touches us as indubitably real. This is,
in the first place, the moral character of Jesus. It is his inner life
which, on the testimony of the disciples, meets us as something real and
active in the world, as truly now as then. What are some facts of this
inner life? The Jesus of the New Testament shows a firmness of religious
conviction, a clearness of moral judgment, a purity and force of will,
such as are not found united in any other figure in history. We have the
image of a man who is conscious that he does not fall short of the ideal
for which he offers himself. It is this consciousness which is yet
united in him with the most perfect humility. He lives out his life and
faces death in a confidence and independence which have never been
approached. He has confidence that he can lift men to such a height that
they also will partake with him in the highest good, through their full
surrender to God and their life of love for their fellows.

It is clear that Herrmann aims to bring to the front only those elements
in the life of Jesus which are likely to prove most effectual in meeting
the need and winning the faith of the men of our age. He would cast into
the background those elements which are likely to awaken doubt and to
hinder the approach of men's souls to God. For Herrmann himself the
virgin birth has the significance that the spiritual life of Jesus did
not proceed from the sinful race. But Herrmann admits that a man could
hold even that without needing to allege that the physical life of Jesus
did not come into being in the ordinary way. The distinction between the
inner and outward life of Jesus, and the declaration that belief in the
former alone is necessary, has the result of thus ridding us of
questions which can scarcely fail to be present to the mind of every
modern man. Yet it would be unjust to imply that this is the purpose.
Quite the contrary, the distinction is logical for this theology.
Redemption is an affair of the inner life of a man. It is the force of
the inner life of the Redeemer which avails for it. It is from the
belief that such an inner and spiritual life was once realised here on
earth, that our own faith gathers strength, and gets guidance in the
conflict for the salvation of our souls. The belief in the historicity
of such an inner life is necessary. So Harnack also declares in his
_Wesen des Christenthums_, 1900. It is noteworthy that in this connexion
neither of these writers advanc