Spirit.  The hypothesis on which it rests is that there is a real affinity between the individual soul and the great immanent Spirit, who in Christian theology is identified with the Logos-Christ.  He was the instrument in creation, and through the Incarnation and the gift of the Holy Spirit, in which the Incarnation is continued, has entered into the most intimate relation with the inner life of the believer.  This revived belief in the inspiration of the individual has immensely strengthened the position of Christian apologists, who find their old fortifications no longer tenable against the assaults of natural science and historical criticism.  It has given to faith a new independence, and has vindicated for the spiritual life the right to stand on its own feet and rest on its own evidence.  Spiritual things, we now realise, are spiritually discerned.  The enlightened soul can see the invisible, and live its true life in the suprasensible sphere.  The primary evidence for the truth of religion is religious experience, which in persons of religious genius—­those whom the Church calls saints and prophets—­includes a clear perception of an eternal world of truth, beauty, and goodness, surrounding us and penetrating us at every point.  It is the unanimous testimony of these favoured spirits that the obstacles in the way of realising this transcendental world are purely subjective and to a large extent removable by the appropriate training and discipline.  Nor is there any serious discrepancy among them either as to the nature of the vision which is the highest reward of human effort, or as to the course of preparation which makes us able to receive it.  The Christian mystic must begin with the punctual and conscientious discharge of his duties to society; he must next purify his desires from all worldly and carnal lusts, for only the pure in heart can see God; and he may thus fit himself for ’illumination’—­the stage in which the glory and beauty of the spiritual life, now clearly discerned, are themselves the motive of action and the incentive to contemplation; while the possibility of a yet more immediate and ineffable vision of the Godhead is not denied, even in this life.  There is reason to think that this conception of religion appeals more and more strongly to the younger generation to-day.  It brings an intense feeling of relief to many who have been distressed by being told that religion is bound up with certain events in antiquity, the historicity of which it is in some cases difficult to establish; with a cosmology which has been definitely disproved; and with a philosophy which they cannot make their own.  It allows us what George Meredith calls ’the rapture of the forward view.’  It brings home to us the meaning of the promise made by the Johannine Christ that there are many things as yet hid from humanity which will in the future be revealed by the Spirit of Truth.  It encourages us to hope that for each individual who is trying to live the right life the venture of faith will be