1 10 26 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/ca43854c747cb628c42688f0803e1eed.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=lRI5xfy1QaYEoKk1sl6ihXfGqi9MpKXOxIQ7lt95wBBRiwd9TpPlG3cwP0xWVMwox-3Oj7IifqQ%7EGpD6BHQx7O%7EHoArn7WMFCbdzv-nuWllNuYHEN46rIrwARefQLytcP3Qm8sxhXbpk84GN6UX1p0nI5IfI3IqjBIPfUshVaHV2MgotVVOtx30vObALk2f5OdqwdcnUKJKUGVCZ%7EyGRzNP9o775qHGYQ1IHgvx1APsBQTCGKq765Apj1udfpaagPT2dnC9LBG8dHy9I63fZQJbjcskr3Onj3MJ7Pn3P4iYVGpvWShag60myPjk8DhpA5h5jVqaJwU9fOQ%7Exu3t0lA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM f0afe30778a343ad77c78a180e25bdf6 PDF Text Text CONSEQUENCES. BY MONCURE. D. CONWAY, M.A. “ The destroyer of all successes is ill-timed apprehension of danger. ” Hitopadesa. PUBLISHED BY THOMAS SCOTT, NO. 11, THE TERRACE, FARQUHAR ROAD, UPPER NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E. Price Threepence. ��CONSEQUENCES. N eminent writer has lately caused some agitation by warning the country that there are certain “ rocks ahead ” on the track of its present course. He sees danger to the wealth, the greatness, and even the stability of the nation in every direction. The rocks concerning which he is most apprehensive are, first, that the coal will give out, and with it all the manu­ facturing and railway enterprises which make the com­ mercial supremacy of England ; and secondly, that the intelligence of the country is alienated from its religion, which renders it certain that the masses of the people will presently be also alienated from it; and since they will be without the restraints of culture, the downfall of creeds will involve the downfall of social and politi­ cal institutions which have grown up along with the creeds. It will require, he thinks, a culture and refined thought, which the masses do not possess, to detach the social organism from the dogmatic parasite which has grown around it; and when the scepticism of the educated has filtered down into them, they will make a rude, indiscriminate sweep of good and evil alike. It is not within the scope of this essay to consider the particular “ rocks ahead ” pointed out by our “ Cassandra.” I merely refer to his warnings as illus­ trative of apprehensions felt by many in another direc­ tion, namely, the effect of religious inquiry on human happiness and character. And I do so because his apprehensions appear to me to rest upon fallacies quite A �4 Consequences. similar to those treacherous fears of the results of free inquiry which I propose to consider. His main fallacy is the fear that the same intelligence which has adapted man to his present condition is to remain standing still while everything else changes. Our coal mines, it may be, are gradually to diminish, possibly to fail; but wifi, that intellect which has invented steam engines, and other machinery, lose its power of invention, and for the first time show itself inadequate to meet emer­ gencies as they arise ? Is the future to have all our problems, and to be without brains of its own ? So also in the case of the violent revolution apprehended, when the masses share the scepticism of the educated. Our prophet of evil forgets, apparently, that such a change as that cannot be an isolated one. He forgets that in the same length of time a thousand other changes will also occur; that, for instance, the masses must acquire some of the calmness and self-control of the cultivated along with their scepticism; and, on the other hand, that the social fabric will improve, that the state will become nobler, and all classes possess too much interest in both to handle rashly any real and healthy institution. This whole method of apprehension is treacherous. When Jesus said, “ Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof; to-morrow will take care of to-morrow’s affairs,” he uttered a thought as pregnant with philo­ sophy as with faith. The plan of prognosticating prac­ tical evil has now become a favourite method of trying to intimidate free thought and free speech. This plan has been carried to its extreme by the Bishop of Peter­ borough, who lately said that he would not stop to inquire whether the tidings of science were true or not; he only asked whether they were glad tidings. Not finding them glad tidings—and they certainly are not promising for bishops — his lordship unhesitatingly rejects them, irrespective of their truth or untruth. This Bishop only caricatures a way of dealing with new �Consequences. 5 truth which is being more plausibly used by many others than by this bishop, who has so well merited the thanks of scientific men by his naive utterance. Most of us, whose memories run back towards the beginning of this generation, must recognise a marked change in the tone of orthodoxy towards rationalism. In place of the old intolerance, we now find a tone of apology, and meet with numbers of people who are eager to persuade us that they are not so orthodox as they seem. Again, we are as often appealed to to exercise charity as we have had, in earlier times, to appeal for it ourselves. It is to be hoped we shall all cultivate that virtue, but heretics cannot shut their eyes to the novelty of the situation. When cremation was lately proposed, and was bitterly denounced by the Catholic clergy in Belgium, a paper in that country remarked that it was a pity the Church which so opposed burning the bodies of the dead had not always manifested an equal repugnance to burn the bodies of the living ; similarly, it is an instance of the irony of history that the religionists who so long ruled England by reign of terror should now appeal for charity. Even Protestantism, when it succeeded Romanism in power, did not break its terrible weapons; it used them until they became dull. Reduced at last to battle in an Age of Reason, and to answer argument with argu­ ment instead of with prisons and persecutions, it calls for the toleration it so long denied. Very well, let us have it,—charity for all! We may doubt whether we should have heard so much about it had Supersti­ tion continued as strong as of old,—but still the high rule of reason is to speak the truth in love. At the same time, long experience should make us prudent. The more valuable a coin is the more dan­ gerous is its counterfeit, and the more attractive a virtue the more necessary is it that its garb shall not be conceded to its opposite. Charity is due to every sincere man, but not to proven error. If a man be in �6 Consequences. error, the more I love him the more will I hate the falsity that misleads him. When the wolf pleaded for compassion, the shepherd replied, “ Mercy to you were cruelty to the lamb.” It is difficult to see how it can be consistent with love to our fellow-beings that we should be tender to the errors that afflict them, or the superstition that devours them. Clemency becomes cruelty when it parts from common sense. All this is too plain to require argument. But of late its force has been escaped by another plea. We are now told that in the progress of the world the old beliefs have lost their darker features. The old talons of persecution have been pared away; fanaticism has become unfashionable; hell has been spiritualised; and creeds that once roused agony, fear, and consequent intolerance are now softened into unrealised words or mystical meanings. Superstitions may remain, but they are now pretty superstitions, like a child’s belief in fairies. And we are asked, Is it not unnecessary, nay cruel, to take away such sweet illusions, when they are so harmless ? A gentleman who takes his family to church regularly, said to me, “ I know as well as any one that the clergyman preaches fables, but I do not care to worry my children by telling them so. When I take them to the pantomime, I don’t tell them, All that scenery is only daubed pasteboard, the fairy there is merely a painted woman, and her jewels only glass, bought for a penny. Whether at church or theatre I prefer to humour their pleasant illusions, and let them remain happy in them as long as they can.” It ap­ peared to me strange that this gentleman should not see the great difference between transient illusion and permanent delusion. He humours the illusions of the pantomime, because he knows very well that his child will outgrow them. It would distress him very much if he thought that, when his child grew to be twenty years of age, it would still believe in the reality of fairies. But, in encouraging the pulpit fables, he is �Consequences. 7 fostering things that, from being the illusions of child­ hood, harden into the delusions of the whole life. Mr Tennyson has put this common notion into rhyme, and his verses are the favourite quotation of the school we are considering. They were recently offered by the Athenaeum as a rebuke to Mr Morley for his excellent work “ On Compromise,” and again by a plausible writer in censure of the plain-speaking of certain pulpits. The verses run thus : “ 0 thou that after toil and storm May’st seem to have reach’d a purer air, Whose faith has centre everywhere, Nor cares to fix itself to form, Leave thou thy sister, when she prays, Her early heaven, her happy views, Nor thou with shadow’d hint confuse A life that leads melodious days.” These verses are nearly the only ones which the poet and his friends might wish obliterated from his fair pages, as representing (one must believe) his first timorous and unsteady step on a path which we may hope has since lead to heights that shame their faithless fears. Passing their undertone of contempt for the female intellect, of which the poet was probably uncon­ scious, let us consider what our duty is to that praying sister, or brother either, whose illusions we are called upon to spare. If our sister is praying in earnest, if doubt has not crept into her heart—we must not call it her intellect, I suppose—then her faith does not merely include “ Her early heaven, her happy views,” but also her early hell, and some most unhappy views. If her prayer be not a mere attitude, she is probably imploring an angry God not to send her children, brothers, or friends into everlasting anguish and despair. If that be her creed, she can hardly be leading such melodious days that it should be cruel to hint that her apprehensions may be unfounded. �8 Consequences. But the poet might remind us that he asks us to leave her the pleasing side of her creed only—to remove her fears, hut humour her hopes though they be false. Our sister must be feeble indeed if this be possible; her powers must be very weak if she does not perceive that her Bible and her Prayer-book tell her as much of God’s wrath as of his love, corre­ late hell and heaven, and that she has no better authority for her hopes than for her fears. But grant­ ing that the process be possible, and that we find her living in an atmosphere of rosy delusions, the question arises, ought we to avoid disturbing them ? Do not let us confuse that question with any other. It is not whether we should obtrude our opinions on others, but whether we should sanction their opinions when we believe them false; it is not whether we should be rude, but whether we should be sincere. One who loves truth will not need exhortation to try and make it attractive instead of repulsive. The danger is the other way, that truth will be so smooth and polite as not to be recognized for what it really is. The real question is whether truth should be concealed and suppressed out of consideration for any one’s pleasant prejudices. It is perfectly easy to show on general principles that such tampering with truth is disloyal and more dangerous than honest error itself. It is easy to show that to suppress truth is to suggest falsehood; that it is to foster a malarious atmosphere which brings forth not only pretty superstitions but ugly ones, and leaves the mind to be overgrown not only with gay weeds but rank poisons; that where a pleasant fiction finds shelter a dangerous error may nestle at its side; and that if the great souls of history had smoothed over falsehood because it was agreeable, and remained silent before the pet prejudices of weak minds, we should all be worshipping to-day the painted fetish dolls of the world’s infancy. �Consequences. 9 But I propose at present to look at the matter from another and somewhat lower point of view. This theory of suppression is not only immoral, hut rests upon an essential delusion. That delusion is that truth is hard, cold, unlovely, and that all the beauty rests with the illusions. The prevalence of this notion is easily explained. It is the natural tendency of an existing dogmatic system, when it finds some of its points coming into collision with common sentiment, to smooth and explain them away, cover them with velvet, so as to make itself as attractive as possible; and one of the oldest tricks of dogmatic art is to paint the opposing view in as dark colours as possible to make itself more pleasing by the contrast. The early Chris­ tians painted their own saints with beautiful tints on church windows, but the saints of other religions they painted as demons with terrible horns and flaming eyes; and the descendants of those early Christians have not lost their art. We know their skill in paint­ ing the infidel on his death-bed surrounded with horrors, the materialist given up to sensuality, the man of science living in an Arctic sea of negation, perishing without hope. It is no wonder that with these for­ bidding pictures in the distance so many are frightened back from the search for truth, and beg that the realm of delusions may be spared. But there is one suspicious circumstance about all these pictures of the results of beliefs so invested with horrors; they are depicted by those who have never held those beliefs, who have no experience of their real bearings, and who must therefore have drawn upon their imagination for their facts. We do not hear the actual materialists complaining that their belief is hope­ less, nor the real heretic crying out that he is in icy despair. They seem about as hearty and cheerful as other people. In one of our popular dramas, a rigidly righteous old lady is troubled because a certain blind youth is constantly cheerful; regarding blindness as �io Consequences. sent by an afflicting providence she shakes her head at the young man’s happiness, and says that when tribu­ lation is sent to us we ought to tribulate. This old lady, who, never having been blind knew nothing of its resources, seems to have written a good deal of modern theology. I do not deny that there is a certain naturalness about her inferences concerning things she knows nothing about. When she appears in the guise of a popular preacher or a doctor of divinity, he sits down to consider what he would be and do if he (otherwise, of course, retaining his present views) were a materialist, or a sceptic, and how Paine and Voltaire must have died—if they died logically. But having never tried it, he is compelled to evolve each result out of his inner consciousness. The image so evolved must sooner or later be brought face to face with the fact, and the contrast between the two is sometimes astonishing. Let us review a few examples. In former times, theologians could not (imagine that any man could have an actual and conscientious dis­ belief of their dogmas. They attributed all scepticism to an evil heart, or to a desire to forget and hide the truth lest it might check their evil propensities. This being their premiss, it was but a natural inference that all sceptics must be wicked men. Thus Thomas Paine was branded as a drunkard—a pure fabrication—and Voltaire stigmatised for immoralities of which he was innocent. But there was another inference. These men being only pretended unbelievers, it was but natural that when the hour of death arrived, the dis­ guise should fall, the truth come out, and the terrors it was impossible really to disbelieve then come so close that they would cry for mercy and die in the agonies of remorse. To suit that theory, fictitious scenes were invented for the deathbed of Paine, who died most peacefully, and that of Voltaire, whose only trouble in his closing hours was that the priests hung about him like vultures. �Consequences. 11 But that old theory broke down. The upright lives of such men as Hume, and Herbert, and Bolingbroke, and Franklin, and their peaceful deaths, reduced it to absurdity. There has succeeded to it another, which is, that unless a man believe in immortality, his life must be selfish, and he must have an excessive horror of death. While, on the other hand, the believer in heaven sacrifices present for future happiness, and dies with joyful hope. But this theory breaks down under the facts just like the other. The scep­ tical philosophers around us are apparently no more selfish than other people. If they were devoted to self, they would take care first of all not to express their scepticism. There are eminent men of science around us, disbelievers in Animism, whose abilities might have made them bishops, but whose self-sacri­ ficing devotion to what they believe true, causes them to live in poverty, and under the denunciation of the comfortable souls who find godliness to be great gain. Nor do we find that heretics have any greater dread of death than believers in a future life. The orthodox man for whom the grave is a gate to Paradise, sends for the doctor just as fast as the sceptic, and never seems in any hurry to enjoy his future bliss. On the other hand, no martyrs have ever marched more fear­ lessly to death than the revolutionists of France and Germany, who, in nine cases out of ten were unbe­ lievers in any future life. The unbeliever in a future life has not, indeed, much reason for the gloom com­ monly ascribed to him. If he has lost expectation of future joys, he has equally lost all apprehension of future woes; and, so far as the natural desire for con­ tinued existence is concerned, he knows that, if it is to be, he will attain it just as much as any believer in it, with the advantage that it will not have for a part of it the torture of some of his friends. Let us take another case,—the common idea of what it is to be a fatalist or necessitarian. The believer in �12 Consequences. Free-Will sits down and evolves from his inner con­ sciousness, the typical believer in necessity. As the fatalist believes that what will be will be; that nothing can be altered by the will of man; so, he must assuredly be a man who sits passive and allows things to take their own course. If he be a Calvinist, and believes that God has predestined from before the foundation of the world those who are to be saved and those who are to be lost, he will not fail to give himself up to sensual pleasures, knowing well that if he is one of the elect, self-indulgence cannot harm him, and if not, he will at least enjoy this life while it lasts. But when our speculative believer in free-will comes to examine the facts, he finds that the most active figures in his­ tory have been those same believers in fate. They are such men as the heroes of Greece; as Paul and Mahomet; Luther, Calvin, and John Knox; as Crom­ well and his soldiers ; as the Puritans who founded the American Commonwealth ; men, aggressive, power­ ful, irresistible, who have left their impress on the world in epochs; men, too, who, instead of finding in their election to divine favour, a reason for self-indul­ gence, felt in it an inspiration to surrender their every power to what they conceived to be the will of God. As a final example, we have before us the ordinary conception of a materialist. Very few people are com­ petent to pursue those philosophical studies which underlie the various conclusions called nominalism, realism, intuitionalism, utilitarianism, idealism, material­ ism. But the latter word has a familiar sound: materialism is related to matter, and matter plainly means the earth, and flesh and blood,.food and drink; consequently a materialist must mean a gross, fleshly character, a man who believes in nothing he cannot bite, and, as opposed to the idealist, he must be a man without ideas. This popular notion of a materialist recalls the sad fate of one of our artists, who made a sea-side picture, and among the common objects of the �Consequences. 13 sea-side which, he painted on the sands was a blood-red lobster. He had never seen a lobster, except as boiled for the table, and he supposed it had the same colour when washed up from the sea. He painted in accord­ ance with his experience; and his surprising work so added to his experience, that he is now, I believe, a respectable merchant. And so the average orthodox man bestows on the materialist his own experience of matter, and boils him in the hot water of his theologic consciousness very red. But when we come to consider the materialists as they are, we find them quite the reverse. It would be difficult—I might almost say impossible—to find in the long list of eminent material­ ists a single gross or sensual character. English materialists have been known to us as men especially consecrated to ideas. They have been such men as Shelley, in whose poems of Mature Robert Browning found a high correspondency with the divine; or Robert Owen, and his fellow-socialists, giving up life and fortune in the pursuit of an ideal society; and such men are fairly followed to-day by the men of science, and the positivists, and the secularists—men of plain living and high thinking, almost ascetic in their self-denial, and ever dreaming of higher education, of co-operation, and of other schemes for the moral, intellectual, or social advancement of mankind. Such are the men for whom Christians in their palaces sigh, deploring, amid their luxury, the gross materialism of the times! Now, let me not be misunderstood. The fact that believers in these several doctrines have contradicted by their lives and characters the d, priori theories formed about them, does not prove their doctrines true. The fact that Paine, when the American Con­ gress voted him money for his writings, refused to take it, poor as he was, but devoted it to the cause of liberty, refutes the idea that an infidel must be selfish; but it does not prove Paine’s belief to be true. Nor does the �14 Consequences. life of Paul prove the truth of predestination, nor that of Shelley the truth of materialism. As little do such facts show that there is no connection between intellec­ tual convictions and practical life. What such facts do show, is just this : that the implied method of dealing with questions is treacherous. Truth is not to be tested by anyone’s speculative apprehensions as to its results. It is as if a painter should sit down at the base of a hill he has never ascended to sketch the landscape which he supposes to be seen from its summit. The height may command out-looks he can­ not imagine until he has climbed it. If the orthodox believer really occupied the point of view reached by the thinker seen only from his own, he might find him surrounded by prospects, forces, influences, which alter the case materially. Every liberal thinker’s ex­ perience must confirm this. The free-thinker knows well that it is the sign of an embryonic phase of in­ quiry, to dread its consequences upon the character or happiness of any man, woman, or child. It has not brought gloom to himself, nor demoralization; he does not find his life a discord in contrast with any “melodious days” when he believed in a jealous God and a yawning hell; he knows that truthfulness is the sustaining thing, and the ardent pursuit of truth able to fill heart and brain with enthusiasm and hope. Why should he imagine that what has brought to himself liberation and light should bring a shadow on the life of his “ praying sister,” whom he can only re­ gard as a victim on whom Superstition, like a ghoul, is preying 1 The free inquirer will discover full soon that the only “ saving faith ” is a perfect trust in truth, and that the only real infidelity is the belief that a lie can do better work than truth. He will take to heart Montaigne’s advice, and fear only Fear. No alarms about the consequences of the diffusion of truth can shake his nerves or cause the balance to tremble in his �Consequences. 15 hand. Truth has ever justified herself. She can look back to fair results, to the noblest triumphs, and in their light see the chains that bind all the lions on her path. We pursue our inquiries, not without experience, not in the infancy of the world, but amid the mighty shades of heroic forerunners; amid a cloud of brave witnesses, who knew that the children of Truth have nothing to fear, living or dying ; whose fidelities have built up the temples of Science and Civilization amid the clamours of cowards; and they all cry shame on the fears that would betray our reason and sap our strength; they cry Onward ! to the heart that aban­ dons the flesh-pots of falsehood, even for a wilder­ ness where leads the pillar of truth—be it fire, be it cloud. TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS. EDINBURGH. ��INDEX TO ME SCOTT’S PUBLICATIONS, ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED. The following Pamphlets and Papers may be had on addressing a letter enclosing the price in postage stamps to Mr THOMAS SCOTT, No. 11, The Terrace, Farquhar Road, Upper Norwood, London, S.E. Price ABBOTT, FRANCIS E., Editor of ‘ Index,’ Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A. S' ’ The Impeachment of Christianity. With Letters from Miss F. P. Cobhe and Prof. F. W. Newman, giving their reasons for not calling themselves Christians <0 Truths for the Times _ _ . _ _ (0 ANONYMOUS. A Plain Statement, Address on the Necessity of Free Inquiry and Plain Speaking, A. I. Conversations. By a Woman, for Women. Parts I., II., and III., 6d each Christianity and its Evidences _ _ _ _ Euthanasia ; an Abstract of the Arguments for and against it, A Few Self-Contradictions of the Bible _ _ Euthanasia, Modern Orthodoxy and Modern Liberalism . Modern Protestantism. By the Author of “The Philosophy of Necessity.” Nine Years a Curate . _ _ _ _ One Hundred and One Questions to which the Orthodox, &c Per dozen On Public Worship Our First Century ------2 Primitive Church History Sacred History as a Branch of Elementary Education. Part I.__ Its Influence on the Intellect. Part II.—Its Influence on the Development of the Con­ science. 6d each Part _ _ _ The Church and its Deform. 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Another Reply to the Question, “What have we got to Rely on, if we CANNOT RELY ON THE BlBLE ? ” to the Question, “Apart from Supernatural Revelation, What is the Prospect of Man’s Living after Death?” A Reply to the Question—“Shall I seek Ordination in the Church of England ?” --------The Nature and Origin of Evil. A Letter to a Friend - A Reply HOPPS, Rev J. PAGE. Thirty-nine Questions on the Thirty-nine Articles. With Portrait HUTCHISON, THOMAS DANCER—The Free-Will Controversy, JEVONS, WILLIAM. - 0 0 0 6 6 0 0 3 The Book of Common Prayer Examined in the Light of the Present Age. Parts I. and II. 6d. each Part - 1 Claims ok Christianity to the Character of a Divine Revelation, Considered 0 0 The Prayer Book Adapted to the Age - 6 0 6 3 KALISCH, M. Ph.D., Theology of the Past and the Future. Reprinted from Part I. of his Commen­ 1 tary cn Leviticus. With Portrait - 0 �List ut Publications—continued. KIRKMAN. The Rev THOMAS F., Rector of Croft, Warrington. Church Cursing and Atheism - s. d. -10 - 1 0 - 1 6 - On Church Pedigrees. Parts I. and II. With Portrait. 6d. each Part On the Infidelity of Orthodoxy. In Three Parts. 6d. each Part Orthodoxy from the Hebrew Point of View. Parts I. and II. 6d. each, - 1 LAKE, J. W. Plato, Philo, and Paul; or, The Pagan Conception of a “Divine Logos,” shewn to have been the basis of the Christian Dogma of the Deity of Christ, - 1 LA TOUCHE, J. D., Vicar of Stokesay, Salop. The Judgment of the Committee of Council in the Case of Mr. Voysey - LAYMAN, A, and M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin. Law and the Creeds Thoughts on Religion and the Bible Cremation - LEWIS, TERESA. MACFIE, MATT. - - - - - - - - - - Religion Viewed as Devout Obedience to the Laws of the Universe The Religious Faculty : Its Relation to the other Faculties, and its Perils, The Cardinal Dogmas of Calvinism traced to their origin, - M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. Pleas for Free Inquiry. Parts I., II., III. and IV. Mackay, Charles, ll.d. 6d. each Part the souls of the children MACLEOD, JOHN Recent Theological Addresses. A Lecture MAITLAND, EDWARD. - - - - - - 0 0 - 0 3 -06 -06 - 0 3 - 0 6 0 6 - 0 6 -20 -03 -03 Jewish Literature and Modern Education: or, the Use and Abuse of the Bible in the Schoolroom . -16 How to Complete the Reformation. With Portrait - 0 6 The Utilization of the Church Establishment - 0 6 MUIR, J., D.O.L. Religious and Moral Sentiments. Freely translated from Indian Writers, - - 0 Three Notices of the “ Speaker’s Commentary,” translated from the Dutch of Dr. A. Kuenen, ---0 M.P., Letter by. The Dean of Canterbury on Science and Revelation - 0 6 6 NEALE, EDWARD VANSITTART. Does Morality depend on Longevity ? -06 Genesis Critically Analysed, and continuously arranged; with Introductory Remarks -10 Reason, Religion, and Revelation, -10 The Mythical Element in Christianity -10 The New Bible Commentary and the Ten Commandments - 0 3 NEWMAN, Professor F. W. Against Hero-Making in Religion Jambs and Paul On the Causes of Atheism. With Portrait On the Relations of Theism to Pantheism ; and On the Galla Religion On the Historical Depravation of Christianity On this World and the other World, Reply’ to a Letter from an Evangelical Lay Preacher The Controversy about Prayer --The Divergence of Calvinism from Pauline Doctrine The Religious Weakness of Protestantism The True Temptation of Jesus. With Portrait Thoughts on the Existence of Evil The Two Theisms Ancient Sacrifice, OLD GRADUATE. Remarks on Paley’s Evidences OXLEE, The Rev JOHN. a Confutation of the Diabolarchy - PADRE OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. -06 -06 - 0 6 - 0 6 -03 -06 - 0 3 -03 - 0 3 - 0 - 0 6 6 _ 3 - 0 3 -03 q - 0 6 - 0 6 The Unity of the Faith among all Nations - 0 6 PARENT AND TEACHER, A. Is Death the end of all things for Man? - 0 6 PHYSICIAN, A. A Dialogue by way of Catechism,—Religious, Moral, and Philosophical Parts I. and II. 6d. each Part -10 The Pentateuch, in Contrast with the Science and Moral Sense of our Age Part I.—Genesis, Is. 6d. Part II.—Exodus, Is. Part III.—Leviticus, Is. Part IV.—Numbers, Is. Part V.—Deuteronomy, Is. Part VI.—Joshua, 6d., - 6 0 PRESBYTER ANGLIOANUS. Eternal Punishment. An Examination of the Doctrines held by the Clergy of the Church of England -06 The Doctrine of Immortality in its Bearing on Education - 0 6 �List of Publications—continued. ROBERTSON, JOHN, Coupar-Angus. INTELLECTUAL LIBERTY The Finding of the Book s. d. - - SCOTT, THOMAS. ' o . - " - Basis of a New Reformation _ Commentators and Hierophants; or, The Hones tv nf m Two Parts. 6d. each Part onestT of Chustian Commentators Practical Remarks on “The Lord’s Prayer” ' Ihe Dean of Ripon on the Physical Resurrectth^ tU on the Truth of Christianity I°1' 0F ^ESUS> ns Bearing The English Life of Jesus. A New Edition ' ' 1HK Iactics and Defeat of the C!wptqt«taxt ~ " *■ SHAEN, MISS—Prayer and Love to God S°CIETY ’ STRANGE, T. LUMISDEN, late Judge of the HioL L i f T. L. Strange An Address to all Earnest Christians Clerical Integrity _ Communion with God ' The Bennett Judgment ” The Bible; Is it “The Word of God’” The Speaker’s Commentary Reviewed iHE Christian Evidence Society The Exercise of Prayer 0 0 9 1 o 0 « 0 6 4 4 0 6 1 0 . per doz’ 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 ' ' ~ 2 SUFFIELD, Rev. ROBERT RODOLPH. Church’ Croya°n' - - WHEELWRIGHT, Rev. GEORGE. “ E?INBUI1gh Review” and Dr Strauss Ihree Letters on the Voysey Judgment Society’s Lectures, _ G 2 and WORTHINGTON, The Rev W. R. ZERFFI,E G^G-t Ph.d°PINI0K IN Maiters of religion - 0 3 0 3 0 6 0 6 6 6 0 0 - 0 o The Christian Evidence - 0 6 and Concrete Nature of 0 the 6 0 The Origin and theJAbstract .> Devil. SCOTT’S “ENGLISH LIFE OF JESUS.” In One Volume, 8vo, bound in cloth, post free, 4s. 4rf., jSECOND EDITION OF THE ENGLISH LIFE OF JESUS. RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, THOMAS SCOTT, 11 THE TERRACE, FARQUHAR ROAD, UPPER NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E. Noucb —Poj a%ders*° be made payable to Thomas Scott, ___________ IPestow Hill Office, Upper Norwood, London, S.E. Friends to the cause of “ Free Inquiry and Free Expression! are earnestly requested to give aid in the wide dissemination of these publuahons. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. 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Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Thomas Scott Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1875?] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G4863 N177 Subject The topic of the resource Unitarianism Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Consequences), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Morris Tracts NSS Unitarianism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/7d29e4989a89892290f9ff380be6a764.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=ZkdjKe1KQG71w7-MrOaawiwF5zu-ccxeVkf-uP0TiJSNgcDCyrmXr8m1UdaLZpTDl1ZhD2obp7TjaRUHk4QbVKbKORXLNV6zLT7H2PqyAhjxbci9hmpOALNNOTAFVJptJaxe-7pyISVK0Xy2qL4xWBn%7EZxuaESYd3xBTwvtWHCgDMbPle9SQwPo1y1GDKn5QhBq8FhiNJtt%7EoEEbka-pMUm6Z8TquKVSKh8yhyfL7OdKfUkjOCoHVF%7EwdiSWp7ih8UHRrsdBTLPw61-rVk90Ym3LeB-cFuH3WGqZtCGYt4-mMJN5tQZNyEBR5gyJ6gcvN0zBff-WZdXUxT5utUnzTA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 8c8ed8b3a91f845f62aefadc716f707d PDF Text Text ^niianan JfHlotosjnp axxb LETTER TO REV. HENRY W. BELLOWS, D.D. BY REV. EDWARD C. TOWNE, PASTOR OF THE UNITARIAN PARISH, MEDFORD, MASS. CAMBRIDGE: PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SONS. 1866. ��Bmianan anb Citato. Rev. Henry W. Bellows, D.D. My Dear Sir, — I have a most serious purpose in address­ ing you. You have within a short time received into vour hands the chief control of a considerable part of the denomina­ tional affairs of Unitarianism. As the projector and chief manager of the National Unitarian Conference last year, and as head of the Council which represents that Conference, you so far stand at the head of the denomination. I say so far, because I am by no means ready to admit that your National Conference really represents Unitarianism. I think it may appear that it-represents little more than a. moment in which the Unitarian body, in its exceeding good nature, waited upon your thought, without intending to commit itself to your po­ sition. But for the moment you occupy a position of high control. You have become the chief editor of the only Uni­ tarian Review, “ The Christian Examiner.” You control indirectly the New-York Unitarian paper, and to some extent the provincial organs of the denomination. By means of the National Convention, which yielded a well-meant assent to your vigorous and plausible dictation, you have for the time stamped your ecclesiastical policy upon much of the action and utterance of Unitarianism. I desire to protest against * this policy. I wish to demand for Unitarianism the contin­ uance of liberty. Ecclesiasticism and dogmatism seem to me intruders upon a fellowship which is meant to be as broad as �4 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY the providential opportunity of the time, and as free as the most enlightened consciences require. I protest against unbrotherly exclusion and the reign of conservative dictation. I wish to make it understood, that your course in the National Unitarian Convention is resisted in the name of Christianity itself, as seriously in violation of the fundamental principles of Christian faith and covenant. I do not arraign you on account of your opinions, which I assume to be your conscientious con­ victions ; but on account of your unbrotherly resolution to make these opinions the rule of Christian communion, against the earnest and deeply conscientious appeal of men and brethren providentially associated with you, or directed to you for sym­ pathy and communion. ' The principle on which I plant myself was recognized and emphatically avowed in the paper presented by you to the Committee charged with calling our first National Unitarian Convention. It was in these words : — “ That the corner-stone of the Unitarian body, as distin­ guished from other ecclesiastical bodies, must continue to be liberty of thought, and that the denomination could unite only on a platform broad enough to sustain the whole brother­ hood who claimed the name and faith ; that it would be im­ possible to run any line through the Unitarian body, or the faith of the body, which would not leave equal worth, ability, sincerity, and practical Christianity, on either side of it; nor could we cut off any portion of the body, or any school of it, without cutting off something vital, significant, and precious. It should therefore be settled, now and for ever, that, without making light of opinions, or pretending indifference or neu­ trality in respect to them, and allowing and inviting discussion of doctrines and policies and tendencies, the Unitarian or Lib­ eral Christian body is the rightful home of all ministers of good Christian character who claim, on grounds satisfactory to themselves^ the Christian name and faith, and desire to co­ operate and hold fellowship with each other ; that no excision, or denial of Christian standing, or refusal of fellowship, is to �UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 5 be encouraged in either direction, whether towards those lean­ ing towards the old creeds, but claiming our name and fellow­ ship, or those leaning towards Rationalism.” (From “ The Christian Register” of Feb. 4, 1865, with the Italics as there printed.) In the more formal address to the churches of our body, the Committee, of which you were chairman, earnestly called at­ tention to the emancipation characteristic of our time, and to the duty, laid upon us as a body, of opening wide our doors to the new believers of this new time, whether they should come from the old churches, or from the mass of inquirers outside of all church connection. I quote again the terms of your own statement: — “ That crust of ecclesiastical and theological usage, so long thickening with undisturbed possession of the surface, and which we could not puncture, has been broken up, as the ice is broken by the spring freshet. Men’s minds and hearts are emancipated, at least for this noble hour, from the dominion of mere usage. There is a longing for new light, a hospitality toward truth, a willingness to hear and do and accept new things, with a courage, faith, and aptitude for large and gen» erous enterprises. “ Is there not an immense floating body of intelligence, de­ tached from all ecclesiastical relations, to which we owe the urgent and speedy presentation of our Christian views, and the shelter of our Christian communion? And is there not certain to be, the moment the thoughts of the country turn from the war, a still larger number of dissatisfied, inquiring, earnest, yet courageous and independent minds, to whom no existing organization of Christians offers the same welcome as ours, and whose wants can by no other be so well supplied ? Moreover, are not all the popular sects agitated from within by the very questions which fifty years ago disturbed our hearts, and gave birth to our denomination ? ” These earnest avowals, with much more to the same purport circulated through private channels, led to the belief that the �6 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY! National Unitarian Convention would proclaim an unqualified Christian Brotherhood, without dogmatic or sectarian charac­ ter, and invite the union in Christian fellowship of as many as desired to meet on this platform. You, who proposed the Con­ vention, and had chief charge of preparing for it, authorized the expectation that the Unitarian body would cordially recog­ nize outcast hunger for truth and communion, and would make a home for whatever ministers of good Christian character the providence of “this critical hour” might send to our doors. To those of us who felt that churches of evangelical faith, on the one side, might perceive the Christian character of fellow­ ship without dogmatic tests of any kind, and accept union on the ground of Christian life and character, under the sole bond of brotherly love; and that, on the other side, truly Christian societies, of Universalist .antecedents, or of independent posi­ tion, oi' organized outside of recognized lines of communion, in the name of “ spiritualism,” or of “ reform,” would wel­ come the order of a free communion, and eagerly avail them­ selves of a cultivated fellowship, — there sprang up a sublime hope that we were to have in Unitarianism a communion wholly Christian, in which the transcendent verities of our blessed faith would be no more postponed to the beggarly elements of dogmatic conceit and sectarian prejudice. Yet the very opposite of this was accomplished, and largely by your interference and dictation. To substantiate this charge, I must pass in review some important facts, chiefly of the action of the National Unitarian Convention. Upon the presentation by yourself, on the second day of that Convention, of the report of a Committee of twelve on the or­ ganization of a Conference, a discussion immediately arose. That report introduced the phrases, “ God and the kingdom of his Son” and “ the Lord Jesus Christ.” The object of in­ troducing these phrases was to recognize so much of dogma as the Italicized words contain, and to compel the indirect admission of this by those who cannot conscientiously accept the LoRD-ship of Jesus. The “ comparative contempt” of �UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 7 denying to the carpenter of Nazareth the character of Divine Lord and Saviour, you had determined to deal with in the old spirit of ecclesiastical coercion. This you avowed toward the close of the Convention, in that significant speech in which you became for a Tew unfortunate moments the sport of an ex­ citable temperament, while arrogating to yourself the right to “ control the spirit of the age.” I give you credit for having, in the words of the report, “ felt called upon to apologize for what he feared may have appeared to have been unkind remarks on his part.” But Ionone the less, find a veritable admission of significant fact in the following statement from your excited address. I 'giveithe words of the report, pub­ lished in the “ Christian Register.” They give less than the force of your whole language^— “ He desired the sympathy and affection of both sides ; but, if he had to choose between the two, he frankly avowed that he would rather go with OrthodogEwiji any form in which it could be stated, than with those who would put Jesus Christ into comparative contempt. We have made a constitution for the purpose of holding the latter to it; and, if the issue is made, we shall gain ten firm^good Christians for every one we lose.” This avowal, after the discussion upon the admission into the preamble of the constitution of the Conference, of the * « phrases “ kingdom of his Son” and “ Lord Jesus Christ,” amounted to a confession that those phrases were introduced for the purpose of coercing a part of the body, and at the risk of driving it away. It is credibly reported that Dr. Hedge proposed in the Committee to pmit the term “ Lord,” but was overruled by a portion of the Committee of twelve, who insisted on this fragment of dogma, -and threatened to break fraternal ties if the Convention should proceed to do the will of God without first saying “ Lord, Lord,” to Jesus. I think I am warranted in saying, particularly, that Rev. Dr. Eliot, of St. Louis, was one of those who threatened the rupture^of our fel­ lowship, if there were not at least a remnant of conservative �8 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. dogma in its platform. I mention the name of Dr. Eliot with great respect. He is one of the best of men when he makes his face warm and lovely. But when he makes his face hard and cold, because others will not bow to his intolerant opin­ ion ; when he threatens to break fellowship, if a majority should not be persuaded to follow his lead, — in that, he is just as bad as if he were not Dr. Eliot and a border saint. If there could be any doubt that there was an intention, on the part of conservative leaders of our body, to hold their radi­ cal brethren in last year’s Convention to their position, or to break up the fellowship, it would be removed by the following statement made by Dr. Osgood, your conservative friend and associate in New York. I quote from a “ Sunday-evening Lesson, reported by a Phonographer,” and printed in the “ Christian Inquirer” of Dec. 7, 1865 : — “ At the National Convention, held in this city last winter, [spring?] the preamble to the constitution used the words, ‘ Our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Certain worthy persons of radical views quarrelled with the words; . . . but the Convention accepted them, and our denomination have believed in the idea of our Lord Jesus Christ, and maintained the faith, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess him to be Lord, to the glory of God the Father. . . . Had our Convention refused to call Jesus Christ Lord, in a sacred and peculiar sense, it would have broken up the assem- » bly on the spot, and those of our clergy who hold the highest positions, and are held in the greatest regard, would have left the place. They believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Son of Man, the brightness of the divine glory, and the express image of the Divine Person.” I return now to the discussion which followed the intro­ duction by you of the preamble and constitution which you had in committee purposely framed, to hold the radicals to a conservative confession of faith. Rev. David A. Wasson — minister elect of the Twenty-eighth Congregational Society of Boston, but still pastor of the First Unitarian Church of �UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 9 Cincinnati — first gave utterance to our protest. His tone was extremely temperate. His words were, without excep' tion, the calm and kind expression of a brother’s conviction. He only asked that they might be considered. He declared that he had no wish to stand out against the judgment of the majority, but only to state his view and the ground of it. The constitution reported did not seem to him to meet the want of the times, and he only wished to suggest such modifi­ cation as would accord with the' spirit and aims of our liberal communion. The chief ground of Mr. Wasson’s protest was simple, and it was not unchristian. He said that the word “ Lord,” applied to Jesus, commonly signified more than we any of us wished to express. It was generally used of Jesus as a supposed Person of God,. Almost all Christians meant God when they used the phrase, “ Lord Jesus Christ.” There­ fore we should not use it. He ftdcepted the providential lead­ ership of Jesus, but he could ndTascribe’To him supernatural lordship. He could not accent1 a "Lord who was not God. And he would not use the termj^Son of God ” in such a way as to imply that Jesus had himself an Exclusive sonship. Mr. C. C. Burleigh followed Mr...Wasson, and made a remark which stirred the indignation of the Convention, — so at least Dr. Osgood says in the “ Sunday Lesson,” from which I quoted above. It was to the effect- that Paul used the Greek word kurios as a ^erm of address merely, equivalent to our Mr. Mr. Burleigh was by no means altogether in the right. It was incorrect to say, that New-Testament authority could not be abundantly found for the use of “Lord” to designate Jesus as supernatural Messiah; a® when allusion is made to the apostolic expectation of “ the doming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” “ with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God,” “ in flaming fire, taking Vengeance.” It would have been much more to the purpose if Mr. Burleigh had pointed out the fact, that the supernatural Lordship of Jesus stands in w the New Testament as part of the Jewish-Christian conception of Jesus as supernatural Deliverer, in that immediate age, of 2 �10 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. a chosen Jew-Christian people; and that it falls with the fall of this conception. But what Mr. Burleigh actually said, though to little purpose and with decided disregard of the prejudices of his audience, was said innocently and in good faith, and produced a shock only because Jesus is shielded as an idol, an “express image” of God, in even the Unita­ rian mind. I truly regretted that Mr. Burleigh did not make a more scholarly criticism, and express himself with more con­ sideration for the sensibilities of brethren who cannot yet give up the “express image” for the pure Spirit; but, when Dr. Lothrop excitedly “ called the speaker to order,” amid the indignant applause of a portion of the Convention, under the pretext that Mr. Burleigh “ represented no church,” the exhi­ bition of holy passion was as unworthy as it was needless. The subsequent allusion, by a radical Unitarian layman, to Mr. Burleigh, when he said that “ he was opposed to uniting with rag, tag, and bobtail,” no doubt revealed an important side of the Unitarian mind, — its traditional distaste for religion with­ out refinement. It expressed the moral limitation, as “ Lord Jesus Christ” expressed the dogmatic limitation, of the faith which resented the appearance on its platform of a representa­ tive of that vast outside communion, the Holy Church of Humanity. I think I felt as much distaste- as any for the idiosyncrasies of Mr. Burleigh, and sincerely deplored his awkward thrust; but I am bound to say that it was by his disguised Christhood that the Unitarian Convention was tested, and found somewhat wanting. The spirit of Mr. Burleigh is pure and sincere ; he has borne a true Christ-character through many years of earnest going about to do good ; he has lived a spotless life, and pursued, in his way, a noble career. If he has not dined with the Pharisees, in fine raiment, with washen hands, and “represented a church” with unctious dignity on many re­ spectable occasions, he has at least borne the burden and heat of the great day of conflict with wrong, and represented the ideal Christ — Christ-character — under the cross of thank­ �UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 11 less toil and heavy reproach. That Christ was smitten by cruel hands when offended prejudice clamorously supported Dr. Lothrop in calling Mr. Burleigh to order. So far, more­ over, as Mr. Burleigh was not at one with the clean and comely delegates of regular Unitarianism, he was all the more significant as a delegate from the unrecognized mass which genuine Christianity especially commissions us to gather in. In rejecting him in this aspect, because he represented no church, but only outcast hunger for truth and communion, our aristocracy of culture spurned the democracy of Christ with a contempt infinitely more deplorable than the “ comparative contempt” into which the^Lord Jesus” was put by Mr. Burleigh. It was with these feelings that I attempted to speak almost immediately after Mr. Burleigh. Dr. James F. Clarke had made a motion to so amend as to style our conference, “ of Unitarian and Independent churches,” instead of Ij4 Unitarian ” simply. To this you had said that Dr. ^larke’s proposition was not in order in this Convention, — not because that statement was at all true in fact, but because you dictatorially assumed to decide that the Convention should not enter upon the “ broad-church” question. Dr. Clarke had submitted to your dictation, and withdrawn his motion. At this moment I took the floor. Im­ mediately Hon. T. D. Eliot, who sat at the left of the President, rose, and moved that speeches on the adoption of the constitu­ tion be limited to five minutes. Mr. Eliot seemed to consider this a question of privilege, entitling him to disregard the fact that I was on the floor before him. I appealed against this to the President, — Mr. Eliot,$ meanwhile, taking his seat, and leaving me the sole occupant of the floor. The President stated at once that Mr. Eliot’s motion was not in order; there being a question before the Convention, and Mr. Eliot’s motion not being in amendment of this question. Then I was certain­ ly entitled to be heard under the rule in force when I rose, that speeches should be limited to fifteen minutes. But this was not allowed. Hon. Mr. Eliot moved, without rising, to lay the sub­ �12 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. ject before the Convention on the table. The motion was put, and carried. Hon. Mr. Eliot further moved to limit speeches to five minutes. This was put, and carried. Then the subject of previous discussion was taken from the table. Through all this deliberate disorder, I had stood in my place, where I had risen, and addressed the President, before Mr. Eliot rose. My claim to the floor was so manifest, — Hon. Mr. Eliot had so deliberately snubbed me, — that I had no occasion to vociferate my protest. The demand which I made, and the question of order which I raised, when Mr. Eliot rose, was too plainly conceded, yet too deliberately disregarded, to make it worth while to clamor for my rights. I allowed myself to be wronged, so long as it was manifestly done, rather than raise my voice in a tone which might suggest an excited temper. The floor was finally given me, — Gov. Andrew said, “The gentleman on my left has the floor,” — not because I opened my lips to repeat my demand, but because the floor had been mine all along. It was thus determined, by th© conservative managers on the platform, that there should be no real freedom of discussion. The morning session had barely begun. Neither Mr. Wasson nor Mr. Burleigh had spoken fifteen minutes. The day was before us. For at least some hours, there might have been dis­ cussion unlimited by any rule. A rule of fifteen minutes was in force. It was, furthermore, made incumbent upon speakers to mount a very high platform, — enough in itself to deter many. Yet it was thought necessary to further limit discussion by a five-minutes’ rule. Under that rule alone was I allowed to speak. I said that I regretted that Dr. Clarke had withdrawn his amendment. I did not stigmatize, as it deserved, that arbitrary statement of yours, that Dr. Clarke’s amendment was not in order. I had not time to deal calmly with these restraints upon the free action of the Convention, and I was resolved not to incur even the appearance of an unfraternal word. I protested, in general terms, against a sectarian organization, and against insisting on the Lordship of Jesus. I said, that, whatever our �UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 13 opinion may be of the nature of Jesus, he should be to us an example of service. Our chief duty was not to profess a Lord Jesus with our lips, but to imitate the friend and servant of man in our lives. Jesus especially presented himself to us as a servant of the spiritually needy. Therefore we .might well omit the recognition of his Lordship, lay aside our sectarian­ ism, and constitute ourselves servants of the spiritually needy, inside or outside of recognized communions. It would be wrong for us to organize on a merely Unitarian basis. There were Universalists around us wishing to escape the bondage of sect, and Spiritualists desiring the advantage of our culture. There might be Liberal Orthodox churches, willing to enter a communion based solely on liberty and brotherly love. Could we not declare our doors open on both sides ? Could we not make room to hold in good fellowship every shade of conscien­ tious opinion, so that even the most conservative might unite in our associations and our Conference of churches, without the appearance of surrendering their peculiar opinions? Above all, could we not realize at once and fully- the peculiar spirit of a pure Christianity,; and Welcome to our. generous fellowship the representatives of that ne^gi faith, now so active in the world? Could we not receive any minister of any society organized upon Christian aims,jand desiring our fellowship? Had we not a Christianity able to save all that wished to share its life? Most surely, we .’"could trust the power of our faith. It needed no hedging in by any preamble or constitution. We could, and we must, make our brotherhood as broad as sin­ cere love of the truth and hone® love of the brethren. It was to express such sentiments as these that I was allowed five minutes on the platform of the National Unitarian Con­ vention. I. I was followed by Rev. Mr. Ames, of Albany. He was a member of the Committee of twelve to prepare the constitu­ tion of the Conference. He wa&junderstood to be among the most liberal. But he took ground for the moment with secta­ rianism. His argument was twofold. In the first place, he �u UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY* considered this Convention a squad-drill only. Therefore the work of establishing a broad fold might be postponed I In the second place, he was not in favor of letting in organiza­ tions which would provoke the coming in of Christ, with a whip of small cords, to clear the temple. This argument was cer­ tainly a serious mistake. After the articles of constitution had been adopted, Mr. Ames himself moved to add, “ Nothing in this constitution shall be construed to exclude from representa­ tion in this body any church which chooses to co-operate with us in Christian work.” This was rejected, on grounds which Mr. Ames himself helped to enforce, — that the Unitarian was a select body, and that we had as yet no call to open our doors to the houseless faith of the unwashen world. Following this, at the afternoon session, Mr. Ames brought up the subject a second time, and said that — “ He was filled with sadness because the Convention was not disposed to act on a broader basis. Ministers who were to make their mark in the community a few years hence were not to be found now in the communion of the Unitarian Church. The fountain of the Christian life was not in our keeping. Let us not obstruct the stream. He wanted to enlarge the stream by opening connection with new springs. He had left the Free-Will Baptists to find more congenial fellowship among Unitarians ; but, if Unitarians were to be as great ^tick­ lers for their name as Free-Will Baptists, it was time for a new movement.” Why did not Mr. Ames take this ground when the articles of constitution were under consideration? Undoubtedly he was sincere in supposing, that when the denomination, as such, was organized, it would throw open its doors. He discovered his mistake too late. Following Mr. Ames was a motion to insert “ Free Chris­ tian ” in place of “ Unitarian.” Dr. Osgood objected that we came here as Unitarians. He preferred the name “ BroadChurch Unitarians.” Dr. Osgood has indeed a very liberal spirit; but it is well known that he uses “ broad ” in a purely �UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 15 ecclesiastical and sectarian sense. He it was1 whd most de­ voutly thanked God, that the Convention was not as these fol­ lowers of “ naturalism ” [an undisguised allusion to Rev. O. B. Frothingham] or <s vague deism” [such as Mr. Wasson], or as that Burleigh, with “ his offensive word,” “ whose appearance was offensive to nearly all, and who received such summary rebuke, from a gentleman usually supposed to favor a moderate degree of radicalism, as to be considered extinct, and not worth minding.” When Dr. Clarke expressed his desire to move an amendment to secure ^littlereal breadth, and did move it, subject to decision as to its being in order, and you rose to reply before Dr. Clarke had finished, Dr. Osgood rose in a front pew with his eye on you, already on your feet, and shook his head to you with great solemnity, that you should say NO to Dr. Clarke. He was by no means prepared for a Free Christian communion. In harmony with Dr. Osgood’s objection was the brief speech of a layman, who would not consent to relinquish the name Unitarian,’and regretted the proposal to substitute Free Chris­ tian. He said, that, if this Convention did not recognize the Lord Jesus and adopt a Unitarian basis, the laymen would hold a convention by themselves. Mr. E. S. Mills, the radical layman from Brooklyn, whom Dr. Osgood alludes to above, made an impassioned address. He said that “ he preferred to go with Mr. Low,2 and have a creed rather than abandon the 1 See a card from Dr. Osgood, in the New-York Evening Post,” April, 1865. 2 Mr. A. A. Low, of Rev. A. P. Putnam’s Society, Brooklyn, had attempted to procure the passage of a resolution requiring the members of the Convention to give their assent, as a condition of sitting in the Convention, to five articles of belief, including belief in “ one Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, the So® of God, and his specially appointed mes­ senger and representative to our race, gifted with supernatural powers, approved of God by miracles and signs and wonders, which God did by him.” Mr. Low attempted to move his resolution in amendment of a motion to appoint a committee on rules of order and business, having first made a speech on his resolution. He was called to order, and silenced for the time. At a later hour, his resolution was received, �16 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. name Unftarian. He was opposed to uniting with rag, tag, and bobtail.” This last seemed to hit the nail on the head for a portion of the Convention. Dr. Osgood has twice referred to this most unhappy fling, with great satisfaction, — once in his card in the “ Evening Post,” quoted above; and again in the “ Sunday Lesson, reported by a phonographer.” In the former, he said that Mr. Burleigh “ received such summary rebuke, from a gentleman usually supposed to favor a moderate degree of radicalism, as to be considered extinct, and not worth mind­ ing.” In the latter, he said, The man was put down with most expressive silence [?], and his sharpest rebuke came from one of the foremost representatives of our radical wing.” It would be possible to suppose (that Dr. Osgood did not have in mind the choice phrase quoted above ; but it happens that Mr. Mills did not utter a word on this head beyond what I have quoted, —that “ he was opposed to uniting with rag, tag, and bobtail.” That was the “ sharp and summary rebuke” which met the case for those who put themselves forward as, in par­ ticular, defenders of the Unitarian faith. “ Lord, Lord,” and “ No rag, tag, and bobtail,” were the words which conservative control brought out most emphatically in a convention which was to have “ something of the importance of one of the old Church Councils.” Hardly an hour had been occupied in discussion, when Hon. Mr. Eliot moved the previous question / The article under consideration was the only one which involved the principle in dispute. The question of adopting it was one to be dealt with calmly and deliberately. Full discussion was demanded on every ground. But the managers on the plat­ form had resolved otherwise. To all appearance, Hon. Mr. Eliot was their mouth-piece. Jj deeply respect this gentleman. He is a good man and a stanch patriot. True and vigilant, he and laid on the table.; from whickit was passed, near the close of the Convention, to the charge of the council established by the Conference. This high-handed attempt to outrage liberty of faith was very gently dealt with. �HnTTARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. • 17 has done himself great honor in Congress. He is a kindly parishioner and a generous friend. I repeat that I deeply respect this gentleman. But I am confident that he did not adequately appreciate the position of things when he intro­ duced the previous question into a conference whose law is liberty,—the conference of brethren upon the high themes of Christian inquiry. At one other crisis in the Convention, discussion was closed by resort to the previous question. It was in the afternoon of this second day, when Mr. Ames had attempted to secure, at least, an appearance of opening our doors to those outside of our sect. Rev. A. P. Putnam obtained the floor,' and deliberately attempted to violate the order of the Convention. He1‘did not wish to speak upon the question before the houses^ but entered upon a speech on the propriety of adopting the creed offered by Mr. Low. I rose to inquire if this was in order, and was sustained by the chair. Mr. Putnam then attempted to introduce Mr. Low’s creed, as an amendment to theh'quqstion before the house. I objected to this, as not in order; and was sustained by the chair. Mr. Low’s creed had been laid on the table, and could be taken up only by the vote of the house. Upon this, Mr. Putnam, though perfectly await that several persons had tried in vain to obtain the floor, moved the previous question. I appealed to him to withdraw it for a single moment. He refused; and that discussion was closed. In effect, there was almost no real discussion upon the measures adopted by the Convention. These measures "were resolved on by a few persons, chief among whom was yourself; and they were put through by dictation and the repression of free protest. The part acted by yourself in the Convention demands special notice. I am not disposed criticise your course in connection with the arrangements made before the Convention. I cheerfully concede very much to human infirmity. But when you chose, and kept, your seat on the elevated platform, a little to the right, and not a little to the front, of the chair, where you could always rise between his eye and the Conven3 �18 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND^IBEBTm tion, and there conducted yourself as if the Convention had nothing to do but bow its assent to your proposals, you be­ came open to criticism. I have already recited how Dr. Clarke presented an amendment to article first of the constitution, to insert “ and Independent,” so as to read, “ National Confer­ ence of Unitarian and Independent Churches,” — expressing his willingness to withdraw it, if not in order; and how you rose and said, with the assistance of a nod from Dr. Osgood, that Dr. Clarke’s amendment was not in order in this Conven­ tion. You explained that this amendment was not a proper question for the Convention to consider, but would be proper to be considered by a future convention, when the “broad­ church ” basis would be proposed. Dr. Clarke had no occa­ sion to offer his amendment with submission ; much less had he the smallest occasion to heed your interference as to the or­ der of the Convention. I do not forget your announcement that the Convention could not unite in any thing but what the Com­ mittee had presented ; but there was no reason why this decision of yours should have prevented consideration, by the Conven­ tion, of Dr. Clarke’s proposition. In withdrawing it, as he did, at your dictation, Dr. Clarke committed a mistake which he had much occasion to regret. In every light your interference was unfit. It was not your business to tell the Convention what it might do. Nothing was more fit than that the Convention should consider and adopt Dr. Clarke’s amendment. Very few of our churches call themselves Unitarian. “ First Con­ gregational ” is the designation of your own church. Some of our ministers have never ceased jealously to guard their independence. Your friend, Dr. Bartol, who stands at the head of our fellowship in Boston, is one of these. He refuses to take the sectarian designation “ Unitarian,” and did not enter the Unitarian Convention, unless as a guest. He is excluded by the title of the conference. To include him, the title proposed by Dr. Clarke- must be adopted. ’ For myself, I think the name “ Unitarian ” should be cherished. Its suggestion of union and unity is profound and enduring. It is �UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 19 a name honorably borne. It signifies, in the religious world, culture, character, and progress. It can be made to signify reason, freedom, and fellowship. I like the name. But I would use it in such a way as to clear-it of all dogmatic and sectarian taint. I would have Unitarians, in name and con­ nection, who yet hold so much of Trinitarian dogma as is not inconsistent with liberal union. And from this conservative extreme I would go on to include all who desire, as regular ministers and representatives of religious societies, to share our fellowship, whether they teach after our method or not. I can see no reason for refusing the advantages of our associa­ tions and conference, on principle, to ministers of Universalist, or Spiritualist, or independent 'Special methods. Individual cases must be decided on their merits, according to all the circumstances ; but the principle of no restriction upon fellow­ ship should be adopted as the Unitarian principle. It will work no dangerous revolution. Only those will come to us wrho have some affinity with us'i Even the fastidious need not be alarmed. If we go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, there will be no more than we can assimilate sufficiently for Christian union. Why, then, did you so dictatorially use your position and influence to prevent the Convention from entering upon the question of a genuine Christian Brotherhood? Was it because a handful of conservative divines did not dare to accept the tendencies of liberalism? Did you speak so positively as to what the Convention could unite on, not because you knew the majority to be with you, but because you were cognizant, not to say conscious, of thg determination of a small minority to break fraternal union, unless the Contention should vote to hold the radicals to a fragment of sectarian dogma? Thanks to the revelations of your own outbreak, and to Dr. Osgood’s frank recital, we can answer this question. You 'were conscious of a determination to hold the radicals to your standard. You were cognizant of a determination to break fraternal union, if the Convention should adopt an undogmatic and perfectly free �20 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. fellowship. You knew that Dr. Eliot was resolved upon seceding from the National Conference, if the views of the majority should not suit him ; and that others would bear him company, and rupture our union. Your reason for prophesy­ ing so positively, in the instance of Dr. Clarke’s amendment,and in further instances, is but too plain. Immediately after the adoption of the articles of constitution, Mr. Ames moved to add, “Nothing in this constitution shall be construed to exclude from representation in this body any church which chooses to co-operate with us in Christian work.” To this you said, that “ the result of the adoption of that article would be to swamp the boat;” that you “had found the attachment to the Unitarian name such, that it would be dangerous to adopt such a provision.” This sounded very strangely. You did not argue the case at all. You made the merest announcement that any but a strict sectarian construc­ tion would be fatal. We understand now what you meant, and can see how nearly we approached destruction. To all appearance, the article would have passed, but for a strange word from Dr. Eliot. Several amendments had been agreed to, none of them hostile to the article. The last was to insert “or society,” when the article, with previous amendments, would have stood : — “ Nothing in this constitution shall be construed to exclude from representation in this body any Christian church or society, claiming Christian fellowship with us, which chooses to co-operate with us in Christian work, and which shall make known its wishes by letter addressed to the President of this association.” On account of what did Dr. Eliot take the platform to oppose the adoption of this article? He professed to fear the effect of the last amendment, which let in “ societies ” which might not be “ churches.” The article, without that, he was not understood to oppose. But that made it dangerous. Why? Because the Mormons had organized in St. Louis under the title of “ Mormon Christian Society” ! I This vision d t �UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 21 of “ Mormon rag, tag, and bobtail” settled the matter. A motion to lay the article on the table prevailed at once. The Holy Unitarian Church was barred and bolted against “ any Christian church or society claiming Christian fellowship with us,” — because of the Mormons! It was by this word that Dr. Eliot checked the Convention just as it was declaring for a guarded liberality. The question of articles being disposed of according to the programme, the question of adopting the preamble came before the Convention. A motion was made to lay it on the table. To this you said at once, and without argument, that, “ if the preamble should be laid on the table, the whole con­ stitution would fail. It would then seem as if the Unitarians had no coherence, no status, and no future.” It was difficult to understand what lay behind these words in your mind. Why should you so persistently forebode disaster to the whole communion, if the Convention should venture to depart from your plan? It was easy^c^understand that you might think such departure a grave mistake, destined to do serious mischief; but why should you be so sure of ruin to the whole cause? It was because you had determined to say “Lord, Lord,” in the preamble, or suffer no doing the will of the Father in the constitution. Everii a constitution strictly secta­ rian, and to be construed so as to exclude every church or society not of the sect, did not content you. It was very strange ; but it is explained^ now that we know what had passed behind the scenes. The preamble, constitution, and by-laws were at length adopted. Rev. Mr. Ames came forward again, as has been stated already, and proposed a declaration of our desire for general Christian fellowship, ancL|i Committee of Correspond­ ence with whoever might wish,'to address us. This was not * very “ dangerous ; ” but Mr. Ames spoke, with a good deal of sadness and with some plainness, altogether with a good deal of effect, upon the narrow basis adopted by the Conference. A motion to lay his measure on the table was lost. Rev. �22 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. Robert Collyer declined to serve on the Committee on Corre­ spondence, as named in the measure. He said that he had voted against the constitution, regarding it as a creed. He wished he could consider the Convention as free and broad as the Western Conference, in which they did not act on the policy of repression of opinion, but gave each and all a free utterance. It was after these demonstrations that you rose, and uttered words which you thought it necessary to apologize for at the close of the Convention. You announced that you had serious objection to bodies of men claiming to be the peculiar champions of liberty ; you declaimed against radicals as “ spindling up into a peculiarity ; ” you confessed that you belonged to the class that proposed to control, rather than accept, the spirit of the age ; you spurned all taunts about the disgrace of the Convention; you were of the conservatives, and meant, with hand and with foot, to defend what you con­ sidered eternal truth; you would “ rather go with orthodoxy in any form in which it ?c©uld be stated, than with those who put Jesus Christ into comparative contempt; ” you had “ made a constitution for the purpose of holding the latter to it,” and expected to gain, by any issue that might be made, tenfold any possible loss. It was in these terms that you gave unbridled utterance to that side of your thought which liberty cannot trust. I have given your own words for the most part. They are significant words. Religion mourns at the altar of freedom, that such words should be spoken. The spirit of truth is grieved by the purpose which these words express. Reason points with just scorn to the contradiction between these words and the words in which a true liberality had been insisted on just before the Convention met. Good faith turns with deep shame from the contrast between that promise and this performance. Was it for this betrayal that you called the Unitarian body to meet you in convention? Was it to thus run the ship ashore that you took the helm ? That you have con­ trived to do this, and meant to do this at the moment in which you secured the triumph of conservatism in the organization of �UmTARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 23 the “ National Conference,” will appear more fully from a brief examination of the condition and action of our body within recent years, in comparison with the condition and action proposed by you in the articles and by-laws of the National Conference. The “American Unitarian Association” was founded in 1824, and incorporated in 1847. This body has a broad and national character. Any person may be a member by the payment annually of one dollar; a life-member, by the pay­ ment of thirty dollars. It is represented by members in all sections of the country. It is located, as to its office and organization, in Boston, the only chief centre of American interests around which UnitarianfSm has gathered in force, and the natural Holy City of our faith for the whole land. By the constitution of the body, as it stands amended since 1862, its Board of Officers consists of nineteen persons, four of whom are representatives of distant sections of the country, — the Middle States, the South-east, the'South-west, and the North­ west ; while fifteen represent the greaf ,camp * of our forces in and around the city of Bostonjl These fifteen constitute the working portion of the Board; the other four, the portion whose special duty is advice in regard to the distant fields which they represent. The working force of the body is convened at least once a month. It is admirably divided into special committees on different portions of our work; an arrangement which secures the largest amount of careful atten­ tion to every detail, and intelligent, united action of the whole Board. The Board includes a Secretary and an Assistant Secretary, — the former, one of our ministers; the latter, a layman. The present Secretary, while standing on the right wing of our theological position, Represents most satisfactorily the genial liberality of Unitarianism. This Secretary is em-, ployed, on an adequate salary, to devote his whole time to the general superintendence of the affairs of the Board. The Assistant Secretary, trained to the business by some years of service, — a young layman, and a liberal of the most catholic �24 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY! sympathies, — devotes himself entirely to the office business of the Association headquarters. It would not be possible to improve the position and facilities for thus enjoyed by our body. Occupying a great entrenched camp, within the limits of which we find a great university, and a city renowned as a centre of liberal culture, Unitarianism commands the whole country as no other religious movement of our time can, with facilities for obtaining information, for arousing interest, for taking wise counsel, and for undertaking every sort of which cannot be surpassed. It has been under a quite special providence that this admirable organization has crowned the development of Unitarianism. In comparison with this, what is your National Conference, with that “Council” at the head of which you stand? It is an exclusive body. No minister can belong to it who is not a settled pastor. Only two laymen can be sent to it with the pastor of each church. Societies like those of Dr. Bartol and Dr. Furness, Dr. Ellis and Dr. Robbins, not only are not mem­ bers of the National Conference, but cannot be. This body expressly refused, under your guidance, to constitute itself an open and broad fellowship; it organized itself of the mem­ bers present in the New-York Convention; it made no pro­ vision for the admission of new members; it voted down a motion that its constitution should not be construed to exclude Christian churches and societies desiring fellowship with us. The creed of Mr. Low, which he attempted to have made a condition of taking the places to which we had come in good faith, was referred to the Council, as if for future adoption to drive away the large number who will not submit to be “ held to ” conservative dogma. It is difficult to see how liberal principles could be more distinctly set aside. The scheme of representation by official delegates is an intrusion of ecclesiasticism. Instead of calling all our minis­ ters, and all our laymen, who have taken enough interest in the work to contribute to it, you call official delegates, many of whom represent the highest respectability of their several �VmTARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 25 societies, rather than the young life and earnest spirit of the denomination. A parish is often bound to send as an official delegate a member whose claims are merely personal. In our body, work should be intrusted to the workers. It was of im­ mense advantage to you, that so many venerable laymen were before you when you said that your scheme must be accepted, or the denomination be ruined. You doubtless felt that these laymen, though conservative, were yet liberal, and would yield to fair argument, if discussion were permitted. You secured your end by preventing discussion. The large body of lay delegates, who knew you and did not know our younger workers, confided in your word, and gave you assistance which many of them must regret. No IfKch thing would be possible in the Association. Its meetings include all who choose to be members, and the field is open to every suggestion or scheme which any individual may wish to urge upon the body. And in the “ Council ” established by the Constitution of the National Conference, the defect tof your plan is yet more * apparent. It contains, including its Secretary, eleven persons. Six of these are of Boston and its vicinity; one represents the North-west, two the South-west and two New York. Its * centre is New York, where it has no working force. Of its force in and near Boston, four are on the Executive Board of the American Unitarian Association, and give their work there. This really leaves little of the Council for any work, except yourself and the Secretary of the Council, Rev. E. E. Hale. How far you and he can undertake to look after our denominational affairs, with the other charges which you and he have beyond almost all our pastors, I need not inquire. I only remark, that, evidently, no reason for having your Coun­ cil, in addition to the Executive’ Board of the American Unitarian Association, can be tfound, unless it be that the latter body needs your superintendence. This reason your articles and by-laws confess. Y@fu.have made it the business of the National Conference to give advice. It is declared “ a purely advisory body.” It “ confines itself to recommending 4 �26 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. to the existing organizations of the Unitarian body such under­ takings and methods as it judges to be in the heart of the Unitarian denomination.” This advice, however, is to origi­ nate with the Council. “ The Council shall have for its duty, to keep itself accurately informed .... to the end that the Conference may know what the wants and the wishes of the churches are, somewhat more particularly than it is possible to learn in the necessary hurry of the Annual Meeting.” It is not difficult to comprehend this. When you belonged to the committee for calling the New-York Convention, you read to it a statement of your views, which was adopted as that of the committee. You or Mr. Hale must take a similar course now. The Council will authorize your plans. You will secure the assent of the Conference to them. You will then issue them in the annual address provided for by one of your by-laws; adding to them, according to the same by-law, “ such advice and encouragement as it [the Council] may deem appropri­ ate.” It is absurd to represent your scheme as one for getting 'work done. It secures but one thing, in addition to the griev­ ous outrage upon liberty already considered ; and that thing is, unlimited opportunity on your part to oversee and advise the denominational affairs of Unitarianism. You are made a sort of Unitarian Holy Father, to whom our brother Hale is Secre­ tary for the provincial region of Boston and its vicinity. It is clear throughout, that the Unitarian Association repre­ sents the work and the life of our body. The proposition for the New-York Convention was made by you in a special meeting of the American Unitarian Association. In that meet­ ing there was abundant evidence of vigor and life, apart from your somewhat wild appeal for organization. * In particular, Mr. James P. Walker presented resolutions which aimed directly at work, and did not aim at “ holding” either wing to the dogmas of the other. These resolutions were amended * “ Let every church appoint two delegates; and let these all meet, at some central point, four times a year! ” �mtTAHIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 27 on the motion of Mr. Henry P. Kidder, one of the Vice-Pres­ idents of the American Unitarian Association; and, by their passage, the work of raising one hundred thousand dollars was initiated.. This work was successfully prose­ cuted by the Executive Board of the American Unitarian Association, and was nearly completed before the National Conference came into existence. In its inception, so far as the churches of our body knew, the New-York Convention was called by, and was therefore in the charge of, the American Unitarian Association. It was-understood to be a convention of the people, on the principle of representation, for the pur­ pose of free conference. Had it been conducted as such, and the result intrusted to the Asgcreiation which called it, the occasion would have been memorable in the history of our body. It was when you forgot that we already had a most admirable organization for work, under proper and adequate control, and introduced your scheme for a new and quite unnecessary organization, that .the Convention was turned from its legitimate business to serve your individual aims, and the aims of a narrow conservatism. If it be true that the American Unitarian Association needs the special supervision of yourself and Brother Hale and that you cannot contribute all your energy and wisdom in the capacity of members, rather than bishops, of our body, — you were, no doubt, right in turning the National Convention into a strict organization * on which to erect your high seat of superior information and supreme control. But if the Association, after forty years, is a competent national representative of Unitarianism, you were quite wrong in forcing upon the National Convention your scheme of a National Conference. An Autumnal Convention had been, until 1864, a distinctive feature of the Unitarian movement for more than twenty years. The Convention of 1863, held at Springfield, Mass., was a great success. It was spoken of jin * the <8‘ Monthly-Journal ” report as marking a decided advance of our body. The desire for a convention the following year was disappointed “ through �28 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. the failure of the committee whose duty it was to attend to it.” A writer in the “ Christian Register” has recently attempted a version of these facts. He refers to the Autumnal Conven­ tions as “ dreary powwows,” which no city or town would receive, and for which no committee would %be responsible. He asserts that they broke down, and that the Association called its December special meeting in place of them. He declares that these conventions met “ to do nothing, not even to resolve any thing, but simply contemplate the question whether sin were not virtue undeveloped ; or whether it were better to have four children or five in a Sunday-school class, without coming to a decision.” I should not notice this state­ ment but for the fact, that it is a specimen of the advice which a chief representative of your scheme in Boston has to give,— one out of the many wild absurdities into which he has fallen in the haste and crudeness of his labors in your cause. The fact in regard to our Autumnal Conventions is correctly stated in the reports of the “Monthly Journal.” The last but one, that at Brooklyn, was “ remarkably successful.” The Spring­ field Convention was “ much the largest on record.” As free conferences of brethren on high themes of faith and fellow­ ship, these Autumnal Conventions had proved of the greatest interest and value. It is undoubtedly true that radical spirit and life came out in them more and more ; while conservative re-action did not meet with favor. This may have made them “ dreary powwows” to the brethren who particularly rejoice in conservatism, though I think the true conservative spirit among us has more and more welcomed cordial conference with radical brethren. The need and use of such confer- ' ence, both to promote the inward life of our liberal body, and to maintain before the world a proper attitude of broad and open fellowship, cannot be too earnestly insisted on. The struggle of all our tendencies is absolutely necessary to the full health and vigorous growth of our communion. The reign of a fraternal spirit over this struggle is to be the realization of a Christianity of brotherhood at whose altars believers of every �UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 29 name will meet in the firm union of assured liberty. How far you contemplated closing the arena of the Autumnal Con­ vention, and destroying our platform of free conference and fellowship, I need not inquire. I point to the record of that day on which you succeeded in stifling discussion, and in . * degrading our fellowship, to justify my confident declaration, that Unitarian fellowship and liberty refuse to accept the “ National Conference ” in place of the Autumnal Convention. That which Unitarianism demands in this great day of new liberty and union is the vigorous action of her national organ­ ization, the American Unitarian Association, and the cus­ tomary assembling of her Autumnal Conventions, on the broadest -principle offraternity^. It is to be recognized, that every effort in religion made in good faith is so far good, and worthy of fraternal recognition, even if its method may be quite erroneous in the judgment of cultivated intelligence. The appeal to prejudice is intellectually and spiritually base. All the movements of the time argnunder one providence, and are to be recognized for their good, that the unfolding of their better spirit may be secured. The conception of a Christ who will come in with the whip to clear the temple is essentially Pharisaic. There is no good sense of the name of Christ which does not require us to give a brother’s hand to every man who is honestly desirous of brotherly love. The day must soon come when liberal^ fellowship will exclude none because of their thought, not even those whose thought runs in the channel of extreme denial. To stand together as brothers and bear one another’s burdens, having no high thoughts, no hard feelings, and no cherished aversions, is the aim under which men of all names, in and out of now-recog­ nized communion, will pursue the search for truth, and the labor for good, as under a new great banner of liberty and union. The spirit of the age you may propose to control, but in vain. That spirit mocks your endeavor. The time is all alive with the energy of awakened humanity. Churches can­ not resist it, except to be broken as under a millstone. Secta­ �30 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND^IBERTY. rianism has no more chance than any other relic of barbarism. Dogmatism is dead and buried. It is useless to put on white garments, and attempt to play the angel of resurrection. The tomb of darkness is that light in which darkness ceases to exist. A great light of trust fills the world in^which we have our lot. Even the infidel so called has profound faith. He dashes your clean platters, or your unclean, to the ground ; but he takes in his hands bread of truth with that same noble hunger of soul which has marked the heroism of apostle and martyr in all ages. Fraternity does not hesitate to commune, if occasion arise, with men of unwashen hands who go pluck­ ing the raw ears of truth, in disregard of pious prejudice, in the common fields of humanity. Fraternity! The unrecog­ nized benediction of the Father is on many a fold which’ our piety cannot name without contempt. We are “ members one of another,” whether we are conscious or not of the blessed fact. Brotherhood is the decree of a power which we cannot resist. We are in the chain-gang of the Holy Spirit, driven by mighty Providence on one way of truth and good. Let us awake to the fact. In our work, and in our conference, let us grant the largest liberty and secure the broadest union. So shall we vindicate Unitarian fellowship and liberty. In the haste and temper with which you conducted to its mournful close the New-York Convention, you forgot to pro­ vide, as your own constitution and by-laws required, for the second meeting this year of the National Conference. No doubt you felt with yourself that you could attend to every thing of that kind. You forgot that you had given your Conference a constitution, and that you had taken office under this. This constitution reserves to the Conference itself to fix the time and place of successive meetings, and merely intrusts the Council with issuing the call ordered by itself. As I have said, the Conference neglected to take action. It did not even intrust the matter to its Council. This may be an absurd state of things; no doubt it is. But here are facts, and they mean nothing less than this, — the National Conference adjourned * �UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. 31 indefinitely. You can call together another convention; but you cannot recover your organization. In this state of the case, you have no choice but to leave the matter in the hands of the May meeting of the Association to call such a convention as it shall deem suitable to call. You and Mr. Hale have, as I am aware, looked after our affairs recently in a way that shows your intention to do a great deal more than execute the expressed will of the National Conference. You seem to constitute a Unitarian papacy, at least a liberal “ Society of Jesus,” to which the end justifies the means. Do you comprehend that this is the appearance? Do you intend to pursue an arbitrary course in these matters, in the belief that your individual yvill, is precious to our body ? I might hope that you do, knowing that you would thus soonest bring on the utter downfall of your cause ; but I am animated by the most sincere desire that you should enjoy the general confidence and fill a large place in the conduct of our affairs: therefore I most earnestly Jiope that you will recede altogether from your present position of spiritual dictator, and leave the republic of liberalism to its legitimate Board of control. We meet in our proper forum of deliberation and decision, in May, on the consecrated ground of Unitarianism, where Channing and Theodore Parker illustrated the resources and breadth of our body. On that ground we have room for work, and room for thought. The new life, which isisiting v * us more and more, inevitably enlarges and invigorates the policy of our organization. To trust that life, and to find in a wise and bold policy adequate expression for it, is the duty of all of us in this eventful hourvj It will be a misfortune to be deeply regretted if any of our conservative leaders refuse to go with the tide of our affairs, for fear of, a flood of radicalism. But of one thing these leaders may be sure, — they cannot run our good ship ashore. The spirit which sways the world blows off shore in America, and the tide rises faster than that re­ action can overtake it, creeping backwards against this hurri­ cane of inspiration. Even the old Catholic ark, and the huge �32 UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP AND LIBERTY. Episcopal frigate, and all the Orthodox merchantmen, are driven out to sea. If not literally the “ Pilot of the Galilean lake,” at least the spirit of a regenerated Christianity is at every helm ; and we must usail the sea alone with God,” be it with, or be it without, the traditional figure-head of accred­ ited Christian craft. Concern about the Lordship of Jesus need not oppress your mind. If there is on board an image, a dumb and helpless object of faith, which cannot take care of itself in the storm under which we are driving on, there is no hope for it, unless it be to fling it down into the hold to be saved andforgotten. You cannot expect men in the passion of great faith to hold by that which has no hold for itself. If this Lordship of the peasant rabbi of Galilee has a firm and cen­ tral hold in our life of faith, and can stand, men will hold by it. But if it be a mere figure-head, to which pious sentiment clings, but which has no deep and sure hold upon the spirit and life of humanity, the next hour may bring the wave which will break such hold as it has, and sink it for ever beneath the troubled sea. There are many, you know it well, whose hearts will not fail, though they see old opinion and custom swept from every deck, and only faith in right, with erect and unbroken faith in God to hold by, between them and the unfathomable deep. Indeed, is not the sea in the hollo'W of his hand? The evident providence of the hour demands the pure trust of absolute fraternity. Exclusive fellowship, and re-action against progress, are in high violation of the will of God in the spirit of our age. In the not inscrutable provi­ dence of the hour, that “ National Conference ” by which you attempted to “ control the spirit of the age,” and turn back the course of liberal progress, lies where it was built, a helpless hulk, the scorn of wind and tide. The launch was forgotten. The penalty of hot haste to do wrong was laid on in the very moment of transgression. So let it be. Sincerely and fraternally, for liberty and union, E. C. T. Medford, Mass., April 27, 1866. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Unitarian fellowship and liberty: a letter to Rev. Henry Bellows Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Towne, Edward Cornelius Description An account of the resource Place of Publication: Cambridge, Mass. Collation: 32 p. ; 22 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. A letter to Rev. Henry W. Bellows, D.D. by Rev. Edward C. Towne, pastor of the Unitarian Parish, Medford, Mass. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available John Wilson and Sons Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1886 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5262 Subject The topic of the resource Unitarianism Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Unitarian fellowship and liberty), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Unitarianism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/ea9d6f86c44aae9d508a184caccc965f.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=UB37RiDBFwrjlSXAuJz3RyUPu9inALP8lEN5r2fEpqVhpNhNbV1zW3BcwY8PH438jGSnZgqT4qDsdLvJEfTi7jOm-4wHO30Jo9KMWwT2eYyb%7EhGU3HR5GN-xzdpRsG5NvK3QoXrvwiXff1ioQvA8UHlbJjqyNnkWc7EZ-nntRMnPHTiZjnB0%7E1Hmr3ZLBfQ8taEZ3bg%7ExtJkPJ2AnHMaMnL9QitBEniulFGfR4M31GUVerwbBiTyevRZfiSM71OFg0g5QKMiT32gjwLRqB4NIFXyPM1hyN1StKE5-kB1gPykNxs5B072oekFV87tL977aBcg84b6QD-drejWjphD6w__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 8005d60a4de08662ace0bd263212eb13 PDF Text Text A CROYDON EPISODE. ROBERT RODOLPH SUFFIELD. MAT BE HAD OF Mr. WARREN, Bookseller, 131 High Street, Croydon. a.d. 1876. �LONDON: FEINTED BY C. W. REYNELL, LITTLE PULTENEY STREET, BAYMARKET. �A CROYDON EPISODE. ------ »— T may be interesting to you if I recount the origin of the Religious Society whose fifth anniversary we celebrate to-day. You will be surprised when I tell you that Croydon occurred to me as the possible scene of my future life whilst I was still a Roman Catholic ecclesiastic. I did not know a single individual in this locality, with the exception of the lately-deceased Congregationalist Minister, the Rev. Joseph Whiting. When I was in office at Woodchester, in Gloucestershire, he was Minister at Stroud. We became acquainted in consequence of his expressing a desire to confer with me on religious matters in presence of a young lady who had some idea of embracing the Roman Catholic faith. In 1862, in the guest-room of the Dominican Priory at Woodchester, the conference took place, and lasted three hours ; it was conducted on both sides with the most perfect temper, fairness, and courtesy. Those who remember Mr. Whiting will easily under­ stand that the violation of such virtues will not have disfigured his side of the controversy. At that time the Roman Catholic doctrine of Infallibility was the twofold Infallibility of the Bible and of the Church. Papal Supremacy was held, but Papal Infallibility was not an article of Faith, except so far as it might be supposed to flow out of the two other dogmas. I �6 A Croydon Episode, We took Bible Infallibility as the basis of agree­ ment and argument. I thought, and still think, that I had the best of the argument; anyhow, so thought the young lady, for the conference decided her to embrace the Roman Catholic faith. Given Bible Infallibility, and take for granted that Jesus Christ founded a dogmatic sect and that it exists, it would be less difficult to prove the Papal than the Anglican or the Evangelical to be that sect. Seven years passed by. During that period eccle­ siastical duties had removed me from Gloucestershire and carried me over many parts of England. The great controversy regarding Infallibility arose within the Roman Catholic Church—the controversy which has shaken the German Church to its centre and lost to it its most illustrious defenders. Many minds became anxious, some determined not to investigate or think, others were by circumstances almost reluctantly compelled to investigate and think. I was amongst the latter class: doubts arose, these were again earnestly banished amidst unceasing work in missions, in preaching, and in the confessional. The doubts kept forcing themselves before my mind. In accordance with the sad teaching of ecclesiastical theology, I regarded these doubts, not as the noble utterances of the intelligence, but as temptations to be suppressed. I tried to remove them by reading, by occupation, by prayer. A confessor told me that my position was too prominent, that it fostered pride, and hence came these temptations. It often happens that those accused of pride, are in fact but the victims of dis­ appointment. What so sad as to give your mind and energy to a service, and to begin to suspect that the service is an illusion. However, I asked to withdraw from all public �A Croydon Episode. 7 offices, and I withdrew to a country village, during two years, only leaving it when the calls of duty or of friendship rendered absence imperative. I was sickened by the spectacle of religion deforming itself into a scheming Papal faction, headed in England by a diplomatic and ambitious convert, in Rome by a Pope who knew nothing, and by a Cardinal who believed nothing—if the testimony of intimates can be trusted. Amidst peasants, and country scenes, and village children, I strove to forget the present, and to fortify my faith by the theologies of the past. Many a long evening have I sat in my garden at Bosworth, when the nightingale’s song was the only voice to be heard, and prayed that I might die ere the illusion had utterly passed away. During that time I happened to have been at Arundel Castle. It was perhaps the autumn of 1868, on my way home to Leicestershire, a gentleman entered the carriage at Red Hill. I did not recognise him at first, but he reminded me of our interview at Woodchester—it was Mr. Whiting. We did not discuss theology : theology had become my enemy. It was a beautiful autumn eyening; the valley of Caterham and the pleasant white houses about looked beautiful and cheering. Mr Whiting got out at Croydon, telling me he had come to live there. I remember wishing that I had never been bound to impossible creeds, but could be free from the galling yoke of a human authoritative belief, and able to mingle as a man amongst my fellow men and not as a priest amongst subjects. It is one of the singular coincidences of life, that in the year 1870, when I distinctly apprehended that as soon as the time of deliberation arranged with my confessor had terminated, I should probably be compelled to say to myself that the faith had no �8 A Croydon Episode. basis, I happened to see in a Unitarian paper a notice that a Free Christian Church might be desirable in Croydon. The thought flashed through my mind how pleasant it would be if there happened to be in such a place a few earnest unfettered minds, who would like to combine for worship and edifica­ tion, if it were only in the parlour of one’s house. That same year Mr. Martineau came to Bosworth to confer with me. On the 9th of August, 1870, I left my quiet country home and went to Birmingham. With the exception of superiors at a distance, no one knew when I left, for I loved the villagers and they loved me, and I did not wish to give or to receive the pain of parting ; so I walked through the quiet straggling village on foot, passed the old church and the little Roman Catholic school, listened for a moment to the children’s morning hymn to our Lady, and left the past for ever behind—the stately, not unpoetic past 1 and it ranged itself amidst the grand mythologies of the days of old; like the statue of a goddess on the niche of a colonnade, you admire it and you leave it behind. The road leads through the images of gods and of heroes to the temple of the Universal. When-Mr. Martineau came to visit me, I told him that there could be to me no half-way house; that either the Roman Catholic Church was a religion or a mythology; if it were proved to me to be a mytho­ logy, it was because the Bible was mythological and all orthodox Christianity mythological. I saw only two alternatives, the Religion of Rome; or the Religion of Nature, of the Soul, of the Universe— either a Religion denouncing all, or a Religion embracing all. If the Roman Catholic Church is not the special Church of God, then, the whole of humanity, must be my Church; either does Revela­ tion speak through the Roman Catholic Church, �A Croydon Episode. g or it speaks through all Religions, all Souls, all Nature. At length I arose from the limited into the univer­ sal. To a stranger, it might have seemed like passing from a great Church into a very small Sect. A great Church may hold what is narrow and transitory, a mere handful of men may hold what is all-embracing. In former times, all knowledge of external things was based on theory or on magic. Lord Bacon arose, and taught that it must be based solely on experimental knowledge; he did not pretend to have acquired the knowledge, but he affirmed the true principle—the principle is a universal one—but it is called the Baconian, and for long it was only held by a few—by a small school of thought. Three hundred years have past, and that school of thought has con­ quered the whole domain of science; we apply similar principles to religion. Like Jesus Christ, we appeal to the soul and to nature; we are a small school of thought, we bear the apparent limitation of a name; of a name representing at once a history and a principle, but that principle is a universal one, and in three hundred years and less, will doubtless have possessed the whole domain of religion. A time will come—you help to prepare the time—when men will say, not “ God is in the Church,” but “ all nature is full of God.” A time dawns, you invoke its horizon, when all dogmatic Churches will have passed away, and ranged themselves in the stately mausoleum of the past. When there will be juster views of God, and of man in relation to God; when society will feel the change in all its departments from state government to domestic service; when every wrong will be righting, every mischief removing, every mistake correcting, every sorrow alleviating. When there will be the worship of the absolute perfection, allegiance �IO A Croydon Episode. to eternal law, loving fidelity to all humanity, the development of the power of mind; then, in the human hierarchy, we shall behold the true ascension —saint, lover, hero, thinker. Then the sense ofthe divine, the infinite, and the immortal, born of reverence, trust, affection, deep in the ineradicable qualities of our being, will create a faith and a feeling of divine truth, not faint in its glow, not damped by misgiving, not dimmed by doubt, or tainted by selfishness. Then the intuition of God will be natural; the perception of His laws intellectually certain. Such a religion will be “broad as humanity, frank as truth, stern as justice, loving as Christ.” Only a few as yet adopt openly and religiously the extreme of our pro­ tests, but I venture to say that Croydon is nobler, purer, braver, more loving, more Christian to-day; because the glow of humanity’s glorious future is shining on the brows of a few. Through the friendly offices of Mr. Martineau I was made personally known to a very small handful of Liberal thinkers in this neighbourhood. Two gentlemen came over to Manchester to invite me to this place. They found me in the midst of a com­ mittee of gentlemen offering to me the beautiful Upper Brook-street Church. I felt myself not ready for work in a great city, and accepted the invitation to a very small beginning in a locality which seemed to me more like retirement than publicity. The foundation and outline of my religious position were clear to me; the details were not filled in. Every­ thing around me seemed strange and new. I felt like a boy beginning amongst men. A few of us met for our first religious service on October 2,1870, in the Nonconformist Chapel, London-road, lent to us for a couple of months. It was the day observed by Roman Catholics as “ Rosary Sunday.” On Sun­ �A Croydon Episode. 11 day, December 11, 1870, we assembled for the first time in this building. The purchase of the ground on which it stands was only completed on June 12 of the present year, when we celebrated the occasion by a numerous, distinguished, but private, social gathering. We commenced with about eight adhe­ rents—three or four soon seceded from our infant cause, though continuing personal friends up to the present moment; they would have continued with us if we had adopted a line of action which never for a moment approved itself to our intelligence or our aspirations. Though we have lost nineteen by death, we have gradually grown into a congregation, into a testimony, into an influence, more than local. As a congregation we are entirely independent, but we find ourselves in sympathy of opinion and funda­ mental principle with many congregations which, in our own country and in various parts of Europe and America, under the name of Unitarian, Free Chris­ tian, Liberal Christian, Liberal Protestant, Theistic, and other titles, proclaim the supremacy of reason and conscience, and yet maintain themselves in the line of historic religious development. We are in religious sympathy with all who anywhere trust in God; we are in moral sympathy with all who anywhere strive to learn and to realise in act the moral laws existing behind the visible; we are in human sympathy with all men everywhere; we are in spiritual sympathy with all Nature, for all Nature is full of God, though Nature is not God, but the garment of God. Although we possess our congregational govern­ ment, committee, and officers, our classes for the young, our library, our means for intelligent discus­ sion and kindly intercourse, we, in accordance with our principle of individualism in collective humanity, throw ourselves into the general human and civic life in matters charitable, political, recreative, literary, �12 A Croydon Episode. educational, local, national. In all these interests we find ourselves continually meeting, not necessarily to agree with one another as a clique having small sectional sympathies, but cordially and heartily entering as individuals into the general interests. Humanity is our church, and wherever we find men we find the members of our church. This religious society is'like a spiritual sub-committee to help on the general religious and moral interests of the great fraternity of humanity. As a religious society, in this town, we are only five years old; but our sympathies have been sought and imparted here and there widely over the country in many places. We have been asked to assist in the government of the associations which concern themselves with the interests of all those liberal churches which seek sympathy, help, or encouragement. We have specially helped to found a society in London, wherein all the sections of liberal religious thought find a social bond. Such facts as these prove that our religious position is not one of isolation and eccentricity, but in harmony with the higher religious thought of our country. I say “ we” when I speak not merely of what you have directly conducted and presided over, but as regarding what has fallen to my lot to do; for such has been accom­ plished in consequence of your co-operation and sympathy. I am almost ashamed to own to the extent of the injury received into the life of a sincere and consistent Roman Catholic. Actual faults in the ordinary sense of the word may be very few; he may obtain any amount of patience, gentleness, purity, sub*mission, passive resistance, and power of endurance. But the power of self-help out of prescribed limits is perceptibly crippled. The Roman Catholic system is unceasingly occupied with seeking consolation and imparting it. Affectionate sympathy is encouraged �A Croydon Episode. I3 till it becomes at once a weakness and a necessity. Jesus the Man of Sorrows, Christ the Consoler, the Mater Dolorosa, and the Virgin Mother are fit symbols of a system which promotes tenderness and depreciates self-reliance. The more that a Roman Catholic realises his religion, so much the more does the conception of life become dreary; it is a vale of tears; the sweet sunshine cannot be trusted; the loveliness of the landscape is a delusion; the con­ science has only two offices, i.e., to obey and to repress. Thus I was almost of necessity compelled to supple­ ment myself with your corporate action. As Froth­ ingham in another place says, the Old Faith came as a comforter, our New Faith comes as an inspirer, with industry, philosophy, art, literature, with all the regenerating thoughts of humanity, with all the vigour and vitality of the creative ; the old songs of Faith have to be sung with the accompaniment of all human interests; our New Faith dreads inaction, lassitude, melancholy; it brings a brighter view of life and of man, a higher conception of God, a nobler ideal of the future, as progress out of imperfectness. The Roman Catholic Church presents to the votary Jesus stripped and scourged, weeping, downcast, and con­ templative ; our New Faith presents Jesus as the friend and companion of men and of sinners, the manly, out­ spoken reformer, the earnest enthusiast in the cause of humanity, the foe of cant and of hypocrisy, the unmasker of shams, the hero who could stand alone and do battle for the true, the righteous, and the just. The Old Faith wailed out its litanies of servile suppli­ cation; the New Faith, brave, cheerful, thoughtful, hopeful of the future because it remembers the past, likes senfimeni in poetry, but in religion above all things intelligence and reality. The Old Faith ap­ pealed to prophecy, to miracles, to authoritative books and authoritative churches; the New Faith. �14 A Croydon Episode. appeals to the prophetic instincts of the human soul, to the miracle of the universe, to every noble and righteous utterance which the human reason or human conscience has ever recognised as religious, inspiring, and good. The New Faith has not to defend itself against history, science, and philosophy, they are its natural allies. The New Faith has not to condemn humanity, for it is the expression of humanity in its highest, most thoughtful, and noblest mood. The New Faith does not go about cautiously and girt with a panoply of defence ; it can afford to lay aside its armour, to throw its weapons down, to go forth with upright confidence, and consort peace­ fully with thoughtful people, feeling secure in the honest sympathy of all intelligent, sincere, earnest, and liberal men. The Old Faith had creeds received upon authority; the New Faith goes forth with con­ victions profound, because they have been forged in the fiery furnace of the heart, and approved by the science, by the reason, by the conscience, by the intuitions of mankind. Accustomed as I had been to the simple-hearted, straightforward honesty of the Old English Roman Catholics, accustomed as I had been to admire similar characteristics amongst Unitarians, nothing shocked me so much at the very beginning of my new life, and since, as the discovery that such honesty was not deemed by all a virtue, but rather a reproach. I found in London and elsewhere fathers disbelieving the popular mythology, and yet rearing their children to its practice. I found here and there persons profes­ sing our religious opinions, yet too indolent, or too cowardly, or too inconstant to testify to them. I had no sooner left the Roman Catholic Church because I could not accept its creeds (they had disappeared in the quicksands on which rested their foundations), but I was solicited to embrace the very same creeds �A Croydon Episode. 15 and liturgy in the Church of England; and, to my amazement and indignation, the very persons who urged upon me that unrighteous suggestion did not accept those creeds and litanies in any ordinary use of language, but only by ’some quibble of speech such as I had always spurned when to a slighter degree (according to popular rumour) permitted by the Jesuits. I realised more than ever the necessity of above all things, sincerity. If I reject hell as an impiety, I cannot belong to a Church which declares that persons who disbelieve the Trinity and the Incarnation must go into hell’s everlasting fires. Veracity is essential to true piety; veracity is founded on faith in man. You tell a man the truth when yon can trust him with it, and are not afraid. As Pro­ fessor Clifford says, it is not English to tell a man a lie, or to suggest a lie by your silence or by your actions because you are afraid he is not prepared for the truth, because you do not quite know what he will do when he knows it, because perhaps after all this lie is a better thing for him than the truth would be. Surely this craven crookedness should be the object of our detestation. Yet do I often hear it whis­ pered that it would be dangerous to divulge certain truths to the masses. I know the thing is untrue ; but in a certain sense, after a fashion, it may be made to be considered true; anyhow it is picturesque, con­ soling, and useful for children, for women, for common people. “ Crooked ways are none the less crooked because they are meant to deceive a great many. If a thing is true, let us all believe it: rich and poor— men, women, and children. If a thing is untrue, let us all disbelieve it: rich and poor—men, women, and children. Truth is a thing to be shouted from the house-tops, not to be whispered after dinner, over rose-water, when the ladies are gone away.” Life must first of all be made straight and true; falsehood �16 A Croydon Episode. can never be necessary to morality or to true piety. <l It cannot be true of our neighbours, or of their children, that to keep them from becoming scoundrels they must believe a lie, or make, pretence to believe it.” The sense of right and wrong—piety to God and piety to man—such truths are too real to need the doubtful help of insincerities and of mystification. Thus, whatever errors we unhappily make, we will at least be truthful, and not mystify away that human trust without which society would be an impossibility, business a fraud, the family a cabal—each individual man, woman, and child a hypocrite or an imbecile. EBINTED BY 0. W. BEYNELL, LITTLE PULTENEY STBEET, HAYMARKET. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Croydon episode Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Suffield, Robert Rodolph Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [Croydon?] Collation: 16 p. ; 18 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Printed by C.W. Reynell Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1876 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CT6 G4864 Subject The topic of the resource Unitarianism Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (A Croydon episode), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Unitarianism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/9a1225f4facca4d00538e927cd46596b.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=TzjDuyqjg2Zgj6PKcT1C4bsO1NQRMD1czSVQXAFFUxZ7-4G0xyST7OKrvcGQdK7BqzDCMYywt-Pv6fX3j8Q%7Ev6A3JJX-cS3MaIbd1zuZMdA5EoQ9ageyRkcavki6PXPfH5TL8BJQ1N7phhU35IrZWnlOrz-o%7EbpsnFQbxFUrQ9CDmOXx6aSPoxMJp%7EADRVXgHUn%7E2EYyuRTW77TzCoJUo4rMnJJPyr8h1zCLC4parFhyDAZnBUp%7EVWgwnGxB3WKrWy9uta3VYJwxDKcxLTcjzckeYFvminR-MiFA7l1-5fY%7EcfKuNGzWXd2S5bnt6AlWhUDNAPCMwu8gEUaA%7E9CZlA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM ab17a06045aa223e32710066db8f961e PDF Text Text fl ^ertrn DELIVERED BEFORE THE SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY, ST. GEORGE’S HALL, LANGHAM PLACE, ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 6th APRIL, 1879, By H. MAUDSLEY, M.D., Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, University Colleye, London. [Reprinted from the “ Fortnightly Review,” by kind permission of the Editor.] Honbon: PUBLISHED BY THE SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY. 1879.' PRICE THEEPENCE. �SYLLABUS. The doctrines of Materialism and Spiritualism. Why Materialism is looked upon as inferior and degrading. Every function of mind dependent upon organization. Milton an avowed Materialist. Materialism not inconsistent with the belief of a future life, but incon­ sistent with the doctrine of a contempt of the body. The human body the last and greatest product of organic development. Differences of size and development between the brain of the lowest savage and that of an ordinary European. Corresponding differences of intellectual and moral capacities. The reign of law in human evolution. The reign of law in human degeneracy. Morality the essential condition of complex social development. Intellectual and moral lessons of Materialism. �LESSONS OF MATERIALISM. is well known that from an early period of speculative thought two doctrines have been held with regard to the sort of connection which exists between a man’s mind and his body. On the one hand, there are those who maintain that mind is an outcome and function of matter in a certain state of organization, coming with it, growing with it, decaying with it, inseparable from it: they are the so-called materialists. On the other hand, there are those who hold that mind is an independent spiritual essence which has entered into the body as its dwelling-place for a time, which makes use of it as its mortal instrument, and which will take on its independent life when the body, worn out by the operation of natural decay, returns to the earth of which it is made: they are the spiritualists. Without entering into a discussion as to which is the true doctrfrie, it will be sufficient in this lecture to accept, and proceed from the basis of, the generally admitted fact that all the manifestations of mind which we have to do with in this wprld are connected with organization, dependent upon it, whether as cause or instrument; that they are never met with apart from it any more than electricity or any other natural force is met with apart from matter ; that higher organization must go along with higher mental function. What is the state of things in another world—whether the disembodied or celestially embodied spirits of the countless myriads of the human race that have come and gone through countless ages are now living higher lives—I do not venture to inquire. One hope and one certitude in the matter every one may be allowed to have and to express—the hope that if they are living now, it is a higher life than they lived upon earth ; the certitude that if they are living the higher life, most of them must have had a vast deal to unlearn. Many persons who readily admit in general terms the depend­ ence of mental function on cerebral structure are inclined, when brought to the particular test, to make an exception in favour of the moral feeling or conscience. They are content to rest in the uncertain position which satisfied Dr. Abercrombie, the dis­ tinguished author of the well-known Inquiry concerning the In­ tellectual Powers, who, having pointed out plainly the dependence of mental function on organization, and, as a matter of fact which t I �4 Lessons of Materialism. cannot be denied, that there are individuals in whom every correct feeling in regard to moral relations is obliterated, while the judgment is unimpaired in all other relations, stops there, without attempting to prosecute inquiry into the cause of‘ the remarkable fact which he justly emphasises. “ That this power,” he says, “ should so completely lose its sway, while reason remains un­ impaired, is a point in the moral constitution of man which it does not belong to the physician to investigate. The fact is unquestion­ able ; the solution is to be sought in the records of eternal truth.” And with this lame and somewhat melancholy conclusion he leaves his readers impotent before a problem, which is not only of deep scientific interest, but of momentous practical importance. The observation which makes plain the fact does not, however, leave us entirely without information concerning the cause of it, when we pursue it faithfully, since it reveals as distinct a depen­ dence of moral faculty upon organization as of any other faculty. Many instructive examples of the pervading mental effects of physical injury of the brain might be quoted, but two or three, recently recorded, will suffice. An American medical man was called one day to see a youth, aged eighteen, who had been struck down insensible by the kick of a horse. There was a depressed fracture of the skull a little above the left temple. The skull was trephined, and the loose fragments of bone that pressed upon the brain were removed, whereupon the patient came to his senses. The doctor thought it a good opportunity to make an experiment, as there was a hole in the skull through which he could easily make pressure upon the brain. He asked the boy a question, and before there was time to answer it he pressed firmly with his finger upon the exposed brain. As long as the pressure was kept up the boy was mute, but the instant it was removed he made a reply, never suspecting that he had not answered at once. The experi­ ment was repeated several times with precisely the same result, the boy’s thoughts being stopped and started again on each occasion as easily and certainly as the engineer stops and starts his locomotive. On another occasion the same doctor was called to see a groom who had been kicked on the head by a mare called Dolly, and whom he found quite insensible. There was a fracture of the skull, with depression of bone at the upper part of the forehead. As soon as the portion of bone which was pressing upon the brain was removed the patient called out with great energy, “Whoa, Dolly 1 ” and then stared about him in blank amazement, asking, I I �Lessons of Materialism. 5 “Where am I?” Three hours had “Where is the mare?” hw-8<-£fi passed since the accident, during which the words which he was just going to utter when it happened had remained locked up, as they might have been locked up in the phonograph, to be let go it mi' eiw the moment the obstructing pressure was removed. The patient pa'bin did not remember, when he came to himself, that the mare had kicked him ; the last thing before he was insensible which he did ijjeirr^i remember was, that she wheeled her heels round and laid back her :v OTBe ears viciously. Cases of this kind show how entirely dependent every function of mind is upon a sound state of the mechanism of the brain. r/tewl Just as we can, by pressing firmly upon the sensory nerve of the [ .nna arm, prevent an impression made upon the finger being carried to the brain and felt there, so by pressing upon the brain we can as rrirhe’i certainly stop a thought or a volition. In both cases a good tyri&w recovery presently followed the removal of the pressure upon the rwfi<d brain; but it would be of no little medical interest to have the after-histories of the persons, since it happens sometimes after a >W0W<W serious injury to the head that, despite an immediate recovery, h -v/ofc slow degenerative changes are set up in the brain months or years jrwJtf: afterwards, which go on to cause a gradual weakening, and perhaps LJtiIOV«| eventual destruction, of mind. Now the instructive matter in this case is that the moral character is usually impaired first, and some­ ■-asinrJ times is completely perverted, without a corresponding deterior­ jtuoiM ation of the understanding; the person is a thoroughly changed affl-Sflf) character for the worse. The injury has produced disorder in the jKom most delicate part of the mental organization, that which is iiusti-a® separated from actual contact with the skull only by the thin ifewni investing membranes of the brain: and, once damaged, it is miuied seldom that it is ever restored completely to its former state of folium soundness. However, happy recoveries are now and then made : .jGihoai from mental derangement caused by physical injury of the brain. eiacb Some years ago a miner was sent to the Ayrshire District Asylum F. ,ofi/w who, four years before, had been struck to the ground insensible i 'li' vd by a mass of falling coal, which fractured his skull. He lay miqqcw unconscious for four days after the accident, then came gradually niiiloi to himself, and was able in four weeks to resume his work in the F“ .fiq pit. But his wife noticed a steadily increasing change for the fo&TOW worse in his character and habits ; whereas he had formerly been idresiid cheerful, sociable, and good-natured, always kind and affectionate •serf oJ to her and his children, he now became irritable, moody, surly, mq&jja suspicious, shunning the company of his fellow-workmen, and �6 Lessons of Materialism. impatient with her and the children. This bad state increased; he was often excited, used threats of violence to his wife and others, finally became quite maniacal, attempted to kill them, had a succession of epileptic fits, and was sent to the asylum as a dangerous lunatic. There he showed himself extremely suspicious and surly, entertained a fixed delusion that he was the victim of a conspiracy on the part of his wife and others, and displayed bitter and resentful feelings. At the place where the skull had been fractured there was a well-marked depression of bone, and the depressed portion was eventually removed by the trephine. From that time an improvement took place in his disposition, his old self coming gradually back; he became cheerful again, active and obliging, regained and displayed all his former affection for his wife and children, and was at last discharged recovered. No plainer example could be wished to show the direct connection of cause and effect—the great deterioration of moral character produced by the physical injury of the supreme nerve-centres of the brain: when the cause was taken away the effect went also. Going a step further, let me point out that disease will some­ times do as plain and positive damage to moral character as any which direct injury of the brain will do. A fever has sometimes deranged it as deeply as a blow on the head; a child’s conscience has been clean effaced by a succession of epileptic convulsions, just as the memory is sometimes effaced; and those who see much of epilepsy know well the extreme but passing moral transformations, which occur in connection with its seizures. The person may be as unlike himself as possible when he is threatened with a fit; although naturally cheerful, good-tempered, sociable and obliging, he becomes irritable, surly, and morose, very suspicious, takes offence at the most innocent remark or act, and is apt to resent imaginary offences with great violence. The change might be compared well with that which happens when a clear and cloudless sky is overcast suddenly with dark and threatening thunder-clouds; and just as the darkly clouded sky is cleared by the thunderstorm which it portends, so the gloomy moral perturbation is discharged and the mental atmosphere cleared by an epileptic fit or a succes­ sion of such fits. In a few remarkable cases, however, the patient does not come to himself immediately after the fit, but is left by it in a peculiar state of quasi-somnambulism, during which he acts like an automaton, doing strange, absurd, and sometimes even criminal things, without knowing apparently at the time what he is doing, and certainly without remembering in the least what he �Lessons of Materialism. ^f’rxA ■ .WlCffl eiIT? *’*r< .hcnyto ^drwf >TTT ®f Yrrfep ftjfe Of! W at | FWtyftslI ‘v-vl’idl u -'skia | «msql liXHBffl I awesrii IMdNaft| Muatjuti uaute s00->Jl£® 4^4w XjdufeM OUM/l'i i£J,h,X;>..t? 'oi_n<{ ydy/UH.I O' Xw*| 7 hag done when he comes to himself. Of excellent moral characterhabitually, he may turn thief in one of these states, or perpetrate some other criminal offence by which he gets himself into trouble with the police. There are other diseases which, in like manner, play havoc with moral feeling. Almost every sort of mental derangement begins with a moral alienation, slight, perhaps, at the outset, but soon so great that a prudent, temperate, chaste, and truthful person shall be changed to exactly the opposite of what he was. This alienation of character continues throughout the course of the disease, and is frequently found to last for a while after all disorder of intelli­ gence has gone. Indeed, the experienced physician never feels confident that the recovery is stable and sure, until the person is restored to his natural sentiments and affections. Thus it appears that when mind undergoes decadence, the moral feeling is the first to suffer ; the highest acquisition of mental evolution, it is the first to witness to mental degeneracy. One form of mental disease, known as general paralysis, is usually accompanied with a singu­ larly complete paralysis of the moral sense from the outset; and a not uncommon feature of it, very striking in some cases, is a persistent tendency to steal, the person stealing in a weak-minded manner what he has no particular need of, and makes no use of when he has stolen it. The victim of this fatal disease is frequently sent to prison and treated as a common criminal in the first instance, notwithstanding that a medical man who knows his business might be able to say with entire certitude that the supposed criminal was suffering from organic disease of the brain, which had destroyed moral sense at the outset, which would go on to destroy all the other faculties of his mind in succession, and which in the end would destroy life itself. There is no question in such case of moral guilt; it is not sin but disease that we are con­ fronted with: and after the victim’s death we find the plainest evidence of disease of brain which has gone along with the decay of mind. Had the holiest saint in the calendar been afflicted as he was, he could not have helped doing as he did. I need not dwell any longer upon the morality-sapping effects of particular diseases, but shall simply call to mind the profound deterioration of moral sense and will which is produced by the long-continued and excessive use of alcohol and opium. There is nowhere a more miserable specimen of degradation of moral feeling and of impotence of will, than the debauchee who has made himself the abject slave of either of these pernicious excesses. �8 Lessons of Materialism. Insensible to the interests of his family, to his personal responsi­ bilities, to the obligations of duty, he is utterly untruthful and untrustworthy, and in the worst end there is not a meanness of pretence or of conduct that he will not descend to, not a lie he will not tell, in order to gain the means to gratify his overruling craving. It is not merely that passion is strengthened and will weakened by indulgence as a moral effect, but the alcohol or opium which is absorbed into his blood is carried by it to the brain and acts injuriously upon its tissues : the chemist will, indeed, extract alcohol from the besotted brain of the worst drunkard, as he will detect morphia in the secretions of a person who is taking large doses of opium. Seldom, therefore, is it of the least use to preach reformation to these people, until they have been restrained forcibly from their besetting indulgence for a long enough period to allow the brain to get rid of the poison, and its tissues to regain a healthier tone. Too often it is of little use then ; the tissues have been damaged beyond the possibility of complete restoration. Moreover, observation has shown that the drink-craving is oftentihies hereditary, so that a taste for the poison is ingrained in the tissues, and is quickly kindled by gratification into uncontrollable desire. Thus far it appears, then, that moral feeling may be impaired or destroyed by direct injury of the brain, by the disorganizing action of disease, and by the chemical action of certain substances which, when taken in excess, are poisons to the nervous system. When we look sincerely at the facts, we cannot help perceiving that it is just as closely dependent upon organization as is the meanest function of mind; that there is not an argument to prove the so-called materialism of one part of mind which does not apply with equal force to the whole mind. Seeing that we know no more essentially what matter is than what mind is, being unable in either case to go beyond the phenomena of which we have experience, it is of interest to ask why the spiritualist considers his theory to be of so much higher and intellectual and moral order than materialism, and looks down with undisguised pity and contempt on the latter as inferior, degrading, and even dangerous ; why the materialist should be deemed guilty, not of intellectual error only, but of something like moral guilt. His philosophy has been lately denounced as a “ philosophy of dirt.” An eminent prelate of the English Church, in an outburst of moral indignation, once described him as possibly “ the most odious and ridiculous being in all the multiform creation; ” and a recent writer �. Lessons of Materialism. 9 in a French philosophical journal uses still stronger language of abhorrance—“ I abhor them,” he says, “ with all the force of my soul. ... I detest and abominate them from the bottom of my heart, and I feel an invincible repugnance and horror when they dare to reduce psychology and ethics to their bestial phy­ siology—that is, in short, to make of man a brute, of the brute a plant, of the plant a machine. . . . This school is a living and crying negation of humanity.” The question is, what there is in materialism to warrant the sincere feeling and earnest expression of so great a horror of it. Is the abhorrence well founded, or is it, perhaps, that the doctrine is hated, as the individual oftentimes is, because misunderstood ? This must certainly be allowed to be a fair inquiry by those who reflect that no less eminent a person and good a Christian than Milton was a decided materialist. Several scattered passages in Paradise Lost plainly betray his opinions ; but it is not necessary to lay any stress upon them, because in his Treatise on Christian Doctrine he sets them forth in the most plain and uncompromising way, and supports them "with an elaborate detail of argument. He is particularly earnest to prove that the common doctrine that the spirit of man should be separate from the body, so as to have a perfect and intelligent existence independently of it, is nowhere said in Scripture, and is at variance both with nature and reason ; and he declares that “ man is a living being, intrinsically and properly one and individual, not compound and separable, not, according to the common opinion, made up and framed of two distinct parts, as of soul and body.” Another illustrious instance of a good Christian who, for a great part of his life, avowed his belief that “ the nature of man is simple and uniform, and that the thinking power and faculties are the result of a certain organization of matter,” was the eloquent preacher and writer, Robert Hall. It is true that he abandoned this opinion at a later period of his life; indeed, his biographer tells us with much satisfaction that “ he buried materialism in his father’s grave ; ” and a theological professor in American college has in a recent article exultantly claimed this fact as triumphant proof that the materialist’s “ gloomy and unnatural creed ” cannot stand before such a sad feeling as grief at a father’s death. One may be excused, perhaps, for not seeing quite so clearly as these gentlemen the soundness of the logic of the connection. On the whole, logic is usually sounder and stronger when it is not under the pressure of great feeling. The truth is that a great many people have the deeply-rooted �10 Lessons of Materialism. feeling that materialism is destructive of the hope of immortality, and dread and detest it for that reason. When they watch the body decay and die, considering furthermore that after its death it is surely resolved into the simple elements from which all matter is formed, and know that these released elements go in turn to build up other bodies, so that the material is used over and over again, being compounded and decompounded incessantly in the long stream of life, they cannot realise the possibility of a resurrection of the individual body. They cannot conceive how matter which has thus been used over and over again can remake so many distinct bodies, and they think that to uphold a bodily resurrection is to give up practically the doctrine of a future life. It is a natural, but not a necessary conclusion, as the examples of Milton and Robert Hall prove, since they, though materialists, were devout believers in a resurrection of the dead. Moreover, there are many vehement antagonists of materialism who readily admit that it is not inconsistent with the belief in a life after death. Indeed, they could not well do otherwise, when they recollect what the Apostle Paul said in his very energetic way, addressing the objector to a bodily resurrection as “ Thou fool,” and what happened to the rich man who died and was buried; for it is told of him that “ in hell he lifted up his eyes, and cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” Now if he had eyes to lift up and a tongue to be cooled, it is plain that he had a body of some kind in hell; and if Lazarus, who was in another place, had a finger to dip in water, he also must have had a body of some kind there. Leaving this matter, however, without attempting to explain the mystery of the body celestial, I go on to mention a second reason why materialism is considered to be bad doctrine. It is this : that with the rise and growth of Christianity there came in the fashion of looking down on the body with contempt as the vile and despicable part of man, the seat of those fleshly lusts which warred against the higher aspirations of the soul. It was held to be the favourite province of the devil, who, having intrenched himself there, lay in wait to entice or to betray to sin ; the wiles of Satan and the lusts of the flesh were spoken of in the same breath, as in the service of the English Church prayer is made for “ whatsoever has been decayed by the fraud and malice of the devil, or by his own carnal will and frailness ; ” and all men are taught to look forward to the time when “ he shall change this vile body and make �Lessons of Materialism. 11 it like unto his glorious body.” It was the extreme but logical outcome of this manner of despising the body to subject it to all the penances, and to treat it with all the rigour, of the most rigid asceticism—to neglect it, to starve it, to scourge it, to mortify it in every possible way. One holy ascetic would never wash himself, or cut his toe-nails, or wipe his nose; another suffered maggots to burrow unchecked into the neglected ulcers of his emaciated body; others, like St. Francis, stripped themselves naked and appeared in public without clothes. St. Macarius threw away his clothes and remained naked for six months in a marsh, exposed to the bite of every insect; St. Simeon Stylites spent thirty years on the top of a column which had been gradually raised to a height of sixty feet, passing a great part of his time in bending his meagre body successively with his head towards his feet, and so industriously that a curious spectator, after counting one thousand two hundred and forty-four repetitions, desisted counting from weariness. And for these things—these insanities of conduct may we not call them—they were accounted most holy, and received the honours of saintship.' Contrast this unworthy view of the body with that which the ancient Greeks took of it. They found no other object in nature which satisfied so well their sensejof proportion and manly strength, of attractive grace and beauty; and their reproductions of it in marble we preserve now as priceless treasures of art, albeit we still babble the despicable doctrine of contempt of it. The more strange, since it is a matter of sober scientific truth that the human body is the highest and most wonderful work in nature, the last and best achievement of her creative skill; it is a most complex and admirably constructed organism, “ fearfully and wonderfully made,” which contains, as it were in a microcosm, all the ingenuity and harmony and beauty of the macrocosm. And it is this supreme product of evolution that fanatics have gained the honour of saintship by disfiguring and torturing! These, then, are two great reasons of the repugnance which is felt to materialism, namely, the notion that it is destructive of the hope of a resurrection, and the contempt of the body which has been inculcated as a religious duty. And yet on these very points materialism seems fitted to teach the spiritualist lessons of humility and reverence, for it teaches him, in the first place, not to despise and call unclean the last and best work of his Creator’s hand; and,. secondly, not impiously to circumscribe supernatural power by the narrow limits of his understanding, but to bethink himself that it �12 Lessons of Materialism. were just as easy in the beginning, or now, or at any time, for the omnipotent Creator of matter and its properties to make it think as to make mind think. Passing from these incidental lessons of humility and reverence, I go now to show that materialism has it moral lessons, and that these, rightly apprehended, are not at all of a low intellectual and moral order, but, on the contrary, in some respects more elevating than the moral lessons of spiritualism. I shall content myself with two or three of these lessons, not because there are not more of them, but because they will be enough to occupy the time at my disposal. It is a pretty well accepted scientific doctrine that our fardistant prehistoric ancestors were a very much lower order of beings than we are, even if they did not inherit directly from the monkey; that they were very much like, in conformation, habits, intelligence, and moral feeling, the lowest existing savages ; and that we have risen to our present level of being by a slow process of evolution which has been going on gradually through untold generations. Whether or not “ through the ages one increasing purpose runs,” as the poet has it, it is certainly true that “ the .thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns.” Now when we examine the brain of the lowest savage, whom we need not be too proud to look upon as our ancestor in the flesh—say a native Australian or a Bushman—we find it to be considerably smaller than an ordinary European brain ; its convolutions, which are the highest nerve-centres of mind, are decidedly fewer in number, more simple in character, and more symmetrical in arrangement. These are marks of inferiority, for in those things in which it differs from the ordinary European brain it gets nearer in structure to the still much inferior brain of the monkey; it represents, we may say, a stage of development in the long dis­ tance which has been traversed between the two. A comparison of the relative brain-weights will give a rude notion of the differences : the brain-weight of an average European male is 49 oz.; that of a Bushman is, I believe, about 33 oz.; and that of a Negro, who comes between them in brain-size, as in intelligence, is 44 oz. The small brain-weight of the Bushman is indeed equaled among civilised nations by that of a small-headed or socalled microcephalic idiot. There can be no doubt, then, of a great difference of development between the highest and the lowest existing human brain. There can be no doubt, furthermore, that the gross differences �Lessons of Materialism. 13 which there are between the size and development of the brain of a low savage and of an average European, go along with as great differences of intellectual and moral capacities—that lower mental function answers to lower cerebral structure. It is a well-known fact that many savages cannot count beyond five, and that they have no words in their vocabulary for the higher qualities of human nature, such as virtue, justice, humanity, and their opposites, vice, injustice, and cruelty, or for the more abstract ideas. The native Australian, for example, who is in this case, having no words for justice, love, mercy, and the like, would not in the least know what remorse meant; if any one showed it in his presence, he would think probably that he had got a bad bellyache. He has no words to express the higher sentiments and thoughts because he has never felt and thought them, and has never had, therefore, the need to express them ; he has not in his inferior brain the nervous substrata which should minister to such sentiments and thoughts, and cannot have them in his present state of social evolution, any more than he could make a particular movement of his body if the proper muscles were wanting. Nor could any amount of training in the world, we may be sure, ever make him equal in this respect to the average European, any more than it could add substance to the brain of a small-headed idiot and raise it to the ordinary level. Were any one, indeed, to make the experiment of taking the young child of an Australian savage and of bringing it up side by side with an average European child, taking great pains to give them exactly the same education in every respect, he would certainly have widely different results in the end: in the one case he would have to do with a well-organized instrument, ready to give out good intellectual notes and a fine harmony of moral feeling when properly handled; in the other case, an imperfectly organized instrument, from which it would be out of the power of the most patient and skilful touch to elicit more than a few feeble intellectual notes and a very rude and primitive sort of moral feeling. A little better feeling, certainly, than that of its fathers, but still most primitive ; for many savages regard as virtues most of the big vices and crimes, such as theft, rape, murder, at any rate when they are practised at the expense of neighbouring tribes. Their moral feeling, such as it is, is extremely circumscribed, being limited in application to the tribe. In Europe we have happily got further than that, since we are not, as savages are and our forefathers probably were, divided into a multitude of tribes eager to injure and even extirpate one another from motives �14 Lessons of Materialism. of tribal patriotism; but mankind seems to be far off the goal of its high calling so long as, divided into jealous and hostile nations, it suffers national divisions to limit the application of moral feeling, counts it a high virtue to violate it under the profaned name of patriotism, and uses the words “ humanitarianism ” and cosmo­ politanism ” as crushing names of reproach. There is plainly room yet for a wider expansion of moral feeling. Now what do the discoveries of science warrant us to conclude respecting the larger and more complex brain of the civilised man and its higher capacities of thought and feeling ? They teach us this : that it has reached its higher level not by any sudden and big creative act, nor by a succession of small creative acts, but by the slow and gradual operation of processes of natural evolution going on through countless ages. Each new insight into natural phenomena on the part of man, each act of wiser doing founded on truer insight, each bettered feeling which has been developed from wiser conduct, has tended to determine by degrees a corre­ sponding structual change of the brain, which has been transmitted as an innate endowment to succeeding generations, just as the acquired habit of a parent animal becomes sometimes the instinct of its offspring; and the accumulated results of these slow and minute gains, transmitted by hereditary action, have culminated in the higher cerebral organization, in which they are now, as it were, capitalised. Thus the added structure embodies in itself the superior intellectual and moral capacities of abstract reasoning and moral feeling which have been the slow acquisitions of the ages, and it gives them out again in its functions when it discharges its functions rightly. If we were to have a person born in this country with a brain of no higher development than that of the low savage—destitute, that is, of the higher nervous substrata of thought and feeling—if, in fact, our far remote prehistoric ancestor were to come to life among us now—we should have more or less of an imbecile, who could not compete on equal terms with other persons, but must perish, unless charitably cared for, just as the native Australian perishes when he comes into contact and competition with the white man. The only way in which the native Australian could be raised to the level of civilised feeling and thought would be by cultivation continued through many generations—by a process of evolution similar to that which lies back between our savage ancestors and us. That is one aspect of the operation of natural law in human events—the operation of the law of heredity in development, in �Lessons oj Materialism. 15 carrying mankind forward, that is, to a higher level of being. It teaches us plainly enough that the highest qualities of mind bear witness to the reign of law in nature as certainly as do the lowest properties of matter, and that if we are to go on progressing in time to come it must be by observation of, and obedience to, the laws of development. But there is another vastly important aspect of the law of heredity which it concerns us to bear sincerely in mind—its operation in working out human degeneracy, in carrying mankind downwards, that is, to a lower level of being. It is certain that man may degenerate as well as develop; that he has been doing so both as nation and individual ever since we have records of his doings on earth. There is a broad and easy way of dissolution, national, social, or individual, which is the opposite of the steep and narrow way of evolution. Now what it behoves us to realise distinctly is that there is not anything more miraculous about the degeneracy and extinction of a nation or of a family than there is about its rise and development; that both are the work of natural law. A nation does not sink into decadence, I presume, so long as it keeps fresh those virtues of character through which it became great among nations ; it is when it suffers them to be eaten away by luxury, corruption, and other enervating vices, that it undergoes that degeneration of character which prepares and makes easy its over-throw. In like manner a family, reckless of the laws of physical and moral hygiene, may go through a process of degeneracy until it becomes extinct. It was no mere dream of prophetic frenzy that when the fathers have eaten sour grapes, the children’s teeth are set on edge, nor was it a meaningless menace that the sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generations; it was an actual insight into the natural law by which degeneracy increases through generations—by which one generation reaps the wrong which its fathers have sown, as its children in turn will reap the wrong which it has sown. What we call insanity or mental derangement is truly, in most cases, a form of human degeneracy, a phase in the working out of it; and if we were to suffer this degeneracy to take it course unchecked through generations, the natural termination would be sterile idiocy and extinction of the family. A curious despot would find it impossible, were he to make the experiment, to breed and propagate a race of insane people; nature, unwilling to continue a morbid variety of the human kind, would bring his experiment to an end by the production of sterile idiocy. If man will but make himself the �16 Lessons of Materialism. subject of serious scientific study, he shall find that this working out of degeneracy through generations affords him a rational explanation of most of those evil impulses of the heart which he has been content to attribute to the wiles and instigations of the devil; that the evil spirit which has taken possession of the wicked man is often the legacy of parental or ancestral error, misfortune, or wrong-doing. It will be made plain to him that insanity, idiocy, and every other form of human degeneracy is not casualty, but defect which comes by cause ; that it is just as much the definite consequent of definite antecedents as any other event in nature; and that these antecedents many times are within human controul, being the palpable outcome of ignorance or of neglect of the laws of moral and physical hygiene. Let me illustrate by an example the nature and bearing of this scientific study. I will take for this purpose a case which every physician who has had much experience must have been asked some time or other to consider and advise about: a quite young child, which is causing its parents alarm and distress by the precocious display of vicious desires and tendencies of all sorts, that are quite out of keeping with its tender years, and by the utter failure of either precept, or example, or punishment to imbue it with good feeling and with the desire to do right. It may not be notably deficient in intelligence; on the contrary, it may be capable of learning quickly when it likes, and extremely cunning in lying, in stealing, in gratifying other perverse inclinations; and it cannot be said not to know right from wrong, since it invariably eschews the right and chooses the wrong, showing an amazing acuteness in escaping detection and the punishment which follows detection. It is, in truth, congenitally conscienceless, by nature destitute of moral sense and actively imbued with an immoral sense. Now this unfortunate creature is of so tender an age that the theory of Satanic agency is not thought to offer an adequate explanation of its evil impulses ; in the end everybody who has to do with it feels that it is not responsible for its vicious conduct, perceives that punishment does not and cannot in the least reform it, and is persuaded that there is some native defect of mind which renders it a proper case for medical advice. Where, then, is the fault that a human being is born into the world who will go wrong, nay, who must go wrong, in virtue of a bad organization ? The fault lies somewhere in its hereditary antecedents. We can seldom find the exact cause and trace definitely the mode of its operation—the study is much too complex and difficult for such exactness at �Lessons of Materialism. 17 present—but we shall not fail to discover the broad fact of the frequency of insanity or other mental degeneracy in the direct line of the child’s inheritance. The experienced physician seldom feels any doubt of that when he meets with a case of the kind. It is indeed most certain that men are not bred well or ill by accident any more than the animals are; but while most persons are ready to acknowledge this fact in a general way, very few pursue the admission to its exact and 'rigorous consequences, and fewer still suffer it to influence their conduct. It may be set down, then, as a fact of observation that mental degeneracy in one generation is sometimes the evident cause of an innate deficiency or absence of moral sense in the next generation. The child bears the burden of its ancestral infirmities or wrong­ doings. Here then and in this relation may be noted the in­ structive fact, that just as moral feeling was the first function to be affected at the beginning of mental derangement in the individual, so now the defect or absence of it is seen to mark the way of degeneracy through generations. It was the latest acquisition of mental evolution; it is the first to go in mental dissolution. A second fact of observation may be set down as worthy of con­ sideration, if not of immediate acceptation, namely, that an absence of moral feeling in one generation, as shown by a mean, selfish, and persistent disregard of moral action in the conduct of life, may be the cause of mental derangement in the next generation. In fact, a person may succeed in manufacturing insanity in his progeny by a persistent disuse of moral feeling, and a persistent exercise, throughout his life, of those selfish, mean, and anti-social tendencies which are a negation of the highest moral relations of mankind. He does not ever exercise the nervous substrata which minister to moral functions, wherefore they undergo atrophy in him, and he runs the risk of transmitting them to his progeny in so imperfect a state, that they are incapable of full development of function in them ; just as the instinct of the animal which is not exercised for many generations on account of changed conditions of life, becomes less distinct by degrees and in the end, perhaps, extinct. People are apt to talk as if they believed that insanity might be got rid of were only sufficient care taken to prevent its direct propagation by the marriages of those who had suffered it or were like to do so. A vain imagination assuredly I Were all the insanity in the world at the present time clean sweptaway to-morrow, men would breed it afresh before to-morrow’s to-morrow by their �18 Lessons of Materialism, errors, their excesses, their wrong-doings of all sorts. Rightly, then, may the scientific inquirer echo the words of the preacher, that however prosperous a man may have seemed in his life, judge him not blessed before his death: for he shall be known in his children: they shall not have the confidence of their good descent. In sober truth, the lessons of morality which were proclaimed by the prophets of old, as indispensable to the stability and well-being of families and nations, were not mere visions of vague fancy; founded upon actual observation and intuition of the laws of nature working in human events, they were insights into the eternal truths of human evolution. Whether, then, man goes upwards or downwards, undergoes development or degeneration, we have equally to do with matters of stern law. Provision has been made for both ways ; it has been left to him to find out and determine which way he shall take. And it is plain that he must find the right path of evolution, and avoid the wrong path of degeneracy, by observation and experience, pursuing the same method of positive inquiry which has served him so well in the different sciences. Being pre-eminently and essentially a social being, each one the member of one body—the unit, that is, in a social organism—the laws which he has to observe and obey are not the physical laws of nature only, but also those higher laws which govern the relations of individuals in the social state. If he make his observations sincerely and adequately in this way, he cannot fail to perceive that the laws of morality were not really miraculous revelations from heaven any more than was the discovery of the law of gravitation, but that they were the essential conditions of social evolution, and were learned practically by the stern lessons of experience. He has learnt his duty to his neighbour as he has learnt his duty to nature; it is implicit in the constitution of a complex society of men dwelling together in peace and unity, and has been revealed explicitly by the intuition of a few extraordinary men of sublime moral genius. As it is not a true, it cannot be a useful, notion to foster, that morality was the special gift to man, or is the special property, of any theological system, and that its vitality is in the least bound up with the life of any such creed. Whether men believed in Heaven and Hell or not, in Jupiter or in Jehovah, in Buddha or in Jesus, they could not fail to find out that some obedience to moral law is essential to social evolution. The golden rule of morals itself—“ Do unto others as ye would have others do unto you”— was perceived and proclaimed long before it received its highest �Lessons of Materialism. 19 Christian expression.* We ought to be just and to confess the truth: there were good Christians in the world before Christ. It is not, indeed, religious creed which has invented and been the basis of morality, but morality which has been the bulwark of religions. And as a matter of fact it is too true that morality has suffered many times not a little from its connection with theological creeds ; I that its truths have been laid hands on and used to support demoralising super sitions which were no part of it; that doctrines essentially immoral have been even taught in the name of religion; and that religious systems in their struggles to establish their supremacy have oftentimes shown small respect to the claims of morality. Had religion been true to its nature and function, had it been as wide as morality and humanity, it should have been the bond of unity to hold mankind together in one brother­ hood, linking them in good feeling, good-will, and good work towards one another; but it has in reality been that which has most divided men, and the cause of more hatreds, more disorders, more persecutions, more bloodshed, more cruelties than most other causes put together. In order to maintain peace and order, there­ fore, the State in modern times has been compelled to hold itself practically aloof from religion, and to leave to each hostile sect liberty to do as it likes so long as it meddles not by its tenets and ceremonials with the interests of civil government. That is the present outcome of a religion of peace on earth and goodwill among men 1 On the whole it may be thought to be fortunate for the interests of morality that it is not bound up essentially with any form of religious creed, but that it survives when creeds die, having its more secure foundations in the hard-won experience of mankind. The inquiry which, taking a sincere survey of the facts, finds the basis and sanction of morality in experience, by no means * There appears to be no doubt that Confucius, among others, has the clearest apprehension of it and expressly taught it; and the Buddhist religion of perfectron is certainly founded upon self-conquest and self­ sacrifice. They are its very corner-stone: the purification of the mind from unholy desires and passions, and a devotion to the good of others, which rises to an enthusiasm for humanity, in order to escape from the miseries of this life and to attain to a perfect moral repose. “ Let all the sins that have been committed fall upon me, in order that the world may be delivered,” Buddha says. And of the son or disciple of Buddha it is said, “ When reviled he revileth not again; when smitten he bears the blow without resentment; when treated with anger and passion he returns love and good-will; when threatened with death he bears no malice.” �20 Lessons of Materialism. arrives in the end at easy lessons of self-indulgence for the individual and the race, but, on the contrary, at the hardest lessons of self-renunciation. Disclosing to man the stern and uniform reign of law in nature, even in the evolution and degeneracy of his own nature, it takes from him the comfortable but demoralising doctrine that he or others can escape the penalty of his ignorance, error, or wrong-doings either by penitence or prayer, and holds him to the strictest account for them. Dis­ carding the notion that the observed uniformity of nature is but a uniformity of sequence at will which may be interrupted whenever its interruption is earnestly enough asked for—a notion which, were it more than lip-doctrine, must necessarily deprive him of his most urgent motive to study patiently the laws of nature in order to conform to them—it enforces a stern feeling of responsibility to search out painfully the right path of obedience and to follow it, inexorably laying upon man the responsibility of the future of his race. If it be most certain, as it is, that all disobedience of natural law, whether physical or moral, is avenged inexorably in its conse­ quences on earth, either upon the individual himself, or more often, perhaps, upon others—that the violated law cannot be bribed to stay its arm by burnt-offerings nor placated by prayers—it is a harmful doctrine, as tending directly to undermine understanding and to weaken will, to teach that either prayer or sacrifice will obviate the consequences of want of foresight or want of self­ discipline, or that reliance on supernatural aid will make amends for lack of intelligent will. We still pray half-heartedly in our churches, as our forefathers prayed with their whole hearts, when we are afflicted with a plague or pestilence, that God will “ accept of an atonement and command the destroying angel to cease from punishing; ” and when we are suffering from too much rain we ask him to send fine weather “ although we for our iniquities have worthily deserved a plague of rain and water.” Is there a person of sincere understanding who, uttering that prayer, now believes it in his heart to be the successful way to stay a fever, plague, or pestilence ? He knows well that, if it is to be answered, he must clean away dirt, purify drains, disinfect houses, and put in force those other sanitary measures which experience has proved to be efficacious, and that the aid vouchsafed to the prayer will only be given when, these being by themselves successful, the prayer is superfluous. Had men gone on believing, as they once believed, that prayer would stay disease, they would never have learned and adopted sanitary measures, any more than the savage of Africa, �Lessons of Materialism. 21 ■who prays to his fetish to cure disease, does now. To get rid of the notion of supernatural interposition was the essential condition of true knowledge and self-help in that matter. . Looking at the matter in the light of scientific knowledge, it is •hard to see how any one can think otherwise. However, one may •easily overrate the depth to which such knowledge goes in the general mind: at best it is but a thin surface-dressing. Only a few days ago, on opening a book at random, I hit on the following extract from a sermon on the Miracles of Prayer, by a well-known clergyman :— “ But we have prayed, and not been heard, at least in the present visita­ tion. Have we deserved to be heard? In former visitations it was observed commonly how the cholera lessened from the day of public humiliation. When we dreaded famine from a long-continued drought, on the morning of our prayers the heaven over our head was of brass; the clear burning sky showed no. token of change. Men looked with awe on its unmitigated clearness. In the evening was a cloud like a man’s hand; the relief was come.” This is from a sermon preached by no mean citizen of no mean city; it was preached at Oxford, in 1866, and the preacher was Dr. Pusey, who goes on to say that it describes what he himself saw on the Sunday morning in Oxford, on returning from the early communion at St. Mary’s, at eight. The change occurred in the evening. A good instance, one would be apt to say, of a very common fallacy of observation and reasoning—the fallacy that an event which happens after another necessarily happens in conse­ quence of it! But what I would point out is, that if Dr. Pusey’s interpretation of the matter be true, all our scientific knowledge of the order of nature has no stable foundation; it is no better than a baseless fabric, which has come like wind and like wind may go. And most certain it is that if such views were universal, the result would be to carry us back straight to the ignorance and barbarism which prevailed in Europe before the Reformation and the dawn of modern science. Consider how much it means, that a man of Dr. Pusey’s culture and eminence should so little apprehend the fundamental principles of modern science, should be so blind to the conception of the reign of law in nature ; consider again how the great majority of the people are in his case, and that the torch of modern science is after all really carried by some hundred men or so in Europe and America, and would be pretty nigh extin­ guished by their simultaneous deaths ; and consider, lastly, that we have everywhere in our midst a most complete and powerful organisation which, holding that all truth has been given into �22 Lessons of Materialism. the keeping of the church from the beginning, and cannot be either added to or taken from, is truly a gigantic and unsleeping conspiracy against the human intellect;—consider these things fairly, I say, and then ask yourselves soberly whether modern pro­ gress is so stable and assured a thing as we are apt to take it for granted it is. For my part, I would not give much for it if the Homan Catholic Church had its way for fifty or a hundred years. In all ages of the world, I make no doubt, there have been a few persons with too much insight to accept the fables which have satisfied the vulgar, but who dared not utter their thoughts, or, uttering them, were quickly extinguished; the torch of knowledge has been again and again lit and again and again put out; and truth never will be made secure until it has been driven down into the hearts of the masses of the people by a right method of education from generation to generation. Many persons who could not confidently express their belief in the power of prayer to stop a plague or a deluge of rain, or who actually disbelieve it, still have a sincere hold of the belief of its miraculous power in the moral or spiritual world. Nevertheless, if the matter be made one simply of scientific observation, it must be confessed that all the evidence goes to prove that the events of the moral world are matters of law and order equally with those of the physical world, and that supernatural interpositions have no more place in the one than in the other; that he who prays for the creation of a clean heart and the renewal of a right spirit within him, if he gets at last what he prays for, gets it by the operation of the ordinary laws of moral growth and development, in consequence of painstaking watchfulness over himself and the continual exercise of good resolves. Only when he gets it in that way will he get the benefit of supernatural aid; and if it rests in the belief of supernatural aid, without taking pains to get it entirely in that way, he will do himself moral harm; for if he cannot rely upon special interpositions in the moral any more than in the physical world, if he has to do entirely with those secondary laws of nature through which alone the supernatural is made natural, the invisible visible, it needs no demonstration that the opposite belief cannot strengthen, but must weaken, the under­ standing and will. It is plain that true moral hygiene is as impossible to the person who reEes upon his fetish to change his heart in answer to prayer, as sanitary science is impossible to the savage who relies upon his fetish to stay a pestilence in answer to prayer. �Lessons of Materialism. Jf’’ KQ’ro- uajAfd oh ifdte" id gib'. tv* Ha. 'bHfz. ■bite. l5bn&: hoar fMiBih; F<»fct I Rtfcfi I tnemi I 'ited I stite I 'irra j tiiaui I uwirf I I tt-yfi I tibiae | tlvi ' io I ~S.oh on-ar ..*uxid I Ji- (in isoon 1 ?4"-oi I iiLuvit I iiwtii njJoj feudal) W'xiil 23 So far from materialism being a menace to morality, when it is properly understood, it not only sets before man a higher intellec­ tual aim than he is ever likely to reach by spiritual paths, but it even raises a more self-sacrificing moral standard. For when all has been said, it is not the most elevated or the most healthy business for a person to be occupied continually with anxieties and apprehensions and cares about the salvation of his own soul, and to be earnest to do well in this life in order that he may escape eternal suffering and gain eternal happiness in a life to come. The disbeliever might find room to argue that here was an instance showing how theology has taken possession of the moral instinct and vitiated it. Having set before man a selfish instead of an altruistic end as the prime motive of well-doing—his own good rather than the good of others—it is in no little danger of taking away his strongest motive to do uprightly, if so be the dead rise not. Indeed, it makes the question of the apostle a most natural one : “ If, after the manner of man, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me if the dead rise not ? ” Materialism cannot hesitate in the least to declare that it is best for a man’s self and best for his kind to have fought with the beasts of unrighteousness, at Ephesus or elsewhere, even if the dead rise not. Perceiving and teaching that he is essentially a social being, that all the mental faculties by which he so much excels the animals below him, and even the language in which he expresses his mental func­ tions, have been progressive developments of his social relations, it enforces the plain and inevitable conclusion that it is the true scientific function, and at the same time the highest development, of the individual, to promote the well-being of the social organiza­ tion—that is, to make his life subserve the good of his kind. It is no new morality, indeed, which it teaches ; it simply brings men back to that which has been the central lesson and the real stay of the great religions of the world, and which is implicit in the constitution of society; but it does this by a way which promises to bring the understanding into entire harmony with moral feeling, and so to promote by a close and consistent interaction their accordant growth and development; and it strips morality of the livery of superstition in which theological creeds have dressed and disfigured it, presenting it to the adoration of mankind in its natural purity and strength. �“ The Pathology of Mind.” By H. M AUDSLEY, M.D. Being the Third Edition of the Second Part of the “Physiology and Pathology of Mind,” recast, much enlarged and re-written. In 8vo, price 18s. liy the same Author. “ The Physiology of Mind.” Being the First Part of a Third Edition revised, enlarged, and re-written, of “ The Physiology and Pathology of Mind.” Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d. “Body and MindAn Inquiry into their Connection and Mutual Influ­ ence, specially with reference to Mental Disorders. Second Edition, enlarged and revised, with Psychological Essays added. Crown 8vo., 6s. 6d. Macmillan & Co., London. SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY. To provide for the delivery on Sundays in the Metropolis, and to encourage the delivery elsewhere, of Lectures on Science, —physical,^intellectual, and moral,—History, Literature, and Art; especially in their bearing upon the improvement and social well-being of mankind. President.—W. B. Carpenter, C.B., LL.D., M.D., F.R.S., &c. Vice-Pre sidents. Professor Alexander Bain. Sir Arthur Hobhouse, K.C.S.I. James Booth, Esq., C.B. Thomas Henry Huxley, Esq., LL.D., Charles Darwin, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S. F.R.S., F.L.S. Edward Frankland, Esq., D.C.L., Herbert Spencer, Esq. Ph. D., F.R.S. W. Spottiswoode, Esq., LL.D., P.R.S. James Heywood, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A. John Tyndall, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S. THE SOCIETY’S LECTURES ARE DELIVERED AT ST. GEORGE’S HALL, LANGHAM PLAGE,. On SUNDAY Afternoons, at FOUR o'clock precisely. (Annually—from November to May). Twenty-four Lectures (in three series), commencing Sunday, the 2nd of November, 1879, will be given. Members’ -£1 subscription entitles them to an annual ticket, transferable (and admitting to the reserved seats), and to eight single reserved-seat tickets, available for any lecture. For tickets, and for the Lectures published by the Society, of which lists can be obtained on application, apply (by letter enclosing cheques, post­ office orders or postage stamps) to the Hon. Treasurer, Wm. Henry Domville, Esq., 15, Gloucester Crescent, Hyde Park, W. The Lectures can also be obtained of Mr. J. Bumpus, Bookseller, 158, Oxford Street, W. Payment at the door:—One Penny; — Sixpence;—and (Reserved Seats) One Shilling. Kenny & Co., Printers, 25, Camden Road, London, N.W. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The first love again : a discourse delivered in the Church of the Redeemer, Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 28,1875, on the occasion of the re-union of the two Societies, which had divided fifteen years previously, chiefly on the issue of supernaturalism Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource CONWAY, Moncure Daniel [1832-1907] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [s.l.] Collation: 21 p. ; 15 cm. Notes: Part of Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 1. Reprinted from the Cincinnati Daily Commercial (revised by the author). With a preface about the doctrinal differences between the first Congregational Church and the Church of the Redeemer in Cincinnati. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [s.n.] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1875] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G3342 Subject The topic of the resource Unitarianism Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The first love again : a discourse delivered in the Church of the Redeemer, Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 28,1875, on the occasion of the re-union of the two Societies, which had divided fifteen years previously, chiefly on the issue of supernaturalism), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Doctrines Dogma Liberalism (Religion) Morris Tracts Rationalism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/04425de91bb01c36d4bad5df1a951a39.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=O0VMTZsmptZPAeIMQZTLiGC-sf1mTYPVBgcYAQKMcaWXwwuyg5lI6klGLWcIoWrKP4%7Ev3GpI3VUnH59xKrT%7ESeR5GIkTcPZWPiCnXFHiz2gSWK0yl8oKs0uo5G6lmiZKzAeHroPPvkwblgTV5psClonLv3SIWem5zMGpKfEvApPtGMbm%7EzzxrXnIdDFfsgr-J-Pp3MLNOTskm6vSlQCjq6j1WhgfTSGDk0D0B1ovdiGvyYcwadIJd9JvlzFD4J0t09DTY4Vrigq3-kXdCJssDfbGYQTg7Q0JqpqcHtXw4Ue4BdxxjlINDiSNi5SCY9eeph5EzHn1hsG8x1IpD3hXyQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 5c18ec0d8aa1ce897851e8c0f4c61cfb PDF Text Text GS11P 17 FEBRUARY. Miss Frances Power Cobbe, London Bev. T. R. Elliott, Hunslet...................... Mr. William Whitworth, Newton Moor... Mr. Robert Till, Hull................................ Rev. Goodwyn Barmby, Wakefield.......... A Lady, Wakefield ................................ Mr. Peter Reed, Wakefield ................. . Mr. John Till, Fairburn ........................ £ s. d. 0 5 0 0 2 6 0 4 0 0 10 0 5 0 0 0 6 8 0 5 0 10 0 £28 1 8 HOW TO JOIN THE BAND OF FAITH. The Band of Faith is a Brotherhood and Sisterhood—a religious Order of men and women, consisting of two ranks—Associates and Members. Those who agree in the statements of its faith and in the missionary objects and ecclesiastical organization in which it is engaged, can easily become Associates by sending their names and a fee of one shilling, which must be renewed every year, to its office. They will then not only be in the way of / assisting a society in the general principles of which they agree, but of acquiring the knowledge and developing the gifts which will enable them to become active members. The rank of Members in the Order is not so easily attained. We need active members, who will show forth their faith by their works, preachers who will go readily where they are sent, men of business who will labour at our board meetings for the success of the Society, women who will form sewing societies for its sales of work, singers and readers who will exercise self-sacrifice in promoting its services of worship, doorkeepers who will esteem any menial service in the sanctuary of God, honourable, and all these not only to be bound together with each other, but bound also to God, by solemn vow, which as the exercise of the will in dedication to Him is the truest initiatory rite of religion. Except by special dis­ pensation, the members of the Order must take publicly on their admission the following Covenant, which is em- �18 MESSENGER. bodied in a service for the purpose, by joining in it or responding to it, while receiving the right hand of fellow­ ship from the officiant. The Covenant thus reads :— “We covenant to do all in our power for the honour and worship of the one and only God, and in making known His absolute Holiness, perfect Wisdom, and Uni­ versal Love and Mercy. And may God of His goodness enable us to keep this covenant, and to live ever for His service. Amen.” It is desirable that friends should become first Associ­ ates, and remain such for a year at least before consider­ ing themselves eligible for Membership. Associates form the constituencies of local societies, and by the payment of their annual fee of one shilling each, and the registration of their names and addresses in the Index of the Order, are distinguished as avowed and recognised friends, from the occasional attendants, who in common with themselves contribute to the offer­ tory. From Covenanted Members, the various degrees of Superintendents will naturally be appointed (District, Provincial, and Metropolitan), in the course of the orga­ nisation of the Order. Preachers should especially be­ come Covenanted Members, not only for their own benefit through the consecrating act, but that they may set an example of holy vowing and public confession to the general brotherhood and sisterhood. From members also the Board of Trustees, consisting of twenty-four Elders, will be formed. The future, however, holds these things, and for the present we principally ask for Associates. Let scattered friends and sympathising attendants upon our services, at once become Associates and definitely strengthen our forces. The fees of Associates are now due for the pre­ sent year, and, where there is a Local Superintendent, should be now paid to him, or otherwise transmitted directly to head quarters. Cards of Companionship for the year will be forwarded on the receipt of these fees. Organization will gradually show the measure of our ability. It is at once the secret of success-and the proof of power. It is only through Organization that the �FEBRUARY. H> Broad Church of the Future can supplant the narrow churches of the past and present. All efforts for the es­ tablishment of Universal Ideas will prove weak and abortive, unless authority, order and discipline are freely chosen by their adherents. FINALITY IN KELIGION. By Goodwyx Barmby. There is no finality in religion, as a whole. Ever fresh, developments spring forth from it-—a constant evolution goes on beneath its inspiration. But to every special process there may be allowed an end, in the sense of accom­ plishment and consummation ; and such process remains one of the great factors of the past in the eternal progress of the future. It is in this sense that the Messianic Idea is exhausted when it is completely realised, while the Divine Idea is for ever inexhaustible. While a dispen­ sation may be perfected, 'while a mission may be accom­ plished, while a special process may be so fully realised that it may be considered final and need not be attempted again, there is no finality in religion itself. The evidences of the divinity of religion lie in the facts that it produces. The proof of a good field is in its ability of producing. It was by his 'works that Jesus showed fulfilment of his Messianic mission. It was He that should come to make known the Fatherly Spirit of God, and to show forth in himself, the filial spirit to the All-Father and the fraternal spirit to his human family. The imperfect ever gives way to the more perfect. In the struggle for existence the stronger conquers. In natural selection the imperfect disappears, while every beauty and advantage is perpetuated. It is as in a large curve however that these truths can only be fully recog­ nized. Little minds take little methods, and fail as liter­ ally as they literally regard things. Except through a wide sweep of events, we cannot assign its character or destiny to a dispensation. Things that swiftest grow, swiftest disappear. Perpetuity is the sign of perfection, and the noblest name of God is--The Eternal 1 �20 MESSENGER. The influence of Jesus has borne the test of experience and acquired the proof of perpetuity. Corrupt accretions have gathered around it, misapplying to themselves the honour of a holy name; but it has thrown them off, and is still throwing them off. It has not been povertystricken by bare walls, nor smothered by the rich robes of its ritualists. Beneath all guises it has equally touched hearts—beneath the leathern coat of George Fox or the Episcopal cope of St. Augustine. It has leavened literature, and directed imagination to choicer types of character, and to sweeter and brighter results, than Roman poet or Greek tragedian ever chose or found. It has ennobled benevolence and forgiveness, as the highest virtue; and it more especially works, by giving the light of knowledge to the blind in mind, by causing the deaf to wisdom to hear the word of truth, by raising the dead in trespasses and sins to a new life of holiness, by cleansing the leprosy of selfishness from the heart, and by causing the lame in effort and infirm of faith to walk cheerfully and courageously upon the road of righteousness. Jesus was He then that should come as the fruits prove the nature of the tree. He was the Ideal Man and we look not for another. The spirit of his life covers all that is humanly good-—all that is divinely human. I will not be bound to the records of his life, either by believers or unbelievers. The Spirit of Truth frees the mind from all such slavery to the letter. When two people cannot give the same account of facts happening in the next street, we cannot receive details of historical testimony as things of greatest moment. The general features of Jesus have been burned by the sun-rays of Truth upon the glass of Humanity, and this photograph is a truer likeness than the portraits of special artists. The universal truth respecting him is all-sufficient for us. That which all are agreed upon will be the truest representation of him. All are not agreed upon his miraculous birth, upon his supernatural character, upon his personality in the God-head, or even upon his Christhood as the fulfiller of the Jewish Messianic prophecies; but all are agreed that /. : was the pious son of God and �FEBRUARY. 21 the loving brother of Man, that in his love and goodness there was brightest revelation of God’s mercy and holi­ ness, and that he showed forth the perfect Human Ideal in his filial love to God and fraternal benevolence to human kind. What can be a more perfect human ideal than that of a devout son of God and loving brother of man. For the same spirit which makes a good son and a good brother, a pious worshipper and a beneficent friend and counsellor, is good for all the relationships of life. The great duties of human life apply to all its relationships, and are not bi-sexual but are the common law for woman and man. The light of the great prin­ ciples which Jesus personified casts its ladiance on all the details of private and social life. Religion and benevolence are the true crown and robe of our lives. To be clothed in them is to be clothed in Christ. To follow out the ideal of Jesus, according to the surround­ ings of our own age, is to attain its highest human standard. Some people, while in their false pride, scorn­ ing the idea of the ascent of man from the monkey, would make monkeys of men. But it is into no mimicry that we ought to descend. The true imitation of Jesus is the participation in the same holy spirit which Jesus pos­ sessed. His spirit of love to God and of benevolence to man, is the perfect—the all-sufficient ideal of human life. We look not then for another. The Messianic Idea Bas been ever attended by temptation and danger, as even in the early career of Jesus. It presents the idea of self-pre-eminence to the mind—the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them. It is connected with the conception of man-worship when God alone ought to be .adored. Jesus survived all this and rose above it, and was more glorious in what he became, than in what he attempted—when instead of the son of man of Daniel’s prophecy, he grew to the son of God’s own heart. The spirit of our age is with us, in asking for no new Messiah. Its tendency is democratic and social. It wants none head-high above their fellows. It needs measures rather than men, and values principles above persons. As knowledge is more generally diffused there is no need of �22 MESSENGER. such preeminent wisdom. As virtue enters into the moral life of society, there is no excuse for the exceptional austerity of the anchorite, or plea for the denunciations of the prophet. It is of more importance that the Many should become good, than that One should appear who is extraordinary. The tendancy of our age is to lift up the many to where the few have stood, to work out the principles which approve themselves good, to extend the process of education until all are enlightened ; and not to encourage personal illusions or expect miraculous exceptions, but to act upon the methods of common sense and of a sound rnind. While there is no finality in religion as a whole then, there is one process perfect in the religious development of human kind. Jesus furnishes us with a perfect ideal of human life. His exceptional personification of holy principles is all-sufficient for that end. In his spirit we may discern the love of God for us, and in his character the true life for men. He has taught us to call no man Master, but to acknowledge God as our only Lord. And we want no other Lords to reign over us, and Him alone will we serve. We must never forget, however, the great truth, that in its wholeness, there is no finality in religion. The personal embodiment of religion in Jesus, is sufficient in its sphere of example : but as it accomplishes its work by inspiring the welcoming of a like dwelling of the Divine Spirit in each human soul, it gives up its kingdom to the Father, that God may be all in all. The most perfect human impersonation of religion, is after all, im­ perfect. Finite perfection is not infinite perfection. It is hence that Jesus is represented as teaching, that it was expedient for him to go away, as if he went not away the Spirit of Truth would not come to his followers. Unless he were removed from his disciples personally, they would not give heed to truth, for its own sake. Unless they valued truth, not from his own lips only, but in the entirety of its essence, its holy spirit—the blessed Paraclete—would not lead them to all truth. Such, indeed, is the true progress of religion—from the authority of the teacher, to its own authority in the �FEBRUARY. 23 soul—from its reception as a personal teaching, to life in it as an essential principle. The teacher of truth, perfect as he may be in his special mission, is succeeded by the Spirit of Truth, which leads unto all truth. There is then, no religious finality. As occasion arises, there will ever be further development in Divine Knowledge, and new forms of religious life in which it will be embodied. The Divine Idea is universal and everlasting, and every acquirement in science will augment our knowledge of it, will raise our veneration for it, and give us fresh inspiration to lead wise, and holy, and loving lives. As the different religious dispensations, also, move onward in their conceptions of the true human life, they will attain to the Ideal of Humanity which was set forth by Jesus, and converging together will form that Divine Universal Church which shall be the glory of human kind and the salvation of society. We must each of us realize this divine drama of history, in our own personal experience, in the life of our own souls, by living after the human ideal of Jesus, and going on as the Spirit of Truth leads us to all truth—adding to our faith, know­ ledge, and all excellent things, and acquiring from the revelations of thought and science, ever greater love and devouter reverence for God. By promoting this, the Band of Faith would prepare for the practical establish­ ment of the Universal Church of God, which is the body of which true Universalism is the inspiring soul. NEW LECTIONABY. Chap. I.—From the Vedic Writings. Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? He who gives life, He who gives strength ; whose com­ mands the highest revere j whose light is immortality, whose shadow is death. Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? He who through his power is the one king of the breathing and awakening world j he who governs all, man and beast. Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? �24 MESSENGER. He whose greatness the mountains, whose greatness the sea proclaims ; He whose regions they are. Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm ; He through whom the heaven was stablished—nay, the highest heaven ; He who measured out the light in the air. Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? He to whom heaven and earth standing firm by his will, look up trembling inwardly. Leave us not to ourselves, 0 God. Let us not yet enter into the house of clay. Have mercy, Almighty—have mercy. If we go along trembling like clouds driven by the wind. Have mercy, Almighty—have mercy. Through want of strength and light, 0 God, Thou all strong and all bright Being, have we alone gone wrong. Have mercy, Almighty—have mercy. Let not one sin after another, difficult to be conquered, overcome us; may it depart together with the desire for it. Create the light which we long for. May we find for ourselves offspring, food, and a dwell­ ing with running waters. Speak out for ever with thy voice to praise the Lord, of prayer, who is like a friend—the Bright One. Fashion a hymn in thy mouth ! Expand like a cloud ! Sing a song of praise ! Chap. II.—From, the Brahmin Scriptures. Whatsoever hath been made, God made. Whatsoever is to be made, God will make. Whatsoever is, God maketh. Then why do any of you afflict yourselves ? Thou, 0 God, art the Author of all things which have been made, and from Thee will come all things which are to be made. Thou art the Maker and the Cause of all things made. There is none other but Thee. He is my God who maketh all things perfect. Medi­ tate upon Him, in whose hands are life and death. I believe that God made man and that he maketh everything. He is my friend. Let faith in God characterise all your thoughts, words, �FEBRUARY. 25 and actions. He who serveth God places confidence in nothing else. If the remembrance of God be in your hearts ye will be able to accomplish that which would be else imprac­ ticable. 0 foolish one ! God is not far from you : He is near you. You are ignorant, but He knoweth everything. Care can avail nothing; it devoureth life: for those things shall happen which God shall direct. Remember God, for he endued your body with life: remember that Beloved One, who placed you in the womb, reared and nourished you. Preserve God in your hearts, and put faith in your minds, so that by God’s power your expectations may be realized. In order that He may spread happiness God becometh the servant of all; and although the knowledge of this is in the hearts of the foolish, yet will they not praise His Name. 0 God, Thou art, indeed, exceeding riches; thy laws are without compare; Thou art the Chief of every world yet remainest invisible. He that partaketh of but one grain of the Love of God, shall be released from the sinfulness of all his doubts and actions. What hope can those have elsewhere, even if they wan­ dered over the whole earth, who abandon God ? All things are exceeding sweet to those who love God: they would never call them bitter. Adversity is good, if on account of God ; but it is use­ less to pain the body. Without God the comforts of wealth are unprofitable. Whatever is to be, will be ; therefore long not for grief nor for joy ; because in seeking the one, you may find the other. Forget not to praise God. Do unto me 0 God, as thou thinkest best: I am obe­ dient to Thee. Behold no other God; go nowhere but to Him. Condemn none of those things which the Creator hath made. Those are his holy servants, who are satisfied with them. ■> �26 MESSENGER. God is my clothing and my dwelling : He is my ruler, my body and my soul. God ever fostereth his creatures, even as a mother cares for her child and keepeth it from harm. 0 God, Thou who art the Truth, grant me content­ ment, love, devotion, and faith. Thy servant prayeth for true patience, and that he may be devoted, to Thee. He, that formed the mind, made it a temple for Him­ self to dwell in; for God liveth in the mind and none other but God. 0 my friend, recognize that Being with whom thou art so intimately connected ; think not that God is distant, but believe that like thy own shadow, He is ever near thee. Receive that which is perfect into your hearts, and shut out all besides ; abandon all things for the love of God, for this is the true devotion. If you call upon God you can subdue your imperfec­ tions and the evil inclinations of your mind will depart from you, but they will return to you again, if you cease to call upon him. Chap. III.—From, the Buddhist Writings. He who is your friend in meaning and not in word alone is he who prevents you from taking life, or doing any other evil; he urges you to almsgiving and other good deeds; he informs you of that which you did not previously know; and he tells you what is to be done in order that you may enter the true paths. As the bee, without destroying the colour or perfume of the flower, gathers the sweetness with its mouth and wings, so the riches of the true friend gradually accu­ mulate ; and the increase will be regularly continued, like the constant additions which are made to the hill formed by the white ant. Our parents, who have assisted us in our infancy, are to be regarded as the east • our teachers, as being worthy to receive assistance, are to be regarded as the south; our children, as those by whom we are afterwards to be assisted, are to be regarded as the west; our servants and retainers, as being under our authority, are to be as �FEBRUARY. 27 the underside; and our religious advisers, as assisting us to put away that which is evil, are to be regarded as the upperside. As the wise man whose head is on fire tries to put the flame out quickly, so the wise man seeing the shortness of life, hastens to secure the destruction of evil desire. As the jessamine is the chief among flowers and as the rice is the chief amid all descriptions of grain, so is he who is free from evil desire the chief among the wise. The waggoner who leaves the right path and enters into the untrodden wilderness, will bring about the des­ truction of his waggons and endure much sorrow; so also will he who leaves the appointed path and enters upon a course of evil, come to destruction and sorrow. The unwise man cannot discover the difference between that which is evil and that which is good, as a childknows not the value of a coin that is placed before it. ■ As the man who has only one son is careful of that son, as he who has only one eye takes great pains to pre­ serve that eye ; so ought the wise man continually to exercise thought, lest he break any of the precepts. When acts are done under the influence of favor, envy, ignorance, or the fear of those having authority, he who performs them will be like the waning moon; but he who is free from these influences, or avoids them, will be like the moon approaching to its fulness. When the seed of any species of fruit that is bitter is sown in moist ground, it gathers to itself the virtue of the water and the earth, but because of the nature of the original seed, all this virtue is turned into bitterness, as will be seen in the fruit of the tree which it produces; and in like manner all that the unwise man does is an increase to his misery, because of his ignorance. On the other hand, when the sugar cane, or rice, or the vine, is set in proper ground, it gathers to itself the virtue of the water and the earth, and all is converted into sweetness, because of the sweetness of the original; and in like manner all the acts of the wise man tend to his happiness and prosperity, because of his wisdom. The door of the eye must be kept shut. When the outer gates of the city are left open, though the door of every �28 MESSENGER. separate house or store be closed, the robber will enter the city and steal the goods; and in like manner though all the observances be kept, if the eye be permitted to wander, evil desire will be produced. This advice was given by Budha: He who would attain Nirwana must not trust to others, but exercise heroically and perseveringly his own judgment. Chap. IV.—From the Druid Proverbs. There is no seeing but in reflection; there is no reflec­ tion but in fortitude—fortitude is only where the object is clear. There is no perspicuity but in light; there is no light but in the understanding; there is no understanding but of conscience; conscience is none other than the eye of God in the soul of man. There is none good but the godly ; there is none godly but the religious ; there is no religion but in believing ; there must be no belief but in truth; there is no truth but in being manifest. Nothing is manifest but light. Nothing is light but God; therefore there is no good but of light, no godliness but of light, no religion but of light; there is no light but in seeing God. A word expresses—expression shows—showing reflects —reflection instructs—instruction causes to think— thought reasons—reason understands—understanding proceeds to know—knowledge will exert—exertion will be able to effect; ability will effect desire; desire will act—action will attain the end. The end of everything is the right; right is everything in life ; right life is life eternal; life eternal is to be in perfection ; to be in perfection is to be in God. The weapon of the wise is reason ; the weapon of the fool is steel; the weapon of the wise is in his heart. He that loves fame, let him love what deserves it! He that sows thistles will not reap wheat. He that imparts his wish to every one will be late be­ fore he obtains it. He that shall be far from his good shall be near to his harm. He that knows more than is necessary of another, �FEBRUARY. 29 knows less than he ought of himself. He that would have a good word let him not give a bad one. The abundance of a miser is poverty to him. He that loves will correct. Noble descent is the least thing in the world in the court of wisdom. Little is the seed of the contentious and less the wisdom that sows it. It is early with every one when he rises. He that has one eye is a king among the blind. A small, injury to another is a great one to thyself. Hated will be he that importunes. Remembrance of the good will excite goodness. Profound is the expression of the heart. Good is every country that produces wise men. Every fool is wise while he holds his tongue. Better is one that takes care than ten who contrive. The best gold mine is a dunghill. The best dancing tune is the song of the lark. The best shield is righteousness. The best revenge is to show the injury and forgive it. Three things will not be had without every one its companion : day without night; idleness without hunger; and wisdom without respect. Three things which are not easily counted : the parti­ cles of light, the words of a talkative woman, and the de­ vices of a miser. The three charities to the age which follows-—planting of trees, improvement of science, and the education of children in virtue. Three persons who ought to have pity shown them__ the stranger, the widow and the orphan. The three ornaments of a country—a barn, the shop of an artist, and a -school. There is no Druid but in name. None can be a Druid, but God. PROGRESSIVENESS OF RELIGION. Religion is a progressive work, inwardly in the soul— outwardly m society. Goodness is development—onward and upward—is pure progression. “Nature,” says Goethe, “ has attached a curse to /wzse.” �30 MESSENGER. To have Life, we must have growth; not the growth of the fungus, which springs up in a morning and attains to no further development than mere increase of sizej not the growth of the ephemeris, hatched by a warm sun­ beam and perishing in the evening dew ; not the growth of the parasite, established upon the existence of a life as dependent as its own—but rather the growth of the tree | not swift and evanescent, but steady and enduring; its roots firmly fixed in nature—each year developing a new ring in its trunk, an increase in its girth ; each year see­ ing it constantly, and therefore apparently unconsciously aspire higher and higher toward the skies. See that sapling oak ! Its sap’s blood freely courses through the fibrous pores of its green young heart. Spring shines on its clear brown bark, and its fresh glazy leaves. Autumn comes and its leaves fall. But it is not dead. It only sleeps, as true men sleep, to gather new growth and increased strength for the waking hour. Another spring and its leaves are green again. Another autumn and it sheds its acorns. Other springs and. autumns revolve over it, and year by year it puts forth new leaves, new twigs, new branches, and more benefi­ cently showers around upon its mother earth—the har­ vest of its seeds. Year by year its bole is bigger; and within its girth is calendered by a fresh ring, like a con­ scious mark of progress in the soul. Year by year its umbrage is more shady and more generously offers its green coolness for the nests and songs of birds, for the shelter of cattle, or for the solace of the children in the summer heat. Year by year its leafy branches spread about its bole—its trunk increased in girth, ascends also in height—spiring upward to the sky, and on its topmost twig, gilt by a sunray, we see and hear a sweet songbird carolling its hymn to heaven. Such then is the growth of life we want—a growth steady and enduring—a growth implanted like a living­ principle rooted deeply in our natures; a growth fixed in the ground of things—not parasitic—not depen­ dent upon the degree of vitality manifested by others, but derived from the spiritual soil and fostered by the immediate agencies of the Author of life and Giver of �FEBRUARY. 31 growth himself. Such is the growth of life we want—a growth not of a day, but one of perennial progress ; a growth not niggardly, but a generous growth, increasing not only in circumference, but in elevation; generously distributing around it the fruits of each harvest, and at the same time continually ascending and constantly de­ veloping itself towards the higher—the nobler—the purer —the more heavenly. “ The new birth into righteousness,” is a development of the divine—a growth of grace ! It is a winter of decay and suspended animation passed over, and it is a spring of new vitality, new vigour and new increase arisen. But this growth must be continuous, this grace should be constant—not the flower of a season but a perennial plant. The progress to perfection is a per­ petual path. It is ever before us, and we are ever to attain it. On every morning we find that a new sun has arisen—that new dews have been distilled. In each new morning of every soul, we should see anew the golden sunshine and the crystal dews of the spirit. It is not only one new birth, but many new births, that we require. It is not only one new life, but many new lives, that we must have. Daily, we should become dead to some sin, we should relinquish some selfishness, we should leave off some bad habit, we should abandon some vice, we should strive and clear our minds of some error—we should thus endeavour to die daily. Daily., we should become alive to some virtue, we should develope some loving sentiment, we should perform some good action, we should endeavour to attain to the per­ ception of some truth—we should strive to live a new life, daily—to daily grow in grace. All goodness is in the soul. The human spirit is created good by God. Its fall—its error, is to be attri­ buted to the accidents of its development in the outward, serving it for experience and trial, but it is in itself good—it has all goodness as the basis of its growth, and. perpetual progress to perfection as its destiny. The growth of grace is thus developed from within. It is a, spiritual process of progression. As the soul grows greater in goodness, as the spiritual increases in power,. �32 MESSENGER. as the development towards the divine is higher, stronger, more inward and central in the spirit: the accidents of the outward, the external circumstances of existence, have less influence over it, are subordinated to it, and the Human Being takes its right place as the Crown of Creation—the overseer of the universe ! In relation to the attributes of goodness, the growth of grace is the soul’s sum of addition. We should add to a new birth of belief in those first principles which are the oracles of God—a new birth of power over evil, a new birth of disinterested action—a new life of sincerity, a new life of love—a new ability of innocence, a new power of purity. Such are some of the ascensive additions of the soul! In fact all grace is a growth, all goodness is a growth, all practical Divinity consists in the process of develop­ ment—piety should be ever progressive. We can never be too good. That which does not progress, ceases to be good. That which is right to-day, if not improved upon to-morrow, becomes vice, not virtue. Stand-still religion, is no religion at all. The human spirit is not like an animal form, which grows to a certain age, and then ceases; but goodness and grace are eternal growths, and piety an infinite progress. THE MANCHESTER FRIEND—We read in th® Manchester Friend, 11 The Band of Faith Tracts and Messenger, issued by Goodwyn Barmby, of Wakefield, often touch a very true chord.” The Manchester Friend is the monthly organ of the liberal portion of the Society of Friends. It contains articles of great literary ability, which put forth those broad views of religion which are akin to the Theism of Jesus, and will help to constitute the Universal Church of the Future. BAND OF FAITH BAZAAR.—Our Annual Bazaar will be held at Wakefield, probably in Easter week. Contributions of work or goods will be thankfully received. BARNSLEY.—We hope soon to announce that-W have a new sanctuary in this town. �MESSENGER. 159 appointments, by which they could fill the widening­ openings of official service in civil or military ranks ; and as a result the social leaders of the people are intensely prejudiced and opposed to change or improvement. None are more so than the Mahomedan Nawabs. By having a Turkish officer of high rank at our seats of Government, a man entering into our progressive ideas, wearing as they do European dress, eating freely with us at our tables, joining as they would in many acts of social life, and, above all, representing in a palpable living form the prin­ ciple of our friendship with the head of their faith in distant Roum, we think a new political force might be set at work, and much good might result. Turkey to-day can supply dozens of such men in her civil and military service, many of them fairly accom­ plished and wide in their grasp of religious views. Why not have them amongst us ? Our interests as nations are identical in the East, and a great moral influence would affect the bigotted population ; above all it would show that the Sultan was our friend—and how many Indian Mahomedans know that to-day, probably not a hundred? A second phase of the subject is with refer­ ence to the action of oui- missionary societies. It is matter of surprise that the Unitarian organizations in England have never bethought themselves of work amongst the “ Unitarians ” of the East, as the Mahome­ dans would fain call themselves. No reason exists why men teaching such doctrines should not act with good effect upon the Mussulman people. To-day the one-God principle is so strongly implanted in the Mahomedan heart, that the mere mention of plurality excites him to frenzy. The narrow prejudices, too, of half-educated missionaries who refuse to see in Mahomed a great re­ former and one of the ablest statesmen, offends them to a great degree. But every Mahomedan draws close to those whose views are Unitarian ; and as a creed Islam is quite capable of having a new church party developed in its midst, for no creed has less officialism, less sacer­ dotal tyranny in it, or a simpler code of church economy than it has. �BAND OF FAITH 160 A body of Christian teachers who would measure Ma­ homed at his true worth and join on modem civilized views to the ancient dogmatic basis of the creed, would be a well-spring of good to our rule in India. No doubt the truncheon and the bayonet can keep these warlike Mus­ sulman races of India in subjection, and force them to sullen obedience ; but an empire founded by the sword, and trusting solely to it will perish in the end by the means that gave it birth. At the tomb of Ali, around whose gilded sepulchre many thousand Indian Mahomedans dwell, a traveller recently met a well-taught, indeed thoroughly educated Indian Mussulman, well read and widely informed. He was a pilgrim from India. He saw around him the ill effects of an administration, whose aim is not always the public good. He made flattering allusion to what we have done in this country for the people, but in his praises there lay a sting. “ Yes,” said he, “ I know all you have done for India—good roads, perfect order, a rule fairly just and striving to be more so. But what is all that ? Whoever governs us—Russians or whoever else—they would be better than you ; they would give us sympathy. It is sympathy we need. You English are a hard race.” He may, must have thought wrongly ; but so he and probably many of his class do think. It is a pity when such men brood over thoughts like this. We trust too much to perfect codes and elaborate procedures; and neglect the little things which all can see and appreciate. The two proposals we mention above might tend to some great improvements. J. E. SMITH AND HIS WRITINGS. The Coming Man, by the Rev. James Smith, M.A. 2 vols. London: Strahan & Co., 1873. This is a posthumous publication—the work of a very wonderful mind. Its author is James Elishama SmithJames by baptism and Elishama by circumcision, although in his later literary works the Israelitish prenomen is dispensed with from the title-page. He was bom at �MESSENGER. 161 Glasgow, 22 November, 1801, and died in the same place, at the house of his friend, Dr. Herle, '-?9 January, 1857. He was a licentiate of the Kirk of Scotland, but relinquished its duties a few years after his ordination. In youth he was a companion of Robert Pollock, and claimed the suggestion of an eminent line in his poem “ The Course of Time.” It is to be regretted that so few biographical particulars are given of him in the admirable preface to his posthumous work. His outward was, how­ ever, of less moment than his inward life. As an Organ­ izer he was weak. As a Speculator alone was he strong. There was a romance of a peculiar kind in connection with his early life. On leaving the Scotch Kirk, he joined for a while that branch of Southcottians, called Christian Israelites, who were under thesupposedprophetic leadership of John Wroe. When these people had their New Jerusalem, at Ashton-under-Lyne, he lived with them as their Hebrew Schoolmaster, and many interesting par­ ticulars of the Christian Israelitish Community, which are given in the pages of “ The Coming Man,” would be derived from this singular experience. For Joanna Southcott and the Church of the Woman, as he termed the believers in her supernatural mission, he ever pro­ fessed to entertain much respect and sympathy. He knew all their prophets and visited women, and especially entertained a high opinion of Mrs. Marshall, who has comparatively lately assumed the further office of a Spiritist medium. His connection in early life with the Southcottians, must not, however, mislead in the opinion of him. One of the most universal of men, at least in the spheres of critical and analytic speculation, he came in contact also with Rationalists of the Richard Carlisle school, with mystics of the James Pierrepoint Greaves school, with disciples of Robert Owen, and more importantly still, with the writings of St. Simon and his followers, which contained the germs of many of the ideas which he afterwards elaborated or counterparted by analogical developments of his own, in those more im­ portant studies of his later life, which will yet make him eminent as thinker and writer. In fact to St. Simon, his �162 BAND OF FAITH successor Father Enfantin and others of his school, was due the initiation of the great Socialist Movement of our days, which must end in the inauguration of a new general societary state, the heir and successor of an im­ perfect civilization ; and which includes more or less in its ranks, all who recognize the divineness of humanity, and who regard religion as a practical thing, and look upon it as the renewer of society, and who consider history as the revelation of Providence, as J. E. Smith has done throughout his writings, and especially in his interpretation of the coming Fifth Act of the Divine Drama of society. The development of his views was gradual. He shed every drop of his intellectual blood, and gave all his life for them. At first, their appearance was crude. The acid, according to the order of nature, was developed before the sweet. After leaving Ashton-un der-Lyne, he delivered in London, a course of extraordinary lectures, very negative, but containing the germs of his subse­ quent positive views. These lectures he published in the year 1833, under the following title : “ The Antichrist, or Christianity Reformed: in which is demonstrated from the Scriptures, in opposition to the Prevailing Opinion of the Whole Religious World, that Evil and Good are from One Source ; Devil and God One Spirit; and that the one is merely manifested to make perfect the other, by the Rev. J. E. Smith, A.M.” The sub-title of this re­ markable book is “ The Antichrist or Christianity Re­ formed : its morals preserved, and its doctrines cast into its own furnace. He sets the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.” The literary work of this production is rough and rude. Its parodoxes approach blasphemy. Not very long after its production it was suppressed by the author and the remainder of the copies destroyed. It is now a very rare book. A more important publication followed—“ The Shep­ herd” ; a London weekly periodical, illustrating the prin­ ciples of Universal Science, Edited by the Rev. J. E. Smith, A.M. It reached 3 volumes, and was published in 1834-5. In this work he produced a system of nature. �MESSENGER. 163 and developed his love of analogical illustration. It was a great improvement upon the Antichrist—in various ways, better written, far more affirmative, containing choice extracts, collecting around it interesting contri­ butors. Among the contributors to the Shepherd, were Oxenford, the dramatist and critic, Charles Lane, a deep mystic and editor of the Price Courant, Etienne Vieusseaux, author of the New Sanctuary of Thought and. Science, and a Dr. de Prati, the exponent of some mag­ netical system of Pantheism. As the editor of this pub­ lication, J. E. Smith is more generally known in London as Shepherd Smith. Disgusted at the stupidity with which the public regarded his teachings, he con­ cluded it by threatening to bring out The Swineherd. A translation of St. Simon’s “ New Christianity a collection of “ Legends and Miracles”; a strange essay at prophetical calculation, called “ The Little Book, or Momentous Crisis of 1840” ; a small work, named “ The World Within,” setting forth the proposition that the interior of the globe was inhabited; “ Pope’s Essay on Man,” with an admirable introductory commentary, and “ The Universal Chart, containing the Elements of Universal Faith, Universal Analogy and Moral Govern­ ment, 1840,” appeared in quick succession. By his next publication, he was destined to become very popular, although remaining unknown personally. He was the originator and editor of the famous Family Herald, a periodical known to all, a particular pet of Leigh Hunt, and a literary organ which, although selling only for a penny, and largely filled with tales, has exercised, a pure influence upon a very extensive scale. It was first published by B. D. Cousins, of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, who passed it over to John Biggs, of the Strand, whose facili­ ties in the publishing system were greater, who made it a, lucrative investment, and who at his death, bequeathed liberally to those who had started the periodical, and been the means of his connection with it. In the Family Herald, J. E. Smith largely improved his literary style, and prepared his mind for the production of very far �164 BAND OF FAITH more important works than he had yet issued—“The Divine Drama ” and “ The Coming Man.” His Family Herald articles would make several volumes of important essays, on a large multiplicity of subjects. They deserve to be published in that form. In his notices to corres­ pondents also, he established a kind of confessional upon a rational system. It is astonishing to notice the infini­ tude of subjects upon which he was consulted, and to which he returned admirable answers, and not less so to remark the delicate nature of the confidences which were made to him. No one person, it was held at that time, could possibly be the author of all these answers. Whether they were written by man or woman, was a sub­ ject also of frequent controversy. J. E. Smith really did it all, and a wonderful work it was. It was certainly “ unique in popular literature.” He edited the Family TZera/cZ,'at least from December 17, 1842, to February 14, 1857,—that is to say after his death—the papers he left behind him being used as the leading articles. Little did his readers know of the quiet student life and deeply phi­ losophical mind, which week by week had ministered to their instruction and amusement. “The Divine Drama of History and Civilization” was published in 1854, about two years before its authors death. It was his great work of art—the crowning effort of his genius. At its appearance, it met with but scant notice, but yet with an audience, not unworthy from a few. It is now a rare book, and will become acknow­ ledged as a great work, of a period in which great works are not scarce. It is a great work in its leading idea, and in the general principles applied to its illustra­ tion. Its details cannot all be endorsed. He had the scientific spirit, but was deficient in scientific method. He was paradoxical, and gloried in it, and has thus ob­ tained a niche in De Morgan’s book of Paradoxes. The moment he got a glimpse of an analogy, he hunted it to the remotest nooks and corners, and ran it to the death. His analogies, however, are superior to Swedenborg’s correspondencies. They are broader, and have more of natural foundation in them. Of present advances in �MESSENGER. 165 biblical criticism, he appears to have had little knowledge. He explored more ancient mines of theology. Any text which he could twist into harmony with his thought at the time was acceptable to him. He used the same kind of alchemy with regard to the doctrines of obscure sects, ancient and modern. He found some truth in them all. All was fish which came to his net. His scriptural inter­ pretation is largely vicious and worthless; his religious expression, although often true and beautiful, descends at length into the obscure, but his general idea of development in history, and of the direction under Divine Providence of the whole social life of man, is fine and noble, and adds a grand contribution to the systematic study of the sub­ ject on which he treats. The leading idea of his Divine Drama, is the development of human history in analogy with the providential character and five-fold aspect of the ordinary Drama. Under the terms of divisional and unitary, he recognizes throughout it the critical and or­ ganic epochs of St. Simon. His specialty indeed, is the five-fold analogy. With him, history is a pentalogue—a play in five acts, of which the Supreme Being is the ma­ nager. While his setting forth of history is arbitrary, and does not begin at the beginning, and while other analogies might be found for its illustration in the course of its progress, and the various social states in their logi­ cal sequences be held to be true stages, and more real factors in the development of the human race than the national missions which arise among them, the five-fold theory of our author is interesting and suggestive, and is certainly a part of the universal system in which all numbers have their relative functions. His first act of the Divine Drama is the Hebrew Mission; the second act, the Greek Mission; the third act, the Roman Mis­ sion. These three acts comprise the Mediterranean Mis­ sion. There the Pontifex Maximus—the great bridge­ maker is obtained. The Atlantic Mission follows with the next two acts. Act four shows the Mission of the North-Western Nations, and is analytical. Act five is the Universal Mission, in which the leading part is played by the British Islands, and which is organic and final. We �166 BAND OF FAITH have already sufficiently criticized this theory of histori­ cal evolution. It is put forth with much power. It is adorned with many passages of striking eloquence and beauty. Its author has grown to be a proficient with the pen. There is fine word-painting in the scenery he gives to each act of his historical drama. It is his great work—the work by which he will be known—the Bible of his system. Whether intended to do so or not, “The Coming Man” may serve as a commentary to the Divine Drama. It commences in the form of a novel, and continues in this style for several interesting chapters, but the thread of the tale becomes at length lost in disquisitions. The founder is confounded with his own image. His subject reveals itself too largely for his art. That which gave promise of being a love-tale concludes with an argument in favour of astrology, and with tables of prophetical arithmetic. The work indeed, is a small edition of nature in its dramatic grandeur and comic absurdities. It is more generally readable on this very account. Where a hundred read the Divine Drama, a thousand will read “ The Coming Man.” Some of the first scenes are equal to any of the novel-writing of the day, and that is sayingvery much for them. The leading idea of the work, com­ mencing with the contention that the ten tribes of Israel are scattered but not lost, being incorporated with the Gentiles, is that “ The Coming Man” is purified humanity, which in the fifth act of the Divine Providential Drama, will become perfected, and truly reign upon the earth. Incidentally, a vast variety of subjects are treated. The sketches of character interspersed are cleverly drawn, and the disquisitions on morals and manners admirable. A light is cast upon many obscure sects, and a word said for many abstruse subjects. A very beautiful robe of charity is the garb of the author’s thought, which, as of old, covers a multitude of sins. The two volumes are as amusing as they are instructive, and show a variety of power and an encyclopaedic mind, very rarely equalled .in literature. A very excellent photographic portrait of J. E. Smith �MESSENGER. 167 is prefixed to the “ Coming Man.” He was a man of middle size, with fine broad brows, deep set eyes, and pale student face, and in society, although of retiring habits, quite capable of fun and humour. During the later years of his life, his residence was in New Palace Road, Lambeth, and there he had collected around him a library of most unique and extraordinary works, which were dispersed after his death. The es­ sence of his library is preserved in his own writings. His knowledge was encyclopaedic, and his genius will yet be acknowledged. Although the exact path he indicated may not be taken by humanity, his labours will have tended to prepare it to take that path which Divine Pro­ vidence itself shall counsel and control. HYMN. BY SIR JOHN BOWRING. One ! One ! One I art Thou, Judge and King and God alone : Thee we worship, and allow None to share Thy glory—none ! Great, great, great art Thou, Undivided greatness Thine : Other gods we disavow ; None but Thee we own divine. Wise, wise, wise art Thou ; Wise beyond our highest thought: Naught when at Thy throne we bow, Shall distract our praises—naught! . Good, good, good art Thou ; Thou our God that reign’st alone ; Consecrate Thy servant’s vow, All-transcendent Gracious One. �BAND OF FAITH THE UNIVERSAL LAW. BT JAMES WALKER, OF CARLISLE. Onward, onward, ever onward, Progress is the law of all; Nothing with us, great or lowly, But some higher motives call. Daily to more perfect being, Daily into greater light, ’Till at last in perfect beauty, Great and lowly greet the sight. In the wondrous world of Nature, Ever since her work began, Slowly, surely, and completely, Has been aye her rule and plan ; Nothing suddenly upspringing, Perfect to the light of day, All the end by gradual stages, Gaining of their destined way. In the greater world of spirit, Doth this law as firmly hold, Only by unswerving labour Shall the good and true unfold All their balm and all their wisdom Unto oui’ repining hearts, Sinfully in sloth repining, ’Till their energy departs. If my earthly state is lowly, Shall I lull my soul asleep, Shall I fold my hands in quiet, Or shall I sit down and weep That the work I would be doing, Seems to scorn all human strength, That the road I am pursuing Seems of hopeless, endless length ? �MESSINGER. 0, my brother ! 0, my sister 1 Struggling with this evil thought, Struggling, sinking, and despairing, Listen to what God hath taught, On the wondrous face of Nature, On each part and on the whole— “ Courage, faith, and perseverance, Ever shall attain the goal.” From the genesis of being, Unto this imperfect day, Has He shown how their endeavours Clear all obstacles away ; Be the worker poor and lowly, Yet if poor in thought and deed, H e, the Master worker, aids him, Gives to him that he succeed. Action, action, heavenly action Ever is man’s wisest part, Laws of God and laws of being, Ignorance, sloth, and error thwart, Paralyse, benumb the spirit, Molehills into mountains raise, And with misery, pain and error Hedge us round in all our ways. Whose example is unheeded ? Whose good deeds are wholly lost ? Stalwart warriors are they ever, Each with an important post, In the warfare waged with evil, And, with all arch-angel might, Win they ever in the contest, Souls from darkness unto light. As the ripple from the pebble, Coming from a child’s weak hand, Spreadeth o’er the sea’s wide surface, Unto some far distant land; �ITO BAND OF FAITH So thine efforts, humble worker, Have an Influence far and wide, Though to thee, for wisest purpose, This to see may be denied. Heed not what despair would teach thee, Mark not the extent of ill, Think not thou aid poor and lowly, On with firmest heart and will; In the smiling sky above thee— This fair earth thou livest on, See the auguries of conquest ! See the destiny of man ! Listen to the past’s deep teachings, Telling all that has been done, How by humble, patient labour, Has our better age been won ; And if on thou strivest ever, Strivest as they did of yore, Thou dost live, thou art God’s servant, Thou art blessed for evermore. WHICH OUGHT WE TO BELIEVE,—THAT WHICH MEN SAY ABOUT JESUS, OR, THAT WHICH JESUS SAID ABOUT HIMSELF? BY T. R. MASON. Men tell us that Jesus is the second person in the God­ head, and equal with “the Father;” but Jesus said, distinctly, and without any qualification whatever, “ My Father is greater than I.” (John xiv. 28). Men affirm that Jesus was almighty, but he candidly acknowledged that he could of himself do nothing. (John v. 30). Men teach that Jesus knew all things : but he stated positively that he knew not when the day of judgment would come. (Mark xiii. 32). Men say that Jesus was and is from eternity to eter­ �MESSENGER. 171 nity, the all-wise God : yet he actually mistook John the Baptist for Elias, and said of him, “ This is Elias which was to come.” (Matthew si. 14). Whereas, when John was asked, “ Art thou Elias 1” he said, emphatically, “ I am not.” (John i. 21). Again, Jesus went seeking figs on a tree before the proper season, and showed his wis­ dom (?) by cursing the tree because it had not done that which was utterly impossible under the circumstances. Men assure us that Jesus was the all-merciful and impartial God, notwithstanding that Jesus said to his disciples, “To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables, that seeing, they may see and not perceive : and hearing, they may hear and not understand: lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them. (Mark iv. 11.12.) Men declare that the miracles which are recorded of Jesus prove that he was a divine being; but three im­ portant considerations conclusively show that Jesus neither held nor taught such a thing:—1st, Jesus ad­ mitted that even his opponents could work miracles : “ If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? (Luke xi. 19.) 2nd. Jesus pro­ mised that his disciples should do still greater works than those he had done ; and 3rd.—The miracles of Jesus depended largely upon the faith of the people who were the subjects of them: “ And he could do there no mighty work, save that he laid his hands on a few sick folk and healed them. And he marvelled because of their un­ belief.” (Matt. vi. 5. 6.) “ And he did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” (Matt. xiii. 58.) Men assert that Jesus claimed equality with God when he said “ I and my Father are one.” But the oneness here spoken of was that to which all men may attain who seek not to do their own will, but the will of God. It was the oneness that the raindrop has in its relations to the ocean, or that the perfect instrument has with the worker, in relation to the work performed. It was the oneness of derived nature and power; of likeness,, not of absolute identity, and it was this oneness with God, or the assi­ �172 BAND OF FAITH milation of the human to the Divine Nature, that Jesus besought his Father that his disciples might possess, “ That they all may be one as Thou Father in me and I in Thee, that they may be one in us.” (John xviii. 21.) In conclusion, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, and decide for himself, carefully and wisely the important question, “ Jesus or God ? The Finite or the Infinite ?” NEW LECTIONARY. Chap. XV.—William, Blake’s Proverbs. The pride of the peacock is the glory of God : the lust of the goat is the bounty of God : the wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God. The fox condemns the trap, not himself. Joys impregnate : sorrows bring forth. The bird a nest, the spider a web, man—friendship. What is now proved was once only imagined. The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbit watch the roots ; the lion, the tiger, the horse, the elephant, watch the fruits. The cistern contains : the fountain overflows. One thought fills immensity. Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you. The eagle never lost so much time as when he sub­ mitted to learn of the crow. If the lion was advised by the fox he would be cunning. Folly is the cloak of knavery : shame is pride’s cloak. As the plough follows words, so God rewards prayers. He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence. If our footsteps slide in clay, how can we do otherwise than fear and tremble ? Think in the morning, act in the noon, eat in the evening, sleep in the night. Energy is eternal delight. �MESSENGER. 173 fHnfe. XVI.—William Blake’s Song of Liberty. The Eternal Female groaned ! It was heard over all the earth. Albion’s coast is sick—silent; the American meadows faint. Shadows of prophecy shiver along by the lakes and the rivers and mutter across the ocean. France rend down thy dungeon ; golden Spain burst the barriers of old Rome. Cast thy keys, 0 Rome, into the deep down falling, even to eternity down falling ; and weep. In her trembling hands she took the new-born Terror, howling. On those infinite mountains of light now barred out by the Atlantic sea, the new-born fire stood before the starry King! Flagged with grey-browed snow and thunderous visages the jealous wings waved over the deep. The speary hand burned aloft, unbuckled was the shield, forth went the hand of jealousy among the flaming hair, and hurled the new-born wonder through the starry night. The fire I the fire ! is falling. Look up, look up, 0 citizen of London ; enlarge thy countenance ! 0 Jew, leave counting gold : return to thy oil and wine. . 0 African, black African, come winged thought, widen has forehead. The fiery limbs, the flaming hair, shot like the sinking sun into the western sea : waked from his eternal sleep, the hoary element roaring fled away. Down rushed beating his wings in vain, the jealous king ; his grey-browed councillors, thunderous warriors, curled veterans, among helms aud shields and chariots, horses, elephants, castles, banners, slings and rocks; falling—rushing—running—buried in the ruins in Urthona’s dens. All night beneath the ruins, the sullen flames emerge ground the gloomy King. �174 BAND OF FAITH With thunder and fire leading his starry host through the waste wilderness, he promulgates his ten commands, glancing his beaming eyelids over the deep in dark dismay. Then the Son of Fire in his eastern cloud, while the morning plumes her golden breast, spurning the clouds written with curses, stamps the stony law to dust, loosing the- eternal horses from the dens of night, crying Empire is no more ! and now the lion and the wolf shall cease. Let the priests of the raven of dawn, no longer in deadly black, with hoarse notes curse the sons of joy; nor his accepted brethren, whom he calls free, lay the bound or build the roof. Every thing that lives is Holy. SERIOUS AFFECTION. BY RICHARD BEDINGFIELD. 0 love divine ! 0 perfect love ! 0 smiting Hand Eternal ! We will not own Thy Orb above Can shine on worlds infernal! Yet, even here, the woe is long— The pain makes mortals tearful ! O Spirit in my heart grow strong ; And never weak and fearful ! I pluck a flower of life serene ;— When plucked, it soon must languish ; The amaranth, friend ! is all unseen ; We feel it—to our anguish. 0 crown of thornes for every son Of God ! 0 cross and passion ! Whatever we have lost or won, Thank God in blessed fashion 1 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The band of faith messenger Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Barmby, John Goodwin (ed) Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [Wakefield] Collation: p. 17-32 and 159-174 ; 19 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Editor, publisher and date taken from KVK. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [George Horridge] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [c.1870s] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5720 Subject The topic of the resource Unitarianism Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The band of faith messenger), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Unitarianism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/e6f646d8ae8b54598757d79e2082c7b5.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=i-XpTLRVDIutoqvCS3pqgMb4TYp2UXmznnFc924mYS300iPUbd%7EBaupK%7Etgv7mhXAOV%7EImRjRMNZLjgnXq2zUcBClwiz8Rj7-Sw%7ExCHLUHaQF9r9ri%7Eq5I8ew10bw4i7QuKd%7EgrpggsdTbkGaetfvZSsLq%7E6Wa4GLyLxwHV5ytTQbpAVJ3lViMd4EfIQbgFonJGcsaJo3Jj3l2knkb7a1GxbbyMoETK7M5w6FGvMFt77yT-AB%7ErD0e1XTw5KplL8EcKvlpyT4j%7EDZgeLy1z4JFKSxAA8HaMLo%7EtJyG%7ES2sNvPmjWt%7EkA38fdDyJI%7EbtvD2jf834xvic3fxJyWiDFPQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 1f4e83b72db45fa16e3ad1bf523b3cfc PDF Text Text ��* A PIONEER CHURCH—A Sermon preached in Pioneer Hall, February 7, 1869, by REV. H. W. BROWN, Minister of the First Unitarian Church of Sacramento. Let us congratulate one another, friends, upon a new year of our church. Let us be thankful that the “ lines are fallen unto ” us in such “pleasant places?’ We may feel at home in Pioneer Hall, for we are a Pioneer Church. We are organized upon a principle which is in advance of the practice of churches in general; the principle of union in the spirit of religion without any formal expression of belief. We are a church without a creed. The principle itself is not a new one. We are not the first church to organize upon this basis, but we are among the first; we are of those who have caught the sound of the evangel before the main body, and who go forward to prepare the way. It is pioneer work to remove ob­ structions, to prepare the way for others. We remove the creed from the threshold of the temple of worship, where we feel that it has too long been an obstruction to fellowship in the spirit. This will be called negative work. Is it negative work when the pioneer cuts down and digs away, that there may be free entrance to fair fields and broad rivers, so that willing multi­ tudes may settle in the rich domain? Here are the “green pastures” and “still waters” of Beligion—of reverent adora­ tion and trust and communion, of kindly sympathy and humane activity—-and many are kept from entering in and dwelling joyously in company with their brethren and friends, by the re­ quirement of assent to doctrinal statements of belief. Por our­ selves, and for others so far as they choose to avail themselves of our efforts, we do away with the obstacle. We found our church on the basis of the religious purpose. We say to all : Do you wish to unite with men and women to worship God and to serve men ? we welcome you to our fellowship; to full fellow­ ship, with all the privileges which any of us enjoy. We do not ask what your beliefs are. We shall try to have the truth preached among us from week to week, and we think you will �believe that when you hear it; will very likely find it just what you already believe, though you may not have admitted it to yourself, or acted upon it. Be it understood, however, that in doing away with creed we are not doing away with belief. We are not saying that we have no belief as individuals or as a church; we are not saying that we think belief of no consequence. We think the belief of the individual of so much consequence that we will not ask him to surrender it, to limit it, to trim it in any manner, in order to avail himself of the benefit of our fellowship or to give us the advantage of his company. We thus recognize, we thus help men to feel, the importance and the responsibility of individual conviction. And as a church we have beliefs, beliefs implied in the very purpose on which we are founded. We are united for the Worship of God and the Service of Men. The worship of God implies belief in God. And although it is impossible for any one to express his whole thought about God, and none can give satisfactory expression to the thought of others, it would not be difficult, probably, to make some general statement about the Divine Being and Character in which we should all agree. That God is One, with various manifestations in nature and in humanity; that His Spirit is in our minds and consciences and hearts, and may be communed with there so as to be the strength and joy of our lives; that He is good, too good to create any being that shall by any possibility come to suffer eternal tor­ ment; that the best names we can give him are Light, and Life, and Truth, and Righteousness, and Love, and Father—I sup­ pose all of us believe this about God. Why should we not say so in a formal statement, and make it a platform on which all who join us shall stand ? Because the platform is already under us and does not require to be laid down; and because the laying it down would give to belief a prominence which we wish, in a religious organization, to give to religious purpose. We want to emphasize the religious purpose as the main thing in a church.' A belief may be a dead thing, but a purpose is a live thing. And so we ask not Do you believe in God ? but Do you want to worship Him ? If you do, we know you believe in him. And the purpose to serve Men implies belief in men; belief that men are worth serving. We believe in men as spiritual beings; and we want to serve them as such by ministering to �[3] their spiritual nature. To that end we have prayer, and sing­ ing, and preaching, and try to have it of a spiritual sort, such as will do spiritual service to those who join in it. We believe in men as moral beings; and we try to serve them as such by moral education, by appealing to the sense of Eight in them, by urging them to cultivate the conscience, by applying the laws of Justice to practical affairs, and by pointing out the way of Duty. We believe in men as social beings, and we try to serve them as such by cherishing the social sentiment, in its deeper and its lighter forms; by proclaiming Brotherhood and acting it out as far as we can, by sympathy and help for one another and for all within our range, and even by providing amusement and entertainment of an innocent kind. And wTe believe in men as rational beings, and we try to serve them as such by addressing their reason, not endeavoring to exercise religious dominion over them or authority upon them, which would be like the princes of the Gentiles, though done by those who would be great among the Christians. We believe in men after this fash­ ion j that they are not so good but they need to be better, and not so bad but they'may become good by the help of God and men. But we have no dogma about their “ Fall,” or about their rise and progress, which one must agree to before he can take hold with us to keep them up and on. And so we enquire not Do you believe in the Depravity of men, or their Regeneration but do you want to serve them ? If you do, you believe enough, at least to begin with. We apply no test of character as a condition of membership in our church, but we do not thereby imply that character is of little consequence. If there is anything we are agreed on, I suppose it is that character is of first consequence; that it is more than belief, more than action. Belief is what a man thinks? action what a man does, character what a man is. One may be saved by “faith,” if his faith be such as to transform his char­ acter ; one may be saved by “ works,” if his works induce in him the righteousness of heart which did not spring up till he forsook his bad ways and began to do right ; faith or works may thus lead to salvation, but character is salvation. We do not make it a condition of fellowship in our church, however, be­ cause of the impossibility of our judging it accurately. We can’t undertake to divide men into saints and sinners. We �[4] think if men are very bad they will not feel much at home with us until they change for the better; and we are very sure that if they resolve to do that, and try to do it, we can put up with them if they can put up with us; for we all need that change* As an organization we stand simply on the ground of the reli­ gious purpose. That is the thread on which we are all strung; not for us to say who of us are precious stones, who only beads of glass; not to be determined by any profession of faith or performance of ceremonial, but by the Lord of the hosts of men, in the day when He makes up His jewels. What makes us a pioneer church is that we organize the re­ ligious spirit in its two-fold relation toward God and toward men, without the ordinary obstacles of fellowship. We believe a great deal—a great deal more than we could put into any creed; but if people want to know what it is, we ask them to come and hear oui’ preaching, or to talk with us as individuals. We lay great stress on character, but whether our character is good or not, people will judge for themselves. We feel that we are really organizing religion by the method we adopt. It seems to us that to lay down tests such as are employed in most of the churches is, as has been well said, to organize not religion but the negation of religion, viz -: “ exclu­ siveness, limitation, privilege.” The profession of belief in cer­ tain doctrines unites those, doubtless, who agree in those doc­ trines and in professing them, but it separates them from others; marks them off as distinct: and' all that “ union” can mean in a Church which insists on belief in these doctrines as a condi­ tion of fellowship is a union of those who thus believe, with separation from those who believe differently. And the inevi­ table differences of opinion must forever prevent the union which Christians are so much desiring to secure. Opinion is divisive; theological opinion as much as any. It makes sects, that is, portions cut off from a main body. Religion means “binding together.” The religious spirit would bind together all who share it, and the church which would organize that spirit should welcome all in w'hom that spirit moves. It is true that, practically, differences of theological opinion, when they are great, will prevent men from working together in a religious organization; that, in fact, the members of any church will agree in the main, and those who do not believe as they do will �[5] remain apart from them. But this very fact makes it unneces­ sary to enact any exclusion. The centrifugal force of opinion is strong enough without our pushing one another away in the name of religion. Differences of political opinion often prevent men from worshipping together, but would it be wise to make a man’s politics a test of church membership ? Is that a very different matter? Not so different, when the fact is that what is called political opinion is sometimes a moral judgment, far more intimately connected with religion than a question of mere speculative theology or religious history. So also differ­ ences of social position, of wealth, or of general culture, will work in religious bodies, and people will be brought in or kept out more or less by facts of this nature; but would it be the part of religion to insist on any special degree or rank in such matters ? It cannot be said that these are unimportant; they are of more consequence than theological notions ovei’ which churches have sometimes quarreled to the death. There are circumstances in which it is of far more consequence to us what a man’s tastes, habits, manners arc, than what arc his religious professions. It is for those who would organize religion not to encourage any of these divisive-tendencies, but to unite in the central purpose of religion. This holds them together and does not cut them off from others. Others may not come to them, but the door is not shut against any, and none will be or will feel excluded. The Church likes to be figured as an ark, in which alone is safety in the flood of divine retribution that sweeps over the earth. Is it for those who see men struggling in the waters to say to them : “ Come in hither I This is your only chance; but before you can be taken aboard you must believe as we do; must believe that this ark was made by a different process from anything else in the world, and out of different timber, grown by miracle and put together by miracle.’’ And if those in the ark do act thus, is it strange, that the strong swimmers say irreverently : “Go along with your old ark; there won’t be much of a shower I”—while the weak and struggling feel that such offers have very little “ grace” in them. Is it not the part of the Church to say, Welcome to such shelter as we can give ! we will do all we can to save you. You want to .come—that is enough. Such a church is not exclusive, but reaches out its hands to all with a free invitation. It is not in �[6] an attitude of separation from other churches, on the one hand, or from the multitude who are outside the churches on the other. We may feel that we are with the other churches in this city, not- against them; we stand for religion, as they do, against irreligion; for morality, as they do, against vice and. iniquity. If they shut us out by any test of belief, we do not put up any barrier against them; there will never be more than one wall between us—the one they erect. And, on the other hand, we are with the multitudes of people who do not belong to the churches. We are with ^those who do not and cannot assent to creeds and ceremonies which have no truth or interest for them, but who desire a fresh interpretation of the everlasting gospel of Truth and Righteousness, of the Divine in Humanity, of the Kingdom of God on Earth. We know, indeed, that there are many outside the churches who do not care for this gospel or any other; who are utterly indifferent to spiritual growth and health, given over to sensual and wicked living. We are with these, not to encourage them in their wrong but to help them to the right; we are for them, to help and rescue them, and we wish we could make them feel that if they have any earnest desire to forsake evil courses, and to lead a better life, they may find with us tender reception and sympathy, encouragement and aid. Peace and Good Will to churched and unchurched 1 these are in the principle of our organization. If we Will live up to the principle we shall get religious union embodied in our Church. Is it a cold intellectualism, this religion we are undertaking to organize? It means a piety so genuine that it can employ no forms which are not the natural expression and furtherance of its own spirit of devotion; it means a sympathy so deep and tender that it will reach out after the lowly, though in order to save them it must let go the hand and lose the company of the high. It means devout aspiration, consecration, holiness of heart and life; it means kindly feeling and helpful deed. It means Love to God and to Man; it means “doing justly, and loving mercy, and walking humbly with God;” it means “visit* ing the fatherless and widows in their affliction and keeping one’s self unspotted from the world.” Is it not Christian ? Then so much the worse for Christianity, For this is the divinest religion yet revealed to man. But we �[7] think it is the very sum and substance of the religion of Jesus of glazareth, as it is also of the Hebrew Law and the Prophets. Some may question the need of a church like ours, on the ground that the free thought and the liberal opinions which are recognized and entertained by us make their way of themselves, without the aid of special organizations to promote them. There would be force in this if free thought and liberal opinion were the chief need of society, and the only or the main purpose of our union. Society wants freedom of thought, will have it; and does not ask any church to give it, having learned to get it in spite of the Church and to regard the Church as an adversary of it. But society needs also religious impulse and inspiration, needs moral instruction and education, needs humane develop­ ment. It is the office of a church to give these, but the churches in general give them in connection with a creed and a discipline which repel free-thinkers, liberal minds. Hence the need of a church which will do its religious work without limiting freedom of thought. And it is for the lack of such a church that many people are outside of all religious and moral influence whatever, and others, who will have these in some shape for themselves and their children, feel their common sense, and their inalien­ able right to liberty of thought, attacked Sunday after Sunday, and see their children taught doctrines which will be a burden to them in mature years. We are not undertaking to organize freedom of thought; we believe that might do very well without a church, might get along by itself, or by the agency of the press, or by a system of lecturing. We are trying to organize Religion, allowing freedom. We want to impart vigor to the sense of the Divine in men; to educate the conscience, and to stimulate the sentiment of humanity; and to dok it without infringing in the least upon the natural and sacred rights of the mind, and we feel that the need of doing this is great. There is a demand for the religious pioneering which we propose to do. People might get along somehow in the ways of the spirit, but with stumbling and delay; we want to make the road easy and inviting, to bring low the mountains and hills and to bring up the valleys; “ to make straight in the desert a highway ” for religious progress. Some will tell us that we cannot succeed, that we cannot hold together without a common profession, of belief, and distinctions �[8] between godly and ungodly among us. But jve think that a union in the religious spirit will bind us more firmly than a profession of faith, by as much as sympathy is more than agree­ ment. There is no need of laying down a platform of theolog­ ical opinion. A platform does not hold together the people who are standing on it. What holds them together is the purpose with which they stepped upon it. And as to distinction between “ converted” and “ unconverted,” they are no more essential in a religious society than the distinctions of noble and commoner, patrician and plebeian, in civil society. Our forefathers were told that their community would go to pieces because they left out these things. But they thought not; they thought these divisions were divisive, that partitions kept people apart, and that the best hope of union was in having no upstairs and down­ stairs, no parlor and kitchen, built into the national mansion, but in living on the same floor and meeting in a common room. Differences would come, no doubt; the less need of enforcing them; better keep as clear of them as possible. Is there less union, less strength of cohesion, in the United States than in governments that recognize and sanction differences of rank and quality ? Differences will exist in a church ; noble and villain ; no criterion of professed religious experience will avail to prevent them; the spiritual peerage is not pure in any of the churches about us, and among those not admittted to it there are many nobly born ; but a stronger union is probable where no artificial division is wrought into the ecclesiastical constitu­ tion. Of course there is question of every experiment so long as it is an experiment. Pioneering is work that calls for trust and energy and endurance. The main question of our success is whether we have it in us. There is going to be outward growth enough in this city to ensure the stability of our organ­ ization, if we can answer for its inward growth. We must not be easily discouraged. We are trying to raise the religious grade of this city, which some think is as low as the natural level of the soil. We are a corporation to effect just that. We want to to make healthful and clean and convenient the ways of social and moral life for this community; to get rid of theo­ logical sloughs, and to lift men out of the mud of sensuality. It will cost us money and labor, and it will be hard to get all ♦ �[9] we want of both, and it will take time. And to make a good road we may have to be put to inconvenience, and the new way for a while way seem not so pleasant as the old; and it may have a bad odor, as of tar and asphaltum in the nostrils of some of the community; and some of the work may be poorly done and need to be done over again ; and those for whom we work may be dissatisfied with our survey and our plans, and our execution of them, and we rnay sometimes be dissatisfied ourselves. But we are doing a good work and one which the city will yet bless us for. It is work we are put into the world, into our generation, for.If we can realize that, we shall do it cheerfully; shall not be surprised that it grows upon us, but shall expect it to make more and more demand upon us, and only desire that our ability and our will may increase with our opportunities. We need some­ thing more than belief in the ends we propose ; we need devo­ tion to them; as in order to be a California Pioneei’ it was not enough to believe in California, but to go there, and to go early. If we are content to forget our own comfort and convenience in consecration to the common good, we shall not be discour­ aged, and we shall succeed. When I say we are a pioneel’ church, I do not claim that we are discoverers of any new or unknown country of the spirit. We are merely taking possession of the region of religious faith and humane work which has been heard of from the earliest times, and where the great leaders of religion have al­ ways pitched their tents. There may be truth which we have not yet come up with even in our belief, to say nothing of our practice. Let us always keep an open ear for that! But we propose to camp on what seems to us the most advanced ground; to settle down here into some sort of orderly living—to become a religious community. There is a respectable number of us already; we are not scattered so much as to be out of hail of one another’s homes, and we want to make society. We want to concentrate and organize our religious sentiment and conviction, that they may be more efficient, may make better way. And we invite and welcome the fellowship and assistance of all, though we depend mainly on ourselves—on the Div ine Spirit in us which leads into all Truth and Right if we only follow. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A pioneer church: a sermon preached in Pioneer Hall, February 7 1869 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Brown, H.W. Description An account of the resource Place of publication: Sacramento Collation: 9 p. ; 22 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. By Rev. H.W. Brown, minister of the First Unitarian Church of Sacramento. Printed by request. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available H.S. Crocker & Co. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1869 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5264 Subject The topic of the resource Unitarianism Sermons Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (A pioneer church: a sermon preached in Pioneer Hall, February 7 1869), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Unitarianism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/1fca50c0e8d1b69765a19048c487c946.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=RyiRHhWoSC0S8W9HwDbSUSZ7FufVW-rPkp5XZb%7EwfkiBUsuOsOMNWso25AWUAYMeL4qXds-cSUZj7V2lluHrWAPyX9HVrbGpk0e-BNgwhm98zYQHfA-zZLrRLlvMKCbyy28vdABbDjuxxXkk56HW7kxjUehGkJ59HkMGljelInqMJaoJwh3Z%7EjaxfBubqn-YmY36VWDaz91pQXOBHPDv0a0-pXfrPUBnXzhmsi%7EC0fZB2euJ9Wr-s-d6zniAUq5c%7EIBiVhxbd9t6RZnZbO6%7EEqY7%7EhAZ%7Egm7gZFVrQ0wtPSqz8No4jlWYGi0-alnYKyfCNPA9pmUaNwNLKwxAJmW4g__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 894da23f8446e91f032fc71fa29c9c18 PDF Text Text ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Report of the third meeting of the National Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches held in New York, N.Y., October 7-8-9, 1868 together with the conference sermon, the constitution and by-laws of the conference and a list of accredited delegates Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource National Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches Description An account of the resource Place of publication: Botson, Mass. Collation: 153 p. ; 23 cm. Notes: The sermon was delivered by Rev. Henry W. Belllows. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Alfred Mudge & Son Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1868 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5180 Subject The topic of the resource Unitarianism Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Report of the third meeting of the National Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches held in New York, N.Y., October 7-8-9, 1868 together with the conference sermon, the constitution and by-laws of the conference and a list of accredited delegates), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conference proceedings Conway Tracts Unitarianism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/a79de8a3e000ad75132b36a048070753.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=OGakl1QMc4jFS94dtK6EXkzoCWlr7s8BwJ%7ECzCpmwylNFOfjQEpZE4DAwTz5OHOHgfOpG7iF%7EO56XMX7JR5yXpluR2CJNkYA%7EDdmVm9i%7E39NUhxJ3crUkY94NqYcF3MhX0fJeEFwknBhojrbe22%7E0KzL%7ER9W76Ts7mt-YSn%7EsyTlFZt%7Ew6V2-dGCSgDTzqzg5KX6YgtSe2BJyT9jUinA3N-P3wZZ7C4mv7lRfqsU2PbbIRCc537yCxWSDWxuX-xPSAnZGsRDBvqW34ymRZIt4GOnr6QVKDgsr37E0uXPXBbFXG5PnmSdCx4cuvALkF2IacJJisE7yv-38FoYrcoWJA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 06a93aeef1990e72b80816a07219bda5 PDF Text Text ROBERT COLLYER AND HIS CHURCH '* " ’' ' A DISCOURSE DELIVERED IN THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITARIAN CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA if 0 V E M B ER 12 1 8 71 BY ■wliHI. ZFTTZRzJSTZESS MINISTER King & Baird, [printed not published.] Printers. ��DISCOURSE I take for my text what thJ3|g|.h elders said to Jesus when they went, to him in behalf of the Roman centurion. He is worthy for, whom thou shouldst do this. . Luke vii. 4. My Friends: The religious societies of our denomination have all » been invited tel aid flniBBflwQBv Church in Chicago for our dearly ^»veMm?iend and brother? Robert Collyer, whose' ^^utiSlOlle^ of worship was burned down in the grS^o^i^gBOH It is proposed to fifty thousand dollars for the purpose. I have no doubt this sum will be raised. Apart from Robert Collyer’s peculiar personal claims, there is in the Unitarian E»omirH®n as in all reli­ gious denominations, as irf :all»EM^gociated for com­ mon objects, what the French call, a spirit of the body, which prompts the members of the body to liberal giving, and causes every proposal n^e in its name to be greeted with favor for the mere |pme’s|sake, letting alone the intrinsic merit^jof the proposal. Political parties as well as religious sects illustrate this spirit. �4 Even the greatest outrages upon liberty and common honesty are more than pardoned—they are accounted honorable and sacred, when perpetrated in the name of the party or the church. But, thank Heaven ! we have as striking instances, and most cheewig instances are they, of the same spirit in the interest of good 'objects. Witness the great Rebellion, when, in the name of Our Country, which makes this multitudinous and diversified popu­ lation one body, acts of the noblest heroism were done, and self-sacrifice became a luxury. Witness also the generoutftutpOuring >f effective sympathy in behalf of thejiffering hosts of the West, in the name of the common humility which makes all mankind one. Seeing that this spirit is so strong, I have no doubt, I say, that attachment to the name, loyalty to the denomination, will be powerful enough among liberal Christians to rebuild Robert Collyer’s church in Chi­ cago. I am very ^BrnlSBi desirous, friends and brothers, that we of this church should take a prompt and generous share in thi^mgost worthy enterprise. But for the fulfilment of my ardent desire, I do not rely upon your zeal for the denomination. If there is any one Church in our denomination in which there is less of a denominational spirit than in �5 others, it is this Church. I do not believe there is any associated numb® of Unitarian Christians less disposed than we are (to use a vulgar but expressive phrase), toBgdJm a? merely denominational object. I ha^^^H attempted—I should most cer­ tainly have wle|H||Oj^Epo use the Unitarian name to conjure money out of your pockets. I regard it as a very good thing that it is st^na^tn^^ ^among you so little of IWm onoBteMSRnil^^MII whatever solicits youriw^^^^Mw must stand or fall upon its merits. For thB state of things amongst us of this Church, there are* tb< best of reasons. For a feflg^ime we were, and we are still, gecBaph^m^fpe|jkihg, on the outskirtsW^ifffwitfe’^Uni^^^a coSSmrWB n nl in the closest and most vital connection with it. When I first became the pastor of this church, nearly half a century ago, scarcely a si^^^^Orbassfed *ffiaB some one of my brothers in the ministry from Boston or its vicinity— the headquarters of the T^taWay —did not stand in this pulpit, and thus keep up a living con­ nection with the Ka' ’lbfawners and brothers have, one after aiWthe^ nearly all disap­ peared. Their voices are heard B^WwrlM A new generationJdfel sprung up. W:JWfcKfee^^bft more and more alone. Then again the advocacy of the caute of the slave, �6 which I was “ driven of the spirit ” some thirty years ago, in a humble way to undertake, tended still further to isolate us. I was regarded as endangering the interests of Unitarian Christianity, which it was pleaded, had as much as it could do to bear the odium of the Unitarian name without having the added bur­ then of Abolitionism. It was impossible that this plea should increase our zeal for nominal Unitarianism. What churchlwhat religious wganization on earth was not bound to go members could not feel and speak for the4 oppressed as oppressed with them 1 What? doctrines,. howeve^pure and simple, were of any galue if they could not Sustain the cause of Humanity, howeveilobnoxious that cause might be'? Is it any twonder that we grew lukewarm in the interest of .mere 3Jnitarian Christianity ? Dr. Channing said a little while before his death that he cared little for Unitarianism, and this it was that gave occasion to a re^rt ^abat he had become a Trinitarian. The’ truth was that he cared less and less for a denomination, as he was growing to care more and more for Justice and Humanity. In addition to the subject once so dangerous and hateful, the so-wled theological opinions in which I have been interested, my views of the nature and miracles of Jesus, have also helped, perhaps, to set our little church here in Philadelphia apart by itself. We �7 live to see' both of the great bugbears shorn of their terrors. Once more. We hav^feeifl 1S| to wsjtand by our­ selves by the origin of ouSSoiwty and by the materials of which it is composed. Almost all the Unitarian churches out of New England, with the solitary excep­ tion of ours, were, and, I suspect, still are, almost exclu­ sively, madeiup of people of New England birth, New England colonists. Long after two Unitarian churches had been gathered a^icp^^ro'New York, I was told by a leading member of one of them, that he did not believe that they had had a- single accession from among the nathW of that city. O ur ’ehurch, on the other hand, had its beginning, gnl five and seventy years ago, with ^rs@ns exclusively from Old England, followers and admirers of Dr. Priesfcy, when the name of that eminent man was regwddd with distrust by some of the most advanced mS9 in New England. In fact the autographed f Dr. Prwtley appears on the records of ou^fcMurch, enaBWi with the names of our earliest members. And furthermore, while, from time to time, individ­ uals and families from New England have joined us, many of thos^whom we have had thl happiness of welcoming to our commfion have come from the' denomination of Friends|| and if dhey wereQiot here, they would be, if any where, in Quaker Meeting. �8 * All their associations are with Quaker ways, and they have been moulded by the influence of that eminently Christian denomination. It is not any attraction of Unitarian formularies; whether of doctrine or observ­ ance, but the liberal spirit of our mode of faith that has drawn them to us. The Friends are not a prose­ lytizing people. According!yu those of you who have come to us fromghem have no special interest in the methods adopted for the diffusion of liberal views, in spreading L»tarianisgfi popularly so termed. You put faith rath® in the spirit than in collecting money and building churches, Rooking for moral and religious results, not to be manufactured by costly machinery, but to flow from iwlivictual effort prompted by the inner light, He spirit of Tteuth. On all these account^* frien®, there is no strong denominational feeling among us, no burning zeal for what are termed Unitarian movements, such as, for instance, the plan recegjly proposed by our Unitarian brethren of building a so-styled Rational Unitarian Church in Washington & We are all learning, I trust, to put less and less faith in mere organizational and the mechanism of sects, in measures rather than in men, in making religion by 'the collection of money and the distribution of the written word; not that money and tracts may not be serviceable to the good cause, but the man-made letter �9 is not the God-inspired spirit, although it is constantly mistaken for it. In soliciting, therefore, y^ur pecuniary aid to the rebuilding of Robert Collyer’s churchjC am not dis­ posed to lay any stress upofflthe^adwiitage it will be to Unitarian Christianity. The object proposed stands before you upon grourgl Inroad and strong of its own. lie is most we should do this, most , worthy of the specialmMmfi church. This was the first liberal churcMI^^^B^^E Robert Collyer ever entered. It was the first certainly in which he preached. As a minister of a liberal faith, here was where he first* drew breath. ’ Here was he born into our sphere, our son, our brother. Somewhere about fourteen years ago, I met one evening at the house of a friend, some seven or eight miles from the city, a young ^Englishman, W workman in a neighboring hammotfactory, and a Methodist class leader, accustomed to exhort in the HRigapus meetings of his denomination. |^*was imprip^M b^hiljthought- ful air and by his acquaintance with the litellectual topics of the day. "He- was - evidently a man who was subsisting on food which his fellow-workmen knew not of, constantly growing, taking into his blood what­ ever nourishment books afforded him. He was a reader, they said, of the Encyclopaedia Brittannica. Through the influence of Lucretia Mott he had • �10 become interested in the Anti-slavery cause; and, as was almost always the case with orthodox men in those days, when they touched that great living Cause, Robert Collyer’s orthodoxy began to slough off like a dead skin, and he became interested in liberal religious views. It was not long after, that he came one evening to , this church. The weather was .stormy, and there were so few present that, contrary to my wont, for the first and only tim% I spoke that evening entirely without notes. I sujg)oseithis being in accordance with the custom of the Methodist church may have increased whatever of interest the services of that evening had for him. Shortly afte^fards I went to| Cincinnati to the marriage of my brilliant friend, Moncure Conway, now and for some year? settled in London. He too had been a few yearlW^fore at,<ihe early age of nineteen a Methodist preacher, in Virginia, his native State, and although we were then personally strangers to each other, he had at that time communicated to me the story of the painful douhtl through which he was gasping for a freer air. The letter which I received from him then, -appealing to me for spiritual help, breathed great distress of mind, and touched me very deeply. When, after withdrawing from the Methodist communion, he took charge of the Unitarian church �11 in Cincinnati, I accepted his urgent invitation to go thither, and take what part in marrying him the laws of Ohio might permitti Of ^course this pulpit was to be provide(|fcfo^g I invited Robert Collyer to take my place for theh@®e Sunday I was to be absent. Upon arriving in Cincinnati I desired to prolong my visit another week. I telegraphed home in reference to a supply for the second Sunday, and received for answer that you weii^wellK.onjtwitlaiiilCT mml than satisfied with my substitute. It is now more than. thirteen years ago, and Iuloi|®rnot that many of you remem­ ber with pleasui^Rqfc^^jOollyer’sfctr^^&ig at that time. It wannd^gM^^o^mMblfeten. Upon my return home^v^hing to sh^re in- your pleasure, I iagited ot® friend to preach for me. He came again from hisw|l>aG©,oh wm^|to give me a labor of love. I wait takenjill, and sW'ar fom being able to come to chuwh, I was^not ajfele todleay mv room. I had a day or two before received a letter from Chicago, where van^aitarian Church ^as already es­ tablished (now uaafet the charge of Robert Laird Collyer), inquiring about a remarkable blacksmith, of whose rare gift^ m,yjE)rre*(|hdeighl understood that I had had much to tell, and asking whether he would not make, what they greatly needed in Chicago, a good “ minister at large,’[/to go among the poor, and preach to them. i The* letter, if I thought him the �12 right man, invited him to that city, offering him twelve hundred dollars a year. Of course there could be but one answer. When Robert Collyer came up into my room on that Sunday morning, before going to Church, I handed him the letter, merely hinting at its purport. He refused to read it then, and put it in his pocket. In the afternoon he came up into my room again to see me, and handed me back the letter. I told him to take it home with him and let me know his decision. He replied that he had already decided. He should go to Chicago. He had mentioned to me in the morning that he had received the evening before his month’s wages, thirty-nine dollars and some cents. In a few daysfhe quitted the hammer factory forever, and moved with ^s little family to Chicago. There he ministered to the poor, rising so rapidly in the respect of the community that when the terrible Iowa tornado occurred, Robert Collyer was chosen by acclamation at a publid meeting of his fellow citizens to go to the scene of that calamity and distribute their benefactions there. He soon gathered so flourishing a church in Chicago that a few years ago a large edifice was built for him and his congregation. I suppose it was quite impossible for our friends in Chicago to resist the genius of the place which could tolerate only the big and the costly. A city, whose growth was hardly outdone by the most extravagant stories of �13 California vegetation, expanding so rapidly to giant dimensions, must have a Unitarian Church in propor­ tion. Consequently; Robert Collyer’s Church, Unity Church as it wajHBOTjfed, was buiB- at ancost of nearly two hundred thoi&n^ OyLlars. including an organ that cost ten thousand dollars. Although o® the day of its Dedication, members of the Church subscribed with a graadtiliberality to­ wards the payment offiHffif,|jgft. perched, what the flames could not consume, a debt of sixty-five thousand dollars. So was the at­ traction of the pa^chwLi that people flocked to the church, so lo^hpis sioutlv bore the burthen. But the terrible Fire came. And ltrwhen,B writes Robert Collyer, in his account of the burning of his church we®!® fought rifefairly as it came on us from below, and beaten the infernal beasifcso that it could never burn^s^umbli^Bw^mdltliat it had set its fiery teeth away up in the roof out of our reach, and I knew that all was over, I crept up stairs alone to my pulpit, where I had K»igW before and spoken to nearly a th^gfffiid men ancwvK^W^; I took one last long look at iijphe church and the dea^ sweeji noble organ, then Xstook the Bible as it lay when| I had left it, got out at last and-flocked the door and put the key in my pocket and went away, for by that time the �I 14 roof was ablaze, and I thought my heart was broken. That Unity has gone up, like Elijah, in a chariot of fire, she is not dead to me,—she never will be dead,— or to those who loved her as I did, my hope and joy and crown of rejoicing, for I held her for God and Christ, God knows.” The church was insured. And it is expected that the insurance will cover the whole or nearly the whole debt. Whatever ofWthe debt shall remain, Robert Collyer says muf t be paid, if they all have to go to work and earn the money. Not a dollar of debt is to rest upon the church that is to be built. Taught by this most severe experience, our friends in Chicago have no desire now but for “ a plain, simple build­ ing,”—not a dollar for ornament, except, as Robert Collyer writes, where use is ornament. Now, dear friends, in praying l^ou, as T do most earnestly, to unite with all the churches of our faith in building a Church for our rarely gifted friend and brother, I do not introduce him to you as a mendi­ cant who must perish miserably if we do not give him this assistance. Do I need to tell you of his rich gifts, his winning graces ? Is not his praise in all our churches, nay, is it not sounded everywhere at home and abroad? Can he preach anywhere where the English language is spoken, where people do not flock �15 to hear him, whether he speak from the pulpit or in the lecture room 1 How well, by the way, does he tffend the trial of his great popularity ! It is no feeblejfest to be put to, to be so suddenly raised from the anvil to the pulpit, to pass from the MM®e drudgery of hard manual labor to a position, commanding the admiring attention of multitudes, and^Hong them mostBnlightened in the land. It has been finely said that, wrhile “ the prospect of the applause of ^ostgri^ is like the sound of the distant diSnl which elevates the mini present applause, flung] <M^etly in one’s face, is W® the spray of the same ocean wluppn th^^E^rand^geq uiring a rock to bear it.” > jKat RoberWCollyeruhas been animated, elatHM iBjVom will, by his great and well merited success, I do not d®E| It would argue an insensibility in him if he were not. He is no rock in this respect.. But notwithstanding the seductive trial, he stands like a rock by his flock and his work in Chicago. Shortly aftelf the great calamity, I wrote to him and told him that, he, Roberlr Collar, could rebuild the city, to say nothing of his church. And is it not by “the Orpheus-like musa^of the wisdom” to which such as he give utterance that cities are built end nations led up the loftiest heights of humanity'll You have all read the words which he spoke the Sunday after the �16 fire, standing upon the ruins of his clear church. A Chicago paper tells us that his voice had cheered not only his own flock, but all the people of the city, thus justifying my assurance to him. He has not, he cannot have, any anxiety on his own account. As he himself says—and I suppose he is prouder of the fact than of any sermon he ever preached—that, if the worst come to the worst, he can make as good a horseshoe as any blacksmith in Chi­ cago. I do not know about his horseshoes. I am no judge of the article. But I do know what good hammers the young blacksmith was wont to make by scores every week. They sent the nail home, even as their maker sends home the truth, only he does not, like a hammer, break in pieces the hard and stony heart; by his rare pathetic power he melts it into smiles of hope, into tears of penitence, and sympathy and aspiration. But the worst will not come to the worst with him. There is no likelihood that he will ever be reduced to the necessity of manual labor,-although it is no wonder if amidst that wide ruin he felt for a moment that it might come to that. What church is there, what community, that would not gladly welcome him'? He has not the slightest concern for his bread. This then must command for him our warmest ap­ probation and respect, and insure our bountiful aid, �37 * that while he may choose his place, sure of a lucrative position wherever he may go, the thought of leaving his flock and the desolated city, heems never to have occurred to him. After the death of Theodore Par­ ker, he was invited^o be the successor of that able man, and preach in the Music Hall in Boston. But, while, for obvious reasons,the invitation was very tempting, he chose <o remain in Chicago. And now he has no though^utjbf devoting himself and all that he is to the building up again of all good interests in that most afflicted ciwl Believe me, dear friends, I am not using the empty language of eulogy, nor ong| giving utterance to the promptings .of personal g'iendship. You all know that Robert Collyer is a man of peculiar gifts. Cole­ ridge seems to be describing just such a man as our friend, when he says that “ to find no contradiction in the union of old and new, to contemplate the Ancient of Days with feelings as fresh as if they then sprung forth at his own fiat—this characterizes the minds that feel the riddle of the world, and may help to unravel it. To carry on jhe feelings of childhood into the powers of manhood, to combine the child’s sense of wonder and novelty with the appearances which every day, for perhaps forty years, has rendered familiar, With Sun, and Moon, and Stars, throughout the year And Man and Woman— �this is the character and privilege of genius. And so to present familiar objects as to awaken the minds of others to a like freshness of sensation concerning them—this is the prime merit of genius and its most unequivocal mode of manifestation.” When a man thus endowed with “ the vision and 1 the faculty divine ” gives’ all that he is with generous ardor to the service of the highest truth, shall we not give of what we have, and uphold him with our hearts and hands ? Shall any loss befal him that we are not eager to repair ? You are sending food and clothing and money in boundless quantities to the devastated West. But, believe me, you can render the people there no more solid and enduring service than to do and to give allfthat you are able, even to the stinting of yourselves, for such a creaM^fl centre of beneficent influence as our friend/ that* he may have a place where he may stand, and, with the arm of the spirit stronger than the arm of flesh, which made the anvil ring again, lift the thoughts and aims of men above the material interests to which they cling as all in all—lift them up into communion with the Invisible and Everlasting, and with the blessed spirit of the Lord Jesus. For his oWn dear sake, for the sake of the gracious influence which he has, and for the sake of Religion, pure and undefiled, of which he is so powerful an advocate, I pray you, dear friends, let �19 us all help, and help generously this good object,—to build him a church. It has been proposed by the American Unitarian Association, which has its centre in Boston, that col­ lections be taken up in all our churches for this purpose on this the second Sunday in November. I do not, however, suggest a collection to-day. There is no pressing need of haste. I wish to commend the mat­ ter to your-most thoughtful Consideration. You may think it advisable to take up a collection shortly. In the meanwhile, I shall be happy and proud, as I always am, to receive for my friend whatever you may be prompted to give. The appeals, recently made to you, first in behalf of our brother from Paris, and then for the sufferers of the West, to whom there are few who have not given more than once, have been so cheerfully and liberally met that they create the faith that, so far from accounting it a burthen, you regard it as a privilege, as it assuredly is, to give for a good purpose, and that you are grateful to the Bountiful Giver for the means that he has blest you with, and for every new opportunity. By giving, you receive more and better things than you give, and thus become rich before God. In conclusion, let me say that I trust I have not offended against propriety in speaking so freely in �I A. .20 praise of our friend, as is customary to speak only of the dead. But I have spoken thus not to flatter him, but for the simple truth’s sake. And if I have failed in regard to the truth, it is not in going beyond it, but in falling short of it. If there is any alloy in the sense of truth which moves me to speak of him as I have done, it comes from the fact that he has, more than once, as I have been told, allowed the kindness of his heart and the warmth of his friendship to carry him away and alluded in his pulpit to his old friend, the pastor of this church, in such terms as have been, I confess, not without weight among the reasons moving me to decline his repeated and most urgent invitations to visit him and preach for him in Chicago. I own to the weakness of not caring that his people should find out, as they surely would if I went there, how far beyond the truth their minister had been carried in the ardor of his personal regard. Let me confess to you, dear friends, between ourselves, that I am not without a feeling of satisfaction in having this opportunity of speaking of him in a way that necessarily squares a private account of mine with him. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert Collyer and his church: a discourse delivered at the First Congregational Unitarian Church in Philadelphia November 12, 1871 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Furness, W.H. Description An account of the resource Place of publication: Philadelphia Collation: 20 p. ; 22 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Text taken from Lukje Vii. 4 "He is worthy for whom thou shouldest do this". Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available King & Baird, printers Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1871] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5367 Subject The topic of the resource Unitarianism Sermons Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Robert Collyer and his church: a discourse delivered at the First Congregational Unitarian Church in Philadelphia November 12, 1871), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Robert Collyer Sermons Unitarianism United States-Religion https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/531dcde164ce7c0c476f62a85ef15b7a.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=QiP0NMpN1dUy15EvNxHtIj8cQIpzpb7KiioxJZ9rBfhIMZqvVZLCZKpGdGinK6V%7EM4B-Eq8gip8NYEAx-Z2NKTlRcCTU2FuwMrDagdSFh-OFf-yIoQiDbZ9GxwILsB04vuWCpeu700MEDbQguOAOUzFJ2vczDCBkS40AUg3a5MCnuV8vw8tUviRAVIet9dNGKDwdNs7l4aQUcjmlUAghZdsEZAx0c3rl1ztlGPD2s-cp--9TIHSCUVqH%7Ex3aVnyAnmm9sCpmWHgr07PEULeXvxgCwb4XjfhFXDjTS6-CAHkdsz5%7ExljPKH3RemJAJ9iBWe28LKJvO%7ErXVXOJlSOgMw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 7a07ffd80368db1917e31c4874bfa97d PDF Text Text Tl'.RM, Igga WILLIAM WISWBLL against WILLIAM GREENE, et al. Reply to the Argument of II. C. Whitman, Esq., Counsel for the Church of 4m Redeemer. Counsel for tlie defen dmtsBffimt treiwif those memllrs who went off because of their “ widelyWfferin|H’ with the pastor in his religious views, are secederslthey lose all legal right to the Church property. But he .says they are not seceders, because they did not go off of “ their own motion.” Here he has mis-' taken the facts. Let us see how they are. When this suit was ' brought, there was no agreement to divide and separate. There was no second or independent organization formed, but Messrs Hosea and associates, refused to attend the preaching of the pastor, and kept up a constant clamor for a sale and division or the unconditional deposition of the pastor. After this suit was brought, they organized another religious society, called the Church of the Redeemer. Notwithstanding the injunction herein granted, and the pendency of this suit, they continued to agitate in the Church until they succeeded in getting the resolutions of 23d of May passed. . Did they go off with the consent of those who remained? Was it intended that they should Constitute a branch of the f First Congregational Church, Averned by its Trustees, the A. funds to be invested-by them and the new oiBanization con- , trolled by them? Was it a society organized Unfhin the juris­ diction and under the control of those trustees y Was the Firs®P*' �V Congregational Ohtirch to control and mafiago it in any way whatever ? The record answers all these questions in the neg­ ative ? Again: those members went off before there was any division, some before the litigation and some after it was com­ menced. No sale could be had until the Court sanctioned it, and yet long before they filed their answer in this case, the Church of the Redeemer was organized, an antagonism of the old ChurchHand to all intents and purposes they ceased to be members of the First Congregational Church. They were not driven out of the Church, but left of “ their own motion.” They voluntarily withdrew, organized another, and independ­ ent society, without respect to the one they withdrew from, proclaimed a new covenant or creed and completely ignored the First Congregational Church, the doctrines therein taught having become heresies Po them. If this is not seceding, it is difficult to understand what state of case will make it out. II. Counsel for the Church of the Redeemer admits that if this is a case of a division of the Church property among individual members, it would not be valid, but he denies that it is such a case. Let us see. • 1st. When this suit was brought to restrain the sale of the property, there was no separate organization. 2d. When the resolution of the 11th of April was adopted there was no such organization. The demand on the part of these gentlemen, who went off, that Mr. Conway should be dismissed, because they could not accord to his religious views, coupled with the threat, which they instantly executed, that they would no longer worship under his administration, all took place before they procured the passage of the resolutions of the 23d of May. These were steps taken by them, as individuals, as pew-owners, and predicated of what they called their personal rights as such, viz.: their ownership in the Church property as pewowners. They desired to retire from the First Congregational Church, and to take with them their respective shares of the property as measured by the value of their pews. They did nothing afterwards that was not predicated of this claim. Counsel speaks of an equitable rule of division, i. e., that the property should be equally divided. That rule was �[ 3 ] * k i t , proposed by these dissatisfied gentlemen because they claimed their pews in value represented about one-half of the value of the whole church property. III. I am not able to perceive Hie force of the counsel’s proposition, that the cause of religion in this Church will be promoted by granting the prayer of his clients to divide this property, Ho speaks of the impossibility of his clients longer remaining in that Church, because if they do it will be filled with “ discord and strife.” To avoid this, he eloquently appeals to the Court to let them take one-half of the property and “ depart in peace.” How far this condition of things accords with what the counsel says al*n«r place in his brief, when speaking to the proposition of secession, it is not worth while here to speak : nor do I stop to inquire who is responsible for this 11 discord and strife.” I may remark that this state of things is not exactly consistent wit»S|laiouM tMmngs. It may be inquired if a division is made, how the First Congrega­ tional Church is to be benefitted, or the cause of religion, in that Church, promoted, by giving these gentlemen, who will, counsel fears, “agitate” if they stay, one-half of the property to go away. The resolutions do not contemplate,. nor do the parties expect, that they are in any way to be held awountable by the First Congregational Church, for the disposiwn they may make of the funds so to be paid over to them. TItom ch^^tc^md they will take the money, by force of their ownership as pewowners, and will do wit™ it whatever they may choose, which may be to build up another Church, or divide it among them­ selves, and use it for any other purpose. The moment the Church property is divided, the tHu^Bcontemplated by the Charter and the founders of thoMiurch ceases to control such of it as is given to these scceders. IV. Counsel claims that it would promoffl the interest of the First Congregation® Church, to give these dissaj^^ed pew­ owners one-half of the property, and let them go off and form another Society. Not being able to see that, ^raqui™whether it can seriously be claimed that this Church can divide up its property, and give one-half of it to establish another Society, for the promulgation of different religious tenets and doctrines �than those taught in the Church? Nay, more: is it claimed that this property can be used to establish another Society, outside of this one, beyond its control, having no connection with it? Counsel is not very explicit in this; occurrent nubes; and yet the case shows that these gentlemen want the property to set up an independent Society, beyond the jurisdiction of and having no connection whatever with, the First Congre­ gational Church. I know he claims that unless it is done, there will be “ bitter feelings,” and a wreck of the Church. How can that be ? These malcontents have left it, have formed another Society, and, it is to be hoped, are in the full fruition of that peace and calm which they could not find with their late co-worshipers in the old Church. Of course they would not return to “stir up the strife,”.which drove them from it. How, then, can such dreadful things befall the “ old church.” “ Peace and concord^ reign there now. I will not say it is because these gentlemen have left the “ old church.” However that may be, I am not prepared to believe that they will voluntarily return there, if they apprehend a renewal of the terrible scenes which the counsel so elegantly depicts and so mournfully deplores. I have examined the cases cited by counsel for the Church of the Redeemer. The case in 21 Conn, does not sustain the point for which it is citedw There is no such case as that of Uckerly v. Leyer, cited as being in 2 Serg. & Rawle, 38. The case referred to in 2 Wendell has no bearing whatever on the proposition for which it is designed to use it; and the paragraph particularly referred to is wholly outside of the case, and the mere obiter dictum of the judge who drafted the opinion. The case in 23 Barb, is directly adverse to the proposition for which counsel cites it. So, too, of the case of the Methodist, Church v. Remington, 1 Watts, 227; and, also, the case in 1 Watts & Serg. �[ 5 ] , ■ f* 4 i j) MOTION TO DISMISS. I call the attention of the Court to the motion to dismiss this suit. It will be observed that the suit was instituted to prevent a sale of the Church property as was contemplated by the resolutions of the 11th of April and the 23d of May, 1859. It will also be observed that the Church has repealed those resolutions, and all others, which were designed to provide for a sale of the Church and a division of its property. It like­ wise appears that the trustees who filed an answei’ in the case, in the Common Pleas, by their counsel, Messrs. Taft and Perry, have requested their answer to be withdrawn, as they no longer desire to sell the Church property. I, also, file the letter of Messrs. Taft and Perry, requesting the answer to be withdrawn; also the notice served on the counsel of the Church of the .Redeemer, and Taft and Perryjadvertising them that this motion would be made by the plaintiff. Copies of the Church resolutions and the order of the Trustees, were served «n the counsel of defendants. This motion is made, because there now remains no necessity for pursuing this suit fur­ ther. The object being to restrain the sale of the Church property, now that there will be no sale, the further prosecu­ tion of this suit is rendered superfluous. The right to dismiss a pending suit, before final action, I suppose will not be ques­ tioned, unless new rights have supervened, and that will not be seriously contended in this case. In the first place, supposing the resolutions to divide the property had been legally passed, and gave any of the parties a right which they did not enjoy before this suit was brought, having been passed “lis pendens,” they can claim nothing through these resolutions. In the second place, the power of the Church which passed the resolutions, to elect to repeal them, and to decline to sell the property, can not be questioned. That power is reposed in them, to be exer­ cised only within the Charter. Supposing that the Chureh may sell and divide, they may elect to sell or not sell, at a par­ ticular time, according to their discretion. But if it can be �done at all, it can be done only by the sanction of the Court. 2 Kents Com. 314; 3 Barb. Ch. 122. At common law it could not be done at all, and it is by no means clear that it can be done in Ohio, except upon the precedent consent of all the members, under the statute of March 11th, 1853, Swan, 247, which must be strictly pursued. It is very clear that the Court will not require the corporation to sell its property. 16 Barb. 241; also, 23 Barb. 335. , If these gentlemen, who claiifi to be participants in the fund, acquired any new rights by the resolutions of the 23d of May, it was to enjoy them when the property is sold, but they can not compel a sale against the judgment of the Church and the Trustees. The sale is one thing and the division of the proceeds another and very different thing. There is no decree or judgment in this case. The one ren­ dered by the common pleas was vacated by the appeal, and the case comes into the court by reservation. It is, as if this suit was now to be heard for the first time. The case of Wyatt v. Benson, 23 Barb. Sup. C. II., 339, de­ cides that no intervening or precedent action of the Church or the Board of Trustees can impair the plaintiff’s right to ques* tion the validity and legality of any order of sale made by them. The order’ of sale and the declaration as to the dispos­ ition of the proceeds, are yet in fieri, not having been, exe­ cuted, and no rights having been acquired under th pm, it is not only in the power of the corporation to rescind such order of sale, etc., but the Court will refuse to act when the Trustees ask to withdraw their application for a sale. The application can be made by none but the Society itself, or by some one authorized by them. Swan, 248. The supplemental answer now filed by the Trustees takes away from the Court all power to order a sale. R. M. CORWINE, * Attorney for the Plaintiff and the Trustees. �SUPREME COURT OF OHIO. WILLIAM WISWELL against WILLIAM GREENE, et al. Reply to some of the Points made by Mlsrsl Whitman & Collins, in their Oral Argument. 1st. Counsel for defendants say that the opinion of the lawyers given to the Trustees, (Printed Record, page 3G), was followed inEMJpassage of the resolutions of the 23d of May* Thisd® a mistake. An examination of that paper will show that they advised that the division should be made in such a way as that thcTcharter should be complied with: that is, that no second organization could be made, except it was a part of the First Congregation®. Church. That is the fair interpreta­ tion of it. See the last paragraph in that opinion, and note its guarded language. 2nd. On the application to withdraw the answer of the Trustees, counsel say that the court should not entertain it, because thewesolutions of the 2Gth May, 1862, were not passed by a legal body, and because they were passed after this case was reserved. I answer if that is true, it does not help the resolutions of the 23d of May, 1859, since they weHpast after this suit was brought. The one is no bettei’ than the other, so far as this objection is concerned. 3d. The resolutions of the 23d of May do not pretend to dispose of the question, but leave the whole matter to 'the Court, to whom it is referred for “Judicial /Sanction.” How could those membersBwho withdrew, after their adoption, claim that they gave them any rights, or conferred upon them �any privileges until the court them? ^he whole question was purposely left in abeyance. They could have taken no steps in the purchase of property predicated of these resolutions. It is not, therefore, a case of vested rights, as the counsel suppose. No legal rights could intervene by reason of what these resolutions contain. The Corporation could do nothing in the way of disposing of the property, or dividing the proceeds without the sanction of the Court. So that the whole thing was immature—was in fieri. CORWINE. vI * JC t*-. ■ I y FKTw 4, ’bfw IB ’/ i . ’ P: nv J SteM - ri '#bf frfO h BW# fl ’ •• Ml ; “*-i$ r, >d 'J 0$ : *3 C •■ v . m- u :ms Udu/ ww h'ii a r»jKwi • > Wf ff.'i/M 'ndb-ri ■ ■W JmBIv e dT *--& «M ♦♦ J i JWlWMls • ?• '# , V mF '■ au->j1' tv/*. iv ’ i'- ■ ,’f 4 lMt .y xxoqn Iw; -i < fT Jl Ift? ii /r-w .j yro-7/ /'■ '■< •f ■ <■ j .:ifadf riidp.p: ri;<; !X wJH J B 1: U •V W| ru rfr ■‘J :t‘ V. ft W! <•.? ,?r xhc.iri# -4 ’W A � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource William Wiswell against William Greene et al: reply to the argument of H.C. Whitman, Esq., Counsel for the Church of the Redeemer Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Corwine, R.M. Ohio. Supreme Court Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [Cincinatti] Collation: 8 p. ; 21 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Hearing held December term, 1862. The case concerned a schism in the First Congregational Church, part of the congregation disapproved of Conway and left; questions arose of dividing church property. Compare 'Ohio. Supreme Court of Ohio. William Wiswell v William Greene, William Goodman, and others' in Conway Tracts 10. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [s.n.] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1862?] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5614 Subject The topic of the resource Unitarianism Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (William Wiswell against William Greene et al: reply to the argument of H.C. Whitman, Esq., Counsel for the Church of the Redeemer), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Court cases First Unitarian Church Moncure Conway https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/6533fb417d63c47cb7a7d859ab08ade3.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=mrAGSCueVCmJPNLtg6JVP8eAImWzQmROiJ1LqE7NAVOTvBe8GgJ2xTmqvxk2ES2p1luH5htpDu8cl4SQvzXVoFuNV-ZzVU0zWdGHBRRwVMFAbUQeLwmJc0286BiaSuhswcGBrUvrlWoKcKdKFqsMLQ9Oow4EupcKxeraXG8tGbr6fb7aASVXrery%7EtXC3Ejqa8RYYCGWaUA7wcT6KtzTP51an0hvyexPPZHT6gGU5zr6nDR8mv6%7EkHg51FAkWp80ALaR7Q1gUCK1lJ7eJXNZTyMcn8Tq3YqlsRbCqalgWEixo6-IP7oG02aNVz2F8ttF8T8nU9gTd5oHedFBeo52bA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 8a1acd6db165ee481f0c3b3334216870 PDF Text Text 1874.] The Unitarian Name. THE UNITARIAN NAME. 31 cX In adopting the title “ Unitarian Review ” we have gone coun­ ter to the advice of some whose judgment we so much respect, that we feel called upon to give an explanation of our reasons for taking this, rather than some one of the attractive titles which have been variously suggested to us, by those who have taken an interest in the arrangements for this Review. The primary reason is that this name most simply expresses its purpose and the place we intend it shall occupy. We hope to make it representative of the thought and life of the Unitarian branch of the Christian Church. In the multiplicity of excellent periodicals, among which are several th^l are thoroughly liberal, both in spirit and in culture, we should hesitate in assuming the right of this journal i© exist,, if it were not that here is a place which no other attempt® to fill, and! in which we believe there is important work to do. But this general consideration, however satisfactory it might have seemedti© first adopting the title, leaves still unanswered certain serious objections which have been urged against it and which deserve a rep^ The first is that “this name,” it is said, “ will prevent any wide circulation outside our own particular denomination.” In answer to this we would say, — I. Supposing this assumption to be true, the laudable desire which is the basis of objection is perhaps already.sufficiently provided for. Our leading Unitarian writers are now welcomed as regular contributors to the Secular periodicals which have the widest circulation — and eve® y||thl most popular and influential religious journals of other denominations. Besides this, * Old and New,” established on precisely this plan, of carrying our liberal views far and wide, by reason of its breadth and its freedom from denomi­ national limitations, still exists, with a reputation which is perhaps as extensive as that of any periodical in our country, and is welcom­ ing to its pages the best of liberal thought and culture. We re­ peat, that our only raison d'etre is in our attempting a different plan; and the more we have considered the subject the more we have felt satisfied that this plan deserves to be tried. �32 The. Unitarian Name. [Mar J II. Perhaps we have carried our notion about' leavening other denominations quite far enough, and there may be some use in try­ ing to cultivate and unify and energize our own. We shall con­ sider it no unimportant service if we can help to increase in the Unitarian denomination that sentiment of unity and that interest in itself and its position, which, in any organized body, is an element of life. III. But we are willing to confess that this purpose of service within our own denomination is not our main desire, and we most justify to ourselves the choice of name precisely on the ground that we wish to reach and influence so far as possible the general current of thought and life of our time. And our argument is this: that what we may lose in diffusiveness we gain in concentra­ tion. It is doubtless much for the summer’s growth that the at­ mosphere shall be suffused with moisture, which the leaves inhale and which sparkles every morning in refreshing dew-drops on the exulting plant: but it is also good that the moisture shall some­ times gather in a rain-cloud and break upon the earth in a hearty shower. And so, glad as we are that our Unitarian writers are permitted to swell that general liberalizing influence which, in all kinds of literature, is doing so much to soften and invigorate the thought and practice of our age, we venture to suggest that they would have an added power if they could sometimes bring their force together. The able papers now contributed by these writers to orthodox or secular journals do much to keep open the doors of Christian fellowship, and we would not have them withdrawn — but, as to influence, they exert only what, individually, their intrin­ sic excellence commands. Whereas, if some of them were col­ lected, as we propose, under the distinctively Unitarian name, they have, besides, the force which comes from their being the opinion of a body of Christian thinkers, who, together with the yet larger body of sympathizers whom they represent, have valued these religious opinions enough to be willing, on account of them, to separate themselves from the established churches, and to organize for worship and for associated activities. “But,” it is urged again, “there is a prejudice against the Unitarian name which will prevent these pages from being read at all by the class of persons whom we most wish to reach.” �1874.] ■ The Unitarian Name. 33 Our first impulse always is, when we hear friends speak of this “ prejudice, ” to suggest that they try to do such prejudice away, by connecting with the name “Unitarian” the best fruits of their own thought and'life which are really due to its principles, and thus to win for it a respect. But, in point of fact, we think this objection is to a great extent un­ founded. It is true that there may still be persons, who hold the sentiments which prevailed so largely half a century ago, when the word “ Unitarian” gave a shock to the pious in some religious communions, and would have debarred our books from their tables and ourselves from their fellowship ; but this class of persons may safely enough be left to the mollifying influences of the time, and to the generous teaching of their own denominational journals, so many of .which are nobly rooting out the spirit’of intolerance and preparing the way for a true and large Christian fellowship. And, on the other hand, we have reason. to know that there are great numbers of inquiring men and women,*n the so-called evangelical ranks, who are not only willing to read these writings, but are eagerly asking for information as to the result of Unitarian thought upon the pressing questions pertaining to theology and philosophy and religious faith. They know perfectly well that to read our publications does not commit them to our opinions. They would ridicule the idea, either that they would be in danger of being contaminated by our heresies, or of being subject to censorship by their brethren for reading them. Thinking people nowadays dare to read, and will read, anything that can help then!; and, provided our-contributions are valuable, the best portion of other denomina­ tions will thank us for bringing them conveniently together, into something like a representative review, — instead of our asking that they will take the pains to hunt them up in the great field of the world’s literature where they are scattered now. Perhaps this consideration has impressed itself upon us more strongly from the fact that, during a visit in Europe, with some opportunity of meeting persons of different views, who were interested in the progress of religious thought, we were often asked where they should look for the best information in regard to the current sen­ timents and character of the church to which Dr. Channing belonged. 5 �34 ' The Unitarian Name. ■ [Mar* There is, however, one objection urged against our assumption of this name, with the spirit of which we so completely sympathize that we cannot omit to consider it. The objection is, that, by thus putting at our front the name of a sect, we help to check the prog­ ress towards that grand Christian unity in which denominational lines shall disappear. One of those whose counsel we most value has written to us that he fears this name will disappoint those among us who have heretofore been glad to have the Religious Magazine “ look to a broader, freer, and more catholic fellowship among Christians than any one denomination can have.” If the adoption of our denominational name were going to change this generous attitude and this catholicity of spirit, we should be the last to wish to assume it. We believe, however, that this catholic spirit is the natural and inevitable result of the princi­ ples of Unitarianism, and that we are fostering it best when we do our best to make Unitarianism prevail. There are, of course, individuals in other churches as generous and broad as any in our own, but there is certainly no Christian body whose professed principles so directly encourage such a spirit. Unitarianism recognizes, as no other organized sect of Christendom does, that Truth has many sides, and that, in all the seemingly conflicting systems, there are elements that cannot be spared, and thus it teaches us to respect the honest convictions of those whose belief differs from our own. It also recognizes the superiority of the heart and will, above the intellect, in religious culture; and it accepts the Christian life as a truer test of fellowship than intellectual consent. May we not also add, that the differences among enlight­ ened Christians of the present day are largely in regard to dog­ mas which , are embodied in ancient creeds, and that Unitarianism has this advantage over others, in favoring the approach towards unity, — that it has no such creeds ? We fear that the large and generous spirit, so conspicuously shown by many of our denomination, and which we also seek to share, has sometimes lost much of its wholesome effect because it has led them to oppose denominational action and increase. And this has been the result, partly, because it has weakened the spirit of associated action, — which is the great secret of efficiency, — and partly, because, with those whom we most seek to win, the gener- �P'74.J The Unitarian Name. 35 osity has been in a measure despoiled of its value through a mistake as to its motive. They, however unjustly, have inter­ preted this catholic disposition towards other sects into indifference to our own. They tell of a country, somewhere in the East, where ecclesiastical politeness is carried so far, that, when two persons of different faith meet, one says to the other, “ Tell me to what sublime religion you belong, that, when we are together, I may call my­ self by it; my own contemptible creed is, so and so.” We do not tvish, by this, to caricature a sentiment of broad tol­ eration with which we so sincerely sympathize, but only to suggest that a generous attitude towards other, forms of faith is worth the more when it is coupled with earnest loye for one’s own independ-' ent convictions. The recent meeting of the Evangelical Alliance in New York, which, with all its shortcomings, was one of the grandest ecclesi­ astical events of the year, found- its best sigrfhcance in fhe circum­ stances that so many different sects, each adhering to its own sep­ arate organization and form of worship and belief) had nevertheless come to recognize a common bond to unite them that was far more essential than the differences that divide — and thus were ready to own each other as parts of the Christian church, and to consult and labor together for God and man. Rev. Dr. R. D. Hitchcock expressed this selmnfeit -well, in his address before the Alliance, when he said, — “ Each sect has its own errand. The doBtBnes are not yet settled. We have, strictly speaking, no oecumenical creed, not even the apostles’ creed, for each one of us interpret^it for him­ self, making it mean more or less. Controversy must still go on ; but we are very foolish to have it do so bitter. Communion is one thing; intercommunion is another thing; just as national law is one thing, international law another. Into the family of nations the door is wide, admitting some nations that none of w would like to belong to. But anything that governs at all is better than anarchy. In Palestine beyond the Jordan, among wild Bedouin men, Turkish troops are welcome to the traveler. So, in the' church, Coptic Christianity in Egypt may be far enough beneath our idea, but after all the cross is over them and not the crescent. For myself, of course I prefer my own communion, or I would �36 \ ■ The Unitarian Name. [Mar. leave it for another. But God forgive me if I ever looked or shall ever look into any Christian face without finding in it some­ thing of the old family look.” Perhaps, after all, the Unity of the Christian Church, for which we long, may not involve the merging of Christian sects, but only the filling them all with a spirit of harmony while each performs its separate mission — a unity like that of the “ body, with many members,” every one of which, when properly adjusted, ministers to the welfare of the whole. We are glad to believe that one of the peculiar functions of the u Unitarian ” member is, to cultivate a largeness of sympathy ; and we hope, at any rate, in the conduct . of this Review, to make it appear that we labor for the efficiency of our own denomination, with nonarrow sectarianism, and that we shall never exalt the interests of the denomination above the inter­ ests of the Truth. Again, we have been urged, in case we adopt the title “ Unita­ rian,” to use also the word “ Christian,” in a second title. In reject­ ing this counsel, we wish to explain that it is certainly not because we fail to accept this word as larger and better than Unitarian, but because it is necessarily implied, and needs not to be repeated. “ Unitarian ” means “ Unitarian Christian” as much as “ Baptist,” means “ Baptist Christian,” or “ Orthodox,” “ Orthodox Chris­ tian” or “ Protestant,” “ Protestant Christian.” To be sure, there was a dispute, some years ago, in connection with a bequest to one of our large institutions, by the terms of which the money was to be applied to the support of “ Protestant Teaching” and some claimed that an atheist was a Protestant, and that “ atheistic teaching ” ought to be maintained. But the courts decided that law as well as common opinion assumed the word “ Christian ” as part of the word “ Protestant,” fixed there by the authority of three centuries of use. Certainly the word “ Protestant ” itself has not been more distinctly identified with “ Christian,” than has the word “ Unitarian,” by all the acts and declarations of the denomination as well as by the, tacit assumptions of its members. Sometimes, because “ blood is thicker than water,” our feelings of personal attachment for those whom we hold in close regard has made us all glad, if possible, to avoid any exaction of our con­ ditions of fellowship on those who can no longer call thepagelves �1874.] The Unitarian Name. 37 by the Christian name, and this has perhaps given an appearance of looseness. But it will be noticed, that, after the point has been actually raised, even those who argue against the need of with­ drawal, do so only on the ground that the persons named have not abandoned Christianity, but only some notions of Christianity which they have feared were inevitably implied in the name. Therefore we have felt no necessity for further proclaiming, by our title, our Christian status, and, out of a regard for the past history of this journal, we have taken for our second title, “ Religious Magazine.” There is yet another point to which we will briefly refer. It is objected “ that, after all, the word ‘ Unitarian ’ does not adequately express the position of our denomination and the precise attitude it assumes in reference to religious thought.” In reply we would ask if ever a name does completely describe the thing it is chosen to represent ? Is “ Protestantism ” the best name to designate the movement for which it stands ? The word “ Protestant,” by itself, is suggestive chiefly of antagonism, of- negation, of conflict; whereas it has its affirmations, its reverent attachment, its repose in well-established convictions, as much as Catholicism with which it is contrasted. A name often originates, as in this case, in some historical incident, more or less essentially connected with the ob­ ject named, and sometimes very imperfectly describes it. And in­ deed, the principle of “ lucus a non lucendo ” is as often to be observed in nomenclature as is that of perfect adaptation. So that we instinctively come to. disregard etymology, and allow a name to represent for us that with which it has become associated, as this object may, in other ways, have been made to shape itself in our minds. The word “ Unitarian ” has attached itself, we need not inquire how, to a distinct and well-established system of Christian faith, which has its organized activities, and its well-recognized place among the religious systems of Christendom, We cannot wipe it out, if we would, from the history, of religious progress ; and, while we would willingly consent to abandon it and the organization which it denotes -whenever this shall be desirable, either for a better progress towards truth, or for the sake of the greater unity of the Christian world, yet, meantime, while there appears to be �38 “ The Two (Treat Problems still a need for the service of this denomination as a member of the Christian body, with a distinct work of its own, we rejoice in a name, which however confusing it may be if we consult only a dictionary for its meaning, has clearly enough defined itself in the intellectual and social and religious struggles of the last half cen­ tury, and has gathered about itself memories and associations of which we have such reason to be glad. We will only add that this journal will have no official authority of any kind, and that it is entirely independent of any organiza­ tion — and we repeat that we shall rejoice in feeling that we are working in co-operation with all, who, under whatever name, are helping to advance the cause of Truth and to promote the interests of Christian faith. Charles Lowe. “ THE TWO GREAT PROBLEMS OF CHRISTIANITY.” UNITARIAN A short article, with the above heading, appeared in the last number of the Religious Magazine, and read so much like a wail from a sad heart that we have been prompted to write a rep]yIn the opening paragraph the writer says, “We believe that Unitarian Christianity is a universal gospel; that it is for the masses as well as for the cultured few, capable of stirring men to greater action, and giving them a more ample religious growth than previous forms of Christian truth. But, before it can become the supreme gospel of the race, two problems must be solved.” Before considering those two problems, I would like to say a word on this opening paragraph. That “ Unitarian Christianity is a universal gospel, intended for the masses as well as for the cultured few,” I devoutly believe ; understanding by Unitarian Christianity, simply the Christianity of Christ. That is, so far forth as Christianity can be put into words, into propositions, into philosophical statements. But are we not in some danger of forgetting, that the vital part of Chris^ � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Unitarian name Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lowe, Charles Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [Boston] Collation: 31-38 p. ; 25 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. From the Unitarian Review and Religious Magazine. Vol. 1 (March 1874). For content of complete issue see: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89069654465;view=1up;seq=7 (accessed 11/2017). Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [Unitarian Review and Religious Magazine] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1874] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5432 Subject The topic of the resource Unitarianism Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p class="western"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br />This work (The Unitarian name), identified by <span style="color:#0000ff;"><span lang="zxx"><u>Humanist Library and Archives</u></span></span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</p> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Unitarianism