consciously opposed ; and the feeling of dependence must become absolute ; for all finite power is as nothing in relation to the Infinite."
Christianity, as just stated, is the life of Christ, his human life, which is also divine, and is communicated to us as the life of Adam was communicated to his descendants. Morell, rather more in accordance with English modes of thought, says,i " Christianity, like every other rehgion, consists essentially in a state of man's inner consciousness, which develops itself into a system of thought and activity only in a community of awakened minds ; and it was inevitable, therefore, that such a state of consciousness should re- quire time, and intercourse, and mutual sympathy, before it could become moulded into a decided and distinctive form." He rep- resents the Apostles as often meeting together and deliberating on essential points, correcting each other's views ; and, after years of such fellowship, Christianity was at last brought into form.
Revelation is declared to be a communication of truth to our intuitional consciousness. The outward world is a revelation to our sense-intuitions ; beauty is a revelation to our esthetic intuitions ; and " eternal verities," when intuitively perceived, are said to be revealed ; and this intuition is brought about by whatever purifies and exalts our religious feelings. •' Revelation," says Morell, " is a process of the intuitional consciousness, gazing upon eternal verities ; while theology is the reflection of the understanding upon those vital intuitions, so as to reduce them to a logical and scientific expression." ^
Inspiration is the inward state of mind which enables us to ap prehend the truth. " Revelation and inspiration," says Morell, " indicate one united process, the result of which upon the human mind is, to produce a state of spiritual intuition, whose phenomena are so extraordinary, that we at once separate the agency by which they are produced from any of the ordinary principles of human development. And yet this agency is applied in perfect consistency with the laws and natural operations of our spiritual nature. In- spiration does not imply anything generically new in the actual processes of the human mind ; it does not involve any form of in- telligence essentially different from what we already possess ; 'l indicates rather the elevation of the religious consciousness, and with it, of coui'se, the power of spiritual vision, to a degree of in- tensity peculiar to the individuals thus highly favoured of God." ' The only difference, therefore, between the Apostles and ordinary Christians is as to their relative holiness.
1 Pkihsophy of Religion, page 104. 2 page 141. « Paire 151.
176 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. VL — P. R. of Faith.
According to this theory thei-e is no specific difference between genius and inspiration. The difference is simply in the objects ap- preheiided and the causes of the inward excitement to which the apprehension is due. " Genius," says Morell, " consists in the pos- session of a remarkable power of intuition with reference to some particular object, a power Avhich arises from the inward nature of a man being brought into unusual harmony with that object in its reality and its operations." ^ This is precisely his account of inspiration. " Let," he says, " there be a due purification of the moral nature, — a perfect harmony of the spiritual being with the mind of God, — a removal of all inward disturbances from the heart, and what is to prevent or disturb this immediate intuition of divine things." ^
This theory of inspiration, while retaining its essential elements, is variously modified. With those who believe with Schleiermacher, that man " is the form in which God comes to conscious existence on our earth," it has one form. With Realists who define man to be " the manifestation of generic humanity in connection with a given corporeal organization;" and who believe that it was generic humanity which Christ took and united in one life with his divine nature, which life is communicated to the Church as his body, and thereby to all its members; it takes a somewhat different form. With those again who do not adopt either of these anthropological theories, but take the common view as to the constitution of man ; it takes still a different, and in some respects, a lower, form. In all, however, inspiration is the intuition of divine truths due to the excitement of the religious nature, whatever that nature may be.
Objections to Schleiermacher s Theory. To this theory in all its forms it may be objected, — 1. That it proceeds upon a wrong view of religion in general and of Christianity in particular. It assumes that religion is a feeling, a life. It denies that it is a form of knowledge, or involves the reception of any particular system of doctrine. In the subjective sense of the word, all religions (i. e., all religious doctrines) are true, as Twesten says,^ but all are not equally pure, or equally ad- equate expressions of the inward religious principle. According to the Scriptures, however, and the common conviction of Cliristians,
1 Philosophy of Religion, page 184. '^ Page 186.
3 Dogmatik,yo\.i.p.2. " Das Verhiiltniss des Erkennen zur Religion." Hase's Dogmadk, "Jede Religion als Ergebniss einer Volksbildung ist angeraesen oder subj. wahr; wahr an sich ist die, welche der vollendeten Ausbildung der Menschheit entspricht." See also his HuUerus Redivivus.