136 THE PORTAL OF EVOLUTION 



superstition and bigotry which in the past have obscured the 

 brilliancy and lustre of their truths, lest their marvel and 

 magnitude should destroy his hitherto weak and imperfectly 

 developed mind which has been incapable of withstanding the 

 mighty glare of the marvels they contained and the premature 

 knowledge of which would have destroyed his reason. I am 

 confident that all and every religion of the past will contri- 

 bute some quota towards the elucidation of some divine 

 revelation, the true and perfect knowledge of which will ulti- 

 mately enable mankind to sin without crime or offence to 

 others, and will enable him ultimately to formulate such a 

 perfect state of social laws as will finally grant to humanity 

 perfect freedom when earth will become heaven. But heredi- 

 tary evolution has and ever will have to do as much as religion 

 towards the advancement of mankind. 



It is well here, perhaps, to pause and give the true definition 

 of freedom, government and religion. 



FREEDOM is a limited possession of liberty bounded and 

 fenced only by such laws and regulations as are necessary to 

 enable each member of any community to have the utmost 

 amount of liberty possible without outraging or trespassing 

 upon the just rights and liberties of his neighbour. Too great 

 an amount of liberty can only be granted to one class of 

 society at the cost of enslaving another class. 



GOVERNMENT is therefore that which protects in the 

 best manner possible the life and property of the community 

 and gives to its people the greatest amount of freedom, and 

 keeps its people in rightful possession of that which is theirs 

 by just acquisition, the result of the use of the energy, 

 brains and thrift of each individual, in just proportion to 

 the use they make of their powers and abilities of work, man- 

 agement, production or thrift for the general, not the indivi- 

 dual benefit. All that goes beyond this must be approached 

 with care and caution if we would avoid the evils which most 

 certainly will result if we unnecessarily curtail the freedom 

 of the community, by an over-desire to increase the liberty of 

 any one or individual section thereof. 



A perfect Religion is that which so directs the judgment 

 and discretion of the portion of the world, country or com- 

 munity or social subdivision thereof which it controls as to 

 encourage them to venerate their rulers and to keep the state 



