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AUTHOR: 
 
 HAGGARD, ALFRED H. 
 
 TITLE: 
 
 OF 
 
 HUMANITY 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 DATE: 
 
 1901 
 
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 h of Humanity, LiV Chapel btreet. Lamb 2 s Conduxt btree^t, London, W«C.J o 
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^ 
 
 RELIGION OF HUMANITY. 
 
 THE ANNUAL ADDRESS 
 
 AT THE 
 
 CHURCH OF HUMANITY, 
 
 [19 CHAPEL STREET, LAMB'S CONDUIT STREET, LONDON, W.C] 
 
 O^ THE 
 
 FESTIVAL OF HUMANITY, 
 
 . 1 MOSES, 47 (1 JANUARY, 1901.) 
 
 BY 
 
 ALFRED H. HAGGARD. 
 
 The Sorrows of Humanity. 
 
 Love for Principlk 
 AxD Order for Basts ;- 
 Progress for End. 
 Live for Others— Live Openly. 
 
 "Tho disease of the West calls for a treatment more addressed to the affections than 
 to th3 intellect, now that the intellect has accomplished its main function by its construction 
 of the positive philosophy as a result of the creation of sociology which has for ite 
 Bubstruction the body of the preliminary sciences. At the outset Positmsts had to ascend 
 ?rom7aith to love, but henceforward they should give the preference to the more rapid 
 and effective method which leads downward from love to faith Th^feelings are^l^^^ 
 disturbed than the intelligence; it is mainly therefore on the feelings that will depend the 
 re-establishment of order in the West. The heart alone is competent to ««^P^;t« «^^ 
 consolidate the convictions which have their source in the intellect, and tha.heart can m 
 many respects even dispense with such con-victions,-at any rate so far as regards that 
 general support which every great construction requires."-AUGUSTE Comte (Scxth Circular.) 
 
 SOLD AT THE CHURCH OF HUMANITY, 
 19 CHAPEL STREET, LAMBS CONDUIT STREET, W.C. 
 
 1901. 
 
 [threepence.] 
 
RELIGIOJSr OF HUMAISriTY. 
 
 THE ANNUAL ADDRESS 
 
 AT THE 
 
 CHURCH OF HUMANITY, 
 
 [19 CHAPEL STREET, LAMB'S CONDUIT STREET, LONDON, W.C] 
 
 ON THE 
 
 FESTIVAL OF HUMANITY, 
 
 1 MOSES, 47 (1 JANUARY, 190L) 
 
 BY 
 
 ALFRED H. HAGGARD. 
 
 The Sorrows of Humanity. 
 
 Love for Pbinciple 
 
 And Order for Basis;— 
 
 Progress for End. 
 
 Live for Others—Live Openly. 
 
 / 
 
 "The disease of the West calls for a treatment more addressed to the affections than 
 to the intellect, now that the hitellect has accomplished its main function by its construction 
 of the positive philosophy as a result of the creation of sociology, which has for its 
 substraction the body of the prelmiinary sciences. At the outset, Positivists had to ascend 
 from faith to loTe, but henceforward they should give the preference to the more rapid 
 and effective method which leads downwanl from love to faith. The feelings are less 
 disturbed than the intelligence; it is mainly therefore on the feelings that will depend the 
 re-establishment of order in the West. The heart alone is competent to complete and 
 consolidate the convictions which have their source in the intellect, and the heart can in 
 many respects even dispense with such convictions,— at any rate so far as regards that 
 general support which every great construction requires."— Aug ukte Comtb (Sixth Circular,) 
 
 SOLD AT THE CHURCH OF HUMANITY, 
 19 CHAPEL STEEET, LAMB'S CONDUIT STEEET, W.C. 
 
 1901. 
 [threepence.] 
 
EELIGION OF HUMANITY. 
 
 V 
 
 / 
 
 With all centres of our faith wheresoever they exist ; with all 
 its scattered disciples ; with the members of all other religious 
 organisations or beliefs, Monotheist, Polytheist, or Fetichist, all 
 lesser distinctions being absorbed in the one bond of community 
 of religious aim ; with the whole human race— with man, that 
 is, wherever found and in whatever condition, again all lesser 
 distinctions being absorbed in the one bond of our common 
 humanity ; and with the animal races which, during the long 
 effort of man to raise himself, "have been, as they still are, his 
 companions and helpers, we on this occasion, on this Festival of 
 Humanity, would be in conscious sympathy. 
 
 Nor with our contemporaries alone are we in sympathy, but 
 even more with the larger portion of the race which constitutes 
 the Past. We gratefully commemorate the services of all the 
 generations whose labours we inherit and wish to hand down 
 with increase to our successors. We acknowledge the sway of 
 
 the Dead. 
 
 We gratefully commemorate also the services of our common 
 Mother, the Earth, the Planet which is our home, and with her 
 the orbs which form the Solar System, our World. We may 
 not separate from this last commemoration that of the milieu 
 in which we place that System, the Space which has ever been 
 of great service to Man, and is destined to be of greater by his 
 wise use, as it becomes the recognised seat of abstraction, the 
 seat of the higher laws which collectively constitute the Destiny 
 of Man, and is introduced as such in all our intellectual and 
 
 moral training. 
 
 From the Present and the Past we extend our sympathies to 
 the Future, to the unborn generations which with happier lot 
 shall follow us on this earth ; the thought of whom should be 
 constantly present to our minds, in order to complete the con- 
 ception of Humanity, as revealed to man by the Founder of our 
 
4 INTRODUCTION TO THE ADDRESS. 
 
 m 
 
 Keligioii, hj the full recognition of the continuity which is Her 
 noble characteristic. The memory of Her greatest servant, 
 AugustA Comte, and with it the memory of his three 
 Guardian Angels, find a fitting place in this, Her greatest 
 Festival, consecrated as it is by its very idea to the remembrance 
 of all Her servants, known or nameless — to the remembrance of 
 all the results they have achieved and by wliich they live. 
 
 Wisest and noblest of teachers! May all of us who avow 
 ourselves thy disciples, animated by thy example, suppoi-ted by 
 thy doctrine, guided by thy construction, face all the obstacles 
 which indifference or hostility throws in our way, and in the 
 midst of this revolutionary age, undebased by any hope of 
 reward, undeterred by any ill success of our efforts, in a spirit 
 of submissive veneration carry forward the great work to 
 which thy life was devoted — the work of human regeneration by 
 and through the systematic Worship of Humanity. 
 
 
 > V ^ 
 
 # : '* 
 
 THE ANNUAL ADDEESS. 
 
 A distinguished statesman of the day, well known for his 
 high personal character and his rather vague metaphysical 
 opinions, in a speech he delivered lately, professed himself, if I 
 remember rightly, to be unable to attach any distinctive 
 character to the century which has just ended. Perhaps a 
 person of more definite views might have found less difficulty 
 in such a characterisation. The century might have been 
 considered according to the personality of the speaker as the 
 century of industry, or of science, or of poetry, or of art, or 
 of colonization, or of scepticism, or even as the age of 
 oppression of weaker peoples. Everything is coloured by our 
 individual views, proclivities or bias. Each system of philo- 
 sophy is generally little more than the way which each philo- 
 sopher has of looking at things. But whatever difficulties 
 other people may have, we at least who worship here can have 
 none in characterising the exceptional century by two unparal- 
 leled facts in the history of mankind : first by the institution 
 of the Religion of Humanity based on the invariable laws of 
 Nature in their relation to Man ; and, secondly, by the definite 
 advent to political power of the working classes, accompanied 
 by the abolition of slavery from every country with any 
 claim to civilization. These are the two salient facts of the 
 century that they have eternally consecrated in the memories 
 of Man, whatever evil may have been perpetrated in these 
 hundred years. Whatever sorrows Humanity may have en- 
 dured during this period, these two great joys will for ever 
 delight her existence. There has been another great event 
 in this century of more transient importance, which has been 
 neither wholly good nor wholly evil in its consequences— 
 
6 DECAY OF THE PKEVIOUS SPIRITUAL POWER. 
 
 not in the spiritual tot in the temporal sphere— that is the 
 opening up by means of increased facility of communication, of 
 nearly the whole of the globe. The result hes been not dis- 
 similar to the great geographical discoveries of the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth centuries. While the future organization of 
 Humanity will be ultimately accelerated by bringing her ele- 
 ments into closer association, the immediate consequence has 
 been hitherto mainly injurious to those whose isolation has 
 ceased or is ceasing, for the West brings forward for their 
 commercial exploitation material facilities and intellectual 
 qualities which are as yetr uncontrolled by any adequate moral 
 forces. The Religion of Humanity has arisen at the moment 
 it was most needed to protect her tender offspring from the 
 tyranny as it were of an elder and rapacious brother. 
 
 But in the life of an individual it will be observed that for 
 the most part his sorrows are confined to a very brief period of 
 time. It is true that those pains are as poignant as they are 
 transient. So is it with Humanity — which always represents 
 in the Collective Being the conditions of individual existence. 
 Standing here on the threshold of the new century, in 
 spite of the sorrows which we know occurred in the past, 
 in spite of the trouble to come in the future, and in spite 
 of the woe, the toil, the turmoil, the distress, and the gloom 
 of the present, yet in looking back over the past century we 
 are most sane when we consider the blessings it has brought, 
 and in the future when we think of the blessings it will bring. 
 
 There is only time to-day for a brief abstract appreciation 
 of the century. The characteristic of the Revolution of the 
 West was, on the one hand, anarchy in and destruction 
 of the ensemble J the totality, the whole ; on the other, recon- 
 struction of the elements. This process has continued through 
 the century. Apart from the signal fact of the institution of 
 the Religion of Humanity, there has been entire spiritual 
 decay. It is illustrated by three great facts. First, the 
 Pope was excluded from the Holy AUiance which aimed at a 
 spiritual control of the West. Secondly, the Papacy refused 
 to support the religious movement of Lamennais, Lacordaire, 
 and Montalemberti and its representation was refused at the 
 
 7 
 
 
 POLITICAL AND INTELLECTUAL ADVANCE. 7 
 
 Congress of the Hague in 1899 assembled to create a tribunal 
 for arbitration between nations. Its spiritual influence in 
 international relations is no longer treated with respect. At 
 the same time it has been led to a rather extreme use of its 
 doctrinal authority by the proclamations of the dogmas of the 
 Immaculate Conception and of Papal Infallibility, which have 
 interest for devout Catholics, but for few beside. 
 
 There has also been a transformation in the temporal dic- 
 tatorships, which have tended to a more and more democratic 
 constitution. France has become purely democratic in char- 
 acter, its real dictator is the Chamber of Deputies, which 
 makes and unmakes Presidents and Ministers almost at its 
 will. Republicanism is on the verge of establishment both in 
 Italy and in Spain, and would probably prevail in the event 
 of any war in which those powers were engaged. England has 
 democratized its institutions. Germany has, as the most back- 
 ward of the powers of the West, remained most monarchical 
 and aristocratic in form. But the enormous spread of Socialism 
 there shows the prevailing tendency. A natural consequence 
 of this has been throughout the West an increasing demand 
 of Labour for recognition of its claims to consideration. 
 But the Labour party has not yet secured any supremacy, 
 and the rulers— who belong to the capitalist class— are dis- 
 posed towards a military policy which will divert attention 
 
 from social questions. 
 
 In respect of reconstruction of the elements the intellectual 
 advance has been great. In science cosmology may be said to 
 be complete ; in biology great strides have been made ; bio- 
 logical deductions have been even pushed too far, as generally 
 happens when a science too greatly possesses the public mind. 
 The Darwinian conclusions have been carried forward into 
 sociology, to which in their rigorous shape they do not apply. 
 Sociology receives increased study, especially in America. In 
 Philosophy Herbert Spencer has completed his Philosophy of 
 Evolution, the main principle of which is that life proceeds 
 from the operation of purely natural causes. It is noticeable 
 that he has adopted for the scheme of his philosophy the 
 hierarchy of the sciences constructed by Auguste Comte, 
 
 
8 
 
 INSTITUTION OF THE IIELIOION OF HUMANITY. 
 
 TOLITICAL ACTION OF THE WEST. 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 although he has published his reasons for dissenting from that 
 most marvellous construction of genius. Never in the history 
 of the world has there been a more brilliant artistic effulgence 
 than in this century, whether in poetry or in the special Arts. 
 Yet in none has there as yet arisen any figure quite on a level 
 with the greatest names of the past. 
 
 In the practical sphere I have already alluded to the extra- 
 ordinary industrial improvements, the extended use of machinery, 
 which has almost given the death-blow to craftsman; the 
 application of steam first of all, followed by the even more 
 marvellous applications of electricity. All these are having the 
 effect of making the line between employers and employed 
 more distinct, and bringing the capitalist and the workman 
 into more frequent collision. The capitalist for the present has 
 the upper hand, he controls both the Temporal and the Spiritual 
 powers, Monarchs and Parliaments, the Church and the Press. 
 But the workman is steadily advancing towards the living wage 
 which is his due. 
 
 To revert to our original position — the great fact of the 
 century is this that the Religion of Humanity has been insti- 
 tuted. There now exists a coherent doctrine based on science, 
 on the philosophy of science and with a true theory of history, 
 proclaiming morality; public as well as private, as the loftiest 
 aim of man, in subjection to Humanity, and which is able to 
 meet the requirements of the moment, and to anticipate the 
 wants of the future. 
 
 II. 
 
 The past year has been one of great trouble in the West, 
 and the cause of most of it is English in its origin, though the 
 other powers of Europe are not without their share, negative or 
 positive, in the blame. France has been mainly given ][over 
 to the excitement arising from the exhibition with which 
 she delighted and enriched the inhabitants of Paris, and amused 
 the idlers of the world. But a great civic feast has testified to 
 the entire solidarity of the country — an encouraging fact of 
 great importance. 
 
 ^ 
 
 A- 
 
 ►"t* 
 
 ♦ '» 
 
 England and Germany have entered into close alliance, 
 which the United States views with not unfriendly eyes. It is 
 well to remember that Germany is greatly responsible for the 
 outrageous policy of England in South Africa, and England is 
 responsible for German action in the East; this alliance has 
 brought forward the Chinese question, which promises to be 
 one of the most formidable problems of the coming century. 
 The points which we now have to consider relate to India, 
 South Africa, and to China ; all of them illustrate the oppres- 
 sion exercised by the still imperfectly organized West on the 
 less advanced races of mankind. 
 
 There are, however, two preliminary considerations which 
 must be offered when treating here on such subjects. It 
 might be thought desirable to deal preferably with what are 
 called " social " topics rather than with wider political ques- 
 tions. It is true that the best methods of attacking the 
 various social evils of the time are by no means foreign to our 
 general purpose, but I would submit that in the first place such 
 questions— for instance, those dealing with temperance, housing 
 of the working classes, thrift, and better police regulations— are 
 secondary only, and the remedies offered for existing evils are 
 merely palliatives of the imperfections. Here it is the custom to 
 dwell, on this particular day, on the widest currents of human 
 thought and action, the direction of which will modify ultimately 
 the minor disturbances. Moreover, the public mind is already 
 fully occupied wth social subjects, and attempts are being 
 made to deal with them in accordance with those principles 
 of morality which the aggregate of the past has already 
 deeply rooted in our natures. A second consideration is the 
 necessarily critical character that my remarks must assume. 
 Would that they might be framed otherwise! But it is a 
 necessary part of the Positivist function at all times to pass 
 judgment on affairs and actions. The great political ques- 
 tions which we must necessarily occupy ourselves with here, 
 especially on this High Day, being the most general and also 
 the simplest, require that a judgment should be passed in 
 accordance with the main principles of our nascent faith, 
 which though possibly critical in form, yet should be truly 
 
10 
 
 THE CAUSE OF INDIAN FAMINE. 
 
 organic in character, as pointing ont in general terms the 
 right methods of ameliorating the greatest evils under which 
 Humanity groans. Our proper topics to-day are the relations 
 with each other of the component parts and forces of the 
 West, and the impact of the West on the other elements of 
 Humanity. Both of these are incidentally treated in the 
 
 subsequent remarks. 
 
 India. 
 In the clash of arms the woe of the dumb, starving millions 
 of India has hai-dly been attended to. The plight of India 
 is now such that a casual deficiency of the necessarily fluc- 
 tuating rainfall deprives millions of their means of subsistence. 
 The deficiency of the rain in 1899 was considerable; the 
 famine of 1900 has never been equalled in intensity or in 
 the width of the area affected by the failure of the crops. 
 Districts which had hitherto been free from such disasters 
 on this occasion felt them most severely. The stock has died! 
 for want of fodder, land has gone out of cultivation ; what 
 the mortality has been I have never seen stated with any 
 assurance of its accuracy. But we know that at one timo 
 six millions were on relief works alone, and it is also a fact 
 tliat the plague and cholera have lent their aid to the destruc- 
 tion of vast numbers of lives. A long series of famines has^ 
 reached on this occasion the highest intensity. There is not 
 the least doubt that this is by no means the last of the 
 series, nor is there reason to suppose that it will never be 
 increased in severity. 
 
 The causes of famine no longer remain in any doubts 
 They have been attributed previously to the over-population of 
 the country, which allegation is contradicted by the fact that 
 where famine has been least severe, the population is most 
 dense. It has been said that formerly the devastation of wara 
 left no opportunity for famine to prevail — an explanation con- 
 tradictory in itself, for famine notoriously attends warfare in 
 invaded countries, and absolutely foreign to the facts, for 
 the Indian theocracy, like all theocracies of the conservative 
 tvpe, was eminently peaceful in its character. 
 
 Famine results from the deliberate extraction from India^ 
 
 "■"'i 
 
 . < 
 
 INORDINATE EXTRACTION OF WEALTH FROM INDIA. 11 
 
 in one form or another, of the wealth of the country- It 
 is now ascertained scientifically that from twenty-seven to 
 thirty millions sterling is taken from India yearly in the 
 shape of Home Charges, interest on debt, and on guaranteed 
 public works, without any return lohatever^ and without this 
 depletion being made good in any other way. This process 
 has been going on for years, and continues without cessation, 
 whether war and famine prevail or not, even in this very year 
 of unparalleled disaster. It is easy to see that the consequence 
 must be what has occurred. The revenue is all paid in cash, 
 not in kind. In bad years the people have no food, in good 
 years they have no cash. To buy rupees they must sell 
 their corn, and thus nothing is left to them to meet any time 
 of dearth. Ordinarily the surplus of one year would meet 
 the deficiency of the next, now everything must be sold at 
 once. 
 
 Now, no one can, nor wishes to deny that the whole British 
 administration of India, from the Viceroy downwards, devotes 
 the vast energies and zeal of the most zealous and energetic body 
 of officials that the world has ever seen to mitigating such an 
 awful state of things. Few but those who have witnessed their 
 devoted and heroic labours can realize how heroic and devoted 
 they are. But it must be admitted that their labours are as 
 ineffective as they are desperate. No one offers any real remedy 
 for this state of things, nor can think of one. 
 
 Three hundred thousand pounds were collected in England 
 from private persons — to meet starvation caused by the yearly 
 depletion of thirty millions. The average income of a native of 
 India is at the most twenty-seven rupees per annum, yet this 
 vast sum I have named is exported to a country where the 
 average income is supposed to be £33 per head. The utmost 
 that has been suggested to relieve such necessity as exists has 
 been a Parliamentary grant. But what amount can be given ? 
 Ought the people of this country to assume such a vast burden 
 as alone would be necessary to make good the deficits in Indian 
 finance for the benefit of the official and capitalist classes ? A 
 dole alone would be possible, and doles are no good. Something 
 much more radical is needed, and that, in the present state of 
 

 INDIA SHOULD BE GRADUALLY EVACUATED. 
 
 opinion, will sound as wild to suggest, as it is impossible to 
 expect, and is the gradual preparation for the evacuation of 
 India by the British ; unless indeed a clean sweep is to be made 
 of the existing system, and new methods of administration in- 
 stituted on entu-ely different lines, in which the interest of the 
 Indians shall be paramount, and the administration made over 
 to those who are alone entitled to it. The latter course would 
 no doubt involve ultimately evacuation by the British, and 
 therefore it can never be expected until the country has become 
 utterly bankrupt, and its population so reduced by cholera, 
 plague, and famine, that there is nothing more to be got out of 
 the land. It is plain that in this enormous national crime of 
 Indian misrule, probably vaster and more flagrant than any- 
 thing the world has ever seen, no political person or measure 
 is of the least avail. The only hope can come from awakening 
 the minds of the people of England to the terrible immorality 
 involved in the bleeding of India to death ; this can only be done 
 by the extension of religious ideas, and as there is no hope of 
 any of the older religions awakening to a sense of the wrong 
 that they have hitherto countenanced, connived at, and even 
 taken advantage of, in the hope of spreading their creed, it 
 must be effected by the Beligion of Humanity, for one of the 
 noblest of her elements is being cruelly oppressed in the sole 
 interest of another race, which, having been even more highly 
 favoured, owes a deep debt of well-doing rather than the wrong 
 she inflicts. 
 
 South Africa. 
 The shame of the mis-government of India is England's 
 alone. It is hardly so in the case of the South African Re- 
 public, better known as the Transvaal, and her ally the Orange 
 Free State, the former of which was certainly for long en- 
 couraged by Germany in its original opposition to British 
 interests, but has ultimately been deserted by her and the 
 rest of the Western powers, although a considerable portion 
 of the populations appear to be in genuine sympathy with the 
 Boers. Had Europe not connived at the attack by England on 
 the independence of the two Free States, their extinction never 
 
 EUROPEAN CONNIVANCE IN SOUTH AFRICAN WAR. 
 
 13 
 
 
 could have occurred. It never would have been possible to 
 send over 200,000 men across six thousand miles of sea and 
 many hundred miles of land, into the interior of a desolate 
 continent, unless with the consent of Europe. Of course the 
 fleet of this country is immensely powerful, but had there been 
 any union of the West in a common design, any united reverence 
 for common right, any determination to repress an assault on 
 the liberties of nations, with one voice it would have forbidden 
 the war. Either its division or its union has prevented this 
 particular protection of two new and feeble elements of 
 Humanity. The two Kepublics have ceased in consequence 
 to exist, as apparently from the outset was the determination of 
 Mr. Chamberlain and Sir Alfred Milner. 
 
 Although in this place we must consider that an appalling 
 crime has been committed, for even were there justification for 
 the war, there is none for the annexation of the Republics, yet 
 I do not think that it would be right to entirely exonerate the 
 President of the Transvaal, in spite of the provocation he 
 received. His narrow and exclusive policy invited attack. 
 And there is very little doubt that for long President Kruger 
 had adopted a course of action that could only lead to war, 
 in which, relying on European animosities, he hoped for 
 European support. For this reason he refrained from making 
 in time reasonable concessions. Further, it must be conceded 
 that by his ultimatum to England, couched in hitherto un- 
 paralleled language, he made it almost impossible, in the 
 present state of public morals, for England to recede one 
 inch from the demands she had indeed advanced unjustly. 
 Moreover, by the precipitate invasion of British territory, Pre- 
 sident Kruger forfeited all the immense moral advantages of 
 his position^ left no loophole for intervention before the war 
 broke out, and alienated for a time at least the sympathies of 
 the leaders of the Cape Colony (who might have been most 
 useful supporters of his cause where just), in the hope of gain- 
 ing an immediate military success, and perhaps the possession 
 of the seaport of Durban, which however would have been 
 useless to him while the British held the sea. Speaking here 
 impartially, as I hope, it must be admitted that the attitude 
 
 1 
 
14 CONSEQUENCE8 OF FOOLISH CONDUCT OF TflE WAR, 
 
 Ijoth of the Colonial Secrefcary and of the President towards 
 each other were such as in moments may almost cause despair 
 to those who aim at the Peace of Humanity. 
 
 Next, it ought not to be supposed that here we are unmindful 
 of the heroism of our own sons in the extraordinary labours 
 of the campaign of fourteen months. As a military feat the 
 conveyance of so vast a body of men such a distance is un- 
 equalled. The spirit of our people in voluntarily meeting the 
 deficiencies of military organisation was admirable, and deserved 
 to be used in a better cause. And though the war has been 
 attended by most deplorable events, the burning of farms and 
 crops, the unhousing of women and children, yet it must not be 
 forgotten that an army has to obey orders, and that war from 
 be Jnning to end is hobble, and this one, despite the en-ors of 
 our adversaries, is a inreat crime on the part of England that 
 ,».v„ked it, iy wh.» it h., b«u oolced with u„„su.l 
 folly and wickedness. 
 
 If, as some, perhaps prematurely, declare, the war is now 
 over, its melancholy consequences have only begun. The first 
 is, even should England be successful, the maintenance in 
 South Africa of an immense body of men, probably vastly 
 larger than ever originally contemplated, to keep order in the 
 conquered States. This circumstance will probably involve 
 the entire reorganization of the British Army on entirely new 
 lines. The early Christian, whose religion was based on per- 
 sonal morality held aloof from all politics. But Positivism 
 extends morality to the public sphere, and inculcates political 
 principles as guides to conduct. No Positivist is therefore 
 without a citizen's interest in the character of military adminis- 
 tration and organization whether for defensive or offensive 
 purposes. No Positivist but is bound as a citizen to help so 
 far as possible, while refraining, for the present, from taking 
 a direct part in parliamentary life, to ensure that public 
 money is employed for the public benefit and not wasted on 
 court favourites, sinecurists, and on military shams, called re- 
 serves, or militia, or volunteers. Every Positivist is bound to 
 urge the limitation of such reorganization as is needed to the 
 essential requirements for the defence of his country. It is to 
 
 -s 
 
 ALIENATION OF CAPE COLONY. 
 
 15 
 
 t 
 
 , ' > 
 
 III 
 
 llhiMi 
 
 be feared that in this last direction the military party are dis- 
 posed to carry their schemes far beyond such moderate limits, 
 aiming at a system suited rather for offensive than defensive 
 purposes. 
 
 Another consequence is the certain alienation of the Cape 
 Colony in consequence of the mode of treatment of the con- 
 quered states, and the ignoble character of our warfare. Those 
 who knew South Africa vainly endeavoured to make it gene- 
 rallv understood before the war that all South Africa would 
 have to be fought, as it was homogeneous in feeling — 
 Dutch to the core. For a time the Cape Colony, being 
 evidently only in partial sympathy with President Kruger's 
 policy, refrained from active interference on his behalf. 
 But the memory of the faults which hampered the Cape has 
 been washed away in the blood of the heroic peasantry — the 
 « Helvetia of the South"— who have fought so gallantly for 
 their freedom against foes apparently four times as numerous. 
 The Cape Colony will not tolerate the wrong of the annexation 
 of these two states unless it must, and it will never forget or 
 forgive the injury to its brethren. The political rights of 
 the Uitlanders, for which the war was nominally begun, will 
 never for long years be granted, and it seems probable that 
 an attempt will be made to deprive the Cape Colony of its 
 own. The hypocrisy of it all is flagrant. 
 
 No settlement can be good which is not voluntarily accepted 
 by the people of the country, who are still fighting for the 
 preservation of the status quo ante bellum. That the war ought 
 never to have begun, and that it ought to be brought to a 
 speedy end, law and order being re-introduced into the land, that 
 is all one can say. No other political remedy can be suggested 
 or recommended from here — only a religious one. We urge 
 the paramount claims of Humanity. We see her weeping 
 eyes, we watch her bleeding wounds, we view her sons lying 
 low in death, the fires blazing over the plains, the fleeing 
 women and their starving babes, and we invoke for their aid 
 not any political device, but we cry for Justice, for Mercy, 
 for Pity, and for Love— we invoke the resources of the true 
 Eeligion. In doing so we have to appeal to the whole West 
 
16 
 
 SUPPOKT OF THE COLONIES IN THE AVAR. 
 
 ^ * > 
 
 which has tolerated this wrong, whose priests have sanctioned 
 it and preached and prayed for it. On the Continent there 
 are a vast nnmber who need no conversion on the point, the 
 hearts of the populations of Europe beat in unison with the 
 poor peasantry of South Africa, and so do all those of all 
 oppressed populations. In England it is otherwise. Never 
 was there a more popular war, and never before was Murder 
 better dressed up in the robes of a tawdry Patriotism. 
 
 The fact of the participation of the British colonies in this 
 transaction, whose hired troops are said to have shown in its con- 
 duct a worse brutality even than our own, is a full justification 
 of all the prophetic utterances which, for a quarter of a century, 
 have been delivered from this spot as to the dangei-s to man- 
 kind which would ensue from the realization of the Imperial 
 idea. It has many times been pointed out that the hardly 
 natural union of communities so remote and so different por- 
 tended no good for Humanity. And when Canada, Australia, 
 and New Zealand sent contingents to support England in her 
 war, those prognostications were fulfilled. But the evil extends 
 further still. A few weeks ago a perfectly peaceful assem- 
 blage of the Dutch of the Cape Colony met at Worcester, 
 not very far from Cape Town, to protest against the bar- 
 barous mode of conducting hostilities. And it appears that the 
 hills surrounding the place where these farmers were collected 
 were occupied by fifteen hundred Canadian and Australian 
 troops, armed with Maxims to overawe the meeting in the 
 exercise of the undoubted political right of speech and pro- 
 test, enjoyed by British subjects, in their own self-governing 
 country. To this pass have things come in a country ruled by 
 an official fresh from the despotism of Cairo, and policed by 
 mercenary annies from the North of America and from the 
 Southern seas. 
 
 There is no doubt that this fatal conduct is opposed to 
 true patriotism. But it is in harmony with Imperialism, which 
 may be called the hypertrophy of patriotic sentiment. The 
 people being without true religious convictions, excited by a 
 false political ideal, destitute of any true historical theory,, 
 intoxicated with the wealth and successes of the last two 
 
 -\ I ,^' 
 
 f 
 
 V 
 
 7 ■' 
 
 IMI'EIUALISM AND CAPITALISM TO BE CHECKED BY IIELIGIOX. 17 
 
 centuries, surfeited with national and personal egoisms, seek 
 satisfaction from the fulfilment of a hundred ambitious dreams, 
 and neglect the purer and more fruitful joys which will flow 
 from Attachment, Veneration and Benevolence, and a genuine 
 love of their country. 
 
 It is impossible not to connect in our thoughts this false 
 sentiment which interposes the Empire between the Country 
 and Humanity with the capitalism which accompanies its 
 manifestation. Some view this war as a capitalist war. It 
 can hardly be doubted that, if successful, it will tend to the 
 benefit of capitalists, who, in consequence of the present 
 perversion of money, one of the most useful institutions of 
 Humanity, see their way to the appropriation of enormous 
 wealth, not only from the gold itself, but from the formation 
 of financial combinations, from the forced labour of the Kaffirs 
 of South Africa, and the reduction of the value of white men's 
 wages. The Glen Grey Act, already in force in some parts of 
 the Cape Colony, is nothing but a disguised system of slavery, 
 and is intended to keep down the wages of labour, while forcing 
 the black man to work for his white master. Imperialism 
 without capitalism would soon die down. 
 
 Here again one must ask oneself, in what possible way these 
 false ideas can be checked ? In the case of Imperialism simply 
 by suppression of the term and by substituting the idea of Hu- 
 manity ; in the case of capitalism by bringing about a state of 
 things in which the respective claims of capital and labour 
 may be adjusted, now so terribly distorted in the interests of 
 the wealthy class. It is religion and the Religion of Humanity 
 that alone can effect the change. Recognition of this is all 
 the more important, because behind the Dutch and English 
 question, which will be settled comparatively soon in one way 
 or another, lies the white and black question in South Africa, 
 which will yearly loom more ominously before us, the best mode 
 of solution of which should already begin to occupy our minds. 
 
 China. 
 
 It is necessary now to advert to the concerted action of 
 Europe against China, which has occurred in the past year, 
 
 tl 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 
lo 
 
 PREVIOUS PASSIVE RESISTANCE BY CHINESE. 
 
 CHINESE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT TO BE SUPPORTED. 19 
 
 and in which this country has taken an important but not 
 an exclusive part. Provoked by a succession of aggressions 
 from the West, commercial, territorial, political, and theolo- 
 gical, the Chinese have at length made an attempt to organise 
 national resistance, which is known as the Boxer movement. 
 The deliberate policy of the Chinese Government was formerly 
 one of peace. Merely passive resistance to aggression was their 
 one method — a very useful policy until it has been overborne 
 by superior strength or energy, as has been the case during the 
 last few years. Every theocracy is better adapted for peace than 
 for war, and this method accordingly was in harmony with the 
 Chinese political constitution, in which the literary class prevailed 
 under the nominal presidency of a ruler, military in theory, 
 but actually of theocratic character. The internal government 
 devolved on Viceroys, who had a large measure of independence. 
 At first the Western powers in any case of dispute dealt with 
 these direct, comparatively neglecting the Central power ; this 
 brought about confusion. Later on they learned to deal with 
 the Central power, but as that authority was limited by the 
 strong opposition of the people, no less than of the Viceroys, 
 from this quarter also Western influence found a passive resis- 
 tance. During the last few years there have been dissensions 
 in the palace, and much under the influence of events in the 
 West, and of the advice of persons interested in the importation 
 of arms and ammunition, a volunteer movement has been 
 created in defence of Chinese institutions, spiritual, temporal, 
 intellectual and industrial, and to resist further territorial 
 spoliation. 
 
 The Western powers all are seeking an increased share in the 
 profitable Chinese trade, and they are rivals in their efforts. 
 Though they would willingly exclude each other if they could, 
 yet the similarity of their desires presses them into a certain 
 amount of agreement, and they are all viewed with equal dislike 
 by the Chinese. All agree in determining to bring pressure to 
 bear on the Government to fulfil their wishes, and it is plain 
 that in the opinion of the West if the " open door " treatment 
 is not permitted partition must be attempted. Now, as to the 
 latter method, the protest cannot be too emphatically made 
 
 _-\ 
 
 k^ 
 
 r 
 
 ^f 
 
 > 
 
 against anything of the sort. Conquest is the present tjhief 
 sorrow of Humanity, whether in Ireland, Alsace-Lorraine, 
 Poland, South Africa, India, or China, and the faintest action 
 tending to extend it must be strongly denounced, not as a 
 *' merely seeming genial-venial fault," but as the worst crime 
 that one nation can commit upon another. 
 
 As to the "open door" policy that must be left to the 
 Governments to settle in conjunction with the Chinese Govern- 
 ment. But above all things neither force nor fraud must be used, 
 nor anything done to further weaken the authority of the central 
 Chinese Government. For a moment there appears to be a 
 tendency to desist from further aggression. England and Ger- 
 many, two of the prime offenders, have formed a self-denying 
 agreement binding themselves to refrain from such unless 
 driven to do otherwise by other aggressions. So far so good ; 
 but why insist on the condemnation of officials and others 
 without due trial and conviction and in a purely ex parte 
 manner, or on the performance of humiliating ceremonies t 
 Why should China not be permitted to exercise the right of 
 excluding Christian missionaries, the notorious disturbers of the 
 public peace? Why should such persons who penetrate to 
 places where they are not wanted, in order to preach unaccept- 
 able and obsolete theological doctrines, be allowed to look for 
 any special protection from military sources ? The reasons are 
 that Imperialism and Capitalism know no limit to their ambition, 
 and will curry the favour of any spiritual or temporal power 
 which will support their inordinate demands. Moreover, that 
 ignorance, indifference and want of sympathy stimulate an 
 undeserved contempt for the intellectual and moral condition 
 of the Chinese. 
 
 As to the policy to be adopted in the Chinese crisis, I may 
 say that in this, as in other matters, it seems hardly our duty 
 here to do more than lay down general principles for action 
 which practical politicians ought to put in force in the best 
 way that they can. The injunctions of those who, however 
 imperfectly, represent the spiritual forces of Humanity, like the 
 utterances of the Jewish Lawgiver, will mainly be couched in 
 the negative form, the theoricians will point out what should be 
 
irf" 
 
 DANGER OF INORDINATE UETKIBUTION. 
 
 
 NEW DIVISION OF POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 21 
 
 avoided, the practicians will on that basis consider what shall be 
 done. Still, it may be remarked that it would appear that the 
 Kussian recommendation to retire altogether from Pekin was a 
 very wise one. Many complications would have been thereby 
 avoided, and that all the powers should have simultaneously left 
 the country would have been the best way to enable the Chinese 
 Government to reassert its legitimate authority unaffected by 
 the intrigues resulting from the rivalries of the West, and to 
 become more respected internally from the absence of too 
 obvious pressure from the outside. As regards any indemnity 
 proposed to be paid, it should amount to no more than compen- 
 sation for actual and direct damage done, which could be easily 
 ascertained, and should have no appearance of a punitive 
 character. The vastly greater damage done by European 
 troops would greatly out-balance that effected by the Chinese. 
 There is no case for " exemplary damages," to enforce which 
 would require occupation of territory and ports, control of 
 customs, and perhaps of other sources of taxation ; all such 
 j)enalties would tend to impair the independence of China, 
 and to create a starting point for further interference 
 and aggression, which no doubt would be the secret reason 
 for insisting on guarantees for an indemnity. In fine, the 
 Western powers should adopt such measures only as will not 
 force the vast Chinese population into immediate or ulterior 
 action, which will probably become the cause of future struggles 
 and disasters, the like of which the world has only seen when 
 Mongolian hordes have previously advanced on Europe. A 
 resolute population of hundreds of millions combined for active 
 instead of passive resistance, would involve a danger to Euro- 
 I>ean institutions which should be warded off by legitimate 
 methods while there is yet time. To bring about this result the 
 concerted action of Europe must be defensive rather than 
 aggressive, peaceful not provocative ; the Anglo-German agree- 
 ment, which all the powers appear to have approved, seems to 
 bear some traces of such a disposition, which may be welcomed 
 as a proof of the growth of more reasonable views. Surely 
 the new Spiritual power may remind even an infuriated and 
 greedy Europe of the retribution that has already been inflicted 
 
 '^A I #*•■ 
 
 > 
 
 for this popular rising in the water-massacre of Blagovistchenk, 
 in the slaughters in Pekin, in the damage of all sorts effected 
 by the European troops, and urge that more than enough has 
 been done in the way of revenge to satisfy the West and to 
 punish the Far East. 
 
 Capital and Labour. 
 
 The disclosure of the now general corruption of the Press, 
 and of the financial interests of the family of a prominent 
 politician in the war for which he was mainly responsible, were 
 hardly needed to convince men of the rottenness of the former 
 institution and the immorality prevailing in Parliamentary 
 life. I notice these merely as a symptom of the prevailing 
 anarchy ; on the other hand the new division of parties con- 
 sequent on the general election is a more welcome sign. It is 
 not confined to England : Conservatives and Liberals are 
 blending with each other everywhere. In England they both 
 support Imperialism and Capitalism. To them are opposed the 
 Nationalists and the Eepresentatives of Labour. This new 
 classification is a spontaneous anticipation of the ultimate state 
 when political parties will be confined to those of Capital and 
 Labour, of employers and employed ; the chief function of the 
 Priesthood of Humanity being to reconcile their differences. 
 The enormous strides which capitalism has lately made is 
 bringing about almost sooner than expected a natural reaction 
 in the other direction. 
 
 The struggle between capital and labour, which is now 
 endemic, has in Wales lately assumed an acute form, but it 
 can hardly be said to have been a prevailing note in the tran- 
 sactions of the year. On the contrary, the immense expendi- 
 ture of the year and the employment abroad of so many men, 
 have promoted trade and have had the effect of raising w^ages, 
 preparatory to the inevitable reaction when the war comes to 
 an end. The anger which the masses would have felt at the 
 neglect of the promises of the Government in England, to 
 bring about social reforms has been thus averted for the 
 moment. And meanwhile the tendency to the concentration of 
 
22 
 
 CAPITAL AND LABOUR. 
 
 THE LOVING SERVICE OF HUMANITY. 
 
 23 
 
 capital in vast "corners" and "rings," which will one day bring 
 about the downfall of the capitalist system, actively continues, 
 especially in the United States. Any respite in the industrial 
 war is welcome, and gives an opportunity for the spread of our 
 Positivist doctrine, the supremacy of which will afford to the 
 working classes, by a spontaneous and peaceful distribution, all 
 that personal independence, all that share in the value of 
 products that their labour alone creates, to which they are 
 entitled, or which they need for the fulfilment of every legiti- 
 mate physical, intellectaal and moral satisfaction — all their 
 material and spiritual wants. The socialist leaders it is true 
 still laew with impatience the Positivist position that the 
 improved relations of capitalists and workmen depend on the 
 moralization of the former class, which they consider an impos- 
 sibility, as it is, indeed, if we only look to the immediate future. 
 They do not yet see that the violent measures they still have 
 faith in will only be an expression of a similar egoism in the 
 workers to that they condemn in the employers, and will pro- 
 voke opposition, reaction and reprisals. In their hatred of the 
 past, and their natural loathing of much that makes the present 
 almost unendurable, they have not yet realised that on the 
 spread of the Keligion of Humanity depends the complete 
 fulfilment of their most cherished desires. 
 
 m. 
 
 On this, Humanity's high festival, it was necessary to re- 
 view the more prominent elements of her being, and to point 
 out the sorrows she endures. To-dav we are in more than 
 usual sympathy with other nations, races and creeds, and the 
 points which have been touched upon affect the whole world. 
 But though such a political sketch is necessary, I shall 
 have failed in my purpose if I leave it to be thought that 
 there is the faintest idea lurking in my mind that political 
 remedies alone can do aught but palliate the evils which 
 exist. Those evils are rooted in the worse portion of man's 
 
 'rf" 
 
 r. 
 
 ■■' T 
 
 >!^ 
 
 nature ; they can only be eradicated by the development of the 
 good. Only by the arising in our mind of the idea of Humanity, 
 and by the spread of Her Religion, are the ills under which she 
 labours to be removed. There is, indeed, much hope of such 
 a result ; the prospect is not without encouragement. If 
 Europe is at this moment ringing with scorn of English egoism, 
 and with the glory of the brave peasantry whose bodies and 
 whose freedom we may destroy, but whose spirit lives eternally 
 ill the minds of the free and the brave, it is because the 
 European nations possess some portion of this religious spirit. 
 In all quarters it appears spontaneously. In some it is system- 
 atically preached. 
 
 It is not, therefore, inappropriate on this occasion, bearing in 
 mind what are the attributes of her Being, what is her Past and 
 what her Future will be, to consider in what her Service truly 
 consists. It lies in loving her with all our hearts^ with all out 
 minds and with all our strength. The Catholic religion appears 
 to have carried personal, individual religion to the highest pitch 
 that is possible for man. This was done years ago, and still 
 priests and preachers urge this limited religious attitude on a not 
 wholly obedient world. They have failed because they have not 
 gone far enough. They have not preached the duty of public 
 morality. But we must not consider their efforts to be all in vain, 
 we must appropriate them all so far as they go. There is not 
 a single feeling, thought, or action, truly appropriate to the 
 highest principles of the older faith, which may not be applied 
 in suitable time, place^ or occasion, in honour of the Humanity 
 we serve. He has not the true spirit of our Eeligion in him 
 who allows his ideal of worship in a far wider field to fall 
 below that which the highest saints of the past have formed 
 in a more limited sphere, though the actual practice must be 
 regulated according to circumstances. We ought to be jealous 
 of allowing any suspicion to attach to us, that we deem less 
 honour due to Humanity than was done to any of her provisional 
 
 representatives. 
 
 With a softened heart we must proceed to understand her 
 position and her powers, her needs and even her limitations. 
 We must study her life, both its essential conditions and its 
 
iSB 
 
 
 PEBSONAL AND DOMESTIC MORALITY. 
 
 ^ 
 
 MEN JUDGED BV ACTS, NOT OriNIONS. 
 
 25 
 
 necessary modifications in time and circumstances ; study the 
 earth on which she dwells, and the holiness of conduct which 
 
 she inculcates. 
 
 Inspired with this love, guided by this knowledge, we must 
 devote ourselves to her true and loyal service, ever striving 
 onwards to a noble goal, the regeneration of our own natures, 
 the development of her Being; ever endeavouring to make 
 the Present to thoroughly accord with the Future that we 
 
 know shall be. 
 
 I will not pretend that this is any easy task ; but it is the 
 only right and proper one. And, in a measure, it may be 
 achieved, despite of any failure in our own confidence, of any 
 cynical opposition of the world, any indifference, or ridicule, 
 or persecution. There are very few people who have not the 
 elements of such goodness within their reach. Within then- 
 own homes they may find the source of every virtue. There 
 all the forms of holy love may flourish, in its closest and more 
 diffused shapes. Every evil instinct may be there restrained, 
 whether Greed, or Lust, or Anger, or Avarice, or Pride, or 
 Vanity— and Attachment, Veneration, and Universal Love can 
 take their rise from thence. 
 
 Animated by such influences brought home to us in daily 
 association and in daily worship, we can proceed while com- 
 memorating the whole past, and expressing constant gratitude 
 for the favours we have received, to form a true image of 
 the Being who has ever protected us. We may then rise from 
 the life of purely personal morality, and carry our efforts for 
 moral improvement into wider fields, feeling ourselves sharers 
 in the collective life of the country, and as aiming at an eternal 
 existence in the one great Being of Humanity, becoming par- 
 ticipators in her bliss through having borne a portion of the 
 burden of her sorrow. 
 
 And it is ever to be remembered that the great majority 
 of human beings are only suited to a life of action. Few 
 have leisure and opportunity to know the grounds of the 
 opinions they hold or to analyze the character even of the Being 
 they adore. Convictions are come at in various ways, through 
 the influence of the heart as much as through the intellect: 
 
 
 )- 
 
 \? 
 
 f 
 
 there is one duty common to all persons, and that is of pro- 
 claiming in one way or another, through their actions^ the value 
 of the Faith they hold, so as to convince others of its power to 
 combat all that is evil and retrograde. No one is ever ultimately 
 judged by his opinions merely, but by the character of his whole 
 life and conduct. It is by making our private actions to 
 conform with the doctrines of our faith that we shall best 
 fulfil the duty of its propagation, and gradually modify for 
 good the future of mankind. All else is subordinate to this : 
 individual progress is the first field we must enter. In this 
 we shall be greatly assisted by the extreme simplicity of our 
 doctrine, which is open to the understanding of any in- 
 telligence, provided it only be sane and honest; when once 
 the doctrine is clearly put forward and the mind, disciplined 
 by Veneration, has also been freed from prejudice and bias. 
 The supremacy of Morals in the domain of man will be denied 
 by no good person. It is but a step forward from that position 
 to a recognition of the supremacy of Humanity. And that is 
 of the essence of our doctrine. Thus our own endeavours are 
 facilitated by the simplicity of our creed, and the beauty and 
 the reality of the conception of Humanity lend equal assistance. 
 It is always desirable to explain anything by the widest 
 generalization which will embrace the whole facts, and as it 
 has been urged that the Holiness which we attribute here to 
 Humanity is an exaggeration of the goodness of human nature, 
 we may I think ask ourselves whether such a criticism is just. 
 At different periods of our lives we are animated by different 
 sentiments. To consider only the worthy ones, we can remem- 
 ber how desire of knowledge, power and love seem our prepon- 
 derant motives at different times. There is a whole school of 
 Philosophy which makes the search for Happiness the ultimate 
 motive of Human Conduct, even of a virtuous kind. I will 
 not deny that Happiness is largely a motive, but I think it 
 is more true that the ultimate motive of every truly good 
 human being, and a strong motive in at least some of the 
 actions of almost every human being good or bad, is a desire, 
 often irregular and ineffective, for Holiness. What else can 
 explain the inconsistencies which are observed in conduct, 
 
26 
 
 THE LONGING FOB HOLINESS. 
 
 / 
 
 THE DUTY OF POSITIVISTS. 
 
 27 
 
 when some one will alternate actions of surprising meanness 
 with others of extraordinary generosity, self-sacrifice, and 
 heroism? We frequently see in people not ordinarily su- 
 premely virtuous, of all sexes, classes, ages, all thought of 
 personal Happiness, present or prospective, entirely flung aside 
 in favour of action which, if performed by a person of admitted 
 sanctity, we should not hesitate to call holy. Just as in the 
 summer months when the wind blows through thick-set hedges 
 and oak trees we seem to hear the chiming of distant and 
 melodious bells, just as in the pine woods though the air seem 
 calm we hearken to a deep and a solemn music, and as in 
 the rivulet we catch the cadence of its treble notes, so through 
 all the multifarious actions of men's existence, individual or 
 collective, we may, if we observe carefully, catch the note 
 of Holiness. There may be a difficulty in exactly fixing its 
 character, it may occasionally be silent, it may seem to 
 change its position or its intensity, its timbre or its volume, but 
 if it dies it rises again, it is almost constantly to be heard 
 Such is the true music of Humanity, sometimes resounding like 
 a psean, sometimes sad and wailing, sometimes fitful, quavering 
 and irresolute. It is the aim of our Religion to catch all these 
 melodies, to combine in one grand theme all the Holiness of 
 Humanity, to ignore or to eliminate all that is harsh and 
 discordant, and mars the perfection of its all-dominating 
 
 tones. 
 
 It is all the more necessary to lay stress upon this dominant 
 note in Humanity, because the surface facts of life greatly 
 conceal it from us. If we only look superficially on the various 
 movements of the time, we hardly perceive the real direction of 
 the main current, and the predominance of merely partial views 
 creates a tendency in us to interest ourselves exclusively in 
 matters of only temporary or personal importance, in which ten- 
 dency we are encouraged by our egoism and our interests. 
 Thus, while keeping our intelligence awake to the character of 
 the movements of the day, it is essential for us to remember that 
 our own individual direct participation in them must be of a 
 subaltern character. It is plain that as each question assumes 
 a prominent position in accordance with its suitability for solu- 
 
 ,#^ 
 
 \lf I f 
 
 tion, there will arise a number of people capable and desirous 
 of properly carrying out the detailed action necessary for 
 the moment. So we may limit ourselves ordinarily to stimu- 
 lating and encouraging that action without sacrificing in any 
 degree the generality of our own views, or seeking to play any 
 important part in matters of purely temporary importance. In 
 this way we keep ourselves clear of the faintest taint of self- 
 interest, and are able to devote our whole efforts to the putting 
 forward those highest moral principles, in the ultimate accept- 
 ance of which we firmly believe, and whose possession secures 
 even to our limited numbers the direction of mankind. Our 
 procedure must therefore be one of reserve and self-abnegation. 
 Just as in the case of the lowest personal instincts, we may 
 indulge them only so far as they conduce to the public good, so 
 also in the higher though still personal propensities. We must 
 leave to others the prominence and importance which arise from 
 taking an active part in the necessary progress of destruction ; 
 we must hold aloof from all the satisfactions which we might 
 derive from the pursuit of w^ealth. This pleasure we must 
 leave to the capitalists, for we can see from their example how 
 such action as theirs would degrade ourselves and our move- 
 ment. Also, we must aim at no political power. If we do we 
 shall find ourselves immersed in a whirlpool of details which 
 •can only destroy our independence and our insight. And finally 
 in respect of our action on public opinion, even there we must 
 ordinarily confine our efforts to influencing those few beings who 
 ■can understand our position, and can carry into practice the 
 principles we propound. Such it appears to me are the prin- 
 ciples of Positivist action, which have always been preached 
 here, and which are best calculated to lessen the sorrows of 
 Humanity. The effect of such self-denial will be felt first in 
 our own lives, and next on the lives of all those with whom 
 we come into contact or can influence, so as to bring about 
 the ultimate reign of Humanity, after her long sad sufferings. 
 
28 
 
 O Yirgin Motber, daughter of thy Son ! 
 Created beings all in lowliness 
 Surpassing, as in height above tbem all ; 
 Term by the eternal council pre-ordained ; 
 Ennobler of thy nature, so advanced 
 In thee, that its great maker did not scorn 
 To make himself his own creation ; 
 For in thy womb rekindling shone the love 
 Eeveal'd, whose genial influence makes now 
 This flower to germin in eternal peace : 
 Here thou to us, of charity and love, 
 Art as the noon-day torch : and art, beneath, 
 To mortal men of hope a living spring. 
 So mighty art thou, lady, and so great. 
 That he who grace desireth, and comes not 
 To thee for aidance, fain would have desire 
 Fly without wings. Not only him who asks 
 Thy bounty succours, but doth freely oft 
 Forerun the asking. Whatsoe'er may be 
 Of excellence in creature — pity mild, 
 Eelenting mercy, large munificence — 
 Are all combined in thee. 
 
 Dante : Par. xxxiii. 
 
 vf I I 
 
 CHURCH OF HUMANITY, 
 
 19, CHAPEL STREET, LAMB'S CONDUIT STREET, 
 
 LONDON, W.C. 
 
 SERVICE on SUNDAY MORNINGS at 11.15. 
 
 CHURCH OF HUMANITY, 
 
 Falkland Street (Corner of Islington), 
 
 Liverpool. 
 
 Service on Sunday Evenings at 6.30. 
 
 CHURCH OF HUMANITY, 
 
 St. Mary's Place, 
 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
 
 Service on Sunday Evenings at 7. 
 
 POSITIVIST ROOM, 
 
 52, St. Nicholas Street, Leicester. 
 
 Service on Sunday Evenings at 7. 
 
 POSITIVIST ROOM, 
 
 3, Western Hill, Durham Road, 
 
 Sunderland. 
 
 Sunday Evenings at 6.30 : Devotional Meeting^ followed 
 at 7 hy Reading or Address on Positivism. 
 
 POSITIVIST ROOM, 
 
 Seatoller, Clifton Avenue, 
 
 West Hartlepool. 
 
 POSITIVIST ROOM, 
 
 7, Eyre Street, 
 
 Batley, Yorkshire. 
 
 Devotional Meeting on Sunday Evenings at 6.30, followed 
 by Reading or Address on Positivism. 
 
SOIE TRAHSLATIOBS FROM THE WORKS OF ADGDSTE COMTE. 
 
 The Catechism of Positive Eeligion. 3rd Ed 2 (> 
 
 Appeal to Conservatives 2 fi 
 
 The General View of Positivism. 2nd Ed. 2 6 
 
 The Eight Circulars of Auguste Comte 1 6 
 
 The Will of Auguste Comte 6 
 
 Discourse on the Positive Spirit 1 6 
 
 The Positive Politics. 4 vols, (out of print) 
 
 Philosophical Letter on Marriage $ 
 
 Introduction to the Subjective Synthesis 2 6 
 
 The Positivist Tables, 3rd Edition 6 
 
 Contents : (1) Chronology of Comte's Life. 
 
 (2) List of his Works. 
 
 (3) System of Social Worship. 
 
 (4) Festivals instituted. 
 
 (5) Sacraments. 
 
 (6) Positivist Calendar for the Western BSepublic. 
 
 (7) Cerebral Theory; or, Systematic View of the.Soul. 
 
 (8) Classification of the Sciences. 
 
 W tf M condensed. 
 
 (10) Jhe First Philosophy. 
 
 (11) Meanings of the word Positive, 
 
 (12) The Positivist Library for the Nineteenth Century. 
 
 (13) Plan of the Treatises on Morals— 
 
 (a) Theoretic; 
 {b) Practical. 
 
 (14) List of Maxims. 
 
 (15) Alphabetical Index to Names in Calendar. 
 
 Italian Translation of the Catechism net 3 
 
 Portuguese „ „ ,, 
 
 German „ „ „ 
 
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 KiMMT A Co., Printers, 25 Camden Road, London, N,W. 
 
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