The Great Religions 53 



America, and Pern. It prevails to-day in its grosser 

 forms in the temples of Siva, and among some of the 

 savage tribes of both the Old World and the New. 

 Symbolism, like fear, apparently enters into all reli- 

 gions, often forming the most impressive part of their 

 outward ceremonies. 1 And yet, the fact that in many 

 of these comparatively high civilizations of ancient 

 times it was accompanied by a high order of family, 

 tribal, and national life, involving the absolutely in- 

 dispensable virtues of unselfishness, loyalty, and 

 patriotism, would seem to go to show most unmistak- 

 ably that, when divested of its grossness, there was in 

 addition something at its core which likewise involved 

 the co-operative principle of altruism. That that 

 something was the underlying religio-moral idea which 

 has been forced upon mankind by the struggle for 

 existence which is the invariable condition of all human 

 life : the idea of survival of race as opposed to survival 

 of self, the supreme, imperative necessity of subordinat- 

 ing self-interest to the general welfare, will, I think, be 

 readily admitted by those familiar with the early history 

 of these bygone peoples. 



The Great Religions 



But when we come to the beautiful twin system of 

 Zoroaster, with its wondrous spirit of purity breathed 

 through a noble liturgy, to the spiritual heights of 

 Brahmanism, to the lofty spirit of Buddhism, to the 

 reverence for parents and worship of the general well- 



i Ancient Symbol-Worship, Westropp and Wake, N. Y., 1874. 



