, you turn to the last part. And between these
two sections there is, as a rule, one connecting word. It is the word
"therefore." The maxims, that is to say, are the consequences of the
philosophy. The theology of Paul is to him an immediate cause of the
better conduct of life. "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,"--he
says to the Ephesians. "If, therefore, there is any comfort in
Christ," he says to the Philippians, {39} "I beseech you, therefore, by
the mercy of God," he says to the Romans.

We hear much in these days of the practical perils of the intellectual
life; the spiritual risks of education, the infidelity of scholars, as
though one who dealt much in the speculations of philosophy would lose
the impulse to the devout and generous life; and certainly there are
scholars enough whose learning has shrivelled up their souls. But the
attitude of Paul toward the general question of the relation of
learning to life is this,--that the better philosopher a man is, so
much the better Christian he is likely to be; that hard thinking opens
naturally into strong doing; that while not all religion is for
scholars, there is a scholar's religion, and while not all sin comes
from ignorance, much foolish conduct comes of superficial philosophy.
Let us take courage to-day in this natural association of philosophy
and life. The world needs piety, but it needs in our time a new
accession of rational piety, or what the apostle calls "reasonable
service." The world needs enthusiasm, but it still more urgently needs
intelligently directed enthusiasm. Remember that the same man who laid
{40} the foundation for the whole history of Christian theology and
philosophy was at the same time the most practical of counsellors
concerning Christian duty and love. He explores with a free mind the
speculative mysteries of religious philosophy, and then, perceiving the
bearing of these researches on the conduct of life he proceeds as from
a cause to an effect, and writes: "Therefore, my brethren, I beseech
you, present yourselves a living sacrifice."

{41}

XV

FILLING LIFE FULL

_Matthew_ v. 17.

The Jews thought that Jesus had come to destroy their teaching and to
abandon all their splendid history, though Jesus repeatedly told them
that his purpose was not destructive; that he wanted to take all that
great past and fill it full of the meaning it was meant to bear; to
fulfill, as this famous verse says, their law and