RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS

OF

THE WORLD

A Contribution to tbe Study of Comparative Religion

A COLLECTION OF ADDRESSES

Delivered at South Place Institute

NOW REVISED AND IN SOME CASES REWRITTEN BY THE AUTHORS,
TOGETHER WITH SOME OTHERS SPECIALLY WRITTEN FOR THIS VOLUME

"A new Catholicity has dawned upon the world. Ali religions ure now recognised as essentially Divine. They represent the different angles at which man looks at God. Questions of origin, polemics as to evidences, erudite dissertations concerning formule, are disappearing, because religions are no longer judged by their supposed accordance with the letter of the Bible, but by their ability to min. ister to the wants and fulfil the aspirations of men. The individual, what can it make of him ! As it raises or debases, purifies or corrupts, fills with happiness or torments with fear, so is it judged to accord with the Divine will.

The credentials of the Divine origin of every religion are to be found in the hearts and lives of those who believe it. The old intolerance has disappeared, and the old indifference, which succeeded it, has well-nigh disappeared also. The new toler. ance of faith recognises as Divine all the creeds which have enabled men to wercome their bestial appetites with visions of things spiritual and eternal." -UNIVERSAL REVIEW, December, 1888.