Now, if this reasoning be correct, it is not we that sin; not we that worship; and in the last analysis all religions are alike; they are only the varied expressions of the thought of God.  As He manifests his power in nature in a thousand forms, producing some objects that are beautiful to the eye and others that are repulsive, so in his spiritual manifestations He displays a like variety.  The ignorance and degradation of fetichism are His, as well as the highest revelations of spiritual truth.  A certain class of evolutionists tell us that God contrived the serpent’s poison-fang and the mother’s tender instinct with “the same creative indifference.”  And the broad pantheism which overrides the distinctions of eternal right and wrong, and divests God of all moral discriminations, puts Vedantism and Fetichism, Christianity and Witchcraft, upon the same basis.  The Bhagavad Gita and the Gospel both enjoin the brotherhood of men, but what are the meanings which they give to this term?  What are their aims, respectively?  One is endeavoring to enforce the rigid and insurmountable barriers of caste; the other commends a mission of love which shall regard neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free.  It will become apparent, I think, that there may be parallels or similarities which relate to mere phrases while their meanings are wide apart.

Judging from Mr. Chatterji’s own stand-point, his work has been well done.  He has shown a careful study not only of his own literatures and philosophies, but also of the scriptures of the Old and New Testament—­in this respect setting us an example worthy to be followed by Christian scholars.  Such a man has in the outset an immense advantage over those who know nothing of the enemies’ positions, but regard them only with disdain.  Before the high court of public opinion, as represented by our current literature, mere ex-parte assumption will go to the wall, even though it has the better cause, while adroit error, intelligently put and courteously commended, will win the day.  This is a lesson which the Christian Church greatly needs to learn.  Mr. Chatterji’s work is the more formidable for its charming graces of style.  He has that same facility and elegance in the use of the English language for which so many of his countrymen, Sheshadri, Bose, Banergea, Chunder Sen, Mozoomdar, and others have been distinguished.  He is a model of courtesy, and he seems sincere.

But turning from the translator to the book itself, we shall now inquire who was Krishna, Arjuna’s friend, what was the origin of the “Lord’s Lay,” and what are its real merits as compared with the New Testament?  Krishna and Arjuna—­like Rama Chandra—­were real human heroes who distinguished themselves in the wars of the Indo-Aryans with rival tribes who contested the dominion of Northern India.  They did not live three thousand years before Christ, as our translator declares, for they belonged to the soldier caste, and according to the