Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1883-05-17
SACRED BOOKS.
The Bible as Known to the Aneionts.

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New York mission Sunday school:
Certain religious instincts. as the
consciousness Of Supreme Being, Of
a life beyond the grave, Of future re-
wards and punishments, of sense Of
sin and the need Of sacrifice, are com
mon to humanity. So also, wherever
nation has had literature, its reli-
gion has usually based upon sacred
books-there Is the assertion Of "A writ
ten revelation. Every great religion
has its Bible.
The best known Of these books, save
the Jewish and the Christian, is the
Koran OF Mohammed. The title Of
this means "The Reading" from the
Arabic verb for "to read" Other
names are Al Kitab, or the book; Al
Moshaf, the volume; Al Dhikr, the ad-
monitlOn or reminder; and Al Forhan,
or the salvation. The ia suras or
chapters Of the Koran were professedly
given to Mohammcd during the twenty
three years Of his residence at Mecca
and Medina, by the angel Gabriel in
human form, rs an inspiration from
Alcah, or the Almighty. They were
written upon leaves, bits Of leather or
paper, shouldcr-bladcs of mutton and
whatever else was at hand, and thrown
loosely into box, from which they
were taken year after the prophets
death and put together with equal
loosencss and disregard to connection
Of topics, in volumes. The chapters
bear such titles rs The Cow, The Fig
The star. The Towers, The CONCEALED
Blood, and the like. giving some hint
of contents. Each begins thus: "In
the name Of God, the mcrciful. the
compassionate. and a note is made Of
the revelation at either Mecca or
Medina Not only is the God Of the
Christians recognized, but also Jesus.
but not as the Son of God, and Abra-
ham, Jacob and Mary and the Old
Testament worthless. The style Of the
Koran is Of singular elegance and
beauty constituting II the classic of
Arabic speech. II is the text book Of
Moslem faith and likewise of civil gov
crnmcnt in all the Moslcm countries.
Copies Of II are greatly rcycrcd and are
sometimes written in gold and jewels
It is never held by the believers below
the girdle or touched without previous
publication. Nothing is more hateful
10 the Mussclman than 10 see a copy in
the hands 81 a giaour or inddcl
\ much more ancient collection Of
writings is the Ncdas. the oldest books
in the IIindco literature. and dating
far back Of the time Of Christ. The
oldest hymn Of the oldest book, the
Rig-VcdA is thought to date from
j. {. 300 The Upanishads or treat
iscs Of theology. are later, and are al
most the only part Of the Vcdas now
read The four divisions Of the Vcdas
contain in all 1910 hymns. which every
Brahmin must learn 10y heart. They
are recognized hy the Laws Of Maun.
which form the textbook II Brahmin-
ism. They were written in twelve
books ten to nine centuries before
Christ The mythology Of the Hin
docs Is comprised mainly in two great
epic poems. the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata, containing respectively
$1,000 and 10000 lines. and together
filing eighteen large volumes These
are now almost exclusively read AS the
sacred books Of India with the Puranas.
of similar character but much later date
The Shastcrs OF Shastras ("books"1 is
general term for all the authoritative re-
ligious and legal works Of the IIindoos
The Buddhist sacred books are also
very numerous. but | find no name for
them except the "Pitchas," or Buddhist
scripture, in the Pale language, found
in Ccylon.
The Zend-Ayesta q. O.. the text or
scripture with a zend, orcommen-
tary) is the bible of the an
cient Parsces or fre-worshipers. II is
supposed TO have been written in Bee
tria or eastern Persia. 1850 to 1900
years before Christ, by Zoroastcr or
Zarathustia Unlike most other sa-
cred books. It is not body Of divinity
or dogmatic religion, but 1t is liturgy
a collection Of prayers, hymns, inyoca-
tions and thanksgivings 20 many del
ties. 1t is a manual Of worship. to bc
recited 10y the priests in public, and
read privately by the laity. The
n.,,IIn Naeph fa n later hnnlz 90 tbo