THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



and know nothing in regard to that which lies be- 

 yond its own limitations. It should be studied ob- 

 jectively the workings of other men's minds rather 

 than our own. The doctrine of Aristotle and of the 

 Scholastics that " whatever is possible to exist does 

 exist," led naturally to the consequent belief that 

 " all that exists in thought must exist in fact," and 

 gave to subjective suggestion an objective reality. 

 The Metaphysician, believing that the idea of each 

 and of all things existed before, beyond and apart 

 from each thing itself, transferred the idea of the 

 highest attributes of human intelligence and will to 

 the idea of an Omnipotent and Omniscient Being, 

 free from the limitations of power, space and time 

 that restrict man, but otherwise in the likeness of man. 

 To him and to the Theologian of old the Creator 

 and Sustainer of all things was an anthropomorphic 

 being, moved by the emotions that move man, and 

 governing both in the phenomena of this world and 

 in all that concerns man's welfare, temporal and 

 eternal, in an inconstant, capricious and uncertain 

 manner. The evils of life, whether physical, such as 

 earthquakes, floods, tempests, plague, pestilence and 

 famine ; or personal sorrows, trials and death itself, 

 were looked upon as punishments sent in revenge for 

 national crimes or individual sins the latter often 



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