This truth is set forth in the expression, “the book of life.” “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” In the prophecy of Daniel, to which there is evidently reference in this paragraph, mention is made of “books” that “were opened.” The writer of the Apocalypse also alludes to the “books” that “were opened.” But he adds to this that “another book was opened, which is the book of life;” and in chapter xxi, 27, he calls it “the Lamb’s book of life.” It is apparent that this additional standard of judgment belongs to the New Testament dispensation and is something having relation to the specific work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul has this in mind in saying (1 Corinthians xvi, 22), “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha.” The Saviour had given a foreshadowing of the same truth in telling his disciples, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.” We hear an echo of this in the epistle to Sardis (Revelation iii, 5): “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” The same truth is indicated by John in his first epistle (1 John v, 12): “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” The character of men is not to be estimated solely by their actions, and to make destiny depend upon them would hardly be just. Every act, whether of word or deed, has its own standard of judgment. That which determines its quality as good or bad is its fitness or unfitness to its designed end; in this consists its conformity with its ideal. A moral agent has, however, another standard of judgment. Goodness or badness in his case is determined by the conformity of his motives, purposes, and intentions with his ideal, which is the fulfillment of the will of his Creator. Not only what he does, but why he does it, enters into the estimate of his moral character. A perfect man would be one in whom faith in the Son of God and experimental knowledge of him are in unison, one whose conduct springs out of a living faith, and in whom a correct faith is translated into actual and complete righteousness of conduct. It is a fact that upon the fundamental principles of ethics the great religions of the earth do not differ so much from each other as presumption leads us to anticipate. This agreement of the moral codes occasions surprise and even perplexity upon the first appreciation of the fact. But the explanation is simple and easy. These codes are largely the result of observation upon the established and permanent laws of the universe, deductions from facts with which testimony, reason, and consciousness make men acquainted. The data being the same, the conclusions reached are closely similar.