brought out of its present state of disorder, poverty, and wretchedness. It is quite in vain to think to regenerate society by external means,—by collecting men into artificial groups,—by attempting to destroy the principle of competition, as is sometimes proposed, through the formation of Fourier associations or other external organizations. The demon of Self-love, let in among these societies, will tear them to pieces—as it has repeatedly done: what is the very root and source of this violent competition, but selfishness? It is of little use to seek to change the outward, while the inward remains unchanged, because the outer flows from the inner as the effect from its cause. Is, it not a waste of labour to be clearing out the stream below, while the fountain is continually pouring down muddy waters anew? "Out of the heart are the issues of life:" cleanse that, and all the outer life, whether private or public, will come of itself into order, and society will find itself insensibly reorganized: in the words of a humble but true-speaking Scottish poet,
"When each reforms the world within,
The world without will know no sin."
There is no hope, therefore, for the thorough reformation of the world, except by the slow and gradual process of individual regeneration.[1] The world is
- ↑ "To reform a world, to reform a nation," says Carlyle, "no wise man would undertake; all but foolish men know that the only solid, though far slower reformation, is what each begins and perfects in himself."—"Instead of mending the world, (the mania of the present day,)" remarks the admirable authoress of Woman's Mission, "the best service we can do that world is to mend ourselves. As the old English adage says, 'If each mends one, all will be mended.'"
