ETHICS
1
Co
6",
Eph
21-'),
but
every
Christian
is
supposed
to
be
capable,
sooner
or
later,
of
the
most
precious
forms
of
goodness
(Mt
5'-'°),
for
there
is
no
caste
(Col
1^').
Im-mortality
is
promised
to
the
soul,
and
with
it
perpetual
communion
with
the
Saviour,
whose
image
is
to
be
repeated
in
every
man
He
saves
(Ro
8"-
"•
",
1
Co
1549-58,
2
Co
5»,
Ph
38",
1
Th
4",
1
Jn
3=-
',
Rev
22<).
The
objections
which
have
been
made
to
Biblical
Ethics
cannot
be
ignored,
though
the
subj
ect
can
be
merely
touched
in
this
article.
Some
passages
in
the
OT
have
been
stig-matized
as
immoral;
some
in
the
NT
are
said
to
contam
impracticable
precepts,
and
certain
important
spheres
of
duty
are
declared
to
receive
very
inadequate
treatment.
(i.)
As
to
the
OT,
it
is
to
be
observed
that
we
need
not
feel
guilty
of
disrespect
to
inspiration
when
our
moral
sense
is
offended;
for
the
Lord
Jesus
authorizes
the
belief
that
the
Mosaic
legislation
was
imperfect
(Mt5^^-.
Mk
lO^-^),
and
both
Jeremiah
and
Ezekiel
comment
adversely
on
doctrines
which
had
been
accepted
on
what
seemed
to
be
Divine
authority
(cf.
Ex
2(f
with
Jer
31»-
=»
and
Ezk
IS^-
'■
"■
").
It
is
reasonable
to
admit
that
if
men
were
to
be
improved
at
all
there
must
have
been
some
accommodation
to
circum-stance
and
states
of
mind
very
imlike
our
own;
yet
some
of
the
laws
are
shocking.
While
such
institutions
as
polyg-amy
and
slaveiy,
which
could
not
be
at
once
abolished,
were
restricted
in
their
range
and
stripped
of
some
of
their
worst
evils
(Ex
2iai-,
Lv
25«-'».
1
Ch
2»,
Pr
172),
there
remain
many
enactments
and
transactions
which
must
have
been
always
abhorrent
to
God
though
His
sanction
is
claimed
for
them
(Ex
22>8-m
31»-
"
35=
',
Lv
20='
Nu
1532-»
31,
Dt
1351S
17'-'
182"
21i«-»,
2
S
21i-9).
Had
men
always
remembered
these
illustrations
of
the
fact
that
passions
and
opinions
utterly
inmioral
may
seem
to
be
m
harmony
with
God's
will,
the
cruelties
inflicted
on
heretics
in
the
name
of
God
would
not
have
disgraced
the
Church's
history;
and,
indeed,
these
frightful
mistakes
of
OT
days
may
have
been
recorded
to
teach
us
to
be
cautious,
lest
while
doing
wrong
we
imagine
that
God
is
served
(Jn
162).
'The
limited
area
of
the
unworthy
teaching
would
be
noticed
if
care
were
taken
to
observe
that
(1)
some
of
the
wicked
incidents
are
barely
recorded,
(2)
some
are
reprobated
in
the
context,
(3)
some
are
evidently
left
without
conament
because
the
historian
assumes
that
they
will
be
immediately
condenmed
by
the
reader.
In
regard
to
the
rest,
it
is
certain
that
the
Divine
seal
has
been
used
contrary
to
the
Divine
will.
It
must
be
added
that
the
very
disapproval
of
the
enormities
has
been
made
possible
by
the
book
which
contains
the
objectionable
passages,
and
that
it
is
grossly
unfair
to
overlook
the
high
tone
manifested
generally
throughout
a
great
and
noble
literature,
and
the
justice,
naercy,
and
truth
comnended
by
Israel's
poets,
historians,
and
prophets,
generation
after
generation.
(ii.)
As
to
the
NT,
it
is
alleged
that,
even
if
the
Sermon
on
the
Mount
could
be
obeyed,
obedience
would
be
ruinous.
This,
however,
is
directly
in
the
teeth
of
Christ's
own
com-ment
(Mt
7^-"),
and
is
due
in
part
to
a
supposition
that
every
law
is
for
every
man.
The
disciples,
having
a
special
task,
might
be
under
special
orders,
just
as
the
Lord
Himself
gave
up
all
His
wealth
(2
Co
8^)
and
carried
out
literally
most
of
the
precepts
included
in
His
discourse.
The
para-doxical
forms
employed
should
be
a
sufficient
guard
against
a
bald
construction
of
many
of
the
sayings,
and
should
compel
us
to
meditate
upon
principles
that
ought
to
guide
all
hves.
It
is
the
voice
of
love
that
we
hear,
not
the
voice
of
legaUty.
The
Christian
Etnic
is
Buj>posed
to
be
careless
of
social
institutions,
and
Christianity
is
blamed
for
not
preaching
at
once
against
slavery,
etc.
Probably
more
harm
than
good
would
nave
resulted
from
political
and
economic
discourses
delivered
by
men
who
were
ostracized.
Butit
is
improbable
that
the
Christian
mind
was
sufficiently
instructed
to
advance
any
new
doctrine
for
the
State.
Moreover,
the
supposition
that
the
world
was
near
its
close
must
have
diverted
attention
from
social
schemes.
_
The
ahenation
from
the
world
was
an
alienation
from
wicked-ness,
not
indifference
to
human
pain
and
sorrow.
The
poverty
of
believers,
the
scorn
felt
for
them
by
the
great,
the
impossibility
of
attending
public
functions
without
countenancing
idolatry,
the
lack
of
toleration
by
the
State,
all
tended
to
keep
the
Christian
distinct
from
his
fellows.
Mob
and
State
and
cultured
class,
by
their
hatred
or
con-tenipt,
compelled
Christianity
to
move
on
its
own
Hues.
At
first
it
was
saved
from
contamination
by
various
kinds
of
persecution,
and
the
isolation
has
proved
to
be
a
blessing
to
mankind;
for
the
new
life
was
able
to
gather
its
forces
and
to
acquire
knowledge
of
its
own
powers
and
mission.
The
new
ideal
was
protected
by
its
very
unpopularity.
Meanwhile
there
was
the
attempt
to
live
a
life
of
love
to
ETHIOPIAN
EUNUCH
God
and
man,
and
to
treasure
Gospels
and
Epistles
that
kept
securely
for
a
more
promising
season
many
sacred
seeds
destined
to
grow
into
trees
bearing
many
kinds
of
fruit.
The
doctrine
of
the
Divine
Fatherhood
implicitly
condemns
every
social
and
political
wrong,
while
it
begets
endeavours
directed
to
the
promotion
of
peace
among
nations,
and
to
the
uplifting
of
the
poor
and
ignorant
and
depraved
of
every
land
into
realms
of
material,
intellectual,
and
moral
blessing.
There
is
no
kind
of
good
which
is
absent
from
the
prayers:
'Thy
kingdom
come';
'Thy
will
be
done
on
earth
as
it
is
in
ueaven.'
W.
J.
Henderson.
ETHIOPIA
is
tr.
of
the
Heb.
Cush,
which
is
derived
from
Kosh,
the
Egyp.
name
of
Nubia
(beginning
at
the
First
Cataract).
The
cultivable
land
in
this
region
is
very
meagre.
The
scanty
and
barbarous
population
of
the
valley
and
the
deserts
on
either
side
was
divided
in
early
times
among
different
tribes,
which
were
com-pletely
at
the
mercy
of
the
Egyptians.
Individually,
however,
the
Sudanese
were
sturdy
warriors,
and
were
constantly
employed
by
the
Pharaohs
as
mercenary
soldiers
and
poUce.
In
the
time
of
the
New
Kingdom,
Cush
southward
to
Napata
was
a
province
of
Egypt,
dotted
with
Egyptian
temples
and
governed
by
a
viceroy.
With
the
weakening
of
the
Egyptian
power
Cush
grew
into
a
separate
kingdom,
with
Napata
as
its
capital.
Its
rulers
were
probably
of
Egyptian
descent;
they
are
represented
as
being
entirely
subservient
to
Ammon,
i.e.
to
his
priests,
elected
by
him,
acting
only
upon
his
oracles,
and
ready
to
abdicate
or
even
to
commit
suicide
at
his
command.
We
first
hear
of
a
king
of
Ethiopia
about
B.C.
730,
when
a
certain
Pankhi,
reigning
at
Napata
and
already
in
possession
of
the
Egyptian
Thebaid,
added
most
of
Middle
Egypt
to
his
dominions
and
exacted
homage
from
the
princes
of
the
Delta.
A
little
later
an
Ethiopian
dynasty
(the
XXVth)
sat
on
the
throne
of
the
Pharaohs
for
nearly
fifty
years
(b.c.
715-664).
The
last
of
these,
Tahraku
(Tirhakah
[wh.
see]),
intrigued
with
the
kinglets
of
Syria
and
Phoenicia
against
the
Assyrians,
but
only
to
the
ruin
of
himself
and
his
dynasty.
Tahraku
and
his
successor
Tandamane
were
driven
into
Ethiopia
by
the
Assyrian
invasions,
and
Egypt
became
independent
under
the
powerful
XXVIth
Dynasty.
For
the
Persian
period
it
is
known
that
Ethiopia,
or
part
of
it,
was
included
in
one
satrapy
with
Egypt
under
Darius.
In
the
3rd
cent.
B.C.
king
Ergamenes
freed
himself
from
the
power
of
the
priests
of
Ammon
by
a
great
slaughter
of
them.
From
about
this
time
forward
Meroe,
the
southern
residence,
was
the
capital
of
Ethiopia.
The
worship
of
Ammon,
however,
as
the
national
god
of
'Negroland,'
as
Ethiopia
was
then
called,
still
continued.
In
b.c.
24
the
Romans
invaded
Ethiopia
in
answer
to
an
attack
on
Egypt
by
queen
Candace,
and
destroyed
Napata,
but
the
kingdom
continued
to
be
Independent.
The
Egyptian
culture
of
Ethiopia
had
by
that
time
taUen
into
a
very
barbarous
state.
Inscriptions
exist
written
in
a
peculiar
character
and
in
the
native
language,
as
yet
undeciphered;
others
are
in
a
debased
form
of
Egyptian
hieroglyphic.
The
name
of
Cush
was
familiar
to
the'Hebrews
through
the
part
that
its
kings
played
in
Egypt
and
Syria
from
B.C.
730-664,
and
recently
discovered
papyri
prove
that
Jews
were
settled
on
the
Ethiopian
border
at
Syene
in
the
6th
cent.
b.c.
See
also
Cush.
F.
Ll.
Griffith.
ETHIOPIAN
EUITOCH.—
According
to
Ac
8",
an
Ethiopian
eunuch,
minister
of
Candace,
queen
of
the
Ethiopians,
who
was
over
all
her
treasure,
was
met
shortly
after
the
martyrdom
of
Stephen
by
the
deacon
Philip
when
returning
from
a
religious
journey
to
Jerusalem,
and
converted
to
Christianity.
The
confes-sion
of
faith
put
into
his
mouth
in
v."
(AV)
is
now
uni-versally
admitted
to
be
an
early
interpolation.
Assum-ing
the
Lukan
authorship
of
the
Acts,
the
source
of
the
above
narrative
may
have
been
personal
informa-tion
received
from
Philip
(cf.
Ac
218).
Like
the
baptism
