CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

THE "within things," or the things which take place within a man, form the most important part of his biography. To know only a man's outward deeds is not to know the real man. It is in the spiritual self--" the hidden man of the heart "--that we find the centre of personality and the secret of personal worth. Marcus Aurelius declares that the chief question for any man to ask is this--" How goes it with your inner self?" The regnancy of the spiritual self St. Augustine asserts when he says, "My body lives by my soul, and my soul by me." The writer of Theologia Germanica goes a step
further, and says, "As the body liveth by the soul, even so the soul liveth by God." 

Some men lock themselves up. They are enigmas to their nearest friends. Paul was one of those who revealed himself. He turned if inside out. He laid bare his shrinking, sensitive, quivering soul to the gaze of others. This was not an easy thing for him to do. But he had a purpose in doing it; and that purpose was to "magnify the grace of God which was in him," --the grace which had cleansed the deepest springs of his life; the grace which had transfigured his character with a glory not its own.

The study of Paul's inward experience is interesting not only to the psychologist, but to the man who is seeking to gain a practical knowledge of the hidden forces of Christian life and activity. It is impossible to go far into it without perceiving that there are mystical depths which cannot be fathomed by the intellect alone; but which yield of their secrets to those only who are possessed of a kindred life. Paul himself looked with wonder into the mysterious region within him in which the divine and human met and mingled. The divine influences, of which he was the subject, he only partially understood. His experience often carried him over the boundary-line of the land of mystery. He had an intuitive perception of "truths which never can be proved," a conviction of knowing the unknowable; a consciousness of "partaking of the ineffable " ; a sense of personal contact with the ultimate realities which lie behind air outward religious phenomena. The controlling principle of his life was the direct communion of his spirit with "the Father of spirits." Like
Moses, "he endured as seeing Him wh6 is invisible." The assertion of Pfleiderer, that the dialectical side of Paul's character has been made to overshadow the mystical, is well founded. He rightly attributes to him a surplusage of "that
mysticism of feeling which we find everywhere in the history of religion to be the most genuine and fruitful source of religious life and thought." 1 The value of this judgment is in no wise invalidated by subsequent attempts to empty the
mystical experiences of Paul of all their religious significance.

1 Paulinism, Eng. trans., vol i. p. 28.

But some reader may have already registered a silent protest against the use of the term mystic as applied to Paul. He may have regarded it as smacking of disrespect. The contention that is here made is that in itself the term is clean, dignified, and respectful; albeit it has been greatly abused, and has had read into it a great variety of meanings. Looking at it etymologically, we find that it is derived from the Greek verb jv'w, "to shut"; a mystic being one who keeps his mouth shut regarding the secrets into which he has been initiated; or one who shuts his eyes to external things that he may have a  Clearer vision of spiritual realities. We prefer the latter definition.

If anyone wishes to see how far a reputable word may be degraded, let him read the chapter entitled "Psychology and Mysticism," in Hugo Munsterberg's recent volume on Pyschology and Lift. Every "faddist" who leaves the beaten
path of empirical knowledge is there dubbed a mystic. In Munsterberg's mystical pantheon are some strange divinities. Of mystics of the purer and higher type he does not seem to have heard. Dr. R. C. Moberly, on the other hand, declares that the word mysticism has had a noble history; and while he deplores the fact that it has existed as a distinctive term chiefly to express a disproportion, he holds that "the spirit of mysticism is the true and essential
Christianity." 1 He maintains that in spite of its "inherent ambiguity," " it is comparatively easy to say what the real truth of Christian mysticism is. It is, in fact, the doctrine, or rather the experience, of the Holy Ghost. It is the realisation of human personality as characterised by and communicated in the indwelling reality of the Spirit of Christ, which is God." 2

1  Atonement and Personality. p. 3 I I.
2  1lbid.p. 312.

When we come to define the term "mystical" as applied to Paul, the task is not an easy one. If a definition is wanted which shall include the whole range of his mystical teaching and experience, something wider than that of Dr.Moberly must be furnished. If we might attempt to supply such a definition, we would say that Paul as a mystic was one who dwelt upon the inner side of spiritual things; one who pushed on where logic limped and lagged, seeking the sunlit heights of direct vision, conscious union, and direct communion. In his ecstatic experiences he rose into that region where the soul sees "into the life of things," and where the use of words is transcended. These flights were only occasional. His ordinary experiences were of a more sober kind; yet in the soberest of them there was a strong dash of mysticism. The knowledge he had of spiritual things was not inferential. It was immediate and conclusive. There was about it much that was incommunicable--for in all things which he saw and heard there was a deeper meaning than
the plummet line of his reason could fathom, or his poor words convey to others. But there were things which he could tell in part,--things which others could understand, because they -- were typical; and it is these things which form
the rich deposit of mystical truth which he has left to the Church.

It would be wrong, however, to say that Paul was a pure mystic. He was many things besides. "Paul as he lives before us in his Epistles," says Dr. A. M. Fairbairn, "is a man who holds many men within him--so many . . . that we may describe him as the most  unintelligible to the analytical reason of a critic who has never warmed to the passion or been
moved by the enthusiasm of humanity; but the most intelligible of men to the man who has heard within himself the sound of all the voices that speak in man." 1 When a classification of the New Testament writers is attempted, it is common to say that Paul represents the theological type of religion, Peter the traditional or ritualistic type, John the spiritual or mystical type, and James the ethical type. But this classification is apt to be misleading. In none of these writers does religion harden into a specific type. And least of all in Paul. With him religion is a many-sided thing; and all that is here contended for is that in his conception of religion mysticism had a prominent place; and that he regarded it as a legitimate phase of a normal Christian experience. According to Professor A. B. Bruce, "faith-mysticism was a not less conspicuous feature of Paulism than the doctrine of objective righteousness or justification by faith." 2

1 Philosophy 0/the Christian Religion, p. 440.
2 St. Paul's Conception of Christianity, p. 120.

Mysticism had also a prominent place in Paul's own experience as a Christian man; and there can be no just appreciation of his teaching and of his character if the strong mystical element which pervaded both be left out
of account. And yet its presence has often been grudgingly acknowledged. Dr. James Denney, from whom better things might have been expected, in his recent volume on The Death of Christ, fleers at mystical theology, and dismisses with a wave of the hand the whole subject of the mystical union of the believer with Christ, saying, "I do not care much for the expression `mystical union,' for it has been much abused, and in St. Paul especially has led to much hasty misconstruction of the New Testament." 1 What a strange mental attitude this is, that can find in the abuse of a doctrine a reason for discarding it. It is at once admitted that the evils which have come from the excesses of mysticism are neither few nor small; but every form of religious thought and life has its dangers,--as witness the deadening influence of sacerdotalism and legalism,--and it is at least an open question whether of all the forms in which religious thought and life have been expressed, mysticism is not after all the least harmful. If some have found in the mystical eaching and experience of "beloved brother Paul" things hard to be understood, others have found in them a guiding light which has led them into the arcanum of Christian truth and experience; and there is small wonder that they persist in clinging to the conviction that his sane and well-balanced views of the mystical life constitute not the least important part of the rich inheritance of truth which he has left the Church. To minify the mystical union of the believing soul with Christ is to minify the very thing in which, according to Paul, the redeeming work of Christ is consummated. In striking contrast to :Dr. Denney, Pfleiderer, although of the extreme rationalistic school, penetrating with clear insight into the heart of Paulinism, says ," Paul's personal relation to the cross is never a mere relation of objective theory, but always, at the same time, and essentially, the relation of the subjective union of the inmost feelings with the Crucified, a mystic
communion with the death on the Cross and with Christ risen." 2

Strange to say, the philosophers have been more appreciative of mysticism than the theologians. They have been ready to see and to say that "the mystics are the only thorough-going empiricists " ; that, like the scientists, "they base everything upon experience"; that they bring the soul into "the presence of the unmediated fact," and allow it to speak for itself. These quotations from Professor Josiah Royce are followed by the declaration that "mysticism has been the ferment of the faiths, the forerunner of spiritual liberty, the inaccessible refuge of the nobler heretics; the inspirer, through poetry, of countless youth, who know no metaphysics; the teacher, through devotional books, of the despairing; the comforter of those who are weary of finitude. It has determined, directly or indirectly, more than one-half of the technical theology of the Church." 3 He affirms that nobody can understand a large part of religion
without understanding mysticism.

1 p 185.
2 Paulinism, vol. i. p. 17. 
3 The World and the Individual, p. 85.

The revival of interest in the study of mysticism which is taking place in the present day, alike within the sphere of psychology and theology, is one of the most significant signs of the times. Mysticism is one of the subjects which refuses to be excluded from the domain of human investigation. Thrust out of the door, it has come back by the window; banished from the Church, it has found a home in many of the modern cults. Those sporadic movements out-
side of the Church, which are scornfully passed over as unworthy of serious study, have a deeper Source and a more significant meaning than many of us imagine. They mark reactions from legalism and sacerdotalism in religion, and from materialism in life. Grant, if you please, that the element of truth which they contain is "but one half-pennyworth of bread to an intolerable deal of sack," that morsel of bread happens to be of the kind for which many have a hankering. And if the Church fails to supply it, they will sorrowfully go outside her pale to get it. Within the sphere of Christian
thought there is the same reaction. Just after Ritschl had done his utmost to construct "a religion without mysticism, and a theology without metaphysics," Professor James, the eminent empirical psychologist, came along and stoutly maintained that "personal religious experience has its root and centre in mystical states of consciousness." 1 Perhaps the main value of Professor James' book, from which the above quotation is made, is that it recognises the reality of spiritual phenomena, and regards the whole realm of religious experience as a proper sphere of scientific investigation. This admission, if tardily made, is of great importance. It is a confirmation from a new quarter, of what a large class of thinkers have all along been contending for. We would not, however, go the length of Professor James in saying that
"personal experience always has its root and centre in mystical states of consciousness." There is a non-mystical as well as a mystical experience, and the former is more common than the latter. All that is claimed is that the mystical form
is the one by which many of the most eminent servants of God have been characterised. And some minds can be religious only in a mystical way.

1 The Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 185

It is true that those mystical states of consciousness, in which religious experience has its root and centre, are often very nebulous and dim. There are some who have very little spiritual susceptibility, the mystical element in them is weak--the things of the unseen realm hardly appeal to them. This class serve the Lord, not because of any vision of glory that has come to them, but because duty demands it. Like Robertson of Brighton, they anchor their souls in the principle that whether life's sky be dark or bright, it must be right to do right. Yet it is an over-statement of the case to say with Coleridge, that every man is born either a Platonist or an Aristotelian--an idealist or a realist. There is no person so utterly prosaic that he cannot appreciate things mystical, any more than one who is tone deaf can appreciate music, or than one who is colour blind can appreciate the gorgeous hues of a summer sunset. There is no soul that cannot be stirred by the touch of God, there is no soul that cannot be impressed by a sense of the spiritual and the eternal. Latent powers of spiritual feeling and appreciation are in every man, but they need cultivation. It is this side of man's higher
self--the side that touches the infinities--that is generally neglected. The mystical gift, instead of being increased by using, is tied up in a napkin. There is small danger in the present day that the mystical side of religion will get undue
attention. A modern writer, who evidently imagines that the mystical and the unpractical are one and the same, remarks that "in this world we need not only wings for the sky, but also a stout pair of boots for the paving-stones." This is true; but the emphasis is wrongly placed, inasmuch as there are more people who fail to provide themselves with wings than with boots.

It is generally admitted that every Christian experiences more than he can logically formulate or fully express. Herrmann, who cannot be charged with any mystical leaning, admits that "on one point we agree, that the inner life of religion is ultimately something mysterious and incommunicable." 1 It is a great deep, "unplumbed by the discursive intellect." Yet finding, as he fully believes, this "immediacy of relationship with the supernatural" only in and through the historical revelation, he denies its mystical quality altogether. What he really does is to kick away the scaffolding when the top of the spire is reached. The experience generated by the historical revelation, consisting as it does in the direct, personal communion of the soul with God, is undoubtedly mystical. That it has its norm in the historical revelation
does not make it less so.

1 The Communion of t he Christian with God, p. 380.

With most Christians the beginning of the Christian life is mystical. It has in it something of "the romance of religion." "Your young men shall see visions," is the promise of the new dispensation. It is often in youth that we are touched most profoundly with the poetical interpretation of the religious life. Who would imagine that hard, grasping business man, who is the incarnation of fat dividends, to have been in early youth "by a vision splendid on his way attended"; that to him the heavens were opened; that his dull prosaic life was for a glorious moment lifted up into the beatific harmonies, and his heart filled and fired with lofty aims. It is to him a bitter reflection that life's vision has faded, and that he has fallen so far below the lofty ideals and noble aims of his early youth.

Christian hymnology testifies to the mystical element in Christian experience. When the climax of worship is reached in praise, the mood of the Church is mystical. When men touch the deep things of the spiritual life, they are for the time
being mystics. The experience a man has with his Lord at conversion has in it a mystical quality. The inward witness of the Spirit to which the Methodist people, in the days of their greatest power, gave emphasis, was a mystical experience. So also was the "inner light" of the early Quakers; which, before it passed from an experience to a dogma, enabled them to strongly move the hearts of men. Those great struggles--like our Lord's temptation in the wilderness--when, within the soul, the battle is fought out with the invisible powers of evil, are mystical experiences.
Those special baptisms of the Spirit to which many Christians have testified are purely mystical experiences. They belong to the sphere of things in which the spirit of man is lost in the Spirit of God. Man is a spiritual being, dwelling
in a spiritual universe, and there is no telling when, or at what point, the glories or the terrors of the spiritual world will break in upon his soul. He has at least the capacity for experiencing the spiritual.

For a striking illustration of how a man of a severely Pauline type may become the subject of pronounced mystical experience, turn to the account given by President Finney of a crisis in his religious life, when he received "a mighty
baptism of the Holy Ghost." He says, " Without any expectation of it, without ever having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity going through and through me. Indeed, it seemed to come in waves of liquid love; for I could not express it in any other way. It seemed like the very breath of God. I can recollect that it seemed to fan me, like immense wings. No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart. These waves came over me, and over me, and over me, one after the other, until I recollect I cried out, I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me. I said, Lord,  I cannot bear any more; yet I had no fear of death." 1 Never did the most fully-fledged mystic speak more positively of direct contact with God, or portray more boldly his spiritual ex-
perience, in physical terms, than this young American lawyer. How much of his experience Was due to overwrought nerves, let the physician or the psychologist answer; that there was at the heart of it a potent energy which changed his
whole nature, his after life abundantly testified.

1 Memoirs, pp. so, 21.

There is a growing conviction that we need in the present day to give more attention to the mystical side of Christian life. The outside things are being over-emphasised, while the interior things are given a subordinate place. Dr. Alexander Maclaren of Manchester, with true prophetic insight, has put on record his profound sense of the value of the mystical element in religion. Speaking on the subject of "Evangelical Mysticism," he deplores the fact that the mystical truths of the New Testament have not received the proportionate prominence in our experience which they demand. "They are not denied nor altogether ignored, but surely it is plain that they are relegated to a more obscure position than they hold in Gospel and Epistle, and are handled hesitatingly and unfrequently." 1 Here is undoubtedly a
faithful and true witness. And it is to the needed task of bringing into proper perspective this neglected part of Christian truth and testimony, especially as found in the writings of Paul, that the present treatise is a humble contribution.

1 Presidential Address before the Baptist Union of Great Britain in 1901.

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