that which I have chosen,-a grouping according to subjects. The chief drawback of this plan has been pointed out by Professor Max Müller in his kindly review of this work in The Academy (Oct. 31, 1874). Naturally, it will appear odd and unsatisfactory to Oriental scholars to find writings widely divergent in time and ethnical origin quoted side by side, even though they relate to the same subject. But it was hardly possible to avoid this in a book such as I have aimed to produce. It was my hope to bring near to the home and to the assembly some of the great thoughts and solemn aspirations by which races and generations are linked each to each, and contribute something-though but a chapter-to the larger, the human Lectionary. To this end it is as necessary that the Old and New shall have their lessons brought together as for other ends it is necessary that they shall be distinguished.

I trust that the references in the Index may prevent confusion as to the origin of the citations. I must also express regret for my inability to make these references altogether satisfactory as regards the translators on whom I have mainly depended. The alterations which it was found necessary, for reasons already stated, to make in many of the pieces selected, forbade my assigning them to works where they cannot textually be found, and which are therefore only generally acknowledged in the List of Authorities. In

other cases the translations have been made especially for this work, or have been taken from MSS.such as those of H. H. Wilson-which have not been before printed in any English work. The readings being often compiled from passages taken from many different pages, could not be referred to any particular page. These are the chief reasons why I have been compelled reluctantly to supply but meagre information concerning some intermediate authorities in the margin, even after adding all that I could with any fairness in the present edition.

The same reasons which have prevented my attempting to arrange the materials of this book in any chronological order, have operated yet more strongly to restrain me from endeavouring to supply any estimate of their comparative character. It may well be questioned whether, amid the sectarian divisions of the globe, the man exists who can weigh the various religions of mankind with entire freedom from all bias derived from his own race or education; and, if that were possible, it would be still doubtful whether the materials for satisfactory generalisation exist in accessible forms. The seriousness of the awakened interest in the religious and moral development of the East has been especially manifested in the extent to which theoretical labels formerly attached to Oriental systems have disappeared. I believe there have been few who have set out from any

of the familiar classifications of religions-this more devout, that more moral, a third more intellectual,— but have found their lines of limitation confused at every step in real study of the subject. It must be a long time yet before any race can fully appreciate the degree to which the superiority or even the character attached to its own Sacred Books are the result of association and loyal feeling. The fact is,' says Professor Max Müller in his review of this book, 'that what we call the beauty or charm of any of the sacred books can be appreciated by those only whose language has been fashioned, whose very thoughts have been nurtured by them. The words of our own Bible cause innumerable strings of our hearts to vibrate till they make a music of memories that passes all description. The same inaudible music accompanies all sacred books, but it can never be rendered in any translation. To the Arab there is nothing equal to the cadence of the Koràn; to us even the best translation of Mohammed's visions sounds often dull and dreary. This cannot be helped, but it is but fair that it should be borne in mind as a caution against declaring too emphatically that nobody else's mother can be so fair and dear as our

own.'

If the scholar to whose splendid labours the learned owe the resuscitated text of the Rig-Veda, and the

people generally their awakened interest in the literature and religion of the East, shall be able to crown these labours with a realisation of his noble dream, -the translation of all sacred scriptures into the languages of Europe, we may hope that a secure foundation will have been laid for that comparative Science of Religion whose method must recognise the distinctive value of each, and whose promise is the evolution from all of the right Religion of Humanity.