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VERT REV. W. R. INGE^ M.A., D.D., ON 



authority to experience. We cannot rightly consider anything as 

 true Christian experience unless it is founded on authority — on the 

 authority of God's Word. 



When we turn to the older Mystics such as John Tauler, of 

 Strasburg, Nicholas of Basle, and Suso, whom we read of in 

 Mrs. Bevan's Three Friends of God, and Lady J ulian of Norwich, and 

 Richard Rolle, who lived in the 14th century, and of whom the Rev. 

 Dundas Harford has written, we find them true to the most funda- 

 mental evangelical truths (though Suso was a severe ascetic), and 

 their writings justify the definition of Mysticism by Rufus Jones, 

 which we find on page 60 of the paper as " that type of religion 

 which puts the emphasis on immediate awareness of relation with 

 God, on direct and immediate consciousness of the Divine 

 presence." Then again Bishop Hall's Christ Mystical is a delightful 

 and deeply spiritual volume of the 17 th century, and was much loved 

 by that wonderful soldier-mystic, General Gordon. With such 

 Mystics we can have the fullest sympathy, and their history cannot 

 fail to be helpful. 



But we must not forget the danger there is of any teaching in the 

 present day that would at all exalt the personal feelings and 

 experiences of even the holiest of men unless these are based on the 

 sure foundations of God's Word. 



Mr. Sydney T. Klein, F.L.S., F.R.A.S. :— The great charm 

 running throughout Dr. Inge's paper on " Christian Mysticism " is, 

 I think, the absence of all sophistry and theological diction ; one 

 feels at once that he is a true lover of his subject, by the tender way 

 in which he handles all matters that are sacred, and therefore dear 

 to those who, like him, have set out on the true Quest. 



I like the broad-minded way in which he acknowledges that the 

 Quest is open alike to all, whatever religious denomination they may 

 belong to. Every human being is surely a potential son of God, 

 and yet the presentation of the Absolute, with its infinite variety of 

 aspects, must be so different to every individual that the same 

 definition of Mysticism will not satisfy everybody, and each phase 

 of humanity will have i ts special aspect. 



I agree entirely with the writer that the Quest is not helped by 

 the Intellect ; but I would go further, and say it is only when we 

 have realized the limitations of our finite Intellect, and therefore its 

 uselessness for comprehending the Infinite, that Mystical experience 



