The severity of Christ, the teacher of love, is more terrible than that of the sternest Old Testament lawgiver, because the test he applies not only tries conduct but searches motive. The law is satisfied when restoration is made or the penalty paid; it cannot go further. But to love, which searches the heart as with a lighted torch, these are only the external signs of repentance; it cannot rest short of a complete cleansing of the spirit. With a severity born of a passionate determination to make the best in every man supreme, it will accept nothing less than final and lasting purification. -from "Chapter XVIII: The Soul of Goodness" Alternating stern harshness with gentle compassion, Hamilton Wright Mabie-one of the more influential thinkers and popular writers of the early 20th century-describes a life lived in the path of Christ that may comfort the very devout, with its images of a demanding paternal God who hurts the believer because he loves the believer, but it will chill...