* No. I. Vol. I., p. 8. Edited by the Rev. Brewin Grant.
By our own act, or at their solicitation, we may study "sacred" writings, but at dictation, never! So long as Secularists obey the laws enacted for the common security, so long as they perform the duties of good citizens, it is nothing to Christians what opinions they hold. We neither seek their counsel nor desire their sentiments—except they concede them on terms of equality. The light by which we walk is sufficient for us; and as at the last day, of which Christians speak, we shall there have, according to their own showing, to answer for ourselves, we prefer to think for ourselves; and since they do not propose to take our responsibility, we decline to take their doctrines. Where we are to be responsible, we will be free; and no man shall dictate to us the opinions we shall hold. We shall probably know as well as any Christian how to live with freedom and to die without fear. It is in vain for Christians to tell us that Newton and Locke differed from us. What is that to us unless Newton and Locke will answer for us? The world may differ from a man, but what is the world to him, unless it will take his place at the judgment-day? Who is Paul or Apollos, or Matthew or Mark, that we should venture our eternal salvation on his word, any more than on that of a Mahomedan prophet, or a Buddhist priest? Where the danger is our own, the faith shall be our own. Secularism is not an act conceived in the spirit of pride, or vanity, or self-will, or eccentricity, or singularity, or stiff-neckedness. It is simply well-understood self-defence. If men have the right of private judgment, that right has set them free; and we own no law but reason, no limits but the truth, and have no fear but that of guilt. We may say we believe in honour, which is respecting the truth—in morality, which is acting the truth—in love, which is serving the truth—and in independence, which is defending the truth.
XVIII.
Confucius declared that the foundation of all religion was reverence and obedience.* The Religious sentiment is the intentional reverence of God. The Christian is ever persuaded that there is only one way of doing this, and he arrogantly assumes that he has that way. Whereas the ways are as diverse as human genius. Let those who deny that Secular Truth meets the emotional part of their nature, settle what is the nature of the emotions they desiderate. The miser wants money—the sensualist wants the cook—the scholar wants knowledge—and the mother desires the life, growth, and happiness of her child. But what can man want in a rational sense which Nature and humanity may not supply? Do we not meet the demand of the many when we show that Secularism is sufficient for progress; that it is moral, and therefore sufficient for trust; that it builds only upon the known, and is therefore reliable? It is the highest and most unpresumptuous form of unconscious worship. It is practical reverence without the arrogance of theoretical homage. We at least feel confident of this, that the future, if it come, will not be miserable. Theremaybe a future—this remains to awaken interest and perennial curiosity. If Nature be conscious, it will still design the happiness of man, which it now permits—this assurance remains, stilling fear and teaching trust.
* Sir John Bowring.
XIX.
In surveying the position of Christianism in Great Britain there is found to exist a large outlying class, daily increasing, who for conscientious reasons reject its cardinal tenets. Hence arises the question:—Are good citizenship and virtuous life on Secular principles, possible to these persons? Secularism answers, Yes. To these, excluded by the letter of scripture, by the narrowness of churches, by the intrinsic error and moral repulsiveness of doctrine, Secularism addresses itself; to these it is the word of Recognition, of Concert and Morality. It points them to an educated conscience as a security of morals, to the study of Nature as a source of help, and seeks to win the indifferent by appeals to the inherent goodness of human Nature and the authority of reason, which Christianism cannot use and dare not trust. If, however, the Secularist elects to walk by the light of Nature, will he be able to see? Is the light of Nature a fitful lamp, or a brief torch, which accident may upset, or a gust extinguish? On the contrary, the light of Nature may burn steady, clear, and full, over the entire field of human life. On this point we have the testimony of an adversary, who was understood to address us, a testimony as remarkable for its quality as for its felicity of expression:—"There is the ethical mind, calm, level, and clear; chiefly intent on the good ordering of this life; judging all things by their tendency to this end, and impatient of every oscillation of our nature that swings beyond it. There is nothing low or unworthy in the attachment which keeps this spirit close to the present world, and watchful for*its affairs. It is not a selfish feeling, but often one intensely social and humane, not any mean fascination with mere material interests, but a devotion to justice and right, and an assertion of the sacred authority of human duties and affections. A man thus tempered deals chiefly with this visible life and his comrades in it, because, as nearest to him, they are better known. He plants his standard on the present, as on a vantage ground, where he can survey his field, and manoeuvre all his force, and compute the battle he is to fight. Whatever his bearings fervours towards beyond his range, he has no insensibility to the claims that fall within his acknowledged province, and that appeal to him in the native speech of his humanity. He so reverences veracity, honour, and good faith, as to expect them like the daylight, and hears of their violation with a flush of scorn. His word is a rock, and he expects that yours will not be a quicksand. If you are lax, you cannot hope for his trust; but if you are in trouble, you easily move his pity. And the sight of a real oppression, though the sufferer be no ornamental hero, but black, unsightly, and disreputable, suffices perhaps to set him to work for life, that he may expunge the disgrace from the records of mankind. Such men as he constitute for our world its moral centre of gravity; and whoever would compute the path of improvement that has brought it thus far on its way, or trace its sweep into a brighter future, must take account of their steady mass. The effect of this style of thought and taste on the religion of its possessor, is not difficult to trace. It may, no doubt, stop short of avowed and conscious religion altogether; its basis being simply moral, and its scene temporal, its conditions may be imagined as complete, without any acknowledgment of higher relations."*
* Professor Martineau, in Octagon Chapel, Norwich, 1856.
XX.
Nature is. That which is, is the primary subject of study. The study of Nature reveals the laws of Nature. The laws of Nature furnish safe guidance to humanity. Safe guidance is to help available in daily life—to happiness, self-contained—to service, which knows how "to labour and to wait." For authority, Nature refers us to Experience and to Reason. For help, to Science, the nearest available help of man. Science implies disciplined powers on the part of the people, and concert in their use, to realize the security and sufficiency necessary to happiness. Happiness depends on moral, no less than on physical conditions. The moral condition is the full and fearless discharge of Duty. Duty is devotion to the Right. Right is that which is morally expedient. That is morally expedient which is conducive to the happiness of the greatest numbers. The service of others is the practical form of duty; and endurance in the service of others, the highest form of happiness. It is pleasure, peace, security, and desert.
XXI.
We believe there is sufficient soundness in Secular principles to make way in the world. All that is wanted is that advocates of them shall have clear notions of the value of method in their work. To the novice in advocacy policy seems a crime—at least, many so describe it. Unable himself to see his way, the tyro fights at everything and everybody equally; and too vain to own his failure, he declares that the right way. Not knowing that progress is an art, and an art requiring the union of many qualities, he denies all art, cries down policy, and erects blundering into a virtue. Compare the way which Havelock reached Lucknow, and the way in which Sir Colin Campbell performed the same feat, and you see the difference between courage without, and courage with strategy. It was because magnitudes existed, which were inaccessible and incapable of direct measurement, that mathematics arose. Finding direct measurement so often impossible, men were compelled to find means of ascertaining magnitude and distance indirectly. Hence mathematics became a scientific policy. Mathematics is but policy of measurement—grammar but the policy of speech—logic but the policy of reason—arithmetic but the policy of calculation—temperance but the policy of health—trigonometry but the policy of navigation—roads but the policy of transit—music but the policy of controlling sound—art but the policy of beauty—law but the policy of protection—discipline but the policy of strength—love but the policy of affection. An enemy may object to our having a policy, because it suits his purpose that we should be without one; but that a friend should object to our having a policy is one of those incredible infatuations which converts partisans into unconscious traitors. The policy adopted may be a bad policy, and no policy at all is idiotcy. If a policy be bad, criticise and amend it; but to denounce all policy is to commit your cause to the providence of Bedlam. If, therefore, throughout all intelligent control of Nature and humanity, policy is the one supreme mark of wisdom, why should it be dishonourable to study the policy of opinion? He who consistently objects to policy, would build railway engines without safety valves, and dismiss them from stations without drivers; he would abolish turnpike roads and streets, and leave us to find our way at random; he would recommend that vessels be made without helms, and sail without captains, that armies fight without discipline, and artillery-men should fire before loading, and when pointing their guns, should aim at nothing. In fine, a man without policy, honestly and intelligently opposed to policy, would build his house with the roof downwards, and plant his trees with their roots in the air; he would kick his friend and hug his enemy; he would pay wages to servants who would not work, govern without rule, speak without thought, think without reason, act without purpose, be a knave by accident, and a fool by design.