Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 74.djvu/290

286 the same time to conduct himself in an immoral manner. This instinct is the most effective incentive to civilization. It underlies all our material and moral progress; it is the source of most that is good; it is the whip driving us onward and the reward enticing us along the straight and narrow path. It is human affection, the social instinct. It is a feeling, to be sure, differently developed in different races, tribes and individuals, but it is present to some extent in all. It is a feeling which develops as one grows, extending outward from oneself. It is at first for parents, brothers and sisters, then for wife and family; for blood relatives; for tribe or nation; and finally for the race. It is the feeling of kinship. It is one of the strongest basal instincts of humanity.

The real origin of morality in the past has been this basal instinct; and it must continue to be an effective cause of morality in the future. For the love of offspring of which this instinct is part is one of the most fundamental in animals. Religious beliefs may develop or thwart this instinct, but they are powerless either to suppress it entirely or to take its place. If we should take away all religious belief, the belief in a personal God, in a future life, in rewards and punishment in such a life, we should not disturb this fundamental basis of moral conduct in the least degree. The instinct of human affection would still exist as a powerful aid to morals, one which has always existed, which always will exist and which is without any essential connection with any religious belief whatever.

Religion and science have a certain relationship to this fundamental instinct. Religion in certain ways, but unfortunately not in all, has acted as a stimulus to this instinct in each individual, and it has presented a moral code enforced by a system of rewards and punishments. The actual effect of the Christian religion on morals has been both good and bad. The rapid development of this religion at the outset was very largely owing to the fact that it appealed to and stimulated this fundamental instinct. The teachings of Jesus appear for the most part to have been directed chiefly to this end. "This is my commandment, that ye love one another." His whole life was a teaching by precept and example of the blessings of human affection. It is this element which has made the religion live; which is accountable for what good it has done in the world; which makes it unique among religions. The appeal of the religion was primarily to the feelings, but it was just as effective an appeal to the reason, if only one perceived that the real basis of all good conduct was affection.

If the early Christians had contented themselves with following Jesus's teachings in this particular, their religion must always have been a power for good in the world. But it happened that metaphysical speculation gradually wrapt around, concealed and weakened the force