Lord Northbourne discusses extensively the various symbolic meanings of the cross, explaining how it simultaneously represents several aspects of Christian doctrine and philosophia perennis. Each of these corresponds to a unique perspective from which the symbol can be approached. Northbourne also expounds upon the necessity to present the cross under certain conditions if its symbolic intergrity is to be maintained and observes how these conditions have sometimes been forsaken in the name of aesthetic value.

The modern age is one in which error and evil are regarded as having equal standing to that of truth and goodness, and beauty is seen as a frivolous luxury that must be sacrificed for the purposes of economic growth. Lord Northbourne refutes these ideas by demonstrating the metaphysicial link between truth, goodness, and beauty, showing that goodness cannot be found in error or illusion, and that beauty is not a "subjective impression or pleasurable accident," but an "essential aspect of reality itself."

Lord Northbourne responds to a fear that has developed among the general public that due to factors such as increasingly dangerous military technology, population growth and scarcity of natural resources, the human civilization as we know it may not be able to survive. His solution involves shifting attention away from the common goals of material wealth and individual prosperity and working towards the establishment of a society founded upon values such as humility, compassion, and renunciation of “worldly superfluities”. The development of these virtues is dependent upon awareness and love of God.

Lord Northbourne in this essay analyzes the viewpoint of many modern scientists that certain fundamental events occurring in the domain of sub-atomic physics are exempt from laws of causality—in other words, that these events are random, or occur by chance. The author is most concerned that "from this position it is but a step to a declaration that the ruling principle of the universe is chance, and not a principle of strict causality. There are then no longer any certainties, but only probabilities.…" Of course, this is a challenge to any philosophy that "takes a metaphysical or religious turn." Lord Northbourne leads the reader through a logical process of reasoning to conclude that within our reality there is, indeed, order by design, and that the Principle and Its manifestations cannot be reduced to the random operations of chance.

Lord Northbourne examines the education system as a means to evaluate the state of our society and its access to intellectual freedom. He states that scientific formulas have overtaken the common ways of knowing, depending on empirical evidence as a means of knowing truth. This mode of knowledge views religion as an “obstacle to progress” since faith implies that truth is known intuitively. Therefore, it removes religion as a framework for the education and knowledge. Northbourne describes the nature of religion and the presence of the spiritual in the world with all of its questions and complexities, concluding that children are ultimately the ones who experience faith most purely. By deducing religion to information and not experience, children are neglected the opportunity to participate in their spiritual natures. He concludes that while science can be true it can only be partly true. Northbourne advocates that people should be educated based on how to think and not what to think.

Lord Northbourne lays out what he sees as the essential factors to the much debated question of the relationship between religion and science; what that relationship should be and what it is in the modern world. Northbourne explains what is meant by these terms and why the distinction and relationship is necessary to understanding our views of the universe and our roles in it.

Lord Northbourne summarizes the “nature of the… changes brought about in agriculture by the rise to dominance of the modern outlook.” His concerns for the future of agriculture include the use of chemical methods, the loss of economic independence for farmers, and the standardization of products using preservatives and substitutes. This agricultural revolution has brought about “a divorce between man and nature” and furthermore a loss of the view that all natural things are interrelated, moving “together toward the fulfillment of the plan of [God].” Lord Northbourne asserts that the man who uses his “God-given dominion over nature” for his own “aggrandizement” might soon find himself struggling against the forces of Nature.

Lord Northbourne examines the way that humans conceive of all-possibility and possibility in the world. In this article the physical universe is regarded as a single complex possibility rather than an example of all-possibility. The human concept of laws and limits is also discussed here, and Northbourne states that the individual is responsible for knowing that there are laws in his universe. Towards the end of this article, religion is addressed in relation to the subject of all-possibility, possibility, and limits. According to Northbourne “religion is only indirectly concerned with the multiple states of being as they affect non-human entities, animate or inanimate.”