ion, Christian or non-Christian, forming the common solid basis
upon which each raises, if it must needs raise, that separate system
which appeals to the varied types of mind. The Southern races will
always demand what is less austere than the North, the West will always
be more critical than the East. One cannot shape all to a level
conformity. But if the broad premises which are guaranteed by this
teaching from beyond are accepted, then the human race has made a great
stride towards religious peace and unity. The question which faces us,
then, is how will this influence bear upon the older organised
religions and philosophies which have influenced the actions of men.

The answer is, that to only one of these religions or philosophies is
this new revelation absolutely fatal. That is to Materialism. I do
not say this in any spirit of hostility to Materialists, who, so far as
they are an organized body, are, I think, as earnest and moral as any
other class. But the fact is manifest that if spirit can live without
matter, then the foundation of Materialism is gone, and the whole
scheme of thought crashes to the ground.

As to other creeds, it must be admitted that an acceptance of the
teaching brought to us from beyond would deeply modify conventional
Christianity. But these modifications would be rather in the direction
of explanation and development than of contradiction. It would set
right grave misunderstandings which have always offended the reason of
every thoughtful man, but it would also confirm and make absolutely
certain the fact of life after death, the base of all religion. It
would confirm the unhappy results of sin, though it would show that
those results are never absolutely permanent. It would confirm the
existence of higher beings, whom we have called angels, and of an
ever-ascending hierarchy above us, in which the Christ spirit finds its
place, culminating in heights of the infinite with which we associate
the idea of all-power or of God. It would confirm the idea of heaven
and of a temporary penal state which corresponds to purgatory rather
than to hell. Thus this new revelation, on some of the most vital
points, is NOT destructive of the beliefs, and it should be hailed by
really earnest men of all creeds as a most powerful ally rather than a
dangerous devil-begotten enemy.

On the other hand, let us turn to the points in which Christianity must
be modified by this new revelation.

Fi