reedom and
spontaneity_. It is to have its spring in the heart. It is to be a
righteousness not of servile obedience, but of willing devotion. The aim
of life is no longer the painful effort of the bondsman who {144} strives
to perform a distasteful task, but the gladsome endeavour of the son who
knows and does, because he loves, his father's will. In the Ethics of
the Christian life there is no such thing as mere duty; for a man never
fulfils his duty till he has done more than is legally required of him.
'Whosoever shall compel you to go with him one mile, go with him
twain.'[53] The 'nicely calculated less or more' is alien to the spirit
of him who would do God's will. Love is the fulfilling of the law, and
love knows nothing of limits.

3. Thus the holiness of God is manifested not in righteousness only, but
in the attribute of Love. The human mind can attain to no higher
conception of the divine character than that which the word 'love'
suggests. The thought is the creation of Christianity. It was the
special contribution of one of the innermost circle of Jesus' disciples
to give utterance to the new vision of the divine nature which Christ had
disclosed--'God is love.'[54] In our Lord's teaching the centre of
gravity is entirely changed. The Jewish idea of God is enriched with a
fuller content. He is still the Holy One, but the sublimity of His
righteousness, though fully recognised, is softened by the gentler
radiance of love.[55] Jehovah the Sovereign is revealed as God the
Father. Divine righteousness is not simply justice, but goodness
manifested in far-reaching activities of mercy and pity and benevolence.
A new note is struck in the Ethics of Jesus. A new relationship is
established between God and man--a personal filial relationship which
entirely alters man's conception of life. To be perfect as our Father in
heaven is perfect, to be, and embody in life all that love means, that is
the sublime aim which Jesus in His own person and teaching sets before
the world. As God's love is universal, and His care and compassion
world-wide, so, says Christ, not by retaliation or even by the
performance of strict justice, but in loving your enemies, in returning
good for evil and extending your acts of helpfulness and charity to those
'who know not, care not, think {145} not, what they do,' shall ye become
the children of your Father, and realise something of that divine pattern
of every man which has