of God as very near to man, of man as capable of reflecting
God's likeness. Ye too shall see heaven opened and the angels of God
ascending and descending upon--the Son of man. It is good for us as
children to read these stories to realise that heaven is very near to
earth. It is good for us as men to read them again to realise that
heaven is even nearer earth than we thought as children. As I said
before, how marvellous it is that God can reveal Himself to man and
through man, that He has revealed Himself entirely, 'the perfect man,'
as Maurice says, reflecting the perfect God--God and man so near one to
the other that men can look upon the Son of man and see God--see Him in
His perfection! Our years ought to be bound each to {136} each by
natural piety. The child should surely be the father of the man.

With age Thou growest more divine,
More glorious than before;
I fear Thee with a deeper fear
Because--I love Thee more.

I have been reading Moody's Life. It has much the same effect as
Finney's used to have in days gone by--it creates a longing to work and
live for God, to bring men nearer to Him, to come nearer to Him myself.
Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I
desire in comparison of Thee.

What a wonderful thing that we, as a family, are so united--that our
Ideal is so much the same--isn't it?

_To F. S. H._

St. Moritz: January 6, 1901.

I have succeeded in unfreezing my ink, so I can write and--although it
is late to do so--wish you a happy new century. It is only once in a
lifetime that one can do that sort of thing! I am out here for my
health. I wasn't up to much last term. However, I am as fit as a lord
now, and return to Cambridge this week. I have been reading out here
two very different kinds of books. One is Wellhausen's 'History of
Israel,' the other Moody's Life by his son. Wellhausen's book gives
you in outline the position of modern advanced criticism of the Old
Testament. I have never before studied the history from the critical
point of view really seriously. The study has proved extraordinarily
interesting, and I {137} must say that in the main I agree thoroughly
with Wellhausen's position. You will see it more or less clearly put
in that 'History of the Hebrew People' in two small volumes by Kent
which I recommended to you before. The history of the gradual progress
of the divine revelation to the human race is a marvellous s