Page:Randolph, Paschal Beverly; Eulis! the history of love.djvu/181

176 if not to perpetual death, taking the adult population of the globe to be about thirteen hundred millions. Another thought right here: Nature selects the fittest to perpetuate species; and the strongest and most active zoospermes always override the weaker, and reach the ovum, dooming, thereby, all the rest; but it is clear that they too must perish if there be no ovum to invite them. Precious few ripe zoospermes reach the ripened ova, because deprived of the element time, essential to their perfection, the consequence of which is, that the great majority of people spring from unripe conditions, and remain unripe from the cradle to the grave. I will tell you a profound secret of generation, whereby the most magnificent results in that line are producible at will. It is this: [Here follow the glorious truths hinted at, but of such a holy, delicate, and private nature as to be only impartable by words or ink. The publisher hereof has no desire to exclusively retain it, and will, therefore, impart it to such noble souls as can appreciate it. ] These principles alone can redeem the world, and clinch the rivets of Immortality. Nature makes many attempts, but only few successes, and as it is with trees and grasses, shrubs and flowers, so also is it with mankind. She tries, and tries hard, to immortalize a species, but only succeeds in doing it for individuals; and it is as easy to pass along the streets and pick out those of Perduring souls from those whose future is nihility, as it is to select a negro, Indian, Hottentot, or John Chinaman from a crowd of Digger Indians. The truth is, that while man, generally, is immortal, he is not universally so. The development theory is good and true to a certain limit, but it at any stage or rate is wholly incompetent to the tremendous achievement of accounting for the existence of Soul. It needs improving; and it is astonishing that its chief priests have never even attempted to demonstrate man's immortality, but rather have studiously evaded contact with the troublesome question. Their theory fails them from the moment they reach the psychical and metaphysical phases of the grand subject. They take no cognizance of soul per se whatever, because fully aware that they cannot give a reason why Souls should be at all. The fact is, that immortalization could not,