“It is, then, by those shadows of the hoary Past and their fantastic silhouettes on the external screen of every religion and philosophy, that we can, by checking them as we go along, and comparing them, trace out finally the body that produced them.”
Tip: press → for another quote, C to copy, S to share.
The chief difficulty which prevents men of science from believing in divine as well as in nature Spirits is their materialism.
Even in our day, science suspects beyond the Polar seas, at the very circle of the Arctic Pole, the existence of a sea which never freezes and a continent which is ever green.
The whole order of nature evinces a progressive march towards a higher life.
The increase of territory and power of empires by force of arms has been the policy of all great powers, and it has always been possible to get the approval of their state religion.