without having assimilated the Spiritual Substance which lies beneath
it, is in danger of drifting from religion altogether. The only way of
serving best and carrying farther the development of the Christian
religion is to grasp and experience deeply the fact that the Spiritual
Substance is something entirely different from its form of existence.
Its form of existence is an attempt to account for the Substance; it
consists of intellectual concepts. And as with everything else in this
world so with religion; mere intellectual concepts change, and cannot be
more than receptacles used by the human mind to enshrine the things
which are presented as meanings and values within the soul.

[p.186] Eucken pays great attention to the necessity of this process of
differentiation between the two elements in Christianity. There is a
need to-day of a new form of existence for Christianity; but the
satisfaction of this need will not grant us the spiritual nucleus
itself. The spiritual nucleus is something to be gained not by means of
knowledge, but by means of love. Eucken goes so far as to state that the
idea of love and love of one's enemy as presented in Christianity forms
a new element for the redemption of the individual and of the race. To
grasp this idea and to penetrate into its nature is to solve all the
problems of life and death. This is the Eternal element in the Christian
religion. It is found, it is true, in other religions; but why should we
look for it elsewhere when it blossomed with such divine glory in the
life of the Founder? This is the highest spiritual synthesis
conceivable. The world has known nothing greater, and nothing greater is
to be known. This is the Eternal element in Christianity which has to be
possessed and preserved and furthered. If we ask the question concerning
the success or failure of Christianity in the future, the answer is to
be found by answering the question, Is Love to God and Love to man found
within it to-day? If we are able to answer in the affirmative, we are