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THE

SACRED ANTHOLOGY.

A BOOK OF ETHNICAL SCRIPTURES.

COLLECTED AND EDITED BY

MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY,

AUTHOR OF "THE EARTHWARD PILGRIMAGE."

Φημη δ οὔ τις πάμπαν ἀπόλλυται, ἥντινα πολλοί
Λαοὶ φημίζουσι· Θεοῦ νύ τις ἐστὶ καὶ αὐτή.

Hesiod.

FIFTH EDITION.

LONDON:

TRÜBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL.

1876,

[All rights reserved.]

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PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

THE reverence of races for their scriptures is sometimes ascribed to superstition. But the increasing interest of scholars in them attests deeper sources of that reverence. Though these writings represent crude pre-scientific ages, it is not without reason that a higher value is generally set on them than upon the literatures of more enlightened times. The fact that they have survived so long is a confirmation of their excellence. The fashion of the world passes away, and that which proceeds from the surface perishes with the surface. That which comes from the depth reaches proportionately far. Deep answers unto deep. It is to be especially considered that the ancient scriptures originated with, and were for a long time preserved through, ages which had not the art of printing, when the toil of repeated transcriptions was necessarily a means of filtration. We are quite able in the present day to estimate the disadvantages of our facilities for the multiplication of books, along with their preponderant advantages, and must look to a very distant time for such a purification from that which is ephemeral as shall result in the European Vedas. No doubt in the

far past also much that was worthless was written, but we may feel assured that the labour of preserving the records and thoughts of preceding ages would be governed by strict laws of use, and that in these ethnical scriptures we receive only what was able to impress many generations,-filtered literatures.

But there is another important consideration by which the charm of ancient scriptures may be partially explained. They originated in a primitive phase of the moral nature of man which cannot be repeated in cultured and complex societies, and can be known only by these its simple records. We have our Psychology or other sciences to put love and conscience in their crucible, and tell us the constituents; but in those early ages the splendour of the moral sentiment was turned directly upon Nature, making it glorious with fair and fiery shapes; and the emotions, the speculations, the prayers and hymns of human hearts under that awakening light were spontaneous and unconscious. The movements of the human mind partook of the necessity by which bees build their cells and birds their nests. To study their records is to know the archæology of the heart of man. In Sakuntàla we read of a yògi in his sacred grove, who had so long been absorbed in devout meditation that his motionless form had become to the wild creatures a part of the wood: the bird had reared her young in his matted hair, the serpent had cast its skin across his knees. We may be sure that in the hermit's thought there had gone on equally natural and necessary processes. Nay, that in him

were beginning the moral forces which have shaped each of us, and to learn his dreams is to spell out the first faint sentences of our own biography.

The present selection from ancient religious writ

ings was begun twenty years ago without any intention of publishing the extracts I was in the habit of making from such works; the collection grew through the interest manifested in such lessons by the assemblies in which it has long been my happiness to read them; and finally they were printed in obedience to the desire of many who had been accustomed to hear them, and in response to what appeared to some trusted advisers, as well as to myself, a want of our time. No one can be more conscious than myself of my inability to meet this want with anything like completeness, or of the faults and inadequacy of my collection; but it seemed to me, and to the best advisers I could consult, better to let the flame appear, even though I should be blamed for the smoke in which it must be involved. I have been too grateful for all criticisms which have enabled me to secure greater accuracy in the later editions to be troubled by any demonstrations in them of my own shortcomings. But while availing myself, especially in the present edition, of all serious criticisms that I have seen, there have been some comments which seem to call for explanations which I take this opportunity of offering.

The question has been raised, What may be said to constitute such a work as can be included under the title of scriptures'? I hasten to admit that the

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