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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 48

Religion of Humanity

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Religion of Humanity.

With all centres of our faith, wheresoever they exist; with all its scattered disciples; with the members of all other religious organisations or beliefs, Monotheist, Polytheist, or Fetichist, all lesser distinctions being absorbed in the one bond of community of religious aim; with the whole human race; with, man, that is, wherever found and in whatever condition, again all lesser distinctions being absorbed in the one bond of our common humanity; and with the animal races which, during the long effort of man to raise himself, have been, as they still are, his companions and helpers, we on this occasion, on this Festival of Humanity, would be in conscious sympathy.

Nor with our contemporaries alone are we in sympathy, but even more with the larger portion of the race which constitutes the Past. We gratefully commemorate the services of all the generations whose labour we inherit and wish to hand down with increase to our successors. We acknowledge the sway of the Dead.

We gratefully commemorate also the services of our common mother, the Earth, the planet which is our home, and with her the orbs which form the solar system, our world. We may not separate from this last commemoration that of the milieu in which we place that system, the Space which has ever been of great service to man, and is destined to be of greater, by his wise use, as it becomes the recognised seat of abstraction, the seat of the higher laws which collectively constitute the Destiny of man, and is introduced as such in all our intellectual and moral training.

From the Present and the Past we extend our sympathies to the Future, to the unborn generations which, with happier lot, shall follow us on this earth: the thought of whom page 9 should be constantly present to our minds, in order to complete the conception of Humanity as revealed to man by the Founder of our Religion, by the full recognition of the continuity which is her noble characteristic. The memory of her greatest servant, Auguste Comte, finds a fitting place in this her greatest Festival, consecrated as it is by its very idea to the remembrance of all her servants, known or nameless—to the remembrance of all the results they have achieved and by which they live.

Wisest and noblest of teachers! may all of us who avow ourselves thy disciples, animated by thy example, supported by thy doctrine, guided by thy construction, face all the obstacles which indifference or hostility throws in our way, and in the midst of this revolutionary age, undebased by any hope of reward, undeterred by the ill success of our efforts, in a spirit of submissive veneration, carry forward the great work to which thy life was devoted—the work of human regeneration, by and through the Worship of Humanity.

We met last night to commemorate the dead and so to place ourselves under the weight of one of the two great subjective constituents of Humanity, that one which must always most affect us. To-day we stand more directly in presence of both her subjective constituents—her Past and her Future—and would from both gain insight and strength for our conduct in the Present, which thus completes our conception and connects it with our practice. Yet even for this Present, such are the circumstances of our small nascent church, in a sense the subjective element is uppermost, the absent members are more numerous, that is, than those who are with us, and will therefore, in a great degree, direct my course in this Address. If in some parts there should appear a repetition to those who attend our regular meetings, or a statement of things with which they are already familiar, they must not forget this consideration. It brings with it a good in its power to brace us by the thought of those who are with us in spirit, and would most gladly be with us in person, were it not for the obstacles of health, means, or distance. In proportion as we train ourselves in the practice of our worship, private and public, this spiritual communion, annihilating the separation in space, will page 10 become more easy and more useful. Those who live constantly with the dead and the unborn will find it no hard matter to call absent friends to share in what they are doing; so closely do all parts of our true, our religious life, fit into one another with a strong cohesion.

Last night our communion with the dead could not but have much of sadness in it—sorrow without gloom—from the thought of all the trouble through which Humanity had had to pass before her Advent—the labour and the waste of her seed time—though after all allowance the good had prevailed, as we saw reason to admit. To-day, when we turn to her in her more proper existence, we might hope to throw aside all hesitation—all thought of allowance to be made—to be able, by a right interpretation of her in the Past, to dwell on the confident expectation of her glorious Future, with a fair satisfaction in an imperfect, but yet visibly advancing Present. It is not so, however. It can hardly be so for some time to come, if we call our judgment into council and face the actual with deliberate courage. Here, again, but in no gloomy spirit, we must admit a large admixture of trouble—we must admit that the advent of Humanity is destined to no exemption from the general law which we trace in all previous similar changes. when I say this, I would not be for a moment understood to imply that it is her Advent, as—placing myself in a more or less distant future which shall call this time old, I make bold to speak of her ushering in into the hearts and language of men—the hearts of a few, the language of many—I say I would not be understood to imply that the disturbed state of the world which we recognise as a fact, is in any way due to this new truth which is just touching the summits of human thought. No; it is as yet true of her what was said of her predecessor, she cometh not by observation—less true, perhaps, but still, in a great measure, true. But when we examine the disturbance which we see around us, we shall not be slow to feel that over and above the evil in it which has no connection with the new religion, it is by its origin and character such as to oppose every kind of negative obstacle to the acceptance of that religion, such, moreover, as to be likely to issue in the most active attempt to crush it when it is seen to be gaining power. Be this as it may, it is certain that, im- page 11 mediately, we are on this, as on former occasions, confronted on all sides by the gravest difficulties, that we cannot escape the consciousness of great trouble.

The past year does not leave us with any feeling that the sum of our embarrassments as a nation has been lessened. In its whole course, its political, industrial, and moral history has been too much in keeping with its gloomy physical constitution. It has brought us again, as a nation, certain successes as they are called; but I am not aware that in any one of them we can feel any pleasure: with scarcely an exception, our moral nature recoils from them more than it would from defeats. They all demand reparation; and we are but too sure that none will be given. I mean—in order to leave no room for doubt—that the honour of England demands the reversal of the decision taken as to the Transvaal; and here there is a gleam of hope, for one public man stands committed to such reversal by his language. I mean, again, that her sense of right should lead, after due punishment of Sir Bartle Frere, to the restoration of the Zulu king: a measure also, I feel convinced, which policy would dictate, under the peculiar circumstances of our South African colonies. I mean, lastly, that England should retrace her steps in Afghanistan—fall back on the frontier from which she started on this unjust war, punish the authors of the brutal vengeance taken on a nation in consequence of its legitimate resistance, whatever place those authors occupy—be they foreign or Indian secretaries, viceroy, or general—and by every subsequent act recognise the independence of the Afghan people. So we might, in some measure, nationally atone for our disgraceful success.

So much for the Past, where great brevity is allowed as others have spoken during the year, and the unity of the Positivist judgment, which stands out amidst passing differences, renders it unnecessary for me to recur to the points treated. I allude to the condemnation of the Zulu war by Dr. Bridges, the condemnation of our conduct in Afghanistan by Mr. Harrison and Mr. H. Crompton, and the general judgment of the latter on the dominant tendency of our national feeling in relation to what is called Imperialism.

On any present complications, again, I shall touch but slightly. In many cases, there is no marked change, and I page 12 could therefore but repeat what I have said before. This is true of all industrial questions, not even excepting that of the land—great as the movement is seen to be in this last case, so great as to call for a separate treatment on an occasion better suited to it. It is true, with one exception, of any that can be properly called political questions, with which now, as before, we here are not bound to concern ourselves much, as we look for, trust in, no political solution of the disorder of society. Less than any can we be bound to interest ourselves in the political agitation which is going on around us. We may and must watch it, for we cannot wish to abstract ourselves from our social surroundings; and it is possible, moreover, that it may be leading us to more critical issues than what are in the contemplation of its promoters—our social order is old and strained, with many anomalies and weaknesses in it, and strong as is the element of conservation, there may come a pressure beyond its strength. But I cannot see that any Englishman who objects as we do to the whole bearing of his country's policy in this matter of Eastern or African States can bestir himself—I put aside all religious differences—when he is morally sure that no real abandonment of that policy is probable. The utterances of our public men seem to leave no doubt that there is substantial agreement in what may be termed the root of the matter between the party politicians on both sides. Why then excite ourselves about a change? To the disciples of our human religion no portion of the troubles of Humanity can be alien, least of all that which concerns our own country; but when the accepted doctrines are such as to make our active intervention absolutely fruitless, we are justified in refusing to waste our energies.

I said that there was one exception in the case of strictly political questions. It is that of Ireland, which is again, after the expiry of a generation, face to face with distress of unquestioned magnitude; and apart from that distress, is again calling upon Great Britain to revise the existing relations between the two countries, the two points being further complicated by their close interdependence. The moral aspects of the Irish problem are what most concern us at present; they resolve themselves into the one question, What is the duty of the more powerful kingdom towards the weaker. We know page 13 how widely various would be the answers given. The Positivist answer would, I think, be in complete agreement with that which the nation would give, often over-hastily, in a similar case where there was no national interest touched. It would be then to the effect, that the Irish nation should be allowed to revoke the assent—given, extorted, or bought—to the existing connection, and modify it as seemed good to it—establish, that is, Home Rule, if that seemed the best course, or repeal the Union, if that were deemed preferable; that the sole arbitrament lay in a reference to the interests of Ireland with no admixture of those of England. Such is the sense in which we can accept the formula of one of our politicians: Justice to Ireland, rejecting his qualifications, which deprive it of reality.

But here, as elsewhere, if violent remedies are avoided, only a moral change, a change in our whole mode of regarding such points, affords any hope. For the truth is, that the capital sources of our actual difficulties and prospective dangers in this Irish, as in our other external relations, must be looked for elsewhere than in any party or government. I suggest two for consideration. The first is the peculiar conviction which seems rooted in the English mind, that we can set all the world right, that we, and we only, are the true governors, competent to deal successfully with all the problems of Asiatic or African social existence. This conviction seems to have taken hold of us in a degree scarcely consistent with mental sanity; and no judgment from without, no failure from within, seems able to shake it. Historically, I believe it is one of the pernicious consequences of our successful intrusion of ourselves on India, and of our illusion as to the permanence and utility of that dominion. Certainly it is of comparatively recent growth; but whencesoever it comes, there it is. If we could but Anglicise the world all would be well. Are not the words of ancient wisdom but too applicable to us—A deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

The second source is our excessive increase of population, that difficult and delicate question which meets us at every turn. On it I only touch here so far as regards its disturbing power without. It is at the bottom of that commercial hunger page 14 for new markets which overbears all other considerations but too frequently. It is at the bottom of that rapacious colonial expansion which cannot consent to take others' claims into account, when they are in competition with the requirements of our colonists, not merely as to subsistence but as to wealth.

I add that the combination of these two impulsions, which are amenable really to none but a religious treatment, has this evil effect amongst many, as amongst all this talk is apparently becoming visible, that it denies us that quiet which is so wanted for the wise settlement into the new order which all thinkers recognise as imminent.

I add further that it takes from us the disinterestedness and independence of conception which are requisite for our wise intervention in the general direction of the Western world, an intervention which no repugnance to the results actually attained should lead us to regard as other than a duty, bound upon us, if by nothing else, by the obligations contracted by our interference in the past. But there is much else to bind us, and it were greatly to be wished that we were so placed as to be able rightly to respond to this call. The trouble of the West is great, and the wholesome influence towards quieting its agitation, which under any true statesmanship our country might exercise, is not exerted; and in its absence the equilibrium of Europe remains most unstable. Our hands are tied by our own internal and external difficulties; and worse than that, all our political insight is perverted or dimmed.

Not that we are singular in this. Each of the great European States is, equally with us, debarred by its internal condition, in most cases by its exposure, from all but the most purely interested and national participation in the general concert. So completely is this so, that a general fact, which ought to be a matter of regret, is exalted to a theory, and to all appearance affords satisfaction to its upholders. The internal condition is such that in no case can the careful observer be without misgivings as to the permanence of the existing order. France, Italy, Spain, Germany—is not this true of each of them?

And if we pass out of Europe proper to the Eastern constituents of that geographical expression, disorganisation is no longer an anticipation but a reality, and a reality in growth page 15 rather than in decay. Internal disquiet is well nigh universal. Turkey, Russia, and the new intermediate States, do they not justify my language?

In the international relations of Europe, however, one important change has been made in the last year on which I will briefly touch. I allude to the Austro-German alliance, which has been so loudly welcomed in this country. All such outward changes must occupy for us so subordinate a position, and are in the present condition of human affairs so easily reversed, that a more temperate judgment seems more in place. Still, it is an event of considerable importance, and we may see that there lie in it very great possibilities. If turned to right purpose by those who are immediately concerned in it, and wisely accepted by the other Powers of Europe, the alliance may be a great step to a sounder European order. If really guided by the spirit which should inspire the powerful organs of Humanity, those two great military monarchies might facilitate the peaceful transition of Europe through its difficulties in a degree which it would seem a dream almost to state. Strong in the sense of security derived from their close union, they might aid Italy by satisfying her substantially legitimate demands, whilst they left those which are for the time unreasonable to settle themselves; they might foster the peaceful development of the new communities formed to the East of them; and they might reconstitute, by their co-operation, a Poland of greater promise than the old. Unaggressive themselves, they might discourage all aggression on the part of others; and whilst by a quiet pressure they thus imposed peace, they might watch in composure the action of those internal agencies in their own and other European countries, which are slowly moulding Europe to a different social organisation.

It can be no object for any of us with our belief to quarrel with the source from which indisputable advantages are derived. If the course of European history seemed to fix on other Powers as better qualified for the task undertaken by these Eastern empires, such other Powers failing we may well accept the substitute. But I am speaking of what is entirely problematical. I but submit for your thought the observations I have made. And we must not forget that the true work to be done, the most difficult part of that work, at any rate, is of page 16 another kind. For us, and we are not alone—for all religious men—the work to be done in Europe is spiritual, not temporal. Outward order is but the condition of healthy spiritual advance, and it may be the most economical arrangement of the European forces that the task of upholding outward order should, in a preponderating extent, devolve on those who are certainly, by common confession and as a result of their past, not the best qualified for taking the first part in the spiritual renovation. It were to be desired, then, that some distribution of this kind should be generally acquiesced in, and that with due provision against any abuse of military power. Latin and Western Europe—I use the terms which are familiar—should devote itself to the right use of its peculiar strength. Any abuse of the kind I have indicated might be most effectually guarded against by that which still remains the most indispensable requisite for, as it is the greatest difficulty in, the establishment of a really firm European order; I mean by the close alliance of England and France, again with no tendency to aggression or exclusion, but as the basis for future unions, for the gradual welding of the whole West into one solid unity.

For the rest, that the European ferment is working towards some good result, that the greatness and duration of the convulsive struggles which usher in the new order are in correspondence with the surpassing value of that order when established, that the suffering attendant on a disunited, is giving force to the aspiration for an united, Humanity—these and similar conclusions we are ready to accept, we fully believe: if more than on others our faith forces on us interest in and sorrow for the suffering, it also gives us firmer support, a stronger, more rational hope, resting on the clearer insight it affords us into the nature of the evil. Confidence in the future of mankind is our inalienable possession. The present gloom should not unduly discourage us. It should but stimulate us to more activity in the creation and application of the remedy.

Our strength must lie in the due shaping of our efforts within the limited sphere in which it is given us to work, omitting nothing which can add force to them, but not over anxious as to the result. Gradually the sphere will enlarge—it is in the nature of things that it should do so. Even now, perhaps, it is larger than we see—nor is what we see so page 17 limited as we at first imagine. A survey of the whole of our position would correct any inadequate first impression. The indirect action of the Philosophy and the Religion on the world in which they are circulating is allowed to be considerable; but it is not of that I wish to speak. I have rather in view the direct Positivist action in the most comprehensive sense of the term. In saying this I do not underrate the help derived from candid and thoughtful opponents, much less that given us by those who, without being Positivists, work on the same lines, as it were, and move in the same direction as we. I take Professor Caird as an example of the former, Miss Bevington of the latter. It is useful to study the opposition, and it is encouraging from all points of view to see its changed tone. It is most useful to have support on such an important question as that of the existence and value of a morality independent of any theological sanction. Neither do I underrate the value to us of attacks of a very different kind which rest on unfairness and ridicule. They become increasingly useful as the system, as a whole, gathers way. The ridicule, for instance, which was a deterrent, and is often so even yet, is also often a stimulant. It is always a dangerous weapon, and it is peculiarly weak as against religious conviction. The foibles of mankind are its proper sphere, and even against them it is more amusing than effectual.

As regards direct Positivist action I wish to be as comprehensive as possible. We have perhaps been too little so in the past. It will be well perhaps if in the spirit of this great festival, the spirit of human unity, we take in, in our survey of Positivist action, all who in whatever degree claim that honourable name. It will then include all those, and they are numerous, whom we should not be wrong in describing as followers of M. Littré, as well as those who in various groups profess, in its full completeness, the discipleship of Auguste Comte. There have been solid reasons why these two great divisions have stood apart, perhaps they may not for long altogether fuse, but there are indications of a change in this respect. Perhaps we shall find, or our successors will find, that there has been side by side with much hindrance traceable to the Littréan school a considerable amount of preparatory work done by it. The very assertion of the name Positivism is a service of its kind as familiarising the page 18 European mind with the existence of a new doctrine. In any case it is certain that the progress of thought is leading some of those who have hitherto been content with this more negative aspect of the doctrine to inform themselves on it more positively, to examine the teachings of the disciple by the teachings of the master, and to pass from imperfect to complete assent, from philosophical to religious Positivism. The time seems coming, in short, when the religion of Humanity will gather in many of the minds which have hitherto stood aloof from it, absorbed in contemplation of its scientific basis, but which have yet derived benefit from their preparatory condition. The process has been a roundabout one, but it comes in the end to the right conclusion. And those who have gone through it will have a special use of their own due to their previous connections. They will be able to forward the fusion of the two divisions by their knowledge of both.

The difficulty, however, in regard to them remains great, interwoven as it is with the facts of the history of our movement. But time is bearing us away from those facts and their influence, from the conflict they have engendered. If without weakness, in spite of certain considerations, we can recognise a faint underground of unity throughout, a growing unity in the present and the future, it may have a salutary bearing in the advance of our religion. Few perhaps will have a stronger conviction of the need of that religion than they who have lingered some time in the colder region outside, and have tested its unsatisfactory action on themselves.

There need be, there should be, no difficulty in an ample mutual recognition as between the different bodies or unities, for there are some who stand alone as units, which together constitute the second division, the believers in whatever degree in the Religion of Humanity. Full union may be unattainable, but its absence need not prevent the consciousness of an unity of purpose as well as an unity of belief. I speak, I am sure, the feeling of all members of our particular group, present or absent, when I say that, without any concealment of differences, their one great object is to forward the cause of our common religion, and to regard as fellow-workers all who have that cause at heart. All useful work done, by whomsoever done, we shall recognise openly, whilst we persevere in the particular page 19 form of work which we think the most desirable. This attitude will be a great help, for by holding it we are enabled to spare ourselves labour. On the questions on which other Positivists speak or write we can afford to be silent, adopting their utterance as the expression of the community, if I may use the word. I have already acted on this in the earlier part of this address. There is so much to be done and the labourers are so few that economy is to be studied. From this point of view we may look with satisfaction on the doubling of our centre here in London, on the organisation of a systematic course, or of courses, of lectures expounding the doctrine. In fine, whilst we regret that we are not at one in our judgment any more than in the form of our action, we may avail ourselves to the utmost of such agreement as does exist.

Looking back on the year in its results for us who are here to-day, estimating very briefly and without any exaggeration our advance, there are one or two subjects of satisfaction. Our numbers have increased, however slow the rate of increase; our religious services have been kept up, with one interval only; our other meetings have been cordial. There is, I cannot doubt it, in most of us a greater activity perceptible—more readiness for all exertion.

Indications of this may be seen around us, in the temporary and permanent decorations of this room, on which I feel it a pleasure to say a word. We owe most of the pictures to the liberal conduct of Mr. Harrison. The valuable additions which so nearly complete the scries in the early months are the contribution of an American friend, who has occasionally attended here, and has a considerable sympathy with us. Other gifts are coming in. M. Comte's tomb is now something that we can all realise by the sketch which is before us. The spirit in which others have worked and given deserves all recognition on my part. With a slight effort, all our roll of worthies might be now completed. The library, too, is advancing to completion. There remains the one great want—music—hymns, and instrumental music. That, too, will come in time I suppose, but it seems long. This, however, is the only very real gap: and in all other respects we may rejoice in what has been done and is doing.

The particular points I will notice are: first, the increase page 20 of adhesion from the proletariate, above all from the most important of all the parts of that body, from the proletary women. This is the fact in the year's history which I record with the greatest pleasure. The difficulties used to seem so great that I had almost despaired of such a thing in my life-time. It is, therefore, a peculiar satisfaction to see them disappear in even a few cases. Here as elsewhere too, the beginning is so much. Consequent on this step has been the introduction into the Church in the Sacrament of Presentation of a proletary family—an example which I hope will bear fruit. In connection, again, with this movement, I would mention the special contribution to our cause of a Positivist tale, which many testimonies warrant me in regarding as likely to be most serviceable.

The other most noticeable fact is the extension of our action to another great centre of English industrial life, the formation of a Positivist nucleus in Liverpool. I do not mean the simple existence of one or more Positivists there, but the establishment of regular meetings, which will grow, having a real element of vitality in them, from the completely religious attitude of those around whom the movement naturally gathers. This is another very great step, and all the circumstances which attended it, the more they are examined, the more they show the decay of force in the opposition we have to encounter against us, the advance made by our religion, the preparation of the soil for its reception.

What more is there which those who are at a distance might wish to know? We have had several courses of lectures, but the attendance at them has been small. We shall continue them this year, for it is incumbent on us to do what we can, but at present it is not from them that we can gain much strength. Our whole experience hitherto has been that lectures proper have not helped us. It is, perhaps, felt that a system such as ours, which claims to have in it the power of reorganising the whole frame of society, must begin by showing its competence in other ways than in mere teaching. Certain it is that, as our Founder saw, the advance which is at once most rapid and most stable is made by a direct appeal to the feelings of men. Hence I look with more hope to the various forms of social meeting which for both page 21 sexes have had a beginning this last year. After all, teaching proper is for the young; the reminder—the enforcement of the obligations which the teaching has established—is for the adult. Such are the two permanent institutions of the church under this aspect when established—the modes of action of its priesthood. They will rely, no doubt, for much of their efficacy on the series of ceremonies which are the sacraments of domestic worship, the importance of which, even in our present early stage, we have felt, all of us; and still more on the general prevalence of the habit of private prayer. But in the formation of the church, the gathering of new members—mainly adult members it must be understood—apart from the power of example—the influence of life and character as shown in action—social intercourse holds the first place; for in it the work of oral propagation—the superiority of which over reading I am every day led to feel, and which I therefore press on you all as the truest instrument at our disposal—this work finds the freest scope. Reading should be entirely subsidiary as a rule to thought and conversation.

I have confined myself to our own more immediate action. The circular affords me the opportunity of dealing with the larger whole. In the limits thus self-assigned, I have given my reasons for looking with some satisfaction on the year, as having been a real progress. I would wish to avoid any overestimate—no one feels more acutely how slow our growth is—and I do not want to mislead anyone into thinking that it is as yet anything but extremely slow. I expect that it will continue so for some time: the next few years will try us all probably; drawing on our force of persistence, as we see that the course in which we persist, whilst it involves so much effort, seems to lead to so little result, and in consequence is by some judged premature. Fully prepared to face this strain on our patience as I believe we are, it is wise not to overlook any just ground for encouragement, and such ground I have found in the quality of the last year's work.

There is another ground in the growing conviction that the most open putting forward of the Religion of Humanity, its direct preaching, is the true policy. I cannot be mistaken, I feel, on this. There have been too many independent signs of this growth of late to admit of any doubt. I am still page 22 speaking, remember, of our own special English body. I am not so confident as to a similar state of feeling in regard to our rudiments of a cultus, yet on that head too, allowing for differences of judgment as to this or that particular form—I have always considered the forms we have as tentative—with this allowance I say, I think that on the principle that our cultus should take some practical shape—should appear in act, and not in more or less remote prospect—our agreement is becoming more complete.

It should be so, I am sure. Nothing is essential, remember, but that we have meetings which are of a definitely religious character. Experience in our sectarian country shows us what a wide latitude such an expression allows; it would take in the Quaker and the Ritualist; and between these two, what a variety of assemblies, all succeeding in giving an impression of being religious. Our own increase of forms has been most cautious and gradual, and must continue so; but occasions will call for additions, and the want must be met.

I would gladly take all with me on this point, for in any case—with the most perfect assent that is—any new step is a great effort; and where I feel that there is considerable hesitation as to its desirability it becomes doubly oppressive, even if I have confidence that when taken it will shortly be accepted. In the twenty-five years which I have now spent in Positivist action, nothing has cost me so much as the slight initial steps in a liturgical direction. All is so old and yet so new, and the right combination of the two is such a problem. Less in degree, but still most sensible, is the pressure in regard to preaching, to direct religious utterances. For the administration of the Sacraments, there is greater help given in the short but pregnant instructions left by our Master. No one can realise more fully than I do the advantage of following, not leading. If I dwell on the disadvantage of leading, it is not without a practical purpose. I have of late spoken more often and more freely on the duty of those who are disciples of our religion to make a habit of their attendance on our religious meetings. There are other valid reasons for this habit; but the one which I have just now uppermost is the support to which I feel I have a claim in what all must see is an arduous task. Each can help in lightening it.

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We are all fellow-disciples, all followers of one Master, all fellow-believers in one religion—fellow-students, as a secondary point, of one doctrine. We are in a condition, that is, in which mutual help and counsel are the paramount want, by virtue of the particular period of our movement in which we are living. It is active communication, active concert, to which we should feel called, so evoking a general sense of life and energy. And this, I am bound to say, is evidently felt by most of us. It needs but steadiness—the high quality of perseverance in a word, which in our times is but too rare, from the conflict of opinions, and the absence of any clear insight into the relative value of the objects of pursuit—evils from which we need not suffer. Intellectual stay is supplied us in abundance. The impulse to use it should not be wanting to any believer in Humanity. The result of enduring persistence should spring naturally from the union of these two antecedents.

Where we are weak, it is the weakness of the impulse which is in fault, I suspect. We do not feel ourselves driven forward by any irresistible power on the path which our reason is fully persuaded we are right in choosing. We have a conviction, but it is languid and given to rest in itself. It is not strange that it should be so; the very greatness of the change which we see before us is alone enough to account for this passivity. And there is so much else. All around us is alien to vigour. Our attention is so called off, our intellect so frittered away, our sympathies so distracted. Children of anarchy, how should we be strong. It is much if our intellectual conclusions reject that anarchy and place us in a state in which we lie open to the impact of some powerful and constraining motive.

When we are not weak to this extent we most of us probably feel that our impulse is not as strong as we wish it. Is it not that with all of us we are stronger in our turning away from our older beliefs than in our turning to our new? We are too much, perhaps, in the condition of Christian, when he had escaped from the City of Destruction but not entered within the gate. The love which our new service should rest on has not yet mastered us. We accept that service, and fully, but we accept it rather too coldly. It takes time, it takes thought, it takes a certain habit in regard to our conduct of life page 24 to work ourselves out of this coldness. This will be the general rule. There are cases where a sudden or very rapid possession of our being by the new impulse will be traceable; but at present they will be rare, and in view of the obstacles in our path it is well that they should be rare.

Convictions, feelings, habits—this is the threefold process of our complete conversion. We have long had the first, comparatively speaking, have contentedly acquiesced in the satisfaction they are charged with, and have not been over anxious to develop their consequences. Feelings—these are growing in some, in most I hope, but they have been as yet of unequal growth, are by nature, if unsupported, unstable, and by the slow action of our environment lose their first power. They want the sustaining force of habits—the habits, especially, of their deliberate and unintermitting cultivation. The stress then of the whole process is on habits. They are the capital, the decisive test of its perfect accomplishment, and to these we must, I fear, all of us feel and allow that we have not as yet paid sufficient attention. A change is visible even here; but it was high time that it should come. On the resolute formation of habits of devotion in the first place, of habits in conduct in the second, and on the equally resolute perseverance in them when formed, principally depends—it is our Master's judgment, not my own, which I am giving—the progress of our religion.

The world on which that religion is working, the disciples in whom it is working—these have been my general subjects. How best to strengthen the disciples, so that they may most effectually act on the world, has been the underlying thought which connects the two.

We have no hesitation as to our object. In the prevalence of our religion we see the salvation of the race, as we know that its adoption by ourselves has the promise of our own salvation; the promise I say, for we are alive to the imperfection which clings to our adoption. We are not yet wholly moulded into the new type. As so judging we would spread it in its full completeness to the utmost of our power. Worship, doctrine, and life—no part would we neglect, if we accord a certain precedence to the first. But all three imply, require, and rest upon something prior to them all—one central truth as the ground of their existence. All three look to Humanity. In page 25 her should centre our feelings; in her should we condense our knowledge; to her should we consecrate our life. The more we identify ourselves with her, the more we bring all the parts of our complex nature into close relation with her, the more apt shall we be for our task of enlarging her sway. It cannot be too often repeated that we are bound by the same conditions as our predecessors, that in principle our growth must be by the same means as theirs; that if we set forth a new object for the acceptance of all men, that object must hold the first place in all our preaching; that Catholicism and Islam as they are seen in their founders' conception are necessarily but our models in this method, their failure in no way depending on their method, but on their doctrine; that they were the first solutions, the rudimentary embodiments of the religion which is to absorb them and supersede them; that we return on them and learn from them; finally, that they both agreed on this, the exclusive consecration of their efforts to the presentation to mankind of one all-absorbing existence—the source of all other life, the supreme end of all devotion.

For Humanity to take her place as such supreme end, we must, of course, believe that she is. This is really not difficult, and men are getting to see that it is not difficult. The absence of vagueness, the perfect reality of the elements which compose her, the simplicity of the earlier elementary notions with which, in mastering the conception, we come into contact, rapidly remove the difficulty which at first seemed to beset her existence. On our last anniversary, I went at some length into certain trains of thought which might render the process easier. I have been lately led to approach the subject from another side. Our historical study brings before us, in mutual relation to one another, several distinct societies of men, each an independent constituent of the whole they collectively form. Each one of such independent national existences is to the families and individuals of which it is successively, or at any one time composed, to all intents and purposes a Humanity. Each member of a great historic nation looks back through the past centuries to the origin of that nation, traces its growth, dwells upon its unity, is intimately convinced of the reality of the existence he is contemplating, sees in it the ground and rule of his life and action. It is no abstraction to page 26 him; it is, in the strictest sense, a personality—a collective personality, on which his own personality rests—by virtue of which, in a word, he is what he is. Generation follows generation, but the people which they compose is not changed by their succession. It is still, as the case may be, Israel, or Greece, or Rome. But though independent in a sense, these several nations are not wholly so: their relation to others is a fact controlling their national independence. They are but co-existent collective persons, and each borrows from the other, and in an ever-increasing proportion, something which goes to augment its perfection. They still stand apart—as men stand apart—but they are sensible of a more comprehensive existence, of which they are but portions. Apply the reasoning which we have used for the one section to the collective personality formed by them all, and you will see that the whole in which they merge, and by virtue of which they come to be what they are, is, again, no abstraction, but a most real existence; and that whole is Humanity.

It is the comprehensiveness of this whole which daunts us. As some rise not above themselves, as some rise not above the family, as most, unfortunately, cannot rise above their country, so we all find it difficult to rise to Humanity. It is the barrier of individualism, so strengthened by all our previous associations and training, which precludes our rising. It is not, then, in the domain of pure intellect, but in the mixed intellectual and moral difficulty that the obstacle is situated.

We will suppose it overcome; and we are in presence of a new hindrance—the gap between our feelings and the conclusion of our intellect: a common and formidable impediment. It will take time to overcome it. But it need take no time to turn it. The service of others—for my present purpose, of our race—is not, fortunately, dependent for its claim upon us on our feelings consenting to it. It is an obligation which, in some form or other, is meeting with increased recognition. It has always been part of the Noble Path, to borrow from an Eastern source. But it has always been, too, over closely connected with our individual nature; it needs the social stamp more firmly impressed upon it; it needs to be of direct, not of indirect application, to be given, that is, to Humanity in her own right, not because she is the creature of another power. page 27 To us, that other power is her creation; and is at once set aside by her when known. But it has not hitherto been so thought; and in the inversion, the necessary inversion, of the true relations, lies the explanation of the failure of the many beautiful religions of the Past.

The true relations once acknowledged, the advent of Humanity accepted, a collective and social personality has taken the place of her individual personal representatives, and the whole character of our service feels the change with the clearness due to the removal of all interference between the worshipper and the being worshipped. He sees his service become one in kind and complete in rationality. We have perhaps taken that service upon us before, we take it now with all the satisfaction of a fuller assent. Its grounds, its limits, its object—all gain in clearness; no division is any longer sensible; our duty to man is all in all. If we freely accept it, and bend ourselves to discharge it, it will naturally react on our convictions and feelings, so that faith and love will gain vigour from action. It may not be so in some cases, such is the peculiar mental constitution which centuries of revolution have transmitted to us; but in most it is probable that it will be so. When it is not, there the religion of duty, a noble form in itself, must take the place of that of Humanity, and in the identity of result we must seek consolation for the discrepancy as to belief or sentiment.

I must leave much unsaid—much but imperfectly said. My aim is always, as you are aware, chiefly suggestion—a stimulus to your own meditation, that silent work which stands first in our estimate, and for that sufficient has been said. The cause we have in hand is worthy of all meditation. The evil is great, the remedy is single, if we press into the innermost heart of the problem. The remedy is in religion. I say not in ours necessarily. Let some other vindicate its claim. We here believe in ours, for we have felt the others fail us. As so believing, let us not be slow to draw out for ourselves its strength, its clearness, its beauty, its majesty; let us seek, that is, its full support, breathe its living breath, stir ourselves by past achievement to future action, justify our faith to man by its visible power over us, and hand over to others the noble heritage we have received, not impaired, but in due measure augmented. So shall we have lived up to the standard of our high calling.

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