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 have with the books of the Old Testament and those with Græco-Roman civilization. Thus the student will be able to ascertain what was the original spirit of the Christian revelation, what were its primitive and genuine elements, what were those which it derived from the religion of Israel, and what from the Hellenic civilization. Afterwards he will study the progress and rapid diffusion of the Christian religion by means of the Church, whether and how the Church continued the mission of Christ, whether and how it answers to the spiritual requirements of different peoples, whether and how it co-operates with their advance in civilization.

And if from all these researches he is able to show that the religious sentiment appeared in humanity at first under superstitious and imperfect forms—as all manifestations of physical, intellectual, and moral life were imperfect and primitive—and then, with the slow and