The Lesson of History 1 49 



for evolution, but now that " equality of opportunity " 

 is becoming increasingly more and more possible for 

 every member of the state, we shall certainly have a 

 marked and general rise in physique, intelligence, and 

 culture. The point is that we are not at all likely to 

 attain a higher physical or intellectual evolution than 

 has been possible to man in the past, but the remark- 

 able fact is now demonstrable that man is becoming, 

 as Mr. Kidd has proved, " more and more religious." 

 You may take leave to doubt this and assert that the 

 contrary is the case ; that men who formerly attended 

 church service with the utmost regularity have 

 ceased to do so, and nowadays play golf instead. 

 No doubt this has occurred in many instances. 

 But that does not alter the fact that what was 

 known as pure materialism is dead ; that scientific 

 men have departed from what was considered a purely 

 logical standpoint and are enquiring into the secret and 

 power of ethical and spiritual agencies. Professor 

 Urwick, in his book " A Philosophy of Social Progress," 

 which is a searching plea for idealism in collective 

 action, referring to the mystical side of human life, 

 insists upon it as a reality, which men of science or 

 practical men will ignore at their peril. Moreover, the 

 general mass of the people of all classes act more and 

 more from day to day, consciously or unconsciously, 

 under religious influences, and every man in his heart 

 of hearts knows that he has a duty to humanity. It 

 ought again to be acknowledged that Mr. Kidd has 

 been the first to demonstrate that man is still in 

 process of evolution, not in the acquisition of greater 

 physical or mental power, but in the attainment 

 of a higher ethical or spiritual nature. The present 

 evolution of man is spiritual, and in this direction 

 only lies the path of further advance for the human 

 species. 



