They embody the deepest searchings into the most vital
problems of humanity in all its stages: the naive guesses of the
world's childhood, the opening conceptions of its youth, the more
fully rounded beliefs of its maturity.
These books, no matter how unhistorical in parts and at times, are
profoundly true. They mirror the evolution of man's loftiest
aspirations, hopes, loves, consolations, and enthusiasms; his hates
and fears; his views of his origin and destiny; his theories of his
rights and duties; and these not merely in their lights but in
their shadows. Therefore it is that they contain the germs of
truths most necessary in the evolution of humanity, and give to
these germs the environment and sustenance which best insure their
growth and strength.
With wide differences in origin and character, this sacred
literature has been developed and has exercised its influence in
obedience to certain general laws. First of these in time, if not
in importance, is that which governs its origin: in all
civilizations we find that the Divine Spirit working in the mind of
man shapes his sacred books first of all out of the chaos of myth
and legend; and of these books, when life is thus breathed into
them, the fittest survive.
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