740 Causes and Course of Organic Evolution 



of the Persian kings show that in Zoroastrianism was an equally, 

 or even a more, enthusiastic regard paid to one great divinity 

 or first power Orniazd; the lives and writings of many Greek 

 and Babylonian religionists are quite equal to any of the Old 

 Testament. But further in "the apology of Aristides" (circa 

 140-160 A. D.) this author berates the Hebrews of his and 

 of earlier centuries as little better than pantheistic, or even 

 as nature-worshi])ers in some of their ways, while he equally 

 decries the Greeks for their degraded sensual practices. 



The true position evidently is that amongst all the mono- 

 theistic nations of the third century B. C. to the second century 

 A. D. there were many earnest spirits at work endeavoring 

 to keep alive high human aspiration in the midst of much 

 degraded thought and practice. 



In the most reverential spirit then the writer would state 

 that he regards Christ as one and only one of those great human 

 prophets or proenvironers who have successively appeared 

 during the past ten to twenty millennia. Each of these in 

 succession has continued and demonstrated the action of the 

 law of proenvironment, as exhibited in nucleate plants and 

 in simpler nucleate animals, still higher in ganglionated ani- 

 mals up to primitiA'e man, and most highly in evolving man 

 up to the Christian era. All of these proenvironers, in un- 

 broken biological continuity, have been exposed on every 

 side to sensory stimuli, some of which have been beneficial 

 and synthetic in action, others have been analytic and slowly 

 or rajiidly destructive. By withdrawing from the latter, and 

 by cunuilation or summation of the former into new responses 

 that have started lines of advancing and evolving action, some 

 have i)rogressed along steadily improving lines. After each 

 such advance a temporarily satisfied state ensued and con- 

 tinued, until new and improved stimuli were generated, as 

 a result of the actions and reactions of the evolving world. 

 These then were combined into a new proenvironal response, 

 that again resulted in a temporarily satisfied state. 



Viewed from such a stand])oint as the above, Christ was 

 a great and noteworthy proenvironer. To appreciate this 



