66'2 Causes and Course of Organic Evolution 



If we compare the moral codes that have originated within 

 the above period, these in themselves show a decided — though 

 slow — evolutionary progress. The moral rules or recommen- 

 dations of Zarathushtra dating back for 3000 years at least, 

 according to best present evidence, were set down to be ob- 

 served by love for family, country, and above all for Ormazd, 

 the bright shining spirit, rather than to be obeyed by fear 

 of punishment. Those of Moses were real commands, but 

 their observance was enjoined as obtaining the favor of Je- 

 hovah, and thereby family or national blessing. Only in 

 more flagrant moral acts did he, or possibly some Jewish suc- 

 cessor, impose definite physical punishment. The recom- 

 mended advices of Lao-tsze, and the rules of Confucius, were 

 only very partially accepted for centuries by the Chinese, 

 and have been viewed rather as rules of conduct for good- 

 living than as national commands. This applies also to the 

 moral principles of Socrates, of Plato, of Marcus Aurelius, 

 and of Seneca. 



The highest moral teaching, that of Christ and his followers, 

 notably Paul, has never been codified, and yet since it appeals 

 to the highest aspirations of the finest human spirits — as Renan 

 willingly testified — it is slowly winning its way, often in an 

 unacknowledged and surreptitiously imitated manner. That 

 such moral systems, specially those of Zarathushtra and of 

 Christ, have steadily spread, apart altogether from their re- 

 ligious background setting, is proof that they contain elements 

 of evolutionary value that enable them to persist, as part of 

 a better system, which in time will triumph as successful sur- 

 vivors over more primitive, crude, and brutal methods. 



Even the Mosaic law, "Thou shalt not covet," is an impos- 

 sible law under the reign of competitive greed. Yet its high 

 I)roenvironal aim and value are recognized, since it has called 

 forth nearly every law on our statute books that guides or 

 regulates commerce. So the trade progress of the past half 

 century may largely be defined as "unbridled covetousness, 

 guided and kept in leash by accepted moral laws that prevent 

 a minority from eating up the majority of mankind." 



