CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM. 



81 



in the small space occupied by the human face. It would certainly 

 be extremely inconvenient if we were all exactly alike. 



Now is it not extremely probable that there is just as much 

 diversity in the characters of men, and in their attributes of mind 

 and soul t And may we not take it as quite certain that God deals 

 with each one according to his characteristics 1 



On page 61 of the paper reference is made to Mr. William James, 

 whose book, Varieties of Religious Experience, is so often referred to, 

 I once glanced through this book, and I saw that he gave extracts 

 from writers of various schools of thought who had written of their 

 own religious experiences, and he seemed to treat them as represen- 

 tatives of all Christians. But they could not be representative of 

 the very large class of people who would never dream of putting 

 their innermost thoughts and feelings upon paper. 



From all that we read of the Mystics who lived in the Dark Ages, 

 and whose writings or whose memoirs have come down to us, it 

 seems clear that most of them must have been earnest and faithful 

 men. They could not have had the Word of God in such an acces- 

 sible form as we have it to-day — they certainly had no reference 

 Bibles and concordances. Doubtless God taught them. What we 

 may call by the name " intuition," was in their case doubtless the 

 teaching of God's Holy Spirit, given, in each case, according to their 

 need. 



One great danger of the present day is that people, and especially 

 young people, should mistake their own feelings, and their own ideas, 

 which often may mean their own desires, for Divine guidance. All 

 genuine Christian experience must be founded on Christian doctrine, 

 and all Christian doctrine must have for its foundation, facts — the 

 facts that are revealed to us in the Word of God, and these are 

 briefly summarized for us in the Creeds. It must never be forgotten 

 that our religion is based on facts, and we must beware of any teach- 

 ing, by whatever name it is called, which ignores any of these 

 fundamental facts. There is the fact of God the Father, of God the 

 Son, and of God the Holy Spirit : the fact of our creation, the fad 

 of sin, the fact of our redemption, and the facts of future reward 

 and punishment. We cannot afford to omit in our teaching any of 

 the essential facts. 



It is an exceedingly grave statement that we find on page 60 of the 

 paper — that the centre of gravity in religion has swung round from 



G 



