E.R.B.




PREFACE


This book owes its origin to the fact that in the autumn of 1921 the
authorities of Manchester College, Oxford invited me to deliver the
inaugural course of a lectureship in religion newly established under
the will of the late Professor Upton. No conditions being attached to
this appointment, it seemed a suitable opportunity to discuss, so far as
possible in the language of the moment, some of the implicits which I
believe to underlie human effort and achievement in the domain of the
spiritual life. The material gathered for this purpose has now been
added to, revised, and to some extent re-written, in order to make it
appropriate to the purposes of the reader rather than the hearer. As the
object of the book is strictly practical, a special attempt has been
made to bring the classic experiences of the spiritual life into line
with the conclusions of modern psychology, and in particular, to suggest
some of the directions in which recent psychological research may cast
light on the standard problems of the religious consciousness. This
subject is still in its infancy; but it is destined, I am sure, in the
near future to exercise a transforming influence on the study of
spiritual experience, and may even prove to be the starting point of a
new apologetic. Those who are inclined either to fear or to resent the
application to this experience of those laws which--as we are now
gradually discovering--govern the rest of our psychic life, or who are
offended by the resulting demonstrations of continuity between our most