The Custom Of Burning A Beneficent God

This Doctrine Of Transmigration Or Reincarnation Of The Soul Is Found Among Many Tribes Of Savages

From The Earliest Times Man Has Been Engaged In A Search For General Rules Whereby To Turn The Order Of Natural Phenomena To His Own Advantage, And In The Long Search He Has Scraped Together A Great Hoard Of Such Maxims, Some Of Them Golden And Some Of Them Mere Dross. The True Or Golden Rules Constitute The Body Of Applied Science Which We Call The Arts; The False Are Magic.

Even The Recognition Of An Individual Whom We See Every Day Is Only Possible As The Result Of An Abstract Idea Of Him Formed By Generalization From His Appearances In The Past.

If Mankind Had Always Been Logical And Wise, History Would Not Be A Long Chronicle Of Folly And Crime.

For When A Nation Becomes Civilized, If It Does Not Drop Human Sacrifices Altogether, It At Least Selects As Victims Only Such Wretches As Would Be Put To Death At Any Rate. Thus The Killing Of A God May Sometimes Come To Be Confounded With The Execution Of A Criminal.