Whoever enters, even a little way, into that sacred land, will carry with him its glamour of golden light-a haunting presence that will outlast life itself; and will lead him back and back to the same fountains of joy until the end."

"Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

'Til all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace."

"Then speaks the soul of the pure man, asking: 'What maiden art thou whom I have seen here as the fairest of maidens in body?'

"Then replies to him his own law: 'I am, thy good thoughts, words, and works: thy good law, the own law of thine own body, which would be in reference to thee like in greatness, goodness, and beauty, sweet-smelling, victorious, harmless, as thou appearest to me. Thou art like me, O well-speaking, well-thinking, well-acting man, devoted to the good law; so in greatness, goodness, and beauty do I appear to thee.'

Then the good deeds are enumerated and the soul led into Paradise."

66

Hope not the cure of sin till Self is dead;
Forget it in love's service, and the debt
Thou canst not pay the angels shall forget;
Heaven's gate is shut to him who comes alone,
Save thou a soul, and it shall save thy own!"

So live that when thou art summoned hence this may be, from many a loving heart, thy truthful tribute:-" He has gone to Heaven! How glad the angels will be!"

"The world has grown. It is ceasing to be the battleground of the Creeds, which are slowly becoming lines, not walls. Ugly hatreds and prejudices still are held, but the

borderland of the religions is widening day by day, as their agreements, not differences, are kept in view. The

tendency of all modern faiths is toward unity, simplicity, and purification; as the process continues with the widening of the suns the nations will slip off their theologies and theogonies and derive more comfort from the prophet than from the casuist, from the teacher than from the priest. If, in the final outcome, all present forms of faith disappear and a new combination arises, the law of the Conservation of Spiritual Forces must still hold sway, and 'not one jot or tittle' of the inspiration in the Testaments that have impelled mankind to righteousness will ever be lost. The resultant religion will not be different in spirit to the declaration of the Pentateuch, which is voiced by the Christian Gospel and finds its echo in the Bibles of many Creeds,'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and mind, and strength: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' When the nations shall have reached these heights of Holiness and of Brotherhood the Millennium will have dawned. The end of religions will have come in the birth of Religion."

ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES.

1. SUCCESS AND FAILURE.

(See "Introductory Quotations.")

"He fails not who makes Truth his cause,
Nor bends to win the world's applause;
He fails not-he who stakes his all
Upon the Right, and dares to fall."

II.-FICTION AND FACT.

(See "Prefatory Notes.")

"O that those who teach us Theology could have the benefit of a little legal training; enough, at least, to realize the difference between the possible, the probable, and the proven!-what might have been, what may have been, and what has been or is!”

III. A MOST ANCIENT STATEMENT OF THE DOCTRINE OF

THE TRINITY.

(See pages 64 and 263.)

One of the great Brahmin poets has handed down to us the most ancient doctrine of the Trinity, as follows:

"One God by Three Revealings is made known ;
Each First, each Least,—and yet the Three are One;
Swa, Vishnu, Brahma,-these Each may be

First, Second, Third, among the Blessed Three."

IV. IGNORANCE
GOD.

EVER MISCONCEIVES THE CHARACTER
THE GROSSER THE IGNORANCE THE MORE
MONSTROUS THE MISCONCEPTIONS.

(See pages 60, 75, 113, 357.)

OF

The author, from childhood, has felt deep interest in and tenderness for all forms of animal life. This feeling he has ever sought to manifest to birds, fish, insects, and all varieties of animals in general, trying to win their trustfulness and gain their affec

tionate dependence upon him as a friend. In spite of it all they persistently misconceive his character, misjudge his motives, and fly or scamper from his presence in terror; the more benevolent his intentions, the greater their alarm. No doubt to their eyes he is a monster, ever seeking to do them harm. Among them, doubtless, tales are told and traditions are handed down (their forms of doctrines and creeds) outrageously slandering his character as that of one who has doomed them all to perdition, except as they may appease his wrath or satisfy his vengeance with untold Offerings of Agony, Sufferings, and Blood. Now and then a few, more intelligent and widely experienced than the rest, grow distrustful, renounce the "orthodox" Doctrines and Creeds, and become domesticated or tamed. But their examples are rejected, their faith condemned; and the myth-loving, tradition-keeping flocks, and shoals, and swarms, and herds croak, and gabble, and spout, and buzz, and hiss, and bellow, and growl, and bark, and roar at the schismatic Dissenters as Heretics and Infidels forever abominable and accursed." The less the intelli

gence the more orthodox" the Belief and the more unsparing the Anathemas. Among those higher animals called Savages, the same suspicions and misconceptions prevail. A civilized man is a monster and an enemy, and to become civilized is treason and hopeless disgrace. The more ignorant the savage, the more " orthodox" his Belief, and the more unsparing his Anathemas. The same conditions and consequences prevail in all the Religions of the world-Christianity not excepted. The character of God and the nature of His truth are grossly misconceived by ignorant people, always and everywhere: the grosser the ignorance the more monstrous the misconceptions. Myths and traditions are mistaken for truths; they are woven into Doctrines and Creeds which are pronounced orthodox and infallible,-and Whosoever disbelieves them shall, without doubt, perish everlastingly. From all this nothing can save but Enlightenment added to Piety. A most essential part of every true Gospel is Intelligence, Intellectuality, or (to use the Bible word) Wisdom. “Let every man have a reason for the Faith that is in him." Nay; it is "the first and great Commandment "-With all thy mind, as well as heart, and might, and strength shalt thou love the Lord thy God. The "mind" has been ignored or depreciated by Priest-craft. Slaveholders have always found it essential to Slavery to keep their

slaves in ignorance. In every Religion, as truly as in every State, this has been the case; and Christianity monopolized by Priest-craft has been, and is, no exception. Increased Intelligence is the only Emancipation. Non-sectarian Education on the one hand, and Non-partisan Churches on the other: these two will prove, like giant Samson's arms, the mighty powers of God for the complete overthrow of Religious Superstitionswhose two main supports are, Priest-Craft and Ignorance.

V.-IN EDUCATION AS IN RELIGION THE MERCENARY SPIRIT WIDELY PREVAILS.

(See pages 112, 121, 212.)

Sophists and Philosophers are two ever-distinct and everantagonistic classes in Education, as are Hireling-Priests and Prophet-Priests in Religion. Philosophers are those who love Wisdom for her own sake, and are ever ready to communicate what they know to the poorest as to the richest, to the humblest as to the highest, and without stipulation as to "money or price." Sophists are those who love Wisdom for the "no small gain" she will bring them, and communicate what they have learned only to the highest bidder. "Having food and raiment" the Philosopher is "therewith content." The Sophist can never be satisfied till he shall be "clothed in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day." The same distinctions are those of Prophet-Priests, and Hireling-Priests.

In the present age, Sophists seemingly predominate as they did in the age of Socrates: and Hireling-Priests as they did in the ages of Jeremiah and of Jesus. Almost as prevalent in our Schools, Colleges, and Universities as in our Churches, is, seemingly, the mercenary spirit-that spirit that causes money to be the measure of worth and the ruling power of life. As the Churches secure and retain pastors according to the size of the salary, quite certain that every minister, like other merchandise, has his price; so is it widely with our Educational Institutions. Once the opportunity for usefulness was the main question. Lovers of Wisdom were wont to reply with our recent Agassiz, "I have no time to make money;" or with ancient Socrates, "The fountains of Athens run with pure water, and meal is cheap in the markets, I desire nothing more:" or with a still more ancient