274 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



series of patriarchal nations the same is true. The 

 monarch of such a nation is regarded as divine, or, 

 if not actually divine himself, he is thought of as 

 having such a close relation to the unseen powers as 

 to be the medium by which his subjects may be recon- 

 ciled to these objects of dread. This willingness to 

 sacrifice all interests has proved the feature most 

 essential for the organization and maintenance of a 

 patriarchal nation. This feeling of dependence upon 

 the supernatural has produced that union among the 

 members of a nation that in itself is strong enough 

 to enable them to hang together as a unit. It was 

 this which gave the early monarchs their power. In 

 the communal nations too we see the same principle 

 working itself out in a different manner. The older 

 races had their druids — their priests as a court of 

 final resort — whose dictates were regarded as divine. 

 This fear of the supernatural enabled the Eoman 

 Church, during the Dark Ages, to obtain its mastery 

 over the world, since all Europe looked upon the 

 church as the mediator between this world and the 

 next, and all listened to and obeyed its mandates, 

 even to the extent of deserting the standard of their 

 monarchs. If we ask what were the feelings which 

 impelled the people to obey the dictates of the church, 

 we cannot fail to conclude that they were all founded 

 upon the belief that for the good and evil done in this 

 world there is to be a recompense in the world to 

 come. This made men feel that the temporary good 

 or ill of this world should not be counted against the 

 permanent rewards or punishments which were to 

 come later. This belief gave the vitality to Moham- 

 medanism. The complete readiness to sacrifice life 

 which characterized the soldiers of Islam has ever 



