" Dr. Mills then went
on to show that, among the Jews, "the doctrine of immortality was
scarcely mooted before the later Isaiah--that is, before the
captivity--while the Zoroastrian scriptures are one mass of
spiritualism, referring all results to the heavenly or to the
infernal worlds." He concludes by saying that, as regards the Old
and New Testaments, "the humble, and to a certain extent prior,
religion of the Mazda worshippers was useful in giving point and
beauty to many loose conceptions among the Jewish religious
teachers, and in introducing many ideas which were entirely new,
while as to the doctrines of immortality and resurrection--the most
important of all--it positively determined belief."[[378]]
Even more extensive were the revelations made by scientific criticism
applied to the sacred literature of southern and eastern Asia. The
resemblances of sundry fundamental narratives and ideas in our
own sacred books with those of Buddhism were especially suggestive.
Here, too, had been a long preparatory history.
Pages:
1353
1354
1355
1356
1357
1358
1359
1360
1361
1362
1363
1364
1365
1366
1367
1368
1369
1370
1371
1372
1373
1374
1375
1376
1377