8. Range and content of Christian experience. — No part of human nature is excluded from the influence of .saving grace. Schleiermacher centred religion in the feelings, Hegel in the intellect, Kant in the will ; but Jesus Christ centred it in the man. The Torah of Jesus brought into loftiest prominence the fact that all man's faculties of sensibility, intellect, and volition must be brought to focus in the act and state of loving self-surrender to God (Mk 1'2^<'). Christian experi- ence, as depicted in the NT, includes a new intel- lectual vision, a radical shifting of the emotional centre, and a rectification and strengthening of the will.
The first stejj in a typical Christian experience is the recognition of a new horror in sin. Sin is a more hateful and deadly thing to the Christian than to the Hebrew or the Babylonian. It is not only an epidemic universal and fatal (Jn 1-"), a blood-poisoning (O'*^ 15--- ^■*), worse than a lifelong paralysis (b^'*), which may be eternal (Mk 3^^), a slavery (Jn 8*^), and an insanity (Lk 15'^) ; it is ungrateful (16«), traitorous (Mk 22«), unfilial (Lk 15") ; the assassination of one's higher self (9^^), and a fratricidal blow at Jesus Christ (Mt 2P®, Lk 9^^). The cross shows God's thought of sin, and those who have seen the cross get a totally new view of the guilt of sin. Jesus can never be seen as a Saviour, in the Gospel sense, until a man sees himself to be a lost sinner having no hope of help except from God (Lk 7'*- 15^-»2 19^"). It is no sign of ' healthy-mindedness ' to feel no terror of sin. The ' neurotic state ' is not one of keen son-ow for sin, but a state of hardness and callousness [e.g. Lk 15'^, cf. Eph 2'). Repentance is not a 'patho- logical condition of melancholia,' Avhich is to be avoided ; it is the sinner's only hope. It is the goodness of God which leadeth him to repentance. To be ' pricked to the heart ' when one faces the cross is characteristic of a genuine Christian experience. When one reaches a state where he cannot feel these sharp goads of pain, then even God Himself cannot help him (Mt 12"- -", cf. He 6«). Sackcloth and ashes are the appropriate clothing for the penitent (Mt IP'). Yet it is not the emotional drapery, but the decisive action of the soul away from the wrong and towards the right (i.e. Christ) which is made emphatic (Jn 14"). The first call is to repentance (Mk 1'^). This is the first tiling commanded, for it is the first possible active ett'ort of the man co-operating with the con- stant ettbrt of God — without whom he could neither will nor act aright — in his own salvation. It is the first active human preliminary to a conscious
496 RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
RENUNCIATION
Christian experience. It is a radical change of mind [fxeTavoiw], involving a radical change of front {eiri(TTp^(f>uj). The response of the will to revealed duty is the ' Yea ' or ' Nay ' to God's call. With the ' Yea ' his eyes open, and he gets new vision. Sin can shut out even the sight of God and blind the soul to the dili'erence between good and evil (Mt 12^*). Purity of intent and purpose cleanses the lens of the intellectual telescope so that one can see God ; and when one sees God, many other things previously obscured become visible (Jn 4^** 5«).
Saving faith, according to the Gospels, centres in Christ. It is not faith in one's self or in one's own salvation, present, past, or future ; it is a loyal surrender to Him who represents the soul's highest ideal of right, as Lord. Having accepted Him as Lord, the soul then finds Him to be Saviour (Jn 523. 24)_ jj^ i^ijg Synoptics the words tt'kjtls, Tna-revcx} do not mean as much as with St. John and St. Paul, because the words ' Christ ' and ' Saviour ' did not mean as much ; but in every case the surrender is to Jesus up to the level of all the light received. Whosoever ' wills to do his will ' shall know at least this, that Jesus can be trusted (7", cf. 9^''). The testimonies to conscious personal trust in Jesus Christ as the supreme standard of right and the never-failing and ever-present Helper of all sin-sick souls, fill every page of the NT.. The result of the exercise of faith is not infrequently a change of opinion and judgment ; it is always a change of affection and volitional relation to God. The man's whole nature changes. Jn. states this by the strongest possible figure — that of a second birth (3'") ; but the Synoptics hint prophetically at the same thing. The man must make a new beginning, as radical as if he had become a child again (Mt 5^^ 18^, cf. Mk 10^^). A new seed of personality must be planted within him (Lk S'^'^^ 17'-^'). There must be a change of the life passion (Mt 6^^ 10^^). New- born thoughts and feelings and powers must de- velop until the vital functions are practically reversed (Mk S^s 123»- «5, Mt 5^-'"> 16-5, Lk IT^').
St. Paul constantly dwells upon this. The new life which one consciously obtains through faith in Jesus Christ is likened to that which would be needed in quickening a corpse or bringing about a resurrection from the dead (1 Co 1522, Col 213, Eph 25). The man obtains a new self, as if he had been re- created (2 Co 51"). Christ has started a new race, as truly as did Adam (1 Co I522. -io), and the result is a new manhood, a new humanity (tov xxivov [tov tint] xvSpa^ov, Eph 424, Col 310), governed by a new law of life.