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Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanrhas ajout^es lors d'une resta' k1 CONTENTS. GOOD AND EVIL, SUBTLE INFLUENCES, PATiaOTISM, MIIJACLES, I'AiiK. 1 17 . 4') 70 ERRATA. Page 49, line 12tl], for 1/gitiniate read Icgiliinate. ' " 53, " 18tb, for primative read pritnnivc. " 65, " 21st, for accountable read unaccountable. " 84, " 12tli, for cxistanee read existence. ::% GOOD AND EVIL. €go& aiti (ftiil XPEliJIENCE is constantly provins: that notions which have been for ages ac- cepted as truths, may undergo — when tested by some revolution in thought or circumstance, some new scientific discovery, or some new light thrown upon them — a radical change, leading to a conviction utterly opposed to that which had previously been considered unalter- ably settled. Without presuming to predict such 1 result to the following propositions, they are advanced with the above prelude, as a legitimate plea to excuse, and possi])ly to justify, their disagreement with widely accepted ideas. I I i 1 ! li: i GOOD AND EVIL. f! In re^tirdi^g questions relating to good and evil from a metaphysical point of view, and outside of any theological considerations, we have no dt^a whereby we can arrive by in- duction at any conclusion; they are, like all other questions on linal causes, insolvable. But we can draw inferences from known results, as to the expediency, and also as to the necessitv of existing conditions, and these inferences are more or less correct, according to their agree- ment Avith universal laws, which work with such exact precision that any apparent Irre- gularity may safely be attributed to our weak- ness of perception, and an incompetency to follow the workings of creation in their entirety. It is therefore here submitted for consideration — solely in a philosophical spirit of enquiry — whether the relation of good and evil to plea- sure and pain, virtue and vice, hope and de- spair, and all other matters which are commonly accepted as representative of good and evil, may not be regarded in one comprehensive view, bearing only upon general results; and wh«ither good and evil may not only not be clearly detined, separate, and antagonistic en- tities, but simi)ly modilications of one general principle; the component parts of a whole, GOOD AND EVIL 3 which, without cither one or the other, would be imperfect in its ai^i)lication to humun re-- quiremeuts. It has occasionally been argued — and notably by that deep thinker and possessor of high mental attainments, — John Stuart Mill — thjit the existence of a large amount of sufferinir, and of all that which is called evil, is proof that the Ruler of the universe is eitlier a maleficent being, or that he has not adequate power to control it. Now this is a radical question, the solution of which involves the whole matter. If the predominance of evil is proof of male- ficence in the Deity, it must be admitted that predominance of good is proof of the reverse : and if it can be established that evil — so called — is not an active principle, but a necessity of physical existence, and a requlreme it for the proper develoi)ment of the capacity of our mental and moral faculties, which is eliminated as it is utilized; being merely — if the ex- pression is admissible — a space for their ex- tension, as darkness is to light ; then tne power of good is clearly illimitable. Whatever theory we may entertain relative to perfection, as the elimination of all evil, 4 GOOD AND EVIL. we must nevertheless confine ourselves to focts as we fi)i(l them. Perfection is ])evond our gi-asp ; Ijut progression is unniistakal)ly a o;reat and a leading i)rinciple in the economy of na- tuie ; and it is quite ])eyond human conception to assign to it a culminating point. We must, we can only take our ideas of perfection from a human standpoint, and consequently they are ruled and restricted by the arbitrary effect of phenomena upon our sentient existence. It has been assumed that a benevolent Omnipo- tence would have endowed creation with per- fect attributes ; l)ut this — although apparently at the first glance a sound conclusion — is nevertheless a hasty and a thoughtless one, for it involves a contnidiction, inasmuch as it would have rendered useless to us those very attributes with which in our ideas we invest perfection, and without the influence of which existence would be a blank void. If perfec- tion were thus ol)tained, we should have no sense of goodness, as we should never have known it by comparison; there would be no- thing to call forth energy and action, or the exercise of moral virtues; no end to attain; no hopes to indulge ; no desires to gratify; no emulation to excite us; no progression to I GOOD AND EVIL. & rejoice us ; a dead past ; a blank, passionless, objectless present ; and an eternity of inani- tion before us. Perfection itself would amount only to the Brahminical conception of it — complete obliteration of sensation, amountinc: to nothingness. This is viewing the result of perfection to humanity from the only point which is available to human nature ; sul)ject as it is to human passions and desires ; bound by human attributes ; and confined to ideas which emanate from those attributes. What it may be on other conditions, is beyond the scope even of our imagination ; as it cannot be other- wise than commensurate with infinity ; em- bracing omnipotence or it would not be })er- fection ; an omnipotence which must necessarily be unique, or it would not be omnipotence : the ways of which we thus have full assur- ance are not as our ways, and past tinding out. On the other hand progression has its stages : and hopes realized, desires gratified, and diffi- culties joyfully overcome, are succeeded by higher hopes, purer desires, and fresh incen- tives to action ; all yielding never-ending grati- fication : and an ultimate perfection is not only as inconceivable as a limit to time or space, 6 i'll GOOD AND EVIL. 1 |i' but any finality is undesirable, as a limit to the glorious heights of advancement, through an eternity of time, and an infinity of spa'^e which it is competent for the imagination to dwell upon. If then, good would be an unrecognized, and an inappreciable quantity, subject to no comparative distinction, were it not i^resented to us in a qualified form ; it follows, that for a proper appreciation of it ; for the develop- ment of human attributes ; for the full enjoy- ment of existence ; and for the exercise of our most cherished faculties, a qualification is ne- cessavy ; and this qualification appears to us in the form of that which we call evil. In like manner, -Light" would be a wearisome mon- otony; a nameless thing without beauty or parts, were it not that its modifications— which extend to darkness— reveal all its exquisite properties, and make it a thing of comparison and gradation, potential in its adaptation to the conditions of our existence. The most striking illustration of the neces- sity of modifications of good, presents itself m the sensation of feeling, which embraces all gradations, from the most pleasurable ex- GOOD AND EVIL. periences to the extreme of pain. It accom- panies all physical action, and is the means of countless enjoyments until it assumes the form of pain ; but under that form it is a necessity of existence; for without its warnings, life would quickly disappear from the face of the earth. Pain is generally regarded as the great- est physical evil to which life is subject; but — were it not that generalities only are being here considered — arguments might be adduced to show that not only is it a necessity of life, but that it is a moral as well as a })hysical guide and guardian; and that good, either directly or indirectly, is one of the chief characteristics of all its details ; for — without entering upon the vexed question of free-will as opposed to compulsory law — it is clear that in the ma- jority of instances, sufferinir may be traced to some previous infringement of natural law ; in other instances to unconscious self-infliction; while those which cannot be immediately ac- counted for — a small and ever-decreasinjr min- ority — furnish matter for investigation, in which there is a certainty of the existence of a possible solution: and while provision is made of sovereign antidotes in many cases — and probably in all if we did but know them — 8 GOOD AND EVIL. a limit is placed to physical suffering, by the lapse into unc >nsciousness ; which is testimony to the presence and potency of good, in that which is too commonly accepted as an active principle of evil. Again, the moral and physical elements in our nature are so closely allied that it is per- missible to draw moral deductions from phy- sical facts. The attainments of science assure us of convertible properties in elements ; such as heat into force, and force into heat ; that attraction and repulsion exist harmoniously together ; that cold is indefinable, except as absence of heat ; that of the two gases which are the component parts of water — the de- stroyer of fire —one is highly inflammable, while the other is the chief ingredient of fire ; that elements are indestructible, and the marvellous productions of nature the result of their various combinations ; and that universal harmony is dependent upon the combination of elements apparently antagonistic in their attributes. May it not be fairly infen*ed that laws w^hich govern physical conditions, are also applicable to mental and moral pheno- mena, in the instance, when anything having a special signification, such as good or evil, lii GOOD AND EVIL. 9 permeates physical, mentiil or moral pheno- mena both separately nnd collectively, and with similar results? for example, it is pre- sumable that as light is one of the represent- atives of good, and darkness of evil, good may bear the same relative affinity to evil as light does to darkness. It may be objected that the analogy is figurative only ; ')ut this is met by the fact that there is sufficient ac- tuality in it, not only to render it admirably adapted as a figure for general acceptance ; but that light and good have much in them which is in reality common to both, and this also applies to darkness and evil. It then re- mains, that if we establish the relation of light to darkness we arrive at an approximate estimation of the relative position of good to evil, at least so far as they are analogous to light and darkness. » In pursuance of this, we find that light is a material substance, its volume is mea- surable, its qualities are apparent, and its composition is subject to analysis ; while dark- ness possesses no physical embodiment ; it is even incapable of definition, in the abstract, and is a mere figure of speech denoting the 10 GOOD AND EVIL. II ^;y absence of light. The same analysis ap- plies to heat and cold. And thus we see, that the two greatest life-giving, life-ruling, and life -sustaining agents — in fact the only known ones, if traced through their indirect, as well as their direct action — possess no active counteracting opposite, their attenuation by diffusion, or their conversion into latent forms — which are ever re-convertible and ever constant quantities — being inherent pro- perties independent of darkness and cold, which are merely nomenclatures for passive voids, which are utterly or partially filled by the greater or less diffusion of light and heat. It is even conceivable that there may be sufficient light and heat in the universe — latent or otherwise — to exterminate dark- ness and cold altogether, even as ideas. Therefore, considering the close connection between light and good, and darkness and evil ; and also that the same laws most prob- ably govern physical and moral phenomena thus connected ; we arrive at fair grounds for the inference that evil is only definable, as absence of good. ' Moreover we find, that the action of na- tural law upon inanimate matter, is constant GOOD AND EVIL. 11 in its conditions and perfect in its working and effects, and so certain is this, that it is accepted as an axiom, we may therefore con- clude that any apparent aberrations of result exist only in our incompetency to recognize some special intention of law. Such apparent irregularities, however — even if they were proved to be more than ideal — are so few, and so unnoticeable in their effect upon uni- versal harmony, that they in no way interfere with the fact that nothing but good emanates from the above law. If then by the evidence of experience, and in the absence of proof to the contrary, we can recognize nothing but good in the action of law upon inanimate matter, the obvious conclusion is, that the absence of good is apparent only in the aber- rations of our mental and moral faculties; and from this we may infer, that evil is not a law in itself, but a necessity of the imper- fection which is a necessity of progression : a necessary sphere of action for the develop- ment of good. And in like manner as an infinity of space affords endless scope for the advancement of the operations of phys- ical law; so does au eternity of time afford opportunity for a mental and moral progression 12 GOOD AND EVIL. to which no limit is assigned, excepting only a perfection which would embrace omnipotence ; for it is competent for us to conceive a steady advancement through an eternity of time, without the attainment of an absolute perfection, such an attainment being not only a logical impossibility, but embracing a vast- ness which it is utterly beyond the power of imagination to conceive. We are justly impressed with the immensi- ty of the universe when a distance is reve:d- ed to us, which, light — travelling at the rate of one hundred and ninety thousand miles a second — takes thousands of years to tra- verse ; but multiply that space by all the powers of arithmetic, and still it is smaller in its relation to intinity, than a grain of sand is to any product that calculation can arrive at. And such is the relative propor- tion of all that we can imagine of good, to an ultimate perfection. Finally, it is clear that we unconsciously admit the power and preponderance of good at 'nplied to our present condition, by the ttjidi^ity with which we cling to life • and if we were to closely analyze the general griev- ances of life, the vain struggles, the illusory i GOOD AND EVIL. 13 fears, and the disappointed hopes, we shonld probably tiud them to be mostly of our own creation. Of future conditions of existence we know nothing; but our present experiences justify us in taking on trust the wisest provision for it, and it is only reasonable to suppose — knowing the immutability of law — that, that condition will be primarily — God forbid that it be eternally — regulated by our mental and moral attainments, or defalcations in this life. At present reason combines with all that is best in our nature, to urge upon us a faith- ful and submissive recognition of the wisdom and goodness of the stupendous power which has implanted in us a knowledge of the ex- istence of good and evil, has added to it a discriminating reason, and has supplied us with progressive Acuities, the proper culti- vation of which , leads us to •• Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, •• Sermons in stones, and good in everything." p** --■t ! m it I If -f SUBTLE INFLUENCES. r i li m .i I Ji'l I !'! uHI^ Jnflttfnqs. I !l HE above title is one of such vast com- prehensiveness, that only a summary view of its leading features can be taken in the following short essay : for every action of life is controlled by influences, many of v/hich are apparent, many are known but imperfectly understood, and there is doubt- less much to lead to the supposition, that there are many of which nothing whatever is known. The history of the past teems with false ideas of their nature, leading to a vast amount of credulity and superstition, which it has been within the province of science grodually to dispel. Astronomy has i- II Ml i i !J i! 18 SUBTLE INFLUENCES. suppressed Astrology; Geology has revealed the secret of the process by which the earth has attained its present condition, and has thereby corrected errors arising out of false theories respecting it; Chemistry has un- masked many delusions; Botany — in dofin- ing the nature and utility of herbs — has divested them of illusory qualities; the an- alysis of facts has placed belief in witch- craft, and in the efficacy of charms, even beneath contemptuous pity ; while the sciences of optics, and acoustics have proved that there are many conditions under which our physical senses are not finally trustworthy, when unaided by knowledge and reason. And if we are still utterly in the dark with refer- ence to the primary connoction between mental, spiritual, and physical phenomena, yet a sufficient advance has been made in the knowledge of secondary causes, to lead to the conviction, that there is nothing fortuitous in natural law ; and that there exist sure grounds for a basis upon which all that is occult in natural phenomena could be brought to light.. But although physical science has ceased to be affected by any idea of the super- 11 I SUBTLE INFLUENCES. 19 natural; and has so largely contributed in clearing away much, in which false theories, and heated imaginations, combined with ignorance, have led the world astray; yet it is out of its province to d. more than expose the fallacies which interweave them- selves with the facts of its own especial department. The solution of that which is actual in the spiritual domain, does not pertain to its functions, anu although the philosophy of all ages, up to the present time, has been wandering in a vast labyr- inth, making fruitless efforts to analyze the mental and spiritual influences which rule the power of action, their connection with the material is still a mystery, beyond the fact that they are inseparable in our con- formation. It is within the limits of pos- sibility, that further light may be brought to bear upon it; but the probability, amounting almost to a certainty, is, that the mental and spiritual parts of our nature form an intermediate link with a first cause ; and in that case, any definition of the principles of their action is utterly unattain- able. It is here that we step out of the reilras of science and philosophy, into that 20 SUBTLE mrLUENCES. ■•'ri- of theology : and if we look back upon past experience of the way in which science has rectitied theological error ; and theology has set limits to scientific research, and baffled the too inquisitive aspirations of philosophy, we cannot avoid the conclusion, that there is a clear line of demarcation separating their respective principles, which offers no impediment to a thorough permeation of their influences. We may be assured that there cannot be other than perfect harmony between true science, true theology, and true philosophy, by their mutual detection of error — that is to say — by the detection of that which may be erroneously advanced, relative to any one of them, through its inconsistency with any true principle of either of the others. The above is a short sj^nopsis of the relation to each other, of the influences which are the basis of the reason which, in man, regulates^ the action of those instincts, passions, and attributes, which he shares in common with the whole animal creation. It would be a task, both endless and hope- less, to endeavour to trace this action throufifh its varied, numerous, and intricate combina- SUBTLE rNFLUENCES. 21 tions. It is sufficient for the present pur- pose, to bear in mind— without especially particularising or refining— that law and order, cause and effect, are certain in their conclusions in each and every of their con- ditions. Nature has provided matter; has established unalterable lav/s which o-overn it; and has endowed man with reason to enable him, by the discovery of those laws, to apply physical phenomena to his own uses. It has furnished him with capacity to search for the moral and intellectual verities of nature; the true and tiual object of his existence; and has invested him with a conscience which has a tendency to cause him to regulate his thought and action in conformity with the verities which his understanding may have realized : but these attributes — although possessed of an accu- mulative power of progression — meet with strangely perplexing influences in the coarse of their action. ; It is evident that the higher the object of attainment, the more numerous and in- tricate are the influences which surround it. For instance, — the unreasoning portion of the animal creation, is sufficiently guided by J" ' SUBTLE INFLUENCES. instinct, and natural desire, to the fulfill- ment of all its requirements ; 'id the cha- racteristics of species are constant in their r nature, and perfectly adapted to meet all their necessities ; but man's chief attribute is reason, which leads him to the consider- ation of matters of far greater significance than those which relate exclusively to his physical well-being, and yet, how labored, and how attendant with difficulties is its progress towards the solution of the my- steries in which its eflfbrts are engaged ; and how confusing are its subtleties : for however appropriate its qualifications may be for advancement towards the ends it aspires to, — and they cannot be otherwise than api)ropriate, or they would not exist, — yet nothing in the visible creation is in- fluenced by a greater number of apparent contrarieties ; or is liable to a greater amount of error. Its conclusions, with regard to physical science, are certainly of a deter- minate character'; for there it calls all the physical senses to its aid, and its results are capable of a simply demonstrable proof. On matters intellectual its conclusions are less absolute, as the phenomena of mind and SUBTLE INFLUENCES. M thought are less capable of definition: but when it ascends into spiritual regions it wanders about, helplessly seeking a fact for a premiss, without which it is powerless. During its search it encounters theory upon theory, raised by its own endeavours and re- futed with its own weapons ; and is eventually constrained into the admission of the necessity of a first cause, infinitely beyond th- range of its capacity to fathom ; and which compels it to accept a theology as the only basis for its conclusions on spiritual matters. Reason IS essentially human; it is not a necessity of law, which is fixed and in no way al- terable or influenced by it, either directly or indirectly; h is subject to facts over which It has no control ; it is the sole me- dium between law and the understanding, and the sole expositor of the influence of law, from which all minor influences radiate. Now it may be laid down as an axiom that law is perfect, both in comprehension and in action; it embraces everything con- ceivable, even to the consequences attendant upon its infraction : hence the question natu- rally arises, if law is absolutely perfect, whence come irregularities, falseness, and inconsisten- 1 1 M 24 SUBTLE INFLUENCES. cics? The answer may possibly be found in the perverted action of the rational faculty, which is exclusively human. It is only in matters which are subject to human influences that we find untruth resulting in evil and discord. Therefore it follows, that law being perfect, and reason being its only interpreter to the nuderstanding, uutruth must be con- sequent upon influences which lead reason away from its legitimate functions to wrong conclusions. Here again a question arises. If perfect law embraces all things, is not reason included? Undoubtedly it must be, but beyond this point the question is in- volved in a complication of influences, which lead to higher considerations than unaided intellect has hitherto been able to grasp. The laws which govern the mind and the intellect have not yet been defined, nor even known, be}>;»nd a recognition of their remote efl*ect8 : prol ably they are closely connected with spiritual 'law, concerning which, in a scientific point of view, we are in still greater ignorance. One thing, however, reason has revealed to us, which leads to a clearer perception of the necessity of exist- ing conditions; and also that truth must lie II SUBTLE INFLUENCES. 25 at the bottom of them, not withstand hig ap- parent anomalies, viz.: that constant and steady progression is a iaw of nature, which is physically, mentally and intellectually de- monstrable. Gradually and by slow degrees, does reason cause truth to* emerge from obscurity; but it has to educate and drill Itself up to the increasing requirements of Its office ; to control and restrict its erratic wanderings ; and to free itself from the vast tangle of influences which pervert it from Its true course. Little by little are dis- crepancies and irregularities cleared away by those who have devoted thc'v talent and energy to discriminations between true reason and its vagaries. Men in advance of the age in which they lived — of which the present century furnishes an illustrious list— who, having established some point of truth which has eff-ected an advance in traininc^ the rudiments of knowledge towards fruition'' have thereby erected a finger-post, pointin<^ the way to further advancement: and il needs only a simple confidence in the sta- bility of nature to predict that eventually the perfection of law will be thoroughly vmdicated; and its perfect agreement with (' I 2G SUBTLE rNFLUENOES. the conditions of our existence made plainly manifest. It is evident that the influences which primarily and most immediately aftect hu- manity are physical : and it is noticeable that those which govern the earliest forms of progress, are strongest in their action and the most imperative in their demands. The necessity of food and shelter supersedes everything in its requirements. Next in order, but not quite so pressingly imperative, are the influences which regulate sensuous gi'atiflcations ; and by which sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell are led up to the earliest stage of rude art. The requirements of art lead to the development of science, which is the first step from the physical to the intellectual. We may recognize in all this the power of law, which enforces immediate action where it is absolutely necessary ; leaving little or nothing of option to reason and intellect ; and in proportion with the advance of reason towards id'rher consider- ations, do we find, that tho influences which govern it, increase vastly in number, and are more intricate in their action, but less im- mediately peremptory; thus affording it a SUBTLE INFLUENCES. IMP wider field for its conclusions, although the detenniiuitc conclusions of law are as absolute and as unalterable as ever. The whole process may be traced, in the pres(;nt day, through its various stages, from the poor acquirements of i\u) lowest savage, to the cultured talent of the intellectual scientist. Thus, in the order of progression, the his- tory of the present, represents the successive histories of past ages : and it is a matter for curious enfjuiry to discover what de- pressing influences, or what absence of ex- alting influences, have kept tribes in a state of primitive barbarism, and some nations only a step removed from it; while among others, reason and intellect seem to have been used only to forward a debasement which un- reasoning animals never descend to, and of which they are incapable ; and all this simul- taneous with the advancement which has so largely made the physical subservient to the intellectual, and is constantly and restlessly aspiring to still higher achievements. The inference to be drawn from these facts is, that some high ruling influence has obtained in the one instance, which has not extended to the other; and as all nature is abhorrent ; I. 28 SUBTLE INFLUENCES. '■■ \ I of the idea of the prevalence of wron«^ over right, we may seek the cause of a con- tinuance of a savage condition, in the absence of some principle inciting to advancement rather than in the presence of a retrograde principle which successfully opposes it ; and it is necessary that it be of a high order, and possessed of attributes which must not only repel error, but must also lead to truth ; and truth is advancement. We have not far to seek. Reason guides us almost instantly to that which fulfills all the requisite conditions, and experience con- firms that which reason directs us to. We find that in absolute barbarism there is no recognition of anything resembling a true moral law, that in semi-barbarism there is an imperfect recognition of it, and a corres- ponding indifference in complying with it, and that in high civilization there is not only a recognition of it, but it is accepted as a guide to action, and when we analyze the condition of nations, peoples, classes or communities existing in any of the inter- mediate stages, we find that either their general prosperity, their intellectual progress, their physical triumphs, their social relations, SUBTLE INFLUENCES. or their domestic comfort go hand in hand with whatever miiy be speciaJiuos of their moral culture. The conclusion is obvious. Nevertheless, it has been argued that th^ prime mover of advancing civilization, is the intellectual element, and that the moral is subservient to it. The grounds upon which this argument is based are, that moral law is stationary, that it is fully defined, and that nothing has been added to it for ages, but that the intellectual principle is pro- gressive and therefore superior. Now these grounds are excellent for arriving at a di- rectly contrary conclusion. The error in the above arises from a confusion of cause and effect. It is granted that moral law is stationary, but are its effects stationary? and has any nation, any community, any individual ever fulfilled it to the letter? Its known stability is proof rather of its perfec- tion ; and although none have attained to its full observance, yet, none are bold enough or foolish enough, to question its validity. And although moral law is stationary, its comprehensiveness is illimitable ; it is appli- cable to every action of life, and to every though of the rn^nd ; and it is necessarily i ; $ \ 30 SUBTLE INFLUENCES. stationary because it requires nothing ad- ditional to fulfil all its conditions. And here it may be remarked, that the word * ' stationary " has been borrowed from " Buckle's History of Civilization," because it is there used to illustrate the opposite view, (see Vol. 1, Chap. 4) but it is in no way applicable by way of particularizing any special law, for all law is stationary ; but all law is not hiown. Now the laws which govern the intellect must also || un- doubtedly le stationary, but they are un- known ; it is orjly in their effects that we recognize advancement. And laws which are clearly defined, which are decisive, and which are proved by results, must be more im- mediately potent in their action than those which are unknown, and the construing of which is consequently liable to error. In order to further determine whether morality or intellect is of the greater funda- ' mental necessity, it is desirable to be fully persuaded as to what progression consists in. If it consists in man's adaptation of physical phenomena to his requirements ; the ad- vance of science and refined art; and the SUBTLE INFLUENCES. 31 if accumulation of all that constitutes wealth and luxury; then progression is the result chiefly of intellect. But if it consists in the subjugation of the passions ; the cultivation of the amenities of social intercourse; the freedom of thought, and of action, consequent upon mutual trust and forbearance ; regard for the preservation of life ; the integrity of social and domestic ties ; and the general rectitude of conduct arising from a conform- ity with the requirements of established laws ; then morality rules over intellectuality, as a necessity of, or as a cause of progress, and is not — as it has been advanced in the counter-argument — an effect of the intellect. And this may be proved by the history of the past as well as by present experience. i f! I 5? The nations of Greece and Rome rose to the highest intellectual culture ever attained, where morality was almost absent. Their philosophy was of a deep and searching nature ; their oratory is still held in high estimation in our schools ; their poetry oc- cupies a conspicuous place in our libraries ; their sculpture has never been equalled by modern art; their architecture was chaste, "n 32 SUBTLE INFLUENCES. eleijiint and solid, and even now furnishes rules to which we conform ; their parade of pomp and their refinement in luxury have never been surpassed ; but where is their pr()2;ression ? Vanished ! because it had not the stability which morality ensures. With them slavery was a cherished institution ; revenge and suicide were regarded as virtues ; cruelty was a pleasant diversion, and human life was sacrificed for mere amusement ; immorality, worse than bestial, was praised by poets, practised by Emperors, and generally en- couraged. The one great redeeming point, in which nc^arly all tlieir morality was con- centrated, was the universal submission of private considerations to the public welfare. !So long as this was mahitained it secured its object, and their countries flourished ; but when enervating luxury and vice produced their attendant selfishness, then did the national pre-eminence collapse with the withdrawal of the one moral virtue which supported it. In the present day, it is evident that na- tional progress is proportionate to the extent in which national law is regulated by moral law ; taking also into consideration the scale of the integrity of its judicial administration, SUBTLE INFLUENCES. 33 and the efficiency of the measi""^- adopted for its enforcement. It would bvj tedious to illustrate this in detail; but if a finjrer is placed, hap-hazard, on a map of the world, it will surely point to a country, the general condition of which w^ill verify the statement. In the results of physical, intellectual and moral influences, we recognize something more or less definable, which may be used as a basis for inductive reasoning to arrive at secondary causes ; but in ascending to spiritual enquiries, reason finds nothing suf- ficiently tangible, nothing sufficiently definable for a starting point; therefore it cannot in this — as in other matters — act as a guide to the understandinsr, further than assuring it that there must be an intention in the extremely subtile and perfectly immaterial influences which are classified as spiritual. Nevertheless, reason is competent to exercise a strong check upon error respecting them, by submitting it to the test of comparison with well proved scientific and other facts, although it is unable to define their positive determination. There is nothing, however, to counteract the supposition that they must be the direct emanations of a great, final and 1= r) fi lWffiifa;»»JA''fag^'.a. .[ 34 SUBTLE INFLUENCES. f si I' ', inexplicable cause ; whetlier regarded as a probability of rational and intellectual judg- ment, or as a necessity arising out of their inconii)ctenco to arrive at any other conclu- sion. Hence the understanding is constrained to accept in Theology, a solutior of much that is otherwise incomprehensible. 13ut yet, in this highest and most impor- tant of all considerations, which contains the great problems of our existence and of our destiny- ; and the conception of which, in l)roportion to its truth, leads to the noblest aspirations, and also ,.to the enjoyment and usefulness of life, as well as to a calm con- iidence regarding inevitable death, through faith in the unerring truth, wisdom, and beneticence of the inmieasurably great pre- siding Deity, who, demonstrably, works no evil : y3t, in this supreme end of all thought- fulness, to which everything physical, every- thinp- rational, everything scientitic, everything intellectual, and everything moral, not only poijits, but terminates in, what lamentable results occur from discrepancies in the con- ceptions of the details of its working. All the worst passions of humanity are aroused, and all the fierceness of fanaticism is engaged, SI ■ ill * ill I A SUBTLE INFLUENCES. 35 iu the support of some utterly unreasonable and worthless dogma; or the absolute ne- cessity of some trivial form of ritual. Every system of Theology abounds in instances: one is sufficient to illustrate it. The high caste Brahmin refuses to eat the food over which the shadow of a Christian has passed. The Parsee fears to desecrate his God by the consumption of a pipe of tobacco. The Chinaman burns camel's dung bt.Sre his Joss. The Mohammedan trusts to fate in preference to his own exertions. And still more astounding is the fact, that men edu- cated in the highest schools of learning, and trained to be the expositors of the highest of Theologies, profess to be ready to suffer martyrdom in support of iho essential efficacy of a lighted candle; the cut or colour of some fantastic piece of drapery ; or the posi- tion in which they stand at a table. And these men declaim against the noble efforts of scientific research, and with still less consis- tency, condemn the African who sticks a feather in the tail of his fetich to propitiate its good offices. Such instances as these if it were not for the world-wide experience of the mtensity of insensate fanaticism, which ■ f mi 36 SUBTLE INFLUENCES. utterly disregards that which comes within the province of reason to make api)arent — couM only be ascribed, eithei to driveling idioicy, or to the assumption of a mask for designing roguery. Thus we see that the higher the form of influence, and the higher the bearing of its consequences, the greater are the intricacies of its working, and also the difficulties and misapprehensions consequent upon it. And, on the other hand, that the earliest stages of advancement are more directly enforced by immediate necessity. For, as a prime necessity in the attainment of physical knowledge is the adaptation of the physical senses to its ac- quirement ; so is the observance of the fixed and peremptory laws of morality, the first necessity in the maintenau', 3 of an advanced civilization, and consequently of a high mental and intellectual progression. In this we may recognize a wonderfully wise provision for the fulfillment of a grand intention. First, in the establishment of true and unalterable premises upon which advancement is based ; and again, in the increasing difficulties attending each forward step, involving the employment of higher faculties, which — gaining in develop- SUBTLE INl^LUENCES. 37 ment and strentjth by being exercised — con- stantly increase in ability to elucidate loftier forms of truth. When the infant is learninir to walk, it has no ulterior notion respectini)- it; the sole object is to be able to walk; but when it has attained thorough proficiency in the action, it regards it only as a means for the accomplishment of other purposes. T]i(\se purposes — at lirst puerile in their intention — are in like manner succeeded bv others of greater importance, which eventually develop into the full physical and intellectual capacity of manhood. The progress of the individual is a fair type of the progress of the race ; and we may arrive at an approximate estimation of its present comparative stage of develop- ment, by a consideration of the influences which govern present action. There is little doubt that the action of a very large majority of mankind is governed by one or other of the following considerations. The accumulation of wealth ; desire for personal pre-eminence ; and the attainment of power, of influence, and of patronage. These, if considered as an end are worthless ; they convey nothing to the understanding; they add nothing to progres- sion; and again, considered as an end, are m 38 SUBTLE INPLUENOES. simply a development of the lowest passions ; but if considered as the means to an end, they are of the utmost importance ; for they can be made instrumental in forwarding the highest purposes, in a way which is too ap- parent to be specified here. And when we look upon the past long duration of these considerations, in which they have been regarded as the chief end and purpose of life, and notice that they are only now, and only partially, begiaiiing to be considered as mearjs for the advancement of higher purposes, we may compare the present progress of mankind to that stage of youth which is just beginning to emerge from puerility. And the small, select minority of mankind, which has re- tained, improved upon, and added to the experience of past ages ; and which includes the hard-working, patient, and thoughtful scientists, the acute logicians and close rea- soners, the men who illustrate hiffh thought by deeply studied art, and the literary scholars who perpetuate and diffuse the know- ledge acquired ; these may be likened to the first signs of intellectual manhood ; the aspir- ations of sanguine youth, jlouring the future with a golden tint, ^* > ■ ■ ^ \ II SUBTLE INFLUENCES. 39 \ If the analo<^y holds good so far, we may presume that it will continue ; and as we have experience of the full cour :^ of the individual, but not any of that of the race, beyond its youth, it is competent for us to anticipate the future by comparison. Tliereforc, in pursuing the analogy on these conditions, it may be observed, that in manhood the bright anticipations of youth are seldom realized ; and even if possession of all that was con- sidered desirable is obtained, it does not re- sult in the satisfaction and contentment Avhicli were too sanguinely looked forward to. It then becomes apparent that there is a higher form of progress! veness, without which, life loses its chief attractions, and the prospect of death elicits nothing but a timorous shudder at the abrupt, mournful, and useless conclusion in which all the hopes, desires, and the struofirles of life terminate. So, with the human race, we may anticipate that all which is noble in science and intellect, now slowly beginning to cast its healthful influence over the habitable world, is not the end of final attainment; but a necessary preparation for the universal reception of considerations of far higher moment. And when the most It; 8 ■ ^ 40 SUBTLE INFLUENCES. powerful of all influences, the spiritual onia- mitions of ji pure Theology, shall have become universally felt and ackn()vvle(lvonld be destroyed; commerce would he conducted on the principles of a conmumity, instead of a diversity of interests ; and the word *' Patriotism" would become obsolete through- out the world. The idea of a universal unity in language, religion, customs, laws, institutions, and all ger/eral interests, doubtless appears wild, extravagant, and impractical)le, when we consider all that has to be done to attain it. The deeply rooted prejudices to be overcome, and new ideas to be instilled ; languages to be assimilated ; local govern- ments to be remodelled, and made to accord with a form to be generally accepted ; and all the multifarious discordancies of the world, — too numerous to catalogue, and apparently too deeply engrained to excite any hope of a possible adjustment, — to be made to agree. Notwithstanding all this, there will be an endeavour to prove that steps have already been taken, which show that there is a tendency to progression towards its accomplishment ; and however iudii'ect those steps may appear to be. PATRIOTISM. 57 and however improbable it may be that they are taken, with a consciousness of that tendency, yet they suffice to constitute a premiss to an imaginable course of events, which may be based upon them; and which it is not altogether impossible that time may realize. Accordancies ab-eady exivst which may be called primary necessities; for instance, if we review the influences which support nation- alities, we find that they are identical with those which would help to support a general unity, after it was once established; but when compared with the influences which the enormous advantages of such a unity Avould evoke, they would sink into insig- niflcance along with the patriotism which is partial, unless they underwent the expansion of which they' are capable, and thereby ceased to be exclusive. And if we review the impediments to unity, we And, both by history and experience, that discordancies, appiirently.as irreconcilable, have occasionally been made, by force of circumstances, to assimilate. Neither the material, the mental, nor the moral forces of the world are ever at a «i 58 PATRIOTISM. standstill ; and there are many subtle in- fluences constantly at work, settling disagree- ments, establishing reforms, and adjusting discrepancies, which — although they may ap- pear at first sight, to bear only upon a special object — exercise an irresistable con- trol over matters and events remote from each other, and with wdiich they have no apparent connection : and it is more than probable that agencies, of which we have only a slight conception, are Av^orking by slow degrees, and by means apparently most dis- tantly and faintly connected with an ultimate conclusion, towards the accomplishment of grand and important events. It is, however, only upon clearly perceptible and definite facts, that an imaginable possibility should be based ; and a few such facts will be here considered relative to the teiulency of their action towards the furtherance of a o-encral unity of interests, the acknowledgment of a universal brotherhood, the suppression of in- vidious national distinctions, and consequently the extinction of war, of opposing interests in commerce, and therefore necessarily, of the utility of patriotism. However slow a general progression miiy be in its earliest stages, it has an accunmlative PATRIOTISM. 59 power : and notwithstanding all that is said al)out impossiblities, it is beyond the power of human foresidit to predict the height of its attainment. The earliest advances of civi- lization, and its accom[)aniinents, are marked by ages and eras ; then centuries show a progression superior to all that preceded them ; and lastly, the united action of past times furnished the elements of a still higher form of progression, effected within a period marked by the existence of a generation : and it is this which we are al)out to consider as the element of future possibilities. Of all the advancei^-ients effected during the eighty years of the i)resent century, — which may l)e called the period of the existence of a generation — ]>y far the most important in its action upon the future, as Avell as upon present times, is the largely increased spread of education, and the world-wide ditfusion of knowledge and information. The various ad^'antages accruing to this, are far too diversiti< 1, and far too numerous to be speciiied her . It is the root of progress, sending forth hoots in every direction, which have in many instances, reached a growth which ensures their vitality. Already have 60 PATRIOTISM. we experienced the tendency of education to diminish the number and the importance of meretricious social prejudices, and class conventionalities, which support an exclusive- ness, which must eventually be altogether regulated by the more benign influences of desert and excellence. In England this ten- dency has shown itself during the present age, in the admission of Jews to an equality in the rights of nationality and citizenship ; in Catholic emanci})ation ; in parliamentary reform ; in the extension of the franchise ; and in other effacements of false distinctions of minor signilicance. It is also observable in all countries where education and enlighten- ment have increased in (]uality and extent. The accomplishment of each of these was steadily and bitterly opposed by class pre- judices ; and in each instance a narrow-minded exclusiveness was crushed — as it always must be — by an ever-advancing enlightenment, which probably, will eventually furnish the means of giving to all classes an ecjual opportunity for the attainment of the intellectual accjuire- ments which, without early education, are mastered only by exceptional genius, and under difficulties requiring no ordinary degree PATRIOTISM. 01 of fortitude to suniiount. A great help to- Avjirds siieli a result, is the largo amount of cheap literature of an i^lpro^-ing tendency, which is now produced, and is accessible to all, through vastly improved postal regu- hitions ; and which is quietly, but steadily and surely working its way towards the ex- tinction of that brute-like ignorance, prejudice, superstition, and stupidity, Avhich have so long characterized Inrire mnsses of mankind. The advance of science has — during the present century — made huge strides, where heretofore the movement was slow, and in some instances unperceptible. Notably in (liemistry, Surgery, and Natural History. It has vastly improved Agriculture and Metal- lurirv ; and it has introduced novelties, which have created a revolution in thought, in cus- toms, and in necessities; witness the birth and advancement of Geology, of the appli- cation of Steam, of Electricity, and the wonders revealed by the Spectroscope. These are only a very small portion of the scientitic achievements of the nineteenth century, yet they alone are sutficient to illustrate the ac- cumulative power of progression in one of its branches. 6^ PATRIOTISM. Neither is mechjmical advancement behind the age in producing the novel requirements which education and science impose upon it. The engineer who is empowered to carry out a grand idea, is quickly supplied with the requisite mechanical re(|uirements, however vast, or however intricate they may be : and the introduction of machinery worked by steam, has not onlv diverted an enormous amount of manual labour and energy, into higher and wider channels of usefulness and intelligence, l)ut has supplied numberless fresh resources for the future to utilize. The ap- plication of steam power to navigation has afforded largely increased facilities for inter- national communication, and also of access to extreme parts of the world ; and the effects of a widely extended social intercourse, are felt both morally and intellectually, as well as commercially. There are few influences that have a greater tendency to promote a good understanding between nations, and a levelling of their disparities, than a widely extended personal intercourse : by it, old prejudices are removed, ideas are inter- changed, languages l)ecome gradually inter- mingled, and eventually there ensues au ifi I k\ PATRIOTISM. 6^ identity of customs and institutions, which leads to the unity of races. As an instance of this we may take the race now known as Anjrlo-Saxon. Neither the ancient Briton, xhe Roman, the Dane, the Saxon, nor the Nor- man, would now recognize any of their own especial characteristics in their des- cendants ; nor understand a single sentence of the language which they each contributed to form. The consolidation of proximate States, which has taken place in present times, in Germany, in Italy, and the con- federation of British provinces, is in an early stage of development in distant parts. Japan is rapidly conforming to the rules of a higher civilization ; China has been driven out of an absurd exclusiveness, by the entrance into its capital of British and French troops ; and the States and tribes of India join in acknowledging a rule, against which they have found it useless to contend ; while savage tribes, which are not capable of profiting by the introduction of civili- zation into their country, subside into nothing- ness, as in Australia, North America, and Tasmania. On reviewing these features of progress, we find that they excercise no retarding li I; 64 PATRIOTISM. influence on each other; on the contrary, the advance of any one of them is an ad- ditional help to the furtherance of the rest ; he«ce progression possesses an accumulative power, the details of which would supply matter for volumes. And if — while taking this into account — we look back a few centuries, and compare the means then fur- nished for improvement, with those which the present century provides for the future — presuming that progression advances in the same ratio — what a field of view opens before us. It is with all reverence, and submission to the wisdom which conceals from us any certainty as to the future, that imagination opens a page of the history of the w^orld, some few centuries hence. An anticipation which is permissible if it is limited to conclusions drawn from substantial facts ; and if such conclusions are sanctioned by the constant and uniform action of past and present times tending progressively towards them. Viewing it in this light, we see the strenuous exertions now being made to edu- cate and refine, gathering accumulative strength, through the taught becoming I n 1»ATRI0TISM. 65 teachers; and education — the motive power of progression — with all its attendant ad- vantages, eventually becoming universal, and brino-ino; in its train, as a natural consequence, a suppressive power over ignorance and vice, and substituting in their place intelligence and morality. We see its moral eliects in social intercourse, softening asperities, curbing the display of violent passions, and training them to subjection. Its physical effects are mani- fest in a more healthy condition of the body, arising from the suppression of enervating vice ; and as both good and evil propensities, as well as physical conditions, are transmitted by inheritance, each succeeding generation will have less evil to contend against, and greater power to subdue it; and the world at length becomes regulated by those lead- ing principles of Christianity, which are now theoretically admitted, but practically ignored. We see the great facilities for international communication, produced by the present age, vastly increased; fresh requirements pro- ducing fresh expedients, until the inhab- itants of all parts of the world become familiarized; the consequence of which is that a popular language prevails; that the Q6 PATRIOTISM. I f tniining of infancy and youth, followed by the continued education of a widely extend- ed experience, becomes iniiversal ; that by a ♦Tceneial moral and intellectual advance- ment, religions become diveste I precice causes invariably produce certain precise effects; but it does not follow that there may not be a combined action of various laws capable of producing effects beyond our conceived notions of the or- dinary course of natural order, which nei- ther human reason can account for, nor human understanding comprehend. And although law is always absolutely true and precise in its effects, yet the field of its operations is marked by incessant change. In no hour of the earth's existance do its conditions exactly correspond with those of any other hour; probably during no two seconds of its existence did it ever occupy * the same position in space. Its internal and surface economy has been characterized by constantly progressive change, from the time when it was a molten mass, until it became an admirably adapted abode for physical and intellectual life. Therefore, experience — which only partially reveals the past, and affords no positive clue to the future — is incompetent to declare what may or may not be possibly effected by law, the adapt- ability of which to general conditions of infinite variety -is so marvellously intricate, MIRAOLBS. 89 that it utterly baffles human ingenuity to as- sign any limit to the measure of its capacity ; and it is fairly conceivable, that at some future period, science may be able to make it evident to the penses that a power, un- doubtedly far beyond human conception, can produce effects, such as are known to us as miracles, not only without prejudice to immutable laws, but by their control and through their instrumentality ; should such a time arrive — and there is nothing which precludes its possibility — the word '* mir- acles" will lose whatever siguiticance may be at present attached to it, as contrary to the order of nature, and will subside into an expression denoting the extensive power of the All-supreme. If the above reasoning is efficient, the question — no longer one of impossibility — turns upon probability, and evidence not purely materialistic, but drawn from the working of the mental, moral and emotional faculties, is here admissible. It may possibly be objected, that the basis upon which this evidence rests is undeterminate, not suffici- ently defined, and subject to theory and imagination; and there are fair grounds 86 MIRACLES. Hi .- ■ ' M J'' ■€ w '^'l for this objection, if it is applied indivi- dually ; but when considered collectively, individual error in one direction, is neutralized by individual error in an opposite one, and the mean of a general tendency forms a fair basis for inductive reasoning ; and as all things are subject to law — the un- erring truthfulness of which makes us feel assured that nothing is purposeless, and that an ultimate truth lies at the bottom of everything existent — the existence of the above faculties implies the existence of laws which govern them ; a set purpose for their action and utility ; and an ultimate truth relative to matters l)y which they are af- fected, open to their attainment. In ap- plying this we find that miracles are identified with theology, whence their source is derived ; no theology is without them ; and the possession of a strong theological emotion, in most instances amounting to a passion, is a strongly marked characteristic of the whole human race. This emotion, or passion, whether fed from sources more or less pure, or more or less corrupt, is the same in all ; and being thus universal, and evidently part of the mental and M MIBACILE8. moral constitution of mankind, it follows — with the evidence before us that nothinc- is purposeless — either that its existence, if objectless, is an exception to universal law, or that an ultimate truth of a nature to satisfy its highest aspirations, is an existent fact. It is evident that there can be but one true idligion, and the falseness of the rest must api)iy also to their attendant miracles. The only means, short of a direct revelation, by which we can determine the truth of a religion, is by results, as shown in its moral and physical effect in individuals ; in the amount of refined civilization and culture in communities ; and in the tendency to a dominant prosperity in nations, which follow the observance of its laws ; and reason leads to the conclusion that the best test of its truth, is the approach towards perfection in its general working and eftects, in relative pro- portion to the amount of the observance of its requirements. A religion which can stand such a test, offers in itself the strongest presumptive evidence, that the miracles insep- arably connected with it, are simply matters of fact. Assuming then, that science fur- 88 MIRACLES. nishes no positive evidence against the pos- sibility of miracles ; that there is no known law conclusively opposed to them; and that the inexperience of them in a present gener- ation is only negative evidence of a low order; and knowing also that all phenomena are subject to a power, which, to the highest human comprehension, is absolutely limitless ; it is also assumable, that, that power may have been occasionally exercised through the medium of human action and intelligence ; not only for the purpose of some immediate bene- fit, but also as the most efficient means for exercising a spiritual influence for the purpose of a mental, moral, and intellectual advance- ment in that, and in all subsequent gen- erations ; as well as the most effective way for the introduction and establishment of a theology — eventually to become universal — which the untrained human mind would not accept, in the first instance, without the con- junction of an urgent and extraordinary ap- peal to its greater susceptibility of conviction through physical demonstration ; and thus physical eftects would bear witness to spiritual truths closely connected with them, which truths, when fully received, would in time I MIRACLES. 89 ^' .'. ? yield evidence to the efficiency of the means of their reception. There is also more of probability than of inconsistency in the as- sumption that the chosen medium for what- ever may appear to be an exceptional manifestation of power, should be an intelli- gence of a higher order, but of the same nature as those for which the benefit of such manifestation would be especially intended. Should it be objected that a supreme power would effect its object by more direct rieas- ures, attended with more immediate results ; it is urged in reply, that if the supreme wisdom thought fit to perform acts which to us may have the appearance of a divergence from natural law, and which have been so far followed by such effective results as to lead us to the same conclusion as that to which all nature points, that *' whatever is, is right," surely it is not consistent in the ob- jector to miracles to require one which, in his estimation, would be of a higher order. A mind so constituted would reject belief even "though one rose from the dead." It is a fact established with satisfactory conclusiveness, that progressiveness is one of the chief features in the universal order of !1 11 90 MIBAOLES. I'M li.lln li i li \ i i nature, which applies to spiritual as well as to temporal matters; and the slightest reflection leads us to recognise the wisdom which so ordered it. The downfall of everything dates from its inaction. The ancient Theo- logies of Egypt, Greece and Rome ceased to exist from their inability to contend with ad- vancing thought; and we may fairly predict that those now in existence, which for aeres have remained stationary in the influence they have exercised — not only over the morality — but over the habits, customs and insti- tutions of their votaries, are doomed to ex- tinction. The argument frequently used against Christianity, that the perfect fulfillment of its precepts is above the attainment of humanity, is as fine a tribute to the like- lihood of its durability, as its most ardent supporters couid desire ; for so long as human nature exists, it will not cease to struggle towards an acknowledged standard of perfection ; consequently the influence of Christianity will continue to be, as it always has been, a progressive influence. It was introduced under apparently the most ad- verse cone itions ; it was opposed to the spirit its founder and its promoters of the age MIRACLES. 91 were outcasts, despised, massacred, and op- pressed in every form which a jealous, an angry, and a vindicative oppression could take; yet such was its vitality, and power of progression, that it gradually became the ruling spirit of the world. Individually we live in comfort, security, and intellectual advancement under laws framed in accord- ance with its teaching ; communities actu- ated by it, obtain ever increasing success in social undertakings ; and nations which pro- fess it are supreme over others in power, civilization, art, literature, science, and all desirable attainments which represent pro- gress. And if we closely examine all the complicated streams of opposition against which these great results have been achieved, we cannot fail to recognik^e the demon- stration of a spiritual power, fully as mir- aculous as those physical manifestations, which so materially assisted in ushering in the thorough revolution in ethics and theo- logy, in thought and in action, by which the world has so signally benefited. THE END,