upon personal experience. They liave to do witli ' Jesus only.' His statements as to truth and His promise of future blessedness were sufhcient grounds of certainty without any 'experiences' to corroborate them. Salvation, according to the earliest Christian Gosjjcl, is j)roved not by personal experience but by practical morality, a comjjassion- ate spirit, and obedience to the inner law — this inner law being objectified in Jesus Christ when He is known (Mt 25'"'"^''). The proper use of talents, helpfulness, mercifulness, prayerfulness, and love for brother man — these are the marks of a Christian. To be inimble and self -forgetful, to care for the poor, and the sick, and the sinful — this is to ' iniierit the kingdom ' (Mt 6''*). A man may be a member of Christ's Kingdom even though he has not consciously been serving Him (Mt 25^'"^**). He who forgives shall be forgiven (Mt 6^'*). To be a Christian is not to ' accept the word with joy,' but to live, bearing fruit (.Mt 13^»-23, Lk 8'=*). In Mk. it is not even remembered that Jesus ever promised 'joy,' or ' peace,' or ' rest.' These words do not meet us in this earliest Gosjtel. Jesus was the sole object of thought. How a disciple felt was of too little importance to be noticed. In Mt. the transforming principle is the word spoken by Jesus, and the result is 'rest' {e.g. T^^ W^ 13-^). In Jn. the transforming princijjle is Jesus, who is 'the Word' and 'the Life,' and the result is ' peace' (3-* 63^4-'' 17=^). Witii St. Paul the trans- forming princijjle is the Holy Ghost applying the redemption purchased by the blood of the cross, and tiie result is 'joy' and 'glory.' In the Synoptics the command is ' Come,' and if you endure to the end you ' siiall be saved.' In Jn. the command is ' Believe,' and he. that believeth ' hath everlasting life.' With St. Paul tiie central inter- rogation is, ' Have you received the Holy Ghost ? ' — if so, you ' have been saved ' (cf. Eph 2'). In the Synoptics it is following Jesus that is emphasized ; in Jn. it is being one with Jesus ; in St. Paul's letters it is being united with Him in His death. In the Synoptics salvation is educational ; in Jn. it is biological ; in St. Paul's letters it is sacrificial. The first type of thought emphasized the fact of salvation, the second its psychology, the third its piiilosophy. In their deepest meaning these three are one ; but they represent three types of Chris- tian thought, from which resulted three types of Christian doctrine and Christian experience. Each type finds its root in the Gospel teaching ; but the appeal to the 'inner witness,' the making pro- minent of Christian experience, and the rise of what may be called the emotional type of Christianity, are all post-Pentecostal developments. So long as Jesus remained with them, the disciples did not think it worth while to talk of themselves, or notice their own inward emotions or mental experi- ences. But Jesus left them, and in utter loneliness and sorrow they stood gazing into the heavens which had received Him. But at Pentecost they began to awaken to the fact that He was still alive, still near them, still able to talk Avith them, and make their hearts burn as He talked. Then their eyes were turned within, and Christian experi- ence began to be of vital theological importance. It was the new Christian thought of the Holy Ghost which gave birth both to the Johaimine and to the Pauline theologies and experiences. The Holy Spirit represented Christ in the believer's heart. It spake with the authority of God Himself, and in the very accents of the One now gone. Christ was witii them again. He had promised to come, and to abide with them always (Jn 6'^ 14^*). He had kept His promise. The Word was again incarnate, and was in each one of them. The believer's flesh was His flesh (cf. Eph 5^, and especially the startling words of 2 Co 3" 6 5^ Kt'ipios
rb TTvev/j.d i<7Tw). This discovery, that it was the Lord Jesus Himself wiio was speaking within them in tiie Person of the Holy Ghost, brought the experiences of the soul into new imjiortance. It was this consciousness of the indwelling Christ M Inch filled the hearts of the early Christians with joy, and made them a wonder to the iieathen world.
Typical Christian experience did not begin until Pentecost (Jn 7^'', Ac 2" 19'-) ; yet the Synoptic Gospels contain all the roots of the beautiful rod which budded in those later ecstatic experiences. Although, when a sinner repented and was for- given, it was only the joy of God and the angels which the Synoptics thought important enough to mention (Lk 15"- ^^), incidentally we learn that the return to God brings a kiss to the soul and a song to the lips (Lk IS'^"- ^■*). It was a home-coming. There can be no doubt that ' praising God,' and ' gladness of heart,' and an exhilaration which Avas like the exhilaration of wine, were characteristic of the earliest Christian experiences (Ac 2^^- ^^■^''). Every later Apostolic experience, however jubilant, appears prophetically in Jn. (e.g. 43" 15" 16'-"- ^a- 24 17^^).