That vicious circle of despair of which we hear so much nowadays (“man has always been that way,” “man always will be that way,” “the world never changes,” “things are just about the same as they were four thousand years ago,”) does not exist.
It is an optical illusion.
The line of progress is often interrupted but if we set aside all sentimental prejudices and render a sober judgment upon the record of the last twenty thousand years (the only period about which we possess more or less concrete information) we notice an indubitable if slow rise from a condition of almost unspeakable brutality and crudeness to a state which holds the promise of something infinitely nobler and better than what has ever gone before and even the ghastly blunder of the Great War can not shake the firm conviction that this is true.
The human race is possessed of almost incredible vitality.
It has survived theology.
It due time it will survive industrialism.
It has lived through cholera and plague, high heels and blue laws.
It will also learn how to overcome the many spiritual ills which beset the present generation.