on these
subjects in France, Germany, and England. He has read them, pen in hand,
and, at my urgent request, he has kindly allowed me to look over his
notes which have been long accumulating. I find the following sentence
in the manuscripts which he has shown me: "The general impression of
all the most distinguished mythologists of the present day is, that
monotheism is at the foundation of all pagan mythology."

The savants, I repeat, do not unanimously accept these conclusions:
savants, like other men, are rarely unanimous. It is enough for my
purpose to have shown that it is not merely the grand tradition
guaranteed by the Christian faith, but also the most distinctly marked
current of contemporary science, which tells us that God shone upon the
cradle of our species. The august Form was veiled, and idolatry with its
train of shameful rites shows itself in history as the result of a fall
which calls for a restoration, rather than as the point of departure of
a continued progress.

The august Form was veiled. Who has lifted the veil? Not the priests of
the idols. We meet in the history of paganism with movements of
reformation, or, at the very least, of religious transformation:
Buddhism is a memorable example of this; but it is not a return towards
the pure traditions of India or of Egypt which has caused us to know the
God whom we adore. Has the veil been lifted by reflection, that is to
say by the labors of philosophers? Philosophy has rendered splendid
services to the world. It has combated the abominations of idolatry; it
has recognized in nature the proofs of an intelligent design; it has
discerned in the reason the deeply felt need of unity; it has indicated
in the conscience the sense of good, and shown its characteristics; it
has contemplated the radiant image of the supreme beauty--still it is
not philosophy which has restored for humanity the idea of God. Its
lights mingled with darkness remained widely scattered, and without any
focus powerful enough to give them strength for enlightening the world.
To seek God, and consequently to know Him already in a certain measure;
but to remain always before the altar of a God glimpsed only by an
_elite_ of sages, and continuing for the multitudes the unknown God:
such was the wisdom of the ancients. It prepared the soil; but it did
not deposit in it the germ from which the idea of the Creator was to
spring forth living and strong, to overshadow with its branches a