EDITOR'S TABLE. 



409 



man and the religion of humanity as in- 

 vented and expounded by Oomte. Of 

 course, the new view can only be ac- 

 cepted by the abandonment of the old, 

 and we very much doubt if the world 

 will approve or accept the change. It 

 is incongruous and fantastic, and would 

 be incredible, but for the ridiculous 

 fact that a little sect is actually trying 

 to adopt and carry it out. A writer in 

 an English newspaper, who had visited 

 the Little Bethel of the Oomteists to wit- 

 ness the services on the eve of the fete 

 of the founder of the new religion, thus 

 describes what he saw: "When I entered 

 Dr. Oongreve was reading the service for 

 the day. He had an audience of some 

 thirty persons, several of them young la- 

 dies who had evidently come to be star- 

 tled. The sermon was preached by Mr. 

 Croiapton. If he is a 'priest ' of the new 

 dispensation, he wears no clerical attire. 

 Perhaps the | year 96 of the Comteist 

 era (for they have, like the French Re- 

 public, their own era) is too early for 

 the invention of sacerdotal robes. The 

 preacher came to a desk draped in red 

 baize, and for a half-liour poured forth 

 a rhapsody upon Auguste Comte, Clo- 

 thilde de Vaux, progress, order, unity, 

 and love, which was chiefly remarkable 

 for the free use of Christian language to 

 set forth a faith (if it can be called a 

 faith) antagonistic to Christianity. The 

 poor wife of Comte, who left him, was 

 dismissed with a word of scorn for one 

 who was incapable of sharing the hon- 

 ors of greatness; and Clothilde, the 

 mistress, was extolled to the skies for 

 her devotion to her distinguished lover. 

 Oomte and Clothilde were declared to 

 be the two greatest people who had 

 visited this earth ; and the peroration 

 was a sort of ascription to them. It 

 was startling to hear the organ, as the 

 preacher sat down, peal forth that 

 beautiful phrase from Mendelssohn's 

 'Elijah' so often heard as a Kyrie, and 

 associated in the oratorio with the 

 words 'Bend down from heaven and 

 grant us thy peace. Help, Lord, thy 



servants ; help, God ! ' Dr. Congreve 

 then rose and said, 'Let us pray.' 

 Everybody stood. 'We praise thee, 

 Humanity,' said Dr. Oongreve, 'as for 

 all thy servants, so especially for Au- 

 guste Oomte; and we pray that, in 

 proof of our gratitude, we may become 

 thy more willing and complete serv- 

 ants.' The prayer went on to talk of 

 ' the queen of our devotion, the lady of 

 our loving service, the one center of all 

 our being, the one bond of all ages, the 

 one shelter for all the families of man- 

 kind, the one foundation of a truly 

 catholic church. To thee be all honor 

 and glory. Amen ! ' Then came a 

 parody of the benediction given in the 

 name of Humanity : ' The peace of her 

 slowly dawning kingdom be upon you, 

 the blessing of Humanity abide with 

 you, now and forever.' The organ 

 played again, and the little audience 

 departed." 



The devotees of this new religious 

 cult may be sincere, but they are none 

 the less absurd ; and to call this result 

 of insane egotism — the substitution of 

 man for God as an object of worship — 

 by the name of religion^ is to take liber- 

 ties with the meanings of words which, 

 if carried out, would reduce all language 

 to a state of chaos. 



A nEALTHT MATERIALISM, 



In spite of the intellectual advance- 

 ment of our age, men are still to far too 

 great an extent under the dominion of 

 mere words. If there is any habit 

 which science is destined to break up 

 and dispel it is this. Science must 

 do it, because it is pre-eminently the 

 knowledge of things, and to know 

 things should make the mere names 

 of tilings sit lightly upon one. Words 

 have seized the tlirone of man's rea- 

 son ; they command, and he obeys. 

 It is time to dethrone them, to break 

 their spell over the human mind, to 

 teach every human being to ask with- 

 out dismay: "What is the reality of 



