when Jesus protested against being called Good Master, his mind being filled with the contrast between himself and God, he said: "Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God." At another time a similar feeling of contrast led to his saying: "I came forth and am come from God." Even in saying that "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son," there is a feeling of God's greatness in relation to the whole world, which differs from the usual feeling of filial intimacy. And this feeling of separation deepens in the mortal struggles of Calvary to a positive though brief feeling of alienation, and he cries out: "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" In one case Jesus uses the term "God the Father" in describing his relationship to God in formal or legal terms, saying of "the Son of man," "Him hath God the Father sealed." In all these cases there appears to be a feeling of God as relatively distant, greater than Jesus himself, or otherwise separated from him. Whatever sense experience is included in the more usual attitude as of a son toward a father is of the deepest and most intimate sort. The theology, the sociology, the psychology of Jesus, if he may be said to have had any of these things, are implied in this common, life-born relationship. But we are interested here in the sense elements in this experience. There seems to be little of the visual, if any, in Jesus' imagery of God. If the face of Joseph affects the concept of fatherhood, just as truly and much more significantly do the bodily reactions, inner strains, organic His Exphenomena, involved in the inner attitude of the boy Jesus toward perience the carpenter of Nazareth. Fatherhood is, to Jesus, the deep fected interest of one who "gives good gifts to his children." Perhaps there by Peris something in common between this warm personal attitude and Relathat indicated in the confession of a student, to whom I have tionships previously referred, who cannot think of God as a divinity to be worshipped and maintain a feeling of relation toward him. To Jesus, God is near, tender, and concerned in his welfare. Whatever intimate sense reactions are involved in the attitudes of personal affection are here. "The Father loveth the Son," and the constant attitude of the Son is affection toward the Father. There are visual elements in the imagery through which Jesus describes his attitudes toward God. "The Father loveth the Son and showeth him all the things that himself doeth." "He that is from God, he hath seen the Father." However, these do not appear to be clear, full visualizations. There is no delineation of face or figure. Motor reactions and whatever is involved in the personal relationship suggested are more significant than the visual images. as Af sonal Ele There is in Jesus a feeling of the near presence of the Father. "I am not alone, because the Father is with me." In his prayers we feel that God, to him, is near. When, in his death agony, he feels forsaken, he uses the word "God." "The Father" seems always near, and there is a feeling of being in constant personal touch with him. Again and again he says: "I know the Father." There is vivid imagery in terms of hunger and thirst and their satisfaction. "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." "My Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven. I am the bread of life." "The cup which the Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" As might be expected, from his ethical and practical teachings, there is decided motor imagery. God is a laboring God. "My Various Father worketh even until now, and I work." He describes the Sense Father as showing him "all things that himself doeth," as having ments all power, "being greater than all," so that none can snatch his disInvolved ciples out of the Father's hand. He feels that his own labor is done through the power of God, for "the Father abiding in me doeth his works," and shows that the way to honor God is through service. It has been mentioned that in one case Jesus uses the word Power for God. Throughout the parables and other teachings concerning the relations of man toward God, one feels the greatness of his conception. God is universal, powerful, giving power to Jesus and to all men. He is a king, with authority over legions of angels. This sense of the power of God is involved in his feeling toward his mission. Again and again he speaks of "the Father that sent me," and it is with a sense of responsibility as well as of power from God that he says: "I seek not mine own will but the will of him that sent me." No element in the experience of Jesus seems more significant than the motor sense of union with God in activity. So great is the meaning of this divine union in service that he says: "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." And the proof of his mission is in this union in service: "The works which the Father hath given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me." The attitude of Jesus seems generally to be that of expansion and buoyancy. His conceptions of the greatness of God, his participation in the Father's character and work, and his cheerful appreciation of all the good things of life, seem to indicate inner feelings of this sort. He speaks of being glorified by the Father, and of the glorification of the Father through the active service of his disciples. This expansive-buoyant feeling may also be implied in his frequent references to his having come down from heaven, having come from God, or being sent by the Father. A feeling of inner shrinking and humility is also discernible at times. Even in the glorification of the Father there is a self-depreciation. “I seek not mine own will." "I do nothing of myself." "None is good save one, even God." And in the supreme testing time there is a sublimely dignified humiliation when he says: "The cup which the Father hath given me shall I not drink?" and at last the agonized cry, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" Conspicuous among the experiences of Jesus is the feeling of union with the Father. This involves something more than a feeling of a near presence. It is involved in his active participation in the Father's work, but is more than holding experiences in com- The Feeling mon with him. There is a closer bond than that of original rela- of Union tionship involved in the repeated statement, "I and the Father are one." It is a feeling of the presence of God not merely beside him but within him. It is an inner possession, so that he says: "The Father abiding in me doeth the works," and "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." There is doubtless an involved complex entering into this feeling of inner union. Beside the personal and tender emotions which the son feels toward the father, there are probably inner strains and organic reactions, the nervous thrill which commonly accompanies, in times of special emotional fervor, the feeling of being possessed by another will than one's own, and such a balance of strains as made possible the deeper peace which characterized a great part of his experience. Again and again the biographers of Jesus picture him as possessed of an inward peace in the midst of outer conflict. The Master asleep during the storm attracts their attention. And when, in violent controversy, Jesus meets the scribes and Pharisees with a quotation from the Hebrew scriptures or some quietly uttered bit of proverbial wisdom, one is struck by his calmness rather than by his intellectual skill. And the world has never forgotten the scenes of the arrest of Jesus, the illegal pretense of a trial, when he stood in calm dignity, answering his judges with a few quietly-spoken words, and meeting taunts and accusations with silence. A study of the life of Jesus indicates a wonderful variety of strong opposing strains and inner tensions. A powerful personality must be one of powerful and varied impulses. In every great man there may be found opposing strains which make his life a struggle, which develop certain phases of his character by opposition, which makes his actions sometimes appear inconsistent Con- and paradoxical. The truly great man is he who can control a trolled variety of opposing and powerful tendencies so as to preserve a Tensions balanced and well-directed life. The "simultaneous contradictory Inner characters" in the life of Luther, for example, show the remarkable complexity of his nature,' and such opposing inner forces may be discovered in any man who has exerted a powerful and continued influence. Such opposing impulses and characteristics are blended together in the life of Jesus. Professor Starbuck has discovered no less than a dozen pairs of such contradictory characters-conformity and iconoclasm, gentleness and fiery-temperedness, good cheer and sombreness, courage and shrinking, egotism and humility, passionate unrest and peace, and other inner oppositions equally striking. Doubtless these oppositions which appear in his outward life were accompanied and conditioned by inner twists and strains, involving organic and kinesthetic experiences of great variety. The remarkable thing which marks the uniqueness of the life of Jesus is that in him these opposing strains were wonderfully balanced and restrained. With all its inner struggles, his life was controlled in the interest of an inner harmony which still amazes the world. At times we can see evidence of inner struggle. Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, and seems again and again torn between the desire to do the immediate helpful deeds which call him, and to instruct his disciples in the principles of the spiritual kingdom. He felt keenly the divisive and revolutionary nature of his teaching, and said: "I came to cast fire upon the earth: and what do I desire, if it is already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with: and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Think ye that I am come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division." But with all the opposing elements in his life, Jesus was able to control them so that they contribute to a powerful and enduring influence, an example of the subjection of diverse impulses and inner strains in the interest of a harmonious life. He was tempted to use compromising expedients, but maintained his spiritual equilibrium. He foretold the persecutions which his disciples must face after his death, but said, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away." And though he desired the cup of suffering to be removed, he said, "Howbeit not what I will but what thou wilt." 1 Heisey, A Study in the Mysticism of Luther, Thesis, University of Iowa, 1911, p. 49ff. XV Sense Elements In Coleridge's Hymn THERE is perhaps no work of literature which blends together a greater variety of sense and feeling elements in the expression of a God-experience than Coleridge's Hymn Before Sunrise in the Rich Imagery Vale of Chamouni. It is at once a God-experience and an appreciation of nature. Its full appeal depends upon the reader, as does that of all literary artistry, and your experience in reading the poem will differ very much from mine, and still more from that of the poet. However, it may be possible to find certain sense elements involved in the appreciation of the hymn which are common to writer and reader, and to recognize the great variety of its sense and feeling elements. The poet has brought a rich variety of these elements into the open, but an appreciation of the poem involves a far greater variety of sense elements than appears on the surface. The poem begins: Hast thou a charm to stay the evening star In his steep course? So long he seems to pause tain God These introductory lines have a very complicated setting. The poet stands in the valley, looking up toward the dominant feature of the wonderful landscape, "sovran Blanc." He is in an attitude of worship and awe. The mountain is a living presence, the "Great Hierarch," the representative of God; and the whole The experience, personal attitudes, sense-feeling complexes, and all, Mounis at the same time an appreciation of nature and an experience of RepreGod. In and through the Alpine scene Coleridge sees and feels the senting presence of God, and the objectification of the scene is the echo or reflection of his own inner appreciation and worship. That the hymn involves a rich variety of reactions to nature indicates how close a God-experience may be to other experiences in the life of appreciation. It may be said that Coleridge is merely picturing the mountain as praising God, but he is doing more than that. In his appreciation of the mountain he himself is praising God, and for him the view from Chamouni-mountain, glacier, streams, forest-means God, and in his ecstatic enjoyment of the scene he |