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KARMA AND REINCARNATION
ciple of the Druid faith and was impressed upon the Celts, the Gauls and the Britons. Among the Arab philosophers it was a favourite idea The rights and ceremonies of the Romans, Druids and Hebrews expressed this faith forcibly The Jews adopted it after the Babylonian captivity John the Baptist was to them a second Elijah Jesus was thought to be a reappearance of John the Baptist or one of the old prophets The Roman Catholic purgatory seems to be a makeshift, contrived to take its place Philosophers like Kant, Schelling and Schopenhauer have upheld this doctrine Theologians like Julius Muller, Dorner and Edward Beecher have maintained it. And today it reigns over the Burmese, Siamese, Chinese, Japanese, Tartar, Tibetan, East Indian and Ceylonese, including at least 750 millions of mankind or nearly two thirds of the human race Is it not wonderful then that this great and grand philosophical education which the Hindus, Buddhists and Jains gave to the world centuries and centuries before the Christian era should or could be blotted out of existence from the Western and European world by the soulblighting and absurd dogmas of the dark ages that supervened? By the persecution of the wise men and destruction of innumerable works in the library of Constantinople, the Church hierarchy managed to plunge the whole of Europe into mental darkness which has given the world the black record of the inquisition and the loss of millions of human lives
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