negating the entire freedom of man to give or withhold response to the
gift and leading of the divine spirit.

In the deepest New Testament sense to be free is to have the power of
acting according to one's true nature. A man's ideal is his true self,
and all short of that is for him a limitation of freedom. Inasmuch as no
ideal is ever completely realised, true freedom is not so much a
possession as a progressive appropriation. It is at once a gift and a
task. It contains the twofold idea of emancipation {96} and submission.
Mere deliverance from the lower self is not liberty. Freedom must be
completed by the appropriation of the higher self and the acceptance of
the obligations which that self involves. It is to be acquired through
submission to the truth. 'Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free.' A man is never so free as when he is the bondsman of
Christ. The saying of St. Paul sums up the secret and essence of all
true freedom: 'The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death.'

[1] Mach, _Erkenntniss und Irrtum_. Vorwort. See also _Die Analyse der
Empfindungen_, p. 20. 'Das Sich ist unrettbar,' he says.

[2] Cf. W. Schmidt, _Der Kampf um die Seele_, p. 13.

[3] Cf. Eucken.

[4] Cf. Wallace, _Logic of Hegel, Proleg._, p. 233.

[5] Wallace, _Idem_, p. 235. Cf. Aristotle's wise man whose conduct is
not _kata logon_ but _meta logon_.

[6] _Proleg._, section 108.

[7] _The Will to Believe_, p. 154.

[8] _The italics are ours_.

[9] _Creative Evolution_ (Eng. trans.), p. 252.

[10] _Idem_, p. 265.

[11] Cf. Morris, _Lects. on Art_, p. 195; Bosanquet, _Hist. of
Aesthetic_, p. 445; also _Individuality and Value_, p. 166.

[12] _Life's Basis and Life's Ideals_, p. 181 f.

{97}

SECTION C

CHARACTER

{99}

CHAPTER VII

MODERN THEORIES OF LIFE

Bearing in mind the three fundamental ideas lying at the root of all
ethical inquiry--End, Norm, and Motive--we have now to deal with the
shaping forces of the Christian life, the making of character. In this
section, therefore, we shall be engaged in a discussion of the ideals,
laws, and springs of moral action. And first, What is the supreme good?
What is the highest for which a man should live? This question
determines the main problem of life. It forces itself irresistibly upon
us to-day, and the answer to it is the test of every system of morals.

But before