Page:The Science of Religion (1925).djvu/86

62 thou shalt be eternally blissful and free from all pain.” (When Christ called himself Son of God, he meant the Universal Spirit dwelling in him.)

Now there are four fundamental, universal religious methods which, if followed in daily life, will in time liberate the Spiritual self from the trammels of its bodily and mental vehicles. Under these four classes of religious methods I include all the possible religious practices that have ever been enjoined by any saint or savant or any prophet of God. Religious practices are inculcated by prophets in the form of doctrines. Menof limited intellect, failing to interpret the true import of these doctrines, accept their exoteric or outer meaning and gradually fall into forms, conventions, and rigid practices. This is the origin of sectarianism. Rest from work on the sabbath day was interpreted by the Jews to mean rest from all work—even religious work. This is the danger to men of limited understanding.