The Hour Before the Dawn. 121 



touching life and its co-relative modes of energy. The 

 epoch — and it will be the grandest of human epochs — 

 when the protoplasmic molecule shall render up its secret 

 to human scrutiny is near at hand. Man will then be no 

 longer the abject serf of death, but a belligerent, contend- 

 ing for his freedom, with the prize of unlimited life before 

 his eyes. 



There are, it. is true, degenerates who aver that all life 

 is an evil. There are clubs that seek out, ponder, and 

 discuss modes of euthanasia. They should be wished 

 success. Such pessimism is an evil diathesis, a mental mal- 

 formation of which the world would be well rid, by the 

 shortest method. But we are speaking of normal men, 

 not of posers, perverts, drug-bemused manikins and 

 alcoholics. 



For the normal man of science a new and sterner 

 gospel is requisite. The awakening from dreams of para- 

 dise has come, and in very truth we have little enough 

 to requite us. The devotee has much the more of solace, 

 and many there are who will prefer the sacerdotal promise 

 to the grim reality. It is so much easier to accept the 

 gilded promissory of the established church than grapple 

 with the real problems of life ! Confessing one's sins is 

 so much simpler than actual reformation ! What wonder 

 that the earth groans beneath a weight of mosques and 

 cathedrals, or that four continents glisten with church 

 vanes ! Devotee and priest have this advantage : they 



