B1001 <=> B1003 (BTG XLII Beelzebub in America, p. 1002)

“’At the root of every new doctrine upon which religions are founded, dogmas are always to be found, which have been taken from earlier religions and which had already been well fixed in the life of the people.

“’And in this case, the saying is fully justified which has existed among people from of old – “there is nothing new under the sun.”

“’The only things new in these religious teachings, as I have said, are the small details, intentionally adapted by the great founders to the degree of mental perfection of the people of the given epoch. And so as the root of this same doctrine upon which the Christian religion is based there was placed almost the whole of the previously existing great teaching which is now called Judaism, whose followers once also numbered almost, as is said, half the “world.”

“’The great founders of the Christian religion, having taken the Judaic doctrine as their basis, changed only its outer details according to the degree of mental development of the contemporaries of Jesus Christ, and in it they effectively provided for everything necessary for the welfare of people.

“’Provision was made in it as is said both for the soul and for the body; and it even provided all the necessary regulations for a peaceful and happy existence. And this was all surpassingly wisely provided for in such a way that this religion might be suitable also for people of much later epochs.

“’Had the doctrine of this religion remained unchanged, it might even perhaps have suited these contemporary people, who, by the way, our Mullah Nassr Eddin defines by his expression, “He will blink only if you poke his eye with a rafter.”