CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM. 



71 



common with Mysticism than it has with much of the later 

 ecclesiastical religions. " Life is always raised to new levels, 

 and receives a new dynamic quality whenever God becomes real 

 in personal and social experience " (E. Jones). Christianity in 

 its origin was essentially a rich and vivid consciousness of God, 

 rising to a perfect experience of union with God in mind and 

 heart and soul. It was a personal exhibition of the Divine in 

 the human, the Eternal in the midst of time. The direct 

 impact and power of Christ's life on His followers is the most 

 extraordinary thing in the Gospels ; it, and not any portents, 

 caused the realization that He was Divine. Christ always 

 taught His disciples to expect a personal experience of God like 

 His own, though less in degree. This Christianity is in its very 

 heart a mystical religion. The first Church was a mystical 

 fellowship, in which each member had received the Holy Ghost. 

 In St. Paul the mystical element is very strong. Christ's 

 " method of inwardness " ; His directions as to prayer ; His 

 ideality and attitude towards wealth, towards death ; His 

 emphasis on love — all His teaching implied, we may say, a 

 mystical philosophy of religion. 



Discussion. 



The Chairman said he was sure those present would agree with 

 him in expressing their great indebtedness to Dean Inge for his 

 paper ; their indebtedness in a very special degree. 



Mysticism was now all in the air, and the pendulum, which in 

 Huxley's days pointed to the material, had now swung far over 

 towards the spiritual ; some thought too far. There was no doubt, 

 however, that the word Mysticism had been dragged through the 

 mud to such an extent as to have become, as the Dean had said, 

 spelt with an " i " rather than with a " y." The word therefore as 

 applied to Christianity had been looked at askance by some, and it 

 certainly stood in need of that careful definition which Dean Inge 

 had given. He had pointed out that Mysticism formed an essential 

 part of Christianity. Now any real advance in Christianity was 

 due to the translation of Divine truths into facts, or, in other words, 

 the substitution of personal knowledge of God for second-hand 

 knowledge ; and that in itself was Mysticism. He would ask them 

 to allow him to read again words which he was sure they would be 

 sorry to forget (p. 69, lines 18-27), "Mysticism asserts . . . she has 

 been exiled." Those words should be written in all our hearts. 



