Class J5_[ BooILlI^L-. %ngh0° CQEffilGHT DEPOSm Mans Ancient Trutk and Its Place in Democracy BY E. P. LOWE, M. D. NEW ORLEANS. LA. Press ce Schumert-Warfield-Watson, Inc. New Orleans 1918 v n Copyright, 1918, By E. P. LOWE, M. D. MAY 27 1918 ©CI.A497483 PREFACE In the preparation of this little book, the writer has had two chief objects in view : Firstly, to stimulate and incite the thought and reflection of the reader along the lines herein set forth, in the hope that his mind may be quickened in the Truth, and that, in consequence, our great democracy may receive his much needed assistance in its toilsome efforts to arrive at a more adequate and fairer system of human government; and, secondly, to point out the evils which have always threatened and will continue to threaten the existence of all governments, especially every variety of democracy. In emphasizing these national perils, the writer frankly ventures to express the hope that the tireless vigilance of all our people, without respect to religious or political affiliation, will safeguard the great and vital principles of our federal constitution and place them above all other, debatable considerations, to the end that our growing republic may, under the guidance of a merci- ful Providence, escape from the destructive pitfalls into which so many great states have previously been precipitated and lost. In these pages no criticism is intended of the inner truth of the various systems of spiritual culture and development, which have characterized the different ages of the world, but aJlusion is made rather to the external corruptions which have always en- cumbered and will continue to encumber these systems, and which spring from the nature of man. Man is a compound of Spirit and Matter, of Truth and False- hood, of Good and Evil, and thus constitutes the battle field upon which the contending principles of his nature are in constant and mutual conflict. Every human institution, or every institu- tion with which man has to do, must, in the nature of things, bear the impress more or less distinct of both principles of his being. Therefore, when mention is made of the baneful influ- ences of untoward ecclesiasticism, reference is intended to the corruptions which have grown up about it and not to its sincere interpretations of divine truth or to its altruistic efforts to elevate mankind. Further, the word ecclesiasticism is used in its broadest sense as applicable to every system of religious thought, past and present. In hinting at some of the chief functions of all democratic governments, the writer is conscious of the fact that some of the ideas submitted may be considered by many as Utopian and im- practicable, but he consoles himself with the reflection that every logical conception of man will eventually find a practical expres- sion in human life and yield its fruits in the days to come. He also indulges the hope that necessary repetitions will not prove irksome to the reader. They have been introduced with a view to fixing certain facts in the memory. This is the day of small books. The busy man has neither the time nor inclination to delve in long treatises outside of his chosen field of action, but demands that all subject-matters desiring his attention shall be brought quickly and easily within his grasp. Hence, it is devoutly hoped that the brevity of this volume will prove consoling to the patience of the general reader, for whom it has been especially prepared. B. P. LOWE, M. D. New Orleans, La. PART I MAN'S RELATIONS TO DEITY Chapter I Introduction pages 13 to 23 Chapter II The Philosophic Proof s of the Existence of Deity pages 27 to 40 Chapter III The Scientific Proofs of the Existence of Deity pages 41 to 53 Chapter IV What Relation Does the Deity Bear to the Uni- verse? pages 54 and 55 Chapter V The Biblical Narrative of Creation . . . pages 56 to 62 Chapters VI to IX The Scientific Narrative of Creation . . . pages 63 to 93 Chapter IX Summary pages 94 to 98 Chapter X Darwinian Evolution Not Proven .... pages 99 to 111 Chapter XI Ante-Diluvian Life pages 112 to 115 Chapters XII and XIII The Deluge pages 116 to 129 Chapter XIV Post-Diluvian Life pages 130 to 133 Chapter XV The Final Triumph of Truth pages 134 to 137 PART II MAN'S RELATION TO MAN Chapter XVI Introduction pages 141 to 144 Chapter XVII The Forms of Government pages 145 to 147 Chapters XVIII to XXIV The Functions of Democracy pages 148 to 192 Chapter XXIV The Perils of Democracy, and the Hopes of Our Republic pages 193 to 201 GLOSSARY Era A Grand Division of the Earth's History with its Accompanying Rock and Life Systems. A Division of an Era with the Accompanying Rock Series. A Part of a Rock Series. A Rock Stratum. The Wearing of Rock into Sediment. A Great Physical Change in the Earth's Surface. The Vegetable and Animal Life of an Era or Period, Characterized by its Dominant Types. The System of Animal Life. The System of Vegetable Life. The Regular Grading of One Formation into Another. The Confused and Irregular Arrangement of Formations. A Stratum or Group of Strata Characterized by the Presence of a Particular Fossil not Found in the Underlying or Overlying Beds, or a Particular Assemblage of Fossils. Connecting-Link The Form Connecting the Life-System of one Era with the Dominant Type of the Life- System of the Succeeding Era. Period . . . Formation . Sedimentation Erosion . . Revolution . Life-System . Fauna . . . Flora . . . Conformity . Unconformity Horizon . . Fossil The Petrified Remains of Animal or Vegetable Life. DEDICATION to all who labor for the restitution of man's ancient truth, and for the development of a rational Democracy, wherever its principles may inspire the hearts of men, this little volume is respect- fully dedicated PART I MAN'S RELATION TO DEITY CHAPTER I Introduction The question may be logically asked, what is Truth? Many answers have been given to this question, but the most rational would appear to be that Truth is the infallible process of the infinite mind. Again, it may be asked what is man's ancient Truth? The proper answer is: Man's immemorial intuitive conception of the Divine process. Reason is the power bestowed upon the finite mind by the Infinite Mind to enable man to revive or restore his Primitive Intuitions, and this faculty proclaims these Primitive Intuitions to be the foundation of man's entire knowledge. Every scien- tific fact, however new it may appear to be, is but a restoration of a primitive intuition — an intuition rekindled and revived by the faculty of reason. Man, through the process of reason, steadily opens his mind to the restoration of his Primitive Intui- tions, and hence his knowledge of the universe continually grows and broadens. He is, indeed, approaching nearer to the Infinite through a process of gradual disillusionment. Reason teaches that the finite world, man included, has sprung from the infinite world, and possesses only what it has derived from that infinite source ; in other words, that the finite, formative and changeable world is the creation by progressive emanative materialization and differentiation of the formless, changeless, infinite Pleroma. This is an unavoidable conclusion of the human mind. It is the only conclusion, in fact, to which reason, tradi- tion, the Holy Writings, and intuition unerringly lead us. No attempt will be made in this work to discuss in detail the varied differentiations of Truth in the Divine government of the universe, for that labor must be left to the disposition of each individual, whether he be an independent seeker after Truth, or a willing follower of others. But Truth must here be considered from its broadest aspect as an attribute of the Divine Mind. In its practical essence it constitutes the underlying foundations of the doctrines of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood 14 Introduction of man. From the birth of the Caucasian race, so sacred tradi- tion and the Holy Writings inform us, to the present time, it has constituted the fundamental concept of the human mind — has been the fountain source of man's knowledge and the basis of his civilization and has ever dominated his attitude toward God and his fellowmen. There is no authenticated record, anywhere discovered, that during the long twilight of the passing ages there was ever a dissenting voice raised against it. It may have been subjected to varying interpretations and constructions relative to its application in the life of the world, but the essen- tial Truth itself was never doubted. It has been left to the com- paratively recent period of the last twenty-four centuries for this Primitive Truth to meet with skepticism and doubt ; why, we can- not explain, except upon the hypothesis of man's progressive materialization. As he has proceeded farther into contact and experience with the physical world and has, by mental develop- ment, discovered more and more of the laws underlying its pro- cesses, he has steadily centered his attention on the physical and lost sight of the Absolute from which all else has sprung — ■ to which, in truth, all physical phenomena owe their origin. He has come, at last to regard Matter as the pleroma of all things; in other words, he has deified the physical world with its forms and changes and thus denies the existence of God — the formless and changeless Absolute. From the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God spring man's true ideas of Philosophy and Religion, while from that of the Brother- hood of Man come all his private and public ethics. Thus while various religious and ethical systems have directed the conduct of man in different nations and ages of the world, the underlying truth in all was identical and had its origin in the Primitive, or Intuitive Truth which was stamped and impressed upon the consciousness of Man at his creation. But let us at once proceed to a brief study of this Ancient Truth as it appeals to our reason, and at the same time attempt to combat some of the modern influences which tend to corrupt, if not to destroy it. As already said, this Primitive Truth presents two aspects — the Fatherhood of God, or man's relations to his Creator; and the Introduction 15 Brotherhood of man, or his relations to his fellowmen. The former concerns man's religion, his responsibility to the Deity; the latter has to do with his government his responsibility to his fellowmen. We will now take up the study of the first of these aspects — the Fatherhood of God — and endeavor to trace it to a logical conclusion. But this doctrine presupposes the existence of Deity. The question, then, naturally arises: Is there really a God, and if so, what relation does He bear to the universe? It has been the peculiar province of Philosophy and its ante- cedents, the Ancient Mysteries, to serve as willing instruments for the preservation and transmission of the Primitive Truth from generation to generation, to the end that man in his spiritual darkness might not lose a conscious hold on the Infinite. The careful study and reflection of the reader is, therefore, earnestly solicited for the following pages in the hope that, though he may not accept all the opinions therein presented, he may, at least, be lead into a profounder investigation of the subject, which will result in far more tangible good to mankind than can be expected of this limited effort. There are two great questions which from the nature of things, have always occupied and must always occupy, a conspicuous place in human thought: Is there a God? and if so, what rela- tion does He bear to the universe? Do what we may or turn where we will, these great questions continually thrust themselves upon our attention and demand our most earnest consideration. Not only do they claim our thoughts and reflections today but, they have agitated the mind of man from time immemorial. Every age of the world has had its philosophers and scientists, who have pondered these questions for the benefit of their fellow- men, although they may have failed to fully satisfy the spirit of inquiry. The ancient Egyptian Philosophers recognized one God under the name of On or Ra, Who manifested Himself in a triune power. The ancient Hindu Philosophers worshipped one God under the name Brahm or Om, Who manifested Himself in triune power. The ancient Babylonians recognized the Deity under the name of Aor, Who expressed His power in triune form. 16 Introduction The Hebrews worshipped one God under the name of Aur, in triune activity. Zoroaster taught that the Deity expressed His creative power in the form of two contrary principles, the Positive and Negative, Light and Darkness, Good and Evil, Spirit and Matter; and that Man, as a compound of these two principles, must ultimately achieve his emancipation, by struggling upward through the pre- vailing darkness into the supernal light. Thales, of Miletus, the founder of the Ionic School of Greek philosophy, taught one Deity, and said that He was that which neither had beginning nor end. Anaximander, also of Miletus, the pupil and friend of Thales, held that the material cause and first element of things is the In- finite Substance. He says: "This is eternal and ageless and in- compasses the whole world." Anaximenes, also of Miletus, and a member of the school of Thales, agreed with Anaximander that there was an infinite substance, but held that that substance was air. Pythagoras, of Samos and afterward of Croton, southern Italy, maintained that numbers were the symbols of "The Infinite — the Supreme Being — the Soul of the universe — resembling light." Zenophenes, of Colophon, Asia Minor, the founder of the Eleatic School of Greek philosophy, says: "There is one God, the greatest among gods and men. He sees over all, thinks over all, and hears over all." Heracleitus, of Ephesus, says: "It is wise to hearken not unto me but my argument and to confess that all things are one. The one is made of all things and all things issue from the oife. You must couple together whole things and things not whole; what is drawn together and what is drawn asunder, the harmonious and the discordant." Parmenides, of Elea, says : "The universe is a unity." He held that there were crowns close together and inserted in one another formed of the rare and dense elements respectively, and that between these were other mixed crowns made up of light and dark- ness. That which surrounds them all is solid like a wall and under it a fiery crown. That which is the midmost of all crowns is Introduction 17 also solid and surrounds it in turn by a fiery circle. The central circle of the mixed crown is the cause of movement and the com- ing to all the rest. He calls it: "The Goddess who directs their course. The Key-bearer and Necessity." Bmpedocles, of Agrigentum, Sicily, says: "I shall tell thee a two-fold tale. At one time things grew to be one only out of many: at another, that divided up to be many instead of one. There is a double becoming of perishable things and a double passing away." He declares: "Love and strife, harmony and discord, are the active factors in the changes of the universe.' Anaxagoras, of Clazomenae and afterwards of Athens, preceptor of Pericles, says: "All things were together infinite in number and smallness — for the small, too, was infinite — and when all things were together none of them could be distinguished because of their smallness. And Nous (mind) had power over the whole revolution, so that it began to revolve in the beginning. And all the things that are mingled together and separated off and dis- tinguished are all known by Nous." Zeno, of Blea, maintained the same doctrine as Parmenides. Melissos says: "But nothing which has a beginning or end is either eternal or infinite. For, if it is infinite, it must be one; for if it were two, it could not be infinite; for, then, it would be bounded by another. And since it is one, it is alike throughout; for if it were unlike, it would be many and not one. So, then, it is eternal and infinite and one and all alike." Socrates, of Athens, taught the unity and infinity of the Divine, Leucippus and Democritus taught that all things were derived from atoms and that the universe as a whole is the result of the mechanical motion and combinations of these purposeless atoms. Plato, of Athens, taught that ideas are the potentialities of being, and that the actuality followed the potentiality or idea — that Deity is the intelligent cause from which all spiritual and material things come — God and Matter — as infinite mind and infinite substance. Diogines, of Athens, belonging to the School of Cynics, taught that there were two principles in the universe, the active and pas- sive — God and substance. 18 Introduction Zeno, of Citium in Cyprus, founder of the School of Stoics, also taught two principles in the universe, active and passive — God and sutstance. Aristotle, of Athens, preceptor of Alexander, maintained: "That Primary Substance is the highest cause. But of the con- tinual coming into existence of things in different ways, both the primary substance and the primary energy would be the cause. Since that which has motion imparted to it and which in turn imparts motion can only be a medium, there is, therefore, some- thing which, not being acted upon, yet acts, which is eternal and at the same time both substance and energy." Pyrrho, of Elea, 340 B. C, founder of the Skeptics, doubted all existence and cause. Lucretius, of Rome, believed the universe the result of purpose- less atoms. Pliny the elder, of Rome, deified the physical universe. Philo Judaeus, in speaking of the Creation as described by Moses, says: "And He says the world was made in six days, not because the Creator stood in need of a length of time (for it is natural that God should do everything at once, not merely by uttering a command, but by even thinking of it); but because the thing created required arrangement; and number is akin to arrangement; and of all numbers from the unit upwards it is the first perfect one, being made equal to all its parts and being made complete by them; the number three being half of it and the number two a third of it and a unit a sixth of it and, so to say, it is formed so as to be both male and female and is made up of the power of both natures; for in existing things the odd number is the male and the even number is the female; accordingly, of odd numbers the first is the number three and of even numbers the first is two and the two numbers multiplied together make six. It was fitting, therefore, that the world, being the most perfect of created things, should be made according to the per- fect number, namely, six — and, as it was to have in it the causes of both which arise from combination, it was fitting that it should be formed according to a mixed number, the first combination of odd and even numbers." Introduction 19 Epictetus, who lived the latter part of the first century, A. D., taught the unity of God. He says: "If a man should be able to assent to this doctrine as he ought, that we all sprang from God in a special manner and that God is the father of both men and gods, I suppose that he would never have any ignoble or mean thoughts about himself." Marcus Aurelius taught two principles in the universe which jointly constituted the Primal Cause or God. Tertulian, in the second century A. D., in speaking of the per- secutions of the Christians at Rome, says: "We give offense in preaching God as the one God under the One Name of God from Whom all things are and under Whom is the whole body of things." Origen, who lived in the first quarter of the third century, says: "First, that there is one God Who created and arranged all things and Who, when nothing existed, called all thing sinto being." Cyprian, of Carthage, who lived and taught in the early part of the third century A. D., says: "There is One Body and One Spirit even as ye are called in One Hope of your calling; One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One God." Athanasius, of Alexandria, says: "We believe in one unbegotten God, the Omnipotent Father, the Creator of all things, visible and invisible." Augustine, of Numidia, North Africa, who lived about the lat- ter part of the fourth century A. D., says: "The spirit of life, therefore, which quickens all things and is the creator of the body and of every created spirit, is Gcd Himself, the Uncreated Spirit." Thomas Aquinas, in the thirteenth century A. D., says: "There must be found in the nature of things one first immovable being, a primary cause, necessarily existing, not created; existing the most wisely good, even the best possible; the first ruler through the intellect and the ultimate end of all things, which is God." Descartes, in the sixteenth century A. D., proclaimed: "And, in truth, it is not to be wondered at that God at my creation implanted this idea in me that it might serve, as it were, for the mark of the workman impressed on his work; and it is not only necessary that the mark should be something different from the 20 Introduction work itself; but considering only that God is my Creator, it is highly probable that He, in some way, fashioned me after his own likeness in which is contained the idea of God by the same faculty by which I apprehend myself — that I could not be pos- sibly of such a nature as I am and yet have in my mind the idea of God, if God did not really exist." Spinosa, in the seventeenth century, declares: "God, or Sub- stance, consisting of infinite attributes, of which each expresses eternal and infinite essentiality, necessarily exists." Leibnitz, in the eighteenth century, says : ' 'And thus it is that the final cause of things must be found in a necessary substance in which the detail of changes exists only transcendantally, as in their source, and this is what we call God." Thus we find that the human mind in all ages has struggled with these great questions — to reach an understanding of the ultimate cause and government of the material universe. In the remotest antiquity when man was nearer the time of his creation, but few denied the existence of Deity and His gra- cious supervision over the world. This great truth was univer- sally conceded, and the only difference of opinion among men was as to the proper methods of worship. But as man receded from the time of his creation, and came more completely under the domination of the finite, these original inspirations became weakened, and a time finally arrived, near the middle of the fourth century B. C., when the Greek mind dared to question the Great Truth and cast a skeptical element into the subsequent discussions of the great question. Prior to this time, as above intimated, the Original Truth which had been registered in the inner consciousness of man at his creation, was rarely or never questioned; but now when these impressions had degenerated and were felt more weakly, the honest Greek mind endeavored to prove by reason alone what the human mind had previously known by both intuition and reason, and, laboring in this effort, cast a shadow of skepticism over this Intuitive Knowledge of man. The question has since been discussed with fluctuating conviction between truth and skepticism down to our own times when the doctrine of unbelief appears to be markedly in the as- cendency. Modern man has allowed his consciousness of this Introduction 21 great Intuitive Truth to atrophy to such an extent that he has well-nigh lost his conviction of it. This unfortunate situation has been induced not only by the constantly increasing play of external impressions upon his consciousness, incidental to his material development, thus tending to stifle, in a large measure, impressions from the Infinite stowed in his inner consciousness, but those agencies which he trusted to keep alive these Primitive Truths in his soul proved recreant to the trust, and the wicked alliance of a corrupt Church and a tyrannical State have well- nigh completed the ruin of the glorious fabric of Primitive Knowl- edge. The human mind, rebelling at last against the slavish oppressions of a tyrannical and corrupt Church and state and, failing to observe the truth concealed in the dross of superstition and ignorance, went to the extreme of denying its existence and thus gave an impetus to renewed skepticism. This spirit per- vaded all the thinking classes, and the ignorant classes only clung to the Original Truth by the flimsy cord of ignorant faith. In the midst of this unstable mental atmosphere, science itself became skeptical and interpreted all natural phenomena in terms of blind physical force. This reaction from mental servitude was but natural and, under the psychological laws of man's being, had to occur. Modern science, then, assumes the theory of Darwinian evolu- tion to be true and endeavors to explain all life phenomena in terms of it; that is to say, that present life has evolved from insensate matter through blind and unintelligent forces inherent in that dead and inert substance; in other words, that there has been no intelligent creation. It assumes this theory to be true although admitting it unproven. Such a position is clearly unscientific; for the word science is derived from a Latin word meaning "to know." Science, then is what we know and not what we believe. Roger Bacon, in speaking of the true nature of science, says: "The first is that in order to be a science, a subject must be sufficiently understood to be mathematically stated." And yet we are expected to accept an unproven theory as true. So modern thought assumes the doctrine of evolution of life on the earth to be true and interprets all scientific facts in accord- 22 Introduction ance therewith, even to the extent of believing that in Matter alone reside the promise and potency of all phenomena. But we must not forget that science can only deal with secondary causes and must leave the consideration of first causes to philosophy. The trouble has been not so much in faulty observation of physical phenomena, as in the faulty interpretation of them. But science, in its efforts to interpret the action of secondary causes, has assumed for itself an undue importance. It has ignored the posi- tion of philosophy and even assumes toward it an attitude of intolerance. To this extent, it ignores the importance of primary causes which constitute the very basis of secondary causes and their effects. To center attention upon blind, inert matter and to ignore the intelligent forces outside and behind it is to shut out of consideration the ultimate source of things and to restrict human thought to the limited and conditioned rather than to allow it to penetrate into the fields of the Infinite which of neces- sity must be the fountain source of all natural phenomena. Such a view would reduce man to the attitude of the swine which gathers fruit beneath the overspreading beech, but never inquires whence it comes. The human mind can never be content with such an outlook. One of the great errors of the evolutionist is the effort to limit the action of natural forces. He affirms that the forces now operating on and in the earth have always been the same, have never changed, have never been greater nor less. He declares that nature has always been uniform in action, and that, therefore, there never could have been any sudden universal calamity nor will there ever be. What an appalling attitude for the finite to assume toward the Infinite; for the conditioned to assume toward the Unconditioned or Absolute. Truly, the presumptions of the evolutionist grow pari passu with his assumptions. But this doctrine is disproved by the very phenomena which he relies upon to prove his case. Geological history is replete with many instances of great changes on the earth, if we are to accept the scientific dictum of the day. For instance, how can we account for the fossils of tropical and semi-tropical fauna and flora about the north pole now covered by Artie ice? How was it that the animals did not escape southward to warmer climates, and the plant life did not become extinct or adapt itself to changing con- Introduction 23 ditions, if the present climate of the Artie region was a slow growth? Does not the finding of these tropical and semi-tropical animal and plant remains everywhere in the Artie regions, now covered with ice, prove there must have been some sudden change which imprisoned them in their present glacial tombs? And yet this change was universal over the northern latitudes of both conti- nents. What, then, becomes of the evolutionist's claim of nature's uniformity? Here, at any rate, is a very conspicious instance of a break in nature's uniformity. The forerunners of this scientific skepticism, though doubtless honest and earnest minds, were imbued with the skeptical princi- ples of the times. The Truth, concealed by the vestments of centu- ries of corruption, was repudiated, and the human mind was athirst for something new. Then came Cuvier's dictum of four epochs of Creation which proved the entering wedge. He was followed by Lyell who proclaimed the doctrine of nature's uniformity, apparently proving the impossibility of a great deluge. Then Agassiz presented his doctrine of a geological succession of life on the globe, though he denied the possibility of evolution. After Agassiz came Darwin who taught the doctrine of evolution. Then, soon after, followed Spencer and Haeckel, presenting the doctrine of fullfledged modern skepticism. This skepticism was abundantly strengthened by the labors of Charles Darwin whose name is inseparably connected with all these materialistic speculations. In addition to the above mentioned exponents of the so-called new doctrine, may be classed the philosophers, Locke, Hobbs, Hume and Kant, who unconsciously, perhaps, encouraged the onslaught upon the old system of thought. TITLE MAN'S ANCIENT TRUTH, AND ITS PLACE IN DEMOCRACY CHAPTER II The Philosophic Proof of the; Existence; of Deity With the preceding preliminary remarks, let us now proceed to study the first of the two questions with which we started and endeavor to elucidate some of the evidences and proofs of the existence of a wise and benevolent Creator. Man is the only earthly student of finite phenomena. It is a law of the human mind to proceed from the simple to the complex. Let us, then, in the study of the great Truths of the universe, begin with the finite and proceed, if possible, upward to the In- finite. At the head of the finite world stands man. He is the king of creation. Let us, then, endeavor to obtain as accurate an idea of him as possible before proceeding to the more abstruse study we have in view. What is man? What am I? I confess it is extremely difficult for me to know myself, if, indeed, I succeed at all in this endeavor ; and I find that, in order to obtain an accurate conception, I must dissect that Self in a critical manner. What, then, am I? First of all, I know that I exist. I know this, if I know anything; for whether I doubt my existence or deem myself dreaming of it, I must confess that at least the doubter or dreamer exists. Turn the argument as I may, I cannot escape the conclusion that I exist. This knowledge, then, is absolute — I am in existence. But I find that I think — that I entertain certain ideas I call thoughts and react to them — and hence I conclude that I am a thinking existence. Again, I find that I reason — that I compare certain ideas with certain other ideas and from that comparison reach a certain other idea which I call a conclusion, and therefore I conclude that I am also a reasoning existence. Again, I find that I have the power of recalling former impres- sions or ideas, and therefore conclude that I possess the faculty of memory. 28 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy Again, I find that I have the power of my own volition to for- mulate certain ideas, hence I conclude that I possess the faculty of imagination. Again, I find that I have the power of thinking of a certain thing or of not thinking of it — that I can think about one thing or that I can think about another; in other words, that I have the power of making a choice of action, and therefore I conclude that I am a free agent — that I am possessed of a free and independent will. Moreover, I find that I possess a certain knowledge I did not acquire, for instance, that two and two make four, or that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. I know these truths, but I cannot prove them; hence I conclude that I possess intuition. There can be no knowledge without consciousness and no consciousness without knowledge. But I possess a certain knowl- edge, for instance, that two and two make four, or that the short- est distance between two points is a straight line, hence I con- clude I possess consciousness. It is through my consciousness that I know anything, that I know even my own existence. But I find that I possess two kinds of knowledge — one that I acquired through the five mechanisms, known as my five senses, and one kind that I did not so acquire, and hence conclude that I possess a double consciousness. That factor of my consciousness which records my knowledge acquired from the finite world by means of my five senses may, for the want of a better term, be known as my objective consciousness; and that factor of my consciousness which registers my intuitions received from beyond the finite world constitute what, for the want of a better term, may be known as my subjective consciousness. Human consciousness may, then, be considered as composed of two factors, one an infinite, unconditioned and unlimited con- sciousness which has to do entirely with my intuitions and in- spirations, and one, a finite, conditioned and limited consciousness in which are recorded all my finite or material impressions. These two factors unite to make my consciousness, and that conscious- ness renders me responsive to both finite and infinite impressions, though to react to the former is more in keeping with my present The Philosophic Proofs of the Existence of Deity 29 environment. All my intuitions are recorded in my subjective consciousness, and this very fact proves the existence of the sub- jective consciousness, as it is impossible for the Absolute to spring from the finite. But all these powers I know myself to possess are the attri- butes of mind, hence I conclude that I am mind. But I find that my powers are limited — that do what I may, I cannot exceed my bounds. I cannot think of two things at the same time or conceive of two objects occupying the same place at the same time ; hence I conclude that I am conditioned in time and limited in space — in other words, that I am finite and a part of the finite world. I conclude, then, that I am a finite mind. But I am clad in a peculiar substance which I call Matter, of whose essential nature I am ignorant. But I find the matter of which my body is com- posed is possessed of sattribute, and as the attributes of a thing spring from its essence, and as the essence of a thing is its exist- ence, it follows that my body has existence although I may be ignorant of its essential nature. What, then, is man in his totality? From the facts above set forth, I conclude that he is a finite existence possessed of mind and body, and through his compound consciousness, responds to both finite and infinite impressions; that is to say, that he is finite mind clad in a peculiar substance called matter, and fur- nished with certain physical instruments or mechanisms, known as the senses, made from the same substance, to enable him to come into a comprehensive contact with that substance in all its varied modifications and manifestations and through these manifestations to reach an apprehension of that which is beyond. Such is man, the highest expression of the finite mind, having through objective consciousness a firm grasp on the finite world and through his subjective consciousness a hold, although now a weak one, on the Infinite World. Man, as above constituted, stands in the midst of a universe of mystery. As he did not create himself, he must have been created; and since he is a part of the world in which he lives, he concludes that world also is a creation, himself included. But a creation must have had a creator. Who, then, was the creator 30 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy of man and the world in which he lives? What is that creative power ? Everywhere about him sweeps the ocean of mystery. Under his feet is Mother Earth of whose essence he knows nothing. He is aware of the existence of seventy odd chemical elements fo which she is composed, but of their real nature he knows nothing. Above him are the sun, moon and wondrous stars which have brightened the world for ages and which still challenge his admira- tion but baffle his understanding. Around him on every side is the great ocean of life — that strange phenomenon springing from the union of Spirit and Matter, the Positive and Negative Prin- ciples of nature — swinging in ceaseless rythm between birth and decay. This is equally mysterious to him. He finds that the world in which he lives is a world of forms — a world of fabrication. Moreover, he finds that each of these forms has a beginning and an end — that its existence or duration is determined by time — and therefore concludes that his world is conditioned in time. Again, he finds that each form occupies its own place in space — in other words, has its own limits and bounds, and from this con- cludes that his world is also limited in space. Taking a broader view of his world, he concludes that it is conditioned in time and limited in space; in other words, that it is finite. But a conditioned and limited world cannot be inde- pendent, for an independent world would not be conditioned and limited. The conditioned and limited, or finite, world, must, then, depend for its existence upon something that is not condi- tioned and not limited. That something must be the unconditioned and unlimited Absolute. But if the finite, or conditioned and lim- ited, world depends for its existence upon the Infinite or Absolute, it must be a creation of the Infinite. The Infinite is, then, the Creator of the finite world and all it contains. Again, man observes everywhere about him ceaseless change — that forms are in constant flux and transformation. But a con- stantly changing world cannot be a permanent world. It must depend upon something that is unchangeable and immutable. That can only be the Changeless Absolute. But since there cannot be two absolutes, or infinites, it follows that the Change- The Philosophic Proofs of the Existence of Deity 31 less Absolute and the Infinite are identical. The Absolute, or Infinite, is, then, the Creator of the mutable and finite world. Peering out upon the vast universal machine, man observes the operation of two great principles which lie at the foundation of all created things — of all finite phenomena — the Positive and Nega- tive, the Active and Passive, the Creative and Productive, Force, or Spirit, and Matter. He observes these two great principles in never-ending mutual relations. They are in constant action and re-action, the one upon the other. They stand to each other in the relation of cause and effect; and this relationship never changes. Their activity in the finite world is expressed upon five dis- tinct planes of existence. Thus we have the physical plane, the chemical plane, the vital plane, the sentient or conscious plane, and the moral plane. The Active Principle, or Spirit, on the physical plane, is repre- sented by the physical forces of attraction and repulsion; on the chemical plane, by the physical forces and chemical energy and affinity; on the vital plane, by the physical forces, the chemical forces and vital forces; on the plane of sensation and conscious- ness, by the physical forces, the chemical forces, the vital forces, and the mental forces; and on the moral plane by the physical forces, the chemical forces, vital forces, mental forces, and moral forces. The Passive Principle, or Matter, is represented on the physical plane by gross or elementary matter; on the chemical plane, by chemical matter or chemical compounds; on the vital plane, by living or vegetable matter ; on the plane of sensation and conscious- ness, by thinking matter, or animal matter; on the moral plane, by highly spiritualized matter. The union or combination of these several planes constitutes the material universe. Man perceives the world in which he lives to be a world of phenomena — a world of effects — in which the great law of cause and effect is unchangeable and inexorable; in other words, that a fixed relation must exist between cause and effect — that cause must precede effect ad infinitum; and finds that he may trace back the law from effect to cause until, by the laws of his mind, he concludes there must be an infinite cause. By the laws of 34 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy Now, all these infinite attributes above mentioned are the attributes of infinite mind, or the attribute-complex which the human mind conceives as God. God is, therefore, infinite mind; but since there can be but one infinite, God, or Infinite Mind, and the Infinite Absolute, or Eternal Existence, are identical. The unmistakable conviction, then, is that God is, and that He is infinite in power, will, intelligence, wisdom, benevolence, jus- tice and mercy, and that He is the Creator of the universe, and that without Him nothing could exist that does exist, and that all laws, whether spiritual or physical, are but the expressions of His infinite will. The physical universe does not constitute God, but is God's creation or emanation: for, being conditioned in time and limited in space and therefore finite, the physical universe must have had a beginning and must have an end; but the Deity being uncon- ditioned in time and unlimited in space, is infinite and there- fore eternal and unchangeable All conditioned and limited things — all finite things — were therefore created by Him. Then, there must have been a time when finite things were created. They could not therefore be eternal, or we must confess they were co- eternal with the Deity, and therefore not created by Him. But if they were co-eternal with the Deity, they must have been independent of Kim and therefore not under His government; in other words, there must be two infinites, which of course, is absurd. Then, there must have been a time when the finite universe did not exist, and when the Deity existed alone. The universe, then, must have existed potentially in the Deity as it did not exist in actuality; for we must not forget that the Deity, or Eternal Existence, is the pleroma of all things potential and actual. The act of Creation, then, must have consisted in casting the potential universe into actuality — in giving form to the infinite and conditioning it in time and limiting it in space. In other words, the infinite formless, through the power of infinite will, wisdom, and intelligence, must have differentiated, materialized, or emanated into finite forms, and the unity of power must have specialized in differentiated finite expressions. From these facts we must conclude that God can exist withou tthe universe, but not the universe without God, since it is His creation. The Philosophic Proofs of the Existence of Deity 35 The universe, being conditioned in time and limited in space, is subject to constant change, but the Deity never changes. The universe is, therefore, perishable, but the Deity is eternal. With- out its conditions and limitations the universe could not exist. The law of condition and limitation is, therefore, the law of mani- festation or actuality. The universe, therefore, had a beginning and must have an end, but the Deity is one, now and forever. The law of manifestation is also the law of change. What we call death is only one of the transformations or changes in the finite world and therefore springs from the conditions and limi- tations of the finite world. Error and Evil are the products of the conditions and limitations of the finite world. They cannot exist in the perfect Absolute. If this is true, the finite world must be the opposite of the infinite world, and if the infinite world is perfect it follows that the finite world is what we know as imperfect. Not that it is imperfect in its physical arrange- ment, but that it is the opposite of spiritual perfection. Man is, therefore, doomed to labor through the imperfections of the finite world upward to the perfections of the infinite world. This is the plan of Creation and its wisdom cannot be questioned. Finite wisdom cannot comprehend infinite wisdom. What the Deity does is perfectly done. Man possesses a part of Divine will, conditioned and limited, and within these conditions and limitations his will is absolute. He is conscious of being able to make a choice of action and is therefore conscious of his responsibility. This is also a part of the wisdom of the Divine plan. Man must, achieve his own sal- vation by an upward struggle through the finite world to his eman- cipation in the infinite world. Such, then, are the truths concerning the action of Spirit — the Active Principle — in the universe around us. L,et us now turn to a brief study of the operation of Matter— the Passive Principle — in its relations to the world in which we live. In looking out upon the finite world, the human mind beholds the multiform manifestations and transformations of what it calls Matter. Man knows this substance only by its attributes; 36 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy but as an attribute of a thing springs from its essence or existence, he concludes this substance has existence, though he may ever remain ignorant of its true nature. First of all, he finds this substance is inert; that of itself it is incapable of action or motion; that left to itself without the intervention of outside force it would remain forever immovable and dead. Again, man finds the matter of the physical world in which he lives to be made up of molecular compounds of which the atom is the ultimate element. This is true of all the seventy odd chem- ical elements of which the physical world is composed. The atom is, therefore, the essential element of the finite world, since all the component parts of the finite world are derived from the various combinations of atoms through the power of what we call the attractive force. Now, matter in the physical world exists in three distinct states and a hypothetical fourth ; namely, the solid, the liquid, the gase- ous, and the atomic states. Matter is transformed from one state to another by modifying the attractive force. Such are the facts of science. But if science enjoys the prerogative, which we must concede the facts justify, of lessening the attractive force so as to reduce matter from a solid to a liquid, and from a liquid to a gas, and thence to its atomic state, why should not philosophy enjoy the same right, and by still further logically reducing the attractive force resolve the atom into its ultimate elements, and thus take matter out of the physical into the super- physical world. This would not destroy or annihilate matter, but only destruct it for any further use in the physical world. Science deals entirely with secondary causes which, from the nature of things, must operate only in the physical world, and declares the atomic state to be the last in which matter can hypo- thetically exist. It unwisely ignores first causes which, from the nature of things, must operate in the superphysical world, and thus paves the way for the rejection of absolute truth. Philosophy takes up matter where science drops it, and by the same process of reasoning, carries it above the physical into the superphysical world where it becomes subject to superphysical law; and, by the same process of logic used by the scientists to The Philosophic Proofs of the Existence of Deity 37 reduce matter from the grosser to the more attenuated states, philosophy resolves matter in its last analysis into the ultimate infinite substance. But we have already seen that the First Cause is infinite, and as there cannot be two infinites, it follows that infinite substance must be identical with the Infinite First Cause. But substance manifests its essence through its attributes, hence infinite sub- stance must manifest its essence through its attributes. But we have just seen that infinite substance is identical with Infinite First Cause, Infinite Mind, or God ; hence it must possess the same attributes as Infinite First Cause; that is, it must possess infinite will, infinite wisdom, infinite intelligence, infinite justice, infinite benevolence, and infinite mercy. But, as we have seen, these are the attributes of infinite mind, therefore if the attributes of a thing are the essence of the thing, infinite mind is the essence of infinite substance. But finite will, finite wisdon, fimite in- telligence, finite benevolence, finite justice and finite mercy are the attributes of the human or finite mind. Then, the attributes of the finite and infinite minds are identical and thus manifest the identity of essence of finite and infinite substance. Hence finite mind and its finite substance are identical with infinite mind and its infinite substance ; differing only in the fact that one is conditioned in time and limited in space, and the other is un- conditioned in time and unlimited in space. In other words, one is finite, and the other infinite. But since the finite has sprung from the infinite, it follows that finite mind and its sub- stance have sprung from infinite mind and its substance. But we have just seen infinite mind is what we recognize as God, and finite mind is what we recognize as man; hence man has sprung from God. Herein lies the essence of the Ancient Truth. Herein lies the mighty truth of the doctrines of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. Herein lies the explanation of man's dual nature, compounded of Spirit and Matter. Behold the truth of the Biblical declaration that man is made in the image of his Maker. Here lies the foundation of man's moral nature and responsibility and his hope of immortality. Here is the origin of the Primitive Truth and the Great Religious Concept. 38 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy It was this Truth which the Deity stamped upon the conscious- ness of man at his creation. It was this Truth which Adam transmitted to his son Seth and through him and his successors to Noah. It was this Truth which was conveyed by the Patriarch Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, beyond the Deluge and organized on the plain of Shinar as a system of religious worship. It was this same Ancient Truth which the descendants of Mizraim, the second son of Ham, took with them, as they departed from the land of Shinar, into the valley of the Nile, and made the foundation of Egypt's future science and civilization. It was this same Truth which the descendants of Cush, the first son of Ham, conveyed from Shinar to Ethiopia, the present Abyssinia, and made the basis of their ancient civilization. It was this mighty Truth which accompanied the descendants of Phut or Put, the third son of Ham, into the land of Punt, the present Somaliland, and was there largely obscured by the fetish- ism of the south. It was this same Primitive Truth which the descendants of Canaan, the last son of Ham, made the foundation of Phoenician civilization on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, and thence flowed into Palestine where, though modified, it was still warming the hearts of men when Moses reached the Promised Land. It was this same Truth which inspired the descendants of Japheth as they tracked eastward from Shinar to plant their destinies upon the soil of ancient Bactria. It was this same old Truth which a branch of this race took with them from Bactria into the distant peninsula of Hindoostan and was there made the foundation of the great Hindu civilization. It was this same inspiring Truth which the Jephetic Celt took with him from Bactria to the fertile plains of Central Europe and made the foundation of Druidical science and philosophy. It was this same Truth also which the Japhetic Pelasgians transported from Bactria to the two easternmost of Europe's southern peninsulas and made to constitute the primitive founda- tion of the Greek and Roman civilizations. The Philosophic Proofs of the Existence of Deity 39 It was this same Ancient Truth which the Japhetic Teutons conveyed from their distant home in Bactria, and, driving out the Celts, made the foundation of their subsequent development and destiny in Central Europe. It was this same Truth which the Slavs, the last of the Japhetic races to leave Bactria, transported to the steppes of eastern Europe and made the basis of their future development. It was this same Truth which inspired the heart of Zoroaster, the great Persian Magus, and became the inspiration of subse- quent Medo-Persian civilization. It was this same Concept which the descendants of Elam, the first son of Shem, planted in the land of Elam on the western slope of the Zagros Mountains and became the inspiration of the great Elamitish achievements. Asshur, the second son of Shem, conveyed this same Truth from Shinar to the east bank of the Tigris river and there made it the mainspring of Assyrian civilization. It was this same Ancient Truth which Aram, the last son of Shem, carried with him out of Shinar into the West and made the inspiration of Syrian civilization. It was this same great Truth which warmed the heart of the great patriarch Abraham and became the foundation of Hebrew hope and faith. It was this same uplifting Truth, modified by blending with the same Truth in Egypt, which nerved the arm of Moses against every vicissitude, and, at the foot of Sinai, was erected by him into the fundamental hope and promise of the Hebrew's future greatness. It was this same great Truth which the Greeks obtained from Egypt and which, in combination with their own Primitive Truth, became the foundation of the Zenith of Grecian art, philosophy and political triumph. It was this mighty Truth which Rome borrowed from Greece and Etruria, and blending it with her own Original Truth, made it the basis of her gigantic fabric of law and order. 40 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy It was this same transcendent Truth which burst into sublime radiance in the village of Bethlehem and became the invincible weapon of the Great Nazarene in His conquest of the world. It is this same Ancient Truth which modern science, in its unwise conceit, is striving to destroy. It is this same Ancient Truth which still serves as the basis of human hope and inspiration and which, in the midst of the grossest skepticism, still points to the liberty, fraternity and equality of mankind. It is this same Ancient Truth which will continue to serve as man's beacon light to direct his faltering footsteps along the rug- ged pathway which leads to his ultimate destination. All truth whether philosophic, religious, or secular, present, past or future, has sprung and must spring from these Ancient Intuitions of the human mind. They must ever be the basis of human knowledge. 11 Earth hath no claim the soul cannot contest; Know thyself part of the Eternal Source, Naught can stand before thy spirit's force, The souVs Divine Inheritance is best" CHAPTER III The Scientific Proof of the Existence of Deity We also have ample proof of the Deity in scientific facts. Professor Joseph Le Conte, the great exponent of organic evolu- tion, says: "Force and matter may be said to exist now on several distinct planes raised one above another. There is a sort of taxonomic scale of force and matter. There are (1) the plane of elements; (2) the plane of chemical compounds; (3) the plane of vegetable life; (4) the plane of animal life; and (5) the plane of rational and, as we hope, immortal life. Each plane has its own appropriate force and distinctive phenomena. "On the first, operates physical force, producing physical phenomena only, for the operation of chemical affinity immediate- ly raises matter to the next plane. "On the second plane, operates, in addition to physical, also chemical force, producing all those changes by action and reac- tion the study of which constitutes the science of chemistry. "On the third plane, in addition to the two preceding forces with their characteristic phenomena, operates also life-force pro- ducing the distinctive phenomena characteristic of living things. "On the fourth plane, in addition to all the lower forces and their phenomena, operates also a higher form of life-force char- acteristic of animals, producing the phenomena characteristic of sentient life, such as sensation, consciousness and will. "On the fifth plane, in addition to all the preceding forces and phenomena, we have also the forces and phenomena charac- teristic of rational and moral life. "Now, although there are doubtless great differences of level on each of these planes, yet there is a very distinct break between each. Although there are various degrees of force characteristic of each, yet the differences between the characteristic forces is one of kind as well as degree. Although energy by transmutation may take on these different forms and thus does now circulate up and down through all these planes, yet the passage of one plane upward to another is not a gradual passage by sliding scale, but at one bound. 42 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy "When the necessary conditions are present a new. and higher form of force at once appears like a new birth into a higher sphere. For example, when hydrogen and oxygen are brought together under proper conditions, water is born — a new thing with new and wholly unexpected properties and powers, entirely different from those of its components. When carbonic acid gas, water and ammonia are brought together under suitable conditions, viz.: in the green leaves of plants, in the presence of sunlight, living protoplasm is then and there born — a something having entirely new and unexpected power and properties. It is no gradual process, but is sudden, like a birth into a higher sphere." If these wonderful phenomena, which Le Conte so tersely and clearly describes, are the work of unintelligent, purposeless force innate in inert matter, we may subscribe to the doctrine of Dar- winian evolution ; but if they are the work of intelligent, purpose- ful force, then we must call it creation; and the guiding wisdom must be looked for beyond and outside of senseless, inert matter. But let us study the phenomena more in detail. WTio can tell what the physical, chemical, vital and moral forces are and why they are? Whence comes the wisdom which directs them to intelligent purpose? Let us take the first, or physical, plane of Le Conte's series. What are the forces of gravitation and re- pulsion? What do we know of their real nature? We know them only by their effects. We do know that they act in accordance with unchangeable law; but whence comes that law? If it re- sides in matter, is it domiciled in the molecule or atom? Or is it in the interstices between the molecules of matter? If it operates only on matter in mass, then, it must be outside of mat- ter and dominates it ; and this is what the force of gravity actually does. But the law which directs the force of gravity is charac- terized by intelligent action; that is, it acts toward the consum- mation of intelligent design ; for it is clear that the force of attrac- tion is directed by the law to the differentiation of the multiform universe. Had the law directed the force along parallel lines, it is evident that the varied forms of the universe would have been impossible. But the law controlling the forces of attraction and repulsion so directed them as to produce motion in varied directions, horizontal, perpendicular, circular, and angular, and thus not only are the endless varieties of forms produced, but The Scientific Proofs of the Existence of Deity 43 the vast bodies of matter throughout the universe are kept in constant but not conflicting motion. Let us consider another feature of the law controlling the at- tractive force. All liquids, on passing into the solid state, con- tract. This is a universal law with but one or two exceptions. Water follows the same law, until a point four degrees Centigrade is reached when it begins to expand and continues to do so until frozen. But why this exception? On first thought, this phenom- enon might appear of slight importance; but reflection reveals the contrary. If, in freezing, water continued to contract, the resulting ice would be heavier than the surrounding water and would sink to the bottom. This process would continue, until the river or lake would freeze from the bottom and would pre- sent a solid mass of ice unaffected by the summer's sun except on the surface. The consequences to the earth of such a calamity is easily imaginable. Why this marked exception? Does it not show intelligent purpose and infinite wisdom, benevolence and mercy ? How is it possible to find an explanation of this phenom- enon in matter itself? Whence comes the intelligent wisdom which directs and guides these various forces? Who has ever discovered intelligence in a stone or the molecules or atoms of which it is composed? We cannot comprehend the essential nature of the physical forces. All we know about them is their effects, but this is not knowing what they really are. Since they all act in such mys- terious harmony and with such intelligent design in the mutations of nature, is it not logical to regard them as so many expressions of the Infinite Will? Let us now consider the second, or chemical, plane of Le Conte's series, and see to what its phenomena point. Here we have to deal with the atom and its combinations. The peculiar power which directs the combination of the atoms in all their varied compounds is known as chemical affinity; while the atom itself is the smallest part into which scientific reason has regarded matter as divided. The atomic theory is the only reasonable and plausible explanation now obtaining of the action of the chemical force. But whence comes the atom or the force which directs its movements? 44 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy We are told that matter is indestructible and that, therefore, the atom is also indestructible. This is only true of it while a part of the physical universe. But where was matter before the creation of the universe? Matter is subject to multiform trans- formations while on the physical plane and while thus conditioned and limited. But all conditioned and limited things, all finite things, had a beginning and must have an end; hence matter, which composes the conditioned and limited things of the uni- verse, must have had a beginning and must have an end. Muta- tion and trans -mutation are terms which apply wholly to the finite and conditioned and cannot be considered as proving the indestructibility of matter in the true sense of that term. Matter is potentially eternal, but actually destructible. The term de- structible is here used not in the sense of to destroy or to annihi- late; but in the sense of not being capable of entering longer into the fabric of the physical universe. If the scientist has the right, by a process of reasoning, to divide matter into atoms and to convert it from solids to liquids, from liquids to gases, and from gases into its hypothetical atomic state by varying the attractive force, why has not the philosopher the right to carry the same process a step farther and take matter into a state above the atom- ic? But when this is done, matter is brought into a super-physical state and so with the forces which direct it. It is now no longer on the finite plane and dominated by finite forces, but is on the infinite plane and dominated by infinite forces. No known finite force can effect this change in matter, but it requires an infinite force to do so. Matter is now destructed, but not destroyed. It is only be- yond the constructive requirements of the physical universe. It is in a potential state. For us it does not actually exist. It is destroyed, in that it cannot now any longer enter into the con- structive needs of our planet. But it may be said this theory is unproven. The reply is that it is no more unreasonable or unproven than the atomic theory, and that it as readily meets the requirements of a logical philoso- phy as the atomic theory meets the just demands of an exacting science. When matter is once on the infinite plane, it is beyond the pos- sible influence of finite force and must remain forever on the The Scientific Proofs of the Existence of Deity 45 infinite plane until infinite force intervenes. This was the state of matter before the creation of the physical universe and when it awaited the command of the Infinite to take finite form and shape; in other words, to become conditioned in time and limited in space. But the infinite force, which cast matter into time and space and subjected it to omnipotent, omnipresent and omni- scient law, must have possessed in an infinite degree all these attributes expressed in nature. But it is this attribute — complex which we know as the Eternal Existence or Deity. These are not chimerical conclusions, but what the human mind logically demands in the premises. Whatever we may be pleased to call the power, one thing is certain, it deals with matter and force beyond our sphere. It is super-physical, as we understand that term, and converts destructed matter and force into con- structive forms and vice versa. That super-physical power thus presides over the destinies of super-physical and physical matter and directs the forces which play upon it, whether in its organic or inorganic states. The wisdom and intelligence everywhere displayed in the phy- sical universe pre-supposes mind. We cannot conceive of will, wisdom and intelligence as disassociated from mind. They are, indeed, the great attributes of mind and prove the existence of mind in the infinite power which directs the super-physical and physical worlds. This super-physical, infinite mind is what we know as God. Science never gets back to first causes; it seems fully satisfied with secondary ones. It is thus a study of phenomena. It leaves the consideration of first causes to philosophy, and philoso- phy declares that there is infinite will, infinite wisdom, infinite intelligence and infinite knowledge displayed in the universe, and that they are the products or attributes of infinite mind. Thus the atom, that elementary form from which all gross matter is derived by its varied combinations, is a creation of the Deity and acts and combines at his bidding. J. C. Maxwell very beautifully says of the atom: "But, though in the course of ages catastrophies have occurred and may yet occur in the heavens, though ancient systems may be dissolved and new sys- tems evolved out of their ruins, the atoms out of which these 46 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy systems are built — the foundation atoms of a natural universe — remain unbroken and unworn. They continue this day as they were created, perfect in number, in measure and weight, and from the inapproachable character impressed on them, we may learn that those aspirations after accuracy in measurement, truth in statement, and justice in action, which we recognize among the noblest attributes, are ours, because they are essentially con- stituents of the image of Him who in the beginning not only created the heavens and the earth, but the materials of which heaven and earth consist." Let us now turn to a brief consideration of the third and fourth planes of the Le Conte series — the planes characterized as those of vegetable and lower animal life. All living matter, whether animal or vegetable, is composed of cells — those smallest bodies, or living beings, consisting of a pecu- liar combination of chemical elements and impelled by a strange and characteristic force known as life-force. All complex living- bodies, whether in the vegetable or animal kingdom, are composed of these cells. The cell maintains the same relation to living- matter that the atom does to non-living matter. Destroy the life of the cell and analyse it into its chemical elements, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, and we have a number of mole- cules dominated by the chemical force, in which all life phenomena have vanished. We have lowered the matter to the chemical plane. We may now collect the various atoms or molecules composing the former cell and arrange them in their proper pro- portions and place them under those conditions most favorable to life manifestation, but we shall wait in vain for the advent of life. The chemical elements and chemical forces are all present and likewise those conditions most favorable to the propagation of the lower forms of life, but life itself is absent, nor can we pro- duce it by any method at our disposal. The life-force, therefore, is not in the chemical elements or chemical forces, neither is it in the surrounding conditions; but it must come through other agencies. One thing is certain, it comes from without matter and plays upon matter and its forces as instruments to a definite purpose. As the life-force is outside of matter, it must be in- dependent of it. But since the Eternal Existence is the source The Scientific Proofs of the Existence of Deity 47 of all things, both matter and life-force must conform to that necessity and find their origin in the same infinite source. To say that the conditions favorable to the origin of life are past never to return is equivalent to saying that life, as we under- stand it, was created in its own proper time by the Infinite Wis- dom and cannot be created by any finite power. It is true that the phenomena of life in the physical world are always associated with material forms, are always manifested in matter; but this is in accordance with the laws of our finite plane of existence. The infinite life cannot reveal itself on the finite plane in any other manner. One thing is certain, the withdrawal of the life-force does not destroy the chemical elements or the chemical forces in the previous living-compound. The same quantity of matter and its chemical energy exist after as before death, but we can never again arrange them so that they will become the domicile of the mysterious force common to all living- things. Now, what is it that directs the chemical and vital forces in living-matter? What combines the simple cells into the most complex living-bodies? What governs and directs these won- drous little living-bodies, the cells, in obedience to wise and in- telligent law? What maintains the integrity of all the tissues of the living-body, which the cells compose, and enables them to maintain themselves, to grow and to effect their reproduction, and which, on the occurrence of death, at once fall into decay and disintegrate in obedience to chemical law? What is this vital force? There is nothing in non-living matter and its energy to account for it. Life-force is not inherent matter. It is mani- fested in the finite world by and through matter, but has its origin outside of that substance. There is a strange and won- drous correlative action of all forces, physical, chemical and vital, to a common end, viz. : the continued existence of the individual organism and its reproduction; and this is another remarkable evidence of intelligent design. All laws displayed in the material universe are but the ways of infinite wisdom and intelligence acting upon matter to a certain end or purpose. We are told that the human embryo in its development passes through the various phases of embryonic development common 48 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy to many of the lower animals, and that this is a proof of organic evolution. But is this not the creative plan of the Deity? Is it not logical and reasonable for the Creator, in differentiating life upon the globe, to proceed from the simpler to the more complex forms? Does not the Bible narrative of Creation declare the same principle? Would it be logical to make the brain or spinal chord before preparing the skull or spinal column to receive them ? In creating the higher forms of life, would it not be logical for the Deity to proceed according to a rational plan common to both the lower and higher forms of life? Then, what power or intelligence enables the human embryo to pass safely from form to form until it reaches that of the human being? Why does it not stop on the way and become a pig or some other animal instead of proceeding onward to its human destination? It can- not be accounted for by the selective influence, for long since science has proven that acquired characters cannot be trans- mitted to the offspring; but only inherited characters can be so transmitted and then only as stationary or degenerating. Every cell must come from a preceding cell. No cell has been originated spontaneously. There is no such thing as spontaneous generation, or origin de novo, through the fortuitous action of blind forces in matter. No cell can transmit power beyond that which nature has en- dowed it, but it may fail to transmit what it has. Therefore the parent cannot transmit to his offspring what he himself does not possess, but may fail to transmit all that he does possess. The one is stationary, the other is degeneration. In other words, science affirms that any change in the form of the individual acquired by environment cannot be transmitted to the offspring; but only the traits the individual has inherited from the parent. Therefore, inherited and not acquired characters are tansmis- sible from parent to offspring. If this is true, how can we ex- plain the changing forms of the human embryo? Every higher form of life has what the lower form has and something more. Whence, then, comes this additional something? Science denies that it comes through selective or hereditary influence as we have just seen. Then, whence comes it? We are driven to the conclusion that Infinite Wisdom is following out an ultimate plan of creation understood by Him alone. The Scientific Proofs of the Existence of Deity 49 Again, to strengthen this conclusion, how can we explain the formation of certain tissues at certain times from the same cell? How can the same cell, in the process of individual development, at one time form brain-tissue, at another, bone-tissue, at another, connective tissue, etc. Moreover, what influences or directs the same cells to aggregate here to form the brain, there to form the spinal cord, there to form the liver, and there, again, to form the stomach or spleen? What intelligence directs the cells to make each organ for a special function? Again, why does not the same cell occasionally become confused in its great work and, while it is building brain-tissue erect muscular- tissue instead, or while building the muscle of the leg, accidently form brain-tissue. Does this wondrous creative intelligence reside in the cell itself? Does not the conclusion seem unavoidable that infinite wisdom directs the life of the cell? Why ignore this rational conclusion and seek an explanation for all these vital phenomena in non- living matter and its energy? Anent this subject, Le Conte has this to say: "Suppose, then, we have one thousand eggs representing all the different depart- ments, classes, orders, families, etc., of animals. Many of these may doubtless be identified by form and size or some other super- ficial character as the eggs of this or that animal ; but structurally they are all alike. At first, as germ-cells they represent all the earliest ( ?) conditions of life on the earth and the lowest forms of life now. If we now watch their development, we find that some remain in their first condition without further change; these we set aside. They are the protozoa. "The remainder continue to develope, but, at first, it would be impossible to say to which of the several departments or primary groups they each belong. Then, by cell multiplication, the ori- ginal single cell becomes a cell- aggregate. It may be compared now to a compound protozoon such as foraminifera. The cell- aggregate then differentiates into layers and forms, in fact, a two-layered sack called gastrola. This is the structure of some of the lowest Coelenterates, such as the hydra. Thus far all seems to go together; but now for the first time the primary groups are declared. If it be a vertebrate, for example, the most funda- mental characters — the cerebro-spinal axis, the vertebral column — and the double cavity neural and viceral, are outlined. Suppose 50 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy now we set aside all other departments and fix our attention on the vertebrates. "At first, we could not tell which were animals, birds, reptiles or fishes ; but after a while the classes are declared. We now set aside all the other classes and watch the mammals. After a while the order declares itself. We select the ungulates; then the family is declared, say the Equidae; then the genus Equus, and lastly the species Caballus." Now, what prevents inextricable developmental confusion among these ova? It has already been seen that science denies the pos- sibility of hereditary influences here; since it is impossible for the parent to transmit to the offspring acquired characters, or traits which he himself has not inherited. What intelligent power, then, directs the developmental forces here observed? The rational answer must be that Infinite Wisdom directs the develop- mental forces along purposeful lines. If only blind force or accident guided the course of cell-life, how could there be any definite or fixed plan of life-differentiation on the globe? How could there be any correlation of physical, chemical and life- forces toward a common end? Then, taking another instance from nature's inexhaustible storehouse of wonders, will the atheist or evolutionist tell us why the groveling but busy and laborious caterpillar retires into its web-woven tomb there to gradually lose its vitality and enter into a condition of suspended animation, simulating death, from which it finally emerges into the new and more glorious life of the butterfly? In this strange conduct, what law does the cater- pillar obey? Is it impelled by its own law, enforced by its own will, or does it act in obedience to a higher law it cannot control, outside and beyond it? It is the one or the other. There is no other alternative. It must obey its own self-imposed law, or an outside law imposed upon it. The atheist will probably answer that it is obeying the law of its being. But does this really answer the question? Whence comes the law of its being? Did the insect make the law of its being, or did that law come from a higher power beyond? The evolutionist declares that evolution of life from the lower to the higher forms is accomplished by vital energy — that is, The Scientific Proofs of the Existence of Deity 5 1 it is only by vital energy, displayed in organic activity, that the lower form is lifted into the higher. Will he, then, explain this remarkable exception in which the vital energy of the cater- pillar steadily declines to a condition simulating death before it can emerge into a newer and higher life? Surely, in this case his law of progressive development fails him. Does evolution explain this phenomenon? The special-creationist declares this wonderful transformation in the body and life of the caterpillar can only be accounted for by supposing the insect yields to the demands of Infinite Wisdom and Will. A few brief remarks will now be made on the fifth plane of Le Conte's series. Perhaps the most cogent evidence of the Deity's existence is to be found in man's consciousness. These are the intuitions of his subjective, or unlimited, consciousness. No race of men has ever been found, however savage it may have been, without a conscious knowledge of a supreme being. Cicero says: "There never was any nation so barbarous or any people in the world so savage as to be without some notion of the gods. Nor does this proceed from the conversation of men or the arguments of philosophers; it is not an opinion established by institutions or laws; but no doubt, in every case, the assent of nations is to be looked on as the law of nature." All the philosophic traditions and sacred writings of man, which are but the expressions of his inner-consciousness, declare the great truth that God is. Whence come these intuitions — the knowledge of the existence of Deity and man's proper rela- tions and responsibilities to Him? They were implanted by the Creator in the consciousness of man at his creation, and have since flowed from the Infinite into that consciousness. Consciousness is an innate faculty of the human mind. It concerns itself not only with the Self, but also with the not-Self. It is the repository of thought, or knowledge, both intuitive and acquired. It is the sea toward which all our mental impressions flow and from which all our mental faculties take their rise. There 52 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy can be no consciousness without knowledge and no knowledge without consciousness. The one is a necessary concomitant of the other. As previously intimated, human consciousness is made up of the subjective, or unlimited consciousness, and ob- jective, or limited, consciousness. The first factor renders man responsive to infinite impressions, while the objective conscious- ness makes him responsive to material impressions received through the five senses. Bearing upon this subject, Sir Oliver Lodge, one of the most noted, if not the most noted, of modern scientists, has this to say : "Mind and consciousness are not limited to the brain. That is an extraordinary doctrine that people have — that the brain is mind. Why do they think that? Because if you destroy the brain your mind appears to go? What goes? Not your mind really out of existence. Your consciousness is still there, but it can no longer manifest itself, for it has lost its instrument of manifestation." That knowledge residing in the objective consciousness may be true or false, but that residing in the subjective consciousness must be true, because of its divine origin. This fact is confirmed by Ptolemy in his Centilogium when he says : "There is a double way of coming to a knowledge of things, one through the experiments of science (or the study of material phenomena) : the other through divine inspiration, which latter is the far better." The finite by virtue of its nature may deceive, but the infinite deals only with absolute truth ; hence any impression it may im- part to the subjective consciousness must have its basis in abso- lute truth. As said, man intuitively knows that God exists, just as he knows that two and two make four, or that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. These facts do not admit of proof, but are none the less true. They do not ad- mit of doubt and hence should not require argument; and would not under normal conditions. Man is swayed by motives and acts only in obedience to them. Those motives, which impel to noble action, are generated in the The Scientific Proofs of the Existence of Deity 53 subjective consciousness, and are based upon the most exalted attributes of his being, which are but the shadows of like attri- butes in the Infinite; but those motives, which urge to ignoble action, spring from his objective consciousness, the repository of acquired, materialistic, or finite knowledge. That factor of his consciousness, which. makes man the image of his Creator, receives and registers those absolute truths known as intuitions, and fructifies in his highest aspirations and noblest deeds. Upon this subjective consciousness are written or received the truths of man's proper relations to the Deity, and those con- scious truths which direct to the proper appreciation of his duties and responsibilities. It is the great Absolute Truths lodged in man's inner consciousness, which are the foundation of his hopes and expectations, and the guiding principles of his life. Thus the great fact in human experience is that God is. This mighty concept is reposed forever in man's consciousness and is formed by the intuitive truths of his subjective consciousness, strengthened by the facts of his objective consciousness gained from a study of the Deity's revelations in the physical universe. CHAPTER IV What Relation Does the Deity Bear to the Universe ? So much then for the first question: Is there a God? We come now to the discussion of the second question: What rela- tion does the Deity bear to the universe? The answer to this question resolves itself into three alternatives; first, that God exercises no government over the universe He has created ; second, that He governs only in part; and third, that He rules supreme. The first alternative involves an absurdity, as it is inconceivable that the Deity should fail or refuse to govern and direct the uni- verse He has created. The Deity is infinite, He is omnipotent; and if He is omni- potent amid all His vast creations, He must be omnipresent to govern and direct them and to maintain their existence. If the universe is created by the Deity, all its powers are derived from Him and cannot exist without Him. It must be so. If it be contended that the powers or forces of the universe are inde- pendent of the Deity and are, therefore, inherent in the universe itself, we confer omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence upon the conditioned and limited; in other words, on the finite, which is absurd, inasmuch as it would imply that a part is equal to the whole or that the finite is equal to the Infinite, Which is unthink- able. If all things are derived from the Deity, then, they must find their continued existence in Him. Again, it is scientifically admitted that the universe acts ac- cording to fixed laws. But there cannot be laws without an in- telligent and purposeful lawgiver, and if the laws are infinite in scope, it follows as a logical corollary that the lawgiver must possess infinite intelligence and infinite wisdom. But infinite intelligence and infinite wisdom are the attributes of the Deity, hence the Deity governs the created universe by infinite law. To affirm that the Deity governs part of the universe and leaves the government of the rest to some other agency is to de- clare that agency equal to Himself, is to bestow the government What Relation Does the Deity Bear to the Universe 55 of part of the universe upon another authority equal to Himself. But this is to acknowledge the existence of two infinites, which, again, is absurd. Under such a supposition of divided authority we would be unable to know what things are governed by the Deity and what things are governed by other agencies; and this would involve us in inextricable moral perplexities, as we would not be able to recognize whither our responsibilities should attach or our supplications ascend. We are, then, forced to conclude that the Deity rules through- out His universe as the Creator and Governor; that, therefore, infinite law and wisdom reign supreme; and that the possibility of chance is banished from the order of things; and that this law and wisdom are but the expressions of the Divine or Infinite Will. Thus God, in truth, reigns forever throughout His vast dominions. CHAPTER V A Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientd/ic Narra- tives of Creation and the Deductions Derived Therefrom Modern thought for more than a century has been divided upon the subject of the Creation ; one school holding to the Biblical or Philosophical Narrative as comprising man's most ancient views on the subject, and all his intuitions and traditions having relation thereto. This school maintains that man's knowledge of the Creation of the universe was inspired or imparted in his consciousness at his creation, and strengthened and confirmed by his inquiries into nature's processes: in other words, that the universe, man included, emanated from the Deity in accordance with infinite will, infinite wisdom, infinite understanding and infinite law. The other, so-called scientific or materialistic, school main- tains that the universe, man included, evolved from chaos as the result of chance, through the operation of the blind and unin- telligent forces inherent in matter: in other words, that infinite will, infinite wisdom, infinite intelligence and infinite law were not prerequisites of its origin; and that man's knowledge of the Creation must be derived exclusively from the study of nature and not in any degree from any intuitions or traditions he may possess concerning it. Reduced to its last analysis the issue assumes the form of a two-fold question: Was the universe created by an all-powerful formative force directed by intelligent design and wisdom? or was it evolved from chaos through the operation of blind and for- tuitous forces inherent in matter, and, therefore, without purpose or design? If the first interrogative is true, then, there must be a benevolent Creator endowed with infinite will, infinite wisdom, infinite intelligence and infinite power; in other words, the Deity created the universe and all it comprises. But if we are to accept the second interrogative as correct, then, we must deny intelli- gence in the plans of Creation and attribute all its processes to Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 57 the uncertainty of chance. We must, of necessity, deny the ex- istence of law — for if we acknowledge the existence of law in the order of things, we must perforce admit the absence of chance, and the existence of purpose and design. More than this, we must admit the existence of mind in which repose this purpose and design. It will be the purpose of the following remarks briefly but truly, candidly, and, it is hoped, logically, to discuss the two nar- ratives of the Creation with a view to assisting in the formation of a more fixed conviction in the mind of the reader, upon which he may reasonably repose his hopes of happiness here and beyond the grave. Waving, then, all further preliminary remarks, it may be said by way of definition that creation is the process by which the earth and its life-forms came into existence ; and an im- mediate effort will be made to expound the two schools of thought, beginning with the Biblical narrative. Bible Narrative The Inspired Writings declare: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." The word "beginning" here used cannot refer to the beginning of the Deity, but to that of the material universe. The Sacred Writings proceed: "And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep." Kant defines "form" to be the element of an object imparted into it by the mind as opposed to matter which is given in sense. Bacon defines "form" to be the physical structure or constitution of anything. When, therefore, the earth was "with- out form," according to the above definitions it had not yet taken definite shape in the Infinite Mind and therefore had as yet no physical existence. The word "void" is defined to be va- cancy, emptiness, not occupied, not containing matter, a vacuum. The word "void," therefore, only emphasizes the formless state — the potential state — of the earth before the beginning of Creation. The Sacred Narrative further declares: "And darkness was upon the face of the deep." This phrase is only to emphasize the above described condition of the prenatal earth and to imply the total lack of active force or creative energy. "And the spirit 58 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy of God moved upon the face of the waters." Here we have a declaration that all the material universe existed in the Deity in a state of potentiality — that only the spirit of God dominated that potential or primordial substance that was to constitute the universe — that God, in truth, only existed. Life is the essence and motion is the formula of the universe. But life and motion are derived from the Eternal Existence or Deity, and must be a part of it — for we cannot get out of a thing what was never in it. All life, however expressed, and all motion, great or small, must find their sources or causes in the great First Cause. God, then, is life, and motion is the first step in Creation. From the smallest mote that is driven by the wind to the most stupendous sphere that whirls in distant space, the impelling power is derived from the Primal Cause. Far back beyond the eras of Creation, before the great universe had its birth, when dismal chaos reigned supreme and darkness covered the face of the great ocean of formless matter, the mighty Primal Cause existed in undifferentiated solitude. In that distur bless Spirit all the potentialities of the universe slept in boundless silence, only awaiting the Omnific Word to spring into being. And when, at last, the Infinite Will, Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Understanding issued the Infinite Command — when, at last, the Infinite Word was spoken — each system of worlds issued forth from formless chaos and began its ceaseless march through space under the Divine conduct of the law and order which have ever since char- acterized and glorified the world. Motion, then, under intelli- gent direction, became the formula of Creation. "And God said let there be light and there was light." This is to say that the Deity through His will and by His wisdom and understanding conceived the universe and bestowed upon that Conception an intelligent and directing force or energy which was to begin the differentiation of the vast machine. Light is the symbol and product of energy or force; darkness, the symbol and product of a lack of energy or force. Light is defined physically to be radiant energy; metaphysically, as intelligent and purpose- ful energy. Darkness is defined to be the absolute or comparative absence of light — the opposite of light — so that if light denotes active, intelligent force, darkness typifies the reverse. So, then, Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 59 when the Deity issued the command "Let there be light" He set in motion the intelligent creative forces of His own being, which under His divine guidance were to effect the multiform mani- festations of the universe. The narrative goes on: "And God divided the Light from Darkness." This refers to the infinite arrangement or plan con- cealed in His own being, to which the Kabalistic philosophers so often allude. "And God called the Light, Day, and the Darkness He called Night." In other words, the period characterized by active intelligent energy or force was called Day, and the period dis- tinguished by the absolute or comparative lack of intelligent energy or force, was called Night. "And the evening and the morning were the first Day." This is to say, the period of inactivity followed by the period of activity, constituted the "first Day" or first Era of Creation. "And God said let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters." The primordial earth was at last assuming shape. Here we have a reference to the forming of the atmosphere and the segre- gation of the acqueous vapors in the atmosphere from the waters on the earth's surface. "And the evening and the morning were the second Day." That is to say, that a period of minor activity (or evening) is followed by a period of increased activity (or morning), for the mighty forces are gradually developing; and these two periods constitute the "second Day" or second Era of Creation. The narrative continues: "And God said let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear; and it was so." And this is to say that the forces of upheaval were to begin raising the continents which were to support the forth-coming life. "And God said let the earth bring forth grass; the herb yielding seed; and the fruit tree yielding fruit; after his kind whose seed is in itself upon the aerth; and it was so." 60 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy Here we have a declaration of the beginning of the creation of life upon the earth. All the creative processes had been at work to that end. The earth had first to be prepared, and then life was to be created to occupy it. In the above declaration we have the implied command to the vegetable world to develop and reproduce its kind according to class, order, family and spe- cies ; the simplest and most primitive, as grasses, herbs and smaller trees, appearing first. And the narrative continues: "And the evening (the period of less activity) and the morning (the period of increased activity) were the third Day" or third Era of Creation. We must not forget that the Infinite was unfolding in ever increas- ing manifestation, and that the Spiritual Light was ever expanding with each Day or Era of Creation. "And God said, let there be light in the firmament in the heaven to divide the Day from the Night." Either the sun, moon and stars were obscured by the dense watery and gaseous vapors which by this command were dissipated, so that the physical light of these bodies might reach the earth, or these bodies were created by this command and were made to dispense the light or energy previously shed by the Deity Himself. At any rate, these heavenly bodies, especially the sun, were thenceforth made the media for dispensing physical and vital energy upon the earth. "And the evening (or the period of less activity) and the morn- ing (or the period of increased activity) were the fourth Day" or fourth Era of Creation. "And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament." Here we have a declaration of the creation of the denizens of the sea and the fowls of the air; for the narrative goes on to say: "And God created great whales and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind (that is to say, classes, orders, etc.) and every winged fowl after his kind (that is to say, according to class, order, etc.) and God blessed them, saying, be fruitful and multiply." In other words, reproduce your kind and proceed on your ways of develop- ment. Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 61 "And the evening (the period of less activity) and the morning (the period of increased activity) were the fifth Day" or fifth Era of Creation. "And God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind (classes, order, etc.) cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth, after his kind" (classes, order, etc.). Here we are informed of the creation of all land animals, each according to its own class, order, etc. This declaration includes all classes of mammals. In the same Day, God said: "Let us make man in our own image, after our own likeness." "And the evening (the period of less activity) and the morning (the period of increased activity) were the sixth Day" or sixth Era of Creation. Thus we see that man was created on the same day or in the same era as the great mammals were created. These Days or Eras may have comprised twenty-four hours each, or one hundred millions of years each. It is not for us to say. Either method of Creation was equally easy to the Omni- potent Creator. It rests entirely in His will and wisdom which we cannot question or comprehend. Creation, then, was com- pleted in six Days or Eras, and since that completion no further creation has occurred, since we are informed by scientists, no new life-forms have appeared Upon the earth. Such is a general outline of the Biblical narrative of Creation. Let us now undertake a brief study of the scientific or materialistic view. Let us take up the geological facts and endeavor to inter- pret them in their true light; for we must remember this science and its cognates constitute almost the sole source of the evolu- tionist's argument. 62 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy Diagram of the Two Narratives BIBLE NARRATIVE SCIENTIFIC NARRATIVE First Day "Let there be Light' Chaotic, or Nebulous Bra Second Day "Let there be a firma- ment in the midst of the waters" Formative Era Third Day 'Let the dry land ap- Archaean /Azoic Period \ No life. pear; let the earth Era \ Eozoic Period / Primitive Plant life. bring forth grass, herbs, etc." Fourth Day Sun, moon and stars created, or cleared from obscurity. Geological Revolution with mountain formation, or the Palaeozoic Interval Fifth Day ' Cambrian Period.... ' Vnd God said, let the Silurian Period Age of marine ani- waters bring forth Palaeozoic '• Devonian Period.... • mals and am the moving creature Era Carboniferous phibians. that hath life" Period "And fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." Sixth Day "Let the earth bring forth the living crea- ture." "Let us make man." Noachic Deluge Mesozoic Era Subordinate Geological Revolution Triassic Period ] Jurassic Period > Age of reptiles and Cretaceous Period.. J birds. Great Geological Revolution Cenozoic f Tertiary Period \ Age of mammals Era \ Quarternary Period J Birth of man. Last Geological Revolution. Palaeolithic Period Present Day Psycho- j Neolithic Period [Age of Man. zoic Era ( Bronze-Iron Period In the study of the two Narratives, frequent reference to the above diagram is earnestly recommended. CHAPTER VI Scientific Narrative Science knows but little of the early Chaotic and Formative Eras of the earth's formation beyond the possible fact of its nebu- lous character. It can tell us practically nothing concerning the nature of the nebula, or the origin of the forces which dominated it. It only suggests that from this formless mass the great earth gradually differentiated and finally came by chance to its mature form, when it became the residence of that strange phenomenon called life. Professor Wm. H. Norton, on the earliest ages of the planet, says: "The geological record does not tell us of the beginning of the earth. The history of the planet, as we have every reason to believe, stretches far back beyond the period of the oldest stratified rocks, and is involved in the history of the Solar System and the nebula — the cloud of glowing gases or cosmic dust — from which the sun and the planets are believed to have been derived." Science, therefore, cannot throw any light on the first two Days or Eras of Creation, beyond the merest speculation. But when we reach the third Day, when the land surface appeared above the waters, science begins to enter upon more tangible ground. It is now able to speak more definitely concerning these early land areas, and to study more minutely the character of the rocks comprising them. This is the Archaean Era of science. The third Day of the Biblical narrative, is strictly speaking, therefore, the first Era of Science. Science proposes to read the history of the earth by the rocks comprising its surface, and therefore defines all stratified rocks, according to their mineral and mechanical constitution, into five classes, namely: the sand-stones, slates, shales, calcareous, and silicious rocks. These classes of rocks go to form the various sets or formations of geology; and these sets or formations mark the successive stages in the formation of the earth; and being ar- ranged one above another, also indicate the relative ages of the formations and supposedly also that of the earth. But the matter 64 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy of age or time is, according to scientists, more dependent upon the fossiliferous character of the rock — upon the life-forms it discloses. Geology divides the history of the earth into five great Bras — the Archaean, or oldest; the Palaeozoic, or Ancient; the Mesozoic, or Middle; the Cenozoic, or Recent; and the Psychozoic, or Age of Man. Each of these Bras is divided into periods and has certain characteristics in formation and life expression. The Archaean Bra presents two periods, the Archaic, or Azoic substratum, and the sedimentation known as the Bozoic, Algon- kian, or Laurentian, Formation. The Palaeozoic Bra comprises the Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous periods, mentioned in their regular order. The Mesozoic Bra comprises the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cre- taceous periods in their regular order. The Cenozoic Bra comprises only two periods, the Tertiary and Quarternary, mentioned in their regular order The Psychozoic Bra is our own — the Age of Man. Bach great Bra was brought to a close by great revolutionary changes in the rock-system, resulting in the upheaval and dis- placement of the strata and the entire alteration of the physical geography of the earth, at the end of which the next Bra began. These surf ace changes were also attended by corresponding changes in the climate and life-systems of the planet. Now, the life- system of each succeeding Bra is wholly different from that of the preceding Bra, and no connecting-links have been found between the new life-system and that of the preceding Bra. Scientists explain this fact by saying these connecting-links were lost in the revolutionary changes. This would be a plausible theory if the geologist conceded the sudden or cataclysmic char- acter of these revolutions; but this is precisely what he denies. He claims these revolutions were of a gradual character and not sudden, and, therefore, that the life-system of the preceding Bra took on great changes to accommodate itself to the new environ- ment and thus became the new life-system of the succeeding Bra. But if the revolutions were slow and gradual, the evolution of the life-systems must also have been slow and gradual. Why, then, do we not find the connecting-links between the various life-systems? If the revolutionary changes were gradual, there Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 65 should be no more likelihood of the destruction of the connecting- links than of the fully developed types, and some at least of the former should be found. But if the revolutions were sudden and cataclysmic, the life-system of the preceding Bra would be prac- tically destroyed, and a new creation of life would be necessary in the succeeding Era. And this is what the special-creationist claims occurred. Now, the evolutionist maintains that the various life-forms upon the earth have evolved from the first forms (themselves the result of accident) by virtue of forces inherent in matter itself and independent of an all-wise and all-intelligent outside influence. But the theory is not only a mere assumption but illogical in character. This assertion is substantiated by what Spencer himself, the great high-priest of evolution, declares when he says: "Before it can be ascertained how organized beings have been gradually evolved, there must be reached the convic- tion that they have been gradually evolved." In other words,, the conviction must first be reached that it is so, then we may afterwards endeavor to find arguments to substantiate it. The theory was born in skepticism and is based upon what appears to be a similarity of anatomical design in life-forms. But this similarity does not prove organic evolution, which would place the life development of the earth entirely at the mercy of fortuitous circumstance, but rather disproves it: for what ap- pears a regular evolution of life-forms is but the taxonomic ar- rangement of the different classes of living matter; in other words, the Divine method of arranging its various forms. In creating the life-pyramid, the omniscient Deity would not be likely to begin at the top. The master-builder would not begin an edifice by first constructing the roof. It is a fixed law of the mind, implanted by Providence, to begin with the elements and then gradually ascend to the compounds. The contrary conception is unthinkable; and since the human mind is endowed by Deity, it follows, as a natural corollary, that such a conception is con- trary to the Divine nature. To proceed from the simple to the complex must be the way of the Divine mind. But does this law prove the theory of Darwinian evolution, or the lineal descent of earth-life from the simplest to the highest forms by a process of 66 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy gradual development through the operation of blind, unintelligent forces inherent in matter? It is not reasonable that such was the case. It is contrary to all the facts of nature. Indeed, when we reflect upon the absence of all intelligence in non-living matter and the wondrous intelligence manifested in the various forms of living-matter, we are forced to conclude that that intelligence is a something that is imparted to dead- matter from without, and by no process of reasoning can we conclude that dead, inert matter is capable of originating the far-reaching and searching intelli- gence which characterizes living-matter. It must be a gift from the Infinite. Why, then, should the Infinite require millions of years to create the earth and its life-expressions? Can not the same Power, Who has constructed the atom and wondrous cell, control their combinations at will and the laws through which they act? Does not the same Infinite Cause which created them control their activity and destiny? If not, why not? Why should man, the finite mind, undertake to place a limit on the operations of Infinite mind, and to declare that the Deity has always acted as at present and will always act in the same man- ner, or what He can do or cannot do? The position is clearly untenable. Hysterical or skeptical assumption is always incom- patible with truth. To assume Darwinian evolution to be true is not to prove it. The evidence from geology is not at all con- clusive. In truth, what evidence geology affords is decidedly against the theory as we shall immediately proceed to show. Professor Nicholson, in referring to the various geological for- mations and their significance regarding the time necessary for their creation, says: "It is a question of energy versus time. We may, on the one hand, suppose them to be the result of some very powerful cause acting through a short period of time, or we may suppose them to be caused by a much weaker force operating through a proportionately long period." Apropos the same subject, Messrs. Slade and Ferguson declare: "It must not be forgotten that it acts entirely on the assumption that matter was in those days as it is now and that the forces are unchanged. This assumption, however useful, cannot be termed strictly scientific; for there is no means of determining whether the original groove (eroded cut), for example, may not Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 67 have been made in the time when the rock was in the viscous state or even so superheated that water would cause violent fraction, since worn smooth. "The same holds true with sedimentation. A certain land is regarded as being so many thousands or millions of years in age, because of the rate at which it has been laid down in sediment. But geologists are becoming ever more wary of this, especially since the discovery of some coins in a bog in Germany, which, according to the estimate of laying down of peat, must have been eighteen thousand years old, and yet which were found to have the stamp of Claudius Caesar" who lived in the first century of our era. Again, as showing the rapidity of geological action under cer- tain conditions and the possibility of error growing out of the usual scientific methods of estimating the age of geological forma- tions, these same gentlemen say: "In 1603 A. D., a great lava flow from Mount Etna poured across the river Simeto, in Sicily, and on cooling presented a barrier of the hardest rock. When Professor Lyell visited the spot in 1828 he found that the river had cut through the rock barrier a channel from forty to fifty feet deep and from fifty to three hundred feet wide; having ac- complished this work in a period of two and a half centuries. This lava barrier was not porous or slaggy but homogeneous, dense and very hard." The above facts go to show the very great uncertainty attending the estimation of the age of any special rock or system of rocks. It must be evident to the thinking mind that a correct estimate is impossible, since it must take into consideration the varying operation of so many fluctuating forces. Let us now proceed with the study of the various rock-systems and their corresponding life-systems, for this is a part of the scientific narrative of Creation. The Archaean, or oldest of the geological Bras, corresponds to the condition of the earth on the third Day of Creation as des- cribed by the Holy Writings, when the waters were gathered together into seas and the dry land appeared. The Archaean rock-system was the first land, science tells us, that appeared above the surface of the universal sea, and is divided into two 68 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy special formations or periods — the Archaic and Laurentian or Algonkian. The first of these two formations consists of metamorphosed rocks bearing the evidence of having been subjected to intense heat. This great formation, consisting of the original material of the earth's composition, in the course of time yielded to the erosive effects of water and gave rise to an extensive sedimenta- tion, (itself partly metamorphosed by the remaining great heat,) known as the Kozoic, Algonkian, or Laurentian, Formation. These sedimentary rocks lie immediately over the preceding Archaic system, (also known as Azoic, because it supported no life) and undoubtedly sprung from it. Both these earliest rock- systems are devoid of fossils, but there is much evidence that vegetable life of a simple character existed during Laurentian times, though these early life-forms have left no fossils owing to their perishable nature. In commenting on the Laurentian or Algonkian Formation, Professor Jos. Le Conte says: "It has long been known that beneath the lowest Palaeozoic rock there still existed strata of unknown thickness, highly metamorphosed and apparently destitute of fossils. These are everywhere unconformable with the overlying primordial or Cambrian. Such general uncon- formity shows great and wide spread changes of physical geo- graphy at this time and therefore marks a primary division of time." Professor Scott, in speaking of the Archaean Bra as a whole, says: "It would appear, then, that a solid crust, however formed, was for a very long time sufficiently rigid and stable to allow a great thickness of sedimentary and volcanic rocks to accumulate upon it and then was engulfed and destroyed by universally ascending magma; though it is not necessary to suppose this took place simultaneously over the whole earth or even within a relatively short period of time; as it may have required ages in its accomplishment. If this complete and universal assimila- tion actually took place, it is an absolutely unique phenomenon in the recorded history of the earth." "In regions there rests unconformably on the Archaean an immense body of stratified rocks, thousands, and in some places, Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 69 even scores of thousands of feet thick, known as the Algonkian," says Norton. The life of the Algonkian time is extremely obscure, but of this life-system Professor Norton says: "Some time during the dim ages preceding the Cambrian, whether in the Archaean or Algon- kian we know not, occurred one of the most important events in the history of the earth. Life appeared for the first time upon the planet. Geology has no evidence whatever to offer as to whence or how life came. All analogies lead us to believe that its appearance must have been sudden "The earliest forms are unknown, but analogy suggests that, as every living creature has developed from a single cell, so the earliest organisms upon the globe were tiny unicellular masses of protoplasm resembling the amoeba of today in the simplicity of their structure." In speaking of pre-Cambrian, or Algonkian life, B. S. Grew says: "After the lifeless Era, began the age when the lowest forms of life came into existence. The initial stage was perhaps the First Era of Plants, Algae, and, later still, aquatic fungi or bacteria. Where did this life come from?" He confesses scien- tists cannot tell. Alexander Winchell, in commenting on the subject of pre- Cambrian life, says: "The actual presence of petroleum in gneiss strata afford a material proof to the doctrine of pre-zoic vegetation — a doctrine of no inconsiderable importance in establishing the harmony of the Mosaic and geological records." Professor Dana says of pre-Cambrian life: "The occurrence of graphite and limestone is also thought to favor the idea of the presence of plants and animals." He neglected to say that graphite and iron ore are always formed in the presence of decom- posing vegetable matter, but limestone may be formed in the chemical laboratory of nature. The Algonkian rocks are especially characterized by the large deposits of graphite and iron ore, thus proving there must have been a dense vegetation at that time, though perhaps of a very low and perishable character. Now, the Archaean Era terminated by great revolutionary activities, so that the Algonkian or Laurentian Formation below 70 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy is everywhere unconformable with the Cambrian, the oldest and therefore lowest formation of the Palaeozoic Bra, above, thus marking the occurrence of great upheavals and alterations of the earth's crust. This was the first, so far as we know, of the great geological disturbances, called by the scientists geological revolu- tions, but known in the Holy Writings as a Deluge, which sepa- rated the various rock-systems and life-systems of the earth. The last of these occurred near the latter part of the Quarter- nary, the last period of the Cenozoic Bra, and is especially cele- brated because it fell within the sphere of man's life and is alluded to in Holy Writ as the Flood. Professor Le Conte says, regarding the first great geological revolution : ' 'The Archaean Bra was closed by the upheaval into land surface and the crumpling of the strata of the whole Archaean area with a long interval, when the Palaeozoic Bra began, and it has remained substantially in this condition ever since." Following the great disturbances which marked the close of the Archaean Bra, the Palaeozoic Bra began and afforded the first cycle of animal life on the globe. In speaking of the Palaeozoic Bra, Professor Le Conte says: "The life-system is also equally distinct, being conspicuously different from that which precedes and that which follows. What- ever of life existed before (in Archaean times) its record is too imperfect to give us a clear conception of its character. But in the Palaeozoic the evidences of a very abundant and varied life are clear; more than twenty thousand species having been des- cribed. It stands out the most distinct Bra in the whole history of the earth. The Archaean must be regarded as the mythical period. Here with the Palaeozoic commences the true dawn of history." In speaking of Palaeozoic life, Professor Dana says: "The rocks of the next Aeon (Palaeozoic) reveal the fossil remains of an abundant fauna and flora. It is remarkable that all the sub- kingdoms were represented already in the lower Cambrian (the first period of the Palaeozoic Bra). "The seas of Barly Cambrian, although the earliest of Palaeo- zoic time, abounded in life." Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 7 1 Professor Gregory says of this early Palaeozoic (Cambrian) life: "The complex assembly of animals burst upon the scene with dramatic suddenness in the earliest section of the Palaeozoic Era — all highly specialized." Professor Wallace says of the same life-system : ' 'The abruptness with which animal remains, in considerable variety, appear in very ancient deposits is undoubtedly a most remarkable phenom- enon. With the exception of the somewhat doubtful Eozoon, the vast series of Laurentian (Algonkian) rocks produce no fossils. But the moment we reach the Cambrian Formation (which lies just above the Laurentian) we at once meet with a somewhat extensive series of complex and varied organisms." He makes a futile attempt to explain this curious fact by supposing there was a break in the record and says : "This conclusion is supported by analogous facts which occur and recur in every successive formation. The highly specialized corals and fishes of the Silu- rian rocks (just above the Cambrian) must have had ancestors in Cambrian times of which we know nothing." Professor W. B. Scott says: "Palaeozoic life possesses an in- dividuality not less distinctly marked than that of the group of strata which demarcates it very sharply from that of the preceding period, and gives a unity of character to the successive assem- blage of plants and animals." In speaking of Cambrian life, Francis Roth- Wheeler says: "Much interest necessarily attaches to Cambrian fossils, for, excepting the few and obscure organic remains obtained from pre- Cambrian strata, they are the oldest assemblages of organisms known." Norton says of Cambrian life: "The second volume of the geological record called the Palaeozoic has come down to us far less mutilated and defaced than has the first volume (the Ar- chaean) which contains the traces of the most ancient life of the globe. It is now for the first time that we find preserved in the offshore deposits of the Cambrian seas enough remains of animal life to be properly called a fauna. They embrace all the leading types of invertebrate life, and are so varied that we must believe that their lines of descent stretch far back in the pre- Cambrian period." 72 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy Norton further says: "The Cambrian life of different countries contains no suggestion of any marked climatic zones, and, as in later periods, a warm climate probably reached the polar regions." Grew says of Cambrian life: "After this period (Algonkian) there was a wealth of forms, animals able to leave hard traces of themselves in the fossil records." Professor Winchell says of Cambrian life: "The spirits have come forth. The living-afflatus has been breathed into multi- tudes of organic forms which now teem in the Palaeozoic sea." What, we ask, became of the ancestors of Cambrian life? Why are not some of the connecting-links found? Why, if, as science tells us, the geological revolutions were of a slow and gradual character, are not some of the fossils of this first life discovered? In the absence of these fossil remains, and of the causes which would destroy them, are we not justified in denying that they ever existed? In endeavoring to explain the sudden appearance of the perfectly developed winged insects in the Devonian (the third period of the Palaeozoic Era), Professor Wallace goes on to say: "It opens up to the imagination of the evolutionist a most wonderful picture ; to clothe those ancient lands with vegetables, and people them with animal life, since it is only thus that we find space and time suffi- cient for the development of the wonderful insects, the land shells, the amphibia and the reptiles, all of which appear suddenly in perfect and completely organized forms in some parts of the Palaeozoic series." How, we ask again, is the evolutionist to explain this sudden appearance of such highly organized life? It must be remembered there was no great revolution between the Silurian and Devonian periods, such as separated the Archaean and Palaeozoic Eras, but only local or limited disturbances. How, then, are we to explain this marvellous and sudden change in the universal life of the globe? Whence came these highly developed forms of life which appeared with such marvellous and unheralded sud- denness ? Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 73 In commenting upon the peculiar character of the Cambrian fauna, Messrs. Slade & Ferguson say: ''From the general char- acter of the Cambrian fauna it must be regarded as certain that life had existed on the earth for a long series of ages before that fauna appeared, in order that such well advanced grades of or- ganization should have then been reached. One of the most interesting chapters of geological history would be supplied if some adequate account could be given of the stages of this long period of Cambrian development. One of the first reflections which they suggest is that they present far too varied and highly organized a suite of organisms to allow us for a moment to sup- pose that they indicate the first fauna of our earth's surface. Unquestionably they must have had a long series of ancestors, though of these earlier forms such slight traces have been recovered. Thus at the very outset of a study of stratagraphical geology the observer is confronted with a proof of the imperfection of the geological record." And yet there are no fossils of pre-Cambrian life. Where is the evidence of that varied life which the scientists claim must have existed in Archaean times? The evolutionist is forced to admit that the highly developed forms of Cambrian life necessi- tated, according to his theory, a long series of ancestors in Lauren- tian times, and yet is compelled to confess there is no evidence that such a series existed. To what conclusion, then, are we un- avoidably driven? Clearly, special creation is the only logical explanation. Will the evolutionist state positively why the life- forms of the Cambrian period have been discovered in such abundance, and all the forms of their immediate ancestors in the Laurentian, or Algonkian, period have eluded his vigilant search? If the theory of Darwinian evolution be true, the evolution of these life-forms must have been gradual. Why, then, are not some of the most durable of the ancestral forms discovered? Will he not admit that it is possible these life-forms have never existed? Why should he not be consistent and admit that Cam- brian life represents the first created animal life on our globe? And will the other evolutionists be as frank in their statements as Messrs. Slade & Ferguson, regarding the imperfection and un- reliability of the geological record and the untrustworthiness of their scientific interpretations. 74 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy The special-creationist declares that this was the first creation of animal life described by Holy Writ, as having occurred on the fifth Day of Creation. In regard to the peculiarity of Cambrian life, Professor Le Conte asks: "What, then, was the character of this earliest fauna and flora? If we could have walked along that ancient beach when it was washed by primordial seas, what would we have found cast ashore? "We would have found the representations of all the great types of animal life except the Vertebrata. The Protozoa and lowest Metazoa were then represented by Rhizopods and Sponges; the Hchinoderms, by Cystidian Crinoids, the Mollusca, by Bra- chiopods, Lamella-branch Gasteropods, Pteropods, and Cephalo- pods; the Arthropods, by Crustacea; and the worms, by tracks and tubes. Plants were represented by Fucoids. "Those widely distinct classes are already clearly differentiated and somewhat highly organized. Nor is the fauna a meagre one in species." The flora was also abundant, but he explains the lack of its evidence by saying : "The true reason for the greater abundance of animal remains is to be found in the fact that the hard parts of animals are far more indestructable than any por- tion of vegetable tissue." He then proceeds to say: "At the end of the Archaean Era when the Archaean volume closed, we have only observed traces of a very few types of lowly life. But at the opening of the next Era (Palaeozoic) , apparently with the first page of the next volume, (Cambrian period) we find already all the great types of structure except the vertebrata. And these are not the lowest of each type as might have been expected, but already Trilobites among Arthropods and Cephalopods among Mollusca — complicated animals which evince great progress from the primitive condition. The differentiation of types which occurred during that interval (between the Archaean and Palaeo- zoic Eras) is equal in volume to all that has taken place since." That a very complex vicerization had already taken place in this earliest animal life is shown by the words of this scientist, who, in speaking of the organ of sight, says : "It is very interesting to observe that a complex mechanism, the compound eye, like that of the Crustacea and insects of the present day, was already developed even in the early Cambrian times." Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 75 Here, then, we have a confession of the distinct and highly- developed character of the life-forms of the early Palaeozoic Era. They are not preceded by any evidence of an Archaean ancestry and are wholly distinct from the life-system of the Mesozoic Era immediately following. As already intimated on a previous page, evolutionists endeavor to explain the suddenness of the life-forms of the lower Palaeozoic or Cambrian times, by supposing a very long interval of time oc- curred between the close of Archaean and the beginning of Palaeo- zoic times, during which life on the globe underwent a steady development, but of which the record was lost in the geological revolution which marked the close of Archaean and the beginning of Palaeozoic times — although they aver these revolutionary changes were gradual. They go to the extravagant extreme of declaring that interval was equal to all subsequent time. They claim this must have been so to admit of the highly organized life-forms of the Cambrian period. But does this appeal to reason ? Does it seem logical that this interval should have comprised as much time for its completion as all the subsequent history of the earth? Into such desperate straits have the evolutionists been driven by geological facts! CHAPTER VII Scientific Narrative — Continued Again, if the evolutionists' contentions are true, that the great geological revolutions which separated the different Eras were gradual and not sudden and cataclysmic, Cambrian life must have developed gradually from that of Laurentian times. If so, then, there must have been forms somewhere in Laurentian times to indicate it. Surely, all the connecting-links could not have been lost in a gradual change. Surely, some of the connect- ing-forms between the vegetable life of Laurentian and the highly developed animal forms of Cambrian times should have survived the insiduous effects of the gradual revolution. Had the geological revolution been cataclysmic or sudden in character it would not be difficult to understand that all life-forms might have been destroyed, except such as accidentJy escaped the destructive forces and came over to Cambrian times. But even such a cataclysm would not have destroyed all the fossil remains. But scientists inform us that all these revolutions were exceedingly gradual, so much so, in fact, as to be unappreciable to the existing life-sys- tems. What, then, has become of the intermediate forms? But no well authenticated connecting-links have been found between the life-systems of these two Eras or any others. Why then, should the evolutionist expect the intelligent mind to abandon the time-honored conviction of special creation when his own theory has wholly broken down from a lack of proper proof? Why should he look for other explanations when a careful reading and study of the Holy Writings and universal traditions will reveal a perfectly logical one confirmed by geological facts? Is it wise or right for the evolutionist to strive to undermine man's faith in the ancient narrative of Creation, unless he can offer a plausible substitute substantiated by all the facts of science? Is it not a fact that he ignores this source of knowledge, because it is fashion- able to do so? The special-creationist declares that the Inspired Writings re- veal the whole truth in their description of the creation of life- Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 77 forms on the third, fifth and sixth Days of Creation, and invite the earnest study of the sincere and unprejudiced reader along these lines. As a further argument against the theory of evolution, Pro- fessor Le Conte, in discussing the sudden appearance of extensive forests in the Devonian period of the Palaeozoic Bra, says: "It is impossible to account for the apparently sudden appearance of so highly organized vegetation by evolution, unless we admit there have been periods of rapid evolution." A strange confes- sion and a stranger demand! Let the thoughtful reader reflect upon this declaration. In discussing the sudden appearance of Fishes in the Devonian period and the character of the class, Professor Le Conte says: "It is seen above that the Devonian fishes combine certain high characters with certain low characters. From one point of view they seem lower, from another, higher than ordinary fishes. There has been some dispute, therefore, whether in the history of fishes we find a law of progress or a law of regress ; in other words, whether or not it sustains the law of evolution." And commenting still further upon the suddenness of this form of life, he says: "But it is impossible to overlook the apparent suddenness of the appear- ance of a new class — fishes — and a new development — vertebrata — of the animal kingdom. At a certain horizon and without a break of uniformity and therefore without notable loss of record, fishes appear in great numbers and varieties. It looks at first as if they came without progenitors. It is difficult to account for the enormous development in number, size and variety of fishes at the opening of the Devonian, unless we admit paroxysms of more rapid movement in evolution." Confirmatory of what Le Conte says on the subject, Professor Norton says: "In America, the Silurian is not separated from the Devonian by any mountain-making deformation or continental uplift. The one period passed quietly into the other." Here we have another confession of the weakness of the Dar- winian theory of organic evolution in supposing that the law, instead of acting in a steady and orderly manner, goes in leaps and bounds. Such an unscientific doctrine should be enough to 78 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy destroy faith in all reasonable minds in this materialistic philoso- phy. What a convincing argument in favor of special-creation Professor Le Conte thus puts forth! Why, then, ignore a mani- fest explanation for one of the most doubtful and far-fetched character? What a pitiful effort to defend a perishing assump- tion? Will any one think for a moment that the evolutionist would long hesitate, in the face of such overwhelming evidence, to find the clear explanation of the creation problem, if he did not feel obligated by the freakish thought of today to defend this fashionable but prostrate assumption? Why, in the face of such overwhelming evidence, does he strangely continue to cling to this "broken reed," and ignore the Biblical narrative of the Creation? Why does he continue to seek an explanation of all these phenomena in the innate energy of non-living, inert matter — blind and fortuitous as that energy has been proclaimed to be? Professor Wallace says of the fossils of the Carboniferous period : (the last period of Palaeozoic Bra) "Such diversified and highly specialized types of Annulosa as myriopods, spiders, cock-roaches, locusts, dragon-flies, ephemeras, lamelli-corn beetles, and moths, indicate that it is highly probable that no fresh ordained type of insect has originated during all succeeding ages." At the close of the Palaeozoic Era physical disturbances again occurred, which greatly distorted the land surface and resulted in unconformities in the rock strata. Then was ushered in the Mesozoic Era. While in this Era the invertebrates and fishes, acrogens and amphibians continue, reptiles predominated. But while reptiles were the dominant type of life, birds and mammals, scientists claim, made their appearance, and so did the palms and dicotyles, among the trees. Professor Norton says, in speaking of the geological revolution occurring at the close of the Palaeozoic: "The close of the Palaeo- zoic was a time of marked physical changes." In speaking of the great geological revolutions, before men- tioned, as shown by the position of the rock strata, Professor Dana says: "Those abrupt transitions in the strata are proofs there were great changes at times in the condition of the region where the strata were formed, and the transitions in the kinds Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 79 of fossils are evidences of great destruction at intervals in the life of the seas." But why limit the destruction to aquatic life? Would not the same forces which destroyed life in the seas also destroy terrestrial life? If not, why not? The destruction, then, must have in- volved the entire life of the globe. It will be observed that Pro- fessor Dana appears to be at variance with the views commonly accepted by the scientists, that these revolutions were gradual, and apparently in this instance maintains their sudden character. Regarding the life of the Mesozoic Era, which immediately succeeded the Palaeozoic Era, Professor Le Conte has this to say : "The Triassic strata (the lowest and earliest period of the Meso- zoic Era) are nearly always unconformable with the coal (Carbon- iferous, the last of the Palaeozoic periods) ; and the period opens with a fauna and flora wholly and strikingly different from the preceding. We find no longer the great coal-bearing trees of the Carboniferous, but the tall ferns, cycads and conifers." In speaking of the flora of the Mesozoic Era, Norton says: "The carboniferous forests had now vanished from the earth." Of animal life, he says: "The order of reptiles made its advent in Permian, culminated in the Triassic and Jurassic, and began to decline in the cretaceous." He says of this life: "The cold- blooded, clumsy and sluggish small-brained unintelligent reptile is as far inferior to the high mammals, whose day was still to come, as it is superior to the amphibian and the fish." In speaking of the dawn of the Mesozoic Era, Grew says: "Vegetation sank lower and lower. The forests disappeared or dwelt only in clusters. Permian life was poor but interesting. Perhaps the reptiles may have first appeared in carboniferous, but they declared themselves in the Permian." This scientist further says: "The Middle period of strata, (Mesozoic) and the life which those strata have preserved has usually been separated from the older rocks, because, owing to the greater period of arid desert conditions, the character of life changed a great deal; but fuller knowledge shows the links were still there." But, he says: "We need not follow closely all the changes and relationship." Meaning that the doctrine of 80 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy evolution does not require all the connecting-links. But the law of lineal descent does demand that the various connecting-links shall be presented, otherwise lineal descent is unproven and purely conjectural. Among the animal types we find many of the lower forms of life coming over from previous periods. These life-forms evidently escaped the destructive effects of the great cataclysm and continued their existence in the new era, as occurred in every other geological revolution with some of the life-forms ; but the reptiles are the new creations. In regard to the general life of the Mesozoic Era, Professor Scott declares: "The life of Mesozoic times constitutes a very distinctly marked assemblage of types, differing both from their predecessors of the Palaeozoic and their successors of the Ceno- zoic ages." If the physical changes of the earth's surface were gradual as scientists affirm, why was not the change in the life-system equally gradual? Why the gradual changes in the physical geography of the earth and the abrupt and sudden change in its life systems? If the changes in both the physical geography and life-systems were gradual, where are the connecting-links between the preceding and succeeding life-systems? If the great physical changes were the result of sudden and cataclysmic forces, the life-system of the old era must have been almost wholly destroyed and a new system created in the Mesozoic Era. And this is what the special-creationist claims occurred. Professor Scott continues: "In the course of the era, the plants and marine invertebrata attained substantially their modern conditions, though the vertebrata remained throughout the era very different from the later ones." It must be remembered that the essential character of modern plant and marine life, according to Professor Le Conte, were found in the Palaeozoic Era, and these particular forms will be found in the Mesozoic as the surviving representatives of the for- mer life-system. But this was not true of the vertebrata peculiar to the Mesozoic Era. This particular form of life in the Mesozoic was a special creation, hence differed radically from that which preceded and that which succeeded it. Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 81 This scientist goes on to say: "Among the Crustacea, the Trilo- bites and EmyptericiS went out, but all the modern groups were well represented." Why did the Trilobites and Eurypterids go out? Why did these special forms of Crustacea become extinct, and what destroyed them, if the physical changes were gradual? What were those peculiar forces which selected this particular form of Crustacean life for extinction, and what intelligence directed them in their work? Every force to accomplish intelli- gent results must be directed by intelligent design. Why were the Trilobites and Eurypterids destroyed and the other forms of Crustacea permitted to continue? Why were those physical con- ditions, necessary to the life of the Crustacea as a class, so inimical to certain of its genera and species? Was it chance or design which led to their final elimination? These are the questions which the thoughtful mind propounds and demands to be in- telligently answered by the Darwinian evolutionist. This scientist proceeds: "Insects reached nearly their modern condition as far as the large groups are concerned. The fishes became modernized before the close of the era, the bony fishes having acquired their present preponderance." Professor Le Conte and other geologists inform us that already in the Cambrian, the first period of Palaeozoic Era, insects had reached practically their modern development, while in the De- vonian, the third period of the Palaeozoic, fishes had reached a most marvellous development — hence what insects and fishes escaped the great cataclysm continued their development in the succeeding era. The thoughtful and unprejudiced student of terrestrial life will recall that after the life-forms peculiar to each Day or Era were created, they were commanded to reproduce their kinds and proceed on their ways of development. The old forms of life which survived the great "inter- Eral" cataclysm developed in the new Era, while the new forms in that Era were created. Says he: "The Amphibia took a subordinate place and after flourishing for a time the great Stegocephalia died, leaving only the pigmy salamander and frogs of the present." Why did the Amphibia decline in the Mesozoic Era? Was the decline an accident or the result of intelligent design? If the former, why did not the entire class perish? 82 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy Professor Scott continues: "Birds and Mammals made their first appearance, the former advancing rapidly to their present grade of organization." These two creations appeared in the latter part of the Era, and mark the dividing line between the fifth and sixth Days of Biblical Creation, the Birds being created in the latter part of the fifth, and the Mammals on the sixth Day of Creation as told in Holy Writ. But more will be said on a future page on Mammalian remains in Mesozoic times. Professor Scott forgets to tell us just what the accident was which led to the rapid advancement of the Birds to their present grade of organization in Mesozoic times. Was it accident, or was it really design ? He says : ' 'The Mesozoic is called the Age of Reptiles because these were the dominant forms of life. They covered the land with gigantic herbivorous and carbonivorous forms. They swarmed in the seas and, as literal flying dragons, they dominated the air. At the present time there are only five orders of Reptiles in existence, and of these only the Crocodiles and a few snakes attain really large size." This form of life was the special evolution of the Mesozoic Bra, according to the scientists, and the special creation of the fifth Day of Creation, according to the Biblical record. Finally, on the subject of Mesozoic life Professor Scott says: "The Triassic (the first Mesozoic period) is entirely different from anything that preceded it." Was this difference an accident, or the result of intelligent creative design? If this change in life- forms was an accident, why should such changes occur in each succeeding Era? Professor Gregory, in speaking of the life of the Mesozoic Era, says: "It was characterized by the disappearance of the primitive types of animals and plants, and the chief groups, made their appearance upon the earth." In using the word "primitive" he refers to the first life-forms and not to defect of organization ; for this organization had already reached the highest state of development even in Cambrian times. He means to tell us that practically all the life-system Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 83 of the Palaeozoic Era was destroyed in the great geological revo- lution which marked the end of that Bra and the advent of the Mesozoic times, and that the new life-system succeeded on the earth. This new life-system was dominated, not by those old forms of life which happily escaped the cataclysm, but by the new forms which were created, as the special-creationist tells us, for this particular Era. This new life-system, the special-creationist affirms, was created, and not evolved through fortuitous circum- stance. In speaking of this new life-system, Professor Dana says: "The next aeon (the Mesozoic) is characterized by immense development of reptilian life. "Birds and Mammals made their appearance." There were no reptiles in the previous Era, although the earth had been subjected to similar physical changes at the advent of Palaeozoic times. What, then, was the potent agency which produced the immense reptilian life which characterized and dom- inated this Era? Will the evolutionist attempt to explain? Is he able to clear away one iota of the mystery? He confesses he is in darkness on the subject, but denies the possibility of special- creation or infinite design. Why? Let us remember there are no connecting-links between the life-forms of this Era and those of the preceding. Scientists acknowledge this fact. The evolu- tionist strives in vain to explain the sharply defined demarcations between the life-forms of the four great Eras. He declares these life-forms are wholly different, except in the case of a few forms which came over from the preceding Era and continued their development in the succeeding Era. He confesses the connecting- links between these life-systems cannot be found, and attempts to explain this failure by supposing they were lost in the great physical disturbances or geological revolutions which character- ized the transition from one Era to another ; but he does not account for the unvarying uniformity of this failure. If the loss of these connecting-links were due to accident, as scientists affirm, there should in the nature of things be some exceptions, and some of the connecting-links should be found; but as no connecting- links have been found, the special-creationist affirms that it is reasonable to suppose they never existed. And, indeed, what other rational conclusion can be reached? 84 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy It is all the more strange, since the scientists declare all these "inter-eral" revolutions were gradual and imperceptible to the life of the globe. Why, then, do we not find the connecting- links? What has become of them? If these revolutions were so gradual, as all the facts disprove, as to be unperceived by the life of the globe, the development of that life, if Darwinian evolu- tion be true, should also have been equally gradual. How, then, came the connecting-links in every case to be lost and the developed types saved? Why should the one be lost and not the other? The evolutionist's argument is so weak as to be almost puerile. Not only have the links connecting the life-systems of the three great Eras not been found, but those connecting the different classes, orders, genera and even species in the same life-system have failed of discovery. In no single instance from the begin- ning of life in Algonkian times to the present has a well-authenti- cated and undeniable link connecting the different life-systems or any of their differentiations been found. What other reasonable conclusion, then, can be reached than that they never existed? And this, the special-creationist affirms, is what we should expect, if the Biblical narrative is true. Apropos this subject of life development, Professor Smith Woodward declares: "We do not understand the phenomenon; we cannot explain it." This is a rational and honest attitude to assume and one fully justified by the facts. Why, then, ask the world to reject its time-honored traditions for an hypothesis wholly and confessedly unproven? What other theory sub- stantiated by facts has the evolutionist to offer mankind? CHAPTER VIII Scientific Narrative — Continued Let us now see what Professor Dawson has to say on the sub- ject of connecting-links. He says: "Where we find abundance of examples of the young and old of many fossil species, and can trace then through their ordinary embryonic development, why should we not find examples of the links which bind the species together? "In tracing back animals and groups of animals in geological times, we find that they always end without any link or connec- tion with previous beings and in circumstances which render such a connection impossible. "Palaeontology furnishes no direct evidence, perhaps never can furnish any, as to the natural transformation of one species into another. "Upon no theory of evolution can we find a satisfactory expla- nation of the constant introduction throughout geological times of new forms of life which do not appear to have been preceded by pre-existent allied types." Professor Dawson is compelled to confess the failure of organic evolution, but does not appear to possess sufficient courage to declare in favor of special creation. Why? Is it too unfashionable for him to undertake? On the same subject, Professor Bailey Balfour, in speaking of the development of the Angio-sperm, says: "From the geological record we obtain no help. The earliest traces of Angio-sperms in rocks in the Middle Mesozoic period, enable us to say little regarding them, except that the fragments give evidence of an organization as complete as that possessed by the Angio-sperms of the present day. "The gap between the Angio-sperm and other types of vegeta- tion is a wide one and no connecting-links are known." Confirmatory of the same truth, Professor Huxley, than whom none stands higher in the galaxy of scientists, says: "What, then, does an impartial survey of the positively ascertained truths of 86 Man's Ancient Trutfhiswd Its Place in Democracy palaeontology testify in relation to the common doctrines of pro- gressive modification, which suppose that modification to have " taken place by necessary progress from more or less embryonic forms or from more or less generalized types within the limits of the periods represented by the f ossilif erous rocks ? It negatives those doctrines, for it either shows us no evidence of such modifi- cation, or demonstrates such modification as has occurred to have been very slight; and as to the nature of that modification, it yields no evidence whatever that the earlier members of any long continued group were more generalized in structure than the later ones. "Contrariwise, any admissible hypothesis of progressive modi- fication must be complete with persistence without progression through indefinite periods." Thus Professor Huxley strikes a fatal blow at Darwinian evolution. The Mesozoic Era was brought to a close by one of the greatest geological revolutions in the entire history of the earth. Pro- fessor Smith says of this revolution: "The Mesozoic Era was closed in the west as the Palaeozoic had been in the east by a time of great mountain-making, and to this movement is attri- buted the formation of most of the great western mountain chains. From the Arctic ocean to Mexico the effects of the disturbances were apparent, and they were on a grander scale than the Appala- chaian had been. "The Tertiary (the first period of the Cenozoic Era) shows some of the most colossal disturbances in the terrestrial crust of which any records remain took place during this period, the upheaval of most of the great mountain chains of the globe taking place." Dana says on the dawn of the Cenozoic Era: "The close of theMesozoic time was followed by mountain-making on a grander scale than even that with which Palaeozoic time was closed and equally extensive disappearance of species over the world." Norton says of the period: "The Tertiary included epochs when the earth's crust was singularly unquiet. From time to time, on all the continents, subterranean forces gathered head, and the crust was bent and broken and upridged in lofty moun- tains." Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 87 In speaking of the climate of the Tertiary, Norton says: "A warm climate like that of the Mesozoic, therefore, prevailed over North America and Europe, extending far toward the pole." Grew says of the geological revolutions: "Many geologists believe that the secret of these changes lies in the core of the earth, and that when the tension and pressure inside the earth grew too much for its strength, something gives away, and the whole world begins to change, the continents sinking under the ocean and new lands rising. But we shall only say, that the last of these great changes set in at the end of the chalk age. After that we arrive at the period among the rocks which is classed as Cenozoic or Modern." Professor Smith says of the life of the later Mesozoic time : "The life of the Cretaceous (the last period of the Mesozoic Era) displayed so great an advance over that of the Jurassic (the second period of the Mesozoic Eta) that the change may be fairly called a revolution. In the latter part of the Lower and in all of the Upper Cretaceous of North America, the flora assumes an almost com- pletely modern character. Cretaceous animals are sufficiently different from those of the Jurassic, (the preceding period), but the change is not so revolutionary as has been found among the plants." Professor Norton says: "The last stages of the cretaceous are marked by a decadence of the Reptiles. By the end of that period the reptilian forms characteristic of the times had become extinct, one after another, leaving to represent the class only the types of reptiles which continue to modern times." What accounts for this sudden revolution in these life-forms? The great disturbances which had ushered in the Mesozoic Era had ended, and the early Tertiar}^ disturbances had not yet begun, hence a time of quiescence had supervened. Then, why this great change in the so-called evolutionary forces? The evolu- tionist confesses his inability to explain them, but the special- creationist affirms that the changes in these life-forms were effected by the Deity in accordance with His own plans and purposes. Indeed, there appears to be no other explanation unless we conclude to deify matter. 88 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy After the great physical changes, which marked the close of the Mesozoic times, were concluded, the physical geography was completely changed, and what is known as the Cenozoic Bra began. The life-system of this Bra was radically different from that of the Mesozoic which preceded it. This was the Mammalian Age par excellence. In speaking of the life of these times, Professor Smith says: "The life of the Cenozoic Bra is very clearly de- marcated from that of the Mesozoic period. The plants and invertebrate animals nearly all belong to genera which are still living. Above all the mammals undergo a wonderful expansion." According to the Biblical narrative, this was the time of the last and highest creation of animal life, including man who was created in the latter part of the Bra. Regarding the Mammalian life of this Bra, Professor Gregory says: "The mammals, for whatever reason, began to increase in number, variety and size at the beginning of the Cenozoic Bra, so that it is described as the Bra of Mammals." In respect to the peculiarity of the same life-system, Dr. B. N. Lowe, state geologist of Mississippi, says: "The life of the Ceno- zoic Bra is the culmination of creative effort in that direction. All the invertebrate groups are present, all the higher groups of plants have appeared, all the vertebrates of modern types, in- cluding man himself, culminated during this era. In fact, life, as we know it today, is the latest phase of development of this era." Grew says of the life of the Cenozoic Bra: "The animals of the sea, which were familiar during the chalky age, nearly all disappeared and were replaced by new ones. "Mammals suddenly appeared in force and occupied first place among the animals. The vegetation did not change so much as might be expected. "Whence came the mammals? That, again, is one of the questions that time alone can completely answer." Oscar Schmidt says on the origin of the mammalian forms of the Cenozoic Bra: "We are referred entirely to conjecture and inference for the origin of mammals." Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 89 Of this same life-system Professor Dana declares: "The last aeon (the Cenozoic Bra), is characterized by the development of mammals. Man himself appeared as the crown of animate creation — Finally, man appeared, a being made of matter and endowed with life, but more than this, partaking of a spiritual nature. His whole outer being shows forth the Divine of the inner being." What a noble declaration to be made by a great scientist in the midst of present materialistic tendencies! It required a sublime courage to utter such a conviction in the face of his skeptical colleagues. Professor Le Conte says of the existence of man at this time: "But of the existence of man in Europe and Asia as early as the Middle Quarternary there seems to be abundant evidence." And this is the fixed conviction of science of today. A very important fact not to be forgotten by the thoughtful reader is that the life-system of no Era was totally eradicated by the great geological revolutions which separated the different Eras, but some of the forms escaped to the next Era and continued their existence there. Thus, some of the life-forms continued from age to age even to the present. But the fact remains that the dominating or characteristic life of each era was so radically different from that of the preceding era as to constitute a new creation and not an evolution from preceding forms. This con- tinuation of some of the life-forms from era to era is very clearly announced by Professor Le Conte in the following words: "When the dominance of any class declines at the end of an age, the class does not disappear but remains subordinate to the next succeeding and higher dominant class; and the organic kingdom as a whole becomes successively more and more complex and varied." But this fact does not prove or even substantiate the theory of Dar- winian evolution. It is just what the human mind would logically expect in a sublime system of creation, each preceding system being preparatory to its successor in the peopling of the world. The human mind cannot conceive of beginning with the highest forms of life and ending with the lowest in any system of life creation upon the globe. And since the human mind is but a reflection of the Infinite Intelligence, it follows that such an idea is contrary to the Infinite Intelligence and Wisdom. 90 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy Professor Wm. H. Norton says: "While higher and still higher types have continually been evolved until man, the highest ot all, appeared, the lower and earlier forms of types have generally persisted." If the higher types have only been able to survive by changing their forms to fit environment; in other words, if it is a case of the survival of the fittist, as we are told by scientists, how comes it that the lower types have persisted? These lower forms have been supposed to be unfitted for survival, and yet they have per- sisted. Will the evolutionist explain? Regarding the close of the Mesozoic and the beginning of the Cenozoic rock system, Professor Le Conte says: "This deserves the rank of a distinct Era, and the corresponding rocks, that of a distinct system, because there is here a great break in the rock- system and a still greater break in the life-system. Between the rocks of the Cretaceous, (the last of the Mesozoic periods) and the Tertiary, (the first of the Cenozoic periods) there is in Europe an almost universal unconformity. The disturbances which marked the close of the Mesozoic were far more gigantic than those which marked the close of the Palaeozoic Era." Those upheavals were not so marked on the American continent, yet Le Conte says: "There, no less than in Europe, there is at a certain hori- zon a rapid and most extraordinary change in the life-system. This seems impossible to explain on the theory of evolution unless we admit periods of rapid evolution." Why should a great fundamental law, such as organic evolu- tion would be if true, proceed in leaps and bounds? Is such a supposition logical? Professor Le Conte only increases the di- lemma of the evolutionist when he says: "Even where the two series of rocks (the Mesozoic and Cenozoic) seem to be continu- ous and conformable, there is a most radical and remarkable change in life-forms. Nearly all the genera and many of the spe- cies of plants and invertebrate animals were the same as now, and the difference in aspect would hardly be recognized by the popular eye. It was certainly not greater than that which now exists between different countries. It is only among mammals that the difference is very conspicuous. The present aspect of Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 91 field and forest commences, and the present adjustment of the relations of the great classes and orders was established — The long Tertiary age was an era of broad extension and high eleva- tion of northern lands with contemporaneous mild climate even within the Arctic Circle. The insects of the Tertiary and the life of plants show a decidedly tropical character." In commenting upon the marvellous and unexplained sudden- ness of this life-system, he says: "We find only Mesozoic types even to the borders of the Tertiary (the first period of the Ceno- zoic Era) and then without warning there appears the higher life of the Kutheria of the Tertiary. This might be explained in Eu- rope, where there is unconformity at this horizon; but here in America the record seems almost complete and yet at the same horizon a great change occurs. It is impossible to explain this unless we admit times of rapid evolution. But even this is not sufficient." He then strangely endeavors to explain what he says is impossible of explanation, by supposing there was mammalian migration. But he fails to explain whence these new mammals came. If, as he implies, they had not previously existed, as the absence of their fossil remains would seem to indicate, the evolu- tionist finds himself involved in an inextricable dilemma. But they were the dominant types of life in that Era, hence could not have previously existed. Then, whence did they come? Professor Dana, in speaking of the Quarternary period (the last period of the Cenozoic Era) and its life forms, says: "The Quarternary Era was remarkable for oscillations of the level and climatic changes in high latitudes, and for the culmination of the types of brute mammals, and for the appearance of Man upon the Globe." On this subject, Professor Le Conte says: "But of the existence of man in Europe and Asia as early as the Middle Quarternary there seems to be abundant evidence." And this opinion is the consensus of scientific conviction on the subject. Grew says of the origin of man: "There is little geological evidence to show the place where man first appeared, but what we know of his form and constitution induces us to believe that somewhere in the warm climate of southern Asia was his first habitation." 92 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy In commenting on the faculties of man, Grew says: "Whence comes this power? When and how did it arrive?" He then an- swers the question by saying: "That we do not know;" and pro- ceeds to say: "The qualities which have developed in man are of such unprecedented power and so far dominated everything else in his characteristics and surroundings that they justify the view that he forms a new departure in the gradual unfolding of this world's predestined scheme. He goes on from strength to strength and in the Divine purpose which created him lies the possibility that in the future he may attain a fuller knowledge than any he yet possesses. The near approach of that understanding is the greatest aim of scientific investigation." Professor Winchell says of the origin of man: "When the whole face of nature seemed fitted and expectant of the crowning work of creation, what should prevent the Divine Artificer from sum- moning man upon the scene to begin the labor of his earthly life? To a finite intelligence the preparation was complete. To the eye of Omnipotence, one more revolution was needed. The coming man must tarry without the door of the temple of life through yet another geological aeon. The moment that the last revolutionary visitation (the Tertiary revolution) came to an end — while yet the lands had become scarcely stable in their place — man seems to have suddenly made his appearance among the beasts of the earth and to have moved among them and con- trolled them with a conscious and uncontested superiority." Norton says: "The Quarternary may be said to have begun when all or nearly all living species of mollusks, and most of the existing mammals had appeared. Invertebrates and plants suf- fered little change in species: the mammalia, on the other hand, have changed much since the beginning of the Quarternary. The various species of the present have been evolved and some lines have become extinct." Dana, in speaking of the life of the Quarternary, says: "The plants and the lower tribes of the animal kingdom, in the early part of the Quarternary, were essentially the same as now. The brute mammals appear to have reached their maximum in num- ber and size during the warm Champlain period." Comparative Study of the Biblical and Scientific Narratives, Etc. 93 In speaking of the life-system of the Quartern ary, Professor Le Conte says: "The invertebrate fauna was almost identical with that now living., but the mammalian fauna was almost wholly peculiar, differing from the Tertiary which preceded it and the present which followed it." How is the evolutionist to account for this peculiar form of mammalian life at this time? Why does the mammalian life of the Quarternary differ so much from that of the Tertiary, since both these periods belonged to the same Era? Again, if there was such a remarkable difference between the mammalian life of these two periods, why do we not also find great changes in the invertebrate fauna? Why the changeless condition in the invertebrates and the radical change in the vertebrates? Did not these two forms of animal life co-exist under the same conditions of geography and climate? The migration theory cannot apply to animals not yet existing. Do not all the facts indicate intelligent creative design? Why should we look for an hypothetical explanation of these phenomena in attributing them to evolution, when the time-honored traditions and inspired writings of mankind offer one so plain and simple and in such harmony with the geological facts? Why should we hesitate when the facts are so cogent and Omnipotence so infinite? CHAPTER IX Summary Lkt us now briefly recapitulate the Biblical and Scientific Nar- ratives of Creation and endeavor to point out wherein they agree or disagree. According to the Biblical account, the First Day of Creation consisted in setting in motion the great forces which were to enable the potential world to become realized in actuality. This period science calls the Chaotic or Nebulous Era. The Second Day of the Biblical Creation, when the earth had assumed its infant form, is substantially that of the Formative Bra of science. The Third Day of Biblical Creation, in which the land surface appeared and the oceans assumed more nearly their present aspects, is the Archaean Era described by science. On this day, the Sacred Narrative informs us, vegetable life was established on the earth, consisting not of great forest growths, but of grass, herbs and the smaller trees, as fruit trees; while science tells that after the Archaean rocks rose above the waters they gradually underwent erosion and, in course of time, yielded an extensive, stratified but partly metamorphosed formation known as the Algonkian or Lauren ti an, which rested upon the Archaean rocks below, and which was free from life except that of a light, perish- able character, probably vegetable in nature as indicated by the presence of great bodies of iron ore and graphite, which are only possible in the presence of decomposing vegetable matter. The Fourth Day, mentioned in the Holy Writings as the day of stellar and solar creations, appears to conflict with the dictum of modern science; as science teaches that the creation of the sun must have at least preceded that of the earth. But the Bible statement here may refer to the clearing of the atmosphere, so that the light of the heavenly bodies was able to reach the earth's surface. If so, it would not conflict with scientific speculation. But should it really refer to the creation of these heavenly bodies, Summary 95 we must confess that while it might be "unscientific," it was yet perfectly within the province of the Creating Power to form them at that time. For we must remember that in the beginning, even from the modern scientific point of view, the earth did not get its energy from the sun, but that both these heavenly bodies derived their energy from the same great source. Of this there can not be the least doubt, whatever view we may take of their origin. This Day corresponds to the great Palaeozoic Interval during which many lofty mountains were upheaved and the ter- restrial mists and clouds were cleared by condensation. The Fifth Day of Creation, according to Holy Writ, was occu- pied with the creation of all the denizens of the sea, including also amphibia and reptiles and fowls of the air. This Bible Day of Creation would comprise all the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Eras as described by science. Birds were created in this Day, because they were next in development to reptiles, and not because they sprang from them. The finding of the few remains of mammals in the later Mesozoic Bra, as described by science, does not prove the origin of this form of animal life during Mesozoic times, but probably marks the confusion of science in determining the close of one system of rocks and the beginning of another. Again, scientists seem to lose sight of the possible displacement of one system of rocks upon another during the revolutionary upheavals and the consequent transposition of fossil remains from one Bra to another. They do not appear to consider the likelihood of the shifting of mammalian remains in Cenozoic rocks to positions among Mesozoic formations, thus leading geologists into the error of placing the origin of this form of life in Mesozoic times rather than in the Cenozoic Kra,which is characterized by this develop- ment of animal life. We may reasonably conclude, then, that the Fifth Day of Bible Creation, which comprised the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Eras, witnessed the appearance upon the earth of all the earliest forms of animal life and their vast development in numbers and varieties. Science confirms this view in that it teaches that following the Archaean Era and at the beginning of the Palaeozoic, great dis- turbances of the earth's crust, known as a geological revolution, took place and from the rocks thus brought to the surface the 96 Man's Ancient Truth and lis Place in Democracy erosive powers of nature in time laid down upon the preceding formation, the Algonkian or Laurentian period, the great strati- fied sedimentation known as the Cambrian Formation, constitu- ting the first and oldest period of the Palaeozoic Bra. It further informs us that now for the first time a most abundant inverte- brate fauna, consisting of many thousands of highly developed species, suddenly appeared upon the earth, apparently without Archaean ancestry, and comprised all the invertebrate denizens of the sea; that suddenly, without warning and apparently with- out ancestors, they burst upon the scene and began their marvel- lous development upon the earth. Science further informs us that associated with this early and abundant animal life was an extensive vegetable life, which, however, on account of its des- tructible character, has left but few fossils. It also tells us that later on in the Palaeozoic Era, amphibians predominated, and, still later in the same Bra, reptiles and birds appeared. But this does not prove the origin of reptiles and birds in the Palaeozoic Bra. Their remains may have been shifted in the transposition of the rocks of the Mesozoic system upon those of the Palaeozoic during the upheavals, or revolution, which char- acterized the close of the Middle Bra. And, again, it must be remembered that the physical disturbances separating the Pala- eozoic from Mesozoic times were not so marked in character as similar changes preceding and following those particular disturb- ing forces; but were sufficient to prepare the earth for the forth- coming new creations — Reptilian and Bird life. How marvellously strange and suggestive the new and sudden life of Palaeozoic times! Where did it come from? Scientists cannot enlighten us. They tell us it must have come from Ar- chaean times, but they fail to show us the connecting-link between this highly developed animal life of the early Palaeozoic and the primitive vegetable life of the Archaean Bra, although they tell us that the revolutionary changes which marked the close of the Archaean Bra and the beginning of the Palaeozoic were so gradual as to be imperceptible to the life of the globe. How can we reconcile the utter and total loss of all connecting-links with those slow, gradual and normal developmental physical changes? And yet not one has escaped. Not a single connect- Summary 97 ing-link has been found. Not a single voice reaches us from Ar- chaean times to tell us of our ancestors of that far past Era. The rational mind cannot accept such improbable theories. Cam- brian life is undoubtedly unexplainable upon the theory of Darwinian evolution. We are thus compelled to fall back upon special creation for its logical explanation. On the Sixth Day, the Biblical narrative informs us, the great Mammals were created, each according to its class, order, genus and species, and that on this same Day Man also was created. Science tells us that the Cenozoic Era was the Age of Mammals and the birth of Man — that during this Era, comprising the two periods Tertiary and Quarternary, the great mammalian animals predominated and spread in great profusion over the earth. Science has set apart the Age of Man in a separate Era known as the Psychozoic Era, but this act would appear to be a purely arbitrary arrangement, as both science and Holy Writ make him a part of the last Day or Era of Creation. In meditating upon the two narratives we are compelled to confess that after all there is a wonderful concurrence of view. Could there be a more harmonious statement of facts springing from independent sources? The points wherein there appear to be minor differences can have but little effect upon the general truth disclosed, and, as previously said, where any discrepancies appear to exist, the burden of proof is upon science. Science comes upon the field and attacks an old and established doctrine of mankind. It must show this doctrine to be incorrect in all essential particulars. Science, however honest in its purpose, has no right to beg indulgence or credence for itself, until it has indisputably overthrown what it claims to be error and established beyond reasonable question what it believes to be true. It will not do to ask mankind to accept an illogical and unproven theory as a substitute for its long conviction of truth. But science has not disproved the Bible narrative; in truth, on the contrary, it is now yielding to the truth of that narrative and is beginning to confess its own error. It is, at last, beginning to recognize the truth of Holy Writ and that that narrative coincides in all essen- tial details with its own findings. 98 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy For a long time it denied and still denies, in large measure, the inspiration of Holy Writ. But here, too, a careful study now proves this to be true. Reason declares that such a prophecy as that of Daniel in the sixth century, B. C, foretelling the future history of the Caucasian race in its various national differentiations even to the present time, in such accurate and minute detail, could not be accidental; that only a scientist of the present day with the records of the whole past full in view could detail such world events, embracing the transactions of various nations which rose and fell with the vicissitudes of time and fortune, as Daniel foretold more than twenty-five centuries ago. And yet this is only one of the many instances of truthful prophecy con- tained in the Wondrous Book. This particular instance has been selected out of many others equally wondrous, because it is pro- bably the most conspicuous and prominent prophecy in popular memory. How could a human being foretell destinies of such widespread and diverse character as to comprise the achievements of all the Caucasian nations of the ancient, medieval and modern world for centuries in the future, unless he drew his knowledge from inspiration — unless he snared in the divine attribute of in- tuitional foresight? Foretelling the political career of any par- ticular nation is wonderful enough, although this might be con- sidered by some an accident; but what must we say when the future political destinies of all the great Caucasian states of the world have been delineated with such undeviating accuracy? Now, if the great prophecies were inspired and were therefore true, why should not the relation by the Book of historical events of such universal importance as the Deluge be true? Why were these great prophecies and historical events recorded in Holy Writ if they were not intended for the benefit of man? And is this not the only reason — that man might be impressed with the revela- tions of Deity not only in the material universe, but in the career of spiritual nature as well, to the end that he might be induced to contemplate the Divine Mysteries as contained in the world about him, and be finally led back by reason, intuition and revela- tion to the Truth from which he originally strayed? CHAPTER X Darwinian Evolution Not Provbn All, scientists are in practical accord that man made his appear- ance upon the earth not later than the middle Quarternary and was contemporary with the great mammalian fauna of that time. A few place his origin even somewhat earlier, but all agree that he is to be classed with the mammals which were the dominant type of life in the Cenozoic Era, and that he came in with that form of life. Upon this point there does not appear to be a dis- senting voice. Now, in view of all the foregoing facts, the abrupt physical transitions from one Era to another, the sudden and radical change in the character of each succeeding life-system, and the total lack of connecting-forms, not only between the various life-systems, but even between various orders, clasess, families and species of the same life-system, we are forced to the conclu- sion that Darwinian evolution does not and can not explain the life phenomena of our globe. The evolutionist of the Darwin type has utterly failed to make out his case and should submit an honest confession of that failure. Let us digress here for a moment to review his chief arguments somewhat in detail. The proponents of the doctrine of evolution are wont to draw the support of their theory from eight different lines of material- istic speculation and physical observation which have sprung up within the last two centuries, and which will now be studied in limited detail. The first argument to be considered is that the physical uni- verse is a mechanism and is, therefore, explicable wholly on physical principles; in other words, that it possesses within itself the promise and potency of all things, that it is wholly independent of all super-physical forces. The physical universe is the finite universe. But the finite universe is conditioned and limited, and, therefore, must be de- pendent upon something else, otherwise it would not be condi- 100 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy tioned and limited. It is, then, not independent. Moreover, the finite universe is the world of change, modification and time. This is universally admitted. But a changeable world, condi- tioned in time and limited in space, is not permanent. It is, then, perishable and not eternal: because it must have had a begin- ning and must have an end. By the laws of the human mind there must be something that is eternal and unchangeable. That something must be the opposite of the finite, changeable and perish- able universe; in other words, it must be the unchangeable and eternal Infinite — the Unconditioned and Unlimited Universe, in which reside the promise and potency of things. From this eternal and unchangeable Infinite must have emanated the finite universe with its conditions and limitations. This is an unavoidable con- clusion of the human mind. But if this is true, the finite universe must be governed by the eternal Infinite. If, then, the finite world is a physical mechanism, it must be under the direction and government of the super-physical Infinite. No physical mechanism can create and impel itself. This appears to be self- evident. When the reverse appears to be true, the finite is blend- ed with the infinite and is impelled by its mysterious forces. The second argument upon which the evolutionist depends is ''the apparent gradations, from extreme simplicity to very great complexity, presented by living things, and the relation these gradated forms appear to bear to one another." But these gradations, expressed in similarity of anatomical structure and arrangement, do not prove that the higher has sprung from the lower — do not prove the doctrine of Darwinian evolution — but only exhibits the taxonomic arrangement of these living structures as expressed in the Divine plan. As there is finite mind, so there is infinite mind, from which finite mind has sprung. If the finite world is governed by the infinite world, then, finite mind is governed by infinite mind. Finite mind is limited, but infinite is unlimited. Infinite mind is, then, omni- scient and omnipotent. Why, then, should infinite mind hesi- tate and feel its way along the creative path? Why should it express a weakness in resorting to an experimental creative plan? Would not its omniscience and omnipotence enable it to create at once the perfect type ? It is a wise plan of the Infinite Mind to Darwinian Evolution Not Proven 101 create the simple forms first, in order to prepare the world for the next higher types of life. But this does not prove that the higher forms have sprung from the lower. It only marks the operation of infinite wisdom. The attributes of infinite mind are impressed upon finite mind as eternal and inexorable laws. The finite mind is the analogue of infinite mind and must follow a similar plan of action. This must be so, since finite mind is the offspring of infinite mind. The infinite impressions on the finite mind take the form of the great eternal constructive principles of the finite world. They are stamped upon the finite mind as intuitive truths and only require the development of that mind to bring them out and express them in the varied processes of the finite world, as those processes re- late to human civilization. Thus the earliest abode constructed by undeveloped man was probably a hovel ; but as man developed the constructive intuitions of his mind, he must have improved on his residence, until he reached at last the Splendid mansions and palaces of later times. But does this prove that the master- builder was under the necessity of first constructing the cottage, and then modifying this so as to erect out of it a more pretentious building, and out of this latter, a still larger and more pretentious one, until at last he had converted the original cottage into the first palace? Did he not rather apply the principles he learned in constructing the first cottage directly to the erection of the more pretentious building, and these still unfolding principles of his mind, to the construction of still larger residences, without the necessity of going to the trouble of first erecting the cottage and then gradually enlarging it until the pretentious palace of later times was an accomplished achievement? Does the builder of today, when about to erect a palace, first construct a cottage and then broaden this into a palace? Does he not apply the princi- ples of science, previously developed, directly and immediately in the erection of the palace? If the finite mind pursues this direct course of action in its constructive processes, why should infinite mind pursue the weaker course of first creating the simpler forms of life and then gradually fashioning these into successively higher types? Why should infinite mind violate its own attri- butes which it has impressed upon finite mind as inexorable law? If finite mind obeys the laws imposed upon it by infinite mind, we 102 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy may be safe in concluding that infinite mind operates in harmony with its own attributes. If this is true, then, infinite mind did not create the higher forms of life from the lower by gradations, but created them directly in perfected types in accordance with the great constructive principles of its creative plan and wisdom. Evolutionists have not proven the lineal descent of the species of the same genus, let alone the lineal descent of the various genera. The third argument of evolution is based upon "the observation of what appears to be an analogy between the series of gradations presented by the species which compose any great group of ani- mals or plants, and the series of embryonic conditions of the high- est member of that group." In other words, it is the argument from embryology. This is but the manifestation of the great constructive princi- ples concerned in the Divine plan of creation, and does not prove that the perfectly developed higher individual sprung from the lower. As the master-builder applies the same scientific princi- ples in the erection of the cottage as in the palace, and records them in the scientific archives for the benefit of those who are to follow, so the Divine Builder uses the same principles in the crea- tion of all forms of life and records them in the Book of nature as so many revelations of the Infinite Truth. The fourth argument of the Darwinian evolutionist is "the observation that large groups of species of widely different habits present the same fundamental plan of construction; and that parts of the same animal or plant, the functions of which are very different, likewise exhibit modifications of a common plan." It is difficult to understand the reasoning of the evolutionist on this point. If, as he maintains, all the life of the earth is the product of matter alone, it is difficult to see why organs of the same physical structure and a similar anatomical design, should not perform the same or similar functions. The facts mentioned indicate beyond question, infinite design, as the habit of the animal or function of the organ does not necessarily depend upon any special arrangement of the anatomical elements, but are directed by intelligent design ; in other words by the Infinite Mind. Darwinian Evolution Not Proven 103 The fifth argument of the Darwinian doctrinaire is "the obser- vation of the existence of structures in a rudimentary and appar- ently useless condition in one species of a group, which are fully developed and have definite functions in other species of the same group." This proves absolutely nothing. Notwithstanding our much boasted knowledge of physiology, it must be confessed we know but little. One thing is certain, nature is not prodigal of her re- sources. She never makes a useless organ. Every animal which possesses an organ is expected to use it and do so at the command of the Infinite Mind. Because one animal or species of a group possesses an organ less developed than the same organ in another animal or species of the same group, we are not justified in saying the animal does not use the organ. It may use the organ to a less degree and thus the organ may be less developed; but because our finite minds have not yet discovered the use of the organ we cannot affirm the organ is not used. We cannot reasonably say the organ is a useless relic of a formerly active mechanism and therefore proves lineal descent. The sixth argument in favor of organic evolution according to Darwin is "the observation of the effects of varying conditions in modifying living organisms." Life-forms are largely influenced by environment — geographical climatic, and nutritional. These forces undoubtedly modify life- forms more or less, but those changes are incidental to. the effort of the life-form to maintain itself in perfection and to transmit the best in itself to its posterity. It strives against environ- mental influences to keep intact what it has inherited from its ancestors, and to transmit these characters unimpaired to its posterity. Science maintains that acquired characters, that is those caused by reaction to environment, cannot be transmitted to the offspring; that only inherited characters, those derived from the ancestors, can be so transmitted. If this is true, then, ac- quired characters can play no part in the development of species. Furthermore, science maintains that inherited characters can only be transmitted to the offspring as stationary or degenerated. 104 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democra cy The parent can only transmit to the offspring what he himself possesses. He cannot transmit what he does not possess, but may fail to transmit all that he does possess. Now, if this is true, it is easily seen that heredity can play no part in the development of species; for the parent can only transmit to the offspring what he himself possesses; and if he cannot transmit his acquired characters, then, he can only transmit his inherited characters, and these only in the same or less degree that he himself possesses them. The seventh argument is "the observation of the fact of geo- graphical distribution of terrestrial life." The evolutionist affirms that the finding of various animals and plants in different regions of the planet disproves the possi- bility of a Deluge, but with what show of reason it is difficult to establish. For instance, he affirms that the finding of the Sloth in South America alone and the Onithorynchus in Australia alone disproves the possibility of these animals having been brought over to our times in the Noachic Ark — that had this been the method of their transmission, they would have been found else- where as well. This is logical if we are to forget the esoteric character of all sacred literature. The evolutionist adheres to literal interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures and loses sight of the fact that they are largely esoteric. Is it not a fact that many forms of preceding life-system escaped the destructive forces of the various geological revolutions and passed over to the suc- ceeding Era, notwithstanding the fact the succeeding life-systems was radically different from the preceding? The Sacred Script- ures, in describing the destruction of the life-system of the Quarternary and the saving of a few of its forms which came over to our own times, esoterically relate what had happened at each preceding revolution. Further, science affirms that the last geological revolution, which came within the experiecne of man and which has been called the Noachic Deluge, was felt chiefly in the northern latitudes of both continents. In view of these facts, where is the force of the evolutionist's argument? The Sacred Scriptures reconditely relate the general results of the great Quarternary revolution and expects these results to be interpreted broadly and in accord with human reason. Darwinian Evolution Not Proven 105 The eighth argument and the one on which the evolutionist ap- pears to depend chiefly for the support of the Darwinian doctrine, is that based upon the geographical, in conjunction with geological, distribution. He maintains that the fact that each succeeding life-system contains many features in common with that which preceded it, proves its descent from the preceding system. This is a very vulnerable conclusion, since it has in it the seeds of a fatal weakness. We have already seen that according to the scientific evidence at each great geological revolution certain life-forms escaped the general destruction and reappeared in the succeeding Bra. To this extent the succeeding era would certainly resemble the pre- ceding — but this does not prove that the dominant type of life in the succeeding era was derived from the life-system of the pre- ceding Bra. But scientists tell us that the characteristic life- system of each succeeding Bra was totally and radically different from that of the preceding Bra. Now, the Infinite Mind, in building the dominant and char- acteristic life-system of each succeeding era would not change the principles of creation, but would apply the same eternal and unalterable principles in the creation of the new and varying forms which were to dominate and characterize the new Bra. Just as the master-builder would apply the same unalterable principles of scientific building in the creation of the varying expressions of an advanced architecture ; and just as he is not com- pelled to first construct the simple edifice and then expand it into other and more elaborate structures; so the Infinite Mind is free to construct the complex forms of life without being under the necessity of deriving them from any simpler forms which may have preceded, it being content with applying the same creative principles in all. The same Infinite Wisdom which created the first living cell can as easily combine it in complex bodies. Man is not the creature of evolutionary accident. He is the product of intelligent creative design. This becomes evident upon reflection. Man, physically considered, is an aggregation of organs impelled by a strange and mysterious force known as the vital force. Scientists affirm that he reached his present development by evolving from the lower animal forms. They 106 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy tell us that natural selection, or the survival of the fittest, is a determining influence in shaping individual life and the evolu- tion of species. This is brought about, they tell us, by the organic activity of the individual in its efforts to conform to its environ- ment. They say that in this way the individual may eventually change its form and character altogether and thus create a new- species. But an individual cannot exist before it possesses organs, for it is the aggregation of organs which constitute the individual. Then, too, an organ must be functionally active before it can be affected by the forces of natural selection. And, further, function must follow physical organization; for the organ cannot function until it is formed. If this is true, will the evolutionist tell us what power formed the organ and bestowed upon it its function? Again, we are told by the scientists that acquired characters are not transmitted to the offspring. If this is true, they can have no influence on the development of species. Only inherited characters, we are told, are so transmitted, and then only as sta- tionary or degenerative. If, then, the savage possesses all the faculties of civilized man in an undeveloped state, and only re- quires experience and stimulation to bring them out, it follows that he must have inherited them from his ancestors and did not evolve them. This proves the savage to be a neglected or de- generate offspring of a once enlightened race and not the early human product of evolutionary forces. And as acquired char- acters cannot be transmitted according to the consensus of the most recent scientific thought, and as only inherited characters, scientists tell us, can be transmitted, it follows that man has not evolved his faculties, but was endowed with them at his creation. This statement is confirmed by Professor Max Muller who says : "What do we know of savage tribes beyond the last chapter of their history? Do we ever get an insight into their antecedents? How have they come to be what they are? Their language, in- deed, proves that these so-called heathens, with their complicated systems of mythology, their artificial customs, their unintelli- gible whims and savageries, are not the customs of today or yesterday. Unless we admit a special creation for these savages, Darwinian Evolution Not Proven 107 they must be as old as the Hindus and the Greeks and Romans. They may have passed through ever so many vicissitudes, and what we consider as primitive, may be, for all we know, a relapse into savagery or a corruption of something that was more rational and intelligeble in former stages." On the same subject Professor Rowlinson says: "There is no evidence that the primeval savage ever existed. Rather, all the evidence looks the other way." In another place this same writer says: "The mythical traditions of almost all nations place at the beginning of human history a time of happiness and per- fection, a 'golden age,' which has no features of savagery or bar- barism, but many of civilization and refinement." This doctrine is also confirmed by the words of Prof. T. W. Jones, when he says: "It has not been by any fundamentally improved development of his corporeal frame or mental capacity in the course of generations that man has advanced to his present state of civilization and knowledge, but by the preservation, com- munication and transmission of experience acquired in all the vari- ous ways of life in successive generations. This power to preserve, communicate and transmit the knowledge acquired by experi- ence is a grand and characteristic attribute of man, the wisdom and experience of the individual being thus not lost to society by his death." This accumulated knowledge of numberless epochs not only strengthens the human mind in its grapple with present day practical problems, but affords it a broader and more hopeful outlook upon the spiritual future ; and its innate candor will even- tually enable it to dispel all uncertainty which now hovers about the old intuitions of mankind, and to bring true science face to face with the unity and purity of truth. In view of the foregoing facts, we are forced to the conclusion that the science of geology and its cognate branches do not prove the truth of organic evolution. Per contra, they clearly disprove it, and yet the evolutionist depends chiefly upon this source for his supposed facts. The reader must bear in mind that no authenticated connecting- links have been found. All scientists have practically agreed 108 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy upon this point. If this is true, we believe it disproves the truth of Darwinian evolution, but let us briefly review scientific opinion on this subject. Professor Le Conte says: "The earliest men yet found are in no sense connecting-links between man and the ape. They are distinctly human. From the Psychozoic point of view it is sim- ply impossible to overestimate the space which separates man from all lower things." Professor W. A. Dawson, one of the brightest stars in the firmament of the scientific world, says on the same subject: "Darwinism seems to have entered upon a process of disinte- gration." Again, Professor Stalgle, the noted savant of Wurzburg, says: "Darwinism, for scientific circles at least, is at its last gasp. Wiseman, the toughest champion of Darwinism, can now write over all his works devoted to the rescue of the selective principle : l In vano labor avarnus.' " Professor Lyell says regarding the origin of Man: "The ex- pectation of always meeting with a lower type of human skull, the older the formation in which it occurs, is based on the theory of progressive development and it may prove to be sound; never- theless, we must remember that as )^et we have no distinct geo- logical evidence that the appearance of what we call the inferior races of mankind has always preceded in chronological order that of higher races." Apropos the same subject, Professor Max Muller, of the Uni- versity of Oxford, England, says: "Many things are still unin- telligible to us, and the hieroglyphic language of antiquity records but half of the mind's unconscious intuitions. Yet more and more the image of man, in whatever clime we meet him, rises before us, noble and pure from the very beginning; even his errors we learn to understand, even his dreams we begin to interpret. As far as we can trace back the footsteps of man, even on the lowest strata of history, we see the divine gift of a sacred and sober in- tellect belonging to him from the very first, and the idea of human- ity emerging slowly from the depths of an animal brutality can never be maintained again." Darwinian Evolution Not Proven 109 Along the same lines, Professor Virchow, as early as 1877, declared: "We cannot teach, we cannot pronounce it to be a conquest of science, that man descends from the ape or any other animal." Dana says of man : "The interval between the Monkey and Man is one of the greatest. The connecting-links between Man and any Man Ape of any past geological time have not been found, although earnestly looked for. No specimen of the stone age that has been discovered is inferior, as already remarked, to the lowest of existing man; and none is intermediate in essential characters between Man and the Man Ape." In speaking of man's earthly progress, Winchell says: "Is not man approaching nearer to God? How vastly less of the brute — how infinitely more of the spiritual!" Professor Kloatsch of Heidelburg also says of the doctrine of evolution: "It is no longer tenable." Professor Mivart says: "The descent of man (referring to Darwin's work) has utterly failed in the only part of his work that is really important; and if Darwin's failure should lead to an increase of philosophic culture on the part of physicists, we therein find some consolation for the injurious effects which his work is likely to produce on too many of our half-educated classes." Fraude, the English historian, in speaking of the ethical de- generacy of the times, says: "We live in days of progress and en- lightment ; nature on a hundred sides has unlocked her storehouse of knowledge, but she has furnished no open sesame to bid the mountain fly wide which leads to the conquest of self." This view is accepted by Professor Dawson, who, in speaking of the influence of the doctrine of Darwinian evolution upon the ethical development of the world, says: "It has stimulated to an intense degree that popular unrest so natural to an age discon- tented with its lot, and which threatens to overthrow the whole fabric of society as at present constituted." In other words, it has developed the selfish propensity of man almost beyond the limit of reasonable restraint. And does not this correspondingly encourage anarchy and social confusion? 110 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy John Fiske says, apologetically: "The evolution idea has been accepted by naturalists partly, because it has proved illu- minative in regard to other orders of facts; partly because it has been so useful in promoting and giving point to research; and partly because of so-called 'evidences/ which, though not demon- strative, have nevertheless a cumulative value in establishing a presumption in favor of the interpretation suggested. For it must be clearly recognized that the doctrine of organic evolution does not stand on a secure inductive basis, like, for instance, the doctrine of the conservation of energy, or the theory of gravita- tion." Further, the proponents of evolution are hopelessly divided among themselves. While maintaining the same conclusion they propose to reach a proof by various routes and hence are in irre- concilable conflict. This conflict of opinion can but leave doubt in the minds of thinking men as to the truth of their conclusions. After all, the supreme test of any particular doctrine is its effect on human character and its ultimate effect upon the character of human civilization. The doctrine of evolution cannot have an elevating effect upon the progress of man, as its chief tenet, the survival of the fittest, places a premium upon the destructive doctrine that might makes right, and thus appeals to the wholly selfish nature of man. It, therefore, must undermine the founda- tions of our whole social and ethical fabric. The steady decline in the ethical tone of the race everywhere manifest today is at- tributable, in no little degree, to a science which has been con- taminated and distorted by this unfortunate doctrine. It has so strongly and so strangely entrenched itself in modern thought and action that decades, if not centuries, will be required to eradi- cate it. But, in the meantime, untold injury will have been inflicted upon mankind. The evolutionist cannot rationally ask the human race to repudiate its time-honored traditions, sacred writings, and in- tuitions, to accept an illogical and wholly unproven theory of his own fabrication. What would he give the world instead? What but the darkest shadow materialism can cast upon the soul? Can he not perceive the ruinous trend of his materialistic philoso- Darwinian Evolution Not Proven 1 1 1 phy? In educating the selfish nature of man, he rives asunder the doctrine of the fellowship and brotherhood of man, already far too latent in the life of the world. How can he define the measure of his usefulness to the world, whatever his scientific at- tainments otherwise may be, when he observes the noblest achieve- ments of the human spirit tottering and falling through the subtle instillation of the materialistic poison flowing from his illogical and unproven doctrine? Does he not perceive that he panders to the grossest appetites of mankind? When at last human nature recoils from this erroneous doctrine, as it finally will, how must his theory stand in the judgment of the world? It will probably be regarded as one of the most unexplainable monstrosities of mental activity in the whole history of the human race. Then, let men beware of abandoning their Ancient Truth which has been transmitted to them from the remotest past through the most reliable agencies of tradition, inspired writings and their own intuitions, for the platitudes of an unproven and therefore unreliable theory which, in its very nature, is illogical and erroneous, since it bestows upon inert, dead matter a power that belongs to Deity alone. What an appalling price must the world pay for the destructive venom already instilled into modern civilization ! CHAPTER XI Antediluvian Life Thus we see that science maintains that man appeared upon the earth during the early part or middle of the Quarternary, and was contemporaneous with the great mammalian life of that time; that the earth's surface in northern latitudes was generally of low altitude and enjoyed a tropical climate even within the Arctic Circle; and that an abundant animal and vegetable life occupied the tropical northern latitudes of both continents. This is as far as science can go. It can tell us nothing about man's habits of life at this time, as all evidence relative thereto has been lost with the process of time. Written records cannot survive longer than the materials upon which they are printed, stained, or carved. But, as man is naturally a social being, we may be sure he had his social systems even at that early time. Science, how- ever, does assist us to the extent of saying that the evidence de- rived from the fossil remains indicate that man at that time was equally as susceptible of intelligence as his present descendant, and that his brain capacity was equal to, if it did not excell, that of present man. But more of this anon. But if science is silent on the subject of man's social life during Quarternary time, tradition and Holy Writ tell of man's glorious life at that time. We are told that earliest man lived in an ideal state known as Eden ; that the Adamic world was one of extreme beauty and splendor, in the midst of which man lived in harmony and peace. Above all tjiis earthly beauty and splendor the tropic- al sun shone with life-giving radiance and shed its energizing forces and power over the earth. A wondrous harmony charac- terized the relationship of the entire animal world ; partly, because at that time there were no truly carnivorous animals, and partly, because a luxuriant vegetation afforded ample sustenance for all. But eventually man, the only responsible being among the denizens of the Edenic world and master by nature over them all, elected to turn from the Truth, which constituted the divine laws of his being, to error, and thereby injected fear, suspicion, and Antediluvian Life 113 consequent discord, the offspring of ignorance, into the life of the world. By this act of man, falsehood, the reverse of Truth, and all its attending evils were introduced into the world, and disrupted harmony became the habit of terrestrial life. Thus man not only created strife in his own life, but, as the head and ruler of the animal world, transmitted his mental confusion to the life below himself, and discordant hate and suspicion then marked the relationship of all life-forms, and the present state of universal strife was inaugurated. Man, in his earliest estate, possessing the image of his Maker, which can only mean that he possessed the lofty spiritual attri- butes of his Creator in a finite degree, was practically perfect, though it may be, undeveloped, in his nature; and evil existed only in a potential state, inherent in his finite and limited condi- tion. But, being created with an independent, free and absolute will within his finite surroundings, man was free to worship the Truth or to reject it. He was, therefore, at liberty to choose spiritual inspiration or the allurements of material domination. He chose to yield to the latter and, thus becoming corrupted by the imperfections of the finite world, he fell from his high estate of spiritual purity and became cognizant of Good and Evil, and thus initiated that conflict between Truth and Error which still continues to distress his life. He has since fluctuated or oscil- lated between spiritual perfection and material or finite imper- fection; between Good and Evil. By ignoring the higher prompt- ings of the intuitions which the Creator planted in his conscious- ness to point the way to duty and responsibility, he largely lost his strong hold on his infinite source and entered upon his decline or degeneration — and has since suffered spiritual anguish and physical pain. This degeneration was not confined to man alone, but was inflicted upon the whole sentient or animal world. This doc- trine of animal degeneration since the great geological revolution of the Quar ternary period is not a mere chimera of the imagination, for science confirms this doctrine in unmistaken terms. It teaches that all animal species in the Quarternary were far more highly developed physically than their present descendants who bear the marks of degeneracy. In the words of the scientists, each of 1 14 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy the present species reached its "culmination in ages past," which means, of course, that at some past time they were more developed and nearer perfection than now. In other words, they have degenerated. This fact is confirmed by the observations of Pro- fessor Dana, who says: "Then the brutes of the middle Quarter- nary on all continents exceeded the moderns greatly in magni- tude; why, no one has explained." Again, on the same subject, Professor J. W. Dawson says: "Nothing is more evident in the history of fossil animals and plants of past geological ages than that persistence or degeneracy is the rule rather than the exception. We may almost say that all things left to themselves tend to degenerate, and only a new breathing of the Almighty Spirit can start them again on the path of advancement. This idea might perhaps form the basis of a new philosophy of Creation more profitable than that of evolu- tion." The individual struggles to protect itself against degeneracy and to transmit to its posterity the best that is in itself. In this struggle it finds it necessary to conform itself to environment and in this way may undergo certain alterations in habit and even in form. But whatever alterations in form may be made in the individual, are only incidental to the efforts to protect itself from the tendency to degeneration. Modern scientists affirm that heredity plays no part in effect- ing the changes in the individual organism, hence heredity fails to influence the evolution of species. They claim that natural selection must be depended upon to explain these various changes, and yet they declare that acquired characters are not transmitted to the offspring. These acquired characters, then, can play no part in the evolution of species. So we have a scientific confession that neither natural selec- tion nor heredity, has any effect in the so-called evolution of species, let alone of genera. It has been scientifically proven that evolution cannot be ef- fected through the union of different species or genera, as such products are sterile. Varieties may unite with varieties to pro- duce fertile varieties; but species cannot unite with species to Antediluvian Life 115 produce fertile species. The result in this caste is an infertile hybrid incapable of reproducing its kind. And the law is even more inexorable, if possible, in the case of genera. Will the scientists tell us, then, what does accomplish the evolution of species? Will the evolutionist not admit that after all the doctrine of Darwinian evolution may be erroneous, and that the slight changes noticeable in the individual form, which he supposes point to organic evolution, may be called forth by the efforts of the individual to protect itself against the tendency to degeneration? It is evident, then, that the facts of both science and history, sacred and profane, concur in the doctrine of human and animal degeneration. It is true that this degeneration has not been un- interrupted; for there have been fluctuations of progression and. retrogression during all ages; but, it is nevertheless true that the decline has been steady. This degeneration in the case of man has been chiefly spiritual, but it has also been expressed in his physical organization as well. Present man is a physical weakling compared to his ancestors, or palaeocosmic parents, of the Quar- ternary, nor does he seem to possess the same capacity of mind. But we must not here confuse natural capacity with intellectual development. Man's knowledge of the physical universe has in- creased with time through the influence of experience. Macnamara, in referring to the mental capacity of primitive man, especially Cro-Magnon and Mentone, declares: "Their cranial capacity was above that of average Europeans of the present day." De Quaterfages says, on the brain capacity of earliest man: "Thus, in the savage of Quarternary ages who had to fight gainst the mammoth with stone weapons, we find all those cranial characters generally considered as the sign of great intellectual development." CHAPTER XII The Deluge Universal tradition, science and Holy Writ all tell us of a great calamity which befell the earth in the pre-historic past and involved all terrestrial life in common ruin. The description of this great revolution is derived from two chief sources, Holy Writ and science. Biblical Narrative Holy Writ tells us that man's continued degeneracy, his con- tinued refusal to align himself with the Truth, finally brought about his destruction in the great cataclysm, known as the Deluge of which universal tradition, as we have seen, has taken notice. Is this unreasonable, especially when we recall man's place in nature ? The universe is a concept in the Divine Mind. Man is a part of the universe and hence has a place in the Divine thought. But man was created in the image of his Maker, hence possesses the mental and spiritual qualities of his Maker in a finite degree. Man is the mental and spiritual head of the finite world. His thought, then, must dominate the finite world in which he lives. But man's thought should accord with that of his Maker; the contrary reverses the proper order of things and ushers into the finite world confusion and conflict. If man is the mental and spiritual image of his Maker and is the head of the finite world, what would happen were he to enter into conflict with his Creator? Since all is the product of mind, would not this conflict between the finite and infinite minds, initiated by the power of free will, result in confusion and chaos in the finite world? Would this not ex- plain the words of Holy Writ when it tells of the cause of this great cataclysm? At any rate, we are told that in some mysterious way the harmony of the elements, land, air and water, was destroyed ; the cloudless skies suddenly became darkened with ominous clouds, and cyclonic winds, floods of rain, and ocean deluges rent the peaceful earth with awful destruction; so that its former Edenic The Deluge 117 appearance was lost, and all life perished except the few forms miraculously preserved to repeople our own Era. We are told that "the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened." Can we reasonably doubt the agency of the earth's Creator in these great changes? How could these great forces operate on the earth without the authority of the Great Source from whence they sprung? Such, indeed, is the substance of the Sacred Narrative in its description of the Deluge. Scientific Narrative Let us now turn to the facts of geology and determine what bearing they have on this subject. All geologists affirm that a great change came over the earth during Quarternary times which resulted in the destruction of the great mammalian life of that time and man himself. Thus Professor Dana, in speaking of the great change, says: "The Quarternary Era was remarkable for oscillations of the level and climatic changes in the high latitudes." Professor Le Conte says on the same subject: "We have al- ready seen that between the great eras and perhaps also at other times, there have been periods of oscillation of the earth's crust and therefore changes of physical geography marked by uncon- formity of strata and apparent change of species. These have been the critical periods of the earth's history. "Now, the Quarternary is also a critical period between the Cenozoic Era and modern times. Old geologists regarded these changes as sudden and cataclysmic. All geologists now regard this suddenness as largely apparent and the result of lost record." But will the evolutionist explain how the record was lost in a gradual change? Would not connecting-links between the life- systems be found if the changes were gradual and organic evolu- tion were true? If not, why not? Again, if the changes were gradual, why would there be unconformities in the strata? Why speak of Eras at all ? The fact that the physical conditions justify dividing the earth's history into Eras shows there are great divid- 118 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy ing lines created by physical changes, and that these changes were much more evident and marked at certain times than at others. These changes were so violent in character as to change the whole physical aspect of the earth by disarranging the normal course of stratification. Imperceptible changes in the physical condition of the earth, as the scientists claim the revolutions to have been, would not produce such disturbances of normal pro- cesses as are evident in the "inter-eral" commotions. In commenting upon the geographical and climatic changes of this time, Le Conte further says: "There seems to be no doubt that during the Quarternary there were wide spread oscillations of the earth's crust in high latitudes and a general co-incidence of climatic changes with these oscillations. "Furthermore, there is little doubt that the cold and ice accu- mulations were attended with northern elevation, and the moder- ation of temperature and melting of the ice with subsidence in the same region, but the coincidence of the climatic changes with the crust oscillations were not exact." Nor would we natur- ally expect them to be. It would require some time after the elevation for the tropical continent to cool, and hence the frigid climate would lag behind the physical change or elevation as a cause. Grew says of the ice-age of the period: "For some reason or reasons concerning which there has been a great deal of specula- tion, but not a large amount of agreement, the closing stages of the last geological era which preceded our own and which links the great past with the present, were distinguished by cold and by wide-spread fields of ice. The whole world felt its effects, even in tropical regions ice and glaciers occurred on mountains where they did not exist before, and do not exist now." Thus scientists universally agree that just before the dawn of the Modern, or Psychozoic Era, great revolutionary changes occurred in the earth's elements, land, air and water, which re- sulted in the extinction of the great mammalian life of which man was a part. This much is conceded by all scientists, and is proven by finding the remains of man and the great mammals of that period everywhere over the continents of America and The Deluge 119 Eurasia. The fact is very obstinately maintained by Dupont, Dawson and others that "primitive man disappeared somewhat suddenly with the great mammals at the last great subsidence in Western Europe." While this declaration is in the main cor- rect, it errs in limiting the action of the destructive forces to west- ern Europe, as the facts show the disaster was commensurate at least with the northern latitudes of both continents. This great geological disturbance was what science denominates a geological revolution, but what universal tradition and the Sacred Writings describe as the Deluge. There have been four of these great changes in the earth's surface, but the fourth and last, falling within the experience of man, has been transmitted to us in his traditions. Thus, it seems certain, if we are to accept scientific, traditional and Biblical declaratoins, that man and the great mammalian life of the Quarternary, with which he was contemporary and a part, perished in the great disturbance closing the period. About this there can be no possible doubt. But let us inquire a little more minutely into the nature of this great change. Was it sudden and cataclysmic, as affirmed by tradition and the Sacred Writings, or was it gradual and imper- ceptible, as taught by science? Now, scientists tell us that during the time of the great human and mammalian development in the Quarternary, the surface of both continents in northern lati- tudes were of low altitude, and that a tropical climate prevailed even within the Arctic Circle ; that there were no high mountains in these regions of the earth; and that an abundant vegetation of tropical character covered the generally level stretches of the continents. They further tell us that in the midst of this great life-development, a destructive disturbance occurred involving in its wake the ruin of terrestrial life. These declarations are con- firmed by the finding of human and mammalian remains in the numerous caves and river- deposits of Europe. These fossil- remains have been found associated as though they had met a common fate. Even the remains of the domestic animals, in- cluding the dog, goat, sheep and ox, which constituted a part of the Quarternary mammals, and the cereals, wheat and barley, along with fruits, apples and blackberries, have been found asso- ciated with the remains of Palaeocosmic man. 120 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy The traditions of the entire race teem with reference to this great disaster. No race, however distantly separated from its neighbor, is without its tradition of the great catastrophe. The Sacred Writings and tradition describe the great event as sudden and cataclysmic in character. One thing is certain, tradition would not transmit the knowledge of a change so gradual as to be imperceptible to the life of the globe, as scientists claim these changes to have been; and it is not more certain that the Holy Writings would have done so; for, if the changes were so gradual as to be imperceptible to the life of the globe, where would be the wisdom of recording it? What benefit could man, as a creature, be expected to derive from a knowledge of an im- perceptible change? The old geologists regarded this great change as sudden. In this they agree with tradition and the Sacred Writings, but differ radically from their modern successors who take the view that it was exceedingly gradual and imperceptible to life on the globe. But although modern scientists are inclined to believe this change was gradual and imperceptible to the life of the planet, the geo- logical facts are wholly at variance with this view. But let us consider then somewhat critically. It has already been said that the Quarternary, the last period of the Cenozoic Bra and the time of man's appearance on the earth and of the great mammalian development, was a critical period between the Cenozoic Era and the Psychozoic, our own Era — a time when the tropical climate gave place to arctic cold. Scien- tists tell us that during the Quarternary revolution the northern latitudes of both continents were elevated; on the American continent, to a height of several thousand feet, and on the con- tinent of Eurasia, to a similar or even greater altitude. These facts are shown by the discovery of sea shells and the remains of marine animal species, still extant, at varying degrees of ele- vation on these continents. In the southern part of New England the elevation amounts at present, after the subsidence, to 40 or 50 feet; about Boston from 75 to 100 feet; in Maine, to 200 feet; on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to 470 feet; in Labrador, to 1,500 feet; and in other regions farther north, to 2,000 feet or more. The Deluge 121 Probably the greatest elevation occurred about 70° to 75° North Latitude. These are the measurements of the present elevations ; but in the beginning, when the elevation reached its maximum, it probably amounted to many times the present altitude. Roth-Wheeker, in discussing the cause which led to Quarter- nary cold, says: "If one accepts the conclusion drawn from the prolongation of land-valleys upon the sea-floors to a depth of many hundred feet, and from the distribution of dead littoral and shallow-water shells down to a depth of six thousand or eight thousand feet in the North Atlantic, it can be seen a vast area of high land would, under these conditions, have existed." Suppose these areas, before the elevation, were near the sea level, and greatly indented by numerous great bays and inland seas, and inhabited by man and the great mammals of the period and supported an abundant tropical flora as the scientists inform us, what would have been the result of their sudden elevation to a height of 6,000 to 8,000 feet or more? What would have been the effect of the sudden displacement of such vast areas of water? Would not the piling up of such vast quantities of water in the regions south of the disturbances result in a recoil and send a vast tidal wave over the lower stretches of the elevated areas? Would not this occurrence accord with the Biblical nar- rative where reference is made to "the breaking up of the foun- tains of the great deep?" What could "the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep" mean if not a tidal wave? Again, would not such a sudden upheaval to the extent men- tioned be likely to result in a fracture in the earth's crust some- where in the south along a line running generally east and west? If so, could not that line of fracture have taken place in the neigh- borhood of the Great Lakes and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Ameri- ca, and the Mediterranean and Red seas on the Eastern Conti- nent? Could not these bodies of water have been created in this way? It is not to be supposed that such an upheaval would affect all parts of the tilted areas to the same degree. Some parts would suffer more, others less. This would result in great in- equalities of the elevated surface, producing salt-water lakes, which on receiving the fresh water of the newly created rivers 122 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy would in time become fresh- water bodies, and eventually become smaller and shallower until present conditions are reached. And, again, it may be asked: If the northern areas of both continents before the upheaval were near the sea-level and en- joyed a tropical or semi-tropical climate and, as we are informed by scientists, supported a tropical fauna and flora as indicated by fossil remains, what would have happened if these areas were suddenly elevated to a height of 6,000 or 8,000 feet or more? Would it not have resulted in a great change of climate? Would not the tropical climate have given place to Arctic temperature? Again, would not the rapid change from warm to cold climate have resulted in the condensation of the aqueous vapors in the super-saturated tropical atmosphere and produce great torrential rains? And would not this result have occurred simultaneously with, or follow quickly in the wake of, the ocean inundation? Would not the great tidal inundation and vast torrential rains fully satisfy the description of Holy Writ when it says: "The fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were open?" To what else can this reference be made? CHAPTER XIII Deluge — Continued Professor Louis Figuier, in speaking of the Deluge, says: "There is very distinct evidence of two successive deluges in our hemisphere (Eastern) during Quarternary epoch." And he refers their causes to the sudden upheaval of the land surface and the resulting tidal waves from the ocean. He says: "The land sud- denly elevated by an upward movement of the terrestrial crust, or by the formation of ridges and furrows at the surface, has by its action violently agitated the waters, that is to say, the more mobile portions of the globe. By this new impulse the waters have been thrown with great violence over the earth." Again, would not the change of climate, after its initial effect upon the watery vapors in the form of rain, result in the precipi- tation of vast quantities of snow? If so, would it not account for the vast ice-sheet which covered the northern latitudes of both continents in the latter part of the Quarternary period and which has not yet entirely disappeared? The scientists agree that near the end of the Quarternary, the climate changed from a semi-tropical or tropical to a frigid tem- perature with all its attending consequences, and account for the great glacial blanket, or ice-sheet, in this way. They, therefore, ac- count for the Drift in the same way, but they aver that the eleva- tion of the land surface was gradual and not sudden, and that its consequences must have been gradual and not sudden. But the facts do not substantiate their views, as we shall proceed to show. But before proceeding with the argument we shall refer briefly to what Professor Le Conte says concerning that peculiar forma- tion known as the Drift. He says : "Strewn all over the northern part of North America, over hill and dale, over mountain and valley, covering alike nearly all the country rock, Archaean, Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Tertiary, to a depth of from 30 to 300 feet, and largely concealing them from view, is found a peculiar surface soil or deposit. It consists of a heterogeneous mixture of clay, sand, gravel, pebbles, subangular stones, all sizes, unassorted, 124 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy unstratified, unfossiliferous — of all sorts of material — on all sorts of bed-rock, wholly unrelated to the underlying rock and there- fore universally shifted." When this formation was first observed, scientists attributed it to powerful currents of water and hence called it diluvium. This Drift is found universally over the northern hemispheres of both continents and is now attributed to the action of a universal ice-sheet. Whatever the cause of these great changes now under consider- ation, all scientists practically agree that they were synchronous on both continents and occurred simultaneously with the up- heaval of the Sierra range of mountains in America, the Alps in Europe, and the Caucasus range in Western Asia ; but they appear to doubt any connection between the upheaval of these mountains and the elevation of the continents. But could not the same forces which upheaved the mountain ranges also elevate the continents? If not, why not? Again, are the scientists positive that they are in possession of sufficient data to prove their contention regarding the gradual operation of the upheaving forces? Would a gradual action ac- count for all the observed facts? But more will be said on this subject in succeeding pages. In Eurasia the ice-sheet, already referred to, descended as far south as 50° North Latitude, while in America it came down as far as 38° or 40°. At the same time on both continents mountain glaciers in the south became vastly more active. Following these continental elevations there occurred, in time, continental subsidences, which, by raising the temperature, account for the steady receding of the ice-sheet to its present limits, the uncovering of the terrestrial surface and the revival of life- forms on both continents. During the great revolution, cataclysm, or Deluge, all animal life, as previously said, perished, and in the caverns, on the beaches, river-terraces, in ice-cliffs, frozen soils, and marshes, their fossil remains are to be seen telling the story of their common destruction. The Deluge 125 Professor Le Conte, in speaking of these fossil remains, says: "The mammalian remains of this time (Quarternary) are found in Europe — (1) in caverns where in great numbers they have be- come entombed; (2) on beaches and terraces where their floating carcasses have been stranded; (3) in marshes and peat-bogs where venturing in search of food they have mired and perished; (4) in ice-cliffs and frozen soils where they have been hermetically sealed and preserved to the present time." In further commenting on the caverns as depositories of fossil remains, he says: "They are rich in organic remains to a degree which is almost incredible. One of the most striking peculiarities of these remains is that they often consist of a heterogeneous mixture of all kinds, carnivorous and herbivorous, and all sizes, from the elephant and cave-bear on the one hand, down to rats and weasels on the other." Here are piled the remains of the elephant, rhinocerous, hippo- potamus, Irish-elk, horse, ox, sheep, goat, cave-bear, cave-hyena, cave-lion, saber-toothed tiger, and others in most marvellous profusion. In the Kirkdale cave in England, the remains of 300 cave- hyenas alone have been found, while in the cavern of Gaibenreuth, in Franconia, the remains of 800 cave-bear alone have been dis- covered. In a cave in Portland, England, the remains of 1,000 cave- bear alone have been unearthed, while in a cave in the Island of Sicily, 20 tons of hippopotamus bones have been removed. And these are only a few of the remains mentioned by scientists. Now, under what conditions did these vast accumulations take place? How came these animals to perish together? And will any one, reasonably disposed, deny that they did perish together? How came these various forms of mammalian life to perish together if they were not impelled by a desire to escape a common catastrophe? Is it not practically certain that they were fleeing a common danger which dispelled for the time all sense of fear among them? On beaches and river-terraces also great quantities of animal re- mains have been discovered. These carcasses have floated here and 126 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy have been entombed by the depositing silt. The most note- worthy and remarkable of these discoveries is on the coast oj England, in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, where the re- mains of 500 mammoths alone have been found. How came so many of these animals to perish in so limited an area? If they did not perish here, they must at least have perished in masses and drifted here. But what destroyed so large a number of them? Can the scientists of today point to a similar aggregation under modern conditions where the animals have perished from natural causes? These animals must have perished in a common disaster, and their remains drifted here and became entombed in the river and ocean deposits. The great ice-sheet of the north also shows the remains of thousands of the mammoth, some of which have been so perfectly preserved that dogs and wolves have fed on their carcasses. Some of these animals even show the food, consisting of semi-tropical vegetation, still in the stomach. Surely, this would indicate the sudden death of the animal. How came these animals to be cap- tured in the ice? Is it not certain that the destruction which overtook them was sudden and cataclysmic in character, at any rate not gradual. If it was not sudden, why did not the ani- mals escape southward to warmer climates? All these various animals above mentioned perished in their natural habitats through a common calamity. And was not that calamity incidental to the elevation of the continents, which scientists affirm to have taken place near the end of the Quarter- nary, bringing in its wake, first, vast torrential rains and tidal waves to be quickly followed by immense precipitations of snow? Why reject an explanation so simple and so fully in accord with geological facts and the universal traditions and Sacred Writings of man? It must be remembered that the ice-sheet did not extend south of 50° north latitude in Europe and Asia, or south of 40 north latitude on the American continent. This would place the region called Mesopotamia south of the ice-sheet. This region, then, would only have been visited by the torrential rains and the tidal waves of the ocean, while nearly all of central Europe would have been covered with glacial ice. The Deluge 127 Professor Geike, in commenting on the remains of the mammal- ian fauna of the Quarternary, says: "So abundant, indeed, are the remains of the mammoth (which inhabited all Europe and Asia during the Quarternary) that for many years they have actually been quarried for the sake of the ivory — in 1820 no less a quantity than 20,000 pounds of this product having been ob- tained from New Siberia alone." Geike's assertion is confirmed by Flower and Lydekken who say: "In the middle of the tenth century an active trade was carried on at Khiva. They (the remains of the mammoth) are found in all suitable places along the whole line of the shore between the mouth of the Obi and Behring Straits, and the farther north, the more numerous they become; the Islands of New Siberia being now one of the favorite collecting locations. The soil of Bear Island and LeochorT Island is said to consist only of sand and ice with such quantities of mammoth bones as almost to compose its chief substance." In discussing the mammoth remains in north Asia, Professor Figuier says: "New Siberia and Leochoff Islands are for the most part only an agglomeration of sand, ice and elephant tusks At every tempest the sea casts ashore new quantities of mammoth tusks. The supply from these strange diggings apparently re- mains practically undiminished. What a number of the accumu- lated generations of these bones and tusks does not this profusion imply." But why should we suppose these accumulations represent the product of unlimited generations? Is not ivory also perishable? Would ivory survive the destructive chemistry of the earth for unlimited ages? Why could not these accumula- tions represent the sudden destruction of herds of these animals fleeing from a common catastrophe? Do not the facts practically prove it to unbiased minds ? In some of the fossil beds of America the remains of this same fauna are found in vast quantities. For instance, the Jackson beds forced the redoubtable Dana, in speaking of their size and abundance, to declare: "The large vertebrae, some of them one and one-half feet long and one foot in diameter, were formerly so abundant over the country in Alabama that they were used for making walls or were burned to rid the fields of them." 128 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy Again, in regard to the fossil remains in the western part of the country, Professor Marsh says: "The remains of the Oreo- dontidae occur in such vast numbers as to indicate that these animals must have lived in large herds around the borders of the lake-basins in which their remains have been entombed." Now, how are we to explain all these strange facts except upon the supposition of some sudden calamity overtaking the mammal- ian life of the earth? Would any one have the temerity to affirm that the aggregation of these vast remains in Europe, Asia and America indicate the normal distribution of the living animals? Do not the facts indicate beyond the possibility of any other reasonable explanation that these animals herded together in caves and elsewhere for protection against a common danger and met death in a common catastrophe? If not, how came them to perish in such aggregations, some of them even having the food yet in the stomach. Surely, this latter fact, coupled with that of the perfect preservation of the animals, would indicate that they met a sudden death and were entombed in rapidly accumulating ice. What can all this mean but that some sudden destruction of the balance of the forces controlling the land, air and water of the planet must have taken place during Quarternary times as told by universal tradition, Holy Writ and science, involving its fauna and flora, especially the former, in common ruin. The present operation of the earth's forces will not explain these phe- nomena. We must look to other and more turbulent action. The stratigraphical and palaeontological evidence, then, is that these great animals in various parts of the earth met their death at or near the same time and suddenly, so we are informed by science. But a universal, sudden and simultaneous effect would indicate a universal, simultaneous and sudden cause. Hence the universal, simultaneous and sudden death of the Quarternary fauna would indicate a universal, simultaneous and sudden cause — the Diluvian Cataclysm. And this is what universal tradition and Holy Writ, and the scientific facts properly inter- preted, teach us. We must conclude, then, that Quarternary life, including Palaeocosmic man, was destroyed in a great and universal cata- The Deluge 129 clysm which scientists denominate a geological revolution, but which the Holy Writings and universal tradition call the Deluge or Flood. It must be said in fairness that modern scientists maintain that this revolution was exceedingly slow and gradual; but such a change would be a development and not a revolution. The word "revolution" signifies a sudden and violent movement and not a steady, regular and quiet change. Scientists in selecting the proper term for this change are peculiarly unfortunate in selecting the word "revolution," if they meant to convey the idea of a slow and quiet movement in the direction of physical and vital development. Thus we see that universal tradition, the Sacred Writings, and science all declare a great catastrophe to the earth and its life-forms in the geological period preceding the present, and that present life on the earth has sprung from the life-remnant coming over from Quarter nary times. CHAPTER XIV Post-Diujvian Life Let us now proceed to a very brief survey of the history of post-diluvian life, with special reference to man. Here, too, we have two different accounts ; one given by the Scriptural narrative, the other told by modern science. Biblical Narrative Let us first take up and briefly discuss the Biblical view of post- diluvian life. When at last the Great Cataclysm had spent its fury, and the land surface had again reappeared and become fit for human habitation, the Creator issued His order to the Patriarch Noah: "Go forth of the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons and thy sons' wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee of all flesh, both of fowl and cattle, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth ; that they may breed abundantly on the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth." Which command we are told was obeyed. We are also told that Noah upon leaving the ark erected an altar and wor- shipped thereat, thus proclaiming in the post-diluvian world the Sacred Truth and Philosophy of his ante-diluvian ancestors. We are also informed by the Sacred Writings that Noah became a husbandman and tilled the soil, which would appear to be the most natural vocation for him and his immediate posterity in their new environment; but these writings are wholly silent as to how long it was after the Deluge he began that labor. But after enumerating the sons of Shem, Ham and Japheth, they inform us that Nimrod, the son of Kush and great-grandson of Noah, and his descendants, grew great and established a kingdom consisting of several cities in the land of Shinar, and that from this central locality all the descendants of Noah were finally dispersed to other parts of the earth in fulfillment of Divine command. The Sacred Writings do not deny the existence of other "species" of the "genus" Homo, but concern themselves almost entirely with Post-Diluvian Life 131 the "species" Homo-sapiens — the Caucasian race. Not only do they not deny the existence of other "species" of the "genus" Homo, but they clearly indicate there were other "species" when they declare: "The Sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all they chose. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that when the Sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bear children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." There is no evidence whatever that the Sons of God were the descendants of Cain, as supposed by some. One thing appears certain, they belonged to a different race from ours. They were not Caucasians. Then, who were the Sons of God?' They are clear- ly indicated by the Scriptural Writings to be different from the Adamic race. When the daughters of men are spoken of as being "fair" it may mean they were fair of complexion as contradis- tinguished from the darker complexion of the associate race. Could these Sons of God have been Mongolians or the ante- cedents of that race? It is most likely that the yellow, brown and red races all sprung from one common stock. This seems to be proven by similarity of ethnical type. If we are correct in this supposition, it becomes evident that there are only three great races of men instead of five — the Yellow, Turanian, or Mongolian ; the Caucasian, White, or Noachic; and the Black race. The Scriptural Writings appear to refer incidentally to the Turanian race in its reference to the Sons of God marrying with the daughters of men, but mentions the Black race not at all. However, this is not to say that all races did not originally possess the same Divine Truth and may not now equally share in the blessings which flow from it. Scientific Narrative After the great revolution had come to an end, and the re- ad- justment of the changed earth and its surviving life-forms had been completed, modern or present fauna and flora were established and the Psychozoic Era began. Science affirms that Palaeocosmic man, after the great revolu- tion, was succeeded in western Asia and in Europe by Neolithic 132 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy man, but only after a long interval. That is to say, a long period passed in which man does not appear in the geological record. The great ice-sheet had to melt from the plains of Europe, before he could make his habitation there. The fury of the Great Cataclysm seems to have been felt chiefly in western Asia and Europe. This affirmation is substantiated by Professor Figuier who says: "The Asiatic Deluge of which sacred history has transmitted to us the few particulars we know, was the result of the upheaval of a part of a long chain of moun- tains which are a prolongation of the Caucasus." This probably accounts for the lack of human remains during the interval to which reference has been made. Man had not yet had time to recover from the shock of the Deluge and to migrate from central or eastern Asia into the devastated regions; and even when he did, the Mongolian preceded the Caucasian by many centuries. This was probably natural, as the Mongolian race, we are led to believe, was older and more numerous than the Caucasian, and inhabited a region far less affected by the forces of the Deluge. That man came from Asia there is abundant evidence. Professor Le Conte says : "Nevertheless, we must not forget that the cradle of mankind was probably in Asia. Man came to Europe from Asia." Professor Figuier says: "We consider the human race as having appeared for the first time in the rich plains of Asia." And this is the consensus of scientific opinion which accords with the affirmation of the Sacred Writings. Now, science tells us that in prehistoric times the Sumerians, a Turanian or Mongolian race, established a great empire in western Asia in the Tigris-Euphrates valley, and that in course of time the Semitic race (the descendants of Noah) amicably settled in the southern part of this empire near the head of the Persian Gulf in what was afterwards known as the Land of Shinar. Here the two peoples developed together, until the Noachidae, or Semites, became sufficiently powerful to establish their own kingdom. This kingdom in time became very powerful and cul- tured and eventually sent out its colonies to other parts of the world. Strictly speaking, these were not true colonies but mi- Post-Diluvian Life 133 gratory tribal excursions, which finally planted Caucasian civili- zation and supremacy over the earth. Some of these tribes, known as the Hamites, fixed themselves in western Asia and north- ern Africa. The Japetians migrated to central Asia, or the land of Bactria. The Semites proper settled on the Tigris River, in Syria, in Palestine, and in Arabia. The Neolithic, or Mongolian, race which first made its appear- ance in Europe, after the great Disaster, comprised the Iberians, or Lake Dwellers. Neolithic man was a member of the "genus" Homo, but not of the "species" Homo-Sapiens — not a member of the Caucasian race — not Palaeocosmic man, the Noachic ancestor of our western races. These Iberians, in the course of time, were supplanted by the Japhetic Celts from the land of Bactria, and eventually found their way to the northern coast of Africa and Egypt where they became known as Libyans and where they were residing when conquered by the Hamites of the Tigris-Euphrates valley. On the fate of the Mongolian Iberians or Lake-dwellers of post-glacial Europe, Professor Lefevre says: "The primitive European populations are interrupted in their special evolution; and without perishing, become absorbed in other races, engulfed by successive races of migration overflowing from Africa and from prolific Asia, forerunners of the great Aryan invasion." The Celt was the first representative of the Adamic or Cau- casian race in Europe. He was a descendant of Japheth. After the Celts, came in succession the Pelasgians, Germans, and Slavs, all Japetians or Aryans, whose descendants are now found in the Latins, Anglo-Saxons, Teutons, and Slavs of present Europe. Science teaches, therefore, that the fauna and flora of the present period have descended from those of Quarternary times, and in these particulars it does not differ from the teachings of the Holy Writings. CHAPTER XV The Final Triumph of Truth But there are indications that the Great Truth is about to dawn again upon the stricken world. Man needs more light and he is beginning to see the necessity of divesting the original Truth of its deforming disguises. Though the darkness of ignorance and superstition still obscure the light of Truth ; though in every phase of human life, political, commercial, economical, social, and reli- gious, falsehood and error have hatched their iniquitous broods; though on every side the hand of man is raised against God and man; though purity in religion, politics, and the business world has been well nigh wrecked by the clash of selfish interest ; though the appeals of injured humanity and the doleful laments of out- raged justice are stifled and smothered by the Saturnalian laughter of wicked systems; though murder, rapine, and debasing lusts have raised their visages above the turbid waters of national life and have injected their paralyzing toxins into the body-politic of nations, until racial and national hope is threatened with extinc- tion; yet above all this confusion, above all this anarchy of mental stress and strain, the human heart still yearns for the Infinite, and the human mind still struggles for more Truth and Light. Not a little of this universal consternation is attributable to the mental confusion of the world brought about by the cruel and heartless doctrine of Darwinian evolution — that doctrine in which might is declared to be right, that ethical responsibility rests wholly upon utilitarian considerations, and that responsi- bility to God and spiritual duty are but fit to be considered by the ignoramus and the imbecile. This fallacious doctrine has tainted all modern thought with the destructive canker of skepticism. For more than a century, not only has secular thought been influenced by it, but even religious thought has surrendered, in large measure, to its seductive power, and has for decades been endeavoring to reconcile the declarations of the Sacred Writings with it. In other words, the exponents of The Final Triumph of Truth 135 religious thought have largely surrendered the foundation of their faith — the inspiration of the Holy Writings — to an unproven and therefore uncertain and unreliable assumption. And all this upon the assertion of a few men who call themselves scientists; who, while complaining of the tyranny of religious dogma, have set up in its stead a scientific dogma no less intollerant of freedom of thought and judgment! What an astounding influence the scientific will has exercised upon the mind of mankind! It would be incredible, if it were not demonstrated b}^ actual experience. The noblest achievements of the spirit are behind us, and the very best ethical aspirations of the present are but the shadowy vestiges of the golden age of man, when at his creation he received the glorious Intuitional Truths which were to constitute his guide in his earthly pilgrimage. These were the dominating concepts of his life and were to lead him through the shadowy valleys of the materialistic world onward to his promised destination in a perfect life. It is the same Old Truth which still proclaims in unbroken accents Man's duty to God, his country, his neighbor and himself, and points to a nobler prospect beyond the present life. It tells us that after our labors and sorrows here are ended, we shall find rest in the pleasant fields which lie beyond the finite change called Death — a rest unbroken and undisturbed. In these last reflections no attempt is made to suggest the particular arrangement which the almighty, in His wisdom, has formed in relation to the future destination or the circumstances under which redeemed man may exist beyond the grave. This is not for us to know. But from a study of His vast works of creation we may derive an apprehension of the infinite power of Deity, His wisdom and beneficence, and upon these we help- lessly and confidently rely. Without taking into account the sublime manifestations of Deity, as exhibited in His universal creation, our ideas of celestial bliss, which the Holy Writings promise that we shall enjoy be- yond the finite world we now occupy, would be very vague and confused; and our hopes of full and perpetual enjoyment in the future state, extremely feeble and indefinite. But, by means of 136 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Demvcracy the noble faculties with which we have been endowed, we have been enabled to penetrate into the vast fields of Truth, wisdom and beneficence everywhere displayed in the universe, and to derive therefrom those facts upon which we are enabled to base our convictions not only of an estatic but of a useful existence beyond the grave. And since we find that the actual works of God are so great beyond all measure, so widely extended and so magnificent in the scale of their operation, it is of the utmost importance in a reli- gious and philosophic view that the mind accustom itself to range at large through the wide extent of creation, to trace by analogy from what is known the probable magnitude, arrangement and grandeur of what is removed beyond the limits of our vision; to add magnitude to magnitude, system to system, and motion to motion, till our thoughts are overwhelmed with the idea of God's vast and mighty dominion, and our souls are compelled to call out in dismay : ' 'Great and wondrous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty ! Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of Saints!" It is, there- fore, the imperative duty of every man, who makes any preten- sion to prudence and rationality, to persistently endeavor to have his mind continually impressed with the conviction of the reality of the future and invisible world beyond our present finite abode ; to consider its importance and to contemplate in the light of in- tuition, reason, and revelation, the grand and supremely solemn scenes which it displays. While the least doubt hovers upon hi s mind in relation to this subject, he should give himself no rest until it is dispelled. He should explore every avenue where light and information may be obtained. He should prosecute his researches with the same earnestness and avidity as the miser digs for hidden treasure; and above all things he should study and contemplate with deep attention and humility the revelations contained in the Holy Scriptures, with earnest and contrite prayer to Deity for light and direction. "If thou criest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasure; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God; for the Lord giveth wisdom, and out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understand- The Final Triumph of Truth 137 ing. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path. Then shall thy light break forth in obscurity, and thy darkness shall be as the noon-day." Be not deceived, then, truth-seeking reader, by the unproven platitudes of that science which, in the nature of things, must con- fine itself to the consideration of the finite; but cleave to that Ancient Truth which was man's guiding star in the morning of the world; and which, however much it may from time to time be obscured by the imperfections of falsehood and error, will nevertheless, ever and anon, spring anew in the human heart and grow at last with increasing effulgence even into the full light of day. May God hasten the approach of that day when Truth shall resume her beneficent sway over the fallen races of men. "One in the freedom of the Truth, One in the joy of paths untrod, One in the souVs perennial Youth, One in the larger thought of God." PART II MAN'S RELATIONS TO MAN CHAPTER XVI Introduction In the foregoing pages an effort has been made to indicate the outlines of Man's Primitive Truth, and to adduce the facts in support of it. It has also been attempted to defend that Truth against inimical influences which threaten it with deforming cor- ruption, if not with utter ruin, and to indicate the plain reason why mankind should adhere to the Ancient Faith. In the following pages we shall briefly consider the different phases of that Truth in its application to human government — to study it, somewhat casually it may be, as it is expressed in the varied relationships of man to man. What has been said in preceding pages relative to the identity of truth in all the apparently divergent religions of the world may be said with equal propriety regarding the fundamental principles in all the ethical systems of mankind. These principles have all sprung from the same Primitive Truth, or Intuitions, and the ethical systems derived from them have varied only with the different racial or national efforts to harmonize these princi- ples in man's daily life. Thus, while all races of men have pos- sessed the same great fundamental Truth, they have not all con- sidered it from the same point of view. Some have had a clearer insight into its nature — have entertained it in a far purer state than others — and these nations have always made greater progress in civilization ; while less favored, or at any rate, less fortunate, ones have lingered in their advancement. But all nations, whatever their respective interpretations of the Truth may be, need to apply its principles in their efforts to work out their own peculiar destinies. It is the impelling law of life-development, individual and national, and there can be no improvement without it. Bach nation, there- fore, must apply this Truth, in accordance with its concept thereof, in its struggle for its own uplift. As this is an inalienable indi- vidual right, so it is also an inalienable national right. As national progress and national development are founded upon the interpretation and application of this Truth in the af- 142 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy fairs of men, and as mankind's chief hope for the future must depend upon its wise application in human government, it fol- lows that each nation must scrupulously preserve its own ideals from contamination, and, in consequence, must, in its relations in the sisterhood of nations, be considered foreign to every other. Thus, while the doctrine of the Brotherhood of Man is true in its universal sense, the different aggregations of men known as nations have, under present conditions, their own peculiar inter- pretations, or ideals, which they are duty bound to protect, since it is upon these alone their character and progress must at last depend. And since it is the duty of the state in its progressive policies to apply only those great ethical principles universally recognized as undebatable and true, so it has been considered wise and timely in most democracies to divorce the state from all those religious or sectarian creeds or tenets of debatable and there- fore uncertain character. The public welfare has been deemed best subserved by confining the discussion and application of these undetermined doctrines to the several churches where they of right appertain. Man is a social being. He cannot live to himself alone, but must exist in the companionship of his fellows. He is actuated by many impulses. These impulses are not all good, many are evil. Further, he is impelled by destiny. He must develop whether he wills or not. He must educate his better qualities and repress his evil ones. This is his pre-ordained and individual labor. By his good traits of character he helps himself and his fellowmen; by his bad qualities he injures himself and them. That he may prac- tice the one and repress the other, he has instituted a system of general or community control known as government. To this government he has confided full authority to meet all the require- ments of his nature — to encourage the development of his highest and to repress the aspirations of his baser self, and to facilitate those conditions best adapted to his collective life. In his primitive state, with this purpose in view, he conferred absolute power upon one man, giving him undisputed control over life, liberty and property. This was the Monarchy. He eventually found this form of government was despotic and cruel and not always just; and as he proceeded in the course of his devel- Introduction 143 opment, some of this power was taken from the despot and be- stowed upon a certain number of his fellows, who were supposed to protect him from the cruel exactions of the monarch. This was the aristocratic monarchy. As long as this form of government was faithful to its charge, the fate of mankind was improved. Man enjoyed more of liberty and the world's comforts, because his powerful associates defended him against the rapacity and cruelty of his king. But when at last an approachment took place between the governing forces — when at last king and aristocracy agreed to co-operate in the exploitation of the masses, the fate of mankind was no better than under the king; and man again demanded a re-distribution of the governing authority. That power was then conferred upon a certain number of his fellows who, he believed, would manage the public affairs in the interest of all the community, and thus contribute to those conditions necessary to individual and communal development. This was the Aristocracy. But defects in this form of government soon made themselves known, for the quickening brain of man was ever on guard, and then the governing power was taken away from the few and retained by the many. This is Democracy. As man advanced along the path of his destiny, ever broadening in experience and knowledge, he came to know the administration of community affairs was best done when he had a direct and personal part in its direction. Not only was that administration purer and fairer, but it made him broader, wiser and nobler. He thus came eventually to possess a more intimate acquaintance with his fellows; to know more of their needs and requirements; more of their misfortunes and adversities; more of their aspira- tions and hopes ; more of their ideals regarding life and its responsi- bilities. He came to appreciate more deeply the inter-relations of men, to enter more profoundly into sympathy with them, and to realize the nature and necessity of their fraternal and social kin- ship. He came to know the family hood of his people — that in this great national family every member is by the benevolence of Providence on an equal footing with every other before the law and in proffered opportunity, and that all labor in trustful harmony for the advancement and ennoblement of their great and free society. He also came to know that democracy, the rule of the 144 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy people, has always been regarded by autocracy, the rule of the despot, as its deadliest enemy, and that, in consequence, the exist- ence of democracy is ever in peril, and that it can only be pre- served by the tireless vigilance of the people and their willing sacrifice of priceless blood and treasure. Democracy, then, is the last and best hope of man in the direc- tion of beneficent government, and calls for the exercise of his most intelligent agency and most unselfish devotion. Let us now proceed to briefly examine some of the various forms of human government and their functions, especially of democracy, as these functions are concerned in the application of Intuitive Truth to the collective life of man. CHAPTER XVII Forms of Government When a people sever their dependent relationship with another people and segregate themselves on a well delimited area of the earth's surface, they become a free and independent nation. They have now assumed the self-imposed responsibility of work- ing out their own national and racial destiny, and to this end, have arrogated to themselves the rights and functions of the sovereign state. They are now omnipotent; there is no authority superior to theirs save of Providence. They are legally supreme; but to properly and wisely wield this authority so that the in- dividual of the community, singly or collectively, may enjoy the largest measure of material, spiritual and intellectual culture and advancement, the nation must of necessity organize the ruling authority into a suitable system of government. This government may take one of three forms, according to the enlightenment or genius of the people. Thus a nation may establish a monarchy by bestowing the governing power upon a single citizen; or it may institute an aristocracy by conferring supreme authority upon a chosen group of citizens selected with especial reference to their supposed fitness ; or it may create a democracy by retain- ing all power in its own hands and exercising the same directly, or indirectly through chosen representatives. Each of these three forms of government has its varieties ; and thus the diversi- fications of government may be many. A government is good or bad according to whether it exercises the delegated authority for its own or the nation's good. In the one instance it defeats, in the other, subserves its just purposes. In a monarchy the character of the government partakes of the character of the monarch. In its very nature monarchy is a form of patriarchal government. The king or monarch is held to be the father of his people and, in the unlimited monarchy, is alone and wholly responsible for their weal or woe. In the limited mon- archy the administrative responsibility is divided between the 146 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy monarch and the representatives of the people. This is a monarchy in name only, as the governing power remains in the people. This form of government could more accurately be called a dem- ocracy with an hereditary head. Where the government is truly monarchical, the king is absolute. If he is strong, intelligent and benevolent in character, his government may be truly among the best, as his will is law and absolute among his people. In these circumstances, every officer of the law is held in strict accounta- bility to his sovereign, and is bound to perform his duties in ac- cordance with the king's will and judgment. The monarchy must reflect the character of the monarch. But an irresponsible and cor- rupt monarch becomes a despot and plays at will with the fate and fortunes of his people. Life, liberty and property are alike subject to his unrestrained will and may be sacrificed at his pleasure upon the altar of despotic cupidity. The life of the noblest and best citizens may be yielded up to satisfy the unfounded jealousy of the king, or to foster the ambition of his ill-chosen favorites. The prisons are filled with innocent subjects whose only guilt may be that they dared to raise their voices against tyranny and oppression, or ventured to defend what they believed to be true and right. Every word spoken must please the royal ear, and every act must accord with despotic will. At the foot of the despot's throne liberty falls prostrate, nor can it be raised again except at his bidding. All wealth is at his capricious disposal. He may give or he may take away. The hard earnings of the labori- ous subject, which have been accumulated through years of abstemious economy and painful frugality, may be swept, by one fell stroke of the pen, into the gluttonous coffers of a cringing sycophant whose only merit is that he bowed in servile humility before the throne. The whole power of the state is held in one irresponsible hand which flourishes the bloody lash of irresponsible power over a prostrate and enslaved people, or commands a per- fidious and rapacious soldiery in the defense of a spurious state Tyranny in all that the term implies designates the character of such a state. Thus may the loftiest ideals and the noblest aspira- tions of a people fail, and may be rehabilitated only after violent and destructive resistance. Forms of Government 147 As the judgment of many is more likely to be accurate than that of a single individual, so a benevolent aristocracy is a better form of government than a benevolent monarchy. The medita- tions of many intelligent minds are more likely to reach the truth than the effort of a single mind. In the monarchy, if the judgment of the monarch is erroneous, there is none to correct, and the full force of the error must fall with crushing effect upon the governed. In the benevolent aristocracy, on the other hand, the error of the individual judgment is detected in the deliberations of the many, and its baneful effects avoided. What has been said of a benevolent aristocracy is even more true of an intelligent, benevolent and patriotic democracy. This is the ideal form of government, but is the most difficult to main- tain in its purity. Here the people rule more directly over their affairs and are alone responsible for the results. If they main- tain their intelligence and patriotic devotion, the results of their administrative efforts are seen in their rapid advancement and progress; but where neglect of civic duty and painful indifference to the general welfare characterize the conduct of the individual citizen, only failure and dissolution await the unfortunate state. CHAPTER XVIII Functions of Democracy I Public Education One of the great functions of government is to create a proper system of education whereby every youth of the nation, male and female, may secure, at least, the rudiments of a liberal education. Such facilities should afford opportunity to all to obtain a liberal or advanced instruction, according to the ability or inclination of the pupil. As no field of thought is exhausted, it should be the duty of the public school and state university to inculcate all the prin- ciples of modern science, history and philosophy, and to encourage and incite the student to higher endeavor and independent re- search along all avenues of investigation. Let these educational agencies ground the pupil thoroughly in all the fundamental principles of the liberal sciences and leave it to his ambition to erect, as he sees fit, the splendid intellectual fabric of the future upon the foundations he has already laid. These institutions should be compulsory and free to all, and protected from the attacks of all unfriendly influences. They should be most jealously guarded against the insidious onslaughts of partisan political rings, who only seek to perpetuate themselves in power through the exploitation of favoritism or position, or of an ambitious hierarchy, who seek to turn the young thought of the land into channels of their own making, in order thereby to impose their own dictum upon the human conscience. No more destructive or paralyzing influence could be injected into public educational systems than an ambitious sectarianism which only aims to color or train the young thought of the nation into its own method of thinking. Under such an influence, independent thought, which is essential to intellectual and material progress, is impossible. The patriotic citizen, therefore, will oppose to the utmost all such pretentions. Nor should private sectarian schools be permitted. Functions of Democracy 149 Such institutions inject confusion into the educational system and render impossible a harmonious and uniform education of the people so essential in popular government. As well might the government permit radically different military training among its soldiery and expect all to co-operate harmoniously on the firing line. This prohibition, however, should not apply to the theo- logical seminary where the sectarian minister is educated for his special labor. But all popular religious training should be had in the church or Sunday school where they properly appertain. Again, these institutions should be free from hysteria or ex- periment. The public school is no place for experimentation. The results of such a course are too calamitous to the citizen and state. They should be peculiarly sane in character and con- ducted along the line of ripe experience, and their great object should be to educate not only the intellect but the heart as well. No state can long survive the evil results of a policy of educating the head and neglecting the heart. No citizenship can or will be patriotic which ignores the promptings of the spirit. A nation is doomed over whose citizenship the God of Mammon reigns supreme. In such a nation the dictates of an insatiable greed soon stifle the holiest sentiments of the heart and hurry the citi- zen on from misdemeanor to crime, until all respect for law is lost, and all patriotism has departed. The nation then becomes a lawless mob, in which all restraint is gone, and which only awaits the auspicious moment to burst forth in a disastrous conflagra- tion. It, therefore, behooves every people who love justice and liberty to guard with sleepless vigilance their systems of public instruction wherein the youth is prepared for a useful and inde- pendent citizenship. Neglect to perform this sacred duty is fol- lowed by an inexorable retribution in which all that is most dear to a free and liberty-loving people is lost. The wise citizen, then, will guard the public schools as the bulwarks of his liberty, against all insidious and surreptitious influences which aim to rob them of their due power and efficiency in the work of national upbuilding. 150 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy II Another Most Important Function of Beneficent Government is the Fostering of Prosperity and Progress Among the Several Classes of its Citizenship There must, of a necessity, be a plurality of. classes in every nation. The varying intelligence of the people, the different races comprising the citizenry, and the varying degrees of wealth, inherited or acquired, create certain classes of the population, who have the right to expect the encouragement and protection of a benevolent government. Hence all legislation should have reference to its effects upon all classes concerned. There is no more repressive influence in a nation to individual aspiration than what is known as class legislation. It breeds suspicion and contempt for constructive statesmanship and finally inspires a rebellious spirit. The flat of the government, whereby one class of citizens is empowered to nullify the natural law of supply and demand, and, by enhancing the price of the necessaries of life, to rob their fellow-citizens of the benefits of a natural competi- tion, is a rank injustice and smacks of administrative tyranny. Under a beneficent form of government all natural laws of trade are protected, to the end that all classes of the citizenship may pursue, without artificial restraint, their proper and natural course of development. Nor should one class be legally closed against another. It is one of the duties of government to open the way of promotion to every worthy and aspiring citizen and to encourage him, in every rational manner, in his laudable ambi- tion. It is an inherent right of the citizen, of whatever class, to be permitted to advance to higher stages of usefulness whenever he shall prove himself worthy of the advancement. It would seem to be proper that where one class of citizens see fit to organize or combine themselves into a body for a special industrial purpose, the government should provide the laws under which that organization is to be effected and operated, since its operations must affect the welfare directly or indirectly of all the other classes: and when one class conflicts with another class, the government, through proper courts of arbitration, should use the authority vested in it to reconcile them, in order that the general welfare may not be impaired or retarded. To intimate Functions of Democracy 1 5 1 that a sovereign state has no such power is to confess its imbecility and failure. Every question which may arise among the classes of population does come within the purview of the authority and function of a benevolent state and should be settled by it in ac- cordance with the demands of strict and impartial justice. If the state has the right to compose differences between individual citizens, it has the right to reconcile differences between the corporate individuals of the community. There is no difference in the principle but only in the extension of the application of the principle. Under present forms of governmental administra- tion it is proposed to apply the principle to the individual citizen, but not to the corporate or collective citizen. Herein lies the error, injustice and danger of those economic systems which, for any reason, ignore the principle of an active and determining arbitration. If the sovereign state has the right to use its compul- sory power to settle differences between individual citizens, it has the unquestionable right to use the same authority in settling differences between corporate or collective citizens. In this manner only can abuse of power be prevented, and the community be properly safe-guarded against the unjust, grievous and ruinous results of class conflicts. Ill Government Should Regulate the Franchise One of the most far-reaching functions of a state, through its government, is the granting and regulation of the franchise. In every state, except the despotism or absolute monarchy, the co- operation and sanction of the people in constructive legislation are sought. This can only be secured by the popular vote which registers the popular will. The franchise is, therefore, a most sa- cred power, since it may either defend and support the state, or steadily undermine its fundamental principles. It is, then, a matter of great moment upon whom it is bestowed. This power should only be confided to such as are in perfect harmony with the national ideals and aspirations. To confer it upon those out of sympathy with these ideals is to jeopardize the hopes and ambi- tions of the nation. For this reason it is unwise to grant this sacred right to any adult of foreign birth, as it is impossible for that foreigner to divest himself of the ideals of his native country, 152 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy implanted as they have been from his early youth. All foreigners, over twelve years when admitted, and all children of foreigners educated in the country of parental nativity, should be refused the franchise, as they can not but be imbued with foreign ideals. Only the offspring of foreigners, under twelve years of age when admitted and educated in the schools of the adopted country, should have the right of franchise in that country. The purity of the ballot should above all other considerations be preserved, and every citizen, native or foreign born, who defiles his ballot by bribery or other corrupt practice should be disfran- chised and severely punished by imprisonment. No government official should be allowed to vote during his tenure of office. He should, under the law, be disfranchised on entering office and reinfranchised on leaving it. The temptation is too great to serve his own interest at the expense of the public. Moreover, the combination of such votes at the suggestion or command of a higher officer of the government, may defeat the will of the people. The pollution of the sacred right of franchise by offering or accepting a bribe should merit the severest punishment possible, since no practice could be more dangerous or fatal to the future interest of the state. Every safeguard should be thrown about this sacred privilege to see that it is properly used, as it is at once the most honorable and the most potent that a free and inde- pendent community can bestow upon its citizens. It is the flam- ing sword with which the citizen may assist in the defense of his country, or join with its enemies in its partial or complete over- throw. Equal suffrage is logical and reasonable, and when properly regulated must, in the nature of things, confer greater blessings upon the state than where the ballot is wielded by one sex. As both sexes are necessary to the development and happiness of the race, it follows that both should be equally interested in the functions of government. Equal suffrage must, therefore, be ulti- mately attained through the process of national development; but this desideratum can not be facilitated by an unwise agita- tion which creates antagonism, hostility and hatred between the Functions of Democracy 153 sexes. Such unwise propaganda is not only perilous to the cause of double suffrage, but disastrous to the best interests of the race. The hostile attitude of one sex toward another is unnatural and, by generating mutual discord, must finally be fatal to the happi- ness of the home, the spring and fountain of all orderly govern- ment. IV Another Fundamental Function of Government is the Organization and Maintenance of the Naval and Military Arms of National Defense So long as might makes right among nations, so long will it be necessary for the wise and provident state to provide for its defense against powerful and rapacious members in the family of nations. This is vital to the very existence of national independence. To this end, every resource of the state, political and industrial as well as military and naval, should be organized and prepared to do its part in the great cause of national security at the least cost of time and money. Every citizen, male and female, old and young, should be trained and ready to perform the particular part assigned in the conflict for national preservation. This training of the masses should be had in the public schools and the great state universities, while the education required in the higher officers should be afforded by the great national military and naval academies broadened and enlarged to meet every demand. Hand in hand with this popular military and industrial train- ing should go the thorough inculcation of the doctrine of the blessings of peace and good will among the nations of the earth. The pupil should be taught the horrors of war and the glory of peace, and the necessity of avoiding the one and favoring the other whenever such action is at all possible. He should be taught to antagonize offensive or aggressive war, and should be instructed to favor war for principle or defense only. In this manner, the military spirit will be obviated, and the sentiment of patriotism be greatly accentuated. To proceed along the path of national development, ignorant or disregardful of the perils which lurk along the pathway of the growing and enriching nation, is a gigan- 154 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy tic error and suicidal folly. For the citizenry of a free and inde- pendent state to be prepared to defend that state against unjust invasion of its rights does not mean aggressive or offensive war but a sane and rational precaution against national immolation upon the altar of foreign ambition and greed. National defense, like individual self-defense, springs from the heart of nature. Another Great Duty of the Nation, Through its Government, is to Maintain a Proper Relation in the Great Family of Nations No nation can live to itself alone. The modern bonds of inter- course among nations render the isolation of any particular nation impossible. Every nation is thus more or less dependent upon every other whether it wills or no. How important, then, that cordial and friendly relations should characterize the mutual conduct of governments. It is the chief duty of every state to foster the happiness and progress of the citizen. This duty is defeated by the waging of destructive war, except in the emer- gency of national defense or in the protection of a great principle ; but is favored and facilitated by a harmonious and friendly co- operation of the world's powers toward this end. This friendly co-operation will be attained only when frankness, truth and jus- tice characterize international relations, and mutual confidence is thereby established among the world's commonwealths. It is right, then, that every nation should maintain a frank and im- partial attitude toward every other and avoid all subterfuge and hypocrisy in its international dealings. There cannot be any effectual international co-operation in the interest of peace and good will so long as there is international suspicion and distrust. Mankind will have to require fair dealing on the part of govern- ments, if it is ultimately to enjoy the blessings of a lasting peace, steady progress and perpetual liberty. To the end that devastating war may be banished from the earth and the blessings of perpetual peace be secured to mankind, every nation should join with freedom and fairness every other in a peace and good will league, binding itself to use its strength and wealth to suppress lawless tendencies and warlike aspirations Functions oj Democracy 155 wherever and whenever they may arise. Such a league of nations in the interest of peace and progress could not fail to secure far- reaching results in the advancement of the world's affairs. In regard to the peculiar administrative form this league should assume, it is clear that it must spring from the benevolence and wisdom of the agents selected to formulate it ; but it would appear that the great purposes of such international federation could be best assured through adhering to the following principles: In every well ordered state the citizen is required to submit his dif- ferences to an impartial tribunal. He is not allowed to run amuck and disturb the calm and serenity of the community; but must rely for justice in his cause upon the authorized tribunal; and when that tribunal has reached its decision, the police power of the state enforces it. This happy condition of things grows out of the undisputed authority of the state, based upon the right of the majority as expressed in constitutional law and the obligation of the citizen to obey. This principle, so essential to the lawful well-being of the state and the happiness of its people, should be extended in its applica- tion to effect the welfare of the sisterhood of nations. Why should a nation be permitted to run amuck and destroy the calm and serenity of its neighbors, and overwhelm the peace of the world? What, after all, is a national tribunal but a court of arbitration? An international congress, composed of a delegate from each of the civilized states of the world, could be called to effect a per- manent international confederacy for the purpose of promul- gating the doctrine of amity among nations and securing the blessing of perpetual peace ; and such a congress could be em- powered to draft a constitution for the government of such a confederacy and thus bind the world to a perpetual and uni- versal peace, by providing for a great court of international ar- bitration in which all international differences could be adjudicated. Such a constitution could provide for the domicile of such a court by the purchase of a suitable site near the center of civilization where it would be free from the entanglements of national poli- tics and where a great international capital could be founded, and fitting capital buildings, including proper residences for the arbitrators, be erected. 156 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy This constitution, by conferring upon the arbitrators the cli- max of human dignity and making the position sufficiently munificent to meet all the just demands of the social life which would necessarily spring up around such a capital, would remove from those officers all incentive to unjust action, especially were they elected or appointed for life. Again, this constitution could provide for one arbitrator from each of the great races of the earth, Anglo-Saxon, Teutonic, Latin, Slavonian, and Mongolian, and for the manner of their selection, and impeachment and removal in case of incapacity or misbehavior; and provide for ample police power in the form of naval and land forces, resident at the capital and completely under its control, to quickly enforce the court's decrees. This constitution could also provide for universal disarmament whenever the said court of arbitration should be ready to begin its operations; and establish a system of international espionage to see that no nation armed unawares, and, in such case, provide for its speedy suppression. This court, in such circumstances, should have the authority and possess ample police power to quickly overrule, or, if need be, overpower any nation evincing an inclina- tion to disturb the world's peace, and, to this end, the court should be empowered to call, if necessary, upon the confederated nations for any additional forces required, such forces to be pro-rated among the nations according to their wealth and popu- lation. Moreover, inasmuch as ecclesiastical political ambition has been in all ages a fruitful source of national and international strife, and will probably continue to be unless properly restrained, such an international constitution should prohibit such practices under the penalty of perpetual banishment of the offending sect from the country wherein it has exercised its pernicious activity. Again, the constitution of such a world's peace confederacy could provide for the support and maintenance of the confederacy by pro-rating the expense among the nations of the earth, so that all could enjoy the blessings of peace without being impoverished through futile individual efforts to secure it. Functions of Democracy 157 By some such system, properly wrought out by the wise states- manship of the age, the world would be enabled to convert its battleships into merchant vessels, its engines of destruction into those of construction, to dismantle its fortifications, disband its armies, and to turn its warlike energies from the channels of ruthless devastation into those of prosperity, progress and peace. Such a benevolent system would avoid wholesale human slaughter and secure the blessings of universal peace, liberty, equality and fraternity among the races and nations of the world, and expe- dite the final settlement of the huge war debts now heaped upon the bent shoulders of weakened mankind. CHAPTER XIX Functions of Democracy — Continued I Another Most Important Function of Government is to Guarantee to the Citizens Religious Liberty, so Long as these Practices Are Not Contrary to the Public Weal As under the demands of the Divine Government every man is made individually responsible for his acts, so he has the inalien- able right to worship an all-wise Providence according to the dic- tates of his own conscience and his own concept of duty, without the intervention of any other directing force. Holy Writ, which is intended to be a guide to man's faith and practice, and the pre- cepts of nature, revealed through a philosophical study of the universe, constitute the only sources of man's spiritual inspiration; and to these he must tenaciously cling. No man or system has the right to intervene in his sacred reflections, but must leave him to his own meditations. Only encouragement may be offered him in his great search for truth. He alone must find it. Hence the effort of ecclesiastical systems to control the policies of a state, with a view to the ultimate dictation of the religious belief of the citizen, is unwise, unjust and unethical, and, in the very nature of things, contrary to the mandates of Divine Government. It is the inevitable duty of the government, then, to energetically oppose all such attempts to interfere with the freedom of reli- gious worship of the citizen, so long as such worship does not tend to subvert the public tone and welfare. It should resent with undisguised severity any effort of ecclesiasticism to inter- fere in the administration of the affairs of the people with a view to demanding their first allegiance to the Church rather than to the state. It should unequivocally repulse such action as unjust, meddlesome and malicious. To these baneful tendencies the pa- triotic citizen cannot be indifferent without nullifying the import- ance of his franchise. Functions of Democracy 159 II While it is a Sacred Duty of Government to Enforce the Law and to Prevent Infractions thereof, it Must Do so Under the Dictates of Strict and Impartial Justice One of the most destructive influences to the contentment and happiness of the state is the injection of favoritism into the en- forcement of the law. To enforce the law in one instance and to relax it in another, in the desire to punish one citizen and to favor another, works a practical nullification of the law. Again, in its well-meant endeavors to punish the law-breaker, the state under existing methods often unjustly punishes his in- nocent family by depriving them of the support they enjoy at his hands. The state then loses sight of one of the great purposes of penalization, namely : to work a needed reform in the character of the culprit and to restore him to a useful life in the common- wealth, and too often treats him as a hopeless derelict incapable of any further beneficence to the community. Instead of exerting its power with this benevolent purpose in view, it limits its efforts entirely to the protection of the community against the infrac- tion of law, and to the relentless punishment of the offender, toward whose offense it, by its own neglect, may have largely contributed. Further, to protect the community against the per- petration of crime, a function of vast and unquestionable value, the state inflicts great suffering upon those who may be dependent upon the culprit for existence. It cruelly and most indifferently robs these innocent dependents of their only support, and thus paves the way for their future participation in the same crime, it may be, which consigned their unfortunate benefactor to oblivion. A wise and just system of penalization would contemplate not only the protection of the community against crime, but the future restoration of the culprit to a useful life, and the proper and care- ful consideration of the needs of his innocent dependents. These three great desiderata could be best secured by the establishment of large penal institutions and reformatories where the inmates might be employed in useful service to the state, for which they may be compensated at the same rate of wages commanded 160 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy beyond the prison walls by the same character of service. These wages, after the deduction of the expense of the criminal's upkeep, should be paid over by the state to those formerly dependent upon him. In this manner, not only may the culprit in most instances be reformed and returned to an honorable and useful life, but his family, or those dependent upon him, may be provided for by a benevolent state. Beyond the initial expense of construction and equipment, such institutions, if properly conducted, . would cost the state but little in comparison with the good effected; for the products of this labor could be marketed by the state at home or abroad at the market price for the same commodities from free institu- tions. Thus there need be no hostile competition between free and prison products, unless the free products seek to unfairly monopolize the market by unlawful combines and thus oppress the people, in which case prison products would act as a whole- some and salutary check. This penal system should apply in all crimes and misdemeanors requiring imprisonment, and, in the case of drug and alcoholic addicts, the offender should be managed with especial reference to his ultimate complete recovery. To this end, he should remain in confinement under constant supervision, until competent medical authority shall pronounce him cured, when he should be restored to a useful life in the community. Nor should the state abandon its unfortunate here, but should exert itself to secure for him useful employment beyond the prison wall that he may continue to support those depending upon him, and thus remain in that peaceful frame of mind so essential to an ultimate return of strength and solidarity of character. Functions of Democracy 161 III Another Important Function of Government is the Enactment of Laws for the Proper Regulation of all Public Utilities and Industrial Combinations, as long as they Remain Private Enterprises, to the End that these Institutions shall not, through Pool or Trust Combines, Defeat the Operation of the Natural Laws of Trade to the Detriment of the Public Weal In the enactment of such laws, due regard should be had to the wise and just treatment of all interests concerned. No favor- itism should, under any circumstances, be countenanced. Such laws should contemplate not only the welfare of all interests in- volved, but that general harmony and balance so necessary to a happy and normal state. By a faithful discharge of this function, or by its neglect, a state may foster the happiness of its people or bring upon them a train of woes and unspeakakle calamities. IV Another Very Vital Duty of Government is the Guarantee of a Free Press and Free Speech Human progress is possible only by an interchange of thought expressed by word or letter. Through this interchange of thought new ideas are formed and applied to the needs of man, and thus the race proceeds onward in its mission. There is no more certain method of retarding human development than the suppression of free speech and a free press. These are the only avenues through which new and advanced thought finds expression in the affairs of the world. To restrain this freedom is to put a damper on human hope and aspiration — to confine the energies of man with- in certain prescribed limits fixed and ordained by the judgment, good or evil, of interested forces. The surest way to expose and cure an evil is to open it to the view of enlightened thought; for thus only may the race advance to higher stages of life. But freedom of speech and of the press should not convey the right to unjustly libel or to inflict irreparable or even temporary damage upon the character of a meritorious citizen, individual or collective: and all such questions should be impartially adju- 162 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy dicated in the proper tribunals. The speaker and the writer should be compelled by law to keep within the boundary of truth and justice, and exercise due discretion in their utterances and written expressions. Government should, by legal enactments, clearly define libel; and the citizen who violates these laws, in public or private, should be penalized as the statutes may require. But speech and the press, under proper safeguards, must be free if the human race is to go forward in its development. No interest should be permitted to stifle these progressive agencies or to control, subsidize or otherwise direct them along prescribed and special channels of thought with a view to molding public opinion for ulterior purposes. Failure of the government to protect these benevolent forces can but invite ultimate disaster to the freedom of popular institutions. V One of the Most Useful Functions of Government is the Providing of Sufficient Revenue for its Proper Maintenance and Operation This duty is to be accomplished through a system of equitable taxation, direct or indirect. As direct taxation comes more im- mediately under the public notice and is therefore more likely to be unpopular, great caution should be exercised in its imposi- tion and collection. It should be based upon a just and equable assessment fixed with due regard to all interests, and honestly and promptly collected. Partiality in the assessment and collec- tion of taxes begets popular discontent and finally leads to a rebellious spirit. All interests, great and small, secular and eccle- siastical, should be compelled to bear their due share of the public expense. No industry, except the publicly owned utility, should be exempt from a fair system of taxation. To tax one industry or interest and exempt another is to unfairly distribute the burdens of state, and enables one interest to accumulate wealth at the expense of another. The same rigorous rule of justice should apply in all cases, as impartially to ecclesiastical as to secular interests. Ecclesiasticism can not, with fairness to itself, claim exemption from an equitable taxation. It thus imposes more onerous burdens upon less favored interests. Such claims are Functions of Democracy 163 clearly unjust and out of harmony with the Divine Law. There can be no saving charity in increasing the burdens of others, in order to lighten one's own; and such an effort is especially repre- hensible in ecclesiastical institutions whose chief aspirations are expected to be the easing or lifting of the cares and obstacles from the pathway of man as he struggles onward toward his ultimate redemption. Further, the accumulation of such vast wealth by ecclesiastical institutions must eventually corrupt these institutions and lead to their final defilement and dissolution. It is impossible that the masses of impoverished mankind will indefinitely bear with patience these infractions of justice. A time will arrive when they will lose confidence in the altruistic pretensions of these institu- tions and change their character entirely. A benevolent and impartial government, then, will demand that every interest, secular and ecclesiastical, shall bear its proper proportion of the nation's burden and support, and that all property shall bear its part of the public expense according to its valuation, honestly and impartially assessed. CHAPTER XX Functions of Democracy — Continued I Moreover, it is One of the Duties of Benevolent Government to Provide Proper Homes and Reasonable Pensions for the Aged and Poor Providence is one of the rarest of human virtues; and it is the exception rather than the rule for the average citizen to provide for old age requirements. He is too much engrossed in meeting the wants and cravings of daily life to think of a distant old age — and yet he lives a useful life. He has done his part in the civiliza- tion of the day, and the world and mankind are the better for his efforts. But when, at last, and inexorable old age overtakes him he is, under present conditions, compelled to face the extremities of poverty and neglect, and only too often dies in need of the simplest wants of daily life. It does not relieve the dilemma of the government to affirm he was compensated for his labor; for material recompense can never fully satisfy the just claims of human brain and brawn — of human life, in reality — expended in the varied processes of modern civilization. He has spent his life chiefly in the effort to make his nation greater and better and received in return a mere pittance upon which himself and family have barely subsisted. When the time comes, in the natural course of things, when this citizen must lay his burden down — when old age has destroyed his usefulness — it is the duty of the govern- ment to provide for him and his aged dependent a comfortable home or a pension equal to the expense of his upkeep in such a home. It should be left to his discretion as to whether he will enter the home or accept the pension. Nor is the government to be held altogether guiltless in this citizen's poverty; for it may have failed to properly protect him from the rapacity of his more aggressive fellowcitizen. By certain class legislation, it may have permitted the more fortunate citizen to reduce the salary or wages earned by his less fortunate fellow and, simultaneously Functions of Democracy 165 with this reduction, to raise the cost of living, until the honest but dependent citizen has been legally robbed of all the comforts and many of the necessities of life, to which he is most justly entitled. The government has thus been particeps criminis in the privation of its worthy citizen, and is bound by every demand of fairness to make amends by providing for his indigent senility. All such indigent homes should be made as comfortable and happy as the circumstances will permit; and to this end, they should all have industrial departments attached where simple employment may be provided for those of the inmates desiring it, and corresponding compensation offered, so that small amounts of currency may be earned by the inmate to secure those many little daily requirements so needful to real comfort. This indus- trial employment should not be compulsory, but left entirely at the option of the inmate. Not all like to work, while many can- not be content without it. These homes should meet the needs of all. Plain and suitable daily comforts should be provided and competent medical service afforded. Proper religious privileges should be secured, and all sects be allowed to officiate on equal terms. No favoritism should be extended one sect over another, as such practice would adversely affect the wellbeing and happiness of these institutions. The simple products created by the industry of these homes could be marketed, wherever possible, to reduce the expense to the state of their maintenance. Some such system of caring for the senile indigent would rob approaching old age of much of its anxiety. II It is the Duty of an Efficient Government to Own and Operate All Suck Public Utilities as the Postal, Telegraph and Tele- phone Services, in Order that the Citizen and State May Derive Therefrom the Tidiest Benefit at the Least Expense and Inconvenience The state should facilitate social, industrial, economic and commercial intercourse among its citizens, and, to this end, should see that the machinery designed for these purposes is free from 166 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy private and selfish control. Not only does the social, industrial, political and commercial advancement of the citizen and state depend upon the efficiency of these services, but the very preser- vation of the nation itself is vitally affected. Not all citizens are patriots. It is not what they should be but what they really are that weighs in the balance of international warfare. To permit these public services to remain in the possession and control of private interests of uncertain character, is, therefore, to invite national disaster. To allow these utilities to remain in the owner- ship of private companies, composed in many cases largely of aliens, and to trust their efficient operation in time of national peril to disinterested or even inimical influences, is the climax of governmental folly. Nor is it much wiser for the government, in time of need, to take over these privately owned utilities and attempt to operate them with any degree of success. Lack of experience in such ventures would compel the government to accept the practical organization of the company along with the employees and, in such circumstances, the dilemma is not re- moved, but the same danger exists as in the case of private con- trol ; for it must be evident that many of the employees, especially those of foreign sympathies, looking to their future welfare and employment, will remain under the invisible government of their former employers. The government ownership and operation of these utilities thus becomes a national necessity and duty, and, beyond the primary outlay, would inflict no expense upon the state but, on the contrary, under proper management, would become generous sources of revenue. Ill Further, it is the Duty of the Sovereign State to Own and Operate All Transportation Facilities Within its Borders, and from its Coasts To leave its citizenry at the mercy of the rapacity of domestic or foreign transportation companies is not the part of the duty of a benevolent government. Such agencies, left to their own inclination, will unduly enhance the expense of transportation, which will promptly be added to the cost of living and thus unjustly increase the burdens of the people. Moreover, the same Functions of Democracy 167 disadvantage to the state, in time of urgent necessity, will result from privately owned transportation facilities as from privately owned communication facilities. To remove these dangers to the state and injustice to the people, government ownership and operation of all railroad, river and ocean transportation facilities, concerned in the carrying trade of the nation, becomes an ulti- mate necessity. This will necessitate government dredging and, when necessary, dyking and quaying of navigable rivers and ocean harbors, utilized in the nation's domestic and foreign com- merce. Every navigable river of the nation becomes at once an an asset and liability of the government. It is a governmental asset, because it is one of the nation's arteries of commerce to be used by the citizen in travelling from one part of the country to another, and to transport from one point to another in the nation those commodities he requires in his daily life. It is an asset, because it belongs to the nation and is a source of revenue. It is a liability, because it is clearly the government's duty to improve it and develop its usefulness. It is also a liability, because it is the government's duty to protect the citizen living along the banks or residing on its alluvial or flood plain against the destruct- ive effects of high water. It must be evident to every reflective mind that inasmuch as the government claims ownership and control of the great navigable rivers, it is duty bound to keep them within their banks and to protect the riparian citizens from the disastrous effects of periodical overflows. To encourage the in- dustrious citizen to reside on the flood-plain of the river, and to tax him for the state's support, and lead him to expect profitable returns on his labor through the protection of a beneficent state, and then to abandon him to the mercy of the destroying flood, which it was the plain duty of the government to prevent, is one of the most obvious and remarkable instances of governmental neglect or imbecility in the annals of civilized mankind. Indeed, such a condition of affairs is so unthinkable as to be actually unsusceptible of debate. A government, which refuses to accept such clear responsibility to the citizen, confesses its impotence or deadening impecuniosity, or descends to the level of undignified subterfuge and insincerity. If it is the duty of the state to own and control the navigable waterways, it is likewise its duty to own the transportation facili- 168 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy ties to be operated on these waterways. It would be as reasonable to expect the government to own the railroads and permit the rolling stock to be owned and operated by private companies. It is illogical to divide this responsibility. It must, of necessity, lead to an embarrassing confusion. What right has the citizen of one political division, or community, to arrogate to himself the authority to control the transportation facilities for all the other communities, and to divert these instruments for the public good to his own private profit? If he is permitted to own and control the railroad, river and ocean transportation facilities along with the telegraph and telephone, he might as well also become the benevolent and disinterested owner and operator of the postal service. But all these functions fall within the purview of national sovereignty and should be exercised by a wise and benevolent government in the interest of all the people. The usual argument that government ownership of these utilities would strike a fatal blow at individual initiative is puerile, since it must apply in each instance. Yet the government owns and operates the postal system without perceptible injury to indi- vidual initiative, if we can accept individual achievement in other fields of activity as an indication of individual initiative. There is a sufficiently broad scope in all the other departments of human industry, which naturally fall within the province of individual endeavor, to claim the highest and most ambitious material efforts of man. It must, then, be clear that the ownership and control of all these facilities, vitally affecting the interests of the state as a whole, become a part of the function of the sovereign power and should be exercised for the benefit of all. For the private citizen to aspire to the control of such functions marks a dangerous stage in the development of individual ambition and audacity, and proclaims the arrival of the hour when the proper curb should be placed upon such abnormal aspirations. It is an acknowledged duty of government to dredge and quay all the harbors of the country to the end that its foreign and coast- wise trade may be encouraged and developed. But is it not also the duty of the government to own and operate its own merchant marine? To maintain its harbors and not own its vessels is equiva- lent to the man who builds and maintains a commodious garage for his neighbor's vehicle, making only a nominal charge for this Functions of Democracy 169 convenience, while paying the neighbor an exorbitant tariff for the use of the vehicle. The logical course would appear to be for the government to own both the harbors and the merchant marine, since both are equally concerned in the foreign transportation of its varied commodities, and even in its defense. In this way, the vast expense of transporting domestic products to foreign markets in foreign bottoms would be saved in profits to the people, and thus not only would the nation's wealth be greatly increased but also the tax-paying power of the people, which would become available in great national emergencies. Further, government ownership of the merchant marine would obviate foreign steam- ship combinations against the nation's importers and exporters, which, in many instances, deprive national enterprise of much of its justly earned profits. The government owned merchant marine would not only safeguard the nation's commercial interests, but would greatly add to its naval power by providing a large number of fast and compactly built steamers which could be armed and commissioned as auxiliary cruisers, scout ships and commerce destroyers. IV Moreover, An Efficient Government Will Seek to Foster and Encourage the Rational Development of All its Industries, Especially that of Agriculture Agriculture forms the base of the industrial pyramid and can not be neglected without endangering the superstructure resting upon it. Every national interest must find its ultimate success in a prosperous agriculture. Hence every effort of the government should be directed toward building up and maintaining this fun- damental industry. Every advanced government should have an agricultural department located at the capital, whose sole duty should be to look after the interest of the farmer in the various sections of the country. This department should be the center of a system of agricultural experimental stations in the various farming districts of the nation, whose duty should be not only to ascertain by expert experimentation what products are best adapt- ed to and most profitably grown in that particular region, but also to furnish regular weather reports for the safeguarding of farming interests, and to directly instruct the farmers of the region 170 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy in the best methods of cultivation. Attached to these institutions should be competent banking facilities for effecting farm loans at the lowest rates of interest and on the best terms of payment. Moreover, the government should undertake suitable highway building throughout the country, and establish an effective rural freight and express service. Everything should be done by way of developing the educational, postal, telegraph, tele- phone, highway, freight and express facilities to bring rural life at least to an approximate equality with city life in these several modern conveniences. When, under these stimulative advantages, rural life is made more pleasant and comfortable, the exodus from farm to city will be checked if not reversed. Agriculture will then become scientific and profitable, and rural prosperity will quicken and vivify all other industries and interests. V Government Should Enact Such Legislation as will Effectually Maintain the Natural Relationship Among the Various Industries, so that Each will Develop Along Natural Lines and Not be Impeded by Artificial Obstructions To legislate to obstruct or to hinder the operation of the natural laws of trade, so that one group of citizens may accumulate wealth at the unjust expense of another, is the most ruinous class legis- lation and must sooner or later be attended by disaster to the general prosperity. To frustrate all attempts of the citizen at selfish aggrandizement, the government should rigorously penalize all combines, trusts or pools, creating an iniquitous monopoly in any particular industry with a view to controlling the selling price of the commodity and the price of labor entering into the cost thereof, and should in all cases maintain a healthy operation of the natural law of supply and demand. VI Again, Impartial Government Should Regulate the Operations of Capital Capital is essential to the material growth of the nation. It is one of the great factors concerned in the development of the na- tion's material resources. It should, therefore, not be regarded Functions of Democracy 171 in the light of an enemy to the public weal. It is one of the nation's greatest blessings ; but, like every other potent agency, it may be beneficial or injurious to the nation's welfare according to whether or not it is properly controlled. Vast accumulations of unregu- lated capital only too often, by vicious combinations and the selfish control of legislation, become a menace to popular liberty and the impartial administration of public affairs. If left to its own caprice, it often corrupts the public official and distorts public justice to ulterior and selfish ends. It should be the concern of government to prevent such dangerous aggregations of the nation's wealth in the hands of the few, and to effect a more equable dis- tribution of the nation's comforts among the people. Not only do these vast aggregations of capital by groups of citizens impov- erish the masses of the people by denying to them what properly belongs to them, but they corrupt, through enervating luxury, the capitalists themselves. These unfortunates, lured on in the pursuit of happiness by their vast wealth from the satisfaction of one appetite to another, are generally led into a life of dissipated luxury fatal alike to exalted character and human sympathy. Furthermore, they establish an example of extravagant life, which finds its way ultimately into the daily life of the people, and the whole nation then becomes luxurious and extravagant and degenerates into a careless, time-serving and pleasure-loving community in whom all the higher sentiments are ignored. The nation is then led from the simple, plain and noble life, so essen- tial to a healthy national growth and prosperity, into one of excess and final dissolution. "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay" It must, then, be one of the chief duties of government to pre- vent these dangerous accumulations of wealth, both in the inter- est of the citizen and the public at large. To this end, the govern- ment should fix the limit of healthful and ample fortunes and pro- hibit their combinations to destroy the operation of the natural laws of trade in the effort to control the price of the labor or mate- rial required in the various enterprises, and should extend its just and benevolent regulative supervision over all combinations of capital having for their object the proper development of the nation's resources. 172 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy In restricting fortunes within the safe limit, ascertained by proper and painstaking investigation, the government must have recourse to taxation — the only reasonable method at its disposal. A graduated income tax could be levied and so adapted to the situa- tion that all fortunes above the legal limit would be absorbed by the government and applied in the construction of public utili- ties, public improvements and old age pensions and insurance, etc. In this manner the industrial genius of the citizen could be turned to the advantage of the general welfare by enabling the government to provide employment for the idle in the building and thorough equipment of the public utilities and improvements demanded by the comfort of the people, and old age pensions and industrial insurance so essential to the comfort and well- being of the unfortunate citizen; and to prevent the discourage- ment of normal individual aspiration and zeal, the government could create a graded honor list for those citizens who have best served the state in this capacity. Such an honor list would become a part of the national archives and redound to the historical advantage of the citizen and his posterity. This would afford ample incentive to the patriotic citizen to continue his exertions along his chosen line of employment. Men must labor to be happy and what better can they do, after providing for their own ample welfare, than to serve their nation and be thenceforth enrolled among the benefactors of their countrymen? But this much desired desideratum presupposes the proper education of the citi- zenry in all that appertains to a citizen's love of country. A system of public education which develops the selfish nature of the citizen and teaches him that his chief aim in life should be to consider under all circumstances his own selfish purposes, can never incline him to national altruism, nor enable him to appreciate such an attitude in others. But under a system of broad education of both head and heart all these reforms or evolutions of govern- ment are possible to a people who desire them. CHAPTER XXI Functions of Democracy — Continued I The Rational Regulation of Labor Clearly Comes Within the Province of the Government Labor and capital are the two great factors in the production of the nation's wealth. Nothing but the air and sunlight is free to man. Everything else must be brought to him by his own or the labor of others. Every created necessity of man has been pro- duced by the union of capital and labor. It must be clear, then, to the rational mind that these two factors of man's happiness and comfort should be thoroughly regulated by a benevolent government. The interest of both finds its chief support in a mutual understanding and accord. These two great factors of the world's wealth are mutually dependent and should co-operate harmoniously in their respective fields of influence. What could capital accomplish without labor, or labor, without capital? Ties of closest amity should unite them in their service to the world. Any unfriendly tendencies arising between them should be thor- oughly and honestly investigated with a view to correction be- fore dangerous obstacles to their peaceful relations arise. Govern- ment falls far short of its full duty to the nation when it views with indifference the rise of hostile sentiments between these two fac- tors, and proclaims its imbecility or cowardice when it refuses to exercise the authority, vested in the sovereign state, to control and regulate these forces and to compel them to compose their differences in the interest of themselves and the nation at large. Hostile clashes between capital and labor must become a proper subject for governmental adjudication. The disturbance of the natural relations existing between employer and employee does not concern these two beneficent forces of civilization alone, but affects the whole nation and subsequently the whole world. In all such disorders the wise and benevolent government will act with judicious courage to bring about a just and impartial settle- ment of the trouble in the interest of all affected. 174 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy These differences can only be composed through just and bene- volent legislation courageously and impartially enforced. It is illogical to permit two classes of the citizenry to disrupt the peace and harmony of the entire nation. Every class must be subser- vient to law. The reverse ushers in the reign of destructive anarchy. In creating corrective legislation it will be necessary first to place both interests on the same legal basis. To do this, a national corporation law should be passed for individualizing all organiza- tions, to which all capitalist and labor combinations should be made equally subservient. In this manner, the various bodies of these great interests would be constituted legalized individuals capable of suing and being sued. With these two interests con- verted into corporate individuals, each being legally responsible to the other in all matters pertaining to their business relations the next legislative step could be taken by passing a compulsory arbitration law and creating an arbitration court into which the differences of the corporate individuals could be brought and adjudicated. And since the subject of wages has always been the chief bone of contention between capital and labor, the subject, in any case arising, should be thoroughly and honestly investi- gated, and judgment rendered accordingly. To make the investi- gation fair and complete, the court could demand the surrender of the bona fide books and records of any company in question, in order that the matter of its expense and profits may be deter- mined. And any company imposing upon the government by the surrender of fictitious books or false records should be penalized in both fine and imprisonment. No firm should be entitled in any case to greater profits, after all the expenses have been de- ducted, than the legal rate of interest in the state of its domicile. Nor should it be entitled to this, if the labor employed should be found to be pauperized by insufficient wages. Likewise, the court could investigate the character of labor, the cost of living to the laborer, the cost of educating his children and maintaining his family in respectability, and his right to put aside something for the future, and fix the wages accordingly; but in no case to fix a rate which would be destructive of the industry in which it is employed. To destroy the industry by- forcing it to pay ruinous wages would be to destroy the only hope Functions of Democracy 175 of labor — would be to murder its best friend. Reasonably and dispassionately considered, labor is entitled to more of the pro- fits of industry than capital. Capital is only the dead instrument in the hands of vital creative energy. It is the product of past labor. By itself, it is as dead and useless as the carpenter's ham- mer on the ground beside him. The hammer, useful as it is, will never of itself drive the nail. It must be impelled by the brain and brawn of man, to fulfill its true functions. So it is with capital. Of itself it can never create one dollar of wealth. It must be em- ployed and directed by the vital energy of the brain and brawn of man before it can enter into the creation of the nation's wealth. It is just and right, then, to conclude that after the varied expenses of the busy industry have been deducted, capital should be satis- fied with a reasonable interest, and all the rest of the profits should go to the vital energy which created them. This conten- tion appears to be indubitable. In this way, would each factor of wealth receive its proper share of the profits of industry, and mutual harmony be encouraged and perfected. Herein lies one of the most important obligations of wise government, in bring- ing about through broad and liberal education and legislation a recognition of the mutual dependency and interest of the two principal forces of civilization. To the end that the creative power of labor may be duly en- couraged and protected, every nation should have an efficient Labor Department, domiciled at the Capitol, whose duty it should be to watch over and safeguard the interests of labor, in order that it may perform untrammelled its function in an advancing civilization. II Moreover, the Laboring Man Should be Protected by Governmental Intervention Against Death or Injury by Dangerous Machinery, With Which His Employment May Bring Him Into Daily Contact He is compelled to labor to meet the needs of himself and family, and in this labor he also faithfully serves the community at large. All dangerous machinery, with which he is concerned, should be guarded as much as possible by life-saving devices, and when 176 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy these precautions and the proper sanitary measures have been neglected, the owner of the plant should be penalized and held responsible in suitable damages to the employee. Ill Government Should Provide Industrial Insurance Again, government should provide industrial insurance covering all occupational diseases and unavoidable injuries. When an employee has devoted much, or perhaps the larger part of his life, in faithful discharge of duty in any line of work, and finally succumbs to its destructive effects, he should be properly cared for during the continuance of the disability. The government should secure this protection by providing a fund for the purpose to be managed under proper insurance methods ordained by national law. Such industrial insurance should be under the direct con- trol of the government and not under the capricious administra- tion of private industries. IV Government Should Fix the Hours of Labor of the Citizen This important matter should not be left to the selfish discre- tion of the employer who. only too often, takes advantage of the necessities of his less fortunate fellow- citizen to exact of him long and tedious hours of destructive toil, thus depriving him of the opportunity for recreation, rest and self -improvement. That governmental system is woefully lacking in wisdom and bene- ficence which permits the employee to be ground between the upper and nether millstones of avarice and necessity. It is truly a cowardly failure of government to allow one industrial factor to destroy another. It is the duty of government to be partial to neither but to protect both; and when this attitude is disre- garded, government has neglected one of its most important functions and justly deserves the execration of the citizen. The foregoing remarks are even more urgently applicable to child-labor. To legalize the destruction of the youth of the nation in the sweat-shop and factory is to sacrifice helpless innocence upon the altar of capitalistic greed. Long hours of unremitting toil in unsanitary industrial buildings, in many instances on scant food supply, will steadily undermine the health and vigor of the Functions of Democracy 177 prospective citizen, and eventually fill the nation with degener- ates and criminals. No child can grow to a normal and useful maturity who is deprived of a sufficiency of pure air, sunlight, good food, rest and recreation, but must become a morose malcon- tent, ready at the slightest provocation to launch into desperate criminal undertakings. Thus must the nation sicken and perish through the agency of governmental infidelity or neglect. The violation of the natural laws of child-life can but be followed by ruinous consequences to the state. V It is an Important Function of Government to Establish and Main- tain an Efficient Civil Service System for the Selection and Retention of its Employees Every government should seek to secure trained employees. These can be produced only through proper education. All the highest officers of state should be elective, while the subordinate positions should be filled by competitive examinations with a view to securing the most proficient incumbents. The appointive power is wrong in principle, as it takes from the people the right to select their own servants. By what principle of right has the chief officer of state the authority to appoint all the principal incumbents below himself? It is clearly a relic of former abso- lutism. If it is wise for the people to elect a chief magistrate, it is equally wise for them to elect his assistants. The appointive authority confers too much power on the chief magistrate and only too often inclines him to abuse it in the effort to perpetuate his tenure of office. As the people are the repositories of all power, they should elect all important officers in their service, and pro- vide the law whereby less important positions may be filled by competitive examination. They should also exercise the power of recall, so that they may remove an incompetent or recalcitrant servant. In this way, officers of the government would be respons- ible directly to the people and could at any time be removed by them when deemed advisable. The civil service examination should be thorough and adapted to the employment in view, and in all cases should be fair and impartial. The incumbency of 178 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy all civil service positions, irrespective of political faction or party, should depend upon efficiency and good behavior, and any re- moval for other reasons should be punishable by fine and dis- missal of the offender. It is not to be supposed that the entire nation would be required to vote on every district officer, but the election of such officer could be entrusted to the people of the particular district interested. In all elections the people should reserve the right to contest and correct error. Such a step should not be left to the initiative of the candidate, but the elective power, the people, should take the necessary action, as they are most vitally affected by the irregu- larity. Moreover, all candidates should be equal before the elec- tion law. No candidate should be the favorite of any particular interest. He should not be allowed to go farther than presenting his name as a candidate, and should be prohibited from going about the community immodestly proclaiming his own assumed qualifications and decrying those of his opponents. When once his name has been enrolled among the candidates, he should have no further action in the matter, but should await with patience the final decision of the electors. No vast campaign fund should be allowed, as it only serves to corrupt the elector. As the people are seeking the officer, they should defray all the expenses of the election, and no candidate should be required, expected or allowed to contribute toward such a public expense. All efforts to debauch the elector, or in any manner to pollute the ballot or to vitiate the election, should be visited by the severest punishment, including disfranchisement and a long term of imprisonment, or better still, by perpetual banishment from the nation. CHAPTER XXII Functions of Democracy — Continued Another Important Function of Government is to Provide a Safe and Elastic Circulating Medium This should be free from undue contraction and expansion, created and developed under government supervision and safe- guarded from the dictates of private interest. Such a circulating medium is what is known as money. Money is a medium of ex- change and a measure and standard of value; and, under present conditions consists of the precious metals, gold and silver. These two metals have been selected as money materials, because they more fully meet all the present requirements of a safe circulating medium. The requisites of such materials are a fixed intrinsic value, portability, homogeniety, durability, divisibility and recognizability. In addition to the metallic currency there is the representative money in the form of bank and government notes, and credit expediencies, as checks, drafts, bills of exchange, etc. When the circulating medium consists exclusively of the precious metals, there is great temptation to hoard and thus to withdraw them from circulation. To this extent, money fails in its function and becomes a plain commodity. But this withdrawal creates a corresponding scarcity of money, thus enhancing the purchasing power of the remaining units. This, in time, means dear money, high rates of interest and low prices for commodities. Moreover, the quantity of metallic currency must depend upon the quantity of the metals mined. But this is exceedingly uncertain, hence the value of the metals must fluctuate under the law of supply and demand. Then, again, their value depends upon the amounts of these metals required in the arts. This demand also fluctuates and still further renders unstable the value of these metals. It must be confessed, then, when due consideration is given to these facts, that gold and silver are not perfectly adapted as money metals, but they must be acknowledged to be the best materials 180 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy at present available. When to their intrinsic value the fiat of the government is added, thus bestowing upon them also a money- value, their exchange value becomes much more stable and fixed. In view of the foregoing facts, it is clear that government should maintain absolute control over the creation and distibu- tion of the circulating medium; and all credit expendiencies, performing the function of money, should be under the super- vision of the central authority. These beneficent agencies and natioal exigencies should not be left to the caprice of private interest. When the gold and silver currency of the state is in the control of private enterprise, the temptation is very great to speculate in the circulating medium by contracting or expand- ing it to a dangerous degree, since by such a policy of alternate contraction and expansion with a corresponding increase and decrease in the purchasing power of money, the wealth of the nation may be gradually concentrated into the hands of a few citizens and the government become thenceforth a plutocratic tyranny. II Government Should Enact Rigorous Vagrancy Laws And Impartially Enforce Them When an able-bodied citizen, unless retired on sufficient com- petency, refuses to contribute his energy to the general welfare, to labor in some particular field of usefulness adapted to his talent and choice, thereby providing for the interests of himself and family, the government should take possession of him and force him to do his share of the nation's labor. He should be paid the same wages earned by like labor elsewhere, and after the expense of his upkeep has been deducted, this wage should be paid by the govern- ment to those depending upon him. And this punishment should continue to be inflicted as often and as long as he refuses to per- form the part of a useful and self-sustaining citizen. In this way only, may society be protected against the imposition and in- justice of the human drone. The government should compel every citizen of family to pro- vide the necessaries of life for that family. To assume the re- sponsibility of a family and then neglect it by failing to provide Functions of Democracy 1 s 1 even the common necessities of every day life should be rigor- ously punished by law. To say that the wives and children of such citizens are not charges of the state and, therefore, of no interest to the state is to declare a palbable falsehood. The home is the foundation of the civilized state, and the wives and children, its chief hope. To permit the head of the family to wilfully neglect to provide for his offspring is to fail in one of the most important functions of an intelligent state. When the head of the family has made every effort to support his wife and off- spring, but, through some misfortune as sickness or lack of em- ployment, has failed to do so, the government should assist to the extent of finding useful employment for him whereby he may perform the duty of an honorable citizen, and, in case of his sick- ness, it should provide a suitable pension. But when he wilfully neglects to do his duty in this regard, he should be taken possession of by the state and set to suitable work, the usual wage for such labor, after deducting the expense of his upkeep, being paid by the state to his family ; and this punishment should be inflicted until the neglectful citizen shall learn the lesson of industry and frugality and appreciate the due responsibility of parenthood. And when such a citizen seeks to escape such re- sponsibility by flight, he should be pursued, captured, and made to serve double time, under the direction of the state. Ill Government Should Compel Allegiance of the Citizen Government should compel a faithful allegiance of the citizen to his country, and, in case of his refusal to comply with this sacred duty, should deprive him of all the privileges of citizenship and banish him from the confines of the nation. There can be no more destructive force in a nation than the infidelity of the citizen. To disregard the ideals of the nation and especially to ignore its appeals in its hour of greatest peril, is to send the fatal shaft into its vitals. No enemy could do more. Such action of the citizen merits the severest punishment, and when such a citizen can not be promptly deported, he should be promptly executed. Such a life has ceased to be useful to the state in which it exists and should be destroyed, if not conveniently deported; for it is 182 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy not wise to permit its continuance in the nation. Government, if it hopes to preserve the state, must rigorously demand the most unfaltering allegiance and fidelity on the part of the citizen. Half-hearted measures to remove such disabilities are worse than useless, as they only tend to encourage the evil. Only the most determined, unflinching and rigorous action will suffic to pre- vent national disaster from such a form of treason. IV Government Should Preserve, Conserve and Utilize all National Resources for the Benefit of the Present and Future Citizenry All mineral deposits, forests and water powers belong to the people and should not be permitted to become the property of the individual, whether he be citizen or alien. All mineral deposits such as gold, silver, copper, iron, oil and coal, and many others, including stone quarries, should belong to all the people, as they alone are vitally affected by the supply and demand of these substances. Such products of the mine should be protected from monopolistic control, nor should any individual or company own and operate them to private advantage. They are too in- timately connected with the destiny of the masses of the people, to be diverted to private interests. The same is true of the forests. From these are derived much of the building materials entering into the construction of the homes of the people. To permit an individual citizen or company of citizens to buy the forests of the nation and thereby to control the prices of building material is to place a damper upon home construction and to depress the natural and laudable ambition of the citizen to own his own domicile. The government should own and conserve the forests in the interest of all the people, and should pursue a policy of restoring them when depleted, and this not only to provide building material but also because of its effects upon the rainfall of the country. Furthermore, all water power should be owned by the state. It is but natural to understand that a time will ultimately arrive in the life of the world when the oil and coal supplies will become exhausted or very greatly diminished — when they will cease to Functions of Democracy 1 83 be a cheap fuel. Steam will then decline as a motive power, and the nation will be compelled to depend largely upon electricity. But without coal and oil the generation of this motive power will have to depend upon the wind and water. The wind and direct energy of sun will for a long time be too uncertain for the success- ful operation of private plants and public utilities. Water-power will, therefore, afford the only safe and certain force for the opera- tion of these enterprises. How important, then, that this power should be jealously guarded against private aggression. Govern- ment should proceed without delay to conserve all water-power in the nation, to the end that this energy may be saved for the future needs of the people. Government Should Prohibit the Crop-Lien System No more paralyzing power can be laid upon the progress of scientific agriculture than the system, in vogue in many quarters, of mortgaging the crop before it is planted. Such a system im- poses a deadening damper upon the energies of the farmer, as he sees in it no hope of future gain. He practically sells his crop, before it is grown, to the mortgagee for the scant necessities of a simple daily life, and is thus compelled to pay his creditors the price demanded for these necessities. Not only is this true, but the mortgagee dictates the character of the crops to be grown, on penalty of withholding credit. The agriculturist is thus re- duced to a kind of serfdom, destructive alike of his independence and progress. The farmer should be able to operate on a cash basis, to the end that he may enjoy the liberty and right of selling his crops where he can obtain a fair and reasonable price. Govern- ment should prohibit, under proper penalization, such an en- slaving system, since it must ultimately prove baneful to all interests concerned, and protect the farmer against the imposi- tions of his more prosperous neighbor. Government should con- cern itself to bring about a more comprehensive conception on the part of both merchant and farmer of their mutual relations and interests, and encourage them to co-operate to the pro- gressive advantage of themselves and the country at large. 184 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy VI Government Should Secure the Initiative, Referendum and Recall Government should insure to the people, by actual practice, the principle of initiative, referendum and recall. As the people are the source of all power, all legislation should be initiated by them. As they are the governed, they should demand the laws whereby they are to be governed. Legislation by representative assemblies is just and wise only in so far as it meets the will of the mass of the people. Legislation, which fails to duly consider the interests of all the people, is class legislation and is oppressive, tyrannical and iniquitous. All proposed legislation of any great importance should, before becoming a law, be referred back to the people for their proper ratification. In this way, the people will become fully acquainted with the various proposed legisla- tive measures, and will be in a position to accept or reject the same as their judgment may dictate, and thus be saved much inconvenience and injury. Correlative with powers of the initia- tive and referendum should be the power of recall. The people should have the power to recall any public servant who, for any reason, has failed to discharge his proper duty to them. In this way only, can they protect themselves against official incompe- tency, tyranny and oppression. CHAPTER XXIII Functions of Democracy — Continued I Co-Ordination of Subordinate Governments The central government should take the necessary steps to secure the most perfect correlation and co-ordination of the sub- ordinate governments in the several political divisions of the na- tion, with a view to bringing about the harmonious co-operation of all these forces in the upbuilding and consolidation of the nation- al citizenship and the development and evolution of a sane popular administration of public affairs. The division of administrative responsibility among a plurality of independent governing units in the nation is most unwise and confusing, as it, of necessity, results in conflict of authority. In order to harmonize the control of conflicting interests, the governing authority must converge in one governing center. This should constitute the head, or Jons et origo, of the legal authority. From this center all legisla- tion should proceed, and to this center all reponsibility should be referred and all obedience yielded. When popular obedience is divided among a plurality of independent governments in the same nation, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, for the public to understand its full measure of responsibility. The citizen, on leaving one independent political division with whose laws he is familiar, at once, on entering another, becomes subject to laws of which he knows nothing. He is thus thrown into confusion and uncertainty and, only too frequently, suffers a loss of individual initiative. He is unduly restrained by his ignorance of the laws of the various political units, and often gives up the contest as hopeless. He is thus largely prevented from availing himself of advantageous conditions beyond the limits of his own communi- ty, and is compelled to confine his energies to a less profitable environment. Furthermore, such a division of governing authority 186 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Plaec in Democracy is inimical to that perfect homogeniety of spirit, which alone can create patriotism. Per contra, it tends to a dangerous hetero- geniety of sentiment, from which spring indifference if not treason. A healthy national patriotism can not spring from a plurality of divergent and frequently discordant independent governing units in the same nation. Such units must eventually surrender their independence to the central power and exist as integral parts of one common nation. They then become so many media of the central power for the government of the whole. In this way, they become the administrative instruments for applying the national laws within their respective confines. This would mean one nation, one ideal, and one law; and all focussed upon one common purpose or end. This is the consolidated nation, whose omnipotence is unquestioned at home and recognized abroad, ready to take its place among the great powers of the earth to safeguard the persons and interests of its citizens at home and in other lands, and to favor and facilitate the development of the noblest civilization among mankind. A federation of states can never compare in any beneficent regard with a consolidated nation. The government of the former must be a compromise sanctioned by the sovereign units, while that of the nation ex- presses the will of a united people. In the former, the allegiance of the citizen is divided between the sovereign unit and the con- federacy, while in the latter it is yielded to one central power. A centralized nation is not adverse to the largest share of popular lib- erty. A people, as well as a monarch, may rule a nation. In truth, a nation is safest in the hands of the people, where they have re- ceived a broad and liberal education. Ignorance is a menace alike to a republic and a monarchy. The intelligence of the people is the only hope of either when it aims at a just and beneficent administration. The ideal government of the future is a strongly consolidated republic, ruled by a homogeneous people highly educated in both head and heart, deeply sensitive to the noblest impulses of the race, and quickly responsive to the responsibility of safeguarding every interest of the individual citizen, and prompt- ly repressing his inherent imperfections in the interest of all the community. But by reason of the above facts, it must be admitted that the ideal republic is the most difficult of all governments to maintain. Functions of Democracy 187 II It is the Duty of an Efficient and Humane Government to Establish and Maintain the Necessary Eleemosynary Institutions Not Only for the Poor and Aged, But Also for the Insane, Deaf, Dumb and Blind These institutions should provide every necessary modern comfort, and should have especial reference to the health of in- mates. The comforts should be plain, but sufficient to meet all reasonable requirements. These institutions should be conducted so as to encourage the inmate to individual achievement, and should endeavor to educate him with a view to bringing out all that he is capable of. It is a great error to consider these unfor- tunates as lost to society. Many of them possess genius of the highest order that should be utilized to the advantage of the state. No community can afford to waste the energy or genius of its citizens. All intelligent effort is helpful, not only to the citizen making it, but to society at large. It is the duty of government to educate the inmates of these institutions to the safe limit of their capacity, with a view to their own happiness and the ad- vantage of the community or the state ; and to assist in this useful work, industrial facilities should be attached to all these institu- tions with a view to developing the technical skill of the inmates. They would not only go far toward preparing the inmates for a useful life in the world, but also assist the state in the maintenance of the institutions by affording products which might be sold in the markets at the same price demanded for like products created outside. Ill The Government Should Establish Reformatories for the Erring Youth of Both Sexes To place the young miscreant, who may be the victim of a momentary impulse or of improper association, in the companion- ship of the hardened adult criminal is heinous in the extreme — is to rob him or her of every possible chance of reformation. Such an act of the state is, as a rule, far more criminal than that for which the unfortunate youth is confined. Separate institutions 188 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy for the sexes should be constructed and plainly but neatly equipped, so as to be as home-like as it is possible to make them. They should be conducted with the sole view of educating both head and heart of the inmate and thus change the outlook upon life. They should not encourage idleness (the most inimical in- fluence to progressive development) but should urge the inmate to ambitious action. Industrial departments should be attached, in which the inmate should be compulsorily employed according to peculiar talent and receive a proper wage. This wage, after deducting the expense of the inmate's upkeep, should be paid over to his or her indigent family, or in case the family is self- sustaining, which fact should be established by proper investiga- tion, the residue of the wage should be deposited by the state to the credit of the inmate, to be delivered to him or her on leaving the institution as a start in life. Nor should the state's duty end here. It should assist the inmate in establishing a useful business and continue its benevolent and generous guardianship until that business is a paying enterprise under the management of the for- mer inmate, or until he or she shall prove incapable of conducting a personal enterprise, in which case the state should assist in se- curing proper employment. These institutions could be made self-sustaining under proper management and the instruments for saving to a useful life num- berless youths of both sexes now lost annually to the nation. These institutions should always be conducted by the state and, under no circumstances, should they be controlled by sectarian interests. Such an influence would create consternation in the spiritual atmosphere of the institution where are domiciled so many minds that have been subjected to different doctrinal beliefs, and would undermine or destroy that sense of religious security so necessary to steady intellectual and ethical advance- ment. It is scarcely necessary to advocate institutions where the or- phans of the state can be cared for and properly prepared for a useful life. No amount of time and money used by the state for this purpose can be considered unwise or ill spent, so long as busi- ness-like and honest methods prevail in their management. All the considerations mentioned in connection with the previous Functions of Democracy 1 89 institutions are even more applicable here, as the care of the orphan is probably the most important eleemosynary work the state can undertake. IV The Government Should Establish Schools for its Mental Defectives The reformatories assume control of one class of defectives, the moral delinquents; but there should be institutions also for the development and education of the mental delinquents. Much can be accomplished by proper management in creating a useful citizen out of what we call the mental defective. Many of these are really not defective at all, but have been badly managed at home or at school. They deserve the special consideration of an advanced state, if that state desires to utilize in its progress all the mental and spiritual energy of its citizen. Such institutions, properly constructed and neatly equipped and skilfully and in- telligently conducted, would raise into a useful life many a de- fective now deemed hopeless. To neglect or cast off the defective as worthless without an effort towards his development is no part of the duty of a wise and progressive state. It should exert itself to preserve and develop its unfortunate citizen, already greatly handicapped by his disability, by educating and developing what of genius he may possess, thus creating for him a useful place in society. This responsibility appears to be augmented when we reflect that the state, in many instances, has largely contributed to the citizen's misfortune by neglecting to throw about his early youth those wholesome environments so essential to his normal growth. Let the state, then, make amends by endeavoring to ameliorate the calamity it has brought about. Let it set about earnestly to improve the life of these unfortunates through their better education. Let it establish proper schools, presided over by competent experts whose duty it shall be to study the indi- vidual cases with a view to applying the corrective treatment. In this manner, it may, in a measure at least, add to the comfort of its neglected citizen. 190 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy V The Government Should Establish and Maintain Polytechnic Schools for the Industrial Education of its Citizen Not every youth cares to be an educator or a professional man, and yet every one should be educated in some useful vocation. The best and most skilfull work in any department of human labor can be secured only by thorough education in that special field. The day is past when untrained and uneducated labor was con- sidered all sufficient. The day has arrived when the workman must show trained skill. He must show that he has been specially educated to perform his task. He must show that he not only possesses the practical experience, but also the scientific knowledge required in the execution of his work. He must, in other words, be a scientific operator. It is the duty of the state, then, to establish polytechnic schools where the prospective workman may acquire both the science and operative skill requisite to his success. Not only will the citizen profit thereby, but the state will be aided in its great task of ad- vancing civilization. The state, therefore, owes it both to itself and to the citizen to develop his efficiency to the highest degree possible compatible with his native talent. VI The Government is Obligated to Drain all Extensive Marshes and to Irrigate all Extensive Areas of Arid Lands Whether They Be Public or Private It must be evident to every thinking mind that such enterprises are most frequently beyond the limits of private capacity. The government alone has at its command the engineering skill and financial strength to successfully carry out these great under- takings. In the case of public lands, the government is obligated, by every reason of fairness, to put them into a proper condition for successful cultivation. To sell its lands to the citizen and en- courage him to settle thereon in the hope of satisfactory returns Functions of Democracy 191 for his labor, and neglect to put them into proper condition for cultivation, is no part of the conduct of a benevolent government — is, in truth, an undeniable insincerity, since it has sold to the citi- zen what it knew he could not profitably use. If it has sold marsh lands, it should drain them: if arid lands, it should put water on them, as neither are susceptible of cultivation in any other way. In the case of large areas of privately-owned lands, the govern- ment should undertake the necessary improvements and assess the cost to the owners. The cost of the enterprise should be levied against the lands as a mortgage payable at a suitable future day and at a fair rate of interest, the plants remaining under the direction of the government until the debt has been fully liqui- dated. Lands reverting to the government under such mortgages should be resold to the bona fide settler at the usual price of public lands plus the cost of such improvements as may have been erected on them, and the cost to the government of the pro-rated expense of construction, operation and maintenance of the drainage or irrigating plants on them. Such a policy would incur no expense in the case of privately- owned lands, and in the case of public lands, only what is justly expected of a wise and provident government. VII Public Sanitation One of the most important duties of government is to protect the citizenry from pestilence. Every effort should be made to prevent the importation of epidemical disease. If it is the duty of the state to protect the people against invasion by a foreign army, it is equally its duty to protect them against invasion by foreign pesti- lence; and if it is the duty of the nation to protect itself against foreign pestilence by preventing the importation of such conta- gion, it is equally just and right to protect its neighbors by pre- venting the exportation of its contagion to their shores. The dictates of plain justice demand this governmental attitude. Further, as it is the duty of government to protect the people from internal sedition and rebellion, so it is also its duty to pro- tect them from the possibility of infection from diseases origin- ating in their midst. 192 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy To the end that these functions may be effectually carried out, an efficient health department should be established at the Capi- tol with ample authority to meet all the exigencies arising. Such a department should be under the control of most competent scientists and sanitarians, free from the influence of corrupt politics, and afforded every scientific facility for making all neces- sary researches in the field of preventive medicine. It should be directed by legislation which is the product of the wisest and most extensive experience in this field of labor, and drawn so as to cover every possible need with the least inconvenience and cost to the people. This authority should not be divided between the central power and subordinate political units. Nothing but conflict and failure can result from such a mongrel co-operation. The one or the other must surrender its administrative action. Sanitary author- ity, like all other authority which touches the vital interests of all the people, should reside in and be exercised by the central government. CHAPTER XXIV The Perils of Democracy I Such are some of the chief functions of democracy of whatever character, to which the people should direct their attention. As civilization advances new functions of government will present themselves requiring to be met by the intelligent citizen. This must be evident to all reflective men. As before said, monarchy may be benevolent and meet most of the demands of a growing state; but the benevolent aristocracy is to be preferred. As the judgment of many is more likely to be accurate than that of a single individual, so a benevolent aris- tocracy is a better form of government than a benevolent monarchy. The reflections of many intelligent minds are more likely to reach the truth than the efforts of a single mind. In the monarchy, if the judgment of the monarch is erroneous there is none to correct and the full force of the error must fall with crush- ing effect upon the governed. In the benevolent aristocracy, on the other hand, the error of the individual judgment is detected in the deliberations of the council, and its baneful effects obviated. What has already been said of the benevolent aristocracy is even more applicable to intelligent, benevolent and efficient democracy. This is the ideal form of government, but is the most difficult to maintain in its purity. Here the people rule directly over their affairs and are alone responsible for the results. If they maintain their intelligence and patriotic devotion, the results of of their administrative efforts are seen in their rapid advance- ment. But under the sway of an oligarchy, the corrupt aristocracy, or a corrupt democracy, which sooner or later degenerates into an oppressive plutocracy, the nation fares no better than under the galling yoke of the despot. Instead of one depraved ruler to serve there are many whose rapacity and avarice must be con- sidered and composed if, indeed, it is in the power of a people to do so. Conspiracy and assassination, under such a regime, are the order of the day, and the public treasury is plundered to fill 194 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy the private purse. Class legislation, with all its attending evils, is the main support of such a state. To retain their power which is their only weapon of defense, corrupt officials willingly debauch the citizen through the practice of secret bribery or indirect threat upon his life or property, or curry his favor by bestowing upon him unearned benefits or unmerited privileges. The appeals of the poor classes are completely ignored or answered by an unjust penalization involving, only too often, an indefinite loss of liberty. The laws, in most instances, are not only framed with a view to special privilege, but are enforced with partiality. The poor receive the full pressure of unwise legislation, while the rich and powerful are assisted in escaping their due proportion of responsibility, or even in increasing their ill-gotten wealth at the expense of their less fortunate fellow-citizens, through pilfer- ing the people by every species of legalized extortion. Public education is neglected and the mental and ethical train- ing of the people declines and ultimately reaches a state in which cowardly and supine submission to oppression and tyranny is accepted without protest or complaint. The purest and best citizens, imbued with the insatiable greed of the hour and fearing lest some material advantage may escape them, often willingly lend themselves to unethical procedures which, in their collective effects, gradually sap the wholesome and healthful spirit of the national life, and ultimately initiates a steady and fatal decline; and such citizens, to justify their conduct in this regard, often unhesitatingly attempt to excuse the unfortunate national situa- tion to which they have themselves so unwisely and unpatriotically contributed. The judiciary ceases to be what it was intended to be — a system for meteing out impartial justice to all — and becomes a servile instrument for the distribution of a destructive favoritism. In- stead of all men being equal before the law, under the operation of a corrupt judiciary, bribery and political favoritism defeat the ends of justice, and the culprit goes scot free or escapes with a minor penalty for his offense ; while the innocent is often penalized in heavy damages or disproportionately bereft of his liberty. Under the proceedure of such a judiciary, justice becomes a trav- esty, and the court becomes an auxiliary partisan machine. Nor Perils of Democracy 195 is this all. Patriotism and respect for law sicken and die under the instillation of the subtle poison of civic injustice, and the citizen finally looks with indifference or contempt upon his re- sponsibility to the state, as he joins in the mad rush for pelf and power. Public office, instead of being a public trust, becomes a private gain and the corrupt instrument for popular oppression. The office-holder, instead of being the willing servant of the com- munity, arrogates to himself the prerogative of master and only too often proceeds to show his power by an arrogant and haughty treatment of those who placed him in authority. Moreover, he abuses his authority by extending favors to political or other adherents, to the detriment and injury of the public service,. This exploitation of public office for private gain is a fatal blow at the liberties of the people and should be penalized under the severest enactments. Under such a corrupt regime, the favored citizen, to enhance his own gain, is legalized to speculate in the food materials of the people, or to dispense to his weak companion a poison which not only robs him of his life and honor, but pauperizes and debases those dependent upon him. The state, if such a society can be called a state, to fill its coffers, too often depleted by dishonest practices, willingly legalizes the destruction of its citizenry by permitting the sale of noxious and habit-forming drugs or bever- ages, which invariably lead to the lowering of their efficiency and to the final debasement of the commonwealth through the perpetration of every species of crime; and, in the punishment of such a citizen for the perpetration of a crime to which the state itself has largely contributed, it not only deprives him of his liberty, but also of his ability to contribute to the necessities of those depending upon him, just as if they also were particeps criminis and deserved the same penalty and were not sufficiently abased in the unfortunate fate of the head or member of the household. Instead of confining the unfortunate criminal or addict with a view to reforming him, and employing him in some useful service to the state, the compensation going to his needy family, the state treats him as an irretrievable derelict to society and no longer worthy of efforts at salvation, and thus renders complete the destruction itself inaugurated. Thus the state adds injustice to injustice, and instead of employing a large part of 196 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy its benevolent machinery in the uplifting and saving of these unfortunate citizens, who are unable, in most instances, to save themselves, cruelly relegates them to an unmerited oblivion. What, in plain reason, must be said of the wisdom and benevolence of a state which legalizes the manufacture and sale of a destruct- ive poison to its citizenry under the puerile plea of vouchsaving their personal liberty? and what withering execration does it merit when it does so to fill its yawning coffers? In order that a certain class of citizens may secure cheap labor in the conduct of their affairs, the state legalizes and encourages an excess of foreign emigration, thus enfranchising a large mass of alien population, little acquainted with the form or spirit of the national institutions, and serving as a corrupting influence upon contending political factions or parties through the venal disposition of the sacred ballot. Instead of limiting immigration to the urgent needs ofthe country, and to such as may be properly assimilated and converted into a true citizenship, unlimited num- bers from every land are imported, to the injury of themselves and the undoing of their adopted country. This unwise dilution of the citizenship can but be finally fatal to patriotism and the best interests of the state. This shortsighted policy must eventaul- ly lead to the disruption of the state adopting it; for it is not conceivable that a heterogeniety of national spirit will continue to center around the former ideals. The old ideals, in such cir- cumstances, must change and mold themselves to the new national thought which will be a compromise between the new and old thought, the one or the other predominating according to the relative virility of the thinking factors. It thus frequently comes about that the nation is completely foreignized and loses all its former characteristics, finally degenerating, through the lack of patriotic spirit, into a lawless community in which all power for self-government is lost, and despotic or tyrannical rule is substi- tuted for that of a liberal and beneficent government. These facts do not necessarily operate to the disparagement of the quality of the foreign citizenry admitted, but spring from the very nature of man. Thirst for material gain is inherent in the human heart. Man does not seek more liberty as a rule when he leaves his native land, but more wealth, whereby he hopes to Perils of Democracy 197 enjoy more of the world's comforts and influence. He is, therefore, not so much interested in the character of the adopted nation's political institutions as in its material resources. The former he will ignore, if he can acquire the latter. Having little knowledge of or interest in the political requirements of the nation he has ostensibly espoused, he readily disposes of his newly acquired power to the highest bidder for favor or preferment in his par- ticular line of industry. A venal element is thus injected into the body politic, which cannot fail to corrupt ambitious demagogues and office-seekers, who not only too willingly yield to the allure- ments of pelf and power, but who also often arrogate to themselves mastery over the people instead of subserviency to their will. Now begins the mad rush of the sycophant to curry the favor of the corrupt governing power, and even the otherwise dutiful citizen is often drawn into the same maelstrom of demoralizing depravity. The political independence of the citizen is now stifled by his greed for pelf and power, or it may be, his necessity, and the noblest national sentiments and aspirations perish in the avalanche of avarice and cupidity which sweep the nation from confine to confine. Behind the dais of this faithless political power stalks the grim spectre of a cunning ecclesiasticism which always was and always will be the inseparable partner of oppression and tyranny. It intrenches itself behind the ramparts of the corrupted common- wealth and, through the creation of class legislation, the subsi- dizing or intimidating of the public press, and the distortion of the real functions of the public educational systems, steadiy encroaches upon the religious prerogatives of the citizen until he has been shorn of his inalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. Not only does it arrogate to itself the right to dictate the religious thought and policy of the nation, but has assumed in all ages to dominate the political direction of the state, to control the administration of public affairs, to the end that its ruinous purposes may be fully carried out. Down with liberalism and up with reactionism is now the slogan of the hour. The oppressive mandates of the tyrannous ruling class are forced upon a suffering people through the in- fluence of a monstrous hierarchy, which adds to the power of cunning persuasion the pretended will of God. 198 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy Insidiously and relentlessly, like the mighty glacier in its descent from the mountain top, this cyclone of national pollution moves on its way destroying the noblest landmarks of popular government and sweeping it finally, along with all its means to human happiness, into the vortex of common ruin. This subtle power, this creeping paralysis, finally pervades and perverts every phase of national life, and what was once a free and spirited people eventually becomes a horde of cringing slaves to a cor- rupt union of Church and State. The mace of the despot and the crozier of the prelate now wave with relentless sway over a fallen race. Such is the tyranny of the religious concept, without reference to age, creed or sect, when corrupted from its true mission. Such is the penalty of an indifferent electorate. Such is the final pun- ishment of a people who attribute more importance to material gain than to spiritual and intellectual development. Such is the retribution inflicted by Providence upon an unworthy and de- generate race, who, ignoring all intuitional and inspirational right, worship exclusively at the throne of Mammon. Let the worthy citizen, under whatever democracy he may reside, endeavor always to promote the altruistic principles of that government and to counteract the rise of evil and vicious tenden- cies which, through his indifference or neglect, may develop into destructive forces, ultimately eventuating in the dissoultion of the nation he has sworn to protect and support. No citizen, who has the right to call himself such, can escape this responsibility or afford to ignore the just call of his country. In view of all the dangers that lurk along the pathway of national life, it is not likely that the great democracy of which we have the honor to be citizens, will be fortunate enough to al- ways escape the foregoing perils. As they have hampered the progress and imperilled the life of every democracy of past his- tory, it is not logical for us to expect that we alone shall have our course uncontested. Our great nation will sooner or later certainly be compelled to thread its perilous way through the narrow chan- nel of governmental destiny, flanked as it will be upon either side by the frowning evils of Scylla and Scharybdis. There is much, however, in the nature of our government and the spirit of our Perils of Democracy 199 people to lend strength to a reasonable expectancy that our nation will pass the ordeal unscathed. In the first place, our system of popular government is founded upon the inalienable rights of men to an exalted life, a rational liberty, and the pursuit of a lofty and altruistic felicity, springing from the consciousness that all men are equal before the law and in the right to oppor- tunity. In fact, our democracy is based upon the indestructible principles which underlie the Divine government of the universe and thus has within itself the elements of permanency. The blessings of opportunity are presented by our republic to every citizen, high or low. He may accept, or reject them. That is a matter that concerns him alone. Whether he shall rise to the highest honors in the gift of the nation or be content to labor in an humbler field of usefulness is left entirely to his efforts and capacity. If he fails to realize the full scope of his ambition, or a full measure of success and prosperity, he must attribute his failure to his own shortcomings or to the fickleness of fortune rather than to the essential nature of the government under which he lives. Not only is the door of opportunity thrown open to every citizen, but he is even prepared to avail himself of it. Great public schools and universities extend to him the priceless gift of liberal education and thus invite and incite him to higher and more splendid achievements. Every citizen, through energy and economy, also may acquire a reasonable share of the world's comforts and assume an honorable position in the community of his fellows. Moreover, no disturbing force is hurled between him and the God he worships. On the contrary, perfect freedom of religious belief and worship is guaranteed to every citizen. It will thus be seen that every normal material and spiritual aspiration of man is encouraged and developed by our system of government, and that that government by its benevolent activi- ties favors the creation of the noblest expression of human life. Under its humane auspices we may live in security of life, liberty and property, and enjoy that fullness of individual freedom and liberty compatible with the best welfare of our neighbors and ourselves. 200 Man's Ancient Truth and Its Place in Democracy But while it strives to bring into expression and action the best qualities of the citizen, it nevertheless lays its repressive hand on the obstructive evils of human nature and subjects them to a logical and necessary control. Less than this could not be expected of a strong and efficient system of government. Then, again, the spirit of our people is such as to lead us to hope for a perpetuity of our institutions. Hailing from every land, they are familiar with the evils of the several forms of government to which they were subject and are therefore more likely to com- bat these evils when they tend to arise in their new homes. Under the pride and stimulus of increased freedom and prosperity which they are permitted to enjoy through the willing beneficence of their adopted country and to which they were, for the most part, strangers under their native governments, they rapidly rise from the desuetude of depressing poverty to the exhilaration of liberty and independence and thus contribute their new spirit and virile zeal to the further advancement of our civilization. But this is true only when, by proper education and national training, we have converted the newcomer into a true American. Then only does he become fully impressed with the responsibilities and du- ties of American citizenship and is thus transformed from a care- less and indifferent observer into an ardent lover and defender of the principles of free democracy. By extending to the foreigner, already within our gates, a most hearty welcome, and bestowing upon him the proper educa- tion of both head and heart, and at the same time demanding of him, in the most positive manner, unfailing fidelity to our insti- tutions, we may look with becoming confidence to the continu- ance of those principles which lie at the foundation of all free, humane and orderly government; because we can depend upon such a citizenry to support and defend those great principles which have contributed so bountifully to their happiness and prosperity. Such a patriotic citizenry, profoundly impressed with the sense of manly responsibility to the government they have sworn to support, will strive, by all fair and energetic means, to remove or destroy all obtruding evils from the pathway of demo- cratic progress, and to bring it at last into that state of perfection in which all men shall be vouchsafed the largest measure of Perils of Democracy 201 rational liberty and material and spiritual development. Wherever the hearts of men beat in unison with the generous impulses of liberty, or swell in harmonious spirit to the demands of freedom, there the perpetual beacon of a free democracy sheds its uplifting light and leads on to the final fulfillment of grander and nobler destiny. God grant that it may ever be so, and that in the future as in the past our great democracy, through the combined efforts of all its great citizenry, will continue to hold aloft the torch of enlightened liberty to oppressed mankind wherever they may suffer, or toil upward toward the light. "Thou, too, sail on, ship of state! Sail on, union strong and great! Humanity with all its fears; With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate. We know what Master laid thy keel, What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, Who made each mast, and sail and rope, What anvils rang, what hammers beat, In what a forge and what a heat, Were shaped the anchors of thy hope! Fear not each sudden sound and shock, ' Tis of the wave and not the rock; ' Tis but the flapping of the sail, And not a rent made by the gale! In spite of rock and tempest roar, In spite of false lights on the shore, Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea f Our hearts, our hopes are all with thee, Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with thee — are all with thee ! " [end] Iff U](liUI!llliP" lj ' ' 1 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 021 061 583