—between teachings fit for children, and teachings fit for men; when it approaches too close to the one pole it becomes mere superstition, and when it approaches too close to the other it becomes mere philosophy. How much “this wicked world,” as it is called, may be improved when we give each other credit for good motives ! for that course will reform even the man who has bad motives ; so will it be when we view with more charity differences in religion. If the different religions of the world are the work of the devil, then indeed is his king dom divided against itself, for there is no religion which does not teach “Do good, and shun evil.” “Do good, my boy,” was once the advice of a father to his son, and in those words were included all the law and the prophets. He would take the liberty of reading in the original tongue one of the hymns of the Rig Veda. [Here the lecturer read the extract.) This doubtless, to his hearers was, like spirit-rapping, “unintelli gible;” and, to a certain extent, spirit-rapping it was—rapping at the door of the Royal Institution.* But fortunately it was a spirit-rapping which could be interpreted, so he would read the interpretation. [The interpretation was to the effect that God made the heavens and the earth ; that God was angry with man; and that man, after purifying himself, should pray Here, then, were noble to be absolved from his sins.] thoughts, in a hymn written at least 3,000 years ago. Next he read some extracts from the Zend Avesta of the Persians, containing pure and noble ideas, followed by extracts of like character from the teachings of Buddha. Although Buddhism ignores all feeling of dependence on a higher power, so is utterly different from Christianity, there are strange coinci dences between the two religions, so that some of the Buddhist parables would seem to have been taken from the New Testa ment were it not certain that the Buddhist records are much the oldest of the two. For instance, a disciple of Buddha meets a woman who was an outcast, near a well ; she told him that she was a transgressor of the customs of society, but he replied. “I did not ask thy caste. Give me to drink." The lecturer then spoke of other coincidences, after which he told how Confucius taught— “What you do not like one to do to yourself, that thing do not do to others.”. He then pointed out that there was something good, even in the mythologies of the Greeks and Romans, when they were examined in a charitable spirit, and added that research would prove that the ancient religions were the only ones which were possible at the time, taking into consideration all the surrounding con ditions. He knew it might be asked whether the religion of Moloch were true, which taught that people should burn their sons and daughters in the fire, and that questions of a like nature might be put about other religions. But weapons like these were very dangerous to those who used them, because others might ask, Could that be a holy religion which burnt men because they did not believe in the Virgin Mary, or in some of the interpretations of the attributes of the Son of God—a religion which teaches the reality of eternal punish ment? People who argue thus, will never reach the real spirit of religion. We must study all religions as much as possible, in that light in which they appeared to their founders. He then explained how the early languages, being poor in words, abounded in metaphor, and one great mistake often made in these days, is to accept literally what was spoken metaphorically ; he also explained how it is utterly impossible to know the original meaning of many things in the Old and New Testaments, without a previous acquaint ance with ancient languages and comparative philology. When we begin to leave off forcing literal interpretations, and seek more for the spiritual truth in our religions, it wil teach us to be much more charitable, both at home and abroad. (Applause.) The lecture then closed. This brief summary of four lec tures full of wisdom and the result of years of research, of course does anything but full justice to the speaker. When the lectures are published in full, the book will be one of the most remarkable and valuable works printed in this genera tion. Professor Max Müller knows far more about the lan guages of the Chinese and Brahmins than the Chinese and Brahmins know themselves, and in his general acquaintance with the ancient and modern languages of the world, he stands without a rival.