CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILIZATION.

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N all discussions of the subject of social progress or human civilization, we must not forget to consider man in his complex organism. It requires a union of the moral, the intellectual and the physical, to constitute man. In plain terms, man is a mysterious combination of muscle, soul and brain. He has really three natures, co-existing in perfect harmony, each operating in distinct, yet not conflicting spheres. These natures are capable of steady development, and in proportion to that development does man advance towards a state of complete civilization. Of these three natures, the intellectual is superior to the physical, and the moral superior to the intellectual. It is a fact, often overlooked by writers on modern progress, that civilization is a process, as much so as education. It implies constant development and progress. According to the etymology of the word, it is the process of reclaiming man from a savage state and of advancing him in the scale of social being. Civilization therefore includes not merely refinement in manners and mental culture, but also improvement in morals. It is not assumed that all a man's powers as existing in his three natures must be fully developed before he can be called civilized, but developed so far as to enable him to fulfill all the relations which pertain to this world. It is a great mistake to suppose that a complete civilization can be attained,

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if the moral culture of man be entirely neglected. If all the chords of an instrument be strained to their proper tension, with the exception of one, the failure to bring that one to a corresponding accord will throw the whole instrument into discord. Harmony can only be produced by the proper tension of every string. This is equally true in man, the most complex of all instruments. If his physical and intellectual natures be highly developed and cultivated, while his moral nature, the noblest part of his being, remains untrained and undeveloped, he has attained only a partial civilization, according to the comprehensive meaning of that term. In fact, civilization is the development of man in his entire being-in all his faculties. M. Guizot, whose work on "Civilization" occupies so deservedly a prominent place in modern literature, was evidently impressed with sentiments akin to those just expressed; for he thus writes:

It seems to me that the first idea comprised in the word civilization is the notion of progress, of development. It calls up within us the notion of a people advancing, of a people in a course of improvement and amelioration. Now what is this progress? What is this development? In this is the great difficulty. The etymology of the word seems sufficiently obvious-it points at once to the improvement of civil life. The first notion which strikes us in pronouncing it is the progress of society; the amelioration of the social state; the carrying to higher perfection the relations between man and man. It awakens within us at once the notion of an increase of national prosperity, of a greater activity and better organization of the social relations. But the word civilization has a more extensive signification than this, which seems to confine it to the mere outward, physical organization of society. Now if this were all, the human race would be little better than the inhabitants of an anthill or bee-hive; a society in which nothing was sought for beyond order and well-being-in which the highest, sole aim would be the production of the means of life and their equitable distribution. But our nature at once rejects this definition as too narrow. It tells us that man is formed for a higher destiny than this; that this is not the full development of his character; that civilization comprehends something more extensive, something more complex, something superior to the perfection of social relations, of social power and well-being.'

A little farther on, this learned writer so defines civilization as to make it comprehend "the progress of society and the progress of individuals." Now it is very clear that social progress is conditioned upon individual progress. The character of society depends upon the character of those who compose it. Thus, after all, human progress turns altogether upon the proper development of man, intellectually and morally. If men are only developed physically, we may have a 1 Hist. Civiliz., M. Guizot. Vol. I, p. 22.

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nation of athletes and pugilists, who, despite their muscular power, have taken but an insignificant step towards real progress. Spartans may be taken as an illustration of such progress. They were at an early age subjected to hardship and severe discipline, and the result of such education was an athletic frame fitted for the severe trials and exposures of military life. But the Spartans made little progress in the way of true civilization. violated every principle of morality. of the Spartan women as unchaste. at the sacrifice of morals.

The system of Lycurgus Both Aristotle and Plato speak Civilization can never be attained

Again, if the mind be developed to the neglect of the heart, we may have a nation of intellectual giants; and yet if deficient in moral culture, such a people fall far short of a complete civilization. Some of the most gifted men, whose high mental culture has given them a conspicuous prominence in the literary world, have at the same time led immoral and dissolute lives. The point we have now approached is this: If a man's moral nature receives due attention, and its development keeps pace with his intellectual advancement, then and then only can he be said to approximate the point of a true civilization. The great error in the able work of Mr. Buckle, on the "History of Civilization in England," is that he subordinates the moral nature of man to the intellectual; thus ignoring the fact that conscience is the highest faculty in man. Let the intellect be cultivated and developed as far as possible, and still man has received but a partial culture, and has attained to a partial civilization. All the necessary means for the entire development of man have been provided. Food and exercise will develop him physically; persevering application to study and the acquisition of knowledge will develop him intellectually; and the moral culture he needs is to be obtained from the pure and holy precepts of Christianity.

As man's moral nature is his noblest part, and that which allies him to a future life, we repeat it, that there can be no true, complete civilization without Christianity. "The Christian is the highest style of man." It is much to be regretted that the history of the world discloses the fact that its moral advancement has not kept pace with its intellectual progress. From a student, man has advanced to a master in science. Under the steady development of his intellectual powers, man has acquired a knowledge so comprehensive that he understands the motions of stars and planets, can solve with wonderful accuracy the most difficult astronomical problems, predict the return of comets and determine the exact duration of eclipses. Under the persevering march of mind, the earth has revealed treasures long

concealed, steam and electricity have been made so subservient to man that the most distant nations have been linked together by the chain of incessant travel, and human language speeds on lightningwing over mountains, deserts, and over ocean-beds to facilitate the commerce of the world. Strengthened by such development and encouraged by its achievements, the human mind reaches forth to grasp new problems and to explore new fields of science. Painting and sculpture, printing and navigation, and a thousand scientific discoveries, all attest the progress of the human mind. But the progress of the world in morals has by no means been proportionate to its progress in intellectual culture.

Wars and bloodshed, national agitations and domestic revolutions, fraud and corruption, tyranny and oppression, all attest the want of some great corrective force to renovate the heart of humanity. Peace among the nations of the earth, domestic concord in our communities, individual and general happiness, can never be secured until the human heart is brought under the powerful influence of a pure Christianity, for herein lies the vital force which expands and develops our moral nature and reveals the great end and aim of human life. The great need of the world, therefore, in its march toward a complete civilization, is Christianity.

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Notwithstanding the intellectual advancement of the world, there still exist terrible moral disorders which cannot be corrected by human. means. Christianity alone is the antidote to this moral poison which has diffused itself through the whole body of society. The learned author from whose work an important extract has been already given, very truly says: "Who but will acknowledge that Christianity has been one of the greatest promoters of civilization? And wherefore? Because it has changed the interior condition of man, his opinions, his sentiments; because it has regenerated his moral, his intellectual character." Now the root of all the moral disorders and social evils in the world lies in the human heart. It is the peculiar province of Christianity, or the precepts of the gospel of Christ, to renovate that heart. Society may boast of wealth, learning, and even a large degree of refinement, and yet if the hearts of men be unchanged, there exists a formidable obstacle in the way of a high civilization. But it may be asked, cannot a people be in a high state of civilization and enjoy a good degree of social happiness without the influence of Christianity? Impossible! Such a people may prosper and advance for a time, but they hold their social peace by a very brittle thread. The hearts of the

1 History of Civilization, Vol. I, page 25.

people being unrenewed, their passions are liable to be aroused at any moment, and once aroused, for the want of the restraining influence of Christianity, there is no extremity to which excited human passions will not go. Such a people live, as it were, in close proximity to a powder magazine. Their security rests on a very slight foundation; the falling of the least spark will involve them in a general destruction. An untamed lion may remain for hours as quiet as a lamb; but let him be aroused, and his fiery nature asserts its supremacy, and who can curb his rage? There is an untamed lion in the human heart. A society composed of such men is in constant peril. Sometimes this lion has been aroused, and when excited passions spurned all restraint, wrongs and injuries, bloodshed and death, have been the result. No human remedies can renovate man's moral nature. In spite of the most rigid laws and enactments, human nature still remains the same, and it can only be subdued and renovated by the strong hand of God, through the saving and sanctifying precepts of the gospel. History teaches us that no human appliances. can remove social ills or rectify social abuses. Human means are powerless to secure permanent peace to society. The reason is simply this these evils originate in the unrenewed and unsanctified human heart, and consequently lie beyond the reach of human remedies. Human government also is unequal to the task. There has been every conceivable form of government on earth, from the most absolute despotism to the most liberal democracy. And yet in them all, to a greater or less degree, we find records of glaring crimes, flagrant injustice, and the most bitter wrongs. Such scenes are not only enacted where men are serfs and slaves, but even where men are free, even in democratic governments, confessedly the most popular and the most equitable. Rigid laws may be passed for the prevention of crime and the protection of society, but does this produce the desired result? Only in an imperfect manner. Even in the best regulated governments, where men enjoy a large measure of liberty, where their rights of person and property are respected, murders and robberies are committed, frauds and corruption exist in high places, the whole decalogue is daily violated, and crime casts its dark shadow over the land. Manifestly, human governments cannot altogether regulate man's social condition and secure the prevention of crime, simply because they cannot change and control human nature. Crime is the natural offspring of depraved human nature. The power to punish crime is very different from the power to prevent it. Governments may punish offenders, but they cannot eradicate from human nature the disposition to offend. They may, by strict laws, rigidly