We remarked how what sets the Calvinist in motion seems to be the desire to flee from the wrath to come; and what sets the Methodist in motion, the desire for eternal bliss. What is it which sets Paul in motion? It is the impulse which we have elsewhere noted as the master-impulse of Hebraism,--_the desire for righteousness._ 'I exercise myself,' he told Felix, '_to have a conscience void of offence towards God and men continually_.'[23] To the Hebrew, this moral order, or righteousness, was pre-eminently the universal order, the law of God; and God, the fountain of all goodness, was pre-eminently to him the giver of the moral law. The end and aim of all religion, _access to God_,--the sense of harmony with the universal order--the partaking of the divine nature--that our faith and hope might be in God--that we might have life and have it more abundantly,--meant for the Hebrew, access to the source of the _moral_ order in especial, and harmony with it. It was the greatness of the Hebrew race that it felt the authority of this order, its preciousness and its beneficence, so strongly. 'How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God!'--'The law of thy mouth is better than thousands of gold and silver.'--'My soul is consumed with the very fervent desire that it hath alway unto thy judgments.'[24] It was the greatness of their best individuals that in them this feeling was incessantly urgent to prove itself in the only sure manner,--in action. 'Blessed are they who hear the word of God, and _keep_ it.' 'If thou wouldst enter into life, _keep_ the commandments.' 'Let no man deceive you, he that _doeth_ righteousness is righteous.'[25] What distinguishes Paul is both his conviction that the commandment is holy, and just, and good; and also his desire to give effect to the commandment, to _establish_ it. It was this which gave to his endeavour after a clear conscience such meaning and efficacity. It was this which gave him insight to see that there could be no radical difference, in respect of salvation and the way to it, between Jew and Gentile. 'Upon every soul of man that _worketh evil_, whoever he may be, tribulation and anguish; to every one that _worketh good_, glory, honour, and peace!'[26] [Footnote 23: _Acts_, xxiv, 16.] [Footnote 24: _Ps._ cxxxix, 7; cxix, 72; _Ibid._, 20.] [Footnote 25: _Luke_, xi, 28; _Matth._, xix, 17; I _John_, iii, 7.] [Footnote 26: _Rom._, ii, 9, 10.]