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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES
To pass on now to a consideration of the Chinese religions, the oldest faith of that country is Taoism, which will be described in a later lecture. Another of the Chinese religions is Confucianism which was founded by Confucius a little over two thousand and five hundred years ago. But this is almost wholly a code of moral laws put together by a wise man and so unlike religion in its essential features that I shall not deal with it in these lectures. Confucianism might, no doubt, be possessed of an esoteric side, like certain other religions, but if that be so, it must be left to the better equipped future explorer for its unravelment and elucidation. Buddhism the third prevailing religion of China has already been described in today's lecture.
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There remain the American cults to be dealt with; but from what is known to me of them they appear to be most unlike religion, and, except for a passing observation or two here and there in their tenets, appear to have consisted almost exclusively in the worst and the most blood-curdling of human sacrifices, without anything in the shape of a redeeming feature. If there ever was an esoteric side to these inhuman cults-and it is not impossible for them to have evolved round an evaporated symbolical nucleus imported from Asia or Europe-it was soon lost to view, and its place taken by the most revolting of sanguinary human sacrifices devoid of every vestige of religion. I shall leave them out of account in these lectures as purely barbarous ritual and savage demonology.
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