Religion : a comparative study

Front matter

Copiglit N"

COF^KICHT DEPOSm

RELIGION

Preface

water the lower end looks crooked because of the medium through which it is viewed. If the beholder views it from beneath the surface of the water the upper end looks crooked.

God's revelation to man is colored by the medium through which it reaches him. In studying the religions of other people this general truth should be kept in mind, for he who denies that there is good in any other religion does not thereby recommend his own.

It is equally important that he should not become so broad as to be shallow, and thereby have a creed so liberal that it is meaningless, for there are certain fundamental truths that forever differentiate Christianity from all other religions. To know one's mother tongue well it is necessary to know more than one language, and so to know one's religion in all its bearings it is well to know something of other religions, for they are all a part of the one great, innate religious idea. Lecky says: "That religious instincts are as truly a part of our nature as are our appetites and our nerves, is a fact which all history establishes and which forms one of the strongest proofs of the reality of the unseen world, to which the soul of man continually tends."

Bagehot has well said: "The criterion of true beauty is with those who have a sense of true beauty ; the criterion of true morality is with those who have a sense of true morality; and the criterion of true religion is with those who have a sense of true religion.'*

Pragmatism teaches that the outcome of things is the best criterion — "that the thing is true so far as we can see at the present time," though later dis-

PREFACE coveries may show that our present truth is limited. This truth is as applicable to religious experience as to other experiences. What is before us will not contradict what is now within our reach. We know we are not at the end, but may be sure we are on the right road. J. G. V.

Appleton, Wisconsin.

Christmas, 1918.

Section II 19

II. Comparative Religion as a Study. . 46

1. The Origin 46

2. The History 47

3. The Comparison of ReHgions. ... 49

4. Customs 52

5. General Culture 55

6. Psychology 57

7. Mythology 58

III. Monotheism 60

IV. The God of Philosophy 67

V. The Existence of God 88

VI. Proofs OF THE Existence OF God .. . 101

VII. Doubts Concerning God 116

Thoughts Concerning God 119

VIII. Immortality 123

Part Two— History Of Religions

IX. The Religion of Abraham 135

X. The Religion of Egypt 155

XL The Teutonic Religion 165

CONTENTS

Page

XII. The Religion of the Greeks 173

XIII. The Religion of Rome 181

XIV. Islam 189

XV. The Bhagavad Gita 203

XVI. Confucianism 211

XVII. Japan, the Home of Shintoism 219

XVIII. Taoism 236

XIX. Brahmanism 247

XX. Zoroaster and Parseeism 267

XXI. Buddhism 275

XXII. Mormonism 289

XXIII. Christian Science 310

XXIV. Minor Religions 321

Babism 321

Sikhism 323

Sufism 325

Jainism 326

Fetishism 327

Theosophy 328

New Thought 330

Russellismor Millennial-Dawnism.. . 332

Part Three— Religions In Com- Parison

XXV. Christianity 337

A Brief Comparison of the Christian and

Non-Christian Religions 345

Bibliography 361

CHAPTER I Section I

DEAR reader, pause a moment for prayer; in the pages following you will be led along strange paths, and doubts will be raised and your childhood faith will be shaken and you will wonder if the foundation of the Christian faith is slipping away and the whole structure is toppling to a fall. Here is where many make shipwreck of faith, and consequently of life. This comes from the fact that they believe their doubts and doubt their beliefs and stop all investigation. A little religious knowledge is a dangerous thing, but he who drinks deeply gets life from the ever-flowing spring.

No one can understand religion who approaches it from the earthward side only. The deeper truths of religion are known only to those who are willing and anxious to live them. Many pious souls who never heard of the gospel as preached by Jesus Christ have been living incarnations of these deeper truths, while many learned critics who have been born and reared in a Christian atmosphere have lived, philosophized, and died without coming into vital touch with these life-giving truths. This is not a plea for those who would float ignorance on piety; nor, on the other hand, for those who would smother piety by learning.

Many of our nursery conceptions of the world, life, duty, and religion are childish. If we grow and develop normally, we must necessarily change our opinions about many things. We come to see that the world is not just as we thought it was, but that it is governed by certain natural yet inexplicable laws; but the fact the world is remains. Our conceptions of life enlarge, and life comes to have a meaning and outreach that we knew nothing about in childhood. Its significance and sacredness grow with the years. As we grow the social realm widens, and we find in it duties, opportunities, and responsibilities that we knew nothing of in childhood. Religious ideas change, but not religious fundamentals. The religious realm is largely idealistic, and because of this fact, superstition, fancy, and mythology have found this field especially attractive. These foes of progress and civilization have been given free rein in the nursery, and childish fancy has filled the world with ghosts and hobgoblins, and given to dolls divine attributes.

As the children approach maturity, it is natural they should have confused ideas regarding many of these things. As they confront the laws of progress and growth everywhere, they meet two classes of people, both sincere, but alike dangerous advisers. The one raises the hands in holy horror, saying, "What you call evolution or science or progress has no right to enter the sacred precincts of religion." The other class says, "Here are the facts of nature and they contradict religion, and facts are facts." The first tends to fanaticism in religion, and the other to scientific atheism.

He who fails to get correct bearing at this point is destined to confusion that may be fatal to all his thinking, and eventually to his religious life. In meeting these problems there are several facts to be taken into consideration. God, who is a personal, self-existing Creator or first cause, is a reality, though inexplicable to the finite mind. This is the conclusion of unprejudiced human reason. The religious idea is innate in man. Plutarch said: ''You can find empires without thrones and thrones without emperors, but no empire without altars.'* Professor Tiele calls this "the innate sense of infinity." Max Miiller speaks of the perception of the Infinite, and afhrms that the source of religion is the yearning of the soul after God. Professor Herder sees in rites and ceremonies the natural expression of the innate recognition of God. These authorities are simply recognizing the fact that religion is a note of the human race. This is not denying the fact that there are persons who have no religious tendencies, just as there are persons who are destitute of natural affection. These abnormal persons do not disprove general tendencies that go to show man is naturally religious and affectionate.

There is a school of writers who trace all religions to naturalistic causes. They begin with fetishism as the lowest form of religion and work up gradually to monotheism. To them the religious idea is merely the outgrowth of superstitious fear. Unfortunately for them and their theory, facts, experience, revelation, philosophy, and the voice of the race are against them. Their theory breaks down in the presence of well-established facts, proves nothing, and fails in every attempt to explain religious phenomena. At first thought, It seems strange that many writers on Comparative Religion have been either atheistic or at least non-Christian. The denial of God and opposition to the Christian ideal is explained by the Psalmist as originating in the heart rather than In the head (Psalm 14). There are people who would do away with law because they do not like Its restraints, just as there are people who would do away with God in order to get rid of His sovereignty. This naturalistic school should explain to the world why it is, if time and evolution are all that is necessary to provide religion, that animals show no religious tendency.

Some writers claim that religion Is from re-legere, meaning to read over, or an opinion formed from what one has read. Others say religion is from religarey meaning to bind back, or to restore the soul to its original friendship with God. The first definition emphasizes religion as creed, the latter as life. True religion is neither the one nor the other, but both. Creed has its place, and life its place, but real religion is the life of God in the soul of man. Each person will interpret God according to his own personality, and his experience will be peculiar to his personality. Voltaire defined the theist thus: "One who says to God, T worship and serve Thee,' and to mankind, T love you.' " True religion makes one tolerant of the beliefs of others In so far as they are not destructive of fundamental principles.

The final authority In religious matters is not in an infallible book or in the Church, but rather in belief, for a belief is true that makes for the betterment of the human race — that lifts one above himself and broadens and betters his life-4-that fills life with the ripened fruits of righteousness. CA belief that can thus reach out to the unseen realm and bring into life such blessings, must be true. Our lives are molded by our beliefs, and we are putting into practice what we believe. It is still true that, f'As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."' Man is what he thinks. Acts spring from hidden seeds of thought, so man is made or unmade by himself, for he holds the key to every situation.] The thoughts we built into character yesterday made us what we are to-day, and to-morrow will be the result of the thoughts of to-day. (The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors. Men attract what they are and not what they want, j Good thoughts never produce bad results. The body is somewhat the servant of the mind. Disease and health come largely from the mind. This is the one truth that saves Christian Science from being a meaningless jumble. If you would perfect your body, guard your mind. Clean, cheerful thoughts will do for the life ^yhat fresh air and sunlight will do for a foul room./ The achievements of life rest on thought factors. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." The so-called dreamer gets a thought or vision and goes forth to visualize it, and the result is achievements, reforms, and revolutions. The secret of happiness is in choosing an ideal and focussing life on or around it.

Comparative Religion is, or should be, the very center of Christian Apologetics. No one is prepared to discuss intelligently that vital topic in Christian theology till he has studied the origin and history of the great religions of the human race. A knowledge of this subject embraces topics of the most profound interest to every thoughtful human being. The subjects are as varied as they are profound. They deal with philology, philosophy, psychology, history, literature, art, geography, mythology, architecture, etc. We cannot understand the social, intellectual, and religious life of people without knowing something of their relation to these things. There is not a subject in the college curriculum that opens a wider field for cultural training. A student may be versed in some sciences and know but little or nothing of others, but the student of Comparative Religion must know something of many contributory subjects or sciences.

The study of religion is so systematized that we speak of the scientific study of Comparative Religion. If "Three-fourths of science is method," then Comparative Religion is rightly called a science, for every phase of heathen religion has been subjected to careful analysis, and to a study of the subjects mentioned above as they are related to heathen life. This study has been greatly hindered by a lack of a suitable text-book. Such a book would doubtless have been prepared but for lack of adequate data. Within the past fifty years so much information has been gathered on this subject that lack of data is no longer a valid excuse. The missionaries have done more than any other class of people to acquaint us with the real conditions in the heathen world. They live among the people and are generally intelligent and sympathetic, and are consequently able to get into the heart life of the people. They have brought to civilization a wealth of information that has opened up the study of the social, intellectual, and religious life of these heathen people. Education and science and religion owe to these people a debt of gratitude for information they have gathered that could not have been gotten in any other way.

The study of Comparative Religion has forced a recognition of the universality of religion. One cannot know his own religion thoroughly till he knows something of other religions, just as one cannot know his own language thoroughly without knowing something of other languages. God has not left himself without a witness in the world. Tennyson quotes approvingly an inscription that appears on a temple in Kashmier which says, ''O God, in every temple I see people who see Thee, and in every language I hear spoken, people praise Thee." There are fundamental agreements in all religions, such as a recognition of God, future existence, sin, punishment, etc. The gods of heathenism are reflections of the passions of the people. People never rise higher than their gods. We attribute to God our own thoughts, and our lives are influenced by the character we give Him. If we would be fair to these heathen religions, we must judge them by their virtues and not their excrescences. We would want them to judge Christianity in the same way.

Comparative Religion is referred to by different designations such as Hierology, Science of Religion,

Comparative Theology, etc. They all agree in treating the religious idea as a unit. In this discussion we shall use the term Comparative Religion and treat the religious concept as a unit, and when we speak of the religions of the different peoples, we shall regard them as springing from the universal religious concept. As to the origin of this concept — the religious idea or religion in its larger sense — ^we know nothing more than we know of the origin of language. "Thou, O God, hast created us for Thyself, therefore our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee." — St. Augustine. God solves the world-riddle of is and ought.

The moral consciousness of the race rises and falls with religious beliefs. All moral conduct has its basis in religious faith and rites. He who ignores God and religion, repudiates the only foundation on which a moral life can rest. Some moral people who have ignored God and religion are unconsciously controlled and influenced by the religious sentiment that has permeated and molded society. Among heathen people it is a common thing to find rites and ceremonies rigidly observed where there is no moral consciousness. Some heathen people think it is natural that people from other countries should have different religions and moral standards just as they have different clothes, and they are consequently tolerant toward other religions — are willing to accept Christ as one of their gods and Christianity as one of their religions, provided it be understood the acceptance places them under no obligations to change their lives or conform to the moral standards of Christianity.

The weakness of Roman Catholic Christianity in the mission fields has been the acceptance of this heathen standard, by simply receiving the unregenerated heathen into the Church and allowing them to adhere to their old way of living and conform to the same corrupt lives. The heathen have regarded Romanism as one of the religions of the country. True Christianity has always insisted that it is the religion and that its standards only are correct, that it contains all that is good and true in the other religions. If this is a correct statement of the fact, it should not be regarded as intolerant. This attitude has led to the persecution of Christianity from the first. Chr istianity can make no compromise on this point without surrendering its claim.

In the ages to come the religion that best meets human needs will triumph in the world and rule in the hearts and lives of men. ■, What will be the result if some religion come to the fore that meets these conditions better than Christianity does? It will by that triumph become essential Christianity and, therefore, take its place. The influence that does most to lift this world back to God by that achievement becomes the true religion.

Section II

The Science of Comparative Religion is a new science and does not date back more than fifty years. The subject is an old one, but not until recently has it assumed such definite form and importance as to be classed as a science. More definite information on this subject has been gathered, classified, and put into definite literary form during the past fifty years than during the preceding eighteen hundred years.

The great missionary movement of the Christian Church has been developed during the past half century. Modes of travel and communication have so improved during this period as to bring distant parts of the earth together and make this world one vast whispering gallery. The steam engine, the printing press, and telegraphy have wrought wonders of which our forefathers never dreamed. These have been highly useful in gathering and disseminating information about the religions of various peoples. During this period Daniel's prophecy has been fulfilled, for "many have run to and fro and knowledge has been increased." (Daniel 12. 4.) This period has been especially marked by travel and research as well as by missionary effort.

Men of large means have shown their interest in religion by bearing the expense and encouraging specialists to make excavations, explorations, and original research in foreign lands that might throw some light on religion. These efforts have been rewarded beyond their most sanguine expectations. In Bible lands it seemed at times that almost every turn of the spade brought confirmatory evidence of the truthfulness of the Bible statements. In other parts of the world equally definite information has been gained concerning the origin and history of non- Christian religions. Some of this valuable work was accomplished by people who were not experts, and the data they gathered needed to be carefully sifted. Some missionaries have been so narrow in their views that they were utterly unable to appreciate the good points in the religion of the people among whom they labored. These processes have gone forward till at the present time books filled with valuable information are literally pouring from the printing press. There is no longer an excuse for ignorance on this vital subject. The early attempts to study these subjects were crude, but not unlike early efforts in most fields.

The Apostles and Church Fathers had but little knowledge of the religions of their day. They held narrow views which prevented them from making a study of any religion save Christianity. To them all other religions were false and the followers were doomed. The Greek philosophers of the same period were the preachers of the day. They discoursed on ethics and religion, but their views often lacked clarity and definiteness, and as a result they did not contribute much that was valuable to the study of religion. Roger Bacon, who lived in the thirteenth century, was the first great scholar to insist that all intelligent people should acquaint themselves with the religions of mankind. He attempted to show that religion was too much hampered by authority, custom, prejudice, and conceit. He treated religion under the following heads: Fetishism, Idolaters, Tartars, Mohammedans, Jews, and Christians. His treatment of these religions showed that he lacked both insight and sympathy, and was thereby unfitted for a proper understanding and discussion of these subjects. He had great sympathy with the astrologers and alchemists of his day.

The first Parliament of Religions was held at Kara Korum in Tartary in the thirteenth century. One of the rules adopted for the government of this Parliament was that any person who spoke disrespectfully of a faith differing from his own should suffer instant death. The probability is that they had harmony at least. At Agra, India, stands the tomb of Akbar, the great Mogul emperor. Near this tomb, which deserves a place among the wonders of the world, are the tombs of five of his wives. The story is that he married a Jewess, a Mohammedan, a Brahman, a Zoroastran, and a Christian that he might study the effect of these different religions at short range. It is known that he gathered all the sacred books he could command and had them translated for his private library. In 1575 at a conference held in his palace he announced his faith that Islam was not the only religion and that many good and wise people held to other religions. This renunciation subjected him to bitter persecution. During the latter half of the last century many distinguished scholars contributed to the subject of Comparative Religion, and so organized the information that had been gathered by others that the subject came to be recognized as a science. The more prominent writers were Dr. Max M tiller of Oxford, England, Professors Tiele of Leyden, and Reville of Paris.

Dr. Mtiller deserved more honor than his modesty would permit him to claim. He edited the Rig Veda, the sacred book of the East, in fifty volumes;

wrote a very suggestive work, "Comparative Mythology," and delivered many university lectures. He gave great inspiration to the Parliament of Religions that met in Chicago in 1893. He paid the price due to his prominence, for many mediocre men seemed to take great delight in finding fault with his methods and conclusions. When he passed to his reward in 1900 he was generally regarded as the best authority on Comparative Religion. This recognition was freely accorded him by such men as W. Robertson Smith, Andrew M. Fairbain, Cornelius P. Tiele, Dr. Saussaye, and men of like caliber.

America has made large contribution to the subject of Comparative Religion. The history of this subject cannot be written without giving a prominent place to such men as James Freeman Clark, C. H. Toy, F. F. Ellingwood, W. F. Warren, L. H. Jordan, J. H. Barrows, D. J. Burrell, George F. Moore, George H. Trever, and many others. No student of Comparative Religion should be satisfied till he is reasonably familiar with the writings of these authors. The one event that brought the subject of Comparative Religion to the front and literally forced it on the attention of the world was the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in connection with the World's Fair in 1893. This exposition was the most comprehensive display of man's progress that the world had seen up to that time. More than fifty nations took part in the exposition. It was preeminently proper that religion which had done so much to advance the world's progress should have a prominent place and be viewed in a broad way in connection with this great enterprise.

Our little systems have their day;

They have their day and cease to be,

They are but broken lights of Thee; And Thou, O Lord, art more than they.

The purpose of the Parliament was expressed by the Religions Committee as follows:

"Believing that God is, and that He has not left Himself without witness; believing that the influence of Religion tends to advance the general welfare, and is the most vital force in the social order of every people, and convinced that of a truth God is no respecter of persons, but that in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him, we afi^ectionately invite the representatives of all faiths to aid us in presenting to the world, at the Exposition of 1893, the religious harmonies and unities of humanity, and also in showing forth the moral and spiritual agencies which are at the root of human progress. It is proposed to consider the foundations of religious Faith, to review the triumphs of Religion in all ages, to set forth the present state of Religion among the nations and its influence over Literature, Art, Commerce, Government, and the Family Life; to indicate its power in promoting Temperance and Social Purity and its harmony with true Science; to show its dominance in the higher institutions of learning; to make prominent the value of the weekly rest-day on religious and other grounds, and to contribute to those forces which shall bring about the unity of the race in the worship of God and the service of man."

The special objects to be attained were:

1. To bring together in conference, for the first time in history, the leading representatives of the great Historic Religions of the world.

2. To show to men, In the most impressive way, what and how many important truths the various ReHgions hold and teach in common.

3. To promote and deepen the spirit of human brotherhood among religious men of diverse faiths, through friendly conference and mutual good understanding, while not seeking to foster the temper of indifferentism, and not striving to achieve any formal and outward unity.

4. To set forth, by those most competent to speak, what are deemed the important distinctive truths held and taught by each Religion, and by the various chief branches of Christendom.

5. To indicate the impregnable foundations of Theism, and the reasons for man's faith in Immortality, and thus to unite and strengthen the forces which are adverse to a materialistic philosophy of the universe.

6. To secure from leading scholars, representing the Brahman, Buddhist, Confucian, Parsee, Mohammedan, Jewish, and other Faiths, and from representatives of the various Churches of Christendom, full and accurate statements of the spiritual and other effects of the Religions which they hold upon the Literature, Art, Commerce, Government, Domestic, and Social life of the peoples among whom these Faiths have prevailed.

7. To inquire what light each Religion has afforded, or may afford, to the other Religions of the world.

8. To set forth, for permanent record to be published to the world, an accurate and authoritative account of the present condition and outlook of Religion among the leading nations of the earth.

9. To discover, from competent men, what light Religion has to throw on the great problems of the present age, especially the important questions connected with Temperance, Labor, Education, Wealth, and Poverty.

10. To bring the nations of the earth into a more friendly fellowship, in the hope of securing permanent international peace.

Prominent leaders of all religions in all parts of the world took part in the Parliament and expressed catholic views, but, sad to admit, many of these people returned to their homes and were as narrow, bigoted, and undemocratic as before.

The leading spirit of the Parliament was Dr. J. Henry Burrows, of Chicago, who printed the addresses in two volumes, "The World's Parliament of Religions." This work is an invaluable thesaurus of information for the student of religions. The addresses made and papers submitted were by the ablest men that represented the different religions, denominations, Churches, creeds, and cults. They were up-to-date, forcible statements of their best thought. Tennyson's words properly represented the essence of their conclusions:

The whole world is everywhere

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.

The tolerant and liberal spirit of the gathering was voiced in the following poem, contributed by Laura O. Chant:

The New World's call hath summoned men to prayer:

And swift across the ocean's path of foam, Along the mountain-tracks, or desert's glare, Or down the old-world valleys, they have come. O golden, olden East!

Right welcome to the feast.

The New World welcomes you In the most holy name of God, The New World welcomes you.

The New World's call hath summoned men to prayer:

All Christendom hath felt her great heart beat, And Europe's messengers from everywhere Still wake the echoes with their coming feet. O, Mussulman and Greek!

The glad New World doth seek With Christian and with Jew In the most holy name of God, To love and welcome you.

The New World's call hath summoned men to prayer:

And Africa hath heard the call and cried To her most noble sons to haste and share The brotherhood of worship side by side. O, heirs of liberty!

Dear Negro brothers, ye, At last at one with you, In the most holy name of God, The New World welcomes you.

For all the creeds of men have come to praise.

And kneel and worship at the great white throne Of God, the Father of us all, and raise

The all-world's prayer to Him, the Great Alone. O creeds, whate'er ye be!

The Truth shall make you free.

And be ye old or new.

In the most holy name of God The New World welcomes you.

Let Moses still be reverenced, and the name

Of Buddha fill his worshipers with awe. Still let Mohammed from his people claim

A sober life and conduct as before. Yet nought of outlook shall be sacrificed