eginning somewhere if he is to
reach the stature of the perfect man at last. We believe that faith is
the one indispensable qualification for this work, as for any work that
is worth the doing, or ever has been worth the doing, in the history of
mankind. It is the victory that overcometh the world.

CHAPTER XIV

CONCLUSION

+A personal word.+--The task which has occupied the greater part of my
winter resting time has now been accomplished, as far as opportunity
affords. What has been said in these pages is no more than an outline
statement of the teaching which has been given from the City Temple
pulpit ever since I came into it. There is not a single thought in
this book with which my own people are not already quite familiar, and
chapter and verse for it can be produced from my published sermons
which have been appearing week by week for years past in the _Christian
Commonwealth_ and other periodicals. If space had permitted, I should
like to have said much more, for necessarily many phases of the subject
have had to be left untouched; it has only been possible to deal with
those of fundamental importance. For example, I should like to have
included some examination of the great question of Miracles, the place
of Prayer in Christian experience, and the value and significance of
Biblical Criticism. But as it has not been possible to do this I must
add a word or two to indicate my position in regard to these matters.

+Miracle.+--It seems probable that before long we shall see a
rehabilitation of belief in the credibility of certain kinds of
miracle, and that this rehabilitation will proceed from the side of
psychical science. Already there are signs that this rehabilitation is
on the way. The power of mind over matter is being recognised for
therapeutic purposes, for instance, in a way hitherto undreamed of, and
is receiving a large and increasing measure of attention from the
medical profession. This appears to me to throw a considerable amount
of light upon the healing ministry of Jesus, which, as the late
Professor A. B. Bruce has pointed out, rests upon as good historical
ground as the best-accredited parts of the teaching. Given a time and
a mental atmosphere in which men expected miracles of this sort, and
given a personality of such wonderful magnetic force as that of Jesus,
such miracles would be sure to happen. That they did not happen apart
from such conditions is evident from such hints