uld be saved? Their very
multiplicity and their voluminous character debar any man, however
learned, from an acquaintance with more than a small fraction of them.
Moreover, among learned pandits of today the _Smriti_ (traditions) are
more frequently quoted as authority, and they wield a larger power over
the life of the people, than the _Sruti_ (revelation) itself.

In the Christian Bible we are permitted to see a _progressive_ revelation.
From age to age, and from page to page, we see new glimpses of truth and
are attracted by the divine light whose illumination grows ever brighter
from Genesis to Revelation. This is what we should have expected from a
God-inspired book. We should have looked forward to a gradual transition
from the starry midnight of the far-off past to the rising, in Christ, of
the sun of righteousness with healing in His wings.

In Hindu literature this process is reversed. The surest, I may almost
say, the only, evidence we have of divine guidance in the production of
this literature is to be found among the earliest productions. There we
see earnestness of purpose combined with heavenly aspiration and deep
searching after truth. Subsequent to this we see the light vanishing and
earnestness giving place to triviality of thought, to the ravings of
superstition, to the inanities of ceremonialism and to the laws of social
and religious bondage. All this progress downward is in direct ratio to
our distance from Vedic times.

What could be more conclusive proof of the human source and direction of
these prolific writings? Educated Hindus are sensible of this fact. They
constantly hark back to the Vedas, to the Upanishads and to the
Bhagavad-Gita, conscious of the fact that these represent the high
water-mark of their faith and literature.

7. Other Distinguishing Traits.

These are not a few, and they aid in presenting the two faiths in bold
relief.

(_a_) Their attitude towards the individual and Society. Nowhere are they
more antipodal to each other than here. Christianity is preeminently a
faith which exalts the individual. It presents, with marked clearness, his
rights and responsibilities. His liberty of thought, of belief and of
action, is fundamentally sacred and to be conserved at all hazards.

Hinduism is the staunchest foe of individual freedom. It concedes no right
to the individual which others are bound to respect. It has erected above
the individual, and in such a way as to