144 Some Implications of the Incarnation [CH. 



already quoted, and " I and my Father are one " ; " I in 

 them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into 

 one"; "that they may all be one, even as thou. Father, 

 art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in 

 us." Indeed the whole of this seventeenth chapter of St 

 John's Gospel, as well as other passages, might be quoted 

 in opposition to any denial of Christ's memory of exist- 

 ence with the Father. And whether the words reported 

 were actually Christ's words or not, they must at least 

 convey the meaning which some of Christ's words 

 brought to the Evangelist in retrospect. Christ then, 

 certainly spoke as if He were conscious of complete union 

 with God, at times; though in the moment of isola- 

 tion (Eloi ! Eloi ! lama sabachthani) this consciousness 

 was completely absent ; and at many other times partially 

 so, as we saw in discussing His limitations. This is very 

 puzzling. Does it connote a realisation of His own 

 Divinity? If so how, being conscious of such union, 

 could He be perfect man ? How, if at one time He was so 

 conscious, through the coexistence of His divinity with 

 His humanity, could He lose the divine consciousness, in 

 part or completely at other times? Perhaps no real 

 answer can be given to this problem. 



Yet a tentative effort to understand it may not be 

 wholly fruitless. 



In the first place perfect manhood would give Him a 

 sense of union with the Father, such as no other man 

 ever experienced ; especially since, as we have seen, His 

 perfectness excluded the barrier of original sin which 

 divided other men from God. The mystic saint has 

 something of this experience even under the conditions 

 of fallen manhood. This would suffice to explain such 

 expressions as "I and the Father are One." But does it 

 suffice to explain such expressions as "Before Abraham 

 was, I am " ; "I came out from the Father and I return 

 to the Father"; "He that hath seen me hath seen the 



