"But these functions of reason, do they carry within themselves the pledge of their own continued health and harmonious action?
"Here Fourierism stops short, and, in so doing, proves itself to be, not a life, a soul, but only a body. It may be a magnificent body for humanity to dwell in for a season; and one for which it may be wise to quit old diseased carcases, which now go by the proud name of civilization. But if its friends pretend for it any higher character than that of a body, thus turning men from seeking for principles of life essentially above organization, it will prove but another, perhaps a greater curse.
"The question is, whether the Phalanx acknowledges its own limitations of nature, in being an organization, or opens up any avenue into the source of life that shall keep it sweet, enabling it to assimilate to itself contrary elements, and consume its own waste; so that, phœnix-like, it may renew itself forever in greater and finer forms.
"This question, the Fourierists in the convention, from whom alone we have learned any thing of Fourierism, did not seem to have considered. But this is a vital point.
"The life of the world is now the Christian life. For eighteen centuries, art, literature, philosophy, poetry, have followed the fortunes of the Christian idea. Ancient history is the history of the apotheosis of nature, or natural religion; modern history is the history of an idea, or revealed religion. In vain will any thing try to be, which is not supported thereby. Fourier does homage to Christianity with many words. But this may be cant, though it thinks itself sincere. Besides, there are many things which go by the name of Christianity, that are not it.
"Let the Fourierists see to it, that there be freedom in their Phalanxes for churches, unsupported by their material organization, and lending them no support on their material side. Independently existing, within them but not of them, feeding on ideas, forgetting that which is behind petrified into performance, and pressing on to the stature of the perfect man, they will finally spread themselves in spirit over the whole body.
"In fine, it is our belief, that unless the Fourierist bodies are made alive by Christ, 'their constitution will not march;' and the galvanic force of reäction, by which they move for a season, will not preserve them from corruption. As the corruption of the best is the worst, the warmer the friends of Fourierism are, the more awake should they be to this danger, and the more energetic to avert it."
Charles Lane in the Present discoursed still more profoundly, as follows:
"Some questions, of a nice importance, may be considered by the Phalanx before they set out, or at least on the journey, for they will have weighty, nay, decisive influences on the final result. One of these, perhaps the one most deserving attention, nay, perhaps that upon which all others hinge, is the adjustment of those human affections, out of which the present family arrangements spring. In a country like the United States of North America, where food is very cheap, and all the needs of life lie close to the industrious hand, it is very rare to find a family of old parents with their sons and daughters married and residing under the same roof. The universal bond is so weak, or the individual bond is so strong, that one married pair is deemed a sufficient swarm of human bees to hive off and form a new colony. How, then, can it be hoped that there is universal affection sufficient to unite many such families in one body for the common good? If, with the natural affections to aid the attempt to meliorate the hardships and difficulties in natural life, it is rare, nay, almost impossible, to unite three families in one bond of fellowship, how shall a greater number be brought together? If, in cases where the individual characters are known, can be relied on, are trusted with each other's affections, property and person, such union can not be formed, how shall it be constructed among strangers, or doubtful, or untried characters? The pressing necessities in isolated families, the great advantages in even the smallest union, are obvious to all, not least to the country families in this land; yet they unite not, but out of every pair of affectionate hearts they construct a new roof-tree, a new hearth-stone, at which they worship as at their exclusive altar.
"Is there some secret leaven in this conjugal mixture, which declares all other union to be out of the possible affinities? Is this mixture of male and female so very potent, as to hinder universal or even general union? Surely it can not happen, in all those numerous instances wherein re-unions of families would obviously work so advantageously for all parties, that there are qualities of mind so foreign and opposed, that no one could beneficially be consummated. Or is it certain, that in these natural affections and their consequences in living offspring, there is an element so subversive of general Association that the two can not co-exist? The facts seem to maintain such a hypothesis. History has not yet furnished one instance of combined individual and universal life. Prophecy holds not very strong or clear language on the point. Plato scarcely fancied the possible union of the two affections; the religious Associations of past or present times have not attempted it; and Fourier, the most sanguine of all futurists, does not deliver very succinct or decisive oracles on the subject.