ny abject working men have been brought
into a higher social and moral condition than they had hitherto enjoyed.
These humanitarian efforts have attracted large numbers to the reception
of the tenets entertained by those putting them forth. "For," the
unthinking say, "if the opinions of these men will lead them to labor on
this wise for the social elevation of our fellow-beings, they must needs
be correct, and if so, worthy of our reception." But if Neo-Platonism
can make Maurices, Kingsleys, and a whole school of "Muscular
Christians" and "Christian Socialists," nothing less than the pure
religion of Christ can raise up Howards, Wilberforces, and Budgetts.

* * * * *

The philosopher has always exerted a great power upon those who do not
philosophize. He is regarded by many as the inhabitant of a sphere which
few can enter, and his dictates are heard as fiats of a rightful ruler.
Those who cannot understand him fully often congratulate themselves that
the few unmistakable grains they have gathered from his opinions are
nuggets of pure gold, and entitled to the merit of becoming the world's
currency. The philosopher is not his own interpreter. There has seldom
been one who knew how to tell his thoughts to the masses. That is the
province of the popular writers who have adopted his opinions, and know
how to deal them out almost imperceptibly in the form of poetry and
fiction. One great philosophical mind has sometimes dictated the
literature of generations, and, in earlier periods, of entire centuries.

This influence of philosophy on literature is furnished with a new
illustration at the present day; some of the most popular and attractive
writers of Great Britain have extracted their opinions from one or more
of the later philosophers of Germany, and incorporated them into current
poetry, finance, and history. The effect has been to furnish the people
with a literature which possesses all the weight of vital religious
truth in the minds of those readers who prefer to derive their creed
from some enchanter in letters to seeking it immediately from the Bible
or its most reliable interpreters.

The department of literature in question inculcates as its cardinal
principle that man is unconscious of his power, he can do what seems
impossible, does not worship his fellows enough, is purer than his
clerical leaders would have him imagine, and ought, like certain of his
predecessors, to arouse