Page images
PDF
EPUB

588. Further: the Christian Revelation contains important teaching upon another of the difficulties of Morality (367); namely, the means provided for carrying on our moral progress, in addition to the ordinary powers of our own minds.

Natural Religion suggests to us (578), that by this Progress the Soul is fitted for another Life; but we learn from Christian Revelation, that there are conditions of this Progress, of which Natural Religion and Morality cannot inform us. These means are described to be; a Belief in Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and a Participation in the Spirit which God sent upon earth at his coming, and infused into the Souls of his Disciples. In the same portion of Christian teaching to which we have already referred, it is said (John iii., 18 and 36), He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. . . . He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him. Jesus Christ himself said (John iii., 5): Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He promised to his Disciples a Spirit which was to guide them into all truth (John xvi., 13). They were taught that it helped their infirmities (Rom. viii., 26). Hence this Spirit was called the Comforter (John xiv., 16), and was to dwell in them (Rom. viii., 9): and when Jesus Christ left the earth, his parting command was (Matth. xxviii., 19), Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: and, lo, I am with you always to the end of the world.

589. By the help of the means thus provided by God, and by the aid of this Spirit, a Christian man is led to approach to the Image of God in Christ (524): he is in a special sense united with Christ, as

[blocks in formation]

the branch is united with the tree (John xv., 5), or as the members are united with the body (1 Cor. xii., 27; Eph. v., 30). His Soul receives nutriment from Christ; which is expressed by saying, that he feeds upon Christ (John vi., 51): and is symbolically expressed by eating bread and drinking wine, in remembrance of him (Luke xxii., 19), and in obedience to his command.

590. Believers in Christ, thus united with him, are united with each other, as members of a living Body (Rom. xii., 4; 1 Cor. xii., 12; Eph. iv., 25). This Body, of which Christ is the head, is the Church (Col. i., 18). He is the head of the body of the Church. To this Body, thus united in Christ, belong unity in itself, perpetual existence, and the possession of religious Truth, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This Body is the Universal or Catholic Church of Christ.

591. The Association of Believers in Christ, of which we have spoken, the Church, is bound together by means of certain habitual formal social acts. There is one such act by which members of the Church are admitted into it, namely, Baptism. There is another such act by which they commemorate their union with Christ according to his Command, namely, the Lord's Supper. There are acts by which they express their affections towards God, namely, acts of worship, Prayer and Praise. There are acts in which they express their Christian belief, or receive Christian Instruction from their Teachers; Profession of Faith, and Preaching. All these are Christian Ordinances.

592. The Souls of men are often also called their Spirits; especially when they are considered as the subjects of God's government. His government extending over such subjects is his Spiritual Kingdom. Hence religious matters are called Spiritual : and to these, as the concerns of an eternal world, are

opposed temporal or secular matters, which belong only to time or to this world (tempus, seculum).

593.

CHAPTER III.

CHRISTIAN MORALITY.

We have now to treat of Christian Morality; not as being a different Morality from that Rational Morality of which we have hitherto treated; but as throwing new light upon the Morality of mere Reason, and giving it new supports. The Christian Religion recognizes the same Duties, which we have put forward on grounds of Reason; Duties of Benevolence, Justice, Truth, Purity, Order; and the general Duty of Moral and Intellectual Progress. But the Christian Religion invests all these Duties with new Sanctions; and carries our Progress much further, by making it not only a moral and intellectual, but a Religious Progress. The Religious Progress of our affections and thoughts carries us towards a condition, in which all Special Duties are the necessary development and manifestation of Religious Principles of Action. If we had, in this work, to treat of Religion as our primary and principal subject, it might be the more proper course to begin with Religious Principles of Action, and from them, to deduce Special Rules of Action. Such is the course often followed by Religious Teachers. But since our primary and principal subject is Morality, we shall adopt, in treating of Religious Morality, that order of matters which we have already found to be presented to us, by the nature of our subject.

594. We may add, that Christian Teaching nowhere presents to us any Authoritative Scheme or

System of Duties and Principles, which we reject, in taking the guidance of our own. The indications of System, in the notices which we have on such subjects, in the New Testament, are vague and various. Christ, in his teaching, recognizes the division of Duties, into Duties towards God, and Duties towards our neighbours. Matt. xxii., 37: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. And in like manner, in Mark xii., 30. This is said of the Law of Moses; but it is spoken of that Law as being, what in the apprehension of the Jews it was, a complete body of human Duties. We shall explain our Duties towards God, when we come to speak of our Religious Culture. Taking the Ten Commandments as the summary of the Law of Moses, the first four refer to Duties towards God. The fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth commandments, declare Obligations, rather than Duties. We have already referred to the Rules, Thou shalt obey thy Parents; Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou shall not steal; Thou shalt not utter a solemn falsehood; as expressions of the Rights of Obedience, Personal Security, Marriage, Property, Contract. The tenth commandment, Thou shalt not covet, is, however, a Moral Precept, and not a Law, in the strict sense of the term.

595. The Christian teachers justly considered that Obligations are included in Duties, and do not need to be separately enjoined by the Moralist. They also conceived all Duties to be included in the Duty of Benevolence. Thus St. Paul says (Rom. xiii., 8), Owe no man anything (that is, reckon no Duty), but to love one another. He that loveth others hath fulfilled the Law. This, Thou shalt not commit adultery,

Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. When we come to treat of our religious progress, we shall have to speak of this Benevolence or Love, as a Christian Principle of action.

596. In following out the moral Principles of action into their results, in special Duties, the Relative Duties formerly mentioned (278) are naturally arranged according to the Relations to which they belong. Accordingly, we have enumerations of the principal Relations, with their corresponding Duties, in various parts of the New Testament; especially in the two Epistles of St. Paul, to the Ephesians (chap. vi.), and to the Colossians (chapters ii., iii). These two enumerations agree very nearly: and state the Relative Duties of Wives and Husbands; Children and Parents; Servants and Masters. In the Epistle to the Romans (chap. xiii.), we have the relative Duties summarily enjoined; Render unto all their dues; with an especial notice of the Duty of Obedience to government.

Duties, as enjoined upon us by Christian teaching, and on Christian grounds, are Christian Duties.

597. We shall now proceed to collect the principal Precepts with regard to Duties, which occur in the New Testament: arranging them according to the Heads of Duty which we have already found it convenient to adopt: namely; Duties of the Affections: Duties respecting Property and other objects of Desire: Duties connected with Truth: Duties connected with Purity: Duties of Obedience and Command. We had, besides these, to speak of Intellectual Duties, and in doing this we were led to speak of man's Moral Education and of Religion, as a necessary part of this (565). The Duties thus arising have, for their object, man's Religious Progress. D 2

« PreviousContinue »