e conviction, recognizes that which he cannot explain and cannot
get rid of if he tries.

Science is the just weight and measure of things seen, and of the natural
causes of phenomena.

Religion--the evidence of things unseen. Religion, as a _fact_, can never
be explained away by Science.

The so-called science that assumes or undertakes to do that, is
materialism and nescience.

Superstition is the false interpretation of religion, and folklore and
tradition are the accretions that gather around the foundations and
original revelations of religion, and lead at last to obscuration and the
need of a new revelation.

Each genuine new "revelation" is but the rehabilitation of the primeval
religion in which accretions, false interpretations, and dogmatic
assertions are cast aside.

Religion represents man's endeavor to apprehend and interpret the unseen;
that "something more" and "something beyond" the visible, the sensuous,
and the tangible.

It is this conscious _awareness_ of something more and something beyond
the visible and the tangible, that furnishes man with a conception of God
and of the human soul. This is a natural intuition, inseparable from the
_awareness_ of self. It lies at the foundation like man's self-conscious
identity, and can neither be explained nor explained away.

Here lies the root of all religions. The imagery of man's imagination, in
his effort to apprehend the unseen, and to formulate the unknown, gives
rise to myths, allegory, tradition, folklore, and in the end, to
superstition, creed, and dogma.

Then come priestcraft, oppression, persecution. The death of religion, the
deification of the revealer or _Avatar_, and the substitution of the
priesthood as of divine authority, in place of the _revealer_ or the
revelation.

Jove, Orpheus, Jehovah, and at last Jesus, are enthroned beyond the
clouds, and priest or church assume the earthly prerogative, speak in
their place, assume dogmatic authority, promise heaven and happiness for
obedience, and dire penalties for disobedience, and resort to persecution
to maintain their authority.

The traditions, mythologies, and folklore of all the past have thus
arisen. The creeds and dogmas of the present constitute the effort of man
to assume exclusive dominion, and to exercise divine authority over the
masses of mankind. It is only another form of the ambition of individuals
for wealth, fame or power, lifting them to a "class" above the toiling