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ness requiring him to use it in directing even the small details of carpentry , each of which was expressly decreed , by citation of the first person , in the name of the Deity . He employed it to reform their dietetics ; to improve their morals—in ff the Ten Commandments . " Some of those Commandments will be just through all time ; some , like that against idol-making , are directed against obsolete abuses ; others bear traces of barbarism , as in the jealousy imputed to God . Long ages later appeared Jesus of Nazareth , and most modern
whose position in history controversy is very remarkable . By recent writers his very existence has been denied , though the invention of a character so divine , with a history so true looking , is far more incredible than anything in the staple of the history itself . The circumstances recorded of his origin , which , " humanly speaking , " was obscure , have been explained as a myth invented subsequently . Some of his religious dogmas and moral principles have been traced to Plato . Bu (; whatever the fact may be regarding these exeessively controverted points , taking his history as
it stands , some facts in it are incontrovertible . * Humanly speaking" his origin is obscure , and is not explained . He makes his appearance in obscure classes of society , and is by them regarded as the expected Messiah . He was a dissenter from the faith of his country ; and in regard to his doctrines , these very important facts must be cpnstantly borne in mind . He did not wholly deny the Jewish faith 5 for the most part he did not expressly adopt it . By implication he adopted considerable part of it into his own ; though where
the line is to be drawn between positive adoption and the mere accommodation of his language to the moral state of his hearers it would be very difficult to say . He expressly enunciated a new moral code , the spirit of which is totally repugnant to the spirit of the anterior code ; but in the sequel his professed followers deviated from his teaching , in adhering far more than he did to the letter of that anterior code . And , in departing from the spirit of his new dispensation , there can be no question that the doctrine which came down to us
as a whole was vitiated , —far less divine and beautiful than when it came straight from his mouth . A better intelligence , however , in later days has tended to restore the spirit to the letter , and , although it is forbidden to dispute settled points of form , the expedient has been adopted of explaining away" puerile myths or barbarous precepts . But in virtue of the immutability demanded for the dogmas of priesthoods , we are still called upon to
respect the old traditions and precepts ^ of the dispensation which Jesus repealed ; that _ is , we must keep our understanding in that particular to the level of cultivation and knowledge proper to the time of the ancient Jews . The penalty is social excommunication ; and under that penalty the timid and the selfish , even among those who know better and see the mischief , permit self-interest or moral cowardice to make them conform entirely , or
evade opposition by compromise . Among the evil consequences of such a state of things we find the following . Doctrines in themselves , barbarous and bad—like the " blood for blood " of the Old Testament , —which would become obsolete by the improvement of knowledge and art , are preserved by being wrapped up in the consecrated dogmas , and are even endured with a sort of respect : thus " Religion " teaches respect for things bad . The immense number of bad examples , mentioned without censure , or even
praised , also teaches vice , and imparts to it the sanction of " Religion . " Almost every crime on record is explained , sometimes censured sometimes sanctioned ; murder , treason , and brutal violence , are but slight specimens of the crimes committed by men held up as patterns enjoying divine favour . Things the most puerile are held up as objects of veneration—read the account of the Ark— -and thus the mind is habituated to confound things contemptible with things reverend . The habit of believing things incredible debilitates the mind ; the habit of pretending to do so corrupts it .
The association of a ** Religion" thus vitiated with the scheme of morals perverts the moral sense . It teaches people to disbelieve much of the good that exists around them , —nay , to think good things bad ; and by contradicting the most sacred impulses of human nature , it distorts those impulses ; thus producing misery and vice . It engages the appugnancy of human nature to combat about nonjssential and merely technical dogmas , and lends ; o that hated conflict the zeal due to the sacred ruth of religion . Thus men will fight for the
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[ In this department , as all opinions , however extreme , are auowbb an expression , the editor necessarily holds himself responsible for none . ]
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STABILITY OF SOCIETY . August 14 , 1850 . Sir , —Your " Open Council , " I presume , is an arena for the discussion , not merely of opinions , but of modes of arguing ; and few things require discussion more . Availing myself of this liberty , I will put a few questions to one of your corespondents ( signing himself W . Thomas ) who is a very active questioner of others , and is much dissatisfied that nobody is willing to be " plain " " precise . " Mr . Thomas stands up for the indissolubility of the marriage
contract for the following plain and precise reason : — " The stability of society rests upon the permanence of the marriage tie ; loosen that , and society is on a sandbank . " These he thinks threatening words , since he puts them in italics . I ask , what he intends to be understood by them . " The stability of society" is an expression I have often heard before ; but I cannot say I have ever been instructed what it meant . Indeed , I have remarked that it is mostly used by people who are not in the habit of attaching to what If
any very particular meaning they say . the foundations of a house give way , the house falls , and there is no longer a house . What is it that happens if society falls ? And what is this thing called *• society * ' that requires to be protected from falling ? Has it anything to do with you , and me , and the remainder of the men and women in the world ? Does it mean the men and women themselves ? If so , what is meant by the stability of the men and women ? If it does not mean the men and women , does it mean anything belonging to them ? And if so , what ? And what is the precise nature of the mischief to be apprehended incase this something ,
I know not what , should come upon a " sandbank r When a ship comes upon a sandbank , I know what happens ; the ship breaks to pieces and the passengers are drowned . I want to have it made equally clear to me what would happen if , in consequence of permitting facility of divorce , " society " should , as Mr . Thomas says it will , come upon a sandbank . I am the more desirous to be enlightened on this matter as I cannot call to mind any great improvement in human affairs , or the eradication of any deeprooted and long-standing evil , which was not , at the time when it happened , represented as subverting abolition ot
the foundations of society . The slavery ; what a laying prostrate of the whole fabric of society was there ! There was a time when even the boldest speculators were afraid to entertain such an idea . The destruction of the temples and altars of the old divinities , by the introduction of Christianity , was , according to the gravest people , the demolition of society altogether . The Reformation ! another dreadful blow to the stability of society . The Revolution of 1688 , which expelled God ' s anointed and set up the people ' s delegate ; nay , the Reform Bill , and
even Catholic emancipation , all made society crack and totter . Cheap newspapers , teaching the people to read ; this last was a thing after which , we were told by many people , society could not much longej exist . A Turk thinks , or used to think ( for even , Turks are wiser now-a-days ) , that society would be on a sandbank if women were suffered to walk about the streets with their faces uncovered . Taught by these and many similar examples , I look upon thjs expression of loosening the foundations of society , unless tells in unambi terms
a person guous what he means by it , as a mere bugbear to frighten imbeciles with . The utmost it can mean is , that the thing so characterized would be a great change-r- of some sor $ , ; which change may either be for the better or for the worse . I am one who think that not only divorce , but great changes in most matters are needed ; and I confidently hope for many more as complete subversions of the foundations of " society" as were made by Christianity , the Reformation , and the enfranchisement of the slave .
I cannot conclude without a word or two on the naive selfishness of another letter , in the same number of your paper and on the same question , but on the contrary side of it , in favour of Divorce . The writer shows the most unaffected unconsciousness that anybody has an interest in the matter except the man , whom , he purposes to liberate from the consequences of an " act of youthful folly or inexperience . " Not a word of the tooman , who is in ninetynine cases out of a hundred the chief sufferer , as is inevitable so long as the law gives all the power to the man ; and on whose account , for more than even on
that of the man , it is necessary that the yoke should be lightened . But this entire ignoring of women , as if their claim to the same rights as the other half of mankind were not even worth mentioning , stares one in the face from every report of a speech , every column of a newspaper . In your paper of the 27 th ultimo , there is a long letter signed Homo , claiming the " right of the suffrage " as justly belonging to every man , while there is not one line of his argument which would not be exactly as applicable if " woman " were read instead of " man ; " yet the thought never
appears to occur to him . In a Conservative this would be intelligible—monopoly , exclusion , privilege , is his general rule ; but in one who demands the suffrage on the ground of abstract right , it is an odious dereliction of principle , or an evidence of intellectual incompetence . While the majority of men are excluded , the insult to women of their exclusion as a class is less obvious . But even the present capiicious distribution of the franchise has more semblance of justice and rationality than a rule admitting all men to the suffrage and denying it to all women .
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RELIGION . Aug . 16 , 1850 . Sir , —I quite agree with your correspondent who denies the possibility or the necessity of a new religion . The theology of men may require purification , but the only religion for humanity is that which humanity has always recognized under forms more or less imperfect . We want no revelation but that which we may read every day ; and we ought to expect no revelation but that which still remains unexplored and unobeyed . It must be conceded , however , that this eternal religion has no dogmas , admits of no exact definition , has no Articles and no Liturgy .
Habit miscreates us , and gives us artificial wants . A salvation by enchantment under some new form is what gentle spirits , who have not long renounced the old superstition , would appear still to require ; and to refuse formal worship seems sacrilegious in their eyes . As they grow stronger , as the confusing and prejudicing influences of bad beliefs and perverting practices fade away , they will lose these misgivings and melancholy forebodings ; and painful cravings for an exact and precisely formulated creed will be lost in that higher life which is manifested in childlike resignation , in reverence , love , hope , and faith . Then the demand for a new religion will cease . But it has been said that there can be no sustained piety
without worship ; and that even strong men require the discipline and nourishment of forms . What , then , is the worship of God , of which we hear so much . Is it not the wondering recognition of the Divine work ; is it not the loving perception of the Divine goodness ; is it not the sentiment of awe felt as in the presence of the Invisible Life of the world ; the infinite and adoring admiration which the sense of the endless terrors and splendours of the universe of God must awaken in all thinking minds and feeling hearts ? Surely the only sincere and adequate must he in the
celebration of the Divine greatness experience of holy thoughts and sentiments like these . So the only true confession is the sense of our littleness and imperfection , and the quiet acceptance of our necessary limitations ; the only true prayer is the desire for a heart more loving , more reverential , and more obedient to the eternal laws ; the only true thanksgiving is the grateful and joyful emotion with which we contemplate the presence of goodness , and beauty , and justice in the world . Is it requisite to have a form of prayer that shall embody these emotions r Cannot we meditate on the unspeakable
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mere traditional and impossible fragments from the wood of the pure cross , and in doing so violate the true spirit of that sacred symbol . All these things have been pointed out before ; but there is one effect of a vitiated Religion which has not been indicated—its preoccupying the place that ought to be occupied by a true Religion . It is not only bad in itself , but it blocks out that Religion which would be capable of becoming a true moral influence suited to the improved conditions of mankind—at all events calculated to improve mankind .
Thus is it that that the name of Religion comes down to us as " the persuader of ills , " the fomenter of discords , the proverbial source of the worst hate . Have we faith in God , that we can suffer evils to reach this pass in his name , without a struggle for redemption ? I will do my best towards answering that question . Thornton Hunt .
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There is no learned man but will confess he hath , much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for > him to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerable for his adversary to write . —Milton .
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 17, 1850, page 494, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1850/page/14/
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