Qu. lxii. art. 3. 'Quantum ad _intellectum_ adduntur homini quaedam
principia supernaturalia, quae divino lumine capiuntur; et haec sunt
credibilia de quibus est fides.' _Ib._ art. 4, 'Per fidem apprehendit
intellectus ea quae sperat et amat. Unde opportet quod ordine
generationis fides praecedat spem et caritatem.'
[534] S. John iv. 34; v. 36; xvii. 4. Cp. H. S. Holland, _Serm._ on
'The Energy of Unselfishness.' With regard to the relation of
_Pleasure_ to action, we may observe that pleasure is inseparable from
the right and effective exercise of any faculty; and therefore
_accompanies_ virtuous activity, but can never be the moral _end_ of
action. Cp. Arist. _Eth._ vii. 12. § 3, etc.
[535] See _Ecce Homo_, c. xiii.
[536] Aug. _de mor. Eccl._ xix. 'Id ipsum quo diligimus Deum mori non
potest, nisi dum non diligit Deum: cum mors ipsa sit non diligere
Deum.' Cp. Cyp. _de Unit._ xiv.
[537] Such classification, corresponding to three cardinal virtues,
seems to be implied in S. Paul's words, Tit. ii. 12 ἵνα ... σωφρόνως,
καὶ δικαίως καὶ εὐσεβῶς ζήσωμεν.
[538] J. Cotter Morison, _The Service of Man_, p. 194 [ed. 3]. See
Eph. i. 4; Col. i. 22; S. Luke i. 75.
[539] Rom. viii. 8; 1 Cor. vii. 32; 1 Thess. iv. 1. An instructive
contrast might be drawn between the Pagan and Christian use of the
word ἀρεσκεία.
[540] _Lacordaire, a biographical sketch_, H. S. Lear, p. 34.
[541] Wordsworth, _The Excursion_. Ep. _ad Diog._ v. πᾶσα ξένη πατρίς
ἐστιν αὐτῶν, καὶ πᾶσα πατρὶς ξένη. This spirit does not exclude a true
_patriotism_, and other civil virtues. Martensen, _Ethics (Social)_, §
82.
[542] _De mor. Eccl._ xxxvii and xxv. Cp. Bern. _de Consid._ v. 1.
[543] See the chap. with this title in _Ecce Homo_.
[544] S. Matt. v. 44 foll. Leo, _Serm. in Quad._ vii. 'Forma
conversationis fidelium ab exemplo venit operum divinorum et merito
Deus imitationem Sui ab eis exigit, quos ad imaginem et similitudinem
suam fecit.' Cp. Iren. iv. 13. 3.
[545] _Ecce Homo_, c. xxii. Cp. Butler, _Serm._ ix. etc.
[546] Leo, _Serm. in Quad._, passim, esp. v, vi, ix. _Ecce Homo_, c.
xxiii. For what follows, see Arist. _Eth._ v. 10. Cp. Eph. iv. 32.
[547] Mozley, _Univ. Serm._ ix. 'Ancient philosophy never opened the
mine of happiness which lay in this principle. It was a discovery,
like that of a new scientific principle, when it was made; and
Christianity made it.'
[548] Rom. xiii. 10. Note the following words of S. Aug. (_de doct.
Christ._ i. 29): 'Velle debemus, ut _omnes nobiscum diligant Deum_, et
totum quod vel eos adjuvamus vel adjuvamur eis, ad unum illum finem
referendum est.... Hinc efficitur ut inimicos etiam nostros
diligamus.... _Misereamur_, quia tanto magis nos oderunt, quanto ab
illo quem diligimus separati sunt.' Cp. _de disc. Chr._ v. 'Necesse
est ut quem diligis tanquam te ipsum, _illuc illum trahas ad quod et
tu amas_.' _Ecce Homo_, cc. xvii, xviii.
[549] Tert. _Apol._ 36.
[550] _De mor. Eccl._ lxiii. [Clark] _Obs._ There are duties imposed
by our relationship even _to the dead_, _to posterity_, and of course
_to the impersonal creature_. See Martensen, _Ethics (Indiv.)_, §§
116-118. On duties to _posterity_, see a beautiful passage in Ruskin,
_Seven Lamps of Architecture_, vi. § 9.
[551] Dean Church, _Disc. of the Christian Character_, p. 101. Cp.
_Ecce Homo_ [ed. 13], p. 178.
[552] See Rom. xii. 3; 2 Cor. x. 5.
[553] Wisdom vi. 17.
[554] 1 Cor. vi. 19.
[555] Ep. _ad Diog._ vi. μισεῖ Χριστιάνους ὁ κόσμος μηδὲν ἀδικούμενοσς,
ὅτι ταῖς ἡδόναις ἀντιτάσσονται.
[556] See Westcott, Essay on _The Church and the World_ [in his ed. of
S. John's Epp.].
[557] Trench, _Syn. of N.T._ § xxxvii. On 'Resentment' see _Ecce
Homo_, c. xxi; Butler, _Serm._ viii. Cp. Arist. _Eth._ iv. 5. See also
Dale. _The Atonement_, Lect. VIII.
[558] Dean Church, _Gifts of Civilization_, p. 323. Cp. Martineau,
_Types of Eth. Theory_, vol. ii, pp. 200-202.
[559] See _Service of Man_, cc. vii and ix. Those objections have been
often met. See Dean Church, _Serm._ on 'Christ's Example.' Liddon,
_Bampt. Lect._ [ed. 11] p. 130.
[560] Aug. _de mor. Eccl._ lxiii. 'Tu [Ecclesia] pueriliter pueros,
fortiter juvenes, quiete senes prout cuiusque non corporis tantum, sed
et animi aetas est, exerces ac doces etc.' Cp. Amb. _de Off. Min._
i. 17.
[561] Wace, _Boyle Lect._ (ser. 1) v. Cp. _Ecce Homo_, c. ix. We may
consider how Christ gives a _practical_ turn to speculative inquiries.
S. Luke xiii. 23, 24; S. John xxi. 21 foll.
[562] E.g. Clem. of Alexandria. See Bigg, _The Christian Platonists of
Alexandria_, p. 80.
[563] S. Luke xiii. 32; Heb. ii. 10, v. 9. Cp. 1 Cor. xv. 45; and see
Gal. ii. 20, iv. 19. Also an Art. in _Ch. Qu. Rev._ No. xxxii, on 'Our
Lord's Human Example.'
[564] 1 Cor. i. 30. Cp. Rom. viii. 29. For the thought that follows,
see Prof. Bruce on Heb. ii. 11-18 in _Expositor_, No. 50.
[565] _Service of Man_, pp. 84, 85.
[566] Chrys. _in Joh. hom._ x. 2 ἄμα δὲ καὶ ἐνδείξασθαι βούλεται ὅτι
οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὔδε ἡ χάρις ἔπεισιν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς βουλομένοισ καὶ ἐσπουδακόσι,
κ.τ.λ.
[567] See Tit. ii. 11, 12 ἡ χάρις ... παιδεύουσα ἡμᾶς S. Matt,
xxviii. 19, 20. Aug. _de disc. Chr._ i. '_Disciplinae domus_ est
Ecclesia Christi.' Butler, _Analogy_, pt. ii. c. 1.
[568] Consider Col. i. 28; Eph. ii. 10.
[569] _Lyra Apostolica_, No. xxxvii [signed δ].
[570] Consider Phil. ii. 2, where the description of the Christian
example and character is prefaced by an impressive appeal for Unity.
The moral guilt of _heresy_ partly lies in its being a principle of
disunion. Cyp. _de Unit._ xxvi. complains of particular ways in which
disunion injures Christian character.
[571] Bruce (_Expositor_, No. 50, p. 84). 'God's paternal discipline,
our own self-effort, Christ's example, priestly influence and
sympathy, all contribute to the same end, persistency and progress in
the Christian life.' It is specially instructive to contrast the
Christian with the Pagan estimation of _Labour_, as a factor in the
formation of character. See Martensen, _Ethics (Social)_, p. 129.
[572] For what follows, see especially the Lenten sermons of S. Leo.
Also a very useful book by Canon Furse, _Helps to Holiness_.
[573] 1 Cor. vi. 13. See Cyp. _de orat. Dom._ iv, on the part of the
_body_ in prayer.
[574] The particular shape which Almsgiving will assume is obviously
to be 'suggested by the special conditions' of the age. See a noble
passage in _Ecce Homo_ [ed. 13], p. 184, pointing out the way in which
the Christian spirit is likely to regard social problems. Cp.
Martensen, _Ethics (Social)_, p. 132. This point seems completely
overlooked in the _Service of Man_, c. vii.
[575] Aug. _Enchir._ lxxii. 'Multa sunt genera eleemosynarum, quae cum
facimus _adjuvamur_.' See also Cyp. _de op. et eleem._ xxv. Leo, _in
Quad._ v. 4; _de Res._ i. 1; _de Pent._ i. 6, etc. Bruce, _Parabolic
Teaching_, etc., pp. 371-375, has some striking remarks.
[576] S. Luke xi. 41.
[577] Leo, _in Quad._ xii. 2, 'In caelestibus Ecclesiae disciplinis,
multum utilitatis adferunt _divinitus instituta_ jejunia.' Cp. Hooker,
Bk. v. § 72.
[578] Ep. _ad Diogn._ vi. κακουργουμένθ σιτίοις καὶ πότοις ἡ ψυχὴ
βελτιοῦται.
[579] Serm. _de Pass._ xix. 5. Cp. Martensen, _Ethics (Indiv.)_, p.
160; Martineau, _Types_, etc., vol. ii. 381.
[580] S. Matt. xxiv. 8 ἀρχὴ ὠδίνων.
[581] Rom. viii. 19.
[582] 1 Cor. vii. 31; 1 S. John ii. 17, etc.
[583] Cp. _The Ethics of Socialism_, by E. Belfort Bax, p. 19.
[584] Cp. Bern, _de consid._ v. 11.
[585] Ps. cxlix. 1.
[586] See the Bp. of Exeter's _Primary Charge_ on this subject. On the
principle involved in this 'dual classification' see an impressive
passage in Martineau, _Types_, etc., ii. 65-69.
[587] 2 Cor. v. 5; Col. i. 28; Butler, _Analogy_, i. c. 5.
[588] S. Luke xx. 36 ἰσάγγελοι ... καὶ υἱοί εἰσιν θεοῦ τῆς ἀναστάσεως
υἱοὶ ὄντες. Cp. Leo Magn. _Serm. in Res. Dom._ i. c. 4.
[589] Vinc. Lirin. _Common._ c. xiii. 'Unoquoque hominum sine fine
victuro, in unoquoque hominum sine fine necessario utriusque
substantiae differentia permanebit.'
[590] Dorner, _System, etc._, § 2.
[591] Aug. _de Fid. et Symb._ xiii. 'Spirituale corpus intelligitur
quod ita spiritui subditum est, ut caelesti habitationi conveniat.'
The Resurrection of the flesh is thus seen to have vital relation to
the idea of moral perfection. Cp. Thom. Aquin. _Summa_, i. iiᵃᵉ. Qu. iv.
Art. 6-8.
[592] Iren. iv. 28. 2, 'Hi semper percipiunt regnum, et proficiunt.'
Pet. Lomb. _Sent._ ii. xxv. 7, 'Post confirmationem vero ... nec vinci
poterit nec premi [homo]: et tunc habebit _non posse peccare_.'
[593] S. Matt. xiii. 43; 2 Cor. iii. 18; 1 S. John iii. 2.
[594] 1 S. John i. 3-7; Heb. vii. 16; Westcott, _Hist. Faith_, p. 147.
[595] Aug. _de mor. Eccl._ iv. ['Beata vita,] cum id quod est hominis
optimum, amatur et habetur.'
[596] ἔργα θεοῦ, S. John vi. 28. Cp. S. Matt. vi. 33.
[597] 1 Cor. iii. 22.
APPENDIX I.
ON SOME ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN DUTY.
The conception of morality as a system of positive Divine Law, and the
'juridical method' which is said to mark early Christian writers on
ethics[598], is perhaps attributable to the growth of an imperial
spirit in the Church when she found herself confronted with the task
of reducing to order the social chaos into which the fall of the
Empire plunged Europe. S. Leo may be said to embody this spirit in a
majestic personal form. The mark of Roman authority rests on the
ordinances of the Church of this period. It may be that her rules of
duty wear something of the aspect of a fixed, unvarying code. The
moral problems with which she has to deal are comparatively simple;
they admit of clear, concise treatment, in accordance with a fixed
system of discipline; sharp distinctions are possible: and the Gospel
thus presents to the world the features of an external Law.
Be this as it may, widely different conditions seem now to demand a
definite system of Christian duty,--a study of 'special' or 'applied
ethics.' The main feature of modern life is not social disorganization,
but complexity of relationships; and although in the abstract no such
thing is possible as a 'conflict of duties;' yet it is clear that duty
is not always simple, or obvious. We need in fact something like a
system of casuistry; of ethics applied to novel spheres, and special
points of obligation. It is indeed reasonable to expect that as
civilization advances, and new realms open up which the Christian
spirit must appropriate, the Law of duty will be enriched; there will
be expansion of its content: e.g. the development of Industry makes
desirable the formulation of the 'Ethics of Labour;' the rise of a
special class may raise the question whether 'class virtues' are to be
recognised, and how they are to be estimated, by Ethics[599].
In this appendix some purpose may be served by noticing a few pressing
moral problems of our time; some spheres of duty as to which guidance
or development of principles seems called for.
i. In the sphere of self-regarding duty a point which needs attention
is the truth of _personal responsibility_. There are influences at
work which threaten the sense of accountability, whether for conduct
or belief. There are of course speculative difficulties surrounding
the question of freedom; there is wide misconception of its true
meaning; but it needs to be clearly taught, that granted all
limitations of the power of choice, moral responsibility remains for
the use of the character, as of the property, which a man
inherits[600]. A man's moral constitution, rigidly defined though it
be by heredity, is yet his 'heritage,' his natural endowment, for the
right direction of which he is responsible. The weak sense of this
plain fact is noticeable in the lax and indulgent tone often used
respecting criminals. 'To some of us,' it has been justly said, 'the
individual is always innocent and society always guilty[601].' The
degree of guilt, however, may be minimized (e.g. by the plea of
ignorance), while the fact of it remains.
In this connection statistics of crime have a value which needs to be
estimated. Do they point to conditions of society which must be faced
as unalterable? or do they not rather usefully indicate the proper
channels into which the stream of social energy should be directed?
Again, in the matter of personal _belief_, it is often assumed that
there is no responsibility. The question, however, for each
individual, if rightly stated, is simply this, 'What has been my
attitude towards that which has presented itself to me as truth[602]?'
Another point of importance is the moral culture of _Imagination_, in
relation chiefly to aesthetic recreation in its different forms, the
Theatre, the pursuit of Art, the reading of Fiction. We are learning
by serious experience the enormous power of fancy to kindle passion,
and to colour human actions. In view of the spread of depraving
literature, energetic assertion of duty towards this department of
personality is needed. Such duty seems to be recognised in Phil.
iv. 8.
ii. Passing to the sphere of family obligations, it is natural to
remark on the break-up of family life which is so common a consequence
of highly-developed industry. The employment of women in factories,
etc., tends to make them unfit for domestic duties; while that of
children encourages a spirit of independence which is not without
social danger; thus not only the sense of parental duty, but the
respect for parental authority, is impaired. Christians are bound to
discountenance, or at least to counteract, this state of things so far
as it interferes with the rudiments of moral discipline.
The pressing need of our day, however, would appear to be some clear
teaching on the subject of marriage. There are different aspects of
the marriage contract recognised in Scripture. But Christianity can
make no terms with those theories which have borne fruit in lax
legislation on divorce, with all its mischievous results. Marriage,
according to the Christian view, is a serious vocation, with its own
sacred duties, and special consecration. Improvident marriage is as
immoral from a Christian as from an anti-Christian point of view[603].
Ethical considerations ought to guide or restrict the intention to
marry; and with regard to the question of population, Christianity
condemns any theory which offers a substitute for rational
self-restraint. The true end of marriage, again, is something higher
than 'happiness'; it is appointed for the mutual enrichment of
personality, mutual freedom to fulfil the true ideal of human life.
The whole subject has indeed become involved in difficulties which
cannot be encountered by any mere statement of principles. There is no
doubt, however, of the end which the Christian treatment of this point
must keep in view.
iii. As to the social sphere generally, we begin by remarking that,
from the Christian standpoint, _every transaction_ between man and man
is to be regarded as _personal_, and therefore _ethical_. The most
significant fact perhaps of our time is the process of transition from
(so-called) political to ethical economics. To reason rightly on
social problems we must ever have regard to _personality_. For ethical
purposes the abstract terms Capital, Labour, Production, Wealth, etc.,
must be replaced by _personal_ terms, Employer, Employé, Producer, Man
of Wealth, etc. Our problem is how to supersede the technical and
legal relation by the personal[604].
This being our fundamental point of view, we find that ethics will
treat equally of rights and duties. A Christian theory of _rights_ is
required. The prevailing view of them is _individualistic_. It is
forgotten that the rights of one man have their ground in the
obligations of another; they are limited by the claims of other
personalities on our own; 'right' is, in fact, a condition making
possible the fulfilment of duty. It is thus a matter of Christian
concern (to suggest mere examples) that workers should attain to the
possibility of free self-development: healthy conditions of work, the
enjoyment of domestic life, security of maintenance, perhaps
permanence of contract, opportunities of recreation and
culture,--everything, in fact, which will give them fair chance of
healthful and worthy human life. Christianity can be content with
nothing short of this.
On the other hand _duties_ call for notice. Modern capitalists form a
class whose responsibilities it is difficult adequately to measure.
The general principle, however, is easily repeated: that it is the
duty of the wealthy, or those who employ workers, to respect the
personality of their employés, to treat them not as machines, but as
men. Thomas Carlyle well describes the aim that should guide this
influential class: 'to be a noble master among noble workers, the
first ambition: to be a rich master, only the second.'
Industrial development indeed brings into prominence many questions of
duty and right, which can be solved only by deeper apprehension of the
Christian standpoint: and of 'morality as an industrial force[605]:'
for the ties which bind men in the relation of brotherhood and sonhood
are the noblest and strongest.
The duties of a state are matters of controversy, and open a field not
lightly to be entered. It is clear, however, that adequate pressure
can only be brought to bear on governing classes by an educated public
opinion, rather we should say an enlightened moral sense, in the
community. It is impossible to foresee the results that might ensue
from the growth of moral opinion on such points as the state
regulation of vice, the just causes of war, the restriction of the
hours of labour, the treatment of semi-civilized dependencies, the
true lines to be followed by education. It is this tremendous potency
of public opinion that points to the great need of modern democracy:
the education, namely, of feeling and character; the cultivation of
reverence and the faculty of admiration, of self-control and sobriety
in judgment and thought. How far a merely intellectual training will
produce this character can scarcely be a matter of controversy. A vast
field of inquiry and study is thus evidently open to economic
moralists: and it has been opportunely suggested that the effort to
study, 'in the light of the revealed will of God, the intricate
problems of society,' might be a common bond between different
sections of Christendom, and might promote that unity of God's Church,
which is the true condition of effectual social reform[606].
iv. In the Church, or moral community which embraces and leavens the
state, special points of duty arise: e.g. respecting the limits of the
Church's self-adaptation to the tendencies of the age, and her
relation to the anti-Christian principle in society. Hence arise
difficult questions as to the true bases of Toleration, and of
submission to the civil power. We may be sure that principles of
action and thought can be reached only by closer study of Christ's
words in relation to modern life[607], as the practical instinct of
the Church has interpreted them. A similar problem is raised by the
advance of Science and Criticism. Christians are charged with being
behind scientific men in their apprehension of 'the morals of
assent[608].' Whatever truth there is in such a reproach, it at least
utters a note of warning.
v. Once more, if we consider the non-personal realm with which man is
brought in contact, we must face the problem of duties towards the
lower animals. We have seen that such duties have a ground in reason:
but their nature and extent are not well defined. It is important to
study our Lord's attitude towards nature, for which He uniformly
exhibits, especially in His parables and miracles, such feeling and
love. The practice of vivisection, for example, raises a question as
to the limits of the _dominium naturae_ committed to man; and his
right to employ creaturely life as a means. There is of course a
practice of vivisection which is utterly immoral: as when it is
prompted by mere pleasure in experimenting, or by idle curiosity; or
is carried on without strict intention and reasonable prospect of
meeting a particular need.
Within the limits of an essay it would be presumptuous to do more than
raise such questions as the foregoing; we perhaps best display a sense
of their gravity by leaving them as suggestions for systematic
discussion. For it has been justly observed with regard to ethical
problems that 'the actual solution is itself an art, a gift which
cannot be taught.'
[598] Sidgwick, _Outlines, etc._, p. 108.
[599] These are perhaps implied in S. Luke iii. 10-14.
[600] Cp. Mr. Cotter Morison, _Service of Man_, p. 214.
[601] R. W. Dale, _Cont. Rev._, May, 1889. Consider S. Luke xxiii. 34.
[602] See Dean Church, _Human Life and its Conditions_, Serm. III.
_init._
[603] See _Service of Man_, pref. xxv. foll.
[604] See Ingram, _Pres. Condition and Prospects of Pol. Economy_, p.
18: 'By habitually regarding labour from the abstract point of view,
and overlooking the personality of the labourer, economists are led to
leave out of account some of the considerations which most seriously
affect the condition of the working man,' etc. Cp. Carlyle, _Past and
Present_, the last book.
[605] See the chapter with this title in T. E. Brown, _Studies in
Modern Socialism and Labour Problems_, c. xii.
[606] See an Article on 'Christian Union,' by Earl Nelson, _Cont.
Rev._, Feb. 1889.
[607] See Martensen, _Ethics (Ind.)_, § 93. Dean Church, _Gifts of
Civilization_, Serm. II.
[608] Mr. Huxley in _Nineteenth Century_ for Nov. 1887.
APPENDIX II.
ON THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF SIN[609].
'Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men,
and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was
in man.'--_S. John_ ii. 24, 25.
'Sin is lawlessness.'--1 _S. John_ iii. 4. [R.V.]
'He knew what was in man.' The words describe our Lord in presence of
a fact universally recognized--man's moral unsatisfactoriness. He
looks steadily at man's first offer of service, at man's first
enthusiasm, when 'many believed in His name,' and He discerns behind
it a disqualifying cause; something which prevents Him from trusting
man as he is, and from committing to him the great work of His
kingdom. He sees sin in man and all that sin involves of moral
failure, of refusal to endure, of spiritual blindness, of lawless
self-assertion, of passion, of selfishness, of self-will. That there
is in human nature this disqualifying taint of sin is, we may say, a
fact universally recognized. It is the fact which in slow embittering
experience has turned philanthropists into cynics and saddened the
wisest. But to our Lord it was a fact present from the first. 'He
needed not that any should testify of man.' He reckoned with sin to
start with. Therefore He could not use mankind, as it offered itself,
for His purposes. It needed a fresh start, a vital re-creation, to fit
it for such high ends. 'Except ye be converted and become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' 'Except a
man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'
Christ recognizes the fact of sin. All men more or less come to
recognize it within them and without. But yet there have been very
different ways of explaining it.