,gita and ,gospel ,,gita ,,and ,,gospel4 ,,by ,,neil ,,alexander4 ,calcutta ,,thacker1 ,,spink ,,co4 #aijc4 ,,calcutta3 ,,printed ,,by ,,thacker1 ,,spink ,,and ,,co4 ,,table ,,of ,,contents4 ,chap4 ,i4--,,what ,,is ,,the ,bhagavadgt8 4 4 4 #a ,chap4 ,,ii4--,,plato',s ,,just ,,man 4 4 4 #ba ,chap4 ,,iii4--,,the ,,servant ,,of ,,jehovah 4 4 4 #bf ,chap4 ,,iv4--,,virgil',s ,,new ,,age ,,of ,,justice ,,and ,,peace #cf ,chap4 ,v4--,,jesus ,,of ,,nazareth 4 4 4 #da ,,appendix4--,,neo-,,krishna ,,literature 4 4 4 #fg ,,abbreviations4 ,,amalnerkar3 ,amalnerkar1 ,priority of the ,vedanta-,sutras over the ,bhagavadgt4 ,,bose1 ,h4 ,c43 ,bose1 ,hindu ,civilization under ,british ,rule4 ,,deussen3 ,deussen1 ,sechzig ,upanishad's des ,veda4 ,,dutt1 ,c4 ,a4 ,i43 ,dutt1 ,civilization in ,ancient ,india4 ,g43 ,the ,gt4 ,,garbe3 ,garbe1 ,the ,philosophy of ,ancient ,india4 ,,gough3 ,gough1 ,the ,philosophy of the ,upanishads4 ,,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i43 ,hopkins1 ,the ,religions of ,india4 ,,hopkins1 ,g4 ,e4 ,i43 ,hopkins1 ,the ,great ,epic of ,india4 ,,kaegi3 ,kaegi1 ,the ,rigveda 7,arrowsmith's translation74 ,,kidd1 ,p4 ,w4 ,c43 ,kidd1 ,principles of ,western ,civilization4 ,,krishnacharitra3 ,bunkim ,chundra ,chatterji1 ,krishnacharitra1 fourth edition4 ,,macdonell3 ,macdonell1 ,sanskrit ,literature4 ,,mommsen3 ,mommsen1 ,history of ,rome4 ,,monier-,,williams3 ,monier-,williams1 ,brahmanism and ,hinduism4 ,m,,ller1 ,a4 ,s4 ,l43 ,mller1 ,ancient ,sanskrit ,literature1 second edition4 ,m,,ller1 ,s4 ,s4 ,i4 ,p43 ,mller1 ,six ,systems of ,indian ,philosophy4 ,s4 ,b4 ,e43 ,the ,sacred ,books of the ,east4 ,,sch,,rer1 ,h4 ,j4 ,p43 ,schrer1 ,history of the ,jewish ,people in the ,time of ,jesus ,christ4 ,,seal3 ,brajendra ,nath ,seal1 ,comparative ,studies in ,vaishnavism and ,christianity4 ,,telang3 ,telang1 ,the ,bhagavadgt1 c4 7,sacred ,books of the ,east1 vol4 ,,viii47 ,,weber1 ,i4 ,l43 ,weber1 ,indian ,literature4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,what ,,is ,,the ,,bhagavadgita8 ,in the whole literature of the world there are few poems worthy of comparison1 either in point of general interest1 or of practical influence1 with the ,bhagavadgt4 ,it is a philosophical work1 yet fresh and readable as poetry2 a book of devotion1 yet drawing its main inspiration from speculative systems2 a dramatic scene from the most fateful battle of early ,indian story1 yet breathing the leisure and the subtleties of the schools2 founded on a metaphysical theory originally atheistic1#a yet teaching the most reverent adoration of the ,lord of all3 where shall we find a more fascinating study8 ,then its influence on educated ,india has been and still is without a rival4 ,everybody praises the ,upanishads1 but very few read them2 here and there one finds a student who turns the pages of a ,stra or looks into ,sankara or ,rmnuja1 but the most are content to believe without seeing4 ,the ,gt1 on the other hand1 is read and loved by every educated man4 ,nor is there any need to apologize for this partiality3 the ,divine ,song is the loveliest flower in the garden of ,sanskrit literature4 ,for the ,western mind also the poem has many attractions4 ,the lofty sublimity to which it so often rises1 the practical character of much of its teaching1 the enthusiastic devotion to the one ,lord which breathes through it1 and the numerous resemblances it shows to the words of ,christ1 fill it with unusual interest for men of the ,west4 ,but while it has many points of affinity with the thought and the religion of ,europe1 it is nevertheless a genuine product of the soil2#b indeed it is all the more fit to represent the genius of ,india that its thought and its poetry are lofty enough to draw the eyes of the ,west4 ,what1 then1 is the ,gt8 ,can we find our way to the fountain whence the clear stream flows8 ,a4 ,when the dwelling-place of the ancient ,aryan tribes was partly on the outer1 partly on the inner1 side of the ,indus 7primeval patronymic of both ,india and her religion71 and the tribesmen were equally at home on the farm and on the battlefield1 then it was that the mass of the lyrics that form the ,rigveda were made4 ,we need not stay to set forth the various ways in which this unique body of poetry is of value to modern thought4 ,for us it is of interest because it gives us the earliest glimpse of the religion of the ,indo-,aryans4 ,that religion is polytheistic and naturalistic4 ,the ,vedic hymns laud the powers of nature and natural phenomena as personal gods4 ,they praise also1 as distinct powers1 the departed fathers4 ,such is undoubtedly the general character of the religion of that age4 ,on the other hand1 the hymns to ,varuna bring us very near monotheism indeed4#c ,it is1 however1 only at a later period when the ,aryan conquest had moved out of the ,punjab to the ,south and ,west1 and just on the eve of the formation of the ,rigveda as a collection of religious hymns1 that we find the beginnings of philosophic speculation4#d ,a few hymns1 chiefly in the tenth ,mondol1 ask questions about the origin of the universe1 and venture some naive guesses on that tremendous subject4 ,some of the hymns#e take for granted the existence of primeval matter1 and ask how or by whom it was transformed into a cosmos4 ,in others#f there is more monotheistic feeling1 and a ,creator1 either ,hiranyagarbha or ,visvakarman1 is described4 ,in others#g the strain of thought is agnostic4 ,b4 ,with the collection of the hymns of the ,rigveda we pass into a new and very different period1 the literature of which is altogether priestly4 ,to this age belong the two great sacerdotal manuals1 the ,smaveda#h or ,chant-book1 and the ,yajurveda#i or ,sacrifice-book1 and those extraordinary collections of priestly learning1 mythology and mysticism1 the ,brhmanas4#aj ,these books introduce us to changed times and changed men1 to new places and a new range of ideas4 ,the fresh poetry of the youth of ,india has given place to the most prosaic and uninteresting disquisitions in the whole world4#aa ,the home of this literature is the great holy land of ,brahman culture1 stretching from the ,sutlej on the ,west to the junction of the ,jumna and the ,ganges at ,prayga4#ab ,in this period the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul first appears4#ac ,c4 ,the ,aranyakas#ad and ,upanishads#ae place before us a further development of ,indian religion4 ,reflection led to the perception of the great truth1 that the kernel of religion is not the ritual act but the heart of piety behind it4 ,many a man who had found the endless formul and the showy ceremonial of the sacrifice a serious hindrance to real religion1 sought refuge from the noise and distraction of the popular cult in the lonely silence of forest or desert4 ,to run over the sacrifice in one's own mind1 they reasoned1 was as acceptable to the gods as to kill the horse or to pour the ghee upon the altar fire4 ,but they soon reached the further position1 that for the man who has attained ,,true ,,knowledge sacrifice is altogether unnecessary4 ,for knowledge of the world-soul emancipates a man from the chain of births and deaths and leads to true felicity4 ,the main purpose1 thus1 of the ,upanishads1 is to expound the nature of the world-soul4 ,their teaching is by no means uniform4 ,not only do the separate treatises differ the one from the other2 contradictory ideas are frequently to be met with in the same book4 ,they all tend to idealistic monism2 they all agree in identifying the soul of man with the world-soul2 but on the questions1 whether the latter is personal or impersonal1 how spirit and matter are related1 and how the human soul will join the divine soul after death1 there is no unanimity4#af ,there is thus no speculative system to be drawn from these books4 ,those of their ideas that are held with settled1 serious conviction1 are taught rather dogmatically than philosophically2 and1 on the other hand1 where there is freedom of thought1 there is rather a groping after the truth than any definite train of illuminative reasoning4 ,yet this occasional1 conversational1 unconventional character gives these simple and sincere treatises their greatest charm1 and fits them for that devotional use to which so many generations of pious readers have put them4 ,to this early period there belong only the first great group of prose ,upanishads1 the ,brihadranyaka1 ,chndogya1 ,taittirya1 ,aitareya1 ,kaushtaki and parts of the ,kena4#ag ,d4 ,in bold contrast to this unsystematic meditation on the ,eternal ,spirit there stands out the severe1 clear-cut1 scientific system of ,kapila1#ah the first ,indian thinker who dared to trust the unaided human mind4 ,buddhist tradition recognizes that he preceded ,buddha1 and connects him with ,kapila-vastu1 the birth-place of ,buddha1 the site of which was discovered as recently as ,december #ahif4ai ,he drew a sharp distinction between matter and spirit and declared both to be eternal1 without beginning and without end4 ,the material universe develops in accordance with certain laws out of primeval matter1 prakriti4 ,spirit1 on the other hand1 exists as an indefinite number of individual souls1 each eternal4 ,there is no supreme divine spirit4 ,the value of this system lies chiefly in its severely logical method1 which demands that all reasoning shall proceed from the known elements of experience4 ,it has exercised a very great influence on ,indian thought1 partly by its method1 but still more perhaps through its cardinal ideas1 the eternity of matter1 the eternity of individual souls1 the three gunas1 the great cosmic periods1 and kaivalya1 i4 e41 the attainment of salvation through the separation of the soul from matter4 ,this great system is known by the name ,snkhya1 i4 e41 enumeration1 seemingly on account of the numbering of the twenty-five tattvas1 or principles1 which it sets forth4#bj ,such is the ,snkhya system2 but it would be dangerous to affirm that the whole came from ,kapila2 for no treatise written by him has come down4 ,the earliest systematic manual of the philosophy extant to-day is the ,snkhya-,krik of ,isvara-,krishna1 which dates from the early ,christian centuries4#ba ,e4 ,shortly after the ,snkhya system1 and in close dependence upon it1 there appeared ,buddhism and ,jainism2 but as these great religions exercised no very definite influence on the main stream of ,indian thought for several centuries1 we shall not linger over them4 ,f4 ,we notice next the second great group of ,upanishads1 the ,katha1 ,is1 ,svetsvatara1 ,mundaka1 ,mahnryana1#bb which are all written in verse4 ,that this group is later than the great prose ,upanishads is abundantly clear from the changed form as well as from the more developed matter4 8,as contrasted with the five above-mentioned ,upanishads with their awkward ,brhmana style and their allegorical interpretations of the ritual1 the ,katha ,upanishad belongs to a very different period1 a time in which men began to coin the gold of ,upanishad thought into separate metrical aphorisms1 and to arrange them together in a more or less loose connection40#bc ,further signs of their belonging to another stage of thought are their references1 more or less clear1 to the ,snkhya and ,yoga philosophies1#bd and their tendency to adopt the doctrine of ,grace1#be i4e41 that salvation is not a fruit of true knowledge1 but a gift of ,god4 ,the idea of ,bhakti1 which became afterwards so popular1 appears in this group of ,upanishads only once4#bf ,here also for the first time in ,sanskrit literature the word ,snkhya occurs as the name of a system4#bg ,but while these five metrical treatises are clearly later than the prose ,upanishads1 scholars are not agreed on the question of their relation to the great systems4 ,some#bh hold that the ,katha is earlier1 others#bi that it is later1 than ,buddhism2 ,weber#cj believes that the ,svetsvatara1 ,mundaka1 and ,mahnryana depend not only on ,kapila's system1 but also on the ,yoga ,stras of ,patanjali 7see below71 while others#ca believe that in these ,upanishads we have scattered pieces of teaching which were later systematized4 ,but whatever be the truth on these points1 it is clear that these five are posterior to the first group1 that their relative age is ,katha1 ,is1 ,svetsvatara1 ,mundaka and ,mahnryana1#cb and that this last belongs to quite a late date4#cc ,along with these verse ,upanishads we may take three prose works1 which are manifestly still later1#cd the ,prasna1 ,maitryanya and ,mndkya4 ,g4 ,several centuries after the ,snkhya there appeared the ,yoga philosophy1 the text-book of which is the ,yoga ,stras4 ,according to ,indian tradition the founder of the school and the author of the ,stras was ,patanjali1#ce the well-known scholar who wrote the ,mahbhshya on ,pnini's grammar4 ,he accepts the metaphysics of the ,snkhya system1 but postulates the existence of a personal god1 and urges the value of ,yoga practices for the attainment of ,kaivalya1 that isolation of the soul from matter1 which1 according to ,kapila1 is true salvation4 ,thus not one of the three main elements of his system is original2 for ,yoga practices have existed from a very early date in ,india4 ,yet his system is sufficiently marked off from others1 first by his combination of ,yoga practices with ,snkhya principles and a theistic theology1 and1 secondly1 by his systematic treatment of ,yoga methods4#cf ,h4 ,later still than the ,yoga philosophy is the systematic statement of the ,vednta point of view by ,bdaryana in his ,stras1 which are known either as ,brahma-stras1 ,srraka-stras or ,vednta-stras4#cg ,i4 ,we next notice the latest development of ,upanishad teaching1 namely1 that found in the ,upanishads of the ,atharvaveda4 ,with the exception of three1 namely1 the ,mundaka1 ,prasna and ,mndkya ,upanishads1 which we have already noticed1 they are all very late4#ch ,they fall into four great groups1 according as they teach 7a7 pure ,vedantism1 7b7 ,yoga practices1 7c7 the life of the ,sannysin1 or 7d7 ,sectarianism4#ci ,for our purpose the last of the four is of the most importance4 8,these sectarian treatises interpret the popular gods ,siva 7under various names1 such as ,isna1 ,mahesvara1 ,mahdeva7 and ,vishnu 7as ,nryana and ,nrishinha7 as personifications of the ,atman4 ,the different ,avatrs of ,vishnu are here regarded as human manifestations of the ,atman40#dj ,let readers note that the doctrine of ,avatrs is quite unknown in the ,vedas1 the ,brhmanas1 the early ,upanishads and the ,stras4#da ,we may also note that in groups 7a7 and 7b7 we find what is not found in earlier ,upanishads1 namely1 the phrase ,snkhya-,yoga used as the name of a system4#db ,here also the doctrines of ,grace and ,bhakti1 the beginnings of which we found in the verse ,upanishads1 are regularly taught4 ,j4 ,the last development that we need mention is the teaching of the ,mahbhrata and ,manu4 ,we take them together1 not only because each of them is the final product of long centuries of growth and compilation1 but because they are so closely related to each other in origin1 that it is hardly possible to take them separately4#dc ,in the first book of the ,mahbhrata we are told that the poem originally consisted of only #h1hjj slokas1 and that at a later date the number was #bd1jjj4 ,the complete work now contains over #ajj1jjj slokas4#dd ,we need not here enquire when the simple heroic lays were composed1 which lie at the basis of the great composition as it has come down to us2 nor need we stay to decide at what period it finally reached its present labyrinthine structure and immense dimensions4#de ,it is sufficient for our purpose to notice that scientific investigations have laid bare four stages in the formation of the ,epic3--7a7 early heroic songs1 strung together into some kind of unity3 this is the stage recognised in ,book ,i1 when the poem had only #h1hjj slokas1 and is in all probability the point at which it is referred to by ,asvalyana2 7b7 a ,mahbhrata story with ,pandu heroes1 and ,krishna as a demi-god3 this is the form in which it had #bd1jjj slokas1 and is the stage of the poem referred to by ,pnini2 7c7 the ,epic re-cast1 with ,krishna as ,all-god1 and a great deal of didactic matter added2 7d7 later interpolations4#df ,scholars are able to fix1 within certain limits1 the dates of these various stages4 ,we need not attempt to be so precise3 for us it is enough that the representation of ,krishna as the ,atman belongs to the third stage of the growth of the ,epic4 ,parallel with this third stage is the final redaction of ,manu4#dg ,the philosophic standpoint of these two great works is practically the same1 being now the ,snkhya-,yoga1 now a mixture of ,snkhya1 ,yoga and ,vedantic elements4#dh ,but the main thing to notice is that in these books we are already in modern ,hinduism4 ,turning from the ,vedas to them we find ourselves in an altogether new world4 ,there are many new gods2 most of the old divinities have fallen to subordinate places4 ,new customs1 new names and ideas are found everywhere4 ,the language too has changed3 new words1 new expressions and new forms occur in plenty2 old words occur in new senses2 while many others have disappeared4#di 99 99 99 99 99 ,let us now turn to the ,gt4 ,what is its place in this long succession8 ,clearly it is posterior1 not only to our first1 but also to our second group of ,upanishads4 ,for it echoes the ,katha1 the ,svetsvatara1 and several of the others repeatedly2#ej its versification is decidedly later in character2#ea the doctrines of ,grace and of ,bhakti1 which are found in these ,upanishads only in germ1 are fully developed in the ,gt2#eb while the whole theory of ,krishna is a fresh growth4 ,the ,gt may also be shewn to belong to the same age as the ,atharvan ,upanishads4 ,it has in common with them 7a7 the identification of ,krishna and ,vishnu with the ,atman1 7b7 the doctrine of ,avatrs1#ec 7c7 the doctrines of ,grace and ,bhakti1 7d7 the ,snkhya-,yoga4 ,but we may go further1 and show that the ,gt is in its teaching1 in general1 parallel with the third stage of the ,mahbhrata and with ,manu4 ,for while the usual philosophic standpoint in the ,song is ,snkhya-,yoga1 there are frequent lapses to the ,vednta2 and there is an evident effort here and there to combine all three4#ed ,this is precisely the position of ,manu and the ,epic1 as we have seen4 ,note that in the ,gt the ,yoga philosophy is already old1 so old that it has fallen into decay1 and requires to be resuscitated4#ee ,the ,snkhya is not a loose group of ideas1 but a formed system1 as appears from the phrases ,snkhya-,kritnta#ef and ,guna-sankhyna4#eg ,kapila1 its author1 is so far in the past that he is canonized as the chief of the ,siddhas4#eh ,there are many minor points which the ,gt holds in common with the ,mahbhrata1 and which are not found earlier4 ,the latter half of the tenth chapter is full of ,epic mythology4 ,there ,skanda is the great warrior-god1#ei as in the ,mahbhrata1#fj there too we find the horse ,uccaihsravas1#fa the elephant ,airvata1#fb the snake ,vsuki1#fc the fish ,makara4#fd ,nirvna is used in the ,gt#fe for #8highest bliss1' #8,brahmic bliss1' precisely as in the ,epic4#ff ,in the ,mahbhrata ,bhshma1 after receiving his mortal wound1 has to wait for the ,uttaryana 7the northward journey of the sun71 i4 e41 he has to wait until the sun passes the southern solstice1 before he can die in safety4#fg ,in the ,gt we find a similar idea3 only those devotees who die during the ,uttaryana go to ,brahman2 those who die during the ,dakshinvana return to earth4#fh ,this dogma is not found in the early ,upanishads nor yet in the ,stras4#fi ,a study of the language of the ,gt#gj leads to the same conclusion4 ,a portion of its vocabulary is the same as that of the first group of ,upanishads2 a larger portion coincides with our second group2 a still larger coincides with the diction of the ,atharvan group2 and finally1 much that is found in no ,upanishad is characteristic of the ,epic4 ,we need not attempt to fix the date#ga of the poem1 for that is not only impossible as yet1 but is quite unnecessary for our purpose4 ,what we wish to do is to show that the religious literature of ,india displays a long1 regular1 evolutionary process1 that the ,gt belongs to the same period as the third stage of the ,mahbhrata1 and is itself clearly the result of all the preceding development4 99 99 99 99 99 ,can we then accept the declaration of the poem itself1 that it was uttered by ,krishna on the battlefield of ,kurukshetra8--,that necessarily depends upon the history and the chronology4 ,at what point then in the historical development of the literature which we have been studying does the famous battle stand8--,according to all scholars the great war and the compilation of the ,vedas both belong to the same period4#gb ,the results of our study may1 therefore1 be tabulated as follows1 with the proviso that the long process of the growth of the ,epic cannot be fully represented3-- ,the ,hymns of the ,vedas4 ,compilation of the ,vedas 4 4 4 ,,kurukshetra4 ,the ,brhmanas4 ,the prose ,upanishads4 ,kapila4 ,buddhism and ,jainism4 ,the verse ,upanishads4 ,patanjali4 ,bdaryana4 ,the ,atharvan ,upanishads4 ,the third stage of the ,epic and ,manu 4 4 4 ,,the ,,gita4 ,it has thus become perfectly clear that ,,the ,g,t ,,cannot ,,have ,,been ,,uttered ,,on ,,the ,,battlefield ,,of ,,kurukshetra2 for it is the last member of a long series1 the final product of a clearly defined and elaborate process of development4 ,to ascribe the ,gt to the age of ,kurukshetra is much the same as if one were to ascribe the poetry of ,tennyson to the age of ,alfred the ,great4 ,a thousand years intervene2 the thought and toil of a millennium were needed to produce the great result4 ,had ,krishna uttered these doctrines on the famous battlefield1 we should inevitably have found references to them in the literature produced during the following centuries4 ,but where in the ,brhmanas do we find any of the leading ideas of the ,gt8 ,even if men had disbelieved ,krishna1 his claim to be ,god incarnate would at least have drawn out a protest2 but in no single ,brhmana or early ,upanishad is there the slightest hint of anything of the kind4 ,so far from there being any corroboration of the great myth in early literature1 there is the clearest proof that it is false4 ,in the ,kthaka recension of the ,black ,yajur ,veda king ,dhritarshtra is mentioned as a well-known person#gc2 yet in the whole literature of the ,black ,yajur there is no suggestion that ,krishna claimed divine honours4 ,the ,satapatha ,brhmana1 which is a product of the ,kuru-,panchla country1#gd contains the names of a number of the heroes of the great war1#ge but never refers to ,krishna as ,god incarnate2 while in the ,chndogya ,upanishad1#gf which belongs to the same district1#gg he is spoken of merely as a man3 he is mentioned as a pupil of ,ghora ,angirasa and is called ,krishna ,devakiputra4#gh ,nay1 even in the earliest part of the ,mahbhrata itself ,krishna is only a great chief1 and not a deity at all4#gi ,finally1 the references to ,pandu heroes and to the worship of ,krishna and ,arjuna in ,pnini1#hj would lead to the conclusion that in ,pnini's day ,krishna was not regarded as the supreme ,god1 but as one among many2#ha and this cautious inference is corroborated by the fact that the ,mahbhshya itself does not recognize him as the incarnation of ,brahma1 but as a hero and demi-god4#hb ,thus the whole of the ,vedic literature1 and the whole of the ,stra literature1 are destitute of a single reference to ,krishna as the incarnation of the ,supreme4 ,there is only one conclusion to be drawn from this overwhelming mass of evidence4#hc ,it is strange that educated ,hindus should have clung so long to the idea that the ,gt is a real utterance of ,krishna4 ,the very fact that the poem has always been regarded1 not as ,sruti1 but simply as ,smriti1 should have been enough to suggest the truth4 ,a piece of genuine divine teaching1 uttered in such circumstances1 and before the composition of the earliest ,upanishads1 would have inevitably found a place among the most authoritative scriptures of the faith4 ,the fact of its having been always regarded as ,smriti is sufficient proof by itself that the book does not belong to the ,vedic age at all4 ,another consideration ought also by itself to have been sufficient to save ,hindus from such a grave error1 namely1 this1 that no great religious advance or upheaval followed the time when ,krishna is supposed to have lived and taught4 ,contrast the mighty revolutions that followed the work of ,buddha1 of ,christ and of ,mahommed2 and the emptiness of the ,krishna claim will become at once apparent4 ,again1 the subject of all the early ,upanishads is the nature of the ,supreme ,spirit1 whether called the ,atman or ,brahma4 ,if on the field of ,kurukshetra1 ,krishna had claimed to be the ,supreme1 as the ,gt says he did1 can any one believe that the claim could have been passed unnoticed in the ,upanishads8 ,krishna is mentioned in the ,chndogya2 ,brahma is the subject of the ,chndogya3 yet there is not the slightest hint anywhere that ,brahma has been incarnated1 far less that ,krishna is ,brahma4 ,such evidence is surely irresistible4 ,one reason why the truth about this myth has been so long in finding its way into the minds of educated ,hindus is undoubtedly to be found in the wretchedly inadequate way in which ,sanskrit literature is taught in the ,universities of ,india4 ,in ,calcutta at least most men who take ,sanskrit as one of their subjects for the ,b4 ,a4 ,degree get through their examination without having the slightest knowledge of the history of the literature4#hd ,for some curious results of this very deficient training1 see the ,appendix4 ,with ,krishna1 all the other so-called ,avatrs vanish2 for they rest on foundations still more flimsy and fanciful4 ,they merely serve as signal proofs of the tendency inherent in the ,hindu mind to believe in incarnations and to see such around them4 ,this tendency was already living and creative long before the ,christian era1 and it has kept its vitality down to the present day2 for though ,chaitanya1 the sixteenth-century reformer1 is the most noteworthy of those who within recent times have been counted ,avatrs1 he is by no means the last3 the late ,ramkrishna ,paramhamsa was regarded as such1#he and some of her admirers claim the same honour for ,mrs4 ,annie ,besant4#hf ,further1 this making of ,avatrs is but one aspect of that passion for deifying men which has characterized ,hinduism from first to last1#hg a passion which has set many a modern ,englishman among the gods4 ,even such a whole-hearted ,christian as ,john ,nicholson did not escape4#hh ,the story1 then1 that ,krishna uttered the ,song on the battlefield1 is a pious imagination4 ,all scholars hold the war to be historical2 ,krishna's name can be traced in the literature from the ,upanishads downwards2 it is possible1 or even probable1 that he was a ,kshattriya prince#hi who fought in the war2 but the assertion that on the field he claimed to be the supreme being1 is absolutely negatived by all the early history and literature of ,india4 99 99 99 99 99 ,how then are we to account for the ,gt8 ,whence came its power and its beauty8 and how did it reach the form it has8--,we must recognise the action of three factors in the formation of the ,song1 the philosophy1 the worship of ,krishna1 and the author4 ,we have already traced in outline the genesis of the philosophy2 there remain the cult and the author4 ,all our scholars recognize that ,krishna-worship has existed in ,india since the fourth century ,b4 ,c4 at least2 for there can be no doubt that1 when ,megasthenes says that ,herakles was worshipped in ,methora and ,kleisobora1#ij he means that ,krishna was worshipped in ,mathura and ,krishnapur4 ,how much further back the cult goes we have no means of learning4 ,nor does it really matter for our purpose4 ,the important thing to realize is the existence of this worship of ,krishna1 before his identification with ,vishnu#ia and final exaltation to the place of the supreme pantheistic divinity4 ,the author of the ,gt was clearly a man of wide and deep culture4 ,he had filled his mind with the best religious philosophy of his country4 ,he was catholic rather than critical1 more inclined to piece things together than to worry over the differences between them4 ,each of the philosophic systems appealed to his sympathetic mind3 he was more impressed with the value of each than with the distinctions between them4 ,but his was not only a cultured but a most reverent mind4 ,he was as fully in sympathy with ,krishna-worship as with the philosophy of the ,atman4 ,indeed1 it was the union of these qualities in him that fitted him to produce the noblest and purest expression of modern ,hinduism4 ,for ,hinduism is just the marriage of ancient ,brhmanical thought and law with the popular cults4 ,but without his splendid literary gifts the miracle would not have been possible4 ,the beauty1 precision and power of the diction of the poem1 and its dignity of thought1 rising now and then to sublimity1 reveal but one aspect of his masterly literary ability4 ,much of the success of the poem arises from his genuine appreciation of the early heroic poems1 which he heard recited around him1 and from his consequent decision to make his own ,song1 in one sense at least1 a heroic poem4 ,lastly1 there is the shaping spirit of imagination1 without which no man can be a real poet4 ,with him this power was introspective rather than dramatic4 ,no poet with any genuine dramatic faculty would have dreamed of representing a warrior as entering on a long philosophic discussion on the field of battle at the very moment when the armies stood ready to clash4 ,on the other hand1 what marvellous insight is displayed in his representation of ,krishna6 ,who else could have imagined with such success how an incarnate god would speak of himself8 ,nor must we pass on without noticing that1 though the situation in which the ,song is supposed to have been produced is an impossible one1 yet for the author's purpose it is most admirably conceived3 how otherwise could the main thought of the book--philosophic calm leading to disinterested action--have been so vividly impressed on the imagination8 ,this author1 then1 formed the idea of combining the loftiest philosophy of his country with the worship of ,krishna4 ,he would intertwine the speculative thought that satisfied the intellect with the fervid devotion which even the uncultured felt for a god who was believed to have walked the earth4 ,philosophy would thus come nearer religion1 while religion would be placed on far surer intellectual ground4 ,his tastes led him to connect his work with the romantic poems of the day2 his genius suggested the situation1 a dialogue between a noble knight and the incarnate divinity2 his catholicity taught him to interweave the ,snkhya with the ,yoga and both with the ,vednta2 and as we have seen1 his penetrative imagination was equal to the creation of the subjective consciousness of a god-man4 ,we can now answer the question which stands at the head of this chapter1 ,what is the ,bhagavadgt8 ,it consists of two distinct elements1 one old1 one original4 ,the philosophy is old2 for it is only a very imperfect combination#ib of what is taught in earlier books4 ,the original element is the teaching put into ,krishna's mouth about his own person and the relation in which he stands to his own worshippers and to others4 ,of this part of the teaching of the ,gt we here give a brief analysis3-- ,krishna is first of all the source of the visible world4 ,all comes from him1#ic all rests in him4#id ,at the end of a ,kalpa everything returns to him1#ie and is again reproduced4#if ,he pervades all things2#ig and again1 in another sense1 he is all that is best and most beautiful in nature and in man4#ih ,but while ,krishna is thus the supreme power in the universe1#ii he is altogether without personal interest in the activity therein displayed3#ajj he sits unconcerned1#aja always engaged in action1#ajb yet controlling his own nature1#ajc and therefore never becoming bound by the results of his action4#ajd ,this conception of the ,supreme1 as at once the centre of all activity and yet completely detached1 enables the author1 on the one hand1 to soften the seemingly hopeless contradiction involved in identifying the king1 warrior and demon-slayer1 ,krishna1 with the passionless1 characterless ,atman#aje of the ,upanishads1 and1 on the other to hold up ,krishna as the supreme example of ,action ,yoga4 ,we now turn to ,krishna's relation to his worshippers4 ,knowledge is good2#ajf mental concentration is better2#ajg disinterested action is better than either2#ajh but the supreme wisdom is faith in ,krishna and boundless devotion to him4#aji ,such is the teaching of the ,gt4 ,the worst epithets are kept for those who fail to recognise him as the ,supreme1 who disregard him1 carp at him1 hate him4#aaj ,to those who resort to ,krishna1#aaa who place faith in him1#aab who shower on him their love1 devotion and worship1#aac who rest on him1#aad think of him#aae and remember him#aaf at all times1--to them are promised forgiveness1#aag release from the bonds of action1#aah attainment of tranquillity1#aai true knowledge#abj and final bliss#aba in ,krishna4#abb ,since all the gods come from ,krishna1#abc and since he is in the last resort the sole reality1#abd worship offered to other gods is in a sense offered to him4#abe ,he accepts it and rewards it4#abf ,this is in accordance with his indifference to men3 to him no one is hateful1 no one dear4#abg ,yet the highest blessings fall only to those who recognize him directly4#abh ,clearly our author formed his conception of the man-god with great skill1 and fitted it into his general scheme with all the care and precision he was capable of4 ,on this elaboration of the self-consciousness of ,krishna he concentrated all his intellectual and imaginative powers4 ,and with what unequalled success6 ,could any greater compliment be paid an author than to have sixty generations of cultured readers take the creation of his mind for a transcript from history8 99 99 99 99 99 ,the masses of evidence we have marshalled to prove that ,krishna never claimed to be ,god1 may be briefly summarised as follows3-- #a4 ,the situation in which the ,gt is said to have been uttered at once strikes the historical student as suspicious3 one can scarcely believe that there was ever a battle in which such a thing could have taken place2 and1 on the other hand1 it makes such an excellent background to the theory of ,action ,yoga1 that one cannot help believing that it was invented for the very purpose4 ,further investigation leads to the following results3-- #b4 ,the characteristic religious and philosophical ideas of the ,gt are not found in any books produced immediately after the age of ,kurukshetra4 ,if we start with the teaching of that age1 we have to trace the stages of a long and clearly-marked development before we reach the ideas of the ,gt4 #c4 ,the diction of the ,gt is not the ,vedic ,sanskrit of the early ,brhmanas 7which are the literature of the period following ,kurukshetra71 but belongs to a very much later stage of the language4 #d4 ,the fact that the ,gt is not sruti1 but smriti1 proves that it comes neither from ,krishna1 nor from the time of ,kurukshetra4 #e4 ,krishna ,devakiputra is known in the later ,vedic literature as a man1 and in the ,stra literature as a hero or demi-god1 but never as the supreme being4 #f4 ,the fact that there is not a single reference in the whole of the ,vedic literature1 nor yet in the ,stra literature1 to ,krishna as the incarnation of ,brahma1 makes it impossible for us to believe that at the battle of ,kurukshetra he claimed to be such4 #g4 ,the fact that there was no revival or reformation of religion in the age of ,kurukshetra proves that ,god was not incarnated then4 ,footnote #a3 ,the philosophic basis of the book is primarily the ,snkhya system which is essentially atheistic4 ,footnote #b3 ,dr4 ,lorinser's attempt 7,die ,bhagavadgt1 bersetzt und erlutert von ,dr4 ,f4 ,lorinser1 #ahfi7 to prove that the author of the ,gt borrowed many ideas from the ,bible must be pronounced a failure4 ,cf4 ,garbe1 #ai1 #hc-he2 ,max ,mller1 ,natural ,religion1 #ig-ajj2 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #dbi4 ,footnote #c3 ,on the religion of the ,rigveda see ,kaegi1 #bg-gd2 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 ,chaps4 ,,ii-,,vi2 ,macdonell1 #fg-aae2 ,bose1 ,h4,c41 ,i1 #f-i2 ,dutt1 ,c4,a4,i41 ,vol4 ,i1 ,chap4 ,v2 ,monier-,williams1 ,chap4 ,i4 ,footnote #d3 ,hopkins1 ,r4,i41 #ada2 ,macdonell1 #che2 ,garbe1 #a-b2 ,kaegi1 #hg4 ,footnote #e3 ,e4g41 ,x1 #ij4 ,footnote #f3 ,x1 #ha2 #hb2 #aba4 ,footnote #g3 ,x1 #abi4 ,footnote #h3 ,kaegi1 #c2 ,macdonell1 #aga-agd4 ,footnote #i3 ,kaegi1 #d2 ,macdonell1 #agd-ahe4 ,footnote #aj3 ,kaegi1 #e2 ,macdonell1 #bjb ff42 ,mller1 ,a4,s4,l41 ,chap4 ,,ii2 ,bose1 ,h4,c41 ,i1 #i-ab4 ,footnote #aa3 ,mller1 ,a4,s4,l41 #chi4 ,footnote #ab3 ,hopkins1 ,r4,i41 #agg4 ,footnote #ac3 ,gough1 ,chap4 ,i2 ,garbe1 #b-g2 ,macdonell1 #bbc2 ,hopkins1 ,r4,i41 #bjd4 ,footnote #ad3 ,mller1 ,a4,s4,l41 #cac ff42 ,macdonell1 #bjd2 ,kaegi1 #e4 ,footnote #ae3 ,mller1 ,a4,s4,l41 #caf ff42 ,macdonell1 #bah ff42 ,kaegi1 #e2 ,bose1 ,h4,c41 ,i1 #ab-ai4 ,footnote #af3 ,for the teaching of the ,upanishads see ,gough2 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 ,chap4 ,x2 ,garbe1 #g-aj4 ,footnote #ag3 ,see ,deussen on each of these ,upanishads1 especially p4 #bfd2 and ,cf4 ,macdonell1 #bbf4 ,footnote #ah3 ,garbe1 #aj2 ,macdonell1 #cij1 #cic4 ,footnote #ai3 ,fhrer1 ,monograph on ,buddha ,sakyamuni's ,birthplace1 ,arch4 ,surv4 of ,india1 ,vol4 ,,xxvi1 ,allahabad1 #ahig2 ,macdonell1 #ac4 ,footnote #bj3 ,for the ,snkhya system1 see ,garbe1 #aj1 #aa1 #bi1 #cf1 #de2 ,macdonell1 #cij-cie2 ,dutt1 ,c4 ,a4 ,i41 ,vol4 ,i1 pp4 #bgf ff4 ,footnote #ba3 ,macdonell1 #cic4 ,footnote #bb3 ,macdonell1 #bbf2 ,deussen1 #bfa1 #ebc1 #bhh1 #edd1 #bda4 ,footnote #bc3 ,deussen1 #bfd4 ,footnote #bd3 ,katha1 #c1 #aj-ac2 #f1 #f2 #f1 #g-aa2 #f1 #ad-ah2 ,svet4 passim2 ,mundaka1 #b1 #a1 #a-c2 ,mahnr1 #fc1 #ba4 ,cf4 ,deussen1 ad loca4 ,footnote #be3 ,katha1 #b1 #bc2 ,svet4 #c1 #bj2 ,mundaka1 #c1 #b-c4 ,cf4 ,hopkins1 ,r4,i41 #bch4 ,footnote #bf3 ,svet4 #f1 #bc4 ,footnote #bg3 ,svet4 #f1 #ac4 ,footnote #bh3 ,mller1 ,anthrop4 ,rel41 #cde2 ,oldenberg1 ,budda1 #ef4 ,footnote #bi3 ,weber1 ,sitz4 ,berli4 ,ak4 #ahij1 p4 #icj4 ,footnote #cj3 ,i4 ,l41 #aei4 ,footnote #ca3 ,deussen1 #bia1 #cjh4 ,footnote #cb3 ,deussen1 ad loca2 ,macdonell1 #bbf4 ,footnote #cc3 ,deussen1 #bdb4 ,footnote #cd3 ,deussen1 ad loca2 ,macdonell1 #bbf4 ,footnote #ce3 ,garbe1 #ad2 ,macdonell1 #cif2 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #die4 ,footnote #cf3 ,for the ,yoga system1 see ,garbe1 #ad-ae2 ,macdonell1 #cif-cii2 ,dutt1 ,c4 ,a4 ,i41 ,vol4 ,i1 pp4 #bhe ff4 ,footnote #cg3 ,garbe1 #af-ah2 ,macdonell1 #djj-djb4 ,footnote #ch3 ,deussen1 #d2 ,macdonell1 #bch2 ,dutt1 ,c4 ,a4 ,i41 ,vol4 ,i1 #aai2 ,garbe1 #fi4 ,footnote #ci3 ,deussen1 #eda-edc2 ,macdonell1 #bch-bci4 ,footnote #dj3 ,macdonell1 #bci4 ,cf4 ,deussen1 #edc2 ,weber1 ,i4 ,l41 #aec ff4 ,footnote #da3 ,bose1 ,h4,c41 ,vol4 ,i1 #d4 ,footnote #db3 ,garbha1 #d2 ,prngnihotra1 #a2 ,slika1 passim4 ,footnote #dc3 ,macdonell1 #dbh2 ,hopkins1 ,g4 ,e4 ,i41 #ah-bc4 ,footnote #dd3 ,macdonell1 #bhb-d4 ,footnote #de3 ,see ,hopkins1 ,g4 ,e4 ,i41 ,chap4 ,,vi2 ,r4,i4 #cej2 ,macdonell1 #bhe-bhh4 ,footnote #df3 ,hopkins1 ,g4 ,e4 ,i41 #cig-cih2 ,macdonell1 #bhc-bhf4 ,bunkim ,chundra recognizes the second1 third and fourth of these stages3 see ,krishnacharitra1 ,chap4 ,,xi4 ,footnote #dg3 ,the ,ordinances of ,manu1 ,burnell and ,hopkins1 pp4 ,,xix-,,xxviii2 ,macdonell1 #dbh4 ,footnote #dh3 ,hopkins1 ,g4 ,e4 ,i41 ,chap4 ,,iii2 ,r4 ,i41 #bfe4 ,footnote #di3 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 ,chaps4 ,,xiv and ,,xv2 ,bose1 ,h4 ,c41 ,vol4 ,i1 #c4 ,footnote #ej3 ,see ,telang's translation throughout1 and cf4 ,hopkins1 ,g4 ,e4 ,i41 #bh-df2 ,amalnerkar1 #d-e4 ,footnote #ea3 ,telang1 #ae4 ,footnote #eb3 ,cf4 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #dbi4 ,footnote #ec3 ,g41 ,,iv1 #h4 ,footnote #ed3 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #cii4 ,footnote #ee3 ,g41 ,,iv1 #a-c4 ,footnote #ef3 ,g41 ,,xviii1 #ac4 ,footnote #eg3 ,g41 ,,xviii1 #ai4 ,footnote #eh3 ,g41 ,x1 #bf4 ,this is a noticeable point2 for ,kapila is the only founder of a philosophical system known to the ,epic2 he alone is authoritative in all philosophical matters4 ,see ,hopkins1 ,g4 ,e4 ,i41 #ig4 ,footnote #ei3 ,g41 ,x1 #bd4 ,footnote #fj3 ,see ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #dad4 ,footnote #fa3 ,g41 ,x1 #bg4 ,footnote #fb3 ,g41 ,x1 #bg4 ,footnote #fc3 ,g41 ,x1 #bh4 ,footnote #fd3 ,g41 ,x1 #ca4 ,footnote #fe3 ,g41 ,,ii1 #gb2 ,v1 #bd2 #be2 #bf2 ,,vi1 #ae4 ,footnote #ff3 ,hopkins1 ,g4 ,e4 ,i41 #hh2 ,r4 ,i41 #dbg4 ,footnote #fg3 ,mahbhrata1 ,bhshma ,parvan4 ,footnote #fh3 ,g41 ,,viii1 #bd-be4 ,footnote #fi3 ,amalnerkar1 #ac4 ,footnote #gj3 ,see ,jacob's ,concordance to the ,principal ,upanishads and ,bhagavadgt4 ,footnote #ga3 ,mr4 ,justice ,telang was inclined to put the date before the third century ,b4,c41 but his otherwise most judicious criticism is faulty in this that it does not take all the factors of the problem into consideration4 ,others1 such as ,mller1 ,weber1 ,davies and ,lorinser1 incline to a very late date1 about the third century ,a4,d4 ,most writers believe that the true date lies between these extremes4 ,so ,monier-,williams1 ,hopkins1 ,fraser and others4 ,prof4 ,amalnerkar's pamphlet contains a number of most interesting points4 ,his contention1 that the phrase1 ,brahmastrapadaih 7,g4 ,,xiii1 #d7 refers to the ,vednta ,stras1 and that the ,gt is therefore the later work of the two1 has been accepted by ,max ,mller 7,s4 ,s4 ,i4 ,p41 #aee71 but ,prof4 ,hopkins thinks the ,gt is earlier than the ,stra 7,r4 ,i41 #djj74 ,the theory which ,prof4 ,hopkins holds1 that the ,divine ,song was originally an ,upanishad1 and that it was redacted1 first as a ,vishuite poem1 and then a second time in the interests of ,krishnaism 7,r4 ,i41 #chi71 would account1 on the one hand1 for the numerous inconsistencies in its teaching1 and1 on the other1 for the very conflicting signs of date which it presents4 ,for a criticism of ,bunkim ,chundra's views1 see the ,appendix4 ,footnote #gb3 ,dutt1 ,c4 ,a4 ,i41 ,vol4 ,i1 #i-aa2 ,bunkim ,ch4 ,chatterji1 ,krishnacharitra1 #df2 ,macdonell1 #agd-age1 #bhe2 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #cc1 #agg-agi4 ,footnote #gc3 ,macdonell1 #bhe2 ,weber1 ,i4 ,l41 #ij4 ,footnote #gd3 ,s4 ,b4 ,e41 ,vol4 ,,xii1 pp4 ,,xli-,,xlii2 ,macdonell1 #bac4 ,footnote #ge3 ,s4 ,b4 ,e41 ,vol4 ,,xiv1 ,index4 ,cf4 ,weber1 ,i4 ,l41 #ahf2 ,krishnacharitra1 #ca4 ,footnote #gf3 #c1 #ag1 #f4 ,see ,dutt1 ,c4 ,a4 ,i41 ,vol4 ,i1 #ahi2 ,weber1 ,i4 ,l41 #ga2 ,bose1 ,h4 ,c41 ,vol4 ,i1 #bf2 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #dfe4 ,footnote #gg3 ,weber1 ,i4 ,l41 #gj4 ,footnote #gh3 ,whether ,krishna ,angirasa in the ,kaushtaki ,brhmana be the same person as ,krishna ,devakiputra1 or not1 we cannot tell4 ,footnote #gi3 ,dutt1 ,c4 ,a4 ,i41 ,vol4 ,i1 #abg2 ,bose1 ,h4 ,c41 ,vol4 ,i1 #cc-cd2 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #djc2 ,monier-,williams1 #aab4 ,footnote #hj3 ,the reference to ,krishna and ,arjuna runs ,vsudevrjunbhym vun 7,,iv1 #c1 #ih71 words which put the two on one level4 ,footnote #ha3 ,hopkins1 ,g4 ,e4 ,i41 #cij-cie4 ,footnote #hb3 ,hopkins1 ,g4 ,e4 ,i41 #cie4 ,footnote #hc3 ,we need not stay to ask whether the ,srimadbhgavat and other ,purnas can be trusted as evidence for the life of ,krishna2 for all scholars agree that1 while ancient ,purnas existed1 all those that have come down to us reflect a later stage of ,hinduism than that of the ,mahbhrata2 and that1 while they contain much that is old scattered up and down their pages1 the oldest fragments are of the same general date as the ,mahbhrata and ,manu4 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #dcd-dde2 ,macdonell1 #bii-cjb2 ,dutt1 ,c4 ,a4 ,i41 ,i1 #ai2 ,,ii1 #baa2 ,mller1 ,a4 ,s4 ,l41 #fa2 ,kaegi1 #h1 #aje2 ,krishnacharitra1 ,chaps4 ,,xiv-,,xvi4 ,footnote #hd3 ,the study of ,prof4 ,macdonell's excellent manual ought surely now to be made part of any ,sanskrit course prescribed for a ,university degree in ,india4 ,footnote #he3 ,bose1 ,h4 ,c41 ,vol4 ,i1 #e4 ,footnote #hf3 ,the ,student's ,chronicle1 ,may #aijc1 p4 #f4 ,footnote #hg3 ,for some amusing instances see ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #ebb1 note1 and cf4 ,monier-,williams1 ,chap4 ,x4 ,footnote #hh3 ,monier-,williams1 #bfj4 ,footnote #hi3 ,garbe1 #he2 ,monier-,williams1 #ih1 #aab1 note4 ,footnote #ij3 ,mc,crindle1 ,ancient ,india1 #bja4 ,cf4 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #dei2 ,macdonell1 #daa2 ,dutt1 ,c4 ,a4 ,i41 ,vol4 ,i1 #bai2 ,garbe1 #ai1 #hc4 ,footnote #ia3 ,that it was only at a very late date that this identification took place is evident from the fact that it is not once mentioned in the early literature4 ,even in two of the ,vishnu ,upanishads of the ,atharva ,veda1 the ,atmabodha1 and the ,nryana1 ,krishna is referred to as a mere man4 ,apart from the ,gt and the ,mahbhrata1 the earliest reference to him as ,god incarnate is in the ,goplatpanyopanishad4 ,see ,weber1 ,i4 ,l41 #afi2 and cf4 ,garbe1 #ah-ai1 #he2 ,bose1 ,h4 ,c41 ,vol4 ,i1 #be-bf2 ,dutt1 ,c4 ,a4 ,i41 ,vol4 ,,ii1 #aia4 ,footnote #ib3 ,for the inconsistencies of the ,gt1 see ,telang1 p4 #aa2 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #cij1 #cii1 #djj4 ,footnote #ic3 ,,vii1 #f2 #aj2 ,,ix1 #h2 #aj2 #ac2 ,,xiv1 #c4 ,footnote #id3 ,,vii1 #g2 ,,ix1 #e4 ,footnote #ie3 ,,ix1 #g4 ,footnote #if3 ,,ix1 #g4 ,footnote #ig3 ,,ix1 #d4 ,footnote #ih3 ,,vii1 #h-aa2 ,x1 #bj-ch4 ,footnote #ii3 ,,ix1 #aj2 #ag-ah4 ,footnote #ajj3 ,,iv1 #ad4 ,footnote #aja3 ,,ix1 #i4 ,footnote #ajb3 ,,iii2 #bb-bd4 ,footnote #ajc3 ,this is ,telang's translation of two very difficult1 yet very instructive phrases4 ,in the ,gt the word prakriti is used1 first for the primeval matter of the ,snkhya system 7,,iii1 #bg2 #bi2 ,,ix1 #h1 #aj1 #ab2 ,,xiii1 #ai1 #bj1 #bc1 #bi71 and secondly for the primeval matter of personal character1 each man's natural disposition 7,,iii1 #cc2 ,,vii1 #bj2 ,,xi1 #ea2 ,,xviii1 #ei74 ,there is then a third class of passages in which the word is used in the ,snkhyan sense1 but1 by the addition of a personal pronoun1 prakriti is made to belong to ,krishna personally 7,,vii1 #d1 #e2 ,,ix1 #g1 #ac74 ,here we have one of the devices our author employed to give the great old phrases a vivid personal colouring4 ,now such a phrase as 8my prakriti0 is already ambiguous2 so we are not surprised to meet with two passages1 in which it is impossible to tell whether the meaning is metaphysical or ethical 7,,iv1 #f2 ,,ix1 #h74 ,probably the author intended to suggest both meanings4 ,most translators take the meaning to be metaphysical1 but ,telang may be right in taking it as ethical3 ,krishna is regarded as the ideal of ,action ,yoga4 ,for a similar use of the personal pronoun compare sarvakarmni mayi sannyasya 7,,xviii1 #eg7 with sarvakarmni sannyasya of the ,paramahansopanishad4 ,pages #gjf1 #gjh and #gji of ,jacob's ,concordance to the ,principal ,upanishads and ,bhagavadgt are peculiarly instructive in this connection4 ,footnote #ajd3 ,,iv1 #ad2 ,,ix1 #i4 ,footnote #aje3 ,x1 #ab1 #bj4 ,footnote #ajf3 ,,iii1 #c2 ,,iv1 #cf-ch2 ,,xii1 #ab4 ,footnote #ajg3 ,,xii1 #ab2 ,,xiii1 #bd4 ,footnote #ajh3 ,,ii1 #dg-ec2 ,,iii1 #g1 #cj2 ,,iv1 #ad-bc2 ,v1 #b2 ,,vi1 #a2 ,,xii1 #ab2 ,,xviii1 #a-aa4 ,footnote #aji3 ,,vii1 #ac-ad2 ,,xii1 #bj4 ,footnote #aaj3 ,,vii1 #ae2 ,,ix1 #aa-ab2 ,,xvi1 #f-bj4 ,footnote #aaa3 ,,ii1 #fa2 ,,vii1 #ad2 ,,xii1 #f2 ,,xviii1 #eg4 ,footnote #aab3 ,,xii1 #b4 ,footnote #aac3 ,,vi1 #ad1 #ca2 ,,ix1 #ac-ad1 #bb1 #cj1 #cd2 ,x1 #h-aj2 ,,xii1 #b1 #f-g1 #ad4 ,footnote #aad3 ,,iv1 #aj2 ,,vii1 #a1 #bi2 ,,ix1 #cb4 ,footnote #aae3 ,,vi1 #ad2 ,x1 #i2 ,,xviii1 #eg-eh4 ,footnote #aaf3 ,,viii1 #e1 #g1 #ad4 ,footnote #aag3 ,x1 #c2 ,,xviii1 #ff4 ,footnote #aah3 ,,iv1 #ad2 ,,ix1 #bh2 ,,xviii1 #di4 ,footnote #aai3 ,v1 #bi2 ,,vi1 #ae2 ,,xviii1 #fb4 ,footnote #abj3 ,x1 #aa4 ,footnote #aba3 ,,vi1 #ae2 ,,viii1 #ae4 ,footnote #abb3 ,,iv1 #i2 ,,vii1 #ai2 ,,viii1 #e1 #g1 #ae-af2 ,,ix1 #be1 #bh1 #cb1 #cd2 ,,xii1 #h2 ,,xiii1 #ah2 ,,xiv1 #b2 ,,xviii1 #ee-ef1 #fb1 #fe4 ,footnote #abc3 ,x1 #b4 ,footnote #abd3 ,x1 #a-c1 #bj4 ,footnote #abe3 ,,ix1 #bc4 ,footnote #abf3 ,,vii1 #ba-bb4 ,footnote #abg3 ,,ix1 #bi4 ,footnote #abh3 ,,ix1 #bb2 ,x1 #g-aa4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,plato',s ,,just ,,man4 ,we must now leave the land of ,bhrata and seek the shores of ,greece4 ,in the fifth century1 ,b4 ,c41 ,athens became the focus of ,hellenic culture4 ,her achievements in the ,persian wars had given her very distinctly the leadership of all the ,greek states2 and the steady progress of her commerce brought her not only wealth but abundant intercourse with other cities4 ,so that in the latter half of the century we find the peculiar genius of ,hellas displayed in ,athens with unexampled vigour1 variety and splendour4 ,but space will not allow us even to outline the achievements of that incomparable age in the various provinces of human culture4 ,we must confine our attention to philosophy4 ,the general advance of intelligence1 education and culture in ,greece produced the only result possible in communities whose religion was a traditional polytheism and whose morality rested merely on custom and proverbial wisdom3 scepticism1 both religious and ethical1 broke in like a flood4 ,tradition and custom could not withstand the corrosive influences of fresh thought fed by deepening experience and widening science4 ,the ,sophists were the exponents1 but scarcely the creators1 of this sceptical habit of thought4 ,the philosophers had not done much to cause it1 and they could do as little to cure it4 ,their theories dealt with nature rather than man1 and stood in no clear relation to the problems that agitated every thinking mind4 ,it was at ,athens that this sceptical spirit showed itself most conspicuously1 now in the lectures of the chief ,sophists of ,hellas1 naturally drawn to the centre of intellectual ferment1 now in the stately tragedies of her ,dionysiac festivals1 now in the fin-de-sicle conversation of her gilded youth4 ,the timid1 the old-fashioned1 the conservative scolded and sputtered and threatened1 blaming individuals instead of the time spirit1 but had no healing word to utter4#abi ,from the very centre of the disturbance came the new spirit of order and restoration3 ,socrates1 the ,athenian1 saved ,greece4 ,the older philosophers had discussed nature2 he turned all his attention to practical human life4 ,like the ,sophists1 he trusted human reason2 but unlike them1 he aimed not at a display of intellectual dexterity but at reaching the actual basis of human morality1 society and politics4 ,human conduct was the sole subject of his thought and his conversation4 ,hence the definite1 practical value of his influence3 his teaching stood in the closest possible relation to life and to the problems of the time4 ,on the other hand1 he began with introspection2 self-knowledge was what he demanded of every disciple4 ,hence the inexhaustible significance of his work for philosophy4 ,he gave no set lessons to his pupils1 delivered no lectures1 wrote no books4 ,he spent his whole time in conversation with individuals1 proceeding always by question and answer1 thus compelling his companion to think for himself4 ,his extraordinary intellectual skill and the loftiness and simplicity of his character drew all the best intellects of ,athens around him4 ,but what gives him his unchallenged supremacy in the history of ,greek thought is the fact1 that in his hands the sceptical thought1 which had caused such dismay everywhere1 proved to be the very means of revealing the great realities which men had feared for4#acj ,in #cii ,b4 ,c41 when he was an old man of seventy years of age1 a number of his fellow-citizens brought a criminal case against him1 charging him with corrupting the youth of ,athens and with impiety4 ,he was tried1 found guilty and sentenced to death4 ,a month later he drank the hemlock--such was the ,athenian mode of execution--surrounded by his friends4#aca ,how tragic6 ,athens1 8the school of ,hellas10#acb kills her greatest teacher6 ,socrates1 the father of ethical philosophy1 the founder of the critical method1 the ideal instructor1 dies as an impious corruptor of the youth of ,athens6 ,but ,socrates was not merely the greatest teacher of his day4 ,all subsequent ,greek philosophy is filled with his spirit2 indeed the leading schools of thought were founded by his pupils4#acc ,consequently he is the fountain-head of all ,western philosophy and science2 for in both ,greece was the school-mistress of ,europe4 ,among all the disciples1 ,plato best represents the master's spirit4 ,the ,megarians1 the ,cynics1 the ,cyrenaics1 and1 at a later date1 the ,stoics and the ,epicureans1 certainly carried on the work of ,socrates1 but they are deflections from the straight line3 they are 8imperfect schools10 as ,zeller calls them4#acd ,plato is in the direct line of succession4 ,he was about twenty years of age when he began to listen to ,socrates4 ,eight years later came the death of the great teacher4 ,plato then left ,athens and spent a number of years in travel and in study in different places4 ,about #cij ,b4 ,c41 however1 he returned to the city and set up a philosophical school in a garden called ,academia4 ,for forty years thereafter he was the acknowledged leader of philosophic thought and teaching in ,athens4#ace ,his influence since his death has rested chiefly on his ,dialogues1 one of the most perfect literary treasures in the ,greek language4 ,the form of these beautiful compositions still reflects the question-and-answer method of ,plato's master2 and the debt of the pupil is everywhere acknowledged2 for in most of the ,dialogues ,socrates is the chief interlocutor4#acf ,among the ,dialogues the ,republic is universally recognized as the most precious2 for it shows us not only his literary art at its highest1 but the thought of his matured mind3 it represents ,plato in his strength4#acg ,the subject of the ,republic is 8,what is ,justice80 ,it is thus the culmination of the ethical teaching of ,socrates4 ,among the preliminary discussions in this book there occurs a very striking conversation between ,glaucon and ,socrates1 in which the former gives two ideal portraits1 one of a man consummately unjust1 the other of a man altogether just4 ,here is the passage3-- 8,but in actually deciding between the lives of the two persons in question1 we shall be enabled to arrive at a correct conclusion by contrasting together the thoroughly just and the thoroughly unjust man1--and only by so doing4 ,well then1 how are we to contrast them8 ,in this way4 ,let us make no deduction either from the injustice of the unjust1 or from the justice of the just1 but let us suppose each to be perfect in his own line of conduct4 ,first of all then1 the unjust man must act as skilful craftsmen do4 ,for a first-rate pilot or physician perceives the difference between what is practicable and what is impracticable in his art1 and while he attempts the former1 he lets the latter alone2 and1 moreover1 should he happen to make a false step1 he is able to recover himself4 ,in the same way1 if we are to form a conception of a consummately unjust man1 we must suppose that he makes no mistake in the prosecution of his unjust enterprises and that he escapes detection3 but if he be found out1 we must look upon him as a bungler2 for it is the perfection of injustice to seem just without really being so4 ,we must1 therefore1 grant to the perfectly unjust man1 without any deduction1 the most perfect injustice3 and we must concede to him1 that while committing the grossest acts of injustice1 he has won himself the highest reputation for justice2 and that should he make a false step1 he is able to recover himself1 partly by a talent for speaking with effect1 in case he be called in question for any of his misdeeds1 and partly because his courage and strength1 and his command of friends and money1 enable him to employ force with success1 whenever force is required4 ,such being our unjust man1 let us1 in pursuance of the argument1 place the just man by his side1 a man of true simplicity and nobleness1 resolved1 as schylus says1 not to seem1 but to be1 good4 ,we must certainly take away the seeming2 for if he be thought to be a just man1 he will have honours and gifts on the strength of this reputation1 so that it will be uncertain whether it is for justice's sake1 or for the sake of the gifts and honours1 that he is what he is4 ,yes2 we must strip him bare of everything but justice1 and make his whole case the reverse of the former4 ,without being guilty of one unjust act1 let him have the worst reputation for injustice1 so that his virtue may be thoroughly tested1 and shewn to be proof against infamy and all its consequences2 and let him go on till the day of his death1 steadfast in his justice1 but with a lifelong reputation for injustice2 in order that1 having brought both the men to the utmost limits of justice and of injustice respectively1 we may then give judgment as to which of the two is the happier40 8,good heavens6 my dear ,glaucon10 said ,i1 8how vigorously you work1 scouring the two characters clean for our judgment1 like a pair of statues40 8,i do it as well as ,i can10 he said4 8,and after describing the men as we have done1 there will be no further difficulty1 ,i imagine1 in proceeding to sketch the kind of life which awaits them respectively4 ,let me therefore describe it4 ,and if the description be somewhat coarse1 do not regard it as mine1 ,socrates1 but as coming from those who commend injustice above justice4 ,they will say that in such a situation the just man will be scourged1 racked1 fettered1 will have his eyes burnt out1 and at last1 after suffering every kind of torture1 will be crucified2 and thus learn that it is best to resolve1 not to be1 but to seem1 just40#ach ,the picture of the just man here is surely a very remarkable one4 ,it is dramatically put into the mouth of ,glaucon1 and part of it is by him attributed to those who commend injustice2 but these are but literary forms2 the picture is ,plato's own4 ,it is his ideal of the just man2 and the extraordinary thing is his belief1 here stated so plainly1 that a man whose heart is perfectly set on righteousness may be so completely misunderstood by those around him1 as to be regarded by them as utterly unjust1 and may in consequence be subjected to the extremest torture and the most shameful death4 ,no one can doubt that it was the death of his master that led ,plato to perceive the great truth to which he here gives such energetic expression4 ,the charges against ,socrates were a complete inversion of the truth3 his reverence was called impiety2 his brilliant work for the character of the youth of his day brought him the charge of baneful corruption4 ,from his tragic end ,plato learned that the good man who brings new truth is very likely to be completely misunderstood and to be classed with the worst wrong-doers4 ,footnote #abi3 ,zeller1 ,socrates1 ,chaps4 ,i and ,,ii4 ,footnote #acj3 ,zeller1 ,socrates1 ,chaps4 ,,iii to ,,ix2 ,bury1 ,history of ,greece1 ,,ii1 #adj-adf2 ,grote1 ,history of ,greece1 ,chap4 ,,lxviii4 ,footnote #aca3 ,zeller1 ,socrates1 ,chap4 ,x2 ,bury1 ,history of ,greece1 ,,ii1 #adg4 ,footnote #acb3 ,so called by ,pericles1 her greatest statesman4 ,see ,thucydides1 ,,ii1 #da4 ,footnote #acc3 ,see ,milton1 ,paradise ,regained1 ,,iv1 #bgb-bhj4 ,footnote #acd3 ,socrates1 ,part ,,iii4 ,footnote #ace3 ,mahaffy1 ,greek ,literature1 ,,ii1 #afj-afb2 ,ritchie1 ,plato1 ,chap4 ,i2 ,mayor1 ,ancient ,philosophy1 #da ff4 ,footnote #acf3 ,for the ,dialogues see ,ritchie's ,plato1 ,chap4 ,,ii4 ,footnote #acg3 ,on the ,republic see ,mahaffy1 ,greek ,literature1 ,,ii1 #aie-bja4 ,footnote #ach3 ,plato1 ,rep41 ,,ii1 #cfj ,e-#cfb ,a1 ,davies and ,vaughan's translation4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,servant ,,of ,,jehovah4 ,the history of ,israel is unique in the annals of the nations4 ,in size scarcely worthy of regard1 in politics only for one brief reign of any serious account1 with no special genius for art or war1 for speculative thinking or scientific research1 failing to keep even their racial unity in the day of their greatest strength1 torn in pieces by every conqueror1 deported out of their own land1 and even after their return kept in subjection by other imperial races1 finally stripped of their temple and sacred city by the ,romans1 and shattered into fragments1 this feeble people has yet set its name high beside ,greece and ,rome1 has given the world the only book which all the world reads1#aci and the religion which has produced ,western civilization4 ,the one duty of which the best spirits in ,israel were conscious throughout the history of the people was faithfulness to ,jehovah4 ,indeed the whole consciousness of the race might be summed up in two phrases3 ,jehovah is the ,god of ,israel1 and1 ,israel is the people of ,jehovah4 ,war1 government1 philosophy1 art might be for other peoples3 ,israel's one duty was to serve her ,god1 religion the sole activity of her spirit4 ,the relation between ,jehovah and ,israel was a peculiarly tender one2--8,when ,israel was a child1 then ,i loved him1 and called my son out of ,egypt10#adj says ,jehovah by the mouth of one of ,his prophets4 ,as ,israel was ,jehovah's son1 he had to be taught1 trained1 disciplined4 ,the history of the people1 then1 is simply the record of ,jehovah's dealings with them in this process of loving and patient training4 ,israel's education was chiefly in the hard school of experience1 in national disaster and disgrace1 in national recovery and victory4 ,but not in events alone3 ,jehovah spoke ,his will out clearly through a series of most remarkable men known as the ,,prophets4 ,what is most noticeable in these men is the directness and the certainty of the message they brought from ,jehovah to ,his people4 ,usually it was criticism and condemnation1 with a definite declaration of coming punishment2 but now and then it was comfort and consolation1 with the promise of speedy help and relief4 ,it would be most interesting to trace the history in detail and to watch how the people were led step by step to fuller and clearer knowledge of ,god1 but we must not stay for that here4 ,we need only say sufficient to enable readers to understand the circumstances in which the great prophecy which we wish to discuss came to be uttered4 ,the people were slaves in ,egypt4 ,they were brought out under ,moses2 and in the peninsula of ,sinai a ,covenant was made between them and ,jehovah1 which laid the foundation of their religion and their national life4 ,joshua was their leader in the conquest of ,palestine1 an event which probably took place in the thirteenth century ,b4 ,c4 ,during the first two centuries of their residence in the land they had no settled form of government1 but acknowledged as their rulers from time to time certain great personalities known as ,judges4 ,towards the end of the eleventh century the pressure of the ,philistines led to the establishment of a monarchy4 ,saul knit the people together2 ,david built up a petty empire2 ,solomon gave his attention to commerce and internal organization4 ,but after these three reigns the nation fell in two4 ,from #icg ,b4 ,c4 onward for two centuries1 instead of one state there are two rival kingdoms1 the northern called ,israel and the southern ,judah4 ,the great events of these centuries occur in ,israel4 ,through the prophets ,elijah and ,elisha the people were taught that ,jehovah would never consent to be one among many gods3 ,they must worship ,jehovah alone4 ,later1 ,amos prophesied that ,jehovah would bring about the destruction of the kingdom of ,israel1 because the people would not live righteously4 ,they offered ,god sacrifices1 while ,he demanded righteous conduct between man and man4 ,but they could not believe that ,jehovah would destroy ,his own chosen people3 8,how can we believe that ,he will destroy the only people in all the world that ,he has made ,himself known to80 ,swift comes the answer1 8,you only have ,i known of all the families of the earth3 therefore ,i will punish you for all your iniquities40#ada ,israel had had greater privileges than any other people2 therefore ,israel had a deeper responsibility1 and would receive a severer punishment4 ,in #gbb ,b4 ,c4 the ,assyrians overthrew ,israel1 and carried away #bg1bij of the leading inhabitants and settled them in ,mesopotamia and ,media4#adb ,the prophecy of ,amos was thus literally fulfilled4 ,the kingdom of ,judah1 which was not involved in the fate of ,israel1 stood for rather more than a century longer4 ,isaiah was the prophet of ,jehovah in ,judah when ,israel fell4 ,he condemned his own people just as ,amos had condemned ,israel1 because they identified religion with ritual1 and would not give ,jehovah what ,he wanted1 namely1 righteousness4 ,the state of the people was so bad that ,isaiah declared that nothing could cure them4 ,jehovah would intervene3 the bulk of the people would be destroyed1 but a righteous remnant would be saved4 ,towards the end of ,isaiah's life ,sennacherib1 king of ,assyria1 came1 devastated the land of ,judah1 took many of the cities1 and demanded the surrender of the capital1 ,jerusalem4 ,isaiah advised the king not to yield1 and prophesied that the ,assyrian would not be able to touch the city4 ,his prophecy was fulfilled to the letter4 ,the huge ,assyrian army was suddenly annihilated by some unknown cause1 probably pestilence1 and ,sennacherib hastened back to ,assyria4#adc ,a century later ,judah was in a still worse condition3 idolatry1 polytheism1 immorality were eating out the vitals of the nation4 ,in #fjd ,b4 ,c4 ,jeremiah prophesied that ,jehovah would bring ,nebuchadnezzar1 king of ,babylon1 into ,syria1 and that he would destroy ,judah and all the nations round about1 that they would groan under the rule of ,babylon for seventy years1 but that at the end of that period ,jehovah would punish the ,babylonians for their iniquity1 and would make their land desolate forever4#add ,but his countrymen would not listen4 ,jehovah had saved ,his people from the ,assyrian in the time of ,isaiah3 why should ,he allow the ,babylonian to touch them now8 ,yet in #ehe ,b4 ,c4 ,nebuchadnezzar took ,jerusalem1 burned the city and the temple1 and carried away the king and all the leading families to ,babylon4#ade ,once more the word of ,jehovah1 as spoken by ,his prophets1 was literally fulfilled4 ,but what was to be the end8--,jehovah seemed to have utterly destroyed ,his chosen people3 what was ,his purpose8 what good was to come out of it8 ,the people of the northern kingdom1 carried away in #gbb ,b4 ,c41 soon lost their religion1 and were in consequence speedily lost themselves among the peoples of the ,east4 ,not so the captives of ,judah3 the training of ,isaiah and his disciples and of ,jeremiah and his friends had taken fast hold of their hearts1 so that even in a foreign land1 far away from home and temple1 they held by the religion of ,jehovah4 ,nor is that all3 they began to take their religion seriously2 they began to perceive that the prophets were right in declaring that ,jehovah was a very different ,god from the gods of the nations around them1 that ,he would not be satisfied with sacrifice and song1 but demanded heart-worship and righteousness4 ,but although they clung to their faith in ,jehovah1 they were naturally greatly depressed by the seeming hopelessness of their captivity4#adf ,to rebel against the ,babylonians1 and by the sword regain their freedom and their land1 was an utter impossibility3 they were altogether helpless under the omnipotent empire4 ,but about #eej ,b4 ,c4 ,cyrus1 an ,elamite king1 began a great career of conquest4 ,in #edi he overthrew the ,cimmerians under their king ,astyages1 and by #edf he was master of ,persia4 ,he then went further west to subdue ,asia ,minor4#adg ,it was at this juncture1 according to all scholars1 that a great prophet1 whose name is unknown1 began to comfort and encourage the ,jewish exiles in ,babylon4 ,his prophecy is preserved for us in the latter part of the book of ,isaiah4#adh ,his message is that the sufferings of the exiles are nearly at an end1 that ,cyrus is to capture ,babylon and give them leave to return to their native land4#adi ,in #ech ,b4 ,c4 ,cyrus marched into ,babylonia1 defeated the ,babylonian army1 and seized the city1 thus fulfilling in a very striking way the second part of ,jeremiah's prophecy4#aej ,soon after1 the ,judean captives received permission to return to ,palestine4 ,they were also allowed to carry with them the sacred vessels which ,nebuchadnezzar had carried away from the temple in ,jerusalem4#aea ,the prophecy of restoration was thus triumphantly fulfilled4 ,one company of exiles went at once1 and others followed them later4 ,the people of ,jehovah in this way began life afresh after the great national punishment of the ,captivity4 ,they had thoroughly learned one lesson at least1 namely1 this1 that ,jehovah spoke through ,his prophets4 ,so in their new system1 while they retained the old ritual of the temple1 they made careful provision for the preservation of the writings of the prophets and for the instruction of the people in the ,mosaic ,law4 ,we need trace the history no farther2 for it was this post-exilic ,judaism1 with its great care for the ,scriptures1 and its energetic attempts to instil them into the minds of the people1 that formed the environment of ,jesus and ,his work4 ,but we must now return to the great prophet who spoke consolation to the exiles in ,babylon1 and study his ideas4 ,his conception of ,god is very lofty4 ,he illustrates in many ways ,his holiness1 ,his faithfulness1 ,his tender sympathy1 ,his omnipotence1 ,his absolute sway among nations1 and ,his power of foretelling future events by the mouth of ,his prophets4 ,on the other hand1 the prophet's conception of the duty and destiny of the people of ,jehovah is correspondingly high4 ,israel has been created and chosen by ,jehovah1 and therefore is precious in ,his sight2 but ,he did not choose them out of favouritism1 nor was it ,his purpose to heap blessings on them merely for their pleasure and aggrandizement4 ,israel is the ,servant of ,jehovah4 ,the service they have to render is to reveal ,god's character and purposes to all the nations of the earth4 ,this is the end of their election and of their long training4 ,but1 as in the past the nation has fallen far short of ,jehovah's ideal1 so now in ,babylon the people as a whole is very far from fit for the work which ,god has for them to do3 8,who is blind but my servant8 or deaf as my messenger that ,i send80#aeb ,consequently there is a further choice within the chosen people4 ,the use of the title1 the ,servant of ,jehovah1 is narrowed4 ,the prophet knows that ,god's ends will be worked out1 that through ,israel ,jehovah's name will be carried to the ends of the earth2 he also sees as clearly that the nation as a nation is unfit for this lofty duty2 so he recognises that the ,servant who shall do this work will be found within the people4 ,whether he identified the ,servant of ,jehovah in this narrower sense with the small group of really ,god-fearing men who formed the soul of ,israel in his own day1 or whether he thought of an individual to be specially prepared for the task by ,jehovah1 we do not know4 ,most probably this point was not clear to the prophet himself4#aec ,it is in four poems of peculiar dignity and surpassing spiritual penetration that this narrower use of the title occurs4 ,in the first#aed of these ,jehovah describes ,his ,servant's character and work2 in the second#aee1 the ,servant tells how ,jehovah prepared him for his task2 in the third1#aef we have a portrait of the ,servant as a martyr2 while in the fourth#aeg1 he is represented1 though righteous himself1 as dying a shameful death as an atonement for the sins of the unrighteous4 ,it is to this fourth poem that we would direct the attention of our readers4 ,,the ,,atoning ,,death ,,of ,,the ,,servant ,,of ,,jehovah4 ,jehovah4-- ,lo1 ,my ,servant shall deal wisely2 ,he shall rise1 be uplifted1 and be exalted exceedingly4 ,even as many were amazed at him1-- ,so marred from a man's was his appearance1 ,and his form from that of the sons of men6-- ,so shall he startle many nations2 ,before him kings shall shut their mouths4 ,for what had not been told them they shall see1 ,and what they had not heard they shall consider4 ,israel4-- ,who believed what was heard by us8 ,and the arm of ,jehovah1 to whom was it revealed8 ,he grew up like a sapling before us1 ,and like a shoot out of parched ground4 ,he had no form1 nor majesty1 that we should look upon him1 ,nor appearance1 that we should desire him4 ,he was despised and forsaken by men1 ,a man of pains and familiar with sickness2 ,and as one from whom men hide their face ,he was despised1 and we held him of no account4 ,yet it was our sicknesses that he bore1 ,and our pains that he carried2 ,while we accounted him stricken1 ,smitten by ,god1 and afflicted4 ,but he was pierced because of our transgressions1 ,crushed because of our iniquities2 ,chastisement to secure our peace was laid upon him1 ,and through his stripes healing came to us4 ,we all like sheep had gone astray1 ,we had turned each one to his own way2 ,and ,jehovah made to light on him ,the iniquity of us all4 ,the ,prophet4-- ,he was oppressed1 yet he let himself be afflicted1 ,and opened not his mouth1 ,as a lamb that is led to the slaughter1 ,and as a sheep that is dumb before her shearers1 ,and opened not his mouth4 ,by a tyrannical judgment he was taken away2 ,and1 as for the men of his time1 who considered1 ,that he was cut off out of the land of the living1 ,that for the transgression of my people he was stricken8 ,and his grave was made with the wicked1 ,and his tomb with the unrighteous1 ,although he had done no violence1 ,and there was no deceit in his mouth4 ,but it was ,jehovah that willed to crush him1 ,that laid on him sickness3 ,if he should lay down his life as a guilt-offering1 ,he would see a posterity1 he would lengthen his days1 ,and the will of ,jehovah would prosper by his hand2 ,after the travail of his soul he would see it1 ,and would be satisfied with his knowledge4 ,jehovah4-- ,my ,servant1 the righteous one1 shall make many righteous2 ,for he shall bear their iniquities4 ,therefore ,i will give him a share with the many1 ,and with the strong he shall divide the spoil2 ,inasmuch as he poured out his life-blood to death1 ,and let himself be numbered with the transgressors2 ,yet it was the sin of the many he bore1 ,and for the transgressors he interposed4 ,in this marvellous poem we have four successive vignettes of the ,servant4 ,there first rises in the prophet's mind a vision of the awe-struck wonder with which the nations and their kings shall gaze on the ,servant of ,jehovah1 when after unequalled humiliation he shall be uplifted in surpassing glory4 ,the next picture takes us back to his life of humiliation3 he grows up with nothing in him to strike the eye or attract the attention of men2 nay1 rather all turn their back on him as worthless1 contemptible1 smitten with divine punishment4 ,but along with this sorrowful portrait there comes the passionate confession of the men of ,israel1 that the ,servant in all his sufferings had been bearing their sins4 ,the third picture shows us the suffering ,servant in uncomplaining meekness enduring a criminal's death with all its shameful associations2 yet this death is explained as occurring in accordance with ,god's will1 and as being a guilt-offering4 ,the series ends in triumph3 the righteous ,servant by bearing iniquity will make many righteous and will achieve the glory and the reward of the conqueror4 ,in this prophecy the remarkable thing is that the sufferings and death of the ,servant are construed throughout1 not as a martyrdom1 but as much more4 ,in his death he lays down his life as a guilt-offering2 and all his sufferings1 inclusive of his death1 are1 from ,jehovah's point of view1 chastisement laid on him on account of the sins of others1 from the ,servant's point of view1 a voluntary bearing of their iniquities4 ,his willingness to endure and his meekness under oppression are very vividly put before us2 but ,god's purpose to crush him is insisted on with equal emphasis4 ,the awful tragedy happens within ,israel2 but after it is consummated1 the ,servant1 once so despised1 neglected and oppressed1 startles the nations1 and kings in amazement shut their mouths in his presence4 ,the purpose of the dread sacrifice is ,,to ,,bring ,,men ,,to ,,righteousness2 and that end1 we are told1 will be widely accomplished4 ,whence did the prophet draw the ideas of his prophecy8 ,if any piece of literature bears signs of inspiration1 this does2 but the experience which enabled him to become the vehicle of inspiration in this particular case may also be conjectured4 ,the sufferings1 which many of the prophets1 and especially ,jeremiah1 had endured at the hands of their fellow-countrymen1 had made a profound impression upon the best minds in ,israel2 and the affliction of the exiles in ,babylon was manifestly not merely penal1 but also purificatory4 ,footnote #aci3 ,the ,bible1 complete or in part1 is printed and published to-day in #ded languages and dialects4 ,the number of ,bibles1 ,new ,testaments and portions sold by the various ,bible ,societies of ,europe and ,america1 in lands outside ,europe1 amounted in #aija to #c1bhf1hcd4 7,centennial ,survey of ,foreign ,missions by the ,rev4 ,james ,s4 ,dennis1 ,d4,d47 ,these figures do not include the ,bibles sold by the ordinary publishers of ,christian countries1 nor the ,bibles sold in ,europe by ,bible ,societies4 ,if it were possible to gather all the statistics1 we may be certain the figures would amount up to five or six millions4 ,what a book that must be1 which circulates in #ded languages1 and is sold at the rate of #e1jjj1jjj copies per annum6 ,footnote #adj3 ,hosea1 #aa1 #a4 ,footnote #ada3 ,amos1 #c1 #b4 ,footnote #adb3 #b ,kings1 #ag1 #a-bc2 the figures are from an inscription of ,sargon1 the victorious ,assyrian ,king3 see ,authority and ,archology1 #aja4 ,footnote #adc3 #b ,kings1 #ai1 #ce-cf2 ,wellhausen1 ,israel and ,judah1 ,chap4 ,,vii2 ,authority and ,archology1 #aje-ajh4 ,footnote #add3 ,jeremiah1 #be1 #a-ad4 ,footnote #ade3 #b ,kings1 #be1 #a-bb4 ,footnote #adf3 ,psalm #acg4 ,footnote #adg3 ,the details have now been read in ,cyrus's own inscriptions3 ,hastings1 ,dictionary of the ,bible1 ,i1 #eda4 ,footnote #adh3 ,from ,chap4 #dj onwards4 ,see ,driver1 ,introduction1 #bag4 ,footnote #adi3 ,isaiah1 #dj1 #a-aj2 #dd1 #bd-bh4 ,footnote #aej3 ,authority and ,archaeology1 #abc-abf4 ,footnote #aea3 ,ezra1 ,chap4 #a4 ,footnote #aeb3 ,isaiah1 #db1 #ai4 ,footnote #aec3 ,for the ideas of this great prophet1 see the ,cambridge ,bible for ,schools1 ,isaiah1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 pp4 ,,xxii-,,xxxix4 ,footnote #aed3 ,isaiah1 #db1 #a-d4 ,footnote #aee3 ,isaiah1 #di1 #a-f4 ,footnote #aef3 ,isaiah1 #ej1 #d-i4 ,footnote #aeg3 ,isaiah1 #eb1 #ac-ec1 #ab4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,virgil',s ,,new ,,age ,,of ,,justice ,,and ,,peace4 ,the slow but steady rise of an obscure inland ,italian town1 first to the rule of all ,italy1 and finally to imperial sway over the whole ,mediterranean world1 is as full of problems for the intellect as of fascination for the imagination4 ,whence the extraordinary vigour and practical genius of this city8 ,what gave it so much capacity in comparison with any other ,italian town8 ,does the secret lie in the ,roman character1 the ,roman intellect1 or in the constitution of the republican city itself8 ,but other questions still more serious press for answers3 ,how did the ,roman government affect the subject provinces8 ,how did it react upon the ,roman character and upon the life of the capital8 ,could a single city furnish men of character and ability in sufficient numbers for such a prodigious task8 ,the answer to these grave questions must be sought in the history of the last century of the existence of the republic4 ,from about #ade ,b4 ,c4 to about #dh ,b4 ,c4 ,rome was never at rest3 violent political strife1 faction1 proscriptions and civil wars eclipse everything else in the internal history of the imperial city during these years4 ,the old state machinery was getting worn out2 the old families1 corrupted by the immeasurable success of the ,rome which was their making1 were grinding the provinces by their cruelty and greed1 and would not budge an inch from their privileges1 nor indeed lift a finger1 to save ,rome and ,italy from the moral and economic ruin with which they were threatened4 ,the wrongs of the slave1 the ,italian and the provincial cried aloud for redress2 scarcely less urgent was the need for the introduction of a great deal of fresh blood into the governing classes2 but the latter were bitterly hostile to every change4 ,hence the violent struggles throughout the century between the ,government and the other classes4 ,the empire had proved too much for the old ,roman character4#aeh ,the only force that remained really efficient was the army4 ,who shall describe the ruin1 bloodshed1 misery1 desolation1 wrought by these years8 ,the national character suffered a frightful fall also3 corruption in public1 immorality in private1 became all but universal4 ,the weariness and the hopelessness generated by the seemingly unending strife made men forget their old passion for freedom and sigh even for tyranny1 if only it would bring peace4 ,relief came when ,julius ,csar crushed ,pompey at ,pharsalus in ,b4 ,c4 #dh4 ,there was fighting here and there for two years more1 but it was of little consequence4 ,pharsalus made ,csar the monarch of ,rome4 ,he lived barely four years after his victory2 for the daggers of the conspirators found his heart on the #aeth of ,march1 #dd ,b4 ,c42 yet by a series of masterly administrative and legislative acts he laid in great broad lines the foundation of the new empire and set in motion the healthy forces that were needed for the regeneration of ,rome and ,italy4 ,his work is ,titanic both in conception and execution4 ,seldom has such a great man executed such a mighty task4 ,but his murder loosed all the old fiends again1 and they worked wilder woe than ever4 ,for now the whole gigantic empire was drawn into the whirlpool1 and the provinces were only a little less miserable than ,italy4 ,during ,csar's own struggle his mighty genius and his magnanimity had thrown a glory upon the murky clouds of the storm2 but now that the sun was set1 black darkness settled over the unhappy empire4#aei ,there was a pause in the strife1 when1 in ,b4 ,c4 #dj1 a treaty was drawn up between ,octavian and ,antony at ,brundisium and confirmed by the marriage of ,antony to the sister of ,octavian4 ,men hoped that the end had come at last and that the world would enjoy a lasting peace4 ,it was during this bright moment that ,virgil1 who later was to write the ,aeneid1 and so earn for himself a very great name in ,european literature1 composed a short poem1 which finds a place among his ,pastorals1 and is named ,pollio4 ,here is a translation of lines four to twenty-five1 which will be found quite sufficient to bring the main ideas of the poem before us3-- 8,the last epoch of the ,sybil's prophecy has come at length2 the great series of the ages is being born anew2 at length the virgin1 ,justice1 is returning1 returning too the reign of ,saturn2 at length a new race of men is being sent down from heaven high4 ,do thou1 ,lucina1 but smile thy chaste smile upon a boy with whose coming at last ceases the iron race and the golden springs up throughout the world2 do so1 ,lucina3 it is thine own ,apollo that now reigns4 ,it is in thy consulship1 ,pollio1 that this glorious age will come in1 and the months of the great year will begin their march4 ,under thy leadership all traces that remain of ,roman crime in civil strife shall pass away1 and passing1 free the lands from constant fear4 8,he shall receive the life of the gods1 and shall behold gods and heroes mingling together2 and himself shall be beheld by them2 and with his father's virtues he shall rule the world at peace4 8,unasked the earth shall shower upon thee1 sweet boy1 thy first baby gifts1 the gadding ivy with the fox-glove1 and lily-bean entwined with smiling bear's-foot4 ,the goats shall bring home uncalled their milk-filled udders2 the harts shall no longer fear great lions2 and flowers shall spring to caress thee where'er thou liest down4 ,the asp shall perish2 the treacherous1 poison herb shall perish too2 and everywhere shall spring ,assyrian balm40#afj ,the ,greeks and ,romans had a great system of cycles and ages1 not unlike the ,hindu ,kalpas and ,manvantaras4 ,one cycle follows another1 the beginning of each being marked by the sun1 moon and stars all occupying their original positions4 ,the ,roman phrase for cycle is 8great year40 ,each great year is subdivided into 8months10 that is ages4 ,the first age of each great year is the golden1 when ,saturn reigns1 and a divine race of men occupies the earth2 the last is the iron age1 when ,apollo reigns1 and men are sinful4 ,virgil declares1 then1 that the end of the old cycle has come1 and that the new cycle is about to begin with all the splendour of the golden age4 ,saturn will reign2 ,justice and ,peace will return to the earth2 a god-like race of men will spring up all over the world2 nature will be redeemed2 and primitive simplicity and innocence will reappear4 ,idyllic scenes of peace and plenty--trade and manufacture all forgotten--give the poem a wonderful charm4 ,the most outstanding idea of the prophecy1 however1 is that the new age opens with the birth of a boy1 who is to receive special divine help1 and is to be at once the pattern and the prince of the new time4 ,who the boy was that ,virgil had in mind1 the critics have not been able to decide4#afa ,clearly he was a son born in #dj ,b4 ,c4 to one of the leading ,romans2 but we can say no more4 ,evidently ,virgil believed that the civil wars were over1 that a new era of peace had begun1 and that this boy might be looked forward to as the ruler who should effectively transform the empire1 revive primitive virtue and simplicity1 and banish the foul demon war forever4 ,his prediction was not verified3 no boy born in #dj ,b4 ,c4 became a world-ruler and regenerator2 and1 besides1 nine long years of doubt and fear1 horror and blood1 had to be endured1 before ,octavian became1 by the battle of ,actium1 the acknowledged master of the ,roman world2 and1 while he completed the task of ,csar1 and succeeded in doing the work of a great ruler in a marvellous fashion1 no one would dream of saying that he fulfilled the ideal of this poem4 ,it is an unfulfilled prophecy2 yet it is not without interest and value for men to-day4 ,first of all it is of interest as a revelation of the ideas and the hopes that filled men's minds in ,virgil's time4 8,the anticipation of a new era was widely spread and vividly felt over the world2 and this anticipation--the state of men's minds at and subsequent to the time when this poem was written--probably contributed to the acceptance of the great political and spiritual changes which awaited the world40#afb ,but it is of still greater interest as a revelation of what ,virgil himself thought1 ,virgil1 who was perhaps the purest and most interesting personality in the ,grco-,roman world then4 ,men generally were looking for a regeneration of the world2 we have here ,virgil's own thoughts on the great subject4 ,he shared with others the idea that the world was on the verge of the dawning of a new day1 a day of renewed justice and peace2 but he had an idea of his own1 that of a great personality1 a man of high moral character1 specially endowed by the gods for his great task as leader and ruler of the new time4 ,scarcely less prominent is his idea of the nobler race of men that shall spring up in the new era4 ,it is no picture merely of good government such as ,augustus gave the world that we have here2 but a prophecy of the moral regeneration of mankind under the influence of a divinely prepared leader4 ,footnote #aeh3 ,froude1 ,csar1 #ab-ai4 ,footnote #aei3 ,for the whole picture see ,mommsen1 especially the very last page of his history4 ,footnote #afj3 ,virgil1 ,eclogues1 ,,iv1 #d-be4 ,footnote #afa3 ,sellar1 ,virgil1 #adf2 ,simcox1 ,latin ,literature1 ,vol4 ,i1 #beg4 ,footnote #afb3 ,sellar1 ,virgil1 #ade4 ,cf4 ,boissier1 ,la ,religion ,romaine4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,jesus ,,of ,,nazareth4 ,i4 ,the difference between ancient and modern times in ,europe is vital4 ,human society is never stagnant2 development in one direction or another is constant2 so that in the course of a few centuries changes1 both numerous and noticeable1 take place everywhere4 ,thus the ,europe of the middle ages differs very markedly from the ,europe of to-day4 ,yet the one is the direct outcome of the other4 ,on the other hand1 the civilizations of ,greece and ,rome1 although we owe them an incalculable debt1 are marked off from modern civilization by differences which can only be spoken of as essential4 ,for it is not any single element that has been added externally to ancient life so as to produce modern society2 it is rather a subtle spirit1 which has modified all thinking1 altered the values of things1 produced organic changes in government and society1 and recreated art and literature4 ,the unexampled development of science and invention1 and the extraordinary activity and vigour of ,european commerce and arms1 which are often spoken of as the chief characteristics of modern civilization1 are rather to be regarded as indications of unparalleled vitality and efficiency in the social organism than as essential products of its spirit4 ,science and invention flourished among the ,greeks2 the ,roman empire was as vigorous as any modern state in matters of war4 ,these things prove the healthy vitality of the society of the ,west2 its essential spirit is to be sought elsewhere4 ,a comparison of ancient and modern life reveals differences at once very numerous and greatly significant4 ,the economics of ,europe have been revolutionized2 for the labour1 the manufacture and the commerce of ancient times rested on a basis of slavery4#afc ,government has been turned upside down2 for the ruling principle of ancient politics was hereditary and exclusive citizenship in a city-state2#afd while modern politics have been created by the great principles of the equality of men irrespective of birth or station and the indefeasible sovereignty of the people4#afe ,in ancient society human life as such had no value3 infanticide was practised openly by all as a right and proper thing necessary for the well-being of the family and the state2#aff prisoners taken in war1 if not killed1 were made slaves1 and as slaves their lives and persons were absolutely at the mercy of their masters2#afg aliens had a place in the state only on sufferance3 society stood in no relation to them and had no duties towards them4#afh ,the social organism of modern times1 on the other hand1 is a new creation1 produced by the conception of the inherent sanctity of human life and the divine dignity of the human personality4#afi ,modern education is in form and method ,greek2 but the results it produces are altogether new2 first1 because it carries the modern spirit within the ancient forms1 and secondly1 because modern men regard education as part of the birthright of every human being4 ,moral ideals show very important differences1 chiefly in the direction of the elevation of humility1 meekness1 sympathy1 forgiveness and self-sacrifice1 and the extraordinary advance in the conception of the right of individual freedom4 ,in ancient times the individual citizen had no rights as against the ,state2#agj now we demand not only freedom in matters of profession and business1 as against caste restrictions1 but intellectual1 moral and religious liberty4 ,the differences between ancient and modern religion are very extraordinary in many ways4 ,for the present we need only note the one far-reaching distinction1 that to the ancients religion was a political duty1 which the citizen was bound to fulfil1 and a civic privilege1 which only those in whose veins ran the sacred blood of the community could share2#aga while modern religion is the loftiest activity of the human spirit1 as far transcending the narrow limits of the ,state as it does the petty distinctions of race and blood4 ,the differences1 then1 between ancient and modern life are not accidental but essential4 ,a second thing to be noticed is the altogether unexampled vitality and pervasiveness of modern civilization4 ,during the nineteenth century alone1 while the population of the rest of the world remained nearly stationary1 the actual numbers of the ,european peoples rose from #agj1jjj1jjj to #ejj1jjj1jjj4agb ,here is physical life on a gigantic scale4 ,let readers think1 next1 of the extraordinary advances made during the nineteenth century in every province of natural science1 from mathematics and physics up through the biological sciences to psychology and the science of religion1 the swift upward progress made in literary1 historical and philosophical method1 and the innumerable inventions that have been produced for facilitating every form of human activity4 ,are not these facts evidence of an amazing store of intellectual vitality in the society of the ,west8 ,think also of the buoyancy1 the hope1 the youthful delight in action1 the glance into the future1 which characterize the progressive peoples of ,europe and ,america4 ,colonization1 on the other hand1 exploration1 missions1 world-wide commerce1 domination over other races1 whether you call them bad or good1 are incontestable proofs of energy1 physical1 moral and intellectual4 ,further1 these forms of vital force are clearly of the greatest practical importance in the world4 ,in the process of natural selection which1 whether we like it or not1 is ceaselessly being carried on among the races of mankind1 the possession of such energy is one of the crucial factors in the struggle4 ,but this civilization has also an altogether unique power of entering into other civilizations and working revolutionary changes there3 its pervasiveness is almost as remarkable as its vitality4 ,we need only point to ,india and ,japan to-day for proof of this4 ,western civilization1 then1 is a thing by itself1 not more clearly distinguished from ancient life than from the civilizations that have arisen in other parts of the world4 ,what is it that has made the difference8 ,what subtle spirit is it that appears in every aspect of the civilization1 that assumes so many forms1 and generates such transcending energies8 ,there can be but one answer3 it is ,christianity4 ,in every community religion is the life principle1 the central fire1 which fills the whole with living force1 and communicates its own spirit to every cell of the organism4#agc ,that is a law which is becoming ever more apparent in all anthropological1 sociological and religious science4 ,from this general law we might conclude in this particular case1 that it is the religion that gives the civilization its character4 ,but we need not appeal to general principles2 history tells us in the clearest tones that the peculiarities which distinguish ,western civilization from every other spring directly or indirectly from the ,christian faith4 ,now one way of classifying religions is to divide them into two groups1 spontaneous and founded4 ,the former are results of the united unconscious action of a tribe or people3 for example1 the religions of ,greece and ,rome4 ,the latter spring from some particular man1 and are inseparably connected with his life3 for example1 ,buddhism1 ,christianity and ,mohammedanism4 ,that ,christianity is a founded religion1 and that it springs from ,christ1 admits of no question4 ,tacitus1 the ,roman historian1 in speaking of the great fire at ,rome in #fd ,a4 ,d41 which devastated ten of the fourteen districts into which the ,imperial city was divided1 says that the people got their heads filled with the suspicion1 that the ,emperor himself 7,nero was then on the throne7 had used his agents to set the city on fire4 ,he then continues3-- 8,consequently1 to get rid of the report1 ,nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations1 called ,christians by the populace4 ,christus1 from whom the name had its origin1 suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of ,tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators1 ,pontius ,pilatus1 and a most mischievous superstition1 thus checked for the moment1 again broke out not only in ,judea1 the first source of the evil1 but even in ,rome1 where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular4 ,accordingly1 an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty2 then1 upon their information1 an immense multitude was convicted1 not so much of the crime of firing the city1 as of hatred against mankind4 ,mockery of every sort was added to their deaths4 ,covered with the skins of beasts1 they were torn by dogs and perished2 or were nailed to crosses1 or were doomed to the flames and burnt1 to serve as a nightly illumination1 when daylight had expired4 8,nero offered his gardens for the spectacle1 and was exhibiting a show in the circus1 while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car4 ,hence1 even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment1 there arose a feeling of compassion2 for it was not1 as it seemed1 for the public good1 but to glut one man's cruelty1 that they were being destroyed40#agd ,christ1 then1 is a historical person4 ,he was a ,jew2 ,he founded ,christianity2 and ,he was executed by ,pontius ,pilatus during his procuratorship of ,juda1 i4e41 between #bg and #cg ,a4 ,d4#age ,other facts enable scholars to fix the date of ,his death within narrower limits3 a few adopt #cj ,a4 ,d41 but by far the greatest number prefer #bi ,a4 ,d42#agf and that date we adopt here4 ,here1 then1 are the facts3 ,christ was put to death by the ,roman ,governor of ,juda in #bi ,a4 ,d41 but this did not extinguish ,christianity2 for it spread not only in ,juda but beyond2 so much so1 that in #fd ,a4 ,d4 8an immense multitude0 of ,christians were found in ,rome1 and were for their faith put to death with horrible barbarities4 ,such is the first chapter of the history of ,christianity in ,europe4 ,from this point onwards the facts are well known4 ,the furious hostility visible here in the spirit of the ,roman ,empire against the ,christian faith ended in the victory of the latter1 in its gradual acceptance by the races of ,europe1 and the continuously increasing infiltration of ,christian ideas into the minds of the people4 ,the process is far from complete2 for the contrast between the old spirit and the new is so extreme that only long ages of discipline and the slow processes of evolution will suffice to work the transformation4 ,we have seen how essentially different the spirit in our modern life is from the spirit of ,grco-,roman life3 how much greater would be the contrast1 if one were to oppose the pure spirit of ,christ to the spirit of ,paganism6 ,when men accept ,christ1 they are conscious of the authority of ,his perfect character and ,his heavenly life1 and they know that ,he claims their complete submission to ,him2 but they have no idea how far-reaching this claim is4 ,christ demands that not only every part of the individual's life--thoughts1 feelings1 words1 deeds--but every aspect of social and political life as well should be made subject to ,his law of love4 ,this is easily stated3 how hard is it to work it out1 except in a long series of generations6 ,but imperfect as has been the perception of ,christ's aims1 and still more imperfect the execution of these by the peoples of ,europe1 yet the results of even their very partial submission to them have been1 as we have seen1 momentous in the highest degree4 ,christ has made modern ,europe4 ,now we found from our study of ,virgil's prophecy that he believed that a new age was just about to open4 ,like other thinking men of his day1 he felt that the civilization under which he lived was played out1 that new life was needed1 new morals and a fresh organization of society4 ,he believed that in the new age the leader and king would be a great ,roman1 and that under him the world would be transformed4 ,further1 it is sufficiently striking that1 while his prophecy received no literal fulfilment1 yet the new age did actually begin shortly after the time when he wrote1 an age which has produced a new race of men1 new moral ideas and an altogether fresh organization of society1 and vitality and virility1 besides1 such as ,virgil never dreamed of4 ,he spoke of a great leader favoured of the gods1 a noble ,roman4 ,the new age did come in under the guidance of a new leader1 but he was no aristocratic ,roman1 but a ,jew1 and a man of the people1 ,jesus of ,nazareth4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,ii4 ,christ's name and life are well-known outside ,christendom4 ,he is spoken of in very high terms in the book which all ,mohammedans revere2 and contact with the ,west has brought a certain amount of knowledge about him to the peoples of ,india1 ,china and ,japan4 ,now the most striking fact in this connection is this1 that while most of these ,mohammedans1 ,hindus1 ,buddhists1 and ,confucians condemn ,christians violently1 and many write against ,christianity1 they one and all speak with the highest praise of the character of ,christ4 ,the same is true of sceptics and agnostics in ,christian lands4 ,one might compile a most fascinating volume consisting merely of extracts from non-,christian writers1 in which ,christ is spoken of as the best of men1 as the ideal man1 as the man whom all men should not only admire1 but imitate4 ,now we have in this a most remarkable fact4 ,there is no other character in history that is so universally revered4 ,there is no other man whom all men join in praising with so much heartiness4 ,charles ,lamb speaks for the human race when he says3 8,if ,shakespeare were to enter this room1 we should all spring to our feet2 if ,christ were to enter1 we should all fall on our knees40 ,but ,,he ,,was ,,crucified4 ,this1 the purest and noblest of men1 was subjected to the most shameful form of death possible4 ,nor was there only the bare execution3 every circumstance that could make death bitter to the noble human spirit was added4 ,he was betrayed by one of ,his own chosen ,twelve2 the remaining eleven deserted ,him2 one plucked up heart and followed at a distance1 but only to deny him4 ,indeed the universal breakdown of human character around ,him is one of the saddest things in history4 ,the ,jewish priests and scribes1 the common people1 the ,roman ,governor and the common soldiers1 all reveal their worst passions in the presence of ,christ1 while ,he stands amongst them in all the silent majesty of innocence4#agg ,we here quote three short paragraphs from ,st4 ,matthew's ,gospel4#agh ,the first describes what took place after the members of the ,jewish ,sanhedrin had decided that ,jesus deserved to be put to death3-- 8,then did they spit in ,his face1 and buffet ,him2 and some smote ,him with the palms of their hands1 saying1 ,prophesy unto us1 ,thou ,christ3 who is he that struck ,thee80#agi ,then those model judges carried their prisoner before ,pontius ,pilate1 the ,roman ,governor1 and after much persuasion got him to condemn ,jesus to death1 when the following scenes took place3-- 8,then the soldiers of the ,governor took ,jesus into the palace1 and gathered unto ,him the whole band4 ,and they stripped ,him1 and put on ,him a scarlet robe4 ,and they plaited a crown of thorns and put it upon ,his head1 and a reed in ,his right hand2 and they kneeled down before ,him1 and mocked ,him1 saying1 #8,hail1 ,king of the ,jews6' ,and they spat upon ,him1 and took the reed and smote ,him on the head4 ,and when they had mocked ,him1 they took off from ,him the robe1 and put on ,him ,his garments and led ,him away to crucify ,him40#ahj 8,and as they came out1 they found a man of ,cyrene1 ,simon by name2 him they compelled to go with them1 that he might bear ,his cross4 ,and when they were come unto a place called ,golgotha1 that is to say1 ,the place of a skull1 they gave ,him wine to drink mingled with gall3 and when ,he had tasted it1 ,he would not drink4 ,and when they had crucified ,him1 they parted ,his garments among them1 casting lots3 and they sat and watched ,him there4 ,and they set up over ,his head ,his accusation written1 ,,this ,,is ,,jesus ,,the ,,king ,,of ,,the ,,jews4 ,then are there crucified with ,him two robbers1 one on the right hand1 and one on the left4 ,and they that passed by railed on ,him1 wagging their heads1 and saying1 #8,thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days1 save ,thyself3 if ,thou art the ,son of ,god1 come down from the cross4' ,in like manner also the chief priests mocking ,him with the scribes and elders said1 #8,he saved others3 ,himself ,he cannot save4 ,he is the ,king of ,israel2 let ,him now come down from the cross1 and we will believe on ,him4 ,he trusteth on ,god2 let ,him deliver ,him now1 if ,he desireth ,him3 for ,he said1 ,i am the ,son of ,god4' ,and the robbers also that were crucified with ,him cast upon ,him the same reproach40#aha ,how was it that of all men ,jesus should be the man subjected to all this8 ,how can we reconcile ,his character and ,his destiny8 ,let us recollect what ,plato had written #djj years earlier3-- 8,the just man will be scourged1 racked1 fettered1 will have his eyes burned out1 and at last1 after suffering every kind of torture1 will be crucified40 ,now we do not insist on the correspondence in detail between the words of ,plato and the death of ,christ1 although that1 while not complete1 is sufficiently remarkable2 but we wish to emphasize1 with all possible force1 this most extraordinary fact1 that ,plato foresaw that a man of the character of ,jesus would suffer as ,he did4 ,how are we to explain the fact8 ,what is the reason why the men of ,christ's day treated this most humane of men with such barbarous inhumanity8 ,the answer is that it was inevitable4 ,jesus is the revelation of the uttermost holiness of ,god1 and ,his attempt to lay that standard upon the human spirit#ahb roused to its utmost fury against ,him all the sinfulness of our common human nature4 ,it is the same contest of which we are each conscious in our daily life between inclination and conscience2 only1 in the case of ,jesus1 it seems as if all the little battles of every individual life had met in one gigantic struggle between sinful human nature and its ,lord4 ,and the same struggle necessarily continues wherever ,christianity goes4 ,the persecutions of the ,roman ,empire are merely the external signs of the convulsive efforts of the spirit of ,paganism to resist the march of the ,spirit of ,god4 ,in every land ,christ is met by the same opposition4 ,everywhere selfishness1 self-interest and passion dissuade men from following the ,man of ,sorrows2 and the struggle is there1 terrible in its reality and intensity1 even if it never break out into open persecution4 ,but1 in surveying these surging battles1 the careful observer is much struck with this fact1 that1 while human passions inevitably fight against ,christ1 yet ,he has in ,conscience an ally1 which neither by bribes nor by bullying can be made to desert ,him4 ,he is the objective conscience of the human race4 ,he is ,plato's just man4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,iii4 ,let us now try to realize what kind of a being the founder of ,christianity was4 ,our chief sources of information are the ,gospels2 for from the other books of the ,new ,testament and from outside literature we learn only scattered facts about ,his life on earth4 ,we shall not appeal to the fourth ,gospel1 for there are still numerous questions with regard to it unsettled1 but shall confine ourselves to ,matthew1 ,mark and ,luke1 books recognized on all hands as of high historical value1 and as having been written between #fe and #ie ,a4,d4#ahc ,anyone may very speedily convince himself of the splendid historical reliability of these simple narratives4 ,from ,josephus and other ,jewish writers of the first and second centuries1 and from casual remarks in ,greek and ,roman books1 we are able to learn what the life of these days was like2#ahd but nowhere do we get such vivid1 detailed1 realistic pictures as in the ,gospels4 8,they are full of feeling for the time2 they understand its men1 schools1 classes1 parties2 they know the thoughts that are in the air1 the rumours that run along the street2 they are familiar with the catchwords and phrases of the period1 its conventions1 questions1 modes of discussion and style of argument4 ,and all is presented with the utmost realism1 so grouped round the central figure as to form a perfect historical picture1 ,he and ,his setting being so built together as to constitute a single organic whole40#ahe ,how then does ,christ appear in them8--,his name was ,jesus2#ahf ,christ is a title springing from his teaching1 as we shall see4 ,he lived in the small town of ,nazareth1 in the district of ,galilee#ahg in ,palestine1 and worked as a carpenter there4#ahh ,at length1 in #bf ,a4,d41 ,he gave up carpentry and began ,his public career as a preacher4#ahi ,the picture given of ,him in the ,gospels is a most attractive one4 ,wherever ,he goes1 the sick1 the suffering1 the distressed crowd around ,him4 ,blind beggars1 outcast lepers1 hopeless paralytics1 even uncontrollable lunatics1 receive help from ,his healing power4 ,he feeds the hungry1 breathes hope into the downcast1 lifts up the enfeebled patient1 helps the helpless4 ,but while every form of suffering and sorrow appeals to ,his compassion1 ,his heart is set on winning the souls of men4 ,so we find ,him preaching in the synagogue and by the sea1 on the mountain-side and in the busy street1 now stirring vast crowds1 now dealing with an individual1 and again pouring ,his rich teaching into the ears of the chosen ,twelve4 ,no man ever had such power of convincing men of sin and leading them to repentance3 the simple fisherman1#aij the fallen woman1#aia the wealthy custom-house officer#aib and the dying robber1#aic all felt condemned in ,his presence1 and through ,him entered into the new life4 ,the character revealed in ,his words and deeds is beautiful beyond comparison4 ,the most outstanding feature of it is ,his love for ,god and the perfect and unbroken serenity of ,his intercourse with ,him4 ,love for man also shines out everywhere4 ,but the most extraordinary point is this1 that ,he in whom the moral ideal was so lofty1 so deep and so broad1 ,he who was so keenly conscious of sin in others1 and had such power to make them feel it1 betrays absolutely no consciousness of sin ,himself1 never asks for pardon1 and never speaks of having repented1 or of having passed through any crisis of the nature of conversion4#aid ,on the other hand the perfect balance of ,his character is almost as marvellous as ,his sinlessness3 judicial severity controlled by perfect love2 supreme authority that is also supreme gentleness2 strength filled with tenderness2 regal dignity shown in acts of lowliest service2 holiness that led ,him among the unholy27sublimest self-consciousness1 never leading to anything but self-effacement and self-sacrifice47 ,and yet again1 is there anything about ,him so wonderful as ,his power of winning human love8 ,the ,gospels are full of instances of it1 and to-day how many millions of men1 women and children would count it a supreme joy to die for ,his sake6 ,his teaching is a perfectly articulated and unified whole1 as may be seen from the scientific studies of it that have been published during the last twenty years4#aie ,but we must not attempt to deal with that fascinating subject here1 except in so far as the whole is implied in what ,he says about ,himself4 ,for it is only that part of it1 namely1 ,his account of ,himself and ,his mission1 that we propose to touch on4 ,we shall understand it best1 if we begin with what happened at ,his crucifixion2 for it was only at the end of ,his life that ,he made perfectly clear to the whole world what ,his claims were4 ,people often wondered whether ,he were not ,,the ,,christ1 i4e41 ,the ,messiah1 the ,anointed ,one1 the great national deliverer whom the ,jews were so earnestly expecting and praying for2#aif but during the three years of ,his public life ,he seldom openly made the claim4#aig ,when1 however1 ,he went to ,jerusalem for the last time1 ,he made a royal entry into the sacred city1#aih cleansed the ,temple from the desecration of its cattle-market1#aii and began to teach in the ,temple courts1#bjj thus by both word and act publicly claiming recognition as the ,christ4 ,the ,jewish leaders had been often bitterly incensed by ,his teaching and ,his actions before4 ,his bold seizure of authority now decided them3 they resolved on ,his death4#bja ,he was apprehended#bjb and brought before the ,sanhedrin1#bjc i4e41 the ,high ,court of ,juda4 ,evidence was led against ,him1 but it proved very unsubstantial2#bjd so the ,high ,priest1 the president of the court1 formally asked ,him1 8,art thou the ,christ1 the ,son of ,god80 and ,he answered in the affirmative4#bje ,since they did not believe ,his claim1 they could only come to the conclusion that ,he was an irreligious impostor1 impiously arrogating divine authority to ,himself4 ,consequently they declared that ,he ought to be put to death for blasphemy against ,god4#bjf ,but the ,sanhedrin could not put anyone to death2 the sanction of the ,roman ,governor was necessary4#bjg ,he was therefore dragged before ,pilate4 ,here they did not charge ,him with blasphemy1 but with rebellion against the ,roman ,emperor4 #8,the ,king of the ,jews' was a synonym for #8the ,christ'2 so they argued that ,jesus1 in claiming to be the ,christ1 claimed the sovereignty of the ,jews1 and was therefore guilty of rebellion against ,tiberius4#bjh ,pilate knew perfectly well that the ,jewish leaders were jealous of ,jesus1 and that the charge was a mere pretence2#bji his ,roman sense of justice revolted against the execution of an innocent man2 and he wished to save ,him2 but they played upon his fears1 and finally succeeded in wringing a condemnation from him4#baj ,it was because the ,roman soldiers were struck with the extreme absurdity of the idea of ,jesus being a rival of ,tiberius1 that they got up their pitiable comedy of a court1 and did ,him mock homage as ,king of the ,jews4 ,so ,he was led away to ,calvary and crucified1 and above ,his head on the cross was written1 in three languages 7,hebrew1 ,greek and ,latin71 the charge against ,him1-- ,,jesus ,,of ,,nazareth1 ,,the ,,king ,,of ,,the ,,jews4 ,thus ,jesus took good care that there should be no doubt as to what ,he claimed to be3 ,he did not write a book1 nor cut an inscription on a rock1 but ,he let ,himself be crucified1 that all men to the end of time might know that ,he claimed to be the ,christ4#baa 99 99 99 99 99 ,now let us see what ,he meant when ,he called ,himself the ,christ4 ,to get to understand this fully would be to learn the complete meaning of ,his teaching2 for it is such a perfect organism that every member of it is closely related to every other member2 yet we may gain sufficient insight for our purpose from a broad survey4 ,the subject of the whole teaching of ,jesus was the ,kingdom of ,god4 ,he held that ,god had been working from the very beginning for the winning of man to ,himself1 and that especially among ,his own people ,israel ,he had shown ,his hand4 ,they had not only come to know ,him as the ,god of righteousness whose law was holiness2 they had enjoyed ,his love2 they had experienced ,his mercy and ,his power to redeem4 ,but with the coming of ,jesus ,himself a new era of the world had opened3#bab ,god was now drawing near to all men1 in a new relationship of love and mercy1 with the purpose of saving them4#bac ,this was the coming of the ,kingdom of ,god4#bad ,the history of ,israel had been a long discipline in preparation for this4#bae ,on the ground cleared in ,israel1 and on the basis of the revelation already made to them1 ,god would now reveal ,himself to all men4 ,the destiny of ,israel--8,i will give thee for a light to the ,gentiles0#baf--would now be fulfilled4#bag ,god1 then1 was about to enter into a new relationship with the whole human race4 ,that new relationship would be1 like the old one with ,israel1 characterized not only by ,his righteousness1 but by ,his redeeming love4 ,his eternal purpose1 which had been in contemplation all through the centuries of ,israel's training1 would now be unfolded4 ,the childhood of the world was over3 its first simple lessons had been learned2 the real business of ,time could now be begun4 ,the partial unveiling of ,god's face which it had been ,israel's privilege to behold would now become a full revelation in the sight of the nations4 ,the ,king of ,israel would be seen to be the ,father of men4 ,further1 as ,israel had learned her lessons through ,jehovah's redemptive acts at the ,red ,sea1 on ,zion1 and in ,babylon1 so mankind would learn the ,father's love through the great redemptive acts involved in the coming of the ,kingdom4 ,the chief conviction that ,jesus had about ,himself was that in and through and by ,him the ,kingdom of ,god was coming3 this it was that constituted ,him ,,the ,,christ4 ,his self-consciousness is the most marvellous phenomenon within the compass of history2 there is nothing else comparable with it4 ,the primary element in it seems to have been the knowledge that ,he was the true man1 man as ,god wishes ,him to be1 faultless both morally and religiously4#bah ,closely connected with this is another element1 quite as unparalleled in human experience1 a feeling of close kinship to all men1 a consciousness of solidarity with the whole race and of personal connection and sympathy with every individual4#bai ,these two elements of ,his nature--,his perfection as man1 and ,his relationship to the race as a whole--,he summed up in the phrase which ,he used so often to describe ,himself1 ,,the ,,son ,,of ,,man4#bbj ,correspondent to this double relationship to man stands a double relationship to ,god3 first1 ,he stands in the closest personal kinship to ,god--the ,son with the ,father--2 so that ,he alone can reveal ,god1 and ,god alone can reveal ,him2#bba and secondly1 ,he is ,god's representative to the human race4#bbb ,this dual relation to ,god ,he expressed by calling ,himself ,,the ,,son ,,of ,,god4#bbc ,the life of a being of this order1 standing in great1 pregnant relations to ,god on the one hand and to the human family on the other1 would necessarily be of transcendent significance4 ,so we find that ,he regarded ,his own words and acts and all the great experiences of ,his life as of supreme importance in the history of the world3#bbd ,his coming opens a new era2#bbe ,his public life is a wedding feast in the otherwise grey experience of men2#bbf ,his teaching is the final revelation of ,god2#bbg ,his acts are glimpses of the divine activity2#bbh ,his death1 which to the casual observer is but a coarse judicial murder1 is the solemn sacrifice that ratifies the establishment of the new relationship between ,god and man4#bbi ,since such were the chief convictions ,jesus held about ,himself and ,his mission1 authority was naturally the chief note of ,his teaching4 ,his hearers marked that characteristic at the very outset2#bcj and a modern student cannot fail to be impressed with it as he reads the ,gospels4 ,he states quite frankly that ,he has come to fulfil the law and the prophets2#bca ,he sets up ,his own 8,i say unto you0 not only against the ,jewish traditions1#bcb but against the definite provisions of the ,mosaic law2#bcc and over and over again ,he demands from men such love1 faith1 submission1 obedience1 as can be rightly given only to a ,divine ,master4#bcd ,in ,jesus of ,nazareth1 then1 we have a historical person1 whose time and environment are well known to us1 and whose teaching and life also stand out clear and unmistakable2 and the most prominent thing about ,him is this1 that1 by word and deed1 and finally by ,his crucifixion1 ,he made it clear to all men that ,he claimed to be both ,son of ,man and ,son of ,god4 ,here1 then1 we have the secret of that similarity which we are all so clearly conscious of1 when we read a ,gospel alongside of the ,gt4 ,in the ,gospels we have in historical form the authoritative utterances of the historical ,jesus2 in the ,gt we have the imaginations of a poet-philosopher who was clear sighted enough to realize that an incarnate god would have many things to say about himself1 and that his teaching would bear the note of authority4 ,when1 however1 we look for exact parallels between the two1 they are hard to find3 the books are so utterly diverse in origin and teaching that they have little in common except the tone of the master4 ,in a few cases1 however1 the resemblance is rather striking3 here1 then1 we place side by side the words of ,jesus and the imaginations of the writer of the ,gt4 ,,sayings ,,of ,,jesus4 ,all authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth4 ,matt41 #bh1 #ah4 ,,verses ,,from ,,the ,g,t4 ,nature gives birth to movables and immovables through me1 the supervisor1 and by reason of that the universe revolves4 ,,ix1 #aj4 ,all things have been delivered unto me of my ,father3 and no one knoweth who the ,son is1 save the ,father2 and who the ,father is1 save the ,son1 and he to whomsoever the ,son willeth to reveal him4 ,luke1 #aj1 #bb4 ,i know the things which have been1 those which are1 and those which are to be2 but me nobody knows4 ,,vii1 #bf4 ,come unto me1 all ye that labour and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest4 ,matt41 #aa1 #bh4 ,forsaking all duties1 come to me as thy sole refuge4 ,i will release thee from all sins3 do not grieve4 ,,xviii1 #ff4 ,but that ye may know that the ,son of ,man hath authority on earth to forgive sins1--,mark1 #b1 #aj4 ,of all mortals1 he who knows me to be unborn1 without beginning1 the great ,lord of the world1 being free from delusion1 is released from all sins4 ,x1 #c4 ,if any man would come after me1 let him deny himself1 and take up his cross1 and follow me4 ,mark1 #h1 #cd4 ,in thought renouncing all actions unto me1 intent on me1 applying thyself to the yoking of thine intellect1 be thou always thinking of me4 ,,xviii1 #eg4 ,so1 therefore1 whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath1 he cannot be my disciple4 ,luke1 #ad1 #cc4 ,having thyself yoked by the yoke of renunciation1 thou shalt come to me4 ,,ix1 #bh4 ,come unto me1 all ye that labour and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest4 ,matt41 #aa1 #bh4 ,in him seek shelter with all thy might3 by his grace thou shalt attain supreme peace1 the eternal dwelling-place4 ,,xviii1 #fb4 ,if they have called the master of the house ,beelzebub1 how much more shall they call them of his household8 ,matt41 #aj1 #be4 hating me in their own bodies and in those of others4 ,,xvi1 #ah4 ,and blessed is he1 whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in me4 ,matt41 #aa1 #f4 ,deluded people1 444 not knowing my highest nature as great lord of entities1 disregard me1 as ,i have assumed a human body4 ,,ix1 #aa4 ,my yoke is easy1 and my burden is light4 ,matt41 #aa1 #cj4 ,to the constantly-yoked ,yogi1 who constantly remembereth me1 never thinking of another1 ,i am easy of access4 ,,viii1 #ad4 ,learn of me4 ,matt41 #aa1 #bi4 ,learn from me4 ,,xviii1 #ej4 ,it would lead us far afield to set forth in detail all the striking things that ,jesus has to say about ,his own person and mission1 but it may be well to quote a few passages exhibiting lines of character and thought not exemplified above3-- 7a7 ,his meekness and lowliness4 8,i am meek and lowly in heart40 ,matt41 #aa1 #bi4 7b7 ,the conditions of ,his earthly life4 8,the foxes have holes1 and the birds of heaven have nests2 but the ,son of ,man hath not where to lay ,his head40 ,luke1 #i1 #eh4 7c7 ,the necessity that ,he should die for men4 8,and ,he began to teach them1 that the ,son of ,man must suffer many things1 and be rejected by the elders1 and the chief priests1 and the scribes1 and be killed1 and after three days rise again40 ,mark1 #h1 #ca4 7d7 ,his spirit of service and self-sacrifice4 8,even as the ,son of ,man came not to be ministered unto1 but to minister1 and to give ,his life a ransom for many40 ,matt41 #bj1 #bh4 8,but ,i am among you as he that doth serve40 ,luke1 #bb1 #bg4 7e7 ,his claims on the allegiance and love of men4 8,every one who shall confess ,me before men1 him shall the ,son of ,man also confess before the angels of ,god3 but he that denieth ,me in the presence of men shall be denied in the presence of the angels of ,god40 ,luke1 #ab1 #h-i4 8,he that loveth father or mother more than ,me is not worthy of ,me2 and he that loveth son or daughter more than ,me is not worthy of ,me40 ,matt41 #aj1 #cg-ch4 7f7 ,his universal sympathy4 8,inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these ,my brethren1 even these least1 ye did it unto ,me40 ,matt41 #be1 #dj4 7g7 ,his declaration that he will return to judge all men4 8,many will say to ,me in that day1 ,lord1 ,lord1 did we not prophesy by ,thy name1 and by ,thy name cast out devils1 and by ,thy name do many mighty works8 ,and then will ,i profess unto them1 ,i never knew you3 depart from ,me1 ye that work iniquity40 ,matt41 #g1 #bb-bc4 7h7 ,his presence with his followers4 8,for where two or three are gathered together in ,my name1 there am ,i in the midst of them40 ,matt41 #ah1 #bj4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,gt is one of the most eloquent possible proofs of the fact that the human heart cries out for an incarnate ,saviour4 ,scarcely less impressive is the evidence furnished by the reception of the ,gt by ,hindu readers3 not the greatest of the ,upanishads1 neither the ,chndogya nor the ,katha1 has had one quarter of the influence exercised by this late poem2 and the secret undoubtedly is to be found in the attraction of the man-god ,krishna4 ,how many generations of pious readers have found in the story of the life and teaching of the incarnate god something to which their deepest and most persistent religious instincts have responded6 ,how many to-day turn to ,krishna in their trials and troubles6 ,on the one hand1 then1 we have the imaginative portrait of ,krishna1 surrounded by millions of adoring worshippers--touching spectacle6 ,on the other1 stands the historical ,jesus of ,nazareth1 ,son of ,man and ,son of ,god1 stretching out ,his nail-pierced hands to ,india1 as ,he says1 8,come unto ,me1 all ye that labour and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest40 ,rightly read1 the ,gt is a clear-tongued prophecy of ,christ1 and the hearts that bow down to the idea of ,krishna are really seeking the incarnate ,son of ,god4 ,,iv4 ,we have been able to see some little distance into the self-consciousness of ,jesus1 and to realize in part at least that on which ,he grounds ,his claim to the heart of every man2 but we have not yet learned the secret of that most marvellous of ,his powers1 ,his power to win human love4 ,to that we must now address ourselves4 ,it is a well-known fact of history that1 shortly after the death of ,christ1 ,his followers began to preach in ,his name1 and that very soon the new faith began to spread rapidly4 ,we have already learned from ,tacitus that in #fd ,a4 ,d4 there was 8an immense multitude0 of ,christians in ,rome itself4 ,now the greatest of all the early missionaries was ,paul4 ,he was the apostle of ,europe4 ,we mention his name here1 because we wish to refer to one of his ,epistles4 ,these letters are the earliest of our ,christian documents4 ,the series begins with two brief letters1 both written1 with a short interval between them1 to the church at ,thessalonica4 ,the most probable date for them is #di ,a4 ,d41 that is1 only twenty years after the death of ,christ4 ,but the letter we wish to use is one sent from ,ephesus to the church of ,corinth#bce about #ee ,a4 ,d41#bcf that is1 twenty-six years after the death of ,jesus4 ,we must not stay here to speak of the splendour of the ethical feeling and teaching of the ,epistle further than to say that it manifestly has its source in ,jesus4 ,we must direct our attention to other facts which appear in it4 ,christianity1 we note1 has already spread from ,juda into the provinces of ,asia#bcg and ,galatia#bch in ,asia ,minor1 and ,macedonia#bci and ,achaia#bdj in ,europe4 ,phnicia1 ,syria1 ,cilicia and ,cyprus are not mentioned2 but we know from other sources#bda that they too were already evangelized4 ,thus in twenty-six years the ,church of ,christ has become a great organization1 extending through many lands1 yet conscious of its unity in ,christ4#bdb ,we note also that then1 as to-day1 ,,baptism is a solemn ceremonial act1 in which a man through the action of the ,holy ,spirit becomes a member of the body of ,christ1#bdc while ,,the ,,lord',s ,,supper is a recurrent feast1 in which the members of the ,church have fellowship with the ,lord and with each other4#bdd ,but what we would call special attention to is the place assigned to ,christ in the ,epistle4 ,with reference to the ,christian1 ,christ is ,,the ,,lord2#bde with reference to the ,father1 ,he is ,,the ,,son2#bdf ,he is spoken of as the ,lord of ,glory1#bdg the ,power of ,god1#bdh and the ,wisdom of ,god2#bdi and prayer is offered to ,him4#bej ,all spiritual authority and power are attributed to ,him4#bea ,the ,church is ,his body1#beb and ,he supplies ,his grace and power to every member4#bec ,he will come back again to earth in glory1#bed and will then reveal all secrets and judge all men4#bee ,but there is another point still more noteworthy1 and that is the way in which the crucifixion of ,christ is interpreted4 ,instead of regarding that judicial murder as a regrettable incident1 like the assassination of ,csar or the death of ,socrates1 ,paul and his fellow-believers glory in it1#bef not only as the crowning event of the divine revelation made in ,christ1 but as the consummation of ,his work as the ,saviour of men4#beg ,paul makes it the basis of all his preaching1#beh and in it he finds all the wealth of spiritual wisdom which ,christianity contains4#bei ,he contrasts the wisdom of ,god wrapped up in that divine tragedy with the worldly wisdom of earthly rulers4#bfj ,what can be the explanation of this extraordinary attitude to such an event8--,the basis of it is the solemn declaration1 which ,paul makes in the ,epistle1 and which he says he made to his converts first of all1 that ,,on ,,the ,,cross ,,christ ,,died ,,for ,,our ,,sins4#bfa ,the crucifixion1 as a bare event in history1 is but an act of wicked folly on the part of the rulers of ,juda2 but1 viewed from the standpoint of morality and religion1 it is a divine act of world-wide significance4 ,in the blood of ,christ a new covenant had been made between ,god and man4#bfb ,this is the ,gospel1 which all the ,apostles teach1 and which all the churches believe4#bfc ,through faith in ,christ1 on the basis of this tremendous assertion1 the ,corinthian ,christians1 like the rest1 had been saved1#bfd i4e41 they had received the forgiveness of their sins#bfe and the sanctifying ,spirit4#bff ,they thus no longer belonged to themselves3 they had been bought with a great price1 the blood of the ,son of ,god4#bfg ,they were no longer part and parcel of heathen society2 each one was a member of the body of ,christ4#bfh ,what led ,paul and all the other ,apostles and all the early ,christians to form such an extraordinary theory8 ,how did they come to the conclusion that the crucifixion was not a squalid tragedy1 but a divine sacrifice8 ,this letter tells us quite plainly2 the reasons were these3 ,jesus ,himself declared before ,he was crucified1 that ,his death was to be the basis of the ,new ,covenant1#bfi and this declaration of ,his had been divinely confirmed by ,his ,resurrection4#bgj ,now mark3 this letter was written within twenty-six years of the event4 ,the majority of the twelve ,apostles1 and multitudes of other men who had known ,jesus1 were still alive4#bga ,paul's good faith is beyond all question2 and1 as he was intimate with ,peter and ,john and the rest of the ,apostles1 and also with ,james the brother of ,jesus1#bgb he had access to the very best information possible4 ,further he had been one of the most violent opponents of ,christianity4 ,his testimony is1 therefore1 evidence of the very highest value4 ,we may conclude1 then1 with the utmost certitude that we are standing on an immoveable historical foundation1 when we say that ,jesus1 before ,his crucifixion1 said ,he was about to die for the sins of men4 ,but this evidence does not stand alone4 ,it is a historical fact1 acknowledged by scholars of every school1 that all ,christian churches have from the very beginning celebrated the ,lord's ,supper4#bgc ,now this universal usage in so many churches1 divided not only by long distances but in many cases also by minor differences in doctrine1 cannot be explained at all except as a result of a command of ,jesus ,himself4 ,if any single disciple had started such a practice1 it could never have won its way to universal acceptance4 ,now consider the significance of this fact3 ,jesus1 on the night in which ,he was betrayed1 took bread1 broke it1 and bade ,his disciples eat it1 saying1 #8,this is ,my body4' ,he then took a cup of wine and bade them drink it1 saying1 #8,this is ,my blood4'#bgd ,the scene is absolutely without a parallel in the history of the world2 and it can have but one meaning1 viz41 that ,jesus regarded ,his death as a sacrifice4 ,but the direct statement of ,paul is corroborated1 not only by the institution of the ,supper1 but also by this fact1 that the doctrine1 that ,christ died for our sins1 is an integral part of the teaching of ,jesus as that is handed down to us in the ,gospels4 ,we have already seen that ,he held that ,his death was necessary for the establishment of the ,kingdom4 ,we must now set out ,his teaching on this subject with a little more fulness4 ,we shall restrict ourselves to a single ,gospel4 ,in the earliest saying that refers to it1 ,his death is a future event1 coming inevitably1 and destined to bring sorrow to ,his disciples4 8,and ,jesus said unto them1 ,can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn1 as long as the bridegroom is with them8 but the days will come1 when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them1 and then will they fast40#bge ,in the next it is much more clearly defined4 ,its necessity is emphasized2 we are told that the agents are to be the religious leaders of ,israel2 and it is to be followed by the resurrection4 8,from that time began ,jesus to shew unto ,his disciples1 how that ,he must go unto ,jerusalem1 and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes1 and be killed1 and the third day be raised up40#bgf ,twice over this same prophecy is repeated1 the last time with more detail4#bgg ,then follows a most striking saying1 in which ,he speaks of ,his death as voluntary3 it is a giving away of ,his life2 and it is explained as the climax of ,his life of service2 for the gift is #8a ransom for many1' that is a price paid1 in order to redeem many from sin4 8,the ,son of ,man came not to be ministered unto1 but to minister1 and to give ,his life a ransom for many40#bgh ,we need not linger over the next sayings1 though each has its own interest4#bgi ,the last saying occurs in the account of the institution of the ,supper4 ,in these words ,he teaches in the clearest way1 first1 that ,his death is to be the ground of forgiveness1 and secondly1 that after ,his death ,he is to be the source of the spiritual life and strength of ,his followers4 8,and as they were eating1 ,jesus took bread1 and blessed1 and brake it2 and ,he gave to the disciples1 and said1 #8,take1 eat2 this is ,my body4' ,and ,he took a cup1 and gave thanks1 and gave to them1 saying1 #8,drink ye all of it2 for this is ,my blood of the covenant1 which is shed for many unto remission of sins40#bhj ,the teaching of ,jesus is an organic whole1 and is incomplete without this1 ,his own interpretation of ,his death of shame4 ,jesus1 then1 gave ,himself up to death as the sacrifice for the sins of men4 ,our ,christian documents go on to declare that ,he rose from the dead on the third day1 and that this resurrection of ,his was ,god's confirmation of the sacrifice of ,his ,son4 ,that men should at first sight disbelieve the astounding assertion1 that the crucified ,jesus rose from the dead1 is not to be wondered at2 but the fact remains4 ,sceptical scholars have laboured for centuries to explain away this extraordinary occurrence1 but no one of these scholars themselves will venture to say that any explanation hitherto given is satisfactory4 ,the latest attempt1 that made by ,schmiedel in the ,encyclopdia ,biblica1 is a farcical failure4 ,the following are the adamantine facts which no rationalism has ever yet succeeded in crushing or melting3--7a7 the ,christians declared that they had seen ,christ and spoken with ,him after ,his resurrection2 7b7 they were absolutely sincere in this belief#bha2 7c7 the ,christian ,church arose as a result of this conviction2 7d7 the grave was empty4 ,the account of ,christ's appearances given in the fifteenth chapter of our ,epistle is well worth study4 ,those who wish to look into this question further may consult ,ballard's ,miracles of ,unbelief1 pp4 #ace ff4 ,we have thus1 by a serious historical inquiry1 reached the conclusion1 that ,jesus of ,nazareth1 the founder of the ,christian religion1 declared1 before ,his crucifixion1 that ,he was about to die for the sins of men1 and that this assertion of ,his was sealed with the divine approval by the unique miracle of the resurrection4 ,we have also seen that this was the ,good ,news1 which ,paul and all the other ,apostles preached1 and on which the early ,church was founded4 ,it is this that has won for ,jesus the love of myriads2 it is this that has been the magnet to draw them away from sin4 ,it is the source of the joy and vital power of the ,christian life4 ,now let us recollect the poem upon ,the ,servant of ,jehovah1 which we considered in our third chapter4 ,how marvellously ,jesus corresponds to the extraordinary idea which that poem discloses1 the despised and oppressed prisoner who endures in uncomplaining meekness the uttermost shame of a violent death1 and is finally recognized as having been 8pierced because of our trangressions1 and crushed because of our iniquities40 ,that anyone should write such a poem1 seems strange in the extreme2 that ,jesus should have fulfilled it1 is infinitely more wonderful4 ,how comes it that this ,jewish carpenter1 with ,his three years of public life and ,his cross of shame1 fulfils so many ideals and aspirations8 ,he brings in the new age which ,virgil and his contemporaries sighed for2 ,he is ,plato's just man2 ,he utters from ,his own self-consciousness such things as the author of the ,gt imagined an incarnate god would say2 ,he gives ,himself up to death1 in sheer love1 as a sacrifice for sin1 thus fulfilling the deepest needs of man1 as expressed by the old ,hebrew seer2 and ,he is the only human being whom men of every race and clime can heartily admire and unhesitatingly imitate4 ,nor is this all3 many other convergent lines of thought might be suggested1 in the light of which ,jesus stands out as the ideal of our common humanity and the fountain of the love of ,god4 ,how is all this to be explained8 ,wide chasms sever the ,hindu sage1 the ,greek philosopher1 the ,hebrew prophet and the ,roman poet2 yet in ,jesus their several ideals are reconciled in a loftier unity4 ,once in the course of the centuries ,east and ,west have actually met6 ,nor was the meeting merely the resolution of antitheses in a wider conception3 what the ,jew and the ,indian1 the ,greek and the ,roman1 dreamed of as the unattainable1 that ,jesus actually accomplished in this work-a-day world of ours1 amid storms of the cruellest hatred and calumny4--,what is your candid opinion about ,him1 brother8 ,how are you to solve the problem raised by ,his life1 death and place in history8 ,can ,he be better described than in ,his own words1 ,,son ,,of ,,man and ,,son ,,of ,,god8 ,footnote #afc3 ,see article ,slavery in ,encyclopdia ,brittanica2 and cf4 ,gibbon1 ,chaps4 ,,ii and ,,xxxviii2 ,cunningham1 ,an ,essay on ,western ,civilization in its ,economic ,aspects2 ,wallon1 ,histoire de l',esclavage dans l',antiquit4 ,footnote #afd3 ,fowler1 ,the ,city-,state of the ,greeks and ,romans2 ,mahaffy1 ,social ,life in ,greece1 #dd2 ,kidd1 ,p4 ,w4 ,c41 ,chap4 ,,vi4 ,footnote #afe3 ,kidd1 ,p4 ,w4 ,c41 ,chaps4 ,,vii to ,,ix4 ,footnote #aff3 ,kidd1 ,p4 ,w4 ,c41 #aij1 #bbc-d4 ,footnote #afg3 ,sohm1 ,the ,institutes of ,roman ,law2 ,wallon1 ,histoire de l',esclavage dans l',antiquit4 ,footnote #afh3 ,bury1 ,history of ,greece1 ,i1 #gb4 ,footnote #afi3 ,kidd1 ,p4 ,w4 ,c41 #bbc4 ,footnote #agj3 ,kidd1 ,p4 ,w4 ,c41 #afh4 ,footnote #aga3 ,kidd1 ,p4 ,w4 ,c41 #afj-agb2 ,seebohm1 ,the ,structure of ,greek ,tribal ,society1 #d1 #ach4 ,footnote #agb3 ,sir ,robert ,giffen1 ,address to the ,manchester ,statistical ,society1 #ae4 ,footnote #agc3 ,kidd1 ,social ,evolution1 ,chaps4 ,,iv ,v4 ,footnote #agd3 ,tacitus1 ,annals1 ,,xv1 #dd1 ,church and ,brodribb's translation4 ,footnote #age3 ,church and ,brodribb's ,annals1 #cgd4 ,footnote #agf3 ,for all the facts and the opinions of various scholars1 see ,hastings1 ,dictionary of the ,bible1 ,i1 #daj-dae4 ,footnote #agg3 ,matthew1 ,chapters #bf #bg4 ,footnote #agh3 ,for the criticism of the ,gospels see below1 pages #di-ej4 ,footnote #agi3 ,matt41 #bf1 #fg-fh4 ,footnote #ahj3 ,matt41 #bg1 #bg-ca4 ,footnote #aha3 ,matt41 #bg1 #cb-dd4 ,footnote #ahb3 ,it was not the teaching of ,jesus1 but ,his interference1 in the interests of ,his own supreme standards1 with the traditional worship and customs of the ,jews1 that led the ,jewish hierarchy to determine on ,his death4 ,see below p4 #eb4 ,footnote #ahc3 ,see ,hastings1 ,dictionary of the ,bible1 ad loca1 and ,moffatt1 ,historical ,new ,testament1 pp4 #bgb-bgd4 ,the most probable dates are1 for ,mark1 #ff to #gj ,a4,d41 and for ,matthew and ,luke1 #gj to #ge ,a4,d4 ,footnote #ahd3 ,see the masses of evidence gathered in ,schrer1 ,h4 ,j4 ,p4 ,footnote #ahe3 ,fairbairn1 ,the ,philosophy of the ,christian ,religion1 pp4 #cbh-i4 ,footnote #ahf3 ,mark1 #a1 #i4 ,footnote #ahg3 ,mark1 #a1 #i4 ,footnote #ahh3 ,mark1 #f1 #c4 ,footnote #ahi3 ,luke1 #c1 #a2 #a1 #d1 #ad4 ,footnote #aij3 ,luke1 #e1 #h4 ,footnote #aia3 ,luke1 #g1 #cf-ej4 ,footnote #aib3 ,luke1 #ai1 #a-aj4 ,footnote #aic3 ,luke1 #bc1 #ci-dc4 ,footnote #aid3 ,see ,harnack1 ,what is ,christianity1 pp4 #cb-ce4 ,footnote #aie3 ,see specially ,weiss1 ,n4 ,t4 ,theology2 ,beyschlag1 ,n4 ,t4 ,theology2 ,wendt1 ,teaching of ,jesus2 ,stevens1 ,theology of the ,new ,testament2 ,robertson1 ,our ,lord's ,teaching2 and many others4 ,footnote #aif3 ,see ,schrer1 ,h4 ,j4 ,p41 ,div4 ,,ii1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 pp4 #abf ff4 ,footnote #aig3 ,the reason for ,his silence is to be found in the fact that the ,messianic hope1 as popularly held1 had become largely political3 to have confessed ,himself the ,christ would have been to precipitate a revolt against ,rome4 ,cf4 ,mc,giffert's ,apostolic ,age1 #bh4 ,footnote #aih3 ,matt41 #ba1 #a-aa4 ,footnote #aii3 ,matt41 #ba1 #ab-ag4 ,footnote #bjj3 ,matt41 #ba1 #bc-bc1 #ci4 ,footnote #bja3 ,matt41 #bf1 #c-e4 ,footnote #bjb3 ,matt41 #bf1 #dg-ef4 ,footnote #bjc3 ,matt41 #bf1 #eg and #ei4 ,footnote #bjd3 ,matt41 #bf1 #ei-fb4 ,footnote #bje3 ,matt41 #bf1 #fc-fd4 ,footnote #bjf3 ,matt41 #bf1 #fe-ff4 ,footnote #bjg3 ,schrer1 ,h4 ,j4 ,p41 ,div4 ,,ii1 ,vol4 ,i1 #ahh2 ,john1 #ah1 #ca4 ,footnote #bjh3 ,matt41 #bg1 #a-b2 #bg1 #aa4 ,footnote #bji3 ,matt41 #bg1 #ah4 ,footnote #baj3 ,matt41 #bg1 #aa-bf4 ,footnote #baa3 ,mc,giffert's ,apostolic ,age1 #bg-cb4 ,footnote #bab3 ,mark1 #a1 #ae4 ,footnote #bac3 ,see the parables in ,matt41 #bb1 #b-ad2 and ,luke1 #ad1 #ae-bd4 ,footnote #bad3 ,mark1 #a1 #ae4 ,footnote #bae3 ,matt41 #aa1 #ac-ad2 ,luke1 #af1 #af4 ,footnote #baf3 ,isaiah1 #db1 #f2 #di1 #f4 ,footnote #bag3 ,matt41 #bd1 #ad2 #bf1 #ac2 #bh1 #ai4 ,footnote #bah3 ,matt41 #aa1 #bh-bi4 ,footnote #bai3 ,matt41 #be1 #dj2 #be1 #de4 ,footnote #bbj3 ,see e4g41 ,matt41 #i1 #f2 #aa1 #ai2 #ab1 #h2 #af1 #ac2 #bj1 #ah2 #bj1 #bh2 #be1 #ca2 #bf1 #fd4 ,footnote #bba3 ,matt41 #aa1 #bg2 #af1 #ag2 #ag1 #e4 ,footnote #bbb3 ,matt41 #ba1 #cg2 #aa1 #aj2 ,mark1 #h1 #cg-ch2 #i1 #cg2 ,luke1 #aj1 #af4 ,footnote #bbc3 ,matt41 #c1 #ag2 #ag1 #e2 #bf1 #fc-fd2 #ba1 #cg2 #bb1 #da-de2 ,luke1 #aj1 #bb4 ,footnote #bbd3 ,luke1 #aj1 #bc-bd4 ,footnote #bbe3 ,mark1 #a1 #ae4 ,footnote #bbf3 ,matt41 #i1 #ae2 #bb1 #b-ad4 ,footnote #bbg3 ,luke1 #aj1 #bb4 ,footnote #bbh3 ,luke1 #aa1 #bj4 ,footnote #bbi3 ,matt41 #bj1 #bh2 ,luke1 #bb1 #bj4 ,footnote #bcj3 ,mark1 #a1 #bb2 #a1 #bg4 ,footnote #bca3 ,matt41 #e1 #ag4 ,footnote #bcb3 ,matt41 #e1 #dd2 #ae1 #bj4 ,footnote #bcc3 ,matt41 #e1 #cb2 #e1 #cd2 #e1 #ci2 #ae1 #aa2 #ai1 #g-i4 ,footnote #bcd3 ,matt41 #e1 #aa2 #h1 #bb2 #aj1 #cg-ci2 #aa1 #bh-cj2 #af1 #bd-be4 ,footnote #bce3 i4e41 ,i ,corinthians4 ,footnote #bcf3 ,for the dates of ,paul's ,epistles1 see the articles in ,hastings's ,dictionary of the ,bible1 or ,moffatt's ,historical ,new ,testament1 #aba-acg4 ,footnote #bcg3 #af1 #ai4 ,footnote #bch3 #af1 #a4 ,footnote #bci3 #af1 #e4 ,footnote #bdj3 #af1 #ae4 ,footnote #bda3 ,acts1 #aa1 #ai2 ,galatians1 #a1 #ba-bd4 ,footnote #bdb3 #ab1 #ac4 ,footnote #bdc3 #ab1 #ac4 ,footnote #bdd3 #aa1 #bj-cd2 #aj1 #af-ag4 ,footnote #bde3 ,very frequent3 cf4 #a1 #b2 #a1 #c2 #a1 #g2 #h1 #f2 #ab1 #c2 #af1 #bb4 ,the ,lord takes in the ,epistles the place held by the ,son of ,man in the ,gospels4 ,footnote #bdf3 #a1 #i4 ,footnote #bdg3 #b1 #h4 ,footnote #bdh3 #a1 #bd4 ,footnote #bdi3 #a1 #bd2 #a1 #cj4 ,footnote #bej3 #a1 #b4 ,footnote #bea3 #e1 #d2 #g1 #aj2 #ad1 #cg2 #ae1 #bd-bh4 ,footnote #beb3 #ab1 #ab-ac2 #ab1 #bg4 ,footnote #bec3 #a1 #d-g2 #a1 #cj2 #c1 #e2 #ab1 #e2 #af1 #bc4 ,footnote #bed3 #a1 #g2 #d1 #e4 ,footnote #bee3 #d1 #e4 ,footnote #bef3 #a1 #ag-ah4 ,footnote #beg3 #aa1 #bc-bf2 #ae1 #c4 ,footnote #beh3 #a1 #ah2 #a1 #ba2 #b1 #b2 #ae1 #a2 #ae1 #aa4 ,footnote #bei3 #a1 #bb-bd4 ,footnote #bfj3 #b1 #f-h4 ,footnote #bfa3 #ae1 #c4 ,footnote #bfb3 #aa1 #be4 ,footnote #bfc3 #ae1 #a2 #ae1 #b2 #ae1 #aa4 ,footnote #bfd3 #a1 #ah2 #a1 #ba4 ,footnote #bfe3 #ae1 #ag4 ,footnote #bff3 #a1 #b2 #a1 #cj2 #c1 #af2 #f1 #aa2 #f1 #ai4 ,footnote #bfg3 #f1 #ai2 #g1 #bc4 ,footnote #bfh3 #f1 #ae2 #aj1 #ag2 #ab1 #ab-ac2 #ab1 #bg4 ,footnote #bfi3 #aa1 #bc-be4 ,cf4 ,jeremiah1 #ca1 #ca-cd4 ,footnote #bgj3 #ae1 #d compared with #ae1 #ad4 ,footnote #bga3 #ae1 #f4 ,footnote #bgb3 ,galatians1 #a1 #ah-b1 #aj4 ,footnote #bgc3 ,see ,mc,giffert's ,apostolic ,age1 #ecf4 ,footnote #bgd3 ,the event is described in ,matt41 #bf1 #bf-cj2 ,mark1 #ad1 #bb-bf2 and ,luke1 #bb1 #ad-bj2 as well as in #a ,corinthians1 #aa1 #bc-bf4 ,footnote #bge3 ,matt41 #i1 #ae4 ,footnote #bgf3 ,matt41 #af1 #ba4 ,footnote #bgg3 ,matt41 #ag1 #bb-bc2 #bj1 #ag-ai4 ,footnote #bgh3 ,matt41 #bj1 #bh4 ,footnote #bgi3 ,matt41 #ba1 #ci2 #bf1 #b2 #bf1 #ab4 ,footnote #bhj3 ,matt41 #bf1 #bf1 #cj4 ,footnote #bha3 ,now universally acknowledged4 ,,appendix4 ,,neo-,,krishna ,,literature4 ,the ,neo-,krishna movement is about twenty years old4 ,before #ahhj ,vaishnavism does not seem to have been in great favour with the higher castes of ,bengal4 ,traditionally they were ,saivas or ,sktas rather than ,vaishnavas2 and ,english education1 which bore very heavily for half a century on every form of ,hinduism seems to have told with peculiar severity on ,krishnaism4 ,but shortly after #ahhj a great change becomes visible3 ,krishna begins to be praised on every hand1 and ancient ,vaishnava books are read and studied with avidity4 ,the new movement seems to have owed its origin1 on the one hand1 to the teaching and influence of ,ramkrishna ,paramhansa1 ,keshub ,chundra ,sen1 ,bijoy ,krishna ,goswami and ,shishir ,kumar ,ghose2 and on the other1 to the efforts of two or three noteworthy literary men1 who threw themselves into the task of painting the character of ,krishna with extraordinary enthusiasm4 ,the ,gt at once leaped into greater prominence than ever3 numberless editions and translations of it have been published4 ,many essays have appeared comparing ,krishna with ,christ and ,vaishnavism with ,christianity4 ,thus a large ,krishna literature1 both in ,english and ,bengali1 has sprung up4 ,the following seem to be the more important books of this literature3-- #ahhd ,essays in ,prachr on ,krishnacharitra by ,bunkim ,ch4 ,chatterji4 #ahhf #a4 ,krishnacharitra1 ,bunkim ,ch4 ,chatterji1 #ast edition4 ,a volume in ,bengali prose on the character of ,krishna4 #ahhg #b4 ,raivatak1 ,nobin ,ch4 ,sen4 ,an epic poem in ,bengali on ,krishna's youth4 #c4 ,the ,bhagavad ,gt1 or the ,lords ,lay1 ,mohini ,m4 ,chatterji4 ,an ,english prose translation of the text and of parts of ,sankara's commentary4 ,an attempt is made to put the ,gt on the same level as the ,new ,testament4 #ahhh #d4 ,krishna ,jivani1 ,prosanna ,kumar ,vidyaratna4 ,a life of ,krishna in ,bengali prose4 #ahhi #e4 ,srikrishner ,jivana ,o ,dharma1 ,gaur ,gavinda ,ray4 ,the life and religion of ,krishna from the standpoint of the ,new ,dispensation3 ,bengali prose4 #ahij #f4 ,srimadbhagavadgt1 ,krishnananda ,swami 7i4e4 ,krishna ,prasanna ,sen74 ,the text in the ,bengali character with a ,bengali commentary and translation4 #ahib ,krishnacharitra1 ,bunkim ,ch4 ,chatterji1 #bnd edition4 ,this edition contains a great deal of new matter4 #g4 ,amiya ,nimai ,charity1 ,shishir ,kumar ,ghose4 ,first part4 ,a life of ,chaitanya in ,bengali prose4 #ahic ,amiya ,nimai ,charit4 ,second part4 #h4 ,kurukshetra1 ,nobin ,ch4 ,sen4 ,an epic poem in ,bengali on ,krishna at ,kurukshetra4 #ahid #i4 ,the ,landmarks of ,ethics according to the ,gt4 ,bulloram ,mullick4 ,amiya ,nimai ,charit4 ,third part4 #ahie #aj4 ,kl ,chnd ,gt1 ,shishir ,kumar ,ghose4 ,a sort of ,krishnaite ,song of ,solomon in ,bengali verse4 ,it is said to have been composed in #ahhh4 #ahif #aa4 ,srikrishna1 his ,life and ,teachings1 ,dhirendra ,nath ,pal4 #c vols4 #ab4 ,srikrishner ,kalanka ,kena8 ,nava ,kumar ,devasarma4 ,a ,bengali prose defence of the character of ,krishna4 #ac4 ,the ,bhagavad ,gt1 ,annie ,besant4 ,new and revised edition4 ,an ,english prose translation with an introduction and a few notes4 #ad4 ,prabhs1 ,nobin ,ch4 ,sen4 ,an epic poem in ,bengali on the later years of ,krishna's life4 #ahig #ae4 ,lord ,gaurnga1 ,shishir ,kumar ,ghose1 #ast volume4 ,a life of ,chaitanya in ,english prose1 with a discussion of the doctrine of ,incarnations4 #ahih #af4 ,krishna and ,krishnaism1 ,bulloram ,mullick4 ,lord ,gaurnga1 #bnd volume4 #ag4 ,hindu ,theism1 ,sitanath ,tattvabhushan4 #ah4 ,an ,elementary ,treatise on ,universal ,religion4 ,kshetra ,mohan ,mukerji4 ,the religion of the ,gt is here put forward as the universal religion4 #ahii #ai4 ,incarnation1 ,nanda ,krishna ,bose4 ,this treatise follows in most points the theory of ,incarnation put forward in ,lord ,gaurnga4 #aijj #bj4 ,the ,young ,men's ,gt1 ,jogindranath ,mukharji4 ,an ,english prose translation with introduction and notes4 #ba4 ,srimadbhagavadgt1 ,prasanna ,kumar ,sastri1 #bnd edition4 ,the text in the ,bengali character1 with several commentaries1 and a ,bengali translation by ,sasadhar ,tarkachuramani4 #aija #bb4 ,the ,imitation of ,sreekrishna1 ,s4 ,c4 ,mukhopadhaya4 ,a daily text-book1 containing extracts in ,english from the ,gt1 the ,mahbhrata1 and the ,bhgavat ,purna4 #bc4 ,sree ,krishna1 ,muralidhur ,roy4 ,an account1 in ,english prose1 of the life and character of ,krishna4 #bd4 ,srimadbhagavadgt1 ,bhudhur ,chattopadhaya1 #dth edition4 ,the text in the ,bengali character1 with a ,bengali commentary4 #aijc #be4 ,a most elaborate edition of the ,gt1 edited by ,damudar ,mukerji1 is being published in parts4 #bf4 ,a ,bengali verse translation of the ,gt by ,satyendra ,nath ,tagore is appearing in ,bhrati4 ,this revival of interest in ,krishna and his worship is clearly part of the great national movement which has been so potent in ,bengal1 religiously1 socially and politically1 these last twenty years4 ,this period has witnessed the appearance of the whole ,neo-,hindu movement1 with its literature1 lectures1 societies and missionary propaganda1 the rise of the ,indian ,national ,congress and of the social reform movement1 the advance of native journalism to its present extraordinary influence1 and the establishment of the native unaided colleges1 which have so seriously changed the balance of influence in ,higher ,education4 ,neo-,krishnaism1 then1 is one result of the operation of that potent spirit whereby ,india has become conscious of her unity1 and her sons have been roused to a vigorous defence of all that they have inherited from the past4 ,this rise of the national spirit1 though it may be troublesome in small matters to the rulers of ,india1 is undoubtedly the last and greatest justification of ,english rule2 and1 while1 with its exaggerations and insincerities and follies1 it cannot fail to provoke criticism1#bhb yet its power to awake self-reliance1 self-respect and the passion for freedom ought to win for it the approval and the encouragement of all good men4 ,there can be no doubt that among the influences which have produced ,neo-,hinduism1 ,christianity is one of the most potent1 if not the chief4 ,this is peculiarly evident in the case of the ,neo-,krishna literature we are discussing4 ,in #ahii the ,bengal ,librarian wrote1 8,there is no denying the fact that all this revolution in the religious belief of the educated ,hindu has been brought about as much by the dissemination of ,christian thought by ,missionaries as by the study of ,hindu scriptures2 for ,christian influence is plainly detectable in many of the ,hindu publications of the year40 ,but beyond this general influence1 which cannot fail to be noticed by anyone who will take the trouble to read the volumes1 it is1 we believe1 perfectly plain that the very ideas which have given birth to the literature are the result of ,christian influence4 ,a distinct taste for such books as the ,gospels has sprung up2 and men have come to feel the need of a perfect character1 such as ,christ's is1 for daily contemplation and imitation4 ,the ,neo-,krishna movement endeavours to supply these needs from within ,hinduism1 offering the ,gt instead of the ,gospels1 and ,krishna instead of ,christ4#bhc ,nobin ,ch4 ,sen seems to have been the first to conceive the idea of a modern rendering of the character of ,krishna2 for he laid the project before some of his friends in #ahhb4bhd ,his famous epic trilogy1 ,raivatak1 ,kurukshetra and ,prabhs1 are the result of this pregnant thought4 ,but1 while he and ,shishir ,kumar ,ghose have done a great deal to popularize the movement1 there can be no doubt that ,bunkim ,ch4 ,chatterji's ,krishnacharitra has been by far the most influential volume in the whole of this literature4 ,gaur ,gavinda ,ray's work1 ,srikrishner ,jivana ,o ,dharma1 is a piece of excellent characterization1 and has won the high regard of many thoughtful men4 ,the books on our list fall into two classes1 ,historical and ,traditional4 ,in the ,historical class there are only two volumes1 ,tattvabhusan's ,hindu ,theism1 and the ,young ,men's ,gt4 ,these two frankly acknowledge that the ,gt is a late book4 ,in the ,young ,men's ,gt#bhe its date is said to be a century or two before1 or a century or two after1 the ,christian era2 while in ,hindu ,theism#bhf the ,gt is regarded as the point of transition from the old ,vednta to the religion of the ,purnas4 ,the standpoint of these two books is thus thoroughly historical1 but it necessarily implies the abandonment of the divinity of ,krishna4 ,all the rest of the books on the list fall into the second class2 for they hold the traditional position about ,krishna4 ,most of them make no attempt at criticism of the sources1 but treat the ,mahbhrata1 the ,gt1 the ,harivansa and the ,purnas as all historical and all equally trustworthy4 ,a few of the authors1 however1 state plainly their own critical conclusions1 and two or three enter into some discussion of the main problems4 ,these attempts at criticism are the most pitiable parts of the whole literature4 ,the talented author of ,srikrishner ,jivana ,o ,dharma1 by far too sincere and candid to ignore the ,puranic elements in the sources1 frankly confesses their presence2 yet1 believing these books to be genuine representatives of the age of ,kurukshetra1 he is driven to the extraordinary conclusion that the ,vedic1 the ,vedantic1 and the ,puranic ages were contemporaneous4#bhg ,the late ,bulloram ,mullick1 in discussing the eighteen ,purnas1 goes so far as to say1 8,whatever may be the views of ,european savants1 there is indubitable proof that some of these ,purnas existed in the eleventh or twelfth century before ,christ40#bhh ,even ,bunkim ,chundra ,chatterji himself not only unhesitatingly adopts ,goldstcker's rash guess1 that ,pnini's grammar was written before the ,brhmanas and the ,upanishads1 but on the basis of that unwise conjecture1 pushes back ,pnini's date to the tenth or eleventh century ,b4 ,c41#bhi i4e41 four or five centuries earlier than the pre-,buddhistic date which ,goldstcker#bij wished to establish4 ,dhirendra ,nath ,pal1 seeing that ,bunkim ,babu found it so easy to leap over a few centuries1 goes a little further and suggests the twelfth or thirteenth4#bia ,but1 indeed1 without some such strange perversion of history1 it is impossible to construct an argument for the authenticity of the ,gt and the historicity of the ,mahbhrata that shall have even the semblance of reason4 ,we note next that of all the books of the second class1 ,bunkim ,chundra's ,krishnacharitra is the only work that gives any independent criticism3 all the rest1 with the single exception of ,srikrishner ,jivana ,o ,dharma1 merely echo his arguments4 ,thus ,bunkim ,babu's theory is the only one we need discuss4 ,now the whole critical structure of the ,krishnacharitra rests upon the passage on pages #da and #db1 where the date of ,pnini is discussed4 ,pnini is pushed back to #ajjj ,b4 ,c42 and1 the #8original' ,mahbhrata being earlier than ,pnini1 we are asked to believe that it was produced within a century or two of ,kurukshetra1 and that it is in consequence trustworthy historically4 ,the whole argument thus rests on the date of ,pnini4 ,we translate this important passage3-- 8,goldstcker has proved that1 when ,pnini's ,stra was composed1 ,buddha had not arisen4 ,in that case ,pnini must belong to the sixth century ,b4 ,c4 ,but not only that1 in his time the ,brhmanas1 the ,aranyakas1 the ,upanishads and the other parts of the ,vedas had not been composed4 ,apart from the ,rig1 the ,yajur1 and the ,sma ,vedas1 nothing else existed4 ,asvalyana1 ,snkhyana and the rest had not appeared4 ,max ,mller says that the age in which the ,brhmanas were composed began about #ajjj ,b4 ,c4 ,dr4 ,martin ,haug says that that was the end of the age1 and that it began in the fourteenth century ,b4 ,c4 ,therefore1 if we say that ,pnini must belong to the tenth or eleventh century ,b4 ,c41 we do not say too much40 ,now the first remark we make on this extraordinary piece of criticism is this1 that ,goldstcker and ,max ,mller are most unfairly conjoined to support a date which both of them would have indignantly repudiated4 ,for ,mller's date for ,pnini is the fourth century ,b4,c41#bib and ,goldstcker never proposed to push him further back than the sixth century2 indeed all that he claims is that he has brought forward evidence which affords a strong probability that ,pnini preceded the origin of the ,buddhistic creed4#bic ,our next remark is that1 though more than forty years have passed since ,goldstcker's book appeared1#bid he has convinced no one that the ,brhmanas and the ,upanishads are posterior to ,pnini's grammar3 opinions still differ as to ,pnini's precise date1 but no scholar to-day puts him before the ,brhmanas4#bie ,can the grounds for this unanimity among modern scholars be vividly set forth8 ,we believe they can4 ,here1 as in our first chapter1 we shall not attempt to fix a definite chronology1 but shall simply aim at reaching the relative age of the great books we are dealing with2 and we shall not deal with the meaning of disputed passages1 but shall rest the case altogether on the clear and prominent features of history which every one can appreciate4 ,there is1 then1 first of all the great broad fact that the ,stras depend on the ,brhmanas1 and are1 in general1 posterior to them1 and that the language and style of ,pnini's ,stras show that he belongs to about the middle of the ,stra period4#bif ,all the detailed study of the last forty years has gone to strengthen this stable conclusion4 ,but there is another and still more conclusive proof that ,pnini comes long after the early ,brhmanas4 ,these ancient books are written in ,vedic ,sanskrit4#big ,the early ,upanishads are more modern in character1 but even they belong to a stage of the language a good deal earlier than the ,stras3 ,professor ,macdonell's words are1 8the oldest ,upanishads occupying a position linguistically midway between the ,brhmanas and the ,stras40#bih ,thus the ,brhmanas were composed while ,vedic ,sanskrit was still the language of the ,indo-,aryans4 ,now ,pnini's grammar deals with classical ,sanskrit1 not the ,vedic speech4 ,he deals with many points of ,vedic grammar1 it is true1 but he deals with them as exceptions2 his subject is classical ,sanskrit4 ,he laid down the law1 which has ruled ,sanskrit throughout the centuries since his day4 ,thus he arose at a time1 when the language of the ,brhmanas had become archaic1 and modern ,sanskrit had taken its place4#bii ,it is thus absolutely impossible to believe that ,pnini lived and wrote before the ,brhmanas were composed3 to propose to put him back before their composition is much the same as proposing to push ,johnson's ,dictionary back before ,chaucer4 ,another line of proof may also be indicated4 ,careful study of the early ,brhmanas has made it plain that they were composed after the collection of the hymns of the ,rigveda1 but before#cjj the formation of the ,sanhit text 7i4e41 the text in which the words are joined according to the rules of ,sandhi7 and the ,pada#cja text 7i4e4 the word by word text74 ,the author of the ,pada text is ,skalya4#cjb ,now ,yska refers to ,skalya as a predecessor2#cjc and ,yska himself is earlier than ,pnini4#cjd ,thus the historical order is the early ,brhmanas1 the ,sanhit text1 ,skalya1 ,yska1 ,pnini4 ,bunkim ,babu's date for ,pnini being thus altogether untenable1 his whole argument for the historicity of the ,pndava ,mahbhrata and ,krishna's character as therein pourtrayed tumbles in ruins1 and brings down with it all the rest of this ,krishna literature4 ,we would invite our readers to turn away from these vain attempts to turn a myth into sober history1 and to listen to the teaching of those really scholarly ,indians who study ,hinduism from a scientific standpoint4 ,we have already referred to ,sitanath ,tattvabhushan's ,hindu ,theism1 and we have frequently used ,bose's ,hindu ,civilization under ,british ,rule and ,r4 ,c4 ,dutt's works as authorities4 ,we would now call attention to a monograph by one of the greatest scholars in ,bengal 7,comparative ,studies in ,vaishnavism and ,christianity1 by ,brajendra ,nath ,seal71 where#cje the growth of the ,krishna legend is frankly discussed2#cjf also to a very remarkable essay on ,buddhist and ,vishnuite in a recent number of ,shitya#cjg by the late ,umes ,chundra ,batabyal1 in which grave historical reasons are given for concluding that the ,gt is in part at least a polemic against ,buddhism2 and to the late ,mr4 ,justice ,telang's introduction to his translation of the ,gt 7,s4 ,b4 ,e41 vol4 ,,viii71 with regard to which readers will note1 that1 although the date is put a little earlier than most scholars would put it1 no attempt is made to defend the traditional theory of the origin of the ,song4 ,footnote #bhb3 ,many of the wisest ,indians have spoken out on this subject4 ,the latest utterance is an article on ,pseudo-,nationalism in the ,indian ,messenger for ,august #ith4 ,footnote #bhc3 ,many other signs of ,christian influence might be noted3 thus the ,young ,men's ,gt is a counterblast to a ,christian edition of the ,song1 and it is besides most evidently arranged and printed in imitation of some tasteful edition of the ,imitation of ,christ2 while the ,imitation of ,sreekrishna proclaims its origin by its very name4 ,footnote #bhd3 ,see an essay by ,hirendra ,nath ,dutta1 which originally appeared in ,shitya1 now republished as an appendix to ,nobin ,chundra ,sen's ,kurukshetra4 ,footnote #bhe3 p4 ii4 ,footnote #bhf3 pp4 #gd-gf4 ,footnote #bhg3 p4 #a4 ,footnote #bhh3 ,krishna and ,krishnaism1 #af4 ,footnote #bhi3 ,krishnacharitra1 #db4 ,footnote #bij3 ,pnini1 his ,place in ,sanskrit ,literature1 #bbg4 ,footnote #bia3 ,srikrishna1 his ,life and ,teachings1 vol4 ,i1 p4 xxv4 ,footnote #bib3 ,physical ,religion1 #gf4 ,footnote #bic3 ,pnini1 his ,place in ,sanskrit ,literature1 #bbg4 ,footnote #bid3 ,it was published in #ahfa4 ,footnote #bie3 ,macdonell1 #dcj-dca2 ,kaegi1 #g2 ,max ,mller1 ,physical ,religion1 #fc-fd2 ,haraprasad ,sastri1 ,a ,school ,history of ,india1 #d-g2 ,r4 ,c4 ,dutt1 ,brief ,history of ,ancient and ,modern ,india1 #ag1 #bg2 ,bhtlingk's ,pnini 7,leipsic1 #ahhg72 ,weber1 ,indische ,studien1 ,v1 #a-agb2 ,hopkins1 ,r4 ,i41 #cej2 ,bhler in ,s4 ,b4 ,e41 vol4 ,,ii1 pp4 xxxv1 xxxix-xlii2 ,eggeling in ,s4 ,b4 ,e41 vol4 xii1 p4 xxxvii2 ,bhandarkar1 ,early ,history of the ,deccan1 #e4 ,footnote #bif3 ,max ,mller1 ,a4 ,s4 ,l41 #caa-cab2 ,macdonell1 #cf1 #ci1 #bfh4 ,cf4 what ,whitney says1 8,the standard work of ,pnini1 the grammarian-in-chief of ,sanskrit literature1 is a frightfully perfect model of the ,stra method0 7,oriental and ,linguistic ,studies1 ,i1 #ga74 ,footnote #big3 ,max ,mller1 ,natural ,religion1 #bif2 ,macdonell1 #bjc-d4 ,footnote #bih3 ,macdonell1 #bje4 ,footnote #bii3 ,max ,mller1 ,a4 ,s4 ,l41 #ach2 ,natural ,religion1 #big-bih2 ,macdonell1 #bb-bc4 ,footnote #cjj3 ,macdonell1 #ej4 ,footnote #cja3 ,on these texts see ,kaegi1 ,note #gg2 ,macdonell1 #dh1 #ej4 ,footnote #cjb3 ,macdonell1 #ea4 ,footnote #cjc3 ,macdonell1 #bfh4 ,footnote #cjd3 ,macdonell1 #bfi4 ,goldstcker 7op4 cit4 p4 #bbe7 acknowledges that ,yska earlier than ,pnini4 ,footnote #cje3 pp4 #h-aj4 ,footnote #cjf3 ,see also ,bose1 ,h4 ,c41 #cc-ce4 ,footnote #cjg3 #acth year1 #ast part4 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores 7italics74 ,footnotes have been moved to follow the sections in which they are referenced4 ,while the title page included with the source files shows ,neil ,alexander to be the author1 the original publication is attributed to ,john ,nicol ,farquhar4