less and inert is as dead. All
created forms are progressive in their planes, or kingdoms of existence,
under the stimulus of the power or spirit of life. The universal energy is
dynamic. Nothing is stationary in the material world of outer phenomena or
in the inner world of intellect and consciousness.

Religion is the outer expression of the divine reality. Therefore, it must
be living, vitalized, moving and progressive. If it be without motion and
nonprogressive, it is without the divine life; it is dead. The divine
institutes are continuously active and evolutionary; therefore, the
revelation of them must be progressive and continuous. All things are
subject to reformation. This is a century of life and renewal. Sciences
and arts, industry and invention have been reformed. Law and ethics have
been reconstituted, reorganized. The world of thought has been
regenerated. Sciences of former ages and philosophies of the past are
useless today. Present exigencies demand new methods of solution; world
problems are without precedent. Old ideas and modes of thought are fast
becoming obsolete. Ancient laws and archaic ethical systems will not meet
the requirements of modern conditions, for this is clearly the century of
a new life, the century of the revelation of reality and, therefore, the
greatest of all centuries. Consider how the scientific developments of
fifty years have surpassed and eclipsed the knowledge and achievements of
all the former ages combined. Would the announcements and theories of
ancient astronomers explain our present knowledge of the suns and
planetary systems? Would the mask of obscurity which beclouded medieval
centuries meet the demand for clear-eyed vision and understanding which
characterizes the world today? Will the despotism of former governments
answer the call for freedom which has risen from the heart of humanity in
this cycle of illumination? It is evident that no vital results are now
forthcoming from the customs, institutions and standpoints of the past. In
view of this, shall blind imitations of ancestral forms and theological
interpretations continue to guide and control the religious life and
spiritual development of humanity today? Shall man, gifted with the power
of reason, unthinkingly follow and adhere to dogma, creeds and hereditary
beliefs which will not bear the analysis of reason in this century of
effulgent reality? Unquestionably this will not satisfy men of science,
for when