Blessings by the way.

The inward quest.

The kingdom must go in to the centre and down to the bottom of personality, and work from within outward, - from below upward. This was the programme of Christ; and to carry it out He directed His journey to the inner life of man.

On the way thither, like a prince in progress, He conferred inestimable gifts and blessings in the outer circles of human existence. The doctrine of Jesus has widened the thoughts of men. The example of Jesus has crystallized the moral aspirations of men into a flawless and imperishable ideal. The precept of Jesus has struck the keynote for a new harmony of human fellowship. The influence of Jesus has given inspiration and guidance to philosophy and literature and the fine arts.

But as we follow Him through these regions we are made aware that He is pressing inward to a goal beyond. He seeks the thinker, we say, behind the thought; the person, behind the social order. He aims to elevate man by uplifting men. His mission is not to masses, nor to classes; it is to the individual. when He finds the individual, as a thinker, as a social unit, what then? Still Christ seems to press inward, to seek a yet deeper point.

But

His mission to society is through the indi

vidual. But when we have said that, we have not yet said all. His mission to the individual is through the inner life. He has not arrived at the goal of His journey, He has not spoken the last word of His message until He has said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee"; and to the woman of Syro-Phoenicia, "Go in peace"; and to the disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled"; and to all the weary and heavy-laden, "Come unto me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

The kingdom of God which Jesus proclaims 4 kingdom and establishes is a kingdom of the soul. Its of the soul. deepest meaning is a personal experience. Its essence is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Its dwelling-place and seat of power is in the inner life.

The imprint of Christ.

II

The Picture of Jesus in the Soul

If this be true, it is perfectly natural, and altogether reasonable, that the earliest and clearest and most enduring manifestation of Christ should be in this region of man's inmost being. The impress of His character should be deepest upon the sub-liminal self. The traces of His presence in the world should be most distinct and most indelible in the records of spiritual experience. The evidences of His healing, purifying, harmonizing, saving power should be found first and most abundantly in those underlying relations, those mysterious sentiments and propensities,

"those obstinate questionings

Of sense and outward things,
Fallings from us, vanishings;

Blank misgivings of a creature

Moving about in worlds not realized,

High instincts before which our mortal Nature
Doth tremble like a guilty thing surprised:
Those first affections,

Those shadowy recollections,

Which, be they what they may,

Are yet the fountain light of all our day."

And so in fact we find it to be.

The image

of Jesus comes to light, first of all, in the

spiritual experience of man. The earliest and the most wonderful picture of Him is simply a living reflection of Him in man's inner life.

as received

Him.

Before we can discern any influence of His As many teaching, as a great reformer, upon the institutions of society; before we can perceive any effect of those large, simple truths which He brought to light, upon the orderly thinking of the world; before we can trace the rudest beginnings of Christian art, the most ancient formulas of Christian worship, the earliest foundations of Christian temples; yes, even before we can find any narrative of the life of Jesus, any collection of His sayings, any record of His deeds, first of all, and most vivid of all, we see the person of Jesus printed upon the hearts and revealed in the letters of certain men who loved and trusted and adored Him as their Saviour from sin.

antedate the

Gospels.

As a matter of fact, the Epistles come before The Epistles the Gospels. I do not say they are any more authentic, any more precious, than the Gospels. I do not say they are ever to be read or interpreted apart from the Gospels. But I say they are forever sacred and authoritative to all Christian hearts, because they are the place where we first catch sight of Jesus Christ in this world. And their personal testimony, their peculiar sig

H

Christ their theme.

Their witness to His power.

nificance, their religious meaning, must never be forgotten or denied, if we want to know what Christ came to do, and what Christ really did, for the life of man.

For what are these Epistles? They are not formal treatises of theology, of ethics, of church government. They are simply transcripts of the spiritual experience of real men,-St. Peter and St. Paul and St. John, and perhaps some others whose names we do not know.

No one can doubt that the centre of these letters is Jesus Christ. He is their theme and their inspiration, their impulse and their aim. They are written in His name. They bear witness to His power, they glow with His praise. They are, first of all, and most of all, evidences of the place which Jesus held in the inner life of these men, testimonies to the change which He wrought in their souls, a change so great, so deep, so joyful, that it was like a new birth, a veritable passing from death unto life. Listen to a description of this change, in words as fresh and glowing as if they had been written but yesterday:

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to