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INTRODUCTION
In these pages I am presenting to the Englishknowing world, and through it to the rest of humanity, three things, namely, the oldest Religion which is the least known, the true teaching of Christianity which was never imparted except to the chosen few and then only with adequate safeguards--laconicity, and abrupt incoherence to prevent its reaching the generality of men, and a Science of Salvation which was known to the ancients but which the moderns have still to learn.
Jainism is not only the oldest Religion, but it is also the parent of all other forms of religion. It is the Science of Salvation itself, on the basis of which all kinds of allegories have been constituted in different continents and lands. Perhaps the reader will not be quite unwilling to accept this by the time he has read the last word in the book.
The true teaching of Christianity has to be hunted out from under a heap of useless rubbish under which it was purposely buried by the founders of the creed. Its authenticity and value will prove themselves in the course of the following pages.
Science-or, rather I ought to say, modern sciencedeclines to lend its assent to Christian doctrines as taught by the Church, and leading churchmen themselves are slowly deserting their posts and joining the opposition in growing numbers. This is because what