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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE. evolution, but, also, to actually advance and facilitate its progress, and, on the other, to secure the greatest good of the greatest numbers, even in respect of material peace and prosperity, in so far as these are consistent with the spiritual aspirations of the real man. The same statement cannot be made in respect of modern civilization, which, if anything, is anti-spiritual in its tendency.
It is no use minimising the pernicious and harinful nature of the influence which the present-day civilisation is exerting on the souls of men, since it tends to make them disregard the teaching of religion which alone is the path of what has been described as entering into life. What with its fashions and conventions, its licensed saloons and beer-shops, its niceties and novelties in food, dress, and the like, to say nothing of the thousand and one other forms of the anti-spiritual occupations and pursuits which it provides for its votaries, the modern civilization is calculated only to pamper sensualism at the cost of the spiritual nourishment of the soul. The one most marked feature of distinction between the two forms of civilization, the ancient and the modern, is in respect of the cost of living which is going up daily, and which the majority of men find it hard to meet, in spite of devoting their whole-time labour to its procurement. Such being the case, it is not surprising that people should have neither time nor inclination for the study of religion, not to mention the practising of those methods and means which alone lead to the attainment of the ideal of the soul. The path of sensualismanother though slightly less repulsive name for animalism -- is directly opposed to that of spiritualism, and it
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