dear to Him."

12. Issa denied the divine inspiration of the Vedas and the Puranas,
for, as he taught his followers,--"One law has been given to man to
guide him in his actions:

13. "Fear the Lord, thy God; bend thy knees only before Him and bring to
Him only the offerings which come from thy earnings."

14. Issa denied the Trimurti and the incarnation of Para-Brahma in
Vishnu, Siva, and other gods; "for," said he:

15. "The eternal Judge, the eternal Spirit, constitutes the only and
indivisible soul of the universe, and it is this soul alone which
creates, contains and vivifies all.

16. "He alone has willed and created. He alone has existed from
eternity, and His existence will be without end; there is no one like
unto Him either in the heavens or on the earth.

17. "The great Creator has divided His power with no other being; far
less with inanimate objects, as you have been taught to believe, for He
alone is omnipotent and all-sufficient.

18. "He willed, and the world was. By one divine thought, He reunited
the waters and separated them from the dry land of the globe. He is the
cause of the mysterious life of man, into whom He has breathed part of
His divine Being.

19. "And He has put under subjection to man, the lands, the waters, the
beasts and everything which He created, and which He himself preserves
in immutable order, allotting to each its proper duration.

20. "The anger of God will soon break forth upon man; for he has
forgotten his Creator; he has filled His temples with abominations; and
he adores a multitude of creatures which God has subordinated to him;

21. "And to gain favor with images of stone and metal, he sacrifices
human beings in whom dwells part of the Spirit of the Most High;

22. "And he humiliates those who work in the sweat of their brows, to
gain favor in the eyes of the idler who sitteth at a sumptuous table.

23. "Those who deprive their brothers of divine happiness will
themselves be deprived of it; and the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas shall
become the Sudras of the Sudras, with whom the Eternal will stay
forever.

24. "In the day of judgment the Sudras and the Vaisyas will be forgiven
for that they knew not the light, while God will let loose his wrath
upon those who arrogated his authority."

25. The Vaisyas and the Sudras were filled with great admiration, and
asked Issa how they should pray, in order not to lose their hold upon
eternal life.

26. "Pray not to i