FROM being regarded as The Book, the Bible is now

looked upon as one of many books, and is only worthy of respect as it instructs and inspires. We read it with the same reverence that we read Emerson and Whitman. ¶ The preacher was once a commanding figure in every community. Now he is regarded as a sort of poor relation. The term "spiritual adviser" is only a pleasantry. We go to the businessman for advice, not the priest. If a book is listed on the " Index,” all good Catholics read it in order to know how bad it is.

Those who institute heresy trials have no power to punish-they only advertise.

¶ Christianity was evolved, as all religions have beenit was not inspired. It grew in a natural way and it declined by the same token.

¶ Whether is has benefited the race is a question which we need not discuss now. That it ministered to poverty and disease is true, and that it often created the ills which it professed to cure is equally a fact.

¶ Poverty, ignorance, repression, superstition, coercion, disease, with nights of horror and days of fear, are slinking away into the past; and they have slunk further and further away, the more Christianity's clutch upon the throat of the race has been loosened.

¶ The night is past-the day is at hand! The East is all aglow! Health, happiness, freedom and joy are all calling to us to arise and sing our matin to labor. Our prayer is, 'Give us this day our daily work, and we will earn our daily bread."

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¶ Our religion is one of humanity. Our desire is to serve. We know that we can help ourselves only as we help others,

and that the love we give away is the only love we keep. We have no fears for the future, for we have no reason to believe that the Power which cares for us in this life will ever desert us in another.

¶ He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much.

¶ Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.

¶Nothing that can be poured out of a bottle and taken with a spoon will take the place of a sawbuck.

¶ Bring me cheerful messages, or none!

¶ Creeping into the lives of men everywhere is the thought that co-operation is better than competition-we need one another. And by giving much we will receive much.

Education is an achievement, not a bequest.

We need an education which fits a boy to get a living, creates a desire for more education, implants ideals of service, and lastly, teaches him how to spend leisure in a rational manner. Then we can get along with less government

Humanity wants help, the help of strong, sensible, unselfish men.

T

HAT is good which serves-man is the important item, this earth is the place, and the time is now.

So all good men and women and all churches are endeavoring to make earth, heaven and all agree that to live now and here the best one can, is the fittest preparation for a life to come.

¶ We no longer accept the doctrine that our natures are rooted in infamy, and that the desires of the flesh are cunning traps set by Satan, with God's permission, to undo us. We believe that no one can harm us but ourselves, that sin is misdirected energy, and that there is no devil but fear, and that the universe is planned for good. On every side we find beauty and excellence held in the balance of things. We know that work is a blessing, that Winter is as necessary as Summer, that night is as useful as day, that death is a manifestation of life, and just as good. We believe in the Now and Here. We believe in You, and we believe in a Power that is in Ourselves that makes for Righteousness.

¶These things have not been taught us by the rich-a Superior Class who governed us and to whom we paid taxes and tithes we have simply thought things out for ourselves, and in spite of them.

¶ We have listened to Coleridge, Emerson, Brisbane, Charles Ferguson and others, who said: "You should use your reason and separate the good from the bad, the false from the true, the useless from the useful. Be yourself and think for yourself; and while your conclusions may not be infallible they will be nearer right than the conclusions forced upon you by those who have a personal interest in keeping you in ignorance. You grow through

exercise of your faculties, and if you do not reason now you will never advance. We are all sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. Claim your heritage!

¶ Hate is a ptomaine, good-will is a panacea.

¶ Once we thought work was a curse; then it came to us that it was a necessary evil; and yesterday the truth dawned upon us that it is a blessed privilege.

¶ Life is a search for power.

¶ In a world where death is, there is no time to hate

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N this matter of bodily health, just a few plain rules suffice. And these rules fairly followed soon grow into a personal habit. And the habit is a pleasure.

¶ Fortunately, we do not have to superintend our digestion, our circulation, the work of the millions of pores that form the skin, or the action of the nerves..

¶ Folks who get fussy about their digestion and assume a personal charge of nerves, have “nerves," and are apt to have no digestions.

¶"I have a pain in my side," said the woman to the busy doctor

¶"Forget it!" was the curt advice.

¶ Get the Health Habit, and forget it, is excellent advice. It is the same with your soul as it is with your body ›☛☛ ¶ The man who is always stewing about his soul has a very small and insignificant one.

¶ You don't have to trouble about your soul's salvation.

¶ Everything in the universe worth saving will be saved. Don't worry.

¶ That advice of the busy doctor should be used by the preacher, and when the black-ant breed come around fussing about their souls, the advice should be, "forget it!"

N courts of law the phrase "I believe" has no standing. Never a witness gives testimony but that he is cautioned thus, "Tell us what you know, not what you believe."

In theology, belief has always been regarded as more important than that which your senses say is so.

¶ Almost without exception "belief" is a legacy, an importation-something borrowed, an echo, often an echo of an echo.

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¶ The Creed of the Future will begin, "I know," not, 'I believe." And this creed will not be forced upon people. It will carry with it no coercion, no blackmail, no promise of an eternal life of idleness and ease if you accept it, and no threat of hell if you don't. It will have no paid, professional priesthood, claiming honors, rebates and exemptions, nor will it hold vast estates free from taxation. It will not organize itself into a system, marry itself to the State, and call on the police for support. It will be so reasonable, so in the line of self-preservation, that no sane man or woman will reject it. And when we really begin to live it, we will cease to talk about it.

¶ As a suggestion and first rough draft, I submit this— I KNOW:

That I am here,

In a world where nothing is permanent but change.