has in its main outlines been the same all over the
world, as the reader will presently see--and this whether
in connection with the numerous creeds of Paganism
or the supposedly unique case of Christianity; and now
the continuity and close intermixture of these great
streams can no longer be denied--nor IS it indeed denied
by those who have really studied the subject. It is
seen that religious evolution through the ages has been
practically One thing--that there has been in fact a World-
religion, though with various phases and branches.

And so in the present day a new problem arises, namely
how to account for the appearance of this great Phenomenon,
with its orderly phases of evolution, and its own spontaneous[1]
growths in all corners of the globe--this phenomenon
which has had such a strange sway over the
hearts of men, which has attracted them with so weird
a charm, which has drawn out their devotion, love and
tenderness, which has consoled them in sorrow and affliction,
and yet which has stained their history with such horrible
sacrifices and persecutions and cruelties. What has
been the instigating cause of it?

[1] For the question of spontaneity see chap. x and elsewhere.


The answer which I propose to this question, and which
is developed to some extent in the following chapters, is
a psychological one. It is that the phenomenon proceeds
from, and is a necessary accompaniment of, the growth of