198 The Morality of Nature 



In such enlightenment man perceives man and attracts 

 man, so that milHons share an understanding which a few 

 years since was only dawning in the minds of a few hundred. 

 It is in fact the primitive principle of universal relationship, 

 brought to light again, after having been obscured and 

 dimmed by ages of ferocity. It is not our creation, nor 

 even our discovery; it is merely our preception of oppor- 

 tunity to cultivate our inheritance. And we know that this 

 knowledge is not sterile or purposeless; we see its effects. 

 Who can face this upward movement of humanity and 

 venture to limit the future by his little share of present 

 knowledge ? Who then can bind the present to the inherit- 

 ance from the past? Surely the reward of faithfulness is 

 beyond description. 



This inheritance is a stewardship, and the only accounting 

 of it that will prevail, will be a showing of it, not barren, 

 but with products and profits added to its physical and in- 

 tellectual abilities, to maintain the upward progress. The 

 whole purpose of conduct thus enlarges its field, even while 

 the continued maintenance of life in the face of a hostile 

 environment, remains always the prime need of each present 

 moment, without prospect of change. The things that 

 change are the manner of resistance, and the means of 

 maintaining hfe; and the perception of them, and of the 

 consequences. The overcoming of opposition by altruistic 

 co-operation, does not abolish the promise of achievement 

 of conditions of still greater good, and does not invite 

 merely greater enjoyment. It demands the rise of the 

 organization of life into higher and higher forms genera- 

 tion by generation, as a qualification for sharing in the 



