The Goal of Aspiring Morality i97 



humanity. The line thus extended to better guard the 

 weak, reaches in a mighty circle which protects also those 

 promoting it, and thus becomes an increase of social 

 efficiency. 



We can therefore believe that as physical advantages come 

 to be further added to the lives of all men, in the way they 

 are now partially achieved for a few men; so also mental 

 power and psychological understanding will increase, and 

 comprehension of the universe will be extended. 



The mind of man perceives facts, and grasps definitions, 

 and solves problems, which a little time ago were not only 

 unapproached, but which would have been uncomprehended 

 if perceived. We can believe that in a few years more, 

 things will be defined which are now unthinkable, and will 

 be substituted for many conceptions now disappearing. The 

 capacity which is trained and expressed in mathematical 

 reasoning, produces results in a knowledge of the universe, 

 before which the unexplained continually explains itself. 



The light of this knowledge is no longer the secret power 

 of a jealous caste. It is shed upon all humanity so that all 

 may follow the leaders who carry it forward. Not 

 figuratively but actually, the illumination of modern science 

 and reasoning is for all, and so partakes of the loftiness of 

 moral progress. In this light some things appear imperfect 

 which lately were held up as examples of wisdom; and, what 

 is more to the purpose than the exposure of error, other 

 things long known as guiding impulses are shown to be of 

 eternal authority. For every old moral law overthrown by 

 modern science, there are a score re-established in newer 

 form. 



