Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-17
MAN HAS 20 MILLION
YEARS TO FIGHT EVIL
Dawn Of Soul Came With Power
to Distinguish Good; Lodge
Gives His Theory Of Life.

2O,OOO,OO0 years yet to carry on its
struggle toward the earthly millennium"
said Sir Oliver Lodge in a recent lecture.
Sir Oliver was very optimistic about
! the mental, moral and physical status Of
humankind. say, in the year, A. d.,
20, 0Ol ,920, pointing to the progress mado
during the first $4,000 years of the races
history.
He pointed ont that If such progress
as has been made during 10000 years can
he but continued for the 10000, 900 years
yet remaining for the earth's habitation,
| no scientist nor human imagination can
| picture the plane of life which will have
been attained.
"Some people do not like the idea that
we, at least, as TO our bodies, have ascend
ed from AN atom" he said III we had
been angels and had come down to earth,
we might feel depressed. But tet us take
heart and believe that we are on the up
grade.
"Some races have degcncrated. it Is
| true. Life in the tropics is not conducive
| TO progress. To lie under banana tree
| and wait for the fruit TO drop in your
mouth will not make the man immortal.
To struggle for existence is to become
immortal.
The man who is successfully combining
the science of the ages with the rising
spiritualistic wave compared the rise and
fall of various empires to the rise and fall
of waves upon a rock, but mankind gen
orally progressed slowly and surely, Just
as the tide advanced.
Although individual waves are throw
ing back the march of humanity he de-
clared, "the progress of the race rs a
whole is on the UP grade.
Surely the most fundamental feature
in the development of man." he contin-
ued. ''is his consciousness of his own indie
pendcnce, the freedom Of his will power,
the fact that he has power to choose be
tween right and wrong. We do not share
this power with the animals, at least with
the wild animals, which have not come
under the influence of mans character
through domestication.
"A tiger, however cruel, is not wicked.
A man who is cruel knows he IL wicked.
This power 20 determine right from wrong
must have dawned on some early genius
OF the race, just as the sun s first rays fall
first upon the highest mountain peaks.
Dawn Of the soul of man came with
the inception of the power to choose be-
tween good and evil. After that IL was
not struggle for existence, but struggle
of human souls.
ouAdNdt lPtNNt VI VIII Az
wise everybody TO hold on To that power
OF will with doglike tenaoity. Do not be
misled by philosophers and their theories
of predestination
As TO the possibility of life ON other
planets, he said there are so many mil
lion planets that the chances are a great
number are inhabited by beings Of in-
teligence equal or superior To man.
"Iafe" he continued always seems |
ready 10 come into being wherever pos
sible. Life springs up IN the rubbish |
heap to beautify or hide the decsying work |
OF man.
Life condenses on a planet as dex on a /
cold tuTnbler Where was the dew before |
It became visible? So life condenses ON the |
planets, and then evaporates whence II |
came Sometimes this life takes the form |
of individuality and characters, but not |
necessarily so.
Sir Oliver said that we should not be-
come restless and try 70 move IN to some /
other planet This is the best Of all pos
sible worlds at present conceived, he /
declared.
Possibilities Of the good m the race
were demonstrated by the sublime hero
ism, displayed by countless men and /
women during the war, he pointed out,
and added that no man would ever rise
to q plane too high for sacrifice.
"Hearts of men have been opened by
the war" he concluded. "The other side
Of the vale has been enriched by swarms of
energetic youth. ] look for a period of
spiritual outpouring such as the world has
never known. The human race has &c, 000,-
BOO years in front Of it, the individual has
eternity, and no man knows what we may
se.
Meanwhile, we have 70 struggle with
vii. Ii is the fight of the gardner against
,ad weeds. A control of the destinics Of
mis- planet are being handed over more
md more TO man, as time moves on.