176 Some Implications of the Incarnation [CH. 



We claim, then, that analysis of the effects of the 

 psychic processes on a man's development processes 

 and development that Christ must have Himself experi- 

 enced, if He was truly man leads us to fuller under- 

 standing of the solidarity of men with God. We claim 

 that if our belief that Christ took the Manhood into God 

 means anything at all, it must mean two things; that 

 the full experience, and the individual experiences, of 

 manhood, and no empty abstract thing to which we 

 attach a meaningless name of manhood, entered into, 

 and became a part of, His eternal Being; and that some- 

 thing was added to the experience of God which could 

 have been added in no other way, and which yet was 

 essential to the realisation of His creative activity in the 

 union of man with Himself. 



These ideas raise two questions in our minds; 



(1) With the first we began this chapter. Does any 

 memory, in the strict sense of His earthly life, yet linger 

 in the ascended Christ, and will such memory always 

 linger? 



(2) How are we to reconcile the idea of an added, ex- 

 perience with the idea of a Transcendent God ; and more 

 especially how are we to reconcile the necessity of this 

 added experience for the fulfilment of creative purpose? 



To the first question we must clearly answer both yes 

 and no. Yes, for this reason. Christ, we know, is with 

 us still. Those whose religious life is real and vital do 

 not merely believe it ; they know it as a certain fact of 

 experience. From day to day He lives with them, 

 guides them, comforts them, and opens to them fresh 

 vistas of truth. With them He indwells the sphere of 

 time. He draws from the deep well of His own humanity 

 living water to refresh them when the way is weary. 

 He enters into their humour, their appreciation of the 

 friendly oddity of their relations with others, their 

 loving delight in the whimsicalities of life. He loves life 



