THE WONDERS OF LIFE 



eeption of the world gained more and more on the 

 metaphysical. Pure knowledge, thus grounded on 

 science, entered into sharper conflict than ever with 

 religious faith. If, as in the preceding cases, we distin- 

 guish three stages in the development of modern 

 civilization, we recognize the progressive liberation from 

 superstition by scientific knowledge. 



When we compare the higher forms of religion of 

 civilized nations we find the same emotional cravings 

 and thought-processes constantly recurring, and the 

 belief in miracles developing in much the same way. 

 The three founders of the great monotheistic Mediter- 

 ranean religion — Moses, Christ, and Mohammed — were 

 equally regarded as wonder-working prophets, having 

 direct intercourse with God in virtue of their special 

 gifts, and transmitting his commands to men in the 

 shape of laws. The extraordinary authority they enjoy, 

 which has given so much prestige to the religions they 

 founded, is grounded for ordinary people on their mi- 

 raculous powers — the healing of the sick, the raising 

 of the dead, the expulsion of devils, and so on. If we 

 examine the miracles of Christ as they are given in the 

 gospels, they run counter to the laws of nature and 

 rational explanation just in the same way as the similar 

 miracles of Buddha and Brahma in Hindoo mythology, 

 or of Mohammed in the Koran. The same must be said 

 of the belief in the miracle of the bread and wine in the 

 Lord's supper, and the like. The Creed which was 

 probably drawn up by the leaders of the Christian 

 communities of the second century, and received its 

 final and present form in the Church of South Gaul in 

 the fourth and fifth centuries, has been obligatory for 

 Christians for fifteen hundred years, and recognized 

 by both Church and State as compulsory. This Apostles' 

 Creed was also recognized in Luther's catechism to be 

 fundamental, and is taught in all Protestant and Roman 



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