drances to progress among them were
their failures to know the true character of Jove, or their want of a
correct knowledge of God, and the distinction between mind and matter.
They failed to separate between the two. Their gods were continually in
an abominable quarrel about some interest that involved human welfare,
and for that very reason their theory of mind was nothing but a confused
mass of childish stories. They had no starting point from which to
reason. They, failing to separate between mind and matter, were led into
endless theories about what they denominated the animal and intellectual
soul. The idea of one of their own poets that we are God's offspring was
of no avail, in science, to them, because they neither knew themselves
nor their gods. We are, therefore, indebted to the Bible for our
superior knowledge in the science of mind. If the Gospel had never
reached us we would have been as great dreamers in mental science as the
mystics of India.

The doctrine of one Creator, who is a perfect spirit, and the father of
our spirits, and that he presides over all nature for the good of the
whole; that matter is inert, and moves not unless as it is moved; that
all life and force is in mind or spirit; that all spirits are free
agents, and act from choice; that all spirits have the same essential
attributes; and that man is of the divine "_genos_" kind or sort, and,
as an intellectual being, is therefore in the image of God, has
simplified and extended our researches in the science of mind, and based
them on reason and common sense as well as revelation. From such
considerations the doctrine of universal brotherhood has proceeded along
with the equal, civil, political and religious rights of all mankind.
The ultimate fruit of all is the abolition of oppression and slavery
throughout the world, and the desire to see all men elevated to their
proper rank as intellectual and moral beings. Thus our views of God and
nature, of mind and matter, are of immense practical value to our race.

Do you say mind or spirit does not belong as a real factor to science?
Well, we are astonished! Science is correct, or certain knowledge
arising from a deep and rational inquiry into the object or subject of
investigation. The question therefore comes back again, have we any
knowledge of mind? This is to ask, whether consciousness is knowledge!
The term comes from the Latin "_con_," which signifies together, and
"_scio_," I know, and