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time that every adherent of revelation should consider and make up bis mind as to what part be is to take in the moral revolution which is spreading abroad , and which he is bound to oppose or aid . We have taken our part , judging of the system from the statements put forth by those who understand it best . Nothing is easier than to separate the enthusiasm from the rationale of the case ; the
partizanship from the sound convictions of its advocates ; their religious errors ( too natural to be startling ) from the fundamental piety , which is perhaps even more evident to us than to those who build upon it a structure which Christianity itself will hasten to consecrate . It is nothing to us ( in this view ) what St . Simon was ; we are concerned only with the results of his labours . It matters
little that some of his followers expect too soon the full operation of their principles ; we have to do only with the principles themselves . Our dissent from the St . Simonite opinions of the essence of Deity and the scope of Christianity , is not a sufficient reason for our rejection of the entire system , especially if we can account ( as we clearly can ) for the
distortion of their principles in these particular applications . Such partial dissent , on the contrary , engages our exertions on their behalf , and impels us to point out to them where we believe them to have found their sound principles , and what has caused them to perpetuate the few enormous errors from which their system will soon , we trust , work itself free . We wish we had as firm a faith that the
great body of Christians would speedily learn to refer the details of their religion to its principles , as we hate that the true St . Simouites will soon , through Christ , worship the Father in spirit and in truth . It is because Christians have thus forsaken principles for details that this sect has learned to conceive of a * ' Nouveau Christianisme . " Witness the following description ( which we translate ) of the ' direction of the exertions of the
Christian Church , " the only Christian Church whose proceedings have been known to the St . Simouites : " God being a pure spirit , all attainment of perfection , in a material order of beings , was judged to be of an essentially inferior nature . The principle of evil having matter for its domain , the accession of material enjoyments was not only declared subordinate : it was censured .
" Sorrow being the just punishment of an anterior crime , man accepted evil , and submitted to it with resignation ,
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perhaps with joy , instead of recognizing in it a perpetual indication of progress to be made , in order to reach a better state by his own deserts . " The church perfected sentiments , and developed sympathies , for its God was a God of love . The church had priests .
" The church also proposed to cultivate science ; but exclusively with relation to the phenomena of mind . It had theologians who studied man in his intellectual faculties , and in his relations to God and humanity as a spiritual being . " In these two departments , the chart h has rendered immense services to the world ; but has never pursued the perfection of the material welfare of
humanity ; at least in a direct aud consistent manner . Thus , for instance , no special ecclesiastical body has ever been organized whose office should be to stimulate or accomplish advancement in this direction . Such an institution would have been too absolutely opposed to the constitution of its faith ; and the impotence of the attempts that the society of Jesuits has made in this department confirms all our observations , " &c , &c . —P . 17 .
To whom belongs the shame that this should be given in all simplicity as a description of the social influence of the Christian Church ? How happens it that in the first page of this pamphlet we meet in a note with a kind of apology for conciliating the prejudices of the hearers in favour of a religion which , to the St . Simonites , has become a matter of "
secondary concern" ? Compare this apology with the grand Christian principles which are afterwards advocated , and see whether superstition or Christianity is really the matter of ** secondary concern . " If afraid that enthusiasm may mingle with an anticipation of the future , as sketched out by these philosophers , look steadily into the principles on which they conduct their retrospect iuto history ,
and judge from this survey whether or not they are qualified to assume the offices of preachers and philanthropists . The greater part of tfiis historical survey has compelled our delighted assent to its deductions , and cheered u * with the hope that , ere long , a survey of revelation will lead our foreign brethren to couclusions as true , and convictions yet more genial than those at which they have already arrived .
True Christians and true St . Simonites are own brothers , separated by the present conditions of their being , but destined to meet , with an acknowledgment
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280 Critical Notices . —Theological .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1831, page 280, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2596/page/64/
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