are they which bear witness of me; and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life."

8. It is the eternal binding of the thoughts to some external authority in book, creed, or tradition that keeps men in bondage to the lower world. When the mind is perfectly free to search out the higher truths of existence, there flow into the consciousness a vigor and a virility that set in motion all the crystallized thoughts, and fresh life stirs the whole man. Instead of confining the infinite God in the little being of parts and passions conceived by some good but ignorant church father of bygone ages, the open mind flows forth in its own native freedom, and its God is a whole universe, larger in every way than was his of the limited concept. So it is with all the questions of doctrine that form the stock in trade of hereditary religion. What our forefathers discussed for a lifetime, fought bitter battles over and left undecided, the free-minded man sees through in a moment's consideration. He sees through it with unerring accuracy, because his point of view is far removed from the narrow bigotry engrafted by creeds and dogmas into the susceptible mind of the infant churchman.

9. The mind of man is like a clear stream that flows from some lofty mountain. It has nothing at its point of origin to corrupt or to distort it, but as it flows out into the plain of experience, it meets the obstruction of doubt and fear. It is here that dams are built and its course is turned in many ways.

10. Whoever formulates a creed or writes a book, claiming it to be an infallible guide for mankind;