SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY SUSTAIN RELIGION 185 



have soared to her lofty heights or brought forth 

 her beautiful thoughts, her lofty conceptions, her 

 sublime dreams of joy, or her noble gems of art, 

 poetry, sculpture, architecture and literature. Re- 

 move the twin brothers religion and ideality from 

 the earth, and its glory and worth would shrivel 

 like a withered flower. Its hopes and joys, its 

 dreams of peace and love, of paradise and heaven, 

 would vanish into the desolations of a boundless 

 Sahara, heaped with the burning sands of doubt 

 and scorched by the withering blast of despair. 

 The religious concept is the pilot of the soul to the 

 fair field of heaven, the communion with the Father 

 of the spirit, and ideality is its companion and 

 servant who carries its cloak and staff as they 

 journey along the pathways of earth and the high- 

 ways of eternity. Science and philosophy, ideality, 

 love and hope and all the aspirations of the human 

 soul sustain the religious concept. It is a scientific 

 postulate imbedded in the nature of man and in the 

 basic law of the universe. Ideality and religion are 

 the most powerful forces in uplifting humanity. The 

 sublimer the ideal the more potent and ennobling 

 its influence on the human soul. Though millions 

 grasp not its sublimity and truth, those receptive 

 souls nearest the light will catch its divine illumi- 

 nations and reflect it to those below. And gradually 

 those below will grasp its beauty and truth and 

 step up higher, and each in succession, step by 

 step, will advance to "a higher plane and a broader 

 view," and this is growth and progress toward 

 perfection. 



The ultimate aim and purpose of creation is ideal 

 perfection. This purpose is written in the fun4a- 



