THE DOUBLE SEARCH STUDIES IN ATONEMENT AND PRAYER BY RUFUS M. JONES, A.M., Litt.D. Professor of Philosophy in Haverford College 1906. PHILADELPHIA, THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY Copyright , 1906 By THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY...

“We are always gathered around the Divine Centre of our being; and, indeed, if we could withdraw from it, our being would at once be dissolved away, and we should cease to exist at all. But, near as it is to us, often we do not direct our eyes to it. When, however, we do so direct our gaze, we attain to the end of our desires and to the rest of our souls, and our song is no more a discord, but, circling round our Centre, we pour forth a divinely inspired chorale. And in the choral dance we behol

THERE is a famous myth in Plato’s Symposium told to explain the origin of love. This myth says that primitive man was round, and had four hands and four feet, and one head with two faces looking opposite ways. He could walk on his legs if he liked, but he also could roll over and over with great speed if he wished to go anywhere very fast. Because of their fleetness and skill these “Round people” were dangerous rivals in power to Zeus himself and he adopted the plan of weakening them by cutting

“All who since Jesus have come into union with God have come into union with God through Him . And thus it is confirmed in every way that, even to the end of time, all wise and intelligent men must bow themselves reverently before this Jesus of Nazareth; and that the more wise, intelligent and noble they themselves are, the more humbly will they recognize the exceeding nobleness of this great and glorious manifestation of the Divine Life.” Fichte’s “Way Toward the Blessed Life,” p. 391. “Christ

THERE was once a widespread fear that exact methods of historical research would deprive us of that luminous divine Figure toward whom the world had reverently turned its face for more than eighteen centuries. Some suspected that our records of His life were crowded with myth and legend, others believed that the singular story which had so profoundly touched the world’s heart was the creation of highly wrought enthusiastic disciples. To-day, after more than half a century of critical sifting and

“Merely to repeat His words is not to continue His work; we must reproduce His life, passion and death. He desires to live again in each one of His disciples in order that He may continue to suffer, to bestow Himself, and to labor in and through them towards the redemption of humanity, until all prodigal and lost children be found and brought back to their Father’s house. Thus it is that, instead of being removed far from human history, the life and death of Christ once more take their place in

IT is a bold and hazardous task to say anything on this subject and I must tread with bare, hushed feet, for it is a holy realm which we are essaying to enter. It must be understood from the first that I am not going to thresh over a heap of theological straw. I am not going into that realm of abstract metaphysics where one can always prove any thesis one may happen to assume at the start. I shall keep close to human experience. The pillars of our faith must be planted, not on some artificial co

By prayer, I do not mean any bodily exercise of the outward man; but the going forth of the spirit of Life towards the Fountain of Life, for fullness and satisfaction: The natural tendency of the poor, rent, derived spirit, towards the Fountain of Spirits . Isaac Penington. Lowell’s “Cathedral.” “The aim of prayer is to attain to the habit of goodness, so as no longer merely to have the things that are good, but rather to be good.” Clement of Alexandria. Lowell’s “Cathedral.” “The aim of prayer

WE come now to the human search for a divine fellowship and companionship. Its complete history would be the whole story of religion. In this little book I shall speak only of certain definite human ways of seeking fellowship with God, namely, of prayer. Prayer is an extraordinary act. The eyes close, the face lights up, the body is moved with feeling, and (it may be in the presence of a multitude) the person praying talks in perfect confidence with somebody, invisible and intangible, and who ar