Page:Monier Monier-Williams - Indian Wisdom.djvu/56

 into a fulcrum for the upheaving of the whole mass of surrounding error ? At all events, it may reasonahly be conceded that if nothing true or sound can be shown to underlie the rotten tissue of decaying religious systems, the truth of Christianity may at least in this manner be more clearly exhibited and its value by contrast made more conspicuous.

If, then, a comparison of the chief religions of the world, and an attempt to sweep away the incrustations which everywhere obscure the points of contact between them, is becoming every day more incumbent upon us, surely Brahmanism, next to Judaism and Christianity, has the first claim on our attention, both from its connection with the religion of ancient Persia (said to have acted on Judaism during the captivity), and from its close relationship to Buddhism, the faith of about thirty-one per