Chapter X (2)

But this argument, inasmuch as it places the denial of all truth in the religious emotion on a level with its affirmation, fails to do justice to the real strength of the case. There are not here two contending beliefs, of which the one is as probable as the other. In conceding so much to the skeptical party we have given them a far greater advantage than they are entitled to demand. Generality of belief is, in the absence of evidence or argument to the contrary, a presumption of truth; for, unless its origin from some kind of fallacy can be shown, its generality is in itself a proof that it persists in virtue of the general laws of mind which forbid the separation of its subject from its predicate. And it is not only that we have here a general belief, or, more correctly speaking, a general emotion, but we have categories in the human mind which are not filled up or capable of being filled up by the objective element in the religious idea. There is, for example, the category of Cause; Nature presents us not with Cause, but with causes; and these causes are mere antecedents, physical causation in general being nothing whatever but invariable antecedents and invariable sequence. But this analysis of the facts of nature by no means satisfies the conception of causation which is rooted in the human mind. That conception imperiously demands a cause which is not a mere antecedent, but a Power. Without that, the idea would remain as a blank form, having no reality to fill it. And how do we come to be in the firm possession of this idea if there be nothing in nature corresponding to it? From what phenomena could it be derived? Akin to our notion of Cause is our notion of Force. When the scientific man speaks of a Force, he merely means an unknown something which effects certain movements. And Science cannot possibly dispense with the metaphysical idea of Force. Yet Force is not only unknowable; but it is _the_ Unknowable manifested in certain modes. Again, therefore, I ask, whence do we derive ineradicable feeling of the manifestation of Force, if that feeling be a mere illusion? Similar remarks apply to other categories which, like these, have no objects in actual existence in the conformity of the religious sentiment to truth be denied. Such is the category of Reality. Imagination cannot picture the world save as containing, though in its essence unknown to us, some real and permanent being. We know it only as a compound of phenomena, all of them fleeting, variable, and unsubstantial. There is nothing in the phenomena which can satisfy our mental demand for absolute being. As being transient, and as being relative, the phenomena in fact are nothing. But our intellectual, our emotional, and our moral natures demand the τό ὃντως ὄν—that which really is, as the necessary completion of τὰ φαινόμεα—that which only appears. And it is precisely the unshakeable belief in an unchangeable, though unknowable Reality; an everlasting Truth amid shifting forms, a Substance among shadows, which forms the universal foundation of religious faith.

A ship that has been driven from her intended course is drifting, with a crew who have no clear knowledge of her whereabouts, upon an unexplored ocean. Suddenly her captain exclaims that he sees land in the distance. The mate, however, summoned to verify the captain's observation, fancies that the black speck on the horizon is not land, but a large vessel. The sailors and passengers take part, some with the one, some with the other; while many of them form opinions of their own not agreeing with that of either, one maintaining it to be a whale, another a dark cloud, a third something else, and so forth. Minor differences abound. Those who take it to be land are at issue as to its being a plain or a mountain, those who think it a vessel cannot agree as to the description of the craft. One solitary passenger sees nothing at all. Instead of drawing what would appear to be the most obvious conclusion, that he is either more shortsighted or less apt to discover distant objects than the rest, he infers that his vision alone is right, and that of all the others, captain, passengers, and crew, defective and misleading. Oblivious of the fact that the mere failure to perceive an object is no proof of its non-existence, he persists in asserting not only that the speck seen in the distance, being so variously described, probably does not resemble any of the ideas formed of it on board the ship, but that there is no speck at all. Even the fact that the crews of many other ships, passing in this direction, perceive the same dim outline on the horizon, does not shake his conviction that it is a mere "idol of the tribe." Such is the procedure of those who deny the reality of the object of the religious idea. Instead of drawing from the diversity of creeds the legitimate inference that the Being of whom they severally speak is of unknown nature, they conclude, from the mere absence of the idea of that Being in their individual consciousness, that its very existence is a dream.

Lastly, a few words, and a few only, must be said in reply to those who will think that the cenception of the Unknowable resulting from our analysis is too vague and shadowy to form the fitting foundation for religious feeling. They will probably object that the Being whom that feeling requires is not an inconceivable Cause or Substance of the Universe, but a Personal God; not an undefined something which we can barely imagine, but a definite Some one whom we can adore and love. There is nothing, they will say, in such a conception as this either to satisfy the affections or to impress the moral sentiments. And both purposes were fulfilled by the Christian ideal of a loving Father and a righteous Judge.

To these objections I would reply, first of all, that I have simply attempted to analyze religion as I found it, neither omitting what was of the essence of the religious idea, nor inserting what was not. If this analysis is in any respect defective, that is a matter for criticism and discussion. But if it has been correctly performed—of which I frankly admit there is abundant room for doubt—then I am not responsible for not finding in the universal elements of religion that which is not contained within them. The expression found for the ultimate truths must embrace within it, if possible, the crude notions of deity formed by the savage, and the highly abstract ideal formed by the most eminent thinkers of modern times. Even then, if I myself held the doctrines of the personality and the fatherhood of God, I could not have required from others any admission of these views of mine as universal ingredients in religious faith. The utmost I could have done would have been to tack them on as supplementary developments of the idea of the ultimate Being. And thus it is still open to any one who wishes it to do. Difficult as it is to reconcile the ideas of Love and Justice with unlimited Power and absolute Existence, yet if there are some who find it possible to accomplish the reconciliation, it may be well for them so to do.[104] Undoubtedly, however, all such efforts do appear to me mere hankerings after an incarnation of that idea which, by its very nature, does not admit of representation by incarnate forms, even though those forms be moral perfections. And I would reply, secondly, to the above objection, that, while we lose something by giving up the definite personality of God, we gain something also. If we part with the image of a loving Father, we part also with that of a stern monarch and an implacable judge. If we can no longer indulge in the contemplation of perfect virtue, embodied in an actual Person, we are free from the problem that has perplexed theologians of every age: how to reconcile the undoubted evil in the world with the omnipotence of that Person. I know that there are some who think it possible to retain the gentler features in the popular conception of deity, while dropping all that is harsh and repulsive. To them the idea of God is as free from terror as the idea of the Unknowable, and the first of these gains is therefore no gain to them. But the problem of the existence of evil presses perhaps with greater severity upon them than upon any other class of theologians. To suppose that God could not prevent the presence of wickedness, or could not prevent it without some greater calamity, is to deny his omnipotence; to suppose that he could, and did not, is to question his benevolence. But even admitting the improvement made by purging from the character of God all its severity, its vindictiveness, and its tendency to excessive punishment, the fact remains that the conception thus attained is not that of the popular creed at all, but that of a few enlightened thinkers. And it is with the former, not with the latter, that the doctrine of the Unknowable must be compared, in order fairly to estimate its advantages or disadvantages in relation to the current belief in a personal God.

Moreover, it must be borne in mind that the dim figure we have shadowed out of an inconceivable and all-embracing ultimate Existence, if widely different from the more ordinary theological embodiments of the religious idea, is altogether in harmony with many of its expressions by the most devoutly religious minds. If religion has always had a tendency to run to seed in dogma, it has also always had a tendency to revert to its fundamental mysticism. The very best and highest minds have continually evinced this tendency to mysticism, and it has mixed itself up with the logical definitions of others who did not rise to so exalted a level. So that the examination of the writings of religious men will continually disclose that profound impression of the utterly incomprehensible and mysterious nature of the Supreme Being which is now, in its complete development in the form of Agnosticism, stigmatized as incompatible with genuine religious faith.

That tendency to be deeply sensible of the impossibility of conceiving the Absolute which Religion has thus evinced, it is the result of Science to strengthen and to increase. Science shows the imperfection of all the concrete expressions which have been found for the Unknowable. It proves that we cannot think of the Unknowable as entering in any peculiar sense into special objects in nature, dwelling in special places, or speaking through special channels. Miraculous phenomena, which were supposed to constitute the peculiar sphere of its manifestations, are thrown by Science completely out of the account. But all phenomena whatsoever are shown to manifest the Unknowable. Thus, while scientific inquiry tends to diminish the intensity of religious ideas, it tends to widen their extension. They do not any longer cling to partial symbols. They do not attach themselves with the same fervor to individual embodiments. But, in becoming more abstract, they become also more pervading. Religion is found everywhere and in everything. All nature is the utterance of the idea. And, as it gains in extension while losing in intensity in reference to the external world, it goes through a similar process in relation to human life. No longer a force seizing on given moments of our existence, at one moment inspiring devotional observances, at the next forgotten in the pleasures or the business of the day; at one time filling men with the zeal of martyrs or crusaders, at another leaving them to the unrestrained indulgence of gross injustice or revolting cruelty, it becomes a calm, all-pervading sentiment, shown (if it be shown at all) in the general beauty and spirituality of the character, not in the stated exercises of a rigorous piety, or in the passionate outbursts of an enthusiastic fervor.

But these considerations would lead me on to a subject which I had once hoped to treat within the boundaries of the present volume, but which I am now compelled, owing to the enlargement of the scheme, to postpone to a future time. That subject is the relation of religion to ethics. It may have struck some readers as an omission that I have said nothing of religion as a force inspiring moral conduct, which is the principal aspect under which it is regarded by some competent authorities. But the omission has been altogether intentional. It would take me a long time to explain what in my judgment has been the actual influence of religion upon morals in the past, and what is likely to be its influence in the future. Meanwhile I merely note the fact that this analysis professes to be complete in its own kind; that I have endeavored to probe the religious sentiment to the bottom, and to discover all that it contains. Thus, if religion be not only an emotion, but a moral force, it must acquire this character in virtue of the relation of its emotional elements to human character, not in virtue of the presence of ethical elements actually belonging to the religious emotion, and comprehended under it by the same indefeasible title as the sense of the Unknowable itself.

At present, however, I can attempt no answer to the objection which will no doubt be urged, that so abstract and cold a faith as that expounded here can afford no satisfaction to the moral sentiments. Indeed I must to a certain extent admit the reality of the loss which the adoption of this faith entails. There is consolation no doubt in the thought of a Heavenly Father who loves us; there is strength in the idea that he sees and helps us in our continual combat against evil without and evil within; there is happiness in the hope that he will assign us in another life an infinite reward for all the endurances of this. Above all, there is comfort in the reflection that when we are parted by death we are not parted for ever; that our love for those whom we have cherished on earth is no temporary bond, to be broken ere long in bitterness and despair, but a possession never to be lost again, a union of souls interrupted for a little while by the separation of the body, only to be again renewed in far greater perfection and carried on into far higher joys than can be even imagined here. All this is beautiful and full of fascination: why should we deny it? Candor compels us to admit that in giving it up with the other illusions of our younger days we are resigning a balm for the wounded spirit for which it would be hard to find an equivalent in all the repertories in Science, and in all the treasures of philosophy. Yet it must be borne in mind that every step from a lower to a higher creed involves a precisely similar loss. How much more beautiful was nature (as Schiller has shown us in his poem on the gods of Greece) when every fountain, tree and river had its presiding genius, when the Sun was driven by a divine charioteer, when the deities of Olympus intervened in the affairs of men to prevent injustice and to maintain the right. How cold and lifeless, nay, how profoundly irreligious, would our modern conception of the earth and the solar system have appeared to the worshiper of Poseidon and Apollon. And if the loss of the Christian as compared to the Pagan is thus great, how great also is the loss of the enlightened Protestant as compared to the ignorant Catholic peasant. What comfort must be found in the immediate intervention of the Virgin in answer to prayer, what security afforded by the protection of the local saint. Or again, how great the pleasure of contributing by our piety to the release of a friend from purgatorial torment, and of knowing that our friends will do us the same kindly service.

Even without contrasting such broad and conspicuous divisions of Christianity as these, we shall find enough of the same kind of difference within the limits of Protestantism itself. What mere intellectual conviction of a future state can vie with the consoling certainty offered by the Spiritualistic belief, that those whom we have lost on earth still hover around us in our daily course; sometimes even appear to us in bodily form, and converse with us in human speech. No mere hope of meeting them again can for a moment equal the delight of seeing their well-known shapes and hearing their familiar tones. Hence the Spiritualist has undoubtedly a source of comfort in his faith which more rational creeds can offer nothing to supply. But who that does not share it can envy them so baseless a conviction, so illusory a joy?

It is, in fact, the very condition of progress that, as we advance in knowledge and in culture, we give up something on the road. But it is also a condition that we do not feel the need of that which we have lost. Not only as we become men do we put away childish things, but we can no longer realize in thought the enjoyment which those childish things brought with them. Other interests, new occupations, deeper affections take the place of the interests, the occupations, and the affections of our early years. So too should it be in religion. Men have dwelt upon the love of God because they could not satisfy the craving of nature for the love of their fellow men. They have looked forward to eternal happiness in a future life because they could not find temporary happiness in this. It is these reflections which point out the way in which the void left by the removal of the religious affections should hereafter be supplied. The effort of those who cannot turn for consolation to a friend in heaven should be to strengthen the bonds of friendship on earth, to widen the range of human sympathy and to increase its depth. We should seek that love in one another which we have hitherto been required to seek in God. Above all, we should sweep away those barriers of convention and fancied propriety which continually hinder the free expression of affection, and force us to turn from the restrictions of the world to One towards whom there need be no irksome conformity to artificial regulation, and in speaking to whom we are under no shadow of reserve.

Were we thus permitted to find in our fellow creatures that sympathy which so many mourners, so many sufferers, so many lonely hearts, have been compelled to find only in the idea of their heavenly Father, I hesitate not to say that the consolations of the new religion would far surpass in their strength and their perfection all those that were offered by the old. Towards such increasing and such deepening of the sympathies of humanity I believe that we are continually tending even now. Meantime, while we are still far from the promised land, the adherents of the universal religion are not without a happiness of their own. Their faith is at least a faith of perfect peace. Untroubled by the storms of controversy, in which so many others are tossed about, they can welcome all men as brothers in faith, for all of them, even the most hostile, contribute to supply the stones of the broad foundation upon which their philosophy is built. Those therefore who contend against them, be it even with vehemence and passion, yield, them involuntary help in bringing the materials upon which their judgment is formed. No man can truly oppose their religion, for he who seems to be hostile to it is himself but one of the notes struck by the Unknowable Cause, which so plays upon the vast instrument of humanity as to bring harmony out of jangling sounds, and to produce the universal chords of truth from the individual discords of error. Scientific discoveries and philosophic inquiries, so fatal to other creeds, touch not the universal religion. They who accept it can but desire the increase of knowledge, for even though new facts and deeper reasoning should overthrow something of what they have hitherto believed and taught, they will rejoice that their mistakes should be corrected, and their imperfections brought to light. They desire but the Truth, and the Truth has made them free. And as in their thoughts they can wish nothing so much as to know and to believe that which is true, so in their lives they will express the serenity which that desire will inevitably bring. They are not pained or troubled because other men see not as they see. They have no vain hope of a unity of thought which the very conditions of our being do not permit. They aim not at conquering the minds of men; far rather would they stimulate and help them to discover a higher Truth than they themselves have been permitted to know. And as their action will thus be inspired with hope of contributing their mite to the treasury of human knowledge, well-being, and moral good, so their death will be the expression of that, peaceful faith which has sustained their lives. Even though torn away when, in their own judgment, they have still much to do, they will not repine at the necessity of leaving it undone, even though they are well aware that their names, which might have been illustrious in the annals of our race, will now be buried in oblivion. For the disappearance of a single life is but a ripple on the ocean of humanity, and humanity feels it not. Hence they will meet their end "sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust,"

"Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."

But the opposite fate, sometimes still more terrible, that of continuing to live when the joys of life are gone, and its purest happiness is turned into the bitterest pain, will be accepted too. Thus they will be willing, it need be, to remain in a world where their labor is not yet ended, even though that labor be wrought through suffering, despondency, and sorrow; willing also, if need be, to meet the universal lot—even though it strike them in the midst of prosperity, happiness, and hope; bowing in either case to the verdict of fate with unmurmuring resignation and fearless calm.

THE END.

INDEX.

Abhidharma-Pitaka, its metaphysics, 473-476

Abiogenesis, the theory of, 690;
its destined functions, 702

Abraham, a Hanyf, 195;
story of, 545-546

Acts, the book of, its value, 604;
review of, 604-617

Aditi, the godess, 437

Africa, burial rites in, 430;
divination in, 114;
ordeals in, 119

Africans, western, sacrifice among, 42;
drink-offerings among, 47

Agag hewn in pieces, 598

Age, a golden, traditions of, 538, 539

Agni, the god, 430

Agnosticism allied to mysticism, ii. 489

Ahab, his troubles, 598

Ahuna-Vairya, the, 503, 504

Ahura-Mazda, and Zarathustra, 182, 183;
the god of the Parsees, 185;
ancient worship of, 486, 487;
praise of, 487, 488;
rank and character, 489;
address to, 489, 490;
worship of, 490-492;
fire and water given by, 493;
questioned by Zarathustra, 497-504;
things which please and things which displease, 497, 498;
prescribes for medical training, 499;
the same as Ormazd, 505;
throughout the god of the Parsees, 508;
creates the world, 535

Aischylos, his conception of the commercial relation between gods
and men, 38

Akaba, the vow of the first and second, 188

Ali, sign at his birth, 226

Amatongo, sacrifice to the, 40

Amuzulus, sacrifice among the, 47
sneezing as an omen among, 111

Amos, his prophecy and history, 61;
conduct towards Amaziah, 573

Anâgâmin, the, 478, 479 (note)

Analysis, ultimate metaphysical, 464

Ananda and the Matangi girl, 285;
and Buddha, 134, 136

Ananias and his wife, story of, 607

Ancestors, worship of, in Fiji and among the Kafirs, 650, 651;
in Peru, 651.

Angekoks, the, consecration of, 100, 101

Apocalypse, the, its author, 634;
its style, 634;
compared with the "Pilgrim's Progress," 634;
its visions, 635, 636

Apollo, worship of, 38;
his sense of gratitude appealed to, 38;
oracle of the Clarian, 127

Âranyakas, the, 127

Arhats, the, rank of, 444, 445, 457, 458

Asceticism, various degrees of, 89;
in Mexico and Peru, 90-92;
rules of Chinese, 461

Ashem-Vohû, the, 503, 504

Asiti, the Rishi, the child and Buddha, 231

Asoka, the Buddhist king, 450, 451

Astrology, 118

Astrologers in Thibet, 144

Asvagosha, a Buddhist preacher, 122

Atharva-Veda-Sanhitâ, the, 426, 427

Atman, 661

Atmospheric currents, an illustration, 471

Automatism, apparent puzzle of, resolved, 464-466

Australia, burial rites in, 77

Babel, confusion at, 597

Balaam, treatment of, 597

Balaki, the Brahman, 446

Banshee, the Irish, 114

Baptism, a general religious rite, 58;
in Fantee, 59;
among the Cherokees, Aztecs, &c., 59;
in Mexico, 59;
in Mongolia and Thibet, 61;
among the Parsees, 61;
in the Christian Church, 61, 62;
meaning of the rite, 62, 63

Barabbas, 215, 216

Barnabas, and Paul in Antioch, 611;
taken for Zeus, 611;
separation, 613

Beatitudes, the, 350, 351

Beauty and Bands, allegory of, 573

Beliefs, necessary, vindication of, 678-680;
conditions of, 680;
example, 695, 696

Benfey, translation of the Sâma-Veda Sanhitâ, 425

Bhikshu, a defined, 95

Bhikshus and Bhikshunîs, the, 479

Bible, the, though above, yet among the sacred books of
the world, 369, 370;
forced interpretations of 379, 380;
mostly anonymous, 386;
style of, 389, 390

Birth, religious rites at, among savage nations, 57, 58;
in Mexico, 59, 60;
in Mongolia and Thibet, 61

Bodhisattva, 175-180;
in the womb, 225;
the nature of, 477, 478;
their sacrifice of Nirvâna, 478

Bogda, thaumaturgic powers of, 122

Books, sacred, all civilized nations nearly have, 370, 371;
Greeks and Romans without, 370;
list of, 370;
their external marks—recognized inspiration, 371, 372;
supposed merit of reading or repeating them, 372-375;
subjection to forced interpretations, 375-383;
internal marks—transcendental-subject-matter, 382-384;
authoritativeness, 384, 385;
general anonymity, 23-26;
formlessness, 385-389;
of the Chinese, 390-424;
seldom written by the authors of the religion, 413;
of India, 425-448;
of the Buddhists, 449-482;
necessity for, 449;
of the Parsees, 482-509;
of the Moslems, 500-520;
of the Jews, 518-603;
of Christianity, 604-641

Bo-tree, sanctity of, in Ceylon, 127
Buddha, under, 180, 181

Brahma, his incest, 600;
not worshiped, 405, 406;
and Brahm, 406, 407

Brahman, the caste, 183;
the supreme, 405

Brâhmanas, the, 379, 425, 426;
their character, 444, 445;
ritualistic appendages to the Vedas, 444, 445;
teaching of apologue, 445;
on a universal soul, 445, 446;
on the future of the soul, 447;
on patience, 447;
references to moral conduct, 448

Bread and wine in the Eucharist, virtue of, 135

Buddha, Gautama, a thaumaturgist, 122;
the tooth of, 124, 125;
preparation for his last manifestation, 170;
uncertain data to go upon for his life, 171;
when he lived, 172;
early asceticism, 172, 173;
abolishes caste, his theoretic, 217;
his four truths, 173;
the interpretation of these, 173;
his death, 274;
his chief disciples, 274;
spread of his religion, 274;
essential principles, 174, 175;
his blamelessness, 175;
the mythical twelve periods of his life, i. 176;
resolution to be born, 176;
choice of parents, 176;
his birth, 177;
various names of, 177;
adoration by an old Rishi, 178;
qualifies himself for marriage, 178;
enjoyment of domestic life, 179;
departure from home and assumption of the monastic character, 178;
temptations, 178;
his horse Kantaka, 178;
his penances, 180;
his triumph over the devil, 180;
becomes perfect Buddha, 180, 181;
turns the Wheel of the Law, 180;
his reception by kings, 180;
his first conversions, 180;
founds monastic institutions, 180;
enters Nirvâna, 449;
funeral rites, 181;
relics, 181;
aristocratic descent, 221;
gestation of, 224, 225;
signs at his birth, 226;
infant, recognized Simeon-wise by the Rishi Asita, 231;
his temptations in the wilderness, 231;
and the Matangi girl, 285;
compared with Christ, 242-344;
and the widow's mite, 342, 343;
and the cup of cold water, 344;
as a fisher of men, 344;
exalts humility and poverty, 345;
on divorce, 345, 346;
and Christ, 362-365;
his sayings collected, 343;
sects in the Church of 449;
extravagant adoration 458;
painting the picture of, 458, 459;
and the two condemned felons, 136-139;
central figure of Buddhism, 146;
successive manifestations, 476;
worship of, 477;
training of, 476, 478, 481;
disciples of, 480

Buddha Sakymuni, leaps into the fire, 58

Buddhas, the, Pratyeka, 478.

Buddhism, ascetic nature and rules of, 93-95;
fathers of, miracle workers, 121, 122;
goal of, 120;
its sacred canon, 449-451;
ten commandments of, 467;
boundless charity of, 468;
regard for personal purity, 469-471;
its four truths, 473;
Buddha its central figure, 476;
gods of, 476;
grades in, 478, 479;
morality of, 480-483;
five commandments of, 550;
not without a god, ii. 655-657.

Buddhists, 93-95;
antecedent to Buddhism, 95;
in India, 96, 97;
of Visvamitra, 96, 97

Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" compared with the Apocalypse, 366, 367

Caaba, the, 188-190.

Carlyle, Thomas, forestalled by Confucius, 167;
his "Everlasting No." 186;
on Mahomet, 192

Cause, the notion of, 484;
the known. See POWER.

Ceylon, religious observance in, 51;
festivals in, 53;
marriage in, 75, 76;
burial rites in, 78;
omens in, 112, 113;
divination in, 117;
the Bo-tree, 127.

Child, myth of the dangerous, 227-230

China, Emperor of, praying for rain, 36;
sacrifice in, 42;
divination in, 117, 118;
in the days of Confucius, 159;
official creed of, 391;
sacred writings of, 39;
authentic history of, remote, 403;
fate of the early Emperors of, as good or bad,
403-406;
its sages and kings, 405-407;
the "religiones licitæ" of, 413

Chinese, the, sacred books once nearly destroyed, 391;
their political doctrines, 394;
their ethics, 395, 396;
their loyalty to the heroes as heaven-appointed, 398, 399

Christ, Jesus, conceived necessity of his death, 47;
his appeal to miracles, 123;
divinity of, not found in the New Testament, 326, 327;
Mahomet's view of, 513, 514;
worship of, 665.
See JESUS.

Christians, the early, communists, 607;
first breach among, 608;
severe discipline of, 614

Christianity, fundamental conception of, 48, 49;
festivals of, 52;
ascetic spirit of early, 97;
ascetic development of, 98, 99;
powerless over the Jews since the death of Christ, 314, 315;
originally Judaic, 334;
its worship of Christ, 308;
its treatment of the Father and the Spirit, 309, 310

Christmas, a pagan festival, 53.

Church, the, necessary infallibility of, 152

Choo He, his criticism of preface to Chinese odes, 380, 381

Chow, the Duke of, on the favor of heaven, 406

Ch'un Ts'ëw, the, forced interpretation applied to, 376-378, 411;
its subject matter and authorship, 411-413;
opinions of Dr. Legge, 411-413,
of Mang, 411, 412;
extract, 412;
topics, 412

Chung Yung, the, authorship of, 394;
its doctrine of the "Mean," 394, 395;
its doctrine of virtue and heaven, 395, 396

Cicero on immortality, 688.

Circumcision, wide-spread practice of, 63;
among the Jews, 64;
of women among the Suzees and Mandingoes, 73, 74

Clement, quotation from, on second coming, 338, 339

Clergy, secular and regular, 100

Cobbe, Frances Power, 641

Coming, the second, apostolic doctrine on, 334-339.

Confucius, neither an ascetic recluse
nor a religious enthusiast, 158, 159;
regard for ritual, 159-201;
birth and early life, 159;
as a teacher, 159;
subject of his doctrines, 160;
refuses state endowments, 160;
chief magistrate of Loo, 160;
resignation 160;
death, 161;
character, 162;
wanting in the bold originality of the other reformers of
religion, 162;
charge of insincerity, 162;
his purity, 163;
his courteous manners, 164;
formal deportment, 165;
relations with his disciples, 165;
four virtues of which he was master, 166;
sense of a mission, 166, 167;
pain at being misunderstood, 167;
had no theological beliefs, 167;
lays all stress upon terrestrial virtues, 168;
had an esoteric doctrine, 169;
subjects on which he did not talk, 170;
minds not things too high for him, but is silent, 170;
summary of moral duties, 171;
moral perfection, 171;
doctrine of reciprocity, 172;
some of his sayings, 172, 173;
Carlylean utterances, 173;
Tsge-Kung's admiration for him, 173;
interview with and opinion of Laò-tsé, 174, 175;
ante-natal signs, 225;
his teachings similar to Christ's, 342;
doctrine of recompense, 354-357;
idea of perfect virtue, 361;
and Christ, 362-365;
on unseen spiritual beings, 395, 396;
left writings, 414

Confucianism the official creed in China, 391

Consciousness, its rise unaccounted for by material evolution, 705;
necessarily of spiritual evolution, 706, 707;
not by creation, nor from nothing, 707

Consecration, power of, among the Mongolians, 86;
among the Catholics, 86;
differs from sacrifice, 86;
permanence of, 87

Consecrated objects in Sierra Leone, 84;
among the Tartars, 84;
in Ceylon, 86;
value of, 86

Cornelius, conversion of, 328, 610

Creation of the universe, Hebrew account of 531-533;
account, of the Quichés, 533,
of the Mixtecs, 533, 534,
of the Buddhists, 534,
of the Parsees, 534, 535;
of the Rig-Veda, 535, 536;
of animals and man, Hebrew account, 536-538,
Fijian account, 538;
impossible, 707

Creeds, the error of, 709, 710

Cylinders, rotary, in Thibet, with sacred texts, 373, 374

Dakhmas, the, 79, 80

Daniel, the book of, 586, 587;
the prophet, 587, 588, 590

Darwinism, an epoch, 705

Death, rites at, in New South Wales, 77;
in Western Africa, 77, 78;
in Polynesia, 77;
in Mexico, 78;
in Ceylon, 77;
in Thibet, 88;
among Christians, 89, 90

Death-watch, the, in Scotland, 114

Debt a disqualification in Buddhism, 460

Delphi, oracle at, 126

Deluge, the, Hebrew account of, 541, 542;
other traditions, 243, 244;
Indian tradition, 244, 245;
the judgment by, 597

Demoniac possession in the days of Christ, 210, 211;
in Judea, Abyssinia, Polynesia, and Ceylon, 245, 246

Design, argument from, 711, 712

Destruction, impossible, 706

Devadatta, 481

Devas, the worship of, renounced by the Parsees, 490

Didron, M., on the Scriptural proof of the Trinity, 379;
on mediæval representations of the Father and the Son in the
Trinity, 665, 666

Disciples, the, rebuked by Christ for not casting out a devil, 244;
and Judaism, 328-341, 345

Disease, moral theory of, 141

Disease-makers in Tanna, 140

Divination a profession, 115;
in South Africa, 115;
from sticks and bones, 115, 116;
by familiar spirits, 116, 117;
among the American Indians, 117, 118;
among the Ostiacks, 118;
in China, 118, 119;
in Ceylon, 119;
by the stars, 120

Diviners, methods of, in Sierra Leone, 143;
in Mexico, 143;
among the Jews, 145

Divorce, Christ's doctrine of, 304;
Paul's doctrine of, 632

Dogs, Parsee respect for, 409, 500

Drake, Sir Francis, and his men, divine honors paid to, 256, 257

Dreams, presumed supernatural origin of, 106;
theory of, 107;
interpretation of, 107;
Jewish ceremony against bad, 107, 108;
in Scripture, 108, 109;
in Homer, 110;
horn and ivory gates of, 110

Dreams, Joseph's, as a main proof of the incarnation, 108

Dress, Buddhist rule for nuns, 467

Duty, Chinese definition of, 395

Easter, 55

Ebionite, the, a sect apart, 333;
their fate, 334

Ecclesiastes, the work of a cynic, 568;
account of, 569

Eddas, the Norse, 388

Ego, consciousness of the, 700

Elisha, an Amazulu, 556

Elohim, the, 663, 664

Epistles, the, of the New Testament, general burden of, 618, 619

Equilibrium of soul, Chinese definition of, 395

Essenes, the, 96

Essence, the ultimate, of Brahminism, 661, 662

Evil, origin of, Hebrew account of; 537, 538;
Buddhist account, 539, 540

Evolution theory, its dark spot, 705;
its great triumph, 706

Existence the course of evil, 474, 475;
at bottom, what? 702

Exorcism among the Jews, 212;
among the disciples of Christ, 213

Experience as a test of truth, 678, 679

Ezekiel the prophet and his prophecies, 582, 584

Faith and belief distinguished, 23;
and works, Scripture controversy on, 618, 619;
and belief, relations of, 709-711

Fasting as a religious rite, 55

Festivals, idea of, 52;
natural seasons of, 52;
in Guinea, China, &c., 53;
New Year's day in China, 53;
Christmas, 54;
among the Jews, 55;
three kinds of, 54, 55;
of Peruvians, 56

Fetish, idea of a, 132;
power to
charm, 133,
priests as healers, 141

Fire a sacred symbol, 56;
invocation of, 489;
Parsee worship, 494, 495

Force, persistence of, 672-677;
Herbert Spencer on, 677, 705;
the notion of, 717

Frashaostra, 183, 184

Fravashis, the, 493

Gadarene demoniac, the, i. 243

Gâthâ, the fifth, i. 182;
account of the first, ii. 487, 488;
the second, ii. 485, 486;
third, ii. 486, 487;
fourth and fifth, ii. 487, 488

Gâthâs, the five, antiquity of, ii. 484;
account of, ii. 485-490

Gentleness, Laò-tsé on, ii. 419

Ghost, the Holy, the Christian art, ii. 666, 667;
generally unworshiped, 668

God, personality of, not an essential element in religious belief, 719;
loss of personality of, a gain, 720

God of Israel, the, his imperious attitude, 590;
arbitrary conduct towards man in Paradise, 591, 592;
his command to Abraham, 592;
a Bramanical contrast, 592;
his favoritism for Abel, 593,
for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 594;
partizanship in delivering the Israelites from Egypt, 594,
and giving them Canaan, 594;
exacting and "jealous," 594;
anger and the calf idolaters, 595;
treatment of the Israelites in the wilderness, 594, 595;
capriciousness, 595, 596,
in the punishment by deluge, 596,
towards the builders of Babel, 596;
in regard to Balaam, ii. 596,
Nadab and Abihu, ii. 597,
the man that touched the ark, ii. 597,
his rejection of Saul, ii. 598;
preference for Samuel, 598;
treatment of Ahab, ii. 598;
his treatment of alien nations, 599;
his legislation, 600,
in regard to the Sabbath, 600,
idolatry, 600,
filial impiety, 600;
anthropomorphic conceptions of, 602, 603;
better elements in the ideal, 603, 604

God of Christendom, the, differs from the God of Israel, 636;
his worst action, 637;
the change accounted for, 637, 638;
no longer the God of a race, 638;
one blot on his character, makes punishment eternal, 638, 639;
step toward a milder view, Purgatory, 640;
recent still milder conceptions, 641

God the Father in mediæval art, 665, 666

God, belief in, as Father, 682;
as Son, 682, 683; as Spirit, 683

God among the Fijians, 650, 651;
the Negroes, 653, 654;
the Greenlanders, 654;
original Americans, 654, 655;
the great religions of the world, 655;
of Buddhism, and 653-657;
interior superior, 657

God, the highest, recognized amidst inferior, worshiped gods,
in Guinea, 657;
among the Kafirs, 657;
in Sierra Leone, 658;
in Dahomey, 658;
among the Ashantees, 658, 659;
in Mexico and Peru, 659;
in Sabaeism, 659;
among the Hindus, 659-664;
in Judaism, 664, 665;
in Christianity, 664-666;
various explanations of the idea of, 669,
of common realism, 670, 698,
of metaphysical realism, 671, 672, 698;
comparative estimate of these theories, 672, 673;
of moderate idealism, 673, 676, 698;
philosophical conclusion, 476, 477

Gods appealed to as men, 39, 40

Goethe, quotation, 415

Gopa, wife of Buddha, 177-179

Gospels, the, 199;
criticism of the narratives, 199-204;
discrepancies in regard to the genealogies, 218-220;
accounts of Christ's birth, 221, 222;
discrepancies regarding Christ's habitation, 239;
regarding the calling of his first disciples, 230, 231;
discrepancies about the sermon on the Mount, 243;
hopelessness of chronology, 243;
account of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, 253;
account of the fig-tree, 254;
accounts of Christ's annointing, 225;
accounts of Christ's betrayal by Judas, 240, 241;
accounts of Christ's last passover, 258, 259;
account of Christ's passion, 260, 261;
account of Christ's arrest, 261, 262,
of Jesus before the Sanhedrim, 262, 263,
of Jesus before Pilate, 263-265,
of the crucifixion, 265-267,
of the resurrection, 269-275;
account of Christ's lineage and birthplace, 295-298

Greece, gods of, 386

Groves, sacred, Africa and the South seas, 127

Habakkuk, the prophet, 579

Haggai, his prophecy, 585

Hanyfites, 550

Haoma, the plant, 46, 47

Harischandra, legend of, 246-249

Harmony, Chinese spiritual, 395

Haug, Dr, on the ages of the Vedas, 428, 429;
his translation of the Gâthâs, 482

Hea, decrees against the King of, 404, 405

Heaven and hell, Mahometan, 516, 517

Heaven, Chinese definition of, ii. 396

Hebrews, the, its teachings, as contrasted with that of James, 618-620

Hegira, the, 189

Here's conception of Hephaistos, 223

Hermits, Indian, 195

Herod and the birth of Christ, 227-229

Herod the Tetrarch, fate of, 611

Heu Hing, political economy of, 400

Hezekiah, and Isaiah, 550;
divine favor to, 557;
inglorious reign of, 558

Hilkiah, and his associates, and Josiah, 523-525

Hindus, ritual among the, 51;
festivals among the, 52-54

Hodgson, his discovery in Nepaul, 451

Homa, the god, 506-508

Homa-Yasht, the, 506

Homer, poems of, 388, 389

Horace, quotation, 418

Hosea, the prophet, 573

How-tseih, miraculous birth of, 224

Huran, prayer of a, 33

Hymns, Vedic, of cursing, 565, 566

Hysteria in Judea in the days of Christ, 210, 211

Ibos, sacrifice among the, 42

Idealism, its forms, 673;
moderate,
as a solution, 677-676;
extreme, 676

Idolatry, the crime of, among the Jews, 600

Immortality of the soul, not an article in either the Buddhist or
Jewish creed, 687;
the Greek and Roman philosophers on, 687, 688

Incas, the worship of, by images, 651

Indian, Nootka, prayer of, 32

Indra, his praises, 433;
his soma-drinking, 433;
the Indian Zeus, 433

Infallibility of the clergy, 153

Inspiration of sacred books, 311, 372;
among the Chinese, 380, 381

Instruction, Chinese definition of, 305

Interpretation, forced, of sacred books, 375-383

Isaac, the sacrifice of, an Indian parallel to, 545-548

Isaiah quoted to prove Messiahship of Christ, 297-299;
53d as a prophecy of Christ, 299;
his rank as a prophet, 517;
dates of his prophecies, 518;
earliest stratum of his prophecies, 518;
contrast with Joel, 519;
on the Jerusalem ladies, 519;
second part, 519;
accepts the divine call, 520;
third part, 520;
fourth part, 520, 521;
fifth, sixth, and seventh parts, 521;
vision of the future, 521

Jacob, his bargain with Jehovah, 39;
his conduct to Esau, 594

Jahveh, the holy name, 664

James, the Epistle of, its teaching contrasted with that of the
Hebrews, 619, 620

Jehovah, his praises in the Psalms, 38;
and Adonia, 663, 664

Jeremiah, the prophet, 579;
his call 579, 580;
denunciatory prophecies, ii. 580, 581;
and Pashur, 581;
analysis of his prophecies, ii. 581, 582;
lamentations of, 583

Jesus Christ, the historical (see CHRIST), difficulties in regard to
materials for his life, 199;
compared with the mythical, and the ideal, 200;
his sayings credibly reported, 201;
criticism of his doings, 202;
further tests applied, 202-204;
his parents and family, 204-206;
his mother, 205;
birth at Nazareth, 206;
originally a carpenter, 207;
influence of John the Baptist, 206, 207;
comes forth a Messiah, 207;
boldly asserts his claim, 207;
his early disciples, the three most intimate, 207, 208;
female followers, 209;
his own family and neighbors unfriendly to his mission, 208, 209;
his public teaching, 209;
state of Judea at the time, 209, 210;
casts out devils, 210, 211;
his sermons and parables, 212;
authority as a teacher, 212, 213;
offends the Jews by forgiving sin, 213;
disregard of Sabbatical customs, 213;
claiming Messiahship, 213, 214;
abusing his enemies, 214;
violent conduct in the Temple, 214;
his betrayal and apprehension, 214;
accusation and trial, 215, 216;
the witnesses and his defense, 215, 216;
his condemnation, 216;
before Pilate, 216;
crucifixion, 216;
interment, 216

Jesus, of the Gospels, indifference to alleged lineage and
birthplace, 294;
believed to be of Nazareth, 296;
misapplies a prophecy to himself, 298, 299;
and the Jewish Sabbath, 301, 302;
offense taken at the company he kept and free living, 302;
his neglect of the tradition of the elders, 303;
views of divorce, 304;
on paying tribute, 304, 305;
and the Sadducees in regard to the future state, 305-307;
two chief commandments, 307;
on the denunciation of the Scribes, 408, 409;
provokes opposition, 409;
expulsion of the money-changers, 409, 410;
defense of his conduct, 410, 411;
gives offense to the Sanhedrim, 312;
before the Sanhedrim, 312;
before Pilate, 313;
his faith in his Messiahship, 316;
conscious of being son of God, 316, 317;
comparative modesty of the claim, 317;
asserted inferiority to the Father, 318;
his relation to the law, 319, 320;
his mission confined to the Jews, 320, 321;
his idea of his mission his one thought, 321-326;
his warning to his disciples to be ready, 321-323;
his idea of his kingdom, 323;
his one qualification for admission, 324;
his kingdom to be on earth, 325;
Peter's confession of, 327;
doctrine of his divinity not found in the New Testament, 327;
not thought to have a design of subverting the Mosaic law, 328;
modern laudation of, 339;
materials for criticism, 339, 340;
his fondness for contrasts, 340, 341;
his resemblance to Laò-tsé, 344;
aversion to wealth and wealthy men, 446, 447;
his doctrine in regard to invitations to feasts, 448;
parable of the laborers in in the vineyard, 449;
his assertion of eternal punishment, 350;
his false estimate of the power of prayer, 349;
his sermon on the Mount, 450-462;
his doctrine of murder, adultery, and perjury, 451, 452;
of resisting evil by doing good, 452, 453;
his model prayer, 356, 358;
on the superiority of heavenly to temporal interests, 358-461;
founder of scientific ethics, 360;
as a prophet, compared with Buddha and Confucius, 362-364;
compared with Socrates, 464, 465;
his transcendent moral grandeur, 366;
as a man of sorrows, 366-368

Jesus Christ, Mahomet's view of, 513, 514

Jesus, the ideal, of St. John, peculiarities of the narrative, 277-288;
improbabilities, 288;
raising Lazarus, 288-291;
at the marriage feast, 279, 280;
heals by a word, 282;
at the pool of Bethesda, 282;
interviews with Nathaniel, &c., 280, 281, 283;
symbolic teachings, 281-283;
last discourse to his disciples, 283;
as the Logos, 283, 284;
Oneness with God, as his father, 284;
last days and moments, 286, 287

Jesus, the mythical, the accounts of, 216, 217;
variety of these, 217;
the genealogies, 217-221;
conception and nativity, 221-223;
mythological parallels, 223-226;
mediæval painting of, in the womb, 225;
recognition by the shepherds, 226, 227;
by the Magi, 227;
and Herod, 227, 228;
a
dangerous child, 228-230;
circumcision, 230;
recognized by Simeon, 231;
by Anna, 231;
in the Temple, 232-233;
called a Nazarene, 234;
his baptism, 234, 236;
message from John the Baptist, 236;
temptation, 237;
comes to Capernaum, 238;
reasons for leaving Nazareth 238, 239;
reception in Nazareth as a preacher, 239;
has an abode, 239;
no ascetic, 240;
in comfortable circumstances, 240;
collects followers, 240, 241;
calls Peter, 241;
calls Matthew, 241;
appoints twelve, 241;
his four select, 241, 242;
works miracles, 242;
sermon on the Mount, 242, 243;
heals the Gadarene demoniac, 243;
expels a devil, and rebukes his disciples for their want of
faith, 244;
heals the Syrophenician damsel, 244, 245;
heals a leper, 246;
a paralytic, 246;
raises Jarius' daughter, 246, 248;
heals a woman with an issue of blood, 248;
the centurion's servant, 248, 249;
heals a deaf mute, 250;
heals a blind man, 250,
ten lepers, 250;
raises the widow's son, 250;
miraculously feeds a multitude, 250;
walks on the water, 251;
stills the storm, 251;
his transfiguration, 251, 252;
foretells his crucifixion and resurrection, 253;
triumphal entry into Jerusalem, 253, 254;
blasts the fig-tree, 254;
purges the temple, 254;
last anointing, 254;
betrayal by Judas, 257;
keeps his last passover, 258;
institutes the supper, 259;
washes his disciples' feet, 260;
in Gethsemane, 260;
arrest, 261;
before the Sanhedrim, 261, 262;
before Pilate, 262-265;
before Herod, 264;
mockery, 265;
crucifixion, 265-267;
last words, 267;
wonders accompanying his death, 267;
his burial, 268, 269;
resurrection, 269-273;
ascension, 275

Jews, sacrifices among the, 42-44;
prayers, 50;
festivals of, 52, 53;
passover among, 55;
rite of circumcision among, 64;
historical result of their rejection of Christ, 287, 288;
unjust treatment, 289;
consideration in extenuation, 289;
their provocations, 290, 291;
credulity
of skepticism in regard to Messianic pretensions, 292;
justification of their Messianic expectations, 293-294;
excusable ignorance as to Christ's lineage, 295, 296;
and their own prophecies, 296-299;
treatment of Christ's miracles, 299;
their esteem for the Sabbath law, 300, 301;
their offense at Christ for his disregard of ceremonial
observance, 300-303;
their right to interrogate Christ, 303;
question to Jesus about tribute, 304, 305;
just offense, as monotheists, at Christ, 313;
and Christianity, 314-316;
justification of their rejection of Christ, 315;
identified with their Bible, 162;
settlement in Judea, 162, 163;
under kings, 163;
in captivity, 163;
epoch in their history, 163;
their national god, 164-166;
early creed not monotheistic, 166;
idolatry, 167;
not Jehovistic, only the priests, 167, 169;
effects of the captivity, 170-172;
under the Maccabees, 173;
their pride and intolerance, 133, 173;
under the Asmoneans and the Herods, 173;
under the Romans, 174;
in Christendom, 175;
their toughness, 175.

Job, story of the book of, 563, 564

"Jocelyn," Lamartine's, 102, 103

Joel, his prophecy, 571;
Isaiah, 575

John, Baptist, asceticism of, 96, 206, 207;
baptizes Christ, 235;
message from prison to Christ, 336;
Christ's estimate of, 336

John, Gospel of, silence about miraculous conception, 221;
account of Christ's baptism, 235;
account of the crucifixion, 268;
on Christ's Divinity, 327, 328;
its value in evidence, 328

John, the apostle, the beloved disciple, 281;
his Gospel, its fondness for symbolic speech, 281, 282;
for obscure theological questions, 383, 384;
doctrine of the Logos, 384, 385;
his Gospel as regards Christ's birthplace and lineage, 294, 295

John, the three epistles of, 620, 621

Jonah, book and story of, 586, 587

Jongleurs, the, in New France, installation of, 601

Jordan, crossing the, an Indian parallel, 553

Joseph, the father of Jesus, 204, 218, 221, 229, 233

Josiah, Jehovistic _coup d'état_ under, 523, 525

Judas, his betrayal of Jesus, 214;
slander against, 255;
betrays Christ, 263;
myth of his unhappy end, 257, 258;
charged with his intended crime at the last supper, 258, 259;
arrest of Christ, 261, 263

Judaism, antagonism to asceticism, 96;
of John the Baptist, 97;
tendency of Christianity to encourage, 97;
idea of, 98;
Protestant disregard of, 99;
and Christianity, 328;
and the apostle Paul, 330, 331;
and the early Church, 334

Kafirs, prayer of, 34;
sacrifice among the, 42, 43;
sneezing an omen among, 110;
other omens among, 112

Kama, burning of, 55;
invoked to curse, 566

Kantaka, horse of Buddha, 179

Karma, the, of Buddhist ethics, 481

Kava-Vistaspa, 183, 184

Keightley, data from, on saint worship in England, 668

Khadija, the first wife of Mahomet, 187;
her relations with the prophet, 187;
her death, 180

Khorda-Avesta, the, 502-509;
its use, 502;
subject-matter and date, 503

King, the meaning of the term, 391;
the five, 391, 392

Kingdom of heaven, Christ's idea of, 321-324;
Paul's, 335;
Peter's 336

Koran, style of, 194, 378-389;
the staple of, 198;
the single authorship and unity of, 510;
apology for its style, 510;
translations, 510;
origin and formation of, 510;
original copy, 511;
arrangement, 511;
themes, 511, 512;
specimens, 512;
its paradise, 517;
its hell, 517

Korosi, his discovery, 451

Kosti, investure with the, 74

Kronos, his dread of his children, 229

Kunâla, legend of, 481

Kyros, a dangerous child, 230

Lady, a pious, 460

Laò-tsé, probable date of birth, 168;
admonition to Confucius, 168;
account of himself, 168;
resembled Plato's philosopher, 169;
his style similar to Christ's, 340;
the Christianity of, 353;
left writings, 413;
description of Tao, 414;
conception of goodness, 418;
on gentleness, 419;
against luxury, 419;
has three cardinal virtues, 420;
mysticism, 420;
conception of God, 421, 422;
his character and teaching, 422

Lazarus, story of, peculiar to John's Gospel, 255;
his resurrection, 347, 348

Lazarus and Dives, 344, 347, 350

Legge, Dr. James, his Chinese classics, 390;
his opinion of the authorship of Ch'un' Tsew, 59

Legislation, Hebrew, 600-603

Libations in sacrifice, 47;
in Tartary, Samoa, Thibet, &c., 47

Life, vital forces, Indian apologue, 445, 446

Linga, the, worship of, 54

Lucretius on immortality, 688

Luke, his genealogy of Jesus, 218-221;
account of miraculous conception and birth, 222, 223;
account of the shepherds, 226, 227;
account of Christ's infancy, 230;
discrepancies with Matthew, 233-236;
his free spirit, 232;
account of the call of Peter, 241;
version of the sermon on the Mount, 243;
account of lunatic boy, 244;
his partiality for angels, 252;
accompanies Paul, 257

Lun Yu, the, date of, 392;
subject matter, 392;
its Boswellian minuteness of detail, 392

Luxury, Laò-tsé on, 419

Magi and the birth of Christ, 228-230

Mahomet, pretensions of, to the supernatural, 122;
the last of the great prophets, 186;
his religion self-derived, 187;
his parents and birth, 187;
his original social position, 187;
marries Khadija, 187;
his first revelation, 187;
passes through the period of the "Everlasting No." 187;
Gabriel his guardian angel, 187;
first disciples,
187;
his doctrines provoke persecution, 187;
his momentary relapse into idolatry and repentance, 188;
persecution of his family, 188;
binds by a vow pilgrims from Medina, 188;
his flight to Medina, 189;
success there, 189;
war with Mecca, 189;
truce with the Meccans, 190;
summons crowned heads to submit to his religion, 190;
first pilgrimage to Mecca, 190;
enters Mecca in triumph, 191;
proclamation to the inhabitants, 192;
final triumph and death, 191;
his character an open question, 192;
his sincerity, 193-195;
sense of inspiration, 193;
time-serving withal, 193;
inspired poetic style, 193;
his predecessors, 195;
his sources of information, 195;
takes to the sword, 195;
conduct to the Jews, 195, 196;
his weak point, 196, 197;
his harem, 197;
his marriages, 198;
his jealousy, 198;
triumph of his religion, 199, 200;
aristocratic descent, 221;
ante-natal intimations of his greatness, 226;
the infant recognized by his grandfather, 231;
his awe under the new revelation, 512;
his stock-in-trade, 513;
view of his prophetic function, 513;
prophets acknowledged by, 514;
views of Christ, 514, 515;
of himself, 516, 517;
address of God to, 516

Malachi on sacrifices to God, 44;
prophecies of, 586, 587