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viii mammon will stick to their idol, the lovers of self and pleasure to theirs, the politicians to theirs, the worshipers of Mars to theirs, the popular sectarians to theirs, the philosophers to theirs, the light literati to theirs, the ignorami to theirs, the petrified conservatives to theirs, the high flying radicals to theirs, the fashionables to theirs, and the nothingarians to theirs. It is a pity; but so must it be for a long time to come. Yet there is progress. A noble few scattered here and there, through all these bustling, jostling masses, are aspiring after truth and goodness, after light and love, after a purer and higher order of society, after individual and social regeneration, after universal righteousness, harmony and happiness. These will gradually come to the knowledge of this Work, and will read it with delight. They will espouse the cause it advocates, and will noiselessly flow together into Practical Christian Communities. It is to such minds, regardless of their present associations, positions and denominations, that this book makes its special appeal. Such will welcome, rejoice in, and profit by it. The author would be happy to believe that such minds were numerous; but he knows that they are not, and has no disposition to flatter himself with false anticipations. He therefore commences with an edition of only one thousand copies, and expects to be a considerable time in disposing of these. Before the first edition shall have been exhausted, the Work will probably be revised and stereotyped.

While the author firmly believes that in process of time the purest, most disinterested and most enlightened minds will embrace the system of religion, moral order and social polity expounded in this Work, with perhaps minor modifications and improvements, he expects that many Socialists of the present day will deem it objectionable. With some it will be too re-