2 HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS 



No careful observer can have failed to note that 

 there is a growing freedom and an ampler knowl- 

 edge in the treatment of all the problems that 

 most clearly concern the individual and society. 

 The sanctity of facts is now unquestioned. It is, 

 no doubt, easier to study man from the standpoint 

 of the speculative philosopher or the dogmatic 

 theologian than by inductive research into our 

 essential nature and actual environment, but the 

 result of the former process is only deeper dark- 

 ness. Inductive study alone can furnish reliable 

 knowledge concerning duty and responsibility — 

 what man ought to do and to answer for. 



I begin with a definition of terms, though that 

 is hardly necessary, since few words are now 

 better understood than heredity and environ- 

 ment. Heredity is the law through which the 

 individual receives from his parents by birth his 

 chief vital forces and tendencies, his physical and 

 spiritual capital ; environment consists of " all the 

 events and conditions " ^ surrounding him after- 

 wards that modify his nature and change the 

 tendency of his life. 



Two laws govern the transmission of life, viz. 

 the law of uniformity, and the law of diversity. 

 The latter is shrouded in mystery. It is the sub- 



1 The Jukes, Dugdale, p. I2. 



^ 



