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THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEM IN INDA
same, and what can the same be save the sameness of ignorance in the human savage, out of whom we have evolved ? That was the attack that was made upon religions—a fatal attack, because based on facts, because based on what could be seen and handled ; and these are the things which appeal most to tlie majority
And then what happened ? Ah! before the greatest of the discoveries were yet made, before these later umburyings which have strengthened the facts, there came a whisper in another voice, there came a quiet message of another kind : “Yes, the facts are true; only the ignorant can deny. The earth holds buried in her bosom thonsands of other facts still more remarkable, thonsands of other proofs still more overwhelming, thousands of things yet to be discovered, all of which will strengthen the conclusion that religions have but one basis and are founded on one set of facts. But while the comparative mythologists are accurate in their facts, they are wrong in their deiluction. Deduction is not a fact, but only their idea of the meaning of the fact. Separate the fact from the deduction, separate the mistake from the truth, and see in all these signs hidden in the earth, see in all these discoveries from the buried past, see and proclaim the truth that while all religious lave one basis, that basis is the Divine Wisdom and not hnman ignorance, that basis is in the knowledge given by the Sages, who are but one body, the spiritual Guardians of mankind. The facts are there ; the deduction is wrong."