Ethical ReligionRoberts brothers, 1889 - 332 pages This book is made up of lectures given, for the most part, before the Society for Ethical Culture of Chicago. The premise tying all of these lectures together is that while not all religions teach morality, they are all based on ethical principles; that it is one's duty to obey the laws of ethics whether or not one professes a religion; and that men who would not obey them could do no good either to themselves or to others, in this world or the next. Moral action, ethics, Darwinism, the social ideal, personal morality, the ethics of Jesus, the failure of Protestantism and Unitarianism, and the basis of the ethical movement are among the topics discussed. |
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agnosticism basis become believe better Bible cease charity Christian Church commands conscience Darwin death divine doctrines doubt duty earth eternal existence fact faith fear feel FELIX ADLER fellowship George Eliot give heart heaven higher law hold honor human idea interest Jesus John Stuart Mill Judaism justice kingdom kingdom of heaven labor Liberal Christianity ligion live Luther man's Matthew Arnold means ment merely mind moral action motives nation natural selection nature of things ness never old religions ourselves peace perfect Pharisees political prayer principle prophet Protestantism question reform religious reverence righteousness rule sacred selfishness sense sentiment simply slavery social ideal society Socrates soul speak spirit supreme theism thou thought tical tion to-day true truly truth Unitarian universal virtue wages wish words wrong
Popular passages
Page 238 - PRUNE thou thy words, the thoughts control That o:er thee swell and throng ; They will condense within thy soul, And change to purpose strong. But he who lets his feelings run In soft luxurious flow, Shrinks when hard service must be done, And faints at every woe. Faith's meanest deed more favor bears, Where hearts and wills are weighed, Than brightest transports, choicest prayers, Which bloom their hour and fade.
Page 52 - Well, then, for Christ," thou answerest, "who can care? From sin, which Heaven records not, why forbear? Live we like brutes our life without a plan!" So answerest thou; but why not rather say: "Hath man no second life? — Pitch this one high! Sits there no judge in Heaven, our sin to see? — More strictly, then, the inward judge obey! Was Christ a man like us? — Ah! let us try If we then, too, can be such men as he!
Page 215 - We behold the face of nature bright with gladness, we often see superabundance of food ; we do not see or we forget that the birds which are idly singing round us mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life ; or we forget how largely these songsters, or their 'From Chap.
Page 277 - And the work that we have builded, Oft with bleeding hands and tears, And in error and in anguish, Will not perish with our years. It will...
Page 51 - O my Jesus, Thou didst me Upon the cross embrace, For me didst bear the nails and spear, And manifold disgrace...
Page 165 - And, oh ! when Nature sinks, as oft she may, Through long-lived pressure of obscure distress, Still to be strenuous for the bright reward, And in the soul admit of no decay, Brook no continuance of weak-mindedness — Great is the glory, for the strife is hard ! Iv.
Page 78 - He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, Who dares not put it to the touch To gain or lose it all.
Page 108 - There can be no doubt that a tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and sympathy, were always ready to give aid to each other and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes ; and this would be natural selection.
Page 152 - We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform, combination, not to raise the wages of labour above their actual rate.
Page 216 - When we reflect on this struggle, we may console ourselves with the full belief, that the war of nature is not incessant, that no fear is felt, that death is generally prompt, and that the vigorous, the healthy, and the happy survive and multiply.