44 SKETCHES OF GREAT TRUTHS

The study of the religions seems almost an
essential part of Theosophy, for man is largely
influenced by the religion in which he is born,
and the country in which he lives has built up
a certain line of religious thought. So long as
we take the religions of the world as something
separate in their growth and evolution, so long
•will Brotherhood be an impossibility.

For Brotherhood can only grow as we dis-
cover that which draws us together in a common
cause, a common thought or common ideal, as
we understand and study the customs which
largely have grown out of and from the religion
of the country. There could be no greater
barrier to Brotherhood than the lamer made
by the thought that any one religion is the only
religion, the one and only road to God. Every
religion has the same fundamental truths pre-
sented in different forms, if you like, to suit, as I
have said, climate, race and epoch. As time
passes, these truths get hidden by the outer
form or diverted by superstition which has
grown round them ; or possibly the priestcraft
has laid down laws of certain creeds and dogmas
which have been instrumental in hiding the
truth.

We find, for instance, the same symbols all
over the world. The bull sacred to Buddhism