Encyclopaedia of Sacred Scriptures of the World

Scriptures are Cyclopaedias of the best religious literature of the world. Such Cyclopaedias are valuable for purposes of reference and occasional use; but for general use they are cumbersome and inconvenient. They represent what we may call the survival of the fittest out of the mass of devout literature of the people across nations. In this sense it is all valuable, and not a scrap of it should be lost. But being a Cyclopaedia, it is not well adapted to common use. For the student, as a book of reference it is invaluable; but for practical purposes – that is, as a book of devotion, of devout instruction, or of ethical guidance and suggestion – it is unquestionably confusing as well as cumbersome and inconvenient. So much irrelevant matter, of mere history, genealogy, incident, explanation, repetition, etc., is (quite naturally) included, that it becomes like the metamorphic rocks or the alluvial soils, from which much rubbish must be cleared away before one can get at the embedded gold. For practical purposes the gold should be ready at hand and in a convenient form.

Brief Contents

• Scriptures of Babylonia • Christian Scriptures • Persian Scriptures • Egyptian Scriptures • Hindu Scriptures • Buddhist Scriptures • Chinese Scriptures • Scriptures of Confucianism • Scriptures of Taoism • Scriptures of Zoroastrianism • Scriptures of Mohammedanism • Grecian Scriptures • Roman Scriptures • Hebrew Scriptures • Scriptures of Judaism • Arabian Scriptures • Sacred Books of the Jainas