THE GROWTH OF THOUGHTAS AFFECTING THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY. By William Withington. 1851. Contents. Part I. Introductory. Life Defined. Intellectual Culture and Intellectual Life, Distinguished. Human Life, a Problem. The Evil to be Managed. Self-Love Considered under a Three-fold Aspect. Three Agencies formeliorating the Human Condition. The Growth of Thought, Slow; and oftmost in unexpected quarter. Part II. Welfare as dependent on the Social Institutions. Limited Aim of theReceived Political Economy. An Enlightened Policy but the EffectiveAim at managing Self-Love, directed towards Present Goods, vulgarlyunderstood. The Political Fault of the Papacy. Its SubstantialCorrection by the Reformation. Republicanism carried from Religioninto Legislation; still without a clear perception of its Principle. Its Progress accordingly Slow. Part III. Philosophy the Second Agency for promoting General Welfare, as theEducator of Self-Love; the Corrector of mistaken apprehensions ofTemporal Good; the Revealer of the ties which bind the Members of theHuman Family to One Lot, to suffer or rejoice together. Progress inestimating Life. Part IV. Mightier Influences yet needed, to contend with the Powers of Evil. Supplied by Man's recognizing the whole of his Being; the extent of hisDuties; the Duration of his Existence. Religion, supplying the defectsof the preceding Agencies; Considered in nine particulars. Conclusion. Recapitulation. Suggestions to Christian Ministers. Preface. A contemporary thus reveals the state of mind, through which he hascome to the persuasion of great insight into the realities, which standbehind the veil: "What more natural, more spontaneous, more imperative, than that the conditions of his future being should press themselves onhis anxious thought! Should we not suppose, the 'every third thoughtwould be his grave, ' together with the momentous realities that liebeyond it? If man is indeed, as Shakespeare describes him, 'a being oflarge discourse, looking before and after, ' we could scarcely resistthe belief, that, when once assured of the possibility of informationon his head, he would, as it were, _rush_ to the oracle, to have hisabsorbing problems solved, and his restless heart relieved of its loadof uncertain forebodings. "* [Bush's Statement of Reasons, &c. , p. 12. ] Not less frequently or intensely, the writer's mind has turned to theproblem of applying know truth to the present, reconciling self-lovewith justice and benevolence, and vindicating to godliness, the promiseof the life that now is. If, meanwhile, he has been "intruding intothose things which he hath not seen, " like affecting an angelicreligion, --then it were hardly possible but that he should mistakefancy for fact. But if his inquiries have been into what it isgiven to know, then he cannot resist the belief, that some may deriveprofit from the results of many fearfully anxious years, herecompressed within a few pages. He might have further compressed, justsaying: Mainly, political wisdom is the management of self-love;civilization is the cultivation of self-love; the excrescenses ofcivilization are the false refinements of self-love; while unselfishlove is substantial virtue, --the end of the commandments, --thefulfilling of the law: Or, he might have enlarged indefinitely; moreespecially might have been written on practically applying theprinciples to the advancement of society. He may yet produce somethingof the kind. Of the substance of the following pages he has only tosay, that, if false, the falsehood has probably become too much a partof his nature to be ever separated. As to such minor considerations, as logical arrangement and the niceties of style, he asks only thecriticism due to one, whose hands have been necessitated to guide theplough oftener than the pen, through the best years of life. The Growth of Thought, As Affecting the Progress of Society. Part I. Introductory. The meditation on human life--on the contrast between what _is_, andwhat _might be_, on supposing a general concurrence to make the best ofthings-yields emotions both painful and pleasing;--painful for thedemonstrations every where presented, of a love of darkness, ratherthan light; pleasing, that the worst evils are seen to be soremediable; and so clear the proofs of a gradual, but sure progresstowards the remedy. The writer is not very familiar with those authors, who have so much tosay on the problem of life--the question, What is life? He supposesthem to follow a train of thought, something like this: The life of acreature is that perfection and flourish of its faculties, of which itsconstitution is capable, and which some of the race are destined toreach. Thus, the life of the lion is realized, when the animal rangesundisputed lord of the sunny desert; finds sufficiency of prey forhimself and offspring, which he raises to inherit dominion; lives thenumber of years he is capable of enjoying existence, and then closesit, without excessive pains, lingering regrets, or fearfulanticipations. Life differs from happiness. It is supposable, that the lion, tamedand petted, trained to feed somewhat after man's chosen manner, may beas happy as if at liberty in his native range. But such happiness isnot the animal's life; since this implies the kind of happiness properto the creature's constitution, in distinction from that induced byforced habits. To happiness add knowledge and intellectual culture, and all togetherdo not realize the idea of life. The tame lion may be taught manyarts, assimilating him to the intelligence of man; but these remove himso much further from his appropriate life. Thus there may be acultivated intelligence, which constitutes no part of the creature'slife; and this without considering the same as a moral agent. Macauley remarks, that the Jesuits seem to have solved the problem, howfar intellectual culture may be carried, without producing intellectualemancipation. I suppose it would be only varying the expression of histhought to say, Jesuitical education strikingly exemplifies, how muchintellectual culture may be superinduced upon the mind, withoutawakening intellectual life--without developing a spontaneous aptnessto appreciate, seek, find, embrace the truth. The head is filled withthe thoughts of others-many ascertained facts and just conclusions. Itcan reason aright in the circles of thought, where it has been trainedto move; but elsewhere, no spontaneous activity--no self-directed powerof thinking justly on new emergencies and questions not yet settled byrule--no spring within, from which living waters flow. The difference between intellectual culture and intellectual lifeappears in the fact, that in regard to those mastering ideas, which toafter times mark one age as in advance of the preceding, the classicalscholars, the scientific luminaries, the constitutional expounders ofthe day, are quite as likely to be behind the general sense of the age, as to be in advance. The question, What is human life? arises on a contemplation like this:There is no difficulty in determining the life of all the other tenantsof earth; unless, indeed, those which man has so long and souniversally subjected to his purposes, that the whereabouts, or indeedthe existence of the original stock, remains in doubt. The inferioranimals, left to themselves in favorable circumstances, manifest onedevelopment, attain to one flourish, live the same life, fromgeneration to generation. Man may superinduce upon them what hecalls _improvements_, because they better fit them for _his_ purposes. But said improvements are never transmitted from generation to itssuccessor; left to itself, the race reverts to proper life, the same ithas lived from the beginning. Man here presents a singular exception to the general rule of earth'sinhabitants. The favorite pursuits of one age are abandoned in thenext. This generation looks back on the earnest occupations of apreceding, as the adult looks back on the sports and toys of childhood. It is more than supposable, that the planning for the chances ofoffice, the competition for making most gain out of the leastproductiveness--these earnest pursuits of the men of this age--in thenext will be resigned to the children of larger growth; just as arenow resigned the trappings of military glory. Where then is the humanmind ultimately to fix? Where is man to find so essentially his good, as to fix his earnest pursuit in one direction, in which the race isstill to hold on? Such seems to be the question, What is life? The elements of that darkness, which excludes the light of life, may beconsidered as these three: First, the excessive preponderance ofself-love, as the ruling motive of human conduct. Secondly, theshort-sightedness of self-love, in magnifying the present, at the costof the distant future. And, Thirdly, the grossness of self-love, inpreferring of present goods the vulgar and the sensible, to the refinedand more exquisitely satisfactory. And there are three ways, in whichwe may attempt the abatement of existing evils; or, there are threeagencies we may call in for this purpose. In the first place, leaving individuals to the operation of the commonmotives, we may labor at the social institutions, to adjust them to therule, that, each seeking his own, after the common apprehension ofpresent interests, may do so consistently with acting the part of agood citizen--contributing something to the general welfare; or, atleast, not greatly detracting therefrom. Here, the agency employed, the Greeks would have called by a name, from which we have derived theword _politics_; which word, from abuse, has well nigh lost itsoriginal sense, _The science of social welfare_. _Policy_, we mightsay, for want of an exacter word. The second way, in which we may seek the same result, is, to inculcatejuster apprehensions of present good--to inform and refine self-love;to show, that the purest of present enjoyments, are like the loaves andfishes distributed by divine hands, multiplying by division andparticipation--the best of all being such as none can enjoy fully, tillthey become the common property of the race. For want of a moreaccurately defined term, the agent here introduced may be calledPhilosophy; understanding by the term, the search, what would be theconduct and preferences of a truly wise man, dispassionately seekingfor himself the best enjoyment of this life, uninformed of another tofollow. Or, thirdly, we may seek to infuse a nobler principle than self-love, however refined--even the charity, whose essence is, to love one'sneighbor as one's self; while, at the same time, this life beingearnestly contemplated as but the introductory part of an immensewhole, additional security is provided for the coincidence of interestwith duty. In a word, the third agency to be employed is _Religion_. The whole subject thus sketched is one of which the writer is notaware, that it has been distinctly defined, as a field for thought andinvestigation. He has little to learn from the successes or thefailures of predecessors. Be this his excuse for seeming prosy anddull; possibly for mistakes and crudities. He has the doublydifficulty of attempting to turn thought into trains to which it isnot accustomed; and yet of offering no results so profound as to haveescaped other observers; or so sublime as to be the due prize ofgenius, venturing where few can soar. If he offers any thoughts new, just, and important, they have rather been overlooked for theirsimplicity and obviousness. One may dive too deep for that whichfloats on the surface. Here are to be expected none of the splendidresults, which dazzle in the popular sciences. The cultivator of thisfield can hope only to favor, imperceptibly it may be, the growth ofthoughts and sentiments, tending slowly to work out a better conditionof the human family. And he begs to commend that advice of Lacon, which himself has found so profitable: "In the pursuit of knowledge, follow it, wherever it is to be found; like fern, it is the produce ofall climates; and like coin, its circulation is not restricted to anyparticular class. * * * * Pride is less ashamed of being ignorant, thanof being instructed; and she looks too high to find that, which veryoften lies beneath her. Therefore condescend to men of low estate, andbe for wisdom, that which Alcibiades was for power. " (Vol. I. , p. 122. ) The difficulty with us Americans, in the way of being instructed, hasbeen, that too proud, as if already possessed of the fullness ofpolitical wisdom, we have withal cherished a self-distrust, forbiddingus to harmonize our institutions and modes of thinking into conformitywith our work and altered situation. We have seen the British nation, choosing by the accident of birth a baby for its future sovereign, andtraining it in a way the least possible calculated to favor relationsof acquaintance and sympathy with varied wants of the many; and ourfirst impression, I fear, has been our last: What drivellers!Obstinately blind to the clearest lights of common sense! Whereaswiser for us would it be, to derive from the spectacle these generalconclusion: that hard is it for the human mind to proceed in advanceof ideas received and fashionable; that the so-called independent andoriginal thinkers--leaders of public sentiment-are such as anticipateby a little the general progress of thought, as our hill-tops catchfirst by a little the beams of the rising sun, before they fill theintervening valleys; that men's superiority in profound thought orliberal ideas, in one direction, affords no security for theirattaining to mediocrity in others; and that one familiar with thehistory of thought, may pronounce, with moral certainty, that such andsuch ideas were never entertained in such or such society, where duepreparation did not exist. As we may confidently say, No mountain-topcan tower high enough, to catch the sunbeams at midnight; with equalconfidence we may say of many ideas now familiar as school-boy truths:no intellect in ancient Greece or Rome soared high enough above themass to grasp them. Part II. Welfare as Dependent on Policy. As generally at all points, so the materialism of the age particularlyappears, in that the political economists take _wealth_, defining theirscience in the vulgar acceptation, rather than in the good old Englishsense, _welfare_, _well-being_. If they occasionally venture a remarkof a more liberal bearing on the general subject of public welfare;such is the exception to the general rule. Money, with its equivalentsand exchangeables, is their usual theme in treating of wealth; thoughtthe common use of the word economy might suggest a higher science. Forhe does not exhaust our idea of a good economist, who manages to haveat command abundant materials for rendering home happy; while, for lackof wisdom to turn such materials to account, that home may be lesshappy than the next-door neighbor's, where want is hardly staved off. We exact, for fulfilling that character, wisdom in using the materialmeans--provision for physical, intellectual, and moral training of thehousehold--the just apportionment between labor and recreation-thetrue contentment, which frets not at present imperfection, while itstill presses on to that perfection conceived to be attainable. Ourwriters on political economy would do well, to give the word as liberala latitude of sense, as it legitimately assumes, when used in itsprimitive meaning of _household management_. But, rather than attempt to raise a scientific term so much above itsreceived sense, I use another word, and say, Policy must begin with theadmission, that self-love is the mightiest mover of human conduct; andnot a self-love enlightened, deep, calculating, directed to the sourcesof fullest contentment; but following the groveling estimate, thatriches, power, office, ease, being the object of envy or admiration, are the chief goods of life. Every business man admits, that his security for men's conduct must befound in their self-interest. He admits thus much practically, so foras his own business is concerned; the exceptions being so rare, as notto justify neglect of the general rule. Yet, neither business men norpoliticians grasp the principle clearly, nor consequently apply itconsistently. And he who would make a new application of it, is metwith charges of great uncharitableness. This backwardness to generalize a rule, found so necessary practicallyto be followed, may be resolved into that flattering conceit of humandignity, which is yielded reluctantly, inch by inch, as plaindemonstration wrests it away. And further, self-love conceals itself, because generally it operates first to pervert the judgment. Theconsciousness of preferring private interest to worthierconsiderations, is too painful to be endured. The man thereforestrives, but too successfully, to misrepresent the case to himself. He contrives to make that seem right, which tends to his own advantage. But though indirect, the operation of self-love is none the less sure. Whether the individual be any the less blamable, because self-loveassumes this disguise, is not now to be considered. There are individuals, to whom implicit confidence in their unguardedhonesty, proves but an added motive to be more tremulously sensitive, not to abuse such confidence. There are, whom respect for theircalling binds wholly to more carefulness, to prove worthy of suchrespect. So always if one is thoroughly pervaded with the rightspirit. But dealing with bodies of men, as men yet are, these tworules should shape political institutions and social relations. First, so far as men can command confidence and respect, for the sakeof birth, calling, or office, so far they are relieved from thenecessity of seeking the same by personal qualifications; andaccordingly a body of men so protected, will perceptibly fall shortof the average, in the staple elements of respectability. Respect for station or calling so ample is here meant, as to satisfythe average desire of approbation. The extent, to which this issatisfied by the respect paid by the child, to the parent, for therelation's sake, is so moderate, as one of the elements tending to theformation of character, that it may be expected to operate generally asit universally would, where the right spirit fully reigns. The remarkholds good, with moderate abatement, in the relation of teacher andpupil. In the infancy of the Christian church, the relation between pastor andflock was closely analogous to that between parents and children. Onthe one side were men of a disinterested and paternal spirit, soearnestly living the new life hid with Christ in God, that hardly thepossibility could be conceived of a desire to exalt and magnify self, over the ignorance and degradation of their spiritual charge. On theother side were men, children in knowledge, incapable of estimating theministry simply after the consciousness of benefits received. We arenot then to condemn the arrangement, which clothed the ministry with anofficial dignity, the office being revered independently of the claimsof the man; nor to wonder, if the arrangement outlived the necessity, or passed the bounds of moderation; or if it was not fully calculated, the danger, lest men of the primitive spirit yield places to those ofan inferior stamp; and how truly eternal vigilance is the cost, atwhich all things here must be saved from their tendencies todeterioration. Accordingly the history of the Papacy for centurieshas been, that its ministers are sure of unbounded respect from thepopulace, independently of their personal claims. The consequence is, that while a few are thus moved to heroic and almost angelic devotionto the spiritual good of their flocks, the many would never commandrespect for what they are as men. Similar remarks may be applied to the infancy of civil society. Theprevalence of monarchy and aristocracy has been too universal, to becharged wholly upon force or chance. And yet in the origin, rationalconsiderations can hardly be supposed to have been distinctlyentertained. Still there may have been a dim consciousness of thoughtslike these: It is so necessary that civil rulers be at all eventsrespected, and so uncertain how to secure due respect to men meritingit, that we must invest a class of men with a factitious officialdignity, and take the risk--rather the certainty--of its proving, inmost cases, a cover for personal unworthiness, some degrees below theordinary standard of humanity. If there existed a dim consciousness ofsuch reasoning, it might have been well entertained. The second rule of Policy--the master maxim of political wisdom--is, that no class of men must be expected to concur heartily, forextirpating the evils, from which its own revenues and importance arederived. Speaking of men acting in a body, there is no room for themany exceptions, necessarily admitted to the rule, that with theindividual self-love is the ruling motive. The individual sometimesyields to nobler considerations, than the calculations of self-interest. In the corporation, the _esprit du corps_--the clannishspirit--is sure to master it over public spirit. Devotion to thehonor, aggrandizement, wealth and power of the order, company, orcorporation, is more sure to control their acts as individuals. It isless liable to self-rebuke for conscious meanness. It looks somewhatmore like the public spirit which ought to be. It is less liable tooccasional counteractions from impulses of honor, humanity, or regardto reputation. Accordingly a body of men, so constituted as to find its best flourishshort of the perfection of the whole social system, will inevitably, sooner or later, prove an obstacle to the onward march of improvement. A corporation is not necessarily a grievance and a sore on the bodypolitic. If it can have its full flourish, without let to the progressof society, it may be harmless or beneficent. "_Sooner or later_;" be this condition marked, in estimating thespiritual policy of Rome. The body of reverends, which mediatesbetween God and men, finds its best flourish, in just such degree ofpopular intelligence as suffices for comprehending the speciousarguments, on which rest the claims of Holy Mother Church; and suchamount of conscientiousness as galls the offender, till he haspurchased absolution. More intelligence generally prevailing, andbetter appreciation of the divine law as a living rule of duty, wouldabate the awe in which the priesthood is held, and diminish therevenues accruing from mediating between offending man and his offendedMaker. But Christianity found the world sunk below this moderatestandard of intelligence and morals. The best flourish of thepriesthood required in the people cultivation of understanding andconscience, up to the point of caring for their account in heaven'srecord. So the faulty relation between priesthood and people did notat once appear in the results; and, accordingly, the weight of thequalification, _sooner or later_. But in the early growth of society, considerations like the above havebeen little attended to, compared with the obvious advantages of thedivision of labor. As ordinarily each handicraft is best exercised bythose earliest and steadiest in their devotion to the trade; so it isargued, universally, that the several departments of the public servicewill be best attended to, by being left to their respective trades, guilds, faculties, orders, or corporations, each strictly guarded fromunhallowed intrusion. So religion has been left to its officialfunctionaries, prescribing articles of belief and terms of salvation bya divine right, --legislation to princes and nobles, equally claiming bythe same right to give law in temporals; and so of other generalinterests. Now a movement has been slowly going on, through some centuries, forworking society into conformity with a rational rule; a rule notoverlooking the advantages of the division of labor, but taking in toosuch qualifying considerations as the healthful stimulus of freecompetition, watchfulness over public functionaries, and the necessityof harmonizing private and corporate interests, with public duty. The movement has been slow; for the actors have dimly apprehended thepart they were acting, and the principles by themselves vindicated. It has consisted of two principle acts. The Reformation carriedrepublicanism into religion: our own Revolution into legislation. The two movements were parts of one whole; and, to get at theprinciples at bottom, either will serve for both, as well as for whatmay remain for finishing the work begun. The Reformation having been conducted by theologians, it was naturalthat disproportionate importance should have been attached totheological niceties. So far as Luther was right in regarding thedoctrine of justification by faith only as the great article at issue, it must have been, because the opposite doctrine favored the conceit ofa mysterious mediating power vested in a priesthood--a conceit sofavorable to the aggrandizement of the order thus distinguished. Butconsidered as a _politic_ movement--as an advance in rightly adjustingthe social relations--the Reformation aimed principally at that illarrangement, by which the authorized expounders of the law divine foundtheir account, in involving that law in a glorious uncertainty, andentrapping people in a frequent violation thereof. Considered as apolitic institution, Protestantism differs essentially from Popery, inthat it makes more of prevention than of remedy; gives the ministry itsbest flourish, in the best welfare of the whole body; and pays forspiritual health, rather than for spiritual sickness. If allProtestants do not consistently so, the fact accords with the dimunderstanding, on both sides, of the essential points contested. This dim understanding further appears, in that after all the politicaldiscussion which has been, the success of republican institutions isstill appealed to, as vindicating the reign of justice and benevolencein the public mind; mankind have within so much of the divine, are soself-disposed to do right, that they do not need much control, but maypretty safely be left to their own guidance. Nor is it left to themere demagogue to talk thus. Doubtful it may be, whether it should be called dimness ofunderstanding, or rather perverse ingenuity, that men reason thus, whenthe facts are: So general is the disposition to abuse power, thatwherever it is accumulated, it will surely be abused; accordingly itmust be distributed as equally as possible. If government be made thebusiness of one part of the community--one tenth, or one hundredth, orone thousandth--that part will inevitably exalt self, at the cost ofthe others. So strong is self-love, turned towards temporal interests, so acute to discern what tends to the one desired end, and so sure tobend every thing that way, that men's temporal interests are prettysafe in their own hands, and safe no where else. Now the legitimateend of civil government being, to secure the temporal welfare of _all_, _all_ must have a share in it, or the excluded portions must find theirrights neglected. It may have favored the common mistake, that the leaders in successfulrepublican movements have so often shown a heroic self-devotion anddisinterestedness--men like Luther, and Washington. But these are theexceptions, the rare gems of humanity. If they were the fairspecimens, their work would never have been needed. Then we mightleave to a class the regulation, whether of our spirituals ortemporals, with the like advantage, that we leave the making of ourwatches or our shoes to their respective trades. But the indistinctapprehension, why the advantages of the division of labor fail in thematter of government, accords well with the observation, thatrepublican principles make slow progress in the world, are held ingross inconsistencies; and the most zealous assertors thereof in onedepartment, are oft found most strenuously opposed in others. It is thus that we are so slow to conform to one rule, our arrangementsfor spiritual instruction; for preserving health; for preventing crime;for cheaply, expeditiously, and satisfactorily settling disputedclaims; for furnishing the whole people with instruction in theirrights, interests, and duties; as well as that thorough cultivation ofthe whole man, which the full success of republicanism requires. Part III. Welfare as Dependent on Philosophy. But the whole office of Policy, in arranging the social relations, supposes the prevalence of an ill-informed and misdirected self-love. And, accordingly, the second way of attempting the promotion of generalwelfare is, to convey and impress just estimates of its constituents. Such is the office of Philosophy: the study of the truly wise man-wisefor the present life--still leaving out man's hold on a future, and hisrelations to his Maker. What would such an one pursue; as life's chiefends--covet, as life's best goods? We still suppose self-love to be as really as ever the main-springto human conduct; but that self-love enlightened, regulated, refine--choosing first the goods which satisfy the nobler parts of man'snature, and on a liberal estimate of the ties which bind societytogether; in virtue of which, if one member suffer, all the memberssuffer with it. The items, claiming to constitute life's happiness, may be divided intotwo classes, distinguished by this important difference: one classessentially such, that only a limited number of mankind can obtainthem;--if some succeed in the pursuit, their success involves thefailure of others: The other class are such, as to involve nocontradiction in the supposition of their becoming the common propertyof all. The success of a part, far from obstructing, ratherfacilitates the success of others; they constitute a store of wealth, from which each may take his fill; and the more he takes, the more heleaves, to satisfy the desires of all who come after. Now, in view of the case, Philosophy inquiring for life's chief goods, cannot make them to be fortune's prizes, scattered to tempt thecupidity of all; but which a few only can catch, while their luckproves the disappointment and vexation of the many. The suppositionwere monstrous. We so instinctively recoil from supposing such to bethe appointment of nature's Author, and so consciously grasp it for atruth clear by its own light--the conviction of a provision fully madein nature for all, whenever nature's wants are truly consulted--that wemay safely reject, by this test, every notion of temporal good, whichmakes it consist preeminently in whatever, by the nature of the case, can be the lot of but a limited number. Eminent above all other conceptions of temporal good, is that whichmakes it to consist emphatically in the possession of money, or theability to command it by its equivalents. And because the capacitiesof enjoyment have never been measured, nor material wealth rationallyestimated as a means of meeting those capacities, riches are prized, not as a means, but an end; and becoming themselves the end, no amountof possession lessens the desire to accumulate. A just philosophy argues on the case, that all cannot be rich, in thecommon acceptation of the term, whether be considered the limits toearth's productiveness, and the possibility of increasing materialwealth; or whether, _rich_ being more a relative than an absolute term, that the supposition of _all rich_ is self-contradictory: therefore, in a juster sense, the supposition of all rich must be admissible;--thesense, namely, that whenever riches shall be reasonably estimatedsimply as the means of meeting capacities of enjoyment surveyed andknown, then it will be found that the earth's productiveness, and thestock of material wealth, admit each to take to the fullness of hiswants, leaving enough for all who come after. It is further the office of Philosophy to show in detail, what is thuswrought out as a conclusion from general principles; to show how muchis consumed by artificial wants, and subjection to the tyranny offashion; to show how the correction of factitious desires would leavenatural and rational desires for better enjoyment than is now found, sothat self-love would find not occasion for envy, or repining at abrother's prosperity. The unceasing desire to become richer would be, however, but amitigated evil, if men sought only wealth by production. Theaggravation of the case is, that they whom the desire most impels, seekthe increase of their own store, not by producing, but by contriving toturn to their own stock the avails of the industry of others. Ouryoung men, in deplorable numbers, slide into the persuasion, that anymeans of living and thriving are better than productive industry. Hence the rush into trade, the professions, into speculations, wherethe hazards are such, that the cool calculations of pure avarice wouldrather incline a man to prefer the prospect of growing rich by diggingthe earth. So much the preference of contrivance to labor overmasterthe mastering desire to become rich. But there is a strange hankering after whatever is of the nature of alottery. So the prizes are but splendid, no matter, if they are butfew compared with the blanks. We are given to presuming each on hisown good fortune. "Nothing venture, nothing have, " has become aproverb. So agriculture is treated as if it had no rewards, becauseone ventures so little by engaging therein. And one might almost thinkthat the conscious earth resented the indignity. Aided by Philosophy, we shall argue on this matter thus: All cannotlive by their wits; the many must produce with the hands; and, thegreater the part who shuffle off the charge, the more heavily it fallson others. The first law given to man in innocency, was, to keep thegarden and till it; the first after the loss of innocency, "In thesweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread;"--so a dispensation from suchlaw, given by Him, who best knows what is good for man, in whateverstate, is not worthy to stand high among life's blessings. More particularly we are taught in the same school, that the good thuscontemplated must cost something at least on the score of that best ofphysical enjoyments--health. If it were duly appreciated, how highthis stands among life's goods, and how much its perfection depends onfreedom to the mind from the anxieties of hazardous speculation, and agoodly amount of manly labor, of which the varied occupations ofagriculture are the most favorable of all; this consideration wouldcheck the prevalent ambition to make the contrivance of the brainsupply the place of the labor of the hands. Health is commended to us, not only as among the first of presentgoods, but as one, the security of which is placed very much in our ownpower; if we will but study and practise the means. It is remarkable, that, while the healing art is proverbial for its sects anduncertainties--amid the disputes of homoeopaths and allopaths, mineralists and herbalists, stimulators and depletors--there is a prettygeneral agreement of parties on the laws of hygiene, or the art ofpreserving health. We might find here a law, taught by theconstitution of nature, that its Author never intended healing to holdan important place in the cause of human welfare. He meant it shouldbe well nigh dispensed with, by the obedience men should pay to laws, which they may understand. The full appreciation of these considerations would tend greatly toestablish friendly relations in society; because, first, the goodcontemplated is such, that the success of one in seeking, facilitatesthe success of all. Secondly, it would abate the strife forluxuries, --amassing without producing, and cultivating artificialwants, --most fertile sources of discord. And, thirdly, it wouldestablish between physicians and their employers, relations the mostagreeable. Another most unmanageable misconception of life's good, makes one ofits choicest items to be, the possession of power and superiority. To what depths of degradation will man depress his fellows, just tocontemplate the distance between his might and their weakness! If thisambition seems less general than the desire of accumulating, or ofsubstituting contrivance for productiveness, it may be, because thenecessity of the case more limits the number who can bear rule;otherwise, the passion for power might find as ready an entrance to asmany hearts as are taken by the love of gain, or the dislike to labor. We may find in this thought a partial explanation of the fact, that thethrift of the non-slaveholding States contrasted with the stagnation atthe South, is so powerless an argument addressed to the slaveholdersthere; for you have not only to satisfy avarice of the superiorprofitableness of free labor; you have still to contend with the lustof dominion--the passion for power and superiority. To manage thispassion is the heaviest charge of policy--to provide that the officeswhich must be intrusted to human hands, be filled peaceably andworthily. Philosophy explodes this notion of good (as claiming to be eminentlysuch), in that it cannot stand the general test: It is a good, which afew must share by detracting so much from the happiness of others. And further, to the love of power is submitted the consideration, thatknowledge is power. It may be feared, this maxim oft suggests scarceother sense, that that deeper insight into the tricks of trade orpolitics enables the possessor to outwit competitors for riches orhonors in the game. It is still a low understanding, that knowledge ofnature's laws multiplies the means of physical enjoyment. Knowledge ispower in a higher sense, in that it empowers the possessor to callforth stores of enjoyment form objects, which seem to vulgarapprehension most barren of utility. But knowledge--taken for theround of mental cultivation--is power, in that it is competent toyield to all more than the delightful sense of conscious superiority, which vulgar ambition may afford to a few of its successful votaries;a store, from which each in taking does but multiply the remainder. But to find it so one must look well, that he apprehend knowledge to bea good of itself, independently of the distinction it confers. For avain ambition often takes this direction; and then it matters little toone whether himself advance, or others be kept back--since, in eithercase, the difference between him and them, the distinction chieflyenjoyed, is the same. Now, the love of knowledge is prior in time to the love of distinction;it should seem then, that, with proper care, it might maintain themastery over its rival. The child is delighted with the acquisition ofnew ideas, before it thinks of turning them to a vain-glorious account. It deserves to be considered, whether our modes of education, offeringprizes and honors of scholarship, do not train into the ascendancy thatlove of distinction, which education ought and might keep subordinate;which in fact is one of the greatest hinderances to progress;--for whenone's immediate aim is not truth itself, but the glory which attendsthe acquisition, he meets a thousand sidelong impulses from thestraightforward search. That knowledge is a good which grows by being shared, is a truth morefully apprehended, as the idea of knowledge is enlarged. It ismeasurably so, while taken for eminence in common studies and thereceived sciences. One's advance is facilitated by the advance ofothers. Much more does this hold, when the distinction between intellectualculture and intellectual life is made, and the preference due to thelatter apprehended. When the missionary enterprize was a new thing, in favor of themissionary's being a married man was argued the advantage of havingchildren trained up in a Christian way before the eyes of the heathen. But so completely has that expectation been disappointed, that now themissionaries send home their children to be educated; alleging thedanger, lest their children become stumbling blocks, through theapparent little difference between them and the heathen children. And the difficulty is not, that they cannot there, as well as here, betaught Latin, Greek, Mathematics--all the received sciences-thebranches of what is nominally education. It is not so much, that theycannot there be shielded from evil influences abroad; as that theirchildren there want, what our children enjoy--the sight of magnificententerprises; a spirit of inquiry and freedom breathing all around them;and the healthful contact and stimulus of multitudes of young minds, inthe like process of intellectual and moral training. It is suchnameless imperceptible influences, that awaken intellectual life, fromthe mind, and determine the future man more than the teaching, which isnominally education. Why else does the acknowledged excellence of theteaching in the Prussian schools do so little to quicken intellectuallife--to form men of progressive thoughts? We should be repaid the whole cost of the missionary enterprize, wereit only in the clearness and importance of the lesson thus taught us, as otherwise we should hardly have suspected--the doctrine of ourmutual dependencies and tendencies to a common average--how ourintellectual life is subject to the law, "Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. " We may hence take instruction, first, in the matter of educating ourchildren. We have but half done our duty as parents, when we havejoined with such of our neighbors as better appreciate, or readierfurnish the means, of good instruction, to unite our children in aselect school, furnished with competent masters and ample apparatus. The children of one neighborhood educate one another mainly. Theyreceive from one another more of those impressions which form the mindand fix the after character, than all they get from their masters. The carefully trained will receive a deleterious impression from theneglected portion, despite of care to ward off evil influences. Or, however successfully care may be applied, that is but negative success. Our children still want the kindly stimulus to mental growth, to berealized in a whole community of young minds, all sharing the like wisetraining. We may hence take occasion, secondly, to mark (what is not so obvious), that through life the same law binds us: the law, that our intellectuallife depends more on the state of society in which we exist, than onour direct efforts at self-culture. Individual effort may give onegreat preeminence before his associates in any of the acknowledgedsciences, though even in such their success facilitates his; and if heprizes the knowledge--the truth--for itself, rather than for theattending glory, he will find in another's success, that, "whether onemember be honored, all the members rejoice with it. " But distinctivelyis it so, in regard to the general progress of universal mind injustness of thought and sentiment--those new developed master ideaswhich mark the place of each successive age in the line of progression;and in regard to which, the masters in the received sciences are quiteas often found lagging behind, as going before. In regard to this, we are all of us individually very like the severaldrops which compose the mighty current of the Mississippi, moving withresistless force to its destination. A few may outstrip by a littlethe general progress of thought, and but a little; just as one drop inthe current may receive an impulse, carrying it a little in advance;or, if we might suppose the drops gifted with intelligence, some byself-directed effort and seizing opportunities, might speed themselvesa little. So study and determination will enable one to anticipate bya little the birth of ideas. And, on the other hand, the current of thought none can resist. Sometimes a man resolves to be so conservative, as to stick fast by theold moorings--_he_ is not going to yield to popular impulses. But itfares with him very much as it would with the single drop in theMississippi, which should resolve to stop in its place, and so reluctagainst impulses and take advantage of all impediments. The result fromday to day would be, not that it had stopped in its place, or any thinglike it; but that its daily approach to the ocean was a little lessthan that of its fellows. Thus we are brought round to the same position--that the attempt tomonopolize Heaven's best gifts to man, must be a very small affair--that the individual best consults his own attainments in knowledge, after the sublimest sense of the term, by consulting the progress ofhis neighbors and the race; just as the single drop in the Mississippisees its best hope of speedily reaching the ocean, in whatever givesonward impulse to the whole current. The thought receives force from the consideration, that hereemphatically is that knowledge, which he who increaseth beyond theaverage increase, increaseth sorrow. A saying of so much currency musthave some foundation in reality. And yet is not knowledge commended tous as one of the richest sources of enjoyment? "Happy the mortal, who has traced effects To their first cause. " Where is the reconciling link between these seeming contradictions? Now eminence in any of the received sciences, or branches ofliterature, has rich capabilities of affording happiness. To penetratethe depths of mathematics, chemistry, or astronomy--to revel in thestores of ancient lore;--all such pursuits generally become moredelightfully attractive, the further one advances; or, after theancient indefinite use of terms, _knowledge_ might be taken for thejust proportionate training of all the faculties, in distinction fromthe teaching, which impresses so many items of truth. And sucheducation preeminently fits one to pass time happily. The maxim in question then applies emphatically to the forethought, which anticipates the dawn of ideas. * [Or, more generally, we mightdefine, an accurate perception of the difference between _what is_ and_what ought to be_--between reality and ideal perfection. Perhaps wemight say, _insight into logical futurity_. ] And although, as abovesaid, none do greatly anticipate beyond the general sense of the age, yet some may too much for their own comfort. This thought Schiller finely sets forth in his Cassandra. At the hourof her sister's nuptials, while the rest give loose to merriment at thefestival, the prophetess wanders forth alone, complaining, that herinsight into futurity debars her from participation in the common joy. "To all its arms doth mirth unfold, And every heart foregoes its cares, And hope is busy in the old; The bridal robe my sister wears, And I alone, alone am weeping; The sweet delusion mocks not me; Around these walls destruction sweeping, More near and near I see. A torch before my vision glows, But not in Hymen's hand it shines; A flame that to the welkin goes, But not from holy offering shrines: Glad hands the banquet are preparing, And near and near the halls of state, I hear the god that comes unsparing, I hear the steps of fate. And men my prophet wail deride! The solemn sorrow dies in scorn; And lonely in the waste I hide The tortured heart that would forewarn. And the happy, unregarded, Mocked by their fearful joy, I trod: Oh! dark to me the lot awarded, Thou evil Pythian god! Thine oracle in vain to be, Oh! wherefore am I thus consigned, With eyes that every truth must see, Lone in the city of the blind? Cursed with the anguish of a power To view the fates I may not thrall; The hovering tempest still must lower, The horror must befall. Boots it, the veil to lift, and give To sight the frowning fates beneath? For error is the life we live, And, oh, our knowledge is but death! Take back the clear and awful mirror, Shut from mine eyes the blood-red glare; Thy truth is but a gift of terror, When mortal lips declare. My blindness give to me once more, The gay, dim senses that rejoice; The past's delighted songs are o'er For lips that speak a prophet's voice. To me _the future_ thou has granted; I miss the moment from the chain-- The happy present hour enchanted! Take back thy gift again!"* [Bulwer's translation. ] These lines express more than the trite observation, that a knowledgeof futurity would prove a torment to the possessor. Beneath thatobvious is couched the deeper moral, which expresses the sufferings ofthe philosophic prophet--of the man who, too much for his own quiet, anticipates reasonings, conclusions, sentiments, forms of social lifeyet to prevail--the man to whom not coming events, but coming ideas, cast their shadows before. If we could suppose one at the time of thecrusades, educated to associate and sympathize with the choice spiritsof the age, yet anticipating the sense of their age, in making thecomparative estimate of chivalrous adventure, and successfulcultivation of the arts of peace and industry; he must have feltsomewhat like Cassandra among the less gifted. If we could look onlife, as our successors will two hundred years hence, we too mightcomplain of being "lone in the city of the blind;" unless large Hopeand Benevolence enabled us to live on the future. Thus we findadditional motive to desiring a united and absolute, rather than anindividual and relative progress, in the consideration that knowledgemost worthily so called--whoso increaseth greatly beyond the averageattainment, doth so to his own sorrow. To complete the list of false estimates of good, refuted by one test, we should allude to the frivolities of gentility and fashion-thepassion for wearing badges of distinction, however impotent orunmeaning such may be. This is the very poorest form of findingdelight, in what from the nature of the case can be shared by few. For its incommunicableness is its only recommendation. It is an icyrepellant, freezing up the kindly flow of sympathy with universalhumanity; and uncompensated loss of that best ingredient of earthlyfelicity--the interchange of friendly feelings and offices; that storeof wealth, from which the more that take, and the fuller their share, the more they leave to be taken by others. The foregoing may be treated as a fine and just speculation, but aswhat ever must remain a barren speculation; as if it were after theexample of all ages, that men should mistake the material of happinessfor happiness itself. So it always has been, so it always will be, that false notions of good usurp the place of the true, despite thedemonstrations of moralists and divines to the contrary. Mind, however, has not stood still in this matter. It has moved, andthat in the right direction. We may note a progress from age to age, in coming to a just estimate of life. Start not at the use of terms, rendered suspicious by the extravagancies of which they have been madethe vehicle. But we must not reject ideas great, just, or new, becauseof the distortions and caricatures of little minds. If one ideaoccupies the mind all them more for being great and just, it will belikely to overmaster that mind, so as not to be produced in its fairproportions, or rightly applied. So fare they, with whom the one ideais, the progress of society--the growth of thought. The Mississippi inits progress throws froth and scum on its surface, more conspicuousthan the under-running current. So radical folly and transcendentalnonsense is obtruded on the sight, from the sympathy of little mindswith the deeper current of thought. To gauge the progress of mind fromthose who are most noisy on the matter, would be, like taking thedirection and rapidity of the Mississippi, from the froth, which thewind blows hither and thither over its surface. "Let us go on to perfection"--"Forgetting the things behind, andpressing onward to the things before. " Such language describesdistinctively the American character, and the spirit of Christianity. Only, where is perfection? What are the things before? If, as apeople, we do fully take these expressions in their author's sense, wemay hope there is one element of agreement, betokening good for thefuture. It is encouraging, that the two rival systems, most boldly promising tolead to perfection, both had their birth under political and mentalbondage. So evidently with Romanism, whether under its proper form andname, or refined and disguised after the modern fashion. And the sameis true of the baptized infidelity imported from Germany. The Germanmind is cramped and diseased by the bands which confine it. It is notallowed to speculate freely on politics, and the many questions mostnearly touching present interests. Therefore, on the records and onthe doctrines which pertain to eternal interests, it falls with aninsane avidity for innovation, and runs into licentiousness a libertyno where else enjoyed. Hence the levity, in dealing with thingssacred, in Germany often found in minds of the first and second orders, here is taken up by those to the third and fourth--the copyists andimitators; nay, by the buffoons who figure at the farces of mockphilanthropy. Now, though every folly must find minds whose caliber itfits, we may hope the genuine American mind will not be extensivelybeguiled by either of the misbegotten offspring of Europe's mentalservitude. But, to the point--progress made in estimating life. A few centuriesago, a torrent of enthusiasm set in the direction of bearing the crossinto Asia, to fight for glory, and the propagation of Christianity, onthe fields of Palestine. Already the old Roman military character wasgreatly improved on. Virtue, (_manliness_, a` vir-_man_) was no longersupposed to fulfil its highest office in Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos. A delicate sense of honor, of the courtesy due to a foe and thegallantry to the other sex, betoken a type of humanity in advance ofthe brute ferocity of the best days of Rome. But, notwithstanding Mr. Burke's eloquence, and the opinion sometimesexpressed, that the courtly knight of the middle age, realized theperfection of humanity; we have no reason to regret that the age ofchivalry is gone by, and that the age of speculation, and money-making, and industrial enterprize has succeeded. The materialism of this age, with all its faults, is better than the chivalry of an age gone by. It tends to keep the world at peace; _that_ tended to perpetualturmoil. The supposition _all rich_, according to modern ideas, is notso flat a contradiction as the supposition _all glorious_, in militaryheroism. As the past age estimated life's supreme good, the enjoymentof a few _required_ the exclusion of the many from its benefits: asthis age estimates the enjoyment of some, _admits_ the exclusion ofothers. Whether the mercantile spirit thoroughly entered into makes abetter man than did the spirit of chivalry, may be doubted; not so, which best comports with the welfare of society. Now if one, at the time of the crusades, had so anticipated the spiritof the age, as to picture to himself modern Europe and America, manufacturing, trading, flocking to California, as if there a holysepulcher was to be rescued from hands profane, glorying chiefly inmechanical development and mercantile enterprize; and had ventured tosuggest, that instead of trooping to Asia to fight for glory, and thefancy of promoting religion by arguments of steel, it would be worthierof the choice spirits of the age to stay at home, and by industry andenterprize aim at multiplying the means of content to quiet life:he might have found a harder task than now devolves on him, who urges, that the materialism of this age must pass away, as has passed thechivalry of the crusades; both for the same reason; the progress ofthought must outgrow the one, as it has outgrown the other. A new age with another spirit will be ushered in. What is to be thespirit of that age? Are we to find the forebodings in the dreamysentimentalism, which boasts so much its flights beyond common materialideas? I trow rather, we may trace the character of the coming age inan increasing estimation of health, knowledge, mental cultivation, intellectual life, and the flow of the social affections, as the primeof earthly felicities--in an approximation towards rationallyestimating money (with the ability to command it) as the means ofmeeting one's capacities of enjoyment--to be no longer worshipped asitself the idol or the end. When a pestilential disease breaks out in the city, the plainness andurgency of the case compel all to see in the sickness of one the dangerof all. Wants and discomforts, which charity had been too cold toattend to, now considered as sources of contagion, are administered towith a ready alacrity. The law is recognized, according to which, "ifone member suffers, all the members suffer with it. " And this law willbe more fully recognized, as self-love is educated--as men betterunderstand their own welfare, and choose with reference to the whole oftheir nature, and the duration of their existence. Self-love is a motive of the indifferent kind--not of itselfessentially good or bad. This appears from its being an essential partof our nature. Indeed, we can hardly conceive it as within theprovince of Omnipotence, to create a rational sentient being, whoshould be indifferent to his own happiness. The advantages accruing from an educated self-love are: First, additional security, that the good work of charity be done; andto all but the individual doer, it may matter little what be theprompting motives. Secondly, the expansion of yet nobler principles. Each act favors thegrowth of the sentiments, of which it is the expression. So he whodoes as benevolence bids, though from a motive secondary on the scoreof purity, will be likely again to do the same from yet purer motives. So at least if the essential principle be there, though appearing nomore vividly than as a cold sense of duty. But, thirdly, self-love is made the rule and standard of charity: "Thoushalt love thy neighbor as thyself. " One must then first love himself, in order to loving his neighbor. Keeping this rule, there is no dangerof loving thyself too well; rather, the more truly thou lovest thyself, the more truly thou lovest thy neighbor. Suppose one to cherish the vulgar notion of life--that it consists inthe abundance of the things which one possesses, in the ability to livewithout exertion, amid plenty of good cheer. Suppose him to love hisneighbor as himself. His charity must partake of the contraction andgrossness of his self-love. Suppose another to prize duly intellectualriches. To him the discovery of a new principle in the physical, intellectual, or moral world, brings a joy unsurpassed by themerchant's, on the return of his heavily laden ship from a successfulvoyage. As the best legacy to his children, he would leave them a goodeducation; and, knowing the natural influences and dependenciesexisting between young minds, he aims to have all the children inthe neighborhood well educated, as the best security against failure inthe attempt to educate his own. If all is but a refined calculation, how best to benefit himself and household; it is far more estimable andamiable than the gross selfishness which grovels after vulgar goods, and in the success of a brother sees an obstacle to its own success. But if he too loves his neighbor as himself, why how far his self-loveis educated to find its satisfaction in nobler ends, by so much hischarity is better than the other's. There is hope for the future in the consideration, that self-interest, the first, as well as love of approbation, the second, of the greatpowers which move the world, indeed all the indifferent motives, aregetting still more into coincidence of action with justice andbenevolence. When Jesus enforced a duty by the consideration, "Then shalt thou haveworship [respect, approval, ] in the presence of them that sit at meatwith thee, " he implied two things; first, that regard to the world'srespectful esteem is not a censurable motive; and, secondly, that thesame operates to good, rather than to evil. So it must have been evenin that corrupt generation, so disposed to call evil good and goodevil. It must be much more so now, when public sentiment has so muchimproved. Notwithstanding the danger of loving the praise of man morethan the praise of God, and the mischiefs resulting from suchpreference, we should lose, on the whole, by eradicating the love ofhuman praise. Witness the accounts of the atrocious outbreaks ofdepravity at the gold diggings, while society was yet unformed. Witness, wherever cease the common restraints of civilization. Thus agents--so often the authors of discord and confusion, so oftenthe fire-brands to set the world in fumes--philanthropy is more andmore firing as her sure allies. "Even so, the torch of hellish flames Becomes a leading light to heaven: And so corruption's self becomes To bread of life the living leaven. " All analogies point to a still increasing vigor in the growth of thekingdom of heaven. If the mustard tree is never seen growing, but onlyto have grown; yet the greater the tree, the greater its power of dailymaking large growth, without its growing being perceived. All considerations indicate the power of each to do something toforward the consummation. No member of society is so insignificant, that his spiritual life does not affect the health of the whole. Theobscurest, who cherishes a preference of ideal wealth over materialriches and sensual delights, does something towards forming a sanepublic sentiment, just as surely as the tenant of the humblest citydwelling, who keeps clean his own premises, does something towardspromoting the general health. It is well to review the progress made in estimating life--to impressour minds with its existence as a reality; because mind and enterprizejust now tend so strongly to the material and mechanical, that we mightbe tempted to doubt, whether any other improvement were to be thoughtof. If so, we might well enough stop where we are. But we shallcontemplate with most satisfaction our multiplied facilities formanufacturing, transportation, fertilizing the earth, and conveyingintelligence, if we see in the whole a store, from which we may drawwith good effect for promoting general welfare, whenever the true endof these means shall be earnestly studied. Otherwise the discovery, how to make two kernels of corn grow where one grew before, would allredound to the tyranny of fashion, and only foreshadow an increase ofartificial wants, quite up to the increased supply; so that want wouldstill be as close treading on our heels as ever. But if we yet scarce attain to longer life, better health, or morecontent, than fell to the lot of our fathers, with their simpler artsand manner, because we are forgetting to discriminate between true andfalse wants--between real and imaginary happiness: the true voice ofhistory still is, not that the material means must always thus fallshort of their legitimate end; but that, though the material and themechanical travel first and fastest, the moral and the spiritual arefollowing after. These in due time will reveal the meaning and thevalue of our stored acquisitions. Dr. Franklin calculated, that the labor of all for three or four hoursa day, would furnish all the necessaries and all the conveniences oflife; supposing men freed from the exactions of an arbitrary fashion. If he was near correctness, his time must be abundant in our day, whenthe productiveness of machinery, and skill in the arts, are so muchimproved. Then it is within existing possibilities, that every mind bethoroughly cultivated; and every body taxed for labor, only to theextent required by the conditions of its own best vigor and that of theinhabiting mind. So far afield from truth is the common supposition, that the many can receive but the elements of learning; while the fewmust sacrifice bodily vigor to excessive intellectual cultivation. Connect with this thought that before advanced of the irresistibletendencies of our intellectual life to one average; and what aboundless vista, in the direction of human progress, opens before us. As citizens of the republic, we have comparatively little cause toexult in the conceit of being freer or happier than other communities;much more in the chance, having broken the fetters of superstition andtyranny, next to rend those of false habit and fashion--to enthronereason over the authority of one another's eyes and prejudices: to sayin truth, -- "Here the free spirit of mankind at length Throws its last fetters off; and who shall place A limit to the giant's untamed strength, Or curb his swiftness in the forward race? Far, like the comet's way through infinite space, Stretches the long untravelled path of light Into the depth of ages; we may trace, Distant the brightening glory of his flight, Till the receding beams are lost to human sight. " *Bryant. Part IV. Welfare as Dependent on Religion. But in all our attempts to educate self-love into harmony withUniversal benevolence, we contend with the enemy, somewhat as Herculeswrestled with Antaeus:-- Und erstickst du ihn nicht in den Luften frei, Stets wachst ihm die Kraft anf der Erde neu. * [If thou strangle him not high lifted in air, Fresh strength from the earth he continues to share. ] Thus we come to speak of present welfare, as dependent on thecultivation of the whole man--on a recognition of his immortality, hisallegiance to his Maker, and his capacity for more disinterestedsentiments, than self-love, however modified. The influences thus accruing are a confirmation, from higher authority, of the conclusions approved by philosophy, ethics, the prudence whichcalculates how man should live with man, considered as but creatures ofearth--a _re-binding_--a _re-ligation_ to what was _obligation_ before;and such precisely is the proper sense of the word _religion_. That the promise of the life that now is attaches to godliness-thevivid recognition of a Father in heaven, with the union of reverenceand love cherished by a dutiful child--and that naught else secures thepossession, might be argued, -- 1. First, as anticipated from the nature of the case. If man isformed to own allegiance to his Maker, and to spend this life aspreparatory and introductory to a coming existence, then, till theseconditions are fulfilled, he must be expected, not to fill worthily hisplace, as possessor of the present life; but must, in important points, compare disadvantageously with the beasts that perish. If, like theinferior races, ours attained to a life which should be the fullflourish of its demonstrable capacities, while immortality entered notinto account, then would fail one argument to prove us destined to anhereafter. If the philosopher, from the examination of the chickeaglet in the shell, knowing naught else of the animal, could make outfor it, within its narrow walls, a life answering to the indications ofits organization; he might fitly question, whether it were destined toburst its prison, and soar aloft. And such embryo eaglet is man, considered only as to what this life realizes. 2. Historically, we are in little danger of being confounded on thisargument. The evidence from fact is very plain and positive, that menhave never become wise for the life that now is, but as they have firstbecome wise for the life that is to come; that self-love never becomesa just prudence, till informed by the faith, hope, and charity ofJesus; in a word, that in Him is life, and only through the lightderived from him is life realized to men. Seeking the lowest form of worldly wisdom--political science applied asthe agent for promoting general welfare--we may look in vain for abeginning thus to apply such science, in any nation unblest byrevelation. They on whom the light has shone, have generally so imperfectlycomprehended it, that they have only attained to that vulgar love ofliberty, which Guizot defines to be removed but a step from the love ofpower. Rather, we might say, that step is not--the two are but thesame thing. Viewed on one side, it is the hatred of being domineeredover; on the other, it is the love of domineering. Only where the Christian account of human character has been taken fora sober reality, has been taken for a sober reality, has beenpractically understood the rule of dividing power equally, because souniversal is the tendency to grasp it inordinately. Only (we may add)where, better still, some good deference has been paid to the charge, "Call no man master on earth, for one is your Master in heaven. " Ifthis is the instruction, after which one becomes a republican, andshapes his love liberty; the conclusion is equally obvious andinevitable-call no man slave or vassal on earth, for One in heavenis the common Master of all. Mistaking here, France has gone through a series of signal failures. Her Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, still prove empty names; while wantand oppression stare millions in the face, despite the promises of morethan half a century's experimenting with revolutions. A vision ofpolitical blessedness mocks her sight, which, like fabled enchantedisland, ever and anon seeming just within the grasp, still escapes, andflies the faster, the faster it is pursued. O my country! mercy sparethee from thus mistaking Heaven's high decree! But if we should allow to some of the more enlightened Gentiles ofantiquity, some degree of political wisdom; we might still look in vainfor their progress in that estimation of temporal wealth, which revealsour community of interests, thus divesting self-love of itshatefulness, by training it to its best satisfaction. Historically, weevery where find self-love too blind, freakish, springing uponimmediate results, too envenomed with maliciousness to calculateprudently. 3. Religion affords altogether the readiest, shortest, directest wayto the conclusion, that interest and duty most coincide. It brings theman of humblest intellectual attainments at once to the conclusion, which the prudent calculator may reach, after long research andextensive induction of particulars; namely, that he cannot addultimately to his own stock of enjoyment, by detracting from another'sshare. What might seem prudence at the expense of justice andbenevolence, may assume a contrary aspect, at the first flush ofconviction, that another life shall rectify the inequalities of this. Philosophy, having done its best at showing the interest of each in thewelfare of all, and how much would redound to the happiness of all ifall heartily concurred in thus regarding life, still labors at thequestion, as the world goes, how the individual will fare, who takes acourse so different from the general current, as to devote his bestzeal to bettering the condition of that world, which will be likely solittle to appreciate his devotion. So that, as matter of fact, one islittle likely to see first (in earnestness) the reign of righteousness, as the best security for the necessaries and conveniences of life, unless in the faith which apprehends, that "all these things shall beadded" to those thus devoted to promoting the holy cause of humanity. 4. Again; to the great majority of mankind, religion is the best spurto the understanding, towards the conclusions of a just prudence. "Theentrance of the word giveth understanding to the simple, " says thePsalmist. How often have we found its so! How often the first impulseto intellectual activity is given by the man's religious interest! Howoften they, in whom a taste for reading could never be formedotherwise, begin to read for satisfying their spiritual wants, and sodevelop mental powers which else had ever lain dormant. If we mark those extremes of social humanity, the masses of Hindostanand the people of New England--the monotonous stagnation there, and theprogressive enterprize here--we see a difference mainly attributable toa religion whose very spirit is, forgetting the things behind, andpressing onward to the things before. And, though this spirit may notalways go forth in accordance with the teaching of that religion, it isnone the less true, that such was its source; mind being awake, enterprising, on the track of improvement, only where a lively faith inChristianity has kindled the flame. Every where else, policy at bestpresses so hard on the subject individuals, as tolerably to restrainthe passions from breaking out of one against another. Only "where thespirit of the Lord is, " ventured the experiment, of making the pressureon each so light, as to become the best security for his keeping inplace. 5. Philosophy fails (once more), because it has no adequate malady forthe moral malady under which our race labors. When we speak of menweighing fairly the present and the future, comparing impartially thesubstantial with the showy, the gross with the refined, and choosingafter the decision of a fully informed prudence, we suppose what doesnot exist; "The good that I would, I do not; but the evil that I wouldnot, that I do. " "The better seeing and approving, Towards the worse I still am moving:" Such is the united testimony of Christian and heathen to that "law ofsin and death, " through whose tyranny the united decisions of reason, prudence and conscience are powerless, till what the law could not do, "in that it was weak through the flesh, " the grace of the Gospelaccomplishes; restoring reason and conscience to the throne, givingeffect to the conviction, how fully coincident are interest and duty--"that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled by us, who walknot after the flesh, but after the spirit. " Paul's account of this matter may have accommodated to it, what Johnsays of the command to mutual Christian love; that it is an oldhistory, and yet not an old but a new one. _Old_, in the sense, that, from what time by one man sin came into the world and death by sin, every one in earnest to fulfil the true end of his being, has found thedame impotence attached to good resolves; the same supremacy gained bythe baser impulses, in the hour of trial; the same temptation to findan excuse in what seems so like a law unavoidable, as if it were nomore I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, as if it were not theresponsible _I_ that did wrong: this _I_ being controlled by sin, whichis fancied as a foreign agent taking up a residence within, andcontrolling the man in spite of him. And, escaped from this and thelike deceits, all have been brought to the stand, "O wretched man thatI am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!"--that speciesof self-despair, finishing the preparation for that renewing influence, which "is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of Godthat showeth mercy. " Thus the enemy is raised _in die Luften frei_, nomore to receive fresh strength from mother Earth, to renew the contestsuccessfully. But this account, so old in one sense, is not so in another--in thesense of being obsolete, or out of date. It still retains thefreshness of novelty, to answer to the last example of a man's orderinglife, as, he knows, meets the approval of his Judge, and his own truestwelfare. 6. But "the end of the commandment, " or the result of the process bywhich the soul is put into condition to contend successfully with thepowers of evil, "is charity. " So religion preeminently rebinds men tothe rule of not seeking their own advantage at the cost of others;because it implants a principle, which might dispense with thecertainty of always calculating prudently in doing right. Charityseeketh not her own--not one's own welfare calculated on the largestscale, exclusively, or at the cost of the greatest good of the whole. Thus it is essentially distinct from a prudence, however refined, andcalculating its ends through eternity. It is called "the bond ofperfectness, " or a most perfect bond; because, if men were all devotedthus disinterestedly, each to the good of the whole, society would beperfectly held together, without other bond. All forms of civilcompact and voluntary association might be dispensed with. Evenprudence might fail to calculate, how the present sacrifice to generalgood is to be compensated; and charity would rebind the man to love hisneighbor as himself, and do as he would receive again. It is further called "the perfect law of liberty;" as by a simple ruleit perfectly secures to individuals those immunities, whichconstitutional provisions at best secure but imperfectly by complicatedapparatus, and where philosophy halts at the perversities of humanselfishness. 7. Faith alone is the sure foundation, whereto to add virtue[courage], and that for the further addition of knowledge. Thiscourage is _du Coeur_--of the heart, and alone gives that simple loveof truth, which, for _its_ sake, dares equally to be new and singular, or to be vulgar and common-place. Without that foundation, assuming tobe courageous enough to leave the beaten track, and reject receivedopinions, one does but attain to the bravery, which, in its efforts todare danger or opposition, is sure to overact its part. Who holds aneven balance in weighing evidence, equally guarded against rejectingthe old, because it is old, or the new, because it is new? I know not, unless such as have apprehended the _urwahr_--the essential truth, which throws all temporal considerations into the shade. There are two difficulties in the way of attempting changes in theexisting state of things, with good prospect of improvement. The firstarises from the force of habit, and a reluctance to try a new, it maybe, hazardous course. The other form the little discriminationexercised, when men set about in earnest exchanging the old for thenew--discrimination to avoid treating the old as necessarilyantiquated, and the presumption of "laying again the foundation" ofall things. And these difficulties will hardly be met successfully, except by men, in whom the fear of God has cast out other fear. The intelligent part of the people of southern Europe have been, formany years, more thoroughly divested of reverence for the papacy, thanwas Luther in the days of his greatest vehemence. But they havequietly taken things as they are. They have wanted Luther's substitutefor superstition--a fervently religious spirit. They have had onlyworldly and political motives, for wishing to see the old impositiondone away; and these have been powerless against natural apathy, andthe fixedness of old establishment. Infidelity and indifferentismprove poor antagonists to superstition. But when this apathy is one overcome, then the difficulty is, to temperwith discretion the zeal for innovation. Throughout, such only asheartily prize the true, because it is true, will be likely to shunalike, rejecting the old for its antiquity, and the new for itsnovelty. The first lesson is, to learn how much of human wisdom is but folly:the second, that it is not yet all folly, but a good deal of it genuinewisdom. And he will be most likely to unite these in the habit ofthinking soberly, who first moderates his estimate of human power andwisdom, by marking how far their utmost flights had failed toanticipate, what has proved the power of God and the wisdom of God tothe world's renovation. Such is the best preparation for stilllearning, how much that wears the appearance of wisdom and scienceunsubstantial. This best teaches so to reason soberly andconscientiously, as not to run into licentiousness the liberty ofthinking. Religious zeal indeed has hitherto been little enoughtempered with discretion; but no other zeal has glowed so intensely, without still more disastrous consequences, in setting the world onfire. It is yet a consideration in point, that, as in all undertakings hopeof success best stimulates and sustains exertion; so the hope, that theworld's disorders will yet be cured, is best furnished by the faith, which recognizes a Sovereign ordering and disposing all, bringing lightout of darkness; making the wrath of man to praise him, and theremainder thereof pledged to restrain. Judging from history andappearances, the philanthropist may often doubt, whether the race benot destined still to go a ceaseless round; ever exchanging onedelusion for another, but no real progress. As it was in character for the prophetess of Apollo, it complain: "My youth was by my tears corroded, My sole familiar was my pain; Each coming ill my heart foreboded, And felt at first--in vain. "So the philosophic prophet may lament, that he anticipates so much moreclearly, what _ought_ to be, than what _will_ be; that he finds theincrease of knowledge, beyond the general sense of the age, to be butthe increase of sorrow. But the religious insight into futurity savesfrom such anguish, by the hope which gilds and realizes the future:hope for the race, armed with a higher assurance than philosophy canwork out, that and right and peace shall reign triumphant; and personalhope, inasmuch as, however dark the prospect for earth's races may be, the individual has a future, whose joy is his strength. 9. And this habitual reference of the government of earth to itsSupreme Ruler, is not more necessary to the hope, that sustainsendurance, than to the patience which bides the time, in opposition tothe indecent, passionate haste, which defeats its own end. "He thatbelieveth shall not make haste. " There is much fruitless haste tobring the world to rights, for want of a lively belief in a sovereigncontrolling Power; whose wisdom, whose goodness, whose resources, whoseinterest, to bring the world to order and happiness, infinitelytranscend ours. Thus is missed the conclusion, if He can endure to seethe stream of evil flow on age after age; then discretion would setsome bounds to our zeal, to see all evil rectified. And the clearerthis conclusion is the result of faith, the surer the bounds will bejust such, as to save from losing all by a headlong precipitancy. In short, that habit of mind equally ready to accept the right and thetrue, whether it come with a suspicious air of novelty and singularity, or whether as old and vulgar it be scouted for being behind the age--that habit which neither yields to discouragements, nor favors thefool-hardy haste, which calculates neither time nor its own strength;which discriminates, when to "contend earnestly, " and when to "let themalone, " the dogged adherents to falsehood and wrong, to the teachingsof time and circumstances, their conscience and their God, till everyplant which he hath not planted be rooted up by these mightierenergies--the habit, realizing all the good of the radical, in provingall things, and all the glory of the conservative, in holding fast whatis good;--this habit, so favorable to human progress, but involving sorare a combination of seemingly opposite qualities, as scarcely to beaccounted for on all apparent influences, has been well described, as a"life hid with Christ in God. " And truly has it been remarked, in viewof the general result of ordinary tendencies and influences in formingone-sided characters, that _becoming as a little child_, expresses noless fittingly the conditions of entering the kingdom of nature, andthinking with the wise, than of entering the kingdom of heaven, andworshipping with the holy. Of the spiritual more grievously than of the intellectual life is ittrue, that, "whether one member suffer, all the members suffer withit. " Here emphatically does the individual labor hardly, to digestinto his life the conclusions of reason and conscience, in advance ofthe average understanding of the age. Professor Lyell, speaking of theMillerite phrenzy, and how some men of pretty sound mind were carriedaway with it, remarks to this effect: "Religious delusion is like afamine fever, which attacks first the hungry and emaciated, but in itsprogress cuts down many of the well-fed and robust. " So it is. So strong are our tendencies to one tone, that theChristian, in setting to his worldly desires the bounds which hisreligion exacts, feels to be exercising a self-denial--yielding thetemporal to the eternal. He scarce seems to himself to be acting thepart of true worldly wisdom. In reading the life of Dr. Payson, it isobviously manifest, that his deeply spiritual views were not inwroughtharmoniously into his life's web, as would have been, if he had carriedalong with him a whole community. The materialism of this age must pass away, as has passed the quixotismof the crusades. Each has but expressed a stage in the progress ofthought; and neither measures the mature life of the soul. It is notso certain to sight, what will be next grasped by this reaching onwardto the things before; whether a better reconcilement of the life thatnow is with that which is to come, or whether a vaporing, mistysentimentalism is to be the spirit of the next age. There are notwanting indications, that the materialism of this age is to be followedby a dreamy spiritualism, raising men above the observance of vulgarduties, but not above the practice of the grossest vices. It is notuncharitable to mark such tendencies, where we see canonized Rousseau, the very embodiment of sensuality, egotism, and misanthropy; andprogress _so_ taught to be the law of _individual_ man, that, whethergoing to commit his crimes at the brothel, or to expiate them on thegallows, his tendencies are still and forever upward. We need better evidence than sight can afford, to say, -- "O no! a thousand cheerful omens give Hope of yet happier days, whose dawn is nigh: He who has tamed the elements, shall not live The slave of his own passions; he whose eye Unwinds the eternal dances of the sky, And in the abyss of brightness dares to span The sun's broad circle, rising yet more high, In God's magnificent works his will shall scan; And love and peace shall make their paradise with man. " *Bryant Conclusion. The matter of the preceding thoughts may be thus summed up. A progressive movement has been going on towards the rule, that, self-love directed towards the material, the sensible, the showy, thedistinguishing, is so the ruling motive of human conduct, as toconstitute it the first requisite in adjusting the social relations, that private interests, and class interests may not flourish best, short of the best attainable flourish of the whole. When this pointshall be so thoroughly understood, that it shall be taken for noreproach of any class of men to regard them practically as subject tothe common influences which control human conduct; we may expect aneffective move, for giving to the lawyer and to the physician arelation to society, analogous to that sustained by the pastor amongProtestants; instead of leaving their professions to find their bestflourish, at about the vigor of intellectual and moral life, which justnow we live. But this idea loses its importance as another comes into appreciation, --namely, that the conflicts of self-love with self-love, supposemistaken estimates of happiness to be uppermost; and, just inproportion as men rightly estimate life, and truly love themselves, they appreciate those strong, numberless, delicate, indissoluble ties, which bind the members of the social body to suffer, or to rejoicetogether. And this idea again lessens in importance, as yet a third gains theascendancy--the living conviction, that time is but the portal toeternity; the soul meanwhile tasting "the powers of the world to come;"and knowing the persuasiveness of that strongest call to mutualendearment, "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. " And now the consideration of these three points is commended especiallyto the attention of those, who, in the execution of their office andministry, have weekly access to the mind of the people. We mourn thewaning influence of the American pulpit. Where the power thenceemanating in the stirring days of trial to men's souls, --when itsministers stood on that commanding point, where they caught the firstbeams of rising day, and reflected the light in the face of the people?At our Revolutionary period, ministers, in their earnestness to preachto the times, might have come short in preaching eternity. So farthere was a mistake to be rectified; but they did well to preach to thetimes. It is among the reasons, why religious so tempered politicalzeal; and, accordingly, why, as our Revolution _was_ without a model, so it _remains_ without a rival. It is well that the struggle came, before the toad-eaters to capital's feed agents in legislative hallsoccupied the high seats of moral influence. The true successors to the fathers are not the preachers of partypolitics, but they who aim to supply the lack of all parties, in thatthey fail to make liberty a means, valuable only as affordingfacilities to improvement. We are exceedingly contracted in our notions of the Christianpreacher's just province. If we confine it to administering directlyto the soul's spiritual wants and everlasting interests, we stray widefrom the example, which God himself sets, when he writes a revelationfor man. The Bible is full of histories, maxims, laws, just as mightbe expected in a book, which ignored any other life, than that whichnow is. One half of it (within bounds) might remain as it is, on thesupposition, that men have neither hopes nor duties, but such aspertain to them as joint tenants of this earthly life. If we would keep people superior to the impulses of appetite, and thesolicitations of sensual pleasure, we must attempt _servitute corporisuti_ by _imperio animi_* [In Sallust's well known sentence _servitute_may be the object of _utimur_, _imperio_ the ablative of the means; or, reversing the construction, the sense may be, by keeping the body insubjection, we better maintain the mind's supremacy. Neither, Ibelieve, is the common understanding of the passage. ]--by training themind to know its capacities and powers. If this be neglected, purelyspiritual influences, supposing them forthcoming, will hardly save thebody from unduly controlling the man. Vulgar ambition is to beforestalled in the same way. _Imperium populi_ may be expected to beattractive, in proportion as _imperium animi_ is unstudied, unknown;and of course the full sense missed, in which knowledge is power. Hewho knows the greatness of the world within, hears nothing strange inthe declaration-that "greater is he who ruleth his own spirit, than hewho taketh a city. " That the recipients of a (so called) liberaleducation so often become the votaries of vulgar ambition, and vulgarpleasure too, is to be accounted for on the three-fold consideration:first, that what passes for a liberal education is often a veryilliberal thing, doing very little to unfold the spirit to itself, and so impress the greatness of mastering its capabilities; secondly, that merely intellectual without moral influences, do not suffice; andthirdly, the law is supreme, which binds all to suffer, in theirintellectual and spiritual life, from the mental and moral degradationof a part. Jesus thought it not beneath the dignity of his office, nor thesacredness of the Sabbath, nor the proprieties of the synagogue, todiscourse to people on politeness and good breeding; nor to enforceattention to decorum, by the comparatively low consideration, "Thenshalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat withthee. " Unworthy alike, both the lesson and the motive, would cry afalse spirituality, if the example of such preaching were set by anylower authority. A false spirituality it is, for it originates inmissing the close connection between the temporal and the spiritual, the outward and the inward, the life that now is, and that which is tocome. In faithfully delivering the whole counsel of God, we may encountersomething like the wrath of the ruler of the synagogue, whosespirituality was offended at the restoration of a withered hand on theSabbath. We may find, that we have cast pearls before swine. We maybe referred to Paul's determination to know nothing among theCorinthians, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And, if weminister to a people who, like the Corinthians, need to be fed withmilk and not meat; like them carnal, factious, party-spirited, and ifwe would delicately hint to them their character--let us do itindirectly, following Paul's example, when he put restraint on thefullness of matter within, and discoursed only on the elements ofChristian doctrine. But shall the strong man be confined to amilk diet, because the careful nurse ventures to supply nothing else tothe tender infant? If when for the time our people ought to beteachers, they need to be taught again the first principles of theoracle of God, we may reserve pearls for a worthier reception. But, ifthey are well-grounded in the elements, let us lead them on toperfection. Society's pillars, the temple's three P. S, Philosophy, Policy, Piety--these I commend to your notice. My labor is done: May we meet in that city where temple is none, Nor sun supervenes on the shadows of night; Jehovah--the Lamb--are its temple and light.