( yes ) 



tion in which the nature inherited from our origin is en- 

 tirely overcome, and an existence of moral perfection 

 entered on. Thus in the book of Mark the simile oc- 

 curs : " First the blade, then the ear, after that the full 

 corn in the ear ;" and Solomon says that the develop- 

 ment of righteousness " shines more and more unto the 

 perfect day." 



8. Summary. 



If it be true that general development in morality 

 proceeds in spite of the original predominance of evil 

 in the world, through the self-destructive nature of the 

 latter, it is only necessary to examine the reasons why 

 the excellence of the good may have been subject also 

 to progress, and how the remainder of the race may 

 have been influenced thereby. 



The development of morality is then probably to be 

 understood in the following sense : Since the Divine 

 Spirit, as the prime force in moral progress, cannot in 

 itself be supposed to have been in any way under 

 the influence of natural laws, its capacities were no 

 doubt as eternal and unerring in the first man as in the 

 last. But the facts and probabilities discussed above 

 point to development Of religious sensibility^ or capacity 

 to appreciate moral good, or to receive impressions from 

 the source of good. 



The evidence of this is supposed to be seen in 

 First, improvement in man's views of his duty to his 

 neighbor ; and Second^ the substitution of spiritual for 

 symbolic religions : in other words, improvement in the 

 capacity for receiving spiritual impressions. 



What the primary cause of this supposed develop- 



