Introdiictory. 1 1 



modified form still endures, and the very name of 

 " Gueux " is now assumed by those who represent the 

 spirit of the original bearers of that appellation. 



We all recollect Gibbon's vivid picture of the complete 

 restoration by Artaxerxes of the old religion of Persia, 

 which had lingered on in spite of an apparent interruption 

 dating back from the Alexandrian conquest a note- 

 worthy instance of persistence in ancient times. 



To-day, French missionaries find to their amazement 

 that in spite of a persecution deemed exterminating, 

 Christianity in Japan still flourishes, having been secretly 

 handed down for generations without the aid of a single 

 priest, and with no sacraments but baptism and matri- 

 mony. 



If survival and revival may ensue under such circum- 

 stances, surely a system of unknown antiquity, universal 

 in extent and eminently congenial to most men as they 

 actually exist, may be confidently expected to possess a 

 life of extreme tenacity and to show an increasing ten- 

 dency to revival as impediments and restrictions are suc- 

 cessively removed. 



Such a system was that essentially pantheistic paganism 

 and nature-worship which Christianity seemed for a time, 

 in Europe, to have so thoroughly succeeded in supplant- 

 ing. 



Even, however, at that period which has by common 

 consent been accepted as representing the culmination of 



