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for the traces of its thought which are to be found in the teachings of other faiths ; but even in the portions which have come down to us, it shows Itself, like the literature of Brahmanism, a mixture of diverse views and standpoints. Its mainly liturgical character, and the view presented in it of tlie supreme Deity, so far as a dualistic system can be said to have a supreme Deity, prevented it from spreading much beyond the region of its origin. The Mohammedan Koran is equally un- fitted to become the book of a universal religion. Like Confucianism, though in a difl'erent way, Islam is a foe to progress. ' Its ideas are bald and poor ; it grew too fast ; its doctrines and forms were stereotyped at the very outset of its career, and do not admit of change. Its morality is that of the stage at which men emerge from idolatry . . . its doctrine is after all no more than negative. Allah is but a negation of other gods. . . . He does not enter into humanity, and therefore he cannot render to humanity the highest services.'
Westcott, in an interesting article contributed to the Cam- bridge Cmnpanion to the B., distinguiBhea the sacred books of the pre-Chnstian ethnic religions from the OT Scriptiires under three heads. 1. They are unhistorical. ' In no case is the revelation or authoritative rule given in them represented as embodied and wrought out step by step in the life of a people. The doctrine is announced and explained, and fenced in by comment and ritual ; but it finds no prophets who unfold and apply the divine words to the varjing circumstances of national growth, which at ODce fix their application and illuminate their meaning,' 2. They are retrogressive. 'The oldest fiortions of the several collections of the Chinese, Indian, and Persian Scrip- tures are confessedly the noblest in thought and aspiration ; and, secondly, ritual in each case has finally overpowered the Btrivings after a personal and spiritual fellowship with God.' 3, They are partial. In their most complete form they may be said to be a Psalter completed by a law of ritual,' 'On the other hand, the B. contains ever}' element which the representa- tives of different races have found to be the vehicle of religicus teaching, and every element in its fullest and most fruitful form,'
If these features, we may add, are conspicuous on a com- parison with the OjT, the argument is strengthened when tbs NT is brought into view. There the highest reaches of doctrine and devotion are embedded in history ; there the culmination of all the divine progress is attained ; there in amplest measure are to be found the sources of man's purest ana highest life. And the B, thus completed suggests a point of distinction which perhaps does not belong to the OT alone. The ethnic Scriptures are essentially national, or at least racial ; they are bound by limits of place and time, the natural products* of the circum- stances in which they arose ; the II. may be admirably adapted to the needs of place and time, it alone appeals to man as man, and most man-ellously combines a truly historical character with an adaptability to be the religious guide and instructor of mankind. It has proved its power to travel and to speak to the hearts of men of varying countries and climes.
i. Revelation. — A usual feature of the sacred books we have been considering is the claim made by them, or onbehalf of them, that they are vehicles of a divine Revelation. The Cliinese alone do not claim that their books are inspired, though they regard them with a reverence as deep as anything connected with their religion calls forth. The tliree parts of tlie Veda, as we have seen, are dis- tinguished as S'ruti, ' revelation,' from the .Smriti, or ' tradition.' The Vedic hymns themselves were held to pos.se.ss supernatural powers, and were raised to the rank of a divinity. The Avesta had been, according to the Persians, communicated to Zara- thustra (Zoroaster) by Ahura, the good god, him- self. The Koran, according to the Moluimmedans, is an earthly copy of a heavenly original, which the angel of revelation made known to the iirophct during his ecstasies ; it was the subject or one of their greatest controversies whether the Koran as it stands, down to the very word and letter, was not uncreated and eternal, and free therefore from every possible imperfection. The motive of such concejitious lies upon the surface. If, on the one hand, it is man's way of expressing his boundless reverence for that which is ancient or of proved value, it is, on the other hand, due to the desire of feeling himself on solid ground in regard to the highest and most mysterious concerns of life, thosp
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which relate to the power above him and the future before him. Somewhat similar claims are made on behalf of the B. It also brings a revela- tion from God ; it also is an inspired book. Are all such claims equally futile ? because they are made on behalf of many books, are they true of none ? Such a conclusion would be obviously in- ept. If a revelation is necessary for man, and if it is in the highest degree unlikely that God would leave man without this necessary guidance, — points which we cannot fully discuss in this place, — it must be somewhere, and the fact that there are unfounded claims to its possession should stimulate the search for it, not lead to its abandonment. And these claims, if nothing more, are a pathetic confession of man's sense of helplessness in presence of the deeper problems of existence, of nis felt need for higlier guidance. Nor is it necessary to deny that the conviction so strongly held had a relative justification. A better and juster view of the religions of the world than that formerly entertained, leads us to see that in them also God was educating the world for Himself. In their higher phases, by means of their loftier spirits, a message was delivered to the nations, in which they were not \vrong in recognising His voice. In comparison %vith Christianity they may be classed as ' natural ' religions, but at least Got! was speak- ing in the worthier manifestations of the ' nature ' which He had made. We are prepared, therefore, rather than untitted by their study, to recognise in Christianity a divine revelation, and in the B. an inspired book, while the question of degree of In- spiration, and as to what Inspiration itself in- volves, is directly suggested by it.