84 MORAL CONDITION OF THE CHILD 



merit. Many things are credited to heredity incor- 

 rectly, unless some broader than ordinary view is 

 given to it. It is sometimes said, Some men were 

 born Republicans or Presbyterians, and no earthly 

 power can change their tendencies. On the con- 

 trary, this must be credited to training, and not 

 to birth. If these same persons had been removed 

 to the center of Africa at birth, they never would 

 have had a notion of Republicanism or Presbyte- 

 rianism. 



But we raise the question, Is this intimate 

 training environment, or on the level with other 

 influences known as environment? Would it not 

 be a better conception to think of soul-formation 

 as the spiritual birth, and as being the spiritual 

 heritage of the child from his parents! This 

 would give to heredity all that is claimed for it, 

 but would hold it to certain conditions, the ab- 

 sence of which would nullify it. When the eyes of 

 the child look up into the eyes of the mother, 

 which answer back with her own soul illumination ; 

 when she presses him close up to her bosom, and 

 he feels in the physical heart-beat her spiritual 

 pulsations of love for him; when prayer and so- 

 licitude ever create about him an atmosphere of 

 spiritual dynamic that gives him courage and 

 guidance, there is something more vital being com- 

 municated to him than can ever come from a dull 

 and passive environment, to which he may or may 

 not decide to respond. About the first recognition 

 that a child has is the recognition of personality. 



