Such a science makes the sacred books of the world more and more
precious, in that it shows how they have been the necessary
envelopes of our highest spiritual sustenance; how even myths and
legends apparently the most puerile have been the natural husks and
rinds and shells of our best ideas; and how the atmosphere is
created in which these husks and rinds and shells in due time
wither, shrivel, and fall away, so that the fruit itself may be
gathered to sustain a nobler religion and a purer morality.
The coming in of Christianity contributed elements of inestimable
value in this evolution, and, at the centre of all, the thoughts,
words, and life of the Master. But when, in the darkness that
followed the downfall of the Roman Empire, there was developed a
theology and a vast ecclesiastical power to enforce it, the most
interesting chapters in this evolution of religion and morality
were removed from the domain of science.
So it came that for over eighteen hundred years it has been thought
natural and right to study and compare the myths and legends
arising east and west and south and north of Palestine with each
other, but never with those of Palestine itself; so it came that
one of the regions most fruitful in materials for reverent thought
and healthful comparison was held exempt from the unbiased search
for truth; so it came that, in the name of truth, truth was
crippled for ages.
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