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THE REASONER

No. 2.-NEW SERIES.] EDITED BY G. J. HOLYOAKE.

[PRICE 2d.

MANKIND often award more applause to brilliant error than to useful truth, if the truth be at the same time plain and prosaic. This arises from not seeing that it matters little how prosaic truth is: if it be but necessary truth, its results will be splendid. Useful truth may wear an unpretending air, but it has a brilliant future. Among the many projects which have deservedly occupied the attention of the industrious classes, as means of improvement of personal position, Building Societies have of late years assumed a prominent rank, and they are now being applied to political enfranchisement. But Building Societies, like all experimental societies, have proceeded upon experimental principles. But few persons of sound mathematical knowledge, or experience in calculations, have turned their attention to them, with a view to ascertain whether they rest on a scientific basis. This task has lately been undertaken by Mr. Scratchley, to whose able work, on this subject, we desire to draw the attention of our readers.

A work so elaborate as the one to which we are referring, abounding in calculations and examinations of Building Societies' illustrative accounts, does not admit of analysis in this publication, but is useful to apprise our readers, of whom so many are personally interested in Building Societies, that Mr. Scratchley's work enters with great ability into the exposition of the defective operation of too many existing societies, with the view to their amendment, or the formation of new societies upon correct principles.

A minute inquiry into the various systems of these societies has confirmed Mr. Scratchley in an opinion, suggested to him by previous experience, that one prominent defect-one fatal obstacle in the way of their success-is the almost universal condition by which the existence of a Building Society is limited to a specific number of years. This fact, for such he demonstrates it to be, has led Mr. Scratchley to consider the manner in which these institutions may be constructed on a permanent basis, so as to be free, as far as possible, from the imperfections of the terminating system; and he has augmented the value of his work by including in it a set of Rules, with directions for the practical management of a permanent Building Society.

As so many of the industrious classes must join these societies on the

*A Treatise on the Benefits of Building Societies,' by Arthur Scratchley, M.A., Actuary to the Western Life Assurance Society. J. Parker, West Strand.

[No. 162, Vol. VII.]

simple faith which they have in the integrity and intelligence of the directors, and so few of those who risk their hard and life-long earnings in these speculations are themselves competent to determine the chance of security for the realisation of their hopes which any given society actually affords, those who direct them (if not those who subscribe to them) should make sure of the grounds on which they assume the grave responsibility of their office; and to this end we do not know that an abler work than Mr. Scratchley's can be consulted.

G. J. HOLYOAKE.

[A Review of Mr. Lewes's Life of Robespierre was intended for this number, and partly written, when the City of London Election summoned Mr. Holyoake to the duty of labouring to prevent the election of Lord John Manners as the representative of the intolerance of the House of Lords. The notice of election being sudden, the days and nights of the early part of the week were so entirely occupied that it was found impossible to finish the notice in time.]

PROFESSOR NEWMAN ON THE SOUL.*

THAT simple-hearted practice of crowning every new hero with the halo which belongs alone to the Genius of Humanity, and inferring excellence in all things from excellence in one, has met with many a cold smile from those whose experience has acquainted them with the woful imperfections of every human person and thing: but it springs from a true intuition, that harmony of development is the really natural state of man, and that the virtues are most real when dwelling in union. And while we prepare ourselves to witness, in daily life, the very reverse of this state, how joyously we spring again to the child's intuitive hope, when we witness attempts to harmonise the opposing elements of the world by making evident their equal root in nature, and the true sphere of action belonging to each. Such an attempt is this new work of Professor Newman.

Many persons have already endeavoured to vindicate the reality of Faith to the reason of the sceptic, but, with a very few exceptions, they have not dared to face the whole problem. Their worship was not free from the leaven of tradition and authority, and they did not feel their faith distinctly enough to place it on an independent and individual basis. Consequently, the sceptic always felt that there was a part of his reasoning (and often the largest part) unanswered, and the conviction that it could not be answered naturally deepened in his mind. If morally inferior, he glorified himself thereupon: if morally single, he only sang praises to Truth,' and went on his way satisfied that, in exterminating religion, he was doing the best that in him lay towards emancipating his fellow-men from weakness, ignorauce, and misery.

But Mr. Newman does face the whole problem, and aims to render to the Understanding the things that belong to the Understanding, and to the Soul the things of the Soul.' (p. 215.) From the well

The Soul, Her Sorrows and Aspirations: an Essay towards the Natural History of the Soul, as the true basis of Theology.' By Francis William Newman, formerly Fellow of Baliol College, Oxford. London: Chapman.

known Paley watch-argument, and 'the mischief arising from the current Bibliolatry' (p. 72), to the fetish-consecration of an English Sunday, when the clergyman and the "minister" are in their glory' (p. 158), and sermons are preached which make Atheism seem preferable to Theism, by painting the Holy and All-Merciful as an Omnipotent Devil who on being complimented' (p. 173), nothing is blinked-whatever abuse he sees, he describes in plain words. And yet, from the individuality of man, he deduces a worship as deep and heart-filling as any that has existed in connection with these doctrines.

Three things result from this.

1. He unfolds the mischiefs and miseries inflicted and suffered by religious persons, from the neglect or distortion of reason, with unusual vividness, and still more unusual courage. This part of the book will doubtless gain him many enemies and alienations-and to see a man of high literary reputation, moving among educated society, dare to risk this, and with such singleness of aim and fulness of utterance as he has done, displays a noble devotedness which touches one too deeply for praise, and which, it may be hoped, will find its more appropriate reward in stimulating others to similar moral efforts.'

2. He does full justice to the non-religious. There is not only an entire absence of the pious horror and insulting pity which has so long constituted the sole recognition which religionists have condescended to take of their unworshipping fellow-men-but there is a genuine desire to appreciate moral and intellectual excellence on their own grounds, irrespective of the religious condition of their possessor. Even where he thinks that atheism springs from a moral error, he adds that he must carefully guard against seeming to overlook that it may be still a merely speculative error, which ought not to separate our hearts from any man. If we see another to love goodness and shudder at evil, he is to be loved, although he may hold a theory, which we think logically tends to annihilate exertion for the good and against the evil. On the other hand, many a bad-hearted man is theoretically orthodox on these points.' (p. 30.)

3. But our author believes that in addition to the moral and intellec tual, there is a religious element in man, and that these three need to be combined in perfect harmony before man can be wholly man: and that as the moral and intellectual elements each need the counterpoise of the other, to work safely and happily, so the combined action of these two needs the counterpoise of the religious element, to make them all that they are capable of being. The following extracts will help to develop his views.

'By the Soul we understand that side of human nature upon which we are in contact with the Infinite, and with God, the Infinite Personality in the Soul therefore alone is it possible to know God; and the correctness of our knowledge must depend eminently on the healthy, active, and fully developed condition of our organ. While the wellbeing of Man is the chief reason for coveting a knowledge of God, and all sound theology must aim ultimately at a practical end, the direct object of this Essay is nevertheless more scientific than practical...... Those truths, and those only, are properly to be called Spiritual, the nature of which admits of their being directly discerned in the Soul, just

as Moral truths in the Moral Sense: and he is a spiritual man, not who believes these at second hand (which is a historical or dead faith), but who sees internally, and knows directly. To guide towards the method of ascertaining these, is the object of the present treatise: and whatever may at first seem to be digressive, is nevertheless intended to conduce to a greater fulness of insight into this cardinal point.' (Preface).

In the English tongue, indeed, the very word Soul appears to have been intended to express that side of our nature by which we are in contact with the Infinite. The soul is to things spiritual, what the conscience is to things moral: each is the seat of feeling, and thereby the organ of specific information to us, respecting its own subject. If all human Souls and Consciences felt absolutely alike, we should fitly regard their enunciations as having a certainty on a par with the perceptions of Sense only, as sense is developed in an earlier stage of humanity, and is less dependent on higher cultivation than the Conscience and the Soul, the decisions of Sense are undoubtedly far easier to ascertain— not therefore more certain when ascertained.' (p. 4.)

'Morals can seldom gain living energy, without the impulsive force derived from Spirituals. Plato and Cicero may indeed talk of the surpassing beauty of Virtue; nor do we doubt, that a man's self-respect may make him choose to die, rather than live degraded in his own eyes by deviating from his ideal of right conduct: let earnest Stoicism be confessed to be noble and honourable; yet it makes the mind too exclusively reflexive, and endangers pride and self-confidence. Virtue is an abstraction, a set of wise rules, not a person; and cannot call out affection, as an existence exterior to the soul does. On the contrary, God is a Person; and the love of Him is, of all affections, by far the most energetic in exciting us to realise our highest ideal of moral excellence, and in clearing the moral sight, so that that ideal may keep rising. Other things being equal* (a condition not to be forgotten), a spiritual man will hold a higher and purer morality than a mere moralist. Not only does duty manifest itself to him as an ever expanding principle, but-since a larger and larger part of duty becomes pleasant and easy, when performed under the stimulus of Love-the Will is enabled to concentrate itself more on that which remains difficult, and greater power of performance is attained.' (pp. 123-4.)

'We need more of Nature in the soul; that is, a reverting to first principles, a development of primitive instincts, and some increased confidence that there still lives a God to hear and teach us. Never shall we by mere herding together, or by leaning on authority old or new, make up for intrinsic weakness in each separate soul.....But with more Individuality, more Independence of man, there will be more capacity to learn of God. Then we shall not aim (in theory, any more than in practice) to become little Christs or little Pauls; we shall as freely disclaim it, as in literature the becoming little Homers. Such imitation, all know, does not tend to excellence, but to stupidity. Men of little faith fix their eyes on the Past, as did the Scribes and Pharisees. Faith gratefully and reverently acknowledges and uses the Past, but sets her

*Mr. Newman's own italics.

face towards the Future. Those who build the tombs of the prophets, but allege that all inspiration is now closed, would, in former days, probably have aided to persecute them: those, on the other hand, who use individual prophets only as aids towards the Eternal Source of prophecy, are the true imitators of those holy men. Let us hope and seek that the life of God may be in us, as it was in them, a guide into truth and an energy for action: then shall our daily work be daily joy, and we shall eat angels' food.' (pp. 187-9.)

The main thread of this work is a detailed history of the religious progress of a soul, from its first dawning worship, through stages of intellectual difficulties and moral temptations, till gradually mastering both, it reaches a state of moral health and religious peace. To the sacred beauty and vivid truthfulness of this delineation very many will bear witness with beating hearts. But it also has its importance to sceptics. If the religious instinct cannot only survive all the supernatural machinery which has been so long thought indispensable to its existence, but live on with deep pervading vitality, as intense as that of any orthodox believer, and that, too, in connection with an intellect as unfettered, as critical, as acute as Professor Newman's, surely the sceptical dogma, that religion exists in an inverse ratio to intellect and virtue, deserves serious re-consideration. Indeed, it is this union of warm Faith with keen Thought that constitutes the crowning peculiarity of the book. In this respect it resembles Theodore Parker's well-known Discourse on Matters pertaining to Religion;' and resembles it so strongly that one cannot but class the two as belonging to the same series. But while Parker treats chiefly of the external phases of religious life, Newman speaks most of its internal development; and there is in him a pure simplicity, an absence from all searching after effect, and a single-minded breathing-forth of the truth because it is the truth, and, therefore, may not be hid; which sinks deeper into the reader's mind than all the rounded sentences and brilliant descriptions of Parker's somewhat diffuse, though truly admirable work.

Mr. Newman speaks of the desolating Pantheism that is abroad,' and elsewhere uses the term in connection with serious errors affecting both religion and morals. That it is frequently combined with these, is undoubted-but are they either essential to it in theory, or inseparable from it in practice? In England, at least, there are persons who accept the name of Pantheist without any belief in these errors. We prefer it to the name of Christian, not from any hostility to Christ, or to that class of moral and religious qualities which received so strong an impulse from his life and teaching as to have appropriated, perhaps not unjustly, the name of Christian virtues;' but because (independently of the confusion which must arise when views of Christ diametrically opposite to the popular ones, are yet made to retain the popular name) to call ourselves after any one man would be a compromise with what is to us the first of truths-that God speaks to all human beings, as they are able to hear Him and that Hebrew prophets and Christian Churches are to be ranked simply according to the spiritual depth of each, and are not to be set up in undue eminence over the other manifold springs of virtue and aspiration with which the Universal Father blesses every creature