quite late when
compared with the hasty reincarnation of the less advanced souls who
are hurried back to rebirth by reason of the strong earthly attachments
and desires. In this way it happens that the earlier races of each
Cycle are more primitive folk than those who follow them as the years
roll by. The soul of an earth-bound person reincarnates in a few years,
and sometimes in a few days, while the soul of an advanced man may
repose and rest on the higher planes for centuries--nay, even for
thousands of years, until the earth has reached a stage in which the
appropriate environment may be afforded it.

Observers, unconnected with Occultism, have noted certain laws which
seem to regulate the rise and fall of nations--the procession of ruling
races. They do not understand the law of Metempsychosis that alone
gives the key to the problem, but nevertheless they have not failed to
record the existence of the laws themselves. In order to show that
these laws are recognized by persons who are not at all influenced by
the Occult Teachings, we take the liberty of quoting from Draper's
"History of the Intellectual Development of Europe."

Dr. Draper writes as follows: "We are, as we often say, the creatures
of circumstances. In that expression there is a higher philosophy than
might at first appear. From this more accurate point of view we should
therefore consider the course of these events, recognizing the
principle that the affairs of men pass forward in a determinate way,
expanding and unfolding themselves. And hence we see that the things of
which we have spoken as if they were matters of choice, were in reality
forced upon their apparent authors by the necessity of the times. But
in truth they should be considered as the presentation of a certain
phase of life which nations in their onward course sooner or later
assume. To the individual, how well we know that a sober moderation of
action, an appropriate gravity of demeanor, belonging to the mature
period of life, change from the wanton willfulness of youth, which may
be ushered in, or its beginnings marked by many accidental incidents;
in one perhaps by domestic bereavements, in another by the loss of
fortune, in a third by ill-health. We are correct enough in imputing to
such trials the change of character; but we never deceive ourselves by
supposing that it would have failed to take place had these incidents
not occurred. There runs an irresistible destiny in the mid