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ligion to be reduced to a contemplation purely individual ? Must it be considered simply an inward meditation , devoid of influence on the social character—the political life ? Should not rather this religion of the future present itself as the expression of the collective thought of humanity , as the synthesis of all its conceptions , of all its modes of being ? Ought she not to take a prominent place in the political order and govern it wholly ?"
It is in the last sense that the problem is solved by the school of St . Simon . Feeling that the present age ( at least in France ) is strongly against any new examination of this vital question , many pages are devoted to inculcate its importance and necessity ; it points out that the irreligion of our epoch is only that which characterises all critical epochs , is only the effect of the antipathies entertained against an old doctrine become inadequate , and against those institutions which are its demonstration ; that in another point of view it is no more than the effect of this fact , that man , when contemplating the universe
and his own existence , fails to perceive there order , harmony , unity ; but humanity tends invincibly , by its nature , towards a new conception of order , and , in the moment of seizing it , will return to religion , because order , harmony and unity , are no more than the varied expression of the religious idea . The sciences have the same basis as all religious structures—God , and a providential plan ; far then from being atheistical in their essence , they take their source and find their power in an idea essentially religious ; namely , that there is constancy , order , and regularity , in the chain of phenomena ; ' that ,
in fact , they contribute , by the progressive discovery of the laws which govern the universe , to give an idea always more and more complete of providential design , and that in this sense it may be said of the sciences , ' that they declare the glory of God / ' No , ' they cry ; ' science is not destined to be the eternal enemy of religion , to narrow perpetually its domain , to overthrow it some day entirely ; she is called , on the contrary , to extend its empire , to strengthen it incessantly ; since , in fact , each step of its progress must result in giving to
man a more noble idea of God , and of his designs for humanity . Is it not thus that the most illustrious of those have felt , those men in whose footsteps It is the glory of our men of science to follow ? See Newton elevating himself even to the idea of gravitation , and then humbly bending before that God whose will he has discovered . Listen to Kepler giving thanks to God , in a hymn full of enthusiasm , for having revealed to him the simplicity and grandeur of the plan on which he has established the mechanism of the universe . Hear Leibnitz , the greatest of the masters of science according to the
expression of De Maistre , declaring that , if he attaches any value to the labours of science , it is above all , that he may have a right to speak of God . In proportion as science is elevated does she approach to religion , and , in fact , the scientific inspiration in its highest degree is one with religious inspiration . * " Comparing the three general states which , up to the present time , comprehend the religious development of man , —Fetishism , Polytheism , and Monotheism , comprehending Judaism and Christianity , it will appear that the religious sentiment has successively increased in importance with regard both
to individual and social life . If we study its influence on individuals , we shall find that the religious tie has been constantly strengthened by the increase of love and veneration towards God , and the growing authority of the doctrine of a future life In its social influence the progress of religious belief is not less evident by its ever-increasing power or aggregation , attested by the extension of the successive centres of association , family , city , nation , church , corresponding to the successive dogmas of Fetishism , Polytheism , and Monotheism , Jewish and Christian . The school of St . Simon concludes , from this
picture , that in the new organic epoch now preparing , religion is destined to make a new , an immense progress , a consequence drawn from the progress made in the past from one organic epoch to another , both in its individual and social value . It proclaims that there is a religious future for humanity ; that the religion of the future will be more grand , more powerful than any of
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188 The Saint Simonites .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1831, page 188, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2595/page/44/
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