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poses and plans of God and made the medium and instru ment of His will. A T horoughly T ested L ife In the fourth place we shall note that the mystic life does not necessarily mean an easy kind of a life. Abraham was tested again and again. Sometimes he was asked to walk a very difficult path and to do things that he could not easily understand. For example, God asked him to sacrifice the very son who was given to him in the ful fillment of the divine promise and purpose. At the time he did not understand just what it was God was asking him to do. Yet he obeyed the light that he had and he went all of the way, knowing that in due time God would provide the way of escape. As a result of this obedience and experience new light broke in upon him and he got some of the deepest insights of all history into the pur poses of God. When he offered his son on Mount Moriah he saw the day of Christ and had some glimmering of the eternal compassion as it worked out the plan of redemp tion for the human race. God does not promise to make the way easy for us, but he does promise that if we will obey Him .every new experience will lead into larger places and life. Therefore, the real mystic life is a life of progress and growth, as well as of illumination and power. To have fellowship with God in a mystic union means to move with God in the carrying out of His great purposes. The only man who is making real progress is the man that is moving within the will of God in mystic union with Him. In the second place Psychology should be of tremen dous value to the evangelist and personal worker. Evan gelistic work is always associated with groups or crowds and with conversion, which is the birth of spiritual chil dren into the spiritual world. The evangelist ought to understand the laws that govern groups as they come together and be able to consciously use these in a whole some and constructive way. On the other hand he should also through an intelligent understanding of the funda mental things involved refrain from the exploitation of personalities in an unsound and unwholesome way. He ought also to know the things that are involved in the conversion of children and adults and understanding the Christian ideals and also the Christian conception of per sonalities, he should refrain from doing anything that would mar or misinterpret this precious experience in the lives of men. For example, in our concerted movements that are usually known as revivals, the emotional life is involved in a very real way. To people who have made a careful study of human life it is well known that the emotions are fundamental in the life and may be easily diverted and prostituted. To Christian psychologists it is also well known that many a life is marred for all time because of the bungling work done by someone at the time of the crisis of the new birth. In the matter of per- be any question about the fundamental importance of the study of the children to whom the Bible is to be taught. They also are His and were made by His hand. I ts V alue to C hristian W orkers
God and through that fellowship all of his activities be came identified with the activities and purposes of God. Paul spoke of this experience when he said that he had one great ambition in life and that was that he might lay hold of that for which he was laid hold upon of Christ Jesus. This union is not only a vital identification of the life with God, but it is also an identification of the purpose of the life with God’s purpose and plans for it. God laid hold upon Abraham for a definite purpose and in this union Abraham came to understand what that purpose was and, as he obeyed the will of God, his activities were the carrying out of God’s plan for him. • This made his life dynamic and fruitful. It made him great and made him a blessing to others. Through becoming identified with the plan of God his life and activities became a bless ing to all the nations of the earth. In the mystic union he lost himself, but the life of God in him made it possible for him to realize a larger life and be a great blessing. Not only this, but as God worked in him, both to will and to do, he constructed his motives and aspirations and all of the experiences of his life into the very fabric of his own plans and purposes and made it permanent. This is why the mystic life is not a hazy, indefinite, nameless kind of a thing, but, on the contrary, a definite seeking for “the city which hath the foundations, whose builder, (ar archi tect) and maker is God.” In other words, he was seeking a definitely ordered and established life in which right eousness was to be made a reality in experience. All true mysticism means a practical life. The only life that can be finally practical is the life that is lifted up into the pur P SYCHOLOGY is unquestionably one of' if not the most popular studies of our day.' It is associated with almost every branch of thought and every line of human activity. It is applied in all the professions and is coming to be one of the most popular subjects in the business world. Much of this popular Psychology has been crit ical of religion and has led to skepticism and a very subtle attack upon supernatural revelation. On the other hand the more serious consideration of the subject has brought to light certain things that are of tremendous value to the Christian thinker and worker. We wish to note here very briefly some ways in which Psychology can help the earn est Christian worker today. First of all it may be of very yital and immediate value to the Christian worker in his Sunday School activities and there is no more important work being carried on by the church than the work of the Sunday School. Psychol ogy helps the worker to know not only the lesson that is to be taught and the truth that is to be proclaimed but also to know the people to whom the truth is to be pre sented and how best to approach them in the impartation of truth. It is impossible for a person to intelligently know how to adapt the lesson without in some way know ing something of the people that are being taught. This is especially true when we come to deal with children. It is not enough to know the lesson—we must also know how the lesson already mastered may best be taught to the par ticular people that we are dealing with. There is no ques tion about the importance of earnest, consistent study of the Bible as the Word of God but neither ought there to
ate ate ate Scriptural Psychology B y T he E ditor - in -C h ie f
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