262 THE THRESHOLD OF EVOLUTION 



so that there may be combined military forces without local, 

 national or community sentiments. If it is to be fit to control 

 the civil strifes that are to mark the coming century, 

 or to be powerful enough to exert a controlling influence 

 over the destinies of other nations in times of civil strife, it 

 must be built after the organisations and upon similar design 

 as that of the Roman army and the Roman Catholic Church, 

 so as to be truly representative of all nations and able to resist 

 the destroying influence of national greed. For now that the 

 Epoch of wisdom and of Charity is at hand, we must realise 

 that we are to make a new departure and to aim, not at power 

 and might, but at unity and right. 



To do this it will be necessary that nations cease 

 to war, and to make a national federation to" protect the uni- 

 versal commerce of the world. For the maximum productions 

 of a community no longer demand or are to be decided by its 

 power of conquest, but its energy in mental competition to 

 excel in commercial competition with other nations. Its 

 principal markets are no longer its own people but the buyers 

 of foreign countries and states. It is no longer necessary 

 to foster the energies of one nation more than another, but it 

 becomes the aim and object of all nations to unite together for 

 the sake of the commercial interests of the whole world. 



In the past the aim of Government was to make the poor 

 dependant on the rich and to make the rich a fighting class 

 that they might be able to protect the poor. Now that is no 

 longer necessary, and the poor jump at the conclusion that the 

 rich no longer deserve or merit superiority, because individual 

 energy, getting a large scope of utility, imagines it can achieve 

 unprecedented success without the assistance of its betters, just 

 the same as youth thinks itself wiser than old age and scorns 

 the advice of its elders. But evolution does not advance by 

 leaps and bounds, so we must learn to go slowly again and to 

 crawl before we walk, and again realise now that mankind has 

 attained greater liberty of thought and action that we have 

 only changed our coat, not our masters. That unity is still 

 more necessary than ever to our existence. And undisputed 

 obedience must become even less open to dispute, if it is to 

 be, as it always must be, the mainspring of success. We must 

 also be careful that the desire for co-operation does not destroy 

 competition, and the poor will have to learn that the wealthy 



