Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish historian and writer who in 1843 published his very influential historical and social criticism book “Past and Present”. There, he joins medieval history with criticism of 19^th-century British society. In the chapter “Gospel of Mammonism”, Carlyle examines the materialism of his Victorian society. He argues that a society’s imagery of its Creator and Infinite are just as important as their existence, and because modern English society has conceived the wrong imagery of these things, it has little to look forward to and has become a society of unhappiness, lies and greed, but even there the brotherhood of men is proven. Carlyle believes that society must have an infinite to strive towards, one of virtue and morality that is above money. But his modern society has dethroned God and created the new Gospel of Mammonism where money is worshipped, making histrionics and quacks the heroes. People imprison themselves into circles of their own making, where they do not help each other or stride to someplace greater, but even that cannot take away their equality under God.

Thomas Carlyle believes that it is important to believe in the Infinite. It is both good and bad, both Hell and Heaven. He uses similes to liken the Infinite to “the gleam of eternal Oceans” and “the voice of old Eternities” (Carlyle 1464). The former metaphor works because to humans, oceans are very vast, with all manner of life. Although they are of course not Infinite, they may as well be to human eyes, because they are that large. The latter may be the conscience, what the person strives for, since Carlyle is contrasting Heaven and Hell in this chapter, but also the yearning of something greater than oneself, than the material. Carlyle believes that knowledge of the Infinite is what separates man from animal. Rather than necessarily a physical place, Carlyle imagines Hell as “the thing a man is infinitely afraid of, and shudders and shrinks from, struggling with his whole soul to escape from it” (Carlyle 1465). He compares the Hells of different civilizations: the Christians are most afraid of being found guilty before God, who is the “Just Judge”, while the Romans are afraid of being unmanly. This shows what the civilizations value, or their Infinites: Christians value moral duties and promises which will defend them in the trial before God. The Romans valued masculinity, worthiness and virtue. The Christian conception of Hell is like Carlyle’s image of God as “an Invisible, Unnamable, Godlike, present everywhere in all that we see and work and suffer” (Carlyle 1466). This is important for Carlyle, because it means that God can see absolutely everything and is always looking at what to judge from a man. Despite Carlyle being a Deist, this is like the Christian idea of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit being a personal God close to the worshipper and always there in everything that they suffer and go through. Carlyle favors both the Christian and Roman Infinites. These two conceptions of a moral Infinite and an omnipotent God are as important for Carlyle as believing that there are Infinites and a God.

But Carlyle is upset with the modern English Infinite and God. The Gospel of modern society has become that of Mammon, the earning of money. Carlyle does not condemn making money by itself, in fact the worst thing for him is idleness and he believes “there is endless hope in work, were it even work at making money”. But Mammonism makes people forget “that cash payment is not the sole relation of human beings” and makes them believe “that it absolves and liquidates all engagements of man” (Carlyle 1465). This society’s Hell is a failure to make money. The Mammonist society justifies this through its image of God as a clockmaker, who “having made his Horologe of a universe”, now sits idle and watches it go (Carlyle 1466). Its conception of the human soul is of wind which is contained within a capsule. Although this is not strictly Atheism, for Carlyle it may as well be, because this God has already made his perfect clock, and no longer needs to work or be active. He has left the world to run for itself and no longer must be active or watch people. The clock also runs alone, a metaphor for man being alone in the world, not having to worry about a God. The capsule isolates the wind just as man is isolated by Mammonism.  To Carlyle, if this society cannot believe in an active God, then nothing else remains believable, and everything becomes fake. Without an active God as a moral arbiter to set the absolute truth, there will be no punishment for those who do wrong and lie. Men will believe in anything that they want and can do whatever they want. Thus, the society’s Heroes are actors, and there are no true heroes, but only Varlets or false prophets, and man simply looks out for himself and how much money he can make.

Not only does everyone in society becomes isolated, but a mutual hostility also sets in. Carlyle relates a story of a rich mill-owner whose workers are starving, who asks if he “did not hire them fairly in the market” and “pay them to the last sixpence”. His metaphor for this is the Bible story of Cain and Abel, where Cain kills his brother and asks God if he “is his brother’s keeper” and if “he did not pay his brother his wages” (Carlyle 1465). Both the mill owner and Cain are trying to absolve themselves of the responsibility of taking care of people and their blame for their deaths, which they caused simply to benefit them. But this is not true, and it can be seen by what occurs in a later story that Carlyle speaks of. A poor Irish widow from Edinburgh with three children attempted to find help from the charities of her city, but was refused by all of them. When she died of typhus fever, she infected her whole lane, killing everyone. The peoples of the charity had said that she was “no sister of theirs” and they kept their money for themselves, saying “it is impossible” to help her. But as Carlyle said, “she proves her sisterhood; her typhus fever kills them” (Carlyle 1466). Just as the natural wind blowing affects the entire environment and it cannot be contained in a capsule, the human cannot be isolated from their obligations to others. Carlyle speaks of a goose willingly imprisoned in a chalk circle drawn around him, “as if girt with the iron ring of fate” (Carlyle 1467). The goose is a metaphor for man under Mammonism: the system imposes an arbitrary circle which imprisons people. Just as the goose may die within sight of food, some men are poor and will die hunger or disease even though food and resources are available to help them because others are selfish. But also, just as the goose will sit in grim wretchedness and be plumped to death, the rich men will be consumed by their greed and desire for more money. Either way, the rich and poor equally lose in this nihilistic system, and it is “impossible” for them to find happiness, which is more proof that one God made humans.

Carlyle conceives of an Infinite of promises and moral duties, and a God that is constantly watching men to make sure that this is being carried out. But Carlyle’s society believes in a God that has finished with his creation, and a Gospel where money and materialism is everything, making false prophets their heroes. Men look out only for themselves and their gratification and do not want to help each other, but even then, they cannot escape the fact that they are brothers. For me personally, the idea of having something greater than yourself in the form of God is important and interesting to me as a Catholic, and it helps me have hope and be a better person. I am somewhat austere, being careful with my money and trying not to overbuy. I also help in my community, having set up the chairs for mass in the school where it was held, and am thinking on something else to do. Because of the Covid isolation, I also would like to get out more. In this way for me, Carlyle’s amazing ideas are relevant both on the personal and societal levels.

Works Cited

Black, Joseph et al. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: One-Volume Compact Edition, The Medieval Period through the Twenty First Century. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2015. Digital.