individual, of life's continuous moral struggle, which would land each soul
in heaven or hell for all eternity. In the _New England Primer_, the
children were taught the first article of belief, as they learned the
letter A:--

[Illustration: LETTER "A" IN NEW ENGLAND PRIMER"]

"In Adam's fall,
We sinned all."

Calvinism stressed the doctrine of foreordination, that certain ones, "the
elect," had been foreordained to be saved. THOMAS SHEPHARD (1605-1649), one
of the great Puritan clergy, fixed the mathematical ratio of the damned to
the elect as "a thousand to one." On the physical side, scientists have
pointed out a close correspondence between Calvin's creed and the theory of
evolution, which emphasizes the desperate struggle resulting from the
survival of the fittest. The "fittest" are the "elect"; those who perish in
the contest, the "damned." In the evolutionary struggle, only the few
survive, while untold numbers of the unfit, no matter whether seeds of
plants, eggs of fish, human beings, or any other form of life, go to the
wall.

In spite of the apparent contradiction between free will and
foreordination, each individual felt himself fully responsible for the
saving of his soul. A firm belief in this tremendous responsibility made
each one rise the stronger to meet the other responsibilities of life.
Civil responsibility seemed easier to one reared in this school. The
initiative bequeathed by Elizabethan times was increased by the Puritans'
religion.