THE VISIBLE IS ONLY ITS SHADOW. 



71 



This is indeed similar to the method suggested by St. Paul for 

 gaining a knowledge of the Divinity of God, and I wish I had 

 time to give practical examples, from my own personal experience, 

 how it may be done; but my paper has already grown beyond 

 what I intended and I must for the present be content with having 

 pointed out the pathway by v/hich it is possible for anyone, who 

 will earnestly set himself to the task, to realise the presence of 

 the Spiritual Son of God which is growing up within or in 

 intimate connection with the earthly frame of each one of us, 

 and which I have referred to as our real personality. 



Discussion. 



After a hearty vote of thanks to the learned lecturer had been 

 carried by acclamation on the proposition of Dr. A. T. Schofield, 

 the Chairman, the Doctor proceeded briefly to criticize the paper: — 



On page 54, par. 3, we are told the spiritual is quite beyond our 

 senses of perception, therefore of our conception. 



I question if this is so altogether, I quite agree that God, by 

 whom I presume the "spiritual power" is meant, cannot be com- 

 prehended by the finite, but I suggest that He can certainly be 

 apprehended, and more fully if the precepts and concept be quick- 

 ened by the Holy Spirit. 



On page 65, par. 3, is a thought worth crystallizing. In time 

 ** we appear to he in a similar position to that of a being whose 

 senses are limited to one dimensional space, namely to a line.'''' 



I now come to what certainly requires a little altering and ampli- 

 fying on pp. 68 and 71 "the Holy Son of God," and " the Spiritual 

 Son of God" growing up within us. Inasmuch as the phrase " Son 

 of God " is certainly borrowed from Scripture, the writer will 

 agree with me that it should not be used in a non-Scriptural sense. 

 The phrase never occurs of any man in the O.T., and but once of a 

 nation " I have called my son out of Egypt." In the N.T. its first 

 occurrence, referring to men, is in Romans viii. 14, " For as many 

 as are led by the Spirit of God these are the sons of God-'" A state- 

 ment that by no means refers to humanity at large. Next in 

 Galations iv. 5, we read that Christ "might redeem them which 

 were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons," 

 Evidently a special privilege of those redeemed by Christ ; and 

 thirdly we read A.V. in 1 John iii. 1, " Behold what manner of love 

 the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons 

 of God." In the N.T. therefore this title belongs to those led of the 

 Spirit, redeemed by Christ, and beloved of the Father. I think 

 this should be clearly expressed in the paper. 



May I be allowed in conclusion to point out a fallacy that is 

 common to-day with regard to evil, and that is the denial of its 

 existence and of its reality. 



I would like to say first that a "minus" sign, is by no means 

 the negation of a "plus" sign; any more than evil is merely 



