Of philosophies, no system of India has approached so near to veritable divine revelation as that of Plato, but in variety and subtlety, and in their far-reaching influence upon human life, the Indian schools, especially the Vedanta, are scarcely excelled to this day.  And they are applied philosophies; they constitute the religion of the people.  Max Mueller has said truly that no other line of investigation is so fascinating as that which deals with the long and universal struggle of mankind to find out God, and to solve the mystery of their relations to him.  Unfortunately, human history has dealt mainly with wars and intrigues, and the rise and fall of dynasties; but compared with these coarse and superficial elements, how much more interesting and instructive to trace in all races of men the common and ceaseless yearnings after some solution of life’s mysteries!  One is stirred with a deeper, broader sympathy for mankind when he witnesses this universal sense of dependence, this fear and trembling before the powers of an unseen world, this pitiful procession of unblest millions ever trooping on toward the goal of death and oblivion.  And from this standpoint, as from no other, may one measure the greatness and glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

To my mind there is nothing more pathetic than the spectacle of world-wide fetichism.  It is not to be contemplated with derision, but with profoundest sympathy.  We all remember the pathos of Scott’s picture of his Highland heroine, with brain disordered by unspeakable grief, beguiling her woes with childish ornaments of “gaudy broom” and plumes from the eagle’s wing.  But sadder far is the spectacle of millions of men made for fellowship with God, building their hopes on the divinity dwelling in an amulet of tiger’s teeth or serpent’s fangs or curious shells.  And it ought to enlarge our natures with a Christ-like sympathy when we contemplate those dark and desperate faiths which are but nightmares of the soul, which see in all the universe only malevolent spirits to be appeased, which, looking heavenward for a father’s face, see, as Richter expressed it, “only a death’s head with bottomless, empty sockets” instead of a loving smile.[19]

And what a field do the greater but equally false systems present for the study of the human mind and heart!  How was it that the simple nature worship of the Indo-Aryans grew into the vast deposit of modern Hinduism, and developed those social customs which have become walls of adamant?  How could Buddhism grow out of such a soil and finally cast its spell over so many peoples?  What were the elements of power which enabled the great sage of China to rear a social and political fabric which has survived for so many centuries?  How was it that Islam gained its conquests, and what is the secret of that dominion which it still holds?  These surely are questions worthy of those who are called to deal with human thought and human destiny.  And when by comparison we find the grand differentials which raise Christianity infinitely above them all, we shall have gained the power of presenting its truths more clearly and more convincingly to the minds and hearts of men.