an
nourish their own religious life. How much happier will those
of our children and young people be who learn what is now
known of the actual origin of the Pentateuch and the Writings,
from the same lips which have taught them that the Prophets
indeed prepared the way for Jesus, and that God is indeed our
Heavenly Father. For these will, without difficulty, perceive
that God's love is none the feebler and that the Bible is no
less precious, because Moses knew nothing of the Levitical
legislation, or because it was not the warrior monarch on his
semi-barbaric throne, but some far later son of Israel, who
breathed forth the immortal hymn of faith, 'The Lord is my
Shepherd; I shall not want.'"

For the benefit of those who may think that the evidence of plagiarism
on the part of the Hebrew writers has not been sufficiently
substantiated, we will quote a few words from Prof. Max Mueller, who is
one of the best English authorities on this subject that can be
produced. In speaking of this he says:

"The opinion that the _Pagan_ religions were mere corruptions
of the religion of the Old Testament, once supported by men of
high authority and great learning, _is now as completely
surrendered as the attempts of explaining Greek and Latin as
the corruptions of Hebrew_."[106:1]

Again he says:

"As soon as the ancient language and religion of India became
known in Europe it was asserted that Sanskrit, _like all other
languages_, was to be derived from Hebrew, and the ancient
religion of the Brahmans from the Old Testament. There was at
that time an enthusiasm among Oriental scholars, particularly
at Calcutta, and an interest for Oriental antiquities in the
public at large, of which we, in these days of apathy for
Eastern literature, can hardly form an adequate idea.
Everybody wished to be first in the field, and to bring to
light some of the treasures which were supposed to be hidden
in the sacred literature of the Brahmans. . . . No doubt the
temptation was great. No one could look down for a moment into
the rich mine of religious and mythological lore that was
suddenly opened before the eyes of scholars and theologians,
_without being struck by a host of similarities, not only in
the languages, but also in the ancient traditions of the
Hindoos_, the Greek