ask! But, why ? Is it not there? Is it not written in the book ? Yes, it is there, but written on pages whose seals have never yet been broken. Between those sealed pages lie concealed secrets, whose value, whose beauty, whose utility no mortal mind can conceive. But, you say, how do we know ? How can we tell what to expect from sealed pages ? Book! See what has been read from unsealed pages and be answered! What can be more useful, more valuable, or more beautiful than the various industrial pro cesses which have been discovered; than the physical, chemical and electrical theories which have been propounded by reason and verified by experience; than the splendid civic, ethical and philosophical theories which have been enumerated ? All these and much more withdrawn from this great storehouse—this im mense reservoir—of possible knowledge and converted into actual knowledge, And all this done within a comparatively short period of time. What was the progress of the development and evolution of knowledge up to the time of the Christian Era ? Men groped in the twilight and darkness of uncertainty and doubt. Their ideas concerning many things, which are to us most common, were quaint, gruesome and grotesque. The great book of Nature’s laws had scarce been looked upon, much less opened. What wonder is it that John who saw the grandest, the most won derful, the most sublimely magnificent visions which ever ap peared to any being—and gave them to us in the book of Reve lation —what wonder is it that he looked and beheld a book written within and sealed with seals! What wonder is it that he saw the strong angel proclaim in a loud voice, saying, ‘ 1 Who is able and worthy to open the book and to unloose the seals thereof?” What wonder is it that this John bowed his head and wept much because no man could be found, either in the heavens, or on the earth, or under the earth, who was able and worthy to open the book neither to loose the seals thereof. Christianity came. It taught the immortality of the soul, and thereby elevated and dignified man above all other nature. It said to him, “You are everlasting, all else changing. You are eternal, all else fading. You shall be the king, the ruler, all else your kingdom, your subjects. Make all things temporary subject to things permanent.” And man did. From that time down through all these nineteen centuries, down through the birth, The Free Lance . [February,
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