SCIENCE AND MAN. 365 



alter the fact that the words of that young man did me 

 good. His name was George Davvson. He also spoke, 

 if you will allow me to allude to it, of a social subject 

 much discussed at the time the Chartist subject of 

 * levelling.' Suppose, he says, two men to be equal at 

 night, and that one rises at six, while the other sleeps 

 till nine next morning, what becomes of your levelling? 

 And in so speaking he made himself the mouthpiece of 

 Nature, which, as we have seen, secures advance, not 

 by the reduction of all to a common level, but by the 

 encouragement and conservation of what is best. 



It may be urged that, in dealing as above with my 

 hypothetical criminal, I am assuming a state of things 

 brought about by the influence of religions which in- 

 clude the dogmas of theology and the belief in free- 

 will a state, namely, in which a moral majority control 

 and keep in awe an immoral minority. The heart of 

 man is deceitful above all things, and desperately 

 wicked. Withdraw, then, our theologic sanctions, in- 

 cluding the belief in free-will, and the condition of 

 the race will be typified by the samples of individual 

 wickedness which have been above adduced. We shall 

 all, that is, become robbers, and ravishers, and murder- 

 ers. From much that has been written of late it would 

 seem that this astounding inference finds house-room in 

 many minds. Possibly, the people who hold such views 

 might be able to illustrate them by individual in- 

 stances. 



The fear of hell's a hangman's whip, 

 To keep the wretch in order. 



Remove the fear, and the wretch, following his natu- 

 ral instinct, may become disorderly; but I refuse to 

 accept him as a sample of humanity. ' Let us eat and 

 drink, for to-morrow we die ' is by no means the ethical 

 consequence of a rejection of dogma. To many of you 



