$ro\rince of Cfjnsttau Ctlucs AX INTRODUCTORY LECTURE DELIVERED JANUARY 22, 1890 VINCENT HENRY STANTON, M.A. FELLOW AND LATE TUTOR OF TRINITY COLLEGE ELY PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE RIVINGTONS WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON MDCCCXG [Price One Shitting] 133 ftatottue of Christian rt)ic$ AN INTRODUCTORY LECTURE DELIVERED JANUARY 22, 1890 BY VINCENT HENRY STANTON, M.A. FELLOW AND LATE TUTOR OF TRINITY COLLEGE ELY PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE RIVINGTONS WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON MDCCCXC THE PROVINCE OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS THE subject of Christian ethics has not such a recognized position amongst us that some discussion of its permissible scope and proper limits can be deemed superfluous. For more than a century, a series of works upon Christian ethics has been appearing in Germany by both Protestant and Roman Catholic theologians. 1 But there is no English one of modern times that I am aware of, at least treating the subject expressly and systematically. 2 The title itself has probably come to us from abroad, and is comparatively new, and a reason may be demanded for its introduction. There is in the old term theologia moralis, " moral theology," which partly at least covers the same ground, a certain superior dignity, which is attractive. And if we could free this term from the associations which it has acquired in its past use, it might serve to raise before the mind a broader view than the newer name " Christian ethics " does, of the foundations of moral doctrine in religious belief. But those old associations are strong, and would for a long time cause confusion by suggesting a too limited and special mode of treatment ; while, even apart from these associations, there is in the name 1 For an enumeration of them, see Wuttke's " Christian Ethics," vol. i. pp. 359-378, Eng. trans. I have spoken of Germany, but the " Christian Ethics" by the great Danish philosopher-theologian, Bishop Martensen, is, in spite of the difficulty of his style, the ablest and most satisfactory that I have as yet become acquainted with. * The essay on " Christian Ethics," by Mr. R. L. Ottley, in " Lux Mundi " is a valuable sketch. The following remark with respect to this essay in the preface to the whole volume, p. ix, bears out what I have said as to the neglect of this subject in England. " The only one of the essays, in fact, which has any degree of formal completeness, is that on " Christian Ethics," a subject on which the absence of systematic books of a genuine English growth seems to justify a more detailed treatment." 2111268 4 The Province of Christian Ethics. " moral theology " the same kind of vagueness which has been one reason for the substitution of the word " ethics " for " moral philosophy." The theologian, in speaking of Christian ethics, does but follow the philosopher in introducing or rather reintroducing that name in the more general study. 1 Some of the respective advantages of the two titles may perhaps seem to be united in the term " theological ethics," adopted by Rothe. But he has not been followed ; and on consideration this name also will be seen to be not free from ambiguity. And though we ought indeed to seek to bring into view the general relations of ethics and religion, it is the view of ethics given by the Christian religion in particular which is not only of highest importance for the Christian believer, but of chief interest for all men. It has to be shown that this Christian view of ethics is sufficiently distinct, and propounds problems sufficiently important, to justify a treatment of ethics from a Christian standpoint, systematic and scientific as far as it goes, though it may be more or less extensive. To show this, so far as it can be done in a preliminary manner, that is, before the actual study of the subject, must be one chief aim of this lecture. On the other hand, the very name " Christian ethics " may seem to give a challenge to other moral systems and modes of studying ethics. We may well be asked whether, in employing this distinctive title, we intend to imply that this is in such a sense " the more excellent way " of setting forth ethical doctrine as to supersede other modes, or, if not, what place is to be assigned to others. The dis- cussion of these two points, then, will furnish the two main divisions of this lecture. We shall be occupied with (i) the relation of Christian ethics to Christian theology ; (2) the relation of Christian ethics to the general study of ethics. 1 I am sorry, on this question of names, to differ from Mr. E. G. Wood, who, in his discourse on "Theology the Science of Religion, its Study and Tripartite Division," p. 20, says, " I venture to prefer the old name [moral theology] to the more modern title 'Christian ethics,' as more exactly describing the contents of this division of the science of religion." The discourse in question contains some valuable remarks on the importance of the study of moral theology (pp. 20-25). The Province of Christian Ethics. 5 i. On entering upon the consideration of the former of these topics, let me first lay down this proposition : that the final purpose, the proper outcome, of the Divine Revelation and Economy set forth in Holy Scripture is so far as man is concerned, which is the side on which alone we can fully judge of them an ethical change. Little as this is commonly realized, it cannot, I think, be disputed. If the statement jars on any, it must be partly because the word " ethical " suggests to their minds a moral ideal lower than the Christian one ; partly because they associate it too exclusively with demands upon men for what their own unaided efforts can accomplish. If it is understood that nothing short of a moral transformation, the scope of which is likeness to Christ Himself, to be perfected in another state of existence, 1 is intended, and that man cannot attain to this apart from what God has done and does for him, such a view of the end of Revelation and of the work of Grace cannot be held to be inadequate. Could it be expressed more plainly than in the words of the Second Epistle of S. Peter ? " Grace to you ^and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord ; seeing that His Divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that called us by His own glory and virtue ; whereby He hath granted unto us His precious and exceeding great promises ; that through these ye may become partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust." 2 Other com- prehensive expressions of similar purport might be quoted, and this end may be traced throughout the teaching of Scripture and in the character of the separate parts of Revelation. There can be no question, for example, that in the religions both of the Old and New Testaments the connexion between religious faith and moral requirements is presented as being of the most intimate character. Judaism and Christianity are, in fact, unique in this respect, and have a clear right to the title which has been given them of the two 1 I John iii. 1-3. 2 2 Peter i. 2-4. 6 The Province of Christian Ethics. " ethical religions." 1 It is one of the fundamental thoughts of the whole Old Testament, that a righteous and holy God could only be pleased by worshippers whose attributes were like His own. Those who profess to " love the Lord " must "hate evil." He who is to "sojourn in His tabernacle and dwell in His holy hill" must "walk uprightly, and work righteousness, and speak truth in his heart." The nation which was the peculiar treasure of a holy God must be a holy nation. And the ceremonial law itself is plainly de- signed to train and deepen the sense of the necessity of moral purity. 2 In the New Testament, the connexion is, if possible, even more vital. Take the Sermon on the Mount, which is most often thought of as a body of instruction on human duties, and prized as such. It is, nevertheless, penetrated through and through with theological ideas ideas that are simple if you will, but profound and far-reaching. And these afford the basis and determine the law of human conduct. In the Apostolic Epistles, the precepts as to conduct can nowhere rightly be regarded as a mere separable appendix to the questions of faith, though naturally the intimacy of the relation between the religious belief and conduct is more evident at some times than at others. In some passages the writer passes and repasses from the one to the other as though he felt it impossible to keep them apart, and each fresh mention of either made it necessary to recall the other. 3 And if we turn from the language of Scripture to the doctrines of the Faith, we see that they all have a neces- sary ethical counterpart. The truth about God and the truth about man seem often to correspond like the two faces of 1 Martensen's "Christian Ethics," 5, p. 14, Eng. trans. 2 We have, perhaps, the most striking evidence how deeply this conviction had penetrated ' when, though not directly expressed, it lies at the root of the thought actually expressed ; as, for example, in Nathan's words to David, " Thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme." Jehovah was dishonoured by the moral offences of His servant. Could it have been said in a similar case that "great occasion had been given to the enemies of Baal or of Moloch to blaspheme " ? 8 See especially, Eph. iv.-vi. ; and I John iv. 7-21. The Province of Christian Ethics. 7 a superficies, being simply the same truth turned a different way. If God is our Father, man is God's son, and that con- ception of man, enriched by all that we know about God, supplies the starting-point for a whole system of ethical doctrine. And when we follow that which has been the Divine working-out of this relation, and come to the central article of Christian faith, the doctrine of the Incarnation, we find that its significance is of the same twofold character. On the one hand, the Father is perfectly revealed, so far as the conditions of human knowledge allow, in the human life of the true, Divine Son ; on the other hand, in the exhibition of this very relation of the Son to the Father there is seen the ideal for man, and the means for his attaining to it is provided. So again with the Atonement. As often conceived, it may seem to take us far from the region of ethical ideas. Yet what is its purpose, but the removal of the burden, which disheartens man in his best endeavours, and his restoration to a position in which he may feel to the full the influences which will work his moral renewal. Yet again, the doctrine that the Divine Spirit holds communion with the human spirit, and on the other hand the Christian doctrine of sin, have a direct relation to the condition of the human will. And the same ethical character which belongs to the doctrines belongs also to the observances of the Christian religion. The relation of worship to life, and of life to worship, must never be lost sight of, if the meaning and place of worship are to be rightly understood. In Christian worship, formal expression is given to that spirit of eucharist, of sacrifice, of humility, dependence, and contrition, which must be the animating principle of conduct that is truly Christian. It is to be observed that the religious beliefs of which we have spoken do not only supply motives for moral conduct. They do that ; but they also have an important bearing on the mode of conceiving some fundamental moral principles, and on the contents of moral doctrine. The Christian faith has, and must have, its own view on such great subjects of ethical inquiry as the nature and source 8 The Province of Christian Ethics. of moral obligation and human responsibility. And it wiL be readily admitted, also, that it has its own view of the law of conduct, of the extent of its demands, of the qualities included, of the proportionate value of different parts. In a systematic exposition of Christian principles, a doctrine of man, as well as a doctrine of God, is an essential part of the structure. A Christian theology which is not followed out into its ethical consequences stands as an unfinished building. The importance of endeavouring to arrive at a systematic statement of Christian ethical doctrine may thus be urged in the interests of logical completeness; and, moreover, the need of systematic exposition here is of the same kind as in the case of the elements of religious faith themselves. Without formal expression, embodiment, and some measure of definiteness of outline, a spiritual principle cannot maintain its ground in the jostle of competing interests, or make an impression upon the minds of men sufficiently clear to lead to action. It may well be matter of surprise that greater progress has not long ago been made in Christendom towards the attainment of a clear common view on great distinctive points of Christian ethical principle and duty, or that we do not find a richer store than actually exists of ethical specula- tion and doctrine in the Christian Church. Dr. Martineau, in his " Types of Ethical Theory," while he refrains from discussing " how it was that the new habits of self-knowledge " brought in by Christianity " ripened into no systematic ethics," mentions one disturbing cause, which " from its vast and protracted operation is too important to be overlooked." " The Augustinian theology," he continues, " is founded upon a sense of sin so passionate and absolute as to plunge the conscience into unrelieved shadows. It pledges itself to find traces everywhere of the lost condition of humanity, in virtue of which there is no longer any freedom for good, and a hopeless taint is mingled with the very springs of our activity. This doctrine is evidently the utterance of a deep but despairing moral aspiration : it estimates with The Province of Christian Ethics. 9 such stern purity the demands of the Divine holiness upon us, that only the first man, fresh with unspoiled powers, was capable of fulfilling them ; and since he was false, the sole opportunity of voluntary holiness has been thrown away, and we must live in helpless knowledge of obligations which we cannot discharge. Hence there has never been more than one solitary hour of probation for the human race : during that hour there was a positive trust committed to a capable will, and the young world was under genuine moral administration ; but ever since evil only has been possible to human volition, and good can pass no further than our dreams. It follows that, as the human game is already lost, we no longer live a probationary life, and can have no doctrine of applied ethics which shall have the slightest religious value ; the moralities, considered as Divine, are obsolete as Eden ; and human nature, as it is, can produce no voluntary acts that are not relatively neutral, because uniformly offensive, to the sentiment of God. Its restoration must proceed from sources extraneous to the will ; and unless snatched away in some fiery chariot of grace, it must gaze in vain upon the heaven that spreads its awful beauty above the earth. Thus a doctrine which begins with the highest proclamation of the divine moral law, ends with practically superseding it." J It appears to me that there is some exaggeration in this passage. Augustinian and Calvinistic doctrine in the extreme form here described have never prevailed throughout the whole, or even in any considerable portion, of Christendom. At the same time, it is true that attention to the doctrines of human depravity and the need of Divine grace, even when held in a far milder form, has probably, through the tendency to one-sidedness which is natural to man, often served to turn away the mind, if not from the performance of obvious duties, yet from reflection on ethical subjects. But we cannot pass from the mention of S. Augustine in this connexion without observing that, whatever may have been the influence 1 Vol. i. pp. 17, 18. A 2 io The Province of Christian Ethics. of his teaching on the whole in discouraging the progress of ethical doctrine, he himself made important contributions to it, not least in helping us to take a far profounder view of the whole subject of moral freedom than had been taken before his time, or than has ever been common. And it may be well, also, to say that, while ethical doctrine must mainly have to do with human responsibilities, no treatment of it will satisfy the Christian consciousness which does not take full account of the need of Divine grace. It may be worth while to spend a few moments on a somewhat wider though necessarily very rapid survey of the extent to which the distinctively Christian study of ethics has in the past proceeded, and the causes which have checked its growth, from the time immediately following that of the appearance of Christianity. In the sub-Apostolic age, as its remains, scanty though they are, suffice to show, the minds of Christians were in a very special manner occupied with the moral requirements of Christianity. To many it presented itself chiefly as a new law. By the Apologists, also, of the next two or three generations, the broad contrasts between the moral principles and ideals of Christianity and of heathen philosophy and Judaism are in many respects clearly appre- hended. Eminently this may be noted in the writings of Clement of Alexandria at the end of the second century. Soon, however, the mind of the Church, and especially of its Eastern and more speculatively active portion, became, and for long continued to be, almost absorbed in the task of guarding the primary articles of the faith against heresy by careful definition. It was a most necessary work ; and yet it is to be feared that not only the systematic expo- sition of Christian morals, but even the Christian life itself suffered seriously in that time of controversy. It is in the practical West that we meet with the first regular treatise on ethics from a Christian point of view, towards the close of the fourth century, in the " De Officiis Ministrorum " * of 1 Migne tells us that in the editions older than his, and in some manuscripts, the title was simply " De Officiis," and that he had restored "Ministrorum" in accordance with the greater number of, and the best, manuscripts. The Province of Christian Ethics. n S. Ambrose. The great bishop intends it, apparently, more especially for his younger clergy, in the lower orders of the ministry. But though the dangers and responsibilities of ecclesiastical persons are referred to from time to time, it is not properly a manual of instruction on the discharge of the special duties of the ministry, as might be supposed from its title, but a more general exposition of Christian morality. It is deeply interesting to find systematic instruction in the ordinary duties of Christian conduct thus made a matter of primary importance in the training of the clergy. He felt that the chief thing was that they should be good men, according to a Christian standard ; though, doubtless, he had also the design of fitting them to teach others the same law of life. He follows the classification of virtues which he found in Cicero, and which Cicero derived from Greece, gives them a Christian rendering, and proves and illustrates them from Holy Scripture. His younger contemporary, S. Augustine, was not prevented by the doctrine of Divine grace, even as held by him in mischievously sharp antithesis to natural goodness, from developing more fully and richly the conception of Christian character in various parts of his writings. In doing so he would feel that he was magnifying grace by showing what it could work ; while, even after his views had been hardened by controversy into the thorough- going predestinarianism of his later years, he might regard himself as therein a divinely appointed instrument for pro- ducing, in conjunction with grace inwardly given, these perfections in the characters of men. When we have reached S. Augustine, we are already approaching the time when the sway of theology became absolute over every realm of thought, throughout the regions of the world which Christian faith had conquered. Ethics on a theological basis were then the only possible ethics. And in this form they received their full share of attention when, after a long period of mental barrenness, intellectual activity revived in the period of the Schoolmen. It is sufficient to refer to the large space devoted to the doctrine of man, including what we might 12 The Province of Christian Ethics. term both psychology and ethics, in the greatest product of scholasticism, the "Summa Theologica" of S.Thomas Aquinas. The very inclusion in such a treatise of what was for that age an exhaustive discussion of these subjects, and the point in his argument at which he enters upon it namely, when he has reached the work of the sixth day of creation indicate the theological presuppositions with which it is approached. Meanwhile the penitential discipline of the Church had led to the tabulation of sins according to their heinousness. In connexion, also, with this discipline, especially when it had come to be administered for the most part privately through the confessional, there arose opportunity for the guidance of souls in a still fuller sense, and oftentimes the demand for it ; and all this called for moral knowledge on the part of the priesthood. The science of casuistry grew up as the result of the efforts of the subtle intellects of the Schoolmen to meet these needs. When the modern world began with that new era which we call the Renaissance, the break with the past was, naturally perhaps, not so speedy or so abrupt in the field of ethical doctrine and speculation as in many others. Thus in England, even to the latter part of the seventeenth century, a moral theology and casuistry, which were modified and adapted, it is true, under the influence of the Reformation and by the necessity of dealing with some new problems, but which preserved the general principles and method handed down from the Middle Ages, formed a highly prized branch of study, and the recognized way of dealing with moral subjects. Many works exhibiting this character, some of them well known, have come down to us, as Sanderson's " De Obligatione Conscientiae," Jeremy Taylor's " Ductor Dubitantium," Joseph Hall's " Cases of Conscience," Richard Baxter's "Cases of Con- science.'' And when Bishop Bull, in his famous visitation sermon "Concerning the Great Difficulty and Danger of the Priestly Office," 1 enumerates the different parts of divinity, 1 The date of the delivery of this sermon cannot be exactly determined, but it was delivered before 1702, when he became a bishop, and probably not many years before (cf. S. James's Lectures, " Classic Preachers of the English Church," p. 18). The Province of Christian Ethics. 13 some knowledge of which is necessary for all the clergy, he in- cludes " moral or practical divinity," and " casuistical divinity," which he " distinguishes from moral or practical, as a more noble species thereof." And a sense of the importance of this study was manifested in our own university, by the establish- ment of a professorship of "moral theology or casuistical divinity" in 1683. But a little while before this, that spirit of the Renaissance, which was determined to look with fresh eyes upon all nature, and to probe to the utmost all principles of human thought and grounds of knowledge, had reached the sphere of ethics. With Thomas Hobbes, the publication of whose ethical doctrines approximately coincides with the beginning of the civil war, begins that long and brilliant succession, continuing to the present day, of the moral philosophers of England, who have investigated moral prin- ciples directly with reference to their ground in human nature, independently of revealed religion. This is true of the most religious-minded and sincere Christian believers amongst them. It holds of Cudworth, who was stirred to utterance in great part by the sense that the teaching of Hobbes tended to undermine beliefs that had rightly been held most sacred by the generality of mankind. It holds in regard to Bishop Butler. One so profoundly and earnestly Christian as he was, both in thought and life, could never lose sight of the relations between ethics and religious faith ; and he has also touched upon some points of distinctively Christian morality. Still, in the main he has treated moral questions in the form in which the thought of his time presented them to him, as a philosopher rather than as a theologian. More often the ethical speculation of which we are speaking has been pursued entirely without reference to its influence on Christian faith. Now, surely it is the business of Christian theology to ask what its attitude must be to all this philosophic thought ; what gains may be gathered from it ; what correction, illustra- tion, and confirmation of Christian principles it supplies ; how far any of the theories which are at first sight in appear- ance hostile to the faith, can be reconciled therewith, and A 3 14 The Province of Christian Ethics. whether it is necessary to offer to any an unflindhing opposi- tion. For plainly the questions dealt with, some of them, come too near to its own borders for theology to be indif- ferent to them. The need for Christian ethical inquiry is pressed upon us from another side still more urgently. We are confronted with new problems as to the uses of wealth, the division of classes, the relations of nations, and new social ideals, which were unknown to earlier generations of Christians. And yet some of the most obvious characteristics of Christianity, and some of the aims which it has from the first most openly proclaimed, and the very reputation it has won in the past as a regenerator of human society, command for these questions a special attention on the part of all Christian thinkers. Is Christianity fitted still to guide the progress of mankind ? Does it contain the secret of social well-being ? And is the Christian ideal of character still admirable, is it sufficing, is it practicable, under the conditions of our modern life? Much has been done amongst us for many years past to give an intellectual as well as a practical answer to these questions. And in this connexion the name of one teacher must occur to every one's mind, that of Professor Maurice. Nevertheless, much undoubtedly still remains to be done, both for the clearer ascertainment of what Christian principles of thought on such subjects are, and what important conclu- sions they lead to, and also for the embodiment of such principles and conclusions in a form in which they may be generally apprehended and acknowledged by those who desire to be loyal to the Christian faith. These reasons for the study of general ethics, and of the ethical aspects of social problems, from the Christian stand- point, are so strong that they must be, I cannot doubt, in themselves sufficient to carry conviction. But I might easily fortify myself by adducing no small amount of evidence that the need for such study is widely felt, and in particular that it is coming to be recognized that the clergy, who are the popular teachers of the Church, should qualify themselves to The Province of Christian Ethics. 15 give sound instruction on such questions. Let me confine myself to quoting from a writer whose words, from his independent position, may carry more weight than would those even of men of high ecclesiastical rank and in- fluence. Professor Seeley, who in many ways has shown his deep interest in this matter, thus writes in an essay, published in 1870, on "The Church as a Teacher of Morality," a considerable portion of which would be to the purpose of my argument, if I could quote it. " The clergy," he says, " are charged with the task of applying to the wants of men, both individuals and societies, the remedy provided by certain religious and moral principles and a certain organization established eighteen hundred years ago. They need, therefore, to study two things Christianity, and that modern society to which Christianity is to be applied. Society is constantly shifting ; it is extremely complex, and philosophy during the last hundred years has thrown much light upon the laws which govern its changes. If, therefore, a system of morality is to be built on the basis of Christian theology, as it must be if Christianity is the universal religion, it will not be sufficient for the clergy to read the New Testament and imbue them- selves with its maxims. They must read with equal diligence in the book of the modern time. Their business is not merely to repeat a message ; they are charged with an embassy which demands the employment of their own independent judgment and discretion. They must add a philosophy to their religion ; they must originate, combine, adapt. They must be not merely passive channels of ancient wisdom, passive adminis- trators of ancient rules, but thinkers, interpreters of the age, the living legislators of a living society." l The essay from which I have just quoted is written mainly from the point of view of the moralist and political thinker, who sees in the Christian Church a powerful organ through which the advance of morality may be secured. But when we look rather from the standpoint of Christian faith, we 1 Page 280. 1 6 The Province of Christian Ethics. should certainly not be less eager that the Faith may " have its perfect work." 2. We have seen, then, that the treatment of Christian ethics must form a necessary part in any complete exposition of Christianity considered as a doctrine. But if Christianity is Divine, and if its ethics, its mode of dealing with man as a moral being, the means it provides for his moral renewal, its law for his conduct, are an essential part of it, does it follow that Christian ethics should supersede all other ethical doctrine and inquiry ? Necessarily, if we are believers in Christianity, and if we are convinced that the relation of its ethics to its theology is of the kind that has been indicated, we must believe that it contains the secret of a more profound and fuller moral doctrine than is possible independently of it. Yet we should be sorry to be required to think that the labours of so many men of high, and some of them the highest, intellectual power, who have devoted themselves to the general study of ethics, should be without their value for us. Now, it is first to be observed that our very conception of the truth of Christian ethics seems to involve the possi- bility of at least partial attainment of truth through other ethical inquiry. For part, if not the whole, of the idea of the truth of the moral teaching of Christianity must be its truth to our nature, its fitness to human nature and human life, its power of developing to the utmost the moral capa- bilities of man. It may, indeed, be, and we believe is, the case, that man cannot fully perceive this fitness till he sur- renders himself to the influence of the doctrine ; that his being cannot know its true harmony till he has been raised to a higher level than that of natural experience ; that, aware of the Divine resources at its command, the doctrine ventures to make demands which other moral systems do not, and is justified in the success of its venture. And if so, it would be impossible to reach even the moral truths of Christianity simply by the study of human nature as it is in itself, and without taking account of a Divine regeneration of humanity. The Province of Christian Ethics. 17 Nevertheless, as a doctrine whose purport is to lift humanity, and that, moreover, with its own co-operation, it must take account of what humanity is, of the response which will be gfven by its conscience and reason to the appeals made to them, of the efforts of which it is capable. We must, there- fore, expect that all faithful reflection upon human nature and the conditions of human life will serve at least partially to set forth the same truth ; and that thus correspondences will often be noticed between the principles and maxims of moral philosophers and those expressed in, or suggested by, the Gospel. And it may evidently be useful, even for the most convinced Christian, to study ethical questions at times inde- pendently of the presuppositions of his faith. His hold upon Christian ethical doctrine may thus become more intelligent ; and he may become more assured of the breadth and strength of the foundations of morality when he has traced them, according to the methods of rational inquiry, in the principles of human nature. Further, the mode in which Christian ethics are to be treated at the present day, the province to be assigned them, must necessarily be affected by the existence of the large body of ethical doctrine to which we have alluded. We shall not be required, or on the whole find it advisable, as theolo- gians, starting from our theological positions, to work out a complete system of ethics. Rather, we shall content our- selves with setting forth distinctively Christian principles and rules, which are of an ethical character. There are many psychological discussions connected with ethics, which, great as their interest and importance may be and often are, do not, in their detailed working out at least, concern the Christian teacher as such. And there is also much practical ethical doctrine in harmony with, and even sanctioned by, Chris- tianity, which is common to many schools, and which we may leave to be learnt from them. Once more, there are certain departments of life, at any rate, in which, as has often been observed, Christian teaching as contained in the New Testament supplies only principles, i8 The Province of Christian Ethics. not detailed rules of action. And the latter cannot be reached without the aid of rationalized experience. In no endeavour to obtain guidance for morally right actions, can we afford to dispense with an examination of the effects of action. It may, indeed, be said that morality has only to do with motives, since the moral quality even of actions depends entirely on the motive with which they are done. But at the same time the agent must be held responsible for judging, with the aid of any information and study at his command, what the effects of his action will be ; and the recognition of this responsibility, and determination to discharge it to the best of his ability, are included in right motive. Whether our fundamental maxim is " to love our neighbour as our- selves," or " to seek the greatest happiness of the greatest number," the examination of consequences is necessary in order to see how the law is to be truly fulfilled. Such an examination has been made, or is being made, for us in general ethical theory, and in economic and political science, which for certain fields of duty are the indispensable supple- ments to moral theory, while they are themselves incomplete as guides to action without moral principles. Thus our study of Christian ethics will leave intact the sphere, and will not detract from the importance, of the general study of ethics. We might be glad if we could also, simply as students of Christian ethics, stand neutral in regard to the controversies between the rival schools of ethics. But this we cannot altogether. In regard to the great question of the nature and origin of our sense of moral obligation and power of moral judgment, those who occupy the stand- point of Christianity must adopt a certain attitude. It is not necessary that we should implicate ourselves in any special theory, like that of innate ideas, or that we should maintain that conscience is not largely dependent upon training, experience, and the use of reason for its right exercise. But if the controversy between the independent moralists on the one hand, and the association-philosophy, or a merely materialistic evolution, on the other, be reduced The Province of Christian Ethics. 19 to its most essential and simplest form, we must be on the side of the former. We must hold that there is an element in our moral consciousness which cannot be analyzed into, or accounted for as generated by, pleasure or pain ; that there is in us a recognition of the authority of moral truth and sacredness of duty, such as implies an original capacity distinct from sense, however gradually, and by whatever means, that capacity may have been aroused to activity. While we warmly acknowledge all that has been noble in character and valuable in services to mankind among philo- sophers who take a view opposed to this, we must, I say, be on this side, if our philosophic position is to be consistent with our faith in Scriptural Revelation. For Holy Scripture from first to last implies that it is possible for man to know God, to have communion with God. The knowledge of God must include the knowledge of His moral attributes, His righteousness and love. May we not say that it must consist in this, if to the knowledge of the attributes be added the recognition that they are His ? But words mean nothing unless such knowledge involves some kind of immediate perception of supersensible realities as such. Again, there can plainly be no such thing as communion with God, unless the human will is capable of being somehow directly stirred, and actually pervaded by the Divine Spirit, and of having desires and purposes like those of the Divine Will. We cannot, therefore, but welcome the many indications in contemporary philosophy of a sense of the inadequacy of the explanations of the phenomena of our moral consciousness from the sources alone of pleasure and pain, whether through the old doctrine of association of ideas, or by the more powerful aid of a theory of evolution. We need not look abroad for proof of this, or even to Scotland, where a different school has all along preserved much influence. Let us confine our view to England, where the sense-philosophy has for a considerable time been dominant. I might refer to differences between the position of Mr. J. S. Mill and the older Utilitarians which seem to involve more serious consequences to the theory he so The Province of Christian Ethics, maintained than he was willing to allow ; x or still more to some of the points made clear in the scrupulously careful judgments of our own eminent professor of moral philosophy upon rival theories of morals. But the fact of special signifi- cance is the appearance of such champions of man's relations to a spiritual world as the late Professor Green and Dr. Martineau. The poetry of the nineteenth century has indeed had, speaking broadly, a spiritual character. And our age has also been marked by the appearance of prose-writers who, in prophetic accents and with unquestionable genius, have insisted upon man's spiritual nature and upon great spiritual principles by wh'ich the destiny of the individual and of the race are controlled. Yet the refined and high-minded materialist readily gives himself up to enjoy and profit by the creations of the poet and the lessons of the prophet, and yet all the while he regards both poet and prophet, even in their very discourse upon spiritual things, as exhibiting only some of the highest results to which a purely materialistic evolution can attain. But it will be felt and found to be another affair when philosophic thinkers, who in logical power and acuteness can hold their own with the best, and who have themselves experienced the spell 2 which has been exerted over every department of thought through the immense progress of physical science in recent times, yet challenge the assumptions and dispute the reasoning of materialism in the sphere of morals. And while Professor Green proves the necessity for a doctrine of ethics which is not a mere branch of natural science, by a closely reasoned and subtle analysis of the conditions of knowledge in general, Dr. Martineau's work is impressive from the eloquence, firmness, and confidence with which he has reasserted what are substantially the old and 1 Notably his doctrine of higher and lower kinds of pleasures. See his essay on "Utilitarianism," pp. n, etc. 2 For evidence of this in regard to Professor Green, see his "Prolegomena of Ethics," the introduction. Dr. Martineau, in the preface to his "Types of Ethical Theory," has given an interesting account of his conversion from "an 'empirical ' and 'necessarian' mode of thought," a "philosophy governed by the physical science assumptions." The Province of Christian Ethics. 21 popular arguments for the freedom of the will and for an authority in the dictates of conscience, which is all its own, and not to be explained as the product of sensation. -_ The value attached by these writers to metaphysics is in itself a significant fact. It would, indeed, be highly inju- dicious to make either the truth of Christianity or the obliga- tion of morality rest upon any special metaphysical theory. But at least the sense of the value of metaphysics, when shown by men possessed of the power of clear reasoning, is important as swelling the volume of testimony to the fact that there are objects of thought influential in the life of man, which cannot be brought under the laws ascertained by physical science. But while we are constrained to assert the insufficiency of the various theories of the schools of sense-philosophy, we are able to assign an importance to them which no one not belonging to those schools, and not at least a theist, could do. Pleasure and pain acquire a new dignity when they are regarded as the instruments which God has chosen to arouse the moral faculty, to reinforce its first feeble im- pulses, to inform and discipline it. Even if our moral senti- ments were simply the result of pleasures and pains, through association of ideas or any other means of transformation, belief in God would give to the sentiments an authority, such as their origin in itself could not justify, on the ground that He had willed to create the sentiments in us by these means. But our whole view becomes more self-consistent, and more consistent as we believe with the facts of our nature, when the part that has been assigned them is held to have been not that of creating, but of awakening, of bringing us to a position in which they do not continue to be our guides under a disguised form, but give place to a higher perceptive power, the freer employment of which they have rendered possible. We acknowledge a high use in them, if they have been designed to goad and lead humanity up the steep ascent to an eminence whence a fair world of noble objects lies open before the eyes of our moral being, even though we 22 The Province of Christian Ethics. now rely for our knowledge on the testimony of this better informant. The doctrine that moral distinctions and our power of moral judgment are entirely resolvable into effects produced upon us by sense, without the assumption of any spiritual element in man being necessary even to render the develop- ment possible, must, it seems to me, be in the long run debasing to the human mind. There are, I know, high- minded men who think this is simply a matter of history, and that it matters not what the origin of our moral judgments was, provided they have now become independent of selfish considerations. But if selfish feeling and self-interest were the sole origin, it will be difficult to show men that they may not now go back to self-interest when to follow the moral senti- ments would manifestly conflict with it. And it seems unde- niable that the general acceptance of the theory in question would be likely in this way to check the further evolution of the conscience in mankind. 1 But, on the other hand, to assign such a secondary and subordinate place to pleasure and pain as we have indicated, while we recognize their Divine appoint- ment to the function they have discharged, has an effect upon the mind which is elevating in the highest degree. Such a conception of the part they have played in the life of the race corresponds to the considerations with which the Christian would explain the purpose of pain in the individual life, and with which he would seek to purify and elevate joy. After so long a period of active ethical inquiry as has now passed, it is natural to look for some combination of the different theories, not in a spirit of eclecticism, but from a true adjust- ment of their claims. It is to be expected that, inasmuch as 1 Some maybe disposed to object (with Professor Sidgwick on a similar point, " Methods of Ethics," bk. i. ch. v. 2 near end) that this is to argue from the prac- tical consequences of a belief to its speculative truth or falsehood, which is "to use a doubtful and now generally discredited method of inference." That such a method of reasoning has often been misused and always requires caution is certain. Never- theless, it cannot be set aside. None at least but a pessimist can possibly feel satisfied that there is not something wrong with a supposed speculative truth, if it clearly appears to conflict with moral well-being. The Province of Christian Ethics. 23 they are all the result of the conscientious labour of competent thinkers, they should each correspond, and serve to draw attention, to some of the facts. And we do actually now see in the work of the later thinkers a disposition to recognize ^ome common results, and an endeavour, even when not always a very successful one, to allow value to lines of thought differing in principle from their own. It will then be admitted to be a point in favour of the Christian view, if it is able to gather fruit from speculations pursued in a spirit the most hostile to its own. It will be suitable to say a few words in conclusion upon the bearing of the study of Christian ethics on the evidence of Christianity as a Divine Revelation. As has been already, perhaps, sufficiently implied in this lecture, the kind of claim which we would make, and which all believers in Christianity who have given attention to the subject must, we should think, be disposed to make, for Christianity in its ethical aspect is that, in a manner which is unique, it enables us to combine the partial truths of other systems in a higher unity ; and, again, that it takes a far deeper view of the moral needs of man, and is able to deal far more effectively with them than any other system ; and that it looks for, and is itself the guiding principle of, an evolution of a higher type of human life and character. And the difficulties which undoubtedly present themselves at first sight in connexion with some of the precepts of Christ Himself, and some of the characteristics of the Christian temper of mind, are, we believe, to a great extent, if not entirely, removed when we consider it with reference to this last purpose. The difficulties attach, not to the doctrine, but to the condition of man and of human society while undergoing this process of development. These difficulties could not but present themselves amid the struggle, the different degrees of progress in various portions of the mass of humanity, the discord in the individual himself between different principles in his nature, inherent in the very nature of an evolution, wherever we can trace one. Now, when we turn to consider how, if this can be shown 24 The Province of Christian Ethics. to be a just view of the ethical character of Christianity, our belief in its Divine origin will be affected, we observe, in the first place, that the removal of moral difficulties in the teaching of Christ is at least negatively of great importance. For if His moral teaching could be shown not to be fitted for all time, in its essence and principle, and when understood with such adaptation to varying circumstances as may be fairly supposed to have been intended, this would certainly be a serious stumbling-block in the way of believing in His Divine insight and foreknowledge, and the universality of His mission. But, further, if such claims as I have indicated can be made good for Christianity ethically considered, this must surely be positive evidence of the highest value for the truth of the religion. I will not say that it must in itself be absolutely conclusive. I would not lose sight of the fact that the proof of the truth of Christianity is essentially cumulative. And as the ethical doctrine in question is fitted for man, it cannot perhaps be shown that it might not conceivably have been reached by the thought of man. But still, when it is remem- bered that in this religion we find it, and not in any other religion or system of philosophy, and if to this a considera- tion be added of the time and manner of its appearance, not among the learned who were acquainted with the best human thought that had preceded, not as an elaborated ethical theory, but with the bold and sudden leap of an inspiration, if it is borne in mind that such was the source and character of the teaching which so utterly surpassed alike all that had gone before and the highest efforts and aspirations of human philosophy since, it will be difficult to regard it as other than a signal mark of Divinity in Him Who gave it. It remains for me only to indicate the course which I intend to pursue in these lectures. It would, no doubt, serve best to show how Christian ethics are founded upon Christian faith, and to give a view of the completeness and unity of the whole Christian view of God, the world, and man, if I were to take those great theological conceptions to which I referred early in this lecture, and to work out their ethical The Province of Christian Ethics. 25 significance. This is the plan followed, for example, in Bishop Martensen's "Christian Ethics." But a more fragmentary treatment will suit better my own inadequate preparedness for my task, and may, I think, also be in some respects more suitable in the actual position of the study amongst us. I propose in the present term to say something on what seems to be the Christian view of certain fundamental ethical ques- tions human responsibility, the nature of moral obligation, the extent of the sphere of morality, the highest good, the primary law of conduct. In other terms in the near future I hope to treat of the Christian view of particular virtues, and of the ideal of character, and of the application of Christian principles to some of the larger problems of social and national life. This line of study and of teaching I hope to keep in view and to pursue, so far as is compatible with the duty of teaching and examining students in the established theological studies of the place, in which a Divinity professor is bound to take part. I cling to the hope, also, if time and strength are given, of endeavouring to assist younger students in the study of the principles of Christian faith, and their grounds, in relation to other departments of thought. But this of ethics has, partly for personal reasons, partly on account of the need for a fuller recognition of it which appears to be felt in various quarters, seemed to be that which it would be well to undertake first. My treatment of it in this first course of lectures must, I know, be very meagre and unworthy of my theme. Further reflection and reading may, I hope, enable me in the future to treat it in a manner more full and satisfactory. But at least the very fact of the delivery of such lectures will, I trust, serve to attract attention to an important subject, and to stimulate others to a study of it, which may prove more fruitful than my own. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. THE JEWISH AND THE CHRISTIAN MESSIAH; A STUDY IN THE EARLIEST HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY. T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. 000126370