Just as in an army—and more generally in every community of men facing great tasks to- ‘gether—religion also finds symbols and their cor- responding ecclesiastical rituals absolutely indis- pensable, They signify the highest and most venerated of all the products of human imagina- tion directed heavenward. But we must never forget that even the most sacred symbol is of hu- man origin. Had mankind taken this truth to heart at all times, it would have been spared an infinity of woe and suffering. For the terrible religious wars, the horrible persecutions of heretics and their at- tendant tragic consequences, are in the last anal- ysis the outcome of conflicts between opposing propositions, each possessing a certain validity and cach originating in the circumstances that » common abstract idea, such as the belief in an ‘omnipotent God, was confused with its visible but distinct media of expression, such as ecclesiastic articles of faith. Certainly there is nothing more distressing than the bitter fight of two adversaries, each of whom is fully convinced of the rightness of his cause and is filled with honest enthusiasm for it, feeling that he must devote all his energy