a
theory to support as to the exceptional creation of the Human Race will
find the present classification elastic enough for his purpose.
Philosophy, of course, may propose another arrangement of the Kingdoms
if it chooses. It is only contended that this is the order demanded by
Biology. To add another Kingdom mid-way between the Organic and the
Spiritual, could that be justified at any future time on scientific
grounds, would be a mere question of further detail.

Studies in Classification, beginning with considerations of quality,
usually end with a reference to quantity. And though one would willingly
terminate the inquiry on the threshold of such a subject, the example of
Revelation not less than the analogies of Nature press for at least a
general statement.

The broad impression gathered from the utterances of the Founder of the
Spiritual Kingdom is that the number of organisms to be included in it
is to be comparatively small. The outstanding characteristic of the new
Society is to be its selectness. "Many are called," said Christ, "but
few are chosen." And when one recalls, on the one hand, the conditions
of membership, and, on the other, observes the lives and aspirations of
average men, the force of the verdict becomes apparent. In its bearing
upon the general question, such a conclusion is not without
suggestiveness. Here again is another evidence of the radical nature of
Christianity. That "few are chosen" indicates a deeper view of the
relation of Christ's Kingdom to the world, and stricter qualifications
of membership, than lie on the surface or are allowed for in the
ordinary practice of religion.

The analogy of Nature upon this point is not less striking--it may be
added, not less solemn. It is an open secret, to be read in a hundred
analogies from the world around, that of the millions of possible
entrants for advancement in any department of Nature the number
ultimately selected for preferment is small. Here also "many are called
and few are chosen." The analogies from the waste of seed, of pollen, of
human lives, are too familiar to be quoted. In certain details,
possibly, these comparisons are inappropriate. But there are other
analogies, wider and more just, which strike deeper into the system of
Nature. A comprehensive view of the whole field of Nature discloses the
fact that the circle of the chosen slowly contracts as we rise in the
scale of being. Some mineral, but not all, becomes vegetabl