Man in the Light of Evolution 



and Importunately. We need only accept them 

 and allow them to make or mar us. Other ele- 

 ments remain always remote. 



It seems, therefore, the wisest course to seek 

 in man's constitution and surroundings those ele- 

 ments, objects, tendencies, or institutions which 

 lie very close to him, and which, wisely and ade- 

 quately used, will most surely urge or allure 

 him to frame the best social environment from 

 material which Is everywhere freely at his dis- 

 posal. But If we are to rely on these for the 

 improvement or regeneration of a race or com- 

 munity, they must be already to some extent 

 In our possession; we cannot wait for Ideal 

 means or for the conditions of a remote future. 

 They must have been tried and found useful 

 through centuries or millennia of racial experi- 

 ence, and thus guarantee a fair prospect of suc- 

 cess. They must be adequate to man's highest 

 needs and work, to the furtherance of his moral 

 and religious development, his chief duty and 

 glory. 



First among the means or Incentives of prog- 

 ress are man's inheritances from a long series 

 of progressive, aspiring ancestors. Our young 

 men and maidens see visions, perhaps dim and 



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