326 THE FUTURE OF RELIGION AND MORALS. 



bequest. And virtue remains indestructible in the species 

 as a whole, whatever deterioration it may undergo in a 

 particular society or in particular individuals. So long- 

 as the structure of the brain and nervous system remains 

 constant, as it does on the whole, conscience, morality, 

 remains safe from open assault or secret sap. If we have 

 inherited a good conscience, like a good constitution, 

 from our parents, we shall keep it. And morality in 

 general, it may be safely said, will not be destroyed by 

 the scientific teaching, because it is hidden and stowed 

 away safely in an inaccessible region, in the inmost 

 molecular constitution of the coils and cells of the brain 

 and nerves, and can only be deteriorated or destroyed 

 with these. Morality is as indestructible as art or 

 science ; its tendency, like these, is to further development 

 and diffusion, not to a deterioration. Thus, then, in fine, 

 there is no need to postulate the supernatural either for 

 the commencement, the improvement, or the continual 

 preservation of morality ; and the voice of conscience, 

 that now speaks with the accumulated moral experience 

 of thousands of generations, is no more the voice of Deity 

 than the perceptions of beauty or truth, likewise inherit- 

 ances, are special inspirations from Him. 



3. Whence, then, the need, demands the evolution 

 materialist, of postulating a supernatural cause ? Not, 

 certainly, for morality; for we show you its natural 

 earthly origin from the necessities of man's life. Not 

 for the creation of the earth and sun and planets ; for we 

 can show you how they must have been born from 

 physical and dynamical laws. To produce consciousness, 

 you wi]l probably say. But consciousness, including its 

 higher stages of self-consciousness and reason in man, 

 was slowly evolved in the entire animal kingdom, culmi- 

 nating in the human species, from unconsciousness ; just 



