" "probabilities," "beliefs" and
"conjectures," we have the words of the learned Michaelis still before
us, that: "No MSS. of the N. T. now extant are prior to the _sixth
cent._" This remark, however, does not cover the _Codex Sinaiticus_,
which was discovered since Michaelis wrote his work on the N. T.; but,
as we saw above, Dr. Davidson does not agree with Tischendorf in regard
to its antiquity, and places it in the 6th cent.

FOOTNOTES:

[450:1] Williams' Hinduism, p. 19. See also, Prof. Max Mueller's Lectures
on the Origin of Religion, pp. 145-158, and p. 67, where he speaks of
"the Hindus, who, thousands of years ago, had reached in Upanishads the
loftiest heights of philosophy."

[450:2] The Ancient City, p. 13.

[451:1] See Monier Williams' Hinduism, pp. 109, 110, and Indian Wisdom,
p. 493.

[451:2] See Isis Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 576, for the authority of Prof.
Max Mueller.

[451:3] "The religion known as Buddhism--from the title of 'The Buddha,'
meaning 'The Wise,' 'The Enlightened'--has now existed for 2400 years,
and may be said to be the prevailing religion of the world." (Chambers's
Encyclo.)

[451:4] This Council was assembled by Asoka in the eighteenth year of
his reign. The name of this king is honored wherever the teachings of
Buddha have spread, and is reverenced from the Volga to Japan, from
Ceylon and Siam to the borders of Mongolia and Siberia. Like his
Christian prototype Constantine, he was converted by a miracle. After
his conversion, which took place in the tenth year of his reign, he
became a very zealous supporter of the new religion. He himself built
many monasteries and dagabas, and provided many _monks_ with the
necessaries of life; and he encouraged those about his court to do the
same. He published edicts throughout his empire, enjoining on all his
subjects morality and justice.

[451:5] Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 10.

[451:6] See Chapter VII.

[452:1] Mueller: Lectures on the Science of Religion, p. 235.

[452:2] This small tribe of Persians were driven from their native land
by the Mohammedan conquerors under the Khalif Omar, in the seventh
century of our era. Adhering to the ancient religion of Persia, which
resembles that of the _Veda_, and bringing with them the records of
their faith, the _Zend-Avesta_ of their prophet Zoroaster, they settled
down in the neighborhood of Surat, about one thousand one hundred years
ago, and became great merchants and shipbuilders. For t