^^_ / . c/Ci^yi^-e-^ THE MAN OF THE FUTUEE. THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. AN INVESTIGATION OF THE LAWS WHICH DETERMINE HAPPINESS. By ALEXANDER CALDER. LONDON : CHAPMAN & HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 1872. \0 ' LONDON : BRAPBXTEY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIAES. MA/A) PEEFACE. This little work is tlie offspring of two severe trials in my life, which it would be wrong to leave unmen- tioned. The one was of a physical, the other of a spiritual nature. The fii'st occurred when I was about the age of twenty-four. I was then at Canton, in China. It was part of my duty to weigh teas intended for the English market ; and while so employed I was exposed to the bitter north winds in the Chinese Hongs. I took severe cold, which finally assumed the form of rheumatism. The attack lasted for about thirteen months, and for many of those months I was attended by two of the doctors of the East India Com- pany's service ; excellent men, but who, nevertheless, failed to do me any good. I adhered strictly to their advice, and carefully noted its results, but without benefit to myself : in fact, I was on the brink of suc- cumbing to my malady, when I resolved to abandon doctors and resort to my own devices, based on per- sonal observation and experience. Though bent do^vn /P \^^M f'h'^ iv rilEFACE. with pain, and stiif at nearly every joint, I felt that, considering my youth, while there was life there was the acrm of health and strength. Medicines I had learned were, at all events in my case, of no avail. I determined to turn my attention to a mode of treat- ment which seemed natural and intuitive — the method which I shall hereafter describe. I observed it with strict fidelity, and had the satisfaction to be rcAvarded, before the lapse of many months, with a complete restoration to health. This method I have since re- commended to others indisposed in various ways, and wherever it has been fairly tried, it has proved suc- cessful. My second great trial was, as I have said, of a spiritual nature. Naturally of a serious disposition, I had learned by experience the importance of individual attention to the affairs of the soul, as well as to the health of the body. Many years had elapsed. I was in England. The dissensions among the clergy of rival creeds ; the abandonment by the most liberal of them of such doc- trines as scriptm-al inspiration, eternal punishment, predestination, and election by grace, &c., aroused me to examine into the grounds of my spiritual belief and condition. The result arrived at in my mind was one of extreme doubt. The seK-reliance which sustained me PREFACE. in my first trial came to my aid now, when I most sorely needed it. Bnt it was not a presmnptuous self- reliance. I prayed earnestly and daily for knowledge and true enlightenment, which, perhaps, has been vouchsafed. In the midst of my deep bewilderment, I was, at any rate, suddenly struck with the thought that, as there were principles of health Avhich, if cultivated, ensured health, in like manner there were principles of morals which, if cultivated, produced o'oodness and virtue. From that moment I beheld light. How had I succeeded where medicine had failed ? By pursuing a method which existed before medicine was ever thouoht of. How, in like manner, did I solve doubts which the Church was unable to solve for me ? ^ By adopting rules of truth which existed ages before ^ Christianity, or any other form of religion, had appeared. I had simply in both cases put myself, so to speak, in harmony with the designs of the great Author of all — and I say this with all reverence, but with confidence. 1 have now for years ceased to live under the dominion of either power — Medicine or the Church, and am all the better for it. I have broken loose from a thraldom which binds every man who puts faith in dogmas, and I now experience real liberty and strength. I possess j a new life, and with it increased health, vigour, and vi PREFACE. intelligence. l\ty way througli the world, wliicli was formerly full of doubt and darkness, is now plain and intelliirible. The so-called cares of life are no longer felt as a burden. They are easily and cheerfully borne. Work has become a pastime and a pleasure ; while affliction is met with meekness. I understand the present, and begin to comprehend the future. My health is sound and good. Calamities fall lightly upon me. I am not easily disappointed or terrified : and death, whenever it approaches, will, I hojje, be . welcome. t— — AVhence is all this ? Simply from the fact that while much formerly was artificial, now everything is natural. Formerly I followed the devices of men ; now I strive to obey the laws of the Maker of men. If you will do the same, I predict you will be happy. This " vale of tears " will no longer be the desert which some professors make it ; but rather will it be found a garden of flowers, through which you will recognise yoursehP as being led by the hand of the great Creator ; walking with Him in sj)irit, as from step to step you discern the development of His work. Everything about us proclaims His laws. It is for us to learn to read and understand them. If we con- form to these laws we become happy : if we oppose them, we render ourselves more or less miserable, ac- PREFACE. vii cording to the gi-eatcr or less extent in which we do them violence. Studying them, we are led into truth- ful and pleasant ways ; neglecting them, we are sure to fall into error and to injm'e ourselves. The aim of this little work is to make mankind happier. It points out certain rules of a positive character; and Avhich I consider infallible, based as they are upon everlasting truth. I make no pretension to fine writing ; the means employed, the language used, shall be plain and homely, so as to be understood by all. My object is to communicate, in the plainest manner, ideas which in me have produced great good. I think them invaluable ; I am profoundly penetrated by them, and I submit them to others in all con- fidence. We should endeavour to make our happiness rest on first principles ; rules which in all parts of the earth have their application and force — measures in wliich all nations and races agree as soon as they understand them. We should apply to the fountain head of all truth ; setting aside all those artificial laws which the ingenuity of man has substituted for its outpourings, wherever these devices are found, whether they are the utterance of prophets, of priests, or of teachers. Are not these teachers, these doctors and priests, beginning to acknowledge this themselves ? Do not viii PREFACE. the most intelligent and tlioiiglitful among tliem cease to put fiiith in drugs and in dogmas ? When our guides are at fault, and quarrelling amongst themselves, it is high time for us to see whither we are being led. It is high time for right-thinking men to band together, and dispassionately examine matters, as well for them- selves, as for humanity in general. The claim of churches, sects, and schools to supervise the elevation and well-being of mankind, however well founded on authority and tradition, and however well meant, is insufficient to meet the necessities and wants of the times. The most thoughtful minds of the period acknowledge this. The clergy are not ignorant of it. Christianity, as now taught, while it is losing power over the minds of the intellectual, also fails to reach the masses of the people. There is nothing surprising in all this : men are wiser than they were. Their judgment is better. They can discriminate between principles real and everlasting, and those which are false and transitory. I do not shrink at the thought of being accused of free-thinking on such great matters. I claim to follow the example of Jesus called the Christ, who, when he aj)peared amongst men, raised an out- cry against the orthodox teachers amongst the Jews of his day. I affirm more — that some of the chief of my views have the support of the testimony of the real PREFACE. IX Christ ; not the Christ as variously taught in Christen- i dom : not the Christ of the creeds, but the Christ of the Gospels. The beauty and sublimity of Christ's work and character should be understood in its sim- plicity, and not confounded with the superstition and mystery which surround it. The sermons of Christ are rich in profound philosophy. Unhappily his fol- lowers have engrafted on that philosophy, so full of i excellent truth, the most grotesque inventions of their own, with which the spirit of Christ could have hadJP no sympathy. My design is, as I have said, to induce the reader to study to acquire happiness, by relying on our Maker's laws. I do not pretend to a perfect degree of know- ledge of these laws — far from it ; but I believe I know enough of them to point out the true path to any honest wayfarer on the journey of life. No apology needs be offered for the attempt I make. The clergy admit that all their efforts do not reach the minds of the masses of the people ; and they make the most earnest appeals to laymen for help. The present is the only form in which I can aid them ; and in this effort I hope to obtain the sympathy of all the intelli- gent classes. It is almost needless to say that I sin- cerely believe in all that I here advance, based as it is upon my own personal experience. X PREFACE. With all deference to others, it appears to me that I may surely be permitted to interpret the designs of our Maker in such a manner as I think proper without being subject to odium. I am the responsible party in respect to my present and future welfare. The life I lead now and the existence I shall have hereafter, will depend entirely upon the use I make of the means I have of judging of our Maker's design, and of doing His will. No other person in the world can answer, or stand surety for me, in the great liabiHty I incur as a rational being towards my Maker. On me he has bestowed independent powers of observation. What if I see my way plain to effect my perfectibility, in a way different to anything which I have read in books, must I surrender my judgment and make myself a slave to the judgment and opinions of others ? Are their eyes and minds to do service for me ? If navi- gators trusted entirely to the charts which were made hundreds of years ago, there would be shipA\T?ecks without number. In like manner it is idle to rest Avholly on the experience of past men, no matter how able and gifted they were. And if it seems to me that I have discovered a better, surer, safer road to travel on than any I knew l)efore ; if the experience of years assures me that I am not trusting to a delusion, but to what is real and PREFACE. xi substantial ; if I have tlie power of looking back upon myself and examining wlictlier physically, mentally, and morally I have degenerated or improved ; and if I arise from this examination in the fullest confidence that I have gained immensely in all these respects, why should I be deterred from communicating the knowledoe I have oained to others ? Am I not rather o o bound to do so ? It is, I confess, unsatisfactory, dangerous, and even cruel, to discuss, in an ofi'-hand manner, subjects bear- ing on religion. You strike perchance at an item of belief which is the whole foundation of someone's faith. You perhaps succeed in demolishing it, just as an iconoclast may destroy at a blow the figure of a saint lono; venerated and trusted : and what is left to the poor devotee ? The shrine he worshipped at is a blank : the source whence he once drew comfort, such as it was, is dried up, and perhaps nothing comes to supply its place. AVere it not, therefore, that I have had most remarkable personal experience, I should not venture to attack the systems now in force. But when I see so much misery in the world under different forms ; when I encounter so many ship- wrecks of the brightest hopes, I can no longer keep silence. It is possible that by some these pages will be said xii PREFACE. to tcacli uthei.siii. To these I reply: Arc you real lovers of our iMaker and of His truth 1 If so, you will rejoice to hear that I wish to intensify your love, and t(. deepen your knowledge of truth, by removing the mists which surround and separate Him from you. TABLE OF CONTENTS. — » — PAGE Preface iii PART L— ANALYTIC. CHAPTER I. The Goal of Life 1 CHAPTER IT. Blind Guides 46 CHAPTER III. STrMBLING-BLOCKS IN THE WAY 1-2 PART IL— SYNTHETIC. CHAPTER IV. Health of Body 1^" CHAPTER V. Health of Soul 180 xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER VL The Morality of Individttals PAOE 223 CHAPTER VIL The Morality of Societies . . • . • • • .251 PART III— SUMMAKY. CHAPTER VIII. Prospect and Eetrospect 271 PAET I. ANALYTIC, THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. CHAPTER I. THE GOAL OF LIFE. fl^ The happiness of mankind is a subject wliicli occupies the serious attention of many. The good in aU nations try to effect the welfare of their feUow- creatures. Statesmen, politicians, churches, societies of various denominations, all make laudable efforts to improve and benefit the human race, but happiness, in a general sense, seems as distant as ever. May not this be owing to false methods in our pursuit of the really good and true ? Is it not possible that instead of adopting that simplicity which the great Author of aU things intended us to follow, we have relied too much on artificial methods which have little affinity to His wdU ? We requke some more sure way before us — some firmer ground to stand upon. I have long been profoundly penetrated with these ^icts, and shall endeavour, in the course of this work, to state my views 2 THE MA.N OF THE FUTURE. on tins very important subject as briefly as I am able, classifying the pursuit of happiness under the two follo\ving heads : — I. Health of the body. II. Health of the mind. If we possess these two essentials, all other things A will be found comparatively unimportant. If we are without bodily and mental well-being, we cannot be^ said to have secured real solid happiness. It is not to be doubted that a being so perfect as our Maker, has formed a design of His own in respect to us. He must have made rules for the well-being of mankind as well as for that of all His other creatures. It is all-important, then, for us to ascer- tain what these rules are : to study them when dis- covered, and to carry them out in their purity. The only way in which a Being eminently spiritual can communicate with creatures like ourselves, is spiritually. He reveals His will to us through our reason. To neglect to understand His will is to fail in the first of duties, and carries with it heavy penalties ; while to understand and follow it bears a multitude of benefits — a fact which requires very little proof beyond the experience of every person of observation. THE GOAL OF LIFE. 3 Human happiness being the goal of life, it can only 'be revealed by a knowledge of the road. The way to the end must be understood before that end can be reached. There is something to be learned and studied — something to be done; an art which has rules. Putting these rules into operation, we obtain the desired effect. Let us examine the object of our solicitude. Man is of a mixed nature ; body, mind, and spirit, each of them properly developed, complete his happiness. The bodily nature of man is like that of the brutes around us. His mental and spiritual nature is like that of his Maker, invisible but still real. There is a way of securing bodily health, and there is a way of securing mental and spiritual health. It is an error to suppose that our Maker prefers to give each or both to one person any more than to another. He takes an equal interest in all the children of men. Whosoever follows His rules obtrins the benefits attached to them. Action and obedience the Maker delights in, therefore he has appointed for us a life of obedience to Him— a life of acti^dty in His service. A clear perception of our duty is the first step neces- sary to right action. Unless our idea of duty is clear, our mode of procedure will be vague and confused. B 2 4 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. If we have doubts we shall be apt to stand still on the road, or at least, to make poor progress on our journey. An enquii'ing mind is, therefore, essential to our welfare and happiness. Unfortunately, the Church quenches inquiry, and requires the substitution of faith in matters all-important to human welfare. It demands of us faith in things impossible to compre- hend, and consequently reduces the strength of our minds. The only faith we should be called upon to have is faith in the efficacy of our Maker's laws. Every idea we receive into our minds either does us good or injury, according to the quality of the idea. Ideas are the food of the mind, and may, like the food of the body, be unfit for digestion. Chris- tianity possesses many excellent ideas, and hence the esteem in Avhich that creed has been held. The good it is capable of performing, and does actually perform, acqunes for it a larger credit than it is entitled to. It makes people accept its shortcomings of doctrine — its miracles and its mysteries, because of certain unmistakeable good it works. The defects of Chris- tianity are seen in the narrowness and prejudice of its followers, who are frequently unfit to discharge the commonest duties of life. THE GOAL OF LIFE. 5 Perfection cannot be reached without the aid of the best minds on behalf of humanity. Unfortunately, most minds are, in early life, bound in fetters. They have, at the outset, been burdened with ideas which for ever after exercise an injurious effect upon them. They have been made to run in false grooves, and, consequently, they fail to effect any real progress. To accept such ideas as miracles, baptismal regenera- tion, &c., is to divert our minds from the right paths of improvement, and to lead us into mischief and danger. The minds which have resigned themselves to such behefs, have surrendered much of their capacity of observation. They have sacrificed their power of criticism by subscribing to what is incom- prehensible and contradictory. They have smothered their faculty of discriminating truth from error. That every mind ought to be stimulated to examine into every idea placed before it, is a self-e^ddent truth. That the acceptance of erroneous ideas is accompanied with the greatest risk to the receiver is equally patent. Every idea received into the mind, and taking root there, has ramifications whose direction and import- ance it is not easy to circumscribe ; they pervade our whole existence, and according to the idea so is the fruit. If the idea is inaccurate the mind is wholly misled through such inaccuracy. 6 THE MAN OF THE FUTUKE. Look, for instance, at the humiliating picture- exhibited by humanity in the exaltation of a suc- cessful conqueror — one who has caused the death of thousands in some battle, of which individual glory, or avarice, or ambition, or some other equally worth- less object was the cause. What an effect has a mistaken idea wrought here ! Look again at the idea of the damnation by an all-just Being of the millions who have heard, and of others who have never heard of Christ, inclusive of little innocent children ; all for an alleged offence of disobedience in the first man by tasting of some fruit ! Or consider the doctrine of the real presence by which the very body of Christ, flesh and blood, is alleged to be found in the tangible, visible bread and wine on the communion table ! Can any one assert, after viewing the humiliating results to which the unquestioned reception of ideas^ has led in the above instances, that to compel the mind to receive ideas which cannot be understood in a natural sense, is pernicious ? The common sense of individuals is overthrown when they are requned to give credence to supernatural phenomena, as miracles, and such like. Their individuality is gone. They have given up their reasoning power, and follow the low animal instinct of credulity. THE GOAL OF LIFE. The force of any truth is diminished when it is coupled with a statement which it requires credulity to accept. The belief in miracles, for instance, demands of us an act of violence to our very natures, and consequently those required to accept it often imbibe a repulsion to all religion. The excellent instruction of Jesus Christ would, if un- accompanied by statements of miracles, have inevi- tably taken hold upon our understandings, but is now frequently lost to us. If the sayings which he uttered are fundamental truths, and there can be no question that many of them are, they had far better be held up to us in all their own simpli- city; then their intrinsic worth and power will telt upon us. The miraculous powers attributed to the speaker do not make the truths which he uttered one whit more forcible. On the contrary, we are apt to doubt the honesty of a teaching which needs a subversion of the order of nature to back it up. As the strength of a chain is no greater than that possessed by the weakest link, so the confidence put in any testimony amounts to little when we perceive that legends and fairy tales are mixed up with it. The benefit which obviously sound instruction is calculated to produce on minds is choked by legendary matter. 8 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. tlioiigli tlic latter may, from its poetical nature, fas- cinate and please. To return to our starting-point, however — happiness is the end, the goal of our earthly pilgrimage ; and this goal may be reached by our own proper efforts. The culture of simple principles is all that is necessary for the purpose ; and as physical health is obtained by following certain rules of bodily action, so health of mind is got by the practical cultivation of certain moral quahties, e. g., Temperance, Peace, Love, Benevolence, Charity, Industry, Honesty, Sin- cerity, Patience, Moderation, Truth, Justice, Humility, Chastity. Wherever these qualities abound there is the atmosphere of happiness ; and why ? because, as experience shows us, these are the qualities that form and build up our spiritual nature. Without these qualities we are less than man : by possessing them we are distinguished from brutes. If there were no existence hereafter; if there were no spiritual life ; if all were over as soon as this earthly career ended ; the cultivation of these qualities might be less important : but reason tells us that it is not so. In nature we see that nothing is lost : in physical life matter changes from one shape to another ; so must it be with regard to our spirits. The spiritual life now in this body will continue to live on in another THE GOAL OF LIFE. 9 sphere. Such being the case, it is the greatest folly not to provide for its well-being and happiness in that future existence ; the more so, as the means of doing this are interwoven with those of advancing our happiness in the present. We have a twofold work on earth to accomplish. The body has a work, and the soul has a work ; and according as the functions of each has been employed, so is the measure of satisfaction. The work of the soul deserves, by its nature, to be first considered. It is to imitate the Creator. Unless the soul does this, so far as it is able, it cannot enjoy that tranquillity, that happiness which should belong to it. We know from experience what enjoyment is derived from repose after a fatiguing journey. This is a physical enjoyment. In like manner there is a repose which is derived by the soul each day from its contemplation of work done in harmony with the Divine rules. If any of these rules have been broken or neglected, there results a proportionate amount of discomfort. But the work of the body is no less essential to secure perfect happiness. The body must seek means to obtain the necessary food and clothing for its sus- tenance, while the soul must seek the nourishment necessary for its sustentation. The body should be employed in some of the many ways of labour or 10 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. incIiTstry : tlic soul in the use and cultivation of the mental faculties. Self-preservation is a great fundamental fact, — a root from which springs the whole of our duty. It embraces, primarily, the well-being of the body ; se- condarily, that of the mind or spirit. And this great law which enforces our duty to ourselves, clearly en- joins the same duty in respect to others. As we must protect ourselves as members of the great human family, in like manner as each human creature is equally with ourselves the object of our Maker's care, so we are bound to preserve a due respect and care for others with whom we may come into intercourse. Knowledge of the means to secure happiness in- volves two other kinds of knowledge : the one a knowledge of the ways of our Maker, the other a knowledge of the ways of man. The first is potent, durable, everlasting in its character, being based on eternal rules. It has a force throughout the universe, and is, when understood, accepted by all mankind of whatever clime, race, or colour, competent to judge of that which is right when it is presented to them. It delineates the government of the spiritual over the material objects of the universe. The second consists of experience of the ways of men, and portrays the government of the material over spiritual things. The THE GOAL OF LIFE. 11 design of our Maker has for its basis the happiness of all His creatures : the design of man has for its basis the well-being of a few individuals. Our Maker's plan for our general well-being is exceedingly simple : the plan of our great men and riders for the Avell- being of the few involves the subjection of the many, and is extremely complicated. The ambition of men in all countries has made itself so conspicuous that the misery of the many has risen to the surface of society. It no longer haunts the corners of the earth. It covers the land in a variety of forms. Our physicians are continually engaged on diseases, while our Churches are equally occupied on the cure of our sins. Thousands of years pass by with little if any alleviation of our condition. There would appear to be a failure of the Divine prescience if this state were to be accepted as permanent. But it cannot be. That splendid piece of mechanism, the human frame, is so evidently the work of a Maker supremely wise and perfect, that it is impossible for Him to err or be mistaken in anything He has designed. The fault is ours ; we do not follow out His design. The knowledge proper to the attainment of happi- ness must, from the nature of its purpose, be the most simple to comprehend, inasmuch as it is intended for universal use. Unfortunately for humanity, our instruc- 12 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. tors in years gone by plucked up by the roots tbis species of knowledge. They denounced it as a poisonous thing. The Church for many centuries held a monopoly of knowledge. It dealt out such instruc- tion as it pleased, and declared " hitherto shalt thou come and no further." It held the nations of the earth firmly in the net of ignorance, while it destroyed all who dared to produce knowledge differing from its own. The Divine intelligence had provided a way plain and simple, in which all may journey with ease, security, and satisfaction. But owing to the devices of men, the fundamental landmarks were obliterated, and travellers thereby rendered for the most part errinof, disheartened, disconsolate creatures. The Sovereign, who spiritually is related to us, and ought to rule over us, is carefully kept in the back- ground, while others are set up in His place. He who made us is not suffered to rule over us. The human authorities who govern us make laws of their own, without apparently caring to ascertain how little or how much they coincide w^ith the design of the Maker of all things. But unless their laws are in harmony Avith His will, the experience of numberless ages has shown that nations governed by them inevitably perish. Among various instances of this truth, it is sufficient to mention the Egyptian, the Assyrian, the THE GOAL OF LIFE. i:i Babylonian, the Roman, and tlie Mexican dynasties. The fall of these nations chiefly resulted from the fact that the laws which guided them were calculated rather to develop the animal than the moral part of nature : for as all animal life ends in dissolution, so the existence of nations based on such laws must come soon or late to an end. It would be far difi*erent if the spiritual part of human nature took precedence in systems of government over its animal portion. Having our Maker as the Chief Spirit in our Supreme Head, whose will alone we should follow, we should take up the place which rightly belongs to us in creation as moral agents. With a nature marvellously diff'erent from that of brutes we should better understand the object of our Maker if we cultivated aright the spiritual connection which exists between us. Granting to the body the proportion of care and attention which is its due, and which we are bound to bestow, we should seek to develop the higher nature and properties of the soul or spirit within us. The powers of that spirit thus divested of all undue pressure would speedily become manifest. With the Chief Spirit as our Leader and Guide, a vast field of discovery in all that is good and great would be opened to us. Humanity would speedily reach a stage of existence brighter and more glorious than any it has yet contemplated. Pauperism, 14 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. misery, disease, crime, wars, would be unknown, ex- cept in rude and barbarous parts of the earth. Our knowledge would abundantly increase. All physical nature would be laid open to us. "We should rightly understand all the pm^poses and plans of our Maker in respect to us. We should with the whole thoughts of our mind be devoted to follow His will. "We should continually rejoice in our work, well knowing that its consummation would be achieved in His great and glorious presence. There is a way of securing bodily health, and there is a way of securing spiritual health. It is an error to suppose that our Maker, out of caprice, prefers to give each or both to any one more than to another. He takes the same interest in all the children of men, preferring no one above another. But as a matter of course, whoever follows the rules He has made, that person gets the full benefit of such obedience, while whoever neglects to follow the rules fails to obtain them. These rules are so positive that no one who really follows them out strictly need ever fail in health or morality. There is a compact between our Maker and mankind to this effect, — that if we observe His laws we are sure to maintain ourselves in health and morals. This is to my mind so plain that I believe the time is not far distant when it will be nearly as THE GOAL OF LIFE. 15 much blameworthy to fall into sickness prematurely as it is to be found drunk, or as it is to commit crime. By some fault of our own, some carelessness, some neglect or extravagance, some departure from His rules, either known or unknown, we are brought into what we wish to avoid, namely, ill-health or crime. Our Maker has bestowed upon all, without distinc- tion, a light to guide them in the search of happiness. He has placed a power in each and all, even the power of observation, which, unless it be debased, obscured, and destroyed, is an instrument sufficient to guide us in the avoidance of evil and in the selection and pur- suit of that which is good. Our eyes and our mind are given us to observe and to reflect upon the things which make or mar our well-being. Life is very much like a journey to a distant country. It has its ups and downs, its difficulties, its trials, its privations, and suff'erings. Each human being is travelling onwards, either to happiness or to misery. Now, it may seem startling, yet it will be found true, that the reason why there is so much misery on the earth is to be found chiefly in two parties who have set themselves up as our guardians and guides, who are continually striving, each in its own way, to mitigate our suflcrings and to alleviate our distress. It unfortunately happens, however, that 16 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. both have adopted wrong methods to accomplish theu- respective end. Their work is contrary to the course of nature. Instead of being exclusively occupied in finding remedies for us, they should put us in the way not to require their aid. Prevention and not cure is the motto which our doctors and our clergy should take. Is it to be supposed that the Almighty, the Creator of all this beautiful universe, ever intended that man, the most highly-favoured of all His crea- tures, should be living in a perpetual state of doubt, discomfort, sickness, misery, and despair ? The state of the largest portion of humanity is far more degrad- ino; than that of most classes of the brutes. Can we believe that this is the Maker's will ? What would be said of builders who raised structure after structure on the identical plans and models of other structures, which experience had shown to be defective ? And yet is it not true that generation after generation succeed each other, and undergo the same course of instruction, and reach the same un- satisfactory end. Witness the state of our paupers and of our labouring poor. AVhy do their numbers increase to such an appalling extent ? Look into our prisons, how full they are of criminals of aU ages. See our lunatic asylums, how they overflow with victims from all ranks of society. Glance at the THE GOAL OF LIFE. 17 dislionesty of our trades-people in tlieir adulterations of our food, and in tlieir falsifications of weights. Look at the numerous bankruptcies wliicli meet the eye daily in the journals, and which tell of the pecuniary instahility of our merchant-traders, and others. Con- sider the frequent strife between workmen and capitalists ; and, to look higher, the unbecoming wrangling amongst churchmen, politicians, and others. Again, turn to the Weekly Keports of the Eegistrar on the Health of the Metropolis, what a lamentable catalogue of casualties meets the eye. Hundreds swept weekly away by death, before they have scarcely commenced the journey of life, to say nothing of many who perish by unnatural means. Whichever way Ave turn, there is a gloomy account to render. AVell may we say, if this be a true picture of things, that it is high time to consider our position. We require a measure of happiness at once durable and abiding ; enjoyment in this world, and in a world to come. This we are entitled to, and should have. It is our birthrioht, and Ave should not rest until Ave make ourselves masters of the Avay to obtain it. Divested of other considerations, happiness consists as Ave haA^e seen, of health of body, and health of mind. Real and solid health and not spurious and fandful imitations thereof. Without these tAvo con- 18 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. ditions — liealtli of body and of mind — Man does not fulfil the pm-poses of his being, any more than he can be said to enjoy happiness. With these two condi- tions rightly directed and nnderstood, he is sure to possess, whatever his station, a constant fund of the richest gratification on earth during a long life, while he may look forward to the expectation of enjoying another existence in a sphere to which in the natural order of events he will be removed when the present life terminates. The attribute of the laws of physical and mental health is continual enjoyment. The legitimate grati- fication of all our animal faculties being secured, our very life may be said to run in its natural channel — the course marked out fii'st by the Creator, and it is only in that channel that the desires and passions will find rest and satisfoction. Then as to the higher faculties, what is there to compare with the enjoyment to be derived from a well cultivated mind ? The legitimate employment of these two great functions of our nature is what really constitutes human happiness, the goal that all should aim at. But, how oblivious are most of this supremely important fact ! Few of us concern ourselves about the laws of health. Is it not the usual practice to live as it were by chance, eating and drinking as we happen to like. THE GOAL OF LIFE. 19 or be tempted by tlie tilings set before iis ; and fre- quently to incur illness by our imprudence in this respect 1 Ought this to be so ? Should we continue to trifle with one of the most valuable and most sacred of all our possessions which enters into the foundation of our happiness ? The body of man may be compared to a fine piece of machinery. Any one at all accpiainted with well constructed niachineiy, knows how quietly and smoothly the whole works ; there is no jarring, no opposition, no noise, everything moves on in harmony, and so it should be with respect to the human frame, and its working. Every animal function should be performed with ease, regularity, and comfort. There should be no labouring, nor pain, nor discomfort. Whenever this is the case, some law has been broken, or is being broken, and disease has commenced, and pain, misery, and perhaps death Avill be the conse- quence. The extent of the loss of life is something amazino; throuoh io-norance of the laws which o;overn the human l)ody. We must have some knowledge of these laws before we can expect to maintain it in a state of health. It fortunately happens that the dealings of our Maker with men are exceedingly plain and simple ; and we would be wise if we tried to understand them, and did not substitute devices of c 2 20 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. oiir own ill their place, so as to frustrate His benevo- lent calculations for our l)enefit. It should be noticed that the objects which we ought to obtain, or reach, in order to accpire happi- ness, are of a class very different from those usually sought by men. They have this great distinguishing, feature, that they do not in themselves excite envy or the hatred of others, but rather admiration and love- Health, learning, humility, charity, patience, labour,, these are among the things which belong to our happi- ness, and they displease no one, but contribute to the constant good of mankind. -.. A course, the whole world may pursue beneficially, is surely rights Whereas the acquisition of money, or rank, or influ- ence, all tend to stir up strife. The race for wealth,, honours, rank, power, and such like objects, is a dangerous and uncertain pursuit. Very few attain these things, and their attainment too often fails to secure happiness. The holders of these incur respon- sibilities of a nature which they scarcely estimated rightly. Wealth, possessions, rank, influence, power, deprive the possessors too frequently of the enjoyment of the higher virtues which form the chief happiness of life. It is an error to suppose that there is a special pro- vidence watching over the welfare of any individual THE GOAL OF LIFE. 21 or race of people. All our Maker's creatures are equally the objects of His care. There are several rules which relate to us all, and so long as we run in harmony with these, we enjoy happiness. This is the great fact which it concerns us to know, and any attempt to set up a system compounded of Tules distinct from this general economy of the uni- verse, Avill and must result in disappointment ; any perseverance in such a special system after it has been •set up, must be productive of unhappiness. AVe blame not others for the creeds they have adopted, perhaps from their infancy. All we ask of them is to examine what they are trusting to ; to "prove all things," before they trust any. Life is freighted with too precious a cargo to be trifled with, and made a shipwreck. Let us make sure that the way we take is the right one. Thus briefly have I attempted to depict the goal of life — a goal shrouded from our view by the mists of error and prejudice. jMucli of what I have written has been necessarily vague. It is impossible to afford a clear perception of what happiness is, until some of the clouds around its summit have been dispelled. So that a great portion of the task before me will consist in attempting to expose some of the most prevalent misconceptions, both as to the nature of happiness 22 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. itself, and as to the Lest means of attaining it upon the part of those who have taken up the function of guides in the path of human progress. If the evidences of Christianity arc sufneient for us, how is it they Avere not enough to enlighten the Jews, the principal persons concerned in the matter. They were present when the transactions occurred on which Christianity is based. They might have witnessed all the scenes, and yet they do not to this day believe the accounts of them. They have been persecuted to death from that day to almost our own age, in one way or other, and they prefer ^ death rather than accept notions and beliefs inimical to Theism. They are a standing witness against Christianity. If the death of Christ was a most cruel act on the j)art of the Jewish priesthood — and who can doubt it ? — how much more cruel ouo;ht we not to reo-ard that event when it is presented to us as the sacrifice, on the part of our Maker, of his only Son. If the ignorant Jews could perpetrate so gross a crime, how are we to understand the participation in it of a righteous God ? His goodness, however great, can never make a bad act right. Ignorant men are, to this day, led by their passions to commit all manner of evil, but how can we consent to believe that a perfect God could condescend to anv similar act ? He has bestowed on us an THE GOAL OF LIFE. 23 instrument Ijy wliicli to judge of tlic quality of all actions, and wlien we put the death of Christ by the Jews into the scales of our judgment, we cannot l)ut pronounce it a most guilty transaction. In like manner, if we are called to consider the same act in relation to God, we weigh it in the scales which He has furnished us, and we cannot do otherwise than perceive it to be unjustifial^le murder. The measure which our Maker has planted within us is true ; it cannot both affirm and deny the same proposition. It is only through some fallacy on the part of our instructors that we have been persuaded to receive, as truth, a false idea into our minds. The affirmation of thousands of people, whoever they are or were, cannot make that true which is radically false. ^Ye can comprehend the guilty Jews committing so unjust an act, but Ave cannot comprehend a perfect God, our Maker, consenting in any way to the same. We expect to find all the transactions of one so perfect as our Maker to b.e perfect, whereas thus to confound justice and truth is both to dishonour Him Avho formed us, and to stultify ourselves. Why should we be forced to call that sweet which we perceive to be bitter 1 The instrument of truth in us demands that we should denounce the transaction, however presented, as a most horrible one. Our judicial faculty must be 24 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. lamentably low if wc fail to discern that the alleged participation of our ]\Iakcr, in the death of his Son, is an unrighteous transaction and totally foreign to Him. Better suffer a thousand deaths than blindly support so startling a proposition. Far nearer the truth would it be to affirm that some good though io-norant men, desirous to draw their fellow-creatures towards a life of goodness, devised the idea of holding up to view the estimate of God's idea of sin. Accord- ino- to these men, our J\Iaker's hatred of sin was so great, and his love to the world so amazing, that he sacrificed His only Son in order that we should contemplate the act in the light in which it is pre- sented, and so bring man to holiness. Many, undoubtedly, are melted into tears in re- alising the idea thus presented. The picture of a good man, one giving up his whole life to works of charity, condemned to die the most degraded of deaths, that of the cross, is enouoh to make the heart to mourn. But sympathy may not be religion. It may involve nothing of the knowledge of our Maker's ways, and therefore fail in its purpose. It is nothing that thousands have lived and died in the faith of the dogma as a fundamental truth of Christianity. Have we not the dogma of the immaculate conception of the Virgin J\Iarv, and do we not know how that was THE GOAL OF LIFE. 25 promulgated ? Look again at the liundreds of bishops who, only a year or two ago, decided at an Q^ciimenical Council held in Rome on the infallibility of the Pope, and then consider the worth of testimony which supports dogmas. The fact is, if our j\Iaker ever meant the death of Christ to have such a sio;nification as it now bears, it Avould, ere this, have achieved more lasting results. The magnificent importance of the transaction would have spread with amazing velocity through the world. It would never have met any serious check in any quarter which it could not overcome. But what say the cold ruins of the Seven Churches in Asia ? and what is the present testimony of millions of people in Europe who once believed in this dogma ? With light to guide them of a brightness more convincing than they have before experienced, and, under the shadow of a liberty now impossible to deprive them of, they declare that this, and transactions of a like nature, are little else than devices, however creditable to th(> amiability of men, yet far beneath the purposes and plans of the Maker of all. The people of a certain province of India, from time to time, have human sacrifices. They ofier them up to propitiate their god in order to avert failure to their crops. This observance dates from time immemorial 2(; THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. jimouirst them. Analoo-oiis to the idea which obtains among Christians, it is equally absurd, the one being about as efficacious as the other to attain the end proposed. Is Christianity, then, a vain and useless institution ? Not so. Any scheme which brings people to know the valuable principles of the Maker has, so far, good in it. The followers of Christ are required to know and conform to some, if not all, of the divine, im- mutal)le principles ; and thus far a good work is being })erformed. Their lives are doubtless better cultivated than if they were heathens. But incomparably better would be their lives, far greater would their amelio- ration be, if they renounced the fables of their creed, and seized fast on the principles of the great and everlasting One. Christianity has seen its l^est.days. It has done a wonderful deal of good, but must give })lace to something brighter and more glorious. Christianity refuses to be progressive. A dissolution must be the consequence. Every institution not based upon scientific truth must crumble soon or late in spite of all interests and support however powerful, of tradition however ancient and honourable. It carries wdthin it the germ of dissolution ; gradually its foundations are sapped as science pours in its flood of light, and the fabric THE GOAL OF LIFE. 27 must fall. AVlicii ^vas tliere a power greater than tlie Papacy? For how many centuries did it govern Europe ? yet what is it now but a thiug of the past, — its splendour but tinsel ? To the modes in which Christianity is taught may he attributed much of its present loss of power. A man fomishing for the want of spiritual things enters a o-rand cathedral. He hears fine music, etc., but not an idea reaches his mind to admonish him in his ways, or to guide him in his path. The sermon, which should be plain and instructive, is too ofton dull and inter- larded with ideas which neither preacher nor audience can understand. The services are well performed, the siiio'ino- is oood, and the chantino; excellent in their way, everything, in short, in keeping with the state- liuess of the edifice ; and yet when the service is over the poor thirsty soul escapes into the outer air not one bit refreshed or strengthened or enlightened. He is as much in the dark as ever. He sees his way through the A\orld no better than before. He may admire all that he has seen and heard, but he has not received one atom of real spiritual nourishment. His eyes and senses may have been captivated with sweet scenes and sounds, but his understanding — his soul — has not benefited one particle. It is not, then, the immensity of the building nor the gorgeousness of the appoint- 28 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. meiits tliat benefit, or tliroiigii wliicli a cure is effected. Better far is tlie silent application at home in one's closet of facts to tlie mind. Holiness, like cleanliness, is l)cst obtained by tlie lionest application of the right means in our homes when we are least apt to be dis- turbed by external thoughts. The rise and progress of Christianity has been so wonderful and extensive that we may affirm it con- tains much of truth. It is by reason of this element of truth that it prevailed over error and obtained a cu:culation. That truth we should endeavour to dis- cover and separate from the error which surrounds it. But we want something more accurate, exact, truth- ful. Some theory better calculated to promote the happiness and perfectibility of man. Christianity is but a compromise between Paganism and Judaism. AVere it offered to us at this time it would be rejected. When upwards of 1800 years ago it was placed before mankind, it arrived opportunely on the ruins of other systems. It was an improvement upon all that was then known, and it became acceptable in more ways than one. Christianity is not a creed Avide enough to embrace all nations. People will not believe in it; it is iiot adapted to their understandings. They will not con- sent to its propositions, consequently it is not calcu- THE GOAL OF LIFE. £9 lated to include tbem in its fold. Unless tlic plan which is to regenerate mankind is general in its prin- ciples it cannot be true, because it is not applical)le everywhere. The Author of Christianity urged all men to accept the kingdom of God. The real king- dom of God is that wherein His laws alone are the o'uide and rule of mankind. This kinodom once estabhshed will indeed purify and elevate mankind l^eyond anything yet conceived. It would obtain for them abundant blessings far more than our present condition can realise. God would become the real head. His spirit would preside over our minds, and o-uide our whole thou2;hts and conduct. We should continually have Him presiding over us spiritually, from which circumstance would come to us a multi- tude of suo'Q-estions of infinite value to us in this life, and which would prepare and ripen us for the life beyond. And with Him as our real practical guide here, we should feel no repugnance, no fear, no alarm to o-o to Him at death. AVe should not be so wedded to life if we knew more of God ; and to know Him better is to have no one stand between us and Him. If C'hrist were divine in the sense held by the Church, his teaching would be sound, practical, and unimpeachable. ^Yhiit is the value of a bridge if you cannot at all times 2:0 over it ? But is not the con- 30 THE MAX OF THE FUTURE. traiy the fact ? A few instances are as good as many to illustrate tliis. For example, sin appears in lis as soon as Ave cease to cultivate our minds and our spirit. The strength and vigour of our higher nature must be kept up and preserved by exercise in reading and examining the works of God and of other spirits like ourselves who have gone before us, and whose experience is valuable. There are many branches of useful knowledge in which it is necessary to employ or cultivate, which is the same thing, our minds and spirits. But we must, above all, never forget the best, purest exercise for the spirit ; its communion or prayers of gratitude to our Maker, and in the reading of pure and holy thoughts in relation to Him. Such exercise should at least be observed twice a-day, morning and evening ; it should be a real, earnest, sincere reunion of the entire f\imily, — a heart- felt and, at the same time, a sacred exercise, because it invokes the presence of God. Our spirits bow before the Eternal. We pretend to come before Him ; and unless we really do so for the purposes of spiritual good, we retire out of His sight as empty as we came. We have but mocked Him and ourselves. In his simple and beautiful model-prayer Jesus asks God to forgive us our sins. Now anyone who knows the philosophy of life, moral and })hysical, will see that the laws of God do not permit the forgiveness THE GOAL OF LIFE. 31 of sin. What is sin that it slioukl be foraiven ? Sin, the act, is identical with the evil, the result : it is the non-cultivation of either our moral qualities on the one hand, or a neglect by our spirit of the discipline of the body. Eemove light from a room, and you must have darkness. Take away heat, and you have cold. In like manner sin or evil are natural conse- quences, which appear in the way God has appointed. He will neither pardon nor efface sin, nor free us from disease except by our resorting to His Eules. God will have His laws obeyed, and the penalty which He has attached to the violation of His laws He wisely makes visible to all His creatures, as far as the body is concerned, so that we may observe and avoid the ways which produce evil. It is far more merciful in God to exhibit to us the consequence of any departure from His laws than, by His forgiveness at our asking, to create a confusion in our minds as to the nature and force of any particular law. Again, Christ describing the day of judgment says, the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and, dividing- all nations into two great parties, he will say to those on the right, " Come," etc., while to those on the left he will say, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." And wliy ? *' For I was an hungered," etc. This is prcachiug bene- 32 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. volence Avitli a vengeance ! It ncitlier teaches us our duty, nor does it elevate our conception of tlie clia- racter of the Judge. In Matt., chap, xxiii., He com- mences, " Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hy^Do- crites," etc. "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers," etc. This is scarcely the way in which to address people whom you wish to convince, especially when he declares that he was especially sent to convert the Jews, To abuse those roundly at the very moment when you most require their attention, is the most effectual way of losing all power over them. .Besides, what man having the truth and handling it need dispense it m such a manner? All kinds of truth require patient and careful explanation before they can be re- ceived and understood. How foolish a man of science would appear who commenced a lecture, say on elec- tricity, by cursing or denouncing his hearers because they did not believe in his definitions or manipulations. It is not surprising that the Jews did not believe in Christ, employing, as he did, the most awful denun- ciations. Kio'lit indeed were the Jews to have with- stood the new superstition, which was then j)reparing to encompass the nations round about. They would have believed but for their monotheism. They deserve immense credit for having so nobly withstood all the persecutions which they have been exposed to, and THE GOAL OF LIFE. 33 which they have endured for many centuries at the hands of many, and, aLas ! from Christian nations. God has evidently made manifest in them the power of His laws in preserving them to this day, in so far that their meekness and their industry obtain for them prosperity wherever they go, while they are also a living witness of God's power to protect them who own Him alone as the Supreme Jehovah. Again, in Matthew Jesus tells the young man to keep the commandments, and when asked which. He proceeds to say, " Thou shalt do no murder," etc. This recital of the law as given by Moses, with the admo- nition to love our neighbour as ourself, did not show forth a Divine Teacher, for it fell ftir short of the teaching of God's ways. The youth in question, with everybody else in those days, was familiar with such instruction. A Divine Teacher, if such a one ever appeared, would know how to teach in a manner so that his mission should not fail, and he himself not be persecuted and his life destroyed. A Divine Teacher, olaiming to be equal with the Creator of all things, should be able to do more than merely repeat the Levitical law. He would be familiar with all the sanatory and moral laws of God, and be ready and willing patiently to explain them to men. Faihng to do this, we are compelled to believe that his followers 34 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. claimed too mucli for liim, more indeed by far than lie claimed for himself. The sacrifice of Christ for our sins being an unjust act, the suffering of the innocent for the guilty could never have been contemplated by God. Such an act, if approved by God, would set at defiance all harmony with the order of what is called Nature. And yet we arc required to believe that the crime perpetrated by the Jews was with the design and approval of God. It is so unjust an act that it can never be construed into a virtue. Nor need we be surprised in our day to find in one place where such ideas prevail a man exalting himself above the world, ready to proclaim his own infallibility and make a God of himself, while in other places we see men, professing the utmost humility yet consent to rank with princes and to surround them- selves with all the paraphernalia of wealth and state, and form so strong a contrast to that meek and lowly Jesus who said his kino;dom was not of this world. Christ's sacrifice is altogether an imperfect act. It rests also on an imperfect argument. It is said to be an evidence of God's love to the world. God's love to the world is shown in many ways ; but to injure the innocent is surely not one of them. It is not the way of attracting mankind. But then the design has been to paint sin as particularly abhorrent to God, so THE GOAL OF LIFE. 35 much so tliat it requii-ed the sacrifice of '•' His own Son " to rid the world of sin. Unfortunately for the panacea, it has not yet succeeded. There is plenty of sin in the Avorld,' and there always will be until people are better taught what sin is, and how it is to be shunned and eradicated. God has made laws in respect to sin, and those laws He will have obeyed. That is the denunciation of a wise and good Lawgiver. But the idea of God being the first to break His laws, and that too in so cruel a manner, is at once as impious to think of, as it is injurious in its con- sequences. This is one of many erroneous ideas Avhich must be abandoned, however sacredly they may have been held and cherished by us. Before we can have correct views as to the course of our duty, we must cease to entertain deoTadino- notions of the Great Creator. " He that giveth to the poor lendeth unto the Lord." This is another text of Christianity which diverts men from their real duty, and tends to increase the number of paupers. This and similar teaching does more to pauperise a nation than can well be imagined. A knowledge of hygienic laws and the cultivation of their mental and sphitual powers will alone raise men. Ignorance in this particular swells the number of paupers. It is only by sheer efibrt of our own that d2 36 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. we shall be raised from one condition to a superior one of intelligence and happiness, until at last we shall understand all that God designs, all that our Maker has in store for us. Death itself, instead of being regarded as a calamity, will, if rightly understood, be welcomed as the event Avhicli ushers us into the glorious presence of the Everlasting. It is a pity that such stories as those of the Old Testament should form part of the instruction of our youth, and still more so that a learned bishop should allow himself, at this time of day, to devote his time and talent in bringing into unnecessary prominence certain Hebrew worthies, and investing them with an air of sanctity which existed only in legend ; outraging truth, when they had better lie buried and forgotten. So also it is a pity that circulation should be given to the exploded teaching of the Old Testament writers. The sayings of the wise king Solomon, many of them doubtlessly good and true, are mixed up with much of ignorance. Some have a very evil tendency, and should be noted as such. For instance, what is more silly than the way in which knowledge is depreciated ! He says he had studied all things, and had acquired more knowledge than all men, and then affirms that knowledge brings sorrow, &c. This is another instance THE GOAL OF LIFE. 37 in which designing men, for political purposes, check the growth of knowledge, because it giveth power to the possessor, whereas to keejD the peo2:)le in ignorance is to seal their weakness. There is not a more foolish text than this in the whole book. In proportion as we have knowledge is our real happiness ; for the clearer we see our way through this life, the more safe and satisfactory each step becomes. " The fire which never quenches " — that everlasting flame — is another invention of the Eastern mind ; which while, through fear, it drives many people into Christi- anity, at the same time is so repulsive, so cruel, that a poor sinner suddenly awakened into a knowledge of the error of his ways, and unable to embrace the dogmas of Christianity, is so perplexed in his weakness, that he is overwhelmed by the agony into which these visions plunge him, so that his despair either sees him end his life in madness or suicide. " The resurrection of the body," and " the forgive- ness of sins," are two ideas directly contrary to all God's doings. Sound experience, if closely pressed, will answer that they are perfectly fallacious. Nor are they at all necessary or desirable in the economy of the universe as settled by the Almighty Maker. The resurrection of the body I Why should I desire it 'i My body is only the animal portion of me — the 38 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. tenement inliabited by my soul. The only place where it can exist is on earth. A thing made of clay, only intended to last a short while, and made of the earth. Never meant to endure longer than this life, whereas my soul is "eternal. There is an ascension of my spirit, but no resurrection of my body. Then as to the other dogma, the forgiveness of sins, that also sounds very flattering, and well calculated, as it was doubtless intended to be, to catch the attention of the ignorant and the simple minded ; but how is the fact in this particular. What is God's treatment of us in relation to sin ? In other words, how does He act towards the sinner ? The idea of the forgiveness of sins is quite human and artificial, and, like many other of the ideas of Christianity, was borrowed of the Jews. The forgiveness of sins would no more repair the character of a sinner than would a like dispensation convert a desert into a fruitful garden. Then what is the practical good or value of forgiveness ? Would not the pardon of one score of sins encourage the com- mission of another score ? The right and only way to improve the character of men is to train and cultivate them in ways conformable to the paths of God; i. e., in harmony with peace, and virtue, and well-doing. Sin is a moral evil, a spot on the purity of the soul, as disease is a physical evil, a spot on the health of the THE GOAL OF LIFE. 39 body. Both arc tlic effects of ignorance on tlie part of humanity. There are paths of good as well as of evil. They can only be effectually kept or learnt by know- ledge. If the spirit of man is kept in continual and Avholesome exercise and support, in an intelligent manner seeking after the fruits of the spirit, there is no chance of sin getting a footing in such a man. No more than, if a field were properly cultivated and duly planted with something useful, could Ijriars and thorns appear. The question with us should be, what crop of actions are we working for ? God has a settled order in relation to all things, and it is not His practice to go out of His way and disregard that order. To do so would be to compromise His work, and create con- fusion. To step in and prevent the operation of His design in respect to sin, would be to delay human improvement. The sooner we understand the nature of sin, and the means of its cure, the better will it be for humanity if we adopt it. We must submit to His ways of treating us, and not be so arrogant as to ask Him to step out of His way to forgive us. Indeed, one of the most injurious ideas we can get into our beads is this one of the forgiveness of sins. Instead of affording light to our path, it obscures it, and there- fore does us more harm than good. As purity and health of body and soul are worth having, pains must 40 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. be taken to get tliem, and keep tliem when obtained. There is no royal road to attain these ends, and God Avill no more acquit us of sin than He will free us from any disease we contract. But if we scrutinise the nature of the sin or disease which affects us, and apply the appropriate means to eradicate it from our persons and spirit, doubtless in due time we shall succeed in cleansing ourselves from it, whatever it be. And the exj)erience so gained will be invaluable, both to us and to humanity. God does nothing except gradually. That is how He works. To forgive sins, if that were possible, implies the work of a moment. The forgiveness of sin cannot operate in favour of the recipient, as there is no connection, no consequence between the act of forgiveness and an amended life. Eeform is the one thing necessary. To forgive is to excuse, to hide, to slur over — condone — all which tend to perpetuate the evil ; but to reform by instruction, and to walk in harmony with God's ways, is to enter upon a course of improvement and of hope. The for- giveness of sin, or crime, or debt, or whatever else between man and man, does not exonerate the subject before the Maker of all things, who is our judge. We should clearly understand the immovable, unchange- able nature of His laws, both in respect to crime or sin, and in respect to that which is good and virtuous. THE GOAL OF LIFE. 41 There are grades of evil as well as grades of good ; the confines of one seem to touch the other. It is for us to use all dilio-ence to discern and to examine where and hoAv we arc working, whether in fields of useful- ness and good, or whether we are passing our lives in idleness and runninof them to waste. If the prayers of the whole Bench of Bishops were ofi'ered to arrest the progress of a mortal dose of laudanum, though taken accidentally, they would be found totally unavailing ; how much less efficacious would such prayers be, if offered to atone for crime against immutable laws ? The whole history of the resistance of the Jews to the Gospel is something avcU calculated to excite our deepest attention. It is sufficient in itself to j)rove that its scheme was human, and in direct opposition to the mind of God. The Gospel as preached by Christ was very diff'erent to the Gospel as preached by the Apostles and Disciples, and the Church now. Some Jews would doubtless have listened to his teachings and become converted, because his words were of the truth; but immediately that his divinity was preached, it failed to convince them — the very people he was sent to — and the cause is plain enough. It was simply im- possible for the minds of men who had long worshipped the one and only true God to accept a second and a 42 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. tliird person into their ideas of a godhead. They con- sidered this conception idolatrous, and the fact of their persistence in this view, amidst all the persecutions Avhich they subsequently for ages suffered throughout Europe, is abundant proof that God never meant they should exchange their worship of Him alone for that of others sharing the godhead with Him. It is quite rio-ht and natural, then, that the Jew should for 1800 years resist, as he does now, the acceptance of Chris- tianity, as it is equally natural that Pagan nations should, if properly influenced, be converts to it. Idol- atrous notions will not spread, except in minds already possessed by such ideas. Nor are the Jews alone in this respect. The followers of Mahomet are wor- shippers of one God only. They number millions more than all Christians, and it is next to impossible to convert them to the Christian creed, notwithstanding its, in many respects, superior instruction. Tbe great stumbling block is now, as it Avas of old, the idolatrous element, which no adult person not already brought up in it would maintain ; but rather he would reject for the unquestionably superior, and beyond all doubt more certain and safe, worship of God alone. Set free any Christian's mind from the theological trammels in which it is bound, cast aside all superstitious notions which as mysteries it has in early youth been per- THE GOAL OF LIFE. 4:j suaded to receive, and show him a safer way in which he may trace the course of his hfc, and he will soon elect to travel in it. Christianity destroys itself in the ready way in which its superstitions are developed. Some years since the dogma of the Immaculate Con- ception was promulgated, and now the Infallibility of the Pope is made the chief subject of acceptance at the CEcumenical Council. Protestantism may and does object to any such developments within its own pale, but that is owing to the liljcral, enlightened views of the age in which we live. The root of superstition dwells in the Church, and is ready, especially in some quarters, to branch out vigorously were it permitted ; quarters in which there is so large a sympathy with Kome that we can with difficulty see much difierence between them. The Council of Nice settled the long-disputed ques- tion of Christ's Divinity. It is in this manner that the religious beliefs of the Church have been formed. Men interested to advance and to maintain certain doctrines meet together and proclaim what they call truth. Your imagination receives a strain which it never recovers. You are unable to judge of the value of the doctrines you are made to receive, for they are wholly beyond comprehension. They are like indiges- tible meats, which tell injuriously on the system. Not 44 THE MAN OF THE FUTUEE. SO eternal trutlis. Of them each one can judge for himself ; for your experience of the consequences of each proposition will enable you to recognise whether they belong to human or everlasting principles. The teaching^ of St. Paul was full of earnestness. He believed what he taught, but for all that he may have taught error as well as truth. The world in which he lived believed in miracles. The people by whom he w^as surrounded were full of credulity. And without imputing to him any evil design, nor indeed any pious frauds, it may be readily conceived that his preaching Christ crucified was just what might be expected of a man like him abounding in credulity, prejudice, and enthusiasm. The w^onder would be, not that Paul believed in the prejudice of the age in which he lived,, but the contrary. Brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, the Jewish teacher of the day, he became versed in the Jewish belief. He was, as he tells us, an active- member of the synagogue, actually engaged in per- secuting the Christians. Subsequently he embraced the schism of the day, namely Christianity, and he gives an extraordinary account of what occurred to him on the road to Damascus. The idea of substituting one sacrifice, that of Clu-ist, for all the sacrifices common to the Jewish church, was reasonable and progressive ; but after all it was plainly a human compromise. And it THE GOAL OF LIFE. 45 is more than probable, that if after tlie cleatli of Clnist his followers did not commit the mistake of making a god of him, many Jews would have united themselves to the new creed, proclaimed in such excellent instruc- tion as was taught by the great teacher and lover of humanity in the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon embraces, considering the time and place, a remark- able collection of everlasting principles proving the harmony of the preacher's mind in the ways of our Maker. And wise will be that people who shall have the courage to discover and separate these great truths from the error which human frailty has added to them, whether designedly or otherwise. CHAPTEE II. BLIND GUIDES. It scarcely admits of question that people in general have ceased to believe, as they once did, in what are called the great doctrinal truths of their respective creeds. It is well that this should be so. The mind is thereby in course of preparation to receive better instruction. The ground is being broken up for seed which will produce more lasting fruit. Superstitious notions are losing their hold, and men are about to emerg-e from the domains of imagination into those of reality. The Almighty never has left His creatures without evidence of His truth. His rules have been continually in force, and people at all times, as far as they have obeyed them, have benefited. Unhappily for mankind, tlie rules of the Creator are overlaid to such an extent by the inventions of men, that it is not easy to distinguish the divine from the human. Eternal realities are so mingled with earthly artifi- cialities, that the efficacy of the first are lost sight of. BLIND GUIDES. 47 Eepose is so sweet that man mistakes it for his normal condition. Duty and obedience are felt to be irksome, and in order to shirk these, our teachers have invented ways by which we may enjoy the hope of enterino- heaven without the fatigues attendant on the journey. Judaism, Christianity, Buddliism, Mahometanism, and all other forms of religion, possess a substratum of our Maker's laws. However overlaid by special doctrines distinctive of each, yet within each the rules of the Almighty exist. Man, the tyrant, has to some extent injured the claims of the Creator. Man exacts more than he ought from his fellows. But the laws of God are so well devised that, when once the mind obtains a clear perception of them, they work with a i success and facility as complete as could be desired. ( These laws are indeed the true Providence of the I Suprerae Being. In them is His wisdom centered, so ) far as His relation to us is concerned. Beautiful in ) their economy and working, in them is found that ) bond which coimects man with his Maker. -^ As the laws which our Maker appointed for the growth of corn are the same now as they were thou- sands of years ago, so the principles which govern the growth and production of human qualities, whether physical or moral, were settled ages ago, before all Prophets, Apostles, and other teachers a])pcarcd. 48 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. They are tlie same principles to-day as they were then, and will remain the same, in spite of all that alleged messengers of the Deity may say or do to the con- trary. He is the same unchangeable Maker. He is not a man that is turned from His purposes, either to the rio-ht or to the left. He has appointed a way for the safety and improve- ment of mankind, and something has to be done to reach it. Principles have to be put in motion, and then follows the result. It is not belief in a Saviour that makes our salvation. Belief in God himself would not save, much less trust in any subordinate being, human or divine. But to do our duty in the manner which the Maker has appointed with regard to our bodies and to our souls, and towards Himself and towards our fellow-creatures, that will save a man if anything will. It is not therefore belief, but action which is essential. I wish to go to St. Paul's church. I believe it stands in the City of London ; but unless I know the way, and unless I take it, I may never reach it. So it is with regard to our Maker. We must know the way to Him, and take it. We must actually walk in it : simple belief in Him will not suffice. The path Avhicli leads to the kingdom of Happiness is yet un- revealed. As the route from Europe to India round BLIND GUIDES. 49 the Cape of Good Hope was unknown for countless ages, and its manifold benefits consequently lost to mankind, so the path which I speak of is hidden from us. We continue as heretofore to roam about in our ignorance. Instead of discerning the real route to this kingdom, and then fixithfully keeping to it we set up ways of our own. Our institutions are not based on everlasting rules ; and they consequently fail. Such has been the fate of human institutions in times past, and so it ever will be until we know how to distinguish between what is real and perpetual and what is only imaginary and fleeting. How shall we discover this path which we seek 1 If we look abroad on the objects around, the hills, the valleys, the rivers, the fields, the crops, the trees, all are beautiful and all are perfect of their kind. They come from the hand of a Great Being, who has given to each and aU their appointed place and use. And if He has made these things perfect is it likely that he has forgotten or neglected to appoint a way for the perfection of man, his best and highest work ? Knowledge, to be of real value, should be thoroughly ours. In any plans for our happiness we should thoroughly see our way, otherwise we waver and end our days in perplexity, gloom, and sorrow. It un- fortunately happens that we are called to believe, and 50 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. piit implicit faith in many imaginary truths ; whereas our duty is clearly to follow the rules of our Maker, for the establishment of our well-being. We have to ascertain by the light which He has placed within us what these laws are. Among the thoughts which should occupy before all others, a place in the mind of every rational being is, the idea of our Maker. Our souls should have impressed upon them the stamp, as it were, of the everlasting, the glorious Being; who formed us and the universe. This im- pression should be as clear, as simple, and as expres- sive as is possible. We know from our birth our natural father. We should learn at the earliest period possible of our lives the chief characteristics of our Spiritual Head. It is an acquaintance, a study rather, which we cannot too early form. We owe Him all things, life, health, and every privilege we possess ; and as He is the fountain of all goodness, and of all knowledge, it is manifestly to our great advantage that our first knowledge should be of Him. If He occupy the first place in our minds, it is evident that our characters will be made to harmonise with His will ; for they are moulded according to our know- ledge. If wc know something of the character of our Maker, that something, being pure and holy, entering our mind, purifies it. There is an analogy in this BLIND GUIDES. r^i respect between the body and tlie soul. If we take unwliolesome food into the body, the consequence may be fatal to life, certainly injurious ; and so it is in the mind or spirit. According to the ideas which we admit into the mind, so will our mind become either healthy, amiable, lovely, and happy, or corrupt, disagreeable, and miserable. If my mind is fed with good, moral, and spiritual thoughts, my actions and life are controlled by those thoughts ; my time is filled up in virtuous ways, my spuit is cultivated under the €ye of the most perfect of spirits. One character in which our Maker stands con- spicuous, is that of Benevolence. Love is the principle which moves the Maker towards man in all his deal- ings, and we cannot do better than imitate in this respect the All-Perfect. Love is the only safe founda- tion on which to build all human action. We are all related to one another, and as a man looks with tenderness on the failings or sins of his o^vn brother or sister, so ought we to regard with compassionate interest the misdeeds of any individual of the human family. For are not all failings held up to us for our admonition. Are they not lessons for our instruction and guidance ; are they not warnings for us, beacons to show us where danger is, and to guide us from error ! Charles Lamb exemplified this when he undertook E 2 52 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. the charge of his unhappy sister, who had murdered their parent. Something of the affection which he dis- played should be ours when we are called to contem- plate the errors of any of our fellow-creatures. It will be said that poor Miss Lamb was irresponsible, for she had totally lost her reason. True ; but in like manner, though in a lesser degree, the reasoning faculty of all who commit error is injured. Let it be remembered that it is not by censuring others that we mend their ways and teach them to go right ; but by convincing them of the right way, in order that they may contrast . it with their previous line of conduct. It is not in sacrifices, nor in ceremonies, nor in mediators, nor in the intercessions of priests, nor in almsgiving, that the regeneration which we require is to be found. All these are lazy devices of men. We must look to effectuate the perfection of mankind in some other way than these. Man being directly responsible to his Maker for the course he pursues in this life, it is necessary for him to know with certainty, what the nature of his actions should be, in order to inherit the Divine favour, and in due time obtain an entrance into the after life. The way of frightening people into virtue by alarming them with the torments of eternal fires may have answered its purpose while the mind was enslaved in ignorance ; BLIND GUIDES. 53 but all tliis is changed. Such a threat, while it brings the goodness of the Divine character into (pestion, serves admii'ably to plant in the mind seeds of credulity of which unhappily there is abundance ; and which with other false notions cling like weeds to the mind with such tenacity as to prevent its natural grow^th and power. It is only by thoroughly knowing the nature of our obligations, and the course w^e ought to pursue, that there is a chance of following them. As time deepens the real track of our duties to make them perceptible to us, let us do what we can to make the way plain to others, rather than confuse the mind with false issues which cannot but disturb the wayfarer. To deal in mysteries, to declare that the dispensa- tions of our Maker are mysterious, is but to confound all knowledo;e of Him. When we consider the cruelty, the crime, the disease, the pauperism, the degraded state of the poor ; when age after age, we see little if any amendment in these things ; when we consider that the great and the rich, whether princes or priests, countenance this condition of things, and do nothing practical to amend it, should we be surprised at the disloyalty to both divine and human government which exists amongst the lowest class in the scale of society? There is 54 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. certainly no love between tliem and the great. And if the poor bear no affection for the latter, whom they see, how can they know, or trust Him, whom they do not see, but whose arrangement of all things leaves them so miserable. They see in the drudgery and misery of their class an abandonment of them- selves. They are forsaken, as it were, to a cruel fate. And from the ruin around them they infer the absence of a Supreme Controller. They can neither understand the dogma, which they are taught, nor can they comprehend the fate they suffer, and they run in their blindness into the mire of Atheism. The more clear the way is made for us, the greater the probability that it will be followed. All obscurity therefore should be left out in this instruction : — wherever there is any doubt, mystery, or opposition to our Maker's laws, that cannot be the way for man to- adopt ; for everything required of him will be found simple and in harmony with our Maker s views. It being then admitted, as I think it must, that the way which is clearest to human intelligence is the right one, I shall proceed to notice a few of the attempts which have been made by ignorant and delusive- guides to shroud the path of happiness in mystery and confusion, and I shall begin by indicating a fundamental error of instruction. We are commonly BLIND GUIDES. 55 told imperatively, and without the shadow of a reason, that we must not do this or that. Suppose we were being instructed in the art of preserving health, and we w^ere admonished not to catch fever, nor cholera, nor to Ml into fits, I fear we should not be much the better for the advice. What we require is the know- ledge of the way to prevent disease. So also we re- quire instructions to prevent us falling into sin or evil. To know and cultivate ways of goodness leads us into happiness : and through that knowledge and cultiva- tion alone we avoid evil. What we obviously require, then, is to know what equalities we should cultivate, and the best way to cultivate them. The misery of the great majority of mankind arises from the fact that society has set a false value upon many things. Actual life is a sort of race, in which the prizes are, rank, titles, wealth, power, and place, all of them really incidentals to happiness, but not essen- tials. And as all cannot gain these prizes, but only a few, there is great failure and disappointment. This folly should cease. The issues ought to be wholly different. AVe should run for the essentials of happiness, — these we are sure to win, and with them we shall be happy. Oh, Bishops, men of learning, piety, and goodness, when will ye study to confine yourselves to these things? when will ye separate yourselves from the 56 THE MAX OF THE FUTURE. false gods of society ? Why will ye continue to give eclat to the pride of rank, and wealth, and influence, when ye should above all exalt virtue and excellence ? Your acceptance of wealth and position, your very greediness to obtain them, encourage men whom you profess to lead to indulge in false conceptions of truth. They see you who ought to be models of righteousness run after wealth and w^orldly in- fluence, and can they be blamed if they too ardently follow after such things ? Why do you persist in the acquisition of such objects of ambition when you know that they are not the chief things which the Deity has appointed for the welfare of mankind ? Where is the evidence in you of that love, equality, humility, which claim to be the foundation of Christianity ? Your deportment as princes separates you from your fellow-men. Does it not resemble a fraud committed against that religion of which you are the chiefs and leaders ? And are not those funda- mental truths violated in you ? Do you, or do you not, by your position and conduct, by your acts and pro- ceedings, give a direct contradiction to the instruction taught by Christ and his Apostles whom ye profess to follow ? Be not deceived. The Church you rule over will rapidly lose ground unless you surrender once and for ever the many false principles which, BLIND GUIDES. n7 tliougli handed down to you and whieli you have inherited, are nevertheless offensive to the will of the Deity, and therefore inimical to tlie best interests and welfare of mankind. Well may Bishops, Canons, Statesmen, and others declare that the poverty of the poor and the riches of the rich grow greater and greater each day, and that ill-will, jealousy, and antagonism exist between classes to such an extent that the safety of society is threat- ened. Singularly enough, while this is admitted, the Church laughs to scorn all attempts at amelioration unless they originate w^ithin its oa^^i body. It has had the guidance of society ever since the commence- ment of the Christian era ; and though it is heartily dissatisfied with the results of its instruction, yet it declares that there is no other way possible to regene- rate society but by the Church, namely, the very means which has so remarkably failed. And this persistence of the Church in a false idea is imfortunately, to a certain degree, though it diminishes daily, shared by the laity. These have been so indoctrinated with certain dogmas that they with difficulty recognise any truths which tend to subvert or destroy the latter. An irrational fear of God is one pernicious result of the instruction of the age. There is nothing to fear from so good and perfect a Being as our Creator. A 58 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. perfect Being like God is lovely in every aspect of His character, and there is every reason why we should come as nigh to Him as we can, and that on all occasions. Whatever we are about, if we can mingle the thought of God in it so much lighter will be our work. We gain strength spiritually as we think upon Him. There is every reason therefore that we should have recourse to Him at all times. Our spirits require refreshment, but when they are alienated from Him it is like being shut out from all light and heat. If w^e are admonished to fear God the effect is to make us shun Him altogether, whereas the contrary should be our delight. We should love Him con- tinually, and as a consequence of this love, study His law and follow it. When we have familiarised ourselves more and more with the character of our Maker, and when we see the beauty and perfection of His laws, we shall not be alarmed at the prospect of quitting this life, but rather shall we feel death to be the dispensation of an Almighty Friend, whose purposes and plans we have learnt to admire, and for whose love we have waited patiently. If an object which concerns us to know is held up to us as something dreadful, it naturally becomes repulsive to the mind. AVhereas the contrary should BLIND GUIDES. 50 be the study of our teacliers. So dreadful is the con- tempLation of our Maker become, so marvellous and fearful His dispensations as misrepresented to us, that it is with increasing impatience we consent to hear a lecture from the pulpit about Him. This is not as it should be. From childhood to old age that Fountain of all goodness, purity, truth, and perfection is made to occupy in our minds such unpleasant memories that we fear to lengthen out our thoughts of Him ; and yet where is there a better and more glorious and more profitable contemplation and study than that of our Maker, and of all His wonderful rules and works 1 The study of these should be the delight of our lives. Then alone all the phenomena of our existence would become understood and valued, and the end of existence here would not be stigmatised as the fruit of sin, but would be recognised as the consummation of this our state of preparation : a consummation full of rejoicing and of hope to them who have understood and obeyed the rules of our Maker. Another mistaken idea implanted by erroneous teaching is the notion of devoting one particular day in the seven to spiritual purposes. This is plainly seen when we consider the injustice done to the spirit by the exercise of such a rule. The nourishment which the spirit requires in order to keep it in a 60 ■ THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. proper stcate of intercourse with the Father of spirits, is a daily, nay, almost an hourly necessity. AVhat would be said of a proposition to nourish the body with food once a week, and let it take its chance during the rest of that time as to what it received in the shape of food. Such an idea would be thought too preposterous to be entertained for a moment, and yet the appoint- ment of one day in seven for the special consideration of spiritual matters has practically the eifect of starving the soul altogether. The man who neglects spiritual things for six days in the week is quite unable to comprehend on the seventh what is required to sustain his soul in health. It is partly owing to this that there is so little of vital religion. The forms of religious service are gone through on the Sabbath, but the reality of a religious life is neither understood nor appreciated. The setting apart one day is an institution which permits people to deceive themselves. They comply with a form while they fail to take hold of a great Eeality, namely, a true conception of a spiritual existence. This existence should be known as a present and an actual existence. It is not one which is to follow this life — it is not one which is in any way to succeed this, or to which we may or may not become entitled ; but it is one which we actually have at present, but which, according to the treatment BLIND GUIDES. 61 which the soul receives, is either a highly moral and intellectual, or a low degraded and animal life. Nothing short of the total abolition of the Sabbath becomes necessary. There is no particular degree of sacredness in this day over another. It is simply a portion of time in all respects like any other equal portion of a week. To hold it in any way as more sacred is but to divert the attention from the point where all our attention is needed. The improvement, nay, the sanctification of the human soul should be the one absorbing thought in each. That result can only be brought about by daily preparation of the spirit that is in us. The cultivation of that inner life should occupy, not one day in the week, but every day. The abolition of the Sabbath and the employment of some of its hours in ordinary labour should enable employers to reduce the hours of work for the workino- man, so as to afford him the oj)portunity for daily cultivation of his spiritual life. For instance, instead of his working for fifty or sixty hours during six days, let him spread the same number of hours over seven days inclusive of the Sabbath. As a consequence, there would be less hardship and disease, and more daily opportunity for the working man to seek his improve- ment. He will have to work perhaps seven or eight hours a day instead of nine or ten. He would not be m THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. SO tired of an evening as not to be able to read, and therefore he would devote an hour or two each evening to intellectual improvement, improvement so much needed to lift the working classes from a condition of difficulty to one of comparative contentment. As to the day of rest itself, such a day is quite unnecessary. The night is the proper time for rest : appointed by the Maker as the proper season of repose, it is ample. If the hours of labour were fewer, the cha- racter of the work would, not only l^e superior, but the fatigue of the day to the labourer would be much less ; and by intelligent arrangement he would be- come, instead of a mere beast of burden, a citizen contented and happy, one of millions inhabiting a prosperous kingdom. It is a thousand times more important to keep ourselves holy than to keep holy the Sabbath ; to preserve the personal righteousness of immortal beings than the sanctity of a portion of Time. The day of judgment is another of the fallacies under which we labour. We are instructed that a great trial awaits us after death, the time appointed being the end of the world, when all who have ever lived will rise from their graves to receive sentence according to their merits or demerits. This postpone- ment of so solemn a procedure has the worst conse- BLIND GUIDES. 63 quences. It prevents the acquisition by us of the knowledge of the real facts which concern us so deeply. The day of judgment is always present. It is the actual, the passing day of our lives. AVe are being hourly tried according as we conduct ourselves. Ac- cording as we observe, neglect, or defy the laws of our Maker, physical and moral, so are we judged. We suffer instant injury to om^selves if we break any of His rules made for our well-beins^. For all this it is Avithout doubt true that according as we are fit for employment in our future spiritual life, so shall we be employed. It is of the highest importance to us all to cultivate spiritual qualities, so that we may appro- priately fill the position which our Maker intends for us in the purely spiritual condition which awaits us, and to which we should look forward with alacrity. Some people believe in the personal existence of a Devil. They imagine that bad ideas which arise in their minds are the suggestions of the Evil One, and they consequently say he is frequently at their side. But a little consideration would teach them that all ideas which make their appearance in their minds, and which arrest their attention, are simply the i^ro- ducts of their own faculties. These faculties are various. One class of them belong to and are prompted 64 THE MAN OF THE FUTUEE. by the body, and another class belong to the mind or soul ; and according as we employ or, in other words, cultivate these faculties, so are the suggestions which appear. All ideas are the fruit of this cultivation or development. When, therefore, we are tormented by evil thoughts, we may be sure that we have not been cultivating good but evil things, and that we have only ourselves to blame for our discomfort. To free ourselves altogether from such unhappy and altogether unprofitable thoughts there is but one way, and that is to keep well under control all our sensual desires, — gluttony, intemperance, extravagance, lust, pride. For when these and others like them have obtained the mastery over us, then indeed we are filled mtli all manner of evil thoughts and de- sires ; but when we have got them well under the guidance of our moral faculties, they no longer mili- tate against our comfort. Our l)usiness is to see that we are actively pursuing some good and moral object, for as surely as we neglect to pursue that which is good, evil steps in. There is no such thing as a vacuum in morals any more than in physics. When people have not learned a sound basis of truth, but are believing in such unrealities as divine resentment, devils, eternal punishments, and periodical spiritual culture, their reasoning faculties become de- BLIND GUIDES. 65 ranged. The instrument intended to guide them through Hfe goes out of order, and imagination usurps the place of reason. They are carried away by many a vague, idle fancy, which too frequently leads the way to their eternal ruin. It is not thus when we are possessed of real know- ledge. "We then discipline ourselves according to its provisions, and our minds are not disposed to run into mid, extravagant, pernicious, delusive ways. Ha\ing built upon a sound basis, the whole structure of our lives is sound. If ever, because of the many artificial and unreal things around, we are induced to wander in our thoughts, these are soon brought back to order and harmony when we remember the eternal principles which we have recognised as the guides of life. No authority is necessary to explain truths so simple. Each one must learn the laws for himself, as each person learns the route he has to take to reach his home. It is a great and unnecessary waste to have a priesthood, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Comtist, of some myriads, to inculcate doctrines based upon art non-natural and misleading. The way most conducive to our good is to have no interference be- tween us and our ]\Iaker. If we obtain a clear idea of His existence and of His perfections, that, with a knowledge of His laws, is all we need. We cannot 66 THE MAN OF THE FUTURE. help being penetrated by His attributes, and becoming like Him. If we perceive Him, we shall derive some of the traits of His great character. It is against our own improvement to have others continually thinking and acting for us, when the object of our Maker is our individual improvement; and this im- provement can only be properly effected by the employment of our own minds and spirits. The attractions of Christianity, what are they 1 The charm is certainly not intellectual. It is not supported by reason, and therefore it takes shelter in miracles and mystery. Here is at once its weakness and its strength. A person who has a real knowledge of the Maker's ways, perceives in Christianity a struc- ture of artifice, with a foundation as unreal as the superstructure. He sees the whole mass melting before the light of truth as it rises above the horizon. A religion which cannot harmonise with reason must give way in proportion as people become enlightened, and unless it is supported by force it will only be found in the abodes of the ignorant and superstitious. But that which is right and reasonable will increase from day to day among all nations and peoples, until it spreads itself over the whole of the habitable world. Its influence, like that of heat, will be felt everywhere ; for, like heat, it possesses a force in itself which, as BLIND GUIDES.