THE INNER LIFE [Illustration] THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO THE INNER LIFE BY RUFUS M. JONES, A.M., LITT.D. PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HAVERFORD COLLEGE AUTHOR OF “STUDIES IN MYSTICAL RELIGION” “SPIRITUAL REFORMERS,” ETC. New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1917 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1916. Reprinted January, 1917. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. INTRODUCTION There is no inner life that is not also an outer life. To withdraw from the stress and strain of practical action and from the complication of problems into the quiet cell of the inner life in order to build its domain undisturbed is the sure way to lose the inner life. The finest of all the mystical writers of the fourteenth century—the author of _Theologia Germanica_—knew this as fully as we of this psychologically trained generation know it. He intensely desired a rich inner life, but he saw that to be beautiful within he must live a radiant and effective life in the world of men and events. “I would fain be,” he says, “to the eternal God what a man’s hand is to a man”—_i.e._ he seeks, with all the eagerness of his glowing nature, to be an efficient instrument of God in the world. In the _practice_ of the presence of God, the presence itself becomes more sure and indubitable. Religion does not consist of inward thrills and private enjoyment of God; it does not terminate in beatific vision. It is rather the joyous business of carrying the Life of God into the lives of men—of being to the eternal God what a man’s hand is to a man.