THE ETHICS OF REVELATION 141 



mind of man were in course of evolution and formation, and to 

 explain them in a more enlightened manner when man has 

 completed the evolution of body and mind. 



For it is quite apparent in the last hundred years even the 

 masses have learned to think, we must turn to breed- 

 ing and selection to evolve the powers of soul, which 

 is to enable man to rule and govern himself, as he 

 learns to reason as well as think, in the same way that the 

 mind has enabled him to conquer the world, so reason must 

 enable him to conquer himself. Reason is the outcome of 

 breeding from those whose lives have compelled them to reason 

 rather than to obey, and who will, in the majority of cases, 

 breed those best able to reason. First religion teaches us to 

 obey; but it takes study and science and experience to teach 

 us reason, which is the outcome of wisdom and habits of self- 

 control, not of learning and knowledge. Hence only those 

 can reason who have ancestry who have had to study and 

 think for themselves, and have learnt obedience and self- 

 control. Religion by teaching the thoughtless to obey could 

 thus bring them under the control of the wise, but it is power- 

 less to teach them wisdom or self-control. 



Wisdom is the result of generations of self-reasoning 

 and experience. This is why wisdom is not a necessary 

 adjunct of the saint or the enthusiast, but is more often the 

 property of the sober-minded, hence it is only by stopping 

 the breeding of those mentally unfit to control themselves that 

 we can breed up a majority of wise men, which must be the 

 main aim of futurity, for thought in the minds of fools is 

 like a battle-axe in the hands of a madman, for religion can 

 only govern the ignorant ; the wise man must be able to 

 govern himself or he is not truly wise. Therefore it appears 

 to me that in future we must make our jails places of work, 

 and confine our criminals for life, giving them the benefit of 

 their labours, but preventing them from breeding fresh 

 criminals ; also that those who will not work must be com- 

 pelled to do so for the benefit of their wives and families, and 

 not allow to breed a future lazy race, which is the great cause 

 of the destruction of the vitality of nations. But this is too 

 exhaustive a subject to go into in a treatise like this, as it 

 would fill a volume and then not be completed. I only mention 

 it here as indicating the direction in which the finger-post of 



