66 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. IV. - Mtsticmbi.
Infinite. " Although man," says even Morell, " while in the midst of finite objects, always feels himself to a certain extent free and independent ; yet in the presence of that which is se}f-existent, in- finite, and eternal, he may feel the sense of freedom utterly pass away, and become absorbed in the sense of absolute dependence." ^ This is said to be the essential principle of religion in all its forms from Fetichism up to Christianity. It depends mainly on the de- gree of culture of the individual or community, in what way this sense of dependence shall reveal itself : because the more enlight- ened and pure the individual is, the more he will be able to ap- prehend aright what is involved in this sense of dependence upon God. Revelation is not the communication of new truth to the understanding, but the providential influences by which the re- ligious life is awakened in the soul. Inspiration is not the divine influence which controls the mental operations and utterances of its subject, so as to render him infallible in the communication of the truth revealed, but simply the intuition of eternal verities due to the excited state of the religious feelings. Christianity, subjec- tively considered, is the intuitions of good men, as occasioned and determined by the appearance of Christ. Objectively considered, or, in other words, Christian theology, it is the logical analysis, and scientific arrangement and elucidation of the truths involved in those intuitions. The Scriptures, as a rule of faith, have no au- thority. They are of value only as means of awakening in us the religious life experienced by the Apostles, and thus enabling us to attain like intuitions of divine things. The source of our religious life, according to this system,- is the feelings, and if this be the char- acteristic feature of Mysticism, the Schleiermacher doctrine is purely Mystical.
D. Mysticism as known in Church History.
This, however, is not what is meant by Mysticism, as it has ap- peared in the Christian Church. The Mystics, as already stated, are those who claim an immediate communication of divine knowl- edge and of divine life from God to the soul, independently of the Scriptures and the use of the ordinary means of grace. " It de- spairs," says Fleming, " of the regular process of science ; it be- lieves that we may attain directly, without the aid of the senses or reason, and by an immediate intuition, the real and absolute prin- ciple of all truth, — God." 2
Mystics are of two classes ; the Theosophists, whose object is
1 Philosophy of Rdiyion. p. 75. 2 Word " Mysticism."