Evolution and Effort: And Their Relation to Religion and Politics

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D. Appleton, 1895 - 297 pages

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Page 212 - And now I say unto you ; Refrain from these men, and let them alone ; for if this counsel or this work, be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
Page 207 - The land, including all the natural sources of wealth, is the heritage of the people, and should not be monopolized for speculative purposes, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited. All land now held by railroads and other corporations in excess of their actual needs, and all lands now owned by aliens should be reclaimed by the government and held for actual settlers only.
Page 36 - The theory of evolution encourages no millennial anticipations. If, for millions of years, our globe has taken the upward road, yet, some time, the summit will be reached and the downward route will be commenced. The most daring imagination will hardly venture upon the suggestion that the power and the intelligence of man can ever arrest the procession of the great year.
Page 212 - Refrain from these men, and let them alone : for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will be overthrown : but if it is of God, ye will not be able to overthrow them ; lest haply ye be found even to be fighting against God.
Page 80 - That the intuitions of a moral faculty should guide our conduct, is a proposition in which a truth is contained ; for these intuitions are the slowly organized results of experiences received by the race while living in presence of these conditions. And that happiness is the supreme end is beyond question, true ; for this is the concomitant of that highest life which every theory of moral guidance has distinctly or vaguely in view.
Page 26 - Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you " ? This was the doctrine of Lao-tsze.
Page 85 - Far off as seems such a state, yet every one of the factors counted on to produce it may already be traced in operation among those of highest natures. What now in them is occasional and feeble, may be expected with further evolution to become habitual and strong ; and what now characterizes the exceptionally high may be expected eventually to characterize all. For that which the best human nature is capable of, is within the reach of human nature at large.
Page 82 - Mankind, inheriting from creatures of lower kinds, such adjustments between feelings and functions as concern fundamental bodily requirements; and daily forced by peremptory feelings to do the things which maintain life and avoid those which bring immediate death ; has been subject to a change of conditions unusually great and involved. This has considerably deranged the guidance by sensations, and has deranged in a much greater degree the guidance by emotions. The result is that in many cases pleasures...
Page 83 - ... actions are completely right only when, besides being conducive to future happiness, special and general, they are immediately pleasurable...
Page 61 - A religion is a form of belief, providing an ultrarational sanction for that large class of conduct in the individual where his interests and the interests of the social organism are antagonistic, and by which the former are rendered subordinate to the latter in the general interests of the evolution which the race is undergoing.

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