Deluge, it does not appear that the earth was yet prepared for the
permanent habitation of the human race. All nations preserve
traditions of the drowning of the early peoples by floods, such as
have occurred frequently during geologic time. At the close of each
period of dry land, a period of submergence has set in, and the
depression of the level of the earth, and consequent overflow by the
sea, has caused the death and subsequent preservation of the remains
of the fauna and flora living upon it, while the elevation of the
same has produced that interruption in the process of deposit in the
same region which marks the intervals between geologic periods.
Change in these respects do not occur to any very material extent at
the present time in the regions inhabited by the most highly
developed portions of the human race; and as the last which occurred
seems to have been expressly designed for the preparation of the
earth’s surface for the occupation of organized human society, it
may be doubted whether many such changes are to be looked for in the
future. The last great flooding was that which stratified the drift
materials of the north, and carried the finer portions far over the
south, determining the minor topography of the surface and supplying
it with soils.
The existence of floods which drowned many races of men may be
considered as established. The men destroyed by the one recorded by
Moses are described by him as exceedingly wicked, so that “the earth
was filled with violence.” In his eyes the Flood was designed for
their extermination.
That their condition was evil must be fully believed if they were
condemned by the executive of the Jewish law. This law, it will be
remembered, permitted polygamy, slavery, revenge, aggressive war.
The Jews were expected to rob their neighbors the Egyptians of
jewels, and they were allowed “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth.” They were expected to butcher other nations, with their
women and children, their flocks and their herds. If we look at the
lives of men recorded in the Old Testament as examples of
distinguished excellence, we find that their standard, however
superior to that of the people around them, would ill accord with
the morality of the present day. They were all polygamists,
slaveholders and warriors. Abraham treated Hagar and Ishmael with
inhumanity. Jacob, with his mother’s aid, deceived Isaac, and
received thereby a blessing which extended to the whole Jewish
nation. David, a man whom Paul tells us the Lord found to be after
his own heart, slew the messenger who brought tidings of the death
of Saul, and committed other acts which would stain the reputation
of a Christian beyond redemption. It is scarcely necessary to turn
to other nations if this be true of the chosen men of a chosen
people. History indeed presents us with no people prior to, or
contemporary with, the Jews who were not morally their inferiors.
If we turn to more modern periods, an examination of the morality of
Greece and Rome reveals a curious intermixture of lower and higher
moral conditions. While each of these nations produced excellent
moralists, the influence of their teachings was not sufficient to
elevate the masses above what would now be regarded as a very low
standard. The popularity of those scenes of cruelty, the
gladiatorial shows and the combats with wild beasts, sufficiently
attests this. The Roman virtue of patriotism, while productive of
many noble deeds, is in itself far from being a disinterested one,
but partakes rather of the nature of partisanship and selfishness.
If the Greeks were superior to the Romans in humanity, they were
apparently their inferiors in the social virtues, and were much
below the standard of Christian nations in both respects.
Ancient history points to a state of chronic war, in which the
social relations were in confusion, and the development of the
useful arts was almost impossible. Savage races, which continue to
this day in a similar moral condition, are, we may easily believe,
most unhappy. They are generally divided into tribes, which are
mutually hostile, or friendly only with the view of injuring some
other tribe. Might is their law, and robbery, rapine and murder
express their mutual relations. This is the history of the lowest
grade of barbarism, and the history of primeval man so far as it has
come down to us in sacred and profane records. Man as a species
first appears in history as a sinful being. Then a race maintaining
a contest with the prevailing corruption and exhibiting a higher
moral ideal is presented to us in Jewish history. Finally, early
Christian society exhibits a greatly superior condition of things.
In it polygamy scarcely existed, and slavery and war were condemned.
But progress did not end here, for our Lord said, “I have yet many
things to say unto you, _but ye cannot bear them now_. Howbeit, when
He, the spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.”
The progress revealed to us by history is truly great, and if a
similar difference existed between the first of the human species
and the first of whose condition we have information, we can
conceive how low the origin must have been. History begins with a
considerable progress in civilization, and from this we must infer a
long preceding period of human existence, such as a gradual
evolution would require.
γ. Rationale of Moral Development.
I. _Of the Species._ Let us now look at the moral condition of the
infant man of the present time. We know his small accountability,
his trust, his innocence. We know that he is free from the law that
when he “would do good, evil is present with him,” for good and evil
are alike unknown. We know that until growth has progressed to a
certain degree he fully deserves the praise pronounced by Our
Saviour, that “of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Growth, however,
generally sees a change. We know that the buddings of evil appear
but too soon: the lapse of a few months sees exhibitions of anger,
disobedience, malice, falsehood, and their attendants—the fruit of a
corruption within not manifested before.
In early youth it may be said that moral susceptibility is often in
inverse ratio to physical vigor. But with growth the more physically
vigorous are often sooner taught the lessons of life, for their
energy brings them into earlier conflict with the antagonisms and
contradictions of the world. Here is a beautiful example of the
benevolent principle of compensation.
1. _Innocence and the Fall._ If physical evolution be a reality, we
have reason to believe that the infantile stage of human morals, as
well as of human intellect, was much prolonged in the history of our
first parents. This constitutes the period of human purity, when we
are told by Moses that the first pair dwelt in Eden. But the growth
to maturity saw the development of all the qualities inherited from
the irresponsible denizen of the forest. Man inherits from his
predecessors in the creation the buddings of reason: he inherits
passions, propensities and appetites. His corruption is that of his
animal progenitors, and his sin is the low and bestial instinct of
the brute creation. Thus only is the origin of sin made clear—a
problem which the pride of man would have explained in any other way
had it been possible.
But how startling the exhibition of evil by this new being as
compared with the scenes of the countless ages already past! Then
the right of the strongest was God’s law, and rapine and destruction
were the history of life. But into man had been “breathed the breath
of life,” and he had “become a living soul.” The law of right, the
Divine Spirit, was planted within him, and the laws of the beast
were in antagonism to that law. The natural development of his
inherited qualities necessarily brought him into collision with that
higher standard planted within him, and that war was commenced which
shall never cease “till He hath put all things under His feet.” The
first act of man’s disobedience constituted the Fall, and with it
would come the first _intellectual_ “knowledge of good and of
evil”—an apprehension up to that time derived exclusively from the
divinity within, or conscience.[50]
Footnote 50:
In our present translation of Genesis, the Fall is ascribed to the
influence of Satan assuming the form of the serpent, and this
animal was cursed in consequence, and compelled to assume a prone
position. This rendering may well be revised, since serpents,
prone like others, existed in both America and Europe during the
Eocene epoch, five times as great a period before Adam as has
elapsed since his day. Clark states, with great probability, that
“serpent” should be translated monkey or ape—a conclusion, it will
be observed, exactly coinciding with our inductions on the basis
of evolution. The instigation to evil by an ape merely states
inheritance in another form. His curse, then, refers to the
retention of the horizontal position by all other quadrumana, as
we find it at the present day.
2. _Free Agency._ Heretofore development had been that of physical
types, but the Lord had rested on the seventh day, for man closed
the line of the physical creation. Now a new development was to
begin—the development of mind, of morality and of grace.
On the previous days of Creation all had progressed in accordance
with inevitable law apart from its objects. Now two lines of
development were at the disposal of this being, between which his
_free will_ was to choose. Did he choose the courses dictated by the
spirit of the brute, he was to be subject to the old law of the
brute creation—the right of the strongest and spiritual death. Did
he choose the guidance of the Divine Guest in his heart, he became
subject to the laws which are to guide—I. the human species to an
ultimate perfection, so far as consistent with this world; and II.
the individual man to a higher life, where a new existence awaits
him as a spiritual being, freed from the laws of terrestrial matter.
The charge brought against the theory of development, that it
implies a necessary progress of man to all perfection without his
coöperation—or _necessitarianism_, as it is called—is unfounded.
The free will of man remains the source alike of his progress and
his relapse. But the choice once made, the laws of spiritual
development are apparently as inevitable as those of matter. Thus
men whose religious capacities are increased by attention to the
Divine Monitor within are in the advance of progress—progress
coinciding with that which in material things is called the
_harmonic_. On the other hand, those whose motives are of the lower
origin fall under the working of the law of _conflict_.
The lesson derivable from the preceding considerations would seem to
be “necessitarian” as respects the whole human race, considered by
itself; and I believe it is to be truly so interpreted. That is, the
Creator of all things has set agencies at work which will slowly
develop a perfect humanity out of His lower creation, and nothing
can thwart the process or alter the result. “My word shall not
return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” This is our
great encouragement, our noblest hope—second only to that which
looks to a blessed inheritance in another world. It is this thought
that should inspire the farmer, who as he toils wonders, “Why all
this labor? The Good Father could have made me like the lilies, who,
though they toil not, neither spin, are yet clothed in glory; and
why should I, a nobler being, be subject to the dust and the sweat
of labor?” This thought should enlighten every artisan of the
thousands that people the factories and guide their whirling
machinery in our modern cities. Every revolution of a wheel is
moving the car of progress, and the timed stroke of the crank and
the rhythmic throw of the shuttle are but the music the spheres have
sung since time began. A new significance then appears in the prayer
of David: “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and
establish Thou the work of our hands upon us: the work of our hands,
O Lord, establish Thou it.” But beware of the catastrophe, for “He
will sit as a refiner:” “the wheat shall be gathered into barns, but
the chaff shall be burned with unquenchable fire.” If this be true,
let us look for—
3. _The Extinction of Evil._ How is necessitarianism to be
reconciled with free will? It appears to me, thus: When a being
whose safety depends on the perfection of a system of laws abandons
the system by which he lives, he becomes subject to that lower grade
of laws which govern lower intelligences. Man, falling from the laws
of right, comes under the dominion of the laws of brute force; as
said our Saviour: “Salt is good, but if the salt have lost his
savor, it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast forth and
trodden under foot of men.”
Evil, being unsatisfying to the human heart, is in its nature ever
progressive, whether in the individual or the nation; and in
estimating the practical results to man of the actions prompted by
the lower portion of our nature, it is only necessary to carry out
to its full development each of those animal qualities which may in
certain states of society be restrained by the social system. In
human history those qualities have repeatedly had this development,
and the battle of progress is fought to decide whether they shall
overthrow the system that restrains them, or be overthrown by it.
Entire obedience to the lower instincts of our nature ensures
destruction to the weaker, and generally to the stronger also. A
most marked case of this kind is seen where the developed vices of
civilization are introduced among a savage people—as, for example,
the North American Indians. These seem in consequence to be
hastening to extinction.
But a system or a circuit of existence has been allotted to the
civil associations of the animal species man, independently of his
moral development. It may be briefly stated thus: Races begin as
poor offshoots or emigrants from a parent stock. The law of labor
develops their powers, and increases their wealth and numbers. These
will be diminished by their various vices; but on the whole, in
proportion as the intellectual and economical elements prevail,
wealth will increase; that is, they accumulate power. When this has
been accomplished, and before activity has slackened its speed, the
nation has reached the culminating point, and then it enters upon
the period of decline. The restraints imposed by economy and active
occupation being removed, the beastly traits find in accumulated
power only increased means of gratification, and industry and
prosperity sink together. Power is squandered, little is
accumulated, and the nation goes down to its extinction amid scenes
of internal strife and vice. Its cycle is soon fulfilled, and other
nations, fresh from scenes of labor, assault it, absorb its
fragments, and it dies. This has been the world’s history, and it
remains to be seen whether the virtues of the nations now existing
will be sufficient to save them from a like fate.
Thus the history of the animal man in nations is wonderfully like
that of the type or families of the animal and vegetable kingdoms
during geologic ages. They rise, they increase and reach a period of
multiplication and power. The force allotted to them becoming
exhausted, they diminish and sink and die.
II. _Of the Individual._ In discussing physical development, we are
as yet compelled to restrict ourselves to the evidence of its
existence and some laws observed in the operation of its causative
force. What that force is, or what are its primary laws, we know
not.
So in the progress of moral development we endeavor to prove its
existence and the mode of its operation, but why that mode should
exist, rather than some other mode, we cannot explain.
The moral progress of the species depends, of course, on the moral
progress of the individuals embraced in it. Religion is the sum of
those influences which determine the motives of men’s actions into
harmony with the Divine perfection and the Divine will. Obedience to
these influences constitutes the practice of religion, while the
statement of the growth and operation of these influences
constitutes the theory of religion, or doctrine.
The Divine Spirit planted in man shows him that which is in harmony
with the Divine Mind, and it remains for his free will to conform to
it or reject it. This harmony is man’s highest ideal of happiness,
and in seeking it, as well as in desiring to flee from dissonance or
pain, he but obeys the disposition common to all conscious beings.
If, however, he attempts to conform to it, he will find the law of
evil present, and frequently obtaining the mastery. If now he be in
any degree observing, he will find that the laws of morality and
right are the only ones by which human society exists in a condition
superior to that of the lower animals, and in which the capacities
of man for happiness can approach a state of satisfaction. He may be
then said to be “awakened” to the importance of religion. If he
carry on the struggle to attain to the high goal presented to his
spiritual vision, he will be deeply grieved and humbled at his
failures: then he is said to be “convicted.” Under these
circumstances the necessity of a deliverance becomes clear, and is
willingly accepted in the only way in which it has pleased the
Author of all to present it, which has been epitomized by Paul as
“the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit through
Jesus Christ.” Thus a life of advanced and ever-advancing moral
excellence becomes possible, and the man makes nearer approaches to
the “image of God.”
Thus is opened a new era in spiritual development, which we are led
to believe leads to an ultimate condition in which the nature
inherited from our origin is entirely overcome, and an existence of
moral perfection entered on. Thus in the book of Mark the simile
occurs: “First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in
the ear;” and Solomon says that the development of righteousness
“shines more and more unto the perfect day.”
δ. Summary.
If it be true that general development in morality proceeds in spite
of the original predominance of evil in the world, through the
self-destructive nature of the latter, it is only necessary to
examine the reasons why the excellence of the good may have been
subject also to progress, and how the remainder of the race may have
been influenced thereby.
The development of morality is then probably to be understood in the
following sense: Since the Divine Spirit, as the prime force in
moral progress, cannot in itself be supposed to have been in any way
under the influence of natural laws, its capacities were no doubt as
eternal and unerring in the first man as in the last. But the facts
and probabilities discussed above point to development of _religious
sensibility_, or capacity to appreciate moral good, or to receive
impressions from the source of good.
The evidence of this is supposed to be seen in—_First_, improvement
in man’s views of his duty to his neighbor; and _Second_, the
substitution of spiritual for symbolic religions: in other words,
improvement in the capacity for receiving spiritual impressions.
What the primary cause of this supposed development of religious
sensibility may have been, is a question we reverently leave
untouched. That it is intimately connected in some way with, and in
part dependent on, the evolution of the intelligence, appears very
probable: for this evolution is seen—_First_, in a better
understanding of the consequences of action, and of good and of evil
in many things; and _Second_, in the production of means for the
spread of the special instrumentalities of good. The following may
be enumerated as such instrumentalities:
1. Furnishing literary means of record and distribution of the
truths of religion, morality and science.
2. Creating and increasing modes of transportation of teachers and
literary means of disseminating truth.
3. Facilitating the migration and the spread of nations holding the
highest position in the scale of morality.
4. The increase of wealth, which multiplies the extent of the
preceding means.
And now, let no man attempt to set bounds to this development. Let
no man say even that morality accomplished is all that is required
of mankind, since that is not necessarily the evidence of a
spiritual development. If a man possess the capacity for progress
beyond the condition in which he finds himself, in refusing to enter
upon it he declines to conform to the Divine law. And “from those to
whom little is given, little is required, but from those to whom
much is given, much shall be required.”
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_SCIENTIFIC ADDRESSES._
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TYNDALL’S ADDRESSES.
I.
_On the Methods and Tendencies of Physical Investigation._
The celebrated Fichte, in his lectures on the “Vocation of the
Scholar,” insisted on a culture for the scholar which should not be
one-sided, but all-sided. His intellectual nature was to expand
spherically, and not in a single direction. In one direction,
however, Fichte required that the scholar should apply himself
directly to nature, become a creator of knowledge, and thus repay,
by original labors of his own, the immense debt he owed to the
labors of others. It was these which enabled him to supplement the
knowledge derived from his own researches, so as to render his
culture rounded, and not one-sided.
Fichte’s idea is to some extent illustrated by the constitution and
the labors of the British Association. We have here a body of men
engaged in the pursuit of natural knowledge, but variously engaged.
While sympathizing with each of its departments, and supplementing
his culture by knowledge drawn from all of them, each student
amongst us selects one subject for the exercise of his own original
faculty—one line along which he may carry the light of his private
intelligence a little way into the darkness by which all knowledge
is surrounded. Thus, the geologist faces the rocks; the biologist
fronts the conditions and phenomena of life; the astronomer, stellar
masses and motions; the mathematician the properties of space and
number; the chemist pursues his atoms, while the physical
investigator has his own large field in optical, thermal,
electrical, acoustical, and other phenomena. The British
Association, then, faces nature on all sides, and pushes knowledge
centrifugally outwards, while, through circumstance or natural bent,
each of its working members takes up a certain line of research in
which he aspires to be an original producer, being content in all
other directions to accept instruction from his fellow-men. The sum
of our labors constitutes what Fichte might call the sphere of
natural knowledge. In the meetings of the Association it is found
necessary to resolve this sphere into its component parts, which
take concrete form under the respective letters of our sections.
This section (A) is called the Mathematical and Physical section.
Mathematics and Physics have been long accustomed to coalesce, and
hence this grouping. For while mathematics, as a product of the
human mind, is self-sustaining and nobly self-rewarding,—while the
pure mathematician may never trouble his mind with considerations
regarding the phenomena of the material universe, still the form of
reasoning which he employs, the power which the organization of that
reasoning confers, the applicability of his abstract conceptions to
actual phenomena, render his science one of the most potent
instruments in the solution of natural problems. Indeed, without
mathematics, expressed or implied, our knowledge of physical science
would be friable in the extreme.
Side by side with the mathematical method, we have the method of
experiment. Here, from a starting-point furnished by his own
researches or those of others, the investigator proceeds by
combining intuition and verification. He ponders the knowledge he
possesses and tries to push it further, he guesses and checks his
guess, he conjectures and confirms or explodes his conjecture. These
guesses and conjectures are by no means leaps in the dark; for
knowledge once gained casts a faint light beyond its own immediate
boundaries. There is no discovery so limited as not to illuminate
something beyond itself. The force of intellectual penetration into
this penumbral region which surrounds actual knowledge is not
dependent upon method, but is proportional to the genius of the
investigator. There is, however, no genius so gifted as not to need
control and verification. The profoundest minds know best that
nature’s ways are not at all times their ways, and that the
brightest flashes in the world of thought are incomplete until they
have been proved to have their counterparts in the world of fact.
The vocation of the true experimentalist is the incessant correction
and realization of his insight; his experiments finally constituting
a body, of which his purified intuitions are, as it were, the soul.