EVOLUTION ON THEEARTH 303
and hopes to receive from Him material benefitshere and
now. He sacrifices through avarice, expecting that the Lord
will repay a hundredfold, or to escapeswift punishment by
plague, war, etc.
Next, he is taught to worship God by prayer and the
living of a good life; and that he must cultivate faith in a
Heaven where he will be rewarded in thefuture; and to
abstain from evil that he may escape afuture punishment in
Hell.
At last he comes to a point where he can do right
without any thought of reward, bribe, or punishment, but
simply because “it is right to do right.” He loves right for its
own sake and seeks to govern his conduct thereby,
regardless of present benefit or injury, or of painful results at
some future time.
The Original Semites had reached the second of these
steps. They were taught to worship an invisible God and to
expect to be rewarded by material benefits, or punished by
painful afflictions.
Popular Christianity is at the third step. Esoteric
Christians, and the pupils of all occult schools are trying to
reach the highest step, which will be generally achieved in
the Sixth Epoch, the new Galilee, when the unifying
Christian religion will open the hearts of men, as their
understanding is being opened now.
The Akkadians were the sixth and the Mongolians the
seventh of the Atlantean Races. They evolved the faculty of
thought still further, but followed lines of reasoning which
deviated more and more from the main trend of the
developing life. The Chinese Mongolians maintain to this
day that the old ways are the best. Progress constantly
requires new methods and adaptability, keeping ideas in a