Let us try to understand and define the place of Jesus Christ in the ascent of the soul.

Jesus Christ has given the world a rational and satisfying doctrine of God.  Other teachers have tried to answer the inquiry, Does God exist?  Jesus treated that question as an astronomer treats the sun.  No sane scientist would fill his pages with speculations as to the reality of the sun.  It moves and shines in the heavens; beginning with that fact, the astronomer asks concerning the function which the sun performs in the solar system and in the universe.

Jesus discarded speculation and found the key to the doctrine of God in the family, the simplest and most elemental of human institutions.  There may be wide differences concerning the nature of government, the sanctions of law, etc., but there is no room for debate concerning the meaning of the parental relation.  It interprets itself.  Tell a child that a man is his father, and he can be told no more.  The name interprets the relation.  In earlier times the vastness of the creation was but dimly appreciated, and then the idea of God was equally contracted.  Jesus taught that the Deity, whether the conception of Him was small or large, was to be interpreted in terms of fatherhood.  What an ideal father is to his family God is to the race and to the universe.  That meant one thing when the father was little more than the protector of a tribe; it means something greater, but not essentially different now.  The conception of the universe is one of the most revolutionary that ever entered the human mind.  The conception of a tribe is larger than that of a family; of a nation larger than that of a tribe; of the race larger than that of the nation; but the conception of the universe, with its myriads of worlds and possible multiplicity of races, is the amazing contribution which science has made to the thought of to-day.  While the conception of the Deity has been enlarged the principle of interpretation remains unchanged.  Are we thinking of Jehovah the God of Israel?  He is the Father of the tribe.  Has our idea expanded so as to include all the nations?  God is the Father not of a limited number but of all that dwell upon the earth.  Has the horizon been lifted to take in heavenly heights?  Are we now thinking of immensities, eternities, and the cosmic process?  The teaching of Jesus is not transcended; we still continue to interpret in terms of fatherhood, and say all time, all space, all men, all purposes and processes in the infinities and eternities are in the hands of the Father.  But when we have ascended to such a height what does the word Father mean?  Exactly the same in essence that it meant in the humblest of Judean households among which Jesus moved.  The father there was the one who made the home, sustained it, defended it, watched over it by day and by night; in exactly the same way the followers of Jesus think of the Spirit who pervades all things.  He creates, He cares for, He defends, He provides, He loves, He causes all processes to work for blessing to the intelligent beings who are His children.