DEMOCRACY 
 
 THE TWO COMMANDMENTS. 
 
 BY E. F. SEWELL. 
 
 « Then one of them which was a lawyer, ashed him a question, tempting 
 him, and saying, 
 
 him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
 and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. 
 
 "-And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 
 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 CHARLES GILPIN, 5, BISHOPSGATE-WITHOUT. 
 
DEMOCRACY, 
 
 Sj-c., §-c. 
 
 CHAPTER I. , 
 
 THE WORD “ DEMOCRACY.” 
 
 What is meant by the term “ Democracy?” is a question 
 peculiarly applicable to the present time. To hear some 
 people speak of it, it would seem to represent the grand 
 panacea for the evils of mankind; whilst, in the honest 
 opinion of others, the growth of democratic principles 
 is no less the cause of these evils. Whilst rather 
 inclined to look upon it as a panacea, I am at once 
 convinced that, considered in its popular meaning, 
 “Democracy” can never be such. But were I inclined 
 to regard it as au evil, I cannot reconcile such opinion 
 with the meaning I have attached to the word. Per¬ 
 haps, like the cameleon in the fable, I may exclaim 
 with equal truth to the holders of both views, 
 
 “ Ye both are right, and both are wrong.” 
 
 It entirely depends upon the light in which we view 
 it, whether it is black or white, whether it is evil or 
 good. Does it mean unrestrained selfishness, as many 
 practically make it to mean, or does it mean, as an 
 American poet* would give us to understand, perfect 
 and universal love ? 
 
 The meaning of a word, or rather, the idea of which 
 that word is intended to be the representative sign, 
 depends very much upon the sentiment which is upper¬ 
 most in the mind of the thinker. Carlyle, under the 
 mfluence of his “ Hero-worship,” speaks of democracy 
 as “despair of finding any heroes to govern you.” 
 Some friends of order and good conservative government, 
 
 Whittier. 
 
whose prevailing idea is that of a French revolution 
 possible in England, confound it with mobocracv and 
 revolutionary disorganization. Others, in whom the 
 feeling that they are wronged is uppermost, identify it 
 with justice, and, as a consequence, by a somewhat false 
 reasoning, with equality in everything. The Greek 
 scholar and his pupils, who regard the word rather than 
 any idea which it conveys, insist that, being derived 
 from cijpoc, the people, and epar iw, to govern, it means 
 “ a government in which the sovereignty is lodged in 
 the people,” and with them the whole meaning ends 
 there, expressed demonstrably in so many letters. 
 
 Whittier, a poet and a Christian, thinking perhaps 
 by what means only, democracy, according to its logical 
 interpretation, can be possible, has conceived another 
 and most beautiful idea respecting it, which he thus 
 imbodies in the emphatic words of our Saviour, — 
 “All things whatsoever ye would that men should 
 do unto you, do ye even so unto them.” It is an 
 idea worthy of a high-souled Christian democrat; an 
 idea which at once unites democracy and theocracy, 
 and carries you from the democratic revolutions of the 
 present age to the glorious fulfilment of prophecy. 
 But, alas! whilst thus dreaming our beautiful dreams 
 of a millennium, we perceive sorrowfully that the 
 democracy of our revolutions is not the democracy of 
 Whittier. In name only, and in the perception of a 
 truth as eternal as justice,—perceived, not in love, hut 
 in self-interest,—are they similar. Yet there stands 
 that truth, turned up by the plough-share of destruc¬ 
 tion, or washed up by the troubled and exasperated 
 waters of the great ocean of human life, it may be, but 
 there it is ; and what the preaching of Christianity for 
 the last sixteen hundred years has failed to teach, is 
 being now taught by the wild turmoil of injured and 
 oppressed humanity. 
 
 Addressing this conception of democracy as “ the 
 fairest born of Love and Light,” Whittier proceeds to 
 tell ns of its origin; for, however much it may have 
 been brought to light by the storms of modem revo¬ 
 lutions, it is not their child. 
 
5 
 
 " Not from the poor and shallow fount 
 Of vain philosophy thou art; 
 
 He who of old, on Syria’s mount, 
 
 Thrilled, warmed, by turns, the listener’s heart, 
 
 In thoughts which angels lean to know, 
 
 Proclaimed thy message from on high— 
 
 Thy mission to a world of woe. 
 
 “ That voice’s echo hath not died— 
 
 From the blue lake of Galilee, 
 
 And Tabor’s lonely mountain-side. 
 
 It calls a struggling world to thee.” 
 
 A government, practically in the hands of the people 
 at large, can exist only as a government of brotherly 
 love. The storms of our revolutions, therefore, will 
 not cease till—not “ the sovereignty of the people ” is 
 declared in so many mere words, but—the true spirit 
 of a true democracy is received and acknowledged and 
 revered by the people. 
 
 My motive in writing the following pages is, if pos¬ 
 sible, to inculcate a little of such practical democracy 
 amongst those who call themselves democrats ; and to 
 remind those who call themselves Ch.istians of the true 
 character of the law of love. 
 
 “ Democracy,” according to the view of it which I 
 have thus adopted, may be considered to express, in 
 one word, the right relation existing between man and 
 man. Man’s duty to man is subservient to a higher 
 duty. The second commandment follows the first. 
 Let us, therefore, in order better to comprehend the 
 relation of man to man, consider briefly the relation 
 which man holds to God. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 
 
 The Eternal, Infinite, All-creating Power, by which w'e 
 are, must of necessity be first. First in honour, first in 
 fear, first in love, and alone to be worshipped. Such a 
 Power is King. As such, he speaks to us, his subjects, 
 giving us also a power, and intrusting to us the 
 
6 
 
 government of a kingdom. This power is the right of 
 choice,—the free agency in which he has made man in 
 his own image,—the sovereignty of the will, by which 
 we are enabled to reign as kings upon the earth, and 
 govern that kingdom which our great Sovereign has 
 committed to our trust. The kingdom he has given us 
 to govern is. Everything material on this earth, from 
 the most delicate formation of our own bodies, with 
 their habits and propensities, to the ocean, the mountain, 
 the wilderness, or the sandy desert. 
 
 But we hold this kingdom in allegiance, and are 
 intrusted with this power only at the pleasure of our 
 supreme King. There are certain conditions upon 
 which we hold the government of this kingdom, which 
 may be snatched from us by death, without a moment’s 
 warning. These conditions are accompanied with the 
 promise that, if we obey them, we shall receive hereafter 
 a more glorious kingdom ; but that, if we do not obey 
 them, we shall be utterly thrust out from the presence 
 and love of our God. Yet, whilst he thus strictly 
 enforces obedience to these conditions, he has also 
 provided all those who have not abided by them, and 
 there are none who have, with the means of reconcilia¬ 
 tion and atonement, simply upon their being willing to 
 accept it. He is, through his beloved Son, our atone¬ 
 ment, and thus reconciles us to himself. 
 
 These conditions are—first, that we shall own no 
 other Supreme Head, King, or God. “Thou shalt 
 love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
 thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and 
 great commandment.” And secondly, that we love 
 each other. The second commandment is like the first, 
 “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” 
 
 These are the two first laws of our moral existence, 
 which form the basis of all others. These laws, and 
 others connected with them, more minutely detailing the 
 whole duty of life, are they which were intrusted to the 
 peculiar keeping of the Israelites, through Moses. 
 These are the law s which were more perfectly communi¬ 
 cated to the Apostles, and which were preached in their 
 greatest force and simplicity by our Saviour himself. 
 
■7 
 
 And these laws are implanted in our consciences so 
 indelibly, that we cannot disobey them without being 
 convinced of sin; unless, indeed, by long disobedience, 
 they have become too obscure to be perceived by the 
 rebellious will of man. And such indeed has been 
 the case: man has always rebelled against his known 
 convictions of right, which are, however apparently 
 dim, the spiritual manifestations of God’s will; there¬ 
 fore darkness has surrounded us, only that by possessing 
 the written law, so far as we understand it, we are 
 without excuse. 
 
 Rebellion having begot disaffection, on the part of 
 the subject, has also begot, on the part of God, a 
 withdrawal of his presence, and therefore, gross igno¬ 
 rance in man. Ignorance intellectually so great, as to 
 leave from generation to generation the growing marks 
 of it, iu an utter want of ability to conceive what can 
 truly be that Great First Cause, to which manifestly w r e 
 owe all; some idea of which, except where reason is 
 perverted by a wilful disavowal of his being, does still 
 exist amongst all minds, however dark. This idea of a 
 First Cause visibly shows itself in the desire to do 
 homage to some pow'er which appears best represented 
 by some visible object, which becomes worshipped and 
 believed in as a god. It is therefore that the One True 
 God has always reserved, as his witnesses, some small 
 portion of his subjects, with sufficient endowment of 
 spiritual and intellectual light to perceive the untruth¬ 
 fulness of any representation conceivable to man of 
 Deity. He has commanded these, that they shall have 
 no other God than Him, nor make any image or like¬ 
 ness of anything in order to worship it; that they shall 
 not speak needlessly and lightly of Him; that they shall 
 devote to his service a certain portion of their time, and 
 of the result of their labour ;* that they shall rest one 
 day in seven; and that, in all they do, they are to do it 
 for his glory, seeking his assistance, and acknowledging 
 his sovereignty. Such is the substance of all the laws 
 
 * For the support of his ministers whilst engaged in the work 
 of the ministry, for the maintenance of places for public worship, 
 for the relief of the poor, &c. 
 
8 
 
 based upon the first commandment. But our relation 
 to God does not end here. 
 
 Man has sinned, and God has determined to rescue 
 his subjects from their fallen and degraded state, and 
 by his own Eternal Power to exalt them, not only in the 
 next world, but even on this earth, to a high and glorious 
 eminence. For which purpose he has, from time to 
 time, stooped to the capacity of their reason, and earnestly 
 entreated them, through the medium of his own inspired 
 prophets and apostles, to become wise. God is our 
 King; we believe this, though we cannot comprehend 
 Him. He is our King, but he is no despotic ruler. 
 He has given us the power to choose or to refuse his 
 government as free agents. And he has instituted 
 the means of restoration from our fallen condition, 
 accompanied with the free pardon of our sins. Which 
 means of salvation he has from the beginning made 
 typical, in the religious ceremonies of his witnesses ; 
 and which I unhesitatingly believe is open for every 
 one, not merely for those whose minds are well stored 
 with information and intellectual knowledge upon the 
 subject, but also for the ignorant. God is our King ; 
 yet, in the great love he has for us, and through which 
 he desires the ultimate regeneration and enlightenment 
 of our race, he even became one of us, and 
 
 “ That frail form which mortals wear. 
 
 The Spirit of the Holiest took. 
 
 And veiled his perfect brightness there.” 
 
 God became man, for man’s sake; and, as such, practically 
 taught us, that it is possible for man to conform to the 
 will of God. To enable us to do this, he has promised 
 to be a God very near to every one of us, assisting 
 us when we desire assistance, instructing us when we 
 desire instruction, and preserving us when we trust to 
 Him for preservation. This proffered salvation he 
 assures us is for no merit of our own, but is of free 
 grace or favour, “for Christ's sake,” and the love 
 he has for us; the proof of which he established by 
 the death of his Son upon the cross. For all this 
 he simply requires, on our part, the belief of it, and 
 
9 
 
 willingness to accept his offer of salvation by a mani¬ 
 fested willingness to do his will. This will, besides 
 what I have already given, as expressed by the first 
 commandment, is entirely expressed in this one com¬ 
 mand of our Saviour, “ Love one another, even as I have 
 loved you ; for greater love hath no man than this, that 
 a man lay down his life for his friend.” 
 
 Such is our relation to God. It forms the basis of 
 our relation to each other, which I have called demo¬ 
 cracy. And with all my zeal for this democracy, and 
 the right keeping of the second commaudment, without 
 the keeping of which it is impossible to keep the first, 
 I wish not to be identified with those who, from a 
 natural and honest detestation of “cant,” fall into the 
 opposite extreme of many professors of Christianity, 
 and imagine, that to serve God acceptably, it is only 
 necessary to do right towards man. There are duties 
 which we owe to God only. There is a relation between 
 man and God, in which the relation between man and 
 man has no part. Yet, if our duty on this earth be 
 simply the improvement of our kind, and there were no 
 other aim whatever in our existence, even for this end, 
 if we acknowledge a God at all, it behoves us to seek 
 his assistance. By the conquest of our own evil passions 
 and propensities, by self-denial in little things, of which 
 man has no cognizance, we strengthen ourselves to 
 contend with evil in the world. Whilst we are the slaves 
 of sin, however secretly, we cannot, with all our cant 
 about progress and reform or a “ good time coming,” 
 contend effectually with the sin which surrounds us, or 
 hope for a millennium of brotherly love. The earnest 
 struggler for reform will not find his time wasted which 
 he devotes to private meditation and communion with 
 his God; nor when, with God’s help, he devotes his 
 whole energies first to the conquest of his own secret 
 sins. The thoughtful consideration of our individual 
 sinfulness, of the love of God in providing us with the 
 means of salvation, of the character and plan of that 
 salvation through Jesus Christ, the intellectual study of 
 those precepts which have been left on record by Him 
 and his immediate followers, and the exercises of public 
 
ID 
 
 and private devotion, are employments which are as 
 necessary to our usefulness, and which do as essentially 
 constitute part of our duty in this life, as that of acting 
 rightly towards our fellow-creatures. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DEMOCRACY OF THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 
 Democracy, I have hinted, has relation chiefly to the 
 second commandment; but there is one principle con¬ 
 nected with it, which is properly the result of the first, 
 and is derived less from a love to man, than from reve¬ 
 rence to God ; the false profession of which, however, 
 may often be traced to inordinate self-love and pride. 
 It is that principle which refuses to give to man the 
 honour which is due only to God. Yet it is consistent 
 with the law of brotherly love, inasmuch as undue honour 
 is the result of fear, which is incompatible with love. 
 
 We fear our brother, yet why should wc, though he 
 be far more elevated than we are ! He may be better 
 clothed, better fed, better in every sense than we. His 
 mind, which perhaps is naturally more perfectly deve¬ 
 loped than ours, and which he has improved by culti¬ 
 vation and intercourse with others, his equals, is such, 
 it may be, as we cauuot comprehend : and we, perhaps, 
 may feel ourselves less righteous than he is. In every 
 respect we acknowledge his superiority. Y r et, whilst we 
 may honour him, for honour is to be given to whom 
 honour is due, we may not call him “ Rabbi; ” for one 
 is our Master, even Christ, and all we are brethren. We 
 must love hint, but we may not fear him. 
 
 “ Thou slialt worship the Lord thy God, and him 
 only shalt thou serve,” is the great first division of the 
 first commandment. Y*et we worship man. A species 
 of so-called “ hero-worship,” may be natural; so long as 
 it is not real worship, but honour, it is lawful. But 
 this homage which we pay to our fellow-man, is not the 
 result of a real feeling of honour and respect, which the 
 great always deserve of the less, else it were not to be 
 condemned; it is a base servile worship and form of 
 
worship, arising from the desire of self-aggrandisement 
 and from fear,—fear such as man may not have, save 
 reverently of his God. We make idols of men, even in 
 the place of God; crouch down at their approach, like 
 inferior animals; and dare do none other, even though 
 God himself command us, than these our elder brothers 
 tell us to do. 
 
 We are free and independent beings, born to be equal 
 with the highest amongst men. We are not born, as we 
 are often told, to fill that station in life which we r.-cupy 
 at birth. “ Station in life,” say some, “in which God 
 has placed you.” We are born to soar up, ever higher, 
 from whatever station we first occupy, never to be satis¬ 
 fied. Content we may be, but satisfied we never ought 
 to be on this earth. But I would not be misunderstood ; 
 we are not equal, it is not likely we ever shall be here; 
 but we were equal when born, and, doubtless, we shall be 
 equal in heaven, before liim who is no respecter of 
 persons. Therefore, let u not fear our brethren, 
 because they have surpassed us in excellence; rather 
 let us push forward, if haply we also may attain to 
 their standard. If we have not been planted upon 
 like fruitful soil with them, let us make the more 
 diligence to improve it, and let us not think that God 
 has destined us to insignificance. But I wish not 
 to foster self-conceit; we are not equal, our duties are 
 not similar, our labours do not appear equal. There is 
 a life of the body, as well as of the soul; and we must 
 preserve the body, or we cannot enlarge the soul. We 
 must do material work, and by the sweat of our brow we 
 must eat our bread. Circumstances, over which we have 
 often no control, regulate our employment. Whatever 
 employment falls to our lot, let us do it with earnest 
 diligence; if we can change for advantage, let us change— 
 it is our right—but not else. There are none born to be 
 serfs for ever, yet if we can be none other, let us even be 
 content with our lot; if we can be other, it is our duty to 
 be so, let us; no one has a right to hinder us. Yet, 
 let me not be misunderstood, for democracy leads 
 between Scylla and Charybdis. There is work in this 
 world called “ drudgery,” mere physical-force work. 
 
12 
 
 which steam engines cannot yet do. How shall high- 
 souledintelligences stoop to work likethis?—Why should 
 they not 7 There is no work but what is honourable. 
 The labour which is called drudgery, is not properly re¬ 
 warded, because we are willing to continue drudging,— 
 because we dare not aspire, — because we fear our 
 brothers, and hesitate to be free. Labour is now 
 necessarily rewarded by inevitable laws of supply and 
 demand; and hereafter, in the reign of light and love, in 
 the halcyon days of democracy, it shall be as inevitably 
 rewarded by the same laws; but, we would hope, then in 
 such proportion that he who drudges most shall receive 
 most pay. Is it not possible that the scales may be 
 turned—that intellect may compete with intellect, till the 
 brain market shall be glutted, and the labour market 
 brisk? But the scales are not turned yet, and labour, 
 badly paid though it be, is no more dishonourable now 
 than it will be then. We do no homage to our superiors 
 when we work for them. Let us work on, and honour 
 them without fear, and let no blind belief in our sup¬ 
 posed high attainments induce us to think that we are 
 their equals. 
 
 But never let us do homage to our brethren as to God. 
 We may not worship man, for we are brethren; and, 
 younger brethren though we be, we have a right to 
 claim our relationship. We have a right to refuse their 
 unjust demands for worship or for servitude, and we may 
 do so without fear, for in the exercise of our duty there 
 can be no cause for fear. They may injure us a little, but 
 they cannot disinherit us, and they cannot do us wrong 
 without themselves suffering; for, being brothers, we 
 are mutually dependent upon each other. Our Creator 
 has so ordered it, that if any be poor and suffer, others 
 are compelled to assist and relieve them, or suffer also. 
 A thousand ties, strong and indissoluble, cement our 
 interest. Our very selfishness, guided by justice, admi¬ 
 nisters to our brother’s good. Yet, with all our mutual 
 dependences, we are free as the air we breathe; and when 
 that natural freedom is interfered with, or voluntarily 
 resigned, society collectively, and not individuals only, is 
 the sufferer. No one can willingly resign his individual 
 
13 
 
 freedom to the will of another, without practically wor¬ 
 shipping that other, or a sordid and merely temporary 
 self-interest, and therefore breaking the spirit of the first 
 commandment. It is not our interest only, hut our 
 duty to be free. But, alas! how few understand the 
 meaning of that word. “ Free; understand that well. 
 It is the deep commandment, dimmer or clearer of our 
 whole being, to be Free.” * 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FREE. ' 
 
 He is not free who is a slave to his own appetite and 
 evil habits. The so-called refinement of his desires does 
 not detract from his want of true freedom. If his life 
 be so devoted to the pursuit of pleasure, whether sen¬ 
 sual or intellectual, that his will is scarcely distinguish¬ 
 able from his natural and acquired desires, that man is 
 a slave. His soul is in terrible bondage to the body at 
 least, if not to sin. The man, who is a slave to himself, 
 will the more readily become the slave of another. He 
 who worships himself more than God, will not be likely, 
 from principle, to worship God rather than man. Yet, 
 it is not with this self-worship and self-imposed slavery 
 that I wish to occupy the reader’s attention at present. 
 
 AVaving all considerations of the freedom above alluded 
 to, freedom may be considered as the right of every one 
 to exist, to think, and to act, without being dependent 
 upon, or bound by the will, the thoughts, or the actions 
 of others. Such a state of perfect freedom, however, 
 could exist only in a perfectly pure community. So 
 long as there are those in a community whose actions 
 would destroy the liberties of others, the liberty of the 
 community demands that certain restrictions shall be 
 made upon individual freedom, prohibiting the perpetra¬ 
 tion of such acts as would interfere with,—1st, the liberty 
 of any citizen or member of such community to exist; 
 
 * Carlyle. 
 
14 
 
 2ndly, the right of any citizen to the peaceable pos¬ 
 session of property lawfully acquired by him ; and 3rdly, 
 the liberty of the citizen to act in any way he chose, not 
 prohibited by the laws of the community. 
 
 A person, who is dependent upon others for his main¬ 
 tenance, is not free. By the sweat of our own brows, 
 or of that of some on i else, we must all live ; and he 
 who lives at the expense and labour of another, having 
 resigned, either wilfully or by compulsion, his existence 
 into the keeping of another, is virtually that other’s 
 bondman for the time being. The beggar is the bond- 
 man of the community in which he lives. The sine- 
 cnrist is the bondman of the party, whether State, 
 Church, or Corporation, from whom he receives his 
 stipend. The pauper is the bondman of the parish ; 
 alas! were it not often more just to consider the men, 
 in whose employment he has laboured so long, and for 
 such miserable pittance, his bondmen, as doubtless also 
 they are. 
 
 The poor negro, toiling under Cuban and Brazilian skies 
 —though, for all he receives, he bestows far more than 
 equal—is truly a slave. "Whilst his body even is not his 
 own, he is indeed a slave. But his masters are not free. 
 The man, whose whole fortune is amassed by the unre¬ 
 warded labour of others, is as surely a bondman to his 
 slaves as the bankrupt is to his creditors; and with 
 terrible high interest must he, or his descendants, pay 
 their debts some day. As regards payment lor services 
 done, it is a matter of degree only between the unre¬ 
 warded African and the ill-rewarded peasant. The 
 African has his keep —his miserable life for his services ; 
 it is with him slavery or death. "With the English ill- 
 paid labourer, it is hard labour for a bare sustenance, or 
 uo sustenance but from the parish,—dearly bought free¬ 
 dom, slavery, or death. There is this important diffe¬ 
 rence, however: whilst the one is often as truly a slave as 
 the other, one is not forced to be a slave, the other is. 
 Hard labour for poor wages, or even for none, cannot of 
 itself constitute slavery, so long as it is not forced by 
 another’s will. Yet, if we cannot call the agricultural 
 labourer a slave, he is seldom a free man. He is often 
 
15 
 
 compelled by circumstances to purchase the indepen¬ 
 dence of his life with the independence of his mind. 
 He must often submit to be bound to the whims and 
 opinions of his master, or run the risk of becoming a 
 bondman to the public, in order to avoid death by star¬ 
 vation. But the slave cannot purchase the right of a 
 free existence at any cost. If he purchase the freedom 
 of his body at all, he must be dependent upon the un¬ 
 requited assistance of some third party. Body and 
 mind he is his master’s, and his only free thoughts are 
 those which he has never uttered. It can only be by 
 the free will of his master, or by the interference 
 of another, that he can become free. It is folly 
 to sav that the condition of the English labourer, 
 fearfully bad as it is, is no better. If the possibility of 
 freedom in everything is better than the impossibility of 
 freedom in anything, then it is well worth enduring 
 greater bodily hardships for the sake of that possibility. 
 The English labourer may leave his master at his pleasure. 
 With desperate efforts on their own part, and with pa¬ 
 tience, there is nothing to prevent the English labourers 
 becoming free men in every respect. Let them once 
 love true freedom, and scorn to be dependent upon an¬ 
 other, no power on earth but their own folly can prevent 
 them being free. 
 
 He is not a free man who has no opinion of his own, 
 but who regulates his thoughts and opinions by the will 
 or opinions of others. When this confiding in the 
 opinions of others, without the exercise of individual 
 judgment, is wilful, it is a payment of homage to an¬ 
 other, which is not a great remove, if any, from the 
 breaking of the first commandment. If we wilfully 
 forego our own claims to the exercise of private judg¬ 
 ment, in order to please the will of another, or because 
 we believe in his infallibility, we sacrifice our judgment 
 to his, and practically worship him. There are those 
 whose judgments we cannot but respect. We may be 
 peculiarly sensible of our own want of judgment, and 
 we may have good reason to place confidence in theirs. 
 If, after forming our own opinion, we adopt theirs, from 
 the honest conviction of their superiority, we then 
 
16 
 
 neither violate our liberty, nor do unwarrantable homage 
 to others. We by no means worship them. We have, 
 in feet, acted from the aggregate of our own judgment, 
 and we have merely given them that honour which we 
 feel they are entitled to, upon the one point in question 
 at the time. Our conduct, in this respect, is totally 
 different to the slavish, injurious, and ignominious con¬ 
 duct of those who invariably form their opinions by the 
 opinions of others. I do not know terms adequate to 
 express my detestation of such despicable slavery, as 
 the wilful disuse of the greatest and most important of 
 all the gifts bestowed upon man by his Creator, out of 
 sheer laziness or detestable servility. Yet, alas! how 
 numerous are such slaves as these. It is folly to expect 
 the insignia of freedom in a people that so practically 
 manifests its want of a free and unservile spirit,—its 
 want of independence in thought and opinion, which 
 must precede all independence of action, —as does our 
 own country, and more especially our sister Ireland. 
 Not that I would cease to agitate for political freedom 
 where political freedom does not exist; and, more espe¬ 
 cially, where the constitution of a Government professes 
 a greater exercise of political rights than are practically 
 allowed to the population. 
 
 He is not a free man, who, convinced that it is right 
 to adopt a certain course of conduct, adopts a contrary 
 one for expediency’s sake, whether to gratify the vanity 
 of another, to suit his own temporary interest, or to 
 avoid the censure and punishment of a stronger. He 
 is not a free man, and he will never conquer. The vo¬ 
 taries of fashion and mere custom are slaves. 
 
 Neither is he a free man, -vlio, for the support of 
 freedom or truth, in whatever form, resorts to the em¬ 
 ployment of means at variance with the laws of God. 
 He is a debtor to evil. However great his achieve¬ 
 ments in behalf of right may be, they cannot last. 
 However much man may be willing, in his controversy 
 with evil, to be dependent upon one evil for the sup¬ 
 pression of another, God never will be indebted to Satan 
 for the advancement of His kingdom upon the earth. 
 That man, or that nation, who having, with a lie for a 
 
foundation, built ever so glorious a truth upon it, has 
 prepared the way for its future downfall, only to be built 
 up again upon a more solid basis. That nation, whose 
 freedom is purchased by violence,—by acts which show 
 a want of a really free spirit in its revolutionists, must 
 be prepared for a series of revolutions which will not 
 end until right is obtained by right means,—until free¬ 
 dom is purchased by the free. 
 
 In my opinion, he only is a free man, who, for all the 
 benefits he has received from others, has paid them back 
 in full; who owes no man anything but love ; who, by 
 honestly earning his daily bread, is indebted to no one 
 for it; who has an opinion of his own on all subjects, 
 formed by himself, not dependent upon the opinion of 
 others, and only indebted to them so far as they may 
 have furnished him with facts; who seeks counsel of 
 no one but of God, except when he knows that another 
 has greater opportunity of acquiring information, or is 
 wiser than he is, and then does not take such advice 
 without carefully thinking for himself; who suffers no 
 fear of man, no private affections, no motives of self- 
 interest to move him from his purpose, but having once 
 determined how he would act, acts boldly accordingly; 
 who would scorn, under any circumstances, to increase 
 his own wealth at the expense of another’s folly; who, 
 if he has acquired wealth, honour, or fame, has not ac¬ 
 quired it, and would rather be wronged and despised 
 than acquire it, by any act inconsistent with his own 
 honest opinions of integrity and right; and who acts, 
 in all things from principle, and not from habit and 
 custom. It is our duty to be free ; a duty we owe, not 
 to ourselves only, but to God. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. 
 
 Ip it be right for us to be free ourselves, it is just 
 that we do nothing at variance with the equal right of 
 all others to the same freedom. Democracy demands 
 that the liberty any one enjoys, shall be enjoyed by all, 
 and that no one shall be deprived of his individual right 
 
to equality of freedom. This is the one equality which 
 true democracy recognizes ; no other is possible.—The 
 universal and equal right of man to be free. 
 
 But man is not made to live isolated from man. He 
 is a social being, dependent in everything upon his 
 brother man. It would be but very imperfectly keeping 
 the second commandment to allow our brother his free¬ 
 dom merely, and there to leave him. We must do unto 
 him in all things exactly as we should wish him in 
 similar circumstances to do unto us, for such is the law 
 of fraternity—of brotherly love, which is practical de¬ 
 mocracy. Love! Not that which one bears to the chief 
 object of his affections, but which one bears to the whole 
 world, and the whole world bears to each individual one. 
 Affection is not love. There is selfishness in affection. 
 It is the impulse of feeling, opposition to which is pain¬ 
 ful. Love, wherever it exists, is the child of the soul 
 and of duty, and is akin to justice. Affections are the 
 offspring of sense and inclination. In common language 
 we call affec tion, love. But it is the love of principle, 
 and not of impulse, which forms the basis of democracy. 
 
 Let us examine briefly into the reason why we do not 
 know more of this practical democracy—why we do not 
 keep the second commandment. The love of our own 
 self-gratification is, perhaps, the first cause of all dis¬ 
 obedience to the laws of God. We do what is most 
 accordant with our dominant propensities, what is cus¬ 
 tomary, what is easiest, what first appears pleasantest, 
 what feeds our vanity and self-love most, or what 
 tends to raise us soonest in the estimation of others, and 
 we often do not even desire to do what is best. But 
 there are many who really profess to desire to do right, 
 who really think they do desire, and yet behave very 
 nnbrotherly indeed, and do most grievously break the 
 second commandment. How is this ? However reluctant 
 we may be to admit it, I believe the truth is, that if it 
 be not from pure predeterminate self-love, the reason 
 why we do not keep the first commandment is, because 
 we fear man; and why we do not keep the second is, 
 because we despise and hate him. 
 
 We despise our brother man, because we imagine 
 
19 
 
 ourselves better than he. Perhaps, we are better; I 
 would not have us always believe that we are not. We 
 may be better, inasmuch as we have more power and 
 influence than he has; but we may not despise him on 
 this account. It may be, we are richer, and therefore, 
 in some sense, better. He is still our brother, and is 
 still man ; we are commanded to honour all men ; we 
 may not despise him for his poverty. We are better, 
 perhaps, because our minds are more stored with know¬ 
 ledge than his. Why should we despise the ignorant 1 we 
 also were once ignorant ourselves. There are aristocrats 
 by mental endowment as well as aristocrats by birth and 
 wealth. And there are religious aristocrats,—men who 
 think they have a right to rule, because they are the 
 servants of God; as such we may, perhaps, think our¬ 
 selves better than our brother. So deceitful is this 
 religious pride,—this aristocracy of religion,—that we 
 despise our brother, because he is a sinner and is proud, 
 and does not call himself a sinner, whilst we, believing 
 ourselves saints, call ourselves sinners. 
 
 Of all motives for despising our fellow-man, this 
 last is the most despicable. True democracy, and I 
 hesitate not to say, true Christianity, honours man as 
 man, and treats him as a brother, whatever be his 
 
 “ Through all disguise of place or name, 
 
 Beneath the flaunting robes of sin. 
 
 Through poverty and squalid shame, 
 
 Thou lookest on the man within. 
 
 “ On man, as man, retaining yet, 
 
 Howe’er debased, and soiled, and dim, 
 
 The crown upon his forehead set, 
 
 The immortal gift of God to him.” 
 
 God says, “ ye are brethren,” and he bids us love as 
 brethren. The world knows he does. Sinners know 
 that it is through pride, which God has forbidden, that 
 we despise them. Pharisees!—The curse of God upon 
 the Pharisees is hanging over us. Vain are all our 
 endeavours to do good, whilst the world reads upon our 
 foreheads, “ Pharisee.” We may visit the sick, we may 
 clothe the naked, we may reprove the idle, we may 
 
20 
 
 blame the spendthrift, we may reprimand the thought* 
 less, and denounce our woes upon the Sahhath breaker, 
 the swearer, and the drunkard. We may pour out 
 our consolations like oil upon the penitent and the 
 humble, but it will avail nothing, so long as we ex¬ 
 hibit in our actions, in our little doings, in our words, 
 in our general bearing, the truthfulness of the title en¬ 
 graven onourphilacteries, “lords over God’s heritage.” 
 
 Oh, it is a fearful thing to despise our fellow-man, 
 to look down upon him as beneath us, for any cause. I 
 say not that all men are equal. God kuows they are 
 not; but, lest we should treat our unequals as not our 
 brothers, he bids us do unto them as we would they 
 should do unto us. He tells us this in his own Testa¬ 
 ment. The present age, speaking as do all ages if we 
 wonld but hear them, tells us so also; whilst in every act 
 which transpires it reminds us of our brotherhood, and 
 in the most unmistakeable terms bids us own it. This 
 world would instantly become a paradise did we love 
 God. God tells us that we cannot love Him whilst we 
 do not love our brethren. 
 
 Unbelieving men tell us, in terms not to be misunder¬ 
 stood, that whilst we who profess to believe despise 
 them, they will not believe in our God. No wonder! 
 they cannot see the likeness of a true God in us. We 
 love not God whilst we despise man, and they will not 
 believe in God, because they cannot believe us. And 
 yet it is we who talk of reforming the world! Never 
 shall we do that, till we love one another. Well is it 
 that there are some of our despised brethren who, though 
 they cannot see God in us, can see Him elsewhere; who 
 can practically believe in Him, though they doubt the 
 reality of established Churches, and the Christianity of 
 sectarianism, which can despise that which God has 
 exalted above all else earthly. “ If a man say he loves 
 God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for if he 
 loTeth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he 
 love God whom he hath not seen?”* 
 
 But we even hate our brothers, and go to war with them, 
 and do all we can to injure them. We plan their down- 
 * 1 John, iv. 20. 
 
21 
 
 fall, and rejoice to see them suffer, because they have 
 wounded our pride, or, it may be, have behaved unbro- 
 tlierly to us. How ready we are to do unto others as 
 they do unto us ! Surely it is not reasonable, in a world 
 of sin and misunderstanding and accident, to imagine 
 that because we wish no evil to others, therefore none 
 should ever behave unbrotherly to us. There is won¬ 
 derful confusion of tongues even now,—at all events, con¬ 
 fusion of ideas amongst men, even speaking the same 
 language; and there always will be, till there be more real 
 faith and charity amongst us. Offences, therefore, will 
 come, with or without sin on the part of the offender. 
 But whilst we retaliate, there will be no end to this con¬ 
 fused state of things. It is not religion only, it is the 
 most perfect philosophy, founded upon a knowledge of 
 human nature, which bids us “ render good for evil.” 
 We read in our New Testament, “ Do good to them which 
 hate you.” God, in our own consciences, tells us the 
 same thing. Our common reasoning faculties which 
 God has given us, tell us so also, if we would but con¬ 
 sult them. And the living voices of all ages, but above 
 all, of the present age, tell us that “ to destroy the enemy, 
 we must destroy the enmity that love is the only 
 antidote for hate. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PRACTICAL. 
 
 Very good, indeed, is the doctrine of doing unto others 
 as w'e would they should do unto us. Very good indeed, 
 in theory. We have heard enough lately of “ Liberty, 
 Equality, and Fraternity,” with a democratic government, 
 promising to give the unemployed that employment 
 which they, under similar circumstances, would like to 
 receive themselves; it is all very good in theory, but 
 put into practice,—such democracy is not practical. 
 No doubt many of my readers have thought some¬ 
 thing after this fashion, whilst reading the foregoing 
 
chapter. In answer to which, let me say, that true 
 democracy is practical, and “ doing as we would he 
 done by,” applies to every circumstance of life, even to 
 
 E ’" ’ s. It is not the democracy of the French revo- 
 that has ended so disastrously. Democracy is 
 not possible in a government, where the people are 
 aristocrats; call it republican, or what else, it is 
 either aristocracy or anarchy. Those who in the rush 
 of the moment took the reins of government provi¬ 
 sionally in France, had doubtless a belief in demo¬ 
 cracy ; but they were not wise men. They had some 
 notion that “ Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity,” were 
 words which had a practical meaning, as doubtless they 
 would have had, in better keeping; but they confined 
 themselves to the use of these words, without practically 
 understanding them. And yet these words were not 
 wholly powerless; for awhile they exercised a magic 
 spell over the nation, which blinded both people and 
 government to the fact, that the French Provisional 
 Government was no democracy, hut was in fact an 
 aristocracy. It will not effect my argument to ac¬ 
 cuse any member of that Provisional Government of 
 intentional fraud, or of promising work with the con¬ 
 viction that it was impossible to give it, or of having 
 any other selfish motive than the desire to earn' out. his 
 own notions of right government. But as a democratic 
 government must be the echo of a people’s will, whether 
 right or wrong, and not the exercise of the private 
 opinions of a few, even if right, it is impossible that a 
 self-chosen or mob-chosen government, can be demo¬ 
 cratic, or that such government rightly chosen can exist 
 where the people are not democrats themselves. The 
 revolutionists of France may be communists, but they 
 are not democrats! Communism is not democracy, and 
 yet communism is not possible without it; and again, 
 the doing unto others as we would they should do unto 
 us, is the only true communism, and has no need to be 
 wedded to equality. In the best light in which it is 
 possible to regard French communism, it is but the 
 result of a vague idea of what would he right were every 
 thing right, without regard either to human nature, sin. 
 
23 
 
 or possibility. Unlike it, democracy demands nothing 
 that is impossible.—No promise on thi part of govern¬ 
 ments to employ the unemployed, without a guarantee 
 of funds to do it with. And, whilst it acknowledges the 
 equal right of all to be free, it cannot command that the 
 master shall share his profit with the workmen. De¬ 
 mocracy is not the offspring of love only, but also of 
 light. The first impression of a weak or selfish mind 
 might be, that to be consistent with doing as we would 
 be done by, masters and men should share equally the 
 profits of their labour ; but a little deliberate reflection 
 will show, that such practice would be accompanied 
 with very disastrous consequences. And it is not neces¬ 
 sary, in order to do as we would he done by, that we 
 either run ourselves and neighbours into certain ruin, or 
 do anything which is inevitably opposed to reason and 
 the laws of our nature. It is not my purpose now to 
 prove that the communism of the French, or the equality 
 between master and man, so often applauded by pro¬ 
 fessed democrats in England, is opposed to reason and 
 the evident design of our Creator in the formation of 
 man as a social and yet independent being, but I fully 
 believe it is, and that it is subversive of individual liberty, 
 and therefore at variance with the idea I have formed of 
 true democracy. Though professing to be consistent 
 with love, it certainly is not the child of light. 
 
 But so long as there continues to be between master 
 and man that want of sympathy and mutual interest, so 
 prevalent amongst the merely selfish competitors for an 
 existence on this earth;—so long as they fail practically to 
 acknowledge their brotherhood, there will continue to 
 be discontent on the part of the workman, ending in wild 
 theories of communism, and on the part of the master, 
 mistrust, dissatisfaction or oppression. A master who 
 does as he would be done by, would not seek every 
 possible opportunity of grinding down the wages of his 
 labourer below their market value ; he would rather use 
 every effort within his power to increase them. But a 
 free and independent labourer, who values his indepen¬ 
 dence, and appreciates the value of his labour, will 
 firmly, yet respectfully resist every unjust effort that 
 
24 
 
 may be made to lower them. The right of competition, 
 which the master so justly claims for the manufacture 
 and sale of his articles, must not be denied to the 
 labourer, either on the one hand in his attempt to obtain 
 work even at a low rate of wages rather than not at all, 
 nor on the other hand, in his attempt to compete in the 
 scale of social improvement with his master. Rightly 
 understood, and subject to the great principles of Chris¬ 
 tian love, the competitive system, so loudly and unwisely 
 deprecated by ignorant or interested parties, is not only 
 consistent with Christianity and brotherly love, but is 
 one of the greatest blessings of modem civilization. As 
 it is even now, in an age of irreligious and unprincipled 
 selfishness, it acts as the great safety-valve of our 
 social existence. 
 
 But something must be done to improve the condition 
 of our labouring, and of our idle, starving population. 
 Something must be done, and something may perhaps 
 be done by Government; some political changes might 
 be of use, some may be almost necessary. Whatever 
 in the government of a country is opposed to freedom 
 of every kind, and especially the freedom of trade, is 
 injurious to the interests of society, and tells most upon 
 the weakest, and therefore first upon the poorest and 
 the labourer. Tliat there are laws which interfere with 
 the freedom of trade we do not doubt. That there are 
 laws which cripple the competitive system in agriculture 
 —the first source of wealth to every nation—is notorious; 
 and that the constitution of our Government itself 
 actually, not professedly, tends to make the labouring 
 population injuriously dependent upon their superiors, 
 and therefore cripples their energies for self-improvement, 
 is honestly believed by many. And this belief threatens 
 to form the nucleus around which the dissatisfaction, 
 discontent, and lawlessness of the nation will gather, 
 and one day burst, with no inconsiderable danger to 
 our position in the scale of nations. Some practical— 
 not theoretic ideal—democracy in our Government is 
 essential with the growing intelligence of the governed. 
 
 But I have no hope for safety in political reform, 
 agitated as it is, with comparatively few exceptions, by 
 
25 
 
 parties more selfish than patriotic,—more desirous to 
 exhibit their own talents, and to become popular, than 
 to serve their country. There requires a deeper, more 
 earnest, more practical self-sacrificing effort on the part 
 of those who really know the evils of society, and feel 
 a real desire to remedy them. The effort must be made 
 by clear-headed, thinking, honest and principled men, 
 must be supported by such men only, and must not be 
 shackled by the professed assistance of aristocracy or 
 demagoguism. It must be Christian and thoroughly 
 democratic in its character. In the meantime, till such 
 effort be made, we may do much by inculcating the 
 principles of universal brotherly love, and still more by 
 carrying them out ourselves in our every-day intercourse 
 with others. 
 
 We are not individual free agents only, but mutual 
 free agents, and may therefore either assist or retard the 
 progressive improvements of our commonwealth. If we 
 keep the law of love, we assist to promote the happiness 
 of the world; if we do not desire to keep it, we are 
 rebels against man and God. But we profess to keep 
 this law, for I speak to those who do. How do we 
 keep it ? Do we keep it, by showing all disregard to 
 our brother’s interests and feelings by our selfish con¬ 
 duct and aristocratic bearing; m all we do, seeking to 
 have our superiority acknowledged, and offended when it 
 is not? Do we keep it, when we treat our servants, 
 dependents, and inferiors, in a way that tends to destroy 
 all their aspirings after true freedom ; when we give them 
 unnecessary trouble, rather than do any little thing, 
 however easy to ourselves, but which might cost them 
 no small amount of inconvenience ; when we scold them 
 for a supposed fault, and refuse to hear their explana¬ 
 tion ; and when we constantly behave, in many other 
 respects, in a way utterly opposed to the principle 
 of doing as we would be done by, to say nothing 
 of that tyrannical and overbearing conduct to inferiors 
 which is so common ? Do we keep it, when we deny 
 to our dependents and tenants the right of private 
 judgment, of religious liberty, or of liberty to do what 
 they please, so long as it is not opposed to their duty to 
 
26 
 
 us ? Do we keep it, when we treat our children with 
 negligence,—reproving them, not when they do wrong 
 and for doing wrong, but when they give us trouble, 
 heedless alike whether accidentally or not ? Do we keep 
 it, when we look with indifference upon the misery 
 which surrounds us,—when we see sin and misery and 
 degradation rampant in our land, and refuse to give 
 ourselves the trouble to inquire into the cause, and strive 
 to remove the evil, contenting ourselves with giving such 
 bare pittances to benevolent institutions as the impor¬ 
 tunity of their officers may be able to extract from us, 
 and then congratulate ourselves upon our liberality, 
 whilst always rejoiced when the annual collection escapes 
 our notice, or die importunate collector omits to call ? 
 Do we keep it, when we rail at sin in others, and are 
 always blaming them and thinking ourselves (not calling 
 ourselves) righteous; when for every evil that is done 
 we seek to blame anybody but ourselves, and with 
 wonderful diligence do lay the blame somewhere; or 
 when we give way to a petty, discontented, impatient, 
 fault-finding disposition ? Do we keep this law of love 
 by giving our brother or our sister, who, through im¬ 
 providence, oppression, or poverty of others or them¬ 
 selves, become dependent upon us, a cold welcome in 
 the union workhouse ? It may be absolutely necessary 
 that they should go there; there may be no alternative 
 but to go there, or die; but shall we wound the keen 
 and susceptible feelings of our brother and our sister 
 by our harsh and overbearing committal of them to 
 the workhouse authorities? If it must be, let us at 
 least show that we feel for their condition. Let 
 each twitch of hunger, and each shiver from the cold, 
 tonch some cord of sympathy in our own heart that 
 shall continue to vibrate till we have exerted all our 
 energies to remove the cause or causes of such accident 
 or poverty from the land we love. It may be, our 
 brother, despite his poverty, was a hard-hearted rebel 
 against God and man, for it may be that he would not 
 work. The cure for this rebellion, whether it leads to 
 the workhouse or the gaol, is the feeling, yet powerful 
 censure of a free people which deprives them of their 
 
27 
 
 freedom ;—the consciousness of slavery, in that ignomi¬ 
 nious dependence upon others which receives a kindness 
 without the possibility of a recompence. 
 
 Do we keep this law of love when we honour not man 
 as man, but those only and those first whom we most 
 fear for their power, their wealth, their intelligence or 
 their virtue;—when, if our brother in affliction should 
 call upon us when we are busy, though the business he 
 wants with us be a matter of life and death to him or 
 his family, we bid him call again; whilst, if our brother, 
 enveloped in a cloth of superfine texture, or our sister 
 in silk and satin call, we leave the most pressing engage¬ 
 ment and receive them with all the mock courtesy we can? 
 
 Nay, not that smile of proud contempt, my brother. 
 Thy heart has yearned, I know, for many a helpless 
 orphan, for many a wretched vagabond. I see thee 
 often at the soup kitchen ; I hear thee on the platform, 
 talking of the rights of man; 1 see thee foremost in all 
 the noble causes which respond to our country’s call. 
 Temperance, peace, political liberty, anti-slavery, anti¬ 
 corn law, anti-wrong, engage thy attention even more 
 than thy necessary trade. Thy coffers are always open 
 to enlightened benevolence; and yet I hear thee called a 
 proud, an overbearing, unsympathizing man. Thy 
 heart, they say, is hard as the nether millstone; and 
 they say so because thy democracy is not visible in thy 
 every-day intercourse with man. Thou hast, with all 
 thy benevolent exertions on behalf of right and justice, 
 a cold and distant reserve, which thou hast been taught 
 to consider essential to the proper maintenance of the 
 dignity due to thy station. Thou wilt not practically 
 acknowledge thy poorer neighbour to be thy brother. 
 Thou art anxious to see thy country thrive, poverty 
 decreased, and true freedom living in the land, but thou 
 art harsh to thy inferiors, domineering to thy servants, 
 offended if thy dependents exercise their right of private 
 judgment. Thou shalt not move the world by thy cold 
 arm of justice only. Thou criest for equal rights and 
 equal justice; why not show a practical and universal 
 love ? Love is the true antidote for wrong. Throw love 
 into thy energies for right, and a nation’s voice shall 
 
28 
 
 bless thee, and not they only who have shared in thy 
 affections or received, as officers of charitable institutes, 
 thy large donations. 
 
 Thou, too, my friend, with that well-satisfied counte¬ 
 nance and pleased eye, that one so at variance with thy- 
 self should have received my puny censure. I have 
 a word, too, for thee. Thy heart is soft and tender as 
 a Christian’s heart can be. The poor are never at thy 
 door but they obtain relief. It would be more than thy 
 feelings could bear to see thy afflicted brother treated 
 with contempt and unkindness. I hear the voices of 
 praise from a vast multitude around thy home. There 
 is ever some poor son of Adam to speak well of thee. 
 Yet thousands might live like thee, blest, and die, 
 leaving the world as wretched as they found it. With 
 one hand thou dolest thy favours and kind words, with 
 the other, thou sanctiouest the continuance of wrong, 
 oppression, and robbery. I see thee at the hustings—it 
 is to give thy support, not to men of liberal.and en¬ 
 lightened philanthropy, but to men who prefer igno¬ 
 minious peace, at the sacrifice of principle, to reform ; 
 whose labours for the improvement of the people will be 
 always at the expense of their liberties, who love that the 
 poor should ever be dependent upon such as thee. The 
 habits of thy country are ruining its thousands daily, 
 but thou assistest not to avert their influence, but rather 
 censurest, with big scripture words and knit brows, those 
 innovators of old customs, who seek to change the habits 
 of society. Thy fellow-beings are denied the right of 
 brotherhood by thy country, and by the tyranny of 
 custom and oppressors, but the oppressors of thy 
 country are thy intimate friends, and thou wilt not lift 
 up so much as thy little finger against tyranny. It is 
 not thy soul but thyphrenological development that has 
 won praise for thee. Go, learn that benevolence is not 
 justice; that natural affections are not love. 
 
 I have now briefly alluded to a few of the most 
 familiar cases in which we fail to recognize the authority 
 of the law of love. They are but a few, and serve only 
 to show the beautiful simplicity and universal applica¬ 
 bility of that golden precept, “ Therefore, all things 
 
whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do 
 ye even so unto them.” 
 
 I should, however, greatly fail in keeping that law 
 myself, did I wish to infer that all who may feel that I 
 have expressed their own failures in this respect are 
 therefore sinners in the sight of God. Many of the 
 cases I have alluded to are the result of custom and 
 habit, and do not proceed from a deliberate want of love 
 in the soul. But yet these habits are not the less to be 
 condemned, because they exist with well intentioned 
 philanthropic and Christian motives. The world always 
 fails to recognise any distinction between the act and 
 the motive. And, however much we may be mainly 
 responsible for the motive in the sight of God, it is the 
 act and not the motive which in this world brings down, 
 in the natural course of events, those very judgments or 
 evil consequences most suited to its character. And we 
 also are culpable in the sight of God if we wilfully refuse 
 to think of these things. Yet judge not, for to our 
 own Master we must rise or fall. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE EARNEST. 
 
 Thebe has been one hope throughout all ages,—the 
 hope that a time will come when more substantial 
 happiness shall exist amongst men; when that which 
 is evil shall give place to that which is good. And as 
 men’s ideas of good and evil have varied, so has the 
 idea of this hope varied. The politician sees only per¬ 
 fection in governments. The religious sectarian expects 
 the eventual triumph of his sect. The Jew looks to the 
 land of Palestine as his own. The hard-toiling peasant, 
 if all hope be not worked out of him, sees more equitable 
 distribution of wealth. Thou who callest thyself a 
 Bible Christian, hast thy millennium. All earnest men 
 hope for a millennium of some kind. But dream not, 
 oh, reader! that thou shalt wake some morning and 
 find all millennium-like, with this fair and very beautiful 
 
30 
 
 earth all glorious as it might be, were it not for sin, and 
 thy Lord reigning in Jerusalem or elsewhere, personally 
 amongst his saints. Think not that thou hast no work 
 to do ere then, but to wait, a cipher, for thy Lord’s 
 coming. No! dream not thus. Is he not now calling 
 thee to work, and not to gaze idly on, condemning the 
 world's wickedness and approving thy own sanctity? 
 Thou must teach men to love one another. It is thy 
 peculiar work, as though there were none other in the 
 world capable, for thou believest in a millennium. It is 
 a reasonable hope, and not a mere idle speculation. 
 Thou, as thou believest, art also thyself responsible for 
 its accomplishment, for whilst thou refusest to preach 
 by thy life and behaviour the great fact of thy religion— 
 a religion of love—there can be no millennium possible. 
 
 Do thou therefore, and let us all, unite earnestly and 
 heartily in the cause of universal brotherly love. Not 
 merely content with supporting every scheme devised 
 tor this object, and stamped with this uame, but earnestly 
 and seriously considering what it is to love one another. 
 No writing of mine can ever teach thee what it is; God 
 and thy own thoughts must do that; I only entreat thee 
 to be willing, first, to know what it is to love rightly, 
 and secondly, to do all in thy power to persuade others 
 to love rightly also. Do this, not because it is a virtue 
 that shall merit a reward hereafter, not because it will 
 atone in any way for sin, but because thou must. It is 
 indeed a payment due to man for six thousand years of 
 injustice anil oppression. 
 
 We speak of a Church : there are men who believe 
 themselves members of the Church. Shall these stand 
 aloof from us ? shall these refuse to forego those practices, 
 habits, and opinions, which upon more earnest examina¬ 
 tion are found to be opposed to the law of love ? The 
 true Church of God cannot, except in ignorance. A 
 fidse one does and ever will do, whilst it talks of “ modern 
 infidelity,”—of a wish to exalt man and to deny God. 
 As yet, that which professes to be the Church of God 
 has more practical belief in the power of its creed, and 
 in the forms of its religion, than in the reality of God. 
 It naturally takes fright at innovation. It cannot see. 
 
31 
 
 in the breaking down of priestcraft, anything but the 
 breaking down of religion; and to it, I doubt not, there 
 are passages in my “ Democracy,” which will appear 
 fearfully dangerous, even if the whole of it he not rather 
 heterodox. Nay there are those even of the true Church, 
 who I doubt not have suspected my orthodoxy. Taught 
 by others, believing in others, and trusting in others, 
 they think they see in the beautiful ordering of divine 
 wisdom, all the arrangement of class and gradation which 
 I would overthrow. High on the throne of omniscience 
 is the eternal and unapproachable One; on his right 
 hand his Son our intercessor; around Him archangels 
 and angels ; still lower are thrones and principalities of 
 earth, archbishops, bishops and priests, teachers and 
 hearers, from the highest scale of man to the lowest, 
 and so on to the beast ; “ For the graduated scales of 
 rank accordeth with the ordinance of heaven.”* And 
 therefore they judge that the lower may only commu¬ 
 nicate with the higher, through the mediation of their 
 immediate superiors. Art thou a poor laymau and a 
 labourer that believest this ? I praise thy veneration: 
 but art thou a ruler amongst the people, and not withal 
 a servant? thy orthodoxy is at least as open to sus¬ 
 picion as mine. 
 
 Man is not exalted above the sphere assigned him by 
 his Creator, because all partition between him and his 
 God is annihilated. God is not lowered because he is 
 proclaimed a God near at hand, and not a God afar off. 
 If I believe in a Redeemer,—in a Saviour crucified for 
 me, I believe that I, and the least esteemed amongst 
 men, have free admission, without the mediation of man or 
 angels, to the immediate presence of the Most High. If 
 I believe in a millennium, I believe in the second coming 
 of our Lord. Even as he ascended in clouds, so also 
 amidst clouds shall he descend, f The clouds are, if I 
 mistake not, visible now in the heavens of our moral 
 world, of which the history of the physical world 
 affords so beautiful a type; it remains but for an 
 universal and practical belief that God is indeed our 
 
 
 t Acts, i. 11. 
 
32 
 
 Father, and is approachable by us, to be present, and 
 our Saviour is again amongst men, and all the king¬ 
 doms of the earth are the kingdoms of our Lord 
 and of his Christ. We cannot make this belief 
 universal, but we may do something towards it; we 
 may show that we believe it, and that we love our 
 Lord. But if we do this we shall learn that our duty, 
 and the way in which we are to keep his commandments, 
 is by loving one another. The democracy of the first 
 and of the second commandment, is one and indivisible. 
 Mere preaching will avail little, unless God preaches in 
 us; but whilst we see our brother in bondage, in poverty, 
 in ignorance, in misery, and do cot hold out a hand of 
 practical relief to him, we are culpable, and are hindering 
 the knowledge of God from becoming universal. When 
 we see the weak oppressed by the strong, and preach 
 only obedience; when we see thousands in want of the 
 common necessaries of life, and instead of bread give them 
 tracts and lectures on contentment; when we see men 
 living in ignorance of the best way of earning their 
 necessary livelihood, and only tell them to think of an¬ 
 other world; when we see them ignorant of the evils they 
 are bringing upon themselves by following the customs and 
 habits of society, and speak to them only of the “ Grace 
 of God; ” when, instead of practically alleviating their 
 misery, we build them chapels, and prisons, and work¬ 
 houses ; are we not like a father, of whom, if his son 
 ask bread, he gives him a stone ? Our intentions may 
 often be good in these our fruitless endeavours, but 
 oftener, I fear, we shall find they result from an inclina¬ 
 tion to lord over Gcd’s heritage, rather than humbly to 
 do that work in the world’s vineyard which God has pecu¬ 
 liarly entrusted to our charge. 
 
 Let us, then, love one another without respect of 
 persons, heartily and earnestly, and let us persuade 
 others to do so also. We may have to fight, it is 
 true; there is no living in this world without fight¬ 
 ing. We may have to contend with powers, and pre¬ 
 judices and affections. But, as our love is not partial, 
 power, and prejudice, and affection, must give way 
 to right and justice, or the welfare of the whole. Those 
 
33 
 
 wlio seek to proclaim the mission of universal brotherly 
 love, must expect opposition, nor be offended by it. 
 Their love must extend even to the opposers of their 
 principles, whether that opposition be to the principle 
 itself, or to the immediate method by which they have 
 chosen to reveal that love. 
 
 There are many ways in which love may reveal itself. 
 It may be revealed in endeavours to promote the know¬ 
 ledge of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, or in 
 endeavours to uproot error. It may show itself in Bible 
 Societies, Tract Societies, School Societies, Temperance 
 Societies, Peace Societies, Health of Towns Societies, 
 Building Societies, Insurance Societies, Anti-slavery 
 Societies, Societies for the Protection of Aborigines, for 
 the Disunion of Church and State, for the Abolition of 
 Corn Laws and Restrictions upon Commerce, for Uni¬ 
 versal or Extended Suffrage, &c.; or it may show itself 
 in the more silent and manifold workings of religious 
 fervency and Christian zeal. Let not those who advo¬ 
 cate one plan, condemn or despise those who advocate 
 another. The human mind is perhaps too small, at 
 present, to grasp at once the whole bearing of the law 
 of love. It cannot throw its whole energies into every 
 sphere of usefulness. But it need not, in its zeal for 
 one, be opposed to another. We may find much that 
 we cannot unite with in many benevolent institutions,— 
 a want of enlightened regard to true freedom, ignorance 
 of human nature, and violent sectarianism and party 
 spirit. We shall not enlighten them by opposing them 
 in toto, and we cannot lessen their party spirit by form¬ 
 ing a fresh party ourselves; but we may do both, by 
 seeking the prosperity of all sincere efforts to do good 
 which do not actually compromise our own principles. 
 
 Love is essential in the composition of all lasting 
 work, hut it may combine, in various proportions, with 
 light. Light and love should never be opposed; yet, 
 whilst we see not eye to eye, whilst the light is yet 
 faint, we need not marvel much at some deficiency of 
 love,—more the result of false zeal, than of hatred. 
 Love may quarrel single-handed with hatred, and light 
 may contend alone with darkness; but it remains for 
 
democracy, the full development of love and light united, 
 to work, with God’s help, the restitution of all things. 
 
 But, you who seek to promote its influence and to ex¬ 
 tend its power, be gentle. Too harsh, too bitter, or too 
 reckless, ye destroy it as ye go. Think of the powerful 
 influence of prejudice. Think of the weakness of those 
 who have long lived in darkness and oppression. Be 
 not too severe with the slave, who hugs his chain—with 
 the mind inured to partial, and not perfect love. Place 
 yourselves in the position of those you fight, and deal 
 not your blows unfairly. Give them the liberty you 
 claim yourselves. Spare the very oid,—he whose mind, 
 now so near worn out, requires all its energies to prepare 
 for another world. Light is not essential to salvation, 
 therefore it may be well to leave him ignorant rather 
 than disturb and agitate his mind. Deal not censure 
 roughly on the infant mind. In no case, blame an¬ 
 other 7 s want of democracy, when you, under the same 
 circumstances, would do as he does. It is questionable 
 whether, at any time, it be well to blame or censure 
 another; but, if necessary, always let it be by your ex¬ 
 ample, rather than by words; or, if indeed bywords, 
 not the result of anger or emotion, but of the stem 
 deliberate sense of duty. Be courteous. Remember, 
 that if it be right to make the law of love your guide, 
 in matters of the highest moment, in first principles, in 
 customs, and in Governments, it is equally right to make 
 it so with the little every-day occurrences of life. Let it 
 mingle with your family concerns, at the table, at the 
 fire-side, at the evening party. Strive to avoid every 
 uncouthness of manner, and all displeasing habits. Yet 
 never wound the feelings of the ignorant and unedu¬ 
 cated by your remarks on his behaviour. It is an ill- 
 breeding that will make sport of the ill-breeding of 
 others. Exercise courtesy without flattery, and gentle¬ 
 ness without affectation. 
 
 Let the presence of this love go with you; nor let its 
 bearing on your every-day conduct cause you to forget 
 those sterner realities of duty to your suffering fellow- 
 creatures, which it calls for at your hand. 
 
35 
 
 “ Not yours alone the task to speak 
 Of comfort to the poor and weak, 
 
 And’flry the tear of sorrow’s cheek; 
 
 “ But, .mingling in the conflict warm, 
 
 To pour the fiery breath of storfli 
 Through the harsh trumpet of Reform,— 
 
 “ To brave Opinion’s settled frown, 
 
 From ermined robe and saintly gown, 
 
 While wrestling hoary error down.” 
 
 You may suffer in the conflict; but know, that passive 
 resistance, with patient suffering in the cause of truth, is 
 too powerful to he long withstood. “ Work, and despair