And the phrase, “Man is a part of God,”—­as if the Divine Spirit were divided among the organs which express its various activities,—­has been condemned by all the great speculative mystics, from Plotinus downwards.  Emerson is perhaps at his best when he applies his idealism to love and friendship.  The spiritualising and illuminating influence of pure comradeship has never been better or more religiously set forth.  And though it is necessary to be on our guard against the very dangerous tendency of some of his teaching, we shall find much to learn from the brave and serene philosopher whose first maxim was, “Come out into the azure; love the day,” and who during his whole life fixed his thoughts steadily on whatsoever things are pure, lovely, noble, and of good report.

The constructive task which lies before the next century is, if I may say so without presumption, to spiritualise science, as morality and art have already been spiritualised.  The vision of God should appear to us as a triple star of truth, beauty, and goodness.[402] These are the three objects of all human aspiration; and our hearts will never be at peace till all three alike rest in God.  Beauty is the chief mediator between the good and the true;[403] and this is why the great poets have been also prophets.  But Science at present lags behind; she has not found her God; and to this is largely due the “unrest of the age.”  Much has already been done in the right direction by divines, philosophers, and physicists, and more still, perhaps, by the great poets, who have striven earnestly to see the spiritual background which lies behind the abstractions of materialistic science.  But much yet remains to be done.  We may agree with Hinton that “Positivism bears a new Platonism in its bosom”; but the child has not yet come to the birth.[404]

Meanwhile, the special work assigned to the Church of England would seem to be the development of a Johannine Christianity, which shall be both Catholic and Evangelical without being either Roman or Protestant.  It has been abundantly proved that neither Romanism nor Protestantism, regarded as alternatives, possesses enough of the truth to satisfy the religious needs of the present day.  But is it not probable that, as the theology of the Fourth Gospel acted as a reconciling principle between the opposing sections in the early Church, so it may be found to contain the teaching which is most needed by both parties in our own communion?  In St. John and St. Paul we find all the principles of a sound and sober Christian Mysticism; and it is to these “fresh springs” of the spiritual life that we must turn, if the Church is to renew her youth.

I attempted in my second Lecture to analyse the main elements of Christian Mysticism as found in St. Paul and St. John.  But since in the later Lectures I have been obliged to draw from less pure sources, and since, moreover, I am most anxious not to leave the impression that I have been advocating a vague spirituality tempered by rationalism, I will try in a few words to define my position apologetically, though I am well aware that it is a hazardous and difficult task.