' The society as founded by Christ has in its collective being a priestly character, but is witliout an official priesthood. It has no temple save the living man ; no sacrifices save those of the spirit and the life ' (Fairbairn, Christ in Modern Thcoloijij, p. 49).
(6) Christ made religion indejjctident in its action, because, as He once said, ' My kingdom is not of this world' (.In IS^**). Being the expression of His eternal Spirit, Christianity has never been stamped or cramped by the language of a given period or the fashion of a particular people. His gospel, being a secret of personal experience, has received a most varied witness even within the NT. It has continually broken through language and escaped. And while the Christian religion in its purity has always been able to shake itself free from the encumbrance of a theological system, it has been no less an independent spirit in regard to other departments of human activity. It has been free to enter and often able to renew them without being itself captured in the process. Political movements, new departures in art, and even ad- vances in science, have as often as not received guidance and support from the Christian spirit. But to none of them has it remained captive, be- cause it moves by right in a higher realm. Thus ' age cannot stale its infinite variety.' It exercises the royal prerogative of lending to all, but borrow- ing nothing in return, and so is free for every emergency which history unfolds in the wdiole com- pass of humanity.
(7) Christ has made religion rnissionarij in its outlook, because He is the Saviour of the world. Christianity is not equipped like, e.g., Muham- madanism, for capturing whole tribes at once, for it is not, properly speaking, nationalist in its range. But it stands alone among all other re- ligions in its power to emancipate individuals, and ultimately to regenerate society in every race under the sun. It takes secure root in the uni- versal soil of human needs and possibilities, and with such a grip it is in command of the future. All it waits for is that its professors should realize that it increases in proportion as it is given away, and is truly known only by those who try to make it known.
Christ always believed in small beginnings, but His hope was ever set on great and triumphant conclusions. That He was alone, with nowhere to lay His head, did not trouble Him, for He knew that when He was lifted up from the earth He would draw all men unto Him (Jn 12^''^). That His disciples were not wise and learned satisfied Him perfectly, because He saw them (metaphorically speaking) seated on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. That none of the rulers believed on Him did not perturb Him greatly ; for He fore- saw the time when they would come from the east and the west, tlie north and the south, to sit down in the Kingdom of God (Lk IS-**). His parables suggested His confidence in the irresistible con- tagi<m of the lives of men who had once been won for the Kingdom. He likened His word to a fire (Lk 12«), to leaven (Mt 13»^), to a seed (v.^^), so potent is its influence on life and on society. And because the needs of the world are .so great and deep, and the fielils white unto harvest, He gave
Himself up wholly to the ingathering work of the Father, and, more than that, He laid it as a last ciiarge and responsibility upon His disciples that they should go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mt 28'-').
Literature. — Bruce, Chief End of Rev. ; Herrmann, Com. with God, and his art. 'Religion' in PllE'^; Illingworth, Div. Immanence, and Personality Hum. and Dio. ; Gore, BL ; New- man Smyth, The Jiel. Feeling; Coleridge, Aids to Rejtecticn (esp. Introd. Aphor. xxiii) ; Menzies, Hist, of Jiel. ; Schleier- macher, Jieden iibir die Rel. [Eng. tr. by Oman] ; Orr, Chr. View of God and the World ; Caird, Fundamental Ideas of Christianity ; Harnack, What is Christianity 1 ; Martineau, Studies in Christianity ; Seeley, Ecce Hoino ; Oman, Vision and Authority ; forrest, Authority of Christ.
A. N. Rowland. RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. — 1. Evidential value of religious experience. — Experience is the ultimate test of truth. All knowledge comes from witiiin. World-knoM ledge, self-knowledge, Clod-knowledge, all equally depend upon the trust- worthiness of this inner organ of information. A universal experience, or an intuitive consciousness, gives us knowledge lifted to the highest power. That which is most universal and most enduring is vouched for by the nature of things. The religious consciousness is as clear and univer.sal as the world-consciousness. It is as natural to man as volition or mathematics. Every baby is born blind and dumb and without the power to will, and there may be some tribes with poor eyes and slow tongues and no theology ; but in normal humanity there is a latent capacity for sight and sjieech and volition, and at least a hope that the soul has relations with the supernatural. Religion is not something miraculous. It is as natural to man as eyesight and star-gazing. It is as normal as any physiologic function. Modern psychology has indisputably proved that religious experience is as closely related to the nerves and blood as puberty ; the vital organs and psychic mechanism are built with reference to it. Its importance and value to the race are doubly starred, for ' its best fruits are the best things history has to show ' (James, Varieties of Religioiis Experience, p. 259). To doubt its veracity would be an insolence to the Providence of the universe. Modern psy- chology has only emphasized Augustine's decision : ' Lord, if we are deceived, we are deceived by Thee.'* It is because the NT grew out of, andis the re- cord of, genuine first-hand religious experience that it has the gift of tongues, and can speak to every man in the language Avherein he was born.