THE H UNDREDTH WAVE GRANTLY STANDERSON From the library of JLf. The Hundredth Wave The Hundredth Wave A Novel Written to Accomplish Two Strongly Interlinked Purposes By GRANTLY STANDERSON CHICAGO CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY 1916 Copyright, 1916, By Charles H. Kerr & Company JOHN F. HIGGINS PRINTER AND BINDER 376-382 MONROE STREET CHICAGO. ILLINOIS PREFACE Within the kingdom of Human Reason, phil- osophers have always endeavored to gain true visions of the meaning of all things which human consciousness in the aggregate has garnered up and found to be the truth respecting the universe and man's place in the universe. Let us go for a while into that kingdom so that we may perhaps glimpse good reasons for a book of the nature of the one which follows this preface. First, can it be possible that a book, which places Truth as the Eternal Monarch of the realm of Human Reason, can be justified for portraying as apparent facts events which never will occur and which are projected in the narrative far into the future? That two purposes blend in the construction of the book must be very clear; the one to arouse spiritually thousands of devout, honest, followers of a false religion to the real degradation of their religion, and the other as high a purpose as ever can move a human being. Can there be any question that the manner of carrying out these purposes is merely a method of interestingly transmitting the messages of the book? It is so intended and rational judgments must so consider it. 1521426 6 PEEFACE Yet some further explanation is essential lest erroneous conclusions might still be drawn. A certain man sought long and with mental honesty for the ultimate revelations of Science re- specting the universe and the conclusions to be drawn from such revelations, particularly as they affected the origin, history and destiny of man- kind. He was led to search for Truth because his mind revolted from admitting as true the unbelievable representations made of the conduct and acts of God in a book which he had been taught was the word of God. He felt deeply that if he could only gain broad enough knowledge of the problems which troubled him that an answer which would satisfy the high- est yearnings of his soul would eventually be found. And he found the answer. He found it, not because he attained great depths of learning, not because he garnered in the fields of Science the multitude of facts and the same great knowledge of the physical and mental laws which philosophers and scientists who have devoted many years of study have garnered and have attained. But, because he endeavored always, to seek the ultimate truths which would enable him to wor- ship and love the Supreme Power in the Universe as the " Power which makes for Eighteousness " in the Spiritual life of mankind and as the Source of Kighteousness. There was no great original discovery made by him. He found that many philosophers had con- tributed to the fundamental ideas upon which the answer is based. But again, he found that no teachings of all those who perceived the almost overwhelming ultimate truths, had ever reached the great ma- jority of his fellow human beings even in his own nation. He tried once to express what he deemed to be the summation of these truths which he had gleaned from the works of worthier men and women, and his message was lost ere it reached more than a very few of those by whom he hoped it would be welcomed. Still believing in his message he sought a way to so clothe it that it might reach the many in- stead of but a few. This book is the result. The garments in which the message is clothed may not please, but if the essential things of the message itself are clearly and truthfully stated and many shall find worthier concepts of the Infinite One and His Divine Plan through this book, surely it matters little what else is woven into its fabrics. Lest one shall say that the author aspires to be deemed the one who is called the Beloved Philosopher throughout the book it may be pru- dent to disclaim any such idea. It was sought to 8 PREFACE make the Beloved Philosopher, an ideal man of the present stage of Spiritual evolution and the author knows an unworthiness which places him far beneath such a position. Let the Beloved Philosopher be considered as a composite of the many whose thoughts and labors have been assimilated and used in the book. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THE PROLOGUE AND THE FIRST ACT An Ac- tual Hundredth Wave 16 II A GRIEF AND A BRIEF ROMANCE 21 III WITH OPENED EYES 27 IV POLYGAMOUS TREACHERY 33 V A RIGHTEOUS VENGEANCE 36 VI THE CAVE MAN The Lesser Master Appears on the Scene 41 VII How THE BELOVED PHILOSOPHER CAME The Gathering of the Seven 48 VIII THE PHILOSOPHER'S MESSAGE TO THE SEVEN The Society of Progress is Planned 54 IX A FATEFUL MEETING 67 X PREPARATIONS FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY OF PROGRESS 75 XI A WINTER EPISODE 78 XII THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN DOORS 84 XIII THE ROMANCE OF THE FIRST DEGREE Lincoln Smith and Mollie Richards Meet 90 XIV THE CHAMBER OF TRUTH THE FIRST DEGREE "You must know the Truth if your Souls shall be Free" 103 XV THE ROMANCE OF THE SECOND DEGREE Wal- demar Grant and Zora Wells meet again. .114 XVI THE SECOND DEGREE THE CHAMBER OF THE STARS Part of the New Genesis The Al- cove of the Seven Panels Panel No. 1 God's Truth Panel No. 2 Science and Genesis Panel No. 3 God and Mormon- ism Panel No. 4 A disagreement of Genesis with Genesis Panel No. 5 Sci- 9 10 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE ence and the Story of Adam and Eve. Panel No. 6 Genesis and Astronomy Panel No. 7 "Do you Still Wish to Seek the Truth?" 129 XVII THE SECOND DEGREE, CONTINUED Elemental Facts and Deductions The Truth respect- ing the Beginning of all Things Inherent Mysteries The Infinite One immanent in the Universe A Vast Field of Truth Our Solar System The Suns of the Cosmos Established order in the Universe; Cease- less change in the Universe; the Universe has endured through boundless time God the Supreme Power working through and in the Cosmic Process in a Divine Plan . . . 142 XVIII THE ROMANCE OF THE THIRD DEGREE Nephi Woodruff and the Huntress of the Arabian desert 155 XIX THE THIRD DEGREE THE CHAMBER OF OUR WORLD The Alcove of the Three Panels Panel No. 1 The Birth of Our World; Panel No. 2 The Age of Our World; Panel No. 3 Fitting Our Earth for the Creature of Intelligence The birth of a World The original lands Geological suc- cession as told by the Rocks Life Appears Truth in Nature 168 XX THE ROMANCE OF THE FOURTH DEGREE Ma- thoniah Cowley rescues Mildred Thatcher from the clutch of the Great Salt Sea 178 XXI THE FOURTH DEGREE THE CHAMBER OF PRIMEVAL LIFE Alcove of the Four Panels Panel No. 1 Biology also denies Gen- esis; Panel No. 2 Life a stream all Life Related; Panel No. 3 Evolving the Higher Types; Panel No. 4 Life Forms evolve and are not separate Creations The earliest Life on our Globe The procession of life forms 185 XXII THE ROMANCE OF THE FIFTH DEGREE Ma- honri Taylor and the Fair Maid of the Merry-Go-Round 202 XXIII THE FIFTH DEGREE THE CHAMBER OF MAN The Alcove of Dawn Panel No. 1 Man TABLE OF CONTENTS 11 CHAPTER PAGE not descendant of the Monkeys; Panel No. 2 The Ascent of Man; Panel No. 3 The Heritage of Man; Panel No. 4. Human Personality The Instruction of the De- gree Physical man an animal The physi- cal descent of man proven by embryology The pre-historic man The onward march of humanity 210 XXIV THE ROMANCE OF THE SIXTH DEGREE Rob- ert Young and the unknown lady 229 XXV THE SIXTH DEGREE THE CHAMBER OF BROKEN IDOLS The Room of the Scrolls Scroll I Address of the Society; The De- mands of Spiritual Truth; Spiritual Idols not to be worshipped; Scroll II Genesis dishonors God The Adam and Eve story not true Plurality of Gods with physical passions not true The tales of ths Flood dishonor God and are not true; Scroll III God did not favor Abraham or his seed God is supremely impartial to all humanity Mormon book, Doctrines and Covenants, dishonors God 235 XXVI THE SIXTH DEGREE, CONTINUED Scroll IV The tales of Moses and the Exodus dis- honor God The Laws of Moses dishonor God and the Ten Commandments cannot be true Scroll V Leviticus represents God as believing in wizards and decreeing their death Numbers repeatedly dishonors God Human sacrifices represented as sanc- tioned by God Elisha and the bears which avenged him upon children The prophets make God exhibit base human passions The Psalms degrade God, but also contain higher conceptions 266 XXVII THE PROCESSION OF THE RELIGIONS Instruc- tion regarding the Old Testament The Room of Opened Eyes Scroll I Ancient Legends resembling the Christ Legends Buddha and the Buddhist Scriptures Im- maculate Conceptions and miraculous births denied Scroll II Reasons why God could not have inspired the New Testament God could not have inspired both Matthew and Luke The conflicting genealogies Scroll 12 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE III Jesus believed in Eternal Punishment of the Wicked in a Hell of Everlasting Fire Jesus and the Jews borrowed false beliefs from the Persians including beliefs in Satan and human possession by evil spirits The casting out devils' legends are untrue and dishonor God The Truth about Satan and devils and Hell Science the messenger of God to emancipate mankind from such beliefs 287 XXVIII MORE ABOUT UNTENABLE BELIEFS OP JESUS Scroll IV Jesus believed the Jewish "Scriptures" to be inspired and to contain the word of God and did not know they were untrue and dishonor God Was Jesus possessed of a dual personality? Contra- dictions of his own teachings Jesus did not know that God is infinitely impartial and infinitely above Anger and Vengeance Jesus acted irrationally in cursing the fig tree Jesus was ignorant of God's laws and mistakenly valued faith and prayer. The "Lord's Prayer" dishonors God 325 XXIX VITAL NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINES DISHONOR GOD Scroll V The Kingdom of God or of Heaven as taught by Daniel and by John the Baptist and by Jesus dishonors God. The Doctrine of the Blood Atonement of Jesus for those who sinned in Adam dis- honors God and is untrue Divine Love in- finitely above the doctrines of the Jewish Bible and the New Testament Some of the teachings of Jesus have aided Human Progress and some have retarded it Tribute to many Christians who have evolved far in spirituality Scroll VI The Fatherhood of God The Divine Plan is op- posed to the ideas of Jesus respecting Di- vine Fatherhood Jesus' belief of father- hood dishonored God The Brotherhood of Man Jesus did not comprehend the Divine Plan and did not conceive of humanity as one race working out a common destiny Oral Instruction of Sixth Degree The his- tory of the four Gospels 345 XXX ROBERT'S PLAN MAN PROPOSES. .375 TABLE OF CONTENTS 13 CHAPTER PAGE XXXI THE SEVENTH DEGREE THE CHAMBER OF THE RELIGION OF PROGRESS The Message on the entrance door Reconciliation and Har- mony between Religion and Science The Religion of Progress "The Building Book." Page 1 Warning, the Book not sacred Page 2 God's Plan Is there a Plan? The Religion of Progress asserts that there is a Divine Plan Page 3 The Proof of the Plan Page 4 The Proof of the Plan, continued Page 5 The Reading of the Scale An inserted Scroll Transla- tionPage 6 What Does It All Mean? Page 7 The Struggle Towards Righteous- ness Page 8 Man Has Made the Evils of His Racial Life Page 9 What is the Best We can do while we are here? (a) Wor- ship of God; (b) Consciously assisting Divine Plan Page 10 Spiritual Love for All of our Race Spiritual Co-operation with all Humanity 383 XXXII MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK Page 11 The Realm of Spiritual Laws Page 12 True Worship of the Infinite One Page 13 The Infinite One God of the Universe The Nature of God Page 14 The Individual Personality Page 15 Whither do we Go? Does Human Personality Survive Physi- cal Death? Page 16 The Religion of Progress a Religion of Happiness and Optimism Page 17 Truth The Great Master End of the Building Book 429 XXXIII THE FINAL INSTRUCTION Admonitions to Disciples Great Fields of Endeavor are Open Slums and breeding spots of Evil will be transformed Unjust systems of punishment will be studied and abrogated Plans for bringing progress, happiness and healthfulness to the children of the world who now toil We must plan and organize to uplift the daily lives of all in our environment Every home a germinat- ing place of happiness and spiritual co-op- eration Ideal relations of members of the family Christian Science, its vitality; the great law it uses, and its limitations Why dangers and calamities have been en- 14 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE dured by mankind No superstition toler- ated by the Religion of Progress As- trology false Numbers have no functions of Fate What about Sunday? The Clos- ing Instruction of the Society of Progress 472 XXXIV A CONFERENCE REVELATION 491 XXXV FIRST CONVOCATION OF THE SOCIETY OF PROGRESS 502 XXXVI A RENUNCIATION 507 XXXVII THE SLIP OF THE WASATCH FAULT 512 XXXVIII THE CREST OF THE WAVE Was the Earth- quake a judgment of God? 520 XXXIX THE PURITAN AND THE LESSER MASTER 531 XL THE SURGE OF THE WAVE. . . .536 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE CHAPTER I. THE PROLOGUE AND THE FIRST ACT W HE THEE the drama which will be un- folded in these pages shall be considered by you romance such as all healthy minds can read with pleasure, or whether you shall deem it weighted with too much of things other than romance, I cannot predict. Nevertheless the things other than romance are to my mind so important that the simple tales which make the romance of the book would never have found expression except for these matters of deeper moment. Yet well am I aware that you may deem both the romance and the things other than romance which appear between this prologue and the page which ends the book as equally worthy of your condemnation, and if that be your honest judgment after you have well considered the book "from cover to cover," one who believes in rational free- dom in all judgments will be the last to dispute your conclusion with you. After all, do we not each adjust his own judgment to his own little finite foot rule measure- ments which may or may not have some degree of correctness when tested by the Great Scale of God's Truth? 15 16 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Looking backward for considerably more than a quarter of a century from this year of present writing, Anno Domini 1939, one can find certain strings of destiny being twisted into strong cords which later on are interwoven into the strange tapestry which but so lately has unfolded before the eyes of our Nation and revealed the drama of the downfall and permanent recession of that bizarre, ill founded, retrogressive religion, Mor- monism. Who can measure the far reaching conse- quences of an apparently trivial circumstance ? Even a Newton, who found a happier use of an apple than did our mythical ancestress, Mother Eve, would not have conceived that the friendship of two young girls who met for the first time during the opening decade of the twentieth cen- tury would be the primal cause of the great reformation in Utah, which, in these days well past the first third of the century, has eventuated in the larger portion of the Mormon people for- saking forever the religion which most of them now living inherited from an ancestry who had neither the education nor the desire to question the validity of the creed which appealed to their ignorant faith. But so it is that the chain of cause and effect goes backward and still backward from some great event until it finds a simple beginning which may be the mutual love of a man and a woman, or merely the girl friendship of a Mormon maid with a Gentile maid. If, too, an actual hundredth wave of the ocean leads to a great hundredth wave of destiny in this PROLOGUE AND FIRST ACT 17 tale, it will not be the first time the sea has played with human fate. f * * It was quite in the ''natural order of things," where women dwell in relatively high altitudes, that nervous strain had caused the wealthy wid- owed Mormon mother of Naomi Snowson to go to the shores of the great western ocean to regain the nervous balance which the overstimulation of mountain air had upset, and it was exactly the same cause which made the Gentile mother of Eleanor Catherton seek the same quiet city on the huge crescent bay of the Pacific at the same time. Thus even back of the friendship of the two girls one can trace the thread of destiny to the wonderful air of the Wasatch mountains, daily ebbing and flowing through Salt Lake City's homes, which is at the same time a stimulus to strong men, and a trial to the finer nerved sex. Those who love the ocean are aware that when the waves roll upon the beach there is a periodicity of comparative strength and weakness in the successive breakers and this periodicity so often eventuates in the tenth wave of a series being relatively so much greater than the others of the series that the word, "decuman," was invented to describe this great pulsation of the sea. It is the decuman, w T hile the waves are rolling quietly, which surges up the beach far above its fellows and wets the feet of the uninitiated, and it is the decuman which, when the waves are breaking strongly, may trap the unwary in a score of ways even to drawing them into the clasp of the ever-dangerous undertow. 18 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE But there is another wave of the sea which is comparatively unknown even to those who haunt the shores. It is the decuman of decumana the hundredth wave. It is a veritable giant among a long series of waves, and it is this wave which drags school boys off the rocks of the shore to their death in the sea, where the ordinary decuman has con- vinced them of safety ; and this is the wave which, perhaps in its tenth repetition, places in danger even the most experienced. So, too, it is this wave which, in some force- accumulating recurrence, is apt to drag the novice in sea bathing roughly from the life line and bring him or her face to face with the specter of death. " Beware of the hundredth wave" should be the universal rule of ocean bathing beaches. It was as a novice that Naomi Snowson reveled in the glorious surf which breaks on the beach at Santa Cruz. Many a maiden born and reared in Salt Lake City has experienced no outdoor bathing save in that wonderful intensely saline inland sea from which the city derives its name, and thus it was with Naomi. She could not swim, for one needs not to know how to swim to bathe in this sea. To one who knows but the extreme buoyancy of Great Salt Lake, whose transparent waters compel floating upon its surface rather than en- able it to be done, ocean bathing is a novelty and has delights which compare favorably with the PROLOGUE AND FIRST ACT 19 fine exhiliration and tonic effect of the bath in the lake of brine. Shouting in glee and going as far down the life line as she dared, Naomi was jumping in happi- ness to avoid the crest of each decuman when destiny sent the hundredth wave. Swelling in majesty, its great crest rushed to the shore, and instantly Naomi was submerged, half drowned, and her hold released from the life line. But a mermaid had been haunting the sea that day. Companion of her athletic and learned father during all her " tomboy" days, Eleanor Catherton, now fourteen years old, had learned to swim when her years were only eight, and thereafter had fre- quented ocean and river and lake. Breasting the waves of the bay this day at Santa Cruz, diving through the breakers, swimming far beyond the anchored float, and performing a score of graceful feats, she had been named The Little Mermaid by the appreciative bathers and spectators. The return of the huge wave was carrying Naomi, half strangled, out beyond her depth to certain death, when Eleanor, who happened to be close at hand, with the swiftness of a flashing fish, rushed through the water and grasped Naomi with one arm firmly from the back, beneath her arms. It took but a few strokes with her free arm and Eleanor changed the overshadowing tragedy into a rescue which thrilled the onlookers and filled Naomi's heart with a gratitude which through transmutation eventually resulted in the deserved undoing of the church in which she had been reared. 20 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE For it was her son who, in the years just past, organized and carried out the great work which aroused Mormon intelligence and Mormon man- hood against slavery to the priesthood and against a religion which necessarily delayed hu- man progress towards the better spiritual life. That summer cemented a lifelong friendship between the two girls, and Eleanor, daughter of a philosopher, as well as of a cultured mother, un- consciously in their intimacies gave Naomi her first glimpses of certain revelations of science which afterward led the Mormon girl to reject utterly the irrational vagaries and bigotry of the Mormon faith. CHAPTER II. A GRIEF AND A BRIEF ROMANCE. WHEN Naomi Snowson was eighteen she suffered a grief which seemed to her almost a tragedy, but later, when real tragedy came into her life, she knew the former grief as great good fortune. In Utah in 1890 the President of the Mormon Church had issued what he claimed to be a divinely inspired " Manifesto," declaring that polygamous marriages and polygamous practices should cease among the Mormon people. But so bitter had been the institutional warfare between Mormonism and true Americanism, the Gentiles of Utah for years still rightfully regarded the Mormons as alien in their religion and in their ideals of family life, as well as of civic govern- ment. So it happened that the fundamental views of life of the Mormons and of the Gentiles were so foreign to each other that practically no Gentile families associated closely in a social way with the orthodox Mormons. "When occasionally a Gentile youth married a Mormon girl it was con- sidered almost a family disgrace, although in more than one instance the apostasy of the Mormon wife from the faith she had held brought both happiness and social recognition to such a union. Seldom, if ever, a Gentile girl married an ortho- dox Mormon. 21 22 Because of this rigidly drawn social condition the intimacy of Eleanor and Naomi, which con- tinued after their return from the sea shore, incited much comment, but Naomi's mother, while a member of one of the so-called " Royal Fami- lies" of Mormondom, had decided independence of character and encouraged the companionship of the girls. "What hopes she built upon the friendship between her only child and a cultured American family who can say? Though she did not live to see the real tragedy of her daughter 's life, yet more than once the bitterest sneer of orthodoxy was turned upon her when one of "the brethren" or a "sister" would say, "Bathsheba Snowson ought to be sent on a mission." The stereotyped punishment of the Mormon Church authorities for independence of thought, which they deemed budding apostasy, was to force the daring thinker to go on a mission to proselyte for the church. If he yielded to the mandate he either surrendered his manhood to hypocrisy and servile obedience to the priesthood, or, in a small percentage of instances, he learned the better truth and had strength of character enough to become a real apostate. The sneer against Bathsheba Snowson was therefore the typical sneer of hypocritical ortho- doxy against freedom of thought and freedom of personal judgment, though it accords with reason and knowledge. How often in human history have such sneers degraded human souls, and prevented those who felt the need of the truth from seek- ing it? A GKIEF AND A ROMANCE 23 The encouragement by Bathsheba Snowson of the companionship of Naomi with Eleanor re- sulted in an admiration, devotion and love for Eleanor on Naomi's part which, until they became separated, wholly substituted for the sex attrac- tion which Mormonism encourages and theo- logically deifies. Naomi's life was thus singularly free from the common degeneracy engendered amongst this pe- culiar people who give God "a body, parts and passions" and who treat the sexual relations as something to be encouraged even to the extent of multiple polygamy. It was when Naomi was eighteen that Eleanor 's father was called Eastward to a high professor- ship in that great University of the Middle West which sits enthroned on beautiful hills on the shore of the fourth of a chain of lovely lakes betwixt two of which Capitolton, the University City, finds its rare setting. To part from Eleanor seemed impossible to Naomi. Her heart was like unto that of a sweet- heart whose lover goes on a long journey. The future seemed drear and almost unbearable. For several months after Eleanor had gone her mother feared Naomi would wreck her health with grieving, but at last a new interest awakened in her heart, which, alas, eventually brought an unhappiness as deep as life could hold. Until along in the nineties few Mormon young men attended Eastern colleges; then, some, who were ambitious to become lawyers and doctors, began to pursue their studies in the older estab- lished schools of the East. 24 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Hyrum Smith Flesher had been one who had taken an Eastern college course and who had returned to Utah about the time Eleanor Gather- ton had departed. One who was wise in reading human character, even then, could have discerned in him certain qualities which promised to mature into most sinister traits. Nearly six feet tall, heavily stalwart in build, black of hair and mustache, with dark eyes, he might easily be idealized in the heart of a young girl, and he had a certain boldness of gaze which often evidences the soul of a libertine, but might readily be mistaken for respectful admiration by an inexperienced maiden. We, who knew him, in the light of all that has occurred, are now certain that before he had met her he had laid his snare for Naomi, in avarice and lust, and, in keeping with his later career, he was willing to go any length in hypocrisy and deceit to accomplish his selfish ends. Naomi was an heiress in her own right. Her father had been one of the shrewd Mormon mer- chants and bankers who had amassed a large fortune. One-half he had left to his wife (he had never been a polygamist) and one-half to Naomi. Through the shrewd guardianship of that well- known, honest Mormon banker, Leonard Moun- tain, Naomi's fortune had increased so that it was a more or less open secret that she was "the wealthiest maid in Zion." It is now known that Hyrum Flesher, under subterfuge of examination of a title, had carefully inspected the guardianship records before he planned to meet Naomi. A GRIEF AND A ROMANCE 25 It was certainly a sort of poetic justice which before long turned his covetousness of Naomi's wealth into dead sea fruit. This is not the tale of Naomi's poor little tem- porary romance, though without her flitting dream of happiness with Hyrum Flesher the tale could not have been written. Catching her heart on the rebound, pretending sincere love and devotion, pledging most solemnly his belief in the civilized ideal of monogamy, and professing that he could not tolerate a thought of polygamy, he stormed Naomi's girlish fancy, and within a year of the departure of Eleanor, Naomi's marriage with him took place. Naomi did not follow the marriage ordinances and rites of the orthodox Mormons. Her mother had sickened at heart when, as a young, pure-hearted girl, she had experienced the innately hateful and degrading ceremonies of her church in the old Endowment House at Salt Lake City. When Naomi was married these same secret ordinances were performed in the massively-built Mormon Temple, within whose walls since its dedi- cation no Gentile was ever permitted until the fateful year when nature's cataclysmal forces at last opened entrances through which Gentiles surged. Thus it was that Bathsheba Snowson would not permit Naomi to "go through the Temple" for either endowments or marriage, and Hyrum Flesher smugly conceded that it was right not to do so, while at the same time he had secretly prom- ised the Church "authorities" that as soon as he 26 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE had gained the possession of Naomi's wealth he would pay into theTithing Fund for the benefit of the ''Holy Priesthood" a full tithe, or one- tenth of the great sum Alas, for the avarice of the hierarchy, that tithe never went into the swollen coffers out of which the priesthood has always grown rich. But it was in this way Hyrum Flesher, wholly without Naomi's knowledge, kept his "standing" with the Mormon church "good," and remained "in harmony with his quorum." CHAPTER III. WITH OPENED EYES. NAOMI'S first fleeting doubts of Hyrum came during the honeymoon before their return to Salt Lake City. Secure in the possession matrimony gives, the mask of the hypocrite and of the potential libertine occasionally slipped, but innocent Naomi scarce heeded even her own misgivings. Upon her return to Salt Lake City her mother's rapidly declining health so alarmed her she thought little of Hyrum 's artfully laid plot where- by he obtained two thousand dollars from her, representing that it would be used for a special investment to assist him in obtaining a business foothold. Again a month later he plotted and obtained another thousand and again a fourth thousand. Shrewd, kindly Leonard Mountain didn't like Hyrum, and after the latter had accomplished these raids upon Naomi's bank balances the banker made it a personal matter to call upon Bathsheba Snowson. The two were lifelong friends and incidentally Mountain conveyed to the mother the advice that her daughter would do well thereafter to seek his counsel respecting any of Hyrum 's schemes for using Naomi's money, giv- ing as a reason that Hyrum lacked experience, and that Naomi's fortune was her great protection in many ways, 27 28 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE The mother, feeling her days to be numbered, opened her heart to Naomi and gave to her the counsel which one, who goes on a journey from whence there is no return, gives to the one most loved. Naomi then knew with certainty for the first time that her mother had long doubted the truth of the Mormon religion and also that she feared Hyrum might try to obtain the control of Naomi's property. The daughter learned also that her mother had well understood that the powerful discipline of the church against her had only been withheld because her wealth led to the hope of great benefits at some future time. And her mother then warned Naomi always to control her own property and affairs and to seek the counsel of Leonard Moun- tain. Such confidences sink deep and are never forgotten. That night the weakened heart of Bathsheba Snowson stopped beating and Naomi knew the bitter grief of a mother's loss. With almost indecent haste Hyrum Flesher urged upon Naomi that he should be appointed administrator of her mother's estate, only to find that Judge Olds, the unusually liberal minded Mormon lawyer, had in his possession a will which made Leonard Mountain executor and trustee to hold the entire estate in trust for ten years and then to turn it over to Naomi. Mark check number one against the conspiracy of Hyrum and the Tithing Fund. 29 Fate assembled its arrows against Naomi in the next few months. Conscious that motherhood would come to her within a year of her wedding day, she also became aware soon after her mother's death that Hyrum was inventing excuses to account for absences from home until late at night. Then suddenly she became the object of certain Mormon attentions for which she was at a loss to account until later. The bishop of her ecclesi- astical ward called upon her to urge her to pay tithing and incidentally commented on the duty of Mormon men and women "to live their religion." Naomi knew that, in the days before the Wood- ruff manifesto anent polygamy, "to live your re- ligion" in Mormondom meant that a man ought to take plural or polygamous wives and that a legal or "first" wife, if she would be sure of heaven, must give her consent to the husband to permit him to "marry" one or more of such polygamous "wives." Withholding her consent, her doom in heaven would be to become the menial servant of the other "wives." The Mormon teaching that thereby the man would become exalted in the pitiably sensual heaven of their imagination, and that his wives would incidentally thereby hold a higher heavenly social status than mere monogamists, was well known to Naomi, but at first she did not dream that the leaders of the Mormon Church had se- cretly revived polygamy and thereby had made as treacherous breach of faith with our Nation as could be made. 30 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE We now know that this was true beyond ques- tion, but the personal note in the bishop 's urgings did not then arouse suspicion in Naomi's breast, and yet she told him frankly that she doubted the Mormon faith and that he surely could not mean that polygamy would again disgrace Utah. The wily bishop smoothed over the situation, but urged her not to forsake the faith of her father. Within a week one of the " First Presidency" of the Church followed up the bishop. This was the one who has since been reputed as the first "elder" of the Church to secretly perform a polygamous "Church" marriage against the "in- spired Manifesto" of President Woodruff and against the solemn pledges made by the Mormon people to our Nation and its representatives. Here was a fanatic an evil fanatic for the Mormon people. At first unctuously striving to have Naomi agree "to take her endowments," knowing that full tithing must first be paid to put her "in good standing," he finally became incensed at her per- sistent refusal to admit a duty towards the church, then blazing in anger, as was his temperamental custom, he blurted out that Hyrum, bearing as given names those of Hyrum Smith, "the mar- tyr," was in full fellowship with the church and that she owed a duty to God to let him "live his religion." That if she didn't place herself "in good stand- ing" that a "church divorce" would be her por- tion and she would lose all exaltation in heaven and be only a menial servant in Hyrum 's celestial dwelling. WITH OPENED EYES 31 Still hot with his anger, he then raged that if she forced this "church divorce" Hyrum would not need her consent "to live his religion." A psychic decuman of destiny suddenly sub- merged Naomi's heart. The truth flashed into her consciousness. How she managed to force her visitor to leave her she scarcely could recall, but she shortly found herself upon her bed writhing in torture, for she knew now that her husband intended to take a polyga- mous concubine and that the full power of the Mormon Church was being exerted to coerce her to consent to it. She now realized that her bride love for Hyrum had been driven out of her heart. She saw him as he actually was sensual, gross, supremely selfish, and basely untrue to her, his lawful wife. A hundred significant proofs of his treachery flashed through her mind. She even knew the woman whom Hyrum had selected to supplant her. She had seen them to- gether more than once and actually had been railed at by joking Mormon friends, who twitted her about " Hyrum 's second." She had not honored Hyrum and his voluptu- ous, sensual looking innamorata with her jealousy. It had not occurred to her to be jealous and now that she knew the truth, after the first agony, her clean, strong mind slowly overcame the early tor- ture of the revelation. ' It was her baby for whom she most suffered. The thought of such a father for her unborn child was her great grief. 32 As she rallied and her mind became more calm, gradually the plan of her future life sprang up in her clearing brain and she realized how Hyrum should be justly punished for his baseness and treachery. It was a memory of Eleanor Catherton which brought hope to Naomi in her tragedy. CHAPTER IV. POLYGAMOUS TREACHERY. WHO can make proper tribute to the woman who remains unmarried until she is re- garded as not fated for matrimony, and yet whose nature is so clean and wise and sweet and self-sacrificing that some better term than "bachelor maid" should be invented to designate her type? Don't you recognize her? Isn't she a dearly loved sister or an aunt whose love and service have helped you, or a friend you greatly cherish? It chanced, when the Catherton family removed from the West, that Alice Douglas, an aunt of Eleanor's, who, now at forty-five, in every way fitted the type of unmarried womanhood to whom such tribute is due, remained in Salt Lake City. Naomi valued her friendship with Alice Doug- las as part of her life's best inspirations. Eleanor and she had always found loving sym- pathy and guidance from "Aunt Alice," in many of the little dramas which girlhood is always en- acting, and, after Eleanor had gone, Naomi main- tained the friendship, although they saw much less of each other. The morning after the visit of the "First Councilor" Naomi sent for Alice Douglas, who came at once, and listened in horror and loving sympathy to Naomi's story of Hyrum's degen- eracy. 33 34 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE The wheel of fate was still turning rapidly for Naomi. While she and Alice Douglas were immured in her chamber she was summoned to see a visitor, and found awaiting her in her reception room a quaint little woman far along in years, but still bright and busy, who had been a friend of her mother's and who was a well-known Mormon Temple " worker." "Sister" Elizabeth had not heard of Naomi's defection from the Mormon faith, and, being an honest believer in the original polygamy "revela- tion," she had fanatically jumped at a wrong conclusion. The final result scarcely was that contemplated by the "Sister." Hyrum had not been at home for two days and had not informed Naomi of his whereabouts. It had been a relief to her ihat he was away. She was now to learn the reason of his absence. "Sister" Elizabeth quite effusively started in to call the blessings of God on dear "Sister" Naomi and to tell her that she was now secure in her place of exaltation in Hyrum 's celestial man- sion, and then remarked in a self-congratulatory way that it had been her sacred privilege that morning to see Hyrum "sealed" to his second wife in the Temple by the "First Councilor," in fulfillment of the revelation given to the "prophet Joseph" (meaning Joseph Smith, Jr.). Naomi had passed through her garden of agony, and was now approaching the beautiful realm of spiritual tranquilization. POLYGAMOUS TREACHERY 35 So it was that the unwitting confirmation of her previous deductions found her so nerved to meet whatever might come from Hyrum's treach- ery that she succeeded in getting "Sister" Eliza- beth out of the house without the latter suspecting that her news had at least sealed Hyrum's hands from ever plunging again into the treasury he had hoped to plunder and out of which even then he was paying for his lustful second honeymoon. If he had known that Alice Douglas and Naomi had together conceived a little plot of righteous vengeance against him, which would leave him with a constant menace of criminal prosecution as well as entirely helpless ever afterwards to change the status, he might not have exulted so much in his sensual revelry in which his pure-minded legal wife was forgotten. But he was soon to taste in utter bitterness the dead sea fruit prepared for him. CHAPTER V. A RIGHTEOUS VENGEANCE. ON the third day of his "hiding out" with his polygamous consort Hyrum was sur- prised to be handed a bulky letter in Naomi's handwriting. He thought he had successfully hoodwinked his legal wife, and, wrapped up in the consummation of those animalistic passions which the true Mor- mon, in utter ignorance of the moral degradation thereof, exalts and deifies, he had thought little of how Naomi would regard his treachery to her when she should finally learn of it. He expected to hide his consort in another county amongst an orthodox Mormon community, all of whom would keep his secret, as is usual in such cases, and he had avariciously planned that Naomi's money would maintain his mate in lust, and that he would very often have business to call him where he could be with this unlawful mate. Conceive, if you can, the black bitterness of his selfish lascivious soul when he read the unexpected letter. Fortunately a copy of it is available and it certainly speaks for itself if ever letter did. "Hyrum: "I will not call you 'dear,' for now I know you in all the baseness and degradation of your soul, and I wonder that I ever thought I loved you. 36 A EIGHTEOUS VENGEANCE 37 ' ' Not only do I know that you have broken the faith you pledged to me, but, far more important now in my eyes, / know when and where and by ivhom the ivicked sealing ivas done. "I insist that you shall weigh this knowledge to the fullest extent and consider what it means. I know the witnesses to call, if it ever becomes necessary to prove that you have committed a crime against me, against my unborn child, and against the law. ' * I warn you now, Hyrum Flesher, that I have arranged to invoke the most powerful forces in our Nation against you if you fail to heed faith- fully the restrictions and the conditions I will im- pose upon you. "I am not in the helpless, pitiable plight of many a Mormon woman when the lust of a hus- band drags her into consenting to polygamy and who ever after lives with broken spirit. "I am glad to tell you that I have forever for- saken a religious faith which can tolerate for a moment the idea that the God of our great uni- verse gave a revelation to any people which sanctioned or encouraged polygamy. "The Mormon people are blind to the higher ideals of spiritual life when they maintain such a belief, and Joseph Smith, Jr., was a prophet of his own lust, and not a prophet of God, when he proclaimed this false revelation. "I shall not try to reveal to such a nature as yours the infinitely higher faith I have gained from association with those who believe that ethically controlled passion and the mating of pure souls into a companionship and union of one 38 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE husband and one wife, till death shall part them, is God's plan for the family of highest spirituality. "Your selfish, sensual soul will not be able to understand this, but I wish you to know, that you and all other Mormons who believe that God gave a revelation sanctioning polygamy, are far down in the spiritual scale and are not God's people, as you claim, but simply deluded religionists of a base religion which cannot survive. ' ' Now you shall know my conditions and exac- tions. "First. I shall not permit you to seek a di- vorce from me, even though I shall at once desert you for all the days of your life and mine. "I choose that your crime shall be its own punishment and that every day you live with your concubine you will do so with the knowledge that a sword of righteous vengeance is always impend- ing. You know that my fortune is great and I warn you that it will be the means of keeping a constant watch upon you everywhere and all the time. "I will not permit a divorce, because that would leave you free to go on in lust into multiple illegal polygamy if you could thus rid yourself of your legal wife. I know your nature and you would do so if you could. ' ' Second. You shall not have another woman sealed to you. If you do, your crime will forth- with be revealed and punished. I choose, notwith- standing her baseness and joint treachery with you, that your present illegal wife shall not be superseded by a newer object of your uncontrolled passions. A KIGHTEOUS VENGEANCE 39 " Third. You shall not attempt to see me or write to me or ever to see my babe. We are going into a new life, where a higher civilization than Mormondom exists, and where lust is sin, and is not excused as a religious duty or privilege. ''Fourth. I am going to put all my property into a trust fund, which will so dispose of it that you can never receive one cent of it, but so that I and my child can live reasonably, and the rest shall be devoted to a purpose which I hope in future years will arouse decent Mormons to the forsaking of their ill-founded faith and to join in higher spirituality those who would uplift all the world through a rational religion which all men can accept. "Finally. I shall teach my child that its father was wholly unworthy and that it must grow in spirituality if it would escape the doom of heredity. I hope and pray that it may be in its nature a Snowson and not a Flesher, and whenever it can be done legally I will have its name changed to Snowson, so that the dishonor of your name shall only attach to me. " I do not envy you, Hyrum Flesher. Your sin has found you out and you are utterly unworthy of forgiveness. I am glad to know now that I never really loved you. ' ' Good-by forever, "NAOMI SNOWSON FLESHER." When Hyrum Flesher returned to Salt Lake City several weeks later, he found that Naomi had departed for Capitolton, where the Cathertons lived. He found strangers in Naomi's home, to whom she had sold it. His threatened doom al- 40 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE ways thereafter confronted him and he often cursed in impotent rage the girl who had outwitted his base plan. For five years he lived a life of shady scheming and plotting to get wealth and then died of smallpox. It happened that his polygamous consort had borne him a girl child. She dared not give it Hyrum's name for fear she would be included in the sweep of vengeance which impended over Hyrum, so the child bore the surname of her own family and it was this child who, as Julina Blyman, in the fitting web of heredity, became the voluptuous creature whose sensual passion supremely aided in the downfall of the Mormon religion. Conceive of the strange spinning of the three goddesses which brought the most destructive blow to Mormonism from inside its walls through the sensuality of a daughter of Hyrum Flesher, and which, from outside its walls, also brought high spiritual faith and hope to those who forsook the Mormon religion, through the moral genius of a son of Hyrum Flesher. It was the blood of Hyrum which dominated his daughter and it was the soul of Naomi which uplifted his son. CHAPTER VI. THE CAVE MAN". OME into my cave and escape the wrath of the tempest." It was a young man who spoke and he addressed two young ladies whose costumes betrayed the pedestrian type of young womanhood which every Spring and Fall for more than half a century has found health and pleasure in long walks from the pre- cincts of the University at Capitolton along the south shores of beautiful Lake Memsota. The huge, rapidly-mountaing storm clouds had already caused Marie Templeton and Faith Win- throp to look anxiously for shelter, but they chanced to be some distance from a farm house and near one of the rocky bluffs which jut up occasionally not far from the lake, so no shelter except some trees was at hand, and trees are poor shelter in a heavy storm in that vicinity. Just as Darwin Snowson spoke, a blinding flash of lightning, followed quickly by a heavy crash of thunder, forewarned the trio of the imme- diate dominance of the storm king. ''Lead us to your shelter, Mr. Cave Man," said Faith Winthrop, ' * and do it quickly, for the deluge is at hand," followed Marie. Darwin Snowson loved every foot of the ground around Lake Memsota. From his early boyhood he had haunted its low hills and glades and forests and farms. He knew every bay which 41 42 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE indented the shores of the lake and every jutting point of land which beautified its coast line. That morning in June, 1933, he had sought to renew the joys of his boyhood and his university days by visiting some of his old haunts, after an absence of two years spent in post-graduate work in philosophical studies at a great European university. Was it mere chance, or was it something which lies deeper in the scheme of things, which had impelled him to seek the cavern which fifty years before had been made in extracting rock by the owner of a quarry, now long abandoned, and which, in his boyhood days, had served Darwin well, not only as the cavern in which Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves had held their secret councils, but also as the cave of Black Hawk, the great Indian Chief, who actually had roamed the same lovely woods and whose canoe had sped across the beautiful lake? Do not answer the question asked you too soon, for Darwin Snowson and Faith Winthrop had looked into each other's eyes. From where the three stood Darwin led the girls quickly down a little trail, around a point of the bluff, apparently straight into a cluster of bushes, but, just as they reached the shrubs, he moved aside the low-hanging branches of a tree and, disclosing the wide mouth of the cavern, he said: 1 'It's sacred ground; but you are welcome to share it with me. In bygone days it was some- times an enchanted cave of Arabia to me, and sometimes the redskins' secret haunt, and once THE CAVE MAN 43 proved good shelter during just another such storm as we are escaping. ' ' Then the deluge descended and while the open- ing flashings and crashings of heaven's artillery were blinding the eyes and stunning the ears, as only such a storm in the Middle West can do, scarcely a word was spoken by the three in the cavern, except to call attention to a startling flash, or an unusually terrific peal of thunder. After a while the vented electricity seemed to relieve the magnetic surcharge in the clouds, and only the heavy downpour of the rain could be heard coming from outside their shelter. Then up spoke Marie, the vivacious : ' * Good- ness, I'm glad we found you. We would have been soaked. But this storm isn't going to quit soon, and I propose that we resort to the emergency rations. ' ' Whereupon she produced from a pocket inside her pretty sweater coat a considerable package of nut milk chocolate, which the girls were wont to take with them on their tramping trips as a suffi- cient luncheon. Before proffering the confection, which is a real food, to the landlord of their refuge, Marie again spoke up in her own inimitable way, and said: "Mr. Cave Man, when my friend and I were freshmen in dear old Vassar, where we spent two years, our little debating circle agreed, after grave discussion, that the ordinary conventionalities of life must not infrequently be set aside and human beings act naturally, as circumstances arise. Now that we are Seniors in the University at Capitol- 44 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE ton and about to get our sheepskins, of course our dignity is something to admire, but I feel that to a rescuer, who has saved us from almost drowning in the awful downpour outside, even our haughty spirits should make some concessions, and there- fore please note my logical conclusion before we break bread, if nut cholocate can be included in that generic term, I would like to ask you your name so that I may introduce you to my own college chum. ' ' Throughout this little speech Darwin Snowson had listened with twinkling eyes, but in a manner so truly deferential as to leave no doubt of his good breeding. When Marie had concluded, he smilingly said : "I am Darwin Snowson and I graduated from the University in '30. You must have come there in the Fall after the June in which I finished. So through the University we have at least one com- mon social bond." If the answer to her question had not required Darwin to look straight at Marie he would have detected a noticeable startling of Faith Winthrop when he announced his name, for Faith then knew that he was the son of a Mormon father and of a mother who had been a Mormon in bygone days. The effect of this knowledge weaves its threads through the warp and woof of all the rest of this story. Darwin Snowson, however, did not become aware that Faith knew his lineage for some time thereafter. "Mr. Snowson, I am Marie Templeton of Dil- walkie and this is Faith Winthrop, formerly of puritan Massachusetts, but now of Capitolton." THE CAVE MAN 45 Again Darwin and Faith had looked straight into each other's eyes. Did the arrows of fate glance aside instead of forever determining the destiny of these two? A son of a Mormon and a daughter of purest puritan, Mayflower blood, what could justify a future surrender of the maid to the man? * * Ting-a-ling-a-ling supper's ready we have sissiges and spinge cake," thus Marie agair* then adding, "Mr. Snowson, if your boyhood edu- cation was along the proper lines your mouth is watering for some of this ration, and as I confess to a good appetite for all meals and chummy is the same, I guess we'd better get busy." So, laughing and chatting and sometimes lightly touching graver things, the young people for three hours of that afternoon from their cav- ern shelter watched the heavily descending rain, then a strong, warm wind drove the clouds from out of the sky and the rain ceased. Homeward to Capitolton through the mud trudged the seasoned pedestrians. While they sturdily stride off the miles with the free swing of the experienced in walking let us glance at them for a moment. Marie Templeton, scarce the average height of American women, with a bright, piquant face and a graceful form, was full of the charm which vivacity and culture give. Her little college con- quests, harmless but interesting, were numbered by the dozen. As she appears again in our story it is safe to predict in advance that her under- lying common sense will insure her happiness, just as it has served to aid great numbers of at- 46 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE tractive American girls to become the queens of happy homes despite the innocent little affairs of adolescence which come as tributes to their charm- ing ways. Faith Winthrop had an arresting face. One who dealt in phrases once said: "Faith is the true American patrician. Heredity and good breeding have stamped her face and form with the nobility of refinement and graciousness har- monically united with sure evidences of mental and moral strength." Tall and moderately slender, her whole appear- ance universally compelled the use of the much abused word "beautiful," to describe this girl of twenty-two. As for Darwin Snowson, he had known from the very first that he had now met the one girl of all the world who could fill his heart's desire. The great hope of Darwin's mother had been fulfilled. He was a Snowson, not a Flesher. Five feet eleven, formed like a lithe athlete, his figure attracted by its symmetry. But his face disclosed best the redemption from degenerate paternity. Clean cut, forceful and intellectual, yet there was something in his countenance which went beyond all these. Even now the impress of high resolve, which later illumined his whole bear- ing, appeared in frequent expression. Were he not of Mormon blood, who would deny his right to seek life happiness with Faith Winthrop? As the three neared the Winthrop home, Faith said: "Mr. Snowson, I have met your mother and Mrs. Stanwood, Mrs. Eleanor Catherton Stanwood, I mean, is my aunt." THE CAVE MAN 47 It was thus that Darwin learned from Faith that to meet her again and frequently was inevita- ble and he secretly rejoiced, for Mrs. Stanwood had been his best friend, next to his mother, through all his life, and her father, now well ad- vanced in years, from boyhood had been his inspiration, his intellectual guide and his ethical teacher. Naomi always, in her secret soul, reverted to that day of fate in Santa Cruz when Eleanor had saved her life, and hallowed it ; and well she might, for through the rescue of that day, her son was placed in the environment and with the compan- ions best fitted to inspire him to carry out the dream of her life, the redemption of the Mormon people from their ill-founded ancestral religion. CHAPTER VII. HOW THE BELOVED PHILOSOPHER CAME. DOWN the mountain trail at sunset came the Philosopher. It was mid-summer and the rustic, roomy bungalow chalet (for it combined the archi- tecture of both), owned by Darwin Snowson, which occupied exclusively a picturesque glade high up in the Wasatch Mountains, at once ar- rested the attention of the traveler. He foresaw shelter for the night and perhaps good compan- ionship. "Splendid manhood," was the least tribute paid to this vigorous mountain climber. Appar- ently about forty-five years of age, none could fail to be impressed with his remarkable personality. To Darwin and the six descendants of former Mormon leaders, whom he had quietly gathered in his chalet for consultation, the Philosopher came as a gleam from the Eternal Light. * * * It chanced that Robert Young, Lincoln Smith, Waldemar Grant, Nephi Woodruff, Mahonri Tay- lor and Mathonihah Cowley were regenerated descendants of the bluest blood of Mormondom. In 1911 the first great break of the solidarity of the Utah branch of the Mormon organization occurred. It was the truths of Evolutionary Sci- ence which caused the revolt of a number of the Faculty and a large number of the Students of the 48 THE BELOVED PHILOSOPHER 49 leading Mormon educational institution against the infallibility of the priesthood and against the teachings of the church, which conflicted with the facts of science. From this little insurrection had grown up a constantly increasing number of educated young men and women who quietly forsook the Mormon religion, but the great mass of the Mormon people, while more intelligent and better educated in 1933 than in 1911, had not yet been roused to a realiza- tion of the inherent degeneracy and untruthful- ness of their creed. * * * Darwin Snowson had come to Utah almost immediately after the events narrated in the last chapter. It was Eleanor Stanwood who inspired his journey. Although he had long known his moth- er's cherished hope that he would lead in the redemption of the people of her father's faith, as yet no definite plan had been matured. * * # It was only a few days after Darwin and Faith Winthrop had first met that the former spent a rainy day afternoon with Eleanor Stanwood. It was inevitable that Faith Winthrop should be spoken of between Darwin 'and Faith's Aunt Eleanor. It was also characteristic of the young man that he frankly told to this best friend that if it were not for his Mormon descent he would try to win Faith, but that he realized that one of Faith's lineage might shun a son of Hyrum Flesher as though he bore the bar sinister. 50 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE As in the days of his mother's greatest trial, Eleanor had been the inspiration of the better fate for Naomi, so now her sympathetic heart offered to Darwin the ray of hope which was to burn in his soul, sometimes brightly and sometimes feebly, until the tragic end whither his destined foot- steps led. "Darwin, son of my dearest friend, there is naught in the character of your sweet mother, nor in your own which resembles hers, that could stand as a barrier to your heart's desire; but, because Hyrum Flesher was your father, you must pay the debt of heredity. Faith's father and mother greatly value honorable descent. It might well happen, Darwin, that Faith may grow to love you, but if out of a great duty you could bring to her the accomplishment of an uplift of many of those who still live in the darkness of ignorant faith, in your ancestral state, don't you think the debt of heredity would be paid in full ! I do, my dear boy ; and I am not betraying Faith when I tell you that there is no other who occupies her heart and she is interested in you." Darwin had met Faith several times in the few days which intervened between their introduction in the, cavern and his talk with Eleanor Stanwood. Commencement week at the University threw an alumnus of '30, who had not only won honors in his closing year at the University, but also gained a high reputation in his post-graduate work in Europe, into a number of the graduating activi- ties of Faith's class. Marie Templeton had quietly observed, with- out comment to anyone except Aunt Eleanor, THE BELOVED PHILOSOPHER 51 that Faith and Darwin were mutually attracted towards each other, and so Aunt Eleanor had sought and received Faith's confidence. She knew that Faith was deeply interested in Darwin, but she knew also that his Mormon de- scent troubled the maid. It was the night before he left for Utah that Darwin made a farewell call on Faith. It was then he told her of his mission and his hopes of its accomplishment. Necessarily his plans of action were somewhat nebulous and he made this plain to Faith. Faith had known from the very first that Darwin looked at her with eyes of devotion. She frankly told him that she would hope for his suc- cess and would be much interested in learning of his work. Darwin, without any verbal expression of sen- timent, replied: "I would be very pleased to write you personally of all that happens in Utah if you would care to have me, and would like to have you write me of all that you think is mutually interesting of the University and the people of Capitolton." Faith's gracious permission afterwards led Darwin to one of the hardest tests of his life, but at the time it was granted his heart glowed with hope of the future. * * * The night the Philosopher came to Darwin Snowson's mountain home will dwell until death in the memory of each of the seven young men who welcomed the traveler and the seven days which followed are hallowed days to all of them. 52 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Darwin had known Robert Young, a lineal descendant of Brigham Young, for several years. He knew that Robert had never been a Mormon, but nevertheless was the son of a grandson of the great organizer of the Mormon hierarchy. This grandson had from boyhood rejected the Mormon faith and had attained a responsible posi- tion in editorial work on one of the Nation's great newspapers. Some months before Darwin's advent, Robert had gone to Salt Lake City from his father's Eastern home to look up some rights of property for his father. Darwin met him soon after his arrival in "Zion," as the City of the Salt Sea is called by Mormons. The young men had much in common, both highly educated, both morally clean, and both wishing and hoping that the light of science might shine into the faith-darkened souls of the orthodox Mormons. Through Robert, Darwin rapidly met the other five young men who formed the party at Highland Cove, where Darwin had bought the land and the Chalet, because there, during the midsummer heat, they could secretly discuss and plan the ways by which the devotees of their ancestral religion could be brought to see that the old faith was worthless and that a new faith based on Reason and Science, of eternal necessity, must be the only true faith. When the Philosopher stepped on the wide porch of the bungalow Darwin met him with as- tonished, shining eyes and outstretched hand. Years before, while scarce out of boyhood, Darwin THE BELOVED PHILOSOPHER 53 had heard an address on " Purposive Goodness, Manifested in Cosmic Evolution," and it proved a veritable trumpet call to the souls of evolutionists to awaken to the scientific truths that God is de- monstrably found as the Power in the Universe which makes for Righteousness and that the race of man is climbing an upward pathway morally, under the direct and constant impulse of that Power. The Philosopher had not especially noted in his audience the eager-eyed youth who found re- ligious rest in the sane, inspiring rationality of that address, but the lad could never forget the prophet of Science who had thus satisfied his soul. Because you now know him as the foremost teacher of that religion, which is called "The Re- ligion of Progress" by its believers, he need not be named, and because ever afterward the seven, in deepest affection, called him the Beloved Phil- osopher, so he shall remain through the unfolding of the great events in which the impulse of his soul moved in dominant sway, CHAPTER VIII. THE PHILOSOPHER'S MESSAGE TO THE SEVEN. THE night was cloudless and serene. The massive granite turrets of the Wasatch projected into the wonderfully glittering starry vault their barren glacial scarred summits. Around the Philosopher, who sat in an easy chair on the sward in front of the bungalow, gathered the Seven. Darwin then told of the hopes and dreams of the young men for the redemption of Mormondom and how as yet no effective plan to educate the Mormon masses to the higher truths had been worked out by them. With his gaze fixed on Polaris, the star of the North, the Philosopher spoke not for a time, while the Seven silently awaited the answer to Darwin's request for counsel. Then that mountain glade grew vibrant with a marvelous psychic force. The voice of the Philosopher, clear and softly resonant, ceased not its great message to the Seven until long past the midnight hour, but the countenances of his listeners became wonderfully serene and exalted as the glory and wisdom and redeeming power of that message grew into their souls. That night was born that fateful instrument, "The Society of Progress," which, by its guarded secrecy, thereafter baffled the Mormon priesthood, 54 THE PHILOSOPHEK'S MESSAGE 55 and, by its exalted ritual, gradually taught in a marvelously simple way the best of the Mormon youth throughout all Mormondom the vital truths of Science and the great religious import of these truths. * * * Darwin Snowson thus wrote Faith of the luminous revelations which came into the souls of the Seven that night: "The Beloved Philosopher, in words which flamed, first led us deeply into all the philosophic lore of Science which leads backward and forever backward, in the unbreakable chain of cause and effect, until, in the solemn night, he brought our souls, through an infinity of Time, at last to The Great First Cause The Uncaused Cause, The Cause which is Infinite, and, because of its Infin- ity, cannot be clothed with attributes by finite beings, except, as they rationally can deduce from the Cosmos, both as a material universe and as a psychic universe, and from the courses of all Evo- lution, as revealed by Science, certain high spirit- ual truths which lead straight to God, to the Infinite One, and disclose Him as the Power which makes for Eighteousness in our world and in all the worlds of space, and in our own souls." # * * * ' Then again he lifted his head to the stars and the wonderful story of the stellar universe with its untold millions of flaming suns and its bound- less space and its ceaseless organic changes, un- folded before us, in marvelous clearness, as part of the great Process, which, from an infinity of the past to an infinity of the future, has evidenced and 56 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE will evidence the birth and death of suns, and planets, satellites and comets, and nebulae, all the inorganic realm of the Cosmos." # * # "Then in his great drama came our world, a mere fragment of the material of which suns are, by immutable law, created ; a speck in the infinite cosmic, ethereal sea, and yet one of the realms of intellectual and spiritual life within God's great Cosmic Plan." # # "Truth inspired, in the simplicity of a knowl- edge so profound as to be unincumbered with technical language, he told the great story of the Bocks, the truthful revelations of Geology, revela- tions which every one who dares to ask the true origin of our earth and the time through which it passed from its whirling in intensest heat into spherical form down to the appearance upon it of the earliest physical life, must find answer in a thousand indubitable proofs that the Earth came to its separate astronomical identity solely through Natural Processes and then, hitching its Cosmic impulses to our sun, it swung on in its orbit around the sun for years, which only many mil- lions will measure, before any life existed upon it. * # * "Obeying the primal evolutionary law of all growth, that is, 'from the relatively simple to the relatively complex,' with great slowness the earth cooled on its surface and then its vast seas became fitted for its early simple forms of life, the minute single-celled creatures." THE PHILOSOPHER'S MESSAGE 57 "That physical life came also as a natural thing in the great Plan, and as much a product of Cosmic Law, as is any material object, he did not doubt, and he told of the scientific experiments of a quarter of a century tending to show that by natural law there exists a link of lineage between the inorganic and the organic, which, under the developing conditions of the process, probably evolves some type of physical life everywhere in the Cosmos under like conditions to those which germinated it here on earth." * * * ' 'In wonderful review he then marshaled the evolution of physical life upon our planet. Invok- ing again the pages of one of God's real revela- tions to men, the irrefutable testimony of Earth's rock strata, and the fossils therein, which spell out the marvelous story he told of the wonderfully prolific, relatively simple, minute forms of life which first evolved, peopling the seas in such myriads as to form enormous beds of rocks out of their charnel houses ; physical life thus early in its history yielding to the inorganic its aid in world-building as it has since in many ways and many forms, and as it does always when physical life becomes physical death." * * * "From monera and amoeba, the simplest forms of life, to the early evolved fishes and rep- tiles, then on and on, in the millions of years before the period of man, whilst under the sway of natural law, the vegetable kingdom arose and flourished in gigantic rankness and there evolved huge creatures of earth and water and air which 58 attempted, as "the fittest," to survive, but found few of the gigantic types which did not perish, the Beloved Philosopher, pictured to us the con- tinuing tale of the Rocks and the correlative proofs which biology reveals. ' ' "At last in the chain of living things the crea- ture of superior intelligence evolved: Man, the animal which walked upright, and used its arms and its hands and its brain for defense and for service ; Man, the creature which became endowed with the power to rationally choose his actions." * * The Beloved Philosopher did not disguise the mystery which surrounds the acquisition by the psychic personality of the individual man of the power and impulses of moral growth ; but, before he ceased his marvelously luminous oratory, he assembled in powerful logic the array of all the salient facts disclosed by Science respecting Man, his origin, and his destiny, and gave to us, who listened with uplifted souls, the high spiritual im- plications which rationality now proffers to con- vince that in a co-ordinate psychic universe as Cosmic as the physical universe, by preordained design, from The Infinite First Cause comes both the "free will" of man and the impulse to seek righteousness, all as part of the Great Cosmic Plan." # * * "But when he spoke of man as an animal, with proofs that rational beings cannot truthfully deny or discredit, he asserted the physical cosmic kin- ship of humanity with a chain of animal life which THE PHILOSOPHER'S MESSAGE 59 went straight back to the single cell life of the primeval seas. "He denied absolutely the mental honesty of any man who would seek the truth and array the facts shown by geology, embryology, biology and anthropology, and then asserts that the human being, as an animal, is a separate creation. He asserted that such a man must have some ulterior motive other than the truth to pervert his judg- ment; such a motive as the bolstering up of a religion which would be destroyed by the suprem- acy of truth." # # * "Then came the history of man. Evolved many, many thousands of years ago, probably more than fifty thousand, possibly two hundred thousand years, or even half a million years, the Tale of the Rocks places him first, far backward of the time when as a lowly ignorant type he hunted and slew the prehistoric creatures which roamed the land, when Britain and France and most of Continental Europe were tropical in cli- mate and no sea surged between England and the Continent. The long ages, which the Rocks assert must have passed since the day of the early cave dweller down to the first of the records we have today, are blank with written history, but eloquent with the truths of scientific research. A multitude of proofs tell the story to those who wish the Truth and will search for it." * * * "Again his eloquence flamed, as he reverted to the personality of man, and by philosophy and science demonstrated that neither the body, nor 60 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE the brain, constitutes the individual, but that these physical instruments merely act as the earthly machinery which personality uses while embodied. He admitted frankly that the animal inheritance has many potent influences upon human character and that the association is very intimate between personality and the ever-changing cells which make up the body and brain ; but, because person- ality is a developing unit during all of earthly life and many of the groups of body cells may be entirely eliminated from the physical machine without altering its efficiency as the instrument of personality, and because body and brain cells die daily and are replaced by other cells, also through many other proofs, he found the sure deduction that the spirit of man is not a product of the physical kingdom, but belongs to a higher psychic and ethical realm which must be supremely valued in any scientific contemplation of man and his destiny. The body must be viewed as the machine which dies and dissolves into its physical elements, personality the psychic and spiritual entity which survives," * * * "In shining words, which sent into our souls the radiance of the Eternal Light, our Beloved Philosopher continued his wonderful discourse with a simple, strong summation of the higher philosophy of evolution which science has grad- ually grown to understand in the fruitful years since evolution received its first great demonstra- tions through Darwin and Spencer and Huxley and the others of the great group of fearless bril- liant scientists of the nineteenth century, who THE PHILOSOPHER'S MESSAGE 61 startled the world with their new scientific proofs of the eternal truths which necessarily upset many ideas of those who clung to indefensible faith. "He called upon us to assemble all that science has discovered of the Cosmos, the inorganic, the organic, the psychic and the ethical and to value the whole as evolving, under the reign of an aggre- gation of wonderful laws which govern and affect not only all matter, and all animal life, but all intellectual progress and all ethical advancement. "Then he warned us not to overvalue the physical universe and its evolution and not to weigh too greatly the development and progress of mere intellectual life in human beings. With illumined face, he asserted that there remained in safe scientific truth a demonstration which trans- formed the Cosmos into an infinite realm of Spir- itual Life, with God, the Infinite One, as surely the Creator of every moral impulse in man as He is of the physical universe and of the laws which gov- ern it." * * * "Then he showed, as Huxley demonstrated, that in the working out of the Cosmic Plan, through the endowment of his intelligence, Man had received the power to change, in a myriad of ways, the natural course of terrestrial physical evolution. How the whole face of the globe had been altered with man's intelligent adaptations and modifications of plant life and animal life, as well as innumerable modifications of inorganic features." 62 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE ' * He next drew the sure conclusion that, though surrounded and limited with a realm of physical laws, humanity, through intelligent choice, has used and now uses these laws to serve the race of mankind in a myriad of ways, and thus marks out its upward path in physical comfort and material benefits. Promising further explanation, he then asserted that, though likewise subject to a realm of spiritual laws, the human personality through its moral volition, possessed the power of ad- vancement or retrogression in spirituality. 5 5 1 'Drawing ever nearer the great import of the Cosmic Plan he called upon us to consider and value the Spiritual Evolution of Man. Starting with the sure revelation, which anyone can verify, that the original men and women of our race were ape-like and unethical, with but the faint rudi- ments of spiritual life stirring in their souls, in wonderful imagery, he traced the prehistoric proofs of the gradual rise of humanity in intelli- gence and in slowly developing spiritual life. Then, in swift review, he assembled the historical evidence of the Ancient races and their religions and morality. Groping towards the truth im- pelled to some form of worship by a force they did not understand developing slowly the rudiments of altruism sometimes flowering into relative civilization, sometimes evolving lofty conceptions of God then sinking backward into barbarism and idolatry, the ultimate, vital and overwhelming fact remained that the way of mankind as shown in its highest types from the time of the first evolved of humanity down to this day, broadly THE PHILOSOPHER'S MESSAGE 63 speaking, has been an Upward Way in the devel- opment of higher spirituality as well as higher intellectual knowledge and this Upward Way is achieved as part of the great Cosmic Plan." * * * "In solemn, reverent, resounding words came the Great Conclusions: God The Infinite First Cause The Cause of all Causes The Infinite Power Which pervades the Cosmos The Infinite Intelligence from Whom, the finite intelligence of Man necessarily must come The Infinite De- signer Who created the Cosmic Plan* 'The In- finite and Eternal Energy from Which all things proceed' God is also Purposive Goodness, and the Infinite Spirituality from Whom within the Great Design the Spirit of Man came, endowed with the power of moral growth. "To deny these conclusions is to stultify rationality; to admit them is to spiritualize the Universe and reveal The Infinite One as spirit- ually immanent in all that exists, even our own souls. "If there be any goodness in humanity; if in- tegrity, bravery, altruism, moral worth, and righteousness have any meaning at all, then rea- son is pushed to two conclusions : "First: That the development of spiritual life is the supreme object of God's Cosmic Plan, and "Second: That man, through the volition granted him in the Great Plan, has a psychic and ethical personality which can either grow in spir- itual righteousness or may degrade itself. 64 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "But the import of the Great Plan now im- pended in profound significance Science offers a Scientific Keligious Faith based on the revealed truths of Evolution, which every man can verify for himself, whether he be of any other religious faith or believes in any other assumed revelations, or whether he is an open-minded seeker after truth. "The Beloved Philosopher then quoted what was called 'The Law of the Upward Way' by one who wrote in 1910.* This law necessarily finds its verity in the evolution of man from the ape-like man to the highest spiritual types of our age. As this evolution is part of the Divine Cosmic Plan, the law reveals God's purposes towards mankind and His desire that the race shall advance spir- itually. "This law is stated thus: 'By preordained design of The Infinite One, man, as the gradually evolved highest creature of terrestrial organic evolution, from the faraway time of the original progenitors of the race, has always advanced in- tellectually and ethically or spiritually under a persistent spiritual process, which, while not de- priving him of his free will, has ever impelled him upward away from animalism, from ignorance and from vice, and towards higher intellectuality and higher spiritually. ' ' ' ' By the same preordained plan the uplifting forces evidenced in the spiritual process inevitably preponderate in ultimate racial uplifting power over the necessarily opposed forces which tend *The Religion of the Spiritual Evolution of Man (anony- mous) , 1910. THE PHILOSOPHER'S MESSAGE 65 towards racial reversion to animalism, retrogres- sion and degradation.' " 'Also, under the Divine Plan, this same pre- ponderating spiritual process will continue to further uplift humanity through all the future of the race, to the end that not only individuals, but the whole race, will become spiritually developed and perfected to an extent not now discernible, but, beyond question, far above the present stage of advancement and possibly approaching the ideal.'" * * * Then he continued: "Science, therefore, re- veals these truths respecting humanity: that Mankind is one race within God 's plan ; that only ignorance and defective, untrue religious faiths stand in the way of the great spiritual advance- ment of all the peoples of earth ; that the recogni- tion of the universal brotherhood and sisterhood of human beings is a necessity of God's Plan; and that the religious duty of every man and every woman is to consciously assist in God's great pur- pose to uplift the race to higher and higher spirit- uality, and this can be done only by the united effort of those who realize that the light of Science is the true light of God, and that humanity must be taught both the real truths which reveal its origin and its destiny and God's Great Plan for race unison and race uplifting. ' ' * * * "Thus ended the marvelous discourse, save that, after a pause, came the wonderfully strong and beautiful suggestions for the organization and ritual of 'The Society of Progress.' 66 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE "We, of 'The Seven/ as our Beloved Philoso- pher dubbed us," wrote Darwin to Faith, "then saw, in shining glory, the whole plan for redeem- ing the Mormon people from their religious shackles and for placing them high in the fore- front of the Spiritual Evolution of Mankind. But I cannot now write you of this plan, as it is to be a secret organization, but I hope to see you when I visit my mother, after our organization is under way, and I will gladly tell you. "You cannot possibly realize how inspired we are by the teachings and suggestions of our Be- loved Philosopher. He is staying with us for a week, while all the ritual and methods of our or- ganization are being perfected. I hope that you will meet him some time. He has gained our deep affection and earth has never yet seen a higher evolved type of man. Wise and sane and truly spiritual, he loves humanity and yearns to bring the light of the Faith of Science to all the earth. ' ' * * * Little did Darwin realize when he wrote Faith that he hoped she would meet the Beloved Philoso- pher some time, that, when that meeting came, it would bring to the younger man the agony of renunciation of his greatest desire. CHAPTER IX. A FATEFUL MEETING. WHILE still at Highland Cove, one after- noon Darwin had rambled out of this hid- den retreat into the main Canyon, which gashes deeply into the Western slope of the Wa- satch mountains a few miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Absorbed in meditation, he had not noted the earlier gathering of thunder clouds around the towering Twin Peaks, nor the gradual spread of these harbingers of a mountain electrical storm. Suddenly a blaze of blinding light seared his eyes and the canyon immediately resounded with a fearful crash of that atmospheric artillery, which in all ages has awed humanity, though of itself it is but a harmless herald of danger passed. Instant, upon the silence which followed the thunder, there came to Darwin's ears a scream of fright accompanied by hurried beats of a horse's hoofs. Springing into the roadway and fixing his eyes up the great gulch upon the nearest of the many abrupt curves which characterize this canyon highway, Darwin beheld, rounding the bend, a powerful horse insane with fright and bearing a young woman upon his back. Below where Darwin stood, scarce a hundred yards away, commenced the Narrows. 67 68 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Death impended for horse and rider, for be- low the slender roadway in this gorge had such sharp turns that the rush of the crazy steed would undoubtedly carry himself and his rider over the road's edge, down the rocky walls of the chasm onto the jutting ragged boulders in the stream which foamed at the bottom in ominous cascades. Darwin's chivalry was instinctive and his brain alert and efficient. He had weighed his chances and formed his plan in an instant. Springing to the stream side of the road he braced himself for his impending jump, and just as the horse came opposite he leaped forward and with splendid accuracy grasped with one hand the bit ring and connecting rein on the side towards him, while with the other he grasped the nose of the animal, planning to thus weigh him down and gag him into submission. The stream and road above the Narrows were almost on a level, the inner side of the road being a rocky embankment. Darwin had realized that the dragging weight of his body and the pull of the bit would tend to keep the horse from crowding against the rocky embankment, and crushing the limb of the young woman, for she rode astride as all women do in the Western mountains. The powerful animal dragged Darwin down the road perilously close to the upper gateway of the Narrows and his hoofs more than once had struck Darwin with cruel force, but the plan sud- denly proved effectual, the animal, cowed and trembling, stopped abruptly, and Darwin instantly called to the rider to dismount, which without a A FATEFUL MEETING 69 word she did by sliding off the horse and toppling over in a faint almost into the stream. Fearful of the heels of the horse striking her, Darwin released his hold upon the bit and hast- ened to ward off the danger to the unconscious young woman. The horse thus freed wheeled in the roadway and trotted up the canyon. Although aching with severe bruises upon his legs, Darwin paid no attention to his own hurts, but first devoted himself to restoring the young woman to consciousness. While he bathed her forehead with water from the stream her person- ality seemed to force upon him the knowledge that she was a voluptuously beautiful young woman of the dark, raven-haired, full-blooded type, which so often is termed amorous. His attention being temporarily withdrawn by another flash of lightning, he did not see the first quick opening of the girl's eyelids. He could not know that she had regained con- sciousness several minutes before she again opened her eyes and suddenly threw her arms around his neck and drew him down and kissed him ere he could realize the strange intimacy of her acts. Then sitting up she turned upon him the mag- netic gaze of a pair of very dark eyes, which un- mistakably bespoke a passionate nature, and she quickly said: "My hero. I owe my life to you, and I can never sufficiently repay my debt. I'm dizzy with my great peril, but I am glad that it was you who were my rescuer. It seemed as though a god 70 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE had become human to come to my aid. Though we do not know each other's names I feel that Fate has a meaning in thus bringing us together and that coward up the canyon, who outrode me to seel?: his own safety before the storm should break, now never can have his wish to possess me ful- filled." Darwin, scarcely understanding the boldness of the girl's utterance, had suddenly realized that he was faint and harshly bruised, and sitting down abruptly, he exclaimed: "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I am cut with the horse's shoes and I beg your pardon, but I must examine." With that he rolled up one of the legs of his trousers and found a mass of blood which was still welling out of a deep cut. The girl was alert with opportunity. Seizing Darwin's handkerchief, which he had soaked in the brook and used in his efforts to overcome her faint, she insisted upon washing Darwin's wound, though against his protest. When this was accomplished, with a long, di rect gaze into his eyes, she said : "This is no time for mock modesty. You saved my life and I will do anything in return. This wound must be bandaged with dry linen." Without withdrawing she turned her back to him and lifting one-half of her divided skirt, Darwin heard a tearing of fabric and then after again loking directly at him the girl knelt down and swiftly bandaged the wound in a not unskillful manner. Darwin, was innately chivalrous towards wo- men and without that peculiar vanity of most men A FATEFUL MEETING 71 which ascribes the casual glances of women to the fascination of their own masculine attractions. Yet, he could not fail to see that this young woman was determined to charm him. While paying to the girl the unspoken tribute of believing her virtuous and also admitting to himself that she was beautiful in her own voluptu- ous style, he determined to change the situation if possible. Rising to his feet he thanked her for her aid, and then hurriedly asked her if he should not try to find her horse. She replied that the companion of her ride was somewhere up the road and that undoubtedly he would soon appear bringing her mount with him; unless he had been frightened to death. Failing in his ruse, Darwin then proposed that they should walk up the road together, so that if no horse appeared she could reach the place at which she was stopping before evening came on. Protesting against Darwin's walking far with his wounded leg she finally consented to accom- pany him for a short distance up the road to look for her horse. Then came an astounding discovery. Darwin had casually asked the girl with whom she was visiting in the mountain summer colony at the head of the canyon. She replied: "With Mrs. Blyman, my mother. I am Julina Blyman, and I would like very much to have you come to our cottage and stay until your wound is healed." Darwin started as if stung and exclaimed: "My God, then you are my half-sister! I am 72 THE HUNDBEDTH WAVE Darwin Snowson and your father and mine was Hyrum Flesher." Julina in turn was startled beyond measure. From her mother she had learned the story of Naomi Snowson and Hyrum Flesher, and knew that this half-brother of hers was not a Mormon, while she, the child of polygamy, clung to the faith which placed across the stain of her ille- gitimacy, the sensual religious teachings of the Mormon Church, and thereby attempted to cover up the stain. What strange thoughts flashed through the mind of this girl. Instigated by her mother, she had hated Naomi and her son, although she had never seen them. Orthodox Mormonism is wont to hate apos- tates who do not seek to curry favor by excusing and covering up the evils of the Church. Now, Julina was confronted with the over- whelming knowledge that the young man who had saved her life at the risk of his own and who had strongly aroused her uncurbed nature was half her own blood. Was it a taint of polygamy which caused the girl to gaze passionately at Darwin and wildly ex- claim: "Oh, we can't be brother and sister. I adore you so, my hero." Flinging herself on Darwin's breast with her arms closely wrapped around his neck, she pas- sionately kissed him and then hysterically wept as if her heart was broken. As soon as he was able, Darwin gently removed her arms and quietly brought to her notice the fact that some one on horseback was approaching, A FATEFUL MEETING 73 although as yet he was some distance above where they were standing, and that he was leading a riderless horse. Recognizing her truant escort, Julina bitterly said: "It's Joseph Henry Smith, the young man who deserted me when the storm commenced. I would have been dead at the bottom of that awful gorge as far as he is concerned. He is only half a man." The approaching rider gazed on Julina with a drawn, anxious face, and Darwin then beheld that effeminate scion of the chief royal house of Mormondom, who had just been made one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church, and whose degen- eracy subsequently indirectly led to the great tragedy of his Church. The day following the strange meeting of the children of Hyrum Flesher a mounted messenger brought to Highland Cove a note from Julina to Darwin. This note reveals the germinating of those strange, wild moods which afterwards seized Julina at intervals and which directly contributed to the fateful events of the same tragedy. Julina wrote: "My Hero-Brother: "I am in a tumult of emotions which are be- yond my control. My mother hates you and your mother almost insanely and insists that I must never see you again. She also insists that I shall marry the young apostle at once, and is taking me back to the City tomorrow so that we shall be married in the Temple the next day. What can I do? You did not despise my polygamous birth, and I had never dreamed that there was a man 74 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE in the world so brave and so gentle. Oh, why are we of the same blood? I would be your slave just to be near you. I am reckless of anything. I must see you tonight and I will slip down the road in the moonlight and meet you at the place where you saved my life. I would willingly die with you in the chasm we escaped so narrowly. I scarcely know what I am writing I am so dis- tracted, but come if you would save my soul from the dark cloud which I feel shadowing it. "Your devoted, "JULINA." Darwin was not at Highland Cove that day when the messenger came with the note. Early in the morning he had taken flight in his service- able little safety aeroplane straight into Salt Lake City in order to have his wound attended to by a physician, and so it chanced that the messenger went back to Julina with the tidings that Darwin was absent and would not return that day. The day following, as Darwin swung his speedy air craft into the mouth of the canyon, he noted beneath him an automobile with a driver and and three passengers speeding cityward. By chance he identified the hat and veil of Julina covering one of the two ladies in the car, and this was his last glimpse of his half-sister and he scarcely heard of her again until she became the dominant figure in the tragedy of her Church. CHAPTER X. PREPARATIONS FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY. WHEN Darwin Snowson returned to Salt Lake City from the sojourn at Highland Cove, accompanied by the rest of the Seven, it was with firm conviction that his moth- er 's long-cherished desire would ere long receive a sure fulfillment. At his resource was a sum of money of great amount. The fortune which had slipped the greedy grasp of Hyrum Flesher had been aug- mented enormously in the quarter century which intervened between Naomi's Eastward flight and Darwin's return to the "alien" state. At once the Seven, with most generous expendi- ture out of the Redemption Fund, as Naomi had called it, prepared the marvelous settings which were to instructively charm the advancing novi- tiate whilst he rose ever higher in the Realm of Truth, through the Seven Degrees of The Society of Progress. With splendid powers of organization, Darwin, the "Lesser Master" of the Society, utilized the best talents of each of the Seven in preparation for the great campaign. "The Great Master" was not The Beloved Philosopher, as one might surmise, but will be revealed in a later connection. With definite missions, the Seven scattered in every direction. To Waldemar Grant, Mahonri Taylor and Mathonihah Cowley was delegated the 75 76 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE duty of preparing a hurried census of the descend- ants of Mormons in Utah, who had forsaken the Mormon faith; for Darwin looked to these for great aid in his work. Particularly were these three of the Seven to trace the ninety-four stu- dents of the Church University, who, in 1911, had boldly placed the truths of evolution against the dogmas of the Church, and to learn who among them had advanced in scientific truth and who had retrograded. Also to these three was intrusted the earlier work upon the House of the Seven Doors. Nephi Woodruff, an amateur astronomer, was commissioned to gather the marvelous collection of stellar photographic plates, and, under his di- rection, Waldemar Grant invented the machinery which made the Second Degree of the Society of Progress a veritable revelation to the tens of thousands who afterward attained the Seven Degrees. It was Lincoln Smith who undertook the task of assembling the biological plates, fossils and paraphernalia which told the story of terrestrial animal life, excluding mankind, in such graphic form as to fascinate the students of the Third Degree. Darwin and Eobert Young co-operated in as- sembling and making truthfully accurate the exhibits of those wonderful Degrees, the Fourth and Fifth. And it was The Beloved Philosopher whose genius flowered in the beauty and wisdom and re- deeming power of the First, Sixth and Seventh Degrees of the Society he had planned. ORGANIZATION OF SOCIETY 77 To launch the Society in gathering strength, by January, 1934, was Darwin's definite purpose. It was necessary for him and Robert Young to go to Europe to accomplish the task they had un- dertaken ; for part of their work was the graphic demonstration of the antiquity and the progress of man from the first types which evolved to the highest spiritual types of today, of which The Be- loved Philosopher, in the eyes of the Seven, was one. Returning just before the holidays, Darwin resolved to visit his mother and if his heart beat fast as he thought of again meeting Faith Win- throp, who among us but would sympathize with his longings? CHAPTER XI. A WINTER EPISODE. DARWIN and Faith, attired in attractive Winter garb, were flying across Lake Memsota, upon Darwin's champion ice boat, "The Arctic Princess." The joy of a clear Winter day had set their blood coursing in full tide. As Darwin, with hand on the tiller, would glance forward at Faith, where she sat perched on the windward wing of the speeding boat, with strong love he silently wor- shiped the beautiful maid who had been so gra- cious to him during his holiday stay in Capitolton. He longed for the time to come when the accom- plishment of his mission to Utah would make it possible to reveal to her his heart's great desire. Faith had exhibited great interest in his story of all that had been done in the West and also in the maturing plans for the organization of the So- ciety. Many times, by lingering messages from her lovely eyes, he had been encouraged to be- lieve that in some degree his love met a response in her heart. She had listened, absorbed, while he told her of the wonderful week the Seven had spent with the Beloved Philosopher, and he little weighed, at that time, the import of her words when she said : ' ' Oh, I would like so much to meet him. He has captured my heart without my having seen him." 78 A WINTER EPISODE 79 The "Princess," flying in stately grace to- wards the Southern shore of the lake, had suc- cessfully leaped, with retarded speed, the huge "division crack" whose piled up lips made cau- tion a prime necessity; then gathering speed she bore the young couple in joyful mood straight to- wards the bluff on the shore, which, on its land- ward side, held the well remembered cave which had sheltered them from the storm the previous June. A thin film of snow sifted along the ice and partially concealed its hard, glistening surface. Joy was suddenly turned to tragedy. Against strict custom, an unmarked fish "bobbing" hole, covered with a thin coat of ice, lay in the path- way of the "Princess." The leeward wing of the boat thrust its run- ner into this unseen trap and the other wing on which Faith sat was carried with violent swerve in a half circle high up from the lake 's icy surface. Unprepared for such an occurrence, Faith was thrown with great force upon the hard ice, where she lay motionless, as Darwin saw when he swiftly turned to observe what had happened to her while he was clinging instinctively to the rudder and the sail ropes. With an exclamation of fear Darwin dropped the sail and sprang forward to Faith's side. Inert and pallid the beautiful girl was stretched out upon the icy bed in terrifying resemblance to death. With a heart which seemed to stop beating, Darwin lifted her limp arm and felt with trem- bling fingers for her pulse. 80 The sudden pounding of his own heart told the story that hers still faintly throbbed the message that he might hope. At once he rushed to the ice boat and got a steamer rug, which he had brought along for Faith's comfort, and in which he wrapped Faith's body. Then with tender vigor he rubbed her cold hands in his own loving ones whilst he held her lovely head upon his lap. He was soon rewarded with a flutter of her eyelids and an increasing warmth in her chilled hands. Memory suddenly played a trick on him. Like a flash the scene in the canyon, where another type of maid had recovered from a swoon, came into his brain, and then the world seemed oddly unreal when Faith opened her eyes, and glancing some- what blankly at him, threw her arms around his neck as he bent over her. But it was no message of loving devotion for him which she spoke. "Laddie, sweetheart, why am I so cold? Won't you stir up the fire. How strange you look, Lad- die. You seem like a big man, honey. I don't think I like you as well this way, dearie. Where are we going, sweetness?'' With swift alarm, Darwin realized that the blow which had stunned Faith had now produced delirium and that she fancied that he was "Lad- die" Stanwood, a boy cousin, who was a great chum and admirer of hers. The situation, momentarily, daunted Darwin. There were no dwellings along the shore except at relatively distant points, and Capitolton was several miles away around that long, narrow A WINTER EPISODE 81 neck of land, known as "Outing Point," which lies between the bay in which they were and the University landing, near to which Eleanor Stan- wood lived. But Darwin's courage and resources did not fail him. Conducting Faith back to the "Prin- cess," he quickly cut off the jib sail and per- suaded her to sit down upon the multiple folds, w^hich he first placed upon the ice. Before wrap- ping her again in the soft, warm steamer rug, he had whipped off his thick outer coat and gently talked Faith into putting it on. She was afraid "Laddie" would freeze, but Darwin told her that his sweater was frost proof, and thus satisfied her still wandering mind. The runner of the "Princess" had lodged in the now open "bobbing" hole, but from long ex- perience, Darwin had made a light axe part of the equipment of the boat for just such emergencies. With rapid strokes he widened the hole until he could free the runner and then placed the boat on even keel. He carefully examined the craft and found that no material damage had been done. Faith, now, as warm as toast, had been sitting with drooping head upon the canvas cushion. Darwin stepped over and taking her by the hand led her the few steps to the stern of the "Princess." Eapidly arranging the jib canvas and the rug, he tenderly lifted her upon the wide board, which gave him his perch at the rudder, and covering all but her head with the warm wrap- pings, he encircled her waist with a rope and looped it around his own, so that she could not fall from the somewhat precarious place she occu- 82 pied while he was engaged in managing the boat. Faith was silent during these preparations, vacantly staring over the icy expanse. The " Princess" behaved right royally, as un- der Darwin 's masterly guidance in smooth, swift flight, she carried her silent passengers in a few minutes to the landing near the house of Faith's aunt. Darwin had noticed that Faith had settled back against his knees as the boat flew on, and when he had brought the craft to the shore he was not surprised to find that the maiden was in a stupor. Throwing the canvas off from her, he gath- ered her in his arms and, staggering under his precious burden, he made his way to the home of Mrs. Catherton, into whose care he surrendered her unconscious niece. It was two days before Darwin could see Faith, who, in the meantime, had been fully restored to her usual mental poise. The next day he was to meet Kobert Young in Chicago and go with him to the re-gathering of the Seven in Salt Lake City. Darwin's heart throbbed with deep love as he gazed on the pale, sweet face, which he had last seen in unconsciousness. Faith met him with a shyness, which was new in their associations with each other. She seemed embarrassed in expressing her gratitude to him for his services in her behalf. The constraint wore away as they talked of Darwin's imminent journey, and they parted quite happily as Faith A WINTER EPISODE 83 wished him every success in establishing the So- ciety and accomplishing his great object. It was when Darwin was speeding Westward that he recalled Faith's constraint and his heart chilled suddenly when it occurred to him that it was because she feared he might expect too warm a greeting from one to whom she was so deeply in- debted. His ardent hope of the past then for the first time received a check. CHAPTER XII. THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN DOORS. THE city blocks in the City of the Salt Sea are of enormous size, with a fringe of build- ings around the outward sides, and a huge, scramblingly occupied interior space, which seems an economic waste to a critical observer. In the interior of one of these blocks, in the center of the City, in 1933, there was a large com- mon brick structure, which had been used as an electric power plant. Finding it vacant and avail- able, Darwin had secured it by purchase, before he left Salt Lake City, and the Seven had jointly planned its transformation. The few citizens who learned of the change in its interior were led to believe that it was to be used for a secret benefit insurance organization. It was the plan of the Seven to keep secret the organization and home of the Society as long as practicable. After its transformation, with unchanged outer walls, the building presented a dingy, for- bidding appearance, different only from its pre- vious manufacturing aspect in one singular fea- ture. The lower walls were pierced by seven oddly arranged doors, and no other openings. Each door was walled in from observation from its fellows by arched approaches and each approach was reached by a different means of en- trance from the exterior of the block. 84 HOUSE OF SEVEN DOORS 85 One door could be entered only from an alley- way, which cuts into the block from the West ; a second found its entrance through a book store in which Waldemar Grant was financially interested ; a third apparently had no exit to the neighboring street, but Robert Young had rented an office at the rear of the ground floor of a large office build- ing and the window at the corner of this building in Robert's office opened upon a patch of vacant ground which led directly to this door. And so it was with the remaining doors. Each had its own relatively secret pathway from the street. We now know that each of the Seven Doors gave entrance to a separate, beautiful, small audi- torium in which the novitiate was instructed in one of the seven degrees of the Society of Prog- ress. Each of these large rooms was wonderfully decorated in its own distinctive harmony with the object of the degree which was conferred therein, and in accordance with the plan of The Beloved Philosopher. The lighting of these beautiful rooms was after a studied design, which always effected the strong- est possible results upon the student of the degree. It was often said by those who had advanced through the Seven Degrees that their minds and souls were so wrought upon by the wise arrange- ment of the Seven Chambers, as the seven rooms were called, that no vagrant conflicting suggestion could intrude. The Beloved Philosopher, deep master of hu- man psychology, had weighed the means of mak- ing every step in the progress of those who took 86 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE the degrees of the Society, an upward advance in knowledge and scientific spiritual truth, and so perfect was his ritual and the accessories, the Seven found with great satisfaction that any in- telligent man or woman who earned admission through the Seven Doors in succession, became so uplifted and educated in the Realm of Truth that he or she was afire with zeal to bring others into the Society. The Seven were wont to say, when they assem- bled in the Room of Council (which was a secret chamber far within the interior of the House of Seven Doors), that no human soul, which was not degenerate, could attain the Seven Degrees and not become exalted in spirituality. And they would again and again refer to the case of Moses Trustell, who had pretended to be an apostate from the Mormon Church, but who secretly, had worked in matters of publicity to create false impressions favorable to that Church and who designed to betray all the secrets of the Society to the Church. They told of the scene in the Chamber of the Seventh Degree, when Trustell, in the presence of the Seven, overwhelmed with the spiritual power of that degree, had broken down in bitter repent- ance and confessed his baseness and begged the Lesser Master to use him in any minor way to bring others to see the Gleam of Eternal Light which had come to him in that final degree. They told, also, with saddened voices, how Trustell, after doing most noble work for the So- ciety, went to his death in the great tragedy which 87 involved Darwin Snowson The Lesser Master in its dread embrace. Thus the House of the Seven Doors has ever been the Central Shrine of the Society and now many thousands of former adherents of the Mor- mon Church bless the day when they entered through the Door of Truth, into the Chamber of Truth, wherein the instruction of the First Degree of the Society was taken. But it was not alone in the House of the Seven Doors that the great work of the Society went on. In Ogden and Provo, in Logan and Mount Pleas- ant, in Nephi and even far St. George, there were swiftly acquired " Homes" of the First Degree, and in these the Seven, at first, and afterwards, "The Forty-nine" gave the instruction of the First Degree and took the Pledge of Fidelity from all who, after the instruction wished to climb the upward Pathway of Truth through the other Six Degrees. Only those who took this Pledge ever knew of the nature of the six succeeding Degrees. The lid of the Treasure Chest the Redemp- tion Fund gaped wide for use of its contents for every reasonable outlay which aided the work. It should be known that the ' ' Church of Jesus Christ of The Latter Day Saints" is a vast secret society. Within its Temple Walls no Gentile could go and it has held within these Temples its secret ceremonies of Endowment and Marriage (both monogamous and polygamous). These secret ceremonies have been revealed by some who have "gone through the Temple" and the crude animalistic Theology of this church is such that the so-called ' l sacred ordinances ' ' would 88 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE shock deeply either a man or a woman of refine- ment and high ideals. Darwin had suggested that the ritual of the Society of Progress in one of the Degrees to some extent should expose the grossness and unspirit- uality of the Mormon "ordinances" and contrast the high spirituality of the Realm of Truth with these baser rites. In the Sixth Degree of the So- ciety this was accomplished. It is hardly necessary to say that one who had been instructed in the previous Degrees scarce required the contrasting demonstration, but the wisdom of the plan was often proven when a mem- ber of the Society with powerful force would use the basic ideas of this Degree to convince liberal Mormons that the Mormon rites were false and debasing. Ere long the secret channels of the Society began to penetrate even the densest Mormon com- munities, for the Seven quickly called the Forty- nine from many different sections to come to the House of the Seven Doors and be the first to enter the Seven Chambers and take the Seven Degrees of the Realm of Truth. The Forty-nine represented the most enlight- ened of all Mormondom and included many who had long been ready to forsake the ancient faith. One said in the early years of this century : "The Soul needs a faith however oft its faith is slain. ' ' [Edmond Rostand.] And when the Forty-nine had completed the Up- ward Pathway of the Realm of Truth they realized 89 that a new scientific Faith, higher than any of the past, had grown into their souls. If you care not to have an ancient faith dis- turbed, read not the Tales of the Degrees which follow, even though there be linked with these tales the heart romances of some of the Seven. CHAPTER XIII. THE ROMANCE OF THE FIRST DEGREE. HIGH up in the Wasatch Mountains, under the towering apex of the northerly of those majestic granite-linked pyramids, the Twin Peaks, lies a wonderfully beautiful lake- let, whose crystalline waters mirror in splendor the crags which border it. So difficult of access is this little lake that rela- tively few ever visit it. For the same reason it is the ambition of real mountain climbers of both sexes to reach its ramparts. Late in that summer of 1933, which brought the Beloved Philosopher to Highland Cove, short- ly before sunset one day, Lincoln Smith, with somewhat weary mien, dragged himself up the last steep pitch upon the border of the lakelet. The little breath which remained in his gasp- ing lungs suddenly seemed to leave him. With unbelieving eyes, he stared before him upon a scene which he will carry in the sacred halls of his memory until life ceases. Seated at the brink of a little stream, which flows for a few feet through a flat grassy spot on the edge of the lake, and then in dashing leaps falls down the steeps of the gorge, was a girl in singular disarray. Far above the haunts of men in the vast soli- tude, it was more than strange to find a com- panionless maiden braving the coming night, for 90 by no chance would it be possible for her to de- scend the almost impassable trail in the little sun- light which remained of the day. Still stranger was it that down the girl's back in unconfined waves flowed a mass of beautiful hair, which swept the turf with its lower lengths. Lincoln always afterwards called the color of the tresses "rare gold," for it shaded from the blond- ness of brownish golden gleams close to the head into lighter gold near the outer ends, so that when coiled upon the head one might think the contrast- ing ends were from different heads. But, most strange, this maid of the mountains, with her left limb bared to the knee, was bathing her ankle and foot in the ice-cold stream. It was long afterwards that Lincoln recalled in artistic and lover-like appreciation the slender grace and beauty of the bare limb, for, as he re- alized the strangeness of it all, the girl suddenly raised her head and he gazed into eyes which made his heart leap in tumult. In the scant mo- ment before he felt compelled to speak to the maid, he saw that she was very pale and that she had hastily withdrawn her foot from the brook and in some deft way had covered it with her short mountain skirt. He quickly remarked: "Have you met with an accident I " I little expected to find anyone up here and I fear that you have sprained your ankle. I am Lincoln Smith, and at College I took a course in First Aid to the Injured. Won't you consider me your older brother and let me help you. I came up to spend the night at the lake to catch and sketch the effect of the reflection of the rising 92 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE sun in its mirrored surface tomorrow morning, and I will consider it my great good fortune if I can be of real assistance to you/' A slight flush had crept into the rather long distinctive and attractive face of the girl, and Lin- coln noted with relief that after the first startled glance nothing of fear or coldness had beclouded her countenance, but that she was quietly braid- ing her lovely hair into a long, thick braid, as she met his gaze. When he had ceased speaking, she quickly replied: "I am glad my older brother has come, for I do need assistance about as badly as a girl could need it. I did not intend to climb to the lake, but when I reached the bottom of the cascades, I felt so exhilirated with the joy of climbing, I knew I could scale the steeps and return to the main canyon long before dark ; so I ate my luncheon and came on up without much trouble. ' ' Glancing upward at a fissured wall of rock, she continued : ''All would have been well had I not been tempted by a beautiful wild flower, which you can still see up on that cleft rock. I started to climb for it, my foot slipped, I struck a round boulder which turned and threw me prostrate with a sprained ankle, and my hair came down as you can't help seeing. I tried to walk, but the pain in my ankle was too great, so I have been contemplating, pretty dolefully, the spending of the night and perhaps longer up here before my ankle would permit of dragging myself down to the main can- yon. ' ' EOMANCE OF THE FIRST DEGREE 93 Then she added: ''I am Mollie Richards, of the Ogden branch of that family, and, of course, I've read in the Society Columns of the news- papers about Lincoln Smith. ' ' Breaking into a smile, which the young man found wonderfully fascinating, she spoke again before he had time to advise her, as he would have liked to, that if she had read that portion of the Sporting Page, which narrates College Athletics, she would have found his name more frequently than in the Society news. As she slightly shivered she said: "May I ask you to build a fire. I find that bathing my ankle in the ice-cold stream has chilled me, al- though it seems to have checked the swelling. ' ' In a trice, the roll Lincoln carried on his back was removed and unstrapped. Inside its canvas cover a single blanket was revealed, together with some mysterious small packets and a vacuum bot- tle. First wrapping the soft blanket around the slender shoulders of the girl, Lincoln then opened the bottle and in his collapsible cup gave her a draught of delicious, hot coffee ; precautions which soon sent a glow through her body. With active steps he next gathered, from a neighboring clump of mountain pines, enough dead branches to start a good fire, whose light re- lieved the gathering shadows of the coming night, and then, in repeated journeys, he assembled a considerable pile of the firewood to provide for the late hours of the summer night which at such an altitude are always cold. 94 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE With cheering words, he had revealed to the watching maid the very acceptable news that he had a good lot of eatables in the packets which had come from out his blanket roll. When he returned from his final trip to the pines, he found that the girl had utilized the can- vas cover of his blanket roll for a table spread, and the viands he had carried were displayed thereon in picnic fashion. Lincoln was a thoughtful young man. He knew that the next morning would bring a serious problem to them both. The descent of a precipi- tous rocky mountain trail by a girl with a sprained ankle has difficulties which appalled him. So, before he accepted the smiling invitation of the young woman to attend her " dinner party," he gravely said to her : "Miss Richards, I must ask you about your ankle. We are so far from any assistance I fear that without other help we must try to get you down to more level ground tomorrow morning, especially as our food is very limited. My horse is picketed in a grassy glade off the trail, so the rest will be easy after we have reached a place where he can be brought, but if we can drive away most of your pain by morning it will be a great help. I suggest that you permit me to bandage the ankle with my linen handkerchief soaked in the cold water of the stream, and cover that band- age with this silk handkerchief I am wearing around my neck. Then, if you will slit your hose at the ankle, you can put it on and add to the ef- fect of the bandage. My remedy has often great- ly benefited in cases of ankle sprain." ROMANCE OF THE FIRST DEGREE 95 The maiden gave a most musical laugh and re- plied. "Well, I guess I have anticipated part of your remedy." "Whereupon she thrust her foot from under the blanket, which had enveloped it and showed it clad in her stocking, and that the latter had been 'slit at the ankle and pinned together with two of the convenient little gold handy pins, which are such a boon to femininity. She then continued: "I expected to beg the loan of your silk handkerchief for a dry bandage, but if you think your plan is best we will adopt it." After Lincoln had starred in his part of trained nurse, the young folks, in a spirit of jol- lity, ate rather sparingly of the luncheon, because the quantity of food was originally intended for only two meals for one person, and morning would bring its hunger. Then there came a revelation to Lincoln which added greatly to the charm which the girl had woven around his heart. Mollie wished to determine whether she could bear her weight upon the injured ankle and quietly arose to her feet. Standing in the firelight her form for the first time was disclosed to Lincoln, and it was not only the slender grace of her figure which made its perfect appeal to him, but he swiftly realized that she was fully as tall as he was, and his sturdy figure was more than the aver- age height of men by an inch and a half. To her delight the girl found that the ankle was far less painful than it had been, but under 96 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Lincoln's experienced advice, she did not attempt to use it again that night. There was romance hovering in the brooding silence when the young couple sank down beside the fire. No pair cast upon an uninhabited isle of the sea could be more isolated from their kind than temporarily were these mountain climbers. The young man, into whose heart love had stolen sud- denly through unguarded gates, felt the impelling charm of the girl's presence, alone with him in the solitude. "What the girl's inward thoughts were he could not guess, except that he knew she did not regard him unkindly. They chatted lightly and happily for a time, and then followed a strange conversation. As Lincoln remembered long afterwards, the girl had turned her face away from him towards the calm mirrored surface of the lakelet, in which the brilliant stars, shining high in the heavens, were reflected in sparkling beauty, when suddenly she said: "Do you believe in the polygamy revelation given to Joseph Smith?" Not knowing whether he was forever sealing the book of fate against the hope which his heart had whispered to him, Lincoln, in sheer honesty, answered the Mormon maid : "Though I have in my veins the same blood as Joseph Smith had, and though my grandfather ruled the Mormon Church, I have ceased to be a Mormon, and my only ideal of marriage is that of advanced ethical progress, the ideal of one hus- band and one wife living together in unselfish mu- ROMANCE OF THE FIRST DEGREE 97 tual love and service and devotion until death shall part them." The averted face of the girl betrayed neither acquiescence nor dissent. Then he continued: "I hope I do not displease you, but I do not believe in any of the purported revelations to Jo- seph Smith, nor other purported revelations given to Jews of the Ancient Days. I am an Evo- lutionist, who believes in the constant Spiritual Evolution of Man from original animalism and ignorance along an upward pathway to higher intelligence and higher spirituality." The answer of the maiden left Lincoln in dark- ness respecting her own inner beliefs, but also af- forded him a ray of hope for the future. "I am much interested in what you have said, and if you care to call on me at my sister 's home in Salt Lake City, I will be glad to learn more of your beliefs. An inherited religion clings around one in a thousand impelling ways, even after one is compelled to reject many of its doctrines." Stretching slim, graceful arms above her head, she added: * 'I find I am very tired and sleepy. I am sorry to deprive you of your blanket, but I suppose I must. I thank you a thousand times for your as- sistance. Good night and pleasant dreams. " With fearless confidence in this stranger, the maiden wrapped herself in his blanket and shortly fell asleep. When the young man was certain that his com- panion was in slumber, he quietly arose from the grassy bed on which he had been lying and found his way to the clump of pines, where he selected a 98 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE slender sapling which he hacked down with his knife. Keturning to the fire he gradually trimmed it to smoothness and finally shaped it into a prac- ticable alpenstock, which also might become a serviceable weapon in case of need. He had not told the girl that as he climbed the last of the steeps, he had seen a mountain lion skulking through the pines and occasionally turn- ing to look at the girl at the brook. Though Lincoln knew that the v animal was not likely to attack a human being who was awake, he feared that if both were in slumber and the fire died down, the prowler might make a savage at- tack. So through all the night he held sleep in check and quietly patrolled the little grass plot, occa- sionally renewing the fire, which of itself is a pro- tection against wild beasts. If he glanced num- berless times at the shaded face and blanket draped form of the sleeping girl, he was certain she knew it not, for apparently her slumber was deep. He realized that she could not know that his heart was singing a song without words, which was vibrant with the new found love and devotion for his fair companion, whom he had so strangely met. With the reverence which soul love engend- ers, he often looked up at the stars and back to the sleeping maid with thoughts akin to spiritual worship. Did she dream of her rescuer? Dreams are strange, vagrant, irresponsible things, so who can say. Dawn came at last and the wearied young man stepped to the brook and repeatedly dashed the refreshing cold water over face and head and bare neck. "Good morning, Brother Mine, did you turn on the hot water faucet to take the chill off?" Thus, merrily Mollie made Lincoln aware that she was awake and he saw that she had arisen to her feet. Again the personality of the girl made its per- fect appeal to the young man, and as she slowly walked over to the brook side, testing her ankle as she went, his eyes could not avoid betraying his secret. Love leaps into eyes when the loved one appears. But the maid seemed unconscious of his glances and chiefly interested in the fact that her ankle was much better, though still re- minding her of her misfortune. It was decided that as soon as the sun mounted the crests of the Eastward crags and cast its rays into the mirrored face of the lake they would es- say the toilsome descent. With great sweetness, Mollie gave fine artis- tic appreciation to the fulfillment of Lincoln's mission to the lakelet, and thus bound his heart with stronger cords. She loved nature and had painted in water colors. Just how she came down the steeps Mollie could never recollect. It was a confusing succes- sion of strenuous efforts for herself and her sturdy companion. So often at the start was the alpenstock inade- quate to prevent severe twinges in her ankle, she 100 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE gradually yielded her form more and more to the helpful strong arms of the young man. Compelled a hundred times into his arms and a score into closest embrace as the rocky steeps were slowly overcome, she finally was landed breathless and blushing upon a grassy mound at the commencement of the more level ground. Her first conclusion was, that in spite of the in- timacy of the descent, she had been treated with rare courtesy and that only the absolutely neces- sary had governed his efforts for her safety. Do you think she still deemed him chivalrous when after he had brought his horse to where she was resting he stepped up to her and quietly said : 1 'Miss Richards no, I will call you Mollie I have loved you from the first moment I saw you and I ask you to marry me/' Do you think such a declaration would appeal to the heart of the maid under all the circum- stances ? With a sense of f aintness, Mollie leaned against the rock which backed her seat, and her expressive face turned pale and then flamed in hot blushes. The suddenness of the proposal literally took her breath, but as the young man stood silently before her, with eyes which expressed both love and rev- erence, she gradually recovered her poise. Swift reflection led her to say: "Mr. Smith, I am just beginning to realize what you have said. It has come to me as if by telepathy that you chose this time to make your strange declaration because you felt some pres- sure of necessity which I have not yet fathomed. May I ask you for a little time to reflect?" Suddenly her face cleared, and the look she gave Lincoln caused his heart to beat tumultu- ously. Then she said: ' * My nice brother, your proffered sacrifice need not be placed on the altar of chivalry, but I appre- ciate it with all my soul, and all the more because you added the solace of admiration, for the ease of my heart." Meeting his gaze with eyes which had become inscrutable, she added: "The breath of the scan- dal you feared cannot harm me and the shield you offered is not necessary. I came out of Can- yon Glen over a little trail which passes through the pines back of my sister's cabin and none of the gossips of the Glen have any idea of my ex- periences. My sister supposes I am at my girl chum's, farther down the canyon, so when I have mounted your horse you can lead him back on the little trail and only my sister need know of our adventures." Lincoln drew a deep breath and made answer: "I am very glad you divined my object and I am more than glad that you are so well guarded against certain bitter tongues which I happen to know are at the Glen and against which I sought to shield you with the protection of my name and devotion. ' ' Then smiling whimsically, he added: "All present need being eliminated, some time in the future, won't you let me discuss with you the sincerity of what you call 'the solace of admira- tion'?" It is part of the history of the next few months that Lincoln attempted several times to discuss 102 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE the subject of "the solace of admiration" with his companion of the mountain lakelet, but that Mollie proved very skilful in avoiding a renewal of his declaration, so much so that the young man grew faint-hearted of ever winning her love in response to his own, which had remained deep and steadfast. In the meantime they had freely discussed the subjects of religion and evolution until Mollie knew all his beliefs. She learned, too, when the Society of Progress had been organized and she voluntarily requested Lincoln to provide for her initiation into the First Degree of the Society, for many women were among those who sought the knowledge of the Seven Degrees. CHAPTER XIV. THE CHAMBER OF TRUTH THE FIRST DEGREE. THROUGH the Door of Truth, led by Naomi Snowson, Mollie Richards entered the Realm of Truth, and when the door was closed, she saw that farther entrance was barred by a tall, graceful bronze gate, back of which hung heavy dark green curtains, effectually excluding any glimpses of the Chamber of Truth. A voice came through the curtains in slow, solemn, passionless tones. " Sister of all the World, on the threshold of the Chamber of Truth, for the sake of the peace of your own soul, if you would proceed further you must be willing to be taught the supreme value to yourself and to all humanity of the great truths of the universe and of man's origin, history and destiny. Nothing which we believe to be incapa- ble of verification and acceptance by every intelli- gent human being, if he or she will seek such Truths with mental and spiritual honesty, will be taught to you." "Before the gate is opened and the curtains are parted, you must read the message with which the Society of Progress greets you. 1 ' Turn to the door you entered and before you answer it, read for seven times, with great atten- tion, the message which appears upon the door." When the voice had ceased, silently aided by Naomi Snowson, Mollie turned around and found 103 104 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE before her, upon the back of the Door of Truth, these inscriptions blazoned in gold upon the broad smooth ebony of the door: DARE YOU SEEK THE TRUTH? "A religious teacher of ancient days, even Jesus of Nazareth, once said to certain Jews, "Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free." The Beloved Philosopher who founded the Society of Progress has said: "You MUST know the Truth if your Souls shall be Free." Jesus was teaching converts to a religious sect, as the context shows, while the Beloved Philosopher speaks to every human soul. THE CHAMBER OF TRUTH 105 Exalted conceptions of God, whatever j their source, are worthy, even though min- j gled with misconceptions which must be re- jected. In the Book of Psalms, in the Hebrew Bible, it is said: "The Truth of the Lord endureth for- ever." The Beloved Philosopher says: "All Truth is of God, and leads to God and, you can truly learn God's truth only by seeking for it with all the intelligence with which you are endowed. "The Realm of Truth is vast and limit- less, and finite knowledge can never fathom its entirety, but science is constantly bringing to man sure revelations of God's Truth, which man must accept or he is a slave in spirit." 106 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE The Society of Progress asks you to an- swer to your guide these questions: FIRST: Are you willing to seek the Truth, though it shall utterly destroy the re- ligious faith you now have? SECOND: Are you willing, honestly and calmly, to weigh every purported revelation from God, whether it professes to have been made to Joseph Smith, or to Mahomet, or to a Jewish prophet, or to any other human being, and if the truths revealed by science demon- strate such claimed revelation to be false, are you willing to reject it, though it be the very foundation of your present religious beliefs? THIRD: Are you willing to be taught the higher truths about God, even though they destroy conceptions which you have cherished as your most sacred faith in Him, and though they compel you to accept a new faith founded in the great truths of the uni- verse which science reveals? DARE YOU SEEK THE TRUTH? THE CHAMBER OF TRUTH 107 Though in part prepared for the solemn soul- searching questions which shone on the ebony door, Mollie Richards read the whole message al- most with a shock, as she realized the overwhelm- ing importance of its fateful words. It might mean "a new heaven and a new earth," a slain religion and a rejected faith, a new religion and a scientific faith. Her talks with Lincoln Smith had led her far afield from orthodoxy, but this Society seemed ruthless in its ravage of the soul. Nothing seemed sacred to the Society but Truth and nothing seemed to be Truth but that which all men could verify through scientific knowledge. As she read the message again and again, pon- dering every word, she began to see that the pledge which was sought did not bind her to accept a single teaching of the Society, but simply made honesty of spirit and diligence in seeking the Truth the reverential promise she must make ere the fateful curtains should be parted. Ere the seven readings of the message of the Society were ended Mollie 's soul, in exalted mood, had grown to a feeling that it was to God Himself that her pledge must be made. All curiosity about the Realm beyond the lovely drapery had been submerged in a feeling of solemn awe, as though she stood at the entrance of a true ''holy of holies." At last she turned to Naomi Snowson and said : "I will seek the Truth with an open mind, no mat- ter where it shall lead me." 108 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Then, silently the bronze gate swung open and the heavy dark green curtains gracefully parted, revealing a chamber of extreme beauty. The reverse of the curtains showed a gleaming white satin, ' ' like unto samite mystic wonderful, ' ' adorned with most graceful traceries of shining gold embroidery, while the whole chamber glis- tened in a rich shade of white with gold bands and wonderfully designed arabesques, all brought to full glory in the resplendence of a myriad of flash- ing electric lights. It is not the purpose of this tale to give the ritual of the Society of Progress in its entirety, but only to glimpse the scheme of its great in- struction. When Naomi Snowson and Mollie Eichards had entered the Chamber of Truth and again the curtains were closed, Mollie was led to an easy seat before a low altar upon which a book bound in pure white rested. Then, to Mollie 's surprise, Lincoln Smith, clad in a robe of white, stepped through a little door and advanced to the desk of the altar and opened the book. With eyes which were eloquent of his heart, he first looked into Mollie 's eyes and, then remem- bering his duty, he said: "Sister of all the world, we ask you to listen to the words of the Beloved Philosopher who founded our Society, as he offers you instruction upon the Necessity of Mankind that Truth shall prevail and that all Error shall be destroyed." Then, in Lincoln's measured and masterly tones, for full half an hour Mollie heard this great THE CHAMBER OF TRUTH 109 foundation principle of the Society of Progress expressed in the simple, but powerful, eloquence of its Founder. But feebly can this tale summarize the mes- sage which aroused the souls of almost all who heard it to firm resolve that, despite all previous teachings, they would during all their lives seek the Truth, and God, through the Truth. The first idea expressed was that all human progress must be based on accumulated knowledge of all the realities; That garnering of facts is the garnering of truth; That mankind came to know the truth respect- ing our Earth and its little subordinate place in the vast universe only by gradual accretions of knowledge, these accumulations of truths finally leading to the great advances in human compre- hension of the universe which have been gained during the last three hundred years. * * * Then, the dreadful consequences of supersti- tion and fear, the products of ignorance and of cruelty, its close associate, were dwelt upon. The frightful torturings inflicted by ignorant religious fanaticism during the Middle Ages, and the great efforts made in the name of Christ, to suppress and to destroy the discoveries of scien- tific investigators and to imprison and to kill the discoverers, were graphically depicted. # * * Next the instruction took the listening initiate through the stern necessity in economic progress, that the principles the truths of electricity and 110 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE chemistry, and physics, and biology, should have been spelled out or such progress never could have occurred. Finally the hearer was told that to attempt to exclude strict investigation of the claims to verity of each and every religion now extant, and to de- termine whether its teachings and its sacred books conflict or harmonize with the realm of truth, would result only in self-delusion and spiritual degeneracy. That every free soul owed an imperative duty to itself and to the Infinite One to seek all truth with open mind and untrammeled vision was strongly urged as the climax of the instruction. The last words of this great message were these: "The Society of Progress of necessity in seeking the Truth must ruthlessly slay the soul slavery of Error, but it pledges you a new and higher Faith to meet the spiritual needs of your soul, if you will be brave and honest in verifying its instruction." When the message was ended and the book was closed, Lincoln thus addressed the waiting girl: " Sister of all the World, are you still willing to go on through the other degrees of our Society and seek the Truth, in all sincerity, and with all the intelligence with which you are endowed 1 You may simply say, 'I am,' or 'I prefer to go no far- ther,' as your soul shall express its desire." There was no hesitancy in Mollie's answer as she clearly replied, "I am," and then Lincoln added: THE CHAMBER OF TRUTH 111 "At other times you will be guided succes- sively to the several doors of the Chambers of Origins, and there be instructed in what our 'Lesser Master,' Darwin Snowson, has called 'The New Genesis.' On behalf of our Society, I now welcome you as a Disciple of Progress." Stepping down from the altar, Lincoln ex- tended his hand to Mollie, whose face still bore the look of exaltation which the message of the Beloved Philosopher had brought to it. Naomi Snowson, expectant of another initiate, had withdrawn beyond the curtains, so, for a little while, it chanced that Mollie and Lincoln were alone in the lovely room. As Lincoln's hand touched hers, he said: "Mollie, I am very glad you are going to belong to our Society. You know that there is no one in the world I would rather welcome and to have share in my beliefs. ' ' Mollie caught the intense personal note in his voice and, with a slight blush and starry eyes beautifying her face, she suddenly said: "How far do you wish me to go in valuing your words ? ' ' She had not withdrawn her hand from his and with a sudden feeling of barriers removed, Lincoln quickly said': "I told you the very truth, when I asked you to marry me, that wonderful morning in the mountains, even though I felt the immediate ne- cessity of guarding your good name. I have loved you from the first moment my eyes met yours and I want you as my life comrade more than words can express. I tell you this again now, because your question seemed to ask the truth." 112 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Suddenly placing her hands on Lincoln's broad shoulders with a direct gaze into his eyes Mollie softly said: "Lincoln, my lover, I have a confession to make to you. Here in this Chamber of Truth I will bare my soul to you. The dear play of tan- talizing my lover sweetheart must now end. You think that the first time I saw you was on the fate- ful evening at our lakelet. ' ' She smiled beautifully as she added : ' ' ' You were slow in finding your mate. On the day you broke the State Collegiate record in the half-mile run I was in an automobile just outside the railing at the point where you stopped with drawn face and panting lungs. "You glanced at me in an unseeing way, but I knew my mate ; so when you came to me at the lakelet I knew who you were and much about you which I had quietly learned from our mutual friends. ' ' Still restraining Lincoln's avaricious arms, she went on : "Wait, my sweetheart, I have more to confess. I never have been a Mormon except by descent. "My father and mother, both of whom are dead, forsook that faith when they were young, but because my life's happiness depended upon your entire disconnection from every shred of your grandfather's religion, I have waited and tested you in a hundred ways. And yet I haven't doubted you, Lincoln; but your family is so en- folded in the slime of polygamy, I feared while I trusted. THE CHAMBER OF TRUTH 113 "You have proven pure gold, and fear is gone and infinite trust remains, so if you want me, my lover, you can have me as your life comrade. ' ' Then her soft arms stole around his neck, as his own quickly drew her to his close embrace and their lips met in the final surrender of mutual love. Thus it was that the romance of Lincoln Smith and Mollie Richards flowered into happiness in the beautiful Chamber of Truth. CHAPTER XV. THE ROMANCE OF THE SECOND DEGREE. WALDEMAB GRANT, scion of one of the ''Royal Families" of Mormondom, had but recently forsaken the faith of his fathers. He had inherited the business instincts of his grandfather, an apostle of the Church, of whom it was said, "he is not so religious as to hurt his business, ' ' which also could have been said truth- fully of many others of the "Twelve." Wicked "Gentiles" were wont to say that "prophet," the ecclesiastical designation of these apostles, should have been spelled "profit," as the close union of the leaders of the Church with trusts and monopolies in sugar and salt had been established through prosecutions of the United States Government in enforcing anti-trust laws; and the leaders always enhanced their private for- tunes through swollen profits in business ventures, exacted from their own lowlier brethren, as well as through the severe exaction from the devout, though misguided laity, of tithes, which, by al- leged revelation to Joseph Smith, belonged to "my holy priesthood." But Waldemar Grant had not fallen to the tempting bait which the Mormon Church has ever held out to its leading young men, namely, first professional patronage and then gradual advance- ment to higher and higher ecclesiastical position 114 with widening opportunities for profit and, at last, the enormous Tithing Fund. A fighting editor who battled long in Utah for civilization and against Mormon degeneracy and retrogression was wont to say that the Tithing Fund and its adjuncts had made more hypocrites of intelligent young men in Utah than existed any- where else on the face of the earth. Waldemar, besides being a natural mechanic, had early developed a liking for mining, with the result that he had persuaded his father to permit him to take a thorough course in Mechanical and Mining Engineering at a leading Eastern Univer- sity. In the Spring and early Summer of 1932, be- fore Darwin Snowson had come on his great mission, Waldemar had spent several months westward of Salt Lake City, far beyond the great Salt Lake near the Nevada line in the Broad Creek Mining District, and the Summer following the organization of the Society of Progress he was again called there. Long devoid of necessary transportation, this mining camp had at last come to its own through the building of a branch line of railway close to its shafts and tunnels. "Waldemar, as part owner of one of its mines on Copper Hill, which is really a mountain, had been directing the development of the ores within the veins of the mines. Below the hill, stretching northward far be- yond the horizon, is an actual desert; not the desert of sagebrush or greasewood, which needs only water to spring into great fertility and which 116 is peopled with little birds and small creatures of several kinds, but the sullen, forbidding alkali desert, with its great surplusage of salts and upon which no spear of grass or tiny shrub or bird or animal can live. Once, in ages of geological time long past, the Great Salt Sea was enormously larger. To the East it gulfed the ground upon which Salt Lake City, Ogden and Provo stand, and had only the Wasatch Mountains as the shore upon which its waves dashed. Far to the South and far to the North its then greatly fresher waters covered the now exceed- ingly fertile valleys, while to the Westward, even to points beyond the Nevada line, its great ex- panse stretched majestically. Three separate shore lines, now most plainly discernible at hundreds of points, stretching in level bands at separate heights along the base of the mountains, tell the story of its reluctant reces- sions. The final recession, to the West, left open to the sky the alkali desert which once in that section bottomed the waters of Lake Bonneville, as the United States Geological Survey has designated the vast prehistoric sea. But, when Waldemar gazed upon this desert that June day which brought its fateful hours into his life, it was only with thoughts of how, in the cool of the evening, he would make a final trial of a remarkable adaptation of air and land navigation which he had devised. The aero-hydroplane, as everyone knows, had long ago made air flights over relatively smooth EOMANCE OF SECOND DEGREE 117 water comparatively safe, but it had pleased Wal- demar to invent what he called a "Sahara plane." The flat desert, ever in view, had tempted him to the construction of a machine which combined the principles of the automobile and the aeroplane, so that scarce touching the flat surface of the desert with its strong skeleton wheels when in ordinary service, the whole plane could be raised quickly for short flights over the slimy ooze of the treacherous alkaline pools, which here and there recur in the desert. He had hoped to perfect his machine so that the shifting sand plains of the great Sahara of Africa could be navigated commercially by his craft adapted to carrying much heavier loads than aeroplanes. Short trial spins had given him confidence in his machine and he had planned to make a straight-away drive of nearly sixty miles north- easterly to a station of the transcontinental rail- way which stretches its shining rails westwardly across the desert from this point. Many aeroplanes, disdaining the desert, made constant flight from Salt Lake City over the dreary waste just north of Copper Hill, past Ger- man Mountain, on to the great low-grade copper mining city of Eastern Nevada, and back again in recurrent flights. So it was not with surprise that Waldemar saw a beautiful little safety aeroplane round German Mountain and head across the desert, but when it turned suddenly as if by caprice and headed straight for Copper Hill, he became much inter- ested. 118 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Absurdly bird-like, the aeroplane came rap- idly on and soon hovered over the spot where he was standing. He saw that its sole occupant was a girl whose face was effectually disguised with goggles and veil, much-needed precautions against the desert sun. As he instinctively doffed his hat, with down- ward swoop the aeroplane almost brushed his head, and, to his amazement, he heard a musical voice say: "How do you do, Mr. Waldemar? Of course you don't recognize me, but I haven't forgiven you for pulling my hair the last time we met. I may sometime, but I think I'll let you puzzle a little over the identity of your caller. Good-bye. ' ' With that up swerved the planes and away for the desert sped the air craft, while Waldemar, both perplexed and vexed, stepped into the shop and brought out his field glasses. No familiar curve or pose revealed the sought- for recollection which the voice of his tantalizing caller had faintly stirred in his memory. But Waldemar, with the eye of the mechanic, had impressed every feature of the aeroplane on his brain and he knew he could identify it amongst a thousand. Somewhat grimly, he promised him- self that he would do so soon in Salt Lake City without realizing that he wished to hear that voice again more than anything else. He little knew that it would be almost instantly that great need for his help should come to the merry maid who had so gaily bantered him. EOMANCE OF SECOND DEGREE 119 Working at his machine, Waldemar cast occa- sional glances at the rapidly diminishing air craft and was suddenly startled, as he took what he thought might be a last look, to see the aeroplane swerve out of its course and make long downward spirals towards the face of the desert. Clutching his glasses he watched the descent of the machine until at last it fluttered to rest on the sunbeaten flatness and the unknown girl stepped from it and began examining it. As he watched, though far distant, he dis- tinctly saw her stoop to look at the gasoline tanks and quickly rise and turn toward the distant hill where he stood, and hold out her hands, as though despairingly asking for help. Waldemar knew in a moment what had hap- pened. Marooned in the midst of the great waste, without motive power, the plight of the girl would indeed have been terrible if no watcher had dis- covered it. While he knew she could not see him unless she had field glasses, he also realized the urgent need of the unknown. On the very top of Copper Hill, Waldemar had erected a huge flagpole, on which he had planned that Old Glory should wave on every holiday. Eushing to his cabin he got the great flag and soon it was hoisted to the top of the pole, where a breeze floated it in swelling beauty. Returning to his glasses, Waldemar saw the girl frantically wave her arms towards his signal flag, as a shipwrecked mariner welcomes the com- ing of rescuers, and then she suddenly dropped to 120 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE the ground and apparently stretched prone on the desert. Alarmed beyond measure, Waldemar hur- riedly prepared his "Sahara plane" for service, adding to his equipment an extra tank of gasoline and a supply of cold water in his vacuum bottle. Three times had he paused and strained his eyes through the powerful glasses to see if the distant girl had moved, but in vain. Then he pushed his machine off the slides upon which it rested and it glided smoothly down to the surface of the desert. Glancing once more through the glasses at the now scarcely discernible spot on the level surface, Waldemar thought he could not see the girl, but his angle of vision being now so different he could not tell positively. Then starting the engines of his craft, he grad- ually increased the speed until he was traveling much faster than he ever had before, but his machine proved staunch and sped on, spurning the clutch of the desert. The voice of the girl, bantering and sweet, rang in Waldemar 's ears during all his swift trip to the motionless airship huddled on the baked, shimmering, mirage-creating surface of the alkali waste. As he neared the objective point he suddenly saw the unknown maid seated under the shadows of the upper plane and watching his approach with great interest. Relieved from his dread, for the girl, of prostration from the intense heat which the desert engenders, he skilfully brought his machine to rest alongside the dethroned air- ship. ROMANCE OF SECOND DEGREE 121 Without goggles and with veil thrown back, the girl advanced to meet him, saying : "I never saw anything in my life half so good as your great flag when it signalled that you knew my plight, unless it was the queer ship of the desert in which you have come to my rescue. I just dropped down flat and had a good cry to relieve my nerves. I suppose you know me now and I have entirely forgiven you for pulling my hair." Half recognition and something more sprang into Waldemar's eyes as he eagerly watched the piquant face of the maid who, realizing that his memory had failed to bring definite recollection, laughingly said : * ' Stupid. Perhaps you '11 know me now. ' ' With this her hands flew to her coiled hair and with deft fingers she loosed the braid until it hung down her back, and then Waldemar quickly grasped both her hands, exclaiming: "Why, Zora Wells, you little witch, who would have expected you to grow up in the three years since I saw you last I ' ' Half bending to steal a kiss from the lips of the girl whom he was wont to tease in like manner when he was a self-important College student and she only a playmate of a younger sister of his, he stopped quickly, as a sudden throbbing of his pulse telegraphed to his brain the knowledge that Zora was no longer a mere child, and that the kiss he wanted was not the careless caress of their former status. 122 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Zora, too, as if anticipating his thoughts, had released her hands and drawn back while she hur- riedly said : "I can't imagine why my gasoline gave out. I started with enough to safely land me in Salt Lake City, but it has mysteriously disappeared. It gives me chills to think of what would have happened to me if you hadn't discovered my mis- fortune. Dragging myself on foot in the cool of the night miles and miles across the treacherous desert was not a cheerful prospect to say the least." Waldemar carefully examined the tanks of the air craft and suddenly stooped to inspect a sus- picious looking spot on one of them. His face turned grave as he found a like spot on the other tank. Whipping a magnifying glass from a pocket he examined these places more minutely and then, after rubbing a finger over the area which had attracted his attention, he said : "Zora, who had access to your machine before you started?" His companion answered : "Why, no one except the grocer's boy, who filled the tanks, and Moroni Clawson, who kindly cleaned and oiled the machine for me. ' ' Without revealing to the girl the result of his observations, Waldemar remarked : ' ' There is a leak in each tank, but I am sure I can plug them up tomorrow with materials I have at the mine, but, in the meantime, night will come on and you will be obliged to come with me to Copper Hill. Mrs. Verdant, the charming wife of one of my associates, is at the mine and will see ROMANCE OF SECOND DEGREE 123 that you are properly cared for. I eat with the miners. We will telephone your folks that yon are safe." Leaving the aeroplane on its alkali bed, the * ' Sahara Plane, ' ' with much slower pace, in steady progress, retraced its trail across the barren waste. When they were landed at Copper Hill, Walde- mar chanced to glance across the intervening dis- tance towards the far-away aeroplane. He was not surprised to note a much larger air craft winging its flight in that direction, as the great East and West Air Lane had its course over this route. As it neared the spot on the desert it circled down and dropped to earth alongside Zora's silent machine. Waldemar watched with interest as he saw an aviator descend from the larger craft, and it seemed to the watcher that the new comer on the scene exhibited agitation as he hurriedly strode around the pretty aeroplane which Zora had left tenantless. Waldemar at once surmised that it was some one who recognized Zora's machine, and was at a loss to account for her disappearance. Still watching, he saw the aviator scrutinize the desert around the two airships and even walk a little way along the trail the " Sahara Plane" had made. Then, mounting his own machine, the bird- man quickly rose to a considerable height and directed the prow straight along the trail of Waldemar 's return journey. 124 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE In powerful flight, ere long the craft hovered over Copper Hill and soon landed close to where Waldemar stood. The aviator, advancing towards the young en- gineer, removed his face mask and saluted Walde- mar heartily, being recognized by the latter as Moroni Clawson, an acquaintance of years. Immediately after exchanging greetings, Claw- son said : "Is Zora Wells here? I recognized her aero- plane lying deserted on the desert and could not go on without finding out whether she is here and is all right. I saw queer-looking tracks trending this way and, while she may have been taken aboard by some other aviator I surmised she was brought here and am anxious to know that no harm has come to her. I did not wait to examine her airship to see what the trouble is." Waldemar caught a tone of more than friend- liness in the young man's voice when he spoke of Zora and, dimly aware of a new sensation which approached resentment, the former replied : "Yes she is safe here with Mrs. Verdant. Her gasoline gave out, apparently because of some leaks, and I brought her here in my new craft for navigating the desert." Just then Zora appeared on the scene and, with an air of much surprise, greeted Moroni with frank cordiality. Being instantly called to some duty in respect to the mine, Waldemar excused himself for a while and upon his return found that Clawson and Zora had gone to the foot of the flag-pole on the summit ROMANCE OF SECOND DEGREE 125 of the hill and were earnestly talking, as they gazed out over the desert. In suddenly-developed diffidence, Waldemar concluded not to join them, but assiduously set himself at work to examine the airship in which the aviator had come to the hill. With experienced eyes, he took in every feature of the staunch craft, swiftly realizing that not only was it powerful enough to transport two per- sons easily, but that it was equipped completely for such a purpose. More minutely examining the equipment of the machine, he came to the tool chest, the hasp of which readily yielded. When he opened the lid, glancing over the con- tents, he gave a quick start as he saw a slender steel drill fixed in the socket of a hand drill-press, as if it had been in recent use. His mind flew to the minute steel drillings he had noted around the holes in the tanks of the now deserted machine far out in the desert. The circumstantial evidence was complete that for some reason Moroni Clawson had wished the machine of Zora Wells to meet with disablement on the trip to Salt Lake City. It was true that the little safety aeroplane had been in no danger of capsizing in its forced de- scent to the surface of the desert, for long ago the genius of American mechanics, had insured against such an accident, so Waldemar was puz- zled until he realized how beautifully the plot had been staged for a rescue and how his own unfore- seen advent had marred the drama. 126 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE He smiled grimly, as he glanced up the slope and noted the heads of the would-be hero and the maiden he had planned to rescue in close prox- imity. Waldemar was honest enough to credit Moroni Clawson with no sinister design in plotting the disaster to the machine of the girl, but he won- dered if Zora had known what he did about the holes in the tanks of her air craft whether she would have been quite so chummy with her com- panion on the hill top. At the same time he quickly determined that he would never reveal to the girl the discovery he had made. He didn't realize just what induced his deter- mination, but as he watched the couple come down the trail, the free grace of the maid's bearing, and the piquant poise of her head made strong appeal to the watcher. Zora greeted him gayly. "Waldemar, you are going to lose your guest. I am anxious to be in the city tomorrow morning to say good-bye to a chum, who is leaving for the Coast, and Moroni has promised to take me in his machine. He will come out tomorrow with a me- chanic who will fix my machine and bring it into the city." At first Waldemar had listened with an odd sense of futility, but his usual resourcefulness came to his aid, and, with tones of quick deter- mination, he said : "I have a better plan than that. Go into the city, as you have planned, and 1 1 will repair your machine tomorrow and bring it into the city to- ROMANCE OF SECOND DEGREE 127 wards evening and will call on you, if it is agree- able. My machine will be brought back to Copper Hill by my assistant, who has helped me test it." Zora seemed pleased with the plan and replied : ' ' That 's fine you will be as welcome as a long- lost brother." But Moroni Clawson did not seem quite as sat- isfied as he had appeared before the new plan had been broached. Neither did he bear the air of a victor during the next few months, as he realized that Waldemar was quite as frequent a visitor at the home of Zora Wells as he was. Neither he nor Waldemar could say that the " little witch," as Waldemar still called her in his secret heart, had specially favored one or the other. She seemed to enjoy entirely the presence of either or of both, as frequently happened. She played beautifully the world-old three-handed game of "Rivals," with the ultimate result de- lightfully uncertain as far as any showing of her "heart suit" was concerned. Of course she discussed religion with Walde- mar. Any young couple amongst the Mormons who did not discuss religion during the past four decades would be oddities, and having learned that Waldemar had apostatized, Zora seemed eager to learn why. She belonged to one branch of a "Royal Fam- ily" which had remained orthodox, but some of her cousins had wholly abandoned the Mormon faith. Waldemar sought to convince her that truth did not prevail in the faith their ancestors 128 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE had adhered to, and finally persuaded her to look into the teachings of the Society of Progress, whose objects he outlined. It happened that Zora, through other influ- ences, had been wavering in her allegiance to the Mormon Church, and she finally asked to take the First Degree. CHAPTER XVI. THE SECOND DEGREE THE CHAMBER OF THE STARS. FOUR degrees constituted the Chambers of Origins, the instruction in which was called by Darwin Snowson "The New Genesis." It was the intent of The Beloved Philosopher to make these four degrees cover broadly all that God had revealed (through His perpetual monu- ments disclosed by Science) of the origin of the Cosmos, the separate origin of our earth, includ- ing the making of the earth as it now is, the origin and early progress of life on the earth before man evolved, and, lastly, the origin and prehistoric his- tory of man himself. When Zora Wells had taken the First Degree and willingly consented to go on in search of All Truth, one starlit evening she entered the door of the Chamber of the Stars, accompanied by Mollie Richards, who had become a guide of the Society. Naomi Snowson had gone back to Capitolton after assisting in the guidance of those of her sex who in the early days of the Society took the Seven Degrees, and after being supremely satis- fied that at last her long-cherished hopes were being worthily fulfilled. Zora and Mollie were waiting in the little re- ception hall, which connects with the Chamber of the Stars, when Waldemar Grant stepped through the curtains which separated the rooms. 129 130 He had not known that Zora was to take the Second Degree that night, and it was with sur- prised delight that he welcomed her. He at once requested that he, too, might ac- company Zora as she received the wonderful in- struction within the chamber she was about to enter, and both Zora and Mollie assented with cordiality. Then the curtains were drawn and the trio entered the second of the Seven Degree Chambers of the Society. Nephi Woodruff, the astronomer of the Seven, delivered the instruction of the Degree and ex- plained the wonderful illustrative mechanisms and exhibits which made proof of the scientific facts which were taught. First led to a beautiful alcove, which, at the time, was the only lighted part of the large Cham- ber, Zora beheld a series of panels which were adorned with lovely soft-toned artistic borders, but each of which contained only a plainly-printed message to the initiate. So vital are some of these to the whole fabric of the ritual of the Society, we must give space so that none may miss their import. That the Society of Progress was intended eventually to cover a far greater field than the destruction of the Mormon Keligion, and that the truths it taught necessarily denied verity to other creeds and to the cherished beliefs of other relig- ionists, became fully apparent in this Degree. It is a well-known fact that the Mormons claim to be the best of Christians and find foundation CHAMBER OF THE STABS 131 for most of their strange beliefs in the text of the Jewish Bible and in the New Testament. If verity be conceded to the text of the book of the unknown author or authors who wrote, com- piled, or adapted the Genesis of the Jewish Bible, falsely attributed to Moses, then indeed who can say that at least one of the strange beliefs of this " peculiar people" is not well founded. They believe and teach that God is literally the prototype of man and has a "body, parts and pas- sions," and that there is a "Mother in Heaven," as well as a "Father in Heaven," and that God and this "Mother in Heaven" physically pro- create. They say that as Genesis is the word of God, they are truer to His revelations than other sec- tarians who believe in the inspiration of the Bible and yet deny the Mormon teachings about God. They quote to you Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 26: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," and verse 27, "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him. ' ' And Chapter 6, verses 1, 2 and 5, "And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the ground and daughters were born unto them that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all they cJwse. ******** ''There were giants in the earth in those days. And also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men and they bare children to them and the 132 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." * # # Is their logic perverse when they claim that God had sons and that this necessarily means that there is a " Mother in Heaven," and that these sons were physically constituted, so that they sex- ually cohabited with the daughters of men, and, therefore, these sons of God were born with like ''body parts and passions" as men, and that God Himself is merely "an exalted man" and differs only from men as far as his form and physical characteristics are concerned, in that He is im- mortal ? Again, they quote Genesis, Chapter 3, verses 22-23 : * And the Lord God said, ' Behold the man is become as one of us (i. e., The Gods) to know good and evil ; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever." "Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden." The Mormons also teach that there are a plu- rality of Gods, basing the claim on Genesis. * # * They also refer to Christ as a "Son of God" and quietly assert the physical cohabitation of God with the Mother of Jesus, asserting also that he is often referred to as the only begotten Son of God. Just how they reconcile the evidently nu- merous "Sons of God" spoken of in Genesis with the only Son of God of the New Testament, the author cannot say. Of course, the whole story of creation in the book of Genesis is evidently an attempt of an un- CHAMBER OF THE STABS 133 known author or authors to make an explanation of the origin of the earth and of man to meet the inquiries of a very religious race, which was seek- ing the Truth in an age when the Truth was unknowable. The foregoing explanation leads directly to the instruction upon the first panel which greeted the eyes of Zora Wells, who was directed by a hidden voice to read each panel seven times. I. GOD'S TRUTH. If any book or the word of any man tells you any matter or any alleged fact about any- thing in the universe, and it shall so be that our earth, or our moon, or our sun, or any star, or all the stars, or the limitless space of the cosmos, or our atmosphere, or any stone of the earth, or any fossil of the earth, or any natural law, or all natural laws, or any spirit- ual law, or all spiritual laws contradict the book or the man, then you must disbelieve the book or the man and must believe that which is revealed in the perpetual monuments and revelations which God Himself has brought within reach of your consciousness and the consciousness of all of the human race who seek the truth. 134 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE And the second panel followed the instruction of the first, and read thus : II. SCIENCE AND GENESIS. In 1910 a theological publication of the University of Chicago said in substance: "If there be a disagreement between Geology and Genesis, then the New Christianity will be- lieve Geology and disbelieve Genesis. ' ' Today the Society of Progress says there are many disagreements between Geology and Genesis and also between Astronomy, Biology, and Anthropology and Genesis. Yea even more the truths revealed by Science disagree in absolute essentials with much that is told in the Jewish Bible, and, if we are not slaves in spirit, we must investi- gate these disagreements fearlessly and yet with extreme care, that we may be honest in our judgments. We know God has not falsified His uni- verse, nor any part of His creation, nor any law by which He rules the cosmos. So, whatever the result, we must seek His truth in all things where verity must exist. The Society of Progress will teach the dis- closures of Science in all reverence and in the hope that a New Faith will come to each dis- ciple when the teaching is finished. CHAMBER OF THE STABS 135 Zora Wells had faintly clung to a hope that through figurative explanations Genesis might be reconciled with the disclosures of Science, and she took long to make the seven readings of the second panel, but finally her young face cleared, and she said in a low, earnest tone to Mollie and Walde- mar: "Well, I am open to conviction, even though I shrink a little as my beliefs are denied," and then she turned to the third panel and found that her ancestral religion formed its subject matter. III. GOD AND MORMONISM. The Mormon religion teaches degraded conceptions of God based greatly on declara- tions contained in Genesis. The revelations of Science deny absolutely the Mormon concepts of God and affirm His existence as the only God and as the Infinite First Cause of all which exists in the physical cosmos, and in the psychic Cosmos including the Spiritual life of human personality and as the Infinite Power which rules all things un- der laws which govern and affect the evolu- tion of Matter, Life, Mind and Spirit. The Mormon doctrines that God is phy- sical and is only one of many Gods and that He rules only this Earth are denied wholly by the truths of Science. A later Degree of this Society demonstrates the verity of these statements. 136 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE When she had finished the seven readings of this panel, Zora Wells turned to her companions and earnestly said: "I never did believe that God is physical, nor do I believe that there are more Gods than One. Even if Genesis does say so, it can't be true." Which showed that Zora was quite a heretic, even if she was not aware of it. There are untold numbers who are likewise heretics, if they were brought fairly to their dis- beliefs in many things involved in their present faith. The message of the fourth panel next occupied the girl's attention. CHAMBER OF THE STARS 137 IV. A DISAGREEMENT OF GENESIS WITH GENESIS. Do you know that there are two distinct accounts of Creation in Genesis, the first called the "Elohistic" and the second the "Jehovistic," and that these two accounts contradict each other in at least one essential statement? The account of the third day of Creation in the first Chapter of Genesis says that the waters brought forth fishes, marine animals and birds, but in the second or Jehovistic ac- count not only land animals but "every fowl of the air" is declared to have been formed 1 ' out of the ground. ' ' (Genesis 2-19.) There are other differences between the two accounts which are inconsistent with Di- vine Inspiration. GOD DOES NOT CONTRADICT HIM- SELF. 138 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE When Zora had given the requisite readings to the fourth panel, Waldemar Grant quietly told her that the Encyclopedia Brittanica, under the head- ing of "The Pentateuch/' told the story of the Book of Genesis and of the other four biblical books attributed to Moses, and demonstrated that they could not be regarded as divinely inspired, and that all untrammeled biblical scholars now admitted this. He also informed her that in a later Degree she would learn many reasons for rejecting the Hebraic conceptions of God as narrated in the Bible. Zora flashed an interested look at him and softly asked: "Will you read and explain the article in the Encyclopedia to me tomorrow night at my house ? ' ' Can there be any doubt of his answer? Then the alert mind of the young woman was directed to the fifth panel, which immediately claimed her intense interest. V. SCIENCE AND THE STORY OP ADAM AND EVE. Among the infinitely high conceptions of God, The Infinite One, which evolutionary Science has gradually evolved, the story of Adam and Eve and of God in His relations with them as told in Genesis, meets pitying disbelief. CHAMBER OF THE STARS 139 Great pity is extended to those, who, through loyalty to traditional religion, cling to this story either as literally inspired or as figuratively true. THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE CASTING AWAY OF BELIEFS RESPECT- ING GOD WHICH NECESSARILY DE- GRADE HIM. $ H* $t Genesis tells that God condemned Adam and Eve and through them the race of man- kind for an act committed before they had become morally responsible. It was only by eating of the apple from the tree "in the midst of the garden" that knowledge of good and evil came to Adam and Eve, according to the legend. * * * It is impossible that God "cursed the ground" and condemned Adam and Eve in sorrow to eat of it all the days of their lives for an act which was like the act of a little innocent child. Besides, the greater truth of the physical descent of the race of man as revealed in God's own monuments entirely negatives the impossible fairy tale told in Genesis. 140 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE The next panel evidently was designed to lead the thoughts of the initiate directly to the instruc- tion of the Chamber of the Stars. VI. GENESIS AND ASTRONOMY. The Book of Genesis, as an Hebraic leg- end, adopts as part of the story of Creation the astronomy of antecedent and similar Chaldean legends of Creation, "for in both there is placed over the whole creation a solid firmament; in both light is created first and the heavenly bodies are afterwards placed 'for signs and for seasons.' " Astronomy, as a Scientific demonstration of "the established order of the Universe," denies wholly the verity of most of the Chal- dean astronomical conceptions and therefore of the ignorant conceptions set forth in the Hebraic Genesis. And so also Science has demonstrated the falsity of the astronomical teachings of the Egyptians, the Grecians and the Romans and the Jews, although some of them garnered re- markable knowledge of many astronomical facts. a mm urn* a mm ii Zora noted that but one panel remained, and, with eagerness not entirely free from curiosity, she turned and read it. CHAMBER OF THE STARS 141 VII. DO YOU STILL WISH TO SEEK ] THE TRUTH? The Society of Progress deemed it best to prepare each disciple for the scope and im- port of the subsequent degrees by the instruc- tion contained on the panels of these walls, so that not only will a comprehension of the broad statements be ever present in memory j throughout the whole teachings of the So- ciety, but also, and far more important to you, if you find aught in these statements which convinces you that you do not wish to study the things which bring verity to these statements, then you may still inform your guide that you do not wish to go on with the instruction. The Society wishes each disciple to now act as his or her conscience dictates. Tell your guide whether you wish to go on or whether you wish to withdraw. Take all the time for reflection you desire. If you go on, honesty of purpose and fidel- ity to your own soul is all that is required of you. Zora Wells had lingered over this panel with a reflective backward glance at those which pre- ceded it, when finally she said: "The messages on these panels are so vital I do not wish to decide hastily, but I want the truth and my conscience would never be satisfied if I failed to go on. ' ' CHAPTER XVII. THE SECOND DEGREE CONTINUED. AGAIN the reader of this tale is warned that to go on with the story of the Degrees may mean spiritual unrest, and the destruction of long-cherished beliefs. The author has gone the journey from an in- herited faith to the new Faith and knows that there may be soul travail in the search for the Truth. Stepping out of the alcove of the Seven Panels, Waldemar Grant, Mollie Eichards and Zora Wells stood for a moment before a screen which shut off the rotunda of the Chamber of the Stars, when suddenly a wonder arose. As the screen was removed, to the surprised eyes of each new initiate there appeared the heav- ens as they are seen on a starry night, and with the deep blue of the sky and the sparkling stars, it seemed as though one had been placed on a high mountain to view the wonders of the night; the illusion was complete. Then came the voice of Nephi Woodruff, sol- emn, impressive and searching : "The Society of Progress asserts certain ele- mental facts and deductions which Science, includ- ing Scientific Philosophy, accepts as the Truth. "It is essential that all who seek the Truth shall know these facts and deductions and the 142 founder of our Society has formulated them briefly for us. "Here at the commencement of your instruc- tion, we must free your minds of the shackles of the legends of the Creation of the universe which the Jews adopted from the Chaldeans. Listen to the words of our Beloved Philosopher. # * # "Would you know what Science can truthfully assert of the beginning of all things 1 1 ' These conclusions seem now to be finitely cer- tain: ' ' First : That no human being ever has known, no human being now knows, and no human being within the earthly embodiment ever will know how and when and where the Cosmos the universe had its origin. "Science finds matter apparently indestructi- ble. Every physical change, whether by growth or flame, or decay or any of the myriad of chem- ical reactions, finds always new forms or resolu- tion into elements, but never the annihilation of any atom or ion. ' ' This would lead logically to a conclusion that matter always was and always will be; but here lies a mystery, solvable by rationality only, in a backward journey of cause and effect to the 'In- finite First Cause,' which is neither matter nor any attribute of matter. * * * "Second: Science finds the Cosmos and everything physical within its limitless realms proceeding or unfolding in enduring 'Courses of Evolution, ' which evidence one immeasurably vast 144 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE 'Process,' which Science calls 'The Cosmic Proc- ess,' and this 'Process' appears to have 'endured through boundless time.' "But here, too, lies another mystery. Force seems eternal. * * * "Third: Science does not pretend to have solved the great mysteries which seem inherent in the finite contemplation of the origin of things. "Rationality makes certain demands which our race must heed or spiritually perish; but ra- tionality in seeking the explanation of all that has been and is and ivill be at last finds the ultimate truth shrouded behind impenetrable barriers. "Let us consider another of the primal limita- tions of human rationality. "The finite concept of Time, whether the search be backward or forward, finds rationality seeking in vain for a resting place, and confesses at last that only the Infinite can be beyond the bar- rier and explain the mystery ; and the finite rever- entially acknowledges that its endowments from the Infinite neither permit it to say that there was a time when no time was, nor that there will be a time when no time will be; and yet the finite may rationally believe that to the Infinite One all time is an ' Everlasting Now. ' * * * "Fourth: So, also, finite rationality finds a barrier of mystery enwrapping its concept of Space. Reaching out far beyond the realm of unaided human vision, through the most powerful tele- scopes, Science discloses infinite abysses of space SECOND DEGREE CONTINUED 145 populated with solar systems innumerable and wholly baffling human conception of their magni- tude and multitude and unutterably vast dis- tances. So, also,- aside from the apparently actual lim- itless area of the Cosmos, human philosophy stands permanently checked, mentally, in any at- tempt to pass this barrier which the Infinite has imposed upon it, for it cannot conceive that there is no limit to space, neither can it rationally con- ceive that there is a limit to space." * * * "Fifth: Yet the finite may, in strict ration- ality, conceive that the Infinite One has been al- ivays, is now and ever will be immanent in all the Cosmos and in the evolution of all life, physical, psychic and spiritual, working out His purposes through the courses of all evolution. * * * ''In a wonderful effort of pure rationality, Herbert Spencer established that the finite mind must find back of all that exists 'An Infinite and Eternal Energy from which all things proceed,' and the Society of Progress predicates as scien- tific and wholly rational that ALL COSMIC EVO- LUTION UNDER THE SWAY OF GREAT LAWS CONSTITUTES THE CARRYING OUT OF THE PURPOSES OF THE INFINITE ONE, WHOM WE CALL GOD." * * # "But, while the mysteries of which we have spoken and other fundamental mysteries limit the finite vision, yet there is a vast field of Truth in which Science garners knowledge of the Cosmos, 146 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE and in this Chamber of the Stars yon are asked to consider the physical universe as it actually is and not as narrated in the false astronomy of the Jewish Scriptures." "Behold first our own Solar System." Then visions of the wonders of the heavens in miniature were unfolded before the eyes of the class of disciples. It was the custom to deliver the general in- struction of each degree to quite a number of ini- tiates at a time, and Zora Wells had joined such a group, after her little journey through the Alcove of the Seven Panels, and Waldemar Grant seated himself beside her. Each of this group now found herself or him- self seated in such a way that it seemed as though some point of observation had been attained which was neither on our earth, nor upon our sun, nor upon any planet, but at a vantage where our whole solar system could be observed in its entirety. The sun, monarch of the system, in regnant splendor, dimmed only to a degree sufficient to perrnit of clear observation, appeared in its true position at the center of the scene, and in its true proportion, more than one million three hundred thousand times the volume of the earth and almost twelve thousand times the surface area of the earth, and with a weight of about seven hundred times that of all the planets put together. A marvelous sphere it appeared as it is, a great Cosmic unit related to the millions of like suns in the universe. SECOND DEGREE CONTINUED 147 The planets shining in the beautiful silvery array of reflected light, and stationary at first, appeared in scattered orbital positions, captive to the gravitational force of the sun. Our earth looked quite insignificant in contrast with the imperial magnificence of the sun and the queenly glory of the planets, Jupiter and Saturn, the former planet being eleven times the diameter of the earth, and the latter more than nine times, even though our earth showed a solar satellite rank materially greater than Mercury and Mars and slightly greater than Venus, but far inferior also to Uranus and Neptune. * * * The instruction respecting the solar system was lucid and condensed and told of the relations of the planets to the sun, their " years" of revolu- tion in elliptical orbits around the sun, varying from the 365 days of our earth to the 88 of our days making the short "year" of Mercury, and to the 164 of our years which are required for Nep- tune to make one complete revolution around the sun, Mercury being approximately thirty-six mil- lions of miles from the sun, our earth ninety-three million miles, and Neptune the enormous distance of two billions seven hundred and ninety-two mil- lions of miles away from the great central star of our solar system. * * It was not to teach thoroughly Astronomy or Physics that the Degrees of the "New Genesis" were included amongst the degrees of the Society, but so that the initiate should comprehend the 148 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE revelations of the physical Universe which Science had spelled out in its search for the Truth and give weight in the final Degrees to the import of all the Truth. And when the invisible machinery was set in motion and showed the revolutions of the sun and each of the planets on its axis and the orbital revo- lutions of each planet around the sun, the sight was one of such inspiration and beauty as to cause irrestrainable exclamations of delight from the observers. It was like seeing a part of God's infinite space brilliant with wonderful orbs, which seemed al- most resonant with the music of the spheres. Then almost into insignificance sank our great sun and its satellites. By something like legerdemain, the whole of our solar system seemed to recede into space and the starry vault which had made the background of the beautiful scene suddenly began to grow into a sight of such glittering magnificence as to chal- lenge the dazzled eyes of the beholders. Fixed stars, rivals of our own sun, began to grow in size until it finally seemed as though the observer was central in a realm of space, where brilliant suns shone in glory over all the vault of the heavens, and yet each seemed remotely distant from another. * * * In calm, clear address, Nephi Woodruff told the listeners that the scene presented to them was one intended to bring realization of the innumer- able suns of the Cosmos, of which the few within the scene were merely types of the five thousand SECOND DEGREE CONTINUED 149 suns or fixed stars, which human eyes unaided can see in the skies of the northern hemisphere. That the nearest of these suns was approxi- mately twenty-five thousand billions (twenty-five trillions) of miles from our earth, and that, with the aid of the most powerful telescopes and the still more discerning astronomical photography, many millions of suns had been discovered which populate infinite space with their fiery spheres, and each of which may well be the center of a solar system like ours. That these stars are so far away that they seem permanently " fixed" in the heavens, while actually they all are rushing on with unimaginable rapidity in immeasurable cycles. * * * Then he explained the great laws which bind sun to sun throughout all space, and planet to sun, and satellite to planet, and every particle of mat- ter in the universe to every other particle, and those which establish the physical kinship of all the stars with each other and with our own earth. Every listener began to glimpse a grandeur of the physical Cosmos which was inexpressible. * * * The instruction next included explanation of the enlarged reproductions of a number of astro- nomical photographs of the moon, of the sun dur- ing eclipses, and of several of the constellations. It also displayed, in graphic form, the revelations by the spectroscope of the physical composition of our sun and of other suns of the universe. 150 THE HUNDBEDTH WAVE Then came the conclusion of the general in- struction of the Second Degree. "The infinitely vast Cosmos which you have now glimpsed in miniature, establishes certain sure ultimate truths through the facts which Sci- ence has revealed, and, as these can be verified by every human being who will intelligently observe and study them, they must be accepted by all who seek the truth. * * "First of these elemental truths is, that Sci- ence finds throughout the physical universe every- where and in every manifestation of force and in every relation of things, and in every physical change 'established order.' "Later on it will be shown that within the 'es- tablished order of the universe' lies all animal life, including the physical life of man. "As already shown you, the physical laws which evidence this established order are now dis- covered and comprehended in many of their as- pects, and it will be well to remember that man has adapted many of them to his use in his domi- nance of the earth's surface, and relies absolutely on their potency. "Whether it be the burning of a match or the process which makes the sun a fiery cauldron, law governs ; whether it be the birth of a tiny insect or the birth of a world, law governs ; whether it be the flowing of a brook or the combined evolutional forces which make up the 'Cosmic Process' in its entirety, the Laws of the Universe govern, and are always true to their nature. SECOND DEGREE CONTINUED 151 "Second: In the Universe there is ceaseless change. Every sun in the Cosmos is evolving. "The credible evidence of astronomical obser- vations and a knowledge of the chemical changes constantly going on lead to a rational conclusion that suns are 'born' in the sense of becoming new suns through the same forces which gave our sun a separate solar existence, and that suns are now 'dying,' as suns, through the gradual cooling of their physical constituents or elements. "So, too, is every star, and planet, and comet, and moon in the universe at some stage of evolu- tion, and is continuously progressing towards an ultimate transformation. "In a subsequent Degree of the Society the same general law of continuous evolution will be seen to apply to our earth and to everything con- nected with it, including humanity. "The 'Cosmic Process' is universal. "There is a great and vital spiritual meaning involved in this truth which will be brought to your attention at a later time. "Lastly the lessons of the Chamber of the Stars to you are these : # * * "The universe is infinitely large. Science de- duces from a myriad of facts, including the evi- dences of the age of our own earth, that the phys- ical universe 'has endured through boundless time/ and yet human rationality is compelled to assert, as a conclusion, or otherwise, to stultify itself, that 'there is an Infinite and Eternal En- ergy from which all things proceed.' 152 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE "The Society of Progress asserts to you that that it will demonstrate that this 'Powef' is God and that He is working through and in the Cosmic Process for your spiritual welfare and for mine in a Divine Plan which uplifts all humanity." * # * During the absorbing instruction, Zora "Wells had unconsciously leaned against Waldemar Grant in a manner which revealed both supreme confidence and actual affection, and it was with apparent confusion she found herself clasping his hand when the final words of instruction had been spoken. That Waldemar was not confused, but keenly alert to the situation, did not prevent him from hurriedly shaking hands with Zora, to relieve her embarrassment, and asking her if she liked the Second Degree. ' ' Oh ! It was wonderful, and I feel very insig- nificant. I'm obsessed to learn more of the Truth. How few of the mass of the people ever have a chance to learn as much as we have tonight. Surely the Society will carry its organization all over the world as soon as possible." The next night Waldemar Grant read and ex- plained to Zora Wells the article in the Encyclo- pedia Brittanica upon "The Pentateuch," which demonstrated beyond peradventure that "Gene- sis" and the next four books of the Jewish Bible are a "hotch potch" of collated legends, com- mingled with some actual history and laws of the Jewish tribes gathered from at least three widely SECOND DEGREE CONTINUED 153 separated periods of Jewish history, one of which is many hundreds of years after the time repre- sented in the books themselves. Waldemar called Zora's attention to the fact that, while the accepted versions of the Bible ascribed these books to Moses, the claim was false, as one of the books records the death of Moses, but also explained that there were a myriad of reasons to reject any claim that the books were divinely inspired, some of which would be made very clear in later Degrees of the Society. It was Zora who suggested that she would like to go out into the starry night and talk over the Second Degree, but, strangely enough, when they were alone under the stars this was the question she asked: "Waldemar, why didn't you tell me that Moroni Clawson bored the holes in the gasoline tanks of my aeroplane?" The witchery of the starlight with Zora's cling- ing arms had already set Waldemar 's blood on fire and this question brought sudden resolve to risk his fate. 4 'Zora, 'little witch,' as I have called you in my heart ever since that day on the desert, I won't answer your question just yet. Look at me, you sweet darling. My heart is overflowing with love for you, and I want you. Say that you will be mine, 'little witch.' " The stars surely twinkled more brightly, and, if their light saw two lovers pledging in true lov- ers ' way the mutual devotion of a lifetime, it must have been an old, old story to the stars. 154 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE It wouldn't be fair to state just when Zora recalled the question she had asked Waldemar, but whenever it was, this was the answer : "I determined that I would win you if I could in a fair fight against Moroni, and I was sure that he only did it to become a 'rescuer' and help his suit. But I'd like to know how you found it out." If his sweet little witch threw her arms around him and held her face close to his when she an- swered, I'm sure no sensible reader would dream it aught but the very most proper thing to do. "You nice big goose. You men think that we of the other sex are as slow to perceive as you are. While the truth is that we watch every glint of your eyes or shade on your faces. I knew the moment you looked at the tiny leaks in the gaso- line tanks that you suspected something, and when you rubbed your finger over the spot I knew all about it. Besides," she whispered, "I had loved you from the time I wore short dresses and you used to tease me with your kisses. Oh, don't smother me." And thus the Second Degree brought its own romance to the fruition of happy hearts. CHAPTER XVIII. THE ROMANCE OF THE THIRD DEGREE. AT the very moment the Occident Limited, the fine transcontinental train, on the Na- tional East and West Railway, was about to take its departure from Chicago one "Winter's night in 1934, a young lady, smartly dressed in a traveling suit and followed by a station page bearing her suit case, ran forward towards the nearest vestibule opening and, at the same mo- ment, right upon her heels likewise running, came a young man carrying his own hand baggage. The silver-toned electric warning bells were ringing within each vestibule and the porters had climbed the steps. As he reached the observation platform the young man threw his baggage over into the railed enclosure and then, with accelerated steps, ran to the opened vestibule at the other end of the car. Arriving there at the moment the young woman did, the premonitory thrill of the starting train warned for instant action. The colored porter yelled, " Hurry, " and the young man with a swift " Pardon me," grabbed the young woman beneath her arms and with sure strength almost tossed her into the outstretched hands of the porter. Then with a quick stride or two to catch up with the moving train, he sprang to the lowest step of the car and grabbed the young woman's 155 156 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE suit case from the page, who, with anxious face, was running alongside. A hastily flung and more than generous quarter deftly caught by the page changed the anxious look of the boy into a happy one. As Darwin Snowson would have said, ' * That was the way he made his living." Then the young man turned and realized that a face that was hauntingly familiar was smiling down at him, and when he had mounted the steps the young woman said: * ' I am greatly obliged to you for assisting me. I'm afraid I might not have made it, if you hadn't helped me." With that she went forward and disappeared into one of the numerous compartments which characterized the train. Nephi Woodruff positively had stared as the charming figure of the young woman preceded him on his way to his own car, feeling that he should know her, but wholly unable to identify her or to understand why she stirred his heart into unusual palpitation. He searched his memory again and again and always with baffled futility. With swift, almost birdlike flight the elec- trically propelled train flashed in the Winter's night across the snow-clad landscape of Illinois. The hour of departure having been 11 o'clock, most of the passengers retired without delay, but Nephi Woodruff, trying to solve the riddle of per- sonality which perplexed him, had gone back into the observation car and, in solitary occupancy of the rear platform, paced to and fro, inhaling the keen frosty air and cudgeling his brain for the ROMANCE OF THIRD DEGREE 157 reasons why the young woman so appealed to his whole being. As a student, absorbed deeply in the wonders of the stars, he scarce had noted that there were fair faces ever flinging forth into his eyes the world-old lure of mating glances so necessary for the preservation and the progress of the race. He was of a type which attracts the fairer sex and not a few maids had wondered, in the way of maids, whether the stalwart young astronomer was invulnerable or whether Cupid's shaft might not pierce his armor of absorbed indifference. In spite of his efforts the young man could not find the clue which would unravel the mystery so suddenly thrust upon him. To be so emotionally upset was new to him and at last, with a shrug of his shoulders, he betook himself to his berth, where the purring of the re- cently installed noiseless car wheels eventually lulled him to sleep. * * * The visions of day dreams belong to the poet, the artist, the lover and the genius, though building castles in the air, evidences the ever- upspringing hopes of humanity. The visions of the night, whilst personality leaves the brain cells to haphazard activity, are usually mere inconsequential phantasies, but sometimes, the other self, below the threshold of ordinary consciousness, works out in dreams won- derful psychic results. * * * The young man felt the breath of the desert as the moon arose and he became aware that far 158 THE HUNDBEDTH WAVE and wide, from the foot of the mountain, he had toilfully half-circled, stretched broad plains of Arabia. Messenger of the Sultan to a wise man who dwelt on the mountain, he had failed to reach his destination when darkness came on, and had lain down on the mountain side almost too weary to seek sleep, and thinking of the morrow. Springing to his feet to view the fairyland which the moon, great artist of light and shade, had created, he was startled beyond measure when he heard a woman's voice say: ''Stranger, whom do you seek in this solitary place?" Turning swiftly, his astonished eyes beheld in the moonlight a tall, graceful young woman, whose face of dark distinctive beauty assumed to him a wonderful fascination as the moon shone full upon it. Clad in a short, clinging garment, with a leop- ard's aikin thrown across her half -naked shoulders and with a short spear in her hand, she was a picture of the lithe young huntress. Gazing into each other's faces, the young couple for an appreciable time seemed lost to all but a mutual search of souls, then the young man, with a perceptible start, murmured: "It is Kis- met," hastily adding, in answer to the girl's question: "I am Haroun of Bagdad, sometimes called Haroun of the Stars, and I seek Ilbrahim the Wise ; but who are you, who wraps my soul in the depths of your eyes f Thou art the very dream of my heart's desire. I scarce know whether thou EOMANCE OF THIRD DEGREE 159 art the glorious flesh and blood thou seem'st or only the picture in my soul of her who will be mine, though I search all Arabia to find her. Speak to me again and let me touch thy sweet hand, if indeed my dreams have come true." In low, sweet voice came the reply: "I am Zara the Singer, daughter of Ilbrahim the Wise, whom you seek. A year ago tonight there came to me in a vision in slumber, an angel of light, who told me that in just one year the moon and yon bright planet would be in conjunc- tion and that on the Rock of Desert View, where we now stand, I would find a jewel which would bless all my life.'' "Behold the fair moon and the dear star and thou who tells 't me of the fulfillment of my own heart's throbbing passion." Filled with rapture, the young man held out his arms and, with voice laden with emotion, said : ' * Zara, my own love, come to me, and through this life and all other lives which we are fated to live in our reincarnations, thou only shall be the possessor of my soul's strong love and my heart's deep devotion." With shining eyes, the girl advanced; then, stopping suddenly, she said: "Listen, Haroun, my beloved, the spell of sing- ing is upon me, and there is a message to you in my song." Then, upon the silent night, burst forth a won- drous melody. It was the song of "Love and the Stars," and as Zara sang it, Nephi Woodruff suddenly became aware that his train was standing still and that 160 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE just beyond the head of his berth someone was singing in a low, sweet voice that beautiful song, "Love and the Stars," which made a success of the opera, "Arabia." Like a flash, the young man knew why the face and form of the girl he had assisted the night be- fore were so familiar. It was the Zara of the opera, as he had seen and heard her one fateful night in that most beautiful of all opera houses in the world, "The Temple of Music" in Los An- geles, which, completed in 1925, is now the mecca of every great musical artist of both hemispheres. As understudy, the girl had taken the role of the prima donna and the young man had not learned her name, though he had been strangely attracted towards her. His dream had revealed his heart and Nephi knew that the pledge of the dream to Zara the Singer was the pledge of his heart to the living maiden. There was no "Haroun of the Stars" in the opera, but the young astronomer knew himself as the lover of the Singer of the Arabian night, for he realized that subconsciously his heart had paid secret tribute to the girl who had sung the song in the beautiful City of the Angels. It is said that love at first sight is essentially a masculine trait, and though the wonder may find some immediate mating response in the feminine object, yet not the headlong rush of utter love and faith and passion which the man gives without weighing the consequences. Be that as it may, Nephi Woodruff had a sense of fate the Kismet of his dream when he was ushered to one of the small tables in the diner and found opposite him the singer of the moun- tain, clad, however, in more conventional attire than the appropriate dream garments of Arabia. Observing that the young woman looked at him with half recognition, he took the initiative quickly by saying: "Good morning. In the West, where I have lived most of my life, it is considered both cour- teous and conventional on transcontinental jour- neys to act humanly towards fellow travelers, and without presuming on any acquaintanceship be- yond the journey, I hope I am pardoned for a desire to make your trip as pleasant as I can, espe- cially as you are evidently alone. ' ' The girl had watched him intently as he spoke and, after a little meditative hesitation, she re- plied: "I am familiar with the Western custom, and yet its proper use must depend upon the personali- ties of those who accept its informality. "I am frank to say that I see no present reason why we should not honor the custom. Isn't it a white marvel out of doors this morning? The snow storm must have been heavy and recent. ' ' Then, in an impersonal way, they chatted dur- ing breakfast, and later meeting in the Observa- tion Car, they naturally gravitated to adjoining chairs and soon were giving evidences of mutual attraction, whilst a driving snow storm came up and obscured the view of the landscape. It was midafternoon when the train was stopped in a Wyoming waste by a huge snow drift. 162 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE There were rumors of the coming of a rotary snow plow from the West, but as hour after hour passed by and no relief came, the passengers, with worried questionings, prepared for a night of stalled inaction, most of them retiring to their compartments at an early hour, and so it happened that "Haroun of the Stars" and "Zara the Singer" were left alone in the observation car, occupying the rear chairs and gazing out into the night. Nephi knew that when he told his companion who he was and of his lineage that all the appar- ent friendliness she had been exhibiting towards him might freeze into a crust of repulsion, just as the bitter wind outside was freezing the snow into an icy crust, but at last he felt that he must tell her the truth, whatever the consequences. Finding a suitable opportunity, he broached the subject in this way: 11 Don't you think we might now waive the presence of a mutual friend to introduce us, and at least consider the question of an acquaintanceship by name until our journey ends?" The girl replied, without hesitation: "Why, yes. I'm sure I now have no objection. My stage name is 'Maybelle Artisan,' but alas, my. own name is much more prosaic, it is Mabel Smith, and I was born in Kansas City and claim it as my home. ' ' The young man was delighted with the frank- ness of the girl, but little did he reck that under the simple family name which he had now learned lurked a problem which he must solve in wisdom and devotion or his budding hopes would be chilled ROMANCE OF THIRD DEGREE 163 by as bitter a sectarian wind as was the howling hurricane which rocked the car they occupied. Answering the friendly words of the girl, he said: "I am Nephi Woodruff of Salt Lake City, and I particularly wish you to know that my great grandfather was a president of the Mormon Church." Noting that his companion was visibly startled, he immediately added : "I feared my Mormon descent would chill your friendliness and, were it not that something greater than a day's association may be involved, I would not have been so explicit." Then looking the young woman intently in her eyes, he concluded : "I would like to talk openly with you of my personal beliefs and disbeliefs, though I am en- tirely aware that you may consider my desire to do so both presumptuous and an unwarranted im- position upon your kindness in brightening our journey for me." With an air of reserve and yet marked with a substratum of keen curiosity, the young woman made answer: "Do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon, like the Bible, is divinely inspired!" Surprised with the apparent familiarity of the girl with Mormon subjects, Nephi Woodruff re- flected a little while before answering, and then, as he was about to reply, his companion hastily broke in : 164 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "Do you believe that God gave the revelation about polygamy which your branch of the Mor- mon Church believes He did?" With no glimpse of the truth, Nephi, with puz- zled air, said: "I am naturally surprised with your apparent familiarity with Mormon religious matters, espe- cially so because most non-Mormons do not know that there are two branches of the Mormon Church, but you now have kindly given me the opportunity I desired, and I will answer you frankly. 1 i For several years, I have not believed in any shred of my ancestral religion and, to be utterly truthful, I must say, that I was compelled some time ago to discard as untrue all claims that either the Book of Mormons or the Jewish Bible is in- spired. As to the so-called polygamy revelation, it is shocking in its sensuality and my ideals of married companionship find only detestation for a doctrine which would place more than one wife in any home. ' ' Again had Mabel exhibited a startled attitude as she listened to the young man. "Well," she said, "I haven't had occasion to discuss religion much of late years, being deeply occupied with my musical education, but you seem to have become very radical. Are you an Athe- ist?" The answer came without hesitation: "Absolutely not. My belief in God is infinitely higher and truer and better than is the belief of any one who accepts as true the Bible or the Book ROMANCE OF THIRD DEGREE 165 of Mormon or any of the so-called revelations of the Scriptures or of the Mormon Doctrines and Covenants. They would debase God, but Science, of which I am a humble disciple, finds Him mani- fest in the universe in such a supreme, dominant, all-pervading majesty and power and infinite pur- posive goodness, that the many petty, gross and irrational conceptions of Him contained in the Bible and the Book of Mormon become as worthy of condemnation as the tales of Jupiter and Mars and Vulcan and Venus, and all the plurality of Gods worshiped in the temples of Rome. ' ' Unconsciously as he spoke, Nephi had straight- ened up in his chair and his voice took on a reverent tone, which left his companion no doubt of his sincerity. 4 'You almost take my breath away with the boldness of your claims. I fear I cannot under- stand your belief, but now that I know you do not believe in the doctrines of the 'Brighamite' or 'Utah' branch of the Mormon Church, I am going to surprise you. "My father is president of the Re-organized Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, and I am a great, great granddaughter of Joseph Smith Jr., who founded the Mormon Church, as you know. "I have accepted, without question, the doc- trines of my church and, amongst them, the denial that Joseph Smith ever received from God the alleged revelation about polygamy. !< We are the true lineal descendants of Joseph Smith, while your Utah Smiths are only a col- lateral line, and I was taught that it was the seed 166 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE of Joseph Smith which should be the rulers over Zion, as Joseph himself prophesied and God re- vealed. 1 'But it has all lost much of its original power over my mind as I have mingled with the Gentiles, but your repudiation of the Bible and suggestion that there is something higher and better has aroused my curiosity. I would like to hear more about the religion you adhere to, if it really is a religion. ' ' Nephi had listened to his companion with an amazement and intentness which left him almost without power to answer and, when she ceased, hope leaped into his eyes as he returned her direct gaze. That she was a Mormon, though of the "Jo- sephite" branch of that church, meant at least that he had not to overcome the natural repulsion which nearly all Gentiles feel to any degree of intimacy with a Mormon, especially one of a polygamous family. It was then that Nephi Woodruff told the young woman of the Society of Progress and learned from her that she was on her way to Salt Lake City to sing as leading contralto in a great annual musical festival which had become a fea- ture of that city's social life. She told him, also, that no one in Salt Lake City knew her family name or history and that she rather gloried in secret that she would sing from the pulpit platform of the "Brighamite" tabernacle. Parting for the night, it was with the mutual understanding that Mabel Smith would consider ROMANCE OF THIED DEGREE 167 the idea of taking the degrees of the Society and that they would discuss the absorbing subject more on the morrow. Four bitterly cold, drifty days followed and still the road was not opened, so their train could proceed. Fortunately, the electric current from the generating unit did not fail and no hardship from the cold came to anyone on the train, but on the second day Nephi Woodruff, quite as a matter of course, joined a small party of volunteers who tramped in the smother of fine, biting particles six miles to the nearest general store and on im- provised sleighs dragged a load of substantial pro- visions back over the toilsome trail. The solicitous greeting he received from Mabel Smith, when he returned, quite compensated for the aching muscles his exertion had caused. To others on the train it was becoming appar- ent that a romance was flowering under their eyes, but to Nephi, unwilling to risk his heart's desire too soon, it was great secret consolation that the eyes of Mabel had grown very like the eyes of Zara the Singer, as she looked into the eyes of Haroun of the Stars on the well-remembered night in Arabia. CHAPTEK XIX. THE THIRD DEGREE THE CHAMBER OF OUR WORLD. MABEL SMITH had lingered in Salt Lake City after her engagement for the musical festival had ended. As a guest of Mollie Kichards, she had keenly enjoyed her first visit to the stronghold of the sec- tarian enemy of her father's religion, for it was still the Mormon's chief city, although as early as 1905 it was ascertained that Salt Lake City was more Gentile than Mormon in its population. But it was under new mental attitudes she viewed the local Mormons when she realized that the regenerative power of the Society of Prog- ress was honey-combing the most advanced Mor- mon families. She knew, as maids generally know, under like circumstances, that Nephi Woodruff looked on her with eyes of adoration, and perhaps it was due as much to that fact as to her desire to learn what the Society of Progress had to teach that she had taken the First and Second Degrees. It was early one morning when she entered the door of the Chamber of Our World to take the Third Degree, accompanying Mollie Kichards. To Mahonri Taylor had been delegated the instruc- tion of this degree. As in the Chamber of the Stars, the entrance to the Chamber of Our World led into a beautiful alcove, and this alcove was known as ' ' The Alcove 168 THE CHAMBER OF OUE WORLD 169 of the Three Panels," for upon its walls were that number of the condensed instruction tablets so characteristic of the Society's degree work. The body of these panels was a lovely shaded green and the letters were in dull gold. Was it wrong for Mollie Richards to have in- timated to Nephi Woodruff that Mabel Smith had been deeply moved by the instruction of the Cham- ber of the Stars and that she seemed quite as strongly impressed with the instructor as the in- struction? Was it also due to a hint from Mollie that Nephi was loitering at the entrance to the Alcove of the Three Panels that morning? Mabel's surprised sweet welcome was surely pleasant to her lover and his frank appropriation of her guidance through the Chamber of Our World seemed to be objectionable neither to Mabel nor to Mollie, the latter managing to keep discreetly aloof from the immediate neighbor- hood of her friends. Was it her own great happiness with Lincoln Smith which made her wise? Haven 't you watched an approaching happy climax to the -heart longings of two true lovers with a keen desire to afford opportunity for them to learn ' ' the sweetest knowledge life can teach ? ' ' Expressing to Nephi something of the pro- found impression the first two degrees had pro- duced in her, Mabel turned to read for seven times the panels of the alcove, and the first at once riv- eted her attention because it was one of the con- flicts between Science and Genesis foreshadowed in the previous degree. 170 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE I. THE BIRTH OF OUR WORLD. Science has spelled out God's own revel- ations about the birth of our world and from ascertained truth she tells you this: Not as the center of the Universe with the sun and stars fixed in a firmament for lights and "for signs and seasons" Not as a separate creation direct from the hands of God But as a natural growth from Cosmical matter involved in Cosmic Evolution and governed by its laws our world came into ex- istence, just as came the other several major planets of our solar system and their satel- lites and the half of a thousand minor planets and also our sun itself and every other sun in the universe. BUT GOD IS THE CREATOR OF COS- MIC EVOLUTION AND IS EVERYWHERE AND ALWAYS IMMANENT IN ITS PROG- RESS. Noting that Mabel looked a little puzzled after reading this panel, Nephi quietly asked her to await her reading of the other panels and the gen- eral instruction of the Degree in order to better understand the panel. She then eagerly turned to the next panel to find Genesis again denied. THE CHAMBER OF OUR WORLD 171 II. THE AGE OF OUR WORLD. Just how our earth was formed has not yet been fully revealed, but there are certain true monuments of Geology and of Astron- omy, Chemistry and Physics which are God's revelations respecting the age of our world. Not 4004 B. C., as the chronology of the Jewish Bible would have it, that our world was born; that is absurdity. Not 400,000 years are enough to account for the facts disclosed by Science. The geological story reveals that ever since our earth began its separate existence as a planet there has been unceasing action of the forces of nature, the evolutional forces, upon the rock materials of the globe. These forces "have worked during a time which is immeasurably long, when estimated by such changes on the earth as have happened dur- ing human history. This time cannot be ex- pressed in centuries." Scientists hesitate to express a limit of one hundred million years to the age of our earth. Does it matter that no measurement by years can be accurately made? IT IS GOD'S PLAN WHATEVER THE TIME. 172 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE With clearing brow, Mabel turned to Nephi and said: "I have seen both the Gorge at Niagara and The Grand Canyon of the Colorado, so it is easy for me to understand this panel." She then turned to the third panel in the al- cove: III. FITTING OUR EARTH FOR THE CREATURE OF INTELLIGENCE. From the time primeval when our world became a solid-crusted globe, forces of evolu- tion have been moving continuously under the sway of Cosmic laws to fit the earth for the life and activities of the creature of intel- ligence who would take advantage of nature's bounty and adapt nature's forces to his own use. Later Degrees will establish this. The Society of Progress asks you to keep in remembrance that "the Established Order of the Universe," emanating from "an in- finite and eternal energy from which all things proceed," means that the evolutional forces are working out an infinite Design though nothing supernatural is involved in the working out of the process. ALL TERRESTRIAL EVOLUTION EVIDENCES THE WORKING OUT OF GOD'S PLAN FOR OUR WORLD, THE CHAMBER OF OUR WORLD 173 Having concluded the readings of the Three Panels, Mabel was led by Nephi through heavy curtains into a chamber where a stage was set as though for a moving picture exhibition, and already assembled were quite a number of ini- tiates. Presently Mahonri Taylor stepped to the front of the platform and, as was his usual duty, deliv- ered the general instruction, aided by the remark- able displays which had been devised to impress the teachings upon the disciples. Here again it is not possible to adequately de- scribe and portray the instruction of the degree. * * * Referring to the second panel of this degree, the instructor first said in brief: 4 ' The oldest rocks which have been discovered on any part of the globe have probably been de- rived from other rocks older than themselves. "So geology cannot go back to the beginning of the world as a separate sphere. "But astronomy, physics and chemistry point to a period extremely remote, when, under the sway of Cosmic laws from an intensely heated gaseous condition, our earth began to cool and condense towards a center, always ruled by the domination of gravitation, bringing its elements closer and closer together, and with further cool- ing and condensation through periods immeasur- able, the original solid outer crusts were formed. It is deemed probable that, while the earth was in a plastic state, our moon was thrown off from its mass." * * * 174 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Thereupon the delighted disciples saw the birth of a world as a solid sphere. From a vast, swirling, brilliant, gaseous, globe- like body depicted so as to fill the whole scene on the stage, a visible condensation gradually re- duced the sphere until finally it glowed in a beau- tiful incandescent solid globe, and slowly the fires of the surface died down and finally no self -glow illumined the surface of the sphere, only the light of the sun, and the stars, as first day and then night swept over the face of the globe in the great picture. * * # The instruction then revealed that, until in its "Courses of Evolution," our world had by natural law sufficiently cooled from fusion, water existed only as vapor, but at last condensation came and oceans were formed. Not the oceans of today, but "an almost universal ocean with small lands enough land to mark out the feature lines of fu- ture continents." These lands constituted what are termed Archaean rocks and not the soil-cov- ered earth as we know it. * * * Then there appeared upon the screen a strange map, showing the world areas where the archaean rocks constitute the surface rocks of the land, demonstrating that the oceans had never sub- merged these relatively small segments. Great oceans and small lands indeed. * # * In wonderful graphic display and illuminating instruction, the disciples beheld and were told of the marvels of Historical Geology. THE CHAMBER OF OUR WORLD 175 First: The grand ''Succession in the forma- tion of the rocks of the earth" and how the various rocks were made evidencing untold ages of rock- making which, even now, is going on. Second: "The progress in the continents from their small beginnings to their present mag- nitude. ' ' Third: The vast "changes of level ever going on, and the raising of mountains at long in- tervals in the course of the ages, the highest and longest in the last of these great geological periods just before the era of Man." Fourth: "The multiplication of rivers as the dry land extended and thereby the excavation of valleys, the shaping of lofty ridges, giving gran- deur to the mountains, and the spreading of the lower lands with soil and fertility." Fifth: "The changes in climate from the uni- versal warmth of the Archaean world to the exist- ing variety of heat and cold. ' ' The graphic pictures demonstrating the long ages of earth progress absorbed the attention of every disciple. * # * Life had come into the story, as immense areas were shown to owe enormous parts of their rock strata to creatures from the oceans and also great earth crust layers to the rank growths of the vegetable kingdom making enormous coal beds, but the instructor warned the disciples that the story of life before man would be unfolded in the Fourth Degree. 176 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE The final instruction of the degree was impres- sive. Go to God's own monuments for the story of our world, not to any fanciful tale of the Chal- deans, confusedly retold in Genesis. "Go to mountains and valleys, and rivers, and lakes, and oceans. ' ' Go to the wonderful rocks which tell the mar- velous stories of the process of evolution in the making of our world as it now is. These stories are the truth and are infinitely more wonderful in evidencing God's Plan than the childish contradic- tory tales of Creation told in Jewish folk-lore. "Seek the Truth with hope and a new Faith that ere the Degrees are ended the great lesson to humanity of all that exists will be unfolded in high spiritual power, and religious satisfaction." Mabel Smith had been so absorbed in the in- struction and the illustrations, that the final words found her full of desire to talk it over with Nephi Woodruff and, at the suggestion of Mollie Rich- ards, the trio went into the Chamber of Council, which most initiates never saw, as it was the con- ference room of the Seven, and not used for any of the Degree work. Mollie soon excused herself temporarily, while she sought Lincoln Smith, and then the dream of Haroun of the Stars became swift reality. When Mollie had gone, a sudden restraint came upon the two who were left alone in the business- like Chamber. Nephi looked long into Mabel's eyes, and then, in a soft, low voice, told her the story of his dream of the fair huntress on the Arabian mountain. THE CHAMBER OF OUR WORLD 177 When the tale was over, he offered to her the strong love and devotion which Haroun of the Stars had pledged to Zara the Singer and with expressions of happiness Mabel came into his out- stretched arms. It was thus that Mollie Richards and Lincoln Smith found them and their warm congratulations evidenced the fact that the Third Degree had brought its little romance to a happy stage. CHAPTER XX. THE ROMANCE OF THE FOURTH DEGREE. THE great Salt Sea, after which Salt Lake City is named, lies in general disuse every year from mid-September to the next 30th of May, for, except for bathing and short pleasure boating trips during the bathing season, its great expanse knows no intrusion from the human family, although some of its islands teem with bird-life, including great colonies of pelicans, sea gulls, cormorants and cranes. But from "Decoration Day" to "Labor Day" each year at Salt Sea Beach the remarkable resort on Antelope Island eighteen miles from Salt Lake City, hundreds of thousands enjoy the unique bathing. Some years ago the famous old resort, Saltair Beach, built by the Mormon Church, burned to the water, over which the building stood, and the newer resort ever since has been the de- light of those who enjoy the wonderful bath in the veritable brine. One mid-summer evening in 1935 Mathonihah Cowley had deserted the heated city and was en- joying keenly a floating swim at Salt Sea Beach. Not having encountered any friends among the thousands who likewise floated on the lake's sur- face, he went far out by turning on his back and sturdily kicking the heavy water upon which his body floated, as a cork does in fresh water. 178 ROMANCE OF FOURTH DEGREE 179 Thinking intently of the success which the So- ciety of Progress was attaining, "Mat," as the remaining members of the Seven called him, had not observed either his surroundings or the fact that towards the beach the thousands of bathers were scurrying for the shore. Neither had the portentous sky to the North attracted his atten- tion. Suddenly, with a crash of thunder and a tor- nado blast, the storm which had frightened the other bathers burst over Mat's head, and he be- came aware that the smother of rain, combined with the black storm clouds, had shut off entirely any view of the Beach buildings and even of the island itself. Perplexed to know in which way he ought to direct his efforts to reach the shore, he resolved to battle against the wind by swimming on his back, to avoid the spray, which, if carried into his eyes, would literally blind him for a time, or into his throat would literally choke him, so in- tensely saline is the water. Scarcely had he turned to commence the strug- gle which he knew he must make when he was surprised beyond measure to hear, close to his ear, a feminine voice shouting to be heard above the noises of the tempest. "Can you direct me to the Beach? Isn't this storm terrible ? I am lost entirely and don't know where to go to reach the land." Almost within arms' length Mat's quick glance discovered a young woman floating upon her back and looking at him with apparent anxiety. 180 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE The storm seemed to increase in intensity and waves were beginning to lift their leaden spray- tipped crests, adding elements of actual danger, both because of forcing the bathers away from the distant Beach and of the danger of strangula- tion from the bitter waters. One cannot drown in Great Salt Lake, in the ordinary sense of the word, for the bather cannot sink, but more than one life has gone out by the strangulation which follows swallowing the brine, which is twenty per cent salt. Mat Cowley real- ized at once that unless the storm abated quickly there would be keen necessity for him to use every effort to protect the life of the girl whose fate was so suddenly thrust into his care. It chanced that he had heard of an all-night struggle that two boys had once made in just such a storm, in which they were driven at dusk by pitiless blasts far from Saltair Beach and, after hours of struggle, the younger finally succumbed to exhaustion and chill miles northward, near Antelope Island, while his companion barely man- aged to keep from giving up the struggle until daybreak, when he was able feebly to float to the shore, bitterly mourning the loss of his little friend. Endeavoring to reassure the young woman and, at the same time, seeking to prepare her for the possible struggle which now seemed to be in store for them, the young man said : "I'm sorry, but just now I am unable to tell just where the Beach is, except that the storm came from the North. We would better try to maintain our present plan of meeting the waves ROMANCE OF FOURTH DEGREE 181 head on, but I think it would be useless to try to make much progress just yet, because we might exhaust ourselves too much. Mat also knew that sometimes such storms, engendered in the heat of the desert, would sweep the lake for half a day, and he quickly matured his plans to meet the worst. Again addressing his companion, he said: "Fate has made our present fortunes the same. It may happen that we cannot reach the shore for several hours, while this storm lasts. I have three sisters, and one of them is about your age. Won't you trust yourself to my care, as if you were one of them?" The young woman had sensed the danger of a long struggle, with gradually weakened muscles, making the fight a hard one, and she was relieved to have the offer of assistance. "I will do just what you suggest. I confess I am afraid of the black night which has enveloped us." In assisting a novice or "towing" a friend on the surface of the Great Salt Lake the ordinary method is to place your hands under the armpits, and it was in this way that Mat Cowley managed to ease the struggle for his fair companion, while, at the same time, he ceased to attempt any prog- ress againt the never-ceasing tornado. Fearing a chill, he advised the young woman to keep her limbs beneath the water as much as pos- sible, as the water was noticeably warmer than the air, and also to kick gently occasionally, so as to keep up the circulation. 182 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE He expressly relieved her from attempting conversation and during the ensuing four hours but few words were exchanged, and these only to discuss the raging storm and to give mutual assur- ances that as yet exhaustion had not come. It was close to midnight when Mat Cowley be- came aware of a new sound mingling with the roar of the tempest. Asking his companion to listen, also, they soon concurred in the conclusion that they were near a shore, and a sudden break in the clouds overhead swept moonlight across the white-capped waves and revealed close at hand a mountainous stretch of land with the waves beating upon the shore. There is no material difficulty in a bather land- ing on the shores of the lake, as he can float in safety to the very land itself. It was with intense relief that Mat Cowley finally found himself with his unknown companion landed safely on a desert shore, although he did not then know just where their refuge was sit- uated. However, he had correctly surmised that the force of the tempest and the drift of the waves had carried them to Stansbury Island, which is an entirely uninhabited island lying southwest of Antelope Island. His relief at their finding terra firma under their feet was tempered much with the knowledge that if they had landed on Stansbury Island, there was no drinking water at all within its boundaries. While the storm was abating, yet the wind was chill, so the young man had hurried his companion to the leeward of a big rock on the shore, and, finding a bed of sand, he dug down into it with ROMANCE OF FOURTH DEGREE 183 rapid-flying hands until he had completed an exca- vation large enough to contain the short, graceful figure of the young woman. Clad only in her bath- ing suit, the welcome warmth of the sand was most grateful and, after he had dug a like pit for him- self, he turned to address his companion, only to ascertain that she had fallen fast asleep. Watching the scurrying clouds, now yielding sovereignty over the midnight sky to pale Luna, and thinking how he could manage to rescue his fair companion and himself from the island on which they had landed, for he now had ascertained from the glittering lights and the dull glow of molten slag shining out from the distant smelter city at the southward end of the lake that they were on the island, he was startled to quick activ- ity by the sound of a steam whistle, comparatively near at hand. Digging quickly out of his sand burrow, he ran around the rock and beheld the staunch Beach steamer, "Lady Bonneville," some distance up the lake. She was throwing the beams of her searchlight far and wide in sweeping cir- cles over the wave-tossed surface of the lake and occasionally sounding her whistle. At last the southward course of the steamer brought the shore of the island under the spell of the searchlight and the watching group on the deck of the boat saw a marionette-like figure, clad only in a bathing suit, dancing a frantic jig on the shore. That despair entered the hearts of the two young women on the boat as they saw the solitary masculine form on the shore and joy entered the souls of six young men, was the natural result of 184 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE the disclosure of the glistening gleams which now remained fixed on the figure which had been dis- covered. Amazement next submerged all of the gazers as they saw the young man swiftly run to a huge rock and disappear behind it, but happiness came to all, when he soon returned leading by the hand a trim feminine figure, silhouetted in the search- ing rays. These two of the thousands who had bathed at Salt Sea Beach were lost and now they had been found. Darwin Snowson and his five associates were soon thumping Mat Cowley on the back in keen delight and affection, while the two friends of the young woman, in the seclusion of a stateroom, were shedding tears of joy over the rescue of the lovely girl, who was soon clad in her own raiment, which had been brought by her friends. It was in quite conventional summer garb that Mat Cowley and Mildred Thatcher, meeting on the steamer's deck, looked for the first time squarely into each other's faces, and Darwin Snowson, who was the confidant of each of the romances which had come to the others of the Seven, secretly smiled as he realized that the wild night on the bitter waters had brought romance to the very doors of the souls of these two, and his keen glances saw the electric glow of attraction with which their eyes met and clung in absorbed gaze. CHAPTER XXI. THE FOURTH DEGREE. THE CHAMBER OF PRIMEVAL LIFE. MILDRED THATCHER was a lineal de- scendant of a famous Mormon. Best liked of his generation by Gentiles and many Mormons, it was often said that only the deadly poison of polygamy, which had entered his veins when young, prevented him from becoming the Moses who would have led the children of Zion into better practices and fairer civilization. For three generations the immediate family of Mildred Thatcher had forsaken the Mormon Church and had lived in San Francisco. She had been visiting relatives in Salt Lake City, her grandmother having been an attractive belle in that metropolis in her youth. Mat Cowley called on Mildred the evening after their thrilling experience on the lake and found her still languid from the long strain, but also very grateful to him. Echoing the wish of his heart he suggested that he would like very much to take her out in his automobile the next afternoon, and was delighted to have her prompt acceptance. On the trip, while driving his auto at snail's pace, Mat succeeded in letting his companion know that he had forsaken the Mormon religion, and also told her of the work of the Seven in the Society of Progress. 185 186 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE Mildred was a graduate of Stanford and an evolutionist, and so it took little persuasion to in- duce her to take the degrees and, had Mat known that her willingness was largely due to a desire to be one in spirit with his ideals, he might not have waited to confess the love which had sprung up in his heart. But he deemed it wise not to seek a promise which gratitude might bring, but to wait until Mildred should have time to feel released from the impulses which her rescue engendered. To Mildred, as to most college graduates, the instruction of the Second and Third Degrees was like a summary of knowledge previously learned, except in so far as the unification of such knowl- edge into one great Process and the spiritual im- plications therefrom were new to many. She came to the Fourth Degree with growing glimpses of the final objects of the instruction of the Society and with an alert mind, seeking the ultimate truths, which each degree unfolded. The Chamber of Primeval Life was like sev- eral of the others in that the initiate was first ushered into an alcove containing panels which summarized certain teachings related to the fur- ther instruction of the Society. The design of the panels in this alcove was in cerulean with silver letters and beautiful silver tracery in the borders. Upon being ushered into the alcove, Mildred Thatcher at once took up the seven readings of the first panel, which, like many others, asserted that the actual truth conflicted with the "fairy tale" of Creation contained in Genesis. I. BIOLOGY ALSO DENIES GENESIS The true history of the origin and evolu- tion of life upon our Earth is not at all the tale told in Genesis. Attempts to reconcile the biblical accounts with the actual truth are mere fanatical irra- tionalities. The separate creations by days as told in Genesis cannot be reconciled with truth by stretching days into ages. The fundamental falsities of each of the two accounts of Creation in Genesis lie deeper than verbal differences with the Truth. Were it not that human progress along the Upward Way towards the Ideal is checked by the blind faith of millions in the Jewish Bible and in its awful conceptions of God, begin- ning with the account of Creation, the Society of Progress would not emphasize the denials of Science, the absolute opposition of God's own monuments of Truth, to the theology and teachings of the Bible and to the Mormon Religion founded on the Bible. TRUE RELIGION NEEDS NO FALSE REVELATIONS. It happened that Mildred Thatcher had been emancipated from the thrall of spiritual bondage, which stultifies the faith of those who, from rev- erence or from fear, cling to the teachings of the 188 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Jewish Bible, and no shock came to her through the perusal of this panel. She felt that it was merely leading her on to some greater instruction. She turned to the second panel with eagerness. II. LIFE A STREAM ALL LIFE RE- LATED. While no one knows to a certainty how physical life came into its primeval existence on our earth, whether as a distinct creation in its original, simple, microscopical, single-cell form, or whether it came as part of a Process which brings life out of the inorganic ele- ments everywhere in the Cosmos when favor- able planetary conditions are evolved, as seems highly probable, and may ere long be scientifically demonstrated, yet the tales of the rocks and of Biology establish clearly that from the present life on our earth a continu- ous interlinked chain reaches backward from each type or species of life now existent, in- cluding man, in unbroken line to the original simple forms of life, primeval many millions of years ago. Thus, each form of life is related in dis- tant kinship, through the original simple forms of life, to all other forms and the same life processes govern and affect all physical life, including the physical life of Man. CHAMBER OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 189 Science calls the development and prog- ress of life on our earth phases of Evolution and part of General Cosmic Evolution. * * * IT IS WELL TO KNOW THAT IN THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE AT LEAST GOD ACTS SOLELY IN A REALM OF LAW, AND SPECIAL INTERPOSITIONS OF PROVIDENCE TO DESTROY OR TO PRE- SERVE DO NOT OCCUR. NEVERTHE- LESS, HIS PLAN ORDAINED THAT MAN SHOULD BE THE HIGHEST CREATURE OF EARTH AND THAT FROM THE BE- GINNING HE SHOULD GRADUALLY RISE SPIRITUALLY FROM ANIMALISM TOWARDS THE IDEAL. The conclusion of this panel was another of the anticipations of later Degrees, and Mildred Thatcher read the last sentence with deepening consciousness that vital spirituality was appear- ing in God 's Plan as denned by the Society. The next panel greatly interested the college graduate who had often heard against construc- tive evolutionists who contend that ultimate truth finds "purposive goodness" in the Cosmic Plan, the materialistic sneer that terrestrial evolution finds the triumph of " tooth and claw" and "brute force " in a perpetual charnel house. 190 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE III. EVOLVING THE HIGHER TYPES A great law of evolution expressed by Herbert Spencer is that the general trend of all Evolution is "from the relatively simple to the relatively complex," and Darwin's great discovery that the fittest forms of life prevail and survive in the evolutionary strug- gle, environment always considered, adds mo- mentous weight to the import of the Cosmic Process. * * * When we find, as in utter truth we must eventually, that the supreme object of terres- trial evolution is the constant development of higher spirituality in man, mere physical life becomes subordinate. Science, however, must value the fact that much physical life feeds and progresses on the destruction of other forms of life. Man, as an animal, always has been and always must be in unceasing warfare with certain forms of life. His survival as a race depends upon successful battles against liv- ing germs and often against higher animal organisms. Life also constantly yields him food. * * * CHAMBER OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 191 A process which constantly evolved higher types of animal organisms, many of which can live at peace with man and which at the same time since man evolved has per- sistently advanced him spiritually, has in its ultimate depths an import which makes it futile to call it a process of "brute force" revelling in the blood of its creatures. * * * The same process which evolved the shark and the tiger evolved the gigantic beautiful redwood trees of California, perhaps the old- est types of individual life, and evolved the wild rose and the butterfly. So, too, it evolved the highest spiritual types of men and women. *** *t* *K VALUE THE ULTIMATE AND IT WILL BE REVEALED THAT GOD'S PLAN EVIDENCES "PURPOSIVE GOOD- NESS," THOUGH IT SEEMINGLY RE- GARDS INDIVIDUAL PHYSICAL LIFE OF MANY OF THE CREATURES OF EARTH AS SACRIFICIAL TO THE EVO- LUTION AND SURVIVAL OF OTHER FORMS OF LIFE. 192 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Mildred Thatcher lingered long over her seven readings of this panel and, having obtained per- mission from her guide, was engaged in copying it, when she was startled by a voice suddenly in- quiring : "Didn't they teach you that at Stanford?" Turning quickly, she found Mat Cowley smil- ing down upon her. Her reply came slowly: "I think our Colleges are reluctant to deduce and teach ultimate truths. Though every student should be taught both the principles of General Cosmic Evolution, including Mental and Spiritual Evolution, and the import of all evolution, most students do not receive such instruction, particu- larly those who specialize in some single field of learning. ' ' Then she added: "I am eager to have the promises of the So- ciety fulfilled, for I have not had spiritual rest for several years." Her companion of the struggle in the great Salt Sea, looking deeply into her eyes, softly made answer: "I am sure you will find spiritual rest, for many of us have traveled the road happily to find at the end higher ideals than we dared hope in the beginning." With Mat at her side, the girl turned to the last panel in the "Alcove of the Four Panels," as it was called, and found a vital denunciation of Genesis. CHAMBEK OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 193 IV. LIFE FORMS EVOLVE AND ARE NOT SEPARATE CREATIONS. Though Genesis asserts a sequence of Cre- ative Acts of God through six days, Science finds the truth at variance with the whole story. Genesis would have it that before the sun, moon and stars were created on the fourth day and were set in the firmament "to divide the day from the night" and "for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years" that the earth, upon the third day, "brought forth grass and herb-yielding fruit." Genesis asserts, also, that it was upon the fifth day of Creation that God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." And upon the sixth day, besides man, "God made the beast of the earth after his kind and cattle after their kind and every- thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind." (C *f 3JC 194 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Science from God's true book, while deny- ing utterly the Astronomy as childlike ab- surdity, discloses revelations which demon- strate that all existing species of life have evolved from the simple primitive forms which themselves probably evolved when the earth cooled, and that the process has taken millions of years, and that both in the vegeta- ble and in the animal kingdoms the sequence of evolved species bears no shadow of verity to the tale of Genesis. THE BIBLE CAN NOT BE GOD'S BOOK, BECAUSE IT IS NOT TRUE. IT ASCRIBES TO GOD ACTS AND CONDUCT FROM WHICH YOU MUST SHRINK IN ABHORRENCE OR YOU ARE MORALLY DEBASED. AWAIT THE SOUL-SEARCH- ING QUESTIONS OF A LATER DE- GREE TO DETERMINE WHETHER YOUR SOUL'S REVOLT DEMANDS A BETTER GOD THAN THE GOD OF THE BIBLE. Mildred turned to Mat Cowley, who had lin- gered at her side, and said: "I suppose it is true that most Mormons are unquestioning in their faith in the Bible as the very word of God and they believe in sincerity that the representations of the Bible and the Book of Mormon about what God said and did and di- rected are all true. But are the Mormons worse than the Meth- odists or other Christian Cults in this respect? I wish the Society of Progress could invade the strongholds of Buddhism and Mohammedism and Catholicism and Methodism and all the other 1 ' isms ' ' of the world to reveal the actual truth. If the conclusions and import of the Society's in- struction are what I anticipate, there will be a true religion for all the world to accept." Her companion, replying, said: "Can there any good thing come out of Naz- areth! "Is it possible that the great plan of our Be- loved Philosopher to redeem Mormondom from a slavish spiritual faith will expand to redeem all the world? ' ' The Seven have dreamed of this. * * I can pledge to you that the final degrees will disclose a scientific faith founded on all the veri- ties, and these early degrees, which are "Breaking the idols" of old faiths, are merely leading up to the building of the better faith." Then, through a lovely cerulean-tinted door, Mildred entered the Chamber of Primeval Life, to find it brilliant with light and resembling a zoolog- ical museum in some respects. 196 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Waldemar Grant was the member of the Seven to whom the instruction of this degree was dele- gated and, to the disciples there assembled in the Chamber, he began the lessons of the Chamber in the words of the Beloved Philosopher. * ' The evolution of life upon our planet is pro- foundly significant. The progress of life forms on earth, from the beginning until the creature of su- perior and dominant intelligence evolved, being always under the sway of general cosmic laws, evidences some great fact. "The Infinite First Cause chooses to act through the Process of which Evolution is the un- folding and if the original diatoms could have glimpsed with rational intelligence the evolution of Man down the intervening millions of years they surely would have felt the premonition of a ' far-off divine event,' not the ultimate one, but one which marked a pinnacle of terrestrial organic evolution. "From the earliest forms of life in long de- scent came Man as an animal. What of his Intelli- gence and Soul? The physical is marvelous, but rationality and spirituality are immeasurably more. * * * ' * Time, in working out the Divine Plan for our earth, seems strangely immaterial, for the ages from the evolution of the first life down to the evolution of Man are vast. The 'Everlasting Now' of the Infinite disregards mere centuries." # * * "Would you like to learn what Science has spelled out about the earliest life upon our globe ? CHAMBER OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 197 * ' The earlier part of Archaean time was neces- sarily without life; for until the rocks and seas had cooled down to the temperature of boiling water (or lower), life was hardly possible. "Plants of the lowest orders can bear a higher temperature than the lowest of animals and were possibly the first living species, although certain honest scientists believe that single-cell animal life first evolved. " These plants probably were 'mere tiny green jelly specks floating freely in water invisible to the unaided human eye but revealed by powerful microscopes.' They were probably the original single-cell life of our globe, and the lowest and original form of animal life is scientifically and rationally believed, through the Law of Variation and the Struggle for Life, to have come into exist- ence by descent from the earlier forms of plant life.' Aggregations of living cells soon made many life species. "Whenever the earliest life-cell, however mi- nute, evolved or was created, a new principle that of life was introduced upon the earth, and thereafter progress in a system of living things became a vital and potential factor in world his- tory." * * The instructor then displayed upon a screen magnified reproductions of various forms of simple cell-life and amongst them a segment of the famous polishing slate of Bilin in Bohemia, which consists of flinty Protozoan shells, so minute that a cubic inch of the rock created from the single-cell creatures has been estimated to contain 198 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE forty millions of the shells. Then he told of the innumerable myriads of living creatures which in death created enormous beds of lime stone and of chalk. In rapid review the disciples were led through the vast geological periods which have been termed the Age of Invertebrates, the fossil illus- trations showing the progress and increasing complexity of the living organisms as the evolu- tionary laws asserted potent sway upon the abounding life of the seas, both plant and animal. * * * Then, sometime and somewhere, during the un- written history of life, the early fishes, the first vertebrates, evolved, and sometime and some- where certain reptiles of the sea found refuge from enemies of the sea by evolving organisms which enabled them to live partly on land as well as in the water, and sometime and somewhere plants began to creep upon the ancient rocks above the sea level, and sometime and somewhere flying birdlike animals evolved and then birds began their far descent to the winged creatures of our skies. * * # In vivid illustration the instruction displayed and told of all the progress of life, plant and ani- mal ; how in the seas there evolved huge fishes and on land animals of enormous size, as well as trees and plants so abundant and luxuriant in growth as to make in their death the vast coal beds of the world. Genera and species in vast array were shown to connect through organisms and vestiges with CHAMBER OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 199 antecedent life of simpler forms. Species became wholly extinct and new species ever evolved. * * * Binding the history of primeval life with geological history ; telling of great changes of cli- mate, of vast upheavals of land above the seas and vast recessions of land beneath the waters, and of the garnering and preservation by Nature of the scientifically, inestimably valuable fossils in the rocks of the different geological periods, so that he who faithfully studies can truly read many of God's sure revelations, the instruction at last brought the chain of life through myriads of years down to the animal ancestor of the human race. * * * Then came the close of the instruction wherein the Society promised the disciples that in the next degree the physical descent of man from the life of the Archaean seas would be established by proofs which rationality must admit. The closing words evidenced the mental hon- esty which characterized the degree work under the guidance of the Beloved Philosopher. ' * There are scientists who, in seeking the ulti- mate realities, contend that all being (matter, force, life, consciousness, and spirituality) is one, but, alas, most of them value lightly the moral import of Cosmic Evolution and become hopeless of immortality of the spirit of man. "They see law controlling the processes of the Universe and are loth to find in man a spirit which has freedom in its choice of actions. "They gaze upon the material universe until the greater and higher life, the spiritual, is clouded 200 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE in their vision by the universality of law which in verity extends also to the psychical and the spirit- ual, not as absolutely dominating, but as impell- ing. "The Society of Progress in viewing all things material, psychic, and spiritual, finds great unity in everything, but also finds the spiritual dominat- ing in God's Plan. "WITH THE EVOLUTION OF MAN THE EARTH BEGAN ITS HIGHER DESTINY." * * * It chanced that as the lecture closed Mildred Thatcher and Mat Cowley occupied a settee which was at the side of the Chamber, and they remained chatting while the other disciples went out of the doors. Suddenly the electric lights were shut off and Mat sought vainly for matches to light their way across the hall. Confessing his inability, he suggested that they should grope their way hand in hand in the utter darkness which somehow became vibrant to each of the pair with a sense of heart stimulus. When Mildred's slim fingers grasped Mat's he thrilled with longing to have her in his arms and, when suddenly the girl's free hand encountered the sharp teeth in the murderous jaws of a huge prehistoric shark and she gave a shriek and jumped backward, Mat literally found her in his arms in gasping, unreasoning fright. Holding her close, he murmured: "My heart's desire, won't you make my arms your refuge during all your life? I love you, Mil- CHAMBER OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 201 dred, beyond the power of any words to express. Will you be my wife, sweet girl?" Around his neck in the darkness stole the arms which had charmed him when the Lady Bonne- ville's search light had revealed their grace, and a sweet mouth met his in a true lover's kiss as Mildred whispered: "Oh, Mat. You have made me so happy. I loved you before I saw your face. You were so noble in the hard hours when we fought the storm and I will be proud to be your wife. ' ' In the midst of some further proceedings, quite electrical, no doubt, the lights suddenly sprang out, filling the Chamber and revealing Waldemar Grant, who had returned for a book he had left. "Well, folks, this looks all right to me; shall I congratulate you?" Their happy reply brought him forward with outstretched hands, but he was a little mystified to see Mildred turn suddenly and step up to a most vicious looking shark and deliberately kiss its ominous opened jaw. But Mat understood and blest the Chamber of Primeval Life for bringing his happiness as the Romance of the Fourth Degree. CHAPTER XXII. THE ROMANCE OF THE FIFTH DEGREE. MAHONRI TAYLOR, universally known among Ms friends as "Hon," had gone to Southern California in December, 1935, to seek full recovery from an attack of the grippe. The approaching holidays would temporarily slacken the great tide of disciples through the Chambers of the Society of Progress and the rest of the Seven had urged Hon to take the vacation. The huge merry-go-round at Long Beach was whirling to the shrill, joyous music which always gathers a crowd of spectators and expectant riders of the fiery steeds and rampant animals which tempt the courage of little folks, and, it must be confessed, have secret charms for grown ups. As Hon Taylor strolled down the avenue of shops and amusements which borders the bathing beach, he casually noted three young women standing at the entrance to the pavilion from which the music proceeded. His attention was temporarily fixed upon the group when he heard one of the trio remark : "I'll bet you the popcorn that you dare not ride the camel." Hon listlessly turned to note the acceptance or rejection of the "dare," when, as if electrified, his languid air gave place to one of keen interest. " I '11 accept the wager if you will ride the lion alongside." The girl who replied was clad in a 202 ROMANCE OF FIFTH DEGREE 203 white linen suit, with a fascinating Panama hat trimmed with cardinal ribbons, but it was not her attire which made sudden appeal to the young man who had roamed the environs of the beach with scarce a glance at the many attractive girls always to be found amongst the pleasure seekers. The face beneath the hat charmed him in- stantly and the form was no less attractive. Following the trio into the pavilion, he sta- tioned himself unobtrusively at one side of the huge machine and quietly watched the mounting of the wild beasts by the two girls, and heard their gay banter and laughter as the revolving stage brought them repeatedly past his station. It was with a sense of re-enacting some pre- vious experience that the young man, found the machine stopped with the two girls directly in front of him, and when the fair form in white was suddenly precipitated into his arms by a high heel catching upon the edge of the machine, Hon felt new and strange emotions as he staggeringly upheld the delightful burden for the little time necessary to restore the girl to blushing erectness. With a hurried "thank you," the girl hastened to join her laughing companions and the day dulled down again for the young man, though his blood coursed more freely as he thought of the little incident. Two days later, while walking down the fine beach promenade between the pier at Ocean Park and the one at Venice, a sudden gust of wind blew an opened umbrella direct into Hon's arms, in- stinctively raised to ward off danger. 204 THE HUNDBEDTH WAVE Looking to see from whence the missile came, he was actually thrilled to find the "fair maid of the merry-go-round," as he had secretly dubbed her, looking oip at him from a seat amidst the sands. Hastening to restore the umbrella, he found himself greeted with a smile which fasci- nated him and a greeting which seemed promising. "I'm glad that you were not hurt by my flying umbrella. It seems as though you were fated to rescue me and my belongings. I thank you again for the two rescues. I am waiting for some be- lated friends. ' ' This little speech seemed to the young man almost to invite a bantering response which might lead to some way of becoming acquainted, but scarce had he murmured a disavowal of any obli- gation on her part ere he found himself lifting his hat as the expected friends came up to the girl. It was for Saturday night that Hon had planned a solitary dinner at the cafe with the sign of a fish, presided over by the two fine old gentle- men whose famous fish and chicken dinners have made many travelers resort again and again to Kedondo Beach. He had not attempted to look up friends, as he felt that he would better avoid any social burdens while regaining strength. Before dinner, wandering out on the pier, where there are always tourist fishermen or women casting their lines into the well-populated ocean below, he idly strolled up to the vicinity of a small boy, who was fishing alongside an excur- sion steamer which was about to depart on its ROMANCE OF FIFTH DEGREE 205 usual tour northward to the other beaches which lie west of Los Angeles. Hon Taylor was also close to the gang plank, at which sailors were already stationed to draw it on board the ship, when destiny began to get busy again with the affairs of the young man and Jose- phine Penrose, "the fair maid of the merry-go- round. ' ' So rapidly did things move that Hon scarcely appreciated the humorous aspects of the comedy until later, when, seated at the table he surprised one of the nice old gentlemen by bursting into laughter. Just as Hon heard rapid footsteps close at hand on the pier the small boy jerked back his fishing rod in such awkward fashion as to catch the unwitting feet of Josephine Penrose, who was hastening to board the boat upon which her friends were beckoning her to hurry. As Hon turned to observe the belated comer, the fateful fishpole precipitated Josephine directly at him, as though his good fairy had determined to place her in his arms. The unexpected onslaught might have thrown them both into the ocean, had not the young man instantly cast one arm around a belaying post, while with the other he upheld the gasping girl. ' * Oh, Lordy. You again. ' ' "Hurry up, miss ; we can't wait." And Josephine was gone once more, leaving Hon on the pier, wondering whether he would ever see her again. Each previous meeting had been sheer chance and he wondered how soon chance would quit its strange job of flinging them mo- 206 THE HUNDBEDTH WAVE mentarily into each other 's presence and then sud- denly separating them. But the final answer was not yet given. A week later, on Catalina Island, after three days of resting and rapidly gaining strength at that wonderful resort, he again saw the girl who had interested him so greatly. But he wasn't aware that it was she when he first noted a fem- inine form stretched out on a jutting shelf of rock at the northerly horn of the beautiful crescent of Avalon Bay. He had seated himself on a nearby boulder, wholly unaware of the proximity of any other per- son and, becoming absorbed in a book, was quite oblivious to his surroundings. Suddenly three shrill whistles of a launch caused him to look up and he saw the skipper wav- ing his arms and apparently pointing to some- thing back of the onlooker. Turning hastily, he saw that the rising tide had already covered the narrow causeway which connected the broad shelf of rock on which he stood with the mainland. At the same time he noted the prostrate form of a young woman lying in the shade of a boulder with the advancing tide almost reaching the spot where she was outstretched. Surmising that the girl had fallen asleep, he rapidly strode the few steps to her side and, reach- ing down, gently shook the sleeper, with the result that he nearly tumbled backward into the ocean, when the startled face of the "fair maid of the merry-go-round" looked up into his. "Pardon me, but we must act instantly. The tide has already made it impossible to get to land EOMANCE OF FIFTH DEGREE 207 dry shod and as I seem born to be of assistance to you I suggest that you let me carry you across the causeway." The girl had sprung to her feet and stood gaz- ing bewilderedly, first at the young man who had awakened her and then at the water which cut off her retreat to shore. As if in a dream from which she could not awaken, she said: "You have no right to pursue me this way. I don 't see how you planned this, but I will stay here until the tide turns rather than always be rescued by you." Then Hon, with some resentment, replied : "It happens that I was not aware that you had survived your steamship trip from Bedondo. It was there I saw you last, but if you don't care to get uncomfortably wet, you would better accept my offer. The tide will soon cover this rock entirely. ' ' Josephine looked hurriedly at the encroach- ments of the rising water and ruefully at her dainty shoes and silken hose, then finding the young man looking at her with apparent impa- tience, she reluctantly answered: "Well, I won't be rescued again. It is getting to be too much of a fixed habit. You go ahead and I'll follow." Without answer, the young man turned his back to his companion and strode through water, now knee deep on the causeway, keenly conscious of dainty lingerie high uplifted, pretty shoes ruined and a splashing, uncomfortable girl, al- though he did not have eyes in the back of his head to actually observe it. 208 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE When he knew the young woman had reached terra firma, he turned and, while lifting his hat, said: "I am sorry that chance has made us half -ene- mies ; I would much rather be your friend, but as it is I bid you good by and hope the wetting you could have avoided will do you no harm." Giving the girl no chance to reply he strode away, unaware that his companion gazed after him as if wishing to apologize for something. Another week at Avalon failed to bring to Hon any glimpse of the "maid of the merry-go-round. " With a species of jealous resentment, he dropped the adjective "fair," but could not get the girl herself out of his thoughts. Then one January day, quite restored to health, he boarded the Los Angeles Limited at the "City of the Angels" and, strolling back to the observation car, was delighted to find Zora Wells occupying a stool on the rear platform, and they chatted happily of their friends as the train sped through the fine truck gardens and past the multi- tude of serried rows of English walnut, orange and lemon trees. Hon's back was towards the door of the car and his interest riveted on his friend and the beau- tiful landscape, when Zora sprang to her feet, with outstretched hands, crying : "Well Josephine Penrose, where on earth did you come from?" As Hon rose to his feet, he turned and found himself looking with amazement equaled only by the astonished look of the "half -enemy" he had last seen bedraggled on the rocks at Avalon. ROMANCE OF FIFTH DEGREE 209 "Mr. Taylor, you surely have met Miss Jose- phine Penrose. Why, I believe you are not ac- quainted. ' ' Hon spoke first and quickly: "I hope Miss Penrose is as glad to be intro- duced to me as I am to her, ' ' and a sudden smile on the face of Josephine and her outstretched hand rewarded him for his tactful way of meeting the situation. Zora Wells scented a mystery, but discreetly said nothing. She contrived later to let Hon know that Jose- phine was a great granddaughter of a Mormon apostle, who early in the century had been espe- cially adroit as editor of the church newspaper in "humbugging" unposted Gentiles by disclaimers that the church dominated in affairs of state and in denying the actual recrudescence of polygamy. Zora was also able to especially interest the young man with information that Josephine was an orphan and had lived in Los Angeles from childhood with a sister of her mother's, who was a Theosophist, and that the girl intended spending several months in Salt Lake at the home of a mar- ried brother, who was not affiliated with any church. Was it strictly fair that Hon Taylor did not then inform Zora that Talmadge Penrose had be- come an enthusiastic disciple of the Society of Progress? Did Hon build any of Cupid's air cas- tles out of this suppressed knowledge! CHAPTER XXIII. THE FIFTH DEGREE THE CHAMBER OF MAN. IT WAS certainly not as a " half -enemy" that Hon Taylor parted with Josephine Penrose at Salt Lake City under granted request that he might call on her soon. Ere long it was noticeable to her brother that amongst the young cavaliers who courted the fair maid from the City of Angels none other evoked the sweet, shy welcome which was given to Hon Taylor; while, as for Hon, he interpreted the girl's diffidence as not at all favorable to his now well-developed wish to gain the right to take her into his arms, not by chance, but as his very own. Talmadge Penrose cherished a strong desire to have his sister become a disciple of the Society of Progress, and after preparing her for the teach- ings of the Society, was delighted to have her ask to take the Degrees. It was Josephine's request that Hon Taylor should not know of her initiation, and she even passed the Third Degree with a number of others without the instructor becoming aware that the ''fair maid of the merry-go-round" was listening to his voice. But in the Fifth Degree chance again began playing its pranks with the fate of these two. Josephine entered the door of the "Chamber of Man," accompanying Zora Wells. 210 THE CHAMBER OF MAN 211 The usual tall, graceful entrance gate of the degrees in this instance led through long, heavily draped curtains into an alcove, which was called by the Seven "The Alcove of Dawn" for reasons which interlinked the rosy dawn-colored walls and ceilings with the more subtle idea of the dawn of the life of humanity appearing in this degree. The panels of the Alcove of Dawn contrasted a deeper rose than the walls with borders of a pure white in intricate fine-lined arabesques and letters of white also. Josephine had become profoundly impressed with the instruction of the first four degrees, and began the seven readings of the panels with eager- eyed desire. Like the very large majority of girls and almost an equal majority of young men who are deemed educated, she had had mere glimpses of the sciences and scarcely a smattering of the truths of evolution. The idea of the unutterably Grand Unified Process, the Cosmic Process, and its wonderful unfolding under the Reign of Cosmic Laws had impressed her deeply, but the statement that the same Process had given man his origin by evolv- ing him as a separate species of animal life re- lated to all other life came to her as something worthy of deep attention. The first panel in the Alcove of Dawn bore di- rectly upon the physical descent of man, but hinted at a higher descent which animalism can- not account for. 212 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE I. MAN NOT DESCENDANT OF THE MONKEYS. Science concludes from evidence not to be doubted that, while there is common descent of man and the apes, "Man is neither the offspring nor the brother of the apes; he is a sort of a cousin more than 'once removed.' * * * "And the answer to the oft-put question, where is the missing link? is, There is no missing link; there never has been one. "As with the likenesses and differences between the apes themselves, so with those between apes and man. "The likenesses are explained by descent from a common ancestry; the differences have slowly arisen in subtle ways. "Although the bones of a man cannot be mistaken for those of an anthropoid ape, the skeleton of each, bone for bone, is identical. Comparisons of structure make clear that all differences are of degree, not of kind. "The lower apes vary more, especially in their brains, from the highest apes, than these differ from man." [Edward Clodd.] * * * THE CHAMBER OF MAN 213 A scientist who pondered the relation- ship between Brain and Personality has said: "While the gap between the brain of an an- thropoid ape and the brain of man is too in- significant to count, their difference as be- ings corresponds to the distance of the earth from the nearest fixed star." [William Hanna Thomson.] * * * THE PHYSICAL MAN IS AN ANIMAL. WERE IT NOT THAT IN HUMAN PER- SONALITY SOMETHING EVOLVED FAR HIGHER THAN ANIMALISM COSMIC EVOLUTION WOULD YIELD TO EARTH- LY BEINGS NO CONSCIOUSNESS OF RIGHT AND WRONG, NO HUMAN DREAMS OF IMMORTALITY. HOWEVER INTIMATELY ASSOCI- ATED THE HUMAN BODY IS WITH THE PERSONALITY WHICH USES IT ON EARTH, THE BODY IS ONLY THE MA- CHINEPERSONALITY IS SOMETHING TO BE VALUED SUPREMELY. Josephine Penrose, like all other initiates, had read the first panel seven times with absorbed in- terest and, as did all others, she turned with eager- ness to read the next. 214 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE II. THE ASCENT OF MAN. Charles Darwin's great work, "The De- scent of Man," first caused orthodoxy to shriek anathemas against that true prophet of Science; then some theologians of the or- thodox type began to seek Truth whether it conflicted with Scripture or not, and slowly the false teachings of orthodoxy began to yield to scientific Truth. Today only the most blindly bigoted deny Darwin's discov- eries. * * * A scientist possessed of the "Theological bias" once wrote a book called, "The Ascent of Man. ' ' It properly has been called, ' 'pseu- doscientific," and yet Henry Drummond's book glimpsed certain great spiritual truths which Darwin had expressly excluded from the scope of his monumental work. Darwin established the physical lineage of man his long descent from the original first evolved forms of life; while Drummond in the title of his work referred to the evolu- tion of spirituality in humanity. Yet it must be said that many of Drummond's conclu- sions were not scientific. THE CHAMBER OF MAN 215 The Society of Progress seeks the truth, even if it be mixed with falsities. IT ASSERTS AS FUNDAMENTAL THAT THE SPIRITUAL PROGRESS OF MANKIND HAS BEEN A GROWTH TO- WARDS THE IDEAL AN ASCENT IN SPIRITUALITY. IF MAN IS TO COM- PREHEND HIS RACIAL DESTINY AND CONSCIOUSLY ASSIST IN CARRYING OUT GOD'S PLAN RESPECTING FU- \ TURE GENERATIONS, IT IS HIGHLY ESSENTIAL THAT THE MAJORITY OF MANKIND SHALL BE EDUCATED TO KNOW THE TRUE SPIRITUAL HISTORY OF THE RACE. While Mildred Thatcher was receiving the in- struction in the Chamber of Man, her naturally constructive mind made special pause over the concluding sentence in the second panel of the Alcove of Dawn, and afterwards, in discussing this sentence with Mat Cowley, she said: "If it is essential that the majority shall be educated to know the true spiritual history of the race, will it not soon be the duty of the Society of Progress to take up this work by world-wide or- ganization?" It was then that Mat told her that on the fate- ful night when the Beloved Philosopher revealed the plan of the Society, he had suggested that be- yond the duty of the Seven to redeem Mormondom 216 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE lay the wider duty of redeeming the whole world from other religions which are untrue and which delay the upward course of humanity. But when Josephine Penrose read the same panel, she remarked to Zora Wells, who accom- panied her: "Do you think I can assist in any way in spreading the truth ? ' ' Zora smilingly replied: "I would suggest that you ask Hon Taylor that question. He is always talking of a World Society of Progress." The hint of co-operation with Hon was enough to bring a slight blush to Josephine's cheeks and she turned hastily to read the Third panel. III. THE HERITAGE OF MAN. As an animal, Man inherited much from his animal ancestry. His physical organism with its appetites and desires, and the tremendous call which the physical makes on personality, only partly spells the animal inheritance. Darwin established that the social instinct and impulses came to the earliest of our race as a birthright from the creatures less than Man, from whom he descended. THE CHAMBER OF MAN 217 It is more than probable that impulses which became ethical as soon as a Human Personality (the first being of earth capable of ethical conduct) came upon the scene of earthly evolution were germinating amongst some of the animal progenitors of Man; Mother love probably was an instinct before it became a moral power in the spiritual ad- vancement of human personality. But whence came the Soul of Man; his psychic and spiritual personality? Unquestionably it came as a step in Cos- mic Evolution. The unity of all things means that not only the physical, but also the psy- chic and the spiritual, unfold as part of the Great Process of the Universe. THE BRAIN OF MAN IS ANIMAL ITS CELLS ARE PHYSICAL, BUT THE BRAIN IS NOT PERSONALITY. IT IS THE INDIVIDUAL CAPA- BLE OF ABSTRACT THOUGHT AND OF MORAL CONDUCT AND OF MORAL GROWTH, WHO CONSTITUTES TRUE PERSONALITY. THE HERITAGE OF THE SOUL IS A HERITAGE FROM GOD AND MARKED THE BIRTH OF SPIRITUAL LIFE ON EARTH. 218 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE When Mollie Richards had read this panel seven times, she remarked: "I am glad that Science finds my soul some- thing apart from animalism, even though greatly affected by it." And when Zora Wells made the readings, she said: "My body, including my brain, as a machine is changing constantly, but Zora Wells keeps on being Zora Wells. Physiology teaches me that in my body there are innumerable living organisms which die daily and are replaced by others. Surely T . ja not physical. ' ' Mildred Thatcher, after her study of the panel, asked: "Is it not wholly rational to conclude that the realm of Spiritual Life under God's Plan awaited for its earthly advent the evolution of the highest type of animal life to afford a physical habitation fit for occupancy by a psychic personality capable of spiritual advancement f ' ' Darwin Snowson heard the question and said in answer: "If the 'established order of the Universe' as to our planet means anything it must mean that your question answers itself in the affirmative. First the inorganic, then after vast ages phys- ical life, then more eons and there came the birth of spiritual life. It is progress in an apparent scale which makes transcendant the immaterial. "Spirituality implies conduct and conduct im- plies a choice of actions by human personality. "Whatever the stimulus, the act of rationally choosing is neither physical nor mechanical. THE CHAMBEE OF MAN 219 "The Realm of Spiritual life is as much a ver- ity as the realm of physical life and the spirit of man belongs within the spiritual realm. " Directly bearing upon the previous panel was the fourth and last panel in the Alcove. IV. HUMAN PERSONALITY. You are aware that you exist. Many of you have learned that through your CON- SCIOUSNESS only, do you know that you have a body which you use as the habitation of your individuality. Also through your CONSCIOUSNESS, only, do you have any rational comprehension of the external world, including your fellow beings. * * * Universal human experience, as well as human philosophy, establishes that the Indi- vidual YOU or I constitutes A SEPAR- ATE PERSONALITY WITH CERTAIN ATTRIBUTES WHICH ARE NOT AT ALL PHYSICAL. This personality may be good or bad; it may be generous or selfish; it may be wise or foolish; it may sometimes be good and some- times bad; sometimes generous and some- times selfish; sometimes wise and sometimes 220 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE foolish; in short, it may have many attributes which in no way are physical qualities or es- sentially related to the physical; and these attributes may change as the individual goes on living on earth. 5JC 5j 5JC All human social institutions recognize in each member of the very great majority of human beings a personality, an individual who is socially RESPONSIBLE to his fellow human beings for his CONDUCT towards them. Notwithstanding all humanity is acted upon and influenced by a realm of physical, mental and spiritual laws which impel and oftentimes control the acts of individuals, yet the power of choice belongs to each normal human personality. THE SPIRIT OF MAN HIS TRUE PERSONALITY IS CAPABLE OF MORAL EDUCATION AND FROM THE BEGIN- NING OF HUMAN LIFE ON EARTH, THE POWER WHICH MAKES FOR RIGHT- EOUSNESS HAS AIDED IN MAN'S SPIR- ITUAL ADVANCEMENT. THE CHAMBER OF MAN 221 It was through no fault of Josephine Penrose that the sliding door which led from the Alcove of Dawn into the Chamber of Man should suddenly close as she was passing through and should clutch her dress skirt in a way which would have prostrated her, had not protecting arms shot out and clasped her form. An odd sense of fate sprang into her heart when she found herself looking into Hon Taylor's face as he gently held her while he thrust back the imprisoning door. To both there instantly recurred the incidents which had originally embarrassed Josephine, in Southern California, and she " blushed celestial, rosy red" as she realized that Hon was holding her a longer time than absolutely necessary. But the work of the degree was impending, so Hon hastily obtained permission to call at her brother's house that night and then excused him- self. The instruction of the Chamber of Man was the culmination of the New Genesis. Man stalked upon the scene and all previously evolved life became subordinate. The Realm of the Unmaterial, the kingdom of intellectual and spiritual life, loomed vast and the Realm of Matter shrank in the scale of ultimate value to the vassal of Mind and Spirit. The evolution of higher physical organisms ceased on earth and the evolution of spirituality began. 222 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE It was Mathonihah Cowley who faced the disci- ples and delivered the instruction of the degree and the instructor first voiced these words of The Beloved Philosopher: "The Society of Progress has brought you to the advent of Mankind upon the Earth. It is su- premely important that you shall learn the true history of the origin and development of Hu- manity. ' ' The vital spiritual import of all earthly evo- lution can only be revealed to you through your comprehension of the Truth respecting the kind of man who first evolved and the progress of man- kind since the earliest human ancestors of the race roamed the primeval world. * * * "Genesis has blinded myriads to the Truth about God and also to the truth about Man's origin, his history and his destiny. * * * "The hour has struck when, by organized effort, partly exemplified in Our Society, the leaven of Truth shall commence its spread amongst the masses of the world. The learned of the world have long known much of the truth. * * * "Remember that the revelations taught you in this degree are verifiable by every intelligent hu- man being, and, when pitted as to Truth against the tales of an ancient book, they are comparable as against Genesis exactly to the truth that a child's parents and friends give it Christmas pres- ents and that Santa Claus is a mere mythical personage. ' ' THE CHAMBER OF MAN 223 Any summary of the instruction given in the Chamber of Man must necessarily be greatly in- adequate and we must merely sketch in broad conclusions the method and manner. First by graphic illustrations and by luminous, simple verbal explanations the kinship of Man as an animal to the whole realm of animal life was established beyond rational controversy. Putting physical man in his proper place as one of the Primates (pri-ma-tes), the higher order of Mammals, bone by bone, organ by organ, his structure was shown to be related to the lemurs, monkeys and apes and in many respects as to or- gans to all of the Mammals. Man and the horse and the lion and the whale and all the numerous species of animals which suckle their young were shown to belong to the same class of animals which Science has termed the Mammalia. # * * Then, going back from the mammalia in the vertebral or " back-boned" line, the animalistic pedigree of Man was traced through the reptiles and fishes to the far-distant evolutional period when the invertebrate protozoa teemed in pri- meval seas and at last the monera the single- celled creatures evidenced the dawn of life upon earth. This was but the return journey of the scien- tific voyage taken in the preceding degree. 224 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Next was offered different and most convincing proof of the descent of the animal Man as estab- lished by Embryology. Veritable revelations, wonderful and rationally conclusive, are told in an evolutional record which man cannot gainsay, as they are part of the phys- ical life history of each human being. * * * Introducing the disclosures of Embryology, the instruction began: "Reverently and with firm belief that God, Himself, designed that proof of the physical pedi- gree of Man should be embodied in the life history of each human being, we now approach the revela- tions which science has spelled out of the develop- ment of the human embryo before the birth of the infant." * # * Thereupon was told in simple words and pro- gressive illustrations the truths that the human embryo within a few weeks of the commencement of the embryonic life of a human being, passes through the evolutional pedigree of man from a speck of protoplasm to fish-like and reptilian forms on down through other animal forms "to his more immediate descent from a hairy, tailed quadruped," thus writing in embryonic develop- ment the animal history which links the original forms of life on earth in unbroken chain with mankind. * * * The prehistoric man then came to tell his tale of the progress of the race. THE CHAMBER OF MAN 225 Ages back of any written history, "in a dim and dateless past,'* the revelations of science dis- closed beyond rational dispute that man existed many thousands of years before the mythical 4004 years B. C., which have been represented as mark- ing the creation of Adam and Eve. The Bible story and the Bible chronology fell into the realm of the untrue. It was shown by graphic proofs not now dis- puted by any scientist of any standing that "there have been unearthed from ancient river-beds, limestone caverns, lake-bottoms and refuse-heaps; from rude sepulchres and stone structures, an enormous mass of relics which reveal to us the story of man during periods when the continent of Europe stretched beyond Great Britain and Ireland into the Atlantic, and was joined at more than one point with Africa." All the evidence garnered from many sources fairly establishes that primitive man lived at least forty thousand years ago and scientists of highest rank believe that there is substantial evidence that he may have evolved two hundred thousand or more years earlier. Every fossil, human remains, all associated fossils of animals (some long extinct), all the rude primitive implements of chase found with the bones of the earliest prehistoric men yet discov- ered, chime in complete rythm, with the scientific story of the evolution of Man as an animal. 226 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE While primitive man thus found had not yet advanced materially on the "Upward Way" which leads to civilization and towards the Ideal in Spiritual Life, we must go still farther back- ward and downward towards mere animalism to find the original progenitors of our race. * * # It was then repeated that when the Man-like animal ancestor of the human kind evolved into the Ape-like Man the Cosmic Process working on our earth produced something which had not theretofore existed Human personality with its attribute of mental growth through the coming ages, and supremely more significant with its attribute of moral growth. That the power of speech developed with the upright posture was found to be most significant. * * * The instruction next in many illustrations traced the onward march of humanity through the Ancient Stone-Age, when he largely dwelt in cav- erns and hollow trees, when his brain and his hands had co-operated so far as to make rude stone and bone implements of the chase and of warfare through the Newer Stone-Age, when he had grown in manual dexterity and had begun to develop crude social organizations and to make habitations through the Bronze Age, when an- cient civilization began to dawn and written his- tory began its records, and, lastly, through the Iron Age, which is our own Age. * * * It was a story of extremely slow progress of man, mentally and spiritually, in the earlier ages THE CHAMBER OF MAN 227 and of densely ignorant groping for fundamental truths. It was a story of growing dominion over the other creatures of earth with whom he fought for existence; a story of many bitter and bloody and deadly struggles with his own kind. BUT THE SUPREME FACT WAS DEMON- STRATED THAT HE HAD PROGRESSED THROUGH THE AGES AND GRADUALLY CREATED INSTITUTIONS WHICH HAVE LED TO THE INADEQUATE BUT HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS OF TODAY, AND THAT AT LAST SCIENCE THE SUM OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE BECAME UNTRAMMELED AND THE REALITIES BEGAN TO BE COM- PREHENDED. There was another story told in the closing instruction of this degree. It was the story of the growth or evolution of Religion amongst the evolving races of men. It was not by speaking with God; it was not through tablets of stone or of gold, God written; it was not by visions or dreams of the night in which men were taught by God or angels (all such claims are fictitious) ; it was not by all or any of these that always, from earliest times, the race spiritually groped to find the greater Power in the Universe and to worship that Power. The Evolution of Religion has been a vitally significant process, but it was solely as part, the highest part of the general Cosmic Process God 's Cosmic Plan; it was not physical evolution, though physical phenomena the tempest the thunder 228 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE the tornado and the avalanche helped lead man slowly towards better concepts of the Supreme Being. * * # It was all part of the Divine Plan that mankind should progress spiritually from animalism and ignorance o 'er the Upward Way towards God, and mankind was slowly garnering truth in all the strange pathway it walked to find the truth and God. The instruction closed with a quotation from the article on "Religion" in the Encyclopedia Brittanica : Religion has been "one of the mightiest mo- tors in the history of mankind, which formed as well as tore asunder, nations, united as well as divided empires, which sanctioned the most atro- cious and barbarous deeds, the most cruel and libidinous customs, and inspired the most admira- ble acts of heroism, self-renunciation and devo- tion, which occasioned the most sanguinary of wars, rebellions and persecutions, as well as brought about the freedom, happiness and peace of nations at one time a partisan of tyranny, at another breaking its chains, now calling into exist- ence and fostering a new and brilliant civilisation, then the deadly foe to progress, science and art." CHAPTER XXIV. THE ROMANCE OF THE SIXTH DEGREE. ROBERT YOUNG was a splendid specimen of young manhood. Six feet two in his stockings and ideally athletic in form, it is no wonder that Darwin Snowson was wont to re- mark affectionately, " Bobby, you are a fine up- standing lad." Passionately fond of walking, it happened one morning that he was striding through wonderful Golden Gate Park at San Francisco. He had entered the western entrance, which opens from the shore of the Pacific and, while enjoying the bracing sea air and dreaming of far lands on the other shore of the great ocean, he also noted the wild shrubbery reclaiming from barren- ness the sands which the storms of ages past had heaped in mounds and hollows over great areas. Paying scant attention to the gliding automo- biles and even to the slender stream of pedestrians marching through this less-frequented portion of the park, he was startled by a sudden scream. His quick glances revealed an impending trag- edy. A little child in rompers was toddling directly in front of a fast-coming automobile which was gliding down a pitch in the narrow side roadway which Robert was about to cross. Robert divined that by instantaneous action he might save the child, and in far less time than is consumed in reading this he rushed with great 229 230 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE rapidity the few yards to where the little one, warned by the scream of her mother, in bewildered fear, stood helpless whilst, with frantic efforts, the driver of the car vainly tried to avert the danger. Eobert was in time to save the little girl, whom he grabbed around the waist, but the car hit him hard enough to send him staggering to the road- side, where he fell forward. In falling, at the risk of his own face, he held the child to one side and ere he could recover himself he felt soft arms tak- ing the wee girlie from him, while a feminine voice said: "Bobby, you certainly are a fine upstanding lad," and then an almost hysterical laugh rang out as the speaker continued : ' ' Of course you are not upstanding very much just now, but I hope you will be in a moment. ' ' With a rapid twist of his muscular frame Robert sat up and looked with much bewilder- ment upon the charming face of a young woman who was totally unknown to him. This astonishing girl, from whose eyes tears were flowing unchecked, suddenly ceased hugging and kissing the wee girlie who had escaped the great peril and, holding her down towards Robert, said: ' * Kiss the Big Man, sweetheart. He saved you from the naughty auto that would have hurted you dreffully, so you ought to thank him with all your heart." The little arms stole around his neck and a soft kiss fluttered upon his lips as the child gravely said: KOMANCE OF SIXTH DEGREE 231 " Thank yon, Big Man. I was drefful 'fraid of that auto." There was a flutter of skirts and a rush of grateful motherhood. Robert felt himself and the child encircled in impulsive arms while incoher- ently the mother poured out her thanks to the young man. The rapidity of the incidents momentarily pre- vented Robert from rising, but he sprang to his feet and when he had, he heard the voice of the young woman who knew him and had quoted Dar- win Snowson saying: "Sister, perhaps Mr. Young would like to find out whether any of his bones are broken." By this time the car which had nearly caused a tragedy had returned and the occupants were alighting. Hurriedly, the young woman said : ' ' Mr. Young, before we are interrupted, I wish to introduce you to my sister, Mrs. Tomkins, and the little sweetheart you saved is Sallie." Robert felt a sense of unreality in being so familiarly treated by one whom he was sure he had never met, yet he was not greatly surprised to find in a few moments that under the appar- ently ingenuous management of the young woman, Mrs. Tomkins and Sallie had been sent home in the car with the grateful owner and her friends, while he remained in the Park with the girl who had effectually mystified him. Aside from a bruised thigh he had suffered no injury and had assured them all that he required no assistance. 232 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "Mr. Young, I am not going to apologize for my reprehensible conduct, but I deliberately planned to have us left alone in the Park and I have a real daring proposition to submit to you." Robert said under his breath : ' ' I 'd dare much with you," as the girl continued: "No matter now how I know you, if you have the day free, I would like to play that we are old friends and meet for the first time in a decade and wish to find out what the years have done for us." Gravely Robert replied : "I haven't the key to your mystery, but I echo your wish and I propose as the first 'old friend' act that we stroll out to the Cliff House for a fish luncheon. I am content to await your explanation of how you happen to be familiar with the very words of my closest friend." Robert places that day amongst his memories as one of the rare days of all his life. If the girl had deliberately set out to charm him into an ad- miration which must turn into love she could not have better planned. Merry and witty at times, serious and earnest at others, she sought and gave such open expres- sion upon so wide a range of subjects that Robert afterwards sententiously said to himself: "She led me from Base Ball to Immortality and I bared my very soul to her. ' ' Strolling here and there in the wonderful Park, now resting in some secluded spot, and again mingling with the other visitors, they did not fail to enjoy their surroundings, but mostly they were getting acquainted in a way that months of ordi- nary social meetings might not have accomplished. ROMANCE OF SIXTH DEGREE 233 But as far as acquaintanceship by name was concerned Robert began to wonder whether he was ever to learn who his absorbingly interesting com- panion was. As the afternoon wore on, he remarked that he was returning to Salt Lake City in the morning and that he regretted that he was obliged to leave so soon, but he would be back in San Francisco within a short time and wished to call upon her sister and herself and, if agreeable, to have her companionship another day in the Park. He did not tell the girl that he had not intended to visit "The New York of the "West" again for several months, but that somehow within a few hours another visit had become quite imperative. As he spoke he noted a merry twinkle appear- ing in the eyes which he admired so greatly. "Mr. Young, it seems very ungrateful not to tell you my name, but you are coming back soon and I will be very glad to see you again. I'll give you my sister's address, but I am going to let Darwin Snowson tell you who I am. Tell him for me that the shorter of the two girls who shared with him his Arabian Cave during a bad thunder- storm has finally met the chum of whom he has written so much to the taller of the girls, and that I certainly think he is a 'fine upstanding lad.' Then it was that Bobby had his inning. He had not been Darwin's chum for nothing. First stretching out his own hand and grasping the hand of the girl, he flashed a sudden happy smile, saying: "Miss Marie Templeton of Capitolton, I am very glad to know you. ' ' 234 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Laughing like two children, the companions of a day enjoyed the sudden solution of the little mystery and Marie Templeton, for it was she, at last replied: "I'm glad my little plot was spoiled, for now we can talk of Darwin and Faith Winthrop, It was through seeing some of your photographs which Faith has that I knew you as you strode up the path before the accident. You know that you are quite an unmistakable personage, don't you?" So as they strolled out of the Park and up and down the hilly slopes of the northwestern part of the City to the Tomkins home, Robert became aware in the mutual confidences about Darwin and Faith, without any direct expression, that his lin- eage did not weigh against him with the utterly charming girl whose companionship had so quickly become one of the principal things in his exist- ence. He also became aware that Marie feared that Faith's puritan blood would revolt against a mar- riage with Darwin. After undergoing the ordeal of praise and thanks from the father of little Sallie and the re- iterated blessings of Mrs. Tomkins, Robert reluc- tantly said goodbye to Marie Templeton. If his thoughts turned often from the borders of the Great Salt Sea to the city of the Golden Gate, was it not most natural? CHAPTER XXV. THE SIXTH DEGREE THE CHAMBER OF BROKEN IDOLS. JUST how many trips Robert Young made to San Francisco before the fateful April of 193 , perhaps only Marie Templeton could tell. It was late in March when Marie stopped over in Salt Lake City to have a cherished visit with Alice Douglas, the lovely young-hearted, white-haired "Aunt Alice" of the Cathertons and Snowsons. That the wise, much-loved counsellor of Eleanor Catherton and Naomi Snowson should also be a prime favorite with the Seven was in- evitable, and especially with Darwin Snowson and Robert Young, who had made her home a constant place of call and her suggestions a constant source of inspiration during the organization and growth of the Society of Progress. Not only did Aunt Alice take the degrees amongst the first initiates, but in the artistic de- signs of the Seven Chambers her suggestions had produced many of the entirely charming effects which the contrasting harmony of colors gave. It was Aunt Alice who guided Marie Temple- ton through the degrees, and when they had passed the tall bronze entrance gate of the Sixth Degree through the heavy curtains, Marie at once noted a radical difference between the panelled 235 236 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE alcoves of the other degrees and the walls of the Room of the Scrolls, as this one was called. The walls of this room were rectangular be- neath a beautifully arched ceiling and adapted strikingly to the use designed for it in the teach- ings of the Society. Upon entrance into the room Marie Temple- ton found the walls apparently blocked out with a number of deep brilliant blue, smooth surfaced silk panels with odd looking tops and bottoms. It developed that each of these was the com- mencement of a scroll which moved upward in sections upon the pressing of an electric button. The guide, as in the other degrees, requested the initiate to read each section of each scroll seven times and then the first blank blue segment at the left rolled upward, and to Marie 's eyes upon the blue background of the new segment in clear white letters there appeared the first paragraph of a printed message, preceded by the representa- tion of seven golden stars. Each initiate and the guide occupied a high divan seat with foot rests while reading each scroll. Marie, as a graduate of the University of Capi- tolton, had found much of the instruction of the preceding degrees, but the unification of knowl- edge already acquired, nevertheless she had gained strong impressions of the greater message to be revealed in the last two degrees and eagerly read the words presented to her bright eyes. CHAMBER OF BEOKEN IDOLS 237 SCROLL I. 1. To the Chamber of Broken Idols the So- ciety of Progress brings your soul. * * * If the Society could construct nothing in place of the Spiritual Images which are to be destroyed, and Truth demanded their de- molition, our Society would still feel that the Idols must be shattered. But no soul need fear because old spiritual idols are to be demolished. * * * The Society of Progress promises a grander faith, founded on God's Truth and that every high ideal of your soul in holier spirituality shall find itself reaching upward to the Infinite One as part of the Divine Plan for Humanity. Therefore, search your soul and shun no sacrifice of false spiritual Idols which you have ignorantly worshiped. After the seven readings of the opening sec- tion of the Scrolls, Moses Trustell, the first mar- tyr of the Society, then bent on betraying its se- crets, began to shrink in spiritual fear from the plan of betrayal which had possessed him, and later the teachings of this degree and the Seventh Degree brought his confession. 238 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE When Marie Templeton had finished the read- ings of this section, she said to Alice Douglas : "I already have broken to fragments many spiritual idols which I felt were not true, and I will welcome the destruction of all others which are denied by God's Truth. " Then the scroll moved upward and the second message of the Scrolls appeared: 2. QUESTIONS FOR YOU. "If one finds strong reason to doubt and abjure an inherited religion as not truthful and as inconsistent with the revelations of the working out of God's process for man, as shown in the records of ascertained truth, then if he does not forsake the untrue and turn to the truth, is he not either a moral cow- ard or a hypocrite?" * * * To every religionist on earth the Society of Progress seeks to bring these questions: "Is your soul seeking the truth?" and as correlatives, "Is your religion denied by the truth? "and "Has your soul spiritual strength to forsake the untrue?" Still upward rolled the Scroll and another sec- tion brought a personal message which was so vital to each disciple, and which is so vital to every human being, that it will never cease to make demands upon the souls of mankind. Linked with subsequent sections of the Scrolls it pecu- liarly searched the souls of Mormons and all Chris- tians respecting beliefs which the Society of Prog- ress deemed both unworthy and untrue. 3. FROM YOU, FROM EVERY HUMAN PERSONALITY, FROM EVERY SOUL, SPIRITUAL TRUTH DEMANDS: 1 'I. THAT YOUR GOD SHALL NOT BE A GOD OF WHICH YOUR SOUL MUST BE ASHAMED. "II. THAT THOU SHALT NOT ASCRIBE TO GOD ANY ACT WHICH DE- GRADES YOUR SOUL BY BELIEVING SUCH ACT AS DONE BY HIM. "IH. THAT THOU SHALT NOT ASCRIBE TO GOD ANY REVELATION WHICH CANNOT BE VERIFIED BY EVERY TEST OF TRUTH. "IV. THAT THOU SHALT REJECT AND FORSAKE THE SOUL TYRANNY OF ANY BOOK WHICH PURPORTS TO 240- THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE BE INSPIRED OF GOD OR TO TEACH GOD'S REVELATIONS IF IT BEAR WITHIN ITSELF SHAMEFUL CONCEP- TIONS OF GOD. "V. THAT THOU SHALT NOT ASCRIBE TO GOD THAT HE WILLFUL- LY CHOSE ANY PEOPLE AS HIS OWN, TO BE FAVORED BY HIM AGAINST OTHERS OF HIS CREATURES, OR THAT HE EVER CHOSE ANY MAN AS HIS FA- VORITE. THOU MUST ASCRIBE TO GOD INFINITE JUSTICE EXEMPLIFIED IN HIS PROCESS WHICH RULES ALL HUMANITY BY THE SAME LAWS OF PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH. "VI. THAT THOU SHALT WORSHIP GOD AS INFINITELY ABOVE ALL HU- MAN PASSIONS; INFINITELY HIGHER IN SPIRITUALITY THAN THE HIGHEST HUMAN IDEALS AND AS LEADING MANKIND ALONG THE UPWARD SPIR- ITUAL WAY BY MEANS OF A REALM OF SPIRITUAL LAWS WHICH CAN BE USED BY EVERY SOUL AND WHICH HAVE ALWAYS INSPIRED SPIRITUAL PROGRESS. CHAMBER OF BROKEN IDOLS 241 It is said that very many disciples read the message on the third section of this scroll so many times and so intently that they could repeat it word for word. The direct attacks upon Genesis made in the previous Degrees had prepared most of the disci- ples for the next section of the first Scroll which, with the preceding section and with subsequent sections of other Scrolls, was printed and given to each disciple who completed the seven Degrees, to be used in awakening the consciences of Mor- mons who were susceptible to the appeal to better spirituality. As the Scroll moved upward and brought to vision the fourth section it was noted by the So- ciety's guides that more interest was manifested in what should be displayed than in any previous teaching except the First Degree. The vital spir- itual significance of the preceding section had made eager souls. 242 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE 4. SPIRITUAL IDOLS are not to be wor- shiped by free souls any more than "graven images." * * * The Society of Progress now asks your soul whether it will shatter such spiritual images as shall be proven false Idols of Be- lief. * * * Because of its environment the Society of Progress addresses certain SOUL-SEARCH- ING QUESTIONS TO MORMONS, CHRIS- TIANS AND JEWS. EQUALLY SEARCH- ING QUESTIONS CAN BE ASKED OF RE- LIGIONISTS OF EVERY OTHER BELIEF. TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THE GOD OF THE JEWISH BIBLE AND OF THE BOOK OF MORMON (which really has a better God than the Bible because he was a nineteenth century God taken back in the fiction of the book to 600 years B. C.) THE SOCIETY OF PROGRESS ASKS A MUL- TITUDE OF QUESTIONS AND MAKES ITS DEMANDS UPON YOUR SPIRITUAL HONOR. CHAMBER OF BROKEN IDOLS 243 Again the Scroll rolled upward and the new section brought the first question. 5. (I.) Do you, and can you in honesty of spirit, believe in a God who makes revela- tions in Genesis respecting the origin of the universe and of life upon the earth which are completely and fundamentally contra- dicted by ascertained truth revealed in con- tinuing monuments of God's universe and in the actual history of life preserved in the rocks of our earth and in the organisms of living things? The Society of Progress says that The Infinite One, the real and only God of the Cosmos, did not inspire Genesis and that THE SOUL WHICH BELIEVES THAT GENESIS IS TRUE IS DISHONORING GOD for a multitude of reasons, some of which will be immediately shown. To the disciples of the Society who had all taken the preceding degrees, the earlier questions summarized and made vital the preparatory teachings of the Society, but it had been deemed wise to marshal in force the whole array of Truth to combat the false conceptions of God's relations 244 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE to Humanity which arise from Genesis, so that the whole structure of Religion reared upon the Tales of Genesis should be destroyed from founda- tion to dome, whether taught as Judaism, Chris- tianity or Mormonism. Another question was contained in the same segment of the Scroll and it bore directly on the subject of the first question. (II.) Do you believe in a God who makes two revelations in Genesis respecting the creation of the universe, which revelations are contradictory of each other? nf * * The Society of Progress, in the name of true spiritual worship of the Almighty, de- mands that you shall not accuse God of such conduct. God does not inspire falsities, nor does He contradict Himself. The First Scroll ended as a segment of blue without lettering replaced the message of the fifth printed segment. Marie Templeton was then led by Alice Doug- lass to the Second Scroll and, ensconced on an- other high divan, she turned her eyes towards the segment which was rising into view, and found another challenge to those who dishonored God with beliefs which are founded on Genesis. CHAMBER OF BROKEN IDOLS 245 SCROLL II. 6. (III.) Do you believe in a God who cre- ated Adam and Eve, as alleged in Genesis and PERSONALLY issued a command to them, BEFORE THEY HAD ANY KNOWL- EDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, and then, when they disobeyed, "cursed the ground" and condemned them and all mankind because of the absolutely innocent "sin" of these ficti- tious little children of the race? Do you dare to dishonor God by such a belief? God could not thus act. An earthly parent who would be so unjust would be quite universally condemned. The Society of Progress says to you that the time has come when the highest evolved of the race shall teach ignorant souls that the Infinite One is infinitely above such un- God-like conduct. God is infinitely just. God never "cursed" any human being, nor any thing. Cursing is finite and base. The later instruction of the Sixth Degree in the Main Chamber amplified the declaration con- tained in this segment of the Second Scroll, as it also emphasized many of the lessens taught in the soul-searching questions. 246 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE The third question had struck directly at the doctrine of the Atonement, for if the race did not "sin in Adam*' what becomes of that doctrine? The next upward journey of the Scroll brought questions peculiarly related to Mormon beliefs, and yet founded directly upon Genesis. ....._.* 7. (IV.) Do you believe in the plurality of Gods mentioned in Genesis? And do you believe the tales of Genesis that God had "sons" who took daughters of men for wives and physically co-habited with them, and that human children were born of such unions? f * * Answer in spiritual honesty whether you dare degrade The Infinite One by such be- liefs. * * * The Society of Progress finds through the Great Process of God and through the Divine Plan total denial of these assertions of Gene- sis. God cannot be physical. The only Fatherhood of God is the spiritual Father- hood, which gave to finite souls the power of CHAMBER OF BROKEN IDOLS 247 spiritual advancement and which ever im- pels humanity to advance spiritually. It is spiritual kinship not to be con- founded with the finite relation of Father and child. Again the relentless scroll rolling upward brought another test of soul freedom to all who read its words and now brings it to you and to me. Shall we shun it in self-deceit or spiritual fear? Surely we must read it and answer to our own consciences. 8. (V.) Do you believe that God made such a poor job of creation that "HE REPENTED THAT HE HAD MADE MAN ON THE EARTH" and that He resolved that He would destroy "both man and beast and the creeping things and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them?" * * * Do you believe that the Creator and In- finite Power which, through unalterable, Laws rules the inconceivably vast Universe; 248 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE do you believe that the Infinite Intelligence whose wisdom and foreknowledge is so in- finitely higher than any human knowledge that we can not frame expression to measure it at all; do you believe that The Infinite One whose infinite spirituality and perfection is but feebly and finitely shadowed in our high- est finite spirituality, adoration and worship; do you believe that God ever had to ' 'repent' ' any act or the making of anything in the Cosmos? Is Genesis false or true when it says that God "repented" his handiwork and resolved to destroy it? Why weigh down your soul with such conceptions of God? Of course, to all careful readers of the Bible it was apparent that the alleged flood of Noah's time was being put under the test of dishonoring God by belief in the Scripture tale, and when an- other segment of the scroll was presented direct challenge shone out. CHAMBEE OF BROKEN IDOLS 249 9. (VI.) Do you believe that God actually sent a flood over all the earth to destroy all living creatures except Noah and his family and "two of every sort" of living creatures which were gathered into the ark? * * * What kind of God do you ignorantly wor- ship if you can believe this, through your soul slavery, which believes that the Bible is God's Word? s *P *K Floods, tempests, tornadoes, lightning, avalanches, and all physical phenomena whatsoever, occur strictly under the reign of natural law. GOD DOES NOT INTERFERE WITH HIS PROCESS, EITHER TO REWARD OR TO PUNISH. * * * You degrade God in your soul when you give belief to the idea that He uses any physi- cal force or any other force to reward or to punish any human being or any community or any nation. 250 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE There was more to come regarding the flood in succeeding segments, as the Society deemed it greatly to be desired that the lesson about the flood should be thoroughly learned because the Bible tale cast upon God such intentional and in- defensible conduct. 10. (VII.) What kind of a God do you wor- ship who wished to destroy every living crea- ture of His own creation, all of which He originally pronounced "very good," and yet was so ignorant of His own laws of physical life that He didn't know that both the human creatures and their animal relatives who were preserved in the ark would go on and procreate just the same kind of creatures as God thought He ought to destroy? * * * Animals other than man cannot be wicked; why were they destroyed and why did God "repent" that he had created them? Don't you know that the same Bible ex- hibits mankind after the flood as just as | wicked as before? Ask the tiger and the snake and the crocodile whether they changed their natures because of the flood. CHAMBER OF BBOKEN IDOLS 251 Are you proud of a God who, after wreak- ing vengeance upon every living thing save the inhabitants of the ark, IMMEDIATELY BECAME SORRY THAT HE HAD DONE SO and made a covenant with Noah and with his seed and with every living creature in the ark that "neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth." * * * Do you believe that He set the rainbow in the clouds so that He should look upon it and REMEMBER HIS COVENANT? | WAS GOD FORGETFUL? The next segment was a continuation of the preceding one. 11. (VIII.) Are you aware that science re- veals that no such absurd vacillating un- God-like conduct can be ascribed to the In- finite One? * * * Geology and Physics reveal that the tale of the flood is untrue. No such flood ever occurred and it could not occur. 3JC SjC 5{C 252 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Are you childish enough to believe that forty days of rain, however torrential, could cover the mountains of the earth, some of which rise five miles above sea level? Where do you think all the water came from to cover the earth five miles deep, and where do you think it went after the flood had executed the awful vengeance of the God of the flood story? Did it pour out of a hole in a ' 'firmament " and was it afterwards sucked back through the same hole? * * * Science long ago exploded the idea of a "firmament" and the earth's atmosphere at its utmost saturation can contain no such supply of water by many thousands of feet in depth. Water doesn't escape into space beyond the limits of the atmosphere. Don't you know that the rainbow is a natural phenomenon and that ages before the days of Noah human eyes witnessed it displayed in the sky whenever the proper natural conditions prevailed? CHAMBER OF BROKEN IDOLS 253 Finally, are you aware that the ascer- tained species of "every living substance" are so great in number and in bulk that a thousand arks could not hold them? * * * The Bible is untrue in its tale of the Flood. First, because it falsifies God's plan for hu- manity; secondly, because it puts God in an impossible relation towards the creatures of His Process; thirdly, because God's laws negative the possibility of such a flood and again because God's records in the rocks deny the story utterly, and lastly because it is inherently untrue. The Second Scroll ended and it was usual at this point that the guide requested the reader to discuss the questions of the Scrolls in any way which would assist the disciple. Amongst the Seven, part of the history of the Sixth Degree related to many thoughts which had been expressed by disciples who thus paused in the midst of the Soul-searching questions. It was told that one who had clung to hopes of reconciling the Bible with science, oddly enough assumed that in the scientific proofs against the Flood story there was a denial of the power of the Almighty. "Couldn't God create water enough to cover the mountains and then destroy it when He had accomplished His purposes?" 254 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE The answer scarcely seemed to satisfy the questioner, for she was of the ignorant, who com- prehend but slowly that the revelations of Science in the physical world are God's own revelations of His immutable Laws. "The power of God is Infinite, but He exer- cises it in the physical universe only by means of what we call natural laws. Our earth tells no story of any special supernatural intervention of God, no universal flood sent at His command, and no standing still of the sun at His mandate and no tempest engendered other than by natural forces." # * # Another whose mind advanced towards ulti- mate conclusions asked his guide : "What of Christ and the New Testament? Does the breaking of Spiritual Idols go so far as to deny Christianity?" And for answer he re- ceived the reply which the Society had prepared for just such a question : "If the whole fabric of orthodox Christianity be proven to be a fanciful tapestry woven with strands of untruth and with false pictures of God, surely no disciple of the Society of Progress need dread the demolition of such a fabric. Whatever Jesus taught that has aided human progress must be valued rationally and used in so far forth as it now is seen to be the truth. Later you will hear what the Society has to teach about Christianity and the New Testament, but now suffice it to say that the religion of ortho- dox Christianity is founded on a dreadful and CHAMBER OP BROKEN IDOLS 255 untrue conception of God and, therefore, this Spir- itual Idol must also be broken into fragments." * * * One who had been a sincere believer in Mor- monism and knew its tenets expressed the thought of many disciples who were reared in that religion when he said : * ' The Society is undermining the very founda- tion teachings of the Mormon Church through an attack w T hich shows utter degradation of God in the Mormon beliefs. I am sure our people who realize the truth will be quicker to reject the Bible than Methodists or Catholics." * * * Marie Templeton remarked to Alice Douglas during the rest from reading the Scrolls : "My soul long has been freed from the awful conceptions of God contained in Genesis and I am proud to be a disciple of a Society which demands exalted spiritual conceptions of the Infinite One." * * * Seated before the Third Scroll, Marie awaited the coming question. 256 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE SCROLL III. (IX.) The very foundations of the He- brew Religion and of orthodox Christianity and of Mormonism rest upon the supposed favoritism of God to Abraham and thereafter to "his seed." Do you believe that God said to ' ' Abram, ' ' "I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee?" * * * How dark your soul must be if it thus dis- honors God. * * * Do you believe that the Infinite Spiritual Power in the Universe chose Abraham as His favored one to found a nation of God's own people, and approved of his acts notwith- standing he deliberately and premeditatedly lied and that because Pharaoh believed the lie God ' 'plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues?" Dare you accuse God of such conduct? Your soul must believe that God is infin- itely just, or you degrade Him; then how can you believe that He stooped to such conduct CHAMBER OF BROKEN IDOLS 257 in punishing Pharaoh, who was legally and morally innocent in respect to Sarah, Abra- ham's wife, as customs of mankind then were. You would unhesitatingly condemn a man who would thus pervert all ideas of human justice, and yet how can you ascribe to God such injustice? Would you not better say: "It is not true though the Bible tells it?" Do you not know that Isaac told a similar lie through like moral cowardice and that Jacob, or Israel, committed such a fraud by lies and conduct upon his brother Esau as would be severely condemned today? The Society of Progress says to you: GOD NEVER FAVORED ONE MAN BEYOND ANOTHER AND NEVER CHOSE ONE PEOPLE FOR HIS OWN AGAINST OTHER PEOPLES. GOD IN HIS PROCESS IS SUPREME- LY IMPARTIAL. 258 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE The conclusion of the segment of the Scroll just quoted caused some doubting amongst disci- ples who had not yet comprehended that to ascribe "favoritism" to God is to belittle Infinite Justice. They did not yet realize that the human race always has been one brotherhood in the climb along the Upward Way towards the highest spir- ituality, notwithstanding the tribes and the na- tions comprehended it not. Again the waiting reader saw another segment of the questions roll upward into full view. (X.) What is your concept of the In- finite One if you believe that He superin- tended the bearing of children by many wo- men, decreeing barrenness to this one and removing barrenness from that one, as nar- rated in the Bible? Remember, as the Bible stories go, God "talked" about these things as rewards and punishments, and it seems to have been a constant occupation from the many incidents narrated. Is your soul so blind and degraded as to believe this of God? The Society of Progress says to you that barrenness and fertility throughout all Na- ture's workings arise from natural conditions and not by special Divine decree. CHAMBER OF BROKEN IDOLS 259 As it was the object of the Scrolls to exhibit clearly how base and untrue were the conceptions of God held by many of the unknown writers and compilers of the Bible, it was not attempted to show a multitude of absurd things told in the Bible, such as the wholly baseless genealogies which gave to Methuselah nine hundred and sixty- nine years, and to Cainan nine hundred and ten years, and to Jared nine hundred and sixty-two years, and to Noah nine hundred and fifty years, and to others just as absurd longevity. Science laughs at such tales and so may we. Throughout the Degrees, Genesis had been the target of the shafts of Truth, but as the Third Scroll rolled upward and brought another printed segment into view it became apparent that the Breaking of Spiritual Idols went beyond the first books of the Bible. (XI.) Have you thought in your hesitat- ing soul that, even though Genesis should be rejected, that still the other books of the Bible might be God's word? Have you dreamed in your reluctant soul that, though the story of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob contains each its own utter con- demnation because it dishonors God, that the "scriptures" might be true in the tales of Moses and the Exodus, of Samuel and of David and of Solomon? 260 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE Have you hoped in your enslaved soul that the books of the so-called prophets might be spared the ax of Truth which destroyeth root and branch the Biblical growths which dishonor The Infinite One? The Society of Progress says to you that you have not known the things you have be- lieved if you still dream that one book of the so-called "Holy Bible" shall have the im- possible distinction of being God's word. Not one, there is, that does not degrade and dishonor God. Lest some amongst you shall say that high conceptions of God are to be found in the Bible, the Society of Progress once and for all declares that every true concept of The Infinite One, whether in the Bible or in the books of Thomas Paine or of any other, shall be valued and received though much else in the same scriptural writings must be rejected as dishonoring God. The test must be not whether it is in any particular book, but whether it is true. THE PROCESS OF GOD LEADS TO- WARDS GOD AND WE MUST ACCEPT NOTHING BUT THE HIGHEST AND HOLIEST CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. It was often remarked in the Council Room of the Seven that very few of the disciples had failed to learn the lessons of the Degrees so thoroughly that the segment of the Third Scroll just quoted came to them either as a surprise or as something to be questioned or doubted. As the Scrolls were intended to build up the highest and holiest concepts of God in each disci- ple, as well as to destroy the inherently debasing concepts of the Bible, and as they were to be used in gaining new disciples for the Society, they were always read with eager attention. It was Darwin Snowson who said to the Seven : "The Scrolls necessarily give any sincere spir- itual personality a longing for the consummation of the Degrees, but at the same time they are our strong weapons in bringing people who are spirit- ually honest to our Society because we promise a new Faith for the Faith which must die. ' ' The next segment ended the Third Scroll and was primarily directed towards Mormons only, but in the end it proved equally destructive to the tale of the Book of Exodus. 262 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE (XII.) Do you believe in the Mormon Book of purported Revelations from God called "The Doctrines and Covenants," which in similitude to the Biblical preten- sions represents God as making revelations to Joseph Smith? * * * Is your concept of God so petty and so base that you can believe the alleged revela- tion contained in Section 124 of the Doctrines and Covenants wherein the Infinite Creator and Ruler of the Cosmos is alleged to have commanded certain Mormon elders to build a "Boarding House" for the "boarding of strangers," and in which "My servant, Jo- seph," and his seed after him, "shall have place in that house from generation to gen- eration forever and ever saith the Lord?" Do you believe that God commanded that a stock company should be organized for building the "Boarding House" and that cer- tain Mormons named as "my servants, Vin- son Knight, Isaac Galland" and others per- sonally named, should "take stock" in this "Boarding House"? Is it possible that you can accuse God of making such mandates? CHAMBER OF BROKEN IDOLS 263 Can you believe that God, as represented in the Doctrines and Covenants, again and again directed by revelations to Joseph Smith the conduct of petty business affairs and the journeyings of many Mormons and who should hold offices in the Mormon church and who should be rewarded with lands and who should be punished? Are you so blind that you cannot see that such purported revelations are debasing to any high spiritual concept of the Infinite One? * * * The Society of Progress asks every Mor- mon or descendant of Mormons to weigh in the scale of high spirituality the trivial, un- worthy things which the Doctrines and Cove- nants presents as God's Revelations and answer in spiritual honesty whether they are not false. To that end you are admonished that the entire Mormon Faith is founded on the Bible including the New Testament and they and the Book of Mormon and the Doctrines and Covenants must fall as God's inspirations one with the other. * * * Now you who scorn the pretensions of the Book of Mormon and of the Doctrines and Covenants, let us test your spiritual honesty. 264 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE You do not believe the "Boarding House revelation," but do you believe the story of the midwives as told in the first chapter of Exodus? "Therefore God dealt well with the mid- wives. * * * :< And it came to pass because the midwives feared God that he made them houses." Do you say that this mustn't be literally construed, but that God inspired or directed others to make the houses? If so, why do you disbelieve that He in- spired Joseph Smith to direct the building of the "Boarding House"? Await the further questions about the tales of Exodus before you defend it. It is indefensible and you must concede that it is so or dishonor God. So strong is inherited faith, it is said, that amongst those who took the degrees some few of the descendants of orthodox Christians and also the descendants of orthodox Jews felt and ex- pressed some resentment that the Mormon "sa- cred" books should be discussed on a parity with the Jewish "sacred books," but the cumulative force of the Soul-searching Questions gradually wore away all such feelings. CHAMBER OF BROKEN IDOLS 265 To such as Marie Templeton the antiquity of the Hebrew Bible weighed no more than the pre- tensions of the modern Mormon books. It was usual at the end of the Third Scroll to give each disciple a copy of the first three scrolls and dismiss him or her until the next day, as the Society felt that the scrolls were momentous and the minds of disciples should not be overburdened at one session. When Marie Templeton and Alice Douglas passed back through the wonderful bronze gates and the door of the Chamber of Broken Idols, by chance Robert Young was at the door, and the three walked across the wide business streets and along the tree-shadowed walks of the city as they earnestly discussed the questions which Marie had just been studying. It was a remark of Marie's which caused Rob- ert to make sudden resolution not to await long before testing his belief that this charming girl of the Middle West was his fated life comrade. Marie remarked: "I am just beginning to realize that when the next Degree is finished we will all be of one faith, worshiping God alike and working towards one end the uplifting of all the human family in ful- fillment of God's own Plan. I am so glad that it is so." But it was not that day that Robert found op- portunity to test his hopes. CHAPTER XXVI. THE SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED THE day following the events of the last chapter found Marie Templeton at the home of Alice Douglas early and they were soon at the door of the Chamber of Broken Idols. Was it mere coincidence this morning that Robert Young was waiting just within the door? We might give credit to him for some definite planning, from the way he warmly welcomed them and begged Marie to go with him on a motor trip to Ogden Canyon, after the work of the Degree was ended. Robert usually had his wits about him and a plan is not necessarily a plot. Not anticipating the future, let us first go with Marie and Alice Douglas into the Hall of the Scrolls, where they soon seated themselves upon the high divan in front of The Fourth Scroll, and upon the button being pressed a new question ap- peared. 266 SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 267 SCROLL FOUR. (XIII.) We bring you now to the Jewish folk lore about Moses and the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Do you dare in your soul to accuse God of such conduct as is narrated in the Book of Exodus? *(? *l* *l* What kind of a God do you worship if you believe that the story of Moses and Pharaoh is true? It is stated in Exodus that God purposely "hardened" the heart of Pharaoh again and again, then not only horribly and cruelly pun- ished Pharaoh, but brought plagues, pesti- lence and death to every home in Egypt be- cause forsooth Pharaoh could not resist God's hardening process. Does the God of your personality, your soul, thus compel human action and then pun- ish not only the man who yielded to God's power, but thousands of innocent men and women and children even unto babes but one year old? * * * The Society of Progress says to you: "Oh, brothers of the race; Oh, sisters of the race, do not accuse God so basely." 268 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE INFINITELY ABOVE ALL FAVORIT- ISM, ABOVE ALL ANGER, ABOVE ALL CRUELTY, ABOVE ALL REVENGE, ABOVE ALL JEALOUSY, INFINITELY HIGHER THAN THE HIGHEST HU- MAN JUSTICE, INFINITELY GOOD BE- YOND ANY CONCEPT WE MAY HAVE OF GOODNESS, GOD RULES HIS UNI- VERSE WITHIN A REALM OF LAWS WHICH DO NOT PICK AND CHOOSE FA- VORED AGENTS OR FAVORED PEO- PLES FOR ANY PURPOSE, BUT WHICH OPEN WIDE THE DOORS OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESS TO THOSE IN ALL THE WORLD WHO WILL SEEK IT. It was Mollie Kichards who remarked after the seven readings of this segment of the Fourth Scroll: 1 'How it brightens our spiritual life to feel that our Spiritual Father has not done the cruel, awful things the Biblical writers accuse Him of doine^. ' ' And it was a former Mormon of the " Seven- ties" who said: "The Mormon beliefs accuse God as basely as the Hebrew scriptures. I am raised from spirit- ual slavery by the Society's breaking the shackles of such beliefs of God. ' ' It was one who came through Christian Science to the doors of the Chambers who said: SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 269 "I know now that the better beliefs of God taught in Christian Science are higher and nobler than those of orthodox Christianity, but I plainly see that many shackles of spiritual bondage yet remain to be destroyed by Christian Scientists." When Marie Templeton had finished the read- ings, she said to Alice Douglas : "The Society's plan of making each person responsible for his beliefs of God must arouse the realms of orthodoxy to bitter defense. They have been too long content to rest on the Bible as God's word to easily overthrow such beliefs." Then again a new challenge of orthodoxy ap- peared on the upward-moving scroll : (XIV.) Do you believe the pitiable tale wherein God, through Moses and Aaron, com- peted with the "magicians" of Egypt and. these "sorcerers" were so successful that, like Aaron (who performed for God), they cast down a rod and it turned into a serpent and again they smote the river and all its waters were turned into blood "and the fish that was in the river died" and "there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt," and again the "magicians" successfully competed with God in smiting all Egypt with a plague of frogs? 270 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Will you say: ''But God excelled the en- chanters finally?" 1* * T* The Society of Progress says to you: "Do not dishonor God by believing such an im- possible tale. The narrative of such a com- petition is simply irrational folk lore. Break to pieces the Idol of Belief which degrades The Infinite One by thinking He inspired the book in which the story appears. 5JC 5{C S|C Science, which is God's true revelations, tells you the tale is also scientifically impos- sible, but through ignorance some of you may not comprehend. Miracles later received destructive attention from the Society, but this story carried its own condemnation and the alleged miracles sank into the dark pool of falsehoods against God. Exodus still held the Scroll when the next seg- ment appeared. (XV.) Do you dare charge to God the laws He is reported to have given to Moses dealing out the death penalty for many rela- tively minor offenses and decreeing that there shall be given "an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand and foot for foot?" SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 271 Do you dare accuse God of making one law for the master and freemen and another for slaves and servants? Do you debase your soul by believing that God decreed that if a thief under certain cir- cumstances should have nothing to repay, then he should be sold for his theft, and that God otherwise sanctioned human slavery? * * * Do you know that in the same code of laws in which God is alleged to have given the Ten Commandments He is said likewise to have given the laws we have inquired about and that the commandment: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," is cou- pled in Exodus in the same laws with the terrible decree: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live?" * * * Magicians and witches as persons having unnatural powers were creations of ignor- ance, the baser brothers and sisters of fairies and gnomes. But to accuse God of believing that witches exist and decreeing their death is too horrid and base a belief for any civil- ized twentieth century personality. * * * 272 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE The Society of Progress denies the right of any human soul to accuse God, by be- lief, that he inspired the so-called "Mosaic Laws." A twentieth century nation which at- tempted to make and enforce the laws God is alleged to have inspired as told in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy would be placed outside the pale of civilization and would be abhorred even by the orthodox; yet, because a book says God made these laws the enslaved souls of millions of Christians be- lieve that He did. * * * THE POWER WHICH MAKES FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT AND NEVER WAS DEBASED, NEVER CRUEL, NEVER CHANGEABLE. GOD WAS NOT THE CRUEL MAKER OF THE MOSAIC CODE. The slight reference to the Ten Command- ments excited notable curiosity amongst the disci- ples, for these commandments and the "Lord's Prayer" are regarded as inspired by many who do not believe the Flood story nor the Bed Sea story, nor the tale of Jonah and the great fish. The next segment of the Scroll effectually de- stroyed the idea that the Ten Commandments could be segregated from the Mosaic- Code and accepted as God's Mandates. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 273 (XVI.) Do you believe that the Ten Commandments were decreed by God to the Hebrews through Moses? * * * The Society of Progress, in defense of God and in denial of such beliefs, declares a cer- tain thing clearly appears which demon- strates that the Ten Commandments were not "Spoken" by God as the Book of Exodus recites. The alleged commandments within their own limits contain utter condemnation of any claim that God made the decrees. They repeat the false stories of Genesis that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it." * * * God could not inspire a falsehood. Why should you seek to find reasons to assert Di- vine Inspiration of writings which within themselves contain their own condemnation? Are you one of those who actually attempt to find ''EXCUSES" FOR GOD to account for the favoritism, the cruelty, the terrible anger, the vacillation and many other basely 274 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE human qualities narrated and ascribed to the "Lord God" of the Hebrews in the Scrip- tures? YOU WOULD BETTER FREE YOUR SOUL FROM SUCH SPIRITUAL SLAV- ERY, FOR, UNLESS YOU DO, NO TRUE CONCEPT OF THE INFINITE ONE CAN DAWN WITHIN YOUR SOUL. It is well here to state that modern research in science, literature and history reveal that many of the laws set out in the Bible were copied from earlier religions, and that thousands of years be- fore Moses, amongst the predecessors of the Chal- deans, a civilization existed in which many just laws prevailed, far more just than the laws of Moses or of the Hebrews; also, that long before Moses a day of rest from labor, the seventh day, was in vogue. With the exhortation to the spiritual person- ality of every human being who should read the message, the Scroll ended, and Marie Templeton changed her view point to the high divan in front of the Fifth of the Scrolls. Unlike the other Scrolls, this one was not set off in short discon- nected segments. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 275 SCROLL FIVE. (XVII.) That you may not longer " ex- cuse" yourself in accusing and excusing God through your belief in the Bible as God's inspired word, either in whole or in part, the Society of Progress asks you to contemplate these Bible concepts of God and answer to your own soul whether you will longer be- lieve such dreadful, debased claims regarding The Infinite One. * * * Can you worship a God who decreed: "A man also or woman that hath a famil- iar spirit or that is a wizard shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones; their blood shall be upon them"? (Leviticus, Ch. 20-27.) Can you worship a God who is alleged to have decreed "the law of jealousies," where- by a jealous husband could subject his wife upon mere suspicion to the humiliating and absolutely irrational and false test of the bit- ter waters? (Numbers, Ch. 511 to 31.) * * * Do you believe the Bible when it degrades God by asserting in the eleventh chapter of Numbers : "And when the people complained it displeased the Lord; and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them 276 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE that were in the uttermost parts of the camp"? And do you believe, as asserted in that chapter, that merely because the people yearned in the wilderness for the foods of Egypt, The Infinite One had His "anger kin- dled greatly," and that when the people had been sent quails by a "wind from the Lord," then, because they gathered the quails in large numbers, "while the flesh was yet be- tween their teeth 'ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague"? How can you, oh how can you accuse God by holding such beliefs? * * * Do you debase your soul by believing that when the Israelites found a man that "gath- j ered sticks upon the sabbath day" that God said unto Moses: "The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp," and that ! "all the congregation brought him without j the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses"? That mob would be guilty of murder today and the laws of civilization would not recog- nize any Divine command to excuse them. Was God so much worse then than civil- ized men are now? SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 277 Oh, Brothers of the race! Oh, Sisters of the race! Destroy such awful beliefs of The Infinite One, so that your souls may be purged of every thought which does not yield the most exalted and the highest spiritual conceptions of God. * * * As your soul believeth so your God is; and you can make for your soul a Spiritual Idol of God, who is ''angered" and horribly cruel, who "repents" and who is basely partial amongst all of his spiritual children of the human race, or you can banish such degrad- ing conceptions and beliefs from out your soul, and then, in spiritual happiness, you can worship the Infinite One as becometh a free soul not enslaved by the false tales and asser- tions of an ancient book. Yet again, of great necessity, we must go on with the questions which, if you are spir- itually honest, you must answer to your own soul. Are you spiritually so blind as to believe God "Spake unto Moses, saying: 'Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites' * * *; 'And the children of Israel slew all the males' and they 'took all the women of Midian cap- tives and their little ones.' * * * 'And Moses 278 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE was wroth with the officers of the host' * * * which came from the battle and Moses said unto them: "Have ye saved all the women alive?" * * * "Kill every male among the little ones and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him, but all the women children that have not known a man by lying with him keep alive for your- selves?" ' " (Numbers, Ch. 311 to 18.) * * * Oh, Thou Infinite One: Can it be that there are any amongst those who pretend to worship Thee who believe of Thee that Thou could st direct such un-God-like cruelties, or who make of Thee the inspirer of the book which thus accuseth Thee? * * * Look into your Soul, each one of you who reads, and if you believe the Bible is God's book, see what a cruel, base Spiritual Idol you worship. * * * Let us examine into the "inspired" book of Deuteronomy and see how your Spiritual Idol the God of the Hebrews inspired the "meek" Moses, his favorite with whom he "talked" a great number of times, and who not infrequently was more merciful than the Hebrew God, more than once persuading that God to change his announced vengeance. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 279 Do you believe that God inspired Moses to threaten the Children of Israel with the terrible "curses" recited in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy from the 15th to the 68th verses? ''Cursed shalt thou be in the city and cursed shalt thou be in the field. * * Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation and rebuke in all thou settest thy hand unto do, until thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly. * * * The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee until he have con- sumed thee from the land. * * * The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption and a fever and with an inflammation and with an extreme burning and with the sword and with blasting. * * * The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust; from heaven shall it come down upon the land until thou be destroyed. * * * The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt and with the emerods and with the scab and with the itch whereof thou canst not be healed. " * * (and many more curses equally base and cruel) . ' ' And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and daugh- ters" * * * And all this is to be done "if thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law 280 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE (The Mosaic Code) that are written in this book that thou mayest fear this great and glorious name of THE LORD THY GOD." Truly the Hebrew God of the Ten Com- mandments must be deemed (as the Com- mandments recite) "a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. **" *T" ** SCIENCE, (GOD'S TRUE REVELA- TION), laughs at the "inspired" curses of Moses, as it demonstrates that "plagues" and failure of health and of crops, all occur under natural law, and that all vengeance and cru- elty are baseness in mankind and not the wrath of God. 3J 5JC *j Do you believe that God's power over, and His protection of His "chosen people" was 50 feeble that He permitted them to offer Him human sacrifices, as the Hebrews did con- stantly for centuries? Do you believe that after Jephthah had made a bargain with God, i. e., "vowed a vow," God performed His part of the bargain by enabling Jephthah to smite the Ammonites "with a very great slaugh- ter" and then God accepted the "burnt offer- ing" on the altar, not of a ram, but of Jeph- thah 's own daughter? SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 281 The Society of Progress pities the blind and spiritual idol-worshipping Soul which can believe such things of the Infinite One. * * * Is not Elisha one of the great prophets of your religion who prayed for and received a "double portion" of the spirit of Elijah? And yet, if you believe the Bible, you must perforce believe also that just after he per- formed a miracle, "there came forth little children out of the city and mocked him and said unto him, 'Go up, thou baldhead,' " and then that Elisha "turned back and looked on them and cursed them in the name of the Lord, and there came forth two she bears out of the wood and tare forty and two chil- dren of them." Look well into your soul, if you believe God thus honored (?) one of His prophets. Such beliefs spell spiritual degradation. * * * What shall it avail that the Society shall go on to picture to your soul the myriad of untruths which other Books of the Bible nar- rate of God? Shall we copy the Bible tales of how many hundreds of thousands of the human race, men, women and children, were slaughtered at the command of God? Shall we point out the instances in the Bible in which God is alleged to have sane- 282 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE tioned polygamy and made polygamists, liars, lecherous men, and cruel, vengeful men His favorites? Shall we point out the hundreds of in- stances wherein God is represented as having His "anger kindled" and to have wreaked terrible vengeance upon individual men and upon whole tribes of Israel? Shall we quote the vices and cruelties of David, "the man of God," the lecherous son of Jesse or of many others of God's favorites? What shall it profit your soul while it clings to its idols if we go on and show that the Book of Job represents God as wilfully unjust and as giving to Satan the power to mentally and physically torture a "perfect and upright" man? What shall it benefit your soul if we demonstrate that each of the so-called prophets constantly degrades God into an instrument of vengeance and of anger and of wrath and of bloodthirstiness? As one instance, will you believe the prophet Amos when he says of your God: "The Lord God hath sworn by his holi- ness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you that he will take you away with hooks and your posterity with fish hooks." (Amos, Chap. 4, V. 2.) Is this inspired by God? SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 283 Isaiah, too, dishonors God many times. Our quotations are merely a tithe of his un- true declarations respecting God. "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate." (Isaiah, Chap. 13, v. 9.) "Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts and in the day of his fierce anger." (Id. v. 13.) "Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished." (Id. v. 16.) "Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows. ' ' (Isaiah, Chap. 9, v. 17.) IF YOU BELIEVE THESE INSPIRED BY GOD, THEN BLACK INDEED IS YOUR SOUL CONCEPT OF DIVINE LOVE. * * * Again, read the terrible words which are put in the "mouth of the Lord" in the fifth chapter of Ezekiel from verse eleven to the end of the chapter, and the whole book of Ezekiel is full of like libels upon the Al- mighty. If you dare to impute such cruelty to the Infinite One, we pity the spiritual bondage wherein your personality lies imprisoned. 284 THE HUNDKEDTII WAVE But why go on with the abominable rec- ord? Read the books anew in true search for the things which a soul which loves God and believes in Divine Love must abhor and deny and you will reject every book of all the col- lection. Shall we point out the many Psalms which degrade God, mingled with many which con- tain higher conceptions of Him? If you are wedded to your spiritual idols, what would it avail should we show that to ascribe the Psalms to Divine inspiration is to accuse God of teaching a plurality of Gods and of likewise teaching that He is filled with emotions and passions which amongst men we now consider base and sinful. Oh, Brothers of the Race of Mankind! Oh, Sisters of the Soul Kinship! Destroy every root and trunk and branch of the deadly spiritual upas tree which poi- sons your souls with the base spiritually slav- ish belief that the Bible is God's Book. * * * It was thus that the Scroll ended and it was often said amongst the Disciples of the Society that within this scroll rested the " DEFENSE OF GOD" which enabled them to bring multitudes into the Chamber of Truth to learn the better wis- dom which the Society taught. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 285 One who came through strict orthodoxy to soul freedom long before the Society began its work for spiritual progress, after completing the seven readings of the Scrolls, said : "It ivas because I did not dare to believe the awful, debased acts and mandates which the Bible ascribes to God that I became an infidel to any faith which is founded on that ancient book. I know that I have worshiped The Infinite One in immeasurably higher spirituality since I threw off the yoke of my ancestral religion, even though I have been groping for the Higher Faith which our Society has promised to disclose. " And it was Darwin Snowson who made answer to him, saying: "Oh, Brother of Progress! it has been mani- fest to Spiritual Evolutionists that amongst intel- ligent orthodox Christians the world over for a long time the worthiest have unconsciously disbe- lieved that God is to be worshiped as the Jewish sacred books have depicted Him. "Unconsciously they have worshiped an en- tirely different God. They have picked out of the Bible every phrase and sentence which ascribes higher spiritual attributes to God and clung to these in a faith which unfortunately magnifies the book and fails to bring to it the acid test of Truth. They find gold and fail to burn away the dross which imprisons it. "To awaken these souls to a realization of how they degrade God by clinging to belief in the in- spired character of the book is one of the missions of our Society and to build the better Faith which worships The Infinite One as finite personality 286 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE may, in highest spirituality is the other great mission." When the disciples were led from the Room of the Scrolls into the Chamber of Broken Idols scarce one but asked the guide : "But what of the New Testament?" "What of Christ and His teachings?" And to him or to her who asked, the guide al- ways made answer: * ' The Society of Progress, would indeed be un- worthy of its great desire to be an Institution of Truth if it failed to answer honestly and fairly the questions you have asked, but before we ap- proach the fair valuation of the New Testament there remains the teaching of the Society of the known origin and history of the books of the Old Testament. * ' The intrinsic evidence of the uninspired char- acter of the Bible is overwhelming, but it is added to by the ascertained truth of how the books orig- inated. ' ' CHAPTER XXVII. THE SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED THE Main Hall of the Chamber of Broken Idols was wonderfully designed. Facing the disciples who gathered for instruction was a marvelous mural painting occu- pying the whole interior wall. But briefly may we glance at its great lesson. It was called "The Procession of Religions," and from left to right the Evolution of human concepts of God was depicted, showing the rise of the Race as higher ideas of God evolved during the ages of the past. * # * At the extreme left was Religion primeval. The Ape-like Man and his Mate and their child clothed only in Nature's hairiness cowering 'neath a shelf of rock and listening with dull apprehen- sive faces to the majesty of the tempest, glimpsing feebly the Power Invisible. The child in refuge behind his crouching Mother, whose arms encircled him, evidenced the dawning spiritual growth of Mother love which has been wonderfully potent in the Evolution of Religions and in the concurrent Evolution of true Spirituality amongst men. Was it any wonder that these ignorant souls groped dimly for higher things in the early dawn of Spiritual Evolution at the very bottom of the Upward Way? 287 288 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE In the next division of the painting the wor- ship of natural objects was depicted in a series of groups which portrayed not only fetich wor- ship, but the higher worship of spirits imagined to dwell in trees, stones, streams, lakes, wells, springs, the sun and other natural objects. Here was disclosed progress in the dawning of the idea of the soul, for as man worked out a distinction between his body and his spirit, it was natural that he should endow natural objects with a spirit also. Next on the walls appeared groups illustrating ancestor worship, which strangely enough gave reverence to those who in the courses of evolution were oftentimes lower down the scale of human progress than their descendants. It was the spirits of the dead which were wor- shiped. * * * Then came polytheism, the worship of many very human gods, such as were worshiped in Egypt and Greece and Rome. In the paintings, groups of the gods and god- desses of each of the three great races mentioned were beautifully portrayed in pictures like those made by zealots who worshiped them so long ago. * # * In the next segment appeared the God of the Jews, the Mohammedans, the Christians and the Mormons. Here was a great advance, the idea of one su- preme ruler, though long before the Hebrew race arose this idea prevailed elsewhere among certain races. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 289 The painting showed Jehovah as he was de- picted in the Bible, and included the curse of Adam and Eve, the Deluge, the destruction of his enemies, and his favoritism to the Jewish race and to certain individuals. Then it displayed the great white throne, and the sending of certain of the elect to dwell amongst the angels, and of the wicked to suffer torture for- ever in hell. * * * Lastly, came a beautiful bordered panel in which no picture appeared, and in which on a back- ground of deep blue, in gold letters appeared this legend : "THE INFINITE ONE CANNOT BE DEPICTED BY FINITE HANDS. "WE MUST NOT ATTEMPT TO LIMIT THE INFINITE BY WORDS NOR TO POR- TRAY TO FINITE EYES THE INFINITE POWER WHICH IS SUPREME IN THE UNIVERSE AND WHICH "MAKES FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS IN MANKIND." We shall not attempt to summarize the instruc- tion first given in the Chamber of Broken Idols. In briefest outline it may be said that it clearly told from intrinsic evidence and external sources and historical data how many of the books of the 290 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Old Testament were written at much later dates than they purported to be written, and were the gathering together of Jewish traditions, folk lore, poems, and much fairly authentic history, embel- lished with the usual glorification of kings and princes. Written in ages when miracles were necessary to be invented to bolster up religion and rulers, they unstintedly furnished the miraculous to the credulity of all who accepted the Hebrew faith. Finally, the instruction frankly acknowledged great evolutional value in many of the better ideas of God occurring here and there in a number of Books of the Old Testament. But the disciples were also asked to remember that IN THE COURSES OF SPIRITUAL EVO- LUTION, FORESHADOWINGS OF GREAT SPIRITUAL TRUTHS OFTEN HAVE AP- PEARED LONG BEFORE THE ULTIMATE- LY CORRECT EXPRESSIONS OF THESE TRUTHS HAVE FINALLY SUPERSEDED THE LESS TRUTHFUL FORESHADOW- INGS. * * * After the instruction regarding the Old Testa- ment was completed, the disciples were conducted from the main hall into another connecting room which was in all respects a duplicate in form of the Room of the Scrolls, but which was distin- guished from it by the different tints of the walls and by the fact that the scrolls which it also con- tained were deep red, though the letters upon the scrolls were pure white, like the letters on the deep blue scrolls of the other room. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 291 This room was called "The Boom of Opened Eyes, and as the imprinted deep red segment of former Christians became so clear and true that never again could they believe any of the Christian creeds. Let us go with Marie Templeton to the divan in front of the first Scroll in the Boom of Opened Eyes, and as the unprinted deep red segment moves upward and is superseded by a message to the disciples, let us see what the eyes of each disci- ple beheld. SCROLL 1. (1.) ANCIENT LEGENDS. In some ancient legends about a great moral teacher the Master of a great relig- ion which legends appear in the sacred books of that religion, these things are taught as the truth to the followers of the religion. (a) That he was omniscient and absolutely sinless; (b) That he was not born as ordinary men are; that he had no earthly father; that he descended of his own accord into his mother's womb from his throne in heaven; (c) That he gave unmistakable signs, imme- diately after his birth of his high character and of his future greatness; 292 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE (d) That earth and heaven at his birth united to pay him homage; the very trees bent of their own accord over his mother, and the angels and arch- angels were present with their help; (e) That his mother was the best and purest of the daughters of men; (f) That at his conception, thirty-two signs took place; the 10,000 worlds were filled with light; the blind received their sight; the deaf heard; the dumb spoke; the crooked became straight; the lame walked; the imprisoned were set free, and so on; all nature bloomed and all beings in earth and heaven were filled with joy, while even the fires of hell were extinguished and the tortures of the damned were miti- gated. (g) At the time of his birth, an aged saint came down from the mountains and prophesied that the child would be- come a Divine Master; and seven wise men also came from a distance and made homage to him and also prophe- sied that he would become a Divine Religious Master; One of the Seven proclaimed that he would "REMOVE THE VEILS OF SIN AND IGNORANCE FROM THE WORLD": SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 293 (h) It is recorded in one of the Sacred books that while he was yet a mere baby, he went into a trance under a tree which miraculously shaded him, though the shadows of the other trees had turned away, and that five angels flying through the air were miracu- lously stopped as they passed above him; That they sang stanzas in his praise, saying that he was the Water appearing in the midst of the fires of Sin devouring the World; THE LIGHT APPEARING IN THE DARKNESS OF THE WORLD'S IGNORANCE; the Ship appearing amidst the perils of the ocean of hu- man misery; THE LIBERATOR OF THOSE ENCHAINED IN THE BONDS OF SIN; the Physician of those tormented by decay and disease, And that BY HIM WOULD BE OBTAINED THE TRUTH WHICH WOULD BE THE SALVATION OF SENTIENT BEINGS. (i) So, too, these legends record that in his youth he surpassed all in prowess AND TAUGHT EVEN HIS MAS- TERS. 294 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE (j) In fulfillment of these prophetic sayings it is told in one of the sacred books, that during his life, even at his ap- pearance, the sick were healed, the deaf were cured, the blind saw and the poor were relieved. He visited a certain sick man and healed his soul as well as his body. He wrought many miracles. He multiplied food shall we say "Seven loaves and seven small fishes to feed a multitude"? He walked on the water and stilled the tempest. Where one was lying at the point of death, he laid hands on him and healed him. (k) He was transfigured on a mountain. (1) He was tempted by the Evil One to give up his mission and was promised do- minion over "The Four Great Conti- nents." (m) Once he fasted for seven days and nights when a great archangel came and ministered unto him. (n) He preached a wonderful sermon advo- cating the pure and perfect life, which has been called a "Sermon on the Mount." (o) He spoke in many wise and remarkable parables. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 295 (p) He foretold his death and prophesied that he would appear after his death, and did appear many times. (q) He taught what was called the "Noble Eight Fold Path," that is to say: "Right Views, Right Aspirations, Right Speech, Conduct and Mode of Living; Right Effort, Right Mindful- ness, and Right Rapture." (r) He condemned evil desires, low ideals, useless cravings and idle excitements. He said that the three cardinal sins were sensuality, ill will and spiritual stupidity or dullness. (s) He taught love without measure to all beings, saying, "Cultivate towards the whole world above, below, around a heart of love unstinted, unmixed with sense of differing or opposite interests." (t) As Four "Sublime Conditions" he taught, "They are Love, Sorrow at the Sorrows of others, Joy in the Joy of others, and Equanimity as regards one's own joys and sorrows." (u) Thus also spake he: "Our mind shall not waver, No evil speech shall we utter, Tender and compassionate will we abide, loving in heart, void of mal- ice within, And we will ever be suf- fusing such a one with the rays of our 296 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE loving thought, and with that feeling as a basis, we will ever be suffusing the whole wide world with thoughts of love, far reaching, grown great, be- yond measure, void of anger or ill will." (v) He taught that every seventh day should be a fast day for the special observ- ance of moral precepts. Also, he taught many other lofty ideals. WAS JESUS OF NAZARETH THIS GREAT SPIRITUAL MASTER? Oh, no! All these things were recorded of another, centuries before Jesus was born, and that other was born eastward of Palestine more than 500 years before the birth of Jesus. * * * OP "THE GREAT LORD BUDDHA" WERE ALL THESE LEGENDS WRIT- TEN, IN THE BIBLES OF THE BUD- DHISTS, SEVERAL CENTURIES PRIOR TO THE TIME THE STRIKINGLY SIMI- LAR LEGENDS OF JESUS WERE WRITTEN IN THE BOOKS CALLED BY CHRISTIANS "THE NEW TESTAMENT." I* t *T" DID THE BUDDHISTS, CENTURIES BEFORE CHRIST, PROPHETICALLY ADOPT THE NEW TESTAMENT TALES ABOUT JESUS, OR WERE THE LEG- ENDS OF BUDDHA COMPETITIVELY SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 297 ENGRAFTED INTO THE BOOKS CALLED "THE FOUR GOSPELS"? CAN THERE BE BUT ONE ANSWER? The Society of Progress says to you that whatever Buddha taught which is truth with- in the Divine Plan, and also whatever Jesus taught which will stand the test of truth, be- long to the march of humanity along the Up- ward Way, but the Society denies that either the "Testaments" of Buddha's life and mis- sion or the "Testament" of the life and mis- sion of Jesus of Nazareth can in any way be taken as Divinely inspired. The Society of Progress denies utterly any miraculous birth of any man, whether it be Buddha, or Jesus, or any one of a multitude of others to whom it has been ascribed in the religious teachings and sacred writings of many nations. In the days of superstition and credulity such claims were deemed essential to uphold that the "Masters" of a religion, and popular heroes, and even kings and emperors were di- vinely conceived or were actual sons of God. Now, Science the Truth with God's laws as its teacher, and with the Divine Plan 298 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE clearly in vision, says to you that the Infinite One denies the legend of the miraculous birth of Buddha, and also denies the same legend adopted by the person or persons who, at some later date, engrafted it upon the orig- inal traditions respecting the life and teach- ings of Jesus of Nazareth. All conceptions and births of all men at all times have been the result of nature's processes. Only ignorance or hypocrisy as- serts the contrary. Startlingly few of the disciples knew aught of the legends respecting Buddha or about the nature of his religious teachings, and though many of them had learned that the authorship of much that is contained in the four gospels was of very uncertain origin, it came as a surprise that appar- ently numerous incidents and legends of the four gospels had been ''borrowed" from the sacred books of Buddhism. The denials of the Society were impartial be- tween Buddhism and Christianity. Science knows no prejudice in the consideration of the claims of any class of religionists. The deep interest engendered by the first scroll of ' ' The Room of Opened Eyes ' ' naturally led to eager perusal of the Second Scroll. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 299 SCROLL 2. GOD COULD NOT HAVE INSPIRED THE NEW TESTAMENT FOR MANY REASONS. First: Aside from the palpable adoption of the Buddhistic legends, the books contain assertions respecting God which free souls, unbound from the chains of Spirit- ual slavery, cannot accept as the truth. Second: Jesus, the great religious Master, taught many of the current religious be- liefs of his time which we now know are false, and that we would dishonor God by believing them. Third: Besides contradicting each other in essential matters, the books bear much in- ternal evidence that they are not divinely inspired. Fourth: The fundamental conception of the entire Christian faith the sacrifice of the life of Jesus that whosoever believed in him should have eternal life is based on a conception of the relation of God to hu- manity which is false and dishonors God. The second scroll was in segments, and it is recorded in the archives of the Chamber of Coun- cil that Zora Wells in characteristic phraseology, remarked, after reading the first segment: 300 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "I think it must be reasonably plain that if the assertions we have just studied are fairly es- tablished, then the New Testament must follow the old into the museum of discarded religious teachings. I'm sure I do not want a religion which is based on all those dreadful things." Aunt Alice Douglas heard the statement and replied: "Zora, when the really good women who cling to the Christian Faith learn the truth about the Bible, including the New Testament, they will feel just as you do and will seek the religion which is based on all truth." When Marie Templeton, college alumna, had read the broad assertions, she turned to Robert Young and said: "I have followed the research work which is called the 'Higher Criticism' and I believe that great numbers of those who have studied the Bible with intelligence and desire to learn the truth about it, and have weighed the internal and ex- ternal evidence of how and when the books origi- nated and have applied honest reasoning and re- search to the assertions of the books, as soon as a religion based on scientific truth is brought to their knowledge, will welcome it gladly, because they must feel that the Bible is not true. ' ' Robert answered her: "Our Society had its origin in that belief re- specting intelligent, spiritually honest Mormons, and of course it is broadly true of all religionists of the Christian and Jewish faiths." The upward rolling scroll brought another seg- ment before the watching disciples: SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 301 GOD COULD NOT HAVE INSPIRED BOTH THE BOOK CALLED "THE GOS- PEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW" AND THE BOOK CALLED "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE," BECAUSE THEY CONTRADICT EACH OTHER. GOD DOES NOT INSPIRE UNTRUTH. # * # In order to fulfill some fancied necessity, the person who attached the first chapter of Matthew to the original tradition, about Jesus and his teachings, which tradition is ascribed to Matthew, deemed it desirable to have a pedigree, a genealogical record, which would show that Jesus was a direct lineal de- scendant of King David. It is palpable that the idea was to con- nect Jesus with certain Old Testament proph- ecies, which predicted that the "Messiah" would be of the "blood of David." The same fancied necessity also spurred the inventive faculties of the person who wrote the third chapter of Luke; but, alas for any claim of truth, the genealogy of Matthew is substantially unbelievable, while that of Luke contradicts that of Matthew and con- tains inherent untruth, which clearly estab- lishes that God could not have inspired it. 302 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE IN THE BOOK OF MATTHEW, 28 NAMES OF GENERATIONS ARE GIVEN TO CONNECT KING DAVID WITH JESUS (INCLUDING BOTH) BY DIRECT LINE OF DESCENT, WHILE IN THE BOOK OF LUKE 43 NAMES ARE GIVEN TO AC- COMPLISH THE SAME PROPHETIC NECESSITY. ALAS FOR VERITY!! ONLY TWO OF THE NAMES ARE THE SAME IN EACH LIST AFTER EX- CLUDING DAVID, JOSEPH THE FATHER OF JESUS, AND JESUS, AND EACH LIST PURPORTS TO GIVE ALL THE GENERATIONS. * * * ARE THESE "THE WORD OF GOD" OR "REVEALED" BY GOD OR "IN- SPIRED" BY GOD? * # * BIND NOT YOUR SOUL WITH THE CHAINS OF A SPIRITUAL SLAVERY WHICH BLINDLY REFUSES TO REJECT UNTRUTH. * * * The genealogy appearing in Luke was not content to go back to David and then to Abraham, but in order to give greater value to its fiction, it traced the blood in Jesus' veins which came through his father Joseph the carpenter, straight back through the SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 303 fictitious generations of the fifth chapter of Genesis to the mythical "Adam" which was the Son of God." (Luke 3, 38.) AS THE MYTHS OF ADAM AND EVE AND THE DESCENT OF ABRAHAM FROM THEM ARE UNTRUE, SO IS THE FICTITIOUS GENEALOGY OF THE BOOK OF LUKE. The sinister fact about both the geneal- ogies is that they flatly contradict the "im- maculate conception" because they assert that the blood of David flowed in Jesus' veins through Joseph, the husband of Mary. * * * But it may be said that neither the ficti- tious genealogies nor the untrue tales of the "immaculate conception" of Jesus have aught to do with his teachings, and save as he claimed to be a "Son of God" the state- ment has a certain validity, but it will be shown that the teachings of Jesus and the legends of his life are in many respects as untrue as the stories of his birth and of his lineage. As Thomas Paine says in his "Age of Reason," "THE NEW TESTAMENT, THEY TELL US, IS FOUNDED UPON THE PROPHECIES OF THE OLD; IF SO, IT MUST FOLLOW THE FATE OF ITS FOUNDATION." 304 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Of the sayings of the disciples of Progress re- specting the genealogical segment of the scroll, we may quote one by Mollie Eichards: * * Orthodox Christians generally are not aware of the untruth of the genealogies. It is never taught in Sunday Schools except where liberality has superseded orthodoxy. Perhaps ere long, Christians will be forced to discuss the truth of many things narrated in the New Testament. ' ' Darwin Snowson replied: "Some great trumpet blast of truth is needed to arouse the enslaved souls of followers of ortho- doxy to a realization that their religion is founded on untruth. "When the sound of truth pervades Christen- dom, some of them will still deliberately shut out truth, and many will for the first time begin to realize the untrue things about God which con- demn as false both the Old and New Testaments. "It may be that through the teachings of our Society a lot of the best people in the world will learn that they have been dishonoring the Infinite One by slavishly accepting the Bible as his word. ' ' SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 305 EDUCATED CHRISTIANS OF TODAY TO A LARGE EXTENT DO NOT BELIEVE VERY MUCH WHICH THE LEGENDS OF JESUS OF NAZARETH REPRESENT THAT HE DID AND TAUGHT. # * * SPIRITUAL AND INTELLECTUAL EVOLUTION HAS UPLIFTED MILLIONS OF HUMAN BEINGS FAR ABOVE MANY OF THE IGNORANT SPIRITUAL AND SCIENTIFIC IDEAS HELD BY JESUS AND HIS COTEMPORARIES. Many Christians who are honest and really desire to know the truth have uncon- sciously grown away from the belief in many vital things taught by Jesus, but because they have not cleared their spiritual vision, they do not realize how far they have evolved spiritually above the ideas and teachings they once deemed inspired and sacred. WE WILL BRING YOU TO YOUR BE- LIEFS AND EXPECT YOU TO BE FEAR- LESSLY HONEST AND TO ATTEMPT NO EXCUSES AND NO EVASIONS. 306 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE In Andrew D. White's remarkable work, "The Warfare of Science with Theology in Christen- dom," it is clearly shown that the Spiritual slavery which regarded the Bible, including the New Testament, as literally "God's Word" led to cruelties unspeakable during the "Dark Ages" of Christian history. Any soul seeking the light would do well to read the two volumes, because soul freedom will receive strong impulses from the knowledge to be gleaned from the books. The Society of Progress did not attempt to summarize the historical results of the belief in the literal inspiration of the Bible. Apparently the Society was content to chal- lenge orthodoxy on the highest grounds only. Out of the falseness of the sacred books should come their own condemnation. They dishonor God, therefore they are not the Truth. Of course, no disciple of the Society was sur- prised by the message on the closing segment of the Second Scroll. In front of Scroll Three, the disciples awaited the disclosures respecting Jesus of Nazareth, and the uprolling message came slowly into view. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 307 SCROLL 3. AS DID OTHER JEWISH RELIGIOUS TEACHERS OF HIS TIME JESUS BE- LIEVED IN ETERNAL PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED IN A HELL OF EVER- LASTING FIRE AND BELIEVED THAT SATAN EXISTED AND TEMPTED MAN- KIND TO DO EVIL. * * * AS OUR RACE HAS EVOLVED SPIRITUALLY DURING THE LAST THREE CENTURIES THERE HAS COME TO THOSE WHO SOUGHT THE SPIRIT- UAL SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE, REV- ELATIONS OF GOD WHICH ARE SU- PREMELY ABOVE THE IDEAS OF JESUS AND OF THE JEWS GENER- ALLY. TO ACCUSE GOD OF PUNISHING ANY PERSONALITY, HOWEVER WICKED IT MAY HAVE BEEN WHILE ON EARTH, WITH ETERNAL PAIN AND MISERY IS SPIRITUAL SAVAGERY. IT DEGRADES GOD, AND THE SOUL THAT BELIEVES IT OF GOD IS IN SPIRITUAL DARKNESS. * * * It was not spiritual degradation for Jesus and the Jews to believe these things, because 308 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE *o*m*t^~t ..y. neither he nor they had evolved far enough j along the Upward Way to discern that they j were dishonoring the Almighty by such be- liefs. BUT FOR YOU AND ME IT IS MORAL DEBASEMENT. * * * Thrice in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that hell is the punishment of the wicked. "Whosoever shall say (unto his brother) Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matthew 5, 22.) "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." (Matthew 5, 29.) The same statement is made also in the next verse. * * * The Jews generally, at that time, believed in the resurrection of the body and that the good went to Heaven to receive "rewards" from God and the wicked went to hell to receive eternal punishment. Jesus was a Jew and followed the Jewish ideas. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 309 Now, the Society of Progress well knows that many of you who cling to orthodox Christianity will at once start out to say that "Christ" spoke figuratively, and some will even to dare to clank the chains of their soul slavery and chant the creeds of orthodoxy, which the Roman Catholic, the Protestant Episcopalian, and the Presbyterian sects of Christianity glory in. Let us go on and be honest at least. "And fear not them which kill the body and are not able to kill the soul (in some ap- plications, a great teaching even for the Twentieth Century), but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10, 28.) As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire so shall it be in the end of the world. "The Son of Man (The Loving Jesus) shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity; "And shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 14, 40-42.) 310 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "So shall it be at the end of the world; the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, "And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 14, 49-50.) * * * Is there a human soul which either in its own self -righteousness, or which deems itself "redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ," which does not shrink in horror at the thought of such punishment for even the most wicked? Are you better or less cruel than the In- finite One? * # * It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire." * * * It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire." (Matthew 18, 8-9.) The same teachings are reported in Mark, Ch. 9, v. 43-47. "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell." (Matthew 23, 33.) SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 311 "Then shall he (The Son of Man the loving Jesus) say also unto them on the left hand (the spiritual 'goats'), 'depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." (And Jesus believed the resurrected bodies should suffer thus.) (Matthew 25, 41.) "And these (the wicked the uncharit- able) shall go away into everlasting punish- ment; but the righteous into life eternal." (Matthew 25, 46.) Even the author of Daniel was kinder than was Jesus to the morally weak and the morally base children of God's great Plan, for he made the punishment a spiritual punishment and did not threaten them with eternal bodily torture. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting con- tempt." (Daniel 12, 2.) THE IDEA THAT GOD WILL DEAL OUT EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT OF ANY NATURE TO ANY HUMAN PER- SONALITY IS TOO BASE A BELIEF FOR ANY SOUL WHICH TRULY LOVES GOD. 312 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Here the uprolling scroll brought into view an imprinted deep red segment, and at this pause in the instruction let us listen to some of the re- marks of the disciples upon "Hell." Marie Templeton expressed an opinion which represents the present attitude of many educated persons : ' ' In the past, and even now under some creeds, the priests confronted the ignorant with threats of eternal physical torture after death in order to gain power over their poor deluded followers, and fictitious absolution from such tortures too often has been given for the payment of money to the priests, or burnt offerings which the priests ate. "Education has always meant emancipation from such ideas and rejection of such priestly powers, and surely education to the knowledge that it dishonors God to hold such beliefs of His cruelty to any creature of His Process will event- ually free all the world." Robert Young answered: "Science has forever quenched the flames of hell. "The knowledge that under God's laws, the individual human machine, which personality uses during life, after death goes into chemical changes which may fertilize a flower or enrich the soil, but in no event can ever re-assemble to be the habitation of the nervous system of the same personality which once occupied it, or any other personality, reveals to all who care to study the truth, that it was man's inhumanity which created Hell, and not the supreme love and mercy of The Infinite One. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 313 "Our personalities, our souls, survive the dis- solution of the body, but souls cannot feel the per- petual hell fire Jesus ignorantly believed in. ' ' One who came through Christian Science said: "I realize now that the doctrines of resurrec- tion of the body and eternal physical punishment were taught by Jesus because they were the cur- rent belief of his days and his environment, but, really, no Christian Scientist believes that God could be guilty of such unspeakable cruelty. "I guess Christian Scientists have evolved away from the baser ideas of God which Jesus held and taught and are really far on the way to the better religion our Society promises to teach us." Darwin Snowson replied thus : "A little later in our instruction we will find a tribute to those who, under one denominational name or another, have idealized some of the teach- ings of Jesus, and thereby advanced spiritually to heights which Jesus could not reach in his day and age." The next segment of the Scroll continued the lesson of the first. 314 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE CENTURIES BEFORE JESUS | TAUGHT IN GALILEE THE JEWS HAD \ BORROWED FROM THE RELIGIOUS | TEACHINGS OF THOSE WHO WERE | DISCIPLES OF ZOROASTER CERTAIN j IDEAS WHICH THEIR OWN RELIGION DID NOT CONTAIN. JESUS TAUGHT THESE IDEAS AND j THEREFORE WAS A FOLLOWER OF j THE PERSIAN "SAVIOR." More than five hundred years B. C. the j Jews were captives seventy years, and during j their captivity they came into strong contact j with the Persian religion. From it (and not j from revelation), they derived the ideas of j the immortality of the soul which afterwards j tinctured their religious teachings. THEY ALSO BORROWED FROM THE PERSIAN RELIGION THEIR SUBSE- QUENT BELIEF IN A MULTITUDE OF ANGELS AND IN SATAN AS THE RULER OVER EVIL SPIRITS. (Edward Clodd.) JESUS FOLLOWED THE PERSIAN RELIGIOUS BELIEF THAT SATAN AND HIS DEMONS COULD POSSESS THE BODIES OF MEN AND ANIMALS AT PLEASURE. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 315 FROM THIS IGNORANCE GREW UP THE FURTHER BELIEF IN SORCERERS, WIZARDS AND WITCHES UNDER WHICH MILLIONS OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE RACE, BOTH YOUNG AND OLD, WERE CRUELLY TORTURED AND PUT TO DEATH. * * * JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES AND ALL THE JEWS OF HIS DAY WERE SO GROSSLY IGNORANT OF THE REAL FACTS RESPECTING THE HUMAN BODY AND OF ITS DISEASES, INCLUD- ING MENTAL DISTURBANCES, THAT THEY ASCRIBED SOME OF THESE DISORDERS TO THE POSSESSION OF EVIL SPIRITS SATAN'S DEMONS. * * * Biology and mental science have "re- vealed" facts truths which make false and preposterous many of the alleged mir- acles performed by Jesus. It is ignorant spiritual slavery to believe these tales now that God's truth is open for the education of everyone. * * * Let us examine some "gospel" legends which establish the assertion that Jesus and others of his day believed in evil spirits and their power to possess human beings: 316 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE " * * There met him two possessed with devils * * And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. "So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. "And he said unto them, Go, and when they were come out they went into the herd of swine, and behold the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea and perished in the waters. "And they that kept them fled and went their ways into the city and told everything, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. ' ' (Matthew 828-33. ) A quite similar tale even more embellished in that the evil spirits were "Legion" and the swine were two thousand in number, is told in the 5th chapter of Mark. If Jesus had actually performed the im- possible feat in this Twentieth Century A. D., he would have become legally liable to the owners of the swine for many thousands of dollars, and a court of equity probably would have put him under bonds not to exercise such powers against the property of innocent owners of swine. Today it would be both morally and legally wrong. We have pro- SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 317 gressed some since the days of fictitious miracles. * * * "Then was brought unto him one pos- sessed with a devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw" * * * "But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. "And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them: "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand; "And if Satan cast out Satan, he is di- vided against himself; how, then, shall his kingdom stand? "And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out; there- fore they shall be your judges. "But if I cast out devils by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. ' ' (Matthew 12 ; 22-28. ) Alas, Jesus believed that those who were, by physical defects, blind and dumb were "possessed of devils." We of the Twentieth Century know that they are oftentimes spiritually beautiful, and 318 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE that the physical defects do not mean that their personalities are under any evil power or evil possession. Only ignorance or superstition caused the belief of Jesus and his contemporaries. * * * Jesus believed that one who had the "fall- ing sickness," the dreaded epilepsy, an ob- scure and baffling nervous affection, was pos- sessed of a devil. "There came to him a certain man kneel- ing down and saying: "Lord have mercy on my son; for he is lunatick and sore vexed; for of times he fall- eth into the fire, and oft into the water. "And I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him. "Then Jesus answered and said, * * * bring him hither to me. "And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he de- parted out of him and the child was cured from that very hour." (Matthew 17, V. 14 to 18.) I* ****** Lest you should be guilty of unconscious hypocrisy in saying that "disease" was thus personified into an "evil possession," merely as a "figure of speech," read the first chapter of Mark, where Jesus again is reported as addressing an "unclean spirit," and how "at SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 319 even when the sun did set they brought unto him all that were diseased and them that were possessed with devils. "And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases and cast out many devils, and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him. ' ' (Mark 1, 23-34. ) "And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out devils." (Mark 1, 39.) "And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him and cried, saying, 'Thou art the Son of God.' "And he straightly charged them that they should not make him known." (Mark 3, 11-12.) "And he ordained twelve that they should be with him and that he might send them forth to preach, "And to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out devils." (Mark 3, 14-15; Luke 6, 7-13.) Another "casting out of devil" legend is told in Mark, chapter 7, verses 25 to 30, and still another of an epileptic (probably the same legend as Matthew), Mark, chapter 9, verses 17 to 29; Luke 9, verses 38 to 42, while out of Mary Magdalene "went seven devils." (Luke 8, 2.) 320 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE MANY TEACHINGS OF JESUS, AS j TOLD IN THE GOSPELS, DISCLOSE HIS BELIEF IN SATAN AND ONE OF THE LEGENDS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, COMPETING WITH THE SIMILAR LEG- END OF BUDDHA, ACTUALLY REPRE- SENTS SATAN AS HAVING EXERCISED THE MIRACULOUS POWER OF HAVING TRANSPORTED JESUS AT WILL UP TO j THE PINNACLE OF THE TEMPLE AT j JERUSALEM, AND AGAIN, TO THE TOP j OF A HIGH MOUNTAIN. AND SATAN AND JESUS TALKED TOGETHER, AND THE SUPREME DEVIL PERFORMED THE MIRACLE OF SHOWING JESUS "ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD AND THE GLORY OF THEM." AND THE DEVIL IS ALLEGED TO HAVE OFFERED ALL THESE THINGS j TO JESUS IF HE WOULD FALL DOWN AND WORSHIP HIM. (Matthew 4, v. 3-11.) 3|C SJC *f* The simple, unscientific minds of the early Christian days accepted such tales with no questioning and as a proof of divinity, but we know that Rome and India and China and numerous other nations could not have been seen from a high mountain in Palestine, and they would then scarcely have admitted Sa- tan's title to ' 'all the kingdoms of the world," even though figuratively speaking his Satanic SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 321 Majesty often displayed his cloven hoof in the history of these mighty empires as well as in the history of the Jews. * * * SCIENCE HAS FOREVER ABOLISHED SATAN AND DEVILS AND HELL FROM THE VERITIES OF EXISTENCE, AND WITH THEM HAVE GONE THE LEG- ENDS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AND OF ZOROASTRIANISM RESPECTING THE EVIL ONE AND HIS DEMONS. PSYCHOLOGY FINDS IN WILL AND DE- SIRE THE AGENCIES OF EVIL WHICH IGNORANCE ASCRIBED TO SATAN AND HIS DEMONS. * * * DISORGANIZATIONS OF THE PHYS- ICAL MACHINE WHICH PRODUCE BLINDNESS OR DUMBNESS OR EPILEP- SY OR INSANITY, DO NOT COME FROM THE POSSESSION OF DEVILS. THEY ARE INCIDENTAL TO CONDI- TIONS OF LIFE WHICH SOMETIME WILL BE WELL UNDERSTOOD AND STRONGLY GUARDED AGAINST. EVIL PASSIONS ARE NOT DEVIL IN- SPIRED, BUT MAN MADE ENTIRELY. 322 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE OF COURSE, THE NEW TESTAMENT LEGENDS ARE NOT TRUE, AND IN ALL PROBABILITY THE MAN JESUS NEVER PRETENDED TO PERFORM A SINGLE MIRACLE. THE ORIGIN OF THE FOUR GOSPELS IS SO OBSCURE AND THEY WERE WRITTEN SO MANY YEARS AFTER THE MAN JESUS DIED IN AN AGE WHEN IT WAS NOT KNOWN THAT GOD'S LAWS PERMIT OF NO MIRACLE, AND ALSO IN AN AGE WHEN THE MIRACULOUS WAS DEEMED NECESSARY TO BOLSTER UP RELIGION, IT IS NOT STRANGE THAT CHRISTIANS ASCRIBED TO JESUS JUST AS WONDERFUL POWERS AS BUDDHA WAS ENDOWED WITH BY HIS DEVO- TEES. LASTLY, WE ASSERT THAT BELIEF IN SATAN AND EVIL SPIRITS DE- GRADES GOD AND IS SOUL SLAVERY. NO OTHER CONCLUSION IS POSSIBLE. SIXTH DEGREE CONTINUED 323 Many a laugh was had over the record in the Council Chamber of what Zora Wells said after reading the Scroll of ''Demolition of the Devil," as the instruction was dubbed by Mollie Richards. "I used to be dreadfully afraid of the Devil. I did not understand that he was a creature of imagination only, and one night after I had se- cretly confiscated a piece of pie from the pantry and returned to my bedside, I dropped the pie and the lamp and fell in a swoon as I saw Satan himself with huge horns and glaring eyes looking at me through my window. "It took a long time for my parents to din into my terror-stricken brain the fact that it was stray- ing Blossom, our old cow, and not Beelzebub, who looked into the window." Darwin Snowson, after his laugh ended, said: "Zora, the Christian Scientists teach their little ones to cast out fear from their personalities. * * We, too, will always teach the same good doc- trine, for knowledge banishes fear and the higher the concept of God, the less the fear of anything now or hereafter, and we teach the very highest concepts of God." Mildred Thatcher, the girl philosopher, also had something to say about Satan. "There can be no reasonable doubt that in Jesus' time the Devil was regarded amongst the Jews and the Persians as an actual supreme im- personation of evil, and as having an objective existence outside of man, and that he was at the head of a host of evil spirits which had the power to possess human beings. We would be obliged to disregard too many New Testament legends as 324 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE well as much contemporaneous and antecedent religious history to reach any other conclusion. 4 'Christians also have believed in the grossest demonology, and for many centuries the Christian priesthood originated countless legends of actual contests between individual saints and devils in one or other of a thousand forms. "It was not knowledge of the New Testament, it was not Christian teachings which 'abolished Satan and devils and hell from the verities. ' "It was only the magnificent accession of truth which came through the wonderful scientific dis- coveries of the last three centuries. ' ' And the Lesser Master replied: "Yes, Mildred, if humanity had not discovered great truths which negatived the ideas of the New Testament, we still would be under the realm of superstition and fear which for 1600 years hin- dered the grand march of humanity along the Upward Way. "If humanity had to rely on the New Testa- ment as its Truth, then, alas, our poor souls and bodies would be bound by the dark chains of devil possession, and we would live under the awful shadow of hell and eternal punishment. "It was not Christ, nor an 'inspired scripture' which elevated the souls of men to the better knowledge and the better concept of God. "It was Truth, revealed in God's own infalli- ble record, in his Cosmic Plan, and his Cosmic Laws, and Science became the messenger of the Infinite One to bring the proofs." CHAPTEE XXVIII. MORE ABOUT THE UNTENABLE BELIEFS OF JESUS. SCROLL 4. JESUS WAS A JEW AND BELIEVED THE JEWISH "SCRIPTURES," OR JEW- ISH BIBLE, WHICH WE CALL THE OLD TESTAMENT, TO BE INSPIRED AND TO CONTAIN THE WORD OF GOD. (Mark 7, 8 to 13.) * * * JESUS BELIEVED OLD TESTAMENT LEGENDS TO BE TRUE WHICH ARE UN- TRUE AND WHICH DISHONOR GOD. * * * Jesus believed the untrue flood story. (Luke 17, v. 26-27.) And the absurd tale of Lot's wife. (Luke 17, v. 28-32.) He asserted the verity of the fiction about Jonah and the great fish. (Matthew 12, 40.) He believed the tales of the Book of Exo- dus. (Mark 12, 26; Luke 20, 37.) He had childlike faith in the fabulous leg- end of Cain and Abel. (Matthew 23, v. 35.) Again and again and again, very many times, Jesus in his teachings, showed that he 325 326 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE regarded the "prophecies" of the Jewish "prophets" narrated in the "Scriptures" to be true, and he constantly referred to the "Scriptures" as true. JESUS DID NOT KNOW THAT THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS DISHONORED GOD AND THEREFORE COULD NOT BE , THE TRUTH. HE HAD NOT EVOLVED FAR ' ENOUGH ALONG THE UPWARD SPIRIT- UAL WAY THAT MANKIND IS CLIMB- ING TO PERCEIVE THAT THE INFINITE ONE COULD NOT BE OF SUCH A NA- TURE AS THE SCRIPTURES AND THE PROPHETS AND HE AND HIS FELLOW JEWS CONCEIVED HIM. HERE the fourth scroll was bisected by an unprinted segment of the deep red which constituted its body color and a pause was made in the uprolling of the scroll. It was recorded that Marie Templeton had said after reading the first segment: "How simple become the theological dogmas over which Christians have disputed and fought when we understand that Jesus was merely a man without any more knowledge than others of his day, and that everything he said and taught must be examined into and accepted or rejected, just as we accept or reject the teachings of Aristotle or Buddha or Thomas Paine, or Confucius or Her- bert Spencer or Mary Baker Eddy." MORE ABOUT BELIEFS OF JESUS 327 And Robert Young had answered her: ' ' Yes, Jesus was very human, as you will learn a little later, and before many decades have passed the spiritually advanced of earth will wonder that Christianity could have produced the myriad of sects it has." But Darwin Snowson added: ''Do not be too sure, Robert, but that the bit- ter contentions of rival Christian sects have had evolutional value in educating many to reject Christianity itself. "Human rationality can be goaded to action as well as persuaded." Zora Wells said of the subject: "I used to think that a lot of the sayings of Jesus in the Gospels were original with him until once I got busy tracing out the references to the books of the Old Testament, and I found that great lots of things he said were taken from the Jewish Scriptures, and it really seemed as if he thought he had to fulfill what was said by those queer old prophets who were always grinding out the 'Anger and vengeance of God' on everyone who wasn 't a Jew, and oftentimes on other Jewish tribes and even their own people." And to this the Lesser Master replied: "Very much that Jesus taught was not orig- inal with him. Even the Golden Rule had been taught by Hillel, a Jewish rabbi of splendid per- sonal character, nearly a hundred years before Jesus was born, and it is said that during at least two hundred years before Jesus expounded the Jewish scriptures, many of the ethical precepts that Jesus taught were current instruction 328 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE amongst the religious philosophers of the He- brews and followers of other religions with whom they came in contact from Egypt to Greece, and from India and Persia to Tyre and Sidon." The Beloved Philosopher had embodied in the next segment a singular suggestion which must have arisen from a study of the gospels from a modern outlook. TAKING THE FIRST THREE GOS- PELS AT THEIR FACE VALUE, MUST WE NOT CONCLUDE THAT JESUS WAS POSSESSED OF WHAT PSYCHOLOGISTS TERM ''A DUAL PERSONALITY?" CERTAINLY HE WAS MOST HUMAN IN MANY OF HIS TRAITS. Jesus varied so radically in his teachings at different times and occasions he seems to contradict his own doctrines. Here speaks the Jew in instructions to the twelve Apostles: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; "But go rather to the lost sheep of the children of Israel; "And as ye go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of God is at hand. (Matthew 10, v. 5-7. Also see verse 18.) Again Jesus the Jew regarded Gentiles as "dogs." MORE ABOUT BELIEFS OF JESUS 329 "And behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts and cried unto him saying, 'Have mercy on me, 0, Lord, thou Son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.' " "But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, send her away for she crieth after us." "But he answered and said, 'I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the children of Israel.' " "Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord help me." But he answered and said: It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs." (Matthew 15, v. 22-26.) And the humble Gentile woman, a "dog" to the exclusive Jew, subtly answered: "And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their Master's table." (Matthew 15-27.) Then, as the tale goes, Jesus condescended to "make whole" the daughter who was "vexed with a devil." But when Jesus was angry with the Chief priests and elders, he changed his mind re- garding the Kingdom of God being for the "lost sheep of the Children of Israel." 330 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "Therefore say I unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." (Matthew 21-44.) And again when he is alleged to have healed the servant of a Gentile centurion at whose faith he marvelled he apparently felt more kindly to the Gentiles. "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith; no, not in Israel. "And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven." "But the children of the Kingdom shall be cast into outer darknes; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8, 10-12.) * * * Perhaps it may not be strictly fair to quote from the last chapter of Mark, for emi- nent critics assert that all of it is "spurious" after the eighth verse, even as an original tra- dition, but it is accepted by the translators of the English "Revised Version" in this doubtful way: "The two oldest Greek manuscripts and some other authorities omit from verse 9 to the end. "Some authorities have a different end- ing to the gospel." MORE ABOUT BELIEFS OF JESUS 331 It is in verse 15 that Jesus entirely re- verses his instructions to the Apostles con- tained in Matthew: "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." But the book named Matthew also asserts the same reversal: "Go ye therefore and teach all nations." (Matthew 28, 19.) * * * JESUS HAS BEEN CALLED "THE PRINCE OF PEACE." LET US SEE WHAT HE SAID ABOUT PEACE. "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will also confess before my Father which is in Heaven." "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven." "THINK NOT I AM COME TO SEND PEACE ON EARTH; I CAME NOT TO SEND PEACE, BUT A SWORD." (Matthew 10, 32-34.) "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I will tell you, nay; but rather di- vision." And to the contrary Jesus is alleged to have said: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." (Mat- thew 5-9.) 332 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE JESUS DID NOT KNOW THAT GOD IS INFINITELY IMPARTIAL AND INFI- NITELY ABOVE ANGER AND VENG- EANCE. Jesus believed, in common with those of the Jews who studied the book of Isaiah, that j God would pick out a few amongst his spirit ual children and these "elect" would be the special objects of his care. All Jews, includ- ing Jesus, believed that the Children of Israel had been the favored race of all man- kind, God's "chosen people." Let us look into some of Jesus' beliefs. "And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry night and day unto him though he bear long with them. "I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. -Howbeit when the Son of Man cometh shall He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18, 7-8.) In a terrible prophecy which dishonors the Infinite One, Jesus followed the false prophet Daniel and predicted most horrible fate to all save the "elect," the chosen few. This prophecy begins with the 14th verse of the 13th Chapter of Mark, and continues through the chapter. MORE ABOUT BELIEFS OF JESUS 333 Some portions we quote: "For in those days shall be affliction such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be." "And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved; but for the elect's sake whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days." * * * * "For false Christs and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect." * * * "And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory," "And then shall he send his angels and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of earth to the uttermost part of Heaven." (Mark 13, v. 19, 20, 22, 26 and 27.) See also Matthew 24, v. 15 to 34. Incidentally, Jesus prophecied, "Verily I say unto you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done." He ex- pressed the same thought often. (Mark 13, v. 30; Matthew 24, v. 34.) Of course they did not come to pass dur- ing that "generation" and they never will come to pass. * * * 334 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Jesus believed that only a few of his brothers and sisters of the human race would be "chosen" by God to go to the Heaven he imagined. "For many are called but few are chosen," (Matthew 22, v. 14; Matthew 20, v. 16.) Many others of his teachings clearly es- tablish that he deemed that of all the myriads of human beings living and dying over the whole world, only those who followed his teachings would be "saved. ' ' The rest would go into a state of eternal punishment. AND THERE ARE MANY MILLIONS NOW LIVING WHO ARE SO BOUND BY THE CHAINS OF SPIRITUAL SLAVERY THAT THEY BELIEVE THAT BY BE- LONGING TO SOME PARTICULAR CHRISTIAN SECT THEY ARE TO BE FAVORED BY GOD, AND AFTER THIS LIFE WILL GO TO THE HEAVEN JESUS DEPICTED. THEY THINK THEY ARE "THE ELECT" AND THAT THEY ARE AMONG THE "FEW" WHO "ARE CHOSEN." *** sjc -,. WHAT SUPREME SPIRITUAL EGO- TISMWHAT PROFOUND SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS ! ! THE LOVE OF GOD MUST NOT THUS BE LIMITED AND DE- GRADED. MORE ABOUT BELIEFS OF JESUS 335 This segment of the scroll met with criticism from one who came through Congregationalism into the Society. "Does not the Society ignore certain great features of Jesus' teachings, and bear unduly on others? Where are the comments on the King- dom of God, the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man which of late have become the bases of liberal Christianity?" To him Darwin Snowson replied: "Think a moment. Have not your liberal Christian sects ignored and hidden by strained interpretations many recorded teachings of Jesus, and transformed and then magnified to pro- portions Jesus never dreamed of, some others of the ideas he taught? ' * The Society has not ignored the matters you mention. They are merely deferred to a cumu- lative conclusion. "Our teachings are to establish not only that Jesus was not divine, but also that he was not in- spired by God, and that the New Testament is to be regarded the same as the Zoroastrian and the Buddhistic Bibles or the Book of Mormon and the Mormon Doctrines and Covenants." The next segment of the scroll dwelt upon an- other of the strange contradictions in the char- acter of Jesus. 336 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Amongst the recorded early teachings of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount is esteemed greatly by Christians, although it is now well known that much that was taught in that sermon was then the current instruction of the Synagogues. Did he forget these doctrines in his later days? He extolled meekness and gave a remark- able ethical instruction when he said "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do j good to them that hate you and pray for them j which despitefully use you and persecute j you." (Matthew 5, 44.) Yet it is recorded that in apparent anger j because he found no fruit upon a fig tree he j cursed the tree and because of his "curse" j the tree forthwith "withered away." (Mark j 11, v. 12-14; 20-21.) This act becomes irrational anger, if we take Mark's narrative as true, for he says "For the time of figs was not yet!" * * * But Jesus became angry many times and was ready to deal out vengeance in a way which not only is very like other Jewish prophets, but is also essentially not divine. "Then began he to upbraid the cities ! wherein most of his mighty works were done i because they repented not. 'Woe unto thee Chorazin; woe unto thee Bethsaida, for if MORE ABOUT BELIEFS OF JESUS 337 the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sack-cloth and ashes.' " "But I say unto you 'It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.' " "And thou Capernaum which art exalted unto heaven shalt be brought down to hell; for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day." (Matthew 11, 20-24.) See, also: Mark 6, 11; Mark 3, 5; Matthew 23, 29-33; j Matthew 12, 38-42; Luke 11, 50-51. Zora Wells remarked respecting the segment of the Scroll just copied: * * Well, Jesus certainly was very human. When opposed or controverted he seems to have become angry occasionally, just as I do. But I am trying hard to overcome the tendency, for I know that anger leads to all sorts of evils." The Lesser Master in answer said: "Zora, anger and vengefulness are foes to the spiritual progress of individuals and communi- ties, and are essentially animalistic. 338 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "The race is growing slowly away from their degenerating power, but it is hard to conquer them and to substitute tolerance and serenity and forgiveness in their stead, but when one becomes commander of her own brain, she can demand of it that the surge of anger shall stop at the outset. "This is a little lesson in spiritual progress." ONE OF THE MOST DEEPLY ROOTED OPINIONS HELD BY JESUS WAS THAT BY "FAITH AND BY PRAYER" MAN HAS POWER OVER NATURE. Jesus was ignorant that a universe vast beyond all human grasp, evidences a realm of laws which are absolutely unchangeable in their operation; laws which can be used by man in wonderful ways, but which "faith and prayer" can no more affect than can the finite comprehend the infinite. Only the most ignorant today believe the following teachings attributed to Jesus: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you." (Matthew 17, v. 20.) MORE ABOUT BELIEFS OF JESUS 339 "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith and doubt not ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, 'Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea'; it shall be done. "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." (Mat- thew 21, 21-22; Mark 11, 23-24.) "And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed ye might say unto this sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted in the sea, and it should obey you." (Luke 17, 6.) # * * Elsewhere in our instruction we deny that prayer to the Infinite One can have any ob- jective answer because it dishonors God to assert it, but to seriously contend that the statements of Jesus just quoted are true is such blindness to the truth, we shall not as- sume that any twentieth century personality which has at all considered the relative weight of a mountain and a prayer, will so confuse the material universe and the psychic universe. The next segment of the Scroll continued in- struction in the same field. 340 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "Give us this day our daily bread; "Lead us not into temptation, "But deliver us from Evil." The hundreds of millions who have thus prayed to God and are now thus praying daily, have no idea that their prayer is based on untruth and dishonors God. In childish ignorance they follow a "Master" who was as ignorant as they are of God's true relationship to all the human children of His great Plan. Neither they nor Jesus comprehended that in praying for daily bread they were ac- cusing God of withholding bread from the untold millions of mothers and little chil- dren (as well as fathers and older children) who have perished from starvation during all the world's history. * * * GOD DOES NOT GIVE OR WITHHOLD DAILY BREAD FROM ANY HUMAN BE- ING, EITHER THE GOOD OR THE BAD, EITHER BECAUSE OF PRAYER OR OTHERWISE. MANKIND ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE REQUIRED TO DE- PEND UPON ITS OWN EFFORTS AND THE CO-OPERATION OF ITS OWN MEM- BERS TO ASSURE ITSELF OF THE FOOD NECESSARY TO PRESERVE PHY- SICAL LIFE. MORE ABOUT BELIEFS OF JESUS 341 Natural and economic laws, combined with man's efforts, determine the abundance or scarcity of crops and of all other food. TO BELIEVE THAT GOD FAVORS THE FAITH OF THOSE WHO PRAY FOR FOOD, DISHONORS THE INFINITE ONE BY ACCUSING HIM OF PARTIALITY TO THOSE WHO PRAY. So, too, it dishonors God to believe that He sends or withholds sickness or death or that by direct act He decrees that anyone shall be saved from accident or cured from disease. GOD RULES HUMAN FATE AND DES- TINY SOLELY THROUGH HIS LAWS. # * # Think a moment, you who regard the so- called "Lord's Prayer" as divinely in- spired!! Do you dare to accuse God of leading us into temptation, or enmeshing us in evil? Yet, when you ask the Infinite One to "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil," you do thus dishonor God and you are enchained in Spiritual Slavery. IF GOD DEALT WITH MANKIND SO THAT THE INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY WOULD BE LED INTO TEMPTATION OR ENTICED INTO EVIL BY GOD'S WILL, AND DELIVERED FROM TEMPTATION 342 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE ^MM OR FROM EVIL BECAUSE OF REPE- | TITION OF A PRAYER, THEN MORAL FREEDOM WOULD NOT EXIST, AND MAN WOULD NOT BE RESPONSIBLE TO FELLOW MEN OR TO GOD FOR HIS ACTS. * * * It is because God does not directly inter- fere with human action or human fate that man has his best heritage. THIS HERIT- AGE IS HIS POWER TO CHOOSE HIS OWN ACTIONS AND TO STRUGGLE FOR HIS OWN TEMPORAL EXISTENCE. Man will learn to make the struggle for existence easier and by co-operation will in- sure peace and daily bread to most human beings, but God will not interfere in the struggle. * # # YET, YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT GOD IS NOT ALOOF FROM HUMAN DESTINY. IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM HIS LOVE DWELLS IN YOUR SOUL AND EVER IMPELS IT TO BETTER AND HIGHER SPIRITUALITY. YOU CAN SEND OUT TO HIM YOUR LOVE AND WORSHIP EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE NEITHER THE RIGHT NOR PRIVILEGE OF ASKING HIM TO INTER- FERE IN YOUR AFFAIRS OR ANY AF- FAIRS OF EARTH. MOKE ABOUT BELIEFS OF JESUS 343 It was thus that the Society redeemed its promise to show that the "Lord's Prayer" dis- honored God. Marie Templeton read the segment of the scroll and had this to say about it : "Plenty of Christians have starved to death when their daily repetition of the 'Lord's Prayer' would have brought daily bread if God answered prayer. ' ' Christians do not act in their daily lives upon the faith of the prayer. They know they must plan and labor and struggle for their daily bread. "Hundreds of thousands of Christians have accepted their daily bread from the State in alms- houses, and it can scarcely be said this sustenance is in answer to prayer." Zora Wells, too, said something: "I observe that Christians have to hustle for a living just like non-Christians, so they prove that their belief is ill founded; but I find that lots of them do not believe that God ordinarily furnishes food and raiment in answer to prayer. They have a hazy idea that God would direct some one to help them if they were starving or freezing, but I notice they try hard to get the money to buy flour and overcoats. "Yet those who fail in the struggle suffer the same fate as the non-Christians who do likewise. ' ' Darwin Snowson replied: "God's plan requires that all of us shall pro- vide or have provided for us the necessities of physical existence. 344 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE * * The rule is no different for Christians or sav- ages. They are equals in God's great Process. "No human being can truthfully arrogate to himself special favor of the Almighty through faith and prayer. The Divine Plan knows no such favor." Here the instruction for the day ended. CHAPTER XXIX. VITAL NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINES DISHONOR GOD. IN spite of all previous instruction many a dis- ciple of the Society of Progress found it necessary to study carefully the printed copies of the Scrolls of the "Room of Opened Eyes," which were furnished at the end of the day's instruction, in order to overcome the ideas which they had long held, that all that Jesus is reported to have said must be truth. An inherited religion is hard to uproot, and yet the Society of Progress relied upon the pledge of the disciples to seek truth regardless of its re- sults, and not one of the thousands who took the degrees ever regretted that he had entered the door of the Chamber of Truth. Darwin Snowson once commented on this fact. "// you can arouse the brains of those who are asleep in the old faiths and create in them a real desire to know the truth and an honest de- termination to weigh the claims of these old faiths, there can be one end only to their investigation they must condemn the old beliefs. ' ' Of course fanatics and the wilfully blind will remain in the slavery of the soul which is dead to all vision of the true Divine Plan. The second day in the "Room of Opened Eyes" began with a Scroll which commented upon the most prominent of all the teachings of Jesus: 345 346 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE SCROLL V. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. As Renan correctly says, "The ground idea of Jesus from the first was the estab- lishment of the Kingdom of God." "But this Kingdom, * * * appears to have been understood by him in very differ- ent senses." # * * Both John and Jesus in preaching the "Kingdom of Heaven" or the "Kingdom of God" were following current religious thought amongst the Jews, who had for a long time dreamed of a Kingdom of Jehovah on earth which would destroy all their enemies and glorify "His peculiar people" by making them the rulers of all the earth. The Book of Daniel, which greatly dis- honors God in many ways, but perhaps most by asserting that Kings Rule by Divine Ap- pointment (Daniel Ch. 2, 21; Ch. 2, 37, and Ch. 4, 25), is probably the source from which sprang the idea of a Kingdom of God. "And in the days of these kings shall the Lord God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the king- dom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." NEW TESTAMENT DISHONORS GOD 347 See Daniel 2, 44; Daniel 7, 13, 14 and 18. "And the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." (Daniel 7, 27.) * * * Now the Book of Daniel is a book of fic- tion. It discloses within itself that it was writ- ten about 168 years B.C., while it purports to give long verbal conversations and minute accounts of dreams and visions and interpre- tations of dreams which are reputed to have occurred more than 400 years before the book was written. Of course this is an impossi- bility. Some of its history is false, and as it also dishonors God repeatedly and grossly, it must be mere uninspired fiction. BUT ALAS, JOHN THE BAPTIST AND JESUS BOTH FOLLOWED THIS BOOK OF FICTION IN THEIR TEACHINGS. (Matthew 24, 15; Mark 13, 14.) * * * LET US SEE HOW JESUS SPOKE OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 348 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE First: He believed that the "prophecy" contained in the Book of Daniel was about to be fulfilled. "Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. ' ' (Matthew 3, 2.) John the Baptist taught thus and Jesus followed his teaching in identical words. (Matthew 4, 17.) To preach the Kingdom of Heaven was his mission, as defined by himself. IT OUGHT NOT TO BE QUESTIONED THAT JESUS THOUGHT AND PROPHE- SIED THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD OR ! THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN WAS ! ABOUT TO COME UPON EARTH. One must doubt the plainest of language i if he attempts to question this. It is narrated that Jesus said to the twelve j when first sending them forth to preach "to j the lost sheep of the house of Israel": "And as ye go, preach, saying, the King- dom of Heaven is at hand." (Matthew 10, 7.) And again Jesus said: "Verily I say unto you 'This generation shall not pass till all these things be ful- filled.' " See, also: Matthew 24, 34; Mark 13, 4-30; Luke 21, 30-31; Luke 18, 7-8; Mark 1, 14-15. NEW TESTAMENT DISHONORS GOD 349 'Tor the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works." "Verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." (Matthew 16, 27-28.) THAT THE EXISTING GENERATION PASSED AWAY AND TASTED DEATH WITHOUT THE DREADFUL PROPHECY OF JESUS BEING FULFILLED IS NOW THE HISTORY OF FIFTY SUBSEQUENT GENERATIONS. (Matthew 24, 3 to 34.) AND THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN THAT JESUS DREAMED OF DISHONORS GOD. First: As we have shown, it was to be the kingdom of the "elect," the few and not the many. Jesus had no conception of the spiritual brotherhood of all men, which must neces- sarily include not only the Jew but the Gen- tile, not only the believer in the Jewish God but the most ignorant idol or fetich wor- shipper, not only the "righteous" but the "wicked." Divine love cannot be limited in the way Jesus taught. 350 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Second: He seems to have been so en- grossed in ideas absorbed from Daniel that he believed that natural laws (God's laws) would forget their eternal functions in order to fulfill what the Book of Daniel foretold of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus thought that the clouds were in Heaven and that the "four winds" (that is, the North, South, East and West winds) were winds from Heaven. He had no idea of the true cosmos. In adopting the name "Son of Man," Jesus was following the Book of Ezekiel, which uses it perhaps one hundred times as a name given by angels to the prophet, and it also appears in Daniel. See Matthew 24; 29, 30 and 31, also verse 15; Daniel 7, 13. Third: In the "Kingdom of Heaven" God was to honor Jesus by placing him in the judgment seat as a king and let him send the wicked (all human beings but the few who are God's "elect") into everlasting punish- ment, where their resurrected bodies would be tortured forever. (Matthew 25, v. 31, 41, 46; Luke 14, v. 37 to 43 and v. 45 to 50.) ALAS FOR THE SPIRITUAL BLIND- NESS WHICH BELIEVES THAT SUCH IS THE DIVINE PLAN FOR HUMANITY. Many of the disciples, having in remembrance other teachings of Jesus, when they had com- pleted the seven readings of the segment of the scroll, wondered whether the Society would ig- nore some of these sayings which seemed to show that the Kingdom of Heaven was not entirely re- pulsive. When Mollie Richards first had read the mes- sage she remarked: "I understand that our Society must of neces- sity strongly attack such teachings of Jesus as dishonor God or are not in accord with the Di- vine Plan, but I expect that many orthodox Christians will object most vehemently to the methods employed. "I also expect that before we are through with our instruction we will learn more about other things in the New Testament that dishonor God, as I have in remembrance quite a few myself, but I also would wish that something shall be said of the idealization of some of the teachings of Jesus which has made morally beautiful the lives of millions who have followed the Christian faith." And Robert Young, whom she addressed, re- plied: "Mollie, when many orthodox and *semi'- orthodox Christians are asked to re-weigh their beliefs, they will be afraid to do so, frightened at the name 'infidel,' and many will deem it blas- phemy to question a thing that Jesus taught, and many will jump to wrong conclusions of the teachings of our Society, and many will make 'interpretations' which will themselves disclose that the Bible cannot be the 'Word of God.' 352 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE 1 'But we must patiently ask each of them who will listen to us, to read again the things we have quoted and value them just as they appear, and then say whether their God is of the nature con- ceived in these teachings "As to your last suggestion, Mollie, we have all felt just as you do, and you can rest assured that the subject receives full attention, and of such a nature that I think you will be pleased. ' ' The next segment of the Scroll boldly attacked the chief doctrine of all Christian orthodoxy, ''The Blood Atonement for the Sins of the World." THE BLOOD ATONEMENT. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever be- lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3, v. 16.) "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but be that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark 16, v. 16.) "Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many." (Matthew 20, v. 28; Mark 10, v. 45.) "And he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many." (Mark 14, v. 24.) NEW TESTAMENT DISHONOKS GOD 353 'Tor this is my blood of the New Testa- ment which is shed for many for the remis- sion of sins." (Matthew 26, v. 28.) "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." (Leviticus 17, v. 11.) 'Tor when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly." "But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. "Much more then, being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from the wrath through him. "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. "And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received atonement. "Wherefore as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," * * * "Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the simil- itude of Adam's transgression, who is the 354 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE figure of him that was to come." (Romans 5, v. 6 to 14.) "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15, v. 22.) "And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements. ' ' "And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, 'When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give, every man, a ransom for his soul unto the Lord.' " * * * "And the rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than half a shekel when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for your souls. ' ' See, also: Exodus 30, v. 10 to 15; Exodus 29, v. 36; Leviticus Chap. 4 (several atone- ments by sacrifice and blood.) Also many passages in the Epistles. THE FOUNDATION OF ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY IS THAT MAN SINNED IN ADAM AND THAT ONLY A HUMAN SACRIFICE, ONLY THE BLOOD OF THE SON OF GOD (WHO BECAME FLESH FOR THAT PURPOSE) COULD ATONE TO GOD FOR THE SINS OF MANKIND. * * * SUCH A BELIEF IS BASED UPON UN- TRUTH AND DISHONORS GOD. NEW TESTAMENT DISHONOKS GOD 355 The story of the fall of man through Adam and Eve is false. The true history of mankind is entirely different. MANKIND HAS BEEN SLOWLY RIS- ING IN THE SPIRITUAL SCALE UNDER THE IMPULSE OF DIVINE LOVE, IN- STEAD OF FALLING FROM A HIGHER ESTATE. The idea that God is, or at any time was, angry with mankind is degrading. It is ascribing a base human passion to the Infinite One. Sacrifices of beasts or of human beings to God were the inventions of priestcraft, and were, in their gift, the intended selfish pur- chase of divine favor and mercy and for- giveness by individual personalities too grossly ignorant to realize that the priests fed on the meats of sacrifice and deluded the giver with false religious doctrines. * * * DIVINE LOVE IS INFINITELY ABOVE THE CENTRAL DOCTRINE OF ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY. DIVINE LOVE IS INFINITELY ABOVE THE BASIC IDEAS OF THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES. DIVINE LOVE IS INFINITELY ABOVE JESUS' IDEA OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN FOR THE "ELECT" AND -M .* 356 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE ETERNAL PUNISHMENT OF THE ''WICKED." IT IS SPIRITUAL SLAVERY TO BE- LIEVE THAT THE BLOOD ATONEMENT, THE SHEDDING OF THE BLOOD OF JESUS, WAS THE DIVINE PLAN WHEREBY THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN SHOULD BE ATTAINED BY THE CHOSEN OF GOD. THE DIVINE PLAN FOR HUMANITY IS ENTIRELY OPPOSED TO THE CON- CEPTS OF JUDAISM AND OF ORTHO- DOX CHRISTIANITY, WHICH ADOPTED ESSENTIAL JUDAISM. Each disciple realized at last that every shred of Christian orthodoxy must be cast aside and new spiritual garments of supreme honor to the Infinite One must clothe the soul if the teachings of the Society should be found worthy. Mildred Thatcher, commenting upon the Blood Atonement, said: "In studying the Evolution of Religion, it is very interesting to trace the idea of sacrifice up from the first ignorant superstitious offerings to the final mental climax that only the sacrifice of a Son of God would propitiate Divine Wrath against sinners. But when we realize that the whole system from beginning to end is based on both super- NEW TESTAMENT DISHONORS GOD 357 stition and ignorance of God and His true relation to humanity, we can only pity our Christian friends who cling to the belief in the blood atone- ment. ' ' In answer to her, Darwin Snowson said: * ' Yes, Mildred, we who have the light of truth may well pity those who are still beclouded in the shadows of old beliefs. "The correlative doctrine that Jesus is a per- petual 'mediator' between humanity and God, is equally baseless with the idea of a blood atone- ment. "Divine Love does not occupy the status of a 'King of Kings' or an inflexible judge. It is in- finitely higher than the highest spiritual love that humanity in its ultimate development will ever bear towards its own members or towards God. "During the past fifty years Christian sects have developed many ideas of the love of God which are strangely at variance with the state- ments of both the Old and New Testaments, but as evolutionists, we appreciate keenly that they are on the way towards the true religion. "In this connection, the next segment of the Scroll will interest you." The next segment of the uprolling scroll made acknowledgments which gave the scientific view of the evolutional value of the teachings of Jesus upon the upward spiritual march of humanity, and after reading its message seven times, many a disciple had a truer vision of the honesty of science in dealing with the great problems of mankind. 358 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE SOME OF THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS HAVE AIDED HUMAN PROGRESS JUST AS SOME HAVE RETARDED IT. The spiritual value of the Sermon on the Mount, including what is called the "Lord's Prayer," should not be lightly dismissed, not- withstanding we now know that within the teachings lie certain doctrines which dishonor God. * * * The spiritual value of the teachings of Confucius and of Buddha likewise should not be disregarded, for they have been the spirit- ual inspiration of hundreds of millions more than have ever received spiritual benefit from any teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. * * * The spiritual value of the "Golden Rule," notwithstanding Jesus was only an adapter, has been, and still is, of high character. It holds the germ of spiritual co-operation, though Jesus and his contemporaries had no conception of the real brotherhood of man, and they dreamed not of the oneness of all mankind and its grand march along the Up- ward Way. ** ** **^ Even the teachings of Jesus respecting the Kingdom of heaven and of the rewards and punishments to be awarded ' 'in the resur- rection" to the righteous and the wicked NEW TESTAMENT DISHONORS GOD 359 when weighed in the scale of spiritual evolu- tion, are found to have had definite potency in the spiritual progress of millions. EVEN THE UNTRUE AND THE HALF- TRUE MAY THUS SERVE TRUTH. * * * You should know that the uplifting proc- ess necessarily has been working towards Truth and through half-truths has slowly gained knowledge of much actual Truth. * * * THE UPWARD JOURNEY OF HU- MANITY TOWARDS GOD HAS BEEN GREATLY AIDED AT TIMES BY THE SUBLIMATION OF SOME OF THE IDEALS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND LIKEWISE BY THE IDEALIZATION OF SOME OF THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS. WORKING IN THE UPLIFTING PROC- ESS, DIVINE LOVE FOUND AMONG THE HALF-TRUTHS OF "THE SCRIPTURES" POTENCIES WHICH HAVE HELPED MILLIONS OF INDIVIDUAL PERSONAL- ITIES TO BETTER SPIRITUALITY. AND IN SOME DEGREE, SINCE THE BEGINNING OF HUMAN LIFE, SO, TOO, HAS THE IMPELLING POWER OF DI- VINE LOVE FOR HUMANITY WORKING IN EVERY RELIGION OF MORAL POW- ER, HELPED TOWARDS BETTER SPIR- ITUALITY. 360 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Separated from the upper half of the segment by seven broad lines was the promised tribute to those who had found in Christianity the inspira- tion to good deeds, right conduct and sincere love of God. REALIZING KEENLY THAT THE EMANCIPATION OF HUMANITY FROM THE VAST REALM OF UNTRUTH TO WHICH BELIEF IN THE DIVINE IN- SPIRATION OF THE BIBLE HAD EN- CHAINED LARGE PORTIONS OF OUR RACE HAS NOT BEEN DUE TO CHRIS- TIANITY, BUT LARGELY IN SPITE OF CHRISTIANITY THE SOCIETY OF PROG- RESS NOW WISHES TO PAY A TRIB- UTE TO THE MANY WHO HAVE FOUND IN THE HALF-TRUTHS OF THE BIBLE THE INSPIRATION TO SPIRITUAL PROGRESS. * * * Today we would not be able to co-ordinate Science and Religion if the idealization of some of the teachings of Jesus had not blos- somed in sweetness within the personalities of many who have deemed themselves true Christians. We know now that our fathers and our mothers, and all the dear ones who, as Chris- tians, have passed on to the plane of existence beyond the death of the body, were far NEW TESTAMENT DISHONORS GOD 361 evolved spiritually and were advancing along the Upward Way towards God. Beyond question, we believe that they are continuing to progress in spirituality and in acquisition of truth, and we believe that as they go on they will learn that the Bible they revered dishonors God and that the "redemp- tion" they relied upon places God in a false relation to humanity; but also that they will gain supremely higher concepts of God and Divine Love. In the records of the Council Chamber, Marie Templeton was reported to have said anent the two segments of the Scroll which were joined by the seven lines: "I believe it will be rather difficult for many Christians to realize that a Progressist views all religions alike, and that from his standpoint they are to be considered solely as to the value they have been to humanity and to portions of the race in stimulating better ideals and better concepts of God." Robert Young, in response, said: "Of course, Marie, a spiritual evolutionist gar- ners all the religious history of the past, so far as he can, and finds in many of the religions of mankind some germinating ideas which have com- bined in many ways to place the farthest evolved a little higher on the Upward Way. ' ' 362 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE A saying of Zora Wells was also recorded : "I have read the awful history of the dark ages and of the unspeakable cruelties which were perpetrated in the name of Christ ; I have learned how the literal interpretation of the Bible de- stroyed truth and martyred truth-seekers; I have seen in our own city the cruel ostracism by sec- tarian bigotry of honest apostates, so I might well believe that progress came in spite of Christian- ity; but I know also that amongst the less than half-truths of Mormon doctrines, have arisen many lives of self-sacrificing spirituality. ' ' The Lesser Master, continuing the primal thought of Zora's comment, said: "Zora, in Japan and China and India, the faces of many of the older women bear the look of high serenity which a life of goodness and self-sacrifice and fundamental spirituality gives, and many of the men are honest and morally brave and faithful within their environment. So the half-truths of the teachings of Buddha and Confucius have also had power to help portions of mankind along the Upward Way. The great process has had a won- derful history, but, after all, it is through the revelations of science that we gain clear vision and all that Jesus taught or Buddha or Confucius could never have established the realm of truth which has given us our knowledge of the Divine Plan." There remained but one unread Scroll in the "Room of Opened Eyes," and its message in part anticipated some of the teachings of the Seventh Degree. NEW TESTAMENT DISHONORS GOD 363 SCROLL VI. THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD. Undoubtedly the teachings of Jesus which have been of the highest spiritual value to humanity are those in which he endeavored to preach the fatherhood of God. As he taught it, it was a strange father- hood, and even in its best aspects it was such a relationship as placed God in a false posi- tion towards human personality. But in the progress of spiritual evolution, the idea of divine fatherhood has blossomed into such higher concepts of God as Jesus never knew, and these concepts are strangely at variance with the awful ideas of God which permeate the Old Testament, the " Scripture" which Jesus revered as truth. * * * JESUS DID NOT KNOW THAT GOD RULES THE UNIVERSE BY UNCHANGE- ABLE LAWS WHICH DO NOT REWARD OR PUNISH INDIVIDUALS OR NATIONS EXCEPT AS THE LAWS HAVE POTENCY IN IMPARTIAL WAYS TO CONTROL BY GENERAL ACTION THE REALM OF HU- MAN ACTIVITIES. * * * Jesus conceived God as an ever-active agency in human destiny, giving and with- holding daily bread as a human father might do; answering prayer in bestowing material 364 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE benefits; rewarding and punishing indi- viduals, both while on earth and in the King- dom of Heaven, and as wreaking terrible ven- geance and eternal punishment on those not "chosen," or the "elect." THE SUPREME MANIFESTATION OF GOD IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND THE MANIFESTATION OF DIVINE LOVE IN THE SPIRITUALIZING PROC- ESS WHICH HAS EVER IMPELLED OUR RACE TOWARD HIGHER SPIRITUAL- ITYIS ENTIRELY OPPOSED TO THE IDEAS OF FATHERHOOD TAUGHT BY JESUS. THE LESSON OF THE UPWARD MARCH OF HUMANITY IS THAT GOD DOES NOT DIRECTLY INTERFERE WITH HUMAN DESTINY AND IS SU- PREMELY IMPARTIAL IN ALL HIS GOVERNMENT, BY LAW, OF ALL HU- MANITY. HOWEVER APPEALING THE BELIEF THAT GOD IS A "HEAVENLY FATHER" WHO WILL REWARD YOUR FAITH AND PRAYERS WITH THE REWARDS JESUS TAUGHT, THE ACTUAL RELATIONSHIP OF HUMAN PERSONALITY TO THE IN- FINITE ONE IS THE HUMBLE TIE OF THE FINITE TO THE INFINITE. NEW TESTAMENT DISHONORS GOD 365 DIVINE LOVE FLOODS THE SOULS OF THE TRUE WORSHIPERS OF GOD, BUT OUGHT WE NOT, IN SPIRITUAL HONESTY, TO SHRINK FROM GIVING THE EARTHLY AND FINITE TITLE OF FATHER TO THE SOURCE OF OUR HER- ITAGE MORAL FREEDOM WHICH LINKS US TO THE DIVINE? Again seven broad lines separated segments of a scroll, and ere we glance at the message below the lines, let us hear what some of the disciples had to say about the "Fatherhood of God." Zora Wells is recorded to have said : "This, I think, is my last surrender of old faiths. I also think that Progressive Christians will resist most the idea that God is not the Heav- enly father as taught by Jesus. I can see that we have been believing that God was supremely par- tial to Christians, though many Christians have gone far beyond Jesus ' ideas by conceiving God as a universal father. 366 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "I am glimpsing the higher ideas of God which the Society has gradually instilled into our in- struction. "It is more than a guess that when we reach the promised constructive work we will be taught much more about the Infinite One and His rela- tions to us of the finite psychic realm. ' ' For answer Darwin Snowson said: "Zora, your mind is rising to the heights. " Within the great Plan, we are permitted to place our own concept on the relations of the Al- mighty to human personality, but we should do so only with the clearest vision of truth that we can maintain, after exercise of all the intelligence with which we are endowed, in studying the origin, history and destiny of mankind. "You are right about the future instruction. The Seventh Degree discusses succinctly what we know of the nature of God and his relation to humanity." Robert Young heard the statements of Zora and Darwin and added his little contribution to the records: "Zora, if your Christians who believe in the 'Universal fatherhood of God' conceive Him as the impartial spiritual father of all men, pagan as well as Christian, 'the world' as well as 'the saints,' the erring as well as the good, the honest infidel as well as the honest Christian, then they are not Christians, but unwittingly disciples of progress." And the Lesser Master followed: "Every student of Spiritual Evolution well understands that out of the ideas and ideals of the past, though based on misconceptions which de- scend to untruth, there has ever grown newer and better ideas and ideals. So, out of the idea of the strange fatherhood of God which Jesus taught, the idea of universal fatherhood has come as a natural growth in the progress of the Divine Plan. "Likewise, out of the idea of the universal fatherhood has grown the supreme ideas of God and his relation to humanity which we believe and teach. "Each step is upward in the scale of spiritual progress." * # * When the scroll moved upward it was found that the instruction took up a subject of great in- terest to all of our race in all the world. THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN. You will search the gospels in vain for any teachings of Jesus which establish that he comprehended that all humanity is of one race, working out a common destiny, under a common Divine Plan, which contemplates that, in the ultimate spiritual growth of the race, it will climb the Upward Way to such spiritual heights that all the race will be united in spiritual co-operation and highest worship of the Infinite One. * * * Again we must point to the effects of spiritual evolution. 368 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Far beyond any concept of Jesus or his contemporaries, has grown the idea of uni- versal brotherhood. "The world, the flesh and the devil" are no longer to be shunned by the farthest evolved spiritually. We are learning slowly that "the world" constitutes our own spiritual brothers and sisters with whom we must spiritually co- operate; the flesh is simply uncontrolled ap- petite and desire common to all humanity and which we must ourselves control and co-operate with our brothers to control; and the devil never has existed. WE WILL TEACH THE SPIRITUAL BROTHERHOOD AND SISTERHOOD OF ALL OUR RACE. BUT WE WILL NOT TEACH IT AS JESUS TAUGHT, BUT AS THE TRUE SPIRITUAL KINSHIP OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS ESTABLISHED BY GOD'S GREAT PLAN. Here the Scroll ended, and here the instruction in the Room of Opened Eyes was completed. There remained the final oral instruction of the Sixth Degree, which Robert Young delivered in the Chamber of Broken Idols. In brief summary we condense the address, which began with these words: NEW TESTAMENT DISHONORS GOD 369 "Disciples of Progress, you have now read and heard in this degree many things which our Society deemed essential not only for your own spiritual progress and enlightenment, but also to arm you with spiritual power and courage to de- stroy, within the souls of others, the spiritual idols which they ignorantly have worshiped. "There remain some other things which the Society desires to bring to your attention. ' ' * In the vivid words of the Beloved Philosopher, the instructor then went on to enlighten the dis- ciples in the history and some of the doctrines of the New Testament books. I. He told of how the four gospels in any existing version cannot be relied upon as giving true nar- ratives of the actual life history of Jesus or of his actual teachings. That the oldest manuscripts from which the ex- isting English versions, as well as those in other languages, have been translated are in Greek, not Hebrew, and date probably more than 250 years after the death of Jesus. That neither these manuscripts nor the orig- inal writings to which they probably owe their present form were written by anyone who ever knew Jesus or heard him speak. * * * That many modern investigators believe that the Book of Mark is the earliest of the so-called "Gospels" and that the " triple tradition" which appears in portions of Matthew and Luke, and 370 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE nearly all of Mark, contains the gist of what was believed to be the life and sayings of Jesus up to about 70 A. D., when the original Book of Mark is supposed to have been written by one who never saw Jesus. * * * It is well known that the Book of Matthew was not written by Matthew, the publican, one of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, but many believe that before he died Matthew instigated the writing of a different manuscript, which is now lost, contain- ing what he remembered, years after the words were spoken, of the teachings of Jesus, but not his life history. That the book we know as Matthew was prob- ably composed 80 or 100 A. D., and, in the mean- time, the fancied necessity for a miraculous birth, as well as a princely pedigree for Jesus had pos- sessed the real writer of the book, and probably the stories told had been added to the other miraculous stories which the ignorance of that day must be fed upon to fill its hunger for the super- natural. * * * Next was disclosed the fateful fact that even the manuscripts in Greek, of which there are quite a number, differ from each other in essential par- ticulars, and that the English and Latin transla- tions are also numerous and differ essentially, and that the manuscripts themselves differ from each other in such vital doctrinal statements that great Christian sects have been founded upon the later text amongst these differences. NEW TESTAMENT DISHONORS GOD 371 That the writer of Luke was not an apostle, but was possibly a follower of Paul, and that his original manuscript, whatever it was, some critics say could not have been written earlier than A. D. 96, but there is a consensus of opinion that it was written not earlier than A. D. 75 to 80. What marvels of credulity had infected the stories of Jesus by that time we must judge from the false miracles told in the tales of Luke. * * * It was then commented upon that only once in the Scrolls in the Room of Opened Eyes was a quotation made from what is termed * ' The Gospel According to St. John." In graphic words the Beloved Philosopher ex- plained that the Society did not ivish to rest its measure of the New Testament upon that ~book, which, in the opinion of most Christians, was written by John, the " beloved disciple" of Jesus, and contains for them most precious words of Jesus different from the narratives of the other three "gospel" writers. Alas for the faith of passive believers. The best that can be said of the book called John is that it probably was written in Asia Minor by a Christian theologian, not a Jew, not earlier than A. D. 100, and as a narrative of events it is greatly disputed, while many of its purported say- ings of Jesus which are different from the text of the other three gospel writers bear unquestionable evidence that they are what the writer deemed essential to uphold the religious cult to which he belonged, and are not what Jesus actually said. 372 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE So uncertain are the Christian critics respect- ing the true origin and validity of the gospels, whole libraries have been written to prove one theory or another, and no common ground has yet been reached, and probably none ever will be reached. * * * By the very effective but simple comparison of the earliest Greek manuscripts with the Au- thorized Version, or King James Translation, which is the accepted English Bible of most non- Roman Catholic pulpits and congregations, it was found by the English Commission of Revision which prepared the earlier or English "Revised Version" (not the American Revision of 1901) that the translators of the "King James Bible" had falsely translated certain passages, and adopted others upon which the doctrine of the "Trinity" rests, and that the union of three, "the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost," the "Three in One," "The Godhead" or the "Triune God" of Catholicism and Protestant Episcopalianism, and perhaps other Christian sects, is based on mistranslations, and on interpolations made hundreds of years after the book, in which it ap- pears, was originally written. All the really important early manuscripts do not have the seventh verse of the fifth chapter of the book called the "First Epistle General of John." "The verse first appears in a Confession of Faith drawn up by an obscure zealot towards the end of the fifth century." NEW TESTAMENT DISHONORS GOD 373 Then it was told that the awful sentence which Andrew D. White says "has cost the world more innocent Hood than any other" contained in the King James Bible in the Sixteenth Chapter of Mark, sixteenth verse, ''He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned," appears in the spurious last twelve verses of Mark ivhich do not appear at all in the very earliest Greek manuscripts. * * * Even the titles given to the four gospels in the King James Bible are not part of the original text, as the Revisers of the English Revised Ver- sion distinctly state in their preface to the New Testament. The same Revisers admit that the King James Version which is so largely used by English speaking Christians contains very numerous "de- batable passages/' and imply, as clearly as if they had written it in capital letters in red, that any person who relies upon the verbal infallibility of the four gospels as printed in the King James Version, or even in their own, is merely a deluded fanatic, or an unreasoning simpleton. * * * The instruction then in general terms told that numerous passages in Matthew, Mark and Luke, which purport to give language of Jesus, contain such plain internal proof that he could not have said them, that critics, even though educated in Christian theological colleges, substantially agree that they represent language of the writer and never were said by Jesus. 374 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE The simple faith which dares not question a word of the King James Version certainly is wor- shiping a very fallible spiritual idol. II. But briefly did the instruction dwell upon the palpable discrepancies and contradictions in the tales of the crucifixion and of the "resurrection," which are notorious amongst critics of the "gos- pels." The "signs" and "wonders" and "super- natural" events were immediately given destruc- tive attention, and the Beloved Philosopher did not halt long on rival tales of events which never could have happened. # # * Science now upholds that miracles are con- trary to the "established order of the universe" and belief in miracles is the product of ignorance and superstition. The Society of Progress tells you that in its search for ultimate truths it has deduced that miracles are contrary to God's Plan revealed in the courses of evolution of the universe. You are going to study that Plan in the final Degree, but if you will always bear in mind that God rules the universe, including the psychic realm to which human personality belongs, solely by unchangeable laws, you will realize that all the miracles of the Buddhistic Sacred Books, and of the Christian Sacred Books, are merely "wonder tales" imagined for the glorification of the "Master" who is the dominant figure in these false records. CHAPTER XXX. ROBERT'S PLAN MAN PROPOSES. IMMEDIATELY to the eastward of the City of Ogden a portion of the great Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountain system rises to magnificent proportions, forming a splendid back- ground to the noted railroad gateway. The constant tide of travel over a number of transcontinental railroads has made the junction city a well-known point of interest to those who go to and from the Pacific Coast on the central routes. But few of the many thousands who annually pass through the enterprising city are aware that nature has given to the Ogdenites, in their very backyard, a mountain canyon both grand and beautiful. When Marie Templeton had finished her study of the instruction of the Sixth Degree of the So- ciety of Progress, it chanced that Mollie Richards remained chatting with her until Robert Young was released from the thronging disciples who al- ways eagerly embraced the opportunity to tell the instructor how deeply they had been interested in the instruction. Robert had patiently received each eager dis- ciple, and none could have told from his frank, interested demeanor that surging in his arteries was the blood of a lover who had determined to 375 376 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE risk his fate in frank avowal of his devotion to the sweet girl he adored. Eobert had determined that if possible his should be one proposal made where it was deliber- ately designed to make it. To his mind had come remembrance of a place he deemed ideal for the confession of his love. Marie had promised to take an unchaperoned automobile ride with him, and after artfully sep- arating her from Mollie Richards, Robert ascer- tained that she had no objections to taking a trout dinner with him in Ogden Canyon at noon on the morrow. Amongst college graduates, more especially of co-educational schools west of New England, chaperonage has been considered so lightly as to be deemed almost uncomplimentary to the man, and Marie did not necessarily make any confes- sion of exclusive partiality by accepting Robert's invitation. Aunt Alice Douglas had once expressed the idea that the young men who took the Seven De- grees would develop a chivalry of purity towards all womankind which would eventually be a standard of decency for all men. Darwin Snowson, in replying to her, said : "Aunt Alice, chaperonage has been based on the idea of degenerated animalism in the men who associate with our daughters and our sisters. Alas, there have been too many degenerates of the class which justified chaperonage, but we hope to teach our adolescent male disciples the higher purity which protects and never degrades. We hope also to build strength of vision and knowl- ROBERT'S PLAN MAN PROPOSES 377 edge into the lives of our maturing maidenhood so that degradation cannot come to them, though the animal-minded tempter bears the outward sem- blance of the lover and makes the damnable prom- ises of the libertine who pledges with no idea of fulfillment." It was Robert Young himself who then de- clared : "Our race has lacked moral courage to teach directly and plainly the doctrines that Darwin outlines, but the moral cowardice which results in the dreadful degradation of many little sisters of our race is met by our Society, as you know, with direct challenge of its degrading results. "I am proud to belong to a Society which puts human progress to higher spirituality as its su- preme desire. "We are going to be as clean in our conduct with all womankind as we are with our own mothers and sisters. ' ' There are many of us who have been, and the Divine Plan contemplates that ever increasing numbers shall by intelligent spiritual choice put animalism in its proper place. "We will have but a single standard of social morals for both man and woman, and that standard will be the purity of spiritual strength which the Divine Plan requires." And Aunt Alice said: "Good boy, Robert; we need such pure vision and moral courage as yours. Teach your youth that and there will result a wonderful power in the world for the progress of humanity." 378 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE When Robert called for Marie on the ap- pointed morning, the sparkling vision which greeted him brought the quick leap of the love light into his eyes, and he confirmed in his heart his resolve to confess his love that day. They first sped West and past the clustered Mormon Church buildings and the famous statue of Brigham Young "high on his perch, with his hand towards the bank and his back towards the church," as the irreverent Gentile couplet runs. Then Northward past Hot Springs Lake and the steaming Sulphur Springs which give their name to the little lake and which are the resort of thousands who throng the adjacent sanitariums. Here man, in 1920, had brought the great salt sea which lies westward half a score of miles to the service and pleasure of the innumerable caravans of tourists who stop over in the beautiful city. As the bathing season in the lake lasts only from Decoration Day to Labor Day each year, some enterprising son of Zion conceived the idea of piping and pumping the clear, intensely saline water of the lake to a point where the Hot Springs water could be used to warm the. sparkling cas- cade of transported lake water, which then flows into the remarkable tile "floating" tank. It would scarcely be proper to call it a swimming tank, as the bather floats on the water the same as in the lake. It is by this means that no matter how cold or inclement the weather, the delight and stimulation of bathing in nature's greatest brew of brine can be availed of by any pilgrim. ROBERT'S PLAN MAN PROPOSES 379 The white tiled floors and disrobing rooms, and the enormous glass roof add to the pleasure, while the sanitary laundry where laundresses in white attend the machines which wash and sterilize all used bathing suits and towels, is completely in sight through the plate glass walls, which are kept dry by heat radiated from pipes through which also flows the hot water of the Springs. Oddly enough the hot water requires some cooling before it is used for the beneficial sulphur baths, and its service to the salt water is ingeni- ously arranged to temper it to the proper degree. All this was explained by Robert to Marie, as their pace was slowed down along the splendid macadamized and oiled road. Then on northward flashed the speedy ma- chine, through Mormon villages and past the gar- den center of Utah, with the beautiful range of mountains close at hand to the eastward, and oc- casional glimpses of the great lake to be caught towards the west. The mountain air was stimulating, and Marie's vivacity counterbalanced the slight re- straint observable in Robert. Over the sand hills close to the Weber River which skirts the border of Ogden they swiftly rode, then across the bridge, then through the city itself at moderate speed. Robert was thinking of Paradise, while Marie seemed most intent on de- vouring that promised trout dinner. But from the moment they entered the narrow jaws of the canyon, Marie forgot the dinner and constituted an altogether charming series of ex- 380 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE clamation points interspersed with ripples of ad- miration for the wonderful vistas. The foaming cascades just below them and magnificent walls of rock assuming a hundred dif- ferent shapes as they slowly rode up the well built road so interested Marie that she was surprised when Robert drove up in front of a log-built inn and announced that the trout dinner was at hand. Even Robert, with his happiness depending upon the fate of the next hour, thoroughly enjoyed the firm-fleshed, deliciously fried trout, scarcely half an hour out of the cold mountain stream. With his little plan on the verge of fulfillment, Robert found Marie entirely willing to climb to a secluded spot above the inn, and from which the view was very absorbing to her for a time which seemed long to Robert. A few magnificent clouds floating across the canyon added the magic of alternate light and shade to the enchantment. Robert had watched Marie more than the panorama of beauty and grandeur, and at last she became conscious of that circumstance. "Big Boy, why don't you enjoy the view. Is it all so familiar to you that it has lost its charm!" Then Robert, the Stalwart, began his little speech. " Marie, little girl, I have something to say to you, and to say it where the remembrance will always be something for me to cherish, whether it pleases you or not, I have brought you to this beautiful spot." ROBERT'S PLAN MAN PROPOSES 381 "With the last word, a deafening crash of thunder startled the two on the knoll, and immedi- ately there splashed upon them big warning drops from a black cloud which had now projected its shadow over the rim of the canyon which had been at the back of their seats. Springing to her feet, Marie exclaimed : "Bobby, I'm afraid you'll have to give up your plan, whatever it is. Can't you make your little speech on the secluded corner of the inn porch I It may not be so romantic, but it will be more com- fortable. Let's run! It's going to pour." With that she seized his hand and flew down the path to the inn, arriving breathless, but just in time to escape a heavy downpour. All of the porch was vacant, but Marie quickly preceded Robert to the corner which was actually secluded, and, throwing herself into a comfortable rocker, said: "Now, Big Boy, don't you think this is better for the present f It certainly is for my gown and my comfort." Then, very innocently, but with a latent sparkle in her eyes : "What was it you started to say to me?" Robert sprang to his feet, and seizing Marie in his strong hands he lifted her to a standing po- sition on the chair in which he had been sitting, which placed her eyes but little above a level with his, and then without pause he said : "Marie, never mind my plan. I love you far beyond any dream of loving I ever had before I met you, and I want you to marry me more than 382 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE anything I ever longed for in all my life. Will you marry me, little girlie?" Marie looked straight into the eyes of her lover and for so long that he grew puzzled and almost dreaded her answer. Then her eyes grew alight and strong hope came to him ere she spoke. " Robert, Aunt Alice Douglas told me that some day you would want me and she read to nie what is said about marriage in the final instruc- tion of our Society. "I honor you, Robert, by believing yes, by knowing, that you will always carry out with utter honesty your part of the comradeship which our Society offers as its ideal of married companion- ship. 4 'Oh, Bobby, you fine, upstanding lad, if I had not felt that I, too, can carry out my part of the comradeship, I would have gone back to my Eastern home broken hearted without letting you speak. ''I'm going to answer part of your unspoken speech, Bobby. I'm proud of your hard-headed old Mormon great-grandfather for having such a fine, clean-hearted, lovable, Big Boy great-grand- son, and I'll marry him without a shadow of any kind between us." In after days, Bobby vowed that his arms and lips met hers more than half way, and she, as his life comrade, disputed the claim. Notwithstanding nature's rude and clamorous disarrangement of Robert's cherished plan, it was in beautiful Ogden Canyon that the romance of the Sixth Degree reached its climax. CHAPTER XXXI. THE SEVENTH DEGREE. THE CHAMBER OF THE RELIGION OF PROGRESS. THE ROMANCE OF THE SEVENTH DE- GREE is the romance of the whole book, and if in it there be a romance of the Be- loved Philosopher is it not most fitting? And if the fate of Darwin Snowson be wrapped up in a renunciation of long-cherished dreams shall one say it ought not thus to happen? Because the romance is inevitably involved in the closing chapters of the book, will we turn with less interest to read the climax of the Seven De- grees? It was certainly not with decreasing interest that each disciple of the Society of Progress en- tered the outer door of the "Chamber of the Re- ligion of Progress." A sense of familiarity came to all who stepped within the outer door, for here was an exact du- plication of the entrance to the Chamber of Truth. Instinctively the disciple turned to look at the back of the entrance door, and thereon appeared a message in white letters upon ebony, even as was the message which first greeted the initiate when he began the instruction of the Society. 383 384 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE BROTHER AND SISTER OF OUR RACE. Our Society recognizes to the full that each personality each soul has, by divine sanction, the inalienable right to ask, and to seek, with all the intelligence with which it is endowed, answers to these questions: WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? FROM WHENCE DID WE COME? WHY ARE WE HERE? WHAT IS THE BEST WE CAN DO WHILE WE ARE HERE? WHITHER DO WE GO? * * * If Science and Religion had no common ground, if there were no "fundamental har- mony" between them, it would still be our duty to give absolute weight to the truths revealed by Science. But, in the great Cosmic Process of God there is clearly revealed, not only a reconcil- iation and harmony between Science and Re- ligion, but also a Religion of Science which must be the Religion of the Future, and this religion is fundamentally and essentially The Religion of Progress. It is the RELIGION OF PROGRESS be- cause it will ever harmonize with the DI- VINE PLAN FOR HUMANITY, and this DIVINE PLAN shines out in the necessary conclusions which Science must reach in con- templating the origin, the history and the THE SEVENTH DEGREE 385 destiny of the human race, as you will be taught. * * * ENTER NOW THE CHAMBER OF THE RELIGION OF PROGRESS AND LEARN WHAT SCIENCE HAS TO TEACH OF THE FAITH WHICH MUST SUPERSEDE ALL OTHER FAITHS. It was part of the history of the Society that many a disciple read a score of times the "Mes- sage on the Last Door, " as it came to be called. Mildred Thatcher, after finishing the Degree, said: "My soul leaped out to glean every word of the 'Message on the Last Door,' and the several paragraphs gave such promise of the instruction to come, I could scarcely wait to have the curtain withdrawn. ' ' Zora Wells, in lighter mood, once remarked : "Being a woman, those five questions natur- ally fascinated me, and when I had studied them a while I said to myself, 'Well, if honest answers are made to those questions I'm sure that there will be some small matters to be learned after we have shuffled off this mortal coil. ' ' ' The bronze gate opened and the curtain with- drawn, the disciple entered into a chamber of white and gold and was led to a seat before a beautifully ornamented screen which extended from the floor almost to the ceiling. 386 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE At the appointed moment the screen noise- lessly moved upward and a huge book appeared, taller than a man, standing upright as if about to be opened, with bottom raised some distance from the floor. As the disciple gazed upon the untitled white and gold cover of the book it slowly pivoted to the left, and the first page appeared. Upon it was a legend within paneled borders, and occupying but a part of the page. Throughout the book the letters were pure black. 1. BE WARNED NOW. Lest one shall say this is the sacred book of the Religion of Progress, the Society of Progress now disclaims entirely any sanctity to the book or its contents. In so far as it speaks Truth it belongs to Mankind, and we aim to say nothing but the Truth as it now appeareth. But to claim that the book is inspired or is more than the result of human knowledge would be to deny all its contents. God reveals Himself in His works, and hu- manity must learn the Truth by the study of God's universe and His Process of the Uni- verse. This book was devised for convenience of in- struction and not as a new Bible. THE SEVENTH DEGREE 387 Because the great book had no title it was in- evitable that the disciples would coin a name for it. After a number of suggestions had been made, a singular name began to gain favor, and ere long "The Building Book" became the recognized title amongst all. It was a tradition that Naomi Snowson sug- gested the name and that in doing so she had said: "The Sixth Degree destroyed spiritual idols, but the Seventh Degree builds a new structure of better spirituality and the great book is the Build- ing Book." When the second leaf of the Building Book was swung to the left, the disciples beheld this: 2. GOD'S PLAN. IS THERE A PLAN? At the outset of the constructive religious work of our Society it would be unwise not to distinctly proclaim that amongst scientific philosophers there are warring conclusions respecting any plan appearing in the Cosmic Process. And, again, some who discern Infinite Intelligence working in all things, in preor- dained design, fail to comprehend that Infinite Purposive Goodness is likewise mani- fested in the Divine Plan. 388 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Yet, though philosophers profound, in pride of partially evolved finite rationality, fail to discern the greatest fact which human- ity can learn, Science and Religion of eternal necessity must be one in the ultimate ration- ality. True Religion must embrace all Truth, and Science is always garnering Truth. THE SPIRITUAL PROCESS IS JUST AS MUCH A PART OF THE COSMIC PROCESS AS IS THE EVOLUTION OF THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. When any philosopher admits "estab- lished order" in the universe and also admits progressive "moral development" in the evo- lution of mankind, he would be lost in a fog of rationality if he failed to go on and admit that EITHER IN THE UNIVERSE OR FROM THE SOURCE OF THE UNIVERSE, THERE COMES AMPLE PROOF OF THE PURPOSIVE ELEMENT IN ALL EVOLU- TION. * * * A poet glimpsed the great truth that all things are moving "to a far-off, divine event." * * * THE SEVENTH DEGREE 389 In our little speck of the great universe "we must, in order to live at all, recognize the existence of matter, motion and cause," our physical selves "being parts of the ma- terial universe, and our progress as gregari- ous animals being part of the cosmic pro- cess;" so, also, we must "recognize in the de- velopment of the religious passion," in the growth of true spirituality amongst man- kind, something to be valued supremely, and this, too, is "as truly a part of the cosmic process as the other." To ascribe the cosmic process, which de- velops spirituality, to chance, or to merely mechanical forces, does not comport with the facts of spiritual evolution. * # # THE RELIGION OF PROGRESS AS- SERTS AS A SCIENTIFIC FACT THAT THERE IS A DIVINE PLAN MANIFEST IN COSMIC EVOLUTION AND THAT NO OTHER EXPLANATION CAN ACCOUNT FOR THE SPIRITUAL PROGRESS OF HUMANITY. 390 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE In the Instruction of the Seventh Degree, Dar- win Snowson, who was the one of the Seven who delivered the oral messages, always explained that it was the avowed object of the Society of Progress to make its instruction so simple and clear that a person who had attained a common school education by careful study could compre- hend the principles which were taught. Marie Templeton, upon hearing this, remarked to Zora Wells that she thought the second page of the Building Book would perhaps be beyond the grasp of some college graduates, but instantly in the instruction Darwin Snowson explained that sometimes it had become necessary to touch upon questions of philosophy so that there could be no doubt in the minds of even philosophers as to the fundamental teachings of the Religion of Prog- ress, and that some conclusions were necessarily drawn in advance of the complete proofs, but be- cause religion itself is evolving, the future held much in store for seekers of the highest truths. On the next few pages of the white book the firm foundation of the new religion was " built upon a rock," the rock of scientific truth. THE SEVENTH DEGREE 391 3. THE PROOF OF THE PLAN. There is ample proof of God's Plan a mighty Plan a Plan so wonderful that even the little glimpses of it which the finite can gain, fill us with deepest soul love for God, and with profound spiritual inspiration which reaches ever upward towards the In- finite One, with bright hope, and clear faith, and strong spiritual desire. A million centuries evidence on earth the working out of the Divine Plan the supreme j purpose of terrestrial evolution. Doubtless the Plan reaches backward to the infinitude of the past, when the Almighty "the Uncaused First Cause" decreed the courses of all evolution. Doubtless, too, the Plan pervades the Cos- mos, and spiritual life is evolving in countless worlds other than ours. Science, the better sister of philosophy, in its revelations of the evolution of human per- 392 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE sonality, presents proof of a Divine Plan which is radiant with hope, not only to the individual personality, but in higher degree to the entire race of human beings. SCIENCE FINDS THE COURSE OF EVOLUTION OF EARTH AND ITS CREATURES DEMONSTRATING IN THE PAST AND NOW DEMONSTRATING A WONDERFULLY HIGHER PURPOSE THAN THE EVOLUTION OF A PHYS- ICAL WORLD WITH COMPLEX PHYS- ICAL LIFE THEREON. We must judge of the Infinite purpose by the ascertained facts of evolution, and these facts are so plain that the broader view turns a thousand complexities which vex philoso- phers into clear proof of a Divine Plan which makes the entire foundation of the Religion of Progress. The page ended here, and critical disciples felt that the promised proof of the Plan must yet ap- pear, and as the leaf of the beautiful book swung to the left they looked longingly upon the next page. THE SEVENTH DEGREE 393 4. THE PROOF OF THE PLAN (Continued). Not out of chaos came our world. The physical cosmic material which in the courses of evolution assembled into the solid globe we inhabit always, prior to its gather- ing into the planet we live on, was governed by the same laws which now govern it. ' 'Es- tablished order" has always been the great cosmic rule. Confusion and mere chance exist no- where. * * * LAW GOVERNS AND AFFECTS ALL THINGS PHYSICAL. LAW GOVERNS AND AFFECTS ALL THINGS PSYCHICAL. LAW GOVERNS AND AFFECTS ALL THINGS SPIRITUAL. LAW IS THE CONSTANT UNCHANG- ING MANIFESTATION OF GOD'S WILL IN ALL EVOLUTION. THE COURSES OF EVOLUTION, LAW GOVERNED, ES- TABLISH THE DIVINE PLAN. * * * But when, in the dawning life of human personality, THE POWER OF RATIONAL OR SPIRITUAL CHOICE OF ACTIONS came to primitive man in the courses of evo- lution, notwithstanding the spiritual im- pulses were then very feeble, the most sig- 394 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE nificant, the most vital of all the facts of earthly evolution, then appeared. * # * THE COSMIC PROCESS HAD EVOLVED, ON EARTH, THE BEING WHOSE PHYSICAL DESCENDANTS WOULD BE ENDOWED WITH PSYCHIC PERSONALITIES CAPABLE OF EVOLU- TION TOWARDS HIGHER SPIRITUAL- ITY. * * * The ape-like man of a thousand or two thousand centuries ago is at ONE END OF A SCALE WHICH MEASURES GOD'S GREAT PLAN. * * * The other end of the scale for the human race lies far forward in a future which is be- yond the ken of any human personality now inhabiting the animal body with which per- sonality is associated while on earth. FOR THE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN PER- SONALITY, NOW LIVING FOR YOU AND FOR ME, THE OTHER END OF THE SCALE LIES BEYOND THE PORTALS OF PHYSICAL DEATH OF THE BODY. * * * BUT THE READING OF THE SCALE IS CLEAR AND SPIRITUALLY IN- SPIRING. THE SEVENTH DEGREE 395 Not yet was the proof of the plan complete. The disciples had all studied the ape-like man in the preceding degrees and realized that the "zero" of the great scale was a personality with only faint premonitions of spirituality. His "moral sense 5 ' must have been vague and his choice of actions dominated almost entirely by animalistic inheritances. In all probability his mate had a keener sense of unselfishness and she only as to her child and her own mate. Across the open book the glances of the dis- ciples rested on the next segment of the proof of the Plan. 5. THE PROOF OF THE PLAN (Continued.) THE READING OF THE SCALE. In the courses of evolution our solar sys- tem was formed under natural laws. In the courses of evolution under natural laws our earth attained its separate planetary existence. In the courses of evolution under natural laws physical life originated on earth. In the courses of evolution under natural laws the single cell grew into all the varied forms of physical life which have inhabited the seas and the sky and the solid ground. In the courses of evolution on earth the pinnacle of physical evolution was reached 396 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE in the animal man, who, because of the psychic personality with which he became en- dowed, then began a new form of life upon our planet, the life which must be valued far above mere physical animalism, THE LIFE OF A MENTAL AND MORAL PERSON- ALITY. * * * GOD'S PURPOSE IN TERRESTRIAL EVOLUTION EVENTUATED IN HUMAN PERSONALITY, CAPABLE OF BUILD- ING CHARACTER. THENCEFORTH THE PROGRESS OF INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY AND OF COMMUNITIES OF THE RACE TO- WARDS HIGHER INTELLECTUALITY AND HIGHER SPIRITUALITY IS NOT ONLY CLEARLY MANIFESTED IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND, BUT NOW WE DISCERN THAT, SUBJECT ONLY TO THE DIVINE GIFT TO PERSONALITY OF MORAL FREEDOM, BOTH INTELLEC- TUAL AND SPIRITUAL LIFE HAVE EVOLVED UNDER PERSISTENT COSMIC LAWS WHICH HAVE EVENTUATED THROUGH UNTOLD AGES IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR FIRST IG- NORANT ANIMALISTIC ANCESTORS THE SEVENTH DEGREE 397 INTO THE HIGHEST SPIRITUAL TYPES OF OUR OWN DAY, AND ALSO INTO COMMUNITIES OF MEN WHO DELIBER- ATELY PLAN FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE. BUT THE UPWARD END OF THE SCALE IS THE FUTURE DESTINY OF MANKIND ON EARTH. * * * THE LAWS WHICH THUS EVIDENCE GOD'S PLAN REVEAL THE WILL OF GOD CONSTANTLY IMPELLING THE RACE OF MAN AND INDIVIDUAL HU- MAN PERSONALITY TOWARDS HIGHER SPIRITUALITY. CONSCIENCE IS AN EVIDENCE OF THE DIVINE FORCES WHICH WORK FOR THE SPIRITUAL UPLIFT OF MAN. The SCALE OF EVOLVING SPIRITU- ALITY which thus reveals God's Plan is the most vital of all facts within human knowl- edge and finite understanding. When once comprehended, the human concept of the In- finite One becomes wonderfully transformed and true religion chimes completely with the highest spiritual hopes of humanity and the purest worship of God. 398 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE It became evident, soon after the Society be- gan its final instruction, that many disciples read the fifth page of the Building Book without full comprehension of its vital significance. Darwin Snowson speedily realized that that which was very clear to the Seven needed further explanation to many. He would not insert a new page in the book which the Beloved Philosopher had written, but when the disciples at any time had made seven readings of page five he caused a scroll, like in de- sign to the pages of the book, to roll down over page four and the message on this scroll eventu- ally became known as the Elementary Instruction in Human Progress, which Josephine Penrose had dubbed it. TRANSLATION. Translated into different words and an- ticipating somewhat, the Reading of the Scale may be taught in this way. GOD'S COSMIC PLAN IS PARTLY EVIDENCED TO OUR FINITE MINDS IN WHAT SCIENCE HAS DISCLOSED RE- SPECTING THE WONDERFUL UNI- VERSE IN WHICH OUR SOLAR SYSTEM IS BUT ONE OF UNTOLD MILLIONS OF SUCH SYSTEMS, WITH A CENTRAL SUN IN EACH, SOME OF WHICH SUNS ARE VASTLY LARGER THAN OURS. THE SEVENTH DEGREE 399 Science has also disclosed that the SAME PHYSICAL LAWS which govern and affect our sun and its planets, including our little earth, govern and affect every solar system in the universe. Science has learned much respecting the physical universe and respecting physical life on our earth by the discovery of many of the laws which combine together as "forces" to produce, as measured by time, the progres- sion of all things physical in what Science calls their "Courses of Evolution" and which we are wholly justified in designating as the working out of God's Plan respecting the physical universe. BUT OUR GREAT CONCERN NOW NECESSARILY IS WITH OUR OWN LITTLE SPHERE. AND GOD'S PLAN FOR OUR EARTH SHINES OUT IN THE HISTORY OF OUR EARTH AND OF ALL FORMS OF LIFE EVOLVED ON EARTH, INCLUDING MAN- KIND. * * * IF HUMAN PERSONALITY, CAPA- BLE OF MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL GROWTH, HAD NOT COME INTO THE LIFE OF HUMAN BEINGS AS A PSYCHIC 400 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE OR SPIRITUAL ENDOWMENT FROM GOD, THEN OUR EARTH WOULD HAVE REMAINED A "WONDER GARDEN" OF ANIMAL LIFE, WITH NO SUPERIOR BE- INGS TO GROW, THROUGH THE SPIRIT- UAL STRUGGLES OF UNTOLD AGES, UPWARD TOWARDS THE IDEAL. How do we know this? Because the history of humanity tells it in unmistakable ways, The original men and women were neces- sarily ignorant and animalistic, with but faint spiritual impulses, some of which were un- doubtedly inheritances from their remoter animal ancestors. BUT THE ENDOWMENT OF MAN WITH INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY, HAVING THE POWER OF ACQUIRING AND TRANSMITTING SPIRITUAL GAINS DOWN THE PROCESSION OF THE GEN- ERATIONS, IS THE SUPREME FACT IN ALL HUMAN HISTORY. It took perhaps two hundred thousand years of the struggle towards righteousness, the struggle towards the ideal, to transform the ape-like man into a great ethical teacher like Confucius, who, like Buddha and Zoroas- THE SEVENTH DEGREE 401 ter and Jesus, each evidences the spiritualiz- ing power of God's Plan in evolving such personalities, each of whom may have been the highest evolved man of his day. But Individuals were mentioned merely that the Reading of the Scale should be plain. God's Plan is for the entire human race. That God's Plan has been purposefully slow, as viewed by human understanding, should not dim a clear vision of the supreme spiritual significance of the record. This record marks the pathways of the past and foretells the spiritual brightness of coming days. Undoubtedly the disciples now began to see that the "Process" which had wrought such ad- vances in spiritual life contained promises of great moment to all who seek the further spiritual progress of our race, but the constructive value of the instruction of the degree thus far set forth could scarcely be measured by anyone who was not already familiar with the great conclusions which were to follow. When the next leaf of the Building Book was turned, the readers found one of the great ques- tions which appeared on the Last Door again con- fronting them on the sixth page of the volume. 402 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE 6. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? In simple terms, our Society will endeavor to tell you the wonderful meaning which hu- man reason must deduce from the origin and history of man. * * * We originated out of unintellectual, un- spiritual animalism, and we were endowed with individual personalities, capable of choosing our actions and capable of much mental and spiritual growth. * * * In the primeval ages our race struggled along intellectually and morally under the sway of ignorance, superstition and fear. Our far progenitors also struggled hard against other animals and against nature's cataclysmal physical forces, in order that they should not all perish. It was these struggles, which brought precious spiritual gains to be transmitted down the generations. SERVICE, LOVE, CO-OPERATION AND WORSHIP ALL GREW SLOWLY INTO THE WEB OF HUMAN HISTORY. * * * It was all very slow as we measure time and only the Infinite One knows why. THE SEVENTH DEGREE 403 BUT IT WAS GOD'S PLAN, and the Power of the moral forces which have thus uplifted mankind spiritually may be meas- ured by contrasting the most ignorant savage of darkest Africa (undoubtedly some ad- vanced beyond the original men of earth) with the highest spiritual and intellectual hu- man beings of our day. * * * UNDER GOD'S PLAN THE WAY OF MANKIND HAS BEEN AN UPWARD WAY. Every religion of the past which in any way advanced mankind, every development of spiritual actions and spiritual ideas and ideals and spiritual character has been be- cause of the persistent spiritual forces which evidence that GOD DECREED THAT MAN SHOULD GROW UPWARD FROM ANI- MALISM AND IGNORANCE TO FAR HEIGHTS WHICH WE OF THIS AGE ARE NOT EVOLVED SPIRITUALLY FAR ENOUGH TO DISCERN. * * * THROUGH THE POWER OF THE DI- VINE FORCES WHICH HAVE UPLIFTED MANKIND AND WHICH WE CAN USE FOR OUR OWN SPIRITUAL PROGRESS TOWARDS HIGHER PERSONAL CHAR- ACTER, IT HAS BEEN CLEARLY ESTAB- 404 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE LISHED NOT ONLY THAT "GOD IS THE POWER WHICH MAKES FOR RIGHT- EOUSNESS," BUT ALSO THAT UNDER HIS PLAN OUR RACE CANNOT PERMA- NENTLY RECEDE BACK TO IGNOR- ANCE AND ANIMALISM, AND, BETTER YET, CANNOT DEGRADE ITSELF INTO UNIVERSAL VICE AND MORAL BASE- NESS. 1* *t* "1* REMEMBER, WE DO HAVE MORAL FREEDOM. HOWEVER PERSUASIVE THE LAWS WHICH INFLUENCE OUR CHOICE OF ACTIONS, YET OUR PERSONALITIES DO BUILD UP CHARACTER, WHICH IS THE ONLY THING WHICH WE CAN TAKE THROUGH THE PORTALS OF DEATH. BUT OUR RACE IS PREDESTINED ULTIMATELY TO GROW GREATLY IN SPIRITUAL COMPREHENSION AND SPIRITUAL POWER. HERE, THEN, ARE SPIRITUAL IN- SPIRATION, HIGH FAITH AND GREAT HOPE. * * * THEREFORE, THE GREAT MEANING OF MAN'S ORIGIN, HISTORY AND FU- TURE DESTINY AS ONE RACE IN- THE SEVENTH DEGREE 405 HABITING OUR EARTH, IS THAT HE ALWAYS HAS BEEN, IS NOW, AND ALWAYS WILL BE CLIMBING AN UP- WARD WAY TOWARDS GOD. AND WHEN THIS IS COMPRE- HENDED THE RELIGION OF THE FU- TURE IS CLEARLY DISCERNIBLE. The more or less frequent repetition of certain fundamental facts and conclusions and even of sentences had been deemed advisable in order that the foundation of the Religion of Progress should be viewed from many angles during all the work of the Degrees and should be impressed firmly on every soul. Now the disciple approached the building of the superstructure of the Religion of the Future. After reading the sixth page seven times, Marie Templeton had said: "The truth certainly cuts away the founda- tions of Christian Orthodoxy; what will it leave of the teachings of liberal Christianity and its con- cept of God?" And Robert Young had answered: "The very nature of spiritual progress under the Divine Plan requires that we shall not attempt to measure all of the future discoveries in the realm of spiritual truth, but now it seems clear that the spiritual kinship we have with God is something to be valued supremely. 406 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "The word 'Fatherhood,' as is said in the Sixth Degree, seems too circumscribed with in- ferior earthly relationships. "Perhaps we may find a word to partially name the wonderful spiritual relationship which our souls bear to the 'Source of Righteousness,' but we have doubted the spiritual honesty of clinging to the idea of Fatherhood, even as liber- alized by modern thought. ' ' On the opposite page the number Seven appeared, and now, lest one shall say that the founders of the Society of Progress deemed that number of mystic value or were in any way super- stitious regarding it, it will be well to record that the Beloved Philosopher had recommended its use purely as a convenience suggested by the Seven who sought his advice and by the division of the degrees. He also knew as a psychological fact that, in dealing with Mormons, some occult gain might be made because of the recurrence of that number in their church organization. In the instruction express repudiation was made of any superstitious, occult, or mystic value to be given to the number. The Religion of Progress admits of no super- stition of any kind. When Marie Templeton looked upon the seventh page she saw this: THE SEVENTH DEGREE 407 7. THE STRUGGLE TOWARDS RIGHT- EOUSNESS. Do not think because the Plan of the In- finite One shines out in spiritual radiance in the history of our race that the souls of today can usurp the functions of the Almighty, and divine clear reasons for many things in the progress of humanity along the Upward Way, which are shrouded behind the barriers be- tween the finite and the infinite? Why should our race have groped so long amid the dark clouds of animalism, ignorance, superstition and fear? Why should humanity have battled in bloody warfare, first one with another, then family with family, then tribe with tribe, then nation with nation, through a thousand cen- turies? Why should the evils of social life have grown into the spiritual history of our race? Why was the realm of truth respecting the physical universe so slowly spelled out? Why has religion groped through the maze of a thousand false religions ere one has been found which comprehends all Truth? 408 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Shall we, who are only partially evolved intellectually and spiritually, attempt final answers to such questions? We do know that GOD DOES NOT AND HAS NOT BY DIRECT ACTS OR SPECIAL DECREES IN ANY WAY OR FOR ANY PURPOSE, AT ANY TIME, INTERFERED WITH THE CONDUCT OF ANY MAN OR THE HISTORY OF ANY PEOPLE. IF GOD DID THUS CONTROL HUMAN DESTINY BY DIRECT ACT OR SPECIAL DECREE, EVEN BECAUSE OF PRAYER TO HIM, WE WOULD BE JUSTIFIED IN QUESTIONING MANY THINGS, IN THE STRUGGLE TOWARDS RIGHTEOUS- NESS. * * * BUT GOD BROUGHT HUMAN PER- SONALITY UNDER THE SWAY OF THE SPIRITUALIZING PROCESS, WHILE IT WAS EMERGING FROM ANIMALISM AND ALL WHICH FOLLOWED MERELY EVIDENCED THE STRUGGLE TOWARDS RIGHTEOUSNESS OF A RACE WHICH WAS PREDESTINED TO CLIMB THE UP- THE SEVENTH DEGREE 409 WARD WAY TOWARD THE IDEAL, BUT WAS ALSO MADE TO WIN ITS OWN SPIRITUAL UPLIFT. Quickly, lest one shall say we have taught a divinely fixed, predetermined fate for indi- vidual man and for nations, we emphasize that the PROCESS OF SPIRITUALIZA- TION expressly negatives, wholly denies, any such conclusion. HUMAN FATE, INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE, HAS ALWAYS BEEN FLUENT UNDER THE DIVINE ENDOW- MENT OF MORAL FREEDOM, THE POWER OF INTELLIGENT CHOICE OF ACTIONS. THE ULTIMATELY TRIUMPHANT SPIRITUAL FORCES IMPEL, BUT NEVER DETERMINE, INDIVIDUAL OR COMMUNAL DESTINY. AS INDIVIDUALS AND AS COMMUNI- TIES OUR PROGRESS TOWARDS GOD ALONG THE UPWARD WAY IS MEAS- URED BY OUR OWN SPIRITUAL DE- VELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES. 410 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE When Mollie Richards had read the seventh page of the Building Book seven times, she said to Naomi Snowson: " Looking backward to our remote ancestors, I feel that they were not permanently unhappy. It seems to me that until man himself began to use his intelligence against his fellow men to oppress and enslave, that even the physical struggles in warfare would develop intelligence and in some ways sow the seed for moral development. ' ' Zora Wells, always alert-minded, said, after her perusal: ''There, some more broad questions have ap- peared. But I believe in having rational faith, and when we know that all the time God was im- pelling our ancestors to grow gradually towards higher spirituality, why should we, who spirit- ually and temporarily profit by their struggles, have too much curiosity about just how it all hap- pened or why it didn't happy some other way? "God's way must be the best way." Marie Templeton said, before the leaf of the book was swung to disclose the next pages: "I think the real lesson of the prolonged strug- gle towards righteousness, is that we who have inherited the intellectual and spiritual gains of the ages should strongly cooperate to give oppor- tunity to those who are not so far evolved. "What does it avail us if we do not organize so that all of us who see the Truth can give every possible effort to advance our fellow men through instruction in the truth?" THE SEVENTH DEGREE 411 Thus, again, the world-teaching of the Religion of Progress appeared in the expressions of the disciples. When the great leaf of the white book swung noiselessly over, the message on the eighth page appeared: 8. MAN HAS MADE THE EVILS OF HIS RACIAL LIFE. Evil, in the working out of a plan which makes for righteousness, may seem a mys- tery. But let us look at both sides of the shield before we pronounce judgment. Are the evils of our racial life things which God condemned in tablets of stone, or are they things which the spiritual growth of mankind condemns? * * * IT SEEMS DEMONSTRABLY TRUE THAT EVIL AMONGST MEN NECESSAR- ILY ARISES FROM MAN'S POWER EITHER TO CHOOSE RIGHT CONDUCT, WHICH WILL ASSIST IN CARRYING OUT THE WILL OF GOD, REVEALED IN THE PROCESS WHICH MAKES FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, OR TO CHOOSE BAD CONDUCT, WHICH MAKES AGAINST RACE ADVANCEMENT AND TENDS TO- 412 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE WARDS PERSONAL SPIRITUAL DEGRA- DATION. * * * NEITHER DEVIL NOR FALLEN ANGEL, NOR POWER OF DARKNESS, MAKES THE EVIL WHICH TEMPTS MAN TOWARDS DEGRADATION. SCIENCE LONG AGO BANISHED SA- TAN FROM THE REALITIES. * * * THE BLACK CURRENT OF EVIL WHICH FLOWS ON IN THE STREAM OF RACIAL DESTINY IS CREATED WHOLLY BY THE CONDUCT OF MAN HIMSELF. H* H* ** IT IS MAN'S OWN UNCONTROLLED DESIRES AND PASSIONS WHICH MAKE UP THE SUM OF EVIL TEMPTATIONS. * * * In building up the Religion of Progress it is very necessary that the general nature of evil be clearly understood. THE ENEMIES OF RACE UPLIFT ARE THOSE THINGS AMONGST MEN WHICH TEND TO DEGRADE MANKIND OR TO IMPEDE SPIRITUAL PROGRESS. LET US LOOK FARTHER. "Animalism as a necessity of the survival of the human race could not of itself be evil, THE SEVENTH DEGREE 413 but modified by the intelligence and the pas- sions of men it easily becomes a power against righteousness." * * * The social evil is a dreadful dragging weight on the progress of humanity and the Religion of Progress recognizes in it a su- preme enemy, to be eventually conquered by the education to clear pure vision of its evils of all the young men of our world who hon- estly desire race advancement, and who will guard in purity the ignorance of little sisters of our race who might be betrayed. There are many battles of many kinds to be waged ere the race soul is purged of this great evil * * * The Religion of Progress also recognizes that in individual personality, vices of un- truthfulness, hypocrisy, irrational anger, avarice, dishonesty, inordinate pride, glut- tony, selfishness, drunkenness and kindred degrading wickedness of men, each and all impede individual and race advancement to- wards God, and each and all arise because man misuses the greatest gift of the Infinite One, his moral freedom. * * * So, too, amongst the institutions of men, beyond question there are those which im- pede individual and communal advancement toward higher spirituality. 414 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE These, too, are great evils and they must be and will be conquered in the struggle for righteousness * * * IS IT NOT PERFECTLY CLEAR THAT NOT GOD, BUT MAN, MAKES THE EVIL OF HIS RACE? * * * The Religion of Progress says to you, "Let us recognize the existence of evil solely as a matter of man's own volition, and then let us wage against it a clear- visioned, never- ending warfare, so that its soul-degrading po- tentialities shall not forever destroy spiritual growth of individual personalities, nor im- pede the spiritual progress of our race." THE BATTLE IS WELL WORTH WAGING. . * * BUT LET IT NOT BE SAID THAT EARTHLY EVIL IS A MORAL WRONG AGAINST MANKIND ONLY. IT IS ALSO MOST CLEARLY SIN AGAINST THE INFINITE ONE BECAUSE IT IS AN EXERCISE OF THE MORAL FREEDOM GRANTED TO MAN AGAINST THE VERY PURPOSE FOR WHICH GOD GRANTED SUCH FREEDOM. MAN'S EVIL CONDUCT IMPEDES THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD'S DIVINE PLAN FOR MANKIND. THE SEVENTH DEGREE 415 Many deep breaths were drawn when disciples finished the reading of the eighth page of the Building Book. The concrete teachings brought the individual directly to the constructive relig- ious work of the Eeligion of Progress. As Mildred Thatcher said: "It is plain that the Religion of Progress sub- stitutes 'Thou Ought Not' for 'Thou Shalt Not.' It certainly places a spiritual duty upon each soul. By our conduct towards our fellow men, and our communications with them, we help or we hinder the spiritual advancement of our race. It is cer- tainly a pretty solemn responsibility." And Josephine Penrose remarked: "It is inspiring to realize that our spiritual warfare is against man's own conduct and his own institutions of degradation. "But there must be something greater yet to come. Evil is an enemy in the pathway, but the spiritual gains we can make both individually and for humanity in struggling against evil must not compare to the spiritual development of our own personalities in advancing along the Upward Way." Her conclusions proved to be an anticipation of the message on the next page of the Building Book. 416 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE 9. WHAT IS THE BEST WE CAN DO WHILE WE ARE HERE? * * * Involved in this question are all the vital problems of human life. All our relations towards our fellow men, all the social institutions of humanity, all our obligations to God and our worship of God, must be considered in seeking a truthful answer. Can we climb to some high pinnacle of spiritual enlightenment and there obtain the complete view which we needs must obtain if we shall true answer gain to this supremely important inquiry? * * # IN GOD'S PLAN IN THE DIVINE PLAN THE TRUE ANSWER MUST BE REVEALED. * * * The society of Progress sought the an- swer in the Divine Plan because the Religion of the Future must have its birth in God's purposes toward the human race. THE SEVENTH DEGREE 417 From the demonstrations of God's Plan already taught certain spiritual answers to our question shine forth in radiant inspira- tion. FIRST: THE BEST HERITAGE WHICH HUMAN PERSONALITY HAS GAINED IN THE STRUGGLE TOWARDS RIGHT- EOUSNESS IS THE POWER NOW TO WORSHIP THE INFINITE ONE IN OUT- POURINGS OF SPIRITUAL LOVE AND ADORATION WHICH ARE FAR ABOVE THE TEACHINGS OF ANY OTHER RELI- GION EITHER PAST OR PRESENT. AND THE LAW OF THE UPWARD WAY CLEARLY REVEALS THAT, AS OUR RACE GOES ON, EVER CLIMBING TO GREATER HEIGHTS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE AND SPIRITUAL VISION, MAN- KIND SHALL CONTINUALLY LEARN HOW TO WORSHIP GOD IN PURER SPIRITUAL LOVE AND MORE SU- PREME SOUL ADORATION. WE HAVE SCARCELY GLIMPSED THE REALM OF SPIRITUAL LAWS WHICH WE CAN USE FOR SOUL AD- VANCEMENT. 418 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE WHEN WE DO GAIN KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR NATURE AND THEIR POWER, LOVE, WORSHIP AND ADORA- TION OF THE INFINITE ONE WILL SURELY GROW TO HIGHER GLORY. * * # Worship of God has been a growth amongst men and it would be spiritual decay to blind our eyes to the promises of the fu- ture. * * * SECOND: IF WE TRULY LOVE AND WORSHIP GOD, THEN WE MUST CON- SCIOUSLY ASSIST IN CARRYING OUT THE DIVINE PLAN THAT THE RACE SHALL BE ADVANCED TO HIGHER SPIRITUALITY. THE PATHWAY IS PLAIN, THOUGH THE TASK WILL REQUIRE THE STRONGEST SPIRITUAL EFFORTS OF EVERY PERSONALITY WHICH DE- SIRES TO GROW TOWARDS GOD. STRONG SPIRITUAL LOVE FOR ALL OF OUR RACE- STRONG SPIRITUAL CO-OPERATION WITH ALL HUMANITY THE SEVENTH DEGREE 419 THESE, COMBINED WITH THE HIGHEST SPIRITUAL LOVE OF GOD, ARE SUMMATIONS OF THE BEST INDI- VIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES OF MEN CAN DO WHILE EXISTING ON EARTH. * * * YIELDING SPIRITUAL ALLEGIANCE TO GOD'S PLAN AND CONSCIOUSLY WORKING TO CARRY IT OUT SO FAR AS WE CAN IN OUR GENERATION, WILL SO DEVELOP OUR PERSONALI- TIES THAT WE CAN LOOK FORWARD WITH RATIONAL FAITH TO STILL GREATER PROGRESS IN A SPIRITUAL LIFE BEYOND THE PORTALS OF PHYS- ICAL DEATH. BUT OF THIS, MORE ANON. As part of the story of the thousands of dis- ciples who were taught the seven degrees it was often remarked that the ninth page of the Build- ing Book was studied with absorbing attention by all. Many were the comments made upon its broad statements, and some were disappointed at cer- tain apparent restrictions or omissions of what they deemed vital necessities of the Religion of Progress. 420 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE Talmadge Penrose had been a philosophic So- cialist, and the Brotherhood of Man, on its ma- terial side, had occupied many of his hours of study and meditation. After reading the ninth page of the white book he said to Robert Young: ' ' Can it be that the Religion of Progress does not seek any reorganization of Society along economic lines so that the present crude, wasteful, unequal distribution of the products of the soil and of manufacture, and of the benefits of human economic efforts, shall be superseded by institu- tional methods which shall establish true eco- nomic brotherhood amongst men?" And to him Robert Young replied: "The Religion of Progress must necessarily affect every relationship of human society and your question receives immediate answer on the next page of the book." It was said among the seven that of the wo- men who read the ninth page, the first comment usually made was upon the last paragraph, where- in immortality appeared as a direct teaching of the Society. Again a leaf of the Building Book swung over and eager souls searched the next page. THE SEVENTH DEGREE 421 10. SPIRITUAL LOVE FOR ALL OF OUR RACE. SPIRITUAL CO-OPERATION WITH ALL HUMANITY. What is involved in giving to our fellow human beings these fundamental necessities of spiritual progress under God's Plan? THE PROCESS OF GOD PERMEATES EVERY FIELD OF HUMAN ENDEAVOR. THEREFORE, THE RELIGION WHICH SEEKS TO GIVE THE BEST DISCERN- IBLE FINITE CO-OPERATION TO THE DIVINE PURPOSE THAT MANKIND SHALL CLIMB THE UPWARD WAY TO- WARD GOD, MUST EXTEND ITS SPIRIT- UAL CO-OPERATION INTO EVERY FIELD OF HUMAN ENDEAVOR. # # * This cannot be comprehended too broadly. It is as broad as the conduct of every hu- man being and every institutional activity of all mankind. WE ARE ONE RACE WITHIN GOD'S PURPOSES, AND WE ARE WORKING TOWARDS A COMMON RACIAL DES- TINY. 422 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE However, we must not expect very sudden and radical changes in transforming existing human institutions into better institutions, nor in transforming the majority of our fel- low human beings into spiritual fitness to give true spiritual love to all their fellow men. * * * Before the honest spiritual dreams of those who seek world-wide adoption of eco- nomic plans which will recognize the Brotherhood of Man can gain any strong practical assertion, there must be THE SOUNDEST AND SANEST RELIGIOUS FOUNDATION BUILT UP IN THE SOULS OF A CONSIDERABLE MAJORITY OF MANKIND. WHEN THE MAJORITY OF MEN, BE- CAUSE THEY LOVE GOD AND WISH TO CARRY OUT HIS PLAN, SHALL HAVE GAINED SPIRITUAL PERSONALITIES OF GREATLY HIGHER CHARACTER THAN NOW EXIST, SAVE AMONG A FEW OF THE FARTHEST EVOLVED, THEN, AND THEN ONLY, CAN SUCCESS- FUL ECONOMIC BROTHERHOOD BE ES- TABLISHED. PERHAPS A HUNDRED CENTURIES MAY MARK THE UPWARD CLIMB TO SUCH A TRIUMPH OF SPIRITUAL CO- OPERATION. THE SEVENTH DEGREE 423 THE CRUDE SELFISH REBELLIONS AGAINST THE EXISTING ECONOMIC AND GOVERNMENTAL ORDER WHICH MARK THE TEACHINGS OF ANARCH- ICAL SOCIETIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD LACK THE ABSOLUTELY ES- SENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HUMAN AD- VANCEMENT. SPIRITUAL CO-OPERATION WITH OUR FELLOW MEN AND THEIRS WITH US, AND MUTUAL SPIRITUAL LOVE, WITH A COMMON BELIEF IN GOD, AND COMMON DEVOTION TO THE CAUSE OF SPIRITUALLY UPLIFTING EACH OTHER, AND ALL OF OUR RACE, THESE MAKE THE RELIGIOUS FOUN- DATION UPON WHICH TO BUILD ECO- NOMIC BROTHERHOOD OF ALL MAN- KIND. * * * WE HEAR YOU SAY, "IS EFFORT TO CHANGE ANY EXISTING ECONOMIC IN- JUSTICE OR INEQUALITY, OR GOVERN- MENTAL OPPRESSION TO BE POST- PONED TO SOME FAR DAY?" EVERY MAN WHO HAS NOT EVOLVED BEYOND AVARICE OR DOMI- NATING SELFISHNESS, IN HIS SOUL, HOPES THE ANSWER WILL BE, "YES." EVERY HUMAN BEING WHO IS SPIRITUALLY EVOLVED TO THE 424 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE POINT WHERE HE SPIRITUALLY LOVES HIS FELLOW MEN AND DE- SIRES THEIR ADVANCEMENT, BOTH SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL, HOPES THE ANSWER WILL BE, "NO." HOW DO YOU MEASURE UP IN GOD'S SCALE, OH, HUMAN BROTHER? WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER? THE RELIGION OF PROGRESS HAS ONE PLAIN ANSWER to make to all such questions. ITS SOCIETIES AND ITS INSTRUC- TORS AND ITS MEMBERS WILL STAND FEARLESSLY AMIDST THE COMMUNI- TIES OF MEN APPLYING TO EVERY IN- STITUTION OF EARTH, WHETHER IT BE GOVERNMENTAL, EDUCATIONAL, RELIGIOUS, CHARITABLE, SOCIOLOGI- CAL, ECONOMIC, OR WHATEVER ITS NATURE, THE SUPREME TEST: AS ORGANIZED, DOES IT FURTHER GOD'S PLAN FOR HUMANITY DOES IT FUR- THER THE SPIRITUAL UPLIFTING OF MANKIND? IF THE VERDICT BE THAT IT DOES NOT, THEN THOSE WHO SEEK GROWTH IN RIGHTEOUSNESS AMONGST MEN, MUST OF NECESSITY TRY TO SOLVE THE QUESTION HOW THE SEVENTH DEGREE 425 SHALL IT BE CHANGED SO AS TO HELP OUR RACE IN ITS CLIMB ALONG THE UPWARD WAY? * * * THE FORCES OP OPPRESSION, OF SPIRITUAL DEGRADATION, OF AVAR- ICE, OF PASSION AND LUST, OF HU- MAN SELFISHNESS AND OF RELIGI- OUS FANATICISM, WILL ALL BE AR- RAYED AGAINST US IN THE STRUG- GLE FOR HUMAN PROGRESS TOWARDS RIGHTEOUSNESS, BUT WE WILL CON- QUER IN THE END, AND OUR BATTLE MUST BE WAGED CONSTANTLY. j * # * "Owing to its universality, the new re- ligion will gradually create new institutions for race advancement in well-considered con- structive efforts. "That many experiments may prove in- effective and futile must not deter. "Sociologically humanity has tried many institutional experiments and yet is largely ineffective for race advancement in many of those now controlling most human beings." * * * WE MUST GO AHEAD SANELY, SEN- SIBLY AND STRONGLY, TAKING HU- MAN SOCIETY AS IT NOW EXISTS, AND, FIRST LEARNING HOW IT CAN BE 426 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE CHANGED TO FURTHER GOD'S PUR- POSE OF UPLIFTING MANKIND, WE MUST THEN, FEARLESSLY, IN STRONG LOVE FOR OUR FELLOW MEN, EDU- CATE THE MAJORITY TO SEE THAT "THE BROTHERHOOD AND SISTER- HOOD" OF HUMANITY REQUIRES CER- TAIN NEW INSTITUTIONS TO RE- PLACE CERTAIN OLD ONES. "WE MUST CONVINCE AND THEN CONSTRUCT." DESTRUCTION MUST LEAD TO BETTER CONSTRUCTION. After reading the page many times and pondering over each statement, Talmadge Pen- rose turned to Darwin Snowson and said: "I see it all plainly now. How could we ex- pect to root up avarice and selfishness and destroy oppression of all kinds without having the help of the forces which make for righteousness ? "In order to have the Supreme Power in the universe aiding in our plans for the establishment of true brotherhood amongst men, we must bring our efforts within the realm of the forces which make for human progress. "We must have the strongest religious found- ation, the belief in God's Plan, or we cannot hope for success. "If the Religion of Progress had nothing else to teach than the lessons now taught I would deem THE SEVENTH DEGREE 427 it the only one for the affiliation of those who are seeking the economic Brotherhood of Man. ' ' And Darwin Snowson said in answer: "We are particularly desirous that eager souls, dreaming splendid spiritual dreams far ahead of their times, shall not expect too rapid progress in the great work. Sometimes great progress will be made; then again there will seem to be retrogression. "There are waves in spiritual evolution, and between the crests discouraging reactions may lie. "We wish to have it clearly recognized that the work of uplifting certain races of men to com- prehension of God's Plan and the burning out in spiritual flames of racial prejudices are tasks not easy of accomplishment. "We recognize that organizations for the up- lift of humanity already exist, but mostly on false conceptions of God ? s Spiritualizing Process. But we expect much from our converts who come out of such organizations into ours. Many of them are spiritually evolved far beyond the tenets of the religion they now profess." The disciples of the Society exhibited deep interest in the contents of the tenth page of the Building Book. The broad constructive prin- ciples appealed in one way or another to each reader. As Marie Templeton said: 'The earthly part of the new religion appeals to every spiritual longing. 'There will be religious activities always opening up for our best endeavors. 428 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "But I cannot help being anxious to learn what we are to be told of immortality of our per- sonalities and of spiritual life after death." Robert Young then told her that in the next day's instruction her natural anticipations would be gratified and that he was sure that she would find spiritual satisfaction and hope in the message respecting immortality. It was customary to devote two sessions to the first ten pages of the great white book and then dismiss the disciples until the morrow. Each dis- ciple was furnished with a printed copy of the instruction contained on these pages, so that study might be made of their contents before the read- ing of the book was resumed. CHAPTER XXXII. MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK. IN his new-found happiness Robert Young wished to spend every moment he possibly could with Marie Templeton, and Darwin Snowson was glad to have him do so, and had been much gratified with their engagement. Darwin had found pleasure in talking with Marie about Faith Winthrop and other mutual friends in Capitolton. This chum of Faith's was careful not to enlighten Darwin in respect to Faith's preferences, for even then Marie feared that something momentous had arisen to deny his hopes. Robert had gone with Marie to her first day's lessons in the chamber of the Religion of Progress, and the second day he again joined her before the huge white book, out of the pages of which the new religious faith was being taught. The eleventh page had been concealed by the white gold-bordered satin cover which was used always to overspread the right hand page of the book until the page to the left had been read the seven necessary times. When the disciples had been seated again on the high divans this cover was removed and they looked upon the message of the eleventh page. 429 430 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE 11. THE REALM OF SPIRITUAL LAWS. "Man has used the physical laws of the universe in a myriad of ways for his physical safety, convenience and comfort. "The laws relating to the selection and best propagation of plants and trees through man's intelligent choice have given us our grains, our flowers and our fruits. "By man's intelligent choice the laws re- lating to mechanics have given us the myriad of mechanically operated industries and utili- ties which pervade civilization. "The laws relating to chemical and phys- ical changes of matter have been availed of through man's intelligence, not only to aid civilization in many ways, but to demonstrate the kinship of the innumerable suns of the Cosmos. "THUS DOES HUMAN PERSONAL- ITY USE THE PHYSICAL LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE." * # # "BUT THE REALM OF SPIRITUAL LAWS WHICH COMBINE TO IMPEL HU- MANITY TO GROW TO HIGHER SPIRIT- UALITY ARE LITTLE UNDERSTOOD, AND MANY BENEFICENT LAWS WHICH MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 431 WE MAY USE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS PROBABLY REMAIN FOR DISCOVERY HEREAFTER AS THE RACE CLIMBS THE SUCCESSIVE HEIGHTS OF THE UPWARD WAY." "The spiritual laws we know about have had their principal expression in scientific study of sociology. "Certain laws of environment, as affect- ing the intellectual and moral status of the individual, and of communities of men, have received scientific expression." IT WILL BE A DUTY OF THE SOCIE- TIES OF THE RELIGION OF PROGRESS TO STUDY THESE LAWS SO THAT THEY MAY BE USED TO ASSIST IN OUR SPIRITUAL CO-OPERATION WITH OUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS. TO CREATE BETTER ENVIRON- MENTS, BOTH COMMUNAL AND INDI- VIDUAL, FOR GROWTH IN RIGHTEOUS- NESS, MUST BE A CONSTANT AND IM- PERATIVE DUTY. THE LAWS OF HEREDITY (CALL THEM FORCES IF YOU PREFER) HAVE HAD TREMENDOUS POTENCY IN AF- FECTING THE SPIRITUAL GROWTH OF 432 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE INDIVIDUALS AND THROUGH THEM OF MANKIND GENERALLY. * * * WE MUST STUDY INCESSANTLY HOW TO USE THESE LAWS WISELY FOR THE SPIRITUAL BETTERMENT OF THE COMING GENERATIONS. * * * IN THE PSYCHICAL KINGDOM IN THE REALM OF PERSONALITY- SCIENCE CAN GREATLY AID RELIGION AND THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT BUT THAT IT WILL DO SO WHEN SCIEN- TISTS GIVE ALLEGIANCE TO THE RE- LIGION OF PROGRESS AND SEEK THE SEPARATE LAWS WHICH IN THEIR COMBINED POTENCY CONSTITUTE THE GREAT LAW OF THE UPWARD WAY. * # * Remember that humanity has been, and that we will be, using the laws of moral growth in our spiritual activities even though we cannot now define them or gain the greater power we would have if their nature and potency had been fully disclosed. Like- wise man used some of the physical laws for untold centuries before Science disclosed the secrets of their power. MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 433 We conceive that the time has come when man's intelligence, guided by high spiritual purpose and desire, will search out every ethical and sociological law which can affect the spiritual growth of humanity, and when clear vision of these laws is attained we will consciously use them to constantly modify for the better all conditions surrounding mankind, both morally and socially. WE ARE AT THE BOUNDARY OF A WONDERFUL REALM THE KINGDOM OF GOD'S SPIRITUAL LAWS AND AS WE MAKE DISCOVERIES THEREIN WE WILL BE ABLE TO ADVANCE OUR RACE TOWARDS THE INFINITE ONE. When Mildred Thatcher had finished her read- ings of the eleventh page, she remarked: "From my study of psychology I can well ap- preciate that undiscovered spiritual laws of great potency may yet be spelled out. The undoubted spiritual gains made by Christian Scientists who have truly surrendered their personalities to the tranquilization of higher beliefs in God than they held before, to me evidence the workings of some great spiritual law." 434 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE And Marie Templeton said to Robert Young: "We see individuals change from lives of moral indifference and even moral degradation to clean, honest, spiritual living. "I have often thought that some deep spiritual law gave the power to do this, and if we under- stood the law it would give us much aid in our spiritual co-operation with those whose moral footsteps tend downward and whom we would help to build better characters. "I think the so-called conversions to Christ- ianity are evidences of the same law." To her Kobert replied: "Yes, I have no doubt that within God's Spiritual Process the power to use its laws in the way you mention has ever existed. Undoubtedly throughout the ages he who has truly repented evil conduct and truly changed his ways, has had the aid of divine forces. Sometime the law will be expressed and its use will be plain, but its potency has ever been part of the religious history of mankind." In the Council Chamber were preserved many of the sayings of the disciples which were re- ported by the different members of the Seven, and much inspiration in the work of the degrees was gained therefrom. Another saying was recorded respecting the eleventh page, and Zora Wells was accredited with it. "I think that one of the undiscovered laws must be the one which makes woman's intuitions superior to the logic of mere man. I've heard married men agree to the statement quite often, MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 435 so I must believe that it is founded in some great moral law. ' ' Waldemar Grant happened to be listening, and catching the quizzical glances which accompanied the remarks, he replied: "I'm glad that we can make joint observations upon the phenomena and perhaps discover the law." Whereupon, others being present, Zora looked both embarrassed and pleased. The swinging of the next great leaf brought further instruction. 12. TRUE WORSHIP OF THE INFINITE ONE. How shall free souls best worship God? Untrammeled by book or creed, how can the sons and daughters of progress best give highest spiritual love and homage to the One who has granted the spiritual aspira- tions and decreed the destiny of mankind? THE ANSWER MUST HONESTLY CHIME WITH THE ONWARD AND UP- WARD MARCH OF HUMANITY TO- WARDS GOD. * * * DARE WE OF TODAY FIX ANY UN- CHANGEABLE FORMS OF WORSHIP? NO NO NO THE HIGHEST WOR- 436 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE SHIP OF TODAY CANNOT, OUGHT NOT, TO ATTEMPT TO DEFINE THE WOR- SHIP OF THE BETTER TOMORROW. NOR SHOULD ANY SOUL BE BOUND BY THE WORDS OF ANY CREED. THE INHERENT POWER OF THE LAW OF THE UPWARD WAY PROM- ISES THAT EVER BROADER, HIGHER SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE SHALL COME TO MEN, AND THIS WILL SURELY LEAD TO BETTER AND HIGHER WOR- SHIP OF GOD. * * * BUT FOR US OF TODAY, WORSHIP OF THE INFINITE ONE MUST BE THE MOST PRECIOUS, THE DEEPEST, THE STRONGEST, THE FREEST AND THE HIGHEST SPIRITUAL LOVE OF GOD, GIVEN IN HONESTY AND IN TRUTH AND EXEMPLIFIED IN OUR DAILY LIVES. * * * Not on Sunday alone shall we worship God. Not at night alone in solemn stillness amidst the glory of the stars. Not alone when the tempest roars and the lightning pierces the sky and the thunder crashes. Not alone, when the morning breaks in beauty, nor in the brightness of noon; nor when the evening fades in resplendence; not alone in health nor compelled by disease, but MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 437 every day and all day and every night, and through every work and all pleasure, through every fate and through good fortune and misfortune, if our souls are free and we wish to consciously assist in God's Great Plan, we must submerge our personalities in highest love and worship of The Infinite One. * * # WE MUST REALIZE THAT THE GREATEST PRIVILEGE OF HUMAN PERSONALITY IS TO POUR ITS SPIRIT- UAL DEVOTION AND WORSHIP OUT TO THE POWER WHICH MAKES FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. * # # ONE WHO SOUGHT TO BRING HIS FELLOW MEN TO GREATER SPIRIT- UAL KNOWLEDGE TRIED TO TELL THEM HOW TO KEEP "IN TUNE WITH THE INFINITE." IN A BROAD SENSE, THE ONLY WAY TO GAIN SPIRITUAL POWER AND TO GROW IN SPIRITUALITY IS TO SO LOVE AND WORSHIP THE INFINITE ONE THAT OUR DAILY LIVES SHALL BE IN TUNE WITH GOD'S PURPOSES FOR THE UPLIFTING OF OUR RACE. * * * TO GAIN THE SUPREME OBJECT OF OUR INDIVIDUAL EXISTENCE, AS RE- 438 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE VEALED IN GOD'S PLAN, LET US KEEP GOD WITHIN OUR SOULS IN ALL OUR DAILY ACTIVITIES AND EVER STRIVE TO ADVANCE OUR FELLOW MEN ALONG THE UPWARD WAY, AND THUS ADVANCE OUR OWN PERSONALITIES TOWARDS THE INFINITE ONE. After studying the twelfth page, Mollie Eich- ards said: "I had feared that some of the old shackles of worship might still confine souls in the way they should love God and give adoration to Him, but now I see that so long as the soul is honest and seeks the truth it is free to give its own individual expression to its worship. "We cannot know all the truth now, and we may honestly differ as to our interpretations of what we do know, but so long as we strive to fur- ther God's Plan for Progress I think it is well that no soul is to be circumscribed by any creed of worship." And Darwin Snowson replied: "Yes, Mollie, the Spiritual Process God's Own Plan causes different personalities to find differing spiritual expressions of their love and adoration of the Maker of the Plan, and only in entire freedom can progress in spirituality be best attained." MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 439 When Mildred Thatcher heard Darwin express the same idea, she said reflectively : "What does the Eeligion of Progress have to say about the Nature of God?" And Darwin replied: "You have anticipated the instruction of the next page of the book, wherein your question is answered. ' ' And when the gleaming cover was removed it so appeared: 13. THE INFINITE ONE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. Shall the finite in a realm of rationality which is true within its own boundaries, but which is stopped entirely by certain designed limitations of human thought, attempt to answer the question: "What is the Nature of the Infinite One?" SURELY THE FINITE CANNOT AND MUST NOT ATTEMPT TO DEFINE THE INFINITE. * * * BUT SOME THINGS WE MAY SAY ABOUT GOD AND ABOUT HUMAN CON- CEPTIONS OF GOD. 440 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE Neither in the discoveries of Science nor within the realms of rationality can there be found any justification for a belief that God is a person in the sense that physical human beings are persons. The Religion of Progress asserts that the Divine Plan does not permit any man to say that he is formed in the image of God. "Man as a creature, is the product of an evolution which brought his organism up through a process which leaves some of the apes as his lowlier image." "Who dares to assert that physical man is made in the image of God?" * * * SHALL WE SAY THAT THE SPIRIT OF MAN HUMAN PERSONALITY IM- AGES THE INFINITE ONE? Notwithstanding its inestimable heritage from God the power of spiritual growth through the gift of moral freedom what soul, human and finite, can ascribe to itself likeness to THE INFINITE ONE? NO, WE ARE NOT ENTITLED TO SUCH A CLAIM. * * * BUT THE PROCESS OF GOD MANI- FESTED IN ALL THINGS PHYSICAL, PSYCHIC AND SPIRITUAL APPARENT- LY GIVES US THE RIGHT TO DRAW MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 441 CERTAIN CONCLUSIONS WHICH IN- SPIRE STRONG BELIEFS. FIRST: WE MUST CONCLUDE THAT AS A PSYCHIC FORCE, INFINITE IN- TELLIGENCE, SUPREMELY HIGHER THAN FINITE RATIONALITY, IS WORK- ING IN THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS, AND THEREFORE THAT "THE INFIN- ITE AND ETERNAL ENERGY FROM WHICH ALL THINGS PROCEED" WHILE WORKING IN THE UNIVERSE IN "PRE- DESTINED COURSES OF EVOLUTION" IS EVER IMMANENT IN ALL THE UN- FOLDING OF THE EVOLUTIONARY PLAN. GOD, THEREFORE, IS INFINITE IN- TELLIGENCE, NOT CIRCUMSCRIBED BY FINITE LIMITATIONS AND HIS WILL IS EVER PRESENT IN THE DIVINE PLAN. SECOND: IT IS CLEARLY DEMON- STRABLE THAT THE INFINITE INTEL- LIGENCE IS WORKING ALWAYS IN THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS TO HELP MANKIND TO PROGRESS ON THE UP- WARD WAY TOWARDS BETTER RIGHT- EOUSNESS, AND, THEREFORE, GOD IS INFINITE "PURPOSIVE GOODNESS" WHICH ALWAYS HAS AND ALWAYS WILL IMPEL, BUT NOT COERCE, HU- 442 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE MAN PERSONALITY TO STRUGGLE TO- WARDS HIGHER SPIRITUALITY. THIRD: WE MUST NOT CONSIDER THE INFINITE ONE AS A FAR-AWAY RULER, NOR MUST WE THINK OF HIM AS SIMPLY STARTING THE COSMIC PROCESS AND AWAITING THROUGH UNTOLD AGES, PAST AND FUTURE, FOR SOME FINAL CONSUMMATION, EVEN AS FAR AS THE EARTH AND MANKIND ARE CONCERNED. * * * FROM THE RATIONAL IMPORT OF SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION WE ARE FUL- LY ENTITLED TO BELIEVE THAT HIS LOVE FOR ALL HUMANITY ENTERS INTO OUR PERSONALITIES IN EVERY SPIRITUAL IMPULSE, AND IS AN EVER- PRESENT FORCE IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF ALL HUMANITY. A DIVINE HERITAGE IS OUR GIFT OF MORAL FREEDOM; BUT A WORTH- LESS HERITAGE IT WOULD BE SAVE FOR THE SPIRITUAL LOVE OF THE IN- FINITE ONE DWELLING IN OUR SOULS MANIFESTED IN IMPULSES TOWARD RIGHTEOUSNESS AND EVIDENCED BY WHAT WE CALL CONSCIENCE. FOURTH: PERHAPS, THEN, WE ARE ENTITLED TO THINK OF GOD AS A "SPIRIT" IF WE DEFINE THAT TERM MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 443 I AS UNCIRCUMSCRIBED BY ANY FORM | AND AS CONSTITUTING INFINITE IN- TELLIGENCE, INFINITE POWER AND INFINITE PURPOSIVE GOODNESS, IM- MANENT IN THE PROCESS OF THE COSMOS. BUT STILL WE PAUSE AT THE THRESHOLD OF THE INFINITE, HUM- BLY ADMITTING THAT WE BUT FAINTLY GLIMPSE THE LOVE AND OMNISCIENCE AND POWER OF OUR GOD AS MANIFESTED TO US IN HIS UNIVERSE AND IN HIS DIVINE PLAN FOR HUMANITY. BUT LET US SEARCH OUR SOULS FURTHER FOR EVIDENCES OF GOD'S LOVE. In contemplating endowments from the Supreme Power in the universe to Human Personality (other than moral freedom and the power to grow in spirituality), we should not fully weigh the inestimable love of God towards us if we failed to realize that the power to appreciate the beautiful in Nature and in spiritual life, and the sense of supreme grandeur which overwhelms us when we con- template the unfathomable depths of the uni- verse, and the strange sense of wonder which awes us as we think of the realm of infinites- 444 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE imal things revealed by the microscope and the submerging sense of the infinite with which we mentally strive to realize the majes- ty and power and glory of the Process of God under which all things physical and mental and spiritual are unfolding, each and all come to us as part of the Divine Plan and as fur- ther evidence of the Infinite Purposive Good- ness of God. I* *P *l* By ever broadening our spiritual vision, ever opening wide our souls to the higher things which evidence God's love, we will crowd out the things in our spiritual life which tend to degrade our personalities and to hinder our progress towards the Infinite One. * * * Notwithstanding environment, notwith- standing heredity, notwithstanding years of moral indifference, it is within the moral freedom granted to every normal personality to let the love of the Infinite One surge through his soul and expel the blackness of selfishness and baseness. Spiritual desire and earnestness in striving to do better will find the Divine Power assisting us to gain spiritual advancement. We cannot urge too often that the spir- itual love of God always has and always will MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 445 assist human personality to struggle towards righteousness. IT IS MOST PROBABLE THAT AS HU- MANITY CLIMBS EVER HIGHER ALONG THE UPWARD WAY, WONDERFUL AND UPLIFTING NEW VISIONS OF THE IN- FINITE AND OF GOD'S LOVE WILL BE GAINED. The spiritual ideas of Moses Trustell had been undergoing so great a change as the instruction of the degrees culminated in the building of a new religious faith, that he realized that the Mormon faith could never again satisfy his soul, and as he contrasted the God of the Religion of Progress with the physical God of the Mormon religion he became overwhelmed with the baseness of his pre- conceived plan to betray the Society of Progress to the hierarchy of the Mormon Church; and the night after he studied the thirteenth page he made his confession to the Seven and pledged his life service to the Religion of Progress. Darwin Snowson welcomed the confession of Trustell as a triumph of the new religion and the Seven ever regarded the penitent with most kindly affection, which took on a new depth when on the fateful day then rapidly approaching Moses Trus- tell became the first martyr of the Religion of Progress. 446 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Each successive page of the Building Book de- veloped broadening conceptions of "what it all means," and the page which discussed the "Na- ture of God" created many discussions among the disciples. Those who came through Christian Science to the Eeligion of Progress were often inclined to assert that the thirteenth page lacked much in its predications of the Nature of God and His Kin- ship to our souls. All such questions were discussed with the Lesser Master, and he answered frankly: "In the teachings of a Eeligion which is founded on scientific discoveries and the conclu- sions which can be rationally deduced therefrom, the Beloved Philosopher went far beyond the lim- its set by many scientists in ascribing attributes to the Infinite. "But he believed that all that is said in the page you have just read is fully justified by the Divine Plan, and whoever, in truth and reason, can find in his own soul more than is told in the in- struction, cannot injure the Eeligion of Progress by believing and expressing his belief, but may so convince its disciples that the light of more true knowledge of God may shine forth and true spiritual gain be made. "Yet you who come from Christian Science must ever bear in mind that the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and his followers are not to be deemed established truth in considering the relationship of God to humanity, nor in determining the nature and attributes of God. MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 447 " Intelligent faith often is the foreshadowing of demonstrated principle and pure, high-minded religious dreamers may awaken to find that their dreams have proved to be truth itself. ' ' The next page of the Building Book disclosed instruction which necessarily enchained the inter- est of every one: 14. THE INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY. In reply to the question, "What is the Best We Can Do While We Are Here?" our relations to our fellow men were emphasized while our personal development of character was not directly mentioned, though necessar- ily involved in the entire answer. Yet the Divine Plan values the individual personality in very high degree. * * * THE UNIT OF PROGRESS IS THAT INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY WHICH IN SOME DEGREE CLIMBS THE UPWARD WAY TOWARDS THE IDEAL IN AD- VANCE OF THOSE WHO ARE MAKING LIFE'S JOURNEY AT THE SAME TIME. Herbert Spencer cast the light of science upon this question with illuminating force: In discussing ethical evolution he dis- cerned that always there were developing in 448 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE communities of men certain "highest na- tures," and of these who had climbed higher towards the ideal than the great mass of the community he said: "What now in them is occasional and feeble may be expected with further evolu- tion to become habitual and strong, and what now characterizes the exceptionally high may be expected eventually to characterize all. "For that which best human nature is ca- pable of is within the reach of human nature at large.'* Spencer thus expresses the Law of the Up- ward Way in different words, though it is very clear that he failed to follow his own logic into broad discernment of the Divine Plan for humanity. EACH OF US CAN BE ENTIRELY CERTAIN THAT GOD GAVE US MORAL FREEDOM THE POWER TO CHOOSE GOOD OR EVIL SO THAT WE MAY, IF WE WILL, DEVELOP IN SPIRITUALITY, AND BUILD CHARACTERS WHICH WILL AID IN UPLIFTING OUR RACE. THE IMPELLING POWER OF GOD'S LOVE IS OURS TO HELP US GROW IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 449 The Religion of Progress discards all ideas that in order to secure a happy life after death the individual personality must have a savior through whom God's forgiveness for all sin will be granted. Divine Love is not seeking to condemn the individual members of the human race. Divine Love is seeking to uplift human personality to uplift you and me. * * * There is no wrath of God to appease and no Divine anger to make us afraid. As his will always is manifested in un- changeable laws affecting every human being without discrimination, and as His Plan con- templates a growth of the race from animal- ism and ignorance up to much finite knowl- edge and towards the ideal, spiritually, we can be very sure that there is no condemna- tion and punishment awaiting the morally weak. We are slowly learning that many indi- viduals are moral defectives through no fault of their own, and also we are learning not to judge them as morally responsible. 3ff JJC 5jC To say that such personalities need a me- diator to plead with the Infinite One for for- giveness is to accuse God of less than the bet- ter human justice which is gradually giving 450 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE weight to the idea that they are not to be pun- ished for acts for which they are not morally responsible. * * * Neither ought any finite personality ac- cuse God of planning to hold to rigid judg- ment individuals who in His Plan occupy earthly bodies for the span of a human life time. Narrow indeed is the soul which thus esti- mates Divine Love as manifested to the little spiritual creatures of His process. In the instruction upon immortality sug- gestions will be made as to the possibilities of the life beyond death, enabling even those who deliberately choose evil conduct while here on earth to gradually transform the baseness of their personalities into growing spirituality. * * * THOUGH THE FABLES OF THE GREAT WHITE THRONE AND THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF GOD MUST NOT LONGER BRING FEAR TO THE SOULS OF MEN, YET THERE REMAIN INCEN- TIVES TO RIGHT CONDUCT WHICH WHOLLY OVERSHADOW THE DIS- CARDED DARK DREAD OF HELL AND ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 451 FIRST: WE, WHO HAVE THE DE- SIRE TO YIELD TO THE IMPELLING POWER OF DIVINE LOVE AND TO GROW IN SPIRITUALITY, HAVE A FIELD OF SOUL COURAGE AND SOUL ENDEAVOR WHICH IS AS BROAD AS THE LIFE OF ALL OUR RACE. SECOND: THE LIMITLESS FIELD OF EDUCATING OURSELVES AND ALL OF OUR EARTHLY BROTHERS AND SIS- TERS TO KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S PLAN, AND TO SPIRITUAL DESIRE TO CO- OPERATE IN CARRYING OUT THE PLAN, SO FAR AS CAN BE DONE AT THE PRESENT STAGE OF SPIRITUAL EVO- LUTION, SHOULD INSPIRE US TO STRONG EFFORT. THIRD: TO GIVE PERSONAL LOV- ING SERVICE, AS UNSELFISH AS WE CAN, TO THOSE WHO ARE NEAR AND DEAR TO US, AND TO WIDEN SERVICE INTO CO-OPERATION WITH ALL OTH- ERS TO WHOM WE CAN GIVE SERV- ICE AND CO-OPERATION, ARE PLAIN PATHS ALONG THE UPWARD WAY, AND, AS EVER, ONE INCENTIVE IS TO BUILD PERSONAL CHARACTER WHICH AIDS THE OBJECTS OF THE DIVINE PLAN. * * * 452 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE +, FOURTH: AMONGST THE NEW SPIR- ITUAL IDEALS TOWARDS WHICH WE WILL STRIVE, AS WE LEARN THE DEEPER MEANINGS FOR OUR EXIST- ENCE AS ACTIVE AGENTS IN CARRY- ING OUT THE PLAN OF THE INFINITE ONE, WE WILL FIND COMMINGLED CERTAIN OLD IDEALS WHICH OUR RACE HAS SLOWLY BUILT UP TO AID IN SPIRITUAL PROGRESS. NEED IT BE SAID THAT HONESTY IN ACTION AND IN THOUGHT, TRUTH- FULNESS IN ALL OUR COMMUNICA- TIONS WITH OUR FELLOW MEN, ENTIRE RESPECT FOR THE LIVES AND PERSONS OF ALL OTHERS, TEMPER- ANCE IN FOOD AND DRINK, AND DE- CENT RESPECT FOR THE OPINIONS OF THOSE WHO DIFFER FROM US, EACH AND ALL ARE TO BE BUILT INTO OUR PERSONALITIES AS WELL AS WE MAY. THUS FAR, AT LEAST, HAVE MULTI- TUDES CLIMBED THE UPWARD WAY. .* *** ! IS IT NECESSARY TO SAY THAT WE MUST CONTROL OUR PASSIONS IF WE WOULD BUILD PERSONAL CHARAC- TER IN ANY DEGREE WORTHY? MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 453 ANGER HINDERS SOUL PROGRESS. TO SEEK REVENGE IS BASE AND DE- GRADING. TO CONSTANTLY YIELD TO SELFISH DESIRES, COVETOUSNESS, PRIDE OR SPIRITUAL INDIFFERENCE, MAKES OUR PERSONALITIES OUT OF HARMONY WITH THE DIVINE PLAN AND UNYIELDING TO THE LOVE OF GOD ALWAYS WAITING TO UPLIFT US. * * * SO, TOO, ONE OF THE GREAT LES- SONS WHICH HAVE BEEN LEARNED IN SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION RELATES TO THE FORMATION AND THE REFORMA- TION OF PERSONAL HABITS. WE KNOW THAT HABIT IS POWER- FUL IN BUILDING CHARACTER; WE KNOW THAT AN ACQUIRED HABIT IS DIFFICULT TO CHANGE; BUT IT IS ALSO BECOMING UNDERSTOOD THAT THE POWER OF SHOCKING OUR- SELVES OUT OF A BAD HABIT IS OURS, AND THAT BY USING THE IMPULSES OF DIVINE LOVE WITHIN US TO AS- SIST US WE CAN GET OUT OF AND KEEP OUT OF THE HABIT GROOVES WHICH IMPEDE SOUL PROGRESS. I* *K n* LASTLY: WE MUST EDUCATE OUR CONSCIENCES CONSTANTLY TO GUARD OUR CHARACTER BUILDING. 454 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE IT MAY SEEM STRANGE TO CON- SIDER THE EDUCATION OF THE MON- ITOR OF GOOD AND EVIL. A LITTLE REFLECTION WILL MAKE IT CLEAR THAT THE DIVINE IMPULSES WITHIN OUR PERSONALITIES WHICH IMPEL US TOWARDS RIGHTEOUS CONDUCT HAVE NEVER NECESSARILY BOUND THE INDIVIDUAL TO ANY RIGID, IN- FLEXIBLE RULES OF RIGHT AND WRONG. THE RIGHT OF ONE MAN MAY BE MORALLY WRONG FOR ANOTHER. THE DIVINE PLAN NECESSARILY MEANS THAT OUR PERSONALITIES MAY BE ADVANCED IN CONDUCT AND SUCH ADVANCE REQUIRES THAT THE CONSCIENCE SHALL GUARD AGAINST RETROGRESSION. BIGOTRY, INTOLERANCE, RELIG- IOUS FANATICISM AND KINDRED HUMAN NARROWNESSES EVIDENCE PERVERTED CONSCIENCES, AND SOME OF THESE ARE UNQUESTIONABLY CA- PABLE OF EDUCATION TO THE SAME TOLERANT BREADTH AND HEIGHT OF THE RELIGION OF PROGRESS. * * * WE CANNOT ALL LEAD IN THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, BUT MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 455 WE CAN EACH JOIN IN THE SPIRITUAL BATTLES FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF OUR RACE, ON THE SIDE OF PROG- RESS, AND IN ACCORD WITH THE DI- VINE PLAN, AND EACH OF US ALSO CAN STRIVE TO BUILD OUR PERSONAL CHARACTER SO AS TO INSURE OUR OWN SPIRITUAL GROWTH TOWARDS GOD. THERE IS EVERY REASON TO CON- CLUDE THAT THE DIVINE PLAN CON- TEMPLATES THAT THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO JOIN IN THE UPWARD SPIRITUAL MARCH OF HUMANITY SHALL BE RATIONALLY JOYOUS AND HAPPY. SPIRITUAL SERENITY, COURAGE AND HOPEFULNESS ARE FUNDAMEN- TALLY THE CHARACTER PRODUCTS OF THE RELIGION OF PROGRESS. Among the records of the comments upon the instruction appearing on the fourteenth page of the Building Book was a question of Zora Wells: "Will not Christians say to us that we believe we can work out our own salvation while they know that no one is without sin and that no one can say that he does not need the forgiveness of God?" 456 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE And the Lesser Master answered: "Divine Love is immeasurable. It does not stand aloof waiting to be petitioned either directly or by a mediator to forgive human frailties. God is not recording in any book or judgment rolls the moral mistakes of each of our race. "We believe that the knowledge of the Divine Plan brings another message to each of us which transcends beyond measure the Christian idea of personal salvation through the mediation of Jesus. This message is taught on the next page of our book. "Personal salvation is not to be considered in the Eeligion of Progress, because it implies that God occupies a relationship to our souls which is like that of human justice against criminals, while we surely would be spiritually blind to ascribe such an attitude to the overwhelming power of Divine Love. "If any soul feels the need of forgiveness for most grievous sins, it can be sure that true re- pentance will appeal to Infinite Love and not to a severe judge weighing frailty in order to con- demn." Mildred Thatcher, after pondering over the page devoted to individuality, remarked: "I have often heard it said that economic so- cialism would destroy individuality and take away the impulses to individual initiative and thereby all progress would be checked, but in the Religion of Progress individual effort is some- thing vital and because it will be given 'to con- sciously assist in carrying out the Divine Plan 7 MOEE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 457 the greater power will it have. There will be won- derful fields for individual action. ' ' To her the Lesser Master replied: "The field of the Religion of Progress reaches every human activity. "In some way all human endeavor is related to human progress or human retrogression. "It is the cry of selfishness and avarice and not of spiritual prophecy which pretends to see the destruction of individuality or individual initia- tive in economic co-operation, provided it be based on the Divine Plan. "Stronger incentives to individuality will exist under the new religion's institutionalism than ever have existed. "The incentive of working towards the Ideal with sure knowledge that the Infinite One is giving Divine Love in co-operation beyond ques- tion will inspire great individual effort." As the satin cover was removed the last of the questions upon the Last Door again appeared: 15. WHITHER DO WE GO? DOES HUMAN PERSONALITY SUR- VIVE PHYSICAL DEATH? Little has he comprehended the DIVINE PLAN who dares to answer that death ends all. 458 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE He who says "I know not" may be intel- lectually honest, but he, too, has failed to go on to the end in considering the facts of man's origin and history. To those who have valued human person- ality and the Divine Plan there can be only one answer which does not shock our love of God. HUMAN PERSONALITY DOES SUR- VIVE THE PHYSICAL DEATH OF THE BODY WITH WHICH PERSONALITY IS ASSOCIATED WHILE ON EARTH. That this is a conclusion and not a demon- strated fact will at first cause many who have pondered the problem to shrink from the positive assertion. YET IT SEEMS DEMONSTRABLY CLEAR THAT UNLESS WE STULTIFY THE DIVINE PLAN AND DEGRADE THE INFINITE ONE WE MUST CONCLUDE THAT PERSONALITY DOES SURVIVE THE DEATH OF THE PHYSICAL MECH- ANISM. * * * WITH OUR VISION CLEARED OF ALL SAVE THE SUPREME FACTS, LET US LOOK FOR THE DIVINE PLEDGE OF IMMORTALITY. MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 459 First: We find that the Infinite One in His Divine Plan made men moral beings, pos- sessed of personalities which, through the en- dowment of moral freedom, are capable of spiritual advancement, the degree of which is measured largely by the contemporaneous spiritual advancement of their fellow men. Second: God's great desire, evidenced in the working out of the Divine Plan, is that human personality shall voluntarily choose conduct which shall conform to His purpose that the race of men shall be uplifted higher and ever higher in the great march along the Upward Way towards the Ideal. Third: But the individual cannot await the procession of the race upward, to the far heights, still to be attained in ages to come. In the great Process of God, with his con- temporaries, the individual is dominant on earth for only a few years in the purposely slow unfolding of the Plan. So the individual personality, while it is the unit of progress and therefore valued greatly, is always occupying a mere tempo- rary place, and the cataclasm of physical death finds it at most but far beneath its own spiritual ideals. 460 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE With many of us it finds us with charac- ters streaked with many things which we our- selves condemn as morally weak or morally wrong. And yet we yearn to grow in knowl- edge and in spirituality after we have passed death's portals. * * * Fourth: Consider how futile the whole Plan respecting man would be if physical death also ended the spiritual life of man. How impossibly ineffective, how untrue to its object, the Process of Spiritual life would be if it destroyed individual personality just when it had climbed a little way towards God and yearned inexpressibly to progress spirit- ually to far heights not possible to the day and age of its sojourn on earth. Consider, too, even the spiritually igno- rant and the morally base. They, too, are creatures of the process. Shall they die as the ox of the field or the tiger of the jungle, or is the Plan so great that their personalities shall be brought to spiritual light and progress in the unknown realm where human personality goes after the body cells are doomed to dissolution? May it not also be that spiritual co-opera- tion for the uplifting of others will be a field of action beyond the realm of earth? Fifth: Consider, again, that the Infinite One gave our personalities the yearnings to MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 461 grow spiritually and at all times gave to hu- manity the belief in a future life beyond the one we are living on earth, and the hope of immortality. Is God playing with us and deceiving us? To ask the question is to answer it. WE ARE ENTITLED TO CONCLUDE THAT IMMORTALITY IS PLEDGED TO HUMAN PERSONALITY AS A NECES- SITY OF THE DIVINE PLAN. * * * Science has largely discarded the idea that the human brain is true personality and that when the brain dies personality neces- sarily dies with it. Science now tells us that in each brain there are myriads of changes constantly tak- ing place in the cells of the brain, so that we may say that the brain is constantly renewing itself as a physical machine. Elimination and renewal make many cycles of complete change of the entire brain during an ordinary life time, but personality, the spirit of man, is a developing unit from physical birth to physical death. Under the established order of evolution personality uses the constantly changing ani- mal cells of brain and body through infancy, youth, middle age and old age, to the gates of ultimate, irremediable cell death; they change entirely and repeatedly, but person- 462 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE ality is supremely conscious that it is the same individuality through all of life and that it is using the brain cells for its great evolutional purposes under the Divine Plan. THERE IS NO VALID REASON TO ASSERT BECAUSE THE EARTHLY IN- STRUMENT OF PERSONALITY DIES THAT PERSONALITY ITSELF DIES WITH IT. "TO WHAT REALM WILL THE SPIR- IT OF MAN GO WHEN ITS EMBODI- MENT OF EARTH BECOMES UNFIT FOR ITS DWELLING PLACE?" WHO CAN SAY? The Spirit of Man while embodied, through will and memory, is projected in a moment into any land where the individual has ever been. So, too, through garnered knowledge, it may go into far lands of earth and dwell in thought upon a thousand things which have not been physically seen. Again, through the revelations of Science, it may contemplate the sun and moon and the planets of our solar system, and then it may go on and on through boundless space search- ing, in thought, the apparently illimitable universe. Yet again, in abstract thought, personal- ity may go far into the wide realm which MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 463 philosophy opens up, and may garner the great fruits of the discovered laws which de- fine the process of physical evolution and the less understood laws which impel in spiritual evolution. Personality may even reach out in rever- ent adoration and spiritual love to the Infinite One. * * * IS IT NOT UNQUESTIONABLE THAT THE SPIRIT OF MAN IS UNLIKE HIS BODY, WHICH IS CONFINED IN ITS ACTIVITIES TO A LITTLE SPACE OF TEMPORARY ENVIRONMENT? Man's spirit, through the device of print- ing, may send a thought into the spirits of millions of other men, both contemporaries and through future ages, while his body brings him into physical speech with com- paratively few. The Divine Plan gave personality while on earth these wonderful endowments, and surely it can be trusted in highest faith in the Infinite One to provide a higher environment for personality in the spiritual life beyond the grave. What our life shall be on the next plane of existence we know not, save that then, too, it will be within the Divine Plan. 464 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE THE ONLY THING WHICH PERSON- ALITY TAKES WITH IT THROUGH DEATH'S PORTALS IS CHARACTER. Through all the years from birth to death each human being is building up a personal character which may be good or less good or bad or less bad, and it is well to realize that the character we build goes with us beyond the grave. THAT THERE IS ANY SUDDEN PER- FECTION OF PERSONALITY UPON THE PASSING OF EARTHLY LIFE FINDS NO SANCTION AT ALL IN THE PROCESS OF SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION. WE ARE SIMPLY OURSELVES, WITH ALL WHICH THAT IMPLIES. FINALLY, ONE GREAT CONCLUSION SEEMS MOST RATIONAL. THE DIVINE PLAN IN ITS TOTALITY OF NECESSITY IMPLIES THAT, AS WE INDIVIDUALLY PASS ON FROM EARTH'S EMBODIMENT, WE WILL BE UNDER THE INFINITE MERCY AND CARE OF DIVINE LOVE. AND THAT WE WILL HAVE THE IN- ESTIMABLE PRIVILEGE OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESS TOWARDS GOD IN THAT REALM TO WHICH WE SHALL GO. MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 465 When the disciples finished the Seven readings of the fifteenth page, they realized that in general terms the questions on the Last Door had been answered so far as the Society of Progress could answer them, and many remarks of individuals respecting the instruction were recorded in the records of the Chamber of Council. In these records it was told that Mollie Rich- ards had said: "I can well understand that many Christians will feel that the future life taught by the Society is strangely different from the heaven of Christian Orthodoxy, and at first they will fail to see the better hope in the power to grow in spirituality than in the heaven of their belief. ' ' And the recorded reply of the Lesser Master was this: ' ' The dreams of heaven taught in Christianity served most useful evolutionary purposes. They undoubtedly gave spiritual hope and spiritual vis- ion to millions who otherwise would not have had the spiritual growth which came to them through such beliefs. ''But as the farthest evolved have pushed higher along the Upward Way they have dis- cerned that the heaven of Christianity, 'Where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest, ' is not a heaven for any who would grow to- ward God. ' ' To grow in knowledge and in spirituality is infinitely to be preferred to the sensuous joys of the Christian belief." Zora Wells, in characteristic manner, had said: 466 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "Well, since I grew np the ' crowns and trum- pets and golden streets' haven't exactly appealed to me. I am ignorant enough to desire to learn far more than I ever will if I live to be a hundred, and I am perfectly aware that I am such a little way advanced that I 'yearn beyond expression' to have the opportunity to go on after my body and my- self have parted forever, and my faith is sure that God has planned that I shall have the opportunity to do so." The brief answer of Darwin Snowson was : "Zora, you surely have voiced the Divine Plan beyond our earth life, even though we know not where nor how the Plan will be effectuated." It had become plain to each disciple that there remained but a page or two of the huge book ere the back cover would close the volume, and as the next great leaf swung over, the natural curiosity which had greeted each succeeding page was en- hanced by the conclusion that the two pages thus brought to view would end the instruction. 16. THE RELIGION OF PROGRESS. The Religion of Progress is necessarily a religion of Happiness and Optimism. In the Law of the Upward Way, inheres great spiritual hope and a pledge of spiritual happiness to everyone who will comprehend MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 467 the meaning and will join in enhancing the divine potency upon the destiny of man. * * * When one seeking truth and willing to follow its dictates, has demonstrated to the satisfaction of his intelligence that, under de- sign of God, the human race is ever progress- ing toward higher spirituality, then, hoping for the better and working for the better, be- come the sources of religious optimism and spiritual happiness which cannot fail to bless the life of such a one, and spiritual co-opera- tion with one's fellow human beings will surely bring deep spiritual uplift to the soul which seeks the best in life. In a practical way the Religion of Prog- ress will open up vast and ever-expanding fields of human endeavor for the uplifting of humanity which will give happy, strong pur- pose to the spiritual life of each personality which truly seeks to carry out the objects of the religion, and likewise will make serene and hopeful all the daily life of the true disci- ple of the religion. SJC 3JC Sft Again, when many shall join in united in- telligent effort to crush down and destroy the things which hinder the spiritual progress of mankind, and to build up and foster all which 468 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE tends to bring the human race to higher spir- ituality, can there be any question that the individual will find true happiness and higher religious satisfaction in helping on the great work? 5p *I* *** Wonderful days are on the way. The true history of mankind is the history of its prog- ress along the Upward Way, and when we have learned to be masters of ourselves against the tyranny of the desires and temp- tations of animalism, passion and selfishness, the greater destiny of humanity will unfold under the Divine Plan. Doubtless we must learn slowly the way to the better happiness and towards the Ideal, and many of us who are now living, and many yet unborn, ere they pass on to the future life, will fail on earth to get more than glimpses of the coming glory which will spir- itually beautify the lives of those who are yet to come into life's great stream, but this tri- umph of the spiritual amongst men is as surely foreshadowed in spiritual evolution as, in cosmic evolution, is the continuity of hu- man life into the far ages of a time we cannot now measure. When, in a natural way, the great cosmic Divine Plan will end all human life on earth MOKE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 469 as the sun's fires die down and the earth grows unfit for the human animal, there re- main great hopes that our race will have grown in knowledge and spiritual power, so that on the dying world there will be no downward swing of humanity back towards animalism and ignorance. LASTLY: THE RELIGION OF PROG- RESS BRINGS TO YOU AND TO EVERY PERSONALITY THE POWER TO CON- SCIOUSLY ASSIST DIVINE LOVE IN HELPING OUR SPIRITUAL BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF OUR RACE TO PRO- GRESS ALONG THE UPWARD WAY TOWARDS GOD BY STRONG, SANE, COURAGEOUS, ORGANIZED EFFORT. IT IS THE RELIGION OF TRUTH AND COMPREHENDS ALL TRUTH. IT IS RESPONSIVE TO ALL AD- VANCE OF KNOWLEDGE AND SPIRIT- UAL GROWTH. IT DEFENDS GOD AGAINST FALSE REVELATIONS AND AGAINST DEGRAD- ING CONCEPTIONS. IT GIVES EVERY SOUL FREEDOM IN ITS WORSHIP OF THE INFINITE ONE, ONLY REQUIRING HONESTY AND UN- PREJUDICED, DILIGENT SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH. 470 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE IT DISCLOSES A DIVINE PLAN FOR HUMANITY CLEARLY REVEALED TO ALL MEN IN RECORDS MADE BY GOD IN THE UNFOLDING OF THE PLAN. IN ITS BREADTH AND HEIGHT AND SPIRITUAL POWER IT IS FAR BEYOND AND ABOVE ANY OTHER RELIGION, PAST OR PRESENT. IT FOREVER RECONCILES RELIG- ION AND SCIENCE AND ESTABLISHES PERMANENT UNITY BETWEEN THEM. IT IS THE RELIGION OF THE FU- TURE. Quite naturally, most disciples deemed the six- teenth page a fitting ending to the Building Book, and yet the satin panel covering the opposite page suggested that there still remained an unread final instruction. When the disciple saw the cover removed he readily comprehended why the book ended as it did. MORE OF THE BUILDING BOOK 471 17. TRUTH THE GREAT MASTER. ALWAYS THE RELIGION OF PROG- RESS SHALL HAVE BUT ONE MASTER, AND THAT MASTER OF NECESSITY IS NOT HUMAN AND FALLIBLE THAT GREAT MASTER IS AND SHALL BE TRUTH. THE RELIGION OF PROGRESS FEARS NO FUTURE REVELATIONS OF SCIENCE NOR DEVELOPMENT OF RA- TIONALITY. TRUTH IS ITS REFLEC- TION OF THE DIVINE AND TRUTH WILL EVER BE ITS SUPREME GUIDE. "YOU MUST KNOW THE TRUTH IF YOUR SOULS SHALL BE FREE." THE END The great back cover of the book was wont to swing over when the seven readings of the last page were completed and thus close the volume, and then a copy of the whole book was handed to each disciple. CHAPTER XXXIII. THE FINAL, INSTRUCTION. WHEN the great cover of the Building Book had been closed and the disciples had fin- ished its study from the copies furnished them, there remained the final instruction of the Society of Progress to be heard from the lips of the Lesser Master. Darwin Snowson always made the last mes- sage exaltedly impressive. He realized that each of the disciples would be- come a soldier for truth in a warfare against the false, a soldier for spiritual progress in a warfare against spiritual degradation, and his whole being yearned to arouse in each one the same persistent soul courage which imbued the Seven. That he succeeded in uniting all the great host in supreme devotion to the Religion of Progress and enlisted them as one great force in the spir- itual army of Human Progress are now well- known facts. The little abstract of the instruction of the last degree which can here be made is but a poor shadow of the last message with which the Beloved Philosopher ended the work of the Seven Degrees. * * * The opening words of the final instruction were these : "Brothers and Sisters of all the World: Be- fore you complete your study of the most vital 472 THE FINAL INSTRUCTION 473 problems of human life which has occupied you through all our Degrees, perhaps our Society can bring to you some final lessons which will aid you to battle in spiritual warfare amongst your fellow men in upholding right and truth and in destroy- ing evil and error. "Yet, in your approach to destroy and to re- build we must beseech you to remember that Spiritual Co-operation with each individual per- sonality you approach is the only true way to gain the victory for progress. "Do not lose yourselves in contentions of words. 'Make haste slowly,' for by spiritual edu- cation alone can you bring the enslaved souls of your brothers and sisters of the race up from spir- itual bondage into comprehension of the Divine Plan and all it means for humanity. ' ' # * * To each of you our Society now gives a per- sonal message: Plant your feet firmly on the Upward Way towards the Infinite One. Be resolved that you will ever strive to attain the serene, broad, intelligent vision of the Divine Plan, which you must acquire if you are to be a conscious worker with God in uplifting all hu- manity. # * * Be resolved, too, that in your own personality you will ever seek serenity, honesty, temperance, unselfishness, spiritual courage, helpfulness, loy- alty to the Plan, devotion to the work of spiritual co-operation with all of your fellow human beings, willingness to make personal sacrifices of what- 474 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE ever nature will best advance the object of the Plan and, above all and through all, submerge your personality in such high worship of the Maker of the Plan as will keep you as near true to your ideals under the Plan as a human being can attain. We must progress through love of God and not through fear of God. * * # STUDY YOUR OWN PERSONALITY. Become Spiritual Master of your own brain. Become Spiritual Master of your own body. Become Spiritual Master of your own conduct. * * * Shun anger as you would a plague ; Shun avarice as you would a disease ; Shun perverted animalism as you would a f oul ; loathsome pit of corruption; Shun cruelty as an enemy of progress ; Shun intolerance as the handmaid of degenera- tion; Shun those pleasures which corrupt the soul ; Shun all things wherein your personal conduct may retard the fulfillment of God's Plan or drag your own personality downward in the Spiritual scale. * # * Remember that every human being of every race and color is your spiritual brother or sister under the Plan, and that though untold millions have evolved so slowly along the Upward Way, that they could not now be brought to any fair vision of its meaning, yet the Religion of Progress necessarily requires that never ceasing effort shall be made under strongest organization to bring THE FINAL INSTRUCTION 475 every human 'being into spiritual union and co- operation for the Spiritual Uplift of the whole race. Does the task sound impossible? Do not be blind to the power of God's Process. Nearly half of all our race today have evolved to such intel- lectual and spiritual potentialities that, if world- wide perfected spiritual organisations were ready, the next generation could be brought into such a state of Spiritual Co-operation that war would be no more and economic brotherhood would be solv- ing its great primary problems. [Inserted by Darwin Snowson.] "Remember that our Society, for the present, is organized for a local mission, and that when- ever the proper day comes, it will throw off its guard of secrecy and make open, spiritual combat to bring more and more of all classes of religion- ists into the Realm of Truth. "We hope to see our Beloved Philosopher open a world-wide campaign for the Religion of Prog- ress before very long, but our principal present task is to redeem Mormonism from its ignorant faith/' * * * Great fields of endeavor are open now for in- telligent spiritual action, and constantly more will open up. Our cities must be transformed so that slums and breeding spots of evil shall first be trans- muted to decency and progress and thereafter made impossible of origination. Do you deem the work impossible of fulfill- ment? 476 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE The genius which has organized modern in- dustry and commerce will surely fructify in won- derful spiritual organizations supremely more powerful than the institutions of evil and degen- eracy. Remember that a thousand failures may teach success. But the hope and sure future of our race lies most in the broad vision of God's Plan for Hu- manity, which will be gained by education of the coming generations to such spiritual knowledge and strength and courage that the recruits of vice and degeneracy will be few and will find against them a power of righteousness which will over- whelm them. The tasks before us are tremendous ; the spir- itual efforts and labor involved are supremely dif- ficult, but the impelling power of the Almighty working in the souls of mankind assures the ulti- mate victory of our race. * * We must study diligently the imperfect and unjust systems by which punishment in the guise of justice is meted out upon so-called criminals, even in the most enlightened nations, and strive to gain for our defective and our erring brothers of the race such environment, and instruction, and give to each one such visions of race unity and brotherhood and worship as will place his feet on the Upward Way and insure a better future to him. Better yet, let us strive persistently, courage- ously, patiently and intelligently to gradually re- organise the general human outlook, so that the THE FINAL INSTRUCTION 477 "breeding of defectives and the making of those who transgress human justice shall be minimized. That this will require new visions of human justice, broader knowledge of our own personali- ties and probably new institutions of remedial care is already demonstrated in the evolution of some experiments now under way in our nation. We must plan and organize to bring oppor- tunity for progress, for healthfulness, and for happiness to the children of the world Who are now bound by the chains of environment to toil and hunger and ignorance. We must at the same time plan and organize to bring knowledge of the great truths of existence to all of the coming generation, and, from infancy, to wisely teach them that they are not only the inheritors of the Divine Plan, but the coming Co- operators in hastening its fulfillment. So, too, for all who will hear and hearing are willing to seek truth diligently, we must plan and organize to establish knowledge in their personali- ties and join them in Co-operation with us to fur- ther the Divine Plan. We must plan and organize also to make the daily life of those in our environment in city, vil- lage and country purposeful, sanely joyous, and mutually helpful so that they will join with us and we with them in common effort to make progress to better conditions of living, matters of constant study and definite purpose. 478 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Eemember, Spiritual Co-operation is the great new teaching of the Religion of Progress, and through it the Divine Plan will be fulfilled. * * * Strive to make every home a germinating place of happiness and spiritual effort. In the progress of humanity along the Upward Way certain ideals respecting the family have grown up, and despite theorists who would have the state wholly substitute its care and control for the home life, it is not conceivable now that the uplifting power of the farthest evolved family life will be abandoned and the fatherhood and motherhood of the state substituted. The family is a natural unit in the progress of humanity. * * * Shall We give you a present ideal of the rela- tions of the family units to each other ? First. In the home between all its members there must be mutual service, mutual unselfish love, mutual sympathy and patience, and mutual respect for the personalities of each other. Spiritual co-operation should germinate here and strongest tolerant effort should be exerted by all to assist in gaining it. * * * Second. There cannot be successful spiritual co-operation unless from the day of marriage the husband becomes the real companion and unselfish comrade of the wife, and unless the wife becomes an equal companion and unselfish comrade of the husband Each in self-sacrificing love and for- THE FINAL INSTRUCTION 479 bearance must help the other to conquer the clashes of anger, self-will, pride of opinion and degenerating selfishness of appetite, passion, and habits which are against true spiritual co-opera- tion in the home life. * # * Third. Always exhibit toward your children great patience, great effort to understand and to guide, great forbearance with what you deem mis- conduct, and bring to them always wise, uplifting love. They may be bearing the burden of inherit- ances, which may have brought direct from your- selves, tendencies which make it difficult for them to grow in spirituality. So much the more should you forbear and forgive and strive without ceas- ing to teach them to overcome. Study the natures of your children, make them your trusted companions and keep fear and false- hood out of their souls. Tour ignorance in educating them may be the cause of what you think is bad conduct. * * # Likewise, if you find physical punishment nec- essary to discipline, it is probably your ignorance of the way to reach the personality of your own child which impels you to punish. The old proverb, ' ' Spare the rod and spoil the child, ' ' is met by twentieth century mental science with the statement, that the rod and the anger back of the rod, are unspiritual, and that most often ignorant brutality wields the rod, and again the failure to "know thy child" leads to the use of 480 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE the rod or oilier punishment by those who are not inherently brutal. * * * To the father we say, "Make the study of your children's personalities as vital to you as the study of your business affairs;" and to the mother, "Devote as much time to understanding and making loving friends of your children as you do to social and household affairs. ' ' Again we must say: "Be wise in loving your children. Misdirected parental love and indul- gence leads to Soul Malformation of the children. Teach them unselfishness, teach them loving serv- ice, teach them self-denial, teach them spiritual co-operation." * # A remarkable religion of great vitality has grown up in America since the last quarter of the nineteenth century began. During that time the appeal to, and hold of, Orthodox Christianity upon the average educated person has been weakening greatly. The Church of Christ, Scientist, or Christian Science Church, has demonstrated a vitality in its religious teachings which not only has daunted orthodoxy, but also augurs well for the immediate success of the Eeligion of Progress. * # Yet we cannot but feel that the undoubted suc- cess that this religion has had in neutralizing physical disorders which have their origin in con- ditions of mental strain or mental disorder or in disturbances of the nervous system and their THE FINAL INSTRUCTION 481 reflex functional diseases is not due at all to some of the reasons assigned by Christian Scientists. * * * They pick and choose out of the New Testa- ment such statements of miraculous and super- natural things as chime in with the theories of Science and Health and then BECAUSE THEY ABE USING A GREAT LAW OF SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION they receive its benefits, just as un- numbered hosts of worshipers of the "Supreme Power" have unwittingly used the same great law down through the ages, and have conquered sim- ilar physical and mental disorders, though they knew nothing of the law itself. The law is potent even though those who use it are ignorant of its existence. * # # Physicians and psychologists call it the law of * ' Mental Suggestion, ' ' but we conceive that Chris- tian Science has demonstrated that there is some- thing beyond the theories of medical science, something which so operates upon personality that results are attained which mental science, as yet, is too materialistic to rival by the use of mere mental suggestion. * * * We conceive that the law gains its greatest effects only when, either through dominating sug- gestion of another to receptive personality, or through suggestion to one's self (auto-sugges- tion), there is a surrender of personality to such exclusive contemplation of the Divine that ensu- ing for get fulness of self and all physical and mental conditions brings the spiritual power of 482 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Divine love into action, and thereupon peace and serenity and tranquillity come into the soul, and then, as the stream flows downward, or as the operation of any natural law, comes the restored nervous system, and the cure of functional disor- ders. * * * We probably have much to learn about this law and how to gain its greatest usefulness, but however mistaken some of their reasons for using it, we must thank Christian Scientists for its pres- ent helpfulness to great numbers of our race. But it must always be borne in mind, that within the Great Plan the physical is temporary and subordinate; that the spiritual is immortal and supreme, though we must conclude that the physical is actual and belongs within the plan. Yet when the spiritual dominates personality then, even though the body is racked with pain, the soul may remain calm and serene. * * * The whole world is our field and every human personality the object of the plan. Where unenlightened nations and men have taken warfare and cruelty and injustice and op- pression, we will take peace and liberty and spirit- ual love and true spiritual co-operation. We will find ways and means to reach all the ignorant and unspiritual brothers and sisters of our race and to tell them that, within the great Plan, God wishes them to climb upward in knowl- edge, and spirituality, and that we wish to spiritually co-operate with them and have them co-operate with us to uplift all humanity. THE FINAL INSTRUCTION 483 In the beginning we must put our spiritual arms beneath the ignorant and untaught and help them in wise ways to acquire spiritual knowledge which will make them helpful co-operators in the great work. * * * We must ever be ready to learn truth and assimilate it in the ways of progress. We need to learn ways and means. We need to unite unselfishness and supreme in- dividual effort with the great power of effective organization. We must learn that not by impatience or intol- erance, or by lack of great human sympathy, can we gain new disciples to the coming days of co- operation, but by first convincing them that we are truth seekers who wish to bring new knowledge of the real facts of human history and destiny to them, we can perhaps gradually win their desire to spiritually co-operate with all the world under the Divine Plan. * * * We must seek wisely, diligently, and not too hastily, to organize such powerful worldwide edu- cational campaigns and forces as are necessary to destroy or transform such existing institutions and customs as tend to degrade any of our spirit- ual brothers and sisters, or to restrict human liberty, or to impede human progress. Divine Love has been working to this end, within the Great Plan, but we must now con- sciously assist. 484 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE Here the instruction apparently took up sev- eral matters which the Beloved Philosopher felt would be encountered by the disciples in the bat- tles for truth. First was discussed a question with which every seeker of truth is ultimately confronted if his search be both honest and intelligent. To what ultimate end or to what good purpose within the Divine Plan have been all the dangers and calamities of life which mankind has endured in the countless ages of his upward spiritual jour- ney? Why the earthquakes, the tornadoes, the toll of the ocean, the toll of accident, the toll of famine, the toll of pestilence, and the supreme toll of phys- ical death of all embodied personalities of every generation within a comparatively few years of birth? The answer chimes with the history of our race. That man should win his way upward, and not remain a brute. That man should be obliged to struggle against adverse conditions, and because of the call on brain and soul he should develop mentally and spiritually. That man should fulfill the Divine Plan. It is one great lesson of spiritual evolution that out of the struggles of humanity have grown the virtues of humanity. And it seems demonstrable that, without all the struggling and pain and sorrow, the divine heritage of moral freedom most probably would have made all mankind degraded sensualists, THE FINAL INSTRUCTION 485 while because of tine calamities and struggles we are climbing the upward pathway towards God. * * * Secondly, the special instruction took up a sub- ject of much interest to the disciples. It began with the broad statement : THE RELIGION OF PROGRESS DENIES ALL SUPERSTITION. As a survival of untold centuries of ignorance of the fact that everything in the universe has al- ways and now is proceeding under natural laws, we all have remnants of superstition lurking in our brains. "Lucky signs" and "unlucky signs," "lucky numbers ' ' and * ' unlucky numbers, " ' ' lucky stars ' ' and "unlucky stars," "lucky positions of the moon" and "unlucky positions of the moon," "charms" and "good luck" from possession of inanimate objects, and a thousand other supersti- tions pervade the uneducated brains of most of the human race and the educated has, each, his pet superstition. THEY ARE ALL FOUNDED UPON UN- TRUTH AND OFTEN MAKE UNHAPPY THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THEM. * * * Science laughs at the absurd theories and pre- dictions of astrologers. It is untrue, wholly unfounded in fact, essen- tially ridiculous and in some phases actually malignant to assert that the position of the stars determines to any extent or degree whatever the pareer, fortune, or fate of any mortal. 486 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "The stars in their courses" did not fight "against Sisera," nor did any traveling star wend its way to a point over the cradle of Buddha, any more than the fictitious "Star of Bethlehem" did like service over the cradle of Jesus. * * * Science has another excitation of risibility over the idea that the number thirteen is an "un- lucky number," and equally ridiculous is the idea that the number seven is a "lucky" number. NUMBERS HAVE NO FUNCTION OF FATE. Because a dinner party of "thirteen" during the year which follows it may lose one or more of its members by death it is by the foolish and ig- norant looked upon as a "sign" that one of the number will always die when a dinner party is composed of thirteen members. It is absolutely untrue that a death will neces- sarily folloiv. The death of a member may follow, but so may the death of a member of a dinner party of twelve or ten. A dinner party of fourteen is more certain to lose one of its members by death within the en- suing year than is a dinner party of thirteen; while a dinner party of thirty-three is more than two and a half times as certain to lose one of its members. A dinner party of two, four or six very fre- quently loses a member by death within the next year, but this is no "sign" that another dinner party of like numbers will lose a member by death within a year or within ten years. THE FINAL INSTRUCTION 487 IN A REALM OF LAW, SUPERSTITION IS MENTAL DEGRADATION, AND ALL HU- MANITY LIVES WITHIN A REALM OF LAW. Third, the disciples were prepared so that they might answer a question which it was apparent would be asked by many after the sacredness of the Ten Commandments and of the whole Bible had been confuted because they dishonor God. You will be asked, "What about Sunday?" Tell those who ask that many centuries before Moses is reported to have received the Ten Com- mandments and long before Abraham is said to have founded the Jewish race, The Akkads had worked out the idea of a periodic "day of rest," and it is clear that the Jews borrowed this idea from them, for the Akkads had made the day of rest one day in seven. Tell them, too, that it is very possible that when the reorganization of society into that condition of spiritual co-operation which means economic brotherhood has arrived, that it will be found that one day in six, or one day in five, or even one day in four, may be made a day of rest and of sane enjoyment and of education in the laws of prog- ress and of special acts of spiritual co-operation and (in common with all the other days) of true uplifted worship of God. It will not be the day of the "elect" or the "redeemed" or the "saved." It will be the day for all the race to specially seek for the advance* ment of all the race. 488 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE It will not be the awful Mosaic Sabbath which stoned to death the man who gathered sticks for his fire, and it will not be the Puritanic Sunday which stifled innocent elemental human desires and repressed the joyousness of childhood. It will not rest on a command of God, but on the free choice of humanity because it is best for humanity within the Divine Plan. The closing words of the instruction in the Chamber of the Eeligion of Progress were these : "Finally, Disciples of Progress, our Society asks that always you shall keep in strong remem- brance the fundamental principles of the Religion of Progress. "I. That manifested in the universe and in the unfolding of all things is the Infinite One, our God, and that by honest, reverent research we have been able to learn much truth respecting our true place in the universe. "II. That amidst the courses of evolution there is clearly discernible a Divine Plan under which all the race of mankind on earth has evolved, and is now evolving, and will hereafter evolve. "III. That, as part of the Universal Plan, God rules all humanity by absolutely impartial laws of physical and spiritual growth and prog- ress, and never by direct act interferes with the course of nature or with human destiny. THE FINAL INSTRUCTION 489 "IV. That it is not in the past that the Divine Plan culminated in the supreme atonement, but that ever since human personality capable of moral conduct first evolved on earth, our race has participated in a struggle towards righteous- ness and has been, and is, and ever will be, climb- ing the Upward Way towards God. "That the destiny of our race upon the earth is a high one and will ever more closely approach the best ideals. "V. That worship of God is a necessity of the fulfillment of the Plan and our worship must accord with truth, and truth compels the finite to hold only the highest concepts of the Infinite One. That we must not clothe God with human at- tributes, nor accuse Him of exhibiting human passions. "VI. That within the Plan, Divine Love, su- premely above even the highest responsive love of the best human personalities, is ever active for the uplifting of humanity to higher spirituality and that God's love is the impelling power which has decreed that moral freedom shall not be an endowment of permanent degradation. "VII. That the Divine Plan is universal in its power and its great purpose. That it knows no * saved,' nor any 'redeemed,' nor any * elect.' "That it comprehends on earth the spiritual progress of every human being and that it would seem most futile did it not also comprehend a future for the continued spiritual progress of every human personality after the portals of physical death have released personality to the 490 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE new life in the plane of existence beyond the eternal stop of the physical machine. "IX. That the Religion of Progress opens wide to you all of the realm of truth and whether the general teachings of our society are broad enough to comprehend all that is involved within the great Plan, it matters not, for you can garner into your comprehension of the Religion of Truth whatever you deem actual Truth. "X. As the last admonition, we must impress upon you that the lesson of all psychic evolution is that only through 'the exercise of intelligence and will guided by sound principles of investiga- tion and ORGANIZED IN COMMON EFFORT can we make the progress in spiritual co-operation which the Divine Plan contemplates. "THEREFORE ORGANIZE FOR THE UP- LIFT OF ALL THE RACE AND FOR SPIR- ITUAL CO-OPERATION WITH ALL HUMAN BEINGS. " * # * It was thus the instruction of the Society ended and thus the Seven Degrees within the Seven Chambers completed the Realm of Truth. CHAPTER XXXIV. A CONFERENCE REVELATION. EARLY IN APRIL, 193, the Semi-Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints had brought to "Zion" a great multitude of the "Saints." Amongst the faithful " brethren" in all Utah and even in densely Mormon Southern Idaho and in Western Wyoming and Eastern Nevada, there had been growing a deep unrest and fear of im- pending disaster to the boasted solidarity of the church. At first a few, then increasing numbers of the strongest and best in the communities, had made mysterious journeys to Salt Lake City, with the result that not only did they quit paying tithing, but also they ceased to attend the "Meeting House" services and took their children out of the Mormon Sunday Schools. The "counsel" of the Bishop was scorned and these new apostates laughed at the threats of busi- ness ostracism which of yore had been the most powerful weapon of the Church. Strange rumors added to the distressful condi- tion and even the visits of high ecclesiasts failed either to stem the growing tide of desertions or to reveal the source of the antagonistic power which was dealing such deadly blows to the spiritual and temporal power of "Zion." 491 492 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE The "Orator of the Church" vainly proclaimed that the Spirit of Antichrist was amongst the Mor- mon people, and though he thundered prophecies of destruction and desolation to the apostates, an observer would have noted only smiling disbelief in the faces of those who continued to dare the wrath of the Church. It gradually filtered through to the First Presi- dency and the Twelve Apostles that these apos- tates were talking strange doctrines and that their teachings appealed powerfully to the best edu- cated and the strongest minds in the communities. Dread of the truths revealed by Science had long secretly troubled the leaders of the Church. They had even permitted educated sophists amongst the Elders to preach in the Tabernacles false reconciliations between the church doctrines and the ideas of human progress which were per- meating the nation. But now the best brains of Mormondom paid no heed to these self-serving sophists, and daring challenges of the truth of the Book of Mormon s The Doctrines and Covenants and even the Bible had arisen with growing frequency and become wide-spread throughout the strongholds of the Mormon faith. Yet the Church knew not that an organization to match its own remarkably effective one had grown up in "Zion" and reached far out into the "Stakes" remote from the "Central Stake." Thousands of the "Saints," as they journeyed to the Conference, had noted with intense curios- ity that many of the apostates journeyed also to Salt Lake City. A CONFERENCE REVELATION 493 Eagerly comparing notes, the faithful became aware that from the North and the South and from the East and the West each group of the "brethren" was matched by substantially an equal number of those who had so recently dis- carded the Mormon faith, but the mission of these estranged ones was a deep mystery to the "breth- ren." A sense of expectancy approaching fear began to spread amongst the devotees of the religion which had so long held dominant sway in Utah. They glimpsed dimly the foreshadowing doom of the Church into which they were born. Had they known that immediately the enemy they dreaded would be aided greatly by a doc- trinal explosion within the very sanctuary of their Church they might well have looked forward with fearful souls to the impending Conference. The President of the Church at this time was a comparatively young man. By a strange record of fatalities the member- ship of the Twelve Apostles within fifteen years had wholly changed, and the President was one who had been appointed an Apostle at the April Conference just fifteen years before, and had be- come President only one year previous to the pres- ent gathering of the "Saints." Strong, vigorous, animalistic, he had lost his legal wife in child-birth a year before and the polygamous wife he had taken when younger, in accord with the presumed unwritten Church Law that Apostles must obey the polygamous revela- tion, had proven a "thorn in his flesh," being a very shrew in her distasteful demands upon him. 494 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Thrown suddenly into the supreme ecclesias- tical position in the Church, for a time his passions were held in abeyance, but when the whirligig of Church promotion had brought that degenerate anaemic scion of the Most Royal Family of Mor- mondom, Joseph Henry Smith, into the ranks of the Twelve Apostles, destiny brought to the reign- ing "Prophet, Seer and Revelator" the tempta- tion which not only hurled dread doom upon him and another, but which also split wide, into irre- concilable factions, the Church which he had dom- inated. Julina Blyman Smith had been peculiarly un- happy in the marriage thrust upon her by her mother. Her husband, the young apostle, was wholly unfitted to respond to a nature like hers. Full blooded, passionate and swayed by strange moods, she still clung to the Faith which cast religious sanctity around her polygamous birth. Always despising her husband, it occurred that she was quickly thrown constantly into social and church relations with the new President of the church, and ere long she realized that her whole being was going out in a flood of passion towards this forbidden man. Simultaneously she became aware that pas- sionate regard leaped towards her from the eyes of this highest ruler of her church. Was it a sub-conscious remembrance of her half-brother, Darwin Snowson, which withheld her from carnal sin ? A CONFERENCE REVELATION 495 The night before the opening day of the fateful conference, within the secret precincts of the Tem- ple, by chance the Prophet and the Apostle's wife were left alone in a luxurious room. A climax impended. The dark beauty of Julina maddened the pas- sionate man and with hurried burning words his illicit love was confessed. It was then that some invisible power seemed to dominate Julina and from that moment link by link the chain was forged which dragged the twain towards the spiritual bondage which irre- trievably joined their earthly fates. Yearning to yield, but held back strangely by something she could not define, Julina was im- pelled by mysterious power which possessed her to say to the lover who had sought her surrender : 4 ' Oh ! I cannot yield now. My heart responds to every throb of yours, but a power I can't resist holds me back and seems to say to me, * Wait the way will be shown. ' Then to the amazement, and even terror, of her watching lover she sank backward in the easy chair she was occupying and her eyes became strangely fixed in an unseeing stare which looked past the alarmed ecclesiast as though probing depths which neither walls nor space could bound. Suddenly the young woman began to speak and the so-called "Prophet" realized that for the first time in his experience he was encountering what his Church believed in "the spirit of prophecy, continuing down to the latter days." "Yea, Lord I am Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of thy servant Aaron. I sang to thee when 496 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE thou broughtest the children of Israel through the Red Sea and overwhelmed the base Egyptians. "Yea, Lord, I will listen unto thee and heed thy voice. * ' Thou sayest that on the morrow in the Taber- nacle I must go into the highest pulpit and there deliver to thy chosen people, the Latter Day Saints, the message that thou wilt put into my mouth, and that thereby that which would be sin will become righteous. "Yea, Lord, I will do as thou hast said." Fascinated beyond measure, the leader of the "Saints" had listened breathlessly to the words which came without apparent volition from the lips of the beautiful woman. As the last words penetrated his startled ears his blood surged strongly through his body, as he realized that the way to gain the object of his pas- sion was promised in this "revelation." He cared not that the unwritten rule of the Church that no woman should occupy the pulpit of the Tabernacle at Conference must be broken, nor did he question that the message of the Lord would be given through this wonderful creature who had received the instruction of the Almighty. Slowly becoming conscious, Julina found her lover vigorously chafing her hands, and sitting up- right she asked him what had happened. When she heard the words she had spoken in her trance she went into a mood resembling ec- stacy, which clung to her even in her sleep that night, and which enwrapped her face and whole personality on the morrow when she heard the President of the Church, amid profoundest silence, A CONFERENCE REVELATION 497 solemnly admonish his astounded hearers at the Tabernacle service that an essential part of their creed was that revelations and prophecies from God had not ceased. Then he told them that one who, it had been revealed, was the re-incarnation of Miriam, the Prophetess, had been directed by God in a vision while she was within the sacred precincts of their Holy Temple, to deliver to them a revelation which God would put into her mouth when she had climbed to the highest pulpit. Slowly, Julina Blyman Smith, to the amaze- ment of her husband and of all who knew her, with stately steps, mounted the several platforms of the Tabernacle pulpits and took her place, standing upright in the highest of all the pulpits. Silence profound reigned amidst the assembled Saints, the greatest number which had ever crowded into the huge Tabernacle being witnesses of the entirely unparalleled scene enacted before their astounded eyes. Then came the fateful message which split the Mormon Church into warring factions and which greatly aided the work of the Society of Progress. With eyes apparently fixed on the huge turtle- back ceiling of the low, oddly-constructed build- ing which since Brigham Young's day has been the chief public house of worship of the Mormons, Julina began to speak in a rich penetrating voice which reached beyond those seated to the farthest ranks of the standing " Saints." The air of ecstacy which had impressed the dullest, suddenly roused feelings of awe in her 498 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE hearers as her opening words reached them, spoken in slow, measured tones. "Yea, Lord God of our holy faith I will be thy messenger to deliver thy words to thy chosen people, even as of old I was thy Prophetess." A pause, and the silence which had prevailed before, by comparison, seemed almost vibrant with sound, so deep was now the absolute stillness of the vast throng. Then, in like full tones and measured words, came the revelation. ' * Thus saith the Lord : Hearken, 0, ye elders of my church, and ye, my chosen people, who have assembled yourselves together in my name. I say unto you, hearken, and hear, and obey the law which I shall give unto you. ' ' Verily, did not I give unto my people through my servant, Joseph Smith Jun., the Seer, at one time this law: 'Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart and shalt cleave unto her and none else, ' and verily, I say unto you that this law was just and right for the times and seasons. "Verily, did I not thereafter change this law and reveal unto my well-beloved Joseph, the Seer, while yet he lived and could heed my law, a 'new and everlasting covenant.' "And verily, did I not thereby disclose to you 'how you could know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle of and doc- trine of their having many wives and concu- bines."* A CONFERENCE REVELATION 499 "Verily, did I not then reveal unto you this 1 law of the Priesthood': 'If any man espouse a virgin and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent; and if he espouse the second and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery, for they are given unto him ; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and no one else.* " 'And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him and they are given unto him, there- fore is he justified.* " 'And again, verily,- did I not then say unto you: "And now as pertaining to this law, verily, verily I say unto you I will reveal more unto you hereafter, therefore let this suffice for the pres- ent." '* "Now, therefore, hearken ye unto my words spoken through my servant, Miriam, who sang a song unto me when I delivered the children of Israel from the Egyptians and who has become flesh again that you may be instructed. "Verily, I say unto you that times and seasons have changed again and the law of the Priesthood shall now be more revealed, saith the Lord God. "The cry of my daughters of Zion have come up unto me and behold I reveal to you yet another thing respecting the new and everlasting covenant which I revealed to Joseph Smith, Jun., the Seer. "Behold is there not a Mother in Heaven, as ye have taught, and behold did I not reveal my *Quoted from the Mormon Book of Revelations, "Doc- trines and Covenants." 500 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE new and everlasting covenant so that in the glory of heaven there ' shall be a fullness and a continua- tion of the seeds for ever and ever?'* "Verily, did I not reveal that those who fol- lowed my law of the Priesthood and espoused vir- gins, whether they espoused two or ten, shall be Gods in heaven?* "Now, therefore, so be it, how can my law be fulfilled if one of my daughters be espoused unto one who is impotent or if she being fertile shall not be ministered unto as my law demands'? "Behold, then, thus it shall be, saith the Lord: "If any of my daughters of my people shall be unequally yoked in marriage with one who cannot fulfill my law, then she cannot commit adultery if she espouse another who will fulfill my law and make her to bear children unto the glory of God and the continued strength of my Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. For, verily, I say unto you that my law is supreme. "Verily, also, saith the Lord: 'If one of my daughters shall have ten men given unto her by this law, she shall not commit adultery, for by my law shall she be justified. ' "Let this suffice for the present: Behold I am Alpha and Omega. Amen." As her voice ceased, Julina turned and with stately steps walked down and backward through a pulpit entrance-way and soon was hidden from the fixed gaze of the multitude. Both the weakling Apostle, her legal husband, and the President of the Church fully realized that now no church barrier stood between her and the ""Doctrines and Covenants." A CONFERENCE REVELATION 501 passion-dominated union to which the new revela- tion brought the sanction of their God. Then the President, with calmness and dignity, called upon the great choir to sing the famous Mormon hymn, "Oh, My Father," and when the singing had ended he quickly dismissed the great assemblage. Babel broke loose when the multitude thronged out of the numerous doors of the elliptical Taber- nacle. A thousand bitter battles of words were begun, for the astounding proceedings within the building set talking even the most subservient. In the dusk of that day Julina and her lover met in the same secret room in the Temple where the drama of the new revelation had begun. Overpowered with his great passion, the Presi- dent little recked the ecclesiastical storm which was breaking amongst his people. An elder, who sycophantically professed ad- miration and devotion for his leader, quickly per- formed a hastily devised ceremony of "sealing" under the new revelation, and then Julina and her lover betook themselves to the upper stories of the massive structure, where secret chambers richly furnished were at the command of the highest ecclesiasts. A hundredth wave of destiny was sweeping towards the city of the great salt sea and its sub- merging depths and overwhelming power were bringing a strange decree of fate upon the Mor- mon people, which also would engulf in helpless- ness the two who dreamed only of their passion- mated love. CHAPTEE XXXV. FIRST CONVOCATION OF THE SOCIETY OF PROGRESS. WITH complete secrecy, Darwin Snowson, the Lesser Master of the Society of Prog- ress, had summoned to a great Convoca- tion at Salt Lake City -every disciple of the Society who could possibly make the journey. Purposely he had selected the week of the Mor- mon Spring Conference as the time when the disciples should meet. After many consultations within the Chamber of Council, the Seven had determined to submit to the Convocation a plan for open public warfare in every hamlet, village and city in Mormondom to bring the great principles of the Religion of Prog- ress into direct strong conflict with th^ weakening power of the Mormon Church. That, incidentally, conflict would also come against the Methodist, the Catholic, the Presby- terian, the Baptist and every other church of orthodoxy did not daunt the champions of Truth. In Utah their great enemy was Mormonism, but even then the world campaign was being planned and the treasure box was still amply filled to meet the expenses of the greater warfare. On the day of destiny, whilst the Mormon Con- ference was listening to the fateful new revelation, elsewhere in the city, in the huge Convention Hall in which many national organizations had held their annual meetings, the disciples of the Society 502 FIRST CONVOCATION OF SOCIETY 503 of Progress were assembled in a multitude which rivaled completely the great gathering in the Tabernacle. Welcoming Darwin Snowson, much beloved by ail disciples, with an ovation, which was electrical in its acclaim, by thousands of sincere expressions of affection, the assembled believers of the Re- ligion of Progress awaited the explanation of their call to the convocation. It was noted by all that the Lesser Master bore on his countenance an unwonted look which after- wards the Seven knew was the serenity of a great renunciation. That the usual nobility of his bear- ing was materially added to, all who loved him perceived. Surrounded on the platform by the Seven and the Forty -nine, in words of fervent spiritual elo- quence, strong and convincing, the Lesser Master laid before the followers of the Society the plans which the Seven, with the concurrence and assist- ance of the Forty-nine, had devised for open war- fare for the new religion, to be waged all over Mormondom, and in concluding he asked them to counsel amongst themselves so that they might all freely vote their convictions upon the plans. As he finished, disciple turned to disciple all over the great hall, and in true conference the great throng animatedly discussed the wisdom of the plans. The inspiration of the great work already ac- complished and a realization for the first time of the wonderful progress which had been made by the Society in joining together all the strong, reso- 504 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE lute, intelligent persons who were there assembled and the power they could jointly wield, came to all with great force. It was Talmadge Penrose who first sprang to his feet from where he had sat near the platform, and, after silence was restored, briefly and earn- estly voiced the desire of every disciple in his vicinity to commence at once the great spiritual battles. In instant response, Moses Trustell, soon to be the first martyr of the Religion of Progress, in few words, confessed his original doubts of the Society and its aims, and then expressed the wish of all who surrounded him to begin the great work which had been planned. Next, from the center of the great throng, up rose Mollie Richards, who, amongst the Sisters of Progress, held the love and confidence of all, and speaking for a great group of women seated in her vicinity, in beautifully chosen phrases hailed with joy the opportunity to openly appeal to Mormon womanhood. A climax of fervor and enthusiasm swept through the disciples when Mabel Smith stepped to the platform and, with her wonderful voice, sang, for the first time it had been heard in public, the soul-stirring "Hymn of Human Progress,'* which since that day has been the rallying song of the Society. As the noble, inspiring words of this great song rang through the vast hall in matchless musical adaptation, the glow of spiritual exaltation which leaped into the faces of the assemblage was so noticeable that the Lesser Master sprang to his FIRST CONVOCATION OF SOCIETY 505 feet and, with a single gesture, waved the great throng to a standing posture while the song was repeated. This hymn, written by Hon Taylor and set to music by Robert Young and Marie Templeton, was a complete surprise to Darwin Snowson and to all else save these three and the fair singer and Nephi Woodruff, who had formed a little plan to test its power at the great convocation. As the singer depicted the march of humanity from lowliness and ignorance along the Upward Way towards the Infinite One, and then voiced the prophecy of better and forever better days to come, and of higher and holier concepts of God sure to be revealed as growth in spirituality in- creased amongst men, and ended with the pledge of service and high devotion to the cause of con- sciously carrying out God's Great Plan, each disci- ple realized that the day had dawned when their beloved Society must largely surrender its guarded secrecy and boldly battle for Truth and better Righteousness in the haunts of men. With one acclaim the disciples approved the plan which had been submitted to them and with- out forewarning of the fate-laden hours which remained of that day, with high resolves they joy- ously scattered to meet again on the morrow. The Wasatch mountains towered majestically to the southeast of them and the great snow-cov- ered caps scarce showed the coming ravages of the summer sun. Not one of the bitter contentious throng which poured from the Tabernacle that afternoon, nor one of the exalted peaceful multitude which 506 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE surged from the Convocation of the Society of Progress, dreamed that the glorious peaceful mountains held then within their extended foot- hills at the north side of the city a secret of mo- mentous import to them all. CHAPTER XXXVI. A RENUNCIATION. THREE days before the first great Convoca- tion of the Society of Progress, Darwin Snowson received a letter from Eleanor Stanwood "Aunt Eleanor" which brought to him a test of character which was wholly unex- pected by him. In relatively frequent correspondence with Faith Winthrop, he had been elated to find that not only was she deeply interested in the success- ful work of the Society of Progress, but often- times the personal note of her letters seemed even more than warm friendship. He had clung religiously to the advice of Aunt Eleanor, to await full success of the plan to redeem the Mormon people from spiritual bondage, before confessing his love to the fair, sweet, young wo- man whose personality had forever charmed his heart. The Beloved Philosopher had gone to Capitol- ton some months before and had met Aunt Eleanor and Faith and Naomi Snowson. Darwin was not surprised to receive letters from each of the three praising in highest terms the man whose genius had planned the vital work of the Society of Progress. Nor did much surprise come to him wher he learned, once from Aunt Eleanor and once from Faith Winthrop, that his almost revered friend 507 508 THE HUNDKEDTH WAVE had twice revisited the beautiful city to which Darwin's heart ever turned. Not until he read the fateful letter from Aunt Eleanor did Darwin recall the language in which Faith had told of the third visit of the Beloved Philosopher. "I think he is the most remarkable man I ever met and it is not strange that the Seven gave great affection to him. I'm sure he inspires love and confidence. I wonder if he has ever given his heart's devotion to any woman. Would it not be well worth winning?" When a strong, morally decent man loves a woman and desires her for his life's companion and comrade, to give up all hope of the fulfillment of his desire and to realize that another, no matter though it be a loved friend, will gain the object of his devotion, makes a storm of emotions in- evitable. So it was that Darwin Snowson for a time was cast into a whirlpool of desolation when he read these words in Aunt Eleanor's letter: "Now, Darwin, perhaps I am not the one to write you about something which has happened in which you are vitally interested. "I hesitate, and yet I feel that you ought to be prepared. 11 It's a state secret and perhaps another should reveal it, but my affection for you since your baby- hood impels me to give you a hint. "Did it ever occur to you that your Beloved Philosopher might be human enough to want a mate? A EENUNCIATION 509 ' ' Suppose lie has found one and she should be one who has your love and devotion; would you be able to readjust your life to such a condition?" Darwin knew instantly that Aunt Eleanor wished to prepare him for the announcement that Faith Winthrop and the Beloved Philosopher were betrothed. With stricken heart, he paced the floor of his living room as the darkness of despairing love overwhelmed him, then, unable to stand the con- fines of four walls, he strode out into the night and unconsciously directed his steps towards that foot- hill peak which lies back of the beautiful State Capitol, and is known as Ensign Peak. The tumult of his emotions made him oblivious to his surroundings until suddenly he realized that he was standing at the foot of the great flagpole which towers from the summit of the little peak. Surprised into consciousness of his where- abouts, the surging of his heart lessened, as he gazed upon a dream-like panorama unfolded in the glistening beams of the brightly shining moon. In the foreground a myriad of star-like lights glittered o'er the wide-spread city. It was fairy- land to an appreciative eye. To the southeastward the snow-topped Wa- satch mountains towered high, while to the south- westward, across the Salt Lake Valley, the Oquirrh range, in lesser majesty, added grandeur to the scene, and miles to the westward the Great Salt Lake gave a shining background to the dark, low-lying lands through which threads of silver evidenced the streams and canals which traverse them. 510 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE As Darwin gazed he finally lifted high his head and fixed his eyes on the North Star, as had the Beloved Philosopher that memorable night in the Glen when the Seven had listened to the inspiring words which gave birth to their great Society. Into his heart crept that consolation which al- ways comes to one who occupies his thoughts with contemplation of the wonders of the Universe and still more with yearnings for the Eternal Light to reflect glimpses of the Infinite One within his soul. Calmer throbbed the arteries which had almost choked him in the first surgings of despair ; calmer grew the wild thoughts which gave unreason sway over his being; calmer became the soul which had felt the breaking asunder of the beautiful cords of love which had entwined it. High resolve at last came into his very being. To renounce dreams of mated happiness and to wed himself in strong endeavor and never-ceasing diligence to the world-wide expansion of the So- ciety of Progress seemed to him his destined fate, and, crowding back the feelings of hopelessness which had possessed him, with head erect, he strode back to his apartments. When once more in the familiar quarters, he quickly wrote Aunt Eleanor a reply to her letter and in response to the secret she had revealed he said: "I read with much surprise the strong hints you gave me regarding the * secret ' which involves our Beloved Philosopher. "You, of all the world, have known of my cherished dreams and I can tell you how the tum- bling of my aircastles has torn my heart. A RENUNCIATION 511 "But my most cherished friend must also know that out of the agony of despair I have emerged without bitterness. "My work in the broadening field of our Society will be my bride henceforth, and with sin- cerity, dear Aunt Eleanor, I can ask, if the be- trothal of our Beloved Philosopher and Faith is now announced, that you shall give to them my heartfelt and sincere congratulations. No better or finer couple could be mated. ' ' After mailing his letter, Darwin retired, only to find restless wakefulness for a long time. When at last he fell into a fitful slumber his sub-conscious self surged into his being a dream of Faith, who seemed to have belonged to him, then, for reason unknown, to have been dragged from his arms by an unseen, irresistible force. As she drifted beyond his reach, with a loud cry he stretched out his arms to her, only to awaken and again feel for a little while the agony of an uncontrolled heart, until, gaining quicker control of his feelings, he sank into a profound slumber to awaken late in the morning with the plan of his great Convocation to occupy him entirely. CHAPTER XXXVII. THE SLIP OF THE WASATCH FAULT. THE great crowds which debouched from the Temple Block on that April day surged down Main Street and were met by the many thousands who swarmed from Convention Hall. The disciples of the Society of Progress soon scented the mental electricity flashing both in earnestness and in anger between the ' ' brethren, ' 9 and large groups gathered about the newspaper offices, where bulletined in black display type was the astounding news that a new " revelation" sanctioning Polyandry had been delivered at the Tabernacle. A hundred darting newsboys soon flashed up and down the street with ''Extras," which gave the " revelation" in full, and which were eagerly seized by the throngs who packed the sidewalks so closely that they almost were blocked. That night the city literally seethed with dis- cussion of the tremendously vital proceedings at the Mormon Tabernacle. The Gentiles, who in 1905 began to outnumber the Mormons in Salt Lake City, and now exceeded them three to one, universally recognized that out of the turmoil which would follow this strange conference day the weakening of the power of the Church must be great. 512 SLIP OF THE WASATCH FAULT 513 The Church had always maintained the "reve- lation" concerning polygamy as a true revelation of God, but, nominally, had "suspended" it, but now this strange new "revelation" not only es- tablished the startling principle of many husbands for one wife, but apparently affirmed anew the former "revelation" of many wives for one hus- band. That night a crowd which rivaled the gather- ing which almost suspends traffic on the broad downtown streets on the night of a presidential election, massed upon Main and State Streets and the east and west streets for several blocks south of the Temple. Thousands marched past the office buildings of the Church westward of the famous Bee Hive House and the equally famous Lion House, struc- tures which had for so many years given historical humility to the official residences of the presidents of the Church, although the wealth of the hier- archy was notorious. Not a light showed even in the President's home, the Bee Hive House. The varied comment of the spectators would have revealed to the Church President, had he been able to hear it, a strange consensus of opin- ion that the future held dire disaster for the or- ganization which had been so powerful. The psychic wave which had drawn the multi- tude together suddenly received a strange acces- sion. The forces of nature began to take part in the determining destiny of that day. 514 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE A great wind sprang out of a cloudless sky and for a few minutes played havoc with the head coverings and clothing of the masses on the streets. Then it died out as suddenly as it had arisen. One said afterwards that the air was so filled with ozone and electricity from the onrush of the great mountain gale as to create the mental sug- gestion of some strange impending event. Others, less philosophical, told of wierd fore- bodings which possessed the multitudes as the dense silence which momentarily followed the tur- moil of the blasts presaged something unknown, to follow. The most terrible of all earthly catastrophes impended. First the silence gave way to a wierd, inde- scribable earth moan which chilled the hearts of all. Then the ground beneath the feet of those who stood anywhere within the city or its environs suddenly began to rock violently, and sickening sensations of the approaching end of all things produced great fear and wild panic generally throughout the thronging masses downtown. The crash of falling chimneys and a final great shock, which brought thousands to their knees in helpless appeal to one who seemed to be sending death and disaster broadcast o'er the beautiful city, were instant with a heavy roar and a greater crash to the northward, and then the earthquake ceased. SLIP OF THE WASATCH FAULT 515 Slowly, prostrate Mormon and Gentile lifted their heads and gazed about them with fearstruck eyes. Wonderingly, they noted that at frequent in- tervals throughout the masses who had fallen on their knees to pray, groups and individuals were standing upright with fearless faces and high up- lifted arms. Afterward many of them were to learn that the posture was the Invocation attitude of the Re- ligion of Progress adopted by the Society of Progress. They were to learn, too, that it was not a ges- ture of entreaty for divine assistance to stay impending wrath or divine judgment, but was an exemplification of that far higher faith which ac- cepts the results of natural phenomena as mere incidents of human existence, and not to be weighed in fear by spiritual personalities. That serenity and fearlessness united in the souls of those who adhered to this new religion and lofty worship of God ever guided them gradually in later days filtered through the con- sciousness of many a spectator who could not understand that terrible night how any could fail to pray to God. First, a few, then more and more of the pros- trate suppliants arose to their feet, and as the min- utes lengthened without the now firm earth becoming again unstable, very gradually the throng began to move about. Rumors of disasters, unparalleled in the his- tory of the city, began to fly thick and fast. 516 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Here a huge crack in the outer walls of a build- ing and there a mass of fallen bricks or stones in alleys and along the streets told of material dam- age, and pitying groups of terrified spectators here and there gathered where human life and limb had yielded toll to the descending debris. Suddenly, from mouth to mouth, in swiftest dissemination, spread the report that the Mormon Temple was destroyed. In irresistible streams from all quarters flowed the living tide towards the high-walled Temple Block. Many had been in the vicinity when the dread quake had happened and soon the neighborhood was densely packed and still thousands pressed forward to learn the truth. The blazing bee-hive of electric lights which crowned a hostelry across the street from the Temple had not been extinguished by the heaving earth, and in its radiant glow, aided by street lights, the first who had turned their eyes towards the Temple realized that the heavy roar and great crash which accompanied the powerful final shock were caused by the practical ruin of the thick- walled granite structure, which had found its boasted strength but fragile brittleness against the mighty forces of nature. Eent in twain, with a huge gap many feet wide separating the west part of the structure from the east part, all could see that the eastern turrets of the Temple were mostly destroyed and the tow- ering gilded statue of the " Angel Moroni" was gone into the ruins, while great fissures ran here and there throughout the parts still standing. SLIP OF THE WASATCH FAULT 517 Again and again, echoed unnumbered times, permeating to the farthest limits of the on-coming thousands, was heard the expression, "It is the judgment of God," and all knew that the "revela- tion'* was deemed the cause of this destructive judgment. Through debris-choked gaps in the high stone wall which had guarded the Temple grounds, a few venturesome persons had climbed for closer scrutiny, only to return and warn the massed thousands that, if another earthquake shock should come, death would be imminent for all who stood near the ruined walls of the Temple. It was Robert Young who turned the tide of humanity northward past the Temple Block and then to the east and the west. One of the few who entered through the wall, he quickly realized that danger impended if the multitude did not disperse, and, ere he sprang downward from the wall, he raised his powerful tall figure to its greatest height and in a voice which penetrated far he called for silence. His commanding attitude and outstretched hands soon caused comparative quiet to prevail, and then, in strong, well-chosen words, he told his hearers that the Temple could not be explored with safety that night and that unless a worse shock occurred they could all see it better on the morrow. Then he added only a word or two, but the effect was magical. "Will it not be well, my friends, for each of you to go quickly to his own home and ascertain whether those you love are safe and protected?" 518 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE The mass is swayed by psychic impulses which momentarily drown out reflection. The reported destruction of the Temple had absorbed the thoughts of all. The magical word, "home," now caused in- stant resolution to go there to dominate the hearts of the vast throng. Eobert motioned those near him to go north- ward and soon the great streams which had flowed towards the Temple grounds were turned into a myriad of little rivulets hastening towards the homes, in some of which grief and despair were awaiting the coming of the members of the family who had been absent. Some would not know the fate of loved ones until the morrow, while others would rejoice that none of their dear ones was a victim of the earth- quake. At midnight in the Chamber of Council the Seven had gathered without preconcerted plan. Instinctively they had sought the room where they were wont to meet for consultation. The earthquake and its effects were uppermost in their minds. After a while the talk crystallized into a dis- cussion of the oft-repeated statement that it was "a judgment of God" which had caused the earth- quake. Then, it was quickly resolved, that a public meeting should be called for the next afternoon and that Darwin Snowson should deliver an ad- dress upon the subject, "Was the Earthquake a Judgment of God?" SLIP OF THE WASATCH FAULT 519 If the Seven had been gifted with foreknowl- edge of the events of the next day, does any reader think that one of them would have sought to change this plan? The great hundredth wave of destiny had not spent its force, as Darwin Snowson and his de- voted friends were fated to learn. Yet he who reads has little heeded what has been told in this book if he thinks that the "Lesser Master" or one of his associates, had he known the full force of the great wave, would have varied one iota in the plan to make the earthquake a great object lesson to the whole city, and at the same time to grandly start the open warfare for the Keligion of Progress under circumstances which would echo the words of soul freedom far and wide. CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE CREST OF THE WAVE. THE night of the earthquake a strong cordon of police finally had been placed around the Temple Block within its outer walls. It had been discovered that the Tabernacle, as well as the Temple, had been made unsafe by the tremendous shock which seemingly had centered destruction within the square which contained the greatest buildings of worship of the Church. In the black, clouded night which followed, not even venturesome newspaper reporters cared to risk the danger involved in a search of the Temple. The rising sun of the next day found hundreds already gathered to view the scene of destruction. Many leading church officials huddled in low- voiced conference, weighing the risks of entering the Temple. In whispers it was told that the President of the Church had not been seen since the great catastrophe. A shout startled the knot of ecclesiasts who were thus assembled. They saw the spectators gazing and pointing upward towards the top of the huge rent which had been torn completely through the structure from foundation to roof. The figure of a man, standing as if rooted on a segment of the floor of the upper story, had silhou- etted against the morning sky. 520 THE CREST OF THE WAVE 521 Galvanized into action, he pointed inward to- wards the remnant of the room in which he stood and so suggestive was his gesture the rapidly increasing crowd stood horrified, for each on- looker knew that a tragedy must lie concealed from his view, but seen by the solitary watcher on high. After pointing downward towards a little in- significant structure several score yards from the Temple walls, the daring climber disappeared from view and after a few minutes some who had caught the significance of the gesture, saw Moses Trustell emerge from the apparently disconnected little building. In few words the great tragedy of Nature's convulsion was revealed to the captain of the police and the bystanders. With bated breath, Trustell told that there was a secret underground passage leading from the little structure to a likewise secret little stairway which gave access through masked doors to the several floors of the Temple. Years before he had been one of four or five only who knew of the passage and the stairway and had retained a key which opened all portals of the secret way. Not explaining why he deemed it urgent to risk his life in the ruins, he told of a perilous climb to the top story of the Temple and that there lying dead, upon a regal bed, which was crushed to the floor, were the President of the Church and Julina Blyman Smith, and across their bodies in glitter- ing splendor lay the gilded statue of the "Angel Moroni" the trumpeting angel which had 522 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE adorned the topmost eastern pinnacle of the Temple. Was the earthquake a judgment of God ? Joseph Henry Smith whispered with impotent rage that God had revenged a wronged apostle. The orthodox ministers, with one exception, a Methodist pastor, solemnly pronounced the death of the twain in the Temple the direct act of God in punishment of a blasphemous desecration of His holy name. The rank and file of the Mormon people were hopelessly divided in opinion. One devout segment maintained that the " rev- elation" was from God and that He had made a way for the President and his companion to be joined "for all eternity," and then had honored them by taking them direct to Him, where, as gods, they would reign in " celestial glory;" while another vast segment began the march to apostasy by denying the "revelation" and asserting that God had sent his judgment to show His disap- proval. In the meantime, Darwin Snowson had not spoken. The morning papers in their last editions briefly told the facts of the tragedy, and in broad- spread advertisements announced the address by Darwin Snowson to be delivered that afternoon at Convention Hall, and asked Mormon Conference visitors to attend and hear what science had to say upon the all-absorbing question: "Was the Earth- quake a Judgment of God?" The huge auditorium, endowed with wonderful acoustic properties, had been planned so that by THE CREST OF THE WAVE 523 the use of audiphones, audiences in three sep- arate smaller halls within the huge structure, could clearly hear an address delivered in the main hall. The Seven had arranged that members of the Society of Progress, with few exceptions, should occupy the smaller halls, so that the expected mul- titude of Mormon Conference visitors and resi- dents of the city who were not affiliated with the Society of Progress should face the "Lesser Mas- ter" and listen directly to his address. It was 3 o'clock when Darwin Snowson arose to begin that wonderful sermon of science which has not yet ceased to echo in educating power, not only to the farthest hamlets of Mormonism, but far beyond. Packed to its utmost capacity it was estimated that more people, thrice over, than ever jammed the Mormon Tabernacle were eagerly awaiting new light on the stunning series of events which had bewildered the populace. Darwin's resonant voice failed not in power during the hour and a half he held spellbound the absorbed audience. His first words chained their attention and from then on scarce a sound save his voice was heard in the great auditorium. "The earthquake of last night killed my half sister, Julina Blyman Smith. Shall I say that it was the judgment of God upon one whom I believe to have been entirely deluded in respect to receiv- ing a revelation from God ? "Wait, I pray you, wait your answer may be far wrong. 524 THE HUNDEEDTH WAVE "The earthquake last night killed the little daughter of a Methodist clergyman, a sweet, pure, innocent child. ' ' Shall I say that it was the judgment of God ? Does her orthodox father say it? "The earthquake last night wrecked the Mor- mon Temple and killed the highest officer of the Church? "Shall I say that it was the judgment of God? "The earthquake last night demolished a low saloon and killed the proprietor and five degraded sots? ' ' Shall I say it was the judgment of God ? "The earthquake last night hurled a stone upon an honest, devout Catholic woman who was kneeling in prayer and whose death found her clutching a crucifix. ' ' Shall I say it was the judgment of God ? "The toll of three score dead within the con- fines of our beautiful city tells other strange tales. "Here death overtook a worthy citizen and there a hardened criminal was left alive. "Here a life was ended which was devoted to service to fellow men and there a miser met his doom. "Here a devoted mother met death and there a brutal, besotted father escaped with only a broken leg. "Shall we say in each case, 'It was the judg- ment of God?' " Changing from the slow solemnity of his open- ing words, the orator became impassioned in manner and profoundly impressive and convinc- ing. THE CREST OF THE WAVE 525 "The rain falleth alike upon the just and the unjust. "How long, oh how long, will humanity take to learn the great lesson that God never uses any natural phenomenon or natural force to reward or to punish? "How much longer will our race grope in the darkness of the belief that God directly interferes in any way with individual human destiny? * ' To most of you it will be as though you heard a strange language when I say to you that the Religion of Human Progress, of which I am a dis- ciple, announces beliefs and a faith in the Infinite One which are as high above the belief that He ever interferes by special act in the affairs of men and nations as is the polar star above the frozen earth pole. "Infinite Justice must not be weighed by finite souls, but a single clear glimpse of God's true revelations forever bars the thought that He ever by direct act brought death, yea, or health, or sickness, or poverty or wealth, or any fortune whether good or bad, to any human being, or to any community of men or to any institution of men. "God governs the physical universe by an aggregation of physical laws, which Science has gradually spelled out in many ways, and He never interferes with their operation. "Last night's earthquake was not the judg- ment of God upon my poor, deluded half-sister, nor yet upon the President of the Mormon Church, nor upon any one of the three score who are dead. "It was not the direct act of God at all. 526 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE " Science says to you, one and all, that the earthquake occurred through a slip of the great Wasatch fault brought about by strictly natural causes which reach backward probably half a mil- lion years, possibly a million years agone, when that great geological displacement first took place." In graphic delineation the orator told of the grand geological upheavals which are evidenced in the displaced rock strata plainly seen in the Wasatch mountains from the city itself and de- picted the huge fissuring which took place so long ago, but which can be read by the student as is a book. He explained the cementation which always takes place after such an upheaval, and how a small segment of the great fault probably lying almost beneath the Mormon Temple through a number of contributing causes, undoubtedly act- ing together for years, suddenly slipped a little bit, and, by reason of the great mass of rock struc- ture involved, violently shook the neighborhood and caused the destruction they had seen. Next the speaker eloquently demonstrated the proneness of unthinking humanity to ascribe rela- tively unusual natural phenomena directly to God, and especially if, by coincidence, human destiny, either individual or communal, is affected. Then, in bold, rapid, succinct sentences, were told the foundation principles of the Religion of Progress. It was Darwin Snowson's hour and with power and strength and wisdom and the eloquence of truth did he meet the great occasion. THE CREST OF THE WAVE 527 In the three smaller halls of the great struc- ture the assembled disciples of the Society of Progress likewise heard the wonderful address with shining eyes and great hopes for the future. When the last strong words were spoken and the spell was released, the great assemblage saw Mabel Smith arise upon the platform and then heard sung the wonderful Hymn of Human Prog- ress. Its noble words rang in glory to the farthest recess and illumined faces revealed its inspiration. Then those who had been upon the streets the night before saw again the Invocation attitude of the Religion of Progress. Darwin Snowson had arisen and, with open eyes and upturned face and far stretched arms, began that Invocation to the Infinite One which was to be his last act ere the swelling crest of the hundredth wave of destiny should overwhelm him. "Oh! Thou Infinite One, God of the Universe and of our souls, we give to Thee our worship and the love of our souls. "We have slowly spelled out Thy plan for the spiritual progress of humanity and we now know that Thou and Thy Divine Love are manifest in Thy Divine Plan which unfolds under a realm of great spiritual laws which we can use to progress upward towards Thee. "We know that Thou hast given all mankind the power to advance in spirituality, and that through the wonderful uplifting force of Thy laws Thou art ever impelling us to better love towards our fellow men and better spiritual and temporal co-operation with them and to higher love and higher worship of Thee. 528 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE "We ask Thee not for bread; we ask Thee not for health; we ask Thee not for personal safety from earthquake or pestilence or any earthly fate, for we know that in the working out of Thy Plan we must guard ourselves and our fellow men as we may in respect to all things which pertain to the physical. "We know that in Thy Plan the physical is subordinate and temporary and that the spiritual is supreme and immortal. Yet we know also that through the Spiritual we may do much to bring physical health to the earthly embodiments of our personalities. ' ' We ask Thee not to purify our souls ; we ask Thee not to cause us to give greater love to our fellow men or to cause us to more fully co-operate with them for our mutual spiritual and temporal advancement; for we know that Thou dost not thus deprive us of the spiritual power to act for ourselves. * * Nevertheless we know that Thou art ever im- pelling all of us through Thy laws of spiritual growth to do these things, and that if we worship Thee in spirit and truth we will ever yield more and more devotion to Thy Plan, to the end that better justice, better human institutions, better opportunities for earthly happiness and for spir- itual growth shall prevail everywhere on earth and hereafter will ever be opened up to all who partake of Thy divine endowment, the power of spiritual advancement granted by Thee to each human personality. "We esteem this endowment as the best gift of our race and, as far as we honestly and truth- THE CREST OF THE WAVE 529 fully may, we pledge to Thee that we always will endeavor to consciously work with Thee in the unfolding of Thy great Plan. "We know that in Thy Plan and in Thy su- preme justice all men are spiritual brothers and all women are spiritual sisters and that it is Thy desire that we shall strive by spiritual and tem- poral co-operation to insure to all our brothers and sisters of the race equal spiritual uplift and greatly bettered temporal conditions. "We seek harmony with Thy Plan. We seek harmony with Thee. We feel Thy love for us within our souls in every impulse towards better spirituality, and in every impulse towards purifi- cation of our personalities. We know that Thy way shall be our way if we truly give heed to Thy desires. "May we learn to worship Thee more worthily. "May we strive to make the earth spiritually as Thou desireth ii: to be. "In Thy great Plan for humanity we see Thy pledge of immortality to mankind and our faith is complete that Thou hast granted to us a future beyond the portals of physical death in which as disembodied personalities we will have oppor- tunity to grow towards Thee in broadening knowl- edge and ever higher spirituality, and perhaps in that realm we may also have the privilege of bringing spiritual uplift to those of our race who have not gained the better vision ere physical death overtook them. "Oh! God, may we strive to be worthy." As the solemn Invocation ceased, the auditors who had been stilled almost to breathlessness,. 530 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE were suddenly horrified to see a wild, gaunt, shag- gily bearded figure step from a little recess to the right of the speaker and with outstretched arm fire two quick shots at Darwin Snowson, who turned slowly towards the assassin with an air of bewilderment and then sank back into the chair from which he had arisen to commence his ad- dress. As the assassin shot, he wildly exclaimed: "You seek to destroy the Church of the Latter Day Saints and God has told me to kill you." In the meantime, a wiry, alert figure had darted forward and grabbed the extended arm of the assassin, only to receive the third shot directly through his own heart. Thus Moses Trustell became the first martyr of the Society of Progress and of the Eeligion of Progress. Twenty pairs of arms had now pinioned the assassin and as the captors instinctively turned to Darwin Snowson from his bloodless lips they heard him say: "Do not harm him. He must be insane. He is still a brother of our race. See that he is properly cared for." Then blackness overcame the Lesser Master and down towards the eternal stop fluttered his weakening heart-beats. The hundredth wave of destiny had over- whelmed him and was sweeping him out to the sea which takes personality past the portal of death into the spiritual realm beyond. CHAPTER XXXIX. THE PURITAN AND THE LESSER MASTER. IN A large, airy room of a hospital that night Darwin Snowson slowly came back to con- sciousness to find a skilled physician who was a disciple of the Society of Progress gazing at him with a grave face, while the nurse in uniform busied herself in customary sanitary precautions. With a rare smile the wounded man whispered faintly, "Do not look so seriously, doctor. If the worst comes I fear nothing. I am sure my mother will not mourn when she realizes that my work culminated in today's events. I am ready to pass the portals if it must be. ' ' The wounds were possibly fatal and much de- pended upon the rallying power of the patient. The doctor had listened with concealed anxiety to the words of his loved friend and the note of resignation, which appeared so clearly, did not please him. Had Aunt Eleanor been there perhaps she could have accounted for the mental attitude of the young man. As the doctor pondered the cause of the pa- tient 's lack of that mental fighting strength which he would have guaranteed would help in the struggle for Darwin Snowson 's life, a gentle tap on the door caught his attention. Beckoning to the nurse to see who knocked, he was quickly summoned to the door to find Eobert 531 532 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Young in a plainly excited condition. Fearing the effect on his patient, he stepped into the corridor and as a result of a hasty conference he reached a quick decision. Bringing Robert into the room he was not sur- prised to see the same rare sweet smile of resigna- tion glow into Darwin's face when he saw his dearest friend. A whispered direction to the nurse, a slight stimulant administered and then the doctor said: " Darwin, do you think you can stand some good news that Robert brings you 1 ' ' With wondering eyes, Darwin turned towards his friend and nodded his head slightly. Then Robert spoke softly and slowly: ' ' Darwin, you must live now. I have news for you which you could not dream would come. Oh, my friend your love for Faith Winthrop is not hopeless, as you thought. She loves you com- pletely and is coming to be with you." Waiting a space, while wonder grew to hope, and hope into a great gladness in the eyes of his friend, Robert then continued: "Listen to the telegram I have just received from Aunt Eleanor. I wired her at once of what happened to you and this is her reply: " 'Tell Darwin that his interpretation of my letter was all a mistake. It is his mother who is to marry our Beloved Philosopher. Faith Win- throp knows all and sends this message to Darwin : "Your love confessed to Aunt Eleanor is most welcome to my heart. In the shadow of your dan- ger I am proud to tell you that I have loved you almost since we met. Aunt Eleanor, your mother PURITAN AND LESSEE MASTER 533 and myself are starting tonight to come to you as fast as we can. I want you to live for my sake and am sending you every minute all the love your heart can desire. ' ' It was a different patient the doctor now viewed. Robert Young had gently clasped the hand of his friend and the look of courage and determina- tion and bright hope which radiated from the face on the pillow bespoke a winning battle in the coming struggle. On the second day a vision of loveliness came softly into the room where Darwin Snowson lay. The nurse had warned him to expect a visitor and not to move for fear of opening up his wounds. But the light that illumined his face when he saw Faith was so compelling that the sweetheart who had come to him felt hope and happiness surge in her heart. Gently bending over the high hospital bed, the beautiful face of the proud puritan girl yielded its first tribute to the lips of her lover, and Faith mur- mured a hundred expressions of love and happi- ness that he was gaining in strength. Then, realizing that she might be harming him, she seated herself where she could clasp his hand and gaze at his noble face, which seemed to her the realization of all her maiden dreams and hopes. The watchful nurse believed that good instead of harm to her patient would come from the pres- ence of the one who was plainly his heart's desire, and, with a caution that they should not talk much, she slipped out of the room. 534 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE If Faith gently stroked Darwin's hair and her soft hands fondled his face and her lips again and again met his in softness and tenderness, was it not the best medicine he could have? When the autocratic nurse returned, she re- minded Faith that there was another visitor waiting and that Darwin must rest awhile before seeing his mother, so with a promise of coming back as soon as the doctor would permit, and a few more sweetheartings, Faith slipped out of the room, but not without a lingering backward glance which Darwin thought completely charm- ing. Was Naomi Snowson blushing when at last she encountered the gaze of her son? Certainly she was happy to find that her boy was making the winning fight towards recovery, but Darwin thought he detected a little constraint in her manner and, like a wise son, he softly said to this charming mother of his : "Mother mine, I want you to feel that your boy is perfectly delighted to know that you are going to marry our Beloved Philosopher, and I am sure he is to be congratulated on winning so sweet and charming a companion as my lovely mamma. ' ' The blush was apparent then, and the nurse thought how very young Mrs. Snowson must have been when she first married. There was still another visitor that day, and when Aunt Eleanor came into Darwin's room you may be sure that there was plenty of space in his heart for a loving welcome. So these three saw Darwin gain day by day and carried encouraging reports to the ever-wait- PURITAN AND LESSER MASTER 535 ing brothers of the Seven, as well as the many thousands of Disciples of the Society, who valued the life of the Lesser Master as a precious jewel to shine in the future glory of the Religion of Progress. A great surprise awaited Darwin when strength had come back to the frame which had been wrecked by the assassin's bullets. The hundredth wave of destiny had indeed reached far. CHAPTER XL. THE SURGE OF THE WAVE. FAR and wide had spread the news of the earthquake in the City of the Great Salt Sea; far and wide had flown the tale of the alleged revelation to the Mormon devotees; far and wide had gone the story of the tragedy which had engulfed in death the President of the Church and the Apostle's wife. But a greater thing had befallen. The hundredth wave of destiny which over- whelmed the Lesser Master of the Society of Progress had surged in vast breaking foam o'er all the land and far beyond the ocean's bounds. With the story of the attempted assassination of Darwin Snowson there went on world-embrac- ing electrical currents in strong synopsis the story of the Society of Progress and of Darwin's great Sermon of Science. From a thousand widely distributed sources came requests for fuller knowledge, and already the six comrades of the Lesser Master had pub- lished his address and had sent it to every inquirer. And, when Darwin was permitted to consult again with the staunch friends who had shared his labors for the redemption of Mormondom from soul slavery, it was joyful news indeed which greeted him. He was first told of many thousands, Mormon 536 THE SURGE OF THE WAVE 537 and Gentile in Utah, who were demanding knowl- edge of the Keligion of Progress and then, with gleaming faces, the others of the Seven told of the universal request in letters from over the globe that Instructors of the Religion of Progress be sent to teach this Religion of Science to souls which had waited long for the religion which would reconcile Science and rational Worship of God. Better yet, he was met with a letter, just re- ceived, from the Beloved Philosopher, commend- ing the great work which had been done in Utah, and urging the Seven to join him in the organiza- tion of the Religion of Progress throughout the world. It was the call of the race, the call of their spiritual brothers; and each of the Seven knew in his soul what his answer would be. That night the Beloved Philosopher addressed an audience which filled to the doors the greatest hall in the city of Chicago and the next day the great Central Society of the Religion of Progress, with ten thousand charter members was formed. With what joy the Seven heard the news, and with what affection they learred that their Be- loved Philosopher had told to his hearers the story of the Society of Progress ar d had highly valued the work they had done, and had by name denom- inated them the first Instructors of the Religion of Progress. Need it be told how the Instruction of the Seven Degrees of the Society of Progress became the wide-spread fundamental instruction of the Religion of Progress and how the address of the 538 THE HUNDREDTH WAVE Beloved Philosopher to the inchoate Central So- ciety and the Sermon of Science of Darwin Snow- son inspired the great growth of the new Religion? Need it be told that soul slavery to base con- cepts of God have begun to die out and soul freedom, without loss of love of righteousness, has grown in a wonderful way amongst those who were blinded to the Truth? Need it be told how the Great Master of the Society of Progress ' ' Truth ' ' has been gaining in power amongst mankind, and how the Spiritual Brotherhood of all men and the true Spiritual Kinship of our souls with God are coming to be universally recognized? Need it be told that the Religion of Progress is teaching men how to give true, unselfish, loving service and co-operation to those of our race who need it and that it is teaching them individually how to climb the Upward Way towards the Ideal and towards the Infinite One ? Need it be told how human institutions are changing to the better justice of true brotherhood, and how universal peace is sure to come soon, as the physical death in war of our spiritual brothers is recognized as a soul crime against the Divine Plan? The spiritual fe.-ment of the whole world is telling you all these things and the soul of our race is quickened to welcome them. May I live to be the historian who will tell of the final conquest of the world to the spiritual brotherhood of man through the Religion of Truth. THE END. ' A 000105333 9