Social Relationships in the Light of Christianity (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1910. Excerpt: ... a philosophy of history--a very definite one. Similarly, the more directly didactic portions of the Bible contain a definite philosophy of life and conduct, including implicitly a philosophy of society. I use the word 'philosophy' in its strictest sense as connoting that which attempts to give a complete explanation, indeed the ultimate explanation, as well as a complete synthesis of that with which it deals. The correctness of the biblical philosophy of the world, of life, and of society has been proved by experience in tens of thousands of instances. The greatest (when they have been humble-minded), the wisest, and the most learned in all ages have not only tested, but proved, the truth of its insight and the value of its guidance by daily practice. The fiercest assaults have been made upon its instruction; but they have been made in vain. A searching criticism has modified opinion upon the exact nature, date, origin, and composition of many of its parts; but only to make its narratives--their meaning and their teaching--clearer and more useful. There is one point upon which I must dwell for a moment. We are often told that the revelation of God in the Bible, and so its teaching, is ' progressive, ' and that consequently its ethical conceptions and ethical precepts, and therefore its social ideas and sociablaws, are also progressive. But this statement H requires very careful qualification.1 It certainly would not be true to assert that, if we could arrange the contents of the Bible in strictly chronological order, we should find a continuous progress from first to last in the loftiness of its spiritual conceptions and its ethical teaching. Actually the spiritual and ethical teaching of Amos and Hosea is far superior to that of Leviticus, as is that of J...