278 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



most extreme type has been found among many a 

 people who have developed neither force nor civiliza- 

 tion. The Hindus have faith enough to lead to the 

 utmost sacrifice, but they have counted for little in 

 the world history. Spain has always retained its 

 allegiance to religious teachings, but has ceased to be 

 a worM power. Abject subservience to the religious 

 teachings of the priesthood has a tendency to check 

 progress. The religious authority, like all other 

 types of authority, unless checked by opposing influ- 

 ences, tends toward stagnation. But with all this 

 clearly in mind it is evident that in all ages religious 

 faith has furnished the vital force needed to produce 

 that obedience to authority without which the king 

 could not have built up his power, and without which 

 the nations would go to pieces. Religion is the 

 cement that hinds together the fragments of which 

 the nations are composed, and which prevents their 

 breaking to pieces wnder the influence of contend- 

 ing interests. 



