time, in different parts of the world, India, China, Mexico,
Egypt and various countries, a number of other theories concerning the
spirit and the body were advanced as the basis of religious beliefs;
and these were accepted by countless other millions of people with the
same awe-inspiring credulity.

One feature of these various religions which appears to apply to them
all, is worth noting. Each professed the belief that their God or gods
ruled in supreme control of the entire universe, eternally, and that all
other so-called gods and so-called religions of other peoples which
interfered with this idea must necessarily be false and spurious.

In this respect, our own Christian view is like the others. In pursuance
of it, immense sums of money, untiring effort and many lives have been
spent by devout believers to convince remote peoples of the error of
their doctrines and the truth of ours.

But if an unbiased and impartial intellect were permitted to go about
among all the different religious sects on earth, and found each and
every one proclaiming with the same fervid conviction the unique and
everlasting truth of their doctrine and the error of all others, how far
could it get in the way of a reasonable conclusion?

There is a sort of conclusion, which appears fairly obvious.

If any one of the doctrines should in truth be all that is claimed for
it--the divine revelation, or the divine inspiration, of an Almighty
Providence--then all the other doctrines can be no more than theories,
more or less ingenious, more or less erroneous, mere products of man's
imagination. Then countless millions of people for countless generations
have been left to lead their lives without a right understanding of life
or death, the body or the soul, or the real purpose or design for which
they were created and by which they will be judged? Only the few lucky
ones who happened to be born and brought up in the one true belief can
have the advantage of grasping the situation. To an impartial intellect,
there would seem to be something about such an arrangement hardly fair
or just to all the other countless millions.

But even so, and admitting what is apparently obvious, how could any
amount of reasoning arrive at a decision in the matter?

There is nothing to prove that _all_ the theories and doctrines may be
any more than guesses, bolstered up with impressive formalities and
imagery, according to the needs and temperament, of the ra