show him the way of deliverance from sin and to point out to him the path of salvation.

In conclusion, from what has been said thus far it is quite evident that human reason cannot indicate the remedy for sin and the way in which pardon may be obtained. This was clear to many of the philosophers of antiquity. Porphyry himself admits their failure to solve this great and most vitally important problem, for he says,¹ 'Into no sect has there yet been received that which contains the universal way to set the soul free, whether from any very true philosophy or from the precepts and teaching of the Indians, or the induction of the Chaldeans, or in any other way.' We have seen that this is true as far as Greek philosophy is concerned. We must now test the truth of the statement by examining for ourselves certain of the chief religions of the world, in order to ascertain whether any religion, apart from that which has been given by divine revelation, has found the true way of salvation from sin. Accordingly, in the first place, we must inquire what heathen religions teach on this important subject.

SECTION II

THE METHODS OF OBTAINING PARDON AND SALVATION WHICH ARE TAUGHT IN HEATHEN RELIGIONS

There still exist in the world many different kinds of heathenism. It is not possible for us to deal with all or even with many of them here, for to do so would unnecessarily weary the respected reader of these pages. Moreover, heathen religions, however much they may differ among themselves in other respects, do not differ very much in their general teaching with regard to the means of obtaining remission of sins and salvation from eternal misery. It will be sufficient for our purpose, therefore, if we consider very briefly the teaching on this subject given, firstly, in the ancient religion of the Persians, secondly in Hinduism of the present day, and thirdly in the religion of the Chinese. We select these three religions because Muslims come in contact with people who prefers them (since the Zoroastrians still retain much of their ancient faith) and can inquire for themselves what they believe, and also because from these three religions it is possible to form a very fair general idea of the methods of salvation taught by heathenism wherever it is found.