544 ■ HEREDITY AND SELECTION IN SOCIOLOGY 



devdoped social instincts and of wdl-devdoped biologicat fitness. 

 But social instincts cannot be well developed, or, indeed, de- 

 veloped at all, without the aid of moral sentiments. How can the 

 policy of responsibility towards future generations, feeling which 

 impUes the sacrifice of present pleasures to the welfare of future 

 and unborn generations, and which is the social instinct par 

 excdlence — ^how can it be developed except morahty furnish a 

 sure foundation ? The lack of this precious social instinct in 

 Western society to-day may be attributed to the want of moral 

 feeling ; it is the sign of a want of harmony between modern 

 civilisation and its environment ; it proves that modem civilisa- 

 tion is stiU lacking in respect of adaptation. 



There is a correlation between the lack of moral sentiment and 

 the decUne of religious organisation. Even as the action of 

 those developmental forces which have shaped Western civiUsa- 

 tion has evolved the moral sentiments which are such powerful 

 factors of adaptation, so has it evolved the religious institutions 

 in which the moral sentiments find their most concrete ex- 

 pression. The religions furnish an admirable example of the 

 working of the law of adaptation. A religion is not only 

 thoroughly adapted to the needs of those races or nations which 

 adhere to its peculiar tenets in fact as well as in name ;i but it 



1 We may take it that Protestantism is less adapted to the needs of the 

 nations who have nominally adhered to it than Cathohcism to the needs 

 of those who have always held fast to the ancient faith. The proof of 

 this assertion is to be found in the fact that the social influence of Pro- 

 testantism, even in Protestant countries, is practically nil ; an esception 

 must, of course, be made for the Anghcan Church (see above, II. Chap. I.). 

 The curious remarks of Macaulay in his Essay on Ranke's History of the 

 Popes show that he was fully conscious of the impossibiUty for Pro- 

 testantism to make headway in Europe. The fact is that the so-called 

 Reformation was far more a political than a reh'gious movement ; under 

 the stress of circumstances a certain number of nations left the Church, 

 but their scission was caused mainly by political events ; the circum- 

 stances of the sixteenth century have passed away, and Protestantism has 

 proved unable to adapt itself to the real and permanent needs of the 

 nations of Northern Europe, incapable of influencing social evolution. 



