This last is Christianity's own child. Other sciences, such as geography
and astronomy, may have been born among lands and nations outside of and
even before Christendom. Other sciences, such as geology, may have had
their rise in Christian time and in Christian lands, their foundation
lines laid and their main processes illustrated by Christian men, which
yet cannot be claimed by Christianity as her children bearing her own
likeness and image; but the science of Comparative Religion is the
direct offspring of the religion of Jesus. It is a distinctively
Christian science. "It is so because it is a product of Christian
civilization, and because it finds its impulse in that freedom of
inquiry which Christianity fosters."[2] Christian scholars began the
investigations, formulated the principles, collected the materials and
reared the already splendid fabric of the science of Comparative
Religion, because the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify
this. Jesus bade his disciples search, inquire, discern and compare.
Paul, the greatest of the apostolic Christian college, taught: "Prove
all things; hold fast that which is good." In our day one of Christ's
loving followers[3] expressed the spirit of her Master in her favorite
motto, "Truth for authority, not authority for truth.
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