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SHORT STUDIES IN ETHICS

_AN ELEMENTARY TEXT-BOOK FOR SCHOOLS_

BY

REV. J. O. MILLER, M.A.,

_Principal of Bishop Ridley College_

TORONTO:
THE BRYANT PRESS
1895


Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the office of
the Minister of Agriculture, by REV. J. O. MILLER, M.A., St. Catharines,
Canada.




TABLE OF CONTENTS


    I. DUTY                 7

   II. OBEDIENCE           15

  III. TRUTHFULNESS        19

   IV. COURAGE             24

    V. PURITY              30

   VI. UNSELFISHNESS       35

  VII. HONESTY             40

 VIII. FAITHFULNESS        45

   IX. PROFANITY           50

    X. JUSTICE             54

   XI. BENEVOLENCE         59

  XII. AMBITION            63

 XIII. PATRIOTISM          68

  XIV. BODILY EXERCISE     72

   XV. HABIT               77

  XVI. INDUSTRY            82

 XVII. SELF-CONTROL        88

XVIII. SELF-RELIANCE       91

  XIX. FRIENDSHIP          95

   XX. GENTLEMANLINESS    100

  XXI. COURTESY           105

 XXII. REPENTANCE         110

XXIII. CHARACTER          115

 XXIV. CONSCIENCE         120




PREFACE


This little book has grown out of periodical addresses to my own pupils.
An experience of over ten years has convinced me of the necessity of
teaching systematically the fundamental principles of Morality. The
scarcity of books suitable as elementary texts is a sufficient proof
that the subject is neglected in our schools. It cannot be right that
children should be left to master so wide a subject from incidental
instruction and from example.

I should be sorry if any one thought, from glancing at the topics I have
treated, that I seemed content to put lessons in practical Morality in
place of instruction in the Scriptures and definite religious teaching.
Nothing can take the place of the Scriptures. But I feel convinced that
these two aspects of Truth must go hand in hand. The young mind requires
the truth to be presented to it from all sides, and nothing appeals to
it so strongly as a modern example.

My own idea as to the use of such a book as this is that it should
supplement Bible instruction. The lessons are short enough to be taught
in half an hour. If one topic is taken up each week, and thoroughly
explained, and enlarged on by fresh examples from current life and
history, the whole book can be easily mastered in the school year, and
leave ample time for review and examination. If it should prove helpful
to other teachers, my labour will be amply rewarded.

_Bishop Ridley College, St. Catharines,
Feb. 28th, 1895._


     [Greek: Megas gar ho agon, megas, ouch hosos dokei, to chreston e
     kakon genesthai.]
     --_Plato._




No. I.

DUTY

+Duty is something which is due, and which, therefore, ought to be paid
or performed. It is something owed by everybody, to God, to self, or to
others.+


No other word is more disliked by the slothful than the word Duty. The
mention of the word itself causes weariness to a boy or man of that
kind. We can only get to like the word and the thing itself by
accustoming ourselves to perform it regularly, a little at a time. A boy
or girl with a fine ear and a natural talent for music hates, at first,
the daily practising and the uninteresting lessons; but, as soon as the
difficulties are mastered, playing an instrument becomes a delight.
Duty, in itself, is not a distasteful thing; it is because we hate
anything which gives us trouble that it seems unbearable. We can teach
ourselves to like taking pains.

Duty is, in one sense, the great law which governs the universe. The
planets revolving about the sun, the moon encircling the earth, even the
erratic comets, in fulfilling the laws of their being, perform the
duties which they are set. So, too, the plants and animals of the lower
creation obey the laws under which they live. Even of inanimate things,
pieces of human mechanism, may this be said. The pendulum of the clock
will tick until it is worn out, if it receive the care necessary for its
work. We see what wonderful things a machine can be made to do for man
in Edison's marvellous inventions of the kinetoscope and the
kinetograph.

Human duties differ from those of the lower creation and of the
inanimate world in this, that in the latter the duties are performed by
virtue of the great law of necessity, whereas man is free. That is what
makes human duties moral--that is where the _ought_ comes in. If we love
idleness, and most of us do at first, we naturally hate the idea of
Duty. If we give way to our feelings and desires, we shall only hate
Duty more intensely, and we are in danger of becoming not much better
than the brutes around us; in fact, we are giving way to the brute part
of our nature. Human nature differs from brute nature in having a
Conscience, which continually whispers in our hearts, "I must not," and
"I ought." It is our first duty to listen to Conscience.

The longer we practise doing duties the easier they become. A great man
once said: "A man shall carry a bucket of water on his head and be very
tired with the burden; but that same man, when he dives into the sea,
shall have the weight of a thousand buckets on his head without
perceiving their weight, because he is in the element, and it entirely
surrounds him." After running two miles for the first time, a boy feels
great stiffness, but after he has done it twenty times he feels nothing
but the pleasure of good health arising from pleasant exercise. In the
same way, he translates a single sentence in his Latin grammar with
great difficulty at first, but when he can translate Caesar's campaigns
without trouble the task becomes a delight.

Most people think they are entitled to great credit for doing their
Duty, and even to reward. If some one owes you a dollar, is he entitled
to a reward for repaying you? Is he entitled to any special credit? If a
father sees his son drowning and jumps into the water to rescue him, is
he entitled to any special credit, as a matter of right? Duty is
something _due_; therefore, it is a debt. "When ye have done all the
things that are commanded you, say, We are all bondservants; we have
done that which it was our duty to do."

(1) Duty is something owing to ourselves. Character is made up of
duties, and by our character we must stand or fall. We owe it to
ourselves to take the greatest care of our bodies. They should be
cleansed and exercised every day of our lives. Many a man, who would
feel outraged if his favourite horse were not thoroughly groomed and
otherwise cared for daily, neglects his own body, which needs "grooming"
quite as much as that of the horse. We owe it to ourselves to be careful
as to what we eat, and as to the right quantity. If we give a dog too
much meat or a horse too much grain, we know the result. We are not so
careful about ourselves as about our animals.

We owe it to ourselves to be true in all things. "First to thine own
self be true," says the great poet. We owe it to ourselves to be honest
in the very smallest things as well as in the great; to be afraid of
nothing except evil; to be clean in our thoughts and words; to be
modest; to be kind; to be gentle to the weak; to be generous; to be
charitable; to be modest about ourselves; to be temperate.

(2) Duty is something owing to others. We owe our parents a return for
their love and care for us at a time when we should have perished
without it. The return that is due them is that we should be a credit to
them instead of a disgrace, so that the world may say, "Those parents
have reason to be proud of their children." God has said: "Honour thy
father and thy mother." We owe it to them to be diligent in our
lessons, so that we may prepare to earn our own living, and not to be
dependent upon them all our days. A boy may say: "I am not going to
bother my head about this work. My father is rich, and I shall never
have to work unless I like." A few years hence, men will say: "Look at
that idle fellow! He is a disgrace to his parents. He is fit for
nothing; he is going to the bad already."

We owe it to others to owe them nothing. "Owe no man anything." It is
our duty to pay every debt in full, at the earliest moment possible. We
owe it to others to keep as sacred every confidence reposed in us. We
owe it to others to say no evil of them. _De mortuis nil nisi bonum_ was
a proverb of the Romans. It is wiser to speak evil of no one at all.


     "He slandereth not with his tongue,
     Nor doeth evil to his friend,
     Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour."


(3) Duty is something owing to one's country. The names of the patriots
will be the last to die from men's memories. Every man owes to his
country his name, his influence, his strenuous labour, his liberty, his
life itself, should that be needed. When Nelson, on the day of
Trafalgar, gave to his ships the signal, "England expects every man to
do his duty," he spoke for all nations, in all ages, under all
circumstances. When Pompey's friends tried to dissuade him from setting
sail for Rome in a storm, telling him that he did so at the peril of his
life, he said, "It is necessary for me to go, it is not necessary for me
to live." Perhaps the greatest example of patriotism shown in a love of
Duty of modern times is that of Wellington. His greatness lay in doing
thoroughly every duty that came in his way. For that he would sacrifice
everything else. Late in his life he was content to suffer a temporary
loss of popularity through devotion to what he believed to be a duty. He
was even mobbed in the streets of London, and had his windows smashed
while his wife lay dead in the house. The great motive power that
underlay his whole career was whole-hearted devotion to Duty. He himself
said that Duty was his watchword. "There is little or nothing in this
life worth living for," said he; "but we can all of us go straight
forward and do our duty." Nelson's last words were: "I have done my
duty; I praise God for it."

Some years ago a troop-ship called the _Birkenhead_ was wrecked off the
coast of Africa. The officers and men saw the women and children safely
into the boats, which sufficed for them alone. Those brave soldiers and
sailors fired a salute as the ship went down, and thus cheerfully gave
up their lives to the watery grave. Upon which a great writer said:
"Goodness, Duty, Sacrifice--these are the qualities that England
honours. She knows how to teach her sons to sink like men amidst sharks
and billows, as if Duty were the most natural thing in the world."

(4) Duty is something owing to God. The highest act of duty is to
acknowledge that we owe everything to God, except evil. We owe our lives
to God, for from Him they came. We owe it to God that man is a human
being, and not merely a higher sort of lower animal. God "breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living _soul_." We owe
to God all that we have, and especially all happiness that we enjoy. It
is from Him that comes all the love that enters into our lives. He is
the great source of love to the human race. That is why we call Him our
Father; He is the personification of the love of which our earthly
parents' love is an example. We owe to God gratitude for His love to us,
manifested at every step of our lives, and we ought not merely to feel
that gratitude, but also to express it to Him daily. It is our duty,
therefore, to pray.

The highest form of prayer is that God's will may be done in our lives.
If we are sincere in that, and pray it with our hearts, and not merely
with our lips, it will be found sufficient to cover every request that
we can make, because our supreme duty is to do God's will in every act
and desire of life. Arising out of that prayer come the principal duties
of life, viz., thankfulness for God's goodness to us, the fight against
evil in every form, the showing to others by example how God's will may
be done, and, lastly, perfect trust in God in every circumstance of
life.




No. II.

OBEDIENCE

+Obedience is doing promptly and cheerfully what is commanded by those in
authority over us.+


Obedience is the first great law of life. No nation could continue to
exist if its citizens were not law-abiding. The most highly civilized
nations are those whose citizens yield loyal Obedience to the laws, and
strive to make all men obey them. Every society has its rules which the
members agree to obey, and it can only exist so long as that obedience
is observed voluntarily and faithfully. No army could be successful
against the enemy if the soldiers did not obey their officers.
Unquestioning obedience to the commands of the captain is necessary for
the safety of the ship and of the lives of the passengers. Those who are
employed in business must obey the instructions of their employers if
the business is to succeed. The first lesson that a schoolboy is set to
learn is the lesson of Obedience. What happiness could there be in our
homes if the children did not obey their parents?

The greatest part of life is Conduct, and Conduct can only be attained
by practising Obedience. The little child learns it from its mother, the
boy from his father, and from his master at school. The young man must
practise it at college, or at business. The older man continues to obey
some one all through his life. If he wish to govern others, he must
first obey himself. If he will not obey himself, he cannot rule others.
There is only One who is above Obedience--that is God.

At the battle of Balaklava, a small brigade of cavalry was ordered to
attack an immensely strong battery. The order was a mistake, as every
one knew that such an attempt would mean certain death. Yet the officer
commanding the cavalry did not hesitate for a moment to carry out the
orders, though he well knew what the result would be. Not a single
soldier among those six hundred refused to