18 REV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, M.A._, D.D., ON THE INFLUENCE 



ness in meeting death, EZra vtto /navla^ fiev hvvarai ri^ ovtcd 

 ScareOrjvaL Trpo^ ravra, koI viro edovq oi TaXiXalot. 



In any such enquiry as that in which we are now engaged, it 

 is necessary, therefore, to guard most carefully against being 

 misled by merely casual resemblances. For example, in Pali 

 Buddhistic works, Buddha is sometimes styled Deva-Devo, which 

 has been rendered, " God of God," and compared with the title 

 " God of God " given to our Lord in the Mcene Creed. But 

 there are two fallacies in this comparison which completely 

 vitiate it. One is, that the Buddhism of the Pali Canon practi- 

 cally denies the existence of any Being worthy to be styled 

 " God," for Deva to a genuine Buddhist denotes a being inferior 

 to Buddha, and needing to believe in Buddha in order to obtain 

 Nirvana. The other is that the Greek expression in the Creed 

 is 0609 eK %eov, God from God, which bears no real likeness 

 whatever to the Pali phrase. 



It will be convenient to divide our subject into two parts. 

 Part I treats of Ancient Keligions which are now extinct. 

 Part II deals with those religions which whether ancient or 

 modern, are still in existence as a vital force in some part of the 

 world at the present day. 



Part I. 



INFLUENCE OF CHEISTIANITY ON EELIGIONS 

 WHICH AEE NOW EXTINCT. 



A. — On the Keligions and Philosophies of the Eoman 



Empire. 



The rise of a new religion was by no means an unknown 

 thing in the Eoman Empire. Although in early days no 

 foreign faith was permitted to spread among Eoman citizens, 

 yet the immense numbers of slaves brought from many different 

 lands must have made the Eomans aware that, besides their 

 own gods (whether those of the State or of the family), many 

 other deities were worshipped in their territory. In process of 

 time the rites of Bacchus, of the Magna Mater (204 B.C.), of 

 Isis, Serapis, Mithra, and other foreign gods and goddesses, 

 found an entrance, openly or secretly, into Eome and the 

 provinces. Each of these in turn exercised a greater or less 

 degree of influence. Judaism had made itself something of a 

 power (not altogether for good) in Eome long ere the preaching 



