EVOLUTION AND THE HIGHER HUMAN LIFE 297 



earthly temple of flesh and blood. The essential think- 

 ing individual is believed to pass to heaven, where 

 rewards for right living are bestowed, or to hell, in order 

 to suffer punishment for sin during all eternity, or some 

 part of it, according to different views regarding the effi- 

 cacy of Christ's vicarious atonement. 



It is true that the manifold sects of Christianity differ 

 somewhat in the detailed forms of these three essential 

 beliefs, but not to the same degree as in the case of the 

 secondary additions. God's laws, Christ's teachings, 

 and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost are the recognized 

 guides to conduct ; but human frailty has been such that 

 the history of Europe presents a panorama of warring 

 sects in almost unceasing strife about details of ritual and 

 interpretation, while the great fundamental truths have 

 been too frequently ignored. The conflicts of Catholics 

 and Protestants, Puritan and Cavalier, and Northern 

 and Southern Presbyterianism, have not been waged on 

 account of basic beliefs like the three outlined above, or 

 about the Golden Rule, but on account of comparatively 

 trivial details which to the impersonal student have 

 scarcely more than the value of individual preference. 



Judaism, the next great religion, has already been 

 mentioned as the parent of Christianity, to which it gave 

 the concept of a Supreme Being, as well as that of a Mes- 

 siah. It is a purer monotheism than its outgrowth, 

 whose trinity is more like certain elements of Greek 

 theology. Jehovah is the one supernatural power, the 

 creator and lawgiver and immediate cause of all the 

 workings of nature. It is he who shapes the world out 

 of nothingness and who separates the waters from the 

 dry land ; he parts the waters of the Red Sea to save 



