Page:The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind.djvu/73



advancement; but the real cause of their rapid progress and development is to be sought in that unifying force of religion as a principle of association which, under the existing conditions of the world, supplied some of the real needs of humanity. It is the absence or degeneration of all other institutions and organisations for the furtherance of the social, political, educational, and industrial interests of man, that necessitated the transformation of these religious associations into secular and military states. The origin of such a theocratic state out of a merely spiritual community has been exemplified in Indian history in the case of the Sikhs, who, rising as a peaceful sect for the discovery of the means of spiritual emancipation and