Functions of the Gods. 57 



line in innumerable ways. I might give it a single 

 impulse in the direction in which I want it to 

 move; and it would move straight on in that 

 direction following my primary impulse. So would 

 the universe move if it contained only minerals, 

 vegetables and animals, if there were no clashing 

 wills within it, if it were within the iron grip of 

 compulsion, which never in any fashion could be 

 resisted. But I can equally well drive my ball 

 along that straight line, if I know enough of 

 physics, by correlating different and opposed forces. 

 I may send two forces against it at a particular 

 angle, and if my angle be properly measured ac- 

 cording to the strength of the forces, then the ball 

 will travel along the same line by the interaction of 

 the two forces as well as by the impact of the one ; 

 and I may bring three, or four, or five, or a million 

 forces, to bear upon that ball, and still it will move 

 along that one definite line, if only the forces are 

 calculated and balanced so that their resultant shall 

 always be a force along that straight line. That 

 balancing is one of the functions of the Gods. They 

 take these warring wills, these different directions 

 that are being impressed, as it were, on the rolling 

 world that is going along the road of evolution ; 

 they balance, adapt, and correlate them, and thus 

 always keep the world travelling along the straight 



