmute noxious forms  
into wholesome stuff1 cleanse away the  
poisons1 and transmute1 not by  an      
apocalypse1 but by a process1 death into
 life and corruption into  sweetness4   
,may not the vulture1 like the tiny     
sparrow who cannot fall  without divine 
regard1 be a sign1 a figure1 a parable8 
,when we look for  the kingdom1 in the  
light of this sign1 we shall not search 
the clouds  of heaven1 we shall not     
consult 8the number of the beast0--we   
shall look  for it wherever we see life 
conquering death1 wherever the white    
tents  of love are pitched against the  
black tents of hate1 wherever the living
  forces of goodness are battering down 
the strongholds of evil1 wherever  the  
sinner is being changed to a saint1     
wherever ancient survivals of  instinct 
and custom are yielding to the sway of  
growing vision and  insight and ideal4  
,it is 8slow and late0 to come1 this    
kingdom6 ,so was  life slow to come1    

while all that was to be                
8,whirl'd for a million ons thro' the   
vast      ,waste dawn of                
multitudinous-eddying light40    ,so was
 man slow to come1 while fantastic      
creatures were 8tearing each  other in  
the slime40 ,so was a spirit-governed   
,person slow to come1 while  men lived  
in lust and war and hate4 ,but in ,god's
 world at length the  things that ought 
to come do come1 and we may faintly     
guess by what we  see that the kingdom1 
too1 is coming4 ,there is something like
 it now in  some lives4      ,,iv       
8,,the ,,beyond ,,is ,,within0    ,among
 the parables of ,christ there is a very
 impressive one on the shut  door4 ,it  
is a story of ten country maidens who   
were invited to a wedding4  ,they were  
to meet the bridegroom coming from a    
distance1 as soon as his  arrival should
 be announced1 and with their lighted   
lamps they were to  guide him and his   
attendants through the darkness to the  
home of the  bride1 where the banquet   

and the festal dance were to be held4   
,for many days these simple maidens had 
been living in the thrilling            
expectation of the great event in which 
they were to take a leading part4       
,they had been busy with their          
preparations1 drilling their rhythmic   
steps1 and talking eagerly of the       
approaching night4 ,but five of them    
foolishly neglected the critically      
important part of the preparation--they 
took no oil to supply their lamps and at
 the dramatic moment they found         
themselves compelled to withdraw from   
the joyous throng and to go in  search  
of the necessary equipment4 ,when at    
length they arrived with their  oil1 the
 illuminated procession was over and the
 door of the festal house  was shut4    
,the simple maidens soon discovered that
 there was a stern finality to  this    
shut door4 ,their blunder had           
irrevocable consequences4 ,they may have
  had other interesting opportunities as
 life went on1 but they forever  missed 

this joyous procession and this wedding 
feast4 8,too late1 too  late4 ,ye cannot
 enter now40    ,christ turns this      
common1 trivial neighborhood incident   
into a parable  of the ,kingdom of ,god4
 ,those who believe that ,he was        
looking1 as so many  in ,his time were  
looking1 for a sudden shift of          
dispensations and for a  ,kingdom to be 
ushered in by a stupendous apocalyptic  
event1 find in this  irrevocably shut   
door of the parable a figure of the doom
 of those who  failed to prepare for the
 sudden coming of this crisis1 decisive 
of the  destiny of men4    ,but there is
 another1 and1 ,i think1 a truer1 way of
 interpreting this  shut door4 ,there is
 a stern finality to all opportunities  
that have been  missed and to all high  
occasions that have been blundered and  
bungled4  ,all decisions of the will1   
all choices of life have1 in their very 
nature1 apocalyptic finality4 ,they     
suddenly reveal and unveil character    
and they are loaded with destiny which  

can be changed only by a change  of     
character4 ,other opportunities may     
offer themselves and new chances  may   
indeed come1 but when any choice has    
been made or any opportunity has  been  
missed that chance has gone by and that 
door is shut4    ,the football player   
who has had a chance in the great game  
of the year  to make a goal1 and instead
 of doing it fumbled the ball and lost  
the  opportunity to score1 may just     
possibly have another chance sometime1  
but  no apologies and no explanations   
can ever change the apocalyptic finality
  of that fumble4    ,something like    
that is involved in all the spiritual   
issues of life1 and  our deeds and      
attitudes are all the time irrevocably  
opening or shutting  doors1 which prove 
to be doors to the ,kingdom of ,god4    
,christ may possibly  at times have     
looked for some sudden revelation of    
destiny1 but surely  for the most part  
,he looked for the momentous issues of  
the ,kingdom  within the soul itself    

rather than in a spectacular event in   
the outer  world4 ,this principle throws
 light on all ,christ's sayings about   
the  future4 ,the coming destiny is not 
in the stars1 it is not in the sentence 
of a ,great ,assize1 it is not in the   
sudden shift of 8dispensations02 it  is 
in the character and inner nature1 as   
they have been formed within  each soul4
 ,the thing to be concerned about is not
 so much a day of  judgment or an       
apocalyptic moment1 as the trend of the 
will1 the attitude  of the spirit1 the  
formation of inner disposition and      
character4 ,we  are always facing issues
 of an eternal aspect1 and every day is 
a day  of judgment1 revealing the line  
of march and the issues of destiny4     
,conversion crises are fortunately      
possible1 when suddenly a new level  of 
life may be reached and a fresh start   
may be made1 and in this inner  world of
 personality1 there are always new      
possibilities occurring1 but1  as at    
oriental marriage feasts1 neglected     

opportunities are irreversibly          
neglected1 shut doors are irrevocably   
shut1 and blunders that affect  the     
issues of the soul have an apocalyptic  
finality about them4 ,new  dispensations
 may await us2 the ,kingdom may come in 
ways we never dreamed  of2 the beyond   
may be more momentous than we have ever 
expected1 but  always and everywhere    
8the within0 determines 8the beyond10   
and character  is destiny4      ,v      
,,the ,,attitude ,,toward ,,the ,,unseen
    8,nowhere as yet has history spoken 
in favor of the ideal of a morality     
without religion4 ,new active forces of 
will1 so far as we can observe1  have   
always arisen in conjunction with ideas 
about the unseen40 ,so  wrote the great 
,german historian and philosopher1      
,wilhelm ,dilthey4 ,the  greatest       
experts in the field both of ethics and 
of religion agree with  this view4      
,henry ,sidgwick and ,leslie ,stephen   
are experts in the field  of ethics who 
cannot be suspected of holding a brief  

for religion1 and  yet ,sidgwick says3  
8,ethics is an imperfect science alone4 
,it must run up  into religion to       
complete itself20 and ,leslie ,stephen  
says3 8,morality  and religion stand or 
fall together40 ,spinoza1 who was       
denounced during  his lifetime as an    
atheist and a destroyer of the faith1   
nevertheless  makes love of ,god the    
whole basis of genuine ethics1 insisting
 that there  is no morality conceivable 
without love of ,god4 ,st4 ,augustine's 
famous  testimony may suffice as a      
religious expert's view4 ,he says1      
8,love ,god  and then you may do what   
you please10 meaning1 of course1 that   
you cannot  then approve a wrong course 
of action or of life4    ,nowhere1      
certainly1 are religion and ethics so   
wonderfully fused into  one indissoluble
 whole as in the experience and teaching
 of ,christ4 ,this  appears not only in 
,his supreme rule for religion and for  
good conduct3  8,thou shalt love ,god   
with all thy powers and thy neighbor as 

thyself10  but still more does it appear
 in the inner steps and processes which 
underlie and prepare the way for the    
decisions and acts of ,christ's  own    
life4 ,here1 unmistakably1 all the      
active forces of will arose in          
conjunction with ideas about the unseen4
    ,it is the modern custom to talk    
much about the ethics of ,jesus and to  
see  in the ,sermon on the ,mount an    
ideal of human personality and a program
  for an ideal social order4 ,but a     
careful reader cannot fail to feel in   
,christ's teaching the complete fusion  
of ,his ideal for the individual  and   
for society with ,his consciousness of  
the world of unseen realities4  ,the new
 person and the new society are possible
 in ,his thought1 only  through unbroken
 correspondence with the world of higher
 forces and  of perfect conditions4 ,the
 only way to be perfect is to be on the 
way  toward likeness to the heavenly    
,father1 the only moral dynamic that    
will  work is a love1 like that of      

,god's love1 which expels all           
selfishness  and all tendency to stop at
 partial and inadequate goods4 ,if any  
kingdom  of heavenly conditions is ever 
to be expected on earth1 if ever we may 
hope for a day to dawn when the divine  
will is to be exhibited among men  and  
they are to live the love-way of        
goodness1 it is because ,god is our     
,father and we have the possibilities of
 ,his nature4    ,the ethical ideals of 
the ,kingdom are inherently attached to 
the prayer  experience of ,jesus4 ,the  
kind of human world which ,his faith    
builds for  men is forever linked to the
 kind of ,god to whom ,he prays4 ,cut   
the link  and both worlds fall away4 ,we
 cannot shuffle the cold1 hard1 loveless
  atoms of our social world into lovely 
forms of coperative relationship4  ,the 
atoms must be changed4 ,in some way we  
must learn how to lift men into  the    
faith which ,christ had1 that ,god is   
the ,father who is seeking to draw  us  
all into correspondence with ,his unseen

 world of ,life and ,love4 8,after  this
 manner pray ye4 ,our heavenly ,father  
of the holy name1 thy ,kingdom  come1   
,thy will be done on earth as it is in  
heaven40 ,the two faiths make  one      
faith--the faith in a ,father-,god who  
cares1 and the faith in the  realization
 of an ideal society based on coperative
 love4    8,and as ,he was praying1 the 
fashion of ,his countenance was altered 
and  ,his raiment became white and      
dazzling40 ,this is a simple1 synoptic  
account of an experience attaching to a 
supreme crisis of personal  decision in 
the life of ,jesus4 ,his so-called      
ethics1 as ,i have been  insisting1 is  
indivisibly bound up with ,his attitude 
toward the  unseen1 with ,his experience
 of a realm where what ought to be1     
really  is4 ,so1 too1 it is because ,he 
has found ,his inward relation with ,god
  that ,he makes ,his great decision to 
go forward toward ,jerusalem1 to  meet  
the onset of opposition1 to see ,his    
work frustrated by the rulers  of the   

nation1 to suffer and to die at the     
hands of ,his enemies4 ,the             
,transfiguration has been treated as a  
myth and again as a misplaced           
resurrection story4 ,but it is certainly
 best to treat it as a genuine          
psychological narrative which fits      
reality and life at every point4 ,as    
the clouds darken and the danger        
threatens and the successful issue of   
,his mission seems impossible1 ,jesus   
falls back upon ,god1 brings ,his       
spirit into absolute parallelism with   
the heavenly will and accepts  whatever 
may be involved in the pursuit of the   
course to which ,he is  committed4 ,when
 ,he pushes back into the inner         
experience of relation  with ,his       
,father and the circuit of connection   
closes and living faith  floods through 
,him and fixes ,his decision unalterably
 to go forward1 ,his  face and form are 
transfigured and illuminated through the
 experience of  union4 ,this prayer of  
illumination reported in the gospels1 is

 not an  isolated instance1 a solitary  
experience4 ,the altered face1 the      
changed  body1 the glorified figure1 the
 radiation of light1 have marked many a 
subordinate saint1 and may well have    
characterized the ,master as ,he found  
the true attitude of soul toward the    
unseen and formed ,his momentous        
decision to be faithful unto death in   
,his manifestation of love4    ,in      
,gethsemane1 as the awful moment came   
nearer1 once more we catch a  glimpse of
 ,his attitude to the unseen4 ,in place 
of illuminated form and  shining        
garments1 we hear now of a face covered 
with the sweat and blood  of agony4     
,just in front are the shouting rabble1 
the cross and the nails1  the defeat of 
lifelong hopes and the defection of the 
inner fellowship1  but the triumphant   
spirit within ,him unites with the      
infinite will that  is steering the     
world and piloting all lives1 and calmly
 acquiesces with  it4 ,but to this      
suffering soul1 battling in the dark    

night of agony1  the infinite will is no
 abstract ,power1 no blind fate1 to be  
dumbly  yielded to4 ,the great word     
which breaks out from these quivering   
lips  is the dear word for 8,father0    
that the little child's lips have       
learned  to say3 8,abba40 ,the will     
above is ,his will now and ,he goes     
forward to  the pain and death in the   
strength of communion and fellowship    
with  ,his ,abba-,father4 ,there may    
have been a single moment of desolation 
in  the agony of the next day when the  
cry escaped1 8,my ,god1 why hast thou   
forsaken me80 but immediately the inner 
spirit recovers its connection  and its 
confidence and the crucifixion ends1 as 
it should1 with the words  of triumphant
 faith1 8,father1 into thy hands ,i     
intrust my spirit40    ,the most        
important fact of this ,life1 which has 
ever since poured ,alpine  streams of   
power into the life of the world1 is its
 attitude toward the  unseen4 ,we miss  
the heart of things when we reduce the  

gospel to ethics  or when we transform  
it into dry theology4 ,through all the  
story and  behind all the teaching is   
the mighty inner fact of an intimate    
personal  experience of ,god as ,father4
 ,to live is to be about the 8,father's 
business40 ,in great moments of         
intercourse there comes to ,him a       
flooding  consciousness of sonship1     
joyous both to ,father and ,son3 8,in   
,him ,i am  well pleased10 and in times 
of strain and tragedy the onward course 
is  possible because the inner bond     
holds fast and the ,abba-experience     
abides4    ,it is not strange that a    
synoptic writer reports the saying3 8,no
 man  knoweth the ,father but the ,son40
 ,the passage as it stands reported in  
,matthew may be colored by later        
theology1 but there is a nucleus of     
absolute truth hidden in the saying4    
,there is no other way to know ,god  but
 this way of inner love-experience4     
,only a son can know a ,father4 ,only   
one who has trodden the wine-press in   

anguish and pain1 and through  it all   
has felt the enfolding love of an       
,abba-father really knows4  ,mysticism  
has its pitfalls and its limitations1   
but this much is sound  and true1 that  
the way to know ,god is to have inner   
heart's experience of  ,him1 like the   
experience of the ,son4                 
,,chapter ,,iii    ,,some ,,prophets    
,,of ,,the ,,inner ,,way      ,i        
,,the ,,psalmist',s ,,way    ,emerson's 
friend1 ,margaret ,fuller1 coined the   
phrase1 8standing the  universe40 8,i   
can stand the universe10 was her brave  
statement4 ,but long  before ,concord   
was discovered or 8the transcendental   
school0 was dreamed  of a school of     
,hebrew saints had learned how to stand 
the universe4    ,canaan1 with all its  
milk and honey1 was never a land        
arranged by  prestablished harmony as a 
paradise for the idealist4 ,it enjoyed  
no  special millennium privileges4      
,whatever rainbow dreams may have filled
  the mind of optimistic prophets were  

always quickly put to flight by the     
iron facts of the rigid world which     
ringed them round4 ,the ,philistines    
were pitiless neighbors4 ,like ,gawain1 
they were spiritually too blind  even to
 have desires to see4 ,coats of mail1   
gigantic spear heads1  iron chariots1   
and ,goliath champions were their       
arguments4 ,how could a  nation like    
,israel be free to work out its         
spiritual career with these  crude      
materialistic ,philistines always       
hanging on its borders and always       
threatening its national existence8     
,when the ,philistines were temporarily 
quiet there were ,moabites1 or          
,edomites1 or ,syrians ready to take a  
turn  at hampering the ideals of        
,israel4 ,and worse still was ahead4    
,from the  time of the battle of ,karkar
 7#hed ,b4,c47 on1 the armies of        
,assyria had to  be reckoned with4 ,here
 was another pitiless foe2 efficient1   
militant1  inventive1 with a culture and
 religion suited to its genius1 but as  

ruthless as a wolf toward everything in 
its path4 ,it smashed whatever  it      
struck and in the course of events      
,jerusalem was ground in its            
irresistible mill4    ,when a 8return0  
was granted under the ,persians1 and the
 national and  religious life was       
restored in ,jerusalem1 new difficulties
 swarmed4  ,during the long period of   
8restoration0 the half-breed peoples in 
,palestine with their low ideals        
threatened to defeat the hopes of  the  
returned exiles and made their feeble   
beginnings as difficult as  possible4   
,then1 again1 the new nation was hardly 
firm in its re-found  life when it had  
to meet the forces of ,hellenism which  
rose out of  the expansion policies of  
,alexander4 ,a culture incompatible with
 the  ideals and passions of the        
,hebrews broke in and surrounded them4  
,it was  a different enemy to any they  
had yet met but no less irreconcilable4 
,under the ,hellenized kings of ,antioch
 all the hopes and ideals of this       

long-suffering race were put in         
jeopardy1 and the very existence of the 
chosen nation was in desperate peril in 
the period of the ,maccabean  struggle4 
,but through all these centuries of     
warfare with alien peoples1 and during  
all these hard periods of strain and    
anguish1 there existed a school of      
saints who were learning how to stand   
the universe and who were teaching  the 
world a way of victory even in the midst
 of outward defeat4 ,their  8way0 was   
the fortification of the soul1 the      
construction of the interior  life2 and 
the literature which they produced has  
proved to be one of  the most precious  
treasures of the race4 ,the gold dust   
words of these  saints are scattered    
through most of the early books of      
,israel1 for in  all periods the poets  
of this race were mainly busy with this 
central  problem of life1 the problem of
 standing the universe4 ,but it is in   
the  collection which we call the       
,psalms that we find the supreme        

literature  of this inner way of        
fortification and victory4    8,thou    
restorest my soul10 is the joyous       
testimony of one of these saints1  and  
this testimony of the best loved member 
of this school of saints is  the key to 
the ,psalmist's way of triumph in       
general4 ,in the confusion  of events   
and the irrationality of things--die    
,ohnmacht der ,natur--he  felt his way  
back1 like a little child in the dark   
feeling for his  mother1 until he found 
,god as the rock on which his feet could
 stand4  ,the processes of              
reconstruction are never traced out4    
,the logic of this  way back to the     
fortification of the soul through the   
discovery of ,god  is not given in      
detail4 ,the moments when we shift the  
levels of life are  never quite         
describable4 ,but somehow when the way  
outside goes on into  the valley of the 
shadow of death1 and the table is set in
 the face of  enemies1 the soul falls   
back upon ,god and is restored4    8,i  

could not understand10 another ,psalmist
 declares4 ,everything was  baffling4   
,the wicked seemed to prosper and the   
righteous to suffer4 ,the  world        
appeared out of joint and the whole web 
of life hopelessly tangled2  8but10 he  
adds with no further explanation1 8,i   
came into the sanctuary of  ,god and    
then ,i saw40 ,it is like the final     
solution in the great inner  drama of   
,job4 ,god answers and ,job's problem is
 solved3 8,i had heard  of thee by the  
hearing of the ear1 but now mine eye    
seeth thee40 ,in the  great phrase of   
the book1 8,god turned the captivity of 
,job40    ,these men who gave us our    
,psalms had learned how to bear         
adversity and  affliction without being 
overwhelmed or defeated4 8,all thy waves
 and thy  billows have gone over me10   
one of them cries4 ,he has lost his land
 and  has only the memory of ,jordan and
 ,hermon and ,mizar4 ,his adversaries   
are a constant 8sword in his bones40    
,they jeer at him and ask1 8,where  now 

is thy ,god80 but his trust holds       
steadily on3 8,the ,lord will command   
,his loving-kindness in the daytime1 and
 in the night ,his song shall be  with  
me60 ,even when the water-spouts of     
trouble break over him1 when 8the       
waters roar and are troubled10 when the 
8nations rage and kingdoms are  moved10 
when 8desolations are abroad in the     
earth10 ,god abides for him 8a  very    
present help in time of trouble10 8a    
refuge and strength0 for his  soul4     
,dismay and trembling may be abroad2    
pain may come as on a woman in  travail1
 yet this deep soul can calmly say1     
8,god is our ,god forever2 ,he  will be 
our guide even unto death40    ,this    
element of trust and confidence has     
never anywhere had grander  utterance4  
,the ,psalmist has got beyond reliance  
on 8horses and chariots10  beyond trust 
in 8riches10 8princes10 in 8the bow or  
the sword10 or  in 8man1 whose breath is
 in his nostrils40 ,he rests his case on
 ,god  alone1 and builds on naked faith 

in ,his goodness and care3 8,thou hast  
delivered my soul from death1 mine eyes 
from tears1 and my feet from  falling40 
,puzzled he often is with the prosperity
 of the wicked1 who  8flourish like     
green bay-trees02 perplexed he sometimes
 is with ,god's  delay in coming to the 
help of the poor and needy and          
oppressed2 but  his faith holds on and  
he does not 8slide40 ,it gives us almost
 a sense  of awe as we see a valiant    
soul1 hard pressed1 hemmed around1 deep 
in  affliction and sorrow1 8standing the
 world0 and saying in clear voice3      
8,oh1 give thanks unto the ,lord1 for   
,he is good2 ,his loving-kindness       
endureth forever60    ,we understand    
when we read such words why this        
collection of ,psalms  has held its     
place in the religious life of the      
world4 ,it contains the  living1        
throbbing experience of great souls1 who
 cared absolutely for  one thing--to    
find ,god and to enjoy ,him1 and who1   
having found their one  precious jewel1 

could do without all else1 and by this  
inner experience  could stand the world4
      ,,ii    ,,the ,,new ,,and ,,living
 ,,way    ,the writer of the ,epistle to
 the ,hebrews declares that ,christ has 
introduced into the world 8a new and    
living way0 to ,god4 ,the concrete      
problems confronting this writer to a   
,jewish circle of the first century     
were very different from our own        
problems to-day1 but he so succeeded in 
seizing an eternal aspect of the issue  
that his word about the new and  living 
way is as vital now as it was then4     
,his 8new and living way10 as the tenth 
chapter shows1 is the way of  personal  
consecration as a substitute for the old
 way of sacrifice4 ,the  manner of his  
exposition may seem to us now a little  
artificial1 but  there can be no        
question of the religious significance  
of the conclusion4  ,following his usual
 line of interpretation1 he begins by   
treating the  great national system of  
sacrifices as a 8shadow10 i4e4 a        

parable1 or  a figure1 or a symbol1 of a
 true and higher reality4 ,then he goes 
on  boldly to declare that 8sacrifices0 
have become empty performances--it is   
impossible1 he says1 that the blood of  
bulls and goats works any real  change  
in the nature or the attitude of the    
soul4 ,next he buttresses his  radical  
conclusion with a citation of ,scripture
 to the effect that ,god  has never     
taken pleasure in burnt offerings and   
ritual sacrifices1 and  on this         
,scripture text from the ,psalms he     
rises to his new insight1  that ,christ 
has come not to do the sacrificial work 
of a priest1 not to  satisfy ,god by a  
sacrifice1 but to reveal the personal   
power of a life of  consecration3 8,then
 said ,i1 lo1 ,i come to do thy will1 ,o
 ,god40 ,this way  of dedication to the 
divine will1 this complete consecration 
of self out  of love for the will of    
,god1 the writer calls 8the new and     
living way40    ,two very important     
conclusions are inherently bound up with

 this  transition from a religion of    
sacrifices to a religion of dedication4 
,first1 if carries a wholly new         
conception of ,god and secondly1 it     
involves a complete reinterpretation of 
human ministry4 ,if ,god does not  take 
any pleasure in sacrifice1 then the     
whole idea that ,he is a ,being  to be  
appeased by gifts1 by offerings1 by     
incense1 by blood1 or by  self-inflicted
 suffering of any sort1 falls to the    
ground4 ,these things  are not shadows  
or symbols2 they are blunders and       
mistakes4 ,the ,god for  whom they are  
intended needs and asks for no such form
 of approach4  ,that has always been the
 contention of the supreme prophets of  
the race1  and ,christ in ,his unveiling
 of ,god has made the fact sun-clear    
that ,god  is not rightly conceived when
 ,he is thought of as needing any kind  
of  sacrifice or any inducement to make 
,him forgiving or loving4 ,love is ,his 
nature4 ,the new and living way leads   
first of all to this new revelation  of 

,god4    ,but no less certainly it leads
 to a new type of minister4 ,the priest 
was  conceived as an expert in ways of  
satisfying ,god and of appeasing  ,him4 
,he was supposed to know what ,god      
required and how to perform the  things 
required4 ,he was indispensable1 because
 only an expert1 duly  ordained1 could  
do the work that was necessary for      
bringing ,god and man  into relation    
with each other4 ,under 8the new and    
living way10 however1  the priest has   
lost his occupation and the minister    
becomes an expert  in ways of expanding 
human life and in bringing men to a     
dedication of  themselves to the will of
 ,god and to the spiritual tasks of the 
world4 ,in  accordance with this new    
insight1 everything that concerns       
religion must  in some way attach to    
life4 ,it must promote1 or advance life1
 increase  life1 add to its height and  
depth1 or1 in some manner1 make life    
richer  and more joyous4 ,the minister  
of the new and living way may be called1

 as  he no doubt will be called1 to make
 many sacrifices of things that are     
precious1 and surrenders of things as   
dear as life itself1 but there will  be 
no inherent magic in these sacrifices4  
,they will not be efficacious  as a     
satisfaction to ,god4 ,they will be only
 means toward some larger  end of life1 
as was the case with ,christ's          
surrenders and sacrifices4  ,the ascetic
 temper will be left forever behind4    
,whatever is cut off1 or  plucked out1  
will be removed only for the sake of    
increasing the quality  of life and the 
dynamic of it4 ,the final test is always
 to be sought in  the expansion of      
capacity1 in the increase of talents1 in
 the formation  of personality1 in      
dedication to the task of widening the  
area of life4    ,the true minister     
will1 like the great apostle1 present   
his body1 his  entire being1 in living  
dedication4 ,he will be satisfied with  
nothing  short of a holy and acceptable 
service--acceptable1 because            

,christlike--he  will endeavor to make  
all his service 8reasonable service02   
that is1  intelligent service1 and he   
will strive earnestly not to become set 
into the mold of the world or into any  
deadening groove of habit1 but to  be   
transformed by a steady increase of life
 and a renewing of spiritual  insight1  
so that he can prove what is the perfect
 will of ,god and so that  he can       
minister to the growing life of the     
world4      ,,iii    ,,an ,,apostle ,,of
 ,,the ,,inner ,,way    ,it is always a 
foolish blunder to take half when it is 
just as easy to  have a whole1 but the  
tendency to dichotomize all realities   
into halves  and to assume that we are  
shut up to an either-or selection1 is an
  ancient tendency and one that very    
often keeps us from winning the full    
richness of the life that is possible   
for us4 ,human history is strewn  with  
dualistic formulations which have sorted
 men into either-or  groups4 ,now it is 
8spirit0 and 8flesh0 that are sharply   

antagonistic and  men are called upon to
 settle which of these two halves of    
man's life is  to have their loyalty4   
,again1 it is 8this world0 and 8the next
 world0--the  here and the yonder--that 
bid for our heart's suffrage4 8,the     
,church0 and  8the world02 8faith0 and  
8reason02 8the sacred0 and 8the secular0
 are  other twin pairs that call for a  
sharp decision of allegiance4 ,so1 too1 
it has been customary to cut apart the  
outer life and the inner life and1  with
 a stern either-or1 to put them into    
rivalry with one another4  ,one camp    
insists that religion is to be sought in
 deeds and effects2  the other camp     
asserts that religion is an inward      
condition of life--to  be is more       
important than to do4 ,but this method  
of cutting is like  that which the      
unnatural mother asked ,solomon to      
perform upon the living  child4 ,it     
sunders what was alive and throbbing    
into two dead fragments1  neither of    
which is a real half of the united      

living whole4 ,in place of  all the     
either-or formulations that force a     
choice between the halves  of great     
spiritual realities ,i should put the   
living and undivided whole4  ,instead of
 selecting either-or1 ,i prefer to take 
both4 ,there is no  line that splits the
 outer life and the inner life into two 
compartments4  ,nobody can do without   
being and nobody can be without doing4  
,personality is the most complete unity 
in the universe and it binds  forever   
into an indissoluble and integral whole 
the outer and the inner1  the spirit and
 the deed4    ,but at the same time it  
is interesting to see what a supremely  
great and  many-sided soul like ,st4    
,paul has to say of the inwardness and  
interior  depth of religion4 ,that he   
was a man of action is plain enough to  
be  seen and nobody can easily miss his 
clarion call to arm cap-a-pie for  the  
positive1 moral battles of life4 ,he was
 ethical in the noblest sense  of the   
word1 but there was an inner core of    

religious experience in him  which is as
 unique and wonderful as is his athletic
 ethical purpose or  his imperial spirit
 of moral conquest4    ,there was for   
him no kind of 8doing0 which could ever 
be a substitute for  the spiritual      
health of the soul4 ,nobody has ever    
lived who has been more  deeply         
concerned than was ,st4 ,paul over the  
primary problem of life3 ,how  can my   
soul be saved8 ,to be 8saved0 for him1  
however1 does not mean to be  rescued   
from dire torment or from the           
consequences which follow sin and  dog  
the sinner4 ,no transaction in another  
world can accomplish salvation  for him2
 no mere change from debit to credit    
side in the heavenly ledgers  can make  
him a saved man4 ,to be saved for ,st4  
,paul is to become a new  kind of       
person1 with a new inner nature1 a new  
dimension of life1 a new  joy and       
triumph of soul4 ,there is a certain    
inner feeling here which  systematic    
theology can no more convey than a      

botanical description of  a flower can  
convey what the poet feels in the       
presence of the flower  itself4 ,there  
is no lack of books and articles which  
spread before us  ,st4 ,paul's doctrines
 and which tell us his theory--his      
gnosis--of the  plan of salvation4 ,the 
trouble with all these external accounts
 is that  they clank like hollow armor4 
,they are like sounding brass and       
clanging  cymbals4 ,we miss the real    
thing that matters--the inner throbbing 
heart  of the living experience4        
,what he is always trying to tell us is 
that a new 8nature0 has been  formed    
within him1 a new spirit has come to    
birth in his inmost self4  ,once he was 
weak1 now he is strong4 ,once he was    
permanently defeated1  now he is 8led in
 a continual triumph40 ,once he was at  
the mercy of the  forces of blind       
instinct and habit which dragged him    
whither he would  not1 now he feels free
 from the dominion of sin and its       
inherent peril to  the soul4 ,once1 with

 all his pride of pharisaism1 he was an 
alien to the  commonwealth of ,god1 now 
he is a fellow citizen with all the     
inward sense  of loyalty that makes     
citizenship real4    ,he traces the     
immense transformation to his personal  
discovery of a  mighty forgiving love1  
where he had least expected to find it1 
in the  heart of ,god--8,we are more    
than conquerors through ,him that loved 
us20  8,the life ,i now live1 ,i live by
 faith in the ,son of ,god who loved me 
and gave ,himself for me40 ,faith1      
wherever ,st4 ,paul uses it to express  
the central human fact of the religious 
life1 is a word of tremendous  inward   
depth4 ,it is bathed and saturated with 
personal experience1 and it  proves to  
be a constructive life-principle of the 
first importance4 ,faith  works2 it is  
something by which one lives3 8,the life
 ,i now live1 ,i live  by faith40       
,but the full measure--the length and   
breadth1 depth and height--of his new   
inner world does not come full into view

 until one sees how through faith  and  
love this man has come into conscious   
relation with the ,spirit of ,god       
inwardly revealed to him1 and operative 
as a resident presence in his own       
spirit4 ,no forensic account of         
salvation can reach this central feature
  of real salvation1 which now appears  
as new inward life and power4 ,st4      
,paul takes religion out of the sphere  
of logic into the primary region  of    
life4 ,there are ways of living upon the
 ,life of ,god as direct and  verifiable
 as is the correspondence between the   
plant and its natural  environment4 ,to 
live1 in the full spiritual meaning of  
this word as ,st4  ,paul uses it1 is to 
be immersed in the living currents of   
the circulating  ,life of ,god1 and to  
be fed from within by those sources of  
creative ,life  which feed the evolving 
world3 8,beholding as in a mirror the   
glory of  the ,lord1 we are transformed 
into the same image by the ,spirit of   
the  ,lord20 8,he hath sent forth the   

,spirit of ,his ,son into our hearts1   
crying  ,abba20 8,the ,spirit bears     
witness with our spirit that we are sons
 of  ,god40 ,with the progress of his   
experience and the maturing of his      
thought  upon it1 there came to ,st4    
,paul an extraordinary insight4 ,he came
 to  identify ,christ with the ,spirit3 
8,the ,lord is the ,spirit40 ,he no     
longer  thought of ,him as merely the   
historical person of ,galilee1 but      
rather  as the eternal revelation of    
,god1 first in a definite form as ,jesus
  the ,christ1 and then1 after the      
resurrection1 as ,christ the invisible  
,spirit1 working within men1 recreating 
and renewing their spiritual  lives4    
,the influence of ,christ for salvation 
was1 thus1 with him far  more than a    
moral influence4 ,it was of the nature  
of a real energism--a  spiritual power  
coperating with the human will and      
remaking men by the  formation of a new 
,christ-natured self within him4 ,the   
process has no  known or conceivable    

limits4 ,its goal is the formation of a 
man 8after  ,christ03 8,till ,christ be 
formed in you40 8,that you may grow up  
into ,him  in all things who is the     
,head20 8,till we all come to the       
measure of the  stature of the fulness  
of ,christ40 ,the 8fruit0 of the        
,spirit1 matured  in the inward realm of
 man's central being and expressed in   
common acts  of daily life1 is love1    
joy1 peace1 long-suffering1 kindness1   
goodness1  faithfulness1 meekness1      
self-control--a nature in all things    
like that  which was revealed in glory  
and fulness in the face of ,jesus       
,christ4      ,,iv    ,,the ,,ephesian  
,,gospel    ,in his fresh1 impressive   
book1 ,the ,ephesian ,gospel1 ,dr4      
,percy  ,gardner says that in the early 
period of ,christianity no city1 save   
only ,jerusalem1 was more influential   
for the development of ,christian       
thought than was the city of ,ephesus4  
,it was here in ,ephesus1 scholars  are 
convinced1 some time about the end of   

the first century1 that the  life and   
message of ,jesus received its most     
sublime and wonderful  interpretation1  
and it was through this ,ephesian       
interpretation that the  gathered       
mysticism of ,greece and the other      
ancient religions of the world  was     
indissolubly fused with the great       
ethical teachings of the ,galilean4     
,it will never be known1 with absolute  
certainty1 who was the profound  genius 
that made this ,ephesian interpretation1
 but it will always  continue to be     
called the gospel 8according to ,john40 
,there will never be  any doubt1 in the 
minds of those who read appreciatively1 
that1 either  inwardly or outwardly1 the
 writer of it had 8lain on ,christ's    
bosom02  that he had 8received of ,his  
fulness10 and that he had 8seen with his
  eyes1 and heard with his ears and     
handled with his hands the ,word of     
,life40 ,he was1 we can almost certainly
 say1 one of ,st4 ,paul's men4 ,he  has 
fully grasped the central ideas of the  

apostle who first planted the  truth in 
,ephesus1 and he carries out in powerful
 fashion the ,pauline  discovery that   
,christ has become an invisible1 eternal
 presence in the  world4 ,at the same   
time he possesses1 either at first or   
second hand1 a  large amount of         
narrative material for the expansion of 
the simple gospel  story as it had come 
from the three synoptic writers4 ,but   
from first to  last everything in this  
gospel is told for a definite purpose   
and every  incident is loaded with a    
spiritual1 interpretative content and   
meaning4  ,he does not undervalue       
history or the details of the ,life     
lived in ,judea  and ,galilee1 but he is
 concerned at every point to raise men's
 thoughts  to the eternal meaning of    
,christ's coming1 to cultivate inward   
fellowship  with ,him1 and to reveal the
 last great beatitude1 that those who   
have  not seen with outward eyes1 but   
nevertheless have believed1 are the     
truly blessed ones4    ,the earliest of 

our gospel documents--the document now  
called ,q--centers  upon the 8message10 
and gives us a collection of simple but 
bottomlessly  profound sayings of       
,jesus4 ,another document--the gospel of
 ,mark--hardly  less primitive and no   
less wonderful1 focuses upon the person 
of ,jesus  and ,his doings4 ,here we    
have in very narrow compass the earliest
 story  of this ,life1 inexhaustible in 
its depth of love and grace1 which has  
ever since woven itself into the very   
tissue of human life and thought4  ,but 
now this final document1 which we have  
been calling 8the ,ephesian  ,gospel10  
makes a unique contribution and carries 
us up to a new level  of life4 ,it      
announces that ,jesus who gave the      
message1 the ,jesus who  lived this     
extraordinary personal life and did the 
deeds of love and  sacrifice1 has become
 an ever-living1 environing1 permeative 
,spirit1  continuing ,his revelation1   
reliving ,his life1 extending ,his sway 
in men  of faith4 ,he is no longer of   

one date and one locality1 but is       
present to  open1 responsive human      
hearts everywhere as the atmosphere is  
present to  breathing lungs1 or the sea 
to swimming fish1 or the sunlight to    
growing  plants4 ,we can no more lose   
this ,christ of experience than we can  
lose  the sky4    ,christianity is in   
this interpretation vastly more than an 
historical  religion1 bound up forever  
with the incidents of its temporal      
origin4  ,it is as much a present fact  
and a present power as electricity is4  
,it  is rooted in an inexhaustible      
source of ,life4 ,it is as dynamic as   
the  central springs of the universe1   
and it is perpetually supplied from     
within by invisible fountains of living 
energy4 ,but this triumphant and        
eternal principle of the spiritual life 
is1 8according to ,john10 no  vague1    
abstract principle of logic1 but instead
 a warm1 tender1 intimate1  concrete    
personification of ,life1 ,light1 and   
,love who has definitely  incarnated the

 ,truth and revealed the nature of ,god 
and the possible  glory of man4    ,the 
great ,ephesian makes no division       
between history and experience4 ,the    
,christ of his faith and of his account 
is alike the ,christ of history and  of 
experience4 ,he looks backward1 and he  
looks inward1 and the ,christ of  his   
story is the seamless and invisible     
product of this double process4  ,this  
is wholly in the manner of the great    
apostle who declared 8if we  have known 
,christ after the flesh we know ,him so 
now no more10 and yet  neither the      
,ephesian disciple nor the apostolic    
master discounted the  importance of the
 facts of the ,christ after the flesh4  
,the transcendent  truth for them both  
is the truth that the ,church still has 
its ,christ1  who is leading it into all
 the truth and progressively revealing  
,himself  with the expanding ages4      
,every ,christian mystic for nineteen   
hundred years has felt the influence  of
 this great ,ephesian prophet1 and his  

message has become a part of  the       
necessary air we breathe4 ,his gospel   
and his brief epistle1 loaded  with its 
message of love1 are1 as ,deissmann has 
well said1 the greatest  monument of the
 appreciation of the mystical teaching  
of ,st4 ,paul that  has ever been reared
 in the world4 ,the man who performed   
this immense  literary task for us of   
the after ages now        8,lies as he  
lay once1 breast to breast with ,god10  
but his word is still quick and powerful
 and he has helped us more  than any    
other writer has done to interpret our  
own experience1 and more  than any other
 prophet this ,ephesian has inspired our
 faith in the real  presence and has    
given us the assurance1 inwardly        
verified1 that we are  not comfortless  
and alone1 in a world of pain and loss  
and death1 but are  bound as living     
twigs in one sap-giving ,vine of ,life1 
participants of the  vitalizing1        
refreshing1 joy-bringing bread and water
 of ,life1 and with  open access to the 

infinite healing and comfort and        
fortification of the  ,eternal ,christ4 
,,chapter ,,iv    ,,the ,,way ,,of      
,,experience      ,i    ,,waiting ,,on  
,,god    ,as worship1 taken in its      
highest sense and widest scope1 is man's
  loftiest undertaking1 we cannot too   
often return to the perennial           
questions3 ,what is worship8 ,why do we 
worship8 ,how do we best perform  this  
supreme human function8 ,worship is too 
great an experience to  be defined in   
any sharp or rigid or exclusive fashion4
 ,the history  of religion through the  
ages reveals the fact that there have   
been  multitudinous ways of worshiping  
,god1 all of them yielding real returns 
of life and joy and power to large      
groups of men4 ,at its best and truest1 
however1 worship seems to me to be      
direct1 vital1 joyous1 personal         
experience and practice of the presence 
of ,god4    ,the very fact that such a  
mighty experience as this is possible   
means  that there is some inner meeting 

place between the soul and ,god2 in     
other  words1 that the divine and human1
 ,god and man1 are not wholly sundered4 
,in an earlier time ,god was conceived  
as remote and transcendent4 ,he  dwelt  
in the citadel of the sky1 was worshiped
 with ascending incense  and            
communicated ,his will to beings beneath
 through celestial messengers  or by    
mysterious oracles4 ,we have now more   
ground than ever before  for conceiving 
,god as transcendent2 that is1 as above 
and beyond any  revelation of ,himself1 
and as more than any finite experience  
can  apprehend4 ,but at the same time1  
our experience and our ever-growing     
knowledge of the outer and inner        
universe confirm our faith that ,god is 
also immanent1 a real presence1 a       
spiritual reality1 immediately to be    
felt and known1 a vital1 life-giving    
environment of the soul4 ,he is a       
,being who can pour ,his life and energy
 into human souls1 even as the sun  can 
flood the world with light and resident 

forces1 or as the sea can  send its     
refreshing tides into all the bays and  
inlets of the coast1 or  as the         
atmosphere can pour its life-giving     
supplies into the fountains  of the     
blood in the meeting place of the lungs2
 or1 better still1 as the  mother fuses 
her spirit into the spirit of her       
responsive child1 and lays  her mind on 
him until he believes in her belief4    
,it will be impossible for some of us   
ever to lose our faith in1 our          
certainty of1 this vital presence which 
overarches our inner lives as  surely as
 the sky does our outer lives4 ,the more
 we know of the great  unveiling of ,god
 in ,christ1 the more we see that ,he is
 a ,being who can  be thus revealed in a
 personal life that is parallel in will 
with ,him  and perfectly responsive in  
heart and mind to the spiritual         
presence4 ,we  can use as our own the   
inscription on the wall of the ancient  
temple in  ,egypt4 ,on one of the walls 
a priest of the old religion had written

 for  his divinity3 8,i am ,he who was  
and is and ever shall be1 and my veil   
hath  no man lifted40 ,on the opposite  
wall1 some one who had found his way    
into  the later1 richer faith1 wrote    
this inscription3 8,veil after veil have
 we  lifted and ever the ,face is more  
wonderful60    ,it must be held1 ,i     
think1 as ,emerson so well puts it1 that
 there is 8no  bar or wall in the soul0 
separating ,god and man4 ,we lie open on
 one side  of our nature to ,god1 who is
 the ,oversoul of our souls1 the        
,overmind of  our minds1 the ,overperson
 of our personal selves4 ,there are     
deeps in our  consciousness which no    
private plumb line of our own can sound2
 there are  heights in our moral        
conscience which no ladder of our human 
intelligence  can scale2 there are      
spiritual hungers1 longings1 yearnings1 
passions1  which find no explanation in 
terms of our physical inheritance or of 
our  outside world4 ,we touch upon the  
coasts of a deeper universe1 not yet    

explored or mapped1 but no less real and
 certain than this one in which  our    
mortal senses are at home4 ,we cannot   
explain our normal selves or  account   
for the best things we know--or even for
 our condemnation of our  poorer1 lower 
self--without an appeal to and          
acknowledgment of a divine  ,guest and  
,companion who is the real presence of  
our central being4 ,how  shall we best  
come into conscious fellowship with ,god
 and turn this  environing presence into
 a positive source of inner power1 and  
of energy  for the practical tasks and  
duties of daily life8    ,it is never   
easy to tell in plain words what        
prepares the soul for  intercourse with 
,god2 what it is that produces the      
consciousness of  divine tides1 the     
joyous certainty that our central life  
is being flooded  and bathed by         
celestial currents4 ,no person ever     
quite understands how  his tongue utters
 its loftiest words1 how his pen writes 
its noblest  phrases1 how his clearest  

insights came to him1 how his most      
heroic  deeds got done1 or how the      
finest strands of his character were    
woven4  ,here is a mystery which we     
never quite uncover--a background which 
we  never wholly explore lies along the 
fringes of the most illumined part of   
our lives4 ,this mystery surrounds all  
the supreme acts of religion4 ,they     
cannot be reduced to a cold and naked   
rational analysis4 ,the intellect       
possesses no master key which unlocks   
all the secrets of the soul4    ,we can 
say1 however1 that purity of heart is   
one of the most essential  preconditions
 for this high-tide experience of       
worship4 ,that means1 of  course1 much  
more than absence of moral impurity1    
freedom from soilure  and stain of      
willful sins4 ,it means1 besides1 a     
cleansing away of  prejudice and harsh  
judgment4 ,it means sincerity of soul1 a
 believing1  trusting1 loving spirit4   
,it means intensity of desire for ,god1 
singleness  of purpose1 integrity of    

heart4 ,the flabby nature1 the duplex   
will1 the  judging spirit1 will hardly  
succeed in worshiping ,god in any great 
or  transforming way4    ,silence is1   
again1 a very important condition for   
the great inner action  which we call   
worship4 ,so long as we are content to  
speak our own  patois1 to live in the   
din of our narrow1 private affairs1 and 
to tune  our minds to stock broker's    
tickers1 we shall not arrive at the     
lofty  goal of the soul's quest4 ,we    
shall hear the noises of our outer      
universe  and nothing more4 ,when we    
learn how to center down into the       
stillness and  quiet1 to listen with our
 souls for the whisperings of ,life and 
,truth1  to bring all our inner powers  
into parallelism with the set of divine 
currents1 we shall hear tidings from the
 inner world at the heart and  center of
 which is ,god4    ,but by far the most 
influential condition for effective     
worship is  group-silence--the waiting1 
seeking1 expectant attitude permeating  

and  penetrating a gathered company of  
persons4 ,we hardly know in what the    
group-influence consists1 or why the    
presence of others heightens the        
sensitive1 responsive quality in each   
soul1 but there can be no doubt  of the 
fact4 ,there is some subtle telepathy   
that comes into play in the  living     
silence of a congregation which makes   
every earnest seeker more  quick to feel
 the presence of ,god1 more acute of    
inner ear1 more tender  of heart to feel
 the bubbling of the springs of life    
than any one of them  would be in       
isolation4 ,somehow we are able to 8lend
 our minds out10 as  ,browning puts it1 
or at least to contribute toward the    
formation of an  atmosphere that favors 
communion and coperation with ,god4     
,if this is so1 if each assists all and 
all in turn assist each1 our            
responsibilities in meetings for worship
 are very real and very great and  we   
must try to realize that there is a form
 of ministry which is dynamic  even when

 the lips are sealed4      ,,ii    ,,in 
,,the ,,spirit    ,there has surely been
 no lack of discussion on the ,trinity  
during the  centuries of ,christian     
history6 ,but in all the welter and     
turmoil of  words there has been        
surprisingly little said about the      
,spirit4 ,the  nature of the ,father and
 the ,son has always been the central   
theme1 and  whatever is said of the     
,spirit is vague and brief4 ,the ,creeds
 are very  precise in their accounts of 
,god the ,father and of ,christ the     
,son1 but of  the ,spirit1 they merely  
say without explanation or expansion3   
8,i believe  in the ,holy ,spirit40     
,the mystics and the heretics have      
generally had more to say of the        
,spirit4 ,they have almost always       
claimed for themselves direct and inward
  guidance2 they have insisted that ,god
 is near at hand1 a presence to  be     
felt1 and they have endeavored to bring 
in a 8dispensation0 of the  religion of 
the ,spirit4 ,but they1 too1 have       

contented themselves with  vague and    
hazy accounts of the nature and         
operation of the ,spirit4 ,it  has      
largely remained a subject of mystery1 a
 kind of 8fringe0 with no  definite idea
 corresponding to the word4    ,one     
reason for this haze and vagueness is   
due to the fact that the  ,spirit has   
generally been supposed to act suddenly1
 miraculously1 and  8as ,he lists10 so  
that no law or principle or method of   
,his operation  can be discovered4 ,he  
has been conceived as working upon or   
through the  individual in such a way   
that the individual is merely an        
8instrument10  receiving and            
transmitting what comes entirely from   
8beyond0 himself4  ,consequently to be  
8in the ,spirit0 has meant to be 8out of
 oneself10  i4e4 to be a channel for    
something that has had no origin in1 and
 no  assistance from1 our own personal  
consciousness4 ,as ,philo1 the famous   
,alexandrian teacher of the first       
century1 states this view3 8,ideas in an

  invisible manner are suddenly showered
 upon me and implanted in me by an      
inspiration from on high40    ,there is 
no doubt that in some cases in all ages 
men and women have had  experiences like
 that of ,philo's4 ,but they are by no  
means universal2  they are extremely    
rare and unusual4 ,god does sometimes   
8give to ,his  beloved in sleep0 and ,he
 does apparently sometimes open the     
windows of  the soul by sudden inrushes 
of light and power4 ,it is1 however1 a  
grave  mistake to limit the sphere and  
operation of the divine ,spirit to these
  sudden1 unusual1 miraculous           
incursions4 ,it is precisely that       
mistake--made  by so many spiritual     
persons--that has kept ,christians in   
general from  realizing the immense     
importance of the work of the ,spirit in
 everyday  religious life4 ,the mistake 
is1 of course1 due to our persistent    
tendency  to separate the divine from   
the human as two independent            
8realities10 and  to treat the divine as

 something 8away10 8above10 and         
8beyond40    ,st4 ,paul1 in spite of all
 his rabbinical training and the        
dualisms  of his age1 is still the      
supreme exponent of the genuine1 as     
opposed  to the false1 idea of the      
,spirit4 ,whether the sermon on the     
,areopagus  as given in ,acts is an     
exact report of an actual speech1 or    
not1 the  words1 8in ,him we live and   
move and are10 express very well ,st4   
,paul's  mature conception of the       
all-pervasive immanence of ,god1 though 
they  by no means indicate the          
extraordinary richness and boldness of  
his  thought4 ,he identifies ,christ and
 the ,spirit--8the ,lord is the         
,spirit40#b  ,the resurrected and       
glorified ,christ1 he holds1 relives1   
reincarnates  ,himself1 in ,christian   
believers4 ,he becomes the spirit and   
life of their  lives4 ,he makes through 
them a new body for ,himself1 a new kind
 of  revelation of ,himself4 ,they      
themselves are 8letters of ,jesus       

,christ10  written by the ,spirit4 ,he  
is no longer limited to one locality of 
the  world or to one epoch of time4 ,he 
is 8present0 wherever two or three      
believers meet in loyalty to ,him4 ,he  
is revealed wherever any of ,his        
faithful followers are working in love  
and devotion to extend the sway of  ,his
 ,kingdom4 ,the ,church1 which for ,st4 
,paul means always the fellowship  of   
believers1 living in and through the    
,spirit1 is 8a growing habitation  of   
,god40    ,the 8sign0 of the ,spirit's  
presence is1 however1 no sudden         
miraculous  bestowal like an unknown    
tongue or an extraordinary gift of      
healing4 ,it  is just a normal thing    
like the manifestation of love4 ,it is  
proved by  the increase of fellowship1  
the growth of group-spirit1 the spread  
of  community-loyalty4 ,when love has   
come1 the ,spirit is there1 and when    
love comes1 those who are in its spirit 
suffer long and are kind2 they  envy    
not2 they are not provoked2 they do not 

exalt mistakes2 they bear  all things1  
believe all things1 hope all things1    
endure all things4 ,love  constructs1   
because it is the inherent evidence of  
the ,spirit1 living1  working1 operating
 in the persons who love4 ,through them 
the incarnation  of ,god is continued in
 the world1 the ,spirit of ,christ finds
 its organ  of expression and life1 and 
the ,kingdom of ,god comes on earth as  
it  is in heaven4 ,this 8body10 this    
,church1 this community-group of loyal  
believers1 is 8the completion of ,him   
who through all and in all is being     
fulfilled40#c    ,if this ,pauline idea 
of the ,spirit is the true idea--and ,i 
believe it  is--then we are to look for 
the divine presence1 the divine         
guidance1  the divine inspiration1 not  
so much in sudden extraordinary inrushes
  and miraculous bestowals1 as in the   
processes which transform our  stubborn 
nature1 which make us loyal and loving1 
which bind us into  fellowship with     
others1 which form in us                

community-spirit and sympathetic        
coperation1 and which make us efficient 
organs of the ,christ-life and of  the  
growing ,kingdom of ,god4      ,,iii    
,,the ,,power ,,of ,,prayer    ,it seems
 to me very clear that there is a       
native1 elemental homing  instinct in   
our souls which turns us to ,god as     
naturally as the flower  turns to the   
sun4 ,apparently everybody in intense   
moments of human need  reaches out for  
some great source of life and help      
beyond himself4 ,that  is one reason why
 we can pray and do pray1 however       
conditions alter4  ,it is further clear 
that persons who pray in living faith1  
in some way  unlock reservoirs of energy
 and release great sources of power     
within  their interior depths4 ,there is
 an experimental energy in prayer as    
certainly as there is a force of        
gravitation or of electricity4 ,in a    
recent investigation of the value of    
prayer1 nearly seventy per cent of  the 
persons questioned declared that they   

felt the presence of a higher  power    
while in the act of praying4 ,as one of 
these personal testimonies  puts it3    
prayer makes it possible to carry heavy 
burdens with serenity2  it produces an  
atmosphere of spirit which triumphs over
 difficulties4    ,it certainly is true 
that a door opens into a larger life and
 a new  dimension when the soul flings  
itself out in real prayer1 and incomes  
of  power are experienced which heighten
 all capacities and which enable the    
recipient to withstand temptation1      
endure trial1 and conquer obstacles4    
,but prayer has always meant vastly more
 than that to the saints of past  ages4 
,it was assuredly to them a homing      
instinct and it was the occasion  of    
refreshed and quickened life1 but1 more 
than that1 it meant to them  a time of  
intimate personal intercourse and       
fellowship with a divine  ,companion4   
,it was two-sided1 and not a solitary   
and one-sided heightening  of energy and
 of functions4 ,nor was that all4 ,to   

the great host of  spiritual and        
triumphant souls who are behind us      
prayer was an effective  and operative  
power4 ,it accomplished results and     
wrought effects beyond  the range of the
 inner life of the person who was       
praying4 ,it was a way  of setting vast 
spiritual currents into circulation     
which worked mightily  through the world
 and upon the lives of men4 ,it was     
believed to be an  operation of grace by
 which the fervent human will could     
influence the  course of divine action  
in the secret channels of the universe4 
,is this two-sided and objective view of
 prayer1 as real intercourse and  as    
effective power1 still tenable8 ,can men
 who accept the conclusions of  science 
still pray in living faith and with real
 expectation of results8  ,i see no     
ground against an affirmative answer4   
,science has furnished  no evidence     
which compels us to give up believing in
 the reality of  a personal conscious   
self which has a certain area of power  

over its  own acts and its own destiny1 
and which is capable of intercourse1    
fellowship1 friendship1 and love with   
other personal selves4 ,science has     
discovered no method of describing this 
spiritual reality1 which we  call a     
self1 nor can it explain what its       
ultimate nature is1 or how it           
creatively acts and reacts in love and  
fellowship toward other beings  like    
itself4 ,this lies beyond the sphere and
 purview of science4    ,science1 again1
 has furnished no evidence whatever     
against the reality of  a great         
spiritual universe1 at the heart and    
center of which is a living1  loving    
,person who is capable of intercourse   
and fellowship and friendship  and love 
with finite spirits like us4 ,that is   
also a field into which  science has no 
entre2 it is a matter which none of her 
conclusions  touch4 ,her business is to 
tell how natural phenomena act and what 
their  unvarying laws are4 ,she has     
nothing to say and can have nothing to  

say  about the reality of a divine      
,person in a sphere within or above or  
beyond the phenomenal realm1 i4e4 the   
realm where things appear in the        
describable terms of space and time and 
causality4    ,real and convincing      
intimations have broken into our world  
that there  actually is a spiritual     
universe and a divine ,person at the    
heart and  center of it who is in living
 and personal correspondence with us4   
,this  is the most solid substance1 the 
very warp and woof1 of ,christ's entire 
revelation4 ,the universe is not a mere 
play of forces1 nor limited to  things  
we see and touch and measure4 ,above1   
beyond1 within1 or rather in  a way     
transcending all words of space1 there  
is a ,father-,god who is ,love  and     
,life and ,light and ,spirit1 and who is
 as open of access to us as the  lungs  
to the air4 ,nothing in our world of    
space disproves the truth of  ,christ's 
report4 ,our hearts tell us that it     
might be true1 that it ought  to be     

true1 that it is true4 ,and if it is    
true1 prayer1 in all the senses  in     
which ,i have used it1 may still be real
 and still be operative4    ,there is no
 doubt a region where events occur under
 the play of  describable forces1 where 
consequent follows antecedents and where
  law and causality appear rigid and    
unvarying4 ,in that narrow1 limited     
realm of space particles we shall       
perhaps not expect interruptions or     
interferences4 ,we shall rather learn   
how to adjust to what is there1 and  to 
respect it as the highest will of the   
deepest nature and wisdom of  things4   
,but in the realm of personal           
relationships1 in all that touches  the 
hidden springs of life1 in the stress   
and strain of human strivings1  in the  
interconnections of man with man1 and   
group with group1 in the  vital matters 
by which we live or die1 in the weaving 
of personal and  national issues and    
destinies1 we may well throw ourselves  
unperplexed on  ,god1 and believe       

implicitly that what we pray for affects
 the heart of  ,god and influences the  
course and current of this ,deeper ,life
 that makes  the world4      ,,iv       
,,the ,,mystery ,,of ,,goodness    ,we  
generally use the word 8mystery0 to     
indicate the dark1 baffling1  and       
forbidding aspects of our               
life-experience4 ,the things which spoil
  our peace and mar our harmonies and   
break our unions are for us             
characteristically mysteries4 ,pain1    
suffering1 and death are the most       
ancient of mysteries1 which philosophers
 and poets have always been  striving to
 solve and unravel4 ,evil in all its    
complicated forms and sin  in all its   
hideous varieties constitute another    
group of these dark and  forbidding     
mysteries1 about which the race has     
forever speculated4 ,the  problem of    
evil has been the prolific source both  
of mythological stories  and of systems 
of philosophy4    ,every war that has   
swept the world1 from that of           

,chedorlaomer to that  of ,europe       
to-day1 has driven this mystery of evil 
into the foreground  of consciousness1  
wherever the dark trail of ruin and     
devastation and  myriad woe has lain1 or
 lies1 across the lives and hearts of   
men4 ,now1  as always1 burning homes1   
ruined business1 masses of slain1 maimed
  bodies1 the welter of animal          
instincts1 the suffering of women and   
little children1 and the hates enflamed 
between races form the greatest         
summation of baffling evils that man has
 known4    ,but it is an interesting    
fact that the mysteries referred to by  
the  greatest prophets of the soul are  
not of this dark and baffling type4     
,they are mysteries of light rather than
 mysteries of darkness4 ,christ  speaks 
of 8the mystery of the ,kingdom of      
,god40 ,saint ,paul finds the  central  
mystery to be an incarnational          
revelation of a suffering1 loving  ,god1
 who re-lives ,his life in us1 and the  
author of the ,epistle to  ,timothy     

announces 8the great mystery of         
godliness40#d ,love is put  above all   
mysteries2 the gospel of grace is more  
8unsearchable0 than  any suffering of   
this present time1 and the real mystery 
is to be found  rather in resurrection  
than in death3 8,behold ,i show you a   
mystery4 ,we  shall not all sleep1 but  
we shall all be changed and the dead    
shall be  raised40    ,science has      
confirmed this emphasis of the spiritual
 prophets4 ,we come  back from the      
greatest books of the present time with 
the same conclusion  as this of the ,new
 ,testament that the prime mysteries of 
the world are  mysteries of goodness and
 not of evil2 of light and not of       
darkness4  ,we can pretty easily        
understand how there should be 8evil0 in
 a world  that has evolved under the two
 great biological conditions3 7#a7      
,every  being that survives wins out    
because he is more physically fit than  
his  neighbors in the struggle for      
existence1 and 7#b7 there is a tendency 

for  all inherited traits to persist in 
offspring4 ,in order to have 8nature0   
at all1 there must be a heavy tinge of  
redness in tooth and claw4 ,the         
primitive passions must be strong in    
order to insure any beings that can     
survive4 ,and if there is to be         
inheritance of parental traits1 then the
  tendencies of bygone ages are bound to
 persist on1 even into a world of  more 
highly evolved beings1 and there will be
 inherited 8relics0 of  fears1 of       
appetites1 of impulses1 of instincts1   
and of desires1 as there  are inherited 
8relics0 in the physical structure1 and 
men will continue  to do things which   
would better suit the animal level4     
,and1 finally1 if  the world is to be   
made by evolving processes1 there will  
of necessity  be an overlapping of      
8high0 and 8low40 ,the world cannot go  
on without  carrying its past along with
 the advancing line1 so that in the     
light of  the new and better that comes1
 the old and out-passed seems 8evil0 and

  8bad40    ,we can see plainly enough  
where the drive of selfishness came     
from1  where the passionate fears and   
angers and hates that mar our world  got
 into the system4 ,what is not so clear 
and plain is how we came to  be         
possessed of a driving hunger for       
goodness1 how we ever got a  bent for   
self-sacrifice1 how we derived our      
disposition for love1 how  we discovered
 that it is more blessed to give than to
 receive4 ,the  mystery after all is the
 mystery of goodness4 ,the gradual      
growth of  a ,kingdom of ,god1 in which 
men live by love and brotherhood1 in    
which  they give without expecting      
returns1 in which they decrease that    
others  may increase1 and in which their
 joy is fulfilled in the spreading of   
joy--that is1 after all1 the mystery4   
,the coming1 into this checkerboard     
world1 of ,one who practiced love in    
all the varying issues of life1         
8,who nailed all flesh to the cross     
,till self died out in the love of his  

kind10    and who ,himself believed1 and
 taught others to believe1 that ,his    
,life was  a genuine revelation of ,god 
and the spiritual realm of              
reality--there is a  mystery4    ,that  
this ,life which was in ,him is an      
actual incursion from a higher1         
inexhaustible world of ,spirit1 that we 
all may partake of it1 draw upon  it1   
live in it1 and have it live in us1 so  
that in some sense it becomes  true that
 ,christ lives in us and we are raised  
from the dead--that is  the mystery4    
,this word 8mystery0 or 8mysteries0 did 
not1 however1 stand in the thought  of  
the early ,christians for something     
mysterious and inscrutable4 ,it  stood  
rather for some unspeakably precious    
reality which could be known  only by   
initiation and to the initiate4 ,the    
8mysteries0 of ,mithra were  forever    
hidden to those on the outside2 to those
 who formed the inner  circle the secret
 of the real presence of the god was as 
open and clear  as the sunlight under   

the sky4 ,so1 too1 with the 8mysteries0 
of the  gospel4 ,they could not be      
conveyed by word of wisdom or by proof  
of  logic4 ,then1 and always1 the love  
of ,christ 8passes knowledge10 8the     
peace of ,god0 overtops processes of    
thought4 ,love1 ,grace1 ,goodness1      
,godliness1 ,christlikeness breaking    
forth in men like us1 remains a         
8mystery0--a thing not 8explainable0 in 
terms of empirical causation  and not   
capable of being 8known0 except to those
 who see and taste and  touch1 because  
they have been 8initiated into this     
,life40 ,we shall  no doubt still puzzle
 over the dark enigmas of pain and      
death1 of war  and its train of woe1 but
 we shall do well to remember that there
 is  a greater mystery than any of      
these--the mystery of the suffering1 yet
  ever-conquering love of ,god which no 
one knows except he who is  immersed in 
it4      ,v    8,,as ,,one ,,having     
,,authority0    ,the word 8authority0   
has shifted its meaning many times4 ,we 

do not mean  now by it what churchmen of
 former times meant when they used it4  
,even as  late as the beginning of the  
twentieth century a great ,french       
scholar1  ,auguste ,sabatier1 wrote an  
influential book in which he contrasted 
8,religions of ,authority0 with         
8,religions of the ,spirit40 ,by        
religions of  authority he meant types  
of religion which rest on a dogmatic    
basis and  on the super-ordinary power  
of ecclesiastical officials to guarantee
  the truth4 ,however authoritative a   
religion of that type may once  have    
been1 it is so no longer1 at least with 
those who have caught the  intellectual 
spirit of our age4    8,authority0 is   
found now for most of us where the      
common people who  listened to ,jesus   
found it--in the convincing and         
verifying power of  the message itself4 
,we should not now think for a moment of
 taking our  views on astronomy or      
geology or physiology--about the        
circulation of the  blood1 for          

instance--on the 8authority0 of a       
priest1 assuming that his  ordination   
supplied him with oracular knowledge on 
these subjects4 ,we  want to know rather
 what the facts in any one of these     
fields compel us  to conclude1 and we go
 for assistance to persons who have     
trained and  disciplined their powers of
 observation and who can make us see    
what  they see4 ,our 8authority0 in the 
last resort to-day is the evidence of   
observable facts and legitimate         
inference from these facts4 ,a religion 
of authority1 then1 for our generation  
rests1 not on the infallible  guarantee 
of any ordained man1 or of any          
miraculously equipped church1  but on   
the spiritual nature of human life      
itself and on the verifiable  relations 
of the soul with the unseen realities of
 the universe4    ,i need hardly say--it
 is so plain that the runner can see    
it--that the  so-called ,sermon on the  
,mount is one of the best illustrations 
available  of this type of authoritative

 religion4 ,whatever is declared as     
truth in  that discourse is true1 not   
because a messenger from heaven brought 
it1  not because a supernatural         
authority guaranteed it1 but because it 
is  inherently so1 and if any statement 
here obviously conflicted with the      
facts of life and stood confuted by the 
testimony of the soul itself1  it would 
in the end1 in the long run as we say1  
have to go4 ,the whole  message1 from   
the beatitude upon the poor-in-spirit to
 the judgment test  of life in action1  
as revealed in the figure of the two    
houses1 is a  message which can be      
verified and tried out as searchingly as
 can the  law of gravitation or the     
theory of luminiferous ether4 ,all the  
results  that are here announced are    
results which attach to the essential   
nature  of the soul1 and the conditions 
of blessedness are as much bound up with
  the nature of things as are the       
conditions of physical health for a man1
  or the conditions of literary success 

for an author4    ,any one who has read 
,william ,james' chapter on 8,habit0    
knows how it  feels to be reading       
something which verifies itself and     
which convicts  the judgment of the     
reader in almost every sentence4 ,as one
 comes toward  the end of the chapter he
 finds these words3 8,every smallest    
stroke of  virtue or of vice leaves its 
never so little scar4 ,the drunken ,rip 
,van  ,winkle excuses himself for every 
fresh dereliction by saying1 #8,i won't 
count this time6' ,well6 he may not     
count it1 and a kind heaven may not     
count it2 but it is being counted none  
the less4 ,down among the nerve  cells  
and fibers the molecules are counting   
it1 registering and storing  it up to be
 used against him when the next         
temptation comes40 ,these words  have   
the irresistible drive of observable    
facts behind them4 ,we have come  upon  
something which is so because it is so4 
,it can no more be juggled  with or     
dodged than can the fact of the         

precession of the equinoxes4 ,the  calm 
authority of that chapter might well be 
the envy of every preacher  of the      
gospel and of every writer of articles  
on religion4 ,if either the  preacher or
 the religious writer expects to speak  
to the condition of  his age1 then he   
must acquire this authoritative way of  
dealing with the  issues of life1 for   
the other kind of 8authority0 has had   
its day4    ,it is interesting to       
discover that ,tertullian and ,st4      
,augustine--two  men who1 almost beyond 
all others1 helped to forge this waning 
type of  8authority0--came very near    
risking the whole case of religion in   
their  day on the primary authority of  
first-hand experience and the testimony 
of the soul itself4 8,i call in10       
,tertullian wrote1 8a new testimony2    
yea1  one that is better known than all 
literature1 more discussed than all     
doctrine1 more public than all          
publications1 greater than the whole    
man--,i  mean all which is man's4 ,stand

 forth1 ,o soul1 444 and give thy       
witness  444 ,i want thy experience4 ,i 
demand of thee the things thou bringest 
with  thee into man1 the things thou    
knowest either from thyself or from thy 
,author4444 ,whenever the soul comes to 
itself1 as out of a surfeit or a  sleep 
or a sickness and attains something of  
its natural soundness1 it  speaks of    
,god40    ,nobody has ever shown more   
skill and subtlety in examining the     
actual  processes of the inner life than
 has ,augustine1 nor has any one more   
powerfully revealed the native hunger of
 the soul for ,god1 or the  coperative  
working of divine grace in the inner    
region where all the  issues of life are
 settled4 ,take this vivid passage1     
picturing the  hesitating will1         
zig-zagging between the upward pull and 
the tug of the  old self just before the
 last great act of decision which led to
 his  conversion4    8,thus was ,i sick 
and suffering in mind1 upbraiding myself
 more bitterly  than ever before1       

twisting and turning in my chains in the
 hope that they  would soon snap1 for   
they had almost worn too thin to hold   
me4 ,yet they  did still hold me4 ,but  
,thou wast instant with me in the inner 
man1 with  merciful severity1 redoubling
 the lashes of fear and shame1 lest ,i  
should  cease from struggling4444 ,i    
kept saying within my heart1 #8,let it  
be now1  now6'--and with the word ,i was
 on the point of going on to the        
resolve4 ,i  had almost done it1 but ,i 
had not done it2 and yet ,i did not slip
 back  to where ,i was at first1 but    
held my footing at a short remove and   
drew  breath4 ,and again ,i tried2 ,i   
came a little nearer1 and again a little
  nearer1 and now--now--,i was in act to
 grasp and hold it2 but still ,i did    
not reach it1 nor grasp it1 nor hold it1
 444 for the worse that ,i knew  so well
 had more power over me than the better 
that ,i knew not1 and the  absolute     
point of time at which ,i was to change 
filled me with greater  dread the more  

nearly ,i approached it40    ,that is   
straight out of life4 ,the thing which  
really matters there is  not some       
fine-spun dogma or the power of some    
mitered priest1 but the  answer of the  
soul1 the obedience of the will in the  
presence of what is  unmistakably       
divine4 8,the whole work of this life10 
he once said1 8is  to heal the eye of   
the heart by which we see ,god40 ,both  
these men made  great contributions to  
the imperial1 authoritative church and  
they were  foremost architects of the   
immense system of dogma under which men 
lived  for long centuries1 but the      
religion by which they themselves lived 
was  born in their own experience1 and  
back of all their secondary authority   
was this primary authority of the soul's
 own testimony4    ,what our generation 
needs above everything1 if ,i read its  
problems  rightly1 is a clearer         
interpretation of the spiritual         
capacities and the  unseen compulsions  
of the ordinary human soul2 that is to  

say1 a more  authoritative and so more  
compelling psychological account of the 
actual  and potential nature of our own 
human self1 with its amazing depths and 
its infinite relationships4 ,we have had
 fifteen hundred years under the  dogma 
of original sin and total depravity2 now
 let us have a period of  actually      
facing our own souls as they reveal     
themselves1 not to the  theologian1 but 
to the expert in souls4 ,we shall find  
them mysterious  and bad enough no      
doubt1 but we shall also find that they 
are strangely  linked up with that      
unseen and yet absolutely real ,heart of
 all things  whom we call ,god4 ,and our
 generation also needs a more           
authoritative  account of ,jesus        
,christ--more authoritative because more
 truly and more  historically drawn4 ,we
 have had centuries of the ,christ of   
dogma and  even to-day the ,church is   
split and sundered by its attempt to    
maintain  dogmatic constructions about  
,his ,person4 ,was ,he monophysite8 ,was

 he  diphysite8 ,those dead questions   
have divided the world in former ages   
and still rally oriental sects4 ,our    
problem is different4 ,we want to  see  
how ,he lived4 ,we want to discover what
 ,he said4 ,we want to feel the  power  
of ,his attractive personality4 ,we want
 to find out what ,his own  experience  
was and what bearing it has on life     
to-day4 ,we need to have  ,him          
reinterpreted to us in terms of life1 so
 that once again ,he becomes  for us as 
real and as dynamic as ,he was for ,paul
 in ,corinth or for ,john  in ,ephesus4 
,the moment anybody succeeds in doing   
that1 ,he proves to be  as much alive as
 ever1 and religion becomes as          
authoritative as ever4  ,theology is not
 extinct1 but it is becoming wholly     
transformed and the  theology of the    
coming time will be a knowledge of ,god 
builded not on  abstract logic1 but on a
 penetrating psychology of man's inner  
nature  and a no less penetrating       
interpretation of history and biography1

  especially at the points where the    
revelation of ,god has most evidently   
shone forth and broken in upon us4      
,,vi    ,,seeing ,,him ,,who ,,is       
,,invisible    ,the power 8to see the   
invisible0 is as essential in science1  
in  philosophy1 in art1 and in common   
life as it is in religion4 ,the world   
with which science deals is not made out
 of 8things that do appear40  ,every    
step in the advance of science has been 
made by the discovery of  invisible     
things which explain the crude visible  
things of our uncritical  experience4   
,we seldom see any of the things the    
scientists talk  about--atoms and       
molecules and cells1 laws and causes and
 energies4 ,these  things have been     
found first1 not with the eyes of sense1
 but with the  vision of the mind4      
,newton found the support that holds the
 earth to the sun and the moon to  the  
earth1 but there was no visible cable1  
no mighty grooves in which  the poles of
 the earth's axis spin4 ,there was      

nothing to see1 and yet his  mind       
discovered an invisible link that       
fastens every particle of matter  in the
 universe to every other particle1      
however remote4 ,one fact after  another
 has forced the scientist to-day to draw
 upon an invisible world  of ether for  
his explanations of a vast number of the
 things that appear4  ,gravitation1     
electrical phenomena1 light and color   
vision1 and1 perhaps1  the very origin  
of matter1 are due1 his mind sees1 to   
the presence of  this extraordinary     
world within1 or behind1 the world we   
see4    ,one of the greatest advances   
that has ever been made in the progress 
of medicine was made through the        
discovery of invisible microbes as  the 
cause of contagious and infectious      
diseases4 ,the ancients had also        
believed the cause of many diseases to  
be the presence of invisible  agents1   
which they called 8demons10 but they    
could hit upon no way of  finding the   
8demons0 or of banishing them4 ,the     

scientific physician  8sees0 the        
invisible microbe and he 8sees0 what    
will put this enemy hors  de combat4    
,the study of philosophy is chiefly the 
cultivation of the power to see  the    
invisible4 ,pythagoras is said to have  
required a period of a year of  silence 
as an initiation into the business of   
philosophy--because there  was nothing  
to talk about until the beginner had    
learned how to see the  invisible6 ,the 
great realities to which the philosopher
 is dedicated  are not things to be     
found1 even with microscopes or         
telescopes4 ,nobody  is qualified to    
enter the philosophical race at         
all--even for the  hundred-yard         
dash--unless in the temporal he can see 
the eternal1 and in  the visible the    
invisible1 and in the material the      
spiritual4 ,there can  be no artistic   
creation until some one comes who has   
8the faculty divine0  to see            
8,the gleam1      ,the light that never 
was1 on sea or land40    ,such artistic 

creations must not be unreal4 ,on the   
contrary1 they must  be more real than  
the scenes we photograph or the factual 
events we  describe4 ,they must present 
to us something that is in all respects 
as  it ought to be4 ,the artist1 the    
poet1 the musician succeed in making    
some object1 or some character1 or some 
series of events or sounds raise  us    
above our usual restraints of space and 
time and imperfection and for  a moment 
give us a glimpse of something eternal4 
,but we see the invisible in our common 
daily life much more than we  realize4  
,the simple cobbler of shoes stitches   
and pegs at his little  shoe1 and makes 
it as honestly as he can1 for some child
 whom he has  never seen and perhaps    
never will see4 ,the merchant expands   
his business  because he forecasts the  
expanding need for his articles in      
,china1  ,africa1 or ,south ,america4   
,the statesman at every move is dealing 
as much  with the country of his inner  
vision as with the country his eyes see4

  ,so1 too1 is the parent as he plans   
for the discipline and education  of his
 child4 ,no one can be a good           
person--however simple1 or however      
great--without leaving the things that  
are behind1 i4e4 the things that  are   
actual1 and going on to realize what is 
not yet apprehended1 what  exists only  
in forecast and vision4 ,religion1 then1
 is not alone in  demanding the supreme 
faculty of seeing the invisible4 ,we    
live on all  life-levels by faith1 by   
assent to realities which are not there 
for  our eyes4 ,religion only demands of
 us that we see the whole ,reality      
which this visible fragment of nature   
implies1 that we see the larger  spirit 
which our own human spirits call for1   
that we see the eternal  significance   
revealed in the life of ,christ and in  
the conquests of ,his  spirit through   
the ages4          ,,chapter ,v    ,a   
,,fundamental ,,spiritual ,,outlook     
,the most important constructive work   
just now laid upon us is the serious    

task of helping to restore faith in the 
actual reality of ,god and in the       
fundamental spiritual nature of our     
world4 ,there is no substitute for  the 
transforming power and inward depth     
which an irresistible first-hand        
conviction of ,god gives a man4         
,carlyle1 in his usual vivid fashion1   
says  that one man with faith in ,god is
 8stronger1 not than ten men that have  
it not1 or than ten thousand1 but than  
all men that have it not60 ,a man  can  
face anything when he knows absolutely  
that at bottom the universe  is not     
force nor mechanism but intelligent and 
loving purpose1 and that  through the   
seeming confusion and welter there is a 
loving1 throbbing1  personal ,heart     
answering back to us4 ,the cultivation  
of this experience  is the greatest     
prophetic mission laid upon the         
spiritual leaders of  any age4 ,isaiah  
is at his fullest stature when in a     
fearful crisis he  calls his nation from
 a military alliance with ,egypt1 whose 

people1 he  says1 are 8men and not ,god 
and whose horses are flesh and not      
spirit10  to a reliance on ,god and on  
eternal resources3 8,in returning and   
rest  shall ye be saved2 in quietness   
and confidence shall be your strength40 
,george ,fox is most clearly a prophet  
when he reports his own experience  of  
,god3 8,i saw that there was an ocean of
 darkness and death1 but that an        
infinite ocean of light and love flowed 
over the ocean of darkness4 ,in  that ,i
 saw the infinite love of ,god40    ,if 
we are to assist in the creation of a   
higher civilization than that  against  
which the hand on the wall is writing   
8mene10 we must speak  of ,god in the   
present tense1 we must live by truths   
and convictions  that are grounded in   
our own experience1 and we must endeavor
 to find a  spiritual basis underlying  
all the processes of the world4 ,men    
have been  living for a generation--or  
at least trying to live--on a           
naturalistic  interpretation of the     

universe which chokes and stifles the   
higher  spiritual life of man4 ,we must 
help those who have been caught in this 
drift of materialism to find their way  
back to the spiritual meaning of  the   
world4    ,we get a vivid impression of 
the stern and iron character of this    
materialistic universe from the writings
 of ,bertrand ,russell4 ,here are  two  
extracts3        8,man is the product of
 causes which had no prevision of the   
end they were achieving2 his origin1 his
 growth1 his hopes      and fears1 his  
loves and his beliefs1 are but the      
outcome of      accidental collocations 
of atoms2 no fire1 no heroism1 no       
intensity of thought and feeling1 can   
preserve an individual      life beyond 
the grave2 all the labours of the ages1 
all the      devotion1 all the          
inspiration1 all the noonday brightness 
of      human genius1 are destined to   
extinction in the vast death of      the
 solar system1 and the whole temple of  
man's achievement      must inevitably  

be buried beneath the dbris of a        
universe in      ruins--all these       
things1 if not quite beyond dispute1 are
 yet so      nearly certain1 that no    
philosophy which rejects them can hope  
to stand4 ,only within the scaffolding  
of these truths1 only      on the firm  
foundation of unyielding despair1 can   
the soul's      habitation henceforth be
 safely built40#e        8,brief and    
powerless is man's life2 on him and all 
his race      the slow1 sure doom falls 
pitiless and dark4 ,blind to good and   
evil1 reckless of destruction1          
omnipotent matter rolls on its          
relentless way2 for ,man1 condemned     
to-day to lose his dearest1             
to-morrow himself to pass through the   
gate of darkness1 it      remains only  
to cherish1 ere yet the blow falls1 the 
lofty      thoughts that ennoble his    
little day2 disdaining the coward       
terrors of the slave of ,fate1 to       
worship at the shrine that      his own 
hands have built2 undismayed by the     

empire of chance1      to preserve a    
mind free from the wanton tyranny that  
rules his      outward life2 proudly    
defiant of the irresistible forces that 
tolerate1 for a moment1 his knowledge   
and his condemnation1 to      sustain   
alone1 a weary but unyielding ,atlas1   
the world that      his own ideals have 
fashioned despite the trampling march of
      unconscious power40#f    ,much of 
the present confusion has been due to a 
false interpretation of  the doctrine of
 evolution4 ,it has been assumed--not   
indeed by scientists  of the first rank1
 but by a host of influential           
interpreters--that the  basis of        
evolution1 the law which runs the cosmic
 train1 is competitive  struggle for    
existence1 that is to say the natural   
selection of the  fittest to survive1   
and the fittest on this count are of    
course the  physically fittest1 the most
 efficient4 ,this principle1 used first 
to  explain biological development1 has 
been taken up and expanded and used  to 

explain all ethical and social progress4
 ,any nation that has won  out and      
prevailed has done so1 on this theory1  
because it made itself  stronger than   
those nations with which it competed4   
,this theory has  contributed immensely 
toward bringing on the catastrophe in   
,europe4 ,it  is a breeder of racial    
rivalries1 it is loaded with emotional  
stress1 it  cultivates fear1 one of the 
main causes of war1 and it runs on all  
fours  with materialism4    ,but it does
 not fit the facts of life and it is as 
much a mental  construction and as      
untrue to the complete nature of things 
as were the  popular pre-evolution      
theories4 ,here1 as everywhere else1 the
 truth is  the only adequate remedy1 and
 the truth would set men free4          
,biologists  of the most eminent rank   
have all along been insisting that life 
has not  evolved through the operation  
of one single factor2 for example1 the  
law of competing struggle4 ,everywhere  
in the process1 from lowest to  highest1

 there has been present the operation of
 another force as primary  as the       
egoistic factor1 namely the operation of
 mutual aid1 coperation1  struggle for  
the life of others1 mother-traits and   
father-traits1  sacrifice of self for   
the group1 a love-factor implicit at the
 bottom but  gloriously conscious and   
consecrated at the top4 ,nature has     
always been  forerunning and crying in  
the wilderness that the way of love will
 work4    ,it is impossible to account  
for a continuously progressive evolution
 on  any mechanical basis4 ,as soon as  
life appeared there came into play some 
degree of spontaneity1 something        
unpredictable2 something which is not   
mechanism4 ,the future in any           
life-series is never an equation with   
the  past4 ,what has been1 does not     
quite determine what will be4 ,life     
carries  in itself a creative           
tendency--a tendency to exhibit         
surprises1 novelties1  variations1      
mutations1 unpredictable leaps4 ,we can 

name this tendency1  this               
upward-changing drive1 8vital impulse10 
but however we name it1 we  cannot      
explain it4 ,the variation which raises 
the entire level of life is  as         
mysterious as a virgin birth1 or a      
resurrection from the dead4 ,there  is  
no help in the word 8fortuitous10 or    
8accidental10 there is no answer  when  
the appeal is made either to heredity or
 to physical environment4  ,there is in 
favorable mutations a revelation of some
 kind of intelligent  push1 a power of  
life working toward an end4 ,the end or 
goal of the  process seems to be an     
operative factor in the process4        
,evolution seems  to be due to a mighty 
living1 conscious1 spiritual driving    
force1 that  is pouring itself forth in 
ever-heightening ways of manifestation  
and  that differentiates itself into    
myriad varieties of form and activity1  
each one with its own peculiar potency  
of advance4 ,consciousness1 in  ,henri  
,bergson's illuminating interpretation  

of evolution1 is the original  creative 
cosmic force4 ,it is before matter1 and 
its onward destiny is  not bound up with
 matter4 ,wherever it appears there is  
vital impulse1  upward-pointing         
mutations1 free action1 and potency4    
,but no life is  isolated or cut apart4 
,each particular manifestation of life  
is one of  the rills into which the     
immense river of consciousness divides1 
and this  irresistible river with its   
onward leaps seems able to beat down    
every  resistance and clear away the    
most formidable obstacles--perhaps even 
death itself4    ,but it is not merely  
in the evolutionary process that we need
 to  reinterpret the spiritual factor2  
it is urgently called for in our        
dealing with the whole of nature4 ,we   
must learn how to interpret the         
fundamental spiritual implications      
involved in the nature of beauty1 of    
moral goodness1 of verifiable knowledge1
 and of personality itself4    ,in an   
impressive way ,arthur ,balfour in his  

,theism and ,humanism has  pointed out  
that it is impossible to find any       
adequate rational basis  for our        
experience of beauty1 or for our pursuit
 of moral ends of  goodness1 or for our 
confidence in the validity of knowledge 
or truth1  unless we assume the reality 
of an underlying spiritual universe as  
the root and ground both of nature      
without us and of mind within us4       
8sthetic values10 ,balfour says1 8are in
 part dependent upon a spiritual        
conception of the world in which we     
live40#g 8,ethics10 again he says1      
8must have its roots in the divine2 and 
in the divine it must find its          
consummation0#h and1 finally1 he says   
that if rational values are to  remain  
undimmed and unimpaired1 ,god must be   
treated as real--8,he is  ,himself the  
condition of scientific                 
knowledge40#i--8,we must hold that      
reason and the works of reason have     
their source in ,god3 that from ,him    
they draw their inspiration1 and that if

 they repudiate their origin1 by  this  
very act they proclaim their own        
insufficiency40#aj    ,personality      
carries in all its larger aspects       
inevitable implications  of a spiritual 
universe4 ,in the first place1 it is    
forever utterly  impossible to find a   
materialistic or naturalistic origin for
  personality4 ,whenever we deal with   
8matter0 or with 8nature10              
consciousness is always presupposed1 and
 the 8matter0 we talk about1  or the    
8nature0 we talk about1 is 8matter0 or  
8nature0 as existing for  consciousness 
or as conceived by consciousness4 ,it is
 impossible to get  any world at all    
without a uniting1 connecting principle 
of consciousness  which binds fact to   
fact1 item to item1 event to event1 into
 a whole  which is known to us through  
the action of our organizing            
consciousness4  ,since it is through    
consciousness that a connected universe 
of experience  is possible it seems     
absurd to suppose that consciousness is 

a product  of matter or of any natural1 
mechanical process4 ,every effort to    
find a  genesis of knowledge in any     
other source than spirit1 derived in    
turn  from self-existing ,spirit1 has   
always failed and from the logical      
nature  of the case must fail4 ,there is
 no answer to the question1 how did we  
begin to be persons8 which does not     
refer the genesis to an eternal         
spiritual ,principle in the universe1   
transcending space and time1 life  and  
death1 matter and motion1 cause and     
effect--a ,principle which itself  is   
the condition of temporal beginnings and
 temporal changes or ends4    ,normal   
human experience is1 too1 heavily loaded
 with further inevitable  implications  
of an environing spiritual world4 ,the  
consciousness of  finiteness with which 
we are haunted presupposes something    
infinite  already in consciousness1 just
 as our knowledge of 8spaces0           
presupposes  space1 of which definite   
spaces are determinate parts4 ,that we  

are  oppressed with our own littleness1 
that we revolt from our meannesses1     
that we 8look before and after1 and sigh
 for what is not10 that we are  never   
satisfied with any achievement1 that    
each attainment inaugurates a  new      
drive1 that we feel 8the glory of the   
imperfect10 means that in some  way we  
partake of an infinite revealed in us by
 an inherent necessity of               
self-consciousness4 ,we are made for    
something which does not yet appear1  we
 are inalienably kin to the perfect that
 always draws and attracts us4  ,we are 
forever seeking ,god because1 in some   
sense1 however fragmentary1  we have    
found ,him4        8,here sits he       
shaping wings to fly2      ,his heart   
forbodes a mystery3      ,he names the  
name ,eternity4        8,that type of   
,perfect in his mind      ,in ,nature   
can he nowhere find4      ,he sows      
himself on every wind4        8,he seems
 to hear a heavenly ,friend1      ,and  
through thick veils to apprehend      ,a

 labor working to an end40#aa    ,the   
most august thing in us is that creative
 center of our being1 that  autonomous  
citadel of personality1 where we form   
for ourselves ideals of  beauty1 of     
truth1 and of goodness by which we live4
 ,this power to extend  life in ideal   
fashion is the elemental moral fact of  
personal life4 ,these  ideals which     
shape our life are manifestly things    
which cannot be 8found0  anywhere in our
 world of sense experience4 ,they are   
not on land or sea4  ,we live1 and1 when
 the call for it comes1 we joyously die 
for things  which our eyes have never   
seen in this world of molecular         
currents1 for  things which are not here
 in the world of space1 but which are   
not on  that account any less real4 ,we 
create1 by some higher drive of spirit1 
visions of a world that ought to be and 
these visions make us forever           
dissatisfied with the world that is1 and
 it is through these visions  that we   
reshape and reconstruct the world which 

is being made4 ,the  elemental spiritual
 core in us which we call conscience can
 have come  from nowhere but from a     
deeper spiritual universe with which we 
have  relations4 ,it cannot be traced to
 any physical origin4 ,it cannot be     
reduced to any biological function4 ,it 
cannot be explained in utilitarian      
terms4 ,it is an august and             
authoritative loyalty of soul to a ,good
 that  transcends all goods and which   
will not allow us to substitute prudence
  for intrinsic goodness4 ,this inner   
imperative overarches our moral life1   
and it rationally presupposes a         
spiritual universe with which we are    
allied4    ,there is1 too1 an immense   
interior depth to our human personality4
 ,only  the surface of our inner self is
 lighted up and is brought into clear   
focal consciousness4 ,there are1        
however1 dim depths underlying every    
moment of consciousness and these       
subterranean deeps are all the time     
shaping or determining the ideas1       

emotions1 and decisions which surge up  
into the illuminated apex of            
consciousness4 ,this submerged life is  
in  part1 no doubt1 the slow deposit of 
previous experiences1 the gathered      
wisdom of the social group in which we  
are imbedded1 the residual savings  from
 unuttered hopes and wishes1 aspirations
 and intentions1        8,all ,i could  
never be1      ,all1 men ignored in me40
    ,but at times our interior deep     
seems to be more than a deposit of the  
past4 ,incursions from beyond our own   
margin seem to occur4 ,inrushes from  a 
wider spiritual world seem to take      
place4 ,vitalizing1 energizing1         
constructive forces come from somewhere 
into men1 as though another  universe   
impinged upon our finite spirits4 ,we   
cannot prove by these  somewhat rare and
 unusual mystical openings that there is
 an actual  spiritual environment       
surrounding our souls1 but there are    
certainly  experiences which are best   
explained on that hypothesis1 and there 

is no  good reason for drawing any      
impervious boundary around the margins  
of  the spiritual self within us4       
,all attempts to reduce man's inner     
spiritual life to the play of  molecular
 forces have fallen through4            
,correlation between mind and  brain    
cortex there certainly is and spirit1 as
 we know it1 expresses  itself under1 or
 in relation to1 certain physical       
conditions4 ,but it is  impossible to   
establish a complete parallelism between
 mind-functions and  brain-functions4   
,the psychical1 that is to say spirit1  
seems immensely to  outrun its organ and
 to use brain as a musician uses an     
instrument4    ,the psychological       
studies of ,henri ,bergson in ,france   
and of ,dr4 ,william  ,mc,dougall at    
,oxford make a very strong argument for 
the view that the  higher forms of      
consciousness cannot be explained in    
terms of brain  action and that there is
 no well-defined physical correlate to  
the  highest and most central psychical 

processes4 ,i shall follow in the main  
the positions of my old teacher1 ,dr4   
,mc,dougall1 as worked out in his  ,body
 and ,mind4    ,one of the most         
important differences between human and 
animal  consciousness comes to light in 
the appearance of 8meaning0 which is  a 
differentiating characteristic of       
personal consciousness4 ,we pass  8a    
great divide0 when we pass from bare    
sensory experience1 common to  all      
higher animals1 to consciousness of     
8meaning10 which is a trait  common only
 to persons4 ,we all know what it is to 
hear words which  make a clear          
impression and which yet arouse no      
8meaning40 ,we often  gaze at objects   
and yet1 like ,macbeth1 have 8no        
speculation in our  eyes0--we apprehend 
no significant 8meaning0 in the thing   
upon which we  are looking4 ,we         
sometimes catch ourselves in the very   
act of passing  from mere sense or bare 
image to the higher level of 8meaning40 
,while  we gaze or while we listen we   

suddenly feel the 8meaning0 flood in and
  transform the whole content of        
consciousness4 ,all the higher ranges of
  experience depend on this unique      
feature which is something over and     
above the mere sensory stage4 ,the      
words1 8the quality of mercy is not     
strain'd0 remain just word-sounds until 
in a flash one sees that mercy  is 8not 
something that comes out grudgingly in  
drops10 and then the mind  rises to 8a  
consciousness of meaning40#ab ,in this  
higher experience1  8meaning0 stands    
vividly in the focus of consciousness   
and1 in a case1  for instance1 of       
grasping a long sentence1 or of         
appreciating a piece  of music1         
consciousness of 8meaning0 is an        
integral unitary whole4  ,now there is  
no corresponding unitary whole in the   
brain which could  stand as the physical
 correlate to this consciousness of     
8meaning40 ,the  simple sensational     
experiences correspond in some way to   
parallel brain  processes but these     

elemental experiences are merely cues   
which evoke  higher forms of psychical  
8meaning10 that have no physical or     
mechanical  correlate in the brain4     
,this is still more strikingly the case 
in the higher forms of memory4  ,the    
lower and more mechanical forms of      
memory may be treated as a              
habit-sequence1 linked up with permanent
 brain paths4 ,but memory proper        
depends1 as does 8meaning10 upon a      
single act of mental apprehension4 ,as  
,mc,dougall well says3 8the whole       
process and effect1 the apprehension and
  the retention and the remembering1 are
 absolutely unique and distinct  from   
all other apprehensions and retentions  
and rememberings40#ac ,the  higher kind 
of memory involves 8meaning0 and1 the   
moment 8meaning0 floods  in1 vast and   
complicated wholes of experience tend to
 become a permanent  possession1 while  
only with multitudinous repetitions can 
we fix and keep  processes that are     
meaningless and without psychical       

significance4 ,but  here once more this 
higher unitary consciousness of a       
remembered whole of  experience has no  
assignable physical correlate in the    
brain-processes4  ,certain sensory cues 
evoke or recall a synthetic whole of    
consciousness  which has no parallel in 
the material world4    ,still more      
obviously in the higher sthetic         
sentiments and volitional  processes is 
there a spiritual activity which        
transcends the mechanical  and physical 
order4 sthetic joy depends upon a       
spiritual power to  combine many        
elements of experience to form an object
 of a higher order  than any object     
given to sense4 ,it is particularly true
 of the highest  sthetic joy1 for       
example1 enjoyment of poetic creations  
where the  ideal and intellectual       
element vastly overtops the sensuous1   
and where  the words and imagery really 
carry the reader on into another world  
than the one of sight and sound4 ,here  
in a very high degree we attain a       

unified whole of consciousness that has 
no physical correlate among the         
brain-processes4 ,it is further apparent
 that the higher forms of pleasure      
somehow exert an effective influence    
upon the physical system itself as      
though some new and heightening energy  
poured back from consciousness  into the
 cerebral processes and drained down    
through the system4 ,william  ,james has
 given a very successful account of the 
way in which pleasure  and pain as      
spiritual energies reinforce or damp the
 physical activities1  so that the      
personal soul seems to take a unique    
part from within in  determining the    
physical process4 ,here are his words3  
8,tremendous as the part is which       
pleasure and pain play in our           
psychic life1 we must confess that      
absolutely nothing is known      of     
their cerebral conditions4 ,it is hard  
to imagine them as      having special  
centres2 it is harder still to invent   
peculiar      forms of process in each  

and every centre1 to which these        
feelings may be due4 ,and let one try as
 one will to represent      the cerebral
 activity in exclusively mechanical     
terms1 ,i1 for      one1 find it quite  
impossible to enumerate what seem to be 
the      facts and yet to make no       
mention of the psychic side which       
they possess4 ,however it be with other 
drainage currents and      discharges1  
the drainage currents and discharges of 
the brain      are not purely physical  
facts4 ,they are psycho-physical        
facts1 and the spiritual quality of them
 seems a codeterminant      of their    
mechanical effectiveness4 ,if the       
mechanical activities      in a cell1 as
 they increase1 give pleasure1 they seem
 to      increase all the more rapidly  
for that fact2 if they give             
displeasure1 the displeasure seems to   
damp the activities4 ,the      psychic  
side of the phenomenon thus seems       
somewhat like the      applause or      
hissing at a spectacle1 to be an        

encouraging or      adverse comment on  
what the machinery brings forth40#ad    
,the unifying effect and the dynamic    
quality of a persistent resolution  of  
will is another case in point which     
seems to show that the psychical        
reality in us vastly overtops the       
mechanism through which it works4 ,a    
fixed purpose1 a moral ideal1 a         
determined intention1 work far-reaching 
results and in some way organize and    
reinforce the entire nervous  mechanism4
 ,the whole phenomenon of attention     
which has a primary  importance for     
decisions of will and immense bearing on
 the problem of  freedom of will is     
something which cannot be worked out in 
brain-terms4  ,there seems to be some   
unifying central psychical core within  
us that  raises us out of the level of  
mechanism and makes us autonomous       
creative  beings4 ,once more ,i quote   
,william ,james1 whom many of us of this
  generation revere both as teacher and 
friend3        8,it often takes effort  

to keep the mind upon an object4 ,we    
feel that we can make more or less of   
effort as we choose4 ,if      this      
feeling be not deceptive1 if our effort 
be a spiritual      force1 and an       
indeterminate one1 then of course it    
contributes      coequally with the     
cerebral conditions to the result4      
,though it      introduce no new idea1  
it will deepen and prolong the stay in  
consciousness of innumerable ideas which
 else would fade more      quickly away4
 ,the delay thus gained might not be    
more than a      second in duration--but
 that second may be critical2 for in    
the constant rising and falling of      
considerations in the mind1      where  
two associated systems of them are      
nearly in equilibrium      it is often a
 matter of but a second more or less of 
attention      at the outset1 whether   
one system shall gain force to occupy   
the field and develop itself1 and       
exclude the other1 or be      excluded  
itself by the other4 ,when developed1 it

 may make us      act2 and that act may 
seal our doom4 ,the whole drama of the  
voluntary life hinges on the amount of  
attention1 slightly      more or        
slightly less1 which rival motor ideas  
receive4 ,but      the whole feeling of 
reality1 the whole sting and excitement 
of our voluntary life1 depends on our   
sense that in it things      are really 
being decided from one moment to        
another1 and      that it is not the    
dull rattling off of a chain that was   
forged innumerable ages ago4 ,this      
appearance1 which makes      life and   
history tingle with such a tragic zest1 
may not be      an illusion4 ,effort may
 be an original force and not a mere    
effect1 and it may be indeterminate in  
amount40#ae    ,there are thus a number 
of modes of consciousness1 and ,i have  
mentioned  only a few of them1 which    
have no traceable counterpart in the    
physical  sphere1 and which presuppose a
 spiritual reality at the center of  our
 personal life1 and this spiritual      

reality1 as we have seen1 can  trace its
 origin only to a self-existing1        
self-explanatory1 environing            
consciousness1 sufficiently personal to 
be the source of our developing         
personality4 ,if this view is correct   
and sound1 there is no scientific       
argument against the continuation of    
life after death4 ,if personality is    
fundamentally a spiritual affair and the
 body is only a medium and organ  here  
in space and time of a psychical        
reality1 there are good grounds and     
solid hopes of permanent conservation4  
,but after all the supreme evidence that
 the universe is fundamentally          
spiritual is found in the revelation of 
personal life where it has  appeared at 
its highest and best in history1 that is
 in ,jesus ,christ4 ,in  ,him we have a 
master manifestation of that creative   
upward tendency of  life1 a surprising  
mutation1 which in a unique way brought 
into history  an unpredictable inrush of
 life's higher forces4 ,the central fact

 which  concerns us here is that ,he is 
the revealing organ of a new and higher 
order of life4 ,we cannot appropriate   
the gospel by reducing it to a          
doctrine1 nor by crystallizing it into  
an institution1 nor by postponing  its  
prophesies of moral achievement to some 
remote world beyond the  stars4 ,we can 
appropriate it only when we realize that
 this ,christ is  a revelation here in  
time and mutability of the eternal      
nature and  character of that conscious 
personal ,spirit that environs all life 
and  that steers the entire system of   
things1 and that ,he has come to bring  
us  all into an abundant life like ,his 
own4 ,here in ,him the love-principle   
which was heralded all through the long1
 slow process has come into full  sight 
and into full operation as the way of   
life4 ,he shows us the meaning  and     
possibility of genuine spiritual life4  
,he makes us sure that ,his kind  of    
life is divine1 and that in ,his face we
 are seeing the heart and mind  and will

 of ,god4 ,here at least is one place in
 our mysterious world where  love breaks
 through--the love that will not let go1
 the love that suffers  long and is     
kind4 ,he makes the eternal ,father's   
love visible and vocal  in a life near  
enough to our own to move us with its   
appeal and enough  beyond us to be      
forever our spiritual goal4 ,we have    
here revealed a  divine-human life which
 we can even now in some measure live   
and in which  we can find our peace and 
joy1 and through which we can so enter  
into  relation with ,god that life      
becomes a radiant thing1 as it was with 
,him1  and death becomes1 as with ,him1 
a way of going to the ,father4          
,,chapter ,,vi    ,,what ,,does         
,,religious ,,experience ,,tell ,,us    
,,about ,,god          8,a noiseless1   
patient spider1      ,i mark'd1 where1  
on a little promontory1 it stood1       
isolated2      ,mark'd how1 to explore  
the vacant1 vast surrounding1      ,it  
launch'd forth filament1 filament1      

filament1 out of itself2      ,ever     
unreeling them--ever tirelessly speeding
 them4        8,and you1 ,o my ,soul1   
where you stand1      ,surrounded1      
surrounded1 in measureless oceans of    
space1      ,ceaselessly musing1        
venturing1 throwing1--seeking the       
spheres1 to        connect them2        
,till the bridge you will need1 be      
form'd--till the ductile anchor hold2   
,till the gossamer thread you fling1    
catch somewhere1 ,o my soul40           
--,,walt ,,whitman4    ,there are many  
forms of experience which in the        
primary1 unanalyzed1  unreflective stage
 appear to bring us into immediate      
contact with  self-transcending reality4
 ,we seem to be nearer the heart of     
things1  more imbedded in life and in   
reality itself when consciousness is    
fused  and unified in an                
undifferentiated whole of experience    
than in the  later stage of reflection  
and description4 ,this later stage      
necessarily  involves reduction because 

it involves abstraction4 ,we cannot     
bring any  object or any experience to  
exact description without stripping it  
of its  life and its mystery and without
 reducing it to the abstract qualities  
which are unvarying and repeatable4     
,there can be no doubt that our         
experiences of beauty1 for instance1    
have  a physical and describable aspect4
 ,the sunset which thrills us is for    
descriptive purposes an aggregation of  
minute water-drops which set ether      
waves vibrating at different velocities1
 and1 as a result1 we receive  certain  
nerve shocks that are pleasurable4      
,these nerve shocks modify  brain cells 
and affect arterial and visceral        
vibrations1 all of which  might         
conceivably be accurately described4    
,but no complete account of  these      
minute cloud particles1 or of these     
ether vibrations2 no catalogue  of these
 nerve shocks1 cell changes1 or arterial
 throbs can catch or  present to us what
 we get in the nave and palpitating     

experience of  beauty itself4 ,something
 there in the field of perception has   
suddenly  fused our consciousness into  
an undifferentiated whole in which      
sensuous  elements1 intellectual and    
ideal elements1 emotional and conative  
elements are indissolubly merged into a 
vital system which baffles all          
analysis4 ,something got through        
perception puts all the powers of the   
inner self into play and into harmony1  
overcomes all dualisms of self and      
other1 annuls all contradictions that   
may later be discovered1 lifts the  mind
 to the apprehension of objects of a    
higher order than that of sense1  and   
liberates and vitalizes the soul with a 
consciousness of possession  and joy and
 freedom4    ,the flower of the botanist
 is an aggregation of ovary1 calyx1     
petals1  pistil1 and pollen--a thing    
which can be exactly analyzed and       
described4  ,the poet's flower1 on the  
other hand1 is never a flower which     
could be  pressed in a book or dried in 

an herbarium4 ,it is a tiny finite      
object  which suddenly opens a glimpse  
into a world which mere sense-eyes      
never see4 ,it gives 8thoughts that do  
lie too deep for tears40 ,it is         
something so bound in with the whole of 
things that if one understood it        
altogether1 he would know 8what ,god and
 man is40    ,these experiences1 even if
 they do not prove that there is a world
 of  a higher order than that of        
mechanism and causal systems1 at least  
bring  the recipient moments of relief  
when he no longer cares for proof and   
they enable him to feel that he has     
authentic tidings of a world which is   
as it ought to be4    ,our world of     
8inner experience0 can in a similar way 
be dealt with  by either one of these   
two characteristically different methods
 of  approach4 ,we can say1 if we wish  
to do so1 as ,professor ,leuba does in  
his ,psychology of ,religion1 that      
8inner experience belongs entirely  to  
psychology10 8the conscious life belongs

 entirely to science10#af  8we must deal
 with inner experience according to the 
best scientific  methods20#ag or we can 
seize by an interior integral insight   
the  rich concrete meaning and          
significance of the unanalyzed whole of 
consciousness1 as it lives and moves in 
us4    ,psychology1 like all sciences1  
proceeds by analysis and limitation4    
,it breaks up the integral whole of     
inner experience4 ,it strips away  all  
mystery1 all that is private and unique1
 and it selects for exact  description  
the permanent and repeatable aspects1   
and ends with a  consciousness which    
consists of 8mind-states10 or           
describable 8contents40  ,everything    
that will not reduce to this scientific 
8form0 is ousted  from the lists as     
negligible4 ,all independent variables1 
all aspects of  8meaning10 all          
will-attitudes1 the unique feature of   
personal ideals1  the integral          
consciousness of self-identity1 the     
inherent tendency to  transcend the     

8given0--all these features are either  
ignored or explained  in terms of       
substitutes4 ,psychology confines       
itself1 and must confine  itself1 to an 
empirical and describable order of      
facts4 ,it could no more  discover a    
transcendent world-order than could     
geology or astronomy4 ,its  field is    
phenomena and the 8man0 it reports upon 
is 8a naturalistic man10  as completely 
describable as the sunset cloud or the  
botanist's flower4    ,what ,i insist   
upon1 however1 is that this 8described1 
naturalistic  man0 is not a real        
existing1 living1 acting man possessed  
of interior  experience4 ,he is a       
constructed man4 ,no addition of        
described  8mind-states10 no summation  
of 8mind-contents0 would ever give      
consciousness in its inner living       
wholeness4 ,the reality whose presence  
makes all the difference may be named   
8fringe10 or 8connecting  principle10 or
 8synthetic unity0 or anything you      
please--8but oh6 the  difference to me60

 ,the 8psychic elements0 of the         
psychologist are never  really parts4   
,every psychical state is in reality    
what it is because  it belongs to a     
person1 is flooded with unique life1 and
 is imbedded  in a peculiar whole of    
personality4 ,forever psychology by its 
method  of analysis misses1 and must    
miss1 the central core of the reality4  
,it can analyze1 reduce1 and describe   
the abstract1 universal1 and  repeatable
 aspects1 but it cannot catch the thing 
itself any more than a  cinematograph   
can4    ,here in the inner life1 if     
anywhere1 we are justified in seizing   
and  valuing the unified and            
undifferentiated whole of experience in 
its  central meaning4 ,if this primary  
experience of integral wholeness and    
unity of self be treated as an illusion1
 to what other pillar and  ground of    
truth can we fasten8 ,the object of     
beauty always reveals to  us something  
which must be comprehended as a totality
 greater than the  sum of its parts4    

,the thing of beauty takes us beyond the
 range of the  method of description4   
,so1 too1 in the case of our richest1   
most intense1  and unified moments of   
inner consciousness1 we cannot get an   
adequate  account by the method of      
analysis4 ,we must supplement science by
 the  best testimony we can get of the  
worth and meaning and implications of   
interior insight4 ,we must get1 where   
possible1 appreciative accounts of  the 
undifferentiated and unreduced          
experience and then we can raise the    
question as to what is rationally       
involved in such personal experiences4  
,as mystical experience supplies us with
 moments of the highest integral  unity1
 the richest wholes of consciousness1 ,i
 shall deal mainly with  that type1 and 
,i shall endeavor to see whether it     
gives any proof of  a trans-subjective  
reality4 ,there can be no doubt that    
this type of  experience brings the     
recipient spiritual holidays from strain
 and  stress1 that it gives life an     

optimistic tone1 and leaves behind a    
fresh  supply of energy to live by1 but 
can it carry us any farther8 ,does it   
supply us with a ladder or a bridge by  
which we can get 8yonder08    ,josiah   
,royce in ,the ,world and the           
,individual says that the mystic 8gets  
his reality not by thinking1 but by     
consulting the data of experience4 ,he  
is trying very skillfully to be a pure  
empiricist40 8,indeed10 he adds1 8,i    
should maintain that the mystics are the
 only thoroughgoing empiricists  in the 
history of philosophy40#ah 8,finite as  
we are10 ,royce says  elsewhere in the  
same book1 8lost though we may seem to  
be in the woods  or in the wide air's   
wilderness1 in the world of time and    
chance1 we have  still1 like the strayed
 animals or like the migrating birds1   
our homing  instinct40#ai    ,now the   
mystics in all ages have insisted that1 
whether the process  be named           
8instinct10 or 8intuition10 or 8inner   
sense10 or 8uprushes10  the spirit of   

man is capable of immediate experience  
of ,god4 ,there is  something in man1 8a
 soul-center0 or 8an apex of soul10     
which directly  apprehends ,god4 ,it is 
an immense claim1 but those who have the
 experience  are as sure that they have 
found a wider world of life as is the   
person  who thrills with the            
appreciation of beauty4    ,cases of the
 experience are so well known to us all 
to-day that ,i shall  quote only a very 
few accounts4 ,it looks to me as though 
some of this  direct and immediate      
experience underlay the entire fabric of
 ,st4 ,paul's  transforming and dynamic 
religious life4 8,it pleased ,god to    
reveal ,his  ,son in me40 8,it is no    
longer ,i that live but ,christ liveth  
in me40 8,god  sent forth the ,spirit of
 ,his ,son into our hearts1 crying      
,abba1 ,father40  8,god who commanded   
the light to shine out of darkness hath 
shined in our  hearts40 ,the entire     
autobiographical story1 wherever it     
comes into light1  lets us see a man who

 is able to face immense tasks and to   
die daily  because he feels in some real
 way that his life has become 8a        
habitation  of ,god through the ,spirit0
 and that he is being 8filled to all    
fullness  with ,god40 ,st4 ,augustine in
 the same way makes the reader of the   
,confessions feel that the most         
wonderful thing about this strange      
,african who was for a thousand years to
 be the ,atlas1 on whose shoulders  the 
,church rested1 was his experience of   
,god4 ,he is speaking out of  experience
 when he says1 8,my ,god is the ,life of
 my life40 8,thou1 ,o ,god1  hast made  
us for ,thyself and our hearts are      
restless until they rest in  ,thee40 8,i
 tremble and ,i burn2 ,i tremble feeling
 that ,i am unlike ,him2 ,i  burn       
feeling that ,i am like ,him40 8,i heard
 ,god as the heart heareth40 8,we       
climbed in inner thought and speech1 and
 in wonder of ,thy works1 until we      
reached our own minds and passed beyond 
them and touched ,that which is  not    

made but is now as it ever shall be1 or 
rather in ,it is neither #8hath  been'  
nor #8shall be' but only #8is'--just for
 an instant touched ,it and in  one     
trembling glance arrived at ,that which 
is40    ,jacob ,boehme's testimony is   
very familiar1 but it is such a good    
interior account that ,i must repeat it4
        8,while ,i was in affliction and
 trouble1 ,i elevated my spirit1        
and earnestly raised it up unto ,god1 as
 with a great stress      and onset1    
lifting up my whole heart and mind and  
will and      resolution to wrestle with
 the love and mercy of ,god and not     
to give over unless ,he blessed me--then
 the ,spirit did break      through4    
,when in my resolved zeal ,i made such  
an assault1      storm1 and onset upon  
,god1 as if ,i had more reserves of     
virtue      and power ready1 with a     
resolution to hazard my life upon it1   
suddenly my spirit did break through the
 ,gate1 not without the      assistance 
of the ,holy ,spirit1 and ,i reached to 

the innermost      ,birth of the ,deity1
 and there ,i was embraced with love as 
a      bridegroom embraces his bride4   
,my triumphing can be compared to       
nothing but the experience in which life
 is generated in the      midst of death
 or like the resurrection from the dead4
 ,in this      ,light my spirit suddenly
 saw through all1 and in all created    
things1 even in herbs and grass1 ,i knew
 ,god--who ,he is1 how ,he      is1 and 
what ,his will is40#bj    ,very         
impressive are the less well-known words
 of ,isaac ,penington3 8,this  is ,he1  
this is ,he3 ,there is no other4 ,this  
is ,he whom ,i have waited for  and     
sought after from my childhood4 ,i have 
met with my ,god2 ,i have met  with my  
,savior4 ,i have felt the healings drop 
into my soul from under ,his  wings40#ba
    ,edward ,carpenter has given many   
accounts of the transforming experience 
when he felt himself united in a living 
junction with the infinite  8including  
,self40 8,the prince of love10 he says1 

8touched the walls of  my hut with his  
finger from within1 and passing through 
like a great  fire delivered me with    
unspeakable deliverance40#bb ,it brought
 him1  as he himself says1 8an absolute 
freedom from mortality accompanied  by  
an indescribable calm and joy40#bc ,a   
nameless writer in the  8,atlantic      
,monthly0 for ,may1 #aiaf1 has given a  
remarkable description  of an experience
 which is called 8,twenty ,minutes of   
,reality40 8,i only  remember10 the     
writer says1 8finding myself in the very
 midst of those  wonderful moments1     
beholding life for the first time in all
 its  young intoxication of loveliness  
in its unspeakable joy1 beauty1 and     
importance4 ,i cannot say what the      
mysterious change was--,i saw no new    
thing1 but ,i saw all the usual things  
in a miraculous new light--in  what ,i  
believe is their true light4444 ,once   
out of all the gray days  of my life ,i 
have looked into the heart of reality2  
,i have witnessed  the truth2 ,i have   

seen life as it really is--ravishingly1 
ecstatically1  madly beautiful1 and     
filled to overflowing with a wild joy   
and a value  unspeakable40    ,finally1 
,i shall give a modern ,russian writer's
 appreciative report of a  typical      
mystical experience3        8,there are 
seconds when you suddenly feel the      
presence of      the eternal harmony    
perfectly attained4 ,it's something not 
earthly--,i don't mean in the sense that
 it's heavenly--but in      that sense  
that man cannot endure it in his earthly
 aspect4      ,he must be physically    
changed or die4 ,this feeling is clear  
and unmistakable2 it's as though you    
apprehend all nature and      suddenly  
say1 #8,yes1 that's right4' ,god1 when  
,he created the      world1 said at the 
end of each day of creation1 #8,yes1    
it's      right1 it's good4' ,it 444    
it's not being deeply moved1 but        
simply joy4 ,you don't forgive anything 
because there is no      more need of   
forgiveness4 ,it's not that you         

love--oh1 there's      something in it  
higher than love--what's most awful is  
that      it's terribly clear and such  
joy4 ,in those five seconds ,i      live
 through a lifetime1 and ,i'd give my   
whole life for them1      because they  
are worth it40#bd    ,it should always  
be noted that the number of persons who 
are subject to  mystical                
experiences--that is to say1 persons who
 feel themselves brought  into contact  
with an environing ,presence and        
supplied with new energy to  live by--is
 much larger than we usually suppose4   
,we know only the mystics  who were     
dowered with a literary gift and who    
could tell in impressive  language what 
had come to them1 but of the multitude  
of those who have  felt and seen and who
 yet were unable to tell in words about 
their  experience1 of these we are      
ignorant4 ,an undeveloped and           
uncultivated  form of mystical          
consciousness is present1 ,i think1 in  
most religious  souls1 and whenever it  

is unusually awake and vivid the whole  
inner and  outer life is intensified by 
such experiences1 even though there may 
be little that can be put into explicit 
account in language4 ,there are         
multitudes of men and women now living1 
often in out-of-the-way places1  in     
remote hamlets or on isolated farms1 who
 are the salt of the earth  and the     
light of the world in their communities1
 because they have had  vital           
experiences that revealed to them       
realities which their neighbors  missed 
and that supplied them with energy to   
live by which the mere  8church-goers0  
failed to find4    ,i am more and more  
convinced1 as ,i pursue my studies on   
the meaning and  value of mysticism1    
with the conviction that religion1 i4e4 
religion  when it is real1 alive1 vital1
 and transforming1 is essentially and at
  bottom a mystical act1 a direct       
response to an inner world of spiritual 
reality1 an implicit relationship       
between the finite and infinite1        

between the part and the whole4 ,the    
,french philosopher1 mile ,boutroux1    
has finely called this junction of      
finite and infinite in us1 by which     
these mystical experiences are made     
possible1 8the ,beyond that is          
within0--8the ,beyond10 as he says1     
8with which man comes in touch on the   
inner side of his nature40    ,whenever 
we go back to the fundamental mystical  
experience1 to the soul's  first-hand   
testimony1 we come upon a conviction    
that the human spirit  transcends itself
 and is environed by a spiritual world  
with which it  holds commerce and vital 
relationship4 ,the constructive mystics1
 not  only of the ,christian communions 
but also those of other religions1 have 
explored higher levels of life than     
those on which men usually live1 and    
they have given impressive demonstration
 through the heightened dynamic  quality
 of their lives and service that they   
have been drawing upon and  utilizing   
reservoirs of vital energy4 ,they have  

revealed a peculiar  aptitude for       
correspondence with the ,beyond that is 
within1 and they  have exhibited a      
genius for living by their inner        
conviction of ,god1 8of  practicing     
,god10 as ,jeremy ,taylor called it4    
,but are we justified in making such    
large affirmations8 ,is there anything  
in the nature of mystical experience    
that warrants us in taking the  leap    
from inner vision to existential        
reality8 ,can we legitimately get  from 
a finite1 subjective feeling to an      
objective and infinite ,god8  ,the      
answer is of course obvious4 ,there is  
no way to get a bridge from  finite to  
infinite1 from subject to object1 from  
idea to that which  the idea means1 from
 human to divine1 from mere man to ,god1
 if they  are isolated1 sundered1       
disparate entities to start with4 ,no   
mere  finite experience of a mere finite
 thing can be anything but finite1  and 
no juggling can get out of the          
experience what is not in it4 ,if we    

mean by 8empirical0 that which is       
8given0 as explicit sense-content of    
consciousness1 then the only empirical  
argument that could be would be  the    
statement that we experience what we    
experience4 ,we should not get  beyond  
the consciousness of interjection--8lo60
 8voila60    ,in this sense of the term1
 of course nobody ever did or ever could
  8experience ,god40 ,we are shut up    
entirely to a stream of inner states1  a
 seriatim consciousness1 8a shower of   
shot10 which can give us no  knowledge  
at all1 either1 in ,berkeley's words1 of
 8the choir of heaven0  or of 8the      
furniture of earth0 or of 8the mighty   
frame of the world10 or  in fact1 of any
 permanent self within us4    ,used in  
the narrow ,humian sense there are no   
8empirical arguments0 for  the existence
 of ,god1 but the misery of it is there 
are no arguments  for anything else     
either6 ,we must therefore widen out the
 meaning of  the term 8empirical0 and   
include in it not only the actual       

8content0 of  experience1 but all that  
is involved and implicated in           
experience4  ,we cannot talk about any  
kind of reality until we interpret      
experience  through its rational        
implications4 ,nobody ever perceives 8a 
black  beetle0 and knows it as 8a black 
beetle0 without transcending 8pure      
empiricism10 i4e4 without using         
categories which are not a product of   
experience4 ,all experience which has   
any knowledge-import1 or value1         
possesses within itself                 
self-transcendence1 that is to say1 it  
apprehends  or takes by storm some sort 
of external or objective reality4       
,nobody  is ever disturbed by the       
fallacy of subjectivism until he has    
become  debauched by metaphysics4 ,the  
fallacy of subjectivism is always the   
product of the abstract intellect1 i4e4 
the intellect which divides  experience1
 and takes an abstract part for a whole4
    ,it is further true that all        
knowledge-experience possesses within   

itself  finite-transcendence1 i4e4 it   
contains in itself a principle of       
infinity and could become absolutely    
rationalized only in an infinite  whole 
of reality with which the experience is 
in organic unity4 ,i agree  fully with  
,professor ,hocking that 8it is doubtful
 whether there are  any finite ideas at 
all40 ,the consciousness of the finite  
has working  in it the reality of the   
whole4 ,the finite can never be         
considered as  self-existent2 it can    
never be real4 ,there is forever present
 in the  very heart and nature of       
consciousness a trope1 a nisus1 a       
straining  of the fragment to link      
itself up with the self-complete whole1 
and  every flash of knowledge and every 
pursuit of the good reveals that  trend4
 ,something of the other is always in   
the me--and however  finite ,i may be ,i
 am always beyond myself1 and am        
conjunct with 8the  pulse beat of the   
whole system40 ,either we must give up  
talking of  knowledge or we must affirm 

that knowledge involves a self-complete 
and  self-explanatory reality with which
 our consciousness has connection4  ,we 
cannot think finite and contingent      
things1 or aim at goodness  however     
fragmentary1 without rational appeal to 
something infinite and  necessary4      
,human experience cannot be rationally  
conceived except as a  fragment of a    
vastly more inclusive experience1 always
 implied within  the finite spirit1     
unifying and binding together into one  
whole all that  is absolutely real and  
true4 ,whether we are dealing with the  
so-called  mystical experience or any   
other kind of experience we are bound to
  postulate1 or take for granted1       
whatever is rationally implicated in the
  very nature of the experience on our  
hands4    ,no type of consciousness     
carries the implication of              
self-transcendence1  or                 
finite-transcendence1 more coercively   
than does genuine mystical  experience4 
,the central aspect of it is the fusion 

of the self into a  larger              
undifferentiated whole4 ,it is thus much
 more the type of sthetic  experience   
than it is the type of                  
knowledge-experience4 ,in both          
types--the  sthetic and the             
mystical--consciousness is fused into   
union with its  object1 that is to say1 
the usual dualistic character of        
consciousness  is transcended1 though of
 course not wholly obliterated4 ,a new  
level  of consciousness is gained in    
which the division of self and other is 
minimal4 ,but it is by no means1 in     
either case1 an empty or a negative     
state4 ,the impression which so many    
mystics have given of negation or       
passivity springs1 as ,von ,hgel        
declares1 from an unusually large amount
  of actualized energy1 an energy which 
is now penetrating and finding          
expression by every pore and fiber of   
the soul4 ,the whole moral and          
spiritual creature expands and rests1   
yes3 but this very rest is produced  by 

action 8unperceived because so fleet10  
8so near1 so all fulfilling2  or rather 
by a tissue of single acts1 mental1     
emotional1 volitional1  so finely       
interwoven1 so exceptionally stimulative
 and expressive of  the soul's deepest  
aspirations1 that these acts are not    
perceived as  single acts1 indeed that  
their very collective presence is apt to
 remain  unnoticed by the soul          
itself40#be ,wordsworth's account passes
 almost  unconsciously from appreciation
 of beauty into joyous apprehension of  
,god  and it is a wonderful             
self-revelation of fused consciousness  
which is  positively affirmative4       
8,sensation1 soul and form      ,all    
melted into him2 they swallowed up      
,his animal being2 in them did he live1 
,and by them did he live2 they were his 
life4      ,in such access of mind1 in  
such high hours      ,of visitation from
 the living ,god1      ,thought was not2
 in enjoyment it expired4      ,no      
thanks he breathed1 he proffered no     

request2      ,rapt into still communion
 that transcends      ,the imperfect    
offices of prayer and praise1      ,his 
mind was a thanksgiving to the power    
,that made him2 it was blessedness and  
love40    ,tennyson has given many      
accounts both in prose and poetry of    
similar  affirmation experiences1       
sometimes initiated from within and     
sometimes  from without4 ,this account  
from the ,memoirs is a good specimen3   
8,i  have frequently had a kind of      
waking trance--this for the lack of a   
better word--quite up from my boyhood1  
when ,i have been all alone4 ,this  has 
come upon me through repeating my own   
name to myself silently1 till  all at   
once1 as it were out of the intensity of
 the consciousness of  individuality1   
individuality itself seemed to dissolve 
and fade away  into boundless being1 and
 this not a confused state but the      
clearest1  the surest of the surest1    
utterly beyond words--where death was   
almost  laughable impossibility--the    

loss of personality 7if so it were7     
seeming  no extinction1 but the only    
true life40    ,like the sthetic        
experience1 again1 the mystical         
experience brings an  extraordinary     
integration1 or unifying1 of the self1 a
 flooding of the  entire being with joy 
and an expansion which1 as in the case  
of the  highest sthetic experiences1    
takes the soul out into a world which   
8never was on sea or land10 and which1  
nevertheless1 for the moment seems  the 
only world4    ,balfour has finely      
pointed out in his ,theism and          
,humanism1 that this  expansion and joy 
and infinite aspect which are inherent  
in the sthetic  values cannot be        
rationally explained except on the      
supposition that  these values are in   
part dependent upon a spiritual         
conception of the  world--the experience
 must have a pedigree adequate to       
account for its  greatness4 ,we cannot  
begin with an experience which gives an 
absolutely  new dimension of life and a 

new world of joy1 and then end in our   
explanation with a phenomenal play of   
cosmic atoms--8full of sound and  fury1 
signifying nothing40    ,the same thing 
is true with our mystical experience4   
,we cannot1 of  course1 say offhand that
 here we experience ,god as one         
experiences  an object of sense1 or that
 we have at last found an infallible and
  indubitable evidence of the infinite  
,god4 ,my only contention is that  here 
is a form of experience which implies   
one of two things4 ,either  there is far
 greater depth and complexity to the    
inmost nature of  personal              
self-consciousness than we usually take 
into account1 that  is1 we ourselves are
 bottomless and inwardly exhaustless in 
range  and scope2 or the fragmentary    
thing we call our self is continuous    
inwardly with a wider spiritual world   
with which we have some sort of         
contact-relationship and from which     
vitalizing energy comes in to us4 ,it   
is too soon to decide between these two 

alternatives4 ,we are only at the  very 
beginning of the study of the submerged 
life within ourselves1 and  we must know
 vastly more about it than we now know  
before we can draw the  boundaries of   
the soul or declare with certainty what 
comes from its own  deeps and what comes
 from beyond its farthest margins4 ,the 
studies of  ,bergson and still more     
emphatically the studies of ,dr4        
,william ,mc,dougall  in ,body and ,mind
 show very conclusively that the        
consciousness of  meaning1 the higher   
forms of memory1 the richer and more    
subtle  emotional experiences and the   
more significant facts of attention1    
conation1 and will cannot be explained  
in terms of cerebral activities or  by  
any kind of mechanical causation4#bf    
,to arrive at any explanation of the    
most central activities of personal     
consciousness we must assume that       
consciousness is a reality existing in  
its own sphere and vastly transcending  
the physical mechanism which it  uses4  

,if this is a fact--and ,mc,dougall's   
argument is the work of one of  the most
 careful and scientifically trained of  
modern psychologists--then  there is no 
reason why what we call the 8soul0 might
 not on occasions  receive incomes of   
life and spiritual energy from the      
infinite source  of consciousness4 ,i   
can only say that the mystic in his     
highest moments  feels himself to be and
 believes himself to be in vital        
fellowship with  ,another than          
himself--and what is more1 some power to
 live by does come  in from somewhere4  
,mystical experiences in a large number 
of instances  not only permanently      
integrate the self but also bring an    
added and  heightened moral and         
spiritual quality and a greatly         
increased dynamic  effect4    ,we are   
still in the stage of mystery in dealing
 with the causes of  variations and     
mutations in the biological order4      
,something surprising  and novel1       
something that was not there before1    

something incalculable  and             
unpredictable suddenly appears and a    
little living creature arrives  equipped
 with a trait which no ancestor had and 
by means of which he can  endure better1
 can see farther or run faster1 can     
survive longer1 and is1  in fact1 on a  
higher life-level4 ,we do not know how  
the little midget  did it4 ,but some lan
 vital may have burst in from an        
invisible and  intangible environment1  
more real even than the environment we  
see4 ,the  universe1 as ,professor      
,shaler once said1 seems to be 8a realm 
of unending  and infinitely varied      
originations40 ,so1 too1 these flushes  
of splendor  which break through the    
8,soul's east window of divine surprise0
 may  come from a perfectly real        
spiritual environment without which a   
finite  spirit could not be at all or   
live at all4 ,i do not know4 ,our       
fragmentary  experiences cannot enable  
us to furnish irrefragible proof4 ,it   
only looks  as though ,god were within  

reach and as though at moments we were  
at  home with ,him4    ,gilbert         
,murray's cautious conclusion in his    
fine essay on ,stoicism is a  good word 
with which to close this chapter4       
8,we seem to find10 he says1 8not only  
in all religions1 but in  practically   
all philosophies1 some belief that man  
is not quite alone  in the universe1 but
 is met in his endeavours towards the   
good by  some external help or          
sympathy4444 ,it is important to realize
 that  the so-called belief is not      
really an intellectual judgment so much 
as a craving of the whole nature in     
us4444 ,it is only of very late  years  
that psychologists have begun to realize
 the enormous dominion  of those forces 
in man of which he is normally          
unconscious4 ,we cannot  escape as      
easily as these brave men the ,stoics   
dreamed from the grip  of the blind     
powers beneath the threshold4 ,indeed1  
as ,i see philosophy  after philosophy  
falling into this unproven belief in the

 ,friend behind  phenomena1 as ,i find  
that ,i myself cannot1 except for a     
moment and by  an effort1 refrain from  
making the same assumption1 it seems to 
me that  perhaps here1 too1 we are under
 the spell of a very old ineradicable   
instinct4 ,we are gregarious animals2   
our ancestors have been such for        
countless ages4 ,we cannot help looking 
out on the world as gregarious  animals 
do2 we see it in terms of humanity and  
of fellowship4 ,students of  animals    
under domestication have shown us how   
the habits of a gregarious  creature1   
taken away from his kind1 are shaped in 
a thousand details by  reference to the 
lost pack which is no longer there--the 
pack which a dog  tries to smell his way
 back to all the time he is out walking1
 the pack  he calls to for help when    
danger threatens4 ,it is a strange and  
touching  thing1 this eternal hunger of 
the gregarious animal for the herd of   
friends who are not there4 ,and it may  
be1 it may very possibly be1 that1  in  

the matter of this ,friend behind       
phenomena1 our own yearning and our  own
 almost ineradicable instinctive        
conviction1 since they are certainly    
not founded on either reason or         
observation1 are in origin the groping  
of  a lonely-souled gregarious animal to
 find its herd or its herd-leader in    
the great spaces between the stars4     
8,at any rate1 it is a belief very      
difficult to get rid of40               
,,footnotes      #a ,mark ,i4 #aj-aa4   
#b ,,ii ,corinthians ,,iii4 #ag4    #c  
,ephesians ,i4 #bc4    #d ,it is true1  
no doubt1 that the word 8mystery0 in the
 ,new ,testament is  generally used with
 a technical meaning4 ,i shall refer    
later to the true  significance of the  
word1 but for the moment it is not      
overstraining it  to use it as ,i have  
done in the text4    #e ,bertrand       
,russell's ,philosophical ,essays1 pp4  
#fj1 #fa4    #f ,ibid41 p4 #gj4    #g   
,arthur ,balfour's ,theism and          
,humanism1 p4 #hg4    #h ,ibid41 p4     

#acd4    #i ,ibid41 p4 #bgc4    #aj     
,ibid41 p4 #bgd4    #aa ,tennyson's ,two
 ,voices4    #ab ,titchener's           
,beginner's ,psychology1 p4 #ai4    #ac 
,dr4 ,william ,mc,dougall's ,body and   
,mind1 p4 #cce4    #ad ,william ,james' 
,principles of ,psychology1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 
p4 #ehc4    #ae ,james' ,psychology     
7,briefer ,course71 p4 #bcg4    #af     
,leuba's ,psychology of ,religion1 p4   
#bab4    #ag ,ibid41 p4 #bgg4    #ah    
,the ,world and the ,individual1 ,vol4  
,i1 p4 #ha4    #ai ,ibid41 p4 #aha4     
#bj ,the ,aurora1 ,chap4 ,,xix1 pp4     
#aj-ac4    #ba ,isaac ,penington1       
,works1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 xxxvii4    #bb     
,towards ,democracy1 p4 #aij4    #bc    
,ibid41 p4 #eac4    #bd ,dostoievsky's  
,the ,possessed4    #be ,the ,mystical  
,element1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #acb4    #bf   
,this point has been discussed in the   
previous chapter4        ,printed in the
 ,united ,states of ,america4