ding to Xenophon, were adepts at thieving and lying--shook
their heads in dismay before the Egyptian symbols. But Plato, on the
contrary, was able to appreciate the harmonious beauty of a divine
Trinity, sublime incarnation of that which is "eternal, unproduced,
indestructible . . . eternally uniform and consistent, and monoeidic
with itself."

There are, no doubt, many Jeremiahs to-day, but there are also
understanding souls capable of taking an interest in even the most
bizarre manifestations of religious faith. These throw a revelatory
light upon some of the most painful problems of our time, as well as
upon the secret places of the human soul where lurks an ever eager
hope, often frustrated, and alas, often deceived.

All religious sects and reformers since the time of Christ have only
succeeded in modifying, renovating, uplifting or debasing the eternal
principles already enunciated by the Son of Man. He it was who founded
the integral religion for all time, but as it permits of the most
varied interpretations, innumerable and widely divergent sects have
been able to graft themselves upon its eternal trunk. After Him, said
Renan--who has been wrongly considered an opponent of Christ--there is
nothing to be done save to develop and to fertilize, for His perfect
idealism is the golden rule for a detached and virtuous life. He was
the first to proclaim the kingdom of the spirit, and has established
for ever the ideal of pure religion; and as His religion is a religion
of _feeling_, all movements which seek to bring about the kingdom of
heaven upon earth can attach themselves to His principles and to His
way of salvation.

Further, any religious movement which appeals to our higher instincts
must eventually contribute to the triumph of human brotherhood and to
the beautifying of human life--which increases the interest of studying
all attempts at revival and reform. Such a study will prevent us from
being overwhelmed by the uglinesses of life, or from becoming sunk in a
morass of material pleasures, and will open up ways of escape into the
heavenly realms.

The true teaching of Jesus has, as a matter of fact, never yet been
realised in practice. It holds up an ideal almost unattainable for
mortals, like the light of a fixed star which attracts us in spite of
its unthinkable distance. But we may, perhaps, by roundabout ways,
ultimately succeed in giving a definite form to the Platonic dreams
which ever ho