I.
SECULARISM is the study of promoting human welfare by material means;
measuring human welfare by the utilitarian rule, and making the service
of others a duty of life. Secularism relates to the present existence of
man, and to action, the issues of which can be tested by the experience
of this life--having for its objects the development of the physical,
moral, and intellectual nature of man to the highest perceivable point,
as the immediate duty of society: inculcating the practical sufficiency
of natural morality apart from Atheism, Theism, or Christianity:
engaging its adherents in the promotion of human improvement by material
means, and making these agreements the ground of common unity for all
who would regulate life by reason and ennoble it by service. The Secular
is sacred in its influence on life, for by purity of material conditions
the loftiest natures are best sustained, and the lower the most surely
elevated. Secularism is a series of principles intended for the guidance
of those who find Theology indefinite, or inadequate, or deem it
unreliable. It replaces theology, which mainly regards life as a sinful
necessity, as a scene of tribulation through which we pass to a better
world. Secularism rejoices in this life, and regards it as the sphere
of those duties which educate men to fitness for any future and better
life, should such transpire.
II.
A Secularist guides himself by maxims of Positivism, seeking to
discern what is in Nature--what _ought_ to be in morals--selecting
the _affirmative_ in exposition, concerning himself with the real, the
right, and the constructive. Positive principles are principles which
are provable. "A positive precept," says Bishop Butler, "is a precept
the reason of which we see." Positivism is policy of material progress.
III.
Science is the available Providence of life. The problem to be solved
by a science of Society, is to find that situation in which it shall be
impossible for a man to be depraved or poor. Mankind are saved by being
served. Spiritual sympathy is a lesser mercy than that forethought which
anticipates and extirpates the causes of suffering. Deliverance from
sorrow or injustice is before consolation--doing well is higher than
meaning well--work is worship to those who accept Theism, and duty to
those who do not.
IV.
Sincerity, though not errorless, involves the least chance of error,
and is without moral guilt. Sincerity is well-informed, conscientious
conviction, arrived at by intelligent examination, animating those who
possess that conviction to carry it into practice from a sense of
duty. Virtue in relation to opinion consists neither in conformity nor
non-conformity, but in sincere beliefs, and in living up to them.
V.
Conscience is higher than Consequence.*
*Vide Mr. Holdreth's Papers.
VI.
All pursuit of good objects with pure intent is religiousness in the
best sense in which this term appears to be used. A "good object" is an
object consistent with truth, honour, justice, love. A pure "intent"
is the intent of serving humanity. Immediate service of humanity is
not intended to mean instant gratification, but "immediate" in
contradistinction to the interest of another life. The distinctive
peculiarity of the Secularist is, that he seeks that good which is
dictated by Nature, which is attainable by material means, and which is
of immediate service to humanity--a religiousness to which the idea of
God is not essential, nor the denial of the idea necessary.
VII.
Nearly all inferior natures are susceptible of moral and physical
improvability; this improvability can be indefinitely secured by
supplying proper material conditions; these conditions may one day be
supplied by a system of wise and fraternal co-operation, which primarily
entrenches itself in common prudence, which enacts service according to
industrial capacity, and distributes wealth according to rational needs.
Secular principles involve for mankind a future, where there shall
exist unity of condition with infinite diversity of intellect, where
the subsistence of ignorance and selfishness shall leave men equal, and
universal purity enable all things--noble society, the treasures of art,
and the riches of the world--rto be had in common.
VIII.
Since it is not capable of demonstration whether the inequalties of
human condition will be compensated for in another life--it is the
business of intelligence to rectify them in this world. The speculative
worship of superior beings, who cannot need it, seems a lesser duty than
the patient service of known _inferior_ natures, and the mitigation
of harsh destiny, so that the ignorant may be enlightened and the low
elevated.