452 Life and Immortality. 



prisoner rather than violate his parole, would not feel re- 

 morse, though he might, if he failed in .a duty which he 

 held sacred, hide it from view. 



Primeval man must have been, at a very remote time, influ- 

 enced by the praise and blame of his fellows. That the 

 members of the same tribe would approve of conduct that 

 appeared for the general good, and reprobate such as seemed 

 to carry with it evil, there can be no question. To do good 

 unto others, or to do unto others as you would that they 

 should do unto you, is the foundation-stone of morality. It 

 is, therefore, hardly possible to place too high an estimate 

 upon the importance of the love of praise and fear of blame 

 during rude, barbaric times, for a man, who was not impelled 

 by any profound instinctive feeling to sacrifice his life for the 

 good of others, but who was raised to such a noble action 

 by a sense of glory, would by his example excite a similar 

 wish for glory in the bosoms of other men, and would 

 thereby engender and strengthen by exercise the laudable 

 feeling of admiration. With increased experience and rea- 

 son, those more remote consequences of his actions, such as 

 temperance, chastity, etc., which during his very early times 

 were utterly disregarded, would come to be highly esteemed 

 or. even held sacred. And ultimately there would have been 

 developed from the social instincts a highly-complex senti- 

 ment which, largely guided by the approbation of his 

 fellow-men, and ruled by reason, self-interest, and latterly 

 by deep religious feelings, confirmed by teaching and habit, 

 would constitute his moral sense or conscience. Although 

 a high standard of morality gives but little if any advantage 

 to each individual man and his children over the other men 

 of the same tribe, yet it must be borne in mind that it is an 

 advancement in the standard of morality and an increase in 

 the number of well-endowed men that certainly give a telling 

 advantage to a tribe over another, for the tribe that includes 

 many members who, from possessing in an eminent degree 

 the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage and 



