i 



Evolution of Society. 225 



after it in turn, resulting in a low condition of the entire 

 Southern part of our social organism, that finally became 

 unendurable, and produced the social disturbance of which 

 we were witnesses. Numerous examples known to all, 

 where justice to plant-life has resulted in individual and 

 national prosperity, well-being, and development, require 

 no mention. The sensory apparatus of society may not 

 yet recognize these relations and the dependence of the 

 higher upon the lower life as parts of the same organism, 

 because of its present imperfections ; but the approximate 

 proof of them is not a matter of difficulty ; and Evolution 

 not only implies them, but it also implies present or event- 

 ual capacity on the part of the human mind and of society 

 to have knowledge of them, and to base action upon that 

 knowledge. Only by and through such knowledge can our 

 Contract Society ever be translated into that State which 

 may be called Divine Status, or a status in harmony with 

 all the laws of Life, of which the Family-Status Society, as 

 defined by Maine, was but the miniature and prototype. 



In mere mechanical aggregation, in which individual cells 

 are added or annexed to other like cells, there is no relation 

 between them that permits differentiation and growth, and 

 no sensory organ or function either in the individual cells, 

 or in the aggregate. But in organic aggregation these must 

 be present, and must have free play, or proper, normal 

 growth and development cannot take place. 



The principle applies with augmented force in the social 

 organism, and requires free play, especially for the individ- 

 ual human mind as the. primary and type of the societary 

 mind. 



According to the evidence we have, the historical Christ, 

 when dealing with the "kingdom of heaven" — which he 

 said was at hand — as embracing his societary scheme for 

 the relief and salvation of humanity, employs a single word 

 as embodying the necessary condition precedent of such a 

 scheme, which embraces this principle and endorses it with 

 all his high authority. 



The custodians of the record have concealed this fact, by 

 falsely translating the word so used, — making it to read,. 

 " repent," and using it so as to require " repentance " as the 

 necessary and effective preparation for the new Society. The 

 words so translated are, in the original, meta-noeo and meta- 

 noia. They relate, in reality, to mind and knowledge, and 



