tombs for remains of the dead laid within them; they have spelled out the picture-words painted on the walls of temples choked with the drifted sand of centuries, the wedge-shaped letters cut on rocks and stamped on sun-dried bricks, also the writing on crumbling papyri, dried palm-leaves, barks of trees and other substances; they have traced words in common use to the roots from which they sprang, and fairy tales and legends to the home of fancy where many of them were born; and thus has come to us, in ways undreamed of by our forefathers, rich treasures of knowledge.

Lastly, though by no means the least, we will open some of the sacred books of India, Persia, China, Arabia and other lands, to see for ourselves what the wisest and best of the ancients have thought about this wondrous life and what is to come after it. For thought rules the world. It makes no noise, but lives on and reigns when all the bustling and the shouting that seemed to stifle it are hushed, and whilst the great works which it guided the hand of man to do have perished, or remain to tell of pomp and glory gone for ever, it is with us in the words of wisdom that 'shall

not pass away,' and to which we do well to give heed.

We

I have said how much life gains in joyfulness if our ears be kept open to the sweet voices of nature, and our eyes awake to its lovesome sights, and I would add how much it gains in trustfulness by even a slight knowledge of the religions which are at this day the hope and stay of hundreds of millions of our fellow-creatures. learn therefrom how very near to his children the All-Father, to use the forceful name by which the old Norsemen called Him, has always been; near now, near in the days that are gone; and that there never was a time when He dwelt apart from men, caring not whether they were vile or holy, but that all age and place and human life is sacred with His presence. We shall learn, too,—

'That in all ages

Every human heart is human;

That in even savage bosoms

There are longings, yearnings, strivings,

For the good they comprehend not;
That the feeble hands and helpless,
Groping blindly in the darkness,

Trust God's right hand in that darkness,
And are lifted up and strengthened,'

so that when we read how poor wild souls, craving after the Power which they feel about them, are not able to rise above the worship of bunches of feathers or piles of stones, we shall know that it is the living God for whom they are feeling, and be sure that He will at last lead to Himself these children crying for a light.'

It gave men larger and grander views of God when they learnt that the earth is one among many bodies circling round the sun, and that the sun himself is one of numberless suns that are strewn as star-dust in the heavens, and it will give each of us, whose nature is made to trust, a larger trust in, and more loving thought of, Him to learn that our religion is one among many religions, and that nowhere is there an altogether godless race.

To use a homely figure, we shall see that the religions of the world are like human faces, all of which have something in common; nose, eyes, mouth, and so on; while all differ, some being more beautiful than others. And we shall also see that wherever any religion exists which has struck its roots deep down into the life of a

people, there must be some truth in it which has nurtured them, and which is worth the seeking. For the hunger of the soul of man can no more be satisfied with a lie, than the hunger of his body can be appeased with stones. I am most wishful to impress this upon you, because you will never read the meaning of this world aright if you are content with that halfknowledge of the beliefs of other races, both savage and civilized, which most people have, and which suffices to give only false ideas of those beliefs.

Remember that where ignorance is, there is darkness; but that where knowledge dwells, light abides; and as knowledge of God, which comes from the study of man and his dwellingplace, the world, grows from more to more,' sunnier views of Him make glad the heart, chasing away the false ideas about Him that frightened poor timid, tender souls; that made even strong men shake, and bring their noble powers, tied and bound, before the grim Being they were taught to fear; that caused beauty to disfigure itself, as if ugliness was acceptable to Him, who 'hath made everything beautiful in its time.'

CHAPTER II

LEGENDS OF THE PAST ABOUT THE CREATION.

IN every land and age man has looked up to the great, silent heaven, with its unresting sun, moon and stars; and upon this earth, with its robe of many folds and colours, and asked, "Did these things make themselves? Had they a Maker ? If so, how did He make them, and how long ago? What can He be like?' And the questions have had all kinds of answers framed to meet them, and not a few strange stories woven to explain the hard matter.

It is well known to you that among many beliefs, now found to be wrong, which were held in bygone days, people thought that the earth was a flat and fixed thing, for whose sole benefit the sun shone by day and the moon and stars by night. Now, such a belief as this is no matter for wonderment, because it was the only belief then possible. People must speak of things as