New-York daily tribune., 1843-04-05
Social Science.
From the Friends of Associa,ion.l
Religion md Association.

Religion md ltssoclntiou.
Last week we published the letter of An English
Clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church,
to the Editor of the London Phalanz, warmly
approving and advocating the doctrines and Prin-
cples of the Social Science of Charles Fourier
and to-day we publish communication from a
Clergyman of the same Church in this country
He has studied the works of Fourier and is now
one of his most ardent disciples, as he is one OF
the best and noblest of men.
CONSISTENCY WITH RELIGION.
He who should assert that the grand scheme OF
Association is not based principles of Religion,
would betray his utter ignorance Of its purposes
and character This would be tantamount TO
declaration OF the superficial acquaintance OF Its
advocates with the human heart, and would at the
same time embody an unFailing prophecy of the
ultimate downfall of the system. 1t is not toward
the middle of the nineteenth century that the au-
thors and promulgators of philanthropic schemes
have first made the discovery that the religious a.
fcction is necessary and native to the heart OF man
"a plant whose seed was sown in the embryo SOIL
of his nature, and whose germ is nourishcd in his
earliest childhood by dews dispensed from the
hand Of God; as vain were the attempt, as ruth
less the power which would extrpateit from its in
alienable home. Without appealing to those SEN
tis1ents deemed to have been often instilled and
dfused with terror by abuse of sacerdotal
power in past ages, prevalent reason will aeknow-
GO the universality of conscience and the i'm
pase 10 devotion. A sense of moral right, and Its
distinction from injustice, wrong and cruelty, have
existed through the savage, patr!archal, barbarian
and civilized periods Of the world, not as an ex-
crescence of superstition retarding improvements,
but az the omolient of cruelty and the exponent of
ignorance: mutilatcd oft times, and ever impcr-
feet, it is true but also a redeeming peculiarly
and an ornament of those evil ages which they IL
lustrated. and an evidence that man was not
sunken below the possibility Of hope and rescue
In what established politics has not religion reared
its fanes, and where has not wealth gilded their
domes and spires, consecrating its possession to
the heaven whence they flowed In what wild
islands, peopled with rude and untaught hordes,
has not devotion asserted its being and influence
in the breast Of humanity? Religion, varioasly
manifested has held prescriptive and imperial
tenure among the affections of the race, is immov-
ably enthroned in the desires of the SOUL and must
wield her divine sceptre still when kingdoms have
crunbled, the last notes of coming Harmony have
died on the ear of ages, and
'sur les mondes de,ruits lie TENS dort mmobie"
We remember well how I, asserted OF
prince among the poets of France that for long
time he essayed the genius of his verse in vain,
with determination to exclude from his compost
tons every admission of faith and every ausion to
revelation. But slowly drosky over the roads
of Siberia dragged the car of celestial poesy BAN
ished from the native cline of ardent inspiration.
And it was not until he lighted the fame of his
aspirations at the altar whence lsaiahs lips were
warmed, that he imbued his productions with the
graces appropriate to that melodious art.
And what is true of poetry will be found equally
true of human system, for the meioration Of man.
kind. A theory of philanthropy that should as
sumo the independence and irresponsible capacity
of man. would finally prove practical failure, and,
crumbng through natural impotency, would be
sepulchred in the oblivion of thousand past,
proud, chmercal enterprises. BY excluding di-
vinity from its puny creations, it would have ex-
cuded their life living SOUL and without terrifying
its energies by enlarged and noble religion, ii
would deprive them of Immortality. system
like that of Oven however benevolent the ends 1t
aspired to accomplish, bore in its own bosom the
seeds Of dissolution and decay. Besides its deh-
cheney in the grand and essential principles OF AS
sociation unfolded by Fourier, like the statue OF
clay constructed by Prometheus. it required fire
from heaven to animate and perfect it. Through
out his works Fourier appeals to the worlds faith
in the universally of Providence. It is a cardl-
nal principle of his theory. Among the splendors
of his almost prophetic visions he anticipates the
era when man shall be in harmony with external
nature, in harmony with his fellow man, in har-
mony with his overrulins and supreme Father,
God These are the essential aims OF bis disco
veries, his exhoratons and his treatises. Divini-
tv pervades the universe with beauty and love, and
in the cultivation of religion and devotion 10 Him.
we obey passiosal attraction of our nature.
AT the incpency of religion which now Hurn-
bers hundreds o; millions in its ranks, conflicting
with the established paganism of vast empire, it
became the object of sanguinary persecution. On
one OCCASION some of lis first messengers were ar
raigned before the Hebrew PontiF and assembled
Sanhedrim, who, exasperated at their bollness,
they proposed to destroy them. 1mpelled by justice
and mercy, distinguished rabbi rose and pleaded
their cause. He reviewed the history OF their na-
ton. He showed how various pretending leaders
such as Theudas, three years before the Chris
tian era, and the Galilean Judas subsequently,
perished, and their deluded disciples were mise
III, J;,n.-..J sIAua nov. said the judic ious