In the Bible we read that _Jehovah_, _Elohim_, who was the race spirit of the Jews, went before them in a pillar and a cloud, and in the Book of Daniel we gain considerable insight into the workings of these race spirits. The image seen by Nebuchadnezzar with its head of gold and feet of clay showed plainly how a civilization built up in the beginning with golden ideals degenerated more and more until in the latter part of its existence the feet were of unstable, crumbling clay, and the image was doomed to topple. Thus all civilizations when started by the different race spirits have great and golden ideals, but humanity by reason of having some free will and choice does not follow implicitly the dictates of the race spirits as the animals follow the commands of the group spirits. Hence in the course of time a nation ceases to rise, and as there can be no standing still in the cosmos, it begins to degenerate until finally the feet are of clay and it is necessary to strike a blow to shatter it, _that another civilization may be built up on its ruins_. But empires do not fall without a strong physical blow, and therefore an instrument of the race spirit of a nation is always raised up at the time when that nation is doomed to fall. In the tenth and eleventh chapters of Daniel we are given an insight into the workings of the invisible government of the race spirits, the powers behind the throne. Daniel is much disturbed in spirit; he fasts, for fully _three weeks_, praying for light, and at the end of that time an archangel, a race spirit, appears before him and addresses him: “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me _one and twenty days_, but lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the king of Persia.” After he explains to Daniel what is to happen, he says: “Knowest thou wherefore I came unto thee? _and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come_, and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael, your prince.” The archangel also says: “In the first year of Darius the Mede, even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him.” So when the handwriting is on the wall, some one is raised up to administer the blow; it may be a Cyrus, a Darius, an Alexander, a Caesar, a Napoleon, or a kaiser. Such a one may think himself a prime mover, a free individual acting by his own choice and prerogative, but as a matter of fact he is only the instrument of the invisible government of the world, the power behind thrones, the race spirits, who see the necessity of breaking up civilizations that have outlived their usefulness, so that humanity may get a new start and evolve under a new and a higher ideal than that which ensouled it before.