RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Moore Moralists
The Protestant movement accomplished much in minimizing the dualism between natural and supernatural factors. But the distinc- 2. The tion between natural powers weak- Protestant ened by original sin and the superposition, natural morality of grace still remained. It is true that from the Protestant standpoint religious perfection could be attained in the world. Normal man, not the ascetic, is the object of saving grace. The State with its various functions is allowed to be free of ecclesiastical prescriptions; although it represents fallen human nature, it can be inspired by a real Christianity. So the Christian as a citizen can live as a Christian without performing some specially divine works at the bidding of his ecclesiastical superiors. Calvin took an optimistic view of the possibility of living a Christian life according to Christian rules in the State. The primary authority was founded on the identity of the law of nature with the decalogue, of which the first table contained the demands of a spiritual character and the second controlled the natural forms of life in a civilized state. The object of Christianity is to restore the law of nature in this form, for heathendom was supposed to have been forgetful of the natural law in both directions. Protestants avoided adding to this scripturally contained law of nature by the so-called Evangelical Counsels (see Consilia Evangelica). But the idea of secular law was to be accepted as a guide only for the unregenerate. The Christian could not accept it as a standard of conduct; it stood only for a natural form of life. Its prescriptions and indeed all of the forms and activities of the State were regarded as a species of discipline prepared and ordained by God as a part of that earthly system through which the Christian had to go as a pilgrim in his journey to heaven. As to the right of resistance to the prescriptions of the State, Lutheranism and Calvinism differed. Both united, however, in denying any proper ethical aim to the State and to civilized society per se. All its rights in this sphere came through the divine ordinance as laid down in the second table of the decalogue. (On this cf. H. Wiskemann, Darstellung der in Deutschland zur Zeit der Reformation herrschenden nationalokonomischen Ansichten, Leipsic, 1861; P. Lobstein, Ethik Calvins, Strasburg, 1877; E. Troeltsch, Vernunft und Offenbarung bei . Gerhard und Melanchthon, Gottingen, 1891; C. Thieme, Sittliche Triebkraft des Glaubens, Leipsic, 1895; E. Brandenburg, Luthers Anschauung von Staat und der Gesellschaft, Halle, 1901; M. Schulze, Meditatio futures vitw in System Calvins, Leipsic, 1901; G. Honnicke, Studien zur altprotestantischen Ethik, Berlin, 1902.)
What had been repressed by Roman Catholicism, viz., the free sphere and subjectivity of the Christian idea of ethics, was more fully developed, but in neither aspect can the development be called complete. The existence of the State and the value of the State's activity as a religious entity, not in opposition to spiritual concerns, was acknowledged. What was omitted was the recognition that the State and social institutions were derivations from the Christian idea. A necessarily ethical aim was VII— 32
not allowed to the State. The State was permitted as a part of a natural order, with the duty laid upon
it of providing for the supremacy of
3. The Biblical truth and Biblical moral law.
State and On this ground its special forms of ac-
the Law of tivity were acknowledged as legiti-
Nature. mate. Secular ends alone, such as
the laying-down of systems of law, and the provisions for economic prosperity, were assigned to it. A further stage in the emancipation of the State came from the conception of the law of nature that had been made a part of the religious system by both Roman Catholics and Reformers. This conception of natural law can take on a thoroughly conservative color if it is made a mere abstraction from existing political ordinances and from commonly acknowledged legal and ethical principles. These are assumed to be a natural divinely created system, the postulates of all social life. This was the point of view taken in the ethics of the Reformers, and on it was built the political system and the theoretical ethical system of the Reformation. But the law of nature is capable of being handled as an instrument of criticism of the actual and the existent. In this fashion it is used by Grotius, who gives it a free sphere, apart from the decalogue or any other theological sanction. Its power would come from reason even if there were no God, and it is to be referred to God only because he is the source of human activity in which the ideas of reason work themselves out. In this way a path is made for the ethical idea of the State and of law. Grotius wished to preserve this idea on a sound basis, independent of confessional contests and unmoved by theological subtleties. Indeed his law of nations is the opponent of confessionalism and religious warfare. The idea as developed by Grotius strengthened the unity and sovereignty of the State, gave ethical and legal independence to the individual, and aimed at a rational derivation of political and social conditions in the State, making legitimate its care for the welfare of the citizens, and also constituting its ideal aim, the realization of the idea of law. Yet even here the profounder ethical tasks of State life are left out of consideration. Non-ecclesiastical morality still has limitations, but the system performed good service as being the kernel of ethical independence from which modern- civilization is derived. The emancipation of the State through the discussion and supporters of the theory of natural law became complete. Along with the full recognition of the sovereignty of the State as an end in itself comes also the recognition of the right of the individual citizen in the State to share in the aims of the State's life. The result of the English political movements of the seventeenth century was a definite separation between political freedom and theology. On this ground, England became a model, furnishing practical ideas and political theories to the Continent. (Cf . C. Kaltenborn, Vorldufer des Hugo Grotius, Leipsic, 1848; O. Gierke, Johann Althusius, Breslau, 1880; G. Jellinek, Das Recht des modernen Staates, i. 288-301, 399-424, Berlin, 1900.)
Less important to the question under consideration is the influence of the Renaissance. It is true
Moralists