under the egoistic synthesis was necessarily relegated to a subordinate place. Besides this general affinity between art and the worship of Humanity, that worship lends a special sanction to the three modes or degrees of all art of whatever kind, imitation, idealisation, expression. For it imitates the highest type, and yet ever idealises it in its expression of the emotions that type inspires. Conversely, as each act of worship of the Great Being, indirect or direct, is by the nature of the case a work of art, art in its turn is seen to be an essential complement of the worship of Humanity, into which it is once and for ever incorporated. This incorporation, by relieving art from the degrading anarchy which was the result of its throwing off the yoke of Theocracy, is as calculated to develope as to discipline and ennoble it. The absorption of the poetical into the sacerdotal function, in conformity at once with our instinct and reason, will always obviate the lowering tendency inherent in the exclusive devotion of any life to expression. When the language Italian. of Dante and Ariosto shall have become the universal language, having previously been the sacred language, it will have acquired one by one the additional excellences it needs to qualify it as the fit organ of the greater poetic achievements reserved for the ripe age of human genius. But the use of that language will not be limited to such exceptional efforts confined to the more eminent members of the priesthood; it will be the language used by all worshippers of the Great Being in their daily expressions of their emotions, both in private and in public. Its musical capacity will lead as a natural result to its adoption as the regular transition from the fundamental art to the highest of the more special arts which are the complement of poetry, and which in Positive education will become familiar to all as a means of perfecting our whole worship. Whilst, however, vocal expression assumes more and more prominence it must not do so to the detriment of the plastic art, the language of form, less sympathetic it may be under any of its three forms, but more synthetic, as the eye is more synthetic than the ear. Each of the three, and painting more than any, independently of its own peculiar destination, will bring its valuable contribution to the Positive culture, and will be placed within the reach of all by the normal education. Taken together, these hints are sufficient to express the Theory or This infiuence con sidered with reference to Method and Doctrine. Doctrine. influence of Sociolatry upon art, reserving further details for the remainder of the chapter. Its influence on theory calls for fuller explanation, for, whereas the worship absorbs art, science can only be absorbed in the doctrine. For a right estimate of the influence in question we must apportion it between the method and the doctrine, the two being too often confounded, even by philosophers. From the logical point of view, the worship exercises a greater influence than art, in the proper sense of the term, though art again is superior to science, as science hitherto has been almost limited to the use of signs, whereas poetry combines them with images. In science, the two are found in combination only in Mathematics, and even there their combination is not anterior to the remodelling of that domain by Descartes. But, although it is a combination which art cannot avoid employing largely, its true origin is to be found in the worship, where signs without images can never meet the demands of free expression. The spontaneous result of Fetichism, the object of special attention on the part of Theologism, it is in Positivism more than elsewhere that the alliance of the two finds its proper place, as the principal objects of Positivist adoration are in the fullest sense subjective. Still, logically, the superiority of the worship of Humanity lies in its power, a power exclusively its own, to perfect the combination of signs. with images by subordinating it to the feelings. Theologism, it is true, and above all monotheistic Theologism, had naturally initiated this ultimate convergence of all the general appliances which could facilitate our mental efforts, but it could directly bring to bear in those efforts only those affections which are least calculated to assist thought. It is by reducing to system, and giving effect to, the instinctive sanction by Fetichism of our sympathetic instincts, that Positivism alone organises the true logic, in regard to which the worship will always be of more value than the doctrine, by virtue of its offering a better coordination of its three constituent elements. If from the method we turn to the doctrine, the worship cannot retain this superiority, for the distinct progress of the doctrine must depend on the dogmatic system properly so-called. And yet even here the efficacy, as an intellectual stimulus, of worship and this is true in the highest degree of Positive worship cannot but be recognised by all but those who confuse information with intelligence. In fact the worship alone places before us in a thoroughly synthetic form the general body of doctrine, a result which flows directly from the fundamental theory of the Great Being. Sociolatry is the medium by which Morals transmits that theory to Sociology, as a general basis for the analytical investigation which is to furnish the guidance of Sociocracy, the aim being to make religion a reality. But over and above this most comprehensive object, the influence of worship on theory is exerted in a more peculiar sense with reference to the highest portion of the scientific domain. The initial conception of moral laws, and even intellectual laws, practically could not but originate in the impulse given by woman, and in the inspiration of the poet, the natural point of junction for the two being the worship; for science was reserved the discovery of physical laws following in the wake of action. Now the capacity of the worship in this respect cannot but be drawn out by Positivism, more real as it is and more unselfish than Theologism, since in the elaboration of the sociolatrical system it is urgent to keep continually in sight its relations to the feelings and the intellect. Treating as sufficient this examination in the general of the efficacy of the Positive worship, first as regards the feelings then as regards the intellect, I have to complete the process by extending it to the activity. Although in this last case it is naturally less efficacious than in the two other, yet it requires a distinct consideration in this place. Attaining supremacy solely in the sphere of feeling, the influence of the worship leaves the developement of the intelligence to the dogma in especial, whilst that of the activity is reserved for the regime. Practical life, however, no less than the speculative existence, feels the advantage of the training given by Sociolatry, fuller discipline being the condition of progress in both. Influence of the Worship on Activity. quires puri gets it from Human action, even when collective, springing originally Action refrom personal impulses, requires a constant process of purifica- fication, and tion, and nothing but the worship can give this. The pride of the Worship. the practician is a less obstacle than the vanity of the theorician to the due recognition of this want. Although Theologism on empirical grounds met it in some imperfect degree, its systematic satisfaction devolves upon Positivism as the only religion The Worship universal, tic only in reference to the more leading phases of human existence. founded on the true knowledge of human nature. Not to mention that the worship of Humanity concentrates all our practical faculties on the noble object from which the natural preponderance of egoism always tends to divert them, it gives a distinct stimulus to each of those faculties by constant exercise. It is the highest in particular that feels this influence most, since adoration without perseverance either never attains, or loses its moral effect; long attention being required for the original production, as for the continuance, of such effect. The influence of the worship extends to courage also, nay even to prudence, as may be seen if we consider the energy and circumspection often required for private no less than for public effusion. The faithful interpreter of all the relations of man, language has, since the Middle Ages, borne witness to this triple influence of the worship, for it applies the name religious practices to our habits of worship, as the exertions which that worship requires, by their greater persistence, though inferior in intensity, constitute a good preparation for active life. As the combined result of the three estimates just given, we but systema recognise the peculiar competence of Sociology to deal with each several part of the life which it idealises, and by idealising disciplines. So the domain of the Positive worship is seen to be all-comprehensive, as comprehensive as that of the religion of which it is the expression and developement; whereas the dogma, on the other hand, and the regime, though not without a general influence, are more limited in their functions. If we complement the Positive by the Fetichist spirit, the various scenes of our individual or our social life admit of effusions or consecrations of never-failing value, as the growth of feeling depends more on inward culture than on its external results. But as a systematic institution, public and private worship can only take account of the more important phases and steps of life. The secondary incidents, the occasional events, for these we cannot provide; in regard to them the priesthood must leave it to the true believers themselves to apply by themselves the rules of Sociolatry. In these less important cases, the fundamental formula of Positivism is a sufficient guide, and the act of worship might often be limited simply to the proper enunciation of that formula. But as an improvement on this mode of expression, signs susceptible of universal adoption may be introduced, and these I have now to point out, proving thereby that, even in such a secondary detail, the Positive is superior to the theological system of worship, to which latter, however, we are indebted for the happy thought of this custom. The Positivist formula is by its nature an adequate expres- Sacred sign. sion at all times of the constitution of man, but to make the full use of this its power, it is wise, generally, to enunciate it, and whilst doing so, to touch in succession the principal organs assigned by our theory of the brain to the three constituent elements of the formula. Those of love and order are completely contiguous, love finding its best representative in benevolence strictly so called, order depending in the main on deductive meditation. The organ of progress, in closest connection with firmness, comes after them on the median line, but with the organ of veneration between it and them, a position involving no confusion in our religious feelings, so intimate is the relation of these several attributes. Hence we draw the Positivist symbol, more rational at once and more efficacious than those of the various Monotheisms, as being a better substitute for the recitation of the formula which it condenses. Even this symbol admits of reduction to the mere enunciation of the three numbers (10, 14, 18) which mark the rank of the organs in question, for in the cerebral hierarchy function is indicated by position. Lastly, the Positivist formula admits of another and numerical symbolic statement, one resting on the properties of the three sacred numbers, whether ordinal or cardinal. In fact we learn from the last volume (III. p. 129) that the first, as the symbol of synthesis, represents also sympathy; that the second stands for order, in the distinct sense of arrangement, which is invariably binary; whilst the third, inseparable from the idea of evolution, naturally expresses progress. theory of tive life. Though what has been said is sufficient as determining the General scope and object of the worship of Humanity, I must not pass the subjec to the exposition of Sociolatry, without first stating generally the theory of the subjective life, as it is to it that the Positive adoration most especially looks. of it with tive. The first point is to get a clear conception of this life by Comparison comparing it with the objective, its basis. The fusion of the the objectwo can only apply to results, never to faculties, so that the most objective of the three constituent elements of our individual being cannot share in the subjective prolongation of existence, whereas the other two can, and that in the fullest |