e sees, feels, is sure of. What form belongs to
them, let each imagine as best he can. So free, so generous, so simply
true is he that not only men of an idealist way of thinking, but all
strong and high souls own impulse from him,--the scientist, the
positivist, the churchman.

His distinctive note is not self-abnegation, but it is the note which
with that makes a perfect harmony. Joy in God and self-sacrificing love
are the two wings of the angelic life. Long have the preachers taught
self-sacrifice,--now let one child of God sing the joy of God!

The latest chapter in the story of the higher life is the conception of
man and the world which has grown up under the influence of modern
science. The most original and effective expression of this philosophy
is given by Herbert Spencer. What new light does the evolutionary
philosophy throw on man's chief problem, the right conduct of his own
life?

First, it defines with clearness two great forces which bear on the
individual life, as Heredity and Environment. Next, it defines the ideal
to be sought, by reaffirming in substance the familiar conception of
human morality, showing its sanctions on purely natural grounds, and
giving new applications and extensions of its principles. And finally,
compared with the traditional theology, it leads to a new conception of
the relation between man and the higher power, and necessitates, what
Spencer does not supply, a new expression of the religious life.

The discovery of Darwin, supplying the final link to the growing proofs
of the evolutionary development of man, opened an amazing panorama of the
past history of the planet's inhabitants. The predecessors and
successors of Darwin added to the panorama one after another scene of
wonder. The standpoint of thought seemed wholly changed, and a
readjustment necessary which threatened overthrow to all the old creeds
and standards. Spencer, who has been the most successful in generalizing
the new knowledge, comes back to the inquiry, By what law shall man guide
his own conduct? His answer is substantially a reaffirmation of the
principles which good men have acknowledged for many ages. Whatever else
is changed, it remains true that justice, fidelity, chastity, honor,
regard for others, are man's safest guides and his lawful rulers.
Altruism is only a new word for the golden rule. But the advance of
society has brought wider and finer applications: the claim of the whole