DORNER'S " CHRISTIAN ETHICS."* THIS is the last work we
shall obtain from the able pen of the late Dr. Dorner, and it may be said that it fitly crowns the edifice of his manifold labours. Universally recognised to be one of the ablest, if not the ablest of theologians, his works have ranged over a vast extent of ground, and he has contri- buted something of value to every topic he touched. The period of his theological activity was a somewhat troubled one. One great controversy followed hard on another ; sometimes good people thought the foundations were destroyed ; and through it all men looked to Dorner to see how he bore him- self, and gathered heart again when they saw him undisturbed. His was not the stolid calmness of ignorance, but the stead- fast courage of one who knew history and had measured the forces at work. He calmly wrought on, giving his mighty powers to the service of Christian science, and has left a record memorable and valuable to all men. As one of his colleagues, Professor Weiss, has said,—" There rested on his whole being a consecration such as is lent only by the nobility of a thorough sanctification of the inmost nature, and by the dignity of a matured wisdom."
His works are already familiar to English readers, and all who know them will rejoice to place beside them his System, of Christian Ethics. It is somewhat curious to think that we have no work on Christian ethics from an English author. No doubt we have translations of the works of Martensen, of Wuttke, and now of Dorner. In Germany there are many treatises on the subject, notably that of Rothe. It would lead us too far afield to ask the reason why, in Christian ethics, English literature is barren, even if we could find an answer ; but it is at least curious that so much should be made of Christian ethics in Germany and so little with us. The reason is not that we are indifferent to ethics or to Christianity, for the ethical studies produced in our own country are fit to take their • System of Christian Ethics. By Dr. J. A. Dorner. Edited by Dr. A. Dorner. Translated by C. M. Mend, D.D., and Rev. R. T. Cunningham, M. A.. Edinburgh T. and T. Clark. place among the greatest works in that department, in any language or in any country or time. Nor is it that Christian ethics are disregarded. Essentially, though not formally, we have scattered through our literature studies of great signifi- cance on detached questions of Christian ethics,—sometimes in sermons, sometimes as magazine articles, and sometimes in other places and forms. It is desirable, however, that we should have a systematic treatment of the question in the English manner, and according to the English method of philosophising; for, much as we are indebted to Germany in this and other departments of knowledge, the fact remains that we must write our own literature, and work out our own theology and philosophy. We may learn much from Dorner, but his manner is strange to us, his culture different from ours, and it is hard to make him speak in our English tongue.
We shall have to assimilate what is valuable in his thought, transform it, and reproduce it in an English form, before it can have its proper effect on us. Meanwhile, English readers must do the best they can with this translation. The translators have honestly striven to invest the thought of Dorner with an English vesture, and they have been fairly successful. Even if sometimes there is a harshness and ruggedness in the diction, and if at other times there is a failure in catching and setting forth the exact shade of meaning, we must remember how difficult their task was, and how great a resistance the German of Dorner presents to translation. This resistance is partly due to style, and partly to Dorner's habit of laying a burden of thought on every sentence which no language can bear without difficulty.
The characteristics of Dorner's way of thinking are abun- dantly present in this work. To him, creation and history are the result of a divine plan which aims at the realisation of a kingdom of God in which moral perfection may be attained by man. All the history of the past is a series of steps in the process by which this goal of moral perfection is to be reached.
Dorner traces the different stages of moral knowledge through which mankind has passed. By moral impulse, by the con- sciousness of a moral law, and, finally, by divine love made manifest to men by Christ, man has been prepared for entrance into the kingdom of God. It is instructive to follow Dorner as he traces the successive stages of moral attainment. Take the first division of his work, " The Order of the World as Fixed by God at Creation, antecedent to the Moral Process," and we find a connected and luminous discussion of man's natural endowment by creation, of the psychical element in man's moral constitution, of the rational element, of the individuality in man's moral endowment, and of the natural union of the differences in human nature. In the discussion of these topics, Dorner is brought into immediate contact with, sometimes into conflict with, ordinary systems of ethics, and defines the relations of the Christian system of ethics to philosophical ethics. In the second division he sets forth " The Divine Order of the Universe as the Law of Action for the Moral Faculties." Here let us quote a section :- " On the basis of the physical and mental faculties of a common and individual kind which have been considered in the First Division, the moral process is initiated. This is done by the separation of the moral feeling, which is the beginning of the rational human existence, into moral sense and impulse, and at a higher stage into actual conscience and freedom. This separation takes place in order that the objective moral law may make its claims in a clearly conscious way upon the free will. By the moral pro- cess, however, the simple or natural unity of the rational human constitution is broken up relatively only for the sake of seeking a higher form. Accordingly this Division is subdivided into the doctrine of Jaw, of conscience, and of freedom." (p. 191.) The discussion moves onward with keen dialectic precision, each step is firmly taken, and becomes in turn the foundation for further advance. A keen analytic faculty is at work, and the elements set free by analysis are taken up in the synthesis of a new movement. We are constantly reminded of the Hegelian dialectic ; but it is Hegelianism with a difference. For with Dorner the highest category is not intellectual, nor even spiritual in the Hegelian sense of the word ; it is personal, and every movement is seen ultimately to be in the grasp of personality.
Hence the significance of the personality of Christ in all that Bonier has written. It is both the source and goal of all his thinking, as it is to him the source and goal of nature and of history. Christ has realised the highest morality of man- kind. has expressed the fullness of divine law, has manifested the perfect love of God, has created in man faith and peace and love, and thus has established the kingdom of God on the earth. In this division, Dorner sets forth how this work is done.
Nothing more instructive can well be conceived than the description of the manner in which the heart is cleansed, the life is elevated, the conduct is purified, and all the organic movements of society are purified by Christ, who is at once the principle of the kingdom of God and the head of humanity. The description of the general process is often worked out also in particular detail, and light is thus cast on many pressing problems of the present hour. For example, take the following on " The Christian View of the World," and observe how it holds the balance between extremes the one-sidedness of which makes them equally untrue :— " Christian wisdom, united with love and based upon faith, leads us to a view of the world which is opposed both to pessimism and optimism. As against the former, the Christian knows through faith that the supreme good has already come, and is present in the world; as against the latter, he recognises that the supreme good has still to come, and has yet to be realised through love. Thus, through Christian wisdom in the form of hope, love is guided to the particular work which must be performed in order that that part of the chief good may be realised whose time of realisation is come. And so love effects the transition from virtue as an inward impulse, to outward virtuous deeds, or acts, and in these manifests its productive activity. And this takes place in such a way that every true act of virtue is a product of the whole virtuous energy of the Christian, and in it faith, love, and hope are in essential union with each other." (p. 388.) While the work as a whole is fitted to stimulate thought and guide it, and while it may be truly described as one of the greatest contributions yet made to Christian ethics, it must be said that some of the discussions contained in it are the reverse of profitable. These, however, are mostly on side- issues, and may be disregarded without injury to the argument as a whole. We refer more particularly to such discussions as those on temperament, races, and nationalities, and to such theories as those roomer sets forth with regard to the origin of the different races of mankind. Now and then he seems to give way to fancy, and to set forth various speculations, which we are sure will not stand the scrutiny of science. These, however, are not numerous, and may be disregarded, while his marvellous intellectual force, his great spiritual energy, and rich wisdom have found for themselves a vesture which the Christian world will not let die. We feel that we shall often return to the pages of this work, for the illumination of the mind on questions of moral principle, and for guidance in matters of practice; and we know we shall not come in vain.
Previous page
