I read about Socrates, who when on trial for his life, said, among other things, to his judges, these wondrous words: "I have not sought during my life to amass wealth and to adorn my body, but I have sought to adorn my soul with the jewels of wisdom, patience, and above all with a love of liberty." So, I read about Diogenes, the philosopher who hated the superfluous--the enemy of waste and greed, and who one day entered the temple, reverently approached the altar, crushed a louse between the nails of his thumbs, and solemnly said: "The sacrifice of Diogenes to all the gods." This parodied the worship of the world--satirized all creeds, and in one act put the essence of religion. Diogenes must have know of this "inspired" passage--"Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." I compared Zeno, Epicurus and Socrates, three heathen wretches who had never heard of the Old Testament or the Ten Commandments, with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, three favorites of Jehovah, and I was depraved enough to think that the Pagans were superior to the Patriarchs--and to Jehovah himself. VII. MY attention was turned to other religions, to the sacred books, the creeds and ceremonies of other lands--of India, Egypt, Assyria, Persia, of the dead and dying nations. I concluded that all religions had the same foundation--a belief in the supernatural--a power above nature that man could influence by worship--by sacrifice and prayer. I found that all religions rested on a mistaken conception of nature--that the religion of a people was the science of that people, that is to say, their explanation of the world--of life and death--of origin and destiny. I concluded that all religions had substantially the same origin, and that in fact there has never been but one religion in the world. The twigs and leaves may differ, but the trunk is the same. The poor African that pours out his heart to his deity of stone is on an exact religious level with the robed priest who supplicates his God. The same mistake, the same superstition, bends the knees and shuts the eyes of both. Both ask for supernatural aid, and neither has the slightest thought of the absolute uniformity of nature. It seems probable to me that the first organized ceremonial religion was the worship of the sun. The sun was the "Sky Father," the "All Seeing," the source of life--the fireside of the world. The sun was regarded as a god who fought the darkness, the power of evil, the enemy of man. There have been many sun-gods, and they seem to have been the chief deities in the ancient religions. They have been worshiped in many lands--by many nations that have passed to death and dust.