452 Life and Immortality. 
prisoner rather than violate his parole, would not feel re- 
morse, though he might, if he failed in a duty which he 
held sacred, hide it from view. 
Primeval man must have been, at a very remote time, influ- 
enced by the praise and blame of his fellows. That the 
members of the same tribe would approve of conduct that 
appeared for the general good, and reprobate such as seemed 
to carry with it evil, there can be no question. To do good 
unto others, or to do unto others as you would that they 
should do unto you, is the foundation-stone of morality. It 
is, therefore, hardly possible to place too high an estimate 
upon the importance of the love of praise and fear of blame 
during rude, barbaric times, for a man, who was not impelled 
by any profound instinctive feeling to sacrifice his life for the 
good of others, but who was raised to such a noble action 
by a sense of glory, would by his example excite a similar 
wish for glory in the bosoms of other men, and would 
thereby engender and strengthen by exercise the laudable 
feeling of admiration. With increased experience and rea- 
son, those more remote consequences of his actions, such as 
temperance, chastity, etc., which during his very early times 
were utterly disregarded, would come to be highly esteemed 
or even held sacred. And ultimately there would have been 
developed from the social instincts a highly-complex senti- 
ment which, largely guided by the approbation of his 
fellow-men, and ruled by reason, self-interest, and latterly 
by deep religious feelings, confirmed by teaching and habit, 
would constitute his moral sense or conscience. Although 
a high standard of morality gives but little if any advantage 
to each individual man and his children over the other men 
of the same tribe, yet it must be borne in mind that it is an 
advancement in the standard of morality and an increase in 
the number of well-endowed men that certainly give a telling 
advantage to a tribe over another, for the tribe that includes 
many members who, from possessing in an eminent degree 
the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage and 
