The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific
and Religious Journal, Volume I, No. 9. September, 1880, by Various

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal,
Volume I, No. 9. September, 1880

Author: Various

Contributor: Various

Editor: Aaron Walker

Release Date: May 3, 2009 [EBook #28672]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION ***

Produced by Bryan Ness, Greg Bergquist and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
book was produced from scanned images of public domain
material from the Google Print project.)

Scientific and Religious Journal.

VOL. I. SEPTEMBER, 1880. NO. 9.

THE DIVINITY OF OUR RELIGION AS CONCEDED BY ITS ENEMIES.

Voltaire says, "I am ever apprehensive of being mistaken; but all
monuments give me sufficient evidence that the polished nations of
antiquity acknowledged a supreme God. There is not a book, not a medal,
not a bas-relief, not an inscription, in which Juno, Minerva, Neptune,
Mars, or any of the other deities, is spoken of as a creating being, the
sovereign of all nature.

"On the contrary, the most ancient profane books that we have--Hesiod
and Homer--represent their Zeus as the only thunderer, the only master
of gods and men; he even punishes the other gods; he ties Juno with a
chain, and drives Apollo out of heaven.

"The ancient religion of the Brahmins explains itself in a sublime
manner, concerning the unity and power of God, in these words found in
the 2d chapter of the Shastah, 'The Eternal, absorbed in the
contemplation of his own existence, resolved, in the fullness of time,
to communicate his glory and his essence to beings capable of feeling
and partaking his beatitude, as well as of contributing to his glory.
The Eternal willed it, and they were. He formed them partly of his own
essence, capable of perfection or imperfection, _according to their
will_. The Eternal first created Brahma, Vishna and Siva, then Mozazor
and all the multitude of the angels. The Eternal gave the pre-eminence
to Brahma, Vishna and Siva. Brahma was