222 The Ideal State 



" I loved the man, and do honour his memory this side 

 idolatry as much as any" — poured forth the treasures 

 of his mighty genius. 1 



We are quite justified, then, in accepting this first 

 aphorism in its entirety, but we fear there will be 

 grave misgivings as to the second, and these will affect 

 not the conclusion but the method. He says : " The 

 most distinctive feature of human evolution as a 

 whole is, that through the operation of the law of 

 Natural Selection, the race must continue to grow 

 ever more and more religious." Now, do not think 

 it is possible to arrive at any other conclusion from 

 a study of observed phenomena than that " the most 

 distinctive feature of human evolution as a whole is, 

 that the race must continue to grow ever more and 

 more religious." We do not require to argue this 

 further ; it has been proved and firmly established, 

 notwithstanding all that can be said as to original 

 sin, the brute in man, the wickedness of all kinds 



1 Mr. Elliot, in " Illusions from Professor Bergson," makes an in- 

 teresting remark in regard to this subject. He says : " The Greek 

 civilisation was merely a preface to the intellectual progress of 

 mankind. Without that clearance of the way, science never could 

 have developed ; so heavy were the obstacles to be removed, so 

 gigantic the task, that the greatest race of antiquity exhausted their 

 powers in the effort, and expired before its accomplishment." This 

 statement is the result of an entire misconception. A great race 

 does not exhaust its powers by great intellectual effort : our great 

 men do not do so. Shakespeare, Carlyle, Scott, Burns never ex- 

 haust their powers ; they become progressively feeble with advanc- 

 ing age after crossing the meridian of life in the ordinary course of 

 nature. Men may die prematurely from disease, and that is exactly 

 what happened to the Greek and other great civilisations of the 

 past. They died from disease of the body politic — the State was 

 assuredly " a goodly apple, rotten at the core." The intellectual 

 effort would have evolved the race to the highest possible if it had 

 been directed towards the social betterment of ol -rroWol, and 

 have established it as a permanent force, and led the nations of the 

 earth to-day in all advance of intellect, art, drama, and ethics but 

 for the reason that it appeared too soon to benefit by those teachings 

 which are bringing to our civilisation that permanence which in no 

 other way is possible of attainment. 



