, and realising that everything has a perfectly natural
explanation when it can be understood, and it is only our ignorance
which makes us shy at it.

And so I would appeal to those who credit this power of thought to
employ it responsibly, and to realise that they are all God's atoms in
the great scheme of things, and must use their personal force as a
contribution to the vast thought-waves which can advance, or which,
when ill directed, can sweep away a nation.

III

MARRIAGE

It is an interesting subject--and one which has touched, or will
probably touch, most of our lives, therefore it may not be
unprofitable to study it a little, and what it means and what it
should mean; because, in the present upheaval of all our old beliefs,
marriage, as a sensible institution, is being attacked upon many
sides.

It is extremely easy to pull down a house, but it requires skill and
special training to rebuild it again; and before dragging the roof off
and demolishing the walls, it would be wiser to have made a distinct
plan and provided the materials ready for the reconstruction of a new
habitation, that the rain and the wind may not overcome us when we
have no shelter for our heads. But this is what the attackers of
marriage have failed to do as yet. Here are three facts which we can
begin by looking at.

_Firstly._ Some kind of union between man and woman, consolidated by
the law, is necessary for the continuation of a race in vigour and
moral upliftment.

_Secondly._ It is admitted by great philosophers and deep thinkers
that the welfare of the community is of more importance than the
fluctuating desires of the individual.

_Thirdly._ A fine ideal, however impossible of attainment, is a force
for good to be held up before the eyes of the mass of the people, who,
however much actual education has advanced, are still too unendowed
with personal brain to have any judgment themselves--their capacities
only allowing them to see the effects of things upon their immediate
surroundings without perceiving the causes, and therefore leaving them
incapable of judging what could be good for the country, the race, or
humanity in general.

After all these centuries, legal marriage still holds, because no one
has been able to suggest any other union which could take its place
without bringing chaos. And it seems more than likely that no one will
ever be sufficiently inspired so to do! Thus let us now consider the
present