292 THE THRESHOLD OF EVOLUTION 



The seven stages of retrogression and destruction are : 

 i. The Age of GAS. 2. Creation of Life and motion. 

 3. Creation of Human Will. 4. The Age of Religion, War 

 and Bigotry. 5. Commerce and Competition, Discovery. 

 6. Age of Use and final destruction of the Unfit members of 

 mankind. 7. The final destruction of Human folly. 

 The seven stages of Construction are : 

 i. Crystallisation and chemical action. 2. Sex and Mar- 

 riage. 3. The Age of Agriculture. 4. Age of Government. 



5. The Age of Invention. 6. Prevention of Crime. 7. 

 Heaven. 



The seven ages of Progress are : 



i. Creation of the world. 2. The Creation of Man. 3. The 

 Creation of Mind with civilisation. 4. The Creation of Soul 

 by Science. 5. The Creation of Peace by the stoppage of War. 



6. The Age of Comfort, when we learn to use prison labour 

 as a means to reduce poverty and to give full recompense to 

 success. 7. The Arrival of Immortality. 



I know many of my readers will condemn me for classing 

 these first seven forces as destructive. All I can say is that 

 evolution in one sense is never destructive but always con- 

 structive. For all nature is a part of the infinite universe, and, 

 as God is infinity, hence, logically, as God is indestructible, 

 all nature must likewise be indestructible is a logical sequence. 

 So perhaps the word reconstruction in many cases better con- 

 veys what I mean to express. But the reconstruction of any 

 substance or reorganisation of any condition of circum- 

 stances necessitates the destruction to some extent of 

 the form, or shape, or condition of the previous state of exist- 

 ence. If we cut a tree into planks we disintegrate the tree, 

 so that we may be able to build our house. When my hypo- 

 thesis gave me the word " Disintegration " as the first age of 

 creation and first result of the marriages of God's Trinity, it 

 also gave me the right word for the retrogressive stages of 

 evolution. I know you will say, But, surely, religion is not a 

 destructive force but a progressive one. I am afraid, subject 

 to the explanation and qualifications just stated, I shall be 

 compelled to disagree with you. You may just as well argue 

 that revolution is not a retrogressive form of evolution when 

 compared with law and order ; and I have previously pointed 



