All of these Bibles possess some common characteristics:-- 1. All of them were claimed to be inspired. 2. All were claimed to be an embodiment of wisdom and knowledge far transcending the ordinary attainments of man. 3. All were penned by inspired men, who were shielded from the possibility of erring while writing them. 4. Each Bible is a finality in religious knowledge. 5. Each one is an authority from which there is no appeal. 6. It is a sin to question or doubt the truth of any of them, or to suggest the possibility of their containing errors. 7. Some of them were written by God, some by angels, and others by inspired men. 8. Each one points out the only safe and certain road to heaven. 9. He who is a disbeliever in any one of these holy books is an infidel. 10. Each one is to effect the salvation of the whole human race. CHAPTER V.--TWENTY-SEVEN BIBLES DESCRIBED. THE HINDOO BIBLES. I. THE VEDAS. The Veda is considered to be the oldest sacred book of the Hindoos, and is evidently the oldest Bible now extant. There is a vast amount of evidence to prove that it was written long before the time of Moses, which establishes the fact that it borrowed nothing from the Jews or Jewish writings. They purport to be the inspired utterances of very ancient and holy saints and prophets, known as Rishis, who received them directly from the mouth of the great God Brahma about nine thousand years ago, after they had existed in his mind from all eternity. These "holy men," by their devout piety and unreserved devotion to the cause of God and religion, it was believed, had attained to true holiness and heavenly sanctity. The Vedas treat of the attributes of God, and his dealings with the human race; his invisibility and spirituality; his unchangeableness, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence; the nature and binding force of his laws; the doctrine of future rewards and punishments; frequent and wonderful display of divine power, called miracles, &c. It contains, likewise, many noble, lofty, and beautiful moral precepts. It also treats, to some extent, of astronomy, medicines, and government. The May number of "The New-York Tribune" for 1838 contains a very interesting account of the recent translation of the Vedas into the English language, from which we will make a few extracts: "The whole of the Veda is now being published for the first time by the East-India Company, by which the reader will learn that most of the odious things which have been charged to it are false. They are not found therein. They are Christian forgeries; such as the burning of widows on the funeral pile of their husbands, the marriage of children, the doctrine of caste, &c. None of these things are taught or countenanced by the Vedas. The man who believes in the Vedas approximates to a Christian." (Mark this statement, Christian reader!) Mr. Greeley further says: "The highest authority for the religion of the Brahmins is the Vedas.