The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-20
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wise soul-function, working to produce
changes in the type, in accordance with
divine law which governs the develop
ment and which is more or less clearly
perceived by the indwelling personality in
man or animal 1t will be seen that here
he is at one with the Buddhists, funda-
mental article of whose faith is the be-
lief that animals have their portion of the
world soul.
The next big truth elucdated BY Mr..
Hudson is that the evolutionary instinct,
otherwise the progressive and creative fac
ulty of the soul, is invariably altruistic.
eral latter-day philosophers WHO have
figured it out that all progress
and all altruism can be traced to
the instinct of self-preservation. This is
possibly the most interesting chapter in
the book and certainly it is optimistic in
the highest degree without being illogical.
The argument, granting previous premises,
is as clear as the Rule of Three. The au-
thor states fatty that the average human
being would rather do right than wrong:
that, therefore, the altruistic instinct is
per Sc stronger than that of seif-seeking;
but human character is determined by the
relative development Of the two instincts,
and in some people one overbalances the
other. In short he declares that the evo-
lutionary instinct is the motive power OF
physical. mental, moral, and religious prog
ress. There is something beautifully
simple about this theory. No one can say
that ii is irreligious. because the very ba-
sis of it is that all evolution is the more or
less enlightened effort Of the soul to bring
the physical life into harmony with divine
laws, perceived through subjective con-
seriousness, or intuition. Tennyson fore
1<..- &c Iaa xrhop ha cr,nly osNf
the blind worlds altar-stairs
That grope, through darkness, up to COD.
Browning's Death in the Desert" voices
the same thought in a different form, and
Emerson's essays are full of it. But all
these authors are more or less poetic in
their Interpretation of the thought.
Mr.. Hudson is scientific in language
and method. Therefore-and this is
in itself fairly good proof of
| Mr.. Hudson's general theory-Ten-
nyson, Browning, Emerson, and Rus
kin, being poetic in language, will find
hundred readers where the present author
| finds one, simply because the truths all
| alike perceive are of a nature to appeal to
the soul instead of the mind. 1t takes a
mind of considerable training and acute
ness to traverse the labyrinth of THE Di-
vine Pedigree of Man whereas the iDtui-
tive sense of the lover of poetry will feel
| the same truth, expressed in metaphor,
! without perhaps possessing enough COM
mand of language to explain it. The poet
appeals directly to the inner consciousness
of his readers; and that is one reason why
| in all ages he has been recognized as the
seer.
| In the second half of the book atheistic
arguments are met on their own ground.
Mr.. Hudson makes the statement. which
may appear paradoxieal to some readers,
| that so-called supernatural phenomena
| may be explained on his theory without a
| CONFUSION of nature or subversion of natu-
raj laws whereas the whole theory of the
| atheist in regard to the creation and Or
ganic evolution of the world depends abb
solutely on miracles. He says, in short,
that the generation Of mind from organic
| matter would require a miracle to begin
] with. and that il would be next to impos-
| sible to evolve distinct species by natural
selection, unless some impulse from with
| in were acting according to law above
| and beyond that of the mind. He spends
| about four chapters combating Haechel's
views on this and other points.
| His closing chapter is a summing up of
| his argument. stated briefly in the begin
| ming of the book. that man is made in the
image of God: that is. that mans evolu-
| ton is the gradual bringing into harmony
| of the indwelling soul and the physical be-
+, ing, and that the soul, as it perfects itself,
comes nearer and nearer to being the
! image of God This does not involve the
anthropomorDhic conception of the Divine
| Being. 1t presupposes not human attri-
| butes in God but divine attributes in man.
| Human justice may be to some extent god
| like; we cannot positively state that Gods
| justice is much like that of mans, even
| in the highest development that we are
| able to find. The presumption is that,
as the most perfect human justice is that
which has the widest knowledge of the
criminal, his life, his temptations, the ef-
| feet of his crimes. and the degree of pun
ishment which. for his own good and that
I OF the community, he should receive, the
justice of God will resemble that, but will
be wiser, more far-seeing, more beneficent,
and more merciful, both to the criminal
and the community, than any which the
imperfect intelligence of man is able 10
administer. Since man has progressed
away from the thumb screw and the rack
toward reformatories and painless eXecu-
lions, if we assume that progress is due to
an indwelline divine instinct it is only
logical to suppose that infinite justice will
not include cruelty at all. Generally
speaking. we know the difference between
evol ition and degeneration, between high
types of civilization and those which are
merely abnormal freaks" and the con-
sensus Of opinion will be that man is.
| slowly and with infinite variation and in
| tricacy of development being made into
| the image of divine being. Mr.. Hudson
| presents an argument which assumes to
| explain how this has been done, and what
| are the general laws which govern IL. His
| book is perhaps the soundest and most
| logical presentation of the case, from a
| scientific point of view. which has yet ap-
| peared.
| There is only one feature of modern re-
ligious thought which he has failed to dis
| cuss at all, and that is the theory of rein
carnation. which Western thought is grad
uaIly assmiiating from the Buddhist and
! other Oriental religions. Since he has
handled with freedom various other notions
| new to the American and English mind,
| but gradually finding Judgment there, il
seems a little curious that he has not
| touched on this, especially as it is directly
| connected with his theory of dual con-
seriousness and also with that Of evolution.
/ The reincarnation theory assumes the
gradual perfection of the individual soul as
| we'll as the physical type, the former pro-
| crossing by successive lives, as the type is
| changed by heredity. In other words, the
| formation of a strong character is exactly
| analogous to that of highly developed
physical type. both acquiring their char
acteristics through struggle with or yield
| ing TO environment. not merely in one life,
but through generations This system of
| thought also dovetails nicely with Mr.. Hud-
sons idea of evolution as coming through
the action of the subjective mind, or soul,
| since memory in the soul, would give a
| motive for avoiding or seeking certain con-
| ditions or influences. Another feature OF
| Mr.. Hu6eon's philosophy is that the soul,
whose functions are emotional and intui-