I am to speak of certain indirect tributes borne by the non-Christian religions to the doctrines of Christianity.  One such tribute of great value we have already considered in the prevalence of early monotheism, so far corroborating the scriptural account of man’s first estate, and affording many proofs which corroborate the scriptural doctrine of human apostasy.  Others of the same general bearing will now be considered.  The history of man’s origin, the strange traditions of his fall by transgression and his banishment from Eden, of the conflict of good with evil represented by a serpent, of the Deluge and the dispersion of the human race, have all been the subjects of ridicule by anti-Christian writers:—­though by turns they have recognized these same facts and have used them as proofs that Christianity had borrowed them from old myths.  The idea of sacrifice, or atonement, of Divine incarnation, of a trinity, of mediation, of a salvation by faith instead of one’s own merits, have been represented as unphilosophical, and therefore improbable in the nature of the case.

It becomes an important question, therefore, whether other religions of mankind show similar traditions, however widely they have dwelt apart, and however diversified their languages, literatures, and institutions may have been in other respects.  And it is also an important question, whether even under heathen systems, the consciousness of sin and the deepest moral yearnings of men have found expression along the very lines which are represented by the Christian doctrines of grace.  To these questions we now address ourselves.  What are the lessons of the various ethnic traditions?  And how are we to account for their striking similarities?  The most obvious theory is, that a common origin must be assigned to them, that they are dim reminiscences of a real knowledge once clear and distinct.  The fact that with their essential unity they differ from each other and differ from our Scriptural record, seems to rather strengthen the theory that all—­our own included—­have been handed down from the pre-Mosaic times—­ours being divinely edited by an inspired and infallible author.  Their differences are such as might have been expected from separate transmissions, independently made.

We have, first of all, the various traditions of the Creation.  In most heathen races there have appeared, in their later stages, grave and grotesque cosmogonies; and a too common impression is, that these represent the real teachings of their sacred books or their earliest traditions.  But when one enters upon a careful study of the non-Christian religions, and traces them back to their sources, he finds more rational accounts of the Creation and the order of nature, and sees striking points of resemblance to the Mosaic record.  The story of Genesis represents the “Beginning” as formless, chaotic, and dark.  The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  The heavens and the earth were separated.  Light appeared