/ 



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156 MAN'S PRIMITIVE STATE 



the acquisition of full moral responsibility"; and we 

 can " assign the rise of evil itself simply to the difficulty 

 of the task which has been countered by every individ- 

 ual person alike, the task of enforcing his inherited 

 organic nature to obey a moral law which he has only 

 gradually been enabled to discern." I have stated 

 this view in terms employed by Dr. F. R. Tennant, its 



(^most important champion.^ He rejects the doctrine 

 of an original righteousness and primitive state of 

 grace, as involving a breach of continuity in human 

 development. 



It is maintained in these lectures that scientific in- 



/ vestigation confirms rather than disproves the presence 

 of superphysical factors in man's evolution, so that 

 we need not feel constrained to regard man's prim- 

 itive state as wholly determined by the physical factors ll£j} 

 of his origin.^ And when the presence of superphys- 

 ical factors is once acknowledged it is perceived that 

 we cannot determine their results by the data which 

 are now available for biological investigation. 



L 



An important question should be faced at this point. 

 Assuming the truth of the evolutionary hypothesis, 

 what docs it involve and prove in relation to our sub- 

 ject? This question ought to be answered with due 

 regard for other accepted postulates and conclusions 

 of modern science. In fact, it may well be enlarged 



^Origin of Sin^ p. 81. ^ Cf. pp. 31, 32, 108, above. 



