270 A Review of the Modern Doctrine of Evolution. (April, 
and sustentation of good works or morals among men. If the 
teachers and professors of this art produce the results in this 
direction at which they aim, their great utility must be conceded 
by all. Their method has the advantage over that of the law, in 
being of the character of inducements supplied before action, 
instead of pains and penalties inflicted after action. They strive 
to originate good conduct, rather than to punish bad conduct. 
They are working on the side of the originative force in develop- 
ment, rather than the destructive; the “origin of the fittest,” 
rather than the “ survival of the fittest.’ ‘Whether man possesses 
the spontaneous power called “ free will” or not, the work of 
supplying inducements for good conduct is most useful to society. 
But religion, as generally understood, pre-supposes free will; and 
the definition of the word responsibility implies its existence. 
The question as to the presence of such a faculty is an interesting 
one, and will now be briefly considered.* 
The well-known doctrine of necessity leaves no place for free 
will. All acts are the consequences of motives, and are the out- 
come of a balancing of interests. The heaviest side of the 
account determines action. Our physical necessities supply the 
motives for most of our activities; our pursuit of food and cloth- 
ing is of necessity, and no condition is free from it. Evolution 
supports and explains this doctrine, as can readily be perceived. 
It derives our instincts from an ancestry whose daily occupation 
has been their gratification. But it has been shown above that ` 
this development does not supply the motives of an independent 
morality. 
The direction of action under stimulus is determined by intel- 
ligence, which is, as has been above maintained, the product of 
experience. Intelligence is organized or classified knowledge, 
and directs the activities set on foot by the likes and dislikes, that 
is, the affections. When there is knowledge, there is no necessity 
for spontaneous action or free will, since action is determined by 
the organization of the mind. Even if the mind is conscious of 
insufficient knowledge, an inducement to seek knowledge is 
supplied, and according to the result of investigation will be the 
direction of knowledge. 
But we are here brought to face the case where knowledge 
cannot be or is not obtained. This is the condition of the two 
1Qn the Origin of the Will. Penn Monthly, 1877. 
