322 EVOLUTION AND MAN S PLACE IN NATURE 



absorbed by the unity of religious thought, as a mani 

 festation of rational life, holding a prominent place 

 in universal history. But, among the religions of the 

 world, comparison becomes as needful in our estimate 

 of general history, as it has been seen to be when 

 dealing with the various forms of life on the earth. 

 The sense of this has given volume and value to the 

 stream of modern thought concerned with Compara 

 tive Religion. The historic spirit, borne on the surface 

 of the strong current of scientific thought, has carried 

 interest, philological, literary, and philosophical, back 

 upon the earliest phases of religious thought. To 

 modern thinkers Brahmanism, and Buddhism, the 

 teaching of Zoroaster and the doctrine of Confucius, 

 Mohammedanism and Christianity, have together 

 supplied material for research and reflection. 1 To 

 more general observers, chiefly concerned with the 

 moulding and marshalling of political forces in 

 modern times, and with the manifest expansiveness 

 of rational power, it has become subject of remark 

 how the Crescent is waning before the Cross. A vast 

 mass of materials thus placed at command, has 

 special value for interpretation of the unfolding of 

 human thought. Towards exposition of this, large 

 service has already been rendered by competent 

 scholars, and much more remains to be done, within 



1 The Sacred Books of the East, translated by various Oriental 

 scholars, edited by Max Miiller. Vedic Hymns by Max Miiller, 1891. 

 Legge s Sacred Books of China. The Texts of Confucianism, 1882. 

 The Texts of Taoism, Legge, 1891. Metrical Translations from 

 Sanskrit Writers, by Dr. John Muir, 1879. Chinese Buddhism, by 

 Dr. Edkins, 1880. Hang s Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, 

 and Rdigions of the Parsls, 1878. Sir William Muir s Life of 

 Mahomet, and History of Islam, 4 vols. 1877, 



