FINAL CHAPTER 227 



appointment instead, and that the actions that lead to our 

 success and happiness are the result of causes we never 

 dreamed of, and could not have foretold or pre-arranged had 

 it not been for the pricks and scratches of past failures. But 

 if we make the best use of our time and capabilities, we 

 generally find that in the long run we gain pleasure and 

 happiness and success sooner or later, and if we are doomed 

 to troubles at first, these very troubles and losses are the 

 instruments of our ultimate happiness, whereas those who shirk 

 their share of trouble and try to evade their duties in youth 

 generally bring misery and misfortune upon the latter part 

 of their lives. 



So go " Back to Christ " by all means, for the flower of reli- 

 gion is the most magnificent of the trinity of flowers on the 

 plant of evolution of soul, the grandest tree in the forest of God's 

 Creation. But like the shamrock it has a triplet of roots, leaves, 

 flowers and an immortal seed. Its roots are God the Father 

 of Creation, God the Mother of Creation, and God the Soul of 

 Creation. Its triplet of leaves that has to feed and nourish its 

 flowers and seed is the energy of civilisation, courage, and 

 perseverance in enterprise and commerce. Also, the evolution 

 of Invention, Science and Wisdom. Please note how these 

 leaves are a likeness of the progress of evolution and illustrate 

 in their growth the gradual return of God's attributes in the 

 Epochs of Faith, Hope and Charity. For in the Age of Faith 

 the seventh or last day of which marks the Creation first, ol 

 Adam and Eve; second, of the Power of Will in man; third, 

 of the dawn of civilisation in the world. This epoch of Faith 

 is governed solely by the Spirit of God the Father, so it only 

 produces one leaflet that of civilisation. Now in the Age of 

 Hope, the plant of Creation is advanced not only by power of 

 God the Father, but by the united powers of God the Father 

 and God the Mother. So we find that the leaf that is to be 

 completed in this Epoch of Seven Days, which takes us on to 

 the Fourteenth Day, the age of Invention and the thirteenth 

 day of Commerce, is marked, not by the dawn of the unity of 

 the first product of mind and soul Civilisation as was the 

 Epoch of Faith, which was the epoch of unity, but that the 

 Epoch of Hope is the duality. The Epoch of Faith is the 

 epoch of the struggle for existence, and the Epoch of Hope the 

 struggle not of life only, but has advanced to a dual contest, 



