The I'hUusiqjhij of Eculatloti. 359 



already far his sui)erior, and worth more to humanity. 

 Machinery always elevates its employers. 



See how ^Materialism also naakes men more truthful than 

 Spiritualism. When men can be brought to an exact bar, 

 and proved to be false, they are perforce more guarded and 

 careful in their statements. Such a tedious falsehood as 

 that of the Ivoman church, that bread and wine are the true 

 body and blood of Christ, Avhich has debased the minds of 

 believers for ages, could not hold its sway for an hour 

 under a materialistic iihilosophy. Xo more could the Pla- 

 tonic doctrine that ideas have real existence outside of the 

 brain. Men do not attempt to lie in mathematics, except 

 when they have some spiritual theory to maintain. 



So, too, we may sing the praises of a materialistic philos- 

 ophy in that it absorbs the energies of the age in the pur- 

 suit of wealth. Xever before was mankind so well engaged. 

 It is better to build passenger steamers than men-of-war. 

 It is better to build factories than cathedrals. It is better 

 to build raihvays than armories. It is better to develop 

 mines than to promote missions. Men are seldom or never 

 so well engaged as in making money decentl}-. Six days 

 are not too much for profitable labor, though one day be 

 enough for worship, even according to Moses. 



Why, then, should we hear, from our more spiritual 

 friends, a great outcry against this excellent pursuit ? For 

 it is easily seen that, since the Avorld began, mankind was 

 never so well engaged in general as it is at the present 

 day. ''The mad race for riches" leads to enterprise, edu- 

 cation, good health and long life. It keeps men out of 

 mischief and crime, it covers the earth Avith great cities 

 and the Avater Avitli great ships, it spans the rivers with 

 bridges and iills the air with voices of intelligence, it makes 

 famine impossible, and binds with fetters of self-interest 

 the bloody wolves of war. Whatever is good among men 

 is largely the effect of wealth, Avhether it is reckoned in 

 material goods or the advances of charity, peace, justice, 

 science, art, or politics. And the wide difference between 

 our own peace-loving age and its gainful occupations, and 

 the quarrelsome and destructive ages before, is chiefly due 

 to the fact that now men are all seeking wealth through in- 

 dustry, instead of advancing religion by persecution, or 

 patriotism by war, or ])olitics by lies and force, or power 

 by intrigues and assassinations. 



