every man born into this mystery desires to look.

They are sure, these believers, that they have the truth, that they
alone have the truth, and that it has come direct from where alone truth
can live. They believe that in their religion alone lies safety for man
from the troubles of this world and from the terrors and threats of the
next, and that those alone who follow its teaching will reach happiness
hereafter, if not here. They believe, too, that this truth only requires
to be known to be understood and accepted of all men; that as the sun
requires no witness of its warmth, so the truth requires no evidence of
its truth.

It is to them so eternally true, so matchless in beauty, so convincing
in itself, that adherents of all other creeds have but to hear it
pronounced and they must believe. So, then, the question, How do you
know that your faith is true? is as vain and foolish as the cry of the
wind in an empty house. And if they be asked wherein lies their
religion, they will produce their sacred books, and declare that in them
is contained the whole matter. Here is the very word of truth, herein is
told the meaning of all things, herein alone lies righteousness. This,
they say, is their faith: that they believe in every line of it, this
truth from everlasting to everlasting, and that its precepts, and none
other, can be held by him who seeks to be a sincere believer. And to
these believers the manifestation of their faith is that its believers
attain salvation hereafter. But as that is in the next world, if the
unbeliever ask what is the manifestation in this, the believers will
answer him that the true mark and sign whereby a man may be known to
hold the truth is the observance of certain forms, the performance of
certain ceremonies, more or less mystical, more or less symbolical, of
some esoteric meaning. That a man should be baptized, should wear
certain marks on his forehead, should be accepted with certain rites, is
generally the outward and visible sign of a believer, and the badge
whereby others of the same faith have known their fellows.

It has never been possible for any religion to make the acts and deeds
of its followers the test of their belief. And for these reasons: that
it is a test no one could apply, and that if anyone were to attempt to
apply it, there would soon be no Church at all. For to no one is it
given to be able to observe in their entirety all the precepts of their
prophet, whoever t