Appleton's Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 50

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Excerpt from Appleton's Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 50: November, 1896, to April, 1897 Whatever may be the particular differences separating the various theological codes of conduct from one another, they thus reveal striking similarities in sundry important respects. With greater or less distinctness they all claim supernatural origin, establish their behests and their interdicts upon the basis of ex ternal, ultra-human yet still manlike authority, and find support for their declarations in the presentation of consequences lying outside the natural order. The theological system of conduct of the low savage tribe and that developed among the nations of the civilized world of course differ in the character of the acts distin guished as good and bad, in the quality of the rewards and pen alties offered, in the attitude of mind encouraged, and in other equally significant ways. Yet they have these points in common: the commands are supernatural, the sanctions are supernatural, the code is based upon ultra-rational considerations and backed by the presentation of ultra-rational results. That it is the theological code of conduct which, throughout the Christian ages and down even to our own day, has been al most universally accepted as the one possible foundation of mo rality, we need not here pause to insist. If the tables of the law given to Moses on Mount Sinai are not still regarded as the original source of our knowledge of the distinctions of conduct, there is still a tacit belief that such knowledge depends upon supernatural revelation. As by one course or another, therefore, our commonly held ideas of morality lead us back to the theo logical root, it will be well to note the bearings of theological principles upon the questions with which morality is concerned. The following points are, I think, specially worthy of attention. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.