The Seven Cardinal Virtues

The Seven Cardinal Virtues was written by The Rev. James Stalker, D.D., Professor of Church History, United Free College, Aberdeen. This book was published in London in 1902. (156 pages)

The Publisher has copy-edited this book to improve the formatting, style and accuracy of the text to make it readable. This did not involve changing the substance of the text.

Preface

.....In case any of my brother-ministers should think of discoursing on the subject of this book, a word or two may be prefixed on the literature. The whole moral system of AQUINAS (Secunda Secundæ of the Summa) is built on this framework; and a marvelous structure it is, well worthy of the attention of all who wish either to sharpen their logical faculty or to widen their view of the moral world. On the heathen virtues an admirable discussion, thoroughly up to date, will be found in MEZES' Ethics, and on the Christian ones a discussion still more profound in HARLESS' Christian Ethics. Something on nearly every one of the topics discussed in the following pages will be found in any of the numerous works on Christian Ethics, such as those Of SCHLEIERMACHER, ROTHE, MARTENSEN, DORNER, KOSTLIN, NEWMAN SMYTH and STRONG.

JAMES STALKER.
THE UNITED FREE COLLEGE, ABERDEEN,
September 1902.

Contents:

Chapter I Wisdom, Chapter II Courage, Chapter III Temperance, Chapter IV Justice, Chapter V Faith, Chapter VI Hope, Chapter VII Love.

Excerpts:
.....The Seven Deadly Sins' formed the theme of a former volume of this series, and it seems natural to follow up that course with another on 'The Seven Cardinal Virtues.' The idea of the seven deadly sins is, that among the innumerable sins of which human beings may be guilty there are seven of peculiar virulence, from which all the rest can be derived; and, in the same way, the idea of the seven cardinal virtues is, that among the countless excellences with which human character may be adorned there are seven which overtop the rest, and from which all the rest are derivable. The adjective 'cardinal' refers especially to this latter point: it signifies that these are the virtues on which all others hinge. For instance, in the one with which this first chapter will be occupied —wisdom—six virtues are included according to one ancient authority, and no fewer than ten according to another.
.....The idea of cardinal virtues is an exceedingly old one. It occurs in Plato and Aristotle, and from these famous philosophers it descended to the Greek philosophical schools. From the Greeks it passed to the Romans, being prominent in the writings of Cicero; and from them it passed to the Fathers of the Church.
.....The Greeks, however, only counted four cardinal virtues— wisdom, courage, temperance and justice. According to them, these were the four sides of a perfectly symmetrical character, and the man who possessed them could stand foursquare to all the winds that blow. In the Old Testament Apocrypha these four are also mentioned, and a Jewish writer of the time of our Lord, Philo of Alexandria, compares them to the four rivers that watered the garden of Eden — so do these fertilize and adorn human nature. Christianity, however, introduced a nomenclature as well as a conception of virtue of its own. Many virtues are mentioned in the New Testament, but there are three which occur constantly, as comprehending in themselves the whole of Christian character— namely, faith, hope and charity.
.....Sometimes the name of Cardinal Virtues is restricted to the four virtues of the pre-Christian philosophers, whereas the other three are named the Christian or the Theological Virtues; but certainly the latter are cardinal also—that is, hinge-virtues—and it is convenient to have a single adjective for designating the whole seven.