Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

RECONSTRUCTING THE NATURAL ORDER 397was a spark of the divine fire, a portion of the universalmind, was to found it upon a fiction. On thecontrary, the true foundation of it was that both man'sspirit and his body were the work of an infinitelysuperior power, and the teaching of the Church inrevealing that power, and recognising the bond whichthe creation both of spirit and of matter formed forthe being so united, laid afresh the missing basisof morality. Whatever theory may re-attempt, thescheme of forming a morality independent of a moralgovernor will fail as the Stoic failed; for the firstspring of duty lies in the obligation which the act ofcreation imposes on the being created. The Church,in preaching her great doctrines of Redemption andAdoption, re-established the basis of morality byunveiling the Creator of man. But she availed herselfof an infinite attraction in disclosing Him at thesame time as Father and Redeemer.The sum of what I have said is this: that thedivine brotherhood of men in Christ, together withthe charity of Christ the God-man sacrificing Himself for His brethren, unitedly make up the Christianconception of the relation of man to his fellow-ma:And all the relative duties of life are affected by thdouble fact. This conclusion was drawn by St. Paifrom these grounds in the following words: " Bkind to one another, merciful, forgiving one anotheieven as God has forgiven you in Christ. Be thereimitators of God, as most dear children, and walkin love, as Christ also has loved us, and deliveredHimself for us an oblation and a sacrifice to God foran odour of sweetness."11 Ephes. iv. 32. It is to be noted that the expression, "odour ofsweetness," here ascribed to the Sacrifice of Christ, is the same as that