THE STABILITY OF TRUTH. 751 



stress of competition are met in life by the survival of those ade- 

 quate to meet these conditions. Thus " in creatures sore bestead 

 by the environment " when instinct and impulse fail, reason rises 

 to insure safety. At last with the civilized man reason comes to 

 be a chief element in guiding the choice of life. 



With greater power to know and hence to choose safely, 

 greater complexity of conditions become possible, and the multi- 

 farious demands of modern civilization finds some at least who 

 can meet them fairly well. To such the stores of human wisdom 

 must be open. To others right choice in new conditions is pos- 

 sible only through following the footsteps of others. The multi- 

 tudes of civilized men, like the multitudes of animals, are saved 

 to life by the i stinct of conventionality. The instinct to follow 

 those whose footsteps are secure is one of the most useful of all 

 impulses to action. In the same connection we must recognize 

 authority as a most important source of knowledge to the indi- 

 vidual. But its value is proportioned to the ability of the indi- 

 vidual to use the tests wisdom must apply to the credentials of 

 authority. But instinct, appetite, impulse, conventionality, and 

 respect for authority all point backward. They are the outcome 

 of past conditions. " New occasions bring new duties." New 

 facts and laws must be learned if men are to remain adequate to 

 the life which their own institutions, their self-realization, and 

 their mutual help have brought upon them. To the wise and 

 obedient the most complex life brings no special strain nor dis- 

 comfort. It is as easy to do great things as small, if one knows 

 how. But to the ignorant, weak, and perverse, the growth of 

 civilization becomes an engine of destruction. The freedom of 

 self-realization involves the freedom of self-perdition. Hence 

 appears the often discussed relation of " Progress and Poverty " 

 in social development. Hence it comes that civilization, of which 

 the essence is mutual help or altruism, under changing conditions 

 seems to become one vast instrument for the killing of fools. 



In the specialization of life, conditions are constantly chang- 

 ing. Every age is an age of transition, and transition brings 

 unrest because it impairs the value of conventionality. With the 

 lowest forms of life there is no safety save in absolute obedience 

 to the laws of the world around them. This obedience becomes 

 automatic and hereditary because the disobedient leave no chain 

 of descent to |maintain their disobedience. All instincts, appe- 

 tites, impulses to action, even many conditions of the nature of 

 illusions, point toward such obedience. Whether we regard these 

 phenomena as variations selected because useful, or as inherited 

 habits, their relation is the same. They survive as guarantees of 

 future obedience because they have brought obedience in the past. 

 And so with the most enlightened man, the same necessity for 



