Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/757

Rh principles of the gospel. It is true that there is a spirit in the New Testament which is antagonistic to the enslaving of human beings. But it is also true that Paul saw no incompatibility between slavery and Christianity, and it is only recently that the Christian world has come to a definite conclusion on this point. It is not long since devout men in England, Russia, Brazil, and the United States defended slavery on biblical and moral grounds; and the present condemnation of it is to be regarded as a product of the modern social movement toward the recognition of all human rights.

The relation of divine standards to human experience is illustrated in our own times by the discussions on various points of social morals. The Catholic Church, following what it supposed to be the New Testament teaching, affirmed the perpetuity of the marriage relation and the impossibility of divorce. There is a difference of opinion among biblical expositors as to the meaning of the passage in which the Founder of Christianity has expressed his opinion on this point (Matt, v, 32); some hold that there is one scriptural ground of divorce, others that there is none. Modern legislators and social philosophers, however, proceed without reference to the biblical rule. The old church law has been abandoned in most countries, and in the discussions which take place in private circles the arguments on the subject are based not on scriptural grounds but on considerations supposed to connect themselves with the well-being of society. There are many questions for the decision of which there is no specific religious authority; they have arisen from distinctly modern conditions of life, of which the older religious books, of course, take no note. Such questions may often, perhaps always, be brought under general ethical principles announced in the Bible. But the particular application of these principles, the practical decision of present questions of duty, is determined by existing social conditions. Whether capital punishment should be abolished, how far the use of alcoholic drinks should be allowed or prohibited by the state, whether parks and museums should be thrown open to the public on Sundays, whether the theatre should be favored or opposed—these questions are all discussed on modern social grounds.

Has religion contributed any idea to ethics? It might seem at first view that this question must be answered in the affirmative. The Church has at various times imposed laws on the world. The ethical life of Europe has been deeply affected by the church law of divorce. The celibacy of the clergy, a purely ecclesiastical enactment, has had far-reaching moral consequences. In all times and countries the ministers of religion have had more or less to do with the establishment of customs and laws relating