TheConsciousnessofJesus 10085369

TH E C O N S C I O U S N E S S
O F JE S U S
B' a'
figU
’
‘
H O RA C E M g
B O SE
I m h e th at Ii ve th a n d wa s de ad : an d b eh o ld,
a
—
, ,
I am ali ve fo re ve rm o re. Revela tion l 1 8

. .
THE ME TH O DI S T B OO K C O N CE RN
N E' ' O RK C IN C I N N A T I
S MI T H 'A MA R
N A S H ' I' 'E DA''A S RI C H MO N D
CON TENT S
F ORE ' O RD
C HA PT E R I
S TA T E M E N T OF T HE D O C TR I N E
C HA PT E R II
T H E U N I T' OF T HE C O N S C I O U S N E SS
C HA PT E R II I
T H E FU ' ' N E SS O F T HE C O N S C I O U S N E S S
C HA PT ER I'
T H E SO N OF
C HA PT E R '
THE C OSM I C C HRI ST 1 06
C HA PT E R ' I
C H A NN E ' S OF M A N I F E STA T I O N
FORE ' ORD
TH E present v o lu me does no t claim to be

a techni cal treatment o f the sub J ect with
which it deals It does however aspire to
.
, ,
follow the lofty precedent I nvolving the ,
processes o f a true logic found in the prim

,
i t ive records of the life of Jesus as also

‘
,
the apostolic method o f interpreting the

Bl e s s i ani c kingdom and reign o f Jesus the
Christ There was a divine reason for the
.
shape into which the gospel story was cast ;

and though the historic details are not all
known the fact commends itself to the high
,
est and sanest hum an wisdom The evangel .
i s t s were concerned with the L ife and noted ,
the manifestations of that L ife in the order

o f their h app emng putting emphasis where
,
the L ife emphasized itself and leaving out

,
o f the record what was u nnecessary to an

—
u nderstanding nay what was unnecessary
,
t o an a ppropriation
‘
— o f the L ife It was .
not that men S hould mentally comprehend

5
FORE ' ORD
Christ that the evangel was u ttered b ut , ,
rather that men should receive Chris t and

,
live into his conscious being as he in the ,
house of his h um anity lived into the con

scious life of the F ather A too great ex
.
bibit of the detail of the earthly walk o f

Jesus would have defeated the exclusive
ends of that which was written that read ,
ing we might believe and that believing

, , , ,
we might be saved A strictly scientific

.
study o f the consciousness of Jesus would

fall short of the ends at which we aim .
Every thoughtful student of modern day -
theological literature has noted the too fre

quent absence of both the spir it and the
letter O f subj ective inquiry from the methods
of criticism . The critics have contented
themselve s with examining the aspects of the
Old and New Testament S criptures rather
than looking deeply into the spirit and pur
pose o f their writers Stress is laid u pon his
.
t o r i ca l accidents textual peculiarities and

,
di ffi culties rather than upon the tremendous

,
facts symbolized by and latent in the writ

, ,
ings whose peculiarities and di fficulties are

,
6
FORE ' ORD
oftentimes the very media of the life which

th ey contain and express A new school O f
.
criticism and interpretation is forming to

which perhap s no better name can be given
than the o ne alr eady used the subj ective
, .
This school will not be u nm indful of h i st o r

ical and textual inquiry but it will s u b or di
,
nate these and other processes to the leadings

o f that light which shines from below the ,
consciousness which lives in the Word and

is instinct and operative in its every utter
ance If this hitherto unstated doctrine has
.
been repressed by a too mechanical and arbi

t r ar y view of inspiration then the time is at
,
hand when it can be given its place though ,
inspiration could find no stronger statement

than the letter of this teachin g concerning
the con sciousness i nh erent in its message .
This new interpretation will deal with the

persona l consciousness o f Jesus as the touch
stone O f every element in the whole vital sys
tem of revelation The evangel both as to
.
,
its written messages and the results which

have accrued t o it in history has been ap ,
ro ache d a lway s to find that i t s phenomena

p
7
FORE ' ORD
can be described only in terms of the super

natural and that they are instinct and active
,
with a life which transcends that which is ac

coun ted for in the categories o f sense A nd.
yet it has always been seen that the app re

h en s i o n of this life force in the evangel has
been dependent upon the use of the known
senses as the channel of some higher sense in
transition to a plane of its own The school
.
of subj ective interpretation will identify that

sense with the activities o f the Christ con
s ci o u s n es s which is the life and explication
of the universe .
The two disciples who walked the Em

maus path o n the afternoon of the day o f the
resurrection which event they but imper
,
fect ly comprehended were made aware that

,
the world ' a s answering to a new L ife a ,
new consciousness which presently became a

,
fire of burning in their he arts Surely the

.
,
race children of a world steeped in this con

s ci o u s n e s s should no longer go on ignorant
o f the immanence of that L ife which is the
light of men Hitherto the studies which

.
have been attempted in the record of the

8
F ORE' ORD
consciousness of Jesus have been confined

m ainly to an e ffort to explain in what light
Jesus regarded himself when and to what
,
extent he rea li z ed his own di vinity and how ,
he s aw himself related to the prophetic and

historic kingdom o f Messiah The problem .
o f the consciousness is wider vastly wider

, ,
than this ; it extends to the universe and to

the ages What Jesus knew himself to be
.
,
t ha t God i s and tha t the universe must also

,
become in resp onse to the conscious will of

Christ This consciousness is the S at urn
.
ring which incloses all .
The whole system of New Testament sote

r i o logy receives new illumination when s et
in order o f relation to this doctrine o f the

“
consciousness B ecause I live ye shall live ,
'
also. It is not the assembly the Church , ,
only that is in corporated in the body of

Christ and that partakes o f his conscious
ness b ut the individual disciple is hid with
,
Chris t in G o d Both the Master and S aint

.
Pau l have given to all the stages of grace

repentance regeneration perfection and the
—
, , ,
fellowship of saint s the functional qualities

9
FORE ' ORD
of conscious life The net res u lt is the new

.
man in Christ Jesus It is a life consciously

.
derived from him and lived in h im .
The purpose of this writing is not to pro

pound a new doctrine but to expound an old
,
one ; to give to the study of the consciousness

o f Jesus a range which has not been given it
hitherto It is also to plead against th e tend

.
ency to treat the doctrine as though it were

a symbol of the truth and not the truth i t
,
self set forth i n express terms The divine

.
F atherhood is not a shadow or resemblance

o f the earthly fatherhood ; it is the substance
of which the earthly fatherhood is the

shadow We do not S peak of the conscio u s
.
ness of Jesus manifested through the par

,
t i cu lar and universal channels of the Messi

anic revelation as a thing accommodated to
,
our ideas of h u man consciousness ; but the

human consciousness subtends the Christ
consciousness as the fruit subtends the vine .
10
C HAPT ER I
S TAT EME N T OF THE D O C T R I NE
TH E All felt and the All feeling Christ

- -
is the divine human L ord of the universe .
The uniqueness O f the character o f Jesus is

expounded in the nature and content o f his
consciousness The abounding proof of his
.
divinity as also the exhibit of his perfect

,
h u manity is to be sought in the record of

,
that consciousness That record is in the

.
Gospels and in those other writings which

have equal authority with the Gospels .
To account for the historic Christ through

a study and analysis of the personality o f
Jesus as portrayed in the Gosp els has been
accepted as the crowning task o f Christian
thought E ach past century has contributed
.
according t o its light and the means at its

comm and The desire o f the centuries to
.
come will more and more be brought to this

fo unta in O f fu lfi llrnent Wh ile apologist s
.
11
THE CON S C I OUS NE S S OF J E S US
h ave uniformly accepted the arguments o f

history as they have unfolded abo ut the
,
name and the kingdom of the Nazarene the ,
las t appeal h as been to the contemporary ac

counts o f the manifested L ife There the
.
truth abides and from thence t h e ultimate

,
proof is t o be drawn .
To affirm that a new method o f approach

t o the central doctrine o f Christology is
needed would be little short of boldness nor ,
does the case j u stify it ; but the truth calls

fo r a caveat against the methods of the crit
i cal school as a whole In dealing with the
Christ consciousness which is the ultimate
,
matter o f the Gosp els the tendency has been

,
to climb u p some other way than that made

necessary in the Gospels themselves A di
,
.
vine problem cal l s for a divinely indicated

method and that method fo r a divinely
,
awakened sympathy Criticism in this fiel d

.
must be as much o f student consciousness as

o f philosophical method The issue ou t of
.
every investigation depends largely u pon

what is bfi u ght to it by the mind of the i n
ves t igat or
. The gospel recor d iI np os es
12
S TAT EMEN T OF THE D O C T R I NE
conditions of consciousness upon the student

o f i t s problems . Without these condi tions
all inqui ry mus t be fruitless .
The chief cla im o f the N ew Testament to

distinction from all other forms O f literat ure
is in an essence an d power in separable from
the st atements of the facts and doctrin es
which it contains The doctrine o f the con
.
s ci o u s ne s s o f Jesus is the key to the me aning
o f the gospel nor is it less the key to the

,
secret in which are hid all its blessings as ex

p e r i en ce d both by t h e individual and the
race With t h e vita l apprehension of thi s
.
doctrine will come the perfect enlighten

ment for herein is the hiding o f the u ltimate
,
intellectua l life as also whatever transcen d s

,
it in the rea lm of spiritu al att ainment .
“
Conscio u sness has always been a tre
'
mendou s word with philosophy b ut it is a ,
' ord which remains yet to be fully define d in
its higher app li cation The rigi d and dea d

.
eni ng finality o f the past o f philosophy has
been too often th u s expressed : Wh at i s not

cognized in h um a n consciousness i s no t ca
p a b le of be in g v erified and m
, u st t h erefore be
13
relegated to the penthouse o f the unknow

able This has plainly meant that philos
.
o h y is to meet consciousness upon tradi

p
t i o n a l grounds and those determin ed by the
,
hard and fast records of past experience

- -
.
Instead therefore o f testing revelation

, ,
upon its chosen ground and seeking to know,
whether there be not evidence O f another and

higher consciousness in which the facts and
essence of the g ospel become natu rally and
logically cognizable the traditionists have
,
constantly dwarfed the mighty possibilities

of intellectual and spiritual apprehension
under a narrow and often inapplicable proc
ess.
The too frequent S in of the critical schoo l

of theology is to carry an i mperfect h i s to r
ical vision of the Christ back into the G o s
pels and th u s leave the apprehension o f the
,
living consciousness o f the Ga lilaean to be

missed where it should become most cer
t ai nly discovered and understood .
When the investigation of C hristianity

S hall be s o ordered as to proceed with the
data of the Christ consciousness as an ex p e
-
1 41
S T A T EMEN T OF TH E D O C T R I NE
r i ence designed to be attainable by the whole

r ace ,then will those hitherto unclassified ele
ments in religion which are necessary to
’
man s perfection here and hereafter fall into
categories answering not only to the normal
Christian mind but also e ff ective in the con
,
duct of a true Christian philosophy To say .
that philosophy has found itself debarred

through categorical limitations from enter
ing upon this investigation is to s ay that the
,
philosophers have not chosen to pitch their

tents upon the highest ground .
The viewpoint from which the contents

o f the New Testament — the record o f the
—
Christ consciousness are to be regarded is
-
no t a choice of criticism or taste but is such

,
as the writing itself forces upon the mind .
To a degree determined by his own pre

p a re dness or capacity this
, viewpoint is real
i z ed by each reader . The rationalistic de
mand that the Christian S criptures be placed
'
upon a critical level with other literature is

at once and forever an impossibility ; no t i n,
deed that these writings do not respond to

,
and stand the test o f the severest critical

15
THE CON S C I OUS NE S S OF JE SUS
treatment but there is something manifest in

,
the order o f their statements and in the facts

,
and experiences affi r med by them which ,
compels the critical j udgment to ass ume an

exceptional attitude and to e x press itself in
exceptional terms .
The underlings o f the S anhedrin who b e , ,
ing sent to apprehen d Jes u s returned with

,
“
the protest , Never man spake l ike this
man ,
'
uttered a formula of spontaneity
which has been repeated in varying terms b y
every sober rationalist and every honest deist
since th e completion o f the canon A nd it .
is to the same end in establishing th e correct

ness of this obser v ation whether examp les be
so ught in the devout responsiveness o f s u ch
believers a s Augu stine and Thomas a
Kempis or in the rancoro u s att a cks o f such
destructivists as Celsus an d Porphyry .
The argument i s satisfied in bringin g into

view the fact that criticism despite its fre
,
qu ent boasts has never been able to deal wi th

,
the Christian oracles in the dispass i onate

manner in which it is wont to pass upon the
m erits and claims of other forms of liter
16
THE CON S C I O US NE S S OF J E S US
continuous manifestation of h imself in the

Word from which in even more ext r ao r
, ,
dinary ways than during his eart hly life his ,
conscio u sness a ff ects and engu lfs the l ives of

men .
We shall also contend a nd seek to S how

,
full authority therefor that this conscio u s

,
ness is manifested through other channe l s

than the Word ; directly in fac t thro ugh, ,
personal contact o f the belie v er w ith Jesus

C hrist which contact expounds the doctrine
,
o f the witness of the Sp irit and also t h rough

,
vital relations with Chr i st in the living

Church But for the uses of these i ntro du c
.
tory paragraphs the argument will stress

,
the significance O f the Word a s a parti cul ar

channel o f this manifestation .
It would seem unnecessary t o remark here

that this v iew is not predicate d o f the lit er
a l writing o f the Wor d i n either its man u
script o r printed form each o f which is me

,
ch ani cal and incidental ; and yet the nou
menal L ogos the living Word s o fills the

, ,
v ehicle of expression that the intellectu al

impression produced by the two i s co i ncident ,
18
or s o nearly s o as to leave critical distinction

unnecessary if not impossible This unify
, .
ing imm anence gives to the wr i tten gospel

i ts exceptional character and is the source
,
of the perpetual challenge which it o ffers to

the intellect Nor is the doctrine o f this im
.
manence o f the Christ consciousness in the

-
gospel to be understood as Imp i nglng upon ,
or in any wa y limiting the doctrine o f the

,
illuminating and life giving o ffice o f the

-
Holy Ghost It is the peculiar work o f the

.
Spirit to bring men clearly and fully to

apprehend and share in the Christ conscious
-
ness which lives s o potently and perfectly in

the Word that even the naked and ant ago
ni s t i c intellect does not wholly escape its i n
flu ence . Nor does this view o f the Christ

conscio u sness in the Word rest wholly upon
exper ience or intellectual apprehension It .
’
is fully s upported by the L ord s own state
ments To the Jews he said : What and if
.
ye shal l see the S on of man ascend up where

he was before It is the Spirit that quick
?
eneth ; the flesh p ro fi t eth nothing : the words
that I S pe ak unto yo u they are spirit and

, ,
19
THE CON S C I OUS NE S S OF J E S U S
they are life Sp irit ( p neu ma ) as u sed

.
in this passage is generic It is in apposition

.
“
to life and gives a perfect clue to the
'
’
L ord s meaning L ife is the expression the
.
,
product of consciousness The sp irit the

, .
,
vital principle behind the life manifest in the

Word is the conscio u sness o f the S on of
,
man This sp irit the Jews were to s ee a t

.
work after the C r u cifi ed had ascended up

where he was before T O the inner circle of
.
the disciples the truth was fi u th er e x '
“
pounded in the promise : I f ye abide in
me and my words abide in you ye shall as k
, ,
what ye will and it shall be done unto

,
you .
The soteriology of Jesus incorporates hi s

consciousness in his words and th u s di scloses,
the method by whic h that consciousness is

“
imparted to believers Now ye are clean
.
through the word which I have spoken unto

you reveals an immanence in the Word
,
'
which when fully apprehended brings the

seeker into the conscious life o f Christ It is .
the formula of s a nct i fi cat io n .
—
The Gospels the synoptics and S a int
20
John —
are a record o f the unfolding an d
perfecting consciousness o f Jesus Indeed .
,
we have seen that they are more being in , ,
their unity a responsive and e ff ective organ

,
i s m built up about the Galilaean conscious

ness that it migh t not only persist but also
, ,
that it might find perpetual and universa l

expression .In future chapters we shall
undertake to show stages through which this
consciousness p assed in perfecting and re al
izing itself It is a large task and o ne mu st
.
,
needs both re j oice and tremble to enter upon

it The end o f it if reverently and success
.
,
fu lly prosecuted is the finding o f the L ife

,
which was the li ght o f men .
Christian experience can be e ff ectively

explained only as an attainment by the b e
liever to the consciousness of Jesus It is .
thus that faith which is the means by which

,
this consciousness is attained and into which

,
it i s merged has cognition of those things

,
which lie beyond the range of sense in the ,
no umenal or S piritual rea lm Nor is the

, , .
apprehension o f this doctrine a path to per

s onal e x perience only ; it is the highway
21
THE CON S C I O U S NE S S OF J E S US
wh ich is to lea d through a l og i c as unass ail

able as it is divine in to th e r ea lm of th e ab s o
lute i n religio u s thought a prob l em w ith
,
which C hris tian philosophy has s tr uggl e d

since th e age of Athanasius .
At bottom an d a t top the Christian r e li

gion is built upon and in th e personality of
Jesus Christiani ty i s no t only faith in the
.
persona l Christ ; it i s th e consci o u s r eali za

tion O f what that persona lity is an ap p re ,
h ens ion thro ugh a mi racu lous b u t spirit

,
u a lly norm al exp erience of t he two natures

,
in the unity o f the o ne perfect C hr i s t Thes e .
two natures u nited i nto o ne persona l ity

, ,
translate the d ivine consciousness not on ly

into terms o f h uman appreh ension b u t also
in to mo d es of h uman rea l ization T hus it .
is th at the newly created nat ur e of th e re

generated man expresses i n its degree th e
, ,
Galilaean conscio u sness the act iv e life of th e

,
S on of man This express i on when per

.
,
f e ct ed in the race is t o be the tr u e revelation

,
of God and his u niverse .
T h e argument u pon which we are ent e r

ing requires a fu rther brief wor d upon the
22
nat ure and l aws of cognitions A cognition .
i s that which consciousness invests with att r i

butes wh i ch is no more than to s ay that a
,
cogni ti on or a concept is something o b j e c

, ,
t ive which the consciousness can so limit as

t o receive into itse l f If the at tributes of the
.
thing lie beyond the range of consciousness ,
i t is to philosophy inconceivable i ncomp r e ,
h en s ib le We have already seen how philos

.
o p hy ha s been prone to consider itself

estoppe d at s u ch a j uncture But here is the
.
starting point o f the new and truer philos

op hy of the hig h er conscio u sness .
W ith reference t o concepts o f time and

sp a ce for instance philosophy has con
, ,
s t ant ly u ttere d a confusing wor d Im .
manue l Kant and Herbert Spencer in suc ,
ces s ive cent u ries reached what f o r al l philo

,
sophical u ses may prove to be equivalent

conc lu sions tho ugh hypothetically they
,
widely diverge The former held that time

.
an d S pace are forms o f the intellect — “

a
p r i o ri l a ws o r conditions of the conscious

min d '
— while Spencer contended that b e “
li ef I n th eir obj ective reality i s insu rmou nt

23
able . This however di d not deter him

, ,
“
from d eclaring them to be who l ly i ncomp re
hensible .B ut while dealing skeptically
'
with the c l aims o f revealed re l igion this ,
monis t used fa miliarly and as of right such , ,
“ “ “
i mmea su r
'
terms as in fi ni ty absolute ,
'
able etc plainly admitting that though

,
'
.
, ,
these were to his intel l ect inconceivable b e ,
lief i n their obj ective reality was i ns ur

mo u ntable Spencer allowed no place for
.
faith and yet he took intellectu al possession

,
o f the very ground which men o f faith c l aim
as their fatherland In a wholly co ntradi c.
tory v ein he admitted tha t with religion re

“
mains the indestru ctible conscio u sness that
all things are mani festations of a power that
—
transcends our knowledge a truth beyond
'
all cavi l .
The issue now to be made is s u sceptible of

a simple statement : the intellectu al and spir
i tu al needs o f men call for either a new phi
lo s o phy o r a new consciousness It will be .
fo u nd in the end that the demand is for both ;

for since philosophy is but the record keeper
,
-
of consciou sness when the new an d l arger

,
2 44
THE CON S C I OUSNE S S OF J E S U S
identification is to be the att ained conscio u s

ness of Jesus .
The consciousness of Jesus is not anot h er

name for his divinity nor yet a synonym of
,
his humanity ; it is the identific ation of the

life o f that harmonio u s personality resu lting
from th e unity o f Go dh ood an d manhood ,
“
whereof is one Christ It is the life an d
.
'
activity o f that persona li ty revealing bot h

the proper and eterna l selfhood o f the S o n
o f God and t h e nature an d attributes o f th e
S o n of man It is the explicat ion o f hu

.
manity and the manifestation of d iv inity .
F rom the earliest recorded manifes t ati on

o f this conscio u sness in the Gospe l s to the
last scene which presents h is person in the

,
Apocalypse o f S aint John t h ere is no Sign

,
of confli ct or absence of unity in eith er th e

'
emotions or mental processes of Jesus .
Tokens o f the h uman are abun d ant and sym

p athetic ; tokens o f the divine are signa l an d
overmastering ; but o f dissonance i ncongru ,
i ty or conj unction o f variants there is never

,
once an instance No confusion of ideas no

.
,
adumbrations of thoughts ever vexed h is ,
26
S TAT EMEN T OF TH E D O C T R I NE
mental processes ; no distraction of feelings ,
no reflu ent emotions ever arrested his con

,
vi ct i o ns or ca u sed his motives to drift His .
ethical day was never dimmed by sense nor ,
was the light o f his concepts ever quenched

in clouds o f aberration .
T h rOu gh o u t the record we are gui d ed by

o ne u nmistakable fact and that is tha t the
,
consciousness of Jesu s developed normally .
To the h u m an side of his li fe the divine S ide

was uncovered as h i s h uman powers ripened ;
b ut at each stage the exercise O f these pow
ers was full and the u nity o f the conscio u s
ness complete Whatever the h uman pow
.
ers in their stages laid hold upon the divine

,
consciou sness and the d ivine wisdom always ,
present validated and expo unded The di

, .
vine consciou sness and the divine wisdom

were always present as unchange d and u n
changing charact er and life .
At the dawn of the consciousness o f the

young Child the divine selfhood was u ncov
ered With the first self knowledge that
.
-
came to the S on o f Mary there came equally

a knowledge o f the divine S onship N o rea .
27
THE CON S C I O US NE S S OF JE S U S
s on for doubting t hi s appe ars either in the

l etter and tenor o f the gospel or in the logic
which the divine situ ation necessitates C on .
s ci o u s nes s is the basis o f intelli gent life ex

,
pounding the nature of a member o f the

‘
h uman speci es ; b ut here was a conscio u sness

grounded in two natures yet expressed
,
through an i ndivisible personality To its .
capacity the h uman consciousness could no

,
more escape knowledge o f the divine identity

than co u ld the divin e escape i ts impinging
hum an complement A nd here begins the
.
j oy o f o u r worship as also the burden o f o u r

,
e ff or t t o appre h en d o f whom we ha v e
been apprehende d .
28
C H APT ER I I
THE UN I T Y OF THE C O N
S C I OU S N E S S
B ' uni ty of the consc io u sness o f Je s u s

th e
i s mean t th at there were not two i ndep end
en t concep tu al processes m aintained in his
mind one h um an the other div ine ; one
, ,
fi n i te the other in finite

, . Also i t is meant
that h is conceptu a l powers we r e ne ve r at any
tim e incapable o f takin g hol d u pon othe r
than phenomen al ob j ects an d the ir att ri
b utes T hat is t o s ay th ere w a s ne ve r a t ime
.
,
in the h is t ory o f his conscio u sness wh en his

div in ity was wholly lat ent or l ay completely
beneat h the a ct iviti es of h i s human min d .
The moment a process of that hum an min d

was comp l ete d it was v alidate d b y the d i
vine an d i nc lu d e d w ith in i t s uni ty T h is o f
.
,
co ur se s uggests a diffi culty withi n th e limit s

,
o f tr aditi ona l p h i l osop hy s inc e the d ivine

,
m in d an d consciousness cannot be aug

mented nor m o di fied ; b ut the answer is a
29
THE CON S C I O U S NE S S OF J E S U S
plain and satisfactory o ne when we con

sider this inclusion o f the h uman conscio u s
ness as the return of the divine life u pon
itself through the Ga lilaean exper i ence
At all times the cognitions of Jes u s w
.
ere
o f the elements o f his two n a tures expressed
through the functions o f t h e indivisible p er

s o n a lity according as t h a t personality ha d
,
reached or was approaching its stages of

fulln ess The basis o f the Christ consc i ous
.
-
ness is a B eing of infinite wisdom and p o

teney who became united to a univers a l s ym
pathy and kinship developed throu gh incar
nation and experience In this union there
.
was a coalescence but no t an identific ation

, ,
of Godhood and h umanity the ex tr aor

,
dinary issue or ma nifestation o f which was

not only the Author o f etern a l salvation but ,
the Creator o f all worlds and the A dminis

trator o f the who l e realm o f moral being .
This basis o f the Mess i anic consciousness

necessitates its eterna l manifestation and a c
t i vi ty from the Godward side leaving the
,
i ncarnation and the cross as the gre at cul

minat ing facts both in the divine an d the h u
30
UN I T Y OF CON S C I OUS NE S S
man life of Messiah This suggests but does

.
not expo und the nature and content of the

Messianic consciousness A mystery within .
a mystery of the life it must itself be re

,
v ealed in the evangel in history and in indi

, ,
vidual experience At last it is a truth to be

.
attain ed by in dividual and racial faith rather

than to be advanced through philosophica l
re a son F or as the Messianic consciousness
.
was revealed thro ugh a matur ing h uman life ,
s o the perfection o f h umanity is prophetic
ally marked fo r the time when the race shall

have at tained to a particip ation in th at con
s ci ou s nes s .
T h e gre at creeds o f the Church p articu ,
lar ly that o f Nicae a and its legitimate eu

largement s and historic successors deal , ,
though more or less indirectly with this ,
supremest o f the Christocentric doctrines .
The Nicene tenets culminate in the symbolic

t erms which define the person o f the S on as
“
v e ry G o d of very G o d begotten not made
, ,
wh o came down and was incarnate

an d was made man In this august for
.
'
mu lary th e grounds were laid for the intel

31
THE CON S C I OU S NE S S OF J E S US
l ectual apprehension o f the Messianic con

s ci o u s ne s s ; or perhap s it would be more
proper t o s ay that the grounds of intellect u al

faith in this doctrine are here defined since ,
no o ne compe t ent to speak would be willing
to admit that the metaphysical elements in

the N icene Creed are in any large sense
an historical development They are more
.
truly a scholastic interpre t ation of the GO S

pels themselves .
It is t o o much a habi t with e ven ortho d o x

critics a nd scholars to lay stress upon the
simp licity o f the gospel narrat ive and the ,
absence from it of metaphysical statements

and implications The spirit in which thi s is
.
done is to the discredit o f passages that occur

in even the earlies t of the evangelists F rom .
’ “
S aint Mark s Gospel o f the S o n of Go d '
to the Athanasian disco urse o n the h omoou

sian may be s o far as the terms emp l oye d
,
are concerned a call the length of which time

,
does not adequately measure b ut in sub,
stance the two are a present and instant

unity Those who are at great and frequ ent
.
pains t o S how how S aint Paul for ins t anc e

, ,
32
three of his disciples during which time his

,
divinity shines o u t above his hu manity He .
goes deliberately to his death foretelling his ,
resurrection to occur on the third day and

, ,
on that day he rises in triumph amid the tes

t imo ny of m en and angels .
But the Markan portrait of th e humanity

o f Jesus does not less imping e upon the ab s o
lute nor less invade the realm of the meta

,
physical Jesus has a human body which

.
eats and drinks ; a h uman soul and S pirit in

constant and pronounced manifestation .
He is compassionate of the multitudes ,
tender and merciful to the unfortunate He .
exhibits painful emotions caused by the lack

of faith in his disciples in his countrymen at
,
Nazareth and in the people everywhere

, .
He is pleased when his message is gladly

received stern toward the Pharisees and
,
hypocrites and surpri s ed and pained at any

,
human discourtesy Thus though through

.
,
h is human life as portrayed by S aint Mark

he walked outwardly as a son of h umanity ,
he yet used his h u manity to reach and to

exhibit divinity This was manifested in all
.
34
relationships and through all channels His .
spittle the hem of his garment the touch o f

, ,
his hand were made instinct with power to

,
heal if only faith in the sick or needy i n

,
v oke d them . Nor was this all ; in his human

personality he accepted worship and s u g ,
gested no distinction as certainly the evan

,
g el i s t s do not ,between his acts as man and

his acts as God In the divinest of these
.
o ffices he is the S o n o f man ; in the lowliest

he is o ne with the F ather .
In the garden his soul is overwhelmed with

amazement and agony He prays to be de .
livered from death into the shadow o f which

,
he has willingly walked He is himself con .
scious o f the divinity which impinges the

ho ur o f his h uman sorrow and hesitat ion .
While in helplessness he receives the advance

o f his captors they fall backward smitten
, ,
with blindness to the earth S omething in .
his speech awes the high priest and causes

him to ask a self incriminating and self ex
- -
hib iti ng qu estion of doubt and surprise In .
his trial he appeals to his rights as a prisoner ,
and In this appe a l disturbs and amazes the

35
soul of Pilate H e calls for ministry an d

comfort in h is dying hours ; and although he
“
died like a God amid the dist urbance of
,
'
nature it was yet a h uman death produced

,
by the most pronounced torture that human

ingenuity could invent He was sepulchered
.
in the natu ral way but a R oman seal itself

, ,
a confession o f faith in his superh umanity ,
was placed upon his tomb He arose with

.
his human body ; but although that body was

recogni zed by his faithful followers it was ,
by them seen to be clothed upon with a mys

t ery and att estation O f absolute divinity .
The theology of Mark is narrative as to its ,
terms and details but it di ffers not in s u b

,
stance from that o f S aint Paul who in the ,
last of his messages to the churches declare d

“
o f this Jesus that in him dwelleth all th e
fulln ess of the Godhead bodily .
'
The media o f the direct expression of the

Messianic consciousness were the f unctions
of a bodily organism which describing the,
stages of normal human growth but with ,
constantly accentuated vigor and with per

p e t u a l invasions o f the infinite passed d ur
,
36
ing its earthly manifestations beyond all the

records and established limits of human ex
r i en ce and identified itself with the a b s o
p e
lute.
The last earthly experiences of Jesus no ,
t ably the passion the ordeals before Pilate

, ,
and the long agony o f the crucifixion per

‘
fe ct ed his consciousness as to its compass ,
both in emotion and thought of the ele ,
ments o f the absolute Three antecedent

.
events S how the manner of this process while

under way These were the baptism the
.
,
temptation and the tr an s fi gu rat i o n At the

, .
baptism of Jesus the consciousness O f Mes

s i ah s hi p may be said to have been perfected ,
the sub j ective maturity being verified by the

words and signs o f Paternal recognition .
In the struggles o f the temptation the

knowledge o f sufficiency was subj ectively
confirmed while in the tr an s fi gu rati on the
,
whole Personality stood self revealed the

-
,
di aphanous body not only testifying its s u b

s er vi en cy to the Messiani c consciousness but ,
rising to its Office o f participation therein .
The post res urrection section of the gospel

-
37
data shows how fully the divine conscious

ness had been attained by and was expressed ,
in the risen Christ and how boundless had

, ,
become the mastery of his powers Mani .
fes t ly no attribute o r essential condition of

,
his bodily human life had disappeared The .
identity o f the res u rrection body with the

crucified body w a s completely established ,
not only in the senses of the disciples who ,
both s aw and handled it but in the words ,
o f the L ord himse l f D irectly addressing

.
“
their senses of sight and touch he said : A ,
spirit hath not flesh and bones a s ye s ee me ,
have .
'
L iteralness could not be more com
p le t e ly a ffi r med
. F rom the words every
suggestion of s imile is eliminated ; they are
the antipodes of the sacramental phrase :
“
This is my body this is my blood .
'
And yet that organism of which such liter

,
a lness was a ffirmed served as the vehicle o f

,
movements that betrayed the presence and

fullness of the Absolute and itself shared in
,
the manifestation The Nicene homoousian

.
had its original in the record of a fact .
In his post resurrection experience the

-
38
limitations were transcended o f which Jesus

had spoken during his ministry Growth .
and su ff ering and death had carried him b e

yond the bourne o f the finite The G a lilaaan
.
consciousness through which pain and su ff er

ing had driven their plowshare and through
,
which with an endless procession o f foot

,
—
steps the mysteries o f God had walked ex

, ,
a nde d with the resurgence of the C r u ci fi e d

p .
This was also the pledge and letter o f ab s o

lute authority ; i n that omnifi c content con
“
s ci ou s ne s s and authority are o ne All
.
power is given unto me in heaven and in

earth .
'
With the absolute consciousness
came the right to hold the absolute scepter .
In the h uman life of Jesus was seen a typ

ing manifestation of the race consciousness
-
,
as there was there also the uncovering of the

divine nature which was his by inheritance ,
and which through j oint heirship is the herit

age o f every one who receives the Christ .
There is here an analogue worthy o f men

tion and study E ach normal human life is
.
an uncovering o f the consciousness of the

wh o l e r a ce with such additions and enlarge
,
39
ments as the valiant o f thought and faith

may conquer from environment This indi
.
cates the path o f true spiritual gro wth It .
defines the place of Christ as the head o f the

spiritual race which is the only race antici
,
“
pated in the prima l charter L et us make
,
man .
Philosophy as we hav e already seen h as

, ,
too stubbornly considered human conscious

ness as fixed within boun ds that a dm it o f no
extension beyond the phenomenal It h as .
allowed too narrow a program to the powers

which are called sp iritual or has so ught to
,
leave them unclassified in the categories I t .
has not been su fficiently mindfu l of t hat

which verily i s though it may not yet wholly
,
appear The li mitations o f the knowledge

.
o f Jesus a fi rmed in the gospel record were

f ,
as we now s ee conditions o f his growth no t

, ,
o f his perfected being . The limitations of

humanity are alike the limitations o f growt h .
The consciousness of perfected hum anity

will demand a categorical in keepin g with
its content Here is a challenge for the new
.
a e and an inspiration for its hope

g .
40
p h as i ze an exceptional claim upon t h e divine

F atherhood as instant communion and fe l
lo ws hip in the divine will But conformity
.
to the expressed will or written command

ment fruited in a higher stage of conscious
ne s s wherein was proclaimed the new and
hitherto unwritten commandment of love .
The propounding or settlement of the new

comman dm ent marked the point at which
the mind of Jesus passed beyond the bou rne
of the Jewish consciousness into the realm o f
universal sympathy and kinship N o t i n.
,
deed that this transition was delayed until

,
the time o f his speaking to his disciples the

new and perfect law o f love ; it was o ne of
his earliest attainments the rip e fruit o f h is
,
experience in which he gathered into himself

the unity and triumphs of the spiritual race
to be In this he became the head of the
race ; not by edict or proclamation but by ,
having lived himself into its blood and con

s ci o u s nes s and then by leading the captivity
,
of that consciousness a mighty march toward

and into the absolute .
T h e unity of revelation is demonstrable ,
42
U N I T Y OF CON S C I OUS NE S S
and the evangel explicable only o n the sup

,
position that the consciousness o f the S o n of

man was the source alike o f the old and the
new commandments The fu lfi lhn ent of the
.
law in him was not in the letter only nor yet ,
in the reverence shown by him for the spirit

o f legitimate ordinance but rather in the
, , ,
coordination in him of the ethical and spir

it u al essence of the old and the new The .
o ld and the new commandments epitomized
the progress and unfolding o f the conscious

ness of Jesus as it moved toward perfection .
The new commandm ent does not di ff er from

the old in essence but only in the sub j ective
,
revelation and maturity which it supposes in

those upon whom it is imposed The old .
commandments are not annulled by the giv

ing of the new b ut are in force by s o much
,
more a s is demanded by the revelation con

t aine d in the new .
The qu estion as to whether Jesus ap p r e

hended all the laws and facts o f the phe
nomen al u niverse has often been considered
more interesting to the devout mind than
important a s a condition o f understanding
43
the g ospel At fi rst blush the suggestion

.
presents an aspect o f plau sibility b ut it will

,
not bear the test of in quir y It falls before

.
the plain statement of S aint Paul that in

“
C hrist were hid a ll t h e treasures of wisdom
and knowledge nor will it qu a dr ate with
the categorical a ffirmation of the synoptist
that he knew perfectly what was i n men .
The credibility and e fficiency of the gospel -
depend upon the absolute knowledge o f its

F ounder I f Chr ist di d not know all then
.
,
he could neither fill all nor be all Knowl .
edge that fa lls short of complete appreh en

sion of the physical cosmos and its phenom
ena is not absolute ; and equ ally ap pr eh en
, ,
sion of the nat u re and sub j ective life o f man

is incomp atible with any limitat ion of knowl
edge concerning the obj ective world in which .
man is confessedly the noblest factor When .
Jesus knew altogether what was in man he ,
knew equ a lly whatever else was ex i stent or ,
possible in the uni verse Our notions o f

, .
knowledge are too rigidly con fi ned to that

which is secured thr ough processes o f educa
ti on E ducation is at last only a veri fi ca
.
, ,
44
tion and an ordering o f the content o f con

s ci o u s ne s s
. Consciousness has found and ,
will yet find its larger way E ducation will

, .
also have much more to do .
The characteristic tru th was uttered con

cerning Jesus when the evangelist declared
that h e needed not that any man S hou ld
teach him This did not mean that h e was
.
not hum anly S peaking dependent upon the

, ,
rote and order o f learning ; but that beyond

his teachers in childhood and beyond the,
books of nat u re and life in manhood his per ,
cep t i o n laid hold upon every form of v erity ,
which in fact w a s only an answer to his own

, ,
conscio u s bein g .
B ut how did Jes u s know the wo r ld of phe

nomena ? How d id he cogni ze that vas t and
intricate whole of knowledge o f which the
p hilosophies of men comprise b u t a figment ?
We hav e seen that he came to the absolute

knowl edg e j us t as men come to t h eir herit
age o f wisdom in those things which are rela
ti v e an d finite name ly through the uncover
, ,
ing o f consciousness The S on o f man was

.
sh ut up to the law wh i ch go verns all li fe ; h e

45
was left to the processes which this law i nex

o ra bly demands F rom the first ray of
.
dawning consciousness until the s u n o f h is

being burst with the light o f the absolute ,
the law of impressions cognized into ideas

O btained ; only underneath this transcend
ent responsiveness lay the potency and ca u
s a lity of the infinite .
The doctrine o f ideas has yet to be fully

stated F rom Abelard down to Kant and
.
L ocke and even to the most modern au th ori

,
ties the theory o f ideas has been in a flux ;

,
but the evidence is irrefragable that in some ,
way the mind and the idea are identica l

, .
Whether the mind forces the idea o r the idea

,
forces the mind may be immaterial It may

, .
be equally immaterial whether ideas be intui

t i o na l or whether conceptualism o r realism
,
be more demonstrable ; the determining fact

is that o f the primacy o f mind in the realm
of intellections It is mind that makes the
.
universe that uncovers that u ses that trans

, , ,
lates it into meaning Mind is consciousness

.
in activity ; when consciousness i s full the

mind and its thoughts are perfect ' et Since.
46
UN I T Y OF C O N S C I O US NE S S
there is mind that is inactive there is also ,
consciousness which is left uncovered or u n

u sed .
The h uman life of Jesus was a gra du al

and orderly uncovering o f the God con -
s ci o u s nes s which lay beneath those fi es h ly
limitations expressed in hi s bir th at B eth le

hem The process o f that uncoverin g had
.
become complete at the hour of his aseen

sion The inspired Christian life which is
.
,
the normal life o f discip l eship is an orderly

,
and constant unco vering of the Christ con -
s ci o u s nes s brough t into it by the Sp i rit u ntil

,
the uncovering be complete In that com .
p le t i o n are all the things catalogue d or a s
s umed in the doctrine of Christian p er fec

tion never yet wholly realized in this life
, ,
bu t perhaps yet to be attained to in the

earthly state certainly to be an experience o f
,
the res urrection body The attaine d knowl

.
e dge o f humanity is an original elemen t or
answer o f its consciousness and h umanity i s

,
ultimately to be wha t that conscio u sness i s

capable o f becoming in itse l f an d thro ugh
coalescence with the divine New senses an d
.
47
new powers are not needed but only the eu

,
largement of those ah ea dy active Thus the

'
knowledge o f Jesus an original element of

,
his divine self emerged through the activ ity

,
o f powers in no sense alien to those o f men ,
but s o enlarged thro ugh his larger con

s ci o u s nes s that in a l l t hi ngs he has a chieved a
pre eminence O ur l ife is in him ; a p artici

.
p a t i o n in that divine consciousness wh i ch h e
uncovered during his Galilaean years .
Certain phenomen a noted in the ear li er

—
records o f the Gospels as the a nno unce
ment t o the shepher d s o f the birth of Jes u s ,
and the visit of the wise men to his cradle

have a double interest in this connection .
They suggest the operation o f the Chr ist

consciousness from both the divine and t h e
human side ; first through portents and in
,
flu ences that could only have come from

supermundane sources and then through a
,
direct answering of the h uman sense to the

divine .
However literally one m ay c onstr u e the

recor d o f the anno uncement made t o the
shepherds and of the star seen by the wise
48
men can hardly have described all the hap

en in gs of a lik e character in the days o f
p
the Nativity but these were sufficient as side
,
lights o f its revelation The story O f A h

garus of E dessa whose letter invited Jesus
,
to be guest in his p alace is clearly apoc

,
r y h a l s o far as the E dessan letter goes ;

p ,
but it may be a survival of something distinc t

and tangible which had its place in the cycle
o f those early manifestations In the apoc
.
ryp h a l Gospel of the Infancy there are no ,
doubt to be found traces of traditions

,
rooted in actual happenings in the boyhood

li fe o f Jesus ; but o ne canoni cal account only
is preserved that o f the interview with the
,
doctors in the temple Its use is evident and

.
comprehensive : it was meant to show the

movement o f the consciousness of Jes u s o u t
o f the childhood state into the wider channels
o f a life maturing toward manh ood . Spe

ci fi ca lly it was introduced to S how that the
,
divin e consciousness had already emerged .
The tokens of unity were definite and e ffe c

tive even at this early stage .
50
C H APT ER I I I
TH E FULLNE S S OF THE
C ON S C I OUS NE S S
OU R stu d i es thus far purs u e d have le d u s

t o s ee the conscio u sness of Jesus as including
a nd expressing the fu llness of the humanity
and the Godhoo d united in the S o n We .
h av e a l so seen th at the humanity o f Jesus

was no t an a fterthough t of the Christ being ,
b ut a normal and necessary manifestation

o f his eternal con sciousness ; which set its
processes in eternity prophesied channels of

-
fellowship and forever occluded within itself

,
the answering life o f man The m i racle ex

.
pressed i n this reaction upon itself stands to

Godhood as the analogue o f procreation in
h uman paterni ty a process by which hu
,
manity constantly restores to itself in kind ,
an d with ever j ustifying retur n the output

,
o f i t s love and sacrifice . The formula which

e xpo un ds the mystery of the inc arn ation
51
consciousness is stated in the pledge o f grace

“
to bring many sons to glory It is also the
.
explication of the divine F ath erhood .
’
Here we may profitably use S aint Pa u l s
philosophical interpretation o f history to
S how how the Messianic consciousness bore
upon the life of h u manity before the inc arna
tion became a realized fact as in deed how i t
, , ,
still bears upon the whole order of h uman

life and thought The beginnings of this
.
Pauline philosophy O f history are seen in the

epistle t o the R omans There the physical
.
,
the psychic and the moral problems of hu

,
man nature are treated with a severity o f

philosophical inqu iry The why o f history
.
,
at least as to its depresse d an d abortive

movements is accounted for in th e fact o f
,
’
S in which to S aint Paul s mind ha d become a
,
method o f world history With the di s cov

.
—
ery o f S in a fact unknown to the O ld p hi
—
lo s op h er s but revealed to the prop h et s the
,
apostle was able to account for the currents

o f life which in all past history had flowed s o
steadily downward And to him came also

.
an ever growing understan d ing of the n a

-
52
FULLN E S S OF CON S C I OUSN E S S
t ure of s in It was at bottom the choice

.
against God ; it was lost or lap sed conscious

ness The nations had put God out of their
.
thoughts not through excu sable ignorance

, ,
“
b ut in knowing God they glorified h im
no t
.
'
The o ld world knew crime that is it , ,
knew offense against the State but not S in , ,
which is ag ains t God That knowledge was

.
bro ught in t h e prophecies and perfected in

the gospel In the light O f the gospel revela
.
tion S ain t Paul saw the logic of all the past

ages of men B ut the gospel brought also
.
the power of renewal to human consciousness

and the means of righteo u sness through the
personal manifestation o f Chris t The doc
trine of j u stification by faith was a nec
essary and d ivinely attested corollary of
-
this .
The conditions in the church at Corinth

furnish ed new material for the advance of
this subj ective process going o n in the apos
’
tl e s mind ; though in fact that process was
, ,
one with the details O f his public preaching .
At Corinth there were saints in embryo ; the

o ld worl d sense and idolatrou s d egradation
-
53
described in the fir s t chapter o f R omans ha d

not been wholly shaken from their souls .
B abes they were of the life o f a perfect man

hood prophesied in the evangel and o b j ecti
’
fi ed in the apostle s later contras t of the o ld
and the new man He could be t en d erly p a
.
tient with those half C hristiani ze d p agan

-
converts no t only becau se he was con

,
strained o f love b ut because he s aw the

,
whole o f the div ine plan in life and his t o ry,
and becau se that plan included these as thos e

“
who were called to be saints . His fir s t
great concept of the gospel was of its dy
n ami ca l power — his o wn experience en
forced that ; b ut he s aw it also as the s ure
leaven o f life not only in the macrocosm of
,
being b ut in the h umblest and weakes t con

v ert ap art .
B y the time S aint P au l came t o writ e th e

epistle t o the Ephesians he s aw the un iverse
,
a s the h ab itat of the race of spir it ual men .
The ages were answering in his though t to

the program of the kingdom o f Messiah ; the
nations were entering into the consciousness
o f the King . He had now complete d his
54
FULLNE S S OF CON S C I OUS NE S S
meditation o n the human si de of the gospel ;

he fores aw the emergence of a purified a nd
“
perfected race : Till we all come
unto the meas ure o f the sta tur e of the full
ness of Christ Then came the fullness o f
the vision o f the S on in the epistle to the
Colossians the last o f his messages to the
,
churches . In language which mu st be

’
Paul s since no mortal mind besides his has
,
held the power o f its symbols he finishes the

,
exposition of hi s philosophy of life in the

perfect apprehension of the Christ as filling
all fullness .
This j u stifies the particular form which

has been given the present inquiry I t is o ur
.
aim to reach an immediate and satisfying

knowl edge o f the nat ure of the conscio u sness
o f Jes u s one that will identify i ts processes
,
with the h uman sou l of yearning and need

and also with the divine so u l of ful lness an d
help How then was this c o nsciousness ex
.
, ,
p ressed i n the perfect form and action of

the Ga li laean life of the S on of m an The
?
S criptures give u s certain great outlines :

“
In him was li fe ; and the life wa s th e ligh t
55
of men It pleased the F ather that in

.
him should all fullness dwell The synop .
tical story fills up these outlines with a

record whose details bear upon both the h u
man and the divine manifestation O ur
happy and profitable tas k is to s ee how these
details constitute a perfect whole .
The S criptures everywhere describe the

manhood life of Jesus as being one of perfect
fu lhi es s and completene ss Though it may .
not at once be apprehended as a fact those ,
sections of the gospel which deal with the

fu lhi es s of the life of Jes u s lay stress on the
nature and range of his personal consciou s
ness He knew what was in men ; he knew
.
their unbe liefs He knew who could believe

.
on him to be healed ; he knew what he should

do ; who touched him in the midst o f the
throng ; he knew his powers over nature an d
the spirits ; the immaculate righteousness of
his o wn soul ; he knew the things that must
befall h im and the triumph which awaited
,
him beyond the cross These were s p eci fi .
cally the things which the gospe l narrators

1
J ohn 1 . 4 .
2
C ol 1
. . 19 .
56
pendent upon s o obvious an order o f reason

ing He was inwardly conscious of Go d
.
hood ; it wa s a light that b u rned in the ch am

bers o f his being o ut o f sight not kind l e d
,
through spontaneity or contact o f differing

elements ; but it was an eterna l essence s p lr
i tu aliz ing the hum an substance with which
it clothed itself o f choice .
There was fullness of conscio u sness on the

human side o f the li fe of Jesus F rom his .
childhood to the ho ur of his o ff erin g up no ,
issue or act of his life betrayed a lack o f sen

s i b i lit y emotion o r perception ; n or was one
, ,
o f these manifestations ever erratic i ncom ,
l t e or ever suggestive o f u nbr i dle d feel

p e ,
ing or confused intellection Nor were these

.
processes uniformly exhibiting a perfect

,
movement o f consciousness witho u t thei r

,
perfect relation to human necessity T h ey .
were developed thr ough a normal human e x

p er i en ce It
. is not t o o much to s ay—in d eed ,
it is the necessity o f ou r view of the life of the

—
S on o f man to s ay that the evangeli sts are
chiefly concerned to show the order o f that
experience through which he came to be con
58
scio u s of his own being and the work he was

to perform in the world and the ages o f
This experience proceeded along the lines

o f the highest j oys and t h e deepest sorrows
of which his consciousness was capable .
F rom the necessities of his own being as the ,
h ea d and type of t he spiritually consciou s

r ace and also becau se o f the demands of his
,
priestly and s a crificial office the depths and

,
the heights must be so unded It behooved .
him t o reach ou t to the ultimate j oy as also

,
to yield himself to the ultimate su ff ering .
In contemplating the t ragedy of sorrows

that swep t his life we t o o often miss the
,
harmonies o f paradise that live in u ndertone

in hi s daily speech It i s perhaps only t o o
.
“
natural and necessary t o think of him as the
“
Man o f S orrows rather than as the Son of
'
the B lessed.
'
But in the evangel both these
manifestations of the life are presented and ,
that for the sake o f expressing the reason

and manner of the consciousness of H im who
found it meat and drink to do the will of the
h e aven ly F ath er.
59
Very early in the manhoo d life o f Chr i s t

we trace the advance o f conscio u sness in act s
and moods of menta l and soulful self ah ne -
g a t i o n Indeed
. we are
, f u rnished in t h e
epistles with the ass ur ance that this process
began before the h uman birth ; that it was
expressed in a prenatal state or act as dis
tinct in individuality and self committal as
-
any stage or act of the Gali laean experience .
The wor d u sed in the Greek S cript ures to

describe this process is kenos is S aint Pau l
.
very d efinitely deals with this d octrine an d

3
,
implications o f it are abundant thro ughout

the canon The Master adverts to it in his
.
pr ayer o ff ere d j ust before going to the

“
agony o f the gar d en : The glory which I
had with thee before the wor l d was .
Though s o briefly stated perhaps no d oc

.
,
trinal entity is more certainly affirmed in the

New Testament .
The a ct O f the kenos is was the prep aration

for birth as a human B abe in B e thlehem It .
was not merely the putting o ff of the use and

aspect of the divine glory ; it was a real if ,
a Ph il 2 7
. . .
60
FULLN E S S OF CON S CI OUS NE S S
still mysterio u s pouring o u t of himself b y

,
the S on that he might find himself again in

,
the won dr ous stages of the Galilae an life It .
is the prenatal act O f the divine Christ which

stands as the s ea deep swell o f his Messi anic
-
consciousness Naturally ou r senses an d

.
,
power s fail in contemplating the prenat al

C hristhood ; b ut its recor d marks the mo ve
ment of the divine life in revelation and this ,
record is o f a conscio u s personality acting

thr o ugh the ages upon the forces of matter ,
and at l ast evo king responsiveness from th e

s o u ls o f patriarchs and seers u n til re v elat ion
integr ate d as an experience the u ni on of di

,
v ine essences with those o f the h uman so ul .
This is the formu la of that mos t ancient ap

proach o f the Godhood tow ard the fin al
stages of the Christ conscio u sness realized in
-
the e v angel Wh atever the extraordin ary

.
nat ure of the tr ansition of the conscio u snes s

from the ancient p l ane of expression t o th at
of the G ali laean sense as viewe d from t he
—
,
human S ide an d that is the si d e of revela

—
tion it was a n eclipse o f glory a wait in g ,
for th e t ime o f th e final manifestation T hi s .
61
THE CON S C I OUS NE S S O F J E S U S
was the kenosi s not a figure of speech no t a

, ,
metaphor meant to accommodate the limi ta

tions O f the intellect b u t a divinely rea liz ed
,
-
fact transcending any self resign ation pos

,
-
sible to the race whose interest i t e x poun d s .
The statement of the doctr ine of th e pre

natal self— emptying of the Chris t is fo ll owe d
in the S criptures by that o f the tap eznosi s
'
the voluntary h umiliation i n which the G a li

laean li fe began and w a s contin u e d to its en d .
The u s u al form o f this latter statement re

fers to the v olu ntary act of Jes u s in c onsent
ing t o be born the S on o f a carpent er the ,
child of poverty the Man of S orrows and

, ,
to endu re the contradiction of sinners ag ainst

himself B ut mu ch more than th is i s im pli ed
.
in the doctrine Godhe a d is not irnp ass ive ;

.
all conscio u s is the Etern al ; an d so the pre

-
incarnate Christ felt to the full es t the h umi l

i ati on that awaite d the days o f hi s flesh ; nor
less was that sense o f h umiliation a ctiv e i n
the time of his s u ff ering I t was no t d e
.
pendent upon acts o f dishonor a n d speeches

o f reproach visited u pon h im by men ; i t was
conditioned in the state to which he ha d com

62
FULLNE S S OF CON S C I OU S NE S S '
mi tt ed h imself and was deeply mingl e d w ith

,
thought and emotion It was the h umilia

.
tion which love must always feel in s a crifice ,
though sacrifice were preferred abo v e every

advantage an d honor of life It is no t t o o .
' ’
mu ch to s ay th at the tap eznos zs w a s the ex
pression o f wh at was due to Godho o d fr om
itself the answer o u t o f those depths of self
,
abnegation in which Jes u s walked a s the

S aviour O f men The Christ conscio u sness
.
-
not only m a de record of this b ut found it the

,
a mple channel thro u gh wh i ch it earliest

flowed in m anifest a tion .
A complete analysis of the humiliation

mo v ement in the conscio u sness o f Jes us is
given u s in the epist l e t o the Hebrews
“
Who in the d ays of his flesh when he had ,
o ffered u p pr ayers an d s upplications with

strong crying and te ars u nto him t h at was
able to s ave him from death and was heard ,
in that he feared ; tho ugh he were a S on ye t ,
l e arned he obedience by the things which he

s uff ered ; and being made perfect he became ,
the author of eterna l sa lv ation u nt o all th em

that obey him .
3
THE C O N S C I O U S N E S S OF JE S U S
There is in this passage a most pertinent

and conclusive adj ustment o f language
which widely illuminates o ur v iew of the
Galilaean life as a means of bringing th e hu
man and divine conscio u sness into u ni ty .
The auth or of Hebrews h ere d ecl ares th at

Jes u s was h ear d when he praye d to be de
li vered from death N o w this langu age is
.
,
no t figurative therefore it m u s t refer to a

,
form of death other than that of the cross ;

an d this is the fact involve d The h uman life.
“
o f Jes u s was a s truggle marked by , strong
'
c ry ing and t e ars t o bring his human
,
powers into l ine and uni ty w ith th e divine

fu l lness wh i ch he found to be with in con
st ant reali z ation The failure to comp l ete
.
this r ealiz ation wo u ld h av e res ulted in that

ancient d eath whi ch p assed upon men
thro ugh Adam F rom the h uman v iew
.
po int therefore the li fe o f th e S on o f m an

, ,
presente d const ant aspects of trag e dy e x ,

“
presse d h ere in th e wor d s in that he ,
'
feare d . B ut the perils o f death were
passed in the voyage through those red seas
o f conscio u sness whose tur b ul ency hea v e d
64
derness experience o f Jes u s as having been

—
mechanically obtruded the answer to a call
to depart from the normal se l f chosen path
-
o f his going . But it was related in no s u ch

way to the life The fact that the e v angelists
.
have given it conspicuous place in the recor d

indicates its importance as also its relation
,
to the nat ura l order o f the growth of Jes u s .
The more natural aspects of the life of h is

youth and early manh ood are passed o v er in
silence because O f a relatively less important
relationship to the story as a whole .
The baptism o f Jesus presents h im in the

attitude o f a natural and lively obedience .
The divine manifestations which were vo u ch

safed him at this t ime suggested his retreat
into the wilderness in order that t ime an d
the opportunity o f isolat ion might gi v e free
dom and continuity to his tho u ghts stirre d ,
by the baptisma l phenomena The se vera l

.
temptations then ens u ed naturally and were ,
shaped both from movements o ut of the

consciou sness and the invasions o f that con
s ci o u s ne s s by the O b j ecti vit y o f the external
world . The fasting voluntarily d e vi sed

, ,
66
was a condition O f deep interpenetrative

, ,
continuo u s thought . The long s train o f

me di tation being over the physic a l frame
,
awoke to the pangs of consciou s hunger .
The w ad dy or d ry bed o f a mo u ntain brook

,
o v er which he passed was paved with small

,
bowlders worn oval an d ro un d by the t um

‘
blings and attritions o f water Their appear.
ance suggested a baked barley loaf The .
physical sense o f hunger immediately clam

ored for a miracle to transform the stones
into t hat bread which they resembled It .
was a temptation orig in at ing down at the

base li ne of desire It w a s the unreason ing
.
instinct cry of the bre ad mob It was a

-
.
movement of appetency t o secure the first

p l ace The craving was not wr on g ; it was
.
only that its demand was o ut of order that it

bec ame l ess t han self wo rt hy T hi s order
-
.
the conscio u s soul o f m a st e ry in Jes u s s et

“
right b y de claring : Man S h all not liv e by
brea d al one b ut by e very word which pro
,
ceedet h o u t of the mo u th of God

'
.
T h e human wi ll having thr ough conscious

effo rt j o ine d i tse l f t o t h e di vi n ewill the hun ,
67
gry Christ soon afterwar d s fo und hospita lity

in some S hepherd cot where his cravings were
satisfied and his wonted strength recovere d .
F ollowing this his face would natural ly be

,
turned toward Jerusalem and the temp l e o f

worship G oing from his retreat in the wi l
.
derness he wo u ld cross some o ne of the s ev

,
eral S houlders o f Mo unt Ep h raim probably ,
Baal Hazor which attains an altitu de o f

,
more than three thousand feet This van .
tage wo u ld give a favorable view of t h e l ands

east and north of the Syrian landscape and
of the S hores of the Great S ea the thea ter o f
,
the power of imperial R ome The breath of.
a dream o f worldly ambition tossed his h a ir

for a moment Kinglihood was his own ; the
.
universe o f power was his habitat H e h a d .
only to take that which was his T h e i m .
pulse was not evil ; b ut the end s uggeste d

was the revers a l o f the whole scheme o f his
mission ; and moreover a current r unning
, ,
radically co un ter t o the co u rse o f h is con

s ci o u s nes s i n bot h its pren atal movements
and the order t o which it had kept h itherto

in its early manifestations T o yie ld to the
.
68
allu rements of earth ly empire would be to

deny himself He could have done s o ; but
.
might wa s abo ut him and the might o f con

,
scio us obedience was within He knew and .

,
“
knowledge an d will were one Thou shalt .
worship the L ord t hy G o d and him only ,
shalt tho u serve .

'
At Jer u salem it was probably the time of

the feast which wo u ld account for the per
,
sona l d esire of Jesus to visit the temple .
S everal h undred tho u sands of strangers

wo u ld be present .These mul titudes ,
thronging the co urts o f the temple tented ,
upon the adj acent wal l s and covering th e

,
face o f Mo unt Olivet a furlong or s o away

, ,
woul d s uggest to the Galilaean while at the ,
s ummit of one o f the wall towers of the

temple the possibility of demonstrating his
,
divinity by casting himself down into the

abyss of J eh o sh aph at and arising unhurt in
the presence of the people Many a can di.
date for worldly distinction and advantage

has been scarcely less bold B ut it was a
m
.
resu m i n impossible to J esus through

p o
what he h ad become by reason of his growth

69
into divinity ; not impossible to his h uman

nature which he took in it s primal weakness ,
but I mpossible to what he had become

through his rote o f conscious humi l iation an d
“
O bedience T h o u shalt no t t emp t the L or d
.
'
thy God .
The p assional movements of the Gal ilaean

consciousness are described in the S crip tur es
as cu lminating in the p a thema ta o r the s u f ,
feri ngs of Jesus The great characteristic .
group s o f t h ese su ff erings were pushed close

up to the hour o f his personal triu mph The .
logic of this i s a ffirmed in the S criptures :

“
The su fferings o f Chris t and th e glory that
“
should follow 4
O ught not C hris t t o ha v e
.
'
su ffered these th ings and to enter into his ,
glory ? 5 '
B ut neither the se l f d e v e l opin g -
nor the sacrificial su ff erings o f Jes u s were

confined to the closing and cr u cial days o f
his e arthly life B ecause o f his more than .
mortal s u sceptibility to pain and the sense of

humiliation his human passional mo v ements
,
would have had an extraordinarily early and

S ee 1 Pe t 5 1 . . .
5 ' uke 24 . 26 .
70
also an extraordinarily large expression .
The coalescence of the human and the di

vine began while he was yet in the manger
nursery at Bethlehem nor was the record o f
,
the atonement su ff erings delayed in con

sciou s beginn ing And here it should be re
.
marked that the atonem ent doctrine and the

conscio u sness doctrine have perfect affi n ity .
How nearly one is the other remains yet to

be stated But this abides forever clear that
.
,
J esus in bringing to fullness and perfection

the cont ent o f his o wn consciousness made
“
h imself the a uthor o f eternal salvation .
'
The early su fferings of Jesus were veiled

behind th e aspect o f his perpetu al h uman
kindness and his u nselfish devotion to the
’
F ather s b u siness which engaged him from
his t ender years Wh en the last earthly
.
m inistry had been wr ought and the hour o f

j u dgment was at han d the mighty swell o f
,
hi s emotions influenced not by the shadow of

,
impending death only b u t by the pent u p

,
-
forces of consciousness moving from below ,
broke forth in the agony o f the garden In

.
the passi on of that hour the hum an ity not

,
71
TH E CON S C I OUS NE S S OF J E S US
yet made perfect thro ugh su fferings its ,
consciousness not yet perfectly coalesced

with the divine struggled with Godh ead
,
until knowledge was able to b a lance the

weight of the cup of death and look thro ugh
the mystery before him This knowledge .
,
spr ung from consciousness it was that left,
him calm and confident through the long

ordeal of his trial and the e v ents of his j u dg
ment and crucifixion His calmness in the
.
face of death was not the self m a stery o f the

-
philosopher nor yet the faith o f the martyr

, ,
but sprang from a knowledge which came

from within where the victory of the gar d en
had brought the conscious h uman mind over
its last stage of movement towar d u nity with
the divine .
Jesus Christ was not a martyr He was .
a sacrifice fo r s in the sacrifice of eternal

,
necessity the oblation O f lo v e The s in o f

, .
his m u rderers belongs to the common cate

g o r i e s o f crime ; b u t his death o n the cross
’
was the act which completed the Godhood s
ideal of itself and made the universe a con
scious whole The dying cry from the cross
.
,
72
he adorned his teachings A radiance o ver .
spread his face and a miracle of light shone

o u t of his eyes w hi le his voice was as when
,
o ne hears what is o u t o f sight b u t feels a
presence for which his eyes cannot acco unt .
Knowledge is not only the sour ce of all

true s trength a nd character b ut in its high , ,
est attainments becomes a guarantee to

,
faith True blessedness and happiness come

.
from it and it stands as the title t o the ulti

,
mate good The calmness an d mast ery of

.
Jesus centered in the supremacy o f h is

thought the absoluteness o f his knowledge
, .
Wherever there appeared in his earthly life a

S ign o f hesitation o r came a moment o f se l f
,
confessed dep enden cy it was only the i nstant

'
waiting o f the human sense until it clasped

han d s with the divine in a perfect app r eh en
sion This apprehension could not preclude
.
the pangs of su ffering the sense of h umi li a

,
tion nor the dread of death b u t it bro ught

, ,
serenity rest and perfect triump h o f soul

, , .
It was through these wide O pening s of his

hidden life that the consciousness of the
G al i lae an rose to a level with the divine .
74
All this was not because he s tu died as men ,
mus t needs do to co mp el contentment and

,
attain satisfaction in the mids t of perplex

ities b ut i t w a s th e li fe within expressing
,
itse l f a s th e spr ing d oes in its b l ooms and

the s ummer in th e ripeness of its fr u itage .
It was the speech of his consciousness the —

perfu me o f Sharon the breath of the valley
,
'
.
J oy a nd peace are ascribed to Jesus no t

only a s a means of express ing his soteri al and
Messianic self de di cation bu t a s be l onging
-
,
t o the or d er and necessary manifestation o f

h is persona l ity He possesses fullness o f
.
j y
o , w h ic h he giv es to his disciples ; he is the
Pr ince o f Pe a ce and blesses his r ul e and
,
kingd om w ith the fr u itage thereof ; i n him

are h id the treas ure s o f good They are .
terms o f his being modes o f the giving o f

,
himself to men .
Joy was a perfect asse t o f the life of th e

“
Son of m an The 0 7mm or j oy o f the
.
,
'
L or d pledged in the parable of the talents
,
to the faithfu l users thereof is not the en 3o y ,
m ent of t h e talent nor its usufru ct b u t a fel ,
lows h i of so u l a p articipation in t he life

p , ,
75
THE CON S C I OUS N E S S OF J E S US
character and selfhood of the L ord himse l f

, .
—
I t w as the j oy of J esu s satisf a ction and
elation in the th ought and u se o f th at life ,
ho urly and moment ly emerging from th e

—
fu l lness of his i nn er self that held him in
the years of his labor and humiliat i on F o r .
men he made beatitudes tha t were of the s u b

stance and soul of himself ; b u t his own beati
t u de wa s the j oy which was s et before him '
—the approaching coalescence o f hi s own

soul with that o f the F ather in his perfect e d
Ga lilae an life F or that he endured the cross
.
and despised the shame and in realization o f

,
i t s at down at the right hand o f the throne

o f God With no id eal o f the Ga li laean
'
.
blessedness d o ou r minds so readily associate

the daily life o f Chris t a s with the eirene t h e ,
peace that was his as a possession th e peace ,
which he came to bestow u pon men It was .
virt u e an d beauty in h is walk and convers a

tion ; b u t it was above all the state which
, ,
obtained in the unity o f his hidden powers o f

divinity and hum an fulfilling .
H umanly considered peace was the high

,
est necessity O f the life o f Jes u s The long

.
76
FULLNE S S OF C O N S C I OUS NE S S
and glowing calms of August are needed to

ripen the grain in the ear after the rains ,
have fed it and the gusts have tried it in the

lists Jesus fo und calm in the hills and
.
peace in the dim an d ancien t woods or in the ,
desert wilds in which to meditate and per

,
fect the revelation whi ch came ou t of the

depths of hi s own being Sinful men mu st .
look up ; but the bl ameless Chr i st needed

only to look within Peace was hi s m ightiest
.
means of self reve l ation S o use d it became

-
.
,
as himself and was to his disciples d escribed

,
'
as My peace T hi s i s the peace which he
—
.
gives to th e be li e v er the balance and faith ,
poise of mind and so ul to interpret the Chris t

li fe int o himself .
T h e ex altations or inward manifestations

of gl ory v o u chsafed to the so u l of Jesus dur
ing his ye ars o f humiliat ion m arke d the
higher stages o f th e t i des of perfecting con
s ci o u s nes s Wh i l e the wor d hup s os zs or e x
'
.
,
alt at i o n i s u se d in connection wit h the ex e

, p
r i ence of Jes u s only after his r es u rrection ,
“ '
the wor d glory is often u se d in the story
o f h is e ar thly li fetime These inw ar d mani
.
77
character and selfhood o f the L ord himself .
—
,
It was the j o y o f Jcsus satisf a ction an d

elation in the thought and u s e of that life ,
h o urly and moment ly emerging from t h e

—
fullness of his inner self that held h im in
the years o f his labor an d humiliation F or .
men he made beatitudes tha t were of the s u b

stance and soul of himself ; b u t his own bea ti
'
t u de was the j oy which was s et before h im
—the approaching coalescence o f his own
soul with that of the F ather in his perfecte d
Galilaean li fe F or that he endured the cross
.
and despised the shame and in realization of

,
it s at down at th e rig ht hand o f the throne

o f God .
'
With no i d eal of the G alilwan
blesse dness d o our minds s o readily associat e
the daily life O f Chris t a s with the eirene the ,
peace that was h is as a possession the peace ,
which he came to bestow u pon men It was .
virt u e an d beauty in his walk an d con versa

tion ; b u t it was above all the state which
, ,
obtained in the unity of his hidden powers of

divinity and human fulfilling .
H umanly considered peace was the high

,
est necessity o f the life of Jesus The long .
76
FULLNE S S O F CON S C I OUS N E S S
and glowing calms of August are needed to

ripen the grain in the ear after the rains ,
have fed it and the gu sts have tried it in the

lists Jesus found calm in the hills and
.
peace in the dim an d ancien t woods or in the ,
desert wilds in which to meditate and per

,
feet the revelation whi ch came o ut o f the

depths of his own being Sinful men must .
look up ; but the blameless Christ needed

only to look within Peace was h i s m ightiest
.
means of self reve l ation S o use d it became

-
.
,
as himself and was to his discip l es d escribed

,
'
a s My peace T h is i s the peace which he
—
.
gives to th e be li e ver the balance and faith ,
poise of mind and so ul to int erpret the Christ

li fe int o h imself .
T h e ex altations or inward manifestations

o f g l ory v o u chsafed to the so ul o f Jesus dur
ing his ye ars o f h umiliat ion m arke d the

higher stages o f th e tides o f perfecting co n
s ci o u s nes s Wh ile th e wor d hup s os zs or ex
'
.
,
alt at i o n i s u sed in connect ion wit h the ex e

, p
r i ence of Jes u s only a ft er h i s res u rrection ,
“ '
the wor d glory is often u se d in the story
o f h is ear thly li fet ime T h ese inw ard mani
.
77
which lifted the soul of the hu man

fe s t at i o n s
Christ to the heights o f glory and exalt ation
became overt at the time of the t r ans fi gu r a
tion and on such occasions as those describe d
,
in L uke 1 0 2 1 and John 1 2 2 8

. . .
It was in apprehension and appraisement

of these passional results in the conscious
ness of Jesus these climaxes o f s u ffering and
,
j oy o f humi liation and exaltation that

, ,
S aint Paul sought and used the character

—
i s ti c word o f his Christology the P lero ma .
It was in turn the vision of the fullness that

, ,
led him into the statement o f the doctrine of

the P arou s i a the pervading a nd consciou s
,
presence of Christ in the universe to become ,
i ntensive and to climax the work of redemp

,
tion in some great prophetic ho ur o f mani

,
fe s t ati on .
78
THE CON S C I OUS N E S S O F J E S U S
’
most eloquent o f the apostle s letters to
the churches the epistle to the Colossians
, .
' uite appropriately too the language o f

, ,
this epistle is compressed while its des crip

,
tions become overt and absolute In fact .

,
language never more completely com

mande d the e ffects o f art and yet ne v er s o
,
completely transcended art The image O f

.
the invisible God the incarnate F irstborn of

,
every cre at ure i s there in perfectly revealed

, .
The uniqu eness and s urpassing merit of

the pict ure which constit utes the central
member o f this epistle is that it realizes on
the scale o f eterna l vastness what afterwards
became the ideal of the O ld L atin masters
who so ught to associate with their pictu r es
o f the Christ the temptations hopes and, ,
l oya lties o f d iscip l eship by present ing i n

,
mystic grouping s about the ir central co l ors

th e faces and forms of saint s The Colos .
sian pict ure o f Jesus is the masterpiece of

re v elation ; b ut i n the glow and s ymp athy
which shade o ff from its theme o f themes are
grouped the details of a humanity personal ,
general and characteristic but a ligned to

, ,
80
TH E S ON OF M A N
’
the picture s divinest element thro ugh the ’
logic of grace .
This association o f humanity with the

ideal of the S on not the h umanity o f the
,
Galil aean Chris thood only but o f men sepa ,
ra t ely and collectively is indispensable to a

,
conception O f his personality This condi .
tion i s affirmed in the lips o f the S on himself

“
A body hast tho u prepared me All .
'
prophecies became relevant and all promises ,
o f the Messia ni c day became tangible in ,
connection w ith the thought of the human

Christ The history of I srael itself i ndeed
.
, ,
the history of the race not only took mean

,
ing from it but was influenced and shaped

,
under its persistent force F rom the choos .
ing O f the Moabitess to be the matriarch of

’
the line of I srael s kings to the a nnuncia ,
tion made to the Virgin the sp ace of a thou

,
sand y ears this purpose wrought won

,
dr ou s ly e ff ecti v ely It distrained the blood

, .
,
and wove as from silken fineness the fleshly

fiber o f a maternity to reach the ripeness o f
,
its gr a ce and fitness in the person of the

mothe r o f Jes u s .
81
Thus has been laid upon u s the divine ne

ce s s ity
, developed through history and
prophecy of thinking o f the S on in the ligh t
,
o f his h uman divine nature unite d in o ne

-
personality It appert ains t o o u r plan t o

.
inquire int o this necessity an d t o seek t o

,
know the content and mo v ement s o f th e

consciousness o f Jesus during th e years o f
his Galilaean experience measured from his
,
birth to the hour o f his ascension The.
largeness of the inquiry and the a ugust diffi

cu lti e s which beset i t s prosec u tion a re reco g
ni ze d an d admitted . T h ey cons t itut e t h e

mystery of godliness In them are st ore d
.
the treas u res of wisdom an d knowledge far ,
removed from the c uriosity o f the wise an d

pruden t b ut t o be revea l e d to the minds of
,
those wh o b reathe in the consci o u sness of

that life o f wh ich they are th e cont ent .
These are the things into wh ich the angels

—
desire to look the fullness wh ich dwe l t
bodily an d fore v er dwells in Him wh o is th e
, ,
F irstborn of many brethren .
The answer to our question i s th e s t at e

ment of the gospel I n Its pr im a l t erms It i s .
82
THE S ON OF M A N
th e element o f faith brought within the reach

o f the willing and hungering heart Of old .
it was said that the kingdom o f heaven is

taken by violence o f desire ; that i s it is ap ,
o r i at e d by the hands that turn it to

p pr
eternal u se The exercise of appropriating

.
this conscio u sness is th u s the process of the

life which it begets .
The true content of history is human char

a ct er . Character is what men become
thr o ugh feeling thinking choosing and act
, , ,
ing But feeling thought choice action

.
, , , ,
flow ou t o f consciousness Conscio u sness is

.
therefore the measure o f wha t men are for it ,
i s not only the substance of thought will , ,
and action but it is present always as the

,
determ inative o f their course and value It .
is the ultimate form of existence .
These reflections serve to introduce ,
tho ugh they by no means fu lly bring into

view the wealth of truth and fact that condi
,
ti o ned the spring and growth o f the Galilaean

consciousness of Jesus a doctrine which is
,
convertible into and exhaustive of the phi

, ,
los ophy of the gospel .
83
The character and scop e o f o ur inquiry do

not necessarily call for a discussional study
of the doctrine o f the virgin birth but the y
,
presuppose the fact o f this birth as the basis

o r in dispensable condition of the conscious
ness whose record we are tr a cing The Gali

.
Iaean conscio u sness was not a trad u ction not ,
a refinement o f racial life but the finding in

,
the Christ unity o f the perfect and full d i

vinity of Godhood prenatal and v eiled in
, ,
the stages o f infancy but instant in revela

,
tion at the first movement o f consciousness

in the life of the young Child Nothing but
.
the procreation of immanent Go dhood and

virgin conception can answer in any concei v
able way the miracle o f that conscio u sness
which became the Chr ist of h istory .
The final validation o f re v elation is t o '
come with a perfect apprehension in the faith

of men o f the measure of the personal con
s ci o u s ne s s o f Jesus Chr i st as represente d
prophetically an d historically in the gospel .
This personal conscio u sness is the realm o f

gospel teaching and activity and a so urce
,
and sphere o f that eterna l l ife t o wh ich men

84
TH E S ON OF MAN
attain through faith The apprehension and

.
reprodu ction o f the Christ consciousness is

the normalization of life The religion of .
the Greeks made a Greek ; the religion of the

Jews made a J ew ; but the religion of Jesus
makes a man This manhood confessedly is
.
yet in process b ut its form and spirit have

,
sufficient ly emerged to give earnest o f what

it i s to be in the ideal Individual manifesta
.
tions of it have adde d glory and maj est y to

the ages of history .
The way o f sincere faith is the way into

a p articipation in the Christ consciousness
o f whi ch the ideal manhood is being com
pou nded both as to its incidental impulses

,
“
and its most momentous intellections F or .
me to live is Christ not only voiced the vi

,
'
t aliti es of the perfect confession but shaped ,
the formu la o f the consciousness doctrine

o f the C h rist salvation Those experiences
.
,
and th eir resultant entities which are prop

erly d escribed as religion come of the a d ,
-
v ance o f the Gali lee an sense through the
funct i ons of the human bodily organism
whi ch answer to co nsciousness .
85
This puts the de fi nition of religion back on

its original terms It is life ; it is radically
.
fu ncti onal radically experimenta l T h is is

, .
not to qu alify the spiritual absolute in reli

gion nor to minify its O ffi ce and use but t o ,
set it in its true light as the normalizer of l ife

by ali gning its every attrib ute and instinct
with the perfect S ou rce o f L ife F rom the
soles of its feet to the crown O f its h ead an d
to the uttermost tip s o f its fing ers the reg en
crated body is to be invaded by that L ife .
Within this circu it o f the bo dy are groupe d

the mysteries o f the conscious self ; and this
was the realm within which the G ali laaan
consciousness moved i n the days o f the re
generation and within which i t is to move
,
through the aeons o f immortality T h e Gali

.
laean body p ersists in t h e h e avenlies ; and in ,
i t s order the body o f the discip l e i s to be as

,
’
his L ord s and s o persist
, .
In the relationship pro du ce d b y the

Christ consciousness the bo dy o f th e S on Of
-
,
—
man the organism of his flesh and b l oo d
appears not only as the norm of ideal hu
manity but as th e cause an d s upply O f it s
,
86
THE CON S C I OUS N E S S OF J E S US
quickening and passion stated the larger ,
doc trine o f his consciousness ; and indicated ,
at least in part the channels through which

,
that consciousness was to be commu ni cated

to men This discourse of Jesus fully lodges
.
the doctrine o f the conscio u sness in the

record o f his bodily life and relates it to the
,
essential divineness o f his flesh and blood ,
the energy of his Spirit the eter ni ty beget

,
-
ting quality of his words and h i s continued ,
habitation in the body o f true discipleship .
This is the unity o f the Gali laean personality ,
the manifest of that consciousness which

brought the kingdom o f heaven to men .
This was not only the supreme mani festa

tion o f personality but it was also the s u
,
preme ministry of personality Christ was .
not only a gift to the world from the hands

of Power and L ove but he gave himself in
,
a ministry which left his conscious self wh er

ever he walked and from those restri cted
, ,
walks o f Galilee to brood and multiply

,
through all the world and life o f men .
Where he has once been he must forever be ,
and more until the Immanence O f his con

,
88
THE S ON OF M A N
s ci o u s nes s shall whelm the uni verse of sense

and though t .
It is a notion o f consciousness which we

sometimes seek t o express when we u s e the
“
word presence .That the presence o f a
'
great man awes u s is an exp licab l e phe

n o menon . When genuine this awe results ,
from proj ecte d personalit y But person .
ality is the s um o f act ive and productive con

s ci o u s ne s s the stabili ties and creations which
,
have been pushed and built u p through the

openings o f emotion intellect and the eth
, ,
ical and spiritual being The focus o f the .
light o f consciousness is within b ut the S hin ,
ing and the life generating ministry o f its

-
r ays are to the places both near and far .
The intensive note in the G alilee an revela

tion i s liable to be lost in the mazes o f mod
ern ethical interpretation The personally .
manifested consciousness Jes u s himself de

“ “
fined under the terms o f flesh and blood '
.
'
“
Except ye eat the flesh o f the S on of man ,
an d drink his blood ye have no life in you

,
He that eateth my flesh and drinketh ,
my blood dwelleth in me and I in h im

, , It .
'
89
is not into less than the letter but into m ore

, ,
that the terms o f this divine d eclaration are

to be translated It is evident tha t a tr uth
.
nearly expressed but i nexpressib l e lives i n

, , ,
these words They are the form u la of the

.
immanent consci o u sness o f Jes u s wh i ch d is

places i n the regenerate heart the processes
o f the ol d man and which comes qu ick an d
,
red with the sense o f the Galilae an life .
Since the cross embodies the s upreme ac t

of grace ministered through the Mess i ani c
consciousness the supreme upheaval of the
,
Godh ood sense the overt emergence o f the

,
ki ngdom of love and power the dedicat i on,
o f the body — the flesh and blood o f th e Cr u

ci fi e d which furnish the phenomena of tha t
,
—
act becomes the essence o f it all not for ,
the tragic moment o f the crucifixion only ,
but for all eternity When therefore the

.
, ,
meaning o f t h e cross i s sought it mu st be ,
through the Christ consciousness which-

,
while not less active not less sacrificial not

, ,
less the expression of the supreme will o f

obedience in the quiet Galilaean days ye t
, ,
looked and moved toward the red orgy o f

90
THE S ON OF MAN
th e P l ace of a Skull as the perfect end both

in the Victim himself and fo r the Messianic
kingdom in which he was to reign It was .
the cross that opened to him a way for the

s upreme act O f sacrifice and t o the com
‘
p let e d u ni ty of the consciousness of the one

Mediator between God and man That fact .
“
has a record in the death cry It is finished '
-
,
'
The flesh an d blood of the human body d o

not represent the nat ure o f consciousness ;
that is to be looked for in a deeper relation
ship ; but the flesh and the blood are I n this ,
present life at least the intensive centers

, ,
o f all the manifestations o f conscio u sness .
A glass tube outside the great steel p i s toned -
engine boiler tel l s of the rise and fall o f the

water in the ir on entrails ; s o the flesh an d
blood show in the way appointed them the
tumu lts and passions o f the soul within .
The flesh and blood O f Jesus were the i nt en

sive cent ers of his consciousness in its Gali
Iaaan manifestation . The passions maj es ,
ties t umults and triumphs of his Conscious

, ,
so u l spoke during his earthly days through

th e functions of a life that was demonstrably
91
human . The manifestations were O ften

transcendently divine but the agency of
,
hand o r voice was such as the h uman sense

could constantly identify Nor were these .
functions modified in the manifestations o f

the body of the risen Christ who ate before ,
his disciples touched them with his hands

, ,
breathed upon them an d spoke in the f a

,
miliar words o f their v ernacular the last

commission reinstit uting the Ch u rch and the
,
Kingdom o f the ages N o r does the highest

.
Christian faith allow that the identity o f

these functions is to be lost from or to be ,
fo und wanting in the Messianic personality

, ,
triumphant and seated a t the right hand o f

the F ather H uman hands and a human
.
sense are there an d a human heart is in the

,
bosom of H im before whom the angels an d

hierarchies of heaven fall down and worship .
The Galilaean consciousness was not a hu

man consciousness only though it was that
, ,
and must so forever remain in ful lness .
Jesus loved the sight of the lilies and read ,
with j oy the natu re books written o n blades

of gr ass He looked with won d e r u pon the
.
92
THE S ON OF M A N
b urning cities of the sunset ; the faces of men

and women and little children stirred the
deep soulfulness of his thought He was the
.
h uman S on of man ; but he went in his proc ,
esses far beyond and above humanity and

,
discovered himself to be the S on O f God ; and

h i s cons cio u sness w as by this infini ty more
, ,
th an h uman conscio u sness at its largest e v en ,
i t s ideal lar g est.
The tho ughts and s ympathies O f Jes u s ,
while flowing in kindred and ever sensitiv e -
accor d w ith all hu man longings and all hu

man needs both discovered and u ndis co v
,
ered can at no j unct ure of his life be i dent i

,
fi ed with any special mo v ement o f hum an

unrest nor call of cla s s against class nor
, ,
interest against interest Tho ugh identified

.
with the toiling masses t h ere is in his words

,
no undertone s uggesting t he proletariat no ,
appeal o f the agr arian no summon o f the

,
partisan leader o f men In this is seen the

.
clarified depth and the world engu lfi ng flow

-
o f hi s consciousness ; that life o f men whose
testimony glor i fi es the evangel The more .
th an rega l tit le S on of m an is es tab l is h e d

, ,
93
THE CON S C I O U S NE S S O F JE S U S
herein Those wh o h ave imagine d or inter

.
t d Jes u s in any o f the attit u des o f fac

p re e
t it i o u s human interest have fathered a

,
heresy as deadly as that of the ancient Anti

christ The cau se o f the poor he p l ea d ed
.
,
and more still in their cau se he lived and

, ,
died ; nor was he less conscio u s o f nor less ,
devoted to the needs o f the rich B ut in his

, .
plea for the poor he no more mingled a note

of self interest than he implicated himself in
-
the j udgments which h e p a ssed upon the

proud oppressor Always he spoke from the
.
viewpoint of the L ord and R edeemer o f the

lowly and the great alike Too wise t o mis .
take o r misread the social conditions o f m en ,
too conscious of th eir extent t o misapprehen d

the remedy he w a s t oo s ublimely and hu
,
manly great not to make the appea l t o h i s

—
Godhood t o seek selfish ends o r d re am for
a moment the dream o f selfish power H e .
’
who pillowed his head among earth s lowly
poor had not only thought o u t but h ad lived ,
ou t, through u nrecorded ages the order o f

their life and the boon of their salvation .
S omewhat more than fi ve and th irty y e ars

94
TH E CON S C I OUS NE S S OF J E S U S
s ci o u s n e s swere no t wholly o f divinity .
They were compou nded of the divi ne and

the h uman the fact which gives immanence
,
to Godhood and eternal dignity an d mean

ing to h umanity The consciousness o f
.
Jesus comprehended the boundlessness o f

the divine ; it moved a l so with in the l imits of
the finite and the human As the ocean rises
.
t o the same level in narrow bights and bays

as in the broad and bo undless o ffing s o th is
,
consciousness swelled through the h uman i n

s t i nct s of t he Galilaean li fe an d brought i ts
consciousness to a l evel w ith tha t which h ad

been the life of prein carnate Godh ood R e v .
elation h as itself su fficiently affirme d t his

hypostatic relationship to be a mys t e ry ; bu t
o ne sees how the mysteries inc l osing h uman
i ty are quite a s fathomless to mortal powers

as are those which clothe upon an d hi d e the
D eity himself The eternal a ffinity o f God
.
an d man is a subj ect ye t to be se t in order

for the u se o f the student .
It cann ot be too str ongly urge d tha t

preachin g an d religi s u s interpretat ion
sho u ld be directe d towar d the end o f m aking
96
T H E S O N OF M A N
this doctrine plain It is not a novel aspect

.
of truth but the o ne most necessary to be

,
presented It is the o ne from which p r o fes

.
s i o na l thinking and a too scholastic and
pragmatic interpretation O f the Word have

caused the Church to drift It may be that .
the form o f statement herein insisted upon

is unusual ; but if s o all the better It is a , .
treasury out of which both old and new are

to be brought The new age baptized with
.
,
blood and chastened by reason o f the waste

,
and sacrifices of unexampled war is feeling ,
after a G o d who may be felt and who will ,
put himself into humanity in a living and

realized way Ethics social laws and stand
.
,
ards intellectual ideals and most of all

, , , ,
religious tenets are to be valued as they

,
bring the divine life and sympathy nearer to

men not to be drawn upon as a p ensI O n 1 s
,
drawn but to be appropriated and used as

,
a supreme h eritage .
Christian experience comes in it i ally of

personal and conscious contact with Jes u s ;
that is it is the answer o f consciousness to
,
consciou sness The conversion o f S au l the

.
,
97
Pharisee was a typical conversion under the

,
reign of the Spirit except as to degree and

, ,
the variation o f degree was one wholly e x

plicable in the law o f personal consciousness .
’
It was only that S aul s emotions rose from
deeper depths and that his intellectu al c apa
,
b i liti es and di fficulties were o f a higher order,
that the general marks of h is change were

ou t o f the ordinary . The consciousness of
the Nazarene impends wherever human con
s ci o u s n es s awakes in contrition an d answers
,
to its degree Only the disciple wh o s aw

.
Christ could be an apost l e ; on ly the d is

cip le who has the deeper power can h ave the
aposto lic vision ; but the disciple who has

felt Christ in any degree can become a saint ,
for to fee l hi m is to h av e hi s consc i o u sness

,
his life.
In the Christo l ogy o f S aint John the

Word is both L ife and L ight and th ese two
,
exactly and completely define consciousness ,
which not only begets thought and feeling

but illuminates them to their final expres
sion The consciousness of Jesus issues in
.
eternal illumination to men which i s the

,
98
t at i o n That the Galilae an manifestation

.
was being particularly described by S aint

John in the use of this symbol is e v ident,
“
from the tense of the verb : in h im was life ,
and the life wa s the light of men Ot h er

.
'
wise the prologue and the body of the

,
F our th Gospel are instinct with the d oct rine

of the cosmic Christ .
The consciousness o f Jesus is to men the

light of both divine and self discovery I t
-
.
i s only through the Galilaean eyes that men

can s ee themselves ; and surely only through
the Galilae an eyes may men s ee God The .
Galilae an consciousness thus becomes to men

actual and operative life It is the sphere
.
“
of human immortality To live i s Christ
. .
'
These vi ews concerning the persona l con

s ci ou s ne s s of Jes u s the Galilaean fin d the i r
largest relevancy in connection with the phy

s i ca l death which followe d his cruci fi x ion .
The death o f Jesus was an actual dissolu

’
tion The evangelist s account of it is as
.
particular as medical science could ask as the

basis of a diagnosis F rom th is ac co unt i t
.
1 00
TH E S ON OF MAN
seems c l ear that Jesus died suddenly after ,
—
long hours of su ffering because o f which
he would necessarily have expired later
through a rupture o f the pericardium which ,
filled the pectoral cavities with the released

r di a l ser u m as evidenced by the issue
p ereca ,
which followed the spear thrust o f the R O

man soldier It was a human death both as
.
,
to the flesh an d as to its relations to the pro

p h e t i c soterial need that he S hould taste
death for every man But this death neither
.
s u spended nor left in ecli pse his conscious

ness What happens to every h uman body
.
in death happened to the body o f Jesus :

it s mortal functions ceased ; the voluntary
p owers o f the body were abrogated but the ,
invol untary powers o f life reigned supreme .
The wrenchings o f p ain were over ; the sense

of earthly limitation died with the death of
that which limited it A plane for the con
.
s ci o u s nes s having been found , through the

process of disso lution the body of the former
,
order lay dead But the consciousness re

.
mained full even fuller by the token of the

,
cess at ion of physical lim itation The p o

.
10]
t enti alityof cosmic conscio u sness beg an w it h

Jes u s in the moment o f physica l d eath to ,
become complete in the resurrecti on ; j u s t a s

the conscio u sness o f the larger imm orta l i ty
comes to faithful men in the ho ur in whic h
“
they fall asleep to be ma d e complete in the
,
general resurrection o f the last day This

spiritu al phenomenon wa s seen i n the case o f
dying S tephen .
Perhap s the o ne external testimony t o th e

fact o f the persistence o f the active persona l
consciousness o f Jesus during the th ree days
O f the sep u lture o f his body is to be fo un d
,
in his o wn words spoken to the dying th i ef :

“
To day shalt tho u be with me in para d ise
-
.
A passage in the S cripture e l sewh ere an d ,
one in the creed have been straine d t o ac

,
count for the movements of the so ul o f Jesus

during those days ; but irrelevance i s written
u pon the o ne and misinterpretation dis
,
counts the other The truth was too l arge

to need argument o r proof Go d is Chris t. .
lives The motto text o f this v olmn e ( R e v

. .
“
1. literally read is : Living I was dead ;
, ,
and behold living I am to th e ages of th e

, ,
1 02
THE C ON S C I OUS NE S S OF J E S US
ness required It was not the Galilae an body

.
that made the Galilaean consciousness but ,
the G alilee an body was the result of an i n

verse operation ; so the cosmic consciousness
lifted the crucified body to the stage of ulti
mate kinglihood Thus a second time apply
.
“
the words A body hast thou prepared me
, .
’
The Christian s body is made over by his new
consciousness .
While these truths transcen d t h e cate

g o r i e s of that philosophy which makes h u
man consciousness the net result O f physica l

fu nction as it makes mind the b y pr oduct
,
-
O f brain activity they do not transcend the

,
processes of a reason that may be on i ntimate

relations with faith L ife is not atomic
matter however related and organized bu t
, ,
is rather certain activities o f consciousness

, ,
which have u sed the atoms of matter for

the purpose O f integration and realization .
These realizations give shape and meaning

to matter and not matter to them L ife
, .
shapes modifies and refines matter to meet

, ,
its needs That the resurrection body is a

.
real body and that its identity with the birt h

,
1 04
THE S ON OF MAN
or life body is preserved there is furnished

,
neither in the S criptures nor reason an occa

sion for doubting What modification the
.
resurrection bodies o f men may undergo in

the ages to come is open to healthy co nj ec
ture But we s ee Jesus who was made a
.
little lo wer than the angels at the end o f hi s

,
Galilaean days crowned with completeness

,
an d ready for the glory which aw ait e d him

in th e h o u se o f th e Absolut e .
1 05
C HAP T ER V
THE CO SM I C C H R I S T
' E have now seen tha t the Galilae an li fe

o f Jesus was the unco v ering o f the conscio u s
ness o f Godhood through the medium of the

h umanity as it was exhibited in growth and
change from the infancy to the ascension .
We have also noted the instr umentalities o f

—
that divine uncoverin g S elf ren unc iation -
,
h umiliation temptation su ffering j oy

, , , ,
peace and exaltation ; these through their

,
abounding results bringing the P leroma or ,
fullness manifest ing itself in the glor y o f

,
the P a ro u s i a which is not only a prophetic

'
revelation of Christhood b u t o ne which goes

,
on constantly in the h e avenlie s .
The basis of the doctrine o f the a ll i nclu -
sive consciousness suggests anew the p ow er

o f presence The expectation of the Pa
.
r o u s i a is,in its turn convertible into th e

,
terms of the consciousness doctrine o f Jes u s .
1 06
THE CON S C I O U S NE S S O F J E S U S
wor l d o f consciousness th at th e l o v e o f C hri s t

wh ich is it s source and mot ive shou l d be con
“
s i der e d as the essence o f h imse l f Go d i s .
“
love .
'
Hereby know we that we dwe l l in
'
him and he in u s
, .
L ove i s either th e expression of enlarge

ment or it i s the means of securing enlarge
,
ment It acts in two directions : it is a de

.
sire to she d loveliness o n that which is b e

neath or else to draw down upon itself the
,
love li ness wh ich is above it Jesus dr ew .
down u pon and through himself the eterna l

, ,
love and shed it upon the race into whose

,
bloo d an d conscio u sness he entere d through

a perfect human birth The blessedness o f .
this o ffi ce abides in the fact that in bringing

i t t h e C hris t was fu l fil ling the divi nes t neces
s i ty of h i s be i ng A failure to l ove to the
.
uttermos t would have been to obstr u ct th e

ti d es o f se l f fu lfi lhn ent and leave the Christ
-
,
life imperfect Had he not loved he could

.
,
not have been the C hris t o f h istor y the ,
Christ of God .
The agap e had its persona l h uman sides .
Jes u s loved one d i sciple above th e r est o ne ,
1 08
fri en d more than others ; certain places

found with him an a ffectionate preference ;
b u t his consciousness yie l ded up the perfect
u n s elfi s h nes s o f an a ffection tha t s o l oved a s
to d ie alike and equa l ly for all B ack o f the

.
line of h uman preferences an d particul ar

favors l ay th e Messianic lo v e meas ured by
,
the so ul which made itse l f perfect through

discipline an d wh ose goa l o f real iz ation w a s
,
in t h e universe and the ages eterna l .
We h ave referre d elsewhere t o the por

tr a it ur e an d hera l dry o f t h e Christ by S aint
Pau l in the epistle to the Co l ossians This is
.
not a mere catalogue o f Messianic ch aracter

i s ti cs nor a r 's ume o f the phenomen a mark
,
ing the a d vance o f the Messian i c kingdom ,
but the outp ut o f a soul consciousness in the

-
maker o f that portrait l ong g l owing b u t ,
now become inc andescent thro ugh t h e in

dwel ling O f th e l ife an d powe r o f the Son of
G o d B oth th e matter of th e ep i s tl e and the
.
moo d s o f th e writer we r e o rd aine d o f the

Spirit t o pr odu ce a divine cl imax .
One thing which constant ly impresses the

’
s tudent o f S aint Paul s writ ing is do ubly
1 09
TH E CON S C I OU S NE S S O F J E S U S
suggested in his epistl e t o the Co l oss ians ,
namely that while the l angu ag e i s a l ways

,
tenderly personal where the p astor a l con

tact is made and ne v e r w ant s po i n t and i n
,
struction it is always l arger t han t h e a ccu

,
s ative moment o r occ a sion T h e arrow goes

.
unerringly thro ugh th e target b u t spee ds ,
an i mmeas u rable d istance beyon d S ome .
times the v astness o f the message seems all

but disp araged in its temp oral O bj ectiv e .
This impression results from a fix e d metho d

o f S aint Pa ul and his writing The con .
s ci o u s ne s s in which his thought or igi nat es i s
al way s twofold ; t h e mini s tr y t o wh ich i t is

d ir ected i s o f time an d p l ace b ut the lan
,
guage in which it i s expresse d is match e d

from the terms o f eternity an d the kingd om
o f w h ose dominion t here i s no en d .
In the Co l ossian letter t here are t o u ch e s

and pledges o f pastora l s ym pathy and per
sonal interest ; b u t from th ese as from s ec
,
o ndar elevations spring t he moun t ain c li

y ,
maxes o f an absolute revelation A pano .
rama o f ages principalities powers full

, , ,
n e sses and invi sibilities dw ar f int o moleh ole

,
1 10
THE CON S C I O U S N E S S OF JE SUS
ogy the bearer o f the message was in s ep ara

ble from the message itself ; more properly ,
he was lost in the message ; and if he was not

consciou sly answering and v o i cin g t he u ni
versal so u l of faith he at le a st felt the weigh t
,
of earthly and cosmic ages mi p lngi ng on his

words while he exhorted the to o carna l chi l
,
dr en o f his gentile mi nis try The u ltimate

.
statement o f the Coloss i an message con

cerned the A l l fe lt a n d th e Al l fee ling
- -
Christ
—
.
The larges t vision of C hr i s th oo d C hr i s t

—
hood in its cosmic absoluteness is necess ary
to mold discipleship in its h umb l es t a nd most
helpless beginnings The human Chri s t
.
mus t be seen b ut in coa l escence an d un ity

,
with the d ivine S on E t ernal G o d on l y can

.
save d epr ave d humanity ; b ut Go dh oo d mu s t

first h ave gone forth an d re turne d t o it se l f
thro ugh the consc i o u sness of incarna tion .
This brings u s to c ont emplate the pers on

a lity of Jes u s after he had a scended abo v e
all heavens to fill all th ings with the fullness
o f his presence .In a wor d i t brings u s to
,
consider th e cos mic conscio u sness of the S on

1 12
of man no longer confined to the Gali laean

,
life b ut seated at the right hand o f the

,
throne o f the F ather .
The ascension o f Jesus into the heavenly

places meant that his personal consciousness
had already extended itself to the whole uni
v erse Previous to his crucifixion and res
.
ur r ecti o n which were the processes of his

-“
—
final perfection his personal consciousness ,
though not wholly limited to the earth found ,
there the chief center o f its manifestation ;

but with his ascension his life and conscious
ness alike became cosmic The ascension .
was not the instrument through which cosmic

conditions were realize d but the emergence
,
o f the cosmic consciousness was the cause of
the ascension The ascension was thus the

.
means O f proclaiming his atta inment to the

absolute .
’
S aint Paul s conception o f the ascension
and the readj ustment o f rule and relation
ship which it signified includes the truth o f
,
the emergence o f the Messianic conscious

ness upon the plane o f the cosmic and the
“
abso lut e The ascending Christ led cap tiv
.
1 13
ity captive and gave gifts u nto men The .
meaning o f this is that primarily he had , , ,
delivered himself from the last vestige o f the

Galilaean l imitation into the fullness of uni
versal presence and power ; and that he had
signalized h i s triumph by conferring upon
men the power to enter into conscious par
t i cip a t i o n in the same If o ne follows the.
Pauline argument in this passage the con ,

1
“
c lu s i o n becomes clearer at each stage And .
he gave some apostles ; and some prophets ;

, ,
and some evangelists ; and some pastors and

, ,
“
teachers To what end ? The perfectin g
“
o f the saints Wherein T o the meas
'
.
?
ure O f the statur e of the fu lhi es s of C hrist .

'
’
The C hm ch s ideal of her Master is not only
'
that of the obedient Galilae an Son o f man ,
but also o f the enthroned and cosmi c Christ

whose being fills all things and wh o I s the ,
conscious life of the all in all .
If we may in voke another Pau li ne state

ment in this order we shall come t o a further
,
illumination of this ' iew O f the cosmic o r

“
absolute Christ Though we hav e known
.
1
E ph 4
. . 8f .
1 14
ment o f the universe is pitched the s ubstance ,
o u t of which all its laws are shaped o u t o f ,
which the frame an d v is ion o f its triumphs

are built .
The str uggl e o f n at ure has been t o reach

u p to man as the struggl e o f m an has been
,
t o re a ch u p to G o d B ut the primeval
.
p ul se t o which th i s nature and human strug

gle has been the answer was t h e Messianic
consciousness always potent in the u niv erse
, ,
b u t with its cycle await ing perfec t comple

tion in the i ncarnation to be Wh en there .
,
fore the conscio u sness o f th e c osmic Christ

,
entere d upon th e pl ane o f th e abso lute i t ,
fo un d a universe answer i ng t o i tse l f an d obe

dien t t o its e v ery movemen t Aga in we may .
“
make appe al t o a Pa uline s tatement : By
h im t o reconci l e all t h ings unto himse l f ; by
him I s ay wheth er th e y be things i n earth
, , ,
o r things in he av en
3 '
T h e i nfe r ence t o be
.
dr a wn from thi s i s that th e c osmi c C hri st

not only fo un d unity o f aut hor ity in eart h
and heaven b ut that th e presence of t h e
,
perfected h uman divine C hris thood s ecur ed

-
t C01 .
1 16
th is unity forever This conclusion gathers

.
’
strength from the fact that S ain t Paul s
statement here quoted occurs in connection
with his setting forth of the doctrine o f the
p le ro ma .The whole is a syllogism , and the
conclusion is the doctrine o f the fullness .
The Messianic kingdom and admin i stra

tion in the h eavenlie s are coextensive with
the auth ority of Godhood F or Christ and
.
,
through Christ th e S on all things were cre

, ,
ated ; Christ i s thus the expression o f God

hood to the universe ; not to men only but to
,
angels to principalities and powers through

,
o u t the heavenly places I t is also through

.
Chri st that Go dh oo d reigns and r ules He .
is L ord of a ll F rom these vast premises

.
comes the no less v ast conc lusion as to the

instant life and conscio u sness o f that r u le
which flows from the personality o f Him who
sits at the right hand o f the throne In his
.
bosom is a h uman heart and that h uman

,
heart is the so urce and center o f the universe

—the potency of the incarnation itself being
antecedent to the creation of angels and
worlds Celestial fir es the dawns of para
.
,
117
dise the crystal waters o f the unfailing river

, ,
’
the palpitating stones of the city s walls the ,
shouts of saints the flaming fronts o f sera

,
phim are e fforts in their order to answer the

,
conscious presence and dominion of Him

who is a live and was dead and is a l ive for
, ,
evermore .
The personal reign of Christ in the Mes

s i an i c king dom which is the reign o f God
,
hood must necessarily be to o u r present per

,
ce p t i o ns a matter of symbols It i s only .
when we make conscio u sness into both s ym

bo l and f a ct that we get a large and satisfy
ing ' iew The Christ rule is not one o f
authority only ; it i s one o f conscio u sness and
—
resp onsiveness in the ruled ange l s men , ,
principalities and powers Jesus u sed more

, .
than a simile when to his earthly disciples he

predicated the heav enly kingdom o f his fel
lo w s hip with the twelve The twelve thrones
.
upon whic h they were t o s it j u dging I srael

were more than j u dicial seats As they were .
in the Galilae an walks made to know his

mind and had conscious contact with his
,
person s o should they with all the redeemed

, ,
118
—
now in the incarnate Christ i s an answer
whose terms forever bridge what had other
wise been the chasm between Go d and the
hosts angelic seraphic the earliest b ut no t
, , ,
the perfect representation o f Godhoo d to

,
itself The link of humani ty was the process

.
of reconcili ation and completed the con

,
scious relationship s o f the universe .
This leads to th e th ought that the cosmic

consciousness o f Jesus i s the medium o f the
eterna l attainment o f the Ch ur ch o f th e re
deemed This Church shall go o n into the
.
possibilities of that attainment following to , ,
what tremendous realization faith can now

only imagine the F orerunner Chr i st ma d e
, , ,
a fter the power of an endless life .
I f one has at times fainted and fal len

away from the e ffort to imagine a proper en
vi r o nment an d occupation O f the redeemed
in the r ea hn of spirithood there must almost

,
immediately h ave come reaction and rally in

the naked thought that the redeemed are
—
alive alive in the truest largest sense of ,
advance and experience At such a j unc

.
ture if one would take the Galilaean life

, ,
1 20
there might be seen unn umber e d spr ings and

ou tr ea ch ings of the Galil aean consciousness
which pushed into the infinity of satisfaction

,
and self enlargement to which they pointed

-
,
suggest to the so u l en d l ess preoccupation

and feli city .
I t was not th at the Christ gr ew through

h is earthly life to be impossible to men but ,
that in his brief Galilaean time he gr ew b e

yond them so far beyond them indeed that
, , ,
eternity is the measure of their need in liv

ing into a sense of his fullness This it is .
that functions the Church of the redeemed

in its relation to the consciou sness o f the
cosmic Christ .
Again it is proper to note that this manner

,
o f the going on o f the Church above is no t
di ff erent except in degree from that o f the

, ,
going on of the Church below The cosmic .
conscio u sness is the fo untain of that life that

“
re d eeme d men live on earth The cry Back .
,
to Christ ' m ay become a specious one ; and

'
i s inevitably s o if it confines the oper ations

,
“
o f t h e Christ consciousness to history
-
Up .
ward and onward to Christ ' i s the truer

, ,
'
1 21
THE CON S C I OUS NE S S OF J E SUS
call He i s the s ame

.
y e s t er d
to d ay and
ay,
-
,
forever .
The promise is no t that we s ha ll be blessed

i n heavenly places with Christ but that we ,
are even now s o blessed Justified men on .
earth are not only in conscious fellowship

with Christ but are whelmed in th at con
,
s ci o u s nes s interfused by it
, and made par ,
takers o f its concerns The witness o f the

.
Spirit is the validation to men o f that con

“
s ci o u s nes s and its operations But when
the Comforter is come whom I wi ll send ,
unto yo u from the F ather even the Spirit of ,
truth which proceedeth from the F ather h e

, ,
shall testify of me .The dispensation o f

'
the Spirit is doubly glorious ; it reveals the

whole Godhood and opens the way for j usti
,
fi ed men to enter the life within the veil .
Had Jesus remained on earth this fel ,
lo ws h i p in universal consciousness would

not have been possible ; but being ascended ,
he is accessible to all he is communicable

,
.
to all Having lived through the Galilaean

.
stage Jesus could no more remain visibly o n

,
earth than he could have visualized himself

1 22
THE C O N S C I OUS NE S S OF J E S US
t he life O f saint s i n heaven than he is made

t o penitent sinners on the earth .
Students of S cript ure have noticed tha t

the great epoch marking points in th e recor d
-
o f grace u niformly exhibit divi ni ty in a per
sona l attitude toward h um an life an d its

“
sa l vation E lohim said
. L et u s make ,
“
man ; Jesus said This is my bo dy which
'
, ,
'
is broken for yo u R isen he said I am the
.
, ,
first and the last Creation was th e free

.
,
conscio u s act of Godhood to t h e glory of the

S on ; sa lvation was the free consciou s gift of ,
Christ made d ependent o n the personal r e

,
qu est o f the saved Immortality i s equ ally.
his personal gift I give unto them eterna l

.
life ; and they shal l never perish Eterna l .

'
life is not conferred as a wr eath o f bays or ,
as a j eweled coronet ; but through the open

mystery o f a unity wh ich in the e ar th life
“
was made plain in the words Wh oso eat ,
eth my flesh and d rinketh my b l ood hath

, ,
eternal life ; and I will raise him u p at the

last day .
'
The parable o f the mistletoe is the parab l e

o f eternal life fo u nd in the flesh and bloo d
1 24
—
the consciousness o f Jesus A giant oak .
,
leafless and apart stood in D ecember shod

,
from roo t to topmost twig in a mai l o f i ce as ,
a cr u sader in his armor A mighty gu st .
shook the forest and loosene d from high up

, ,
’
ne ar t h e oak s t o p a huge ice shar d point
, ,
ed like a spear wh ich smiting downward

, , ,
s truck midri ff the largest branch an d left a ,
wide wound showing the amber fiber o f the

,
o ak and ca u sing it to blee d in the wintry air .
The gu st was also bearing before it a seed

of the mistletoe B ut the mistletoe seed as
.
,
though it s aw the wo und in the o ak s l ipped ,
from the icy fingers of the storm an d fell

int o it a s into a place prepared There it .
nestled feeding upon the fiber o f its great

,
k insm an an d drinking hi s blood u ntil a new ,
life awoke The mistlet oe see d sprouted

.
,
took r oo t and fee d ing more an d more on

,
th e s trength o f th e o ak i t became itself a l ife

, ,
b ut one with th at of it s migh ty k insm an It .
w a s the wo un ding of Jes u s i n the cr u cifixion

th at opene d a way for men int o h i s con
s ci o u s ness and made it possib l e for them to
,
be c ome fles h o f hi s flesh an d li fe o f h is l i fe .
1 25
The story of the mistletoe is no t a mere par

able The wounds o f Jesus are not mere
.
s ymbols of healing and life : they are the very

doors of life within which is the red miracle
,
o f his Galil aean flesh the outgoings o f that

,
consciousness which is from eternity to

,
eterni ty the being and sa l vation o f G o d

, .
This is the true Christ and eternal life .
1 26
THE C O N S C I O US NE S S OF J E S US
tion of the Chri s tian c onsc i ou sness is thro ugh

a h uman body and S pirit identified wit h the
Christ life t o which he attains thr o ugh f aith
,
and the fe ll owship o f the Sp irit .
The severa l ch annels through wh i ch the

conscio u sness o f Jes u s is t o be communi cat
ed to men wil l be fo und t o constitute the
subj ect matt er o f th e evange l Apostolic
-
.
pre a ch ing w a s the Opening of these ch an

nels to th e indivi dual an d collect iv e ap
prehens ion o f willing au d itors an d thus ,
emerged th e i nfan t Church A s set forth in

.
’
the L or d s own di scourses an d in th e t h eo l
o y of S ai n t P aul t hese channels are : ( 1 )
g ,
The proper divine Messianic personality

which d e fi n es the complete and perfect being
o f the S on of man ; The spoken words
( )
2
o f Jes u s a nd those which he comm u nicated
thro ugh the lip s of inspire d disciples ; and

( )
3 The li fe an d fe ll owship o f t he spiritua l
Ch urch which is his body
, .
Confessedly the fu l l est c ommuni c ation O f

,
the Christ conscio u sness mu st come thro ugh

-
the proper Messianic personality The t o

’
kens o f S a int Pau l s persona l cont act with
1 28
C HA NNE L S OF MAN I FE S T A TI ON
Jesus Christ as noted in the L ukan account

’
o f the apostle s conversion and which are
,
even more distinctly emphasized in the

epistles are not only precedents o f ex p e
,
ric u ce but have become institutional in

,
Christian doctrine The converted Phari

.
“
s ee claimed apostleship as one who had seen
Christ though as of posthumou s birth ; but
,
'
his experien ce o f discipleship was of the

nature of the inner con sciousness the mir ,
acle o f the whelming light the crucifixion ,
o f self the Spirit and the indwelling Christ

, .
That the spoken words of Jesus are an

extension o f the channel o f the Messianic
consciousness is a necessary part o f this ar
,
g u m e n t It
. is very clearly a doctrine pro
pounded by Jesus himself when he said
“
The words that I speak unto you they are ,
sp irit and they are life

, The personal con
.
'
s ci o u s n es s of Jesus abides in the Word .
Just as the bodily integ uments are built

about the conscious spiritual life and become ,
the media of its utterance s o the Word was ,
built up about the daily developed conscious

ness of the S on o f man and remains a dep o s
,
1 29
THE CON S C I OUS NE S S O F J E S U S
i t ory that consciousness and a chief mean s

of
of its expression It is this that endu es the

.
Word with potency and makes it the seed of

spiritual life It is this that makes it become
.
another name for truth the blending light , ,
the coalescing energy O f the regeneration .
’
The story of R aphael s cherubs illu s tr ates
this When the painter was at work o n his
.
“
canvas The Christ Child he left the e a se l ,
'
for an afternoon stroll through the parks o f

F lorence R et urning to his stu dio he d is
.
,
covered that two street urchins had climbe d

to the window sill the window having been ,
left open and with chins resting in their

, ,
hands were gazing u pon the face of the

,
Christ Child An inspiration seizing the

.
artist he instantly took up h i s pencil and set

,
the faces of the u rchins transforme d into ,
cherubs w ith wing s starting from t h eir

,
S hou l ders in the glory clouds o r aur eo l e

, , ,
about the face and head o f the Child ; and

this became thereafter the S ign o f a R aphael
color The parable is simple b ut s uggestive
.
,
to the u ttermost Those who come sp irit .
u a lly within the power o f the spoken wor d
1 30
this the typical expression or interpreta

,
tion o f what was afli rme d in the higher for

“
mu lary Except ye eat the flesh of the S on
,
o f man ; and drink his blood .
It is through the operative energies o f this

—
life in the word this consciousness in the
—
evangel that the new life is begotten in the
believer L ike begets like and as the full
.
,
ness o f divinity dwelling in the o nly begotten -
S on produced the Messianic conscio u sness ,
so that consciousness welling up into the

committed soul produces the life and testi
‘
mony of the disciple N o r must we fail to

.
emphasize a fundamental truth o f this ex p e

r i ence namely that it is personal and indi
, ,
vidual in the most absolut e sense essentially ,
involving the S piritu al mental and physical

, ,
powers a s a unity It is only in the light of

.
this interpretation that the full meaning o f

the discourse of Jesus touching his flesh and
blood and the energy of his word takes its
, ,
perfect relation to thought and faith I t .
is only thus that the Pauline ide al o f the

Church as the body of Jesus Christ finds
relevancy as the chief doctrine o f o ur faith .
1 32
C HA NNE L S OF M AN I FE S TATI ON
Concerning the Church the communion of ,
spiritual beli evers the apostolic testimony is

,
direct in making it an abiding channel for

the communication o f the Messianic con
s ci o u s ne s s The controversy as to the pre
.
ce den ce of the Church or the word is an O ld
one ; but the word very clearly appropriates

to itself the place of primacy and next to ,
that of the living personality O f Him whose

the word is We wonder that thought or i n
.
t erp r et at i o n S hould ever have st umbled here .
The Church i s the product o f the word j ust ,
as the more visible and ponderable forms of

life are the products o f its more ethereal
essences and powers which are yet not iden
,
tifi e d with the absolute spiritual personality .
And as these more visible and ponderable

aspects o f life are its present e ffective agents
of manifestation so the Church is the e ffect
,
ive agency of the Messianic manifestation in

’
the world the perpetual means o f the world s
,
enli ghtenment and the edifi cati o n o f b e

li ever s .
The C hurch is the second self o f Christ ,
if that form of statement be adm i ssible even

1 33
for the advantage of its natural suggestive

ness The allowability O f it is granted in the
.
declared relationship of the Church as the

bride of the L amb This relati onship is one
.
of such intimate and conscious unity as is

suggested by the marriage relation at its
best ; it is o ne o f community in the regen
cration o f humanity The Church is the
.
repository of the consciousness of Jesus s o ,
long as it retains an d ministers the pure spir

i tu al word. I f that consciousness in the
spoken word be likened to an exhaustless
lake o f sweet waters then the Church will
,
appear as a vast reservoir fed from its ful l

ness through conduits from which the i nh ab
i t ant s o f a populous city are constantly s u p
plied As the wate r in the condu its is the
.
same as that which fills th e primal d eep s o,
the consciousness o f the true S p i ri tu al dis

cip le
, derived through the word is that o f
,
the Galilae an soul and thought .
The phenomena o f this consciousness as i t

operates in the individual believer are ex
positive of the law of its activity in the whole
body of the Church As the natural con
.
1 34
life but they all answer the supreme motive

, ,
wherever and whatever its seat or functional

center That motive is only conscio u sness in
.
its largest and completest expression Aside .
from such expression of consciousness there

can be no rule in life The ideal Chr i stian
.
life is therefore the life in which the Gali

, ,
lee an consciousness has become overt and

masterful .
How now does this apply to that larger

, ,
integration o f functional consciousness the ,
Church the body of Christ Thus : E ach b e

,
?
liever is a vital sector an arc of living cells

, ,
o r an individual function in the body The .
Church is not an abstraction but an integr a ,
tion O f all that is ponderable vital an d spir , ,
i tu al in all believers It is embodie d spirit

.
u ali ty
, and its bodily aspects are not su s
pended animation nor temporal acci d ents .
The Church lives N O qualifying terms can

.
be used to express that life Its phenomena .
are explained in the Galilae an consciousness ,
not less real not less technically described

,
in the case of the Church than in the case of

the individua l believer .
1 36
C HA NNE L S OF M A N I FE S TATI ON
The argument now comes to this climax

The individual believer filled with the Gali ,
lae an consciousness acts on the life of the

,
Church as does some str ong functional

center o f consciousness upon the individual
“
body . We are members one o f another .
'
The life which results is a coalescence of the

di vine with the human an answer o f the ,
awful glorious mystery of the incarnation

,
.
“
Again and again this is the Church which
, , ,
is his body the fullness of him that fi lleth all

,
'
in all .
Our argument now opens i n its conclu ,
sion upon the most practical aspects O f this

,
whole question of the consciousness How .
does it relate itself to the individual life in

the matters o f conviction for s in repentance , ,
regeneration and gr owth in s ancti fi cat ion

,
?
In a word how does it result in experience

,
?
The descent or manifestation o f the Spirit

o n the day of Pentecost was testimony to ,
and Instant use O f this new relationship

,
o f the C hrist consciousness S imon Peter .
was clear as to this relationship and in ex ,
plan ation of th e d escent o f the Sp irit said

1 37
TH E CON S C I OUS NE S S OF J E S U S
'
Therefore being by the right h and o f Go d

exalted and having received of the F ather
,
the promise o f the Holy Ghost he hath sh ed

,
'
forth this which ye now see and hear It i s
.
the universe fi lling consciousness of Jes u s

-
that makes the dispensation of the Sp ir it

possible Without that consciousness the
.
universe had been to both men and angels a

spiritual vacuum a wilderness
, .
It is t o be remembered too th at the syn

, ,
’
ch r o n o u s e ffects of the Spirit s descent on
the day of Pentecos t were to fill with j oy and

courage the hearts of the disciples and to
sweep with the fires of conviction the multi
tudes without The atmosphere was com
—
mon generat ed o f the consciousness of the
Galilaean life The name and record o f
.
Jesus were the watchword of disciples ; they

had now become the sword of j udgment to
the one t ime s co ffi ng throngs o f the temple
-
.
The conversion o f S aint Paul must al

ways remain a typical Christian experience ;
and especially in those particulars which
emphasize the personal contact of S aul with
Jesus in the crucial ho ur o f submission To .
1 38
the fact o f personal contact with Christ falls

o u t o f experience the tokens of the sepulcher
,
are found within The universe waited for

.
the coming and reign of the All felt and the -
All feeling Christ It is spiritual bas tardy

-
.
t o claim sonship outside o f the fiery co ncep

tion o f this consciousness Except a man .
be born from above he cannot s ee the king

,
dom o f G o d .
'
We have seen the path that leads through

this consciousness into s ancti fi cat i on Jesus .
has given u s the formula in parable and

“
beatitude F irst the blade then the ear
.
, ,
after that the full corn in the c ar B ut

better still the life in himself : first the babe
, ,
then the child then the man but always fi nd

, ,
ing God revealed within put there by the ,
S pirit as in the Virgin conception until a t

, ,
last we awake with his perfect likeness

, .
The heritage of the meek that is the peni , ,
tent is the mastery o f the earth to comman d

, ,
it to live in spite o f it ; the heritage of the

,
pure in heart is to s ee God These are the .
outer and the inner bourne o f the consc i o u s

ness .
140
C H ANNE L S OF MAN I FE S T A T I ON
Any view o f religion which more directly

relates it to the fu nctions and experiences of
li fe can only augment in a corresponding de
gree the force and e ff ect of the evangel when
preached What then must be the issue u p
.
, ,
o n that preaching when the whole doctrin al
system o f Christianity is interpreted to stand

for an immanence o f consciousness and pow
er transcending the action o f the living soul ,
and whose centrality is the L iving Christ

“
closer is he than breathing and nearer than
—
,
hands and feet '

the All i n All
- ? -
The genius o f Christian history is seen

not in the order o f systems or schools of i n
t erp r et at i o n in Christian doctrine but in the ,
order of the realization of these doctrines in

conscio u sness and conscience After the age .
o f glow and rapture expressed in the per
sonal experience and preaching of apostles

and the early e vangelists came the realiza
,
t ion of the divine institution and presence o f

the Church This was logical : the ap p r eh en
.
sion o f the body is first ; that o f the indwell

ing life must follow if realized at all Christ
, .
and his gospel were expressed to the world

141
in the patristic ages through the Church .
The written word slowly fell into the back

ground ; the Church drifted and finally i tself
,
settled into the D ead S ea of supers tition .
Then came the first great re awakening .
The Word found its place The conscio u s

.
ness of that Word smote through the brains

and hearts of men with the obj ective d oc
trine o f j u stification by faith The suprem
.
acy o f the Word was thus again restored ,
and the way of personal salvation was

opene d u p . The manifestations o f con
s ci o u s nes s in the Word were cumulative .
As a logical and orderly sequence the qu ick ,
ened Word fruited in the sub j ective doctrine

of the witness of the Spirit The wider door
.
of salvation being thus op ened multitudes ,
trod the parasangs within to sigh t the l as t

—
,
and perfect goa l o f experience app r eh en

sion of the persona l C hrist and perfect par
t i cip ati o n in his conscio u sness Not th at
.
Christ was not known an d that his life was

,
not entered into by those who walked h is

,
paths O f old ; but the perfect e arth ly vis i on ,
the perfect earth ly att ainment was an d i s

, , ,
142
THE C O N S C I O U S NE S S O F J E S US
The value o f these studies if they have

,
v alue o u t of the ordinary is to emphasi z e not

,
only the pervasive spirit of divinity in reli

gion and its revelation but to point to these
,
as the source o f all qui ckening an d the ,
ch annels through which that qu ickening is

conveyed They are meant to emphasize the
.
Christian life as t h e normal life but to dis

,
cover in that life a po t ency o f conscio u sness

which wi ll b u rn like a fire in the bones ,
crash like thu nders thro ugh the bra in and ,
live in the sou l in a perpetua l vi sion o f t r ans

figur ati on .
1 44
TH E N E' ' O RK PU B ' I C ' I B RA R'
RE F E RE N C E D ’
Bi A E T M E N T
T h is b o o k is u n de r n o c i r c u m s t a n c es to be
e
t a k n fr o m t h e B u i ldi n g

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TH E C O N S C I O U S N E S S

I am ali ve fo re ve rm o re. Revela tion l 1 8

TH E present v o lu me does no t claim to be

follow the lofty precedent I nvolving the ,

processes o f a true logic found in the prim

i t ive records of the life of Jesus as also

the apostolic method o f interpreting the

shape into which the gospel story was cast ;

est and sanest hum an wisdom The evangel .

i s t s were concerned with the L ife and noted ,

the manifestations of that L ife in the order

the L ife emphasized itself and leaving out

o f the record what was u nnecessary to an

not that men S hould mentally comprehend

Christ that the evangel was u ttered b ut , ,

rather that men should receive Chris t and

live into his conscious being as he in the ,

house of his h um anity lived into the con

bibit of the detail of the earthly walk o f

ing we might believe and that believing

we might be saved A strictly scientiﬁc

study o f the consciousness of Jesus would

Every thoughtful student of modern day -

theological literature has noted the too fre

t o r i ca l accidents textual peculiarities and

di fﬁ culties rather than upon the tremendous

facts symbolized by and latent in the writ

ings whose peculiarities and di fﬁculties are

oftentimes the very media of the life which

criticism and interpretation is forming to

This school will not be u nm indful of h i st o r

nate these and other processes to the leadings

consciousness which lives in the Word and

been repressed by a too mechanical and arbi

hand when it can be given its place though ,

inspiration could ﬁnd no stronger statement

This new interpretation will deal with the

its written messages and the results which

ro ache d a lway s to ﬁnd that i t s phenomena

can be described only in terms of the super

with a life which transcends that which is ac

yet it has always been seen that the app re

of subj ective interpretation will identify that

The two disciples who walked the Em

fect ly comprehended were made aware that

the world ' a s answering to a new L ife a ,

new consciousness which presently became a

ﬁre of burning in their he arts Surely the

race children of a world steeped in this con

o f the immanence of that L ife which is the

light of men Hitherto the studies which

have been attempted in the record of the

consciousness of Jesus have been conﬁned

extent he rea li z ed his own di vinity and how ,

he s aw himself related to the prophetic and

o f the consciousness is wider vastly wider

than this ; it extends to the universe and to

t ha t God i s and tha t the universe must also

become in resp onse to the conscious will of

ring which incloses all .

The whole system of New Testament sote

in order o f relation to this doctrine o f the

only that is in corporated in the body of