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truth for ourselves. We must, therefore, rise above our sectarian jealousies and petty prejudices of the type of the "unwashen hands," and apply and exert ourselves to understand the basic principles of religion itself. We should not forget that the true aim of religion is to bring the highest form of happiness within the reach of its votaries, not to make general or wholesale conversions at any cost. Those who are the real teachers of humanity care not for converting any one to any particular form of belief, but only to spread light and happiness, for " the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth." It is only the man who is prepared to reject that which is not good and sound who will learn anything; prejudice and bigotry never did and never shall acquire the truth.
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
We shall now take up the main features of Christ's personality and teachings one by one, and test for ourselves the merit and worth of each one separately, as well as in a cumulative sense. To begin with the personality of Jesus, the point round which the entire interest of his followers is centred, is the mystery which is said to surround his birth. No need to repeat the story here; it is well known. The matter has been fully investigated by some of the leading scholars and scientists of European fame; and the conclusions which have been arrived at cannot be lightly brushed aside. The evidence is all one way and is against the belief in an immaculate conception. Conspicuous among those who have declined to stifle the voice of their common sense stands Mr. Evanson, a curate, whose candid
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