source of moral progress and of noble joy. If a whole life hardly suffices for two beings to know and love each other perfectly, if therefore through perfect constancy alone can the deepest human feelings ripen, why should Death break off the continuity of sympathy? When the fatal separation comes, is not the obligation equally undoubted, whether the union has been of months or of years? Or rather, should not that be more strenuously prolonged of which the duration has been briefest? Forgetfulness can only come from shallowness of heart, which for want of persevering tenderness loses at once the best fruit sown in past years. Still more certain is the degradation of inconstancy in him who, deprived of the higher love, is satisfied with some coarser affection, as in the case so energetically stigmatised by Calderon.1 Six months of deep meditation on this bitter crisis of my life have thus added strength to the solemn promises which comforted your last hours. And anxiety for my own highest welfare will keep the sense of this duty ever present with me. Therefore it is that every day before the shrine consecrated to you I repeat with growing assurance, that Death for ever seals the bond of affection, esteem, and reverence. Here then, for me, in this irrevocable communion of our lives, the age of personal passion finds its fitting close. Henceforth I give myself exclusively to the noble civic passion which from earliest youth devoted every energy of my being to the great work of regeneration. Thus it is that the seeds sown by your influence shall, in spite of Death, grow to full maturity. Though an active fellow-worker no longer, yet your silent aid cannot be taken from me. During our sacred year of happiness, your sweet impulses mingled far more than you could ever believe with my highest philosophic inspirations. The same blest influence has been with me during the last six months, aiding my thoughts as they moved onwards in the midst of tears. Wisely cherished, it will continue, I feel, to purify and kindle my highest thoughts. It strengthens and ennobles too all that sense of beauty which we shared in common, and which besides its intrinsic worth is now the sole antidote for the oppressive barrenness of scientific study. 1 Es hombre vil, es infame, El que, solamente atento Consecrated henceforth to the work of social reconstruction built up on the basis of philosophic reform, I shall feel the full and immediate value of that long-delayed completion of my moral training which I owe to you. In all that relates to the true position of women, and to their increasing share in the general movement of mankind, it will be my delight to strengthen and develop my philosophic conclusions by the vivid remembrance of our complete agreement on a subject in which it is peculiarly important for the thoughts of one to receive full sanction from the other. With singular clearness you had seen the natural tendency of Positivism to bring forward into systematic prominence, both in private and in public life, the worship of woman, which in the Middle Ages had been faintly foreshadowed. In the varied developments of this fertile range of thoughts and feelings, I shall henceforth feel the inspiring charm of personal experience, the sincerity and fulness of which can be contested by none. In bringing these words of well-merited Dedication to a close, I feel already the large results flowing from our eternal union. By the fulfilment of a loving duty I am brought back to the great work which had been suspended by our calamity. Meanwhile the moral reaction thus obtained will restore, I trust, all my former powers. By distinct and regular utterance, feelings no less than thoughts gain increased precision and coherence. This perhaps, with competent judges, may be an excuse for the unusual character and length of this testimony of respect. Those thinkers who know the influence of generous sympathies upon the mind will not think that time spent in retracing and rekindling pure emotions has been spent in vain. But I appeal more especially to those in whom the impulses of the heart are paramount; whether amongst women, amongst the people, or amongst the young. Farewell, changeless friend! farewell, my Saint Clotilda, thou who wert to me in the stead of wife, of sister, and of child! farewell, loved pupil, true fellow-worker! Thy angel influence will govern what remains to me of life, whether public or private, ever urging me onwards toward perfection; purifying feeling, enlarging thought, ennobling conduct. May this solemn incorporation into my whole life reveal at last to the world thy hidden worth! Thus only can thy benefits now be recognised, by rendering my own performance of the mighty task before me more complete. As the highest personal reward for the noble work that yet remains to be done under thy lofty inspiration, it will be granted perhaps that thy name shall remain ever joined with mine in the most distant memories of grateful Humanity. TABLE OF CONTENTS. INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER OF POSITIVISM. The object of Philosophy is to present a systematic view of human life as a The Theological synthesis failed to include the practical side of human nature But the Positive spirit originated in practical life In human nature, and therefore in the Positive system, Affection is the pre- The proper function of Intellect is the service of the Social Sympathies Under Theology the intellect was the slave of the heart; under Positivism Objective basis of the system; External Order of the World, as revealed by By it the selfish affections are controlled; the unselfish strengthened Our conception of this External Order has been gradually growing from the earliest times, and is but just complete Even where not modifiable, its influence on the character is of the greatest But in most cases we can modify it; and in these the knowledge of it forms the systematic basis of human nature The chief difficulty of the Positive Synthesis was to complete our conception of the External Order, by extending it to Social phenomena By the discovery of Sociological laws social questions are made paramount; and thus our subjective principle is satisfied without danger to free Error of identifying Positivism with Atheism, Materialism, Fatalism, or Optimism Atheism, like Theology, discusses insoluble mysteries 36 |