i8 2 THE THRESHOLD OF EVOLUTION 



acquire habits of more perfect Charity, Justice and Mercy, 

 must be the excuse for the offence I may unintentionally 

 have given. This may be the work of thousands or 

 hundreds of years, during which time your existing reli- 

 gions must be your rock of ages, round which as they 

 crumble away, as did the rocks of the earth, are to be found 

 the fertile valleys of divine wisdom, in just the same manner 

 as the fertile valleys of the earth have been formed by the 

 crumbling away of the primeval rocks of creation. So, in 

 like manner, your souls will be fertilized by the waters of 

 fresh revelations and enriched by the decay of past religious 

 beliefs as they march on in the future; just as Christianity 

 has grown out of Idolatry, so will higher and more enlight- 

 ened religious forms of evolution replace the beliefs of to-day. 



As our souls increase in wisdom, more enlightened forms 

 of religion will be evolved by the crumbling away of past 

 parables, fables, legends and superstitions as the mountain 

 of truth subsides to form fresh soils for the growth of more 

 enlightened revelations, watered by the streams of future 

 divine inspirations as they flow through the growing souls 

 and minds of mankind; and as his powers of Imagination, 

 Comprehension and Understanding are further evolved to be 

 able to realise their full significance as the mind of mankind 

 becomes enriched by the past dead and defunct brains, study 

 and knowledge of previous generations as each age of human 

 existence replaces another, until the whole of mankind is free 

 of crime, till a wise and perfect form of religion is evolved, 

 free from all clouds of superstition, bigotry and fanatical hate, 

 when man can bask in the sunshine of a supernatural under- 

 standing of peace, content and charity. 



Therefore, even if you, like myself, cannot see eye 

 to eye with what your religion teaches, but feel that you can 

 form a higher ideal of life by adding to what it teaches, do so. 

 For if you try to act up to the highest ideal that you can 

 possibly form, no matter what your religions beliefs and 

 convictions may be, it cannot teach you to do more than that. 

 Believe and comply with as many of its religious teachings 

 as you can. It is the most precious legacy your mother, and 

 her mother before her, has bequeathed to you, so do not 

 discard any of it that you can continue to believe or practice. 

 Religion, like all else in evolution, must advance with the 



