MIND AND SOUL 229 



respect cannot be enforced by the strongest governments, be 

 they social or religious. So religions must be from time to 

 time reconstructed as God permits new and fresh beams of the 

 sunlight of divine inspiration and revelation to penetrate the 

 dense mists of fable and superstition that obscure the hazy 

 atmosphere of the yet but partially developed understanding of 

 man's as yet unevolved soul, but at the same time we must be 

 careful not to destroy any religious belief until it is utterly 

 useless. And it is the duty of science to lift the" mists as its 

 forward evolution enables mankind to comprehend and ulti- 

 mately to understand the fresh streams of divine inspiration 

 that may, at long intervals, flow into the river of human wis- 

 dom as it wends its slow and tortuous course along the valleys 

 of time towards the ocean of eternity. For both science and 

 revelation are but so many separate streams of the wisdom of 

 the infinite creator that are to swell and increase the currents 

 of human wisdom, and are the waters that have in the past, 

 and will in the future, do most to fertilize and enrich the 

 growing soul of mankind and ultimately fit it to bloom in 

 Paradise when earth shall become Heaven. 



Hence let us endeavour not only to abolish war on earth, 

 but also try to abolish religious animosity, so that we may one 

 and all help to swell this river of divine wisdom, by condemn- 

 ing the criminal to extinction, the lazy to comparative starva- 

 tion. But, in so doing, let us go carefully and remember that 

 correction, like charity, must begin at home, and that before 

 we can do these things we must first learn to forgive the sinner, 

 assist the unfortunate, say a kind word in excuse of our 

 weaker brothers and sisters, and give a helping hand to the 

 weak, even though it may be doubtful if they deserve it. 

 Anyway, you are on the safe side, if you are careful, to give 

 them the benefit of the doubt, and, above all, wage an incessant 

 war upon superstitious and bigoted intolerance, either of race, 

 caste, or creed, and on selfishness, hate, and greed. We can 

 do this if Religion and Science will drop the hate and bigoted 

 animosity of the past and become friends and co-workers in 

 the future. 



