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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.

486 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).

CHAPTER III.

CHRISTIAN MORALITY.

487 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.

488 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 system. 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. Matth. 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 shalt 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.

489 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.

490 In following out the moral Principles of action into

their results in special Duties, the Relative Duties formerly mentioned (171) 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.

491 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 are led to speak of man's Moral Education, and of Religion, as a necessary part of this. The Duties thus arising have, for their object, man's Religious Progress.

CHAPTER IV.

CHRISTIAN PRECEPTS CONCERNING DUTIES OF THE AFFECTIONS.

492 THE Christian Precepts concerning Duties of the Affections include the Moral Precepts formerly given (174-185); but carry the teaching farther, both as to its requirements and its motives. Beginning from the obligation to abstain from all violence, these precepts inculcate the duty of controlling and repressing all intention of violence, and all the affections which give rise to such intentions: they inculcate also the duty of fostering and exercising affections of good-will with corresponding intentions

and actions. They enjoin the virtues which consist in the habits of such affections, intentions, and actions. These duties and these virtues are enforced by motives depending upon religious truths. Some of these Precepts are the following.

493 In Matth. v. 21, Christ says, Ye have heard it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. This is the command of law; but the precept of duty goes much further: Whosoever shall be angry with his brother man without a cause, or who shall use reviling and contemptuous words to him, shall be in danger of the judgment of God and the fire of hell. And again, ver. 24, Leave thy gift before the altar, and go thy way: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift, and hope for the favour of God. And these duties extend to adversaries, as well as to friends (191). Thus ver. 25, Agree with thine adversary quickly whiles thou art in the way with him. Be ready to dismiss thine enmity, and to disclaim it on the first occasion. It is a duty to dismiss from our hearts all desires of revenge and retaliation. Thus ver. 38, Ye have heard that it hath been said (in the Law of Moses), An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you, that ye make not such rule the measure of any your affections. Instead of retaliating evil, be ready to submit to it. Resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Suppress all emotions of anger, even such as are excited by personal violence, so far as your personal resentments are concerned. Not only is anger to be thus suppressed, but the opposite affection of love is to be entertained instead. Thus ver. 43, Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. These precepts are also recorded in St Luke vi. 29-35, where they are summed up with this (verse 36), Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

494 The like precepts against revenge and anger are given by the Apostles of Christ. Thus St Paul says to the Romans (xii. 19), Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: (either, give way to the wrath of an adversary; or rather, leave the punishment of wrong to God; according to what follows) for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith

265 the Lord. In like manner he writes to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. v. 14), Be patient toward all men: see that none render evil for evil to any man. And St Peter (1 Pet. iii. 9) says the same thing. Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise, blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called that ye should inherit a blessing. St James (i. 19), says, Let every man be slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. St Paul says to the Ephesians (Eph. iv. 31), Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, be put away from you, with all malice. He gives the same injunction in nearly the same words to the Colossians (Col. iii. 8). To the Corinthians he says (1 Cor. xiv. 20), In malice be ye children, but in understanding be ye men. He calls the angry affections carnal (1 Cor. iii. 3; so St James iv. 1); and speaks of the works of the flesh (Gal. v. 19), among which he mentions hatred, variance, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders. The forgiveness of injuries is inculcated. Christ taught his disciples (Matth. vi. 14), If we forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And accordingly, St Paul says (Col. iii. 12), Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

495 The opposite affection, Love, is inculcated by Christ, at first as including in its spirit our obligations towards men: as in Matth. xix. 19, and xxii. 39, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: on these commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. So Mark xii. 31. Yet in referring to the nature and extent of the affection which he enjoined, he called it a new commandment. (John xiii. 34), A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another: which again is repeated John xv. 12, and again, xv. 17. Accordingly St John often repeats such injunctions in his Epistles; as 1 John iii. 11, This is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. And so, 2 John 5; and 1 John ii. 7. Though the commandment was old, the light which Christ had brought into the world made it new. 1 John ii. 8, A new commandment I write unto you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness.

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