Man in the Light of Evolution 



ious belng.^ If our study of man Is not to be 

 fatally defective, we must take this fact Into 

 account and give It due emphasis. It has had 

 vast power for good and sometimes for evil In 

 the lives of men and nations. And It, too. Is only 

 what we might expect as the logical and natural 

 result of man's life and training. 



The study of the development of religion Is 

 a science by Itself. We cannot follow It here. 

 From the fetlchism of the savage to the worship 

 of the one All-Father Is a vast journey. But 

 slowly, and often painfully and at fearful cost, 

 the passage has been made by every great man 

 and nation. 



Growth In knowledge has modified the life 

 and structure of animals and men Indirectly, as it 

 has furnished new and stronger motives for new 

 actions and experiments. Survival and prog- 



^ Plutarch seems to have been nearer the truth than some 

 modern observers and students when he wrote: "Pass over 

 the earth, you may discover cities without walls, without lit- 

 erature, without monarchs, without palaces and wealth; 

 where the theater and school are unknown; but no man 

 ever saw a city without temples and gods, where prayers and 

 oaths and oracles and sacrifices were not used for obtaining 

 pardon or averting evil." 



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