1. Introduction To living men no time can be so solemn as “the living present,” whatever its characteristics; and that solemnity is immensely deepened in an age of progress unparalleled in the history of the world, But the question arises whether these days of ours are momentous beyond comparison, by reason of their being in the strictest sense the last? Is the world’s history about to close? The sands of its destiny, are they almost run out, and is the crash of all things near at hand? Earnest thinkers