Supposing a man develops an idea, it is not an easy matter to persuade his next-door neighbor, who is his equal perhaps in intelligence; but, it is not difficult to inculcate his pet idea into his child. It is, as it were, virgin ground, and he plows it to his liking. He has complete control. He is master. He directs it as he wishes, and prevents others from planting strange ideas or ideas hostile or antagonistic to his own.
In this manner we commence breeding ideas, and we continue breeding the same ideas, on the same principle as breeding pigeons or chickens; they are all of the same kind, if you don’t cross them; and the more eggs you lay the more chickens you get, and if they multiply rapidly, especially if you have many hens to one rooster (as the Jews had), what a multitude to spoil a garden-patch!
That is precisely what happens, and that is what actually took place with Abraham.
We have also a natural limitation to brain culture. We may instance the orang-outang, the Bushman, the negro, the idiot, etc.—brains that are not susceptible to much culture or education. The understanding, the development of the intellectual faculties, is limited of necessity. There is no possibility of going beyond their capacity; it will hold a given measure and no more.
Even among these, the range of intelligence may vary some degrees.
Impairment, effectiveness, or entire absence of any one of the senses, limits intellectual acquirements. The uniform activity of all the senses is thereby hindered.
We have in addition innumerable varieties of brain in size, quality, quantity, form; as also inherited failings or diseased conditions.
The qualities of God depend upon the qualities of the man. There has not yet been a god conceived by the human mind but greediness was the chief element. Men made gods for others, whose inferior intellect was easily swayed to believe in great benefits they were to expect, but never got, yet were continually paying for.
Every man or woman is responsible for his or her acts, and no God—supposing there to be any—can save him or her. There can be no intercession between man, and nature or nature’s laws. Every living being is held to strict accountability to the prevailing forces and the controlling elements that compose it. It is always a question of unchangeable equilibrium between the elements and the surrounding medium, as to the kind of a God we may acquire.
A man can see no farther than his sight will permit him. The organ of sight, the eye, may be so constituted that we can barely recognize the nearest object, or we may without difficulty distinguish the smallest object at a great distance. This condition, of seeing objects near, at a moderate distance, or far off, or not seeing at all, depends on the natural construction of the organ itself. The difference between the various qualities of sight is due to the proper qualities and shape of the various structures that enter into the composition of the organ of vision. Every part must be perfect—the lens, the iris, the cornea, the vitreous humor, etc. Not only must the parts be perfect, but they must also be in a healthy condition, to produce accurate vision. All this answers well for ordinary purposes in life, taking in such impressions as the apparatus of vision may from time to time receive. These are retained, stored up; thus memory of objects, the impressions of which have been recorded, may be recalled to mind either in actuality or in imagination. The education of that organ consists in the number, variety, and kind of impressions received. This constitutes the degree of educational experience, being regulated by the amount of knowledge of the greater or lesser number of objects that have been recorded through the retina on the great central nervous system.