must be systematic. The pretence of attaining objective truth by flashes of intuition alone, comes from indolence or charlatanry. Intuition gives only the crude material, the chaotic elements, of truth; reason combines and organizes these according to logical laws. Intuition and logic, or reason intuitive and reason discursive, are as indispensable in every cogitative act as the two feet in every act of walking. The distinction between "logicians" and "intuitionalists" as two complementary orders of thinkers, the one burrowing in the mud, the other soaring in the pure ether, is one of those popular delusions which inexplicably re-appear among educated men. It is a distortion of the real distinction between what may be called microscopic and periscopic minds. Microscopic intellects are mere analysts, think deeply in a narrow compass, but take in no comprehensive relations, no grand sweeps of truth; periscopic intellects are mere synthesists or generalizers, — think over large areas, but sink no shafts. Every truly great intellect combines the two tendencies, and unites broad survey with deep insight. To such an intellect, no apology is needed in behalf of "system:" the apology should be offered for the attempt to dispense with it. Truth is harmonious and organic in all its countless ramifications: theology, as the theory of religious truth, must be systematic in order to mirror it.

The secret of the weakness of Unitarianism, as a body of doctrines, is its utter disjointedness. Although conventions and denominational organization may give it ecclesiastical coherency and power, it must remain theologically a zero until scientifically methodized and systematized. It is nothing till it becomes an organized idea. To launch its loose planks on the stormy sea of human thought, is to embark on a heap of boards for a cruise round the world. Unitarianism is a woodpile, not a ship. Before the New-York Convention, there was a reasonable ground to hope, that the elements of Liberal Christianity, being, as it were, in solution and free to move, might arrange themselves naturally in symmetrical form, according to the laws of spiritual crystallo. graphy; but there is now great danger that the ill-timed stir

VOL. LXXX.-NEW SERIES, VOL. I. NO. II.

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ring of the liquid with the Convention's one dogma will result in the deposition of a hopelessly amorphous mass. The crying need of Unitarianism is system. It is true, every system must be transitional,—the stepping-stone to a better; but every successive approximation to truth becomes less and less revolutionary with reference to its predecessor. The principles of a science, once ascertained, remain fixed and undisturbed: all changes are made for a more complete and thorough application of them.

We believe that Unitarianism must be re-theologized on the basis of pure Positivism, as the absolute condition of its future growth. Nor do we believe that this radical change will lessen its spirituality, its power, or its beauty; but, on the contrary, these will be immeasurably enhanced. Nothing is taken from the loveliness of special truths by showing that all truths are bound together in one perfect and glorious whole. The poetry of Christianity has scarcely begun to be revealed. From a lofty tower whose only outlook is through the narrow slit of a window here and there, how little of the beauty and sweetness of the landscape is unveiled! Scraps of meadow, fragments of forest, slices of mountains, sections of rivers, these only fret the gazer with hints of concealed charms, and make him long for one soul-filling draught of nature uneclipsed. Not till the broad sweep of hills and valleys, the majestic undulations of an unbroken horizon, and the boundless arch of blue above, blend into one magnificent scene, can his spirit breathe freely the inspiration of the hour. And so with Theism, which is the infinite multiplicity of Nature's broken gleams, made one for ever in the wondrous Central Sun. In the world of ideas, system is power, beauty, and life. It is time to cease our flings and cheap sarcasms about "system-builders," and remember, that, as practical Christianity or Religion is the evolution of concord out of spiritual discord by obedience to the one supreme law of love; so theoretical Christianity, or Theology, is the evolution of concord out of intellectual discord by obedience to the one supreme law of reason. When our chaotic and fragmentary truths shall be marshalled into systematic unity, and with

1

due co-ordination and subordination blended into one harmonious whole, their mutual relations luminously revealed, and their affiliated sequences genetically traced, the totality will be as much more majestic than the solitary elements, as a magnificent cathedral is more majestic than the isolated stones which compose its arches and spires; and Positivism must be our Michael Angelo.

ART. VIII.—THE PRESIDENTIAL POLICY.

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THE slow and tentative character of the proceedings at Washington, while somewhat discouraging to those who have but one idea, the full enfranchisement of the negro, rately represents the practical difficulties connected with the reconstruction of our national unity. Legislation at the Capital ought not to anchor in advance of public sentiment, and public sentiment is now afloat,-seeking rest, and finding none. Until it has settled itself, it is better that Congress should not commit itself upon the points most in debate.

The war was begun, continued, and ended by President Lincoln in the spirit of a follower, and not that of a leader, of the nation's will. He waited patiently till the mind of the country had disclosed itself on every important measure of his administration, and then only took immovable ground. We recollect none in which the Government undertook to lead the nation, except in regard to the case of the "Trent." There, no doubt, public opinion went one way, and the Government the other. But it was upon a question of international law, where the people felt their own ignorance, and were willing to be led by diplomatic experts, even contrary to their preposessions. Nothing ever more nobly exhibited the rare power of the American people to distinguish between matters within their proper purview and matters out of their reach, than the instant, uncomplaining acquiescence of the nation in the unpalatable decision of the Government.

The cautious Everett had thrown his judgment upon the popular side. Mr. Lincoln himself, it was well understood at Washington, was expecting and was prepared to defend the action of Commodore Wilkes. But our shrewd and peaceloving Secretary of State saw the untenableness of the popular ground. The President had the great wisdom to accept his warning and adopt his opinion, and the people have since fully endorsed it. With this exception, the Government always leaned on the popular judgment.

We owed our success, whether in arms, in legislation, or in diplomacy, to this tentative process. The war was waging hardest in the old political caucus-rooms, - in Wall Street and State Street; in the village post-offices and country taverns. Party passions, antipathies of race, commercial interests,all were enemies of Union, next in peril and power to the armies of Secession. They had to be conquered first,-conquered before a vigorous and successful onslaught could be made on the embattled enemy; conquered before emancipation could be proclaimed, or negroes be enrolled as soldiers. The President watched the public opinion of the North-west, of the Democratic party, of the Border States, with the most patient anxiety. He took no step in advance of their progress. The war, with its scourges and necessities, was slowly educating the people. The more intelligent were wondering at the procrastination of the Presidential policy, and at the slowness of our armies, when the President and the army were wondering when the people would back them both in decisive measures. If ever the secret history of McClellan's campaigns is written, it will turn out that he was put in command because he represented the very qualities then most popular; that his Fabian policy echoed the vacillating, undetermined mind of the nation; and that his failures were not more his than ours. When the people of the loyal States — so large a proportion of whom, when the rebellion broke out, were in sympathy with the ultra-States' rights and the proslavery sentiments that had caused the war-were ready to abandon their various prejudices, and unite with all their hearts and hands in crushing the rebellion at any necessary

cost, the war, for the first time, took the turn that carried it to success.

The policy of President Lincoln, in opening, conducting, and closing the war, is the only policy which can be safely pursued in reconstructing or restoring the normal condition of affairs in the Union. We did not know what we were going to do when we began the war. The people followed the education of circumstances and the lead of events; the Government followed the people, and reaped glorious fruits, -as rapidly gathered and with as little cost, as ever so splendid a harvest was brought in. So the people do not yet know what wisdom, justice, and expediency suggest or require in regard to the restoration of the Southern States to their old places, - the admission of their Senators and Representatives to Congress, the basis of representation, and the future political status of the negro. Public opinion on these subjects is in a state of high fermentation. And, with the exception of a few fanatics and doctrinaires, there seems to be no considerable number of people in the country who are bent upon forcing an artificial settlement. Parties in Congress the extremes led somewhat crustily by bachelors tightly wedded to their own ways for want of other brides are otherwise amiable and patient, willing to discuss with deliberation and thoroughness all questions purely on their merits. Those all-knowing critics, who are weary of these long speeches, must wait till the more modest and consciously ignorant people are tired of them. They bring formally and in excellent array before the nation the pros and cons of the national policy now to be adopted. Abstract as the themes may sometimes be, they touch points really underlying all practical measures. We must determine if States are in the Union, or out of the Union; are alive or dead; have forfeited their soil and are mere territories, or are only paralyzed, and in the temporary disuse of certain immortal and inextinguishable functions. The people listen to Senators Howe and Doolittle-both from one State, but taking precisely opposite grounds with great instruction. And it is folly to say, that two able and patriotic Senators, represent