Forlong - Rivers of Life

Preface. xxxi
histories of all peoples and all Faiths! and hence Religious history is grossly inaccurate,
and for the most part avowedly biased in favor of tha writer's own little land
and faith, though the latter was probably a mere geographical accident. This was
of course much truer a dozen years ago when the author first felt the necessity of
writing upon the roots of the oldest living faiths. Professor Max. Müller in 1868
doubted whether the time had then come for a scientific consideration of Religions.
and indeed, until lately the requisite knowledge has not existed for writing
Religious history, since it is necessary to know many Faiths accurately and practically
before we can even know our own aright, that is, the sources and develop~
ments of its doctrines, practices and symbolisms. These have known no beginning
however deeply the religious archeologist has dug, and will know no finality. They
are the eternal offspring of heaven and earth, though mostly of the earth, earthy. 1
The Religious historian is even more heavily weighted than the philologist for he
can write a tolerable analysis of our English tongue if he knows four or five Aryan
languages. The writer upon faiths however, or even one Aryan religion, should not
only have an accurate and detailed knowledge of all the faiths of Aryans, Turans,
Drâvidians, and Shemites, but must unlearn much of that one-sided teaching of
his youth, though it clings to the heart with many fond memories of the past. He
must search everywhere for the. good and true, no less than for evil things, in the
written and unwritten, in the theories as well as the practices of every faith, and mete
out deserved praise or blame with impartial haad. Much that many sects hold
sacred but would gladly hide from the keen cold eye of Reason and from all
critical unbelievers, must be dragged into the light of day and fearlessly ex-
posed, and every doctrine and truth be argued out to its legitimate conclusions—
a task often difficult, painful or disturbing.
If this however be an author’s position, it is not less the proper attitude of every
honest truth-seeking reader; he too must put aside for the time national and religious
bias, and school himself to view all calmly and dispassionately, bearing as he best can
the rude thrusts of such an educating process.
It is said that after forty, all persons resist new convictions. If so the writer’s difficulties
are here considerable; but there are fortunately many exceptions to this rule as
we see in the case of good Bishop Beveridge, 2 who argued with himself, that “there
never was any religion so diabolical, but was preferred before all other religions by them
1 Such matters will be found treated of in Vol. I., pp. 322, 409, &c., and Vol. II. p. 507. &c.
2 Private Thoughts on Religion. P. I., Art. 2.