THE ENDOWMENT OF RESEARCH. 



2O9 



" There is so much in the Autobi- 

 ography that is so illy arranged, and so 

 loosely and illogically put together, that 

 among other things, the positive truth 

 cannot be drawn from it in regard to 

 the stages of the elder Mill's religious 

 ideas ; and there is much that requires 

 explanation about him consenting to be 

 educated by others for the Church, and 

 being licensed to preach at the age of 

 twenty-five, and then becoming a practi- 

 cal atheist" (p. 69). "The circum- 

 stances and details between the first 

 doubt and the final step, had he been 

 able and willing to give them, would 

 doubtless have been interesting " (p. 70). 



And yet John Stuart Mill says of 

 his father that 



" He will be known to posterity as 

 one of the greatest names in that most 

 important branch of speculation on 

 which all the moral [?] and political 

 sciences ultimately rest " (p. 108, Auto. 

 p. 204) ; and that " by his writings and 

 his personal influence he was a great 

 centre of light to his generation" (p. 

 1 08, Auto. p. 205). 



The course of the elder Mill in 

 the matter of seeking a church a 

 position that, above all others, should 

 be assumed with " clean hands and a 

 pure heart " was a practical, one- 

 sided illustration of his doctrine, 

 that " the exclusive test of right and 

 wrong [is] the tendency of actions 

 to produce pleasure or pain " (Auto., 

 p. 48), that is, pleasure to himself 

 and his immediate connexions, how- 

 ever it might be acquired, and how- 

 ever it might affect others. Utility as 

 " a standard in ethics and politics," 

 when its professed motive is the 

 benefit of " the aggregate of our fel- 

 low creatures," or " the greatest 

 happiness of the greatest number," 

 should not be scrutinized too closely 

 when the animus is hid from us; 

 but it assumes quite a different as- 

 pect when the action is that of a 

 would-be moral obtruder on a parish 

 and the " cure of souls " that are to 

 be fed, not on " the gospel of Jesus 

 Christ," but on the husks of his 

 philosophy and logic, which the 



generality or perhaps the whole of 

 ** his people " would not understand. 

 And it would be a singular " system 

 of morals " which advocated or 

 tolerated the idea that, while not 

 believing the doctrines on the sworn 

 profession of which he was admitted 

 to his " pastorate," he should " take 

 care of the parish," with the ulterior 

 object of "working his way to author- 

 ship, and perhaps a chair in a uni- 

 versity," on something better than 

 "a little oatmeal," although that 

 would of course make part of his 

 support. 



The history of both of the Mills, 

 especially in regard to the religious 

 ideas, from first to last, of James 

 Mill, as representing a class, is well 

 worthy of a " research." It must 

 have been a difficult matter for the 

 latter to throw off the effects of his 

 associations and training, and his 

 long-continued aspirations after a 

 church, whatever the " history of his 

 mind " or his sincerity might have 

 been. At all events we find him, in 

 October, 1816, when John Stuart 

 Mill was upwards of ten years old, 

 writing of his History of India as 

 follows : 



" Thank God, after nearly ten years 

 since its commencement, I am now re- 

 vising it for the press " (Bain). * 



The executors of John Stuart 

 Mill have been greatly blamed for 

 publishing his melancholy and of- 

 fensive Autobiography, but doubt- 

 less unjustly so; for, for what pur- 

 pose was it written ? and how do we 

 know that he did not enjoin on them 

 by all which he deemed sacred that 

 they would not fail to give it to the 

 world ? 



The subjects of John Stuart Mill 

 and Romanism are naturally provo- 



* I have not been able to see more than 

 the first two articles of Professor Bain, in 

 Mind, but I presume the rest of them will 

 shed no further light on James Mill's 

 religious ideas. 



