THE

NEW ENGLANDER.

No. CLVI.

MAY, 1880.

ARTICLE I.-SPIRITUAL ECONOMICS.

THE daily bread of the world is the chief subject of Political Economy. If men were purely material, physical nourishment would suffice for them; but spiritual natures require spiritual nutriment. If what furnishes this nutriment were a purely immaterial thing, it would, as such, be removed from the domain of wealth, and thus from the field of economic science; but it is not so. It has, in fact, a material basis, and falls within the limits of the economist's studies; the students of this science have other than literal loaves to consider.

Not only is the consideration of forms of wealth which minister to spiritual wants necessary in order to properly complete the science of Political Economy, but it is more imperatively necessary in the interest of religion. Certain modern religious phenomena are inexplicable except in the light of economic principles; it is the economist who can, if he will, point out the chief danger that threatens the church.

In an earlier essay we have called attention to the wide range of application which current definitions of wealth must have if consistently adhered to. While wealth always has a material basis, that basis is not necessarily solid or durable. Vibrations of air may be shaped into artistic form by the violin or

the voice, and become commodities as truly as the stone which is shaped by the sculptor's chisel. Such products as musical notes, perishable as they are, produce lasting effects on the mind, and are valuable accordingly in the market. Concert tickets convey a title to them, and these are not to be had without money. The delicate material commodities which diffuse themselves, for a time, through the concert hall, are essential to the spiritual effects which follow from their use; there could be none of the mental effects of music without the material undulations. As long as tremulous air thus holds within itself the power to impress the soul of man, it is subject for the economist; it is his business to investigate its laws as wealth. When these effects exist only as impressions on the mind, he may turn them over to the metaphysician; they are commodities no longer. Bread is a commodity only while on its way from the oven to the organ of digestion; after that it is subject for the physiologist; and that form of bread for the mind which we term music is, in like manner, a commodity only while in transitu.

Musical forms are not the only ones that can be impressed on vibrations of air. Marble may be chiselled into letters as well as images; and air vibrations may be shaped into forms of intelligence as well as into those of beauty. Spoken words may be commodities in the market, as well as musical notes. They are recognized as such; lecture tickets sometimes convey a title to them, and these are property, sold and paid for. A preacher's spoken word has, in like manner, its place on the inventory of social wealth; sermons, as delivered, are property. The hymn and the sermon are to be regarded as forms of nutriment for the soul, which are commodities while in transitu from their source to the organ of spiritual digestion.

Regarded in the prosaic light of economy, church edifices become places where spiritual nutriment is disbursed. Forms of wealth which minister to spiritual wants are produced, distributed, exchanged, and consumed according to the same principles as ordinary products. Economic laws are general, and apply to higher as well as lower forms of wealth. Spiritually, we dine in commons, on the coöperative principle, once a week, with occasional lunches between whiles. The clergyman is a

minister, in that he provides and distributes food. In former years the meals were prepared with Spartan simplicity; but of late they have been greatly elaborated. In spiritual as in physical meals, it is the appetizing element that is expensive; reduced to simple nutriment a meal of either kind could be had very cheaply.

By the term Spiritual Economics, we mean, not a discussion of things purely spiritual, but a department of science which considers forms of material wealth that minister to spiritual wants. We now desire to call attention to the fact that the relations of rich and poor are alike in the lower and the higher departments of activity; the great question of general Political Economy is also the great question of Spiritual Economics. The highest forms of wealth have their laws of distribution; and, in the course of social development, large classes are deprived of them. The laws of spiritual poor-relief are impor tant for the scientist, as well as for the Christian.

The kind of spiritual poor-relief to be discussed here does not fall under the head of charity. Place a dozen men, each in his own boat, on the open sea, and start them for the nearest land. They are on an equality and completely independent. If any will not row, his destruction is on his own head. If any try to row and fail, it is the great law of charity, and that only, which constrains another to help him. If any venture to burden himself by towing a weaker brother to the shore, he is compelled to do so by no law legal or equitable, but the universal law of love.

But that is no picture of actual society. No man can paddle his own canoe as a member of that great social organism in which each individual labors, not for himself, but for the whole, and is dependent on the whole for employment and for pay. Independence is the law of isolation; interdependence is the law of society. Again and again, in actual history, society ceases to desire the product of a particular man's labor. The organic whole is in the position of employer to the millions who work, and it cannot always keep them busy; but it is not at liberty to starve them. It may take away their comforts; but, if it take their lives, it is murder. Civilization has placed us all in one boat; by mutual help we are sailing the

the voice, and become commodities as truly as the stone which is shaped by the sculptor's chisel. Such products as musical notes, perishable as they are, produce lasting effects on the mind, and are valuable accordingly in the market. Concert tickets convey a title to them, and these are not to be had without money. The delicate material commodities which diffuse themselves, for a time, through the concert hall, are essential to the spiritual effects which follow from their use; there could be none of the mental effects of music without the material undulations. As long as tremulous air thus holds within itself the power to impress the soul of man, it is subject for the economist; it is his business to investigate its laws as wealth. When these effects exist only as impressions on the mind, he may turn them over to the metaphysician; they are commodities no longer. Bread is a commodity only while on its way from the oven to the organ of digestion; after that it is subject. for the physiologist; and that form of bread for the mind which we term music is, in like manner, a commodity only while in transitu.

Musical forms are not the only ones that can be impressed on vibrations of air. Marble may be chiselled into letters as " as images; and air vibrations may be shaped into for telligence as well as into those of beauty.