DEATH AND IMMORTALITY 179 



orate and wonderful mechanism has been provided 

 to secure that reproduction which secures the preser- 

 vation of the race under conditions of variation that 

 favor an improvement in type. Sentiment suggests 

 that there would be a certain fitness in the continuity 

 of the lives of a few great men of lofty character, 

 such as Christ and Abraham Lincoln, but observa- 

 tion has taught us that nature's processes respect 

 the race but not the individual, and that in this 

 most democratic of all systems there are no excep- 

 tions. In the sex instinct nature gives the individual 

 a powerful incentive to perpetuate his or her per- 

 sonality in a modified form, and if there is a failure 

 to utilize this chance, the gap is filled by other prog- 

 eny of those who do utilize it, and the possible new 

 beings are not missed. 



History teaches also that while religious faith has 

 often proved a stimulus to good acts, a belief in a 

 future personal life has often operated as a salve for 

 bad acts. There are many persons who have eased 

 their consciences by giving alms calculated to secure 

 the safety of the soul in another world. On the 

 whole, it is an open question whether a belief in a 

 future life has done more good by deterring persons 

 from evil through fear of punishment, or more harm 

 by giving questionable motives for conduct in 

 general. It seems of the first importance for the 

 growth of good morals that people should be prepared 

 to face in this world the consequence of their acts 

 here. The gradual replacement of the belief in a 



