WHAT IS RELIGION ? 239 



and truth can only be ascertained by experiment. It 

 is not given to many to sow this seed ; and when men's 

 minds are not prepared to receive truth the results are 

 barren, and because there is not depth of mind to accept 

 truth there can be no harvest. And thus do the seeds 

 of truth get sown broadcast by the wayside ; some 

 accept it, and others do not want it. The rich and 

 those in power prefer to support rotten institutions 

 rather than seek the truth, for the care of the world 

 and the deceitfulness of riches choke the truth and it 

 becomes unfruitful. How hard it is for those who 

 trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of knowledge ! 



Again, the kingdom of knowledge is like unto leaven, 

 which a woman took, and hid in three measures of 

 meal, till it was all leavened. So do new discoveries 

 of truth permeate through intelligent minds. 



That the priests teach the nonsense they do in the 

 nineteenth century is amazing. It is more than 

 amazing, it is horrible. Why the very stones of which 

 their cathedrals, churches, and chapels are built 

 bear testimony against them The priests lay grievous 

 burdens upon the community. Woe unto you, said 

 Jesus Christ, for the priests of to-day are the same as 

 the priests, scribes, and pharisees of old Woe unto 

 you, hypocrites, for ye devour widows' houses, and for 

 a pretence make long prayers ; therefore ye shall 

 receive the greater condemnation. Woe unto you, 

 hypocrites, for ye compass sea and land to make one 

 proselyte ; and when he is become so ye make him 

 twofold more a son of hell than yourselves. 1 



1 " Now it is impossible to persuade an adult savage that his gods 

 do not exist ; and he considers those who deny their existence to be 



