MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 " Happy are they that hear their detractions, and can put them to 
 mending.^' — Much Ado About Nothing. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIALIST, 
 
 ONEIDA, N. Y. 
 
 1876. 
 
DUKE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Treasure %oom 
 
PROPERTY OF THE 
 HISTORICAL COMMITTEi 
 
 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 " Happy are tlicy that hear their detractions, and can put theia to 
 niendiiKj." — Much Ado Abotit Nothing. 
 
 OFFICE^OF THE AMEKICAN SOCIALIST, 
 ONEIDA, N. Y. 
 
 1876. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/mutualcriticismOOnoye 
 

 MUTUAL CRITICISM, 
 
 Criticism is no new thing under the sun. It is 
 at least as old as art, literature and public life. 
 The writers, artists and orators of early Greece 
 and Kome felt its power. The authors whose 
 works now constitute the classics of English htera- 
 ture ran its gauntlet as truly as any Bohemian of 
 our time. The terrible castigations which public 
 men receive to-day are not more severe than those 
 administered in the days of Demosthenes and 
 Cicero. Only Criticism, calling to its aid every 
 modern means of communication, has become more 
 omnipresent. 
 
 But Mutual Criticism — systematized as a means 
 of culture — is a new institution, and of such value, 
 in the opinion of those who have most thoroughly 
 tested it, that its origin, philosophy, manner of 
 application and results, deserve to be more gener- 
 ally known. 
 
 In the following article, which was first published 
 
4 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 in the ('(>n(/re(/<ttio}ial Quarterly, k.^i'\\ 1875, Mr. 
 J. H. Noyes gives the history of 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 My object in writing is to acknowledge, and, if possi- 
 ble, pay a debt which I owe to Congregationalism. 
 
 Mr. Nordliotf, in his late work on thr VoniinnnwtH' So- 
 cieties of the United Statefi, takes pains to exhibit by ex- 
 amples a system of Mutual Criticism which is prac- 
 ticed in the Oneida Community, and in his concluding 
 speculations on the advantages of Communism and the 
 essentials of success in it, he again refers to that system 
 in the following terms : 
 
 * * * "Finally, there should be some way to bring to the 
 light the dissatisfaction which miist exist where a number of 
 people attempt to live together, either in a Commune or in 
 the iisual life, but which in a Commune needs to be wisely 
 managed. For this purpose I know of no better means than 
 that which the Perfectionists call 'criticism' — telhng a mem- 
 ber to his face, in regiilar and formal meeting, what is the 
 opinion of his fellows about him — which he or she, of course, 
 ought to receive in silence. Those who cannot bear this ordeal 
 are unfit for Community life and ought not to attempt it. But, 
 inffu-t, thin ^ criticising' kindly aiul conscientiously used, irmdd 
 be an excellent means of discipline in most families, and would 
 in almost all cases abolish scolding and grumbling." — JVord- 
 hoff's Communities, pige 418. 
 
 In the Conyreyatlonalisi of January 28th there is a 
 notice of Mr. Nordhoff's book, in which his " amusing " 
 description of a criticism which he witnessed at the 
 Community is quoted, and another use that might be 
 made of the system is suggested, thus: 
 
 '* We ivoiider hoiv criticism would work as a means 
 of (/race iti some of our churches f " 
 
ITS ORTGIN. 5 
 
 Now, the good thing I wish to do is to give the his fan/ 
 of this system of Mutual Ci'lticisyii ; first, because that 
 history really belongs to the Quarterly as the representa- 
 tive of Congregationalism (as I am about to show), and 
 secondly, because the usefulness of such an institution 
 ought not to be limited or hindered by a misaijprehension 
 of its origin. The truth is that Mutual Criticism as a 
 " means of grace " was not mvented by me or by the 
 Oneida Community, but was practiced in the very in- 
 nermost sanctuary of the Congregational Church, more 
 than forty years ago, and owes its existence to the same 
 great afflatus that gave birth to the Missionary Societies, 
 the Bible Societies, and all the other institutions of 
 modern religious benevolence. The proof of this state- 
 ment I will now proceed to give. 
 
 In an account of my own religious experience, which 
 I published in 1844, I stated where I first found and 
 practiced and submitted to criticism, as follows: — 
 
 " In consequence of my decision to become a missionai-y, 
 soon after I entered the Theological Seminary at Andover, 
 my connection with the missionary brethren became very 
 intimate, and I was admitted to a select society which has 
 existed among them since the days of Newell, Fisk, etc. 
 Among those with whom I was thns associated, I remember 
 Lyman and Munson, who were killed by cannibals some 
 years ago on one of the islands in the East Indies : Tracy, 
 who I suppose is now in China ; Justin Perkins, the Nesto- 
 rian missionary, and Champion, who went to Africa, but 
 subsequently returned and died. One of the weekly exer- 
 cises of this society was a fi-ank criticism of each other's 
 character for the purpose of imi^rovement. The mode of 
 proceeding was this : At each meeting, the member whose 
 turn it was to submit to criticism, according to the alphabeti- 
 cal order of his name, held liis peace, while the other mem- 
 
(> MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 bers, out' by oue, told him his faults in the plainest way 
 possible. This exercise sometimes cruelly crucified self-com- 
 placency, but it was contrary to the regiilations of the society 
 for any one to be provoked or complain, I found umch 
 benefit in submitting to this ordeal, both while I was at 
 Andover and afterward," — T'he Ptrfectioimt, April 20, 1844. 
 
 I cite this old record because it was written and 
 printed several years before the existence of the Oneida 
 Community, and before any attempts were made to prac- 
 tice criticism among Perfectionists. In the course of 
 last year, 1874, Mr, Henry W. Burnham, a member of 
 the Oneida Community, undertook to follow the clew 
 furnished in the above paragraph of my religious his- 
 tory and was led into a very interesting investigation. 
 He obtained at Andover the names of twelve living 
 persons who had been members of the secret society 
 above referred to, and addressed to each of them a copy 
 of the following circular : 
 
 '* Dear Sm : — I am engaged in some historical researches re- 
 lating! to the early interest in the cause of Missions at Ando- 
 ver Theological Seminary, and I have been advised to apply 
 to you for information on certain points. What I wish to 
 know is the history of a secret society of missionaries called 
 ' The Brothers,' which is said to have originated at Williams 
 College, with Mills, Fisk, Newell and others, and was exist- 
 ing at Andover certainly in 1)S:>2, — how much longer I can- 
 not say, 
 
 " If you belonged to that society, or knew any thing about 
 it, will you Vje kind enough to tell me what you remember 
 about a system of Mutual Critichm which was practiced in 
 it y I have been informed that each member, in turn, offered 
 himself and was subjected at the weekly meetings to the 
 free remarks of all his brethren on his faults. I should like 
 if possible to ascertain when and with whom this practice 
 
ITS ORIGIN. 7 
 
 originated, and how long it was continued. Any other in- 
 formation which you may think proper to communicate about 
 ' The Brothers' will be gratefully received. 
 
 " Yours respectfully, H. W. Burnham." 
 
 In the course of a few months answers were received 
 from nine of these persons. Some of them were unable 
 to recall any thing of importance relating to the special 
 subject of criticism ; but nearly all expressed enthusi- 
 astic interest in the memories which Mr. Burnham's 
 letter awakened. Two of the responses were so satisfac- 
 tory and conclusive in regard to the origin of the insti- 
 tution of criticism and so interesting in themselves, that 
 I shall here copy them in full : 
 
 {Letter from Rex). John A. Vinton.'] 
 
 ''Winchester, Mass., Feb. 23, 1874. 
 '* Me. H. W. Burnham: 
 
 " My Dear Sir: — You inquire respecting a ' secret society 
 of missionaries.' You should have said, not 'of missiona- 
 ries,' but 'of persons intending to become foreign missiona- 
 ries ; ' for a considerable number of persons, at one time or 
 another, were members of that society who never became 
 missionaries. They all intended to be missionaries, but some 
 were hindered by circumstances beyond their control, of 
 whom I was one. The society was not called ' The Broth- 
 ers,' but ' The Brethren.' In all such matters it is best to be 
 exact. 
 
 " This society, as is often the fact, was very small in its 
 beginnings. It was formed in the N. W. lower room of the 
 East building of Williams College, Sept 8, 1808. It consisted 
 of only six young men, students of that College : Gordon Hall, 
 who graduated in 1808 ; Samuel John MiUs, Ezra Fisk and 
 James Richards, 1809 ; Luther Rice and John Seward, 1810. 
 I have the impression that Richard Chauncey Robbins, 1809, 
 
8 MITTAL CRITWISM. 
 
 was also one of them ; but of this I am not sure. Fisk, 
 Seward and Robbing were prevented from going. The 
 Constitution, names and all. were written in cipher. Great 
 pains were taken to keep the whole affair secret, and nothing 
 was known of it, save by its members, till long since I left 
 Andover, which was near the end of Sept., 1831. There 
 were reasons then for secrecy which do not exist now. The 
 whole aft"air of missions to the heathen was then regarded as 
 savoring of infatuation, as the supreme of folly. Very few 
 thought otherwise. 
 
 "You mention Newell as one of the founders of the 
 ' Society of Brethren. ' Mr. Newell graduated at Harvard 
 College in 1807, the year before the Society was formed. If 
 ever a member, it was after the transfer of the society to 
 Andover, in the winter of 180!)-1(). 
 
 " This society was wholly distinct from any other, as, for 
 instance, from the Society of Inquiry, and from the Commit- 
 tee on Foreign Missions, at Andover, and fi*om the American 
 Board. It moved in a sphere cf its own, silent, gentle, and 
 unknown, but oi:)eratiug powerfully and producing important 
 and lasting effects. 
 
 '• The object of the society, as expi*essed in the Constitu- 
 tion, was, ' to effect, in the person of its members, a mission 
 or missions to the heathen.' 
 
 "I look back with a sacred awe, and interest which can 
 never cease, on my connection with the ' Society of Breth- 
 ren.' Your call on me for iuformation has struck a chord in 
 my inmost soul. I had from my childhood— say from 1810 
 — been deeply -ind tt^nderly interested in Foreign Missions. 
 I had read in the old Patioplist the letters of the missionaries 
 and the proceedings of the English Missionary Society. The 
 names of Vanderkemp. Kicherer, Carey, Thomas, Marshman, 
 and Winrd, were f amiUar as household words. I well remember 
 the early efforts to send missionaries from this country ; the 
 formition of the American Board. I heard the early mis- 
 
ITS ORIGIN. 9- 
 
 sionaries, Hall, Nott, Judson, and Mills, preach ; I read with 
 the deepest interest the Memoir of Harriet Neinell ; I knew 
 of the various missions as they came into existence. My 
 mind was always, and increasingly, attentive to the subject. 
 Being thus interested, the fact became know^u to others, es- 
 pecially at College (Dartmouth) and at the Seminary. I was 
 active in the Society of Inquiry, and in every way then open 
 to me. 
 
 " At length, on the evening of Feb. 2, 1830, being then a 
 member of the Middle Class in the Theological Seminary, 
 Andover, I was invited to a room occupied by a friend in the 
 Seminary. I found myself in the presence of perhaps six or 
 eight students, well known to me as ardent friends of missions. 
 The question was then and there put to me, in a form in 
 which I had never heard it before, ' Are you w^illing to go on 
 a Foreign Mission ? ' I was at first startled, and asked a little 
 time to consider and pray over it, before returning an answer, 
 
 " Two or three days afterward I devoted a day to secret fast- 
 ing and prayer ; laying aside all my studies, and all worldly 
 thoughts as far as possible, and endeavoring to look to God 
 with full purpose and singleness of heart ; and I can truly 
 say, through the grace of God given unto me, that it was a 
 precious, profitable day to me. [Diary.] Then follows a 
 full accoimt of the confessions and supplications made that 
 day. 
 
 "I consulted Dr. Woods, Dr. Tyler, and others who knew 
 me best, and the result was a full devotion of myself to the 
 work of a foreign missionary — a determination which I have 
 never since regretted. I soon gave my answer to ' The 
 Brethren ' to this effect, and was admitted a member of their 
 body, after a solemn promise to ' keep secret the existence of 
 this society.' 
 
 " I attended their meetings and took part in all of their 
 efforts : I suppose I know as much about that society as any 
 man living. We did what we could to promote a spirit of 
 
10 MC'TTAL CRITICISM. 
 
 missions, not onlj'^ in the Seminary, but wherever there was 
 opportunity elsewhere, attending monthly concerts, etc. 
 
 *' I can truly say no part of my life was more happily 
 spent, and no part affords me more pleasure in the retro- 
 spect now, after the lapse of more than forty years. I was 
 brought near to God and to Heaven, and I now deeply 
 lament that my purjiose of making known Christ to the 
 heathen was defeated by circumstances beyond ray control. 
 
 "'The Brethren' had one practice which I have never 
 known to exist elsewhere. Every member, when his turn 
 came, was expected to submit to a thorough criticism of his 
 character and prevaiUng habits. I do not remember how 
 often this matter was attended to, nor do I remember how 
 often we met. As there were so many other meetings, class 
 meetings, meetings of the Rhetorical Society, of the Society 
 of lucpiiry, etc., I think we did not meet ofteuer than once a 
 tiKHith ; but I am not sui-e. But I am sure of this, viz. , that 
 during the twenty mouths that I was a member of the society 
 of ' Brethren,' my turn to be criticised in the manner just 
 referred to occurred only once ; and believe me, once was 
 enough for a life-time. Such an operation I never went 
 through before or since. I have before me at this moment 
 the remarks then m ide on my manner and way of doing 
 things, in i)rayer, in conversation, etc. The process was 
 severe and sc;ithing in the extreme. Most of the remarks 
 were just and kindly intended : some of them were, I hive 
 always thought, imkiud, unjust, and r, th-'r to(} severe at least. 
 At the same time, as I wrote in my journal, I was conscious 
 of other faults, more heinous and more d mgerous to my soul 
 and to the cause of Christ, as committed more directly 
 against God. 
 
 " The immediate result was to drive me to the blood of 
 sprinkling, the fountain oj^eued for sin rnd uncleanness. 
 After I went to my room I could but weep before God over 
 my numerous faults they faithfully exposed. 
 
ITS ORIGIN. 11 
 
 " Among those who took part in this process were Schauffler, 
 now of Constantinople, Lyman, now in Hawaii, Munson, and 
 Lyman, the martyr missionaries of Siimatra, and nine or ten 
 others. Respectfully yours, John A. Vinton." 
 
 [^Letter from WilUmn Ar'ins, D. i>.] 
 
 *'DuQUOiN, III., Feb. 25, 1874. 
 "H. W. Burnham:— 
 
 " Dear Sir: — Yours of the 19th inst. is at hand. Not know- 
 ing your object fully, and not knowing whether the ban of 
 secrecy is removed from the society to which you refer, I 
 may not give the exact items you wish, but I will do the best 
 I can. It is evident that you are not a member of the so- 
 ciety, nor do you know its name, and for the above reasons 
 I shall not at present give you the latter. 
 
 " There was a society formed at Williams College originally 
 by Mills, Hall, and Richards, and joined afterward by NeweU, 
 Nott, and Judson in 1808, who held their weekly meetings 
 on the 'banks of the Hoosac by the haystack,' for the pur- 
 pose of prayer and consultation on the subject of Foreign 
 Missions, the object of which was, as expressed in its Con- 
 stitiition, ' to form in the person of its members a mission 
 or missions to the heathen.' Their minutes were for a time 
 kept in cipher, but after a while they were written in full. 
 In the spring of 1810 Mills took this society with him to 
 Andover, where he and his associates immediately took meas- 
 ures which resulted in the organization of the American 
 Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In 1831-32-83 
 it still existed at Andover, and had branches in many of the 
 colleges in New England, and in Auburn and Princeton Theo- 
 logical Seminaries. At that time it counted ia its Ust of 
 members all the secretaries of the Board, nearly aU the mis- 
 sionaries in the field, gentlemen and ladies, and all the stu- 
 dents at Andover who were known to contemplate the work 
 
1L> MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 of missions as a personal concern. And though their exist- 
 ence as a society was unknown, they had a controlling influ- 
 ence in the seminary. The president of the Society of In- 
 quiry was always a member of that circle. They had their 
 weekly meetings for i)rayer and consultation. At these 
 meetings they did discviss the characters of one another, all 
 in kindness and love, but sometimes they did rake us pretty 
 hard. It was here that all their plans were discussed and 
 adopted. It was here that the American Board of Foreign 
 Missions had its origin ; and it was here, too, that many of 
 our benevolent societies had their inception and plan of ar- 
 rangement laid. Among these I would name the American 
 Board for Foreign Missions, the American Bible Society, the 
 United Foreign Mission Society, the African School Society, 
 the American Tract Society, the American Temperance So- 
 ciety, and I believe one or two others. It was at one of 
 these meetings that Bro. Henry Lyman proposed that he 
 should turn Baptist, giving as a reason that the Baptist So- 
 ciety were in greater need of missionaries than the Congre- 
 gationalists. I mention this as a specimen. 
 
 "How long the society continued in operation I know not, 
 but I know that it hved long enough to have its infli ence felt 
 to the remotest comer of this ruined world. It was in the 
 meetings of that sacred conclave that I spent some of the 
 happiest, and I might say some of the most profitable hours 
 of my life. 
 
 " You will see in Choules' and Smith's Origin and Hi^tm^y 
 of Missions, in Vol. II, p. 2;U, an article that will give some 
 light on the subject, and if I can add any thing to aid you in 
 your enterin-ise, let me know it. Probably long ere this the 
 secrecy has been removed from the society, and something 
 more might be said, though not a great deal. 
 
 " Respectfully yours, William Arms." 
 
 Thus it is shown that the institution of Mutual Criti- 
 cism belongs to Congregationalism, — was the product of 
 
ITS ORIGIN. 13 
 
 its purest devotion, its era of martyrdom. If there is 
 auy thing rational or useful in it, Congregationalists 
 ought to have the benefit of it without borrowing or 
 paying a royalty to the Oneida Community. All that I 
 or the Community can claim is that we have adopted the 
 institution and made the most of it. Perhaps our long 
 and varied experience in testing it will sometime be 
 worth something to the world. But the honor of the 
 invention belongs to the missionary spirit of the Con- 
 gregational Church, and I would as soon rob the grave 
 of my mother as take credit to myself for what that 
 church has done for me. John H. Noyes. 
 
 Wallingford, Conn. 
 
 The Congregatio7ialist, in commenting on this 
 number of the Quarterly, says : " This article of * 
 Mr. Noyes's is one of cimous historical interest 
 and valuable significance," and establishes beyond 
 question " that criticism after the manner now fol- 
 lowed at Oneida was one of the exercises of ' The 
 Brethren' at Andover." 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF MUTUAL CKITICISM IN CONNEC- 
 TION WITH THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY. 
 In the preceding pages we have given Congre- 
 gationalism credit for the mventio7i of 3Iutual 
 Criticism. But it will be observed that the prac- 
 tice of it in that denomination was confined to a 
 
U MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 secret society in a theoloo^cal seminary, and even 
 there was so intermittent and short-lived that many 
 of the members were ignorant of its existence, and 
 all memory of it at Andover was in danger of being 
 lost. There is no evidence that it was ever carried 
 beyond that secret society or away from Andover 
 by any one except John H. Noyes. He kept hold 
 of it, practiced it from time to time as opportunity 
 offered during his theological course at New Haven 
 and liis subsequent career as a Perfectionist, and 
 finally introduced it into the Oneida Community 
 as a standing ordinance of family culture. There 
 it has had a long growth, from which it is now 
 coming forth, we trust, to he appreciated every- 
 where. 
 
 The preliminaiy organization out of which the 
 Oneida Community grew existed several years in 
 Putney, Vt., in the character of a church or Bible- 
 school, rather than of a Community. This organi- 
 zation first adopted the practice of Mutual Criticism 
 in 1846. The story of the first experiment is told 
 by a member as follows : 
 
 ''The little school at Putney went through a long 
 discipleship before the system of Mutual Criticism was 
 instituted. The process was perfectly natural. Love 
 for the truth and love for one another had been nurtured 
 and strengthened till it could bear any strain. We could 
 receive criticism kindly, and give it without fear of offend- 
 ing, in the element of tried affection. Association had 
 ripened acquaintance so that we knew one another's faults. 
 
ITS DEVELOPMENT. 15 
 
 We had been fed for many years on systematic Bible 
 studies, and had been trained like Timothy, to ' medi- 
 tate on these things and give ourselves wholly to them. ' 
 We were studying the true expression of our principles 
 in external forms, and working out salvation from selfish- 
 ness by the test of circumstances. The year 1846 was 
 known among us as the year of revival. There was a 
 spring-like awakening of the affections, and a baptism of 
 the spirit of unity which was new and supernatural. It 
 was the precursor, as it proved, of the spirit of judg- 
 ment. This spirit was invited by our new ordinance of 
 Criticism, and that originated on this wise : In one of 
 our evening meetings Mr. Noyes talked about the 
 possible rendmg of the veil bet^veen us and the in- 
 visible world, admitting us to open intercourse with the 
 Primitive Church. But were we prepared to make 
 music with this glorious company ? Our hearts might 
 be in tune, but in beauty of expression we must be for 
 the present extremely awkward and unpracticed. We 
 were, in our external characters, comparatively un- 
 civilized — rude and uncultivated in taste and manners — 
 barbarians to the refined society of heaven. But, he 
 said, there was one chord of sympathy between us and 
 them, one spirit in which we could flow together now, 
 and make music, and that was the spirit of improve- 
 ment. That spirit animates all heaven, and no matter 
 how immature we are, it will put us in musical sympathy 
 with every good being in the universe. With this for a 
 beginning, we want to increase our points of harmony, 
 and make ourselves attractive to them by all the refine- 
 ment and civilization of which we are capable ; and as 
 one measure he proposed Mutual Criticism, which is 
 now such a pillar m our system. The plan was received 
 with enthusiasm, and one of our most earnest members 
 
16* MUTUAL URITTOISM. 
 
 offered hiniself immediately as the subject of the first 
 experiment. The others engaged to study his character, 
 get their impressions clear, and bring to the next meet- 
 ing the verilict of their sincerest scrutiny. We were to 
 tell our whole mind, 'without partiality and without 
 hypocrisy,' 'in naught extenuate, nor set down aught in 
 malice, ' but hold up to him as perfect a mirror of his 
 faults as possible. When the affair transpired, we were 
 not prepared for its solemnity. If some of us were 
 sportively disposed in the beginning, we were serious 
 enough before the surgery was over. There was a spirit 
 in our midst, which was like the word of God, ' quick 
 and powerful, a discemer of the thoughts and intents of 
 the heart. ' All that winter we felt that we were in the 
 day of judgment. Criticism had free course, and it was 
 like tire in the stubble of our faults. Each in turn 
 submitted to the operation above described. It was 
 painful in its first application, but agreeable in its re- 
 sults. One brother, who has a vivid memory of his 
 sensations, says that while he was undergoing the 
 process he felt like death, as though he were dissected 
 with a knife ; but when it was over, he felt as if he had 
 been loashcd. He said to himself, ' These things are all 
 true, but they are gone, they are washed away. ' Criticism 
 was our interpretation of Christ's saying to his disciples, 
 * If I then your liord and Master have washed your feet, 
 ye aluo ouyJit to tva.sh one another's feet.' " 
 
 The method pursued in these primitive criticisms 
 is more specifically described in the following para- 
 graph : 
 
 " Any person wishing to be criticised offered himself for 
 this purpose at a meeting of the Association. His character 
 then became the subject of special scrutiny by all the mem- 
 
ITS DEVELOPMENT. 17 
 
 bers till the next meeting, when his trial took place. On the 
 presentation of his case each member in turn was called on 
 to specify, as far and as frankly as possible, every thing ob- 
 jectionable in his character and conduct. In this way the 
 person criticised had the advantage of a many-sided mirror 
 in viewing himself, or perhaps it may be said was placed in 
 the focus of a spiritual lens composed of all the judgments 
 in the Association. It very rarely happened that any com- 
 plaint of injustice was made by the subject of the operation, 
 and generally he received his chastening with fortitude, sub- 
 mission, and even gratitude, declaring that he felt himself 
 relieved and piirified by the process. Among the various ob- 
 jectionable features of the character under criticism, some 
 one or two of the most prominent would usually ehcit cen- 
 sure from the whole circle, and the judgment on these points 
 would thus have the force of a unanimous verdict. Any sore- 
 ness which might result from the operation was removed at 
 the succeeding meeting by giving the patient a round of 
 commendations. This system of open and kindly criticism 
 (a sort of reversed substitute for tea-party backbiting in the 
 world) became so attractive by its manifest good results that 
 every member of the Pvitney Association submitted to it 
 in the course of the winter of 18-1:6-7; and to this may be 
 attributed much of the accelerated improvement which: 
 marked that period of their history. Instead of offenses,, 
 abounding love and good works followed the letting loose of 
 judgment." 
 
 These accounts both fail to mention the impor- 
 tant rule which was adopted that the subject 
 should receive his criticism vy'ithout replyimj^ un- 
 less obvious errors of fact were stated. 
 
 On the removal of the Putney family to Oneida 
 the system of Mutual Criticism was carried with 
 2 
 
IS MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 them, and has been contmuecl with various modifi- 
 cations in that Community and its branches to the 
 present time. 
 
 For a few years past there has been a standing 
 committee of ciiticism, to whom i^ersons desiring 
 the benefit of the ordinance might make apphca- 
 tion. This committee is selected by the Commu- 
 nity, and is changed every three months — thus 
 giving all an opportimity to serve as critics as well 
 as subjects. The person volunteering is free to 
 have others besides the committee present, or to 
 have his critics only those of his own choice, or to 
 invite a general expression from the whole Commu- 
 nity. 
 
 In the great majority of cases criticism is desired 
 and solicited by individuals, because they are 
 certain from their own past experience, or from 
 observation of the experience of others, that they 
 will be benefited by it ; but in some instances, 
 where it is noticed that persons are suftering from 
 faults or influences that might be corrected or re- 
 moved by ciiticism, they are advised to submit 
 themselves to it. In extreme cases of disobedi- 
 ence to the Community regulations, or obsession 
 by influences adverse to the general harmony, criti- 
 cism is administered by the Community or its 
 leaders without solicitation on the part of the sub- 
 ject. In general, all are trained to criticise freely, 
 and to be criticised ^N-ithout offense. Evil in 
 
ITS DEVELOPMENT. V.) 
 
 character or conduct is thus sure to meet with 
 effectual rebuke from individuals, from platoons, or 
 from the whole Community. 
 
 The Commimists say in their publications : 
 "Our object being- self-improvement, we have 
 found by much experience that free criticism — faith- 
 ful, honest, sharp criticism — is one of the best exer- 
 cises for the attainment of that object. We have 
 tried it thoroughly ; and the entire body of the Com- 
 munity have both approved and honestly submitted 
 themselves to it. Criticism is in fact the entrance- 
 fee by which all the members have sought admission. 
 
 "People sometimes imagine they could not endure 
 criticism as it is carried on in our Commimity- — 
 that they have not the necessary moral heroism : 
 and they are willing to credit us with uncommon 
 virtues, as though it were entirely supererogatory, 
 on our part, to submit to so mortifying a process. 
 But we think that, instead of being martyrs, we 
 have an easy time in comparison with others ; and 
 this is the way we reason : — Criticism irill be in 
 proportion to the need of it ; where there is de- 
 mand there will be supply ; faults will draw 
 censure, and criticism will circulate and find its 
 proper destination in society. This is a law of 
 distribution as natural and inevitable as any that 
 exists. People around us are subject to it as much 
 as ourselves. The difference is, that we cooperate 
 with this law in a way to make its operation the 
 
i>o MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 most comfortable and satisfactory. We study the 
 easiest way for supj^ly and demand to meet. There 
 are several different ways. Paul says, ' If we w^ould 
 judge ourselves^' w4iich may include mutual criti- 
 cism, ' we should not be judged ; ' he here pre- 
 sents one way. Then he adds, 'but when we are 
 judged we are chastened of the Lord, that w^e 
 should not be condemned wdth the w^orld ; ' which 
 shows us two other ways : one, chastening from the 
 Lord, and the other a severer condemnation. The 
 necessity for judgment is universal, but it is for us 
 to choose how" we will meet it : and there is a best 
 way. So far as w^e judge ourselves, and help one 
 another to judgment, w^e shall escape present 
 chastening by affliction and the condemnation of 
 the final judgment. AVe do not get any more 
 criticism than others, but instead of rmining up a 
 long accoiuit for settlement hereafter we prefer to 
 take it as we go along, and in the way of mutual 
 admonition rather than by chastening from the 
 Lord. 
 
 "The time ^\dll come w^hen the secrets of all hearts 
 will be made manifest. Then those w^ho now indulge 
 this shrinking from the light, and sensibility to ex- 
 posure will have- to suffer all that w^e suffer, and 
 their criticism will l^e much more intolerable, be- 
 cause not graduated as it has been w4th us. 
 
 "It is not only true that all men wdll ultimately 
 receive their due of criticism, but they do not really 
 
ITS DEVELOPMENT 21 
 
 get any valuable exemption from it even now. 
 Thought is free, and it is full of criticism all through 
 society. Every person is more or less transparent 
 to those around him, and passes in the surrounding 
 sphere of thought for pretty much what he is worth. 
 Speech is free, too, in a certain way, and industri 
 ously supplies the demand for criticism with an 
 article commonly called backbiting. If you have 
 faults, you may be sure they are the measure of the 
 evil-thinking and e\dl-speaking there is going on 
 about you. Supply meets demand, but not in a 
 way to tell to your account under the common 
 system of distribution. Criticism is not more 
 free with us, but it is distributed more profitably. 
 We have a systematic plan of distribution, by which 
 the true article is insured ; and it is delivered in 
 the right time and place. Criticism, as it goes in 
 society, is without method ; there is no ' science in 
 it ; ' it acts every- where like the electric fluid, but 
 is not applied to any useful purpose ; it distributes 
 itself] and sometimes injuriously. In the Commu- 
 nity we draw it off from the mischievous channels 
 of evil-thinking and scandal, and conduct it through 
 plain speech to a beneficial result. 
 
 "Self-accusation is one method of supply in the 
 line of criticism, that spiritual persons are very apt 
 to nui into, when they lack the proper supply from 
 discriminating friends. The fear of criticism from 
 others is often accompanied with the most torment- 
 
L'L> MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 ing self-inspection. Persons often sufit'er with false 
 imaginations respecting the feelings of others to- 
 ward them, thinking themselves the subject of criti- 
 cism when they are not. Then, finally, the great 
 ' accuser ' is ready to enter at any opening, and 
 stock the market with liis poisonous stuff. He 
 speculates on faults, making persons take his spirit 
 of condemnation if possible. The operation of 
 systematic mutual criticism is to displace all these 
 irregular, hurtful forms of fault-finding. Self- 
 accusation is supjDressed, false imaginations dis- 
 pelled, and the ' accuser of the brethren ' cast down. 
 Justification and a spirit of improvement take their 
 place. 
 
 " We simply adopt the policy of ' home manufac- 
 ture.' Assuming the prmciple that there will be 
 just so much criticism stirring, either domestic or 
 imjiorted, we think it is the better way to keep a 
 supply of our own manufacture, and proliibit the 
 foreign article. If there are folly and faults at 
 work there will be a corresponding amoimt of 
 criticism ; and, if we do not produce it at home, 
 supply and demand will meet in some other way 
 less comfortable. We make a business, therefore, 
 of supplying ourselves, and find that we can manu- 
 facture a better article and have it at less cost. 
 
 " It is an object in criticism not to irritate by con- 
 stant fault-finding, but to present to each one from 
 time to time, as in a mirror, the tout eiisemble. 
 
ITS THEORY. 23 
 
 the whole of his character, as it is seen by those 
 aroiind him — the aim being, not only to point out 
 the way of specific improvement, but also to pro- 
 duce humility and softness of heart, in which all 
 good things grow and all bad things die." 
 
 THEOEETICAL VIEW. 
 
 The general meaning of the word Criticism is 
 obvious, being derived from the Greek kruw, 
 signifying to discriminate — to separate — to judge. 
 It is properly applied to the process of inspection 
 by which persons form their opinion of works in 
 art, literature, science, morality, and religion. It 
 is an application of the judgment and taste to 
 these things in such a way as to distinguish be- 
 tween the good and the bad — to separate mixtures, 
 and bring things to their simj^le elements, so that 
 j^raise and blame, like and dislike, may be intelli- 
 gently distributed. Hence criticism may be called 
 with some propriety the chemistry of mental and 
 spiritual forms — doing for the higher spheres of 
 being something like what the crucible and testing 
 apparatus do for gross matter. 
 
 Such is a general definition of the term Crlti- 
 eisni. Traced out in its more specific application 
 
24 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 to different subjects, as to the fine arts, to litera- 
 ture, etc., we find that many different faculties are 
 employed in its operation, and that the tests of 
 approval and disai:>proval vary with the varying 
 subjects. In music, criticism employs, as its 
 agent, the ear., and requires that the performance 
 shall pass the approval of certain principles of 
 acoustic taste. In painting or sculpture, the eye 
 is principally the medium of criticism, while the 
 senses of form, color, and ideal beauty sit in 
 judgment. In literature, there are still other 
 faculties, as the love of truth, the imagination, etc., 
 that are involuntarily summoned to the business of 
 ciiticism whenever we read a book. 
 
 In respect to all these departments criticism is 
 quite a natural operation of the mind, and is car- 
 ried on continually as we come in contact with the 
 objects of it, with more or less effect, according to 
 our intelligence and j^ni'pose. Whenever we have 
 a feeling of j^leasure at the sight of a beautiful ob- 
 ject, or at hearing fine music, there is the essence 
 and beginning of criticism. We have only to trace 
 out and tell the reason of our pleasure, or of the 
 opposite sensation in case that is produced, to make 
 the act of criticism complete. 
 
 With this \dew of the subject in its ordinary as- 
 pect, the reader will readily understand the ex- 
 planation which we shall now give of Social or 
 Mutual Criticism. Observe, then, that the faculty 
 
ITS THEORY. 25 
 
 of careful discrimination and correct judgment, 
 which in ordinary circles is exercised mainly in the 
 criticism of literature and art, in the circle of 
 Mutual Criticism is turned to the discoveiy of per- 
 sonal character. We carry up the art and the uses 
 of criticism from the range of things to that of 
 human beings. Wliat the connoisseur and the 
 reviewer do in resjDect to books and paintings we 
 do in respect to ourselves and one another. 
 
 It is evident that an immensely wdder and richer 
 field of scnitiny is offered in the case of living 
 character, with all its various phases and relations, 
 than in the case of lifeless objects like paintings 
 or books. A person presents himself to us in a 
 many-sided, complex way, not as an object of sight 
 and sound merely, but as a spiritual, intellectual, 
 physical and social being, with whom we hold 
 I)erpetual and often intimate relations. How appro- 
 priate, then, it is that he should be the subject of 
 criticism — that we should note and study that in 
 him which tends to give us pleasure, and should 
 observe, on the other hand, those things which are 
 inharmonious and disagreeable. 
 
 AVhile the criticism of character employs most (if 
 not all) of the faculties which are engaged in the 
 criticism of other things, it also brings into exercise 
 a still higher part of our nature — the faculty of 
 spiritual perception. As mere li\dng beings we 
 possess in oui'selves, and present to others, all the 
 
•j(; MlTirAL CRITICISM. 
 
 essential beauties of music, poetry, painting, sculp- 
 ture, and romance, on which to exercise the chscrimi- 
 nation of taste ; and still beyond this there are 
 the harmonies of spiiitual life, which are under- 
 stood only in the clairvoyance and fellowship of 
 S2)ints. 
 
 Mutual Criticism, it will be seen, is an organized 
 system of judgment and tiTith-telling which gives 
 voice and j^ower to the golden rule, " Whatsoever ye 
 would that men should do to you, do ye even so to 
 them." Selfishness and disorder inevitably annoy 
 the circle around them, and the circle thus annoyed 
 has, in the institution of Mutual Criticism, a regu- 
 lar and peaceable method of bringing the truth to 
 bear upon the offender — a method much more likely 
 to cure the evil than ill-timed and acrimonious 
 complaints of aggrieved individuals. 
 
 It is important that persons or circles attempt- 
 ing criticism should get a true, comprehensive 
 ideal of its nature and spirit. Experience shows 
 that unpracticed critics are liable to fall into nar- 
 row views on the right hand and on the left. Some 
 persons seem to consider criticism merely a keen 
 and sharp delineation of faults, without any refer- 
 ence to corresponding virtues. Others make it 
 consist in indiscriminate praise, passing over de- 
 fects so lightly that they are lost sight of in view 
 of the virtues. Others again seize on the external 
 
ITS THEORY. 27 
 
 manifestations of character, and skim its surface 
 Avitliout diving into its recesses. The first of these 
 methods is an index of a censorious spirit ; the sec- 
 ond of a flattering spirit ; and the tliird of a su- 
 perflcial spirit. True criticism avoids them all. 
 It studies character as a painter would a pictui'e, 
 exploring and analyzing the whole. It refers ac- 
 tions back to their hidden spring — traces excesses 
 to some virtue which is overstramed — points out 
 the deficiencies which indicate the want of miion 
 with life of an opposite nature — is hearty, yet tem- 
 perate in awarding jDraise and blame, and leaves its 
 subject neither flattered nor despairing, but earnest 
 and hopeful. 
 
 Phrenology concerns itself about the discovery 
 of human character, and as po^^ularly practiced is 
 in many respects analogous to the system of Mutual 
 Criticism. It professes to give men, as in a mir- 
 ror, a view of themselves in all their failings and 
 their excellencies. It has elaborated a set of names 
 for the various manifestations of hmnan nature, 
 and its technical language based on those names 
 may be used with advantage in the exercise of Mu- 
 tual Criticism. In fact Phrenology, which has 
 been justly called "metaphysics for the million," 
 has accustomed large classes of ordinary minds to 
 processes of reflection on character which have 
 prepared the way for the more thorough work of 
 judgment, to be supplied by Mutual Criticism. 
 
28 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 The difference between Phrenology and Mutual 
 Oiitieism is in their difterent methods of discovery 
 and their different machineiy of application. 
 
 Phrenology makes its discoveries of character by 
 obsei'^'ation of the cranium : Mutual Criticism dis- 
 covers character by observation of actual conduct. 
 
 Phrenological discoveries are made and applied 
 in each case by a single manipulator or judge. 
 Mutual Criticism avails itself of the observations 
 and applying skill of a jury consisting of the sub- 
 ject's circle of acquaintances. 
 
 It is obvious that Mutual Criticism may always 
 avail itself of the assistance of Phrenology so far 
 as observation of the cranium is found to be help- 
 ful to observation of actual conduct. 
 
 Mutual Criticism undoubtedly is a j^roduct of 
 Chiistianity. Its history goes back beyond the 
 missionaiy and martyr age of Congregationalism 
 to the missionary and martyi' age of the Christian 
 church. Its fomi is a modern invention, but its 
 spirit is discernible every-where in the New Testa- 
 ment. When Paul says to the Romans, " I am 
 persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye are full of 
 goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to ad- 
 monish one another^' he attests the substantial 
 presence of Mutual Criticism in that church. 
 
 With this view w^e shall freely go to the New 
 Testament for help in our endeavor to represent 
 the spirit and working of Mutual Criticism. It 
 
HO W TO GIVE IT. 29 
 
 was born and has been, thus far, brought up among 
 Bible-loving believers, and we doubt whether it will 
 ever have much popularity or success beyond that 
 circle, or in any circle that has not the missionary 
 and martyr spirit of Christ. 
 
 HOW TO GIVE CKITICISM. 
 
 •' Faithful are the wounds of a friend." Proverbs 27 : 6. 
 
 As pure oxygen is destructive, but oxygen com- 
 bined with nitrogen is the very breath of life, so 
 criticism must be combined vdih. love to be whole- 
 some and healing. Or we may compare criticism 
 to machinery which needs to be carefully oiled in 
 order to be safe. Without the lubrication of love, 
 criticism works more mischief and distress than it 
 does good. Society should be knit together in 
 love before the strain of criticism is put on. 
 
 As individuals, we must love before we criticise. 
 Christ was qualified to be the judge of this world, 
 by the love he showed in lajdng down his life for 
 it. Criticism bathed in love womids but to heal. 
 Bathed in personal feelings it leaves in the woimd 
 poison. There is great sensibility in most persons 
 to criticism. The nerves of egotism are wonder- 
 fully delicate, and cringe at the slightest touch; 
 
30 MCTCAL CRITICISM. 
 
 and it requires wisdom to criticise faitliful!3% and 
 yet avoid unnecessary irritation. 
 
 There must not only be love, but res2^ect — such 
 a recognition of the divine birthright of man as 
 will make us fear to be oppressive or lord it over 
 any one. AMiatever a person's faults are, if he is 
 a believer Christ is in him ; and there is a sense in 
 wliich it may be said, " AMio shall lay any thing to 
 the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justi- 
 fieth ; who is he that condemneth ? " Criticism 
 should carry no savor of condemnation. There 
 should be discrimination between the spirit that is 
 on a person, or his superficial character, and his 
 heart, where Chiist is. The object of criticism is 
 only to destroy the husk, which conceals his inward 
 goochiess. 
 
 A third qualification is sincerity, or simplicity 
 which comes right to the point without too much 
 "going round." The plainest course gives most 
 satisfaction to all j^arties. 
 
 Our hearts should be in a soft, genial state 
 toward those we criticise, and at the same time we 
 should be sincere and tell the plain truth without 
 fear of offending. Sometimes persons criticise in 
 a superficial way, carefully mixing so much praise 
 and extenuation with their blame as not to serious- 
 ly disturb self-complacency. Tliis is ineffective, and 
 is done with an eye to favor and not to pleasing 
 tlie Truth. An overbearing spirit in criticism is 
 
HOW TO GIVE rr. 31 
 
 equally ineffective. Patience is an important quali- 
 fication in a critic. We are instructed to " exhort, 
 reprove, rebuke, with all long-suffering and doc- 
 trine." Love should be established between the 
 parties— fervent charity which thinketh no evil, 
 and yet is wide-awake where there is any chance to 
 help another improve. Again, "If a brother be 
 overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore 
 such a one in the spirit of meeknessr Meekness 
 is the spirit in which we want persons to receive 
 criticism ; and we must give it in the same spirit 
 that it is desirable to provoke on the other side. 
 Combativeness will jjrovoke resistance; a censo- 
 rious spirit will provoke retaliation : a proud spirit 
 will provoke self-justification, and so on. 
 
 These gentle quahties of patience, meekness and 
 chanty, do not exclude a just indignation against 
 wrong. Vehemence of spirit and a godly anger 
 are often necessary to give execution to the shaft 
 of criticism. Paul instructs Titus to rebuke the 
 obtuseness of the Cretians, '' sharply r 
 
 "Wisdom as to the time and circumstances is 
 necessary. In some cases piivate ciiticism is pref- 
 erable ; in others open rebuke "before all." In 
 general it is best to wait until criticism is cordially 
 invited. Constant chafing against a person's faults 
 is unprofitable ; it produces either indifference or 
 fear in the persons, and is injurious to our own 
 health of spirit. Sometimes people criticise those 
 
■i-2 ■ MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 around them merely or chiefly because they are 
 personally annoyed by the faults they complain of ; 
 but the true motive is to edify the body of Christ. 
 We should not let evil around us compel us to 
 criticise it, and so do it reluctantly, or in moments 
 of excitement ; but should do the work freely, and 
 of our own choice, in a calm, believing sj^irit. 
 
 The feeling is very natural that we have no right 
 to criticise an evil that we see in others unless we 
 are free from it ourselves ; and even when unre- 
 stricted criticism is invited there is sometimes a 
 hokling back on this account. But this is wrong. 
 No such feeling should hinder a person from being 
 honest. If he sees something to criticise in another, 
 the consciousness of having the same infirmity 
 is no reason why he should not speak the truth. 
 
 Then, reciprocally, a person should not throw off 
 criticism because the individual who gives it may 
 also be faulty on the same point. If an evil is in 
 us, no matter how many others have the same evil, 
 we are bomid to be saved from it, and we should 
 avail ourselves of all the truth that can be said 
 about it. Let every one stand by himself ; let 
 there be no answering again — no saying, " This is 
 as applicable to some one else as to me, and there- 
 fore I will not receive it." When others are criti- 
 cised speak freely and earnestly, without any self- 
 reference. Look simply at the evil mider criticism 
 and demolish it. 
 
HOW TO GIVE IT. 88 
 
 What we should aim at is to let the spirit of 
 Truth have fair play. Surely the spirit of Truth may 
 lead us to criticise others when we are not entirely 
 free from the faults that we criticise. If we are 
 troubled with any particular infirmity, that may be a 
 reason why we should show it no favor in others, 
 but stimulate ourselves to shar^^ criticism of it 
 wherever we find it. In that way we may help 
 ourselves to get rid of it. We need not admit the 
 idea for a moment that it is hypocrisy to criticise 
 others for faults that we have ourselves. The truth 
 of a criticism does not necessarily imply that the 
 critic is faultless. The truth is not at all dependent 
 on our personal position in reference to it. Let 
 every one assume that he is on the side of the 
 spirit of Truth, and determine to give it all the 
 facilities he can. 
 
 It is plain, if I have a mote in my eye, and you 
 have one in yours, that I can see to get yours out 
 better than I can to get out my own, and vice versa. 
 Each can help the other. To have a becou in my 
 eye is another tiling. If I have a great thing in 
 my eye that stops my sight altogether, I must first 
 pull that out, before I can see to cast the mote out 
 of my brother's eye. When persons are in total 
 darkness they are not in a condition to criticise. 
 But this is not to be assmned at all respecting 
 those who have accepted Christ. The light is 
 shining in their hearts, and mutual ciiticism is 
 
 3 
 
34 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 taking the advantage of each other's sight to pull 
 out motes. Criticism should not be considered a 
 l^ersonal matter, but a general oj^eration to help 
 one another. Simply let the truth have free coiu'se. 
 
 We may criticise faithfully and severely, and yet 
 not effectually — not so as to "tell" — for want of 
 wisdom to hit the center of the fault. We must 
 discriminate in the manner of criticism in different 
 cases. In the case of a person who is not really in 
 a progressive state — who has no genuine ambition 
 for improvement — with a view to get lum in motion, 
 wake him up, and start him on the track, it may be 
 good to say the worst that can be said, and make 
 his faults as odious as the truth will bear, so that 
 he will hate himself if possible. But when a per- 
 son has a genuine eagerness for improvement, and 
 what he wants is, not to be put in motion, but to 
 be shown where to move, criticism properly takes 
 a different form. A person in that state, wide 
 awake and sincere m general, does not need very 
 much to be told what his deficiencies are ; he is as 
 likely to know them as any one, and perhaj^s more 
 so. Your way to help him is not to urge him to 
 vain endeavors and impossible attemj^ts by a flood 
 of aimless criticism, but if jDOSsible to show him the 
 next step in faith that is before liim — the very 
 thing that he can do to imj^rove, without any 
 impossible heroism. Wliere a person knows his 
 own deficiencies, and is determined to improve in 
 
HOW TO GIVE IT. 35 
 
 every respect as fast as he can, he does not want 
 the discovery of many faults so much as a clear dis- 
 covery of the fault that it is in order for him to 
 attend to now, and specific instruction what to do. 
 If you have wisdom to show him some simple step 
 that he can take in reference to the fault which 
 next demands attention, you will do him more good 
 than by ever so much general animadversion uj)on 
 his character. 
 
 So far as the detection and ciiticism of evil is 
 subservient to charity it is good ; but if we con- 
 template evil with personal feelings, and with the 
 spirit of bitter censure, we add evil to evil — we 
 torment ourselves, and cause the offense to abound 
 so far as our spirit of condemnation works in the 
 accused. 
 
 Let it always be remembered that the object of 
 criticism is not that the critics may unload them- 
 selves of gnidges, but to help the person criticised 
 — to tell him the truth in a good spirit — to im- 
 l^rove his religions experience — to bring him nearer 
 to God — to give him a new enjoyment of life. 
 
 It is one sign that we have given criticism in a 
 right sj^irit, if we feel good-natured toward the 
 person afterwards, and it does not chsturb the 
 social flow between us. 
 
HOW TO RECEIVE CRITICISM. 
 
 The difference between a right and wrong spirit 
 in receiving criticism, is the difference between 
 manUness and childishness. A childish spirit fius- 
 trates the power and operation of truth in two 
 ways : in one foitn it meets criticism with indiffer- 
 ence, carelessness, sluggishness ; it hears and for- 
 gets ; it is not really pricked to the heart and 
 stirred to manly action. Another almost opposite 
 manifestation of childishness toward criticism, is a 
 spirit wliich is too sensitive, too anxious for justifi- 
 cation and in too much hurry for the results of the 
 discipline. This spirit will break forth in i nguisli 
 on the one hand, and rush into hurried action on 
 the other ; shomng that its eye is on escape from 
 suffering — on keeping a comfortable state of feeling 
 rather than on improvement. A manly lover of 
 criticism will not only take pleasure in the accom- 
 plishment of a good change in himself, but in the 
 process by which it is accomplished. He will not 
 only love the meat, but love to crack the nut. If we 
 have an eye to the result alone, the process will be 
 disagreeable to us. The man who paints a picture 
 for the money to come for it merely, is no true 
 artist. If he has any genuine taste he enjoys his 
 work as well as its result. So in respect to criti- 
 cism ; the right spirit takes a quiet satisfaction in 
 
HO W TO RECEIVE IT. 37 
 
 seeing the truth working out its process of im- 
 provement, and is not impatient for the fruit of it. 
 In the childish spirit, a hopeful person will be- 
 come excited and impatient, and set himself to 
 bustling about in a way that does not accomplish 
 any thing ; while a person who is naturally despon- 
 dent will be driven to despair and discouragement. 
 Suppose you are set to thread a needle ; if you 
 are all in a bustle, or if your eyes are full of tears, 
 you cannot do it. You will do it only by being 
 cool and quietly in earnest, and having your eyes 
 clear. The operation of submitting ourselves to 
 spiritual criticism so as to make it effectual, is like 
 threading a needle ; it cannot be done either in the 
 agitation of hope or fear. The more trouble we 
 are in, or the more difficult the thing to be done, 
 the more need there is of a calm, patient, self-pos- 
 sessed spirit ; ^. e., a manly spirit, free from child- 
 ishness. 
 
 Different organizations show their peculiaiities 
 in their manner of receiving criticism. No two 
 persons are affected exactly alike. Temperaments 
 have their influence, and particularly the predomi- 
 nance or deficiency of hope, conscientiousness, and 
 self-esteem. Approbativeness manifests itself in 
 sensitiveness to blame, and a care to put the best 
 side out. Large self-esteem makes persons resist 
 criticism as a false charge ; it cannot bear the 
 mortification of being found in the wrong, and 
 
;{8 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 hence is very liable to deceive itself ; it is apt to 
 take ciiticism as a personal attack. Large hope 
 seems to foil criticism. It may be compared to soil 
 that is too rich ; which is just as un2:>roductive as 
 soil that has never been fertilized. Small lioj^e and 
 small self-esteem make a soil that is too damp — it 
 wants the sim. Some temperaments make a soil 
 that is too quick ; its productions shoot up rapidly, 
 but they are not strong-rooted and hardy. This 
 soil wants the manure of patience^ and needs to be 
 plowed in deep furrows. Some soils are soft and 
 deep, and need only the touch of the harrow ; the 
 seed planted in them, will take care of itself. The 
 best soil is sunny, genial, deep, well exposed to 
 the light and warmth of heaven, receptive to the 
 dew and rain. A spirit that is constantly replenish- 
 ed with the strengthening and quickening elements 
 of patience and enthusiasm for improvement, is the 
 best for criticism. 
 
 In receiving criticism we may stand and take it 
 as the fire of an enemy, and so feel wounded and 
 sore ; or we may go over and join the party that 
 fires at us, in which case we shall feel unhurt. Let 
 a person have the self-possession to take sides with 
 the truth and help on any just criticism of himself 
 and he will find he can endure the severest ex- 
 posure of his faults without losing any of his self- 
 respect or buoyancy of spirit. Wliat self-respect 
 he might lose by the discovery of his faults, is 
 
HOW TO RECEIVE IT. 30 
 
 more than made up by the consciousness of being 
 truthful ; and by the justification which fellowship 
 with the Spirit of Truth always brings. There is 
 nothing more exhilarating than that electric union 
 between our spirits and the Spirit of Truth, which 
 is brought about by a courageous sacrifice of self to 
 the truth. We enter mto the joy of that Spirit, 
 and into its self-complacency, in spite of the mortifi- 
 cation we may superficially suffer. If we are mem- 
 bers of Christ — one with his righteous, glorious 
 life at the center — criticism does not touch the real 
 I. It takes effect on only the external charac- 
 ter, and that we can bear to have washed, as we do 
 our clothes, without feeling ashamed or in any way 
 damaged. The great secret of going through the 
 judgment comfortably is to help judge ourselves. 
 A manly purpose of improvement is calm and 
 rational, and will nurse itself for years to accom- 
 plish a desired change. The Bible speaks of men 
 who "lie in w^ait to deceive," but we must " lie in 
 wait " for the truth. Look at the cat Ij^ng in wait 
 for the mouse. She is still ; not a muscle stirs ; 
 but her eyes are shining with a bright, keen flame ; 
 and that flame indicates her purpose, while her 
 stillness indicates her patience. There is nothing 
 that pleases God more than to see us lie in wait for 
 improvement with a bright eye, and without flurry. 
 However far we may be from what he wishes us to 
 be, if there is this purpose in us he is pleased with 
 
40 MUTUAL CRITIUISM. 
 
 us. The limiter has glorious sport in iimniug down 
 the game as well as in overtaking it. A manly pur- 
 pose will give us the same excitement and pleasure 
 in the pursuit of self-improvement. 
 
 God waits for our improvement with long-sufter- 
 ing and patience : it is impolite and unkind for us 
 to trouble him with our impatience when he is not 
 impatient. The spirit that seeks improvement with 
 reference to the enjoyment of the immediate result, 
 is the essence of plecisure-seeking. When pleasure- 
 seeking is cornered up, its last resort is to turn 
 round and want to make improvement at a jump. 
 Some persons fret to get a meek and quiet spirit. 
 When we are under criticism the evil spiiit is un- 
 easy because he finds he must go out of us ; and he 
 makes us uneasy because we cannot jump instan- 
 taneously to a perfect correction of our faults. 
 
 To illustrate the difference between the childish 
 and the manly spirit in receiving criticism : suppose 
 we should suggest to a company of children or 
 childish persons to build a house. We can imagine 
 that some of them would think in a crude, pre- 
 sumptuous way, that they could easily do it, and 
 l)egin immediately to fly round, all hurry and bus- 
 tle, expecting to perform the job in a very short 
 time. Others would look upon the undertaking as 
 so monstrous that they never could hope to do it, 
 and so would refuse to ivy. But a sensible man 
 would lay his plans, gather his materials, and go 
 
HOW TO DECEIVE IT. 4l 
 
 about the job with an unwavering puipose, coolly 
 expecting that it would take him months and per- 
 haps years, to finish it. The great works of archi- 
 tecture and engineering may justly inspire our rev 
 erence, as exponents of manly purpose stretching 
 through years, cool and self-sustained. We must 
 learn from them to form immortal, self-sustaining 
 purposes of personal improvement that do not de- 
 pend on immediate fruitfulness ; and then we shall 
 love the criticism that helps us on in our work. 
 
 Observe that the idea of " Ij^ing in wait" is not 
 on the one hand that of doing nothing, nor on the 
 other, of bustling about ; but it is to irateh. 
 Christ and Paul both said a great deal about watch- 
 ing. The faculty of watching with fire in the eye, 
 is the great secret of power. It requires a perfect 
 balance of spirit between eagerness and self- 
 control. With that balance, criticism may not 
 merely be endured, but welcomed as a j^ositive 
 pleasure. 
 
 After all tliis general and desultory advice to 
 criticisers and criticisees, most persons probably 
 wdll have some anxious doubts whether mutual 
 criticism can be carried on without offenses and 
 wrangling. Personal grudges and unjust mistakes 
 are so apt to steal into the observations of tliose 
 who criticise, and personal irritability under such 
 grudges and mistakes, and even imder kind and 
 
42 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 just censure, is so natural to those who are criti- 
 cised, that it seems a great thing to expect ordinaiy 
 human nature to go through the ordeal without 
 •'answering back," and so tui"ning the criticism 
 club into a debating society, and finally into a bear- 
 garden. Undoubtedly this is the danger that 
 stands in the way of Mutual Criticism. 
 
 And it must here be distinctly admitted that the 
 successful introduction of this institution does re- 
 quire a certain amount of intelligence and civiliza- 
 tion of the passions. The same is true, as every 
 body knows, of all free institutions, such as com- 
 mon suiFrage and trial by jury. The stupid and 
 barbarous cannot run such machinery with profit 
 and safety. And Mutual Criticism undoubtedly 
 will recjuire even a higher standard of civilization 
 than that in which these common institutions are 
 jDossible. 
 
 AVe judge, however, that a large part of the civi- 
 lized world is far enough advanced to handle the 
 new machinery which we offer. There was civiliza- 
 tion en(nigh at Andover to invent it and run it 
 profitably forty-five years ago ; and it has been in 
 successful operation at Putney and Oneida for 
 thirty years. Things are not generally invented 
 and perfected long before the world is ready to use 
 them. 
 
 Our advice to all societies, churches, Communi- 
 ties and clubs that think of starting Mutual Criti- 
 
HOW TO llECFAVE IT. 43 
 
 cism is, to first sit down and count the cost, and to 
 take our word for it that the cost will be nothing 
 less than general humility enough to receive severe 
 mortification and even unjust criticisms without re- 
 ply and without offense. 
 
 For a good example of the light spirit in receiv- 
 ing criticism, we are glad to be able to point back 
 to Rev. Jolm A. Vinton, one of the Andover 
 veterans whose testimony was published in the 
 first of these chapters. He says of his ordeal, "The 
 process was severe and scathing in the extreme. 
 Most of the remarks were just and kindly in- 
 tended ; some of them were, I have always thought, 
 imkind, unjust, and rather too severe, at least. At 
 the same time, as I wrote in my journal, I was con- 
 scious of other faults more heinous, and more dan- 
 gerous to my soul and the cause of Christ, as com- 
 mitted more directly against God. The immediate 
 result was to di'ive me to the blood of sprinkling, 
 the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. Af- 
 ter I went to my room I could but weep before 
 God over my numerous faults, which had been so 
 faithfully exposed." That is the way to take criti- 
 cism, and it is easy when you know how and have 
 the soft heart. If you cannot calculate on some 
 thing like that in your circle, do not imdertake 
 Mutual Criticism. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 H.wiNG presented in previous chapters the history 
 and theory of Mutual Cntieism, with instmctions for 
 gi^dng and recei^dng its disciphne, we proceed now 
 to lay before the reader some examples of its actual 
 practice, selected from books of reports which have 
 been kept at the Oneida Community for many 
 years : 
 
 Criticism of Mr. 7?. 
 
 BY A SMALL COIVrMITTEE. 
 
 Critic No. 1. — B.'s earnestness and strength of char- 
 acter make him a very valuable member of society ; but 
 he needs cultivation and refinement. 
 
 Critic No. 2. — Mr. B. has all the solid qualities — firm- 
 ness, uprightness and sincerity ; he intends to deal justly 
 with every one. 
 
 Critic No. 3. — He is warm-hearted, and a man of 
 tender, delicate sensibilities. I think he is governed by 
 the Spirit of Truth more than most men ; but his mind 
 and manners do not fairly rej^resent his heart. 
 
 Critic No. 4. — He is an unselfish man ; free from envy 
 and jealousy. He needs outward refinement. The in- 
 ward beauty of his character is working out, and will 
 eventually overcome all external defects. 
 
 Critic No. 5. — He is a philosopher — a man who thinks 
 and reasons deeply ; but he lacks simplicity in the ex- 
 l^ression of his thoughts. 
 
 Critic No. 6. — The interior of his character is excel- 
 lent ; but the exterior is faulty. In order to do him 
 the good we wish to by this exercise, a severe criticism 
 
ILL USTRA TI0N8. 45 
 
 ought to be aimed at his faults. I do not believe in 
 neglecting criticisms of the external character because 
 the internal is good. I should advise him, instead of 
 being contented with inward beauty, to think it of a 
 great deal of importance to have a beautiful manifesta- 
 tion of it. We know that, except at times when his 
 spirit is unusually free, his utterance is labored, tedious 
 and awkward. He is aware of all this, and I hope he 
 will not account it a small affair, but determine to (luali- 
 fy himself unto all pleasing, and not limit his ambition 
 to being merely a good man. At present he does not do 
 justice to himself. I believe he has in him the soul of 
 music — he feels the glorious emotions of which music is 
 an expression ; but he is no singer. Again, in regard to 
 his business character, he has the reputation of perfect 
 honesty ; but there is a lack of science and tact in his 
 business transactions which have brought him into many 
 difficulties. 
 
 Critic No. 1. — He has large hope, and often promises 
 more than he fulfills ; disappoints folks. I think his 
 business habits are quite bad — his financial accounts are 
 always at "loose ends." He needs to carry his consci- 
 entiousness into business affairs. 
 
 Critic No. 7. — It is true that he does not fulfill his 
 promises. He is what I should call an outline character ; 
 he makes excellent plans, but is careless in executing 
 details. 
 
 Critic No. 8. — He is not as neat in his personal 
 habits as good taste requires ; he needs to pay more 
 attention to outward adornment. 
 
 Critic No. 6. — The principle of polishing the outside 
 is the principle of democracy. I am in favor of free 
 
40 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 democratic principles in regard to the different faculties 
 of our nature. Every member of our personalities lias 
 its rights ; the external senses have theii- rights as well 
 as the mind ; and because they are subordinate in the 
 body politic, are they to be trampled under foot ? Let 
 us carry out democracy and assert that all the senses and 
 susceptibilities, even those most inferior, have their 
 rights, and show them a wise and generous attention. 
 We should not devote all the wealth that God has given 
 us to a certain part of our nature, but let every part 
 have its rights. 
 
 Criticism of I^. 
 
 SUMMAEY EEPORT. 
 
 r. is a young man of good promise. One feels 
 confidence in his purpose to serve God. When under 
 the sway of aj^petite or passion he may appear selfish ; 
 still one can always rely upon the warmth and gen- 
 erosity of his heart. 
 
 His generic faults — those which include all others — 
 are superficiality and love of excitement. He con- 
 tents himself with what he can see at a glance and with 
 what he can do at a stroke. He is smart — has a good 
 deal of what may be called genius — still he has not 
 yet shown much talent for patient, persistent labor. 
 The plodders outstrip him. He has a good mind, but 
 he does not read enough to stock it ; does not study and 
 reflect enough to strengthen it. He skims things. The 
 cream of most things lies at the bottom. His talent 
 excites expectations of noble achievement ; but he does 
 not satisfy you, because he lets his fields lie fallow. 
 
 He generally seems ill at ease — never is quite con- 
 
ILL USTMA TIONS. 47 
 
 tented with the thing in hand, but is always reaching 
 forward for something else. He seldom sits long at a 
 time, but is given to roving— to "rushing about," as he 
 terms it. If the rush of events is not rapid enough, then 
 he rushes after events. His love of excitement is 
 thought to very much govern his relations to the truth. 
 He has a curiosity about the truth, but not love enough 
 for it. He does not study and plod for the truth in a 
 simple love for it. If he attends to the truth there must 
 be some excitement about it. Excitement-seeking, if 
 not exactly disobedience, is certainly very far from 
 waiting on the Lord. He should thoroughly study the 
 subject of repose of character. 
 
 F. is much more gentle and lovable than a first 
 glance at his manners would lead one to think. One 
 says of him that he is not quiet and reflective enough to 
 be first-rate company. Then, too, he is inquisitive, and 
 much given to peeping and prying. People naturally 
 dislike to be the subjects of curious scrutiny. It is 
 thought he could improve in refinement. 
 
 He suffers from loss of self-respect. The tendency of 
 this has been to lead him into descending fellowship. 
 The Committee would exhort him to take no counsel 
 from condemnation. If a man loses self-respect he is 
 exposed to all manner of wicked spirits. F. should 
 persevere and struggle with all his might to keep his 
 self-respect. He should be much in earnest to secure 
 the help of God. Of late he has grown manly and 
 sober. Many of his old faults have disappeared, and 
 there are good reports of his quiet industry. He has 
 had experiences in the overcoming faith that are bright 
 and very encouraging. 
 
4s MCTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 Criticism of A. 
 
 HARMONY IN CONVERSATION. 
 
 J), — A. is very impetuous and positive iii his manner, 
 and IS deficient in persuasiveness. He takes a position 
 that you are not prepared for, and announces it with 
 such tiat assurance that it gives you a Jolt. He has a 
 kind of honesty that strips every thing of romance, and 
 this is apt to revolt you. He will bring out a statement 
 quite contrary to what you suppose to be the fact, with- 
 out any circumlocution whatever, and though you are 
 not sure but that he is correct, you naturally resist 
 being Jerked into the admission of it. He might have 
 the same independence and honesty, with more plausi- 
 bility and tact. 
 
 £. — The prevailing trait in A. 's character, amounting 
 almost to idiosyncrasy, is directness. He is direct in 
 every thing he does — direct in his religious pursuits, as 
 e\anced by the straight-forward simplicity of his testi- 
 mony — tlirect in his thoughts, his speech and his actions. 
 This is in general a good quality in persons, giving 
 intensity to all their operations, singleness of eye and 
 consequent success. But in our social intercourse, this 
 trait needs some modification. It will not do in conver- 
 sation to drive point-blank at a topic, and think of 
 nothing else. There are many side-considerations, 
 growing out of our personal relations and the demands 
 of social harmony, which it is necessary to have in view 
 to make intercourse agreeable. A.'s excessive direct- 
 ness sometimes causes him to overlook and forget every 
 thing but his subject, and leads him into unnecessary 
 discord. 
 
 A. — Before I came to the Community I was fond of 
 debate, and had the habit of not caring whether what I 
 
ILL USTRA TIONS. 4;» 
 
 was said pleasing or not — if it was incontrovertible, that 
 was enough. 
 
 D. — That rule will do for the rough-and-tumble of life 
 abroad, but it will not do here, where the very object of 
 our association is harmony. For us, such exhortations 
 as these, are the rule — "Endeavor to keep the unity of 
 the spirit" — "Mind the same things" — "Be of one 
 heart and of one mind" — "Forbear one another" — 
 "Let every one of us please his neighbor." And we 
 need not think that faithful pursuit of the truth will 
 lead us away from our object of unity : if we faithfully 
 pursue the truth, we shall faithfully seek unity — and 
 unity not only of heart, but of mind and manners. The 
 truthful spirit will educate us " unto all pleasing. " If A. 
 would make it more of an object to think and speak 
 harmoniously with others, his independence and im- 
 petuosity would regulate itself without any injury to 
 his honesty. Suppose that he forms an opinion which 
 he wants to express, and at the same time he is wide 
 awake for harmony, and has reason to think that what 
 he is going to say will not fall into C. 's mind pleasantly ; 
 in such a case true consideration requires, not that he 
 should suppress his opinion, or that he should agree 
 with C. , but that he should broach his opinion moderately 
 — make some stairs for C. to descend on, and not drop 
 him right down with a jolt. All our speech should be 
 surrounded with the most delicate reference to harmony. 
 With a quick ear for harmony, and a heart that values 
 it as God does, A. might be just as independent as he is 
 now, and yet always find a way to express himself 
 musically. 
 
 The generic fault with A. is that he is too masculine. 
 He would be a better man if he were a little more of a 
 4 
 
.-,() MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 woman : /. r. , if his life instead of running so much into 
 strength, ran more into delicacy, affection, amiability — 
 qualities which peculiarly belong to the feminine nature. 
 
 Criticism of 3Irs. C. 
 
 DOING AND BEING. 
 
 It is natural for Mrs. C. to make more account of 
 doing than being — to serve God more with her hands 
 than her heart. We are all learning that nothing we 
 have done or can do commends us to God ; only the 
 fragrance of our spirits jjleases him. Good actions reflect 
 back uj)on the heart, and improve the quality of our 
 being ; and that is their chief value. 
 
 Those who have the natural faculty of n.^efulness, and 
 a good deal of method and natural decorum, are apt to 
 be self-righteous and censorious toward those whose 
 value consists more in their social qualities. The power 
 of making society lively and musical, or of refreshing 
 others by a sweet, gentle spirit, is often worth more 
 than a great deal of industry with the hands. It is tlie 
 temptation of the doing natures to feel like the brother 
 of the prodigal, as if they deserved the most, and did 
 not receive so vnneh as some of their Father's children ; 
 forgetting that God is better pleased with the unclaiming, 
 child-like, meek spirit of those who know they have 
 merited nothing by their works — who love most, be- 
 cause they have had most forgiven. Our spirit is that 
 part of us which touches God, and ministers to his 
 pleasure, and attracts his fellowship. If Mrs. C. would 
 learn to appreciate character by this standard, and 
 cultivate in herself the ornaments of the social nature, 
 love, taste, sprightHness, etc., it would improve her 
 
ILLUSTMATIONS. r,l 
 
 very much. She has an excellent mind, and strong 
 ambition to overcome the defects in her character. God 
 has a fair chance to work in her — the soil will bear a 
 great deal. She has that spirit of faithfulness and 
 persevering zeal, which characterizes the comjjany of 
 believers to which she belonged — a spirit which puts us 
 entirely at rest about their ever failing or making 
 troublesome delay on account of tribulation, God ^\^ll 
 lionor this spirit, and this faith. 
 
 Criticism of H. 
 
 NAKROW-MINDEDNESS. 
 
 R. is honest, and has a sincere ambition to be a right 
 kind of character. ■ He is very reliable and faithful in 
 work, free and unselfish, so far as the disposition of 
 his time and muscles are concerned. He is not a fault- 
 finder or pleasure-seeker. The Community has perfect 
 confidence in his general purpose and central union -wdth 
 Christ. Still he is in difficulty — his experience is un- 
 satisfactory — he does not find himself in the current of 
 inspiration. 
 
 The trouble is, he \^ narroiv-m hided. He has lived 
 without a proper appreciation of the cultivation of the 
 intellect ; thinking it had nothing to do with his sj^iritual 
 character, or his fellowship with Christ. In the absence 
 of other subjects of interest, his own Indiridual ex- 
 perience occupies all his thoughts. He is intensely 
 introspective ; his thoughts circle round a center within 
 himself — he does not find his way inward to the Kingdom 
 of Heaven. 
 
 He has a very strong desire for the ascending fellow- 
 ship, for the society of his superiors ; antl has battled 
 
.-.L> MUTUAL CniTIGISM. 
 
 with impediments a long time, but not in the right 
 way. His manner of working has only condensed his 
 egotism, and removed him farther from his object. It 
 is a clear truth that we must go out of oat'selves to find 
 fellowship — we must meet in the medium of a third 
 element — we must each be attracted to the same thing. 
 But R. can not expect others to be attracted to the 
 center around which his thoughts revolve — every one 
 must be willing to forsake his own center to find unity. 
 
 In communication with some persons, you feel that 
 the strength of their egotism would compel you into 
 unwilling sympathy, and it is natural as breathmg to avoid 
 them. To induce conversation with them you must con- 
 sent to talk about their personal experience, and that 
 is not attractive. Nobody can make their own experi- 
 ence an interesting theme, only as it is an exposition of 
 truths of general interest. To have fellowship with 
 each other, we must all be interested in the truth ; that 
 is a common medium ; there is a sphere for infinite music ; 
 we shall never exhaust the subject ; the more we get out 
 of personalities, and deal with miiversal truth, the more 
 callable we shall be of fellowship. Every new truth we 
 learn, is a new point of contact with other spirits, and in- 
 creases our power of giving and receiving happiness. 
 
 If R. would turn round and instead of trying to 
 interest others m his personal affairs, mterest himself in 
 universal truth, he would have no difficulty about fellow- 
 ship. He would find himself in the very element of 
 social freedom. If he would take^ujj some study, en- 
 tirely forget himself, and applyl^his mind to abstract 
 truth, with perseverance, for a long season, he would be 
 a much better judge of his own experience than he is 
 
ILL USTRA TIONS. 53 
 
 now. At present he is illogical — mystical — it is very 
 difficult for him to make his experience intelligible to 
 others. There is a tendency to fanaticism, to excitement, 
 high and low spirits. We are as unfit for happiness, 
 as we are exposed to sufiering, without that balance of 
 character which a sound -mind gives. 
 
 Criticism of Miss E. 
 
 SUMMARY OF EEPORT. 
 
 E. is remarkably outspoken and impulsive, and so her 
 faults are decided and well known. She is a fine speci- 
 men of the vital temperament, has great exuberance of 
 life and animal spirits — would live on laughing and frolic 
 — is ardent in her affections, and lively in her antipathies. 
 In circumstances of ordinary life she would not have 
 been corrected of her faults ; simple parental authority 
 would not have been sufficient. She would have ruled 
 all around her, and hen-pecked her husband to the last 
 degree. But the Community is too much for her, es- 
 pecially as she is wise enough to give herself up to its 
 criticism. The elderly people criticise her for disre- 
 spect and inattention. She will fly through a room, on 
 some impulsive errand of generosity perhaps, leave both 
 doors open, and half knock down any body in her way. 
 Her laughing propensity was criticised ; some thought 
 she could dispense with half her usual indulgence, while 
 one recommended as a compromise, that she should 
 cease laughnig at others' calamities : any little mishap 
 of another or mistake of her own — accidents which would 
 naturally make others sober, invariably make her 
 laugh. She has a touch of vanity, — hkes to look 
 in the glass, and plumes herself on her power of charm- 
 ing. She indulges in unfounded antipathies, antl 
 
.54 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 whims of taste, while she is likely to be carried out of 
 bounds by her attractions. With regard to her wonderful 
 exuberance of life, gayety and impetuosity of temper, it 
 is her gift, the inheritance of her youth and constitution, 
 and no one would have it changed. Like many another 
 good passion, it would be bad if allowed to act under the 
 influence of selfishness, but of itself it is an element very 
 much to be prized in society. Though E. is active in 
 business, industrious and useful, we should miss her 
 more for what she is, than for what she does. We must 
 cure her of her coarseness, and teach her to be gay with- 
 out being rude, and respectful without being demure. 
 
 [Scraps from the Reports of a Criticism Club.] 
 
 S. has a great deal of what is usually termed manliness. 
 He has encouraged the stern side of his nature, and 
 discouraged the gentle side. He seems to be ashamed 
 to show the softness and tenderness that he feels. He 
 needs to know that these two phases of character are not 
 irreconcilable. They are in fact necessary complements 
 of each other. S. seems to be afraid that he will sacri- 
 fice strength by becoming subordinate to his spiritual 
 superiors. Keceptivity to God does not diminish true 
 manliness: on the contrary, by being receptive one 
 gains rather than loses strength. No one can be like 
 Christ without having both the lion and the lamb in 
 his character. 
 
 Q. is subject to strong personal likes and dislikes, 
 and he is so frank and fearless that he takes no pains to 
 hide the one or the other. He should make his likes 
 and dislikes conform to the tnith. Neither our estima- 
 tion of an individual's character nor our afiection for 
 
ILL US TEA TIONS. 55 
 
 him should be determined by our personal relations to 
 him, but by his relations to general society and to 
 Christ. If Q. would stop his prejudices and seek 
 Christ's mind about persons he might find good where 
 he has never seen it before, and his heart would How 
 out in new directions, obedient to impulses from heaven. 
 
 The true spirit loves service — loves to be fruitful. The 
 false spirit seeks ease and hates faitliful industry — counts 
 many kinds of labor as degrading. One kind of labor 
 may be superior to another in furnishing better con- 
 ditions for the development and exercise of talent, and 
 one kind of labor may exjoose a person to greater temp- 
 tations than another ; but in itself considered no labor 
 that is necessary to be done can be degrading ; and it is 
 possible to make every kind of labor an ordinance of 
 personal improvement and worship. 
 
 No criticism by others can take the place of self-criti- 
 cism — the criticism we give ourselves when we feel that 
 God is dealing with us and that we must be thoroughly 
 sincere. Then we hate whatever is evil in ourselves 
 and separate ourselves from it, judging our past life 
 with a sincerity impossible to others. And that kind 
 of self -judgment is indispensable if we would come into 
 unity with the pure life of Christ. 
 
 When persons realize that God draws nigh to the 
 broken and contrite, they will feel that pride and self- 
 will are enemies to be subdued rather than friends to be 
 cherished. 
 
 No one has a right to determine what he will do sim- 
 ply with reference to his own interests ; we are all under 
 
.">«; 
 
 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 responsibilities to God and the universe, and are in duty 
 bound to exercise all our gifts, and consent to the morti- 
 tication of blunders, and take whatever criticism may 
 come, and not allow egotistical modesty to keep us from 
 being as useful as we can be. 
 
 Whatever we do even in the most private manner is 
 still done before God and the angels. They watch our 
 blunders just as we watch the blunders of our children 
 when they begin to walk, and doubtless exercise the 
 same charity t iward our expermients that we do toward 
 those of our little ones. All they ask is that we persevere 
 in our efforts to improve. 
 
 It is a rule among business men that a letter tliat is 
 worth writing is worth copying. I would go further, 
 and say — a letter that is worth writing is worth writing 
 well, so that you would not be ashamed to have it go 
 before the universe ; and any thing that is worth saying 
 is worth > aymg well, so that it will bear criticism ; and 
 any thing that is worth doing is worth doing well. Away 
 with shiftlessuess and excuses for wrong and foolish 
 doings of all kinds ! 
 
 W. has lacked the practical and earnest development 
 of character that is so common to the descendants of the 
 Puritans, and this is probably due, in part at least, to 
 the circumf>tances of his birth and education. He is of 
 French and English extraction, born in India ; and the 
 predominance of French blood is indicated by his mer- 
 cur.al habits — vivacity, free gesticulation, etc. He never 
 knew the necessity of working for a living ; but artistic 
 culture stimulated in him the love of the beautiful. 
 He has great pleasure in the enjoyment of the sen- 
 
ILL [TSTRA TI0N8. 57 
 
 ses,and witli an artistic eye and taste nature attracts 
 him strongly and captivates his attention. The effect 
 has been to make his life too superficial and give him 
 undue contentment with the show of things. This pro- 
 clivity was manifest in still greater excess in his children, 
 and proved disastrous to their prosperity and well-being. 
 His vivacity, culture and refined taste make him an 
 interesting companion and a desirable element in society ; 
 and this is steadily increased by the deeper tone his life 
 acquires in the earnest school of Communism. 
 
 H. 's love of approbation makes him a poor critic. He 
 has good judgment of character, but he is fearful that 
 he may displease by speaking the truth. This is a seri- 
 ous fault, and prevents his rapid improvement. One 
 cannot become a good medium of Christ's spirit while 
 fearful that he will say or do something displeasing to 
 those around him. He must promptly obey his best in- 
 stincts irrespective of his fellows. He must be ready to 
 sacrifice all human approbation — be thoroughly sincere — 
 utter the word of truth given him whether it pleases or 
 displeases. God will not choose for his mediums men 
 who do not care more for his approbation than for all 
 else beside ; and such men, we may be sure, will sooner 
 or later command the highest approbation of society. 
 
 S. was highly commended for the improvement she has 
 made. She was naturally attractive, and was on that ac- 
 count petted and flattered when young. Criticism and 
 suffering have made her an earnest. God-fearing woman. 
 She has found Christ in her heart, and no longer depends 
 on outward circumstances for happiness. She is very re- 
 ceptive to good influences, and she delights in the 
 society of her superiors. This is one of the secrets of 
 
58 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 her great improvement. She is vivacious, and diffuses 
 sunshine and joy wherever she goes. Her vivacity, 
 however, sometimes tempts her into frivolity. We 
 would not have her less vivacious, but would have her 
 vivticity express seriousness as well as mirth. Mr. Noyes 
 once wrote in an album : "If you listen to the strains 
 which are ever sounding through creation, you will find 
 that God's everlasting melody is at once full of serious- 
 ness and full of mirth. If you would make the tones of 
 your heart a harmonious accompaniment to that melody, 
 you must first take lessons in seriousness (which is the 
 soul of all God's music), and then you must learn to 
 combine seriousness with mirth, as these are combined 
 in all the harmonies of nature and the Bible. " 
 
 V. has this serious fault, that her words are often 
 better than her deeds. She has a bright intellect, and 
 seems to apprehend the truth readily ; her understand- 
 ing assents to it and apparently rejoices in it ; but for 
 some cause it does not sufficiently modify her external 
 conduct. Consequently her words are at a discount — 
 like the notes of banks that have issued more paper 
 than they can redeem. Our deeds form the specie basis 
 of our characters, and if they fall behind our words the 
 latter will not long he taken at par. Such a condition 
 of things is deplorable, and must be the result of un- 
 behef. If the heart sincerely believes in God it will 
 express itself in deeds truer and better than any words. 
 
 L. is very earnest, and yet his discourses in j)ublic and 
 private are often unacceptable and unedifying. We in- 
 voluntarily feel that his exhortations savor of legality 
 rather than of grace. He needs to consider that being is 
 far more important than do'inrj, and should seek to attract 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 59 
 
 persons to his standard of excellence by his own life- 
 example rather than to drive them to it by words. In 
 his zeal to improve others he ignores many faults in his 
 own character. In other ways his zeal defeats itself. 
 For one thing, it leads him to introduce the most pro- 
 found religious subjects into conversation with little 
 reference to the proprieties of time and place. We 
 would not have him less earnest or wise, but more 
 winning. 
 
 A. is another earnest man ; but he fails to some ex- 
 tent of the grace of God because he is too personal and 
 egotistical in seeking improvement. He makes himself 
 too much the center of his prayers and strivings. If he 
 could induce God to do as he wishes it would evidently 
 fill him with spiritual pride. He needs to make God's 
 great interests the main object for which he labors, and 
 link his personal interests to them. The Lord is inter- 
 ested in our improvement chiefly as it will help on his 
 great work in the world. He will see that the personal 
 interests of those heartily devoted to his service are 
 well cared for ; but we need not ask him to give any 
 special attention to us as individuals seeking improve- 
 ment independently. As Mr. Noyes says in one of his 
 Home-Talks: ''Private interests have their day, but 
 they are limited in their nature, and will last only so long 
 as they are profitable to the great public interest. If we 
 have any interests separate from the public interest, we 
 may be assured that God has made no arrangement for 
 their satisfaction ; but so far as we have identified our- 
 selves with the public interest, success and prosperity 
 are insured to us for time and eternity ; governmental 
 arrangements are every-where made to prosper the agents 
 
60 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 of that interest. The actual couriers of heaven will 
 find relaifn of horses waiting for them in all directions ; 
 but persons who travel for their own objects must get 
 along as best they can : possibly they may have to go 
 on foot." 
 
 Evil spirits love darkness and work in darkness. If 
 persons do not let into their hearts the daylight of 
 heaven, they must not wonder that bats and owls make 
 their home in them. 
 
 The word imprudence describes the great cause of 
 many persons' bad spiritual experience : they are im- 
 prudent in listening to evil thoughts and suggestions — 
 imprudent in the use of the tongue — imprudent in ex- 
 posing themselves to temptations. We are dealing with 
 a watchful, subtle enemy, who is ready to take advantage 
 of every mistake ; and the results of our imprudence are 
 measured, not by our own intentions, but by the power 
 of the enemy. But if the devil is subtle, God is more 
 subtle. His sagacity is infinite, and it is accessible to 
 us ; with it we can conquer at every point in the great 
 contest with evil. 
 
 Evil spirits are always in a hurry and will not wait 
 to be tested ; good spirits, on the contrary, love the 
 judgment — love to be put to trial, and are never in 
 such haste that they cannot wait for it. 
 
 To tease children to be obedient and otherwise treat 
 them so that they do not expect to obey prolnptly is real 
 cruelty. It keejjs alive in them the spirit of disobedi- 
 ence ; whatever obedience they have is forced, and so 
 good for nothing. It fosters cant and hypocrisy in them. 
 Mercy and wisdom alike require that even small children 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 61 
 
 should be taught to obey the first time spoken to, autl 
 never wait to be coaxed into obedience. 
 
 Children often get into the major position toward their 
 parents and manage them and bring them into bondage. 
 This is all wrong. Much as we love our children, their 
 good and our own good require that we should keep the 
 major position toward them and control them. And we 
 must not let our happiness be dependent upon them. 
 We must ever realize that their destiny as well as ours 
 is in the hands of God. Let your heart be dependent 
 on your children for happiness and they will instinctively 
 find it out, and soon act as though you were made for 
 their pleasure. The reverse of that is nearer the truth. 
 In a certain sense children are made for the hapjjiness 
 of their parents — made to be dependent on them and 
 serve them. But children can not be made to feel this 
 unless it is a reality in the hearts of the parents. Many 
 persons live and labor as though the great end of exis- 
 tence were to serve their children, and especially to see 
 that all their superficial wants are satisfied : they have 
 little thought of disciplining and educatmg them for 
 God : that is left to take care of itself. 
 
 M. — J. has a good heart — is really sympathetic and 
 tender — is chivalric in his devotion to particular friends, 
 but his general manner is repelling ; he does not act out 
 his better nature. He is apt to appear cross, and as if 
 he owed nothing to any body. However, this is more 
 true of him as he was than as he is. I can see he im- 
 proves from year to year. 
 
 P. — His whole manner is sensational. He talks for 
 effect and walks for effect, he flourishes his handkerchief 
 for effect ; takes out his letters and watch for effect. 
 
62 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 When lie talks at the table it is not for fellowship, but 
 to make au impression on the whole table. A little 
 simplicity would improve him very much. His business 
 character is excellent. We never had a young man in 
 his place that did better, and he is thoroughly loyal. 
 He is very fond of liberty — likes a great sweep, but I 
 never heard of his wanting to leave the Community. 
 
 S. — His loyalty has stood a great deal of strain. He 
 has had some very hard criticisms, and much mortifying 
 experience. I think he has a foundation of religious 
 principle — really loves the truth. 
 
 X. — J. has naturally a good deal of what I should call 
 the high-toned Southern tendency in him. It is one of 
 the hardest elements in the world to take criticism 
 and surrender itself to the meekness and gentleness 
 of Christ. It is masculinity carried to excess. There 
 is not woman enough about him. 
 
 H. — I am bored sometimes with his making a long 
 conversation about a little matter that could be disposed 
 of with a few words. 
 
 N. — He has a good deal of natural fluency. There is 
 hardly a young man in the Community that I would set 
 to plead a case in court quicker than I would him. He 
 has what lawyers call the " gift of gab," and it is a very 
 good faculty ; I like to listen to his talk just to notice 
 his power of expression and j^ersuasion. When he sits 
 down with me we generally have a pretty smart pull at 
 it, but I enjoy it. I wish we could have the full benefit 
 of his gift. I wish he would come forward into the front 
 rank in our meetings and let loose his tongue in the 
 right way. 
 
 T. — I have heard him express some discontent that he 
 was not sent to college ; he thinks he has not had the 
 
ILL U8TRA TIOJVS. G3 
 
 opportunity for education that he should have had. I 
 think he has had a great deal of opportunity that he has 
 not improved. He is not a natural student ; he loves 
 active life and a thousand excitements that interfere with 
 study. C. will get an education here in our library and 
 not ask any favors of the colleges, because he loves 
 books. 
 
 iV. — I think J. has received from the Community an 
 education on one point that is perhaps as important as 
 any education of the brain, and that he would never 
 have received at college nor anywhere else, and the 
 Community has given him this education at a great deal 
 of expense ; it has taught him to overcome his aj^petite 
 for tobacco. Only in the Community would he have got 
 rid of that bondage. In college it would have been 
 perpetuated ; he would have become a hopeless slave to 
 the habit. It is a mercy to him that he never did go to 
 college — that the Community kept him at home where 
 he could be saved from that great enemy. If ever any 
 one came near going to hell, he came near it through 
 his appetite for tobacco, and instead of comjjlaining of 
 the Community, he has great reason to be thankful to it 
 for saving him from ruin. Then the education of his 
 heart, spirit and temper which has been going on in the 
 Community is worth more to him than any amount of 
 school-learning. If he had received a college education 
 it would not have helped his temper, or helped him to 
 overcome evil of any kind. In all probability his general 
 character would have grown worse and worse. Sometime 
 he will be more thankful for this education of his heart 
 and better nature, than for any thing he could have got 
 in college. It is an education he needs more than most 
 young men. There is a fiery, rebellious element in his 
 
i'A MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 nature that is just calculated to make him a rowdy — a 
 reckless dare-devil. If the Community succeeds in 
 making him a quiet, good-natured, well-behaved man, 
 it will succeed in giving him the best education he can 
 get in this world or any other. That is the education he 
 is getting, and I expect he will graduate at last with 
 honor. 
 
 [Discussion of Commendatory Criticism by a Ciub.] 
 
 A. — We have made more use of criticism heretofore 
 in its negative form of censure than in its positive form 
 of praise : but I think we shall be able sometime to make 
 a very useful exercise of criticism in the way of an- 
 alyzing beauties of character and bestowing praise 
 where it is deserved. This must ultimately be the main 
 exercise of criticism. It will be more edifying when we 
 can do it right than fault-finding. The positive is 
 always better than the negative. Paul exhorts the Phi- 
 lippians, " If there be any praise, if there be any virtue, 
 any thing true, pure, lovely and of good report, to 
 think on these things." 
 
 B. — I should mfer from Paul's manner of expression 
 that the Philippians had been obliged to give a good 
 deal of attention to the criticism of evil, and that he 
 wanted them to turn their attention to the commendation 
 of good, and to things that they could praise. 
 
 C. — I do not see why we should not have just the 
 same freedom to praise persons who are pleasing as we 
 have to complain of those who are annoying. If a per- 
 son has any thing on his mind respecting another, in 
 the way of praise, why should he not be just as free- 
 spoken as he is when he feels bound to bring out some- 
 thing he sees to condemn ? Sometimes an individual 
 
ILL USTRA TI0N8. 65 
 
 will go along in a bad spirit till tlie whole Community 
 are displeased witli him ; and then he will be pro- 
 posed as a subject for criticism, and every one will tell 
 their mind about him. Why should not provocation w(jrk 
 the other way, and the approbation of the Community 
 burst out in a general manifestation, when persons take 
 a course to excite it ? 
 
 A. — One objection to such proceedings hitherto has 
 been that so few persons have been able to bear jjraise. 
 
 D. — That is to be considered, whether it will have a 
 good effect upon the subject. 
 
 A. — I don't know but there is another obstacle, i. e., 
 a little danger of exciting envy and jealousy. Persons 
 may find it easy to keep calm and in a judicial state, 
 when a case is up for ordinary criticism, and yet find it 
 difficult to hear another praised without any excitement 
 of personal feelings. 
 
 G. — I do not apprehend any serious difficulty on either 
 of the points that have been mentioned. The maturity 
 and general stamina of our society is such that I think 
 it could bear to have praising free, without any danger 
 from the spirit of glorying on the one side, or jealousy 
 on the other. 
 
 A. — The point to be singly aimed at in the matter is 
 this : not to glorify the individual, but as far as any 
 glorification is concerned, to exalt Chi-ist, and to hold up 
 edifying examples to the Community. We will not 
 praise any one for his own glorification ; but if we see 
 a chance where we can praise a person to the glory of 
 Christ, and inflame the hearts of the Community with 
 the desire of imitation — if we can diffuse a good spirit 
 and edify by it, then we should feel bound to praise. 
 5 
 
cc MUTU^AL CRITICISM. 
 
 K, — I see that this is an important department of criti- 
 cism, and we shall find it a more difficult duty, I imag- 
 ine, to praise the good we discern, without pai-tiality 
 and without hypocrisy, than it has been to criticise evil. 
 
 ^4. — We must look to Jesus Christ for wisdom to ena- 
 able us to do justice to one another and to him ; and to 
 make the most of what he has done among us in indi- 
 vidual cases for the benefit of the whole — so that good 
 in one case shall be the seed of good in other cases, and 
 by criticism shall be scattered and multiphed. 
 
 D. — Tha first thing to be regarded in criticism of 
 any kind is love of the truth — thorough and absolute — 
 and in the first stage of practice it is more likely to lead 
 to severe love of the truth, which will deal with criti- 
 cism in the way of censure rather than in the way of 
 jjraise. We should have been far more likely to run in- 
 to superficial dealing with character if we had practiced 
 the praising part of criticism first. 
 
 A. — The value of criticism in the way of praise will de- 
 pend on the faithfulness of our minds to get at the 
 causes of the pleasure we feel in a good character. 
 Merely liking a person is not enough : we must be able 
 to give a reason for our estimate ; and that will require 
 more loyalty to the truth than is exactly natural in the 
 present state of things. When we are annoyed by evil, 
 we feel it so sensibly that we are willing to dig to get at 
 the causes of it. But when we enjoy good, we are 
 willing to enjoy it, without caring for the causes of it. 
 We are not likely to use such strenuous exertion to get 
 at the causes of good as we are of evil. There is not 
 the same apparent necessity. There is a necessity in 
 one case that pushes us to earnest investigation ; but in 
 the other we feel comfortable, and do not see any occa- 
 
ILL U8TRA TIONS. 67 
 
 sion to inquire into the causes of the comfort we feel. 
 Is there not some motive that will set us to work in this 
 direction ? 
 
 B. — I believe that love is as strong a motive as dis- 
 comfort ; and that we shall be able to use all the criti- 
 cal faculty that has been developed in our school under 
 the pressure of necessity, in the way of detecting and 
 praising good, under the guidance of attraction. 
 
 O. — It is very evident that in the final state, this kind 
 of criticism will be one of the principal employments 
 and enjoyments. 
 
 E. — When I was at P. there was something in the 
 spirit and behavior of a lad there, a member of the 
 Community, that was so edifying and beautiful to me, 
 that I was really burdened till I had given expression 
 to my feelings. I brought his case up in the evening 
 meeting, and found it was acceptable to the whole family 
 to have a chance to praise him. 
 
 F. — This was an instance where criticism proceeded 
 from the necessity of love. 
 
 A. — What is called making love is a sort of attempt 
 at criticism in the way of praise. It is an attempt to ex- 
 press a sense of beauty and goodness. But it allows a 
 person to express feelings that he cannot give any reason 
 for, and to praise his sweetheart merely because it is a 
 musical operation to himself and her. It will be beauti- 
 ful if we can make love to one another in such a way as 
 to satisfy our love of sincerity, our love of Christ, and 
 love of the public interest. If what we say has the ring 
 of truth in it, and we feel that we are not talking to man 
 but to God — not for the gi'atification of an individiial, 
 but of the Community — it will be an improvement on 
 common love-making. 
 
OH MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 (\ — There are two kinds of V)eaiity of character ; one 
 is what we may call natural beauty, sncli as we may pos- 
 sess in a natural state, and the other cultivated beauty, 
 that is, beauty of a moral and spiritual character, 
 formed in the school of Christ ; are both equally the 
 object of praise ? 
 
 B. — I should say that our natural gifts are Community 
 property as much as any value we possess. We belong 
 to God just as we are, and our personal talents and pe- 
 cuHarities are for distribution ; and it seems a good way 
 to effect the communism of any good gift to praise it — 
 to hold it up for the contemplation of all. 
 
 G. — I think that our experience has brought us to a 
 point where we can discern Christ in one another, and 
 praise will go home where it is due, and not be absorbed 
 by the individual. 
 
 A. — As a basis for the appreciation of all good, per- 
 haps we might take this view profitably : Beauties in us 
 are evidently resolvable into two sorts, as has been sug- 
 gested ; natural beauties, and those which are of a 
 moral and sj^iritual kind. The last, traced back to their 
 source, are the manifestations of a good spirit. Good 
 organizations and good spirits, then, comprise all that we 
 have to enjoy and estimate and praise. Now observe 
 that both of these are strictly and in downright truth 
 referable to God. Certainly our organizations and natu- 
 ral faculties are just as much the work of God as flowers 
 and trees are. We can not boast of them with any kind 
 of reason, nor give praise one to another on account of 
 them. It is all a mistake — a delusion of egotism — to 
 appropriate any praise in reference to them to self. 
 Then in reference to what we may call cultivated char- 
 acter, or a good spirit, that again comes from Christ. 
 
ILL US TRA TI0N8. (;j) 
 
 In one way or another, no matter how, we are sure that 
 Christ is the fountain of all spiritual good ; and if there 
 is a good spirit manifest in any person, we are sure it is 
 because he has had communication with Christ. It is 
 impossible to have a good spirit without communication 
 with Christ. " He that hath the Son hath life ; and he 
 that hath not the Son hath not life. " So there is no 
 chance for appropriative self-complacency in respect to 
 the spirit we have. If we can keep these principles 
 clear in our minds, I do not see any diflficulty in the way 
 of praising so as to honor the truth. 
 
 G. — If we have not reached the point where we are 
 satisfied that there is none good but one, that is God, 
 we have not reached the point necessary for our salva- 
 tion. Every one must arrive at that understanding 
 some time. 
 
 A. — With these views, we shall be just as free to praise 
 natural beauty as spiritual. Both of them come from 
 God. The ascetic philosoiDhy which despises natural 
 beauty and glorifies only moral and spiritual qualities, 
 ought rather to be called the ari^tooratU- philosophy. 
 There is partiality in it. If we bring God into the 
 matter, really and sincerely, as the author of all beauty, 
 we level every thing. It is due to him that we should 
 appreciate and praise external beauty where it exists, 
 as well as internal beauty. We are bound to honor 
 him as a Creator as well as a Savior. 
 
HISTORICAL CRITICISM. 
 
 Illustrations of Mutual Criticism might be 
 multij^lied to any extent. Those already given are 
 occupied with the delineations of personal faults 
 and virtues, and show what place criticism holds 
 in the Community school as a regulator of morals, 
 and a harmonizing power. They give also some 
 idea of its value as an agent of spiritual improve- 
 ment — of its purifying and justifying work — which 
 is often carried into the past life of the members, 
 and is then termed historical criticism. 
 
 It is found in many cases, that present difficul- 
 ties of experience root themselves in the past life, 
 and can be reached only by a process that carries 
 light and judgment and separation clear back to 
 their beginning. A yielding to temptation in for- 
 mer years, by which we admitted the spirit of evil 
 and defiled our consciences, or the entanglements 
 of evil associations through friendship and love, 
 though they may have been long excused and for- 
 gotten, were nevertheless vital seeds in our life, and 
 are found, on close scrutiny, still active, and 
 operating in our central experience. Life is a 
 ball, made up by the winding on of the thread of 
 our passing experience ; and whatever we have woiuid 
 in the past, whether good or bad, is still in the 
 
HYGIENIC. 71 
 
 ball : it is vitally our own, and in a very imj^ortant 
 sense enters into our present character. To state 
 the principle in the fewest words, We are what our 
 past lives have made us. With this view, many have 
 entered upon the course of historical self-criticism ; 
 and the result has been, numerous confessions of 
 wrongs in the past, that had lain secret — i^erhaps 
 half-forgotten — but necessarily darkening and pois- 
 onous to present experience. 
 
 HYGIENIC CKITICISM. 
 
 But much as w^e prize Criticism for effects which 
 are purely spiritual and moral, Ave must not neg- 
 lect to speak- of it as a hygienic agency. Ho\v 
 often have we witnessed a sudden and marked im- 
 provement in bodily health as the result of sincere 
 truth- telling. We claim, in fact, to have discovered 
 
 A NEW CURATIVE. 
 
 A Commnnity writer says : "We have not found, like 
 a certain quack advertispr, an all-healing medicine in a 
 'common pasture weed,' nor are we prei3ared to show 
 nostrums with the ' retired Physician whose sands of life 
 are nearly run out ; ' hut we have found, and seen used 
 with the best effect in many instances of sickness, a 
 curative ao^ent that is not far-brought nor expensive, but 
 which we can confidently recommend to our readers as of 
 exceeding value ; viz., Criticism. It is a common 
 custom here, for a person who may be attacked wdth 
 
72 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 any disorder, to apply this remedy by sending for a 
 committee of persons, in whose faith and spiritual judg- 
 ment he has confidence, to come and criticise him. The 
 result when administered sincerely, is almost universally 
 to throw the patient into a sweat and to bring on a 
 reaction of his life against disease, breaking it up and 
 restoring him soon to usual health. We have seen it 
 take effect at an advanced stage of chronic disease, and 
 raise a person up apparently from death's door. It 
 seems a somewhat heroic method of treatment when 
 one is suffering in body, to apply a castigation to the 
 life through the spiritual or mor;il part ; luit this is pre- 
 cisely the thing needed to cleanse and puriiy the system 
 from disease. We have tried it and found it to be invalu- 
 able. To all who have faith in Christ as a physician 
 we can commend this prescription as a medium for con- 
 veymg his healing and life. If you are sick, seek for some 
 one to tell you your faults, to find out the weakest spot 
 in your character and conduct ; let him put liis finger on 
 the very sore that you would like most to keep hid. De- 
 pend upon it there is the avenue through which disease 
 gets access to you. And if the sincerity which points 
 this out and and opens it to the light, hurts, and is 
 mortifying for tae time, it ^s only a sign that the 
 remcJy is applied at t'le right place and is takmg eliect. " 
 
 Take an ex-iniple from the Community records: 
 
 " S. P. having a bad cold and symptoms of a run of 
 fever, tried the Criti(si>iiii-ciire and was immediately re- 
 lieved. She was on her bed in a state of i3ani and restless- 
 ness, when a friend mentioned to her the above remedy, 
 as having been successfully ajjplied in similar cases. 
 Having some faith in it, she arose and had it administered 
 
HYGIENIC. 73 
 
 without delay. The operation was not particularly 
 agreeable — there is no method of cure that is — but 
 it was short and speedily efficacious. One secret of its 
 efficacy is, it stops the flow of thought toward the seat of 
 difficulty, and so tends directly to reduce inflammation. 
 At the same time it has a very bracing, invigorating 
 effect. In the present case, it went right to the cause 
 of the disease, which was discovered to be a spirit of 
 fear, throwing open the pores and predisposing the sub- 
 ject to the attack. S. P. had been brought up in a bad 
 habit in this respect, expecting with every exposure to 
 take cold — and then expecting to have it go on to a seri- 
 ous cough, and so on — fear realizing itself. Criticism 
 stopped this false action, and not only made her well in 
 the first instance, but by breaking up this fear it has 
 given her comparative security against future attacks. 
 It requires some fortitude and self-denial in the patient, 
 when he thinks he needs sympathy and nursing, to take 
 criticism instead ; but it is well known, that to rouse the 
 will to strong exertion is more than half a cure. The 
 criticism-remedy professes to be universal, and is re- 
 commended for trial to all the afflicted. 
 
 Individuals may find it difficult in some cases to get 
 access to this remedy, but it is worth some pains to try. 
 Every family should have the apparatus. Children can 
 have the benefit of it in forms adapted to their age. 
 A little wholesome correction is sometimes the best medi- 
 cine for an ailing child ; and it is certainly a more 
 merciful remedy than nauseous pills or castor-oil. 
 Quite young children, however, can take a family criti- 
 cism in the regular way, and get the advantage of it. 
 
 Tlie tlieory of disease which this remely adapts itself 
 to is, that disease originates not in the blood, or stomach, 
 
74 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 or nerves, but in the spirit ; and that a decisive opera- 
 tion there ajffeets the whole system." 
 
 Here is another example on a large scale : 
 
 Some twelve years ago that fell destroyer, the 
 diphtheria, made its ajDpearance in the Community. 
 It first attacked the young men, then the young 
 women, then the middle-aged, and finally spared 
 no class. One hundred and twelve persons were 
 affected. Three of the first cases proved fatal ; 
 two other deaths soon occiuTed. All known reme- 
 dies were tned ; the doctors were a]3pealed to ; but 
 nothing was found to stay the scourge luitil criti- 
 cism was brought into the field in connection with 
 the free use of ice ; and after the new treatment 
 was fairly begun no death by diphtheria occurred, 
 and most of the cases were substantially cured in 
 a few hours. When the disease had been fairly 
 routed an investigation showed that not one out of 
 fifty-nine cases of clear diphtheria, treated with ice 
 and criticism, was lost ; fifty persons acknowledged 
 sensible benefit from criticism ; twenty-two testi- 
 fied that the benefit thus received was instanta- 
 neous ; and all who reported thought criticism a 
 powerful and usti'ul medicinal agent. The follow^- 
 ing is a specimen of the testimony : 
 
 *' My experience in respect to criticism was new, and to 
 me interesting. I will relate it as briefly as possible. I 
 was tak*^n at night with a sore throat, which continued 
 to grow worse, and the next day I had all the symptoms 
 of the diphtheria. Being no better at night, but rather 
 
HYGIENIC. 75 
 
 worse, I sent for a committee. Their criticism immedi- 
 ately threw me into a profuse sweat, till I felt as though 
 I had been in a bath ; and before the committee left the 
 room, my headache, backache and fever were all gone. 
 The criticism had an edge to it, and literally separated 
 me from the spirit of disease that was upon me. I slept 
 well, and in the morning called myself well, as indeed 
 I was, with the exception of weakness. I attribute my 
 recovery entirely to the Spirit of Truth administered in 
 criticism, and believe it to be the best remedy for soul 
 and body." 
 
 The new method of treatment in diphtheria was 
 dramatized by a member of the Community and 
 rehearsed finally on the stage. We give the hbretto 
 below, as a curiosity : 
 
 MEDICINE FOR THE DIPHTHERIA. 
 
 A HIT AT OLD NICK. 
 
 Dramatis PersoncB. 
 
 George, the j^fiffGni. 
 Community Doctor . 
 Sarah, a waiter. 
 Seven Critics. 
 Martin, a singer. 
 A Demon, and an Angel. 
 Patient discovered sleeping; but restless, starting 
 and groaning as in a Jit of nightmare. A skcleton- 
 dem^on appears behind, shaking a dart at him. At a 
 dreadful groan, enter Doctor. 
 
 Doctor. — {Shaking the patient). George, George, 
 wake up ! What ails you ? 
 
 Patient. — (Griping his throat and staring wildlg 
 about). I've had a horrible di-eam. There was a 
 
76 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 skeleton standing there as sure as you live. I saw the 
 flames in his eye-holes, and he shook his dart at me. 
 Did I make a noise ? 
 
 Doctor. — Yes, you groaned as if you were dying. 
 
 Patient. — I thought my time had come, and I don't 
 know but it has now. My throat feels strangely. I be- 
 lieve I've got the diphtheria. I was dreaming— 
 
 Doctor . — Never mind your dreams — let me look at 
 jour tonsils. {Looks in his mouth). Sure enough — 
 you've got it — canker and all. {Feels his ivrist). — 
 Pulse going like a trip-hammer. But your time has 
 not come yet. This is only the sixtieth case we've 
 handled this winter. We'll put you through the old 
 course. {Goes to the door and calls). Sarah, bring 
 some chopped ice. ( To the pa^'wat). The first thing to 
 ba done is to kill the fua^us. 
 
 Patient. — Kill the fungus ! What do you mean by 
 that ? 
 
 Doctor. — Don't you know that a crop of toad-stools is 
 growing in your throat ? That white stuff that people 
 call canker is a vegetable. In the microscope it looks 
 like a cauliflower. Ice kills it. Cauliflowers can't grow 
 in ice- water. {Sarah hrinys the ice). Here, eat all you 
 w-ant of this. It is cheap at this time of year, and some 
 folks say it is as good as candy. You are not frightened 
 are you ? 
 
 Patient. — No. But for mercy's sake keep mother out 
 of my sight ; for she will be frightened, and her doleful 
 looks and talk will make me a coward. 
 
 Doctor. — That's a good idea ! Keep clear of your 
 mother when you are going into battle. What you want 
 now is not sympathy, but the soldier spirit. Do you 
 believe in God ? 
 
HYGIENIC. 11 
 
 Patient. — Yes. 
 
 Doctor. — Do you believe in Jesus Christ? 
 
 Patient. — Yes. 
 
 Doctor. — Let us see liow much you believe in him. 
 When he was on earth he was a very great doctor of 
 men's bodies. 
 
 Patient. — Yes, I know he cured all sorts of diseases. 
 
 Doctor. — Do you believe he can cure the diphtheria ? 
 
 Patient. — Of course he can. 
 
 Doctor. — Keep that idea bright. The next thing to 
 be done is to give you a sweat. 
 
 Patient. — I thought our folks didn't believe in steam- 
 ing and packing. 
 
 Doctor. — They haven't much faith in those things ; 
 but I reckon I can give you a sweat in another way. 
 Sarah, there is a criticising committee in the Reception- 
 room. Tell them to come and give George a benefit. 
 {^Sets out the chairs, talking meanwhile to the patient). 
 We'll put you in a truth-bath that will start the sweat 
 better than steam or feather beds. Don't you want to 
 hear the plain truth about your faults ? 
 
 Patient. — Yes, I'm not afraid of the truth. 
 
 Doctor. — Well, the devil is, and this is the way we 
 shall scare him off. {Enter seven critics and take tftelr 
 scats). ^ Now, gentlemen, let us make short work. 
 George wants help. The old tiger, diphtheria, has got 
 him by the throat. We all know that George is on the 
 whole a good fellow, but what he wants, and what will 
 do him good now, is not praise, but the shai-j^est 
 criticism. F. , will you begin ? 
 
 [Here followed a deliberate overhauling of the patient's 
 character, general and special, in several rounds, by the 
 seven critics ; but as such honest exhibitions are not 
 
78 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 very pleasant to unaccustomed tastes, and as it is some- 
 what difficult to do justice to the actual practice of the 
 Community in a fictitious scene, we omit the details of 
 the criticism, leaving them to the reader's imagination ; 
 only mentioning that toward the conclusion of the 
 session, the patient was observed to mop his face from 
 time to time with his handkerchief, as though something 
 were coming to the surface. ] 
 
 Doctor. — That will do, gentlemen. I think George 
 ought to thank you for a good washmg. {Committee 
 pass a pleasant icord with the patient, and exit). 
 Now George, you see yourself as others see you ; and 
 (feeling the patient's face and hands) jou're in a fine 
 sweat — got it easier too than you could by steam and red 
 pepper. Fever's all broken up. You'll be all right 
 to-morrow. 
 
 Patient. — (Getting u^) and straightening himself). I 
 do feel better. 
 
 Doctor. — Don't be in a liuTry to get well ; you know 
 they criticised you for going to extremes. Lie down and 
 go to sleep, and I'll warrant you'll see something better 
 than old Bones with his dart. ( Patient lies down). I'll 
 give you an opiate too. Martin ! Where is Martin ? 
 {Enter Martin). Here, Martin, is a chance for your 
 genius ; I want you to sing that boy to sleep, and to 
 pleasant dreams. 
 
 Martin.— ^\mi shall I sing? 
 
 Doctor. — Sing that song about the boy's guardian an- 
 gel, that I heard you practicing the other day. 
 Martin. — I'll try. 
 
 {Sings. At the last line of each verse, a kneeling 
 angel appears behind and above the sleeper). 
 
HYGIENIC. 79 
 
 THE GUARDIAN AS GEL. 
 
 A dying mother blessed her boy, 
 
 As earth was fast receding ; 
 Her faith grew bright ; — she saw on high 
 
 His guardian angel pleading. 
 
 The boy Avas man ; — the strife of life 
 
 Was fierce, and he was bleeding ; 
 But through the fight his faith still saw 
 
 His angel ever pleading. 
 
 The man was old ; — his eye was dim ; 
 
 His path toward night seemed leading ; 
 But through the dark his faith still saw 
 
 His angel ever ijleading. 
 
 The old man entered death's last shade, 
 
 Its horrors never heeding ; 
 For now, as when his mother died, 
 
 His angel still was pleading. 
 
 [Curtain de>icfnds. 
 
 KELATIONS TO COMMUNISM. 
 
 It is not easy to over-rate the usefulness of 
 criticism in its relation to Community life. There 
 is hardly a phase of that life in which it does not 
 play an important part. It is the regulator of 
 industry and amusement — the incentive to all im- 
 provement — the corrector of all excesses. It 
 governs and guides all. Criticism, in short, bears 
 nearly the same relation to Communism as that 
 which the system of judicature bears to ordinary 
 society. As society cannot exist without govern- 
 
80 MUTUAL CRiriCISM. 
 
 ment, and especially without a system of courts rnd 
 police, so Comimunimn cwuwt eaiist without Free 
 Criticism. 
 
 Communism is a new state of society, entirely 
 different from familism or indi\ddualism ; and every 
 distinct form of society requires a particular mode 
 of meeting and providing against offenses. Commu- 
 nism is so radical in its nature that it cannot exist 
 under the ordinary means of justice and police ; 
 but in Free Criticism it finds its true corrective 
 and protector. 
 
 Criticism has the same end in \\e\s that courts of 
 law and police have ; but it operates upon society 
 differently in one important respect, viz.: while 
 they pay attention exclusively to the sensible dis- 
 eases of society or overt acts of iniquity. Criticism 
 attacks the insensible diseases as well as the sensible 
 ones. Open crimes are pmiished under the legal 
 system of the world, but the interior character of 
 men is not meddled wdtli ; and thus the real sources 
 of crime remain untouched. Free Criticism under- 
 takes to correct and improve character, so that 
 there shall be no occasion for courts and police to 
 deal with outbreaking vice. Separated as men are 
 in ordinary social life, they may live with some de- 
 gree of peace and comfort while the latent diseases 
 of heart and mind are at work in them ; but 
 Commmiism brings people so closely together that 
 insensible diseases become sensible, and they can- 
 
ITS RE J. AT IONS TO COMMUNISM. 81 
 
 not live together without purification of character 
 far more perfect than any that exists in common 
 society. 
 
 Thus we see Communism has a double power of 
 improvement. It develops and discloses the little- 
 ness, meanness and selfishness of human nature, 
 and at the same time provides an effectual remedy. 
 Communism and Criticism are reciprocals repro- 
 ducing each other. Criticism produces a state that 
 is compatible with Communism, and Communism 
 gives the opportunity and the strength and unity 
 that is necessary to the most perfect expression of 
 Free Criticism. AVe may love Free Criticism for 
 the sake of the advantages of Communism ; and on 
 the other hand we may love Communism for the 
 sake of the advantages of Free Criticism. 
 
 The popular imagination that Commimism is im- 
 practicable is founded on an observation of the fact 
 that hiunan nature is full of insensible, moral 
 diseases, which are sui"e to manifest themselves as 
 soon as people come into close relations with each 
 other. This prejudice is, however, manifestly 
 predicated on the deficiency which Free Criticism 
 supplies. People cannot fairly argue against 
 Communism from any experiment the world has 
 yet seen, unless they can show us an example where 
 these two things which God designed to be joined 
 together, have been put together. When they find 
 a case where Free Criticism and Commimism have 
 6 
 
82 MVriAL CRITICISM. 
 
 been luiited and failed, tliey will have a precedent 
 that will ajjply, and not otherwise. A thorough 
 system of Criticism in combination with Commu- 
 nism is a new experiment^ and there is nothing in 
 past experience that can possibly foretell to any 
 scientific man what will be the result ; but there 
 are many things in the nature of the combination 
 that foretell a good and superior state of society. 
 
 "Well," says the sanguine reformer, "if Free 
 Criticism is all that is necessary ' to successful 
 Communism, let us have Free Criticism, and go 
 ahead. Where is the need of religion and in- 
 s^^iration ? " AVe reply : Certainly, you can have 
 Free Criticism without religion, and may derive 
 great benefit from it ; it is just what you ought to 
 have, and all the more for your lack of religion. 
 But Communism requires, as we have shown, far 
 more thorough and deep-searching criticism than 
 any less vital form of society, and we do not be- 
 lieve it possible to secure this without religion ; but 
 if you can demonstrate to the contrary, then indeed 
 you have found the philosopher's stone, and can 
 live happily in Communism without God. But our 
 con^dction is that you will fail without him in the 
 criticism of the inner life ; that he and the Bible 
 furnish the only j^roper standard for that kind of 
 criticism ; that his Spirit alone furnishes the 
 discernment necessary to it; that he alone furnishes 
 the love required in its administration, and the 
 
TE8 TIMONIA LS. 8;j 
 
 himiility and desire for improveraent necessary to 
 its right reception ; that nothing but reHgion, the 
 earnestness of a hfe that has an eternal scope, and 
 sees everlasting good on the one hand and ever- 
 lasting evil on the other, is jirepared to give or re- 
 ceive this highest kind of criticism, without which 
 Communities will sooner or later shiver to pieces. 
 
 With this view the conditions of successful 
 Communism are veiy clear. Commmiism is possi 
 hie only on condition of such Free Criticism as 
 "searcheth the heart and trie th the reins:" which, 
 in our 02)inion, is only possible on condition of 
 sincere faith in Christ. 
 
 We may appropriately conclude this branch of 
 our subject with a few 
 
 TESTIMONIALS FROM THE SUBJECTS OF CRITICISM. 
 
 D. E. S. says : — " Wonderful effects on both body and 
 mind are produced by Mutual Criticism. It has the 
 power of the strongest tonics ; and can, in fact, be so ap- 
 plied as to produce startling changes in the human body. 
 But the most striking of all its effects is seen in its opera- 
 tions on the spiritual nature of man. Here it is indeed 
 miraculous. It has wrought in my own sj)iritual nature, 
 during the five years I have been in the Community, 
 changes as great as were effected in all my previous life, 
 though I was brought up in the bosom of a church and 
 for many years earnestly desired spiritual improvement. 
 I am now convinced that the great hindenng cause to 
 growth in spintuality is egotism ; and for its removal, 
 or destruction, criticism is one of the best agencies ever 
 
84 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 put ill practice. It brings to light even the most secret 
 faults, leaving no hiding place for egotism to shelter 
 itself ill, and yet does this in a way to make us love those 
 who criticise us. Criticism given in love, for the sole 
 purpose of helping one to improve, cannot but cause 
 good feelings in the heart of the criticised, and promote 
 the growth of earnestness and love, and all the fruits of 
 the spu'it." 
 
 H. C. N. says : — "If there are those who from the 
 first have taken kindly and naturally to criticism, I have 
 not been one of them. In this respect I have found 
 infinite occasion for repentance and regret, and the sor- 
 row that one can feel who has ill-treated his best friend. 
 I know the discouragement, the evil-thinking, the para- 
 lyzing chill that comes from not receiving criticism in 
 the right spirit. I know also the other side, where 
 the expression of criticism has been positively enjoyed, 
 and the effect immediate and lasting ; and I cannot for- 
 get how it has more than once saved my soul from the 
 consequences of sin, and my body almost miraculously 
 from disease and death." 
 
 G. N. M. says : — '* I once had a criticism in which I 
 was strongly tempted to resent the remarks of one indi- 
 vidual. What was said by this person was wholly un- 
 looked for by me, and to my first feelings seemed 
 unjust and hard to bear. For several days, it rankled 
 in my mind, causing me great unhappiness. I at length 
 thought I would try to put the matter wholly out of my 
 thoughts, but it kept continually recurring, bringing 
 Avith it a feeling of bitterness that I had never before 
 known. Seeing that it was likely to destroy my peace 
 of mind, I resolved that I would try no more to thrust it 
 away from me, but to summon all the sincerity and 
 
TESTIMONIALS. 85 
 
 humility I could and sit down and reflect upon it, calmlj 
 and prayerfully. The result was, that I saw clearly and 
 acknowledged to myself, that the bitter pill at which I 
 was tempted to rebel, was the truest and best j^cirt of t/ii/ 
 criticis))u It was the only thing in my criticism that 
 had really mortified and wounded my self-conceit, and 
 in that I saw was its supreme value. I swallowed it, and 
 have had no trouble with it since. It seemed to me at 
 the time, that if a person was tempted to resist criticism 
 he would naturally resist that which he most deserved ; 
 and the fact of there bemg such a temj^tation was a sure 
 sign, in most cases, that he had been hit where he 
 needed to be hit. 
 
 "My experience with criticism has led me to look 
 upon it as a great source of relief. People who are 
 accustomed to be clean physically, are uncomfortable, 
 not to say miserable, when they become befouled. 
 They have a kind of self-loathing that nothing but a 
 bath can remove. The desire for spiritual cleansing by 
 criticism seems to me to be Just as natural and 
 instinctive." 
 
 G- C. says: — "The truth given me by the criticism 
 committee, was as truly a substance taken into my 
 spirit, as a blue pill taken into my stomach would 
 have been, and acted effectually iipon my physical 
 as well as upon my spiritual system. There was no 
 hocus j^ocus about it. I don't guess, or believe ; I 
 know that the Spirit of Truth, the word of God, is quick 
 and powerful, sharper than any twx)-edged sword or 
 visible materia rnedica, piercing even to the di^-id- 
 ing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and 
 marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents 
 
so MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 of the heart. I therefore can, after twenty-five years of 
 experience, re-tndorse truth-telling or Coinrnunity ciHti- 
 cfj^?n as good for food and good for medicine. It is good 
 for the healthy, to Arcp them well ; good for the sick to 
 make them well ; good for the good to make them better ; 
 and good for the discontented to make them hajjpy. 
 It cures egotism, self-conceit and all forms of disagreea- 
 ble diseases resulting from the fungus growth of indi- 
 vidual sovereignty." 
 
 G. says :—*' Feuds in society, especially those caused by 
 emulation are, we have reason to believe, often life-long 
 and bitter, burdening the soul and wearing the life, like 
 a weary, dragging ball and chain. They are practically 
 incurable, just for the pitiful Avant of a meeting-ground 
 for sincerity. But in a Community where free criticism 
 prevails, envy and jealousy, and all other temptations 
 which flesh is heir to, are necessarily short-lived. If a 
 person is plagued with any of these ills, it is soon apparent 
 to the sensitive, spiritual instincts of those around ; or, 
 more often, the individual himself confesses his trouble 
 and asks for help. Criticism, restoring, cleansing, com- 
 forting and strengthening, is administered by loving 
 brothers and sisters ; and his trouble rolls off him as 
 surely and palpably as Christian's pack is represented 
 to have tumbled from his shoulders. It is a common 
 thing to hear a man who has been through this search- 
 ing ordeal say, ' ' My relief is wonderful. I feel as 
 though a load had been lifted off me. " And, indeed, the 
 whole aspect of the man is often changed by this 
 wonderful purifier. Humbled and chastened, but justi- 
 fied and made clean, he has all the buoyant hope and 
 elastic life of one just set free from prison. These re- 
 sults, which we see day by day and year by year, cannot 
 
SHALL IT BECOME GENERAL? 87 
 
 but increasingly glorify and endear to us Free Criticism 
 or Truth-telling. It is our spiritual Turkish Bath, 
 renovating and restoring the inner man. If it is some" 
 ^imes sharper than a two-edged sword, it is agam 
 like the gentle rain from heaven, as tender and pitying 
 as a father's love for his children. If it casts down evil, 
 it exalts good with comely praise. Christ said, when he 
 made the character of his mission known to the Jews, in 
 the synagogue, ' I am come to heal the broken hearted^ 
 to preach deliveraiiGe to the captives and to set at 
 liberty them that are bruised. ' That describes exactly 
 our sense of the work which Criticism is doing among 
 us. In view of that work we can truly say that 
 
 ' Doubt and trouble, fear aud pain, 
 And anguish all are shadows vain.' 
 
 They are shadows which flee before the sunlight of 
 truth. ' Happy are they who know their errors and 
 can put them to mending.' " 
 
 SHALL IT BECOME GENEEAL ? 
 
 We have shown how well the system of Mutual 
 Criticism w^orks in Community organizations, and 
 how indispensable it is to their prosperity and 
 harmony ; but it was by no means a Commimity 
 invention, having originated among missionary 
 students in the very heart of the Congregational 
 Church, and more truly belonging to that Church 
 than to any Community. But no one sets up any 
 
88 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 special claim to the invention ; and why should 
 its application be limited"? Nordhoff suggests that 
 it would be an excellent means of discipline in most 
 families. AMiy not? The old forms of family 
 government are painfully inefficient ; they fail in 
 thousands of cases to secui'e filial respect and obe- 
 dience ; and how often indeed aie the natural re- 
 lations of supeiior and inferior actually reversed, 
 and ]3arents ruled by their own children ? 
 
 So also, the disresj^ect and insubordination that 
 breed in a family, extend themselves to the school, 
 and often make the teacher's vocation a long strug- 
 gle against turbulence and inattention ; that which 
 should be a delight and a joyous labor is turned 
 into exhausting and vexing toil. 
 
 Some new form of government for both family 
 and school is demanded. As the country grows 
 more populous, and men, women anid children are 
 brought into closer contact, the necessity becomes 
 more imperative for improved arrangement for so- 
 cial order and control, both among the old and the 
 young. With increased contact and intercourse the 
 power of public opinion grows ; and in the case 
 of the young, where they are not subjected to special 
 restraint, this soon becomes the breeder of lawless- 
 ness and disresj^ect. At the present time, society 
 has nothing commensurate with its needs to regu- 
 late this great department. Neither the church, 
 the newspaj^er, nor any of the prevailing a gen- 
 
.SHALL IT BECOME GENERAL? 89 
 
 cies at work among the people, is sufficient. Into 
 this field, now white and ready for the harvest, 
 we propose to send the agency of Free Criticism ; 
 and we invite the attention of all who are mter- 
 ested in the growth and education of men and women 
 to examine its claims as a Regulator and Educator 
 of Society. We say to the fathers and mothers of 
 families, Submit yourselves one to another for 
 criticism, and leain how to tell each other the truth 
 in love. Tell each other plainly your faults, with- 
 out giving or taking offense, and be honest with 
 yourselves in endeavoring to improve in respect to 
 the faults in your character which are j^ointed out. 
 "When you have learned this lesson of mutual sin- 
 ceiity, bring your childi*en into the circle, and teach 
 them how to submit themselves to your and each 
 other's criticism. Let it all be " done decently and 
 in order, " and you will soon find that besides your- 
 selves you have a kingly guest that meets with you. 
 The Spirit of Truth will come within yom* doors 
 and subdue your hearts with his presence. You 
 will find unity taking the place of discord and 
 strife ; you will find love in the place of coldness 
 and indifference ; you will find docility and obedi- 
 ence in the place of disrespect and insuborchnation. 
 
 In this small beginning you will have a basis 
 from wliich you may widen the field of oj^erations. 
 From family criticism you may advance and bring 
 one or more families together for Mutual Criticism, 
 
00 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 and so on, till the whole neighborhood is embraced. 
 In such meetings all the organization necessary 
 would be the selection of a moderator who should 
 conduct the exercises by calling out the opinions of 
 those present on the person or persons who offer 
 themselves for criticism. Two general rules, how- 
 ever, must be adopted, to which all should give 
 loyal adherence. These rules are : 
 
 1. In giving Criticism no person shall indulge 
 in remarks suggested by j^ersonal enmity or re- 
 sentment. 
 
 2. In receiving Criticism the subject shall quietly 
 accept what is said to him, making no reply, save 
 to correct obvious misstatement of facts. 
 
 In connection with this arrangement, or inde- 
 pendently of it, let criticism be introduced into the 
 public schools. The teacher in this case naturally 
 becomes the moderator. Let him accustom his 
 scholars to submit themselves to each other and to 
 himself for criticism. If tliis is wisely done he will 
 soon find the public opinion of the school on the 
 side of obedience and good behavior, and secure 
 an agency far more p )tent than all others for 
 discipline and punishment. Children are plastic ; 
 their hearts are easily reached by sincerity ; they 
 may be easily molded hy bringing to bear the 
 power of truth amon^ themselves, and from their 
 superiors, in an organic wpy. Wliere diffi'-'ulties 
 are met by the teacher in the conduct of his school, 
 
SHALL LT BECOME GENERAL ? 1)1 
 
 which do not yield to the jDOwer of criticism irithln 
 the school, let him call in the fathers and mothers, 
 and the trustees, and bring the power of their 
 discernment and truthfulness to bear. In this way 
 the school would assume its highest office as the 
 regulator and educator of personal character^ as 
 well as of mental discipline and culture. From the 
 common school the system would jiass into the 
 academy, the seminary, the college and the uni- 
 versity, and they would become schools of true 
 manhood and womanhood. 
 
 Every club organized for mutual acquaintance 
 and improvement should adopt Mutual Criticism 
 as its first ordinance. 
 
 Every social organization, large or small, whose 
 objects are worthy and elevating will find in Free 
 Criticism its best regulator, friend and co-laborer. 
 
 Especially should every Christian organization 
 follow the example of the "Society of Brethren" at 
 Andover in this respect. Among Christians Criti- 
 cism ought to have the fullest scope, and produce 
 its best results. Their professed desire for per- 
 sonal imjirovement should make them ready and 
 willing subjects of the truth-telling ordeal ; they at 
 least should have the grace to avoid offense in both 
 giving and receivuig criticism. They will a^^preciate 
 it not only for its personal benefits, but for its 
 general results. Half a century ago it fostered the 
 genuine missionary spirit in those whom the 
 
02 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 Church now deHghts to honor. Give it opportimity 
 and it will do the same to-day. Moreover, it is 
 one of the best possible agencies for promoting 
 and perpetuating a genuine revival of religion. We 
 would say to any church desiring an outpouring of 
 the Holy Spirit, organize yourselves into classes for 
 Mutual Criticism : humble yourselves before God 
 and one another, by first confessing your own sins, 
 and then inviting, each from all, faithful sincerity 
 in detecting your secret faults : in other words, 
 w^ash yourselves in the Spirit of Truth, cmd get yonr 
 neighbors to hel2) you ; and we will warrant you 
 the best revival you ever experienced or witnessed. 
 To Communities, one and all, we say : If you 
 desire harmony, and the removal of the occasions 
 of irritation and evil- thinking ; if you desire the 
 personal imj^rovement of your members and the 
 consequent growth and prosperity of the general 
 organization — adopt the system of Free Mutual 
 Criticism. We confidently anticipate the time 
 when every Community in the land will inscribe 
 upon its banner. Mutual Criticism ; and we cer- 
 tainly hope no new Community will ever be started 
 that does not adopt Criticism as one of its funda- 
 mental princi]3les. 
 
 And to all — whether religious or not, Communis- 
 tic or not — we say: Do you wish to be made 
 pure ? The truth alone can purify you ; seek Criti- 
 cism. Do you wish to be noble and attractive to 
 
SHALL IT BECOME GENERAL f 93 
 
 all true hearts ? The truth alone can ennoble you 
 and fill you with heavenly magnetism : seek Criti- 
 cism. Do you wish so to live that you will be pre- 
 pared for the long future, whatever it may be? 
 The truth can alone enable you to do this : seek 
 Criticism,. To offer one's self to his associates and 
 friends to be sincerely told his faults of spirit and 
 of outward action, and to freely accept the truth 
 thus spoken, is one of the sublimest acts man can 
 do. And it mil bring to him mispeakable good — 
 peace and harmony, unity and brotherhood. 
 
 Let no one think we are here urging a mere 
 Utopian or fanciful scheme. We know by long ex- 
 perience that it is entirely practicable. We have 
 tiied Free Criticism in every form. We know that 
 too much cannot be said in its praise. We know 
 that under its reign alone, can men and women 
 reahze the infinite meaning of the words of Christ : 
 " Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
 you free.'' For thirty years we have been testing 
 its power. We have tested it in the school, in the 
 private family, in the small circle of mutual friends, 
 and in the Community of three himdi-ed members. 
 In no place has it failed to be the most powerful 
 improver of character, the strongest agent of imity 
 and love, the most comprehensive and thorough 
 system for the government of people on the small- 
 est or the largest scale. Men have speculated and 
 dreamed for thousands of years as to what is the 
 
1»4 MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 best and final foiTQ of government. We believe we 
 have realized that highest dream in Free Criticism 
 — THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TRUTH — Government by 
 Free Criticism ! It combines in itself all that is 
 good in all other forms of Government. It is 
 Thocratic, for in recognizing the Truth as King, it 
 recognizes God who is the source of all truth, and 
 whose Spii-it alone can give power of genuine criti- 
 cism. It is Ai'istocratic, in as much as the best 
 critics have the most power. It is Democratic, 
 inasmuch as the j^rivilege of criticism is distributed 
 to all classes, and the highest attainments and 
 skill in it are open to every one. 
 
 We believe that it is only necessary for Free 
 Criticism to be generally known in order to be 
 every- where appreciated, and to have a shout go up 
 from all true hearts in its favor. For ourselves we 
 shall do all we can to make it x^opular. Free 
 Criticism is our candidate for the Presidency. 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 ORIGIN OF MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 
 PAGE 3—13. 
 
 Its Missionary Birth, '>. First practiced among "The 
 Brethren" in the Andover Theological Seminary, (1. Letter 
 of Rev. John A. Vinton, 7. Letter of Rev. Wm, Arms, 11. 
 
 ITS DEVELOPMENT IN THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY. 
 
 PAGE 13 — 23. 
 
 Introduced into the PreUminary School at Putney, Vt., by 
 one of the Andover "Brethren," 11. First Experiment 
 there in Criticism, 15. Method pursued, 1(3. Modification 
 at Oneida, 18. Criticism a Substitute for Backbiting and 
 other forms of Evil Speaking, 21. 
 
 THEORETICAL VIEW. 
 
 PAGE 23 — 2;>. 
 Definition of Criticism, 23. Mutual Criticism an Exten- 
 sion to Character of the Principles applied in the criticism 
 of Art and Literature, 2-t. Mutual Criticism calls for the 
 Exercise of Higher Faculties, 2.">. It gives Voice and Power 
 to the Golden Rule, 2(5. Faults of Unpracticed Critics, 2(1. 
 Criticism and Phrenology, 27. 
 
 HOW TO GIVE CRITICISM. 
 
 PAGE 29— 3r). 
 Necessity of Love, Respect and Sincerity in the Critics. 30. 
 True Motive in Criticism, 31. Fair Play for the Truth, 33. 
 Wisdom in Criticism, 35. 
 
 HOW TO RECEIVE CRITICISM. 
 PAGE 3(5 — 43. 
 The Childish Spirit, SC. The Manly Spirit, 30. Illustra- 
 tions of the Right and Wrong Way of receiving Criticism, 
 40. "Lying in Wait " for Improvement, 41. 
 
1)6 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 ILLUSTKATIONS OF MUTUAL CRITICISM. 
 PAGE 44 — 70. 
 
 Criticism by a Coiiiniittee, 44. Summary Report, 46. 
 Harmony in Conversation, 48. Doing and Being, .">(). Sum- 
 mary of a Criticism by a Committee, AH. Scraps from the 
 Reports of a Criticism Club, 54. A Commendatory Criti- 
 cism, ()4. 
 
 HISTORICAL AND HYGIENIC CRITICISM. 
 
 PAGE 70 — 75 ». 
 
 Present Difficulties often traced to Past Experiences, 70. 
 Criticism as a Ciirative Agency, 71. Illustrations, 72. Criti- 
 cism and the Diphtheria, 75. 
 
 RELATION OF CRITICISM TO COMMUNISM. 
 
 PAGE 79 — 87. 
 
 Criticism Indispensable to Communism, 80. Criticism and 
 Communism Reciprocals of each other, 81. Can Mutual 
 Criticism flourish without Religion ? 82. Testimonials from 
 the Subjects of Criticism, 83. 
 
 SHALL MUTUAL CRITICISM BECOME GENERAL? 
 
 PAGE 87 — 94. 
 
 The Need of a New Power of Government, 37. Criticism 
 a Regulator and Educator, 88. Two Rules of Criticism, 90. 
 Criticism Commended to Families, Schools, Clubs, Churches, 
 Communities, and to all Social Organizations, 91. Criticism, 
 not Utopian, 93. It is the best Form of Government, and 
 our Candidate for the Presidency, 94. 
 
PUBLICATIONS 
 OF THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY. 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. By John 
 Humphrey Noyes. (>78 pp. 8vo. J. B, Lippincott «fe Co., 
 Philadelphia. Triibuer <fc Co., Loudon. Price, $3.00, 
 
 HOME- TALKS. By John Humphrey Noyea. ;jr)8 pp. 
 KJmo. Price, $1.50. 
 
 THE TRAPPER'S GUIDE. By Sewell Newlmine, and 
 other Trappers and Sportsmen. Price, ^l.TiO. 
 
 SALVATION FROM SIN, THE END OF CHRIS- 
 TIAN FAITH. By John Humphrey Noyes. An 8vo. 
 pamphlet of 48 pages. Price, 2r» cents. 
 
 SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. By John Humphrey 
 Noyes. An 8vo. pamphlet of 32 pages. Price 2") cents. 
 
 HAND-BOOK OF THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY. 
 
 An 8vo. pamphlet of +8 pages. Price, 2;") cents. 
 
 DIXON AND HIS COPYISTS. A CRITICISM OF 
 
 the Accounts of the Oneida Community in " New America," 
 "Spiritual Wives," and kindred Publications. By John 
 Humphrey Noyes. Price, 25 cents. 
 
 ONEIDA COMMUNITY COOKING, OR A DINNER 
 without Meat. By Harriet H. Skinner. Price, 2") cents.