by the accumulation of tradition and by improvements in habit based
on experience; but how slow was this advance while the use of the
metals was still unknown! The iron age brought with it not only new
conveniences, but increased means of future progress; and here we
have an acceleration in the rate of advance. With the introduction
of letters this rate was increased many fold, and in the application
of steam we have a change equal in utility to any that has preceded
it, and adding more than any to the possibilities of future advance
in many directions. By its power, knowledge and means of happiness
were to be distributed among the many.
The uses to which human intelligence has successively applied the
materials furnished by nature have been—First, subsistence and
defence: second, the accumulation of power in the shape of a
representative of that labor which the use of matter involves; in
other words, the accumulation of wealth. The possession of this
power involves new possibilities, for opportunity is offered for the
special pursuits of knowledge and the assistance of the weak or
undeveloped part of mankind in its struggles.
Thus, while the first men possessed the power of speech, and could
advance a little in knowledge through the accumulation of the
experiences of their predecessors, they possessed no means of
accumulating the power of labor, no control over the activity of
numbers—in other words, no wealth.
But the accumulation of knowledge finally brought this advance
about. The extraction and utilization of the metals, especially
iron, formed the most important step, since labor was thus
facilitated and its productiveness increased in an incalculable
degree. We have little evidence of the existence of a medium of
exchange during the first or stone period, and no doubt barter was
the only form of trade. Before the use of metals, shells and other
objects were used: remains of money of baked clay have been found in
Mexico. Finally, though in still ancient times, the possession of
wealth in money gradually became possible and more common, and from
that day to this avenues for reaching this stage in social progress
has ever been opening.
But wealth merely indicates a stage of progress, since it is but a
comparative term. All men could not become rich, for in that case
all would be equally poor. But labor has a still higher goal; for,
thirdly, as capital, it constructs and employs machinery, which does
the work of many hands, and thus cheapens products, which is
equivalent in effect to an accumulation of wealth to the consumer.
And this increase of power may be used for the intellectual and
spiritual advance of men, or otherwise, at the will of the men thus
favored. Machinery places man in the position of a creator,
operating on Nature through an increased number of “secondary
causes.”
Development of intelligence is seen, then, in the following
directions: First, in the knowledge of facts, including science;
second, in language; third, in the apprehension of beauty; and, as
consequences of the first of these, the accumulation of power by
development—First, of means of subsistence; and second, of
mechanical invention.
Thus we have two terms to start with in estimating the beginning of
human development in knowledge and power: First, the primary
capacities of the human mind itself; second, a material world, whose
infinitely varied components are so arranged as to yield results to
the energies of that mind. For example, the transition points of
vaporization and liquefaction are so placed as to be within the
reach of man’s agents; their weights are so fixed as to accord with
the muscular or other forces which he is able to exert; and other
living organizations are subject to his convenience and rule, and
not, as in previous geological periods, entirely beyond his control.
These two terms being given, it is maintained that the present
situation of the most civilized men has been attained through the
operation of a law of mutual action and reaction—a law whose
results, seen at the present time, have depended on the acceleration
or retardation of its rate of action; which rate has been regulated,
according to the degree in which a third great term, viz., the law
of moral or (what is the same thing) true religious development has
been combined in the plan. What it is necessary to establish in
order to prove the above hypothesis is—
I. That in each of the particulars above enumerated the development
of the human species is similar to that of the individual from
infancy to maturity.
II. That from a condition of subserviency to the laws of matter,
man’s intelligence enables him, by an accumulation of power, to
become in a sense independent of those laws, and to increase greatly
the rate of intellectual and spiritual progress.
III. That failure to accomplish a moral or spiritual development
will again reduce him to a subserviency to the laws of matter.
This brings us to the subject of moral development. And here I may
be allowed to suggest that the weight of the evidence is opposed to
the philosophy, “falsely so called,” of necessitarianism, which
asserts that the first two terms alone were sufficient to work out
man’s salvation in this world and the next; and, on the other hand,
to that anti-philosophy which asserts that all things in the
progress of the human race, social and civil, are regulated by
immediate Divine interposition instead of through instrumentalities.
Hence the subject divides itself at once into two great
departments—viz., that of the development of mind or intelligence,
and that of the development of morality.
That these laws are distinct there can be no doubt, since in the
individual man one of them may produce results without the aid of
the other. Yet it can be shown that each is the most invaluable aid
and stimulant to the other, and most favorable to the rapid advance
of the mind in either direction.
III. SPIRITUAL OR MORAL DEVELOPMENT.
In examining this subject, we first inquire (Sect. _α_) whether
there is any connection between physical and moral or religious
development; then (_β_), what indications of moral development may
be derived from history. Finally (_γ_), a correlation of the results
of these inquiries, with the nature of the religious development in
the individual, is attempted. Of course in so stupendous an inquiry
but a few leading points can be presented here.
If it be true that the period of human existence on the earth has
seen a gradually increasing predominance of higher motives over
lower ones among the mass of mankind, and if any parts of our
metaphysical being have been derived by inheritance from preëxistent
beings, we are incited to the inquiry whether any of the moral
qualities are included among the latter; and whether there be any
resemblance between moral and intellectual development.
Thus, if there have been a physical derivation from a preëxistent
genus, and an embryonic condition of those physical characters which
distinguish Homo—if there has been also an embryonic or infantile
stage in intellectual qualities—we are led to inquire whether the
development of the individual in moral nature will furnish us with a
standard of estimation of the successive conditions or present
relations of the human species in this aspect also.
_a. Relations of Physical and Moral Nature._
Although men are much alike in the deeper qualities of their nature,
there is a range of variation which is best understood by a
consideration of the extremes of such variation, as seen in men of
different latitudes, and women and children.
(_a._) _In Children._ Youth is distinguished by a peculiarity, which
no doubt depends upon an immature condition of the nervous center
concerned, which might be called _nervous impressibility_. It is
exhibited in a greater tendency to tearfulness, in timidity, less
mental endurance, a greater facility in acquiring knowledge, and
more ready susceptibility to the influence of sights, sounds and
sensations. In both sexes the emotional nature predominates over the
intelligence and judgment. In those years the _character_ is said to
be in embryo, and theologians in using the phrase, “reaching years
of religious understanding,” mean that in early years the religious
_capacities_ undergo development coincidentally with those of the
body.
(_b._) _In Women._ If we examine the metaphysical characteristics of
women, we observe two classes of traits—namely, those which are also
found in men, and those which are absent or but weakly developed in
men. Those of the first class are very similar in essential nature
to those which men exhibit at an early stage of development. This
may be in some way related to the fact that physical maturity occurs
earlier in women.
The gentler sex is characterized by a greater impressibility, often
seen in the influence exercised by a stronger character, as well as
by music, color or spectacle generally; warmth of emotion,
submission to its influence rather than that of logic; timidity and
irregularity of action in the outer world. All these qualities
belong to the male sex, as a general rule, at some period of life,
though different individuals lose them at very various periods.
Ruggedness and sternness may rarely be developed in infancy, yet at
some still prior time they certainly do not exist in any.
Probably most men can recollect some early period of their lives
when the emotional nature predominated—a time when emotion at the
sight of suffering was more easily stirred than in maturer years. I
do not now allude to the benevolence inspired, kept alive or
developed by the influence of the Christian religion on the heart,
but rather to that which belongs to the natural man. Perhaps all men
can recall a period of youth when they were hero-worshipers—when
they felt the need of a stronger arm, and loved to look up to the
powerful friend who could sympathize with and aid them. This is the
“woman stage” of character: in a large number of cases it is early
passed; in some it lasts longer; while in a very few men it persists
through life. Severe discipline and labor are unfavorable to its
persistence. Luxury preserves its bad qualities without its good,
while Christianity preserves its good elements without its bad.
It is not designed to say that woman in her emotional nature does
not differ from the undeveloped man. On the contrary, though she
does not differ in kind, she differs greatly in degree, for her
qualities grow with her growth, and exceed in _power_ many fold
those exhibited by her companion at the original point of departure.
Hence, since it might be said that man is the undeveloped woman, a
word of explanation will be useful. Embryonic types abound in the
fields of nature, but they are not therefore immature in the usual
sense. Maintaining the lower essential quality, they yet exhibit the
usual results of growth in individual characters; that is, increase
of strength, powers of support and protection, size and beauty. In
order to maintain that the masculine character coincides with that
of the undeveloped woman, it would be necessary to show that the
latter during her infancy possesses the male characters
predominating—that is, unimpressibility, judgment, physical courage,
and the like.
If we look at the second class of female characters—namely, those
which are imperfectly developed or absent in men, and in respect to
which man may be called undeveloped woman—we note three prominent
points: facility in language, tact or finesse, and the love of
children. The first two appear to me to be altogether developed
results of “impressibility,” already considered as an indication of
immaturity. Imagination is also a quality of impressibility, and,
associated with finesse, is apt to degenerate into duplicity and
untruthfulness.
The third quality is different. It generally appears at a very early
period of life. Who does not know how soon the little girl selects
the doll, and the boy the toy-horse or machine? Here man truly never
gets beyond undeveloped woman. Nevertheless, “impressibility” seems
to have a great deal to do with this quality also.
Thus the metaphysical relation of the sexes would appear to be one
of _inexact parallelism_, as defined in Sect. I. That the physical
relation is a remote one of the same kind, several characters seem
to point out. The case of the vocal organs will suffice. Their
structure is identical in both sexes in early youth, and both
produce nearly similar sounds. They remain in this condition in the
woman, while they undergo a metamorphosis and change both in
structure and vocal power in the man. In the same way, in many of
the lower creation, the females possess a majority of embryonic
features, though not invariably. A common example is to be found in
the plumage of birds, where the females and young males are often
undistinguishable.[48] But there are few points in the physical
structure of man also in which the male condition is the immature
one. In regard to structure, the point at which the relation between
the sexes is that of _exact parallelism_, or where the mature
condition of the one sex accords with the undeveloped condition of
the other, is when reproduction is no longer accomplished by budding
or gemmation, but requires distinct organs. Metaphysically, this
relation is to be found where distinct individuality of the sexes
first appears; that is, where we pass from the hermaphrodite to the
bisexual condition.
Footnote 48:
Meehan states that the upper limbs and strong laterals in coniferæ
and other trees produce female flowers and cones, and the lower
and more interior branches the male flowers. What he points out is
in harmony with the position here maintained—namely, that the
female characters include more of those which are embryonic in the
males, than the male characters include of those which are
embryonic in the female: the female flowers are the product of the
younger and more growing portions of the tree—that is, those last
produced (the upper limbs and new branches)—while the male flowers
are produced by the older or more mature portions—that is, lower
limbs or more axial regions.
Meehan’s observations coincide with those of Thury and others on
the origin of sexes in animals and plants, which it appears to
admit of a similar explanation.
But let us put the whole interpretation on this partial
undevelopment of woman.
The types or conditions of organic life which have been the most
prominent in the world’s history—the Ganoids of the first, the
Dinosaurs of the second, and the Mammoths of the third period—have
generally died with their day. The line of succession has not been
from them. The law of anatomy and paleontology is, that we must seek
the point of departure of the type which is to predominate in the
future, at lower stages on the line, in less decided forms, or in
what, in scientific parlance, are called generalized types. In the
same way, though the adults of the tailless apes are in a physical
sense more highly developed than their young, yet the latter far
more closely resemble the human species in their large facial angle
and shortened jaws.
How much significance, then, is added to the law uttered by
Christ!—“Except ye become as little children, ye cannot enter the
kingdom of heaven.” Submission of will, loving trust, confiding
faith—these belong to the child: how strange they appear to the
executing, commanding, reasoning man! Are they so strange to the
woman? We all know the answer. Woman is nearer to the point of
departure of that development which outlives time and peoples
heaven; and if man would find it, he must retrace his steps, regain
something he lost in youth, and join to the powers and energies of
his character the submission, love and faith which the new birth
alone can give.
Thus the summing up of the metaphysical qualities of woman would be
thus expressed: In the emotional world, man’s superior; in the moral
world, his equal; in the laboring world, his inferior.
There are, however, vast differences in women in respect to the
number of masculine traits they may have assumed before being
determined into their own special development. Woman also, under the
influence of necessity, in later years of life, may add more or less
to those qualities in her which are fully developed in the man.
The relation of these facts to the principles stated as the two
opposing laws of development is, it appears to me, to be explained
thus: First, that woman’s most inherent peculiarities are _not_ the
result of the external circumstances with which she has been placed
in contact, as the _conflict theory_ would indicate. Such
circumstances are said to be her involuntary subserviency to the
physically more powerful man, and the effect of a compulsory mode of
life in preventing her from attaining a position of equality in the
activities of the world. Second, that they _are_ the result of the
different distributions of qualities as already indicated by the
_harmonic theory_ of development; that is, of the unequal possession
of features which belong to different periods in the developmental
succession of the highest. And here it might be further shown that
this relation involves no disadvantage to either sex, but that the
principle of compensation holds in moral organization and in social
order, as elsewhere. There is then another beautiful harmony which
will ever remain, let the development of each sex be extended as far
as it may.
(_c._) _In Men._ If we look at the male sex, we shall find various
exceptional approximations to the female in mental constitution.
Further, there can be little doubt that in the Indo-European race
maturity in some respects appears earlier in tropical than in
northern regions; and though subject to many exceptions, this is
sufficiently general to be looked upon as a rule. Accordingly, we
find in that race—at least in the warmer regions of Europe and
America—a larger proportion of certain qualities which are more
universal in women; as greater activity of the emotional nature when
compared with the judgment; an impressibility of the nervous center,
which, _cæteris paribus_, appreciates quickly the harmonies of
sound, form and color; answers most quickly to the friendly greeting
or the hostile menace; is more careless of consequences in the
material expression of generosity or hatred, and more indifferent to
truth under the influence of personal relations. The movements of
the body and expressions of the countenance answer to the
temperament. More of grace and elegance in the bearing mark the
Greek, the Italian and the Creole, than the German, the Englishman
or the Green Mountain man. More of vivacity and fire, for better or
for worse, are displayed in the countenance.
Perhaps the more northern type left all that behind in its youth.
The rugged, angular character which appreciates force better than
harmony, the strong intellect which delights in forethought and
calculation, the less impressibility, reaching stolidity in the
uneducated, are its well-known traits. If in such a character
generosity is less prompt, and there is but little chivalry, there
is persistency and unwavering fidelity, not readily interrupted by
the lightning of passion or the dark surmises of an active
imagination.
All these peculiarities appear to result, _first_, from different
degrees of quickness and depth in appreciating impressions from
without; and, _second_, from differing degrees of attention to the
intelligent judgment in consequent action. (I leave conscience out,
as not belonging to the category of inherited qualities.)
The first is the basis of an emotional nature, and the predominance
of the second is the usual indication of maturity. That the first is
largely dependent on an impressible condition of the nervous system
can be asserted by those who reduce their nervous centers to a
sensitive condition by a rapid consumption of the nutritive
materials necessary to the production of thought-force, and perhaps
of brain-tissue itself, induced by close and prolonged mental labor.
The condition of over-work, though but an imitation of immaturity,
without its joy-giving nutrition, is nevertheless very instructive.
The sensitiveness, both physically, emotionally and morally, is
often remarkable, and a weakening of the understanding is often
coincident with it.
It is necessary here to introduce a caution, that the meaning of the
words high and low be not misunderstood. Great impressibility is an
essential constituent of many of the highest forms of genius, and
the combination of this quality with strong reflective intelligence,
constitutes the most complete and efficient type of mind—therefore
the highest in the common sense. It is not, however, the highest—or
extremest—in an evolutional sense, it is not masculine, but
hermaphrodite; in other words, its _kinetic_ force exceeds its
_bathmic_.[49] It is therefore certain that a partial diminution of
bathmic vigor is an advantage to some kinds of intellect.
Footnote 49:
_Bathmic force_ is analogous to the _potential_ force of chemists,
but is no doubt entirely different in its nature. It is converted
into active energy or _kinetic_ force only during the years of
growth: it is in large amount in _acceleration_, in small amount
in _retardation_.
The above observations have been confined to the Indo-European race.
It may be objected to the theory that savagery means immaturity in
the senses above described, as dependent largely on
“impressibility,” while savages in general display the least
“impressibility,” as that word is generally understood. This cannot
be asserted of the Africans, who, so far as we know them, possess
this peculiarity in a high degree. Moreover, it must be remembered
that the state of indifference which precedes that of impressibility
in the individual may characterize many savages; while their varied
peculiarities may be largely accounted for by recollecting that many
combinations of different species of emotions and kinds of
intelligence go to make up the complete result in each case.
(_d._) _Conclusions._ Three types of religion may be selected from
the developmental conditions of man: first, an absence of
sensibility (early infancy); second, an emotional stage more
productive of faith than of works; thirdly, an intellectual type,
more favorable to works than to faith. Though in regard to
responsibility these states may be equal, there is absolutely no
gain to laboring humanity from the first type, and a serious loss in
actual results from the second, taken alone, as compared with the
third.
These, then, are the _physical vehicles of religion_—the “_earthen
vessels_” of Paul—which give character and tone to the deeper
spiritual life, as the color of the transparent vessel is
communicated to the light which radiates from within.
But if evolution has taken place, there is evidently a provision for
the progress from the lower to the higher states, either in the
education of circumstances (“conflict,”) or in the power of an
interior spiritual influence “harmony,”) or both.
_β. Evidence Derived from History._
We trace the development of Morality in—First, the family or social
order; second, the civil order, or government.