EDITOR'S TABLE. 



703 



" we will believe," it is not very 

 strictly theological to speak of be- 

 lieving that we have M somehow be- 

 come demoralized." There is no 

 " somehow," so far as we understand, 

 in the orthodox view of this ques- 

 tion, but a very definite " how." It 

 is again very doubtful to our mind 

 whether it is consistent with a pro- 

 fession of evolutionism to hold that 

 the nature of man was originally 

 pure and that M somehow " it degen- 

 erated. The course of evolution in 

 the moral sphere is from actions 

 guided by lower impulses to actions 

 guided by higher impulses, from 

 purely self-regarding actions to ac- 

 tions in which the welfare of others 

 in ever- widening circles is taken into 

 account. It is hard to imagine an 

 evolution from a higher to a lower 

 moral state. 



There is a story told of John Wes- 

 ley that a certain man who had come 

 under his influence consulted him 

 one day as to whether he might con- 

 tinue to wear a very handsome and 

 expensive coat which he had bought. 

 " Oh, yes," said Wesley, u just wear 

 it as long as you can as long as your 

 conscience will allow you." More 

 than this the great religious reformer 

 would not say. Science has a very 

 similar answer to give to certain in- 

 quirers: they are quite free to hold 

 this or that opinion as long as they 

 can honestly. So long as they hold 

 it honestly, Science has no fault to 

 find with them. When the day 

 comes, if it ever comes, that they can 

 hold it honestly no longer, Science 

 says, " Put it off." And any religion 

 worthy of the name would say the 

 same thing. 



THE UPWARD STRUGGLE OF SOCIETY. 



There is much in the present con- 

 dition of society, not only in this 

 country but in most of the civilized 

 countries of the world, to give food 

 for serious reflection as to the future 



to all thoughtful minds. The laws 

 of social evolution, we commonly 

 say, have brought us to the point 

 where we now are; and, as this is a 

 considerable improvement on the 

 conditions which obtained at certain 

 periods in the past, we have no rea- 

 son whatever to be anxious as to 

 what the future may bring forth. 

 On the other hand, when things 

 are demonstrably going wrong, it 

 seems a little too much like in- 

 difference and levity to trust to the 

 operation of some law wholly inde- 

 pendent of our own volition or effort 

 to put them right. Evolution, after 

 all, is only a kind of moving balance 

 of actions and reactions: and we do 

 not think that Mr. Spencer himself 

 would undertake to guarantee us 

 against many a bad half hour in the 

 future, if we do not ourselves see that 

 measures are taken to remedy obvi- 

 ous faults in the social development 

 of our time. One of his books, 

 every one will remember, is entitled 

 The Coming Slavery not a word of 

 promise, to say the least of it. 



The difficulties of the present time 

 are, to a large extent, the result of 

 the very successes which society has 

 achieved in the past. Improved eco- 

 nomic conditions have produced 

 vaster accumulations of wealth than 

 the world ever saw before, and in do- 

 ing so have brought the spectacle of 

 luxury before the eyes of the multi- 

 tude in a manner, and with a fre- 

 quency, only too well fitted to pro- 

 duce envy and unrest. In former 

 times there were a comparatively 

 few great ones of the earth whose 

 splendor was a dazzling vision that, 

 seen at comparatively rare intervals, 

 lent a certain amount of poetry to 

 the lives of the poorer classes. To- 

 day there is no poetry in wealth : it 

 is something that everybody un- 

 derstands, and from which no one, 

 broadly speaking, feels content to be 

 shut out. It is looked upon as the 



