1 8 2 Spiritual Evolution of Society 



shining by the gift of heaven." And Ruskin can be 

 called to witness in this regard : " The Fine Art is that 

 in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go 

 together. . . . Thoroughly perfect Art is that which 

 proceeds from the heart, which involves all the noble 

 emotions, associates with these the head, yet as 

 inferior to the heart ; and the hand as inferior to the 

 heart and head, and thus brings out the whole man." 1 



These three passages ought never to be forgotten ; 

 first, Carlyle's : " All talent, all intellect is in the first 

 place moral, therefore the good alone is deathless and 

 victorious " ; secondly, Ruskin's : " Thoroughly per- 

 fect Art is that which proceeds from the heart ' as the 

 prime factor,' associates with these the head and the 

 hand, yet as inferior to the heart " ; and thirdly, 

 Matthew Arnold's : " Culture is the knowledge of the 

 best that has been known and said in the world, and 

 thus with the history of the human spirit." These 

 sayings of three of our greatest and best men do indeed 

 give us cause for hope and rejoicing. All intellect, all 

 pure Art is moral, and therefore the attainment of 

 culture should be made possible to every unit of society, 

 and when this is accomplished the spiritual evolution 

 of the race is assured. The culture of the ages, as a 

 matter of fact, is being brought nearer to every man, 

 woman, and child from day to day, and is helping with 

 increasing power the gradual advance of that spiritual 

 evolution which the advent of Jesus brought within the 

 compass of the human spirit. 



The loyalty and worship of all men to the great ones 

 " gone for ever and ever by " is a constant tribute to 

 the ascendancy and the supremacy of the spiritual in the 

 nature of man, and of the power it wields in moulding 

 the advance of the race. " Man worships what is above 



1 From a lecture on the " Unity of Art," and incorporated in 

 his book " The Two Paths." 



