ven, it may be, to fatal
overthrow, unless supplied.

The tendency of modern reform in reference to the institutions of Church
and State--and these, in the sense in which they are here used, include
all other institutions--is, as has been said, to do away with the former
altogether, and to restrict the latter to the sole functions of
protection of person and property. Reformatory ideas come, it has also
been said, from that small circle of men and women in Society, who are
in advance of the general development of the age even as represented in
the superior class--meaning by this, the class which, in the average
estimate, occupies the highest position; as, for instance, the
Aristocracy in England, and the Wealthy Families of America.

Human Society, in all its Institutions, has been, thus far in the
history of the world, a thing of spontaneous, instinctual, or automatic
growth. There has never been and is not to-day, so far as is publicly
known, any _Science_ of Social Organization; any System of Laws or
Principles embodying the true mode of Social Construction. There has not
been, in other words, any discovery of the right Principles upon which
the affairs of mankind should be conducted in reference to their mutual
relationships; and hence, there is no real _knowledge_, but only
conjecture, of what are the right relations. _Might_ has always been the
accepted Right and the only Standard of Right in the regulation of
Society. The opinions of the Ruling Power give tone to human thought and
action. While Kings and Oligarchies were in the ascendency, the Standard
of Right--the King's or the Oligarchs' will--were based on his or their
ideas of right. Later, when the People secured the conduct of their own
affairs, the voice of the Majority became the voice of God, as expressed
in the popular motto: _Vox populi, vox Dei_.

Having then no Standard of true Social Organization, it is natural,
though short sighted, that the reformatory party--perceiving the
insufficiencies and drawbacks of our present Societary Arrangements,
feeling that _they_ have no need of the Governmental and Religious
institutions of the day, that these are, indeed, rather hindrances than
aids to _their_ progress--should think that the people of the whole
world, of the civilized nations, or of one civilized nation, at least,
were in like state of preparation, and that those Institutions could be
safely and advantageously dispensed with. There could scarce