SCANDINAVIA 77 



SCANDINAVIA 



In the religion of our Scandinavian forefathers, man's 

 chief virtue consisted in courage; the unpardonable sin 

 was cowardice, 1 again a standard of morality which 

 indeed called for the sacrifice of the individual to the 

 general good, but which limited the idea of the general 

 to the nation. 



MOHAMMEDANISM 



The ardor of Mohammed's followers, who were 

 punctilious enough in the needful observance of the 

 moral duties of their religious creed toward one another, 

 was too often marred by an excessive sectarian loyalty. 

 It degenerated, through an imperfect religious ideal, 

 into frightful excesses of cruelty towards unbelieving 

 outsiders who refused to accept their faith. 



JUDAISM 



Jewish morality, again, too often stopped short at 

 the confines of the nation. And yet, in this religion 

 again we catch occasional glimpses of the higher 

 truth that the general ought to include the race; that a 

 man's duties to his fellow are not circumscribed by the 

 narrow confines of family, village, city, tribe, or nation, 

 but should extend to all mankind. Says a writer: 2 



"The prophets of the Jews, whatever else we deny 

 to their predictions, certainly foresaw Christianity. 

 They describe the coming of a time in which the law 

 1 Ibid. p. 363. 2 Ibid. p. 443. 



