Note 456 — XII. CHRISTIAN ETHICS.

1 S. Pet. i. 21 ὥστε τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν καὶ ἐλπίδα εἶναι εἰς θεόν.

[457] Heb. i. 1.

[458] See Dorner, Syst. of Christian Ethics, § 35.

[459] Eph. i. 4.

[460] Cp. Plato, Tim. xxix. E.

[461] Athan. de Incarn. x.

[462] Clem. Alex. Quis Dives, etc. vii. ἀρχὴ καὶ κρηπὶς ζωῆ, ἐπιστήμη θεοῦ, τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος ... ἡ μὲν γὰρ τούτου ἄγνοια θάνατός ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ ἐπίγνωσις αὐτοῦ καὶ οἰκείωσις, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀγάπη καὶ ἐξομοίωσις, μόνη ζωή.

[463] Aug. de moribus Eccl. xii.

[464] Athan. cont. Gentes, iii. describes the aversion of man from God as beginning in 'self-contemplation' (ἑαυτοὺς κατανοεῖν ἤρξαντο).

[465] Ath. c. Gent. ii.

[466] Wace, Boyle Lectures, ser. 1, Lect. vii. Cp. Col. i. 28.

[467] 2 Cor. v. 4, 5 ὁ κατεργασάμενος ἡμᾶς εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο θεός.

[468] Lactant. Div. Inst. iii. 12, 'Haec vita praesens et corporalis beata esse non potest, quia malis est subjecta per corpus.... Si cadit beatitudo, ergo et immortalitas cadit in hominem, quae beata est.'

[469] Eph. v. 1. Ep. ad Diog. x.

[470] Bp. Butler's sermons emphasize this side of the doctrine of conscience, esp. the Preface. Cp. Flint, Theism, lect. vii.

[471] See Phil. i. 9, and Heb. v. 14 (the Greek).

[472] Rom. i. 21. Athan. cont. Gentes, iii-xi.

[473] Wace, Boyle Lect., ser. 1, Lect. II.

[474] Anselm, Cur Deus Homo, I. xii. 'Libertas non est nisi ad hoc quod expedit aut quod decet.'

[475] See Martineau, Types of Eth. Theory, vol. i. 93; ii. 39 [Ed. 2]. Holland, Creed and Character, Serm. X.

[476] Aug. de mor. Eccl. xxi. '[Deo] solo dominante liberrimus.' Observe that as freedom grows, the choice becomes more restricted by the law πάντα ἔξεστιν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ πάντα συμφέρει (1 Cor. x. 23). Cp. Pet. Lomb. Sent. ii. xxv. 7.

[477] Cyp. de op. et eleem. i. 'Pater Filium misit ut reparare nos posset.' Such language is usual with the Fathers.

[478] The whole subject of sin, guilt, punishment is germane to our subject, but for present purposes must be left on one side.

[479] Iren. iii. 18. 7 [Stieren] ἔδει γὰρ τὸν μεσίτην θεοῠ τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων διὰ τῆς ἰδίας πρὸς ἑκατέρους οἰκειότητος εἰς φιλίαν καὶ ὁμονοίαν τοὺς ἀμφοτέρους συναγαγεῑν, καὶ θεῷ μὲν παραστῆσαι τὸν ἄνθρωποω, ἀνθρώποις δὲ γνωρίσαι τὸν θεόν.

[480] Heb. iii. 1. Cyp. de idol. van. xi. 'Quod homo est, esse Christus voluit, ut et homo possit esse quod Christus est.'

[481] Bern, de consid. v. 1, 'Quid quod et inferioribus eges?... Nonne praeposterum hoc et indignum? Plane superiorum quaedam injuria est inferiorum operam desiderare: a qua injuria nemo hominum perfecte vindicabitur nisi cum quisque evaserit in libertatem filiorum Dei.'

[482] S. Matt. vi. 33.

[483] S. Luke xvii. 21; S. Matt. xiii. 45 foll. (Parable of the Pearl). Cp. Rom. xiv. 17 ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ... ἐστιν ... δικαιοσύνη καὶ εἰρήνη καὶ χαρὰ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ.

[484] Wace, ubi sup. Lect. VIII. Ambr. de off. min. ii. 3, 4.

[485] Aug. de mor. Eccl. xiii. 'Bonorum summa Deus nobis est; Deus est nobis summum bonum.' Ib. xviii. 'Secutio Dei, beatitatis appetitus est; consecutio, ipsa beatitas.'

[486] Thom. Aquin. Summa, i. ii^ae. Qu. i. 2, 'Illa quae rationem habent seipsa movent ad finem, quia habent dominium suorum actuum per liberum arbitrium.... Illa vero quae ratione carent tendunt in finem propter naturalem inclinationem quasi ab alio mota, non autem a seipsis, cum non cognoscant rationem finis; et ideo nihil in finem ordinare possunt, sed solum in finem ab alio ordinantur.'

[487] See Godet, Comm. on 1 Corinthians [Clark], vol. i. p. 236.

[488] S. Matt. xix. 28; S. Luke xxii. 30.

[489] S. John iii. 16.

[490] S. John iii. 33. See Dorner's System of Ethics [Clark], § 47.

[491] 2 Cor. iv. 8; vi. 10. Cp. Rom. viii. 28.

[492] S. Matt. v. 48. Butler, Serm. 3 'Your obligation to obey this Law is its being the Law of your nature.... The correspondence of actions to the nature of the agent renders them natural.'

[493] Cp. Bp. Ellicott, The Being of God, p. 120.

[494] Rom. ii. 18 (γινώσκεις τὸ θέλημα) implies that when a man knows God's will, he knows his duty.

[495] S. John ix. 4; iv. 34. Cp. vi. 40; S. Luke iv. 43. See also Rom. xii. 2; Eph. v. 17, etc.

[496] The case of the young man (S. Matt. xix. 21) shews how obligation is extended by contact with Christ, i.e. by closer relation to God. The general principle is that each is bound to follow the law of his personal perfection as it unveils itself to him. See Bengel in loc. and cp. S. Luke xvii. 10.

[497] Wace, Lect. II.

[498] S. Matt. xvi. 25, 26. The discussion of 'Christian consolations,' by Mr. Cotter Morison, Service of Man, overlooks the fact that Christ's object was not to 'console' men, but to set before them the truth, and the law of their own perfection. The 'consolations' of Christianity can be won only if they are never made the object of life. They are a reward, but never, in the higher forms of Christian consciousness, an aim. See Church Quart. Rev., Jan. 1888, p. 268.

[499] Witness the discussions on fear commonly found in mediaeval theology. Bruce, Parabolic teaching of Christ, p. 359 foll., has some good remarks on this point. 'The parabolic form of instruction does not afford scope for the play of the highest class of motives. It is essentially popular wisdom, and it is the way of that which aims at teaching the million, to make action spring from homely motives.'

[500] Butler, Analogy, i. 5.

[501] See H. S. Holland, Creed and Character, Serm. XVIII. Cp. S. Matt. xxv. 21, Heb. xii. 2. Thom. Aquin. Summa, ii. ii^ae, xxviii.

[502] Sidgwick, Outlines of the Hist. of Ethics, chap. 3.

[503] Iren. iv. 16, § 3 [Stieren]. God appears in the decalogue 'praestruens hominem in suam amicitiam ... et ideo [verba] similiter permanent apud nos, extensionem et augmentum sed non dissolutionem accipientia per carnalem Eius adventum.' Thom. Aquin. Summa, i. ii^ae. Qu. c. Art. 3, 'Omnia praecepta [moralia] legis sunt quaedam partes praeceptorum decalogi.'

[504] Rom. vii. 14.

[505] S. Matt. xxii. 37. Cp. Aug. de mor. Eccl. xviii-xx; de doc. Christ. i. 29.

[506] Aug. l.c. 'Maxime Ei propinquat [homo] subjectione ista qua similis fit.'

[507] Thom. Aquin. Summa, i. ii^ae. c. 5, 'Principi communitatis tria debet homo, fidelitatem, reverentiam, famulatum.' Cp. Butler, Analogy, pt. ii. 1.

[508] Aug. de disc. Christ. iii. 'Proximus est omni homini omnis homo,' etc.

[509] R. W. Dale, The Ten Commandments, p. 241. Cp. Thom. Aquin. Summa, i. ii^ae. c. 6; Martineau, Types, etc., ii. 26.

[510] Summa, i. ii^ae. c. 5, 'Dilectio sui ipsius includitur in dilectione Dei et proximi; in hoc enim homo vere se diligit quod se ordinat in Deum.' Ib. ii. ii^ae. xix. 6, 'Homo se propter Deum, et in Deo diligit.' Aug. Serm., ccxvi. 8, 'Amate quod eritis: eritis enim filii Dei.' Pascal, Pensées, Art. xviii. 15, 'Que l'homme s'aime, car il a en lui une nature capable de bien.' Cp. Butler, Serm. i. etc.

[511] Sidgwick, Outlines etc., p. 108. Cp. Dorner, System, etc., p. 459 [Clark].

[512] Aug. de Civ. Dei, xiv. 28.

[513] See Ex. xxi. 33 foll.; Deut. xxii. 9 foll.; Levit. xix. etc. Summa, i. ii^ae. i. 2, 'Tota irrationalis natura comparatur ad Deum sicut instrumentum ad agens principale.'

[514] Consider Gen. ix. 10. Cp. Gen. viii. 1; Prov. xii. 10, etc.

[515] Martensen, Special Ethics (Indiv.), p. 278 [Clark].

[516] See Trench, Mediaeval Church History, Lect. XXVII. Cp. Plato, Phileb. 64 E foll.

[517] Ecce Homo, c. x. Cp. S. John xxi. 25.

[518] It is significant that Mr. Cotter Morison in his Service of Man discusses personal types of Christian saintliness.

[519] Dorner, System, etc., p. 377.

[520] See some remarks on this tendency in Liddon, Bampton Lectures, viii; and an Art. in the Church Quart. Rev., July, 1883, on 'Our Lord's Human Example.' For what follows, cp. Martensen, Ethics (General), pp. 242, 256.

[521] Dean Church, Serm. on Christ's Example [Gifts of Civilization, Serm. III].

[522] R. H. Hutton, Essay on the Incarnation and Principles of Evidence. Cp. the remarkable definition of Lactantius, Div. Inst. iii. 9, 'Pietas nihil aliud est quam Dei parentis agnitio.' Ib. 10, 'Efficitur ut is agnoscat Deum, qui unde ortus sit, quasi recordetur.'

[523] See Trench, Syn. of the N.T. § 42 (on ταπεινοφροσ). 'In His Human Nature [Christ] must be the pattern of all humility, of all creaturely dependence.... He evermore, as Man, took the place which beseemed the creature in the presence of its Creator.'

[524] S. John xvi. 32.

[525] Martensen, Ethics (General), p. 255. Cp. Job v. 23.

[526] Christ's earthly life and work are described summarily as ὑπακόη, Rom. v. 19. Cp. Phil. ii. 8.

[527] Aug. de Praed. Sanct. xxx. 'An ... in Illo non libera voluntas erat, ac non tanto magis erat, quanto magis peccare non poterat?' Quoted by Liddon, Bampt. Lect. [ed. 11], note c.

[528] Aug. de mor. Eccl. xxiii. 'Fit ergo per caritatem ut conformemur Deo.'

[529] Dorner, pp. 336, 388. Cp. Ecce Homo, p. 136.

[530] Arist. Eth. vii. 14. 8 remarks that human nature is not simple (ἁπλῆ), adding ἐπεὶ, εἴ του ἡ φύσις ἁπλῆ εἴη ἀεὶ ἡ αὐτὴ πρᾶξις ἡδίστη ἐσται. Διὸ ὁ θεὸς ἀεὶ μίαν καὶ ἁπλῆν χαίρει ἡδονήν, κ.τ.λ. Cp. Bk. x. cc. 4. § 9, and 7. § 8.

[531] Summa, i. ii^ae. Qu. lxii. Art. 1. Cp. S. Matt. xix. 17.

[532] Abp. Trench.

[533] Heb. xi. 6. Cp. 1 S. John iv. 16; Rom. xiv. 23. Summa, i. ii^ae. 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. ii^ae. 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.