Forlong - Rivers of Life

Introductory Chapter.
realities, and who are willing to die for those ideas. It is their enthusiasm of Faith
which converts the multitude and leads to triumphs and power; and then up come the
creepers from grovelling in dirt and every worldliness, men of ambition, and of older
Faiths, who see the influence and power which the strong enthusiast has raised, and for
the sake of these they gradually twine themselves about the goodly tree, killing off all
branches (sectaries, &c.) which, as power is gained, no longer serve their mundane aims
and purposes; and thus making the whole a mere engine of their own or of their State
with codes and articles, the Faith becomes in their hands the tangled mass I have
sought to picture.
I had better here state, once for all, that in a subject such as mine, where I have
to substantiate certain positions taken up, I cannot pretend not to plagiarise; that is
to say, I must borrow views, facts, and materials in support of my own, and of my
chronology, from the storehouses of the learned of all classes, which I have been able to
meet with; nay, worse, I shall often not be able to name, and so to kindly acknowledge
the writers from whom I quote; for I find in going over my note-books, containing
many years of detached studies, that I can only guess at many of my sources of information.
I beg, therefore, the kind consideration of those from whom I borrow, or whose
writings I err in quoting or understanding; I am here only anxious to enlighten the
ordinary reading public, perhaps I should say of the male sex, for to our sisters, the
origin of Faiths and of the various rites they continually see around them, must long
remain mysterious, except perhaps to that advanced, strong-minded and ever-increasing
phalanx, who dare to enter upon all those themes which form the broad domain of social
science. 1 This work, then, is for men, and indeed only for that class of my brothers who
venture on strong food, and have permitted themselves to look beyond the swaddling
bands of youth. My readers must be persons capable of standing some amount of mental
and psychological incising, which is absolutely necessary if we are to go to the roots of
the hopes and fears and faiths of man. For he was an animal from the beginning, and
but here and there, in these later times, has risen to be a spiritual animal. No maudlin
sentiment of false delicacy must in this case keep us from calling a spade a spade. The
knife of the dissecting surgeon must cut down, deeply and firmly, and expose the
bone and its ailment, and then only can we hope to eradicate the fell disease.
Those who cannot read medical works of science, and who would open this with prurient
eye, should not read it, for the subject and occasion is grave in the extreme, and some
must blame the physician for being bold and clear in speech. If he be correct in his
facts, he is bound to tell us these, and the conclusions they point to, and we must not
find fault with him for opening up the festering wound, which was none of his making.
This Chart then, is to try and place before ordinary reading men the facts of Faiths
which learning and scientific criticism have established on good and firm ground, and
to bring such up to the present time. I wish to address people who would not dream
of opening a work on the Vedas and Tripitaka; who never heard of nor wish to hear of a
1 [This was written ca. 1880. The most charitable explanation of Forlong’s remarks is that he was aware
of the general level of education of the female population at the time; more likely in this instance he simply
shared the general social prejudices of his class and era. — T.S.]
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