210 THE THRESHOLD OF EVOLUTION 



that its new departure from the beaten tracks of past convic- 

 tions will, I feel sure, bring upon my head. For each religion 

 in turn degenerated to be in its turn supplanted by a better, 

 as one kingdom triumphed over another, and one empire gave 

 place to a greater one. This has given rise to the mistaken 

 ideas of the causes of religious persecutions and so caused 

 bitter hatred and bigotrj^. All such persecutions seldom had 

 their origin in religious convictions, although they were often 

 raised against them, though it often appears so to the super- 

 ficial student of history, who reads one side of the question, 

 and whose less inquisitive mind fails to read between the lines 

 of the historian ; whose want of practical knowledge, or the 

 personal bias of the author hides from his view the real cause 

 of the events. Behind all historical accounts lies a bitter 

 strife for power and wealth, and such so-called religious perse- 

 cutions are only sign -posts pointing to him who reads between 

 the lines, that at that stage of history king and priest were 

 waging war for the possession of power, wealth and might. 



Studying these tables of Trinity, as I have been doing 

 lately, they indicate to my mind that in the future such strifes 

 are to end, now that the golden-haired little fairy of Invention 

 is growing into womanhood, and is to be crowned as queen of 

 all the world and even now is raising man one step further and 

 higher in the scale of evolution, by teaching him that modern 

 warfare is too expensive a luxury to be used in future as a 

 means for acquisition of territory, as the loss of the belli- 

 gerent's capital will out-balance the territorial gain, national 

 aggrandizement, and extension of commerce, which have been 

 the only justifiable excuse in the past for this brutal relic of 

 man's cannibalism and love of murder. When all is said and 

 done, it is only a legal license to rob and murder; and the 

 sooner it is dethroned from its high pedestal of honour, and 

 we learn to grant but little more respect to the soldier than 

 we do to the policeman, or perhaps even to the hangman, the 

 better for the good of humanity. 



In the future we must learn that valour has to give 

 place to wisdom and science, and that the only cause that will 

 justify war will be the necessity of punishing international 

 crime, and that the armies of the future must only be 

 high -class police forces. It will be more beneficial for 

 nations to buy and sell or to exchange territory, or such por- 



