Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions by T. W. Doane

_Eucharist_, _Baptism_, the _Worship of the Virgin_, _Christian Symbols_, the _Birthday of Christ Jesus_, the _Doctrine of the Trinity_, _Why Christianity Prospered_, and the _Antiquity of Pagan Religions_, besides making a comparison of the legendary histories of _Crishna and Jesus_, and _Buddha and Jesus_. The concluding chapter relates to the question, What do we really know about Jesus? In the words of Prof. Max Müller (_The Science of Religion_, p. 11): "A comparison of all the religions of the world, in which none can claim a privileged position, will no doubt seem to many dangerous and reprehensible, because ignoring that peculiar reverence which everybody, down to the mere fetish worshiper, feels for his own religion, and for his own god. Let me say, then, at once, that I myself have shared these misgivings, but that I have tried to overcome them, because I would not and could not allow myself to surrender either what I hold to be the truth, or what I hold still dearer than truth, the right of testing truth. Nor do I regret it. I do not say that the _Science of Religion_ is all gain. No, it entails losses, and losses of many things which we hold dear. But this I will say, that, as far as my humble judgment goes, it does not entail the loss of anything that is essential to _true religion_, and that, if we strike the balance honestly, _the gain is immeasurably greater than the loss_." "All truth is safe, and nothing else is safe; and he who keeps back the truth, or withholds it from men, from motives of expediency, is either a coward or a criminal, or both." But little beyond the arrangement of this work is claimed as original. Ideas, phrases, and even whole paragraphs have been taken from the writings of others, and in most, if not in all cases, acknowledged; but with the thought in mind of the many hours of research this book may save the student in this particular line of study; with the consciousness of having done for others that which I would have been thankful to have found done for myself; and more than all, with the hope that it may in some way help to hasten the day when the mist of superstition shall be dispelled by the light of reason; with all its defects, it is most cheerfully committed to its fate by the author. BOSTON, MASS., _November, 1882_. CONTENTS.