The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-02-15
Why a Religion Deteriorates.

The January number of The British
and Foreign Evangelical Revie,o has a
very able article by Rev. Dunlop Moore,
D. D., of New Brighton, Pa, on "Evolu-
ton in Religion" 1t is really review
of 1.-THE Origin and Growth of Religion
as Illustrated by the Religions of India"
by F. Max Muller. For such task as
this no one in this country is better
fitted than Dr. Moore, owing to his long
residence in India and his thorough &C
quaintance with the languages and sys-
TENS of philosophy and religion. In this
article, while doing full justice to Max
Muller's ability and knowledge, and ad-
hitting the great value of his researches,
DIR. Moore points out many errors of fact
into which he has fallen, and also many
altogether erroneous conclusions.
Contrary to what is supposed by many,
Max Muller is convicted of being most
deadly enemy to revealed religion, as it
is shown that he rejects all idea of per-
sonal God, and pours ridicule upon the
thought of any external revelation hav-
ing been communicated by God to man
DR.. Moore shows unanswerably, in OPP
position to Max Muller, that instead of
growth, A study of the course of reli-
gious thought in India really discloses a
constant deterioration of the conception
of God and corruption of the religious
sentiment, except where the influence of
Christianity or Mohammedanism (Which
has borrowed its doctrine concerning God
from the Jewish and Christian systems)
can be clearly traced"
But DR.. Moore does not stop here: he
goes farther, showing that the deteriora-
ton so palpable in the religious senti-
ment Of India is common to all nations
destitute of revelation. He approves the
language of Ebrard when he says
When we engage in the investigation
of savage nations, of their condition,
languages, and traditions, we find here,
too, when we possess any reliable data to
proceed on, constant sinking lower and
lower, and at the same time almost every
where "reminiscences of an older and bet
ter state and here and there we meet
with visible monuments which bear wit
ness to this former higher condition"
In view of his investigation of this
great subject DR.. Moore concludes: GAS
the result of his examinations Ebrard can
trlumphantly affirm that in the records
of civilized and barbarous nations we
have historical testimony to the fact of
mans apOsta8y from God. The only
people OF antiquity in whom monotheism
was kept pure and living, was the PEG
pie of Israel, and their history demon
strates that they did not raise themselves
to the monotheistic religion by which
they were distinguished from all other
nations. Thus we are brought in the
way of historic investigation to the con-
clusion that primeval revelation was
made by God to man. The chief cause
OF the corruption Of religion, as was long
ago pointed out, is not the imperfection
of the human understanding; it is rather
the corruption of mans heart. Man is
fallen from his original holiness. This is
the witness of history, and this doctrine
reveals itself to those who sound the
depths Of man moral nature. Tertullian
profoundly remarked that the conscience
of man is naturally Christian, and the
human conscience and heart, when in.
CURED of, concur in testifying to mans
apostasy from his Maker, and to his pre-
sent moral and religious degradation"