Any systematic study on the develoment of the economic ethics in England on the eve of the industrial revolution has thus far not been prosecuted in Japan. In this paper, the writings of Baxter, Tillotson, Defoe, The Spectator, Franklin and Wesley are taken up, and such elements which are supposed to make up the so-called spirit of capitalism, as the calculation, the sparingness of the time, the practicalness, the individualistic spirit, the esteem for the order and the method, the view of calling, and the principle of faithfulness, are considered in detail. In the eighteenth century, the economic ethics tends to be popularized, partly under the influence of deism, to be stripped of its religious colour, and gradually to take concrete form in the spirit of capitalism. Proverbs which are in frequent use today, such as "time is money", "credit is money", "honesty is the best policy", "a penny saved is a penny earned", and "never put off tomorrow, what you can do today", have their origin in the economic ethics on the eve of the industrial revolution.
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