Excerpt from Spiritism the Origin of All ReligionsIn presenting this little book to the public, I must ask the kind indulgence of the reader, for it has been the work Of my leisure hours, a recreation Of the mind from the dry details of law, which teaches us to deal with facts according to law, and to reason out its relations with the many con¿icting, interests of mankind. In trying to trace out the origin of these laws customs and usages, it has led me far back into the night of time, when man emerged from the obscurity of barbarism. Like the explorer of some great river, as he ascends he beholds the stream branching off into many little rivers, and they grow less and less, until at last he finds its source in some far-off mountain, fed by the melting of the snows or springs that gush from out the granite rocks.So it is' with law and religion, they both come from the invisible source the mind of man. One tea'ches him his relations to his fellow-man, and the other to his Creator, one relates to his social nature, the other to his moral and spiritual nature. They are closely allied and have much to do with each-other, the religious status of a people having had much to do in shaping their government and civilization. Where a liberal religion has prevailed the laws have partaken of its nature and the people prospered and were happy, when illiberal if has tyrannized over man and made him a slave to caste and priesthood.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.