Ethical Religion

Front Cover
Roberts, 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. Proponents of ethical religion believe that man ought to abide by the laws of morality and that if he does not, it will mean an end to all order in the world and ultimate destruction. 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." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).
 

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Page 217 - 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 279 - 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 167 - 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 54 - 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 80 - 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 277 - Hail, the glorious Golden City, Pictured by the seers of old ! Everlasting light shines o'er it; Wondrous tales of it are told: Only righteous men and women Dwell within its gleaming wall; Wrong is banished from its borders, Justice reigns supreme o'er all.
Page 110 - 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 154 - 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 82 - New occasions teach new duties ; Time makes ancient good uncouth ; They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth ; Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires ! we ourselves must Pilgrims be, Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea, Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's blood-rusted key.
Page 218 - 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.

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