1384 REV. PREBENDARY WACE, D.D., ON ETHICS AND R#LIGION. 
dictates of morality are. You may have, of course, and you 
have, morality without theology; but the question is first, 
whether without it you have a sufficient basis for such 
cardinal moral principles as we have been considering, and 
secondly, whether ail moral obligations are not enhanced by 
the theological and religious motive which the Christian 
revelation puts forward. I have dealt with the first ques- 
tion, and it only remains to touch on the latter. Now this 
depends not simply on the question whether there is 
a personal God, and whether He has given us certain 
commands, and whether His promise of eternal life 
is an indispensable motive amidst the dangers and tempta- 
tions of life; or even whether an enlightened idea of God, 
purely as such, possesses a high significance for the moral 
elevation of mankind, or whether the apprehension of God's 
omnipresence and omnipotence is a valuable support to 
moral action—which are the points this writer discusses. 
He is at issue, indeed, even on these points, with one of his 
colleagues, who admits (p. 299) that “ although we emphasize 
and believe ina direct appeal to the moral sentiments im man, 
nevertheless we recognize that belief ina personal God, and 
the hope of immortality, have helped to keep men up to the 
line of duty ; and if we had nothing to fall back upon but the 
direct love of righteousness, we should count our movement 
weak indeed.” That admission may well be thought to give 
up the case of the whole movement, so far as it rests upon 
the independence and sufficiency of the ethical motive 
apart from religious beliefs. But, from the point of view of 
Christian philosophy, it is important to put our own case a 
great deal higher. The Christian belief—I am not now 
defending it, which would be out of place at the present mo- 
ment; Iam only stating it—the Christian belief is that a per- 
sonal God has not merely given revelations of man’s moral duty 
and issued commands, but that He has placed Himself in direct 
personal relation with us; that He has taken part, side by 
side with us, in the moral struggle of the world; that He has 
voluntarily, in human form, submitted to the severest 
sufferings in that struggle, and that He now adds the appeal 
of personal obligation and personal affection to that of His 
supreme authority. 
It is only possible, on such an occasion as the present, thus 
briefly to indicate the nature of the Christian position on this 
subject; bat this will be sufficient to illustrate the nature of 
the addition which it makes to ordinary moral forces. It 
