" THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING." [TO Tits EDITOR OF THE
" srscrATon."1 SIR,—In the Spectator of January 17th (" The Liberty of Prophesying ") you say that religious toleration is by no means a modern idea. In support of this position the following extract may be not without interest. It is from the Twelfth Rock Edict of King Asoka, a Maurya King of Northern India about 250 B.C. :— "His Majesty cares not so much for donations or external reverence as that there should be a growth of the essence of the matter of all sects. The growth of this essence of the matter assumes various forms, but the root of it is restraint of speech, to wit, a man must not do reverence to his own sect by disparaging that of another man for trivial reasons. Self-control therefore it meritorious, to wit, hearkening to the law of others, and hearken- ing willingly. All sects have been reverenced by me with various forms of reverence. Nevertheless personal adherence to a man's particular creed seems to me the chief thing."
—I am, Sir, &c., FREDERIC PALMER.
The .Rectory, Andover, Mass., U.S.A.
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