[8] See Author's _History of Philosophy_, p. 585. [9] Introduction to Hume's _Works_. [10] Mackenzie seems to imply this view. _Ethics_, p. 25. [11] Cf. Haering, _Ethics of the Christian Life_, p. 9. {22} CHAPTER II THE POSTULATES OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS We now proceed to define Christian Ethics and to investigate the particular postulates, philosophical and theological, upon which it rests. Christian Ethics presupposes the Christian view of life as revealed in Christ, and its definition must be in harmony with the Christian ideal. The prime question of Christian Ethics is, How ought Christians to order their lives? It is therefore the science of morals as conditioned by Christian faith; and the problems it discusses are, the nature, meaning and laws of the moral life as dominated by the supreme good which has been revealed to the world in the Person and Teaching of Christ. It is based upon an historical event, and presupposes a particular development and consummation of the world. I _The Relation of Christian to Philosophical Ethics_.--Christian Ethics is a branch of general Ethics. But it is something more; it is Ethics in its richest and fullest expression--the interpretation of life which corresponds to the supreme manifestation of the divine will. For if the revelation of God in Christ is true, then that revelation is not merely a factor, but the factor, which must dominate and colour man's whole outlook and give an entirely new value to all his aims and actions. In Christianity we are confronted with the motive-power of a great Personality who has entered into the current of human history and {23} given a new direction to the moral life of man. Man's life at its highest can only be interpreted in the light of this supreme revelation, and can only be accounted for as the creation of the dynamic force of this unique Personality.