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BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
Serimd Edition, 8vo. Price 5s.

HE SECOND REFORM ATIONj or

Christianity developed.

contents :

1. The Defects of the first Reformation defined, and the Outline of a further

Reformation traced.

2. Tlie Cure of the Papal Aggression fully discussed and determined.

3. A Scheme of Church Reform.

■1. A Scheme of National Education.

5. The Laws of Entail and Primogeniture.

C. The Poor Laws.

7. Industry and Taxation.

To be had of all B.oksulkrs.

'■ The opportune, sensihle and well-written work that now lies heforeus we earnesly
recommend to the immediate and attentive perusal of all Classes and ilenominations.
Rome, by its avarice, eagerness and folly, has provoked the contest ; and if it totally
perish in" the Second Reformation, which, with Mr. Alison, we believe to be inevitable,
the World will have gained largely by the annihilation of the grand obstacle (Roman
Superstition) to Knowledge, Religion and Universal Civilization."— 3/or?/i»^ Adver-
tiser.

" No reader can fail to be astounded at the contents of this Work. We must pro-
nounce it to be one of the most able and philosophical works which has ever issued
from the press of this country. Though earnest, it is calm; though bold, it is
not reckless ; though daring, prudent ; and a reverential spirit marks every page
from beginning to end. Its style is calm, logical, clear; and its sentences ring upon
the ear like intellectual gold — demanding attention from even those who will perhaps
approach it in a spirit of prejudice.

" The Work, we are convinced, must attract great and serious attention ; and thougli
orthodox men will be somewhat jealous of yielding assent to all its conclusions, many
an earnest spirit will, in the quietude of the closet, thank Ciod that a voice hath
spoken out, bidding the Anglican Church to set her liouse in order, and see that she
be well prepared for a coming inevitable struggle. Reason and Knowledge must con-
test the battle with Superstition— whether that superstition exist in the Church of
England or of Rome. If Superstition is again temporarily to triumph, then Rome is
again temporarily the mistress of the world; and if the Anglican Protestant Church
contain in her doctrines or forms any imbecile manifestation of this principle, then in
the general triumph of the Great Mistress of Superstition she would be absorbed and
swept away. Let her well look to it ; examine her outworks ; and be assured that she
is prepared to outride every storm by which she may be assailed.

'• We commend the bold and earnest reasoning of Mr. Alison's Work to the most
serious consideration of thereligious thinkers of the present day." — Penzance Gazette.

" The task the Author has undertaken of entering into a free and impartial inquiry
as to the scope desirable to be embraced in Church Reform, has liitlierto been shunned
alike by the self-interested and the conscientious, owing to well-founded fears of dis-
turbing the bases of the theological theories to the support of which either may
have found his wishes pledged. To the self-interested the field of free inquiry must
ever remain forbidden ground. The just objections felt by the conscientiou.s to so
daring an exploration are, we trust, now removed. With such infinite delicacy and
skill has the author of the Essay under consideration handled this crabbed questi< ,
as to open universal and facile access to the truths to be evolved from a careful inves-
tigation of it. He has found the secret how to strike at Opinion without wounding
Conscience: he has reconciled Philosophy with Religion. By his beautiful resolu-
tion of that complicated series of dissonances which so painfully jarred on the ear,
now of piety, now of reason, he has modulated a divine harmony which must thrill to
the heart of every unprejudiced well wisher to the cause of oppressed and sufTerinf;
humanity — a harmony once found, which will, we trust, never again be silenced, but
be allowed to vibrate through all ages." — Liverpool Mercurii.

THE FUTURE!

€jif $nmt nf l^nlitirs.

A. ALISON, Esq.

AUTHOR OF "THE SECOKD R E I' 0 R M A T I 0 S," ETC.

Ye shall know the Truth,

And the Truth shall make you free.

John, viii. 32.

LONDON:

J. ROWSELL, GREAT QUEEN STREET,
LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.

18 52.

30 OCT. 1321

London:

C ROWORTH AND SONS, PHINTFRS,
BF.I.L YARD, TEMPLF BAR.

A4I^

PREFACE.

The Art of Politics has its roots in Moral
Science or Abstract Truth. Moral Science re-
gulates Belief and Opinion, and these govern
Human Action.

The . Law which ought to regulate Belief
and Opinion is Truth ; that which ought to
govern Actions is Wisdom, — the union of
Truth and Liberty. Man is born free to act
as he pleases, and yet he is responsible for

his acts; and wise action comes from Truth
a5

in connection witli Freedom. Our Work on
the Second Reformation treats of Principles;
it therefore answers to the first division. It is
a work on moral philosophy.

The present work treats of the result of
these Principles on the Future, and is intended
to supply the second division.

Politics may be stated thus :

I. Abstract Truth or moral philosophy. —

This Science has reference to Belief
and Opinion, and the Law which
governs it is Truth.

II. Wisdom. — This Art has reference to

Human Action, and the Laws which
regulate it are Truth and Toleration.
Such is Politics, or the art of governing-
Human Action. It treats of the actions of
Individuals and Governments, and, generally,
of the affairs of Life. It embraces all Science
that bears on the Conduct.

The material ot" all Science is Facts — the
internal and external Facts of Experience. By
this means we are enabled to decipher the
PAST, understand the present, and foresee
THE future.

" Knowledge is Power," because it confers
power over the Future. It is because Know-
ledge is only partially developed, that the Future
is so little known. The Future is subject to
contingencies which cannot be foreseen; but,
with that difference, the Future is as legitimate
a study as the Past.

For the first time Theology (not Religion)
takes its place among the Sciences; and, if
the present attempt to trace the outline of a
system of Politics carries Science into new
and unexplored regions, and contributes to
deliver Moral Philosophy from its present
state of impotency, such must be ascribed
t(j the incorporation of Theology with other

Science. Unless it can be shown that Theo-
logy does not bear on Public Opinion, there
was no alternative but to include it. To
deprive the scientific inquirer of facts affect-
ing Religious Belief, is to debar him from the
study of Human Nature, which of course fur-
nishes the primary data from which Moral
Science is derived.

Without Self-knowledge Moral Philosophy
is impossible, and Man remains a riddle to
himself. The world will no longer tolerate so
palpable a limitation of the Rights of Con-
science, for to this cause the slow progress of
Knowledge and Civilization is owing.

In consequence of the introduction of Theo-
logy for the first time, that department of
Science occupies a large portion of our space.
Many difficulties had to be overcome, which
accounts for our lengthened discussion on that
important subject.

It does not appear that the Greek and Ro-
man philosophers possessed more of the Know-
ledge of Wisdom than is to be found in the
Books of Job and Proverbs, although they
were surrounded by a higher state of civili-
zation. The Greeks unfortunately turned their
attention to metaphysics, a much more capti-
vating study, but one by no means favourable
to the development of Knowledge.

With regard to the present state of Politics
we should say the preliminary requirements of
the Science are in a high state of forwardness.
But as every one arbitrarily takes up a creed
of his own — and as all cannot be right — it is
evident that the Science of Politics is yet in
a chaotic state. This Confusion must be
turned into Order, when intelligent men may
be expected to think alike, and act from
ascertained principles. Such is the destiny of
the Science of Politics, and the march of

Intelligence. The means by which this pro-
gressive Civilization is to be efiected are,
I. Increased Knowledge.
II. Improved Action and improved Legis-
lation consequent on improved Know-
ledge.
Our two works embrace an unusually large
field of inquiry, and we are not without hope
that they contain the elements of the ivhole
Truth. To give part and withhold part is not
Truth, and we have spared no pains to com-
ply with all its requirements.

The Regeneration of the World depends
on the acquisition and propagation of correct
Knowledge ; and if the present work contributes
in any degree to that regeneration, our object
will be accomplished.

Cheltenham,

January, 1852.

CONTENTS.

Chapter I.

PAGE

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON BELIEF . IS

Chapter II.

THE REMEDY FOR THE PAPAL -OXFORD

AGGRESSION 35

THE TEST OF TRUTH — Till; FALL OF THE PAPACY.

Chaptkr III.

HUMAN BELIEF SUBJECTED TO THE TEST
OF SCRIPTURE AND THE TEST OF
EXPERIENCE .36

PROVIDENCE — EVIL — CONVERSION THE OBJECT

OF RELIGION THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN

CHURCHES.

Chapter IV.

WEALTH 89

EXPENDITURE — THE CURRENCY.

Chapter V.

LEGISLATION 106

UNIVERSAL FREE TRADE AND DIRECT TAXATION —

ELECTORAL REFORM CHURCH REFORM- THE

TITLES ACT — CLASS LEGISLATION.

Chapter VI.

PAGE

CIVILIZATION— THE PAST 140

ANCIENT CIVILIZATION — THE DARK AGES — THE
FIRST REFORMATION.

Chapter VII.

THE PRESENT STATE OF EUROPE . . . . I(i0

FRANCE GERMANY.

Chapter VIII.

THE GENERAL REVOLUTION OF 1S48 . . .188

WAR — PEACE.

Chapter IX.

CIVILIZATION— THE FUTURE 208

THE PROSPECTIVE RESULTS OF THE SECOND RE-
FORMATION.

Chapter X.

THE SCHISM IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND . 220

THE RIGHT OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT.

Chapter XI.

CONCLUSION 234

A CONVERSATION ON BELIEF.

CHAPTEE I.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

It is strange that in these days of research
the doctrines of Rehgion should be allowed to
remain without any serious effort to inquire into
their truth, or any endeavour to define their
exact import, as if the well-being of the nation
did not depend on its Religion. The unsatis-
factory results of so called orthodox Christianity
are apparent both in the small measure of good
it confers, and the constant strife it keeps up;
and these are prima facie evidence that ortho-
doxy either contains error, or is very imper-
fectly understood.

Theological works are generally occupied with
controversies which never discuss the ques«
tion as to whether doctrines and practices are
true or false. They treat doctrines relative to
human standards, and not to abstract Truth
as well as Scripture. The Almighty has given
to man a Test by which we may know right
from wrong, the true from the false; and yet
we refuse to use this test, and upbraid those
who do.

The misfortune of the World's position is,
that the Laity know little or nothing of Theo-
logy, and the Clergy as little of Human Na-
ture, arising from the peculiar direction given to
their respective studies. To produce a com-
bined knowledge which shall elicit Truth, is
most desirable. Notwithstanding the progress
made in knowledge and civilization, the attention
of the Church is still directed to the Past, and
not to the Present and the Future. It is not
by looking backward upon an infant world that
new light can arise, but by looking on the

present and the future in the light of the past.
Instead of poring over musty volumes which
have been ransacked a thousand times without
yielding profit, let the Church go forth on the
world and teach the knowledge of Truth, and
protest against sin and untruth in every shape ;
then Ignorance will yield her sway, and sin
and misery will cease to reign.

That errors in Belief should be discovered, is
only what was to be expected, for Ignorance
and Error precede Knowledge and Truth; but
if vi^e look for light by discussing what this man
thought and another said and did a thousand
years ago, we only deceive ourselves and per-
petuate error. If we compare Scripture with
Nature, the Truth will soon appear; and Science
and Religion will be reconciled. If we read the
Bible without reference to Nature, we worship
the Word of God to the exclusion of his Works,
thereby ignoring and disregarding the major
part of the Revelations of the Supreme. This
B 2

sin will be entirely removed by the introduction
of the test of Truth.

A Treatise on General Science like the pre-
sent, to be worth anything, must have two
requisites. 1. It must be comprehensive, and
show the effect of its Doctrines on all the rami-
fications of Nature; 2. It must be in harmony
with itself, and contain no inconsistencies. It
will be necessary to bear these self-evident
requisites in mind, if an answer be attempted.
Unless principles be universally applied, so as
to elicit the whole Truth, there can be no
answer, for anything short of that is not Truth.
If our works contain any untruth, they will
admit of being answered ; and this is the only
manly course open to those whose interests may
be supposed to be in danger.

In determining the Doctrines of our Faith, it
is necessary to start from a fixed point; for
without this the Intellect cannot act. We have
opened the Scriptures with the belief that Re-
generation is the object of Religion, and we

have interpreted all Scripture with reference to
that self-evident object. The facts of Nature
and the general scope of Scripture both attest
the truth of this the governing principle of
Religious Belief. If this preliminary point be
granted, disagreements as to details cannot long
exist. We call special attention to this point,
should an answer be attempted. Let the object
we have named be either denied or accepted; and
if the object of the writer be to elicit Truth, he
cannot refuse to grant us this request. In that
case much good may be expected from a reply.
It has been urged, as an objection, that our
system is too free ; that perfect freedom of
Conscience is incompatible with Civil and Reli-
gious Government. Our maxim is to leave the
Conscience free, and at the same time to teach
what is right. The first is the law of Nature,
the last the law of Progress. As no Reli-
gion which is not voluntary can produce any
effect on the soul, or on the general conduct
and happiness of man, there is nothing to be

gained by curbing his liberty. Good cannot
come from anything opposed to Nature or to
Truth ; and none will deny that Liberty is the
birthright of every soul. It is not by inverting
the order of Nature, or by introducing laws
opposed to Nature, but by obeying Nature, and
introducing laws by which Nature may be pro-
tected from the selfish acts of man, that Good
can be produced.

Our system enlarges the sphere of the Con-
science beyond what has hitherto been included
under that term. Convictions of Truth, as well
as those emotions which are known by the
terms "a Good Conscience" and its opposite
" Remorse," are emotions of Conscience. For
obedience to the laws of Truth, Justice, Wis-
dom, and Expediency, Man is responsible; hence
the sphere of the conscience is extended instead
of being contracted. Personal Knowledge and
Conscience are either identical or correlative.
Knowledge, Conscience, Truth, and Intellect

will be found to be different aspects of the
same thing.

We have often been taught from the Pulpit
that the effects of Grace are non-miraculous, and
all that we propose is to bring the doctrines of
the Protestant Church into conformity with
tliat Great Truth. As " Conversion" determines
all the doctrines of Religion, our system is sub-
stantially orthodox, as that is preached from
many Pulpits in and out of the Establishment.
The changes proposed arise more from the
undefined and undeveloped state of the Pro-
testant creed than from actual error. This
being the case, the reader will perceive that we
have proposed no new Religion, but a new
interpretation of the Scriptures. Our prin-
ciples are not those of Destruction — but of
Reformation (Improvement). If contending
against unscriptural Miracles touches the essen-
tials of Christianity, then our proposal is more
than a Reformation ; but as we do not go be-
yond that limit, it is evident that " Reformation"

is the proper title of the Work. To say that
the change proposed affects the existence of
Christianity, or any of the Institutions of the
State, is to misstate the fact.

We have said that the principles of the
Second Reformation have been obtained by a
new Interpretation of the Scriptures, by the use
of Knowledge and the faculty of Reason. That
we should dare to use Reason in reading the
Scriptures seems to be a serious fault; we are
said to exalt the Intellect above the Scriptures,
and so forth. Let us consult Bishop Butler
on the office of Knowledge and Reason, and
the fallacy of such an objection will appear.

On Reason, which is called the " candle of
the Lord," Butler says: —

" I express myself with caution, lest I should
" be mistaken to vilify Reason, which is indeed
" the only faculty we have wherewith to judge
" concerning anything, even Revelation itself."

The Revelations of the Works of God are of

equal authority with the Word of God. This
is granted in the following words : —

" It is to be added, that Light and Know-
" ledge, in what manner soever afforded us, is
" equally from God."

Such is the use made of the Intellect by the
author of " The Analogy of Nature and Reve-
lation," and we venture to say there is no con-
clusion contained in our Works which these
principles do not justify.

The Bible is the great bulwark of true Reli-
gion and Liberty. Without it the world would
still be worshipping dumb Idols; and with all
our boasted Knowledge and Liberty, we believe
that modern Civilization would resort to Idol
worship — under the auspices of Rome — should
the Sacred Volume be lost.

If Christians wish to preserve their Bible in
these days, when the press teems with sceptical
productions, we must boldly open the Books
of Nature and Revelation, — not with the view
of keeping them asunder, — but with the object
b5

of discovering the means of interpreting and
reconciling them. This was evidently the view
which filled Bishop Butler's mind, after having
spent the greater part of his life in studying
the analogy of Nature and Revelation; and
when so great an authority in favour of the
method we have pursued can be quoted, our
conclusions ought to be seriously considered.
God's word and works cannot be at variance;
hence apparent inconsistencies must be ascribed
to our imperfect knowledge of both.

It is only by making use of the test of Facts
that an escape from the Idolatrous Doctrine of
Transubstantiation is possible. Read the Scrip-
tures without remembering facts, and that de-
basing Superstition must reign. " This is my
" Body" must be taken in a literal sense ; and
the consecrated wafer must be received as the
actual Body of Christ.

Read the Scriptures literally as regards Evil,
and Original Sin must likewise continue to stifle
inquiry and retard the progress of the World ;

but take facts along with us, and both Errors
are renounced. If we sin against Scripture in
the one case, we do so in the other. The fol-
lowing quotation is our authority for such a
course. " Who also hath made us able rai-
" nisters of the New Testament; not of the
" letter, hut of the spirit ; for the letter killeth,
" but the spirit giveth life." — 2 Cor. iii. 6.
Dr. Clarke, in explaining how many passages
of the Scriptures ought to be read figuratively —
although at first sight they appear to forbid
that interpretation — states, that in the Hebrew,
Caldee, and Caldeo-Syriac languages there is no
term to express " mean," " signify," " denote."
In these circumstances we ought freely to act
upon the principle of deciding disputed ques-
tions by the test of Facts. No reason can be
given why we should not interpret Scripture
figuratively as regards Evil as well as regards
the Body of Christ ; and unless we apply the
same rule to all Scripture, we read that Book

without rule, and disregard the first principles
of Truth.

We do not question the Miracles of the Bible,
nor the possibility of Miracles even in our own
day: all that we require is "evidence" for such;
and with regard to our Lord's divinity, and
the truth of Revelation, there is no lack of
well authenticated evidence, both as to the
Miracles performed, and the divine Truths
taught. We see no greater difficulty in ac-
cepting the mystery of the Incarnation than
any other Miracle of the Scriptures. We
should like to know how the Almighty could
have spoken to man face to face except by
the intervention of a man. It seems like a
contradiction to suppose that a Spirit could be
visible and yet omnipresent. " No man hath
seen God at any time — the only begotten of
the Father, he hath declared him."

To suppose that the Almighty had no power
to work Miracles, or to perform any act not
implying an absolute contradiction, is to deny

to God the prerogative of Creator, Preserver
and Governor of the universe. To deny this
power is atheism.

Until the Church adopts the Test of Truth
as the ultimate appeal in all cases of controversy,
it is evident she can have no definite or con-
sistent Rule of Faith. This we shall now
demonstrate.

If in one sentence we are told one thing, and
in the next something opposite, the inevitable
fruits of pulpit ministrations must be Infidelity
and Scepticism. It might not be difficult to
show that three-fourths of the Scepticism in the
World arises from this cause.

We only once listened to a discourse on the
Deity, — a subject seldom touched. It will
illustrate the tendency of existing Doctrines to
teach Infidelity and Scepticism, if we describe
it; and it will prove how necessary it is that
Knowledge and Reason should be applied with-
out reserve to the interpretation of Revelation.
The Preacher began by stating that the doctrine

of General Laws was the high road to atheism.
A teacher of Divinity could not be ignorant
of the fact that such Laws do exist, so this
assertion (unless he intended to deny the fact)
means that the Revelations of Nature do not
proclaim the existence of God. We shall find,
that, instead of the affirmative of that Truth
having the effect of producing atheism, its
denial has that effect.

The Preacher stated, that there were two
errors to be especially guarded against in ap-
proaching the sublime subject to which his
discourse was devoted. We were, on the one
hand, to avoid supposing God to be a person,
and, on the other, to be a principle. The Deity
was neither of these, but something between
the two. The doctrines of the Westminster
Confession forced him to avoid either of these
conclusions, — an inconsistency which he ex-
cused by stating that the Deity was incom-
prehensible. Here we learn the actual state
of Orthodoxy in this great nation — God is

neither a person nor a principle; and, of
course, being neither, he is annihilated, for a
Spirit devoid of personality is certainly not a
God. We grant that the nature of God is, and
ever will be, incomprehensible — for the finite
Intelligence cannot transcend its own nature,
and comprehend the infinite Creator; but of
course we deny that the existence of God is
incomprehensible. We maintain that many of
the doctrines of the Confession of Faith are in-
consistent not only with the perfections of the
Deity, but with his existence; and the Sermon
quoted confirms this opinion.

We should like to ask the reverend Doctor,
if he, or any other man, understands the West-
minster Confession or the Thirty-nine Articles.
The former is a Book compiled by fallible men
like ourselves, and literally filled with incon-
sistencies ; it is therefore a moral impossibihty
that it can be comprehended. The very exist-
ence of the Deity must be held in doubt in order
to support a System of Doctrines which has

been rendered well nigh obsolete by the increase
of knowledge, and which ere long will be con-
signed to oblivion. Are we told that the Con-
fession of Faith is the result of the concentrated
wisdom of our Episcopal and Presbyterian fore-
fathers ? True, but when a Book contains con-
tradictions it condemns itself, whoever its au-
thors may be. The Ecclesiastical Titles Act is
likewise the result of the concentrated wisdom
of England in the nineteenth century ; and, as
regards authorship, it is entitled to as much
respect as the Work of the Westminster As-
sembly; and who will undertake to say that
the Titles Act is a perfect measure ?

Had the learned Professor remembered that
there were sucli things as Facts, he could not
have commenced with the statement that General
Laws destroyed belief in the existence of God ;
and by taking along with him the facts that
these Laws do actually exist, he would have
established the Divine existence without any
difficulty. Abjure Superstition, and its conse-

queiit Scepticism, and it is impossible to avoid
assent to tlie three great poles of Belief, the
existence of God, the responsibility of Man,
and the immortality of the Soul, It is impos-
sible that the prophecy, that all are to know the
Lord, can ever be fulfilled while contradictory
Doctrines are maintained, for such are found to
obscure both the attributes and the existence of
the Almighty.

Mr. Macaulay supposes that the world will
never come to think alike on Religion* — we do
not think so. He bases his opinion on the expe-
rience of the past; but as man is a progressive
being, that argument does not necessarily apply
to the future. We know that a universal principle
exists, which has only to be known, to produce a
universal harmony as to the principles of belief
and action. We do not doubt the difiiculties
which attend Education, but that the final

* Macaulay's Essay on Ranke's History of the Popes.
Perhaps the best digest on the Catholic question in the
Enghsh language. Longman & Co., price Is.

triumph of Truth is only a question of time is an
unquestionable truth. The supremacy of Truth
must be conquered from reluctant nature step by
step; but let us only get a satisfactory com-
mencement, and progress will go on with ac-
celerated speed as its perihelion is approached.

The question which the present conflict has
to decide is, not merely whether there shall be
a Reformation, but whether another Dark Age
is before us. We must either conquer Rome
or Rome will conquer us — we must either ad-
vance or go backward ! The shattered con-
dition of the Reformed Churches is owing to
disunion ; and as union is the certain fruits of
Truth, we have only to arm ourselves with the
shield of Truth, and our differences shall dis-
appear, and, with a united and faithful testi-
mony, the triumph of Protestantism is at
hand.

By a moderate exercise of foresight any one
will perceive that the change from an exclu-
sive dependence on faith to obedience to

THE COMMANDMENTS OF Christ — the esseiice
of the proposed Reformation — is sufficient to
turn a partially-cultivated waste into a fruitful
garden. Let the test of Religion be prac-
tice, and " the wilderness and the solitary-
places shall flourish and blossom as the rose."
When reformed, Religion will be a reality. No
Reformation which falls short of the change pro-
posed can effect this, and nothing less can arrest
the progress of Rome or rescue the World from
the tyranny of Superstition.

If the Christian will look at the question of
Reformation more in the light of duty than of
consulting his own feelings and wishes, and if he
will estimate its worth more as a great public
Good than as a matter of private feeling, we shall
thank God, and take courage. There is a great
want of moral courage ; but we believe that an
occasion for its exercise only requires to arise,
to call forth the better feelings of our nature.
We live in extraordinary times, and if there ever
was a time when the cause of civil and religious

liberty demanded the exercise of self-denying
patriotism, that time has now come, and to
that feeling we make our appeal.

At a critical moment like the present, when the
destinies of future generations hang on the issue
of PUBLIC OPINION, and when very little may
turn the scale for or against liberty, every man
owes a duty to the body politic to exercise his
judgment, and only " to hold to that which is
good ;" and we write in the hope that men will
at last be aroused to inquire into the state of
Religion. We ask the reader to take a large
and independent view of the whole question,
not in the spirit of a narrow-minded sectarian-
ism, but of Christian patriotism ; and if he is
not able to agree with all the details of our
scheme of Reform, we doubt not he will accept
its leading features.

All great Reforms come from a pressure from
without, and it only requires that men should
know the evil which now threatens the nation,
in order to secure a glorious Reformation, se-

cond in point of time, but not in importance,
to the Great Reformation of Luther. It will
be a boon well worth all it may cost, for we
cannot doubt it will deliver Civilization from a
precarious and unsatisfactory condition — a con-
dition which arises from the undefined and
undeveloped state of public opinion.

The distinguishing feature of our system is the
introduction of the Test of Truth. This test is al-
ready partially in use by the Protestant Church,
and it is only in consequence of such use that
the Protestant Church differs from Rome.
This we have already pointed out; and it seems
as plain, as that two and two make four, that
we have only to be consistent and apply the
test of Truth universally, in order to place the
Protestant Church upon an immovable basis of
Peace, Unity and Prosperity.

In interpreting the Scriptures we shall use
two tests. The first is the Scriptures, the
second is the Test of Truth. The one is the
light of Revelation, the other the light of Na-

ture. The Scriptures are the groundwork, the
Intellect (Knowledge and Reason) is the faculty
by which to test its meaning. We shall not
interpret the Scriptures upon the principle that
eveiy thing Protestant is good, or that every
thing Catholic is bad, but we shall subject all
Belief to a common standard.

CHAPTEE II.

THE REMEDY FOR THE PAPAL-
OXFORD AGGRESSION.

The Test of Truth.

The present Interpretation of the Scriptures is
defective. We have proposed a new Interpreta-
tion, got from a comparison of Revelation with
Nature.

Rehgious inquiry is usually occupied with
questions relative to Faith, to the exclusion of
Practice; now Truth demands that we should
not only compare Scripture with Scripture, but
Scripture with Nature. That Scripture should
not only explain Practice (Nature), but Practice

explain Scripture. It is to the neglect of the
test of facts that Revelation and Nature not
only do not agree, but that many of the doc-
trines of our Faith contradict experience.

The Catholic finds a Test of Faith in a
visionary standard which he sets up in the
person of " the Church," and to this fiction the
Church of Rome owes her unity and strength.
Let the Protestant Churches be wise in their
generation, and seek a Test that will produce
that unity and strength which is now so much
wanted ; and when we can point to a test
which is both true, and the certain means of
unity and power, we cannot persuade ourselves
that in this — the Church's hour of need — she
will recklessly shut her eyes to an escape at
once honouring to God and man.

We believe the Protestant Church will ulti-
mately lapse into the Catholic, unless the Papal
Aggression ends in a Second Reformation. This
may be thought a mere fancy; but we shall now
show that it is an opinion supported by so high

a degree of probability as almost to amount to
a certainty.

The Scriptures admit of two distinct In-
terpretations. This fact was proven by our
former Work. The one we have called the
Supernatural, and the other the Natural Inter-
pretation. The one includes belief in miracles
of daily occurrence, the other excludes such
Miracles. The first is got by reading the Scrip-
tures without reference to the facts of Nature,
the last by reading the Scriptures with special
regard to facts.

To decide the all-important question as to
where " the Truth'' lies, we have interrogated
Nature. We have found that all evidence is
on the side of The Natural Interpretation;
accordingly we are entitled to pronounce that
Interpretation the truth.

Nature is the subject-matter of Revelation,
and we cannot conceive a more certain test by
which to determine the correct reading of the
Scriptures than an appeal to it.

433^:^22

Let the agreement or disagreement of Nature
with Scripture in future determine every dis-
puted question of theology.

Such is the Test of Truth, and such is doubt-
less the appointed method by which the will of
God may be determined in all cases of dispute.
St. Paul exhorts the Church " to prove all
things ;" and, in recommending the Test of
Nature as a remedy for religious disunion, we
have complied with the injunction of the
Apostle.

The test of the Catholic Church is the fallible
WILL OF MAN, that of the Protestant shall be
the infallible will of God, Truth is the will
of God.

Rome can appeal to the Supernatural Inter-
pretation on behalf of many of her doctrines
and practices. This fact accounts for the phe-
nomenon, that a superstitious Church should —
notwithstanding her impurity — triumph over a
rival confessedly more pure. Rome is more
consistent with herself than Protestantism, for

the doctrines and practices of the latter cannot
be traced to either interpretation without under-
going considerable change.

The First Reformation was a step in the
right direction. That step leaves the Protestant
Church in a middle position between Truth and
Error, and, being in this anomalous state, she
can appeal to no consistent Interpretation for
her Doctrines. Unlike the Catholics, she can
neither say that she holds miracles nor dis-
cards them, for either admission would be fatal;
and, as everything must either be a Miracle or
not, this difl&culty meets the Protestant at every
point. Protestantism may therefore be de-
scribed as having one foot on the rock of Truth
and the other on the trackless ocean of Super-
stition, and to this fact all her troubles may be
traced.

When the Protestant discovers this fact he

must either retrograde or go forward, for an

untenable position is intolerable. He may be

supposed to argue thus : To take refuge in

Rome is repugnant to the feelings, but even
that is more agreeable than to be trodden down
and despised ; and to go forward to Truth, and
undertake the accomplishment of another Re-
formation is almost too much for human nature
to aspire to. Such may describe the position
of the clergy and laity at this extraordinary
juncture of the Church's history.

Truth and Error are opposite principles.
They cannot dwell together in harmony, for
their nature is to repel each other. The nature
of things is therefore to settle down into a
state either of total Light or of total Darkness ;
for a half-way position cannot be maintained
when the attack comes. We must either van-
quish Rome or be vanquished, and the crisis is
at hand. Protestantism is not only divided
against itself, but it contains much imperfection.
It must either move on to "perfection," and
accept the Test of Truth, or take refuge in
Rome, or in a state of darkness as bad.

In the Providence of God the Protestant

Church is now placed on her trial. If she
remain faithful to her Head, she will go for-
ward boldly to Truth ; but if slothful, and lays
the flattering- unction to her soul, " that all
things shall yet be well," there can be no
reformation and no hope. If the battle be
lost, the vanquished will not have it in their
power to say "it was the Lord's doing;" for
they might have adopted a criterion of Faith,
which would have given them the victory, and
they refused.

It is proposed to cancel the Right of Private
Judgment. This Right has always been consi-
dered the brightest gem of the Reformation,
and so essential is it to liberty and the main-
tenance of a pure Faith, that were it lost the
Reformation of Luther would be virtually re-
pealed.

To allow any class of men to arrogate to
themselves the exclusive right of interpreting
the word of God, of forgiving sins, and of
opening and shutting heaven and hell to all

believers, there is an end of liberty. No check
can be put on the authority of a Priesthood so
constituted. When the Right of Private Judg-
ment is annulled, the Clergy may interpret the
Bible to suit their own purposes. A people in
the possession of the rights of Conscience who
would listen to such a proposal are unworthy
of liberty. Such is the danger which threatens
the liberty of this nation; and, as the Church
of England is not only assailed with this de-
mand from without, but from many deluded
members within, it is a danger of no ordinary
magnitude, and one which may well provoke
our exertions to put an end to the Papacy.

Such is the Papal-Oxford Aggression, for
which a remedy is so ardently sought by every
friend of Civil and Religious Liberty.

If men will not listen to anything but what
pleases, they cannot complain if no one will
venture to tell them the whole Truth, and with
a Reformation this argument may be used, if

complaints are made that they have been kept
in the dark.

The slow progress of truth does not arise
from the difficulty of finding it, nor from want
of confidence in its authority when found, but
because men dislike to be rebuked by it. This
fact is as true of Modern Civilization as it was
of the Jewish nation eighteen hundred years
ago ; and so long as our Saviour's rebuke to the
Jews can be applied to the present age, Modern
Civilization has little to boast of.

1. " Men have loved Darkness rather than
light because their Deeds are Evil." — John, iii.

2. " He that doeth Truth cometh to the
Light." — John, iii.

The first is the rule of the Feelings, the last
the rule of the Understanding ; the one indi-
cates the source of Sin, the other its cure. On
the authority of the Saviour, we say it is in-
cumbent on Man to prefer the rule of the
Intellect to the rule of the Feelings, when the
former comes into collision with the latter.

Truth is Divine, and when we thus give effect
to our Convictions, at the call of Conscience,
we obey the Will of God.

Having now defined the Test of Truth, we
turn to its effects on the World.

The Fall of the Papacy.

The Church of Rome has never been under-
stood, and when the day arrives when that sys-
tem of superstition shall be fully known its
knell is rung ; and we believe it will be by
pursuing the line of reasoning on which we
have entered that that Mystery will at last be
explained.

There is a great principle in the Roman
Catholic Faith, if a fiction can be called a prin-
ciple. Mr. M'Gaven used to say, that every man
was born a Roman Catholic, and the longer one
studies Human Nature the more clearly does he
see that Superstition is natural to man.

I. Superstition. — The principle of Rome is
the authority of the Priesthood over the Intellect

or Conscience of the People — this is disobe-
dience to the Laws of Nature and Revelation,
and therefore erroneous and non-progressive.

II. The Truth. — The principle of Pro-
testantism is the authority of the Intellect over
the Feelings — such is obedience to the Laws
of Nature and Revelation. Hence it is true
and progressive.

HI. Scepticism. — To complete the circle
of Belief, we must define the Religion of
Reason, if such can be called Religion. The
Rationalist faith is more negative than positive ;
his Religion and Philosophy may be compre-
hended in one word, doubt. Ask him if so
and so be true ; he will reply, it may be so, but
he does not know it. Of Positive Knowledge
he has none ; hence, his is not the Religion of
Intellect — which comprehends both Knowledge
and Reason — but of Reason alone.

The inevitable result of an exclusive reliance
on Reason is Scepticism. Without Knowledge
and Conscience, on which Reason is to act, the
c5

Rationalist soon reasons away his Reason; he
pursues an endless circle, and ends where he
began, in doubt. It is strange that it does not
occur to such that they may lose as much by

UNBELIEF as by OVER-BELIEF.

It may be asked if there cannot be a Ration-
alism which accepts of both Knowledge and
Reason ; we do not think there can. Religion
comes from the feelings in connection with
Reason ; now so long as the Rationalist refuses
to reason from the feelings as well as from
other facts, we do not see how he can have any
Rehgious Knowledge. Such is our reason for
defining; Rationalism to be the Relioion of Rea-
son, and not of the Intellect,

Since the Rationalist not only ignores Know-
ledge but the Feelings, his must be regarded as
the most imperfect of all forms of Religion.

But while we denounce Rationalism, it must
not be forgotten that the state of Religion, both
in Catholic and Protestant countries, has mainly
led to this. When we find Religion universally

professed, and all but universally set aside in
practice — for that which cannot be understood
cannot be practised — men are driven to Scep-
ticism; and if we desire to save this country
from that deluge of Scepticism which has taken
possession of Germany and France, we must
begin with reforming our faith, when the
Church, instead of driving men away, will draw
them to her. Scepticism arises from a muti-
lation of Nature : hence it is unnatural, and it
cannot long survive if the cause is withdrawn.
It is not without a reason that man will submit
to the self-dearadino; belief that he knows
nothing, — that Conscience is a deception. That
cause is doubtless the contradictory state of
ReHgious Doctrines; and if the Second Refor-
mation removes this Evil, the school of David
Hume will speedily die away.

Such are the three great categories of Belief:
the first, is the Religion of the Feelings; the
second, of the Intellect and the Feelings; and
the third, the Religion of Reason. Than these

three phases of Behef there can be no other,
and in one or other of these all Religions and
Creeds must be placed.

The Spiritualist virtually sets aside the Scrip-
tures, and in this he agrees with the Rationalist,
but there the resemblance ends ; but that coin-
cidence does not make a Spiritualist a Ra-
tionalist, as some have supposed.

The Catholic, Tractarian, Spiritualist and
Socialist all prefer the Feelings to the Intellect;
These systems may all be traced to the same
principle : we accordingly place them in the
first category, although in the development of
the feelings they all differ. This combination
may excite surprise ; but if these systems either
amalgamate or act in harmony with each other,
it will only be what we expect.

When we compare the Protestant with the
Catholic Faith on the one hand and with the
Rationalist on the other, the superiority of the
Protestant Religion must be acknowledged. It
alone embraces all the functions of Nature,

while its opponents are so defective that the
one ignores Knowledge and Reason, and the
other Knowledge and the Feelings.

The Protestant says to tlie Catholic, accept
the Intellect and join us, or reform your own
Church. To the Rationalist he says, submit to
Knowledge and respect the Feelings of Nature,
and no longer deny yourselves the blessings of
Religion.

We shall now confine our attention to Catho-
licism and Protestantism.

The Creed of our opponents is indulgence of
the Feelings, and denial of the Intellect, two
principles alike suited to a primitive state of
society, and very grateful to the natural man;
hence the success of Rome in all ages and
nations. The religion of the Protestant is
an inward warfare — Self-denial — a Religion
which can only flourish in an advanced state of
civihzation.

On the side of Rome is uncultivated Na-
ture— a Religion which is pleasant, and one

which unites men under a common head, but
along with this advantage, the Cathohcs have
to contend with moral and physical Evil.
This state of suffering will force the Catholics
to throw off the yoke sooner or later.

On the part of the Protestants there is Truth
and the physical and moral Good which at-
tends that principle. This Heavenly guide will
maintain harmony in the Protestant camp, to
the extent of the obedience rendered to its
dictates. To be successful, our warfare must
ever be aggressive, for obedience to Truth im-
plies exertion. The moment our educational
efforts are slackened, Nature steps in and
a I'evival of superstition is the consequence.
When the labour of the moral husbandman
ceases. Nature resumes its original state. It
is only by a sustained crusade against Ignorance
that the Protestant Religion can be maintained.
The Protestant has Original Nature against him
and Good with him ; the Catholic Original
Nature with him, and Evil against him.

These opposite Principles are the forces
which are to contest the battle of the Second
Reformation, and the issue of the conflict will
depend very much on the spirit in which the
Church of England meets the case. On her
rests an overwhelming responsibility; for the
course she takes in dealing with the Oxford
and Papal Aggression questions will probably
decide the fate of all the Churches of the
Reformation.

With this definition of the two Churches
there remains no longer any difficulty in dealing
with the Papal question, or of estimating the
future destinies of the two Churches ; for if we
have ascertained the respective causes of the
contending Churches, it ought not to be diffi-
cult to define and apply the remedy.

The Protestant must encourage knowledge
and LIBERTY. He must submit to the authority
of the Intellect, and deny the Feelings where
they come into collision with that faculty.
This conduct will consolidate and advance civi-

lization, and place Protestantism on a secure
basis. So much so, that ere very long Self-
denial will give place to that perfect balance
of the Intellect and the Feehngs — the supre-
macy OF THE CONSCIENCE — which is the inten-
tion of the Creator and the goal to which all
things tend.

This progressive state of the world will spee-
dily affect the Catholic Church. The reforming
spirit of the age will force the Catholics, like
the Protestants, to demand a Reformation of
their Churches — a demand which can only
be refused at the risk of the Catholic laity
joining the Protestants. Behold the signal for
the grand union of the Christian Church, when
there shall no longer be Protestant or Catholic,
but when the name of "Christian" will em-
brace the civilized world and unite all Churches
in one univei'sal Faith. Then the Bishop of
Rome will confine himself to his own diocese,
and there is an end of the Papacy. Then the
other Bishops and Clergy of the Catholic

Church throughout the world will regain their
liberty. Such is the glorious destiny which the
Protestants have in their power to realize.

Let it not be thought we are painting the
future in the lanouaoe of the enthusiast. Not
many years shall pass before the Work com-
menced by Luther three hundred years ago
shall be completed by the universal adoption
of the principles of the Protestant Church, if
the Protestants themselves are true to their
own principles, and accept the test of
TRUTH. Let private feelings give way before
the august majesty of Truth, and in thus obey-
ing the God of Truth our courage shall be
rewarded by the glory of delivering a world
from Error, Oppression, and Suffering ; and we
shall receive the reward of a good conscience,
which the world can neither give nor take
away.

It must not be supposed that this great work
can be achieved without adequate means being
set agoing and sustained.

We must never forget that, powerful as our
Engine — the intellect — is, that the FeeUngs
are also powerful, and have always been domi-
nant since the world began. The object of the
Protestant is to overthrow this rule, and substi-
tute the supremacy of the Conscience— a glo-
rious work, worthy of many centuries to com-
plete.

The means of Reformation are: — 1st. A Re-
formed and Extended Church; 2nd. National
Education ; 3rd. The material interests of the
Nation placed upon a secure basis of truth and
equity; (These Reforms have been fully ex-
plained by our chapter on Civilization;) and 4th,
A central Representative Body to w^atch over
and direct the energies of the entire Church
throughout the world.

The object of the Second Reformation is not
only the Reformation of the Protestant and
Catholic Churches, but the conversion of the
Heathen and Mahometan. To accomplish this
great work and mission, a seminary for the

instruction of Missionaries in every language
under heaven is required, and such must be
estabhshed in London or elsewhere. This Col-
lege of all Nations will form a nucleus and
medium by which every section of the Pro-
testant Church will be corresponded with, and
the respective wants of every Church and
Nation known. A meeting of delegates from
all nations must be called for the consi-
deration of such a plan of operations, and we
recommend the suggestion to the serious con-
sideration of the friends of the Protestant
Church, and of the great cause of Civil and
Religious Liberty.

Catholicism rests on opinion. Let Truth
penetrate the mass of fictions which compose
that system, and its errors and usurped power
will vanish. Truth shall at last prevail, not
only in the Catholic Church, but over error in
every Church and Nation.

CHAPTEH III.

HUMAN BELIEF

SUBJECTED TO THE TEST OF SCRIPTURE
AND THE TEST OF EXPERIENCE.

We now approach a very important and diffi-
cult part of our subject, but as all parties are
agreed that Scripture and Nature cannot dis-
agree, it is not a hopeless task. We know that
the remedy for Religious controversy exists,
and that its discovery will be made by some
one.

Man is possessed of two independent sources
of information, viz. Scripture and Nature. To

arrive at the Trutli, in the case of disputed
questions, it is necessary that both sources be
used. We must either take Nature for the
groundwoi'k of Religious BeHef, and make
Scripture the test of its revelations, or make
Scripture the basis and Nature the test.
Beheving as we do in Revelation, we adopt the
latter course.

A thing cannot be and not be at the same
time ; for instance, it is impossible that the
wind could blow east and west in the same
space and at the same moment. With this self-
evident maxim before us, we maintain that a
special Providence cannot be supposed to co-
exist with a general Providence. Such a com-
bination is either a physical impossibility, or
one that would be self-destructive. We know
the existence of a general Providence ; but as
there is an entire absence of evidence for a single
special act of Providence since the days of the
Apostles, we know nothing of a special Pro-
vidence.

Bishop Butler grants that the natural govern-
ment of the World is carried on by general
laws, as the following extracts show.

" The Natural Government of the world is
carried on by General Laws. For this there
may be wise and good reasons ; the wisest and
best, for aught we know to the contrary. * * *
We find that interpositions (Miracles) would
produce evil, and prevent good ; and, for aught
we know, they would produce greater evil than
they would prevent, and prevent greater good
than they would produce."

In addition to this visible system of Provi-
dence, the Bishop supposes there is an invisible
Providence, which may likewise be general.
This view is explained as follows : —

" The credibility that the Christian dispensa-
tion may have been, all along, carried on by
General Laws, no less than the course of Nature,
may require to be more distinctly made out.
Consider, then, upon what ground it is we say,
that the whole common course of nature is car-

lied on according to General fore-ordained laws.
We know, indeed, several of the general laws
of matter ; and a great part of the natural be-
haviour of living agents is reducible to general
laws. But we know, in a manner, nothing, by
what laws storms and tempests, earthquakes,
famine, pestilence, become the instruments of
destruction to mankind. And the laws, by
which persons born into the world at such a
time and place, are of such capacities, geniuses,
and tempers; the laws by which thoughts come
into our mind, in a multitude of cases, and
by which innumerable things happen, of the
greatest influence upon the affairs and state of
the world — these laws are so wholly unknown
to us, that we call the events, which come to
pass by them, accidental; though all reason-
able men know certainly, that there cannot, in
reality, be any such thing as chance ; and con-
clude, that the things which have this appearance
are the result of Gener(d laics, and may be
reduced into them. It is then but an exceeding

little way, and in but a very few respects, that
we can trace up the natural course of things
before us to general laws. And it is only from
analogy that we conclude the whole of it to be
capable of being reduced into them, only from
our seeing that part is so. It is from our I
finding, that the course of nature, in some re-
spects and so far, goes on by general laws, that
we conclude this of the rest. Now, if the re-
vealed dispensations of Providence, and mira-
culous interpositions, he hy general laws, as
well as God's ordinary government in the course
of nature, made known by reason and expe-
rience, there is no more reason to expect, that
every exigence, as it arises, should be provided
for by these general laws or miraculous inter-
positions, than that every exigence in nature
should, by the general laws of nature : yet there
might be wise and good reasons, that miracu-
lous interposition should be by general laws,
and that tliese laws should not be broken in
upon, or deviated from, by other miracles.

Upon the whole, then, the appearance of defi-
ciencies and irregularities in nature, is owing to
its being a scheme but in part made known,
and of such a certain particular kind in other
respects. Noio ice see no more reason why the
frame and course of nature should he such a
scheme, than lohj Christianity/ should." We
make no apology for the length of a quotation
so rich in the materials of thought as the one
now given.

Instead of saying that Divine Providence is
probably general, Reason calls on us to take
that for granted. Interpositions v/ould do more
harm than good; and a double system, carried
on upon opposite principles (if different they
must be opposite), would be destructive of each
other, and, therefore, incompatible. What is
usually called Special Acts of Providence are
doubtless nothing more than the results of the
General Acts ; for in every case, where these
results can be traced, their causes are general,
and not particular. No one doubts that a

general system of Providence is the ordinary
course of the Divine Procedure. That being
the case, special acts of Providence must form
the exceptions; and we maintain that Evi-
dence is required to constitute an exception.
This is the only safe course of Belief; and as
the view man takes of the acts of God is the
foundation of Human Belief, it is of vital im-
portance that the principle acted on be sound,
and such as Nature will not disown.

It is a most dangerous doctrine to assume
that there are two systems of Providence, and
in the absence of Evidence it is quite unwar-
ranted. This is the doctrine that the Roman
Catholics use in support of their Miracles ;* and
we need scarcely say that if the principle be
granted, they (the Catholics) have as much rea-

* " 'J'liis comes of it, — that there are two systems going
on in the world, one of Nature, and one above Nature ;
and two Histories, one of common Events, and one of
Miracles; and eacli system and each history has its own
order." — Newman's Lectures, 293.

son to believe their miracles as the Protestant
has for his. There is no doubt that Miracles
have ceased since the days of the Apostles, and
that all the acts of God, whether manifesting
themselves in outward things, or in the mind of
man, have either General effects, or are the
results of General Laws, and form one perfect
system of Providence, by which the Supreme
preserves and governs Man.

It is impossible to check the spread of super-
stition so long as a double system of Providence
is held, for that is a principle which admits of
any possible absurdity, and if Romish errors are
ever to be put down we must commence with
fixing what our own belief in Providence is ;
and with the opinion of Butler, that both sys-
tems are probably general, one would suppose
there exists no difficulty in granting the con-
clusion to which we have come.

Belief in a general Providence determines
the origin of all ev^ents. It says, that although
the institution of Grace, like the creation of
d2

the World, is supernatural, yet its effects in
Man are natural, and non-miraculous. Were
the acts of God particular and not general,
there could be no Foreknowledge and no
Wisdom and Prudence ; and to indulge in any-
other belief is to destroy foresight and know-
ledge in proportion to our belief in special
Providences.

The great cause of Evil has generally been
ascribed to Original Sin. We hold that its
true cause is Ignorance, or want of Know-
ledge.

We cannot practise right conduct with-
out Knowledge, except by instinct and chance ;
hence true practice is contingent on Know-
ledge. The WANT OF knowledge is therefore
the primary cause of Evil. This axiom is
undeniable.

There are two subordinate causes of Evil,
which we shall call secondary ; the first is,
WANT OF oppoRTrNiTiES : for practice must
from this cause, as well as from ignorance, ever

fall short of Knowledge. The other secondary
cause is sin.

When we possess the requisite knowledge,
and ivill not follow its dictates, then it is not
Ignorance, but the Willj which is at fault.
Knowledge and Practice not only affect the
acts of Man, but they increase and renew the
Will. It is Practice alone that makes and
fashions the Will — an evil Practice will make
a perverse Will, and vice versa. " They that
do the Truth, come to the light." — John, iii.

Than these three causes of Evil, viz. Ig-
norance, Want of Opportunity, and Sin, we
know of no other. And if the advocates of
Original Sin fail to point out any other cause
of Evil, we shall claim an award in favour of
" the Second Reformation."

We do not question the existence of Sin, nor
do we suppose that sin will ever entirely cease -,
but this we do assert, that when Knowledge is
increased, and the mists of Superstition and
Scepticism are removed from the minds of men,

Evil will cease in proportion to the increase of"
knowledge.

The Almighty has attached Reward to rir/ht
conduct, and Punishment to wrong conduct, viz.
Happiness and Unhappiness. When Education
is advanced and Truth generally known, all will
see it rtieir interest to obey its principles, be-
cause they will observe such to be the con-
stitution of things. In consequence of the Laws
of Nature it is the interest of every man to
practise that which is good — " Honesty is the
best policy." It is because Happiness is con-
nected with Justice and Truth, and the opposite
with Injustice and Error, that we look forward
to improved Practice in proportion to the im-
provement of Knowledge. It is thus manifest
that Knowledge is the primary requisite to secure
a greatly improved state of society, and one in
which Unhappiness will form the exception, and
not the rule, as at present.

Our Saviour found the world filled with
wickedness, in consequence of the unrestrained

indulgence of the passions and feelings ; and,
by preaching Righteousness, he published that
everlasting Gospel, which is destined to fill the
whole Earth, and deliver mankind from bond-
age, according to his promise, " Ye shall know
the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free "
— free from the dominion of the Passions and
Feelings, and free from Oppression and all the
Evils arising from Ignorance.

The purpose of the Supreme is to create a
race of Intelligent Beings. To effect this pur-
pose, external Nature, in all its variety of
adaptations, is created. When this nursery of
souls is prepared, Man, the object of creation,
is brought forth.

Upwards of six thousand years have rolled
on since man was planted on the earth ; and
although he has made great progress, there re-
mains much to be done — evil still exists in ex-
cess. Man must commence his career from a
state of abject ignorance; for his Creator could
not give him knowledge, and yet order that his

soul should be developed from this life. The
Soul is developed from Experience; therefore
Knowledge — the result of Experience — could
not be given by God. This is the reason why
Man is born in Ignorance, and why the race
must begin with the uncivilized state. Man
is here to gather in the experiences of Nature,
and transmit them to immortality. Nothing is
created in vain, and nothing lost.

God cannot create contrary to his own na-
ture, or perform any act that implies an abso-
lute contradiction — he could not grant to man
original knowledge, and at the same time ordain
that nature was to be the means of giving
the necessary knowledge. To give knowledge
would be to defeat the object of nature; hence
all tlie evils which come from ignorance are
unavoidable. Evils act as stimulants to man to
exert himself for their removal. Unhappiness
in all its forms is necessary for the develop-
ment of the soul; but it is not suffering, but
relief from suffering, that is good. It is certain

that nature is perfect, or it would long since
have gone out of order and ceased to exist. It
was not created in a cultivated state, but " in
a state of nature" that it was made over to
man. Nature was perfect as a scheme to pro-
gress and develope itself through the independ-
ent agency of man. As a means to a definite
end, creation is absolutely faultless.

The mission of man is to produce Good, or
reduce Evil. The laws of nature are the laws
of progress; and such are the capabilities of
man, that it is impossible to set any limits to
the conquests which shall yet crown his efforts.
The evil of original nature is the want of con-
trol over the feelings — this evil decreases as
the restraining power of intellect is evolved.
We therefore infer that the limit of perfection
on the earth will be reached when a perfect
harmony exists within the soul. The facility
given to education by the invention of printing
ought to hasten this consummation ; and we
believe that all that is wanting to put civili-
d5

zation in a healthy state for progress is a re-
formation in public opinion.

Man cannot obey what he does not know; he
has therefore to grope his way in the dark ; he
has to emerge step by step from ignorance, error
and superstition, to truth. His past history is
thus a tissue of disappointments ; and on look-
ing back on the history of the world, we must
acknowledge that ignorance, and not the will —
which depends on Knowledge and Practice —
has been the great cause of the slow progress
of man. For these reasons we conclude that
the origin of evil cannot be ascribed either to
God or man.

To ask why Ignorance exists, is to ask why
nature exists, for the existence of the one has
been shown to involve the other. If any one
will inform us why God could not create intelli-
gent beings without the creation of nature, then
we shall answer the question as to the existence
of evil. Until then, we must remain satisfied
with knowing that a thing cannot he and not

be at the same time ; for to this cause have we
traced evil, and beyond this point man cannot
go.

Conversion.

To satisfy the reader that Grace — the Divine
means of Conversion — is nothing more than
Divine Truth or Knowledge, and that its effects
operate inwardly without any miraculous or
supernatural agency, we adduce the following
passages in proof.

"The seed is the Word of God." — Luke,
viii. " Who shall ascend into Heaven," i. e., to
bring Christ down from above, " or who shall
descend into the deep," i. e., to bring Christ
again from the dead. But what saith it, " The
Word is nigh thee even in thy mouth, and in
thy heart, that is the Word of Faith which we
preach." — Rom. x. 7 and 8. " Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of
God."— V. 17.

These passages show that a miraculous con-

version is anti-scriptural, and that the Grace of
God is the Word of God.

" This is the condemnation, that hght has
come into the world, and men have loved dark-
ness rather than light." — John, iii. 18. "If I
had not come and spoken unto them they had
not had Sin, but now they have no cloak"
(or excuse) " for their Sin." If I had not done
among them the Works which none other Man
did, they had not had Sin." — John, xv. 22
and 24. From these extracts we learn that
Ignorance is the cause of Evil, and the Will
(arising from evil Practice) the cause of Sin —
Responsibility is here limited to Knowledge.

There is no word more apt to be misunder-
stood than that of " Spirit ;" and unless we study
the Bible with due regard to truth and con-
sistency, there is no escape from error. "Spirit"
sometimes means a Personal Spirit, and some-
times Character, Reason, and such like ; and as
the Bible has hitherto been left to be con-
strued according to any view that happened to

strike the mind of the casual reader, we need
not wonder that no two men agree on Religion.

It is especially necessary to have a new trans-
lation of the Scriptures, wherein " Spirit" where
it means character may be distinguished from
"Spirit" where it means a personal spirit; for,
until this be done, there can be no end of con-
troversy on the subject of conversion.

The Spirit of God is in those who obey the
Divine Will; but where there is no obedience
there can be no Divine Spirit, whatever the pro-
fessions or belief of men may be.

As a second cause God is responsible for no
act of man. St. Paul had a clear conception
of the double work involved in the process of
Conversion when he wrote these lines : " Work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God that worketh in you." — Pliil. ii. 12.
Conversion is impossible without God's work,
and it is equally impossible without man's, unless
by a Miracle.

If Miraculous Conversions were to be ex-

pected, the invitations of Christ would be mockery
and his mission vain. If salvation came from
special gifts of spiritual inspiration, God would
be a respecter of persons, a lover of some and
hater of others.

Conversion is either natural or supernatural.
If Christians choose the former creed they
agree to the Second Reformation, and if they
take the latter, they break down the great
difference in principle from the Roman Faith.
If any one is inclined to question our views of
Conversion, we must reply, by asking the ob-
jector to state whether Conversion is a Miracle or
not. If Miracles be granted no line can be drawn
between truth and error, for there is as much
proof for one Miracle as another- and Truth,
the Divine part of Nature, is forever foreclosed
and ignored. The evil of the undefined state
of Protestant Doctrines is now universally ac-
knowledged. There is, happily, too much light
now to allow this " half-way" state of the Pro-
testant Church to stand much longer, for again

we repeat that we must either advance boldly,
and entrench ourselves in Truth, or take refuge
in Rome.

The object of religion.

*' To love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart and soul is the first and great command-
ment, and the second is — To love thy neighbour
as thyself; on these two commandments hang
all the Law and the Prophets." — Matt. xxii. 37.
These words of our Saviour intimate what true
Religion is — they convey as precise a definition
of "Religion," "Righteousness," or "Right
Conduct," as language can give.

" If I had Faith to remove mountains, and
had not Charity (Love), my Rehgion is vain." —
Cor. 13.

Love to God and love to man, stimulated
and controlled by the Word of God, and by
Knowledge and Reason, produces the renewed
Soul. The emotion of love is the material of
Religion, and perfect love to God and man is

perfect Religion. From love — the creation of
God, and obedience — the work of man, all
Religion must come. The word of God pro-
duces the motive; hence Grace is the cause of
obedience.

That Grace may operate Man must feel his
constant dependance on the love and mercy of
God, — attributes abundantly set forth in the
person and work of Christ. " We all, as in a
glass, beholding the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image."

Belief or Faith is Truth received and
dwelling in the Soul. It is this Spirit of Grace
and Truth which affects the conduct and re-
news the will. Belief is necessary to Practice,
but Belief is not the object, but the means.
It is a very common mistake, in subtile ques-
tions like the present, to mistake the Cause for
the Effect; and if we suppose Behef to be the
object of Religion, or the sole ground of justifi-
cation, we commit that error. This will explain
those passages of Scripture which appear at first

sight to read as if Faith were the sinner's reli-
gion and justification.

Rehgion must be a thing to direct the con-
duct, or it is not Christianity. To suppose
that the object of Rehgion is to exalt God is
to annul the object of the Saviour, which was
to do good to man. The motive of God in the
gift of Christ is his own glory. His object is
the Regeneration of man. The object of man
is self-improvement, so that he may glorify his
Maker, and save his own soul.

It is only by obeying the Commandments
of Christ — to act in life from the motive of love
and justice — that we can glorify God. Mere
profession is nothing : "Not every one that
saith Lord, Lord, but he that doeth the will of
his Father, is accepted of him."

Let the gospel scheme of Redemption be un-
derstood, the conversion and civilization of the
world vdll go on satisfactorily. So little are we
in the habit of using the Understanding that we
do not recollect ever havino; heard the word

" understood" used in connection with Religion
except once. It is as necessary to understand
as to believe.

Before we can understancit Religion, or turn
it to profit, we must ascertain its object. Reli-
gion must have a definite object, or it cannot
be put in practice. The object of Religion must
either have reference to God or Man, for if it
has a definite object it cannot comprehend
both. Religion cannot be a reality to man in
tliis life unless its object has reference to his
Conduct.

Does faith in the assertion, that Man has
fallen and that Christ has atoned for that fall,
regenerate ? It does not. The Heart remains
as corrupt as ever. All admit this fact; but
it is excused, and brought forward as a tri-
umphant proof that original corruption is true,
and admits of no actual cure. The reason why
man does not improve is, that the object of
Religion is placed on Belief to the exclusion
of Obedience ; for unless the Laws of God are

obeyed it is certain there can be no improve-
ment and no regeneration.

Belief alone produces no inward change, but
when Belief and Practice go together a change
ensues. If this fact be never lost sight of, it
will guide the reader in safety through all the
intricacies of this much vexed but little under-
stood question.

In treating of Pluman Nature in our former
Work, it was discovered that a Good Expe-
rience, or Regeneration, was the object of life.
It was proved that man is susceptible of actual
Regeneration. This result is a proof of the
truth of Scripture, and the advantage to be
derived from comparing Scripture with Nature.
The object of Life and of Religion must be
substantially one, and when we name rege-
neration as the object of Religion we state a
truth to which all will assent.

The object of Life and of Religion is to im-
prove Original Nature, or to renew the Natural
Man. Born the slave of impulse, man is raised

above the natural state by the practice of Re-
ligion. As the natural herb is to the cultivated
plant, so is the natural man to the renewed
man.

Regeneration — the object of Religion — is a
fixed point. Place Justification where you will,
the object named remains the same ; for unless
the object of Religion be changed from Man
to God, (which deprives Religion of a practical
object,) Regeneration is the object. We there-
fore approach the difficult subject of " Faith
and Works" from a definite point, and one
which must determine the whole question.

John the Baptist preached Repentance, and
not Faith in imputed Righteousness. Our Sa-
viour followed, and his preaching corresponded
with John's in every respect. Had Christ come
for the purpose of furnishing in his own person
an ideal transference of righteousness, he would
certainly have said so; but on an examination
of the four gospels it will be found that Christ
is not only silent on the subject, but, on the

contrary, he insists on repentance and personal
righteousness as the only gate of heaven. He
speaks of his death as necessary for the Re-
demption of the world ; but that he taught the
people that they were to trust in his righteous-
ness, and not on their own obedience to his
Commandments, is directly opposed to the fact.

We should like to know what was the meaning
of calls to repentance and reformation if Man
had no power to repent and reform. Who was
so highly honoured with the revelations of
Christ as the apostle John; and as his Gospel
is the last written of all the books of the Bible
it would certainly have contained the doctrine
of Imputed Righteousness if that had been in-
tended as the object of Faith. Christ's Death
and Resurrection were necessary for the salva-
tion of the World, but that does not necessarily
involve so contradictory a doctrine as imputed
Righteousness.

We shall now be asked, if we can account
for certain passages in the Epistles which coun-

tenance the doctrine of imputed Righteousness.
Granting, as we do, the inspiration of the
Scriptures, we cannot undertake this; at all
events, not from the existing translation. But
this we do say, that the difficulties attending
the interpretation of the Scriptures vanish into
nothing by rejecting imputed Righteousness,
compared with adherence to that doctrine.

The zeal of the early Reformers, to deliver
their countrymen from the yoke of the Papacy,
led them into various errors, and none more in-
jurious than that of retaining Belief as the sole
ground of justification. To get rid of Devo-
tional works of merit, such as Penance, Con-
fession, Gifts to the Church, and the Forgive-
ness of Sins, granted by the Priests in ex-
change for these Works, they exalted Faith
so far beyond its proper office as virtually to
ignore the practice of right conduct — thus
the cure was worse than the disease ; an error
which has stopped the progress of the Re-

formation, and which will be its final ruin if
not speedily corrected.

Such is our view of justification. It is the
only one which harmonizes with Nature or
Scripture. "Ye see then, how a man is justified
by Works, and not by Faith only." — James, iii.
24. " Be not deceived, God is not mocked,
for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also
reap." — Gal. vi. 7. " Until the Law, Sin was
in the world, but when there is no law, Sin is
not imputed." — Rom. v. 13.

We ai'e aware that these quotations are not
alone conclusive, because there are others
which would countenance the opposite theory.
In this dilemma what are we to do but inter-
rogate Nature for a solution ? And when we
apply that test the whole difficulty vanishes, and
we agree with St. Peter, that " to fear God
and work Righteousness" is the whole Duty and
Religion of Man. — Acts, x. 34.

Not to detain the reader with any further
proofs, we may state generally that there is no

principle or conclusion of " The Second "Refor-
mation" which may not be substantiated by an
array of Scripture surpassing any Evidence that
can be found for the Orthodox Creed ; and if
this statement be doubted, let us have a system,
upon the orthodox or any other theory, that we
may subject it to a fair and impartial comparison
with our own.

THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN CHURCHES.

The Schism in the Church of England arises
from a difference of opinion on the office of the
Clergy. The high church party claim the con-
cession of a special divine authority to the
Priesthood, involving the exclusive right of in-
terpreting the Oracles of God, and the un-
churching of all churches, who do not claim a
similar origin. The Evangelical party see in
this demand the essence of Komanism and the
cancelment of the right of Private Judgment.
This claim is of course a betrayal of the prin-
ciples of the Church of England and of the

Protestant cause. It is an attempt to rear up a
Hierarchy and Church on the model of Rome
and of the Priesthood and Ceremonial of the
Mosaic Dispensation.

The notion of a Priesthood is either borrowed
from the Jewish worship, or arises from the error
of confounding the two systems. The Jews
had a hereditary Priesthood, a Daily Sacrifice
— the burning of Incense, and so forth — and
so have the Catholics. If the Jewish Heligion
is to be the model of the Christian Church,
we must pronounce in favour of the Catholic
form of worship. But as we cannot read the
New Testament without perceiving that Christ
came to put an end to the Jewish Church by
substituting the Christian religion, it follows,
that attempts to bring the Christian Church
under the bondage of rites and ceremonies,
after the Jewish fashion, are anti-Christian.
Such attempts must be denounced as St. Peter
did of old under similar circumstances. " Why
tempt ye God to put a yoke on the neck of the

Disciples, which neither our Fathers nor we are
able to bear?" — Acts, xv. 10.

The indiscriminate reading of the Old Testa-
ment in our Churches has tended to keep up a
veneration for the Jewish Worship which was
never intended, and dangerous to Christianity.
The two Dispensations are as opposite in their
characters as possible. The Jewish Religion
says, Go through certain prescribed acts of
Worship and your forgiveness is wrought out.
This answers to the Works of Merit of the
Catholic. The Christian Faith says, God is a
Spirit, and they who worship God must worship
him in Spirit and in Truth ; i. e., not in outward
acts of worship, but in the love and practice of
true Religion. Not merely in Jerusalem, or in
consecrated places, but everywhere, are the true
worshippers to w^orship the Father.

The Jewish Religion has accomplished the
purpose for which it was instituted — now let it
pass away ; why should they who inherit the
promises burden themselves with a system

wliich is not only forbidden, but ofl'ers no
advantages. The Reformation of Luther de-
livered the Christian Church from part of these
burdens. The daily sacrifice of an Atonement
was taken away, but Imputed Sin and Im-
puted Righteousness were left, which we main-
tain were as clearly borrowed from the Jewish
Religion as the Mass — and it is certain that
if Christ abolished the one, he also delivered
Man from the burden of the other.

" For if that first covenant had been faultless,
then should no place been sought for the second.
This is the covenant I will make with Israel ; I
will put my laws into their minds, and write them
in their hearts, and they shall not teach every
man his neighbour, and every man his brother,
saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me,
from the least to the greatest. In that he saith
* a new covenant,' he hath made the first old.
Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is
ready to vanish away." — Heb. viii.

If we desire to see a Reformation, and the
e2

speedy fulfilment of prophecy, we must begin
by clearing our minds from the error of mixing
up the Jewish with the Christian Church.
The fact that the Jewish Sabbath (our Satur-
day) has never been kept by the Christians,
ought of itself to show that there is no practical
connexion between the Church of the Jews and
the Church of the Christians.

CHAPTEE IV.

WEALTH.

Wealth is the surplus between income and
expenditure. It is the savings of Individuals.
Its production depends on two things, viz. In-
come and Expenditure.

The art of expending Income being less un-
derstood than that of producing it, we propose
to direct attention to " Expenditure."

Wealth expended on living is Unproductive;
that laid out on works — where a return is ex-
pected— is Productive. We shall begin with

Unproductive Expenditure.
Not only are expensive habits ruinous to the

Individual indulging in them, but the Nation
loses by extravagance. Unless expenditure is
kept under Income, Wealth cannot be in-
creased, and the public good is certainly not
consulted by expensive living. The necessary
expenses of Life is a constant drag on the in-
crease of Wealth. 2b live is the object of
Wealth, yet the necessity of labour cannot be
overcome but by the creation of a surplus. Now
as the diminution of Labour ought to be the
aim of Civilization, — that higher pursuits may
be substituted, — it is most desirable that ex-
pensive habits should be avoided both by the
rich and the poor.

It is generally supposed that the expensive
habits of the rich do good by the employment
afforded. If general good be meant, we dis-
sent in tuto to such a doctrine. If wealth
is not spent in luxuries, it will find its way to
productive employment, which will be a na-
tional gain, and special instances of loss will
merely be temporary, as operatives thrown out

of employment one day will soon find employ-
ment in more useful departments of industry.

Productive Expenditure.

Many believe that expenditure on productive
Works, such as Railways, Cotton Mills, &c.,
cannot be injurious to the national interests.

After the experience of 1847, it will not be
difficult to expose this fallacy.

If a Manufacturer overbuilds himself, he is
ruined, although his Works would have been
profitable if he could have spared the means.
He has not only gone beyond his own means,
but beyond what his credit warranted, and
although he struggles on for a few years, yet
the expense he is put to in borrowing money
on disadvantageous terms sweeps away the
profits, and when the first panic comes round
his failure is announced. This is probably the
cause of nine- tenths of the failures of Manu-
facturers. Never was there a greater fallacy
than to suppose that speculation may not be

disastrous, although it is such as ought to yield
a fair return for the capital laid out.

The same may be said of the Nation. If
the aggregate of Individuals (the Nation) over-
build themselves, as they did in 1847, general
distress and bankruptcy must ensue.

It may be laid down as a fixed principle,
that although an individual may go beyond his
capital by borrowing from his neighbour within
certain limits, yet a Nation cannot spend more
than its annual savings on Property without
producing Evil. If the annual savings of the
Nation be Sixty Millions, that sum ought to
cover the national expenditure on fixed Pro-
perty both public and private.

In 1845 to 1848 we expended a sum equal
to our savings on Railways alone, and as the
usual Works of the Nation went on at the same
time, Great Britain — in those disastrous years
— went beyond her means to at least double
the legitimate amount.

We will be asked if the money paid out by

the Banker one month did not return the next.
We answer it did not. The calls were per-
manently abstracted from the available Capital
of the Nation and sunk. We will next be
asked if by " sunk" we mean " lost." As re-
gards the present generation, the capital is lost.
After suffering unparalleled distress, consequent
on excessive Railway expenditure, it is poor
consolation to be told that our children will
reap the benefit of our ruin.

By the expenditure of 1846, 1847 and 1848,
one hundred and fifty Millions more than usual
were taken from the employers and consumed
by the employed. The workmen employed on
Railways expended treble what they formerly
had done. This new demand increased our
imports, and created a deficiency of Capital.
Bankers were unable to afibrd tiieir customers
the usual accommodation; Bankruptcy ensued,
and workmen were thrown out of employment.

To this Evil was added a succession of defi-
cient harvests, which still further swelled the
£ 5

deficiency of food, which had to be made good
by importation. From these two causes, 1st,
over expenditure on fixed Property; and 2nd,
bad harvests, do we owe a season of Bank-
ruptcy and Distress unparalleled in the history
of trade.

It was vainly supposed that the calls would
come back. The coin was certainly not sunk
in the embankments, but the food which the
coin purchased was consumed. If we only
leave out of view " the medium of exchange,"
there is no difl[iculty in perceiving how the hun-
dred and fifty Millions expended have been
permanently taken from the available Capital
of the Nation.

The World had found out a new method of
getting rich, and laughed at the remonstrances
of the Economists. Science was right, but the
Nation was much too self-willed to listen to her
warning voice. Parliament might have checked
the Evil by refusing to grant Railway Acts,
but it either had no faith in Science, or had

not the moral courage to put a negative on the
National Will.

It is certain that we cannot convert more of
our floating Capital into fixed Capital than our
annual savings will warrant without suffering-
loss, and no future promise of return can
palliate such a mistake.

Credit.

It is as natural that one man should lend his
savings to another, as impart his knowledge to
another. This granted, it may be asked how
far Modern Civilization is rioht in enforcing; the
rights of Creditors over their Debtors by penal
Laws.

Legal recovery for debts is doubtless an evil
— probably a necessary evil — which has led to
incalculable evil and misery. When law comes
in, honour goes out; and when we can leave
Nature at perfect freedom in respect to buying
and selling, great good may be expected.

We do not see how Commerce could be

carried on without some legal means of reco-
very for debts, but the power of the creditor
over the debtor might be relaxed with great
benefit to society. Future Legislation should
be so directed that the Law of Debtor and Cre-
ditor may be modified as far as circumstances
will allow. In respect of small sums, we think
the time has come when an experiment ought
to be tried, and until this is done, man's respect
for honesty will not have been put to the test.

If Legislation is an Evil, that Evil will de-
crease with the advance of Civilization, and the
future history of Legislation ought to be that of
repeal more than enactment. The object of
Legislation is not how many restrictions can be
borne by the People, but how few will suflice
for the ends of Government. Perfection is
simple. To simplify the Laws and abolish un-
necessary Laws ought to be the aim; and both
these maxims might be applied to our commer-
cial Code with great efiect.

Bank notes, Bills and Mortgages are all

means by which lending and borrowing are
facihtated. By Bank notes the Pubhc lend to
the Banks, and by Bills the Banks lend to the
Public, and so on.

We are now prepared to say what Capital or
Wealth is. Capital is anything that possesses
an exchangeable value, such as Lands, Houses,
Ships, Factories, Goods, Coin, &c. Bank notes
and other securities are Debts. These are not
capital, but only the evidence of Capital lent.
To the holder these securities represent part of
his property. In treating of Wealth it is im-
portant that Debts should not be mixed up
with Capital. It will simplify the science very
much if nothing but actual property was
counted on the one hand, and nothing but
debts on the other.

The debts of a Nation doubtless bear some
proportion to its capital. If the Bank notes,
Bills, Mortgages, and other debts, both public
and private, be added together, the sum would

probably be equal to what may be fairly called
" the floating capital of the Nation."

It is usual to divide Capital into two parts.
This is to a great extent arbitrary, as the only
difference between floating and fixed capital is
in degree. There is no real distinction between
the two kinds of Cajiital. The necessaries of
Life constitute the chief item of floating Ca-
pital; and it is only because goods are more
easily converted into money than heritable Pro-
perty that there is any distinction between the
two descriptions of Capital.

To show that Currency and Wealth are two
distinct things, we need only mention that the
Coin in circulation does not exceed fifty mil-
lions, whereas the floating Capital alone will be
ten times that amount. A small quantity of
coin in proportion to the business transacted is
only required, and if we would keep the me-
dium of exchange out of view when we become
political economists, we would find no difficulty
in dealing with questions relating to Wealth.

Coin.

What is a pound ?

To this question we cannot answer it is
twenty shiUings, for that would lead us to the
question, what is a shilling, and so on.

In reply to the question, we say that a
pound is a measure of value arbitrarily chosen,
but universally agreed on. By this measure
the relative value of every article of commerce
is ascertained. The present value of a pound
is the weight of gold contained in a sovereign
at £3 : 175. lOhd. an ounce.

This " measure" being arbitrarily chosen, it
may be altered at pleasure, without affecting
the real value of commodities — the value of
which is not arbitrary. To change the esta-
blished measure for ascertaining values is un-
desirable, as it would be a long time before the
Public could learn to convert values by a new
measure.

Currency is the coinage of a Nation. It
either consists, or ought to consist, of coins equal

100

to the value of the metal of which they are
composed.

The measure of value of Great Britain is the
weight of gold contained in a sovereign at
£3 : 17s. \Ohd. per ounce. If the price of gold
falls under that price, and the weight of the
coin remains unaltered, a change in the mea-
sure of value is the result.

Having stated the principle upon which
"currency" rests, we proceed to examine those
circumstances which will speedily call for con-
sideration and legislation.

The annual produce of gold has been trebled
since the discovery of the mines of California
and Australia; and this liberal supply may be
expected to be maintained, if not increased.
It is no longer a question whether the price of
gold will be reduced, but what the contem-
plated reduction may be.

The Bank of England will soon find itself in
the position that she must demand release
from the obligation laid upon her to purchase

101

gold at a fixed price. When this may occur, it
is diflScult to foresee, but it cannot be far dis-
tant. When the Bank is set at liberty, the
price of gold will of course go on receding
until it finds its level, like any other article of
commerce.

What ultimately regulates the price of any
article is the cost of production. In the
case of mines, the plentifulness or scarcity of
profitable fields afl^ects the price; but with the
single exception of gold, no important metal
has long maintained the position of being a
monopoly. Gold has at last ceased to be such.

Gold-fields seem to be inexhaustible, and in
future the cost of production will be the chief
regulator of its price. Taking this for granted,
a great reduction in the price of gold may be
expected in the course of the next few years.
That gold will fall to one-half its present value
there is no doubt; but if it falls much below
that point, the production would probably fall
off, and the price recover.

102

No alteration in the price of gold can affect
the real value of Property or Commodities, but
if we wish to retain our present measure of
value (a pound) unaltered, legislation will be
necessary.

If gold is allowed to fall in price, public and
private creditors would suffer injustice. Debts
contracted when the sovereign was worth one
pound sterling would — in the event of Gold
falling to 40s. an ounce- — be payable with
sovereigns worth only half a pound.

There is a simple method by which this evil
may be avoided without loss or inconvenience.
Let the weight of Gold and Silver coins be
subject to increase or decrease in weight ac-
cording to the selling price of gold and silver.
Let the present weight of the sovereign and the
present price of gold remain the standard, and
all changes of weight calculated therefrom.

Suppose a fall of ten per cent, in the price of
gold, all the government would have to do
would be to call in the sovereigns and re-issue

103

them of a weight ten per cent, greater, and so
on with every important change. This would
always keep the sovereign at the same value (a
pound), and even the apparent price of Pro-
perty and goods would be insensible to any
change in the value of the precious metals.

The value of Silver depends mainly on the
cost of production; for this reason it is un-
likely that any change in the value of Gold can
seriously affect it. If it were desirable to
maintain the old system of a fixed value of the
precious metals, the standard might be trans-
ferred from Gold to Silver. This, however, is
very undesirable. Money panics have ever ex-
hibited great embarrassment to the strong as
well as the weak, and while this anomaly con-
tinues, it is prima facie evidence that something
is wrong.

Whether it be true or not that money panics
are brought on by the arbitrary acts of the
Bank, in connection with the maintenance of a
forced value of gold, it would be a pity — when

104

a change is imperative, at any rate — if we did
not take the opportunity of exchanging a doubt-
ful system for one which is safe, because it is
natural.

Under the system suggested, neither trade
nor property could be affected by the rise or
fall of Gold, whereas under the present system
trade is ever exposed to sudden panics from
any slight derangement of the foreign ex-
changes.

Such is all that seems necessary for the pre-
sent work on the important subject of Wealth,
and the result is,

1. That the Wealth of the Nation depends
on Prudence as well as Diligence; that if men
go on spending to the utmost of their means,
there can be no relief from Labour and Com-
mercial Distress ; that it is a fallacy to sup-
pose that expensive habits produce aught but
evil.

2. That money spent on fixed Property is
actually sunk. When this expenditure exceeds

105

the savings it is productive of Commercial dis-
tress. Individuals may go beyond their sav-
ings or means by borrrowing within legitimate
limits, but a nation cannot without producing
Evih

3. That the legalized price of Gold ought
immediately to be abolished, and an act substi-
tuted by which the Government would be au-
thorized to vary the weight of the several coins
of the realm, so as to counteract any rise or fall
of the price of the precious metals.

106

CHAPTER V.
LEGISLATION.

I. Universal Free Trade.
It is obvious, that so long as Custom and
Excise Duties are levied, perfect Free Trade
is impossible. To set Trade completely free
from the shackles of tariffs we must resort to
Direct Taxation. When this grand Reform
is accomplished, there will be a unity of in-
terests affecting the producer and consumer,
and between the agriculturalist, the manu-
facturer and the merchant. National interests
will no longer be divided against themselves,

107

and the industry and prosperity of all will
increase the national wealth.

Some will rej)Iy, that a perfect Free Trade,
and the absence of clashing interests, would do
very well if other Nations would follow the
example. We grant that the question of Free
Trade, like all great questions, cannot be dis-
cussed without reference to other nations — for
a nation is only a member of the community of
nations — it will, therefore, be necessary to
examine this objection.

If an individual produces more wealth than
he spends, he enriches the nation, and if a
nation produces more than it spends, that en-
riches the world ; and if Free Trade be good
for one country, it must be good for the world
at large. We do not doubt that the benefit
would be greater if all nations acted upon right
principles as well as ourselves ; but because
others will not do right, that is no reason why
England should not. In the case of Free
* Trade, it will be shown that universal FreeTrade

108

is England's best policy, although no other
nation followed.

The more corn or anything else we produce
from our own soil the better. If Free Trade
affects the quantity produced, it will be to in-
crease it. The effect of Foreign competition is
either to increase Production, or to annihilate it.
The soil and climate of England — for raising-
crops — will challenge comparison with any other
country in the world. This being the case, it is
evident that native agriculture can never cease.
The effect of Free Trade must be to stimulate
the produce. If a farm does not pay at free-
trade prices, exertions must be used to make
the farm produce more. Increased supplies
from our own soil is the natural result of Free
Trade.

As regards Wages, we have nothing to fear,
for such are as low in England as in most
countries, especially if we recollect the amount
of work given.

" Protection" taxes the Consumer for the

109

benefit of the Producer. To keep up the price
of Provisions limits the sale of manufactures,
and the employment of labour, — Trade lan-
guishes,— Wealth does not increase, and Pro-
perty falls in value.

The adoption of perfect Free Trade by England
would do some good to the foreigner at first ;
but very soon it will place England in the
proud position of having no rival. If England
adopts universal Free Trade, and the other
nations do not follow, she will become the
cheapest country in the world, and the only
one where Manufactures can be produced for
export !

This result, however, is' neither what we
expect nor desire. A few more years' expe-
rience of a triumphant Free Trade will convince
all nations of the folly of " Protection," and
the result will be that a perfect Free Trade in
England will produce the same all over the
world.

Protection is unnatural, — it is an arbitrary

110

interference with the Laws of Nature, and being
such we have only to set Nature free from the
trammels of Tariffs to deliver the world from
the pecuniary loss which arises from Protection,
and the mass of suffering consequent on that
loss.

In America wages are high, owing to the
inexhaustible supply of unappropriated lands.
While land can be got for nothing — yielding
a fair return for labour — the labour market
cannot be overstocked, and good wages are
maintained. For this reason, we are of opinion
that Manufactures cannot flourish in America
without a high tariff to protect them.

Congress will ere long be compelled to de-
clare definitely for or against Free Trade. To
reduce wages is neither desirable nor possible
so long as unappropriated lands remain ; but
let not the Americans imagine that their only
resource is to maintain or increase their Tariff.
To this doctrine we demur.

America may be obliged to cease to manu-

Ill

facture. An infant Nation, possessing a soil
only partially settled, has not avrived at the
point when it can divert its attention from
Agriculture — its legitimate pursuit — to Manu-
factures. If America decides for Protection,
she may cover the country with Factories,
and shut out the imports of England. By
gaining trade in the one way, she will lose it
in another; but if that were all, the gain in the
one case might possibly balance the loss on the
other.

The Protection policy taxes the American
Public to an extent which cannot fail to retard
the progress of the nation. Native Manufac-
tures, produced by the employment of workmen
at double the wages paid in England, will keep
the price of clothing, machinery and imple-
ments at a much higher price than they would
otherwise be. If the savings of any nation are
absorbed by high prices paid for the necessaries
of life, the accumulation of wealth is impossible;
and every one knows that the disadvantage
f2

112

America labours under is the want of accumu-
lated Capital.

If America decides for Free Trade, her pro-
sperity ought to exceed that of any other nation.
In the receipt of high wages, the people will be
supplied with manufactures and all the neces-
saries of life nearly as cheaply as in England :
hence the increase of wealth must go on in
America in a double ratio compared with any
nation in Europe. Let America allow Trade
to take its natural course and Agricultural
pursuits will realize every reasonable expecta-
tion. By sending us Corn and taking our
Manufactures in return, the Americans will
consult their own interests, whereas by Protec-
tion they will increase their own burdens while
they deprive us of their trade.

Such is the state of the Free Trade question
— a subject which has long occupied the atten-
tion of our Legislature. The initiative must
have been taken somewhere, and the honour
of being the first nation to adopt Free Trade

113

principles belongs to England, and furnishes
by far the brightest page of British history.

It is generally supposed that the great debt
of England presents a barrier to Perfect Free
Trade; but since the experiment of the present
Income Tax that idea is fast dying away. We
have only to extend the present Income Tax
to about three times its present amount, and
make no exemptions, and the annual sum ne-
cessary for defraying the interest of the debt
and the national expenditure is produced. It
is a mistake to suppose that men would grudge
a direct tax. They would soon discover that
they had less to pay directly, than they now
pay indirecthj, and, besides the direct saving,
there are few who would not derive an indirect
benefit arising from the increase of trade con-
sequent on the change.

The Landlords and Farmers ought especially
to advocate such a settlement. Direct Taxation
will free them from the prohibition of growing
Tobacco, — from the IMalt and other taxes

114

which bear heavily on the land, and from the
Assessed Taxes.

Complete Free Trade will extinguish Poor
Laws. By maintaining class interests, the
Landlords are paying in the shape of Poor
Rates the penalty of class legislation. By
abolishing these interests, the landed interest
will be released from the burden of rates which
are severely felt at all times j and which would
involve that interest in universal ruin, when-
ever a great calamity befel the Nation. The
Land is the ultimate resort in case of need,
and as favoritism must produce Evil, such
must fall somewhere, and ultimately that must
be made good by the holders of Land. If the
Landlords understand their own interests, they
will demand a change of Taxation and uni-
versal Free Trade. It is their right, and they
have only to make their wishes known, to
carry a Reform which will settle the question
and place all the interests of the nation upon a
permanent basis.

115

II. Electoral Reform.

We now approach a subject — less important
than the one we have left — but one which oc-
cupies more of the attention of the nation than
any other question. Man is naturally prone
to attend to things which affect his feelings
more than his interest. It is thus alone that
we can account for the fact, that the attention
of the nation has been diverted from many
practical Reforms — to a Reform which after all
may disappoint its advocates.

Universal Suffrage.

This demand is just, and we believe the time
has arrived when it may be granted with safety
and benefit to the Constitution. One man has
as much right to vote for a Representative as
another. Arbitrarily to exclude any class is
a mark of reproach; hence the feeling which
tlie working classes have ever evinced on this
question. We do not expect much good from

116

the extension of the Franchise in the shape of
better legislation ; but as it will reconcile the
industrious classes to the aristocracy, the con-
cession of universal suffrage may be looked
forward to as a great National Reform. For
ourselves, we should have as much confidence
in the fidelity and judgment of a House elected
by the middle classes as in one where the po-
pular element preponderated.

We do not believe that Universal Suffrage
will make much change in the present House
of Commons. If it changes fifty seats, it is
the utmost we expect. It will have this effect,
however, that the popular Will will bear more
directly on its Members; and if fears are enter-
tained that popular opinions without, will have
too great a sway within the House, the Govern-
ment must look to the education of the People
— the great bulwark and safety of the State.

Electoral Reform is looked forward to as the
cure for every evil which attaches to Govern-
ment. Class Interests are to vanish before

117

Universal SuflVage, the Ballot, and Elecloral
Districts.

We shall by and bye call attention to the
remedy for Class Interests, meantime we shall
show that Electoral Reform is not that remedy.

It is chiefly improved Public Opinion which
carries Reforms, and if so, improved Legisla-
tion does not depend on Electoral Reform. We
believe Mr. Cobden would have carried his
Corn Bill with nearly as much ease before, as
after the Electoral Reform of 1832.

If the National Will was more likely to be
correct than that of the Aristocratic and Mid-
dle Classes, and if the representatives of the
people were less exposed to the temptations of
self-interested motives than men of independent
fortune, then we should expect nothing but
good from Electoral Reform; but as we have
serious doubts on these points, we cannot look
to Electoral Reform as an infallible remedy for
Class Interests. The Popular Will is often
arbitrary, and always liable to error. For this

118

reason, it is essential to the maintenance of
Liberty that the House of Commons should
not be a mere echo of the Popular Will. Par-
liament must possess an independent Will, and
when it sees right to put a negative on the
National Will it ought to exercise a power
which is the only check to a danger which is
inseparable from popular Governments.

While we would freely grant to every man
the right of voting for a member of parliament,
we would only do so upon condition that the
House of Commons is not made a mere
Meeting of Delegates, but a body possessing
an independent voice. This principle con-
ceded, we apprehend no danger, but much
good, from Universal Suffrage.

The Ballot.

The scenes of debauchery and immorality
which periodically degrade the Nation is a
dreadful evil. The bad habits acquired at a
single Election are enough to ruin a whole

119

lifetime of previous morality. Elections are a
necessary evil, and all that can be done is to
make them as harmless as possible.

While the number of Electors is limited, the
Ballot appears to be the only cure for bribery;
but when voting is universal, we scarcely think
the security of the Ballot would be required.
We do not expect that bribery and unfair influ-
ence will entirely cease in any case; but with
Universal Suffrage we question if the evil will be
such as to call for secret voting, — which is not
desirable, if it can be avoided. It is supposed
that stringent Bribery Acts is the only way to
put down Bribery; but if Nature be studied,
such an opinion may be questioned. We would
have legal penalties attached to Bribery re-
laxed rather than increased. Public Opinion is
a much more effectual protector of the elector,
and this check will come more and more into
play as the legal protection is withdrawn. All
men naturally feel a horror of fraud and bribery,
and the fact of unfair means beinsr used has

120

only to be known, to raise a storm of indigna-
tion against the party using such. In this way
the practice of bribery and unfair proceedings
at elections would probably decrease. If not,
we should prefer resorting to the Ballot as a
remedy to a more stringent Bribery Act.

In America they have Universal Suffrage in
connection with the ballot and a bribery act.
If Universal Suffrage was tried in England
without these adjuncts, we cannot doubt the
experiment would be successful.

The Duration of Parliaments.

It is dangerous to place the opinions of
Members too much in the power of their con-
stituents, which would be the case if the dura-
tion of Parliaments was too much restricted.
With Triennial Parliaments a representative
would not be a free agent, he would always
have to look to the next Election. If the
People remember that they are fallible as well
as others, and how often the Popular Will has

121

been wrong, they will concede this point.
What is the British Constitution but a system
of checks; and the check on the popular voice
by the Septennial Act is one of the most effi-
cient. If the Aristocracy concede the Suffi-age,
the People must concede the seven years Par-
liament, and upon this basis a final settlement
of the question may be expected.

Electoral Districts.

We are favourable to a revision of the Sche-
dule of the Reform Bill, so as to improve the
distribution of Members; but we deprecate the
proposal of mapping out the country into de-
partments, as in France.

Centralization in all its forms is objection-
able. Let us reform, but not destroy, the
Constitution. The interests which surround
town and country politics must not be swal-
lowed up in the vortex of a single Assembly.
We must cherish and respect our independent
Municipal Institutions as well as our inde-

122

pendent House of Commons. There is no
necessity to allot Members by square and rule;
and even if that was the case, we should like
to know where such a rule is to be found. If
it was attempted to make Population the crite-
rion, the result would excite such a storm of
opposition whenever its effects were known, as
to defeat the proposal. The importance of
Scotland demands that she should have thirty
or forty more Members, — which would fall to
be taken from England. But this claim —
nothing more than justice — cannot be main-
tained, if " Population" is to be the sole crite-
rion.

The distribution of Members must be to a
great extent arbitrary. While Population ought
to be the chief element, the interests to be re-
presented must likewise be considered.

^^^CE A

123

III. Church Affairs.
Toleration.

This is a principle more admired in theory
than acted on in practice. Toleration is ano-
ther word for Justice and Liberty, and on it
progress in civilization depends.

To maintain Toleration is to refuse to per-
secute. We must lay it down as an unalter-
able maxim, not to do evil that good may
come.

Parliament will be asked to consent to two
measures, which will test its principles on this
point. The Catholics will solicit the repeal of
the Titles Act, and the Protestants the repeal
of the Endowment of the College of May-
nooth. With regard to the Titles Act, it is
certain that if Territorial Titles had been
assumed by Protestants, no Bill would have
been called for. It is therefore owing to the
fact that Catholics — acting upon orders from
Rome — have taken that step, that the Titles
Bill owes its existence. In these circumstances

124

we must consider the Ecclesiastical Titles
Bill to some extent an Act of Intolerance; but
for the Papal Bull it would have been entirely
such.

The Pope and Cardinals have assailed the
rights of the Nation by their Papal rescript
But provocation is not an excuse for a wrong
act, and if the Pope went wrong, that is no
reason that an enliohtened Nation like Eng-
land should follow a bad example. The Papal
Aggression on the rights of the Crown calls
for a Protest — it may be of War — and the
former would be effected by a declaratory Act.

The Titles Bill supplies the Catholics with
an excellent pretext for agitating the Nation
against the Government. By the Catholic de-
mand for its repeal, the Protestants are unfortu-
nately placed in the position that they cannot
say their opponents are wrong. The result will
soon show that an error has been committed,
and w'e should say that the sooner theTitles Bill
is exchanged for a Declaratory Act the better.

125

To act upon the Law, by prosecuting the con-
tumacious Bishops, would only make the case
worse, and if this be so, we cannot see what
good retaining the Bill can do, but to place a
weapon in the hands of the Catholics to our
own confusion.

With respect to the Maynooth Grant, we
must say the attempt to repeal it is ill-judged.
The endowment of that College is as much a
part of the law of the land as anything else,
and to disturb that endowment without a suffi-
cient reason must be regarded as an act of in-
tolerance. Its repeal would do the Protestant
cause more harm than good, and by irritating
one section of the Nation against another, the
national interests would be sacrificed. We
doubt not Parliament will look upon the pro-
posal in this light.

Ecclesiastical Revenues.
Church Reform — which has been more fully
explained in our former work, — must be
planned, not upon the principle of giving as

126

little as possible, but of making the Church
Estabhshment as perfect as possible. Some
think that, improve her as we may, the fate of
the Establishment is sealed. This we do not
think. One thing is certain, that her future
stability and prosperity depend on the adop-
tion of a large and comprehensive measure of
reform.

The present emergency supplies a favourable
opportunity for a radical Reform ; but if a
Reform of 'patch-worli be substituted, the
hopes of the enemies of the Church will be
realized.

We are of opinion that the Revenues of the
Church ought to be transferred to the State,
or to a Central Fund, and that the Clergy
should in future be paid directly from the Ex-
chequer, or from such Fund. We would have
each living valued, and a definite amount as-
signed to each Incumbency. The object of this
Reform is to remove questions as to " vested
rights" and disputes between the Clergyman and

127

his flock as to Tythes and Church Rates. Tliis
reform may be thought an unnecessary change,
yet how any adequate Church Reform could
be effected without it we cannot imagine.
Many hvings must be raised or reduced, and
this could not be satisfactorily done except
through some new medium.

The position of the payers of the Revenues
has been much altered by the Corn Law Abo-
lition Act. This supplies another reason why
the Clergy should cease to receive Tythes.
But the great advantage of this Reform is that
the Clergyman could never be in/olved in dis-
putes with his flock, and when we remember
the battle which the Establishment has to en-
counter, it will be found that too much has not
been demanded.

Class Interests.

The People have as much right to vote for a
Clergyman as for a Member of Parliament,
and this right must be conceded. We look for

128

a great increase of Pastoral superintendence
from this reform, and a consequent increase of
Godliness among the People. To say that the
change is undesirable — because the People will
often differ in their choice — is an objection
which applies to all popular elections. If the
objection be valid, the People may be deprived
of their right to elect members of parliament
and of town councils. Objections of this de-
scription may always be traced to interested
motives, but no intelligent man will be misled
by such.

We have heard a great deal about Class
Legislation, but it occurs to us that the mys-
tery calls for further explanation before it is
fully understood.

The Law gives to the aristocracy a right to
appoint the Pastors of the Churches. This is a
notable instance of class legislation. The Law
of Primogeniture — by which landed Property
stands upon a different basis from other Pro-
perty as regards succession, is another in-

129

stance of class privileges; the Law of Entail
another.

Class Legislation is an anomaly not easily
accounted for in a free country like Britain.
This we shall now explain.

A tacit compact must be conceived as having
subsisted between the aristocracy and the
church. The aristocracy supports the Church
Establishment on condition that they appoint
the clergy, and of course the clergy support the
aristocracy. Such is the only way in which
we can account for the fact that — in these
days of freedom and reform — such class pri-
vileges should exist.

This compact is happily virtually at an end.
When the abolition of the Corn Laws took
place it was avowedly broken. That Act may
be regarded as the commencement of the
Second Reformation. All things since that
great Reform have tended to the reduction of
class privileges. After that great event, the
admirers of the close system will find it useless

130

to contend against the consequences of that
act. The Aristocracy has now nothing to gain
by making sacrifices for the clergy, and the
clergy have no inducement to support the old
system, and they no longer consult the wishes
of the aristocracy. Such are the evidences of
the coming Reformation, and such the natural
consequences of the Reforms of 1842 and 1846.
On the question of Church Patronage, the
final battle of Class Privileges will be fought.
Unfair privileges cannot be granted to any in-
dividual or class without damaging the interests
of other individuals and classes. Were it not
for this imperative law of Nature, there could
be no objection to any amount of class legis-
lation. The evils entailed on society by class
privileges are too numerous to be named. 1. Its
direct effect is to fill the offices of the Church
and State with men without reference to their
fitness, hence a prolific cause of inefficient pub-
lic service. 2. The indirect effisct is, that every
question of reform is judged, not on its own

131

merits, but with reference to its bearing on what
is called the Constitution of Society — but what
is really the compact between the Church and
the Aristocracy. To the latter of these causes
we attribute the unsatisfactory and non-pro-
gressive state of Public Opinion. We have
already noticed the impossible condition under
which Moral Philosophy labours by separat-
ing Theology from other Science. By this se-
paration knowledge and civilization are effec-
tually stereotyped. We have now arrived at
that point when we may expect to trace the
reason of this extraordinary state of " Know-
ledge."

Science cannot advance while it is deprived
of primary facts on which the Intellect may
act, and we shall now show that the existence
of class interests is the reason why Theology
and Science are kept apart. Tiuth and Justice
are omnipotent when darkness is withdrawn,
and when the Intellect of the people is de-
veloped by the knowledge of true religion

132

Class Privileges cannot stand a day. The
privileged classes have a direct interest in
keeping Science and Theology apart, for so
long as they are separate the Truth cannot be
discovered, and this fact explains the anomaly
that a separation — involving a serious infringe-
ment of the rights of the Conscience — should
have been so long tolerated.

Let class interests cease, neither the Church
nor the State will have any inducement to shun
the Truth, and Science and Religion will no
longer be called antagonists. The public good
will then be the object of all good men. Pa-
triotism will supplant Selfishness. It will then
be as natural for men in power to seek the
public good as it once was to consult the in-
terests of classes.

Government in this country, prior to the
adoption of Free Trade and direct Taxation,
had well nigh extinguished patriotism — the
prelude to the fall of any nation. The adoption
of Free Trade has happily restored the days of

133

patriotism, and when that which still remains
of the old system is erased from the Statute
Book — by reformation of Public Opinion, and
by the consequent abolition of Class Interests,
patriotism will become universal, and usher in
a millennial age.

Class interests will soon be numbered among
the things of the past, when it will be found
that we have not unduly magnified the Evil.
How can the Established Church be either
popular or useful while its Clergy are placed
over the People without their consent ? That
the People should have submitted to such an
enormity so long only shows their power of
endurance under suffering and injustice. To
obtain the faithful discharge of parochial duties,
it is necessary that the People should have
some controul. The ordination of the Bishop
or Presbytery on the one hand, and the call of
the People on the other, are the proper checks
on the election of Pastors. The former pre-
vents the People from electing an improper

134

Person, and the latter secures to the People
the election of a suitable Pastor.

Rome is making rapid progress among the
lower orders, owing to the great mass of the
People being left like Sheep without a Shep-
herd ; and the only way to cure this Evil, and
supply the spiritual wants of the People in an
adequate manner, is the abolition of private
Patronage.

We shall be told that the good which "Class
legislation" gives overbalances all the evils un-
avoidably mixed up with it. This is possible,
and it is for the advocates of class privileges to
state what this mysterious good is.

The good said to come from the aristocratic
principle of government is, that without it go-
vernment would be impossible. It is easy to
make assertions of this kind, but when reasons
are appealed to, their arguments are found to
be hollow.

Many are misled by the cry " The Consti-
tution is in danger."" But when such false

135

alarms are examined, their origin may be
traced to interested parties. When the lOL
franchise was granted, the end of the Con-
stitution was come ; and when the Burgh Cor-
porations were opened up, and the election
placed in the hands of the people, all hope was
gone. Nothing could be more encouraging
than the result of these Reforms ; and to them
and the abolition of the Corn Laws we owe the
Chartist failure of the 10th of April, 1848.

Once more we shall hear the cry — " The
Constitution is in danger" — " The Church is
in danger;" and again it will be found, that in-
stead of the Reforms which elicit such fears de-
stroying the Constitution, they will save it. It
is not less certain that Truth will excite opposi-
tion, than that the results will be crowned with
success !

With private interests to maintain, partisans

may well fear the additional influence which

Universal Suffrage will give to the popular

voice. But if it be resolved to grant the just

136

demands of the nation, nothing is to be feared
from the enfranchisement of the People.

Disaffection arises mainly from the abuse
of power, of which class legislation is the
type ; and unless it can be shown that the past
history of legislation has been free from this
stain, it is a fallacy to suppose that the insub-
ordination of the masses will continue. Let
the sufferings of the People be relieved to the
full extent which impartial laws would give,
and the People will have nothing to complain
of, and Disaffection will give place to Peace
and Contentment.

Character and wealth will ever command
respect, and we doubt not the aristocracy will
continue to be the party in whom power will
chiefly be entrusted ; and if universal suffrage
does not make any appreciable change in the
present House of Commons, this opinion will
be confirmed.

If we desire to grant peace and contentment
to the people and reduce the standing army,

137

we will make the necessary concessions to the
People. We have heard it stated by men who
ought to know better, that without an undue
influence given to the aristocracy, the Crown
would be in danger, and England must be
turned into an encampment of troops; but
when the question is looked into, the reverse is
the fact. To grant universal suffrage, and for
ever abjure class legislation, will be to deliver
the country from Disaffection, when the army
may be reduced with perfect safety. There is
no conclusion in this work on which we can
speak more confidently than the one to which
we have now come.

We have now passed in review the leading
questions of interest, and shall conclude with a
remark or two on Legislation in general.

Legislation is a necessary evil. The order of
Nature being from Error to Truth, legislation
will be reduced as Civilization advances. The
Law which governs Right Legislation is obedi-
ence to the Divine Laws. No Law which in-

138

terferes with the Laws of Nature can either be
just, true or expedient.

The office of Human Legislation is to "protect
not to repeal the Laws of God. Ignorance and
selfishness require to be guarded against by
legislation so long as Civilization remains un-
developed, and such is the office of the State.

The wellbeing and progress of a nation
mainly depends on two things, viz. Public opi-
nion and Legislation. Legislation cannot be re-
formed without a reformation in Public Opinion,
nor can Public Opinion entirely throw off its
shackles so long as Class Legislation remains.
These two facts show the intimate relation
which Opinion holds to Politics. The one
cannot make much progress without the other,
for they never cease to act and react on each
other.

Pressure from without acts on Government,
concessions are made, and Public Opinion is
relieved of its bondage to the extent of the
relief given.

139

On tlie other hand, Government cannot le-
gislate before the age, i. e. they cannot carry
unpopular measures however good.

Government has not only to contend with
Class Interests provisionally granted, but with
ignorance and prejudices among the people
— often the effect of such interests. These re-
sults show that Reformation is necessarily a
work of time — for not only is improved Public
Opinion, but improved Legislation necessary.

140

CHAPTEE YI.
CIVILIZATION— THE PAST.

I. Ancient Civilization.

Civilization commenced in Egypt about two
thousand years before the Christian era. From
thence it spread to Greece and Rome, and
obtained its height at the Christian era, or in
the reign of Csesar Augustus. Liberty, Litera-
ture, and the Fine Arts, flourished up to this
point and then declined.

Although the history of ancient Civihzation
abounds with instances of Patriotism, which

141

would grace any age, yet if we compare even
the Augustine age with modern times, its infe-
rioiity must be acknowledged. No parallel
can be drawn between the Civilization of the
first and nineteenth centuries.

With the single exception of Russia, serfdom
is now extinct, but the liberty of the Romans,
even in its best days, amounted to this — that
themselves free, they took care to allow no
other nation to be free. Everything gave way
to the art of War and Oppression.

Public faith and private morality were in
their infancy in ancient times, compared with
modern. Superstition was greater in ancient
times in proportion as Science was deficient.
It is true that a large portion of Europe still
worships Idols as devotedly as in ancient
times, but this stain cannot be endured much
longer.

Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Poetry,
and the Drama, attained a height in ancient
times which has never been surpassed. This
q5

142

apparent anomaly is explained, if we remember
that the picturesque belongs exclusively to un-
cultivated Nature. Cultivation obliterates the
pencilings of Nature. Instinct gives way to
Intelligence, and the face of external Nature is
changed by the hand of Man.

These facts indicate that the progress of
" the Fine Arts" is the opposite of Civilization.
A certain degree of Civilization seems neces-
sary to evolve the perfection of Natural Art,
but when that stage is passed, what we have
called " Human Art " takes the place of
Natural Art. History confirms this theory.

AVhen Science was unknown, the Fine Arts
attained (in Greece) a perfection never since
reached. At the dawn of modern Civilization,
— with Science in a similar state, — the Fine
Arts again reach a high degree of perfection,
almost equal to Greek art, and superior to the
highest efforts of modern genius.

If the World is to go on to the perfection
of Civilization, we may expect the *' Art of

143

Nature" to be absorbed in " Human Art."
The two arts are diflerent, and in leaving pri-
mitive Nature, we must look forward to a new
development of Art. Intelligence absorbs In-
stinct, on which natural Art chiefly depends.
The Fine Arts will have a resurrection, but if
we continue to worship the Past — despise the
Present, and neglect the cultivation of the
Future — too much the character of the age —
the progress of Civilization will be retarded.

Such was ancient Civilization, which rose
only to fall. Its rise was rapid and glorious,
but far too artificial and partial to last.

Augustus Cnesar stole the liberties of Rome,
and by a mild Government, which he called
Liberty, he reconciled a people — long accus-
tomed to Freedom — to the yoke of Despotism.

From this change may be dated the decline
of Ancient Civilization. The progress of the
World was indefinitely thrown back, and so
low was the degradation which Civilization
reached, that at one time the only Literature

144

which was either read or taught was the Lives
of the Saints and Martyrs !

The necessities of surrounding Barbarism
was the immediate cause of the fall of the
Roman Empire, now enfeebled by four cen-
turies of Despotic Rule.

An increasing Population could no longer
subsist as Shepherds and Hunters. The Ger-
man races invaded the Eastern and Western
Empires at all points, and in subjecting Civili-
zation to an untimely trial — before it had time
to consolidate and extend its basis — its cities
were sacked and the precious plant well nigh
destroyed. We might notice many subordinate
causes for the fall of the Roman Empire and
the decline of Civilization, but we know of
none which may not be resolved into the two
we have named, viz. the loss of Liberty in the
reign of the Csesars and the necessities of the
surrounding: World.

14^

II. Middle-Age Civilization.

The fusion of the Germans with the Romans
was not without its fruits, although the product
was inferior to Ancient Civilization. Middle-
age Civilization may be described as that state
of society called the Feudal System — a half
state between Barbarism and Civilization.

The result was less brilliant, but much more
widely diffused than Ancient Civilization, for
now all Europe was partially civilized. The
aspect of the Middle Ages — that dreary winter
of Civilization — was Devotion to what was
ignorantly supposed to be Religion.

When the order of progressive Civilization
has been once ascertained, and Religion de-
hned, the history of Christianity may be indi-
cated without difficulty.

Ignorance, Superstition and Evil precede
Knowledge, Truth and Good.

The precepts of Christ being free from error,
they can only be agreeable to the feelings in

146

an advanced state of Civilization. The lower
the moral condition of a Nation, the greater
offence will Truth give. If we apply this prin-
ciple to the past history and future prospects
of Christianity, we shall find it supported by
facts.

The Jewish nation — to which the revelation
of the Truth was first made — never stood high
in civilization, and at the period of our Lord's
advent the state of the Jews was very low.
Probably not higher than the present state of
the inhabitants of Syria, and not differing in
its main characteristics. Then, as now, Judea
was a conquered country in the hands of a
people of another religion; then, as now, the
people were split into various sects, indicating
a taste for religious contemplation, while ava-
rice marked their general conduct.

Suddenly the Truth is announced, and, as
might have been expected, a storm of indig-
nation is excited which could not be ap-
peased without the death of the offender.

147

Christianity was greatly in advance of the age
in which it was first promulgated, accordingly
it was rejected. A great moral and religious
Revolution was despised and its author cruci-
fied, because, as our Lord said, the Truth re-
buked their evil deeds. Such is the history of
the rise of Christianity.

If we now pass over five centuries, we shall
find this despised Religion of Christ universal !

To account for so complete a Revolution in
public opinion one of two things must have
happened. Either civilization must in the in-
terim have made great advances — so that man
no longer disliked the Truth — or Christianity
had been so mixed up with error as to be
brought down to the taste of man. The latter
process is, unfortunately, the history of early
Christianity.

The beautiful and simple doctrines of Christ
— as set forth in the New Testament — are now
scarcely discernible in the Belief and Practice
of the Catholic Church. Simplicity has been

148

exchanged for mystery, a practical and true
Religion is converted into a complex system of
Doctrines and Religious Services by which men
may escape practice, and yet persuade them-
selves that they are religious.

Nothing but this change could in those days
have made Christianity popular. Truth, when
combined with Doctrines which necessarily ex-
clude Practice, can offend no man. It was in
consequence of the substitution of Faith for
Obedience that the cross ceased to be offensive.
The despised Religion of Christ is so changed
and corrupted by the Catholics of that period
as to become popular in connection with a low
state of morals and civilization.

When we look to these facts, it does appear
that Christianity would never have become
universal without first passing through the
phases of Superstition, and this is one of the
few consolations which the dismal history of
these times affords. Such was the state of
Christianity in the fifth century, and if we now

149

pass over the ten centuries usually called the
Dark or Middle Ages — in which the Papal
System was fully matured — it will bring us to
that period when the downward course of Civi-
lization was to receive a check by the first Re-
formation.

Often had attempts been made to reform the
errors and abuses of Religion during the long
night of the Dark Ages, but these strivings of
the Intellect to recover its liberty were sup-
pressed by the imprisonment or martyrdom of
the reformers.

The memory of WicklifFe is particularly in-
teresting at the present time from having
been a professor of Theology at Oxford. In
that very University where in our day is wit-
nessed the anomaly of an influential party in
the Church desiring Reform, and at the same
time demanding Class privileges to the Clergy
more dangerous than the abuses from which
relief is sought.

150

III. Modern Civilization.

Modern Civilization is founded on that of
the Middle Ages, and in respect that its basis
is greatly more extended than the Civilization
of Greece and Rome, modern civilization is less
artificial and more likely to be permanent.

Revived Civilization was first visible in the
fifteenth century. It took its rise in Italy, on
the very soil where ancient civilization had so
long flourished. All is now activity. Ancient
manuscripts are ransacked and translated into
the modern Languages; and Knowledge and
Learning — the result of many centuries of
Civilization — so long lost, is restored to an
astonished World.

Want and Desire generally produce the
means of supplying their demands, and it so
happened that the resurrection of Ancient Lite-
rature had not long been in progress when the
invention of Printing was discovered.

America is discovered, and the Geography
of the Earth completed.

151

The Reformation follows, and delivers the
fairest portion of Europe from the tyranny of
Superstition. Such were the glorious events
which ushered in Modern Civilization. Alas !
they promised more than they gave.

The First Reformation.

The first Reformer which arose after the
revival of Literature defied the sword of perse-
cution, and succeeded in effecting a glorious
Reformation. When we remember that the
Church of Rome was now fully developed, that
it was universal, that Kings and Emperors had
been completely subdued by it, we may estimate
the difficulty which Luther had to contend with.

But the power of the Hierarchy was not the
greatest difficulty, the prejudices of the People,
— ever the case with Reformations, — had to be
combated. The People had been accustomed
to rely on the efficacy of the personal presence
of Christ in the Eucharist. That was Luther's
greatest difficulty, and if he did not fully re-

152

}

form that corruption, perhaps he went as far as \
the then state of Civihzation permitted.

Luther found no difficulty in persuading the
People that the sale of Indulgences was an
abuse, but when he demanded that they should
part with their Idols, we may conceive the oppo-
sition he would receive. Luther must either
have braved this opposition or abandoned his
Reformation, and to his eternal honour be it
said, he possessed the honesty and courage to
remain faithful. So great was the difficulty of
obtaining the People's consent to the Reforma-
tion, that unless the Reformers had received
the support of some of the German Princes —
who were tired of the tyranny of Rome —
the People would have rejected all the over-
tures of the Reformer. Luther called on the
People to examine the Bible and judge of the
truth of the new Doctrines for themselves; and
by this means he at last persuaded the People
to part with their Idols in exchange for Liberty
of Conscience.

153

The Reformers themselves were not free
from the prejudices of the age, and so universal
was the prejudice in favour of a religion of
Belief, it does not appear that it occurred to
any one to doubt that doctrine.

The Reformation granted the Right of Pri-
vate Judgment, and abolished the Idolatry of
the Mass. These Reforms conferred a degree of
liberty of Conscience unknown to any previous
period, and to them the subsequent progress in
Civilization is mainly owing.

We now turn to the dark side of the picture.
The Reformers, instead of boldly renouncing
the error of trusting in Belief and not in
Practice — which we have seen arose at a very
early period — contented themselves with pro-
nouncing against certain Works of Devotion.
Belief was retained as the sole ground of
Salvation, althousih Personal Riohteousness
was evidently the intention of the Saviour, and
the only Faith consistent with common sense
and the improvement of mankind. The error

154

of making Belief everything, and the Practice
of Religion nothing;, was fatal to success.

Such was the Reformation ; it was a step in
the right direction, but were we to say that it
went more than half way from Catholicism to
the unadulterated Truth of Christianity we
would do violence to our own convictions.

We now pass to the results of the Reforma-
tion, embracing a period of three centuries. The
Reformation accomplished, it might have been
expected that Christianity would have gone on
improving until it reached its original purity;
especially when the world was divided into two
hostile Churches, ready to expose each other's
defects. But such alas is not the history of the
Reformation.

Religion has made no progress since the ad-
vent of the Reformation. Its doctrines and its
errors were unfortunately so fixed that they have
defied every effort at improvement since. The
Protestant Creed has long been known to con-
tain error, but that an imperfect system might

155

be kept together, all Churches have tacitly
agreed to leave the principles of the Reforma-
tion untouched, and even unquestioned. Such
a course could alone be justified on the suppo-
sition that the Reformers were specially in-
spired for their work ; but as that is not main-
tained, it may well cause surprise that their
work should be held so perfect and so sacred
as to admit of no improvement. Constant strife
might have taught the Protestant world that
the expulsion, and not the retention of Error
was the only cure for controversy and disunion.

The history of the World since the Reform-
ation exactly corresponds with the change in
Belief then effected. The Reformation accom-
plished a vast improvement on Belief, but much
was left unreformed. The creeds of the Lutheran
and Calvinist Churches present a sad mixture
of light and darkness, and of the elements of
good and evil.

Knowledge and Civilization have made enor-
mous strides since the Reformation; but with

156

all this advancement, there is a want of reality,
of unity, and of consolidation. Knowledge
remains undefined and incomplete, and its fur-
ther progress impossible without another Refor-
mation. Peace and prosperity may be said to
have blessed many lands since the Reforma-
tion, yet with much good, strife and war have
been mingled. These results — mixed as they
are with Good and Evil— are precisely what
was to be expected from an imperfect Reforma-
tion.

The evil of half measures was never more
conspicuous than in the history of the Reforma-
tion. The Reformation divided Christendom
into two hostile parties, without offering any rea-
sonable hope of union; it exposed the errors
of the Church, without offering the means of
healing them. Further, the contradictory creed
of the Reformation caused the Protestants to
split in two hostile sects — the Lutheran and
Calvinist. The endless dissensions arising-
from Religious Controversy issued in the re-

157

vival of Catholicism, and the desolation of
Europe by War. With Protestantism divided
against itself, the Church of Rome speedily
reconquered a large portion of its dominions.
Austria at one time was three-fourths Pro-
testant; now three-fourths of its inhabitants
are Catholics. In France and other countries
a similar re-action took place. We are parti-
cular in marking these sad effects of half mea-
sures, that a similar error may be avoided in
any future Reformation.

After a struggle of three hundred years, the
World seems as far from Peace and Happiness
as ever. So keenly is this felt, that men are
apt to ask whether Civilization, such as it is,
or " the good old times," (middle-age civiliza-
tion) is best.

The World yearns after something which
Civilization and Religion have failed to give :
and when the history of modern times is stu-
died, we cannot be surprised that this feeling
of discontent should be universal. Everywhere

158

men begin to ask if Lutlier's Reformation was
necessarily final, or may they look for another!

The necessities of an increasing Population
have outgrown the spirit of its governments, and
these natural means of Reformation are the im-
mediate causes of the present crisis.

If Governments persist in refusing the just
demand of the People, and if the People are
unable to conquer their own liberty, either by
a Moral or a Civil Revolution, the World must
retrace its steps. Once more we must expect
to see Despotism both civil and religious as
triumphant as it was in the ninth century under
the universal empire of Charlemagne and the
Papacy.

In that sad event the Au2;ustine Age of
Modern Civilization has come, and the result of
the Revolution or Reformation through which
the World is now passing, will determine the
question whether the present Crisis is to be
followed by a perfected Civilization, or by a
series of ages in which Darkness and Depo-

159

pulation slmll mark the future history of an
unhappy World.

The World calls for a Second Reformation,
of which the Revolutions of 1848 are the ex-
pression. With the Free Press of England to
disseminate the principles of a salutary Re-
formation, there is hope that the convulsions
now agitating the world may be calmed down
and directed to the great work of a general
Reformation.

160

CHAPTER VII.
THE PRESENT STATE OF EUROPE.

The prevalence of good or evil depends on the
state of Knowledge and Belief. And if a re-
medy for War and Revolution be desired, we
must strike at the root of the evil by correcting
the errors of Public Belief. A Reformation in
Religious Belief and in Public Opinion is ulti-
mately the only cure for the disasters which
have overtaken the world.

Superstition and Error are at present taught
by public institutions. Let this source of Evil

161

be corrected and the usurpation of the despot
will cease. Correct Knowledge is the only
permanent bulwark of liberty. Although
Europe was reformed civilly, yet if Public
Opinion remains debased by superstition and
error, Liberty cannot be permanent. It is
therefore more by the spread of Knowledge,
than by the use of arms, that permanent and
complete emancipation can be effected.

Our friends on the Continent are aware that
the whole policy of the Roman Hierarchy has
ever been opposed to liberty, and that it is
mainly to that power that the despotic Powers
have been enabled to keep the people down.
Civil slavery is hard to bear ; but the slavery
of the Conscience is worse. Because moral
slavery is less felt, it is not on that account
less destructive of peace and prosperity.

In these circumstances we call on the friends
of Liberty not to confine their efforts to the
destruction of Civil Despotism, but at the same
time to destroy Spiritual Despotism. The one

162

cannot be removed without at the same time
conquering the other. We are too ajDt to
think that Public Opinion is nothing, and
that Bayonets are everything. Public Opinion
influences and ultimately rules the exercise of
the civil power. Knowledge leads to the union
of the people in behalf of their natural Rights.
The advocates of Despotism know this, nor are
they slow to suppress the liberty of the Press,
and load the churches with images that Super-
stition may maintain its hold over the con-
science.

Superstition and Oppression must stand or
fall together.

Our Catholic Brethren must demand an im-
mediate reformation of their Church, if they
wish to be free-men. The Clergy must demand
the abolition of the unnatural, immoral, and
unscriptural law of celibacy. Let obedience
to Truth be preferred to mere worship and
devotion, — which are not Christianity. Evil
and Sin come from Ignorance and preferring

163

the Relii^ion of the Feelings to the Religion
of the Understanding. The Religion of mere
Feeling debases the Intellect ; it fosters Igno-
rance, and retards the progress of civilization
and liberty. The system in which Men are
educated often holds them in bondage against
their will, and the influence of habit and
feeling often triumphs over their better reason;
but if the Catholics will be guided by the
Truth as it is in Jesus, it shall make them free.
The Catholic Church has gone through many
changes — at times she has reformed herself and
risen from the lowest depths of degradation,
at other times the tendency has been down-
wards. At present a favourable opportunity
occurs for a great Reformation in the Catholic
Church, which shall astound the World. Let
the Clergy and Laity vie with each other in
the holy work of Reformation, and the result
will be universal good and harmony. Why
should there be Protestants and Catholics;
do not both serve one Master? Let both

164

be reformed. Let Protestants and Catholics
forget the errors of the past, and in meeting
on the neutral ground of Truth both will make
concessions, not to Man but to God.

The images which disfigure the Churches
and roadsides must be torn down. If the
Bible — which denounces Image Worship — be
freely circulated among the people — the wor-
ship of the host, or any other than God, will
cease. Carry back the thoughts to ancient
Greece and Rome. See the altars raised to
Gods represented by images of wood and stone,
and you — like St. Paul — will be moved to see
the ignorance of that superstitious age. Then
look at the Ignorance of the nineteenth cen-
tury manifested in dumb idols everywhere
meeting the eye. These Images you are told
to adore as representations of Gods and Saints.
This was precisely the doctrine of Paganism ;
and while a People is devoted to Idols there
can be no freedom.

165

In nothing does England show lier supe-
riority over the Continent more than in the
absence of images : from Penzance to John
O'Groats no Image offends the piety of the
traveller. Even in Mahometan countries no
such Ignorance disgraces their religion. It
is painful to dwell on the weak points of
humanity; and we hope we have said enough
to call the attention of Catholics to the great
subject of Church Reform.

To the Protestants we say, re-echo the call of
England for a reformation of Religion. Know
that your disunion is the strength of Rome :
adopt then a test of Truth, and be united.
Remove from your several creeds obsolete doc-
trines, which have no other effect than to keep
Protestants apart from each other, while they
strengthen the reign of superstition and scep-
ticism. England calls upon you to join her
in a united effort to reform all Churches, and
put an end to the reign of Ignorance, Error
and Suffering.

H 5

166

To the friends of liberty at home and abroad
we say, no longer confine your attention to
civil revolutions, but go to the root of the evil,
and, while you do not neglect the physical
defences of society, remember that, unless
public opinion is improved and niaintained in
a healthy state, it will defeat the best plans of
Reform that can be formed.

We now turn to the civil and financial affairs
of Europe, and if we examine the position and
prospects of France and Germany the general
state of Europe will be indicated. With this
object in view we shall commence with

France.

The power which the French Nation has
placed in the hands of Prince Louis Napoleon
is that of a Dictator. He has been empowered
to dictate a Constitution to France. This
power is unconditional, but not irresponsible.
The Elected must give an account of his
stewardship to the Electors ; and, we may add,

167

if Napoleon legislates contrary to the will of
France, his reign will be short. While Uni-
versal Suffrage is maintained, the Government
is to some extent Free, for the President and
the House of Representatives are elected by
the People. If the President legislates so as
give an independent voice to the Legislative
Assembly, he will do great service to France;
but if his " Constitution" is that of a despotic
ruler, it will not be permanent.

The New Constitution has appeared, and we
need not say how deeply its contents have
affected us. We had hoped for something
better, and with every desire to excuse the late
proceedings of the President on the plea of
necessity, there is no longer any doubt that
Napoleon's policy is favourable to despotism.
The Constitution bears all the marks of a
despotic power, and we trust France will soon
awake from its apathy and abolish a form of
Government which can only be classed with
that of Russia and Austria.

168

The Distribution of the Soil has much to
do with the welfare of a Nation. A grievous
error has been committed here both in France
and England.

The French Law is the opposite of the
English. The law of France puts nothing in
the power of the possessor except liberty of
sale during lifetime. At the death of a pro-
prietor the Law steps in and divides all equally
among his children.

The Error in England in maintaining the
Laws of Entail and Primogeniture has cost
her much, but that of France is probably no
less injurious to the general interests of a
Nation. If France would alter her Law of
succession, so as to give Landlords the free-
dom of willing away their Property to whom
they please, and England change her Law so
that the Eldest Son would carry no advantage
over the other members of the family, the
extremes of a redundant Proprietary in France

169

and a deficient one in England would be
avoided.

The position of a landlord makes him
jealous of change; and when this position
is coupled with ignorance — generally the case
with peasant- proprietors — a salutary Con-
servatism is apt to run into selfishness
(Ultra -Toryism). This evil is especially to
be dreaded after repeated attempts to reform
the constitution in favour of liberty have
failed, and the burdens of a suffering Pro-
prietory and Peasantry have from that cause
been increased.

We need scarcely say that selfishness is
preferring the good of ourselves when that is
opposed to the Public Good. It is the op-
posite of Patriotism.

The repeated failures of Republics oflfer
strong temptations to the landlords of France
to become traitors to the cause of Liberty ;
and if that class — in number five millions —

170

takes such a step, the prospects of the world
are dark.

This danger — of the National Will becoming
traitorous to its own liberty — has been com-
pletely overcome in England — not by the
maintenance of the Laws of Entail and Pri-
mogeniture— but by the triumph of Free-trade
principles.

England was saved by the efforts of a single
patriot. And in pronouncing the name of Sir
Robert Peel we speak to the heart of every
friend of humanity. By the imposition of an
Income Tax and the abolition of the Tax on
Corn and other necessaries of life, the privi-
leges of the rich were broken down and the
burden of taxation spread more equally. In
short. Sir Robert Peel's measures took from
the rich and gave to the poor.

The influence of Rome will be used to stop
a similar movement in France, and until some
improvement can be made in public opinion
on religious as well as political questions, it is

171

to be feared that success in tlie cause of liberty
and justice must be partial and insecure.

England and France stand at the head of
the Civihzed World, and the only fear that
they — the natural guardians of Liberty —
should allow the decay of Civilization, is
that they are divided on the subject of Reli-
gion. If France and England had both been
reformed, there would have been no danger;
but so long as hostile Faiths govern the two
Nations, tliere can be no permanent union,
and when divided their power is neutralized.

Another Reformation is the only remedy for
this evil. The spirit of that movement is not
that of party, but of principle. No man is
asked to change his Church or his Religion.
The Protestant is not asked to become a Ca-
tholic, nor the Catholic a Protestant, but both
are called upon to examine their Faith, and
conform their Belief to the principles of Truth.
If the liberal Press of England and France
advocate this remedy for English and French

172

disunion, a permanent basis of union will be
found.

If Napoleon's Government harmonizes with
the Despotic Governments of Europe, a new
feature in Modern Civilization is evolved,
for who ever heard of thirty millions of
Despots? This is taking the worst possible
view of the case ; but looking to the state
of Public Opinion in France, we cannot say
that such a blow is impossible. Although
unheard of in modern times, such a result
is not unknown to Ancient History. The
annihilation of Liberty in the reign of Au-
gustus was of that description ; and if we
look to the sad results of that usurpation,
it is not unreasonable to fear that the
despotism of France may bring on retro-
gression in Civilization throughout the world.

The present crisis may well make the faith
of the stoutest heart tremble, but amidst all
the gloom we have hope.

173

We trust Napoleon will yet prefer the good
of the world to the gratification of private
ambition, whenever these two principles come
into collision, lie can introduce changes
which shall improve the state of the nation,
and a beneficial change in public opinion will
follow.

Such is the position of France at this impor-
tant epoch of her history; and, in now con-
sidering her future policy, we shall first state
the causes of her present prostrate condition.

The peculiar evils of France are those con-
nected with INDUSTRY and finance. The
expensive and prolonged reign of Louis the
Fourteenth involved the nation in difficulties
from which she never escaped. Her pecuniary
embarrassments gave occasion to the break-
ing out of the first Revolution ; and the "do-
nothing" government of Louis Phillipe prepared
the way for the present crisis.

The whole Financial and Industrial affairs of
France call for revision.

174

The first Napoleon immortalized his name by
abolishing the old laws of France and substi-
tuting the famous "Code Napoleon" in their
stead. If his Nephew follows so noble an
example, by taking a similar step in regard to
Taxation, — this alone would reconcile Europe
to the temporary cessation of Liberty in France;
and unless Napoleon can gain the good opi-
nion of the World by conferring an extra-
ordinary boon, such as Universal Free Trade,
his name must go down to posterity without a
single redeeming quality.

The taxes are at present levied directly on
Trades, and indirectly on the necessaries and
luxuries of life and on Imports, for the double
purpose of Protection and Revenue.

An Income and Propeity Tax is the natural
cure for all the disorders which afflict unhappy
France. Her present system has not only
brought her to the brink of ruin, but, if the evil
is not immediately corrected, there is imminent
danger that France will be tempted, in a fit

175

of despair, to sell her liberty — it may be the
liberty of Europe — for a bit of Bread.

An Income Tax often percent, would enable
the President to abolish all other Taxes. This
high rate of Income Tax would admit of re-
duction when the evil effects of the Protective
system were removed. As the income of the
nation increased by means of Free Trade, the
Revenue would be spread over a large amount.
In this way a considerable reduction of Income
Tax might be calculated on after a few years.
The People would not object to pay ten per
cent., and although that would be insufficient
at first, very soon the Revenue from that
source would equal the expenditure.

To effect so great a financial Revolution, the
Government must provide itself with an ade-
quate loan to cover any deficiency that may
naturally be expected to accompany so vast
a change in the first instance. A loan of ten
or twenty millions for such a purpose would

176

not only be obtained without difficulty, but it
would have the effect of raising- the value of
all Public Securities. Capitalists would freely
lend their money for carrying out a financial
arrangement which any man of common pene-
tration would see to be one of large promise.

If the President has the Good of France at
heart, he will effect a comprehensive change of
Taxation. Its success would be such as to
raise France to a pitch of greatness unknown
in the history of Nations.

The Taxes on Foreign Cottons, Woollens
and Linens enhance the price of these articles
so much that these necessaries of Life are sold
to the French public at one-third higher prices
than there is any occasion for. The Tax on
Foreign Iron is 150 per cent. This enormous
Tax is maintained for the benefit of a handful
of manufacturers. The cost of implements,
machinery, and many articles of Household
furniture is trebled, and the Public of France
is taxed to that amount.

177

The suffering arising from these causes is
incalculable. Suppose the direct loss to be
only twenty millions sterling annually, we may
form some idea of its effect. Were the People
allowed to retain these twenty millions, that
large sum would be laid out on productive
works, and the industry of the Nation would
receive immediate relief.

Free trade would double the trade of France.
The cost of living would be lessened. The
burdens of Landlord, Trader, Artizan and Pea-
sant relieved. France is saved, and induce-
ments to political apostacy removed.

No Nation has shown such aversion to free
trade as France, although none stand in such
need of its blessings.

There is an impression abroad that France
and Germany are in advance of England in
Civilization. Never was there a greater mis-
take. The superiority of France and Germany
is in Learning, not in Knowledge and Intel-
ligence. Knowledge comes from Experience,

178

which Learning may interpret, but cannot give.
That England occupies the first rank in the
family of Nations, the fact that she alone acts
upon the self-denying principle of Free Trade
is an unquestionable proof.

Universal Free Trade is destined more than
any thing else to deliver the World from every
form of Despotism, and when a new impulse is
given to the Free Trade movement by its final
triumph in England, we cannot doubt that
Free Trade will soon become general over the
whole World. It is the pioneer of Moral
Reformation.

Germany.

These observations on Free Trade and Tax-
ation in France will apply generally to other
Nations, and in now proceeding to notice
the affairs of Germany, it will be sufficient if
we confine our attention to the relations of
Germany with other States and of European
Politics in general.

Had the late rising in Hungary and Italy

179

been successful, Europe would now have been
enjoying relief from the iron rule of Russia and
Austria. The first act in that noble struggle
has ended in failure, and Liberty is gone. The
burdens of the People have been doubled since
1848, and the yoke of slavery is more hope-
lessly galling than ever. The state of France
is deplorable, but Germany, Italy and Hungary
are even worse.

The Kings of Germany have thrown off the
mask, and their late despotic acts have has-
tened the crisis. They have resolved to trust
their fate to the power of the sword, regardless
of the rights of the People. That the Diet of
the German States should dare to sit in Frank-
fort with closed doors, and deliberately rob the
People of their rights, is so intolerable, that the
Sovereigns have united all Germany against
themselves as one man. If the Diet would
only take a dispassionate view of the matter —
such as was represented to them by the King
of Wurtemburg — war might yet be averted.

180

Germany has resolved that the present state
of things shall not continue. It is no longer a
question of what is best to be done. If the
People differ on questions of policy, they are at
last united in this, that they shall not remain
Slaves.

Our continental neighbours have discovered
that the world was not made for kings, — that
a king is sucli only for the sake of the people.
To hold that a king is more than the chief
magistrate of tlie state is the way to encourage
the abuse of power, of which insubordination is
the consequence. All Error must produce Evil,
and such is the Evil which flows from the doc-
trine of " Divine Right." When we look to
the abuses of regal Governments of Europe, we
cannot wonder that opinions favourable to Re-
publicanism have gained ground.

A considerable section of the Liberal Party
have committed a great error in advocating
the Republican form of Government in the
present state of Civilization. Such is evidently

181

a Government only suitable to a much higher
state of Civilization than Europe can expect
to reach for generations to come. Evil arising
from abused power does not prove any system
vvrone;; and when we see the working; of a
Limited Monarchy — such as that of England
compared with Republics — it ought to teach
the World that the reformation, and not the
destruction of kingdoms, ought to be the aim
of Europe.

The English Constitution owes its stability
and efficiency to two principles. These are —

1st. The Executive is responsible to Parlia-
ment for the exercise of the Royal Prero-
gative.

2nd. The annual consent of the House of
Commons is required before the national
Purse can be touched.

These have been found effectual checks on
the abuse of Power, and it is highly probable
that no human institution can offer greater se-
curity. One thing is certain ; they offer greater

182

checks to private ambition than the most per-
fect Republican Constitution we ever heard of.

Such is the British Constitution, — a scheme
which is the result of experience, and which
has triumphed over every difficulty.

If similar checks were adopted by the nations
now struggling for Liberty, there would be no
occasion for new schemes, which usually defeat
the object for which they were intended. Let
Ministers of the Crown be responsible to Par-
liament, and let the supplies be voted by the
Commons annually, and the effect will be that
the Crown will not invade the rigiits of the
People, nor the People seek to trench on the
prerogative of the Crown.

A Republic succeeds in America, but a new
state of society organized from the first upon
a new system forms no criterion for an old
World. Republics have been repeatedly tried
as substitutes for the kingly rule in Europe,
and in every case they have been miserable
failures ; and if the impending strife is to end in

183

liberty, we must begin by dismissing fioni our
minds all idea of engrafting Republicanism on
nations accustomed to Royalty.

Without a King, private ambition has been
found to overrule Patriotism. We have had a
notable example of this in the late abortive ex-
periment of a Republic in France. Instead of
the Members of Assembly devoting them-
selves to beneficial Reforms, their attention was
turned to private disputes and private interests.
When a man cannot rise by legitimate means,
he pulls down his neighbour, regardless of the
evil effects of his malignity. In this way the
welfare of France has been sacrificed on the
altar of private interest.

A Nation which elects its King is a close
approximation to a Republic. Poland is al-
most the only Kingdom blotted out of the
map of Nations. Unlike the other Nations,
she persisted in electing her King, which gave
rise to private ambition, and caused her fall

184

This result goes far to show that Republics
are not calculated to thrive on European soil.

The only check on private ambition is the
Crown; and until selfishness be subdued by
an improved state of civlhzation, destruction
may be expected to follow the Republican form
of Government. Such is the office of the
Crown; and in pleading the cause of Royalty,
wci do so because it is the cause of Liberty.

The aim of Russia and Rome — the two great
Powers on the side of despotism — is Universal
Empire, and such is obviously incompatible
with LIBERTY. The division of supreme power
by the numerous independent states of Europe
is the only guarantee against the abuse of
power, and the more that independence is
limited by the preponderating influence of
Russia and Rome, the greater is the decline of
liberty.

The passes of the Balkins are in the hands of
the Russians ; Austria is little better than a de-
pendency of Russia ; and Rome — the organized

185

engine for controlling the rights of Conscience —
supports the usurpation of both. Lord John
Russell speaks of a conspiracy against Euro-
pean Liberty; and when we look at the attitude
of Russia controlling every court in continental
Europe, and at Rome putting forth her arts for
the suppression of the liberty of Conscience
even in England and America, it is evident that
the powers of despotism are mustering their
forces upon a gigantic scale for the final
struggle. It is sufficient to name these facts to
show how near the accomplishment of a Uni-
versal Empire may be.

The state of the contending parties is now
very different from that of 1848. With a com-
paratively small military force to contend with,
the People have been everywhere beaten ; and
how they are to succeed now, with the odds
doubled against them, is a problem well worthy
of consideration.

That portion of the Revolution which belongs
to the past presents a series of unsuccessful

186

attempts by the People to resist the military.
Looking to the unsuccessful issue of these
struggles, we apprehend the conflict must no
longer be the People against the Military, but
of troops with troops, if a different result is to
be expected.

Soldiers are men, and when they have the
opportunity they will follow their convictions,
and take the side of Liberty and Justice. It is
only on the field of battle that they can change
masters; and when this opportunity is afforded
to the troops of Germany and Italy, we may
look for a favourable change. To aflbrd this
opportunity — in the event of War — nuist be the
aim of the friends of Liberty.

Every true Englishman must feel for the
suffering of our brethren on the Continent.
Our sympathies and advice shall cheer them
on in the holy cause of liberty. We shall take
the initiative in a great moral Revolution, —
no less necessary than a civil Revolution.

187

And in proclaiming the advent of a second
Reformation — the great want of the present
age — the grand obstacle to Liberty will be
removed — the Papal system, which unites and
maintains European despotism, is abolished.

188

CHAPTEK VIII.
THE GENERAL REVOLUTION.

Although the European Revolution, — which
lasted from 1789 to 1815, — conferred unde-
niable benefits, its history is so stained with
error and bloodshed, that the blood runs cold
to contemplate another. We believe such
another Revolution has again visited the
World.

That convulsion of the Human Mind through
which the World is now passing presents all the
phenomena of a general Revolution even more
deeply rooted and more widely spread than any

189

of its predecessors. Compare the state of
Europe, when Napoleon's Revolution broke out,
with its present state, and the serious nature of
the present crisis will be apparent. In the case
of Napoleon's war, many of the Nations were
engaged in warfare against their will, but now
every nation in Europe has taken the initiative
in the Revolution. The impending War will
accordingly find the population of every coun-
try prepared to take a side, and — with passions
excited by past discomfiture — the struggle must
be dreadful.

If at the outbreak of the Revolution of 1789
a definite and proper object had been given to
the niovea)ent by the spread of correct in-
formation, the result would have been very dif-
ferent. It, like the present Revolution, might
have taken the direction of a Reformation,
and, instead of desolating Europe, it would
have delivered it from oppression. It is well
to discuss at this early period the extent of the
impending changes, for to be forewarned is to
i5

190

be forearmed. We shall begin the inquiry by
stating the leading features and probable result
of a general war, and conclude by showing
how that evil may be prevented, and universal
Peace restored.

If Italy, Poland and Hungary were erected
into independent kingdoms, the German diffi-
culty would be easily settled ; for until there
be some solution of that problem there can be
no Peace.

A Confederation of independent States must
ever be an empty name, and prolific of more
evil than good ; we should therefore say, that
all ideas of reviving the German Confederation
in any possible shape should be given up.
The past history of the German confederation
amply confirms this conclusion. It has kept
Europe in almost constant strife for many cen-
turies, and until it be abolished there can be no
guarantee of Peace.

That the German race should govern the
Italians in their own country, and against their

191

will, is intolerable and unjust. The first thmg
to be done is to drive the Germans out of Italy.
The two races have been at war lor fourteen
hundred years, and nothing but separation can
give Peace to either.

Merely to proclaim the independence of
Italy, and not put her in a position to govern
herself, would be cruel. To allow her to be
broken up into petty states, as in the six-
teenth century, is not to be toleialed. That
would be ruinous to her peace, and Europe
would be constantly disturbed by her dissen-
sions. In these circumstances we know of no
other remedy than to erect the entire Penin-
sula into a United Kingdom, and select one
of her Sovereigns for her King. The King
of Sardinia appears to have the best claim to
this ; and if the votes of the Italian States
were favourable, there can be no objections to
such a choice. Italy would become a powerful
nation ; from the Alps to Palermo, and from
Genoa to Venice, she would be united. Blessed

192

in her climate and in her race, modern Italy
would soon arise from her ashes, and rival the
glory of her ancestors, — not in the art of war
and oppression, but of peace.

The demand of Hungary is to have a King
of her own. She, like Italy, will not have the
Germans to reign over her. The justice of this
demand is undeniable, and the peace of Europe
demands its concession. To release the inde-
pendent Provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia
from the influence of the Russian and Turkish
powers is very desirable, and it would serve
the cause of Liberty if these provinces could
be united with Hungary.

The ancient Kingdom of Poland must like-
wise be delivered from the rule of the Stranger,
and erected into a hereditary Kingdom.

The settlement of the German Question in
the present position of Europe is obviously
impossible. The People desire Union — a de-
mand which the Kings cannot prant con-
sistently with the maintenance of their own

193

Power. But vvlien the non-German States
have been taken from Germany by the esta-
blishment of Italy, Poland and Hungary as
independent States, the major difficulty to a
united Germany will be obviated.

All the States of Germany must either be
thrown into one, or Prussia and Austria must
be united, and the minor States remain as they
are. Either of these alternatives would effect
the end desired. The latter, we think, the
preferable one, because excessive centralization
is ever to be avoided.

The drawback to German Union will be
ended when the rivalship between Austria and
Prussia ceases by the union of these States.
In that case the Minor States would have
no more influence than Belgium or Holland,
nor could their independence disturb the peace
and unity of the future Kingdom of Germany.

Supposing it be resolved to adopt such a
course, the question arises how Austria and
Prussia are to be united, and who is to be the

194

King of regenerated Germany ? It would be
for the Germans themselves to decide the
question. The King of Prussia being more
popular with the Germans than the Emperor,
the election would probably be favourable to
the House of Brandenburg. With such a re-
sult— when the peace of Europe depended on
the House of Hapsburg renouncing its claim
to the crown of Austria — we cannot doubt
the Emperor would listen to any reasonable
proposal. The People of Hungary would pro-
bably invite the Ex-Emperor to become their
actual King and Governor; but if this could
not be, then Italy might be given to the Em-
peror and Hungary to the King of Sardinia.

Europe has been accustomed to rely on a
balance of power based on treaties. If such
a balance ever existed, that is now gone ; and
it is hi"h time that somethino- more stable
were looked to as the basis of Peace. When
the Congress of Nations met at Vienna to
settle the ailuirs of Europe in 1815, Germany

195

had made no demand for Union, neither were
Hungary and Lombardy clamorous for inde-
pendence; but when the next settlement of
Nations takes place, those demands must be
met, and nothing but an uncompromising de-
mand for justice between Nation and Nation,
on the part of the Liberal powers, can give
peace to Europe.

Care must be taken to prevent anything ap-
proaching to a Universal Empire, either Moral
or Civil; and after the lesson England lately
received from Rome, our Government would be
inexcusable if it did not insist on the claim of
the Bishop of Rome to jurisdiction beyond his
own Diocese being formally renounced.

Not to disturb the general peace, England
must in the meantime be satisfied with a pro-
test against the late Aggression j but in the
event of War, the honour and independence of
England demand that the Papal Bull of 1850
be recalled; and any future aggression on
England, or on any of the powers of Europe,

196

be recognized as a violation of the Articles of
Peace, and opposed to the Law of Nations.

The great desideratum of Diplomacy is a de-
finite aim, based on the recognition of great
principles. We do not say that any govern-
ment could pledge itself to any particular course
of action, but the general policy of government
ought to admit of no change.

War.

We shall now trace the probable course of
Events, should an appeal to arms be inevitable.

As it is impossible to say what side France
may take, ue must contemplate the struggle,
first, with France against, and second, with
France for us. On the one side we shall place
the Nations devoted to Liberty, both civil and
religious; on the other, the Nations accustomed
to despotic rule and the tyranny of super-
stition. With the exception of France — which
holds a doubtful position — any other arrange-
ment of contending Nations would be unna-

197

tural, and therefore not likely to be perma-
nent.

I. Prussia, Britain and America against
France, Russia, Austria and Rome.

Prussia and her continental Allies would
conduct the campaigns of the Rhine, where
the disaffected population of Germany would
join the standard of Liberty.

America and England would throw troops
and military stores into Italy and Hungary,
to enable the Italians, Hungarians and Poles
to rise " en masse." And the Anglo-American
Fleet would sweep the seas.

A European War, under these auspices,
would be dreadful. But so long as the Church
of Rome governs the policy of France, we fear
the arms of that People will be turned against
Liberty. The more we look into the subject
the more clearly does it appear, that the only
way to avert war, and in particular war with
France, is the immediate adoption of a moral
revolution by England.

198

II. France, Prussia, England and America
against Russia and Austria.

If the French take the side of Liberty, it will
probably be in consequence of the rise of a
second Napoleon opposed to the interests of Rome
and of despotism. Let us examine such a result.

A military dictatorship is at all times a des-
perate remedy; but after the usual means of
Revolution have been exhausted, there may be
no alternative. The rule of a popular dictator
is certainly better than anarchy on the one
hand, and avowed despotism on the other.
A dictator can maintain his power only by
popularity, and to be popular he must- relieve
the burdens of the People. Such is the gua-
rantee against the abuse of dictatorial power,
and we believe it is one practically greater
than generally supposed. A dictatorship re-
peatedly saved the existence of the Roman
Republic in cases not less desperate than that
which has now overtaken Europe, and in
every case the remedy was successful.

199

The cause of European Liberty is not entirely
desperate, but its state is such that any day a
second Napoleon may arise, and we doubt not
the appearance of a mihtary Dictator pledged
to the annihilation of European Despotism,
Injustice, and Oppression, would generally be
popular.

The field has only to be taken by the legions
of France or Prussia — devoted to the cause of
universal liberty and justice — to insure success.
•No power could offer any resistance to such a
movement but Russia; and when that Power
saw the Italian and German troo])s taking the
side of Liberty, she would retire to her Stejjpes.
If France decides in favour of Liberty, the war
of European freedom may safely be confided to
her care; for with the assistance of the dis-
affected Populace she would speedily overrun
all Europe, and give Peace to the World.

Such are the prospects of F2urope in the
event of War. With Fiance on the side of
Liberty the struggle will be short, and the

200

triumph of Right over Might complete; but
with France among the despotic powers, the
struggle will be tedious and the result probably-
undecisive.

As was the case with the former Revolution,
England will be slow to involve itself in War;
but as we cannot conceive a European War
without being ourselves drawn into the vortex,
we must not flatter ourselves that we can long
maintain a position of neutrality. The Treaty
of Vienna will eventually be broken, and when
we shall see the abettors of despotism using th.e
opportunity of riveting the chains of Europe to
the utmost, it would be suicidal madness to re-
main idle spectators.

We fear that, sooner or later, we shall be
obliged to declare war against Russia and
Austria, for the policy of these powers is di-
rectly opposed to our interests. In that event,
we trust both France and America will join us,
and with that coalition the emancipation of
Europe will not be doubtful.

201

Peace.

It is easy to get into war, but who can say
when or where it may end? If France was
either neutral or hostile, the contending Parties
would be so equally balanced, that after a ten
years' fight, the cause of Liberty might be as
hopeless as ever.

In these circumstances we would strongly
recommend our friends on the Continent to
propose a compromise. The interests of the
People and that of their sovereigns are ulti-
mately one. If both Parties would consent to
the necessary concessions, the causes of War
and Revolutions would cease.

Compromise implies that each party shall
give up part of what they respectively imagine
their Rights ; and upon that principle we shall
indicate what appears to us might be made
the basis of a settlement.

I. Universal Free Trade and Direct Taxa-
tion,— This concession would jiive immediate

202

and universal relief to the People. The Direct
Tax would in no case exceed eight per cent.,
and very soon half that amount would suffice.

II. A General Disarmament. — The Army to
be reduced to one-half its present number, and
after ten years a further disarmament to be
effected to the extent of one-half more.

The reduction of the Army is a guarantee
that feelings hostile to the public interests have
ceased to animate the Government, and with-
out the saving thereby effected, the Income Tax
would be oppressively high. Free Trade must,
for these reasons, be coupled with a reduction
of the Army, if any compromise is proposed.
Of course no Government will grant these
comprehensive Reforms, unless prepared to
trust something to the good sense of the
People, and, on the other hand, no People will
agree to such a compromise, unless it has some
faith in the good intentions of its Government.

As has been the case in England, Free Trade
would be followed by good effects on both

203

People and Government. The Freedom of
the Press, Religious Toleration, and a Con-
stitutional form of Government would follow
as natural consequences. But so long as
mutual mistrust remains, there can be no com-
promise, and war is inevitable.

Generally speaking, nothing is to be gained
by War, the destruction of Life and Property
being the only result. If some one acquainted
with statistics would take the trouble of esti-
mating the loss of capital consequent on a ten
years' Euroj)ean War, in the present state of
the World, it would open the eyes of all parties
to the Evil. And if the statist would give an
estimate of the pecuniary gain that would arise
from the adoption of Free Trade and Retrench-
ment, the difference in favour of Peace would
be truly astounding.

The monied inteiest ought especially to ad-
vocate the universal adoption of Free Trade
and Disarmament as the only remedy for the
Revolution now about to desolate Europe.

204

A representation coming from that influential
class, backed by a universal expression of
Public Opinion, would command the earnest
attention of every Cabinet in Europe. The
interest of stockholders and loan contractors,
more than any other class, is involved in the
question at issue, and we know of none who
could take the initiative with a better prospect
of success. With a European War, one-half
of the government debts of Europe would be
repudiated, and the other half almost valueless.

History presents no precedent by which to
estimate the effect of a general War in the pre-
sent advanced state of Civilization, and the
excited state of the Pubhc Mind all over the
Continent. That it will be more bloody and
dreadful than any previous War we cannot
doubt, especially if France either wavers in her
policy or takes a position hostile to Liberty.

To the People we say, sacrifice your feel-
ings if personal liberty and relief from op-
pressive burdens be granted. Peace and Pro-

205

sperity is what you want, and if universal Free
Trade be granted, and the Army reduced, you
will not only reap substantial benefits, but
possess a guarantee for their continuance.

To those in power we say, place yourselves
in the position of the People, and you would
be as impatient of bondage as they. Already
the People are taxed to the utmost bounds of
endurance; and unless you put an end to Re-
volution, by granting the necessary conces-
sions, industrial decay will soon involve both
Government and People in inextricable ruin.

Even with no War, desolation awaits the
Nations of the Continent if the present system
continues. Armies and Taxation cannot go
on increasing without producing a wilderness.
It is by concession alone that the tumults of
the People can be stopt. And if freedom from
oppressive Taxation, and a reduction of the
Army would reconcile an exasperated People,
a more satisfactory way of restoring Peace and
Prosperity could not be desired.

206

We are not of the opinion that this desirable
result can best be effected by negociating with
other Powers; let each Nation judge for itself,
and if one Nation takes the initiative in Fiee
Trade and Disarmament, its example will soon
be followed. If either France or Germany
would take the step indicated, other Nations
would be glad to follow an example which was
obviously the interest of all.

England desires Universal Peace. The
moral of her late Exhibition of the industrial
Products of all Nations was " A fair field
and no favour ;" and with this noble maxim
— the basis of Justice and Peace — so empha-
tically and opportunely expressed, the sincerity
of England in advocating the cause of Justice
and Peace to all the nations of the earth is
manifest.

England undoubtedly possesses the Key of
Universal Peace. By reforming her Belief,
and abolishing her Tariffs, she w\\\ produce

207

an effect on the World which ought to remove
difficulties in the way of Peace.

If the Press of England be unanimous in
advocating a General Reformation, there will
be no War! The Revolution becomes a Re-
formation !

K 2

20S

CHAPTER IX.
CIVILIZATION— THE FUTURE.

That our meaning may be as clear as possi-
ble, we shall present the reader with the result
of the present Work in a definite form.

For this purpose we shall suppose thirty
years to have passed, and that all the Reforms
proposed have been faithfully followed out and
in full operation. Under the impression that
we are living in the year 1882, we shall give a
description of the then existing World.

The reign of Selfishness and Oppression is
ended, that of justice and benevolence has
come. After a thirty years' conflict, truth

209

and TOLERATION have prevailed over error
and DESPOTISM.

The Socialist Doctrine of Justice being sub-
ordinate to Benevolence is extinct.

Profound Peace reigns. The Government
and boundaries of Nations have been finally
fixed upon the principles of Justice. The
causes of War and Revolution removed, their
recurrence is impossible. The World has at
last discovered, that men were not made for
fighting or disputing about Political and Reli-
gious Creeds. No standing armies exist.

Different Governments and Churches exist.
Some Nations are Monarchial, others Repub-
lican, but all are free — even Russia itself has
now a Constitutional Government. Some
Churches are Episcopal, ruled by Bishops;
others are Presbyterian or Congregational;
but on Belief there is perfect unity.

The Mahometan and Pagan Religions stand
out, but these are fast yielding to the influence
of united Christendom.

210

The aim of the World was once to heap up
riches and to tyrannize over each other, or to
spend life in Devotion and Worship, falsely-
called Religion. The aim of all is now to be
religious. Practice and not Profession has
become the test of Religion, and in " doing the
Truth" men love Truth and hate Error.

The means of Religion had been mistaken
for its object (self Reformation). Instead of
doing good, a fruitless ])rofession fostered
superstition and oppression, and persecuted
the Truth. The means of Grace are now
used as such ; the Churches are filled, and
Ignorance, Irreligion, Vice and Wretchedness
everywhere hide their faces. The command-
ments of Christ, to follow Truth and to love
God and our neighbour, in all we do and think,
are universally acknowledged and acted on.

Man can no longer rise by oppressing his
neighbour. The abolition of Class privileges,
and the removal of Ignorance, render this im-
practicable; his attention is tiierefore turned

211

to the art of peace. As an individual, he
educates himself, and rises to independence
by industry; as a member of society his acts
secure the good of all.

There is now no inducement to shun the
Truth oneself, or to mystify it so that others
may not find it. No writer or publisher is
any longer afraid to publish the Truth. Until
now no press in Europe was ever free. The
British press was free from government con-
tioul, but so long as respectable booksellers
refused to publish works — for no other reason
than that they discuss the Truth of established
opinions and practices, — the English Press
could not be said to be free, and until tlie
Reformation had put down all opposition, the
British press gave an uncertain sound.

Until now the invention of Printing had
produced no permanent fruit. The Press and
the Pulpit have been the means by which the
Second Reformation has been effected. While
these means have given the World a glorious

212

Reformation, the Reformation has given a free
Pulpit and Press.

Knowledge or Science is now triumphant.
Philosophy is absorbed in science, and for-
gotten. Man is at last invested with com-
plete dominion over Nature. The principles
of Moral Science are universally submitted to.
They admit of no more doubt than any fact
of Mathematics or Chemistry. Science is not
perfect, but it has attained that state of per-
fection that its principles admit of universal
application without fear of contradiction, and
as far as the wants of Man are concerned,
Knowledge is complete.

The Sceptic and Idolator are extinct.

The aim of the World is no longer the pur-
suit of Power, but Righteousness. Desire for
the adulation of others is supplanted by a
desire to satisfy the Conscience; actual worth
takes the place of hypocritical worth.

Righteousness is the fountain of Happiness.
Pleasure is not Happiness. When innocent, it

213

passes away with its cause, and has little or no
influence over Happiness. When vicious it is
followed by remorse. All men may be happy;
for although the character of Happiness de-
pends on talents, opportunities and acquire-
ments, all who follow the dictates of the
conscience are happy. From the beggar to
the King on the Throne all good men have
now one aim in Life, that of pleasing their own
consciences.

The supremacy of Conscience is complete.

This Divine Aim causes all Men to prefer
the dictates of the Understanding to those of
the Feelings, and our inward convictions are
felt to be the Voice of Conscience. Right is
preferred to Wrong, and Truth to Error. To
act otherwise, is to deviate from the acknow-
ledged aim of Life. This error, formerly the
rule of Life, is now the exception.

Trade is universally Free.

Instead of falling with the cost of living,
Wages have risen. The increased facility given
k5

214

to trade by the absence of Tariffs, and the in-
crease of Capital, owing to the progress of
science and the maintenance of peace through- .
out the world, have contributed to raise the
value of Labour.

The dominion of the Conscience has had a
marked influence on this change. The World
has discovered that Wealth is not the object of
Life, and money is saved. The effect of this
change is, that the hours of Labour are con-
tracted, and manual labour ceases at earlier
periods of Life. This desirable result has kept
the labour and goods market from being over-
stocked, and room is made for the employment
of an increasing population.

At length excessive competition has been
checked, and the remedy for that evil found.

Half the earnings of the World used to be
spent in dissipation, and in keeping up standing
armies and other useless appendages of Govern-
ment. This waste has been greatly reduced,
and the saving adds to the comforts and inde-
pendence of all.

215

The abolition of class legislation Jias not
abolished " Classes," nor equalized Wealth.
These inequalities remain. Stripped of unjust
privileges, tiie benefit of a mixed state of Society
is acknowledged. The low have been raised,
and the high possess nothing more than their
right. Their lands, property and character are
their own. The man of talents and enterprise,
— it may be of fortune, — rises to be a ruler or
a teacher. Master, Servant and Lord have their
respective duties to perform, and these grada-
tions of rank are great incentives to diligence.
Nothing now prevents the peasant rising to the
rank of the lord.

Adventures in Trade were formerly as likely
to be followed by loss as by profit. This evil
is now removed; diligence and prudence seldom
fail to be rewarded by success. Prosperity
gladdens the hearth of all. This change in the
commercial world is so satisfactory, that men
are beginning to ask if there are any limits to
the decrease of labour. Tliat labour will con-

216

tiiiue to decrease with the increase of know-
ledge, there is no doubt; and it is difficult to
assign any limit to its reduction.

Everywhere Art supplants Instinct. It is
rapidly becoming universal. The actions of
men are governed by the knowledge they have
acquired of the Arts of Life, and actions are no
longer left to chances or whim. The Laws of
Nature are known and obeyed. Original
Nature, both external and internal, gives place
to cultivated Nature. Such is the object of
creation, and the results we have named indi-
cate much progress in fulfilling the intention of
the Creator.

The Consciousness of having done the Will
of God imparts an abiding Happiness which
surpasseth Knowledge. Possessing this know-
ledge, Man is prepared for exchanging a life of
probation for a superior state. We see the use
of our past life. It has made us what we are —
an IntelHgence; and we know that He who so

217

wisely planned all nature to produce this pre-
cious fruit will not suffer the product to be lost.

If nature exhibited no proof of power as
wonderful as preserving a spirit from death,
we might fear the possibility of annihilation;
but as creation abounds with such wonders, it
is not the power but the will which is feared.
The fear of God remains, but perfect Religion
casteth out fear.

It is more than probable that we could not
become an immortal Intelhgence without first
being a mortal, and mortality involves the dis-
solution of the Body. To be perfected in
Heaven, it is necessary that all pass through
death.

The language of Scripture respecting the
future is necessarily of a highly figurative
character. The sacred writers could not other-
wise have made their meaning understood,
especially to the world in a primitive state of
Civilization. The language of Heaven would

218

have conveyed no meaning without the use
of figures belongino- to terrestrial affairs.

"The Judgment Day" is taken from a Court
of Justice. " Fire" paints the agony of the
Conscience. " Satan" is an apt personification
of the subtlety and malignity of the unrenewed
spirit.

If we read the Scriptures literally, as regards
a Judgment Day, that involves belief in an
intermediate state. There is no reason to fear
that such awaits us. We believe that the
moment we pass out of this World we awake
in eternal Life.

If our Life here determines our state in the
next — of which there is no doubt — then Hea-
ven and Hell may be described as one World,
in which every shade of condition marks the
state of its inhabitants. Superior privileges
will be the reward of the righteous, and infe-
rior privileges the punishment of the wicked.

We believe that Angels exist, and that Satan
is a fallen angel ; but men have ceased to be-

219

lieve that a Personal Spirit entered into our
first Parents, and polluted the Work of God,
an interpretation which impeaches either the
omnipotence or the perfection of the Almighty.

Regarding the future life we can say little.
That it will not be a state of Idleness there is
no doubt, for the only preparation which this
World gives would in that case be useless. A
new language, — the language of Heaven, —
must be learned, and the history of all worlds
will furnish the materials of an endless Life of
activity and joy.

Such is an attempt to describe a regenerated
World. Are we asked if the present generation
is likely to witness its glory, we answer, that
will depend on the verdict which England
shall pass on the Civil and Heligious questions
which now agitate the Public Mind, and we
trust we have done our part in supplying the
materials of thought by which every Man may
form his own opinion.

220

CHAPTEE X.

THE SCHISM — REFORMATION
UNAVOIDABLE.

The Oxford aggressive party use this language
to their Evangelical brethren : —

" That shams rot like cankers, and abound in
the Church of England, is the source of present
troubles, and the object of mutual dissensions.

" These, and such as these, what are they
but blots and scandals and shams, — shams eat-
ing away the life of the Church, and paralysing
her vigour, making us a spectacle of pity to
God and to angels, — a spectacle of derision to
men, — an incubus dragging us down to the

221

dust, rendering exertion powerless and aspira-
tion well nigh vain, — shaming decency and
destroying truth, — and in many breasts, alas !
quenching faith ! Gradually acquiring, how-
ever, the habit of probing into the depths of
our system, we are getting weary of unreality.
PFe are pronouncing against all compromisers
to ward off the evil day." — Ecclesiastic. July,
1851.

These few lines speak volumes. The spirit
displayed shows that there exists a serious if
not an irreparable breach between the two great
parties into which the Church is split.

The Oxford demand is nothing else than that
the Clergy should be exalted into a separate race
of men, and allowed to exercise an assumed
supernatural sovereignty over the Intellect of
the Nation. This demand cannot be granted by
the People without giving up their own liberty
of Conscience ; and if, in making this demand,
the Oxford Party think they can carry the
People with them, they will be sadly mistaken.

222

The People will discover that the right of pri-
vate judgment (which the Reformation con-
ferred) is to be taken away ; and this only
requires to be known, to open the eyes of the
People to their danger.

If the Church wishes to retain the confidence
of the Nation, she must come boldly forward
in this the Nation's hour of peril, and pronounce
against priestly exaltation and anti-toleration ;
for the present danger cannot be averted by
a half-and-half protest against these innova-
tions? Unless a decided stand be authoritatively
made, the fate of the Church is sealed.

The question at issue resolves itself into this,
— Is the supernatural authority claimed by the
Oxford Party true or false? If it be true, it
should be granted ; if false, the legislative power
of the Church ought instantly to be put forth to
suppress the heresy.

The Church is all but rent asunder. Already
two Churches seem to struggle in the womb of
the future. The one demands that Toleration

223

be renounced, and looks abroad whicli way to
turn. Unless the claim to apostolic privileges
be given up, this section must either erect a
new Church with a Hierarchy of its own, or
submit to the de^iradation of ooinsj; over to
Rome. It is impossible to say what number of
the clergy may be tainted with anti-toleration
yrinciples, but we are afraid they amount to
one-fifth of the entire Church — although the
Archbishop of Canterbury, in his letter to Mr.
Gauthorne, supposes the Church to be nuich
more sound.

To both Parties we make an appeal. To the
Evangelical Party we say, be consistent, and act
upon your belief, " that the effects of Grace are
non-miraculous," and fear not to concede any
prudent and well-considered scheme of Reform.
Be candid, and either admit the claim of the
Oxford party, or give up all claim to a super-
naturally endowed Priesthood, for one or other
of these alternatives is necessarily true. To
the Oxford Party we say, go on with your

224

demand for Reform, to the utmost limit con-
sistent with the principles of your Church and
of Truth. The laity, like yourselves, are weary
of " unreality,'^ and will heartily join you in
your endeavours to make Religion a real thing.
To be the heralds of a new Reformation,
and once more to spread the glad tidings of

" PEACE ON EARTH AND GOOD- WILL TO MEN," is

an honour reserved for the few. If influence
were the object, we would point to the coming
Reformation as the road to it ; but a far higher
principle must animate the Clergy, if, in the pre-
sent emergency. Good is to come out of Evil.
Let the spirit of party be exchanged for a spirit
of conciliation, — let all parties meet on the prin-
ciple of making concessions to Truth, then
Truth will have her perfect work, and a divine
harmony will restore the Church to her proper
station and influence in the Nation, and the
threatened Disruption will end in peace and
prosperity.

225

The Westminster Assembly must once more
be convened, after a recess of two centuries ;
and its duties will be of similar kind to that
of the first. It will have to revise the work of
the first Assembly, and produce a "Confession"
in keeping with the advanced state of Know-
ledge to which the world has happily reached —
an Assembly, which may definitely settle the
Articles of Faith for many generations to come.

A northern journal offers the following ad-
vice: — "The only chance, therefore, of fore-
closing either of these gloomy issues, (viz. re-
maining unreformed, or cancelling Toleration,)
to all that this country has done on behalf of
the cause of civil and religious liberty, would
be a brave resolve on the yart of the Church to
purify her Faith ; reconstruct the edifice of her
Governmental System ; and conform her Prac-
tice to the advance achieved by the aye in
Knowledye. Upon that sole condition can she
combine the principles, dear to England, of
independent action and generous toleration, and

226

under their united influence pursue triumph-
antly the noble career vA'hich it is the mission
of Protestantism to ran, and make head against
all priestly and political aggression, external or
internal."

Such we hope will immediately become the
desire of the Church herself, and the united
demand of the Nation. Before further Refor-
mation is rejected, the Church would do well to
remember the shortsighted policy of Tarquin
when he refused to purchase the Books of the
Sybil. Not less just is the demand for a Re-
formation in the Church than was the demand
of INIr. Cobden ; and we firmly believe that the
final success of the Second Reformation is no
less certain, than was the late Commercial Re-
form when the aristocracy indignantly refused
the liberal terms of Lord John Russell.

If the Church refuse the excellent advice
given grave results must ensue. The Church
will sj)eedily go to pieces of her own accord,
and that bond which at present unites society

227

will be lost. England will then have to run her
course under very different circumstances, for
this bond once broken cannot be restored.
The Church will be abandoned by the People,
and the Nation will lose the benefits of her
Church.

If, on the other hand, the Church yields to
the call for Reform, she will make a nobler
sacrifice to the God of Truth than the world
ever saw. It will be a spectacle to arrest the
attention of thoughtless man, when a Clergy
proves itself worthy of its high office as the ap-
pointed Ministers of God, and the Guardians of
the Rehgion of the Nation, — we say when the
Church assumes this attitude, the Nation will
welcome her to a position and an influence
to which she is a stranger. Let her follow
the advice given, and she shall have three-
fourths of the people with her; if she refuse,
error and disunion must cure themselves by the
natural process of decay. Abuse will cure itself
in the long run, but such cures are ever attended

228

with destructive effects, and it is in order to
avoid destruction and revolution that we have
ventured to propose an adequate measure of
Reform.

The sacrifices which Truth demands are
never palatable; and although the proposed
Reformation may be startling at first, yet a
little thought will convince any reasonable man
that nothino; but o;reat sacrifices somewhere can
put the Church right. And when the Clergy
look to the other alternative, — that of renounc-
ing Toleration, — they will find the sacrifices
there demanded are much greater.

But internal anarchy is not the only element
which is sapping the foundations of Protestant-
ism. Rome is likewise active.

The Roman Catholic Clergy are zealous and
enthusiastic, and with no opponents at all to
compare with them in zeal, they are making
sad havoc in our towns and villages. Unless
there is a change for the better soon, Rome
and Oxford must enrol the aristocracy within

229

their pale, and, what is no less discouraging,
they will take the lower orders likewise. They
have only to follow up what they have so suc-
cessfully begun to bring about this issue. It
has been proved that this must take place
unless a purer faith be immediately adopted by
the Protestants. Behold in prospect the first
act in the drama.

The last hope of Protestantism is in the
middle classes, and in them we have every
confidence ; but when a section of a nation is
hemmed in on all sides — as the middle classes
will be — they must give way. They will con-
tend to the last, fighting gloriously under a
deceitful banner — that oi justification hy faith
alone. How long the siege may hold out no
man can say, but that Protestantism, both in
England and on the Continent, is doomed to fall,
unless completely reformed, there is no longer
any reason to doubt.

Lord Aberdeen, in speaking of the Papal
Aggression, said, that every one teas agreed that

230

something ought to he done, but he omitted to
say what that "something" was. The power
of the Church of Rome in this country does
not come from Parliament, but from Opinion ;
hence, as Parhament has no jurisdiction over
the cause of the Papal Aggression (or Roman
propagandism), no act of Parhament can check
its progress. It is by acting on opinion alone
that the triumph of Rome can be stopped ; and
in these circumstances we expect we have
supplied what was wanting in his Lordship's
speech, in instituting an inquiry into the ele-
ments of Opinion, and in advocating the Second
Reformation, which is the result of that in-
quiry.

It is to the adoption of a consistent protest
against Superstition, and unfurling a better
standard, that the Protestant Faith can be ex-
pected to stand, and at last put down oppo-
sition. Instead of one class of Miracles let her
protest against all unscriptural Miracles; and
instead of justification hy faith alono, let the

231

banner of the Reformed Protestant Church be
justification hy faith in the Love of God and
in the obedience of Man.

A large proportion of men have no Creed,
and those who have cannot define a single
doctrine of the creed they profess to hold. The
practice of Christianity is as defective as its
creed. Great lamentations are made over the
want of fruits; but as men cannot practise what
they do not know or cannot comprehend, we
must define the doctrines of our Faith before
we can expect a satisfactory result. The pri-
mitive and unintelligible state of our creed is
sufiicient to account for its want of success. The
object of Religion is unknown ; hence we need
not wonder that such a state of religion pre-
duces little fruit.

Such is the deplorable state of Religion ; and
the reason we desire a Reformation is simply to
make an almost barren tree bear fruit, and be-
cause it is the only cure for the Papal Aggres-
sion, the schism in the Church of England, and
l2

232

the dissensions among Protestants generally.
Vast as these objects are, no one can doubt that
they, in common with all evils, admit of a cure
more or less perfect. The Church is the only
means of delivering the world from the fetters
of ignorance, irreligion, and misery. It is only
by her that the cheering prophecies of the
Bible can be fulfilled; and we have shown
that this cannot come to pass without a Re-
formation of our Creed. Reformation must be
the prayer of every good man ; and if that
which we have proposed cannot be gainsaid,
it ought to be accepted. The times are ex-
tremely favourable to the present movement,
for every one is impressed with the conviction
that a Reform of some kind is wanted.

Such is the present state of the Papal Ag-
gression question in England, and the times
are surely sufficiently critical to justify us in
bringing forward an impartial and comprehen-
sive inquiry into the whole question. There is no
hope but in Reform, and if the Clergy will only

233

turn their attention to the subject they will dis-
cover that if there is a hope, that hope is Reform.
The Church of England has put off Reforma-
tion so long that she must now make up her
mind to lose a portion of her Clergy ; but se-
rious and alarming as this prospect is, it is
surely better to come to a Reformation at once
than to put off the day of reckoning until the
entire Church is sunk in Superstition. There
is encouragement in the fact that few of the
laity are likely to follow the schismatics, if the
cure is not delayed. Let a Reformation be
pursued with a steady and well-defined pur-
pose, and all will yet be well; otherwise woe
to British Liberty and Toleration.

234

CHAPTEE XI.
CONCLUSION.

The Priesthood.

Feeling. What is the Catholic Church ?

Intellect. A CathoHc can have no Faith inde-
pendent of "The Holy Catholic Church"
— a fiction which comes in the place of God,
and occupies the place of Evidence.

With this fiction the Catholic needs no
evidence for Scripture, Traditions, or any thing
that the Clergy or Church says or does.
Shake a Catholic's faith in this Idol, he has
nothing left. His belief in Scripture and

235

Tradition vanishes with his Faith in a mira-
culously supported Priesthood.

Feel. Explain the Theory of " The Holy
Catholic Church."

Intel. The theory of a Supernaturally sup-
ported Priesthood is— that Christ would not
have undertaken the Salvation of the World,
and only appeared on the earth for a short
period, and to a limited portion of mankind.
It is therefore taken for granted that Christ
has provided for the wants of his Church in
all ages and nations by means of a standing
Priesthood or Church, and that the Roman
Catholic Church alone is that Church.

Such is the utmost that can be said in sup-
port of the Doctrine. It will be perceived, that,
although the reasoning is exceedingly plausible,
it is reasoning upon a pure assumption, as no
evidence of any kind is offered.

This Doctrine constitutes the Priest a kind
of mediator between God and man. To him
alone are committed the oracles of God. The

236

word of God must be exclusively interpreted
by the " Church."

To the Clergy this fiction offers Power and
Influence over the People. To the People it
brings down an offended God to treat with
them for the remission of Sin, through the
mediation of the Priest. Christ is made to
authorize the forgiveness or retention of Sin by
the priest. By compliance with the demands
of the priest, any Catholic can assure himself
of Heaven. Belief in the fiction of " the Holy
Catholic Church" is pleasing to human nature.
It is a delusion destructive of the highest inte-
rests of Man.

Feel. State your authority for calling the
theory a fiction.

Intel. It is impossible to disprove a negative;
but so long as the Catholic and Oxford Party
refuse to condescend on evidence, the doctrine
of" a Holy Catholic Church" is a nullity.

Feel. The Catholics appeal to Scripture and
Tradition.

237

Intel. If they did, the Papal claim could
easily be disproved. The Papal Church claims
the right arbitrarily to interpret the Scripture
on its own authority, thereby showing that the
Church of Rome claims to be a co-ordinate if
not a superior authority to Scripture, Tradition
or Experience.

Feel. The Church of Rome exists, and ap-
peals to that Fact.

Intel. I deny sovereign authority to any
Church whatever; for instance, I deny an
exclusive right to any Church to determine
the Will of God, or any right to forgive or
retain Sin.

Christianity in the early centuries of the
Church took the form of Catholicism, which
has been shown to be a corruption of pure
Doctrine, on the model of the Jewish Church.
If any Church could claim a delegated autho-
rity from the Deity, the Protestant Church —
which is partially reformed Catholicism — has a
better claim than the Church of Rome.
l5

238

Feel. The Catholic Church is older than the
Protestant.

Intel. That Catholic Church sprung out of a
low state of civilization, and confessedly less
pure than the Reformed Churches. If age was
a credential of a Divine Mission, the rehgious
of Brahma and Buddha might claim the sove-
reignty of Christendom, as they are older than
the Church of Rome.

As the controversy now stands, the Catho-
lics rest their authority on no evidence what-
ever; and being in that position, the Protestants
are entitled to call the Doctrine on which the
authority of the Papal Church rests — a Fiction
and a Superstition.

Feel. The Catholic Church appeals to our
Lord's words to St. Peter — " On this rock will
I build my Church, &c."

Intel. If the Catholic Church derives her
authority from Scripture, she must submit to
Scripture; and that condition is incompatible
with the claim set up by the Church of Rome!

239

Our Lord gave no power to St. Peter to insti-
tute an endless succession of Bishops and
Clergy, and it is certain the Apostle never ex-
ercised such a power. The Doctrine of per-
petual Apostolic Ordination either involves a
miracle performed on those receiving Ordina-
tion, or it means nothing; and no man can
listen to that doctrine without believing in mi-
racles. Miracles for which no evidence, either
from scripture or fact, can be adduced.

Feel. I do not see how the Church of Eng-
land can consistently protest against the Ca-
tholic Church, so long as the doctrine of " The
Holy Catholic Church" is one of the articles of
her own creed.

Intel. She cannot. While the Protestants
hold that doctrine, they must expect defeat.
With that doctrine the Church of Eng-land is
neither Catholic nor Protestant. The Papal
Aggression will inevitably drive tlie Church of
England to Rome, or to a new Reformation;
for there is no middle course between Truth
and Error.

240

Feel. While I deny the claim of the Catholic
and Oxford Clergy to Apostolic power, I am
not prepared to go the length of saying that
the Clergy are nothing more than Instructors,
to whom the cure of souls is committed.

Intel. It is easier to deny than to prove;
since you object to my opinion, perhaps you
will state yours. If a Clergyman is not spe-
cially and supernaturally endowed for his
office, you will find it impossible to make him
more than a man.

Feel. There is no middle course between
your doctrine and Oxford or Rome. The ex-
isting Schism will force the Church to speak
out and state what her Belief really is. I agree
with you that the claim of Rome is a fiction ;
but I do not like the alternative of a Reforma-
tion.

Intel. There are many Churches of the Re-
formation which hold no such fiction, and their
Clergy are quite as much respected as those
who claim Apostolic powers.

241

Feel. Would it not be dangerous to Religion
for the Churches of Rome and England to
renounce their claim to Divine right?

Intel. It is certain that Error cannot pro-
duce Good J and as the claim set up by Rome
and Oxford is erroneous, it will be the salva-
tion of Religion at once to renounce it. The
whole scope of th^ New Testament is opposed
to the idea of an exclusive Church.

Feel, Then you think the Clergy of the
Christian Church are not Priests in the sense
attached to that word in the Old Testament.

Intel. Certainly not. The Old Testament
dispensation was a Theocracy, with ordained
sacrifices to be offered by priests, who were to
stand, as it were, between God and Man, and
make atonement for the people. But under
the New Dispensation the old Religion is abo-
lished.

Feel. Since the Catholic Faith necessarily
excludes the light of evidence and reason,

242

the Catholics will be the last to join the Re-
formation.

Intel. I am not certain of that. The major
difficulty to the Reformation of the Catholic
Church is removed when a true and consistent
Faith is proposed for its adoption. A Catholic
cannot purify his Faith until he knows some-
thing better; and if the new Reformation is
more in accordance with his convictions of
Truth than his present Faith, an immediate re-
formation of the Catholic Church may be ex-
pected. The Second Reformation will speak
as powerfully to the consciences of Catholics as
of Protestants.

Feel. Will you now explain the claim of the
Oxford Party?

Intel. Both in spirit and in doctrine their
claim is identical with that of the Church of
Rome.

The Oxford party, like the Catholics, claim
supernatural power to the Priesthood. They
demand the exclusive right of determining the

243

will of the Almighty, and of making that will
known to the People in the forgiveness or re-
tention of their sins. They, like the Catholics,
can have no Faith independently of " The Holy
Catholic Church," and by means of that super-
stition they conveniently evade the necessity of
evidence for their Belief.

You will perceive, that with the fiction of
" the Church" to fall back upon, the Clergy
may make their Belief what they please, with-
out fear of contradiction. This fact shows the
enormity of the claim, and the danger which
now threatens the Nation.

Feel. I quite agree with you, that both
Scripture and Experience condemn the claim
put forth by the Clergy of Rome and Oxford.
It is a claim to Class Privileges of a most
subtile and dangerous kind, one which no
people can grant without renouncing liberty of
Conscience, and laying violent hands on Rea-
son, the noblest gift of God, and the only
guardian of liberty. The Right of Private
Judgment is the sheet-anchor of Civilization.

244

The Reign of Truth.

Feel What is Truth ?

Intel. Belief, founded on Evidence.

Feel. What is Evidence ?

Intel. The light of Nature and Revelation;
viz. Scripture and Facts.

Feel. What is Superstition?

Intel. Belief, vv'ithout Evidence.

Feel. What is Scepticism ?

Intel. Unbelief of Truth.

Feel. What do you mean by the supremacy
of the Conscience ?

Intel. To obey the dictates of Truth in pre-
ference to the impulse of Feeling is to be ruled
by the Conscience.

Feel. Your principle is good, but you will
never get men to practise it; unfortunately
Self-denial is unpleasant.

Intel. Reason and Conscience are powerful.
Man is so constituted, that if you convince him
of a Truth he can only disobey such conviction
at the expense of mental suffering.

245

Self-denial is elevating to the character,
and it soon becomes much more pleasant than
the gratification of impulse. Knowledge and
Practice is all that is wanting to regenerate
the World. The Almighty has left nothing
unprovided for.

Feel. What is Religion?

Intel. Practice is Religion. Faith is Theology
or Belief.

I. The Christian obeys the dictates of his
Conscience in preference to the impulse of his
Feelings.

II. He prefers the good of others to his own
good, when these principles jar. The first
principle governs Belief, the last Action.

Self-denial in practice has been entirely
overlooked by the Christian Church. This is
the cause why all religious and political creeds
are so defective and so unsuccessful.

Feel. Will you explain the first-named prin-
ciple more fully ?

Intel, To like and dislike without Reason is

246

pure Feeling. Impulse or Feeling, minus
Reason, is common to the lower animals. It is
original nature unenlightened by the intellect.
If we believe and act simply because we like
to do so, we sin against our better nature, and
against the precepts of Christ. The Conscience
must be consulted and obeyed.

Feel. If it be wrong to obey the Feelings,
when condemned by the understanding, I
should like to know how the feelings should
have been created with us.

Intel. The susceptibilities and faculties of
the Soul form the germ of the Soul, and unless
these existed, there could no more be a Soul
than the stately oak could grow without an
acorn.

Feel. I have always been taught that the
Religion of the Heart is everything, and the
Understanding nothing, and you now tell me
that the religion of the Heart is evil and Sin,
unless it be acted on by the understanding !
Will you state your authority for this ?

247

Intel. In the third chajDter of St. John's
Gospel, our Saviour condemns those who love
Darkness. This is the gratification of the Feel-
ings and denial of the Understanding. He
commends those who do the Truth, and we
cannot do the Truth unless we first know the
Truth. Such is my authority for saying that
the Religion of the Feelings, unenlightened by
the understanding, is Irreligion.

Feel. Feeling is powerful to guide action,
but Intellect is cold and imbecile. The change
you propose would rob Religion of its power.

Intel. Do not misunderstand me. I do not
propose to discourage the Religion of the Feel-
ings; on the contrary, I would stimulate such;
but what I insist on is, that the Feelings be
subjected to the authority of the Conscience.

Feel. I have always admired the third chap-
ter of St. John above all the chapters of the
Bible, but your interpretation never occurred
to me before. Yours is unquestionably a new
interpretation, but like the thousand and one

248

which have preceded it, I presume you have
no proof of its truth which does not apply to
others.

Intel. I have. What distinguishes my in-
terpretation from all its predecessors is, that it
agrees with the Test of Experience.

Feel. That is new. What is Experience?

Intel. I. Ascertained facts relating to ex-
ternal things. II. Ascertained facts relating to
our internal consciousness. From these two
sources all knowledge comes. Science is the
World's repository of knowledge. Into it dis-
coveries are poured, and from which all con-
flicting Belief is excluded.

Feel. May not facts deceive?

Intel. A supposed fact contradicting other
facts is not a fact. It is therefore a contra-
diction to suppose that general facts or prin-
ciples can be fallacious.

Feel. Will you now explain your second
principle, that of preferring the good of others
to our own when these are contrary?

249

Intel. To be charitable, and not judge evil
of our neighbour's motives without sufficient
reason, is one aspect of Christian practice.
Another is to do nothing to injure our neigh-
bour; both duties flow from Love. Now
abideth Faith, Hope, Charity, but the greatest
of these is Charity or Love. The 13th chapter
of Corinthians, from which these words are
taken, gives a perfect description of Christian
practice. St. Paul prefers Practice to Faith.

Feel. You take Scripture for the ground-
work, and vxse your Intellect — which you say
comes from Knowledge and Reason — to inter-
pret its meaning.

Intel. Precisely.

Feel. Previous attempts to reform Religion
either fell into the error of Rationalism, by ig-
noring the Feelings, or into Spiritualism, by
ignoring the Litellect. You seem to have
avoided both errors; and if you have succeeded
in pulling up the Tares without injuring the
Wheat, the great want of the age is supplied.

250

Intel. You may rely upon it God did not
give Experience and Reason for nothing — the
neglect of these adjuncts of nature is the
cause of the failure of Civilization, and the pre-
valence of suffering. Not only are Reason and
Experience the best gifts of God, but they
include all gifts. That they are the intended
interpreters of the Scriptures is certain.

Feel. Then to cultivate the understanding,
and to love your neighbour, is the whole of re-
ligion.

Intel. Certainly not. The first and great
commandment is, to love God.

Feel. Will you explain that great duty?

Intel. We love God when we do his com-
mandments. A perception of the love of God
to man in the gift of Christ, calls forth the
emotion of love to God in return. This sup-
plies a new motive to the practice of Religion.

Feel. Then the religious state of the soul
depends on the conduct.

Intel. It does. Without the practice of love

251

to our neighbour there can be no Rehgion.
In that case it is impossible to love God.
St. Paul states, that although our Faith could
remove mountains, yet without Love we are
nothing;.

Feel. I am convinced that Faith without
Works is dead, in other words, that Practice
and not Faith is Religion. Will you now de-
fine Religion?

Intel. Righteousness, or right conduct, is
Religion.

Feel. Do you include Religious Services in
Right conduct?

Intel. Of course. Public worship is neces-
sary to keep Man in remembrance of his de-
pendence on God for all things, and his obli-
gation to love and serve him in all we do. The
Ordinances of Religion are the means of Reli-
gion, not Religion itself.

Feel. My Feelings alone rebel against the
Reformation. I have all along been taught to
rely exclusively on Faith for Righteousness,

252

and you now tell me I must be righteous
myself.

Intel. A Tree is known by its Fruit. " With-
out holiness no man shall see the Lord."
" The pure in heart see God." Unless we
have righteousness, it is certain we cannot be
Christians. This is common sense, and now
that you have granted the authority of Con-
science, you must submit to its dictates.

Feel. If I felt I had the power to improve
myself, my fear would cease.

Intel. You cannot have this experience until
you make a trial. There is no difficulty in
giving effect to the dictates of your under-
standing in preference to your feelings, if you
please to do it ; neither is there any difficulty
in acting so as not to injure your neighbour;
and as these two duties embrace the immediate
object of Christianity, it is certain that man
may be righteous if he pleases. Man is per-
fectly free to do good or evil.

253

Feel. 1 must confess I do not see how we
could be responsible, if I had no power to
work Righteousness, as well as to work Evil;
nor can I understand the use of Christ's
preaching, if his hearers had no power to turn
from their sins. I have attended Church faith-
fully during a long lifetime. I have read little
else than Religious Books all my days. But
although my Conscience has been soothed, I
am not a whit better or wiser than when I first
imagined myself converted. My inner man
has undergone no change, except to be more
rebellious than ever. My only resource was
to lay the blame of my evil spirit on Satan and
my first parents. Now I perceive the mission
of Christ was to proclaim the Truth, and warn
men to flee from the wrath to come. — T per-
ceive that Belief is not Religion. The only
way 1 can account for my error is, that I never
before took the trouble to think for myself.

254

Object[ons answered.

Feel. The proposed Reformation would restore
"the Catholic Doctrine of Works.

Intel. Certainly not. The doctrine that
Practice and not Faith is Religion — the essence
of the Second Reformation — never belonged to
the Catholic Church, The Catholic doctrine
of Works is seeking Salvation from the observ-
ance of Human ordinances. That doctrine
being destructive of the practice of Christianity
it cannot be too strongly condemned.

Feel. What is your objection to the present
interpretation of the New Testament ? Do not
the Clergy stimulate the Feelings, and at the
same time cultivate the understanding?

Intel. Religion, as it now stands, is every-
thing and nothing ! Man is told that he can
do nothing, and yet he must work, or his re-
ligion is vain. That he can know nothing
and yet ignorance is evil. In teaching oppo-
sites, there is no wonder that men are ever

255

kept learning, and never coming to the know-
ledge of the Truth — that Conversion is ever
talked about, but no one is ever converted.
Let the Church be consistent and remove in-
consistency from her creed, and there is no
difference between ray views and Evangelicism.

Feel. You say Christ came to publish the
Truth and warn men to flee from coming
Wrath. I grant this, but unless Christ's work
includes the idea of a sacrifice, it would be im-
possible to account for his crucifixion.

Intel. That does not follow. That the no-
tion of a sacrifice should have arisen in the
Church is very natural, since the Jewish worship
abounded with sacrifices; but if such had been
the intention of Christ, he would have said so.
He says, " I lay down my life for the sheep,"
but he does not say that He did so as a sacri-
fice.

Without the Suffering, Death and Resur-
rection, Christ's words would have convinced
no man in a degenerate age, like that in which
m2

256

our Saviour appeared. To speak of Truth to
the crowds that surrounded him, without at
the same time working miracles, and especially
without a violent Death and a visible Resur-
rection, would have produced no conversions.
Until after the accomplishment of the Resur-
rection, the number of the disciples was small,
but after that event the converted increased to
thousands, showing the effect of the miracle of
our Saviour's Death and Resurrection to en-
force conviction.

Feel. I am not convinced.

Intel. 1 grant there are several passages in
the New Testament which, if read literally,
involve the idea of a Sacrifice. But the mean-
ing of these passages cannot be determined
without first considering the general scope of
Scripture, and above all, the object of Religion.
This done, you will find it impossible to read
such in the literal sense. Tlie fioure of an
atoning Sacrifice is doubtless used by the
sacred writers to show forth to the Jews the

257

necessity of Christ's death and sufferings. And
when we remember that their minds were
wholly engrossed with a Religion of Works —
of which an atonement and daily sacrifice were
the chief — the mystery is explained.

There is as much authority for interpreting
the Scripture figuratively, as regards Evil and
Sin, and their cure, as there is regarding " the
real presence" in the Sacrament.

Unless " this is my Body" may be rendered
figuratively, in obedience to the dictates of the
Intellect, there could have been no first Refor-
mation ; and unless St. Paul's discourses on
the work of Christ can be read without involv-
ing the idea of an actual Sacrifice — in the
Christian as in the Jewish Church — there can
be no second Reformation.

Feel. Will you state the point on which the
discussion ought to turn ?

Intel. If original sin be true, an atonement
is indispensable; but if untrue, that is ob-
viously unnecessary and contradictory. If ori-

258

ginal sin cannot be maintained, you will agree
with me that St. Paul's words, as to sacrifice,
must be taken in a figurative sense ; and when
you have granted this, every difficulty in the
New Testament is explained.

Feel. I have been accustomed to expect the
Divine forgiveness in consequence of Belief
alone. You expect pardon in consequence of
OBEDIENCE to the commandmcnts of Christ to
love God and your neighbour, and on the love
and mercy of God proclaimed by the Saviour.
Suppose I hold both Faiths?

Intel. Faith in Obedience is alone compati-
ble with the express commandments of Christ,
and it alone agrees with the testimony of
Experience, and leaves Nature unimpaired.
I would have no objection to your Belief being
superadded to mine, if such would not destroy
my Belief and produce Scepticism.

Your Belief and mine are opposites ; I must
either give up mine and take yours, or you
nmst give up yours and take mine. Double

259

Faith keeps one always in a half state between
Belief and Scepticism — neither a happy nor a
profitable state, in which to spend a precious
lifetime. The conduct governs Happiness,
whether we rely on Belief, or on Works. A
double-minded Man is unstable in all his ways.

Feel. You &re going upon the principle that
the improvement of Man is the sole object of
Christ's coming.

Intel. Certainly.

Feel. Is not God's object double? 1st, to
glorify himself; 2nd. to improve Man.

Intel. That cannot be. You confound the
motive with the object. The first is the motive
of God in the mission of the Saviour; the
second the object of that Mission.

Feel. It is more agreeable to rely on Divine
righteousness than on a life of Christian Love
and self-denial.

Intel. Knowledge has its pleasures as well
as ignorance, and habit makes anything plea-

260

sant. I grant that self-improvement is difficult
and disagreeable at first, but when men are
convinced it is their interest to improve, they
will sacrifice their prejudices.

The change from a reliance on mere Belief
to a reliance on Obedience must come some-
time, if the World is ever to be delivered from
suffering, oppression and wretchedness, and
the sooner the Truth be told the better. When
we look at the present state of the World it ap-
pears as if the time for Reformation had fully
come. The Catholics are fast closing in upon
the Protestants in every country in Europe,
and none more than in England. Ireland is
ruled by a foreign Prince — a power which may
at any time be used against us. The Reform-
ation not only promises the removal of these
evils, but it will certainly unite all Christendom
in the ties of brotherhood. To the entire race,
as well as to individual men, the Reformation
offers peace and prosperity.

261

Feel. Are you prepared to obviate every pos-
sible objection?

Intel. One thing is certain, that no objection
can be brought against the new interpretation
whicli does not apply to the old. The test of
Experience must decide between the two In-
terpretations. And Nature must be consulted
as well as Scripture. Fortunately, the best
Books on orthodox Theology grant the prin-
ciple that no interpretation can be true which
contradicts facts. With that admission my
position is impregnable.

Feel. Suppose I tell you the Intellect has
nothing to do with Religion. Is not Revela-
tion supernatural, and therefore above Reason?

Intel. One would think you were a Catholic,
and while you hold your present opinion it
will be difficult to reach you.

Feel. I grant the Intellect has to do with
Practice but not with Faith.

Intel. Belief must be founded on something,

262

or it is mere fancy or caprice. You will grant
that the only Belief worthy of the name must
be founded on the Scriptures, or on facts.

Feel. I get my Faith from the Scriptures.

Intel. Place the Bible before an irrational
animal, it cannot understand a word. It has
no faith. It is in consequence of Reason that
you have any faith. You must therefore be
convinced that Intellect cannot be separated
from Faith any more than from Practice.

You can change your Belief when your
Reason is convinced, but not otherwise. This
is the proof that true Belief depends on Reason
and Knowledge.

Feel. Having told me from whence Truth
comes, will you explain the origin of Super-
stition ?

Intel, Superstition comes from instinct, in
connection with imperfectly understood Expe-
rience.

263

The Reformation.

Feel. Will you state what is intended by the
Second Reformation.

Intel. Improved Action consequent on Im-
proved Knowledge, can alone reform and im-
prove the World. By reformation Evil and
Sin may be so far reduced as to be confined
to exceptional cases.

Feel. Then it is not merely a Reformation in
Belief, but a reformation in Action, which you
intend.

Intel. Certainly. There can be no improve-
ment in Opinion which does not show itself in
Action.

Feel What is Action ?

Intel. There are Actions of thought, word
and deed; the term "Conduct" expresses
every variety of Human Action.

Feel. Will you point out the particular mea-
sures the people should agitate.

Intel. The Reformation ousht to commence

264

with something practical ; I will therefore state
three demands, which embrace in their discus-
sion all the subjects which call for Reform-
ation.

I. Direct Taxation. — This Reform will
enlist in the cause of the Reformation many
who would otherwise be indifferent spectator.
Universal free trade will complete the downfall
of Class interests, and spread the blessings of
peace and prosperity far and wide. Its influ-
ence will cross the Channel, and prepare other
Nations for a general Reformation.

II. Church Patronage. — Reformation is
impossible without improved Knowledge, and
unless the people have a voice in the election
of their teachers, there can be no guarantee for
a o;eneral and sustained Reformation in Know-
ledge and Religion. Let Petitions cover the
Table of both Houses of Parliament until this
just demand be granted.

265

III. Doctrinal Reform. — Knowledge and
Civilization must remain stereotyped until this
Reform be granted. The People cannot be
expected to suffer privations for the sake of
Class privileges and obsolete Doctrines; and
the Will of the Nation only requires to be
expressed to secure a complete revision of the
doctrine of Faith. Let the People petition their
respective Churches as well as Parliament to
call a second Westminster Assembly to settle
the doctrines of the Reformation.

FeeL Your scheme is practicable, and pro-
vided the Press be favourable to the movement,
the People will not be slow to carry a Reform-
ation on which their future welfare depends.
You are aware the Clergy cannot take the
initiative in any Reformation. But with a
unanimous Press in its favour, they will be as
anxious as the People can be to throw off the
tyranny of Superstition.

Intel. Reject the Reformation, and the Dark
Ages are repeated. Accept it, and Civilization

266

passes to its final stage. The reign of Truth
Justice, and Benevolence begins.

We have now completed a laborious — but,
we trust, not an unprofitable — investigation
into prevailing opinions and practices with a
view to a General Reformation.

The means by which the present transition
state of society may be so improved that future
good may come out of present evil have been
pointed out. By a general Reformation in the
Church and in the State, both at home and
abroad, the causes of disaffection will be re-
moved; and instead of a future of war and
retrogression, the world shall enjoy a future of
peace and progress.

We have shown that England cannot adopt
the principles of the proposed Reformation
without producing a similar result on the rest
of Europe. To take advantage of the present
opportunity to reform what was left unre-

267

formed by the first Reformation, is the proper
duty of England, and the only preventive of
War.

If England takes the initiative in the great
work of Reformation, the general Revolution
through which the World is now passing will
be converted into a general Reformation. And
in the hope these pages will not be without
their use in the present extraordinary crisis of
the World's history, we respectfully withdraw.

c. nowoRTn and sons, printers,

BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR.

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