276 THP REV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, D.D., ON MITFRAISM. 



hates God, not as Creator, but as revealed in the Bible ; and, as 

 man is by nature " a worshipping animal," he will worship either 

 that God in a forbidden manner, or some false God. 



The pre-Mosaic era evidently had a Bible of some kind, oral or 

 written ; and it is only natural to suppose that, at the dispersion at 

 Babel, the \^arions tongues carried with them traditions which, being- 

 Divine, they would speedily corrupt. But corruption is neither 

 absolute destruction nor denial ; points of contact between the true 

 and the false are thus easily accounted for. 



One thing, however, distinguishes the true, on the one hand, from 

 all the false on the other. It is the power of the religion believed 

 in to change the inward desires and outward life of the believer ; or 

 rather, I should say, to give new desires and power to restrain the 

 old desires, the new being stronger than the old ; for the " carnal 

 mind " which remains in us till death, or change at the Lord's 

 coming, is not and cannot be, subject to the law of God. The proof 

 of this is shown in the fact that two saints bring into the world, not 

 a little saint, but a little sinner. It is this power which differ entiates 

 between the Christian Eeligion and all other religions. 



If we deny points of contact, we may cause people who search for 

 themselves and give the result to others, to think, not only what is 

 true, that all religions start from one source, but also that 

 Christianity is only one branch from this source, instead of being, as 

 it is, the true original source. 



(At this point the Chairman had to leave and Chancellor 

 Lias took his place.) 



Lieut.-Col. Mackxnlay said: The paper v/e h.ive just heard io 

 a most valuable contribution to the Victoria Institute. The author 

 has well shown the immense fundamental differences between 

 Mithraism and Christianity. The former assimilated the beliefs of 

 many religions, the latter teaches its followers that there is none 

 other name given among men whereby we must be saved, Acts 

 iv, 12. The resurrection of Christ, as proclaimed by the Apostle 

 Paul, differed from anything known to the heathen world, for at 

 Athens the learned philosophers mocked at the idea as quite beyond 

 all belief, hence it was not familiar to them. 



The highest morality the world has ever known is taught in the 

 New Testament, and practised by those who are really Christians in 

 heart. Our author tells us that the Mithraic scriptures are lost. 



