,ver4#aj_/jd_/ja99;,,end99 ,this etext was produced by ,alfred ,j4 ,drake1 ,ph4,d4 ,,culture ,,and ,,anarchy3 ,,an ,,essay ,,in ,,political ,,and ,,social ,,criticism #ahfi1 ,,first ,,edition ,,matthew ,,arnold ,chapter ,notes3 ,i have indicated the author's notes with a superscript asterisk 991 my own substantive notes with a superscript sign1 and my nonsubstantive notes with a superscript symbol4 ,pagination3 ,the text following a given page number in brackets marks the beginning of that page1 as in the following example3 #bb ,this is page twenty-two4 #bc ,this is page twenty-three4 ,,contents ,preface3 iii-lx ,i3 #a-ej 7,sweetness and ,light7 ,,ii3 #ea-ib 7,doing as ,one ,likes7 ,,iii3 #ic-ada 7,barbarians1 ,philistines1 ,populace7 ,,iv3 #adb-aff 7,hebraism and ,hellenism7 ,v3 #aff-aig 7,porro ,unum est ,necessarium7 ,,vi3 #aig-bgb 7,our ,liberal ,practitioners7 99,note3 in the first edition1 chapters are numbered only1 not named4 ,i have added the third edition's titles for reference4 ,,culture ,,and ,,anarchy 7#ahfi1 ,,first ,,edition7 ,,preface iii ,my foremost design in writing this ,preface is to address a word of exhortation to the ,society for ,promoting ,christian ,knowledge4 ,in the essay which follows1 the reader will often find ,bishop ,wilson quoted4 ,to me and to the members of the ,society for ,promoting ,christian ,knowledge his name and writings are still1 no doubt1 familiar2 but the world is fast going away from old-fashioned people of his sort1 and ,i learnt with consternation lately from a brilliant and distinguished votary of the natural sciences1 that he had never so much as heard of ,bishop ,wilson1 and that he imagined me to have invented him4 ,at a moment when the ,courts of ,law have just taken off the embargo from the recreative religion furnished on ,sundays by my gifted acquaintance and others1 and when ,st4 ,martin's ,hall iv and the ,alhambra will soon be beginning again to resound with their pulpit-eloquence1 it distresses one to think that the new lights should not only have1 in general1 a very low opinion of the preachers of the old religion1 but that they should have it without knowing the best that these preachers can do4 ,and that they are in this case is owing in part1 certainly1 to the negligence of the ,christian ,knowledge ,society4 ,in old times they used to print and spread abroad ,bishop ,wilson's ,maxims of ,piety and ,christianity2 the copy of this work which ,i use is one of their publications1 bearing their imprint1 and bound in the well-known brown calf which they made familiar to our childhood2 but the date of my copy is #ahab4 ,i know of no copy besides1 and ,i believe the work is no longer one of those printed and circulated by the ,society4 ,hence the error1 flattering1 ,i own1 to me personally1 yet in itself to be regretted1 of the distinguished physicist already mentioned4 ,but ,bishop ,wilson's ,maxims deserve to be circulated as a religious book1 not only by comparison with the cartloads of rubbish circulated at present under this designation1 but for their own sake1 and even by comparison with the other works of the same v author4 ,over the far better known ,sacra ,privata they have this advantage1 that they were prepared by him for his own private use1 while the ,sacra ,privata were prepared by him for the use of the public4 ,the ,maxims were never meant to be printed1 and have on that account1 like a work of1 doubtless1 far deeper emotion and power1 the ,meditations of ,marcus ,aurelius1 something peculiarly sincere and first-hand about them4 ,some of the best things from the ,maxims have passed into the ,sacra ,privata2 still1 in the ,maxims1 we have them as they first arose2 and whereas1 too1 in the ,sacra ,privata the writer speaks very often as one of the clergy1 and as addressing the clergy1 in the ,maxims he almost always speaks solely as a man4 ,i am not saying a word against the ,sacra ,privata1 for which ,i have the highest respect2 only the ,maxims seem to me a better and a more edifying book still4 ,they should be read1 as ,joubert says ,nicole should be read1 with a direct aim at practice4 ,the reader will leave on one side things which1 from the change of time and from the changed point of view which the change of time inevitably brings with it1 no longer suit him2 enough vi will remain to serve as a sample of the very best1 perhaps1 which our nation and race can do in the way of religious writing4 ,monsieur ,michelet makes it a reproach to us that1 in all the doubt as to the real author of the ,imitation1 no one has ever dreamed of ascribing that work to an ,englishman4 ,it is true1 the ,imitation could not well have been written by an ,englishman2 the religious delicacy and the profound asceticism of that admirable book are hardly in our nature4 ,this would be more of a reproach to us if in poetry1 which requires1 no less than religion1 a true delicacy of spiritual perception1 our race had not done such great things2 and if the ,imitation1 exquisite as it is1 did not1 as ,i have elsewhere remarked1 belong to a class of works in which the perfect balance of human nature is lost1 and which have therefore1 as spiritual productions1 in their contents something excessive and morbid1 in their form something not thoroughly sound4 ,on a lower range than the ,imitation1 and awakening in our nature chords less poetical and delicate1 the ,maxims of ,bishop ,wilson are1 as a religious work1 far more solid4 ,to the most sincere ardour and unction1 ,bishop ,wilson unites1 in these ,maxims1 that downright honesty vii and plain good sense which our ,english race has so powerfully applied to the divine impossibilities of religion2 by which it has brought religion so much into practical life1 and has done its allotted part in promoting upon earth the kingdom of ,god4 ,but with ardour and unction religion1 as we all know1 may still be fanatical2 with honesty and good sense1 it may still be prosaic2 and the fruit of honesty and good sense united with ardour and unction is often only a prosaic religion held fanatically4 ,bishop ,wilson's excellence lies in a balance of the four qualities1 and in a fulness and perfection of them1 which makes this untoward result impossible2 his unction is so perfect1 and in such happy alliance with his good sense1 that it becomes tenderness and fervent charity2 his good sense is so perfect and in such happy alliance with his unction1 that it becomes moderation and insight4 ,while1 therefore1 the type of religion exhibited in his ,maxims is ,english1 it is yet a type of a far higher kind than is in general reached by ,bishop ,wilson's countrymen2 and yet1 being ,english1 it is possible and attainable for them4 ,and so ,i conclude as ,i began1 by saying that a work of this sort is one which the ,society for ,promoting ,christian viii ,knowledge should not suffer to remain out of print or out of currency4 ,to pass now to the matters canvassed in the following essay4 ,the whole scope of the essay is to recommend culture as the great help out of our present difficulties2 culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know1 on all the matters which most concern us1 the best which has been thought and said in the world1 and1 through this knowledge1 turning a stream of fresh and free thought upon our stock notions and habits1 which we now follow staunchly but mechanically1 vainly imagining that there is a virtue in following them staunchly which makes up for the mischief of following them mechanically4 ,this1 and this alone1 is the scope of the following essay4 ,i say again here1 what ,i have said in the pages which follow1 that from the faults and weaknesses of bookmen a notion of something bookish1 pedantic1 and futile has got itself more or less connected with the word culture1 and that it is a pity we cannot use a word more perfectly free from all shadow of reproach4 ,and yet1 futile as are many bookmen1 and helpless as books and reading often prove for bringing nearer to perfection those who ix use them1 one must1 ,i think1 be struck more and more1 the longer one lives1 to find how much1 in our present society1 a man's life of each day depends for its solidity and value on whether he reads during that day1 and1 far more still1 on what he reads during it4 ,more and more he who examines himself will find the difference it makes to him1 at the end of any given day1 whether or no he has pursued his avocations throughout it without reading at all2 and whether or no1 having read something1 he has read the newspapers only4 ,this1 however1 is a matter for each man's private conscience and experience4 ,if a man without books or reading1 or reading nothing but his letters and the newspapers1 gets nevertheless a fresh and free play of the best thoughts upon his stock notions and habits1 he has got culture4 ,he has got that for which we prize and recommend culture2 he has got that which at the present moment we seek culture that it may give us4 ,this inward operation is the very life and essence of culture1 as we conceive it4 ,nevertheless1 it is not easy so to frame one's discourse concerning the operation of culture1 as to avoid giving frequent occasion to a misunderstanding whereby the essential inwardness of the x operation is lost sight of4 ,we are supposed1 when we criticise by the help of culture some imperfect doing or other1 to have in our eye some well-known rival plan of doing1 which we want to serve and recommend4 ,thus1 for instance1 because ,i have freely pointed out the dangers and inconveniences to which our literature is exposed in the absence of any centre of taste and authority like the ,french ,academy1 it is constantly said that ,i want to introduce here in ,england an institution like the ,french ,academy4 ,i have indeed expressly declared that ,i wanted no such thing2 but let us notice how it is just our worship of machinery1 and of external doing1 which leads to this charge being brought2 and how the inwardness of culture makes us seize1 for watching and cure1 the faults to which our want of an ,academy inclines us1 and yet prevents us from trusting to an arm of flesh1 as the ,puritans say1--from blindly flying to this outward machinery of an ,academy1 in order to help ourselves4 ,for the very same culture and free inward play of thought which shows us how the ,corinthian style1 or the whimsies about the ,one ,primeval ,language1 are generated and strengthened in the absence of an xi ,academy1 shows us1 too1 how little any ,academy1 such as we should be likely to get1 would cure them4 ,every one who knows the characteristics of our national life1 and the tendencies so fully discussed in the following pages1 knows exactly what an ,english ,academy would be like4 ,one can see the happy family in one's mind's eye as distinctly as if it was already constituted4 ,lord ,stanhope1 the ,bishop of ,oxford1 ,mr4 ,gladstone1 the ,dean of ,westminster1 ,mr4 ,froude1 ,mr4 ,henry ,reeve1-- everything which is influential1 accomplished1 and distinguished2 and then1 some fine morning1 a dissatisfaction of the public mind with this brilliant and select coterie1 a flight of ,corinthian leading articles1 and an irruption of ,mr4 ,g4 ,a4 ,sala4 ,clearly1 this is not what will do us good4 ,the very same faults1--the want of sensitiveness of intellectual conscience1 the disbelief in right reason1 the dislike of authority1--which have hindered our having an ,academy and have worked injuriously in our literature1 would also hinder us from making our ,academy1 if we established it1 one which would really correct them4 ,and culture1 which shows us truly the faults1 shows us this also just as truly4 xii ,it is by a like sort of misunderstanding1 again1 that ,mr4 ,oscar ,browning1 one of the assistant-masters at ,eton1 takes up in the ,quarterly ,review the cudgels for ,eton1 as if ,i had attacked ,eton1 because ,i have said1 in a book about foreign schools1 that a man may well prefer to teach his three or four hours a day without keeping a boarding-house2 and that there are great dangers in cramming little boys of eight or ten and making them compete for an object of great value to their parents2 and1 again1 that the manufacture and supply of school-books1 in ,england1 much needs regulation by some competent authority4 ,mr4 ,oscar ,browning gives us to understand that at ,eton he and others1 with perfect satisfaction to themselves and the public1 combine the functions of teaching and of keeping a boarding-house2 that he knows excellent men 7and1 indeed1 well he may1 for a brother of his own1 ,i am told1 is one of the best of them17 engaged in preparing little boys for competitive examinations1 and that the result1 as tested at ,eton1 gives perfect satisfaction4 ,and as to school-books he adds1 finally1 that ,dr4 ,william ,smith1 the learned and distinguished editor of the ,quarterly ,review1 is1 as we all know1 xiii the compiler of school-books meritorious and many4 ,this is what ,mr4 ,oscar ,browning gives us to understand in the ,quarterly ,review1 and it is impossible not to read with pleasure what he says4 ,for what can give a finer example of that frankness and manly self- confidence which our great public schools1 and none of them so much as ,eton1 are supposed to inspire1 of that buoyant ease in holding up one's head1 speaking out what is in one's mind1 and flinging off all sheepishness and awkwardness1 than to see an ,eton assistant-master offering in fact himself as evidence that to combine boarding-house- keeping with teaching is a good thing1 and his brother as evidence that to train and race little boys for competitive examinations is a good thing8 ,nay1 and one sees that this frank-hearted ,eton self- confidence is contagious2 for has not ,mr4 ,oscar ,browning managed to fire ,dr4 ,william ,smith 7himself1 no doubt1 the modestest man alive1 and never trained at ,eton7 with the same spirit1 and made him insert in his own ,review a puff1 so to speak1 of his own school-books1 declaring that they are 7as they are7 meritorious and many8 ,nevertheless1 ,mr4 ,oscar ,browning is wrong in xiv thinking that ,i wished to run down ,eton2 and his repetition on behalf of ,eton1 with this idea in his head1 of the strains of his heroic ancestor1 ,malvina's ,oscar1 as they are recorded by the family poet1 ,ossian1 is unnecessary4 ,the wild boar rushes over their tombs1 but he does not disturb their repose4 ,they still love the sport of their youth1 and mount the wind with joy4 ,all ,i meant to say was1 that there were unpleasantnesses in uniting the keeping a boarding-house with teaching1 and dangers in cramming and racing little boys for competitive examinations1 and charlatanism and extravagance in the manufacture and supply of our school-books4 ,but when ,mr4 ,oscar ,browning tells us that all these have been happily got rid of in his case1 and his brother's case1 and ,dr4 ,william ,smith's case1 then ,i say that this is just what ,i wish1 and ,i hope other people will follow their good example4 ,all ,i seek is that such blemishes should not through any negligence1 self-love1 or want of due self- examination1 be suffered to continue4 ,natural1 as we have said1 the sort of misunderstanding just noticed is2 yet our usefulness depends upon our being able to clear it away1 and to convince xv those who mechanically serve some stock notion or operation1 and thereby go astray1 that it is not culture's work or aim to give the victory to some rival fetish1 but simply to turn a free and fresh stream of thought upon the whole matter in question4 ,in a thing of more immediate interest1 just now1 than either of the two we have mentioned1 the like misunderstanding prevails2 and until it is dissipated1 culture can do no good work in the matter4 ,when we criticise the present operation of disestablishing the ,irish ,church1 not by the power of reason and justice1 but by the power of the antipathy of the ,protestant ,nonconformists1 ,english and ,scotch1 to establishments1 we are charged with being dreamers of dreams1 which the national will has rudely shattered1 for endowing the religious sects all round2 or we are called enemies of the ,nonconformists1 blind partisans of the ,anglican ,establishment4 ,more than a few words we must give to showing how erroneous are these charges2 because if they were true1 we should be actually subverting our own design1 and playing false to that culture which it is our very purpose to recommend4 ,certainly we are no enemies of the ,nonconformists2 xvi for1 on the contrary1 what we aim at is their perfection4 ,culture1 which is the study of perfection1 leads us1 as we in the following pages have shown1 to conceive of true human perfection as a harmonious perfection1 developing all sides of our humanity2 and as a general perfection1 developing all parts of our society4 ,for if one member suffer1 the other members must suffer with it2 and the fewer there are that follow the true way of salvation the harder that way is to find4 ,and while the ,nonconformists1 the successors and representatives of the ,puritans1 and like them staunchly walking by the best light they have1 make a large part of what is strongest and most serious in this nation and therefore attract our respect and interest1 yet all that1 in what follows1 is said about ,hebraism and ,hellenism1 has for its main result to show how our ,puritans1 ancient and modern1 have not enough added to their care for walking staunchly by the best light they have1 a care that that light be not darkness2 how they have developed one side of their humanity at the expense of all others1 and have become incomplete and mutilated men in consequence4 ,thus falling short of harmonious xvii perfection1 they fail to follow the true way of salvation4 ,therefore that way is made the harder for others to find1 general perfection is put further off out of our reach1 and the confusion and perplexity in which our society now labours is increased by the ,nonconformists rather than diminished by them4 ,so while we praise and esteem the zeal of the ,nonconformists in walking staunchly by the best light they have1 and desire to take no whit from it1 we seek to add to this what we call sweetness and light1 and develope their full humanity more perfectly2 and to seek this is certainly not to be the enemy of the ,nonconformists4 ,but now1 with these ideas in our head1 we come across the present operation for disestablishing the ,irish ,church by the power of the ,nonconformists' antipathy to religious establishments and endowments4 ,and we see ,liberal statesmen1 for whose purpose this antipathy happens to be convenient1 flattering it all they can2 saying that though they have no intention of laying hands on an ,establishment which is efficient and popular1 like the ,anglican ,establishment here in ,england1 yet it is in the abstract a fine and good thing that religion should xviii be left to the voluntary support of its promoters1 and should thus gain in energy and independence2 and ,mr4 ,gladstone has no words strong enough to express his admiration of the refusal of ,state-aid by the ,irish ,roman ,catholics1 who have never yet been seriously asked to accept it1 but who would a good deal embarrass him if they demanded it4 ,and we see philosophical politicians1 with a turn for swimming with the stream1 like ,mr4 ,baxter or ,mr4 ,charles ,buxton1 and philosophical divines with the same turn1 like the ,dean of ,canterbury1 seeking to give a sort of grand stamp of generality and solemnity to this antipathy of the ,nonconformists1 and to dress it out as a law of human progress in the future4 ,now1 nothing can be pleasanter than swimming with the stream2 and we might gladly1 if we could1 try in our unsystematic way to help ,mr4 ,baxter1 and ,mr4 ,charles ,buxton1 and the ,dean of ,canterbury1 in their labours at once philosophical and popular4 ,but we have got fixed in our minds that a more full and harmonious development of their humanity is what the ,nonconformists most want1 that narrowness1 one-sidedness1 and incompleteness is what they most suffer from2 xix in a word1 that in what we call provinciality they abound1 but in what we may call totality they fall short4 ,and they fall short more than the members of ,establishments4 ,the great works by which1 not only in literature1 art1 and science generally1 but in religion itself1 the human spirit has manifested its approaches to totality1 and a full1 harmonious perfection1 and by which it stimulates and helps forward the world's general perfection1 come1 not from ,nonconformists1 but from men who either belong to ,establishments or have been trained in them4 ,a ,nonconformist minister1 the ,rev4 ,edward ,white1 who has lately written a temperate and well-reasoned pamphlet against ,church ,establishments1 says that the unendowed and unestablished communities of ,england exert full as much moral and ennobling influence upon the conduct of statesmen as that ,church which is both established and endowed4 ,that depends upon what one means by moral and ennobling influence4 ,the believer in machinery may think that to get a ,government to abolish ,church-rates or to legalise marriage with a deceased wife's sister is to exert a moral and ennobling influence xx upon ,government4 ,but a lover of perfection1 who looks to inward ripeness for the true springs of conduct1 will surely think that as ,shakspeare has done more for the inward ripeness of our statesmen than ,dr4 ,watts1 and has1 therefore1 done more to moralise and ennoble them1 so an ,establishment which has produced ,hooker1 ,barrow1 ,butler1 has done more to moralise and ennoble ,english statesmen and their conduct than communities which have produced the ,nonconformist divines4 ,the fruitful men of ,english ,puritanism and ,nonconformity are men who were trained within the pale of the ,establishment1--,milton1 ,baxter1 ,wesley4 ,a generation or two outside the ,establishment1 and ,puritanism produces men of national mark no more4 ,with the same doctrine and discipline1 men of national mark are produced in ,scotland2 but in an ,establishment4 ,with the same doctrine and discipline1 men of national and even ,european mark are produced in ,germany1 ,switzerland1 ,france2 but in ,establishments4 ,only two religious disciplines seem exempted2 or comparatively exempted1 from the operation of the law which seems to forbid the rearing1 outside of national establishments1 of men of the xxi highest spiritual significance4 ,these two are the ,roman ,catholic and the ,jewish4 ,and these1 both of them1 rest on ,establishments1 which1 though not indeed national1 are cosmopolitan2 and perhaps here1 what the individual man does not lose by these conditions of his rearing1 the citizen1 and the ,state of which he is a citizen1 loses4 ,what1 now1 can be the reason of this undeniable provincialism of the ,english ,puritans and ,protestant ,nonconformists1 a provincialism which has two main types1--a bitter type and a smug type1--but which in both its types is vulgarising1 and thwarts the full perfection of our humanity8 ,men of genius and character are born and reared in this medium as in any other4 ,from the faults of the mass such men will always be comparatively free1 and they will always excite our interest2 yet in this medium they seem to have a special difficulty in breaking through what bounds them1 and in developing their totality4 ,surely the reason is1 that the ,nonconformist is not in contact with the main current of national life1 like the member of an ,establishment4 ,in a matter of such deep and vital concern as religion1 this separation from the main current of the national life has xxii peculiar importance4 ,in the following essay we have discussed at length the tendency in us to ,hebraise1 as we call it2 that is1 to sacrifice all other sides of our being to the religious side4 ,this tendency has its cause in the divine beauty and grandeur of religion1 and bears affecting testimony to them2 but we have seen that it has dangers for us1 we have seen that it leads to a narrow and twisted growth of our religious side itself1 and to a failure in perfection4 ,but if we tend to ,hebraise even in an ,establishment1 with the main current of national life flowing round us1 and reminding us in all ways of the variety and fulness of human existence1--by a ,church which is historical as the ,state itself is historical1 and whose order1 ceremonies1 and monuments reach1 like those of the ,state1 far beyond any fancies and devisings of ours1 and by institutions such as the ,universities1 formed to defend and advance that very culture and many-sided development which it is the danger of ,hebraising to make us neglect1--how much more must we tend to ,hebraise when we lack these preventives4 ,one may say that to be reared a member of an ,establishment is in itself a lesson of religious moderation1 and a help towards xxiii culture and harmonious perfection4 ,instead of battling for his own private forms for expressing the inexpressible and defining the undefinable1 a man takes those which have commended themselves most to the religious life of his nation2 and while he may be sure that within those forms the religious side of his own nature may find its satisfaction1 he has leisure and composure to satisfy other sides of his nature as well4 ,but with the member of a ,nonconforming or self-made religious community how different6 ,the sectary's eigene grosse ,erfindungen1 as ,goethe calls them1--the precious discoveries of himself and his friends for expressing the inexpressible and defining the undefinable in peculiar forms of their own1 cannot but1 as he has voluntarily chosen them1 and is personally responsible for them1 fill his whole mind4 ,he is zealous to do battle for them and affirm them1 for in affirming them he affirms himself1 and that is what we all like4 ,other sides of his being are thus neglected1 because the religious side1 always tending in every serious man to predominance over our other spiritual sides1 is in him made quite absorbing and tyrannous by xxiv the condition of self-assertion and challenge which he has chosen for himself4 ,and just what is not essential in religion he comes to mistake for essential1 and a thousand times the more readily because he has chosen it of himself2 and religious activity he fancies to consist in battling for it4 ,all this leaves him little leisure or inclination for culture2 to which1 besides1 he has no great institutions not of his own making1 like the ,universities connected with the national ,establishment1 to invite him2 but only such institutions as1 like the order and discipline of his religion1 he may have invented for himself1 and invented under the sway of the narrow and tyrannous notions of religion fostered in him as we have seen4 ,thus1 while a national ,establishment of religion favours totality1 hole-and-corner forms of religion 7to use an expressive popular word7 inevitably favour provincialism4 ,but the ,nonconformists1 and many of our ,liberal friends along with them1 have a plausible plan for getting rid of this provincialism1 if1 as they can hardly quite deny1 it exists4 ,let us all be in the same boat1 they cry2 open the ,universities to everybody1 and let there be no establishment of xxv religion at all6 ,open the ,universities by all means2 but1 as to the second point about establishment1 let us sift the proposal a little4 ,it does seem at first a little like that proposal of the fox1 who had lost his own tail1 to put all the other foxes in the same boat by a general cutting off of tails2 and we know that moralists have decided that the right course here was1 not to adopt this plausible suggestion1 and cut off tails all round1 but rather that the other foxes should keep their tails1 and that the fox without a tail should get one4 ,and so we might be inclined to urge that1 to cure the evil of the ,nonconformists' provincialism1 the right way can hardly be to provincialise us all round4 ,however1 perhaps we shall not be provincialised4 ,for the ,rev4 ,edward ,white says that probably1 when all good men alike are placed in a condition of religious equality1 and the whole complicated iniquity of ,government ,church patronage is swept away1 more of moral and ennobling influence than ever will be brought to bear upon the action of statesmen4 ,we already have an example of religious equality in our colonies4 ,in the colonies1 says ,the ,times1 we see religious communities unfettered by xxvi ,state-control1 and the ,state relieved from one of the most troublesome and irritating of responsibilities4 ,but ,america is the great example alleged by those who are against establishments for religion4 ,our topic at this moment is the influence of religious establishments on culture2 and it is remarkable that ,mr4 ,bright1 who has taken lately to representing himself as1 above all1 a promoter of reason and of the simple natural truth of things1 and his policy as a fostering of the growth of intelligence1--just the aims1 as is well known1 of culture also1--,mr4 ,bright1 in a speech at ,birmingham about education1 seized on the very point which seems to concern our topic1 when he said3 ,i believe the people of the ,united ,states have offered to the world more valuable information during the last forty years than all ,europe put together4 ,so ,america1 without religious establishments1 seems to get ahead of us all in culture and totality2 and these are the cure for provincialism4 ,on the other hand1 another friend of reason and the simple natural truth of things1 ,monsieur ,renan1 says of ,america1 in a book he has recently published1 what seems to conflict violently with xxvii what ,mr4 ,bright says4 ,mr4 ,bright affirms that1 not only have the ,united ,states thus informed ,europe1 but they have done it without a great apparatus of higher and scientific instruction1 and by dint of all classes in ,america being sufficiently educated to be able to read1 and to comprehend1 and to think2 and that1 ,i maintain1 is the foundation of all subsequent progress4 ,and then comes ,monsieur ,renan1 and says3 ,the sound instruction of the people is an effect of the high culture of certain classes4 ,the countries which1 like the ,united ,states1 have created a considerable popular instruction without any serious higher instruction1 will long have to expiate this fault by their intellectual mediocrity1 their vulgarity of manners1 their superficial spirit1 their lack of general intelligence499 ,now1 which of these two friends of culture are we to believe8 ,monsieur ,renan seems more to have in his eye what we ourselves mean by culture2 xxviii because ,mr4 ,bright always has in his eye what he calls a commendable interest in politics and political agitations4 ,as he said only the other day at ,birmingham3 ,at this moment1--in fact1 ,i may say at every moment in the history of a free country1--there is nothing that is so much worth discussing as politics4 ,and he keeps repeating1 with all the powers of his noble oratory1 the old story1 how to the thoughtfulness and intelligence of the people of great towns we owe all our improvements in the last thirty years1 and how these improvements have hitherto consisted in ,parliamentary reform1 and free trade1 and abolition of ,church rates1 and so on2 and how they are now about to consist in getting rid of minority-members1 and in introducing a free breakfast- table1 and in abolishing the ,irish ,church by the power of the ,nonconformists' antipathy to establishments1 and much more of the same kind4 ,and though our pauperism and ignorance1 and all the questions which are called social1 seem now to be forcing themselves upon his mind1 yet he still goes on with his glorifying of the great towns1 and the ,liberals1 and their operations for the last thirty years4 ,it never xxix seems to occur to him that the present troubled state of our social life has anything to do with the thirty years' blind worship of their nostrums by himself and our ,liberal friends1 or that it throws any doubts upon the sufficiency of this worship4 ,but he thinks what is still amiss is due to the stupidity of the ,tories1 and will be cured by the thoughtfulness and intelligence of the great towns1 and by the ,liberals going on gloriously with their political operations as before2 or that it will cure itself4 ,so we see what ,mr4 ,bright means by thoughtfulness and intelligence1 and in what manner1 according to him1 we are to grow in them4 ,and1 no doubt1 in ,america all classes read their newspaper and take a commendable interest in politics more than here or anywhere else in ,europe4 ,but1 in the following essay1 we have been led to doubt the sufficiency of all this political operating of ours1 pursued mechanically as we pursue it2 and we found that general intelligence1 as ,monsieur ,renan calls it1 or1 in our own words1 a reference of all our operating to a firm intelligible law of things1 was just what we were without1 and that we were without it because we worshipped our machinery xxx so devoutly4 ,therefore1 we conclude that ,monsieur ,renan1 more than ,mr4 ,bright1 means by reason and intelligence the same thing as we do2 and when he says that ,america1 that chosen home of newspapers and politics1 is without general intelligence1 we think it likely1 from the circumstances of the case1 that this is so2 and that1 in culture and totality1 ,america1 instead of surpassing us all1 falls short4 ,and1--to keep to our point of the influence of religious establishments upon culture and a high development of our humanity1-- we can surely see reasons why1 with all her energy and fine gifts1 ,america does not show more of this development1 or more promise of this4 ,in the following essay it will be seen how our society distributes itself into ,barbarians1 ,philistines1 and ,populace2 and ,america is just ourselves1 with the ,barbarians quite left out1 and the ,populace nearly4 ,this leaves the ,philistines for the great bulk of the nation2--a livelier sort of ,philistine than ours1 and with the pressure and false ideal of our ,barbarians taken away1 but left all the more to himself and to have his full swing6 ,and as we have found that the strongest and most vital part of ,english ,philistinism was the xxxi ,puritan and ,hebraising middle-class1 and that its ,hebraising keeps it from culture and totality1 so it is notorious that the people of the ,united ,states issues from this class1 and reproduces its tendencies1--its narrow conception of man's spiritual range and of his one thing needful4 ,from ,maine to ,florida1 and back again1 all ,america ,hebraises4 ,difficult as it is to speak of a people merely from what one reads1 yet that1 ,i think1 one may1 without much fear of contradiction say4 ,i mean1 when1 in the ,united ,states1 any spiritual side in a man is wakened to activity1 it is generally the religious side1 and the religious side in a narrow way4 ,social reformers go to ,moses or ,st4 ,paul for their doctrines1 and have no notion there is anywhere else to go to2 earnest young men at schools and universities1 instead of conceiving salvation as a harmonious perfection only to be won by unreservedly cultivating many sides in us1 conceive of it in the old ,puritan fashion1 and fling themselves ardently upon it in the old1 false ways of this fashion1 which we know so well1 and such as ,mr4 ,hammond1 the ,american revivalist1 has lately1 at ,mr4 ,spurgeon's ,tabernacle1 been refreshing our memory with4 ,now1 if ,america thus xxxii ,hebraises more than either ,england or ,germany1 will any one deny that the absence of religious establishments has much to do with it8 ,we have seen how establishments tend to give us a sense of a historical life of the human spirit1 outside and beyond our own fancies and feelings2 how they thus tend to suggest new sides and sympathies in us to cultivate2 how1 further1 by saving us from having to invent and fight for our own forms of religion1 they give us leisure and calm to steady our view of religion itself1--the most overpowering of objects1 as it is the grandest1--and to enlarge our first crude notions of the one thing needful4 ,but1 in a serious people1 where every one has to choose and strive for his own order and discipline of religion1 the contention about these non-essentials occupies his mind1 his first crude notions about the one thing needful do not get purged1 and they invade the whole spiritual man in him1 and then1 making a solitude1 they call it heavenly peace4 ,i remember a ,nonconformist manufacturer1 in a town of the ,midland counties1 telling me that when he first came there1 some years ago1 the place had no ,dissenters2 but he had opened an ,independent xxxiii chapel in it1 and now ,church and ,dissent were pretty equally divided1 with sharp contests between them4 ,i said1 that seemed a pity4 ,a pity8 cried he2 not at all6 ,only think of all the zeal and activity which the collision calls forth6 ,ah1 but1 my dear friend1 ,i answered1 only think of all the nonsense which you now hold quite firmly1 which you would never have held if you had not been contradicting your adversary in it all these years6 ,the more serious the people1 and the more prominent the religious side in it1 the greater is the danger of this side1 if set to choose out forms for itself and fight for existence1 swelling and spreading till it swallows all other spiritual sides up1 intercepts and absorbs all nutriment which should have gone to them1 and leaves ,hebraism rampant in us and ,hellenism stamped out4 ,culture1 and the harmonious perfection of our whole being1 and what we call totality1 then become secondary matters2 and the institutions1 which should develope these1 take the same narrow and partial view of humanity and its wants as the free religious communities take4 ,just as the free churches of ,mr4 ,beecher or ,brother ,noyes1 with their provincialism xxxiv and want of centrality1 make mere ,hebraisers in religion1 and not perfect men1 so the university of ,mr4 ,ezra ,cornell1 a really noble monument of his munificence1 yet seems to rest on a provincial misconception of what culture truly is1 and to be calculated to produce miners1 or engineers1 or architects1 not sweetness and light4 ,and1 therefore1 when the ,rev4 ,edward ,white asks the same kind of question about ,america that he has asked about ,england1 and wants to know whether1 without religious establishments1 as much is not done in ,america for the higher national life as is done for that life here1 we answer in the same way as we did before1 that as much is not done4 ,because to enable and stir up people to read their ,bible and the newspapers1 and to get a practical knowledge of their business1 does not serve to the higher spiritual life of a nation so much as culture1 truly conceived1 serves2 and a true conception of culture is1 as ,monsieur ,renan's words show1 just what ,america fails in4 ,to the many who think that culture1 and sweetness1 and light1 are all moonshine1 this will not appear to matter much2 but with us1 who value xxxv them1 and who think that we have traced much of our present discomfort to the want of them1 it weighs a great deal4 ,so not only do we say that the ,nonconformists have got provincialism and lost totality by the want of a religious establishment1 but we say that the very example which they bring forward to help their case makes against them2 and that when they triumphantly show us ,america without religious establishments1 they only show us a whole nation touched1 amidst all its greatness and promise1 with that provincialism which it is our aim to extirpate in the ,english ,nonconformists4 ,but now to evince the disinterestedness which culture1 as ,i have said1 teaches us4 ,we have seen the narrowness generated in ,puritanism by its hole-and-corner organisation1 and we propose to cure it by bringing ,puritanism more into contact with the main current of national life4 ,here we are fully at one with the ,dean of ,westminster2 and1 indeed1 he and we were trained in the same school to mark the narrowness of ,puritanism1 and to wish to cure it4 ,but he and others would give to the present ,anglican ,establishment a character the most latitudinarian1 as it is called1 possible2 availing themselves for this xxxvi purpose of the diversity of tendencies and doctrines which does undoubtedly exist already in the ,anglican formularies2 and they would say to the ,puritans3 ,come all of you into this liberally conceived ,anglican ,establishment4 ,but to say this is hardly1 perhaps1 to take sufficient account of the course of history1 or of the strength of men's feelings in what concerns religion1 or of the gravity which may have come to attach itself to points of religious order and discipline merely4 ,when the ,rev4 ,edward ,white talks of sweeping away the whole complicated iniquity of ,government ,church patronage1 he uses language which has been forced upon him by his position1 but which is1 as we have seen1 devoid of any real solidity4 ,but when he talks of the religious communities which have for three hundred years contended for the power of the congregation in the management of their own affairs1 then he talks history2 and his language has behind it1 in my opinion1 facts which make the latitudinarianism of our ,broad ,churchmen quite illusory4 ,certainly1 culture will never make us think it an essential of religion whether we have in our ,church discipline a popular authority of elders1 as ,hooker calls xxxvii it1 or whether we have ,episcopal jurisdiction4 ,certainly1 ,hooker himself did not think it an essential2 for in the dedication of his ,ecclesiastical ,polity1 speaking of these questions of ,church discipline which gave occasion to his great work1 he says they are in truth1 for the greatest part1 such silly things1 that very easiness doth make them hard to be disputed of in serious manner4 ,hooker's great work against the impugners of the order and discipline of the ,church of ,england was written 7and this is too indistinctly seized by many who read it71 not because ,episcopalianism is essential1 but because its impugners maintained that ,presbyterianism is essential1 and that ,episcopalianism is sinful4 ,neither the one nor the other is either essential or sinful1 and much may be said on behalf of both4 ,but what is important to be remarked is that both were in the ,church of ,england at the ,reformation1 and that ,presbyterianism was only extruded gradually4 ,we have mentioned ,hooker1 and nothing better illustrates what has just been asserted than the following incident in ,hooker's own career1 which every one has read1 for it is related in ,isaac ,walton's ,life of ,hooker1 but of which1 xxxviii probably1 the significance has been fully grasped by not one-half of those who have read it4 ,hooker was through the influence of ,archbishop ,whitgift appointed1 in #aehe1 ,master of the ,temple2 but a great effort had just been made to obtain the place for a ,mr4 ,walter ,travers1 well known in that day1 though now it is ,hooker's name which alone preserves his4 ,this ,travers was then afternoon-lecturer at the ,temple4 ,the ,master whose death made the vacancy1 ,alvey1 recommended on his deathbed ,travers for his successor1 the society was favourable to him1 and he had the support of the ,lord ,treasurer ,burghley4 ,after ,hooker's appointment to the ,mastership1 ,travers remained afternoon-lecturer1 and combated in the afternoons the doctrine which ,hooker preached in the mornings4 ,now1 this ,travers1 originally a ,fellow of ,trinity ,college1 ,cambridge1 afterwards afternoon-lecturer at the ,temple1 recommended for the ,mastership by the foregoing ,master1 whose opinions1 it is said1 agreed with his1 favoured by the society of the ,temple1 and supported by the ,prime ,minister1--this ,travers was not an ,episcopally ordained clergyman at all2 he was a ,presbyterian1 xxxix a partisan of the ,geneva church-discipline1 as it was then called1 and had taken orders1 says ,walton1 by the ,presbyters in ,antwerp4 ,in another place ,walton speaks of his orders yet more fully3--,he had disowned1 he says1 the ,english ,established ,church and ,episcopacy1 and went to ,geneva1 and afterwards to ,antwerp1 to be ordained minister1 as he was by ,villers and ,cartwright and others the heads of a congregation there2 and so came back again more confirmed for the discipline4 ,villers and ,cartwright are in like manner examples of ,presbyterianism within the ,church of ,england1 which was common enough at that time2 but perhaps nothing can better give us a lively sense of its presence there than this history of ,travers1 which is as if ,mr4 ,binney were now afternoon-reader at ,lincoln's ,inn or the ,temple1 were to be a candidate1 favoured by the benchers and by the ,prime ,minister1 for the ,mastership1 and were only kept out of the post by the accident of the ,archbishop of ,canterbury's influence with the ,queen carrying a rival candidate4 ,presbyterianism1 with its popular principle of the power of the congregation in the management of xl their own affairs1 was extruded from the ,church of ,england1 and men like ,travers can no longer appear in her pulpits4 ,perhaps if a government like that of ,elizabeth1 with secular statesmen like the ,cecils1 and ecclesiastical statesmen like ,whitgift1 could have been prolonged1 ,presbyterianism might1 by a wise mixture of concession and firmness1 have been absorbed in the ,establishment4 ,lord ,bolingbroke1 on a matter of this kind a very clear-judging and impartial witness1 says1 in a work far too little read1 his ,remarks on ,english ,history3-- ,the measures pursued and the temper observed in ,queen ,elizabeth's time tended to diminish the religious opposition by a slow1 a gentle1 and for that very reason an effectual progression4 ,there was even room to hope that when the first fire of the ,dissenters' zeal was passed1 reasonable terms of union with the ,established ,church might be accepted by such of them as were not intoxicated with fanaticism4 ,these were friends to order1 though they disputed about it4 ,if these friends of ,calvin's discipline had been once incorporated with the ,established ,church1 the remaining sectaries would have been of little moment1 either for numbers or xli reputation2 and the very means which were proper to gain these friends1 were likewise the most effectual to hinder the increase of them1 and of the other sectaries in the meantime4 ,the temper and ill judgment of the ,stuarts made shipwreck of all policy of this kind4 ,yet speaking even of the time of the ,stuarts1 but their early time1 ,clarendon says that if ,bishop ,andrewes had succeeded ,bancroft at ,canterbury1 the disaffection of separatists might have been stayed and healed4 ,this1 however1 was not to be2 and ,presbyterianism1 after exercising for some years the law of the strongest1 itself in ,charles the ,second's reign suffered under this law1 and was finally cast out from the ,church of ,england4 ,now the points of church discipline at issue between ,presbyterianism and ,episcopalianism are1 as has been said1 not essential4 ,they might probably once have been settled in a sense altogether favourable to ,episcopalianism4 ,hooker may have been right in thinking that there were in his time circumstances which made it essential that they should be settled in this sense1 though the points in themselves were not essential4 ,but by the very fact of the settlement not having then been effected1 of the xlii breach having gone on and widened1 of the ,nonconformists not having been amicably incorporated with the ,establishment but violently cast out from it1 the circumstances are now altogether altered4 ,isaac ,walton1 a fervent ,churchman1 complains that the principles of the ,nonconformists grew at last to such a height and were vented so daringly1 that1 beside the loss of life and limbs1 the ,church and ,state were both forced to use such other severities as will not admit of an excuse1 if it had not been to prevent confusion and the perilous consequences of it4 ,but those very severities have of themselves made union on an ,episcopalian footing impossible4 ,besides1 ,presbyterianism1 the popular authority of elders1 the power of the congregation in the management of their own affairs1 has that warrant given to it by ,scripture and by the proceedings of the early ,christian ,churches1 it is so consonant with the spirit of ,protestantism which made the ,reformation and which has such strength in this country1 it is so predominant in the practice of other reformed churches1 it was so strong in the original reformed ,church of ,england1 that one cannot help doubting whether any settlement which suppressed it could have been really permanent1 xliii and whether it would not have kept appearing again and again1 and causing dissension4 ,well1 then1 if culture is the disinterested endeavour after man's perfection1 will it not make us wish to cure the provincialism of the ,nonconformists1 not by making ,churchmen provincial along with them1 but by letting their popular church discipline1 formerly found in the ,national ,church1 and still found in the affections and practice of a good part of the nation1 appear in the ,national ,church once more2 and thus to bring ,nonconformists into contact again1 as their greater fathers were1 with the main stream of national life8 ,why should not a ,presbyterian or ,congregational ,church1 based on this considerable and important1 though not essential principle1 of the congregation's power in the church management1 be established1--with equal rank for its chiefs with the chiefs of ,episcopacy1 and with admissibility of its ministers1 under a revised system of patronage and preferment1 to benefices1--side by side with the ,episcopal ,church1 as the ,calvinist and ,lutheran ,churches are established side by side in ,france and ,germany8 ,such a ,congregational ,church would unite the main bodies of ,protestants who are now separatists2 and xliv separation would cease to be the law of their religious order4 ,then1--through this concession on a really considerable point of difference1--that endless splitting into hole-and-corner churches on quite inconsiderable points of difference1 which must prevail so long as separatism is the first law of a ,nonconformist's religious existence1 would be checked4 ,culture would then find a place among ,english followers of the popular authority of elders1 as it has long found it among the followers of ,episcopal jurisdiction2 and this we should gain by merely recognising1 regularising1 and restoring an element which appeared once in the reformed ,national ,church1 and which is considerable and national enough to have a sound claim to appear there still4 ,so far1 then1 is culture from making us unjust to the ,nonconformists because it forbids us to worship their fetishes1 that it even leads us to propose to do more for them than they themselves venture to claim4 ,it leads us1 also1 to respect what is solid and respectable in their convictions1 while their latitudinarian friends make light of it4 ,not that the forms in which the human spirit tries to express the inexpressible1 or the forms by which man tries to xlv worship1 have or can have1 as has been said1 for the follower of perfection1 anything necessary or eternal4 ,if the ,new ,testament and the practice of the primitive ,christians sanctioned the popular form of church government a thousand times more expressly than they do1 if the ,church since ,constantine were a thousand times more of a departure from the scheme of primitive ,christianity than it can be shown to be1 that does not at all make1 as is supposed by men in bondage to the letter1 the popular form of church government alone and always sacred and binding1 or the work of ,constantine a thing to be regretted4 ,what is alone and always sacred and binding for man is the climbing towards his total perfection1 and the machinery by which he does this varies in value according as it helps him to do it4 ,the planters of ,christianity had their roots in deep and rich grounds of human life and achievement1 both ,jewish and also ,greek2 and had thus a comparatively firm and wide basis amidst all the vehement inspiration of their mighty movement and change4 ,by their strong inspiration they carried men off the old basis of life and culture1 whether ,jewish or ,greek1 and generations arose xlvi who had their roots in neither world1 and were in contact therefore with no full and great stream of human life4 ,christianity might have lost herself1 if it had not been for some such change as that of the fourth century1 in a multitude of hole-and-corner churches like the churches of ,english ,nonconformity after its founders departed2 churches without great men1 and without furtherance for the higher life of humanity4 ,at a critical moment came ,constantine1 and placed ,christianity1--or let us rather say1 placed the human spirit1 whose totality was endangered1-- in contact with the main current of human life4 ,and his work was justified by its fruits1 in men like ,augustine and ,dante1 and indeed in all the great men of ,christianity1 ,catholics or ,protestants1 ever since4 ,and one may go beyond this4 ,monsieur ,albert ,reville1 whose religious writings are always interesting1 says that the conception which cultivated and philosophical ,jews now entertain of ,christianity and its founder1 is probably destined to become the conception which ,christians themselves will entertain4 ,socinians are fond of saying the same thing about the ,socinian conception of ,christianity4 ,even if this were true1 it would still have been xlvii better for a man1 through the last eighteen hundred years1 to have been a ,christian1 and a member of one of the great ,christian communions1 than to have been a ,jew or a ,socinian2 because the being in contact with the main stream of human life is of more moment for a man's total spiritual growth1 and for his bringing to perfection the gifts committed to him1 which is his business on earth1 than any speculative opinion which he may hold or think he holds4 ,luther1--whom we have called a ,philistine of genius1 and who1 because he was a ,philistine1 had a coarseness and lack of spiritual delicacy which have harmed his disciples1 but who1 because he was a genius1 had splendid flashes of spiritual insight1--,luther says admirably in his ,commentary on the ,book of ,daniel3 ,a ,god is simply that whereon the human heart rests with trust1 faith1 hope and love4 ,if the resting is right1 then the ,god too is right2 if the resting is wrong1 then the ,god too is illusory4 ,in other words1 the worth of what a man thinks about ,god and the objects of religion depends on what the man is2 and what the man is1 depends upon his having more or less reached the measure of a perfect and total man4 xlviii ,all this is true2 and yet culture1 as we have seen1 has more tenderness for scruples of the ,nonconformists than have their ,broad ,church friends4 ,that is because culture1 disinterestedly trying1 in its aim at perfection1 to see things as they really are1 sees how worthy and divine a thing is the religious side in man1 though it is not the whole of man4 ,and when ,mr4 ,greg1 who differs from us about edification1 7and certainly we do not seem likely to agree with him as to what edifies71 finding himself moved by some extraneous considerations or other to take a ,church's part against its enemies1 calls taking a ,church's part returning to base uses1 culture teaches us how out of place is this language1 and that to use it shows an inadequate conception of human nature1 and that no ,church will thank a man for taking its part in this fashion1 but will leave him with indifference to the tender mercies of his ,benthamite friends4 ,but avoiding ,benthamism1 or an inadequate conception of the religious side in man1 culture makes us also avoid ,mialism1 or an inadequate conception of man's totality4 ,therefore to the worth and grandeur of the religious side in man1 culture is rejoiced and willing to pay any tribute1 xlix except the tribute of man's totality4 ,true1 the order and liturgy of the ,church of ,england one may be well contented to live and to die with1 and they are such as to inspire an affectionate and revering attachment4 ,true1 the reproaches of ,nonconformists against this order for retaining badges of ,antichristian recognisance2 and for corrupting the right form of ,church polity with manifold ,popish rites and ceremonies2 true1 their assertion of the essentialness of their own supposed ,scriptural order1 and their belief in its eternal fitness1 are founded on illusion4 ,true1 the whole attitude of horror and holy superiority assumed by ,puritanism towards the ,church of ,rome1 is wrong and false1 and well merits ,sir ,henry ,wotton's rebuke3--,take heed of thinking that the farther you go from the ,church of ,rome1 the nearer you are to ,god4 ,true1 one of the best wishes one could form for ,mr4 ,spurgeon or ,father ,jackson is1 that they might be permitted to learn on this side the grave 7for if they do not1 a considerable surprise is certainly reserved for them on the other7 that ,whitfield and ,wesley were not at all better than ,st4 ,francis1 and that they themselves are not at all better than ,lacordaire4 ,yet1 l in spite of all this1 so noble and divine a thing is religion1 so respectable is that earnestness which desires a prayer-book with one strain of doctrine1 so attaching is the order and discipline by which we are used to have our religion conveyed1 so many claims on our regard has that popular form of church government for which ,nonconformists contend1 so perfectly compatible is it with all progress towards perfection1 that culture would make us shy even to propose to ,nonconformists the acceptance of the ,anglican prayer-book and the episcopal order2 and would be forward to wish them a prayer-book of their own approving1 and the church discipline to which they are attached and accustomed4 ,only not at the price of ,mialism2 that is1 of a doctrine which leaves the ,nonconformists in holes and corners1 out of contact with the main current of national life4 ,one can lay one's finger1 indeed1 on the line by which this doctrine has grown up1 and see how the essential part of ,nonconformity is a popular church-discipline analogous to that of the other reformed churches1 and how its voluntaryism is an accident4 ,it contended for the establishment of its own church-discipline as the only true li one2 and beaten in this contention1 and seeing its rival established1 it came down to the more plausible proposal to place all good men alike in a condition of religious equality2 and this plan of proceeding1 originally taken as a mere second-best1 became1 by long sticking to it and preaching it up1 first fair1 then righteous1 then the only righteous1 then at last necessary to salvation4 ,this is the plan for remedying the ,nonconformists' divorce from contact with the national life by divorcing churchmen too from contact with it2 that is1 as we have familiarly before put it1 the tailless foxes are for cutting off tails all round4 ,but this the other foxes could not wisely grant1 unless it were proved that tails are of no value4 ,and so1 too1 unless it is proved that contact with the main current of national life is of no value 7and we have shown that it is of the greatest value71 we cannot safely1 even to please the ,nonconformists in a matter where we would please them as much as possible1 admit ,mialism4 ,but now1 as we have shown the disinterestedness which culture enjoins1 and its obedience not to likings or dislikings1 but to the aim of perfection1 let us show its flexibility1--its independence of machinery4 ,that lii other and greater prophet of intelligence1 and reason1 and the simple natural truth of things1--,mr4 ,bright1--means by these1 as we have seen1 a certain set of measures which suit the special ends of ,liberal and ,nonconformist partisans4 ,for instance1 reason and justice towards ,ireland mean the abolishment of the iniquitous ,protestant ascendency in such a particular way as to suit the ,nonconformists' antipathy to establishments4 ,reason and justice pursued in a different way1 by distributing among the three main ,churches of ,ireland1--the ,roman ,catholic1 the ,anglican1 and the ,presbyterian1--the church property of ,ireland1 would immediately cease1 for ,mr4 ,bright and the ,nonconformists1 to be reason and justice at all1 and would become1 as ,mr4 ,spurgeon says1 a setting up of the ,roman image4 ,thus we see that the sort of intelligence reached by culture is more disinterested than the sort of intelligence reached by belonging to the ,liberal party in the great towns1 and taking a commendable interest in politics4 ,but still more striking is the difference between the two views of intelligence1 when we see that culture not only makes a quite disinterested choice of the machinery liii proper to carry us towards sweetness and light1 and to make reason and the will of ,god prevail1 but by even this machinery does not hold stiffly and blindly1 and easily passes on beyond it to that for the sake of which it chose it4 ,for instance3 culture leads us to think that the ends of human perfection might be best served by establishing1--that is1 by bringing into contact with the main current of the national life1--in ,ireland the ,roman ,catholic and the ,presbyterian ,churches along with the ,anglican ,church2 and1 in ,england1 a ,presbyterian or ,congregational ,church of like rank and status with our ,episcopalian one4 ,it leads us to think that we should really1 in this way1 be working to make reason and the will of ,god prevail2 because we should be making ,roman ,catholics better citizens1 and ,nonconformists1--nay1 and ,churchmen along with them1-- larger-minded and more complete men4 ,but undoubtedly there are great difficulties in such a plan as this2 and the plan is not one which looks very likely to be adopted4 ,it is a plan more for a time of creative statesmen1 like the time of ,elizabeth1 than for a time of instrumental liv statesmen like the present4 ,the ,churchman must rise above his ordinary self in order to favour it2 and the ,nonconformist has worshipped his fetish of separatism so long that he is likely to wish still to remain1 like ,ephraim1 a wild ass alone by himself4 ,the centre of power being where it is1 our instrumental statesmen have every temptation1 as is shown more at large in the following essay1 in the first place1 to relieve themselves1 as ,the ,times says1 of troublesome and irritating responsibilities2 in the second place1 when they must act1 to go along1 as they do1 with the ordinary self of those on whose favour they depend1 to adopt as their own its desires1 and to serve them with fidelity1 and even1 if possible1 with impulsiveness4 ,this is the more easy for them1 because there are not wanting1--and there never will be wanting1--thinkers like ,mr4 ,baxter1 ,mr4 ,charles ,buxton1 and the ,dean of ,canterbury1 to swim with the stream1 but to swim with it philosophically2 to call the desires of the ordinary self of any great section of the community edicts of the national mind and laws of human progress1 and to give them a general1 a philosophic1 and an imposing expression4 ,a generous statesman may lv honestly1 therefore1 soon unlearn any disposition to put his tongue in his cheek in advocating these desires1 and may advocate them with fervour and impulsiveness4 ,therefore a plan such as that which we have indicated does not seem a plan so likely to find favour as a plan for abolishing the ,irish ,church by the power of the ,nonconformists' antipathy to establishments4 ,but to tell us that our fond dreams are on that account shattered is inexact1 and is the sort of language which ought to be addressed to the promoters of intelligence through public meetings and a commendable interest in politics1 when they fail in their designs1 and not to us4 ,for we are fond stickers to no machinery1 not even our own2 and we have no doubt that perfection can be reached without it1--with free churches as with established churches1 and with instrumental statesmen as with creative statesmen4 ,but it can never be reached without seeing things as they really are2 and it is to this1 therefore1 and to no machinery in the world1 that culture sticks fondly4 ,it insists that men should not mistake1 as they are prone to mistake1 their natural taste for the bathos for a relish for the sublime2 and if statesmen1 either lvi with their tongue in their cheek or through a generous impulsiveness1 tell them their natural taste for the bathos is a relish for the sublime1 there is the more need for culture to tell them the contrary4 ,it is delusion on this point which is fatal1 and against delusion on this point culture works4 ,it is not fatal to our ,liberal friends to labour for free trade1 extension of the suffrage1 and abolition of church-rates1 instead of graver social ends2 but it is fatal to them to be told by their flatterers1 and to believe1 with our pauperism increasing more rapidly than our population1 that they have performed a great1 an heroic work1 by occupying themselves exclusively1 for the last thirty years1 with these ,liberal nostrums1 and that the right and good course for them now is to go on occupying themselves with the like for the future4 ,it is not fatal to ,americans to have no religious establishments and no effective centres of high culture2 but it is fatal to them to be told by their flatterers1 and to believe1 that they are the most intelligent people in the whole world1 when of intelligence1 in the true and fruitful sense of the word1 they even singularly1 as we have seen1 come short4 ,it is not lvii fatal to the ,nonconformists to remain with their separated churches2 but it is fatal to them to be told by their flatterers1 and to believe1 that theirs is the one pure and ,christ-ordained way of worshipping ,god1 that provincialism and loss of totality have not come to them from following it1 or that provincialism and loss of totality are not evils4 ,it is not fatal to the ,english nation to abolish the ,irish ,church by the power of the ,nonconformists' antipathy to establishments2 but it is fatal to it to be told by its flatterers1 and to believe1 that it is abolishing it through reason and justice1 when it is really abolishing it through this power2 or to expect the fruits of reason and justice from anything but the spirit of reason and justice themselves4 ,now culture1 because of its keen sense of what is really fatal1 is all the more disposed to be pliant and easy about what is not fatal4 ,and because machinery is the bane of politics1 and an inward working1 and not machinery1 is what we most want1 we keep advising our ardent young ,liberal friends to think less of machinery1 to stand more aloof from the arena of politics at present1 and rather to try and promote1 with us1 an inward working4 ,they do not listen lviii to us1 and they rush into the arena of politics1 where their merits1 indeed1 seem to be little appreciated as yet2 and then they complain of the reformed constituencies1 and call the new ,parliament a ,philistine ,parliament4 ,as if a nation1 nourished and reared in ,hebraising1 could give us1 just yet1 anything better than a ,philistine ,parliament6--for would a ,barbarian ,parliament be even so good1 or a ,populace ,parliament8 ,for our part1 we rejoice to see our dear old friends1 the ,hebraising ,philistines1 gathered in force in the ,valley of ,jehoshaphat before their final conversion1 which will certainly come2 but for this conversion we must not try to oust them from their places1 and to contend for machinery with them1 but we must work on them inwardly and cure them of ,hebraising4 ,yet the days of ,israel are innumerable2 and in its blame of ,hebraising too1 and in its praise of ,hellenising1 culture must not fail to keep its flexibility1 and to give to its judgments that passing and provisional character which we have seen it impose on its preferences and rejections of machinery4 ,now1 and for us1 it is a time to ,hellenise1 and to praise knowing2 for we have ,hebraised too much1 lix and have over-valued doing4 ,but the habits and discipline received from ,hebraism remain for our race an eternal possession2 and1 as humanity is constituted1 one must never assign them the second rank to-day1 without being ready to restore them to the first rank to-morrow4 ,to walk staunchly by the best light one has1 to be strict and sincere with oneself1 not to be of the number of those who say and do not1 to be in earnest1--this is the discipline by which alone man is enabled to rescue his life from thraldom to the passing moment and to his bodily senses1 to ennoble it1 and to make it eternal4 ,and this discipline has been nowhere so effectively taught as in the school of ,hebraism4 ,sophocles and ,plato knew as well as the author of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews that without holiness no man shall see ,god1 and their notion of what goes to make up holiness was larger than his4 ,but the intense and convinced energy with which the ,hebrew1 both of the ,old and of the ,new ,testament1 threw himself upon his ideal1 and which inspired the incomparable definition of the great ,christian virtue1 ,faith1--the substance of things hoped for1 the evidence of things not seen1--this energy of faith in its ideal has lx belonged to ,hebraism alone4 ,as our idea of holiness enlarges1 and our scope of perfection widens beyond the narrow limits to which the over-rigour of ,hebraising has tended to confine it1 we shall come again to ,hebraism for that devout energy in embracing our ideal1 which alone can give to man the happiness of doing what he knows4 ,if ye know these things1 happy are ye if ye do them6--the last word for infirm humanity will always be that4 ,for this word1 reiterated with a power now sublime1 now affecting1 but always admirable1 our race will1 as long as the world lasts1 return to ,hebraism2 and the ,bible1 which preaches this word1 will forever remain1 as ,goethe called it1 not only a national book1 but the ,book of the ,nations4 ,again and again1 after what seemed breaches and separations1 the prophetic promise to ,jerusalem will still be true3--,lo1 thy sons come1 whom thou sentest away2 they come gathered from the west unto the east by the word of the ,holy ,one1 rejoicing in the remembrance of ,god4 ,,notes xxvii4 99,les pays qui comme les tats-,unis ont cr un enseignement populaire considrable sans instruction suprieure srieuse1 expieront longtemps encore leur faute par leur mdiocrit intellectuelle1 leur grossiret de moeurs1 leur esprit superficiel1 leur manque d'intelligence gnrale4 ,,preamble ,,culture ,,and ,,anarchy #a ,in one of his speeches a year or two ago1 that fine speaker and famous ,liberal1 ,mr4 ,bright1 took occasion to have a fling at the friends and preachers of culture4 ,people who talk about what they call culture6 said he contemptuously2 by which they mean a smattering of the two dead languages of ,greek and ,latin4 ,and he went on to remark1 in a strain with which modern speakers and writers have made us very familiar1 how poor a thing this culture is1 how little good it can do to the world1 and how absurd it is for its possessors to set much #b store by it4 ,and the other day a younger ,liberal than ,mr4 ,bright1 one of a school whose mission it is to bring into order and system that body of truth of which the earlier ,liberals merely touched the outside1 a member of the ,university of ,oxford1 and a very clever writer1 ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison1 developed1 in the systematic and stringent manner of his school1 the thesis which ,mr4 ,bright had propounded in only general terms4 ,perhaps the very silliest cant of the day1 said ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison1 is the cant about culture4 ,culture is a desirable quality in a critic of new books1 and sits well on a possessor of belles lettres2 but as applied to politics1 it means simply a turn for small fault-finding1 love of selfish ease1 and indecision in action4 ,the man of culture is in politics one of the poorest mortals alive4 ,for simple pedantry and want of good sense no man is his equal4 ,no assumption is too unreal1 no end is too unpractical for him4 ,but the active exercise of politics requires common sense1 sympathy1 trust1 resolution and enthusiasm1 qualities which your man of culture has carefully rooted up1 lest they damage the delicacy of his critical olfactories4 ,perhaps they are the only class #c of responsible beings in the community who cannot with safety be entrusted with power4 ,now for my part ,i do not wish to see men of culture asking to be entrusted with power2 and1 indeed1 ,i have freely said1 that in my opinion the speech most proper1 at present1 for a man of culture to make to a body of his fellow-countrymen who get him into a committee- room1 is ,socrates's3 ,know thyself6 and this is not a speech to be made by men wanting to be entrusted with power4 ,for this very indifference to direct political action ,i have been taken to task by the ,daily ,telegraph1 coupled1 by a strange perversity of fate1 with just that very one of the ,hebrew prophets whose style ,i admire the least1 and called an elegant ,jeremiah4 ,it is because ,i say 7to use the words which the ,daily ,telegraph puts in my mouth73--,you mustn't make a fuss because you have no vote1--that is vulgarity2 you mustn't hold big meetings to agitate for reform bills and to repeal corn laws1--that is the very height of vulgarity1--it is for this reason that ,i am called1 sometimes an elegant ,jeremiah1 sometimes a spurious ,jeremiah1 a ,jeremiah about the reality of whose mission the writer in the ,daily #d ,telegraph has his doubts4 ,it is evident1 therefore1 that ,i have so taken my line as not to be exposed to the whole brunt of ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison's censure4 ,still1 ,i have often spoken in praise of culture2 ,i have striven to make all my works and ways serve the interests of culture2 ,i take culture to be something a great deal more than what ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison and others call it3 a desirable quality in a critic of new books4 ,nay1 even though to a certain extent ,i am disposed to agree with ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison1 that men of culture are just the class of responsible beings in this community of ours who cannot properly1 at present1 be entrusted with power1 ,i am not sure that ,i do not think this the fault of our community rather than of the men of culture4 ,in short1 although1 like ,mr4 ,bright and ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison1 and the editor of the ,daily ,telegraph1 and a large body of valued friends of mine1 ,i am a liberal1 yet ,i am a liberal tempered by experience1 reflection1 and renouncement1 and ,i am1 above all1 a believer in culture4 ,therefore ,i propose now to try and enquire1 in the simple unsystematic way which best suits both my taste and my powers1 what culture really is1 what good it #e can do1 what is our own special need of it2 and ,i shall seek to find some plain grounds on which a faith in culture--both my own faith in it and the faith of others1--may rest securely4 ,,chapter ,i #e ,the disparagers of culture make its motive curiosity2 sometimes1 indeed1 they make its motive mere exclusiveness and vanity4 ,the culture which is supposed to plume itself on a smattering of ,greek and ,latin is a culture which is begotten by nothing so intellectual as curiosity2 it is valued either out of sheer vanity and ignorance1 or else as an engine of social and class distinction1 separating its holder1 like a badge or title1 from other people who have not got it4 ,no serious man would call this culture1 or attach any value to it1 as culture1 at all4 ,to find the real ground for the very differing estimate which serious people will set upon culture1 we must find some motive for culture in the terms of which #f may lie a real ambiguity2 and such a motive the word curiosity gives us4 ,i have before now pointed out that in ,english we do not1 like the foreigners1 use this word in a good sense as well as in a bad sense2 with us the word is always used in a somewhat disapproving sense2 a liberal and intelligent eagerness about the things of the mind may be meant by a foreigner when he speaks of curiosity1 but with us the word always conveys a certain notion of frivolous and unedifying activity4 ,in the ,quarterly ,review1 some little time ago1 was an estimate of the celebrated ,french critic1 ,monsieur ,sainte-,beuve1 and a very inadequate estimate it1 in my judgment1 was4 ,and its inadequacy consisted chiefly in this3 that in our ,english way it left out of sight the double sense really involved in the word curiosity1 thinking enough was said to stamp ,monsieur ,sainte-,beuve with blame if it was said that he was impelled in his operations as a critic by curiosity1 and omitting either to perceive that ,monsieur ,sainte-,beuve himself1 and many other people with him1 would consider that this was praiseworthy and not blameworthy1 or to point out why it ought really to be accounted worthy of blame #g and not of praise4 ,for as there is a curiosity about intellectual matters which is futile1 and merely a disease1 so there is certainly a curiosity1--a desire after the things of the mind simply for their own sakes and for the pleasure of seeing them as they are1--which is1 in an intelligent being1 natural and laudable4 ,nay1 and the very desire to see things as they are implies a balance and regulation of mind which is not often attained without fruitful effort1 and which is the very opposite of the blind and diseased impulse of mind which is what we mean to blame when we blame curiosity4 ,montesquieu says3--,the first motive which ought to impel us to study is the desire to augment the excellence of our nature1 and to render an intelligent being yet more intelligent4 ,this is the true ground to assign for the genuine scientific passion1 however manifested1 and for culture1 viewed simply as a fruit of this passion2 and it is a worthy ground1 even though we let the term curiosity stand to describe it4 ,but there is of culture another view1 in which not solely the scientific passion1 the sheer desire to see things as they are1 natural and proper in an intelligent #h being1 appears as the ground of it4 ,there is a view in which all the love of our neighbour1 the impulses towards action1 help1 and beneficence1 the desire for stopping human error1 clearing human confusion1 and diminishing the sum of human misery1 the noble aspiration to leave the world better and happier than we found it1--motives eminently such as are called social1--come in as part of the grounds of culture1 and the main and pre-eminent part4 ,culture is then properly described not as having its origin in curiosity1 but as having its origin in the love of perfection2 it is a study of perfection4 ,it moves by the force1 not merely or primarily of the scientific passion for pure knowledge1 but also of the moral and social passion for doing good4 ,as1 in the first view of it1 we took for its worthy motto ,montesquieu's words3 ,to render an intelligent being yet more intelligent6 so1 in the second view of it1 there is no better motto which it can have than these words of ,bishop ,wilson3 ,to make reason and the will of ,god prevail6 ,only1 whereas the passion for doing good is apt to be overhasty in determining what reason and the will of ,god say1 because its turn is for acting rather than thinking1 and it wants to be #i beginning to act2 and whereas it is apt to take its own conceptions1 which proceed from its own state of development and share in all the imperfections and immaturities of this1 for a basis of action2 what distinguishes culture is1 that it is possessed by the scientific passion1 as well as by the passion of doing good2 that it has worthy notions of reason and the will of ,god1 and does not readily suffer its own crude conceptions to substitute themselves for them2 and that1 knowing that no action or institution can be salutary and stable which are not based on reason and the will of ,god1 it is not so bent on acting and instituting1 even with the great aim of diminishing human error and misery ever before its thoughts1 but that it can remember that acting and instituting are of little use1 unless we know how and what we ought to act and to institute4 ,this culture is more interesting and more far-reaching than that other1 which is founded solely on the scientific passion for knowing4 ,but it needs times of faith and ardour1 times when the intellectual horizon is opening and widening all round us1 to flourish in4 ,and is not the close and bounded intellectual horizon within which we have long lived #aj and moved now lifting up1 and are not new lights finding free passage to shine in upon us8 ,for a long time there was no passage for them to make their way in upon us1 and then it was of no use to think of adapting the world's action to them4 ,where was the hope of making reason and the will of ,god prevail among people who had a routine which they had christened reason and the will of ,god1 in which they were inextricably bound1 and beyond which they had no power of looking8 ,but now the iron force of adhesion to the old routine1--social1 political1 religious1--has wonderfully yielded2 the iron force of exclusion of all which is new has wonderfully yielded2 the danger now is1 not that people should obstinately refuse to allow anything but their old routine to pass for reason and the will of ,god1 but either that they should allow some novelty or other to pass for these too easily1 or else that they should underrate the importance of them altogether1 and think it enough to follow action for its own sake1 without troubling themselves to make reason and the will of ,god prevail therein4 ,now1 then1 is the moment for culture to be of service1 culture which believes in making reason and the #aa will of ,god prevail1 believes in perfection1 is the study and pursuit of perfection1 and is no longer debarred1 by a rigid invincible exclusion of whatever is new1 from getting acceptance for its ideas1 simply because they are new4 ,the moment this view of culture is seized1 the moment it is regarded not solely as the endeavour to see things as they are1 to draw towards a knowledge of the universal order which seems to be intended and aimed at in the world1 and which it is a man's happiness to go along with or his misery to go counter to1--to learn1 in short1 the will of ,god1--the moment1 ,i say1 culture is considered not merely as the endeavour to see and learn this1 but as the endeavour1 also1 to make it prevail1 the moral1 social1 and beneficent character of culture becomes manifest4 ,the mere endeavour to see and learn it for our own personal satisfaction is indeed a commencement for making it prevail1 a preparing the way for this1 which always serves this1 and is wrongly1 therefore1 stamped with blame absolutely in itself1 and not only in its caricature and degeneration4 ,but perhaps it has got stamped with blame1 and disparaged with the dubious title of curiosity1 because #ab in comparison with this wider endeavour of such great and plain utility it looks selfish1 petty1 and unprofitable4 ,and religion1 the greatest and most important of the efforts by which the human race has manifested its impulse to perfect itself1-- religion1 that voice of the deepest human experience1--does not only enjoin and sanction the aim which is the great aim of culture1 the aim of setting ourselves to ascertain what perfection is and to make it prevail2 but also1 in determining generally in what human perfection consists1 religion comes to a conclusion identical with that which culture1--seeking the determination of this question through all the voices of human experience which have been heard upon it1 art1 science1 poetry1 philosophy1 history1 as well as religion1 in order to give a greater fulness and certainty to its solution1-- likewise reaches4 ,religion says3 ,the kingdom of ,god is within you2 and culture1 in like manner1 places human perfection in an internal condition1 in the growth and predominance of our humanity proper1 as distinguished from our animality1 in the ever-increasing efficaciousness and in the general harmonious expansion #ac of those gifts of thought and feeling which make the peculiar dignity1 wealth1 and happiness of human nature4 ,as ,i have said on a former occasion3 ,it is in making endless additions to itself1 in the endless expansion of its powers1 in endless growth in wisdom and beauty1 that the spirit of the human race finds its ideal4 ,to reach this ideal1 culture is an indispensable aid1 and that is the true value of culture4 ,not a having and a resting1 but a growing and a becoming1 is the character of perfection as culture conceives it2 and here1 too1 it coincides with religion4 ,and because men are all members of one great whole1 and the sympathy which is in human nature will not allow one member to be indifferent to the rest1 or to have a perfect welfare independent of the rest1 the expansion of our humanity1 to suit the idea of perfection which culture forms1 must be a general expansion4 ,perfection1 as culture conceives it1 is not possible while the individual remains isolated3 the individual is obliged1 under pain of being stunted and enfeebled in his own development if he disobeys1 to carry others along with him in his march towards perfection1 to be continually doing all he can to enlarge #ad and increase the volume of the human stream sweeping thitherward2 and here1 once more1 it lays on us the same obligation as religion1 which says1 as ,bishop ,wilson has admirably put it1 that to promote the kingdom of ,god is to increase and hasten one's own happiness4 ,finally1 perfection1--as culture1 from a thorough disinterested study of human nature and human experience1 learns to conceive it1--is an harmonious expansion of all the powers which make the beauty and worth of human nature1 and is not consistent with the over- development of any one power at the expense of the rest4 ,here it goes beyond religion1 as religion is generally conceived by us4 ,if culture1 then1 is a study of perfection1 and of harmonious perfection1 general perfection1 and perfection which consists in becoming something rather than in having something1 in an inward condition of the mind and spirit1 not in an outward set of circumstances1--it is clear that culture1 instead of being the frivolous and useless thing which ,mr4 ,bright1 and ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison1 and many other liberals are apt to call it1 has a very important function to fulfil for mankind4 ,and this function is particularly #ae important in our modern world1 of which the whole civilisation is1 to a much greater degree than the civilisation of ,greece and ,rome1 mechanical and external1 and tends constantly to become more so4 ,but above all in our own country has culture a weighty part to perform1 because here that mechanical character1 which civilisation tends to take everywhere1 is shown in the most eminent degree4 ,indeed nearly all the characters of perfection1 as culture teaches us to fix them1 meet in this country with some powerful tendency which thwarts them and sets them at defiance4 ,the idea of perfection as an inward condition of the mind and spirit is at variance with the mechanical and material civilisation in esteem with us1 and nowhere1 as ,i have said1 so much in esteem as with us4 ,the idea of perfection as a general expansion of the human family is at variance with our strong individualism1 our hatred of all limits to the unrestrained swing of the individual's personality1 our maxim of every man for himself4 ,the idea of perfection as an harmonious expansion of human nature is at variance with our want of flexibility1 with our inaptitude for seeing more than one side of a thing1 with our intense #af energetic absorption in the particular pursuit we happen to be following4 ,so culture has a rough task to achieve in this country1 and its preachers have1 and are likely long to have1 a hard time of it1 and they will much oftener be regarded1 for a great while to come1 as elegant or spurious ,jeremiahs1 than as friends and benefactors4 ,that1 however1 will not prevent their doing in the end good service if they persevere2 and meanwhile1 the mode of action they have to pursue1 and the sort of habits they must fight against1 should be made quite clear to every one who may be willing to look at the matter attentively and dispassionately4 ,faith in machinery is1 ,i said1 our besetting danger2 often in machinery most absurdly disproportioned to the end which this machinery1 if it is to do any good at all1 is to serve2 but always in machinery1 as if it had a value in and for itself4 ,what is freedom but machinery8 what is population but machinery8 what is coal but machinery8 what are railroads but machinery8 what is wealth but machinery8 what are religious organisations but machinery8 ,now almost every voice in ,england is accustomed to speak of these things as if they #ag were precious ends in themselves1 and therefore had some of the characters of perfection indisputably joined to them4 ,i have once before noticed ,mr4 ,roebuck's stock argument for proving the greatness and happiness of ,england as she is1 and for quite stopping the mouths of all gainsayers4 ,mr4 ,roebuck is never weary of reiterating this argument of his1 so ,i do not know why ,i should be weary of noticing it4 ,may not every man in ,england say what he likes8--,mr4 ,roebuck perpetually asks2 and that1 he thinks1 is quite sufficient1 and when every man may say what he likes1 our aspirations ought to be satisfied4 ,but the aspirations of culture1 which is the study of perfection1 are not satisfied1 unless what men say1 when they may say what they like1 is worth saying1--has good in it1 and more good than bad4 ,in the same way ,the ,times1 replying to some foreign strictures on the dress1 looks1 and behaviour of the ,english abroad1 urges that the ,english ideal is that every one should be free to do and to look just as he likes4 ,but culture indefatigably tries1 not to make what each raw person may like1 the rule by which he fashions himself2 but to draw ever nearer to a sense of what is indeed #ah beautiful1 graceful1 and becoming1 and to get the raw person to like that4 ,and in the same way with respect to railroads and coal4 ,every one must have observed the strange language current during the late discussions as to the possible failure of our supplies of coal4 ,our coal1 thousands of people were saying1 is the real basis of our national greatness2 if our coal runs short1 there is an end of the greatness of ,england4 ,but what is greatness8-- culture makes us ask4 ,greatness is a spiritual condition worthy to excite love1 interest1 and admiration2 and the outward proof of possessing greatness is that we excite love1 interest1 and admiration4 ,if ,england were swallowed up by the sea to-morrow1 which of the two1 a hundred years hence1 would most excite the love1 interest1 and admiration of mankind1--would most1 therefore1 show the evidences of having possessed greatness1--the ,england of the last twenty years1 or the ,england of ,elizabeth1 of a time of splendid spiritual effort1 but when our coal1 and our industrial operations depending on coal1 were very little developed8 ,well then1 what an unsound habit of mind it must be which makes us talk of things like coal or iron as constituting #ai the greatness of ,england1 and how salutary a friend is culture1 bent on seeing things as they are1 and thus dissipating delusions of this kind and fixing standards of perfection that are real6 ,wealth1 again1 that end to which our prodigious works for material advantage are directed1--the commonest of commonplaces tells us how men are always apt to regard wealth as a precious end in itself2 and certainly they have never been so apt thus to regard it as they are in ,england at the present time4 ,never did people believe anything more firmly1 than nine ,englishmen out of ten at the present day believe that our greatness and welfare are proved by our being so very rich4 ,now1 the use of culture is that it helps us1 by means of its spiritual standard of perfection1 to regard wealth as but machinery1 and not only to say as a matter of words that we regard wealth as but machinery1 but really to perceive and feel that it is so4 ,if it were not for this purging effect wrought upon our minds by culture1 the whole world1 the future as well as the present1 would inevitably belong to the ,philistines4 ,the people who believe most that our greatness and welfare #bj are proved by our being very rich1 and who most give their lives and thoughts to becoming rich1 are just the very people whom we call the ,philistines4 ,culture says3 ,consider these people1 then1 their way of life1 their habits1 their manners1 the very tones of their voice2 look at them attentively2 observe the literature they read1 the things which give them pleasure1 the words which come forth out of their mouths1 the thoughts which make the furniture of their minds2 would any amount of wealth be worth having with the condition that one was to become just like these people by having it8 ,and thus culture begets a dissatisfaction which is of the highest possible value in stemming the common tide of men's thoughts in a wealthy and industrial community1 and which saves the future1 as one may hope1 from being vulgarised1 even if it cannot save the present4 ,population1 again1 and bodily health and vigour1 are things which are nowhere treated in such an unintelligent1 misleading1 exaggerated way as in ,england4 ,both are really machinery2 yet how many people all around us do we see rest in them and fail to look beyond them6 ,why1 ,i have heard #ba people1 fresh from reading certain articles of ,the ,times on the ,registrar-,general's returns of marriages and births in this country1 who would talk of large families in quite a solemn strain1 as if they had something in itself beautiful1 elevating1 and meritorious in them2 as if the ,british ,philistine would have only to present himself before the ,great ,judge with his twelve children1 in order to be received among the sheep as a matter of right6 ,but bodily health and vigour1 it may be said1 are not to be classed with wealth and population as mere machinery2 they have a more real and essential value4 ,true2 but only as they are more intimately connected with a perfect spiritual condition than wealth or population are4 ,the moment we disjoin them from the idea of a perfect spiritual condition1 and pursue them1 as we do pursue them1 for their own sake and as ends in themselves1 our worship of them becomes as mere worship of machinery1 as our worship of wealth or population1 and as unintelligent and vulgarising a worship as that is4 ,every one with anything like an adequate idea of human perfection has distinctly marked this subordination to higher and spiritual ends of the cultivation of bodily vigour and activity4 #bb ,bodily exercise profiteth little2 but godliness is profitable unto all things1 says the author of the ,epistle to ,timothy4 ,and the utilitarian ,franklin says just as explicitly3--,eat and drink such an exact quantity as suits the constitution of thy body1 in reference to the services of the mind4 ,but the point of view of culture1 keeping the mark of human perfection simply and broadly in view1 and not assigning to this perfection1 as religion or utilitarianism assign to it1 a special and limited character1--this point of view1 ,i say1 of culture is best given by these words of ,epictetus3--,it is a sign of aphuia says he1--that is1 of a nature not finely tempered1--to give yourselves up to things which relate to the body2 to make1 for instance1 a great fuss about exercise1 a great fuss about eating1 a great fuss about drinking1 a great fuss about walking1 a great fuss about riding4 ,all these things ought to be done merely by the way3 the formation of the spirit and character must be our real concern4 ,this is admirable2 and1 indeed1 the ,greek words aphuia1 euphuia1 a finely tempered nature1 a coarsely tempered nature1 give exactly the notion of perfection as culture brings us to conceive of it3 a perfection in which the #bc characters of beauty and intelligence are both present1 which unites the two noblest of things1--as ,swift1 who of one of the two1 at any rate1 had himself all too little1 most happily calls them in his ,battle of the ,books1--the two noblest of things1 sweetness and light4 ,the euphys is the man who tends towards sweetness and light2 the aphys is precisely our ,philistine4 ,the immense spiritual significance of the ,greeks is due to their having been inspired with this central and happy idea of the essential character of human perfection2 and ,mr4 ,bright's misconception of culture1 as a smattering of ,greek and ,latin1 conies itself1 after all1 from this wonderful significance of the ,greeks having affected the very machinery of our education1 and is in itself a kind of homage to it4 ,it is by thus making sweetness and light to be characters of perfection1 that culture is of like spirit with poetry1 follows one law with poetry4 ,i have called religion a more important manifestation of human nature than poetry1 because it has worked on a broader scale for perfection1 and with greater masses of men4 ,but the idea of beauty and of a human nature perfect on all its sides1 which is the dominant idea of poetry1 is a true and invaluable idea1 though it #bd has not yet had the success that the idea of conquering the obvious faults of our animality1 and of a human nature perfect on the moral side1 which is the dominant idea of religion1 has been enabled to have2 and it is destined1 adding to itself the religious idea of a devout energy1 to transform and govern the other4 ,the best art and poetry of the ,greeks1 in which religion and poetry are one1 in which the idea of beauty and of a human nature perfect on all sides adds to itself a religious and devout energy1 and works in the strength of that1 is on this account of such surpassing interest and instructiveness for us1 though it was1--as1 having regard to the human race in general1 and1 indeed1 having regard to the ,greeks themselves1 we must own1--a premature attempt1 an attempt which for success needed the moral and religious fibre in humanity to be more braced and developed than it had yet been4 ,but ,greece did not err in having the idea of beauty1 harmony1 and complete human perfection1 so present and paramount2 it is impossible to have this idea too present and paramount2 only the moral fibre must be braced too4 ,and we1 because we have braced the moral fibre1 are not on that account in the right way1 if at the same #be time the idea of beauty1 harmony1 and complete human perfection1 is wanting or misapprehended amongst us2 and evidently it is wanting or misapprehended at present4 ,and when we rely as we do on our religious organisations1 which in themselves do not and cannot give us this idea1 and think we have done enough if we make them spread and prevail1 then1 ,i say1 we fall into our common fault of overvaluing machinery4 ,nothing is more common than for people to confound the inward peace and satisfaction which follows the subduing of the obvious faults of our animality with what ,i may call absolute inward peace and satisfaction1--the peace and satisfaction which are reached as we draw near to complete spiritual perfection1 and not merely to moral perfection1 or rather to relative moral perfection4 ,no people in the world have done more and struggled more to attain this relative moral perfection than our ,english race has2 for no people in the world has the command to resist the ,devil1 to overcome the ,wicked ,one1 in the nearest and most obvious sense of those words1 had such a pressing force and reality4 ,and we have had our reward1 not only in the great worldly prosperity which our obedience to this #bf command has brought us1 but also1 and far more1 in great inward peace and satisfaction4 ,but to me few things are more pathetic than to see people1 on the strength of the inward peace and satisfaction which their rudimentary efforts towards perfection have brought them1 use1 concerning their incomplete perfection and the religious organisations within which they have found it1 language which properly applies only to complete perfection1 and is a far-off echo of the human soul's prophecy of it4 ,religion itself1 ,i need hardly say1 supplies in abundance this grand language1 which is really the severest criticism of such an incomplete perfection as alone we have yet reached through our religious organisations4 ,the impulse of the ,english race towards moral development and self- conquest has nowhere so powerfully manifested itself as in ,puritanism2 nowhere has ,puritanism found so adequate an expression as in the religious organisation of the ,independents4 ,the modern ,independents have a newspaper1 the ,nonconformist1 written with great sincerity and ability4 ,the motto1 the standard1 the profession of faith which this organ of theirs carries aloft1 is3 ,the ,dissidence of ,dissent and the #bg ,protestantism of the ,protestant religion4 ,there is sweetness and light1 and an ideal of complete harmonious human perfection6 ,one need not go to culture and poetry to find language to judge it4 ,religion1 with its instinct for perfection1 supplies language to judge it3 ,finally1 be of one mind1 united in feeling1 says ,st4 ,peter4 ,there is an ideal which judges the ,puritan ideal1--,the ,dissidence of ,dissent and the ,protestantism of the ,protestant religion6 ,and religious organisations like this are what people believe in1 rest in1 would give their lives for6 ,such1 ,i say1 is the wonderful virtue of even the beginnings of perfection1 of having conquered even the plain faults of our animality1 that the religious organisation which has helped us to do it can seem to us something precious1 salutary1 and to be propagated1 even when it wears such a brand of imperfection on its forehead as this4 ,and men have got such a habit of giving to the language of religion a special application1 of making it a mere jargon1 that for the condemnation which religion itself passes on the shortcomings of their religious organisations they have no ear2 they are sure to cheat themselves and to explain this condemnation #bh away4 ,they can only be reached by the criticism which culture1 like poetry1 speaking a language not to be sophisticated1 and resolutely testing these organisations by the ideal of a human perfection complete on all sides1 applies to them4 ,but men of culture and poetry1 it will be said1 are again and again failing1 and failing conspicuously1 in the necessary first stage to perfection1 in the subduing of the great obvious faults of our animality1 which it is the glory of these religious organisations to have helped us to subdue4 ,true1 they do often so fail3 they have often been without the virtues as well as the faults of the ,puritan2 it has been one of their dangers that they so felt the ,puritan's faults that they too much neglected the practice of his virtues4 ,i will not1 however1 exculpate them at the ,puritan's expense2 they have often failed in morality1 and morality is indispensable2 they have been punished for their failure1 as the ,puritan has been rewarded for his performance4 ,they have been punished wherein they erred2 but their ideal of beauty and sweetness and light1 and a human nature complete on all its sides1 remains the true ideal of perfection still2 just as the ,puritan's ideal #bi of perfection remains narrow and inadequate1 although for what he did well he has been richly rewarded4 ,notwithstanding the mighty results of the ,pilgrim ,fathers' voyage1 they and their standard of perfection are rightly judged when we figure to ourselves ,shakspeare or ,virgil1--souls in whom sweetness and light1 and all that in human nature is most humane1 were eminent1--accompanying them on their voyage1 and think what intolerable company ,shakspeare and ,virgil would have found them6 ,in the same way let us judge the religious organisations which we see all around us4 ,do not let us deny the good and the happiness which they have accomplished2 but do not let us fail to see clearly that their idea of human perfection is narrow and inadequate1 and that the ,dissidence of ,dissent and the ,protestantism of the ,protestant religion will never bring humanity to its true goal4 ,as ,i said with regard to wealth1--let us look at the life of those who live in and for it2--so ,i say with regard to the religious organisations4 ,look at the life imaged in such a newspaper as the ,nonconformist2--a life of jealousy of the ,establishment1 disputes1 tea-meetings1 openings of chapels1 sermons2 and then think of it #cj as an ideal of a human life completing itself on all sides1 and aspiring with all its organs after sweetness1 light1 and perfection6 ,another newspaper1 representing1 like the ,nonconformist1 one of the religious organisations of this country1 was a short time ago giving an account of the crowd at ,epsom on the ,derby day1 and of all the vice and hideousness which was to be seen in that crowd2 and then the writer turned suddenly round upon ,professor ,huxley1 and asked him how he proposed to cure all this vice and hideousness without religion4 ,i confess ,i felt disposed to ask the asker this question3 ,and how do you propose to cure it with such a religion as yours8 ,how is the ideal of a life so unlovely1 so unattractive1 so narrow1 so far removed from a true and satisfying ideal of human perfection1 as is the life of your religious organisation as you yourself image it1 to conquer and transform all this vice and hideousness8 ,indeed1 the strongest plea for the study of perfection as pursued by culture1 the clearest proof of the actual inadequacy of the idea of perfection held by the religious organisations1--expressing1 as ,i have said1 the most wide-spread effort which the human #ca race has yet made after perfection1--is to be found in the state of our life and society with these in possession of it1 and having been in possession of it ,i know not how many hundred years4 ,we are all of us included in some religious organisation or other2 we all call ourselves1 in the sublime and aspiring language of religion which ,i have before noticed1 children of ,god4 ,children of ,god2--it is an immense pretension6--and how are we to justify it8 ,by the works which we do1 and the words which we speak4 ,and the work which we collective children of ,god do1 our grand centre of life1 our city which we have builded for us to dwell in1 is ,london6 ,london1 with its unutterable external hideousness1 and with its internal canker of public egestas1 privatim opulentia1--to use the words which ,sallust puts into ,cato's mouth about ,rome1--unequalled in the world6 ,the word1 again1 which we children of ,god speak1 the voice which most hits our collective thought1 the newspaper with the largest circulation in ,england1 nay1 with the largest circulation in the whole world1 is the ,daily ,telegraph6 ,i say that when our religious organisations1--which ,i admit to express the most considerable effort after perfection #cb that our race has yet made1--land us in no better result than this1 it is high time to examine carefully their idea of perfection1 to see whether it does not leave out of account sides and forces of human nature which we might turn to great use2 whether it would not be more operative if it were more complete4 ,and ,i say that the ,english reliance on our religious organisations and on their ideas of human perfection just as they stand1 is like our reliance on freedom1 on muscular ,christianity1 on population1 on coal1 on wealth1--mere belief in machinery1 and unfruitful2 and that it is wholesomely counteracted by culture1 bent on seeing things as they are1 and on drawing the human race onwards to a more complete perfection4 ,culture1 however1 shows its single-minded love of perfection1 its desire simply to make reason and the will of ,god prevail1 its freedom from fanaticism1 by its attitude towards all this machinery1 even while it insists that it is machinery4 ,fanatics1 seeing the mischief men do themselves by their blind belief in some machinery or other1-- whether it is wealth and industrialism1 or whether it is the cultivation of bodily strength and activity1 or whether it is a #cc political organisation1 or whether it is a religious organisation1-- oppose with might and main the tendency to this or that political and religious organisation1 or to games and athletic exercises1 or to wealth and industrialism1 and try violently to stop it4 ,but the flexibility which sweetness and light give1 and which is one of the rewards of culture pursued in good faith1 enables a man to see that a tendency may be necessary1 and even1 as a preparation for something in the future1 salutary1 and yet that the generations or individuals who obey this tendency are sacrificed to it1 that they fall short of the hope of perfection by following it2 and that its mischiefs are to be criticised1 lest it should take too firm a hold and last after it has served its purpose4 ,mr4 ,gladstone well pointed out1 in a speech at ,paris1--and others have pointed out the same thing1--how necessary is the present great movement towards wealth and industrialism1 in order to lay broad foundations of material well-being for the society of the future4 ,the worst of these justifications is1 that they are generally addressed to the very people engaged1 body and soul1 in the movement in question2 at all events1 that they are always seized with #cd the greatest avidity by these people1 and taken by them as quite justifying their life2 and that thus they tend to harden them in their sins4 ,now1 culture admits the necessity of the movement towards fortune-making and exaggerated industrialism1 readily allows that the future may derive benefit from it2 but insists1 at the same time1 that the passing generations of industrialists1--forming1 for the most part1 the stout main body of ,philistinism1--are sacrificed to it4 ,in the same way1 the result of all the games and sports which occupy the passing generation of boys and young men may be the establishment of a better and sounder physical type for the future to work with4 ,culture does not set itself against the games and sports2 it congratulates the future1 and hopes it will make a good use of its improved physical basis2 but it points out that our passing generation of boys and young men is1 meantime1 sacrificed4 ,puritanism was necessary to develop the moral fibre of the ,english race1 ,nonconformity to break the yoke of ecclesiastical domination over men's minds and to prepare the way for freedom of thought in the distant future2 still1 culture points out that the harmonious perfection of generations of #ce ,puritans and ,nonconformists have been1 in consequence1 sacrificed4 ,freedom of speech is necessary for the society of the future1 but the young lions of the ,daily ,telegraph in the meanwhile are sacrificed4 ,a voice for every man in his country's government is necessary for the society of the future1 but meanwhile ,mr4 ,beales and ,mr4 ,bradlaugh are sacrificed4 ,oxford1 the ,oxford of the past1 has many faults2 and she has heavily paid for them in defeat1 in isolation1 in want of hold upon the modern world4 ,yet we in ,oxford1 brought up amidst the beauty and sweetness of that beautiful place1 have not failed to seize one truth3--the truth that beauty and sweetness are essential characters of a complete human perfection4 ,when ,i insist on this1 ,i am all in the faith and tradition of ,oxford4 ,i say boldly that this our sentiment for beauty and sweetness1 our sentiment against hideousness and rawness1 has been at the bottom of our attachment to so many beaten causes1 of our opposition to so many triumphant movements4 ,and the sentiment is true1 and has never been wholly defeated1 and has shown its power even in its defeat4 ,we have not won our political battles1 we have not carried our #cf main points1 we have not stopped our adversaries' advance1 we have not marched victoriously with the modern world2 but we have told silently upon the mind of the country1 we have prepared currents of feeling which sap our adversaries' position when it seems gained1 we have kept up our own communications with the future4 ,look at the course of the great movement which shook ,oxford to its centre some thirty years ago6 ,it was directed1 as any one who reads ,dr4 ,newman's ,apology may see1 against what in one word maybe called liberalism4 ,liberalism prevailed2 it was the appointed force to do the work of the hour2 it was necessary1 it was inevitable that it should prevail4 ,the ,oxford movement was broken1 it failed2 our wrecks are scattered on every shore3-- ,quae regio in terris nostri non plena laboris8 ,but what was it1 this liberalism1 as ,dr4 ,newman saw it1 and as it really broke the ,oxford movement8 ,it was the great middle-class liberalism1 which had for the cardinal points of its belief the ,reform ,bill of #ahcb1 and local self-government1 in politics2 in the social sphere1 free-trade1 unrestricted competition1 #cg and the making of large industrial fortunes2 in the religious sphere1 the ,dissidence of ,dissent and the ,protestantism of the ,protestant religion4 ,i do not say that other and more intelligent forces than this were not opposed to the ,oxford movement3 but this was the force which really beat it2 this was the force which ,dr4 ,newman felt himself fighting with2 this was the force which till only the other day seemed to be the paramount force in this country1 and to be in possession of the future2 this was the force whose achievements fill ,mr4 ,lowe with such inexpressible admiration1 and whose rule he was so horror-struck to see threatened4 ,and where is this great force of ,philistinism now8 ,it is thrust into the second rank1 it is become a power of yesterday1 it has lost the future4 ,a new power has suddenly appeared1 a power which it is impossible yet to judge fully1 but which is certainly a wholly different force from middle-class liberalism2 different in its cardinal points of belief1 different in its tendencies in every sphere4 ,it loves and admires neither the legislation of middle-class ,parliaments1 nor the local self- government of middle-class vestries1 nor the unrestricted competition of middle-class #ch industrialists1 nor the dissidence of middle- class ,dissent and the ,protestantism of middle-class ,protestant religion4 ,i am not now praising this new force1 or saying that its own ideals are better2 all ,i say is1 that they are wholly different4 ,and who will estimate how much the currents of feeling created by ,dr4 ,newman's movement1 the keen desire for beauty and sweetness which it nourished1 the deep aversion it manifested to the hardness and vulgarity of middle-class liberalism1 the strong light it turned on the hideous and grotesque illusions of middle-class ,protestantism1-- who will estimate how much all these contributed to swell the tide of secret dissatisfaction which has mined the ground under the self- confident liberalism of the last thirty years1 and has prepared the way for its sudden collapse and supersession8 ,it is in this manner that the sentiment of ,oxford for beauty and sweetness conquers1 and in this manner long may it continue to conquer6 ,in this manner it works to the same end as culture1 and there is plenty of work for it yet to do4 ,i have said that the new and more democratic force which is now superseding our old middle-class liberalism cannot yet be rightly judged4 ,it has its #ci main tendencies still to form4 ,we hear promises of its giving us administrative reform1 law reform1 reform of education1 and ,i know not what2 but those promises come rather from its advocates1 wishing to make a good plea for it and to justify it for superseding middle- class liberalism1 than from clear tendencies which it has itself yet developed4 ,but meanwhile it has plenty of well-intentioned friends against whom culture may with advantage continue to uphold steadily its ideal of human perfection2 that this is an inward spiritual activity1 having for its characters increased sweetness1 increased light1 increased life1 increased sympathy4 ,mr4 ,bright1 who has a foot in both worlds1 the world of middle-class liberalism and the world of democracy1 but who brings most of his ideas from the world of middle-class liberalism in which he was bred1 always inclines to inculcate that faith in machinery to which1 as we have seen1 ,englishmen are so prone1 and which has been the bane of middle-class liberalism4 ,he complains with a sorrowful indignation of people who appear to have no proper estimate of the value of the franchise2 he leads his disciples to believe1--what the ,englishman is always too ready to believe1 #dj --that the having a vote1 like the having a large family1 or a large business1 or large muscles1 has in itself some edifying and perfecting effect upon human nature4 ,or else he cries out to the democracy1--the men1 as he calls them1 upon whose shoulders the greatness of ,england rests1--he cries out to them3 ,see what you have done6 ,i look over this country and see the cities you have built1 the railroads you have made1 the manufactures you have produced1 the cargoes which freight the ships of the greatest mercantile navy the world has ever seen6 ,i see that you have converted by your labours what was once a wilderness1 these islands1 into a fruitful garden2 ,i know that you have created this wealth1 and are a nation whose name is a word of power throughout all the world4 ,why1 this is just the very style of laudation with which ,mr4 ,roebuck or ,mr4 ,lowe debauch the minds of the middle classes1 and make such ,philistines of them4 ,it is the same fashion of teaching a man to value himself not on what he is1 not on his progress in sweetness and light1 but on the number of the railroads he has constructed1 or the bigness of the ,tabernacle he has built4 ,only the middle classes are told they have #da done it all with their energy1 self-reliance1 and capital1 and the democracy are told they have done it all with their hands and sinews4 ,but teaching the democracy to put its trust in achievements of this kind is merely training them to be ,philistines to take the place of the ,philistines whom they are superseding2 and they too1 like the middle class1 will be encouraged to sit down at the banquet of the future without having on a wedding garment1 and nothing excellent can then come from them4 ,those who know their besetting faults1 those who have watched them and listened to them1 or those who will read the instructive account recently given of them by one of themselves1 the ,journeyman ,engineer1 will agree that the idea which culture sets before us of perfection1--an increased spiritual activity1 having for its characters increased sweetness1 increased light1 increased life1 increased sympathy1--is an idea which the new democracy needs far more than the idea of the blessedness of the franchise1 or the wonderfulness of their own industrial performances4 ,other well-meaning friends of this new power are for leading it1 not in the old ruts of middle-class #db ,philistinism1 but in ways which are naturally alluring to the feet of democracy1 though in this country they are novel and untried ways4 ,i may call them the ways of ,jacobinism4 ,violent indignation with the past1 abstract systems of renovation applied wholesale1 a new doctrine drawn up in black and white for elaborating down to the very smallest details a rational society for the future1--these are the ways of ,jacobinism4 ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison and other disciples of ,comte1--one of them1 ,mr4 ,congreve1 is an old acquaintance of mine1 and ,i am glad to have an opportunity of publicly expressing my respect for his talents and character1--are among the friends of democracy who are for leading it in paths of this kind4 ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison is very hostile to culture1 and from a natural enough motive2 for culture is the eternal opponent of the two things which are the signal marks of ,jacobinism1- -its fierceness1 and its addiction to an abstract system4 ,culture is always assigning to system-makers and systems a smaller share in the bent of human destiny than their friends like4 ,a current in people's minds sets towards new ideas2 people are dissatisfied with their old narrow stock of ,philistine ideas1 ,anglo-,saxon #dc ideas1 or any other2 and some man1 some ,bentham or ,comte1 who has the real merit of having early and strongly felt and helped the new current1 but who brings plenty of narrownesses and mistakes of his own into his feeling and help of it1 is credited with being the author of the whole current1 the fit person to be entrusted with its regulation and to guide the human race4 ,the excellent ,german historian of the mythology of ,rome1 ,preller1 relating the introduction at ,rome under the ,tarquins of the worship of ,apollo1 the god of light1 healing1 and reconciliation1 observes that it was not so much the ,tarquins who brought to ,rome the new worship of ,apollo1 as a current in the mind of the ,roman people which set powerfully at that time towards a new worship of this kind1 and away from the old run of ,latin and ,sabine religious ideas4 ,in a similar way1 culture directs our attention to the current in human affairs1 and to its continual working1 and will not let us rivet our faith upon any one man and his doings4 ,it makes us see1 not only his good side1 but also how much in him was of necessity limited and transient2 nay1 it even feels a pleasure1 a sense of an increased freedom and of an ampler future1 in so #dd doing4 ,i remember1 when ,i was under the influence of a mind to which ,i feel the greatest obligations1 the mind of a man who was the very incarnation of sanity and clear sense1 a man the most considerable1 it seems to me1 whom ,america has yet produced1--,benjamin ,franklin1--,i remember the relief with which1 after long feeling the sway of ,franklin's imperturbable common-sense1 ,i came upon a project of his for a new version of the ,book of ,job1 to replace the old version1 the style of which1 says ,franklin1 has become obsolete1 and thence less agreeable4 ,i give1 he continues1 a few verses1 which may serve as a sample of the kind of version ,i would recommend4 ,we all recollect the famous verse in our translation3 ,then ,satan answered the ,lord and said3 ',doth ,job fear ,god for nought8' ,franklin makes this3 ,does ,your ,majesty imagine that ,job's good conduct is the effect of mere personal attachment and affection8 ,i well remember how when first ,i read that1 ,i drew a deep breath of relief1 and said to myself3 ,after all1 there is a stretch of humanity beyond ,franklin's victorious good sense6 ,so1 after hearing ,bentham cried loudly up as the renovator of modern society1 #de and ,bentham's mind and ideas proposed as the rulers of our future1 ,i open the ,deontology4 ,there ,i read3 ,while ,xenophon was writing his history and ,euclid teaching geometry1 ,socrates and ,plato were talking nonsense under pretence of talking wisdom and morality4 ,this morality of theirs consisted in words2 this wisdom of theirs was the denial of matters known to every man's experience4 ,from the moment of reading that1 ,i am delivered from the bondage of ,bentham6 the fanaticism of his adherents can touch me no longer2 ,i feel the inadequacy of his mind and ideas for being the rule of human society1 for perfection4 ,culture tends always thus to deal with the men of a system1 of disciples1 of a school2 with men like ,comte1 or the late ,mr4 ,buckle1 or ,mr4 ,mill4 ,however much it may find to admire in these personages1 or in some of them1 it nevertheless remembers the text3 ,be not ye called ,rabbi6 and it soon passes on from any ,rabbi4 ,but ,jacobinism loves a ,rabbi2 it does not want to pass on from its ,rabbi in pursuit of a future and still unreached perfection2 it wants its ,rabbi and his ideas to stand for perfection1 that they may with the more authority recast the world2 #df and for ,jacobinism1 therefore1 culture1--eternally passing onwards and seeking1--is an impertinence and an offence4 ,but culture1 just because it resists this tendency of ,jacobinism to impose on us a man with limitations and errors of his own along with the true ideas of which he is the organ1 really does the world and ,jacobinism itself a service4 ,so1 too1 ,jacobinism1 in its fierce hatred of the past and of those whom it makes liable for the sins of the past1 cannot away with culture1--culture with its inexhaustible indulgence1 its consideration of circumstances1 its severe judgment of actions joined to its merciful judgment of persons4 ,the man of culture is in politics1 cries ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison1 one of the poorest mortals alive6 ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison wants to be doing business1 and he complains that the man of culture stops him with a turn for small fault-finding1 love of selfish ease1 and indecision in action4 ,of what use is culture1 he asks1 except for a critic of new books or a professor of belles lettres8 ,why1 it is of use because1 in presence of the fierce exasperation which breathes1 or rather1 ,i may say1 hisses1 through the whole production in which ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison #dg asks that question1 it reminds us that the perfection of human nature is sweetness and light4 ,it is of use because1 like religion1- -that other effort after perfection1--it testifies that1 where bitter envying and strife are1 there is confusion and every evil work4 ,the pursuit of perfection1 then1 is the pursuit of sweetness and light4 ,he who works for sweetness works in the end for light also2 he who works for light works in the end for sweetness also4 ,but he who works for sweetness and light united1 works to make reason and the will of ,god prevail4 ,he who works for machinery1 he who works for hatred1 works only for confusion4 ,culture looks beyond machinery1 culture hates hatred2 culture has but one great passion1 the passion for sweetness and light4 ,yes1 it has one yet greater6-- the passion for making them prevail4 ,it is not satisfied till we all come to a perfect man2 it knows that the sweetness and light of the few must be imperfect until the raw and unkindled masses of humanity are touched with sweetness and light4 ,if ,i have not shrunk from saying that we must work for sweetness and light1 so neither have ,i shrunk from saying that we must have a broad basis1 must have sweetness and light #dh for as many as possible4 ,again and again ,i have insisted how those are the happy moments of humanity1 how those are the marking epochs of a people's life1 how those are the flowering times for literature and art and all the creative power of genius1 when there is a national glow of life and thought1 when the whole of society is in the fullest measure permeated by thought1 sensible to beauty1 intelligent and alive4 ,only it must be real thought and real beauty2 real sweetness and real light4 ,plenty of people will try to give the masses1 as they call them1 an intellectual food prepared and adapted in the way they think proper for the actual condition of the masses4 ,the ordinary popular literature is an example of this way of working on the masses4 ,plenty of people will try to indoctrinate the masses with the set of ideas and judgments constituting the creed of their own profession or party4 ,our religious and political organisations give an example of this way of working on the masses4 ,i condemn neither way2 but culture works differently4 ,it does not try to teach down to the level of inferior classes2 it does not try to win them for this or that sect of its own1 with ready-made judgments and watchwords4 #di ,it seeks to do away with classes2 to make all live in an atmosphere of sweetness and light1 and use ideas1 as it uses them itself1 freely1--to be nourished and not bound by them4 ,this is the social idea2 and the men of culture are the true apostles of equality4 ,the great men of culture are those who have had a passion for diffusing1 for making prevail1 for carrying from one end of society to the other1 the best knowledge1 the best ideas of their time2 who have laboured to divest knowledge of all that was harsh1 uncouth1 difficult1 abstract1 professional1 exclusive2 to humanise it1 to make it efficient outside the clique of the cultivated and learned1 yet still remaining the best knowledge and thought of the time1 and a true source1 therefore1 of sweetness and light4 ,such a man was ,abelard in the ,middle ,ages1 in spite of all his imperfections2 and thence the boundless emotion and enthusiasm which ,abelard excited4 ,such were ,lessing and ,herder in ,germany1 at the end of the last century2 and their services to ,germany were in this way inestimably precious4 ,generations will pass1 and literary monuments will accumulate1 and works far more perfect than the #ej works of ,lessing and ,herder will be produced in ,germany2 and yet the names of these two men will fill a ,german with a reverence and enthusiasm such as the names of the most gifted masters will hardly awaken4 ,because they humanised knowledge2 because they broadened the basis of life and intelligence2 because they worked powerfully to diffuse sweetness and light1 to make reason and the will of ,god prevail4 ,with ,saint ,augustine they said3 ,let us not leave ,thee alone to make in the secret of thy knowledge1 as thou didst before the creation of the firmament1 the division of light from darkness2 let the children of thy spirit1 placed in their firmament1 make their light shine upon the earth1 mark the division of night and day1 and announce the revolution of the times2 for the old order is passed1 and the new arises2 the night is spent1 the day is come forth2 and thou shalt crown the year with thy blessing1 when thou shalt send forth labourers into thy harvest sown by other hands than theirs2 when thou shalt send forth new labourers to new seed-times1 whereof the harvest shall be not yet4 ,,notes #bb4 aphuia4 #bb4 aphuia1 euphuia4 ,see notes below for these words separately1 page #bc4 #bc4 euphys4 ,liddell and ,scott definition3 well-grown1 shapely1 goodly3 graceful4 ,,ii4 of good natural parts3 clever1 witty2 also 'of good disposition4' #bc4 aphys4 ,liddell and ,scott definition3 without natural talent1 dull4 ,,gif image3 #ca4 public egestas1 privatim opulentia4 ,e-text editor's translation3 public penury and private opulence4 #cf4 ,quae regio in terris nostri non plena laboris8 ,e-text editor's translation3 ,which part of the world is not filled with our sorrows8 ,p4 ,vergilius ,maro 7,virgil71 ,aeneid1 ,book #a1 ,line #dei4 ,,chapter ,,ii #ea ,i have been trying to show that culture is1 or ought to be1 the study and pursuit of perfection2 and that of perfection as pursued by culture1 beauty and intelligence1 or1 in other words1 sweetness and light1 are the main characters4 ,but hitherto ,i have been insisting chiefly on beauty1 or sweetness1 as a character of perfection4 ,to complete rightly my design1 it evidently remains to speak also of intelligence1 or light1 as a character of perfection4 ,first1 however1 ,i ought perhaps to notice that1 both here and on the other side of the ,atlantic1 all sorts of objections are raised against the religion of culture1 as the objectors mockingly call it1 which ,i am supposed to be promulgating4 ,it is said to be a religion proposing parmaceti1 or some scented salve or other1 as a cure for human miseries2 a religion breathing a spirit of cultivated inaction1 making its believer refuse to lend a hand at uprooting the definite evils on all sides of us1 and filling him with antipathy against the reforms and reformers which try to #eb extirpate them4 ,in general1 it is summed up as being not practical1 or1--as some critics more familiarly put it1--all moonshine4 ,that ,alcibiades1 the editor of the ,morning ,star1 taunts me1 as its promulgator1 with living out of the world and knowing nothing of life and men4 ,that great austere toiler1 the editor of the ,daily ,telegraph1 upbraids me1--but kindly1 and more in sorrow than in anger1--for trifling with aesthetics and poetical fancies1 while he himself1 in that arsenal of his in ,fleet ,street1 is bearing the burden and heat of the day4 ,an intelligent ,american newspaper1 the ,nation1 says that it is very easy to sit in one's study and find fault with the course of modern society1 but the thing is to propose practical improvements for it4 ,while1 finally1 ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison1 in a very good-tempered and witty satire1 which makes me quite understand his having apparently achieved such a conquest of my young ,prussian friend1 ,arminius1 at last gets moved to an almost stern moral impatience1 to behold1 as he says1 ,death1 sin1 cruelty stalk among us1 filling their maws with innocence and youth1 and me1 in the midst of the general tribulation1 handing out my pouncet-box4 #ec ,it is impossible that all these remonstrances and reproofs should not affect me1 and ,i shall try my very best1 in completing my design and in speaking of light as one of the characters of perfection1 and of culture as giving us light1 to profit by the objections ,i have heard and read1 and to drive at practice as much as ,i can1 by showing the communications and passages into practical life from the doctrine which ,i am inculcating4 ,it is said that a man with my theories of sweetness and light is full of antipathy against the rougher or coarser movements going on around him1 that he will not lend a hand to the humble operation of uprooting evil by their means1 and that therefore the believers in action grow impatient with them4 ,but what if rough and coarse action1 ill-calculated action1 action with insufficient light1 is1 and has for a long time been1 our bane8 ,what if our urgent want now is1 not to act at any price1 but rather to lay in a stock of light for our difficulties8 ,in that case1 to refuse to lend a hand to the rougher and coarser movements going on round us1 to make the primary need1 both for oneself and others1 to consist in enlightening ourselves and qualifying ourselves #ed to act less at random1 is surely the best1 and in real truth the most practical line1 our endeavours can take4 ,so that if ,i can show what my opponents call rough or coarse action1 but what ,i would rather call random and ill- regulated action1--action with insufficient light1 action pursued because we like to be doing something and doing it as we please1 and do not like the trouble of thinking1 and the severe constraint of any kind of rule1--if ,i can show this to be1 at the present moment1 a practical mischief and danger to us1 then ,i have found a practical use for light in correcting this state of things1 and have only to exemplify how1 in cases which fall under everybody's observation1 it may deal with it4 ,when ,i began to speak of culture1 ,i insisted on our bondage to machinery1 on our proneness to value machinery as an end in itself1 without looking beyond it to the end for which alone1 in truth1 it is valuable4 ,freedom1 ,i said1 was one of those things which we thus worshipped in itself1 without enough regarding the ends for which freedom is to be desired4 ,in our common notions and talk about freedom1 we eminently show our idolatry of machinery4 ,our prevalent notion is1--and ,i quoted a #ee number of instances to prove it1-- that it is a most happy and important thing for a man merely to be able to do as he likes4 ,on what he is to do when he is thus free to do as he likes1 we do not lay so much stress4 ,our familiar praise of the ,british ,constitution under which we live1 is that it is a system of checks1--a system which stops and paralyses any power in interfering with the free action of individuals4 ,to this effect ,mr4 ,bright1 who loves to walk in the old ways of the ,constitution1 said forcibly in one of his great speeches1 what many other people are every day saying less forcibly1 that the central idea of ,english life and politics is the assertion of personal liberty4 ,evidently this is so2 but evidently1 also1 as feudalism1 which with its ideas and habits of subordination was for many centuries silently behind the ,british ,constitution1 dies out1 and we are left with nothing but our system of checks1 and our notion of its being the great right and happiness of an ,englishman to do as far as possible what he likes1 we are in danger of drifting towards anarchy4 ,we have not the notion1 so familiar on the ,continent and to antiquity1 of the ,state--the nation1 in its collective #ef and corporate character1 entrusted with stringent powers for the general advantage1 and controlling individual wills in the name of an interest wider than that of individuals4 ,we say1 what is very true1 that this notion is often made instrumental to tyranny2 we say that a ,state is in reality made up of the individuals who compose it1 and that every individual is the best judge of his own interests4 ,our leading class is an aristocracy1 and no aristocracy likes the notion of a ,state-authority greater than itself1 with a stringent administrative machinery superseding the decorative inutilities of lord-lieutenancy1 deputy- lieutenancy1 and the posse comitats1 which are all in its own hands4 ,our middle-class1 the great representative of trade and ,dissent1 with its maxims of every man for himself in business1 every man for himself in religion1 dreads a powerful administration which might somehow interfere with it2 and besides1 it has its own decorative inutilities of vestrymanship and guardianship1 which are to this class what lord-lieutenancy and the county magistracy are to the aristocratic class1 and a stringent administration might either take these functions out of its hands1 #eg or prevent its exercising them in its own comfortable1 independent manner1 as at present4 ,then as to our working-class4 ,this class1 pressed constantly by the hard daily compulsion of material wants1 is naturally the very centre and stronghold of our national idea1 that it is man's ideal right and felicity to do as he likes4 ,i think ,i have somewhere related how ,monsieur ,michelet said to me of the people of ,france1 that it was a nation of barbarians civilised by the conscription4 ,he meant that through their military service the idea of public duty and of discipline was brought to the mind of these masses1 in other respects so raw and uncultivated4 ,our masses are quite as raw and uncultivated as the ,french2 and1 so far from their having the idea of public duty and of discipline1 superior to the individual's self- will1 brought to their mind by a universal obligation of military service1 such as that of the conscription1--so far from their having this1 the very idea of a conscription is so at variance with our ,english notion of the prime right and blessedness of doing as one likes1 that ,i remember the manager of the ,clay ,cross works in ,derbyshire told me during the ,crimean #eh war1 when our want of soldiers was much felt and some people were talking of a conscription1 that sooner than submit to a conscription the population of that district would flee to the mines1 and lead a sort of ,robin ,hood life under ground4 ,for a long time1 as ,i have said1 the strong feudal habits of subordination and deference continued to tell upon the working-class4 ,the modern spirit has now almost entirely dissolved those habits1 and the anarchical tendency of our worship of freedom in and for itself1 of our superstitious faith1 as ,i say1 in machinery1 is becoming very manifest4 ,more and more1 because of this our blind faith in machinery1 because of our want of light to enable us to look beyond machinery to the end for which machinery is valuable1 this and that man1 and this and that body of men1 all over the country1 are beginning to assert and put in practice an ,englishman's right to do what he likes2 his right to march where he likes1 meet where he likes1 enter where he likes1 hoot as he likes1 threaten as he likes1 smash as he likes4 ,all this1 ,i say1 tends to anarchy2 and though a number of excellent people1 and particularly my friends of the liberal or progressive party1 as they #ei call themselves1 are kind enough to reassure us by saying that these are trifles1 that a few transient outbreaks of rowdyism signify nothing1 that our system of liberty is one which itself cures all the evils which it works1 that the educated and intelligent classes stand in overwhelming strength and majestic repose1 ready1 like our military force in riots1 to act at a moment's notice1--yet one finds that one's liberal friends generally say this because they have such faith in themselves and their nostrums1 when they shall return1 as the public welfare requires1 to place and power4 ,but this faith of theirs one cannot exactly share1 when one has so long had them and their nostrums at work1 and sees that they have not prevented our coming to our present embarrassed condition2 and one finds1 also1 that the outbreaks of rowdyism tend to become less and less of trifles1 to become more frequent rather than less frequent2 and that meanwhile our educated and intelligent classes remain in their majestic repose1 and somehow or other1 whatever happens1 their overwhelming strength1 like our military force in riots1 never does act4 ,how1 indeed1 should their overwhelming strength #fj act1 when the man who gives an inflammatory lecture1 or breaks down the ,park railings1 or invades a ,secretary of ,state's office1 is only following an ,englishman's impulse to do as he likes2 and our own conscience tells us that we ourselves have always regarded this impulse as something primary and sacred8 ,mr4 ,murphy lectures at ,birmingham1 and showers on the ,catholic population of that town words1 says ,mr4 ,hardy1 only fit to be addressed to thieves or murderers4 ,what then8 ,mr4 ,murphy has his own reasons of several kinds4 ,he suspects the ,roman ,catholic ,church of designs upon ,mrs4 ,murphy2 and he says1 if mayors and magistrates do not care for their wives and daughters1 he does4 ,but1 above all1 he is doing as he likes1 or1 in worthier language1 asserting his personal liberty4 ,i will carry out my lectures if they walk over my body as a dead corpse2 and ,i say to the ,mayor of ,birmingham that he is my servant while ,i am in ,birmingham1 and as my servant he must do his duty and protect me4 ,touching and beautiful words1 which find a sympathetic chord in every ,british bosom6 ,the moment it is plainly put before us that a man is asserting his personal liberty1 we are half disarmed2 #fa because we are believers in freedom1 and not in some dream of a right reason to which the assertion of our freedom is to be subordinated4 ,accordingly1 the ,secretary of ,state had to say that although the lecturer's language was only fit to be addressed to thieves or murderers1 yet1 ,i do not think he is to be deprived1 ,i do not think that anything ,i have said could justify the inference that he is to be deprived1 of the right of protection in a place built by him for the purpose of these lectures2 because the language was not language which afforded grounds for a criminal prosecution4 ,no1 nor to be silenced by ,mayor1 or ,home ,secretary1 or any administrative authority on earth1 simply on their notion of what is discreet and reasonable6 ,this is in perfect consonance with our public opinion1 and with our national love for the assertion of personal liberty4 ,in quite another department of affairs1 an experienced and distinguished ,chancery ,judge relates an incident which is just to the same effect as this of ,mr4 ,murphy4 ,a testator bequeathed #cjj4 a year1 to be for ever applied as a pension to some person who had been unsuccessful in literature1 and whose duty #fb should be to support and diffuse1 by his writings1 the testator's own views1 as enforced in the testator's publications4 ,this bequest was appealed against in the ,court of ,chancery1 on the ground of its absurdity2 but1 being only absurd1 it was upheld1 and the so-called charity was established4 ,having1 ,i say1 at the bottom of our ,english hearts a very strong belief in freedom1 and a very weak belief in right reason1 we are soon silenced when a man pleads the prime right to do as he likes1 because this is the prime right for ourselves too2 and even if we attempt now and then to mumble something about reason1 yet we have ourselves thought so little about this and so much about liberty1 that we are in conscience forced1 when our brother ,philistine with whom we are meddling turns boldly round upon us and asks3 ,have you any light8--to shake our heads ruefully1 and to let him go his own way after all4 ,there are many things to be said on behalf of this exclusive attention of ours to liberty1 and of the relaxed habits of government which it has engendered4 ,it is very easy to mistake or to exaggerate the sort of anarchy from which we are in danger through them4 ,we are not in danger from #fc ,fenianism1 fierce and turbulent as it may show itself2 for against this our conscience is free enough to let us act resolutely and put forth our overwhelming strength the moment there is any real need for it4 ,in the first place1 it never was any part of our creed that the great right and blessedness of an ,irishman1 or1 indeed1 of anybody on earth except an ,englishman1 is to do as he likes2 and we can have no scruple at all about abridging1 if necessary1 a non-,englishman's assertion of personal liberty4 ,the ,british ,constitution1 its checks1 and its prime virtues1 are for ,englishmen4 ,we may extend them to others out of love and kindness2 but we find no real divine law written on our hearts constraining us so to extend them4 ,and then the difference between an ,irish ,fenian and an ,english rough is so immense1 and the case1 in dealing with the ,fenian1 so much more clear6 ,he is so evidently desperate and dangerous1 a man of a conquered race1 a ,papist1 with centuries of ill-usage to inflame him against us1 with an alien religion established in his country by us at his expense1 with no admiration of our institutions1 no love of our virtues1 no talents for our business1 no turn for our comfort6 ,show him our symbolical #fd ,truss ,manufactory on the finest site in ,europe1 and tell him that ,british industrialism and individualism can bring a man to that1 and he remains cold6 ,evidently1 if we deal tenderly with a sentimentalist like this1 it is out of pure philanthropy4 ,but with the ,hyde ,park rioter how different6 ,he is our own flesh and blood2 he is a ,protestant2 he is framed by nature to do as we do1 hate what we hate1 love what we love2 he is capable of feeling the symbolical force of the ,truss ,manufactory2 the question of questions1 for him1 is a wages' question4 ,that beautiful sentence ,sir ,daniel ,gooch quoted to the ,swindon workmen1 and which ,i treasure as ,mrs4 ,gooch's ,golden ,rule1 or the ,divine ,injunction ,be ye ,perfect done into ,british1--the sentence ,sir ,daniel ,gooch's mother repeated to him every morning when he was a boy going to work3 ,ever remember1 my dear ,dan1 that you should look forward to being some day manager of that concern6--this fruitful maxim is perfectly fitted to shine forth in the heart of the ,hyde ,park rough also1 and to be his guiding-star through life4 ,he has no visionary schemes of revolution and transformation1 though of course he would like his class to rule1 as the aristocratic #fe class like their class to rule1 and the middle-class theirs4 ,meanwhile1 our social machine is a little out of order2 there are a good many people in our paradisiacal centres of industrialism and individualism taking the bread out of one another's mouths2 the rioter has not yet quite found his groove and settled down to his work1 and so he is just asserting his personal liberty a little1 going where he likes1 assembling where he likes1 bawling as he likes1 hustling as he likes4 ,just as the rest of us1--as the country squires in the aristocratic class1 as the political dissenters in the middle-class1--he has no idea of a ,state1 of the nation in its collective and corporate character controlling1 as government1 the free swing of this or that one of its members in the name of the higher reason of all of them1 his own as well as that of others4 ,he sees the rich1 the aristocratic class1 in occupation of the executive government1 and so if he is stopped from making ,hyde ,park a bear-garden or the streets impassable1 he says he is being butchered by the aristocracy4 ,his apparition is somewhat embarrassing1 because too many cooks spoil the broth2 because1 while the aristocratic and middle classes have long been doing #ff as they like with great vigour1 he has been too undeveloped and submissive hitherto to join in the game2 and now1 when he does come1 he comes in immense numbers1 and is rather raw and rough4 ,but he does not break many laws1 or not many at one time2 and1 as our laws were made for very different circumstances from our present 7but always with an eye to ,englishmen doing as they like71 and as the clear letter of the law must be against our ,englishman who does as he likes and not only the spirit of the law and public policy1 and as ,government must neither have any discretionary power nor act resolutely on its own interpretation of the law if any one disputes it1 it is evident our laws give our playful giant1 in doing as he likes1 considerable advantage4 ,besides1 even if he can be clearly proved to commit an illegality in doing as he likes1 there is always the resource of not putting the law in force1 or of abolishing it4 ,so he has his way1 and if he has his way he is soon satisfied for the time2 however1 he falls into the habit of taking it oftener and oftener1 and at last begins to create by his operations a confusion of which mischievous people can take advantage1 and which at any rate1 by troubling the common course #fg of business throughout the country1 tends to cause distress1 and so to increase the sort of anarchy and social disintegration which had previously commenced4 ,and thus that profound sense of settled order and security1 without which a society like ours cannot live and grow at all1 is beginning to threaten us with taking its departure4 ,now1 if culture1 which simply means trying to perfect oneself1 and one's mind as part of oneself1 brings us light1 and if light shows us that there is nothing so very blessed in merely doing as one likes1 that the worship of the mere freedom to do as one likes is worship of machinery1 that the really blessed thing is to like what right reason ordains1 and to follow her authority1 then we have got a practical benefit out of culture4 ,we have got a much wanted principle1 a principle of authority1 to counteract the tendency to anarchy which seems to be threatening us4 ,but how to organise this authority1 or to what hands to entrust the wielding of it8 ,how to get your ,state1 summing up the right reason of the community1 and giving effect to it1 as circumstances may require1 with vigour8 ,and here ,i think ,i see #fh my enemies waiting for me with a hungry joy in their eyes4 ,but ,i shall elude them4 ,the ,state1 the power most representing the right reason of the nation1 and most worthy1 therefore1 of ruling1--of exercising1 when circumstances require it1 authority over us all1--is for ,mr4 ,carlyle the aristocracy4 ,for ,mr4 ,lowe1 it is the middle-class with its incomparable ,parliament4 ,for the ,reform ,league1 it is the working- class1 with its brightest powers of sympathy and readiest powers of action4 ,now1 culture1 with its disinterested pursuit of perfection1 culture1 simply trying to see things as they are1 in order to seize on the best and to make it prevail1 is surely well fitted to help us to judge rightly1 by all the aids of observing1 reading1 and thinking1 the qualifications and titles to our confidence of these three candidates for authority1 and can thus render us a practical service of no mean value4 ,so when ,mr4 ,carlyle1 a man of genius to whom we have all at one time or other been indebted for refreshment and stimulus1 says we should give rule to the aristocracy1 mainly because of its dignity and politeness1 surely culture is useful in reminding us1 #fi that in our idea of perfection the characters of beauty and intelligence are both of them present1 and sweetness and light1 the two noblest of things1 are united4 ,allowing1 therefore1 with ,mr4 ,carlyle1 the aristocratic class to possess sweetness1 culture insists on the necessity of light also1 and shows us that aristocracies1 being by the very nature of things inaccessible to ideas1 unapt to see how the world is going1 must be somewhat wanting in light1 and must therefore be1 at a moment when light is our great requisite1 inadequate to our needs4 ,aristocracies1 those children of the established fact1 are for epochs of concentration4 ,in epochs of expansion1 epochs such as that in which we now live1 epochs when always the warning voice is again heard3 ,now is the judgment of this world--in such epochs aristocracies1 with their natural clinging to the established fact1 their want of sense for the flux of things1 for the inevitable transitoriness of all human institutions1 are bewildered and helpless4 ,their serenity1 their high spirit1 their power of haughty resistance1--the great qualities of an aristocracy1 and the secret of its distinguished manners and dignity1--these very qualities1 in an epoch of #gj expansion1 turn against their possessors4 ,again and again ,i have said how the refinement of an aristocracy may be precious and educative to a raw nation as a kind of shadow of true refinement2 how its serenity and dignified freedom from petty cares may serve as a useful foil to set off the vulgarity and hideousness of that type of life which a hard middle-class tends to establish1 and to help people to see this vulgarity and hideousness in their true colours4 ,from such an ignoble spectacle as that of poor ,mrs4 ,lincoln1--a spectacle to vulgarise a whole nation1--aristocracies undoubtedly preserve us4 ,but the true grace and serenity is that of which ,greece and ,greek art suggest the admirable ideals of perfection1--a serenity which comes from having made order among ideas and harmonised them2 whereas the serenity of aristocracies1 at least the peculiar serenity of aristocracies of ,teutonic origin1 appears to come from their never having had any ideas to trouble them4 ,and so1 in a time of expansion like the present1 a time for ideas1 one gets1 perhaps1 in regarding an aristocracy1 even more than the idea of serenity1 the idea of futility and sterility4 ,one has often wondered whether upon the whole #ga earth there is anything so unintelligent1 so unapt to perceive how the world is really going1 as an ordinary young ,englishman of our upper class4 ,ideas he has not1 and neither has he that seriousness of our middle-class1 which is1 as ,i have often said1 the great strength of this class1 and may become its salvation4 ,why1 a man may hear a young ,dives of the aristocratic class1 when the whim takes him to sing the praises of wealth and material comfort1 sing them with a cynicism from which the conscience of the veriest ,philistine of our industrial middle-class would recoil in affright4 ,and when1 with the natural sympathy of aristocracies for firm dealing with the multitude1 and his uneasiness at our feeble dealing with it at home1 an unvarnished young ,englishman of our aristocratic class applauds the absolute rulers on the ,continent1 he in general manages completely to miss the grounds of reason and intelligence which alone can give any colour of justification1 any possibility of existence1 to those rulers1 and applauds them on grounds which it would make their own hair stand on end to listen to4 ,and all this time1 we are in an epoch of expansion2 #gb and the essence of an epoch of expansion is a movement of ideas1 and the one salvation of an epoch of expansion is a harmony of ideas4 ,the very principle of the authority which we are seeking as a defence against anarchy is right reason1 ideas1 light4 ,the more1 therefore1 an aristocracy calls to its aid its innate forces1--its impenetrability1 its high spirit1 its power of haughty resistance1--to deal with an epoch of expansion1 the graver is the danger1 the greater the certainty of explosion1 the surer the aristocracy's defeat2 for it is trying to do violence to nature instead of working along with it4 ,the best powers shown by the best men of an aristocracy at such an epoch are1 it will be observed1 non-aristocratical powers1 powers of industry1 powers of intelligence2 and these powers1 thus exhibited1 tend really not to strengthen the aristocracy1 but to take their owners out of it1 to expose them to the dissolving agencies of thought and change1 to make them men of the modern spirit and of the future4 ,if1 as sometimes happens1 they add to their non- aristocratical qualities of labour and thought1 a strong dose of aristocratical qualities also1--of pride1 defiance1 turn for resistance--this truly aristocratical #gc side of them1 so far from adding any strength to them really neutralises their force and makes them impracticable and ineffective4 ,knowing myself to be indeed sadly to seek1 as one of my many critics says1 in a philosophy with coherent1 interdependent1 subordinate and derivative principles1 ,i continually have recourse to a plain man's expedient of trying to make what few simple notions ,i have1 clearer1 and more intelligible to myself1 by means of example and illustration4 ,and having been brought up at ,oxford in the bad old times1 when we were stuffed with ,greek and ,aristotle1 and thought nothing of preparing ourselves1--as after ,mr4 ,lowe's great speech at ,edinburgh we shall do1--to fight the battle of life with the ,german waiters1 my head is still full of a lumber of phrases we learnt at ,oxford from ,aristotle1 about virtue being in a mean1 and about excess and defect1 and so on4 ,once when ,i had had the advantage of listening to the ,reform debates in the ,house of ,commons1 having heard a number of interesting speakers1 and among them ,lord ,elcho and ,sir ,thomas ,bateson1 ,i remember it struck me1 applying ,aristotle's machinery of the #gd mean to my ideas about our aristocracy1 that ,lord ,elcho was exactly the perfection1 or happy mean1 or virtue1 of aristocracy1 and ,sir ,thomas ,bateson the excess2 and ,i fancied that by observing these two we might see both the inadequacy of aristocracy to supply the principle of authority needful for our present wants1 and the danger of its trying to supply it when it was not really competent for the business4 ,on the one hand1 in ,lord ,elcho1 showing plenty of high spirit1 but remarkable1 far above and beyond his gift of high spirit1 for the fine tempering of his high spirit1 for ease1 serenity1 politeness1--the great virtues1 as ,mr4 ,carlyle says1 of aristocracy1--in this beautiful and virtuous mean1 there seemed evidently some insufficiency of light2 while1 on the other hand1 ,sir ,thomas ,bateson1 in whom the high spirit of aristocracy1 its impenetrability1 defiant courage1 and pride of resistance1 were developed even in excess1 was manifestly capable1 if he had his way given him1 of causing us great danger1 and1 indeed1 of throwing the whole commonwealth into confusion4 ,then ,i reverted to that old fundamental notion of mine about the grand merit of our race being really our honesty2 and the #ge very helplessness of our aristocratic or governing class in dealing with our perturbed social state gave me a sort of pride and satisfaction1 because ,i saw they were1 as a whole1 too honest to try and manage a business for which they did not feel themselves capable4 ,surely1 now1 it is no inconsiderable boon culture confers upon us1 if in embarrassed times like the present it enables us to look at the ins and the outs of things in this way1 without hatred and without partiality1 and with a disposition to see the good in everybody all round4 ,and ,i try to follow just the same course with our middle- class as with our aristocracy4 ,mr4 ,lowe talks to us of this strong middle part of the nation1 of the unrivalled deeds of our liberal middle-class ,parliament1 of the noble1 the heroic work it has performed in the last thirty years2 and ,i begin to ask myself if we shall not1 then1 find in our middle-class the principle of authority we want1 and if we had not better take administration as well as legislation away from the weak extreme which now administers for us1 and commit both to the strong middle part4 ,i observe1 too1 that the heroes of middle-class liberalism1 such as we have #gf hitherto known it1 speak with a kind of prophetic anticipation of the great destiny which awaits them1 and as if the future was clearly theirs4 ,the advanced party1 the progressive party1 the party in alliance with the future1 are the names they like to give themselves4 ,the principles which will obtain recognition in the future1 says ,mr4 ,miall1 a personage of deserved eminence among the political ,dissenters1 as they are called1 who have been the backbone of middle- class liberalism--the principles which will obtain recognition in the future are the principles for which ,i have long and zealously laboured4 ,i qualified myself for joining in the work of harvest by doing to the best of my ability the duties of seed-time4 ,these duties1 if one is to gather them from the works of the great liberal party in the last thirty years1 are1 as ,i have elsewhere summed them up1 the advocacy of free-trade1 of parliamentary reform1 of abolition of church-rates1 of voluntaryism in religion and education1 of non- interference of the ,state between employers and employed1 and of marriage with one's deceased wife's sister4 ,now ,i know1 when ,i object that all this is machinery1 the great liberal middle-class has by this #gg time grown cunning enough to answer1 that it always meant more by these things than meets the eye2 that it has had that within which passes show1 and that we are soon going to see1 in a ,free ,church and all manner of good things1 what it was4 ,but ,i have learned from ,bishop ,wilson 7if ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison will forgive my again quoting that poor old hierophant of a decayed superstition73 ,if we would really know our heart let us impartially view our actions2 and ,i cannot help thinking that if our liberals had had so much sweetness and light in their inner minds as they allege1 more of it must have come out in their sayings and doings4 ,an ,american friend of the ,english liberals says1 indeed1 that their ,dissidence of ,dissent has been a mere instrument of the political ,dissenters for making reason and the will of ,god prevail 7and no doubt he would say the same of marriage with one's deceased wife's sister72 and that the abolition of a ,state ,church is merely the ,dissenter's means to this end1 just as culture is mine4 ,another ,american defender of theirs says just the same of their industrialism and free-trade2 indeed1 this gentleman1 taking the bull by the horns1 proposes that we should for the #gh future call industrialism culture1 and the industrialists the men of culture1 and then of course there can be no longer any misapprehension about their true character2 and besides the pleasure of being wealthy and comfortable1 they will have authentic recognition as vessels of sweetness and light4 ,all this is undoubtedly specious2 but ,i must remark that the culture of which ,i talked was an endeavour to come at reason and the will of ,god by means of reading1 observing1 and thinking2 and that whoever calls anything else culture1 may1 indeed1 call it so if he likes1 but then he talks of something quite different from what ,i talked of4 ,and1 again1 as culture's way of working for reason and the will of ,god is by directly trying to know more about them1 while the ,dissidence of ,dissent is evidently in itself no effort of this kind1 nor is its ,free ,church1 in fact1 a church with worthier conceptions of ,god and the ordering of the world than the ,state ,church professes1 but with mainly the same conceptions of these as the ,state ,church has1 only that every man is to comport himself as he likes in professing them1--this being so1 ,i cannot at once accept the ,nonconformity any more than the industrialism and the other great #gi works of our liberal middle-class as proof positive that this class is in possession of light1 and that here is the true seat of authority for which we are in search2 but ,i must try a little further1 and seek for other indications which may enable me to make up my mind4 ,why should we not do with the middle-class as we have done with the aristocratic class1--find in it some representative men who may stand for the virtuous mean of this class1 for the perfection of its present qualities and mode of being1 and also for the excess of them4 ,such men must clearly not be men of genius like ,mr4 ,bright2 for1 as ,i have formerly said1 so far as a man has genius he tends to take himself out of the category of class altogether1 and to become simply a man4 ,mr4 ,bright's brother1 ,mr4 ,jacob ,bright1 would1 perhaps1 be more to the purpose2 he seems to sum up very well in himself1 without disturbing influences1 the general liberal force of the middle-class1 the force by which it has done its great works of free-trade1 parliamentary reform1 voluntaryism1 and so on1 and the spirit in which it has done them4 ,now it is clear1 from what has been already said1 that there has been at least #hj an apparent want of light in the force and spirit through which these great works have been done1 and that the works have worn in consequence too much a look of machinery4 ,but this will be clearer still if we take1 as the happy mean of the middle-class1 not ,mr4 ,jacob ,bright1 but his colleague in the representation of ,manchester1 ,mr4 ,bazley4 ,mr4 ,bazley sums up for us1 in general1 the middle-class1 its spirit and its works1 at least as well as ,mr4 ,jacob ,bright2 and he has given us1 moreover1 a famous sentence1 which bears directly on the resolution of our present question1--whether there is light enough in our middle-class to make it the proper seat of the authority we wish to establish4 ,when there was a talk some little while ago about the state of middle-class education1 ,mr4 ,bazley1 as the representative of that class1 spoke some memorable words3--,there had been a cry that middle-class education ought to receive more attention4 ,he confessed himself very much surprised by the clamour that was raised4 ,he did not think that class need excite the sympathy either of the legislature or the public4 ,now this satisfaction of ,mr4 ,bazley with the mental state of the middle-class #ha was truly representative1 and enhances his claim 7if that were necessary7 to stand as the beautiful and virtuous mean of that class4 ,but it is obviously at variance with our definition of culture1 or the pursuit of light and perfection1 which made light and perfection consist1 not in resting and being1 but in growing and becoming1 in a perpetual advance in beauty and wisdom4 ,so the middle-class is by its essence1 as one may say1 by its incomparable self-satisfaction decisively expressed through its beautiful and virtuous mean1 self-excluded from wielding an authority of which light is to be the very soul4 ,clear as this is1 it will be made clearer still if we take some representative man as the excess of the middle-class1 and remember that the middle-class1 in general1 is to be conceived as a body swaying between the qualities of its mean and of its excess1 and on the whole1 of course1 as human nature is constituted1 inclining rather towards the excess than the mean4 ,of its excess no better representative can possibly be imagined than the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle1 a ,dissenting minister from ,walsall1 who came before the public in connection with the proceedings at #hb ,birmingham of ,mr4 ,murphy1 already mentioned4 ,speaking in the midst of an irritated population of ,catholics1 the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle exclaimed3--,i say1 then1 away with the mass6 ,it is from the bottomless pit2 and in the bottomless pit shall all liars have their part1 in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone4 ,and again3 ,when all the praties were black in ,ireland1 why didn't the priests say the hocus-pocus over them1 and make them all good again8 ,he shared1 too1 ,mr4 ,murphy's fears of some invasion of his domestic happiness3 ,what ,i wish to say to you as ,protestant husbands is1 ,take care of your wives6 ,and1 finally1 in the true vein of an ,englishman doing as he likes1 a vein of which ,i have at some length pointed out the present dangers1 he recommended for imitation the example of some churchwardens at ,dublin1 among whom1 said he1 there was a ,luther and also a ,melancthon1 who had made very short work with some ritualist or other1 handed him down from his pulpit1 and kicked him out of church4 ,now it is manifest1 as ,i said in the case of ,sir ,thomas ,bateson1 that if we let this excess of the sturdy ,english middle-class1 this conscientious ,protestant ,dissenter1 so strong1 so self- #hc reliant1 so fully persuaded in his own mind1 have his way1 he would be capable1 with his want of light--or1 to use the language of the religious world1 with his zeal without knowledge--of stirring up strife which neither he nor any one else could easily compose4 ,and then comes in1 as it did also with the aristocracy1 the honesty of our race1 and by the voice of another middle-class man1 ,alderman ,wilson1 ,alderman of the ,city of ,london and ,colonel of the ,city of ,london ,militia1 proclaims that it has twinges of conscience1 and that it will not attempt to cope with our social disorders1 and to deal with a business which it feels to be too high for it4 ,every one remembers how this virtuous ,alderman-,colonel1 or ,colonel-,alderman1 led his militia through the ,london streets2 how the bystanders gathered to see him pass2 how the ,london roughs1 asserting an ,englishman's best and most blissful right of doing what he likes1 robbed and beat the bystanders2 and how the blameless warrior- magistrate refused to let his troops interfere4 ,the crowd1 he touchingly said afterwards1 was mostly composed of fine healthy strong men1 bent on mischief2 if he had #hd allowed his soldiers to interfere they might have been overpowered1 their rifles taken from them and used against them by the mob2 a riot1 in fact1 might have ensued1 and been attended with bloodshed1 compared with which the assaults and loss of property that actually occurred would have been as nothing4 ,honest and affecting testimony of the ,english middle- class to its own inadequacy for the authoritative part one's admiration would sometimes incline one to assign to it6 ,who are we1 they say by the voice of their ,alderman-,colonel1 that we should not be overpowered if we attempt to cope with social anarchy1 our rifles taken from us and used against us by the mob1 and we1 perhaps1 robbed and beaten ourselves8 ,or what light have we1 beyond a free- born ,englishman's impulse to do as he likes1 which could justify us in preventing1 at the cost of bloodshed1 other free-born ,englishmen from doing as they like1 and robbing and beating us as much as they please8 ,this distrust of themselves as an adequate centre of authority does not mark the working-class1 as was shown by their readiness the other day in ,hyde ,park to take upon themselves all the functions of #he government4 ,but this comes from the working-class being1 as ,i have often said1 still an embryo1 of which no one can yet quite foresee the final development2 and from its not having the same experience and self-knowledge as the aristocratic and middle classes4 ,honesty it no doubt has1 just like the other classes of ,englishmen1 but honesty in an inchoate and untrained state2 and meanwhile its powers of action1 which are1 as ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison says1 exceedingly ready1 easily run away with it4 ,that it cannot at present have a sufficiency of light which comes by culture1--that is1 by reading1 observing1 and thinking1--is clear from the very nature of its condition2 and1 indeed1 we saw that ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison1 in seeking to make a free stage for its bright powers of sympathy and ready powers of action1 had to begin by throwing overboard culture1 and flouting it as only fit for a professor of belles lettres4 ,still1 to make it perfectly manifest that no more in the working-class than in the aristocratic and middle classes can one find an adequate centre of authority1--that is1 as culture teaches us to conceive our required authority1 of light1--let us again follow1 with this class1 the method we have #hf followed with the aristocratic and middle classes1 and try to bring before our minds representative men1 who may figure to us its virtue and its excess4 ,we must not take1 of course1 ,colonel ,dickson or ,mr4 ,beales2 because ,colonel ,dickson1 by his martial profession and dashing exterior1 seems to belong properly1 like ,julius ,caesar and ,mirabeau and other great popular leaders1 to the aristocratic class1 and to be carried into the popular ranks only by his ambition or his genius2 while ,mr4 ,beales belongs to our solid middle-class1 and1 perhaps1 if he had not been a great popular leader1 would have been a ,philistine4 ,but ,mr4 ,odger1 whose speeches we have all read1 and of whom his friends relate1 besides1 much that is favourable1 may very well stand for the beautiful and virtuous mean of our present working-class2 and ,i think everybody will admit that in ,mr4 ,odger1 as in ,lord ,elcho1 there is manifestly1 with all his good points1 some insufficiency of light4 ,the excess of the working-class1 in its present state of development1 is perhaps best shown in ,mr4 ,bradlaugh1 the iconoclast1 who seems to be almost for baptizing us all in blood and fire into his new social dispensation1 and to whose #hg reflections1 now that ,i have once been set going on ,bishop ,wilson's track1 ,i cannot forbear commending this maxim of the good old man3 ,intemperance in talk makes a dreadful havoc in the heart4 ,mr4 ,bradlaugh1 like ,sir ,thomas ,bateson and the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle1 is evidently capable1 if he had his head given him1 of running us all into great dangers and confusion4 ,i conclude1 therefore1--what1 indeed1 few of those who do me the honour to read this disquisition are likely to dispute1--that we can as little find in the working-class as in the aristocratic or in the middle class our much-wanted source of authority1 as culture suggests it to us4 ,well1 then1 what if we tried to rise above the idea of class to the idea of the whole community1 the ,state1 and to find our centre of light and authority there8 ,every one of us has the idea of country1 as a sentiment2 hardly any one of us has the idea of the ,state1 as a working power4 ,and why8 ,because we habitually live in our ordinary selves1 which do not carry us beyond the ideas and wishes of the class to which we happen to belong4 ,and we are all afraid of giving to the ,state too much power1 because we only conceive of the ,state #hh as something equivalent to the class in occupation of the executive government1 and are afraid of that class abusing power to its own purposes4 ,if we strengthen the ,state with the aristocratic class in occupation of the executive government1 we imagine we are delivering ourselves up captive to the ideas and wishes of ,sir ,thomas ,bateson2 if with the middle-class in occupation of the executive government1 to those of the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle2 if with the working- class1 to those of ,mr4 ,bradlaugh4 ,and with much justice2 owing to the exaggerated notion which we ,english1 as ,i have said1 entertain of the right and blessedness of the mere doing as one likes1 of the affirming oneself1 and oneself just as it is4 ,people of the aristocratic class want to affirm their ordinary selves1 their likings and dislikings2 people of the middle-class the same1 people of the working-class the same4 ,by our everyday selves1 however1 we are separate1 personal1 at war2 we are only safe from one another's tyranny when no one has any power2 and this safety1 in its turn1 cannot save us from anarchy4 ,and when1 therefore1 anarchy presents itself as a danger to us1 we know not where to turn4 #hi ,but by our best self we are united1 impersonal1 at harmony4 ,we are in no peril from giving authority to this1 because it is the truest friend we all of us can have2 and when anarchy is a danger to us1 to this authority we may turn with sure trust4 ,well1 and this is the very self which culture1 or the study of perfection1 seeks to develop in us2 at the expense of our old untransformed self1 taking pleasure only in doing what it likes or is used to do1 and exposing us to the risk of clashing with every one else who is doing the same6 ,so that our poor culture1 which is flouted as so unpractical1 leads us to the very ideas capable of meeting the great want of our present embarrassed times6 ,we want an authority1 and we find nothing but jealous classes1 checks1 and a dead-lock2 culture suggests the idea of the ,state4 ,we find no basis for a firm ,state-power in our ordinary selves2 culture suggests one to us in our best self4 ,it cannot but acutely try a tender conscience to be accused1 in a practical country like ours1 of keeping aloof from the work and hope of a multitude of earnest-hearted men1 and of merely toying with poetry and aesthetics4 ,so it is with no little #ij sense of relief that ,i find myself thus in the position of one who makes a contribution in aid of the practical necessities of our times4 ,the great thing1 it will be observed1 is to find our best self1 and to seek to affirm nothing but that2 not1--as we ,english with our over- value for merely being free and busy have been so accustomed to do1-- resting satisfied with a self which comes uppermost long before our best self1 and affirming that with blind energy4 ,in short1--to go back yet once more to ,bishop ,wilson1--of these two excellent rules of ,bishop ,wilson's for a man's guidance3 ,firstly1 never go against the best light you have2 secondly1 take care that your light be not darkness1 we ,english have followed with praiseworthy zeal the first rule1 but we have not given so much heed to the second4 ,we have gone manfully1 the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle and the rest of us1 according to the best light we have2 but we have not taken enough care that this should be really the best light possible for us1 that it should not be darkness4 ,and1 our honesty being very great1 conscience has whispered to us that the light we were following1 our ordinary self1 was1 indeed1 perhaps1 only an inferior self1 only darkness2 and #ia that it would not do to impose this seriously on all the world4 ,but our best self inspires faith1 and is capable of affording a serious principle of authority4 ,for example4 ,we are on our way to what the late ,duke of ,wellington1 with his strong sagacity1 foresaw and admirably described as a revolution by due course of law4 ,this is undoubtedly1--if we are still to live and grow1 and this famous nation is not to stagnate and dwindle away on the one hand1 or1 on the other1 to perish miserably in mere anarchy and confusion1--what we are on the way to4 ,great changes there must be1 for a revolution cannot accomplish itself without great changes2 yet order there must be1 for without order a revolution cannot accomplish itself by due course of law4 ,so whatever brings risk of tumult and disorder1 multitudinous processions in the streets of our crowded towns1 multitudinous meetings in their public places and parks1-- demonstrations perfectly unnecessary in the present course of our affairs1--our best self1 or right reason1 plainly enjoins us to set our faces against4 ,it enjoins us to encourage and uphold the occupants of the executive power1 whoever they #ib may be1 in firmly prohibiting them4 ,but it does this clearly and resolutely1 and is thus a real principle of authority1 because it does it with a free conscience2 because in thus provisionally strengthening the executive power1 it knows that it is not doing this merely to enable ,sir ,thomas ,bateson to affirm himself as against ,mr4 ,bradlaugh1 or the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle to affirm himself as against both4 ,it knows that it is stablishing the ,state1 or organ of our collective best self1 of our national right reason2 and it has the testimony of conscience that it is stablishing the ,state on behalf of whatever great changes are needed1 just as much as on behalf of order2 stablishing it to deal just as stringently1 when the time comes1 with ,sir ,thomas ,bateson's ,protestant ascendency1 or with the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle's sorry education of his children1 as it deals with ,mr4 ,bradlaugh's street-processions4 ,,notes #ef4 posse comitats4 ,arnold's phrase refers to the medieval institution of the power of the county4 ,it originally consisted of a county's able-bodied males over fifteen1 and the local authorities might call upon it to preserve order4 ,later1 the posse became an instrument of the church parish4 #fd4 ,london's ,hyde ,park riots occurred in #ahff4 ,reform ,leaguers bent on assembling to promote universal suffrage broke through the iron rails encompassing the ,park4 ,,chapter ,,iii #ic ,from a man without a philosophy no one can expect philosophical completeness4 ,therefore ,i may observe without shame1 that in trying to get a distinct notion of our aristocratic1 our middle1 and our working class1 with a view of testing the claims of each of these classes to become a centre of authority1 ,i have omitted1 ,i find1 to complete the old-fashioned analysis which ,i had the fancy of applying1 and have not shown in these classes1 as well as the virtuous mean and the excess1 the defect also4 ,i do not know that the omission very much matters2 still as clearness is the one merit which a plain1 unsystematic writer1 without a philosophy1 can hope to have1 and as our notion of the three great ,english classes may perhaps be made clearer if we see their distinctive qualities in the defect1 as well as in the excess and in the mean1 let us try1 before proceeding further1 to remedy this omission4 ,it is manifest1 if the perfect and virtuous mean of that fine spirit which is the distinctive quality #id of aristocracies1 is to be found in ,lord ,elcho's chivalrous style1 and its excess in ,sir ,thomas ,bateson's turn for resistance1 that its defect must lie in a spirit not bold and high enough1 and in an excessive and pusillanimous unaptness for resistance4 ,if1 again1 the perfect and virtuous mean of that force by which our middle-class has done its great works1 and of that self-reliance with which it contemplates itself and them1 is to be seen in the performances and speeches of ,mr4 ,bazley1 and the excess of that force and that self-reliance in the performances and speeches of the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle1 then it is manifest that their defect must lie in a helpless inaptitude for the great works of the middle- class1 and in a poor and despicable lack of its self-satisfaction4 ,to be chosen to exemplify the happy mean of a good quality1 or set of good qualities1 is evidently a praise to a man2 nay1 to be chosen to exemplify even their excess1 is a kind of praise4 ,therefore ,i could have no hesitation in taking ,lord ,elcho and ,mr4 ,bazley1 the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle and ,sir ,thomas ,bateson1 to exemplify1 respectively1 the mean and the excess of aristocratic and middle-class qualities4 ,but perhaps there might #ie be a want of urbanity in singling out this or that personage as the representative of defect4 ,therefore ,i shall leave the defect of aristocracy unillustrated by any representative man4 ,but with oneself one may always1 without impropriety1 deal quite freely2 and1 indeed1 this sort of plain-dealing with oneself has in it1 as all the moralists tell us1 something very wholesome4 ,so ,i will venture to humbly offer myself as an illustration of defect in those forces and qualities which make our middle-class what it is4 ,the too well-founded reproaches of my opponents declare how little ,i have lent a hand to the great works of the middle-class2 for it is evidently these works1 and my slackness at them1 which are meant1 when ,i am said to refuse to lend a hand to the humble operation of uprooting certain definite evils 7such as church-rates and others71 and that therefore the believers in action grow impatient with me4 ,the line1 again1 of a still unsatisfied seeker which ,i have followed1 the idea of self-transformation1 of growing towards some measure of sweetness and light not yet reached1 is evidently at clean variance with the perfect self-satisfaction current in my class1 the middle- class1 #if and may serve to indicate in me1 therefore1 the extreme defect of this feeling4 ,but these confessions1 though salutary1 are bitter and unpleasant4 ,to pass1 then1 to the working-class4 ,the defect of this class would be the falling short in what ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison calls those bright powers of sympathy and ready powers of action1 of which we saw in ,mr4 ,odger the virtuous mean1 and in ,mr4 ,bradlaugh the excess4 ,the working-class is so fast growing and rising at the present time1 that instances of this defect cannot well be now very common4 ,perhaps ,canning's ,needy ,knife-grinder 7who is dead1 and therefore cannot be pained at my taking him for an illustration7 may serve to give us the notion of defect in the essential quality of a working- class2 or ,i might even cite 7since1 though he is alive in the flesh1 he is dead to all heed of criticism7 my poor old poaching friend1 ,zephaniah ,diggs1 who1 between his hare-snaring and his gin-drinking1 has got his powers of sympathy quite dulled and his powers of action in any great movement of his class hopelessly impaired4 ,but examples of this defect belong1 as ,i have said1 to a bygone age rather than to the present4 #ig ,the same desire for clearness1 which has led me thus to extend a little my first analysis of the three great classes of ,english society1 prompts me also to make my nomenclature for them a little fuller1 with a view to making it thereby more clear and manageable4 ,it is awkward and tiresome to be always saying the aristocratic class1 the middle-class1 the working-class4 ,for the middle-class1 for that great body which1 as we know1 has done all the great things that have been done in all departments1 and which is to be conceived as chiefly moving between its two cardinal points of ,mr4 ,bazley and the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle1 but inclining1 in the mass1 rather towards the latter than the former--for this class we have a designation which now has become pretty well known1 and which we may as well still keep for them1 the designation of ,philistines4 ,what this term means ,i have so often explained that ,i need not repeat it here4 ,for the aristocratic class1 conceived mainly as a body moving between the two cardinal points of ,lord ,elcho and ,sir ,thomas ,bateson1 but as a whole nearer to the latter than the former1 we have as yet got no special designation4 ,almost #ih all my attention has naturally been concentrated on my own class1 the middle-class1 with which ,i am in closest sympathy1 and which has been1 besides1 the great power of our day1 and has had its praises sung by all speakers and newspapers4 ,still the aristocratic class is so important in itself1 and the weighty functions which ,mr4 ,carlyle proposes at the present critical time to commit to it must add so much to its importance1 that it seems neglectful1 and a strong instance of that want of coherent philosophic method for which ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison blames me1 to leave the aristocratic class so much without notice and denomination4 ,it may be thought that the characteristic which ,i have occasionally mentioned as proper to aristocracies1--their natural inaccessibility1 as children of the established fact1 to ideas1--points to our extending to this class also the designation of ,philistines2 the ,philistine being1 as is well known1 the enemy of the children of light1 or servants of the idea4 ,nevertheless1 there seems to be an inconvenience in thus giving one and the same designation to two very different classes2 and besides1 if we look into the thing closely1 we shall find that the term ,philistine conveys a sense which #ii makes it more peculiarly appropriate to our middle class than to our aristocratic4 ,for ,philistine gives the notion of something particularly stiff-necked and perverse in the resistance to light and its children1 and therein it specially suits our middle-class1 who not only do not pursue sweetness and light1 but who prefer to them that sort of machinery of business1 chapels1 tea meetings1 and addresses from ,mr4 ,murphy and the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle1 which makes up the dismal and illiberal life on which ,i have so often touched4 ,but the aristocratic class has actually1 as we have seen1 in its well-known politeness1 a kind of image or shadow of sweetness2 and as for light1 if it does not pursue light1 it is not that it perversely cherishes some dismal and illiberal existence in preference to light1 but it is seduced from following light by those mighty and eternal seducers of our race which weave for this class their most irresistible charms1-- by worldly splendour1 security1 power and pleasure4 ,these seducers are exterior goods1 but they are goods2 and he who is hindered by them from caring for light and ideas1 is not so much doing what is perverse as what is natural4 ,keeping this in view1 ,i have in my own mind #ajj often indulged myself with the fancy of putting side by side with the idea of our aristocratic class1 the idea of the ,barbarians4 ,the ,barbarians1 to whom we all owe so much1 and who reinvigorated and renewed our worn- out ,europe1 had1 as is well-known1 eminent merits2 and in this country1 where we are for the most part sprung from the ,barbarians1 we have never had the prejudice against them which prevails among the races of ,latin origin4 ,the ,barbarians brought with them that staunch individualism1 as the modern phrase is1 and that passion for doing as one likes1 for the assertion of personal liberty1 which appears to ,mr4 ,bright the central idea of ,english life1 and of which we have1 at any rate1 a very rich supply4 ,the stronghold and natural seat of this passion was in the nobles of whom our aristocratic class are the inheritors2 and this class1 accordingly1 have signally manifested it1 and have done much by their example to recommend it to the body of the nation1 who already1 indeed1 had it in their blood4 ,the ,barbarians1 again1 had the passion for field-sports2 and they have handed it on to our aristocratic class1 who of this passion too1 as of the passion for asserting one's personal liberty1 are the #aja great natural stronghold4 ,the care of the ,barbarians for the body1 and for all manly exercises2 the vigour1 good looks1 and fine complexion which they acquired and perpetuated in their families by these means1--all this may be observed still in our aristocratic class4 ,the chivalry of the ,barbarians1 with its characteristics of high spirit1 choice manners1 and distinguished bearing1--what is this but the beautiful commencement of the politeness of our aristocratic class8 ,in some ,barbarian noble1 no doubt1 one would have admired1 if one could have been then alive to see it1 the rudiments of ,lord ,elcho4 ,only1 all this culture 7to call it by that name7 of the ,barbarians was an exterior culture mainly3 it consisted principally in outward gifts and graces1 in looks1 manners1 accomplishments1 prowess2 the chief inward gifts which had part in it were the most exterior1 so to speak1 of inward gifts1 those which come nearest to outward ones3 they were courage1 a high spirit1 self-confidence4 ,far within1 and unawakened1 lay a whole range of powers of thought and feeling1 to which these interesting productions of nature had1 from the circumstances of their life1 no access4 ,making allowances for the #ajb difference of the times1 surely we can observe precisely the same thing now in our aristocratic class4 ,in general its culture is exterior chiefly2 all the exterior graces and accomplishments1 and the more external of the inward virtues1 seem to be principally its portion4 ,it now1 of course1 cannot but be often in contact with those studies by which1 from the world of thought and feeling1 true culture teaches us to fetch sweetness and light2 but its hold upon these very studies appears remarkably external1 and unable to exert any deep power upon its spirit4 ,therefore the one insufficiency which we noted in the perfect mean of this class1 ,lord ,elcho1 was an insufficiency of light4 ,and owing to the same causes1 does not a subtle criticism lead us to make1 even on the good looks and politeness of our aristocratic class1 the one qualifying remark1 that in these charming gifts there should perhaps be1 for ideal perfection1 a shade more soul8 ,i often1 therefore1 when ,i want to distinguish clearly the aristocratic class from the ,philistines proper1 or middle-class1 name the former1 in my own mind1 the ,barbarians3 and when ,i go through the country1 and see this and that beautiful and #ajc imposing seat of theirs crowning the landscape1 ,there1 ,i say to myself1 is a great fortified post of the ,barbarians4 ,it is obvious that that part of the working-class which1 working diligently by the light of ,mrs4 ,gooch's ,golden ,rule1 looks forward to the happy day when it will sit on thrones with ,mr4 ,bazley and other middle-class potentates1 to survey1 as ,mr4 ,bright beautifully says1 the cities it has built1 the railroads it has made1 the manufactures it has produced1 the cargoes which freight the ships of the greatest mercantile navy the world has ever seen1--it is obvious1 ,i say1 that this part of the working-class is1 or is in a fair way to be1 one in spirit with the industrial middle-class4 ,it is notorious that our middle-class liberals have long looked forward to this consummation1 when the working-class shall join forces with them1 aid them heartily to carry forward their great works1 go in a body to their tea- meetings1 and1 in short1 enable them to bring about their millennium4 ,that part of the working-class1 therefore1 which does really seem to lend itself to these great aims1 may1 with propriety1 be numbered by us among the ,philistines4 ,that part of it1 again1 which #ajd so much occupies the attention of philanthropists at present1--the part which gives all its energies to organising itself1 through trades' unions and other means1 so as to constitute1 first1 a great working- class power1 independent of the middle and aristocratic classes1 and then1 by dint of numbers1 give the law to them1 and itself reign absolutely1--this lively and interesting part must also1 according to our definition1 go with the ,philistines2 because it is its class and its class-instinct which it seeks to affirm1 its ordinary self not its best self2 and it is a machinery1 an industrial machinery1 and power and pre-eminence and other external goods which fill its thoughts1 and not an inward perfection4 ,it is wholly occupied1 according to ,plato's subtle expression1 with the things of itself and not its real self1 with the things of the ,state and not the real ,state4 ,but that vast portion1 lastly1 of the working-class which1 raw and half-developed1 has long lain half-hidden amidst its poverty and squalor1 and is now issuing from its hiding-place to assert an ,englishman's heaven-born privilege of doing as he likes1 and is beginning to perplex us by marching where it likes1 meeting where it likes1 bawling what it likes1 #aje breaking what it likes1--to this vast residuum we may with great propriety give the name of ,populace4 ,thus we have got three distinct terms1 ,barbarians1 ,philistines1 ,populace1 to denote roughly the three great classes into which our society is divided2 and though this humble attempt at a scientific nomenclature falls1 no doubt1 very far short in precision of what might be required from a writer equipped with a complete and coherent philosophy1 yet1 from a notoriously unsystematic and unpretending writer1 it will1 ,i trust1 be accepted as sufficient4 ,but in using this new1 and1 ,i hope1 convenient division of ,english society1 two things are to be borne in mind4 ,the first is1 that since1 under all our class divisions1 there is a common basis of human nature1 therefore1 in every one of us1 whether we be properly ,barbarians1 ,philistines1 or ,populace1 there exists1 sometimes only in germ and potentially1 sometimes more or less developed1 the same tendencies and passions which have made our fellow-citizens of other classes what they are4 ,this consideration is very important1 because it has great influence in begetting that spirit of indulgence which #ajf is a necessary part of sweetness1 and which1 indeed1 when our culture is complete1 is1 as ,i have said1 inexhaustible4 ,thus1 an ,english ,barbarian who examines himself1 will1 in general1 find himself to be not so entirely a ,barbarian but that he has in him1 also1 something of the ,philistine1 and even something of the ,populace as well4 ,and the same with ,englishmen of the two other classes4 ,this is an experience which we may all verify every day4 ,for instance1 ,i myself 7,i again take myself as a sort of corpus vile to serve for illustration in a matter where serving for illustration may not by every one be thought agreeable71 ,i myself am properly a ,philistine1--,mr4 ,swinburne would add1 the son of a ,philistine1--and though1 through circumstances which will perhaps one day be known1 if ever the affecting history of my conversion comes to be written1 ,i have1 for the most part1 broken with the ideas and the tea-meetings of my own class1 yet ,i have not1 on that account1 been brought much the nearer to the ideas and works of the ,barbarians or of the ,populace4 ,nevertheless1 ,i never take a gun or a fishing-rod in my hands without feeling that ,i have in the ground of my nature the self-same seeds which1 fostered by #ajg circumstances1 do so much to make the ,barbarian2 and that1 with the ,barbarian's advantages1 ,i might have rivalled him4 ,place me in one of his great fortified posts1 with these seeds of a love for field-sports sown in my nature1 ,with all the means of developing them1 with all pleasures at my command1 with most whom ,i met deferring to me1 every one ,i met smiling on me1 and with every appearance of permanence and security before me and behind me1--then ,i too might have grown1 ,i feel1 into a very passable child of the established fact1 of commendable spirit and politeness1 and1 at the same time1 a little inaccessible to ideas and light2 not1 of course1 with either the eminent fine spirit of ,lord ,elcho1 or the eminent power of resistance of ,sir ,thomas ,bateson1 but1 according to the measure of the common run of mankind1 something between the two4 ,and as to the ,populace1 who1 whether he be ,barbarian or ,philistine1 can look at them without sympathy1 when he remembers how often1--every time that we snatch up a vehement opinion in ignorance and passion1 every time that we long to crush an adversary by sheer violence1 every time that we are envious1 every time that we are brutal1 #ajh every time that we adore mere power or success1 every time that we add our voice to swell a blind clamour against some unpopular personage1 every time that we trample savagely on the fallen1--he has found in his own bosom the eternal spirit of the ,populace1 and that there needs only a little help from circumstances to make it triumph in him untameably8 ,the second thing to be borne in mind ,i have indicated several times already4 ,it is this4 ,all of us1 so far as we are ,barbarians1 ,philistines1 or ,populace1 imagine happiness to consist in doing what one's ordinary self likes4 ,what one's ordinary self likes differs according to the class to which one belongs1 and has its severer and its lighter side2 always1 however1 remaining machinery1 and nothing more4 ,the graver self of the ,barbarian likes honours and consideration2 his more relaxed self1 field-sports and pleasure4 ,the graver self of one kind of ,philistine likes business and money- making2 his more relaxed self1 comfort and tea-meetings4 ,of another kind of ,philistine1 the graver self likes trades' unions2 the relaxed self1 deputations1 or hearing ,mr4 ,odger speak4 ,the sterner self of the #aji ,populace likes bawling1 hustling1 and smashing2 the lighter self1 beer4 ,but in each class there are born a certain number of natures with a curiosity about their best self1 with a bent for seeing things as they are1 for disentangling themselves from machinery1 for simply concerning themselves with reason and the will of ,god1 and doing their best to make these prevail2--for the pursuit1 in a word1 of perfection4 ,to certain manifestations of this love for perfection mankind have accustomed themselves to give the name of genius2 implying1 by this name1 something original and heaven- bestowed in the passion4 ,but the passion is to be found far beyond those manifestations of it to which the world usually gives the name of genius1 and in which there is1 for the most part1 a talent of some kind or other1 a special and striking faculty of execution1 informed by the heaven-bestowed ardour1 or genius4 ,it is to be found in many manifestations besides these1 and may best be called1 as we have called it1 the love and pursuit of perfection2 culture being the true nurse of the pursuing love1 and sweetness and light the true character of the pursued perfection4 ,natures with this bent emerge in all classes1--among the ,barbarians1 among the ,philistines1 #aaj among the ,populace4 ,and this bent always tends1 as ,i have said1 to take them out of their class1 and to make their distinguishing characteristic not their ,barbarianism or their ,philistinism1 but their humanity4 ,they have1 in general1 a rough time of it in their lives2 but they are sown more abundantly than one might think1 they appear where and when one least expects it1 they set up a fire which enfilades1 so to speak1 the class with which they are ranked2 and1 in general1 by the extrication of their best self as the self to develope1 and by the simplicity of the ends fixed by them as paramount1 they hinder the unchecked predominance of that class-life which is the affirmation of our ordinary self1 and seasonably disconcert mankind in their worship of machinery4 ,therefore1 when we speak of ourselves as divided into ,barbarians1 ,philistines1 and ,populace1 we must be understood always to imply that within each of these classes there are a certain number of aliens1 if we may so call them1--persons who are mainly led1 not by their class spirit1 but by a general humane spirit1 by the love of human perfection2 and that this number is capable of being diminished or augmented4 ,i mean1 the number of those who will succeed in #aaa developing this happy instinct will be greater or smaller1 in proportion both to the force of the original instinct within them1 and to the hindrance or encouragement which it meets with from without4 ,in almost all who have it1 it is mixed with some infusion of the spirit of an ordinary self1 some quantity of class-instinct1 and even1 as has been shown1 of more than one class-instinct at the same time2 so that1 in general1 the extrication of the best self1 the predominance of the humane instinct1 will very much depend upon its meeting1 or not1 with what is fitted to help and elicit it4 ,at a moment1 therefore1 when it is agreed that we want a source of authority1 and when it seems probable that the right source is our best self1 it becomes of vast importance to see whether or not the things around us are1 in general1 such as to help and elicit our best self1 and if they are not1 to see why they are not1 and the most promising way of mending them4 ,now1 it is clear that the very absence of any powerful authority amongst us1 and the prevalent doctrine of the duty and happiness of doing as one likes1 and asserting our personal liberty1 must tend to prevent the erection of any very strict standard of #aab excellence1 the belief in any very paramount authority of right reason1 the recognition of our best self as anything very recondite and hard to come at4 ,it may be1 as ,i have said1 a proof of our honesty that we do not attempt to give to our ordinary self1 as we have it in action1 predominant authority1 and to impose its rule upon other people2 but it is evident1 also1 that it is not easy1 with our style of proceeding1 to get beyond the notion of an ordinary self at all1 or to get the paramount authority of a commanding best self1 or right reason1 recognised4 ,the learned ,martinus ,scriblerus well says3--,the taste of the bathos is implanted by nature itself in the soul of man2 till1 perverted by custom or example1 he is taught1 or rather compelled1 to relish the sublime4 ,but with us everything seems directed to prevent any such perversion of us by custom or example as might compel us to relish the sublime2 by all means we are encouraged to keep our natural taste for the bathos unimpaired4 ,i have formerly pointed out how in literature the absence of any authoritative centre1 like an ,academy1 tends to do this2 each section of the public has its own literary organ1 and the mass of the public is without any suspicion that #aac the value of these organs is relative to their being nearer a certain ideal centre of correct information1 taste1 and intelligence1 or farther away from it4 ,i have said that within certain limits1 which any one who is likely to read this will have no difficulty in drawing for himself1 my old adversary1 the ,saturday ,review1 may1 on matters of literature and taste1 be fairly enough regarded1 relatively to a great number of newspapers which treat these matters1 as a kind of organ of reason4 ,but ,i remember once conversing with a company of ,nonconformist admirers of some lecturer who had let off a great fire-work1 which the ,saturday ,review said was all noise and false lights1 and feeling my way as tenderly as ,i could about the effect of this unfavourable judgment upon those with whom ,i was conversing4 ,oh1 said one who was their spokesman1 with the most tranquil air of conviction1 it is true the ,saturday ,review abuses the lecture1 but the ,british ,banner 7,i am not quite sure it was the ,british ,banner1 but it was some newspaper of that stamp7 says that the ,saturday ,review is quite wrong4 ,the speaker had evidently no notion that there was a scale of value for judgments on these topics1 and that the judgments of the #aad ,saturday ,review ranked high on this scale1 and those of the ,british ,banner low2 the taste of the bathos implanted by nature in the literary judgments of man had never1 in my friend's case1 encountered any let or hindrance4 ,just the same in religion as in literature4 ,we have most of us little idea of a high standard to choose our guides by1 of a great and profound spirit1 which is an authority1 while inferior spirits are none2 it is enough to give importance to things that this or that person says them decisively1 and has a large following of some strong kind when he says them4 ,this habit of ours is very well shown in that able and interesting work of ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon's1 which we were all reading lately1 ,the ,mormons1 by ,one of ,themselves4 ,here1 again1 ,i am not quite sure that my memory serves me as to the exact title1 but ,i mean the well-known book in which ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon described the ,mormons1 and other similar religious bodies in ,america1 with so much detail and such warm sympathy4 ,in this work it seems enough for ,mr4 ,dixon that this or that doctrine has its ,rabbi1 who talks big to him1 has a staunch body of disciples1 and1 above all1 has plenty #aae of rifles4 ,that there are any further stricter tests to be applied to a doctrine1 before it is pronounced important1 never seems to occur to him4 ,it is easy to say1 he writes of the ,mormons1 that these saints are dupes and fanatics1 to laugh at ,joe ,smith and his church1 but what then8 ,the great facts remain4 ,young and his people are at ,utah2 a church of #bjj1jjj souls2 an army of #bj1jjj rifles4 ,but if the followers of a doctrine are really dupes1 or worse1 and its promulgators are really fanatics1 or worse1 it gives the doctrine no seriousness or authority the more that there should be found #bjj1jjj souls1--#bjj1jjj of the innumerable multitude with a natural taste for the bathos1--to hold it1 and #bj1jjj rifles to defend it4 ,and again1 of another religious organisation in ,america3 ,a fair and open field is not to be refused when hosts so mighty throw down wager of battle on behalf of what they hold to be true1 however strange their faith may seem4 ,a fair and open field is not to be refused to any speaker2 but this solemn way of heralding him is quite out of place unless he has1 for the best reason and spirit of man1 some significance4 ,well1 but1 says ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon1 #aaf a theory which has been accepted by men like ,judge ,edmonds1 ,dr4 ,hare1 ,elder ,frederick1 and ,professor ,bush6 ,and again3 ,such are1 in brief1 the bases of what ,newman ,weeks1 ,sarah ,horton1 ,deborah ,butler1 and the associated brethren1 proclaimed in ,rolt's ,hall as the new covenant6 ,if he was summing up an account of the teaching of ,plato or ,st4 ,paul1 ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon could not be more earnestly reverential4 ,but the question is1 have personages like ,judge ,edmonds1 and ,newman ,weeks1 and ,elderess ,polly1 and ,elderess ,antoinette1 and the rest of ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon's heroes and heroines1 anything of the weight and significance for the best reason and spirit of man that ,plato and ,st4 ,paul have8 ,evidently they1 at present1 have not2 and a very small taste of them and their doctrines ought to have convinced ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon that they never could have4 ,but1 says he1 the magnetic power which ,shakerism is exercising on ,american thought would of itself compel us1--and so on4 ,now as far as real thought is concerned1--thought which affects the best reason and spirit of man1 the scientific thought of the world1 the only thought which deserves #aag speaking of in this solemn way1--,america has up to the present time been hardly more than a province of ,england1 and even now would not herself claim to be more than abreast of ,england2 and of this only real human thought1 ,english thought itself is not just now1 as we must all admit1 one of the most significant factors4 ,neither1 then1 can ,american thought be2 and the magnetic power which ,shakerism exercises on ,american thought is about as important1 for the best reason and spirit of man1 as the magnetic power which ,mr4 ,murphy exercises on ,birmingham ,protestantism4 ,and as we shall never get rid of our natural taste for the bathos in religion1--never get access to a best self and right reason which may stand as a serious authority1--by treating ,mr4 ,murphy as his own disciples treat him1 seriously1 and as if he was as much an authority as any one else3 so we shall never get rid of it while our able and popular writers treat their ,joe ,smiths and ,deborah ,butlers1 with their so many thousand souls and so many thousand rifles1 in the like exaggerated and misleading manner1 and so do their best to confirm us in a bad mental habit to which we are already too prone4 #aah ,if our habits make it hard for us to come at the idea of a high best self1 of a paramount authority1 in literature or religion1 how much more do they make this hard in the sphere of politics6 ,in other countries1 the governors1 not depending so immediately on the favour of the governed1 have everything to urge them1 if they know anything of right reason 7and it is at least supposed that governors should know more of this than the mass of the governed71 to set it authoritatively before the community4 ,but our whole scheme of government being representative1 every one of our governors has all possible temptation1 instead of setting up before the governed who elect him1 and on whose favour he depends1 a high standard of right reason1 to accommodate himself as much as possible to their natural taste for the bathos2 and even if he tries to go counter to it1 to proceed in this with so much flattering and coaxing1 that they shall not suspect their ignorance and prejudices to be anything very unlike right reason1 or their natural taste for the bathos to differ much from a relish for the sublime4 ,every one is thus in every possible way encouraged to trust in his own heart2 but he that trusteth in his #aai own heart1 says the ,wise ,man1 is a fool2 and at any rate this1 which ,bishop ,wilson says1 is undeniably true3 ,the number of those who need to be awakened is far greater than that of those who need comfort4 ,but in our political system everybody is comforted4 ,our guides and governors who have to be elected by the influence of the ,barbarians1 and who depend on their favour1 sing the praises of the ,barbarians1 and say all the smooth things that can be said of them4 ,with ,mr4 ,tennyson1 they celebrate the great broad- shouldered genial ,englishman1 with his sense of duty1 his reverence for the laws1 and his patient force1 who saves us from the revolts1 republics1 revolutions1 most no graver than a schoolboy's barring out1 which upset other and less broad-shouldered nations4 ,our guides who are chosen by the ,philistines and who have to look to their favour1 tell the ,philistines how all the world knows that the great middle-class of this country supplies the mind1 the will1 and the power requisite for all the great and good things that have to be done1 and congratulate them on their earnest good sense1 which penetrates through sophisms1 ignores commonplaces1 and gives to conventional illusions their #abj true value4 ,our guides who look to the favour of the ,populace1 tell them that theirs are the brightest powers of sympathy1 and the readiest powers of action4 ,harsh things are said too1 no doubt1 against all the great classes of the community2 but these things so evidently come from a hostile class1 and are so manifestly dictated by the passions and prepossessions of a hostile class1 and not by right reason1 that they make no serious impression on those at whom they are launched1 but slide easily off their minds4 ,for instance1 when the ,reform ,league orators inveigh against our cruel and bloated aristocracy1 these invectives so evidently show the passions and point of view of the ,populace1 that they do not sink into the minds of those at whom they are addressed1 or awaken any thought or self-examination in them4 ,again1 when ,sir ,thomas ,bateson describes the ,philistines and the ,populace as influenced with a kind of hideous mania for emasculating the aristocracy1 that reproach so clearly comes from the wrath and excited imagination of the ,barbarians1 that it does not much set the ,philistines and the ,populace thinking4 ,or when ,mr4 ,lowe calls the ,populace drunken and venal1 he #aba so evidently calls them this in an agony of apprehension for his ,philistine or middle-class ,parliament1 which has done so many great and heroic works1 and is now threatened with mixture and debasement1 that the ,populace do not lay his words seriously to heart4 ,so the voice which makes a permanent impression on each of our classes is the voice of its friends1 and this is from the nature of things1 as ,i have said1 a comforting voice4 ,the ,barbarians remain in the belief that the great broad- shouldered genial ,englishman may be well satisfied with himself2 the ,philistines remain in the belief that the great middle-class of this country1 with its earnest common-sense penetrating through sophisms and ignoring commonplaces1 may be well satisfied with itself3 the ,populace1 that the working-man with his bright powers of sympathy and ready powers of action1 may be well satisfied with himself4 ,what hope1 at this rate1 of extinguishing the taste of the bathos implanted by nature itself in the soul of man1 or of inculcating the belief that excellence dwells among high and steep rocks1 and can only be reached by those who sweat blood to reach her8 ,but it will be said1 perhaps1 that candidates for #abb political influence and leadership1 who thus caress the self-love of those whose suffrages they desire1 know quite well that they are not saying the sheer truth as reason sees it1 but that they are using a sort of conventional language1 or what we call clap-trap1 which is essential to the working of representative institutions4 ,and therefore1 ,i suppose1 we ought rather to say with ,figaro3 ,qui est-ce qu'on trompe ici8 ,now1 ,i admit that often1 but not always1 when our governors say smooth things to the self-love of the class whose political support they want1 they know very well that they are overstepping1 by a long stride1 the bounds of truth and soberness2 and while they talk1 they in a manner1 no doubt1 put their tongue in their cheek4 ,not always2 because1 when a ,barbarian appeals to his own class to make him their representative and give him political power1 he1 when he pleases their self-love by extolling broad-shouldered genial ,englishmen with their sense of duty1 reverence for the laws1 and patient force1 pleases his own self-love and extols himself1 and is1 therefore1 himself ensnared by his own smooth words4 ,and so1 too1 when a ,philistine wants to represent his brother ,philistines1 and #abc extols the earnest good sense which characterises ,manchester1 and supplies the mind1 the will1 and the power1 as the ,daily ,news eloquently says1 requisite for all the great and good things that have to be done1 he intoxicates and deludes himself as well as his brother ,philistines who hear him4 ,but it is true that a ,barbarian often wants the political support of the ,philistines2 and he unquestionably1 when he flatters the self-love of ,philistinism1 and extols1 in the approved fashion1 its energy1 enterprise1 and self- reliance1 knows that he is talking clap-trap1 and1 so to say1 puts his tongue in his cheek4 ,on all matters where ,nonconformity and its catchwords are concerned1 this insincerity of ,barbarians needing ,nonconformist support1 and1 therefore1 flattering the self-love of ,nonconformity and repeating its catchwords without the least real belief in them1 is very noticeable4 ,when the ,nonconformists1 in a transport of blind zeal1 threw out ,sir ,james ,graham's useful ,education ,clauses in #ahdc1 one-half of their parliamentary representatives1 no doubt1 who cried aloud against trampling on the religious liberty of the ,dissenters by taking the money of ,dissenters to teach the tenets of the #abd ,church of ,england1 put their tongue in their cheek while they so cried out4 ,and perhaps there is even a sort of motion of ,mr4 ,frederic ,harrison's tongue towards his cheek when he talks of the shriek of superstition1 and tells the working- class that theirs are the brightest powers of sympathy and the readiest powers of action4 ,but the point on which ,i would insist is1 that this involuntary tribute to truth and soberness on the part of certain of our governors and guides never reaches at all the mass of us governed1 to serve as a lesson to us1 to abate our self-love1 and to awaken in us a suspicion that our favourite prejudices may be1 to a higher reason1 all nonsense4 ,whatever by-play goes on among the more intelligent of our leaders1 we do not see it2 and we are left to believe that1 not only in our own eyes1 but in the eyes of our representative and ruling men1 there is nothing more admirable than our ordinary self1 whatever our ordinary self happens to be1-- ,barbarian1 ,philistine1 or ,populace4 ,thus everything in our political life tends to hide from us that there is anything wiser than our ordinary selves1 and to prevent our getting the notion of a paramount right reason4 ,royalty itself1 #abe in its idea the expression of the collective nation1 and a sort of constituted witness to its best mind1 we try to turn into a kind of grand advertising van1 to give publicity and credit to the inventions1 sound or unsound1 of the ordinary self of individuals4 ,i remember1 when ,i was in ,north ,germany1 having this very strongly brought to my mind in the matter of schools and their institution4 ,in ,prussia1 the best schools are ,crown patronage schools1 as they are called2 schools which have been established and endowed 7and new ones are to this day being established and endowed7 by the ,sovereign himself out of his own revenues1 to be under the direct control and management of him or of those representing him1 and to serve as types of what schools should be4 ,the ,sovereign1 as his position raises him above many prejudices and littlenesses1 and as he can always have at his disposal the best advice1 has evident advantages over private founders in well planning and directing a school2 while at the same time his great means and his great influence secure1 to a well- planned school of his1 credit and authority4 ,this is what1 in ,north ,germany1 the governors do1 in the matter of education1 for the #abf governed2 and one may say that they thus give the governed a lesson1 and draw out in them the idea of a right reason higher than the suggestions of an ordinary man's ordinary self4 ,but in ,england how different is the part which in this matter our governors are accustomed to play6 ,the ,licensed ,victuallers or the ,commercial ,travellers propose to make a school for their children2 and ,i suppose1 in the matter of schools1 one may call the ,licensed ,victuallers or the ,commercial ,travellers ordinary men1 with their natural taste for the bathos still strong2 and a ,sovereign with the advice of men like ,wilhelm von ,humboldt or ,schleiermacher may1 in this matter1 be a better judge1 and nearer to right reason4 ,and it will be allowed1 probably1 that right reason would suggest that1 to have a sheer school of ,licensed ,victuallers' children1 or a sheer school of ,commercial ,travellers' children1 and to bring them all up1 not only at home but at school too1 in a kind of odour of licensed victualism or of bagmanism1 is not a wise training to give to these children4 ,and in ,germany1 ,i have said1 the action of the national guides or governors is to suggest and provide a better4 ,but1 in ,england1 the action of the national #abg guides or governors is1 for a ,royal ,prince or a great ,minister to go down to the opening of the ,licensed ,victuallers' or of the ,commercial ,travellers' school1 to take the chair1 to extol the energy and self-reliance of the ,licensed ,victuallers or the ,commercial ,travellers1 to be all of their way of thinking1 to predict full success to their schools1 and never so much as to hint to them that they are doing a very foolish thing1 and that the right way to go to work with their children's education is quite different4 ,and it is the same in almost every department of affairs4 ,while1 on the ,continent1 the idea prevails that it is the business of the heads and representatives of the nation1 by virtue of their superior means1 power1 and information1 to set an example and to provide suggestions of right reason1 among us the idea is that the business of the heads and representatives of the nation is to do nothing of the kind1 but to applaud the natural taste for the bathos showing itself vigorously in any part of the community1 and to encourage its works4 ,now ,i do not say that the political system of foreign countries has not inconveniences which may outweigh the inconveniences of our own political #abh system2 nor am ,i the least proposing to get rid of our own political system and to adopt theirs4 ,but a sound centre of authority being what1 in this disquisition1 we have been led to seek1 and right reason1 or our best self1 appearing alone to offer such a sound centre of authority1 it is necessary to take note of the chief impediments which hinder1 in this country1 the extrication or recognition of this right reason as a paramount authority1 with a view to afterwards trying in what way they can best be removed4 ,this being borne in mind1 ,i proceed to remark how not only do we get no suggestions of right reason1 and no rebukes of our ordinary self1 from our governors1 but a kind of philosophical theory is widely spread among us to the effect that there is no such thing at all as a best self and a right reason having claim to paramount authority1 or1 at any rate1 no such thing ascertainable and capable of being made use of2 and that there is nothing but an infinite number of ideas and works of our ordinary selves1 and suggestions of our natural taste for the bathos1 pretty equal in value1 which are doomed either to an irreconcileable conflict1 or else to a #abi perpetual give and take2 and that wisdom consists in choosing the give and take rather than the conflict1 and in sticking to our choice with patience and good humour4 ,and1 on the other hand1 we have another philosophical theory rife among us1 to the effect that without the labour of perverting ourselves by custom or example to relish right reason1 but by continuing all of us to follow freely our natural taste for the bathos1 we shall1 by the mercy of ,providence1 and by a kind of natural tendency of things1 come in due time to relish and follow right reason4 ,the great promoters of these philosophical theories are our newspapers1 which1 no less than our parliamentary representatives1 may be said to act the part of guides and governors to us2 and these favourite doctrines of theirs ,i call1--or should call1 if the doctrines were not preached by authorities ,i so much respect1--the first1 a peculiarly ,british form of ,atheism1 the second1 a peculiarly ,british form of ,quietism4 ,the first-named melancholy doctrine is preached in ,the ,times with great clearness and force of style2 indeed1 it is well known1 from the example of the poet ,lucretius and others1 what great masters of style the atheistic #acj doctrine has always counted among its promulgators4 ,it is of no use1 says ,the ,times1 for us to attempt to force upon our neighbours our several likings and dislikings4 ,we must take things as they are4 ,everybody has his own little vision of religious or civil perfection4 ,under the evident impossibility of satisfying everybody1 we agree to take our stand on equal laws and on a system as open and liberal as is possible4 ,the result is that everybody has more liberty of action and of speaking here than anywhere else in the ,old ,world4 ,we come again here upon ,mr4 ,roebuck's celebrated definition of happiness1 on which ,i have so often commented3 ,i look around me and ask what is the state of ,england8 ,is not every man able to say what he likes8 ,i ask you whether the world over1 or in past history1 there is anything like it8 ,nothing4 ,i pray that our unrivalled happiness may last4 ,this is the old story of our system of checks and every ,englishman doing as he likes1 which we have already seen to have been convenient enough so long as there were only the ,barbarians and the ,philistines to do what they liked1 but to be getting inconvenient1 and productive of anarchy1 #aca now that the ,populace wants to do what it likes too4 ,but for all that1 ,i will not at once dismiss this famous doctrine1 but will first quote another passage from ,the ,times1 applying the doctrine to a matter of which we have just been speaking1--education4 ,the difficulty here 7in providing a national system of education71 says ,the ,times1 does not reside in any removeable arrangements4 ,it is inherent and native in the actual and inveterate state of things in this country4 ,all these powers and personages1 all these conflicting influences and varieties of character1 exist1 and have long existed among us2 they are fighting it out1 and will long continue to fight it out1 without coming to that happy consummation when some one element of the ,british character is to destroy or to absorb all the rest4 ,there it is2 the various promptings of the natural taste for the bathos in this man and that amongst us are fighting it out2 and the day will never come 7and1 indeed1 why should we wish it to come87 when one man's particular sort of taste for the bathos shall tyrannise over another man's2 nor when right reason 7if that may be called an element of the ,british character7 shall absorb and #acb rule them all4 ,the whole system of this country1 like the constitution we boast to inherit1 and are glad to uphold1 is made up of established facts1 prescriptive authorities1 existing usages1 powers that be1 persons in possession1 and communities or classes that have won dominion for themselves1 and will hold it against all comers4 ,every force in the world1 evidently1 except the one reconciling force1 right reason6 ,sir ,thomas ,bateson here1 the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle on this side1 ,mr4 ,bradlaugh on that6--pull devil1 pull baker6 ,really1 presented with the mastery of style of our leading journal1 the sad picture1 as one gazes upon it1 assumes the iron and inexorable solemnity of tragic ,destiny4 ,after this1 the milder doctrine of our other philosophical teacher1 the ,daily ,news1 has1 at first1 something very attractive and assuaging4 ,the ,daily ,news begins1 indeed1 in appearance1 to weave the iron web of necessity round us like ,the ,times4 ,the alternative is between a man's doing what he likes and his doing what some one else1 probably not one whit wiser than himself1 likes4 ,this points to the tacit compact1 mentioned #acc in my last paper1 between the ,barbarians and the ,philistines1 and into which it is hoped that the ,populace will one day enter2 the compact1 so creditable to ,english honesty1 that no class1 if it exercise power1 having only the ideas and aims of its ordinary self to give effect to1 shall treat its ordinary self too seriously1 or attempt to impose it on others2 but shall let these others1--the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle1 for instance1 in his ,papist-baiting1 and ,mr4 ,bradlaugh in his ,hyde ,park anarchy- mongering1--have their fling4 ,but then the ,daily ,news suddenly lights up the gloom of necessitarianism with bright beams of hope4 ,no doubt1 it says1 the common reason of society ought to check the aberrations of individual eccentricity4 ,this common reason of society looks very like our best self or right reason1 to which we want to give authority1 by making the action of the ,state1 or nation in its collective character1 the expression of it4 ,but of this project of ours1 the ,daily ,news1 with its subtle dialectics1 makes havoc4 ,make the ,state the organ of the common reason8--it says4 ,you may make it the organ of something or other1 but how can you be certain that #acd reason will be the quality which will be embodied in it8 ,you cannot be certain of it1 undoubtedly1 if you never try to bring the thing about2 but the question is1 the action of the ,state being the action of the collective nation1 and the action of the collective nation carrying naturally great publicity1 weight1 and force of example with it1 whether we should not try to put into the action of the ,state as much as possible of right reason1 or our best self1 which may1 in this manner1 come back to us with new force and authority1 may have visibility1 form1 and influence1 and help to confirm us1 in the many moments when we are tempted to be our ordinary selves merely1 in resisting our natural taste of the bathos rather than in giving way to it8 ,but no6 says our teacher3 it is better there should be an infinite variety of experiments in human action1 because1 as the explorers multiply1 the true track is more likely to be discovered4 ,the common reason of society can check the aberrations of individual eccentricity only by acting on the individual reason2 and it will do so in the main sufficiently1 if left to this natural operation4 ,this is what ,i call the specially ,british form of #ace ,quietism1 or a devout1 but excessive1 reliance on an over-ruling ,providence4 ,providence1 as the moralists are careful to tell us1 generally works in human affairs by human means2 so when we want to make right reason act on individual reason1 our best self on our ordinary self1 we seek to give it more power of doing so by giving it public recognition and authority1 and embodying it1 so far as we can1 in the ,state4 ,it seems too much to ask of ,providence1 that while we1 on our part1 leave our congenital taste for the bathos to its natural operation and its infinite variety of experiments1 ,providence should mysteriously guide it into the true track1 and compel it to relish the sublime4 ,at any rate1 great men and great institutions have hitherto seemed necessary for producing any considerable effect of this kind4 ,no doubt we have an infinite variety of experiments1 and an ever-multiplying multitude of explorers2 even in this short paper ,i have enumerated many3 the ,british ,banner1 ,judge ,edmonds1 ,newman ,weeks1 ,deborah ,butler1 ,elderess ,polly1 ,brother ,noyes1 the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle1 the ,licensed ,victuallers1 the ,commercial ,travellers1 and ,i know not how #acf many more2 and the numbers of this noble army are swelling every day4 ,but what a depth of ,quietism1 or rather1 what an over-bold call on the direct interposition of ,providence1 to believe that these interesting explorers will discover the true track1 or at any rate1 will do so in the main sufficiently 7whatever that may mean7 if left to their natural operation2 that is1 by going on as they are6 ,philosophers say1 indeed1 that we learn virtue by performing acts of virtue2 but to say that we shall learn virtue by performing any acts to which our natural taste for the bathos carries us1 that the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle comes at his best self by ,papist-baiting1 or ,newman ,weeks and ,deborah ,butler at right reason by following their noses1 this certainly does appear over-sanguine4 ,it is true1 what we want is to make right reason act on individual reason1 the reason of individuals2 all our search for authority has that for its end and aim4 ,the ,daily ,news says1 ,i observe1 that all my argument for authority has a non-intellectual root2 and from what ,i know of my own mind and its inertness1 ,i think this so probable1 that ,i should be inclined easily to admit it1 if it were not that1 in #acg the first place1 nothing of this kind1 perhaps1 should be admitted without examination2 and1 in the second1 a way of accounting for this charge being made1 in this particular instance1 without full grounds1 appears to present itself4 ,what seems to me to account here1 perhaps1 for the charge1 is the want of flexibility of our race1 on which ,i have so often remarked4 ,i mean1 it being admitted that the conformity of the individual reason of the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle or ,mr4 ,bradlaugh with right reason is our true object1 and not the mere restraining them1 by the strong arm of the ,state1 from ,papist-baiting or railing-breaking1--admitting this1 we have so little flexibility that we cannot readily perceive that the ,state's restraining them from these indulgences may yet fix clearly in their minds that1 to the collective nation1 these indulgences appear irrational and unallowable1 may make them pause and reflect1 and may contribute to bringing1 with time1 their individual reason into harmony with right reason4 ,but in no country1 owing to the want of intellectual flexibility above mentioned1 is the leaning which is our natural one1 and1 therefore1 needs no recommending to us1 so sedulously recommended1 and the leaning which is #ach not our natural one1 and1 therefore1 does not-need dispraising to us1 so sedulously dispraised1 as in ours4 ,to rely on the individual being1 with us1 the natural leaning1 we will hear of nothing but the good of relying on the individual2 to act through the collective nation on the individual being not our natural leaning1 we will hear nothing in recommendation of it4 ,but the wise know that we often need to hear most of that to which we are least inclined1 and even to learn to employ1 in certain circumstances1 that which is capable1 if employed amiss1 of being a danger to us4 ,elsewhere this is certainly better understood than here4 ,in a recent number of the ,westminster ,review1 an able writer1 but with precisely our national want of flexibility of which ,i have been speaking1 has unearthed1 ,i see1 for our present needs1 an ,english translation1 published some years ago1 of ,wilhelm von ,humboldt's book1 ,the ,sphere and ,duties of ,government4 ,humboldt's object in this book is to show that the operation of government ought to be severely limited to what directly and immediately relates to the security of person and property4 ,wilhelm von ,humboldt1 one of the #aci most beautiful and perfect souls that have ever existed1 used to say that one's business in life was1 first1 to perfect oneself by all the means in one's power1 and1 secondly1 to try and create in the world around one an aristocracy1 the most numerous that one possibly could1 of talents and characters4 ,he saw1 of course1 that1 in the end1 everything comes to this1--that the individual must act for himself1 and must be perfect in himself2 and he lived in a country1 ,germany1 where people were disposed to act too little for themselves1 and to rely too much on the ,government4 ,but even thus1 such was his flexibility1 so little was he in bondage to a mere abstract maxim1 that he saw very well that for his purpose itself1 of enabling the individual to stand perfect on his own foundations and to do without the ,state1 the action of the ,state would for long1 long years be necessary2 and soon after he wrote his book on ,the ,sphere and ,duties of ,government1 ,wilhelm von ,humboldt became ,minister of ,education in ,prussia1 and from his ministry all the great reforms which give the control of ,prussian education to the ,state1--the transference of the management of public schools from their old boards of trustees to the #adj ,state1 the obligatory ,state-examination for schools1 the obligatory ,state-examination for schoolmasters1 and the foundation of the great ,state ,university of ,berlin1--take their origin4 ,this his ,english reviewer says not a word of4 ,but1 writing for a people whose dangers lie1 as we have seen1 on the side of their unchecked and unguided individual action1 whose dangers none of them lie on the side of an over-reliance on the ,state1 he quotes just so much of ,wilhelm von ,humboldt's example as can flatter them in their propensities1 and do them no good2 and just what might make them think1 and be of use to them1 he leaves on one side4 ,this precisely recalls the manner1 it will be observed1 in which we have seen that our royal and noble personages proceed with the ,licensed ,victuallers4 ,in ,france the action of the ,state on individuals is yet more preponderant than in ,germany2 and the need which friends of human perfection feel to enable the individual to stand perfect on his own foundations is all the stronger4 ,but what says one of the staunchest of these friends1 ,monsieur ,renan1 on ,state action1 and even ,state action in that very sphere where in ,france it is most excessive1 the sphere #ada of education8 ,here are his words3--,a liberal believes in liberty1 and liberty signifies the non-intervention of the ,state4 ,but such an ideal is still a long way off from us1 and the very means to remove it to an indefinite distance would be precisely the ,state's withdrawing its action too soon4 ,and this1 he adds1 is even truer of education than of any other department of public affairs4 ,we see1 then1 how indispensable to that human perfection which we seek is1 in the opinion of good judges1 some public recognition and establishment of our best self1 or right reason4 ,we see how our habits and practice oppose themselves to such a recognition1 and the many inconveniences which we therefore suffer4 ,but now let us try to go a little deeper1 and to find1 beneath our actual habits and practice1 the very ground and cause out of which they spring4 ,,notes #aai4 ,proverbs #bh3bf4 ,he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool3 but whoso walketh wisely1 he shall be delivered4 ,the ,king ,james ,bible4 #abb4 ,qui est-ce qu'on trompe ici8 ,e-text editor's translation3 ,who is the one getting fooled here8 ,,chapter ,,iv #adb ,this fundamental ground is our preference of doing to thinking4 ,now this preference is a main element in our nature1 and as we study it we find ourselves opening up a number of large questions on every side4 ,let me go back for a moment to what ,i have already quoted from ,bishop ,wilson3--,first1 never go against the best light you have2 secondly1 take care that your light be not darkness4 ,i said we show1 as a nation1 laudable energy and persistence in walking according to the best light we have1 but are not quite careful enough1 perhaps1 to see that our light be not darkness4 ,this is only another version of the old story that energy is our strong point and favourable characteristic1 rather than intelligence4 ,but we may give to this idea a more general form still1 in which it will have a yet larger range of application4 ,we may regard this energy driving at practice1 this paramount sense of the obligation of duty1 self-control1 and work1 this earnestness in going manfully with the best light we #adc have1 as one force4 ,and we may regard the intelligence driving at those ideas which are1 after all1 the basis of right practice1 the ardent sense for all the new and changing combinations of them which man's development brings with it1 the indomitable impulse to know and adjust them perfectly1 as another force4 ,and these two forces we may regard as in some sense rivals1--rivals not by the necessity of their own nature1 but as exhibited in man and his history1--and rivals dividing the empire of the world between them4 ,and to give these forces names from the two races of men who have supplied the most signal and splendid manifestations of them1 we may call them respectively the forces of ,hebraism and ,hellenism4 ,hebraism and ,hellenism1--between these two points of influence moves our world4 ,at one time it feels more powerfully the attraction of one of them1 at another time of the other2 and it ought to be1 though it never is1 evenly and happily balanced between them4 ,the final aim of both ,hellenism and ,hebraism1 as of all great spiritual disciplines1 is no doubt the same3 man's perfection or salvation4 ,the very language which they both of them use in schooling #add us to reach this aim is often identical4 ,even when their language indicates by variation1--sometimes a broad variation1 often a but slight and subtle variation1--the different courses of thought which are uppermost in each discipline1 even then the unity of the final end and aim is still apparent4 ,to employ the actual words of that discipline with which we ourselves are all of us most familiar1 and the words of which1 therefore1 come most home to us1 that final end and aim is that we might be partakers of the divine nature4 ,these are the words of a ,hebrew apostle1 but of ,hellenism and ,hebraism alike this is1 ,i say1 the aim4 ,when the two are confronted1 as they very often are confronted1 it is nearly always with what ,i may call a rhetorical purpose2 the speaker's whole design is to exalt and enthrone one of the two1 and he uses the other only as a foil and to enable him the better to give effect to his purpose4 ,obviously1 with us1 it is usually ,hellenism which is thus reduced to minister to the triumph of ,hebraism4 ,there is a sermon on ,greece and the ,greek spirit by a man never to be mentioned without interest and respect1 ,frederick ,robertson1 in which this rhetorical use of ,greece and the ,greek #ade spirit1 and the inadequate exhibition of them necessarily consequent upon this1 is almost ludicrous1 and would be censurable if it were not to be explained by the exigences of a sermon4 ,on the other hand1 ,heinrich ,heine1 and other writers of his sort1 give us the spectacle of the tables completely turned1 and of ,hebraism brought in just as a foil and contrast to ,hellenism1 and to make the superiority of ,hellenism more manifest4 ,in both these cases there is injustice and misrepresentation4 ,the aim and end of both ,hebraism and ,hellenism is1 as ,i have said1 one and the same1 and this aim and end is august and admirable4 ,still1 they pursue this aim by very different courses4 ,the uppermost idea with ,hellenism is to see things as they really are2 the uppermost idea with ,hebraism is conduct and obedience4 ,nothing can do away with this ineffaceable difference2 the ,greek quarrel with the body and its desires is1 that they hinder right thinking1 the ,hebrew quarrel with them is1 that they hinder right acting4 ,he that keepeth the law1 happy is he2 ,there is nothing sweeter than to take heed unto the commandments of the ,lord2--that is the ,hebrew #adf notion of felicity2 and1 pursued with passion and tenacity1 this notion would not let the ,hebrew rest till1 as is well known1 he had1 at last1 got out of the law a network of prescriptions to enwrap his whole life1 to govern every moment of it1 every impulse1 every action4 ,the ,greek notion of felicity1 on the other hand1 is perfectly conveyed in these words of a great ,french moralist3 ,c'est le bonheur des hommes--when8 when they abhor that which is evil8-- no2 when they exercise themselves in the law of the ,lord day and night8--no2 when they die daily8--no2 when they walk about the ,new ,jerusalem with palms in their hands8--no2 but when they think aright1 when their thought hits1--quand ils pensent juste4 ,at the bottom of both the ,greek and the ,hebrew notion is the desire1 native in man1 for reason and the will of ,god1 the feeling after the universal order1--in a word1 the love of ,god4 ,but1 while ,hebraism seizes upon certain plain1 capital intimations of the universal order1 and rivets itself1 one may say1 with unequalled grandeur of earnestness and intensity on the study and observance of them1 the bent of ,hellenism is to follow1 with flexible activity1 the whole play of the universal order1 to be #adg apprehensive of missing any part of it1 of sacrificing one part to another1 to slip away from resting in this or that intimation of it1 however capital4 ,an unclouded clearness of mind1 an unimpeded play of thought1 is what this bent drives at4 ,the governing idea of ,hellenism is spontaneity of consciousness2 that of ,hebraism1 strictness of conscience4 ,christianity changed nothing in this essential bent of ,hebraism to set doing above knowing4 ,self-conquest1 self-devotion1 the following not our own individual will1 but the will of ,god1 obedience1 is the fundamental idea of this form1 also1 of the discipline to which we have attached the general name of ,hebraism4 ,only1 as the old law and the network of prescriptions with which it enveloped human life were evidently a motive power not driving and searching enough to produce the result aimed at1--patient continuance in well doing1 self- conquest1--,christianity substituted for them boundless devotion to that inspiring and affecting pattern of self-conquest offered by ,christ2 and by the new motive power1 of which the essence was this1 though the love and admiration of ,christian churches have for centuries been employed in varying1 amplifying1 #adh and adorning the plain description of it1 ,christianity1 as ,st4 ,paul truly says1 establishes the law1 and in the strength of the ampler power which she has thus supplied to fulfil it1 has accomplished the miracles1 which we all see1 of her history4 ,so long as we do not forget that both ,hellenism and ,hebraism are profound and admirable manifestations of man's life1 tendencies1 and powers1 and that both of them aim at a like final result1 we can hardly insist too strongly on the divergence of line and of operation with which they proceed4 ,it is a divergence so great that it most truly1 as the prophet ,zechariah says1 has raised up thy sons1 ,o ,zion1 against thy sons1 ,o ,greece6 ,the difference whether it is by doing or by knowing that we set most store1 and the practical consequences which follow from this difference1 leave their mark on all the history of our race and of its development4 ,language may be abundantly quoted from both ,hellenism and ,hebraism to make it seem that one follows the same current as the other towards the same goal4 ,they are1 truly1 borne towards the same goal2 but the currents which bear them are infinitely different4 ,it is true1 ,solomon will praise #adi knowing3 ,understanding is a well-spring of life unto him that hath it4 ,and in the ,new ,testament1 again1 ,christ is a light1 and truth makes us free4 ,it is true1 ,aristotle will undervalue knowing3 ,in what concerns virtue1 says he1 three things are necessary1--knowledge1 deliberate will1 and perseverance2 but1 whereas the two last are all important1 the first is a matter of little importance4 ,it is true that with the same impatience with which ,st4 ,james enjoins a man to be not a forgetful hearer1 but a doer of the work1 ,epictetus exhorts us to do what we have demonstrated to ourselves we ought to do2 or he taunts us with futility1 for being armed at all points to prove that lying is wrong1 yet all the time continuing to lie4 ,it is true1 ,plato1 in words which are almost the words of the ,new ,testament or the ,imitation1 calls life a learning to die4 ,but underneath the superficial agreement the fundamental divergence still subsists4 ,the understanding of ,solomon is the walking in the way of the commandments2 this is the way of peace1 and it is of this that blessedness comes4 ,in the ,new ,testament1 the truth which gives us the peace of ,god and makes us free1 is the love of ,christ constraining #aej us to crucify1 as he did1 and with a like purpose of moral regeneration1 the flesh with its affections and lusts1 and thus establishing1 as we have seen1 the law4 ,to ,st4 ,paul it appears possible to hold the truth in unrighteousness1 which is just what ,socrates judged impossible4 ,the moral virtues1 on the other hand1 are with ,aristotle but the porch and access to the intellectual1 and with these last is blessedness4 ,that partaking of the divine life1 which both ,hellenism and ,hebraism1 as we have said1 fix as their crowning aim1 ,plato expressly denies to the man of practical virtue merely1 of self-conquest with any other motive than that of perfect intellectual vision2 he reserves it for the lover of pure knowledge1 of seeing things as they really are1--the philomaths4 ,both ,hellenism and ,hebraism arise out of the wants of human nature1 and address themselves to satisfying those wants4 ,but their methods are so different1 they lay stress on such different points1 and call into being by their respective disciplines such different activities1 that the face which human nature presents when it passes from the hands of one of them to those of the other1 is no longer the #aea same4 ,to get rid of one's ignorance1 to see things as they are1 and by seeing them as they are to see them in their beauty1 is the simple and attractive ideal which ,hellenism holds out before human nature2 and from the simplicity and charm of this ideal1 ,hellenism1 and human life in the hands of ,hellenism1 is invested with a kind of arial ease1 clearness1 and radiancy2 they are full of what we call sweetness and light4 ,difficulties are kept out of view1 and the beauty and rationalness of the ideal have all our thoughts4 ,the best man is he who most tries to perfect himself1 and the happiest man is he who most feels that he is perfecting himself1--this account of the matter by ,socrates1 the true ,socrates of the ,memorabilia1 has something so simple1 spontaneous1 and unsophisticated about it1 that it seems to fill us with clearness and hope when we hear it4 ,but there is a saying which ,i have heard attributed to ,mr4 ,carlyle about ,socrates1--a very happy saying1 whether it is really ,mr4 ,carlyle's or not1--which excellently marks the essential point in which ,hebraism differs from ,hellenism4 ,socrates1 this saying goes1 is terribly at ease in ,zion ,hebraism1--and here is the source of its #aeb wonderful strength1-- has always been severely preoccupied with an awful sense of the impossibility of being at ease in ,zion2 of the difficulties which oppose themselves to man's pursuit or attainment of that perfection of which ,socrates talks so hopefully1 and1 as from this point of view one might almost say1 so glibly4 ,it is all very well to talk of getting rid of one's ignorance1 of seeing things in their reality1 seeing them in their beauty2 but how is this to be done when there is something which thwarts and spoils all our efforts8 ,this something is sin2 and the space which sin fills in ,hebraism1 as compared with ,hellenism1 is indeed prodigious4 ,this obstacle to perfection fills the whole scene1 and perfection appears remote and rising away from earth1 in the background4 ,under the name of sin1 the difficulties of knowing oneself and conquering oneself which impede man's passage to perfection1 become1 for ,hebraism1 a positive1 active entity hostile to man1 a mysterious power which ,i heard ,dr4 ,pusey the other day1 in one of his impressive sermons1 compare to a hideous hunchback seated on our shoulders1 and which it is the main business of our lives to hate and oppose4 ,the discipline of the #aec ,old ,testament may be summed up as a discipline teaching us to abhor and flee from sin2 the discipline of the ,new ,testament1 as a discipline teaching us to die to it4 ,as ,hellenism speaks of thinking clearly1 seeing things in their essence and beauty1 as a grand and precious feat for man to achieve1 so ,hebraism speaks of becoming conscious of sin1 of awakening to a sense of sin1 as a feat of this kind4 ,it is obvious to what wide divergence these differing tendencies1 actively followed1 must lead4 ,as one passes and repasses from ,hellenism to ,hebraism1 from ,plato to ,st4 ,paul1 one feels inclined to rub one's eyes and ask oneself whether man is indeed a gentle and simple being1 showing the traces of a noble and divine nature2 or an unhappy chained captive1 labouring with groanings that cannot be uttered to free himself from the body of this death4 ,apparently it was the ,hellenic conception of human nature which was unsound1 for the world could not live by it4 ,absolutely to call it unsound1 however1 is to fall into the common error of its ,hebraising enemies2 but it was unsound at that particular moment of man's development1 it was premature4 ,the indispensable basis of conduct and #aed self-control1 the platform upon which alone the perfection aimed at by ,greece can come into bloom1 was not to be reached by our race so easily2 centuries of probation and discipline were needed to bring us to it4 ,therefore the bright promise of ,hellenism faded1 and ,hebraism ruled the world4 ,then was seen that astonishing spectacle1 so well marked by the often quoted words of the prophet ,zechariah1 when men of all languages of the nations took hold of the skirt of him that was a ,jew1 saying3--,we will go with you1 for we have heard that ,god is with you4 ,and the ,hebraism which thus received and ruled a world all gone out of the way and altogether become unprofitable1 was1 and could not but be1 the later1 the more spiritual1 the more attractive development of ,hebraism4 ,it was ,christianity2 that is to say1 ,hebraism aiming at self-conquest and rescue from the thrall of vile affections1 not by obedience to the letter of a law1 but by conformity to the image of a self-sacrificing example4 ,to a world stricken with moral enervation ,christianity offered its spectacle of an inspired self-sacrifice2 to men who refused themselves nothing1 it showed one who refused #aee himself everything2--my ,saviour banished joy says ,george ,herbert4 ,when the alma ,venus1 the life-giving and joy-giving power of nature1 so fondly cherished by the ,pagan world1 could not save her followers from self- dissatisfaction and ennui1 the severe words of the apostle came bracingly and refreshingly3 ,let no man deceive you with vain words1 for because of these things cometh the wrath of ,god upon the children of disobedience4 ,throughout age after age1 and generation after generation1 our race1 or all that part of our race which was most living and progressive1 was baptized into a death2 and endeavoured1 by suffering in the flesh1 to cease from sin4 ,of this endeavour1 the animating labours and afflictions of early ,christianity1 the touching asceticism of mediaeval ,christianity1 are the great historical manifestations4 ,literary monuments of it1 each1 in its own way1 incomparable1 remain in the ,epistles of ,st4 ,paul1 in ,st4 ,augustine's ,confessions1 and in the two original and simplest books of the ,imitation499 ,of two disciplines laying their main stress1 the #aef one1 on clear intelligence1 the other1 on firm obedience2 the one1 on comprehensively knowing the grounds of one's duty1 the other1 on diligently practising it2 the one on taking all possible care 7to use ,bishop ,wilson's words again7 that the light we have be not darkness1 the other1 that according to the best light we have we diligently walk1--the priority naturally belongs to that discipline which braces man's moral powers1 and founds for him an indispensable basis of character4 ,and1 therefore1 it is justly said of the ,jewish people1 who were charged with setting powerfully forth that side of the divine order to which the words conscience and self-conquest point1 that they were entrusted with the oracles of ,god2 as it is justly said of ,christianity1 which followed ,judaism and which set forth this side with a much deeper effectiveness and a much wider influence1 that the wisdom of the old ,pagan world was foolishness compared to it4 ,no words of devotion and admiration can be too strong to render thanks to these beneficent forces which have so borne forward humanity in its appointed work of coming to the knowledge and possession of itself2 above all1 in those great #aeg moments when their action was the wholesomest and the most necessary4 ,but the evolution of these forces1 separately and in themselves1 is not the whole evolution of humanity1--their single history is not the whole history of man2 whereas their admirers are always apt to make it stand for the whole history4 ,hebraism and ,hellenism are1 neither of them1 the law of human development1 as their admirers are prone to make them2 they are1 each of them1 contributions to human development1--august contributions1 invaluable contributions2 and each showing itself to us more august1 more invaluable1 more preponderant over the other1 according to the moment in which we take them1 and the relation in which we stand to them4 ,the nations of our modern world1 children of that immense and salutary movement which broke up the ,pagan world1 inevitably stand to ,hellenism in a relation which dwarfs it1 and to ,hebraism in a relation which magnifies it4 ,they are inevitably prone to take ,hebraism as the law of human development1 and not as simply a contribution to it1 however precious4 ,and yet the lesson must perforce be #aeh learned1 that the human spirit is wider than the most priceless of the forces which bear it onward1 and that to the whole development of man ,hebraism itself is1 like ,hellenism1 but a contribution4 ,perhaps we may help ourselves to see this clearer by an illustration drawn from the treatment of a single great idea which has profoundly engaged the human spirit1 and has given it eminent opportunities for showing its nobleness and energy4 ,it surely must be perceived that the idea of the immortality of the soul1 as this idea rises in its generality before the human spirit1 is something grander1 truer1 and more satisfying1 than it is in the particular forms by which ,st4 ,paul1 in the famous fifteenth chapter of the ,epistle to the ,corinthians1 and ,plato1 in the ,phaedo1 endeavour to develope and establish it4 ,surely we cannot but feel1 that the argumentation with which the ,hebrew apostle goes about to expound this great idea is1 after all1 confused and inconclusive2 and that the reasoning1 drawn from analogies of likeness and equality1 which is employed upon it by the ,greek philosopher1 is over-subtle and sterile8 ,above and beyond the inadequate solutions which ,hebraism and ,hellenism here attempt1 extends the immense #aei and august problem itself1 and the human spirit which gave birth to it4 ,and this single illustration may suggest to us how the same thing happens in other cases also4 ,but meanwhile1 by alternations of ,hebraism and ,hellenism1 of man's intellectual and moral impulses1 of the effort to see things as they really are1 and the effort to win peace by self-conquest1 the human spirit proceeds1 and each of these two forces has its appointed hours of culmination and seasons of rule4 ,as the great movement of ,christianity was a triumph of ,hebraism and man's moral impulses1 so the great movement which goes by the name of the ,renascence99 was an uprising and re-instatement of man's intellectual impulses and of ,hellenism4 ,we in ,england1 the devoted children of ,protestantism1 chiefly know the ,renascence by its subordinate and secondary side of the ,reformation4 ,the ,reformation has been often called a ,hebraising revival1 a return to the ardour and sincereness of primitive #afj ,christianity4 ,no one1 however1 can study the development of ,protestantism and of ,protestant churches without feeling that into the ,reformation too1--,hebraising child of the ,renascence and offspring of its fervour1 rather than its intelligence1 as it undoubtedly was1--the subtle ,hellenic leaven of the ,renascence found its way1 and that the exact respective parts in the ,reformation1 of ,hebraism and of ,hellenism1 are not easy to separate4 ,but what we may with truth say is1 that all which ,protestantism was to itself clearly conscious of1 all which it succeeded in clearly setting forth in words1 had the characters of ,hebraism rather than of ,hellenism4 ,the ,reformation was strong1 in that it was an earnest return to the ,bible and to doing from the heart the will of ,god as there written2 it was weak1 in that it never consciously grasped or applied the central idea of the ,renascence1--the ,hellenic idea of pursuing1 in all lines of activity1 the law and science1 to use ,plato's words1 of things as they really are4 ,whatever direct superiority1 therefore1 ,protestantism had over ,catholicism was a moral superiority1 a superiority arising out of its greater sincerity and earnestness1--at the moment of its apparition at any #afa rate1--in dealing with the heart and conscience2 its pretensions to an intellectual superiority are in general quite illusory4 ,for ,hellenism1 for the thinking side in man as distinguished from the acting side1 the attitude of mind of ,protestantism towards the ,bible in no respect differs from the attitude of mind of ,catholicism towards the ,church4 ,the mental habit of him who imagines that ,balaam's ass spoke1 in no respect differs from the mental habit of him who imagines that a ,madonna of wood or stone winked2 and the one1 who says that ,god's ,church makes him believe what he believes1 and the other1 who says that ,god's ,word makes him believe what he believes1 are for the philosopher perfectly alike in not really and truly knowing1 when they say ,god's ,church and ,god's ,word1 what it is they say1 or whereof they affirm4 ,in the sixteenth century1 therefore1 ,hellenism re-entered the world1 and again stood in presence of ,hebraism1--a ,hebraism renewed and purged4 ,now1 it has not been enough observed1 how1 in the seventeenth century1 a fate befell ,hellenism in some respects analogous to that which befell it at the commencement of our era4 ,the ,renascence1 that #afb great re-awakening of ,hellenism1 that irresistible return of humanity to nature and to seeing things as they are1 which in art1 in literature1 and in physics1 produced such splendid fruits1 had1 like the anterior ,hellenism of the ,pagan world1 a side of moral weakness1 and of relaxation or insensibility of the moral fibre1 which in ,italy showed itself with the most startling plainness1 but which in ,france1 ,england1 and other countries was very apparent too4 ,again this loss of spiritual balance1 this exclusive preponderance given to man's perceiving and knowing side1 this unnatural defect of his feeling and acting side1 provoked a reaction4 ,let us trace that reaction where it most nearly concerns us4 ,science has now made visible to everybody the great and pregnant elements of difference which lie in race1 and in how signal a manner they make the genius and history of an ,indo-,european people vary from those of a ,semitic people4 ,hellenism is of ,indo-,european growth1 ,hebraism is of ,semitic growth2 and we ,english1 a nation of ,indo- ,european stock1 seem to belong naturally to the movement of ,hellenism4 ,but nothing more strongly marks the essential unity of man than the affinities we can #afc perceive1 in this point or that1 between members of one family of peoples and members of another2 and no affinity of this kind is more strongly marked than that likeness in the strength and prominence of the moral fibre1 which1 notwithstanding immense elements of difference1 knits in some special sort the genius and history of us ,english1 and of our ,american descendants across the ,atlantic1 to the genius and history of the ,hebrew people4 ,puritanism1 which has been so great a power in the ,english nation1 and in the strongest part of the ,english nation1 was originally the reaction1 in the seventeenth century1 of the conscience and moral sense of our race1 against the moral indifference and lax rule of conduct which in the sixteenth century came in with the ,renascence4 ,it was a reaction of ,hebraism against ,hellenism2 and it powerfully manifested itself1 as was natural1 in a people with much of what we call a ,hebraising turn1 with a signal affinity for the bent which was the master-bent of ,hebrew life4 ,eminently ,indo-,european by its humour1 by the power it shows1 through this gift1 of imaginatively acknowledging the multiform aspects of the problem of life1 and of thus getting itself unfixed from its own over- #afd certainty1 of smiling at its own over-tenacity1 our race has yet 7and a great part of its strength lies here71 in matters of practical life and moral conduct1 a strong share of the assuredness1 the tenacity1 the intensity of the ,hebrews4 ,this turn manifested itself in ,puritanism1 and has had a great part in shaping our history for the last two hundred years4 ,undoubtedly it checked and changed amongst us that movement of the ,renascence which we see producing in the reign of ,elizabeth such wonderful fruits2 undoubtedly it stopped the prominent rule and direct development of that order of ideas which we call by the name of ,hellenism1 and gave the first rank to a different order of ideas4 ,apparently1 too1 as we said of the former defeat of ,hellenism1 if ,hellenism was defeated1 this shows that ,hellenism was imperfect1 and that its ascendency at that moment would not have been for the world's good4 ,yet there is a very important difference between the defeat inflicted on ,hellenism by ,christianity eighteen hundred years ago1 and the check given to the ,renascence by ,puritanism4 ,the greatness of the difference is well measured by the difference in force1 beauty1 significance and usefulness1 between #afe primitive ,christianity and ,protestantism4 ,eighteen hundred years ago it was altogether the hour of ,hebraism2 primitive ,christianity was legitimately and truly the ascendent force in the world at that time1 and the way of mankind's progress lay through its full development4 ,another hour in man's development began in the fifteenth century1 and the main road of his progress then lay for a time through ,hellenism4 ,puritanism was no longer the central current of the world's progress1 it was a side stream crossing the central current and checking it4 ,the cross and the check may have been necessary and salutary1 but that does not do away with the essential difference between the main stream of man's advance and a cross or side stream4 ,for more than two hundred years the main stream of man's advance has moved towards knowing himself and the world1 seeing things as they are1 spontaneity of consciousness2 the main impulse of a great part1 and that the strongest part1 of our nation1 has been towards strictness of conscience4 ,they have made the secondary the principal at the wrong moment1 and the principal they have at the wrong moment treated as secondary4 ,this contravention of the #aff natural order has produced1 as such contravention always must produce1 a certain confusion and false movement1 of which we are now beginning to feel1 in almost every direction1 the inconvenience4 ,in all directions our habitual courses of action seem to be losing efficaciousness1 credit1 and control1 both with others and even with ourselves2 everywhere we see the beginnings of confusion1 and we want a clue to some sound order and authority4 ,this we can only get by going back upon the actual instincts and forces which rule our life1 seeing them as they really are1 connecting them with other instincts and forces1 and enlarging our whole view and rule of life4 ,,notes #ade4 ,proverbs #bi3ah is the source of the first passage4 ,i have not found the exact language of the second quotation1 but the thought resembles that of ,psalms #ai3i-aj3 ,the fear of the ,lord is clean1 enduring for ever3 the judgments of the ,lord are true and righteous altogether4 ,more to be desired are they than gold1 yea1 than much fine gold3 sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #adh4 ,romans #c3ca4 ,do we then make void the law through faith8 _/ ,god forbid3 yea1 we establish the law4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #adh4 ,zechariah #i3ab-ac4 ,turn you to the strong hold1 ye prisoners of hope3 even to day do ,i declare that ,i will render double unto thee2 _/ ,when ,i have bent ,judah for me1 filled the bow with ,ephraim1 and raised up thy sons1 ,o ,zion1 against thy sons1 ,o ,greece1 and made thee as the sword of a mighty man4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #adi4 ,proverbs #af3bb4 ,understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it3 but the instruction of fools is folly4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #adi4 ,john #h3ab4 ,then spake ,jesus again unto them1 saying1 ,i am the light of the world3 he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness1 but shall have the light of life4 ,and again3 ,john #i3d-e4 ,i must work the works of him that sent me1 while it is day3 the night cometh1 when no man can work4 _/ ,as long as ,i am in the world1 ,i am the light of the world4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #adi4 ,john #h3ca-cb4 ,then said ,jesus to those ,jews which believed on him1 ,if ye continue in my word1 then are ye my disciples indeed2 _/ ,and ye shall know the truth1 and the truth shall make you free4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #adi4 ,james #a3be4 ,but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty1 and continueth therein1 he being not a forgetful hearer1 but a doer of the work1 this man shall be blessed in his deed4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #adi4 ,proverbs #b3bj-ba may be the passage ,arnold has in mind1 although the language differs3 ,that thou mayest walk in the way of good men1 and keep the paths of the righteous4 _/ ,for the upright shall dwell in the land1 and the perfect shall remain in it4 ,one of the central devices in ,proverbs is the metaphor of the path--of uprightness1 folly1 etc4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #aej4 ,romans #a3ah4 ,for the wrath of ,god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men1 who hold the truth in unrighteousness4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #aej4 ,philomaths1 fond of knowledge1 loving knowledge4 7,liddell and ,scott47 ,,gif image3 #aed4 ,zechariah #h3bc4 ,thus saith the ,lord of hosts2 ,in those days it shall come to pass1 that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations1 even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a ,jew1 saying1 ,we will go with you3 for we have heard that ,god is with you4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #aee4 ,ephesians #e3f4 ,let no man deceive you with vain words3 for because of these things cometh the wrath of ,god upon the children of disobedience4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #aee4 ,romans #f3c4 ,know ye not1 that so many of us as were baptized into ,jesus ,christ were baptized into his death8 ,king ,james ,bible4 #aee4 99,the two first books4 ,arnold refers to the ,imitatio ,christi1 attributed to fourteenth-century priest ,thomas ,kempis4 ,the ,benham translation and a modern ,english translation are currently available from the ,college of ,st4 ,benedict at ,saint ,john's ,university ,internet ,theology ,resources site4 ,see also the ,benham text link4 #aef4 ,romans #c3a-b4 ,what advantage then hath the ,jew8 or what profit is there of circumcision8 _/ ,much every way3 chiefly1 because that unto them were committed the oracles of ,god4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #aeh4 ,see #a ,corinthians #ae4 ,saint ,paul wrestles in this chapter to explain the ,resurrection's promise4 ,for example1 refer to #ae3ej-ec3 ,now this ,i say1 brethren1 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of ,god2 neither doth corruption inherit incorruption4 _/ ,behold1 ,i shew you a mystery2 ,we shall not all sleep1 but we shall all be changed1 _/ ,in a moment1 in the twinkling of an eye1 at the last trump3 for the trumpet shall sound1 and the dead shall be raised incorruptible1 and we shall be changed4 _/ ,for this corruptible must put on incorruption1 and this mortal must put on immortality4 #aei4 99,i have ventured to give to the foreign word ,renaissance1 destined to become of more common use amongst us as the movement which it denotes comes1 as it will come1 increasingly to interest us1 an ,english form4 ,,chapter ,v #aff ,the matter here opened is so large1 and the trains of thought to which it gives rise are so manifold1 that we must be careful to limit ourselves scrupulously to what has a direct bearing upon our actual discussion4 ,we have found that at the #afg bottom of our present unsettled state1 so full of the seeds of trouble1 lies the notion of its being the prime right and happiness1 for each of us1 to affirm himself1 and his ordinary self2 to be doing1 and to be doing freely and as he likes4 ,we have found at the bottom of it the disbelief in right reason as a lawful authority4 ,it was easy to show from our practice and current history that this is so2 but it was impossible to show why it is so without taking a somewhat wider sweep and going into things a little more deeply4 ,why1 in fact1 should good1 well-meaning1 energetic1 sensible people1 like the bulk of our countrymen1 come to have such light belief in right reason1 and such an exaggerated value for their own independent doing1 however crude8 ,the answer is3 because of an exclusive and excessive development in them1 without due allowance for time1 place1 and circumstance1 of that side of human nature1 and that group of human forces1 to which we have given the general name of ,hebraism4 ,because they have thought their real and only important homage was owed to a power concerned with their obedience rather than with their intelligence1 a power interested in the moral side of their nature almost exclusively4 ,thus they have #afh been led to regard in themselves1 as the one thing needful1 strictness of conscience1 the staunch adherence to some fixed law of doing we have got already1 instead of spontaneity of consciousness1 which tends continually to enlarge our whole law of doing4 ,they have fancied themselves to have in their religion a sufficient basis for the whole of their life fixed and certain for ever1 a full law of conduct and a full law of thought1 so far as thought is needed1 as well2 whereas what they really have is a law of conduct1 a law of unexampled power for enabling them to war against the law of sin in their members and not to serve it in the lusts thereof4 ,the book which contains this invaluable law they call the ,word of ,god1 and attribute to it1 as ,i have said1 and as1 indeed1 is perfectly well known1 a reach and sufficiency co-extensive with all the wants of human nature4 ,this might1 no doubt1 be so1 if humanity were not the composite thing it is1 if it had only1 or in quite overpowering eminence1 a moral side1 and the group of instincts and powers which we call moral4 ,but it has besides1 and in notable eminence1 an intellectual side1 and the group of instincts and powers which we call intellectual4 ,no doubt1 mankind makes in general its progress in a #afi fashion which gives at one time full swing to one of these groups of instincts1 at another time to the other2 and man's faculties are so intertwined1 that when his moral side1 and the current of force which we call ,hebraism1 is uppermost1 this side will manage somehow to provide1 or appear to provide1 satisfaction for his intellectual needs2 and when his intellectual side1 and the current of force which we call ,hellenism1 is uppermost1 this1 again1 will provide1 or appear to provide1 satisfaction for men's moral needs4 ,but sooner or later it becomes manifest that when the two sides of humanity proceed in this fashion of alternate preponderance1 and not of mutual understanding and balance1 the side which is uppermost does not really provide in a satisfactory manner for the needs of the side which is undermost1 and a state of confusion is1 sooner or later1 the result4 ,the ,hellenic half of our nature1 bearing rule1 makes a sort of provision for the ,hebrew half1 but it turns out to be an inadequate provision2 and again the ,hebrew half of our nature bearing rule makes a sort of provision for the ,hellenic half1 but this1 too1 turns out to be an inadequate provision4 ,the true and smooth order of humanity's development #agj is not reached in either way4 ,and therefore1 while we willingly admit with the ,christian apostle that the world by wisdom1--that is1 by the isolated preponderance of its intellectual impulses1--knew not ,god1 or the true order of things1 it is yet necessary1 also1 to set up a sort of converse to this proposition1 and to say likewise 7what is equally true7 that the world by ,puritanism knew not ,god4 ,and it is on this converse of the apostle's proposition that it is particularly needful to insist in our own country just at present4 ,here1 indeed1 is the answer to many criticisms which have been addressed to all that we have said in praise of sweetness and light4 ,sweetness and light evidently have to do with the bent or side in humanity which we call ,hellenic4 ,greek intelligence has obviously for its essence the instinct for what ,plato calls the true1 firm1 intelligible law of things2 the love of light1 of seeing things as they are4 ,even in the natural sciences1 where the ,greeks had not time and means adequately to apply this instinct1 and where we have gone a great deal further than they did1 it is this instinct which is the root of the whole matter and the ground of all #aga our success2 and this instinct the world has mainly learnt of the ,greeks1 inasmuch as they are humanity's most signal manifestation of it4 ,greek art1 again1 ,greek beauty1 have their root in the same impulse to see things as they really are1 inasmuch as ,greek art and beauty rest on fidelity to nature1--the best nature1--and on a delicate discrimination of what this best nature is4 ,to say we work for sweetness and light1 then1 is only another way of saying that we work for ,hellenism4 ,but1 oh6 cry many people1 sweetness and light are not enough2 you must put strength or energy along with them1 and make a kind of trinity of strength1 sweetness and light1 and then1 perhaps1 you may do some good4 ,that is to say1 we are to join ,hebraism1 strictness of the moral conscience1 and manful walking by the best light we have1 together with ,hellenism1 inculcate both1 and rehearse the praises of both4 ,or1 rather1 we may praise both in conjunction1 but we must be careful to praise ,hebraism most4 ,culture1 says an acute1 though somewhat rigid critic1 ,mr4 ,sidgwick1 diffuses sweetness and light4 ,i do not undervalue these blessings1 but religion gives fire and strength1 and the world wants fire #agb and strength even more than sweetness and light4 ,by religion1 let me explain1 ,mr4 ,sidgwick here means particularly that ,puritanism on the insufficiency of which ,i have been commenting and to which he says ,i am unfair4 ,now1 no doubt1 it is possible to be a fanatical partisan of light and the instincts which push us to it1 a fanatical enemy of strictness of moral conscience and the instincts which push us to it4 ,a fanaticism of this sort deforms and vulgarises the well-known work1 in some respects so remarkable1 of the late ,mr4 ,buckle4 ,such a fanaticism carries its own mark with it1 in lacking sweetness2 and its own penalty1 in that1 lacking sweetness1 it comes in the end to lack light too4 ,and the ,greeks1--the great exponents of humanity's bent for sweetness and light united1 of its perception that the truth of things must be at the same time beauty1--singularly escaped the fanaticism which we moderns1 whether we ,hellenise or whether we ,hebraise1 are so apt to show1 and arrived1--though failing1 as has been said1 to give adequate practical satisfaction to the claims of man's moral side1--at the idea of a comprehensive adjustment of the claims of both the sides in man1 the moral as well #agc as the intellectual1 of a full estimate of both1 and of a reconciliation of both2 an idea which is philosophically of the greatest value1 and the best of lessons for us moderns4 ,so we ought to have no difficulty in conceding to ,mr4 ,sidgwick that manful walking by the best light one has1--fire and strength as he calls it1--has its high value as well as culture1 the endeavour to see things in their truth and beauty1 the pursuit of sweetness and light4 ,but whether at this or that time1 and to this or that set of persons1 one ought to insist most on the praises of fire and strength1 or on the praises of sweetness and light1 must depend1 one would think1 on the circumstances and needs of that particular time and those particular persons4 ,and all that we have been saying1 and indeed any glance at the world around us1 shows that with us1 with the most respectable and strongest part of us1 the ruling force is now1 and long has been1 a ,puritan force1 the care for fire and strength1 strictness of conscience1 ,hebraism1 rather than the care for sweetness and light1 spontaneity of consciousness1 ,hellenism4 ,well1 then1 what is the good of our now rehearsing #agd the praises of fire and strength to ourselves1 who dwell too exclusively on them already8 ,when ,mr4 ,sidgwick says so broadly1 that the world wants fire and strength even more than sweetness and light1 is he not carried away by a turn for powerful generalisation8 does he not forget that the world is not all of one piece1 and every piece with the same needs at the same time8 ,it may be true that the ,roman world at the beginning of our era1 or ,leo the ,tenth's ,court at the time of the ,reformation1 or ,french society in the eighteenth century1 needed fire and strength even more than sweetness and light4 ,but can it be said that the ,barbarians who overran the empire1 needed fire and strength even more than sweetness and light2 or that the ,puritans needed them more2 or that ,mr4 ,murphy1 the ,birmingham lecturer1 and the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle and his friends1 need them more8 ,the ,puritan's great danger is that he imagines himself in possession of a rule telling him the unum necessarium1 or one thing needful1 and that he then remains satisfied with a very crude conception of what this rule really is and what it tells him1 thinks #age he has now knowledge and henceforth needs only to act1 and1 in this dangerous state of assurance and self-satisfaction1 proceeds to give full swing to a number of the instincts of his ordinary self4 ,some of the instincts of his ordinary self he has1 by the help of his rule of life1 conquered2 but others which he has not conquered by this help he is so far from perceiving to need subjugation1 and to be instincts of an inferior self1 that he even fancies it to be his right and duty1 in virtue of having conquered a limited part of himself1 to give unchecked swing to the remainder4 ,he is1 ,i say1 a victim of ,hebraism1 of the tendency to cultivate strictness of conscience rather than spontaneity of consciousness4 ,and what he wants is a larger conception of human nature1 showing him the number of other points at which his nature must come to its best1 besides the points which he himself knows and thinks of4 ,there is no unum necessarium1 or one thing needful1 which can free human nature from the obligation of trying to come to its best at all these points4 ,the real unum necessarium for us is to come to our best at all points4 ,instead of our one thing needful1 justifying in us vulgarity1 hideousness1 ignorance1 violence1--our #agf vulgarity1 hideousness1 ignorance1 violence1 are really so many touchstones which try our one thing needful1 and which prove that in the state1 at any rate1 in which we ourselves have it1 it is not all we want4 ,and as the force which encourages us to stand staunch and fast by the rule and ground we have is ,hebraism1 so the force which encourages us to go back upon this rule1 and to try the very ground on which we appear to stand1 is ,hellenism1--a turn for giving our consciousness free play and enlarging its range4 ,and what ,i say is1 not that ,hellenism is always for everybody more wanted than ,hebraism1 but that for the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle at this particular moment1 and for the great majority of us his fellow-countrymen1 it is more wanted4 ,nothing is more striking than to observe in how many ways a limited conception of human nature1 the notion of a one thing needful1 a one side in us to be made uppermost1 the disregard of a full and harmonious development of ourselves1 tells injuriously on our thinking and acting4 ,in the first place1 our hold upon the rule or standard to which we look for our one thing needful1 tends to become less and less near and vital1 our conception of it more and more #agg mechanical1 and unlike the thing itself as it was conceived in the mind where it originated4 ,the dealings of ,puritanism with the writings of ,st4 ,paul afford a noteworthy illustration of this4 ,nowhere so much as in the writings of ,st4 ,paul1 and in that great apostle's greatest work1 the ,epistle to the ,romans1 has ,puritanism found what seemed to furnish it with the one thing needful1 and to give it canons of truth absolute and final4 ,now all writings1 as has been already said1 even the most precious writings and the most fruitful1 must inevitably1 from the very nature of things1 be but contributions to human thought and human development1 which extend wider than they do4 ,indeed1 ,st4 ,paul1 in the very ,epistle of which we are speaking1 shows1 when he asks1 ,who hath known the mind of the ,lord8--who hath known1 that is1 the true and divine order of things in its entirety1--that he himself acknowledges this fully4 ,and we have already pointed out in another ,epistle of ,st4 ,paul a great and vital idea of the human spirit1--the idea of the immortality of the soul1--transcending and overlapping1 so to speak1 the expositor's power to give it adequate definition and expression4 ,but quite distinct from the question #agh whether ,st4 ,paul's expression1 or any man's expression1 can be a perfect and final expression of truth1 comes the question whether we rightly seize and understand his expression as it exists4 ,now1 perfectly to seize another man's meaning1 as it stood in his own mind1 is not easy2 especially when the man is separated from us by such differences of race1 training1 time1 and circumstances as ,st4 ,paul4 ,but there are degrees of nearness in getting at a man's meaning2 and though we cannot arrive quite at what ,st4 ,paul had in his mind1 yet we may come near it4 ,and who1 that comes thus near it1 must not feel how terms which ,st4 ,paul employs in trying to follow1 with his analysis of such profound power and originality1 some of the most delicate1 intricate1 obscure1 and contradictory workings and states of the human spirit1 are detached and employed by ,puritanism1 not in the connected and fluid way in which ,st4 ,paul employs them1 and for which alone words are really meant1 but in an isolated1 fixed1 mechanical way1 as if they were talismans2 and how all trace and sense of ,st4 ,paul's true movement of ideas1 and sustained masterly analysis1 is thus lost8 ,who1 ,i say1 that has watched ,puritanism1--the force which #agi so strongly ,hebraises1 which so takes ,st4 ,paul's writings as something absolute and final1 containing the one thing needful1--handle such terms as grace1 faith1 election1 righteousness1 but must feel1 not only that these terms have for the mind of ,puritanism a sense false and misleading1 but also that this sense is the most monstrous and grotesque caricature of the sense of ,st4 ,paul1 and that his true meaning is by these worshippers of his words altogether lost8 ,or to take another eminent example1 in which not ,puritanism only1 but1 one may say1 the whole religious world1 by their mechanical use of ,st4 ,paul's writings1 can be shown to miss or change his real meaning4 ,the whole religious world1 one may say1 use now the word resurrection1--a word which is so often in their thoughts and on their lips1 and which they find so often in ,st4 ,paul's writings1--in one sense only4 ,they use it to mean a rising again after the physical death of the body4 ,now it is quite true that ,st4 ,paul speaks of resurrection in this sense1 that he tries to describe and explain it1 and that he condemns those who doubt and deny it4 ,but it is true1 also1 that in nine cases out of ten where ,st4 ,paul thinks and speaks of resurrection1 he #ahj thinks and speaks of it in a sense different from this2 in the sense of a rising to a new life before the physical death of the body1 and not after it4 ,the idea on which we have already touched1 the profound idea of being baptized into the death of the great exemplar of self-devotion and self- annulment1 of repeating in our own person1 by virtue of identification with our exemplar1 his course of self-devotion and self-annulment1 and of thus coming1 within the limits of our present life1 to a new life1 in which1 as in the death going before it1 we are identified with our exemplar1--this is the fruitful and original conception of being risen with ,christ which possesses the mind of ,st4 ,paul1 and this is the central point round which1 with such incomparable emotion and eloquence1 all his teaching moves4 ,for him1 the life after our physical death is really in the main but a consequence and continuation of the inexhaustible energy of the new life thus originated on this side the grave4 ,this grand ,pauline idea of ,christian resurrection is worthily rehearsed in one of the noblest collects of the ,prayer-,book1 and is destined1 no doubt1 to fill a more and more important place in the ,christianity of the future2 but almost as #aha signal as is the essentialness of this characteristic idea in ,st4 ,paul's teaching1 is the completeness with which the worshippers of ,st4 ,paul's words1 as an absolute final expression of saving truth1 have lost it1 and have substituted for the apostle's living and near conception of a resurrection now1 their mechanical and remote conception of a resurrection hereafter6 ,in short1 so fatal is the notion of possessing1 even in the most precious words or standards1 the one thing needful1 of having in them1 once for all1 a full and sufficient measure of light to guide us1 and of there being no duty left for us except to make our practice square exactly with them1--so fatal1 ,i say1 is this notion to the right knowledge and comprehension of the very words or standards we thus adopt1 and to such strange distortions and perversions of them does it inevitably lead1 that whenever we hear that commonplace which ,hebraism1 if we venture to inquire what a man knows1 is so apt to bring out against us in disparagement of what we call culture1 and in praise of a man's sticking to the one thing needful1--he knows1 says ,hebraism1 his ,bible6--whenever we hear this said1 we may1 without #ahb any elaborate defence of culture1 content ourselves with answering simply3 ,no man1 who knows nothing else1 knows even his ,bible4 ,now the force which we have so much neglected1 ,hellenism1 may be liable to fail in moral force and earnestness1 but by the law of its nature1--the very same law which makes it sometimes deficient in intensity when intensity is required1--it opposes itself to the notion of cutting our being in two1 of attributing to one part the dignity of dealing with the one thing needful1 and leaving the other part to take its chance1 which is the bane of ,hebraism4 ,essential in ,hellenism is the impulse to the development of the whole man1 to connecting and harmonising all parts of him1 perfecting all1 leaving none to take their chance2 because the characteristic bent of ,hellenism1 as has been said1 is to find the intelligible law of things1 and there is no intelligible law of things1 things cannot really appear intelligible1 unless they are also beautiful4 ,the body is not intelligible1 is not seen in its true nature and as it really is1 unless it is seen as beautiful2 behaviour is not intelligible1 does not account for itself to the mind and show the reason for its existing1 unless it is beautiful4 ,the #ahc same with discourse1 the same with song1 the same with worship1 the same with all the modes in which man proves his activity and expresses himself4 ,to think that when one shows what is mean1 or vulgar1 or hideous1 one can be permitted to plead that one has that within which passes show2 to suppose that the possession of what benefits and satisfies one part of our being can make allowable either discourse like ,mr4 ,murphy's and the ,rev4 ,w4 ,cattle's1 or poetry like the hymns we all hear1 or places of worship like the chapels we all see1--this it is abhorrent to the nature of ,hellenism to concede4 ,and to be1 like our honoured and justly honoured ,faraday1 a great natural philosopher with one side of his being and a ,sandemanian with the other1 would to ,archimedes have been impossible4 ,it is evident to what a many-sided perfecting of man's powers and activities this demand of ,hellenism for satisfaction to be given to the mind by everything which we do1 is calculated to impel our race4 ,it has its dangers1 as has been fully granted2 the notion of this sort of equipollency in man's modes of activity may lead to moral relaxation1 what we do not make our one thing needful we may come to treat not #ahd enough as if it were needful1 though it is indeed very needful and at the same time very hard4 ,still1 what side in us has not its dangers1 and which of our impulses can be a talisman to give us perfection outright1 and not merely a help to bring us towards it8 ,has not ,hebraism1 as we have shown1 its dangers as well as ,hellenism2 and have we used so excessively the tendencies in ourselves to which ,hellenism makes appeal1 that we are now suffering from it8 ,are we not1 on the contrary1 now suffering because we have not enough used these tendencies as a help towards perfection8 ,for we see whither it has brought us1 the long exclusive predominance of ,hebraism1--the insisting on perfection in one part of our nature and not in all2 the singling out the moral side1 the side of obedience and action1 for such intent regard2 making strictness of the moral conscience so far the principal thing1 and putting off for hereafter and for another world the care for being complete at all points1 the full and harmonious development of our humanity4 ,instead of watching and following on its ways the desire which1 as ,plato says1 for ever through all the universe tends towards that which #ahe is lovely1 we think that the world has settled its accounts with this desire1 knows what this desire wants of it1 and that all the impulses of our ordinary self which do not conflict with the terms of this settlement1 in our narrow view of it1 we may follow unrestrainedly1 under the sanction of some such text as ,not slothful in business1 or1 ,whatsoever thy hand findeth to do1 do it with all thy might1 or something else of the same kind4 ,and to any of these impulses we soon come to give that same character of a mechanical1 absolute law1 which we give to our religion2 we regard it1 as we do our religion1 as an object for strictness of conscience1 not for spontaneity of consciousness2 for unremitting adherence on its own account1 not for going back upon1 viewing in its connection with other things1 and adjusting to a number of changing circumstances2 we treat it1 in short1 just as we treat our religion1--as machinery4 ,it is in this way that the ,barbarians treat their bodily exercises1 the ,philistines their business1 ,mr4 ,spurgeon his voluntaryism1 ,mr4 ,bright the assertion of personal liberty1 ,mr4 ,beales the right of meeting in ,hyde ,park4 ,in all those cases what is needed is a freer play of consciousness #ahf upon the object of pursuit2 and in all of them ,hebraism1 the valuing staunchness and earnestness more than this free play1 the entire subordination of thinking to doing1 has led to a mistaken and misleading treatment of things4 ,the newspapers a short time ago contained an account of the suicide of a ,mr4 ,smith1 secretary to some insurance company1 who1 it was said1 laboured under the apprehension that he would come to poverty1 and that he was eternally lost4 ,and when ,i read these words1 it occurred to me that the poor man who came to such a mournful end was1 in truth1 a kind of type1 by the selection of his two grand objects of concern1 by their isolation from everything else1 and their juxtaposition to one another1 of all the strongest1 most respectable1 and most representative part of our nation4 ,he laboured under the apprehension that he would come to poverty1 and that he was eternally lost4 ,the whole middle-class have a conception of things1--a conception which makes us call them ,philistines1--just like that of this poor man2 though we are seldom1 of course1 shocked by seeing it take the distressing1 violently morbid1 and fatal turn1 which #ahg it took with him4 ,but how generally1 with how many of us1 are the main concerns of life limited to these two1--the concern for making money1 and the concern for saving our souls6 ,and how entirely does the narrow and mechanical conception of our secular business proceed from a narrow and mechanical conception of our religious business6 ,what havoc do the united conceptions make of our lives6 ,it is because the second-named of these two master-concerns presents to us the one thing needful in so fixed1 narrow1 and mechanical a way1 that so ignoble a fellow master-concern to it as the first-named becomes possible2 and1 having been once admitted1 takes the same rigid and absolute character as the other4 ,poor ,mr4 ,smith had sincerely the nobler master-concern as well as the meaner1--the concern for saving his soul 7according to the narrow and mechanical conception which ,puritanism has of what the salvation of the soul is71 and the concern for making money4 ,but let us remark how many people there are1 especially outside the limits of the serious and conscientious middle-class to which ,mr4 ,smith belonged1 who take up with a meaner master-concern1--whether it be pleasure1 or field-sports1 or #ahh bodily exercises1 or business1 or popular agitation1--who take up with one of these exclusively1 and neglect ,mr4 ,smith's nobler master- concern1 because of the mechanical form which ,hebraism has given to this nobler master-concern1 making it stand1 as we have said1 as something talismanic1 isolated1 and all-sufficient1 justifying our giving our ordinary selves free play in amusement1 or business1 or popular agitation1 if we have made our accounts square with this master-concern2 and1 if we have not1 rendering other things indifferent1 and our ordinary self all we have to follow1 and to follow with all the energy that is in us1 till we do4 ,whereas the idea of perfection at all points1 the encouraging in ourselves spontaneity of consciousness1 the letting a free play of thought live and flow around all our activity1 the indisposition to allow one side of our activity to stand as so all-important and all-sufficing that it makes other sides indifferent1--this bent of mind in us may not only check us in following unreservedly a mean master-concern of any kind1 but may even1 also1 bring new life and movement into that side of us with which alone ,hebraism concerns itself1 and awaken a healthier #ahi and less mechanical activity there4 ,hellenism may thus actually serve to further the designs of ,hebraism4 ,undoubtedly it thus served in the first days of ,christianity4 ,christianity1 as has been said1 occupied itself1 like ,hebraism1 with the moral side of man exclusively1 with his moral affections and moral conduct2 and so far it was but a continuation of ,hebraism4 ,but it transformed and renewed ,hebraism by going back upon a fixed rule1 which had become mechanical1 and had thus lost its vital motive- power2 by letting the thought play freely around this old rule1 and perceive its inadequacy2 by developing a new motive-power1 which men's moral consciousness could take living hold of1 and could move in sympathy with4 ,what was this but an importation of ,hellenism1 as we have defined it1 into ,hebraism8 ,and as ,st4 ,paul used the contradiction between the ,jew's profession and practice1 his shortcomings on that very side of moral affection and moral conduct which the ,jew and ,st4 ,paul1 both of them1 regarded as all in all-- 7,thou that sayest a man should not steal1 dost thou steal8 thou that sayest a man should not #aij commit adultery1 dost thou commit adultery87--for a proof of the inadequacy of the old rule of life1 in the ,jew's mechanical conception of it1 and tried to rescue him by making his consciousness play freely around this rule1--that is1 by a1 so far1 ,hellenic treatment of it1--even so1 when we hear so much said of the growth of commercial immorality in our serious middle- class1 of the melting away of habits of strict probity before the temptation to get quickly rich and to cut a figure in the world2 when we see1 at any rate1 so much confusion of thought and of practice in this great representative class of our nation1 may we not be disposed to say that this confusion shows that his new motive-power of grace and imputed righteousness has become to the ,puritan as mechanical1 and with as ineffective a hold upon his practice1 as the old motive- power of the law was to the ,jew8 and that the remedy is the same as that which ,st4 ,paul employed1--an importation of what we have called ,hellenism into his ,hebraism1 a making his consciousness flow freely round his petrified rule of life and renew it8 ,only with this difference3 that whereas ,st4 ,paul imported ,hellenism within the limits of our moral part only1 #aia this part being still treated by him as all in all2 and whereas he exhausted1 one may say1 and used to the very uttermost1 the possibilities of fruitfully importing it on that side exclusively2 we ought to try and import it1--guiding ourselves by the ideal of a human nature harmoniously perfect at all points1--into all the lines of our activity1 and only by so doing can we rightly quicken1 refresh1 and renew those very instincts1 now so much baffled1 to which ,hebraism makes appeal4 ,but if we will not be warned by the confusion visible enough at present in our thinking and acting1 that we are in a false line in having developed our ,hebrew side so exclusively1 and our ,hellenic side so feebly and at random1 in loving fixed rules of action so much more than the intelligible law of things1 let us listen to a remarkable testimony which the opinion of the world around us offers4 ,all the world now sets great and increasing value on three objects which have long been very dear to us1 and pursues them in its own way1 or tries to pursue them4 ,these three objects are industrial enterprise1 bodily exercises1 and freedom4 ,certainly we have1 before and beyond our neighbours1 given ourselves #aib to these three things with ardent passion and with high success4 ,and this our neighbours cannot but acknowledge2 and they must needs1 when they themselves turn to these things1 have an eye to our example1 and take something of our practice4 ,now1 generally1 when people are interested in an object of pursuit1 they cannot help feeling an enthusiasm for those who have already laboured successfully at it1 and for their success2 not only do they study them1 they also love and admire them4 ,in this way a man who is interested in the art of war not only acquaints himself with the performance of great generals1 but he has an admiration and enthusiasm for them4 ,so1 too1 one who wants to be a painter or a poet cannot help loving and admiring the great painters or poets who have gone before him and shown him the way4 ,but it is strange with how little of love1 admiration1 or enthusiasm1 the world regards us and our freedom1 our bodily exercises1 and our industrial prowess1 much as these things themselves are beginning to interest it4 ,and is not the reason because we follow each of these things in a mechanical manner1 as an end in and for itself1 and not in reference to a general end of human #aic perfection8 and this makes our pursuit of them uninteresting to humanity1 and not what the world truly wants8 ,it seems to them mere machinery that we can1 knowingly1 teach them to worship1--a mere fetish4 ,british freedom1 ,british industry1 ,british muscularity1 we work for each of these three things blindly1 with no notion of giving each its due proportion and prominence1 because we have no ideal of harmonious human perfection before our minds1 to set our work in motion1 and to guide it4 ,so the rest of the world1 desiring industry1 or freedom1 or bodily strength1 yet desiring these not1 as we do1 absolutely1 but as means to something else1 imitate1 indeed1 of our practice what seems useful for them1 but us1 whose practice they imitate1 they seem to entertain neither love nor admiration for4 ,let us observe1 on the other hand1 the love and enthusiasm excited by others who have laboured for these very things4 ,perhaps of what we call industrial enterprise it is not easy to find examples in former times2 but let us consider how ,greek freedom and ,greek gymnastics have attracted the love and praise of mankind1 who give so little love and praise to ours4 ,and what can be the reason #aid of this difference8 ,surely because the ,greeks pursued freedom and pursued gymnastics not mechanically1 but with constant reference to some ideal of complete human perfection and happiness4 ,and therefore1 in spite of faults and failures1 they interest and delight by their pursuit of them all the rest of mankind1 who instinctively feel that only as things are pursued with reference to this ideal are they valuable4 ,here again1 therefore1 as in the confusion into which the thought and action of even the steadiest class amongst us is beginning to fall1 we seem to have an admonition that we have fostered our ,hebraising instincts1 our preference of earnestness of doing to delicacy and flexibility of thinking1 too exclusively1 and have been landed by them in a mechanical and unfruitful routine4 ,and again we seem taught that the development of our ,hellenising instincts1 seeking skilfully the intelligible law of things1 and making a stream of fresh thought play freely about our stock notions and habits1 is what is most wanted by us at present4 ,well1 then1 from all sides1 the more we go into the matter1 the currents seem to converge1 and together #aie to bear us along towards culture4 ,if we look at the world outside us we find a disquieting absence of sure authority2 we discover that only in right reason can we get a source of sure authority1 and culture brings us towards right reason4 ,if we look at our own inner world1 we find all manner of confusion arising out of the habits of unintelligent routine and one-sided growth1 to which a too exclusive worship of fire1 strength1 earnestness1 and action has brought us4 ,what we want is a fuller harmonious development of our humanity1 a free play of thought upon our routine notions1 spontaneity of consciousness1 sweetness and light2 and these are just what culture generates and fosters4 ,proceeding from this idea of the harmonious perfection of our humanity1 and seeking to help itself up towards this perfection by knowing and spreading the best which has been reached in the world--an object not to be gained without books and reading--culture has got its name touched1 in the fancies of men1 with a sort of air of bookishness and pedantry1 cast upon it from the follies of the many bookmen who forget the end in the means1 and use their books with no real aim at perfection4 ,we will not stickle for a name1 #aif and the name of culture one might easily give up1 if only those who decry the frivolous and pedantic sort of culture1 but wish at bottom for the same things as we do1 would be careful on their part1 not1 in disparaging and discrediting the false culture1 to unwittingly disparage and discredit1 among a people with little natural reverence for it1 the true also4 ,but what we are concerned for is the thing1 not the name2 and the thing1 call it by what name we will1 is simply the enabling ourselves1 whether by reading1 observing1 or thinking1 to come as near as we can to the firm intelligible law of things1 and thus to get a basis for a less confused action and a more complete perfection than we have at present4 ,and now1 therefore1 when we are accused of preaching up a spirit of cultivated inaction1 of provoking the earnest lovers of action1 of refusing to lend a hand at uprooting certain definite evils1 of despairing to find any lasting truth to minister to the diseased spirit of our time1 we shall not be so much confounded and embarrassed what to answer for ourselves4 ,we shall say boldly that we do not at all despair of finding some lasting truth to minister to the diseased spirit of our time2 but that we have #aig discovered the best way of finding this to be1 not so much by lending a hand to our friends and countrymen in their actual operations for the removal of certain definite evils1 but rather in getting our friends and countrymen to seek culture1 to let their consciousness play freely round their present operations and the stock notions on which they are founded1 show what these are like1 and how related to the intelligible law of things1 and auxiliary to true human perfection4 ,,notes #agd4 unum necessarium or one thing needful4 ,arnold refers here1 and in his subsequent chapter title1 ,porro ,unum est ,necessarium1 to ,luke #aj3db4 ,here is the context1 #aj3ch-db4 ,jesus 4 4 4 entered into a certain village3 and a certain woman named ,martha received him into her house4 _/ ,and she had a sister called ,mary 4 4 4 4 _/ ,but ,martha was cumbered about much serving1 and came to him1 and said1 ,lord1 dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone8 bid her therefore that she help me4 _/ ,and ,jesus answered and said unto her1 ,martha1 ,martha1 thou art careful and troubled about many things3 _/ ,but one thing is needful3 and ,mary hath chosen that good part1 which shall not be taken away from her4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #agg4 ,romans #aa3cd4 ,for who hath known the mind of the ,lord8 or who hath been his counsellor8 ,king ,james ,bible4 #ahi-ij4 ,romans #b3ba-bb4 ,thou therefore which teachest another1 teachest thou not thyself8 thou that preachest a man should not steal1 dost thou steal8 _/ ,thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery1 dost thou commit adultery8 thou that abhorrest idols1 dost thou commit sacrilege8 ,king ,james ,bible4 ,,chapter ,,vi #aig ,but an unpretending writer1 without a philosophy based on inter-dependent1 subordinate1 and coherent principles1 must not presume to indulge himself too much in generalities1 but he must keep close to the level ground of common fact1 the only safe ground for understandings without a scientific equipment4 ,therefore ,i am bound to take1 before concluding1 some of the practical operations in which my friends and countrymen are at this moment engaged1 and #aih to make these1 if ,i can1 show the truth of what ,i have advanced4 ,probably ,i could hardly give a greater proof of my confessed inexpertness in reasoning and arguing1 than by taking1 for my first example of an operation of this kind1 the proceedings for the disestablishment of the ,irish ,church1 which we are now witnessing4 ,it seems so clear that this is surely one of those operations for the uprooting of a certain definite evil in which one's ,liberal friends engage1 and have a right to complain and to get impatient and to reproach one with delicate ,conservative scepticism and cultivated inaction if one does not lend a hand to help them4 ,this does1 indeed1 seem evident2 and yet this operation comes so prominently before us just at this moment1--it so challenges everybody's regard1- -that one seems cowardly in blinking it4 ,so let us venture to try and see whether this conspicuous operation is one of those round which we need to let our consciousness play freely and reveal what manner of spirit we are of in doing it2 or whether it is one which by no means admits the application of this doctrine of ours1 and one to which we ought to lend a hand immediately4 #aii ,now it seems plain that the present ,church establishment in ,ireland is contrary to reason and justice1 in so far as the ,church of a very small minority of the people there takes for itself all the ,church property of the ,irish people4 ,and one would think1 that property assigned for the purpose of providing for a people's religious worship when that worship was one1 the ,state should1 when that worship is split into several forms1 apportion between those several forms1 with due regard to circumstances1 taking account only of great differences1 which are likely to be lasting1 and of considerable communions1 which are likely to represent profound and widespread religious characteristics2 and overlooking petty differences1 which have no serious reason for lasting1 and inconsiderable communions1 which can hardly be taken to express any broad and necessary religious lineaments of our common nature4 ,this is just in accordance with that maxim about the ,state which we have more than once used3 ,the ,state is of the religion of all its citizens1 without the fanaticism of any of them4 ,those who deny this1 either think so poorly of the ,state that they do not like to see religion condescend to touch the ,state1 or they think #bjj so poorly of religion that they do not like to see the ,state condescend to touch religion2 but no good statesman will easily think thus unworthily either of the ,state or of religion1 and our statesmen of both parties were inclined1 one may say1 to follow the natural line of the ,state's duty1 and to make in ,ireland some fair apportionment of ,church property between large and radically divided religious communions in that country4 ,but then it was discovered that in ,great ,britain the national mind1 as it is called1 is grown averse to endowments for religion and will make no new ones2 and though this in itself looks general and solemn enough1 yet there were found political philosophers1 like ,mr4 ,baxter and ,mr4 ,charles ,buxton1 to give it a look of more generality and more solemnity still1 and to elevate1 by their dexterous command of powerful and beautiful language1 this supposed edict of the ,british national mind into a sort of formula for expressing a great law of religious transition and progress for all the world4 ,but we1 who1 having no coherent philosophy1 must not let ourselves philosophise1 only see that the ,english and ,scotch ,nonconformists have a great horror of establishments and endowments for #bja religion1 which1 they assert1 were forbidden by ,christ when he said3 ,my kingdom is not of this world2 and that the ,nonconformists will be delighted to aid statesmen in disestablishing any church1 but will suffer none to be established or endowed if they can help it4 ,then we see that the ,nonconformists make the strength of the ,liberal majority in the ,house of ,commons1 and that1 therefore1 the leading ,liberal statesmen1 to get the support of the ,nonconformists1 forsake the notion of fairly apportioning ,church property in ,ireland among the chief religious communions1 declare that the national mind has decided against new endowments1 and propose simply to disestablish and disendow the present establishment in ,ireland without establishing or endowing any other4 ,the actual power1 in short1 by virtue of which the ,liberal party in the ,house of ,commons is now trying to disestablish the ,irish ,church1 is not the power of reason and justice1 it is the power of the ,nonconformists' antipathy to ,church establishments4 ,clearly it is this2 because ,liberal statesmen1 relying on the power of reason and justice to help them1 proposed something quite different from what they now propose2 and they proposed #bjb what they now propose1 and talked of the decision of the national mind1 because they had to rely on the ,english and ,scotch ,nonconformists4 ,and clearly the ,nonconformists are actuated by antipathy to establishments1 not by antipathy to the injustice and irrationality of the present appropriation of ,church property in ,ireland2 because ,mr4 ,spurgeon1 in his eloquent and memorable letter1 expressly avowed that he would sooner leave things as they are in ,ireland1 that is1 he would sooner let the injustice and irrationality of the present appropriation continue1 than do anything to set up the ,roman image1 that is1 than give the ,catholics their fair and reasonable share of ,church property4 ,most indisputably1 therefore1 we may affirm that the real moving power by which the ,liberal party are now operating the overthrow of the ,irish establishment is the antipathy of the ,nonconformists to ,church establishments1 and not the sense of reason or justice1 except so far as reason and justice may be contained in this antipathy4 ,and thus the matter stands at present4 ,now surely we must all see many inconveniences in performing the operation of uprooting this evil1 #bjc the ,irish ,church establishment1 in this particular way4 ,as was said about industry and freedom and gymnastics1 we shall never awaken love and gratitude by this mode of operation2 for it is pursued1 not in view of reason and justice and human perfection and all that enkindles the enthusiasm of men1 but it is pursued in view of a certain stock notion1 or fetish1 of the ,nonconformists1 which proscribes ,church establishments4 ,and yet1 evidently1 one of the main benefits to be got by operating on the ,irish ,church is to win the affections of the ,irish people4 ,besides this1 an operation performed in virtue of a mechanical rule1 or fetish1 like the supposed decision of the ,english national mind against new endowments1 does not easily inspire respect in its adversaries1 and make their opposition feeble and hardly to be persisted in1 as an operation evidently done in virtue of reason and justice might4 ,for reason and justice have in them something persuasive and irresistible2 but a fetish or mechanical maxim1 like this of the ,nonconformists1 has in it nothing at all to conciliate either the affections or the understanding2 nay1 it provokes the counter-employment of other fetishes or mechanical maxims #bjd on the opposite side1 by which the confusion and hostility already prevalent are heightened4 ,only in this way can be explained the apparition of such fetishes as are beginning to be set up on the ,conservative side against the fetish of the ,nonconformists3--,the ,constitution in danger6 ,the bulwarks of ,british freedom menaced6 ,the lamp of the ,reformation put out6 ,no ,popery6--and so on4 ,to elevate these against an operation relying on reason and justice to back it is not so easy1 or so tempting to human infirmity1 as to elevate them against an operation relying on the ,nonconformists' antipathy to ,church establishments to back it2 for after all1 ,no ,popery6 is a rallying cry which touches the human spirit quite as vitally as ,no ,church establishments6--that is to say1 neither the one nor the other1 in themselves1 touch the human spirit vitally at all4 ,ought the believers in action1 then1 to be so impatient with us1 if we say1 that even for the sake of this operation of theirs itself and its satisfactory accomplishment1 it is more important to make our consciousness play freely round the stock notion or habit on which their operation relies for aid1 than to #bje lend a hand to it straight away8 ,clearly they ought not2 because nothing is so effectual for operating as reason and justice1 and a free play of thought will either disengage the reason and justice lying hid in the ,nonconformist fetish1 and make them effectual1 or else it will help to get this fetish out of the way1 and to let statesmen go freely where reason and justice take them4 ,so1 suppose we take this absolute rule1 this mechanical maxim of ,mr4 ,spurgeon and the ,nonconformists1 that ,church establishments are bad things because ,christ said3 ,my kingdom is not of this world4 ,suppose we try and make our consciousness bathe and float this piece of petrifaction1--for such it now is1--and bring it within the stream of the vital movement of our thought1 and into relation with the whole intelligible law of things4 ,an enemy and a disputant might probably say that much machinery which ,nonconformists themselves employ1 the ,liberation ,society which exists already1 and the ,nonconformist ,union which ,mr4 ,spurgeon desires to see existing1 come within the scope of ,christ's words as well as ,church establishments4 ,this1 however1 is merely a negative and #bjf contentious way of dealing with the ,nonconformist maxim2 whereas what we desire is to bring this maxim within the positive and vital movement of our thought4 ,we say1 therefore1 that ,christ's words mean that his religion is a force of inward persuasion acting on the soul1 and not a force of outward constraint acting on the body2 and if the ,nonconformist maxim against ,church establishments and ,church endowments has warrant given to it from what ,christ thus meant1 then their maxim is good1 even though their own practice in the matter of the ,liberation ,society may be at variance with it4 ,and here we cannot but remember what we have formerly said about religion1 ,miss ,cobbe1 and the ,british ,college of ,health in the ,new ,road4 ,in religion there are two parts1 the part of thought and speculation1 and the part of worship and devotion4 ,christ certainly meant his religion1 as a force of inward persuasion acting on the soul1 to employ both parts as perfectly as possible4 ,now thought and speculation is eminently an individual matter1 and worship and devotion is eminently a collective matter4 ,it does not help me to think a thing more clearly that thousands of other people are thinking #bjg the same2 but it does help me to worship with more emotion that thousands of other people are worshipping with me4 ,the consecration of common consent1 antiquity1 public establishment1 long-used rites1 national edifices1 is everything for religious worship4 ,just what makes worship impressive1 says ,joubert1 is its publicity1 its external manifestation1 its sound1 its splendour1 its observance universally and visibly holding its way through all the details both of our outward and of our inward life4 ,worship1 therefore1 should have in it as little as possible of what divides us1 and should be as much as possible a common and public act2 as ,joubert says again3 ,the best prayers are those which have nothing distinct about them1 and which are thus of the nature of simple adoration4 ,for1 ,the same devotion1 as he says in another place1 unites men far more than the same thought and knowledge4 ,thought and knowledge1 as we have said before1 is eminently something individual1 and of our own2 the more we possess it as strictly of our own1 the more power it has on us4 ,man worships best1 therefore1 with the community2 he philosophises best alone4 ,so it seems that whoever #bjh would truly give effect to ,christ's declaration that his religion is a force of inward persuasion acting on the soul1 would leave our thought on the intellectual aspects of ,christianity as individual as possible1 but would make ,christian worship as collective as possible4 ,worship1 then1 appears to be eminently a matter for public and national establishment2 for even ,mr4 ,bright1 who1 when he stands in ,mr4 ,spurgeon's great ,tabernacle is so ravished with admiration1 will hardly say that the great ,tabernacle and its worship are in themselves1 as a temple and service of religion1 so impressive and affecting as the public and national ,westminster ,abbey1 or ,notre ,dame1 with their worship4 ,and when1 very soon after the great ,tabernacle1 one comes plump down to the mass of private and individual establishments of religious worship1 establishments falling1 like the ,british ,college of ,health in the ,new ,road1 conspicuously short of what a public and national establishment might be1 then one cannot but feel that ,christ's command to make his religion a force of persuasion to the soul1 is1 so far as one main source of persuasion is concerned1 altogether set at nought4 #bji ,but perhaps the ,nonconformists worship so unimpressively because they philosophise so keenly2 and one part of religion1 the part of public national worship1 they have subordinated to the other part1 the part of individual thought and knowledge8 ,this1 however1 their organisation in congregations forbids us to admit4 ,they are members of congregations1 not isolated thinkers2 and a true play of individual thought is at least as much impeded by membership of a small congregation as by membership of a great ,church2 thinking by batches of fifties is to the full as fatal to free thought as thinking by batches of thousands4 ,accordingly1 we have had occasion already to notice that ,nonconformity does not at all differ from the ,established ,church by having worthier or more philosophical ideas about ,god and the ordering of the world than the ,established ,church has2 it has very much the same ideas about these as the ,established ,church has1 but it differs from the ,established ,church in that its worship is a much less collective and national affair4 ,so ,mr4 ,spurgeon and the ,nonconformists seem to have misapprehended the true meaning of ,christ's words1 ,my kingdom is not of this world2 #baj because1 by these words1 ,christ meant that his religion was to work on the soul2 and of the two parts of the soul on which religion works1--the thinking and speculative part1 and the feeling and imaginative part1--,nonconformity satisfies the first no better than the ,established ,churches1 which ,christ by these words is supposed to have condemned1 satisfy it2 and the second part it satisfies much worse than the ,established ,churches4 ,and thus the balance of advantage seems to rest with the ,established ,churches2 and they seem to have apprehended and applied ,christ's words1 if not with perfect adequacy1 at least less inadequately than the ,nonconformists4 ,might it not1 then1 be urged with great force that the way to do good1 in presence of this operation for uprooting the ,church establishment in ,ireland by the power of the ,nonconformists' antipathy to publicly establishing or endowing religious worship1 is not by lending a hand straight away to the operation1 and ,hebraising1--that is1 in this case1 taking an uncritical interpretation of certain ,bible words as our absolute rule of conduct1--with the ,nonconformists4 ,if may be very well for born #baa ,hebraisers1 like ,mr4 ,spurgeon1 to ,hebraise2 but for ,liberal statesmen to ,hebraise is surely unsafe1 and to see poor old ,liberal hacks ,hebraising1 whose real self belongs to a kind of negative ,hellenism1--a state of moral indifferency without intellectual ardour1--is even painful4 ,and when1 by our ,hebraising1 we neither do what the better mind of statesmen prompted them to do1 nor win the affections of the people we want to conciliate1 nor yet reduce the opposition of our adversaries but rather heighten it1 surely it may be not unreasonable to ,hellenise a little1 to let our thought and consciousness play freely about our proposed operation and its motives1 dissolve these motives if they are unsound1 which certainly they have some appearance1 at any rate1 of being1 and create in their stead1 if they are1 a set of sounder and more persuasive motives conducting to a more solid operation4 ,may not the man who promotes this be giving the best help towards finding some lasting truth to minister to the diseased spirit of his time1 and does he really deserve that the believers in action should grow impatient with him8 ,but now to take another operation which does #bab not at this moment so excite people's feelings as the disestablishment of the ,irish ,church1 but which1 ,i suppose1 would also be called exactly one of those operations of simple1 practical1 common-sense reform1 aiming at the removal of some particular abuse1 and rigidly restricted to that object1 to which a ,liberal ought to lend a hand1 and deserves that other ,liberals should grow impatient with him if he does not4 ,this operation ,i had the great advantage of with my own ears hearing discussed in the ,house of ,commons1 and recommended by a powerful speech from that famous speaker1 ,mr4 ,bright2 so that the effeminate horror which1 it is alleged1 ,i have of practical reforms of this kind1 was put to a searching test2 and if it survived1 it must have1 one would think1 some reason or other to support it1 and can hardly quite merit the stigma of its present name4 ,the operation ,i mean was that which the ,real ,estate ,intestacy ,bill aimed at accomplishing1 and the discussion on this bill ,i heard in the ,house of ,commons4 ,the bill proposed1 as every one knows1 to prevent the land of a man who dies intestate from going1 as it goes now1 to his eldest son1 and was thought1 by its friends and by its enemies1 to be a #bac step towards abating the now almost exclusive possession of the land of this country by the people whom we call the ,barbarians4 ,mr4 ,bright1 and other speakers on his side1 seemed to hold that there is a kind of natural law or fitness of things which assigns to all a man's children a right to equal shares in the enjoyment of his property after his death2 and that if1 without depriving a man of an ,englishman's prime privilege of doing what he likes by making what will he chooses1 you provide that when he makes none his land shall be divided among his family1 then you give the sanction of the law to the natural fitness of things1 and inflict a sort of check on the present violation of this by the ,barbarians4 ,it occurred to me1 when ,i saw ,mr4 ,bright and his friends proceeding in this way1 to ask myself a question4 ,if the almost exclusive possession of the land of this country by the ,barbarians is a bad thing1 is this practical operation of the ,liberals1 and the stock notion1 on which it seems to rest1 about the right of children to share equally in the enjoyment of their father's property after his death1 the best and most effective means of dealing with it8 ,or is it best #bad dealt with by letting one's thought and consciousness play freely and naturally upon the ,barbarians1 this ,liberal operation1 and the stock notion at the bottom of it1 and trying to get as near as we can to the intelligible law of things as to each of them8 ,now does any one1 if he simply and naturally reads his consciousness1 discover that he has any rights at all8 ,for my part1 the deeper ,i go in my own consciousness1 and the more simply ,i abandon myself to it1 the more it seems to tell me that ,i have no rights at all1 only duties2 and that men get this notion of rights from a process of abstract reasoning1 inferring that the obligations they are conscious of towards others1 others must be conscious of towards them1 and not from any direct witness of consciousness at all4 ,but it is obvious that the notion of a right1 arrived at in this way1 is likely to stand as a formal and petrified thing1 deceiving and misleading us2 and that the notions got directly from our consciousness ought to be brought to bear upon it1 and to control it4 ,so it is unsafe and misleading to say that our children have rights against us2 what is true and safe to say is1 that we have duties towards our #bae children4 ,but who will find among these natural duties1 set forth to us by our consciousness1 the obligation to leave to all our children an equal share in the enjoyment of our property8 or1 though consciousness tells us we ought to provide for our children's welfare1 whose consciousness tells him that the enjoyment of property is in itself welfare8 ,whether our children's welfare is best served by their all sharing equally in our property depends on circumstances and on the state of the community in which we live4 ,with this equal sharing1 society could not1 for example1 have organised itself afresh out of the chaos left by the fall of the ,roman ,empire1 and to have an organised society to live in is more for a child's welfare than to have an equal share of his father's property4 ,so we see how little convincing force the stock notion on which the ,real ,estate ,intestacy ,bill was based1--the notion that in the nature and fitness of things all a man's children have a right to an equal share in the enjoyment of what he leaves1--really has2 and how powerless1 therefore1 it must of necessity be to persuade and win any one who has habits and interests which disincline him to #baf it4 ,on the other hand1 the practical operation proposed relies entirely1 if it is to be effectual in altering the present practice of the ,barbarians1 on the power of truth and persuasiveness in the notion which it seeks to consecrate2 for it leaves to the ,barbarians full liberty to continue their present practice1 to which all their habits and interests incline them1 unless the promulgation of a notion1 which we have seen to have no vital efficacy and hold upon our consciousness1 shall hinder them4 ,are we really to adorn an operation of this kind1 merely because it proposes to do something1 with all the favourable epithets of simple1 practical1 common-sense1 definite2 to enlist on its side all the zeal of the believers in action1 and to call indifference to it a really effeminate horror of useful reforms8 ,it seems to me quite easy to show that a free disinterested play of thought on the ,barbarians and their land-holding is a thousand times more really practical1 a thousand times more likely to lead to some effective result1 than an operation such as that of which we have been now speaking4 ,for if1 casting aside the impediments of stock notions and mechanical action1 we try to find the intelligible law #bag of things respecting a great land-owning class such as we have in this country1 does not our consciousness readily tell us that whether the perpetuation of such a class is for its own real welfare and for the real welfare of the community1 depends on the actual circumstances of this class and of the community8 ,does it not readily tell us that wealth1 power1 and consideration are1 and above all when inherited and not earned1 in themselves trying and dangerous things8 as ,bishop ,wilson excellently says3 ,riches are almost always abused without a very extraordinary grace4 ,but this extraordinary grace was in great measure supplied by the circumstances of the feudal epoch1 out of which our land- holding class1 with its rules of inheritance1 sprang4 ,the labour and contentions of a rude1 nascent1 and struggling society supplied it2 these perpetually were trying1 chastising1 and forming the class whose predominance was then needed by society to give it points of cohesion1 and was not so harmful to themselves because they were thus sharply tried and exercised4 ,but in a luxurious1 settled1 and easy society1 where wealth offers the means of enjoyment a thousand times more1 and the temptation to abuse #bah them is thus made a thousand times greater1 the exercising discipline is at the same time taken away1 and the feudal class is left exposed to the full operation of the natural law well put by the ,french moralist3 ,pouvoir sans savoir est fort dangereux4 ,and1 for my part1 when ,i regard the young people of this class1 it is above all by the trial and shipwreck made of their own welfare by the circumstances in which they live that ,i am struck2 how far better it would have been for nine out of every ten among them1 if they had had their own way to make in the world1 and not been tried by a condition for which they had not the extraordinary grace requisite6 ,this1 ,i say1 seems to be what a man's consciousness1 simply consulted1 would tell him about the actual welfare of our ,barbarians themselves4 ,then1 as to their actual effect upon the welfare of the community1 how can this be salutary1 if a class which1 by the very possession of wealth1 power and consideration1 becomes a kind of ideal or standard for the rest of the community1 is tried by ease and pleasure more than it can well bear1 and almost irresistibly carried away from excellence and strenuous virtue8 ,this must certainly be what #bai ,solomon meant when he said3 ,as he who putteth a stone in a sling1 so is he that giveth honour to a fool4 ,for any one can perceive how this honouring of a false ideal1 not of intelligence and strenuous virtue1 but of wealth and station1 pleasure and ease1 is as a stone from a sling to kill in our great middle-class1 in us who are called ,philistines1 the desire before spoken of1 which by nature for ever carries all men towards that which is lovely2 and to leave instead of it only a blind deteriorating pursuit1 for ourselves also1 of the false ideal4 ,and in those among us ,philistines whom this desire does not wholly abandon1 yet1 having no excellent ideal set forth to nourish and to steady it1 it meets with that natural bent for the bathos which together with this desire itself is implanted at birth in the breast of man1 and is by that force twisted awry1 and borne at random hither and thither1 and at last flung upon those grotesque and hideous forms of popular religion which the more respectable part among us ,philistines mistake for the true goal of man's desire after all that is lovely4 ,and for the ,populace this false idea is a stone which kills the desire before it can even arise2 so impossible and unattainable for #bbj them do the conditions of that which is lovely appear according to this ideal to be made1 so necessary to the reaching of them by the few seems the falling short of them by the many4 ,so that1 perhaps1 of the actual vulgarity of our ,philistines and brutality of our ,populace1 the ,barbarians and their feudal habits of succession1 enduring out of their due time and place1 are involuntarily the cause in a great degree2 and they hurt the welfare of the rest of the community at the same time that1 as we have seen1 they hurt their own4 ,but must not1 now1 the working in our minds of considerations like these1 to which culture1 that is1 the disinterested and active use of reading1 reflection1 and observation1 carries us1 be really much more effectual to the dissolution of feudal habits and rules of succession in land than an operation like the ,real ,estate ,intestacy ,bill1 and a stock notion like that of the natural right of all a man's children to an equal share in the enjoyment of his property2 since we have seen that this mechanical maxim is unsound1 and that1 if it is unsound1 the operation relying upon it cannot possibly be effective8 ,if truth and reason have1 as we believe1 any natural irresistible effect on #bba the mind of man1 it must4 ,these considerations1 when culture has called them forth and given them free course in our minds1 will live and work4 ,they will work gradually1 no doubt1 and will not bring us ourselves to the front to sit in high place and put them into effect2 but so they will be all the more beneficial4 ,everything teaches us how gradually nature would have all profound changes brought about2 and we can even see1 too1 where the absolute abrupt stoppage of feudal habits has worked harm4 ,and appealing to the sense of truth and reason1 these considerations will1 without doubt1 touch and move all those of even the ,barbarians themselves1 who are 7as are some of us ,philistines also1 and some of the ,populace7 beyond their fellows quick of feeling for truth and reason4 ,for indeed this is just one of the advantages of sweetness and light over fire and strength1 that sweetness and light make a feudal class quietly and gradually drop its feudal habits because it sees them at variance with truth and reason1 while fire and strength tear them passionately off it because it applauded ,mr4 ,lowe when he called1 or was supposed to call1 the working-class drunken and venal4 #bbb ,but when once we have begun to recount the practical operations by which our ,liberal friends work for the removal of definite evils1 and in which if we do not join them they are apt to grow impatient with us1 how can we pass over that very interesting operation of this kind1--the attempt to enable a man to marry his deceased wife's sister8 ,this operation1 too1 like that for abating the feudal customs of succession in land1 ,i have had the advantage of myself seeing and hearing my ,liberal friends labour at4 ,i was lucky enough to be present when ,mr4 ,chambers1 ,i think1 brought forward in the ,house of ,commons his bill for enabling a man to marry his deceased wife's sister1 and ,i heard the speech which ,mr4 ,chambers then made in support of his bill4 ,his first point was that ,god's law1--the name he always gave to the ,book of ,leviticus1--did not really forbid a man to marry his deceased wife's sister4 ,god's law not forbidding it1 the ,liberal maxim that a man's prime right and happiness is to do as he likes ought at once to come into force1 and to annul any such check upon the assertion of personal liberty as the prohibition to marry one's deceased wife's sister4 ,a distinguished ,liberal supporter of ,mr4 ,chambers1 in #bbc the debate which followed the introduction of the bill1 produced a formula of much beauty and neatness for conveying in brief the ,liberal notions on this head3 ,liberty1 said he1 is the law of human life4 ,and1 therefore1 the moment it is ascertained that ,god's law1 the ,book of ,leviticus1 does not stop the way1 man's law1 the law of liberty1 asserts its right1 and makes us free to marry our deceased wife's sister4 ,and this exactly falls in with what ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon1 who may almost be called the ,colenso of love and marriage1--such a revolution does he make in our ideas on these matters1 just as ,dr4 ,colenso does in our ideas on religion1--tells us of the notions and proceedings of our kinsmen in ,america4 ,with that affinity of genius to the ,hebrew genius which we have already noticed1 and with the strong belief of our race that liberty is the law of human life1 so far as a fixed1 perfect1 and paramount rule of conscience1 the ,bible1 does not expressly control it1 our ,american kinsmen go again1 ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon tells us1 to their ,bible1 the ,mormons to the patriarchs and the ,old ,testament1 ,brother ,noyes to ,st4 ,paul and the ,new1 and having never before read anything else but #bbd their ,bible1 they now read their ,bible over again1 and make all manner of great discoveries there4 ,all these discoveries are favourable to liberty1 and in this way is satisfied that double craving so characteristic of the ,philistine1 and so eminently exemplified in that crowned ,philistine1 ,henry the ,eighth1--the craving for forbidden fruit and the craving for legality4 ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon's eloquent writings give currency1 over here1 to these important discoveries2 so that now1 as regards love and marriage1 we seem to be entering1 with all our sails spread1 upon what ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon1 its apostle and evangelist1 calls a ,gothic ,revival1 but what one of the many newspapers that so greatly admire ,mr4 ,hepworth ,dixon's lithe and sinewy style and form their own style upon it1 calls1 by a yet bolder and more striking figure1 a great sexual insurrection of our ,anglo-,teutonic race4 ,for this end we have to avert our eyes from everything ,hellenic and fanciful1 and to keep them steadily fixed upon the two cardinal points of the ,bible and liberty4 ,and one of those practical operations in which the ,liberal party engage1 and in which we are summoned to join them1 directs itself entirely1 as we have seen1 to these cardinal points1 #bbe and may almost be regarded1 perhaps1 as a kind of first instalment or public and parliamentary pledge of the great sexual insurrection of our ,anglo-,teutonic race4 ,but here1 as elsewhere1 what we seek is the ,philistine's perfection1 the development of his best self1 not mere liberty for his ordinary self4 ,and we no more allow absolute validity to his stock maxim1 ,liberty is the law of human life1 than we allow it to the opposite maxim1 which is just as true1 ,renouncement is the law of human life4 ,for we know that the only perfect freedom is1 as our religion says1 a service2 not a service to any stock maxim1 but an elevation of our best self1 and a harmonising in subordination to this1 and to the idea of a perfected humanity1 all the multitudinous1 turbulent1 and blind impulses of our ordinary selves4 ,now1 the ,philistine's great defect being a defect in delicacy of perception1 to cultivate in him this delicacy1 to render it independent of external and mechanical rule1 and a law to itself1 is what seems to make most for his perfection1 his true humanity4 ,and his true humanity1 and therefore his happiness1 appears to lie much more1 so far as the relations of love and #bbf marriage are concerned1 in becoming alive to the finer shades of feeling which arise within these relations1 in being able to enter with tact and sympathy into the subtle instinctive propensions and repugnances of the person with whose life his own life is bound up1 to make them his own1 to direct and govern1 in harmony with them1 the arbitrary range of his personal action1 and thus to enlarge his spiritual and intellectual life and liberty1 than in remaining insensible to these finer shades of feeling1 this delicate sympathy1 in giving unchecked range1 so far as he can1 to his mere personal action1 in allowing no limits or government to this except such as a mechanical external law imposes1 and in thus really narrowing1 for the satisfaction of his ordinary self1 his spiritual and intellectual life and liberty4 ,still more must this be so when his fixed eternal rule1 his ,god's law1 is supplied to him from a source which is less fit1 perhaps1 to supply final and absolute instructions on this particular topic of love and marriage than on any other relation of human life4 ,bishop ,wilson1 who is full of examples of that fruitful ,hellenising within the limits of ,hebraism itself1 of that renewing of the #bbg stiff and stark notions of ,hebraism by turning upon them a stream of fresh thought and consciousness1 which we have already noticed in ,st4 ,paul1--,bishop ,wilson gives an admirable lesson to rigid ,hebraisers1 like ,mr4 ,chambers1 asking themselves3 ,does ,god's law 7that is1 the ,book of ,leviticus7 forbid us to marry our wife's sister8--,does ,god's law 7that is1 again1 the ,book of ,leviticus7 allow us to marry our wife's sister8--when he says3 ,christian duties are founded on reason1 not on the sovereign authority of ,god commanding what he pleases2 ,god cannot command us what is not fit to be believed or done1 all his commands being founded in the necessities of our nature4 ,and1 immense as is our debt to the ,hebrew race and its genius1 incomparable as is its authority on certain profoundly important sides of our human nature1 worthy as it is to be described as having uttered1 for those sides1 the voice of the deepest necessities of our nature1 the statutes of the divine and eternal order of things1 the law of ,god1--who1 that is not manacled and hoodwinked by his ,hebraism1 can believe that1 as to love and marriage1 our reason and the necessities of our humanity have their true1 #bbh sufficient1 and divine law expressed for them by the voice of any ,oriental and polygamous nation like the ,hebrews8 ,who1 ,i say1 will believe1 when he really considers the matter1 that where the feminine nature1 the feminine ideal1 and our relations to them1 are brought into question1 the delicate and apprehensive genius of the ,indo-,european race1 the race which invented the ,muses1 and chivalry1 and the ,madonna1 is to find its last word on this question in the institutions of a ,semitic people1 whose wisest king had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines8 ,if here again1 therefore1 we seem to minister better to the diseased spirit of our time by leading it to think about the operation our ,liberal friends have in hand1 than by lending a hand to this operation ourselves1 let us see1 before we dismiss from our view the practical operations of our ,liberal friends1 whether the same thing does not hold good as to their celebrated industrial and economical labours also4 ,their great work of this kind is1 of course1 their free-trade policy4 ,this policy1 as having enabled the poor man to eat untaxed bread1 and as having wonderfully augmented trade1 we #bbi are accustomed to speak of with a kind of solemnity2 it is chiefly on their having been our leaders in this policy that ,mr4 ,bright founds for himself and his friends the claim1 so often asserted by him1 to be considered guides of the blind1 teachers of the ignorant1 benefactors slowly and laboriously developing in the ,conservative party and in the country that which ,mr4 ,bright is fond of calling the growth of intelligence1--the object1 as is well known1 of all the friends of culture also1 and the great end and aim of the culture that we preach4 ,now1 having first saluted free-trade and its doctors with all respect1 let us see whether even here1 too1 our ,liberal friends do not pursue their operations in a mechanical way1 without reference to any firm intelligible law of things1 to human life as a whole1 and human happiness2 and whether it is not more for our good1 at this particular moment at any rate1 if1 instead of worshipping free-trade with them ,hebraistically1 as a kind of fetish1 and helping them to pursue it as an end in and for itself1 we turn the free stream of our thought upon their treatment of it1 and see how this is related to the intelligible law of human life1 and to national well- #bcj being and happiness4 ,in short1 suppose we ,hellenise a little with free-trade1 as we ,hellenised with the ,real ,estate ,intestacy ,bill1 and with the disestablishment of the ,irish ,church by the power of the ,nonconformists' antipathy to religious establishments and endowments1 and see whether what our reprovers beautifully call ministering to the diseased spirit of our time is best done by the ,hellenising method of proceeding1 or by the other4 ,but first let us understand how the policy of free-trade really shapes itself for our ,liberal friends1 and how they practically employ it as an instrument of national happiness and salvation4 ,for as we said that it seemed clearly right to prevent the ,church property of ,ireland from being all taken for the benefit of the ,church of a small minority1 so it seems clearly right that the poor man should eat untaxed bread1 and1 generally1 that restrictions and regulations which1 for the supposed benefit of some particular person or class of persons1 make the price of things artificially high here1 or artificially low there1 and interfere with the natural flow of trade and commerce1 should be done away with4 ,but in the policy of our ,liberal friends free-trade #bca means more than this1 and is specially valued as a stimulant to the production of wealth1 as they call it1 and to the increase of the trade1 business1 and population of the country4 ,we have already seen how these things1--trade1 business1 and population1--are mechanically pursued by us as ends precious in themselves1 and are worshipped as what we call fetishes2 and ,mr4 ,bright1 ,i have already said1 when he wishes to give the working-class a true sense of what makes glory and greatness1 tells it to look at the cities it has built1 the railroads it has made1 the manufactures it has produced4 ,so to this idea of glory and greatness the free-trade which our ,liberal friends extol so solemnly and devoutly has served1--to the increase of trade1 business1 and population2 and for this it is prized4 ,therefore1 the untaxing of the poor man's bread has1 with this view of national happiness1 been used1 not so much to make the existing poor man's bread cheaper or more abundant1 but rather to create more poor men to eat it2 so that we cannot precisely say that we have fewer poor men than we had before free-trade1 but we can say with truth that we have many more centres of industry1 as they are called1 and much #bcb more business1 population1 and manufactures4 ,and if we are sometimes a little troubled by our multitude of poor men1 yet we know the increase of manufactures and population to be such a salutary thing in itself1 and our free-trade policy begets such an admirable movement1 creating fresh centres of industry and fresh poor men here1 while we were thinking about our poor men there1 that we are quite dazzled and borne away1 and more and more industrial movement is called for1 and our social progress seems to become one triumphant and enjoyable course of what is sometimes called1 vulgarly1 outrunning the constable4 ,if1 however1 taking some other criterion of man's well-being than the cities he has built and the manufactures he has produced1 we persist in thinking that our social progress would be happier if there were not so many of us so very poor1 and in busying ourselves with notions of in some way or other adjusting the poor man and business one to the other1 and not multiplying the one and the other mechanically and blindly1 then our ,liberal friends1 the appointed doctors of free- trade1 take us up very sharply4 ,art is long1 says ,the ,times1 and life #bcc is short2 for the most part we settle things first and understand them afterwards4 ,let us have as few theories as possible2 what is wanted is not the light of speculation4 ,if nothing worked well of which the theory was not perfectly understood1 we should be in sad confusion4 ,the relations of labour and capital1 we are told1 are not understood1 yet trade and commerce1 on the whole1 work satisfactorily4 ,i quote from ,the ,times of only the other day4 ,but thoughts like these1 as ,i have often pointed out1 are thoroughly ,british thoughts1 and we have been familiar with them for years4 ,or1 if we want more of a philosophy of the matter than this1 our free-trade friends have two axioms for us1 axioms laid down by their justly esteemed doctors1 which they think ought to satisfy us entirely4 ,one is1 that1 other things being equal1 the more population increases1 the more does production increase to keep pace with it2 because men by their numbers and contact call forth all manner of activities and resources in one another and in nature1 which1 when men are few and sparse1 are never developed4 ,the other is1 that1 although population always tends to equal the means of #bcd subsistence1 yet people's notions of what subsistence is enlarge as civilisation advances1 and take in a number of things beyond the bare necessaries of life2 and thus1 therefore1 is supplied whatever check on population is needed4 ,but the error of our friends is just1 perhaps1 that they apply axioms of this sort as if they were self-acting laws which will put themselves into operation without trouble or planning on our part1 if we will only pursue free-trade1 business1 and population zealously and staunchly4 ,whereas the real truth is1 that1 however the case might be under other circumstances1 yet in fact1 as we now manage the matter1 the enlarged conception of what is included in subsistence does not operate to prevent the bringing into the world of numbers of people who but just attain to the barest necessaries of life or who even fail to attain to them2 while1 again1 though production may increase as population increases1 yet it seems that the production may be of such a kind1 and so related1 or rather non-related1 to population1 that the population may be little the better for it4 ,for instance1 with the increase of population since ,queen ,elizabeth's time the production of silk- stockings has wonderfully increased1 and silk- #bce stockings have become much cheaper and procurable in much greater abundance by many more people1 and tend perhaps1 as population and manufactures increase1 to get cheaper and cheaper1 and at last to become1 according to ,bastiat's favourite image1 a common free property of the human race1 like light and air4 ,but bread and bacon have not become much cheaper with the increase of population since ,queen ,elizabeth's time1 nor procurable in much greater abundance by many more people2 neither do they seem at all to promise to become1 like light and air1 a common free property of the human race4 ,and if bread and bacon have not kept pace with our population1 and we have many more people in want of them now than in ,queen ,elizabeth's time1 it seems vain to tell us that silk-stockings have kept pace with our population1 or even more than kept pace with it1 and that we are to get our comfort out of that4 ,in short1 it turns out that our pursuit of free-trade1 as of so many other things1 has been too mechanical4 ,we fix upon some object1 which in this case is the production of wealth1 and the increase of manufactures1 population1 and commerce through free- #bcf trade1 as a kind of one thing needful1 or end in itself1 and then we pursue it staunchly and mechanically1 and say that it is our duty to pursue it staunchly and mechanically1 not to see how it is related to the whole intelligible law of things and to full human perfection1 or to treat it as the piece of machinery1 of varying value as its relations to the intelligible law of things vary1 which it really is4 ,so it is of no use to say to ,the ,times1 and to our ,liberal friends rejoicing in the possession of their talisman of free-trade1 that about one in nineteen of our population is a pauper1 and that1 this being so1 trade and commerce can hardly be said to prove by their satisfactory working that it matters nothing whether the relations between labour and capital are understood or not2 nay1 that we can hardly be said not to be in sad confusion4 ,for here comes in our faith in the staunch mechanical pursuit of a fixed object1 and covers itself with that imposing and colossal necessitarianism of ,the ,times which we have before noticed4 ,and this necessitarianism1 taking for granted that an increase in trade and population is a good in itself1 one of the chiefest of goods1 tells us that disturbances of #bcg human happiness caused by ebbs and flows in the tide of trade and business1 which1 on the whole1 steadily mounts1 are inevitable and not to be quarrelled with4 ,this firm philosophy ,i seek to call to mind when ,i am in the ,east of ,london1 whither my avocations often lead me2 and1 indeed1 to fortify myself against the depressing sights which on these occasions assail us1 ,i have transcribed from ,the ,times one strain of this kind1 full of the finest economical doctrine1 and always carry it about with me4 ,the passage is this3-- ,the ,east ,end is the most commercial1 the most industrial1 the most fluctuating region of the metropolis4 ,it is always the first to suffer2 for it is the creature of prosperity1 and falls to the ground the instant there is no wind to bear it up4 ,the whole of that region is covered with huge docks1 shipyards1 manufactories1 and a wilderness of small houses1 all full of life and happiness in brisk times1 but in dull times withered and lifeless1 like the deserts we read of in the ,east4 ,now their brief spring is over4 ,there is no one to blame for this2 it is the result of ,nature's simplest laws6 ,we must all agree that it is impossible that #bch anything can be firmer than this1 or show a surer faith in the working of free-trade1 as our ,liberal friends understand and employ it4 ,but1 if we still at all doubt whether the indefinite multiplication of manufactories and small houses can be such an absolute good in itself as to counterbalance the indefinite multiplication of poor people1 we shall learn that this multiplication of poor people1 too1 is an absolute good in itself1 and the result of divine and beautiful laws4 ,this is indeed a favourite thesis with our ,philistine friends1 and ,i have already noticed the pride and gratitude with which they receive certain articles in ,the ,times1 dilating in thankful and solemn language on the majestic growth of our population4 ,but ,i prefer to quote now1 on this topic1 the words of an ingenious young ,scotch writer1 ,mr4 ,robert ,buchanan1 because he invests with so much imagination and poetry this current idea of the blessed and even divine character which the multiplying of population is supposed in itself to have4 ,we move to multiplicity1 says ,mr4 ,robert ,buchanan4 ,if there is one quality which seems ,god's1 and his exclusively1 it seems that divine philoprogenitiveness1 #bci that passionate love of distribution and expansion into living forms4 ,every animal added seems a new ecstasy to the ,maker2 every life added1 a new embodiment of his love4 ,he would swarm the earth with beings4 ,there are never enough4 ,life1 life1 life1--faces gleaming1 hearts beating1 must fill every cranny4 ,not a corner is suffered to remain empty4 ,the whole earth breeds1 and ,god glories4 ,it is a little unjust1 perhaps1 to attribute to the ,divinity exclusively this philoprogenitiveness1 which the ,british ,philistine1 and the poorer class of ,irish1 may certainly claim to share with him2 yet how inspiriting is here the whole strain of thought6 and these beautiful words1 too1 ,i carry about with me in the ,east of ,london1 and often read them there4 ,they are quite in agreement with the popular language one is accustomed to hear about children and large families1 which describes children as sent4 ,and a line of poetry which ,mr4 ,robert ,buchanan throws in presently after the poetical prose ,i have quoted3-- ',tis the old story of the fig-leaf time-- this fine line1 too1 naturally connects itself1 when one is in the ,east of ,london1 with the idea of ,god's #bdj desire to swarm the earth with beings2 because the swarming of the earth with beings does indeed1 in the ,east of ,london1 so seem to revive 4 4 4 the old story of the fig-leaf time-- such a number of the people one meets there having hardly a rag to cover them2 and the more the swarming goes on1 the more it promises to revive this old story4 ,and when the story is perfectly revived1 the swarming quite completed1 and every cranny choke-full1 then1 too1 no doubt1 the faces in the ,east of ,london will be gleaming faces1 which ,mr4 ,robert ,buchanan says it is ,god's desire they should be1 and which every one must perceive they are not at present1 but1 on the contrary1 very miserable4 ,but to prevent all this philosophy and poetry from quite running away with us1 and making us think with ,the ,times1 and our practical ,liberal free-traders1 and the ,british ,philistines generally1 that the increase of small houses and manufactories1 or the increase of population1 are absolute goods in themselves1 to be mechanically pursued1 and to be worshipped like fetishes1--to prevent this1 we have got that notion of ours immoveably fixed1 of which ,i #bda have long ago spoken1 the notion that culture1 or the study of perfection1 leads us to conceive of no perfection as being real which is not a general perfection1 embracing all our fellow-men with whom we have to do4 ,such is the sympathy which binds humanity together1 that we are indeed1 as our religion says1 members of one body1 and if one member suffer1 all the members suffer with it2 individual perfection is impossible so long as the rest of mankind are not perfected along with us4 ,the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the world1 says the wise man4 ,and to this effect that excellent and often quoted guide of ours1 ,bishop ,wilson1 has some striking words3--,it is not1 says he1 so much our neighbour's interest as our own that we love him4 ,and again he says3 ,our salvation does in some measure depend upon that of others4 ,and the author of the ,imitation puts the same thing admirably when he says3--,obscurior etiam via ad coelum videbatur quando tam pauci regnum coelorum quaerere curabant1--the fewer there are who follow the way to perfection1 the harder that way is to find4 ,so all our fellow-men1 in the ,east of ,london and elsewhere1 we must take along with us in the progress towards perfection1 #bdb if we ourselves really1 as we profess1 want to be perfect2 and we must not let the worship of any fetish1 any machinery1 such as manufactures or population1--which are not1 like perfection1 absolute goods in themselves1 though we think them so1-- create for us such a multitude of miserable1 sunken1 and ignorant human beings1 that to carry them all along with us is impossible1 and perforce they must for the most part be left by us in their degradation and wretchedness4 ,but evidently the conception of free- trade1 on which our ,liberal friends vaunt themselves1 and in which they think they have found the secret of national prosperity1-- evidently1 ,i say1 the mere unfettered pursuit of the production of wealth1 and the mere mechanical multiplying1 for this end1 of manufactures and population1 threatens to create for us1 if it has not created already1 those vast1 miserable1 unmanageable masses of sunken people1--one pauper1 at the present moment1 for every nineteen of us1--to the existence of which we are1 as we have seen1 absolutely forbidden to reconcile ourselves1 in spite of all that the philosophy of ,the ,times and the poetry of ,mr4 ,robert ,buchanan may say to persuade us4 #bdc ,and though ,hebraism1 following its best and highest instinct1-- identical1 as we have seen1 with that of ,hellenism in its final aim1 the aim of perfection1--teaches us this very clearly2 and though from ,hebraising counsellors1--the ,bible1 ,bishop ,wilson1 the author of the ,imitation1--,i have preferred 7as well ,i may1 for from this rock of ,hebraism we are all hewn67 to draw the texts which we use to bring home to our minds this teaching2 yet ,hebraism seems powerless1 almost as powerless as our free-trading ,liberal friends1 to deal efficaciously with our ever-accumulating masses of pauperism1 and to prevent their accumulating still more4 ,hebraism builds churches1 indeed1 for these masses1 and sends missionaries among them2 above all1 it sets itself against the social necessitarianism of ,the ,times1 and refuses to accept their degradation as inevitable2 but with regard to their ever-increasing accumulation1 it seems to be led to the very same conclusions1 though from a point of view of its own1 as our free-trading ,liberal friends4 ,hebraism1 with that mechanical and misleading use of the letter of ,scripture on which we have already commented1 is governed by such texts as3 ,be fruitful and multiply1 the edict of #bdd ,god's law1 as ,mr4 ,chambers would say2 or by the declaration of what he would call ,god's words in the ,psalms1 that the man who has a great number of children is thereby made happy4 ,and in conjunction with such texts as these it is apt to place another text3 ,the poor shall never cease out of the land4 ,thus ,hebraism is conducted to nearly the same notion as the popular mind and as ,mr4 ,robert ,buchanan1 that children are sent1 and that the divine nature takes a delight in swarming the ,east ,end of ,london with paupers4 ,only1 when they are perishing in their helplessness and wretchedness1 it asserts the ,christian duty of succouring them1 instead of saying1 like ,the ,times3 ,now their brief spring is over2 there is nobody to blame for this2 it is the result of ,nature's simplest laws6 ,but1 like ,the ,times1 ,hebraism despairs of any help from knowledge and says that what is wanted is not the light of speculation4 ,i remember1 only the other day1 a good man1 looking with me upon a multitude of children who were gathered before us in one of the most miserable regions of ,london1--children eaten up with disease1 half-sized1 half- fed1 half-clothed1 neglected by their parents1 without health1 without #bde home1 without hope1--said to me3 ,the one thing really needful is to teach these little ones to succour one another1 if only with a cup of cold water2 but now1 from one end of the country to the other1 one hears nothing but the cry for knowledge1 knowledge1 knowledge6 ,and yet surely1 so long as these children are there in these festering masses1 without health1 without home1 without hope1 and so long as their multitude is perpetually swelling1 charged with misery they must still be for themselves1 charged with misery they must still be for us1 whether they help one another with a cup of cold water or no2 and the knowledge how to prevent their accumulating is necessary1 even to give their moral life and growth a fair chance6 ,may we not1 therefore1 say1 that neither the true ,hebraism of this good man1 willing to spend and be spent for these sunken multitudes1 nor what ,i may call the spurious ,hebraism of our free-trading ,liberal friends1--mechanically worshipping their fetish of the production of wealth and of the increase of manufactures and population1 and looking neither to the right nor left so long as this increase goes on1--avail us much here2 and that here1 again1 what we #bdf want is ,hellenism1 the letting our consciousness play freely and simply upon the facts before us1 and listening to what it tells us of the intelligible law of things as concerns them8 ,and surely what it tells us is1 that a man's children are not really sent1 any more than the pictures upon his wall1 or the horses in his stable1 are sent2 and that to bring people into the world1 when one cannot afford to keep them and oneself decently and not too precariously1 or to bring more of them into the world than one can afford to keep thus1 is1 whatever ,the ,times and ,mr4 ,robert ,buchanan may say1 by no means an accomplishment of the divine will or a fulfilment of ,nature's simplest laws1 but is just as wrong1 just as contrary to reason and the will of ,god1 as for a man to have horses1 or carriages1 or pictures1 when he cannot afford them1 or to have more of them than he can afford2 and that1 in the one case as in the other1 the larger the scale on which the violation of reason's laws is practised1 and the longer it is persisted in1 the greater must be the confusion and final trouble4 ,surely no laudations of free-trade1 no meetings of bishops and clergy in the ,east ,end of ,london1 no reading of papers and reports1 can tell #bdg us anything about our social condition which it more concerns us to know than that6 and not only to know1 but habitually to have the knowledge present1 and to act upon it as one acts upon the knowledge that water wets and fire burns6 ,and not only the sunken populace of our great cities are concerned to know it1 and the pauper twentieth of our population2 we ,philistines of the middle-class1 too1 are concerned to know it1 and all who have to set themselves to make progress in perfection4 ,but we all know it already6 some one will say2 it is the simplest law of prudence4 ,but how little reality must there be in our knowledge of it2 how little can we be putting it in practice2 how little is it likely to penetrate among the poor and struggling masses of our population1 and to better our condition1 so long as an unintelligent ,hebraism of one sort keeps repeating as an absolute eternal word of ,god the psalm-verse which says that the man who has a great many children is happy2 or an unintelligent ,hebraism of another sort keeps assigning as an absolute proof of national prosperity the multiplying of manufactures and population6 ,surely1 the one set of ,hebraisers have #bdh to learn that their psalm-verse was composed at the resettlement of ,jerusalem after the ,captivity1 when the ,jews of ,jerusalem were a handful1 an undermanned garrison1 and every child was a blessing2 and that the word of ,god1 or the voice of the divine order of things1 declares the possession of a great many children to be a blessing only when it really is so6 ,and the other set of ,hebraisers1 have they not to learn that if they call their private acquaintances imprudent and unlucky1 when1 with no means of support for them or with precarious means1 they have a large family of children1 then they ought not to call the ,state well managed and prosperous merely because its manufactures and its citizens multiply1 if the manufactures1 which bring new citizens into existence just as much as if they had actually begotten them1 bring more of them into existence than they can maintain1 or are too precarious to go on maintaining those whom for a while they maintained8 ,hellenism1 surely1 or the habit of fixing our mind upon the intelligible law of things1 is most salutary if it makes us see that the only absolute good1 the only absolute and eternal object prescribed to us by ,god's law1 or the divine order of #bdi things1 is the progress towards perfection1--our own progress towards it and the progress of humanity4 ,and therefore1 for every individual man1 and for every society of men1 the possession and multiplication of children1 like the possession and multiplication of horses and pictures1 is to be accounted good or bad1 not in itself1 but with reference to this object and the progress towards it4 ,and as no man is to be excused in having horses or pictures1 if his having them hinders his own or others' progress towards perfection and makes them lead a servile and ignoble life1 so is no man to be excused for having children if his having them makes him or others lead this4 ,plain thoughts of this kind are surely the spontaneous product of our consciousness1 when it is allowed to play freely and disinterestedly upon the actual facts of our social condition1 and upon our stock notions and stock habits in respect to it4 ,firmly grasped and simply uttered1 they are more likely1 one cannot but think1 to better that condition1 and to diminish our formidable rate of one pauper to every nineteen of us1 than is the ,hebraising and mechanical pursuit of free-trade by our ,liberal friends4 ,so that1 here as elsewhere1 the practical operations #bej of our ,liberal friends1 by which they set so much store1 and in which they invite us to join them and to show what ,mr4 ,bright calls a commendable interest1 do not seem to us so practical for real good as they think2 and our ,liberal friends seem to us themselves to need to ,hellenise1 as we say1 a little1--that is1 to examine into the nature of real good1 and to listen to what their consciousness tells them about it1--rather than to pursue with such heat and confidence their present practical operations4 ,and it is clear that they have no just cause1 so far as regards several operations of theirs which we have canvassed1 to reproach us with delicate ,conservative scepticism2 for often by ,hellenising we seem to subvert stock ,conservative notions and usages more effectually than they subvert them by ,hebraising4 ,but1 in truth1 the free spontaneous play of consciousness with which culture tries to float our stock habits of thinking and acting1 is by its very nature1 as has been said1 disinterested4 ,sometimes the result of floating them may be agreeable to this party1 sometimes to that2 now it may be unwelcome to our so-called ,liberals1 now to our so-called ,conservatives2 but what culture seeks is1 above all1 to float them1 to #bea prevent their being stiff and stark pieces of petrifaction any longer4 ,it is mere ,hebraising1 if we stop short1 and refuse to let our consciousness play freely1 whenever we or our friends do not happen to like what it discovers to us4 ,this is to make the ,liberal party1 or the ,conservative party1 our one thing needful1 instead of human perfection2 and we have seen what mischief arises from making an even greater thing than the ,liberal or the ,conservative party1--the predominance of the moral side in man1--our one thing needful4 ,but wherever the free play of our consciousness leads us1 we shall follow2 believing that in this way we shall tend to make good at all points what is wanting to us1 and so shall be brought nearer to our complete human perfection4 ,thus we may often1 perhaps1 praise much that a so-called ,liberal thinks himself forbidden to praise1 and yet blame much that a so- called ,conservative thinks himself forbidden to blame1 because these are both of them partisans1 and no partisan can afford to be thus disinterested4 ,but we who are not partisans can afford it2 and so1 after we have seen what ,nonconformists lose by being locked up in their ,new ,road forms of religious institution1 #beb we can let ourselves see1 on the other hand1 how their ministers1 in a time of movement of ideas like our present time1 are apt to be more exempt than the ministers of a great ,church establishment from that self- confidence1 and sense of superiority to such a movement1 which are natural to a powerful hierarchy2 and which in ,archdeacon ,denison1 for instance1 seem almost carried to such a pitch that they may become1 one cannot but fear1 his spiritual ruin4 ,but seeing this does not dispose us1 therefore1 to lock up all the nation in forms of worship of the ,new ,road type2 but it points us to the quite new ideal1 of combining grand and national forms of worship with an openness and movement of mind not yet found in any hierarchy4 ,so1 again1 if we see what is called ritualism making conquests in our ,puritan middle- class1 we may rejoice that portions of this class should have become alive to the aesthetical weakness of their position1 even although they have not yet become alive to the intellectual weakness of it4 ,in ,puritanism1 on the other hand1 we can respect that idea of dealing sincerely with oneself1 which is at once the great force of ,puritanism1--,puritanism's great superiority over all products1 like ritualism1 of our ,catholicising #bec tendencies1--and also an idea rich in the latent seeds of intellectual promise4 ,but we do this1 without on that account hiding from ourselves that ,puritanism has by ,hebraising misapplied that idea1 has as yet developed none or hardly one of those seeds1 and that its triumph at its present stage of development would be baneful4 ,everything1 in short1 confirms us in the doctrine1 so unpalatable to the believers in action1 that our main business at the present moment is not so much to work away at certain crude reforms of which we have already the scheme in our own mind1 as to create1 through the help of that culture which at the very outset we began by praising and recommending1 a frame of mind out of which really fruitful reforms may with time grow4 ,at any rate1 we ourselves must put up with our friends' impatience1 and with their reproaches against cultivated inaction1 and must still decline to lend a hand to their practical operations1 until we1 for our own part at least1 have grown a little clearer about the nature of real good1 and have arrived nearer to a condition of mind out of which really fruitful and solid operations may spring4 ,in the meanwhile1 since our ,liberal friends keep #bed loudly and resolutely assuring us that their actual operations at present are fruitful and solid1 let us in each case keep testing these operations in the simple way we have indicated1 by letting the natural stream of our consciousness flow over them freely2 and if they stand this test successfully1 then let us give them our commendable interest1 but not else4 ,for example4 ,our ,liberal friends assure us1 at the very top of their voices1 that their present actual operation for the disestablishment of the ,irish ,church is fruitful and solid4 ,but what if1 on testing it1 the truth appears to be1 that the statesmen and reasonable people of both parties wished for much the same thing1-- the fair apportionment of the church property of ,ireland among the principal religious bodies there2 but that1 behind the statesmen and reasonable people1 there was1 on one side1 a mass of ,tory prejudice1 and1 on the other1 a mass of ,nonconformist prejudice1 to which such an arrangement was unpalatable8 ,well1 the natural way1 one thinks1 would have been for the statesmen and reasonable people of both sides to have united1 and to have allayed and dissipated1 so far as they could1 the resistance of their respective extremes1 and where #bee they could not1 to have confronted it in concert4 ,but we see that1 instead of this1 ,liberal statesmen waited to trip up their rivals1 if they proposed the arrangement which both knew to be reasonable1 by means of the prejudice of their own ,nonconformist extreme2 and then1 themselves proposing an arrangement to flatter this prejudice1 made the other arrangement1 which they themselves knew to be reasonable1 out of the question2 and drove their rivals in their turn to blow up with all their might1 in the hope of baffling them1 a great fire1 among their own ,tory extreme1 of fierce prejudice and religious bigotry1--a fire which1 once kindled1 may always very easily spread further8 ,if1 ,i say1 on testing the present operation of our ,liberal friends for the disestablishment of the ,irish ,church1 the truth about it appears to be very much this1 then1 ,i think1--even with a triumphant ,liberal majority1 and with our ,liberal friends making impassioned appeals to us to take a commendable interest in their operation and them1 and to rally round what ,sir ,henry ,hoare 7who may be described1 perhaps1 as a ,barbarian converted to ,philistinism1 as ,i1 on the other hand1 seem to be a ,philistine converted to culture7 finely calls the conscientiousness of a #bef ,gladstone and the intellect of a ,bright1--it is rather our duty to abstain1 and1 instead of lending a hand to the operation of our ,liberal friends1 to do what we can to abate and dissolve the mass of prejudice1 ,tory or ,nonconformist1 which makes so doubtfully begotten and equivocal an operation as the present1 producible and possible4 ,and so we bring to an end what we had to say in praise of culture1 and in evidence of its special utility for the circumstances in which we find ourselves1 and the confusion which environs us4 ,through culture seems to lie our way1 not only to perfection1 but even to safety4 ,resolutely refusing to lend a hand to the imperfect operations of our ,liberal friends1 disregarding their impatience1 taunts1 and reproaches1 firmly bent on trying to find in the intelligible law of things a firmer and sounder basis for future practice than any which we have at present1 and believing this search and discovery to be1 for our generation and circumstances1 of yet more vital and pressing importance than practice itself1 we nevertheless may do #beg more1 perhaps1 we poor disparaged followers of culture1 to make the actual present1 and the frame of society in which we live1 solid and seaworthy1 than all which our bustling politicians can do4 ,for we have seen how much of our disorders and perplexities is due to the disbelief1 among the classes and combinations of men1 ,barbarian or ,philistine1 which have hitherto governed our society1 in right reason1 in a paramount best self2 to the inevitable decay and break-up of the organisations by which1 asserting and expressing in these organisations their ordinary self only1 they have so long ruled us2 and to their irresolution1 when the society1 which their conscience tells them they have made and still manage not with right reason but with their ordinary self1 is rudely shaken1 in offering resistance to its subverters4 ,but for us1--who believe in right reason1 in the duty and possibility of extricating and elevating our best self1 in the progress of humanity towards perfection1--for us the framework of society1 that theatre on which this august drama has to unroll itself1 is sacred2 and whoever administers it1 and however we may seek to remove them from the tenure of administration1 yet1 while they administer1 #beh we steadily and with undivided heart support them in repressing anarchy and disorder2 because without order there can be no society1 and without society there can be no human perfection4 ,with me1 indeed1 this rule of conduct is hereditary4 ,i remember my father1 in one of his unpublished letters written more than forty years ago1 when the political and social state of the country was gloomy and troubled1 and there were riots in many places1 goes on1 after strongly insisting on the badness and foolishness of the government1 and on the harm and dangerousness of our feudal and aristocratical constitution of society1 and ends thus3 ,as for rioting1 the old ,roman way of dealing with that is always the right one2 flog the rank and file1 and fling the ringleaders from the ,tarpeian ,rock6 ,and this opinion we can never forsake1 however our ,liberal friends may think a little rioting1 and what they call popular demonstrations1 useful sometimes to their own interests and to the interests of the valuable practical operations they have in hand1 and however they may preach the right of an ,englishman to be left to do as far as possible what he likes1 and the duty of his government to indulge him and connive as much as #bei possible and abstain from all harshness of repression4 ,and even when they artfully show us operations which are undoubtedly precious1 such as the abolition of the slave-trade1 and ask us if1 for their sake1 foolish and obstinate governments may not wholesomely be frightened by a little disturbance1 the good design in view and the difficulty of overcoming opposition to it being considered1--still we say no1 and that monster processions in the streets and forcible irruptions into the parks1 even in professed support of this good design1 ought to be unflinchingly forbidden and repressed2 and that far more is lost than is gained by permitting them4 ,because a ,state in which law is authoritative and sovereign1 a firm and settled course of public order1 is requisite if man is to bring to maturity anything precious and lasting now1 or to found anything precious and lasting for the future4 ,thus1 in our eyes1 the very framework and exterior order of the ,state1 whoever may administer the ,state1 is sacred2 and culture is the most resolute enemy of anarchy1 because of the great hopes and designs for the ,state which culture teaches us to nourish4 ,but as1 believing in right reason1 and having faith in the progress of humanity #bfj towards perfection1 and ever labouring for this end1 we grow to have clearer sight of the ideas of right reason1 and of the elements and helps of perfection1 and come gradually to fill the framework of the ,state with them1 to fashion its internal composition and all its laws and institutions conformably to them1 and to make the ,state more and more the expression1 as we say1 of our best self1 which is not manifold1 and vulgar1 and unstable1 and contentious1 and ever-varying1 but one1 and noble1 and secure1 and peaceful1 and the same for all mankind1--with what aversion shall we not then regard anarchy1 with what firmness shall we not check it1 when there is so much that is so precious which it will endanger6 ,so that1 for the sake of the present1 but far more for the sake of the future1 the lovers of culture are unswervingly and with a good conscience the opposers of anarchy4 ,and not as the ,barbarians and ,philistines1 whose honesty and whose sense of humour make them shrink1 as we have seen1 from treating the ,state as too serious a thing1 and from giving it too much power2--for indeed the only ,state they know of1 and think they administer1 is the expression of their ordinary self2 and though the headstrong and violent #bfa extreme among them might gladly arm this with full authority1 yet their virtuous mean is1 as we have said1 pricked in conscience at doing this1 and so our ,barbarian ,secretaries of ,state let the ,park railings be broken down1 and our ,philistine ,alderman-,colonels let the ,london roughs rob and beat the bystanders4 ,but we1 beholding in the ,state no expression of our ordinary self1 but even already1 as it were1 the appointed frame and prepared vessel of our best self1 and1 for the future1 our best self's powerful1 beneficent1 and sacred expression and organ1--we are willing and resolved1 even now1 to strengthen against anarchy the trembling hands of our ,barbarian ,home ,secretaries1 and the feeble knees of our ,philistine ,alderman-,colonels2 and to tell them1 that it is not really in behalf of their own ordinary self that they are called to protect the ,park railings1 and to suppress the ,london roughs1 but in behalf of the best self both of themselves and of all of us in the future4 ,nevertheless1 though for resisting anarchy the lovers of culture may prize and employ fire and strength1 yet they must1 at the same time1 bear constantly in mind that it is not at this moment true1 what the majority of people tell us1 that the world #bfb wants fire and strength more than sweetness and light1 and that things are for the most part to be settled first and understood afterwards4 ,we have seen how much of our present perplexities and confusion this untrue notion of the majority of people amongst us has caused1 and tends to perpetuate4 ,therefore the true business of the friends of culture now is1 to dissipate this false notion1 to spread the belief in right reason and in a firm intelligible law of things1 and to get men to allow their thought and consciousness to play on their stock notions and habits disinterestedly and freely2 to get men to try1 in preference to staunchly acting with imperfect knowledge1 to obtain some sounder basis of knowledge on which to act4 ,this is what the friends and lovers of culture have to do1 however the believers in action may grow impatient with us for saying so1 and may insist on our lending a hand to their practical operations1 and showing a commendable interest in them4 ,to this insistence we must indeed turn a deaf ear4 ,but neither1 on the other hand1 must the friends of culture expect to take the believers in action by storm1 or to be visibly and speedily important1 and to rule and cut a figure in the world4 ,aristotle says1 #bfc that those for whom ideas and the pursuit of the intelligible law of things can have much attraction1 are principally the young1 filled with generous spirit and with a passion for perfection2 but the mass of mankind1 he says1 follow seeming goods for real1 bestowing hardly a thought upon true sweetness and light2-- and to their lives1 he adds mournfully1 who can give another and a better rhythm8 ,but1 although those chiefly attracted by sweetness and light will probably always be the young and enthusiastic1 and culture must not hope to take the mass of mankind by storm1 yet we will not therefore1 for our own day and for our own people1 admit and rest in the desponding sentence of ,aristotle4 ,for is not this the right crown of the long discipline of ,hebraism1 and the due fruit of mankind's centuries of painful schooling in self-conquest1 and the just reward1 above all1 of the strenuous energy of our own nation and kindred in dealing honestly with itself and walking steadfastly according to the best light it knows1--that1 when in the fulness of time it has reason and beauty offered to it1 and the law of things as they really are1 it should at last walk by this true light with the same staunchness #bfd and zeal with which it formerly walked by its imperfect light2 and thus man's two great natural forces1 ,hebraism and ,hellenism1 should no longer be dissociated and rival1 but should be a joint force of right thinking and strong doing to carry him on towards perfection8 ,this is what the lovers of culture may perhaps dare to augur for such a nation as ours4 ,therefore1 however great the changes to be accomplished1 and however dense the array of ,barbarians1 ,philistines1 and ,populace1 we will neither despair on the one hand1 nor1 on the other1 threaten violent revolution and change4 ,but we will look forward cheerfully and hopefully to a revolution1 as the ,duke of ,wellington said1 by due course of law2 though not exactly such laws as our ,liberal friends are now1 with their actual lights1 fond of offering us4 ,but if despondency and violence are both of them forbidden to the believer in culture1 yet neither1 on the other hand1 is public life and direct political action much permitted to him4 ,for it is his business1 as we have seen1 to get the present believers in action1 and lovers of political talking and doing1 to make a return upon their own minds1 scrutinise their stock notions and habits much more1 value their present #bfe talking and doing much less2 in order that1 by learning to think more clearly1 they may come at last to act less confusedly4 ,but how shall we persuade our ,barbarian to hold lightly to his feudal usages2 how shall we persuade our ,nonconformist that his time spent in agitating for the abolition of church-rates would have been better spent in getting worthier ideas than churchmen have of ,god and the ordering of the world1 or his time spent in battling for voluntaryism in education better spent in learning to value and found a public and national culture2 how shall we persuade1 finally1 our ,alderman-,colonel not to be content with sitting in the hall of judgment or marching at the head of his men of war1 without some knowledge how to perform judgment and how to direct men of war1--how1 ,i say1 shall we persuade all these of this1 if our ,alderman-,colonel sees that we want to get his leading-staff and his scales of justice for our own hands2 or the ,nonconformist1 that we want for ourselves his platform2 or the ,barbarian1 that we want for ourselves his pre- eminency and function8 ,certainly they will be less slow to believe1 as we want them to believe1 that the intelligible law of things has in itself something desirable and #bff precious1 and that all place1 function1 and bustle are hollow goods without it1 if they see that we can content ourselves with it1 and find in it our satisfaction1 without making it an instrument to give us for ourselves place1 function1 and bustle4 ,and although ,mr4 ,sidgwick says that social usefulness really means losing oneself in a mass of disagreeable1 hard1 mechanical details1 and though all the believers in action are fond of asserting the same thing1 yet1 as to lose ourselves is not what we want1 but to find the intelligible law of things1 this assertion too we shall not blindly accept1 but shall sift and try it a little first4 ,and if we see that because the believers in action1 forgetting ,goethe's maxim1 to act is easy1 to think is hard1 imagine there is some wonderful virtue in losing oneself in a mass of mechanical details1 therefore they excuse themselves from much thought about the clear ideas which ought to govern these details1 then we shall give our chief care and pains to seeking out those ideas and to setting them forth2 being persuaded1 that1 if we have the ideas firm and clear1 the mechanical details for their execution will come a great deal more simply and easily than we now #bfg suppose4 ,and even in education1 where our ,liberal friends are now1 with much zeal1 bringing out their train of practical operations and inviting all men to lend them a hand2 and where1 since education is the road to culture1 we might gladly lend them a hand with their practical operations if we could lend them one anywhere2 yet1 if we see that any ,german or ,swiss or ,french law for education rests on very clear ideas about the citizen's claim1 in this matter1 upon the ,state1 and the ,state's duty towards the citizen1 but has its mechanical details comparatively few and simple1 while an ,english law for the same concern is ruled by no clear idea about the citizen's claim and the ,state's duty1 but has1 in compensation1 a mass of minute mechanical details about the number of members on a school- committee1 and how many shall be a quorum1 and how they shall be summoned1 and how often they shall meet1--then we must conclude that our nation stands in more need of clear ideas on the main matter than of laboured details about the accessories of the matter1 and that we do more service by trying to help it to the ideas1 than by lending it a hand with the details4 ,so while ,mr4 ,samuel ,morley and his friends talk #bfh of changing their policy on education1 not for the sake of modelling it on more sound ideas1 but for fear the management of education should be taken out of their hands1 we shall not much care for taking the management out of their hands and getting it into ours2 but rather we shall try and make them perceive1 that to model education on sound ideas is of more importance than to have the management of it in one's own hands ever so fully4 ,at this exciting juncture1 then1 while so many of the lovers of new ideas1 somewhat weary1 as we too are1 of the stock performances of our ,liberal friends upon the political stage1 are disposed to rush valiantly upon this public stage themselves1 we cannot at all think that for a wise lover of new ideas this stage is the right one4 ,plenty of people there will be without us1--country gentlemen in search of a club1 demagogues in search of a tub1 lawyers in search of a place1 industrialists in search of gentility1--who will come from the east and from the west1 and will sit down at that ,thyesten banquet of clap-trap1 which ,english public life for these many years past has been4 ,because1 so long as those old organisations1 of which we have seen #bfi the insufficiency1--those expressions of our ordinary self1 ,barbarian or ,philistine1--have force anywhere1 they will have force in ,parliament4 ,there1 the man whom the ,barbarians send1 cannot but be impelled to please the ,barbarians' ordinary self1 and their natural taste for the bathos2 and the man whom the ,philistines send1 cannot but be impelled to please those of the ,philistines4 ,parliamentary ,conservatism will and must long mean this1 that the ,barbarians should keep their heritage2 and ,parliamentary ,liberalism1 that the ,barbarians should pass away1 as they will pass away1 and that into their heritage the ,philistines should enter4 ,this seems1 indeed1 to be the true and authentic promise of which our ,liberal friends and ,mr4 ,bright believe themselves the heirs1 and the goal of that great man's labours4 ,presently1 perhaps1 ,mr4 ,odger and ,mr4 ,bradlaugh will be there with their mission to oust both ,barbarians and ,philistines1 and to get the heritage for the ,populace4 ,we1 on the other hand1 are for giving the heritage neither to the ,barbarians nor to the ,philistines1 nor yet to the ,populace2 but we are for the transformation of each and all of these according to the law of perfection4 #bgj ,through the length and breadth of our nation a sense1--vague and obscure as yet1--of weariness with the old organisations1 of desire for this transformation1 works and grows4 ,in the ,house of ,commons the old organisations must inevitably be most enduring and strongest1 the transformation must inevitably be longest in showing itself2 and it may truly be averred1 therefore1 that at the present juncture the centre of movement is not in the ,house of ,commons4 ,it is in the fermenting mind of the nation2 and his is for the next twenty years the real influence who can address himself to this4 ,pericles was perhaps the most perfect public speaker who ever lived1 for he was the man who most perfectly combined thought and wisdom with feeling and eloquence4 ,yet ,plato brings in ,alcibiades declaring1 that men went away from the oratory of ,pericles1 saying it was very fine1 it was very good1 and afterwards thinking no more about it2 but they went away from hearing ,socrates talk1 he says1 with the point of what he had said sticking fast in their minds1 and they could not get rid of it4 ,socrates is poisoned and dead2 but in his own breast does not every man carry about with him a possible ,socrates1 #bga in that power of a disinterested play of consciousness upon his stock notions and habits1 of which this wise and admirable man gave all through his lifetime the great example1 and which was the secret of his incomparable influence8 ,and he who leads men to call forth and exercise in themselves this power1 and who busily calls it forth and exercises it in himself1 is at the present moment1 perhaps1 as ,socrates was in his time1 more in concert with the vital working of men's minds1 and more effectually significant1 than any ,house of ,commons' orator1 or practical operator in politics4 ,every one is now boasting of what he has done to educate men's minds and to give things the course they are taking4 ,mr4 ,disraeli educates1 ,mr4 ,bright educates1 ,mr4 ,beales educates4 ,we1 indeed1 pretend to educate no one1 for we are still engaged in trying to clear and educate ourselves4 ,but we are sure that the endeavour to reach1 through culture1 the firm intelligible law of things1 we are sure that the detaching ourselves from our stock notions and habits1 that a more free play of consciousness1 an increased desire for sweetness and light1 and all the bent which we call #bgb ,hellenising1 is the master-impulse now of the life of our nation and of humanity1--somewhat obscurely perhaps for this moment1 but decisively for the immediate future2 and that those who work for this are the sovereign educators4 ,docile echoes of the eternal voice1 pliant organs of the infinite will1 they are going along with the essential movement of the world2 and this is their strength1 and their happy and divine fortune4 ,for if the believers in action1 who are so impatient with us and call us effeminate1 had had the same fortune1 they would1 no doubt1 have surpassed us in this sphere of vital influence by all the superiority of their genius and energy over ours4 ,but now we go the way the world is going1 while they abolish the ,irish ,church by the power of the ,nonconformists' antipathy to establishments1 or they enable a man to marry his deceased wife's sister4 ,,the ,,end4 ,,notes #bja4 ,john #ah3cf4 ,jesus answered1 ,my kingdom is not of this world3 if my kingdom were of this world1 then would my servants fight1 that ,i should not be delivered to the ,jews3 but now is my kingdom not from hence4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #bai4 ,proverbs #bf3h4 ,as he that bindeth a stone in a sling1 so is he that giveth honour to a fool4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #bda4 ,arnold refers to fourteenth-century priest ,thomas ,kempis4 ,the ,benham translation and a modern ,english translation of the ,imitatio are currently available from the ,college of ,st4 ,benedict at ,saint ,john's ,university ,internet ,theology ,resources site4 ,see also the ,benham text link4 #bdc4 ,genesis #a3ba-bb4 ,and ,god created great whales1 and every living creature that moveth1 which the waters brought forth abundantly1 after their kind1 and every winged fowl after his kind3 and ,god saw that it was good4 _/ ,and ,god blessed them1 saying1 ,be fruitful1 and multiply1 and fill the waters in the seas1 and let fowl multiply in the earth4 ,king ,james ,bible4 #bdd4 ,deuteronomy #ae3aa4 ,for the poor shall never cease out of the land3 therefore ,i command thee1 saying1 ,thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother1 to thy poor1 and to thy needy1 in thy land4