miracle, the most momentous event in the sphere of temporal
sequences, the most appealing account of historical occurrences can do
nothing more than give in parable-fashion hints and suggestions of the
real nature of that God who is eternally present within human spirits,
and who is working endlessly to conform all lives to His perfect type
and pattern. In the infant period of the race, both among the Hebrews
and the Gentile peoples, God has used, like a wise Teacher, the symbol
and picture-book method. He has disciplined them with external laws
and with ceremonies which would move their child-minded imaginations;
but all this method was used only because they were not ripe and ready
for the true and higher form of goodness. "They used the face of Moses
until they could come to the full Light of the truth and righteousness
of God, for which all the time their spirits really hungered and
thirsted."[7] The supreme instance of the divine pictorial method was
the sending of Christ to reveal God visibly. Before seeing God in
Christ men falsely thought of Him as hostile, stern, and wrathful; now
they may see Him in this unveiling of Himself as He actually is,
eternally loving, patiently forgiving, and seeking only to draw the
world into His love and peace: "When the Abba-crying spirit of Christ
awakens in our hearts we commune with God in peace and love."[8] But
no one must content himself with Christ after the flesh, Christ
historically known. That is to make an idol of Him. We can be saved
through Him only when by His help we discover the essential nature of
God and when He moves us to go to living in the spirit and power as
Christ Himself lived. His death as an outward, historical fact does
not save us; it is the supreme expression of His limitless love and the
complete dedication {38} of His spirit in self-giving, and it is
effective for our salvation only when it draws us into a similar way of
living, unites us in spirit with Him and makes us in reality partakers
of His blood spiritually apprehended. Christ is our Mediator in that
He reveals the love of God towards us and moves our will to appreciate
it.[9]

Every step of human progress and of spiritual advance is marked by a
passage from the dominion of the external to the sway and power of
inward experience. God is training us for a time when images, figures,
and picture-book methods will be no longer needed, but all men will
live by the inward Word and have