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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
It is impossible to go further into the details of the argument against the miraculous birth of Jesus within the short space at our disposal ; it seems that the account is a modified version of the legend about the birth of Krishna, one of the incarnations of Vishnu in Hinduism. It is not to be supposed that it gives us any pleasure to destroy the long and fondly cherished beliefs of a section of our race; the point is not an immaterial or unnecessary one by any means, for so long as we believe in superstition and myth we stand in the way of Truth, and prevent its shining out in the world. The proper question for the enquiring mind should be, not who or what was Jesus or Buddha, or any one else, nor even what did they teach, but what is the Truth? When we proceed to work out our salvation with a firm determination to get at truth, all differences of caste and creed, superstition and myth, and sentiment and prejudice vanish from our path, and the so-called Natural Sciences, instead of standing sneering by, become our torchbearers and light our way. The criterion of truth is that it should produce immediate, certain and unchanging results. Precisely the same ought to be the case with religion, so that the system which fails to give perceptible and immediate results is not the true religion in any sense.
As regards the historical reading of Christ's doings, as recorded in the four gospels, there is little doubt that much of it has to be rejected to avoid contradiction. As an instance of this kind may be mentioned the accounts in Matthew, IV. 18-20 and John, I. 35-40, which we reproduce here :
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