at in the same council with the high-priest, openly
denied the resurrection.[27] However, though not expressly asserted
anywhere, a belief in personal immortality is taken for granted in
several passages of the Old Testament, and we can hardly think of
Abraham or Moses as without a belief in life and immortality. But
while this difficulty, so keenly felt with regard to the Jewish
religion, ought to make us careful in the judgments which we form of
other religions, and teach us the wisdom of charitable interpretation,
it is all the more important to mark that in the Veda passages occur
where immortality of the soul, personal immortality and personal
responsibility after death, are clearly proclaimed. Thus we read:

[Footnote 27: Acts xxii. 30, xxiii. 6.]

'He who gives alms goes to the highest place in heaven; he
goes to the gods' (Rv. I. 125, 56).

Another poet, after rebuking those who are rich and do not
communicate, says:

'The kind mortal is greater than the great in heaven!'

Even the idea, so frequent in the later literature of the Brahmans,
that immortality is secured by a son, seems implied, unless our
translation deceives us, in one passage of the Veda (VII. 56, 24):
'Asme (iti) vira_h_ maruta_h_ sushmi astu _g_ananam ya_h_ asura_h_ vi
dharta, apa_h_ yena su-kshitaye tarema, adha svam oka_h_ abhi vah
syama.' 'O Maruts, may there be to us a strong son, who is a living
ruler of men: through whom we may cross the waters on our way to the
happy abode; then may we come to your own house!'

One poet prays that he may see again his father and mother after death
(Rv. I. 24, 1); and the fathers (Pit_r_is) are invoked almost like
gods, oblations are offered to them, and they are believed to enjoy,
in company with the gods, a life of never ending felicity (Rv. X. 15,
16).

We find this prayer addressed to Soma (Rv. IX. 113, 7):

'Where there is eternal light, in the world where the sun is
placed, in that immortal imperishable world place me, O
Soma!'

'Where king Vaivasvata reigns, where the secret place of
heaven is, where these mighty waters are, there make me
immortal!

'Where life is free, in the third heaven of heavens, where
the worlds are radiant, there make me immortal!'

'Where wishes and desires are, where the place of the bright
sun is, where there is freedom and delight, there make me
immortal!

'Where there is happines