all such movements a consciousness of something of Eternal value, and a faith in the possibility of attaining a higher grade of reality in the midst of all the fragmentary factors which present themselves.  Religion is thus viewed as a movement which takes place not by the side of life, but within life itself.  A power of immediacy grows within the soul; it is now able to sift and winnow, to select and to reject; it is able to penetrate into the difference between first and second things, and to relegate all minor things to their lower sphere.[67]

It is of no avail to ignore this difference; and neither is it of any avail to ignore the difference between the old and the new existence-forms of Christianity.  The old and the new conceptions cannot possibly flow together.  One mode has to take a primary place, and the other a secondary place.  The old intellectual presentation of Christianity has, in many ways, become inadequate.  But [p.196] still it cannot be thrown overboard in any light-hearted manner, if for no other reason than that it has grown along with the growth of the Spiritual Substance itself.  Some kind of shock, and even loss, may be temporarily experienced in parting with it; but this is a process that has to be passed through; and once it is passed through, the new clothing of Christianity cannot but help man to see a richer meaning in the Eternal.  It may not fit quite so compactly for a time; it may not merge easily with the Spiritual Substance.  We are far less comfortable in a new suit of clothes than in an old one; but comfort is not the only criterion in regard to the things of the body or of the soul.  There may be a need for a change, and our needs are of more significance than our comforts.  The change from old to new can be accomplished when the difference of Substance and Form is clearly perceived, and when the Substance is preserved in the midst of the change.  This is one of the greatest tasks set to the Christian Church to-day, and no one is competent to undertake it if he has not experienced in the very depth of his own soul the meaning of the Eternal as the essence of the Christian religion.  Eucken has grasped this truth in an unmistakable manner; and he sees nothing but disaster for religion in any attempt to present a new clothing at the expense of ejecting the Eternal kernel.  But still he insists that in [p.197] theology the claims of the new forms are overwhelmingly necessary and just.

When we turn to Eucken’s conception in connection with the place of the personality of the Founder in the Christianity of the present, we are treading on very difficult ground.  This is a question which cannot be decided by the cold, calculating intellect.  Without a doubt, there is here something unique in the history of the world—­something which no psychology can fathom and no logic can construct into exact propositions.  But here once again, the two elements—­the Spiritual Substance and its Form—­are apparent in the life of