underlying the multiplicity
of characteristics, one single and commanding principle at work in the
formation of life of which every possible virtue is the expression.

1. A unity of this kind is supplied by man's relation to God. Religion
cannot be separated from conduct. If it were true, as Epicurus said,
that the gods take no concern in human affairs, then not religion only,
but morality itself would be in danger. As men's conceptions of God are
purified and deepened, they tend to exhibit the varied contents of
morality in their connection with a diviner order. It is, then, the
thought of man's relation to God which gives coherence to the moral life,
and brings all its diverse manifestations into unity.

{196}

If we examine the Christian consciousness as presented in the New
Testament, we find three words of frequent occurrence repeatedly grouped
together, which may be regarded as the essential marks of Christian
character in relation to God--Faith, Hope, and Love.

So characteristic are these of the new life that they have been called
the theological virtues, because, as Thomas Aquinas says, 'They have God
for their object: they bring us into true relation to God, and they are
imparted to us by God alone.'[15]

2. These graces, however, cannot be separated. A man does not exercise
at one time faith, and at another time hope or love. They are all of a
piece. They are but different manifestations of one virtue. Of these
love is the greatest, because it is that without which faith and hope
could not exist. Love is of the very essence of the Christian life. It
is its secret and sign. No other term is so expressive of the spirit of
Christ. It is the first and last word of apostolic Christianity. Love
may be called the discovery of the Gospel. It was practically unknown in
the ancient world. _Eros_, the sensuous instinct and _philia_, the bond
of friendship, did exist, but _agape_ in its spiritual sense is the
creation of Christ. In Christian Ethics love is primal and central.
Here we have got down to the bedrock of virtue. It is not simply one
virtue among many. It is the quality in which all the virtues have their
setting and unity. From a Christian point of view every excellence of
character springs directly from love and is the manifestation of it. It
is, as St. Paul says, 'the bond of perfectness.' The several virtues of
the Christian life are but facets of this one gem.[16]

Love, accor