EVOLUTION AND GENESIS 37 



destined to succumb to later, weaker, but in reality more per- 

 fect evolutions. For so great was the prolific growth of this 

 age of early plant life, as well as of early animal creation, that 

 marks this age of luxury in the garden of the world's Eden, 

 that they lived only to eat, sleep and die, and became so idle 

 that they died out from lack of energy ; but by so doing made 

 themselves an eternal lesson to teach mankind how great and 

 unpardonable a crime laziness is, and ever will be, in the sight 

 of God. In this way, because they generated no powers of 

 energy or resistance (for resistance is the heart and brain of 

 all virtue, and virtue is but the resistance of opportunities to 

 do wrong ; that is why good performed without effort produces 

 no real or permanent virtue, and therefore brings no reward) . 



These animals, not having risen in the scale of merit 

 by increased energy and perseverance, were not likely to be 

 able to fight on to the days of Immortality or Eternity, so they 

 lived and died and became extinct, because they could not sin. 

 They had no temptation to do aught but feed, sleep and die ; 

 but man was to be of sterner mettle, and was to be produced 

 thus : Being too small to gather the fruits of the earth in 

 competition with such monsters, he lived in fear and trem- 

 bling of the mighty quadrupeds who walked and crawled upon 

 the earth. He therefore strove to climb the trees for safety, 

 and sought his food amongst the berries and fruits, afraid to 

 walk the earth. He was probably a large variety of the 

 Gibbon apes, but the Gorillas and several other apes may have 

 surpassed him both in size and strength and ferocity. To 

 escape these, he started to fling himself from bough to bough 

 and to evolve new virtues of energy and activity, and in this 

 way made his first stride towards immortality. He probably 

 comes between the Gibbon and the Anthropoid apes, and was 

 an earlier evolution than the subsequent development of vege- 

 table-eating animals, who arrived after the mammoth age, when 

 the earth had further advanced, and when the growth of the 

 smaller vegetation had become more prolific. 



They were not compelled to make the stringent efforts for 

 self-preservation man had to for existence, and therefore never 

 became the fierce, cannibalistic animal that man did. Then 

 by becoming carnivorous he still further developed his fierce- 

 ness and energy and his tendency to sin, and so excelled all 

 other apes although the dog ran him a very close second in 



