OCR Rendition - approximate

324 hereditary Talent and Character. by the side of the feeding flock. Its zeal to serve the common cause exceeds its care to attend to its own interests. Extreme selfishness is not a common vice. Narrow thoughts of self by no mans absorb the minds of ordinary men ; they occupy a secondary position in the thoughts of the more noble and generous of our race. A large part of an .Englishman's life is devoted to others, or to the furtherance of general ideas, and not to directly personal ends. The Jesuit toils for his order, not for himself. Many plan for that which they can never live to see. At the hour of death they are still planning. An incompleted will, which might work unfairness among those who would succeed to the property of a dying man, harasses his mind. Personal obligations of all sorts press as heavily as in the fulness of health, although the touch of death is known to be' on the point of cancelling them. It is so with animals. A dog's thoughts are towards his master, even when he suffers the extremest pain. His mind is largely filled at all times with sentiments of affection. But disinterested feelings are more necessary to man than to any other animal, because of the long period of his dependent childhood, and also because of his great social needs, due to his physical helplessness. Darwin's law of natural selection would therefore be expected to develop these sentiments among men, even among the lowest barbarians, to a greater degree than among animals. I believe that our religious sentiments spring primarily from these four sources. The institution of celibacy is an open acknowledgment that the theistic and human affections are more or less convertible ; I mean that by starving the one class the other becomes more intense and absorbing. In savages, the theistic sentiment is chiefly, if not wholly, absent. I would refer my readers, who may hesi tate in accepting this assertion, to the recently published work of my friend Sir .John Lubbock, " Phehistoric Times," p. 467-472, where the reports of travellers on the religion of savages arc very ably and fairly collated. The theistic sentiment is secondary, not primary. It becomes developed within us under the influence of reflection and reason. All evidence tends to show that man is directed to the contemplation and love of God by instincts that lie shares with the whole animal world, and that primarily appeal to the love of his neighbour. Moral monsters are born among Englishmen, even at the present day-; and, :.when they are betrayed by their acts, the law puts them out of the way, by the prison or the gallows, and so prevents them from continuing their breed. Townley, the murderer, is an instance in point. He behaved with decorum and propriety ; he was perfectly well-conducted to the gaol officials, and he corresponded with his mother in a style that was certainly flippant, but was not generally considered to be insane. However, with all this reasonableness of, disposition, he could not be brought to see that he had done anything particularly wrong in murdering the girl that was disinclined to marry him. He was thoroughly consistent in his disregard for life, because, when his own existence became wearisome, he ended it with perfect coolness, by jumping from an upper staircase. It is a notable fact that a man without a conscience, like Townley, should be able to mix in English society for years, just like gther people. How enormous is the compass of the scale of human character, which reaches from dispositions like those we have just described, to that of a Socrates ! How various are' the intermediate types of character that commonly fall under everybody's notice, and how differently are the principles of virtue measured out to different natures ! We can clearly observe the extreme' diversity of character in children. Some are naturally generous and open, others mean and tricky ; some are warm and loving, others cold and heartless ; some are meek and patient, others obstinate and self-asserting ; some few have the tempers of angels, and at least as many have the tempers of devils. In the