( 65 ) 209; 



On the previous days of Creation all had progressed 

 in accordance with inevitable law apart from its objects. 

 Now two lines of development were at the disposal of 

 this being, between which his free will was to choose. 

 Did he choose the courses dictated by the spirit of the 

 brute, he was to be subject to the old law of the brute 

 creation the right of the strongest and spiritual death. 

 Did he choose the guidance of the Divine Guest in his 

 heart, he became subject to the laws which are to guide 

 I. the human species to an ultimate perfection, so far 

 as consistent with this world ; and II. the individual 

 man to a higher life, where a new existence awaits him 

 as a spiritual being, freed from the laws of terrestrial 

 matter. 



The charge brought against the theory of develop- 

 ment, that it implies a necessary progress of man to all 

 perfection without his cooperation or necessitarianism, 

 as it is called is unfounded. 



The free will of man remains the source alike of his 

 progress and his relapse. But the choice once made, 

 the laws of spiritual development are apparently as in- 

 evitable as those of matter. Thus men whose religious 

 capacities are increased by attention to the Divine Mon- 

 itor within are in the advance of progress progress 

 coinciding with that which in material things is called 

 the harmonic. On the other hand, those whose motives 

 are of the lower origin fall under the working of the 

 law of conflict. 



The lesson derivable from the preceding considera- 

 tions would seem to be u necessitarian " as respects the 

 whole human race, considered by itself; and I believe 

 it is to be truly so interpreted. That is, the Creator of 

 all things has set agencies at work which will slowly 



