Science demands _facts_, and here are facts in abundance. These facts supplement the discoveries in electricity and nature's finer forces, and pass from physics to metaphysics, from physiology to psychology, and push back the veil of the unseen, and hitherto unknown, many degrees. The trend of all this progress, and of these discoveries, is exceedingly plain. Our concepts of Nature, of Life, and of Man have been almost immeasurably enlarged, refined, and elevated. Expectancy is in the air. "What next is going to happen?" is the question everywhere asked. The conditions and portents, in a general way, are those that herald a new Avatar; an Avatar now, of science rather than of religion; of knowledge rather than of faith, and this knowledge is to be of spiritual things, the foundations of which are already in evidence. This science is not to be time-serving, but man-serving; not so much a renewal of faith as a revelation of knowledge; less anxious for the glory of God than for the elevation of man, which is the more direct and certain way of honoring Divinity. This does not mean the decay nor the repudiation of religion, but a _realization_ of _true_ religion, such as heretofore prophets have foretold, revelation has forecast, and toward which humanity has toiled and journeyed in sorrow and pain; the very religion that Jesus lived and taught. "A clean life, an open mind, an unveiled spiritual perception, a brotherliness for all, and human life a journeying upward toward the realms of eternal day, 'with no night there, and no sorrow.'" _And why not?_ If man can conceive it, why may he not _realize_ it? The "Old Adam" as an excuse is exploded. The "New Adam" is indeed "a quickening spirit." Nothing is plainer nor more demonstrable at the present day than the fact that mankind is slowly but surely shaking off the traditions and the superstitions that have bound it in the past, rising above the myths and the folklore of every age and clime, and awaking as if from slumber, to behold a new day and a new world. This awakening is even more in evidence and remarkable in the case of woman than of man. Progress here during the last decade has been such as the world has never before seen on any such scale, and it means more to the elevation of humanity than anyone has hitherto been able to forecast or to measure. In the meantime social and economic conditions with the great masses of the people are very far from what they should be. Unrest and confusion are strongly in evidence. On the whole, there is far less suffering and destitution than ever before. Oppression and abominations meet with quick and powerful protest from all classes, when exposed, and at least temporary relief is quick to follow.