________________
102
up its secrets, and all bearing testimony to one mighty truth-the unity of religions.
Not that alone. As explorers go among savage tribes, among barbarian peoples, at first they see only the outer worship of idol, of fetish, of totem, and think this is the religion of the people. But presently they come into nearer touch with the people themselves. They win their confidence, and the people begin to tell them something more than the outer symbols have revealed. They speak of a mighty Father, of an all-embracing Presence, of One, too mighty to be named, too loving to need sacrifice or offering from His children-a thought that to them is vague, that to them is far off, but ever the same tradition, that this was taught by the Founder of their race, and has been handed down from generation to generation of wise men, as the heart of the faith that has become so degraded in modern times.
THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEM IN INDIA
What is the result of all the searchings? That I can only indicate by two or three points, such as I have mentioned. There is no doubt about the result. The result has founded a great school of Comparative Mythology. I give it its own name. That school has declared in the West, and proved it up to the hilt, that all religions have a single root, that all religions have the same doctrines, that all the religions have the tradition of a divine human Founder, that all the religions teach the same morality, that all the religions use the same symbolism. And on this there is no doubt; for things have been dug up with the
