sire which is never quite free from
selfishness,--but holiness emulating God, striving to do good for the sake
of the good without regard to recompense, and to shun evil because it is
evil, aside from all consequences.(270)

8. The fact is that holiness is a religious term, based upon divine
revelation, not a philosophical one resting upon speculative reasoning. It
is a postulate of our moral nature that all life is governed by a holy
Will to which we must submit willingly, and which makes for the good. How
volition and compulsion are with God one and the same, how the good exists
in God without the bad, or holiness and moral purpose without unholy or
immoral elements, how God can be exactly opposite to all we know of
man,--this is a question which philosophy is unable to answer. In fact,
holiness is best defined negatively, as the "negation of all that man from
his own experience knows to be unholy." These words of the Danish
philosopher Rauwenhoff are made still clearer by the following
observations: "The strength in the idea of holiness lies exactly in its
negative character. There is no comparison of higher or lesser degree
possible between man's imperfections and God's perfect goodness. Instead,
there is an absolute contrast between mankind which, even in its noblest
types, must wrestle with the power of evil, and God, in whom nothing can
be imagined which would even suggest the possibility of any moral
shortcoming or imperfection."(271) As the prophet says, "Thou art too pure
of eyes to look complacently upon evil,"(272) and according to the
Psalmist, "Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord, and who shall
stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart."(273)

9. The idea of holiness became the preeminent feature of Judaism, so that
the favorite name for God in Rabbinical literature was "the Holy One,
blessed be He," and the acme of all ceremonial and moral laws alike was
found in "the Hallowing of His name."(274) If the rabbis as followers of
the Priestly Code were compelled to lay great stress upon ritual holiness,
they yet beheld in it the means of moral purification. They never lost
sight of the prophetic principle that moral purity is the object of all
human life, for "the holy God is sanctified through righteousness."(275)

Chapter XVII. God's Wrath and Punishment

1. Scripture speaks frequently of the anger and zeal of God and of His
avenging sword and judgment, so as to g