The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-30 00:00:00

A NEW RELIGION.

At a time when certain members of the church
of England are claiming to exercise temporal
power on the ground that they are endowed with
supernatural gifts, another religious movement,
having similar ends in view but which are to be
attained by very different means, has not received
the attention it deserves. This new faith, de-
vised
and promulgated by Auguste Comte, has
obtained several adherents, who are now engaged
in spreading it abroad in this country. Its official
advocate is Mr. Cungreve. Every Sunday during
the past few weeks he has described to attentive
audiences what are its characteristics and its
objects. As a manifesto addressed to us by men
of culture on a subject deeply affecting all man-
kind,
it is right to inquire into the nature of the
new religion.
Positivism is its name. According to Mr. Con-
greve, to speak of " Comtism " as it is customary
to do, is to employ a term calculated to mislead.
Unlike the religions named after their founders,
Positivism professes to have nothing personal to its '
author. Unlike other religions, Positivism dis-
claims everything extra-mundane in sanction or
origin : it is held forth as a body of purely human
truth fitted to influence human beings, and designed
to regulate their conduct only so far as this world is
concerned. Its teacher maintains that all other
religions have been ancillary to the reception of
this one by the human race, that the founders of
other faiths have laboured to prepare the way for
Auguste Comte. The latter bestowed upon the world
both a religion and a polity—the former being cal-
culated to gratify the religious sentiment of the
race, the latter to direct men in their dealings and
intercourse with each other. The aim of the system
as a whole is " the government" and " re-organiza-
tion of Humanity.' Indeed, " Humanity" is to the
Positivists what a Deity is to others. They regard
it not only as a whole which should command uni-
versal homage, but as a whole of which each con-
stituent is praiseworthy or the reverse in propor-
tion as he contributes towards its exoellence.
Hence, in their creed, worship, in the purely human
sense, is accorded to the great benefactors of Hu-
manity, and the worship so bestowed is chiefly due
to the memory of M. Comte, because, in their
opinion, he has most largely benefited the race.
In their opinion, also, it is a religious duty to work
for others even more than for self. Whatever
tends to lessen the enjoyment of the mass ought
to be discountenanced. Each one is bound to act
so that his personal efforts shall not impede the
advancement of his neighbours. He must restrain
his desire to acquire knowledge beyond the
point which his fellows have reached ; he
must equally limit his powers of expression within
the compass of what is deemed to be generally
beneficial. Men of science are to cease making
fresh discoveries until the truths now discovered
have been methodized and accepted. The know-
ledge possessed by one person is not to be in excess
of that possessed by all persons, or if it be greater,
he is to restrain himself from employing it for
selfish purposes. . .

A community of ideas, or rather uniformity in
the capacity for forming conceptions, is the ideal
towards which the believers in Positivism are to
strive, yet they are not called upon to set them-
selves apart from others in order to attain it.
On the contrary, it is their distinctive merit to be
able, without violating any precept, to be " all
things to all men." What the Jesuit priests did in
the East in contravention of the tenets of their
church, the Positivists may do by virtue of their
creed. So long as things are in a state of transi-
tion they are entitled to insinuate their doctrines
where they cannot impose them, to direct where
they cannot govern. As their principles are ap-
peals to human reason, so must they be accepted by
all whose reason is trained to judge them impar-
tially. As they make no profession about " saving
souls," or holding out other than earthly advan-
tages, they consider that they alone among pro-
fessors of religion are qualified forgaining proselytes
without being tempted to persecute. It is pro-
posed, as a beginning, to offer to all who choose to
avail themselves of it a mental discipline which
shall fit them for comprehending the advantages
of Positivism as a religion. What the majority of
adults are supposed to require is an intimate ac-
quaintance with mathematics, biology, and his-
tory. So soon as all men have the requisite know-
ledge, it is assumed that they will unanimously
embrace as their religion the speculations of Auguste
Comte.

Such is a brief, but, we hope, a fair outline of
the " new religion" preached by Mr. Congreve.
We have strictly confined ourselves to the doctrines
enunciated by him, for they are the first authori-
tative exposition we have heard of the statements
which the professed followers of Auguste Comte ad-
mit to be worthy of credence. The writings of that
philosopher have been differently interpreted by
different persons. We now know what is the
interpretation put upon them by the select band of
English Positivists, who accept the religion as well
as the science of their founder. Without entering
into the discussion of all the questions raised, we
may supplement our analysis with one or two criti-
cal remarks. The most obvious, yet, as we think,
moat important comment which may be made
is this : All other religions, it is said, are prelimi-
nary to this one, and differ from it in being of
divine origin ; unlike them, this one appeals to
human reason for the proof of its truth ; unlike
them, also, this one must endure, for it is the
ultimate expression of human reason placed before
the human race at a stage in its development
when the adoption of such a religion be-
comes a social necessity. Now, what is this
but a series of assumptions ? No doubt Auguste
Comte believed his statements to be demon-
strably true, and his followers believe in him ; but
who that does not display a certain amount of
faith can accept as indisputable what is, after all,
merely the theory of a speculator ? Again, it is
pure assumption that the human race would ad-
vance either in sound knowledge or in general hap-
piness were the religion of humanity adopted and
practised. Equally baseless is the notion that
Christianity, regarded from a temporal point of
view only, has failed, and become effete. Where
Christianity has apparently produced mischief, this
is owing to the fact either that it has been per-
verted, or that its professors are insincere. If more
Christians were to practise the noblest precept of
their creed—" love thy neighbour as thyself," they
would probably be as good citizens as if they were
to love Humanity more than self. The question at
issue is, whether is the individual or a vague con-
ception
called Humanity to be the first care 1 Shall
we work from the centre outwards, or assume the
circumference and search for the centre I We feel
sure that as noble and useful a life is to be led by
the individual who strives to work out his own
destiny with the consciousness that unless he work
wisely his name will be degraded, and his sue-
ceesors injured, as if he stopped at every turn to
interrogate Humanity as to how far he may advance,
and what he shall do next.
Rejecting, as we do, the first principles whereon
Positivism is based, we cannot but dissent from
the conclusion of its teachers. Nevertheless, we
gladly give a candid hearing to what they have to
urge ; because we think the most despicable course
to pursue with regard to those who announce new
and unpalatable doctrines is to meet them with
ridicule. In these days no one steps out of the
beaten track without running the risk of losing
either social position or personal friendships.
Against those who have embraced the creed of
Auguste Comte we would not cast a reproach. The
untenableness of the speculations is no reason for
abusing the speculator. But we cannot help ex-
pressing our surprise that Englishmen so acute
and enlightened as are the majority of the Posi-
tivists should expend their labour and employ
their talents in such a cause as that of converting
mankind to the religion of Positivism.