The Ideal State 215 



past, too complete a wreckage of " the scheme of things 

 entire," as at present constituted, mean for them only 

 disaster and the putting back " the long result of time " 

 for many a day. Let both sections of the community 

 take warning from that object lesson — the French 

 Revolution — the one to adopt fully and earnestly the 

 spirit of Christian altruism — " Love thy neighbour as 

 thyself " ; the other in the selfsame spirit to proceed by 

 peaceful methods, without resort to violence or blood- 

 shed, to the necessary attainment of their demands. 

 Both sections must accept the lesson of history, that in 

 human society a process of evolution is proceeding 

 which has resulted and must continue to result in the 

 progressive betterment of human society, which alone 

 can give permanence and has been made possible 

 through the operation of Christian ethics consciously 

 or unconsciously upon the minds of men to whatever 

 grade or class they may happen to belong. 



At this stage it may be useful to consider some of the 

 theories of modern times, which have held sway from 

 generation to generation in regard to the amelioration 

 of society. Hobbes and Locke enunciated the prin- 

 ciples of the Utilitarian school, which were further 

 elaborated by Hume, Bentham, and John Stuart Mill, 

 proclaiming the ideal of " the greatest happiness of 

 the greatest number." Mill held that " utility would 

 enjoin that laws and social arrangements should place 

 the happiness or (as speaking practically it may be 

 called) the interests of every individual as nearly as 

 possible in harmony with the interest of the whole." 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer, in his " Data of Ethics," goes 

 further and sees a conciliation taking place between 

 the interest of each citizen and the interests of citizens 

 at large, tending ever towards a state in which the two 

 become merged in one, and in which the feelings 

 answering to them respectively fall into complete 



