tiger die," but he must always retain the animal with its
natural appetites. Moreover, his higher mental capacities increase
their power. Memory recalls past gratifications as it never does to
the animal; imagination paints before him vivid pictures of similar
future enjoyments, and mental keenness and strength of will tell him
that they can all be his. But if he yields himself a slave to these
appetites, if he seeks to be an animal rather than a spiritual
being, he becomes not an animal but a brute; and the only genuine
brute is a degenerate man. And thus after conquering the world man's
very structure compels him to join battle with himself. For here, as
everywhere else, to attempt to go backward to a plane of life once
passed is to surely degenerate. The time when the prize of
pre-eminence could be won by mere physical superiority was passed
before man had a history. Physical superiority must be maintained,
and every advance in art and science, considered here as ministering
to man's physical comfort, is advantageous just so far as these
allow man freedom and aid to pursue the mental and moral line which
is the only true path left open to him. But when even these are
allowed to minister only to the animal, or to tempt to luxurious
ease and indifference to any higher aims, in a word, in so far as
they fail to minister to mental and moral advancement, they are in
great danger of becoming, if they have not already become, a curse
rather than a blessing. And we all know that this has been proven
over and over again in human history. Families, cities, and nations
rot, mainly because they cannot resist the seductions of an
overwhelming material prosperity. A man says to his soul, "Take
thine ease, eat, drink and be merry," and to that man scripture and
science say, with equal emphasis, "Thou fool!"

Every upward step in attainment of the comforts of life, of art and
science, brings man into new fields not of careless enjoyment but of
struggle. They swarm with new enemies and temptations before
unknown. The new attainments are not unalloyed blessings, they are
merely opportunities for victory or defeat. The uncertain battle is
only shifted to a little higher plane. Man has increased the forces
at his command only to meet stronger opposing hosts. And retreat is
impossible. Man remains a spiritual being only on condition that he
resolutely and vigilantly purposes to be so. To lag behind in this
spiritual path is death.

An