The Design of this book is not to satisfy, but to stimulate, the interest of serious-minded people in its theme. There are many signs that the world is awaking to a renewed sense of the paramount importance or religion: men are thinking about it; and one of the best aids to right thinking is to know something of what has been thought in the past. Religion is an affair of growth or rather it is a life; and life cannot be understood unless it is followed through all its stages.