But the decisions of life do not cease with the choice of a calling.
At every moment of our career fresh difficulties arise, and new opportunities open up which demand careful thought. Our first obligation is to meet faithfully the claims of our station. But in the complexity of life we are {201} being constantly brought into wider relations with our fellow-men, which either modify the old, or create entirely new situations. While the rule is to do the duty that lies nearest us, to obey the call of G.o.d at each moment, it needs no little wisdom to discern one"s immediate duty, and to know what the will of G.o.d actually is.
2. _Conflict of Duties_.--In the sphere of duty itself a three-fold distinction, having the imprimatur of the Romish Church, has been made by some moralists: (1) the problem of colliding interests; (2) "counsels of perfection"; and (3) indifferent acts or "Adiaphora,"
actions which, being neither commanded nor forbidden, fall outwith the domain of Christian obligation. It will not be necessary to discuss at length these questions. The Gospel lends no support to such distinctions, and as Schleiermacher points out they ought to have no place in Protestant Ethics.[3]
(1) With regard to the "conflict of duties," when the collision is really, as it often is, a struggle between inclination and duty, the question answers itself. There are, of course, cases in which perplexity must occur to an honest man. But the difficulty cannot be decided by drawing up a list of axiomatic precepts to fit all conceivable cases. In the dilemma, for example, between self-preservation and self-sacrifice which may present itself in some tragic experience of life, a host of considerations relative to the individual"s history and relationships enter in to modify the situation, and the course to be taken can be _finally_ determined by a man"s _own_ conscience alone. Ultimately there can be no collision of duties as such. Once a man recognises a certain mode of conduct to be right for him there is really no choice. In judgment he may err; pa.s.sion or desire may obscure the issue; but once he has determined what he ought to do there is no alternative, "er kann nicht anders."
(2) Again, it is a complete misapprehension of the nature of duty to distinguish between the irreducible minimum and acts of supererogatory goodness which outrun duty. {202} Goodness is one, and admits of no degrees. All duty is absolute. An overplus is unthinkable, since no man can do more than his duty. A Christian can only do what he recognises as his obligation, and this he ought to fulfil at every moment and with all his might. Love, which is the Christian"s only law, knows no limit. Even when we have done our utmost we are still unprofitable servants.
(3) Finally, the question as to whether there are any acts which are indifferent, permissible, but neither enjoined nor forbidden, must also be answered in the negative. If the Christian can do no more than his duty, because in every single action he seeks to fulfil the whole will of G.o.d, it is clear that there can be no moment of life that can be thought of not determined by the divine will. There is no part of life that is colourless. There must be no dropped st.i.tches in the texture of the Christian character.
It is most frequently in the domain of amus.e.m.e.nt that the notion of the "Permissible" is applied. It has been contended that as recreation really lies outwith the Christian sphere, it may be allowed to Christian people as a concession to human weakness.[4] But can this position be vindicated? Relaxation is as much a need of man as work, and must, equally with it, be brought within the scope of Christian conduct. We have no business to engage in any activity, whether involving pleasure or pain, that we cannot justify to our conscience.
Are not the joys of life, and even its amus.e.m.e.nts, among G.o.d"s gifts designed for the enriching of character? And may not they, too, be consecrated to the glory of G.o.d? We are to use the world while not abusing it, for all things are ours if we are Christ"s. Over every department of life the law of Christ is sovereign, and the ultimate principle applicable to all problems of duty is, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all to the glory of G.o.d."
3. _Rights and Duties_.--The foregoing question as to the scope of duty leads naturally to the consideration of the relation of duties and rights. It is usual to distinguish {203} between legal and moral rights; but at bottom they are one. The rights which I legally claim for myself I am morally bound to grant to others. A right is expressed in the form of a permission; a duty, of an imperative. I may or may not demand my legal rights; morally, I must perform my duties. But, on the other hand, a right may be secured by legal compulsion; a duty, as a moral obligation, can never be enforced by external power: it needs our own a.s.sent.[5]
Strictly speaking rights and duties are correlative. Every right carries with it an obligation; not merely in the objective sense that when one man has a right other men are under the obligation to respect it, but also in the subjective sense that when a man has a right he is bound to use it for the general good. It is sometimes said, "A man may do what he likes with his own." Legally that may be true, but morally he is under obligation to employ it for the general good just as strictly as if it were another"s. A man"s rights are not merely decorations or ends in themselves. They are opportunities, instruments, trusts. And when any man has them, it means that he is placed on a vantage-ground from which, secure of oppression or interference, he may begin to do his duty.[6] But this moral aspect of right is often lost sight of. People are so enamoured of what they call their rights that they forget that the real value of every right depends upon the use to which they put it. A man"s freedom does not consist in having rights, but in fulfilling them. "After all," says Mazzini, "the greatest right a man can possess or recognise--the greatest gift of all--is simply the privilege and obligation to do his duty."[7] This is the only Christian doctrine of rights. It underlies our Lord"s teaching in the parable of the Talents. We only have what we use.
(1) Much has been written of the "Natural rights of Man."[8] This was the claim of a school of political philosophy of {204} which Paine was the most rigorous exponent. The contentions of Paine were met as vigorously by the negations of Bentham and Burke. And if it be supposed that the individual is born into the world with certain ready-made possessions, fixed and unalterable, the claim is untenable.
Such an artificial account of man ignores entirely the evolution of moral nature, and denies the possibility of development in man"s conception of law and duty. "It is," as Wundt says, "to derive all the moral postulates that have been produced in our minds by previous moral development from moral life as it actually exists."[9]
(2) But while the "natural rights of man" cannot be theoretically vindicated, they may still be regarded as ends or ideals to be striven after. "Justifiable or unjustifiable in theory, they may still remain a convenient form in which to couch the ultimatum of determined men."[10] They give expression, at least, to a conviction which has grown more clear and articulate with the advance of thought--the conviction of the _dignity and worth of the individual_. This thought was the keynote of the Reformation. The Enlightenment, with its appeal to reason, as alike in all men, gave support to the idea of equality.
Descartes claimed it as the philosophical basis of man"s nature.
Rousseau and Montesquieu were among its most valiant champions. Kant made it the point of departure for the enforcement of human right and duty. Fichte but elaborated Kant"s view when he contended for "the equality of everything which bears the human visage."[11] And Hegel has summed up the conception in what he calls "the mandate of right"--"Be a person, and respect others as persons."[12] Poets sometimes see what others miss. And in our country, at least, it is to Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning, and still more, perhaps, to Burns, that we are indebted for the insistence upon the native worth of man.
But if this claim has only gradually attained to articulate {205} expression, and is only now being made the basis of social reconstruction, it must not be forgotten that it is essentially a Christian truth. In Harnack"s language, "Jesus Christ was the first to bring the value of every human soul to light, and what He did no one can any more undo."[13]
When, however, the attempt is made to a.n.a.lyse this ultimate principle of manhood, opinions differ as to its const.i.tuents, and a long list of "rights" claimed by different political thinkers might be made. The famous "Declaration of Rights"[14] included Life, Liberty, Property, Security, and "Resistance of Oppression." To these some have added "Manhood Suffrage," "Free Access to the Soil," and a common distribution of the benefits of life and means of production. This is a large programme, and certainly no community as yet has recognised all its items without qualification. Obviously they are not all of the same quality, nor are they of independent validity; and at best they but roughly describe certain factors, considered by various agitators as desirable, of an ideal social order.
(3) We are on safer ground, and for Christian Ethics, at least, more in consonance with ultimate Christian values, when we describe the primary realities of human nature in terms of the revelation of life as given by the Person and teaching of Jesus Christ. The three great verities upon which He constantly insisted were, man"s value for himself, his value for his fellow-men, and his value for G.o.d. These correspond generally to the three great ethical ideas of life--Personality, Freedom, and Divine Kinship. But although the sense of independence, liberty and divine fellowship is the first aspect of a being who has come to the consciousness of himself, it is incomplete in itself. Man plants himself upon his individuality in order that he may set out from thence to take possession, by means of knowledge, action, and service, of his larger world. Man"s rights are but {206} possibilities which must be trans.m.u.ted by him into achievements.
"This is the honour,--that no thing I know, Feel, or conceive, but I can make my own Somehow, by use of hand or head or heart."[15]
Rights involve obligations. The right of personality carries with it the duty of treating life, one"s own and that of others, as sacred.
The right of freedom implies the use of one"s liberty for the good of the society of which each is a member. And finally, the sense of divine kinship involves the obligation of making the most of one"s life, of realising through and for G.o.d all that G.o.d intends in the gift of life.
In these three values lies the Christian doctrine of man.[16] Because of their fullness of implication they open out to our vision the goal of humanity--the principle and purpose of the whole process of human evolution--the perfection of man. Given these three Christian truths--the Sacredness of Personality, the Brotherhood of Man, and the Fatherhood of G.o.d--and all that is essential in the claim of the "Natural Rights of Man" is implicitly contained. The one thing needful is that men become alive to their privileges and go forward to "possess their possessions."
II
SPHERES OF DUTY
We are thus led to a division, natural if not wholly logical, of duties which spring from these rights--duties towards self, others, and G.o.d.
Though, indeed, self-love implies love of others, and all duty is duty to G.o.d, still it may be permissible to frame a scheme of duties according as one or other element is prominent in each case.
1. _Duties in Relation to Self_.--It is obvious that without (1) _respect_ for self there can be no respect for others. I am {207} a part of the moral whole, and an element in the kingdom of G.o.d. I cannot make myself of no account. Our Lord"s commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," makes a rightly conceived self-love the measure of love to one"s neighbour. Self-respect involves (2) _self-preservation_, the care of health, the culture of body and mind.
Not only is it our duty to see that the efficiency and fitness of the bodily organism is fully maintained, but we must also guard it against everything that would defile and disfigure it, or render it an instrument of sin. Christianity requires the strictest personal purity, purity of thought and feeling as well as of deed. It demands, therefore, constant vigilance, self-control, temperance, and even self-denial, so that the body may be, not, as the ancients thought, the prison-house of the soul, but the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Christianity is, however, opposed to asceticism. Though Jesus denied Himself to the uttermost in obedience to the voice of G.o.d, there is in His presentation of life a complete absence of those austerities which in the history of the Church have been so often regarded as marks of superior sanct.i.ty.[17] It is unnecessary here to dwell upon athletics and sport which now so largely occupy the attention of the youth of our land. Physical exercise is necessary to the maintenance of bodily fitness, yet it may easily become an all-absorbing pursuit, and instead of being merely a means to an end, may usurp the place in life which belongs to higher things.
(3) Self-maintenance involves also the duty of _self-development_, and that not merely of our physical, but also of our mental life. If the body has its place and function in the growth of Christian character, still more has the mind its ethical importance. Our Maker can have no delight in ignorance. He desires that we should present not a fragmentary but complete manhood. Specialisation, though a necessity of the age, is fraught with peril to the individual. The exigencies of labour require men to concentrate their energies on their own immediate tasks; but each must seek to be not merely a craftsman, but a man.
Other sides {208} of our nature require to be cultivated besides those which bring us into contact with the ways and means of existence.
Indeed, it is only by the possession of a well-trained mind that the fullest capacity, even for special pursuits, can be obtained. It has become a commonplace to say that every man should have equality of opportunity to earn a livelihood. But equality of opportunity for education, as something which ought to be within the reach of every youth in the land, is not so frequently insisted upon. Beyond the claims of daily occupation every one should have a chance, and, indeed, an inducement, to cultivate his mental and spiritual nature. Hence what is called "culture," the all-round development of the human faculties, is an essential condition of moral excellence. For, as Goethe has said, the object of education ought to be rather the formation of tastes than simply the communication of knowledge. But most important of all the self-regarding aims of life is the obligation of _Self-discipline_, and the use of every means of moral culture which the world supplies. It is through the complex conditions of earthly existence that the character of the individual is developed. It will only be possible to indicate briefly some of the aids to the culture of the moral life. Among these may be mentioned: (_a_) _The Providential Experiences of life_. The world itself, as a sphere of Work, Temptation, and Suffering, is a school of character. The affections and cares of the home, the duties and tasks incident to one"s calling, the claims of one"s fellow-men, the trials and temptations of one"s lot--these are the universal and common elements in man"s moral education. Not to escape from the world"s activities and conflicts, but to turn them into conditions of self-mastery, is the duty of each.
Men do work, but work makes men. The shopkeeper is not merely selling wares; the artisan or mechanic is not simply engaged in his handicraft; the mason and builder are not only erecting a house; each is, in and through his toil, making his own soul. And so, too, suffering and temptation are the tools which G.o.d commits to His creatures for the shaping of their own lives. Saints {209} and sinners are made out of the same material. By what Bosanquet has finely called "the miracle of will" the raw stuff of life is taken up and woven into the texture of the soul. (_b_) The so-called _secular opportunities of culture_.
Innumerable sources of self-enrichment are available. Everything may be made a vehicle of moral education. Knowledge generally, and especially the ministry of nature, the influence of art, and the study of literature, are potent factors in the discipline and development of Christian character. To these must be added (_c_) _The special religious aids and means of grace_. From an ethical point of view the Church is a school of character. It "guards and keeps alive the characteristic Christian ideas, and thereby exhibits and promotes the Christian ideal of life."[18] Its fellowship, worship, and ordinances; its opportunities of brotherly service and missionary activity, as well as the more private spiritual exercises of prayer and meditation--all are means of discipline and gifts committed to the stewardship of individuals in order that they may realise the greatness of life"s possibilities, and attain through union with G.o.d to the fullness of their stature in Christ.
But while the truth that the soul has an inalienable worth is repeatedly affirmed, the New Testament touches but lightly upon the duties of self-regard. To be occupied constantly with the thought of one"s self is a symptom of morbid egoism rather than of healthy personality. The avidity of self-improvement and even zeal for religion may become a refined form of selfishness. We must be willing at times to renounce our personal comfort, to restrain our zest for intellectual and aesthetic enjoyment, to be content to be less cultured and scholarly, less complete as men, and ready to part with something of our own immediate good that others may be ministered to. Hence the chief reason probably why the Scriptures do not enlarge upon the duties of self-culture is, that according to the spirit of the Gospel the true realisation of self is achieved through self-sacrifice. Only as a man loses his life does he find it. To horde [Transcriber"s note: h.o.a.rd?]
one"s {210} possessions is to waste them. Growth is the condition of life. But in all growth there is reciprocity of expenditure and a.s.similation, of giving and receiving. Self-realisation is only gained through self-surrender. Not, therefore, by anxiously standing guard over one"s soul, but by dedicating it freely to the good of others does one achieve one"s true self.
2. _Duties in Relation to Others_.--We belong to others, and others belong to us. They and we are alike parts of a larger whole.
(1) While this is recognised in Scripture, and all men are declared to be brothers in virtue of their common humanity, Christianity traces the brotherhood of man to a deeper source. The relation of the individual to Christ is the true ground of love to others. In Christ all distinctions which in other respects separate men are dissolved.
Beneath the meanest garb and coa.r.s.est features, in spite even of the defacement of sin, we may detect the vast possibilities of the soul for whom Christ has died. The law of love is presented by Jesus as the highest of all the commandments, and the duty to others is summed up generally in what is known as the golden rule. Of the chief manifestations of brotherly love mention must be made (_a_) of the comprehensive duty of _Justice_. The ground upon which justice rests is the principle that each individual is an end in himself. Hence it is the duty of each to respect the rights of his neighbours, negatively refraining from injury and positively rendering that which our fellow-men have a right to claim. Religion makes a man more sensitive to the claims of humanity. Mutual respect requires a constant effort on the part of all to secure for each the fullest freedom to be himself. Christianity interprets justice to mean emanc.i.p.ation from every condition which crushes or degrades a man. It seeks to create a social conscience, and to arouse in each a sense of responsibility for the good of all. At the same time social justice must not be identified with charity. Charity has done much to relieve distress, and it will always form an indispensable element in {211} the Christian"s duty towards his less fortunate brethren; but something more radical than almsgiving is required if the conditions of life are to be appreciably bettered. Justice is a demand not for bread alone; it is a claim of humanity to life, and all that life ought to mean.
Christianity affirms the spirit of human brotherhood--a brotherhood in which every child will have a chance to grow to a n.o.ble manhood, and every man and woman will have opportunity and encouragement to live a free, wholesome, and useful life. That is the Christian ideal, and to help towards its realisation is the duty laid upon every citizen of the commonwealth. The problems of poverty, housing, unemployment, intemperance, and all questions of fair wages, legitimate profits, and just prices, fall under the regulative principle of social justice.
The law is, "Render to all their dues." The love which worketh no ill to his neighbour will also withhold no good.[19]
(_b_) _Truthfulness_.--Justice is not confined to acts, but extends to speech and even to thought. We owe to others veracity. Even when the motive is good, there can be no greater social disservice than to fail in truthfulness. Falsehood, either in the form of hypocrisy or equivocation, and even of unsound workmanship, is not only unjust to others; it is unjust to ourselves, and a wrong to the deeper self--the new man in Christ.[20]
Is deception under all circ.u.mstances morally wrong? Moralists have been divided on this question. The instance of war is frequently referred to, in which it is contended that ruse and subterfuge are permissible forms of strategy.[21] There are, however, many distressing cases of conscience, in which the duties of affection and veracity seemingly conflict. It must be remembered that no command can be carried out to its extreme, or obeyed literally. Truth is not always conveyed by verbal accuracy. There may be higher interests at stake which might be prejudiced, and indeed unfairly represented by a merely literal statement. {212} The individual conscience must decide in each case. We are to speak the truth in love. Courage and kindliness are to commingle. But when all is said it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that in the last a.n.a.lysis lack of truth argues a deficient trust in the ultimate veracities of the universe, and rests upon a practical unbelief in the divine providence which can make "all things work together for good to them that love G.o.d."
(_c_) Connected with truthfulness, and also a form of justice, is the duty enjoined by St. Paul of forming _just judgments_ of our fellow-men. If we would avoid petty fault-finding and high-minded contempt, we must dismiss all prejudice and pa.s.sion. The two qualities requisite for proper judgment are knowledge and sympathy. Goethe has a fine couplet to the effect that "it is safe in every case to appeal to the man who knows."[22] But to understanding must be added appreciative consideration. We must endeavour to put ourselves in the position of our brother. Without a finely blended knowledge and sympathy we grow intolerant and impatient. Fairness is the rarest of moral qualities. He who would estimate another truly must have what St. Paul calls "spiritual discernment"--the "even-balanced soul" of one "who saw life steadily and who saw it whole."
(2) Brotherly Love evinces itself further in _Service_, which takes the three forms of Compa.s.sion, Beneficence or practical kindness, and Example.
(_a_) _Compa.s.sion_ or sympathy is a readiness to enter into the experiences of others. As Christians nothing that concerns our brother can be a matter of indifference to us. As members of the same spiritual community we are partic.i.p.ators in each other"s joys and sorrows, "weeping with those that weep, and rejoicing with those that rejoice." It is no mere natural instinct, but one which grows out of the Christian consciousness of organic union with Christ. "When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it."[23] {213} We fulfil the law of Christ by bearing one another"s burdens.
(6) _Practical Beneficence_ is the natural outcome of sympathy.
Feelings pa.s.s into deeds. Those redeemed by the love of Christ become the agents of His love, gladly dispensing to others what they themselves have received. The ministry of love, whatever shape it may take, must, in the last resort, be a giving of self. No one can do a kindness who does not put something of himself into it. No true service can be done that does not cost us more than money.
In modern society it is inevitable that personality should largely find its expression and exercise in material possessions. Without entering here upon the question of the inst.i.tution of private property, it is enough to say that the possession of material goods may be morally defended on the twofold ground, that it ensures the security of existence, and is an essential condition of the development of individual and national resources. The process of acquisition is a moralising influence, since it incites the individual to work, and tends to create and foster among men interchange of service. Property, says Hegel, is the embodiment and instrument of the will.[24] But in a civilised community there must be obviously restrictions to the acquisition and use of wealth. Unbridled appropriation and irresponsible abuse are alike a peril to society. The State has therefore the right of interference and control in regard to all possessions. Even on the lowest ground of expediency the very idea of property involves on the part of all the principle of co-operation and reciprocity--the obligation of contributing to the general weal. It would, however, be most undesirable that the government should undertake everything for the general good of man that is now left to spontaneous effort and liberality. But from the standpoint of Christian Ethics possessions of all kinds are subject to the law of stewardship.[25] Every gift is {214} bestowed by G.o.d for the purpose of social service. No man can call the things which he possesses--endowments, wealth, power--his own. He is simply a trustee of life itself. No one may be an idler or parasite, and society has a just claim upon the activity of every man. The forms of such service are various; but the Christian spirit will inspire a sense of "the ultimate unity of all pursuits that contribute to the good of man."[26]
The ministry of love extends over the whole realm of existence, and varies with every phase of need. Physical necessities are to be met in the spirit of charity. St. Paul pleads repeatedly the cause of the poor, and commends the grace of liberality. Giving is to be cheerful and without stint. But there are needs which material aid cannot meet--desolation, anxiety, grief--to which the loving heart alone can find ways of ministering. And beyond all physical and moral need is the need of the soul; and it lies as a debt upon those who themselves have experienced the grace of Christ to seek the renewal and spiritual enrichment of their brethren.
(_c_) There is one special form of practical kindness towards others which a follower of Christ will often be called upon to exercise--the spirit of _forbearance and forgiveness_. The Christian is to speak evil of no man, but to be gentle, showing all meekness unto all men; living peaceably with all men, avoiding everything provocative of strife; even "forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you so also do ye."
(3) Finally, we may serve others by _Example_, by letting the light of life so shine before men that they seeing our good works shall glorify G.o.d our Father. This duty, however, as Fichte points out, "has often been viewed very incorrectly, as if we could be obliged to do this or that, which otherwise we would not have needed to do, for the sake of a good example."[27] That which I am commanded {215} to do I must do for its own sake without regard to its effect upon others. Esteem can be neither outwardly compelled nor artistically produced; it manifests itself voluntarily and spontaneously. A modern novelist[28] ironically exposes this form of altruism by putting into the mouth of one of her characters the remark, "I always make a point of going to church in order to show a good example to the domestics." At the same time no one can withhold one"s influence; and while the supreme motive must be, not to make a display, but to please G.o.d, he who is faithful to his station and its duties cannot fail to affect his fellow-men for good.
The most effective example is given unconsciously, as the rose exhales its sweetest perfume without effort, or the light sheds its radiance simply by being what it is.
3. _Duties in Relation to G.o.d_.--Here morality runs up into religion, and indeed since all duties are in their last a.n.a.lysis duties toward G.o.d, Kant and other moralists have objected to the admission into Ethics of a special cla.s.s of religious obligations. It has been well remarked that the genuine Christian cannot be known by particular professions or practices, but only by the heavenly spirit of his life.[29] Hence religious duty cannot be formulated in a number of precise rules. Love to G.o.d finds expression not in mechanical obedience, but in the spontaneous outflow of the heart. The special duties to the Divine Being may be briefly described under the main heads of Recognition, Obedience, and Worship.
(1) _Recognition_.--The acknowledgment of G.o.d rests upon knowledge.
Without some comprehension of what G.o.d is there can be no intelligent allegiance to Him. We cannot, indeed, by logical reasoning demonstrate the existence of the Deity any more than we can demonstrate our own being. But He has not left Himself without a witness, and He speaks to man with many voices. The material creation is the primary word of G.o.d. The beauty, and still more the sublimity, of nature are a revelation through {216} matter of something beyond itself, a message of the spiritual, bearing "authentic tidings of invisible things." But nature is symbolic. It is a prophecy rather than an immediate revelation. Still it warrants the expectation of a yet fuller manifestation. That fuller utterance we have in man himself. There, spirit reveals itself to spirit; and in the two primary intuitions of man--self-consciousness and the sense of moral obligation--the presence of G.o.d is disclosed. But, higher still, the long historic evolution has culminated in a yet clearer manifestation of the Deity. In Christ, the G.o.d-Man, the mystery underlying and brooding over the world is unveiled, and to the eye of faith is revealed the Fatherhood of G.o.d.
The first duty, therefore, we owe to G.o.d is that of recognition, the acknowledgment of His presence in the world. To feel that He is everywhere, sustaining and vitalising all things; to recognise His will in all the affairs of our daily life, is at once the duty and blessedness of man.
(2) _Obedience_ follows acknowledgment. It is partly pa.s.sive and partly active.
(_a_) As _pa.s.sive_, it takes the form of habitual trust or _acquiescence_, the submissive acceptance of trials which are ultimately, we believe, not really evils, because ordained by G.o.d and overruled for good.[30] This spirit of obedience can be maintained by _constant vigilance_ alone.[31] While connected with the antic.i.p.ated coming of the Son of Man, the obligation had a more general application, and may be regarded as the duty of all in the face of the unknown and unexpected in life. We are therefore to watch for any intimation of the divine will, and commit ourselves trustfully to the absolute disposal of Him in whose hands are the issues of our lives.