Civil history shows the savage state giving way to the semi-civilized, and that to the civilized.

If heathen religions are a step, a preparation for Christianity, then this law of degrees appears also in religion; then we see an order in the progress of the human soul,--"first the blade, then the ear, afterward the full corn in the ear." Then we can understand why Christ's coming was delayed till the fulness of the time had come.

But otherwise all, in this most important sphere of human life, is in disorder, without unity, progress, meaning, or providence.
These views, we trust, will be amply confirmed when we come to examine each great religion separately and carefully.

We shall find them always feeling after God, often finding him.

We shall see that in their origin they are not the work of priestcraft, but of human nature; in their essence not superstitions, but religions; in their doctrines true more frequently than false; in their moral tendency good rather than evil.