The "fittest" are the "elect"; those who perish in
the contest, the "damned." In the evolutionary struggle, only the few
survive, while untold numbers of the unfit, no matter whether seeds of
plants, eggs of fish, human beings, or any other form of life, go to the
wall.
In spite of the apparent contradiction between free will and
foreordination, each individual felt himself fully responsible for the
saving of his soul. A firm belief in this tremendous responsibility made
each one rise the stronger to meet the other responsibilities of life.
Civil responsibility seemed easier to one reared in this school. The
initiative bequeathed by Elizabethan times was increased by the Puritans'
religion.
Although there were probably as many university men in proportion to the
population in early colonial Massachusetts as in England, the strength and
direction of their religious ideals helped to turn their energy into
activities outside the field of pure literature. In course of time,
however, Nathaniel Hawthorne appeared to give lasting literary expression
to this life.
THE NEW ENGLAND CLERGY.--The clergy occupied a leading place in both the
civil and religious life of New England.
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