divisions. A man may rightly conclude that he stands little chance of
finding out very much of the Truth, and so he may voluntarily limit his
view to a certain roughly defined domain of facts and thoughts, and
become, for example, what is called a "biologist," a "physicist," a
"higher critic," or, if he thinks that he may discover rather more of
the Truth, a "philosopher."

And let us carry a clear understanding of a lofty aim into religion as
well. It is our duty, as rational beings, to be non-sectarian. It is not
a merit to allow ignorance to blind us to the glimpses of Truth that we
sometimes get from prophets, poets, and priests of other religions and
other philosophies than our own. If we think that there is more truth or
sacredness in our own, let us use every means to make this sacredness or
this truth appear evident to others. But, in justice, let us also
fearlessly discuss other religions and philosophies, and discover their
greater merits, if any, as compared with our own. If, after careful
investigation, we arrive at the belief in the truth or falsehood of
anything in these religions or philosophies, let us state our grounds
for believing so in the fullest possible way. Only by so doing can we
fulfil the duties of being true to ourselves and helpful to others.

Sometimes the work of a critic is said to be "merely destructive." This
idea rests on a most harmful misunderstanding. Criticism consists not
only in the pointing out of error, but in the pointing out of truth as
well. Error is simply a psychological condition of blindness to the
truth; and the discovery of errors committed by other people or
ourselves is not--as many superficial people like to say--the pulling
down of a structure already raised, unless an error can be called a
structure which is built out of the fictions of our imagination which
have no objective existence. Criticism often enables us to discover more
of the Truth, and nobody can do more than _discover_ Truth: nobody
_creates_ Truth, any more than Columbus created America.

Nowadays all intelligent men and women agree that all knowledge must be
subjected to criticism, and the best men and women act on these beliefs.
The books and magazines published by the Open Court Company are intended
to help these men and women.

We will dwell a little longer on the subject of religion, because it is
in religion that the majority of us have the one region of ideals above
our bodily needs. It is