Some Observations Upon the Civilization of the Western Barbarians, Particularly of the English / made during the residence of some years in those parts.

by John B. Swazey

The Roman Pope has many devotees among the English Barbarians; and was, not long ago, the Great and only Head. But a vile and cruel king, who wished to enjoy a woman and divorce his wife, with whom he had lived for many years, and by whom he had children, quarreled with the Roman Pope, because he would not suffer this bad thing to be done; and the English Barbarians, who disliked a foreign Pope, and the fierce chiefs about this king, even some of the priests of English birth, urged him to proclaim himself to be Pope in England, and to seize upon the revenues which the Pope had received from the English, and all the lands and properties of great value, which before-time had been given to the Temples and to the Priests. This was done; this king seized upon the wealth, and threw down the worship of the Roman Pope in England, and declared himself to be the new god in England—the Pope! And the English Barbarians worshipped, and have continued to worship, this new Pope accordingly. And some who could not honestly worship the new idol, and dared to adhere to the Roman, were burnt to death! Indeed this new idolatry was not introduced into England without terrible consequences. Massacres, burnings, imprisonments, wars, horrible crimes—persecutions, destruction of families, robbing, plundering—not even to this day have all the evil consequences ceased; though this bad ruler made this change in this particular of the great Superstition more than 300 years ago.

Thus, our Central Kingdom may see how powerfully Idolatry and Superstition are entrenched among the English Barbarians. A System interwoven with the very texture of their civilization; supporting, and, in turn, supported by the State; mixed up with customs and traditions, and endeared by its connection with family interests; rich in its possessions; powerful in all the Halls of Learning, and in its influence upon the fortunes and dignities of men; boasted of for its learning, for its history, and for its refining and reforming teachings; the English Church (as those Barbarians call their grand Idolatry) seems likely to stand for many generations. Yet agencies are, slowly, at work, which will remove the dark and horrible, and leave the simple and true. The Benevolence of the Sovereign Lord of Heaven never tires; and the pure worship and less corrupted morality will make way.

I hope I may be pardoned for the time which I have given to this subject; it is one worthy of deep attention. Besides, a little study of the literature and manners of the Western tribes, fastened upon my mind the impression that their History was mainly an account of the rise and progress of the Christ-god Superstition; and that, hereafter, whoever shall have the pleasing task of writing of their better civilization, will find it to be his main purpose to show the decline and extinction of that Superstition.

To wise men who worship the Supreme Lord only, and accept of His simple and direct Morality, there is, in all the broad and immense world, but a single family, ruled by Him. When this family recognises and worships Him, in direct and true sincerity, and practises the few and perfectly simple rules of His benevolent Morality, then it is an enlightened, civilized family.

The Western Barbarians do not understand nor practise this Benevolent Morality; until they do, their civilization will not be really better than a Barbarism.

We are not to suppose that a perfect morality will ever obtain, because man, being two-fold in his nature—divine and bestial—will now be ruled by the one, and now by the other part. The object of all education (discipline) is, therefore, to teach man how he may order these two parts. There is no antagonism [ha-tsi] between them, only it is indispensable that the divine part should rule.

That this may be, the intellect must be cultivated, not in difficulties, but in habits of thinking, of looking, or seeking out; of seeing the beauty, the order, the grandeur of the whole divine world. Thus employed it delights in itself; it feels the Mind like a bright thing, flying out to the great seas, and upwards to the everlasting stars. It loves to hear, to see, to look at and into everything. It can never cease to employ this delightful mind, thus stimulated in early youth, to exert itself; but it must be exerted innocently, benevolently.

That the subordination of mind and the animal may be secured, the Supreme, the Moral Faculty must, from the earliest years, be touched by wise fingers. Ah, how it responds, this divine part; how it, in the pure and warm glow of unselfish youth, recognises and worships with filial love its Father, the Sovereign Lord!—perceives the moral order and harmony, and loves to be orderly and obedient—early perceives that the true business of life is to preserve this order, and enjoy this peace.

Thus Man, a moral-minded animal, is first of all to be taught to understand his own nature, and to develop his distinguishing faculty. This done, the bestial part rises not above its office. It, too, performs its proper and useful end; and man is not a divided, but a whole and happy being.

All education, therefore, rightly considered, aims to this Integrity [Kom-fu] of a man—this secured, there are no limits to the mere objects of study or of examination.