people of our day think, cunning priestly teachers of this science
attributed to it such significance, but because in reality, as every
one knows, both by personal experience and by reflection, there can
be no science except the science of that in which the destiny and
welfare of man consist. For the objects of science are INCALCULABLE
in number,--I undermine the word "incalculable" in the exact sense
in which I understand it,--and without the knowledge of that in
which the destiny and welfare of all men consist, there is no
possibility of making a choice amid this interminable multitude of
subjects; and therefore, without this knowledge, all other arts and
branches of learning will become, as they have become among us, an
idle and hurtful diversion.

Mankind has existed and existed, and never has it existed without
the science of that in which the destiny and the welfare of men
consist. It is true that the science of the welfare of men appears
different on superficial observation, among the Buddhists, the
Brahmins, the Hebrews, the Confucians, the Tauists; but
nevertheless, wherever we hear of men who have emerged from a state
of savagery, we find this science. And all of a sudden it appears
that the men of our day have decided that this same science, which
has hitherto served as the guiding thread of all human knowledge, is
the very thing which hinders every thing. Men erect buildings; and
one architect has made one estimate of cost, a second has made
another, and a third yet another. The estimates differ somewhat;
but they are correct, so that any one can see, that, if the whole is
carried out in accordance with the calculations, the building will
be erected. Along come people, and assert that the chief point lies
in having no estimates, and that it should be built thus--by the
eye. And this "thus," men call the most accurate of scientific