tuitive clarity for the creation of a mutual under- standing. In view of the great diversity of the races of man and of their ways of life, it is only natural that this external form is quite different in different parts of the world, so that a large variety of religions have come into existence in the course of the ages. A common feature of all of them consists in the rather natural assumption of a personified or at least an anthropomorphic deity. This leaves room for the most diverse con- cepts of the attributes of God, Each religion has its own distinct mythology and also its own dis- tinct rituals, elaborate to the most minute details in the more highly developed religions. These are the source of certain interpretive symbols of re- ligious worship, which are capable of acting di- rectly on the imagination of the great masses, arousing their interest in religious matters and giving them a certain understanding of the deity. Thus, a systematic unification of mythological traditions and a strict observance of solemn ritual- istic customs invest the worship of God with an external symbolical form, and centuries of inces- sant observance and systematic education of gen- eration after generation increase the significance