cle. It shows that the physical laws which we know and the physical forces which we can measure, are traversed by spiritual laws which we do not know and spiritual forces which we cannot measure. It proves the reality and potency of that which is invisible and imponderable.

The various kinds of energy which are developed from heat are not more real, nor more powerful, than the actual working force which is developed in the world from love in the inner life of man. Gravitation itself does no more to insure the stability of the material order, than inward peace of soul does to maintain the stability of the social order. The wind that bloweth where it listeth, is no more efficient in purifying and vitalizing the atmosphere, than are the secret spiritual currents of penitence and faith and aspiration which breathe through the hearts of men, in cleansing and renewing the inner air which keeps the soul alive.

This is the reason why sin is a power of disorder and death. It is not because it affects the outer life, not because it sows the seeds of physical corruption and decay, not because it brings forth crimes of violence and destruction. It is because it pervades the inner life, because

it poisons the streams of human existence at the fountain-head, because it paralyzes the vital energies of humanity.

Sin is a separating, secluding, imprisoning power which shuts the soul off from the purifying breath of the divine Spirit and leaves it in a dungeon, to breathe the same air over and over again until it is smothered. Sin is a rebellious, turbulent, tormenting power which destroys the inward peace of the soul, agitates it with restless passion, tortures it with haunting fear. Sin is a selfish, envious, hateful power which takes the very life out of love and makes it impotent for good.

The supreme simplicity of Jesus as the bringer of a new kingdom into the world, came from the clearness with which he saw that the world's chief trouble and man's deepest need lie in the inner life. He wasted no strength in polishing the outside of the cups and platters on which man's exterior wants are served. He spent no time in whitening sepulchres. He knew that the seat of real goodness and permanent happiness must be in the inner life. The incomparable service to mankind which was to give him the chieftaincy in the spiritual life, was a service to the soul.

There can be no real empire of peace unless

this deepest region is reached. There must be no nook or corner or crevice of man's life left unexplored, unsubdued, unreconciled; no lurking-place of rebellion; no fountain of discord;

no

"little rift within the lute,

That slowly widening makes the music mute."

The kingdom must go in to the centre and down to the bottom of personality, and work from within outward,-from below upward. This was the programme of Christ; and to carry it out he directed his journey to the inner life of man.

On the way thither, like a prince in progress, he conferred inestimable gifts and blessings in the outer circles of human existence. The doctrine of Jesus has widened the thoughts of men. The example of Jesus has crystallized the moral aspirations of men into a supreme ideal. The precept of Jesus has struck the keynote for a new harmony of human fellowship. The influence of Jesus has given inspiration and guidance to philosophy and literature and the fine

arts.

But as we follow him through these regions we are aware that he is pressing inward to a goal beyond. He seeks the thinker, we say,

behind the thought; the person, behind the social order. He aims to elevate man by uplifting men. His mission is not to masses, nor to classes; it is to the individual. But when he finds the individual, as a thinker, as a social unit, what then? Still Christ seems to press inward, to seek a yet deeper point.

His mission to society is through the individual. But when we have said that, we have not yet said all. His mission to the individual is through the inner life. He has not arrived at the goal of his journey, he has not spoken the last word of his message until he has said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee"; and to the woman of Syro-Phoenicia, "Go in peace"; and to the disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled"; and to all the weary and heavy-laden, "Come unto me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

The kingdom of God which Jesus proclaims and establishes is a kingdom of the soul. Its deepest meaning is a personal experience. Its essence is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Its dwelling-place and seat of power is in the inner life.

II

THE PICTURE OF JESUS IN THE SOUL

If this be true, it is perfectly natural, and altogether reasonable, that the earliest and clearest and most enduring manifestation of Christ should be in this region of man's inmost being. The traces of his presence in the world should be most distinct and most indelible in the records of spiritual experience. The evidences of his healing, harmonizing power should be found first and most abundantly in those underlying relations, those mysterious sentiments and propensities,

"those obstinate questionings
Of sense and outward things,
Fallings from us, vanishings;
Blank misgivings of a creature

Moving about in worlds not realized,

High instincts before which our mortal Nature
Doth tremble like a guilty thing surprized:
Those first affections,

Those shadowy recollections,

Which, be they what they may,

Are yet the fountain light of all our day.”

And so in fact we find it to be. The image of Jesus comes to light, first of all, in the spiritual experience of man. The earliest and the