VIRTUE AND CRIME 151 



of creation and of evolution, not as they stand to the particular 

 age or epoch in which we live. Hence it must be borne in 

 mind that God, being infinite goodness, can allow nothing to 

 exist except for a good purpose. Therefore, Virtue and Crime 

 can be considered only from this standpoint as comparative 

 terms in relation to our well-being at the particular epoch or 

 age in which we live. For the survival of the fittest is the 

 indomitable law that is to decide what is to exist and what 

 is to be destroyed till all shall be perfect. So it follows that 

 all sin and crime have their duty to perform; that crime is 

 just as necessary to the production of the scheme of creation 

 as are good and virtue; for although intending throughout 

 creation to drive and direct the created being by the reins of 

 Fate, and giving man a small amount of will of his own, God, 

 nevertheless, intends to control to some extent the world he 

 has created and to retain the power to decree what is best and 

 what is the just reward of the acts of those to whom he is 

 giving the reward of an immortal soul, as he returns to finity 

 the portions of His Trinity that have been withdrawn to pro- 

 duce a material existence, but at the same time the power of 

 man's control and will is to be limited despite its being some- 

 what increased throughout the course of evolution. 



On the other hand, the triumphs of folly over wisdom by 

 selfishness, sloth and pride, on the part of man, are to cause 

 decrease of brain and degeneration on the part of the indi- 

 vidual, and the crimes of immorality, cruelty and infidelity on 

 the part of woman are the defects that are to destroy the 

 powers of the reproduction in mankind of a sound and perfect 

 body, and the virtues of love, sympathy and charity. Hence 

 there is no act that is not right if performed in the most 

 perfect way to fit and suit the circumstances in which our 

 fate places us, and the age of creation in which we live is 

 evolving. If it is the duty of our state of life, God will reward 

 the act if it be right, and let it go unpunished, provided it is 

 an act required by the age of evolution or the circumstances 

 of our life. Hence, murder in the form of war may even yet 

 go unpunished by God ; yes, and even be rewarded, for at 

 different ages of evolution God permits many crimes, either 

 as a means to ensure our attaining and learning to value the 

 virtues necessary to the state of life which we have, by our 



