substantial foundations, which the intelligent thought of the people of America can readily accept, let us trust that there will arise some great church, big enough, broad, liberal, and loving enough to hold the thinking of all its members, strong enough to conserve the Faith, Hope, and Charity of the world.

So Mote It Be!

CHAPTER IX.

WORLD KNOWLEDGE.

Thought may be low; it never can be Little. To think is to be great. Conduct may be unworthy; it never can be insignificant. Every thought, every action, affects character and is so much cast into the world's balance of good or evil. The sentiments of beauty, the emotions of Joy and Sorrow, of Hope and Love, the principles of Justice may seem transient, but they touch the eternal. They mean more than all the inanimate constellations of space.

The world in which we live is vast in its extent. Its continents and islands, its mountains, valleys and plains, its lakes, rivers and oceans are great. They are old, yet they are ever new. Man spends his years amid these large and impressive material surroundings. He looks forth upon the everchanging panorama of Life and beauty. He observes the seasons come and go. He hears the song of the birds, the sighing of the wind, the heavy crash and roll of the thunder and the storm. He feels the soft twilight of the desert. Dazzled by the splendor of the Sun, he is awed by the silvery beauty of the Moon and far-off Stars of night. And whilst Man has lived and moved and had his being amid these large and imposing material surroundings, his moral and mental environment are now far more impressive.

The weakness of Thought has been in its nar

row limitations. Men have thought of the time in which they lived, of the state, people, or nation of which they formed a part. They have thought of the Creed under which they were brought up, of the form of government under which they lived. Hence, Men have thought and labored as Families, as Clans, as Parties, as Races, and now and again as Castes or Unions. Frequently they have been arrayed one against the other. Indeed, for thousands of years there was no comprehensive Thought; and hence there was no world knowledge. The several Nations which peopled the Globe, their Thought, their Religion, their Governments, their Creeds were strangers. They looked upon each other with suspicion. They regarded their neighbors rather as enemies than as friends. And it is only in recent times that anything approaching international friendship has been possible and, consequently, only in recent times has there been anything like world knowledge.

With these larger mental and moral surroundings, this broader world knowledge, our Age is beginning to realize that all History, that all forms of Government, that all phases of civilization, all Art, all Philosophy, all Religion and all Science are but parts of one grand and continuous world Drama. Not one continent or ocean, but all continents and all oceans; not one people, but all peoples; not one Age, but all Ages; not one Philosophy, but all Philosophies; not one Religion, but all Religions which have been observed during all the long time in which the

countless millions of our race have gone forth to toil with their hands and to puzzle their brains with the problems of thought, and heart and soul have rejoiced and sorrowed, have known victory or defeat in strange new scenes where Right is ever trying to overcome Error, where Life, Love and Truth are ever rising above Death, Envy, Doubt, and Despair.

All these have been necessary in order that Civilization might be.

CHAPTER X.

THE FIRST FORM OF GOVERNMENT.

The first form of government was probably patriarchal or tribal. The head of a family, or tribe growing up out of a family, was ruler, and priest, and warrior. He made and administered the law; he conducted the religious rites and ceremonies, he led the army. Might made right. The only security was strength, and the foundation of tribal strength consisted in the absolute power of the head of the tribe or family. Between neighboring tribes armed strife was of frequent occurrence, which sometimes resulted in the consolidation of conquered tribes under the rule of kings. In the very nature of the case such a government must be despotic.

Until the close of the middle ages, the nations of Europe were distinctively of this type. The foundations of the Roman Empire were military and, after the decline and fall of that Government, the States that grew up out of its ruins were all conducted on a military basis. And whilst the industrial pursuits, especially agriculture, had to be carried on, such pursuits were subservient to the military, and the work was done by women and slaves. And although Europe has been in a state of armed conflict much of the time since the beginning of the Hundred Years War, yet the industrial has gradually gained upon the military. Agriculture has grown in importance. The