CHAPTER VI.

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

1836.-Etat. 61.

Liverpool, Jan. 1st, 1836. THE year, just gone by, has been a most important one to me. During its first half, I had much to suffer, as this Journal will attest; but the last six months have been one of the most tranquil periods of my life. I now clearly perceive that my mind was under an improper bias, as long as I remained externally connected with the Church of England. My theological opinions had never been thoroughly examined; there were boundaries beyond which I hardly allowed myself to look, though I had the strongest doubts of the validity of the principles on which those boundaries were prescribed. My fear of giving pain to those with whom I lived, and whom I loved (as I do still), made me shrink, not only from expressing, but from deliberately holding opinions, which they considered as totally unchristian, and impious. As dissimulation is contrary to my nature, as I should have detested myself for being in a totally different state of mind from that in which my friends supposed me, I unconsciously recoiled

from the admission of views, which must lead to the extremity either of thorough dissimulation, or of a separation from those whom I loved. But as this timidity was not cherished, it could only delay, not prevent, the natural issue of my studies and meditations. Many will say, that I have ceased to be a Christian. This does not disturb me, in the least. I know that my religious principle was never so active, and influential, as it is at present. I had a faith of acquiescence; I now have it of conviction. My love of God was never so real and active. He sees my heart. In Him I fully trust.

Jan. 11th, 1836.

I have frequently repeated that bodies of men, such as clergies or priesthoods, will act in accordance with the tendencies of the worst part of their members. I have made this assertion with little effect of conviction, on those to whom I addressed it. And yet, general experience confirms the fact, as may be proved by the proverbial sayings expressing distrust in bodies, of which the members, taken individually, produce a very different impression. Not one election took place in Spain, while I lived there, which did not occasion the frequent repetition of the proverb,-La Canoniga, buena; la Cabilda, mala. The language of the proverb is the broken Spanish spoken by the imported negro slaves, the talky-talky of the Spanish negroes. It means, the Canons are good; but the Chapter is naughty;' and is supposed to have

expressed the opinion of a poor freed negro, who, wishing for one of the menial offices in a Spanish cathedral, solicited the favour of every member of the Chapter, was encouraged by each of them, and disappointed by all.

The proverb contains the important moral truth, that men are not ashamed to do in a body, what they would shrink from, individually. But the evil does not stop here. Bodies of men, as such, have no conscience; yet bodies of men, as such, have peculiar and strong temptations. How will those temptations be resisted? It will probably be said, that they will be resisted by the virtuous individuals in the body. But the temptation, in most cases, does not address its allurement to the virtuous individuals. Such minds are under an habitual determination, not to avail themselves of the privileges of the body, for selfish purposes; and when any encroachment in favour of the body is promoted by the mass of the coarse, and selfish, who must naturally be the majority, they will judge of the rest according to their own standard, and consequently assist them, or, at all events, will not resist them, in the endeavours to promote the interests of the body.

It is universally acknowledged that all corporations have a spirit of their own, which, in spite of the perpetual change of the members, continues the same for ages. This is the result of an invariable law, which may be understood by the assistance of what has just been said. Every individual will perceive

what is most agreeable to his desires, in whatever circumstances he may be placed; and he will modify everything that comes near him, to the full extent of his power, so as to answer to his wishes and interests. Virtue, of course, will, in the individual, be a check to this power of selfish attraction. According, however, to the simple principle above stated, a body of men with peculiar interests will have nothing, within it, to check the power of corporate selfishness. The selfish individuals, in the body, will give full sway to their desires and passions, under the cover that it is not for themselves, but for their body, that they wish for power, privileges, and wealth. The honest minority will give full credit to these assertions, because in their own case they know them to be true. There may appear, now and then, (especially when part of the community, out of the privileged body, begin to grow jealous of it,) a bold man who will venture to join the popular complaints; but such remonstrants are, generally, crushed by the intense hatred of the selfish and ambitious members, and find no support in the honest and timid.-This is the reason why no privileged body whatever, is known to have reformed its own abuses. Like a thoroughly demoralized regiment, they must be disbanded; else whatever number of fresh men you may put into them, will soon be assimilated to the existing body.

What has been said is best exhibited in priesthoods, or, as we now call them, Churches. One of the oldest, and most pernicious, errors of mankind is that, which