Enough has been said to clear Christianity of the charge of hedonism. So far from Christian Ethics falling {163} below Philosophical Ethics in regard to purity of motive, it really surpasses it in the sublimity of its sanctions. The Kantian idea of virtue tends to empty the obligation of all moral content. Goodness, as the philosopher himself came to see, cannot be represented as a mere impersonal abstraction. Virtue has no meaning except in relation to its ultimate end. And life in union with a personal God, in whose image we have been made, is the end and purpose of man's being. Noble as it may be to live morally without the thought of God, the man who so strives to live does not attain to such a high conception of life as he who lives with God for his object. Motives advance with aims, and the higher the ideal the nobler the incentive. Fear of future punishment and the desire for future happiness may prove effective aids to the will at certain stages of moral development, but ultimately the love of God and the beauty of holiness make every other motive superfluous. Indeed, the reward of the Christian life is such as can only appeal to one who has come to identify himself with the divine will. The Christian man is always entering upon his reward. His joy is his Master's joy. He has no other interest. His reward, both here and hereafter, is not some external payment, something separable from himself; it is wholly conditioned by what he is, and is simply his own growth of character, his increasing power of being good and doing good. And if it be still asked, What is the great inducement? What is it that makes the life of the Christian worth living? The answer can only be--The hope of becoming what Christ has set before man as desirable, of growing up to the stature of perfect manhood, of attaining to the likeness of Jesus Christ Himself. But so far from this being a selfish aim, not to seek one's life in God--to be indifferent to all the inherent blessings and joys involved--would be not the mark of pure disinterestedness, but the evidence, rather, of a lack of appreciation of what life really means. The soul that has caught the vision of God and been thrilled with the grace of the Son of Man cannot but yield itself to the best it knows. [1] Cf. Fairbairn, _The Phil. of the Ch. Religion_, pp. 358 ff. [2] Peabody, _Christ and the Christian Character_, p. 44. [3] Peabody, _op. cit._, pp. 53 f. [4] Peabody, _op. cit._, p. 68. [5] See Paulsen, _System der Ethik_, pp. 56 ff.; also Troeltsch, _op. cit._, vol. ii. p. 847. [6] Cf. Ehrhardt, _Der Grundcharacter d. Ethik. Jesu_, p. 110. 'The ascetic element in the ethics of Jesus is its transient, the service of God its permanent element.' Cf. also Strauss, _Leben Jesu_, who speaks of 'the Hellenic quality' in Jesus; also Keim, _Jesus of Nazareth, and Troeltsch_, _op. cit._, vol. i. pp. 34 ff. [7] John xiii. 15. [8] _Conduct of Life_. [9] _Metaphysics of Ethics_, sect. ii.