a wise direction of their thoughts upon themselves, to open to them the magnificent prospect of their own spiritual energy, and of the unbounded good into which it may be unfolded. For such we have written. We regard nothing so important to a human being, as the knowledge of his own mind, and of its intimate connexion with the Infinite Mind. Faith, in what man contains as a germ in his own breast, faith in what he may become, in what he was framed to be, in that state of power, light, purity, joy, to which Jesus Christ came to exalt him, this faith seems to us the quickening, saving, renovating principle, which God sent his Son to revive in the soul, and happy are they who can spread its empire in the world.

(To be concluded in our next.)

On the Co-operative System.

(Continued from page 318.)

In the first place, the love of money, which is "the root of all evil," would be banished from the heart, and give place to the laudable ambition of employing our talents for the public good.

It is in vain for the moralist, or the divine, to inculcate the principles of benevolence into the minds of his hearers, to speak of the baneful effects of avarice, and the solemn denunciations of Christ and his Apostles, against that mean and degrading vice. His efforts will almost invariably prove nugatory.* The comforts which are supposed to accompany a state of affluence the disadvantages which the poor labour under-the miseries which we know are felt by those who have been brought down from the pinnacle of prosperity, to the abyss of penury; and above all, the mere habit of acquiring property from our infancy upwards, will be more than sufficient to counteract the best exertions of the teacher of truth and righteousness. In fact, owing to the present state of things,

While I would not, for one moment, disparage public instruction, yet it may not be improper to question the sincere teachers of our holy religion, whether they would not be conferring a greater blessing upon their hearers, by establishing a community of goods, which would remove temptations out of the way of the thoughtless and inexperienced part of mankind, than to merely instruct them in their duty to God and their fellow-creatures? Especially, too, when ministers of every denomination are continually complaining, that the people pay but little attention to their admonitions, and that their preaching is vain and unprofitable to their respective congregations.

+ If the Scriptures were read with more attention by the zealots of the present age, and if they produced in them the fruits of well-doing, they

selfishness is engendered in the human breast. The miseries of our fellow-creatures are either viewed with indifference, or thought of little consequence, when put in competition with our own immediate gratification; and that tender sensibility which exalts us above the beasts of the field, and makes our nature half divine, is obliged to yield to the prudential feelings of avarice. Even the well disposed man is frequently obliged to shut his ears against the pleadings of charity, lest by becoming benevolent he should become unjust, lest by benefiting mankind he should injure his family and connections. On the contrary, it is evident, that in co-operative societies, these degrading and unholy feelings must be unknown. Every member is free from corroding selfishness, and his heart burns with a desire of communicating happiness to others.

would be struck with the solemn denunciations of our Lord, against the love of money, and be ashamed of grasping at wealth as the one thing needful.

"I have no wish," says a sensible writer, "to cast an unmerited imputation upon the characters of those religious teachers, who are accustomed to express themselves in a manner so unfriendly to the social recreations or pursuits of men; but I do say, that we are entitled to expect from them, an example of consistency in matters of this kind. Let them, then, show their contempt for the world, with its vain attractions, by avoiding all competition for its honours and distinctions; by not coveting ecclesiastical perferment; and by refusing those rich benefices, which are the objects of ambition to so many. Let them endeavour to lighten the pressure, and prevent the abuse of that law which compels the industrious peasant to give up a tenth part of the produce of his labour and his field, to augment the luxuries of his spiritual directors. Let them give up those superfluous livings, the duties of which they never can and never expect to discharge, that they may administer to the wants of a numerous, indigent, and yet industrious class of their clerical brethren, the labours and cares of whose pastoral offices are too intimately connected with the fear of domestic want, and the demands of an ill-fed family. Let them do this; but not until then, they may persuade us that they have no attachment to the things that are in the world. Of such personal sacrifices, however, I have never yet met with an example, even among those who profess themselves the greatest enemies of all worldly gratifications and distinctions."

I must add, that I am persuaded that the primitive Christians established a community of goods, because they were sure that every other state of society would cause the deceitfulness of riches to spring up and choke the Word of God.

The following judicious reflections of Theodore Elbert, a young Swede, on the money-getting rage of the people of England, justify my remarks on this great impediment to virtue.

"Wealth, wealth, wealth. Praise be to the god of the nineteenth century the golden idol, the mighty Mammon! Such are the accents of the time, such the cry of the nation. There never was an age when money could accomplish so much, as now in England. There may, here and there, be an individual who does not spend his heart in labour

His days are employed in devising and executing schemes for the public good; and he finds by continued experience, ing for riches, but there is nothing approaching to a class of persons, actuated by any other desire. To rest contented with poverty, demands more courage in any man, than would furnish forth a score of martyrs, or a hundred heroes. He who would attempt to make the improvement of his own nature, and of his age, the business of his life, and, therefore, to remain satisfied with a spare and unostentatious subsistence, is railed at as one knowing nothing of the true objects of existence, a useless and contemptible being, to be treated with haughtiness by every gambler in the funds by every man whose soul is put out at compound interest, whose very being is garnered in a money chest by every owner of hereditary acres, and oracle of hereditary wisdom. To succeed in life, is to make a large fortune, without doing any thing which would send a man to prison! To be unsuccessful, is not the being ignorant, or luxurious, or envious, or sensual, but simply the being poor-the one unpardonable sin, not against the spirit of God, but against the spirit of the world! In England, the poor man walks surrounded with an atmosphere of shame. He lives upon the bitter crumbs of insolence, which fall from the rich man's table, and the common air of social humanity reaches him only in pinching blasts. Wherefore is this? It is a dark engrained spot in the national mind. It is a propensity which every good man must oppose, and which, if the country were in a healthy state, could never have grown upon it. But, as like every thing else, it must have its cause or causes, it would be well worth while to discover them. The chief of them seems to be, the nature of the government, which is founded half on privilege, and half on wealth. But the wealth can buy the privilege, and with it, therefore, is ultimately lodged the whole political power of England. The government is a chrysocracy; not that form of polity in which power is adapted to property, and the greatest mass of property has the chief dominion in the commonwealth, but that in which a small number of the richest individuals retain in their own hands the whole energies of the state. The law of succession in England, which gives the whole landed property to the eldest son, has set the fashion with regard to other property, and it is the ambition of every man who can obtain a large fortune, to transmit it undiminished to some one of his family. These great inheritances become the standards by which opinion measures wealth, and as society is not parcelled out by any impassable barriers, there is a perpetual struggle upwards, from step to step, in the scale of riches, and of, consequently, estimation, which concentrates the whole mind, and every feeling of the country, into the voracity for gain. Power, rank, political influence, all the most splendid objects of human eagerness, are, to an Englishman, comprised in wealth; and what is there of wonder that the talents, and industry, and enterprise of the country, all that should be instruments of good, are directed to this one pursuit? Why does not a prophet arise from among this great people to lament over them, as did the seers of Judah over their degraded country;-to tell them of their lapses and their wanderings, and to exhibit in mighty and terrible visions the judgments which wait upon the doings of nations? Yet, would the voice of Isaiah be listened to on the Stock Exchange; or the pampered heart of aristocracy, tremble at the accents of Ezekiel? No: there are men who could accomplish this work, if it were to be done on a sudden. But this may not be. A change of institutions is necessary; and this change cannot take place without an alteration in the mind of the country. To this reform of thoughts and feeling it is not likely that England will arrive, until she has been taught by much sorrow-been disciplined into wisdom by suffering, and learned to listen to the voice of enlightened teachers."

that it is more blessed to give than to receive. He at length perceives, that in pursuing his own advantage he must promote the welfare of his fellow beings; that the selfishness which seeks its own gratification at the expense of another's happiness, must defeat itself; that he only can obtain genuine success in the struggle of life, who acts on the principle that it is an interchange of kind and liberal offices, which scorns to rise by attempting another's fall, and who can taste no sweetness in the bliss which is purchased by another's woe. He still labours to promote his own individual advantage; but the competitors are liberal and enlightened, and the contest is generous and praiseworthy. It is philosopher contending with philosopher, patriot with patriot, and philanthropist with philanthropist. How, indeed, in such circumstances, is it possible that the mind of man should be tormented with worldly anxiety? What motive can possibly induce him to hoard riches, when he can neither exclusively derive benefit from their possession, or portion them to his friends and relations? Thus would the greatest impediment to virtue and true religion, be banished from the earth; and

«To be convinced,” says Dr. Enfield, how much greater happiness arises even in the immediate act, independently of all remote consequences, from bestowing than from receiving a kindness, imagine the case of an afflicted house, where a widowed mother and her infant train are struggling with the complicated misery of lost comfort, disappointed hope, oppressive sickness, and threatening want. Conceive the widow and fatherless visited in this hour of distress by some kind and generous benefactor, who knows how to soothe their sorrows by the gentle accents of condolence, and who, with a judicious hand, pours the balm of consolation into the wounded heart, by bestowing, with all the delicacy of a generous sympathy, a seasonable and liberal supply. While you'rejoice with the objects of his bounty, say, do you not envy the feelings of him who has caused the widow's heart to dance with joy? When you see him quitting the gloomy habitation, through which his beneficence has darted a transient gleam of joy, with a countenance sweetened with benevolence, and illumined with the consciousness of having been the minister of consolation to the wretched; can you avoid exclaiming How much more blessed is it to give than to receive.””?

+ The life of man is frequently shortened by anxiety; and if we knew the private lives of thousands, we should find that the cares of this world and the evils of poverty, have often deprived wives of their husbands and made many children fatherless. It will therefore be found, that he who is the means of abolishing an oppressive tax, upon the industry of the hard working labourer, and supports those institutions and laws which allow him to reap the reward of his toil, does more towards the im provement of a nation's morals and a nation's permanent happiness, than by the distribution of thousands of unintelligible tracts, or whole hecatombs of ostentatious charity, or showers of sympathetic tears.bu d * I will venture to say, that the votaries of fashion and of avarice (often misnamed prudence) are the greatest stumbling blocks to the

dobr to 913-95 D 19AN I was 10,bu.

avarice and her attendant demons, no longer suffered to corrupt the human understanding, if co-operative societies were to become universal; and men would learn their best interest, by living with their fellow-creatures as brethren, and not as rivals or competitors in the love of gold. Rest assured, the path which leads to the temple of Plutus, is scattered with thorns; and should we find admittance at the altar of the god of our idolatry, he will only repay our labour by requiring us to forsake our best friends-contentment, piety, and charity.

But, secondly, The communion of goods would give every man an opportunity of improving his mind.

God has thought proper, in his infinite goodness, to endow man with reasoning faculties, which he must employ for his moral and intellectual improvement, if he would fulfil the design of his existence, and be truly happy. In proportion as these are neglected, his nature becomes degraded;* and the good actions which he may occasionally perform, are more the result of accident, than of any other cause. But owing, unfortunately, to the great inequality of mankind, and the misgovernment of every nation in the world, the by far greater portion of our fellow-creatures are enveloped in the darkness of ignorance. Without speaking of the frivolous pursuits+ of so many of the higher classes, and their almost total neglect of useful knowledge, how distressing is the condition of the poor in this and every other country in Europe? The capital evil (to use the words of that Christian philosopher, Dr. exertions of the philanthropist in every great and good cause. They stood in the way of the primitive Christians; and the members of every public institution, whether civil or religious, are continually assailed by their quibbles and objections..

*The close connexion between knowledge and morals has been admitted and proved by the ablest sages of ancient and modern times.

but

+ We are apt to condemn the pursuits and recreations of the poor; those who are acquainted with the lives of the privileged higher orders, will confess that their conversation is often, without meaning and their days devoted to the most idle amusements.

The little which is taught in our boarding-schools is really useless. The taste is cultivated at the expense of the judgement; and the sciences, political economy, and other important qualifications, which are so ne cessary for our noblemen and statesmen, are obliged to give place to an ornamental and polished education. Our young ladies, too, instead of directing their attention to those pursuits which would enlarge their minds, and make them more suitable companions for their future husbands, and better calculated to manage a family or educate the rising generation, are now accustomed to devote five or six hours a day to music, drawing, and other elegant accomplishments which polish the mind, but leave it naked and destitute of ideas,