ining as they do
the revelation of an unique historical fact, they do not present a
closed or final system of truth. Christ has yet many things to say
unto us, and the Holy Spirit is continually adding new facts to human
experience, and disclosing richer and fuller manifestations of God
through history and providence and the personal consciousness of man.
No progress in thought or life can indeed be made which is inconsistent
with, or foreign to, the fundamental facts which centre in Christ: and
we may be justly suspicious of all advancement in doctrine or morals
which does not flow from the initial truths of the Master's life and
teaching. But, just as progress has been made, both in the increase of
materials of knowledge and in regard to the clearer insight and
appreciation of the meaning of Christian truth, since the apostles'
age, so we may hope that, as the ages go on, we shall acquire a still
fuller conception of the kingdom of God and a richer apprehension of
the divine will. The task and method of Christian Ethics will be,
consequently, the intelligent interpretation and the gradual
application to human life and society, in all their relationships, of
the mind of Christ under the constant illumination and guidance of the
Divine Spirit.

[1] Cf. Dorner, _System der Christl. Ethik_, p. 48. See also Newman
Smyth, _Christian Ethics_, p. 44.

[2] Cf. Mackintosh, _Christian Ethics_, p. 11.

[3] Cf. Lidgett, _The Christian Religion_, pp. 106, 485 ff., where the
idea of God's nature is admirably developed.

[4] Rashdall, _The Theory of Good and Evil_, vol. ii. p. 212.

[5] Lidgett, _idem_. But see Bosanquet, _Principle of Indiv. and
Value_, p. 380 ff.

[6] James i. 13, 14.

[7] As, for example, that of Drew's _Christus Myth_.

[8] Cf. _Gospel History and its Transmission_.

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CHAPTER III

ETHICAL THOUGHT BEFORE CHRIST

Apart from the writings of the New Testament, which are the primary
source of Christian Ethics, a comprehensive view of our subject would
include some account of the ethical conceptions of Greece, Rome and
Israel, which were at least contributory to the Christian idea of the
moral life. Whatever view we take of its origin, Christianity did not
come into the world like the goddess Athene, without preparation, but
was the product of many factors. The moral problems of to-day cannot
be rightly appreciated except in the light of certain concepts which
come to us from anci