BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS 23 



the wrong thing, because they allowed themselves to 

 be guided by a conventional sense of religious duty. 

 They had their religious duties to perform at the Temple, 

 and God must come first, so the claims of humanity were 

 put on one side. 



Then again, the father of the prodigal was not a 

 pious person. Far otherwise — or he would never have 

 received his son as he did. He was simply a man as 

 God made him ; and because he was so human, so 

 natural, so humane, Christ held him up to us as the 

 Revelation of God our Heavenly Father. 



** We are all so truly made, 



If only to our making we were true.*' 



Of course, we must not ignore the fact that there 

 are lower instincts and baser passions which also 

 try to express themselves, but the Light Within enables 

 us to discriminate between the higher and the lower, 

 and, thanks to its beneficent influence, ** We needs must 

 love the highest when we see it.'' 



Now, all this means that the Light Within leads men 

 to obey far higher standards of morality than the 

 conventional standards of the pew, and the pulpit. This 

 is why so many professing Atheists and Agnostics have 

 both preached and practised far higher standards than 

 those of the Churches. Thus, Tom Paine set forth his 

 gospel in these words : ** The world is my paradise ; every 

 man is my brother ; to do good is my religion.'' Nor 

 am I aware that the Gospel of our Lord and Master has 

 ever been summarised better. When men have thrown 

 overboard conventional piety, which is so often mistaken 

 for religion, if they are honest and sincere, they fall 

 back upon the only thing they can fall back upon, the 

 Light Within, or, as Friends so often call it, '* the witness 

 for Truth in the heart." This, when faithfully followed, 

 has never yet led men wrong ; whilst conventional 



