Manual of Christian ethics

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1898. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... chapter iii. duties to our fellowmen. The Duty of Respect to Our Fellowmen. (i.) Respect. The word respect is derived from (Lat.) respicio, to look back, or upon, to look at, to view or consider with a degree of reverence warranted by the position or worth of the object. There is a sad deficiency in the practice of this virtue in our day. The reason why the mental tone of a large number of people is so low and the world so full of evil tongues and rash judgment, is the want of mutual respect. When boys were reverent and polite to their fathers and mothers and towards their superiors, men were better than they are now, when youth and even childen do not scruple to treat their parents and elderly people as equals, and unless kept constantly at arm's length, are sure to indulge in unseemly familiarity. The decadence of manners is a most humiliating feature of the age, and among the many sources of evil which result from demoralization transpiring in our social life, in consequence of the neglect of proper discipline and cultivation of respect for our fellow men. Mutual Respect. The respectable man is worthy of respect. But he who has no respect for others, manifests those qualities which, in spite of other virtues he may possess, will infallibly secure disrespect. And he, too, who does not respect himself usually has nothing to respect, and he must not complain if others withhold from him what he himself regards as due to himself. The majority of men are more or less dependent on the feelings of their fellowmen for incentives to virtue. Few men can resist the hurtful influence of disrespect, if at all prominent, but all feel the bracing effect which comes from sincere respect. The courage we impart by such conduct becomes a powerful aid to our fellow men. The homag...