Inasmuch as the rational perception is the dominant faculty in man,
it must perceive the lines along which he is to conform. Truth,
right, and duty must be his watchwords. These are to be the rules
and motives of all his actions. He cannot live for the body, but for
something higher, the mind. This was proven before man appeared on
the globe. He is to be a mental, intelligent being. But he is not to
be governed by appetite or mere prudential considerations. These are
animal, not human motives. These are not to be disregarded any more
than digestion can be safely disregarded by man. But they are not to
be his chief motives. He must subordinate these to the higher
motives furnished by right and duty. Man is not merely a mental but
a moral being. If he sinks below this plane of life he is not
following the path marked out for him in all his past development.
In order to progress, the higher vertebrate had to subordinate
everything to mental development. In order to become man it had to
develop the rational intelligence. In order to become higher man,
present man must subordinate everything to moral development. This
is the great law of animal and human development clearly revealed in
the sequence of physical and mental functions.
Must man be a religious being also? This question we must try to
answer in a future lecture.
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