ligion"; for, just as there has always been one theory concerning the universe, the stars over our heads, that was true from the beginning, while none of the others were true, so there has always been only one truth about God, one truth about man. So there never has been but one religion, in the true sense of that word, and never could have been, and never can be,-only one religion from the beginning; and men feeling about in the twilight of the world were simply in their crude and ignorant way seeking after it, feeling after God, as Paul said, if haply they might find him, though he be not far from each one of us. There has, then, been but one true religion from the beginning, and all the attempts of men in groping after this have only been glimpses of broken lights that have preceded the dawn.

But, though a belief in the unity of the universe and the oneness of God has been attained, the multiplicity of relig ious theories still remains. Even in Christianity, is it not true- I beg you not to misunderstand me— that there are a good many different religions? God is not the same God to the Romanist that he is to the Protestant, though the same word be used. God is not the same being to the Orthodox that he is to the Unitarian, though we spell the same name with the three same letters. Religion, after all, is constituted by this theory of things that we hold. The Orthodox hold that man is a fallen being. Until within a few years they have held that man has been on this earth only a little while; that God hates man; that it is only through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that God is made merciful and ready to forgive; that some of us are going to be saved and the rest of us are going to be lost. On the other hand, liberal Unitarians believe that man has been in this world uncounted ages; that he has never fallen; that God has never hated him; that he loves and always has loved

him, and given him all the light which he was capable of receiving; that he has led him all the way and is leading, no matter by what name he is called by man; that man does not need to be saved from a fall or from the wrath of God, he only needs to be saved from ignorance, from passion, from hate and selfishness, from the evil of animal qualities still in him; that he needs to be educated, lifted, developed, and to be brought into accord with the real truth of God and the nature of things.

Now, how can you rationally speak of these two as the same religion? No matter if they both be called "Christian," or if they both speak of God and use the same word for his name. The two religions are utterly unlike and utterly inconsistent with each other. This new religion we know, not to be perfect truth, but, to be approximately truer than any other; for there can be but one true religion, and what must that be?

It can be only one thing. It must start, in the first place, with as correct a theory as we can get of the universe, with the best theory that science has given us. Then it must have as correct a thought as possible concerning God, as to what kind of being he is, and what he desires of us, what he wants us to do. Then the practical part of it on our side must be to get into the right relation with God, to comply with his laws, to grow into harmony with him, to be reconciled to him. This is the one civilized, reasonable religion on the face of the earth, and along these lines it must go it can no other. For, note, God is in the universe now, not outside of it; he is issuing no laws from without: the only laws of God are the vital, constituent laws of the universe. There are no arbitrary, externally imposed laws. If any priest, any prophet, any church, any book, has ever uttered one syllable of divine revelation, to this must it come for judgment; and it is divine only as it agrees with

the eternal truth and nature of things. There is, indeed, a revelation, and there is coming an infallible revelation; for the infallible revelation is just the progressively discovering and demonstrating of truth in the heavens above and the earth beneath, in the past and the present, to the human brain and for the unfolding of human society, and there is no revelation except this. If then, as I said, any church, book, or priest, has ever uttered a syllable of claimed revelation, it is revelation only if it is true, and if it agrees with this eternal truth of the nature of things. Here, then, is to come at last infallibility,- not the infallibility of an external, imposed law, but the infallibility of discovered truth.

Now, as regards this truth in its external manifestation in worship, what shall I say? The Church may organize itself as it pleases so as to make itself most efficient for its work it may use any rites, services, forms of worship, ceremonies, it pleases, only provided that they express and help the religious life, and are not dead forms and made substitutes for life.

Another thing. In the light of this grand truth of the oneness of religion and of its natural revelation in the unfolding truth of things, there is the grand hope that in the future there need be no more cataclysms, no more revolutions, no more persecutions, no more overturnings; but, with the heart open for a larger love, with the life open for a grander character, with the brain open for the newer truth, mankind may march on step by step through the years, ever seeing more and more of the divinity of things, ever growing to a comprehension and a practice of these higher truths, and so reaching on towards the perfect light of a perfect day. And, when this is attained, it will mean perfect truth of thought, perfection of conduct, and all-inclusive love, the very kingdom of God realized among men.

WHAT IS IT ALL FOR?

AT the outset, I ask you to go with me while we take a rapid survey of the course of human progress on this planet. You will readily see that what I propose is only a very general and rough outline, in order that I may bring this general course of life vividly to your attention, that you may be ready with me to consider the question, What is it all for?

You are familiar with the nebular theory, in accordance with which many thousands, perhaps millions, of years ago this old earth of ours cooled down until it became a fit place for the abode of life; and this life came, first, in the very lowest forms. For a series of ages, life slowly climbed from one form to another, up through fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals,― uncounted ages before man himself appeared. And a this while, as though there were a providence at work guiding the course of this development, the world was being stored with the rough materials out of which the coming civilization was to be wrought. Coal beds were laid down, veins of ore deposited, and the whole planet was made the apparently inexhaustible storehouse of forces that only waited the discovery and application of intelligence to transform them into the readily trained, tireless servants of humanity. At last man appeared. Then who shall tell for how many years, how many thousands of years? — his

progress was so slow that we can hardly speak of him as human, cannot speak of him at all as civilized. Long dreary ages of savagery follow. At last he discovers the use of fire. He discovers these veins of metal in the earth, learns to smelt them and turn them into tools and weapons, and then · ages of barbarism still.

I wish to call your attention to some general features, such features as the pessimist commonly uses out of which to construct the indictment against the wisdom and goodness of things. How many thousands of years, then, during which the separate and hostile tribes were engaged in almost incessant warfare! And then, as one step higher, higher because it was substituted for the wholesale, indiscriminate slaughter of captives, there came human slavery for thousands of years, during which men and women were held by force on the part of others, compelled to unremitting and unpaid toil; the rights of neither husband nor wife nor child respected, treated like cattle in the open market.

Then from the beginning all the way up until to-day how much of physical pain, every nerve athrill with anguish, the head weary, the heart sick and faint! Make the problem as difficult as you will, paint the picture in as dark colors as you choose, remember it is true that this side of the picture, if you fix your attention on it, cannot be overdrawn. Then take one case, the case of death, of separation of friends. Let it be the death of a child, of a husband or wife or a lifelong friend, it matters not whose. I wish to call your attention to this problem of death, the heart-ache, the despair, the feeling that life is no longer worth keeping because the object of the heart's love has been rent away, this difficulty of taking up the burden of life, of walking alone, where one has had such dear companionship. This is one case: multiply it by hundreds, by thousands, by millions. Make it the age