Literature. — Abercrombie, J'hilos. of the Moral Feel- ings; Brown, Lect. on the Mind; Butler, .1 mdo'jy of Re- lif/ion and Nature; Hutchcson, Inquiry into Jiian/t/ and Virtue; and his K^xai/ on the I'assions ; Necker, On Re- lif/ious Opinions; AVitherspoon, />«V«rt'.<, Lect. iv ; Ben- tiiam, Morah and Lec/islalion ; Smith (Southwooil), On Divine Government ; ^Jlackintosh, /'/vV/wZ/K/r// J>i.<.«rta- tion (1832); Dymond, Essay on Moralit;/ (1^3'J); Hall (Robert), Sermon on Mod. Injideliti) ; Sedgwick (Adam), l>i.<!COurse on the Studies of the University of Cambridge (1834); Dwight (T.\ Sermon 99, and many others; Wainwright, Vindication of Paley's Theory of Morah, etc. (1830) ; Edwards, Works (see Index) ; Bautain, Moral Qualif cations of Man ; Fllrst, Moral des Lran- fjeliinns mil dm rerschiedenen jdiilos. Moral-systemen; knaiip. Christian Theol. p. 31 ; IVc-Smith, Outlines of
MORAL THEOLOGY
573
MORAL THEOLOGY
Christian Theol. (see Index); Hopkins, Outline Study of Man (N. Y. 1874, 12mo)', Lect. ix and sq. ; Ueberweg, hist. Philos. ii, 319 sq., 446, 494; Leckey, Hist.Europ. Morals (N. Y. 1870, 2 vols. roy. 8vo), i, 93, 123 ; Con- temporary Rev. Jan. 1872, art. v (Savages) ; Appleton, Works, Lects. xv and xvii ; Jenkins, Reasonableness of Christianity ; Law, Theo?-y of Religion, pt. ii ; Pearson, Rem. on Morals; Liddon, Bampton Lecture on the Di- vinity of Christ ; Blackie, Four Phases of Christian Morals ; Spalding, Philos. of Mojxils, with a Revieio of Ancient and Modem Theories; Lewes, Hist. Philos. vol. ii (see Index) ; Old and New, April, 1870 ; Brown- son's Rev. Jan. 1853 ; Presb. Rev. April, 1870 ; Bib. Sacra, April, 1870 ; Studien und Kritiken, Jan. 1866 ; Lond. Qu. Rev. Jan. 1871, p. 26 ; Westminster Rev. xlii, 286 sq. ; Brit, and For. £v. Rev. 1843, p. 293 ; 1844, p. 412 ; Oct. 1872, art. iii ; Journal of Speculat. Philos. Jan. 1870, art. iv; April, 1870, art. vli; Jan. 1871, art. v; New-Eng- lander, Jan. 1871, p. 160; Princeton Rev. Oct, 1871,_p. 634; Theol. Presb. (Curnberland Presb. Qu.) July, 18/1, art. ix ; Univ. Qu. Oct. 1873, art. v (German and Anglo- American Morals) ; Revue Chretienne, Jan. 1867 ; Con- temporary Rev. Aug. 1868, art. vii. See also Moral Philosophy.
Moral Theology is only another name for the science of Ethics (q. v.). Under the last-named head- ing we have considered as much of the subject as can be encompassed from a strictly philosophical and Prot- estant theological stand-point. Only the views of Ro- manists remain to be treated here. These are in many respects radically different from those of the other classes referred to. The Protestant view, as we have seen in the article Ethics, is that Christianity is essentially an ethical religion ; that, while it is true that other relig- ions favor certain virtues, or give a certain sanction to all virtues, Christianity is truly morality, for it aims at moral regeneration, and that is itself religion. Says Blackie QFour Phases of Morals'), " It is a religion ; by its mere epiphany it forms a Church ; in its starting- point, its career, and its consummation, it is 'a kingdom of heaven upon earth'" (p. 207 sq.; comp. p. 219 sq., 266 sq.). As the sources of this science, we pointed out, " Christ, his person and teaching ; also the writings of the apostles as shown in the N. T., as objective and as subjective to the influence of the Holy Spirit in the faithful." The Roman Catholic Church, however, rec- ognises no standard of morality except that of her own construction, and insists upon it that not only the Scriptures, but also the tradition and declarations of the Church must control any effort, even in the domain of speculative philosophj'. Says Dr. Fuchs, in the Ro- man Catholic Cyclopaedia of Wetzer and Welte : " The traditions of the Church, together with the Scriptures, constitute the source of ethical knowledge. Tradition serves partly to complement the moral precepts of the Bible by further demands and institutions, and partly to elucidate and more clearly to interpret their sense and purpose." Not even does he rest here. Lest he be misunderstood as to the extent of the domain of ec- clesiastical tradition, he continues : " From the domain of ecclesiastical tradition we regard especially as impor- tant for moral purposes: (1) the rules and canons of the general ecclesiastical councils; (2) the decisions and declarations of the holy chair; (3) the infallible (?) ut- terances of the Church fathers." Not content yet, he goes even so far as to declare that " into the circle of moralistic sources we most naturally and properly ad- mit also ecclesiastical customs and the lives of the saints, for in the life of the Church and her saints is reflected the life of our divine Lord and Master." In quoting Dr. Fuchs we do not by any means wish to be under- stood as citing only one writer; as a contributor to the standard Roman Catholic Cyclopedia of Germany, he speaks most assuredly the opinions of the Church for which he writes, and his views are those of the Romish Church at large. It is apparent, then, that by an out- ward law of the Church Romanists have modified the
ethics of the N. T., and controlled the ethical conscious- ness of Christendom down to the period of the Refor- mation. The Protestant regards this modification as adulterous, and insists that notably sacerdotalism played no unimportant part; the clergy interpreting as they saw tit, and the people being taught by them as they were themselves influenced by the ascetic notions which invaded the Church in the 4th century, and have ever since continued to exert their authority among papists. See Asceticism ; Monasticism ; Sacerdotalism. In our references in the article Ethics we have inserted the works of writers who deal carefully with the early teaching of the Church on this subject, and we here give only a brief resume of the views of ecclesiastical writers from the apostolic period down, in order to fur- nish the names most prominently connected with Ro- man Catholic ethics from the foundation of Christianity to the present.