The _Ethics_ of Aristotle,
perhaps, appear to some disadvantage from the very fact that they have so
profoundly influenced our views of morality. The _Koran_, like the
_Analects_ of Confucius, will to most of us derive its principal interest
from the effect it has exercised, and still exercises, on so many millions
of our fellow-men. I doubt whether in any other respect it will seem to
repay perusal, and to most persons probably certain extracts, not too
numerous, would appear sufficient.
The writings of the Apostolic Fathers have been collected in one volume by
Wake. It is but a small one, and though I must humbly confess that I was
disappointed, they are perhaps all the more curious from the contrast they
afford to those of the Apostles themselves. Of the later Fathers I have
included only the _Confessions_ of St. Augustine, which Dr. Pusey selected
for the commencement of the _Library of the Fathers_, and which, as he
observes, has "been translated again and again into almost every European
language, and in all loved;" though Luther was of opinion that St.
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