170 Spiritual Evolution of Society 



and are concerned solely with the maintenance of 

 present-day conditions. They are entirely opposed to 

 any drastic changes, and do not desire, even if they 

 understood, any ethical evolution which is destined to 

 remodel before long the face of society and the con- 

 ditions of human existence. Mr. Wells shows a want 

 of knowledge or study of the scientific phenomena 

 existing in history and of the evolutionary process so 

 clearly delineated in the development of human affairs. 

 Mr. Machen follows Mr. Wells in attempts to diagnose 

 the cause of the disorder and point the remedy. But 

 although it may be admitted that he comes a little 

 nearer the truth, there is still observable the same lack 

 of the scientific study of observed phenomena and a 

 want of appreciation of the teaching of history. Let 

 us listen to him for a moment. " By all means let us 

 put an end to vile conditions and slave conditions in 

 our labour market. . . . What is the great remedy ? 

 . . . The cure for our malady is contained in the words : 

 ' Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven, and all these 

 things shall be added unto you.' There is the beginning 

 and the end of the whole matter ; and the medicine 

 must be taken by rich and poor alike if any good is to 

 be done. What is wanted is not the extra bit of com- 

 fort there, the extra bit of luxury there, but a radical 

 change in the interior man. . . . The search for the 

 kingdom of Heaven no doubt sounds vague and un- 

 satisfying to people who are in search of the minimum 

 wage, but, as I say, there is no help for it, there is no 

 other way ; simply because happiness is a state of the 

 soul or spirit, and not of the body ; and spiritual 

 maladies cannot be cured by material means. Man can 

 only be happy and enjoy a state of well-being through 

 the exercise of that faculty which is peculiar to man, 

 that is, the faculty of the imagination. This is the true 

 stone of the philosophers, transmuting all it touches to 



