YALE
DIVINITY SCHOOL
LIBRARY

Gift of

THE MYSTICISM OF
S. JOHN'S GOSPEL

THE MYSTICISM OF
S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
BEING THE HULSEAN LECTURES
DELIVERED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF
CAMBRIDGE, 1915-1916
REVISED AND ENLARGED
By
HERBERT A. WATSON, D.D.
Rector of Knapton, Norfolk

LONDON: ROBERT SCO^lF^
ROXBURGHE HOUSE
PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
M CM XVI
AH rights reserved

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PREFACE
THE duty of the Hulsean lecturer is to preach
during his year of office not less than four
sermons, in which he is to show the evidence for
revealed religion or to explain some of the most
difficult texts or obscure parts of Holy Scripture —
or both.
The discussion of the Mysticism of S. John's
Gospel includes both these obligations, and it is
hoped that the explanation of S. John's words here
attempted will at least do nothing to weaken the
evidence for revealed religion. It is of supreme
importance to Christianity that S. John's view of
Christ's nature should receive adequate considera
tion, and it was never more important than it is
to-day that religion should be interpreted as a
personal experience rather than a historical phe
nomenon. In the following pages the attempt is
made to show that the personal and the historical

x PREFACE
elements are not incompatible ; it is the author's
hope that his readers will join with him in supporting
his view of Christian Mysticism as the Divine
combination of the temporal and the eternal.
His best thanks are offered to Dr. Inge, Dean of
St. Paul's, for kind advice given on the subject of
the lectures.
Knapton, March 14, 1916.

CONTENTS

PAGE
LECTURE I
The Meaning of Mysticism .... 19

LECTURE II
The Revelation of the Nature of God . 57
LECTURE III
The Symbolism of the Incarnation . . 109
LECTURE IV
The Practical Application of the Incarnation 149

SYNOPSIS OF THE LECTURES
LECTURE I
The Meaning of Mysticism. page
The Greek mysteries . . . . . .19
The primitive idea of God ..... 20
The Jewish idea of God's transcendence . . 22
The Jewish idea of human spirituality ... 25
The Jewish idea of human approximation to God . 27
National ideal ....... 30
The Christian idea of a personal relation between man
and God ....... 31
Eternal life. A conscious approach to Christ 32-34
Devotion of the will. The personality . . 35
The influence of the Incarnation . . -37
Mysticism is the direction of the personality towards
God. Unconditional surrender . . 38-40
A question of feeling . . . . -41
The Incarnation is a factor in human life . . 42
Distinction between the world and the followers of
Christ ........ 44
Human free-will ....... 45
Influence of the devil . . . . . .47
The unbelief of the Jews ..... 48
Illustration from the environment of war . . 50
Mysticism is a process . . . . . 51

xiv SYNOPSIS OF THE LECTURES
LECTURE II
The Revelation of the Nature of God

page 57

The revelation of the Logos ' .
Origin of the term Logos
Philo's idea of the Logos .
Jewish idea of the Word of God
The spiritual appeal of Christ
The sayings of our Lord in S. John's Gospel
Contrast between the Synoptists and S. John
No incongruity between the Synoptic view and
John's view ......
Relation of the disciples to the Word .
In S. John's Gospel the idea of the Incarnation pre
dominates over the idea of the Atonement
Our Lord as the living Bread
Value set upon the Atonement by S. John .
Union of man with God through the Incarnation
Revelation of love in the Incarnation .
The Atonement depends upon the Incarnation
The activity of God accentuated by the Incarnation
The Incarnation natural
Our Lord's use of the designation " I am '
Continuity in our Lord's claim of Divinity
Original existence of the Son of God .
Purification and inspiration traced back to the
Creation .....
Physical and Spiritual Revival
Personal appeal of Christ in the Incarnation
The Incarnation stimulates action
Apparent stress laid by S. Paul upon the Atonement
S. Paul implies the value of the Incarnation
His use of the phrase " in Christ " .
Difference between S. Paul's and S. John's experience 101
Comparison between S. Paul's and S. John's
Mysticism ....... 102
Mysticism is t.he practice of the Incarnation , . 104

SYNOPSIS OF THE LECTURES xv
LECTURE III
The Symbolism of the Incarnation page
Our Lord's sacramental position .... 109
Symbolism is not mere metaphor . . . .110
Attraction of our Lord's personality . . .111
Human psychology . . . . . 113
S. Paul's view of human nature . . . -115
Man's personality, his soul, combines spirit and body 117
In S. Paul  118
In S. John ....... 119
The relation of man to God is a relation of personality 120
Our Lord's insistence upon the need of His presence 121
Symbolism a characteristic of this relation . . 123
The Jewish priestly and prophetic positions . 123
Our Lord's personality ..... 124
In the Athanasian Creed . . . . -125
In S. John's Gospel . . . . . . 126
Our relation to Christ on both sides of His nature . 127
The Incarnation declares the sacramental character of
life  128
S. John's omission of the institution of the Eucharist 130

Symbolism goes deeper than metaphor
The symbolism of the signs of Christ .
The immanence of God ....
Contrast between the Synoptists and S. John
Clement of Alexandria
Origen .......
The symbolism of the Incarnation lies in its explan
ation of the meaning of human life
The present influence of Christ
Influence of Christ's humanity

133
135
136 138
138
138 140141
142

The Incarnation has transfigured human personality 144

xvi SYNOPSIS OF THE LECTURES
LECTURE IV
The Practical Application of the Incarnation page
Man is brought into Christ's actual personality . 149
Change of human environment . . . .151
The higher spiritual life . . . . -151
Mysticism is personal surrender . . . -152
God's immanence emphasized by the Incarnation . 152
Mysticism is not unpractical. .... 154
The contest between formalism and spirituality . 154
Plotinus — the vision of God ..... 156
Mysticism — Juliana of Norwich .... 157
William Law ....... 158
Jacob Boehme ....... 159
Theologia Germanica . . . . . .164
Plotinus ........ 165
The feet-washing in S. John's Gospel . . . 166
S. John's view of religion is not unpractical . .167
The promise of the Holy Spirit . . . .168
General relation established by the Holy Spirit . 169
This does not preclude individual action . .172
Napoleon's acknowledgment of Christ's influence upon
humanity ....... 172
The accessibility of God . . . . 175
Mysticism is activity as well as contemplation. . 176
Mysticism is the appreciation of the reality of hfe. 177
Connexion between belief in Christ and union with
Christ ........ 180
Childship to God ....... 181
Human restlessness . . . . . .182
Influence of Cambridge in the religious direction . 184
Mysticism. The union of contemplation and activity 186

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM

THE MYSTICISM OF
S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
LECTURE I
THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM
"He came into His own." — S. John i. ii.
MYSTICISM is the belief in an intimate
relation between man and God, and
the practice of this belief. It is not a theory
of something too mysterious to be understood,
but it is the initiation into a mystery that is
worth understanding. The Christian is the
initiated {p-vo-ti)*;) , the one who is desirous of
initiation, and the secret of God's being is the
aim of his desire.
The origin of the word Mysticism can be
traced back to the Greek mysteries, especially
to the famous mysteries of Eleusis, celebrated
19

20 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
there every year by the Athenians. It is very
difficult to get a clear idea of either the forms
or the meaning of the rite, because of the
strict secrecy in which the celebration was
guarded. But we gather that it was in its
essence a harvest festival, an act of prayer
for rain and fertility. We gather also that its
object was to impress rather than to teach,
that its influence was directed upon the feel
ings rather than upon the mind. We also
gather that it had a bearing upon the future
life, that in it was celebrated and emphasized
the hope of immortality. We see in it an act
of symbolism, the' drawing of a lesson of higher
life from the study of natural life. We see in
it also an act of communion with God.
Man's aim has always been to see God and
to know Him, and this aim is directed and
emphasized by the Christian religion. The
Christian religion is partly synthetic, it has
incorporated and contains the elements of
primitive religions. The desire to know God
is the constant characteristic of primitive re
ligions; it appears, for example, in Animism.

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 21
This is the search for God in the powers that
are seen to work in man's environment. The
forms that they take are varied, whether of
birds or other animals, whether of trees or
rivers, whether of wind or fire. In each of
these man has sought for the power which he
believes to be working within them. That
power expresses itself in each personality, and
by knowledge of each concrete personality
man attempted to grasp the abstract power,
of which each personality was the presentation.
As Dr. Jevons has said, the question put by
inquiring man to each of these forms was this,
" Art thou there ? " He put the question to
them, because they presented themselves to
him, but he was really asking the question of
the unseen power within them. " Show me
what thou really art, how thou camest to be
what thou art," was man's real inquiry, and
the scope of his inquiry went beyond the limits
of the objects to which it was applied. They
were of value for what they could reveal,
rather than for what they were. They were
the means to an end, and the end was God.

22 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
Primitive man believed that everything is
subject to a supernatural will. " It is by his
own experience (it has been well said) that a
man proves the truth that blessed are the
humble and meek ; by the test of immediate
consciousness he learns that God is not far
from each one of us." Religion is the out
come of the social relation, it is not origin
ally a personal conception, but a tribal con
ception. It is practised in common and for
the good of the community. Animism is the
attribution of human life and will to animals
and even apparently inanimate objects, on the
ground that their activity has an influence on
man. Fetichism is the individual worship of
a material object, carried out for private, not
general, good. Magic sets the rite itself above
the subject of the rite. Thus Fetichism im
plies selfishness, and magic implies formalism.
Religion must recognize the supernatural,
without confusing it with the material : it
must also be free from selfishness and for
malism. The first step towards a true conception of

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 23
religion is taken, with the apprehension of the
idea of God's transcendence. That idea we
find in the Jewish religion, but it is dimmed
by the anthropomorphic view of God's nature.
The idea of love is clouded by the idea of
anger, the idea of justice by the idea of
vengeance. The breadth of religion is nar
rowed by formalism and routine. There is
no real idea of a personal relation between
man and God, at least on man's side. The
prophets approached most nearly to it, but
they were like men crying in the wilderness,
and, when the prophetic line ceased, the
idealism of religion was still more fatally
quenched by the priestly tradition. The un
reality of that travesty of religion is empha
sized by the Pharisaic movement, as it showed
itself in opposition to our Lord. If their an
cestors had killed the prophets, the Pharisees
in their day built the prophets' tombs. For
their doctrine and their practice ratified the
unspiritual view of religion. In the so-called
Mosaic code we see the regulations of a much
more lifeless and yet more exacting religion

24 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
than Moses himself could have tolerated or
even imagined. And this has given us a mis
leading idea of the Jewish religion, while the
code itself, when it was actually established,
exercised over the Jewish mind a paralysing
influence, which was strengthened by its sup
posed antiquity. For we must not estimate
the Jewish religion by the standard of the
scribes and Pharisees, but rather by the pas
sionate appeals of the earlier prophets. The
author of the 51st Psalm and the prophet
Isaiah are one in their attack upon the mis
use of sacrifice. We may join in the Psalmist's
appeal for the revival of religion as the con
dition of the restoration of sacrificial worship,
arid it is exactly this feeling which draws out
our Lord's insistence on the spiritual nature
of God as requiring spiritual rather than
locally limited worship. But the only way in
which the requirement can be met lies through
the personality, both on the side of the wor
shipper and on the side of the object of his
worship. It is not a mere description of char
acter to say "lam the Way" : it is an indi-

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 25
cation of religious fact and religious method.
" He came into His own." The phrase
" His own " implies relationship as well as
possession, and gives a natural opening for
man's recognition of God. Applied in its
context to God's revelation in Judaism, it
may also, for the moment, be carried back to
man's primitive relation to God. God was
not a strange phenomenon in the world, for
the existence of property implies the existence
of an owner. The property will also bear
the marks of ownership ; it will reveal in some
measure the nature of the owner. The funda
mental characteristics of creation betray the
characteristics of the Creator. What comes
from God and belongs to God is calculated to
reveal God, because it is the expression of God.
The Jewish account of man's creation
insists upon the conception of human spiritu
ality. God breathed into lifeless matter the
breath of life, and by that act man became
a living soul. Human personality is com
pounded of the spiritual and the material.
But the Divine intention and decree was to

26 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
give Divine likeness to this human personality,
and, if we believe that God is Spirit, it is on
the spiritual side that we must seek for the
likeness. On the spiritual side, therefore, the
human search for God must evince its activity.
Mysticism is the human search for God.
" Art thou there ? " — that is the keynote of
the search. But along with this conception
of God's existence, which implies the concep
tion of God's transcendence, goes the further
conception of God's immanence. " He came
into His own." Spirituality in man implies
God's presence in man. Heaven is an expres
sion of God's trascendence, as is also implied
by such a phrase as " the God of Sinai " : in
either case there is the idea of real, expressed
by local, exaltation. But His appearance upon
earth expresses His immanence : in His
transcendence He comes down, but He visits
man in His immanence. " He came into His
own " implies a later visit than the main
period of Jewish history and religion can claim
to include, but before this later visit the domain
must have been occupied by Him, to be claimed

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 27
as His. In the Old Testament there is a
definite idea of God's presence, although the
idea is materialized to a marked degree. And
the idea of God's presence must include the
idea of His nearness to man and man's power
of realizing that nearness. It forms a strong
characteristic of Abraham's religion, as appears
in the prompting that he felt to sacrifice his
son. But it appears more strongly in the
general feeling of worship, which is the constant
feature of his religious practice. We can trace
it in the altars that he made and in his continual
invocation of the name of God. Later it
appears in the history of Jacob, as attested by
his wonderful vision of angels, a strong en
couragement to his practice of religion. The
world of nature and the heart of man are
recognized as God's domain, into which He
frequently comes.
If, then, our Lord's principle is to be applied
to the character of religion and not merely to
its ordinances, " I came not to destroy but to
complete," we shall expect to find in the
Jewish religion the germ of that idea of human

28 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
approximation to God, which is so character
istic a feature of the Christian religion, especi
ally as it is presented to us in S. John's Gospel.
The Jewish mind was open to revelation ; the
Jew was inclined to spiritual intercourse with
God. The very fact that he defined God in
particular rather in general terms, the fact
that he distinguished God by a special name,
and that a name connecting the idea of God's
existence with certain qualities and character
istics, is a proof of the crystallization and
centralization of his belief. Mysticism is the
direction of religious ideas upon a single point,
the concentration of human faculties upon one
high and holy existence, as the attracting
power of thought and feeling and worship.
It is the devotion of the character to God,
under the impression and in the confidence that
God is living and near, and in the determina
tion to work out that life and nearness as far
as human capability allows. But its effective
ness will always depend upon the knowledge of
the character and nature of God, it must
always be conditioned upon this. It is the

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 29
communication of this knowledge that forms
the subject of God's revelation to man ; and
man's acceptance of the revelation is deter
mined not so much by his belief in God's
existence, but rather by his appreciation of
God's character and nature, not by the fact
that He is, so much as by the knowledge of
what He is. The very phrase " the name of
God " implies a great deal more than a mere
designation, or even a differentiation of Him
from other gods, for it carries with it the idea
of His character and nature, so that the pro
hibition against taking God's name in vain is
a prohibition against setting the human will
in conflict with the will of God. There is a
strong reliance, in the Jewish religion, upon
the providence of God. The idea of His
existence gives rise to the idea of His power,
and that again suggests its exercise in the
direction of human need. And, on the other
hand, there is a clear idea of the reality of the
human need of God. The satisfaction of that
need is implied in the Jewish Scriptures,
however much their readers might err in the

30 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
interpretation of them, " these are they which
bear witness of Me " (v. 39). But early in
the development of the Jewish religion there
sprang up the idea of the extension of God's
relation to man from the social to the national
point of view. In any case religion contains
strong social leanings, and this was emphasized
among the Jews in the natipnal direction.
Now Mysticism, if it concentrates the religious
idea, also limits its application, and God
is regarded as dealing with the individual in a
very personal relation. We shall see that
idea still prevalent later on in Christianity,
when it expresses itself in the relation of the
Christian Church to God in connexion with the
Holy Spirit's influence. But there the indi
vidual relation is rather extended to the whole
body of believers, whereas in the later Jewish
religion the tendency was to derive the in
dividual relation from the idea of God's general
dealings with the nation. The Jewish re
ligion was a national religion, and God was
presumed to be interested in the general
current of events rather than in individual

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 31
lives. Hence Mysticism in the full sense was
impossible, it could only exist in germ.
It was reserved for the individual appeal of
the Christian religion to develop the idea of a
personal relation between man and God.
Indeed, the history of religious life had proved
the need of this intensification of religious
influence. Then God came into His own
domain, it is true, but He strengthened the
force of His influence by giving it a more
personal application. Then God was more
fully brought home to man. As a natural
consequence, human interest in God was
quickened and renewed. But this concentra
tion brought put more clearly the inherent
contrast between the side of God and the
side of that which refuses to acknowledge
God, between goodness and evil, as a contrast
resembling the difference between light and
darkness. It established the idea of a moral
dualism, which is a striking characteristic of
S. John's Gospel. The contrast takes the
form of a separation between God and the
world, between the followers of God and the

32 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
supporters of the world. It is not altogether
a declaration of fatalism, an establishment of
the principle of election, but it is a statement
of the natural consequences of human free
will. " Men loved the darkness rather than
the light, for their works were evil " (iii. 19).
Man's want of interest in God leads to God's
refusal to take an interest in man, to the
extent of leaving him to his own devices,
allowing him to judge himself. A hostile
attitude towards God is counted as the de
termination of a man's final position in the
world, and he is regarded as belonging to the
world rather than to God. But the personal
position on the other side is equally well
defined. The new revelation to man which is
the subject of S. John's Gospel explains the
influence upon life brought about by the
self-determination of those who devote them
selves to what may be called the cult of the
presence of God. Life contains wide possi
bilities ; by right management it may be lifted
on to a higher level. This higher level is
called eternal life, because of the change in

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 33
its character, induced by the change of view.
There is not a reference to its lasting character,
but rather a reference to its higher, spiritual
character. It is a life led in conformity with
the spirit of the age, the age which Christ has
come to introduce. It corresponds with the
Synoptic ideal of the kingdom of heaven or
of God, which has been described as " the
world of invisible laws by which God is ruling
and blessing His creatures." This life, in
augurated by Christianity, consists in a de
finite subordination of the lower to the higher
side of human nature. It sets the spiritual
above the material, indeed above the intellec
tual and the merely moral. It is ethical,
but it is above all religious. And yet it
includes both belief and knowledge. " He
that believeth in the Son hath eternal hfe "
(iii. 36). " This is life eternal, that they should
know Thee, the only God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou didst send" (xvii. 3). But belief
expresses intimate relation; the believer be
lieves into God, his belief takes him into God's
presence, it is his union with God. Because 0

34 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
God is Spirit, therefore human intercourse
with God must be spiritual too. Indeed it is
the only real intercourse. " They that worship
Him must worship in spirit and truth " (iv. 24).
This is their means of apprehending reality,
for the spiritual hfe is the only real life. In
fact the significance of this approach to God
is so momentous that it is described as an
actual passage " from death into life " (v. 24).
But, as the self-condemnation of the worldly
in S. John's presentation of Christianity de
pends upon the exercise of free-will, so the
attainment of eternal life is also a conscious
and willing approach to Christ, for He com
plains of those who will not come to Him in
order that they may have life (v. 40). Belief
is not an intellectual movement or process,
but a surrender of the higher nature. It is a
concentration of the higher self upon real
existence ; it is conscious, willing, determined ;
it is a definite determination of the will. And
yet it is dependent upon God as well as upon
man. " No one can come to Me, unless the
Father that sent Me draw him " (vi. 24).

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 35
And, through it all, the distinction between
God and man is preserved. " Where I am, ye
cannot come " (vii. 34).
It is difficult to define the human will. We
might almost say that it is the man taking
himself seriously. In exercising his will, he
has to contribute all his powers. Thought and
action, feeling arid expression of feeling, are all
factors in the devotion of the will. He may
think that a certain action is wise or right, and
yet he may not nerve himself to take the action.
He may be moved by a certain feeling, and yet
the energy necessary to express the feeling
may be wanting. His thought may overrule
his feehng, or his feehng may outrun his
thought. Here comes in the question of
personality. Personality is complex, for it
is the balance of apparently incongruous
tendencies, the material and the spiritual.
We do not get in S. John the definite analysis
of human nature which is so strikingly worked
out in the psychology of S. Paul. S. John
opposes the spiritual to the worldly, as light is
opposed to darkness; with him mankind is

36 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
ranged in two classes, whose predominant
tendency has in each case been determined
by action. The darkness does not overwhelm
the light ; the two remain essentially distinct.
No amount of resistance to spiritual influence
will crush out the power of spiritual influence
as a determining factor in human life. No
acceptance of darkness will destroy the en
lightening power of light. It still shines,
when the faculty of perceiving it has become
benumbed. But the possible benumbing of
the faculty establishes the need of a revival of
the faculty at its original source. " Ye must
be born from above " (iii. 7). Man can only
approach God through his spiritual sense, but
the natural tendency of his personality has
weakened his spiritual sense, and this natural
tendency has been aided by his environment.
The approach to God, in other words, the
entrance into the kingdom of God, or the sight
of the kingdom of God, depends upon the
restoration of the true balance of his person
ality by the revival of its spiritual side. This
is what S. John calls regeneration, a birth or a

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 37
begetting from above. Thus he sets forth a
paradox. On the one hand man must desire
union with God ; on the other hand God must
be willing to encourage his desire, and even to
suggest it. How can his desire be voluntary,
if it needs prompting ? How can God prompt
a desire, which He wishes to be automatic?
The answer is found in the Incarnation. The
union of humanity with Divinity is symbolic,
and the experience of Christ suggests and de
termines Christian experience. We bring our
human and Divine capacities to bear upon our
relation to God. We are able to approach Him
because He has given us the faculty of approach.
It is the likeness of God that constitutes
our ground of union and our means of union.
It is the likeness of God that suggests the
desire of union. We cannot see the hkeness,
if it is not there, but the existence of the
likeness is not in itself enough to make us see.
it. That is why we must be born from above.
We possess a spiritual relation to God, but
our spirituality needs revival. In describing
the struggle between the spirit and the flesh,

38 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
S. Paul sums it up in the words, " I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord " (Rom. vii. 25).
Success in the struggle depends upon the
influence of Christ. In other words, spiritual
union with God is determined by the Incarna
tion. Humanity cannot develop apart from
Divinity, and Divinity employs human means
in the direction of Divine powers towards a
Divine end. There is no suggestion of an
incarnating process in any human personality.
" The Word became flesh and tabernacled in
us." The Incarnation of Christ has affected
and determined the method of our union with
God. It has changed the character of our
relation to God. It has altered our view of
Him, and it has altered our capacity for seeing
and approaching Him. But, as it did not
confuse the Divinity of Christ with His hu
manity, so our humanity, however closely we
are united with God, remains distinct from the
nature of God. Born from above, we still
retain our human birth.
Mysticism is not absorption into God; it is
the aiming at the ideal rather than the attain-

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 39
ing of the ideal. It is the direction of the
personality towards God, the concentration
of the highest energies and of all the energies
upon the point to which they naturally
converge, if they fulfil their true purpose. We
shall see how this purpose is directed and
encouraged by the new revelation of God in
the Incarnation, but meanwhile it is important
to establish the principle upon which S. John's
Gospel is founded, the principle of union with
God as the essence of religion, over and above
mere knowledge of God. S. John's Gospel
does require knowledge, but he defines it as
personal intimacy. The revelation of Christ
has thrown a flood of light upon the knowledge
of God, without depreciating its earlier stages.
It shows how the defects of the earlier stages
have been remedied, how they can be remedied
in the actual practice of religion. The Chris
tian religion, in its human development,
has laid too much stress upon doctrine, not that
doctrine is unimportant, but that theories,
however correct and however salutary, de
pend in the last .resort upon reality. " Ye

40 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL.
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free " (viii. 32). The reality of the Chris
tian rehgion centres in the person of Christ —
"If ye abide in My words, then are ye truly
My disciples " (viii. 31) — and its hfe and energy
are derived from the presence of God. It is
not knowledge of that presence that counts,
but participation in it, and no one was more
fully aware of this than the man who had
fullest experience of it. But he speaks from
his own experience, and he appeals from it
to our own. The son of thunder had a fervent,
ardent nature, such as is sensitive to the
passion of religion ; he had not the studious
calm of the philosopher, not the methodical
order of the historian, not the careful minute
ness of the biographer. With him rehgion
was an intuition, an instinct, more than a
conclusion of reason, more even than an act of
faith. He had the abandonment of a large
and loving nature, such as, even apart from
Christianity, is not far from the kingdom of
God. When such a nature comes in presence
of God, it is taken by storm, it surrenders

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 41
itself unconditionally. Mysticism is uncon
ditional surrender. It rises above argument,
above proof, for the feelings are its arguments,
and the devotion of the hfe is its proof. There
is no logic in the communion between spirit
and Spirit. Life answers to hfe, and love to
love. In the Samaritan episode, which throws
an unexpected light upon our Lord's method
as set forth in S. John's Gospel, we find not
only a Messianic revelation, but also a descrip
tion of the necessary conditions under which
the human relation to God must be worked out.
" Now we believe, not because of Thy speak
ing : for we have heard for ourselves, and know
that this is indeed the Saviour of the world "
(iv. 42). Our knowledge of God may indeed
be helped by all the information that' we can
gather about the truths of Christianity, but
it depends on more than historical certainty.
It is a question of feeling more than of fact.
There is importance in the method in which
the information is conveyed. It is a com
munication of personality to personality that

42 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
avails. The true medium of communication
is personality. Hence the need of personal
communication ; hence also the need of per
sonal surrender. Facts are conveyed to the
mind and stored among its acquisitions, but
the knowledge of historical Christianity does
not necessarily produce effective religion.
We have to know for ourselves, not merely to
know that others know. Our Lord Himself
must come into His own : and then arises the
question whether they that are His own will
receive Him or reject Him. We have every
assurance that He does not neglect His own
domain, but He requires the assurance that
we acknowledge ourselves His own. Religion
is exercised in the two regions of feeling and
activity. There must be a sense of emptiness
before there can be a possibility of satisfac
tion. " Apart from Me ye can do nothing "
(xv. 5). Christian activity depends upon
union with God, and that again depends upon
the efficacy of the Incarnation. Quite apart
from behef in the Incarnation as a fact stands
the influence of the Incarnation as a factor of

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 43
human life. The contention of S. John's
Gospel is that God is in us through the Incar
nation of the Word of God. If He is in us, we
have an impulse towards union with Him.
God not only draws us to Himself, but impels
us to Himself. We may either obey or resist
the impulse. Mysticism recognizes the im
pulse and yields to it. Its power is Divine as
well as human. Its power is spiritual, but the
spiritual enlists in its service the non-spiritual
side of human nature. It is a concentration
of all our faculties upon one end — union with
God. Hence it can never be merejy emo
tional, for the love of God includes thought
as well as feeling, and both of these have a
bearing upon action. We speak of spiritual
desire, but the desire of the spirit for spiritual
satisfaction is really apart from emotion.
The signs of feeling exhibited by our Lord
are traces of His human nature ; but the love
of the Son for the Father stands apart from
human feeling as a Divine characteristic,
as an expression of the Divine relation. And,
when our Lord prayed that the disciples might

44 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
be one, even as the Father and the Son are
one, He added, " That they also may be in Us "
(xvii. 21), raising the human relation to God,
so far, to the standard of the Divine relation.
Our standard has been raised by the Incarna
tion, and Christian Mysticism not only must
take account of the Incarnation, but also has
been determined by the Incarnation.
But the idea imphed by the words, " He
came into His own," is limited by the state
ment, " They that were His own received Him
not." The world is God's domain, but a part
of it refuses to acknowledge His lordship.
Hence the clear distinction drawn between the
world and the followers of Christ. God's
lordship has to be accepted, if it is to be an
effective lordship. There were some, as there
still are, who refused to accept Him. And so
S. John says comprehensively, " The world
knew Him not " (i. 10). Hence our Lord's
pronouncement, " The light is come into the
world, and men loved the darkness rather than
the hght " (hi. 19). He condemns the world
for its evil practices. It is their love of evil that

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 45
turns men against the light. This love of evil
is confirmed by their desire of self- justification.
" Every one that doeth ill hateth the hght,
and cometh not to the hght, lest his works
should be reproved " (iii. 20). The cleavage
is emphasized by the Incarnation ; it separates
those who beheve on the Son from those who
do not obey the Son (iii. 36). It is a distinction
of life, a distinction between the possession
of eternal life and the incapacity for seeing life.
In this connexion emphasis is laid upon
human free-will. The Incarnation is not a
magical process, and, though it does affect
man's capacity for union with God, it does not
destroy his power of free thought and action.
The mission of the Word of God is not con
demnatory; His purpose is to save, not to
judge. Thus , S. John rises above the legal
and judicial position adopted by S. Paul.
From that point of view S. Paul considered the
Atonement. That made him press the idea of
the Atonement against the idea of the Incar
nation. His position is forensic, S. John's
is ethical. We get in S. John's Gospel an

46 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
ethical view of the world. The point of
departure is the personal question. Mysticism
is based upon the personal relation of man to
God. By his personal attitude man accepts
or disowns his relation. At the same time
there is a suspicion of fatalism attaching to
the relation. " Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not " (vi. 64).
" No man can come unto Me, except it be
given unto him of the Father " (vi. 65). And
yet on the other hand our Lord says, "If
any man willeth to do His will, he shall know
of the teaching, whether it be of God, or
whether I speak from Myself " (vii. 17). He
tells the Jews, " Ye are from beneath ... ye
are of this world " (viii. 23) ; but He adds,
" Except ye beheve that I am, ye shall die
in your sins " (viii. 24), implying a possible
restoration. " Ye are of your father the devil "
(viii. 44) implies at least a darigerous tendency.
At the same time He says, " If ye were blind,
ye would have no sin " (ix. 41). They cannot
suffer merely from ignorance. But it is their
wilful ignorance that paralyses them and

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 47
condemns them. " Now ye say, we see : your
sin remaineth " (ib.).
But, if the opponents of Christianity are
condemned by their adhesion to the side of the
world, they are not alone responsible. " Now
is the judgment of this world, now shall the
prince of this world be cast out " (xii. 32).
Here is the same idea that we find in the
Synoptic account, " I beheld Satan fallen as
lightning from heaven " (S. Luke x. 18). If
it is true that this declaration strikes, with
Christ's personal call to His followers, the
keynote of the Christian religion, " Come
unto Me, and I will give you rest " (S. Matt.
xi. 28) — if, that is to say, Christianity depends
on the personal union with Christ and the
consequent defeat of evil, then S. John is in
close agreement with the Synoptists, for,
immediately after the pronouncement of the
impending defeat of the prince of this world,
our Lord adds, " I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto Myself " (S.
John xii. 32). The fact of the darkness of
the world does not neutralize the fact of the

48 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
attraction of Christ. It is possible to be over
taken by darkness, but it is possible to believe
on the light (xii. 35, 36). Only belief depends
on personal possession, " while ye have the
light " (xii. 36).
Is it not fair to say that the darkness is
ignorance of the Incarnation ? "He that
hath seen Me hath seen the Father " (xiv. 9).
The supporters of the world are almost entirely
identified with the unbelieving Jews in S.
John's Gospel. No one could deny to them
their knowledge of God, but their knowledge
was incomplete, and so misleading. Their
belief was national ; it was bound up with the
spirit of patriotism, which had gone far to
inspire and support their religion, and was
now a fatal hindrance to their religious de
velopment. The chains of routine were bound
about them, and there was no place for routine
in the new revelation. In this sense our Lord
stands opposed to the world. He condemns
neither the world nor Judaism, but He con
demns the cramping spirit which restrains the
world from acknowledging its Creator and

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 49
Restorer, which restrains Judaism from accept
ing Christianity. It is strange that the an
thropomorphic character of the Jewish religion
did not incline it to accept in the Incarnation
the solution of its natural difficulty. The
fact is that anthropomorphism is unnatural,
it presses humanity too far. It has no con
ception of symbolism, and therefore it is
not touched by the appeal of the Incarnation.
The Incarnation approaches humanity from
the Divine standpoint, but the Jewish religion
approached Divinity from the human stand
point. Hence the Jewish incapacity to recog
nize our Lord, and hence His condemnation
of their position. " He came into His own,
and they that were His own received Him not."
" He came into His own. ' It may perhaps
not be out of place to illustrate this entrance
of Christ into the world, this fresh communica
tion of God to man, by special reference to the
environment which is occupying our minds so
much to-day, the environment of war. This
at first sight seems an alien environment, as
far as religion is concerned. D

50 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
We had forgotten You, or very nearly —
You did not seem to touch us very nearly —
Of course we thought about You now and then:
Especially in any time of trouble —
We knew that You were good in time of trouble —
But we are very ordinary men.
And there were always other things to think of —
There's lots of things a man has got to think of —
His work, his home, his pleasure, and his wife :
And so we only thought of You on Sunday —
Sometimes, perhaps, not even on a Sunday —
Because there's always lots to fill one's life.
And, all the while, in street or lane or byway —
In country lane, or city street, or byway —
You walked among us, and we did. not see.
Your Feet were bleeding as You walked our pave
ments —
How did we miss Your Footprints on our pavements ?
Can there be other folk as blind as we ? ,
Now we remember : over here in Flanders —
(It isn't strange to think of You in Flanders) —
This hideous warfare seems to make things clear.
We never thought about You much in England — •
But, now that we are far away from England —
We have no doubts, we know that You are here.
You helped us pass the jest along the trenches —
Where, in cold blood, we waited in the trenches —
You touched its ribaldry and made it fine.
You stood beside us in our pain and weakness —
We're glad to think You understand our weakness —
Somehow it seems to help us not to whine.

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 51
We think about You kneeling in the Garden —
Ah, God ! the agony of that dread Garden —
We know You prayed for us upon the Cross.
If anything could make us glad to bear it —
'Twould be the knowledge that You willed to bear it —
Pain — death — the uttermost of human loss.
Though we forget You — You will not forget us —
We feel so sure that You will not forget us —
But stay with us until this dream is past.
And so we ask for courage, strength, and pardon —
Especially, I think, we ask for pardon —
And that You'll stand beside us to the last.
(Lucy Whitmell, " Christ in Flanders," quoted from
The Spectator of September 11, 1915, by kind per
mission of the editor and the author.)
" He came into His own, and they that
were His own received Him not. But, as
many as received Him, to them gave He the
right to become children of God," even to
those who are not commonly supposed to
believe on His name.
But, whatever may be the current theory
of belief, belief has no saving power, unless
it draws a man nearer to God. His approach
strengthens his belief, because he is ever
learning to know more of Him in whom he
believes. Mysticism implies growth; it is a

52 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
process rather than a state. Religion starts
from an attitude towards God, but it is essen
tially a progress towards God. Mysticism
is the individual projection of the personahty
towards the Divine source of all personality.
Here on earth we do not lose ourselves in
heaven, nor, if personality is continuous, shall
we ever lose ourselves in heaven. The Incar
nation has not confused the human and the
Divine, and the Divine will always remain the
object of the human. The Incarnation has
indeed made the object more attainable, but,
in uplifting humanity, it has not transformed
humanity. It has transfigured rather than
transformed it, and so it has more clearly
defined the way to God, it has straightened
the way. But it has not removed the need
of human effort. Can we suppose that the
time will ever come when we shall lose our
desire of God ? Absorption into God would
be the sign that that time had come. It would
ring the knell of activity, it would imply the
failure of humanity, the destruction of per
sonality. Mysticism is human and personal

THE MEANING OF MYSTICISM 53
devotion to God. The Mysticism of S. John's
Gospel makes no attempt to obscure either the
humanity of Christ or His Divine and human
personality. It presents these as the means
and the incentive of our religious life, and
through them it throws a hght on the religious
process. The Christ of S. John is the Way
that leads each one of us to God.

THE REVELATION OF THE
NATURE OF GOD

LECTURE II
THE REVELATION OF THE NATURE OF
GOD
" The Word became flesh and tabernacled in us."
— S. John i. 14.
IT has been shown that religion is based
upon the conception of God's nature,
which includes the idea of His transcend
ence, described by S. John in the words,
" He that cometh from heaven is above all "
(iii. 31). Christianity has added the revela
tion that God is the Father, as having life in
Himself, and giving hfe to men through His
Son. The term used to describe the Son, the
Word, is specially associated with the Incar
nation ; for not only is the self-consciousness
of God expressed in the Son, but it is also in
the Son that God works out His activity. The
57

58 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
Son communicates God to man. " The only-
begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the
Father, He declared Him " (i. 18). And,
when God communicates Himself to man
through the Son, we see that the communica
tion is immediate. " All things whatsoever the
Father hath are Mine " (xvi. 15). The Son
is the perfect revelation of the Father, He is
also the direct revelation of God. Without
the revelation of the -I0709, God is incompre
hensible to man.
There has been a keen discussion as to the
origin of the term -I070?. In his Gospel S.
John uses it only in the prologue, but in his
first Epistle also he describes our Lord as the
Word of Life, and in the Apocalypse as the
Word of God. Either it is a translation of
the Hebrew Memra (word), or else it is an adap
tation of the A.0709 of Philo. But the Jews
used it in a concrete sense, whereas in Philo
it is abstract. He uses it in connexion with
the human soul, when he says that " the human
mind is God-like, being stamped in conformity
with the highest Logos as an archetypal idea

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 59
(de spec. leg. iii. 207). Thus man corresponds
with the whole world as participating in the
Divine Thought. This thought is the pattern
by which everything, including the human
soul, is shaped, and this will account for the
object of man's hfe, which is not virtue, but
likeness to God. Nor does the soul only
derive its origin from the Divine Thought,
but it is also nourished by God, as the Israel
ites were fed with manna. In explaining the
offering of Abraham, Philo maintains that
there are two images of God, one ideal, the
other actually human ; and so our likeness to
God is established through the Logos. We
have the potentiahty of being hke God, though
actually we fall short of the hkeness, and this
potentiality is expressed by the two meta
phors of stamping and participation. Then
again the process may vary in the same person :
he may see God better at one time than at
another. But, even if he sees the Divine Logos,
he does not thereby see God Himself. (Con
trast this with S. John's words, " We beheld
His glory " (i. 14) ; "No man hath seen

60 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
God at any time ; the only-begotten Son,
Who is in the bosom of the Father, He de
clared Him " (i. 18) ). The Logos expresses
God's nature to man, but not to the same
extent as Wisdom. As the Logos holds all
things together, so the human soul holds the
virtues together ; but the soul's participation
in Wisdom is also concerned with knowledge,
and Wisdom is more personally connected
than the Logos with men. The intellectual
connexion is stronger than the ethical. But,
according to Philo, the Logos is absolutely
separate from what is material, and the theory
of an Incarnation would have been impossible
to him.
We do not get this abstract, philosophical
use of Logos in S. John, and therefore it is
more reasonable to trace the origin of the
term to the Hebrew Memra (word). The Old
Testament assigns the act of creation to the
Word of God, and a Jewish paraphrase de
scribes the intercourse of Adam and Eve with
God as "They heard the voice of the Word
of the Lord God walking in the garden.'

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 61
It is also used to describe Divine revelation
to the prophets, and, if we take into account
the constant description of a representative
of God as " the angel of Yahveh," we can
easily understand the application of a personal
meaning to the " Word." It was reserved
for S. John to take the further stetiof applying
it to describe the relation of the Son to the
Father. He did not represent God, for He
is Himself God, but He undertook the work
of presenting God to man. He took manhood
into God, so that He might be immanent in
man. That was His hold upon human char
acter, in that the deficiency of the Jewish
rehgion was made good. God was still tran
scendent, but man was lifted up nearer to the
transcendent God. The bridge for reunion
was thrown across the chasm that separated
the human from the Divine. They still
remained distinct, but not disjoined.
And it was not only on the human side
that the road was opened. That made the
approach easier; but there had always been
a connecting link. For the spiritual is at-

62 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
tracted towards the spiritual, and the appeal
of Christ was a spiritual appeal. Only He
could now work on the common ground of
humanity. Not that this was the explicit
or the implicit plea that He employed. In
S. John's Gospel we never lose sight of the
Divinity of Christ. S. Peter might describe
his Master's life in the terse and graphic
phrase, " He went about doing good," and
indeed the important place taken in the Synop
tic account by miracles of healing justifies
that apt biography in brief. But S. John's
account would have to be summed up in some
such words as these, " He showed Himself as
God." There was never any question with
the Christ of S. John, either as to His creden
tials or as to His definite mission. His claims
of Sonship were His credentials, and His obedi
ence to the will of His Father was His mission.
Constantly explaining His relation to the
Father, He laboured to rouse His followers
to a share in that relation. He would not
allow them to presume on their inferiority,
because He brought them the means of rising

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 63
above it. He did not give them lessons in
hero-worship, nor yet did He check their
proclamation of His Messiahship. He neither
pressed His humanity nor veiled His Divinity.
For what He had been in the beginning He
was still on earth, the Word, the actual ex
pression of God. No wonder that He attached
to Himself the devotion of the disciple, whom
He impressed with the conviction of His Divine
authority. It was a possession of character
that He estabhshed, and the Gospel explains
and justifies the spiritual hold won by the
Master upon the disciple. Our Lord had
touched a responsive chord in the nature of
the man whom He regarded above all others
as His friend, and the story that we read
gives the keynote of the melody. To live
with Him and love Him was S. John's spiritual
education. There is much discussion over the words
that our Lord speaks in this Gospel, but it is
difficult to believe that one who was steeped
in the Divine Thought could fail to present
the actual sayings of his well-known Master.

64 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
It is also difficult to believe that the man who
presents the sayings was not steeped in the
Divine Thought. Invention comes either
from want of material or from desire for mis
representation. Each of these is an impos
sibility in S. John's case. He knew much,
and he desired to speak what he knew. What
he knew surpassed what he could have im
agined, and it had the further excellence of
reality. For he had communed with the
Truth. That was also in itself and to him
the Life. Therefore he could have no tempta
tion to point out to his readers any other Way.
This is the proof of the sincerity of the author
and of the genuineness of his work.
But, supposing that we admit the genuine
ness of our Lord's discourses as reported in
S. John's Gospel, can we harmonize them on
the one hand with the Synoptic account, and
on the other with the descriptive portion of
S. John's Gospel? The tendency in raising
objections has been to assume a later date
for the Gospel and a different authorship.
To assume them, for the prevalent method

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 65
has been to lay down the theses and then
make them square with the material. It
might reasonably be thought that the onus
probandi rests upon the assailants rather
than the supporters. Here is a Gospel, bear
ing on the face of it the claims of authenticity
and genuineness, attacked on the ground of
want of agreement with the other accounts,
and therefore credited with indications of a
different tendency from theirs. It is not pos
sible, so it is said, to accept both accounts.
The Fourth Gospel is allegorical, the Synoptic
account is historical. The Fourth Gospel is
mystical, its mysticism being apparently con
tributed by the author, whoever he may have
been. It is implied that the mysticism can
not proceed from the subject of the work.
But that is what has to be proved. S. Mat
thew may not have cared to present this
side of our Lord's character, indeed he may
have been incapable of appreciating it. The
lack of appreciation would specially apply
to S. Mark and S. Luke, if we consider their
want of personal intercourse with our Lord.
E

66 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
Why should it be necessary to say that the
author enters into the character of the person
who is not only the witness of the spear-thrust
and its effect, but the witness of the whole
doctrine, of all the symbohc facts set forth
in the Fourth Gospel ? Why should he per
ceive with the disciple and in him all these
heavenly truths ? Why should he see with
him and hear like him the signs ? Why
should he see himself in the disciple, as he
sees his teaching in the story of Jesus ? Why
should not the author be the disciple him
self ? Otherwise we do not understand the
possibility of the reception of this work as a
genuine Gospel ; we do not understand how
an author could have the audacity to assume
an authority which he did not possess. It is
useless to explain it away as an allegory ; it is
in that case pure fiction.
On the other hand, those who recognize the
difference between the historical and the
spiritual, are prepared to grant the possibility
of a variety of appeal even in the presentation
of religious truth. They see that, whereas

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 67
it was necessary to lay the historical basis of
Christianity firmly, or rather to support with
strong historical buttresses the already estab
lished behef, it was equally necessary to main
tain its spiritual content. They see also
that there is nothing incongruous in the two
sides of the same nature and character, nothing
strange in our Lord's adapting His teach
ing to the character of His audience. It
follows that there is no incredibility in the
phenomenon of two types of Gospel, such as
is presented by the Synoptists and S. John.
We need not be surprised at his picture of the
Word of God, even in view of the previous
pictures of the Son of Man.
The relation of the disciples to the Word,
especially of this disciple, was not simply
the devotion of servants to a Master, but, as
He characterized it Himself, of friends to a
friend. No other relation can stimulate and
satisfy the religious sense. The spirit desires
God — that is the natural result of man's
Divine origin — but it cannot satisfy its desire,
because it has strayed too far from its heavenly

68 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
home. The Word of God, by becoming flesh,
joined the earthly to the heavenly without
losing a particle of His Divine nature. That
He emptied Himself is a metaphorical illus
tration of God's condescension, but con
descension is not degradation. It implies
deliberation ; it is a voluntary act ; He emptied
Himself. Without changing His nature, He
changed His mode of existence. "Though
He was rich, yet for your sakes He became
poor " (2 Cor. viii. 9). " He counted it not
a prize to be on an equality with God " (Phil.
ii. 6) . What if He stooped to put on humanity :
He still expressed Divinity; He only brought
Divinity more within human understanding
and human reach. He kindled the Divine
spark into flame. It may be necessary for
some characters to receive commands: some
souls require rules of conduct to direct their
hfe. But others respond to the touch of a
hand and the sound of a voice. The experi
ence of S. John sounds the strain of that
higher mood. He teaches us — and it is the
teaching of one who knew and saw and felt

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 69
— that it is possible to believe without a sign.
In the influence of Christ presented by this
Gospel the idea of the Incarnation predomin
ates over the idea of the Atonement. S. John
is quite aware that the Good Shepherd came to
stake His hfe for the sheep, but he is more con
cerned to remember that the Word became
flesh. S. Paul seems to lay more stress on
the Atonement. The Cross of Christ is always
on his lips. S. John does indeed tell us in his
First Epistle that the blood of Jesus cleanses
us from all sin (i. 7), and that we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous, and He is the propitiation for our
sins (ii. 1). But in his Gospel he makes much
of the love of Christ, without, as a rule, limit
ing it to that special manifestation. When
John the Baptist characterizes Jesus as the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world, there is no definite mention of the
way in which He takes it away. Indeed
there is nothing to prevent our referring the
process of the removal of sin to the hfe of
Christ in general, without limiting it specially

70 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
to His death. Without the Incarnation He
could not have effected the Atonement. The
consummation cannot be isolated from the
inception. When He says that the hfting up
of the Son of Man has as its object the believer's
possession of eternal hfe in Him (iii. 14, 15),
He is implying personal union, which the
Atonement alone cannot secure. When He
says that belief on Him secures eternal life
(iii. 16), He is implying a surrender that
involves entrance into (et?) His presence,
union with His nature. These declarations
precede the final act of sacrifice, and they
do not imply a belief consequent on that
sacrifice. The water that He supphes is to
spring up unto eternal hfe (iv. 14), but He
is obviously speaking of spiritual influence
that may be antecedent to His death. The
hearing of His word, coupled with behef in
Him that sent Him, secures eternal life and
with it the passage out of death into hfe (v.
24). All these are indications of the influence
of Christ's life upon human character ; they
cannot be limited to the saving power of His

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 71
death. They refer to what He was at the
time when He spoke, and He was the Incarnate
Son of God. They establish the importance
of the Incarnation in the mind of S. John,
as he gathered it from his Master's utterance.
In calling Himself the living Bread, our
Lord says that the bread which He will give
is His flesh, for the life of the world (vi. 51).
And, when this declaration raised perplexity
in the minds of the Jews who heard it, He
added, " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, ye have not life
in yourselves " (vi. 53). It may be contended
that this can be explained by the memorial
of His death instituted in the Eucharist;
but He distinctly says that, as the living
Father sent Him, and He hves because of
the Father, so he that eateth Him, he also
shall live because of Him (vi. 57). Here
" living," apphed to God, and " live," applied
to both God and man, imply something more
than the influence of Christ's death. And the
word " flesh " carries us back to the Incarna
tion, while the word " blood " reminds us

72 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
of the special association of blood with life
in the Jewish mind. But our Lord reassures
His disciples, in face of the reaction pro
duced by His declaration, that there is no
real stumbling-block contained in it. " The
flesh profiteth nothing ; the words that I have
spoken unto you are spirit, and are hfe " (vi.
63). All depends on the true conception of
man's relation to God in the Incarnation.
They will behold the Son of Man ascending
where He was before (vi. 62). We must take
this to refer to His Death and Resurrection
and Ascension, which are all steps in the pro
cess of recovering His previous glory. The
Son of Man was in heaven before the Incarna
tion. When the process of the Incarnation
is complete, He returns to heaven. The
Atonement is part of the process.
It seems clear, therefore, that S. John lays
more stress upon the Incarnation. He makes
it include the Atonement, and the greater
contains the less. But it cannot be said that
he depreciates the Atonement, otherwise
why should he report the words, "Therefore

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 73
doth the Father love Me, because I stake My
soul, that I may take it again" (x. 17), or
"When ye have hfted up the Son of Man,
then shall ye know that I am " (viii. 28) ?
Again, " I, if I be hfted up out of the earth,
will draw all men unto Myself" (xii. 32)
proves the value that he set upon the Atone
ment, although it should be noticed that
" out of the earth " implies his connexion
of the Resurrection with the Crucifixion.
Similarly, when our Lord speaks of going
away from His disciples, He includes His
Ascension, for He speaks of sending the Holy
Spirit to them when He Himself is gone.
But He prays to the Father that the dis
ciples may be in the Father and the Son, that
the world may believe that the Son has been
sent by the Father (xvii. 21). Can this union
between man and God take place otherwise
than through the Incarnation ? The disciples
are to be perfected into one with the Father
and the Son (xvii. 23). The Atonement by
itself will not account for this perfection of
unity.

74 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
One of the three sayings, out of the seven
quoted in the four Gospels, mentioned by S.
John is " It has been finished." The word is
indefinite, for no subject is expressed, and
therefore it does not limit us to the Crucifixion.
A clear meaning is obtained by once again
regarding the Crucifixion as a step in the
process of Christ's redemptive work.
The strong stress laid by S. John upon the
need of union with God is inexplicable on the
theory of the superiority of the Atonement
over the Incarnation. The Atonement might
be supposed to clear the way for union, but
the act of sacrifice offered by Christ cannot by
itself constitute the necessary union. Man
is to accept the Atonement, but he actually
, experiences in himself the efficacy of the
Incarnation. It has not merely done him a
service, but it has effected in him a trans
figuration. It is not merely a fact that he can
appreciate, but it has developed what he is,
and given him the power of developing himself.
The friendship of God takes precedence of the
mercy of God. What affects his nature

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 75
touches man more nearly than what brings
him rehef. Controversy and perplexity have
darkened the inquiry into the Atonement,
love and admiration have welcomed the bless
ing of the Incarnation. Without neglecting
the one, we must acknowledge the other as
the means of a fundamental reconstruction.
It goes to the basis of hfe and character and
nature. It is a higher gift to quicken life
than to weaken death. The sacrifice of Christ
proves God's condescension, but the birth
of Christ goes deeper into God's knowledge
and God's love. By the Atonement God bids
man come near to Him, but by the Incarna
tion He brings man near.
And yet it leaves liberty and opportunity to
human will. We shall never understand
why S. John has omitted to describe the actual
incidents of the human birth of Christ, unless
we duly estimate the value which he puts
upon the Incarnation. It was enough for
him to trace it back to the mystery of the
nature of God. He was more concerned to
think of the reality of the relation of the Son

76 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
to the Father than of the actuality of the rela
tion of the child Jesus to the Virgin Mary.
In view of this he even left undisturbed the
current recognition of the son of Joseph. His
own conception was far more lofty. He knew
that God had completed and so transfigured
the relation of man to Himself. He knew
that the ideal was far superior to the material,
and he was content to see the spiritual in the
material. This is part of his Mysticism. If
we are to approach the eternal, we must be
possessed of a preliminary grasp of the eternal.
Knowledge must accompany desire. Desire
must be accentuated by knowledge and based
upon it. The fact that we wish to have more
knowledge does not do away with the need
of a prehminary equipment of knowledge.
We live all the better if we learn. S. John
therefore explains the nature of God as a pre
liminary step to our knowledge of Him. Only
he also declares that knowledge develops
into love. He shews why it should do so,
'because God's revelation of Himself to man
is a revelation of His own love, and because

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 77
God's dealings with man are acts of love.
The Incarnation not only shows that the
Father loves the Son, but also that God loves
man. But we are more ready to beheve that
God loves us, when we see that the act by
which He showed His love for us is an exten
sion of the act by which He showed His own
love, the love of the Father for the Son. For
then we see that God's dealings with us are
part of the system on which the Divine rela
tion is itself worked out. Mysticism is an
attempt not only to realize our relation to
God, but also to realize it as containing a
likeness to the Divine relation. In that case,
our Mysticism will be successful, according
as we grasp the Divine relation. To do this,
the two factors of knowledge and love are
necessary, and S. John supplies them both.
At least he sets them both before our view.
Let us remember that the Atonement pro
vides material for both. To appreciate the
sacrifice of Christ, we must know how He
offered it, and why He offered it. We must
also feel the love that prompted it. But,

78 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
unless the Atonement was merely a human
act, it must have been preceded by the Incar
nation. And if it is a Divine as well as a
human act, its efficacy depends upon the Incar
nation. Therefore S. John devotes so much
of his investigation of the nature and char
acter of Christ to an explanation of the Incar
nation. He presents it in an ethical and a
spiritual view. He shows its transfiguring
and inspiring power1'. It is both an equipment
and a stimulus. It changes character and
rouses character. For it is not merely a point
of doctrine, but rather a ground of action.
Mysticism. is not content to study doctrine,
but desires to practise it.
The activity of God was accentuated by
the Incarnation. He had never ceased to
take an active interest in the world that He
created, but His deepest interest in human
hfe begins from the time when He partook of
it in His own nature. The contemplation of
this fact is a natural incentive to human
activity. The Atonement will always stand
as an argument for self-sacrifice, but the

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 79
strongest stimulus to devotion, of which self-
sacrifice is a part, is supplied by the Incarna
tion. There devotion finds its origin, its
motive, its inspiration.
S. John asserts that the Word became flesh
without the slightest reference to the virgin
birth. There are some thoughts that he
too deep for words. There is a religious logic
that convinces all but the sceptical, without
philosophical argument. S. John's story of
Christ must be spiritually understood. He
is too deeply interested in the age-long exis
tence of the Word to be drawn aside to discuss
or even to mention how or when the Word
became flesh. It is enough for him to know
that, as the existence of the Word is the out
come of the love of God in God, so the Incarna
tion is the outcome of the love of God for man.
The keynote of this Gospel, on its Divine as
well as its human side, is love. God is love,
religion is love. Love produces the relation
of the Son to the Father, and love informs
the relation of man to God. Formalism may
and does help religion, and miracles may and

80 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
do support and even originate faith. But
no one can rise from the study of this Gospel
without realizing that real worship is in spirit
and truth. The spirit of man, to gain its
true and natural development, must ever
seek its home. It came from God, and it
must return, even in hfe, to Him. In no
other way can it enjoy true hfe. Its material
residence in the body inclines it to welcome
the opportunity of the Incarnation. But
it also appreciates the consistency of this
supremely significant fact. The nature as
sumed by Christ is consistent with the nature
of God. The humanizing process is the out
come of the Divine process. From the nature
of the case it was natural for the Word to
become flesh. The love of God is extended
into the love of man. If it was necessary
for God to have an object for His love in
heaven, it was natural that He should have
an object for His love on earth. He so loved
the world that He gave His only-begotten
Son. That is the mystery of S. John's Gospel,
and is it strange that out of it should grow

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 81
the Mysticism of Christian initiation ? It is
more strange that so many refuse initiation,
refuse the devotion of themselves to the Word
of God.
There are certain occasions on which our
Lord describes Himself by the significant
phrase " I am." In His conversation with
the Samaritan woman He answers her refer
ence to the coming of the Messiah by the
words " I am." When He appears to the
disciples on the Lake of Galilee, He announces
Himself in the same terms " I am," counsel
ling them not to be afraid. In speaking to
the Jews He warns them, " Unless ye beheve
that I am, ye shall die in your sins " (viii. 24).
And He adds, " When ye shall have exalted
the Son of Man, then ye shall know that I
am " (viii. 28). In supporting His claim of
Abraham's acknowledgment He maintains,
" Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abra
ham was born, I am " (viii. 58). In disclosing
His impending betrayal to His disciples, He
adds the warning, " From henceforth I tell
you before it come to pass, that when it is
F

82 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
come to pass ye may beheve that I am " (xiii.
19). And at the betrayal He announces
Himself in the same words " I am," and the
instant effect upon the followers of Judas
was that they went backward and fell to the
ground. There is evidently an idea of majesty
attaching to the phrase, a claim of Messiahship,
a revelation of Divine nature, an assumption
of eternity and reliabihty and power. We are
reminded of the contention in a song of Moses
' See now that I, even I, am, and there is no
god with Me " (Deut. xxxii 39), and of the
same contention in Isaiah, " That ye may
know and believe Me, and understand that I
am : before Me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after Me " (Isa. xliii. 10),
both constituting a declaration of Divinity.
These indications in S. John's Gospel of our
Lord's claim of Divinity are not without
significance, especially in their Jewish con
nexion. They imply continuity in the claim.
What God had been in the past He still re
mained, only He was more clearly presented
to man, for man's advantage and through

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 83
man's imperfection. " I am not come to
destroy but to complete " may be applied to
the Jewish conception of God, for it includes
not only the Jewish law, but the Jewish
prophecy. The presentation of God in all the
power and force of His existence was to be
still maintained, and Jesus, though He will
not force Himself upon the Jewish world as
the Messiah of their dreams and aspirations,
will not fail to hold fast the fact, that underlies
His revelation as the Word of God, in all its
power. Upon those who thought and knew, the
significance of His repeated claim, expressed
in the words " I am," was not wasted. He
reminds those who received Him as immanent
that He is also transcendent God. While we
are reminded that God is transcendent — " Ye
have neither heard His voice at any time nor
seen His form " (v. 37) — while we are reminded
of His eternity of existence — " I am " — we are
assured of His immanence — " the Word taber
nacled in us." This immanence of God in
man is part of God's immanence in Nature —

84 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
" that which hath been made was life in Him "
(i. 3). Through Christ's presence in the world
man lays hold of God in Christ.
The Son of God existed in the beginning,
but at first the darkness prevailed as well as
the hght. As in creation God said, let there
be light, and yet the light could not utterly
banish the darkness, so the Son of God was in
the world, and the world was made through
Him, and the world did not recognize Him.
He was too far from human beings, too unlike
them ; they had only a vague idea of spirits
possessing material things, a crude cult of
spirit-worship. Hence the need of the Incar
nation, a closer relation of man to God than
God's immanence in Nature could produce.
" That which hath been made was life in Him,
and the life was the hght of men " (i. 3, 4).
The darkness did not overwhelm the light.
It was not enough to present the spiritual in
the material, for that might exalt the material
without giving the spiritual its proper value.
The only way was so to combine the spiritual
and the material that neither should suffer in

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 85
the undue prominence of either. The spiritual
must not be materialized, and the material
must not be confused with or engrossed by the
spiritual. The darkness must not overwhelm
the light, but the hght must prevail over the
darkness. In S. John's Gospel the danger of over
estimating the value either of the material
or of the spiritual is guarded against by the
requirement that man shall be born of water
and Spirit, and the true relation of the material
to the spiritual is preserved. The author
has not forgotten the account of the original
creation (as he shows by his reference to hght
in his prologue), at which the Spirit of God
hovered over the waters, the liquid unformed
mass out of which the world was produced,
and he represents our Lord as saying that a
renewal of human nature on the same lines is
necessary, a fresh inspiration of the material
from the spiritual. Water in the physical
sphere is set over against spirit in the spiritual
sphere : a revival on both sides of human
nature is required. Man must be both purified

86 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
and inspired, but the formal act of purification
must correspond with the spiritual act of
inspiration, which completes the purification.
This will qualify him for entering into the
kingdom of God, into which he must bring his
whole nature, on both its sides. The primitive
idea of the socialism of religion is still preserved,
for the kingdom of heaven is a society, from
which selfishness is excluded, because all its
members belong to one another as well as to
God. Man is a partaker of God's nature, and
thus can see God ; but all the members are
partakers of God's nature, and thus the light
of God is common to them all.
The physical and spiritual revival, which is
the acceptance of God's terms of communion,
is ratified and confirmed by God's response to
man's action. " We will come unto him and
make our abode with him " (xiv. 23). " Who
soever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst " (iv. 14). No doubt
the reference to birth from water includes
the notable use of baptism in John the Baptist's
revival, but we must also remember that the

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 87
revivalist himself makes special mention of the
spiritual baptism which distinguished the
Messiah so completely from himself. He
made no attempt to encroach upon the pro
vince of the Founder of the kingdom of heaven,
for he appealed to the lower side of human
nature, endeavouring to raise that in prepara
tion for the higher appeal to be made by
Christ Himself. He did not profess to be the
Christ, therefore He claimed no power to do
Christ's work. He only prepared His way.
John the Baptist represents the human side
of rehgious activity, which takes its part in the
religious revival that is the natural outcome
of the new revelation of God. Whoever
devotes himself to God must include all of
himself in his surrender ; he must be born of
water as well as of Spirit ; he must be touched
in his physical as well as in his spiritual nature.
For God is immanent in nature, the spiritual
in the material, and human beings are affected
by the Incarnation as natural creatures, not
only as spiritual beings. We must remember
that the Incarnation is, by its elevation of

88 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
Nature, an appreciation of the value of nature.
We consider it in its effect on human nature,
but we must not forget the whole, sphere in
which the scene of its action is laid. We can
not forget it, if, like S. John, we carry our
thoughts back to the method of the original
creation, to the spiritual work of God in the
material sphere.
Christ is shown in this Gospel as requiring
the acceptance of Himself on the ground of
what He was rather than what He did. He
complains, " Ye will not come to Me, that ye
may have life" (v. 40). The Word of God
was manifested in flesh to commend Himself
to humanity, but the power of the revelation
lay in the personal appeal. The miracle of
the Incarnation did not need to be reinforced
by lesser miracles. The presence of the Word
carries with it its own conviction. The rein
forcement must be a spiritual, not a material
one. Part of the function of the Holy Spirit
is to convict the world in regard to sin and
righteousness and judgment, but this is a
moral rather than an intellectual conviction.

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 89
The world has a wrong idea of sin, a wrong
idea of righteousness, a wrong idea of judgment.
God desires to correct these ideas, to trace
acts of sin to their root of selfishness, to distin
guish between external and internal righteous
ness, to set up a higher than the human
criterion of judgment. The personal relation
is the medium of the correction, the personal
realization of man's connexion with God.
And this is achieved by God's immanence in
Nature and in man.
The Incarnation, in S. John's presentation of
it, is not a magical process, but a physical and
spiritual fact. It appeals to our sense of
wonder, but it does not paralyse our faith.
On the contrary, it stimulates our action.
For, with S. John, faith is nothing, unless it
is also love. Love is not a mere feeling, it is a
practical expression of a sense of relation. Its
action is both centrifugal and centripetal.
It draws us out of ourselves, but it draws us
towards God. On the physical side we rise
above ourselves, on the spiritual side we seek
God. We see that, in contrast with the

90 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
Synoptists, S. John lays special stress on the
Divine side of Christ's nature and character.
That was his deliberate intention, for he
knew that the human side had aheady been
presented in sufficient clearness. He also knew
that the human presentation was the means,
leading to the Divine presentation, the end.
No conception of the humanity of Christ,
however ideal, was sufficient for the complete
realization of the fulness of human nature.
Christ would draw all men to Himself, if He
were hfted up : in His exaltation alone could He
obtain complete influence over the personality
of man. His disciples were learners on many
sides, but the central lesson that they had
to learn, on which the effectiveness of the
other lessons depended, was the lesson of His
Divinity. Their discipleship was ineffective,
unless they were, above all, disciples of the
Incarnation. It has been said that S. Paul lays more stress
on the Atonement than on the Incarnation.
His actual experience of Christ was confined
to His one appearance. S. Paul was not one

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 91
of those who actually lived with our Lord
during His hfe on earth. Thus the Incarna
tion could not make the same impression
upon him that it made upon S. John. In an
interesting passage he says, " Even though we
have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we
know Him so no more " (2 Cor. v. 16), and
this might be taken to imply a depreciation
of the Incarnation. But it has been rightly
explained that to know Christ after the flesh
is to know Him, not as man, but as a man,
and therefore S. Paul is rather exalting the
Incarnation than depreciating it. He also
adds, " Wherefore, if any man is in Christ,
there is a new creation," meaning, there has
been in his case a new creation : which again is
exalting the Incarnation.
S. Paul's view of the importance of personal
purity would certainly suggest the idea that
he fully appreciated the relation of Christ to
humanity. It appears in his earliest epistle
where he says that uncleanness is the rejection,
not of man, but of God (1 Thess. iv. 8). And
in the same epistle his prayer for the pre-

92 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
servation of each personality of his readers till
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ includes
the body as a definite part of the personahty
(v. 23). His reference in the companion
letter to the patience of Christ is a reference
to His human nature (2 Thess. hi. 5). In the
Epistle to the Romans he speaks of the Son of
God, " Who was born of the seed of David
according to the flesh ; Who was designated
to be the Son of God with power, according
to the spirit of hohness, by the resurrection
of the dead " (Rom. i. 3, 4). This does not
imply that the Resurrection gave Christ His
Divinity, but that it impressed His Divinity
more clearly upon the minds of men. For he
elsewhere calls Christ the image of God, and
he implies His previous Divinity before the
Incarnation when he says, " Though He was
rich, yet for your sakes He became poor "
(2 Cor. viii. 9), and " Who is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn of all creation"
(Col. i. 15). But if the Resurrection has
impressed Christ's Divinity more clearly upon
our minds, and if we shall be united with Him

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 93
by the likeness of His Resurrection as well
as by the likeness of His death, then our
union with His Divinity thus emphasized
implies a previous influence of His Divinity
upon us, which is a tacit acknowledgment
of the power of the Incarnation. S. Paul
also says that " God, sending His own Son in
the likeness of flesh of sin, condemned sin
in the flesh " (Rom. viii. 3). This implies that
the Incarnation is a condemnation of sin,
and thus sin stands condemned by the actual
revelation of Christ, even apart from His
sacrifice : at least we may infer this from the
phrase, " Who walk not after the flesh but
after the spirit " (Rom. viii. 4). For it is the
Incarnation rather than the Atonement that
gives us the inclination to the spiritual hfe,
while it also gives us the inspiration. S. Paul
goes on to say, " Ye are not in the flesh but in
the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you " (Rom. viii. 9). The Spirit
of God finds a readier home in man since the
elevation of human nature has taken place.
But he adds, " If any man hath not the Spirit

94 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
of Christ, he is none of His " (Rom. viii. 9).
The Spirit of Christ in its union with humanity
presents itself to man more intelligibly for the
union. " If Christ is in you, the body is dead
because of sin " (Rom. viii. 10) : it is not clear
how the Atonement could secure immanence.
S. Paul declares that certain persons were fore
ordained to be conformed to the image of the
Son of God ; this again seems a false metaphor,
if he refers to the Atonement. And, when he
implores the Romans to present their bodies a
living sacrifice and to be transformed by the
renewing of their mind, it is difficult to see
how the terms that he uses can be justified
by the efficacy of the act or the acceptation of
the fact of Christ's sacrifice alone. He tells
the Corinthians that they were called into the
fellowship of the Son of God, which goes beyond
the influence of the Atonement, and that they
are of God in Christ Jesus. He says, we have
the mind of Christ, and that the foundation
on which men have to build is Jesus Christ.
He says that he begat them in Christ Jesus
through the Gospel. Their bodies are mem-

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 95
bers of Christ. All things are through Jesus
Christ, and he and they are through Him.
Their ancestors of the time of Moses drank
of a spiritual rock that was Christ. The Holy
Spirit inspires a man to acknowledge Jesus
as Lord. The Corinthians are the body of
Christ. In his famous defence of the Resur
rection, he rests his argument on the principle
of the relation of humanity to Christ, Who is
the firstfruits of them that are asleep. It is a
relation of hkeness of nature, and it must be
acknowledged that the relation estabhshed
by the Atonement depends upon fundamental
unlikeness. He calls the Corinthians an epistle
of Christ. He says that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself, where he
lays stress on the Divinity of Christ and con
nects His reconciliation with , that. He says
that he brings every thought into captivity
to the obedience of Christ. He asks them
whether they do not know that Jesus Christ
is in them.
He tells the Galatians that as many of them
as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.

96 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
Through Him they recognize the Fatherhood
of God. " Because ye are sons, God sent
forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,
crying Abba, Father " (Gal. iv. 6). He is in
travail until Christ be formed in them. He
bears branded on His body the marks of Jesus.
Are these the marks of an external or of an
internal relation ?
An important point in S. Paul's theology is
his idea of predestination. He tells the
Ephesians that God has foreordained them
into adoption as sons through Jesus Christ
unto Himself. Sonship implies natural rela
tion, a connexion of personality, and it is
explained more reasonably in the light of
Christ's nature than in the light of His act of
sacrifice. If the mystery of God's will was His
purpose of summing up all things in Christ,
we must look to the Incarnation as the realiza
tion of that purpose. The removal of evil is
not the summing up of all things. Also, if
Christ is the chief corner-stone of the building
which includes all members of His Church, and
if all the members belong to the household of

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 97
God, there must be some personal and natural
relation underlying their connexion with Christ.
Granted that the Atonement might restore that
relation, being once impaired, it is not clear
how it could establish it as a new relation.
For, as has been pointed out, it is a natural
relation, it is not created by an act that bears
upon it. The Atonement affected the relation,
but it did not create it. It was created by the
Incarnation. Whatever stress S. Paul may
and does lay upon the Cross of Christ, he cannot
pray that Christ may dwell in the hearts of
the Ephesians through faith, with no thought
beyond that Cross. They are to attain unto
the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ ; their rehgion is to be a development,
a natural growth. But development is im
possible without an original germ. Why,
again, does he say that every fatherhood takes
its name from the Father (Eph. iii. 15), if he
does not mean to acknowledge our natural
connexion with God ?
To the Phihppians he says that Christ
became obedient up to the point of the death

98 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
of the Cross, after He had been found in
fashion as man. Does this merely mean that
the Atonement followed the Incarnation in
point of time, which is a truism, or does it
imply the dependence of the Atonement upon
the Incarnation ? It is difficult to see the
point of S. Paul's determined insistence on the
dignity of the human body, if the moral
influence of the Atonement is alone in question.
Why does he say that Christ shall fashion
anew the body of our humiliation that it may
be conformed to the body of His glory (Phil.
iii. ii) ?
It is interesting to notice that the short
creed included in the First Epistle to Timothy
contains no reference to the Atonement, while
it begins with a statement of the Incarnation,
" He who was manifested in the flesh " (i Tim.
iii. 16). In the Second Epistle he says that
God's purpose and grace was manifested
through the appearing of our Saviour Christ
Jesus (2 Tim. i. 10), and this, too, while he
speaks of His abolishing death. It was the
appearing of Christ that was the instrument

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 99
of the manifestation of God's purpose. The
crown of righteousness is also promised, he
implies, to those who have loved His appearing
(2 Tim. iv. 8), that is to say, who have concen
trated their attention on the Incarnation,
and recognized its influence.
This is no attempt to minimize the efficacy
of the Atonement, which undoubtedly holds
a high place in S. Paul's Theology, but it is
rather an attempt to recall the relation of the
Atonement to the Incarnation. In his Epistle
to the Colossians S. Paul describes human
salvation in these terms, " Who delivered us
out of the power of darkness, and translated
us into the kingdom of the Son of His love "
(Col. i. 13) ; and then he says that we have our
redemption in Christ as the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn of all creation ; and
he adds that it was the good pleasure of the
Father that in Christ should all the fulness
dwell, adding that it was the Father's good
pleasure through Christ to reconcile all things
unto Himself, having made peace through the
blood of His Cross. The assertion of the

ioo MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
Divine nature of Christ (image and fulness)
is equally emphatic with the references to
redemption and the Cross, so that S. Paul
evidently wishes us to consider the Atonement
in the light of Christ's Divine nature. How is
it possible to do this without emphasizing the
Incarnation ? No one imagines that our Lord
suffered death in His Divine nature, for then
what becomes of the Resurrection ?
Again the constant use of the phrase " in
Christ " implies much more than the benefit
derived from an act of sacrifice, however great.
It implies a definite state or position, in which
we are because we have been brought into it.
But it is personal, it means that we are in
Christ because we have been brought into
Him. And it may be asked whether the
Crucifixion, considered by itself, can be sup
posed to have been the means of such a per
sonal connexion. S. Paul says that if any one
is in Christ there is a new creation (2 Cor.
v. 17), a new relation is set up. Does he
mean a relation of benefit received or gratitude
due, or does he mean a natural relation ?

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD lor
And, when he says that God was in Christ, is
there no idea of personal presence ? And
if there is, must there not also be a personal
meaning when the phrase is applied to us ?
The one cannot mean that God revealed
Himself to Christ, and therefore the other
cannot mean that God has revealed Himself
to us. It must mean something more intimate
than revelation.
In comparing S. Paul's view of the Incarna
tion with S. John's we must not lose sight of the
difference in their experience of Christ. We
do not know of more than one instance of S.
Paul's actual experience of His presence,
while we do know that S. John was constantly
within its influence. Therefore it is not strange
if S. John has a more personal grasp of this
question of man's personal relation to God.
His knowledge is more firsthand than S.
Paul's. In the one love produces energy, in
the other energy produces love. S. John
lays more stress on what Christ is, S. Paul on
what He did. We cannot expect S. Paul to
express the Incarnation with the vividness

102 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
of one on whom it was so deeply impressed
He rather reasons out the mystery which S.
John feels. His treatment of it is more
intellectual, S. John's is more sympathetic.
But this intellectual view of it involves a more
emphatic acknowledgment of the doctrine on
the side of its reasonableness, and we must
be content to believe that S. Paul was fully
aware that the Atonement gains most of its
force from the Incarnation.
How far, then, does the Mysticism of S.
Paul agree with the Mysticism of S. John ?
S. Paul maintains that our Christianity is our
existence in Christ. We are to recognize that
fact, to maintain that position. Christ has
done a great act of love for us, but He did
it because we belong to Him. The more we
realize our position, the more we value His
act of sacrifice. But that act of sacrifice is
nothing without the manifestation of hfe.
The Crucifixion is inseparable from the Resur
rection. And, when once the question of life
appears, the original question of God's nature
arises. Our life is joined to God's by the

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 103
Incarnation. The more fully we recognize
the Incarnation, the more fully do we desire
to realize our union with God. That is
Christian Mysticism, whether of S. John or
of S. Paul.
S. Paul distinguishes between the form of
God and the fashion of man, when he is con
sidering the nature of Christ, between the
essential and the external. Although Christ
did not lose His Divine glory by the Incarna
tion, still it was partly obscured by His human
nature, as S. Paul shews by describing the
process as an emptying of Himself. S. John,
on the other hand, lays much stress on Christ's
retention of His connexion with God, for he
constantly represents Him as speaking of the
unity of the Father and the Son. The stress
that he lays on the symbolism of Christ,
whether in regard to His character of Saviour,
or in regard to the significance of His miracles,
is a proof of his recognition of Christ's hu
manity as well as of his view of the purpose
served by His assumption of humanity.
In S. Paul Christ is represented as exhibiting

104 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
God's mercy, in S. John He employs His Divine
nature as an attractive force. The Atonement
is an act of mercy, the Incarnation is a means
of attraction.
The Word of God became flesh, and taber
nacled in those who admitted Him, and they
contemplated His glory during the time of
their association with Him, and realized that
He was full of grace and truth. He gave
them the best gift, the gift of reality, the gift
of Himself. They were the first Christian
Mystics, and one of them has taught us our
Christian Mysticism. Mysticism is the prac
tice of the Incarnation, and Christianity can
never lose its hold upon that central fact.
It is because the Ascension has to a certain
extent concealed Christ from our view that
we miss the value of the reality and the
symbolism of the Incarnation. We confuse
concealment with withdrawal. There are two
sets of conditions attaching to the nature of
Christ, conditions of Godhead and conditions
of manhood. During His life on earth the
conditions of manhood prevail, but after His

REVELATION OF NATURE OF GOD 105
Resurrection and Ascension the prevalence of
the conditions of Godhead succeeds. But,
whichever conditions prevail, they do not
neutralize, they ought not even to obscure, the
other conditions. Thus the symbolism of the
Incarnation is not to us a doctrinal peculi
arity of S. John's theology, but a guide to our
own religious life. Even since the Ascension
of our Lord Mysticism is the practice of the
Incarnation, the transfiguration of life, the
expression in what is human of what is Divine.

THE SYMBOLISM OF THE
INCARNATION

LECTURE III
THE SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION
" Abide in Me, and I in you." — S. John xv. 4.
IT is the inevitable outcome of the twofold
nature of the Person of Christ that He
should use symbohsm in describing Himself
to His disciples. The sacramental character
of life is the natural outcome of our Lord's
nature. His own position is sacramental.
What He appears to be is a mark and a
presentation of what He really is. In the
Synoptists parable takes a large part in His
teaching; in S. John's Gospel the essential
parable is Himself. No sower goes forth to
sow the word, but the Word of God speaks His
own significance. His Being is explained by
His appearance, the outward presentation
109

no MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
reflects the inward character. He is, as He
says, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the living
Bread, the true Vine, the Good Shepherd.
Instead of saying, from Me you may learn the
right direction of your efforts, the difference
between right and wrong, between the true
and the false, the way to turn existence into
life, the requirements of your spiritual nature,
the best support of your human endeavour,
the knowledge of the eternal love and self-
sacrifice, He says, " I am Myself the sum of all
these requirements. They are all concentrated
in Me."
If, then, Mysticism is concentration, symbol
ism will be an important aid to Mysticism. But
these summaries are not mere metaphors. A
metaphor expresses a relation in terms be
longing to another relation. But our Lord
reconciles one relation with another by showing
how the one expresses the other. That was
possible for the Word Who became flesh. This
is no metaphor, it is a statement of fact. And
His object was to make men reahze the fact, to
transfuse it into their lives. He desired to

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION in
inform the character, rather than persuade
the mind. He desired to enhst the will,
rather than interest the thought or touch the
feehng. For the will expresses the personality
more than that is expressed by thought or
feehng. The will tells us what a man is
more than anything else. If he determines his
will, his will far more determines him.
In S. John's Gospel our Lord seems to say,
" I will show you what I am, because I know
that this will be My strongest hold upon you."
The author seems to say, " You have heard
what Jesus did, now see what Jesus is."
Assimilation is your object, more than imita
tion. Instead of seeking a way, inquiring
for truth, investigating hfe, reahze that you are
in presence of the Way, the Truth, and the
Life. This is S. John's practical symbolism.
He discards simile and metaphor for reality
Simile and metaphor imply transcendence,
reality expresses immanence as well as trans
cendence. Christ is for human beings the
Way, the Truth, and the Life, not only because
He is so much above them, but especially

112 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
because He is also in them. But at the same
time this description of Him is symbolism,
because it admits us into the reahty which
underlies our outward view of Him. It clears
the way to our apprehension of Himself. To
many a man our Lord says, " Ye search the
Scriptures" — you are in earnest about religion
— ' ' and ye will not come to Me. " You miss the
reality of rehgion. For religion is not so much
the acceptance of a fact, but rather the appre
hension of a Person. We do not add fresh
material to the storage of our minds — at least
this is a condition of the process, not the
process itself — but we attach ourselves to one
special Personahty. He is our object, rather
than the knowledge that we gather about Him.
That is what our Lord means when He says
that He is the Way — we are to make it our
object to approach Him. Those who accept
the maxims current about Him, or even the
maxims that He has uttered, are on their way
towards the truth, but their method is not
direct enough to reach the Truth. They will
find much valuable information about hfe in

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 113
the story that is told of Him, but only in
applying to Himself will they find the Life. In
the one case they are devoting their efforts,
in the other they are devoting themselves.
If He showed the greatest love in staking His
life for them, they show real proof of their
return in dedicating to Him their will. For
that is the surrender of their personality.
In analysing the relation of the believer to
wards God, we have described it as a union of
personality with personahty. The symbol
ism that S. John presents to us is connected
with that union of personahty. This involves
an investigation into human personahty as
well as Divine, since both are concerned. What
is the personahty which goes out to meet God ?
There is much confusion in regard to the
constituent parts of human nature. Even
those who ought to know better talk loosely
about the human soul. Sometimes it is
confused with spirit, and the two terms are
interchanged as if they were synonyms, and
sometimes it is regarded as a separate part,
without any real attempt at definition or co-
H

H4 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
ordination. S. John does not throw much hght
on the question, because it does not concern
him to discuss human psychology. He is
rather concerned with the duty of man than
with the study of man's nature. And yet a
knowledge of human nature seems necessary
for one who bases rehgion upon an exposition
of Divine nature. The few uses of the word
" soul " in S. John's Gospel are confined to the
ideas of something that can be staked, and
of something that can be loved or hated. Our
Lord says of Himself that He stakes His soul
on behalf of His sheep. He says of men that
he who loves his soul ruins it. These uses
imply a reference to the whole personahty,
for it is idle to suppose that any one would
stake only a part of his nature or is able to
ruin a part. On the other hand, the even
rarer uses of the word " spirit " admit of its
being explained as a part of the nature. We
are told that our Lord groaned in spirit and
was disturbed in spirit, and that in death He
gave up His spirit. We are also told that He
breathed on His disciples and bade them

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 115
receive spirit. It is impossible to suppose, that
He was bestowing personality upon them.
If we turn to S. Paul, we find that his impor
tant discussion of the component parts of
human nature in Romans vii. and viii. con
tains no mention of soul, but only deals with
spirit and flesh. As he is describing the
struggle that goes on within the personality,
there is no need for him to mention the per
sonahty itself, he has only to mention the
contending sides. Flesh is contrasted with
spirit in Galatians v. 16, where a definite
course is recommended as the only means of
counteracting the fleshly tendency. It is the
course of adopting the spiritual mode of life,
as a positive way of neutralizing the merely
human mode. Substitution is necessary, nega
tive goodness is not enough ; and " we learn
that the presence of the spirit is the distinctive
mark of the Christian " (Dickson, 5. Paul's Use
of the Terms Flesh and Spirit, p. 270). Those
who have received the grace of God are
spiritual, and the unregenerate are fleshly.
This distinction is more fully drawn out in

n6 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
Romans vii. and viii., where the struggle
between the two sides is graphically sketched.
Man tends to develop the weaker side, God
enables him to develop the stronger. This is
done, not by crushing out the weaker, but by
directing it in the better way. But the
appeal of God is made to a part of man's
nature, which is clearly ready to obey the
appeal. If spirit and flesh are so closely
connected in man as to form parts of his nature,
there must be some goodness in him as well as
evil. For there is no suggestion of the in
trusion of the Spirit as into an ahen country :
He finds a sphere ready for His influence.
The Spirit is not represented as destroying the
flesh, but the Spirit is the agency by which
man himself destroys the deeds of the body
(Rom. viii. 13). Freewill is clearly implied,
and that in itself argues against the merely
evil nature of the flesh. At the same time
man is represented as weak. " Who shall
deliver me out of the body of this death ? "
(Rom. vii. 24). Thus weakness is insisted on
rather than sinfulness, and the power of God

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 117
is opposed to this weakness. Throughout
the course of the struggle, both sides are
equally regarded as essential parts of the man
himself, and there is absolutely no mention of
soul. Man has a nature given him which places
him among material organisms as an earthly
animal, and this is his flesh. Over against
that stands his spirit, a Divine gift, full of hfe
and power, which connects him with God and
enables him to direct the merely animal hfe
into a better course than its own natural
tendency had marked out for it. Together
they form his personality, his soul, and if
they are properly balanced, then his soul has
reached its perfection. But the proper balance
is to keep the flesh in due subjection to the
spirit. He must use his mind for that purpose,
for he is a thinking animal, possessed of mind.
But his self-consciousness must support that,
he must feel in himself that he is doing right,
he must use conscience. This combination
of intellectual and moral thoughtfulness, practi
cal as well as theoretical, is purpose passing

118 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
into conduct, it is right principles of action,
it is heart. So that mind, conscience and
heart, acting as allies of spirit, and using flesh
as a servant, develop the man's soul. They
cannot do ' this of themselves, because man
tends to oppose God, as the Jewish story of the
Fall so graphically pointed out. They need
help from without, a freshening, a revival,
the grace or influence of God. Given in the
human spirit, the influence of God renews
itself in the work of the Holy Spirit. By Him
man is still connected with God, and it is the
work of the Christian religion to maintain that
connexion. Not only did Christ show by the
Incarnation the potentiality of human nature,
but by introducing the Holy Spirit again to
the world, He directed its actuahty. Man was
made able to realize himself : he now, by self-
surrender, does realize himself.
S. Paul's contribution to human psychology
has had a far-reaching influence: He has
made man's dependence upon God develop
his independence. For he has made man
take a firm hold of Jesus Christ by means of the

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 119
Incarnation, and so he has enabled man to
reahze practically the close connexion be
tween the spirit and the flesh.
Turning back again to S. John, and arguing
on similar hnes, we find our best solution in
explaining the soul as the whole personality.
It includes the spirit and the flesh. When,
therefore, our Lord speaks of staking the soul,
He is referring to the sacrifice of His whole
personahty. When He speaks of loving or
ruining the soul, He is implying the preserva
tion or the destruction of the whole person
ahty. And, when we speak of devoting our
personality to God, we mean the staking of
our soul in the interests of religion. But we
include the devotion of the spirit and of the
flesh : ours is a surrender of our spiritual and
physical natures to the will of God. We give
back to Him the body in which we live and the
spirit which consecrates it as a Divine creation.
We make no reserve, we consecrate to Him our
ordinary acts of life and our deepest feeling,
our mortal environment and our Divine
aspirations. We imitate our Lord, Who for

120 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
His disciples' sakes consecrated Himself, that
they themselves also might be consecrated in
truth (S. John xvii. 19). Mysticism is false
to nature as well as to religion, if it neglects
the bodily desires and functions on the plea
that they are outside the sphere of the highest
religion. Religion is an energy, not an ecstasy,
and it must include our all. Reservation will
lead to superstition and fanaticism. Those,
then, who go out to meet their Lord, who
believe that He offers them His aU, who accept,
in fact, the Incarnation, are bound to bring
with them the devotion of both body and
spirit. They become one with Him in their
soul — at least that is their desire.
The question of S. John's psychology is
really beside the point. But, as psychological
terms have so much to do with religion, and as
they are so often misapplied, it is well for us
to be careful, if we do introduce them, to apply
them accurately. We may therefore sum up
the relation of man to God in this way. The
personality of man, as a part of Nature,
enables him to apprehend the personahty of

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 121
Christ. He apprehends with his personahty,
as he sees with his eyes or grasps with his hands.
He apprehends by devoting his will. But his
will is the determination of his powers : in
other words, it is the application of his soul.
He saves his soul by staking it upon his
devotion to God.
It is upon the need of His presence that our
Lord insists, in describing Himself to His
disciples. Instead of enumerating rules of
conduct or describing the course which their
life ought to take, He says that the rules and
the course are contained in Himself — " I am
the Way." If the way to God seems difficult,
they were to use Him as the Way. Instead of
stating categorically the points of doctrine
that they have to learn, He sums up in Himself
all behef — " I am the Truth." If they desired
to apprehend truth, they must turn to Him
as the Truth. Instead of sketching a philo
sophy of life, He makes hfe centre in Himself —
"lam the Life." If they slackened in their
grip of hfe, they must reahze Him as the Life.
Instead of prescribing a method of entrance into

122 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
His kingdom — although, indeed, He does lay
down the requirement of a birth of water and
Spirit — He says "lam the Door." Through
Him as the Door lay the way to the kingdom
of heaven. Instead of promising to provide
means of support for their religious life, He
reveals Himself as the living Bread, by Whom
their hunger might be ever satisfied. Instead
of showing the points of connexion between His
servants and their Master, He characterizes
them as branches in a Divine tree — " I am
the true Vine." In Him the branches would
renew their strength : " Abide in Me, and I
in you." Instead of organizing a definite
Church, depending on material regulations
and running in the grooves of routine, He
spirituahzes their connexion with their Head —
" I am the Good Shepherd." He would not
allow them to stray from the fold, and in
Himself He would combine many folds into
one flock. [Ecclesiastical organization has
tended towards forgetfulness of the spiritual
conception and origin of the Church, and has
thrust symbolism and Mysticism into an

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 123
obscurity which is condemned by our Lord's
own attitude towards them.
This symbolism is not only due to the
personal view of religion which S. John's
Gospel aims at establishing, but it is also
characteristic of the relation which our Lord
has established between God and man in order
to bring out the sacramental character of life.
" I am the Way, the Truth, the Life, the
Door, the living Bread, the true Vine, the
Good Shepherd " bears the same meaning as
the remarkable words, " Raise the stone and
there thou shalt find Me, cleave the wood and
there am I " (Sayings of our Lord, Grenfell &
Hunt, Logion v. 23-30). It opens out a new
view of life, and gives a spiritual meaning
to what had been viewed so long from too
material a point of view. The formalism of
the Jewish religion had encouraged this ten
dency, whereas the trend of prophecy had
lain in quite the opposite direction. For the
object of prophecy had been to make known
the qualities of God. The prophets had laid
hold of the specific name of God, Yahveh,

124 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
He will be — all that power and goodness involve
and imply. The qualities of God were defined
and brought within the possibility of human
appropriation by the Incarnation of the Son
of God. It is in the character of a Jewish
prophet, and in opposition to the priestly
tradition, that our Lord, Who was so much
more than a prophet, thus enunciates the
spirituality of religion. But He does not
draw a hard and fast line between the forms
and the spirit of religion, He bids His followers
see the spirit through the forms. Perhaps
one reason for S. John's omission of the actual
institution of the Eucharist is to be found in
this sacramental presentation of the mysteries
of religion. If we acknowledge that religion
centres in the Incarnation, we must, in con
sidering the effectiveness of the Incarnation,
consider it as the crucial instance of symbolism.
Reference has already been made to the
remarkable words of our Lord, " Except ye
eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His
blood, ye have not life in yourselves " (S.
John vi. 53). It is impossible to understand

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 125
the Word becoming flesh to mean that the
Divine nature was changed into flesh. It
means that God took flesh into His Divine
nature. The personality thus produced is
soul. It does not thereby become exactly
what we understand by a human soul and
nothing more. In a human soul it is possible
for the spirit to predominate more or less,
according to the restraint that is exercised
over the body. In our Lord's case it is certain
that the spirit did predominate, as was especi
ally clear after the Resurrection. In the
Athanasian Creed He is said to be made up of
reasoning soul (= spirit) and human flesh ;
the Godhead and manhood in Him correspond
with the reasoning soul (= spirit) and the
flesh in us, as constituent parts of His nature.
Put more definitely, this would be expressed by
saying that our personality consists of spirit
and flesh, while His personality consists of
Deity and humanity. But even so the parallel
is incomplete, for it would imply that His
spiritual side was entirely Divine, and that His
humanity was confined to His physical nature.

126 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
Why, then, does S. John say that He groaned
in spirit and was disturbed in spirit, and that
in death He gave up His spirit ? The Incarna
tion would have been incomplete, if His
humanity had not been extended to the higher
side of His nature. The union between God
and man cannot be considered to coincide
with the union of spirit and body, so that His
spirit is in no way human, and His body in no
way Divine. That would not be a real and
effective Incarnation. It would in fact coun
tenance the Manichaean theory of the degrada
tion of the human body, and it would run
counter to S. Paul's expression, " He emptied
Himself." The symbolism of the Incarnation
depends upon the fact of our Lord's becoming
effectively human, so that He draws us to
Himself by the likeness of His spirit to ours as
well as of His body to ours. Then we see that
in our highest endeavour as well as in our
simplest action we can join ourselves to Him
Our religion must express a union of person
ality, on the terms of like approaching like.
There must be some complete correspondence

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 127
between man and God, and not a one-sided
correspondence. Otherwise what is the mean
ing of such an expression as " Because I live,
ye shall live also " (S. John xiv. 19) ? We
must, in fact, accept Christ's own declaration,
" I stake My soul on behalf of the sheep "
(x. 15). The soul is not an unvarying, nature,
so that what it is in us it is also in Him, but
it is the relation of the parts to one another,
so that the character of the parts determines
the resultant relation. Divinity was in Him
a characteristic of the parts, and also of their
relation. His spirit and His body were Divine,
and they also formed a Divine personality.
This Divine relation is offered to us for our
own realization. Intercourse with Christ is
the means of our securing that realization.
He draws us to Himself by the power of His
love. We have communion with Him in
regard to both sides of His nature. We are
joined to His whole personality. Thus it is
said that we are baptized into Christ, and that
we believe into Christ. Religion is not a
transaction with God, but a reception into God.

128 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
This is Mysticism, an initiation into the
mysteries of the Divine nature and process,
an adoption into real sonship, a satisfaction
of the human personality by means of the
Divine personality. Thus we know Christ
as man, not as a man, and at the same time
our birth (our reception into God) is not of the
will of a man, but of God. It is idle to suppose
that the nature of Christ could possibly be a
patchwork. If it had been, then our union
with Him would be an amalgamation, not a
fusion. Separation would still be possible,
a return to the old conditions. Fusion is
accompanied by heat, and the complete
acceptance of God is an enthusiasm.
The Incarnation is a fact, and it is an
explanation of life, but it is above all an
inspiration of life. It is a fact established in
point of time, which expresses the working of a
law. It is the revelation of a relation. It is
the declaration of the sacramental character
and meaning of life. It is the reconciliation
of the spiritual and the material, the assertion
of the inseparability of the two. Transceri-

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 129
dence combined with immanence passes from a
theory to a practice. The human personality
is capable of appropriating the belief and
applying it in action. The Incarnation is in
itself an ideal, and so has given a new valuation
to life, but it has also changed the character
of life. By bringing humanity nearer to God,
it has made human beings more capable of
approaching God. They are constituted as
sharers in a wider hope. But their gain is
actual, not merely potential ; their position
active, not merely passive. They are not
instruments of a magical process, but co-
operators in a mystical work. This they are,
if they accept the new relation of man to God.
They are not the depositories of a revelation of
ancient truth, but the beneficiaries of a new
revelation, a revelation new in fact, as well as
in communication. The Word was in the
beginning, but the Christian era is the occa
sion of the Word made flesh. The representa
tives of the old Jewish regime thus take a lower
position in the economy of God, as possessing
lower privileges. Any member of the king-
1

130 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
dom of God, for example, takes precedence of
John the Baptist. The man who prepares the
way of Christ is not equal to the man who
accepts Christ as the Way. The one has a
conception of life and a desire of truth, but
the other has absorbed the life and appropriated
the Truth.
In considering S. John's omission of the
institution of the Eucharist we have to remem
ber that the sacramental idea is maintained
in our Lord's characterization of Himself,
and that, therefore, the well-known meal was
only a natural example of the general principle.
It was also possible, if too much stress were laid
upon it — and the succeeding centuries have
turned the possibility into a fact — it was
possible that here, too, the prevalent formalism
might weaken the efficacy of the principle.
For the insistence and the opposition of the
Pharisees were a constant reminder of the
danger. They were the true descendants of
the destroyers of the prophets, for their love of
detail and their blindness to principle were in
exact agreement with the ancient rejection of

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 131
prophecy. But it has also been pointed out
that S. John is well aware of the sacramental
character of man's reception of Christ. " Ex
cept ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink His blood, ye have not life in yourselves."
The life that each of us receives at birth is a
germ of actual life. It may develop on right
or wrong lines. As material or even mental
life, it may and does develop, but its complete
development must be spiritual. In the dis-
cusion of the meaning of " eternal life," it is
often forgotten that the word " eternal "
is really " belonging to the age." The age is
the age inaugurated by Christianity, when the
material was classed as lower in value than
the spiritual. Eternal life is spiritual life,
the life that counts, the life that is in harmony
with the age that recommends it. It is
possessed in germ by every human being, but
it lacks its full development if it is not brought
into connexion with the life that characterizes
the nature of Christ. Hence the need of
eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking
His blood, the need of entrance into Christ.

132 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
It is not S. John who tells us that the blessing
of seeing God depends upon the blessing of
purity of heart. But it is S. John who tells
us that the practical Mystic is the real Christian,
that the worship of God is changed by the
Incarnation of Christ, that the only possible
union between God and man is a union of
personality. It is S. John who reveals the
mystery of the personality of Christ, and
explains the need and method of our initiation.
Religion is a question of life, and, so far as
knowledge is concerned, it is a question of light,
but in its essence it is a question of love. The
Incarnation is a revelation of love, a declaration
of the expression of God's love, and its in
fluence upon man works through love. We
love, because He first loved us. If we abide
in Him, He abides in us. " The Mysticism
of S. John (it has been well said), for which
we contend, is not a subjective Mysticism
which absorbs the soul in self-contemplations
and reverie, but an objective and rational
Mysticism which lives in a world of realities,
apprehends divinely revealed truth, and bases

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 133
its experience upon it. It is a Mysticism
which feeds not upon its own feelings and
fancies, but upon Christ. It involves an
acceptance of Him, and a life of obedience to
Him. The motto is : Abiding in Christ "
(Stevens, The Johannine Theology, p. 239).
The question has been asked in reference
to our Lord's claim of royalty at His trial,
Did He die for a metaphor ? and the question
may also be asked, Are we wrong in maintaining
that He never taught His followers to base
their life on a metaphor ? A symbolic fact
has a far deeper foundation than a metaphorical
phrase, and it cannot be explained away as a
metaphor. To say, " I am the Way," means
far more than " The Way lies through Me."
It does indeed mean that, but it is a personal
invitation as well as a graphic direction. The
essence of S. John's conception of Christianity
is contained in it, for all through his Gospel
he is presenting this conception. No one can
approach the Father excepting through the Son,
but only those who desire His personality to
attract theirs will receive the assurance of a

134 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
welcome. There are several conceptions of life ;
there is the material conception, the intellectual
conception, the moral conception. But the
conception which S. John has formed for
himself, and which he commends to his readers,
is the spiritual conception, and the life which
he insists on as his Master's requirement is
spiritual, eternal life. S. Paul has adopted
the Cross of Christ as his inspiration, and
every one will allow that spiritual life includes
the idea of sacrifice. He has adopted the
phrase " in Christ " as a description of the
Christian atmosphere or environment, and
in this he comes nearer to the Mysticism of
S. John. But his energetic Christianity falls
short of the intense spirituality, the effective
symbolism, of the confident claim, " I am the
Way." S. Paul had been won over by a
personal call, but he had never lain on Jesus'
bosom, as had been the blessed experience of
the beloved disciple. S. John would never be
troubled by the consideration whether he
might possibly be rejected after all. His
confidence could never be shaken by any

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 135
doubt as to the result of his practice of the
Christian life. He had handled the Word of
life, and his own life was united with the life of
the Word of God. To him the God Who
was Love was also the Christ Who was the
Way. The manifold phases of the nature and
character of Christ were steps in the Way.
Religion was Christ Himself, not the imitation
of Christ, not even the love of Christ, but the
personality of Christ. S. John was able to
contemplate Christ's glory in virtue of his
union with Christ's personality.
The symbolism of the signs of Christ is an
extension of the symbolism of the Incarnation.
The sign associated with the wedding-feast at
Cana is the assertion of our Lord's power over
Nature implied by His presence in Nature.
The sign of the feeding of the five thousand
is an act of mercy which might be expected
from the God of Nature, Who is also the God
of love. The sign of the healing of the infirm
man is a manifestation of that power over
pain and sickness which the Lord of Nature
naturally possesses. The sign of the healing

136 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
of the nobleman's son is another act of mercy,
which proves that in the sphere of Nature
visible presence is not necessary for the exercise
of power. The sign of the walking on the
water is a proof of the supremacy of the
spiritual over the material in the sphere of
Nature, asserted by way of personal authority.
The sign of the healing of the blind man proves
the sympathy of our Lord with those who are
lacking in material light, over and above His
desire to impart spiritual light. The sign
of the raising of Lazarus proves His supremacy
over death in the sphere and in the cause of
life. It has pointed out that the number of signs
is itself mystic, for they number seven. With
out lingering over that point, we may discuss
the actual symbolism of the signs. It will be
seen that it is possible to refer them all to the
principle of the immanence of God. God is
present in Nature, in the world which is also
the scene of the activity of human nature.
The spirit of evil, whether evil takes the
form of suffering or of sin, makes a claim of

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 137
authority over the world, which to a certain
extent he is able to substantiate. But in any
case his authority is a usurpation, and from
His' own nature and frpm His position God
will bear no rival near the throne. Christ's
acts of mercy are therefore also assertions of
authority. He does not wish to be accepted
merely on the ground of authority, but He will
prove His right. If He is life, the Life, He
will even challenge and conquer death. If
He is Goodness, He will clear away the excuse
for sin. If He is Mercy, He will show His
mercy. If He is human, He will sympathize
with human need, even to the provision of
bread and wine. If He is Light, He will give
both physical and spiritual light. If He is
God, He will outdo man's physical powers.
He controls the world, and in His control He
enters into the experience of those who live
in the world. He will not leave them to do
without Him, although He has already given
them powers to work out their independence.
They are not alone, even in their human
capacity. Thus He gives man confidence to

138 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
approach God, and assures man of the abiding
presence and active interest of God. He also
teaches that bodily need and even bodily
pleasure may and should help towards spiritual
life.' The material life is symbolic of the
spiritual life. The signs show that the human
expresses the Divine.
The contrast between the Synoptic view
of Christ and the view presented by the Fourth
Gospel is brought out by Clement of Alexandria
when he says that " John, having observed
that the bodily things had been exhibited in
the Gospels, exhorted by his friends and
Divinely inspired by the Spirit, composed a
spiritual Gospel " (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. vi. 14).
He implies not only variety of material, but
difference in point of view and in treatment.
But Origen goes further and says that " when
the writers of Holy Scripture were unable to
speak the truth at once spiritually and bodily,
it was their method to prefer the spiritual
to the bodily, the true spiritual meaning
being often preserved in the bodily falsehood."
That is to say, we are not bound to insist on

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 139
the reality of each reported fact, which may
simply be reported in view of an ideal meaning.
The principle has to be applied with caution,
and we must remember in S. John's case the
stress that he lays on testimony and his own
claim to the character of an eye-witness.
This, however, does not preclude a symbohc
view of the signs of Christ. Even if the water
and the wine of the miracle at Cana figure, as
has been suggested, the superiority of the
Christian revelation over the Jewish law, the
actual miracle is not thereby relegated from
the sphere of fact to the sphere of fiction.
The raising of Lazarus does indeed show
Christ's power over death, but that does not
prove that it is merely an allegory representing
the importance of the new birth insisted on
to Nicodemus. It is quite possible to base the
lessons upon the actual facts, to give us the
opportunity of drawing the lessons from the
actual facts.
S. John does not describe the human birth
of Christ, because the fact of the Incarnation
outweighed with him the actual process. It

140 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
is the centre of the Divine influence, but it is
efficacious in the material as well as in the
spiritual world. And that is the strength of
its appeal to man. We cannot treat the
Incarnation as a mere historical, a mere
metaphysical, even a mere religious fact. It
is a direct factor in human life, not only for
what it is, but for what it represents. It is
fatal to regard the Incarnation as nothing
but a theological doctrine. By His second
and direct intervention in Nature and human
life, God has, it is not too much to say, changed
the face of creation. Now it is possible to
abide in God and to let Him abide in us. The
symbolism ^f the Incarnation lies in its ex
planation of the meaning of human life, and
that is its contribution to rehgious Mysticism.
By it any attempt to separate the secular
from the religious is rendered impossible,
because the secular is shewn to be the vehicle
of the religious. Humanity veils and expresses
Divinity. For the mysteries of religion are
its revealed secrets, but they remain secret as
long as the nature of God remains unrevealed.

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 141
Here, in S. John's Gospel, the revelation stands
open, but it is the revelation of the Word, that
speaks to the heart. In human language we
talk of winning the heart, when there are no
longer any secrets between man and man.
Christ is called the Word, because He desires
that all things shall be open between Him and
us. Open on our side as well as on His. Sym
bolism is the extension of this openness on
the side of God to all human experience. It is
the language by which He explains to us the
meaning of life. It might be said that life
is written in a code, to which sympathy is the
key. There is no doubt in S. John's mind as
to the sympathetic nature of the Master Whom
he loved. There is no doubt in his mind as to
the characteristic which alone corresponds
with his Master's nature. By it he responded
to the affection which was shown towards him,
and by it we are to make a similar response.
There is plenty of evidence to show that human
nature is capable of complying with this
demand that is made upon it. " The reason
(it has been well said) why the generations of

142 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
the saints have loved and worshipped Jesus
has not been because He has left them a
tender and glorious memory, but because He
has done to one and all of them, each in his
own day, an infinite personal service. No con
ception of Christ is adequate which does not
recognize, in addition to what He was and did
in Palestine nineteen hundred years ago,
1 what He is and what He is doing at the present
hour " (James Stalker, " Our Present Know
ledge of the Life of Christ," Contemporary
Review, Jan., 1900, p. 126).
And what is the infinite personal service ?
What is He now, and what is He doing to-day ?
Some will answer, the sacrifice of His death,
relying upon the value of the Atonement.
But, when he reports our Lord's words, " I,
if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Myself,"
S. John adds " This He said, signifying by
what manner of death He was going to die "
(xii. 32, 33). There is no reference here to the
idea of a propitiatory sacrifice, but there is the
idea of mystical attraction and union, con
ditioned by our Lord's exaltation. It is His

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 143
exaltation that makes the union possible.
In other words, participation in Divine glory
is conveyed through our Lord's humanity.
If we abide in Him, He will abide in us. The
Incarnation both symbolizes and assures the
union of humanity with God. The exaltation
of Christ, which is the outcome of His Incarna
tion, determines the character of His death,
estabhshes it as an act of love rather than an
act of justice. The desire to remove sin is a
part of His personality, which in itself is a
reconciliation of the human and the Divine.
Henceforth life is coloured by the Incarnation —
not so much the intellectual view of life as the
actual terms on which life is held. It is a
mistake to relegate the Incarnation to the
category of doctrine, for it not only explains,
but actually directs life. Life has two sides,
the visible and the spiritual, but the two sides
mutually explain each other. For it is sym
bolized in the Incarnation. Before the Incar
nation it was impossible for man to abide in
God, and so to let God abide in him. He
could not complete the idea of God's transcen-

144 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
dence by realizing the idea of God's immanence.
Perhaps the nearest approach to the combina
tion of the two ideas in the Old Testament is
found in the 23rd Psalm, where the conception
of God comes closest to the symbolic form.
There Yahveh is the Psalmist's Shepherd,
Who comforts him in death and crowns his
life with His presence. But this is imagined
apart from any Divine participation in
humanity. The Mysticism of S. John's Gospel presents
to us the Good Shepherd as knowing His own
sheep by name. Each has a personality of
his own, and the personality of each is directly
attracted to the personality of Christ. He
abides in the branches, according as they abide
in Him. His Incarnation has taken hold of
their personality and transfigured it by a
unique method and to a unique degree. For
it has shown them what their personality is,
by revealing the mystery of His own. His
exaltation has attracted their devotion, be
cause they have seen the glory which heaven
has revealed for the contemplation of earth.

SYMBOLISM OF THE INCARNATION 145
It is full of grace and truth, for God has con
descended from His transcendence, and man
has apprehended the reahty of God's im
manence. For man has dared to approach the
presence so graciously thrown open to him,
and Christ has made the promised return by
establishing His presence in man. Never do
we draw near to Christ to abide in Him, without
being rewarded by His coming to abide in us.

THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION
OF THE INCARNATION

LECTURE IV
THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE
INCARNATION
* ' Believe in God, believe also in Me." — S. John xiv. i .
IF the Incarnation has a practical bearing
upon hfe, then we have to show how
the practice of religion depends upon the
way in which man apprehends Christ. S.
John insists on the fact that eternal hfe is
the result of belief in Christ — believing into
Christ, as he graphically calls it. This shows
the necessary method by which man reahzes
his relation to Christ, resulting, at its highest
stage, in assimilation to His nature. He is
brought, not merely close to Christ, but into
Him, not merely within His presence, but
into His actual personality. 149

150 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL.
We find much insistence in S. John's Gospel
on the need of entering into God's presence.
One means of entrance is prayer, but S. John
does not lay special stress upon that. He
does not, for example, mention the Lord's
Prayer, as two of the Synoptists do. He
does indeed give us the prayer of the Son to
the Father, but that is introduced to show us
the relation existing between them, not by
way of human example. Our Lord does not
say " After this manner pray ye." But
entrance into God's presence is represented
not so much as dependent upon thought or
feehng, but rather as the devotion of man's
will to God. Communion with God is regarded
as a concentration of purpose, not as a series
of isolated acts. For with S. John rehgion
is not so much a belief in a historical fact,
but it is behef founded upon actual personal
experience. He does indeed assume the his
torical environment of our Lord's life, but
he builds up upon it the requirement of indi
vidual knowledge and sight. There is, in fact,
a higher grade of life to which it was Christ's

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 151
mission to raise His followers. And so in
S. John's Gospel our Lord declares that His
kingdom is not of this world. His servants
belong to a different environment, or rather
they are to transform their environment into
something different from what it already is.
If they can do this, if they bring their hfe
into conformity with His, it will show the
marks of the likeness, it will become eternal,
spiritual. But the marks are the impress
of Christ's character, such as S. Paul referred
to when he said that he bore branded on his
body the marks of the Lord Jesus. He car
ried the influence of Christ about with him
as a charm, which acted as a protection against
the machinations of his enemies, and insured
him against being troubled by them.
But the chief significance of the influence
of this higher spiritual hfe is subjective. Our
Lord personifies eternal life : eternal life,
according to S. John, is the knowledge of
Christ, eternal life is Christ Himself. The
influence works through the Incarnation,
which is the transfiguring power of the age

152 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
now inaugurated by Christ. But, as the rela
tion of the Son to the Father is the expres
sion of the love that exists in God, so the
Incarnation is the expression of God's love
to man. And, as its influence is personal,
not mechanical, the sphere in which it works
upon man is still a sphere of love. Love
must decide whether man will be conformed
to the new life, the eternal life which results
from the presence of God. By his belief,
that is, by his definite and deliberate sur
render, he projects himself into God's presence.
The Mysticism of S. John implies that sur
render : according to him, it is our Lord's
requirement. We do not believe in God,
we believe into Him. All that we are is con
tributed to the surrender, and whoever has
taken the decisive step has begun to unite
himself with God.
It might have been thought that God's
transcendence would have been an insur
mountable obstacle to such a union. And
so it would have been, but for the further
fact of God's immanence, emphasized to the

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 153
world by the Incarnation. " Beheve in God,
beheve also in Me." The Incarnation, which
estabhshes God's immanence, increases the
significance of God's transcendence.. For the
value of eternal hfe depends upon the differ
ence between God and man, the superiority
of God to man. It is brought within human
reach by the Incarnation. If eternal life is
the knowledge of God, the knowledge must
be made possible to man, in order that he
may secure eternal life. Eternal life is in
the Son of God. Therefore S. John is careful
to set forth the Divine nature of our Lord.
He lays more stress upon His Divine origin
than upon His human birth, which he does
not think it necessary to describe. But,
when he speaks of the Word of God, he tells
us that the Word tabernacled in us. Is it
too much to say that the Incarnation is an
inspiration because it is a transfiguration ?
The Creator has intervened in the course of
Nature which He created, and so has changed
its character. He has not only given man a
fuller opportunity, but He has given him

154 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
fuller powers. Man is blessed aheady, not
only to be blessed. What wonder, then, if
he actually enjoys more complete union with
God ? What wonder if he fives that eternal
life which is constituted in the being and in
the presence of Christ ?
It is sometimes said that Mysticism is an
unpractical form of religion, that Mystics
are unpractical persons. Our Lord never
meant, and S. John never supposed that He
meant, that the need of walking along the way
ceased when it was found that the Way was
a personality. On the contrary, the claims
of the personahty immediately assert them
selves in full strength. The symbolism of
the claim does not weaken the reality, it pre
sents it in a more graphic form. It conveys
the sacramental idea, the idea of the inner
meaning which underlies the outward form,
the law of spiritual expression by material
means. It is the outcome and the extension
of the Incarnation.
What storms of controversy might have
been prevented, what streams of blood dried

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 155
up, if the ecclesiastical world could have real
ized this fundamental truth of rehgion. For
then it would have been seen that the contest
between formalism and spirituality was the
outcome of the presentation of half-truths,
not a question of right and wrong, but the
separation of a truth from its symbol. The
same separation is involved in the supposed
Mysticism charged against Mystics by those
who underestimate their characteristic form
of faith. The formahsts have indeed pressed
their view too far and overreached them
selves in their aversion from a shadowy
religion. The spiritually-minded have done
the same in their dread of the dangers of
routine. Symbolism has in the one case
failed to gain a hold, and in the other has
defeated its object. This has especially been
the case in the most symbolic rite of the Chris
tian Church. The spiritually-minded may
be tempted to rely strongly on S. John's
omission of the institution of the Eucharist,
but in that case he may stumble over the
insistence on the need of eating the flesh

156 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
and drinking the blood of the Son of Man.
The formahst may find in this insistence
enough support for his exaltation of that
sacred mystery. But both of them misunder
stand the symbohsm of S. John's Gospel.
Our Lord undervalued neither the means nor
the spiritual significance. To say " I am the
Way " is as much as to say " Come unto Me and
I will give you rest." For it means, I am taber
nacled in you, realize My immanence. There
is no depreciation of the process involved
in the enunciation of the principle.
Plotinus says that "for the soul to be] in
itself alone, and not in being, is to be in God.
For God also is something which is not essence,
but beyond essence. Hence the soul, when
it is in this condition, associates with Him.
He, therefore, who perceives himself to associ
ate with God, will have himself the simili
tude of Him. And, if he passes from himself
as an image to the archetype, he will then have
the end of his progression. But when he
falls from the vision of God, if he again excites
the virtue which is in himself (can anything

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 157
be more practical than this ?) and perceives
himself to be perfectly adorned, he will again
be elevated through virtue, proceeding to intel
lect and wisdom, and afterwards to the prin
ciple of all things. This, therefore, is the hfe
of the Gods, and of divine and happy men,
a liberation from all earthly concerns, a life
unaccompanied with human pleasures and a
flight of the alone to the alone."
It is possible to misunderstand this principle
of concentration, and the Mystics have some
times been regarded as unpractical persons,
who make much more of feehng than of action,
whose aim is rather to establish their own
relation to God than to do His service. But
their emotional language must not mislead
us into this view. Juliana of Norwich en
riched the fourteenth century with her Revela
tions of Divine Love, in which she lays much
stress on what she calls the oning (uniting) of
the soul with God. " Then sawe I verilie
that it is more worship to God, and more
verie delight, that we faithfullie pray to Him
self of His goodnes, and cleave thereto by

158 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
His grace with true understanding and sted-
fast beleif, then if we made all the meanes
that heart may think." " Oftentimes our
Lord Jesu said, ' I it am, I it am, I it am that
is highest, I it am that thou lovest, I it am
that thou likest, I it am that thou desirest,
I it am that thou meanest, I it am that is
All, I it am that Holy Church preacheth thee
and teacheth thee, I it am that showed Me
before to thee.' " But this personal absorption
is tempered with unselfishness, which does
not imply the unpractical : " In all this I
was much stirred in charity to mine even
Christian (my fellow-Christians), that they
might all see and know the same that I saw :
for I would that it were comfort to them, for
all this sight was showed in general."
In the eighteenth century William Law
goes still further, connecting inward devotion
with continuous practice of religion. The
words are quoted by Dr. Inge (Christian
Mysticism, Lecture 7). " This pearl of eter
nity is the Church, a temple of God within
thee, the consecrated place of divine worship,

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 159
where alone thou canst worship God in spirit
and in truth. In spirit, because thy spirit is
that alone in thee which can unite and cleave
unto God, and receive the working of the
Divine spirit upon thee. In truth, because
this adoration in spirit is that truth and reahty
of which all outward forms and rites, though
instituted by God, are only the figure for a
time : but this worship is eternal. Accustom
thyself to the holy service of this inward
temple. . . . When once thou art well
grounded in this inward worship, thou wilt
have learnt to five unto God above time and
place. For every day will be a Sunday to
thee, and wherever thou goest thou wilt have
a priest, a church and an altar along with
thee." Here is the true appreciation of
formalism ; here is the idealization of practice.
In the early seventeenth century Jacob
Boehme startled orthodox Germany by his
bold Mysticism, in which he traced human
devotion to the kindling of the soul by the
spark of Divine power. He claims self-
effacement as the necessary process by which

160 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
the human soul arrives at the highest know
ledge, as the only condition on which the
Spirit of God works upon man. The human
will is naturally inclined to evil and can only
find its true cure in devoting itself to God.
The light of reason depends upon the light
of God, and, although human knowledge is
valuable, all wisdom and knowledge must
be attributed to God alone. Devotion to
God is a revival, by it we renew our original
companionship with God, arid become His
children again. The kindling of the spark
of God in the human soul is not effected
without effort and prayer, but, when it is
effected, Christ is formed in this new incarna
tion. Three qualities are required in the
process — resignation, self-effacement, endur
ance, — and they effect an entrance into God,
but only with God's help. " Consider, then,
the words of Christ, Who said, ' Without Me
ye can do nothing.' In thy own power thou
canst not come to such rest that no creature
should touch thee, unless thou givest thyself
wholly up to the life of our Lord Jesus Christ,

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 161
and resignest thy will and desire wholly to
Him, and wiliest nothing without Him. Then
with thy body thou art in the world, in the
properties, and with thy reason under the
cross of our Lord Christ : but with thy will
thou walkest in heaven, and art in the original
form whence all creatures proceeded, and to
which they go again. And then thou mayest
behold all things outwardly with thy reason,
and inwardly with thy mind, and rule in and
over all things with Christ, to Whom all power
is given both in heaven and on earth " (The
Way to Christ, English translation, p. 253).
This Divine possession or indwelling is com
pared with the heating of a red-hot iron, it
at once establishes the soul in heaven and
the Holy Spirit in the soul, and this result is
made possible by human likeness to God,
original, partially obliterated, restored. The
immanence of God is implied by identifying
this present world with heaven, that is to say,
in potentiality, and expressly stated in the
words, " A Christian is called a branch of the
vine Christ, and a Christian, because Christ
l

162 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
dwelleth spiritually in him." But the Mysti
cism of Boehme is eminently practical, for,
while he demands that the Mystic shall ' ' go
forth from the beauty and pleasure of the
world . . . and set all his hope and confi
dence upon the life to come," he adds : " Even
now in righteousness and truth he will enter
into the vineyard of Christ, and do the will of
God. In the spirit and will of Christ he will
begin and finish all his actions in this world,
and for the sake of Christ's word and promise,
which holds forth to us a heavenly reward,
willingly take up and bear every adversity
and cross, so that he may but be admitted
into the communion or fellowship of the child
ren of Christ, and in the blood of the Lamb
Jesus Christ be incorporated and united unto
His humanity " (id. p. 22). Union with God
does not imply separation from the world,
but rather consecrates life in the world. This
follows naturally on the Incarnation. " My
soul . . . doth now infold itself with its
desire into that Word which became man,
which became flesh and blood, and hath

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 163
broken sin and death in my humanity. Which
hath changed the anger of God into love in
the soul, hath deprived death of his power,
and hell of its victory over soul and body :
and hath opened a gate for my soul to the
clear face of Thy strength and power. O great
and most holy God, I have brought the hunger
and desire of my soul into this most holy
Word, and now I come before Thee, and in
my hunger call unto Thee, Thou living foun
tain, through Thy Word which became flesh
and blood. Thy Word being made the life
in our flesh, I receive it firmly into the desire
of my soul as my own life : and I pierce into
Thee with the desire of my soul through the
Word in the flesh of Christ " (p. 44). Union
with God depends on the Incarnation; it is
on the development of the human relation
that the possibility of union depends. " For,
therefore, Thou hast moved Thyself, and accord
ing to Thy great sweetness manifested Thy
self in the human nature, and called us to
Thee " (p. 46). Indeed the relation is de
scribed in almost material terms, so strong is

164 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
the emphasis that is laid upon Christ's human
ity. " Lay hold on my thirst in me with Thy
thirst : bring Thy thirst after us men, which
Thou hadst upon the cross, into my thirst,
and give me Thy blood to drink in my thirst "
(p. 46). This emphasis upon humanity implies
the practical life, only from this point of view
it has a deeper origin and a higher sanction,
because, while the Incarnation touches man
on its one side, on its other side it touches
God. The question of freewill is handled
rather strangely ; it is implied that the will of
man is of evil tendency, hence the need of its
subjection, almost its absorption. " Where
upon the humbled soul presently desires to
sink down into that light, and esteems itself
to be nothing and quite unworthy of it " (p.
115). But this illustrates to us the three
recognized stages of Mystic experience, purga
tion, illumination, and union.
The Theologia Germanica of the fourteenth
century says : " Now be assured that no one
can be enlightened unless he be first cleansed
or purified and stripped. So also no one can

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 165
be united with God unless he be first enlight
ened. Thus there are three stages : first, the
purification ; secondly, the enlightening ;
thirdly, the union. The purification concern-
eth those who are beginning or repenting, and
is brought to pass in a threefold wise : by
contrition and sorrow for sin, by full confes
sion, by hearty amendment. The enlighten
ment belongeth to such as are growing, and
also taketh place in three ways : to wit, by
the eschewal of sin, by the practice of virtue and
good works, and by the willing endurance of
all manner of temptation and trials. The
union belongeth to such as are perfect, and
also is brought to pass in three ways : to wit,
by pureness and singleness of heart, by love,
and by the contemplation of God, the Creator
of all things " (English translation, chapter 14).
Only we must bear in mind that in the light
of the Incarnation this experience can never
begin and end in mere contemplation.
If Mysticism is in itself unpractical, how
are we to account for the wonderful influence
of Plotinus, the father of modern Mysticism,

166 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
who attracted to his lectures at Rome in the
third century not only the young men, but
the men of the world and the women of fashion,
and persuaded them, under the spell of the
attraction of the contemplative life, not only
to give themselves up to asceticism, but also
to free their slaves ? He was not content to
regard the contemplative life merely as " a
flight of the alone to the alone."
It has been suggested that the incident of
the feet-washing takes the place in S. John's
Gospel of the institution of the Eucharist.
It is contended that it is symbolical of Chris
tian purity, which needs constant renewal.
In any case it is a parable of practical Chris
tianity, a reminder of the close dependence
of our love of our neighbour upon our love
of God. But it is difficult to regard it as an
instance of deliberate substitution, because
it is presented from the point of view of imita
tion and from the beneficent standpoint,
whereas the Eucharistic idea is largely one
of personal surrender. It cannot be said
that the power of the presence of Christ pre-

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 167
dominates equally in both, for imitation stands
lower than union.
There is no indication in S. John's Gospel
that he takes an unpractical view of religion,
or that he represents Christ as suggesting
that view. For, although he makes much of
union with God, he also makes much of Chris
tian union. There is a danger that {he Mystics
should become too introspective and self-
conscious, even in their attempts to reahze
God's presence. The Christ of S. John's
Gospel meets this tendency by emphasizing
the position of God in the process. What
the Christian does is done by God's influence ;
he is directed by the Holy Spirit of God. But
this influence is not merely emotional or even
merely spiritual, for it is partly exercised
in the direction of a reminder to the disciples
of their actual experience of Christ. Their
experience has been a practical one ; they have
seen what He has done, as well as what He
is, and they have shared in His action. But
His action has been human as well as Divine,
and therefore the imitators of Christ, even in

168 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
their devotion to Him, cannot neglect human
ity. If life is represented as eternal life, and
if eternal life is Christ Himself, then religion
must take account of practical life. For
our Lord's intervention in human life and
His intercourse with human life imply His
sense of its value, and, as all that happens in
Nature is on the lines of development, we
cannot suppose that the transfiguration of
life into eternal life is intended to efface the
characteristics of material life.
To encourage this spiritual life, and to con
centrate it upon Himself, our Lord gave His
disciples the promise of the Holy Spirit. He
was to be their Advocate, to support their
cause and to suggest their action. He was
to be their guide into and along and within
the Way. But His influence is always related
to the original influence of Christ Himself.
He was not to give them novel suggestions,
which had never before found a place in their
minds, but He was to revive their existing
knowledge and stimulate their already-kindled
feeling. The suggested confusion between the

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 169
Holy Spirit and Christ Himself is precluded
by the description which declares Him to be
another Advocate (S. John xiv. 16). His
work was to co-operate with Christ, and in
this sense His Advocacy is both original and
complementary. No one can believe in God,
without taking account of this Divine influence
proceeding from God. No one can believe
in Christ, without recognizing this source
of Divine presence, guaranteed by Christ Him
self. Christianity is a Divine possession of
the human soul, an influence of Divine per
sonality upon human personality. But the
relation of man to God depends upon the
relation of the human spirit to the Divine
Spirit. Mysticism takes account of this essen
tial relation. Unless the human spirit is
constantly fed by the Holy Spirit of God, its
desire of union and its capacity for union
will be weakened by the inevitable atrophy
of its spiritual powers.
But further, the relation of the disciples
to their Master was a general relation. Belief
in Christ depends upon a social relation as

170 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
well as upon an individual relation. The
Holy Spirit, descending upon the apostles
at Pentecost, established a possession of the
Christian Church. The principle of God's
influence upon us and of our behef in God
is a principle of unity ; we are to be one
as the Son and the Father are one. We are
not reahzing Christ's promise, if we set our
selves to appropriate Him individually with
out reference to the society of which He has
made us members. Then and then only is
the promise fulfilled, when we recognize our
connexion with one another as well as our
relation to God, our connexion with one
another in our relation to God. We live now,
since the Resurrection and Ascension of our
Lord, in a spiritual sphere. Let us remember
that the province of the Holy Spirit is to con
vict the world in regard to sin and righteous
ness and judgment. This is to be a general
conviction, the conviction of the world, the
conviction of the individual through the
world. As the Church penetrates and leavens
the world, this conviction takes effect. The

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 171
great movements of the world have taken effect
in the mass, and national movements have
influenced the nation, and the Christian
impulse has worked and still works through
the Christian Church. The influence of the
Holy Spirit (as Father Loisy has well said)
checks individual judgment and so guards
against fanaticism.
When our Lord breathed upon the disciples
after the Resurrection and said to them,
" Receive Holy Spirit," He added " Whoso
ever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto
them : whosoever sins ye retain, they are
retained " (xx. 22, 23). He gave them
authority and power over the Christian body,
authority to control the Church, and power
to sanction and maintain that authority.
He inspired through them the Christian
Church. And, ever since, the Church has
been watered from their spiritual source.
He did not say that He would only inspire
individual persons, for He gave to a number
of persons the power and authority of general
influence.

172 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
But this does not preclude individual action
or individual responsibihty. The very words
" Receive Holy Spirit " imply the possibility
of refusing the gift, or at least of misusing
it by not applying it in its completeness.
The promise was that the Holy Spirit would
be with (p,eTa) the disciples, and by their
side (irapd), and in (eV) them. This implies
union, support and presence. Unless it is
a magical power, which is precluded by the
inclusion of teaching and reminding among
the functions of the Holy Spirit, the individual
personahty must play its part in the reception
and application of this spiritual power. There
are still, as in the days of the apostles, grades
of initiation into Christianity, and the position
of the beloved disciple encourages the idea
of variety in the appropriation of the Christian
privilege. But the Christianity of all is drawn
from one source and passes through one
medium. Those who are one with Christ are
one with each other, and in their human
unity their divine union is developed.
There is an interesting acknowledgment of

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 173
Christ's influence upon humanity in the
words of the great Napoleon, quoted by Dr.
Liddon (Bampton Lectures, pp. 147, 148).
"Alexander (he says), Caesar, Charlemagne
and I myself have founded great empires :
but upon what did these creations of our
genius depend ? Upon force. Jesus alone
founded His empire upon love, and to this
very day millions would die for Him. ... I
think I understand something of human
nature : and I tell you, all these were men,
and I am a man : none else is like Him :
Jesus Christ was more than man. ... I have
inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic
devotion that they would have died for me
. . . but to do this it was necessary that I
should be visibly present with the electric
influence of my looks, of my words, of my
voice. When I saw men and spoke to them,
I lighted up the flame of self-devotion in their
hearts. . . . Christ alone has succeeded in
so raising the mind of man towards the Un
seen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers
of time and space. Across a chasm of eighteen-

174 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
hundred years, Jesus Christ makes a demand
which is, beyond all others, difficult to satisfy :
He asks for that which a philosopher may
often seek in vain at the hands of his friends,
or a father of his children, or a bride of her
spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks
for the human heart : He will have it entirely
to Himself. He demands it unconditionally :
and forthwith His demand is granted. Won
derful ! In defiance of time and space, the
soul of man, with all its powers and faculties,
becomes an annexation to the empire of
Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him
experience that remarkable supernatural love
towards Him. . . . Time, the great de
stroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred
flame : time can neither exhaust its strength
nor put a limit to its range. This it is which
strikes me most : I have often thought of it.
This it is which proves to me quite convinc
ingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ."
This testimony is the more remarkable,
because it comes, not from a theologian, but
from a great soldier. It brings out the con-

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 175
nexion between God and man, between behef
and love. The question largely depends upon
the accessibihty of God. S. John's Gospel
establishes the accessibihty of God through
Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ Mysticism
is impossible. But in Him the love of God
is displayed, in other words, the attractive
power of God. He is accessible to us because
He shows us His desire that we should come
to Him. He is accessible to us, because we
recognize our common ground as an encourage
ment to come. He is accessible to us, because
He is not only loving, but worthy and able
to be loved. In the beginning God said,
" Let there be hght." Now He resolves the
light, showing us that God is not only Light
but Love. The revelation of God is now an
exposition of feeling and of knowledge : to
feel is to know, and to know is to feel. If this
revelation of God were only a study of char
acter, the alleged defeat of Mysticism would
have weight : but, as it is a possession of
character, the case is different, and it must be
acknowledged that Mysticism trains as well

176 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
as absorbs. It is said of certain persons that
it is an education to know them : must it
not be said far more emphatically of the rela
tion between man and God ?
Mysticism is activity as well as contempla
tion. It is the contemplative readjustment
of activity. As the late Bishop of Oxford
said, "It is in daring to hft up our work to
the highest level we discern for it that we are
most sure to meet with God " (Paget, The
Hallowing of Work, p. 32). Contemplation
quickens activity, and activity aids contempla
tion. " If any man willeth to do His will,
he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of
God" (S. John vii. 17). Activity is both the
proof and the condition of union with Christ.
" Ye are My friends, if ye do the things which
I command you" (xv. 14). No one can
deliberately make up his mind to carry out
the law of God without first reahzing his rela
tion to God, and this devotion of his will
definitely widens his conception of his relation
to God. Belief in Christ is not mere intellec
tual assent. Our Lord condemns the faith

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 177
that only miracles can arouse. He would
not trust Himself to the Jews, who beheved
on His name simply because they beheld the
signs which He did. The word " faith " never
occurs in S. John's Gospel, but the act of faith
is constantly described by the word " beheve."
Faith is an attitude rather than a quality.
Behef is also described as a Divine birth (or
begetting), and thus the intimate connexion
between God and the believer is brought out.
It is not an episode in Christian life, but an
actual crisis in the development of Christian
character. And therefore our Lord describes
it as an antidote against the restlessness of
human independence — " Let not your heart
be troubled." The heart is the centre of
man's principles of action, and, when our
Lord says " Let not your heart be troubled,"
He does not suggest a cure that will be sooth
ing to the feehngs, but a direction of human
activity. Mysticism is the appreciation of the reality
of life. " I am the Truth," says our Lord. " I
am the Reality of life." It is His immanence M

178 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
in life that gives its reality to life, and those
only are able to appropriate Him, to make
Him their own, who have learned to see Him
in all the phenomena and experiences of life.
By His constant declaration " I am " He has
identified Himself with all life and all experi
ence, and no merely theoretic handling of
life can satisfy the requirements of our associa
tion with Him. We may never shrink from
identifying Him with all our activity, for He
says " I am, be not afraid." If obedience is
the mark of our devotion, then in all the
demands of life upon us we must hear the
voice of His command to follow Him. If the
constant motive of His own method and action
was the execution of God's will, that must be
our constant motive. Rehgion is an ecstasy, but
it is an ecstasy of activity as well as of feeling,
for feeling unexpressed in action is but a
sterile growth. There is no sower who does
not keep the harvest in view, and the heavenly
sower is no exception. The grace of God is
productive, and, if we separate action from
belief, we are relegating activity to the merely

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 179
human sphere, and limiting the Divine domain
to faith alone. To struggle earnestly is the
best devotion, the highest form of prayer.
So our Lord Himself prayed, so our Lord has
taught us to pray. The symbolism of life
is our truest guide to the use of life, and no
act of life is without its significance as an
expression of the Divine origin of life, of its
dependence upon God. As he looks back to
the Divine source of life, the Mystic says
" There was the true light, even the light that
lighteth every man, coming into the world "
(S. John i. 9). He sees, too, in the miracle at
Cana an indication of the true significance of
human experience. He sees that the ordinary
human life is part of the Divine interest, and
contains within itself possibilities of develop
ment not open to those who treat it from a
strictly literal standpoint. It is not by ignoring
life but by idealizing it that we penetrate its
meaning. For its meaning does not lie upon
the surface, although even on the surface it
shows traces of its meaning. Mysticism is the

180 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
idealization of common life, the turning of its
water into wine.
An attempt has been made to separate
belief in Christ from union with Christ, on the
plea that the only Christian requirement is the
reception of Christ's teaching. If we are to
abide in Christ we must have faith, but faith
is not in itself abiding in Christ. Faith is an
intellectual assent, an acknowledgment that
Jesus is the Messiah or the Son of God. That
would represent our Lord as saying, "believe
in God's existence, believe also in My Messiah-
ship/' (Stevens, The Johannine Theology, p. 232).
What then becomes of our Lord's explicit
connexion of faith in Him with access to Him ?
" He that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and
he that belie veth on Me shall never thirst "
(V1- 35)- ^ is confusing the first step with
the whole process, or even maintaining that
the first step is in itself enough. It is impos
sible to limit the possession of eternal life to
mere intellectual assent, and it is equally
impossible, in face of S. John's Gospel, to
ignore the requirement of eternal life. But

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 181
eternal life is the possession of Christ, it is
union with Christ. It is not simply believing
in Him, but abiding in Him.
Thus we see faith and childship of God
classed together in the jdeclaration " As many
as received Him, to them gave He the right
to become children of God, even to them that
believe on His name ; which were born
(begotten), not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God ' '
(i. 12, 13). Faith implies and involves the
privilege of childship to God. At the same
time we notice that it is the reality and not
merely the dignity of sonship which is insisted
on, for S. John never speaks of sons of God,
never implies the relation of adoption, but
always speaks of children of God, who have
actually experienced and are developing a
new life of relation and likeness to God. Indeed
he emphasizes the thought in the first epistle,
" Behold what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called
children of God," by adding "and such we
are " (1 S. John iii. 1).

182 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
Is not the troubling of the heart a summary
of the ordinary" process of human life as we
meet it in our own and in our general experi
ence ? The troubling varies, but the restless
ness is a universal condition. Human phy
sicians recommend, each in his various way,
different cures for this restlessness, but each
recommends this or that form of activity.
Mysticism does not recommend, but it implies,
activity. Union with God in Christ is a
spurious, yes, even an insincere, union, if it
does not produce human activity. For a
new atmosphere reveals and inspires a new
conception of activity. In the atmosphere of
God, so clear, so pure, so invigorating, the
various human qualities not only stand out
more clear to the view, but also receive an
essential freshness, which they do not even
possess in their ordinary environment. Or
at least the freshness is not recognized until
they are so quickened. For one special
influence of this Divine union is the restoration
of the activity with the practical appeal to the
conscience, sin no more (S. John v. 14). There

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 183
have been many attempts to direct human
activity, and it would be unfair to say that
they have been all failures. They have done
much, but, while their influence has been largely
external, the influence of the Divine union is
essentially internal. It has touched the roots
of human activity, and inspired human quali
ties in their innermost growth. Philosophy
raises me to a higher level of truthfulness,
sympathy, self-control, but religion revives in
me from the very nature of God the Divine
germs of the qualities which the Incarnation
first implanted in the nature of man. With
Christ in me, because I am in Christ, I learn,
nay, rather I experience, the Divine possibilities
of my human qualities. The qualities of
truthfulness and sympathy and self-control,
the inherent quality of sincerity which is the
outcome as well as the characteristic of reli
gion, receive their natural, their Divine,
capacity of development. " This is the bread
which cometh down out of heaven, that a
man may eat thereof and not die " (S. John
vi. 50). By union with Christ we receive

184 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
the direct answer to our prayer---" Thou, Who
dost give us earthly bread, give us the bread
eternal." The Mysticism of S. John's Gospel
is not a phase in the presentation of religious
truth, but it is the essence of religion. It is the
implicit declaration that the Incarnation is
the inspiration of activity, the uplifting of
personality to its highest level. It is the
application oi doctrine to hfe, the realization
of doctrine in life.
Here, in our ancient University, the two
streams of ancient and modern life meet and
flow on together. Mere sincerity would pro
voke the heartfelt avowal of an eternal debt
of gratitude to a unique influence upon char
acter and life exercised for all time by our
common fostering mother. Her influence in
the world of letters, of science, of art, is acknow
ledged, and to-day her influence in the world
of activity shines brightly as a star at this
crisis of our darkened national life. Is this
influence merely intellectual, merely senti
mental ? Listen to the voice of one of her
own sons —

PRACTICE OF THE INCARNATION 185
" If I should die, think only this of me :
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed :
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave once her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home."
(Rupert Brooke) .
Shall we not say that her children have
devoted themselves to her service and their
country's service under a deeper inspiration
than the prompting of thought and feeling ?
I claim their devotion as the outcome of
religion, sincere, if unexpressed. It is the
service of God, and it will, in God's good time,
promote the extension of His kingdom upon
earth. For all, that we do, we do to Him and
with Him. We are the instruments of His
Incarnation, effective instruments, according
as we express this mystic, symbolic doctrine
in actual hfe. " He that doeth the truth
cometh to the light, that his works may be
made manifest, that they have been wrought
in God " (S. John iii. 21). No one can direct
human activity to its eternal possibilities but

186 MYSTICISM OF S. JOHN'S GOSPEL
Christ Himself. Believe in God, believe also
in me. Religion is not the mere worship of
God, but it is the possession of Christ, and this
our Christian Mysticism will ever bear upon
the stem of its Divine contemplation the white
flower of human activity, for it is our union
with the Incarnate Christ, Who revealed
Himself as transcendent God while He went
about doing good.
" The One .remains, the many change and pass :
Heaven's light for ever shines : earth's shadows
fly:
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass.
Stains the white radiance of Eternity."

Printed for Rob bet Scott, Publuher, 7, Paternobteb Bow, London , by
Butlkb & Tanner, Feome,

LIBRARY OF
HISTORIC THEOLOGY
EDITED BY
THE REV. WM. G. PIERGY, M.A,
Dean and Chaplain of Whitelands College.
Each Volume, Demy 8vo, Cloth, Red Burnished Topt 5s. net.
THE GREAT SCHISM BETWEEN THE EAST AND WEST.
By the Rev. F. J. Foakes-Jackson, D.D.
THE CATHOLIC CONCEPTION OF THE CHURCH.
By the Rev. W. J. Sparrow Simpson, D.D.
THE PRESENT RELATIONS OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION.
By the Rev. Professor T. G. Bonney, D.Sc.
ARCH/EOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
By Professor Edouard Naville, D.C.L.
MYSTICISM IN CHRISTIANITY.
By the Rev. W. K. Fleming, M.A., B.D.
COMMON OBJECTIONS TO CHRISTIANITY.
By the Rev. C L. Drawbridge, M.A.
RELIGION IN AN AGE OF DOUBT.
By the Rev. C. J. Shebbeare, M.A.
THE RULE OF WORK AND WORSHIP.
By the Rev. R. L. Ottley, D.D.
THE RULE OF LIFE AND LOVE.
By the Rev. R. L. Ottley, D.D.
THE RULE OF FAITH AND HOPE.
By the Rev. R. L. Ottley, D.D.
MARRIAGE IN CHURCH AND STATE.
By the Rev. T. A. Lacey, M.A.
CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS.
By the Rev. W. St. Clair Tisdall, D.D.
THE BUILDING UP OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
By the Rev. Canon R. B. Girdlestone, M.A.
THE CHURCHES IN BRITAIN. Vols. I and II.
By the Rev. Alfred Plummer, D.D.
CHARACTER AND RELIGION.
By the Rev. The Hon. Edward Lyttelton, M.A.
THE CREEDS : Their History, Nature and Use.
By the Rev. Harold Smith, M.A.
THE CHRISTOLOGY OF ST. PAUL (Hulsean Prize Essay).
By the Rev. S. Nowell Rostron, M.A.
MISSIONARY METHODS, ST. PAUL'S OR OURS?
By the Rev. Roland Allen, M.A.

" The ' Library of Historic Theology ' is a project of great promise.
Several volumes by eminent writers have already appeared and the
issue of such a series amply demonstrates that there is no decline
in the interest felt all through the ages in theological literature." —
Homiletic Review.
Further important announcements will be made in due course; full particulars may
be obtained from the Publisher, Robert Scott, Paternoster Row, London, B.C.
LONDON: ROBERT SCOTT, PATERNOSTER ROW, B.C.

BY THE KEY.
ALFRED PLUMMER, M.A., P.P.
AN EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY
ON THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
S. MATTHEW
Demy 8vo. With full General and
Greek Indices. Cloth Gilt, 12s.

" A work eminently suited to meet the needs of English readers,
and which none can study without receiving profit and
edification." — Church Times.
" Dr. Plummer's book will fill a void which all ordinary students
have felt for years past. He has laid us all under a deep debt of
gratitude for this masterly work, which will now become as
much a standard work as his equally valuable book on the third
Gospel." — Rev. W. H. Griffith Thomas in the Churchman.
"The most useful English work on St. Matthew thrt has
appeared in our generation. It is exactly the book for which
students have been waiting for many years. Indispensable to
the student of- the Gospels as the best ' Commentary, ' on St.
Matthew in the English language." — Guardian.
" It is a rich book, and full of matter that is most pertinent to Its
purpose, which is the interpretation of the first Gospel to the
modern mind. Henceforth, Plummer on St Matthew is likely
to be consulted as often as Plummer on St. Luke, and that is
very often indeed. In all questions of interpretation we shall
always turn to it, and we shall often turn to it first of all."
Expository Times.
"Dr. Plummer's 'Commentary' is a masterly specimen, and is
a masterpiece of its category. " — Homiletic Review.
LONDON: ROBERT SCOTT, PATERNOSTER ROW, E;C.

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