REPUBLIC OF THE WEST.
OKDER AND PEOGRESS.
THE
CATECHISM OF POSITIVISM;
Summarg iEi}3O0ftf0n
THE TJI^IA^EKS^3L KELIQION.
IN THIRTEEN SYSTEMATIC CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN A WOMAN
AND A PRIEST OP HUMANITY.
By AUGUSTE COMTE,
AUTHOR OF "the SYSTEM OF POSITIVE PHILOSOPHT," iND OF
"the SYSTEM OF POSITIVE POLITICS."
Love as oiu- principle,
Order as our basis,
Progi'ess as our eud.
THE CATECHISM
POSITIVE RELIGION,
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF
AUGUSTE COMTE,
RICHARD CONGREVE.
LONDON:
J H X C H A P M A N,
KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND.
M L'CCC LVIII.
LOIfDOIf:
SAVILL AND EDWAEDS, PBIliTBRP,
CHANDOS STKEET.
SRtf
URL
5137553
ADVERTISEMENT.
The alterations in the arrangement of the Catechism
have, in every case, the sanction of Auguste Comte.
See Politique Positive, vol. iv.
The Tables at the end of the volume are given
from the latest edition of the Author.
I have felt warranted by an extract from one of
his letters in inserting the name of Shelley in the
Calendar.
lu the Preface, p. 4, the formula alluded to is :
Faire de Vordre avec du desordre. Your materials
are disorder, with them you 7nust organize order.
In the Positivist Library, Old Mortality should
be substituted for Woodstock.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Advertisement vii
Preface 1
Positivist Librarv- 39
INTRODUCTION.
GENERAL THEORY OF RELIGION.
Conversation 1 45
II 68
FIRST PART.
EXPLANATION OF THE WORSHIP.
Conversation III. The Worship as a whole .... 82
IV. Private Worship 118
V. Public Worship 139
SECOND PART.
EXPLANATION OF THE DOCTRINE.
Conversation VI. The Doctrine as a whole . . . .160
VII. The order of the External World —
Inorganic Matter, Life . . .201
„ Vin. Man — first, as a Social, secondly,
as a Moral Being 228
VI CONTENTS.
THIED PART.
EXPLANATION OF THE REGIME, OR MODE OF LIFE.
PAGE
Conversation IX. The Rer/ime as a whole .... 270
X. Private Life 306
XL Public Life ........ 331
CONCLUSION.
GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION.
Conversation XII. Fetichism. Conservative Poly-
theism, or Theocracy .... 368
,, XIII. Intellectual and Social Polytheism,
Monotheism 389
Tables A. System of Sociolatry or Social Worship . 429
,, B. Hierarchy of the Positive Sciences . . . 432
,, C. Positive Classification of the internal Func-
tions of the Bi-ain 430
D. Positivist Calendar 433
PREFACE.
" In the name of the Past and of the Future, the
servants of Humanity — both its philosophical and
practical servants — come forward to claim as their
due the general direction of this world. Their
object is, to constitute at length a real Providence,
in all departments — moral, intellectual, and material.
Consequently they exclude, once for all, from poli-
tical supremacy, all the different servants of God —
Catholic, Protestant, or Deist — as being at once
behindhand and a cause of disturbance." With
t^ this uncompromising announcement, on Sunday,
October 19th, 1851, in the Palais Cardinal, after a
summary of five hours, I ended my third course of
Philosophical Lectures on the General History of
Humanity. Since that memorable conclusion, the
second volume of my System of Positive Politics
has lately given a direct proof how entirely a social
destination, such as that above indicated, is the
appropriate destination of Positive Philosophy; for
it has shown itself able to suggest the most syste-
matic theory of moral and social order.
We come forward then, avowedly, to deliver the
Western world from an anarchical democracy, and
B
2 PREFACE.
from a retrograde aristocracy. We come forward
to constitute, as far as practicable, a real sociocracy ;
one which shall be able to combine wisely, in fur-
therance of the common regeneration, all the powers
of man, each of course brought to bear according to
its own nature. In fact we, Sociocrats, are as little
democratical as we are aristocratical. In our eyes,
these two opposite parties — the respectable portion
of tliem, that is — represent, though on no theory, on
the one hand, Solidarity, on the other. Continuity.
These two ideas have hitherto been unfortunately
antagonistic. Positivism removes this antagonism,
and replaces it by a subordination of the one to the
other, by showing Solidarity to be subordinate to
Continuity. So we adopt both of these tendencies,
in themselves, singly, incomplete and incoherent ;
and we rise above them both equally. Yet at the
present time, we by no means condemn equally
the two parties which represent them. During the
whole of my philosophical and social career, a jDeriod
of thirty years, I have ever felt a profound contempt
for that which, under our different governments,
bore the name of the Opiwsition ; I have felt a secret
affinity for all constructive statesmen, of whatever
order. Even those who would build with materials
evidently worn-out — even them I never hesitated to
prefer to the pure destructives, in a century in which a
o-eneral reconstruction is everywhere the chief want.
Our official conservatives are behindhand, it is true.
And yet, the mere revolutionist seems to me still
more alien to the true spirit of the time ; for he
PREFACE. 6
continues blindly, in the middle of the nineteenth
century, the negative line of action which could
only suit the eighteenth. And he does not redeem
the stagnation caused hj his error by the generous
aspirations after a universal renovation, which were
the characteristic of his predecessoiis.
Hence it is that, although the popular sympathy
is instinctively with the revolutionary party, poli-
tical power constantly passes into the hands of its
opponents. For they, at least, recognise the fact,
that the metaphysical doctrines are powerless to
organize ; and recognising this, they seek elsewhere
for principles of reconstruction. With the majority
of them, their retrograde attitude is, at bottom,
only provisionally adopted as the least of two evils.
They adopt it to meet the anarchy which threatens
them, not because they have really any theological
convictions. All our statesmen seem for the moment
to belong to this school. Yet we may be confident
that all they derive from it is, the formulas which
they find indispensable foj the co-ordination of their
empirical views. They wait for the more real and
more stable connexion to spring from a new doc-
trine of universal applicability.
This may certainly be said with justice of the
only temporal governor of real eminence of whom,
up to the present time, our century can boast — I
mean the noble Czar, who, whilst he gives the
immense empire of Russia all the progress compatible
with its actual condition, preserves it by his energy
and prudence from useless ferment. His sagacity,
b2
4 PEEFACE.
however empirical, leads him to see that the West
alone is charged with the glorious and difficult
mission of laying the foundations of the regeneration
of society. The East must wait, and without dis-
turbance make the result its own, as each successive
step shall be gained. I am even inclined to think
that the Emperor Nicholas feels that this immense
elaboration is reserved in especial for the gi'eat
central nation of the Western world. Its spon-
taneous action cannot but be attended with disorders ;
but it is the only one which must never be inter-
fered with, for its action is absolutely indispensable
to the attainment of a solution applicable to all. The
agitation that habitually prevails in all the rest of
the West, though more difficult to restrain than
that of the East, exercises in reality an almost
equally injurious influence on the natural course of
the final regeneration. It has a tendency, which
can lead to no useful result, to put forward some
other country as its principal seat, whereas the
whole of past history points to France.
Our situation in the West is so wholly adverse
to the simply revolutionary point of view, that we
find the conservative party able to produce the
maxims of most real value. I do not forget the
memorable practical formula, the author of which,
M. Caussidiere, was a democrat fortunately without
the ordinary literary training. Still it is among
pure conservatives that the most j^rofound political
sentence of the nineteenth century had its birth —
To destroy, you must replace. The author of this
PREFACE. O
admirable sentence, equally excellent in tlioiiglit and
expression, presents nothing remarkable in point of
intellect. Louis Napoleon's claim to notice is entirely
dependent on a rare combination of the three practical
qualities — energy, prudence, and perseverance. But
the constructive point of view has, at the present
time, so direct a tendency to enlarge our conceptions,
that, given a favourable situation, it is capable of
suggesting to an intellect of small depth a really
profound principle. This principle is adopted and
systematically developed by Positivism.
Be this as it may, the retrograde nature of the
worn-out ideas which our conservatives provisionally
employ, disqualifies them absolutely for directing
political action in the midst of the present anarchy.
For that anarchy has its origin in the irremediable
weakness of the old beliefs. Western Europe no
longer submits its reason to the guidance of
opinions which evidently admit of no demonstra-
tions ; nay, which are radically illusory. For such
is the character of all opinions of theological origin,
whatever the theology be, be it even the purest
Deism. All now recognise the fact, that the prac-
tical activity of man must no longer waste itself on
mutual hostilities, but must set itself peaceably to
carry forward, in common, the work of developing
the resources of the earth — man's residence. Still
less can we persist in the state of intellectual and
moral childhood in which, for the conduct of our
life, we look to motives which are absurd and
degrading. The nineteenth century must never
6 PREFACE.
repeat the eighteenth, but it must never break off
from it. It must continue the work of the eighteenth,
and realize at length the noble object of its wishes,
a religion resting on demonstration, and directing
the pacific activity of man.
Every tendency that is simply negative has, for
some time, been set aside by the mere force of circum-
stances. Of the philosophical schools, then, of the
last century, the only ones which are really discre-
dited are the illogical, inconsequent sects, whose
predominance was necessarily very short. Those
who with Voltaire and Rousseau aim at an incom-
plete destruction of the older order — who think
that they can destroy the altar and preserve the
throne, or vice versd — are fallen without possibility
of rising. They ruled, such was the destiny allotted
them, the two generations which prepared and
carried out the revolutionary explosion. But ever
since reconstruction has been the order of the day,
the attention of men has been more and more
directed to the great and immortal school of Diderot
and Hume. This is the school which will really
give its stamp to the eighteenth century, connecting
it with the seventeenth in the i:)erson of Fontenelle ;
Avith the nineteenth, in that of Condorcet. Equally
emancipated, both in religion and in politics, those
powerful thinkers necessarily tended towards a total
and direct re-organization of society. It matters
little that their idea of such re-organization was con-
fused. All of them would now rally in support of
the only doctrine which bases the future on the
PREFACE. Y
past, and so lays a perfectly firm foundation for the
regeneration of the "West. This is the school from
which I shall always consider it an honour to be
immediately descended in a direct line through him
who was indispensable as my precursor, the eminent
Condorcet. On the other hand, I never expected
anything but hindrances, intentional or not, from
the broken remains of the superficial and immoral
sects who trace theii' origin to Voltaire and
Housseau.
Sprung from this great stock historically, 1 have
never scrupled to connect with it whatever of real
eminence our latest adversaries have produced,
whether of the theological or metaphysical school.
Hume is my principal precursor in philosophy, but
Avith Hume I connect Kant as an accessory. Kant's
fundamental conception was never really systema-
tized and developed but by Positivism. So, in
political science, De Maistre was, in my judgment,
the necessary complement of Condorcet. At the
very commencement of my career, I appropriated all
the essential principles of De Maistre, which now
find no adequate appreciation except in the Posi-
tive school. These, with Bichat and Gall, as my
precursors in science, are the six immediate prede-
cessors who will ever form the connecting links
between me and the three fathers of the system of
modern philosophy — Bacon, Descartes, and Leibnitz.
Carrying on this noble genealogy, the Middle Ages,
through tlieir intellectual exponents, St. Thomas
Aquinas, Poger Bacon, and Dante, place me in
8 PREFACE.
direct subordination to the incomparable Aristotle,
the eternal prince of true thinkers.
On our progress upwards towards this regular
fountain-head, we become deeply convinced that,
since the adequate extension of Rome's dominion,
the more advanced populations are vainly seeking
for an universal religion. The experience gained
in this search has made it quite clear that no super-
natural belief can satisfy this, the ultimate long-
ing of humanity. Two incompatible Monotheisms
equally aimed at this necessary characteristic of
Universality, wdthout which the human race could
never follow out its natural destiny ; but the efforts
of the two in opposite directions resulted only in
neutraliziug each other, so that the attribute they
claimed remained as the heritage of doctrines sus-
ceptible of demonstration and admitting discussion.
Five centuries have passed since Islamism renounced
the conquest of the West, and Catholicism abandoned
to its eternal rival even the tomb of its pretended
founder. In vain did the two religions aspire to
spread themselves over the whole territory com-
prised within the dominion of the Roman empire.
That territory is divided with an almost equal divi-
sion between the two irreconcilable Monotheisms.
The East and the West, then, must put aside all
theology and all metaphysics, and look elsewhere
for a systematic basis on which to rest their intel-
lectual and moral communion. This long-desired
fusion of the two must afterwards gradually embrace
the whole of our species j but it can come from no
PREFACE.
9
other quarter but Positivism, It must, that is,
have its origin in a doctrine whose characteristic is
the constant combination of the real with the useful.
Long limited to the simplest phenomena, the theories
of Positivism have, within the sphere of such phe-
nomena, produced the only convictions which, at
the present moment, can claim to be universal.
But this, the natm^al privilege of the methods
adopted and the doctrines taught by Positivism,
cannot be for ever confined to the domain of mathe-
matics and physics. It found its first development
in the sphere of material order ; it passed naturally
thence to that of life ; from this it has lately ex-
tended over that of man, whether viewed in society
or as an individual. Now that Positivism has
attained this absolute fulness of development, there
is no longer any pretext for preserving, by artificial
means, the theological spirit. This spirit is now,
in modem Europe, as much a source of disturbance
as metaphysics were, of which it is the parent, both
historically and dogmatically. Besides, the moral
and political degradation of its priesthood has long
forbidden any hope of restraining, as was the case
in the JMiddle Ages, the vices of the doctrine by the
instinctive sagacity of its best interpreters.
From henceforth the belief in Monotheism,
whether Christian or Mussulman, is left to its
natural course of inherent decay. In this late stage
of its existence, it deserves more and more the
unfavourable judgment which, during the three
centuries of its rise to power, it elicited from the
10 PREFACE.
noblest philosophers and statesmen of the Roman
world. They could at that time only judge the
system by the doctrine ; and they felt no hesitation
in rejecting, as the enemy of the human race, a pro-
visional religion which considered perfection as con-
sisting in an entire concentration upon heavenly
objects. Our modern instinct condemns still more
strongly a morality which proclaims that the bene-
volent sentiments are foreign to our nature ; which
so little understands the dignity of labour as to refer
its origin to a Divine curse ; and which puts forward
woman as the source of all evil. Tacitus and Trajan
could not foresee that, during some centuries, the
wisdom of the Christian priesthood, aided by a
favourable situation, would be able so far to check
the natural evils of such doctrines as to draw from
them, provisionally, admirable results for society.
But now that the priesthood of the Western world
has become hopelessly retrograde, the belief which
it preaches, left to itself without check, has a ten-
dency to give free scope to the immoral character
which its anti-social nature inherently involves. It
deserved respectful treatment on the part of prudent
conservatives, only so far as it was impossible to
find a substitute for it in a better conception of the
world and of man. Such a conception could not be
formed without Positivism, and the rise of Positivism
was necessarily slow. But this laborious initiation
is now completed, and Positivism proceeds finally
to eliminate Catholicism, as well as every other form
of theology. It does so by virtue of the admirable
PREFACE. 1 1
social maxim above quoted — it destroys them by-
replacing them.
Positive religion, then, gives full satisfaction to
the intelligence of man, and to his activity. Im-
pelled onwards by the character of reality which
distinguishes it, it has embraced the region of sen-
timent. This for the future forms its principal
domain, and becomes the basis of its unity. 'We
see no reason to fear, then, that any thinkers Vy^orthy
of the name, whether theoretical or practical, can
commit the mistake committed at the early period
of Catholicism, and fail to see the superiority of a
faith which is real and complete j which is social
not by any accident, but by its own inherent nature.
For the rest, it is for the nascent priesthood of
Positivism, and for all its true disciples, by their
conduct as men and as citizens, to secure a due ap-
preciation of its excellence. Even those who can-
not be expected to form a judgment on its principles,
may be led by experience to a favourable conclusion.
A doctrine which shall be seen to develope all
human virtue — personal, domestic, and civil — will
soon gain the respect of all honest opponents, how-
ever strong may be their preference for an absolute
and egoistic, as opposed to a relative and altruistic,
synthesis.
On such a competition must depend the issue of
the struggle between Christianity and Positivism ;
but such a competition is impossible till Positivism
has been put into a shape which, by its condensa-
tion, can enable it to become really popular. This
12
PREFACE.
is the particular object of this small work, which
stands apart from the general series of my works.
For it, I interrupt for some weeks my great
religious construction, the first half only of which
is as yet actually accomplished. I had thought
that this valuable episode in my labours should
be postponed till the entire completion of that
immense work; but in January, 1851, I had
written the Positive theory of human unity, and
I felt sufficiently forward wdth my work to allow
myself an interlude. As such, this present volume
might follow the one in which the theory above
mentioned forms the first and most important
chapter. This hope grew on me as, step by step, I
worked out that volume — the turning-point of the
whole system. It became complete when I wrote
the final preface of that volume. I realize the hope
to-day, before I begin the construction of Dynami-
cal Sociology, or in other words, of the Philosophy
of History — the special subject of the third volume
of my System of Positive Politics, to be published
next year.
]My resolution to publish this Catechism was due to
my finding my principal conceptions more ripe than
I had expected. It was greatly strengthened by the
fortunate crisis which has lately set aside the Parlia-
mentary regime and instituted a dictatorial republic.
Thesetwosteps are necessary as the previous conditions
of any true regeneration. It is quite true that the dic-
tatorship established by no means wears the character
which is necessary to its full utility, as explained
PREFACE. 1 3
in my course of Positive Lectiu^es, delivered in 1847.
The most prominent defect is, that it cannot permit
the co-existence with itself of free and full exposi-
tion, or even of discussion. And yet such liberty is
absolutely indispensable to any re- organization of
the spiritual power j not to say, that it is the only
security which we can have against every form of
retrograde tyranny. But under one form or another,
before long, this necessary complement of the new
order will be attained. Unfortunately its attain-
ment seems to involve, as the preceding phases of
our revolution have involved^ one last violent crisis.
Once attained, once established as a mere political
experiment, it must lead us further. Its proximate
consequence will be the peaceful creation of the
systematic triumvirate which is to give its form and
expression to the temporal dictatorship, that dicta-
torship which, in the course of lectures above alluded
to, I set forth as the proper mode of government
for the organic period of transition. We may have
to wait for these two phases of our revolutionary
experiment ; but in the mean time, the actual form
of dictatorial power already permits the direct pro-
pagation of all thought that has a tendency to re-
construction. For it has, at last, broken the power —
a power which could lead to no good — of mere
talkers. By so doing, as a natural consequence, it
secures those who would really construct something
the liberty of expounding their plans. The enjoy-
ment of this liberty was naturally a strong induce-
ment to me to direct the thousjhts of women and
14 PREFACE.
working men to the question of a thorongh renova-
tion of the social order.
My present work, then, is an episode. It claims
to be competent to furnish a systematic basis for
the active propagation of Positivism. By so doing it
necessarily forwards my principal construction,
for it brings the new religion to bear on the classes
which constitute its true social audience. The intel-
lectual discipline instituted by Positive Philosophy
rests on logical and scientific foundations of the
utmost solidity ; but no solidity can secure its pre-
valence, so antipathetic is its severe regime to minds
trained as at present, unless it can gain the support
of women and the proletary class. That support
would lend it irresistible strength. The urgent
need of it can only be soundly appreciated by these
two great classes of society. Alien to all pretension
to teaching, they alone can enforce on their systema-
tic chiefs the fulfilment of the encyclopedic con-
ditions demanded by their social office. Therefore
I was bound not to shrink from introducing into
the popular language philosophical terms which are
absolutely indispensable ; terms not created by
Positivism, but which it has systematized in point
of meaning, and the use of which it has developed.
I mean, in particular, two paii's of essential value
in expressing the distinctions of Positivism : — first,
Static and Dynamic ; then. Objective and Subjective.
Without these I could not sufficiently explain my
views. Once properly define these terms, and
secure their uniform use accordinsc to their defiui-
PKEFACE. 15
tioiij then philosophical explanations become much
easier by their j udicious employment. Otherwise they
are but a source of obscurity. I do not scruple, in
this work, to consecrate these expressions to the use
of Positive religion. They must pass by its agency
into universal circulation, considering the high im-
portance of their use from the intellectual and even
the moral point of view.
Thus was I led to compose what is, in the strictest
sense, the Catechism of the Religion of Humanity ;
and the first point was to examine, on rational prin-
ciples, the form always adopted for such exposi-
tions, the dialogue. I soon found in it a fresh in-
stance of the happy instinct by which the practical
sagacity of man often anticipates the conclusions of
sound theory. Fresh from the work of constructing
the Positive theory of human language, I felt at
once that since expression must ever have the com-
munication of thought, as its object, its natural
form is the dialogue.
Further, as combinations are in every case, phv-
sical and still more logical, binary, the conversation
of the dialogue admits of only two persons, under
penalty of confusion if this rule is violated. The
monologue is in reality only adequate for concep-
tion. It limits itself to the giving expression to
conceptions as they arise. It is as if one were
thinking aloud, without reference to any hearer.
Whereas, when language is used not merely to assist
the investigations of the reason, but to communi-
cate the results, then it requires a new process. It
1 6 PEEFACE.
must be worked into a fresh shape, specially adapted
to the transfer of ideas from one person to another.
Then, we must take into account the peculiar state
of our listener, and foresee the modifications which
the natural course of such a mode of exposition
will demand. In a word, the simple statement
must become a real conversation. Nor can its essen-
tial conditions be met, unless you assume that the
second person in the dialogue is throughout the
same, and unless also it is clear who he is. But if
you choose the person successfully, he may stand as
a type, capable, in the ordinary use of the dialogue,
of adequately representing every reader. This is
necessary, as it is impossible to vary the mode of
exposition to meet the exigencies of each individual,
as may be done in actual conversation.
It would follow from this that there must be an
essential difference between the exposition which
aims at being in the fullest sense didactic, and one
which is simply logical. In the latter, the thinker
follows the course of his own thought freely, paying
no attention to the natural conditions of communi-
cation ; and, with a view to avoid the great labour
of recasting one's thoughts, in general we limit our-
selves to laying them before others just as we
originally thought them. This rough method of
exposition contributes largely to the scanty efficiency
of most of our reading. The form of the dialogue,
the proper form for all real communication, is re-
served for the setting forth of such conceptions as
are important and ripe enough to justify it. This
PREFACE. 17
is why, ill all times, religious instruction is given
in the form of conversation, and not of mei-e state-
ment. This form is by no means a symptom of
negligence, excusable in cases of secondary impor-
tance. Quite the contrary. When the dialogue is
rightly conducted, it is the only mode of exposition
which is really adapted for teaching. It meets
the wants of all orders of intelligence. But the
new elaboration of our thought is necessarily a
difficult process, and hence, for ordinary commu-
nications, we are justified in not adopting it. It
would be childish to aim at such perfection when
the instruction to be conveyed was not of funda-
mental importance. On the other hand, this throw-
ing our thoughts into a fresh shape for the purposes
of teaching is only practicable where doctrines are
so thoroughly worked out that we can distinctly
compare the different modes of expounding them as
a whole, and easily foresee the objections to which
they will naturally give rise.
AYere I bound in this place to point out all the
general principles applicable to the art of commu-
nication, I would dwell on the imj)roA^emeut it
admits in regard to style. The great object of
poets is to express feelings. They have always felt
the superiority of verse over prose, from the power
which vei-se has to make the artificial language of
man more beautiful by bringing it nearer to his
natural language. Now the same reasons would
equally apply to the communication of thoughts, if
we had to attach as much importance to such com-
c
18 PREFACE.
munication. Compression of language, and the aid
of imagery, the essential characteristics of all real
versification, would be as appropriate for perfecting
the exposition of thought^ as the exposition of feel-
ing. This second improvement, however, for the
purposes of teaching, must be still more of an ex-
ception than the first, on the ground of the addi-
tional labour it requires. It presupposes even a
greater maturity in regard to the conceptions to be
expressed, not only in him who is to interpret
them, but also in the audience. For the audience
must also exert itself, and at once fill up the gaps
left by the conciseness of the poet. This is why
several admirable poems are still only in prose.
The imperfection of the form was at the time ex-
cusable, as the range of ideas expressed was not one
generally familiar. An analogous motive deterred
men from putting into verse any religious catechism.
But the Positive faith is distinguished from others
by its being real and spontaneous. These two cha-
racteristics will enable it ultimately to attain this
last perfection of style in its popular exposition.
This will be, when it shall begin to be sufficiently
spread to admit of gTeat conciseness and the free
use of imagery. Only provisionally then need we
feel limited to the substitution of the dialogue for
the monologue.
In accordance with this theory as to the peculiar
didactic form to be adopted, I was led not only to
justify the custom which had hitherto prevailed,
but even to improve upon it, so far as the second
PREFACE. 19
pei'son in the dialogue is concerned. By leaving
the hearer absolutely vague, the dialogue, or con-
versational method, also became necessarily vague,
not to say illusory. Experience led to the use of
the dialogue. After explaining the rational grounds
on which its use rests, I soon felt that it would
remain incomplete, and if incomplete, inadequate,
so long as it was not clear who the second person
was, at least to the author's mind. You must abso-
lutely suppose yourself really in communication
with some one, although that some one may be an
ideal personage, or you will fail in deriving the full
advantages of the form you adopt. So only can
you institute a true conversation, and not a state-
ment thrown into dialogue.
As soon as I came to apply this clear jorinciple,
my instinct would naturally lead me to choose
Madame Clotilde de Vaux. Whilst she lived, I had
felt her angelic influence for one year only. She
has now for more than six years, since her death,
been associated with all my thoughts, and with all
my feelings. Through her I have at leng-th become
for Humanity, in the strictest sense, a twofold organ,
as may any one who has reaped the full advantages
of woman's influence. My career had been that of
Aristotle — I should have wanted energy for that
of St. Paul, but for her. I had extracted sound
philosophy from real science j I was enabled by her
to found on the basis of that philosophy the iTui-
versal religion. The perfect purity of our con-
nexion, which circumstances made exceptional, and
c2
20 PREFACE.
even the admirable superiority of the angel who
never received her due recognition — on these I need
not dwell — they are already fully appreciated by
the nobler order of minds. Four years ago I re-
vealed the source of my inspiration, one beyond all
compare, by the publication of my Discourse on the
System of Positivism. At that time Madame de
Yaux could only be judged by the intellectual and
moral results of her inspiration, which that work
brought home to all sympathetic hearts as to all
synthetic minds. But last year, the three intro-
ductory pieces, which will ever be the distinctive
mark of the first volume of my System of Positive
Politics, allowed every one to form a dii^ect appre-
ciation of her eminent natural superiority. Hence,
when recently I published the second volume of the
same treatise, I was already able openly to congTa-
tulato myself on the touching unanimity of feeling
v>rhich undoubtedly animates both sexes towards
the new Beatrice. These three antecedent publica-
tions dispel at once all doubt as to my sainted
hearer. Where there is the due preparation, the
rea^der is sufficiently acquainted with her for our
conversations to possess an interest of their own, one
directly connected with the persons of the dialogue.
Such a catechumen meets perfectly all the condi-
tions of the dialogue. Superior as she was, Madame
Clotilde de Vaux was yet so early taken from me
as to render it impossible sufficiently to initiate her
in Positivism, naturally the object of all her wishes
and efforts. Even before death broke off finally
PREFACE. 21
the work of affectionate instruction, pain and grief
had been very serious impediments. I was hardly
able to sketch out to her whilst alive the systematic
preparation which I now accomplish with her when
dead. jMy angelic disciple, then, brings with her
nothing beyond the dispositions essential to a dis-
ciple, dispositions to be found in most women, and
even in many proletaries. Positivism has not yet
reached them, but all I presuppose in them, as in
her, who is my eternal companion, is a profound
desire to know the religion which can overcome the
modern anarchy, and a sincere veneration for the
priest of that religion. I should even prefer for
my readers those who instinctively fulfilled these
two previous conditions, unchecked by any scholastic
training.
I have already explained in my Positive Politics
the general idea of the institntion of real guardian
angels. Those who are familiar with that explana-
tion are aware that the principal type amongst
women becomes habitually inseparable from the
two others. This sweet connexion holds good even
in our exceptional case. For my pure and immortal
companion unites in her own person the subjective
mother my second life presupposes, and the objective
daughter who was destined for a time to add her
grace to my existence. Her invariable reserve after
some time purified my affection and raised it to
the level of her own. From that time all I aspired
to was an union which should need no concealment,
that of a legal adoption, the natural one, consider-
22 PREFACE.
ing our disparity in age. When I publisli our
noble correspondence, my last letter will give a clear
proof of tlie lioly project, the ouly one which, under
our respective destinies, was compatible with repose
and happiness.
It is thus perfectly natural for me to use in this
catechism the terms of father and daughter, the
habitual language of religious instruction. More
even than the priesthood of Catholicism, or of any
other form of theology, the priesthood of Positivism
requires in its priests complete maturity, if for no
other reason, yet by virtue of the immense encyclo-
pedic preparation which it prescribes. This was my
reason for fixing on forty- two as the age at which
the priests of Humanity should be consecrated. At
that age the development of the body and the brain
is complete, as is also the first social life. These
names then, father and daughter, become peculiarly
appropriate to the teacher and catechumen, and
they are in conformity with the old etymology of
the term priest. By using them, I place myself
naturally in the relation in which I should have
stood to Madame de Yaux had it not been for our
fatal catastrophe.
Whilst however this concentration is necessary,
and it is only the presiding angel that takes part
directly in the holy conversation, it ought not to
escape either the reader or myself that my two other
patronesses take an appropriate though silent part
in it. Elsewhere I have spoken of the subjective
PREFACE. 23
influence of my venerable mother, of the objective
action of my noble adopted daughter. In the
present work they will always be present to my
heart, when my intellect shall be duly feeling the
impulse of the principal angel. These three angels
are for the future inseparable, and inseparably con-
nected with me ; so much so, that their constant co-
operation has lately suggested to the eminent artist
whom Positivism now claims, an idea of admirable
beauty, by which a mere portrait becomes a picture
of profound meaning.
A didactic conversation on this plan renders my
own labour easier as well as that of the reader.
For in many points such an exposition, meant for
the public, does not widely differ from the explana-
tions which I should have given in private to my
sainted companion in answer to her questions, had
our objective union lasted longer. This is clearly
seen from my philosophical letter on Marriage.
The very period of the year in which I am writing
this, to me, pleasant work of elaboration, recalls
with peculiar force the wishes she herself expressed,
during that incomparable year, for a methodical
initiation. All I have to do, then, is to carry myself
back seven years. I can then conceive as actually
spoken to a living object that which I must now
develope subjectively, by placing myself in 1852 in
the situation of 1845. To carry myself back in
this way requires an effort ; but the effort is com-
pensated by the great advantage of being able to
24 PREFACE.
give a better idea of her angelic ascendancy over
me. I know not how to convey a right im-
pression of its character, except by combining two
admirable verses, respectively meant for Beatrice
and Laura —
Quella che imparadisa la mia mente
Ogni basso pensier dal cor m'avulse.
I am late in bringing to its completion the initia-
tion which my affection had led me to begin. But,
on the other hand, I bring it more easily into con-
formity with the sentiments which finally prevailed
towards her who will always be associated with me
as at once my disciple and colleague. Her age has
become fixed, by the general law of our subjective
existence. My own, relatively to hers, increases
daily, so as to sanction no other images but those
drawn from the filial relation. The existence of both
of us is thus brought into a more perfect continuity,
and the harmony of my whole nature is also carried
to a higher perfection. At the same time then
that I thus explain the unity of man as constituted
by Positivism, I am developing and consolidating
the fundamental connexion between my private and
my public life. The philosophical influence of the
angel who inspires me, becomes from this point of
view as complete and as direct as it ever can be ;
consequently none any longer contest it. I ven-
ture then to hope, that to enable me to testify my
just gratitude, all nobler minds will lend me due
aid in supplying the deficiency of which I am pro-
PREFACE. 25
foundly conscious, in the midst of my best daily
prayers — a consciousness such as that expressed by
Dante towards his sweet patroness —
Non h I'affezion mia tanto profonda
Che basti a render voi grazia per grazia.
This exj)ression of grateful feeling by the public
must, as well as my own, embrace the two other
guardian angels who form the complement of the
presiding one. All three contribute to the influence
of woman upon me. Far distant, alas ! is now the
imposing memory of the perfect Catholicism whose
sway my noble and tender mother obeyed. But
distant though it be, it shall always make me assert,
more than I did in my youth, that the constant
cultivation of the feelings must take precedence of
that of the intellect, and even of that of activity.
On the other hand, I might be led, by my keen sense
of the necessity of basing all real public virtue on
the foundation of private excellence, to be too ex-
clusive, and to undervalue the importance of civic
morality, an importance inherent in it, and directly
its own ; but I should soon correct my eiTor by a
right estimation of the admirable sociability of my
third patroness. In undertaking this work, which
is an episode in my larger one, I have, then, the
special assistance of all my three guardian angels.
It is true, one alone actively participates, the other
two co-operate silently ; but this in no way di-
minishes the claim of those two to the veneration
of all my followers.
26 PREFACE.
Looked at from a more general point c»f view,
the form of teaching I have adopted will be seen
to convey directly a strong impression of the cha-
racter of the religion to be taught. Spontaneously
it brings out the fundamental nature of the Positive
system of life. The great aim of that system is to
enforce a systematic discipline of all the powers of
man, and it rests principally on the constant con-
currence of feeling with reason in the regulation of
our action. !N"ow the present series of conversations
always puts forward the heart and the intellect as
acting in concert under a religious impulse, in order
to bring under the influence of morality the material
power to which the world of action is necessarily sub-
jected. In that world the woman and the pi*iest are,
as a fact, the two indispensable elements of the real
moderating power, which must be both domestic and
civic. This holy coalition in the interest of society
I here organize, and in doing so I allow each of its
constituents to proceed in conformity with its own
nature. The heart states the questions; the in-
tellect answers them. Thus the very form of this
Catechism points at once to the great central idea of
Positivism : man thinking under the inspiration of
woman, the object being to bring about a con-
currence of sjrnthesis with sympathy, in order to
regularise the joint action of the two sexes.
The adoption of this method for the new religious
instruction shows that it is meant primarily for the
sex in which affection predominates. This prefer-
ence is in accordance with the true spirit of the
PREFACE. 27
final regime. It is equally clear tliat it is, in an
especial manner, adapted to the need of the last
period of the transitional state ; for in this last
period every influence which shall be recognised by
the normal state must be working with even greater
strength, if with less regularity. It is for Avomen,
then, that this small work is especially meant;
above all, for those who have no literary education.
Not but that the better proletaiies will soon, as it
appears to me, welcome it, and look on it as deciding
the matter. Still women only can fully understand
the preponderance that ought to be given to the
habitual cultivation of the heart, borne down as it
is by the coarse activity, both in speculation and
action, which prevails in the modern Western world.
It is only in the sanctuary of the female heart that,
at the present day, we can find the noble submissive-
ness of spirit required by a systematic regeneration.
During the last four years the reason of the people
has suffered profoundly from the unfortunate exer-
cise of universal suffrage. It has received a bad
bias, whereas it had previously been preserved from
all constitutional sophisms, and from Parliamentary
intrigues. The rich and the literary class had had
a monopoly of them. A blind spirit of pride has
been developed in our proletaries, and they have
been led to think they could settle the highest
social questions without any serious study. The
southern populations of AYestern Europe have been
much less tainted by this evil. The resistance of
Catholicism has sheltered them against the meta-
28
PREFACE.
physical influence of Protestantism or Deism. But
reading negative books begins to spread the spirit
even there. Turn where I will, it is only with
women that I can find support. This is the conse-
quence of their wholesome exclusion from political
action. With their support, I can secure the free
ascendancy of the principles which shall in the end
qualify the proletaries to place their confidence
aright on points of theory as well as on points of
practice.
The deep-seated intellectual anarchy of our time
is another reason why Positive religion should appeal
more particularly to the female sex. For that
anarchy renders more necessary than ever the pre-
dominance of feeling, as it is feeling alone which
preserves Western society from a complete and irre-
parable dissolution. Since the close of the Middle
Ages, the influence of woman has been the sole,
though unacknowledged, check on the moral evils
naturally resulting from a state of mental alienation,
the state to which the West has been more and
more approximating — and in the West, especially its
centre — France. This chronic state of unreason is
now at its height, and since no maxim of social
experience can resist the corrosive eflfects of discus-
sion as actually conducted, it is feeling alone that
maintains order in the West. And even feeling is
seriously impaired already, so fatal has been the
reaction on it of the sophisms of the intellect,
which are always favourable to our personal instincts,
in themselves naturally the stronger.
PREFACE. 29
Our true cerebral constitution, ofters us tliree
sympathetic tendencies. The first and last are
already much weakened, the second nearly extinct,
in the majority of those who take an active part in
the agitation of the ^Yestern world. Penetrate
beyond the mere exterior of existing families, and
you find attachment has but little strength left,
even in those relations of life which are its proper
sphere. As for the general kindness, so loudly
vaunted at present, it is far more an indication of
hatred towards the rich, than of love for the poor.
For modern philanthropy but too often gives ex-
pression to its pretended benevolence in forms that
are more appropriate to passion or envy. But the
third social instinct, which, as the immediate basis
of all true discipline of man, ought to be the most
habitual, has suffered even more than the two
others. The deterioration in this respect may be
more easily seen in the rich and the educated classes ;
but it reaches even the proletariate, except where a
wise indifierence keeps them from mixing in any
political movement.
Still, veneration can continue to exist in the
midst of the wildest revolutionary aberrations.
Indeed, it is their best natural corrective. I myself
experienced this during the profoundly negative
phasis which necessarily preceded my systematic
development. At that time it was enthusiasm
alone that kept me from a sophistical demoralization;
though this enthusiasm laid me peculiarly open for
a time to the seductions of a shallow and depraved
30 PREFACE.
juggler. Veneration, at the present day, is the
decisive characteristic by which we may distinguish
in the ranks of the revolutionary party those who
are susceptible of a real regeneration ; a remark
which is jjarticularly applicable to the case of those
Communists who are not educated. In the immense
majority of those who are yet simply negative, we
may discover this valuable symptom. In the
majority of their chiefs, we cannot. The existing
state of anarchy everywhere gives a temporary
predominance to bad natures. These men are abso-
lutely unsusceptible of discipline. Yet, though few
in number, they wield a vast influence, and they
use that influence to infect with subversive ideas,
and to ferment the heads of all who are without
firm convictions. There is no remedy for this
plague of Western Europe, except the contempt of
the populations they address, or the severity of the
Governments. The doctrine which alone can secure
the regular action of these two safeguards, can at
the outset meet with no decided support, except
from the feeling of women, soon to be aided by the
intelligence of the proletariate. Unless we secured
the due intervention of woman, the discipline of
Positivism would never succeed in dri\dng back
into obscurity the pretended thinkers, who speak
with decision on sociological questions, whilst igno-
rant of arithmetic. For the people shares, in many
respects, their worst faults, and so is, as yet, inca-
pable of seconding the new priesthood in its contest
with these dangerous talkers. At least I can, for
PREFACE. 31
the moment, liope for no collective assistance from
any quarter, except from the proletaries, who have
hitherto taken no part in our political discussions.
They are not the less instinctively attached, as
even women are, to the social end proclaimed by
the great revolution. To these two classes, then,
women and proletaries, this Catechism appeals as
ready for its acceptance.
I have stated the general grounds which warrant
my dii-ecting my attention chiefly to women. But,
further, I have now for a long time thought, that
it is on them that depends for its acceptance finally
the solution which the whole of past history points
to as the right solution of our Western difiiculties.
In the first place, there would be an absurdity
in expecting to end without them the most thorough
of all human revolutions. In all previous revolu-
tions they have had a large share. Were the
repugnance they instinctively feel for our modem
movement invincible, it would be quite enough to
insure its failure. That repugnance is the real
source of the fatal anomaly which places retrograde
chiefs at the head of progressive populations — as
though dulness and hypocrisy alone could furnish
official security for the maintenance of order in the
West. Till Positive religion has overcome this
resistance on the part of women, it will never be
able, in its treatment of the leading partisans of the
different retrograde systems, to give free scope to
its decided and just reprobation of their mental
and moral inferiority.
32 PREFACE.
If at the present day men deny the existence in
our nature of the disinterested affections, they lay
themselves open to just suspicion. Their rejection
on this point of the demonstrations of modern
science, must be owing to the radical imperfection
of their o^Yn feelings. As they pursue no good, how-
ever trifling, but from the hope of an infinite re-
ward, or from the fear of an eternal punishment,
they prove their heart to be as degraded as their
intellect evidently is, considering the absurdity of
the belief they hold. And yet the direction of
"Western Europe is still entrusted to such men.
And it is so in consequence of the tacit adhesion of
women. Such characters will be, and that wisely, a
sure ground of exclusion from all the higher func-
tions of society, when Positivism shall have duly
trained on systematic principles the reason of the
majority.
Meanwhile, the religion of Humanity wdll soon
strip the retrograde party of the august support which
is given it, solely from a just horror of anarchy.
In spite of objections which seem warranted by
experience, women are well disposed to form a right
estimate of the only doctrine which in the present
day can thoroughly combine order with progi^ess.
Above all, they will recognise the fact that this
final synthesis, while it comprehends every phase of
our existence, yet gives a greater preponderance to
feeling than was given by the provisional synthesis,
which sacrificed to feeling the intellect and action of
man. Positive Philosophy places morals at the
PJREFACE. 33
summit of its encyclopedic construction, and so is in
perfect agreement with the convictions of women.
For morals, at once a science and an art, are neces-
sarily the most important and the most difficult
branch of study. In them are summed up all the
rest, and they rise above the rest. The senti-
ments of chivahy receive at length a full develop-
ment, and are no longer confined by the conflicting
tendencies of the prevalent theological beliefs. The
system of Positive worship looks on woman as the
moral providence of our species. In that system
every true woman, in daily life, is considered the
best representative of the real Great Being. The
system of life, or regime, which answers to the
worship, constitutes, on systematic principles, the
family as the normal basis of society. And by that
constitution, it leads to the due prevalence in the
family of woman's influence, for in her is vested
the supreme control, so far as that control can be
private, of the education of all. On all these
grounds, Positivism will soon be fully appreciated
by women, once let them be adequately instructed
in its more mai-ked characteristics. Some might at
first regret the loss of the chimerical hopes they
had once cherished ; but even they would not be
slow to see the moral superiority of the subjective
immortality offered by Positivism. It is by its
nature thoroughly altruistic, or unselfish ; and
therefore, as I said, morally superior to the old ob-
jective immortality, which could never clear itself
of the egoistic, or selfish, character. The law of
D
34 PREFACE.
eternal widowhood, the characteristic of marriage
ill the Positivist sense, would be enough, in this
respect, to decide the comparison.
From the revolution of Western Europe, women
must no longer stand aloof In order to secure
their due incorporation into the movement, its last
phase must be looked on as having for them a deep
and special interest, in direct relation with the true
object of women's existence.
Clear off all superficial adjuncts, and four great
classes constitute modern society. The four were
destined to experience in succession the shock which
the final regeneration of that society rendered in-
evitable. The convulsion began in the last century
with the intellectual element. The class which
represented it rose in insurrection against the
whole existing system based on the ideas of theology
and war. The political explosion which was the
natural result soon followed. It began with the
middle classes, who had long been eager to take the
place of the nobility. Throughout Europe the
nobility resisted, and its resistance could only be
overcome by calling in the French proletariate to
support their new political chiefs. Thus led to
mix in the great political struggle, the proletariate
of Western Europe put forward its claim — a claim
which there was no resisting, from its justice — to be
incorporated into the system of modern society.
It was put forward as soon as peace allowed the
proletariate to make its wishes sufficiently clear.
Still the revolutionary chain is incomplete, for it
PREFACE. 35
does not embrace the most fundamental element of
the system of human order rightly viewed. The
revolution, in regard to vromen, must be the com-
plement of the revolution which took in the jDrole-
tariate, just as this last consolidated the revolution
of the middle classes, sprung in its turn originally
from the philosophical revolution.
Not till this last step has been taken will our
modern movement have really prepared all that is
essential for the basis of the final regeneration.
Till it takes in women, it can have no other result
but to prolong the lamentable series of oscillations
between retrogression and anarchy. But this, its
final and decisive step to completion, follows as a
result of the whole of the antecedent phases, more
naturally than any one of those phases spnmg from
its predecessor. In particular, it is connected with
the popular phase ; for the social incorporation of
the proletariate is necessarily dependent on the due
establishment of the principle that woman must be
set free from the necessity of all labour away from
her own home. Between the two questions there
evidently exists the closest mutual connexion ; for
unless this exemption be universal, as the indis-
pensable complement of the abolition of serfage, the
family of the proletary would be essentially defec-
tive in its constitution, since in it women would
remain habitually exposed to the horrible alterna-
tive of misery or prostitution.
The best practical summary of the programme of
modem order will soon be this indisputable prin-
d2
36 PREFACE.
ciple — man ought to support woman, in order that
woman may be enabled to fulfil properly lier lioly
social purpose. My Catechism will, I hope, set in
a clear light the close connexion of such a condition
with the whole of the gi-eat movement of renova-
tion, not merely in its moral, but in its mental, and
even its material aspect. Influenced by the holy
reaction of this revolution in the position of women,
the revolution in that of the proletariate will soon
clear itself of the subversive tendencies which have
hitherto neutralized it. Woman's object is every-
where the same, to secure the due supremacy of
moral force ; so she is led to visit with especial
reprobation all collective violence. She is still
less ready to accept the yoke of numbers than that
of wealth. Her silent social influence will soon
modify the two remaining parts of the Western revo-
lution ', and the modifications, though not so directly
traceable to it, will be equally valuable with those
already mentioned. Her influence will facilitate
the advent to political power of the industrial
patriciate, and of the Positive priesthood; it will do
so by leading both to set themselves clear once for
all from the heterogeneous and ephemeral classes
who were at the head of the transition whilst it
was in its negative phase. So completed, so puri-
fied, the revolution of Western Europe will proceed
in a free and systematic course towards its peaceful
termination, under the general direction of the true
servants of Humanity. Their guidance will have
an organic and progressive character which will
PREFACE. 37
completely set aside all retrograde and anarchical
parties, Tliey will look on any one who persists in
the theological or metaphysical state as disqualified
by weakness of the brain for government.
I have gone through the essential conditions, the
fulfilment of which shows that this Catechism is
fully adapted to discharge its most important
office, whether in the present or the future. When
Positive religion shall have gained sufficient exten-
sion, this work will be its best summary for con-
stant use. For the present it must serve to pre-
pare the way for the free adoption of Positi^^ism.
It may stand as a general view of the subject,
suitable for the propagation of the religion, whereas
hitherto there was no systematic guidance ac-
cessible.
If we look to the form and the course of this
episode in my great construction, still more if we
view it as a whole, it expresses all the great intel-
lectual and moral attributes of the new faith. It
will be felt that I have constantly kept in sight the
due subordination of the reason of man to the feel-
ing of woman. This is necessary, in order that the
heart may bring all the powers of the intellect to
bear on the most difficult and important province
of teaching. Ultimately it will react on another
point. It will secure respect for, and even the ex-
tension to others of my own personal worship, of
the angel from whom I derive at once its chief
suggestions and the best mode of expounding them.
Such services will soon render my sainted hearer
38 PREFACE.
dear to all who sliall have undergone a true regene-
ration. Henceforward her glorification is insepa-
rable from mine ; it will constitute my most valued
reward. She is for all time incorporated into the
true Supreme Being, of whom her tender image is
allowed to be for me the best representative. In
each of my three daily prayers I adore both toge-
ther, and I sum up all my wishes for personal per-
fection in the admirable form by which the sub-
limest of Mystics was led to prepare, in his own
manner, the moral motto of Positivism (Live for
others).
Amen te plus quam me, nee me nisi propter te.
AUGUSTE COMTE,
Founder of the Religion of Humanity.
Paris, 25th Charlemagne 64,
Sunday, 14th July, 1852.
To increase the usefulness of this Catechism, I
add to its preface an improved edition of the short
catalogue of books which I published October 8th,
1851, with the view of guiding the more thoughtful
minds among the people in their choice for con-
stant use. No other priesthood could discharge
this office. The Positive priesthood is enabled to
do so by the encyclopedic character of its educa-
tion and teaching, which thus becomes more easily
appreciable. Both the intellect and the moral
character suffer grievously at the present time from
irregular reading. This fact is sufficient to indicate
the increasing value of this small work, conceived
PREFACE. 39
in a synthetical spirit. The collection named has
not yet been formed, still each one can without
difficulty even now collect in one shape or another
its separate parts.
Positivist Library for the Nineteenth Century.
150 Yolumes.
I. POETRY. (Thirty Volumes.)
The Iliad and the Odyssey, in one volume, without notes.
iEschylus, The King (Edipus of Sophocles, and Aristophanes,
in one volume, without notes.
Pindar, Theocritus, Daphnis and Chloe, in one volume, with-
out notes.
Plautus and Terence, in one volume, without notes.
Virgil, selections from Horace, Lucan, in one volume, without
notes.
Ovid, Tibullus, Juvenal,
Fabliaux of the Middle Ages, by Legrand D' Aussy.
Dante, Ariosto, Tasso, Petrarca, in one volume, in Italian,
Select Plays of Metastasio and Alfieri, also in Italian.
I Promessi Sposi, by Manzoni, in one volume, in Italian.
Don Quixote, and the Novels of Cervantes, in Spanish, in one
volume.
Select -Spanish Dramas, a collection edited by Don Jose Segundo
Florez, in one volume, in Spanish.
The Eomancero Espanol, a selection, with the poem of the Cid,
one volume, in Spanish.
Select Plays of P. Comeille.
Moliere.
Select Plays of Racine and Voltaire, in one volume.
La Fontaine's Fables, with some from Florian and Lamotte,
Gil Bias, by Lesage.
40 PREFACE.
The Princess of Cleves, Paul and Yirginia, and the Last of
the Abencerrages, to be collected in one volume.
The Martyrs, by Chateaubriand.
Select Plays of Shakspeare.
Milton — Paradise Lost and Lyrical Poems.
Robinson Crusoe and the Vicar of Wakefield, in one volume.
Tom Jones, by Fielding, in English, or translated by Cheron.
The seven masterpieces of "Walter Scott — Ivanhoe, Quentin
Durward, the Fair Maid of Perth, the Legend of Montrose,
Woodstock, the Heart of Midlothian, the Antiquary.
Select works of Byron, Don Juan in particular to be suppressed.
Select works of Goethe.
The Arabian Nights.
n. SCIENCE. (Thirty Volumes.)
Condorcet's Arithmetic, Algebra and Greometry of Clairaut,
the Trigonometry of Lacroix or Legendre, the three to form
one volume.
The Analytical Greometry of Auguste Comte, preceded by the
Geometry of Descartes.
Statics, by Poinsot, with all his Memoirs on Mechanics.
The Course of Analysis given by Navier at the Ecole Polytech-
nique, followed by the Essay of Carnot on Equilibrium and
Motion.
The Theory of Functions, by Lagrange.
The Popular Astronomy of Auguste Comte, followed by the
Worlds of Fontenelle.
Fischer's JMechanical Physics, translated and annotated by
Biot.
Alphabetical Manual of Practical Philosophy, by John Carr.
The Chemistry of Lavoisier.
Chemical Statics, by Berthollet.
Elements of Chemistry, by James Graham.
Manual of Anatomy, by Meckel.
The General Anatomy of Bichat, preceded by his Treatise on
Life and Death,
PREFACE. 41
The first volume of Blainville on the Organization of Animals.
The Physiology of Richerand, with Notes by Berard, and the
Physiology of Claude Bernard.
Systematic Essay on Biology, by Segond, and his Treatise on
General Anatomy.
Nouveaux fllements de la Science de THomme, Barthez (2nd
edition, 1806).
Zoological Philosophy, by Lamarck.
Dumerirs Natural History.
Buffon — Discourses on the Nature of Animals.
The Art of Prolonging Human Life, by Hufeland, preceded
by Hippocrates on Air, "Water, and Situation, and fol-
lowed by Cornaro's book on Sobriety, to form one volume.
The History of Chronic Inflammation, by Broussais, preceded
by his Propositions de j\Iedecine.
The Eloges des Savans, by Fontenelle and Condorcet.
in. HISTORY. (Sixty Volumes.)
The Abrdg^ de Geographie Universelle, by Malte Brun.
Rienzi — Geographical Dictionary.
Cook's Voyages, and those of Chardin.
Mignet — History of the French Revolution.
Heeren — Manual of Modem History.
Voltaire — Siecle de Louis XIV.
Memoirs of Madame de Motteville.
The Political Testament of Richelieu, and the Life of Cromwell,
to form one volume.
Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini, in Italian.
Memoirs of Commines.
The Abreg^ de I'Histoire de France, by Bossuet.
The Revolutions of Italy, by Denina.
The History of Spain, by Ascargorta.
Robertson — Charles V.
Hume — History of England.
42 PKEFACE.
Hailam — Middle Ages.
Fleuiy — Ecclesiastical History.
Gibbon — Decline and Fall.
Manual of Ancient History — Heeren.
Tacitus.
Herodotus, Thucydides, in one volume.
Plutarcb's Lives.
Csesar's Commentaries, and Arrian's Alexander, in one volume.
The Voyage of Anacharsis, by Barthelemy.
The History of Art among the Ancients, by Winckelmann.
Treatise on Painting, by Leonardo da Vinci, in Italian.
Memoirs on Music, by Gr^try.
IV. SYNTHESIS. (Thirty Volumes.)
Aristotle's Ethics and Politics, in one volume.
The Bible.
The Coran.
The City of God, by St. Augustin.
The Confessions of St. Augustin, followed by St. Bernard on
the Love of God.
The Imitation of Jesus Christ, the original, and the French
translation by Corneille.
The Catechism of Montpellier, preceded by the Exposition of
Catholic Doctrine, by Bossuet, and followed by St. Augus-
tin' s Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount.
History of Protestant Variations, by Bossuet.
Descartes — Discourse on Method, preceded by Bacon's Novum
Organum, and followed by the Interpretation of Nature,
by Diderot.
Pascal's Thoughts, followed by those of Vauvenargues, and
Madame de Lambert's Conseils d'une Mere.
Bossuet' s Discourse on Universal History, followed by Condor-
cet's Esquisse Historique.
De Maistre's Treatise on the Pope, preceded by Bossuet's
Politique Sacree.
PREFACE. 43
Hume's Philosophical Essays, preceded by the two Dissertations
on the Deaf and the Blind, by Diderot, and followed by
Adam Smith's Essay on the History of Astronomy.
Theory of the Beautiful, by Barthez, preceded by the Essay
on the Beautiful, by Diderot.
Cabanis — Les Rapports du Physique et du Moral de 1' Homme.
Treatise on the Functions of the Brain, by Gall, preceded by
Georges Leroy's Letters on Animals.
Broussais — Treatise on Irritation and Madness.
The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte (condensed by Miss
Martineau), his Positive Politics, and Positivist Catechism.
Paris, 5th Dante 66 (Tuesday, 18th July, 1854).
INTRODUCTION.
GENERAL THEORY OF RELIGION.
CONVERSATION I.
TJie Woman. — I have often asked myself this ques-
tion, my dear father. Your doctrine rejects every
form of belief in a supernatural power; why do
you persist in calling it a Religion 1 But on reflec-
tion the fact struck me, that the term, Religion, is,
in common use, given to many systems, not merely
different, but even incompatible the one with the
other. Each of these systems claims exclusive
possession of it ; yet no one of them has at any time
been able, if you take the whole race into account,
to reckon up as many adherents as opponents. I
was hence led to think that this fundamental term
must have some one general acceptation, radically
independent of every special form of faith. Once ar-
rived at this point, I felt convinced that it was on
this essential meaning of the term that you fixed,
and that you were justified therefore in apphdng it
to Positi\dsm, in spite of the greater contrast that
exists between it and the previous doctrines, which
46 INTRODUCTION.
openly avow tliat their mutual points of difference
are quite as serious as the points in which they
agree. Still, as this explanation seems to me yet
far from clear, would you begin your exposition by
explaining at once and in precise language the ra-
dical sense of the word Religion ?
The Priest. — Looking to the etymology of the
term, my dear daughter, we find as a fact that it
has no necessary connexion with any opinions
whatever that may be considered useful for attain-
ing the end it sets before us. In itself it expresses
the state of perfect imity which is the distinctive
mark of man's existence, both as an individual and
in society, when all the constituent parts of his
nature, moral as well as physical, are made habitu-
ally to converge towards one common purpose.
Thus the term religion would be equivalent to
synthesis, were it not that this last, not by force
of its composition, but by nearly universal custom,
is now limited entirely to the domain of the intel-
lect, whilst the otlier embraces all the attributes of
man. Religion, then, consists in regulating each
one s individual nature, and forms the rallying point
for all the separate individuals. These are but two
distinct forms of one and the same problem ; for
every man, at different periods of his life, differs
from himself not less than at any one time he
differs from those around him ; so that for the in-
dividual, as for the community, the laws of perma-
nence and participation are identical.
The full attainment of this harmony, for the in-
INTRODUCTION. 47
dividual or for the society, is never possible, so
complicated is our existence. This definition of
religion, consequently, is meant to convey an idea
of the unchanging type towards which, by a com-
bination of all our exertions, we gradually approxi-
mate. Man's happiness and merit consist in draw-
ing as near as possible to this unity. Its gradual
development is the best measure of our real pro-
gress towards perfection, as individuals, or as so-
cieties. As the various attributes of man come into
freer play, it becomes more important that they
should habitually act in concert. But, at the same
time, this would become more difficult, were it not
that theii' evolution has of itself a tendency to make
us more susceptible of discipline. This I will ex-
plain soon.
Now, as a high value was always set on this
synthetical state, attention was naturally concen-
trated on the means of attaining it. Thus men
were led to take the means for the end, and to
transfer the name of religion to any of the systems
of opinions which it represented. At first sight, these
numerous forms of belief appear ii-reconcilable.
Positivism, however, can bring them into an es-
sential agreement, by vievring each in reference to
the purpose it answered in its own time and
country. There is, at bottom, but one religion, at
once universal and final. To it all the partial and
provisional religious more and more pointed, so far
as the whole state of things at the time allowed.
The various religions of man have been empirical.
48 INTRODUCTION.
We substitute for tliem a systematic religion, deve-
loping the unity of man ; for it has at length be-
come possible to constitute such a religion imme-
diately and completely, by combining the results of
our previous unsystematic state. As a natural con-
sequence, then, of its principles. Positivism re-
moves the antagonism of the different religions
which have preceded it, for it claims as its own
peculiar domain that common ground on which
they all instinctively rested. Nor could the doc-
trine of Positivism ever be universally received,
were it not for its relative character. This secures
for it, in spite of its anti-theological principles, by
the nature of the case, strong affinities with every
form of belief that has been able for a time to form
the guidance of any part of the human race.
The Woman. — Your definition of religion will set
me completely at ease, my father, if you can succeed
in clearing up a serious difficulty, which seems to
be the consequence of its too great comprehensive-
ness. In stating your idea of man's unity, you take
in his physical as well as his moral nature. They
are, in fact, so bound up together, that no true har-
mony is possible if you separate them ; and yet I
find it difficult to accustom myself to look on health
as a part of religion, so as to make morality really
take in medicine.
The Priest. — And yet, my daughter, the arbitrary
separation of the two, which now exists, and which
you wish to perpetuate, would be directly contrary
to our unity. The origin of that separation is, in
INTRODUCTION. 49
reality, the inadequacy of the last provisional reli-
gion, Catholicism, which found itself unable to dis-
cipline the soul, unless it gave into profane hands
the management of the body. In the ancient
theocracies, the most complete and most durable
form of the supernatural regime, this groundless
division did not exist. In them the art of preserv-
ing health and of curing diseases was always a mere
adjunct of the priestly functions.
Such is really the natural order of things. Posi-
tivism comes forward to restore it and to consoli-
date it ; and it does so by virtue of the complete-
ness which characterizes it. The art of man and
the science of man are each of them inseparable
from the other; they have a common destination,
though the object they have in view may present
itself under different aspects. But it is not, there-
fore, divisible; on the contrary, aU its parts are
intimately connected. No sound treatment of
either body or mind is possible, now that the phy-
sician and the priest make an exclusive study, the
one of the physical, the other of the moral nature
of man — not to speak of the philosopher, who, in
our modern anarchy, wrests fi'om the priesthood the
domain of the intellect, leaving it only the heart.
The diseases of the brain, besides many others,
daily prove the powerlessness of all medical treat-
ment which limits itself to the lowest organs. It
is quite as easy to see the inadequacy of every
priesthood which aims at guiding the soul, and does
not take into account its subordination to the body.
E
50 INTRODUCTION.
Under both points of view the separation is anar-
chical. The domain of the priesthood must be
reconstituted in its integrity ; medicine must again
become a part of it. This will be the case when
the clergy of Positive religion shall have adequately
fulfilled the encyclopedic conditions required of
them. As a matter of fact, the precepts of health
can secure active obedience only when they are
rested on moral grounds. This is true equally of
the individual and the society. It is easily verified
by the fruitlessness of the efibrts made by our
physicians in Western Europe to regulate common
diet. They have been fruitless ever since the old
religious precepts lost their hold. Men will not
generally submit to any practical inconvenience on
the ground of their own mere personal health, —
each one is left, on this ground, to judge for himself.
And we are often more sensible of actual and
certain annoyance than of distant and doubtful
advantages. We must call in an authority supe-
rior to all individual judgment, to be able to pre-
scribe, even in unimportant points, rules which
shall have any real efficacy. Such rules will then
rest on a view of the needs of society, which shall
admit of no hesitation as to obedience.
The Woman. — Now that I have surveyed, in all
its extent, the natural province of religion, I should
be glad to knov/, my father, what are the general
conditions on which it de^oends. I have been often
told that it exclusively concerns the heart. But I
have always thought that the intellect is also con-
INTRODUCTION. 51
cerned with it. Could I gain a clear idea of the
parts respectively assigned them ?
The Priest. — A right judgment on this point,
my daughter, follows from a searching examination
of the word religion, the best, perhaps, in point of
compositio.n, of all the terms used by man. It is so
constructed as to express a twofold connexion,
which, if justly conceived, is sufficient as a resume
of the whole abstract theory of man's unity. To
constitute a couiplete and durable harmony, what
is wanted, is really, to hind together man's inner
nature by love, and tlien to hind the man to the
outer world by faith. Such, generally stated, is
the necessary participation of the heart and the
intellect respectively, in reference to the synthe-
tical state, or unity, of the individual or the so-
ciety.
Unity implies, above all, one feeling to which all
oiu' different inclinations can be subordinated. For,
as our actions and our thouglits are always swayed
by our affections, harmony would be unattainable
by man if these affections were not co-ordinated
under the preponderance of oue instinct.
This is the condition on which our internal unity
depends. But it would be inadequate, did not our
intelligence make us recognise, outside of us, a
superior power, to which our existence must always
be in subjection, even whilst we attempt to modify
it. To qualify us better for subjects of this ultimate
rule, — this is the primary reason why our moral
harmony, as individuals or as societies, is indispen-
e2
52 INTRODUCTIOX.
sable. And, reversing the process, this predonu-
nance of the external tends to regulate the internal,
by favouring the ascendancy of that instinct which
most easily accepts such a necessity. So there is a
natural connexion between the two general con-
ditions on which religion depends, especially when
the external order of tilings can become the object
on which the inward feeling can rest.
The Woman. — This abstract theory of our unity
presents, my father, one radical difficulty, viz., as
regards the question of moral influence. In youi-
consideration of the internal harmony, you seem to
me to forget that our personal instincts have, un-
ibrtunately, greater energy than our sympathetic
tendencies. Now the preponderance of these per-
sonal instincts, which seems a reason for their being
made the natural centre of our moral existence,
would, on the other hand, make our personal unity
almost incomj^atible with any social unity. Yet
the liarmony of the individual has been found not
irreconcilable with that of the society, so that I
need some fresh explanations to show tliat the two
are in themselves entirely compatible.
The Priest. — You have touched, my daughter, on
the most difficult problem of man's existence. That
problem is, to secure the gradual predominance of
sociability over personality ; whereas, when left to
themselves, personality is predominant. The better
to understand how this may be done, we must begin
by comparing the two opposite forms which our
moral unity might naturally take, according as its
INTRODUCTIOX. 53
internal basis should be egoistic or altruistic (per-
sonal or relative).
You^used the plural in speaking of our person-
ality, and you by so doing involuntarily bore witness
to the fact that personality is radically powerless to
constitute any real and lasting harmony, even in
the case of a being quite cut off from society.
The monstrous unity so formed would require
not merely the absence of every impulse of a sym-
pathetic character, but also the preponderance of
one single selfish instinct. Now this is only found
in the lowest animals. With them the instinct of
nutrition absorbs everything, especially when there
is no distinction of sex. But except in them, and
most particularly in man, this primary want once
supplied, there is scope left for the prevalence in
succession of several personal instincts. These are
nearly equal in point of energy, and so would
mutually neutralize the conflicting claims of each
to the entire command of our existence as moral
beings. Unless they were all brought into subor-
dination to affections resting on some outward
object, the heart would be for ever agitated by
internal conflicts between the impulses of the
senses and the stimulus of pride or of vanity, sup-
posing that avarice, strictly so called, should cease
to reign, together with the purely bodily wants.
Moral unity, then, is impossible, even in a solitary
existence, in the case of any being absolutely under
the dominion of personal affections, which prevent
his livino; for others. We find instances in several
54 INTRODUCTION.
of the wild animals. They are seen, putting aside
some temporary congregation, to oscillate generally
between a disorderly activity and an ignoble
toi^or, the result of their not finding outside of
themselves the principal motives for their conduct.
The Woman. — I understand now, my father, the
natural coincidence that exists between the condi-
tions on which the individual, and those on which
the harmony of society, depends. Still, however, I
find the same difiiculty exists — that of conceiving
that the strongest instincts can be habitually set
aside.
The Priest. — The difficulty, my daughter, is one
which will easily disappear. Only remark that
unity in the altruistic sense does not, as the egoistic
unity does, require the entire sacrifice to itself of the
inclinations which are contrary to it in principle.
All it asks is, that they shall be wigely subordinate
to the predominant afiection. When it condenses
the whole of sound morality in its law of Live for
others, Positivism allows and consecrates the con-
stant satisfaction of our several personal instincts.
It considers such satisfaction indispensable to our
natural existence, which is and always must be the
foundation for all our higher attributes. Allowing
this, it blames, however estimable the motives that
lead to them often may be, any austerities which,
by lessening our strength, make us less fit to serve
others. It recommends attention to ourselves in
the interest of society, and so at once raises and
regulates such attention. We avoid equally the
IXTRODUCTIOX. 55
two extremes of excessive care and culpable neg-
ligence.
The Woman. — But, my father, as the egoistic
inclinations, in themselves stronger, are, further,
constantly excited by our bodily wants, it seems to
me that, even thus limited, the sanction of them is
incompatible with the habitual superiority of our
weak sympathetic impulses.
The Priest. — Yes, and therefore it is, my daugh-
ter, that our moral improvement will always form
the principal object on which man must exert his
art. Our constant efforts, both as individuals and
societies, though they bring us nearer to it, never
enable us to realize it completely. The solution of
your difficulty is a progressive one. Its possibility
rests entirely on the social existence of man, in
accordance with the natural law which develops or
restrains our functions and our organs in propor-
tion to their exercise or disuse. As a fact, our
domestic and civic relations have a tendency to
keep within due bounds our personal instincts, as
the result of the struggles between individuals to
which these instincts give rise. On the other hand,
these same relations favour the growth of our
feelings of benevolence, the only ones that admit of
a simultaneous development in all. And this
development is, by its nature, continuous, as the
mutual stimulus is continuous, although it finds
necessarily a limit in the aggregate of the material
conditions of our existence.
You have here the reason why a real moral
56 INTRODUCTION.
unity could only come into existence in the case of
man. For social progress must be the exclusive
possession of the best organized of the races capable
of society, except so far as others may join it as
free auxiliaries. Still, though such a harmony
cannot be developed elsewhere, it is easy to trace
its beginning in many of the higher animals. From
them were in fact drawn the first scientific proofs
of the natural existence of disinterested afiection.
This great conception, of which, even previous to
all scientific proof, all had a presentiment, was long
in being placed on a systematic ground ; otherwise
no one would, at the present day, impute the cha-
racter of sentimental afiectation to a doctrine which
may be directly verified in so many of the inferior
species.
The Wcmian. — Your explanation meets my diffi-
culties. I have only, my father, to ask you to
clear up one last point of a general character — I
mean, the intellectual conditions of religion. I see
the incoherence of the various special forms of belief;
but I do not see, beyond that incoherence, what is
the essential province of faith. And yet it must
be possible to say what faith is, independently of
all systems, and in a sense applicable to them all.
Tlie Priest. — Practically, my daughter, the faith
of man never had but one object, if you jDress to the
root of the matter. This was, to form a conception
of the order under whicli man lives, with the view
of determining our relation generally to that order.
Man might ascribe that order to fictitious causes.
INTRODUCTIOX. 57
or lie might study its real laws ; in either case, his
object was to estimate that order which was inde-
pendent of him, with the view of submitting to it
better, and of attaining a greater power of modify-
ing it. Every system of religious doctrines neces-
sarily rests on some explanation, no matter what,
of the world and of man — the twofold object at
all times of our thoughts, whether directed to specu-
lation or to action.
Faith, in the Positive sense, has for its proper
office the setting forth of the real laws of the dif-
ferent phenomena that are open to observation,
whether internal or external. By the laws of phe-
nomena I mean, their unvarying relations of suc-
cession and resemblance, by which we are able to
foresee some by virtue of our knowledge of others.
Such faith puts aside, as absolutely beyond our reach
and essentially conducive to no useful result, every
inquiry into the causes, properly so called, either
first causes or final, of any events whatever. In its
theoretical conceptions, it never explains ichy a thing
is; it limits itself to the question, hoiu it is. But
when it is pointing out the means of guiding our
activity, it takes the contraiy course, and puts for-
ward in constant prominence the end to be attained,
as in such cases the practical efiect is .certainly the
result of an intelligent will.
Yet though, in its direct results, vain, the search
after causes was, at the outset, indispensable and
inevitable, as a substitute and preparation for the
knowledge of laws, a knowledge whicli pre-supposes
58 INTRODUCTION.
a long previous introduction. This I will explain
more in detail. Men sought the why, and could
not find it ; in the search they discovered the hoio,
though they had not bent their studies immediately
in that direction. We need not blame them for
this, but we may blame the childishness of persist-
ing, as our literary men so commonly do, in the
attempt to penetrate to causes when the laws are
kno^vn. These last alone have any influence on
conduct, so that the search after the others becomes
as useless as it is chimerical.
The Universal religion, then, adopts, as its funda-
mental dogma, the fact of the existence of an
order, which admits of no variation, and to which
all events of every kind are subject. This order
is at once objective and subjective ; in other words,
it concerns equally the object contemplated and the
subject which contemplates. Physical laws, in fact,
imply logical laws, and vice versa. If our under-
standing did not of itself obey any rule, it would
never be able to appreciate the external harmony.
And as the world is simpler and more powerful than
man, the regular action of man would be still less
compatible with the absence of order in the world.
All Positive belief, then, rests on this twofold har-
mony between the object and the subject.
That there is such an order can be shown as a
fact, but it cannot be explained. So far from it, it
supplies the only possible source of any rational
explanation. Such explanation consists in bringing
under general laws each particular event, which
INTRODUCTION. 59
thus comes within the sphere of prevision based on
systematic principles, the really distinctive end that
all true science proposes to itself. And therefore
the Universal order was not recognised so long as
the idea prevailed of an arbitrary will, to which
men naturally at first attributed all the most im-
portant phenomena. It was recognised at last in
reference to the simplest events, in defiance of the
contrary opinions, on the evidence of experience
constantly recurring and never belied. From the
simpler, its recognition gradually extended to the
more complex events. Not till our own time was
its recognition complete, for it embraces now its last
domain ; it represents as subject to invariable laws
the highest phenomena — man's intelligence and his
social existence — a point still denied by many culti-
vated minds. This fiinal discoveiy led to Positivism
as its natural immediate result. It was the com-
pletion of our long scientific initiation. As such it ne-
cessarily closed the preliminary era of human reason.
The Woman. — This first general view, my father,
leaves me with the impression that the Positive
faith is very satisfactory for the intellect, but
scarcely favourable enough to the action of man.
It seems to place this last under the control of an
inflexible destiny ; and yet you often say that the
Positive spirit had its origin, in all cases, in the
practical part of man's life, so that it can hardly be
in contradiction with that part. I would gladly
have a clear conception how the two are brought
into general agreement.
60 INTRODUCTION.
The Priest. — To get this conception, my daughter,
all you have to do is to rectify your judgment so
far as it led you to look on actual laws as not
susceptible of modification. Whilst phenomena
were attributed to the arbitrary will of some being,
an absolute fate was a conception necessary as the
correction of an hypothesis, the direct consequence
of which v/as the non-existence of any real order.
Later, the discovery of natural laws had the same
general tendency; for the laws first discovered
were those which regulated the events of astro-
nomical science — events entirely out of the reach
of man's interference. But as the knowledge of
the order of things gradually extended, men came to
regard that order as essentially admitting modifica-
tions, even by the agency of man. It becomes
more susceptible of modification as the phenomena
become more complicated, as I will explain to
you shortly. At the present day, we do not
consider even the order of the heavenly bodies
exempt from the idea of modification. Its superior
simplicity allows us more easily to conceive improve-
ments in it. The object of such conception would
be to correct the spirit of blind respect, though our
weakness in regard to physical means may for ever
debar us from realizing the improvements we con-
ceive.
All events equally, even the most complex, de-
pend on some fundamental conditions which admit
of no change. But in all cases, even the most
simple, it is also true that tlie secondary arrange-
IXTRODUCTIOX. 61
ments may be modified, and very generally they
may he so by our intervention. The modifications
introduced in no way impair the validity of the
general principle, that the laws of nature are inva-
riable. For the modifications never can be arbitrary.
In their nature and degree they must obey appro-
priate rules which are the complement of the do-
main of science. An entire immutability would be
so contrary to the very idea of law, that this idea
in all cases expresses constancy perceived in the
midst of variety.
We find, then, that the order of nature always
answers to the idea of a necessity admitting modifi-
cations, and as such becomes the indispensable basis
of the order which man introduces. Our life is
really destined to be a compound of resignation
and action. The two are not incompatible ; far
from it. Action rests directly on the foundation of
resignation. A sound judgment leads us to submit
to the fundamental laws which concern us, as the
only means of preventing all our purposes, of what-
ever nature, from becoming vague and uncertain;
the only means therefore of enabling us to practise
a wise interference in accordance with the secon-
dary rules. You thus see how the dogmatic system
of Positivism directly sanctions our action, whereas
no theological synthesis could comprehend it. We
even find that in Positivism, the free development
of our activity is the chief regulator of our scientific
labours in regard to the order of the world, and the
different modifications it admits.
62 INTRODUCTION.
The Woman. — After this explanation, I have
yet, my father, to learn how Positive faith and our
feelings can be brought into full harmony. They
seem to me by nature diametrically opposed to
one another. I can understand, however, that the
fundamental dogma of that faith supplies us with a
strong basis for moral discipline, in two ways : first,
by bringing our personal inclinations under the con-
trol of an external power ; secondly, by awakening
our instincts of sympathy to make us more wisely
submit to or modify the necessity which presses on
us all in common. These are valuable attributes.
But still Positivism does not seem to oiFer enough
of direct stimulus to the holy affections, which seem
properly to constitute the most important province
of religion.
The Priest. — I am free to confess, my daughter,
that hitherto the Positive spirit has been tainted
with the two moral evils which peculiarly wait on
knowledge. It puffs up and it dries the heart, by
giving free scope to pride and by turning it from
love. These two tendencies will always be suffi-
ciently strong in it to make it necessary habitually
to adopt systematic precautions. Of them I will
speak later. Still in the main, on this point, your
reproaches are the result of an inadequate judgment
of Positivism, the consequence of your looking at
it solely as it exists in a state of incompleteness in
the greater number of its adherents. They limit
themselves to the philosophical conception which is
the offspring of the scientific preparation; they
INTRODUCTION. 63
will not go on to tlie religious conclusion in which
alone Positive Philosophy, as a whole, finds its ade-
quate expression. If we do not stop short at this
point, but complete the study of the real order of
nature, then we see the Positive system of dogmas
finally grou^D itself around a synthetic conception,
as favourable to the heart as it is to the intellect.
The imaginary beings, whom religion provision-
ally introduced for its purposes, were able to inspire
lively afiections in man; affections which were even
most powerful under the least elaborate of the
fictitious systems. The immense scientific prepara-
tion required as an introduction to Positivism, for
a long time seemed to deprive it of any such valu-
able aptitude. Whilst the philosophical initiation
only comprehended the order of the material world,
nay, even when it had extended to the order of
living beings, it could only reveal laws which were
indispensable for our action, it could not furnish
us with any direct object for an enduring and con-
stant afiection. This is no longer the case since
the completion of our gradual preparation by the
introduction of the special study of the order of
man's existence, whether as an individual or as a
society.
This is the last step in the process. We are now
able to condense the whole of our Positive concep-
tions in the one single idea of an immense and
eternal Being, Humanity, destined by sociological
laws to constant development under the prepon-
derating influence of biological and cosmological
G4 INTRODUCTION.
necessities. This, the real Great Being, on whom
all, whether individuals or societies, depend as the
prime mover of their existence, becomes the centre
of our affections. They rest in it by as spon-
taneous an impulse as do our thoughts and our
actions. This Being, by its very idea, suggests at
once the sacred formula of Positivism : — Love as our
princi2)Le; Order as our basis; and Progress as our
end. Its compound existence is ever founded on
the free concurrence of independent wills. All dis-
cord tends to dissolve that existence, which, by its
very notion, sanctions the constant predominance of
the heart over the intellect as the sole basis of our
true unity. So the whole order of things hence-
forth finds its expression in the being who studies
it and is ever perfecting it. The struggle of Hu-
manity against the combined influences of the
necessities it is obliged to obey, growing as it does
in energy and success, offers the heart no less than
the intellect a better object of contemplation than
the capricious omnipotence of its theological pre-
cursor, capricious by the very force of the term
omnipotence. Such a Supreme Being is more within
the reach of our feelings as well as of our conceptions,
for it is identical in nature with its servants, at the
same time that it is superior to them. As such it
more powerfully excites them to an activity, the aim
of which is its preservation and amelioration.
The Woman. — Still, my father, the physical
labour necessitated by our bodily wants seems to
me directly in opposition with this tendency to
INTRODUCTIOX. 65
affection which you claim for Positive religion.
Surely such activity can never be free from a cha-
racter of egoism, extendiug even to the scientific
efforts it induces us to make. Now this alone
would be enough to prevent the actual predomi-
nance of love as an all-pervading influence.
The Priest. — I cherish the hope, my daughter,
that I shall shortly get you to allow that it is pos-
sible to effect a thorough transformation of the
spirit of selfishness originally inherent in human
labour. As man's action on matter becomes more
and more collective, it tends more and more to
assume an altruistic character, though the impulse
of egoism must ever be indispensable to set it in
motion. For as each habitually labours for others,
he developes by such a conduct of his life the sym-
pathies of others, granting that such conduct meets
with sufl&cient appreciation. The toilsome servants
of Humanity stand in need of nothing but a com-
plete and familiar consciousness of the true nature
of their life. This consciousness is destined to be
the natural result of an adequate extension of Posi-
tive education. You would even now see that this
is the tendency of pacific activity, were the industrial
life, which is at present subject to no systematic
discipline, organized as the soldier's life is, the only
organization as yet in existence. But the great
moral results obtained formerly in the case of the
soldier, and of which there are still traces even in
his present degraded state, are a sufficient indica-
tion of what the industrial life will produce. The
F
66 INTRODUCTION.
instinct of construction may even be expected to
react in the direction of sympathy with greater
directness and completeness than the instinct of
destruction.
The Woman. — This last part of your explanations,
my father, makes me feel that I begin to master
the general harmony of Positivism. I see how in
it the activity of man, by its nature subordinate to
faith, can also be made subordinate to love, though
at first sight it seemed to reject its sway. And
seeing this, I seem at length to see that your doc-
trine fulfils all the essential conditions of Religion,
according to your definition of the term. It is
adapted equally to the three great divisions of our
existence — loving, thinking, acting — which were
never before so perfectly combined.
The Priest. — The more you study the Positive
synthesis, the more you will feel, my daughter, how
by virtue of its reality it is more complete and
efficacious than any other. The habitual j^redomi-
nance of altruism over egoism, to secure which is
tlie great problem for man, is in Positivism the
direct result of the constant harmony between our
best inclinations and all our labours, theoretical
as well as practical. The life of action, represented
by Catholicism as hostile to our invv^ard progress to
perfection, becomes in Positivism its most powerful
guarantee. You now find no difficulty in conceiv-
ing this striking contrast between two systems, the
one of which admits, whilst the other denies, the
existence in our nature of disinterested aifection.
IXTRODUCTION. 67
The bodily wants, which seemed destined to be a
perpetual cause of separation, may for the future
lead us to a closer union than if we were exempt
from them. For action developes love better than
wishes; and besides, what wishes could you form
for those who wanted nothing ? It is easy also to
see that the ideal yet real existence peculiar to
Positivists necessarily surpasses, even in regard to
the feelings, the chimerical life promised to the
disciples of theological systems.
The Woman. — This our introductory conversa-
tion needs one thing to complete it. I should be
glad, my father, if you would shortly explain your
general division of Eeligiou. Each essential con-
stituent will remain for future exposition.
The Priest. — Such a division, my daughter, re-
quires as its previous condition a just appreciation of
the whole of the existence which religion must
direct. The body of doctrine, the worship, and the
system of life, respectively concern our thoughts,
feelings, and our actions. The initiation iu our
religion musb begin by an elaboration of its theory,
so far as to make clear our conception of Humanity.
We then proceed to the worship, or, in other words,
to the system by which we cultivate the feelings
adapted to the mode of existence prescribed us.
After this, we resume our elaboration of the doctrine
of Positivism, and explain the order on which it
rests. Lastly, we proceed to the direct regulation of
all human conduct. So you see how Positive reli-
gion embraces at once the three great continuous
F 2
68 INTRODUCTION.
constructions of man, Poetry, Philosophy, Politics.
But everything, in that religion, is subordinate to
morals, be it the free play of oui- feelings, the deve-
lopment of our knowledge, or the course of our
actions ; so that morality is our constant guide in
our threefold research after the beautiful, the true,
the good.
CONVEESATION II.
HUMANITY.
Tlie Woman. — Our first conversation, my father,
has left a sense of alarm, so deeply do I feel my
incompetence in presence of the " great argument"
which you are going to set forth. The system of
doctrine in Positive religion is one and the same
thing as Positive Philosophy. Either from weakness
or want of preparation, my mind seems unable to
grasp the explanation of it, however simple you may
make it. I bring with me nothing beyond a full
confidence, a sincere respect, and an active sympathy
for the doctrine which seems calculated, after so
many failures, to overcome the prevailing anarchy.
But I cannot but feel afraid lest something more
than these moral dispositions is needed for me to
enter with any chance of success on so difficult a
study.
The Priest. — Your uneasiness, my daughter, leads
to some introductory remarks which I hope will
soon reassure you. All we have to do, in the case
INTRODUCTION. 69
of the new religion, is to give a general exposition
which shall be the equivalent of that which formerly
taught you Catholicism. This second operation
ought to be even easier than the former, for your
reason is now mature, and the doctrine that is pre-
sented to it is, by its nature, demonstrable, and
therefore more easily understood. I would have
you also call to mind the admirable maxim which
our great Moliere puts into the mouth of the man
of taste in his last masterpiece —
Je consens qu'une femme ait des clart^s de tout;*
and remark further, that what was then '^I consent,"
would be now, " It is right."
In strict truth, the priesthood and the public had
always one and the same intellectual domain. The
difference lay in the difference of cultivation, which
was systematic in the case of the priesthood, left to
its natural course in the public. Without such an
essential agreement, no religious harmony would be
conceivable. In Positivism it becomes at once more
direct and more complete than it could ever be
under any theological system. The true philo-
sophical spirit has, in reality, equally with simple
good sense, to know what is, in order to foresee
what shall be, with a view of bettering it where
possible. One of our best Positive precepts even
teaches that every attempt to systematize is faulty,
or at any rate premature, if not preceded and pre-
* Femmes Savantes, act I. sc. iii.
70 IXTRODUCTION.
pared by a sufficient progress attained by a man's
own effi^rts. This rule is an immediate consequence
of the dogmatical verse by which Positivism cha-
racterizes our existence as a whole —
To act fi-om aflfection, and to think in order to act.
The first half answers to the natural and spontaneous
development ; the second, to the systematic one
which follows upon it. Action, unguided by
reflection, may occasion many inconveniences ; but
nothing else can, as a general rule, supply the raw
material for efiectual meditation, on which the
improvement of our action will depend.
Lastly, take into account this fact, that the intel-
lect cannot, in any case, abstain from forming some
opinion or other as to the general order of things,
whether in the outer world or in the world of man.
You are now aware that at all times this has been
the object of every dogmatic system of religion ;
and that it is now the object of such system, only
with this diflference, that the knowledge of laws is
henceforth to take the place of the search after
causes. And surely illusory hypotheses as to causes
could never seem to you equally intelligible with
real notions upon laws.
My exposition is mainly meant for women and
proletaries. They cannot and they ought not to
become teachers, neither do they vnsh. it. But
all should master to a certain extent the spirit
and the method of the Universal doctrine, other-
wise they cannot enforce on their spiritual chiefs
INTRODUCTION. 71
an adequate scientific and logical preparation, the
necessary foundation for the systematic exercise of
the priestly office. Now as this discipline of the
intellect is at the present day entirely contrary to
the habits resulting from our modern anarchy, it
never could prevail, unless enforced by the general
body of both sexes, on those who claim to be their
guides in matters of opinion. And as the discipline
depends on this condition socially, there will always
attach a great value to the general spread of reli-
gious instruction, over and above its proper object
of guiding the conduct of men, whether as individuals
or as societies. But the service rendered by reli-
gious instruction, at all times important, is at the
present day of capital importance. For we must
look to it to bring to a decided close the anarchy of
the Western world, the prominent characteristic of
which is the revolt of the intellect against all legi-
timate control. Could this Catechism but produce
in women and proletaries the conviction, that those
who claim to be their spiritual guides are radically
incompetent to deal with the high questions, the
solution of which is in blind confidence left them,
it would largely help to calm the West. The
conviction on this point should be unanimous. To
produce it we must depend on a sufficient appre-
ciation of the system of Positivism, the last of
the series of religious systems. That appreciation
must place beyond all liability to dispute the
general conditions of its systematic cultivation.
As for the difficulties which now frighten you in
72 INTRODUCTION.
this indispensable study, you attach too little weight
for overcoming them to your excellent moral dis-
position. No existing school would hesitate to pro-
nounce, ex cathedra, that the intellect thinks in
complete independence of the heart. But women
and proletaries have never lost sight of the powerful
reaction of the feelings on the intellect — a reaction
explained at last by Positive Philosophy. Your
sex in particular, which, in the unconscious exercise
of its gentle office, has handed down to us, as far as
was possible in the midst of our modern anarchy,
the admirable feelings of the Middle Ages, offers
daily proof of the error of that metaphysical heresy
which separates these two great attributes. The
beautiful maxim of Vauvenargues is right ; the
heart is necessary to the intellect for all its most
impoi-tant inspirations. If so, it must also be of
use in appreciating their results. Its powerful
assistance is peculiarly needed in the case of moral
and social conceptions ; for in them more than
elsewhere the sympathetic instinct can furnish large
aid to the spirit of synthesis. Without that aid its
greatest efforts could not overcome the inherent
difficulties of such questions. But the heart may
also lend its aid in the case of the less important
theories, by virtue of the necessary connexion that
exists between all the speculations of man so far as
they deal with realities.
There are two fundamental conditions of religion
— love and faith. Of these two, it is the first that
takes precedence. Faith may be well adapted to
DfTRODUCTIOX. 73
strengthen love ; but the inverse action, that of love
on faith, is stronger and more direct. Not only does
feeling direct our thoughts when left to their spon-
taneous action in the stage preparatory to any
systematic development, but it sanctions and pro-
motes this development, when it has once felt its
importance. No woman with any experience but
is aware that too frequently our best affections offer
but a weak security, when not aided by firm con-
victions. The word " convince,''' if we look to its
etymology, would remind us of the aptitude of
deep-seated belief to strengthen our internal union
by connecting it with the world without.
Lastly, your fear lest your intellect should be too
weak for the subject, rests on the general confusion
of instruction with intelligence. You are familiar
with and you admire the unrivalled Moliere ; yet
this has not freed you from the vulgar error on this
point — an error carefully kept up by our Trissotins
of all professions. And yet we ought to blush at
being in the present time behind the Middle Ages.
Then, everybody saw clearly the profound intel-
lectual eminence of persons who were quite un-
lettered. Have you not sometimes found in such
people much more real capacity than in most of
our professors 1 Now more than ever instruction
is only really necessary to construct and develop
science. Science must always be so arranged, as a
whole, that it may become directly within the
reach of all sound intellects, otherwise our best doc-
trines would soon degenerate into dangerous mystifi-
74 INTRODUCTION.
cations. All tlieoricians are naturally inclined to
this deviation. The only effectual check on them is
in a due surveillance on the part of the large
majority of both sexes.
The Woman. — I feel encouraged by this intro-
duction, my father, and I would ask you now to
enter on a systematic exposition of Positive doc-
trine. Would you begin by explaining more directly
and fully that one doctrine on which it all rests % I
already understand that the Great Being, in your
conception, is, by its very nature, the expression of
the whole order of things — not merely of the order
of man, but of the external world. As this is the
case, I feel to want a clearer and more precise
definition as regards this Being, the fundamental
idea which gives unity to Positivism.
The Priest. — As a first step, my daughter, you must
define Humanity as the ivhole of human beings, past,
present, and future. The wordivhole points out clearly
that you must not take in all men, but those only who
are really capable of assimilation, in virtue of a real
co-operation on their part in furthering the common
good. All are necessarily born children of Hu-
manity, but all do not become her servants. Many
remain in the parasitic state, which, excusable
during their education, becomes blameable when
that education is complete. Times of anarchy
bring forth in swarms such creatures — nay, even
enable them to flourish — though they are, in sad
truth, but burdens on the true Great Being. Often
have you been reminded by them of the ener-
INTRODUCTION. 75
getic reprobation of Ariosto, borrowed from
Horace —
Venuto al mundo sol per far letarne :
"Bom upon the earth merely to manure it ;"
and, still better, of the admirable condemnation of
Dante —
Che visser senza infamia e senza lodo
* * * *
Cacciarli i ciel per non esser men belli,
Ke lo profondo inferno li riceve,
Ch'alcuna gloria i rei avrebber d'eUi,
* * * *
Non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa.
Inferno, iii. 36 — 51.
"Who lived
Without or praise or blame
Heaven drove them forth
Not to impair his lustre ; nor the depth
Of Hell receives them, lest the accursed tribe
ShoTild glory thence with exultation vain.
* * * *
Speak not of them, but look and pass them by."
Cart's Translation.
So you see that in this respect, as in all others, the
inspiration of the poet was far in advance of the
systematic view of the philosopher. Be this as it
may, these mere digesting machines are no real
part of Humanity. You may reject them, and to
make up for the loss associate with the new
Supreme Being all the animals who lend a noble
aid. Wherever we find habitual co-operation in
forwarding the destinies of man, and that co-ope-
76 INTRODUCTION.
ration given voluntarily, there the being which
gives it becomes a real element of this compound
existence ; and the degree of importance it attains
is proportioned to the dignity of the species to
which it belongs, and to its own individual value.
To form a right estimate of this indispensable com-
plement of human existence, let us imagine our-
selves without it. We should then be led without
hesitation to look on many horses, dogs, oxen,
&c., as more estimable than certain men.
Such is our primary conception of the combined
system of human action. In it naturally oui-
attention is directed on solidarity, rather than on
continuity. This last idea must, however, in the
end be the predominant one, though at first it
attracts less notice, as it requires a deeper exami-
nation to discover it ; for in a very short time the
progress of society comes to depend more on the
idea of time than on that of space. It is not a
feeling confined to the present day, by which each
man, as he exerts himself to estimate aright the
amount of his obligations to others, acknowledges
that his predecessors as a whole, in comparison
with his contemporaries as a whole, have much the
larger share in these obligations. We find the
same superiority clearly allowed, though in a less
degree, in the most remote periods. We see an
indication of its recognition in the touching wor-
ship at all times paid to the dead, as was beautifully
remarked by Vico.
We find, then, that the social existence of man
INTRODUCTIOX. 77
really consists much more in the continuous suc-
cession of generations than in the solidarity of the
existing generation. The living are always, by the
necessity of the case — and the more so the more we
advance in time — under the government of the
dead. Such is the fundamental law of human
order.
To enable us to grasp it more fully, let us dis-
tinguish the two forms of existence which are the
poi-tion of each true servant of Humanity. The
one is but for a time, but it is conscious. This
constitutes the life of man, properly so called. The
other, with no direct consciousness on the part of
man, is yet permanent, and does not begin till
after death. The first involves the presence of the
body, and may be termed objective, to mark more
clearly its contrast >vith the second. That second
leaves each one to exist only in the heart and in-
tellect of othei^, and deserves the name of sub-
jective. This is the noble immortality, necessarily
disconnected with the body, which Positivism allows
the human soul. It preserves this valuable term —
soul — to stand for the whole of our intellectual and
moral functions, without involving any allusion to
some supposed entity answering to the name.
Following out this high conception, the human
race, in the true sense of the tenn, is composed of
two bodies, both of which are essential. Their
proportion is constantly varying ; and the tendency
of this variation is to secure a greater influence for
the dead over the living in every actual operation.
78 INTRODUCTION.
The action and its result are most dependent on the
objective element ; the impulse and the regulating
power are principally due to the subjective. We
have received large endowments from the liberality
of our predecessors ; we hand on gratuitously to
our successors the whole domain in which man
lives and moves ; and the addition made in each
successive generation becomes smaller and smaller
in proportion to the amount received. Our exer-
tions are necessarily gratuitous. They meet with
an adequate reward in our subjective incorporation,
by which we are enabled to perpetuate our services
under an altered form.
A theory such as this seems at the present day to
be the last effort of the human intellect under
systematic guidance. And yet we can trace the
germ of it, anterior to all such guidance, in the
most remote periods of our race's progress, and can
see that it was felt even then by the most ancient
poets. The smallest tribe, nay, even every family
of any considerable size, soon comes to look on
itself as the essential stock of Humanity. It con-
siders itself the original source of that composite
and progressive existence, the only limits to which,
in time or in space, are the limits of its normal
state, as fixed by the constitution of the planet it
occupies. The Great Being is not yet fully formed;
yet no jar of its component parts was ever able to
keep out of sight its gradual progress towards
formation. This, its evolution, rightly judged and
rationally directed, is now the only possible basis of
INTRODUCTION. 79
unity, wliicli is our final object. Even during the
prevalence of tlie egoistic doctrine of Christianity
— from which the stern St. Peter drew the charac-
teristic maxim of the system, "As strangers and pil-
grims'' — we see the admirable St. Paul even then
led by his feeling to anticipate the conception of
Humanity, in the figurative expression which
touches us, whilst we see the contradiction it in-
volves, " We are every one members one of another.'"
The central principle of Positivism could alone dis-
close the one stem to ^\hich, by the law of their
beinsf, these members belonor. In the absence of
such a conception, they seemed to have a confused
existence.
The Woman. — I feel compelled, my father, to
admit this fundamental conception, though it is by
no means as yet clear of difficulty ; but when I
look on such an existence, the sense of my own
nothingness alarms me. Before its immensity, I
seem to be reduced to nothing, more completely
than I was before the majesty of a God with whom,
feeble as I am, I felt myself in some definite and
direct relation. Now that you have completely
mastered me by the ever-grov/ing preponderance of
the new Supreme Being, I feel the need of your re-
awakening in me a just consciousness of my indi-
vidual existence.
The Priest. — The desired result will follow, my
daughter, from a more complete appreciation of the
dogmatic system of Positivism. Humanity, as a
whole, must ever constitute the principal motor of
80 INTRODUCTION.
every operation we undertake, be it physical, in-
tellectual, or moral. At the same time, we must
never forget — and this is sufficient to meet your
wishes — that the Great Being cannot act except
through individual agents. This is the reason why
the objective part of the race, though brought more
and more into subordination to the subjective, must
always be indispensable to the subjective for it to
exert any influence. The objective element col-
lectively shares in this agency. Analyse this col-
lective action, and we arrive at the fact that it is
the result of the free concurrence of the efforts of
simple individuals. Each of these individuals, if
worthy of his position, can assert himself in pre-
sence of the new Supreme Being more than he
could before its predecessor. In fact, God had no
real need of any service on our part, except to give
him vain praises, the childish eagerness for which
tended to degrade him in our eyes. Remember the
verse of the Imitation, in which this is put out of
doubt : —
I am necessary to thee, thou art useless to me.
It is doubtless true that but few of us are war-
ranted in thinking ourselves indispensable to Hu-
manity. Such language is only applicable to those
to whom are really due the principal steps in our
progress. Still, every noble human being may, and
should habitually, feel that his personal assistance
in this immense work of the evolution of the race
is of use ; for that work would be ended at once if
INTRODUCTION. 81
all its individual co-operators were at any one
time to disappear. The development, and of
course also the preservation, of the Great Being
must then depend, in any case, on the free services
of its different children, though the inactivity of
any one in particular is, generally speaking, not an
irreparable evil.
imi |ait
EXPLANATJOX OF THE WORSHIP.
CONVERSATION III.
THE WORSHIP AS A WHOLE.
The Woman. — In our second introductory con-
versation, you have cleared up, my father, the diffi-
culties I originally felt as to the conception of
Humanity, the centre of the whole Positive system.
You have, in fact, revealed to me the goddess
■whom I am, as a Positivist, to serve. You must
now teach me to love her more, that I may serve
her better. It is my hope that, in the end, I shall
he found worthy to be incorporated into her. Thus
accepting my position as a Positivist, even prior to
any more detailed explanations of the doctrine, I
naturally change my attitude, and our conferences
assume more completely the character of real con-
versations. I shall not in this part lay before you
doubts on important points, requiring long explana-
tions. I shall only interrupt you to clear up or set
forth more fully points on which you do not suffi-
ciently dwell. I even hope, in the case of the wor-
ship, to take an active part, and assist you by an-
THE AYORSHIP. 83
ticipating some of your explanations, so as to make
your exposition more rapid, without detracting
from its completeness. We are now entering on
the domain of feeling, and in this domain the in-
spiration of woman, though it keep its empirical
character, can really aid the priesthood in its con-
struction.
The Priest. — I look with great hope, my daughter,
to this spontaneous co-operation, as likely to shorten
this part of our Catechism. But, in order to make
as much use as possible of youi^ present disposition,
this new conversation, which concerns merely the
worship in general, must begin by a systematic
account of the general plan of our religion, though
you are already familiar with it.
Combinations must in all cases be binary. This
is true of physical combinations ; it is still more
true of logical ones. This is pointed out clearly by
the etymology of the word. This rule is applicable,
necessarily, to any division whatever. In our funda-
mental division of religion we obey the rule instinc-
tively, by partitioning out the domain of religion
between the two, love and faith. In every case
where the evolution of the individual or of the
society follows its normal course, love comes first and
leads us to faith, so long as the growth is spon-
taneous ; but when it becomes systematic, then the
belief is constructed in order to regulate the action
of love. At the point we have reached in our
Catechism, you are in sufficient possession of the
faith for me to proceed to strengthen and develope
g2
84 FIRST PART.
the love which always inspired you. This capital
division of religion is equivalent to the general
division between theory and practice, if rightly
viewed. As we have sufficiently for our purpose
studied the theoretic domain of Positive religion,
we may pass on to its practical domain.
Now, this practical domain necessarily breaks up
into two, as a consequence of the natural distinction
between feeling and action. The theoretical part
of religion meets the want of the intellect, the only
possible basis of belief ; but the practical part em-
braces the whole remainder of our existence, quite
as much our feelings as even our acts. Universal
custom, prior to all theory — and such custom is the
best rule of language — gives a direct sanction to
this view ; for it applies the name religious prac-
tices to our habits of worship, and ajDplies it quite
as much, if not more, to them, as to those habits
which more particularly concern the regime. There
is here an apparent confusion, but it rests on a
basis of profound though empirical wisdom. For it
was a wise instinct by which the mass of men, and
still more of women, early learnt, as the priesthood
had learnt, that to improve our feelings is a more
important and difficult task than the immediate im-
provement of our actions. As love in Positive
religion never becomes mystic. Positive worship in
its normal condition is part of the practical domain
of true religion. We love more, in order to serve
better. But, on the other hand, from the true reli-
o-ious point of view, our acts always may have an
THE WORSHIP. 85
essentially altruistic character, since the main object
of religion is to dispose us and to teach us to live
for others. Our actions, then, are suggested by
love, and, in their turn, they tend to develope love.
In the case of our intellectual improvement, vv^hen
it is rightly guided, this capability of our action is
directly evident. It holds good also in the case of
our material progress, provided that such progress
proceed on right principles. You see, therefore,
]iow the regime, under its religious aspect, forms part
of the domain of love as much as the worship does.
These two principles, which make our worship
practical, our regime affective, and yet never con-
fuse the two, could not be discovered whilst religion
remained in its theological stage, for then the worship
and the regime were thoroughly heterogeneous.
The one had God for its object ; the other, man.
The worship stood higher than the regime, but it
did so only because the second of the two beings
was necessarily subordinate to the first. Both were
essentially egoistic in character, the result of the
very constitution, thoroughly and entirely individual
in its tendencies, of a faith which never could be
reconciled with the existence in our nature of the
instincts of benevolence — an existence allowed by no
religion but the Positive. Under the older faith,
the division between the regime and the worship
was as broad as that which separates the worship
from the doctrine ; so that the general plan of reli-
gion became unintelligible, the result of our just
dislike to ternary combinations.
86 FIRST PART.
In religion, in its final stage, on the contrary, the
divisions are as favourable to the reason as to the
feelings. The doctrine differs from the worship
and the regime much more than these last do from
one another. So the primary division is binary,
whilst the ordinary constitution is ternary. This
is attained simply by adding one subdivision as a
complement to the first primary division, whereas
previously such subdivision was absurdly placed on
a level with it. These three parts together ulti-
mately form a regularly progressive series, by ^drtue
of the natural homogeneity of its different elements.
In this series we pass from love to faith, or from
faith to love, according as *we take the subjective or
the objective course, respectively appropriate to
the two most important ages of our religious initia-
tion, the one of which is under the direction of
woman, the other under that of the priest. But
whichever of these two directions we take — and
both are equally in use — the worship always holds
the same place, as the result of the doctrine, or the
source of the regime. This alone is suflEicient to
explain its capacity of standing, in daily life, as the
representative of the whole of religion.
The Woman. — My very natural eagerness to
enter at once on the direct study of our worship
made me wish at the outset to leave out, my father,
the general preamble you have just set before me.
I now feel how necessary it was in order to gain a
clear conception of the plan of religion. I had not
previously co-ordinated its three parts. This valuable
THE WORSHIP. 87
explanation, however, seems to me now so far com-
plete that I hope to study immediately the general
system of the worship due to our divinity.
The Priest. — We adore her, not as his worshippers
adored God, with vain compliments, my daughter,
but in order to serve her better by bettering our-
selves. It is important to remember that this is
the normal object of Positive worship ; it is im-
portant, in order to anticipate, or correct in it, the
tendency to degenerate into mysticism. We are
liable to this whenever we pay too exclusive atten-
tion to the feelings, as we are then disposed to neg-
lect, or even to forget, the acts which those feelings
should control. I am naturally more prone than
you to such an error, by my greater tendency to
system. The evil results on your practice would soon
become clear to you by your own native good sense;
nay, you would even know how to remedy them by
a fortunate inconsistency in your theory. It is of
particular importance for me to avoid this mistake
in the present conversation, for by its more abstract
and more general character it renders me more
liable to it, and the consequences would be more
serious. You would bring me back at last, I doubt
not, into the right path, by the suggestions of your
experience j but it would often be too late, so that
I should have sometimes to make laborious efforts
to repair the consequences of my error.
Keeping this precaution constantly in view, let
us look on the whole worship as having for its object
to form a systematic connexion between the doc-
88 FIRST PART.
trine and the regime, by idealizing both the one and
the other. As the result of the doctrine, the wor-
ship completes that doctrine, and expresses it in a
short form. It places before us, in a more familiar
and more imposing point of view, the conception of
Humanity, by means of an ideal representation of
it. The worship also typifies the life, and so must
have a dii-ect tendency to ameliorate our feelings.
For this, it must never lose sight of the modifications
they habitually undergo in the three different con-
ditions of human life — the personal, domestic, and
social. At first sight, these two ways of forming a
general conception of the worship and of instituting
it may seem irreconcileable ; yet they are naturally
in agreement, and such agreement is the result of
the aptitude inherent in any worthy idealization of
the Great Being to consolidate and develope the love
which is the basis of its whole existence. If so, the
original difference has in no way a tendency to
break up the worship into two separate domains —
one belonging exclusively to the intellect, the other
to feeling. Such a division would be, as a general
rule, as impracticable as the distinction generally
drawn between algebra and arithmetic. They can
really be separated only in very few cases, and these
mostly of our own making ; and yet the two
methods, though constantly mixed, are never con-
fused. This comparison gives a right idea of the
closeness of the connexion which naturally binds
together the two aspects, intellectual and moral, or
theoretical and practical, under which we are justi-
THE WORSHIP. 89
fied in viewing either the whole system of Positive
worship, or each of its parts. Still, in spite of the
fact that such a connexion is the spontaneous result
of the religious system, which both are concerned
with, to combine them wisely is really the chief
difficulty to be met in instituting our worship. For
this worship, quite as much, nay, even more than
the doctrine, is liable to degenerate into mysticism
or mere empiricism, according as generalization and
abstraction respectively are carried to excess or are
deficient. These two contrary tendencies to error
produce, in the moral point of view, equal evils ; for
the social efficiency of man's feelings is equally im-
paired by their becoming too refined or too coarse.
The Woman. — To enable me better to estimate
this general difficulty, I may, may I not, my father,
state it in another and less general form, as the
difficulty of rightly instituting the subjective life.
For it is on this subjective life that rests, of neces-
sity, the whole system of Positive worship, whether
we view it intellectually or morally. In the com-
position of oui' Great Being the dead occupy the
first place, then those who are yet to be born.
The two together are far more numerous than the
living, most of whom too are only its servants,
without the power at present of becoming its
organs. There are but few men, and still fewer
women, who admit of being satisfactorily judged in
this respect before the completion of their objective
career. During the greater part of his actual life,
each one has it in his power to balance, and even
90 FIRST PART.
far to outbalance, the good he has done by the
evil he may do. So the human population is
made up in the main of two kinds of subjective
elements; the one determinate, the other indefi-
nite. These are brought into immediate and close
connexion solely by the objective element of that
population, the proportion of which to the others
is constantly becoming indefinitely small. If so, I
conceive that, in order to present to us the true
Great Being, Positive worship must freely develops
in each of us our subjective life. By so doing it will
further become eminently poetic in character. At
the same time, the exertion of our poetical powers,
where thought works chiefly by the aid of imagery,
has a natural fitness for the direct cultivation of
our best feelings.
It seems to me, then, quite possible to reconcile
the intellectual condition with the moral object of
this worship, on the principle which you have just
given me ; but in the means you declare necessary
to attain that object I seem to see a new general
difficulty. For I find it difficult to conceive how it
will be possible to institute, still more how it will
be possible to secure in universal practice, the daily
realization of the subjective life — its realization in
the individual and in the society ; and yet, to make
it an universal practice is indispensable for our
religion. I allow, of course, that in this respect,
the entire regeneration of education will procure
us immense resources, to an extent difficult to esti-
mate at the present time. Nevertheless, I fear that
THE WORSHIP. 91
these resources will always leave us unable to sur-
mount this difficulty ; and when I look at the Past,
I seem to gain no direct ground for hope, as far as
the great body of men is concerned.
The Priest. — On the contrary, my daughter, I
hope soon to set you free from your uneasiness on
this point, natural though it be ; and I rely on a
judicious survey of the Past — the long initiation of
our race, now finally ended, as is clearly shown by
the very fact of my drawing up this Catechism.
Judge the past rightly, and it is impossible not
to see the natural capacity of our species for
living a subjective life. For in the past we see
such a life, under different forms, prevail during
forty centuries. All who are emancipated from the
older belief now know, that during this long pro-
bation, the minds of men habitually recognised the
sway of purely imaginary beings — we see them to
be imaginary, their worshippers believed in their
real and distinct existence. Nor is this the judg-
ment only of those who are emancipated. The
partisans of the difi'erent forms of theological belief
have nearly the same conviction in this respect ; for
they each judge all but their own on this principle.
And yet the supporters of the other forms, put
together, always outnumber, by an immense ma-
jority, the supporters of any one form, especially in
the present day, when no form of supernatural belief
is common to large masses. Each one thinks illusion
the rule, his own fiction the solitary exception.
So prone are we to this subjective life, that we
92 FIRST PART.
find it more prevalent the nearer we ascend to the
naive age of a purely spontaneous belief, in the in-
dividual or in the society. The greatest efibrt our
reason is required to make, is in the opposite di-
rection. It is to bring the subjective into sufficient
subordination to the objective ; it is to enable our
minds, in their inner workings, to represent the
external world with the clearness required by the
position we occupy. For the external world claims
an unvarying predominance over us, whether for
action or impression. This, the normal result, is
only attained, in the individual as in the species,
in the period of our complete maturity. It con-
stitutes the best sign of that maturity. The
tendency of this transformation is to a radical
chano'e in the conduct of the human understand in o;.
But no such change will ever prevent our developing
the subjective life, even beyond the needs of Posi-
tive worship. We shall always require a certain
amount of discipline to keep within due limits our
natural disposition to substitute too completely the
inward for the outward. You need feel, then, on
this head no serious uneasiness, unless you judge
man as he will be, by the present tendency of special
scientific pursuits to crush the imagination and
to wither the heart. This, however, is really only
one of the natural symptoms of modern anarchy.
The only essential difierence between subjectivity
in its later and in its primitive shape is this. In its
later shape we must be fully conscious of it, and
openly avow it^ no one ever confusing it with
THE WORSHIP. 93
objectivity. Our religious contemplations will con-
sciously be carried on internally. Our predecessors,
on the contrary, vainly endeavoured to see without
them what had no existence but within. Of course
it was understood that they might fall back on a
future life for the ultimate realization of their
visions. This general contrast between the two
may be summed up by a statement of the different
ways of conceiving the principal subdivision of the
intellect. In the normal state of existence contem-
plation, even when inward, is easier and less eminent
than meditation; for in contemplation our intel-
lect continues nearly passive. In one word, we
contemplate in order to meditate, because our
studies mainly regard the external world. On the
contrary, with men in the theological state, medita-
tion must always seem less difficult and far more
common than contemplation. In this last, therefore,
they placed the highest effort of our understanding.
They only meditated in order to contemplate, and
to contemplate beings which were always eluding
their grasp. A familiar sign will soon mark this
distinction as regards the greater part of private
worship. The Positivist shuts his eyes during his
private prayers, the better to see the internal
image; the believer in theology opened his, to
enable him to perceive outside an object w^hich was
an illusion.
21ie Woman. — This explanation has set me quite
at ease where I was uneasy. Yet I continue, my
father, to look on the institution of the subjective
94 FIRST PART.
life as the capital difficulty in Positive worship.
The new subjectivity appears to me, it is true,
always to admit of being reconciled with the
thoroughly real character which is the distinction
of our faith. But allowing this agreement, it seems
to me, it must always require special efforts.
The Priest. — You have a right idea, my daughter,
as to the essential condition which I must now
fulfil. To compare the worship and the regime,
the best way is to assign each its respective domain :
to the one, the subjective, to the other, the objec-
tive life. True, they are simultaneously connected
with both ; yet the subjective e\ddently is most
important in the worship, the objective in the
regime. No better characteristic of the higher
dignity of the worship could be selected. Such
superiority is the necessary consequence of the pre-
ponderance of subjectivity over objectivity through-
out the whole of man's existence, as seen even
in the individual, but still more clearly in so-
ciety.
The Woman. — Your systematic sanction of the
conclusion to which T had been led by the na-
tural process of my own thought induces me, my
father, now to ask you what is the true theory of
the subjective life. It is impossible here to do
more than give an outline of such a doctrine ; but it
seems to me that to state the principle on which it
rests is indispensable. No Positivist can do with-
out a general exjolanation of this point ; for his
worship, public or private, will require it almost
THE WORSHIP. 95
for everyday use, as a preventive against any de-
generation into mysticism or empiricism.
The Priest. — Your legitimate desire must be
satisfied, my daughter. Conceive then the funda-
mental law of the subjective life to be, the due sub-
ordination of that life to the objective. The world
within is essentially at all times under the regu-
lating power of the world without, from which
also it draws its nourishment and stimulus. This
is true of the life of the brain, as much as of our
more strictly bodily life. Let our conceptions be as
fantastical as they may, they must always bear the
stamp of the rule of the outer world ; a rule not
self-chosen, and one which becomes less simple, as
well as less complete, in proportion as it becomes
more indirect. All this is but the necessary con-
sequence of the indisputable principle on which I
rested our whole theory of the intellect, the dy-
namical as well as statical theory, thus brought
into connexion with the fundamental system of
biological conceptions.
The order which man produces can never be any-
thing but the improvement of the order of nature.
And the improvement mainly consists in develop-
ment. So we are led to feel here, as everywhere
else, and even more here than elsewhere, that the
true liberty of man is essentially the result of due
submission. But in order properly to apply to the
subjective life this general rule of the objective, we
must begin by examining, under this fresh aspect,
the constitution of the whole order of nature. For
96 FIRST PART.
the laws which combine to form it are far from
being equally applicable to the subjective life. To
make your ideas more definite, I will specify but
one case, the simplest and the most common — viz.,
when in our subjective worship we wish to call
back into existence one whom we have loved. Were
I not to specify some such case, in which the heart
aids the intellect, it would be easy to go astray in
the study of such a domain! But all the ideas
formed in this way, in a case taken fi'om our most
private worship, and quite within our range, will
be easily applied, with the suitable modifications, to
the rest of sociolatry.
The Woman. — I feel grateful to you, my father,
for your consideration, w^hich I feel to be indis-
pensable for me. The doctrine is no less novel than
difiicult ; for the problem could not be stated even,
so long as belief in a supernatural power prevailed.
Such a belief forbade us to represent to ourselves
the dead otherwise than in a mysterious condition,
generally left utterly vague. This state allowed of
no analogy on essential points between us and them.
Supposing us free from all uneasiness as to their
ultimate fate, we were never allowed to form for
them a subjective life. To do so was an act of
impiety, for it gave the creature the affection due to
the Creator. But if the power to state this afiecting
question is, by the necessity of the case, peculiar to
Positivism, not less peculiar to that system is the
general answer, as the only system which has
revealed the true laws of man's intellect. I can
THE WORSHIP. 97
then form a conception at once of the general
method of subjective worship, and of its normal
basis, which makes this ideal existence the simple
continuation of our real life. But would you
explain to me directly the modifications of which
our life, so continued, is susceptible?
The Priest. — These modifications consist, my
daughter, in the suppression, or at least in the
neglect of, all the lower laws, in order to give
greater predominance to the higher ones. During
the objective life, the dominion exercised by the
outer world over the world of man is as direct as
it is unbroken. But in the subjective life the out-
ward order becomes simply passive. It ceases to
have any but the indirect influence attaching to it
as the original source of the ideas we w-ish to cherish.
The dead we love are no longer under the dominion
of the rigorous laws of the material world, nor even
under the general laws of life. On the contrary,
the laws peculiar to man's existence, particularly to
his moral existence, though not excluding his social,
govern, with a firmer government than during life,
the existence which the dead retain in our brain.
This existence is by its very nature merely an intel-
lectual and affective existence. It is essentially
ideal ; and the ideas it raises bring back the feelings
with which the being we have lost inspired us, and
the thoughts to which he gave rise. Our subjective
worship aims, then, at nothing more than a species
of internal evolution, the gradual result of our
exercise of the brain according to the appropriate
98 FIRST PART.
laws. The image we form always remains less
clear and less lively than the object it is to represent,
in obedience to the fundamental law of our intellect.
But since the contrary is often the case in diseases
of the brain, a successful cultivation of ourselves
may bring us, in our normal state, nearer to the
necessary limit, far nearer than could possibly be
believed hitherto, whilst this beautiful domain
remained vague and dark.
With a view to getting a more exact conception
of this general subordination, observe that the sub-
jective evocation of the loved object should always
be connected with our last objective impressions of
him. This is most evident as to age, for death
prevents any increase of that. If, then, we lose our
friends prematurely, the effect is to invest them with
eternal youth. This law, binding on the original
adorer, must of necessity be obeyed by his most
distant adherents. No one will ever be able to
represent to himself Beatrice, the gentle patroness
of Dante, otherwise than as Dante did, as twenty-
five years old. We may think of her as younger,
we cannot imagine her older.
The objective and the subjective life, then, differ
fundamentally in this : — The first is under the
direct control of physical laws ; the second under
that of moral laws. The laws of the intellect are
equally applicable to both. This distinction loses
something of its marked character, when we see that,
in both cases, the more general order always comes
before the more special. For so the difference is
THE WORSHIP. 99
limited simply to the mode in which we estimate
generality; we estimate it first in reference to
phenomena, in the second case in reference to our
conceptions. This remark will be explained when
we come to the doctrine.
Be this as it may, the necessary preponderance of
moral laws, in the case of the subjective life, is in
perfect conformity with our nature. So much so,
that not only was it involuntarily respected, but it
was known and appreciated, at the earliest stage of
man's intellectual growth. You know that, as a
fact, the great moral laws had been stated, though
empirically, in their leading features at least, long
previous to any real recognition of the lowest
physical laws. At a time when poets, in their
fictions, set aside without scruple the general con-
ditions of the order of the outer world, and even
those of life, they observed with admirable exact-
ness the leading ideas of social, and still more
moral order. Men found no difficulty in admitting
the existence of invulnerable heroes and of gods
who took any shape at pleasure. But the instinct
of the great mass, as well as the genius of the poet,
would at once have rejected any moral incoherence —
if, for example, a writer had ventured on attributing
to a miser or a coward liberality or courage.
Tlie Woman. — By the light of your explanations
I see, my father, that, in our subjective worship,
we may neglect physical laws, whilst we cling
more closely to moral laws ; for it is on the real
knowledge of these last that the new order of institu-
h2
100 FIRST PART.
tions must depend for its advance. The imagination
easily frees itself from ttie most general conditions,
even those of space and time, provided that the
requirements of moral feeling are always respected.
But I should wish to know how we are to use the
liberty thus given us to facilitate our attainment of
the main end of subjective worship — I mean, our
mental evocation, by the agency of the brain, of the
objects of our affections.
The Priest. — So stated, my daughter, your ques-
tion is easily answered. It is a self-evident pro-
position, that the better to concentrate our strength
on this holy object, we must divert none of it on
superfluous modifications of the order of life, nor
even of the order of matter. Be careful then that
no change take place in the outer circumstances.
The person you adore should in this respect
be as he was in life. Use them even to reani-
mate more effectually his image. You will find, on
this point, in my System of Positive Politics, an
important observation : — " Our recollection of our
friends becomes at once clearer and more lasting, if
we fix with precision the material environment,
before we place in it the living image." I would
even advise you, as a general rule, to break up this
arrangement of the outward circumstance into its
three essential parts, always proceeding from without
inwards, according to the principle of our hierarchy.
This rule of worship is obeyed, by first getting a
precise idea of the place, next of the seat or the
attitude, and lastly of the dress, appropriate to
THE WORSHIP. 101
each particular case. Our heart may feel impatient
at the delay thus caused ; hut we soon come to feel
its efficacy when we see the loved image gradually
acquire by these means a vividness and a clearness
which at first seemed impossible.
These operations are essentially within the pro-
vince of esthetics. They become easier to under-
stand if we place them by the side of the operations
of science, as we may do by virtue of the necessary
identity of the chief laws of both. In strict truth,
science, when it points out beforehand a future often
distant, ventures on a still bolder effort than art does,
when it would call up some cherished memory. Our
brilliant success in the former case, though there
the intellect derives much less aid from the heart,
authorizes us to hope for more satisfactory results
in the other, where alone we have the certainty of
arriving at some solution or other. This certainty
rests, to say the truth, entirely on the knowledge of
the laws of the brain, of which our conceptions are
still very confused. Our astronomical previsions,
on the other hand, depend more than anything on
the simplest and best known of external laws.
But whilst this distinction is adequate to explain
the inequality of our success in the two cases, it
shows us that such inequality is simply provisional.
When the higher laws shall be sufficiently known,
the Positive priesthood Avill draw from them results
more precious, and susceptible of greater regularity,
than those of astronomy, even when most successful.
For astronomy becomes uncertain in its previsions,
102 FIRST PART.
and even fails altogether, as soon as the questions
become very complicated. This is generally the
case with comets. We need not jnstly incur any
charge of chimerical presumption when we say that
the providence of man can, and ought to, secure
more complete regularity in the order which is
most amenable to its action, than can prevail, as
regards the majority of events, in the order which
obeys simply a blind fatality. The greater compli-
cation of the phenomena will ultimately be over-
come, in these high cases, by the powerful sagacity
of man, the modifying agent. All that we need is
a sufficient knowledge of the order of man's
world.
The Woman. — I feel, my father, that to subordi-
nate the subjective to the objective, is at once the
constant obligation and the most important resource
of Positive worship. You have made me quite
understand that, far from wishing to withdraw our-
selves from this necessary yoke, we ought freely to
accept it, even when we might neglect it. For
such a complete submission makes our subjective
life much easier, at the same time that it economizes
all our most valuable strength. But here I stop.
I do not see, from this point onwards, in what
properly consists our action in this internal exis-
tence ; and yet this existence ought, it seems to me,
in its own way to be less passive even than our
external one.
The Priest. — Our action consists, my daughter,
in idealizing. This is almost always to be done by
THE WORSHIP. 103
subtraction, rarely by addition, even when, in add-
ing, we observe all proper precautions. The ideal
must be an amelioration of the real, or it is inade-
quate for its moral purpose. This amelioration is,
for the ideal, the true normal compensation of its
inferiority to the actual in clearness and liveliness.
But the ideal must be subordinate to the real,
othersvise the representation would be untrue, and
the worship would become mystical. A too servile
adherence to reality, again, would leave it empirical.
Our iiile avoids equally these two contrary devia-
tions. We find a natural indication of its sound-
ness in our tendency to forget the defects of the
dead, whilst we only recall their good qualities.
From this point of view, I would have you see in
the rule nothing more than a particular deduction
from the dogmatic conception of Humanity. Our
Divinity only incorporates into herself the dead who
are really meritorious. But in doing so, she puts
away from each the imperfections which in all
cases dimmed their objective life. Dante had, in
his own manner, an anticipation of this law when
he formed that beautiful fiction, which makes the
preparation for blessedness consist in drinking first
of the river of oblivion, then of Eunoe, which calls
up only the memory of good. In ameliorating,
then, those whom you choose as rej^resentatives of
Humanity, add but very secondary improvements,
not such as impair the real impression even of their
outward form, much less that of their moral cha-
racter. But give free scope, always of course with
104 FIRST PART.
prudence, to your natural disposition to clear them
of their different faults.
The Wo'iiian. — In the true theory then, my
father, of the subjective life, our worshijo ultimately
leaves the order of the outer world such as it actu-
ally is, with the view of concentrating with greater
effect on man's world our chief efforts for improve-
ment. The noble existence which thus perpetuates
us in others is the worthy continuation of the one
by which we deserved immortality; the moral pro-
gress of the individual and the race is ever the
most important destination of both lives. The dead
with us are set free from all necessity to obey the
laws of matter or the laws of life. We remember
that they were once subject to them, but we do so
only that we may be better able to recall them such
as we knew them. But they do not cease to love,
and even to think, in us and by us. The sweet
exchange of feelings and ideas that passed between
us and them, during their objective life, becomes
closer and more continuous when they are set free
from their bodily existence. And yet although,
under these conditions, their life is deeply mixed
up with our own, they preserve unimpaired their
originality — their own distinct moral and mental
character, supposing that they ever had a really
distinct character. We may even say that their
more prominent characteristics become more marked,
in proportion as this close intercourse becomes more
free.
This Positive conception of the future life is cer-
THE WORSHIP. 105
tainly nobler than that of any theological school, at
the same time that it alone is trne. When I was
a Catholic, in the period of my most fervent belief,
I could not help being deeply shocked on studying
the childish conception of blessedness which, we
find in a father of such high moral and intellectual
eminence as St. Augustin. I was almost angry w^hen
I found him hoping some day to be free from the
laws of weight, and even from the need of taking
food. By a gi'oss contradiction, he kept the power
of eating what he liked, without any fear, it would
seem, of becoming inordinately fat. The contrast
is well adapted to make us feel how greatly Posi-
tivism improves immortality, at the same time that
it places it on a firmer footing, when it changes it
from objective to subjective. Still, clear as the
superiority is, I cannot but regret, in the old w^or-
ship, its great institution — prayer. Prayer does
not seem to me to be compatible with the new
faith.
The Priest. — Were there really such an omission,
my daughter, it would be extremely serious; for
the regular practice of prayer, private or public, is
the capital condition of any worship whatever.
Far from failing to fulfil this condition, Positivism
satisfies it better than Catholicism ; for it purifies
the institution of prayer, at the same time that it
developes it. Your mistake on this point is the
result of the low notion generally formed of prayer.
We make it consist in asking for something — too
often in asking for the supply of our bodily wants,
106 FIRST PART.
in accordance with the profoundly egoistic character
of every form of theological worship. For us, on
the contrary, prayer is the ideal of life ; for to pray
is at one and the same time to love, to think, and
even to act, since expression is always, in the true
sense of the word, an action, Never can the three
aspects of human life be united with so intimate an
union as in our admirable effusions of gratitude and
love towards our great Divinity, or her worthy
representatives and organs. No interested motive
is any longer allowed to stain the purity of our
prayers.
Still, as the practice of daily prayer greatly im-
proves the heart, and even the intellect, we are
warranted in keeping in sight this valuable result.
Nor need we fear that the intrusion in this degree
of our personality will ever degrade us. The Posi-
tivist prays in order to give expression to his best
affections. This is his main object. He may also
ask, but he asks only for a noble progress, which
he ensures almost by the very asking. The fervent
wish to become more tender, more reverential, more
courageous even, is itself in some degree a realiza-
tion of the desired improvement. At least it con-
tains the first step to any improvement — the sincere
confession of our actual imperfection. This holy
influeuce of prayer may extend to the intellect, were
it only by urging us to new efforts to improve our
thought. On the contrary, to ask for an increase
of riches or power would, in our worship, be as
absurd as it is ignoble. We do not envy the
THE WORSHIP. 107
believers in theology the unlimited command over
the external world which they hope to obtain by
prayer. Ail our subjective efforts are limited to
perfect, as far as is possible, the world of man,
which is nobler and also more susceptible of modifi-
cation. In a word, Positivist prayer takes com-
plete possession of the highest domain of all, that
once set apart for supernatural grace. The Positive
idea of sanctification systematizes moral progress.
Previously such progress had been looked on as
rejecting any idea of law, although its pre-eminence
was quite acknowledged.
The Woman. — I accept your explanation as deci-
sive; and I now beg you, my father, to point out
to me the general course to be adopted in regard to
Positivist prayer.
Tfte Priest. — For that purpose you must divide it,
my daughter, into two separate and successive parts
— the one passive, the other active. They concern
respectively the past and the future, with the pre-
sent for connecting link. Our worship miLst always
be the expression of love, springing from and deve-
loping gratitude to the past, a gratitude ever on
the increase. All prayer, then, private or public,
ought to begin by commemoration as a prepara-
tion for effusion, this last occupying half the time
the former occupies. When a happy combination
of signs and ideas has sufficiently rekindled the
warmth of our feelings towards the object of our
adoration, we then pour them forth with real fer-
vour. Such fervour has a tendencv still further to
108 FIRST PART.
strengthen the feelings, and so to make us more
ready for the evocation with which we conclude.
The Woman. — Satisfied with these hints, I would
ask you, my father, to complete your general view
of our worship, by directly explaining to me, in its
more important features, its influence on our im-
provement. I feel that I understand it thoroughly ;
yet I could not define it so as to state it to others
in a shape to secure a fair judgment. This is why
I ask you, on this point, for a systematic explana-
tion, as a guide for me — first, in my own practice ;
next, in my efibrts to convert others.
The Priest. — Our worship improves the heart
and tlie intellect simultaneously; yet it is important,
my daughter, to separate in our view its reaction
on our moral state, and its influence on our intel-
lect.
Its result, in the first case, is an immediate con-
sequence of the first law of animal life ; for worship
is always a real exercise^ and more truly so than
anything else. This is pointed out by ordinary
language, here, as elsewhere, the faithful picture of
human existence. Above all does such a view of it
admit of no dispute when prayer is complete — that
is to say, when it is oral as well as mental. We
actually bring into play in expression, whether by
sounds, or by gestures, or attitudes, the same muscles
that we do in action. So every expression of right
feelings has a tendency to strengthen them and
develope them, in the same way as the acts to which
they lead would do, if we performed them.
THE WORSHIP. 109
I am bound, however, on this point, to guard
against a dangerous exaggeration, and I do so by
urging you never to confuse these two great moral
influences — the influence of our expressions, and the
influence of our actions. It is true that the laws
which govern them both are essentially similar ;
but in no case can they, therefore, be looked on as
of equal value. It is the result of universal expe-
rience, fully confirmed by our cerebral theory, that
action will always have more efiect than prayer,
not merely on the external result, but also on the
amelioration of our nature. Still, second to the
practice of good actions, nothing is better adapted
to strengthen and develope our best sentiments
than their due expression, supposing it become as
habitual as it ought to be. Now, this general
means of amelioration is ordinarily more within
our reach than action ; for acting often requires
materials or circumstances beyond our reach, so as
at times to confine us to the mere barren wish. By
virtue of their being thus accessible, the practices
of our worship come to be, for our moral progress,
a valuable supplement to our active life ; and there
is no difficulty in reconciling the two, such is the
perfect homogeneity of Positive religion.
The Woman. — I now understand the moral influ-
ence of our worship. I need, my father, more full
explanations as to its influence on our intellect. I
am by no means so clear as to this.
The Priest. — You must keep distinct, my daughter,
its two main cases— the one, in which its efficiency
110 FIRST PART.
is limited to the sphere of art ; the other, in which
it passes into that of science.
From the first point of view, the power of Posi-
tive worship on the mind is direct and striking —
first, as regards the most general art ; next, as it
regards the two special arts, those of sound or form.
Poetry is the soul of our worship, as science is of
the doctrine, and industry of the regime. Every
prayer, private as well as public, becomes in Posi-
tivism a real work of art, inasmuch as it is the
expression of our best feelings. In prayer, nothing
can free us from the obligation of constantly form-
ing our prayers ourselves ; so that every Positivist
must be, in some resj^ects, as it were, a poet — at
least, for his own private worship. We must use
fixed forms of prayer, in order to secure more regu-
larity; but these forms must originally, in all cases,
be drawn up by him who uses them, or he will find
that they have no gi-eat efficiency. However, though
the form remains the same, the prayer admits of
some degree of variety, as it is the artificial signs
only that are fixed. Their uniformity only brings
into a stronger light the spontaneous variations of
natural language. Such language, whether musical
or mimic, is always more esthetical than the other.
This poetical faculty of originating our prayers
will be largely developed when the regeneration of
education shall have sufficiently trained all Posi-
tivists in the views it requires, and even in such
compositions. This I will point out to you in the
Third Part of this Catechism. When we have
THE WORSHIP. Ill
reached that point, the general art will always derive
suitable assistance from the special arts. All will
then be familiar with singing, which is essentially
the basis of music. All will be familiar also with
drawing, the genei^al source of the three arts of
form — painting, sculpture, and architecture. Lastly,
when we draw out our form of worship, we may
generally introduce special ornaments, chosen with
judgment from the accumulated stores of human
art, the esthetic treasures of Humanity. Additions
of this kind seem, at first sight, limited to public
worship; but private worship is equally open to
them, and equally benefited by them, provided
it borrows with discretion and moderation. All
true poets have, at all times, given expression to the
leading feelings of our nature. As that nature
remains the same, their productions are always in
sufficient consonance with our own emotions. When
the agreement, without being entirely complete, is
nearly so, we may borrow from the poets, and find
in what we borrow more than the merely intellec-
tual merit of a more perfect expression — we find,
what is far more, the moral charm of a personal
sympathy. The older the source from which we
borrow our ornaments, the more suitable they are ;
for they lend a sanction to our afiections, seen thus
to be in spontaneous harmony, not merely with those
of the gi'eat poet, but also with those of all the
generations which, in succession, that poet has aided
in the expression of their feelings. To secure, how-
ever, the full efficiency of this valuable aid, it must
112 FIRST PART.
never assume any other than a secondary place. It
must remain an addition, though the degree in
which it may be admitted must vary as the cases
vary, as I will shortly point out to you.
The Wojiian. — Before you explain to me the
influence of the Positive worship on our intellect,
would you, my father, clear up a serious difficulty,
naturally arising from the preceding exposition.
Worship and poetry seem, in our religion, to melt
so entirely one into the other, that the simultaneous
growth of the two would appear to require a priestly
class quite distinct from that which is to develope
and teach the doctrine. I feel that this separation
would have a very dangerous tendency. The rivalry
of the two bodies would be very difficult to deal
with. They would compete for the ultimate direc-
tion of the regiine, and their claim would be equal.
So serious does such a conflict seem, that you can-
not avoid meeting the difficulty. If you did, you
would compromise the very organization of our
priesthood ; for a divided priesthood would be in-
capable of presiding over private life, and still more
over public life. But then, again, I do not see how
we can completely avoid it, as the cultivation of the
poetical faculty and the training of the philosophical
seem to require a treatment wholly different.
The Priest. — Your error, my daughter, is one
which it is important to correct. One of the lead-
ing features of our modern anarchy is the general
tendency to a dispersive, special action. It is a
lamentable waste of strength. Such special action
THE WORSHIP. 113
is as absurd as it is immoral. In the normal state,
it is only in the sphere of practice that you have
special results. There it is necessary, as no one can
do everything. But as each one must embrace the
v/hole range of conception, the cultivation of the
intellect must, on the contrary, always remain in-
divisible. In the sphere of theory there must be no
specialty. If there is, we have in such division the
first sign of anarchy. So thought the ancients
under the theocratic regime, the only instance, as
yet, of a complete organization. The separation of
the poet from the priest was the sign of the decay
of theocracy.
Though the genius for philosophy and the genius
for poetry cannot ever, at one and the same time,
find a high destination, intellectually they are iden-
tical in nature. Aristotle might have been a great
jioefc, Dante an eminent philosopher, had the time
in which they lived been such as to call for less
scientific power in the one, or less esthetic power in
the other. All these scholastic distinctions were in-
vented and maintained by pedants, who, themselves
entirely destitute of genius, could not even appre-
ciate it in others. Whatever the career it chooses,
mental superiority is always the same in kind. The
choice of each is fixed for him by his position, espe-
cially his position in time ; for the race always
exerts a commanding influence over the individual.
The only real difl'erence that exists in this re-
spect is this, that the services of philosophy are na-
turally uninterrupted, whereas the services rendered
I
114 FIRST PART.
by poets are necessarily intermittent. None but great
poets are of use, even for the intellect, but still more
from the moral point of view. All other poets do
much more harm than good ; whereas quite second-
rate philosophers can be made of real use, supposing
them to have honesty, good sense and courage.
Art is meant to develope in us the feeling of perfec-
tion; so it cannot tolerate mediocrity. True taste
implies lively distaste. From Homer to Walter Scott,
we have, in the Western world, only thii^teen poets
really great, two in ancient times, eleven in modern.
In this number I include three prose writers. Of
all the rest there are not more than seven you could
name as fit for daily reading. The others will,
without doubt, be completely thrown aside, as
being equally hurtful to the intellect and the heart,
when the regeneration of education shall have
allowed us to extract whatever useful materials
they contain, especially for the purposes of history.
Sociocracy, less even than theocracy, requii^es a
fixed class exclusively devoted to the cultivation of
poetry. The priests, whose habitual character is
the philosophical, will become, for the time, poets,
when our Divinity shall stand in need of fresh efiu-
sions for general use, sufficient for the wants of
several ages, both in public and jDrivate worship.
Compositions of secondary importance, which na-
turally are more frequent, will be generally left to
the spontaneous impulses of women or proletaries.
As for the two special arts, the long apprenticeship
they require, particularly the art of forni; will com-
THE WORSHIP. 115
pel lis to devote to them some select masters. The
choice will not be difficult, for the directing priest-
hood will have ample opportunities in the natural
course of Positive education. These masters will
become actual members of the priesthood, or will
merely receive pay from it, according as, by their
nature, they are more or less synthetical.
The Woman. — After these remarks, you may pass
at once, my father, to your last general explanation
of the efficiency of the worship. Its adaptation to
esthetic purposes seems to me evident ; but I do not
see in what lies its influence on the intellect.
The Priest. — In this, my daughter, that it deve-
lopes more fully, in all its parts, the universal logic.
This logic always rests on a combination of signs,
images, and feeling, as assisting the mind in its work-
ing. The logic of feeling acts more directly and ener-
getically than any other, but its method is deficient
in precision and pliancy. Artificial signs are very
accommodating, and can be increased at need. By
these two properties they make up for their inferi-
ority in logical power, the result of the weakness and
indirectness of their connexion with our thoughts.
The aggregate of intellectual aids which the two form
must receive its complement from images. These
alone can form it into a whole. They do so by their
nature as an intermedium. Now it is especially
in reference to this normal bond of true logic
that the worship is efficacious, though it also
developes its two other constituents. In this re-
spect, the child who prays rightly is exercising
i2
116 FIRST PART.
more healthily his meditative organs than the
haughty algebrist who, from a deficiency of tender-
ness and imagination, is really only cultivating the
organ of language by the aid of a ])articular jargon,
which, rightly used, is of very limited application.
You may get a clear glimpse by this of the most
important intellectual result of Positive worship. It
is thus seen to touch only the method properly so
called j to have very little to do with the doctrine.
We except, of course, the moral, nay, even the in-
tellectual notions, naturally arising from our reli-
gious practices. But the method will always have
more value than the doctrine, as feelings have more
value than acts, morals than politics. The scien-
tific labours hitherto accumulated have, to speak
generally, for the most part, merely a logical value.
What they teach is often useless, at times even worse
than useless. This provisional contrast between the
method and doctrine will necessarily not be so
strong when our encyclopedic discipline shall have
delivered us from all the rubbish of the schools. Yet
the true logic will always stand higher than
science properly so called. This will be most
true, of course, for the great mass, but in a degree
also for the priesthood.
The Woman. — All that remains, my father, is to
ask you what is the specicil object of the two other
conversations you promised me on the Positive
worship. However much 1 may feel that we have
not tlioroughly explored its fair domain, I do not
see to what point we are now to direct our efforts.
The Priest. — You wdll see this, my daughter, if
THE WORSHIP. 117
you consider that our worship must be, if it is to
succeed at all, first private, then public. These two
will be respectively treated in the two following
conversations. But first, you must attend to a
general point — you must bring your judgment to
bear directly on the important subordination of the
public worship to the private. For on this subor-
dination really depends, after all, the chief efficacy
of Positive religion.
The better to understand it, look on these two
branches of worship as addressed respectively, the
private to Woman, the public to Humanity. You
will then feel that our Dignity can be sincerely
honoured by those only who have prepared them-
selves for her august worship by the practice of
private prayer. That prayer consists in a noble
homage daily paid to her best organs. These organs
are for the most part subjective, but not to the
exclusion of the objective. In a word, the true
Church has for its original basis the simple Family.
This is even more true in reference to the moral
than to the purely social order. The heart can as
little avoid this fii'st step, the Family — it can as little
avoid looking to it afterwards as an habitual stimu-
lus — as the intellect can disdain the lower steps in the
encyclopedic scale, in order to rise at once to the
highest. For these highest constantly enforce on it
the necessity of renewing its strength by recurrinf^
to the original source.
It is the constant practice of private worship
that, more than anything else, will ultimately
distinguish true Positivists from the false brethren
118 FIRST PART.
with whom we shall be burdened as soon as the
true religion shall gain ascendancy. Without this
mark, hypocrisy would be easy, and the hypocrite
would usurp the consideration due only to the sin-
cere worshippers of Humanity. Between Humanity
and the Family we must also develope the normal
intermediate step. We find this in the natural
feelings, at the present day vague and weak, which
bind us specially to our country properly so called.
These intermediate affections require, for their right
cultivation, an association of a limited size. This
requirement will be the best ground on which to
rest the reduction of the large kingdoms of the
present day to simple cities with their due adjuncts
— a process I shall explain later.
CONVERSATION IV.
PRIVATE WORSHIP.
The Woman. — It seems to me, my father, that
private worship must fall into two parts, as private
life does, and those parts quite distinct — the one
jDersonal, the other domestic. To keep them sepa-
rate seems necessary for our explanation.
The Priest. — Your division is the natural one.
I was bound not to mix it up with my main division
of the worship ; but it gives us, my daughter, the
plan of our present conversation. In it we shall
deal with two great institutions of sociolatry. The
one relates to the true guardian angels, the other to
the nine social sacraments. They will constitute
PRIVATE WOESHIP. 119
the respective cliaracteristics, first of our personal,
next of our domestic worship. The reasons for
making the latter subordinate to the former are,
though in a less degree, essentially similar to those
which represent the whole of private worship as
the only solid basis of public. More our own than
any other, our personal worship alone can develope
in us the habits which can test our adoration
whether it be sincere or not. Without these habits,
our domestic ceremonies, and still more our public
solemnities, could have no moral efficacy. Thus
sociolatry forms for each one a natural progressive
series. Individual prayers are the right preparation
for the celebration of our social rites, by the regular
intermedium of the consecrations that concern us
as members of a Family.
The Woman. — Since our personal worship is thus
made the primary basis of all our religious practices,
I beg you, my father, to explain to me directly its
real nature.
The Priest. — It consists, my daughter, in the
daily adoration of the best types which we can
find to personify Humanity, taking into account the
whole of our private relations.
The existence of the Supreme Being is founded
entirely on love, for love alone unites in a voluntary
union its separable elements. Consequently the
afi'ective sex is naturally the most perfect representa-
tive of Humanity, and at the same time her
principal minister. Never will art be able worthily
to embody Humanity except in the form of Woman.
120 FIRST PART.
But the moral providence of our Divinity is not
exercised solely by the action of your sex collectively
upon mine. This its fundamental ofl&ce is a conse-
quent of the personal influence that every true
woman constantly exerts in the bosom of her own
family. The domestic sanctuary is the continual
source of the holy impulse which can alone preserv^e
us from the moral corruption to which we are
exposed in active or speculative life. The collective
action of woman upon man must have its root in
private life, or it will be found to have no perma-
nent effect. It is within the family also that we
gain the means of rightly appreciating the affective
sex ; for no one can know more of that sex than
what he gains from the types of it with which he
is brought into daily contact.
You see then how, in the normal state, each
man finds in his family circle real guardian angels,
at once the ministers and representatives of Hu-
manity. The secret adoration of them strength-
ens and developes their continuous influence. It
thus tends directly to make us better and happier,
by ensuring the gradual predominance of altruism
over egoism ; by affording free scope to the former,
by controlling the latter. Our just gratitude for
benefits already received, thus becomes the natural
source of fresh progress. The happy ambiguity of
the French word, patron, marks sufiiciently this
twofold eflScacity of our personal worship. Eor in
it each angel must be equally invoked as a protector
and as a model.
PRIVATE WORSHIP. 121
The Woman. — This first general view leaves me,
my father, quite undecided as to what the personal
type is to be. It would seem that we might,
with equal reason, choose any one of the leading
relations of domestic life.
The Priest. — We must really, my daughter, duly
combine three of them, if we wish the worship of
angels to have its full efiect. We find in the
theory of Positivism an indication of the necessity
of this plurality. For we there find that the sympa-
thetic instincts are three in number, and each of
the three finds a special female influence to corre-
spond with it. The mother, the wife, the daughter,
must in our worship, as in the existence of which
that worship is the ideal expression, develope in us,
respectively — the mother, veneration; the wife, at-
tachment ; the daughter, kindness. As for the
sister, the influence she exercises has hardly a very
distinct character, and she may, in succession, be
connected with each of the three essential types.
The three together represent to us the three
natural modes of human continuity — the past, the
present, the future — as also the three degrees of soli-
darity which bind us to our superiors, our equals,
and our inferiors. But the spontaneous harmony of
the three can only be fully maintained by observing
their natural subordination. So the maternal angel
must habitually take the first place, yet so that her
gentle presidency never impair the force of the
other two.
This personal worship, as a general rule, has for its
122 FIRST PART.
object to guide the maturity of eacli worshipper. At
that time one of the three feminine types has most
frequently become subjective, whilst another remains
objective. The two influences, subjective and ob-
jective, are normally mixed, and our homage is
more efficacious for the mixture ; for it secures a
better combination of strength and clearness of
imagery with consistency and purity of feeling.
The Woman. — Your explanation seems to me
very satisfactory, yet I feel, my father, that it leaves
a great want as to my own sex. Our moral wants
appear neglected. True, tenderness is our special
distinction ; yet we can hardly therefore be above
the need of some such habitual cultivation of ten-
derness as the institution of guardian angels implies.
The Priest. — You have, my daughter, an easy
solution of your difficulty in the plurality of our
angelic types. This is the proper way of meeting
it, othermse it would be impossible to overcome it.
In fact, the principal angel alone must be common
to both sexes. Each sex must borrow from the
other the two angels that complete the institution.
For the mother has, for both sexes equally, a pre-
ponderance, not merely as the main source even of
our physical existence, but still more as normally
presiding over the whole of our education. The
mother, then, is the object of adoration to both
sexes. To her your sex must add the worship of
the husband and the son, on the same grounds as
I have assigned above for the man's worship of the
wife and daughter. ^Ve need not go further ; the
PRIVATE WOESHIP. 123
difference is enough to meet the wants of both
sexes. They require a patronage, in the case of
woman specially adapted to develope energy j in the
case of man, tenderness.
The Woman. — I feel ah'eady the strong attrac-
tion of this great institution. But I find still in it,
my father, two general imperfections. First, why
does not it use all our private relations ? next, is
there sufficient allowance made for the too frequent
inadequacy of the types in actual life %
The Priest. — These two difficulties disappear, my
daughter, if you take into account the several sub-
ordinate types which have a natural connexion witli
each of our chief types, from their exciting similar
feelings and standing in a similar relation to us.
Around the mother we group naturally, first the
father, and sometimes the sister, then the master
and protector, over and above any similar relations
which may be largely increased in number both
within the family and without. Extend the same
method to the other two types, and we form a series
of objects of adoration, becoming constantly less
personal and more general. The result is, a gradual
transition, so gradual as to be almost insensible,
from private to public worship. This, the normal
development, enables us also to supply, as far as
possible, any exceptional deficiencies, by substi-
tuting, in case of need, in the room of one of the
primary types its most prominent subordinate.
So we are enabled, subjectively, to re-create the
family when it is formed of bad elements.
124 FIRST PART.
The Woman. — These remarks complete the subject.
It remains for me, my father, to ask you for some
more precise explanations as to the general system
of prayers adapted to this fundamental worship.
The Priest. — It requires, my daughter, three
daily prayers — on getting up, before going to sleep,
and in the midst of our daily occupations whatever
they be. The first prayer must be longer and more
efficacious than the other two. Each man should
begin his day by a due invocation of his angels.
This alone can dispose us to the right use habitually
of all our powers. In the last prayer, we express
the gratitude we owe to them for their protection
during the day, and we hope thus to secure its con-
tinuance during our sleep. The mid-day prayer
must, for a time, disengage us from the various im-
pulses of thought and action, and must carry into
both that influence of affection from which they
have a tendency to alienate us.
The object of these prayers of itself points out
their respective times and mode of performance. The
first precedes the work of the day ; it takes place at
the domestic altar, arranged so as to revive our best
memories, and the attitude is kneeling, the proper
attitude of veneration. The last prayer will be
said when in bed, and ought, as far as possible, to
continue till we fall asleep, in order the better to
ensure a calm brain, at the time when we are least
protected from evil tendencies. The period for our
mid-day prayer cannot be so accurately stated. It
must vary with individual convenience. It is, how-
PRIVATE WORSHIP. 125
ever, important that each one should, in his own
way, fix it strictly. If he does so, he will find it
easier to ensure the frame of mind it requires.
The respective length of our three daily prayers
is also pointed out by their peculiar object. The
morning prayer should be, in general, twice as long
as the evening. That at mid-day should be half as
long. When our personal worship is completely
organized, the chief prayer naturally occupies the
first hour of each day. This "length is required,
because we divide its opening part into two, each
as long as the conclusion. We begin with the
proper commemoration of the day; then comes that
which is appointed for the week. The result is,
that we usually divide the morning prayer into
three parts of equal length, and in the three we
give precedence respectively, first to images, then
to signs, and last to feelings. The two other
prayers do not admit of the same proportion
between commemoration and efi'asion. In the
morning, efiusion in all lasts only half as long as
commemoration. You invert this proportion in
the evening, and you equalize the two at mid-day.
You will find no difl5.culty in these minor diflferences.
But I would call your attention to the fact that
the total length of our daily worship only reaches
two hours, even in the case of those who find it
useful during the night to repeat the prayer appro-
priate for mid-day.
Every Positivist then will devote to his daily
personal improvement less time than is now ab-
126 FIRST PART.
sorbed by reading books of no value, or by useless
or even pernicious amusements. In prayer alone
can any decided progress of our subjective life take
place, for in prayer we identify ourselves more and
more with the Being we adore. The image of that
Being is gradually purified and becomes more clear
and vivid as we enter on each new year of our
worship. By these jDrivate practices we prepare
ourselves to feel aright the awakening of our sym-
pathies due to the publicity of our other sacred rites.
The moral qualities formed by such habits will, I
hope, when combined, enable the rules of sociolatry
to overcome, in the best of both sexes, the present
coarseness of manners. Men of ordinary and un-
cultivated mind still regard as lost, whatever time
is not occupied by work in the common sense.
Where there is cultivation, there we find a reco-
gnition of the inherent value of pure intellectual
exertion. But since the close of the Middle Ages,
there has been a general forge tfuln ess of the direct
higher value of moral cultivation properly so called.
"VVe should be half inclined to blush were we to
devote to this moral cultivation as much time as
the great Alfred allotted it daily, without in any
way impairing his admirable activity.
To comj^lete this sjDecial theory of our daily
prayers, I must point out to you that the orna-
ments we borrow for it from the esthetic treasures
of Humanity, must always be kept subordinate.
Nor are they equally divided between the three
prayers. By their nature, they are more adapted
PRIVATE WORSHIP. 127
to aid our effusions tlian our commemoration. As
such, the aid they give us is more available in the
evening than in the morning. But the special
purpose of them is, to free us from the necessity of
making our mid-day prayer ourselves. We often
find this dijfficult to do; and in this case the
effusion with which we end may consist almost
entirely in a judicious choice of passages from the
poets. When singing and drawing shall have
become as familiar as speaking and writing, by the
aid of this help from without we shall be more
able to meet our internal wants at times when, as
is too frequently the case, our best emotions are
languid.
The Woman. — Now that I understand our per-
sonal worship, I am endeavouring, my father, to
anticipate your exposition by forming a conception
of the domestic worship properly so called. But I
cannot of myself, as yet, get a satisfactory idea of it.
I quite see that the domestic, as well as the j^ersonal
worship, can institute a constant adoration of the
types common to the whole family. It can also in
this, the elementary society, avail itself of the col-
lective invocations which in public worship are
addressed directly to Humanity. These two kinds
of religious practices, under the natural priesthood
of the head of the family, are susceptible, no doubt,
of a high moral influence. Still, something is want-
ing to stamp on our domestic worship a character
quite its own, so as to keep it distinct from the two
which it is to connect.
128 FIRST PART.
The Priest. — We meet this, my daughter, by the
institution of the social sacraments. They distin-
guish the domestic worship from the two others.
They also form a natural transition. In these
sacraments we consecrate each of the successive
periods of our private life by connecting it with
public life. Hence our nine social sacraments —
Presentation, initiation, admission, destination, mar-
riage, maturity, retirement, transformation, and
lastly incorporation. They succeed one another in
an unbroken series, and form so many preparations
by which, during the whole of his objective life, the
worthy servant of Humanity proceeds, in a gradual
course, to the subjective eternity which is ulti-
mately to constitute him in the strictest sense an
organ of the Divinity we worship.
The Woman. — AYithin the normal limits of this
Catechism you cannot, my father, give me a really
complete explanation of all our sacraments. Still
I hope you will be able to give me some idea of
each.
The Priest. — In its first sacrament, my daughter,
our religion, the final one, gives a systematic
consecration to every birth. To this all previous
religions had been instinctively led. The mother
and the father of the new scion of Humanity come
to present it to the priesthood. The j^riesthood
receives from them a solemn engagement to fit the
child for the service of Humanity. This natural
guarantee is made more complete by two additional
institutions, the germ of which Positivism thinks
PRIVATE WORSHIP. 129
it an tionour to borrow from Catholicism. It
developes that germ under the impulse of its social
principles. An artificial couple, chosen by the
parents, with the approbation of the priesthood,
ensures the new servant of the Supreme Being a
fresh protection. That protection is mainly spi-
ritual, but at need becomes temporal, and all the
special witnesses concur in it. He also receives
from his two families two particular patrons, one
chosen from among the theoretical, the other from
the practical, servants of Humanity. The names
he derives from these two he must complete by a
thii'd ; for at the time of his emancipation he must
give himself a third name, selected, as the other
two, from among the consecrated representatives of
Humanity.
In the ancient civilization, this first sacrament
was often refused, especially to those who were
thought incapable of the destructive activity which
was then in especial request. But as the constitu-
tion of modern society more and more finds a use
for natures of every order, the presentation will be
almost invariably accepted by the priesthood, allow-
ing for certain cases which are too entirely excep-
tions to need prevision.
The second sacrament bears the name oi Initiation,
as marking the first entrance into public life, when the
child passes, at the age of fourteen, from its unsys-
tematic training under the eye of its mother, to the
systematic education given by the priesthood. Till
that period, the advice of the priest is given solely to
K
130 FIRST PART.
the parents, whether natural or artificial, to remind
them of their essential duties during the first period
of childhood. But now, the boy receives himself
the advice from the priest, and no longer through
his parents. The aim of that advice is especially,
to strengthen his heart against the injurious influ-
ences which too often accompany the intellectual
training which he is now to undergo. This second
sacrament may be put oflT, and sometimes refused,
though very seldom, if the home education has been
very unsuccessful.
Seven years later, the young disciple who has
been first presented, then initiated, receives, as the
consequence of his whole preparation, the sacrament
of admission. By it he is authorized freely to serve
Humanity, whereas hitherto he received everything
from Humanity and gave nothing in return. In
civil legislation we find a constant recognition of
the fact that it is necessary to put off, and even to
refuse, this emancipation, in the case of those whose
extremely defective organization, uncorrected by
education, condemns them to perpetual infancy.
The priesthood, as more qualified to form an accu-
rate judgment, will not shrink from having recourse
to measures of equal severity. But the direct con-
sequences of their severity must never extend be-
yond the spiritual domain.
By this third sacrament, the child becomes a
servant of Humanity. It does not, however, yet
mark out his special career. This -will often be
different from that which it was supposed to be
PRIVATE WORSHIP. 131
whilst his practical apprenticeship, and the educa-
tion of his intellect, were proceeding together. He
alone is the proper judge on this point; and he
must judge on trial of himself for a sufficient length
of time. Hence a fourth social sacrament. At the
age of twenty-eight, allowing for a delay — a delay
which may be either at his own request or enjoined
— the sacrament of destination sanctions his choice
of a career. The old worship offered us the rudi-
ment, as it were, of this institution, confined to the
case of the highest functions, in the ordination of
priests and the coronation of kings. But Positive
religion must always consider every useful profes-
sion a fit subject for social institution, with no dis-
tinction of public and private. The humblest ser-
vants of Humanity will come to receive in her
temples, from the hands of her priests, this solemn
consecration of their entering on any co-operative
function whatsoever. This is the only sacrament
that admits of being really repeated, though such
repetition must be an exception.
Tlie Woman. — I understand, my father, this series
of consecrations prior to marriage, itself to be
followed by our four other sacraments. As for
marriage, the most important of them all, and
which alone gives completeness to the whole series
of man's preparation, I already know the main
points of the Positivist doctrine. Above all, I
sympathize most deeply with the gi^eat institution
of eternal widowhood, long looked for by the hearts
of all true women. I recognise its importance for
k2
132 FIEST PART.
the family, and even for the city. But I see besides
this, that under no other condition can we suffi-
ciently develope our subjective life ; under no other
condition can our minds rise to the familiar repre-
sentation of Humanity, by means of an adequate
personification. All these precious notions had I
made almost my own before I became your cate-
chumen. I know also that you will return to this
subject from another point of view, when explaining
the regime. AYe may then enter on the last series
of oui* consecrations.
The Priest. — First however, my daughter, we
must settle what is the normal age for receiving
the chief social sacrament. As marriage is to
follow, and not precede, the choice of profession,
men can only be admitted to it so far as it is a
religious ordinance when they have accomplished
their twenty-eighth year. The priesthood will even
advise the Government to give the head of the
family a legal veto up to the age of thirty, in
order the better to guard against any precipitation
in the case of the most important of all our private
actions. In the case of women, the sacrament
of destination necessarily coincides with that of
admission ; for their vocation is always known and
happily is uniform. They are therefore ready for
marriage at the age of twenty-one, the age best
fitted to secure the harmony of the marriage union.
These are the lower limits of age, and must not be
lowered for either sex, save on very exceptional
gi'ounds, which the priesthood must thoroughly
PRIVATE WORSHIP. 133
weigh, and take the moral responsibility of sanc-
tioning. But in general, tlie higher limits should
not be fixed, though women should almost always
marry before twenty-eight, men before thirty-five.
This is the rule for married life under its best form.
The Woman. — The first sacrament after marriage
seems to me, my father, sufficiently explained by
the mere explanation of the term. You had already
drawn my attention to the fact, that the full develop-
ment of the human organism coincides in time with
the completion of the man's social preparation,
nearly at the age of forty-two. I am now thinking
only of your sex, for mine is not concerned with
the sacrament of maturity. The social function of
women is at once too uniform and too fixed to re-
quire either of the two consecrations that precede
and follow marriage.
The Priest. — You have succeeded, my daughter,
in forming, without any help from me, a right idea
of our sixth sacrament. Still you would hardly be
able, if you stopped at this point, to appreciate
rightly its peculiar importance. During the twenty-
one years which elapse between the sixth and the
seventh sacrament, the man is going through the
second period of his objective life, on which alone
depends his subjective immortality. Previously,
our life is simply a preparation. Naturally we are
liable to mistakes, and those sometimes of a serious
character, but never beyond reparation. From this
time forwards, on the contrary, the faults we commit
we can hardly ever repair, whether in reference to
134 FIRST PART.
ourselves err to others. It is important, then, that
there should be a solemn ceremony when we impose
on the servant of Humanity the responsibility from
which he can now no longer shrink. In this cere-
mony we must never lose sight of his peculiar
function, now clearly determined.
The Woman. — The next sacrament, so far as I
see, my father, is simply destined to mark the
normal termination of that great period of complete
and direct action, of which the sixth consecration
marked the beginning.
The Priest. — On the contrary, my daughter, the
sacrament of retirement is one of the most august
and best determined of our sacraments. You will
see that this is so, if you consider the last funda-
mental duty which is then discharged by each time
servant of Humanity. It is an institution of Posi-
tivism, that every functionary, especially every tem-
poral functionary, names his successor, subject to the
sanction of his superior, and allowing for exceptional
cases of moral or mental unworthiness, as I shall
shortly explain to you. You see at once that there
is no other means of adequately securing the con-
tinuity of man's work. When at sixty-three, the
citizen comes forward, of his own free will, to
renounce active life, as his active powers are
exhausted, and to have scope for the future for his
legitimate influence as an adviser, he then solemnly
exercises this last act of high authority, and by so
doing publicly places such under the control of the
priestly and popular elements of society. Their
PRIVATE WORSHIP. 135
influence may lead him to modify liis ovra action
therein. The rich also transmit their office ia
obedience to the same rules; and to make their
transmission complete, they hand over at the same
time that portion of the capital of the race which
forms the stock of the functionary, after he has
made provision for his own personal wants.
The Woman. — Now, my father, I see the full
social bearing of our seventh sacrament. I looked
on it at first as a kind of family festival.
As for the eighth, I am familiar enough with the
true religion to understand of myself in what it
consists. It is to be the substitute for the horrible
ceremony of the Catholic ritual. Catholicism, free
from all check on its anti-social character, openly
tore the dying person from all his human affections,
and made him stand quite alone before the judg-
ment-seat of God. In our transformcition, the
priesthood mingles the regrets of society with the
tears of his family, and shows that it has a just
appreciation of the life that is ending. It first
secures, where possible, compensation for errors
committed, and then it generally holds out the hope
of subjective incorporation. It must not, how-
ever, compromise itself by a premature judgment.
The Priest. — Your appreciation, my daughter, of
the last objective sacrament is adequate. I will
now explain to you the final consecration.
Seven years after death, when the passions that
disturb the judgment are hushed, and yet the best
sources of information remain accessible, a solemn
136 FIEST PART.
judgment, an idea wliicii, in its germ, sociocracy
borrows from theocracy, finally decides tlie lot of
each. If the priesthood pronounces for inccyi'pora-
tion, it presides over the transfer, with due pomp,
of the sanctified remains. They had previously
been deposited in the burial-place of the city ; they
now take their place for ever in the sacred wood
that surrounds the temple of Humanity. Every
tomb is ornamented with a simple inscription, a
bust, or a statue, according to the degree of honour
awarded.
As to the excei^tional cases of marked unworthi-
ness, the sigTi of disgrace consists in transporting,
in the proper way, the ill-omened burden to the
waste place allotted to the reprobate, amongst those
who died by the hand of justice, by their own hand,
or in duel.
TJie Woman. — I have a clear idea of the nine
social sacraments j but I feel, my father, a regTet as
regards my sex in general. It does not seem to me
that we are sufficiently considered. I make no
objection to our exclusion from three of these con-
secrations. Such exclusion is natural, and rests on
grounds which are in the highest degree honourable
to women. Their life is quieter, and requires there-
fore less attention on the part of religion. But I
cannot conceive why the subjective paradise should
be closed against those whom our religion proclaims
most qualified to merit admission. I do not, how-
ever, see how women should, as a general rule, have
this individual incorporation; for it must, in all cases.
PRIVATE WORSHIP. 137
it seems to me, be the result of a public life ; whereas
public life is wisely forbidden our sex, except in
Yery rare cases.
The Priest. — You will supply, my daughter, this
serious defect, when you consider that the incorpora-
tion of the man includes all the worthy auxiliaries
of every true servant of Humanity, not even
excepting the animals who have contributed their
aid.
The most important duty of woman is to form
and perfect man. It would be, then, as absurd as
it would be unjust to honour a good citizen, and
neglect to honour the mother, the wife, to whom
his success was mainly due. Around, and at times
within, each consecrated tomb, the priesthood will
be bound to collect, in the name of Humanity, all
the individuals who helped its inmate, while alive,
to perform the services she rewards. Your sex, by
its superior organization, can taste more keenly the
pure enjoyment that results from the mere growth
and exercise of good feelings; but it should not,
therefore, renounce its claim to just praise — much
less should it renounce the subjective immortality
whose value it so thoroughly appreciates.
The Woman. — This ex2:>lauation completes your
previous ones. It remains for me, my father, to
ask you, wherein lies the obligation for each to re-
ceive our different sacraments 1
The Priest. — They must always, my daughter, be
purely optional, so far as any legal obligation is
concerned. They bind a man; but they bind him
138
FIRST PART.
with a simply moral obligation, the existence of
■which is proved by our education and sanctioned
by opinion.
The better to preserve this their j)urely spiritual
character, on which more than anything else they
depend for their efficiency, our sacraments must not
be the only ones accessible. Side by side with
them there should be parallel institutions, esta-
blished and maintained by the temporal power, and
these last alone can be enforced in every case. The
judgment of the temporal power, less discrimi-
nating and less strict, will dispense with the reli-
gious rites in the case of those who may feel alarm
at them, and who yet can render society services
which it would be a pity to lose or impair.
For instance, we must not look on ci^-il marriage
as an anarchical institution, though it is of revolu-
tionary origin. It is to be regarded as the neces-
sary preliminary for a religious marriage, and it
may dispense legally with this latter. The con-
trary custom was the result of an usurpation on the
part of Catholicism, which Positivism will never
imitate. Those who shrink fi'om the law of widow-
hood, essential to the performance of a Positivist
maniage, must contract a civil union, to preserve
them from vice and secure the legal rights of their
children. The same holds good, though in a less
degi'ee, for most of our social sacraments, especially
for admission and destination. The priesthood
ought, in case of need, to urge the Government to
institute legal rules with the object of moderating
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 139
the just strictness of our religious prescriptions.
The observance of our sacraments will never be en-
forced, nor will it ever have any other reward than
that of conscience and opinion.
CONVEESATION V.
PUBLIC WORSHIP.
The Woman. — We are now entering on the direct
study of our public worship. I must, at the outset,
submit to you, my father, the answer which I have
given of myself to criticisms which I have heard
directed against the whole of our solemn adora-
tions. Superficial but honest, such critics urge that
each Positivist is in fact glorifying himself when
he is paying honour to a being which is of neces-
sity composed of its own worshippers. Our private
worship is in no way open to this reproach. It
can only ajDply to the direct worship of Humanity,
especially where that worship takes the shape of a
collective homage. We can meet it by stating the
true idea of the SujDreme Being. Humanity is, in
the main, composed of subjective existences, of the
dead, not of the living. They who testify their
gratitude to her, are in no way certain, as a general
rule, of being finally incorporated into her. All
that they have is the hope of this reward. They
expect to deserve it by a worthy life, the judgment
on which, however, always rests with their suc-
cessors.
140
FIRST PART.
The Priest. — In setting your objectors right, you
have kept close, my daughter, to the true spirit of
our public worship. In it, the present glorifies the
past, in order the better to prepare the future. The
present disappears naturally in presence of these
two immensities. Far from raising our pride, our
solemn prayers have a constant tendency to inspire
us with a true humility; for they make us pro-
foundly conscious to what a degree, spite of our best
collective efforts, we are incapable of ever paying to
Humanity any but the very smallest part of that
which she has given us.
The Woman. — Before you explain the general
outline of our public worship, would you, my
father, give me an idea of the temples in which it is
to be j)erformed ? As for the ministering priest-
hood, I am aware that the essential features of its
constitution will be clearly pointed out when we
come to the regime.
The Priest. — We cannot at present, my daughter,
form an adequate conception of the temples of
Positivism. Architecture is the most technical and
the least esthetic of all the fine arts ; so that each
fresh synthesis finds its architectural expression
more difficult than any other. Our religion must
be not only thoroughly worked out, but also widely
sj^read, before the public wants can show what
shape the edifices required must take. Provision-
ally, then, we shall have to use the old churches, in
proportion as they fall into disuse. This prelimi-
nary period ought^ in our case, not to be so long as
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 141
it was for Catholicism, which for many centuries
was confined to buildings of Polytheistic origin.
The only general points that can at j^resent be
settled in this respect are, the situation and direc-
tion of the building. These are determined by the
nature of the Positive worship. Humanity is, in
the main, composed of such dead as are worthy of a
future life, so that her temples must be in the
centre of the tombs of the elect. On the other
hand, the chief attribute of Positive religion is its
necessary universality. Everywhere, then, in all
parts of the earth, the temples of Humanity must
turn towards the general metropolis. This, for a
long time, as the result of past history, must be
Paris. In this manner Positi\'ism turns to account
the idea, of which we find the rudiment in the
Kebla of Islamism. We institute, as the Mahome-
tans did, a common attitude for all time believei^,
and so bring into fuller light the touching solidarity
of our free worship.
So far only can I go as to our sacred buildings.
As .for their internal arrangement, all Vv^e need at
present attend to is the necessity of keeping the
chief sanctuary for women duly chosen. So may
the Priests of Humanity be always surrounded by
those who are her best representatives.
The Woman. — Your last remark leads me, my
father, to complete my former question, by asking
you what are to be the symbols of our Divinity 1 As
it is within the province of painting and sculpture
to give them a definite form, that shape may be
142 FIRST PART.
easier to appreciate than the construction of our
temples, as the two first arts of form are more rapid
in their progress than the third.
The Priest. — The nature of our Supreme Being
really leaves, my daughter, no oj^ening even now
for hesitation as to the plastic representation of her.
In painting or in sculpture, equally, the symbol of
our Divinity will always be a woman of the age of
thirty, with her son in her arms. The pre-eminence,
religiously considered, of the affective sex, ought to
be the principal feature in our emblematic repre-
sentation, whilst the active sex must remain under
her holy guardianship. Groups with more figures
might render the symbolic representation more
complete, but in such groups it would lose too much
of its synthetic character to come into daily use.
Of the two modes which are adapted for the
expression of this normal symbol, sculpture is
suitable for the image fixed in each temple, in the
midst of the women chosen as above mention'fed,
and behind the sacred desk. But painting is pre-
ferable for the moveable banners to be carried
before us in our solemn processions. On their
white side will be the holy image ; on their green,
the sacred formula of Positivism. This green side
will be turned towards the procession.
Tlie Woman. — As the last of my introductory
questions, would you, my father, explain the sign
which in ordinary use may represent the charac-
teristic formula of Positivism ?
Tlie Priest. — We get this sign, my daughter, from
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 143
our cerebral theory, as I shall explain when we
study our doctrine. When we repeat our funda-
mental formula, we may place our hand in succes-
sion on the three chief organs — those of love, order,
and progress. The two first adjoin one another;
the last is only separated from the other two by
the organ of veneration, the natural cement of the
whole they together form ; so that the gesture
may be continuous. When the habit is formed,
we need not repeat the words — the gesture is enough.
In the end, as the order by the cerebral organs indi-
cates their functions, we may, in case of need, re-
duce the sign to the simple mention, one after the
other, of the numbers which represent those organs
in our synopsis (C). So, without any arbitrary in-
stitution, Positivism is already in possession of a
sign for common use, more expressive than any of
those adopted by Catholicism and Islamism.
Tlis Woman. — Now, my father, I ought no longer
to delay your entering on the direct explanation of
the system of public worship.
The Priest. — You will find it, my daughter, fully
expressed in the synopsis I here offer you. {Table
A, at the end of vohcme.) Our worship, like its
predecessors, has two objects : these two are —
to make us better understand, and better live
the life which it represents. We first, then,
idealize the fundamental ties which constitute oiu'
existence ; secondly, the preparatory stages essential
to it ; lastly, the functions of its various organs in
the normal state. Such are to be respectively the
144 FIRST PART.
objects of the three systems of monthly festivals
which fill up the Positivist year. That year is con-
sequently divided into thirteen months, of four
weeks each, with one complementary day set apart
as the Festival of the Dead.
You already know the four fundamental classes —
the affective, sj^eculative, patrician, and plebeian
class — which are essential to society in its normal
form. As for the preparatory stages, we could not
without confusion condense them more than we
have done, so profound are the differences, both
intellectual and social, which must always distin-
guish fetichism, polytheism, and monotheism, even
in the spontaneous initiation of every Positivist.
With regard to the primary relations which are the
bonds of society, we must begin by celebrating the
most universal. We then honour, in turn, each of
the private affections which alone can ensure the
first a real consistency. These elementary rela-
tions are really five in number — marriage, the rela-
tion of parent to child, of child to parent, that
of brothers, and the domestic relation, or that of
master and servant — and we rank them, in obedience
to our hierarchical principle, by theii" increase in
point of generality, their decrease in intimacy.
The number of months in the Positivist year has
at first sight an appearance of paradox. It is sanc-
tioned by a correct estimate of the religious grounds
on which it rests. Pepeated experience has, more-
over, shown that there will be no difficulty in intro-
ducing it simultaneously with the faith. Again,
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 145
the Universal religion alone can secure regularity in
point of time by its exact division of each month
into four periods of a week each. However great
the practical advantages of such an arrangement, it
would not be adopted, were it not that our worship
does not allow us to hesitate, as mere material reasons
would do.
The Woman. — On a first view, I see, my father,
no serious difficulty in your synopsis of sociolatry,
except as regards the domestic relation. You seem
to me to exaggerate its importance, when you place
it in that scheme as one of the fundamental bonds
of society.
The Priest. — Your objection reminds me, my
daughter, that you belong by birth to the north,
although happily preserved fi'om Protestantism.
For the southern nations of Western Europe retain,
in this respect, more perfectly the true feelings of
the race, so nobly developed in the Middle Ages.
The domestic relation is not destined to pass
away. Far from it, it will become more and more
important, as it more completely clears itself of all
trace of its original form, slavery. When once it
has become completely voluntary, it will furnish
many families with the best means of rendering
worthy service to the Supreme Being. They may
serve Humanity by assisting her true servants,
whether philosophical or practical. Such assist-
ance is indispensable. Thus they indirectly share
in promoting the public good. Yet though indirect,
theb' participation is more complete and less uucer-
L
146 FIRST PART.
tain than that of most whose co-operation is direct.
It may be made also more efficient in the cultiva-
tion of our best feelings. We restrict it within too
narrow limits when we confine it to certain classes.
In all ranks of society, above all in the proletariate,
every citizen passed through this condition, whilst his
practical education lasted. We must then idealize
the domestic relation as the complement of the family
relations, and the first step towards those of citizens.
The Woman. — My heart wanted, my father,
nothing but this rational correction of an intellec-
tual error, to enable it to rise above my anarchical
prejudices. They prevented me from fraternizing,
as I should have done, with the nobler types of this
class. Such types are not uncommon, especially
among women, though they are not appreciated.
Your explanation will have a wholesome effect on
me. I only wish one more and that a general one,
in respect to the other end of our scheme of socio-
latry. I cannot but think you have inverted the
positions of the patriciate and proletariate. Political
considerations may rank them in the order given,
on the principle of their material power. But re-
ligion classes men on the principle of moral worth,
and ought, it seems to me, to arrange them differently.
The Priest. — You forget, my daughter, that in
Positive religion there must be an exact correspon-
dence between the worship and the regime. But
I easily excuse your mistake, by the nobleness of its
motive. At times I have thought as you do, from
allowing too much weight to the extremely imperfect
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 147
state of the actual patriciate, so often unworthy of
its high social destination. Real superiority of the
brain, moral superiority even more than intellec-
tual, is, at the present day, far more widely spread, in
proportion, among the working classes. For they have
escaped the degrading influences of education and
power. Still, though we must carefully take into ac-
count this exceptional state of things as a fact beyond
dispute, when we are arranging the transitional
organization of Western Europe, we must not the
less be able systematically to put it aside when we
are constructing the abstract worship of Humanity,
destined mainly for the use of the race in its
normal state. If we look too much to the present
and not enough to the future, we should certainly be
led to place even the priesthood below the prole-
tariate. For the priesthood is actually far more
imperfect than the patriciate, whether you clioose
to judge it as it exists among the scattered ruins of
theological belief, or in its rudimentary state amid
the doctrines of metaphysics and science.
In the Positive worship, as in the normal ex-
istence of which it is the ideal expression, the
patrician worthy of his position is higher, as a
general rule, than the plebeian, as much in true
nobleness as in real power. As we rank the classes
of men by their aptitude to represent the Great
Being, the importance and difficulty of the peculiar
service rendered by the patrician class, as well
as the education required and the responsibility
involved, always place it above the proletariate.
L 2
148 FIRST PART.
It is, in fact, in the name of this higher rank
that the wisdom of the priesthood, properly aided
by the sanction of women and the support of
the people, must remind the patricians, whether
singly or collectively, of their eternal social duties,
in cases of serious neglect. But these remonstrances
must be exceptions, and they would fail of their
main object, if the normal worship did not pay
sufficient honour to the necessary ministers of our
material i^rovidence. By placing the proletariate at
the lower extremity of the social scale, the worship
reminds the proletaries that their characteristic
aptitude to control and correct all the powers of
society is the result of their situation — a situation
essentially passive, and developing no marked ten-
dency. Our sacred synopsis, then, like the regime
which it represents, must place the two great powers,
the spiritual and the temporal, between women and
the proletaries — the two bodies which exercise a
constant influence on the sentiments and conduct
of those powers. If the patriciate were placed
lower, it would be a breach of the harmony of the
Positive system, quite as much in reference to
sociolatvy as to sociocracy.
The Woman. — I am sufficiently familiar already
with the system of public worship for you to ex-
plain to me, niy father, your weekly division of the
thirteen monthly festivals. This' last development
gives each week its general festival. This must be a
great help to secure the moral object of our worship
of Humanity. For by this means Humanity is
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 149
constantly recurring under widely varied aspects,
but aspects which, though varied, are convergent.
The Priest. — Before I enter on this explanation,
my daughter, I should say that Positivism retains
unchanged the established names for the days of
the week. I had thought of substituting others ;
but I have given up the attempt, and there
will be no trace left of it except a beautiful series
of prayers by ]M. Joseph Lonchampt, for each day of
the week. The old names have the advantage of
recalling the whole of the past, in its three stages
of fetichism, polytheism, and monotheism.*
To make our worship completely regular, it was
necessary, my daughter, that each day of any week
whatever should always hold the same place in the
year. This invariability is obtained by affixing no
weekly name, first, to the complementary day which
always closes the Positivist year, then to the
additional day which follows it if it is leap-year,
according to the practice of Western Europe. Each
of these exceptional days is really sufficiently
marked by the festival appointed for it. With this
precaution, our calendar holds good for all years — a
point as important for the regime as for the worship.
The Woman. — I can easily conceive, my father,
the moral efficacy of such invariability, by which
each day of our year might receive, as the last day
does, a name purely religious. Catholicism was
never able to secure this as a rule.
* See Pol. Pos. vol. iv. pp. 135, 404.
150 FIRST PART.
The Priest. — This preliminary settled, I may, my
daugliter, begin to state directly in their order the
solemn ceremonies appointed for the seventh day in
each week. Your synopsis of sociolatry shows you
how the idea which each month commemorates is
divided between the four weekly festivals. All I
have to do is to state the grounds of this division,
and to make it clear by some summary explanations.
Our first month, dedicated to Humanity, needs
little in this respect. We open the Positivist year
by the most august of all our festivals — a direct
homage to the Supreme Being. The four weekly
festivals are the complement of this main one. In
them we respectively do honour to the various
essential forms of the social union. They rank
according to the decrease of extension, and the in-
crease of intimacy, in the relations of the race. The
first festival honours the bond of religion, the only
one that admits of being imiversal ; the second
glorifies the connexion due to old political relations.
These have disappeared, but not without leaving
strong traces in a community of language and
poetry. In the third, we celebrate directly the
effective union springing from the free acceptance
of one and the same government. The fourth
honours the least extended but the most complete
of our civil relations. In it the habit of familiar
association brings us nearest to the family union.
Passing to the month consecrated to marriage,
its first solemnity glorifies the conjugal union in its
completest form, when it is at once exclusive and
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 151
indissoluble, even by death. The priesthood must
take this occasion to bring home, both to our heart
and intellect, the general advance of this admirable
institution, the primary basis of the whole order of
man. It must enumerate and explain all its es-
sential phases, from the polygamy which originally
prevailed dowTi to the strictest monogamy, the
Positivist maiTiage.
In the following festival we honoui- the voluntary
chastity which weighty moral or physical reasons
may in'escribe, even in marriage. The capital
object of marriage, the mutual improvement of both
sexes, comes out more clearly in such an union.
Nor does this exceptional union oblige them, who
are bound by it, to renounce the affections that
concern the future. These may be secured by a
judicious adoption. The priesthood will bring out
into suitable relief the tendency of such an union to
control human procreation. It allows the benefits
of marriage where otherwise inherited disease would
forbid them.
The third week of marriage leads us to honour
the exceptional unions in which a disparity, not
without excuse, does not preclude the attainment
of the main object of marriage, especially when
in the final state opinion shall fix a limit to the
difference of age allowed. Lastly, the fourth fes-
tival honours the posthumous union, which Avill
often be the result of the normal constitution
of human marriage. The truest charm of mar-
riage is often strengthened and developed by the
152 FIRST PART.
purity and constancy that distinguish subjective
love.
One explanation will suffice for the three follow-
ing months, for their weekly subdivisions are
naturally the same. For the first of them, the first
half is devoted to the paternal relation in its com-
plete form, first when involuntary, next in the case
of adoption ; the second half is reserved for the
same relation when incomplete, a relation such as
that which in every regular society results from
spiritual authority or temporal patronage. Hence
spring, in a descending order, the four normal de-
grees of paternal affection, respectively honoured
in the four weekly festivals of the third Positivist
month. Now the same distinctions and gradations
necessarily recur in the case of the relation of chil-
dren to their parents, or of brothers to one another.
So I may dispense with any first explanation for
the fourth and fifth months.
As for the sixth, it begins by honouring the
domestic relation when permanent. This will
always mark ofi" a very numerous, but still a special
class. jSText we honour the analogous position in
which each man, as a rule, finds himself during his
practical education. The first case requires for
clearness an important subdivision, the distinction
of which is residence. The domestic relation is
complete in the case of the servant proper, or in-
complete in that of the clerk who has simply to
perform a certain office. When the manners of the
normal state shall have made domestic service, espe-
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 153
cially that of women, consistent with the full
development of family afifection, Positive worship
will show the real moral superiority of the first
position, for in it the spirit of devotion is purer
and more keen. The same distinction is applicable,
though in a less marked degi-ee, to temporary ser-
vice, and is there again determined by residence.
Hence the two last festivals of the sixth month,
respectively devoted to pages and to apprentices,
according as the masters are rich or poor.
The Woman. — Tn all these details of the different
fundamental relations of society, I find, my father,
no difficulty. But I am afi'aid that my weakness
in history will prevent my fully understanding the
second series of social festivals ; for the preparatory
state of them, as a whole, is as yet only known to
me by the first law of evolution.
The Priest. — That law is enough, my daughter,
to enable you even now to understand, in outline,
the succession of the three preliminary states men-
tioned in our synopsis of sociolatry. As for the
weekly division of each of those states, you will, it
is true, hardly be able to enter into it till after the
historical conversation with which I shall end this
Catechism. I limit myself, therefore, to the co-
ordination of the chief divisions. I leave it to you
to complete it for yourself, when you shall have
gained the requisite knowledge.
The fictitious synthesis, in all cases resting on the
search after causes, may take two forms, according
as the will, to which events are attributed, is iiihe-
154 FIRST PART.
rent in matter itself, or in beings external to
matter, but which are usually beyond the reach of
our senses. Now the first or direct form, which
is of more spontaneous gi^owth than any other, is
the initial stage, or fetichism ; whereas the second
or indirect form marks the theological state which
follows. But this last state, less simple and less
lasting than the first, offers a succession of two dis-
tinct constitutions, according as the Gods are nume-
rous or are condensed into one. Theologism, which
is after all but an immense transition from Fetich-
ism to Positivism, takes its rise in Fetichism in
its polytheistic form, and leads to Positivism in its
monotheistic. Fill up this outline of the philoso-
phical advance of our race by the corresponding
social progi-ess, and you have the whole initiation
of man adequately expressed, as you will soon feel.
You will then be able to see how well adapted is
our second series of social festivals to pay due
honour to all the essential phases of this long pre-
paration, from the first forward movement of the
smallest tribes down to the twofold development of
the modern stage of transition. This full celebra-
tion of the past of man, in twelve weekly festivals,
is the result of the historical condensation which
the abstract worship by its nature allows.
The Woman. — We can now then, my father, enter
on the last series of our social festivals. The month
dedicated to women, or the moral providence of the
race, offers me no difficulty, for I see the clearly-
marked distinction between the types chosen from
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 15.5
women to represent its four weekly festivals. But
I am at a loss as yet as to the cli\asion of the
sacerdotal montL
The PHest. — Take for your guide, my daughter,
the different forms or degi'ees of the Positive priest-
hood, ranked according to their increasing complete-
ness. This great ministry calls for a rare union of
moral qualities, both those of action and of affection,
with intellectual ability, both for art and science.
If this last alone is remarkable, its possessors,
after proper cultivation, must be, perhaps for ever,
mere pensionaries of the spiritual power ; they must
never aspire to be incorporated into it. In these
cases, which are fortunately exceptional, the finest
genius for poetry or philosophy cannot supply the
place of tenderness and energy in a functionary who
must habitually feel the warmest sympathy, and
who has often to engage in difficult struggles. This
incomplete form of priesthood allows for the due
cultivation of all true talent without endangering
the service of society.
As for the complete priesthood, the fii^st requisite
is a preparatory stage, beyond which the candidate
will not proceed, if, in spite of his announcement of
his vocation, he does not successfully pass through
the proper novitiate. After this decisive trial, at
thirty-five he obtains directly and definitively the
priesthood. But during seven years he must remain
in the subordinate position which marks the vicar
or substitute. When he has duly gone through all
the steps of our encyclopedic teaching, and, within
156 FIRST PART.
certain limits, performed the other functions of the
priest, he reaches, at the age of forty-two, the chief
degree ; he then becomes irrevocably a j)riest in the
fullest sense. Such are the four classes of the theo-
retical body, honoured respectively in the four
weekly festivals of the eleventh month.
The Woman. — The next month, my father, re-
quires no particular explanation. I am not familiar
with active life, but the definiteness which charac-
terizes it enables me fully to understand the normal
division of the patrician body into four essential
classes, ranked on the principle of the decreasing
generality of their functions and the increasing
number of functionaries. Perhaps even, in our
anarchical period, women are better qualified than
the proletaries, and still more than their teachers,
to appreciate rightly this natural hierarchy. For
they are more thoroughly preserved from the dis-
turbing influences of passion, and from sophistical
views. I am glad, then, that the four weekly
festivals of our twelfth month yearly honour, and,
by honouring, give a moral character to these four
different and necessary forms of the material power
on which rests the whole economy of society. But
I am not so clear as to the divisions of the last
mouth.
The Priest. — That division depends, my daughter,
on the character of generality which attaches natu-
rally to the proletariate, in which all the great
attributes of Humanity require a distinct ideal
expression. This immense social body, the neces-
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 157
sary stock of all special classes — is mainly devoted
to active life, and active life is the direct object of
tlie first weekly festival of the plebeian month.
Next to the active proletariate, we must pay a
sejDarate tribute to the affective proletariate, which
is its necessary accompaniment. Without this
special tribute to the women of the proletary class,
the general celebration of the types of women
remains incomplete; for in the tenth month we
considered them froui a point of view which em-
braced all classes — here they are viewed in especial
reference to theii- poj)ular action.
The third festival of our thirteenth month must
find fit means for duly honouring the contemplative
class of proletaries; especially those who are ar-
tistic, or even scientific. They have not been able
to gain admission into a priesthood whose numbers
must of course be limited, and yet they feel them-
selves more adapted to theory than practice. We
shall have at times to pity these exceptional types;
in all cases we must respect them : so only can we
make them properly useful by wisely guiding their
natural tendencies. From them principally must
come the general control exercised by the prole-
tariate over the special depositaries of power,
whereas the impulse which the same body ought to
give requires men of a more active nature.
Finally, the last festival of our popular month
honours mendicity, whether temporary or perma-
nent. Improve society to the utmost, still you
never reach the point where this, the extreme con-
158 FIRST PART.
sequence of the peculiar imperfections of practical
life, shall cease. So the ideal expression of our
social state would be incomplete unless the priest-
hood closed it by the just appreciation of this ex-
ceptional form of existence. Where there is ade-
quate justification and pi'oper conduct, such an ex-
istence deserves the sympathy, at times even the
praise, of all honourable minds. More fluctuating
than any other, this complementary class naturally
connects with all ranks of society. They must in
time di-aw from it and feed it. It thus becomes
well qualified to develop the general influence of
the proletariate on all the powers of society. It
would then be as great an act of improvidence as of
injustice not to give mendicants a separate notice
in our idealization.
The Woman. — As for the complementary day, I
see, my father, why Positivism places at the end of
our year the collective festival of the dead happily
introduced by Catholicism. This touching com-
memoration would, if it had occurred in the midst
of our public worship, have disturbed its normal
economy. Placed as it is, it is the proper comj)le-
ment of the whole, and the natural preparation for
the recurrence of the yearly order. It was fitting
that the festival peculiar to the Supreme Being
should be preceded by the glorification of all its
organs without exception.
The additional day in leap-year is equally easy.
My sex can scarcely ever deserve an individual
and public apotheosis. So the abstract system of
PUBLIC WORSHIP. 159
worship, without degenerating into a concrete wor-
shiji, was bound to pay this honour, collectively,
to women who deserve an individual celebration.
The ideal expression of human existence is thus
completed, by the honour paid to the right use of
the various exceptional qualities that woman's na-
ture allows, when its more important characteristics
are kept unimpaired.
The Priest. — As you have of yourself, my daughter,
satisfactorily finished the explanation of our public
worship, we have reached the end of the first part
of our Catechism. We must now return to the study
of the doctrine, the central idea of which was given
in the Introduction.
In its worship. Positivism appears as the religion
of Love. Humanity, the highest object of that
love, it was necessary to explain before the worship.
In its doctrine, to which we now proceed, Positivism
will appear as the religion of order. In the subse-
quent treatment of the regime, we shall see that it
alone is the religion of progress, and, in particular,
of the moral progi-ess of the human race.
Btm\)i ^Hrt.
CONVERSATION VT.
THE DOCTRINE.
The Woman. — You Lave already ex])lainecl to
me, my father, in the second conversation of our
Introduction, the Great Being whom we worship —
Humanity. In the three following conversations,
you have given an exposition of the worship we pay
her. I ask you now to show me how the whole
system of Positive doctrine may be systematically
grouped around Humanity, its central unity.
The Foxiest. — First of all, my daughter, you must
give up all idea of attaining to an absolute, external,
or, in one word, an objective unity. This will be
easier for you than for the learned." The wish for
such an objective unity was compatible with the
inquiry into causes. It is in direct contradiction
with the study of laws ; for by laws we mean in-
variable relations traced in widely varying phe-
nomena. These relations admit of no unity but a
purely relative and human one; in one word, a
subjective unity. In fact, laws cannot be reduced
to unity, cannot be spoken of in the singular, by
virtue of the impossibility that notoriously exists of
THE DOCTRINE. 161
reducing under the otlier either of the two general
elements of all our conceptions of things, the world
and man. It is conceivable that we might succeed
in condensing each of these two great objects of
study around one single law of nature. Still, as
even then the two must remain separate, scientific
unity is unattainable. The knowledge of the world
presupposes man as the being who has that know-
ledge. But the world could exist without man, as
is perhaps the case with many stars which are not
fit for man to live in. So again, though man is
dependent on the world, he is in no sense its
necessary result. All the efibrts of materialists to
do away with spontaneous vital action, by exagge-
rating the preponderating influence of the material
environment on organized beings, have ended in
nothing but the discrediting the inquiry. It is as
useless as it is idle; for the future it should be
abandoned to minds of an unscientific character.
Further than this, we are far from being able to
establish any objective unity even within the
limits of each general element of the dualism above
mentioned, the dualism of the world and man.
The various branches into which the study of the
world or of man is, for practical need, divided,
reveal to us an increasing number of different laws.
These laws will never be susceptible of reduction,
the one under the other, spite of the frivolous hopes
inspired at first by our discovery of the law of
planetary gravitation. These laws are for the
most part still unknown ; many must ever remain
M
162 SECOXD PART.
SO. Still, we know enough to guarantee against all
clanger the fundamental dogma of Positivism — the
subjection, viz., of all phenomena of whatever order
to invariable relations. The existing order, the
result of the whole combination of the laws of
nature, bears the general name of fate or chance;
fate, if the laws are known to us — chance, if they
are unknown. This distinction will always remain
of gTeat practical importance, since the ignorance
of these laws is, for our action, equivalent to their
non-existence. For it precludes all rational pre-
vision, and as a consequence any regular inter-
ference. Still we may hope to discover, for each
of the more important cases, empirical rules which,
insufficient from the theoretic point of view, may
be sufficient to keep us from disorderly action.
In the midst of this growing divergence, the
dogma of Humanity gives unity to our conceptions,
the only unity that can be given, the only bond
that we really need. To form a right conception
of the nature and formation of this unity, you
must distinguish three kinds of laws, physical, in-
tellectual, and moral. The first, by their nature,
belong to the sex adapted for action; the last to
the sex in which affection is predominant. The
intermediate laws are the peculiar province of the
priesthood. Its task is, to reduce to a system the
joint action of the two sexes, and so it shares the
life of both. The priesthood is both active and
affective, though not so active as practical men, not
so affective as women. Hence it is that the physical
THE DOCTRINE. 163
and moral laws have always been cultivated em-
pirically. The physical and moral wants of men
must be met. But the success attained was widely-
different in the two cases. Physical laws are, in
reality, independent of moral laws. Within the
province, then, of physical laws, men could arrive
at isolated convictions which, though incoherent,
were firm. On the contrary, as moral laws cannot
be indepeodent of physical laws, women, in this
their peculiar province, could construct no system
of real stability. Their efforts were only valuable
for their influence on the affections. Naturally,
then, it was within the sj^here of physical laws that
sound theoretical cultivation originated; and it
was attainable by keeping clear of the details of
action. As, however, moral laws are the ultimate
object of all sound meditation, a logical and scien-
tific unity was unattainable, unless some adequate
connexion of physics and morals could be found.
The intermediate domain, naturally connected
with each of the two, offers the only bond of
connexion. So, ultimately, the construction of
a true theoretic unity depends on a sufficient
elaboration of the peculiar laws of man's under-
standing.
The Woman. — Your conclusion seems a difficult
one to get at ; yet I feel no difficulty, my father, in
at once admitting it. In meditating on moral sub-
jects, I have often been led to feel that a knowledge
of the laws of the intellect is indispensable. Con-
sistent action seems hopeless without it. For the
m2
164 SECOND PART.
peculiar laws of the function that judges are in-
separable from those of the function that is judged.
Men, however, would be less sensible of this con-
nexion in the case of the physical laws which form
the especial object of men's attention. As, then, I
admit your conclusion, you may pass on, without
further preamble, to the direct exposition of these
laws of the mind on which all systematic unity
depends.
The Priest. — These laws, my daughter, I must
at once, here as elsewhere, class under two heads.
They are statical and dynamical, according as they
have reference to the invariable element in the
object under consideration, or as they apply to its
necessary variations. These two correlative terms
are become indispensable to any really serious ex-
position of Positivism. It will soon bring them
into popular use. Not that they can ever have for
your sex the moral attraction, wliich you will soon
learn to feel towards the terms objective and sub-
jective, the ultimate destination of which is to ex-
press in all their shades our sweetest and best
emotions. But though purely intellectual, the two
former terms must be valued on account of their
scientific utility. For the rest, these two pairs of
philosophical expressions are the only ones that I
am necessitated to require you to accept.
The preceding explanation renders it easy for you
to see, that in the case of any department whatever
of human study, the statical question necessarily
precedes the dynamical. This last is impossible
THE DOCTRINE. 165
without the other. It is absolutely necessary, in
fact, to have determined what are the fundamental
conditions of any existence, before you can pass to
the consideration of the different states in which
that existence successively appears. The ancients,
seeing as they did no tendency to change anywhere,
were completely without any dynamical concep-
tions, even in mathematics. Whereas Aristotle, the
eternal prince of all true philosophers, was able
even then to lay down the laws essential for the
study of all the highest branches of knowledge, life,
intellect, and society, so far as such study was
statical. Such is the necessary course of things —
the statical must precede the dynamical, but it is
incomplete without the dynamical. A merely sta-
tical appreciation can never be anything but pro-
visional, it cannot form a competent guide for
action. If it stood alone, it ^vould lead us in action
into serious errors, especially in the more important
cases.
The statical law of our understanding is, in
Positivism, simply an application of that funda-
mental principle of the system which looks on man
as in all cases subordinate to the world. In fact, it
consists in the constant subordination of our sub-
jective constructions to the objective materials of
those constructions. The genius of Aristotle sketched
it in outline in his admirable general statement : —
There is 7iothing in the understanding that did not
originally spring from sensation. The moderns often
pressed this axiom too far. They represented our
166 SECOND PART.
intelligence as purely passive. This compelled the
great Leibnitz to acid an essential restriction. The
object of that restriction was, definitely to express
the spontaneous character of our mental dispositions.
Leibnitz' addition, excejyt the understanding, limited
in reality to the clearer development of Aristotle's
maxim, was completed by Kant. Kant intro-
duced the distinction, never to be forgotten, between
objective and subjective reality, both equally appli-
cable to all man's conceptions. Still the principle
had not received its full systematic value. Posi-
tivism gave it that value by connecting it with the
general law which, in all vital phenomena, considers
every organism as in a constant dependence on the
sum of external influences. With regard to our
highest spiritual functions, equally as with regard
to our most corporeal ones, the external world serves
us both for nourishment, stimulus, and control. So
viewed, the subordination of the subjective to the
objective no longer stands isolated, and at the same
time Positive Philosophy supplies its necessary
complement, without which the study, from the
statical point of view, of our intellect, could not
have been brought into really close connexion with
the dynamical. The complement I mean, consists
in recognising the fact that, in the normal state,
our subjective conceptions are always less vivid and
less clear than the objective impressions from which
they rise. \Yere it otherwise, the world without
could exert no controlling influence over the world
within.
THE DOCTKINE. 167
Carry out these two statical principles, and you
see that all our conceptions whatever are the neces-
sary result of an uninterrupted intercourse between
the world and man, the world supplying the mate-
rials, man shaping them. They are deeply stamped
with the relative character, relative both to the
subject and the object. As these vary respectively,
so necessarily are the conceptions modified. Our
great merit, in the scientific point of view, consists
in bringing this natural subordination of man to
the world to the highest point of perfection. At
this point, the brain becomes the faithful mirror
of the actual order of outward things, and the
future consequences of that order then admit of
prevision, if the powers of the mind are rightly
exercised. But the representation of the outward
order is not, and is not required to be, absolutely
exact. The degree in which it approximates to
perfect exactness is determined by our practical
wants. They give us the standard of precision
desirable for our theoretical previsions. Within
this necessary limit, there is generally left for our
intellect a certain degree of liberty in speculation.
This liberty it should use to secure adequate satis-
faction for its own inclinations, whether in the
direction of science, or even of the fine arts.
This it may do by giving to our conceptions greater
regularity, greater beauty even, without in any
degree interfering with their truth. Such is, under
its mental aspect, Positivism. It is always occupied
with the pursuit of laws. It holds its way between
168 SECOND PAHT.
two paths of equal danger, that of mysticism,
which insists on arriving at causes ; that of empi-
ricism, which insists on a rigid adherence to these
facts.
TJie Woman. — There seems to me, my father,
one serious omission in this statical theory of man's
intellect. It seems solely to have reference to the
state of reason properly so called. It does not
seem capable of embracmg madness ; and yet it
ought to explain this not less than the other.
Actual life, as we daily see it, offers us so many
nicely shaded degrees between these two states of
mind, that all the cases ought to obey the same
laws essentially. The only difference ought to be
one of degi'ee, as in the case of our bodily func-
tions.
Tlie Priest. — A more attentive consideration of
the doctrine set forth will enable you, my daughter,
to see that it does really contain the true theory
of madness and of idiocy. These are two extreme
states of the mind, and each violates the due pro-
portion which the sound state, or reason, requires to
exist between the objective impressions and the
subjective conceptions. Idiocy consists in the
excess of objectivity. In it our brain is too passive.
Madness, properly so called, consists in the excess
of subjectivity, and is the consequence of an undue
activity of the brain. The mean state itself, in which
reason consists, varies according to the regular
variations to which human existence in every form is
subject, whether it be the society or the individual.
THE DOCTRINE. 169
To form a sound judgment on madness is a most
delicate oj)eration, tlie more so as we mu^t take
into account time and place, and generally difference
of situation, as is so clearly shown by the admirable
composition of the gi-eat Cervantes. It is in
reference to madness that we gain the clearest per-
ception of the extent to which the statical study of
the intellect remains incomplete, if it do not receive
the complement of the dynamical study.
The Wojnan. — I would follow up this striking
reflection, my father, and if you think proper, I
would at once enter on this dynamical study, as
the complement of the statical. For it aj^pears,
that without it I cannot by my own meditations
form a proper conception of the whole of the great
si^ectacle offered me by the intellect. The opinions
of men may vary, but it can never in any case be
to the degree of becoming purely arbitrary, though
I may not be able in any way to trace their general
line of march.
The Priest. — Every theoretical conception passes
necessarily thi'ough three successive stages. The
first is the theological, or fictitious. The second,
metaphysical, or abstract. The third, positive, or
real. The first is always provisionah The second
simply transitional. The third alone is definitive.
The difference of this last from the two former is
characterized by its substitution of the relative for
the absolute, when at length the study of laws
has taken the place of the inquiry into causes.
There is, at bottom, no other difference between
170
SECOND PART.
the two others, in point of theory, than this : that
the deities recognised by the first are reduced by
the second to mere entities, or abstractions. The
fictions of theology, in consequence of this trans-
formation, lose, together with their supernatural cha-
racter, their strength and consistency. They become
socially useless, and even mentally ; metaphysics
are at last nothing but simply a solvent of theology.
They can never organize even within their own
domain. Metaphysics are revolutionary in their
character, and solely adapted for modifying previous
systems. They have no other effect, in the original
evolution, whether of the individual or of society,
but to facilitate the gi-adual passage from theology
to Positivism. They are the better suited for this
transitional office, from the circumstance that their
equivocal conceptions can take one or other of two
shapes. They may become either the abstract
representatives of supernatural agents, or general
expressions for phenomena, according as the ficti-
tious, or the real stage in our progress, is the one
to which we are, for the time, the nearer.
The Woman, — This dynamical law finds already
sufficient confirmation in my own experience. Still,
my father, I desire to obtain as clear a view as pos-
sible of the intellectual principle on which this
evolution rests.
The Priest. — That principle, my daughter, is a
consequence of the statical law by which we are
obliged to draw upon ourselves for the means of
subjectively connecting our objective impressions.
THE DOCTRINE. 171
Without tliis subjective connexion, these last would
always be incoherent. The real relations of things
require, for their perception, a difficult and gi-adual
analysis, as I will explain to you; and therefore our
first hypotheses were such as naturally suggested
themselves, consequently they were of a fictitious
character. This general tendency, which would
now be an excess of subjectivity, was at first quite
in conformity with our mental state. For the
evolution could not begin unless some step of the
kind were taken. Long experience — an experience
which, however long, is even now not enough for
the more backward — could alone show us the abso-
lute uselessness of the inquiry into causes. This
useless problem exercised for a long time an in-
vincible attraction, both in speculation and in
action. In the former, it tempted us by the
promise that we should always use the deductive
method without requiring any special induction.
In action, it held out to us the prospect of modify-
ing the world at pleasure. This shows us that the
two motives which originally impelled the thinker,
are essentially coincident with those which will
always guide us in our intellectual eflPorts. For the
whole of sound logic is reducible to this one rule :
always form the simplest hypothesis compatible
with the whole of the data. Now the thinkers of
the theological period, and even of the period of
fetichism, applied this rule better than the greater
part of our modern doctors. Their object being to
arrive at causes, they limited themselves to explain-
172 SECOND PART.
iug the world by man, tlie only possible source of
any theoretic unity. And their explanation con-
sisted in attributing all its phenomena to the action
of superhuman will. It was indifferent whether
that will resided in the phenomena or was external
to them. The problem they set themselves admits,
by its very nature, only this solution — a far superior
one to the misty fictions offered as solutions by our
atheists or pantheists, whose state of mind is far
nearer madness than the simplicity of the true
fetichist. The respective results of the two are
enough to prove the superiority of the earlier solu-
tion. German ontology is at the present day
throwing itself, by a retrograde movement, on its
Greek original. It has inspired no real and durable
thought. The primitive theology, on the contrary,
opened up to the human mind the only path which
it could take under the conditions of the primitive
state. True, it never could lead to any determina-
tion of causes, but its provisional colligation of
facts led, by a natural process, to the discovery of
laws.
The study of laws was at first looked on as of
quite secondary importance. It soon tended, how-
ever, to become the most important, owing to the
impulse derived from our practical wants. It was
seen to be more adapted for the prevision requisite
for action. In strictness, minds of real eminence
never sought for the cause except when they found
it impossible to find the law. In this case, no blame
can attach to the course they adopted — it was more
THE DOCTRINE. 173
suited, than any torpor of the intellect could have
been, to prepare the way for the ultimate discovery
of the law. Our intelligence has even such a strong
preference for Positive conceptions, especially on
the ground of their superior practical value, that it
often exerted itself to substitute them for the fictions
of theology, long before the preparation required
had been duly made. The opening period of our
mental evolution is clear. The end which it will
ultimately reach is still more free from doubt.
The Woman. — The explanation you have given
of your law of the three states leaves me, my
father, on many points in a mist. For there are
cases of frequent occurrence, in which the human
mind seems to me at one and the same time to be
theological, metaphysical, and positive, according
to the nature of the question on which it is en-
gaged. Leave this co-existence of the three unex-
plained, and you compromise directly your dyna-
mical law, which however appears to admit of no
dispute. Would you set me free from this state of
perplexity ?
The Priest. — It will disappear, my daugliter, if
you will pay attention to the unvarying order
observed by our theoretical conceptions in their
simultaneous growth, according as the phenomena,
with which they are concerned, decrease in gene-
rality and increase in complication. Hence results
a complementary law, without which the dynamical
study of the mind of man would continue obscure,
and even of no value in application. It is easy for
174 SECOND PART.
you to see, that as phenomena are necessarily more
simple the more general they are, the speculations
which concern such general phenomena must be
easier, the progress in them naturally more rapid.
That there is a graduated scale of phenomena and
speculation is easily verified even in the different
phases of theologism. It is more especially true of
the positive stage, on account of the laborious pre-
paration that stage requires. So you see how cer-
tain theories remain in the metaphysical stage,
whilst others of a simpler nature have already
reached the positive stage ; others again, still more
complicated, remain in the theological stage. But
never do you find this process inverted, a sufficient
answer to the objection arising from their disparity
at any one time.
The order, which I have just shown to exist
between our different conceptions, is the natural
one. From it I shall shortly deduce the true ency-
clopedic scale. By its aid alone can we thoroughly
understand the general course of our conceptions.
It is the basis of logic, for it reveals to us the con-
nexion in which our different theoretical studies
must follow one another, if they are to lead to any
permanent construction. Each class of phenomena
has, it is true, its special laws, which presuppose
some particular inductions. Yet these inductions
could never be of any real value were it not for the
deductions previously supplied by the knowledge of
simpler laws. This subjective subordination is the
result of the objective dependence of the less
THE DOCTRINE. 175
general phenomena on those- which are more
general. So the unbroken series of our studies,
beginning with the world and ending in man, rests
on two grounds. First, for our logical training it
is better to begin with the simplest speculations.
Secondly, in the order of science, the higher
theories are dependent on the lower, the conse-
quence of the subordination of the higher pheno-
mena to the lower.
The Woman. — You have now, my father, made
clear to me the laws of our intellect, dynamical as
well as statical. But as yet I do not see springing
from them the construction I had expected. I had
looked on them as forming the basis for the con-
struction of the whole system of Positive doctrine.
What I want then, is to be made to see directly
that Humanity, as an all-pervading idea, can bring
all our theories into real unity, by connecting moral
and physical laws through the intermedium of the
intellectual.
The, Priest. — Your wish is a just one, my
daughter, and shall be satisfied. Place yourself at
a new point of view, and from it consider the com-
plementary law of the intellectual movement which
I have just stated. From this point of view, the
law is, in an especial degree, subjective, as must be
the law of which it is the complement. But you
are aware also, that the classification I adopt ad-
mits, by its own force, of an objective application.
For it determines the general interdependence of the
several phenomena. Judged from this new point
176 SECOND PART.
of view, it receives a statical destination in the
main, and serves to characterize, not the co-existence
of different rates of progress in our theoretical con-
ceptions, but the order ultimately observed by all
events whatsoever. Thus the law of classification
is entirely distinct from that of filiation. The
simultaneous discovery of the two is sufficiently
explained by their close connexion.
Before T enter on my exposition of this great
theoretical hierarchy, I must draw out with suf-
ficient accuracy the general limits of its extent.
These limits are, in reality, fixed by the true philo-
sophical distinction between speculation and action.
Action must, of necessity, always be special ; true
theory is always general. But it never can acquire
this, its proper character of generality, except by
the aid of a previous abstraction, which always
more or less impairs the reality of its conceptions.
The fact that this is impaired may have great
danger in practice. We must resign ourselves
however to this evil, to secure the coherence which
can only be secured by our laws of theory keeping
this character of absolute imiversaUty. It is a
maxim of common sense, that every rule has its ex-
ception. Still, our intellect always stands in need
of universal rules, as the only means of avoiding an
indefinite vacillation.
The only way of attaining this is to break up, as
far as possible, the study of beings, which alone can
generally be objects of direct study, into several
separate studies. The object of these will then be
THE DOCTRINE. 177
the various general events, which compose the ex-
istence of each being. By this method we obtain
abstract laws, which we can combine. And their
different combinations then explain each concrete
existence. These laws are very numerous, but
they admit of no reduction, and they are the only
accessible source of speculative wisdom. But nu-
merous as they are, they are much less numerous
than the special rules which depend on them.
These last, putting aside their number, will from
their natural complication defy all our best efforts,
either for induction or deduction. But on the
other hand, to know them would be really useless,
except in the rare cases in which they influence our
destiny. For these exceptional cases the genius of
practical men, the only competent authority in such
matters, may always find empirical rules sufficient
for its guidance, by availing itself of the general
indications furnished by the philosophical class.
The compound events in question are really subject
to regular laws. This is a necessary consequence
of the position, that the general elements of which
they are compounded are subject to such laws. It
may not be so easy to see it in the former case as
in the latter, but it is a fact, as observation will
show, if directed on the point for a sufficient length
of time.
For instance, we shall never know the general
laws of the variations peculiar to the regular con-
stitution of the atmosphere. Yet the sailor and
the agiiculturist can, from their observations of the
178 SECOND PART.
locality or the weather, draw special rules, which,
though empirical, supersede any necessity for the
so-called science of meteorology. The case is the
same with all the other concrete branches of study,
such as geology, zoology, and even sociology. What-
ever is inaccessible to the practical genius of man
will always remain a matter of mere idle curiosity.
Science then, in its proper sense, is necessarily ab-
stract. The general laws it establishes for the few
categories under which all observable phenomena
may be brought, are sufficient to demonstrate the
existence of concrete laws, though most of such laws
neither can nor need be known, except for practical
purposes.
The Woman. — I catch a glimpse, my father, of
the very great simplification allowed in your philo-
sophical construction by this fundamental analysis,
which recalls us from the study of beings to that of
events. But I feel frightened at the constant
abstraction required by such a scientific regime,
though fortunately I am exempt from it. It seems
to me beyond the power of man's intellect, if all
phenomena, of all orders, are to be directly studied
in the Great Being in whom alone we find them all
combined.
TJie Priest. — For your comfort, my daughter, we
will consider, under a new aspect, the general prin-
ciple of the hierarchy of abstract science. Directly,
it establishes only the subordination of events ; in-
directly, it should lead to that of beings. For
phenomena are only more general by virtue of their
THE DOCTRINE. 179
belonging to more numerous orders of existence.
The simplest of all are found everywhere, but we
must study them in beings, where they are the only
ones we can study, and where therefore their study
is more easy. In strict truth, the first step in
theory can never be taken distinct from the second.
This, more than the actual nature of the phenomena,
is especially the cause of the increase in complica-
tion. But whatever be the amount of the succes-
sive accumulations, each fresh categoiy of events
may be studied in beings independent of all the
succeeding categories, though they are dependent
on the preceding. The previous knowledge of these
will enable us to concentrate oiu- attention on the
new class brought under our notice. Even sup-
posing the beings indivisible, yet, if they exist in
dijfferent states, the Positive method vnll keep, in
greatest part, its efficiency, and this condition can-
not fail, by the very nature of the classification
adopted. Thus the theoretical hierarchy that I am
going to set forth, though its original purpose was
to furnish a scale of phenomena, necessarily consti-
tutes the true scale of beings, or, at any i^te, of
existences. It becomes by turns abstract or con-
crete, according as its purpose is subjective or ob-
jective. This is the reason why the encyclopedic
subordination of the arts essentially coincides with
that of the sciences.
The Woman. — Before you proceed, my father,
to the exposition of this hierarchy, the general
principle of which I begin to see, would you explain
x2
180 SECOND PART.
to me tlie general outline of our course ? To cement
the union wliicli fundamentally exists between the
world and man, it would seem that it might take
either as its starting point, whilst the other should
be its end. The habitual use of such a method
seems even to require that it should be able, like
every other scale, to become indifferently an ascend-
ing or descending one. But perhaps this general
principle does not hold good in our construction.
The Priest. — The regular concurrence of these
two methods, the one objective, the other sub-
jective, is no less necessary, my daughter, in form-
ing, than in applying, the hierarchy of science.
The process of its spontaneous elaboration depended
on the first; its systematic institution requires the
second. The initiation of each individual must, in
this as in every other important point, be essentially
the reproduction of the evolution of the race, with
this exception, that for the future we shall do con-
sciously what was formerly done blindly. It is only
by combining these two methods, that we can se-
cure the advantages of both and neutralize their
dangers. To ascend from the world up to man,
without having previously descended from man to
the world — such a course renders you liable to the
excessive cultivation of the lower branches of study,
by putting out of sight their real scientific destina-
tion. Our scientific efforts are in this case wasted
on university follies, as adverse to the intellect as
to the heart. The right connexion of the whole,
and the proper estimation of the several parts, are
THE DOCTRINE. 181
sacrificed to reality and clearness. Still, this was
the course necessarily adopted by abstract Positi\4sm,
during the long scientific introduction which begins
with Thales and Pythagoras and ends with Bichat
and Gall. It was necessary, in order to elaborate
in succession the different sciences; the ma.terials,
that is, for our ultimate systematization. During
that period, the higher wants of our intellect re-
ceived but an imperfect satisfaction, under its
heterogeneous guardians, theology and metaphysics.
But at the present day, when the principle of an
universal synthesis is definitively established, as the
result of tliis immense preparatory movement, the
subjective method, become at last as positive as the
objective, must itself take a direct initiative in our
encyclopedic construction. \Ye must look to it to
originate the construction, the other must work it
out. And this rule is as applicable to each great
branch of scientific research, as it is to the whole
system of the sciences.
The Woman. — You see me then ready, my father,
to follow you as you show how the doctrine of
Humanity gives a religious sanction to each of the
several essential branches of abstract science, as
they successively come forward ; and how, by bring-
ing them all into connexion, it gives strength to the
highest and ennobles the lowest.
The Priest. — To get a more adequate conception
of this synthesis, you must, my daughter, remember
at the outset the constant end of human life. That
end is to preserve and to perfect the Great Being,
182 SECOND PART.
whom we must at once know, love, and serve.
Each, of his own spontaneous action, accomplishes
these three offices. Religion systematizes them by-
its doctrine, its worship, its life. The philosophical
construction is necessarily prior to the two others;
it is, however, ultimately destined to consolidate
them and to develope them. In itself, the study of
Humanity is as liable to degenerate as the lower
sciences are, if we forget that the only object of our
knowing her is that we may love her more and
serve her better. If we suffer ourselves to be
diverted by the means fi'om a due appreciation of,
or care for, the end, our systematic growth becomes
really of less value than the natural growth of
mankind in general.
Thus you see why, at the highest point of the
encyclopedic scale, I place Moral Science, or the
Science of the individual Man. The functions of
the Great Being require for their exercise, ulti-
mately, individual organs. These organs must be
studied, therefore, at the outset, in order that the
service they owe may be properly rendered during
the period of their objective existence. On the due
rendering of this ser\4ce will depend their subjec-
tive influence. Under this form, Positivism adojots
and strengthens the primary precept of the primi-
tive theocracy : know thyself, to better thyself. In
Positivism, the intellectual principle and the social
motive act in concert. As a fact, Morals, the most
useful of all the sciences, is also the most complete,
or rather it is the only one which is complete,
THE DOCTRINE. 183
since its phenomena subjectively embrace all the
other, though, by that very fact, they are objectively
subordinate to those others. The fundamental
principle of the scientific hierarchy gives a direct
predominance to the moral point of view as the
most complicated and special.
But at this point, the philosophical conformity of
Positivism with theology necessarily ceases. Theo-
logy, always occupied with the study of causes,
placed the study of morals under the immediate
control of the supernatural principles by which it
explained everything.
Moral observation became thus solely the obser-
vation of oneself. And a sanction was given to
our pei^onality or selfishness. For we were brought
each of us into direct connexion with an infinite
power, and thus isolated entirely from our race.
Positivism, on the other hand, never seeks for a
law but as a guide for action, is always in its very
essence social, and bases moral science far more on
the observation of others than of oneself, with the
view of forming conceptions on moral subjects which
shall be at once real and useful. If so, we may feel
how impossible it is properly to enter on the study
of morals without a previous study of society. In
all respects, each of us depends entirely on Hu-
manity, especially with regard to our noblest func-
tions. These are always dependent on the time
and place in which we live, as you are reminded by
the fine verses in Zaire —
184 SECOND PAKT.
J'eusse et6, pres du Gauge, esclave des faux dieux,
Chretienne dans Paris, Musulmane en ces lieux.
I had been, by the Ganges, the slave of false gods,
Christian in Paris, Mussulman where I am.
Thus you see how it is that Morals, to which we
assign the highest rank, proceed at once to insti-
tute Sociology. The phenomena of the latter
science are both simpler and more general, as we
should expect, looking to the general spirit of the
Positive Hierarchy.
The Woman. — Allow me, my father, to stop you
a moment at this step. It seems to me to involve a
contradiction between the two conditions of your
classification, a contradiction I should wish solved.
The case before us seems to me an exception to our
rule ; the phenomena seem to become at once more
complicated and more general. I have always
thought the moral point of view simpler than the
social one.
TJie Priest. — That is solely, my daughter, because
you have hitherto proceeded on feeling rather than
on reason. For Morals must, for your sex, be
rather an art than a science. If we were to
compare the two sciences merely with reference to
the number of cases they respectively embrace, you
would see that the number of individuals is greater
than that of nations. It is this last, however,
which absorbs your attention. But, limiting our-
selves to the complication inherent in each science,
considered in itself, you forget that moral science
must take into account the same influences as social
THE DOCTRINE. 185
science does, and that over and above these it must
appreciate impulses which social science may set
aside as inappreciable. I mean the influences of
the mutual action of the physical and moral nature
of man — an action which is constant, though its
laws are as yet too little known. They have great
influence on the individual, but sociology pays no
particular attention to them, and for this reason :
the opposite results produced in diflerent indivi-
duals cancel one another when you come to con-
sider nations. But if, on the contrary, in our
moral judgment we should neglect such mutual
action, we should be liable to the most serious
mistakes ; we might attribute to the soul what
proceeds from the body, or vice versa, a matter of
daily occurrence.
The Woman. — I now see, my father, what I did not
see, and therefore stopped you at the outset of your
hierarchical series. Would you now return to it 1
You need not fear any further interruption till the
end, for any interruption would prevent my master-
ing the general filiation.
The Priest. — Your objection, my daughter, was
in itself a very natural one, and it answers the pur-
pose, in the present case, of bringing into greater
prominence our first step in the encyclopedic con-
struction. This first step is the type necessarily
of all the others. We shall be able to get over those
others more easily, as is the case with any scale
whatever. I hope that you will find no difficulty
in descending from one science to the next. We
186 SECOND PART.
take as our guide the j)rinciple which has just led
us from moral to social science ; we look, that is, to
the natural subordination of the respective pheno-
mena of the two sciences under consideration.
This fundamental principle makes you feel at
once, that, for the systematic study of society, you
require a previous knowledge of the general laws of
life. As nations are beings gifted in an eminent
degree with life, the natural result is, that the order
of life governs that of society. The statical con-
dition of society, and its dynamical progress, would
be deeply impaired, were the constitution of our
brain or even of our body to change in any notice-
able degree. In this case, the simultaneous increase
in point of generality and simplicity admits of no
doubt. Thus sociology, which was constituted by
moral science, constitutes in its turn Biology,
which has, moreover, direct relations with the
master science. Biology studies life only in so far
as it is common to all the beings which enjoy it.
Animals, therefore, and plants, form its proper
province, though it is ultimately destined for the
service of man. The true study of man, however,
it can only sketch in a rude outline. From this
point of view. Biology, if wisely pursued, is occu-
pied with the study of our bodily functions by the
light derived from the study of animals and plants.
In these, the bodily functions are seen cleared of all
higher complications. This direction given to
Biology for logical purposes, may at times tend to ex-
pose it to an academic degeneracy. It may be led
THE DOCTRINE. 187
to lay too much stress on insignificant beings or
acts. If so, philosophy must step in with its dis-
cipline to recall it to its true vocation. But it
must not fetter the inquiries indispensable to its
success.
These first three sciences are so closely connected
that I make the name of the middle one stand for
the whole, in the encyclopedic system, which I have
arranged in a tabular form {see Plate B, at the
end of Catechism), to render it easy for you to
judge the general scheme of the Positive hier-
archy. For sociology may be easily looked on as
absorbing into itself biology, as its introduction;
morals, as its conclusion. When the word Anthro-
pology shall be in more common and sounder use, it
w^ill be a better name for the three sciences which
collectively have man as their object, as its literal
meaning is the study of man. But for a long time
it will be necessary to use the word Sociology, in
order to mark the principal characteristic supe-
riority of the new intellectual regime, which con-
sists most particularly in the introduction into our
encyclopedic construction of the social point of
view, regarded as absolutely alien by the earlier
synthesis.
Living beings are of necessity bodies, and as such,
spite of their greater complication, they always obey
the more general laws of matter. These laws exercise
an invariable predominance over all the peculiar
phenomena of living beings, leaving them, however,
their spontaneous action. A third step towards
188 SECOND PART.
our encyclopedia, in perfect analogy witli tlie pre-
ceding ones, places biology, and consequently social
and moral science, in dependence on the great
science of inorganic matter to which I have given
the name of Cosmology. The real domain of this
science is the general study of the planet on which
man lives, the necessary sphere of all the higher
functions, vital, social, and moral. A better name
would then be Geology^ for this conveys the required
meaning directly. But our academical anarchy has
so destroyed the natural sense of the word that Posi-
tivism must renounce its use, until, as will shortly
be the case, the pretended science to which it is
applied be got rid of off the list. When that is
the case, we shall be able to follow more closely the
laws of language, and apply to the whole study of
inorganic beings a more exact denomination, — one
which by its concrete nature is calculated better
to remind us that we ought to study each existence
in its least complicated form.
This should be the limit of my encyclopedic
operation, and there should be no decomposition of
cosmology, had I in view only the final state of
man's reason. In that final state the inferior
sciences must be kept in narrower bounds, the
higher have their bounds enlarged. But at present
I must provide for the special wants of the initia-
tion of the West. We shall find essentially similar
wants recur in the development of each individual.
For these two reasons, I feel bound to divide cosmo-
logy into two fundamental sciences. The first of
THE DOCTRINE. 189
these, under tlie general name of Physics, has for
its object the direct study of the whole order of
matter. The other, simpler and more general, has
justly received the name of Mathesiatics. It is
the necessary basis of Physics, and, as such, of the
whole scientific edifice. It is so as it treats of the
most universal form of existence, viewed in relation
solely to the phenomena which are found every-
where. Without this division of cosmology, it
would be difficult to form a right conception of the
spontaneous development of Positive Philosophy.
This could only begin by such a study as that of
Mathematics, and the gi-eater rapidity with which
it grew to perfection, caused it at first to be con-
sidered as the only science. Its name reminds us
too strongly of this privilege which it originally
enjoyed, but which it has long lost. Still the name
should be kept. It should not be changed till the
type of scientific and logical study which mathe-
matics give has exercised a due control over the
general difiusion of our encyclopedic laws. When
they are generally admitted, then some less vague
and better constructed term may be introduced.
It should be so chosen as to point out the true
domain of the science, and to act as a systematic
check on the blind scientific ambition of those who
cultivate it in too exclusive a spirit. Be this as it
may, you must feel the necessity of descending as
far as mathematics to find a natural basis for the
encyclopedic scale — a basis which can make the
whole system appear but the gradual development
190 SECOND PART.
of the good sense of mankiud. Physics are far
simpler than the other sciences, but yet not simple
enough. The special inductions of physics cannot
be reduced to a system without the aid of more
general deductions. This is everywhere else the
case, only in physics this logical and scientific want
forces itself less on the attention. It is only in
mathematics that you can proceed to induction
without previous deduction. This is a consequence
of the extreme simplicity of the phenomena which
form the domain of mathematics. In it the pro-
cess of induction often escapes notice ; so much so,
that our academic geometricians look on them as
deductions. So viewed, they are unintelligible, as
there is no source to which you can refer them.
There is no possibility of forming convictions really
proof against attacks, excejjt they are based ulti-
mately on mathematics, the eternal foundation of
Positive Philosophy. Mathematics will always ne-
cessarily be the last link in the chain of the sciences ;
the last step of that subjective connexion, guided
by which every man of sound intellect and honest
heart will at any time be able, as I have just done,
to evolve the fundamental series, the five principal
steps of our encycledopic construction.
The Woman. — It is to the influence of feeliusf
upon the intellect to which you have just alluded
that I attribute, my father, the ease I find in
following you in your construction, so dreaded by
me at the outset. The attention of my sex is con-
stantly riveted on morality, as the only solid basis
THE DOCTRINE. 191
for the influence it claims as its clue. AYe shall
always therefore set a high value on securing a
systematic foundation for morality, a foundation
capable of resisting the sophisms of bad passions.
Above all, at the present day, we are struck with
terror at the moral ravages attributable to the
intellectual anarchy. It threatens, at no distant
period, to dissolve all the bonds that bind men
together, unless some irresistible convictions step in
to prevent the further growth that seems naturally
to await it. The true philosopher may therefore
feel sure of the secret co-operation and heartfelt
gratitude of all women worthy of the name, when
he reconstructs morality on Positive foundations, as
a final substitute for its supernatural basis, too evi-
dently worn out. Women who shall feel, as I do
now, the necessity of descending with this object
to the most abstract sciences, will appreciate at its
proper value the unexpected help that reason at
length steps forward to give to love. I now under-
stand why your encyclopedic descriptive system,
which I mean to study, proceeds in the reverse
direction to that adopted in the exposition of which
it is the summary. For we must become most
familiar with this ascending order, as it is the
order which the several Positive conceptions will
always observe in their development. The mode
you have just adopted of instituting this order
obviates, in the main, the repugnance women
naturally feel for too abstract a course. For
hitherto they have seen it lead but too often to
192 SECOND PART.
dryness and pride. Now that I can always keep
in siglit and recall the moral object of the whole
scientific elaboration, and the moral conditions
peculiar to each of its distinct essential phases, I
shall have as much satisfaction in ascending as in
descending your encyclopedic scale.
The Priest. — It will be easy for you, my daughter,
to adopt the two methods alternately. For you may
remark that, in both directions, the theoretical order
will rest on the same principle ; it will, that is, in
all cases follow the decrease of generality. All
that is required is to refer the fundamental series
at one time to the phenomena, at another to our
own conceptions, according as it is to be used ob-
jectively or subjectively. For in real truth, moral
notions comprehend all the others. We arrive at
these others by a course of successive abstractions.
This it is which constitutes their greater complica-
tion. The science of morals, therefore, is more
general from a subjective point of view than any of
the lower sciences. At the other end of the scale,
mathematics are the most general science, solely as
being the most simple. As a branch of study, then,
they are more general from the objective point of
view, less general than any other from the sub-
jective. They are the only science applicable to
every form of existence within our knowledge, but
they also are the science which gives us least know-
ledge of the beings with which it deals, for it can
only reveal the commonest laws. All the interme-
diate sciences ofier, though in a less degree, in both
THE DOCTRINE. 193
respects, the same contrast which exists between
mathematics and morals. But whether you ascend
or descend, in both cases alike, morals, in the ency-
cloj^edic course, are the supreme science, as being at
once the most useful and the most complete. It
is in morals that science, having thrown off by
degrees the abstraction that originally characterized
it, forms a systematic union with practice. The
steps indispensable as preparations have all been
taken.
The wisdom of mankind, then, systematized by
Positivism, will retain the admirable, though equi-
vocal term, Morals. In morals alone, the art and
the science have one common name — an equivoca-
tion which pedants may regret, but which Posi-
tivism respects. In this apparent confusion moral
science happily finds an equivalent for that which
it cannot have. I allude to the discipline which,
in all the others, anticipates or corrects the ten-
dency to scientific aberrations, a tendency inherent
in our intellectual cultivation as we ascend the en-
cyclopedic scale. As a rule, we restrict each phase
of progress to the degree in which it is necessary
for the preparation of the next above it. We re-
serve for the skill of the practical man all the
details which may be required in any particular
case. Spite of the declamations of academicians, it
is allowed that a discipline of this nature sanctions
every theory of real interest, excluding only such
scientific questions as are childish. At the present
day, the intellect and the heart alike demand the
o
194 SECO>'D PART.
suppression of all such. But the rule just stated
is not applicable to moral science. For all the
others it is most valuable ; but evidently it ceases
to apply in the case of the science which stands at
the head of the system.
Were moral theories as much cultivated as the
rest, their gi-eater complication, in the absence of
any special discipline, would expose them to more
frequent and more dangerous aben^ations. But the
heart, in this case, comes forward to guide the
intellect. It recalls more forcibly her^ than else-
where the universal subordination of theory to
practice. It does this by means of the happy am-
biguity of the very name, morals. Philosophers
ought, in reality, to bring the same dispositions as
women to the study of morals; they ought to
study them, that is, in order to gain rules for con-
duct. Only the deductive science of the philoso-
pher should give generality and consistency to the
inductions of women. These qualities might other-
wise be wanting, and yet they are almost always
indispensable to secure the social, or even private,
efficacy of moral precepts.
The Woman. — We have, then, now constituted
the real scientific system. I should be glad, my
father, at the close of this long and difficult con-
vei-sation, if you would state generally what are
the properties of your encyclopedic series, viewed
for the future as an ascending series. Under this
point of view I shall soon be familiar with it. I
can see, without your aid, the moral and intellectual
• THE DOCTRINE. 195
dangers inherent in this objective cultivation, so
long as it remained uncontrolled by the subjective
discipline just explained. So long as this was the
case, the fact that the different phases of the scien-
tific encyclopedia must be successive, compelled
men, in the cultivation of science, provisionally to
adopt a system of detail, and to disperse their
efforts, in a way which ran directly counter to the
essentially general character which theoretical views
ought to present. The result was, more especially
in the learned, but without the mass being exempt,
an increasing tendency, on the one hand, to mate-
rialism and atheism ; on the other, to a contempt
for the softer affections, and a neglect of the fine
arts. I have long been aware that under all these
aspects. Positivism, rightly viewed, is perfectly
distinct from its scientific preamble, nay, is the best
corrective of its tendencies. But I cannot, by
myself alone, gain a satisfactory view of those
essential attributes of Positivism which I am now
to appreciate in the system of your theoretical
hierarchy.
The Priest. — You may be satisfied, my daughter,
with two very important attributes. They corre-
spond to the two general objects of the hierarchy
of science, the subjective object no less than the
objective. Perhaps in this place I had better say,
logical and scientific — logical, if the attention is
directed mainly on the method, or scientific, if on
the doctrine.
Under its logical aspect, the encyclopedic series
2
196 SECOND PART.
points out the necessary course to be adopted by
our scientific education, and secondly, the gradual
formation of the true process of reasoning. Mainly
deductive in its cradle, that is, in mathematics, for
in mathematics the requisite inductions are almost
always made spontaneously, the Positive method
becomes more and more inductive in proportion as
the speculations on which it enters are of a higher
order. In this long elaboration, four principal
steps must be noticed, the steps at which the grow-
ing complication of the phenomena makes us suc-
cessively develope observation, experiment, compa-
rison, and historical filiation. Take in the point
from which we start, mathematics, and then each of
these five logical phases naturally absorbs its pre-
decessors. This is but the consequence of the
natural subordination of the phenomena. Thus the
true logic becomes complete, and as complete, sys-
tematic, at the point where the rise of sociology
necessitates the introduction of the historical method,
just as biology had j^reviously introduced the art of
comparison, after that physics had sufficiently de-
veloped observation and experiment.
Fortunately for your sex, its ignorance renders it
unnecessary, at the present day, to show by philo-
sophical demonstrations, that of which Positivism
labours to convince men, — that to learn reasoning,
the only way is to reason with certainty and precision
on clear and definite matter. Many who are quite
aware that to learn an art. you must practise that art,
still listen to the sopliists who teach them to reason.
THE DOCTRINE. 197
or evea to speak, by reasoning on reasoning, or by
speaking about speecb. You were taugbt grammar
and perhaps rhetoric, but at least you were spared
logic, the most pretentious of the three scholastic
studies j and being spared it, your own reason,
judiciously trained in the school of your cherished
Moliere, was soon able to do justice to the two
other classical absurdities. Strengthened as you
now are by systematic convictions, you will have
no hesitation in treating with proper ridicule the
Trissotins who would teach you the art of deduction,
without having themselves ever applied deduction
in its proper province, mathematics. Each essential
branch of the Positive method must always be
studied in the particular department of science
which gave occasion to its introduction.
The Woman. — This first property fortunately
has no difficulty for me. I see in it the statement
of simple good sense.' So I beg you, my father, to
pass on at once to the second general property of
your encyclopedic series.
The Priest. — Its second property is, my daughter,
that it gives us a systematic conception of the whole
order of the world, as is indicated by the second
heading of my conspectus. From inorganic matter
up to morality, each term in the series rises on the
basis of its predecessor, in obedience to this funda-
mental law, the necessary consequence of the real
principle of our hierarchy : The noblest phenomena
are, in all cases, subordinate to the lowest. This is
the only rule of really universal application dis-
198 SECOND PAET.
covered by the objective study of the world and
man. But as this law cannot supersede the neces-
sity of less general laws, it cannot by itself con-
stitute the barren external unity vainly sought by
all philosophers from Thales to Descartes.
We renounce then the stimulus of this frivolous
inquiry, and we find a more valuable substitute in
the moral purpose of all our scientific efforts.
Still we are glad to trace, for all our abstract doc-
trines, an objective bond of union inseparable from
their subjective co-ordination. Our practical social
experience above all must turn to account such a
view of the system of our destinies. Our depen-
dence and our dignity become thus connected one
with the other, and we shall be better disposed to
feel the value of voluntary submission, for on sub-
mission depends mainly our moral, and even our
intellectual improvement.
I would call your attention to the fact, and this
must be considered as a complement of the great
law above mentioned, that from the practical point
of view, it repi-esents the order of the world as
increasingly susceptible of modification in propor-
tion to the increasing complication of its pheno-
mena. Improvement always implies imperfection,
and imperfection increases as complication in-
creases. But you see at the same time that man's
providence becomes more efficient, and has more
varied agents at its command. The compensation
thus gained is still, doubtless, inadequate, so that
the simplest order genei-ally remains the most per-
fect, though under a blind guidance. Still, this
THE DOCTRINE. 199
general law of the liability to modification places
morals as the supreme art in two ways, first by
virtue of its superior importance, next because it
offers a larger field for wise action on our part.
Practice and theory, then, combine to justify the
predominance which Positivism systematically
allows to morals.
The Woman. — Since you have now explained to
me sufficiently the whole system of Positive doctrine,
I would wish, my father, before leaving you to-day,
to know beforehand the object of the two other con-
versations you promised me in this second part of
your Catechism. I do not see what is left for me
to know, as regards the systematic basis of the
Universal religion, nor why I may not pass at once
to the direct and special study of the system of
life.
The Priest. — Our conceptions hitherto, my
daughter, have been too abstract and too general
to make a sufficient impression on you. I must
complete them by some less general explanations, of
a more concrete and definite character, explana-
tions too of which I shall make further use. With-
out detaining you at each particular phase of the
encyclopedic construction, as will be the case in the
new education of the Western world, I shall
simply ask you to appreciate separately the two
unequal parts which, historically, make up the
whole of Positive Philosophy.
That philosophy embraces the whole order of the
world. It is a natural division to take separately
the order of the world external to man, and the
200 SECOND PART.
social and moral order of man's world. The first
includes cosmology and biology. Under the name
of natural philosophy, the term ordinarily used in
England, it constituted the scientific domain of the
ancients, and even of this domain they could only
give a static sketch. Besides that the true scienti-
fic spirit did not admit, at that time, of a more com-
plete freedom, the state of society was adverse to
a premature extension. The result of such exten-
sion could only be to compromise the existing order
without really aiding ulterior progress. In morals,
however, the exceptional genius of Aristotle, after
reducing to a system, as far as was possible, natural
philosophy, prepared the way for a sound philosophy,
by an adequate sketch of the two essential parts of
human statics, first the society, then the indi-
vidual. So much was he in advance of others, that
he was not really appreciated till the Middle Ages,
when the provisional separation of the two powers
gave a direct impulse to the progress of our most
important speculations. But no social impulse,
however valuable, could dispense with the necessity
of a long scientific preamble. The separate sciences
must be worked out before true philosophy could
enter into possession of its highest domain. Hence
this provisional division of physics from morals
lasted on to our own day. By virtue of its still
existing, it is under its auspices that we enter the
last transitional stage of the reason of the Western
world, directed by Positivism.
THE DOCTRINE. 201
CONVEESATIOX VII.
THE ORDER OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD INORGANIC
3IATTER, LIFE.
The Woman. — On studying the conspectus which
is the summary of our fundamental conversation, I
see, my father, we must have two others, as you
promised me at its close, on the subject of the
Positive doctrine. My heart must first make me
feel the need of each separate science as a means
towards the attainment of the end of this im-
mense scientific construction ; that end being the
systematization of morals. My intellect must now
be brought to see how the separate stages of this
abstract edifice rise one above the other, from the
basis to the summit. I may be content ^vdth this.
I need not penetrate within. This systematic ascent
is the indispensable complement of the descent
which I made under your guidance — a descent
necessary as a foundation for the ascent. If the
mind of man can really mount by upward steps,
almost insensibly, from the lowest mathematical
notions to the sublimest moral conceptions, no sight
can be more worthy of my admiration. My sex
never can follow such a filiation in detail, but it
must see in outline that it is possible, in order to
be sure that systematic morals can be rested on
really safe foundations. Then, the opinion of women
will brand, as you wish it to do, the anarchical
sophists who, though faith in all theology is abso-
202 SECOND PART.
lutely decayed, oppose the substitution of Positive
faith. Their object is to secure an indefinite exten-
sion of the religious interregnum which they find
favourable to their moral unworthiness and their
intellectual incapacity. You may then without
fear detain me upon the mathematical step, as
mathematics, according to you, are the only solid
basis for our theory of the world. The marked
aversion felt for this study by all our metaphysical
make-mischiefs, predisposes me to see that mathe-
matics have the efficiency for organization you attri-
bute to them.
The Priest. — To get a clear conception of mathe-
matics, as the logical and scientific basis of the whole
edifice of abstract science, it is enough, my daughter,
to take an accurate survey of the domain assigned
to them in our encyclopedic table. Mathematics
study directly universal existence, when reduced to
its simplest and consequently lowest phenomena,
the j^henomena on which necessarily rest all other
real attributes of that existence. These fundamental
properties of any being whatever are number,
extension, movement. Whatever cannot be con-
sidered under these three points of . view can have
no existence except in our understanding. But
nature shows us many beings of whom we can
know nothing beyond the elementary attributes.
Such are the stars. They are from their distance
only accessible to us by the sight. They admit,
therefore, only of mathematical study, quite suffi-
cient, it must be allowed, to form a proper guide as
THE DOCTRINE. 203
to our true relations towards them. Therefore it
is that astronomy will always furnish the most
direct and complete application of mathematical
science. Still if the general laws of number,
extension, motion, could have been studied nowhere
but in the heavenly bodies, they never would have
been discovered, extremely simple though they be.
But as you find them everywhere, they were open
to discovery in more accessible cases. We had but
to put aside by a series of unconscious abstractions
the other attributes of matter which complicated
the question.
And here let me point out how, under the
auspices of our hierarchical principle, we may get
the true internal distribution of each great science
as naturally as the general co-ordination of the
sciences. Mathematics cannot be reduced to less
than three constituent parts — the calculus, geometry,
mechanics. These three are a progressive series,
from the historical no less than the dogmatical point
of view, a series essentially analogous to that which
is seen on a larger scale in the whole of the abstract
system. The ideas of number are certainly more
universal and simpler than those even of extension,
and these on the same ground, in their turn, pre-
cede those of motion.
In the case of most of the stars, our real know-
ledge cannot extend beyond an accurate enumera-
tion. We cannot go so far even as to say what
their shape or size is, nor are we concerned with it.
Phenomena as well as beings admit the numerical
204 SECOND PART.
point of view. It leaves all things indistinct, but
it is really the only one universally apj^licable, since
none of our thoughts but come under it. It is of
course but a rough view, but it may be put to a good
use. We may use number to perfect our ideas of
harmony and stability. In fact, the best types of
these are found in number. And so you see children
of themselves begin their initiation in abstract
science, by simple speculations in number, long
before they begin to think on the attributes of
space.
As for motion, you easily see the increase of
complication and the decrease of generality which
make this study the highest part of the domain of
mathematics. This is why the Greeks, forward as
they were in geometry, never could master even the
outline of mechanics, except for some cases of
equilibrium. They never had a glimpse of the
elementary laws of motion.
If we compare these three essential parts of
mathematics, we see that the calculus of which
algebra, rather than arithmetic, is the principal
development, has a logical destination in particular,
over and above its peculiar and direct use. Its
real essential adaptation is to enlarge to the utmost
our power of deduction. The study of extension
and of motion acquires, by the introduction of the
calculus, a character of generality and coherence,
which they could not have unless all their problems
were transformed into mere questions of number.
From the scientific point of view, on the other hand,
THE DOCTRIXE. 205
it is geometry and meclianics which mainly consti-
tute mathematics ; for they, and they alone, enable
us directly to form our theory of universal existence,
viewed as passive in geometry, in action in me-
chanics.
]\Iechanics, then, take an important encyclopedic
position, as the necessary transition between ma-
thematics and physics. The peculiar characteristics
of both are found in close combination in mechanics.
In them logic is seen to be no longer pm^ely deduc-
tive, as it w^as supposed to be in geometry, owing
to the extreme facility of making the required in-
ductions. In mechanics we begin to feel distinctly
the need of an inductive basis; nor is it easy to
trace such a basis amongst our concrete observa-
tions. ^Ye require it, to allow free scope for the
abstract conceptions which are to connect with it
the general problem of the composition and com-
munication of motion. It was the want of this
external foundation wliich prevented mechanics, as
a science, from being developed till the seventeenth
century.
Up to that time, mathematics had only established
subjective laws, the only laws which geometry and
the calculus reveal, where men do not as yet see
that subjective necessarily imply objective laws.
These last, however, became the objects of distinct
attention, from the great difficulty they presented
to the founders of mechanical science. The three
fundamental laws of motion are so important and
so universal that I must state them here, as the
206 SECOXD PART.
best types of true laws of nature, which are nothing
but general facts, allowing of no explanation, but
serving as the basis of all rational explanations.
The prevalence of metaphysics was a great hindrance
to their discovery, but the greatest was the inherent
difficulty of that discovery. For it was the first
capital effort of the genius of induction, enabled at
length to discern, in the midst of the commonest
events, general relations which had hitherto escaped
all the efforts of man's intellectual activity.
The fii'st law, discovered by Kepler, is this : all
motion is naturally rectilinear and uniform. Hence
curvilinear, or any movement which is not uniform,
can only be the result of a continuous combination
of successive impulses, which impulses maybe either
active or passive. The second law, due to Galileo,
sets forth the independence of the movements of
the bodies that form parts of a system — the inde-
pendence, that is, in regard to their movement in
common as a system. But this community of move-
ment must be complete in velocity as well as in
direction. Only on this condition can the particu-
lar bodies that combine to form the whole remain
in the same state of relative rest or motion, as if
their whole were motionless. So this second law
is not applicable to rotatory movements. And it
was, therefore, from the consideration of such move-
ments -that came the faulty objections which it met
with on its discovery. Lastly, the third law of
motion, that of Newton, establishes that, in every
case of mechanical collision, action is always accom-
THE DOCTRIXE. 207
panied by equal and coutraiy reaction, provided
that, in measuring every change, proper regard be
paid to the mass of the bodies brought into contact,
as well as to their speed. This third law is the
basis of all notions relating to the communication
of motion, just as that of Galileo is of those that
concern its composition, whilst Kepler's law deter-
mines what each motion is separately by its own
nature. These three laws together are sufficient to
enable us to enter on a deductive solution of the
general problem of mechanics, by bringing the more
complicated cases under the more simple. In this
gi-adual process we avail ourselves of mathematical
artifices often difficult to invent.
These general laws will be of use to you as giving
a direct explanation of numbers of phenomena of
daily experience, in the midst of which you live
without understanding or even perceiving them.
They are eminently fitted to make you feel what it
is which constitutes the true genius of science.
Finally, you should remark how each one of them
naturally ranges itself under a law common to all
phenomena whatever, to social and moral quite as
much as simply material phenomena. The first law
connects with the law of persistence which we trace
everywhere. The second connects with the law
which recognises the independence of the action of
the part as regards the conditions common to tlie
whole. By this law, in social questions we find it
possible to reconcile order with progress. As for
the third, it is at once universally applicable, the
208 SECOND PART.
application varying only so far as the influences
concerned vary. This philosophical connexion of
the three laws of motion completes our estimate of
the importance, in an encyclopedic point of view,
of mechanics, the last portion of the domain of
mathematics.
The Woman. — These considerations are so ab-
stract and novel, that they naturally, my father, are
beyond my grasp for to-day. But I feel that, if
allowed time for sufficient reflection, I shall be able
to master them. I beg you then to pass on at
once to the direct study of the external world.
The Priest. — To place this study on its proper
philosophical footing, I am compelled, my daughter,
to require of you one last efibrt relative to our
encyclopedic construction. I gave the name of
Physics to the whole of the second cosmological
science. You must break up this whole into
three great sciences, really distinct one from the
other. They are, taken in their ascending order,
now becoming familiar to you — first, Astronomy ;
next. Physics properly so called, and which keeps
the common name ; lastly, Chemistry, as you may
find by consulting our synopsis. So the hierarchy
of science finally ofiers to your view seven degrees,
in the place of the five hitherto recognised. We
pass from one form of it to the other, by simply
drawing out into fuller detail the second of the five
original degrees, just as you lengthen a pocket tele-
scope by drawing out its tubes. It is only when
you come to apply them, that you will see in each
THE DOCTEIXE. 209
case which of the two arrangements you shouhl
adopt.
For in fact, our fundamental series allows of
several different arrangements, according as you
contract it or enlarge it, the better to satisfy our
different intellectual wants. Only we must never
invert the order of succession. The most condensed
form allowed is as clearly indicated in the synopsis
as the most expanded. At a further stage of your
advance you will often reduce the whole encyclo^Dedic
bundle to the simply dual form of cosmology and
sociology. To do this at first would exj)ose you to
vagueness. But beyond this you will never go, so
evidently impossible is it to reduce objectively one
under the other the two primary groups. The
only union possible for them is subjective, attain-
able by placing oneself directly at the religious
point of view.
By the help of very familiar language I have
pointed out to you this expansion of the ency-
clopedia. I must now give reasons for it. This I
do by explaining its nature.
The Woman. — I have but a slight knowledge,
picked up in conversation, of the three sciences you
have just introduced. But I can guess, my father,
your reason for intercalating them here. Your
doing so anticipates a wish I was on the point of
laying before you, as to the continuity of the ency-
clopedic series. When comparing in this respect
the higher and lower' sciences, the primitive con-
struction on the scale of five degrees offered me a
210 SECOND PART.
serious disparity. I find it easy, by the simple con-
nexion of the phenomena, to see how we rise in-
sensibly from biology to sociology, and from soci-
ology to moral science, though I still need on this
point your special explanations to give greater pre-
cision to my ideas. But on the other hand, I found
it difficult at fii^st to see how we pass from mathe-
matics to the direct study of the order of inorganic
matter, still more difficult to see how we passed
from cosmology to biology. It is true that this
may arise from my more comjDlete ignorance of the
lower conceptions. But I felt also that this want
of proportion must be connected with the very con-
stitution of our scale, as at first constructed, though
I could in no way see the remedy, nor even whether
there were a remedy or not. I shall find it easy
then to accustom myself to the seven encyclopedic
steps, if by this slight complication I feel my sense
of order gratified. Still I allow, that had you begun
with seven at first, I should have felt too great a
difficulty in conceiving your abstract hierarchy as a
whole.
The Priest. — You have rightly guessed the real
motive of my final modification. It remains
therefore only for me, my daughter, to complete the
work of your instinct, by pointing out in a sys-
tematic way the nature and object of the three
sciences I have introduced.
Positive religion defines astronomy as the study
of the Earth, as one of the heavenly bodies — that is
to say, astronomy is the knowledge of the geome-
THE DOCTRINE. '2\l
trical and mecliauical relations of the earth to the
other stars, so far as such relations can affect our
destinies by influencing the state of the earth. We
subjectively, then, condense all astronomical theo-
ries round our globe as a centre ; and we absolutely
reject all theories which, as disconnected with our
globe, are by that fact at once mere idle questions,
even granting them to be within our reach. This
leads us finally to eliminate, not merely the
so-called sidereal astronomy, but also all planetaiy
studies which concern stars invisible to the naked
eye, and which have consequently no real influence
on the earth. The true domain of astronomy will
now, as at the beginning of things, be limited to
the five planets which have always been known,
together with the sun, equally the centre of their
movements as of the earth's, and the moon, our
only satellite in the heavens.
The difi'erence between our doctrine and that of
the ancients, here, as elsewhere, consists essentially
in the substitution of the relative for the absolute,
so that a centre which was long objective becomes
purely subjective. Hence the discovery, or rather
the proof, of the double movement of the earth is
the most important of all the revolutions in science
that took place whilst human reason was yet in its
preliminary state. One of the most eminent pre-
cursors of Positivism, the sagacious Fontenelle.
enabled your sex to see the philosophical bearing
of this revolution, so far as the time admitted, in a
charming little work, which, though ajDparently
p 2
212 SECOND PART.
frivolous, is justly entitled to the immortality it
has gained.
In fact, the earth's motion rendered the dogmas
of Positive science directly incompatible with those
of any theological system. For whereas our widest
speculations previously might w^ear a character of
absoluteness, they became henceforth essentially
relative. The discovery of our planetary gravita-
tion soon followed. It wa-s the scientific conse-
quence of the former, and its philosophical comple-
ment. The influence of the two theories on the
whole encyclopedic system of science has been greatly
checked by the empirical views of our academicians.
Positivism finally establishes them as the primaiy
general basis for the direct study of the order of
the material world, which is thus brought into im-
mediate connexion with the mathematical founda-
tions of the whole doctrine.
In astronomy, the point of view from which we
regard the external world is simply that of geometry
and mechanics. We put aside all inquiries, as
absurd as they are idle, as to the temperature of
the stars or their internal constitution. But, when
we pass from astronomy to physics properly so
called, by an almost imperceptible transition through
the intermediate stage of planetary mechanics, we
penetrate more deeply into the study of inert na-
ture. In order, however, to give a truer idea of
this new branch of science, we must first gain a con-
ception of the highest cosmological science. It has
a more decided character, and so enables us more
THE DOCTRINE. 21 3
easily to grasp pure physics, v/hicli are somewhat
indefinite if you approach them directly. By adopt-
ing this course, our attention is called to one of the
most important logical precepts of Positivism, that,
viz., which bids us, in all cases, look first to the
two extremes if we wish to form a right conception
of the intermediate step by which they are con-
nected. Chemistry was actually introduced as a
distinct science, in the East and in the West, several
centuries before physics. Galileo was led by his
instinct to create the science of physics, with a view
to establish a sound mode of transition from astro-
nomy to chemistry, in place of the previous chime-
rical connexion.
At once to shorten and to simplify my explana-
tion of the two, consider Chemistry and Physics as
in the main subject to the same general influences.
The difference really consists in the greater or less
intensity of the modifications which the constitu-
tion of matter receives from them. But though
this is the only difierence, there is never any room
for doubt as to the true nature of each case, spite
of the confusion introduced by the schools. At their
highest intensity, states of heat, of electricity, even
of light, modify the constitution of matter so far as
to change the internal composition of substances.
In this case, the event is within the department of
chemistry, that is, it comes under the general laws
of composition and decomposition. In both these
processes equally, we can, and ought to, look on the
combination as simply binary. The combination
214 SECOXD PART.
may be repeated three times in succession. But we
can seldom exceed this limit, as the union becomes
more difficult and less stable in proportion as it
becomes more complicated. At a lower degree of
intensity the influences above-mentioned can only
modify the condition of bodies, they cannot alter
their substance. In this case, matter is studied
uuder the strictly physical aspect. The two sciences,
physics and chemistry, are equally universal, but
the decrease of generality is as sensible as the in-
crease of complication, when we pass from the one
to the other. For physics, as they study the whole
of the properties which make up every material ex-
istence, look on all bodies as in kind the same.
The only difference is one of degree. The several
branches of physics must then correspond to the
different senses by which we gain a knowledge of
the external world. Chemistry, on the other hand,
looks on all substances as in their nature distinct,
and it chiefly addresses itself to the problem of de-
termining their radical differences. The phenomena
which it studies are always possible in any given
body. But they are practically never found in it,
except under special conditions. The concurrence
of these conditions is rare and difficult, so as often
to demand the intervention of man.
Of these two neighbour sciences, physics are logi-
cally the most important, chemistry scientifically.
Such is our judgment on their relative encyclopedic
value, when we have once allowed the indispensable
necessity of both, their theoretical and practical
THE DOCTRIXE. 21-3
necessity. It is in physics that the genius of in-
duction finds its free career, by the development of
observation, which was too spontaneous in astro-
nomy, and of experiment, which nowhere else leads
to such unequivocal results. But chemistry carries
the day as to the encycloj^edic importance of the
notions we derive from it. Its extreme imperfec-
tion as a science, which can only cease under the
discipline of Positivism, has not prevented its
throwing a strong light and exercising a powerful
influence on the whole reason of Western Europe.
Its valuable efficiency in this respect is the result
of its general analysis of the inorganic matter in the
midst of which we live, gaseous, liquid and solid.
And as the complement of this it has performed
the equally indispensable analysis of vegetable and
animal substances. By this analysis we are enabled
to form a conception of the fundamental economy
of nature. This was previously unintelligible to
us, because we had not proved that the material
elements of which all real beings, lifeless as well as
living, are composed, are essentially identical.
So you may see how chemistry properly so called,
is alone competent to form the normal transition
between cosmology and biology, the need of which
transition you expressed by your wish for unbroken
continuity. You would set a still higher value on
this great encyclopedic condition, as favourable
ultiDiately to the heart as to the intellect, were I
to point out the true internal arrangement of astro-
nomy, physics, and chemistry, as I did in the case
216 SECOND PART.
of mabhematics. But we must keep such develop-
ments for more special conversations. They are
not immediately indispensable from the religious
point of view. Mathematics may serve as a type
of the rest. And you may learn from it the general
possibility of there being a really gradual ascent
from mathematics to morals, by the simple applica-
tion, with an ever increasing exactness and detail,
of the unchangeable principle of our hierarchy.
When you come, after this subjective or logical
appreciation, to add to it as a complement an equi-
valent objective or scientific appreciation, you can
trace in the general succession of the branches of
abstract study a real concrete scale, if not of beings,
yet of existences. In astronomy you have only the
simple mathematical existence. Almost a mere idea
previously, in astronomy it becomes a reality in the
case of bodies which we can only examine from
that point of view, and which are therefore natu-
rally the best type of such existence. In physics
we rise to phenomena which admit of a more accu-
rate and closer examination. We take a decided
step onwards towards man. Lastly, in chemistry
we deal with the noblest and most widely spread
form of merely natural existence. We never how-
ever lose sight of its subordination to the previous
sciences, as required by our Universal law. Though
the great objective conception, which is the result of
this progression, can only find an adequate develop-
ment in biology, it is important to notice its germ
in cosmology, in order thoroughly to master the
THE DOCTRIXE. 217
true principle of classification for beings of what-
ever order.
The Woman. — Looking at this admirable con-
tinuity, I see in tlieir true light, my father, the
noisy disj)utes which from time to time break out
between the different departments of science. My
natural predilection, as a woman, for moral explana-
tions led me to look on these scientific discussions
as, in. the main, attributable to the passions of
m.en. I now see a more legitimate origin for them.
I ascribe them to the profound uncertainty felt by
the different classes of scientific inquirers, as to
what are their respective provinces. They have no
encyclopedic principles to guide them. And the
sciences succeed one another, in such a way, that the
transition from one to the other is scarcely per-
ceptible.
The Priest. — The continuity you admire, my
daughter, is the most important philosophical result
we have attained by the combined efforts of modern
reason. The true object of philosophy is to connect
as closely as possible all phenomena and all beings.
Practical skill adds completeness to this general
result. For our artificial improvements always
end in the strengthening and developing the natural
connexions established by science. Thus you may
begin to see that the spirit of modern philosophy
is not exclusively critical, as it is accused of being,
and that it substitutes durable constructions for
the decrepit remnants of the old doctrine. At the
same time, you may already see at this point the
218 SECOND PART.
necessary incomjDatibility of Theology and Posi-
tivism. It is a consequence of the irreconcileable
opposition between laws and supernatural will.
What becomes of the wonderful order we have
traced, which, by a graduated series, connects our
noblest moral attributes with the lowest natural
phenomena, if we introduce an infinite power?
The capricious action of such a power would allow
of no prevision. It would threaten our order at any
moment with an entire subversion.
The Woman. — Before I attempt to master directly
this general continuity, there remains, my father,
one great gap to fill up. We have not treated of
life. You must now place that before me in a
systematic point of view. Whilst descending our
encyclopedic series, I saw the natural connexion of
the science of life with sociology. But I cannot
get to see, as yet, any natural connexion between it
and inorganic matter. An impassable abyss seems
to me to separate the domain of life from that of
death.
The Priest. — That you feel this difficulty, my
daughter, is in full conformity with the historical
progress of the scientific initiation of the race.
Scarcely two generations ago, thinkers of real ability
were unable to form a clear conception of the con-
nexion between life and matter. And yet it is a
point of fundamental importance, the capital diffi-
culty of all natural philosophy.
In the first place, it was natural, on the rise of
chemistry, that cosmologists should push on their
THE DOCTEINE. 219
study of matter as far as its noblest and most com-
plicated phenomena. The next step required was,
that biologists should descend to the lowest and
simplest functions of life, the only ones that could
admit of a direct connexion with the inorganic basis
laid by the cosmologist. Such was the most im-
portant result of the admirable conception due to
the true founder of the philosophy of biology, the
incomparable Bichat. By a profound analysis, the
most noble vital functions, even in man, were con-
sidered by philosophical biology as always resting
on the lowest, in obedience to the general law of
the order of nature. Animal life is in all cases
subordinate to vegetable life ; in other words, the
life of relation is subordinate to that of nutrition.
This luminous principle leads us to see that the
only phenomena, really common to all living beings,
are those of the decomposition and recomposition of
their substance, which they are constantly under-
going from the action upon them of external influ-
ences ; in other words, of their milieu. So our
whole system of vital functions rests on acts which
have a strong analogy with chemical results. The
only real difference lies in the greater instability of
combination. In the vital phenomena, the compli-
cations are also, it should be remembered, more com-
plicated. The simple and fundamental life — that
in which decomposition and recomposition are the
exclusive phenomena — is found only in the vegetable.
There it reaches its highest development. For
plants can directly assimilate inorganic materials.
220 SFX'OXD PART.
and change them into oro-anic substances. This is
never the case with higher beings. In fact the
general definition of animal life is, that it derives
its nourishment from living substances. On this
definition, follow, as necessary conditions, the capa-
city of discerning these substances and the power
of procuring them — consequently sensibility and
contractility.
To consolidate this, his fundamental analysis of
life, the great Bichat was soon compelled to con-
struct an anatomical conception which might be at
once its complement and its strictest expression.
The cellular tissue alone is universal and forms the
proper seat of vegetable life. Animal life resides
in the nervous and muscular tissues. This con-
ception completes the general idea of biology. It
^tablishes a sufficient agreement between its stati-
cal and dynamical point of view to enable us to
pass, with propriety, from the function to the organ,
or from the organ to the function.
In obedience to the precept of logic which bids
us study all phenomena in the beings where they
are most strongly marked and most free from any
complication with higher phenomena, the theory of
vegetable life becomes the normal basis of biology.
It establishes directly the general laws of nutrition
by a consideration of the case to w^hich they apply
in their simplest and intensest forms. This is the
only part of biology which could be absolutely kept
separate from sociology, were we for a moment to
suppose that a subjective arrangement did not direct
THE DOCTRINE. 221
all objective intellectnal cultivation. The theory of
vegetable life is the natural transition from matter
to life.
The Woman. — I see by this, my ftxther, that you
are able to establish a continuous series so as to
include the lower part of the scientific hierarchy.
But when the point of departure is a form of life so
low as the simple life of the vegetable, I do not see
how we can rise to the true type of life, man,
although I quite recognise that man is subject to
the laws of nutrition as he is to those of weight
The Priest. — The difficulty which you feel, my
daughter, is precisely the one attempted to be met by
the most important artifice in biology. All biologists
from Aristotle to Blainville have, each in turn,
contributed to its formation. Their object has been
to form an immense scale, at once objective and
subjective, destined to connect man with the plant.
If the two extremes alone existed, a supposition
which in no way involves a contradiction, tlien our
scientific unity would become impossible, or at any
rate very imperfect, in consequence of the sudden
break in our construction. But the immense
variety of animal organisms enables us to establish
between the lowest form of life and the highest, as
gradual a transition as our intelligence can require.
Still this concrete series is necessarily not con-
tinuous, by virtue of the fundamental law which,
while it allows of secondary variations, yet keeps
each species permanently distinct. The old intel-
lectual system was a great obstacle to the free
222 SECOND PART.
growth of our great construction ; for it -vainly en-
deavoured to find in this permanence of species the
absolute result of objective relations. But the pre-
dominance in our encyclopedia of the subjective
method puts a final end to all such sterile and end-
less debates. In forming the animal series, it takes
as its continual guide the true object of that forma-
tion — a logical rather than a scientific object. As
we only study the animals to gain a sounder know-
ledge of man by tracing through them his con-
nexion with plants, we are fully authorized to ex-
clude from our hierarchy all the species which dis-
turb it. An analogous motive enables us, or rather
commands us, to introduce into the series, under
proper restrictions, some races purely of our own
creation, created for the special purpose of facili-
tating the more difficult transitions, without any
shock to the statical and dynamical laws of animal
life. A fuller study of certain animals is really a
question of practical utility, in the case of the few
species with which the human race finds itself, on
various grounds, more or less connected. All other
zoological details are but the result of an intellec-
tual degeneracy. Biology is, by its complication
and vast extent, more than most sciences exposed
to scholastic absurdities, so numerous even in
mathematics.
The animals, which are really links in our chain,
will, as a whole, always have for us profound
scientific interest. They tend to throw light on
the general study of all our lower functions, as we
THE DOCTRINE. 223
can, in them, trace each function as it gi^adually
becomes more simple or more complicated. Man's
existence is really but the highest step in animal
life. So the highest notions of sociology and even
of moral science have their first germs in biology,
for the minds of really philosophical power which
are able to detect them. For instance, it becomes
easier for us to grasp our sublimest theoretic con-
ception, if we learn to look on each species of
animals as potentially a Great Being. Actually it
is more or less abortive, from the inferiority of its
organization, and the growing predominance of
man. For a collective or social existence is the
form to which the life of relation, which is the
characteristic feature of animality, necessarily
leads. But this result, which all aim at, cannot, on
one and the same planet, be attainable by more than
one of the sociable species.
The Woman. — From your explanations I see, my
father, how biology, when cultivated in a philoso-
phical spirit, fills up all the serious gaps in your
construction, by forming a gradual transition be-
tween the external world and man. This immense
progression, at once of beings and phenomena, in
constant conformity with the principle of the
Positive hierarchy, connects at its lower end with
the regular succession of the three essential forms
of the existence of matter. I see in it the full
realization of that admirable continuity which at
fii-st seemed impossible. But before quitting the
domain of life properly so called, I should be glad
224: SECOND PART.
to know more clearly and precisely its two essential
parts, vegetable and animal life.
Tlie Priest — You can gratify this reasonable
wish, my daughter, by mastering the three great
laws which govern each of them. You must look
on these laws as so many general facts, subordinate
to one another but completely distinct. Taken
together, they explain both the continuous func-
tions of the life of nutrition and the intermittent
functions of the life of relation.
The first law of vegetable life, the necessary basis
of all our study of life, without any exception for
the case of man, consists in the renewal of its sub-
stance which every living being constantly requires.
This fundamental law is followed by that of growth
and decay, ending in death. Death is not in itself
the necessary consequent of life, but it is every-
where the constant result of it. Lastly, this first
biological system is completed by the law of repro-
duction, by which the preservation of the species
compensates the loss of the individual.
The most important property, common to all
living beings, is the aptitude each has to produce
offspring similar to itself, as it in turn was pro-
duced by similar parents. Not merely is it true,
that no organic existence ever sprung from inor-
ganic nature ; but further, no species of any kind
can spring from one of a different kind, either in-
ferior or superior. The limits of the exceptions to
this rule are very narrow, and are as yet but little
known. There is then a really impassable gulf
THE DOCTRINE. 225
between the worlds of life and of matter, and even,
though less broad, between the different forms of
vitality. This view strengthens our position, that
any simply objective synthesis is impossible. But
it in no way impairs the true subjective synthesis, in
every case, the result of a very gradual ascent towards
the type of man.
As for the three laws of animal life, the first con-
sists in the need of alternate exercise and rest w^iich
is felt throughout the whole life of relation, with
no exception for our noblest attributes. This in-
termittence, which is the characteristic of the animal
functions, is naturally connected with the beautiful
observation of Eichat on the constant symmetry of
the organs answering to those functions. Half of
each organ can be in action whilst the other half
remains passive. The second law, which here, as
elsew^here, presupposes the preceding one, without
being a consequence from it, proclaims the tendency
of each of these intermittent functions to habitual
exercise — that is to say, the function has an inhe-
rent tendency to reproduce itself spontaneously
when the original impulse has ceased. This law,
the law of habit, finds its natural complement in
that of imitation, nor are the two really distinct.
According to the profound remark of Cabanis, the
aptitude to imitate others is but the result of the
aptitude to imitate oneself, at least in every species
capable of sympathy. Lastly, the third law of
animal life, in subordination to that of habit, con-
sists in the capability of improvement both in the
Q
226 SECOND PART.
statical and dynamical point of view, inherent in all
the phenomena of relation. In all alike, exercise
strengthens the functions and organs, prolonged
disuse tends to Aveaken them. This last law rests
on the two others, but is distinct from them. It
sums up the whole theory of animal life, as you
at once saw was the case with the last law of vege-
table life.
By a combination of these two great laws, each
the last of its respective series, you form a seventh
law of life, that of hereditary transmission. This
deserves a distinct scientific appreciation, although
logically, it is only a necessary consequence of the
preceding laws. As every function or structure in
the animal world is perfectible up to a certain point,
it is clear that every living being's capability of
reproducing its like may fix in the species the mo-
difications which have taken place in the individual,
supposing those modifications to have taken suffi-
cient root. It follows that there is a power of im-
provement, limited but continuous, dynamical in
the main, but also statical, in every race whatever,
each generation in succession contributing its quota.
This important faculty, in which the two systems
of biological laws find a natural expression, is sus-
ceptible of greater development in proportion as
the race is higher. For by being higher it more
readily admits of modifications, as it is also more
active by virtue of its greater complication.
Although the general laws which regulate here-
ditary transmission are as yet too little known, the
THE DOCTPJ^'E. 227
above considerations indicate its liigh efficacy as re-
gards the direct amelioration of man's nature, his phy-
sical, intellectual, and above all his moral nature. It is
an indisputable fact that hereditary transmission is as
applicable, or even more applicable, to our noblest
attributes as to our lowest. For phenomena become
more susceptible of modification, and consequently
of improvement, in proportion as they are by nature
higher and more special. The valuable results
obtained in the principal races of domestic animals
convey but a faint idea of the improvements
which are reserved for the most eminent species,
under the systematic guidance of its own provi-
dence.
The Woman. — This general conclusion of the
study of life makes me fully see its theoretical and
practical importance. I feel now ready to study
directly the order of man's world, reserved for our
last conversation on the doctrine of Positivism.
TJte Priest. — You may, my daughter, find it
useful to sum up, under its most important philo-
sophical asj^ect, our present conversation. You may
do it by merely contrasting, as you see is done in
our synopsis, the two divisions of Positive Philo-
sophy, the historical and doctrinal divisions. In
the historical division, the one adapted for the
initiation alike of the individual or the society, we
place biology in close connexion with cosmology.
In the doctrinal, which represents our ultimate
state, on the contrary, we combine biology with
sociology. The contrast brings out clearly the
Q 2
228 SECOND PART.
most important cliaracteristic of the order of life, as
the natural connecting link in the series between
the world of matter and the world of man.
CONVERSATION VIII.
MAN — FIRST, AS A SOCIAL, SECONDLY, AS A
MORAL BEING.
The Woman. — Before we enter on the highest
province of science, I must draw your attention, my
father, to a general difficulty. It is the outcome
of the metapliysical objections I have often heard
urged against the extension of the Positive doctrine
to this province, an extension on which its success
depends. To subject social and moral phenomena
to invariable laws of the same nature as the laws
to which the phenomena of life and matter are
subjected — this is represented by certain reasoners
as incompatible with the liberty of man. These
objections always seemed to me simply sophistical,
yet I never knew how to meet them. They influ-
ence far too many, and act as a check on their
natural inclination to adopt Positivism.
The Priest. — It is easy, my daughter, to over-
come this preliminary difficulty by a direct state-
ment of the nature of true liberty.
Liberty, in its true sense, is in no way incom-
patible with the order of things. On the contrary,
in every case liberty consists in obeying, without
any hindrance, the laws which in each case ai'e
THE DOCTRINE. 229
applicable. AY hen a body falls, it shows its liberty, *
by moving according to its nature towards the
centre of the earth, with a velocity proportionate
to the time, unless the interference of a fluid modi-
fies its natural action. So in the department of
life, every function, vegetable or animal, is said to
be free, if it exerts itself according to the laws
applicable to its case, without any hindrance from
within or from without. The intellectual and
moral existence of man admits of the appjication of
the same principle. Tliis is seen directly in the case
of our action, but if true of our action it becomes
at once necessary for the motor of our action, that
is, our affection ; necessary also for that which guides
our action, our reason.
If liberty for man consisted in his obeying no
law, such liberty would be even more immoral than
absurd, for it would make every system of life im-
possible for the individual or for the society. Our
intellect then most fully evidences its liberty when
it fulfils that which is its vocation, in its normal
state — when it becomes, that is, the faithful mirror
of the world without, in spite of the physical or
moral impulses w^hich might have a tendency to
disturb its action. No one can refuse an intellectual
assent to demonstrations which he understands. Nay
more, no one can reject the opinions which are
generally received by those among whom he lives,
even though he do not know the foundation on
which they rest, granting that he have no previous
belief of the contrary. For instance, we might
230 . SECOND PART.
challenge the proudest metaphysicians to deny the
earth's motion, or doctrines of still more recent
origin; and yet they have no knowledge whatever of
the scientific proofs of such doctrines. It is the same
in respect to moral order. It would be one mass
of contradictions, nay the very idea of it would be
contradictory, were it possible for every one, at his
own good pleasure, to hate when he ought to love,
or vice versa. The will admits of a liberty similar
to that of the intellect. The will is free, when our
good instincts acquire such ascendancy that our
affection can do its proper work, and, by its impulse,
enable us to overcome our bad instincts, the egoistic
motors. Thus in every case equally, true liberty is
inherent in, and subordinate to, the order which
prevails, whether for man, or in the external world.
But in proportion as the phenomena become more
complicated, they become more exposed to dis-
turbance. Hence the need of greater efforts to
maintain their normal state — efforts, however, for
which there is abundant scope, owing to their being
more open to systematic modifications. Our highest
liberty, then, consists in making, as far as possible,
our good inclinations predominate over our bad.
This, too, is the direction in w-hich our power is
capable of most extension, provided always that,
in our intervention, we act in constant obedience
to the fundamental laws of the whole order of
things.
The doctrine of metaphysics on the so-called moral
liberty must be considered, historically, as a tern-
THE DOCTRIXE. 231
poraiy result of moclern anarchy. Its direct aim
is to sanction complete individualism, the ultimate
limit to which we have been ai^proximating since
the close of the Middle Ages, and during the insur-
rectionary period which in Western Europe natu-
rally followed on that close. But this sophistical
protest against all sound discipline, whether private
or public, will never be able to fetter Positivism,
though successful as against Catholicism. It will
never be possible to represent as hostile to the
liberty and dignity of man, a doctrine which places
on a sure basis, and gives free scope to, the action,
the intellect, and the feelings of man.
The Woman. — By the aid of this preliminary
explanation, I shall be able, my father, henceforth
to meet sophisms which have yet great weight,
where there is deficient cultivation. Would you
now explain at once how Positivism evidences its
universal competence by a successful application of
its doctrine to the phenomena of society ?
The Priest. — At the outset, my daughter, you
must look on the great science of sociology as made
up of two essential parts : the one statical, or the
theory of order ; the other dynamical, or the theory
of progress. It is the first that claims our special
attention in religious instruction, for there the fun-
damental nature of the Great Being is the direct
object of our study. But the dynamical portion
must complete the conception formed by the first,
by explaining the successive doctrines of Humanity,
in order to a right direction of our social action.
232 SECOND PART.
These two halves of sociology are bound one to
another in closest union, by virtue of a general
principle laid down by Positivism, with a view to
connect tJiroughout the study of movement with
that of existence. Progress is tlie development of
order. Such a law, applicable even in mathematics,
finds a larger application in proportion as the \)^Q-
nomena become more complicated. The distinction
in this case becomes more marked between the sta-
tical and the dynamical state. At the same time
the simplification produced by this connexion of
our studies acquires a greater value. Tt is in soci-
ology, then, that this great principle finds its best
application, as it is to sociology that we trace its
systematic adoption. In this science it is as appli-
cable if you invert it, as if you take it as it origin-
ally stands. For the successive states in which man
has existed must in this way throw toore and more
light on the essential constitution of the race. The
germs of that constitution must be traceable in its
first outline in the primeval state. But to explain
the theoretical and practical efficacy of dynamic
sociology is the si:)ecial object of the conversation
with which we shall conclude this Catechism. For
the present, I must confine myself to an explana-
tion of the principal notions of social statics.
The Woman. — I may add that your doing so, my
father, suits my inadequate knowledge of history.
Though the conceptions of social statics must be
more abstract than those of social dynamics, I shall
find it easier to grasp them, if I give the attention
THE DOCTRINE. 233
which their importance and difficulty require. At
any rate, I shall be supported under the sense of
my ignorance by the certainty of finding in myself
the confirmation of a doctrine based on the direct
study of human nature.
The Priest. — You are right, my daughter; an
attentive examination of yourself will show you at
once the necessary constitution of society. For if
society is to represent, as it should do, the general
existence of Humanity, it must allow, unmistakeably,
a combination of all the essential attributes of man.
In your own existence you can trace these attri-
butes. If not very distinct, they are yet sufficiently
so for you to be able to conceive how they may
ultimately act in perfect harmony, when each of
them shall have a collective organ, and by means of
that organ shall be enabled to give full expression
to its peculiar characteristics.
Consider Humanity as being like yourself, only
in a more marked degree, impelled by feeling,
guided by intelligence, and supported by action.
At once you have the three essential elements of
society : the sex in which affection prevails ; the
contemplative class, that is, the priesthood ; and
the active class. I have arranged them according
to their decrease in dignity, but also according to
their increase in independence. The last then is the
necessary basis of the whole economy of the Great
Being, in obedience to the fundamental law, with
which you are now familiar, that the noblest attri-
butes are in all cases subordinate to the lowest.
234 SECOND PART.
In reality, the unintermitting wants, which are
the result of our bodily constitution, enforce on
Humanity an amount of action which constitutes
the most marked feature in her existence. For de-
veloping this activity the need of co-operation be-
comes constantly greater. So action, whilst it is
the most powerful stimulant of our intelligence,
supplies the strongest excitement to our sociability.
In reference to this last, it makes solidarity more
completely subordinate to continuity — for it is in
continuity that resides the most characteristic, as
well as the noblest, attribute of the Great Being.
The material results of human co-operation depend
more on the combined action of a succession of
generations than on that of the families who at any
one time co-exist. It follows, that far from being
absolutely unfavourable to the free play of the
intellect and morality, this continuous prepon-
derance of active life ought to furnish the best
security for our unity, by providing the intellect
and the heart with a definite direction and a pro-
gressive object. Without this all-pervading im-
pulse, our best mental and even our best moral
dispositions would soon degenerate and become
mere vague and incoherent tendencies, resulting in
no progress either for the individual or the com-
munity.
Still, as such activity must always originate in a
personal impulse, such origin vrill at first stamp it
with a profoundly egoistical character. This can
only become altruistic by a gradual transforma-
THE DOCTRINE. 235
tion clue to the development of the social impulse.
This is the reason why, in order fully to understand
the constitution of the society, we must break up
its active class into two constituent parts, always
distinct, and often in opposition the one to the
other. They have as their special object, the one, to
develope the practical imptilse with the strong per-
sonality implied in its great energy, the other, the
reaction of society on the personal impulse, a reac-
tion which raises it more and more.
It is indispensable to break up the active class in
this way. All we have to do, is to divide the active
power of society, and consider it as concentrated or
dispersed, according as it is the result of wealth or
of number.
The power of wealth can only tell indirectly.
Still, it is generally the stronger, and it has a ten-
dency to become so more and more, representing,
as it does, the continuity of our race, whilst that of
numbers represents its solidarity. For the material
treasures which Humanity entrusts to the rich,
are the result of a long antecedent accumulation.
There is no objection to this statement in the fact
that their necessary consumption constitutes a per-
manent demand for partial renovation. Any strong
practical impulse, then, must come from the patri-
ciate. In that body is vested the control of the
capital of the race, the gi'eat nutritive reservoirs,
the social efficiency of which mainly depends on
their being concentrated in few hands. Thus pro-
perty receives a direct sanction from Positive reli-
236 SECOND PART.
gion, as being the essential condition of any con-
tinuous activity, and, as such, indirectly the basis
of our noblest progress.
The second practical element, without which the
first would be worth nothing, is the proletariate,
which of necessity forms the great body of every
nation. Its only means of gaining social influence
is union. Hence it has a direct tendency to bring
into play our highest feelings. By the force of its
position, the attention of the proletariate is mainly
directed, at all times, on the moral regulation of an
economy, any disturbance of which falls most espe-
cially on it. Naturally free from the serious re-
sponsibility and the mental absorption which all
authority brings with it, be it theoretical or prac-
tical authority, the spontaneous action of the pro-
letariate is calculated to recall both the priesthood
and the patriciate to a sense of their social duty.
The Woman. — I believe, my father, that this con-
tinuous influence of the active class is also quite as
indispensable for women. It is needed to control
or to compensate the exaggeration of feeling. Not
mixing in active life, my sex is often disposed not
to see or not to allow for the rough conditions it
imposes. However, as we are under the sway of
feeling, we may always be brought to accept these
conditions, if, by accepting them, we can gain the
object of woman's natural aspirations. But the
necessities of active life must be the impulse to a
right judgment on such points.
The Priest. — Your remark shows, my daughter,
THE DOCTRINE. 237
that yoii completely understand the peculiar social
office of the proletariate. For if even the affective sex
can forget its true influence, and be too exclusively
occupied with its own particular want, the speculative
and the active classes are naturally far more exposed
to this danger, as their attention is habitually taken
up with points of detail. The moral providence
exercised by women, the intellectual providence
vested in the priesthood, and the material provi-
dence of the patriciate — all equally require for their
completion the general providence of the proletariate.
"With this complement we perfect the constitution
of the admirable system of human providence.
Thus all the powers of man, each according to its
nature, are made to conduce to the preservation and
improvement of Humanity.
We tlius gain a general conception of the con-
stitution of human society, which enables us to
characterize its three essential elements. They
take their rank on the principle of their decreasing
aptitude to represent Humanity. Nor is the order
different, if we look to the predominant influence
which each exercises in its turn on every one who
is completely educated. First comes the providence
of woman, the power which, through our whole life,
presides over our moral growth. Under its guidance,
we learn to feel continuity and solidarity j for it
directs education during the period whilst it pro-
ceeds uu systematically in the bosom of the family.
As a next step, the providence of the priesthood
teaches us to systematize our conceptions of the
238 SECOND PART.
nature and the destiny of the Great Being. This
it does by disclosing to ns, step by step, the order
of the world, its material, social, and moral order.
Lastly, we come into direct contact with, and obe-
dience to, the power of the material providence —
the patriciate and proletariate. We are initiated by
it in practical life, and our preparation is completed
by the influence of active life on our affections and
thoughts.
The full completion of our individual develop-
ment, the development of the brain as well as of
the body, coincides naturally, in point of time, with
the completion, as a general rule, of our initiation as
members of society. The combination of the two
constitutes our real maturity. We then enter on
our second life, a life essentially of action, succeed-
ing the system of preparations which have fitted us
for the service of Humanity. This fresh stage of
our objective existence, though generally shorter
than the first, is alone decisive. On it alone, that
is, depends whether each head of a family attains
or not the subjective existence which shall, accord-
ing to his merits, incorporate him into Humanity.
To get a better idea of this constitution of society,
we must consider, separately, its two most special
elements, the only classes proj^erly so called, the
priesthood which counsels, the patriciate which
commands. These two classes respectively are to
preserve and increase the spiritual and material
treasures of Humanity. They also preside over the
proper distribution of these treasures amongst her
THE DOCTRINE. 239
servants, in obedience to the laws wliich govern
each of the two.
We look to the theoretical class, in the first
place, for systematic education. Secondly, we give
it an influence over the Avhole of life, a consultative
influence, that is. We do so, that it may bring the
action of each individual into harmony with the
action of the rest, a point which in active life we
are too apt to neglect. The admirable institution
of human language is the special patrimony of the
priesthood, for language is the natiu'al depositary of
religion, and the most important instrument in its
exercise. But whilst we assign language th,us
specially to the priesthood, we must not forget that
it has never been the work of any special class, but
a result of the co-operation of the whole race. By
its very nature, spiritual wealth is imperishable,
and as such admits of being enjoyed simultaneously
by all without being exhausted. So that to preserve
it no distribution is needed, and its preservation is
but a simple adjunct of the priestly office. Lan-
guage is eminently synthetical and social ; it con-,
solidates and developes the natural subordination of
the world of man to the external world. It also
strengthens the union of man with man. This it
does above all by bringing into the closest connexion
the systematic wisdom of the philosopher and the
common sense of mankind.
Material products are destined for individual
use, and are, by their nature, perishable. Hence
the laws of their preservation and use are totally
240 SECOND PART.
different. Material products, then, form the province
of the patriciate, as a body, aided by the general
superintendence of society. But more than this, it is
necessary that they should be appropriated to indi-
viduals. If not so appropriated their concentra-
tion, and as a rule they must be concentrated, be-
comes illusory or rather impossible. This institu-
tion of property, the primary basis of the material
providence, must rest on the land, otherwise it will
not have the requisite degree of stability; for the
land is naturally the seat, as it is necessarily the
source, of all actual production. Thus by a natural
process are formed, in the course of generations, the
nutritive reservoirs of Humanity. Their permanent
destination is the constant renewal of man's exis-
tence. Those in whose hands the control of these
reservoirs is placed have to direct the labours re-
quired by this process.
This is the main office of the patriciate. It con-
sists in restoring to each man the materials which
lie is constantly consuming in the service of society,
either as provisions for his subsistence, or as the
instruments by which he discharges his functions.
Wages, rightly viewed, have no other func-
tion whatever to the class that receives them.
The labour of man, that is to say, the successful
efforts man makes to modify his destiny, is really
never otherwise than gratuitous. It does not admit
of, it does not require any payment in the strict
sense. The term equivalent is appropriate when
we are dealing with the materials of labour. It is
THE DOCTEINE. 241
inapplicable, when we are considering the relation
of the labourer to his work. This is a truth which
has always been recognised in the case of the
affective sex and the contemplative class, nay even
in the case of that portion of the active class which
pays the wages of the rest. The inherently gra-
tuitous character of labour is disputed, then, only in
the case of the proletariate, in the case of those,
that is, who receive the least. The contradiction
such a result involves clearly indicates the source,
historically, of this anomaly. It is due essentially,
not to any inferiority in the labour of the class in
question, but to the long servitude of its members.
Positive religion alone can on this point overcome
modern anarchy. It does so by enforcing on all a
sense that individual services never admit of any
other reward than the satisfaction of renderino^
o
them, and the grateful feeling they excite.
The Woman. — Vulgar minds may treat this view
as a mere sentimental exaggeration, but I venture
to promise you, my father, that it will soon meet
with a cordial recejDtion among women. I have
often been shocked by the prevailing egoism. We
are in the habit of thinking that a paltry money pay-
ment supersedes all need of gratitude for important
and difficult services, services which compromise
the health, and sometimes the life, on each occasion,
of those who perform them. This Positivist prin-
ciple of the gratuitousness of labour gives a syste-
matic consistency to feelings universally felt. All
that such feelings need to secure theii' gradual pre-
R
242 SECOND PART.
valence is, expression and method. This principle
is the last step in the process by which I have been
brought to see that it is possible to stamp on our
whole existence, even on its material part, an al-
truistic character. All that is requisite for this holy-
transformation is, that we all, without attaining to
a state of habitual enthusiasm, should have a deep
sense that we have each our share in the common
work. Now such a conviction can certainly be
produced by a system of wise education in which
all should participate — an education in which the
heart will dispose the intellect to grasp truth as a
whole, not in some details.
The Priest. — In order to complete this our fun-
damental view of the constitution of society, it
remains for me, my daughter, to explain the three
forms it may take, or the three associations which
rise one above the other.
Every collective organism, in other words every
association, necessarily contains the several elements
which I have just explained. But these consti-
tuent parts have more or less of a marked character,
and consequently are more or less distinct, accord-
ing to the nature and extent of the society under
consideration. Their respective predominance leads
us to recognise three different forms of human asso-
ciation. Their order is determined by the decreas-
ing closeness of the union, and their increasing
extent. The intermediate one rests on its pre-
decessor, and is the basis of the one that follows.
The only one where the natural foundation is love,
THE DOCTRINE. 243
tlie Family, is tlie closest in point of union, the
naiTowest in extent, and is the necessary element
of the two others. Man's action next leads to the
formation of the City. The bond in this case results
from an habitual co-operation, the sense of which
would be too weak if this political association were
to include too large a number of families. Lastly
comes the Church. Here the essential bond is
faith. The Church alone can be really universal,
and its universality will be a necessary consequence
of Positive religion. These three forms of human
society have as their respective centres, the woman,
the patriciate, and the priesthood.
We all are members of a family, and that family
is always part of some city or other, and even of
some church or other. But the church tie is weaker,
and therefore susceptible of gi*eater variation, though
always within fixed limits. When it has attained
sufficient consistency, we can by its aid and by no
other means reduce the city to a proper size. The
city is the centre around which each man centres
his existence, by virtue of the natural preponderance
of action over intellect, and even over feeling.
For on no other condition can the social state be
really permanent but on that of reconciling inde-
pendence with joint action, both of which are
equally inherent in the true idea of Humauity.
Now this necessary agi-eement requires that political
societies shall exist within limits much narrower
than those usual at the present day.
In the Middle Ages thei-e existed in outline the
r2
244 SECOND PART.
separation between the religious and tlie civil
society. Hence it was possible, even then, to sub-
stitute the free incorporation of the nations of the
West, for the compulsory incorporation originally
enforced by the dominion of Home. Western
Europe thus presented, during several centuries,
the admirable spectacle of an entirely voluntary
union, an union founded solely on a common faith,
and maintained by a common priesthood between
nations whose different governments had all the
independence that was requisite. But this great
political result could not survive the premature
emancipation of a power which Positive religion
alone can organize aright and finally enfranchise.
The necessary decline of Catholicism led to a fresh
concentration of the temporal power. The step
was at the time indispensable to prevent the entire
political dissolution which seemed imminent, as the
consequence of the increasing disruption of all
religious bonds. Hence it was, that notwithstanding
the feelings and opinions of the Middle Ages, the
traces of which are yet visible, the nations of
Western Europe acquiesced in the formation every-
where of States on far too large a scale.
The political reasons for this exorbitant extension
are now no longer valid. And even in France men
l)egin to feel the danger inherent in this anomalous
position, and to feel also that its end is approaching.
Positive religion will soon reduce these monster
associations to the normal size. There will then be
no need of force to maintain a temporal union
THE DOCTRINE. 245
between nations, where a spiritual union alone is
admissible. Thus shall we shortly apply our statical
principle, which considei-s the single city the organ
politically of Humanity, including in the city, by
way of complement, the less condensed population
in natural connexion with it. The feeling of
patriotism is now vague and weak in consequence
of its excessive diffusion. It will in the new order
be able to develope fully all the energy allowed
by its concentration in the city. At the same time
the habitual union of the great cities will become
more real and more efficacious, for it will assume its
normal character, that of a voluntary concert. Posi-
tive faith will inspire a due sense of the solidarity
and even of the continuity which must finally prevail
between all portions of the earth without exception.
The Woman. — I feel now, my father, prepared,
by your explanations of the theory of society, to
take my seat at last at the highest point of the
encyclopedic edifice, the successive stages of which
you have brought under my notice. jNloral science
must of course be the hardest of all. Yet so far as
concerns its empirical cultivation, my sex is too
familiar with it for me to feel the alarm I felt in
the case of the others. I am therefore glad to have
reached in due time the systematic study of man as
an individual.
The Priest. — In truth, ray daughter, this, the
necessary termination of the whole encyclopedic
preparation, is alone able to satisfy the intellect as
it does the heart. Moral science is more synthetical
246 SECOND PART.
than any other. Its direct connexion with prac-
tice gives strength to this its natural attribute. In
moral science alone do all the abstract points of
view meet spontaneously to take the general
guidance of concrete reason. From Thales to Pascal
every genuine thinker has cultivated simultaneously
geometry and morals, from a secret presentiment of
the great hierarchy in which they should be finally
combined. The term microcosm, or lesser world,
applied by the ancients to man, was even then an
indication of the feeling that in the study of man all
others might be condensed. Morals are naturally
the only science susceptible of real completeness.
ISTo essential point need be put out of view, as must be
the case in each of the sciences which serve as their
basis. For when we look on these sciences as, each
in its proper sphere, deciding what are the laws
which man obeys, they only attain this end by pur-
posely neglecting all the higher properties which
their respective provinces might embrace, whilst
they incorporate only the inferior ones. By this
course of decreasing abstraction, the intellect is
finally prepared to enter on the only study in which
it is no longer compelled to abstract any essential
property fi'om the common object of all our various
branches of human speculations. In no other way
can meditation, the characteristic of the masculine
intellect, be irrevocably imited with contemplation,
the distinctive feature of woman's intelligence — an
union which constitutes the final condition of
human reason.
THE DOCTRINE. 2-47
"We begin with cosmology, which lays down the
laws of mere matter. Then, on the basis thus laid,
biology constructs the theory of life. Lastly, soci-
ology brings forward the study of the collective or
social existence of man in subordination to the
twofold foundation laid. This last of the pre-
liminary sciences is more complete than its prede-
cessors. Still it does not yet embrace the whole of
human nature. For our most important attributes
find but an inadequate appreciation in sociolog}^
By its nature, sociology considers in man his intel-
ligence and his activity, in combination with all our
lower properties, but not in direct subordination to
the feelings which are highest of all. The develop-
ment of society places in the strongest light our
theoretical and practical progress. Even in the
statics of sociology, our feelings are only considered
in reference to the social impulses derived from them,
or to the modifications society introduces. Their
peculiar laws, to be properly studied, must be studied
in moral science. There they acquire the prepon-
derance due to their higher rank in the system of
human nature. This it is which leads minds of an
unsystematic order to underrate the fulness of the
synthetical character wdiich distinguishes this final
science. They limit it too closely to this its most
important sphere, whereas that sphere is but the
centre around which the rest must be finally
grouped.
TJie Woman. — The theoretical connexion between
sociology and morals is not yet clear from mists.
248 SECOND PART.
AVould you, • my father, scatter tliese mists before
you pass to the direct exposition of the Positive
conception of human natui'e ? I have not forgotten
the indisputable reasons which in our fundamental
conversation made me recognise the objective sub-
ordina,tion of morals to sociology, since man is
always subordinate to Humanity. But on the other
hand, it seems to me that the social science stands
in continual need of the more important notions
that morals are able to give it as to the true nature
of man.
The Priest. — Your very reasonable difficulty, my
daughter, will disappear, if you take into account
that we have always some previous knowledge, ac-
quired by our own efforts, which prepares the way
for systematic study. Science is always sim.ply the
continuation of tlie good sense of mankind. It
never really creates any of the more important
doctrines. The object of theory is the generaliza-
tion and co-ordination of the empirical results of
human reason, with a view of securing for those
results the consistency and development otherwise
unattainable. Such a connexion is more peculiarly
appropriate in the study of morals. They could not,
it is true, owing to their higher degree of complica-
tion, be systematized till the last, but at the same
time, by the force of their preponderant importance,
they always supplied the main food for our ordinary
meditations, especially those of women. From this
empirical culture we soon gained some notions, which,
in spite of their incoherence, were very valuable.
THE DOCTRINE. 249
They have hitherto, it is true, been despised by-
minds of systematic tendencies, but only because
such minds could find no place for them in their theo-
logical or metaphysical theories. Positivism alone is
capable of taking in the social point of view; there-
fore on it devolved the task of generalizing and
co-ordinating these empirical notions, after founding
the last of the preliminary sciences. Its ability to
systematize them enabled it to appreciate their value
in spite of philosophical prejudices ; and so it could
turn them to immediate account in the construction
of sociology. If you examine closely the way in
which we habitually avail ourselves in sociology of
the knowledge of human natui-e, you will soon see
that all that we really use are these spontaneous
notions, which have far more reality in them than
all the moral speculations of earlier philosophers.
This empirical sketch is sufficient for our concep-
tions, so far as they concern the collective existence
of man, before it has been reduced to the systematic
shape which the final science alone can determine.
The Woman. — Your explanation, my father, en-
tii'ely does away with the confusion which I had
noticed by the way as existing between the two
essential aspects of the order of man, the social and
the moral. My ignorance had preserved me from
the classical theories of human nature. So I am
the better able to appreciate the real character of
the moral ideas which sociology employs, and to see
theii' coincidence with the results obtained by the
spontaneous action of human reason.
250 SECOND PART.
The Priest. — As a direct foundation for the final
science, it is sufficient, my daughter, to put in proper
systematic form the division which the common
sense of man early recognised in the whole of man's
existence — the division into feeling, intellect, and
action. In the oldest poets we may trace this
analysis under different forms. They proceed from
it as their basis, and complete it, on empirical
grounds, by the general division of our inclinations
into personal and social. The theories of theology,
and still more of metaphysics, were, in a special
degree, unable to give its due prominence to this
last idea. But it is a conception which is so self-
evident as to overcome all philosophical sophisms,
where there has been no mental cultivation. Such
is the natural province of morals. To systematize
and develope it is the essential object of moral
science. Morals, as all the other branches of real
science, are occupied in the main with determining
the general laws of the commonest phenomena ; as,
for instance, chemistry mainly studies the laws of
combustion and fermentation. Although moral
science was a subject which theology could not
adequately handle, we must not pass over without
its due notice the attempt made at the beginning of
Catholicism by its real founder. The object was to
meet the want of a system created by the new
religious teaching. The great St. Paul, in his general
doctrine of the permanent struggle between nature
and grace, stated, though in an imperfect form, and
solved in his own way, the whole moral problem.
THE DOCTRINE. 251
not merely as far as regards its practical difficulty,
but also as a tlieoretic question. The value of the
solution he invented lay in its offering provisionally
a compensation for a radical defect in monotheism.
Monotheism is irreconcileable with the existence in
our nature of the instincts of benevolence, the
inclinations which lead all creatures to a mutual
union, instead of devoting themselves separately to
their Creator. In spite of all the flaws inherent in
such a theory, its development in the Middle Ages
is really the only great advance made by moral
science between the period of its rudimentary state
in the early theocratic times and its recent formation
into a Positive science. Its form in the Middle
Ages was at any rate a better embodiment of the
main results of the good sense of maukind than the
lamentable ontology which guided men in the gradual
dissolution of Catholicism. Hence the Mystics of
the fifteenth century, and above all, the admirable
author of the Iinitation, are the only thinkers in whom,
before Positivism, you can trace a really general
view of human nature. The metaphysical concep-
tion of that nature is in all cases extremely de-
fective. When I remind you of St. Paul's moral
doctrine, so justly dear to you in your youth, it is
not merely that I wish to honoiir an attempt which
is now too generally undervalued. It was a pro-
visional substitute for the Positive theory of human
nature, which could not be formed till after a long
period of objective preparation. But more than
this, it spontaneously prepared the way for the
252 SECOND PART.
Positive theory, by marking out its systematic domain.
It %Yas under its influence that, even prior to the
foundation of sociology, from the true scientific
point of view, a decisive attempt was made to con-
stitute moral science. The attempt was not suc-
cessful, but it was made immediately after the rise
of the philosophy of biology.
The first step was to establish, in this highest
province of theory, a general harmony between the
statical and dynamical points of view. It was
necessary for this to determine the seat of our chief
functions. The metaphysical view was a mere con-
fusion. It made the intellect supreme, and assigned
it the brain. But the reason of mankind had
broken through the mists of philosophical specula-
tion. It held a different doctrine at any rate as
to our inclinations, especially as to our personal
inclinations. It was guided on this point by their
spontaneous energy. The philosophers of antiquity
sanctioned the distinction between them by placing
them, though vaguely, in the diflferent viscera of our
nutritive system. Still, no organ was set apart for
our instincts of sympathy, and science, agreeing with
theology, always spoke of the passions as if we had
none but bad ones. Besides, the intellect remained
undivided, and its subordination to the feelings
found no expression in the theory.
I have given you this historical introduction,
that you may duly appreciate the admirable effort
of genius by which Gall founded the Positive theory
of human nature. He was unable however to con-
THE DOCTllIXE. 253
struct it in sucli a way as to secure its efficiency.
To do so requii-ed sociology. He gave a powerful
impulse however by laying down two general
principles, the one dynamical, the other statical.
They are closely connected, and will always be the
basis of the true study of the soul and the brain.
Gall showed that our higher functions, mental and
moral, were plural, and that they all had their seat
in the brain. The several regions of the brain
must, then, correspond to the real distinctness
between them. Gall fell into many important errors,
especiaily in regard to the intellect. They were the
result of a superficial analysis and an empirical
determination of the position of the different organs.
But he succeeded in giving an adequate idea of the
general method of analyzing our compound exis-
tence, and he even succeeded in establishing the fact
that we have benevolent inclinations. The imaginary
conflict between nature and grace — the conception
of St. Paul — is for the future abandoned. And we
replace it by the real opposition between the poste-
rior part of the brain, the seat of our personal in-
stincts, and its anterior region, the seat both of our
sympathetic impulses and our intellectual faculties,
which however have distinct positions. Such is the
indestructible basis on which, as the founder of Posi-
tive religion, I proceeded to construct my systematic
theory of the brain and the soul. I had previously
constituted sociology, from w^hich alone could come
the inspiration I required.
The Woman. — I seem to get a glimpse, my father,
254 SECOND PART.
of the wide philosophical importance of the two
principles laid down by Gall, the immediate pre-
cm\sor of Positivism. The constant mutual action
of our feelings and our thoughts, as well as the
natural relations of our several instincts, could not
be adequately accounted for, so wide apart were
the positions respectively assigned them. On your
theory of the brain, we can at length form a con-
ception of these important relations, and by its aid
we can secure their greater constancy. Still, if we
deprive the nutritive organs of any moral character,
however alien such a character is to their merely
physical function, we have a great omission to
supply. How are we to account for the undisputed
connexion of these organs with, our higher functions 1
The reciprocal influence of man's physical and moral
nature was exaggerated in the ancient hypothesis,
but it seems unduly neglected in the modern view.
The Priest. — Your reproach is only applicable,
my daughter, to the cerebral theory in its rudimen-
tary state. It is not applicable to its final state.
In that final state these great relations are fully sys-
tematLzed. We retain the true notions which so
long accredited the old hypothesis, but we limit the
influence of our nutritive system to our instincts
properly so called. We do not allow that our in-
tellectual functions, or even our impulses to action,
have any direct participation in that influence.
The speculative and the active regions of the brain
communicate through the nerves only with the
senses and the muscles. That communication ogives
THE DOCTRINE. 255
US the perception of the outer world and the power
of modifying it. On the other hand, the affective
region, which forms the largest mass of the brain,
has no direct communication with the outer world.
It is only indirectly connected with it through its
relations with the intellectual and active regions.
But besides this connexion with the other parts of
the brain, special nerves bring the affective region
into the closest relation with the most important
organs of our nutritive system, in consequence of
the necessary subordination of our personal instincts
to the lowest type of life, that which we have in
common with the plant. If this general correspon-
dence shall admit, as there is reason for hoping, of
a sufficient specification in detail, it will furnish
povv^erful means for the reciprocal improvement of
man's moral and physical nature.
The Woman. — This Positive conception of human
nature seems to me, my father, quite in agreement
with the experience of mankind, especially in that
it rests the unity of man on the constant subordina-
tion of the intellect to the heart. You had
already explained to me, that of the two modes in
which this preponderance of the affections might
exist, the altruistic alone can secure for man, even
as an individual, a complete and lasting unity, one
however which it is more difficult to constitute than
the egoistic unity. But in this theory of man's har-
mony there is yet a serious difficulty. How are we
to reconcile it with the first law of animal life?
That law asserts the intermittent character of the
25 Q SECOND PART.
whole life of relation, without allowing any excep-
tion for the functions of the brain. True unity
cannot be intermittent. The intellect and the
activity can, and ought to, rest alternately, as ought
the senses and muscles, which they respectively bring
into play. But the functions of affection cannot be
suspended. Can we ever cease to feel love towards
ourselves and towards others 1
The Priest. — The direct connexion between the
affective life and the nutritive life ought to lead
you, my daughter, to see that the first is as con-
tinuous as the second. To harmonize this neces-
sary continuity with the intermittent character
common to the whole life of relation, all we
have to do, is to consider the double structure of
the brain. All the organs of the brain are, as the
senses and muscles are, composed of two symme-
trical portions, separate or contiguous, each of
which can function whilst the other rests. Such an
alternation allows the feelings a continuous exis-
tence, in spite of the general intermittence of the
brain. Sometimes the intellect functions in this way
during sleep, if not by its organs of contemj tlation,
the connexion of which with the senses is direct, at
any rate by those of meditation, where the dependence
on the senses is not immediate. This is the origin of
dreams, states of temporary mental alienation, in
which, as in madness, subjective impulses, without
our will, get the upper hand. This occasional per-
sistence of the intellectual functions during sleep
enables us to understand the regular persistence of
THE DOCTRIXE. 257
the affective functions. I^ay moi'e, it furnishes us
with an indirect evidence of such persistence. For
our dreams always bear the stamp of the dominant
instincts. Since the heart directs the intellect
when we are awake, in spite of impressions from
without, it must assert a greater power over it when
these impressions are no longer felt. We may-
hope, then, that the cerebral theory will ulti-
mately lead us to a right interpretation of dreams,
and even enable us to modify them, so realizing
the wish of antiquity, which at the time was pre-
mature.
The Woman. — I should, my father, have an un-
satisfactory conception of the Positive theory of
human nature, unless, after explaining the general
relations of the heart, the intellect, and the cha-
racter, you show me the systematic division of each
of the three into their primary functions, beyond
which no further reduction is possible.
ThePriest. — You have this division, my daughter,
in the descriptive system of the brain, which I lay
before you. {See Synopsis C, at the end of the volume.)
You must become as familiar with it as with our
encyclopedic synopsis. Though longer than that, it
will be less difficult. Any person of sufficient age,
especially a woman, must soon feel the reality of our
analysis ; for by its very nature, it rests entirely on
observations within the reach of every one. If
special and difficult contemplations were indispen-
sable for its verification, that would be enough to
prove it defective. It required gi-eat efforts to
S
ZOb SECOND PART.
construct this synopsis. But that in no way affects
its use, especially for those who have escaped our
classical education. The difficulty of construction
depended less on the nature of the problem than
on the prevalence of false theories. It was the
earliest sphere of our intellectual exertions, and yet
it was destined to be the last subjected to the
gradual process of harmonizing the theoretical with
the practical reason. But at length it has under-
gone the process, and with such success that the
fundamental harmony of the two leads to greater
progress in this department than in any other.
My classification of the organs of the brain offers
you throughout a fresh application of the universal
principle of decreasing generality, the principle which
you saw was the foundation of the whole encyclo-
pedic liierarchy. You may trace it most clearly in
the case of the instincts, as they are more numerous
and more marked in character. Their decrease in
generality, in proportion as they become nobler and
less energetic, is fully verified in the whole of the
animal series. In the lowest stage we find simply
the fundamental instinct of indi^ddual preservation.
There is as yet no complete separation of the sexes.
Then, in succession, we see the other instincts added,
first the personal, then the social, in the order indi-
cated by my system of the brain. Man is the limit
of the series. This verification from comparative
zoology is sufficient to prove the truth of my analy-
sis. It often aided me in working out that analysis.
Not that, however, I had recourse to any other
THE DOCTRINE. 259
guidance than that of sociology. In the highest
animals in our series, the mammiferous animals and
birds, we certainly find a complete combination of all
our higher functions. The difference is merely one
of degree. See how the greatest of poets had a pre-
sentiment of this fundamental resemblance between
man and the animals. In the midst of his sublime
descriptions of Paradise, Dante introduces this ad-
mirable picture of the moral existence of a bird —
Come I'augello intra I'amate fronde
Posato al nido de' suoi dolci nati,
La notte che le cose ci nasconde,
Che per veder gli aspetti desiati,
E per trovar lo cibo onde li pasca,
In che i gravi labor gli son aggrati,
Previene '1 tempo in su I'aperta frasca,
E con ardente affetto il sole aspetta
Fiso guardando pur che I'alba nasca.
Dante, Paracl. xxiii. 1 — 9.
E'en as the bird, who 'midst the leafy bower
Has, in her nest, sat darkling through the night.
With her sweet brood ; impatient to descry
Their wished looks, and to bring home their food,
In the fond quest unconscious of her toil;
She, of the time prevenient, on the spray.
That overhangs their couch, with wakeful gaze
Expects the sun, nor ever, till the dawn,
Removeth from the east her eager ken.
Cart's Translation.
In this charming description an animal very far
removed from man offers us, equally with man, the
normal concurrence of feeling, intelligence, and
activity. The feeling of brotherhood between man
and the other animals is more precious even for the
s2
260 SECOND PART.
heart than for the intellect. For it extends our
sympathies beyond our own species, and so acts as
a check on any disposition to cruelty in our too
frequent conflicts with the subordinate races.
The Woman. — I am fond of studying animals,
my father, with the view of tracing in them essen-
tially the same impulses as in man. But I suppose
that the synopsis of the brain is independent of any
such verification. There are minds which would
not accept it.
The Priest. — Even when confined to man, our
observations, my daughter, are really sufficient to
remove all uncertainty as to any part of the Positive
theory of the soul and brain. Even the analysis of
the intellect, more delicate than the two others, inas-
much as its divisions are less marked, may be veri-
fied by an appeal to facts of daily experience. It
is sufficient to compare the two sexes to see the
capital distinction, that between the organs of con-
templation and those of meditation. For the first
of these two functions is more developed in woman,
the second in man. Similarly we se2:)arate the two
organs of meditation, by remarking that your sex
is more adapted for connecting facts, mine for co-
ordinating them. "Were our savans as sagacious
as most Avomen, and as clear as women of erroneous
views, the strong evidence of comjiarative zoology
would be superfluous.
TJie Woma/i. — My first inspection of the descrip-
tive system of the brain has given rise to some
doubts, my father. These I should like to have
THE DOCTRINE. 261
cleared up before I begin its study. The instincts,
as a whole, seem placed in their right light, except
the maternal instinct. This I expected to find
under the head of altruism, not under that of
egoism.
The Priest. — You must distinguish, my daughter,
between the maternal instinct and the influence that
instinct may have on our sympathies. Such an
influence is not inherent in it, as is seen by the fact
that it is often wanting. The observation of animals
leaves us no doubt as to the necessity of this dis-
tinction, for we find instances of the maternal rela-
tion in animals, at too low a point in the scale to
have the sentiments connected with that relation in
the human species. But you can remove all uncer-
tainty on the point without going beyond your
own species. However valuable the improvement
eflected by civilization, particularly modern civiliza-
tion, in this instinct, as a consequence of the in-
creasing influence of society on the family, it is yet
possible, in daily experience, to detect its true
nature in women of weak sympathies, where it
stands out more distinctly. In such cases we see
that the child, for the mother no less than for the
father, is regarded directly in the light of a mere
personal possession, on which they may exercise
their love of power, or by which they may gratify
their avarice, far more than as the object of any
disinterested aflfection. Only, as the relations which
spring from the fact of maternity give a strong
stimulus to the instincts of benevolence, they spon-
262 SECOND PART.
taneously aid in the development of those instincts
wherever the nature is kindly, but they never create
sympathy. In fact its previous existence is implied.
When we compare the different states of society,
either in the present or in the past, we see the true
character of an instinct, which, previous to its im-
provement by the providence of m^n, often leads
parents to sell, or even to kill their children, on
purely selfish grounds. Besides, look around you,
and see the principles on which professions are
habitually chosen, or marriages made, and ask your-
self whether it is not the egoism of the parents,
and not their love of their children, that is the
prevailing motive since the anarchy of modern
times has weakened the influence of society on
the family.
The sexual instinct was sometimes honoured with
a similar mistake, though not by your sex. Women
are in general not blind to its selfish character.
But men confused it, as they did the maternal, with
the sympathies of which, when under due control, it
stimulates tlie growth. All our personal instincts,
not excepting that of destruction, may exert a
similar influence. But this influence is not misun-
derstood in the other cases, as it is less direct and
less marked. This general relation makes it easier
to solve the great problem for man — viz., how to
subordinate egoism to altruism. For the greater
energy of the personal instincts may thus serve to
compensate the natural weakness of our instincts of
sympathy, by originating the impulse which they
THE DOCTRINE. 263
stand in need of, but do not find in themselves.
Once set in motion, the benevolent affection per-
sists and grows bj virtue of the immense superiority
of its attraction, after the coarser stimulant has
ceased to act. The moral superiority of woman
often supersedes in her case the need of such a pre-
paration. She is ready to love, as soon as she finds
objects to love, without seeking in love any selfish
gratification. The coarser nature of man can hardly
ever dispense with this indirect impulse. But -p'dv-
ticularly is this the case in regard to public life,
where we want a noble direction for pride and
vanity.
The Woman. — As for the intellectual functions,
I am surprised, my father, not to find in your
synopsis of the brain the faculties that have become
classical — memory, judgment, imagination, &c. (fee.
The Priest. — They are secondary faculties, my
daughter. That is, they are results of our whole
mental organization, though long considered as
special functions. A comparison of individuals and
of sexes, completed, if it must be so, by a comparison
of species, gives direct proof of the groundlessness
of the old analysis of the intellect and the soundness
of the new. For such observation shows us marked
and permanent differences as regards contemplation
or meditation, but never leads to clear and sure
results in the case of the faculties acknowledged by
the schools. Every judgment, however unimportant,
requires an habitual concurrence of the five intel-
lectual functions, to enable us to bring the world
264 SECOND PART.
witliin and the world without into that lasting and
perfect coincidence which is the characteristic of
truth. So it is, even more strongly, with the efforts
of the memory or the imagination. They often re-
quire inductions or deductions in strict analogy
with the operations of science. As for the will, it
is directly a result of every affective impulse which
has the sanction of the intellect, in its capacity of
guide of our conduct.
The Woman. — I have a remark to make of a con-
trary tendency to my last. I am surprised, my
father, to see language have a distinct place assigned
it in your synopsis of the brain, instead of being
treated as a product of the whole of our intellectual
functions.
The Priest. — Your mistake depends on this, my
daughter. You confuse the special aptitude to
create artificial signs with the results that follow on
the due subordination of that aptitude to the other
mental functions. The intellectual analysis of Gall
was generally inadequate, but even he did not
hesitate to assign language a separate organ. Its
existence admits of no doubt, as is shown by the
observation of animals, of men, and of nations.
When left to itself, free, that is, from the control
of the brain, as is often the case in illness, and at
times even in health, the direct action of this organ
of language produces nothing but a mere flow of
words, requiring reason if they are to be discourse,
in the true sense of the term. In other cases, on
the contrary, the exceptional inaction of this organ
THE DOCTRINE. 265
hinders the transmission of thoughts even when the
thoughts themselves are perfectly worked out. For
the rest, we must not confuse in animals the peculiar
function of language with the means of social ex-
pression. These do not always answer to the func-
tion. Every one of the higher species has its
natural language, understood by the whole race, and
even by the races near it in the series, but the
physical means of communication are often very
imperfect. As for the actual language of civilized
nations, it is in reality a very complicated result of
the whole of man's development. Still, if traced to
its primary source, it will be traced to that organ of
the brain which leads us to create, by some means
or other, artificial signs, without any direct refer-
ence to the mental and moral communications of
which they may be the instrument.
T/ie Woman. — To complete this important appre-
ciation, would you, my father, point out to me the
general use I ought to make of the synopsis of the
brain when I have sufficiently studied it ?
The Priest — You can only, my daughter, make
it your own by constantly applying it. Women are
in the habit of tracing in our actions and language,
the feelings and thoughts from which they really
proceed. Consider the synopsis of the brain as
giving a general assistance to women in improving
themselves in this part of their work. You wdll
often find that the soul of man is not impenetrable.
The brain thus becomes a book, the truth of which
cannot be disputed, and which you can read s])ite
266 SECOND PART.
of all the artifices of dissimulation. Complete your
observation of individuals by comparing one with
another nations in very different stages. Add even
the study of the animals within your reach. You
will then have finished your initiation in the Posi-
tive theory of human nature.
But as mistakes are but too easy, to avoid them
or to correct them, you must always remember that
most of the results which fall under your observa-
tion, intellectual as well as moral, spring from the
concurrent action of several functions of the brain.
These functions can seldom be observed alone. So
your inquiry will most frequently involve an
analysis. The requisites for such analysis you will
always find in your synopsis, and you must combine
them till your synthesis adequately represents the
case under notice. For instance, envy is the result
of a combination of the instinct of destruction with
some one or other of the six egoistic instincts ;
there is besides the secret feeling of personal infe-
riority, mental as well as moral. There are then
six kinds of envy, according as the second element
in the combination is avarice or luxury, <tc.
The synopsis of the brain contains in a short form
all that, up to the present time, is demonstrated in
the Positive theory of human nature. Hence we
merely state the number and position of the intel-
lectual and moral organs, without any precise state-
ment as to their form or size. We must look to
an objective study, not as yet properly organized,
as the only means of completing our subjective
THE DOCTRINE. 267
theory of the braiu, by determining the peculiar
constitution of each organ. But we must not set
too high a value on this complement. Without it
the cerebral theory is sufficient for its chief object,
as is proved by this Catechism.
The position of the organs is really the most
difficult point to determine, as it is the most im-
portant. It at once points out the mutual influ-
ence of the organs. This influence, without any
intervention of the nerves, depends on simple con-
tiguity. Hence we find it easy to explain the rela-
tion, which is otherwise unintelligible, and yet which
indisputably exists, between the sexual and the
destructive instinct. The order of the organs, espe-
cially of the affective ones, gives tlie measure of
their respective energy, in obedience to the law
which you see wTitten on the synopsis. For in-
stance, to take the case of two consecutive instincts.
We see that the destructive is naturally stronger
than the constructive instinct. We cannot doubt
that it is so, when we see the preference everywhere
given it, with no exception in the case of man, when
a being thinks it is free to choose its means. But
the noblest use of the cerebral synopsis consists in
stating in a better form the great problem of human
nature, — how to secure the ascendancy of sociability
over personality, as you already felt previous to my
thus directly explaining it. The three practical
qualities are, in themselves, indifferent to good and
evil. They only directly lead to action. As for
the five intellectual functions, their true destination
268 SECOND PART.
is evidently to be the servants of the three social
instincts, rather than of the seven personal affections.
So only can they be developed on a large scale and
with permanent results. Still their intrinsic weak-
ness often hinders them from resisting the natural
energy of the selfish impulses. Hence arises our
chief difficulty. If the intellect is not false to its
holy mission, personality, in itself incoherent, is
easily made subordinate to a sociability, which, never
refuses it due satisfaction. When harmony is thus
once established between the feeling and the intel-
lect, in our action we instinctively obey an impulse
which opens out an inexhaustible field for our
energy. Ultimately, then, all depends on a close
concert of the two contiguous organs which respec-
tively preside over the most important of our in-
stincts of sympathy and over tke most synthetical
part of our intellect. By taking the predominant
organ as the representative of each of the three
regions of the brain, the sacred formula of Posi-
tivism is naturally graven on the brain of every
one. That formula enjoins the habitual harmony of
three adjacent organs.
The Woman. — By the whole of this and the pre-
ceding conversation, T am led to see, my father, that
the Positive doctrine is now competent to undertake
the spiritual government of Humanity. I had been
led by our first conversation on this subject to antici-
pate this result. The profoundly relative character of
our doctrine excludes the immutability which was
the characteristic of the absolute doctrines of theo-
THE DOCTRINE. 269
logy. This immutability which theology claimed
really ended in death. Whereas the gradual modi-
fications which Positivism introduces are the certain
symptoms of life, a life as lasting as the race. It
has an inexhaustible fund of improvements at its
command. But without waiting for these, I feel
that the system is already elaborated to the point at
which it can direct the reorganization of Western
Europe.
The Priest. — As you have attained this convic-
tion, I may, my daughter, end here my exposition
of the doctrine of Positivism, and proceed to a con-
sideration of the system of life.
CjjkJr |art.
EXPLANATIOX OF THE REGIME,
OE MODE OF LIFE.
CONVERSATION IX.
THE EEGIME AS A WHOLE.
The Woman. — In this last branch of our subject,
I am aware, my father, that I must be nearly as
passive as diuing the exposition of the doctrine,
though I expect the subject to be less difficult for
me. The regime is not so essentially within the
sphere of the affections as the worshiji, so that I
cannot here, as in the worship, at times, by my own
instinct, anticipate your explanations. We cannot
depend on the heart alone. A comj^etent grasp of
this subject implies frequently the maturest expe-
rience and the deepest reflection — an experience
and reflection beyond my sex. The contemplations
of women can hardly pass with good result beyond
the sphere of private life. We are now about to
construct a system of general rules for all the ordi-
nary action of man. Nor will his exceptional
action be exempt from them. To determine these
THE LIFE. 271
rules demands an accurate survey of our wLole ex-
istence, social as well as personal. Without this
we cannot judge what are really the results of each
particular line of conduct. In this survey we must
guard especially against the errors springing from
the feelings, the more so, as the influence of such
errors would here be dangerous, from their bearing
immediately on our practical social life.
The Priest. — You must not allow, my daughter,
any such proper feeling of reserve to conceal from
you the fundamental office of your sex, an office
assigned it by the whole regime. The study of the
Positive doctrine leads to the conclusion that man's
true unity consists in living for others. The Posi-
tive worship has for its main object the development
of the feelings conducive to such a life. Resting
on the double basis of the worship and the doctrine,
the regime must aim at securing the direct predo-
minance, in practical life, of this the one sole prin-
cii)le of universal harmony. Such is the end pro-
posed. Its attainment necessarily implies a close
and constant union of both sexes for joint action.
I say of both, for such joint action depends as much
on the heart as on the intellect. When we then
pass from the theory to the practice of morals, it is
the intellect alone that can say what habits should
be generally adopted, and what are the means of
securing their adoption. In the study of these two
questions, however, we should almost always fail,
unless we had the constant impulse of feeling
stimulating us to overcome the arduous difficulties
272 THIRD PART.
they present. Hence the respective parts of the
priesthood and the affective sex in our moral regime.
The priest acts on the heart through the intellect
by his judgment of the conduct. Women should
act on the intellect by the heart, and the}' do so by
securing the spontaneous ascendancy of the nobler
dispositions. The necessary co-operation of the priest
and women is equally applicable in the period of pre-
paration, and in the life for whichit is the preparation.
The Woman. — You encourage me to ask you, my
father, in the first place what is the real province
of this third part of our religion. The regime
always concerns the life of action, as the doctrine
has reference to the life of thought, and the woi*ship
to that of affection ; yet I find a difficulty in con-
ceiving the religious precepts of the Positive regime
as embracing all forms of action indifferently, and yet
I do not see on what you can base any distinction.
TJie Priest. — In practical life the province of re-
ligion is limited, my daughter, to the dispositions
which all must have in common. It has nothing
to do with the particular mode of discharging each
special office. It must, however, form an accurate
judgment on the different social functions, but only
with this object, that it may lay down in regard to
them such rules as may maintain and develope the
general harmony. The details of execution are
entirely a question for the various forms or degrees
of government properly so called, whether private
or public. They are never a question for the
priesthood.
THE LIFE. 273
To give a more accurate idea of tliis funda-
mental distinction, I will apply to progress the
general division you are already familiar with as
applied to order. Your study of the doctrine has
familiarized you with it. We divided order into
the order of the world external to man, and the
order of man's world. We must adopt the same
division for the improvements of which order
is susceptible. We then see that there are two
species of progress, progress external to man, and
human progress. Both ultimately have reference
to man, but the last alone concerns human nature in
itself, the first is limited to our external circum-
stances. These it improves by acting on all the
existences which have any influence on ours.
Hence we habitually apply the term material to this
external progress, notwithstanding the fact that it
embraces the phenomena of life properly so called.
But it does so only in regard to the species which
supply us with food or service. The point of view
of progress is necessarily more subjective than that
of order, consequently though the ideas in both
cases are the same, the language will not be always
equally uniform.
This distinction is a sufficient introduction to the
fundamental division between the respective pro-
vinces of the government and the priesthood. All
the forces of society are, in our view, equally devoted
to the work of improvement ; but we must distin-
guish them according as they improve the outward
order or the social and moral order. To this el^-
T
274 THIRD PART.
inentaiy distinction we trace the normal separation
of temporal and spiritual action. The higher rank
assigned the latter is a consequence of the naturally
higher character of the progress it promotes. Thus
the practical sphere of religion is the improvement
of ^human order, its physical, intellectual, and moral
improvement. The last is far the most important.
Different as the three aspects are, their close con-
nexion forbids their ever being separated. This close
connexion must be attended to in action even more
than in speculation. As for the external order, its
dii'ect and special improvement rests not with reli-
gion. It is the proper province of politics or of in-
dustry. Religion indirectly takes an important part
in the work, though quite a general one, by virtue of
the great influence which the state of the agent, man,
necessarily exerts on the efficiency of his action. All
practical work requires as the first condition of its
success that each one who co-operates should be
honest, intelligent, and courageous. Beyond this,
religion has no part in the constitution of each
special department of industry.
The Woiiian. — Morals, then, my father, as an art,
are distinguished from all others by being comj^letely
general. They are the only art which all without
exception must learn, for they are the only one of
which all human beings equally stand in constant
need. All then must study morals, in proportion
to their natural ability and the light they derive
from experience. Their systematic cultivation must
however be left to the priesthood, as a consequence
THE LIFE. 275
of the priesthood's necessary connexion with the
wliole body of theory. This is the way in which,
as it seems to me, morals form the essential domain
of religion, primarily as a science, secondly as
an art.
The Priest. — To give completeness to your view,
my daughter, you must take into account that each
department of industry, as a whole, comes under
the influence of the Positive priesthood. For the
priesthood alone knows tlie whole system of the
laws of the external world. The theories of science
can never enable us to dispense with the results of
practical experience — it is a mere dream of scientific
pride to think they can — but they must always form
the basis and even the guide of practice. The
practical man begins by learning from the priest-
hood the more important laws of the phenomena
he has to modify. He connects with this know-
ledge the special developments to which the induc-
tions of his own experience lead him. Should he,
in the course of his labours, feel the want of some
new general ideas, he must go again to the priest-
hood for them. He must not interrupt his indus-
trial action by a vain attempt at scientific culti-
vation.
Tlte Woman. — Taking your explanation as a
whole, my father, I look on the fundamental separa-
tion of the priesthood and the government as a
consequence of the necessary division of theory and
practice. But in what you have hitherto said, you
have attended only to progress, that is to say, to
T 2
276 THIRD PART.
the activity of man. Now to place so capital a
principle on a solid foundation, more is wanted.
You must bring it into direct connexion with order
properly so called, that is to say, with conservation.
In the social harmony, the proletariate must natu-
rally, in the main, represent progress ; my sex holds
a passive position, and its principal function is to
conserve.
The Priest. — Look, my daughter, at man's world
from the statical point of view, and you will be
satisfied. Study it not in motion, but as it exists.
You will soon arrive at the separation of the spi-
ritual and temporal powers, as the basis on which
all social order rests. Your starting point must be
simply the principle of co-operation, the principle on
which Aristotle built the true theory of the city
organization as the result of the combined action
of several families. For every servant of Humanity
must always be looked at from two points of view.
The two are distinct, but coexistent. We must
first consider his special oflSce, then his position in re-
ference to the general harmony of society. The first
duty of every organ of society is, there can be no
doubt of it, the proper discharge of his own function.
But good order also requires every one to assist, as
far as he can, all others in the discharge of theirs.
In fact, this second duty is the most important
characteristic of the collective organism, and the
obligation is a natural consequence of the fact that
the agents by which that organism, or society, works,
are in all cases beings endowed with intelligence
THE LIFE. 277
uiid freedom of action. Now, by their very nature
these two functions of the individual, his special
function, and his function as a member of society,
are in opposition to each other. And that opposi-
tion has a tendency to become more and more
marked. For in proportion as co-operation is duly
developed, the special function becomes more special,
and the result is an intellectual frame and moral
tendencies, which make any general views at once
more difficult and more distasteful. Such is the
elementary point of view from which we must look
at the general theory of government, whether tem-
poral or spiritual.
All the functions of life, and still more all the
functions of society, require for their proper dis-
charge an appropriate organ. It follows that any
combined action of man, on however small a scale,
requires the existence of a power whose special
duty it shall be to bring back to general views and
feelings agents, whose constant tendency is in the
opposite direction. Such a power must check the
disorganizing and foster the converging tendencies of
these agents. From another point of view, the
formation of this indispensable power is a natural
result of the inequalities attendant on the progress
of man.
The simplest form of association, the family,
would seem exempt from the apj^lication of this prin-
ciple, so close is the tie which connects it. But it is
not so, even when the family is composed merely of
the original pair. It is in the family that we may
278 THIRD PART,
most distinctly appreciate the great axiom : There
is no society ivithout a government.
In the larger association, the city, wherever there
is combined action on the part of several families to
attain a given end, such action throws up a leader.
The limit of his authority is naturally fixed by the
amount of the operations which either his ability
or his capital enables him really to conduct. In
such chiefs is vested the real temporal power, which
can impel or check as need directs. If we go
beyond this and require a power on a larger scale,
such new power must have a spiritual origin. The
several practical leaders have however a tendency to
mutual co-ordination. And the principle of such
co-ordination is found in the natural hierarchy con-
sequent on the relations of their several depart-
ments. From this instinctive concert there arises
a more general government, exercising, however, a
purely material or temporal power, and qualified for
resistance rather than direction. The several mem-
bers in whom it is vested are, in general, unable to
master the whole system, though each may be com-
petent as regards one of the particular systems
which make up the whole.
The inadequacy then of the temporal power, and
the want of some spiritual power, are evident, even
if you confine yourself to solidarity, if the sphere of
such solidarity be not too limited. The spiritual
power must renounce all special action, its aim
must be to secure the constant harmony of the
several parts of society. But the want above men-
THE LIFE. 279
tionecl is placed beyond all dispute, -when we take in
the idea of continuity ; and it is on continuity
that moral and social order depend with an ever-
increasing dependence. The powers which are the
result of, and are guided solely by, experience,
aspire to direct the present, whilst they know
neither the past wliich governs that present, nor
the future for which it is the preparation. Their
interference is therefore blind, and a source of dis-
turbance, whenever they do not act on the advice
of the philosophical class or priesthood. At the
same time, they cannot dispense with the assistance
of the priesthood, for its sanction is essential to
their temporal ascendancy, which is constantly
liable to be jealously disputed. Whenever the
priesthood sanctions a power, it represents the power
it sanctions as the minister of a higher power which
all respect. Under the provisional regime this was
God. In the final it is Humanity. This implies,
in every case, but more particularly with regard to
the final state, that the present is duly connected
with the past and with the future. The priesthood
alone can establish this connexion. It falls to us
therefore necessarily to consecrate all human powers.
Itself, it needs no consecration from any other
power external to itself, since it is the immediate
organ of the supreme authority.
Hence we get a second axiom : No society can
exist and he developed luithout a lyriestliood in some
form or other. All men equally stand in need of such
a power for education and for counsel. The priest-
280 THIRD PART.
hood alone can give a sanction to the governor and
protect tlie governed. It is the regular moderating
power in public life, as women are in private life,
not forgetting, however, that both public and private
life demand a continuous concurrence of moral
influence and iutellectual power. You may express
all the social attributions of the priesthood by adopt-
ing the biblical name. Judge. It has a threefold
office, to advise, to consecrate, to regulate. It dis-
charges the three by judging, and its judgment is
the expression of an opinion which all respect.
The Woman. — Fortunately, Catholicism had pre-
pared me, my father, to grasp this fundamental
principle and to disregard the popular sophisms of
the Protestant and the Deist, sophisms aimed with
a blind fury against the most important con-
struction of the Middle Ages. But I do not quite
see why Positivism, whilst it preserves and con-
solidates the great idea of which the Middle Ages
left us the outline, adheres to expressions which, at
first sight, can only be referred to the theological
origin of that idea. Of course they can be used in
a sense perfectly alien to all theology. Over and
above the respect justly due to this nomenclature as
historical, I suppose it rests on dogmatical grounds,
though I do not see what these grounds are.
The Priest. — The ground for the retention of
these expressions, my daughter, is their want of
homogeneity. By their contrast they recall the
two principal characteristics of the great social
THE LIFE. 281
division. Were they liomoi^eneous, they would only
recall one. When we call the theoretical power
spiritual, we make it clear that its opposite is
purely material. Thus, indirectly, we indicate the
best point of view from which to compare them
socially. We may look at them as disciplining, one
the wills of men, the other, their actions. Vice
versd, call the practical power temiMi^al, and you
suggest the character which inherently belongs to
the theoretical power. By the aid of these dis-
tinctions, it is easy to define the respective pro-
vinces of the two powers. The one takes the
present, the other the past and future ; the one
specially looks to solidarity, the other to continuity ;
the one claims the objective, the other the sub-
jective life. These two essential attributes, simul-
taneously indicated by the very discordance of the
terms used, serve further, if combined, to recall the
last difference between the two powers, viz., their
respective extent. For the theoretical powder,
whether as spiritual or as eternal, equally in both
cases, by its very nature admits of absolute uni-
versality. The practical power, on the other hand, as
being material and temporal, must always be local.
From this last point of contrast, if once drawn out
to its full consequences, we may see that the separa-
tion of the two is imperative.
The Wo7nan. — My old Catholic associations lead
me, my father, to condense the essential attributes
of the spiritual power, and to make them consist in
2^2
THIRD PART.
the systematic direction of the common education.
In this province its exchisive competence admits
of no dispute.
The Priest. — Such is, in fact, my daughter, the
fundamental office of the priesthood. If it dis-
charges aright this its main duty, it necessarily
gains great influence over the whole of human life.
All its other social functions are related to this its
characteristic object, either as a natural consequence,
or as its necessary complement. To begin with
preaching. Preaching is but a continuation of edu-
cation, necessary to remind peojDle of the principles
on which the harmony of the whole society rests ;
whereas our action, as individuals, inclines us to
forget them. Again, on education rests the claim
of the spiritual power to consecrate both functions
and organs, in the name of a doctrine which all
admit to be the projjer regulator of human exis-
tence. On education again rests its consultative
influence on all the important acts of life, private
or public. For in life every man often feels the
need of having recourse to the enlightened and
kind advice of the sages who presided over his
systematic education. Lastly, by virtue of its edu-
cational functions, the priesthood by common con-
sent becomes the regular appeal in the conflicts of
life, as it inspires both the higher and the lower
classes with equal confidence.
TJie Woman. — Naturally, my father, my next
question is, what, in the Positive regime, is the
educational function of the spiritual power — its pre-
THE LIFE. 283
dominant function, as you say ] Already I feel that
the main object of education is to lead us to live
for others, in order to live again in others b}^ others,
whereas we are naturally inclined to live for our-
selves and in ourselves. To effect the great change
in us which is to secure this result, women and
priests must act in close concert, exerting each
their peculiar influence on the heart and the intel-
lect. Still I need a more accurate conception of
their respective offices.
TJie Priest. — Begin, my daughter, by looking on
education, in its strict sense, as ended at the age of
emancipation. At that time every one receives the
third social sacrament, and becomes directly the
servant of Humanity. He was previously its ward.
Divide this preparatory period of twenty-one years
into two main parts, the one for unsystematic, the
other for systematic education. The first lasts four-
teen years. The second, seven. This done, you
have marked out periods duiing which the affective
sex and the theoretical power preside in succession
over the system of man's training. That training
begins with the heart, and ends with the intellect.
But in the process of initiation, the heart and intel-
lect are never separated.
The first division lasts till the age of puberty,
and must be subdivided into two periods of seven
years each. The cutting of the permanent teeth
separates the two. During the first seven years
the mother has the sole direction of education. It
must be entirely spontaneous, whether for the body.
284 THIRD PART.
the intellect, or the moral nature. The develop-
ment of the body is the most important. But the
heart must soon be a prominent consideration, so
much so that the effects of that early teaching shall
be traceable throughout life. The natural play of
home affections leads the child at this early stage of
his existence to the rudiments of Positive worship.
The object of his worship is necessarily his mother.
She is for him the representative of Humanity.
Even then, however, the institution of language
enables him to appreciate Humanity as a distinct
and all-controlling power. At the same time, the
intellect collects from experience notions of all
kinds, the materials for the systematic teaching of
a later period. The child naturally exerts his
senses and his muscles. If wisely guided in this
exertion, taking care always that it preserve its
spontaneous character, we have in germ a sound
beginning of the life of thought and the life of
action, in constant subordination to the life of affec-
tion. But it is only the mother who can rightly
combine the three. She will urge the child, espe-
cially if he be of patrician rank, as a habit, to
occupy himself with some manual labour. The
object of this is to make him feel how difficult it is
to attain in anything, however unimportant, the
result desired, and so to lead him to more active
sympathy with the classes whose occujDation is this
manual labour. Such exercises will give accuracy
and clearness to his intellect, as well as tenderness
and humility to his heart.
THE LIFE. 285
In the period between dentition and puberty, we
begin to systematize the family education, by intro-
ducing gradually some regular studies. Still, it is
with the mother that the direction rests. She will
not find it difficult to guide her child in simply
artistic pursuits, for she herself will have received,
in the needful degree, the education which all are
to receive. Up to seven years, all study, properly
so called, should be carefully eschewed, even reading
and writing, allowing for what the child picks up
absolutely by himself. But after seven we begin to
form the habit of intellectual exertion, by develop-
ing within due limits the faculties of expression, a
branch of cultivation peculiarly adapted to the
second period of childhood. In cultivating these
faculties we must keep clear of all rules. \Ye
must limit ourselves to exercises in the arts. Kead-
iugs in poetry must be wisely combined with sing-
ing and drawing. The moral growth of the child
goes on naturally, and the worship soon developes
itself, in proportion as the child gains fresh means
of giving expression to his affections. He should
practically sum up all his exercises in a song and a
portrait, a hymn to his mother and a portrait of
her. He at the same time is getting a more com-
plete conception of Humanity, as he becomes
familiar with the great masterpieces in every pro-
vince of art. Care must be taken that his taste
and his morality are not lowered by any admixture
of mediocre productions.
The Woman. — The only difficulty I feel, my father.
286 THIRD PART.
as to these two periods of home education, is as to
religion. You may gain the child's heart and so
lead him towards religion, but you cannot teach him
any doctrines, for he has not the needful scientific
basis, nor can he have, till after his last preparatory
period. And yet you canuot prevent him from
questioning about religion.
The Priest. — You must remember, my daughter,
that in all cases the growth of the individual must,
in all essential features, be a reproduction of the
growth of the race. You may see, then, that on
this point the child must be allov/ed to obey, un-
checked, the general laws that regulate the growth
of man's intellect. The first seven years before
dentition, he will naturally be fetichist ; the next
seven till puberty, he will be polytheist. It will
be with him as it has been with the race. He will
be led by these two philosophical states to begin
with developing his powers of observation, then his
artistic faculties.
As for the questions he may ask his parents, and
as for his perceiving that they do not think as he
does, there will be no need of any hypocrisy in
their answers. This is owing to the relative nature
of Positivism. It will be enough, if they openly
tell him, that the opinions he has are natural at his
age, but that he will come to have others soon, as
his parents have done. They may call his attention
to the fact that he has already instinctively changed
from fetichism to polytheism. He will easily be
led to believe that he may change again. And
THE LIFE. 287
there is no need to hasten the change by artificial
means. His intellect thus escapes all tendency to
the absolute, and his heart is at the same time led
to a fuller sympathy with the populations which
ai-e the representatives of these preliminary states.
Ths Woman. — This point clear, I may now, my
father, proceed to a survey of systematic educa-
tion. It must always be under the guidance of the
priesthood, but I can see even now that Positivism
will never remove the boy from his family. The
ascendancy of the heart over the intellect, to secui'e
which is its constant aim, will forbid this. The
daily influence of family ties over the boy becomes
even more needful when his scientific education is
proceeding, as there is a tendency in this educa-
tion to dry up his feelings and foster his pride. I
am well aware of your profound dislike to our
scholastic conventual establishments, as corrupting
the morals even more than they dull the intellect.
The Priest. — Yes, my daughter, it is imder the
constant superintendence of his mother that the boy,
after receiving the sacrament of initiation, goes
each week to the school adjoining the temple of
Humanity, there to hear from the priesthood one
or perhaps two lectures on the doctrine of Posi-
tivism. Nor must it be forgotten, that even this
amount of instruction away from home must depend,
for its results, mainly on the work done at home.
If the teaching exercise its proper influence, it will
make the learner better able to think, not be a sub-
stitute for thought.
2S8 THIRD PART.
In its general outlines, the plan to be adopted in
the systematic study of the doctrine of Positivism
is pointed out by the encyclopedic hierarchy in
which the several parts of the universal order find
their proper place. The novitiate lasts for seven
years, for there are seven primary degrees in the
hierarchy. A quarter of each year is to be devoted
to examination and rest. One lecture a week gives
forty lectures a year, a number sufficient for the
philosophical study of each science. Only in ma-
thematics the extent and difficulty of the subject,
which must a] ways be in a theoretic point of view
the most important, will require two lectures a
week for the first two years ; on the other hand, in
these first two years the practical apprenticeship
occupies less time. Thus, from geometry up to
morals, every young man must in seven years sys-
tematically go through the objective ascent which it
took Humanity so many centuries to accomplish
when left to its own natural efforts.
During this scientific preparation, the learner
will be monotheistic. His monotheism will gradu-
ally become simpler and simpler. It will thus be
for him, as for the race, a general means of tran-
sition to Positivism. The perfect uniformity, in the
normal state, of the Western priesthood will make
it quite easy to combine such a plan of study
with the valuable custom our proletaries have of
travelling. During its course, the esthetic training
will naturally continue and help the mother's influ-
ence to prevent moral degradation, or to remedy
THE LIFE. 289
the evil which has arisen. The inhabitants of
Western Europe will at the outset limit their poetical
readings to living languages, but during the last
years of their education they will take in the writers
of Greece and Rome, as the sources of our intellec-
tual and moral development. For this, however,
they must never have special masters.
The future citizen, after developing his private
worship, learns to feel the charm of family worship.
The next step is, the direct adoration of Humanity,
for he is now qualified to appreciate the principal
benefits of which she is the author. As the result
of the whole preparatory period, the young Positivist
is fit for the sacrament of admission — when his in-
tellect is at length competent to serve his Family,
his Country, and Humanity, as his Heart loves
them.
The Woman. — During her superintendence of
this last period of education, the mother, as it seems
to me, my father, will have serious matter for her
attention in the deviation from right conduct
to which his passions expose the young man at that
age. The language of physicians on this point has
often alarmed me. It has led me to fear that vice is,
as a general rule, not to be avoided, such are the
natural laws in this resj^ect of our bodily develop-
ment. I should be glad to be reassured and to feel
that the danger is not so great. Nor is the moral
evil the only one. It may compromise the intellec-
tual development.
The Priest. — You would attach less weight, my
u
290 THIRD PART.
daughter, to the confident assertions of medical men
on this point, if you knew how profoundly incom-
petent they are. They profess to study man; and
yet physicians, whether theoretical or practical,
especially in modern times, are far from having a
real knowledge of man's nature. They only know
that part of it which we have in common with the
animals. So that their ])roper name would be
veterinary surgeons, were it not that, in the best of
them, practical experience makes up, in some small
degree, for the defects of their scientific education.
Man is, of all living beings, the most emphatically a
whole. If then you study the parts of that whole
separately, whether it be body or mind, you can
gain nothing but false or superficial notions of man.
The materialism taught in our schools of medi-
cine cannot be allowed to set aside numerous and
decisive cases of experience, which we find fully
warranted by the true theory of human nature.
The alleged necessity for gratifying the sexual in-
stinct is disproved by the fact that, in most cases,
during the whole of the Middle Ages, those who
submitted to the discipline of Catholicism and
Cliivalry overcame it. Even in the midst of our
modern anarchy, there are not wanting individual
instances to prove that it is possible to remain j)ure
until marriage. A life of labour, and still more
the constant influence of family afiection, are gene-
rally sufficient protection against such dangers. In
very rare cases they are insiu-mountable ; and these
THE LIFE. 291
rare cases have been made a standard by physicians
wholly unversed in moral struggles. The young
disciples of Positivism will be trained to the control
of their sexual instinct, by an early struggle with
that of nutrition. The two, it must be remembered,
are closely connected, as is seen by the j uxtaposition
of their respective organs. Lastly, you are aware
that a deep affection was always the best preserva-
tive against libertinage. The mother then, finally,
will secure her son against the vices vou fear. For
she will lead him to choose a worthy object on
which to centre the personal affections which must
determine his home destiny. She will not wait till
such affection come upon him abruptly as the result
of some chance contact.
The Woman. — I feel the full value of your ex-
planation, my father. One point remains, and then
the whole system of Positive education will be clear.
I refer to a question which concerns my own
sex in particular. I am aware, by what has been
already said, that if mothers are to direct the
education of their children at home, they must
themselves in due measure have received encyclo-
pedic instruction. Indeed, with an exception here
and there, none must be without it. Unless the
Positive faith become qviite universal, it can never
gain the systematic ascendancy requisite for its
social mission. Besides, the mother will be unable
to retain her moral superintendence over education,
if her ignorance exposes her to the ill-concealed con-
u2
292 THIRD PART,
tempt of a son puffed up with the pride of know-
ledge. Yet I can hardly think that women a.re to
follow the same course of study as men, and under
the same masters, though at separate times.
The Priest. — You have your answer already, my
daughter, in the great Moliere. He lays it down
that your sex should have clear ideas on all points.*
This in fact is the proper aim of our encyclopedic
instruction. It is quite free from the character of
detail or specialty, which is so justly repugnant
to you in the existing education, and which is
as little suited, as a general rule, for men as
for women. Positive education will be general,
and common to all. From this common stock
the theoretical or practical man may by him-
self draw the further consequences which his own
special object renders desirable. As a general rule,
he will need no private instruction — granted that
he has duly gone through the training which all
equally are to undergo.
The general plan of our novitiate is common to
both sexes. In the case of your sex, it admits of
one reduction. The two weekly lectures, which
men must attend during their two first years, may,
for women, be reduced to one. Women have not'
to mix in active life. They may be content, there-
fore, in mathematical science, with a logical rather
than a scientific training. For this object one lec-
ture a week will suffice, as in the rest of their
* See p. 69.
THE LIFE. 293
seven years' course. The ouly thing requisite will
be a greater jjhilosophical effort on the part of the
professor.
As for the professors being the same for both
sexes, to make them different would tend to throw
discredit equally on teacher and jDupil ; not to say,
that it would be contrary to the synthetical spirit
which must be the characteristic of the Positive
priesthood. The more entirely to exclude all dis-
persive tendencies, it is important that each priest
should in succession teach each of the seven sciences.
The result must be this great social advantage, that
during their long education he is in unbroken rela-
tion with the same pupils, who will owe to him
the whole of their instruction in science. The
permanence of this relation will facilitate the after
influence of our priesthood on the whole of practical
Hfe.
Now, on similar grounds, both sexes must draw
their education from the same sources. If the
High Priest of Humanity allows the priests, as a
general rule, to reside permanently in the same
place, all family disputes will be more easily settled,
as all the members of the family will be personally
under the influence of the same masters. Priests
who could only address one sex would be incom-
petent for their social office, to say nothing of the
intellectual incompetence which such a state would
imply.
The Woman. — I can now, my fatlier, estimate the
social influence which the priesthood of Positivism
294 THIRD PART.
will derive from its fuudamental office, if it ade-
quately discliarge the duties of that office. Still I
am not clear that, on this basis alone, it can acquire
sufficient authority. AYould you then give me a
direct statement of the various means it has at its
disposal to secure, as far as it is possible to do so,
the harmony of society ?
TJie Priest. — The Positive priesthood has no
means, my daughter, but such as are the result of
the educational system. Rightly to estimate them,
we must remember that the last year of the Positive
novitiate is entirely devoted to moral science. This
last branch of instruction will be always divided
into two equal parts, a theoretic and a practical
part. In the first, all the essential laws of human
nature will be shown to rest on a solid foundation
— on the whole system, that is, of our conceptions
relative to the world, to life, and to society. This
basis laid, we shall be able to rest the general rules
of conduct applicable to the individual, the family,
and the state, on a definitive system of real demon-
stration. In that system, the duties of each of the
four powers which are necessary constituents of
human providence will be stated in detail. The
determining these duties, in which we finally sum
up the results of the Positive education, may have
a great efifect, in consequence of the moral disposi-
tion of those whom we thus address at the close of
their initiation, and who are yet free from the erroi^
which active life involves.
The system of these practical rules answers two
THE LIFE. 295
purposes in eacli case. They are a guide for a
man's own action. They are a standard for his
judgment of others. This second use of them is
less exposed than the first to the disturbing action
of the passions. For our 2)assions seldom prevent
us from appreciating the faults of others, however
blind they make us to our own. An egoist is the
last person to tolerate egoism in others. It leads to
a competition which he cannot get rid of.
We thus learn to distinguish the two modes in
which the spiritual discipline of Positivism may be
exercised, the direct and the indirect. The priest-
hood's main efibrt is directed to change the guilty
person, by acting first on his heart, then on his
intellect. This is at once the purest and most
efficacious method, though its results are less strik-
ing. It will always be the only method perfectly
consonant to the nature of the spiritual power.
For the spiritual power disciplines the will by per-
suasion and by conviction. It shoiild have no in-
fluence at all for coercion. But this direct method
is often found inadequate, though wisely apj^lied
and during a long time. In such cases the priest-
hood, not being able to correct the internal tenden-
cies, proceeds to attack them indirectly, by calling
in the opinion of others.
It does not convert the criminal, it controls him
by the judgment of others. That this its indirect
mode of action is perfectly legitimate, cannot be
denied. It rests in all cases on a simple judgment
of the conduct of the person who is judged. No
296 THIRD PART.
one can bar sucli a judgment. For every one con-
curs in it, as directed against others, and it is based
on a system of doctrine which has the assent of all,
and an assent freely given. However, the criminal
who does not allow that he is wrong, or whose will
has undergone no change, is thus made to feel the
pressure of a real coercive force. Nor can he object,
as the coercive force is simply a moral force. If
others were to abstain from judging, they would in
reality be the oppressed party, and that without
having in any way deserved to be so. Legitimate,
however, as such indirect method evidently is, we
must only have recourse to it when the direct method
has been tried and failed.
Supposing recourse to it inevitable, it admits of
three degi-ees. The priesthood begins, as a first
step, with a simple remonstrance, within the family
circle, before the relations and friends called together
for the purpose. The second step is public, the
priesthood proclaims its condemnation in the temple
of Humanity. The third and last stage is, excom-
munication from society, either for a time or for
ever. Without outstepping the just limits of its
authority, the spiritual power may go so far as to
pronounce, in the name of Humanity, that a false
servant is absolutely unworthy, and, the sentence
once issued, the subject of it becomes incapable
of sharing in the duties and benefits of human
society. The priesthood may abuse this power, to
gratify unjust animosity, or from a blind or mistaken
zeal. Its abuse will bring a speedy punishment.
THE LIFE. 297
ExcommuDication can have no force but sucli as it
derives from the free sanction of the public. If
then this public stand neutral, the blow -will fail,
and those who aim it will naturally incur discredit
from the failure. When the general opinion strongly
supports the priesthood in its condemnation, then
this spiritual discipline will be efficacious to a
degree of which we can form no conception from
the past. For in the Positive regime the union
attained will be very far greater than was previously
possible in the absence of a Positive education.
There will be occasions when, however rich or
powerful he may be, the criminal will, without any
loss of property, see one by one his dependents, his
servants, his nearest relatives even, drop off from
him. In spite of his wealth, it may well be, in an
extreme case, that he will be reduced to provide
himself his own food, as no one will serve him.
He will be free, it is true, to leave his country.
But he will only escape the condemnation of the
Univei-sal priesthood by taking refuge with popular
tions which have not yet adopted the Positive faith.
Ultimately even this refuge will be closed, as the
Mth will spread over the whole of the eai-th. For-
timately, so extreme a case of religious discipline
will always be exceptional. It was necessary to
state it here as an indication of the efficiency of
the Positive system of life.
The Waman. — Allowing its full strength to this
moral power, it is hardly possible, my father, that
it should ever entirely supersede the necessity of
298 THIRD PART.
recourse to temporal compression, whether directed
against property or life.
The Priest. — In truth, my daughter, legislation
properly so called will always be necessary, to make
up for the inadequacy of mere moral force in cases
of ui'gent social need. Conscience and opinion will
be often powerless to prevent daily violations of
right. In such cases the temporal power must step
in with some physical repression. Besides these
common and slight deviations, the result in the
main of the inaction of our good instincts, we shall
be obliged to have recourse to the temporal power
for the repression of the more serious evils result-
ing from the active predominance of our bad in-
stincts. In the human species, as in the other
animal species, we have instances of thoroughly
vicious individuals, for whom correctives are as
useless as they are undeserved. In the case of such
exceptional organizations, society in its own defence
will not stop short of the destruction, by a solemn
act, of every such vicious organ, when once its com-
plete unworthiness has been sufficiently j)roved by
decisive acts. It is only a false philanthropy that
can lead us to lavish on scoundrels a pity and a
care which would find much better objects in so
many honest victims of the imperfect arrangements
of society. Capital punishment, therefore, and a
fortiori, the total or partial confiscation of property,
will never entirely be given up. Still such remedies
naturally become of less frequent use as humanity
THE LIFE. 299
advances. Our constant advance in feeling, intelli-
gence, and activity, has a tendency to make spiritual
discipline more and more efficacious, as compared
with temporal repression, though we can never
wholly dispense with this last.
The Woman. — In this general view of the regwie
of man, you seem, my father, to omit the cases in
which the moral evil should have its source in the
priesthood itself.
TJie Priest. — In such a case, my daughter, the
spiritual discipline follows the course we have
marked out, though somewhat irregularly. For
moral science is of universal application, and points
out the duties of the priesthood as much as those of
any other class. IS^ay, it even gives them greater
prominence, as is natural from their greater impor-
tance. There is moreover a natural tendency in the
public to blame more freely the priests as the judges
of the rest. They are the object of the secret hatred
of the patrician body, of a cold esteem on the part
of the proletariate, and of no deep sympathy, as a
general rule, on the part of any but women.
Finally, the Positive faith is, by its nature, always
open to discussion, and so prevents the rise of any
prestige sufficient to bar criticisms when really
necessaiy.
However great the veneration usually paid to the
priests of Humanity, it can but be the result of their
due discharge of an office, the duties of which are
well defined. And the intellectual and moral con-
300 THIED PART.
ditions, to which the spiritual power requires all
others to conform, may be urged against it, in its
turn, in case of its failure.
If, as we suppose will be the commonest case, the
perversion is partial, the priesthood is competent to
meet it by its own internal discipline. In case
of its neglecting to do so, then every believer is
competent to urge a reparation of the error. For
by the fulness and accuracy which are the charac-
teristics of the Positive faith, each individual can
exercise for himself, on his own responsibility, a
species of irregular priesthood in such cases, which
will be efficient if sanctioned by opinion. Lastly,
supposing the corruption of our priesthood general,
then it would not be long before a new one would
arise to meet the want of society, one which would
better fulfil the conditions required by a doctrine
which is not exposed to adulteration, and which
is always superior to its organs, whoever they
may be.
TJie Woman. — This leads me naturally, my father,
to ask you to end this general survey by pointing
out the actual constitution of the Positive priest-
hood.
The Priest. — You will at once feel, my daughter,
that the first condition required by its fundamental
object is, that it should entirely renounce all tem-
poral power, and even all property. Every one
who aspires to the priesthood must, at the outset,
solemnly contract an engagement to this efiect, at
the age of twenty-eight, when he receives the sacra-
THE LIFE. 301
ment of destination. The priests of Positivism
must not even inherit property from their families.
The object is that they may keep clear of all
temptation, also that they may leave capital in the
hands of those who can employ it to good purpose.
The contemplative class must, as a body, be main-
tained by the active. At first, they will look to
the fi'ee contributions of believers, afterwards to
assistance from the public treasury, when the faith
is universally adopted. The priesthood must have
nothing of its own, land, houses, nor revenues. All
that is allowed is its annual budget, the amount of
which must depend on the temporal power.
The generality of views and the generosity of
feeling, which must always be the distinctive marks
of the priesthood, are absolutely incompatible with
the ideas of detail and the disposition to pride in-
herent in all practical power. If you would restrict
yourself to giving counsel, you must put it out of
your power to command, even by your wealth.
Otherwise, so poor is man's nature, we are often
inclined to make force take the place of demonstra-
tion. This condition for the priestly ofiice was felt
and carried to its sublimest exaggeration by the
admirable saint who, in the thirteenth century,
endeavoured, but in vain, to regenerate Catholicism,
which was already exhausted. But St. Francis of
Assisi forgot that, in prescribing to his disciples
absolute poverty, he was distracting them from their
proper olfice, by the needful daily care for their
subsistence.
302
THIRD PART.
There must be some limit to poverty, and to
assign the proper limits, I v/ill name the yearly
payments for each of the several degrees of the
priesthood, adapting them to the actual rate of ex-
pense usual in France, which is a mean on this
point between the different nations of Western
Europe. This summary statement will serve, at
the same time, to describe the internal organization
of the Positive clergy, an outline of which I gave
whilst explaining the worship.
Generally stated, the organization of the Posi-
tive clergy requires three successive orders : the
aspirants, admitted at twenty-eight ; the vicars, or
substitutes, at thirty-five j and the priests proper,
at forty- two.
The first of these, the aspirants, with no natural
limit to their numbers, are considered to have a
real spiritual calling ; but they do not as yet belong
to the spiritual power, and they exercise none of its
functions. Their free renunciation, therefore, of any
inheritance must be simply provisional, as is their
stipend, fixed at 3000 francs, or 120^. They do
not live with the priests, but are under regular
sm-veillance as to their work and conduct.
The vicars are irrevocably members of the
priestly body, though limited to the functions of
teaching and preaching, except in cases of urgency,
where other powers may be delegated. They
must definitively renounce all property, and they
must, besides, be married before admission. They
live with their families, but apart from the priests,.
THE LIFE. 303
in tlie pliilosopliical presbytery wliicli adjoins each
temple of Humanity, parallel to the Positive school.
The class which is to guide all other classes in
influencing the intellect by the heart, must itself
furnish the best type that man can furnish of moral
development. It must therefore give full play to
the home afi'ections, without which the love of the
race is an illusion. Marriage then, which other
citizens may or may not contract, is obligatory on
the priests. For the priestly office cannot be duly
performed unless the man be constantly under the
influence of woman. Of course that influence may
be objective or subjective. The better to test its
priestly body on this point, Positive religion re-
quires even its vicars to fulfil this obligation. This
second rank, which, with exceptions for failure,
always leads to the third, secures a yearly stipend
of 240^.
Dui'ing the seven years which elapse before he is
full priest, every vicar must teach all the seven
encyclopedic sciences, and exercise his powers of
preaching. After that he becomes a true priest,
and may discharge, in families or in cities, his three
offices, of advising, consecrating, and regulating,
which are the social characteristics of the Positive
clergy. In this final state, his annual stipend is
raised to 480^., besides the expenses of visiting his
diocese.
Every philosophical presbytery has seven priests
and three vicars. Their residences may be changed
by the High Priest. But such change must always
304
THIRD PART.
have some really serious ground to justify it. The
number of these priestly colleges will be two
thousand for the whole Western world. This gives
a functionary for every six thousand inhabitants,
or one hundred thousand for the whole earth. The
rate may appear too low ; but it is really adequate
for all the service required. For it must be re-
membered, that the doctrine of Positivism seldom
demands systematic explanations : for these we
substitute the free intervention of women and prole-
taries. It is important to limit very strictly the
priestly corporation, both to avoid superfluous ex-
pense and to secure a better composition of the
clerical body.
The Wonimi. — In your statement, I do not see,
my father, the head which directs this vast body.
The Priest. — The doctrine and the office of the
priesthood are such, my daughter, that it might
function of itself, with the aid of public opinion.
Still it really does require one supreme head. The
supreme power is vested in the High Priest of
Humanity, whose natural residence will be Paris
as the metropolis of the regenerated West. His
stipend is five times that of ordinaiy priests, 2400^.,
and he must have besides an allowance for the
expense necessarily involved by his vast labours.
He is the sole governor of the Positive clergy.
He ordains its members, he changes their residence,
he revokes their commission, all on his o^vn moral
responsibility. The main object of his care is to
maintain the priestly character in its integrity
THE LIFE. 305
against all temporal seductions. Every servile or
seditious priest, who aims at temporal power by-
flattering the patriciate or the proletariate, will be
absolutely banished from the priesthood. Such an
one may, in certain cases, find a place amongst its
pensioners, supposing him to have scientific merits
to justify the exception.
To assist him in the discharge of his functions,
the supreme head of Western Positivism is to have
the aid of four national superiors, each of whom has
a stipend of half the amount of his, 1200^. Under
his direction, they guide their four respective
churches, the Italian, the Spanish, the English, and
the German. As for France, the High Priest is
the national superior, though he need not necessarily
be a Frenchman, but may come from any one of the
populations that are Positivist. The regular mode
of replacing him is, as in the temporal order, by a
successor whom he is to name himself. But in this
case, such nomination must have the unanimous
assent of the four national superiors. Supposing
them divided in opinion, then the nomination must
meet the wishes of the senior priests of the two
thousand presbyteries.
306 THIRD PART.
CONVEESATION X.
PRIVATE LIFE.
The Woman. — At the close of our last conversa-
tion, I omitted to ask you, my father, what would
be respectively the subjects of the two remaining
conferences on the Positive system of life. I felt
that the two halves of the practical domain of our
religion must have essentially the same subdivisions,
corresponding to the existence of which the worship
is to be the ideal representation, the regime, the
guide. My study of the worship, then, indicated
the plan on which the regime is to be studied. We
must begin with private life, and then proceed to
public. The former is our subject for to-day, and
I feel that you will here, as in the worship,
separate our individual existence from our family
life.
The Priest. — The life of the individual is nor-
mally the basis of all man's conduct. Its regenera-
tion by Positivism consists, my daughter, in placing
it on a social footing, and insisting on its social
character, '^o theological system, and monotheism
less than any, could effect so radical a change. Yet
men have always had an instinctive presentiment
that such a change was necessary, and have looked
for its introduction. Positivism can effect it, and
that without recurring to any sentimental exaggera-
tion. It rests the change solely on an accui^ate
appreciation of the real state of the case. Such an
THE LIFE. 307
appreciation leads us to see that in reference to
man and the order of man's world, by its being
more synthetical than any other, you must treat
the whole before the parts, you must consider
society as prior to the individual.
It is true that every one of man's functions
necessarily requires an individual organ. But it is
no less true that it is by its nature asocial function,
since the share of the individual agent is always
subordinate to that of his contemporaries and pre-
decessors. The degree of concurrence of the two
cannot be distinguished. Everything we have be-
longs to Humanity. For everything we have comes
from her — life, fortune, talents, information, ten-
derness, energy, &c. Metastasio, a poet never sus-
pected of subversive tendencies, puts into the mouth
of Titus this decisive sentence, a sentence worthy
of an emperor —
So che tutto h di tutti ; e che ne pure
Di nascer merito chi d'esser nato
Crede solo per se.
Clem, de Tito, act II. sc. x.
I know that all is from all ; and that he deserved not to be
born, who thinks that he is born for himself alone.
Similar anticipations might be found in the oldest
writings. Thus we see that Positivism, when it
condenses all human morality into living for others,
is, in reality, only giving a systematic form to the
universal instinct. As a previous step, it places the
scientific spirit at the social point of view, which
x2
308 THIRD PART.
was unattainable by the synthesis of either theology
or metaphysics.
The whole system of Positive education, its edu-
cation of the intellect as well as that of the affec-
tions, will familiarize us thoroughly with the idea
of our complete dependence on Humanity. We
shall thus be led duly to feel that we are all neces-
sarily destined to serve her constantly. In the
preparatory period of life, when incapable of useful
action, every one owns his inability to supply his
own chief wants. He sees and acknowledges that
he depends on others for their habitual gratifica-
tion. At the beginning, he looks on himself as in-
debted for their supply to his own family only. That
feeds him, takes care of him, instructs him, &c. But
it is not long before he comes to form a distinct
conception of a higher providence, of which he sees
in his mother merely the special minister and the
best representative. The institution of language
alone would be enough to disclose to him this
higher providence. For to construct language is
wholly beyond the power of an individual. It can
only be the result of the combined efforts of all the
successive generations of men — combined in spite of
the diversity of idioms. And putting language out
of the question, the least gifted man has a constant
sense that he is indebted to Humanity for quanti-
ties of other accumulations, material, intellectual,
social, and even moral.
Our aim should be during the period of prepara-
THE LIFE. 309
tion, to give clearness and vividness to this feeling,
so as to enable it, at a later period, to resist the
sophisms of the passions to which our intellect and
our practice are exposed in real life. At that
time the exertions we habitually make have a ten-
dency to make us underrate the true providence,
and to overrate our own individual value. Our
illusion leads us to be ungrateful. We can free
ourselves from it by reflection, and we can set
others free if they have been properly brought up.
Simply point out to them that, whatever their work
and whatever their success in that work, such suc-
cess depends in the main on the co-operation of
others, the immense extent of which in their blind
pride they would keep out of sight. The most
skilful man with the best directed activity can
never pay back to Humanity but a very slight
portion of that which he receives. As in his child-
hood, so in his later life, he continues to depend on
Humanity for food, protection, and growth, &c.
The only change is in the agents employed. They
no longer stand out distinct to his view. Originally
he received her gifts through his parents. He now
receives her benefits through the indirect agency of
large numbers, most of whom he will never know.
To live for others is seen to be, then, for all of us,
a constant duty, the rigorous logical consequence
of an indisputable fact, the fact, viz., that we live
by others. Such is the necessary conclusion drawn
from an accurate appreciation of our real state, when
310 THIRD PART.
we view it philosophically as a whole. It is a con-
clusion free from all tinge of an exaggeration of
sympathy.
The Woman. — It is a great pleasure, my father,
to find that our reason thus systematically sanc-
tions a disposition for which at times I re-
proached myself, attributing it to an exaggerated
feeling. Before I became Positivist, I used often
to say : " What pleasures can he greater than those
of devotedness to otiiers .?" Now I shall be able to
defend this holy principle against the sneers of
egoists, and perhaps raise in them feelings which
will prevent their doubting its reality.
The Priest. — Your instinct, my daughter, has led
you to anticipate the most important characteristic
of Positivism. Positi\dsm finally sums up in one
formula, the law of duty and the law of happiness,
hitherto asserted by all systems to be irrecon-
cilable, although the instinct of men always aimed
at reconciling them. That the two are necessarily
in harmony, is a direct consequence of the existence
in our nature of the feelings of benevolence ; a fact
demonstrated by science, in the last century, on a
correct view of the animal world. In the case of
animals the respective action of the heart and the
intellect admits of a more distinct appreciation.
Our harmony as moral beings is impossible on
any other foundation but altruism. Nay more, altru-
ism alone can enable us to live, in the highest and
truest sense. The degraded beings who at present
exist only ^0 live, would be tempted to give up their
THE LIFE. 311
brutal selfishness, had tliey but once had a real
taste of what you so well call the pleasures of
devotedness. They would then understand that, to
live for others is the only means of freely develop-
ing the whole existence of man. For we extend it
by one simultaneous effort so as to comprise the
present in the largest sense, the remotest past, and
even the most distant future. None but the sym-
pathetic instincts can have free scope without any
check, for in giving them play each individual is
aided by all others, whereas his personal instincts, on
the contrary, find a constant check from others.
In this way you see how happiness and duty will
necessarily coincide. Of course there is no doubt
but that the fine definition of virtue given by a
moralist of the eighteenth century, as an effort over
oneself in favour of others, will always remain
applicable. We are so imperfect by nature that we
shall always need a real effort to subordinate our
personal to our social tendencies. The conditions
under which we live are a constant stimulus to our
selfishness. But the triumph once gained, our
social instincts have a natural tendency, putting
aside the power of habit, to gain strength and to
grow, by virtue of the incomparable charm in-
herent in sympathy, whether of feeling or in
action.
In this state, we feel that true happiness is, in an
especial degree, the result of due submission, the
only sure basis of a large and noble activity. The
conditions under which we are fated to live no
312 THIRD PART.
longer inspire regret. Far from it. We exert our-
selves to strengthen the order which they form by
a voluntary obedience to rules of our own creation,
which enable us more successfully to contend with
our egoism, the main source of man's unhappiness.
Where such rules are established by free consent,
we soon see, according to the admirable precept of
Descartes, that they deserve quite as much respect
as the laws imposed on us from mthout, which
have less moral efficiency.
The Woman. — Such a view of human nature
enables me at length to see, my father, that it is
possible to give an essentially altimistic character
even to the rules which concern our own individual
existence, hitherto always placed on an egoistic
gi'ound, on an appeal to our prudence. The wisdom
of antiquity summed up morality in this precept :
Do to others as you would he done unto. This
general rule had at the time very great value, but
all it did was to regulate a mere personal calcula-
tion. Nor is the great Catholic formula, if you sift
it, free from the same character : Love your neigh-
hour as yourself. It does not compress egoism, but
sanctions it. And if we look to the ground on
which the rule rests, the love o/God,we find a direct
stimulus to egoism. There is here no sympathy
with man, not to say that love was generally but
another expression for fear. Still when we com-
pare the two precepts, we see that the Catholic is a
great step in advance. The other only bore upon
action, whereas it goes further and touches the
THE LIFE. 313
feelings wliicli giiide action. This moral improve-
ment remains, however, very incomplete, so long as
love in the theological sense retains its stain of
selfishness.
Positivism alone holds at once both a noble and
true language when it urges us to live for otliers.
This, the definitive formula of human morality,
gives a direct sanction exclusively to our instincts
of benevolence, the common source of happiness and
of duty. Implicitly and indirectly it sanctions our
personal instincts, as the necessary conditions of our
existence, with the proviso that they must be sub-
ordinate to those of altruism. With this limitation,
we are even ordered to gi^atify our personal instincts,
with the view of fitting ourselves to be better ser-
vants of Humanity, whose we are entirely.
Now, too, I understand the strong reprobation
with which I always saw you looked on suicide,
hitherto, as it seemed to me, only condemned by
Catholicism. Our life is less even than our fortune
or any of our talents at our arbitrary disposal. It
is still more valuable than they are to Humanity,
and it is of Humanity that we hold it. In obe-
dience to the same principle, Positive religion also
condemns, however respectable the motives from
which it often proceeds, that kind of chronic
suicide, suicide at least for all social purposes,
which the Catholic system too often encouraged. I
remember that the daily abuse of bodily discipline
had so completely reduced the hermits of the
Thebaid, that their abbots were at length obliged
314 THIRD PART.
to authorize them to pray sitting, or even lying
down, because they were unable to remain long
enough on their knees.
The Priest. — I would call your attention, my
daughter, to the fact, that not only do we give a
nobler character to our gratification of our personal
instincts, within the limits allowed by their sub-
ordination to their social purpose, but that on this
necessary subordination, as the only possible basis,
we rest the authority of our prescriptions relative
to such gratification. Suppress this, the only true
principle, and the simplest rules for the regulation
of our individual existence lose their hold on us,
unless they are brought into an arbitrary connexion
with supernatural ordinances, ordinances which were
valid for certain times and places, but which are
now no longer so.
If our control over our eating is a mere question
of personal prudence, we are liable to be influenced
by the sophisms of greediness. And there are cases
in which these cannot be refuted, for some men can
commit excesses for a long time without any evil
consequences to their health. But if you adojDt the
social point of view, all hesitation disappears at
once, and you prescribe for all alike an amount of
food almost always less than that which they might
take without risk. For if we exceed the very mode-
rate limits set by the requirements of the service
we owe to our Family, our Country, and Humanity,
we are consuming provisions which in moral fairness
belonged to others. At the same time, a greater
THE LIFE. 315
amount of food reacts on our brain, and has a
vreakening effect on our feeble intelligence, whether
in science, the fine arts, or industry. The images
become habitually less clear, induction and deduction
harder and slower : everything is weakened, even
our faculties of expression.
But it is the moral influence of the slightest daily
intemperance that is the chief danger, as being at
once more difficult to avoid and more corrupting.
Eating is the most entirely personal of all our acts.
When we exceed the amount required for our sup-
port, we are cultivating, as far as possible, egoism
at the expense of altruism. For we overcome the
sympathy we involuntarily feel for those who, at the
time, are in want of food. Besides, so closely con-
nected in the brain are the several egoistic instincts,
that the strong excitement of one soon spreads to the
rest, even though the excitement be but for a time.
The admii'able painter of human nature to whom
we owe that unrivalled poem, the Imitation, had a
profound sense of this moral connexion, when he
tells us (book I. chap. xix. § 4), Frena gidani et
omnein carnis inclinationein Tnelius frenohis. Bridle
thy appetite, and thou shalt the easier bridle all
fleshly desires. Eead daily this inexhaustible treasure
of true wisdom. Substitute Humanity for God,
and you will soon feel that this, the last change re-
quired, gives great strength to such a precept, as it
does to most others.
The restraint upon the instinct of nutrition re-
quired by health, is far less than it will be when it
316 THIRD PART.
shall have received a gradual and systematic exten-
sion from Positive religion. In our sensuality we
reason sophistically and treat as essential wants
what are the results of stimulants which are rather
hurtful than beneficial. This is especially true of
the use of wine, which was forbidden by Mahomet-
anism. The prohibition was generally and sincerely
obeyed during the centuries in which Islamism dis-
played the precise kind of activity for which we
think wine indispensable. When we joroperly ex-
amine the admirable designs of the great Mahomet,
we soon see that what he aimed at in this prohibition
was, to introduce a thorough improvement of the
whole nature of man, beginning with the individual,
but extending afterwards to the race, by the law of
hereditary transmission. His noble attempt has
not been really more a failure than the other dis-
tinct efforts of the monotheism of the Middle Ages,
Eastern no less than Western monotheism, to im-
prove man's nature. It wants what they want.
It requires to be systematized by Positivism. When
systematized, it will be strengthened and developed
without any risk to the progress of industry. Even
at the present day the judicious abstinence from
wine, so common with your sex, at least in the
South, may gradually extend to all the advanced
organs of human progress. As Positivism spreads,
women and priests will of their own free will,
throughout the West, allowing for exceptions, re-
nounce the habitual use of this stimulant, the more
fatal inasmuch as it often leads to other excesses.
THE LIFE. 317
l^he Woman. — I see, my father, why you lay so
much stress on the Positive discipline of the nutri-
tive instinct. Besides its predominance directly
and its influence indirectly, you take it as a type of
the control that we must regularly exert over all
our personal instincts. The rules of this control,
when formed into a system, represent in both sexes
2mrity in the true sense, the first basis of firm
morality. For we must not limit purity to the
two adjacent organs, on which depend the preserva-
tion of the species and of the individual. It must
include the whole of our seven personal instincts,
which we always have to purify to a considerable
extent, in furtherance of their normal subordination
to the service of Humanity.
TJie Priest. — This great principle of subordina-
tion, my daughter, will always be able to overcome
all honest doubts on the point, and even to solve
the most captious sophisms. The heart of the true
Positivist must, within itself, reject any arbitrary
will, just as his intellect rejects it in the world
without. Our humble Divinity is, in truth, exempt
from the various caprices appropriate in the case
of her omnipotent precursor. In all her actions
she follows intelligible laws, made more and more
clear to us by the Positive study of her nature and
her destinies. By subordinating ourselves as much
as possible to these laws, we shall never cease taking
fresh steps in our endless progi-ess towards peace,
happiness, and dignity.
The Woman. — On combining the indications you
318 THIRD PART.
have given me, I seem, my father, to see clearly what
is the system of individual life in Positivism. With
our synopsis of the cerebral functions in our hand, we
might take each of the egoistic instincts in turn,
and study it from the moral point of view as we
have done the most important of them, in order to
determine what is the suitable method for its re-
pression. As for the means of developing our
several sympathetic instincts, our system of worship
points these out, all, that is, that are distinct from
the direct action of the instincts themselves. To
explain all these points in detail would be beyond
the limits of our present exposition. We should
even lose sight of our main object were we to
attempt it. When Positive religion shall be gene-
rally accepted, it will be time to compose a new
Catechism, more closely resembling those used by
the Catholics, and these practical rules may then be
given in detail. The general principles on which
they rest will then be familiar to all true believers.
This Catechism is, on the contrary, a beginning, and
its object is to state these general principles, so essen-
tial as a foundation. Any applications of them it
takes into account only so far as they are indis-
pensable to the establishment of the principles.
Without dwelling, then, any longer on personal
morality, would you pass on to the second part
of our private life, and give me a clear idea
of the regeneration of family life in the Positive
regime ?
The Priest. — The regeneration of the family
THE LIFE. 319
depends essentially on marriage, my daughter, on
our giving marriage an altruistic character. Origi-
nally the institution rested on a purely egoistic
basis, that is, marriage was regarded as the legitimate
satisfaction of the sexual instinct, wliich had for
its object the rei^roduction of the species. This
coarser view was naturally adopted on system so
long as the prevalent theory denied the existence
of the benevolent instincts. The general feeling
of mankind was, however, always against this view.
Hence a constant series of efforts, each stronger
than the last, though based on purely empirical
grounds, to introduce improvements into the ori-
ginal institution. Positivism alone can show that, on
this fundamental point, theory and practice, rightly
viewed, are in harmony ; and to show this, it relies
on the most important discovery of modern science,
the existence in our nature of altruistic instincts.
This great conception, the importance of which
is as yet so imperfectly understood, involves
directly the regeneration of marriage. For we look
on marriage henceforth, as having for its especial
object the mutual improvement of both sexes,
putting aside any sensual idea. It shows by direct
proof the woman's affective superiority. It does
this by establishing two points : first, tlie selfish
instincts are less intense in woman, especially the
lower ones ; secondly, the sympathetic are much
more energetic. On this demonstration we rest the
Positive theory of marriage. By that theory your
sex improves mine, by disciplining the mere animal
320 THIRD PART.
desire which is necessary for man. Such is his
moral inferiority, that he would without this
impulse want sufficient tenderness. Such is the
essential relation of the two sexes in marriage.
The other points of difference which the cerebral
organization of the two sexes offers, fortunately
lend their aid in the same direction. The man is
indisputably the superior in all that regards the
character properly so called. And it is the cha-
racter on which, in the main, depends command.
As for the intellect, in the man it is stronger and
of wider grasp ; in the woman it is more accurate
and penetrating. Everything then combines to
show the mutual efficacy of the marriage union,
which constitutes the highest form of friendship,
with the additional charm of mutual possession.
In all other human ties, there is a possible,
if not actual rivalry, checking the full confidence
which can only exist between those of different sex.
In this view, the real object of the sexual appetite
is to originate or to sustain, more particularly in
the man, the feelings which lead him to give full
scope to his tenderness. But if so, that appetite
must be gratified very moderately. Otherwise it
is, by its nature, so profoundly egoistic that it tends
to stimulate our selfishness almost as much as
excess in food does, and often Avith even more serious
results, as the woman is odiously sacrificed to the
brute passions of the man. When my sex is suffi-
ciently pure (yours is so as a general rule) to dis-
pense with this coarse stimulant of tenderness.
THE LIFE. 321
marriage is much more certain to produce its
highest results.
Such will be the case in one form of the marriao-e
union — an union, viz., on the principle of chastity.
Positive worship sanctions this form for those who
ought not to aid in the propagation of the species.
Many diseases are transmitted hereditarilj^, and
not unfrequently in an aggravated form. So that
thousands of poor children are bom merely
to die early. Their life is never anything but a
burden. As in modern civilization all births
equally are recognised, the sad results of hereditary
disease are far more frequent than they were in
ancient times. For the ancients destroyed as a
general rule their offspring when weak. A tho-
rough sifting of this important question would per-
haps show that a fourth of the population in
Western Europe would be wise to abstain from
having children, and that such a function should
be exercised only by those who are properly qua-
lified. When we shall pay the same attention to
the propagation of the human species as we do to
that of the more important domestic animals, it will
be seen to be necessary to regulate it. But the
only method of regulation is the voluntary adoption
of the institution of chaste marriages, in accordance
with the Positive theory of the marriage union, by
which sexual intercourse is not a necessary con-
dition of marriage. To forbid marriage by law in
the case of hereditary disease, as physicians have
often wished, would be a remedy as odious as it
Y
322 THIRD PART.
would be illusory. The influence of Positive re-
ligion on private and public life can alone induce
people to form resolutions which, if not absolutely-
voluntary, lose their efficiency, and trench upon our
dignity. In these exceptional unions the true
nature of marriage will be better appreciated, if the
minds of both parties are properly disciplined. By
an extension of the practice of adoption we shall
give the family affections free scope, and at the
same time relieve those who can have children.
The Woman. — Your theory, my father, is ade-
quate as an expression of the true idea of marriage,
when viewed independently of its bodily results,
which are at times not attained. The amelioration
of man's moral nature is then the principal function
of woman, in this unrivalled union, which is insti-
tuted for the mutual improvement of both sexes.
The mother's functions you have already deter-
mined to consist especially in directing the whole of
education, and you assign her this province in order
that the heart may in education prevail over the
intellect. So, as these two offices of woman suc-
ceed one another with a regular succession, your
sex is under the constant care of the affective pro-
vidence of woman. If such are the objects of the
marriage union, it is clear it must be monogamic j
there must be no second marriage, and it must
be indissoluble. So only can the family relations
attain the completeness and stability required for
their moral efficiency. These two conditions are so
consonant to human nature that illicit unions in-
THE LIFE. 323
stinctively aim at fulfilling them. Still I believe
divorce ought not to be absolutely prohibited.
The Priest. — You are aware, my daughter, that
St. Augustin, overcoming by his own unaided
reason the necessarily absolute character of his
theological belief, opens his chief work by remark-
ing that murder may often be excusable, and, at
times, even praiseworthy. The same may be said
of falsehood, and of everything else that generally
deserves reprobation. Divorce is no exception to
this general rule. But whilst we allow this, we
must never impair the fundamental indissolubility
of the marriage tie. There is in reality but one
case in which mamage may be dissolved by law,
the case where one or other of the parties has been
condemned to any such degrading punishment as to
be socially dead. In all other cases of disturbance,
a long continuance of unworthy conduct on the
part of husband or wife may lead to a moral dis-
ruption of the union, the result of which is a sepa-
ration, but without allowing a second marriage.
Positive religion imposes on the innocent in such
cases the observance of chastity, but the recognition
of that obligation is compatible %viththe deepest afi"ec-
tion. If the condition is felt to be hard, it must be
submitted to, primarily in the interest of social
order; then, as the just consequence of the original
error.
The Woiiwm. — I am already acquainted, my
father, with the holy law of eternal widowhood,
the law which forbids any second maniage. By it
y2
324 THIRD PART.
Positivism gives at length its full completeness to
the great institution of marriage. No objection
will come from women ; and you have taught me
how to refute the various sophisms, even when they
wear the form of scientific conclusions, which may-
be originated by men. Unless so completed, mono-
gamy is an illusion. For a second marriage must
always involve a subjective polygamy, unless the
first wife is forgotten, a prospect of small comfort
to the second. The mere thought of such a change
is enough greatly to impair the existing union, as it
is never absolutely impossible. Unless you make the
family ties unchangeable and eternal, you cannot
ensure them the consistency and completeness
which are indispensable if they are to have their
due moral effect. None of the sects sprung from
the anarchy of modern times seem to me so con-
temptible as that which wishes to make inconstancy
a condition of happiness, just as it would make the
frequent change of occupations a means of improve-
ment. I saw in the Politique Positive a remark on
this point which struck me greatly : " When two
beings are of so complex a nature and so different
as man and woman, the whole of life is far from
being too long for them to learn to know each other
fully, and to love each other perfectly." Far from
considering as an illusion the high estimate which
in a true marriage the husband and wife have of
one another, I have almost always attributed it to
the deeper insight which can only be gained by
complete intimacy. In such intimacy, it must be
THE LIFE. 325
remembered, qualities are developed which escape
the indifferent. Nay, if we think of it, it is very
honourable to our species, that its membei-s inspire
one another with such strong mutual esteem when
they study each other carefully. Hatred and indiffer-
ence alone really deserve the reproach of blindness,
which a superficial view attributes to love. We
must consider then the institution which prolongs
after death the union of husband and wife as quite
in keeping with human nature. No intimacy can
stand a comparison with theirs. In the case of the
mother and the son, the disparity of age, and even
a jxist veneration, are always a bar to entire har-
mony.
The Priest. — Besides, my daughter, our law of
widowhood can alone secure for woman's influence
its main efficacy. During her objective life, the
sexual relation impairs to a great degree the sympa-
thetic influence of the wife, by giving it something
of a coarse and personal tinge. Therefore it is that
during our objective life the mother is the principal
guardian angel. Angels have no sex, as they are
eternal.
In her subjective existence the relation of the wife
to the husband is purified. By virtue then of her
closer union, the wife then definitively becomes our
highest guardian angel. One single year of a noble
marriage is enough to constitute, during the longest
life of man, an inexhaustible source of happiness
and improvement. Time is constantly increasing
its effects, for time purifies it as imperfections sink
32G THIED PART.
into the shade, and good qualities come into fuller
light. Thus, without the subjective union which
is the consequence of our law of widowhood, the
moral influence of the woman on the man would
end at the very moment when its main action ought
to begin, perfected as it is and purified by death.
Once let this complement of marriage be adequately
appreciated, and it will furnish one of the best
practical distinctions of Positive religion. For such
an institution is evidently incompatible with the
principles of theological belief.
The Woman. — To complete my view of the con-
stitution of the family, my father, I need buD an
explanation of one point. What are its material
conditions — in other words, the arrangements as to
property ?
The Priest. — They are the natural consequences,
my daughter, of the social and moral purposes the
family is meant to answer. Woman, in her two-
fold character of mother and wife, discharges in the
family an office equivalent to that of the spiritual
power in the State. It requires then the same
exemption from the duties of active life, and the
same renunciation of all command. To stand aloof
from both is still more indispensable for the woman
than for the priest, if she is to preserve that supe-
riority of afiection in which woman's real merit
consists, and which is less qualiiied than superiority
of intellect to resist the pressure of practical life.
Women therefore must never have work away
from their homes. This rule must be carefully
THE LIFE. 327
observed, as on its observance depends the due
accomplishment of their holy mission. Confined by
her own will to the sanctuary of her home, the
woman freely devotes herself to the moral improve-
ment of her husband and children, and gracefully
receives her just meed of homage.
Our constitution of the family, from the material
point of view, rests on a fundamental principle
never systematically adopted but by Positivism.
The general instinct, however, has always had a
presentiment of it. It is this : The man must sup-
port the woman. The obligation is equivalent to
that of the active class towards the contemplative
class. There is of course an essential difference
in the mode of discharging it. The maintenance
of the priesthood is an obligation for the society;
it becomes an obligation for individuals only in very
exceptional cases. Precisely the reverse is the case
with women, in consequence of the difference in the
moral influence of the two bodies. The influence
of women acts on the family, that of the priesthood
on the whole society. At first the woman is main-
tained by her father or brothers ; then by her hus-
band or sons. If all special support of this kind
fail, then comes in the general obligation of the
active sex towards the afiective, and the government
must provide for her support on the representations
of the priesthood. Such is the first material basis on
which the true constitution of the family rests.
The fulfilment of this condition necessitates at
once another institution, the renunciation by women
328 THIRD PART.
of all claim to inlierit. This renunciation must be
free, and the grounds for it are as valid as those on
which it rested in the case of the priesthood. The
object is first to prevent the corrupting influence of
wealth, secondly to concentrate capital and place
it in the hands which direct its employment.
Wealth is even more dangerous to women than to
priests. For it weakens moral superiority even more
than it does intellectual. Lastly, the renunciation
of property by women is the only means of putting
an end to the custom of giving dowries — a custom
which is very injurious in many cases, and directly
contrary to the true objects of marriage. When
women have no property, marriages will be a matter
of free choice, wisely exercised. And there will
be no restriction as to classes, for a common
education will produce a general uniformity, in
spite of the necessary inequalities of power and
wealth. But to give all these reasons their full
validity, the woman's renunciation must in all cases
be absolutely voluntary, never the result of a legal
enactment.
The Woman. — The Positive religion will have
little difficulty, my father, in getting women to
adopt this resolution, if you guarantee them their
existence. The obligation to support them must be
made binding on individuals, and its fulfilment
must be secured by the general convictions of society.
People often lament the caprices which idleness and
wealth lead women to indulge when they prefer
power to love. But it seems to me the moral
THE LIFE. 329
degradation of women is far greater when they gain
their wealth by their own labour. There is a harsh-
ness produced by the constant pursuit of gain which
robs such women even of the instinctive kindness
which the others keep in the midst of their dissipa-
tion. There are no worse industrial chiefs than
women.
The Priest. — In order to complete our general
view of the family constitution peculiar to Posi-
tivism, it remains for me, my daughter, to point
out an institution which is indispensable if the
veneration we advocate is to have its full effect.
We must give perfect freedom of devising, perfect
freedom also of adopting. There must be no check
on the head of the family, beyond liis moral responsi-
bility. His conduct will of course be open to the
examination of the priesthood and the public. Our
next conversation will show you the importance to
society of these two institutions. They are the
remedies, as far as there is any remedy, for the main
inconveniences attending the hereditary transmis-
sion of property. But for the present I only men-
tion them that you may see their aptitude to purify
and strengthen all the family relations by clearing
them from the meanness of aim which at present
stains tliem. By no other means can we make the
affection sons feel for their fathers, if not as tender,
yet at least as noble as that of the wife for her
husband. The affection of brothers for one another
will also be more secure than it is under the revo-
lutionary system of equal division, or than it was
330 THIRD PART.
under tlie feudal system, when the younger were
dependent on the elder. Amongst the rich no one
will expect anything from his family beyond the
assistance required for his education and his esta-
blishment in society. Under such a system there
will be no check on the full cultivation of all our
best affections. If the sons are unworthy, the
father will supply their place by a wise adoption.
Such is the family in the Positive regime. And it
is in a society composed of such families that its
priests will laboui\ Objects of the free veneration of
all, they will exert themselves to guard against, or to
repair, the evil results of the contests occasioned by
bad passions. Most especially will the priesthood
endeavour to make women feel the merit of sub-
mission. It will draw out to its full consequences
the admirable maxim of Aristotle : The greatest
strength of woman lies in her overcoming the dif-
ficulty of obeying. By their education women will
be led to see that all power, far from raising
them, necessarily degrades them. It vitiates the
very basis of their claim, for it makes them seek
to gain by force that ascendancy which is due
only to love. At the same time, the priesthood
will protect them against the tyi^anny of their hus-
bands, and the ingratitude of their sons. It will
judiciously remind the husband and the son of the
precepts of Positive religion as to the moral supe-
riority and social office of the affective sex. In
the reaction of public on private life we have
hitherto found the principal means of improving
THE LIFE. 331
the latter. This preponderating influence is, in the
Positive system, placed under the direction of the
priests of Humanity. They alone are qualified to
enter the family circle in order to raise and
strengthen all the family affections by subordi-
nating them constantly to their social destination.
COXYERSATIOX XI.
PUBLIC LIFE.
The Woman. — Before we enter on the higher
part of Positive morals, there are three points, my
father, which I wish to have cleared up.
The first is the metajDhysical objection often made
to Positivism that it admits no kind of rights. If
it is so, I am much more inclined to congratulate
you on it than to regret it. For it seems to me
that rights are almost invariably introduced to su-
persede reason or affection. Women are fortunately
not allowed to call in the idea, and they are the
better for it. You know my favourite maxim :
Man, more than other animals, needs duties to produce
feelings.
The Priest. — It is true, my daughter, that Posi-
tivism recognises no right in anybody but the right
to do his duty. To speak more accurately, our re-
ligion imposes on all the obligation to help every
one to discharge his peculiar function. In politics
we must eliminate Rights, as in philosophy we
eliminate causes. Both rights and causes involve
the idea of a will admitting of no discussion. Thus
332 THIRD PART.
rights, of whatever order, imply of necessity a super-
natural source, for no other can place them above
discussion. Divine right, in its concentrated form,
the divine right of the governor, that is, was really
efficacious for social purposes. For it was the
normal guarantee of obedience, and obedience was
indispensable during the preparatory regime, based
on theology and war. But divine right, in its dis-
persive form, the divine right, that is, of the go-
verned — and this is the form in which, more or less
distinctly, it has been put forward since the decay
of monotheism — is as anarchical, as it is retrograde
in the other form. Under both forms equally, it
can lead to nothing but simply to prolong the
disorder attendant on the revolution. All honest
and sensible men, of whatever party, should agree,
by a common consent, to eliminate the doctrine of
rights.
Positivism only recognises duties, duties of all to
all. Placing itself, as it does, at the social point of
view, it cannot tolerate the notion of rights, for such
notion rests on individualism. We are born under
a load of obligations of every kind, obligations to
our predecessors, to our successors, to our contem-
poraries. After our birth these obligations increase
or accumulate, for it is some time before we can re-
turn any service. Where then, in the case of man,
is the foundation on which we are to rest the idea
of rights ? That idea, properly viewed, implies
some previous efficiency. However great our efforts,
the longest life, well employed, will never enable us
THE LIFE. 333
to pay back more than a scarcely perceptible part
of what we received. And yet only on the con-
dition of complete payment could we be authorized
to require reciprocity of services. Rights, then, in
the case of man, are as absurd as they are immoral.
Divine right is abandoned. The whole notion, then,
must be completely put away. It had a value in
reference to the preliminary state, it is perfectly
incompatible with the final state of our race. In
this final state we only recognise duties as the con-
sequence of functions.
The Woman. — My second question, my father, is
this : over and above the general relation that exists
between public and private life, does not private
life call into existence dispositions calculated to fit
us individually for public life 1
The Priest. — So far as our private and individual
life calls out such dispositions, my daughter, it is as
the consequence of our private worship. That
worship is not merely adapted to strengthen and
develope all private virtues. It finds its most im-
portant application in our public life, for in it our
three guardian angels must turn us from evil and
urge us to good. For this purpose we must address
short special prayers to them, prayers suited to
each important case as it arises.
The powerful efiicacy of this assistance was felt
in the Middle Ages. The noble feeling of the
knights of chivalry led them to attempt even then
to institute the worship of woman. So thoroughly
had they brought into harmony their private and
334 THIRD PART.
public life that the image of the lady of their love
often animated and embellished their warlike ex-
istence, giving rise as it did to the tenderest emo-
tions in the very midst of scenes of desolation or
terror. If the softer affections could be familiarly
combined with the destructive activity of man, it
will not be difficult, nay, it will be far easier, to com-
bine them with labours the direct object of which
is the happiness of man, free from any alloy of pain
to any one. The holy canticle, with which the most
beautiful of all poems concludes, is still more suit-
able in the new than in the old worship —
Donna, se' tanto grande e tanto vali
Che qual vuol grazia e a te non ricorre
Sua disianza vuol volar senz' ali.
La tua benignita non pur soccorre
A chi dimanda, ma molte fiate
Liberamente al dimandar precorre.
In te misericordia, in te pietate,
In te magnificenza, in te s'aduna,
Quantunque in creatura 4 di bontate.
Dante, Parad. xxxiii. 13 — 21.
So mighty art thou, lady, and so great,
That he who grace desireth, and comes not
To thee for aidance, fain would have desire
Fly without wings. Not only him who asks
Thy bounty succours; but doth freely oft
Forerun the asking. Whatsoe'er may be
Of excellence in creature, pity mild,
Relenting mercy, laige munificence.
Are all combined in thee.
Gary's Translation.
More than any other class must the priesthood of
Humanity derive advantage from this assistance.
THE LIFE. 335
Its conflict with social evils will largely develope
courage, perseverance, and even prudence. But at
the same time there will be a tendency to impair
its moral purity by the seductions of ambition, and
these will be the more formidable as they will seem
to spring from a holy zeal. Our priests then will
frequently find it necessary to repair the inroad
made and to temper afresh their true character, by
a noble intercourse with women, an intercourse
primarily subjective, but also objective.
As for the dispositions called out by the second
form of private life, by our family life, that is, the
family will be always our best apprenticeship for
practising the rule which we must all freely adopt,
as the primary basis of oui' public life : Live with-
out concealment. To hide their moral baseness, our
metaphysicians secured the adoption of the shameful
legislation, by which we are forbidden to scrutinize
the private life of public men. Positivism, on the
contrary, openly sanctions the common instinct of
men, and courts a careful inquiry into tlie life of
the individual and the family, as the best security
for public conduct. We should not wish for the
esteem of any but those for whom we feel it. No
one then is bound to give to every one without dis-
tinction a constant account of all his actions. But
however limited, in certain cases, may be the num-
ber of our judges, it is enough that we have judges
to secm-e the law of living openly from losing its
moral eflicacy, as it impels us constantly to do
nothing but what we can at any time own. The
336 THIRD PART.
adoption of tliis principle involves an undeviating
respect for truth and a scrupulous adherence to
every engagement. In these two general duties,
the introduction of which we owe to the Middle
Ages, we sum up the whole of public morality.
They show the thorough soundness of the admirable
judgment given by Dante, the unconscious repre-
sentative of the spirit of chivalry, which places
traitors in the lowest depth of hell. Even in the
midst of modern anarchy, Ariosto, the best poet
of chivalry, nobly proclaimed the grand maxim of
our heroic ancestors —
La fede iinqua non deve esser corrotta,
data a un solo, o data insieme a mille.
* * * *
Seuza giurare, o segno altro piu espresso,
Basti una volta che s'abbia promesso.
Orlando Furioso, xxi. 2.
Faith never must be broken,
Be it given to one, or to a thoiisand.
* * * *
No oath is needed, nor other distinct sign;
Enough that once the promise be given.
Such presentiments of the morals of sociocratic
times are systematically incorporated into the Posi-
tive religion. It represents falsehood and treason
as directly incompatible with any co-operation.
TJie Woman. — My third and last question is this,
my father. May we not divide public life as we
divided private life, taking as our guide the inequa-
lity in point of extent of the ties which each of the
parts of our division represents? The interval be-
THE LIFE. 337
tween the Family and Humanity is too wide for the
heart, or even for the intellect. To rise from one
to the other they require the intermediate step, the
Country. If so, public life seems to me necessarily
to fall into two very marked divisions, and we
deal, first with our relations as citizens, then with
our relations as men.
The Priest. — You are right, my daughter, and on
this distinction rests the general plan of our actual
conversation. But before we apply it, we must see
that it have the requisite accuracy and consistency.
For this we must limit the sacred idea of Country,
which has in modern times become too vague, and
consequently almost without influence, as a result
of the exorbitant extension of the States of the
Western world. We must follow up the indication
which we threw out in the study of the doctrine,
and look on the republics of the future as much
smaller than the revolutionary prejudices of the
present day seem to consider probable. The gradual
break-up of the colonial system since the indepen-
dence of America is, in reality, only the first step
towards a final disruption of all the overgrown
kingdoms which arose on the dissolution of the
Catholic bond of union.
Ultimately, the normal extent of the States of
the Western world will be much the same as that
of Tuscany, Belgium, and Holland, at the present
time. Sicily, Sardinia, &c., will soon follow. A
population of one to three millions, at the average
rate of one hundred per square mile, is the best
z
338 THIRD PART.
limit for States wliicli are really free. For the term
free is only applicable to States, the parts of which
coalesce of their own free will, without any violence,
from the instinctive sense of a real genuine com-
munity of interest. The continuance of peace in
Western Europe will dispel all serious fear of fo-
reign invasion, and even of a coalition for retro-
grade purposes. As a consequence, there will soon
be a general feeling that it is desirable by peaceful
means to bring about the dissolution of all facti-
tious aggregates, for there will be for the fature no
real justification for them. Before the end of the
nineteenth century, the French Republic will, of its
own free will, break up into seventeen independent
republics, each comprising five of the existing de-
partments. Ireland will ere long separate from
England. This will lead to the iTipture of the arti-
ficial bonds which now unite Scotland, and even
Wales, with England proper. All the States which
are now too large will undergo a similar process, so
that, at the opening of next centuiy, Portugal and
Ireland, granting they remain entire, will be the
largest republics of the West. It is to a State within
these limits that we can apply the term Country,
and this is the sense in which we use the term
in our survey of public life in the normal state.
In such a country the national feeling can really
occupy an intermediate position between family
afiection and the love of our race.
The Woman. — Accepting this valuable simplifi-
cation, due to Positivism as a political system, I
THE LIFE. 339
hope that T shall find, my father, no serious diffi-
culty in your direct explanation of public life.
The Priest. — Public life, my daughter, consists
wholly in the due realization of these two maxims —
Devotion of the sti^ong to the weak; veneration of the
weak for the strong. No society can last if the infe-
riors do not respect their superiors. The strongest
confirmation of this law is seen in the actual degra-
dation, when, in default of love, every one obeys
mere force. And yet our revolutionary pride laments
the so-called servility of our ancestors, though they
could love the chiefs they obeyed. The second
then of our social maxims is common to all times
equally. The first really dates from the Middle
Ages. Antiquity almost universally thought other-
wise, with here and there a happy exception. Its
favourite aphorism is sufficient evidence — Mankind
is horn for the few. We find then that the social
harmony rests on the combined activity of our two
best altruistic instincts, respectively adapted to the
inferiors and superiors in their relations with one
another. This concurrence, however, can only exist
and be permanent where men are prepared for it
by the habitual exercise of the most energetic,
though the lowest, of our three sympathetic in-
stincts, an habitual exercise which depends on
the legitimate development of our home afiections.
The primary condition for the attainment of this
result, the harmony, viz., of society, is the sepa-
ration of the spiritual and temporal powers. To
secure the devotion of the strong to the weak,
z2
340 THIRD PART.
we must amongst the strong have a class whose
social ascendancy depends entirely on their devoting
themselves to the weak, as a return for the venera-
tion freely given by the weak. Thus it is that the
priesthood becomes the soul of true sociocracy.
It is of course implied that the priesthood limit
itself to counsel, and never exercise command.
This is why I laid such stress on complete renun-
ciation by the priesthood of power and even of
wealth. The better to secure this, the priests must
also abstain from deriving any material profit from
their work, whether it take the shape of lectures or
books; they must subsist solely on their annual
stipends. The central budget of the priesthood will,
with certain exceptions, provide for the printing of
all their works. All that will be required is the sig-
nature of the author. He will have the control of
their distribution, as being the best judge in the
case, and thus he will be constantly responsible.
The priest who sells his books or his lectures will
be severely punished, even with the loss of his posi-
tion on the third offence.
Still more to purify the priesthood, it must have
no power to crush any opinions contrary to its own.
For this reason the Positivist reghne will always
require full liberty of exposition and even of dis-
cussion. This is but reasonable where the doctrines
are throughout demonstrable. The only admissible
restriction of this liberty is public opinion. As a
consequence of a sound education, which is common
to all, men will, of themselves, reject doctrines
THE LIFE. 341
which are contraiy to any of their convictions.
We may see to what an extent this will be the case
by the discipline already unconsciously exercised by
the Positive faith. It has no power to constrain
men, and yet exerts a control in the case of the
leading doctrines of modern science. If there is no
legal hindrance to any opposition, then no one can
complain reasonably if the public rejects his teach-
ing. Such are the conditions of the priesthood.
And under these conditions it will be compelled to
persuade or convince, if it wish to exercise any real
influence on great and small equally.
Tlie Woman. — The interference of the priesthood
in civil life must mainly be directed to regulate the
habitual relations of the patriciate and proletariate.
I would wish you, my father, to explain in detail
its office on this essential point.
The Priest. — I must begin, my daughter, by a
more detailed exposition of the constitution of
modern industry in the normal state. Its organiza-
tion depends on two general conditions. We can
trace their existence even at the close of the jMiddle
Ages, and they have been in constant growth ever
since. The first is — the distinction of masters and
workmen ; the second is — the hierarchy of the
patriciate, and, as a consequence, that of the pro-
letariate. Add the subordination of the country
districts to the towns, and the organization is
complete.
On the abolition of serfage, industry became suffi-
ciently strong to dispense with the system of work-
342 THIRD PART.
ing to order. It anticipated the public demand.
This of itself involved a separation of the masters
{entrepreneurs) from the simple workmen. The pro-
gress of the two classes was distinct. Gradually, in
its course, there arose the normal hierarchy already
indicated in our worship. Eirst comes the agricul-
turist; then the manufacturer; next the merchant ;
the last step is the banker. Each of the four rests
on the class that precedes it. Where the operations
are more indirect and the agents more carefully
selected and in smaller numbers, a greater breadth
of view and power of abstraction are required, and
the responsibility is greater. The classification
above given was spontaneously adopted ; it is sys-
tematized by Positivism in accordance with the
principle of its hierarchy. Thus the normal co-ordi-
nation of industry is a continuation of the same
process which was found applicable in the first place
to science, then to art.
If this industrial hierarchy is to have a powerful
influence on society, the patriciate must be concen-
trated as far as is consistent with each patrician's
himself administering his afiairs within the limits
of his personal superintendence. This secures two
objects : it lessens the expenses of management, and
it ensures responsibility. In this point the true
interest of the workmen entirely coincides with
the natural tendencies of their superiors. For
great duties require great means. The existing
disorder is greatly aggravated by the jealous ambi-
tion of the smaller capitalists, and their blind con-
THE LIFE. 343
tempt of the people. When tliey are regenerated,
under the joint stimulus of circumstances and con-
victions, the higher members will be absorbed into
the patriciate, the great body into the proletariate,
so as to put an end to the middle classes properly
so called.
The Woman, — This necessary concentration of
riches is even now, my father, desired by the pro-
letaries of our large towns, as a real social benefit.
The country population still clings to an almost
indefinite dispersion of property. But the attain-
ment of this concentration must largely depend on
the hereditary transmission of property. Would
you now complete the remarks on this point which
you made when explaining the worship % They do
not appear to me adequate.
The Priest. — We must, my daughter, connect
the hereditary transmission with a more general
principle, with the principle which is to regulate,
in the normal state, the succession of all function-
aries whatever. The method of election was only
introduced as a protest, and, for a long time, a ne-
cessary protest, against the caste system, which had
finally become oppressive. In itself the choice of
the superior by the inferior is, in all cases, tho-
roughly anarchical. It has never been of use ex-
cept as a means of breaking up a defective social
order. The final state must, in this respect, difier
from the primitive state of mankind only so far,
that it substitutes for the hereditary succession of
theocracy, which was founded on birth, the heredi-
344 THIKD PAKT.
tary succession of sociocracy, which is, in all cases,
the result of the free icitiative of each func-
tionary.
The whole system of checks and complications, to
which distrust gives rise, ends after all in irrespon-
sibility. Perfect confidence and complete respon-
sibility, such are the two characteristics of the
Positive system. He who worthily discharges any
function whatever is always the best judge of his
successor. He names him, but submits his nomi-
nation to his own superior. In the spiritual order
alone, the choice is vested in the supreme head,
with the view of obtaining the requisite concentra-
tion in an office of such difficulty.
For the highest temporal functions, there can of
course be no control of a superior. Its natural
substitute is the examination of the appointment
by the priesthood and the public. This is the
ground on which the chief must solemnly nominate
his successor, at the time when he receives, as you
are aware, the sacrament of retirement, at an age
that is when his choice need not be final, but
may be modified on suitable advice. In excep-
tional cases, the priesthood may refuse this sacra-
ment, and so prevent a man who was morally
or intellectually unworthy exercising this last act
of power.
From the social point of view we look on wealth
as a power. It must pass then by the same general
rules as all other powers. The free choice of an
heir, involved in the full liberty of devising and
THE LIFE. 345
adopting, offers the best remedy against ordinary-
abuses. Indeed each one in this way becomes re-
sponsible if his successor is bad, whereas under the
French law it can be no reproach to him. We
need not fear that the inheritance will generally
fall to one of the sons, supposing them all to be
really incapable. The industrial chiefs aim at per-
petuating their houses in proper hands, and this
leads them often to choose their successors out of
their own family. This, at the present day, they
can only do by sacrificing their daughters. Thus,
the hereditary succession of sociocracy, so far from
lessening the power of wealth, is more favourable
to it than that of theocracy, at the same time that
it largely increases its moral responsibility.
The Woman. — After this explanation, my father,
I feel sufficiently to understand the temporal con-
stitution of the Positive regime. You may proceed
to the direct consideration of the manner in which
the priesthood of Humanity will, as a general
rule, interfere in civil conflicts.
The Priest. — With a view to the clearer appre-
ciation of this, the highest attribute of the priest-
hood, it will be as well, my daughter, to begin by
giving you the statistics of the patriciate when it is
regularly organized throughout the West. Two
thousand bankers, a hundred thousand merchants,
two hundred thousand manufacturers, four hundred
thousand agriculturists, — such are the numbers
sufficient, in my judgment, to provide industrial
chiefs for the himdred and twenty millions who
346
THIRD PART.
inhabit Western Europe. In the hands of this
small number of patricians will be concentrated the
capital of the West. Their task is to direct its
employment. They are subject to no control, and
must act on their own moral responsibility, and
in the interest of a proletariate of thirty-three
times their number.
In each separate republic, the government pro-
perly so called, that is to say, the supreme temporal
power, will be vested exclusively in three bankers.
The three will have their separate departments ;
they will represent commerce, manufactures, agri-
culture. Before these two hundred triumvirs the
Western priesthood, acting under the dii-ection of
the High Priest of Humanity, will lay in proper
form the legitimate claims of an immense prole-
tariate. The exceptional class, which is in the
habit of habitually studying the future and the
past, concentrates its care on the present. It speaks
to the living in the name of those who have lived,
and in the interest of those who are to live.
The Woman. — Your language, my father, seems
to me never to depart from a sound estimate of
human existence in its manifold forms. By making
all citizens social functionaries, on the ground that
all their respective offices are really useful. Positiv-
ism ennobles obedience and strengthens power.
Every form of active life has its due houour, as par-
ticipating in the promotion of the public welfare,
and as no longer limited to a pui^ely private purpose.
Now to effect this wholesome change, the priesthood
THE LIFE. 347
never need appeal to an enthusiasm which can only
be exceptional. Enough if it can lead men gene-
rally to form an accurate judgment of what is really
habitually the case.
The Priest. — It is a primary principle of Posi-
tivism, that man's labour is necessarily gi-atuitous.
This gives us, my daughter, a powerful means of
developing the feelings and convictions which are
suited to each class of society. When wages are no
longer viewed as paying the value of the func-
tionary, but simply as replacing the materials he
consumes, the merit of each individual stands out
more clearly in the eyes of all. The priesthood
finds it easier to accomplish, its most important
social duty. This duty is to put forward openly
its abstract classification founded on its intellectual
and moral appreciation of the individual, and so to
counterbalance the concrete classification necessi-
tated by social subordination. If properly drawn
out, the contrast between the two views will recall
the superiors to a better disposition towards their
inferiors; for it will lead them to see that their
own elevation dejjends more on their position than
on their deserts. True, it is the subjective life alone
that can really ensure the preponderance of the
classification by merit, without involving any sub-
versive tendency. Still this contrast, emanating
from the religious body, will place in a truer light
the official classification, whilst it in no degree
lessens the respect due to it.
But, at the same time, the priesthood will make
348 THIRD PART.
the proletary body deeply conscious of the real
advantages of their social condition. Their minds
will be prepared by a wise education, and they will
be under the constant influence of home affections.
To them then there will be no difficulty in proving
the perfect soundness of the admirable maxim of
the great Corneille : —
On vad'un pas plus ferme a suivre qu'a conduire.
Our step is firmer when we follow than when we lead.
The happiness that springs from a noble submis-
sion and from the legitimate absence of respon-
sibility will be appreciated by the proletaries, when
family life shall have been properly organized in
the class which is best qualified thoroughly to enjoy
it. The proletariate will feel that the main office
of the patriciate is to secui-e to all the peaceable
enjoyment of the satisfactions of home, on which our
true happiness chiefly depends. There will be less
scope for such satisfactions in the case of the spi-
ritual or temporal rulers of society. And the vast
responsibility which prevents their enjoying them,
will make their exalted position more an object of
pity than of envy. For the only compensation for
this responsibility is in their more largely con-
ducing to the public welfare. This noble reward
requires, for its thorough enjoyment, a high order of
mind, rare at all times in the patrician body, and
not common even in the priesthood. Within due
limits, then, we must acquiesce in the vulgar grati-
fications of pride or vanity. They are generally
THE LIFE. 349
tlie only stimulants of sufficient strength to call out
the zeal requisite for command and counsel.
The Woman. — I should be glad, my father, to
have a more accurate idea of this essential function
of those who freely administer the capital of the
race. I should like, that is, to see how the patri-
cians are to secure the proletary the fair develop-
ment of his home existence, the first guarantee of
order in the normal state.
The Priest. — All you have to do, my daughter,
is to look on every one in the first place as possess-
ing property, then as receiving wages. Every pro-
letary must possess as his own all the materials
which are in constant use, and the use of which
cannot be common, whether they be required
by himself or his family. It is clear that we may
get so far as a rule, and in no other way can we
ensure order in practical life. But we are as yet
far from this point. Many estimable men are not
owners of the furniture they daily use, some not
even of the clothes they wear. As for their dwell-
ings, you well know that most proletaries are rather
in the position of soldiers under tents, than of
citizens with houses, in our anarchical towns. All,
however, that would be required would be, not to
sell entire houses as is now usually done, but to sell
them in apartments, as we see done in some towns.
Every family of the people would then be the abso-
lute proprietor of its dwelling, on payment of a
slightly increased rent for some years.
Our private worship and our private life fix the
350 THIKD PART.
limits of tiie dwelling. And ttiey also show how
important it is that it should be permanent. For
without permanence, we may say that the first
revolution in man's existence, that by which he
passed from the life of the nomad to a sedentary life,
is incomplete. The permanence of the dwelling
naturally will influence the stability of all indus-
trial relations, by suppressing a fatal tendency to a
vagabond life. Positive religion sanctions the full
liberty of man to give or withhold his co-operation,
but not the less does it make it a duty for every
one not to change his inferiors or superiors without
serious grounds. Even to change capriciously the
shops we deal with is blameable, tending as it does
to disturb the economy of their operations, which
presupposes some degree of steadiness in their cus-
tomers.
As for wages paid at fixed periods, they must be
regularly divided into two unequal parts. The first
part, independent of the actual results of the labour,
must pay the discharge of a given duty. The second
must depend on the results obtained. Otherwise you
cannot secure the workmen against the effects of
interruptions for which they are in no way respon-
sible, whilst at the same time you give their chiefs
free scope for the various industrial improvements,
especially improvements in machinery. Machinery,
which raises the moral dignity of the workman and
crives him increased efficiency, may then spread
freely, and be open to no objection on social
grounds. The proportion of the fixed salary to
THE LIFE. 351
that which varies must diflfer in different branches
of industry, in obedience to laws which it rests with
the patriciate to discover and apply.
The Woman. — I do not doubt the healthful in-
fluence of this normal order, and yet, my father, I
feel, that the instinct of destruction, stimulating the
other egoistic tendencies, will always occasion some
conflicts amongst the Western nations, even when
regenerated. I must ask you, then, how is the
priesthood to interfere in these inevitable discus-
sions ?
The Priest. — In the first place, it will endeavour,
my daughter, to prevent them as far as possible, by
the wise use of its spiritual discipline. The differ-
ence between this discipline and the temporal is
mainly this. The spiritual brings into play our
good instincts, whilst the temporal contends wdth
the bad. It is positive rather than negative in its
action; it corrects by comparison rather than by
compression; it rewards the good rather than
punishes the bad. And yet, at need it can be
severe, as I have already explained.
By the use of all the means at its disposal, as a
spiritual power, it will often prevent, or if not, will
soon repair, the civil couflicts which result from the
practical activity of man, under the natural play of
egoistic passions. The whole of Positive religion
tends to inculcate the truth, that, as society only
exists by virtue of free co-operation, no lasting com-
promise is possible, nor any legitimate modification,
unless as the result of the voluntary assent of the
352 THIRD PAHT.
different classes which co-operate. The greatest of
all social revolutions, the gradual abolition of
slavery in Europe, was effected in the Middle Ages,
without a single insurrection. Still, as from the
imperfection of our mental organization the priest-
hood will not always be able to secure due respect
for the will of man, it must ultimately exert itself
to moderate when it cannot prevent the struggle.
Its general rule, in accordance with the nature of
modern civilization, is this. It must brand as
radically wrong, as equally anarchical and retro-
grade, all recourse to arms either on the one side or
the other. In the industrial society, material con-
tests, when inevitable, must be decided by wealth,
whether in the hands of the few or of the many,
never by personal violence. This must be reserved
for criminals in the strict sense. We never
ought to use force except against acts which are
unanimously disapproved, disapproved even by those
who commit them.
The destructive instinct is always susceptible of
this change. In fact, the change has already taken
place, for the most part, in the case of chronic
violations of order, such as strikes, even where large
masses are concerned. It remains to introduce it
systematically, and to extend it to acute distur-
bances of the social system. Persecution formerly
attacked life, it now habitually respects even per-
sonal liberty; it attacks property, so that it is
easier to avoid it and to remedy it. So in crime,
murder has given way to theft. There is ground
THE LIFE. 353
for hope, then, that Positive religion will brin*"'- men
to decide their most vehement disputes without any
war properly so called, even between citizens. This
final change will be rendered much easier by the
normal restriction of the several republics, as the
power of the patriciate will increase side by side
with the increase of independence in the proletariate.
The Woman. — Great as is the value of this
change in the character of material contests, it seems
to me, my father, more advantageous to the supe-
riors than to the inferiors. The workmen are to
renounce, you say, all use of force, and to limit
themselves to a struggle of purses. If they do so,
they seem to me to do an act of great generosity in
the interest of society, not but that there is ample
reason for their so acting.
But I am afraid that by joining issue on the
ground where the masters are the strongest, they
will often be victims to the selfishness of the rich,
even supposing that they have everywhere obtained
what is but simply just, viz., the liberty to form coali-
tions at their pleasure, so that there be no violence.
The social power which the plebeians derive from
their just refusal as a body to co-operate in industrial
operations will be inadequate. The immense capital
of the rich will enable them ultimately to triumph
over the most legitimate resistance. The priest-
hood will, of course, give great strength to the com-
binations of workmen by its sanction. I still,
however, fear that the predominance of wealth will
be abused.
A A
354: THIRD PART.
The Priest. — You may take courage, my daughter,
by considering first of all the habitual influence of
the priesthood on the patriciate, resulting from
close personal relations. According to our statis-
tical survey, the regular number of bankers, in the
West, is the same as that of the Positivist temples.
Each temple will be naturally under the temporal
protectorate of the adjacent banker, who will be
commissioned by the triumvirate of the State to
transmit the priests their stipends. There will be
frequent intercourse between the priests and the
principal industrial chiefs, so as to revive in an
especial degree in these last the feelings of venera-
tion which resulted from their own education, and
which have been continued by the education of
their children.
The Woman. — Allow me to interrupt you a
minute, my father, on the subject of this last source
of influence. Our encyclopedic instruction is never
to be compulsory. The rich then w^ill refuse, from
a foolish pride, to let their sons share in it, and still
more their daughters. They renounce, of course,
the sacraments which follow on the education and
the social weight it will cany. If so, the personal
influence you speak of would be essentially nothing
more than the involuntary deference everywhere
paid to ability and virtue.
The Priest. — Your incidental objection has more
force in it, my daughter, than you think. Still I
shall find it not difficult to remove it. Attendance
on Positivist schools is not necessarv for admission
THE LIFE. 355
to the social sacraments, or even to our public ex-
aminations. The only question asked will be, is
the instruction real and adequate 1 — not, where does
it come from 1 Only, where the instruction has not
been given by the priesthood, the priests will have
to take greater pains in getting their information
as to the moral character of the candidate. Such
information will always be as indispensable as the
judgment on intellectual ability.
Notwithstanding this full liberty of instruction,
which will have the further result of increasing the
zeal of our professors, the official schools will never
be deserted by the rich, unless the priesthood dege-
nerate. For the rich will not wish their children
to have less instruction than the mass of the people,
and yet they will not be able to get them so good
an education, even at a great cost, in private. In-
deed the priesthood will naturally absorb the best
professors, and their functions will prevent them
giving private instruction, to say nothing of its
being, as you are aware, strictly forbidden. The
private masters must recruit their members from
these who are incapable of becoming priests or even
vicars. The result will be that their lectures will
be in permanent disrepute.
The Woman. — Your explanation quite sets me at
ease, my father, as to any aristocratic dislike of a
common education. So I beg you to resume your
important appreciation of the peculiar influence
which the priesthood of Positivism exerts over the
industrial chiefs to prevent, or, if that is not
A A 2
356 THIRD PART.
possible, to remedy the more serious practical dis-
putes.
The Priest. — Over and above its personal rela-
tions with the highest patrician class, whose influ-
ence will be great on the rest, the priesthood ^\dll
everywhere find, my daughter, special allies. This
it will do by a suitable reorganization of a volun-
tary- protectorate. The institution of knighthood
is in no way exclusively adapted to the military
form of existence. On the contrary, the principle
of brute force, the essential principle of the military
regime, shackled the admirable development of
chivalry in the Middle Ages. Positivism adopts
the institution of knighthood, and gives it a better
form. Properly modified, it is still more adapted
to the Positive regime than to the Catholic-feudal.
The protection emanating from the order of knight-
hood in Positivism must in the main be given in
the form of money, but it will often call forth a
devotion which, though less striking than that seen
in feudal times, will be more effectual, and also
more susceptible of due regulation. Many indus-
trial chiefs, especially amongst the bankers, will in
early life enrol themselves as members of a free
association, which shall have at its disposal enormous
wealth, and either on its own impulse, or on an appeal
from the priesthood, shall generously interfere in
the more important contests. The noble protection
of this society will not be limited to oppressed
proletaries. It will also secure priests against all
tyranny of the temporal power.
THE LIFE. 357
The Woman. — With this valuable institution, it
seems to me, my father, that the sum of the means
at the disposal of the priests of Humanity is com-
plete — the means by which they are enabled duly
to regulate the mutual relations of the citizens.
You may proceed to explain to me the normal mode
of the priesthood's intervention in international
questions.
The Priest. — Such questions must fall into dis-
tinct classes, my daughter. We must first take the
case of Positivist populations ; secondly, that of the
populations which have not yet adojoted the true
religion. The first case simply requires us to
enlarge the views already stated, and may therefore
be soon settled. Nay, it is even true that the in-
fluence of .the priesthood in the sphere of inter-
national relations is at once more easily brought to
bear, and with more decisive results. The existing
States will soon be broken up, and the great Western
Kepublic will be divided into sixty independent
Kepublics, which will have nothing in common but
their spiritual organization. There never will arise
within the limits of this Western Kepublic any
temporal power with universal dominion, answering
to the phantom emperor of the Middle Ages, who
was for Catholicism nothing but an element of dis-
turbance, empirically introduced from the Koman
system. In the new order, all collective action
will be temporary, and as such will be directed by
the national triumvirates acting for the time in con-
cert. Any practical institutions which are meant to
358 THIRD PART.
be really universal, are, by that very fact, reserved
for the priesthood, for no other power can override
national rivalries sufficiently to secure the adoption
of such institutions. The particular governments
only interfere to aid in their foundation by finding
the requisite money. This is the way in which an
uniform system of moneys, weights, and measures
may readily and peaceably meet with universal
acceptance.
The sixty republics of the regenerated West
will, in the normal state, have no other habitual
bond of union but their common education, their
community of manners and customs, and their
common festivals. In a word, their union will be
religious, not political. Allowance must be made
for the historical relations resulting from previous
aggregations. But these will soon be forgotten in
the new connexion, unless they rest on community
of language. The High Priest of Humanity will
be, more truly than any medieval Pope, the only
real head of the Western world. He will have it
in his power, if it be necessary, to concentrate the
action of the whole priesthood so as to repress any
tyrannical triumvirate. He will be able also to
call on the neighbouring knights for aid, and on all
neutral governments for their peaceful mediation.
If industrial contests are inevitable, he can, if he
sees proper, secure for the combinations of the
workmen an extension which must decide the issue,
for he can bring to their aid all their fellow-
workmen in the West, even when they do not
THE LIFE. 359
belong to the branch of industry which is actually
threatened. And conversely _, if the priesthood in
any case blame the conduct of the workmen, or
even simply refuse its approval, the masters will find
it easy to overcome any unwarranted resistance.
The Woman. — All that is left, my father, is to
determine what are the systematic relations of the
population that has embraced Positivism with the
nations that have not yet done so.
The Priest. — Looking at the close connexion
formed by the Catholic-feudal system, which
throughout Western Euroj)e followed on the Koman
incorporation, you may see, my daughter, that the
new faith will prevail simultaneously in the whole
of Western Europe, including in this term its
various colonial appendages, and especially Ame-
rica. The progress of the Positive spirit in science,
in art, and in industry leads to convergence far
more powerfully than the disruption of Catho-
licism, and even an undue nationality, lead to
divergence. But the vast spiritual republic thus
formed scarcely comprises the fifth part of our race.
It is important then to consider in outline the
method by which the West, when regenerate,
must gradually bring into communion with it all
the inhabitants of our planet.
Once let the reorganization of the West be fairly
secure, and a noble proselytism will become the
principal collective occupation of the Positive
priesthood. No claim of the temporal power is
valid against the evidently exclusive claim of the
360 THIRD PART.
priesthood to this function. If that priesthood alone
is competent to regulate properly the mutual inter-
course of the several nations of the West, there is
still stronger reason for allowing that it can have
no competitor in regulating still wider international
relations. There have been many ephemeral and
disastrous attempts at domination, but it is after
all to the imjDrovements in science or industry that
is really due any beneficial and permanent inter-
course of the West with the other portions of the
globe. Positivism alone, by virtue of its relative
character, can organize missions worthy of the name.
By these missions it will gradually unite all na-
tions with the unity which is its characteristic, the
only unity which is worthy of universal extension.
The Woman. — This immense conversion, without
which the organization of Humanity would be in-
complete, will, my father, follow some natural
course. What that course will be, I should like to
have explained, in its essential features at least.
The Priest. — Its course, my daughter, is deter-
mined by the decreasing affinity of Positivism with
the several populations outside its pale. They are
the monotheistic, polytheistic, and lastly the fetich-
ist nations. But the cases that seem most un-
favourable, from the smaller amount of spontaneous
preparation^ allow on the other hand a more com-
plete systematic interference, if we rightly apply the
general theory of man's transitions. The whole
conversion may be effected in three generations,
that is, its outline may be traced, — a generation for
THE LIFE. 361
each of the main phases. It will be for the next
century to clevelope the various bases of uniformity,
which a numerous and zealous priesthood may with
proper assistance lay down.
We have, first, the monotheists of the East, the
Christian monotheists, and the Mussulman; or,
Kussia, Turkey and Persia. In both cases, these
populations may be raised to the level finally
attained by the West, without requiring a servile
and hazardous imitation of the stormy and difficult
course necessitated by the original evolution. Even
at the present day, the historical theory of Posi-
tivism offers a valuable assistance to the noble
governments which are exerting themselves to
direct this ascending process by keeping it clear of
disturbance from the West. Eussia in the last cen-
tury put herself under the guidance of France. In
the present she sees that it is advisable to hold
aloof from France. The change is a very wise one.
To follow the old policy of imitation would hence-
forth render the Sclavonian nations liable to vio-
lent disturbance, whilst it would bring with it no
real progress, intellectual or social.
But when Paris, in its regenerate state, shall
have lost its revolutionary character, the Czars will
look to it for the ideas and for the assistance they
need in their great work. Their noble instinct
leads them to be zealous in peaceably ameliorating
the internal condition of their vast empire. They
will wish for aid in systematically acting on that
instinct. Positivism will not urge them to imitate
362 THIRD PART.
a past whicli can never return. But it will urge
them to form a sounder estimate of theii' pecu-
liar advantages. For instance, it was necessary
in France to break up the great feudal fortunes as
a step to the advent of a new patriciate, to be fos-
tered under the ephemeral ascendancy of the middle
classes. In Russia, on the contrary, it is im-
portant at the present day to maintain the concen-
tration of wealth which is desirable in the final
state, and which we shall have great difficulty in
retui-ning to in France. A wise autocrat will
limit his efforts to the substitution of the industrial
for the military character. The basis for this
change is already laid in the permanence of general
peace, on which we may calculate for the future.
The Wojnan. — The influence of Positivist sug-
gestions, my father, may powerfully affect Kussia,
for Russia resembles the West in point of religion.
Tui'key and Persia have not yet reached the mono-
gamic state. They afford less scope, then, for in-
tervention.
The Priest. — At the present moment, my
daughter, polygamy is of more common occurrence
at Paris than at Constantinople. Islamism has, in
fact, undergone the same dissolving process as Catho-
licism. Besides, we form in general very ex-
aggerated ideas of the difference of manners and
opinions in the Eastern and Western nations.
That we do so is clear from the instinctive tendency
of the Mussulman nations to put themselves under
our guidance.
THE LIFE. 363
The incomparable Maliomet rejected the separa-
tion of the spiritual and temporal power. He did
so the more easily to constitute his military theo-
cracy. He had at the same time a feelicg that
this great improvement of the social order was
premature, as being incompatible with the theolo-
gical principle. It was natui'al at that time that
he should look on such an attempt as confined to
the West. Even in the West its ultimate failure
would long be a source of serious danger. If then
Islamism deprived the Eastern nations of the
admirable progress effected under the impulse of
Catholicism in the Middle Ages, it has preserved
them, since that time, from the transitional anarchy
from which we have suffered these five last cen-
turies, and which even now is the origin of so many
obstacles. Thanks to their regime, Mussulmans are,
in the main, exempt from metaphysicians and even
from lawyers. Positivism will dissuade them from a
disastrous imitation, and will enable them fully to
appreciate this capital advantage, which may be a
powerful aid in their final regeneration.
The Woman. — I understand, my father, our re-
lation to Islamism, though I had missed the prin-
ciple on which it rests, from want of a competent
knowledge of your theory of history. But for the
polytheists, and they are nearly half the human
race, it would surprise me much if our faith were
shown to be equally susceptible of an immediate
efficacy. The distance between us and them is too
great.
364
THIKD PART.
The Priest. — On the contrary, my daughter, we
may be much more useful to the polytheist than to
the monotheist, for we may spare the polytheist a
longer and harder transition. If left to their own
course, the polytheistic nations would begin by
passing through some monotheistic stage. Natu-
rally they are indisposed to this, when they see
the complete discredit which has attached to mo-
notheism, for the last century at least, in the West
and even in the East. But the Positive religion
will enable them to dispense with any such em-
pirical course. It will take special measures for
enabling them to pass directly to the final religion.
Monotheism is absolutely indispensable only in the
original evolution. Many boys will unconsciously
omit the monotheistic stage in their encyclopedic
novitiate. If so, clearly it will be easy for the
Western priesthood by a zealous and systematic
effort to preserve the polytheistic nations from it.
For their leading doctrines may be transformed into
Positive conceptions, with a species of theological
colouring, which might soon be removed.
The Woman. — The fetichists are, it is true, but
few in number, but their state seems to me, my
father, so far removed from ours that I cannot
conceive it possible to raise them rapidly to the
level of the West, which is the final state.
The Priest. — Though few in number, my daughter,
they occupy in the centre of Africa a vast region,
as yet wholly out of the reach of our civilization.
For it to reach them, it will require a sustained effort
THE LIFE. 365
on the part of the priesthood of Positivism. The
noble missionaries of our faith will find in Afiica
the greatest stimulus to exei-t their intellect, and
the fairest field for their active zeal. They will set
themselves the task of spreading among the simple
African populations the Universal religion. There
will be no intermediate step, they will not be re-
quired to pass through either monotheism or even
polytheism. That the success of the eflTort is pos-
sible, is the consequence of the profound affinity
between Positivism and Petichism. The difierence
in doctrine is that fetichism confuses activity and
life, the difference in worship is that fetichism
worships materials instead of products.
In the initiation of man, whether it be sponta-
neous or systematic, fetichism is the only form of
the theological or fictitious regime which cannot be
avoided. This is because both for the race and the
individual it comes at a period when we are inca-
pable of reflection. The other two preliminary
phases, polytheism and monotheism, may be spared
where the evolution is completely systematic. If
we thought it an object to preserve our children
from polytheism, we could do so by prolonging the
fetichist state, till by gradual modifications it issued
in Positivism. But in our children's case the
eflTort would be uncalled for, not to speak of its
tendency to disturb the natural development of
the human imagination. The case is quite difterent
with the evolution of the nations of central Africa.
There the dii-ect transformation of fetichism
366 THIRD PAET.
into Positivism would lead to most sound and
valuable results, not merely for the African tribes,
but for the whole of mankind.
The Woman. — One last remark, my father, you
must allow me on these vast intellectual and social
metamorphoses, which give such an interest to the
most extended relations of men, which have hitherto
been always stained by selfishness and empiricism.
I in no way share the barbarous prejudices of the
white race against the black, yet I scarcely venture
to hope that the universality of the Positive faith
will not be hampered to an indefinite extent by the
difierence of race.
The Priest. — The true biological theory of the
races of men, my daughter, is a consequence of the
conception of Blainville. He rej^resents their dif-
ferences as varieties, which had their origin in the
aggregate of circumstances, but which subsequently
became fixed and hereditary when they had reached
their greatest intensity. Adopting this view, we
may subjectively construct a theory which shall
meet the only differences which the objective study of
the question establishes. In reality, there are but
three distinct races, the white, the yellow, and the
black.
Indeed, no essential and permanent differences
could be developed, except as regards the relative
preponderance of the three essential constituents of
the brain, its speculative, active, and affective
organs. We have then, of necessity, three races to
correspond with these differences. Each of the
THE LIFE. 367
three has its point of superiority. It is superior
either in intellect, or in activity, or in feeling.
This conclusion is confirmed by all sound observa-
tion. This final judgment must put an end to all
mutual contempt. It must also make them see
how efficacious their concert might be to complete
the constitution of the real Great Being.
When by our labours we shall have made our
planet uniformly healthy, these organic distinctions
will have a tendency to disappear, as a result partly
of their natural origin, but especially of inter-
marriage. The increasing fusion of the races will,
under the systematic dii-ection of the Universal
priesthood, procure us the most precious of all im-
provements, one v\'hich bears on the whole of our
cerebral constitution, which will become by this
means more adapted for thought, for action, and
even for love.
Conclusion.
THE GEXEPiAL HISTORY OF EELIGIOX,
CONVEESATION XII.
The Woman. — These two last conversations have
a strong attraction for me, my father. During your
explanation of the worship, the doctrine, and the
life, I have often felt the want of historical know-
ledge as a complement of that explanation. Even
as it is, I could see, from time to time, that the
final state, the state in wliich the religion of Hu-
manity should be supreme, needed in all cases long
and difficult preparation, and that such preparation
was above all necessary in every case of original
evolution. But partial glimpses such as these ex-
cite, rather than satisfy, my desire to know the
outlines of the historical theory by which you are
able so to appreciate the past as to determine the
future, in order to form a clear judgment on the
present.
The Priest. — The main foundation of this theory,
my dear daughter, is the double law of mental
evolution with which you are now familiar. You al-
ready know how there follows from it the general divi-
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 369
gion of the preparatory period of man's existence.
The first step was fetichism. The preparation was
earned on by polytheism, it was completed under
monotheism. It will be as well, however, before
we proceed further, for you to concentrate your
attention for a short time on this fundamental
principle, to convince yourself that the course which
at first seemed simply inevitable was really indis-
pensable.
Attend particularly to the necessity for the
intellect of such a preparation ; this is a point less
clearly seen than any other. If every real theory
necessarily rests on observation of facts, it is not
less certain that any connected observation of facts
is impossible without some theory or other. Origi-
nally then the human mind could find no other outlet
but a purely subjective method ; it must draw, that
is, upon itself for the connexion which it could not
get from without till after a long course of study.
In such a case, feeling supplies the weakness of our
intelligence, and finds it a principle on which to
explain eveiy theory. It supposes all beings what-
ever actuated by certain feelings, and instinctively
it assimilates them to the type of man. This pri-
mitive philosophy is necessarily fictitious, and as
such merely provisional. It gives rise to a con-
stant antagonism between theory and practice — an
antagonism which undergoes gradual modifications
from the increasing influence of our action on our
intellect, but which continues dm^ing the whole of
the preparatory period. Positivism alone can end
B B
370 CONCLUSION.
it. At the same time that man, in his speculation,
was attributing everything to arbitrary will, he
was acting on the assumption of invariable laws.
The knowledge of these laws, at first empirical,
became less and less so ; it became more and more
extensive, till at length it reorganized our whole
intellectual system.
TJie Woman. — Previous to this explanation, my
father, I had not understood what purpose, philo-
sophically, was answered by fetichism. I had felt its
aptitude in regard to art. How it met our moral
wants seems to require no explanation. Every one
who has studied children to any purpose, or who
has e\^n been able to see through the accounts of
travellers and form a true idea of savages, must
look on the external support which the fetichist
theory gives, as indispensable to us in our original
weakness. The fictitious regime is still more adapted
to develope in us tenderness. In this respect, it
is only when Positivism has reached its full matu-
rity that it can ofier us an equivalent for the
nurture of fetichism. Thus suited to our nature
as individuals in its threefold aspect, the primeval
religion must be no less adapted to om- social ex-
istence. There was, in the earliest stage of society,
no other source from which it could draw the
community of opinion or the authority which it
requires.
The Priest. — To complete our theory of this
primary stage of our evolution, all I have to do,
my daughter, is to point out the law which governs
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 371
our temporal progress. In it, as in the spiritual,
and for similar reasons, we see tliree distinct states
succeed one another with a necessary succession.
The first is simply pro^-isional ; the second simply
transitional ; the third alone is definitive. Each
corresponds to a particular form of our activity.
INIan's existence is in fact originally warlike. It
becomes ultimately completely industrial. But it
passes through an intermediate stage in which con-
quest ceases and defensive war takes its place.
Such clearly are the respective characteristics of
the civilizations of antiquity, of modem society, and
of the jMiddle Ages, which form the transition be-
tween the two.
In our action, as for our intellect, the course
taken was the only one possible. For society to be
strong and to develope itself, there must be labour.
On the other hand, the development of labour im-
plies the previous existence of society, just as much
as the development of observation implies the exis-
tence of some theory to give the impulse. We are in
a circle then. And again we escape from our
difficulty by a spontaneous evolution, which super-
sedes the necessity of any complicated preparations.
War is the only branch of action which fulfils this
condition, from the natural preponderance of the
instinct of destruction over that of construction.
To produce gi-eat results, war requires the collec-
tive action of large bodies. Hence it is peculiarly
adapted to form strongly cemented and permanent
associations, in which the sympathy is intense
bb2
372 CONCLUSION.
though limited in extent. In war the sense of
solidarity, of a common interest, is very strong.
Lastly, it is only by svajc that can be effected the
formation of large States by a gradual process of
incorporation. The result of incorporation is to
confine military activity to the ruling people, and
to give it a higher character by giving it a noble
destination. There is no other method generally
applicable by which the aversion man at first feels
for all regular labour can be overcome.
When the empire acquired by war has reached a
certain limit, an instinctive change of policy takes
place. Defence becomes a more important consi-
deration than conquest. Thus we enter on the
intermediate stage, on which, whilst war keeps its
predominance, the foundations of industrial exis-
tence are laid. And the industrial form of society is
soon seen to be the only one susceptible of unin-
ten-upted progress.
The Woman. — I find, my father, man's progress
in the sphere of action easier to master than his
intellectual growth. But I am surprised at your
thinking that the two combined afford a suflficient
basis for your theory of history. True, there is a
natural correspondence between them. The fic-
titious synthesis harmonizes with war, as Positive
religion harmonizes with industry. I can even see
that metaphysics would naturally prevail whilst
war was in the main defensive. Still, this dyna-
mical conception of Humanity seems to me hardly
in consonance with the statical conception of our
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 373
nature, for this places feeling above both the
intellect and our action. After the two laws of
our spiritual evolution, and after the law which
governs our temporal evolution, I expected a state-
ment of the laws which govern our affective life.
Without it, motion and existence are to me equally
unintelligible.
The Priest. — You forget, my daughter, that the
affective region of the brain is not, as the two
others are, in direct communication with the outer
"world. So that the outer world cannot act on feel-
ing, except through the medium of the intellect or
action. It is true, that the organs of affection are im-
mediately connected with the viscera of organic life.
But the moral influence of these last, to say nothing
of its depending on laws imperfectly known, is
only of importance within the range of our private
existence. When we come to consider society, we
may neglect it. And on this ground : its action is
neutralized as the spontaneous result of the opposite
forms it takes, either in any one generation, or in
the succession of generations.
Our opinions then and our situations constitute
the only normal sources of the variation in our
feelings which we experience in the different phases
of man's evolution, especially of his social evolu-
tion. But the general course of these variations,
indirect though they be, harmonizes, it must be re-
membered, with that of the dii^ect changes on which
they depend. To sum up the result of the evolu-
tion of our intellect and of our activity, we may
374 CONCLUSION.
consider that they make us intellectually more syn-
thetical, in action more disposed to co-operation.
Similarly, with regard to the evolution of our affec-
tions, it chiefly consists in our becoming more sym-
pathetic. As the essential characteristic of human
existence is unity, the prevailing direction of our
progress must be towards developing the harmony
of the race. Thus the whole history of Humanity
is necessarily condensed in the history of religion.
The general law of man's progress, whatever the
point of view chosen, consists in this, that man
becomes more and more religious. Such is the
ultimate result of dynamical conceptions, which are
thus seen to be in perfect consonance with statical.
The education of the race, as that of the individual,
is the gradual training of man to live for others.
The Woma7i. — By this last explanation, my
father, I am clear from all serious difficulty as to
the theory of evolution, which is the basis of
the true philosophy of history. You may proceed
then at once to explain in outline the principal
phases in the existence of Humanity.
The Priest. — To make the study easier, I would
urge you, my daughter, to consult frequently the
two tables I subjoin. {See Tables D D, at the end of
the volume, taken from the '•^Appeal to Conservatives'^
Paris, 1855.)
The first point that will strike you will be the
entire absence of any notice of fetichism. And yet
this was the primeval state, and it still exists in
vast populations. The omission is inevitable, in
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 375
consequence of the concrete character of our sy-
noptical view. As such it cannot include a phasis
of our history in which no one arose who has left
a name. The fetichist state can only receive its
due honour in our abstract system of worship. You
are aware how fully we shall discharge the debt.
The chief intellectual value of fetichism is this. It
spontaneously originates the subjective method.
That method, in its primary absolute form, presided
over the whole of the preparatory period. In its
relative form it will exercise increasing influence
over man in his normal state. The true logic, that
in which feelings take precedence of images and
signs, is of fetichist origin. There are times when
some strong emotion impels us to seek for the
causes of phenomena, the laws of which we know
not, in order first to foresee and then to modify the
phenomena. At such times we attribute directly
to the beings with which we are concerned human
affections; we do not look on them as subject to the
action of some external will. We see then that
fetichism is a more natural state than polytheism.
The great moral efficacy of fetichism is beyond
dispute. Everywhere it instinctively puts forward
man as the type. It inspires us with a deep sym-
pathy for all forms of existence, even where there is
the least action, for it represents all forms as essen-
tially analogous to our own. And therefore it is
that this primal state of humanity is the object
of a keener regret than any other in those who
have been rudely torn from it. This is a fact
376 CONCLUSION.
whicli we may verify by daily experience in the
unhappy Africans, who are carried to a distance
from their homes by the cruelty of Western nations.
Even from the social point of view, and this is
less favourable to fetichism, it has rendered im-
portant services, which the Positive worship will
duly honour. In the nomad period of man's ex-
istence, its tendency to the worship of external
nature exerts a wholesome moderating influence on
the destructive instinct. That instinct works
blindly, and leads the hunter or the pastoral tribes
to destroy on a vast scale the animals or vegetables
in order to prepare the ground for man's action.
Such destruction is necessary, but should not be
without check. But the highest service rendered
by fetichism is, its unconscious guidance of the race
through the first social revolution, the revolution
which is the basis of all subsequent ones, our tran-
sition from the nomad to settled life. This great
change, of which we but little see either the dif-
ficulty or the importance, certainly belongs to
fetichism, and is the consequence of the deep attach-
ment it fosters for our native land.
The chief imperfection of fetichism is, that not
till a late period does it allow the rise of a priest-
hood qualified to direct man's future progress. The
worship of fetichism, even when highly developed,
requires at first no priest. For it is, by its nature,
essentially a private worship ; each one may wor-
ship without a mediator beings which are almost
always within his reach. Ultimately, however, a
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 377
priesthood arises. This is when the stars, which
are long without honour, come to be the principal
fetiches, and, as such, common to vast populations.
Thej are seen to be beyond our reach. Hence a
special class is formed whose duties are to transmit
the homage of men, and to interpret the will of the
fetiches. In this its last stage, fetichism borders
on polytheism, the origin of which in all cases was
astrolatry. This is clear from the names of the
greater gods, which are always borrowed from the
stars most adapted to perpetuate the fictitious
synthesis.
The Woman. — Although the passage from one
system to the other cost no efibrt, it seems to me,
my father, the most difficult change for man's in-
tellect in the preparatory period. It requires us
to pass by an abrupt transition from activity to
inertia in our general conception of matter, otherwise
there would be no motive for the exertion of divine
power.
The Priest. — It is however, my daughter, a na-
tural step to introduce the agency of beings external
to matter. The mind takes this step spontaneously
when it reaches the second period of childhood and
passes from the contemplation of beings to that of
events, the only basis for scientific meditations.
Proceeding onwards, on the method originally
adopted, we consider phenomena as existing simul-
taneously in many bodies, and we still attribute
them to a will. But we do not identify each body
with a separate will, rather we consider that one
378 CONCLUSION.
will directs many bodies. Such a will must of
necessity be external. We must familiarize our-
selves with this intellectual change. Nor is this
difficult, as we have frequent opportunities of
observing it at the corresponding period in the
growth of each individual mind.
Be this as it may, polytheism has been the prin-
cipal agent in tlie whole preparation of man. This
is true of his mental evolution, but esj)ecially true
of his social. In the first place polytheism alone
gives completeness to the primitive philosophy by
extending it to our highest functions. These func-
tions shortly become the favourite occupation of the
gods. For fetichism in the main had reference to
the external world, and could not distinctly com-
prehend our intellectual and moral nature. On the
contrary, these were the source from which it drew
its explanations of physical facts. But when we
introduce supernatural beings we can adapt them
to this new sphere, and it soon becomes the chief
one. At the same time polytheism necessitates a
priesthood in the strict sense, or rather it consoli-
dates and developes the priesthood which astrolatry
had originated.
Polytheism ofiers a variety of forms, but in all
its forms alike we can trace two institutions, which
have a close connexion with one another. These
are : the complete union of the spiritual and tem-
poral powers, and the slavery of the industrial
population.
The first is easily explained. It was the sjDonta-
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION, 379
neous result of all the requirements of the intellect,
and all the wants of society. In the first place, it
is impossible to limit yourself to giving advice if
you speak in the name of a power that has no
limits. The suggestions of such a power naturally
become commands. In the second place, the ap-
pointed task of the preliminary regime was to
develope all man's powers ; it was reserved for the
final state wisely to regulate them when developed,
on a comprehensive view of this long apprentice-
shijj. In the preparatory period then, there must
be a concentration of all the powers of society, in
order to overcome the indiscipline natural to man
in his primitive state. Had the spiritual and
temporal powers been separated, such separation
would have been a great hindrance to the attain-
ment of the object of polytheism, by thwarting
the progress of conquest. For the function of
polytheism was active. Lastly, the scientific concep-
tions of men were so alien to theii' practical views,
that to neutralize the defects of both, it was
requisite that both should equally influence the
intellect of all. On the other hand, this indispen-
sable concentration was efiected quite instinctively.
This is shown by the inability to conceive a real
separation of counsel from command which we can
trace even in the philosophers who were most pre-
pared to admit such an idea.
A similar remark is applicable to slavery in the
ancient world. It was always considered necessary
to society, till a period just previous to the final
380 CONCLUSION.
emancipation. The slave, as we are reminded by
the etymology of the Latin name, was at first a
prisoner of war, saved to labour, instead of being
killed or eaten.
Polytheism is a conciliatory system, and the slave
could keep his own worship, in subordination of
course to the religion of his conqueror, who became
his spiritual and temporal leader. The social con-
dition of the slave, to which all were more or less
liable by the vicissitudes of war, was at that time
so natm-al that men often accepted it without being
taken in war ; as a general rule, however, war was
the origin of slavery.
The institution of slavery was in two ways the
basis of ancient civilization. Without it, conquest
on a large scale was impossible. Secondly, it ac-
customed men to labour. For labour was the only
way in wliich the slave could better his position, as
it had been the condition on which he had been
given his life. Under all these aspects it is impos-
sible to compare the slavery of antiquity with the
ephemeral and monstrous form of it which is a
consequence of modern colonization.
The Woman. — After this general sm'vey of the
regime of polytheism I need, my father, a summary
of the principal forms in which it existed.
The Priest. — Its primary and most charac-
teristic form, my daughter, is theocracy pro-
perly so called. The conservative polytheism
to which we give this name is the only complete
organization possible in the preparatory period of
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 381
man's existence. All the other phases of poly-
theism are but modifications of this primitive
system ; from it they draw such partial consistency
as they have, though their tendency is to break it up.
Theocracy rests on two institutions which are
closely connected with each other. All professions
equally are hereditary ; this is the first ; the uni-
versal supremacy of the priestly caste is the second.
Without the first, the progress made would soon be
lost. Nor is there any other system which could
allow the slow introduction of secondary modifica-
tions ; so long, that is, as education was given rather
by means of imitation than by direct instruction,
from there being no separation between theory and
practice. Hereditary professions then were neces-
sary; but the whole population would have been
broken up into castes completely indejDendent one of
another, had not the supremacy of the priesthood
been there to organize the state. It bound all castes
together with a bond which they revered, one
which was naturally susceptible of a wide extension.
This primitive theocratic constitution is so com-
pletely in accordance with our nature, that it is
still the organization of the largest existing popu-
lations, though it has been subjected to disturbing
influences of the greatest magnitude. It was uni-
versally adopted. But it could only attain such
durability in countries where the development of
intelligence and industry had preceded that of the
warlike spii'it. Systematic military activity acts in
all cases as a spontaneous solvent of theocracy, for
382 CONCLUSION.
it places tlie soldier above tlie priest. The priests
made great efforts to avert this result by directing
the military energy on distant expeditions, the
invariable consequent of which was a permanent
colonization. Still, notwithstanding this policy,
the theocracy in all cases succumbed to the dominion
of a military patriciate, but in succumbing it
preserved the old manners and customs. That it
could do this is convincing evidence of the
tenacious character of the regime, and by virtue of
it we have at the present day actual theocracies to
study. And the study of them in China and India,
even though far advanced in decay, enables us to
have a better understanding of ancient Egj^pt, the
venerable mother of the civilization of Western.
Europe. We are enabled to appreciate, on a large
scale, the social office of the priesthood in its
manifold forms, as called upon to counsel, to con-
secrate, to moderate, and to judge. And we may
also see at the same time to what an extent the
exercise of these its fundamental attributes was
vitiated by command and wealth, though the
assumption of power and the possession of wealth
were necessary accompaniments of the first inter-
ference of the intellect in the domain of feeling
and action.
It will naturally surprise you that the theocratic
system finds so small a place in the synopsis I have
given you. The chief reason, as in the case of
fetichism, is the concrete character of this histo-
rical composition it is more within the province of
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 383
art than of science. Still, when dealing with a
system which has left so many memorials of all
kinds, a more detailed explanation is requii-ed. I
would call your attention, then, to one of the
noblest characteristics of the true theocracy. It is a
system in which the government is vested in a vast
and permanent corporation ; so that the services it
renders society are not connected with the names of
individuals. Had there not been this tendency to
absorb the individual, the various priestly colleges
would often have been disturbed by the natural
rivalries of the gods of polytheism. In one case,
happily a solitary exception, theocracy is based on
monotheism. In this case, that of the Jews, an
extreme concentration throws forward into full
light the names of the more eminent leaders. Thus
it was that the concrete character of my synopsis
forced me to choose Moses as the individual type
of the theocratic regiine, though but a very im-
perfect representative of an organization which is
essentially polytheistic.
The Woman. — Your thoughtful and dispassionate
admiration for theocracy shows me more clearly, my
father, how profoundly unfaii' are the blind re-
proaches it yet meets with from men who claim to
be advanced thinkers. Listen to them, and you
would think the primeval organization from which
all others spring, and w^hich has outlasted all others,
was in all its stages an oppressive and degrading
system. If so, it would be difficult to see to what
we are to trace the progress which has been made.
384 CONCLUSION.
The Priest. — You may treat all such criticisms of
theocracy, my daughter, as frivolous. They are as
groundless as the reproaches levelled by St. Augustin
against the whole system of polytheism, or the
attacks of Voltaire on Catholicism. No system
ever deserved such blame except in its decay. For
a system to rise and be generally adopted, it must
during the greater part of the period of its supre-
macy be to a considerable extent in agi^eement
with our nature, and far from unfavourable to our
progress.
The tendency of theocracy to become oppressive,
from its aversion to all change, is one which is only
developed in its latest stage, as the consequence of
the inevitable degradation of the priestly character
resulting from their power and wealth. But after
all, the aversion to change in theocracy has been
considerably exaggerated. Theocracy has been
judged by the contrast in this respect offered by
the gTeater rapidity of the Western movement.
Quite apart from any external interference, there
are many decisive indications of a spontaneous
movement in the theocratic civilizations. For in-
stance, Bouddhism, though crushed in Hindostan,
in Thibet led to very great modifications of the
theocratic system. These were developed in China
by the adoption of a system of examinations.
When Positivism reaches in due course these
immense populations, then will be the time carefully
to investigate the question : what would naturally
have been the series of advances by which, if left
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 385
to themselves, they would have ultimately risen to
the level of the West ? Such a progression would
have been distinct from, but substantially identical
with, that of the West. It will be necessary to
examine their instinctive tendencies, for it is with
them that, if we are ^-ise, we must connect any
attempt at a systematic acceleration of their pro-
gress. And we must carefully eliminate from our
inquiiy all the elements of disturbance forcibly in-
troduced by the Mussulman monotheism in the first
place, and at a later period by the Christian. This
important question, then, is left for futui'e consi-
deration. For the present we must concentrate our
historical studies on the immediate ancestors of
Western ci^T.lization, and we are naturally led to
select for examination the populations in whicli the
establishment of theocracy was anticipated by a
precocious development of military activity.
Polytheism, in its progressive period, appeai-s
under two very different forms, the one mainly
intellectual, the other eminently social. Polytheism
takes an intellectual character when, owing to local
and political circumstances, war, although very
general, leads to no system of conquest. In such a
case, it exerts a secret influence on all the his-her
minds which leads them to cultivate their intellects.
This is also the direction which the attention of
men generally has taken, and thus the cultivation
is free from all priestly sacerdotal discipline. When,
on the contrary, there is no check on war, and it is
free to follow out its tendency to universal empire,
c c
386^ CONCLUSION.
tlie intellect becomes subordinate to action, and the
citizen, as a rule, is absorbed in social questions
relative to bis own state or to foreign policy.
These two forms of progressive polytheism were,
each according to its nature and each in its own
time, equally indispensable to the great movement
in the Western world, which followed on the spon-
taneous throwing off the yoke of theocracy.
Ultimately, in every theocracy, the priestly caste
becomes socially subordinate to the warrior caste.
Even in Judea, spite of its exceptional concentra-
tion of power, theocracy had to submit to this
change. The kings took the place of the judges,
six centuries from the organization of the theocracy.
But we must carefully distinguish the cases, in
which this change is not effected till after the theo-
cratic spirit has gained a firm hold, from those in
which the change is effected sooner, and the theo-
cracy is consequently never really strong. The
evolution of Western Europe took place mainly
under this latter condition ; the soldier antici-
pated the priest ; it required, however, for its suc-
cess a judicious introduction of ideas borrowed
from pure theocracies.
The times sung by Homer mark distinctly the
beginning of the series of movements which have
resulted in Western civilization. Two generations,
at the most, had elapsed since the warrior caste had
begun to take precedence of the priests among our
Grecian ancestors. The primeval theocracy can
yet be traced in the numerous oracles, respect for
THE GENEKAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 387
•which, though they were dispersed, lasted longer in
Greece than anywhere else.
Tlie Woman. — Dating from this era in the West,
yon told me, my father, that our progress has been,
in reality, but an immense transition, during which
any real organization was impracticable. It is easy
to see the accuracy of such a view. We have but to
contrast the short duration of the several states of
society, which henceforth follow in rapid succession
one on the other, with the persistence of their pre-
decessor, the theocracy which arose out of fetichism ;
or, on the other hand, with the magnificent future
that awaits Positivism. Still I should like now
to follow the general outline of this transition.
The Priest. — The transitional, or preparatory
period, accurately represented by our concrete sy-
nopsis, must be viewed, my daughter, as must the
system of human nature, in reference first to the
intellect, then to the action, finally to the feeling
of man. In the primitive theocracy these three
phases of our existence were cultivated simultane-
ously, and the existence was thus brought under
a comj)lete system of rules. But however com-
plete, such a system was not favourable to progress.
And yet so true is it that this discipline was the only
one admissible under the theological regime, that
it was impossible to find any durable substitute for
it so long as the fictitious synthesis lasted. To
quicken the rate of progress, it was necessary to
break up the harmony, in order to develope in suc-
cession each part of man's nature at the expense of
c c 2
388 CONCLUSION.
the two others. Hence the marked character of
incompleteness, traceable equally in the intellectual
evolution of Greece, in the social action of Rome,
in the affective discipline of the Catholic-feudal
period. These three partial evolutions succeed one
another in an order which is at once seen to be a
consequence of their common destination. The first
object was to develope all the powere of our nature.
Any attempt at their discipline was premature, ex-
cept so far as discipline was a consequence of their
spontaneous antagonism. And the only effect of such
a premature attempt would have been a return to
theocracy. For theocracy was always imminent,
and to return to it was to prevent the partial
development desii-ed. You see then how it was,
that feeling, the chief source of human discipline,
was for a long time neglected, and how its supre-
macy could not be recognised till science and action
should have made sufficient advance. For the free
play of all our powers, it was necessary that intel-
ligence should precede action. The tendency of action
was to unite all the progressive polytheists in one
empire. Such an union would have been incom-
patible with the full liberty required for our intel-
lectual growth. That gro^\i:h then must precede,
as was actually the case, the development of our
activity.
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 389
CONVERSATION XIII.
GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION continued.
The Woman. — Our last conversation lias shown
me, my father, the three great periods of transition
through which we have necessarily passed since the
Homeric times. I understand also their order of
succession. But I still need a clearer understanding
of the course of each and the connexion of the three,
beginning with the Greek evolution.
The Priest. — The Greek period is one of im-
perishable brilliancy. But, my daughter, if you
place Greece and Rome side by side, and judge them
by the standard of the influence each civilization
had on its respective nation, you will regret that
the contrast is unfavourable to Greece. In Boman
history we are in contact with a constructive
system, the work of the nation, in which all the
citizens must take an active part, or the failm-e
would be complete. In Greece the people is, in
the main, passive. It forms a kind of pedestal for
some few thinkers of real eminence. Their number
is not above one hundred, in art, in philosophy, in
science, from Homer and Hesiod to Ptolemy and
Galen. In Bome a high degree of common action
stamps the whole nation with a character of nobility,
and the traces of that character are yet distin-
guishable. In Greece the monstrous predominance
of speculation over action led to the degradation of
the people, which was sacrificed to it. And here
390 CONCLUSION.
again the effects are yet quite traceable. In tlieir
last stage, the Greeks considered the faculties of
expression as the paramount object. It was their
conquest by Rome that alone preserved the Greek
cities from succumbing to the tyranny of some
despicable rhetorician.
There is but one j&ne period in the social ex-
istence of these tribes which have been the object
of such excessive admiration. Its duration was
scarcely two centuries. Even during that time
there were constant interruptions from their
wretched internal disputes. The period I mean
was that of their admirable struggle with the
Persian empire. Defensive at the outset, the
war became ultimately offensive. The issue was
to vindicate from all forcible compression on the
part of the Persian theocracy the small band of free
thinkers, on whose existence depended, at the time,
the intellectual destinies of Humanity. And even
in this struggle the success is mainly due to some
few citizens of pre-eminent merit. The several States
constantly showed themselves ready to sacrifice the
national defence to their mutual jealousies.
This long process of intellectual elaboration is
divided into three periods of unequal length. Each
of them is faithfully represented in our calendar.
The movement began with art, and Homer is for
all time the representative of art. It was natural
that poetry, as at once by nature more independent
of and yet more fettered by theocracy, should be
the first to separate from the parent stem, and lead
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 391
the way in the emancipation of the Western world.
Poetry made the way clear for philosophy. In
Thales and Pythagoras we have the first rudiments,
but the incomparable Aristotle is its genuine re-
presentative. He was so far above his age that it
was not till the Middle Ages that he could be
appreciated. The value of his philosophical elabo-
ration is imperishable, and the results obtained
were so definitive as to force on all true thinkers
the conviction that the limit Aristotle had reached
could not be passed without a long scientific pre-
paration. The aim of such preparation should be
the development of mathematics, as the primary
basis of Positive philosophy. Under this convic-
tion, the genius of the Greeks directed its chief
attention to practical science, and this finds an
admirable representative in Archimedes. The ca-
pacity of the Greeks for art and their philosophical
power had been irreparably exhausted.
The Woman. — I have always found it easier, my
father, to understand the Roman period of the pre-
paratory regime. This is owing to the homogeneous
and strongly marked character which distinguishes
Rome's gradual march to universal empire. Bos-
suet's Universal History contains some brilliant
remarks on this point, and I have long known
them. The policy of Rome stands out so clear that
Yirgil could embody it in a few matchless lines, which
were once explained to me. {jEn. vi. 847 — 855.)
Directly they bear only on Rome's action on other
nations, yet in reading them we feel how intimate
392 CONCLUSION.
the connexion is between that foreign action and
Rome's internal constitution.
The Priest. — All you have to do, my daughter,
is to complete your general idea of Rome's action
by distinguishing two main periods in her history.
Prior to the period when the incorporation of the
greater part of Western Europe was effected, the
direction of the warlike energies of Rome was na-
turally in the hands of the senatorial caste. Strong
in its theocratic ascendancy, the senate found in the
common efforts a sufficient check on the jealousy of
the plebeians. But this order of things, based upon
war, was destined to undergo a change when the
Roman dominion became so extended and so con-
solidated that it no longer absorbed the attention of
the Roman people. The emperors then stood
forward as the true representatives of that people,
its protectors against the tyranny of the patricians.
At the very time that Yirgil expressed the policy
of Rome, the best representative of which is the
great Dictator, the incomparable Caesar, that policy
was undergoing, unknown to the poet, this decisive
change, the first symptom of its inevitable decline.
These two periods of nearly equal length were,
one of them eminently progressive, the other essen-
tially conservative. Both equally have had a power-
ful social influence on the whole preparation of
Western Europe. To the first we owe the salutary
dominion which everywhere put a stop to fruitless
and yet continuous wars. To the second we owe,
in the civil order, the benefits attendant on incor-
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 393
poration into one political whole, benefits gi'eatlj
dependent on the uniform propagation of the Greek
intellectual movement. Rome conquered Greece,
but she always paid her a noble tribute, and de-
voted her own influence to spread the results of
Greek art, of Greek philosophy, and Greek science,
which, unless so disseminated, would not have ful-
filled their highest purpose.
Thus had finally been effected a junction between
the two last movements peculiar to antiquity, the one
intellectual, the other social. After this combina-
tion, the preparatory stage of man's existence na-
turally set towards the last of its necessary phases.
Theoretically and practically, our intellect and
activity had been developed. There soon came the
consciousness of the need of some discipline. A
species of spontaneous discipline was a natural con-
sequence of having an end in view, however tem-
porary that end might be. But that end attained,
all discipline was over. The intellect and the heart
fell a prey to an unparalleled dissipation, and the
treasures accumulated by the thought and labour of
man were wasted in the ignoble gratification of un-
controlled selfishness. At the time when regenera-
tion was becoming indispensable, it seemed to have
a systematic basis laid for it. The whole ante-
cedent history of Greece and Rome seemed to
furnish that basis, by a combination of the intel-
lectual superiority of monotheism with the tendency
of society towards an universal religion.
It was to satisfy this great want of some complete
394
CONCLUSION.
discipline that Catliolicism rose. Its success was
due to the impulse given by the incomparable
St. Paul, a fact as yet too little recognised. In his
sublime self-abnegation he facilitated the pro-
gress of the new unity, by accepting a founder
who had no real claim. But Catholicism is pro-
foundly self-contradictory, and thus, even at its
birth, there were evidences that this last transi-
tional state would be less permanent and less
extensive than its predecessors. For to attain its
chief end, it was necessary to effect a radical
separation of the spiritual from the temporal power.
It is true, such a separation was the spontaneous
result of a position in which monotheism was
slowly making way under the political supremacy
of polytheism. Not the less, however, is this
division of the temporal and spiritual powers at all
times incompatible with the absolute character of
theology. For theology, and this is especially true
of its concentrated form, monotheism, only allows
its priesthood to confine itself to counsel when it
cannot exercise command.
That Catholicism is thus necessarily contradic-
tory may be best seen by taking two general points of
contrast, the one social, the other intellectual. And
firstly, the only possible foundation for human dis-
cipline was, at that time, a future state. Hence
the doctrine of a future life acquired, in the hands
of the new priesthood, a far greater importance
than it had ever before had, even in Judea. The
priesthood found in it the exclusive domain it
THE GENERAL HISTOEY OF RELIGION. 395
needed. But a religion constituted on tliis basis
was incompetent to guide practical life, for every
believer was diverted from his duty as a social
beiDg, and urged to a solitary asceticism. In the
second place, the schism between theory and
practice, concealed and even atoned for whilst the
temporal and spiritual powers remained concen-
trated, became prominent on their separation.
Monotheism by its concentration di'ew out more
strongly the inherent opposition between arbitrary
will and immutable laws.
Aristotle had skilfully invented a scheme by
which the two might be reconciled, but his method
was only available at a later period when the
Positive spirit should be advancing towards its final
ascendancy, though still under the guardianship of
theology.
If we combine the two points above given, we
need not be surprised that Catholicism was long
rejected by the most eminent philosophers and
statesmen of the Roman empire. They looked
upon it as purely retrograde. These great chiefs
had been gi^adually prepared, from the time of
Scipio and Csesar, for the direct advent of the
kingdom of Humanity, in which the Positive spirit
and the industrial life should be paramount. They
failed to see that one more preparatory phase of
society, which should essentially have reference
to feeling, was needed to introduce the final regime,
and that the results of that phase would be a two-
fold emancipation, the peculiar work of the
396 CONCLUSION.
Middle Ages, the emancipation of women and the
emancipation of the industrial classes.
The Woman. — When you attribute these great
results to Catholicism, you seem to me, my father,
to do so with the view of bringing out more clearly
their historical filiation, by representing them as
the possible effects of the old system under the
impulse of the new religion. But their attainment
was greatly aided and even accelerated by the in-
fluence of feudalism. Catholicism once had my
belief, and it shall always have my respect. I could
never, however, prevent myself from secretly pre-
ferring Chivalry. The noble motto which embodies
the feelings of chivalry, I hear proclaimed even
in the sixteenth century : Fais ce que dois, advienne
que pourra. Do thy duty, come what may.
The Priest. — You are right, my daughter, as to
the respective merits of the two systems ; and I
need but complete your view, by showing you that
feudalism, erroneously attributed to the German
invasions, was in reality the necessary consequence
of the Koman empire, which in its later period had
a natural tendency towards the feudal organization.
The wide extension of the Roman empire speedily
substituted defence for conquest. This is the great
change, of which the two other characteristics of
the Middle Ages are the necessary result. On the
one hand, we have the gradual substitution of
serfage for slavery, when as a natural consequence
of the cessation of foreign conquests the slave-
market was confined within the limits of the Roman
THE GEXERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 397
world. On the other hand, we have a gradually
increasing dissolution of the central power, and the
substitution of local governments, each charged
with its share in the common defence. The
hierarchical subordination of these governments
wa,s what constituted feudalism in the strict sense
of the word. All that Catholicism did was to
sanction these three political tendencies by recom-
mending peace, emancipation, and submission.
Catholicism at that time was the fit exponent of
the feelings called forth by the position of affairs
in Western Europe. This we may allow without
attributing it to its doctrine, a doctrine which, at a
later period, sanctioned dispositions of an entirely
opposite nature, and sanctioned them by vii'tue of
its vagueness and anti-social tendencies.
Catholicism contributed far less than feudalism
to the abolition of slavery in Eui'ope. The move-
ment began in the towns and subsequently extended
to the country. Neither did Catholicism contribute
as powerful an aid as feudalism to the emancipation
of women. In this respect we owe it the initial
step, purity ; the final step, tenderness, is in no way
due to Catholicism, but to chivalry. Throughout
the Greek Church, Christianity still sanctions the
seclusion of women and serfage ; and the only at-
tempts at due modifications proceed from the Czars.
The Woman. — I am prepared, my father, to
accept this general estimate of the Middle Ages.
It remains for me to learn the chief divisions of
this last organic period of transition.
398 CONCLUSION.
The Priest. — We may divide it, my daughter, by
the two systems of defensive wars, on which the
attention of the West was naturally concentrated,
whilst the great social revolution which I have
just explained was in process of gradual accom-
plishment. The first period begins with the
opening of the fifth, and ends with the close of the
seventh century. It is occupied by the first great
settlement of the barbarians. In that settlement,
where, that is, the conditions of the invasion
permitted its final success, we can trace all the
characteristics of the Middle Ages with the excep-
tion of language. In this first period independence
was the primary object; concert was of secondary im-
portance. The second period is of equal length,
from the eighth to the tenth century. In it, the
paramount want was concentration. The object
was to repel the invasions of fresh tribes, and to
secui-e from further distui^bance the settlement
effected.
The tribes who had effected it had shown them-
selves fit for incorporation into Western Eiu'ope,
by the care with which they had been converted
from polytheism to Catholicism. The action of
Europe then in this period was collective, under
the guidance of the Carlovingian princes, and
especially under the dictatorship of the incom-
parable Charlemagne. The work of Charlemagne
found men worthy to complete it in the German
Emperors.
Thus was founded the republic of Western
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 399
Europe. The earlier association, originating in the
forcible incorporation effected by Eome, now
assumed a new form. It became the voluntary
association of independent States, whose only bond
of union was a common spiritual organization,
centred in the person of the Pope. Even at its
commencement this change had a tendency, not-
withstanding the influence of the Church and
political associations, to form a new centre for the
whole system, and to substitute Paris for Rome.
By the end of the Middle Ages the choice had
been irrevocably made. The central situation of
Paris was more adapted to meet the requirements
of European society. It was during this second
period that the East experienced a vast convulsion.
The reaction of that convulsion was dee];)ly felt by
the whole of the Western world. Its first effect
was to prolong the existence of the Catholic-feudal
regime. Later, it gave the first impulse to its
irreparable dissolution.
The want of a really imiversal religion had been
long felt by the greater part of the white race,
not excepting that portion of it which, though
adjacent to the Poman empire, had not fallen under
the power of Pome. Universality had been
claimed by Catholicism, and the claim is at once
the chief merit of the system and the soundest
test by which to try it. No theological system can
make good the claim. Universality is the exclusive
apanage of Positivism. Monotheism, however, is
nearer its attainment than polytheism. For poly-
400 CONCLUSION.
theism was always essentially national, though
perfectly compatible with the incorporation by war.
Monotheism, on the contrary, may be the rallying-
point for nations quite independent of one another,
though it has never practically been so except in
Western Europe, in the medieval period. It was
natural then that the East should aspire to a
monotheistic belief, one however which should be
entirely incompatible with that adopted by the
West, in consequence of its different social
destination.
In fact, the chief function of Islamism was to
direct the warlike development of another noble
portion of the white race, which aimed in its turn
at becoming the central pojjulation of Humanity.
Hence it was necessary for Islamism to fuse, as of
old, the spiritual and temporal powers. Nay, it
even gave greater force to the fusion, by its mono-
theistic concentration. Thus become more consonant
with the natural genius of theology, monotheism
was enabled, and even required, in the East, to
simplify its doctrine to a degree imattainable in
the West. For, in Europe, the factitious separa-
tion of the two powers had compelled St. Paul,
the real founder of Catholicism, to complicate its
doctrinal system. In common with every form of
monotheism, he had adopted a basis of revelation ; he
was driven to add to that basis the doctrine of the
divinity of Christ, the reputed founder of Catholi-
cism. This led to other secondary comj^lications.
It is the boast of Islamism that it rejected all
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 401
equally, in order the better to secure the predomi-
nance of the military character against the de-
generacy of the priesthood in the person of its
supreme head. The independence of the clergy was
the real ground of the subtle refinements of the
Catholic system, which, judged historically, deserve
the respect of the philosopher, however repugnant
they may be to his reason.
At the very beginning of the struggle between
the two irreconcileable monotheisms, an impartial
observer might have foreseen that its result would
be to discredit both equally, by showing the
thorough groundlessness of the claim they both put
forward to be universal. The contest between
Catholicism and Mahomedanism occupies tlie last
period of the Middle Ages. It begins with the
eleventh century, and ends at the close of the thir-
teenth. During this period, what we call the feudal
system in the strict sense was established. Inde-
pendence had been the dominant idea originally ; it
had given way to the idea of concert. Feudalism
combined both without impairing either, so as to
constitute an anticipation of the final sociocracy.
The admii'able institutions of feudalism in the
twelfth century served as a general basis for the
Crusades. Those heroic expeditions organized and
developed the collective activity of the Western
republic, and finally put an end to all the anxious
fears of a Mussulman invasion. In the next century,
the Crusades ceased to have any great social pur-
pose ; they lost their true character and fell into
D D
402 CONCLUSION.
discredit. The result was, that the Roman world
was divided between two incompatible mono-
theisms ; both alike doomed to an inevitable decline.
The only obstacle to retard the process in either case
was the difficulty of finding a system to substitute.
The Woman. — This general theory of the Middle
Ages, my father, at length enables me to under-
stand Catholicism as an intellectual and social
system. I see the necessity of its rise, why its
mission was but temporary, why its decay is irre-
mediable. At the same time this appreciation of
Catholicism shows clearly how unjust it was towards
the intellectual development of Greece and the
social work of Rome, the incorporation of the
Western world. The spontaneous combination of
the results of Greece and Rome had led to Catho-
licism. It cursed its parents, and was in its turn
cursed by its children. The first wrong is no excuse
for, but it explains, the second, and shows where
the continuity of the race was broken.
The Priest. — Yes, my daughter, this continuity
had been respected in the preceding revolutions.
At the outset, polytheism had almost insensibly sup-
planted fetichism by a natural process of incorpora-
tion. When the primitive form of theocracy gave
place to its progressive and military form, there
was still no breaking ofi' from the social antecedents,
no withholding their due honour. So again, when
Rome absorbed Greece, she macte it her glory to
continue the intellectual movement originated by
Greece. But the advent of Catholicism has, on the
THE GEXEKAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 403
contrary, an anarchical character. In the Catholic
conception of the future and the present, and the
direction of the latter, the Greco-Roman past is as
comj^letely set aside as if it had never existed. In
its unfairness Christianity makes no exception even
for its Jewish antecedents, and this notwithstanding
the importance which it unwisely attaches to them.
This rude disruption of continuity, which Islam-
ism carefully avoided, greatly weakened the general
consciousness of social progress. Yet the first germ
of the idea of progress was naturally due to Catho-
licism, by virtue of its real superiority over the
older system. It is very important to form a sound
judgment on the Catholic disruption of historical
tradition. First of all, it explains the profoundly
contradictory position, both intellectually and mo-
rally, which Catholicism occupied. Its doctrinal
system was the child of discussion, yet subsequently
it endeavoured to stifle discussion. Again it
demanded of its children the respect which it refused
its parents. But further, it is to this rupture of his-
torical continuity that we trace the origin of the worst
tendency which characterizes modern anarchy. The
anti-historical feeling and spirit, the i^revalence of
which is the greatest obstacle to the regeneration
of the West, date as far back as the rise of Catho-
licism. Positivism alone can overcome the enormous
difficulty they cause, for Positivism can do equal
justice to all the phases, whether social or intellec-
tual, of the evolution of the human race.
Still, here as everywhere else, we must acknow-
D D 2
404 CONCLUSION.
ledge that the Catholic priesthood by its remark-
able wisdom for a long time neutralized the main
vices of its deplorable doctrine. It adopted as its
own the language of Rome when it ceased to be
the language in common use, and instinctively pre-
served all the intellectual treasures of antiquity,
even its beautiful theology. Dante was right in
immortalizing the touching legend of the successful
intercession of Gregory the Great in behalf of
Trajan. We read in it a clear indication of the
regret felt by the nobler Catholics that their doc-
trine in its blindness prevented their honouring
their best ancestors. However, there was prevalent
a general respect for our Greek and Roman pre-
decessors, a respect especially felt by the statesmen,
notwithstanding the ignorance which was common.
Throughout we find the same contrast. All our
feelings were subjected by Catholicism to an admi-
rable discipline. And yet the very basis of Catho-
licism is the existence of an egoistic being, whose
preponderance was necessary to overpower the ordi-
nary selfishness of the individual. The faith of
Catholicism is more adverse to women than any
other which has ever held supremacy, and yet this
very faith paved the way for, and sanctioned, the
tenderness of chivalry. By its institution of celi-
bacy for the clergy and its consequent destruction
of any hereditary character in the priesthood, Ca-
tholicism struck the most signal blow at the system
of caste in the West. Yet the doctrine from
which the blow comes is by its nature favourable
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 405
to theocracy, to establish which was the final object
of the papacy in its degeneracy.
Monotheism ultimately became thoroughly hostile
to all intellectual progress, but it prepared the way
for a general advance in this direction by com-
pleting the elaboration of logic. Fetichism had
taken the first step, it had founded the logic of
feelings. The second step, the logic of images, was
due to polytheism. But its development, so far
as it was spontaneous, was only complete under
monotheism by the habitual use of the aid of signs.
Though this final step is, in the main, common to
Islamism and Catholicism, it is more peculiarly
attributable to Catholicism, if we consider the habit
of discussion to which the separation of the two
powers gave rise in all classes of society.
A review of these points of contrast tends greatly
to increase the admiration and respect of true phi-
losophers for the noble members of a priesthood
which during several centuries could find such
powerful resources in a faith w^hich was radically
defective, and which yet was the only one suited to
this period of transition. Whilst we allow this,
however, we must not forget, that whatever pro-
gress was made in the Middle Ages was due to
the joint action of the two heterogeneous elements
which must never be separated in our view of
medieval Europe, Catholicism and feudalism.
Over and above its immediate services, the
admirable transitional organization of the Middle
Ages called into existence all the essential germs of
406 CONCLUSION.
the final state. Nay, we find in it the rudiments
of the true order of society, under each of its chief
aspects, the temporal order as well as the spiritual.
The outline is as complete as the received belief and
the circumstances of the time allowed. Positivism
then at the present day adopts the program of the
Middle Ages, and aims at can-ying it out. For
success in this work it trusts to the combination of
a better faith with a less unfavourable form of
activity. Feudalism now finds no special sup-
porters, and its influence is depreciated in our
historical estimate of the medieval period. Catho-
licism alone is studied by the retrograde school, and
its share in the joint result is unduly exaggerated.
On a searching and accurate examination, however,
we can trace the influence of chivalry even in the
modifications which were introduced into Catho-
licism, the last provisional form of man's belief. It is
to the feudal feeling that we owe the first conception
of the worship of woman, the necessary prelude to
the religion of Humanity. It was to the same feel-
ing that was really due, in the time of the Crusades,
the change by which in Western monotheism the
Virgin Mary nearly took the place of God.
In the very process, however, of assigning to
their true authors the results of the Middle Ages,
we are led to see how profoundly precarious, by its
very constitution, was the Catholic-feudal system,
the last form of the regime based on theology and
war. The sole compensation for the imperfections
of the Catholic doctrine lay in the priesthood. The
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 407
adequacy of the priesthood depended on its keeping
its progressive character. This it could only do so
long as it discharged a social and moral office. Now
the very discharge of this office led to a progress in
Western EurojDe which was incompatible with the
Catholic faith^ and ultimately at variance with the
constitution of the Catholic clergy in its retrogi'ade
state. This is shown by the failure of the admirable
attempt at regeneration made by St. Francis and
St. Dominic, in the thii'teenth century. In a word,
the results attained in the Middle Ages imperatively
called for a new system from the moment that
Islamism and Catholicism finally neutralized each
other's influence. Eor instance, the emancipation
from all theological belief, long limited to certain
individuals, spread widely in consequence of the
Crusades. The impulse was given by the Knights
Templai'S, who had been brought into closer contact
with the Mussulmen.
At the opening then of the fourteenth century
begins the vast revolution in Western Europe, to
end which is the mission of Positivism. At the
date above mentioned, the whole movement of the
human mind was thoroughly hostile to the existing
order, though it was impossible that the new system
oould as yet be seen. After Catholicism, no other
theological organization was possible; just as, after
feudalism, no further modification of the military
system was possible. The anticipations of Caesar
and Trajan were becoming facts. The tendency of
which they had had a premature presentiment was
408 CONCLUSION.
beginning to be distinctly recognised, the tendency
of Western Europe definitively to accept a Positive
faith and a peaceful activity. But for the attain-
ment of this end it was necessary that science,
industry, and even art should undergo a long
elaboration. And, in the main, the process must be
one of detail, and dispersive in character, so that its
social bearing was not seen. We thus see the
origin of the two characteristics of the last transi-
tional period of human society. Taken as a whole,
it is a period of growing anarchy; taken in its
several parts, it is one of increasing organization.
The Woman. — Now that I see, my father, the
direct connexion of the present with the past, I
must know the general course of the movement to
be able to follow the simultaneous growth of
anarchy and reorganization.
The Priest. — The negative progress, that of
anarchy, has a more distinct character than the
other, my daughter. We must distinguish its two
necessary phases. In the one, the work of decompo-
sition is unconscious; in the other, it becomes more
and more systematic. The first phase includes the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the other the
three following. These two periods also differ, if
we look to the positive side of the movement, the
process of reorganization ; but the difference is less
marked. The whole of Western Europe was
affected by the spontaneous decomposition. When
systematic, the triumph of the negative movement
was confined to the North.
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 409
From its commencement the direction of tlie re-
volutionary movement was in the hands of two
classes. Closely connected with one another, they
trace their origin to the old powers, but they
shortly became their rivals. These classes are the
metaphysicians and lawyers; they constitute re-
spectively the spiritual and temporal element in
the negative system. Its most prominent organs,
particularly in France, were the universities and
the parliaments. The legists are more entitled to
respect than the metaphysicians. Both are actuated
by one spirit, but in the legists it is modified by the
wholesome influence of social considerations. The
metaphysicians never were anything, as regards
theology, but inconsistent destructives. The law-
yers, and above all, the judges, not to mention
their temporary or special services, always had a
tendency to follow in the track of Rome, and con-
struct a moral system on a basis exclusively human.
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
the whole medieval regime was thoroughly broken
up by conflicts between its component parts, its
doctrinal system remaining intact. The chief
struggle naturally was between the temporal and
spiritual powers. Their harmony had always been
precarious, a series of oscillations between theocracy
and the empire. The popes in the thirteenth
century strove in vain to establish an absolute
dominion. Throughout Europe, and in France
more than elsewhere, the kings organized a suc-
cessful resistance. In the next century they finally
410 COXCLUSION.
annihilated the power of the papacy in Western
Europe. This decisive revolution was completed
in the fifteenth century, when, in every case, the
national clergy became subordinate to the temporal
authority. The Pope became a mere illusion as a
spiritual centre; he sunk into an Italian prince.
With its independence, the priesthood lost its mo-
rality, its public morality first, then its private.
To ensure its material existence, it placed its teach-
ing at the service of the stronger.
Side by side with this change in spiritual mat-
ters, in the temporal order the struggle which had
begun in the Middle Ages between the local and
central powers in the State, was continued on a
larger scale. In every case the power which had
originally been the weaker got the upper hand, by
the instinctive aid of the classes whose origin dates
from the abolition of serfage. The normal issue is,
that royalty should prevail and the aristocracy
succumb. The contrary result is to be looked on
as an exception. Yenice was the first instance of
it j England the most complete and important. In
both forms alike, the combination of political con-
centration with the humiliation of the priesthood led
to the same result in every state of Western Europe.
This result was the formation of a real dictatorship,
as the only method of checking the temporal
anarchy which was the consequence of the spiritual
disorganization. The eminent Louis XI. was the
best type of this exceptional magistracy; he was
the only statesman who could clearly discern
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 411
and wisely guide the whole movement of modern
Europe.
If we tui-n to the positive side of the progress, its
most important feature during this first period is,
the growth of industry. The way had been pre-
pared by the organization of the labouring classes,
both in town and country, in the Middle Ages. In
the period under consideration three important
events gave a decisive impulse to the industrial
movement. There is nothing fortuitous in their
occurring at this particular time. First, by the
invention of gunpowder the transitional institution
of standing armies became perfect, and Western
Europe was able to dispense with a military educa-
tion which was adverse to the new form of action.
Next, printing connected science with industry,
by enabling men to gratify the ardent desire for
knowledge which was then universal. Lastly, the
discovery of America and the passage by the Cape
of Good Hope to India gave an opening for a
vast extension of commercial relations. Under this
impulse the new form of Eui'opean existence
took shape and consistency. The intellectual
movement produced no great efiects as yet, except
in poetry. The fourteenth century opens with the
unrivalled epic of Dante ; in the fifteenth we have
an admirable mystical composition. On the other
hand, the accumulation of useful materials of all
kinds prepares the way for the subsequent scien-
tific development.
This simultaneous advance of the intellect and
412 CONCLUSION.
activity does but place in a clearer light the
lamentable neglect of moral improvement. The
attention to this had been general in the Middle
Ages, and is their chief merit. The ardour of
Western Europe for intellectual and practical pro-
gress was mainly the consequence of an universal
and irregular development of pride and vanity, not
unfrequently in conjunction with the basest selfish-
ness. The development of the esthetic faculties, it
must be allowed, though not clear from revolu-
tionary tendencies, unconsciously kept alive better
sentiments. But moral culture became more and
more exclusively confined to the affective sex. Xot
carried away by the stream of scientific and prac-
tical advance, it was reserved for women, amid mo-
dern anarchy, to hand down to us the more impor-
tant results of the Middle Ages, in spite of the
aversion felt for those results. But the holy provi-
dence of woman could not arrest the decline of the
power of love. The gradual weakening of this,
the only sound basis of all human discipline, coin-
cided with the rapid increase of streng*th in the
new forces, both spiritual and temi^oral, which
are required for the final state of the Western
world.
The Woman. — The initial stage of the twofold
movement of modern times is now clear to me, my
father. Would you give me a similar view of its
systematic period ?
The Priest. — Hitherto, my daughter, the doc-
trines of the old regime have been unassailed; they
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 413
are now the object of a direct attack on purely
negative principles. That the anarchy should
spread thus far was indispensable as well as inevi-
table, for in no other way could the necessity of a
real reorganization be evident. The want had not
been felt previously, owing to the appearance of life
which the old system wore after all its social bases
had been irrevocably destroyed. But to form a
sound judgment on the work of this period, we
must divide it into two parts. The fii^t begins
with the sixteenth century, and ends at the point
at which the monarchy in France assumes a retro-
grade attitude, an event which coincides with the
triumph of the aristocracy in England. The second
division brings us to the close of the eighteenth
century, to the actual commencement therefore of
the revolutionary crisis; which, after the lapse of
two generations, is yet convulsing Eiu'ope with its
deplorable vicissitudes.
The necessity of such a division of the period
depends principally on the increase of system on
the negative side. At the outset it seemed that
the negative doctrines might be compatible with
the fandamental conditions of the theological
regime, but later it became evident that they were
incompatible.
We may mark these two successive stages of the
negative movement by the terms Protestant and
Deist. Infinitely varied as are the sects of Protes-
tantism, they all adhere to the Christian doctrine of
a revelation. And this is sufficient to distinguish
414 CONCLUSION.
tliem from the more complete emancipation which
is implied in Deism.
At the very commencement of the second phase of
modern history, the negative doctrine broaches di-
rectly its anarchical principle, by its assertion of abso-
lute individualism. This follows from its allowing
that every one, without exacting any conditions of
competence, may decide every qiiestion. Once allow
this, and all spiritual authority is at an end. The
living rise in open insurrection against the dead,
as is evidenced by the blind reprobation for the
whole medieval system, for which the irrational
admiration of antiquity was but a poor compensa-
tion. Protestantism lent its influence to widen the
fatal breach in the continuity of the race which
Catholicism had begun.
The Woman. — Allow me for a moment, my father,
to interrupt you, that I may express the profound
dislike I have ever felt for Protestantism. Whilst
professing to reform Western monotheism, it
stripped it of its best institutions. Thus it sup-
pressed purgatory, the worship of the Virgin and
the Saints, the system of the confessional, and per-
verted the mysterious sacrament which was dear to
the hearts of the Western nations as the sublime
condensation of their whole religion. Hence it was
that my sex, which had aided so powerfully the
growth of Catholicism, took, as a general rule, no
active part in the Protestant reformation. For it
found its tenderness rejected, and the compensation
it received was the permission to interjDret writings
THE GENERAL HISTOEY OF EELIGIOX. 415
which are unintelligible and dangerous. Protes-
tantism would have grievously lowered the institu-
tion of marriage as it existed in Western Europe,
by re-establishing divorce ; but the state of manners
and feelings instinctively rejected so retrograde a
movement, even when it was accepted officially.
The Priest. — Your just dislike of Protestantism,
my daughter, is a spontaneous explanation of the
great disagreement of Western Europe in regard to
it. Its purely negative doctrine became a source of
division in nations, in cities, and even in families.
Its success, partial as it was, shows however that
it met some important wants, wants both of the
intellect and of society. The anarchical character of
its principles did not prevent Protestantism from
aiding, at its commencement, the progress of science
and the development of industry, for it gave a
stimulus to individual effort and it set aside oppres-
sive rules. We owe to it two revolutions — that of
Holland against the tp-anny of Spain; that of
England, to secure internal reform. The second
was premature, and therefore ultimately failed.
But it did not fail till it had given indications,
under the admirable dictatorship of CromweU, of
the inevitable tendency of the European movement.
From this time forward the requirements of order
and those of progress, both equally impei-ative,
became absolutely irreconcileable. The nations of
Western Europe ranged themselves on one side or
the other, according as they felt more strongly the
need of order or of progress. There was imminent
416 CONCLUSION.
danger of UDiversal oppression had Protestantism
nowhere gained the ascendancy. For the retro-
grade clergy of Catholicism were busy everywhere,
trying to rouse the governments of Europe against
a movement, the tendency of which could no longer
be doubted. We may be glad, however, that the
greater part of the Western world was preserved
from Protestantism. Had it been universally ac-
cepted, that acceptance would have been deemed a
satisfactory issue of the general revolutionary move-
ment. The essential conditions of regeneration
would in no way have been complied with, for
Protestantism proclaims the permanent fusion of
the spiritual and temporal power. This view of
the two systems leads us to feel equal sympathy
with the great men who on either side took a noble
part in this immense struggle, the necessary pre-
liminary to a true reorganization.
Great as were the obstacles arising from the Pro-
testant movement, in the second period of modern
history we see perfected the temporal dictatorship, the
origin of which is traceable to the first. The growth
of its power coincides with the formation of the great
nationalities, a provisional result of the disruption
of the union effected by Catholicism in the Middle
Ages. But this political anomaly led to no great
social results of value anywhere but in France,
and even in France such results w^ere necessarily
temporary. Since the time of Charlemagne, there
has been an increasing tendency to invest France
with the general direction of the EuroiDcan move-
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 417
ment. It was necessary then that she should be-
come a veiy compact power, yet large enough to
turn the scale by its influence, and to overcome all
aggression from the retrogi'ade side. In the other
nations of Europe, the dictatorial concentration of
power was but the blind and perilous imitation of
an exceptional policy required in France.
In this second period, the scientific character and
philosophical tendency of the positive movement
became clearer. Cosmology took a decisive step in
advance by establishing the theory of the earth's
motion. Then followed shortly the systematization
of celestial geometry, and the foundation of celestial
mechanics. Such theories showed that the scien-
tific spirit was radically at variance with theology
and metaphysics. The tendency to construct di-
rectly a philosophy which should be thoroughly
positive became strongly marked. Bacon and Des-
cartes both lent their aid in this direction, and
pointed out the preparation required for the con-
struction of a positive synthesis. During this
decisive movement, the progress of poetry and the
other fine arts was a worthy continuation of that
made in the preceding period, which in its turn had
been due to the Middle Ages, In the absence of all
philosophical guidance and of any social purpose,
the poetry of Western Europe produced, in the
course of five centuries, more real masterjDieces
than the whole of antiquity. As for the progress
of industry, to extend it became more and more
the object of the various governments, though they
E E
418 CONCLUSION,
still looked on it as subordinate to war. We can
even then trace the tendency of the masters to
separate themselves from their workmen, and to
make common cause with a degenerate aristocracy.
The Woman. — I wish now, my father, to form
an idea of the character and object of the last period
of modem history.
The Priest. — Its necessity, my daughter, lay in
the general results of the preceding period. Protes-
tantism and Catholicism had given up all idea of
universal supremacy. Western Europe was di-
vided between them, as the Roman empire was
divided between the Goran and the Bible. Limit-
ing ourselves to the leading nations, this division of
the West into Catholic and Protestant, coincides
naturally with the division of the dictatorship
into aristocratic and monarchical. This division
had been the result of the preceding period. By
this coincidence it became more marked. In the
Protestant nations the aristocratic form prevailed ;
in Catholic countries, the monarchical.
Under both forms equally, the dictatorship) had
become hostile to the movement of emancij)ation,
for it threatened both alike with an entire subver-
sion. Monarchy, more especially in France, had
been progTcssive so long as it had a powerful oppo-
sition to overcome. When the opposition ceased,
and the struggle was over, its retrograde tenden-
cies became manifest. As early as the second
half of the reign of Louis XIY., it gradually
rallied around it all the fragments of the older
THE GENEKAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 419
order. The object of the union was to arrest a
social movement which it could not but consider as
simply anarchical. And in its aristocratical and Pro-
testant form, the dictatorship, especially in England,
was a still more formidable enemy to the move-
ment in Western Europe than in its monarchical
and Catholic form. It was more formidable, be-
cause it found more aid in the nation. Protestant-
ism, so long as it had had to struggle, had been
favourable to liberty. As soon as it became esta-
blished officially, it exerted itself to put a stop to
further emancipation. This is the tendency of every
system which refuses to adopt the separation of the
spiritual and temporal powers. In England, it led
to the prevalence of a systematic hypocrisy, more
skilfully organized and more pernicious in its re-
sults than that with which it taunted Jesuitism,
the latest form of expiring Catholicism. Nor was
this all. A still more important source of corrup-
tion was opened by Protestantism. I mean the
development on the largest scale of the system of
national selfishness. Venice had displayed the
same quality, but simply in its iiidimentary state.
The English nation gave it too a cordial welcome,
and the result was to isolate England from Western
Europe.
In such a position of affairs, an explosion was at
once indispensable and inevitable. It was negative
in character, and is the distinctive event which
marks the eighteenth century. A real reorganiza-
tion was impossible without it, nay, the veiy idea
E E 2
420 coxcLusiox.
of such a reorganization was impossible. The critical
doctrines which had their origin in the fundamental
principle proclaimed by the two Protestant revolu-
tions, had already been co-ordinated by the meta-
physicians who succeeded Bacon and Descartes.
They had gained universal acceptance, owing to
the assiduous exertions of the literary class. This
class had hitherto been subaltern ; it now assumed
the position of leader. In the direction of the
revolutionary movement, the litterateur replaced
the doctor of medieval times, just as the advocate
stepped into the place of the judge. Two genera-
tions witnessed and exhausted the ascendancy of
these inconsequent reasoners, who wished to destroy
the altar and maintain the throne, or conversely.
But pure destructives, such as Yoltaire and Rous-
seau, who are already nearly forgotten, can never
be the philosophical representatives of the eighteenth
century. Its gTcat school is that of Diderot and
Hume, of which Fontenelle was the precursor, Con-
dorcet the complement. This school accepted the
system of destruction, but accepted it only with
this object, that it might be able to gain as clear a
conception as possible of the final regeneration.
Among statesmen, Frederic the Great of Prussia
represents this school. Even at that early period, it
was only the narrower order of mind that could think
it possible by any conceivable modification of the older
order to meet the want of an entire renovation.
It was during the revolutionary crisis that on
the positive side of the movement, we see cos-
THE GENERAL HISTOEY OF RELIGIOX. 421
mology completed by the foundation of chemistry.
With this signal advance end the services of the
analytical spirit and of the academical regime.
Their predominance continued. But such blind
persistence became at once an obstacle, and an
obstacle of growing importance, to the progress
of future scientific labours, the presiding spirit of
which should be synthetic. In the industrial de-
partment we see the banking class rising to the
ascendancy, which is naturally its due ; for its
ascendancy is the sole condition under which the
systematization of our industrial action is possible.
At the same time, war became the minister of com-
merce. The colonial disputes were the occasion of
the change. The gi^eat extension of machinery
gave its last characteristic to modern industry. But
it also gave occasion to a lamentable increase, on
the part of the mastei^s, of neglect of all the social
conditions of industrial enterprise. The workmen
came more and more to be looked on simply as a
source of profit, to the exclusion of all ideas of
government or direction.
It is easy then to understand the stormy cha-
racter of the crisis ; of the vast revolution which was
the final issue of the whole five centuries which lie
between us and the Middle Ages. That stormy
character was the necessary result of the fatal in-
equality in the rate of progress of the positive and
negative movements. The two together make up
the whole movement of Western Europe. The
negative movement had been very rapid, and the
422 coxcLusiox.
positive had not been able to satisfy its demand for
organization. Whilst the negative was destroying
all general conceptions, the positive had only some
partial ones to offer in exchange. The leadership
in the work of modern regeneration, and that at
the time of its greatest difficulty, had devolved on
the class least qualified for the post, the class of
mere writers. The sole object of their aspirations
was the pedantocracy dreamed of by their Greek
masters. They would concentrate all power in
their own persons.
The Woman. — Your explanation of the revolu-
tionary crisis as a whole makes it clear to me. But
I should like, my father, to know in outline the
course it has taken, with a view to a right estimate
of its actual state, which is the last object of this
concluding conversation.
Tlie Priest. — In the first place, my daughter, I
would draw your attention to the abolition of the
French monarchy. This was a necessary step. The
monarchy was the centre, the condensed expression
of the whole regime in its decay. The funeral of
Louis XIY. might have opened men's eyes. But
there was at that time no true theory of history to
guide men to the right interpretation. What occurred
at that funeral was a clear indication of the irre-
mediable degeneracy of the government, of the
thorough hostility of the people.
After a few years of hesitation under the Consti-
tuent Assembly, hesitation due to the prevalence of
metaphysical theories, a decisive shock overthrew for
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 423
ever the retrograde institution of monarcliy, the last
vestige of the caste system. The theocratic consecra-
tion given it by the servile clergy of modern times
points to it as such. The glorious Convention, the
only assembly that enjoys a real popularity in France,
when it overthrew the monarchy as a prelim in ary
step to social regeneration, had no power to supply
any deficiencies in the intellectual movement of
Western Europe. It was without the requisites for
a really organic policy. It was competent to direct in
an heroic manner the defence of the French Re-
public, but it could not do more than express in
vague form the program of social wants ; and even
this was obscured by a metaphysical philosophy,
which has always been incapable of any construction
whatever.
The political triumph of the negative doctrine
brought to light its thoroughly subversive tenden-
cies. This soon led to a retrograde reaction. The
reaction began under the ephemeral ascendancy of
a bloodthirsty deism in the person of Robespierre.
It took larger proportions on the official restoration
of Catholicism under the military tyranny of Buona-
parte. But the primary tendencies of modern civili-
zation are such as to reject alike theology and war.
Though every egoistic instinct was at that time stimu-
lated to an unparalleled extent, the military spirit
was yet obliged, in its last orgies, to rest on a system
of compulsory recruitment. The universal adoption
of conscription is a sign that the abolition of standing
armies is approaching. Their substitute will be a
424 CONCLUSION.
police force. The expedients to which a retrograde
policy has since been driven to avert such a result
have all failed ; it has been found as impossible to
revive a warlike spirit as a theological one. Even
the plea of progress has been put forward in vain,
and the failure has been the more marked as there
are no general convictions leading men to a just
I'eprobation of such conduct. The expedition to
Algiers was the most immoral of these expedients ;
and I venture in this place, in the name of true
Positivists, solemnly to proclaim my wish, that the
Arabs may forcibly expel the French, unless the
French consent to an act of noble restitution. It is
a matter of pride to me to think that, in early years,
I ardently wished success to the heroic defence of
Spain.
The retrograde movement under the first Napo-
leon drew its apparent strength solely from war. The
extent of its failure was evident on the final resto-
ration of peace. In the absence, however, of all
organic views, metaphysical empiricism attempted
a solution. It found it in an imitation of the
English parliamentary system ; but seeing that that
system was only adapted to the transition state of
England, it urged its universal adoption. The
attempt was successful for a generation, and only
served to give some regularity to a wretched
series of oscillations between anarchy and retro-
gression. In this process the sole merit of either
party lay in its excluding its rival.
It became more and more clear that in this Ions:
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 425
period of fluctuation the received theories were all
equally powerless. The spiritual anarchy reached
its height. All the previous convictions of men,
whether of the revolutionary or retrograde school,
had lost their hold. If discipline is partial, it
cannot be real and lasting. If it is to be universal,
it must rest on one principle — the constant supre-
macy of the heart over the intellect. But the
principle had been losing ground ever since the
close of the Middle Ages. It had the support of
women ; but this holy support was powerless, for
Western Europe, in its madness, paid less and less
respect to women. The result was that even in the
scientific sphere, the provisional order, which Bacon
and Descartes had tried to institute, was set aside,
and free course given on empirical grounds to
the unconnected study of special sciences. All
philosophical control was scorned by those who
engaged in such pursuits. Each encyclopedic phase
ought to be kept within certain limits — limits to be
fixed by the wants of the next phase above it.
Instead of this, every exertion was made to give each
an indefinite extension by isolating it from the whole.
At each step in this process, the whole was more
completely lost sight of. The movement became
retrograde as well as anarchical. For it threatened
to destroy even the great results of former labours,
while it gave increased power to academical medio-
crity. In the domain of art we find anarchy and
retrogression still more rampant. Art is, by its
nature, eminently synthetical ; it rejects analytical
426 CONCLUSION.
empiricism more absolutely than science does. Yet
even in poetry the degradation was so great that
the learned could appreciate nothing but style. To
such an extent was this carried, that they often
placed real master-pieces below compositions which
were both poor and immoral.
TliG Woman. — Your picture is a sad one, my
father, but I cannot dispute its accuracy. I cannot
see in it any point with which I can connect the
final solution which it has been the aim of this
Catechism to set forth.
The Priest. — We may trace the origin of this
solution, my daughter, to the completion of the
vast preparation of the race. The objective and
introductory period had begun with Thales and
Pythagoras ; it had been continued duiiug the
whole of the medieval period ; it had never ceased
to advance during the anarcliy of modern Europe.
At the beginning of the French Revolution, it had
been completed, so far as cosmology was concerned,
by the recent creation of chemistry. Bichat and
Gall had taken a decisive step in advance, Gall
by founding biology, Bichat by completing it.
By the introduction of this new science, the scientific
basis for the entire renovation of the philosophical
spirit was laid. The result of the whole positive
movement was to facilitate the advent of sociology
— an advent which had been heralded by Condorcet
in his attempt to bring the futui^e into systematic
subordination to the past. The attempt failed, but
is not the less immortal. It was made at a time
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF RELIGION. 427
when men's minds were in a state most entirely
averse to all sound historical conceptions.
By the universal adoption of an exclusively human
point of view, it was possible for a subjective synthesis
to construct a philosophy which should be proof
against all objections. The next step after the
synthesis was to found the final religion. To this
I was led as soon as the renovation of the intellect
had been followed by a regeneration of the moral
nature. Henceforth the medieval period receives
its due tribute of admiration, while antiquity meets
with a more thorough appreciation. The cultivation
of the feelings is found to be quite compatible with
that of the intellect and the activity.
All noble hearts and all great intellects may for
the future converge. They accept this termination
of the long and difficult initiation through which
Humanity has had to pass, under the sway of
powers which have been constantly on the decline —
theology and war. The movements of modern
times are no longer profoundly unequal. The posi-
tive movement is at leng-th able to meet all the
demands, intellectual and social, to which the
negative movement can give rise ; nor can it meet
them solely in reference to the future, but also in
the present, though I am not here concerned with
the present. The relative finally takes the place
of the absolute ; altruism tends to control egoism ;
systematic progress is substituted for spontaneous
growth. In a word, Humanity definitively occu-
pies the place of God, but she does not forget
428 CONCLUSION.
the services which the idea of God provisionally
rendered.
Here then, my beloved daughter, you have my
last explanations as to the advent of the universal
religion, which during so many centuries has been
the object of the common aspirations of the West
and the East. Its acceptance finds great obstacles,
especially in France, in the prejudices and joassions
which, under different forms, are averse to all sound
discipline. But its efficacy will soon be felt by
women and proletaries in the South more than in
the North. For its best recommendation, how-
ever, it must look to the priests of Positivism.
They must prove their exclusive competence to
bind together into one body all honest and intelli-
gent men, by a noble acceptance of the inheritance
of the past.
Table A.
SYSTEM OF SOCIOLATRY,
Love as the Principle;-) ^^ f Live for Others.
Uraer as the Basis ; > j CThp Familv rinnn.
Progress as the End J SOCIAL WOESHIP, V trv, Huma^idty )
Embracing in a series of Eighty-one Annual Festivals the Worship of Humanity
under all its aspects.
\ r^ew Year's Day ... ( ^^JSilf ^^'"^ "^ '^"
lstMonth.HU3IA^'ITY.-{ rrelimous.
^religious,
of) hist • •
I Weekly Festivals of ) historical.
L the Social Union, j national.
r complete. (^municipal.
2ndMonth.MAERIAGE.-5 <^haste.
; unequal.
V. subjective.
Pi^ 3rd Month. The PATEE-C^O'^Plete {ar\Sl.
XAL EELATIOX. .-U,,^^,^,^ ^spiritual
4th Month. The FILIAL ^ , ,,. . . ^'^^^oral.
EELATIOX. t oame subdivisions.
5th Month. * The "f RAO , , . . .
TEENAL RELATION, j ^'^"^^ subdivisions.
6th Month. The EELA--N rcomnlete
Il^T^^^lv^N^x'^^r '""""' (incoS^pleie.
(^ A^u s±.±t\AJ^i. J temporary Same subdivision.
8th Month. POLYTHE-
ISM
fe , r spontaneous (°''°^^'^ •■■ ■Festival of the Animals.
"thMonth. FETICHISM J <- sedentary.. J'eg^icaZ of Fire.
I svstematic. . . ( sacerdotal. Je.^u-aZ of the Sun.
V - imihtary ...Festival of Iron.
'couseTyatixe... Festival of Castes.
resth.ei.ic.S:omer,^schi/lus, Phidias.
intellectual . ' f^^''- ,"] ^^«?^f'„ F>/thagoras,
{Salamis) < tifi^and I Aristotle Hippocrates,
^ ' philoso- I Archimedes, Apollo-
Lphic. J nius, Hipparchus.
^social... Scipio, Ccesar, Trajan.
"theocratic Abraham, Moses, Solomon.
f St. Paul.
I Charlemagne.
cathoUc -{i^7f- ^
I Hildebrand.
Godfrey of Bouillon.
\^St. Bernard.
Mahometan (Lepanto) Mahomet.
(Dante.
metaphysical J^ Descartes.
( mother. (.Frederic II.
<
E-
02
>^
^ J
O i
<
<
P-i
9th Month. MONOTHE-
ISM
r 10th Month. WOMEX.J wife.
Moral Providence. / daughter.
^ sister.
llthiIonth.ThePRIEST- f i^^complete Festival of Art .
HOOD ■{ preparatory Festival of Science.
InteUectml Providence!' C definitive (^^?°^.'^^7- ^ ^. , ^^,,„
^ ( pnncipal. Festival of Old Men.
12th Month. ThePATRI- C^a^J^g Festival of the Knights.
>A i CIATE ; commerce.
< Material Providence." (manufactures.
S ^agriculture.
o 13th Month. T^Q'S^oC^'^^'^'^f.' Festival of Inventors: Chitemberg, Colum-
^ 1 LETAEI ITE ■< aUeetive. [bus, Vaucanson, Watt, Montgolfier.
I General Providence:" (^°^*?°^P^^^^- ^, ^ ....
^ ^passive St. Francis ofAssisi.
COMPLEMEXTARY D .lY Festival of all the Dead
The additional Day in LEAP YEARS... General Festival of Holt Wombs^
4eme vol. Politique Positive, p. 159.
Paris, Saturday, 7 Archimedes, 66. (1 April, 1854.)
o
I— I
O
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02
O
2 H
EH
o
Eh
K
Cl5
IMPULSION.
(the heaet.)
Decrease of energy, in-
crease of dignity, from
the back of the head to
the front, from the
lower part to the higher,
from the sides to the
middle.
COUNSEL.
(the intellect.)
Knowledge, or Tision,
for the sake of pre-
vision, with a view
to provision.
•iTJfosaaj i
f aApoB uaqjA'sapisnadojj
•saoiojt aAiioijiy OT
(XOY OX '3NIHX OX
EXECUTION.
(the
CHAEACTEE.)
other,
ith the
cera of
This
he two
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which
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enabled to
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the auima
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e one ha
, Its spc
gion has
connexio
activity.
A cessatio
if the bra
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2
1
.'hich, on tl
al functioni
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orld, its oul
in constan
its periodic
pal region
ers direct
\
&^
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s of exte:
lotion. ]
external
xistenco,
' the brai
the prii
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P^
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sis 11"^ "Jo
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by com
gion wi
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5 S H. S^ 3
HISTORICAL DITISION.
r-
~
-^
Pbelisiis^aet
Science,
Final Science
or
or
jS'ATrEAI
Philosophy.
MoEAL Philosophy
(The Order of the Ex-
Social and Moral
temalAVorld.)
Order.)
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Table D.
POSITIVIST CALENDAR,
ADAPTED TO ALL TEAES EQUALLY; OE,
CONCRETE VIEW OF THE PREPARATORY PERIOD OF MAN'S HISTORY,
TRANSITION '
WESTERN REPUBLIC
RLEMAGNE, HAS BEEN FORMED 1
FREE COHESION
Monday...,
Tuesday ..
3
i
5
7
10
11
13
13
U
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
27
28
THE INITIAL THEOCBACY.
Prometheus Cadmus.
Hercules Theseus.
Orpheus Tiresias.
Lyourgus.
BomuTus.
K UMA.
Beliia Semiramia.
Meuu.
Zoroaster.
The Druida Osaian.
BOUDDHA.
Lao-Tseu.
Meng-Tseu.
The Theocrats of Thibet.
The Theocrats of Japan.
Manco-Capac T
CONFUCIUS.
Abraham Joseph.
Samuel.
Solomon David.
Isaiah.
St. John the Baptist.
Haroun-al-Easchid. i4i(/erraAmanZJ/.
MAHOMET.
Tyrtaeus Sapph.
Pindar.
Sophocles Euripidei
Theocritus Longut
iESCHYLUS.
Ictinus.
Praxiteles.
Lysippus.
Apelles.
PHIDIAS.
ARISTOPHANES.
Ennius.
Lucretius.
Horace.
TibuUus.
Ovid.
VIRGIL.
Anaximauder.
Democritus Zeucippus.
Herodotus.
THALES.
Xenophanes.
Erapedocles.
Thucydides.
Apollonius of Ty
PYTHAGORAS
Aristippus.
Zeno.
Cicero FUny the Younger,
Epictetus Arrian.
Tacitus.
SOCRATES.
Xenocrates.
Philo of Alexandria.
St. John the Evangelist.
St. Justin St. Iren(BUs,
St. Clement of Alexandria.
Origen TertulUan.
PLATO.
Theophrastus.
Herophilus.
Erasistratua.
Celsus.
Averrhoea.
HIPPOCRATES.
Euclid.
Theodosius of Bithynia.
Hero Ctesibiiis.
Pappus.
Diophautus.
APOLLONIUS.
Eudoxus Aratus.
Pytheas Nearchus.
Ariatarchus Berosus.
Eratosthenes Sosigenes.
Ptolemy.
Albategnius Nasir-Eddin,
HIPPARCHU9.
Varro.
Columella.
Vitruvius,
Strabo.
Frontinus.
Plutarch.
FLINT THE ELDER.
Miltiades.
Leonidas.
Ariatidea.
. Epaminondai
Philip. '
Demosthenes.
Ptolemy Lagus.
Philopcemen.
Polybius.
ALEXANDER.
Junius Brutus.
Camillus (Hnmmatua.
Fabriciua Eegulna.
Hannibal.
Marius .'. The Gracchi.
SCIPIO.
Augustus Mecenaa.
Vespasian Titus.
Hadrian Nerva.
Antoninus Marcua Aureliua.
Papinian Ulpian.
Alexander SeveruB Aetiua.
TRAJAN.
St. Luke St. James.
ft A^^sius
St. Jerome.
St. Ambrose.
St. Monica.
ST. AUGUSTIN.
Constantine.
Theodosius,
St. ChrysoBtom St. Basil.
St. Pulcheria Marcia7i.
St. Genevieve of Paris.
St. Gregory the Great.
HILDEBBAND.
St, Benedict Sf. Antoiti/.
St. Boniface St. Austin.
St. Isidore of Seville St. Bruno.
Lanfi-anc St. Anselm.
Heloisa Beatrice.
The Arch'ts of MiiAges ...St.Bemiel
ST. BERNABD. [the Less.
St. Francis Xavier. . .Ignatius Loyolu.
St. Ch. JiorTOJaeo...Fredk.Borromeo.
St. Theresa ...St. Catharine of Siena.
St.Vme'l.ieTaui.TheAbUdel'Epie.
Bonrdaloue Claude Fleury.
W. Penn O. Fox.
BOSSDET.
CHARLEMAGNE.
Theodoric the Great.
Pelavo.
Otho the Great... ,2r«ify the Fowler.
Viiliers,,..'. Za VaMte.
Don John of Austria .., Join Sob
ALFRED.
Charles Martel.
The Cid Tantred.
Richard I SaVtdin.
Joan of Arc Marina.
Albuquerque W. Raleigh.
Bayard,
GODFREY.
St. Leo the Great Leo IV.
Gerbert Fetcr Damian.
Peter the Hermit,
Suger St.Eligins.
Alesaiuier III Beckel.
St. Francis of Assisi St. Don
INNOCENT III.
St. Clotilde.
Sl.'BMa\is...St.MamiJaofTttsciing.
St. Stephen of Huugary,Jl/«(A(a* Cor-
St. Elizabeth of Hungary. [Mm.
Blanche of CastUle.
St. Ferdinand III Alfonso X.
ST. LOUIS.
Monday ,,.
Tuesday .,.
Wednesday
Thursday,,.
Friday .'.....
Saturday.,,
..Chaucer.
1 I The Troubadours.
2 I Boccacio
3 < Kabeluis.
■4 : Cervantes.
5 I La Fontaine Burns.
6 I DeFoe Goldsmith.
7 : ARIOSTO.
Velasquez Murillo.
Teniers Rubens.
RAPHAEL.
LacaUle
Cook
COLUMBUS.
15 Froissart Joinville. \ Ste\-in,.
10 Camoens Spe.
17 The Spanish Romancers.
18 Chateaubriand,
19 Walter Scott Coi
20 Manzoni.
21 TA8S0.
Mme. de Lafayette. ...Jfinc. i
d Xhellejf,
Bernard de Palissy.
Guglielmini Jtiquet.
Duhamel (duMouceau).. .Bourse/a/.
Sausaure Bouguer.
Coulomb Borda.
Carnot Vauban.
MONTGOLFIEH.
SHAKESPEARE.
Lope de Vega
Moreto
Otway.
Goe'thl.'
CALDERON.
Voltaire.
Metastasio
Schiller.
CORNEILLE.
Mme. de Motteville.
Mme. de S^viguc. ..
Mme. de Start! :
Fielding
MOLIEltE.
Pergole;
Sacchini
Gluok...
Lully.
Sandel.
Weber.
. Donizetti.
Albertus Magnus. .JoAm ofSalithury.
Roger Bacon Raymond Liilly,
St. Bonaventura Joachim,
Ramus The Cardinal ofCasa.
Montaigne Erasmus.
Campanella Sir Thomas More.
ST. 'fnOMAS AQUINAS.
Hobbes Spinosa.
Pascal Giordano Bruno.
Locke Malehranche.
Vauvenargues Mme. de Lambert.
Diderot Duclcs.
Cabauis Oeorge Leroy.
LORD BACON.
Groiius Ciijaa.
F-n!rii^'lle Maupertuia.
Virn Herder.
Vi-'.'i-ci... Tf'iitckelinann.
-MMiiti-sijuicii d' Aquesseau.
Bullim \,...Oken.
LEIBNITZ.
Robertson Gibbon.
Adam Smith Dunoyer.
Kant Fichte.
Condorcet Ferguson.
Joseph de Maistre Bonald.
Hegel Sophie Germain.
hiTme.
Marie de Molina.
Cosmo de Medici the Eld<
Philippe de Comini
Isabella of Castille.
Charles V Sixfua V.
CoUgny L'Mvpital.
Barneveldt.
Gustavus Adolphus.
De Witt.
Ruyter.
"William III.
WILLIAM THE SILENT.
Simenes.
Sully Oxenatiem.
Colbert Loxiia XIV.
Walpole Maznrin.
D'Aranda Fombal.
Turgot Campomanea.
RICHELIEU.
Sidney Lambert.
Franklin Sampden.
Washington Roaciuako.
Jefl'erson Madison.
Bolivar Touasaint-L' '
Francia.
CROMWELL.
The names in ItaUcs
Copernicus Tycho Brahi
Kepler Malley.
Huyghens Varignon.
James BerDOuiUi ... John Bernouilli.
Bradley Ileaumur.
Volta Sauveur.
GALILEO.
Vieta
Wallis
Clairaut
Euler Monge.
Alembert Daniel Bernouilli,
Joseph Fourier.
. Harriott.
... Fermat,
... Foinaot,
n^tSn'.'
Scheele.
Priestley Davy.
Cavendish.
Guyton Morveau Oeojroy.
Berthollet.
Berzehus Mitter.
LAVOISIER.
Harvey Ch. Bell.
Boerhaave Stahl.
Linnceus. Bernard de Jusaieu.
HaUer Vicg-d'Azyr.
Lamarck BlainvtUe.
Morgayni.
I
i
I
J
Seventh Edition, Aug. ]
1 Appel aux Conservaleurs, p. 115. Paris, Monday, 22 Charlemagne
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