[490] S. John iii. 33. See Dorner's System of Ethics [Clark], § 47.
[491] 2 Cor. iv. 8; vi. 10. Cp. Rom. viii. 28.
[492] S. Matt. v. 48. Butler, Serm. 3 'Your obligation to obey this Law is its being the Law of your nature.... The correspondence of actions to the nature of the agent renders them natural.'
[493] Cp. Bp. Ellicott, The Being of God, p. 120.
[494] Rom. ii. 18 (γινώσκεις τὸ θέλημα) implies that when a man knows God's will, he knows his duty.
[495] S. John ix. 4; iv. 34. Cp. vi. 40; S. Luke iv. 43. See also Rom. xii. 2; Eph. v. 17, etc.
[496] The case of the young man (S. Matt. xix. 21) shews how obligation is extended by contact with Christ, i.e. by closer relation to God. The general principle is that each is bound to follow the law of his personal perfection as it unveils itself to him. See Bengel in loc. and cp. S. Luke xvii. 10.
[497] Wace, Lect. II.
[498] S. Matt. xvi. 25, 26. The discussion of 'Christian consolations,' by Mr. Cotter Morison, Service of Man, overlooks the fact that Christ's object was not to 'console' men, but to set before them the truth, and the law of their own perfection. The 'consolations' of Christianity can be won only if they are never made the object of life. They are a reward, but never, in the higher forms of Christian consciousness, an aim. See Church Quart. Rev., Jan. 1888, p. 268.
[499] Witness the discussions on fear commonly found in mediaeval theology. Bruce, Parabolic teaching of Christ, p. 359 foll., has some good remarks on this point. 'The parabolic form of instruction does not afford scope for the play of the highest class of motives. It is essentially popular wisdom, and it is the way of that which aims at teaching the million, to make action spring from homely motives.'