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1911

THE PHILOSOPHY OF
PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY

PROGRESSION TO
IMMORTALITY

BY

HENRY S. BROOKS
Author of "A Catastrophe in Bohemia," "Dona
Paula's Treasure,''' and other Stories

NEW YORK
A. WESSELS COMPANY
1902

%

*fr

Copyrighted, 1900
By A. Wessels Company
New York

1V*T

1^792

PRESS OF
BRAUNWORTH & CO.
BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS
BROOKLYN, N. Y.

INTRODUCTION

The evolution of our planet inscribed on the
face of nature records full of profound significance
in characters mysterious and undecipherable to the
countless ages of men that preceded us. The key
has recently been found. The most gifted minds
of this age are devoting life and learning to their
interpretation. We begin to comprehend the
astounding disclosures already made, while an
ticipating with ever-increasing awe and interest
others still impending.
It is a mistake to suppose these subjects are
for the consideration of the learned only. Frag
ments already unveiled of the great record have
been translated literally from the divine data with
scientific exactitude. Much of the original has
been blurred or defaced, much has been swept
away entirely ; but that which remains has been
made as clear to our comprehension as to the great
minds so long engaged in its study and transla
tion. The revelation is only more wonderful and
fascinating because of the vast research displayed
in reconstructing the missing evidence. What is
the import of these records left so marvellously to
the divination of the present age ?
He needs not knowledge of Greek or Hebrew
5

INTRODUCTION

who has a faithful translation. Happily, it is not
the province of a translator to interpret the text.
Already the official interpreters are in profoundest
disaccord. He who does not of purpose resign
his powers of analysis to others more or less
fallible must inform himself of the facts, certainly
not impossible of comprehension by average intel
ligence. Few modern writers or lecturers underestimate
the intellectual capacity of an audience. They
who do so are soon divested of their illusion and
find leisure to repent. The specialist, the digger,
and delver of any field is rarely the best inter
preter of the results of his labor. It is not impos
sible that in matters spiritual and immaterial even
the intellectual faculty may be supplemented by
endowments infinitely more subtle and indeter
minate. He who has most swayed the world so
presented the learning of the schools. It is for
you and me, reader, to interpret the transcripts
from the accumulating facts of evolution furnished
by the ever-industrious scholars of the century.
Let each and every one read and reflect. Amid
the masses are many master minds intelligent to
grasp the import of facts faithfully and lumi
nously presented. It will be strange indeed if the
truth be not discoverable, no matter how long or
profoundly it may have been concealed. Let no
one fear to contribute his earnest efforts ; rest
assured that recondite and immaterial as the sub
ject may appear, the nation or race that most
truly comprehends its full significance must obtain
the supremacy of the world. 6

CONTENTS.

Introduction  5
CHAPTER I. The Relation of Man to Creation, . 11
II. The Evidences of Design in Creation, . 16
III. The Argument from Decree, . . .22
IV. The Limitations of Our Senses, . . 27
V. Our Preternatural Endowment, . . 33
VI. The Homogeneity of the Universe, . 44
VII. The Mystery of Good and Evil, . . 49
VIII. The Law of Suffering  54
IX. The New Dispensation  59
X. Death a Transition Only, . . .63
XL The Doctrine of Christ, . . . .68
XII. Was Jesus Christ Divine? ... 75

THE EARTH.

JEona she sped through vast yet measured space,
Then held her record to man's 'wildered eyes :
His dull perceptions could no meaning trace
Till quickened powers bade quickened thought arise.
Probing, he found, with joy and wild surprise ;
Flung to the winds all he could not define,
Thus missed the truth that nature underlies —
Imperishable life, slow reaching to combine
Through mystery, love and suffering, with the divine.

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY

CHAPTER I
THE RELATION OF MAN TO CREATION
The most conclusive evidence of a supreme
Creator is man. Man may be termed the over
lord of earth. Compared with the vast concourse
of inferior creations, his intelligence is god- like.
As he increases in knowledge, he is becoming
more supreme. He has modified the form and
characteristics of some creatures to serve his need
or pleasure, and has subjugated or exterminated
others. He is gradually extending the duration of
human life, and the life of animals he has domes
ticated. He has studied the organic forms of
nature, his own included, with ever-increasing
intelligence, and has dared to probe the mystery
of life itself. He has made himself so far master
of the mechanism of the animal world that he may
be said to assist nature, to be at times a collabo
rator, a student aid with the Creator. He renders
intelligent service at birth, through infancy, youth
and maturity to old age, which he assists and
prolongs. Nature is not always prescient. She proceeds
ii

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
tentatively, experimentally, one might say. If an
organ prove unsuitable, it is suppressed; disused,
it is liable to become atrophied. In the human
organism certain impedimenta are sometimes thus
occasioned which become a source of serious
danger during man's progression from the quad
rupedal to the erect form. Here man renders
active assistance, not hesitating to anticipate nature
by removing the superfluous part.
Man analyzes the elements, so called, and con
trols them to his service. He resolves the atmos
phere to its component parts, decomposes light,
and interprets the spectroscopic " hand-writing on
the wall" from remotest suns in answer to his
daring interrogatories. He has discovered the
composition of stars so remote that their light
transmitted at a speed of one hundred and ninety
thousand miles a second requires generations to
reach our earth. He has gauged with accuracy
their rate of motion, their advance or recession.
He has discovered the great fundamental law
which holds the celestial bodies of the universe
in subjection, and has calculated the weight, di
mensions, and orbit of planets unseen. Thus, he
is not only over-lord of his own domain, but he
seeks to penetrate the mysteries of the universe.
At this day few question man's animal origin.
There is conviction in his struture, his compara
tive anatomy, his scientific classification (sub-
kingdom Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Bi-
mana) — conviction if we retrace our steps to his
origin when he first emerges from his immediate
progenitor " the animal with tail and pointed ears,

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
probably arboreal in its habits." But what is
more wonderful than his emergence from so
obscure a source to obtain dominion over terrestial
nature; to trace his origin from the molecule of
protoplasm through countless ages ; to supplement
his vision a thousandfold in order to penetrate the
secrets of the heavens or to behold the equally
mysterious and wonderful minute creations invis
ible to the natural sight with which he has been
endowed ?
Some years ago there lay upon the beach the
remains of a huge mammal, a species of whale.
It was partly buried in the shifting sand, but the
gigantic ribs, bleached by the sun and wind, pro
jected high above the surrounding drift. In the
immediate vicinity lay also the remnants of a
stranded vessel, its frame exposed upon the upper
beach. One of these wrecks was a relic of crea
tion, life long extinct, the vital organs and outward
envelopment decayed and distributed to the ele
ments; the other, once a majestic steamship, its
deck and compartments, machinery and metal-work
so completely destroyed that naught but a ruin
remained. In that condition, speaking with pro-
foundest reverence, one was compelled to a com
parison between the work of the Creator and the
work of the creature. How alike in their decom
position and decay; how unlike in their creation
and inception. We know only superficially the
evolution of nature's organism; with that of man's
masterpiece we are familiar — the raft, the dugout,
the canoe, the oar-galley, the sailing vessel, and
13

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
" the ocean greyhound. " We have studied, very
imperfectly, the methods of the Creator, but we
know nothing of the relation of one creation to
another, or the ultimate purpose of the design.
The mammal was not created at once for a specific
object, its ovum was a product of evolution; it
grew, adapted itself gradually to its environment,
was endowed with volition and a certain degree of
intelligence. The creation by man was complete,
immediate, for a specific object. It possessed no
volition, being directed only by man's intelligence.
Unquestionably man sought his inspiration from
the work of the Master, and to that extent at least
must be accorded a certain intellectual kinship.
It is necessary to reflect that while the vast
majority of organisms appear exquisitely beautiful
and perfectly adapted to their environment, some
at least are far from beautiful, and some, as in the
case of certain hybrids, are infertile. It is prob
able that not any are unadapted to their surround
ings, since only the fittest survive or are repro
duced. Nevertheless, to our conception, there is
a certain crudeness of design in some organisms
which it is difficult to reconcile with the extreme
beauty and perfection of others. Some microscopic
forms, for example, are supremely hideous, also
some marine organisms. It would almost appear
that nature is occasionally capricious as well as
experimental. In the Museum of Natural History, Central Park
West, New York City, is the model of a gigantic
squid, or cuttle-fish. The original was found
stranded on the banks of Newfoundland. The re-
14

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
production, enormous as it is, is only half life size.
It is suspended from the ceiling in the attitude of
pursuing prey. It is difficult at first to believe in
the reality of this extraordinary creature, native of
an element with which we are unfamiliar, designed
to prey upon Crustacea, of which we know little.
The monster has an eye perfectly round, half a
foot in diameter, a huge pair of forceps for crush
ing the armor of shell-fish, tentacles projecting
twenty or thirty feet beyond the cavernous orifice,
in which it receives its food. One is at a loss to
conjecture its method of' propulsion until a sort
of pipe is discovered, for the suction and discharge
of water, and a fin, somewhat resembling the blade
of a screw propeller, attached to its tail, if tail it
can be called. This creature is known to science
as a dibranchiate cephalopod.
It would be interesting to describe the remark
able equipment for deluding and entrapping its
prey, for fishing, and for concealment, apparently
of a very primitive character. Studying this mon
ster with the profoundest interest, we are compelled
to the conviction that not all the works of creation
are grand or beautiful or "humane." We must
inquire further in our endeavors to understand the
meaning of nature as manifested to our view, and
our relation to it, so far as the imperfection of our
faculties will permit.

*5

CHAPTER II
the evidences of design in creation
Until recently, in studying nature to obtain
the evidences of design, we have been led astray
for want of a key to its mysteries. The great
students of natural law — Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall,
Spencer, and others — have penetrated far in ad
vance of formerly accepted theories, and have
unfolded before us so much that is new in a
manner so convincing that we are enabled to
understand something of the methods, at least, of
the Creator. It now appears that nothing is
made " to order. " There is no evidence of specific
design, no finished plan which can be tested by
rule or scale. Purpose we can discover, but not
design, as we understand the word; decree, in
tent, the will of the Creator made manifest in His
works. It is not necessary to question the theory of La
Place relative to the origin of our solar system, or
the more recent theory of accretion. There can
be little doubt that both have been and are still in
active operation. Accepting the nebular theory
as generally understood, we have a ring of incan
descent matter ejected from the sun with no more
apparent design than the ejection of a mass of
16

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
scoriaceous matter from a volcano. Such was the
origin of our earth, which explains its eccentric
poise, its inexact motion upon its axis, and the
variability of its orbit, all of which are foreign to
man's conception of design. Neither can we dis
cover design or premeditated plan in the details
of the earth's surface, in the distribution of land
and water, of its mountain ranges, its winds, or its
currents. In fact, no immutable plan is possible
because change is incessant. Everything we be
hold is constantly undergoing change, and has
ever been changing, and, so far as we can discover,
those changes man would characterize as acci
dental : such as might be expected to occur upon
a piece of slag launched in a state of fusion into
space. The Swiss have made elaborate topographical
models of portions of their country designed to a
scale. Examining these one can survey a frag
ment of the earth, such as our restricted and
imperfect organs of sight cannot obtain from
nature direct. Thus beheld one exclaims : " It is
a piece of slag!" Thus it must have appeared
before it was beautified with verdure, with running
water, and all the exquisite variety of organic life.
Something of the same character we behold in
photographs of the moon — to all appearance a
fragment of waste primarily ejected from that
restless volcano, the sun.
What power, then, controls these gigantic frag
ments ? " The law of the attraction of gravita
tion " we are answered. True, " the law " ; but
where is the lawgiver? Can there be a law
2 17

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
without a lawgiver ? The law, the manifestation
of purpose, the decree of the Almighty !
Thus we find not a plan, not a design, but an
immutable law, to which not only the earth and
our entire solar system, but all matter throughout
the universe is subject. To answer that the suns
and systems of the universe are sustained by the
law of gravitation is but to say they are sustained
by the will of the Creator.
If all the planets, our earth included, were thus
detached, or are the product of accretion wholly or
partially, subject to the conditions of their en
vironment, their specific gravity, the inclination
of their axes, distance from the primary and the
infinite variety of what may be termed circum
stance, for want of a better word, it would appear
only reasonable to believe that organic life upon
our planet is subject also to its environment. The
decree once issued : " Let there be fertility ! Let
there be life!" that life would be subject there
after to evolution in accordance with the conditions
surrounding its birth.
It would seem that the matrix, sustained by the
law of gravitation, became replete with life as soon
as the conditions were favorable to the production
and support of life. But that life was certainly in
the womb of the matrix whatever the origin of its
birth. The acorn gives birth to the oak as soon
as conditions are favorable to its germination and
growth. We know more or less accurately the
method of its growth, how the seed fructifies, pro
jecting roots into the soil in search of nourish
ment, and leaves to the air to perform the function
18

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
of lungs in breathing; but when we follow its
method we are no nearer the mystery of creation.
The acorn could not give birth to the oak, no
matter how favorable the conditions of its environ
ment, if the potentiality of the oak had not existed
in the acorn. Nor could the earth have given
birth to its myriad forms of life if the potentiality
of all forms of life had not been contained in the
matrix. We say the acorn gives birth to the oak ;
true, but whence the acorn ?
So far, the researches of the learned have de
termined there is "no life without antecedent
life. " Formerly it was asserted that life is the
product of corruption and decay. The theory
took hold of the imagination, but it has been com
pletely disproven. Recently Haeckel, the cele
brated German physicist, has lent the weight of
his great authority to the theory of spontaneous
generation. He has even ventured to build upon
this foundation, which at least has not yet sufficient
warrant in experiment or research. He says :
" First simple monera are formed by spontaneous
generation, and from these arise unicellular proteids,
first plasmodomous primitive plants, and then plas-
mophagus primitive animals," etc. What avails it
to question thus the origin of life ? The assumption
of Professor Haeckel has raised a storm of protest;
justly so, perhaps, because no biologist has a right
to build upon conclusions which must be consid
ered unproven. But let us assume the facts to be
according to Professor Haeckel's theories. If
simple monera are formed by spontaneous genera
tion, they are born subject to the law of genera-
I9

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
tion, as they must be subject to the laws of growth
and development. What imports it whether the
Creator ordained that the potency of all life should
be borne in the matrix or separately in the
monera ? In either case that life and all life was
ordained. If we could ourselves convey the vital
spark to the monera, say, by an electric current,
we should be no nearer the mystery of creation.
It would simply be to set in motion that which
nature has prepared, and it would perish instantly
unless the conditions of its environment had been
evolving aeons in advance of its appearance. We
can produce a crystal — many crystals, but the
forms are always the same, according to the
potentiality within the solution, as the potentiality
of the plant is borne by the seed.
Learned experimenters in the biological labora
tories have recently discovered that by treating the
eggs of certain sea urchins with saline solutions
or solution of sodium and magnesium chlorides,
their development is greatly stimulated. It is
stated that unfertilized eggs have thus been made
to produce swimming larvae. These experiments
are most remarkable and suggestive; but even
assuming that it may prove possible hereafter by
virtue of still profounder knowledge to produce
life itself, in petto, from entirely unorganized ma
terial, why dispute that the creation and evolution
of the world is the result of still more supreme —
of divine intelligence ?
The purpose of the Creator lies behind all : in the
past, in the forms which research is gradually mak
ing familiar; to-day in the forms which we behold;

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
to-morrow in forms which we can only conjecture,
ever varying, ever unfolding new and still newer
forms, to meet new conditions and to fulfil pur
poses, the nature of which surpasses our con
ception.

21

CHAPTER III
THE ARGUMENT FROM DECREE
When the philosophical student of nature tells
us that man is evolved from some lower form, he
simply makes known a scientific fact. Opinions
differ as to the deductions to be drawn from it;
but surely a special and separate creation of each
organism must appear less wonderful than the
creation of a protoplasmic cell, in which under the
most powerful microscope no evidence of organic
form can be discovered, but which holds within
its miraculous ovum the germ of all created organ
isms, even of man himself.
When the student in " Frankenstein " created
the monster which haunted him, he made it of
flesh and blood, in human form, and breathed into
it the breath of life. That was an ordinary,
clumsy, mechanical achievement by comparison.
The wonderful facts of evolution, as we now know
them, surpass the imagination of man. We could
never have conceived a fraction of the romance of
evolution, if we may use the term, had we not be
come familiar with it in consequence of the inde
fatigable research of the most gifted of our race.
The most unimaginative and exact of scientific
men are sometimes compelled to advance beyond
the limits of proven fact. In no domain of science
22

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
is this more true than when we approach the
genesis of matter. The sixty-four elements, so
called, of the old text-books are gradually shrinking
under the light of modern research, aided by the
intense heat of the electric furnace and kindred
solvents. Sir Norman Lockyer is authority for the
statement that all are probably resolvable to two,
or possibly only one, element, as water and air,
once thought to be elementary, are already resolv
able. That statement seems to bring us visibly nearer
the awe-inspiring presence of the Creator. Man
has learned to take the chemical elements and
compound them in the laboratory. He can pro
duce water, by adding two parts of hydrogen
to one of oxygen ; but he must know the laws
which govern the combination of atoms, other
wise they refuse to unite. No student supposes
for a moment that he has created water when it is
thus produced. Its potentiality lay in the ante
cedent elements. Why the elements refuse to
unite, except under the laws of the " atomic theory,"
the wisest professor is as ignorant as a child. That
is the decree — the law — which demands exact
knowledge and implicit obedience.
When the decree " Let there be life ! " was
issued, was issued also the decree of progress. In
this field of research man has made no discoveries
which can be called exact. Darwin tells us that
occasionally a variation or " sport " is formed ; and
if it prove of service, if it aid the creature in the
great struggle of life, during which the fittest only
survive, it is perpetuated. The experience of man,
23

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
in his efforts to vary the natural progression of
creation, throws some light on the subject. Man
can vary the organism by interbreeding within
certain decreed limits and by various expedients ;
but the moment his supervision is withdrawn the
organism reverts to its previous form. Take the
pigeons, of which man has bred so many varieties :
they all return to the typical blue pigeon, the
wild pigeon of the woods, as soon as man with
draws his care. It is the same in the vegetable
world. All organisms have the germ of variabil
ity, apparently in order that they may be suscep
tible of improvement. Here man has made still
greater changes; but here also his variations
speedily revert to a state of nature as soon as he
withdraws his interference.
Man breeds the mule, finding in the hybrid a
most useful servant. Nature herself doubtless
made the experiment originally; but, seeking to
continue the evolution, both man and nature en
countered sterility. Why ? Who shall say ? Na
ture experiments, or appears to experiment, re
peatedly, but there is always a restraining power,
as is the case with man. Restrictions of a similar
character are made manifest in so many directions
that the fact cannot be questioned. Some creat
ures appear to be permitted to escape danger by a
sort of subterfuge, as when certain organisms take
refuge in an armored shell. That subterfuge
nature plainly resents by refusing to grant the
evolution of the species to the higher forms, which
doubtless it might otherwise have reached. It
must be understood that nature does not always
24

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
advance. As she permits variations which some
times prove to be useful, and others which are
detrimental, and which are therefore discon
tinued, so entire species sometimes diverge from
the course which they have been pursuing, some
to their advantage, others to remain quiescent,
because nature prohibits further thoroughfare.
Some naturalists declare that the birds forfeited
all further material advance when nature permitted
them to develop wings from the fore-limbs with
which their progenitors were originally endowed.
If man doubts the intelligent purpose of nature,
let him enter a museum of comparative anatomy
and study the progression of forms. The steps of
a ladder do not lead more directly to a summit.
In presence of the higher vertebrata we can
imagine the evolution intercepted midway and an
intelligence akin to that of man called upon to re
construct it. That intelligence could at least fore
cast the next succeeding form and possibly follow
the progression until it culminated in man. Some
thing of a similar character was actually achieved
when Professor Owen reconstructed the form of a
missing link never beheld by man from a few
imperfect fossil fragments, the exactitude of his
knowledge being verified most signally by the
subsequent discovery of actual remains of the
animal thus wonderfully restored. So much of
the purpose of the Creator was made manifest that
one of His creatures could follow, could conceive
at least, the development of its form, and re
produce exactly its anatomical structure. The
achievement illustrates at once the greatness and
25

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
the littleness of man — his capacity and his limits.
Still more signally does it prove the existence of a
supreme Intelligence, directing the evolution of
nature, which only the ignorant and unthinking
dare to characterize a blind and aimless force.
It is this argument from decree doubtless which
inspires Professor Haeckel to assume the theory
of spontaneous generation, despite the fact that
the highest scientific record of the age has pro
nounced " No life without antecedent life." It
cannot be expected that specialists, after ex
haustive labor, will reject the evidence of their
verdict. Of all conservatism scientific conserva
tism is the most persistent. But in this matter he
who surveys the broad field of modern research
without preconception or prejudgment is more
likely to reach correct conclusions. If there be no
evidence in favor of spontaneous generation, it is
true also that none can be found against it ; while,
on the other hand, the argument from decree
points distinctly to the sufficiency of the forces of
nature to carry out the will of the Creator without
the necessity of occasional or incidental interposi
tion. If it be admitted that the potentiality of all
life is latent in the protoplasm, as is unquestion
ably the fact, then what is termed spontaneous
generation is an inevitable corollary. The fiat,
the decree, was all sufficient, from the hour when
darkness brooded over the face of the deep to the
present — and still further, until the final unfold
ing of His will.

CHAPTER IV
THE LIMITATIONS OF OUR SENSES
Of all our senses we deem the sense of sight
the most trustworthy. The other senses we in
stinctively distrust. Can we then believe our
sight? Most assuredly we cannot. All our
senses combined are insufficient to inform us of
the elementary fact that the earth is round, and
not only whirling on its axis, but borne through
space at an incredible rate of speed by our
gigantic primary, the sun. We all know what
happened to the philosophers who first dared to
announce the true relation of the earth to our
system. Most of the animals with which we are familiar
greatly surpass us in the acuteness of their senses.
The most ordinary tricks of sleight can deceive the
sense in which we place our main reliance. And
not only are our senses untrustworthy, nature has
imposed absolute limitations upon them. We can
see only certain colors of the spectrum, and hear
only certain sounds of the scale of sound. Until
recently we ignorantly trusted our sight and hear
ing. Now we know that a fraction only of the
vibrations of sound or color is made manifest to
us. Some one has endeavored to illustrate the
imperfection of our senses by comparing the vibra-
27

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
tions which produce sound, light, heat, and other
phenomena to a ladder reaching to the moon, of
which we are conscious of only a few steps, widely
displaced. Doubtless those vibrations are utilized by or
ganisms of varying degrees of intelligence vastly
inferior to man. Colors and sounds, invisible or
imperceptible to us, convey sensations to them,
the nature of which we cannot even conjecture.
Some insects, almost microscopic in size, as also
others of varying proportions, possess innumer
able "ocelli," the uses of which have awakened
the greatest interest and curiosity. Why an in
sect should possess hundreds or thousands of eyes,
or organs resembling eyes with countless facets,
organs of the greatest complexity, is beyond our
comprehension; they seem to indicate that not
one vibration of the vast scale, unrecognizable by
us, is purposeless. So also with the antennae and
other organs pertaining to an infinite variety of
organisms. On the other hand, it appears that the
sounds which we hear and the colors we behold
are either inaudible or imperceptible to some at
least of these organisms, or the vibrations which
yield sound and color to us yield sensations to
them of an entirely different character.
The experiments of Sir John Lubbock and other
naturalists in this direction are most interesting
and instructive, but they accentuate most forcibly
the fact that these organisms live practically in
a world almost entirely unknown to us.
Nothing is more suggestive than the efforts of
man to establish some connection, or at least some
28

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
understanding of his relation to the more familiar
organisms. We rarely stop to reflect that count
less thousands of more or less intelligent creatures
share our country places with us, organisms which
take as little heed of our presence as we do of
theirs. To them doubtless our intelligence must
appear god-like, if comprehended at all. No doubt
some organisms, quite nearly related to us, our
faithful friends, the dogs, for example, worship us
with zeal and devotion as great as we dedicate to
the Creator; but we have only the most imperfect
means of communication even with animals we
have domesticated. We estimate their intelligence
by an entirely false standard — the standard of
their familiarity with human requirements. Their
capacity is adapted to an entirely different sphere,
the sphere in which it was originally developed.
Ages of domestication and familiarity with our
steadfast servants and friends have not enabled us
to communicate with them, except most superfi
cially and imperfectly, no matter how affectionately
and reverently they worship us. The dog is born
in our kennels, the horse in our stables ; they hear
the same sounds, see the same objects, but the
very extent of our superior intelligence seems to
place a gulf between us which we can never bridge.
When we come to consider our relations to in
telligences vastly superior to ours, the existence of
which we cannot doubt, we must bear in mind the
countless myriads of creatures upon this our earth,
invisible to us, inaudible to us, and of other myri
ads visible, but practically as remote as though on
another sphere. Man's instincts assure him of the
29

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
vast superiority of supermundane — of " celestial "
intelligences, assurance which reason confirms and
science appears distinctly to forecast. When we
study the subject more fully, it will be well to
remember the impossibility or difficulty we experi
ence in bridging the gulf, more or less narrow,
which prohibits or limits our communication with
inferior creations on this our planet.
At present the utmost effort is being made to
discover what may be termed the physical unit.
So far it has defied all research. This unit is
termed a " molecule " — the smallest atom of any
substance capable of existing in a separate form.
Sir William Thompson has ventured to convey to
the unscientific a definite conception of this elu
sive atom as follows : " If a drop of water were
magnified to the size of the earth, the molecules
would each occupy a space somewhat larger than
a small shot." In a gas these molecules are in
violent motion, and what might be termed antag
onism. In a liquid they are much less active. In
what we term a solid they are to all appearance
motionless. Our conception of a solid is a body
in which all its parts are coherent. This we now
know is an error, as can be easily proven. If we
cut a thin section of " solid " stone and place it
under a microscope of even small power, it appears
like a piece of lace. The original fragment will
absorb water without visible expansion, which is
conclusive proof of incoherence. On the other
hand the most compact metals expand with heat
and contract with cold : proof that they also permit
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
the intrusion of an elastic medium. In fact, the
molecular theory itself is based upon the supposi
tion that the molecules, of which matter is com
posed, too minute to be conceivable by us, are all
in active motion. As we cannot penetrate beyond
the threshold of the illimitable expanse of the
heavens, with its myriads of suns and systems, so
also we meet an impenetrable barrier when we
seek to exceed the limits of our imperfect endow
ment, to explore the mysteries of the infinitely
little. There may be, there are worlds within the
compass of a drop of water, worlds of matter and
of organic life utterly beyond or beneath our con
ception. Nothing in nature appears to us as it
really is.
Many of the most exquisite forms in nature
are found in the microscopic Desmidiaceae and
Diatomiaceae — objects of which there are thou
sands of millions to the square inch! They
propagate themselves by fission. They are on the
confines of the vegetable and animal kingdoms.
Although they have independent motion, natural
ists hold divided opinions concerning them. Why
all their extraordinary beauty or occasional equally
extraordinary repulsiveness as viewed from our
standpoint? Man is absolutely unconscious of
their presence in their native habitat. But for the
amazing power of the modern microscope, in alli
ance with delicate machinery scarcely less wonder
ful, their forms could never have been presented
to our vision. Every increase of the power of the
lens serves but to reveal mysterious organisms
farther and still farther removed from us. Im-
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
penetrable as are the vast distances of the celestial
universe, and innumerable as are the majestic sys
tems therein, the universe of the infinitely minute
is equally inexhaustible, and the multiplicity of its
mysteries not less remote or wonderful.
As to the color-blind there are no colors, so we
in turn are practically sightless where organisms
of a nature inconceivable to us are gifted, and deaf
to all sounds attuned too high or too low for our
hearing. It is thus handicapped, groping, as it
were, in the dark, that we pursue our inquiries as
to the true meaning of our relation to the world
we live in and to the universe beyond.

32

CHAPTER V
OUR PRETERNATURAL ENDOWMENT
It is certainly most strange, considering our
destiny on earth, that the insufficiency of our
senses seems to give us but a slight hold upon it,
so to speak. It is equally strange that we are
endowed with some faculties which, if not " super
natural," are something more than "natural," en
dowments which, speaking with all reverence,
seem to point toward the existence of beings
superior to ourselves, and even to a degree of kin
ship with them.
There are certain prodigies of childhood occa
sionally born into the world with faculties either
of a different nature or of a different degree from
the ordinary gifts of mankind, children who solve
problems without apparent effort, and of a nature so
complicated that very excellent mathematicians
can verify the- results only after long and careful
calculation. If these children are asked how they
obtain the results, they do not know. They have
a preternatural gift which enables them to give
the solutions without the labor which would be
exacted from the cleverest of adults. The same
may be said of music. Mozart was a composer at
four years of age. At four he composed a con
certo which his father said was so difficult that
no one could perform it. That seems incredible,
3 33

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
but it is authoritatively on record. At six his
father took him on an extended tour, during which
he played before most of the sovereigns of Ger
many. An ordinary student of talent, mature,
thoroughly prepared and persevering, might hope
to compose a concerto of the character only after
many years of faithful study. We call these ex
traordinary gifts " genius " — in the case of chil
dren " precocious genius " — and we seem to con
sider the wonderful endowment thus sufficiently
explained. Inspiration is a better word ; it implies
a faculty superior to the ordinary faculties of man.
The child Mozart, we say, " must have been in
spired." It is impossible that he could have mas
tered the rules of musical composition at that age
by any mental effort. Nevertheless, when his
father protested that the concerto was too difficult
to be performed, the child replied that " No one
could be expected to perform a composition of
that character without long study and practice."
Whence the child's inspiration?
The infant Mozart possessed a preternatural
sense. He could conceive and record the most
refined and complicated choir music without the
aid of sound — not only melody, but all the intri
cate chords of perfect harmony. When we reflect
that music is produced by vibrations only, and that
our organs of hearing are specially adapted to
their reception, the creations of the child Mozart
inevitably suggest the existence in nature of facul--
ties superior to our ordinary physical endowment.
Similar inspiration is manifest in the genius of
the improvisatore. The " gift " is not always at
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
command. It shuns the presence of strangers.
It prefers closed blinds or the most subdued
roseate light. The inspired ones, consciously or
unconsciously, seem to seek superterrestrial com
munion. They play or sing as in a trance. Soon
the head is uplifted, the eyes are intent upon some
mysterious beyond, the form is transfigured, the
face spiritualized. It is difficult to resist the con
viction that one beholds a being in communion
with the harmonies of supernature.
Most of us can bear testimony to somewhat
similar preternatural gifts in art — the painters'
art. Children are generally extremely fond of
drawing and what may be termed design. Occa
sionally some child manifests extraordinary faculty
in this, the most difficult of all arts — supremely
difficult because, no matter how great the natural
gift, the hand must be trained before it can mani
fest what the mind conceives. But imperfect as
must necessarily be the art work of the most gifted
child, preternatural gifts fail not to make them
selves occasionally manifest. The infant indicates,
and even attempts, to elaborate conceptions which
cannot have been suggested by aught it has seen
during its brief existence. The mature artist dis
covers unquestionable evidence of what we term
genius in these crude efforts. The inspired child
already sees beyond the material which surrounds
it and penetrates without apparent effort to the
realms of "unreality." The material organs of
sight are inspired by an inward mental sight — ¦
sight which perceives color and form where ma
terial form and color have no existence, and which
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
finds the material endowment inadequate to a suffi
cient expression of the wondrous visions it beholds.
Some of the curiosities of telepathy, mind-read
ing and presentiment, accepting none but such
as is fully authenticated, are equally mysterious.
They verge on the supernatural. It is unnecessary
to cite instances. There is scarcely a student of
this subject but has preserved some curious data.
"There are more things in heaven and earth,
Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy."
There are some fulfilments of prophecy on
record of a very remarkable character, leaving in
spired prophecy entirely out of the question.
They can be explained only by assuming that the
prophets were possessed of some preternatural en
dowment, some remarkable insight into the future.
The subject in all its ramifications has been grossly
abused and vulgarized. Quacks and charlatans
have used it to prey upon the ignorant, the credu
lous, and unwary; but, nevertheless, after divest
ing it of every element of doubt or distrust there
remains a very remarkable accumulation of fact,
which no careful inquirer can afford to reject or
to despise.
In the presence of some masterpieces of human
achievement, particularly while hearing certain
music or poetry, scarcely an exaggeration to call
divine, we are conscious of a supreme exaltation,
an ecstasy which seems to carry us temporarily be
yond ourselves, and leave us eager and trembling, as
though the sombre veil of our humanity were about
to be parted to afford a glimpse of paradise. We
36

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
feel the soul imprisoned leaping toward the beyond,
anxious to spurn the material to which we are en
chained, conscious for the moment of a higher and
nobler life. Even when not under the influence
of exaltation, we are inspired by aspirations su
perior to this frail human tenement. When all
our animal wants are satisfied and we have laid up
stores which seem to preclude the possibility of
present or future want, either for ourselves or
those dependent upon us, our nature is still far
from satisfied. Under like conditions the animal
lies down to chew the cud or sleep in supreme
content, but man seeks to spurn the earth and
aspire toward the unknown. Music, poetry, paint
ing, sculpture, the arts and sciences are within his
attainment. In order that his intellect may grasp
them, he is willing to forego the pleasures of ap
petite, the seductions of ease, and even the grati
fication of his passions. He is conscious of a
nature superior to the animal clay which he has in
herited and seeks to qualify himself to be worthy of
admission to the grander mysteries of the universe.
If some celestial visitor were to descend upon
this planet, ignorant of the nature of man, it is
probable that the places of worship in every city
and village would first attract his attention. Upon
learning their purpose and character he would be
informed at once of the preternatural instincts and
aspirations of man; he would find him conscious
of imperfections, sinful, but devout; struggling
constantly to overcome the impedimenta of his
animal inheritance — conscious of hopes and aspira
tions impossible to be realized on earth, even
37

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
claiming a certain kinship with the Creator, sup
plementing his inferior and insufficient sight with
aids to vision of his own creation, in order to ob
tain a grander outlook and more perfect compre
hension of the universe ; decomposing the elements
in order to understand and harness them to his
service ; sacrificing life itself in its too brief ma
turity, in order to uphold a principle; dedicating
his supremest efforts to the glory of God, and
cheerfully accepting martyrdom in the certainty
of inheriting eternal life. What could the celes
tial visitor infer upon discovering pretensions so
daring and confident ? When we detect in nature
a plant in its first development, putting forth ten
drils, we know that it is destined to climb and
that it has been endowed accordingly. The aspir
ations of the plant are not falsified ; they are veri
fied. When we see the insect preparing to abandon
its larval condition to enter upon the chrysalis, we
know that, despite the considerable period of
insensibility and absence of nutrition which it
must experience, it is destined ultimately to leave
its temporary shroud and issue forth to the sun
light endowed with organs adapted to a world of
light and beauty. Some premonitions the insect
must have had in the caterpillar condition of its
future destiny, its glorious resurrection, for the
naturalist watches with never-decreasing wonder
and interest the preparations which it makes in
anticipation of its future life. Its instincts are
not vain. No matter what the nature of its antici
pations, whether blind perception merely or some
measure of intelligence, they are fulfilled.
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
And here we must pause to reflect that it is not
man's reason alone which leads him to expect and
prepare for a future life, but also his instinct. All
races of men worship some superior power. The
vast majority of mankind anticipate a future life,
and are influenced by the hope of reward or the
dread of punishment hereafter. It is safe to say,
instinct assures us of a future and reason appre
hends the hope of reward or the fear of punish
ment. Our assurance of a future life does not
decline with increasing knowledge and civilization,
of that we have ample assurance. The agnostic
does not deny it. He is content to search unceas
ingly for evidence.
Huxley says : " The principle first clearly for
mulated by Descartes leads not to the denial of the
existence of any supernature, but simply to the
denial of the validity of the evidence adduced in
favor of this or that form of supernaturalism.
Indeed, looking at the matter from the most rigidly
scientific point of view, the assumption that amid
the myriads of worlds scattered through endless
space there can be no intelligence as much greater
than man's as his is greater than a black-beetle's;
no being endowed with power of influencing the
course of nature as much greater than his as his is
greater than a snail's — seems not merely baseless,
but impertinent. Without stepping beyond the
analogy of what is known, it is easy to people the
cosmos with entities in an ascending scale, until
we reach something practically indistinguishable
from omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience.
If our intelligence can in some matters surely re-
39

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
produce the past of a thousand years ago, and
anticipate the future thousands of years hence, it
is clearly within the limits of possibility that some
greater intellect, even of the same order, may be
able to mirror the whole past and the whole future.
If the universe is penetrated by a medium of such
a nature that a magnetic needle on the earth
answers to a commotion in the sun, an omnipresent
agent is also conceivable. If our insignificant
knowledge gives us some influence over events,
practical omnipotence may confer indefinably
greater power. "
It is the spiritual element in man which, not
content with the mere material, leads him to make
effort to know more than is apparent concerning
a future life, and which, having made, he is fain
to dismiss as " incapable of proof." But what can
be proven ? Nothing can appear more motionless
than the earth we stand on, or the fragment of
solid matter, so called, in our hand. We can
prove that it is in motion only by appeal from
our material sense to a faculty within us superior
to our material endowment — from the material to
the immaterial. Why, then, reject the evidence
of the higher sense when we are called upon to
consider our relation to supernature or the
cosmos ? Our aspirations may be likened to the
instinct of the insect which prepares for a trans
formation, the nature of which must be inconceiv
able to its imperfect sense. Man aspires craving
knowledge of the infinite, because he has received
a preternatural as well as a natural endowment.
When we consider how imperfectly he is allied to
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
the material, and how his nature aspires and craves
higher knowledge — when we consider his faith and
hope and preternatural endowment, we can, we
must, believe that his shroud in death is but the
enwrapping of the chrysalis, from which he shall
emerge to a higher and more glorious life.
Science can offer no valid argument against the
possible or probable fulfilment of the most exalted
aspirations of man. Professor Haeckel represents
the most advanced and radical theories of the
school of modern philosophy. He assumes spon
taneous generation, and erects an elaborate scien
tific superstructure upon that foundation, appa
rently with absolute confidence. But if there be
spontaneous generation, here or elsewhere, why
not spontaneous spiritual birth? What can be
more wonderful than the spontaneous generation
of simple monera? Man would term spontane
ous generation a miracle. But nature is full of
miracles. What is a miracle ? It is but a term
used by man to denote a process with which he is
unfamiliar. The most exalted spiritual concep
tion that man has indulged finds a physical parallel
in nature. In abiogenesis or parthogenesis we
have virgin reproduction. Solitary females lay
eggs which are fertile, which yield larva; which at
maturity are males. The queen bee can produce
males or females at will. The Hymenoptera fur
nish an infinite variety of what might well be
termed miraculous genesis.
The monera of Professor Haeckel multiplies
itself by simple fission. The " single cell " trans
forms itself into a complicated organism. Any of
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
these illustrations familiar to every naturalist are
as wonderful as would be. the spiritual birth or
rebirth of man.
" A nucleated mass of protoplasm is the struc
tural unit of the human body." Thus Huxley,
who is responsible also for the statement that
there is an essential unity of protoplasm through
out the animal kingdom — a general identity in the
structural unit of all life. The extraordinary
significance of these facts must be apparent to
every one.
When we consider that man is an epitome,
physically, of all animal life, that for some occult
reason there is an occasional though constant and
universal tendency to reversion of type ; that man,
in common with many animals, bears on his person
organs atrophied from disuse during countless ages,
irrefutable evidence of a period when nature
differed materially in her most important functions
from the present, it provokes surprise that mere
virgin reproduction — a fact so common in nature
— should have proven so long a stumbling-block
to faith. They who care to investigate more fully
must beware of intent to scoff, for assuredly they
will remain to pray.
Nature authoritatively declares that under cer
tain conditions, impelled by higher laws not at
present understood, reproduction by a solitary
female is not only a possibility, but a necessity.
To the mystery of supplying her needs the organ
ism labors with indefatigable zeal. If that latitude
has been conceded, perhaps for the full perfection
42

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
of the dual nature of man, is it not easy to con
ceive the spiritual temporarily dominating the
material, to call forth at will power far exceeding
that bestowed upon creatures of comparative in
significance — endowment without precedent or
sequence in the case of man — which we may call
supernatural; but which, if we were sufficiently
informed, would doubtless prove to be in perfect
harmony with the progression of nature as ordained
from the foundation of the world ?
When we are surrounded upon this our earth by
miracles of nature so extraordinary, it is only
ignorance which dares deny the possible or even
probable regeneration or rebirth of man under
conditions which, though unrevealed to our imper
fect endowment, may be scarcely more remote or
unknown than many of the incomprehensible mys
teries of this our planet.

43

CHAPTER VI
THE HOMOGENEITY OF THE UNIVERSE
One of man's greatest achievements is the dis
covery of the homogeneous character of the visible
universe. That we poor insignificant mortals
have been able to make a qualitative analysis, so
to speak, of suns so remote that their distance is
simply inconceivable, the light of which has been
thousands or hundreds of thousands of years in
reaching us, is almost incredible.
The compound character of light is generally
known, and we have all seen the phenomenon
of its decomposition in a common prism, which
yields our color scale. When a specially con
structed prism is held so as to reflect the rays
from a superheated substance, or, to speak more
correctly, a substance heated to a certain degree of
temperature, we can project the color rays of that
substance upon a screen ; but when the substance
is heated to a degree of incandescence, which
causes the vapors of the molten matter to arise
between the prism and the furnace, certain lines
are projected upon the screen instead of colors.
Those lines are termed spectra, and the process
is termed spectrum analysis. The spectrum of
every terrestrial substance, "elementary or com
pound," is now well known. Some are exceed-
44

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
ingly curious and complicated, some extremely
simple, but all invariable and unique.
When the spectrum was first directed toward
our sun, and subsequently to the fixed stars so
called, the spectra were projected upon the screen
as sharply as from a common furnace. It was
distinctly a message from those remote incan
descent suns, " hand writing upon the wall," in
answer to man's audacious inquiry. It was long
before an interpreter was found ; but Frauenhof er
solved the extraordinary problem, and lo ! our
kinship with the heavenly bodies stood revealed !
These spectra are so peculiar that mistake is
impossible. The instrument has been improved
and developed to so great an extent that not only
do we learn from it the nature of the elements of
which these giant suns are composed, but also
whether they are approaching or receding, and at
what rate of speed, as also other particulars of vital
interest and importance, from all of which we
learn, beyond question, that the composition of
the visible universe is homogeneous, or, to speak
more definitely, that it is composed of elements
similar to those of our planet, there being but few
spectra the nature of which is unfamiliar to us.
The extreme significance of these facts must be
at once apparent. We are not dwelling upon an
isolated fragment of matter; we are part of a great
whole. The vast space between us is not vacant ;
it is full of the subtle ether which conveys to us
the glowing light of the celestial spheres and the
astounding messages of their spectra. That some
of these remote suns are accompanied by attendant
45

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
planets we know because of their occasional occul-
tation by opaque bodies. There are binary suns
— suns circulating around each other, suns of
inconceivably brilliant color, which we term " vari
able stars" — systems of suns, some brilliant in
incandescence, some more or less burned out and
opaque, but all sending the story of kinship. We
can estimate approximately their temperature,
their elements, their distance, their speed of
motion, and we even classify them according to
the nature of their composition and degree of in
candescence. Is it not remarkable and suggestive that, while
we are comparatively so little in touch with this
our earth, that there are countless sounds unheard
and colors unseen by us, incessant motion of par
ticles too minute to be detected by our vision, and
vibrations of a character incomprehensible to our
imperfect senses, we can, nevertheless, place our
selves in communication with and interpret many
of the secrets of the heavenly bodies ? True, we
recognize our descent from " the animal with tail
and pointed ears " ; but in some respects at least
the gulf is not greater between this our planet and
Sirius than between the astronomer surveying the
heavens and that " immediate progenitor." If we
are imprisoned on earth by the ties of our animal
nature, we have a certain kinship with the remote
creations, born of similar elements under dissimilar
conditions, and thus our hopes of a future life have
their foundation and origin in fact. Our instincts
have not deceived us. It is by virtue of this
preternatural endowment that we venture to accept
46

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
the assurance that " God created man in His own
image. " In nothing is man's correspondence
with the Creator more marked than in thus seek
ing to reach the infinite beyond, to study the laws
of the vast universe, to weigh and measure and
analyze. Comparing man with other organisms,
his endowment is in some respects more than
natural, more even than preternatural ; it is super
natural. The spirit of man appears for the time
being released from its earthly ties as he ignores
temporarily his animal inheritance to enjoy for a
brief moment his celestial endowment, his kinship
with the universe. Swifter than the astounding
motions which he critically analyzes, swifter than
light is his thought. The heat, one breath of
which would instantly destroy him, he measures
and compares. The speed which would wreck this
fragment of earth he gauges, and the mystery of
mysteries he ponders unceasingly.
No greater gift can be bestowed upon man than
the leisure to devote himself to the pursuit of
knowledge. No occupation is so ennobling or so
richly rewarded. Of all the sciences, astronomy
must be considered the grandest — the most awe-
inspiring. Man is led by the contemplation of the
stupendous character of the universe to a realiza
tion at once of his insignificance and of what we
have termed his preternatural endowment, which
enables him to survey and study the majestic
works of the Creator and supplement his imperfect
senses by devices fruit of his achievement in other
departments of science. " The undevout astrono-
47

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
mer is mad," and mad is the man who, having
once tasted the fruits of knowledge, is not inspired
to hope and believe that there may be, must be,
in store for him a future life, in which the astound
ing mysteries of the universe may be revealed
in gradual progression to higher and ever higher
aspiration; his spiritual nature permanently re
leased from the material ties of earth, endowed
with eternal life to enjoy the imperishable fruits
of perfect knowledge.

48

CHAPTER VII
THE MYSTERY OF GOOD AND EVIL
Our fundamental conception of the Creator is
a spirit all-wise, omnipresent, and omnipotent.
It is not reconcilable with the conception of
Satan, found in the New-Testament and Christian
theology as "the unfailing and formidable ad
versary of God and man, the supreme spirit or
prince of a kingdom of evil." It is not conceiv
able that omnipotence would permit the existence
of a kingdom of evil, or of a rebellious spirit such
as caused Luther the persistent consciousness of
contact and opposition in bed, in his cell, or even
at his worship. Nevertheless, we have an indelible
impression of a great malignant power seeking
always to tempt and take advantage of man's
animal inheritance, or, as the theologians term it,
his "original sin." Speaking with profoundest
reverence, the mission of Christ, necessary to our
salvation, his passion and sacrifice, add still
further mystery to the subject. The conception
that there is no evidence of design on earth, as
man understands design, that the decree of the
Creator was all-sufficient, the evolution of nature
being tentative and self-regulating, until man in
his ascent from the animal reached a certain degree
4 49

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
of affinity with the divine spirit, is of importance
in studying this mystery.
Our descent or ascent from the animal, now an
incontrovertible and acknowledged fact, is suffi
cient explanation of the origin of good and evil in
mankind. The progression of organic nature from
the lowest to higher and ever higher forms, from
the monad to man, from mere consciousness to
intelligence, and from intelligence to a capacity
for spiritual communion, is irrefragable proof of
benign power and purpose. Our animal appetites
and passions, conflicting with our intellectual and
spiritual aspirations, we cannot conquer without
aid. In the figurative language of theology : " Evil
was in conflict with Jehovah to prevent the re
demption of man, and to ' the divine man ' was
confided the salvation of mankind."
Entire disbelief in God, " atheism," seems in
credible. If a supreme Intelligence be not author
of the evolution, we behold then what we term
" nature " is evolving intelligence. There is abso
lutely no escape from the alternative. A supreme
Intelligence must have decreed the evolution of
matter or matter evolves Intelligence. What
avails it to deny a supreme Intelligence and
assume the supremacy of a " blind force," giving
birth to intelligence — to progressive degrees of
intelligence, as we behold even on this fragment ?
If we concede that nature, the universe, is in
labor with Intelligence, she must have been giving
birth to high and ever higher forms during count
less aeons, and not one supreme Intelligence only
has been evolved, but myriads of every degree.
5°

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
We behold nature's fecundity on earth, and we
have superabundant evidence of her activity in so
much of the universe as our imperfect senses sup
plemented by art enable us to behold and measur
ably analyze. No " blind force " can possibly give
birth to intelligence ; that is simply inconceivable.
Still less is it possible to conceive a systematic
and progressive evolution as the product. We
behold intelligence as the result of evolution on
earth, but it has been a manifestly preordained
development. Man finds it impossible to more
than temporarily divert the evolution of nature be
cause a greater Intelligence, whose purpose was
preconceived, does not permit. The variations
which man has obtained revert, as we have seen.
Nature returns to the status when interrupted, and
resumes her progressive and tentative evolution
as soon as man withdraws his interference. We
must therefore assume that the existence of
brutal and ferocious carnivorae in the evolution of
our planet was preordained or at least permitted.
The fact appears to bear some relation to the more
or less vague assertions of the Hebrew and other
chronicles relative to the existence of a spirit of
evil in supernature. Evil, as we know it on earth,
is the passion and cruelty of the baser animal,
directed by the intelligence of the creature called
man, the immediate descendant. It is only nec
essary to look into the eye of a rattlesnake to
realize in its expression of deadly malignity, an
ineffaceable conception of a relentless and malev
olent spirit, as in the eye of the Cervidae, on the
other hand, we behold all that is benignant and
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
beautiful. It is indeed difficult thereafter to
discredit the existence of elemental antagonistic
forces even in supernature.
We ought to be prepared to expect vagueness,
crudeness, and uncertainty relative to traditions
from all sources, sacred or profane. Greater or
less obscurity does not disprove inspiration. If
it be a fact that the original decree of the Creator
has been all-sufficient in the material development
of this planet, then inspiration has been and is
subject to physical obstacles occasioned by man's
inferior nature. Are we not already seeking to
communicate with our sister planet Mars, supposed
to be in a more advanced stage of evolution ? It
does not require great imagination to conceive the
difficulties we must experience if successful — diffi
culties not alone consequent upon the superiority
of the intelligences assumed to exist in Mars, but
upon our inferiority, the impossibility of recep
tivity superior to our elementary spiritual develop
ment. We know that the luminif erous ether can convey
a message because it conveys light, heat, and elec
tricity, all of which we already utilize to our celes
tial as to our terrestrial service. Assuming inspired
communication to have been an unquestioned fact,
more or less obscured because of the imperfect
faculties of the original recipients, it would reach
us, as all records reach us, inexact, defaced by
time, corrupted or misinterpreted by repeated
transmission. As man was not capable of realizing the affinity
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
of our planet with the elements of supermundane
nature until he had proved the homogeneous char
acter of the universe, and had mastered at least
the elementary knowledge of physics necessary to
that conception, so man was not capable of receiv
ing spiritual communication or inspiration until
his soul was sufficiently developed to receive spir
itual impressions. His receptive faculties are still
imperfect as his understanding is still vague ; but
the vital spark has been received and is kindling
within him. The superhumanity of man, if we
may use the term, is a profound mystery — still
more mysterious is the element of humanity in the
divine ; but the knowledge which has come to us
so recently of our physical kinship with the celes
tial universe sheds a refulgent light which is
guiding us as we grope out of the darkness toward
its source.
Thus considered, the nature of good and evil
appears no longer so mysterious. Evil is our
animal inheritance — good our spiritual inspiration
and aspiration. There is an incessant struggle
between them in which we cannot conquer without
the aid which we have received and still solicit.
Why should man doubt that he is so aided while
receiving constantly light and life from the celes
tial universe ?

53

CHAPTER VIII
THE LAW OF SUFFERING
The greatest stumbling-block in the way of
belief in an intelligent and beneficent direction of
our destiny is the apparent cruelty of nature's
methods. We see the strong preying upon the
weak, the ferocious slaying and devouring the
timid and inoffensive. The student of nature be
comes conscious of what appears to be wanton and
inexplicable cruelty. Some of the devices of cer
tain insects to perpetuate their kind in the still
living bodies of their victims man can only char
acterize as devilish. On the earth, in the ocean
and air, nearly every living thing preys upon some
smaller or weaker Creature.
Man, himself one of the most destructive of the
Carnivorae, is victim to some of the least formi
dable but most dangerous of organisms. Certain
invisible microbes are not less pernicious to life
than the ferocious beasts of prey which he has
learned to conquer and defy. The fecundity of
nature is so great there is not place for all. The
stronger, the swifter, the wiser, the more cunning,
or perhaps the more insignificant, survive. The
organisms, strong or weak, great or small, most in
harmony with their environment, either by natural
endowment or by self-adaptation, survive. Only a
54

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
fraction of the organisms to which nature gives
birth reach maturity; only a certain proportion of
the mature complete the full cycle of life accorded
the race.
This outcome of the struggle for existence phi
losophers have termed " the survival of the fittest "
— not necessarily the strongest. Some find refuge
in speed of flight, some possess the faculty of as
similating themselves to their inanimate surround
ings and thus escape detection, some put on
armor of proof. Nothing is more interesting than
the devices adopted to escape pursuit. Neverthe
less a certain proportion of all organisms fall
victims. The more intelligent, being most con
stantly on guard to protect themselves and their
inexperienced offspring, succeed the best in prop
agating and protecting their kind.
Considered superficially, the law of incessant
strife would seem to indicate the prevalence in
nature of the supremacy of brute force ; in fact,
we behold the survival of an infinite variety of
organisms of all conditions of strength and weak
ness. The utmost intelligence of which these
creatures are capable being exercised in the strug
gle for existence, the more superior of their kind
are survivors, the least alert, the least intelligent
falling victims, either in their own person or in
that of their offspring.
This leads us to the conviction that nature is
not a blind force, cruel and purposeless, her aim
being the elimination of the unfit and the survival
of the types and individuals most worthy of sur
vival. Man, himself the chief survivor, is not the
55

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
strongest or the swiftest — perhaps not the most
cunning. His progeny is the most helpless during
the earlier years of life. The struggle of pre
historic man, by nature defenceless and weapon
less, with the monster Carnivorae by which he was
surrounded must indeed have been fierce and
terrible; but the outcome is as we behold — the
dominion of intelligence as superior to brute force.
That intelligence could not have been developed
except under conditions calling for the utmost
energy, activity, and skill as a condition of sur
vival. The spear, the bow and arrow, and the
stone axe were man's earlier weapons. These were
replaced by copper, iron, steel, and gunpowder.
In this age it would appear that the weapon of Sir
Edward Bulwer Lytton's " coming man " is
destined shortly to supersede all — a light slender
rod controlling the deadly electric current.
Thus considered, the law of suffering is evi
dently purposeful. It can scarcely be characterized
a cruel law since the elimination of the weak is
necessary to improvement. Nature is progessive
— not with apparent design, but struggling slowly,
groping doubtfully through countless obstacles
toward a predestined, preordained goal, of which
at length we can occasionally obtain a glimpse more
or less distinct through the veil which surrounds
our ultimate destiny and the final purpose of
creation. The law of suffering is enhanced because of
man's superior intelligence. He suffers not only
in the universal struggle for existence, but in the
equally fierce struggle for race supremacy. The
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
conditions of survival are knowledge and effort.
Physically he is the most helpless of creatures.
He enters the' world with a pitiful cry, betraying
his forlorn condition. For years he is liable to
fall a ready prey to the least strong and daring of
the Carnivorae. His infancy is menaced by innu
merable disorders. His youth must be spent in
long and laborious preparation and competition to
fit him to succeed in the great battle of life. The
gardens and strategic spots of the world can be
held only by a race advanced in knowledge and
organization. It is still the rule of the fittest —
that is, of the best prepared, the most capable —
and man must suffer to be strong.
Disease, pestilence, the plague, deadly fevers,
war, and famine, all threaten his extermination.
Knowledge alone is his safeguard. It occasion
ally happens that the race is exterminated through
out entire districts. All these foes he must learn
to conquer. Suffering may be termed a cruel law,
but it is a law — a condition of progress, of de
velopment. For the sufferers there is compensa
tion, if only in release from suffering ; but there
may be compensation entirely unknown to us.
The shroud of death which releases may be only
the veil which it is decreed shall not be prema
turely withdrawn, lest the radiance blind alike the
weak and the strong, and we fly as insects to the
light. But what if there be a dispensation on this our
earth as the final fruit of all suffering, in which
the strong shall protect the weak, the learned the
ignorant, the rich the poor? Not yet — not yet;
57

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
but assuredly the seed has been sown, its first
fruits harvested : a scanty and imperfect harvest
it is true ; but we can already behold the promise
of future abundance and a glorious provision for
all, when the faint and weary shall not only be
provided for, but be the first chosen.
The law of suffering is indissolubly connected
with the mystery of good and evil. The existence
of evil implies, necessitates suffering, as the
existence of good assures and develops happiness.
The expectation that good will be rewarded and
evil punished, as our nature is constituted, is an
inevitable corollary.
Man having reached the culmination of his
physical development, the law of suffering becomes
one of the birth pangs of his spiritual life. Instinc
tively conscious of a divine intelligence, and of the
element of affinity in his own nature, he seeks
communion in affliction and gathers strength and
fortitude to endure. With renewed hope and trust
he returns to the unceasing conflict inspired by
the conviction that he can rise superior to his
earthly environment and become worthy of spir
itual succession upon release from the material of
his animal inheritance.

58

CHAPTER IX
THE NEW DISPENSATION
Physiologists have crowned man king of the
Vertebrata. The perfection of the erect form, of
the brain development, and of the cultivated hand
has been reached. No art or science can suggest
physical amendment to nature's masterpiece. The
gradual progression of forms through countless ages
terminates in man, and man himself has reached his
meridian. Has evolution thus ceased? By no
means. We have entered upon a new dispensation.
The law of force is not to prevail. A new law is
being unfolded for our guidance — a law mightier
than the law of force, a law destined, we believe,
to supplant even the law of suffering — the law of
love. The helplessness of the offspring of man during
so many long years, helplessness which increases
greatly during the progress of civilization, the
constant necessity of self-sacrifice and devotion on
the part of parents and older children has refined
and ennobled man until he is learning that it is
more blessed to give than to receive — more blessed
to yield than to demand. The little helpless
infant is the autocrat who first taught us to yield
— how much more grateful it is to love, to cherish,
to serve, to deny one's self, than to grasp and op-
59

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
press. Behold the parents or a group of young
children cooing around the infant ' s cradle ! Behold
in their faces the sanctification of love which seeks
no recompense greater than a smile from the
rosebud mouth or a kiss of the dimpled hand, and
we are in presence of the origin and foundation of
the law of the new dispensation. There is no bliss
on earth surpassing that of the mother ministering
to the wants of her children. She knows no mo
tive but love ; love is her inspiration — love the only
reward she seeks.
The love of the father, less supremely tender,
has less of intensity and sublimity, perhaps, but
little less of unselfish sacrifice. Who has not
seen him walking with his young daughter, devot
ing to her every hour he can spare from the strife
of life which he wages in her behalf ? What re
ward does he ask for all his efforts and sacrifice but
love ? After years of devotion he shall yield her
to another willingly — more than willingly, that
she may fulfil her destiny and know a love of
greater passion and intensity. He may see her
thereafter only at rare intervals, or, perhaps, never !
Do we not know those parents are fully repaid?
Behold their beatitude ! They may retire to live
alone, their future joy in the happiness and pros
perity of the beloved for whom they labored so
long with love so supreme.
Who has not seen the mother and father who,
having lost an only child, have lost all ? They can
no longer pour their treasures of love at his feet
— treasures material or impalpable; but thereaf
ter every gracious deed of benefaction is dedicated
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
to his name and sanctified to his memory. No,
love shall not, does not, end at home, the hundreds
and thousand of blessed and noble charities of the
world bear witness; man is learning to love and
cherish the weak, the feeble, the helpless, the
afflicted, the despondent. It is enough that
strength fails; that the limbs totter; that the
burden is too heavy to be borne. Blessed, for
ever blessed, be the hands that circle the yielding
form, the kind eyes that reassure the doubting,
sorrowful, upturned gaze, that inspired and inspir
ing by love bring rest and peace and hope to the
weary and worn. Hail you disciples of the new
dispensation ! Hail you unconquered that seek to
rally and support and reanimate the disheartened !
Hail you Salvationists of all lands and creeds !
What if the seeds bear not fruit to the sight ! They
have fallen in stony places ; lo ! one grain seized
by the fleeting winds, borne far, far beyond your
vision, has fructified a hundred, a thousandfold.
Your eyes behold it not, shall never behold its
germination, its florescence, or its fructification.
You did believe it lost; but it has clothed the
very desert with undying verdure !
Under the new dispensation love is teaching us
to love. The mother loving the child at her breast
learns to love the child at the breast of another —
learns to love that mother and all mothers. The
father laboring and struggling to feed and clothe
and educate his own is learning sympathy with the
efforts of all struggling, striving, self-sacrificing
humanity. A stranger wearing darkened glasses passed
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
through a little flock of deaf and dumb children,
who surrounded him, touching their eyes and
placing their hands upon their hearts in token of
deepest sympathy with the affliction under which
they supposed him to be suffering. Poor little
darlings, their afflictions had made them the wards
of humanity. The love of the world we so often
call cold and hard had gone out to them, and they
touched their gentle bosoms in sympathy with the
afflicted stranger.
As amid the toil and stress of the unceasing
strife of life our hopes and aspirations point faith
fully heavenward, so he who has eyes to see may
pause a few seconds, and even amid the hurrying
throng he shall hear some word, behold some
sign or deed to reassure his soul, to strengthen his
faith and trust. The sacred spark, latent, he shall
see if only for a moment kindled — the sacred
spark which proclaims our kinship with the divine.
The law of love has birth here in this world of
ours, to be perfected here, we trust — to rise to a
kingdom. As we cultivate and perfect it, we cul
tivate and perfect the elements of the divine in
humanity — elements which encourage our aspira
tions and sanctify our faith, that not only man,
but mankind, may become worthy of the immortal
life to which he so daringly aspires, and to which
the progression of nature assuredly indicates his
succession.

62

CHAPTER X
DEATH A TRANSITION ONLY
The instinct of self-preservation is so strongly
implanted in man that he is attached to life, and
cherishes it with the greatest care. It is a fact,
nevertheless, that nature appears to hold life in
light regard. There is nothing of which she is
more wasteful. The spawn and the young of fish,
for example, are no more considered than the
blades of grass. The same is true of all lower
forms of life. As we ascend in the scale, nature
appears less regardless : the organism acquires
some means of self-protection. But the higher
organism shows no respect for the life of the
lower; on the contrary, the stronger not only
destroy to satisfy hunger, but with a certain
wantonness of destruction, as when the wolf enters
a sheepfold and ravages amid the entire flock.
This is measurably true also of man. It is man's
life only he considers precious. He is regardless
of the life of all beneath him, even of his nearest
of kin in the animal world. He is as wantonly
destructive of life as the worst of the Carnivorae.
We are not supremely regardful even of the life
of man. We throw it away upon the battlefield,
or sacrifice it more or less readily in behalf of a
noble cause. This is unpremeditated, instinctive
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
evidence that there is a principle in nature su
perior to life. Nature, the creature, and the
Creator evidently thus bear testimony. The pur
pose, the goal, is beyond life as we know life.
The sublime fact of the surrender of life to prin
ciple assures it : or does nature for the first time
bear false witness ? Do we behold the unfledged
pinion, and is there to be no flight?
If we can assure ourselves of purpose in the
creation and development of man, we can assure
ourselves of purpose in his death. Man approaches
death as the solution of a mystery. That the long
procession of high and ever higher forms is proof
of intelligent purpose it is impossible to deny, and
it is equally impossible to deny the significance of
death. So long as evolution is in alliance with
the material, death is necessary to make room for
the succession. The mere material is used over
and over again : death is necessary to disassociate
it. Death is a process, as the evaporation of water
or the precipitation of a crystal. Something new
is generated by the liberation and reconstruction
of matter. The mere material is re-resolved. In
the material world death, as man conceives death,
has no place. " The stillness of death," the cessa
tion of all activity, is apparent only. The ma
terial particles are as active as during what we
term life. The activities of disintegration and
distribution replace those of aggregation and
selection. Nature performs many such processes,
but never without a purpose and a result. When
two parts of hydrogen unite with one of oxygen,
the hydrogen and oxygen disappear ; but there is
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
a new birth — water. What we term natural death
is a decay of the material. Even in health the
material is in constant process of decay and re
newal. Sudden death is an arrest of the circu
lation of the blood, which puts an end to the
exchange of matter and energy by the organism.
The entire organism was originally from a single
cell, the ovum. The process of assimilation and
rejection arrested, life, as we know it, ceases.
That there is something superior to the material
in human life we know. In illness what we term
the " mind " can aid or retard recovery. Spiritual
consciousness does not necessarily decay with the
material. Frequently it kindles at the very mo
ment of disseverance to survey with studious
attention the approach of death, even to the very
verge of dissolution.
We know that matter is indestructible. We
can cause it to disappear so that our senses can
detect no evidence of its presence ; but it has only
assumed another form — not a grain has been de
stroyed. Man can destroy the life we so highly
prize by a breath ; but all his art and effort fail to
cause one grain of matter to cease to exist. If
the material be indestructible, is it not reasonable
to assume that the spirit which animates matter is
imperishable ? It is certain that in the material
world there is no dissolution which is not followed
by a new creation. The phenomena of dissolution
simply precede the phenomenon of rebirth.
Our senses — so affected by the phenomena
which attend the dissolution of life — are abso
lutely unreliable as evidence. The organism, as
5 65

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
we knew it, dies and disappears. What becomes
of the spirit which so recently animated the clay ?
That we cannot behold or detect any evidence of
its presence is no greater proof that it has ceased
to exist than the disappearance of water by evap
oration is proof that the elements of which water
is composed have ceased to exist.
Nature, which ordinarily proceeds so cautiously,
so tentatively, step by step, sometimes even re
jecting the result of her own evolution, has also
her cataclysmic periods when she reaches the cul
mination of her efforts in a given direction, and is
about to renew her labors on a superior plane.
Such a cataclysm attended the birth of inorganic
matter from the incoherent, incandescent vapors
of the inchoate planet; another at the birth of
organic life. If, as we cannot doubt, man is the
culmination of the organic series, a similar cata
clysm precedes his transition to immortal life. The
evolution of the material fulfilled, is inaugurated
the evolution of the spiritual.
Why should evolution cease at man ? We can
not imagine the cessation of evolution any more
than we can imagine a limit to time or space.
Evolution implies, proves purpose. Man is the
heir to spiritual life; he only is endowed with
spiritual instincts and aspirations. He alone
probes unceasingly the mystery of creation.
Clothed with the encumbrance of his descent, he
still aspires to a life after death which shall satisfy
his spiritual nature. He seeks light unceasingly
during life, and awaits the approach of death in
doubt, or hope and trust, according to the measure
66

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
of spiritual communion he has sought during his
material existence.
Assuredly man's instincts do not deceive him.
The spirit which seeks and measurably receives
celestial communion while still in this imperfect
human frame, disentangled from the material by
death, shall transport the germ, the ovum, of
spiritual rebirth to another sphere — to a nobler, a
celestial evolution.

67

CHAPTER XI
THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST
It is nineteen hundred years since the doctrine
of the new dispensation was formally announced.
Man was at the maturity of his physical evolution.
The new doctrine was to aid his spiritual develop
ment, in danger of suffocation by his animal nature
and passions. It was the age of the later Roman
Caesars, when humanity had reached a condition of
almost inconceivable abasement. In the words of
Tacitus : " It was rich in disasters, terrible in
battles, rent by seditions, savage even in peace."
The most awful tragedies of impurity and blood
shed were enacted even in open day. There was
no protection for virtue, beauty, or innocence
from the lust or caprice of the mighty. Crimes
unnamable, despotism beyond credence, pollution,
corruption, and infamy pervaded society from the
throne to the hovel. Such was " the world," such
the stage on which appeared the august figure of
Christ to teach the doctrines of peace, purity, and
charity, of self-denial, mercy, love, and the for
giveness of enemies.
The rumors and prophecies current among the
Jewish people at the period led them to anticipate
the advent of a champion who should release " the
chosen people " from subjection and restore their
68

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
ancient grandeur — a champion militant and glori
ous. When the gentle Nazarene presented him
self, preaching principles utterly subversive of all
their hopes and expectations, it brought extremest
ridicule upon them, wounded their pride, and ex
asperated them beyond endurance.
The Roman dominion represented brute force ;
might was right. Their enemies were forced to
pass beneath the yoke, and were dragged in tri
umph at their chariot wheels. The conqueror was
crowned with laurel and ultimately deified. No
mercy was shown, none expected. Entire nations
were reduced to slavery. Neither master nor
slave questioned the decree. It was not the
slavery of an inferior race, but the slavery of
equals accepted as a consequence of defeat in
battle. The only avenue of escape was to fall
upon the sword. Cicero when overtaken in his
litter by the centurions in pursuit thrust his head
through the curtains awaiting the blow which in
stantly fell.
It was inevitable that the Jews should believe
naught could subvert this rule of the sword but a
sword still stronger and keener, wielded by a
militant King, royal in presence, masterful in
command, resplendent in victory. It is easy to
comprehend how futile must have been the result
even had all their visions of power and splendor
been realized or exceeded. The world had suffered
enough from the rule of the sword, from war and
victory, so called.
Christ preached no subversion of authority, no
sentiments of revolution or rebellion, no attack
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
upon place or power. To all appearance the super
structure of society, as it existed, remained un-
menaced ; but in reality the new doctrines under
mined its very foundation ; it was shaken until not
one stone remained upon another, to be recon
structed finally upon the rock of ages. He who
never uttered a word of revolt or resistance shat
tered the civilization of the sword to fragments
and insisted that not one stone of the old should
be used with which to rebuild. How paltry would
have been the triumph of a Jewish warrior-king as
compared to a victory so complete, so enduring,
so subversive ! The kingdom of Christ was not
to be of the world only. Every stone not rejected
was divine. The edifice he designed was of law,
of liberty, of love. There was, there is, no haste.
Time matters not in building for eternity. Not
in a day or a generation or in centuries could the
pollution, the animality of the ancient world be
entirely eradicated. Nothing that is for perma
nence can be built hastily, much less that which is
to endure till time shall be no more.
How insignificant to all outward appearance the
means to achieve so profound a revolution, or the
still greater revolution to come — the full estab
lishment of Christ's kingdom on earth ! But who
can distrust the future in the light of the past ?
The Christian doctrine is the foundation of mod
ern civilization. To it we owe all that we have
achieved and the faith that the new dispensation
shall ultimately bind the entire human race in the
bonds of peace and love.
The figure of the Son of Man wandering weary
7°

PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
and footsore through Judea preaching and teaching
has become so august that the exquisite beauty
and reality of his humanity is partially obscured.
We veil our eyes from the radiance emanating
even from the canvas bearing his image. When
we picture the presence to ourselves, he is sur
rounded by a halo so refulgent that we desist.
The very efforts of art, poetry, and worship to
illustrate and glorify him render elusive the
gentle, enduring figure we would recall. But his
humanity should be ever present with us. That
humanity is for our guidance — his patience, his
prudence, his dignity and endurance, his absence
of pretension, his sympathy with the poor and
afflicted, his unwillingness to judge harshly, his
divine forgiveness, his reverence of woman, his
love for children, his obedience to the Father. It
is not only Christ's doctrine, but Christ's life that
must guide us in our aspirations, our development
toward the spiritual. It being possible for us,
despite our animal descent, to reach a spiritual life
hereafter, his guidance is necessary in order to
enable us to reach the goal — his transcendent aid,
relieved from the taint of man's inheritance.
The doctrine of Christ, as handed down by his
disciples in the New Testament, taught an entirely
new principle of ethics to that arrogant, supercil
ious, corrupt age. To accept it required the sub
version of all practice as of all traditions. What
greater contrast of doctrine can be conceived than
" An eye for an eye " and " Love them that hate
you, pray for them that despitefully use you ? "
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
And we who are familiar with the new dispensa
tion, we who hear it preached so constantly and
eloquently, that strenuous, unselfish humble life is
as necessary to our humanity as his doctrine.
His example is for our guidance, as for the guid
ance of the past. It is for all humanity. It is
necessary not only to accept the doctrine, but to
live the life. We cannot hope to emulate his
example, but we have the standard both of theory
and of fact. We are not called upon to question
the law or to subvert what we condemn. It is not
necessary to distribute our riches to the poor
unless we would become disciples and follow him
in very truth. It does not say that great posses
sions close the door, but that " It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
That is a metaphor, variously interpreted by the
commentators. Alas ! it is not necessary even in
this age to dwell upon the corrupting influence of
great wealth — all recognize it. Christ's example
is before us. We can and do misinterpret his
doctrine, but his life cannot be misunderstood. It
exquisitely illustrates his teaching, and they must
be taken together.
Not all can enter the kingdom. It has been
rendered possible for humanity, for man, to win a
spiritual life hereafter ; but man must seek .to be
purified from the dross of his material nature
during his life on earth. As he loves his children,
his heir, his family, he must learn to love man
kind — to give, the best he has of wealth, or skill,
or knowledge, or power. That is the essence of
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PROGRESSION TO IMMORTALITY
Christ's doctrine, the motive of his sacrifice, the
example of his life, and it is as perfect, as " scien
tific," as exalted and purposeful. Humanity,
society, can be purified and regenerated only from
the apex to the base. The wise, the learned, the
rich, the prosperous, must use their wisdom, learn
ing, and wealth to help the less fortunate. Christ
seeks nothing less than the redemption of man
kind. It is in redeeming others that we follow
his example and redeem ourselves.
The doctrine of the New Testament, fully ac
cepted, is the charter of man's happiness on earth
and of his heirship to immortal life. It is for all
men — for mankind. There is no preference to
the great, the learned, the " successful. " On the
contrary, Christ's sympathy is with the poor, the
unfortunate, the oppressed — yes, with the sinner !
How can man or woman question or reject it?
No mother's love and care of a sick child surpasses
the love he bears to all. He is the incarnate spirit
of love, of mercy, of charity. The virtue of his
merest touch was such that it healed the sick and
afflicted: his benediction was an assurance of
heaven. Faith in him destroys the victory of the
grave, the sting of death. His hands are out
stretched to sustain and comfort us as we approach
the dark gulf through the gathering shadows.
Christ's doctrine is divine by every test and
standard. Man cannot add to it or detract from
it. So great is its perfection that he alone could
illustrate it in his life. It is sanctified by his
death. It has not one tenet, but is material to
our guidance. No "new religion" can possibly
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be constructed by man's genius or perversity. It
is indestructible, being as necessary alike to our
material and spiritual nature as the air we breathe.
It is elemental; thus all man's efforts to build
anew can result only in dissolution and recrystal-
lization. Any and every " new doctrine," if good,
must be of Christ; if bad, of Antichrist.

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CHAPTER XII
WAS JESUS CHRIST DIVINE?
We fail to discover any evidence of direct inter
vention on the part of the Creator in the evolution
of this planet; but it is impossible to deny pur
pose — the progression of higher and ever higher
forms culminating in man. It is not unnatural,
therefore, for man to question the existence of " a
personal God," since it is impossible to realize
His presence or conjecture His nature. It is
equally impossible to comprehend why nature has
been left so wide a latitude within certain
limits ; but we can readily understand that an in
finitely higher power is thus made manifest than
that of a god called upon to superintend an infini
tude of special creations.
The entire effort of nature being dedicated to
the creation of the highest type of life possible to
existing elements under existing conditions, and
some purpose far beyond our present understand
ing being unquestionably indicated, man turns
from his animal to his spiritual endowment, hoping
and aspiring to a spiritual evolution corresponding
to the evolution accorded the physical. While
recognizing our descent or ascent from the animal,
we also recognize that we are related, however re
motely, to an infinitely higher endowment, which,
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having no existence in what we term nature, we
must look for in supernature, or the divine. Why
not ? Most certainly this our earth, our system,
is a part of the celestial universe. The lumi-
niferous ether connects us with it. We feel the
rhythmic beating of its pulse as we feel the beat
ing of our heart. Our physical evolution com
plete, having already at least the germ of spiritual
endowment, we aspire heavenward.
Even while thus daring we believe ourselves to
be the lowest form endowed with capacity for
spiritual evolution, and in groping from our animal
obscurity toward spiritual light, seeking vainly to
comprehend eternity, immortality, and God, we are
granted an emanation from the divine, sufficiently
in accord with the material to hold communication
with us and to participate partially in our nature.
Whosoever rejects this faith can adduce but one
reason : it is without precedent — it is miraculous.
Most true, it is not natural, it is supernatural.
But man claims to have and has a supernature.
That is the culmination of his evolution. He
stands on the brink of emergence from this to a
higher life.
We cannot expect to behold a spiritual world
with our imperfect sight, or to have material con
sciousness of it with organs attuned to only a frac
tion of the vibrations of this planet. We cannot
even behold the stars of heaven by day. Without
the light we are blind : and we are equally blind
in its slightest excess. He who deprived of sight
has never beheld the astounding, awe-inspiring
splendors of the heavens at night can form no
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adequate conception of their glory; but having
faith he accepts the rhapsody of sight without
doubt. We who have beheld know it still en
dures, though obscured by the sun's midday
splendor. " If light so much conceals, why may
not life?"
We accept too readily the evidence of our im
perfect senses. We refuse to believe what we
cannot see, or to give credence to what we cannot
understand. We enthrone reason a god and wor
ship it, though assuredly no heathen god or idol
of savage more often betrayed its worshippers.
How could it be otherwise when we reason from
faculties so imperfect and incomplete? If so
much be obscured by the light of day, and the
splendors of the celestial universe be revealed
only by darkness, why seek light, the material
light of the organs of sight and sense, before yield
ing belief? If thus unconscious of our material
environment, how can we expect to be spiritually
conscious? Why seek material evidence of the
immaterial ? This explains the need, the impera
tive necessity, of faith and Christ.
When man is called upon to reject the evidence
of his senses and believe in spiritual things un
seen, in a mystery concerning which he can find
no guide, because his spiritual endowment is at
best elementary, he rebels and takes refuge in
"agnosticism." But is he not wiser who, con
scious of imperfect endowment, seeks to nourish
the germ of the spiritual ; wise the sightless who
believe the splendors revealed to others more per
fectly, albeit still most incompletely endowed;
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wise they who yield faith in the heavenly mystery
in full assurance of receiving perfect light ?
"The fierce light which beats upon a throne"
has passed into a proverb; but no light so search
ing or so prolonged was ever shed as upon the life
and teaching of Christ from the day when he first
entered upon his public ministry to the present :
all the learning of the centuries has been concen
trated upon that sad, suffering, momentous career.
Hundreds, thousands of men have been educated
in order to dedicate their learning and their life to
the study of his teaching and the testimony of his
disciples. The archives and libraries of the world
have been ransacked again and again; languages
long obsolete have been restored in order that not
a phrase or construction or comparison between
the old and the new should be lost. Every village
and mountain and cave of the Holy Land has been
searched by zealous pilgrims and devoted scholars.
Nor have there been wanting doubters and enemies
as researchful and eager in the cause of disbelief ;
for, great as is the hostility of good to evil, the
hostility of evil to good exceeds it a hundredfold.
As a result, we have the pure, sacred form of the
Christ enshrined in our hearts, the one grand, un
faltering, absolutely stainless figure of all the ages
— of all records, sacred and profane. As the doc
trine of Christ is superior to humanity, so the
person of Christ is superhuman or divine.
The religious thought of all ages is filled with
the conception of a divine mediator. Man, unable
to communicate with supernature, as with the in
ferior of his own domain, has ever dumbly im-
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plored light and guidance, and in response, since
he first reached a conception of his relation to the
Creator, some spiritual and supernatural interven
tion appears to have been brooding over nature
awaiting the psychologic moment, the kindling
of the sacred spark in humanity to unite it with
the divine. Rumors of the advent of "a Son of
God" have pervaded all the ages, rumors of a
"Saviour of mankind" centuries before Christ.
That is nature's testimony to man's divine inheri
tance. As in the long progression of forms of the
Vertebrata she proclaimed the approach of man
ages before his appearance on earth, so she has
long proclaimed, and still proclaims, the advent of
spiritual man, man regenerated, man redeemed to
inherit eternal life.

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