DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13852#0100
CREATION OF A WORLD-CENTRE.
essential unity of their missions throughout the world, would go far towards
the attainment of a higher and clearer conception of the Creator of the world
and of man.
Every religion contains a spark of divine light which illumines the
kingdom of heaven within the soul of man, and which no human hand can
quench. Should not all forms of this celestial fire from all times and places
be gathered together? Do they not burn as freely and shine as clearly to-
day as they did in the past? If united and blent into a clear and harmonious
whole, would they not be the most potent means of enlightening and uplif-
ting the soul of man and of revealing his Creator?
The essence of religion is the knowledge of God, which is eternal life;
and to bring together the world's religious systems can but create a stronger
faith. We read in the New Testament (Heb. I, i.) " God at sundry times
and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.
Similarly Vishnu, the second person of the Hindu Trinity, when incarnate as
Krishna, declares : " Mankind comes to me along many roads, and on every
road that man approaches me, on that road do I welcome him; for all roads
are mine. " The simple grand truth of these words is unmistakable, and
now people are beginning to realise that prophets belong to no one nation,
but to all, and that scriptures belong to all religions and not to one alone.
In spite of the many varied forms and symbols which have always mar-
ked the different theologies of the world, the fact remains undeniable to the
reasonable and scientific mind, that from the earliest times, humanity has
believed in one all-embracing Eternal Power, to whom it has turned in love,
worship and prayer. The divine spirit created the world, and his immortal
conceptions will always fill the soul of man with a desire to draw himself
nearer to his Maker.
In the dawn of the world's history, we find man marvelling at ihc irre-
sistible forces of nature and worshipping them as symbols of divinity; and
man will always so marvel. From the beginning his desire has been to search
for an invisible God, and when nothing else of suflicient grandeur revealed
itself to his intelligence, we find him bowing low in reverence, worship and
fear to the sun, the moon, the stars, water and fire. All active, moving-
elements became instinct with mysterious divinity. He had no doubt of their
superhuman power and might. They fed his mind with vital realities,
thus it was natural that he should sing their praise and bend his knee in
worship. ..•f:'^i ••
At all times man has naturally grasped at some material ideal for pro-
tection and spiritual comfort. Symbolic images in stone, wood and clay,
often grotesque and without aesthetic beauty have come down to us from
prehistoric age's^Many of these, of terrible aspect, roughly carved and crudely
painted were meant to inspire fear; yet we can feel the confused concen-
tration of thought that gave*rise to such forms, and understand the mental
essential unity of their missions throughout the world, would go far towards
the attainment of a higher and clearer conception of the Creator of the world
and of man.
Every religion contains a spark of divine light which illumines the
kingdom of heaven within the soul of man, and which no human hand can
quench. Should not all forms of this celestial fire from all times and places
be gathered together? Do they not burn as freely and shine as clearly to-
day as they did in the past? If united and blent into a clear and harmonious
whole, would they not be the most potent means of enlightening and uplif-
ting the soul of man and of revealing his Creator?
The essence of religion is the knowledge of God, which is eternal life;
and to bring together the world's religious systems can but create a stronger
faith. We read in the New Testament (Heb. I, i.) " God at sundry times
and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.
Similarly Vishnu, the second person of the Hindu Trinity, when incarnate as
Krishna, declares : " Mankind comes to me along many roads, and on every
road that man approaches me, on that road do I welcome him; for all roads
are mine. " The simple grand truth of these words is unmistakable, and
now people are beginning to realise that prophets belong to no one nation,
but to all, and that scriptures belong to all religions and not to one alone.
In spite of the many varied forms and symbols which have always mar-
ked the different theologies of the world, the fact remains undeniable to the
reasonable and scientific mind, that from the earliest times, humanity has
believed in one all-embracing Eternal Power, to whom it has turned in love,
worship and prayer. The divine spirit created the world, and his immortal
conceptions will always fill the soul of man with a desire to draw himself
nearer to his Maker.
In the dawn of the world's history, we find man marvelling at ihc irre-
sistible forces of nature and worshipping them as symbols of divinity; and
man will always so marvel. From the beginning his desire has been to search
for an invisible God, and when nothing else of suflicient grandeur revealed
itself to his intelligence, we find him bowing low in reverence, worship and
fear to the sun, the moon, the stars, water and fire. All active, moving-
elements became instinct with mysterious divinity. He had no doubt of their
superhuman power and might. They fed his mind with vital realities,
thus it was natural that he should sing their praise and bend his knee in
worship. ..•f:'^i ••
At all times man has naturally grasped at some material ideal for pro-
tection and spiritual comfort. Symbolic images in stone, wood and clay,
often grotesque and without aesthetic beauty have come down to us from
prehistoric age's^Many of these, of terrible aspect, roughly carved and crudely
painted were meant to inspire fear; yet we can feel the confused concen-
tration of thought that gave*rise to such forms, and understand the mental