We must
test it by its economical relations.
I think that the method which Mr. Spencer uses in his Data of
Ethics will help to fix our opinion. Ideality in conduct is
altogether a matter of adaptation. A society where all were
invariably aggressive would destroy itself by inner friction, and
in a society where some are aggressive, others must be
non-resistant, if there is to be any kind of order. This is the
present constitution of society, and to the mixture we owe many
of our blessings. But the aggressive members of society are
always tending to become bullies, robbers, and swindlers; and no
one believes that such a state of things as we now live in is the
millennium. It is meanwhile quite possible to conceive an
imaginary society in which there should be no aggressiveness, but
only sympathy and fairness--any small community of true friends
now realizes such a society. Abstractly considered, such a
society on a large scale would be the millennium, for every good
thing might be realized there with no expense of friction. To
such a millennial society the saint would be entirely adapted.
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