“Faith without works is dead,” and as we are speaking of spiritual things, the “work” which the true faith requires is of a spiritual character, meaning spiritual action, growth and development. A faith without substantiality is merely a dream; a science without true knowledge is an illusion; a merely sentimental desire without any active exercise for the attainment of truth is useless. A person living in such dreams and fancies about ideals which he never attempts to realise, dreams only of treasures which he does not possess. He is like a person wasting his life in studying the map of a country in which he might travel, but never making a start. A merely ideal religion, which is never realized and does not substantially nourish the soul, is only imaginary and serves but to amuse; a science which is not practically employed remains an unfruitful theory, serving at best for the gratification of animal curiosity. The work which _Faith_ requires is a continual _Self-Sacrifice_, which means a continual striving to overcome the animal and selfish nature, and this victory of the high over the low is not accomplished by that which is low, but can only take place through the power of divine _Love_, which means the recognition of the higher nature in man and its practical application in daily life. This is the kind of love of which the great mystic of the 17th century, John Scheffler, speaks when he says: “Faith without love aye makes the greatest roar and din, The cask sounds loudest when there is nought within.” Without this practical application all virtues are only dreams and cannot grow into substantial powers, nor be employed as such. Shakespeare says: “It is a good divine that follows his own instructions.”—“Merchant of Venice.” but such characters are at the present time very rare, for the world now lives only in dreams. “There are “divines” knowing nothing of any divinity; medical practitioners knowing nothing about medicine; “anthropologists” knowing nothing about the nature of man; lawyers knowing nothing of justice; “humanitarians” beggaring their employees; “christians” to whom Christ is unknown. In every sphere of life the external is mistaken for the internal, the illusion for the reality, while the reality remains unrealized and therefore unknown. A superficial science can concern itself only with superficial causes and effects, however deeply it may enter into the details of such superficialities. The mysterious powers in nature, the intelligent forces in man, are at present almost entirely unknown, and _there is no other way of penetrating into the deeper secrets of nature except by the development of the higher nature of man_.