Religion and war are the two great central facts of history. Around these two points cluster pretty much all that is worth knowing of the past. Religion gave birth to education; war led the way to civilization. The ritual of the ancient pagan worship necessitated an educated priesthood, and the temples of worship were monuments to the genius and skill of the times. During many ages man's highest faculties were developed in doing homage to that Being whose presence was everywhere felt, whose wisdom and justice in ordering the affairs of this world were everywhere acknowledged. The fragments of those masterpieces of pure taste and unrivaled architectural skill which still remain to us are eloquent tributes to the piety of the warlike races that reared them. All that is beautiful and chaste in music and painting, in poetry and the drama, we owe primarily to religion.
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