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 ^1 
 
CHRISTIANITY and BUDDHISM 
 
 COMPARE!). 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 
 REV. E. SPENCE HARDY, 
 
 HON. ME3I. ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 
 
 COLOMBO: 
 
 WESLEYAN MISSION PRESS. 
 
 MDOOOLXXIV. 
 
fjHE following work is tlie last production of the Author. 
 The earlier portion was carefully revised by him, and 
 as few corrections as possible have been made in the text of 
 the reir;aining chapters. Probably, a final contrast between 
 '' the life eternal " of the Christian's hope and the Nirwdna of 
 the Buddhist writings would have been added, had the life of 
 tiic veteran missionary been spared. 
 Colombo, November I6th, 1871. 
 
BOOK 1. l^KEFATOPvY 
 
 CHArTER I. The Rule of Faith. 
 
 II. The Existence of God. 
 
 III. The Origin of the Universe. 
 
 IV. The OiiiGiN or Evil. 
 
 BOOK II. TETE l^ERSON. . 
 
 Chapter i. Pre-Existence. 
 
 II. The Purpose and Preparation. 
 
 m. The Incarnation. 
 
 IV. The Early Life. 
 
 V. The Temptation. 
 
 BOOK III. THE MINISTRY. 
 
 Chapter i. The Commencement. 
 
 II. The Assertion of the Supremacy. 
 III. The Evidence in Proof of the 
 
 Supremacy. 
 IV. Thr Voice of the Teacher. 
 
 BOOK IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 SYSTEM. 
 
 Chapter i. The Rule of Life. 
 
 II. The EcoNOiSiY of the Church. 
 III. The Issues of Life. 
 
I N D R X. 
 
 Abliidharmp, or Pre-eminent 
 
 Doctrines, 8. 
 Aishwarikas, Sect of 17. 
 Alu, Temple of 13. 
 Ambapali 128. 
 Ananda 128, 131. 
 Asankya 25. 
 Atheism 15. 
 Atonement 4*2. 
 A widya, or ignorance, 24. 
 Bana, or word 8. 
 Brahma Jala 15. 
 Buddha (See Sakya xMuni). 
 Buddhas, Former 36, 40. 
 Buddhaghosa 13. 
 Buddhism Atheistical 15— 18. 
 Importance of 4. 
 in Nepaul 17, 22. 
 Schools of 2. 
 Uncertain informa- 
 tion respecting, 2 
 56. 
 Causation, 20. 
 Ceylon, 12, 13, 89. 
 Chariya Pitaka 43. 
 Christ 36, 45. 
 
 Baptism 57. 
 Birth of 47. 
 ■ Death of 131—136. 
 Divinity of 76—78. 
 Early life 52—54. 
 Ministry of 69. 
 Miracles of 64—88. 
 Parables of 93- 
 Resurrection of o6. [107 
 Teachings of 93, 103 — 
 Temptation dO— 62. 
 Christianity, Principles^ of 103 
 Chunda, loO. 
 
 Church, The 107, 1 11 — 116. 
 Creation 19. 
 Deluge 26. 
 Dharma Chakku 73. 
 Discrimination, a property of 
 
 Existence 1. 
 Earthquakes 129. 
 Evil, Oi'igin of 29, 30. 
 Existence, Sentient 21, 23. 
 Fall of mnn 29 
 Friend, Ceylon 3, 20, 21. 
 Gogerly, Rev. D J. 3, 21, 80 
 Heaven 136. 
 Heresies 1 7. 
 History '24 — 2\ 
 Hodgson, B. H. 2. 
 Ignorance 81. (See Awidya.) 
 Incarnation 46, 49, 50. 
 Jatakas 98. 
 Jhanas, The four 80. 
 Ka-gyur, 8. 
 Karma 22. 
 Korosi, M. A. C. 2. 
 Kusinari city 130. 
 Longevity 27. 
 Mao:adhal20. 
 Mallawa princes 130. 
 Mara 62-65, 128, 129. 
 Mariolatry 49. 
 Mary, Virgin 48. 
 Maya 48. 
 Milinda 21. 
 Miracles 84. 
 Monks, Buddhist 117, etc. 
 
 Disqualifications for be- 
 coming 121 — 121. 
 
 Precepts for 125, 126. 
 
 Probation of 120, 124, 
 
 Pupils of 118. 
 
Monks, Reception of 119, 125 
 Superior and co-resid- 
 ent 117. 
 Naiiasena 2! . 
 
 Nirvana 44, lo"2. 
 
 [40. 
 
 Numbers, Exaggerated 24, 25, 
 Parables 93. 
 
 Pliilosophy, Indian 95, 96. 
 Pitakas (See Tripitaka). 
 Priests, Buddhist (See Monks) 
 Rahula, son of Buddha 124. | 
 Rajagaha 124, 127. 
 Rajawaliya 21 . 
 
 Sakya Muni, Birth of 48, 49. 
 claim to suprem- 
 acy 79—82. 
 Discipline 116, 
 
 etc. • 
 Early life 54. 
 First sermon 72. 
 . Former births of 
 39, 42. 
 Last illness 128. 
 Last words and 
 
 death 131. 
 Miracles attrib- 
 uted to 88— 90 
 
 Sakya Muni's renunciation of 
 the world 55, 
 56. 
 Teaching: of 96 
 
 —98 
 Tem[)tation of 
 63—65. 
 Scriptures, Likeness to 31. 
 
 The Holy, 7, 8, 9. 
 Sermon on the Mount 70. 
 Sutra, or Discourses, 8. 
 Tatao'ata, Meanino; of 79. 
 Tem])tation 59-62. 
 Tlieism 14. 
 Tradition 12, 30. 
 Transgression 41 , 10^^. 
 Tri|)itaka (Buddhist Scrip- 
 tures) 3, 8. 
 
 Date of 11, 12, 13, 
 25, 99. 
 Tumour, Hon. G. 3. 
 Vedas 26. 
 Wesali city 128. 
 Wilson, Professor 17. 
 Winaya, or Disci[)line, 8. 
 Work, Buddha on (Note) 96. 
 Yak as 62. 
 
 ^^^:^^'i}£:^%^0^^~-' 
 
INTKODUCTION. 
 
 The last of the five essential properties of Existence, 
 according to the Buddhists, is Discrimination, one quality of 
 which is, " the power of producing thought from similarity, or 
 resemblance"; as, when a man sees one of his fellow-men^ 
 he is reminded thereby of his own father, or of some other 
 relative ; from seeing a camel, a bull, or an ass, he is reminded 
 of other camels, bulls, or asses, and of the characteristics of 
 each: and from seeing a numeral, he is reminded of other 
 nui^ierals, and of their relative proportions. This institution 
 of parallelisms betv/een objects of similar character has some- 
 thing in it so accordant with the mental processes of every day 
 life, that we can scarcely look at any product, or have brought 
 before us any system, in relation to which, on a study of its 
 properties or principles, they are not at once perceived ; and 
 in proportion to the importance of the objects upon which 
 the mind dwells, and their nearness to each other, in figure or 
 attribute, must be the interest of the investigation. 
 
 We now propose to institute an enquiry into some of the 
 principal resemblances and contrarieties between Christianity 
 and Buddhism ; believing that by this mode of quest the supre- 
 macy of Christianity will be the more firmly established, and 
 a clearer insight will be gained into the dogmas said to have 
 been taught by Sakya Muni. The work is written for 
 this one purpose. It is not extended as a formal defence of 
 the doctrines of revelation : nor does it profess to present 
 either a full account of the history of Buddhism, or a systematic 
 exposition of its tenets. 
 
 There is, however, so much that is striking in the legendary 
 liistory of Sakya Muni, and so much that is excellent 
 
in the code ot morals attributed to him — the system he estah™ 
 lished spread so rapidly and widely, and it is at the present 
 moment received by so many millions of the human race,- — that 
 by many powerful reasons we are called upon to attempt 
 an examination of the Buddhist records that have come down 
 to us, in order that we may learn therefrom what were 
 the sources whence his system was derived, and some account of 
 his life. But we are met, at the beginning of our researches, 
 by keen disappointment: as the information we possess concerning 
 tliem, upon which we can implicitly rely, is provokingly scanty^ 
 The deeds and doctrines of no teacher who has appeared upon 
 earth have been more minutely recorded ; but they are so much 
 mixed up with tedious details of things absurd or impossible, 
 that an attempt to separate the trustworthy from the fanciful, 
 would be like the search for a handful of pearls amidst 
 a shell-mound high as the monumental towers erected in various 
 places over the relics of his disciples. 
 
 Modern research has discovered that there al'e two great 
 schools of Buddhism, which, from the want of a more distinctive 
 designation, are known by the names of Northern and Southern. 
 The original works belonging to the former division are 
 principally in Sanskrit, and those to the latter in Pali. 
 It is thought by many of the best European orientalists that 
 we hav6 not yet sufficient data to decide which class is the more 
 ancient, or possessed of the greater authority; but among 
 the Buddhists themselves each section claims precedence for the 
 particular language used in its own religious observances. 
 
 The first European who set himself seriously to the study of 
 the system was Mr. Brian Haughton Hodgson, who was 
 appointed, in 1841, to an official position in Nepaul, by the 
 East India Government. In this situation he had great facilities 
 for translating a number of works lie there inet with, written 
 in the Sanskrit language. Soon afterwards, M. Alexander 
 Csoma Korosi, a native of Transylvania, penetrated into Tibet, 
 sn.bj^cting himself to many hardships, and nobly persevering 
 amidst the most formidable difficulties, until he had studied 
 tbe principal works in its literature, consisting of several 
 rj^^ndreds of volumes. An abstract of his researches was 
 published in the Bengal Asiatic Journal, when it was found 
 that the Nepaulese and Tibetan works are derived from 
 the same source The Buddhist literature of China, said to be 
 Ro vast as almost to defy an estimate of its extent, has elements 
 ftjjreeing with both .the schools, and some additions of 
 I indigenous origin. In the rich mine of Buddhism there have 
 
 " been many laborious workers who are thus enumerated by 
 
 Max Miiller : " Hodgson, Turnour, Csomade Korosi, S. Julien^ 
 
Fonceaux, Fausboll, Spence Hardy, and above all the late 
 Eugene Burnouf " : to which may be added, the names of 
 Gogerly and Brigandet. In 183- the Hon. George Turnour, of 
 the Ceylon Civil Service, commenced a series of papers in the 
 Bengal Asiatic Journal, on the Pali Annals of the Buddhista: 
 and afterwards published separately a translation from Pali 
 of the first thirty-eight chapters of the Mahawanso, the most 
 important historical work yet discovered in India: in which 
 there is a mass of error, but containing also a few fragments of 
 valuable truth. The Rev. Daniel John Gogerly, of the Wes- 
 leyan Mission, who died at Colombo, in 1862, brought a mind 
 of great metaphysical power to the study of the sacred books 
 in their original language, but he has left behind him little more 
 than a few essays and translations, precious as dust of gold, 
 published principally in a small local periodical, called the Friend, 
 and in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal 
 Asiatic Society, 1845 — 61. 
 
 The most authentic sources of the information we derive 
 from the Pali are the Tripitaka. These works are regarded 
 by the Buddhists, as a record of pure unmixed truth, without 
 any deposit of error, or possibility of mistake. We are not 
 aware that any attempt has been made to form an analysis of 
 their contents, beyond a meagre enumeration, of the titles of 
 the principle divisions, ^nd an estimate of the length to which 
 they extend. A few of the more important discourses of 
 Buddha have been translated, and excerpts from others hare 
 made on particular subjects. The greater part of the Buddhist 
 lore that has hitherto been made accessible to European readers, 
 has come to us mediately from Mongolia, Tibet, Nepaul, 
 Burma, Siam, China, and Ceylon : in all which countries 
 the system is still professed, as well as in Kashmire, Tartary, 
 and Annam. The legends they present have a wonderful 
 agreement with each other, but in their dogmas there is a more 
 marked diversity of thought and character. We may not 
 be able, from these materials, to discover what was the full form 
 of original Buddhism, but they. are of interest, as shewing 
 the effects of the system on different minds, and among nationi 
 of varied races.* 
 
 ^ * Were Italian popery, English puritanism, and German ratioaaJism 
 given, to find apostolic Christianity, the problem would be like that of 
 determining primitive Buddhism from its phases in Ceylon, Tibet, 
 and Eastern India. It were as easy, from the present fauna and flora 
 of the earth to determine its fauna and flora in the cretaceous, 
 Tolitic, or caboniferous age. F. W. Mason, M. D. art, Mulamuli,' 
 Journal of th© American Oriental Society, iv. 103. 
 
4 
 
 The general indifference with which reaearcheft in Biiddhisni^ 
 have been regarded, more especially in Britain, is difficult 
 to account for ; as, irrespective of the importance of the subject 
 from its extent and influence, there are other matters of special 
 interest connected with it, arising from the magnitude and 
 antiquity of its architectural remains ; its numerous inscriptions, 
 upon coins, slabs and rocks, the key to the reading of which 
 presents one of the most ingenious discoveries of modern study ; 
 the coincidence in some of its historical events with wester^ 
 chronology ; and the light it throws upon a type of speculation 
 diflering widely from that which is seen in the systems and 
 philosophies of the Semitic and European nations. 
 
 In our initial attempt to give an insight into the mysteriei. 
 of the eastern grove, with its fragrance, brightly tinted flowers, 
 and grateful shade, we shall first ask of the grave men who, 
 there dwelt, what are the the authorities upon which they rest 
 their faith, and what are the reasons they adduce for maintaining 
 that they are an unerring guide to the path of purity an(J 
 the possession of peace. 
 
. BOOK I. 
 
 PEEEATOEY, 
 
CHAPTliR t. 
 THE RULE OF FAITH. 
 
 i. THE SCRIPTURES. II. THE TRIPITAKA. 
 
 III. iksPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES- 
 
 IV. SOURCE or THE PITAKAS. V. CHRISTIAN 
 TRADITION. VI. BUDDHIST TRADITION. 
 
 i. THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 In the Church of Christ, the Scriptures of the prophets and 
 apostles, and othier " holy men of God," who " spake as they 
 were moved by the Holy Ghost," form the standard of truth. 
 Respecting the nature of their inspiration, its authority, 
 its extent, and other questions of a sitnilar character, there have 
 been numberless controversies, each of which would require 
 volumes for its full elucidation. We must pass by these with 
 brief remarks, biit shall be obliged in consequence to appear 
 dogmatical, when, to some minds, it might have been more 
 satisfactory if we had pursued a more apologetic course. 
 
 Appeal ig made for the authority of the Scriptures 
 to the supernatural effects wrought out by their writers, or by 
 the agents through whom their principal truths were established, 
 and to the prophecies they contain as to the events of the future. 
 The New Testament was written by men who had themselves 
 heard the words of Christ, or who lived at the same age and 
 the same land. The books of which it is composed were all 
 issued soon after the events took place to which they refer, and 
 Were received by other writers of the period immediately 
 succeeding their publication as of divine authority. They 
 were placed in a class by themselves, apart from all other 
 writings : and a deference was paid to them that was conceded 
 to no other record. We have evidence that they have come 
 down to us in their original form, as to all essential particulars. 
 
The confusion of tongues was an evil brought upon ndaii 
 in consequence of his pride of heart and enmity against God ; 
 but from it we receive a strong confirmation of the faithful 
 transmission of the Scriptures, as the various languages 
 into which they have been translated are, from their substantial 
 agreement with each other, so many independent testimonies 
 to the purity of their preservation. A similar attestation 
 is derived from another evil, the division of the church 
 into different sections; as all the rest may be regarded as ready 
 to rise in their defence, were any one section to attempt 
 to interpolate or emasculate them. There are also ancient 
 Manuscripts, marked by the clerical errors we may expect 
 to find in works of human manipulation ; but all uttering 
 one voice as to the essential verities of the Gospel. It has been 
 the fashion in recent times, to undervalue this kind of testimony 
 to the integrity of the sacred writings ; but the church will lay 
 itself open to severe censure, if it allows this outpost in defencd 
 of the faith to be withdrawn. 
 
 II. THE TRIPITAKA, 
 
 The nations of the east that profess the religion of 
 Sakya Muni, regard the three Pitakas* with the deepest 
 reverence, as containing a divine code, in which is all that man 
 ©an fiow know of his duty and destiny. They are written 
 in Pali, which, twenty centuries ago, was the vernacular of 
 Magadha, the province of India in which the Muni lived. 
 It was the dialect Used by him in all his public ministrations. 
 The Pitakas are called collectively the Bana, or Word 
 (Sanskrit Vana) ; and are divided into three principal sections, 
 that are popularly said to refer respectively — 1 . to the instruc- 
 tions given to the priests ; 2. to the laity ; and 3. to the gods 
 by whom we are to understand the dwellers in the twenty-six 
 heavens ; but these statements a>-e not strictly correct; 
 " The Tripitaka/' says Gogerly, " otc the Winaya, or Disci- 
 pline ; the Sutra, or Discourses ; and the Abhidharma, or 
 Pre-eminent Doctrines. The last specifies terms with the doc- 
 trines connected with them, with explanations and definitions. "f 
 The Text and Commentaries extend to nearly ten times 
 the length of the Old and New Testaments. 
 
 * The great compilation of the Tibetan sacred books, styled 
 the Ka-gyur, in one hundred volumes, is " one and the sam^' 
 compilation " as the Pitakas, " whatever slight discrepancies may be 
 found to exist between the two in minor points." Tumour's Pali 
 Buddhistical Annals, Journ. Bengal As. Soc. July 1837. 
 
 t D. J. Gogerly ; Journ. Ceylon Branch R. A S. for 1845, p. 8.- 
 
9 
 
 The Scriptures claim to have been "divinely in^piredj 
 ita-breathecl of God." The form in which they appear is modi- 
 fied by the character and circumstances of the writers of 
 the several books. Thus the book of Job bears every sign of 
 having been written in a primitive age: that of Isaiah tells of 
 refinement and luxury, as we listen to the tinkling of 
 the jewelled feet of its mincing maidens, and the bravery of 
 their "tires," "mufflers," and "wimples" gleams before 
 our eyes. The sheikh of Uz only tells us of the Redeemer, 
 that " he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; " but 
 the more favoured prophet of a nearer age reveals to us that 
 " His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty 
 God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace," and that 
 *'of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.'* 
 So also, the style of David, the royal Psalmist, differs charac- 
 teristically from that of Amos, the herdman of Tekoah. 
 In the one we have bold, coarse, vehement reproof of the noble 
 and the monarch, as the pro]jhet pleads for the poor^ and 
 ex{)oses the robberies connived at by the court. The whisper- 
 ing breath, however, in source and spirit is essentially one, 
 though emitted through instruments of dift'erent tone and power. 
 
 It is necessary that we repeat these well-known truths--- 
 well-known even to the sciolist in biblical lore — in order that 
 the contrast between the two systems we are considering may 
 be seen the more certainly and clearly. We desire to see 
 the Scriptures placed upon what we regard as their rightful 
 throne, when they shall have a name above that of every other 
 book, and before which every mind shall bow, all men listening 
 to the utterances therefrom, as to the oracles of God* 
 We do not contend for all that many sincere men attach 
 to the meaning of the phrase " verbal inspiration" ; but we shrink 
 from the thought that what we receive as the word of the 
 ever-blessed Lord of all has in it any element of untruth* 
 
 We infer that there is sometimes immediate revelation: 
 and then all we read is as directly from God as the ten words 
 spoken by the divine voice amidst the fires and fears of Sinai. 
 When things are written that were previously known, 
 the inspiration may consist in guidance as to the matter or topic 
 to be recorded ; and in the preparation of the record itself, 
 there may have been simply a never-ceasing supervision of 
 the Holy Spirit, preventing the admission of error or mistake ; 
 so that, according to the canon for which we now contend, 
 every sentiment and statement in Holy Writ must have been 
 either suggested or verified by God. Of this we have 
 corroborative proof in the the freedom from mistake as to all 
 
to 
 
 events in history and all physical phenomena; in which they 
 are in grand contrast to all other archaic writings. As to science^ 
 there is no positive statement in them that is contrary to fact. 
 The sun may be spoken of as rising, just as it is spoken of 
 by everybody, men of science included, in our own day ; 
 but it is never laid down as an axiom, or insisted on as a truth 
 to be received, that the solar orb actually passes through 
 the circle of travel that is apparent to the senses. In illustration, 
 many things are used in their generally accepted .sense: but 
 there is no authoritative teaching of scientific error; and no fact 
 in geology or astronomy, or any other kindred science^ 
 universally accepted as true by the best informed men, 
 can be proved to be contrary to any part of the word, when 
 rightly understood and correctly interpreted, that is received 
 by the Church as inspired. When we say that the Bible is 
 the word of God, we mean that it is an immediate emanation 
 from the supreme and eternal Creator and Ruler of the universe ; 
 and that, as such every promise it contains may be relied upon 
 with all confidence, every one of its commands is to be obeyed 
 in all its strictness, upon pain of the divine displeasure ; and 
 every offer of heavenly aid it presents, in the support of the spirit 
 under trial, or in its efforts to put away sin, may be asked of 
 God, in prayer, with the certainty that it will be granted 
 to the utmost extent in which it can possibly be required. 
 
 The Bible professes to contain all that it is necessary for man 
 to know, for his present guidance and future safety. It proclaims 
 unhesitatingly that when read in a reverent spirit, its study will 
 ever be accompanied by a grace divine ; cheering, enlightening, 
 and making clean the soul. By this process, all men may test 
 its claim to be a divine record. There may be partial truth 
 in other systems. In them it is presented fitfully, imperfectly, 
 and without authority. But *' the law of the Lord is perfect, 
 converting the soul." In the words of man's utterance, 
 we have the cold, lack-lustre, flawed pebble, made to appear 
 radiant by the foil spread beneath it, but the word of God 
 possesses an inherent lustre, '^ brighter than the noon-day sun." 
 " It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious 
 onyx, or the sapphire No mention shall be made of coral or 
 of pearls : for its price is above rubies." 
 
 The Pitakas too, claim homage from all men, and implicit 
 credence. They say that when there rested upon Sakya Muni, 
 after his struggle with Mara and antagonist demons, the energies 
 and endowments of a supreme Buddha, the whole ocean of truth 
 was clearly presented before him. He could understand 
 perfectly any matter towards which he willed that his attention 
 
11 
 
 should be directed, by a process of ratiocination extrenieir 
 subtle, but in a moment of time as rapid as thought ; 
 and he could exhibit, by the mere eifort, any exercise of power, 
 creative, transformative, or destructive, in which he wiHed 
 that there should be the forthputting of his might An order 
 of his disciples, called arhats, was possessed, in a modiiied degree 
 ot the same kind of potency. They were not inspired, ab extra 
 but they were intuitively and unerringly intelligent as to all 
 matters connected with religion. They had the kind of infalli-- 
 bility claimed for the pope of Kome, of whom it is v^aid that 
 *' he is infallible, not in his personal, but only in his official 
 capacity when dealing with matters connected with the doctrines 
 and discipline of the Church " The system known as Buddhism 
 was for some time preserved in the memories of the arhats, 
 after the death of its founder. It professes to have been enun- 
 ciated in the exact form in which it is now seen in the Pitakas, 
 immediately after his decease, when the whole of the sacred code 
 was recited in a convocation of arhats, who declared even 
 the number of syllables of which each division w^as to consist. 
 There were two other similar recitations, by men equally 
 endowed ; the second, one hundred years after the first, and 
 the third, one hundred and thirty-four years after the second. 
 In each of these convocations the recitation was perfect and 
 complete, so that no sentence^ or part of a sentence, was omitted. 
 
 Upon the truth of these statements much must depend; for if 
 their correctness could be proved, it would confer upon the 
 Pitakas an authenticity that they now lack ; but, accorfling 
 to the testimony of their own adherents, 45 ) years ela})sed 
 after their first rehearsal, and H50 after the second before 
 they were committed to writing. The northern Buddhists say 
 that the event took place b. c 153. But in either case, 
 they are thus deprived of an authority as a record of facts, 
 and can only be received as a repertory of ancient myths^ 
 legends, and traditions, such as are treasured up in the memory, 
 and heard from the lips of the as^ed of nearly all nations ; 
 or as the exponents of a system attributed to certain teachers 
 and philosophers, who are men of bold and lofty thought, 
 but mistaken in many of their conclusions ; and in their claim 
 to the possession of supremacy in the realm of truth, to be 
 regarded as pretenders, or as wishing to assume an authority 
 to which they have no .patent of right. In these respects 
 there is an important difference between the Bible, which may 
 be called a contemporaneous record, and the Dharma, which 
 can have no pretension to be regarded as an authority upoa 
 the same ground. 
 
12 
 
 III. TRADITIONS. 
 
 All who are called Christians do not regard the Scriptures 
 of the Old and New Testaments as " the sole rule of faith." 
 " The Catholic rule of faith," we are told by Dr. Milner^ 
 *Ms not merely the written word of God, but the whole word 
 of God, written or unwritten, in other words, Scripture and 
 tradition, and these propounded and explained by the Christian 
 church." With this must agree, as to the value of tradition, 
 the other ancient churches of Christendom ; as they all teach 
 doctrines, and practice ceremonies, that have no warrant from 
 the canonical Bible. 
 
 There is this difference between the followers of Christ and 
 the professors of Buddhism, that among the former there are 
 some who reject tradition entirely, except as confirmatory or 
 explanatory of the written word, and there are others who 
 assert the authority of both Scripture and tradition, regarding 
 them substantially as having an equal claim to their respect and 
 obedience ; but the whole of the Buddhist faith is founded 
 on tradition exclusively, inasmuch as the whole written word 
 was, with them, at its commencement, a collection of traditions ; 
 and these not of recent origin, so that their truth might be 
 tested by the memory of men still living. The place at which 
 they were committed permanently to the palm-leaf was also 
 as far from the locality of Siikya Muni's reputed residence 
 as the metropolis of Britain from the usual dwelling-place of 
 the apostles. 
 
 The whole of the Pitakas, including the Text and the Com- 
 mentary* were taken to the island of Ceylon in the memory of 
 the priest Mahinda, son of the supreme ruler of India, B. c 307-1 
 By him the Commentaries were translated into Singhalese. 
 The venerated word was orally transmitted, by successive 
 generations of the monks, until about the year B. C. 90, when,. 
 " in order that the religion might endure for ages, the monks 
 recorded the same in books " The necessity of havmg some 
 authoritative standard of faith was caused by the number of 
 heresies that had begun to appear on every hand ; and that bade 
 fair to destroy the integrity of the system entirely, by throwing 
 the disciples of the Dharma • into inextricable confusion. 
 
 * The Commentaries ar^ confessedly much more modern than 
 the Text. Gogerly ; Journ. Ceylon Branch R. A. S. for, 1845, p. 8. 
 When additions are made to the original Text, the priests affirm 
 that those portions are of equal authority with the rest, as 
 they were equally recited in the three Convocations- lb- p 1,>2. 
 
 t Or B. 0. 246 
 
13 
 
 The authoritative transcription is said to have taken plae© 
 in the cave temple of Alu, in Ceylon, during the reign of 
 Wattagamini, who flourished between b. c. 101 and 76'. 
 In the anarchy of succeeding periods, the original Commentaries 
 were lost; but as they were still preserved in Singhalese^ 
 about the year A. D. 430, they were re-translated from 
 Singhalese into Pali by the brahman Buddhaghosa, who was 
 sent to Ceylon for the purpose from the continent of India.* 
 The name of the translation, which signifies " the voice of 
 Buddha," or *' the voice of the wise," suggests the thought 
 that it may be unreal ; and it is probable that it was not by 
 one man that this work was performed, and that it was not 
 completed in one age. Subsequently, the whole of the canon 
 was lost by the Singhalese, and the recension of the Tripitaka 
 now in use is received from Burma or Siam. Whatever value 
 they may have as the most perfect compendium we possess of 
 an ancient faith, their origin is involved in too much obscurity 
 to allow of their being unhesitatingly relied upon, even by 
 those who are most earnest and sincere in their attachment 
 to Buddhism as a guide to " the city of peace." 
 
 The historical and scientific errors with which they abound 
 have been recorded and exposed in a monograph written with 
 this design, t We shall presently have to refer to their exagger- 
 ations in chronology, which have no parallel, even in the most 
 unrestrained flights of eastei'n fancy. As to science, it may 
 be enough to say, that they gravely speak of a mountain 
 in the centre of the earth, Maha Meru, more than a million 
 miles high; of a sea, eight hundred thousand miles deep ; and 
 of fishes more than ten thousand miles in length. 
 
 * The Commentaries of Buddhaghosa are very voluminous^ 
 and furnish both a Commentary and a glossary for the whole 
 of the Pitakas. Turnour ; Journ. Bengal A. S. July, 1837- 
 
 f " Legends and Theories of the Buddhists ; by R, Spence Hardy.'* 
 London : Williams aud Nor^ate. Ife66. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 THE EXISTENCE OF OOD. 
 
 I. THEISM OF THE SCRIPTURES. II. ATHEISM OF THE PITAKAS; 
 I. THEISM OF THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 The most ancient writer whose works have come down, 
 to our own time enters into no argument to prove that there is 
 a God, nor does he represent God as preparing man for the birth 
 of revelation by any solemn announcement of this primary truth. 
 Unlike other cosmogonies the biblical record takes it for granted 
 as a fact requiring no demonstration. The voice of God,, 
 and the glory of the divine presence, were in themselves proof 
 of His existence, majesty, and power. " That God is, and that 
 He is arewarder of them that diligently seek Him," must have- 
 been made known to man at the earliest dawn of his being from 
 the circumstances in which he was placed ; as we cannot snp|)Ose 
 that God would flino- him into existence without teachinty hirn^ 
 all that it was absolutely necessary for him to know. 
 The knowledge thus conveyed at first by immediate revelation 
 would afterwards be communicated by man to his fellow man. 
 It is long before we have any intimation that the existence of 
 God was either denied or forgotten. The thought would linger 
 long in the minds of men, and there would be glimpses of 
 the fact when a clear knowledge of its reality was beginning 
 to fade away amidst the deepening dai'kness and uncertainty 
 of tradition. It seems never to have been regained by the exer- 
 cise of unassisted reason, when once lost ; nor have all 
 the thinkings of the sage ever added one single attribute 
 to those which are ascribed to God in the Scriptures : whence 
 we may infer, that we are indebted to revelation for our present 
 knowledge of the very existence of God. But though man 
 cannot " by searching find out God," he has in his own heart, 
 in the rule of the world, in the earth upon which he treads, 
 and in the radiant heavens that gleam above him, confirmative 
 proof that there is one Lord, one God^ " high over all " 
 
15 
 
 ll. ATHEISM OF THE PITAKAS. 
 
 The contrast between the Hebrew and the Aryan teachers 
 is here decided and essential. In the Pitakas the existence 
 is denied of one God ; of a Being who is supreme, infinite in all 
 the attributes of His divinity, and subsisting from eternity 
 to eternity. In proof of this statement, We may refer to 
 the Brahma Jata, which is the first sermon in the series of 
 Discourses attributed to Sakya Munij a translation of which, 
 from the pen of the Rev. D. J Grofyerly, appears in the second 
 number of the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal 
 Asiatic Society, published in 3 847. But in order to understand 
 more clearly the extract we are about to make, we must premise 
 that there are periodical destructions and re-productions of 
 the mundane system ; and that in this system there are various 
 heavens, divided into two classes, the inferior (dewa-loka) and 
 the superior ( brahma-loka). When a section of the heavens 
 has ceased to exist, and another is produced, the new worlds 
 are at first uninhabited. 
 
 " At that time a being, in consequence either of the period 
 of residence in Abassara (the sixth of the superior heavens) 
 being expired, or in consequence of some deficiency of merit 
 preventing him from living there the full period, ceased to exist 
 in Abassara*, and is re-produced in the uninhabited Brahma 
 Wimano. He there a spiritual being, having intellectual 
 pleasures, is self-resplendent, traverses the atmosphere, and is 
 for a long time in the enjoyment of happiness. After living 
 there a very long time alone, being indisposed to continue 
 in solitude, his desires are excited, and he says. Would that 
 another being were dwelling in this place. At that immediate 
 juncture another being, either on account of a deficiency of 
 merit or on account of the period of residence being expired, 
 ceasing to exist in Abassara springs into life in the Brahma 
 Wimano, in the vicinity of the first one- They are both of 
 them spiritual beings, have intellectual pleasures, are self-res- 
 plendent, traverse the atmosphere, and are for a long time 
 in the enjoyment of happiness. Then the following thoughts 
 arose in him who was the first existent in that world: 
 I am Brahma, Maha Brahma, the Supreme, the Invincible, 
 the Omnicient, the Ruler, the Lord of all, the Maker, 
 the Creator. I am the Chief, the Disposer of all, the Controller 
 of all, the Universal Father of all. This being was made by me. 
 How does this appear.? Formerly I thus thought: Would that 
 another being were in this place. Upon my volition this being 
 came here. Those beings also who first obtained an existence 
 there, thought: This illustrious Brahma is Maha Brahma, 
 
the Supreme, the Invincible, the Omnicient, the Ruler, the Lord) 
 the Maker, the Creator of all. He is the chief, the Disposer 
 of all things, the Controller of all, the Universal Father. 
 We were created by him ; for v^e see that he was first here^ 
 and that we have since then obtained existence. Furthermore, 
 he who was the first that obtained existence there, has a very 
 long period of existence, exceeds in beauty and is possessed 
 of immense power: but those who follow him are shortlived, 
 of inferior beauty, and of little power. It then happens, 
 that one of these beings ceasing to exist there, is born in this 
 World, and afterwards retires from society and becomes a recluse. 
 Being thus a houseless priest, he subjects his passions, 
 is constant and persevering in the practice of virtue, and 
 by profound and correct meditation attains that mental tran- 
 quility by which he recollects his immediately previous state 
 of existence, but none before that. He therefore says: 
 That illustrious Brahma is Maha Brahma, the Supreme, 
 the Invincible, the Omnicient, the Kuler, the Lord, the Maker, 
 the Creator. He is the Chief, the Disposer of all things, 
 the Controller of all, the Universal Father. That Brahma, 
 by whom we were created, is ever-during, immutable, 
 the eternal, the unchangeable, continuing the same for ever* 
 But we, who have been created by this illustrious Brahma, 
 are not ever-during ; we are mutable, short-lived, mortal, and 
 Were born here. This is the first reason on account of which 
 some Samanas and Brahmins hold the eternal existence of 
 some things,- but not of others, and teach concerning the soul 
 and the world, that some things are eternal, and that other 
 things are not eternal." 
 
 It was evidently known to Sakya Muni, that there were 
 reasoners In the world who acknowledged the existence of 
 a Supreme Being, *' the Creator of all things, the Controller of 
 all things, the Eternal, and the Unchangeable," but this 
 conclusion is said to proceed from " an incorrect understanding." 
 It arises from the want of a proper insight into the causes of 
 events, and is propounded by a being who belongs to an inferior 
 order, and is possessed of only imperfect merit. 
 
 The atheism of the Dharma has been denied ; but upon 
 insufficient authority. In support of this opinion, the stanzas 
 have been quoted that were spoken by Sakya Muni at the time 
 he became a supreme Buddha, 
 
 •''^ Through various transmigrations 
 I must travel, if I do not discover 
 The Builder whom I seek: 
 
17 
 
 Painftil are i^epeated transmigrations, 
 
 I have seen the Architect (and said) 
 
 Thou shalt not build me another house ; 
 
 Thy rafters are broken, 
 
 Thy roof-^timbers scattered ; 
 
 My mind is detaclied (from all existing objects) 
 
 I have attained to the extinction of desire." 
 
 By the architect liere spoken of we are not to understand 
 ^ personal entity: but the non-intelligent cause of the repeti- 
 tion of existence. 
 
 Upon this vital principle of the system, affecting so many 
 subordinate branches, the deliverance of the late Professor 
 Wilson is unhesitating and conclusive. " Belief in a Supreme 
 Being, the Creator and Ruler of the universe," he says, 
 *•' is unquestionably a modern graft upon the unqualified atheism 
 lof Sakya Muni; it is still of very limited recognition. 
 In none of the standard authorities translated by M. Burnouf 
 or Mr. Gogerly is there the slightest allusion to a First- Cause, 
 the existence of whom is incompatible with the fundamental 
 Buddhist dogma of the eternity of all existence. The doctrine 
 of an Adi Buddha, a first Buddha, in the character of 
 a Supreme Creator, which has found its way into Nepaul, 
 and perhaps into Western Tibet, is entirely local, as is that of 
 the Dyani Buddhas, and the Bodhisatwas, their sons and 
 agents in creation, as described by Mr. Hodgson." 
 
 The sect in Nepaul to which the Professor refers is that of 
 the Aishwarikas. They admit of the existence of an immaterial 
 essence, who is said to be '* supreme, infinite, self-existent, 
 before all, without beginning, infini-formed and formless, 
 the cause of all things, separate from all things, the cause of 
 the well-being of all existence in the three worlds." 
 
 In the histories of Sakya Muni, six heretics are frequently 
 named, and their principal tenets are detailed. According to 
 Brigandet, the last of the six teachers "boldly asserted 
 the existence of a Supreme Being, Creator of all that exists, 
 and alone worthy of receiving adoration": but his teachings 
 are pronounced by the orthodox to be false and dangerous. 
 
 As all beings, without exception, unless they have entered 
 one of the " paths " that lead to nirvana, extinction, are subject 
 alike to the law of transmigratory mutation, an eternal Creator 
 cannot possibly exist in any world. 
 
n 
 
 The founders of both the schools, Northern and Southern? 
 were evidently acquainted with the theistic doctrine: but by 
 the latter it was entirely rejected, and among the former 
 regarded as the tenet of a sect — but to what extent the belief 
 prevailed does not appear. The incompatibility of theism 
 with the teachings of the Dharma will be more clearly seen 
 -when their speculations on the origin of the world, as presented 
 €n the next chapter, have passed under review. 
 
 •t..-^-*'Ci5^%W52i35S^'''°~-'--- 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 THE OEIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE; 
 
 I. CREATION. II. CAUSATION. III. KARMA. 
 IV. SENTIENT EXISTENCE. V. FORMER HIS- 
 TORY. VI. THE DELUGE. VII. LONGEVITY. 
 
 I. CREATION, 
 
 In the Scriptures we read, that "in the beginning God 
 created the heaven and the earth." St. John tells us, that 
 all things were made by the Word, who was "with. God." 
 and " was God, " and " without Him was not anything made 
 that was made." We learn from, the apostle Paul, that 
 "by Him. (who is 'the image of the invisible God ') were all 
 things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible 
 and invisible^, v/hether they be thrones, or dominions, or princi- 
 palities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. 
 And He is before all things,, and by Him all things consist." 
 These terms are all-inclusive. In a lew words, we have 
 all matter and all spirit ; the whole kosmos, the universe. 
 There may be some controversy relative to the meaning of 
 the word baray as to whether it refers to " creation out of nothing," 
 or merely to " arrangement " or ''formation;" but the sense 
 in which it is here used may be inferred from other portions of 
 the Scriptures of truth. " Through, faith we understand 
 that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that 
 things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." 
 We thus learn, that the visible creation was not made of matter 
 previously existing ; it was not a reducing to order, or a vivify- 
 ing, of particles or atoms that were in existence before 
 the operation upon these of the power of God. With this 
 agrees the Hebrew notion of a post-prophetic age. " God did 
 not create them (heaven and earth) out of things already exis- 
 tant." Mace. vii. 28, We conclude, therefore, that the world 
 in which we live has not, in any sense, had an existence coeval 
 with the existence of God, as was almost universally tau-ght 
 
20 
 
 in the old philosophies. It is not a fragment of the divine> 
 subsistence or essence ; nor is that essence the basis or substratum! 
 of the objective universe. It is not a mere emanation, or out- 
 flowing ; but a created thing, with a beginning, essentially 
 distinct and separate from the nature of Him who bade it be,, 
 the eternal and subsisting " I am that I am." 
 
 II. CAUSATION. 
 
 From the instructions given by Sakya Muni to his disciples 
 we learn, that there are certain subjects they are to regard 
 as being beyond the reach of their comprehension ; and as all 
 research in relation to them would be purposeless and without 
 profit, they are admonished not to attempt the investigation. 
 In this category he includes all speculation as to the origin of 
 the world. It is not so prominent a doctrine with him as with 
 the Brahmans (though held by him, under another form) that 
 all that is perceived by the senses is an illusion. His doubts 
 in relation to existence are not propounded so much concerning 
 things visible, as about the ego, or the self. If he denies 
 that there is any reality in the idea of sentient existence,, it is 
 rather to dissuade men from the exercises that produce ego-ismi 
 — including in this thought as a primary principle all that 
 induces them to seek sensuous gratification — than to- assert 
 the non-existence of an outer world We may anticipate, 
 therefore, that Buddhist authors will be more sparing than, 
 other eastern writers in the attention they pay to creation or 
 to kosmo-plastic speculation. 
 
 We shall be the better able to understand their notions 
 on the origin of the various beings and things around us, 
 when we have learnt their ideas about the formative and 
 preservative processes that are continually exerting their influ- 
 ence, in all ages and in all worlds There were always worlds,, 
 in most respects homogeneous with those now in existence. 
 
 That " all things proceed from some cause," is an oft-repeated 
 axiom of Sakya Muni.* It is found in the discourses attributed 
 to him, and upon ancient slabs now in existence, and in formu- 
 laries still repeated by the devout. All sentient beings 
 are produced by the karma (action, regarded ethically, as good 
 or bad) of previous births. Fire, and all vegetable productions 
 arise from causes of the same identical nature as themselves ; 
 
 * Among the philosophers who " reason from the past," there is 
 a class who hold tliat the world and themselves are uncaused. With 
 these Buddha '' acknowledges that there is no creative cause of 
 existence, but denies that existence is uncaused, attributing causa- 
 tiou to moral congruity." Gogerly ; Ceylon Friend, Sept, 1838. 
 
21 
 
 as fire comes from fire, and seed from seed. The earth,, 
 its mountains, the elements (except fire) and the visible worlds, 
 are produced by the seasons ; by which appears to be meant^. 
 periodic intervals, referring to the monsoons of the tropics and 
 the successive revolutions of the celestial bodies. These- 
 producing energies are not instrumentalities in the hand of 
 an intelligent agents but are themselves primary causes^ acting 
 without any influence extraneous to themselves. 
 
 In the Rajawalia, a Singhalese historical work^ it is said 
 that after the destruction of the world that existed previous 
 to the one in which we now live, " by the entire karma of all 
 sentient existences," a rain began to fall ;. but how it was 
 formed, or whence it came, we are not told. '* By the same 
 power," a wind arose, by which the waters were evaporated : 
 and after their desiccation, the dry land appeared ; which,, 
 in process of time, became inhabited by a race or beings who 
 came into existence by the apparitional birth. They had 
 at first an inherent splendour that illuminated the whole world ;: 
 and when this was lost, they assembled together, and '* by this 
 united Karma," caused the sun to appear, and then the moou 
 and the planets ; the sun on the first day of the week, the moon 
 on tlie second day, and so on. Thus, the karma of previously- 
 existing beings was the cause by which the world came into 
 existence.* 
 
 In a conversation recorded as having taken place between 
 Nagasena, a priest, and Milinda, king of Sagal, a little before- 
 the time of Christ, it is stated by the sage, and acknowledged 
 by his co-religionists, that production is always from something 
 that previously existed. Before the house was produced,, 
 there was the stone in the quarry and the wood in the forest ; 
 before the tree, the fruit ; before the potter s vessel, the moist 
 clay; before the music-strain, the instrument; and before 
 the fire> the burning-glass, the sunray, and the shred of 
 dry cloth. Ex nihilo nihil Jit. This may appear to be contra- 
 dicted by what is called the apparitional birth, in which 
 sentient beings- start up into existence, in a moment from 
 nothingness and vacancy ; but even under these circumstances 
 there is always some one in existence previous to the appearance 
 of the new existence^ by whom the new existence is caused. 
 
 * The conclusion has been controverted by a Pali scholar of 
 the highest authority ; but he does not give any reason for its denial. 
 Gogerly's Lecture on Buddhism, 1861. In another work he has said 
 previously, " It is by Karma that the worlds are framed and modi- 
 fied.'^ Ceylou Friend, Dec. 1837. 
 
22 
 
 In the multiplication of existences through the mystic power 
 called irdhi, the phantoms that are said to be formed arise 
 from the will of the ascetic; but though they appear to act as 
 sentient existences, the more thoughtful Buddhists would, 
 probably say that they have no reality, and are mere illusions. 
 
 III. KAEMA. 
 
 As karma i& the key-thought of nearly all Biiddhistic 
 speculation, we must seek to understand, as correctly as we can, 
 the meaning of the term. It is literally, " that which is done." 
 It is represented as having three constituents: merit, demerit, 
 and neutrality, that which is neither good nor bad. When 
 Sakya Muni was asked what was the nature of karma, 
 he replied, <-' All sentient beings have their own individual 
 karma. It comes by inheritance (not by parentage, but from 
 previous births): it is the cause of all good or evil; it is 
 the (ethical) difference of karma that causes the difference 
 in the lot of man, so that some are mean and others exalted, 
 some are miserable and others are happy."* '' Karma is like 
 the shadow, that always accompanied the body. But it cannot 
 be said that it is here, or that it is there ; in this place or 
 in that place ; the locality in which it resides cannot be pointed 
 out. Thus, there is a fruit tree, but at present not bearing ; 
 at this time it cannot be said that its fruit is in this part of 
 the tree or in that ; nevertheless, the fruit exists in the tree. 
 It is the same with karma." f With these statements, 
 the adherents of the Karmika system among the Nepaulese 
 are in perfect agreement. " The actions of a man's former 
 birth constitute his destiny. Karma accompanies everyone, 
 everywhere, every instant, through the forest, and across 
 the ocean, and over the highest mountains, into heaven and 
 into hell."! It is said that there can be no acquirement of 
 (meritorious) karma in an age when there is no Buddha; 
 nor in a region where Buddha is unknown, nor by non-human 
 beings, except from the hearing of the sacred bana ;, nor by 
 the inhabitants of any of the hells. 
 
 In the present state of human, knowledge, with the imperfect 
 mental powers we now possess, we must expect that there will 
 be mysteries connected with the universe of being: but among 
 all the numerous efforts that have been made to ex2)lain 
 the phenomena of existence, that of the Buddhist is the least 
 logical or conclusive. It possesses an appearance of simplicity : 
 
 * Manual of Bnddhism.p. 446. f lb. p. 441, 
 J Hodgson's Illustrations. 
 
2f3 
 
 l)ut it is mere assertion without any attempt to prove its author- 
 rity, and the manner in which it is said to operate contradicts 
 our reason. No power can act in any place to which its intiu^ 
 ence does not, in some way or other, extend, and no agency 
 can exert an influence upon any object with which it cannot 
 communicate ; yet karma must do this, if it does what it is said 
 to do. The Buddhists seek to evade this conclusion ; but it is 
 by an agreement put in their own inconclusive manner. 
 " There is one man," they say, "watching another, who is at 
 the verge of a precipice. He is moved thereby ; starts up 
 from his seat through fear; and is greatly agitated. What 
 means of communication was there between the man in safety 
 and the man in danger ? Yet the man in danger acts thus 
 powerfully upon the man who is distant from him, and with 
 whom he has no means of communication. So may karma 
 act upon that from which it is distant and isolated." 
 
 There must be an essential difference between karma as 
 an aggregate energy ; and karma as a personal possession, 
 controlling the circumstances of the individual, But how 
 the karma of a given individual can be an outflow from 
 the karma of a successive series of individuals who have 
 existed before him, from the last of whom he sprang, 
 is an incomprehensible mystery. The difficulty is increased 
 when the karma is regarded as the aggregate of all potency, 
 forming worlds and controlling all existence. We have here 
 an energy that is beyond all conception in the might of 
 its working ; and yet is a mere abstraction. It takes the place 
 of what is sometimes called " nature," a term just as difficult 
 to understand. We require clearer information than that which 
 is now within our reach, before we can explain the working 
 of this occult principle ; unless from the first it was involved 
 in inextricable confusion by its original promoters. 
 
 IV. SENTIENT EXISTENCE. 
 
 By the influence of karma the Buddhist attempts to account 
 for the changes that are ever taking place in the world ; 
 but respecting the commencement of existence he offers 
 no explanation. *' Priests," said Sakya Muni, " the initial 
 point of the series of successive transmigrations is not known." 
 All that we can learn is, that the seed comes from a previous 
 seed, the egg from a previous egg ; but how the first seed or 
 the first egg was produced, we cannot discover. No beginning 
 or end can be pointed out in a geometrical circle, and it is 
 the same with the sequence of existence. The circle of being 
 is demonstrated by the Muni in a formula that has a prominent 
 place in all Buddhist works of a speculative character; 
 and is received in all countries where the Dharma is known. 
 
Itislieard in Nepaiil and Tibet, repeated In China, and taught 
 in nearly the same terms, in Burma and Ceylon. 
 
 In this synopsis of the various phases of being, the initiative 
 of .existence is represented as being ^widya, ignorance. This 
 term means literally, '' the unperceived, the unfelt, the unknown, 
 or the unascertainable." But it is only one link in a circle, 
 first named because the enumeration of the several links must 
 begin somewhere. It is not the beginning of existence, 
 as this is hid from the understanding of all but a supreme 
 Buddha. We are left in doubt whether awidya (non-knowledge) 
 is to be regarded as an active quality or a mere negation ; 
 and it may be that nothing more is intended by the expression, 
 than that the manner of the origin of the world cannot 
 be discovered or explained. However strange it may appear 
 to us, that merit and demerit which are regarded as the second 
 link in the chain, can flow from ignorance, the postulate is in 
 entire consonance with Buddhist thought. In the system 
 attributed to SakyaMuni, it is received as a truism, as a thing 
 not to be disputed, that effects may proceed from causes with 
 which they have no homogeniety of relationship, and that can- 
 not possibly produce the consequences that are affirmed. With 
 them the power of the golden harp of Orpheus would be 
 no fable. Organisms and sentient intelligences of every kind 
 may be produced from that which has in itself no concrete 
 being or objective existence. Hence, when we are told that 
 ignorance produces merit or demerit, and then consciousness, 
 and all the other constituents in the combination of sentient 
 existence, it is in vain for us to enquire how this can be ; 
 it must suffice to know that such is the dictum of the all-know- 
 ing sage ; but the error arises from the confounding of two 
 classes of causes, entirely distinct from each other, the moral 
 and the material, and in the attributing to one species 
 the effects that can only be produced by the other species* 
 
 V, FORMER HISTORY. 
 
 This story of the past is to be learnt, from that of the present* 
 There have been repetitions endless of worlds like our own. 
 As one mango^fruit has been proceded by another, of the like 
 kind, so has one seed been proceded by another seed, and one 
 world by another world of the same character and type. 
 There is little originality in the mental creations of the Bud- 
 dhists. In their mythology we look in vain for that variety of 
 colour and circumstance that ever accompanies the conceptions 
 of the far-seeing. There is much in it that is weird and 
 strange ; but its most cherished sympathies are not human, 
 and there is too often an entire absence of moral in its myths. 
 
25 
 
 We read many of its stories with the same kind of thought 
 with which we should listen to a nursery tale of the higher 
 order, or to the simple incidents of a village ballad. In so ex- 
 tensive a literature there must, of necessity, be some incidents 
 and passages to which this criticism will not apply; but they 
 are rare as the mimic sail of the delicate nautilus upon 
 the far-stretching sea. 
 
 The Bible presents no criteria from which we can calculate 
 the age of the world. " In the beginning," is its grand exordium ; 
 but ivhen the beginning was, it does not tell us. The principal 
 event in the ancient history of man is known as the deluge^ 
 when all perished from off the face of the earth, except 
 the members of one family. The date of this occurrence 
 may be stated to have been about 4,0' >0 years previous 
 to the present time. Independently of the Hebrew Scriptures, 
 were any one, guided by the rules of modern research, to set 
 himself to discover, from all the sources at his command, 
 the age in which the race of man began, he would have to pause 
 at this period, from the inability to discover any link that would 
 connect it with a previous era. We may be told of arrows 
 with flint heads, and of other relics of a barbarous age ; but 
 we have no nexus by which we can bridge over the distance 
 between the stone-axe period and that of the pyramid. 
 We have no proof that the savage with so rude an instrument 
 slowly and gradually rose into the man of science who built 
 the monumental sepulchres that throw their shadows athwart 
 the sands of the Nilotic valley. This would have required 
 ages for its accomplishment, and of such a process of gradual 
 perfectioning we have no trace. 
 
 When the imagination has unlimited range, we may expect 
 to meet with events and circumstances that are without the pale 
 of ordinary occurrence, and that set at nought the sobriety of 
 historical truth. In these circumstances, time and space 
 can be extended to infinity. 
 
 Hence, when we pass from the writings of Moses to those of 
 the Buddhist recorder, we are at once confronted by numbers 
 that startle us by their immensity. According to them, 
 the first monarch, Sammata, as well as some 23 of his succes- 
 sors, reigned an asankya each. To understand what an asanh/a 
 is, we must turn away from the numeration table ol our 
 schoolboy days, and pass onward until we have before us, 
 according to one authority, a unit followed by 140 cyphers, 
 and according to another, a unit followed by 4,000,u00 c} phers> 
 or as many as would extend 44,000 leet, in numerals ot 
 
26 
 
 the ordinary size. The Pitakas give us detailed accounts of 
 events that took place in ages a hundred thousandfold 
 more ancient than the era of this first king : but the greater 
 part of what they tell us, in relation to language, realms, 
 mountains, rivers, manners, customs, forms of government, and 
 systems of religion, is so exactly in unison with the character of 
 the period in which the writers themselves lived, that we can 
 only receive their accounts as highly magnified exaggerations 
 of the present, and not as actual and ancient occurrence. 
 We have also the same products in the animal and vegetable 
 kingdoms. There are monstrosities of fearful size and shape ; 
 but these are principally resident in other worlds. 
 
 In another department of historical notification there is 
 a partial agreement between the Pitakas and the Scriptures. 
 They commence with man in the perfection of his being and 
 present to us no rude or embryonic era. The first men were 
 possessed of supernatural endowments ; and though they lost 
 their original purity and power, they never degenerated into 
 savao-eism. But the Buddhist writers, in other statements 
 are less in consistence with known fact: as they start with 
 a series of kings, resident at Rajagaha or some other historical 
 city of India who reigned in the utmost magnificence, and were 
 possessed of magic power, so that they could summon into 
 their treasury myriads of gems by the mere clapping of 
 the hand. The earlier Vedas are here more trustworthy; 
 as the ancestors and contemporaries of the rishis are represented 
 as being nomads, hunters, cattle tenders, and fierce warriors, 
 whose stirring songs told of a migration from a colder country 
 beyond the snowy mountains. 
 
 VI. THE DELUGE. 
 
 The Noachic flood has its counterpart upon the page of 
 the Dharma ; according to the teachings of which, the mundane 
 system is destroyed, in its periodical changes, seven times 
 by fire, the eighth time by water, and the sixty-fourth by wind. 
 
 The last destruction was by fire ; after which rain began 
 to fall, first as drift, or in drops small as the dew, and last of 
 all in masses that were miles in size, until the space to which 
 many worlds extend was entirely inundated. A mighty wind 
 then arose, which agitated the surging waters of the deep, 
 until they were all evaporated, except those which form 
 the ocean and its tributaries, and fill the cavity under the earth. 
 The next destruction will be by fire; previous to which 
 a celestial being will appear in the world with streaming eyes 
 
27 
 
 an(5 a form of woe, proclaiming the nature of the coming 
 danger, thereby warning manliind, and exhorting them to avoid 
 all evilj and exercise kindness towards each other. 
 
 The deluge was an event of too terrific a character not to be 
 long remembered in the traditions of the earlier nations ; 
 and accordingly we find reference. to it in most of the ancient 
 legends that are still extant. There is not one of thsm 
 in which there is not agreement, in some detail or other, with 
 the Mosaic record. The coincidences are too numerous and, 
 definite not to have had a common origin. With the Hebrew 
 historian the flood is a part of one grand chain of historical 
 sequence, and its omission would leave other incidents, of 
 primary importance in the working out of the divine economy, 
 without an explanation. It is the chain that separates the rifts 
 that appear on both sides of the era in which it took place. 
 The events in other diluvian narratives may arise naturally 
 from the scenes presented by Moses, as many of them tend 
 to confirm and elucidate his statements. . But there is no 
 single tradition or legend that can be taken in the same way, 
 and regarded as the basis of the rest. The older record is 
 the source whence the others radiate or whence they originate ; 
 in tradition, they become the more unhistorical the further 
 they proceed from the era of Noah. 
 
 VII. LONGEVITY. 
 
 In the period to which the lives of the antediluvians were 
 prolonged, we have another fact of a character so remarkable, 
 that we may expect to meet with references to it in the archaic 
 memorials that have survived to the present time. But here, 
 again, the Buddhists have distorted possible occurrence into 
 palpable extravagance. According to their teachings, the first 
 men lived to a period that can only be equalled among ourselves 
 by some astronomical cycle or geological era, with its un- 
 fathomable milleniums. The biblical account may have been 
 recorded to prove to us, that if man in his present circumstan- 
 ces, exposed to accident and disease, as contradistinguished 
 from the time of his innocence, could live to the ao-e of 
 a thousand years, it was possible for him to have been lono-er 
 preserved from death, by a further extension of the sanative 
 and preservative power with which he was gifted, until, 
 without seeing death, he was accounted worthy of beino* 
 translated, like Enoch, to the higher home of God. 
 
 Thus, in the waters that we are told preceded the present 
 mundane economy, their gradual increase and the means by 
 
2S 
 
 which they were assuaged ; in the longevity of the first race of 
 men, and its subsequent diminution: in the warning voice 
 heard previous to the world's destruction, and in the mode 
 by which its ruin will be next effected, we have an echo, faint 
 and broken, of truths presented in the word of God. 
 As it comes to us from alar, we listen to it with interest, 
 from its illustrations of revealed occurrence: but its words are 
 too indefinite, and its sentences too unconnected, to allow 
 of our receiving them as anything further than semblances 
 of fact. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 
 
 1. THE FALL. It. INDIAN TRADITIONS. III. THE 
 COMING OF EVIL. IV. LIKENESS TO SCRIPTURE. 
 
 I, THE FALL. 
 
 An answer to the question, Whence did evil proceed ? 
 has been attempted by nearly all the sages among whom 
 the existence of evil is acknowledged. Its difficulties do not 
 affect the historical character of revelation. Evil existed before 
 the appearance of man on the earth. '' There were fallen 
 angels before there were fallen men." In the first man it was 
 a communicated taint, and not an original or inherent corruption 
 though now universally prevalent. How it originated, we are 
 not told by God ; and as man cannot penetrate into the mysteries 
 of other worlds, and is unable to explain numberless phenomena 
 in his own, we must be contented to remain without a solution 
 of the problem, unless further light is thrown upon it from some 
 supernatural source. 
 
 When the veil is uplifted that reveals to us the primeval 
 position of man, he appears before us as living in innocence ; 
 the resident in a garden in Eden, and its possessor, in which 
 all around him is " beauty to his eye or music to his ear." 
 Like all other created intelligences, he has given to him 
 certain duties that he is required to perform. For perseverance 
 in righteousness his reward will be great ; for the commission 
 of sin his punishment will be fearful. The duties imposed 
 upon him are of a two-fold character. There is something 
 that he is to do, and something that he is not to do. 
 He is to dress and keep the beautiful garden in which he walked 
 as the vicegerent of the Most High, eating of all its produce, 
 except of the fruit of one tree, which he is forbidden to touch, 
 upon pain of the forfeiture of all the privileges of his existence. 
 The happiness of this first man, Adam, and of the second self 
 whom God gave him, Eve, excited the envy of the fallen angels } 
 
30 
 
 atid their prince, Satan, tempted these privileged heing«« 
 to transgress the divine command, under the specious insinuation 
 that they would thereby become " as God," in a higher degree, 
 with the power to understand branches of knowledge now 
 unknown. Fast by the forbidden tree was another tree, 
 *' the tree of life," the eating of which may have been intended 
 as a sacramental act, as " the outward and visible sign of 
 an inward and spiritual grace." It appears to have been 
 appointed by God to be an assurance to man that the power 
 fie needed to continue in the path of righteousness would 
 be forthcoming so long as he sought it in a right spirit, and 
 to be an act of humble confession, on the part of man, of his 
 dependence upon God for every privilege he possessed. 
 It may have been in the neglect of this means of grace 
 that his first deviation from the path of duty commenced, 
 which robbed him of his strength, and prepared him for 
 the successful onslaught of his enemies ; as with the Titan of 
 Israel in the house of Delilah. But be this thought fanciful, 
 or be it not ; man listened to the subtle tempter rather than 
 o God ; the place of peril was approached ; a fruit was broken 
 tfrom the prohibited tree ; it was eaten ; then came death and 
 all our woe. 
 
 II. INDIAN TRADITIONS. 
 
 There is some agreement between the traditions of India 
 and these statements of holy writ. In our day there are many 
 men of note who seek to trace the origin of their species 
 to something as far as possible from humanity, and seem 
 to rejoice in the paternity of the ape or the gorilla. But 
 the fables that were framed in former ages looked in an entirely 
 opposite direction. Many of them represent the first men 
 as wise and pure, or as fragments of the divine essence, either 
 separated therefrom, as the water-drop from the fulness of 
 the ocean, or as appearing in a form illusory, like the reflections 
 of the sun in the multitudinous waves of the agitated lake. 
 The beings who were created by Brahma were at first endowed 
 with righteousness and perfect faith ; their hearts were without 
 guile ; they were made free from soil by the observance of 
 sacredHnstitutes. * 
 
 III. THE COMING OF EVIL. 
 
 We are informed by the Bana, that after the waters caused 
 by the rain that fell upon the earth at the commencement of 
 he present cycle (kalpa) had evaporated or subsided, there was 
 
 * Wilson's Vishnu Parana. 
 
31 
 
 everywhere darkness. In process of time, when the merit of 
 the beings inhabiting the superior heavens had become exhausted, 
 or had lost its conservative power, and could no longer secure 
 them in that high estate, they became residents in the world 
 now inhabited by men. They received their existence by 
 the apparitional birth. In a moment they came into being, 
 like the spark struck from the smitten flint, or the lightning- 
 gleam flashed across the sky in the hour of storm. There was 
 then no sun ; nor was there need of one ; as their bodies were 
 self-luminous, the light from them extending everywhere, 
 and they could rise into the air, or pass from one place to ano- 
 ther, with the swiftness of thought. The night was as the day 
 in its brightness : all seasons were alike propitious ; and happiness 
 reigned on every hand, in unbroken succession. They were 
 free from all appetite or passion ; they required no food, and 
 the distinction of sex was unknown. Thus they lived for ages 
 in the undisturbed enjoyment of existence. But there gradu- 
 ally formed upon the surface of the earth a substance like 
 the scum seen upon milk that has been boiled. It was 
 mucilaginous ; but pure as '* the virgin honey in the cell of 
 the bee." By this time the luminousness of their primitive 
 state had lost its former brightness, and they became gross 
 and partially organized. A desire for food arose ; and one of 
 the beings having applied a portion of the honey-like substance 
 to his mouth, its taste was so pleasant, that it excited the wish 
 for more ; and the stirrings of appetite, hunger and thirst, 
 were now felt. This was followed by other deteriorations 
 They had no longer an inherent lustre. As some partook more 
 eagerly than others of the grateful aliment, that had now 
 become a necessity, their skin became coarse in proportion, 
 and their colour dark. As time passed on, and the grossness 
 of the beings increased, the original substance disappeared 
 from the earth ; but in its stead a pure kind of rice was pro- 
 duced, by partaking of which the inferior apertures of 
 the body were formed, the generative powers were developed, 
 and passion and its indulgence quickly followed. The more 
 temperate preserved their lustre for a longer period ; but by 
 degrees enmity and every kind of evil came into existence, 
 like things loathsome and monstrous from the compost of 
 the fermenting cesspool.* 
 
 IV, LIKENESS TO SCRIPTURE. 
 
 By these old leo^ends the Buddhists are taug^ht that before 
 the appearance of sentient existence, " darkness covered 
 
 * Journ. Bengal As. See. 1833, p. 385. 
 
S2 
 
 the face of the deep," and, that mankind were orrginaTI)r 
 homogeneous, though not descended from one single jjareut. 
 All men were "unsoiled," free from passion and unrest. 
 Of the image of God the Dharraa knows nothing, but the lini- 
 aments it gives to man primeval are divine. It was from par- 
 taking of food that he lost his virgin purity and radiancCc 
 In many of these traditions there is a scantling of truth ; 
 a verisimilitude that contrasts favourably with the myths of 
 other systems. It is worthy of remark that the first dispute 
 that arose in the world was from a difference in colour -^ 
 and that for a long period there was an acknowledged separation 
 of the pure from the impure ; after which the lawlessness of 
 the depraved led to the formation of secular government, 
 and the appointment of an order of men who were to restrain 
 the wayward and instruct the unwise. The legends, however, 
 lack moral weight. We rise from their perusal with no hatred 
 to sin, and with no thought that a power not our own is needed 
 to replace us in our original state of high and holy privilege. 
 There is no reference as in most traditions of the far past 
 to the service of the priest, or to any one who offers sacrifice 
 or presents an atonement. As no hand of help is needed, 
 none is provided, and none sought ; but there is given to man 
 no song of triumph as in Christianity, uplifting him far above 
 all that is sad and sinful, and enabling him to cry out even 
 in the agony of the mortal struggle, " Thanks be unto. God, 
 which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 From the teachings of the Bible alone, the source of this con- 
 fidence can be learnt: and from the influence of the Holy Spirit 
 alone can its possession be secured. 
 
 ■^^>r:9-cS5^ 
 
BOOK 11. 
 
 the:person.' 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 FRE-^EXISTJeNCE. 
 
 I, TH^ XaEMB. II. THE PiyFICULTY. III. OF 
 CHRIST. IV. OP FORMER BUDDHAS. V. THE 
 PROMISE. VI. THE PERIOD. VI. THE WISH. 
 
 I. THEME. 
 
 We approach the adytum of the great theme we have 
 proposed as the principal subject of our research and elucidatioii 
 with unsandalled feet and lowly reverence, as utterly unworthy 
 to pass its threshold, or tread the crystal pavement upon which 
 the reflection of the shekina has fallen as with " the brightness 
 of the Father's glory," But we would humbly hope that He 
 who spake of Himself as *' greater than Solomon," and " greater 
 than Jonah," and of the Father Himself as " greater than all," 
 and whose inspired apostle said that *' the High Priest of our 
 profession " was " counted worthy of more glory than Moses," 
 will not regard it as an act of irreverence if we attempt to set 
 forth the glory of the Lord's Christ, as compared with 
 the character given to the reputed Buddha, whom myriads 
 ignorantly worship. 
 
 II. THE DIFFICULTY. 
 
 The diflflculty connected with the working out of the contrast 
 we propose to make, becomes the more apparent, when it ig 
 remembered that the !:!)akya Muni of modern Buddhism ia 
 a creature of the imagination alone, thvough formed, it raay be, 
 from the glimmerings of true tradition: so that the comparisoQ 
 is really between history and legend ; the facts of truth an4 
 the fictions of fancy ; between the " Word of Life/' of whom 
 the apostle John could say, '' which we have heard, wiiioh we 
 have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our 
 hands have handled," and a phantom formed from the brain of 
 
S6 
 
 ascetics musing under the palm-tree of the orient, who note 
 down dreams and attaching to them names, call their records 
 history. In all the acts we ascribe to Buddha, we must be 
 understood as speaking of what is said, rather than of that 
 which was ever done ; it is the attributed we have to deal with 
 and not the actual or proven. 
 
 III. OF CHRIST. 
 
 The first subject that claims attention in this department of 
 our investigation is connected with the dogma of pre-existence. 
 '' In the beginning was the Word," " and the Word was made 
 flesh." John i. 1, 14. Jesus said to the Jews — who asked of 
 him a sign that he had come from God, like that of the manna 
 which their fathers did eat in the desert — that he was himself 
 the bread of God, " which cometh down from heaven and giveth 
 life unto the world." And when they were startled by so bold a 
 declaration, he repeated it and said, " I came down from heaven 
 not to do Mine own will but the will of Him that sent Me." 
 He had previously announced to Nicodemus, as the shadows of 
 night hid from public exposure the shrinking Pharisee, that 
 "no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down 
 from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven." 
 John iii. 13. That he was not a celestial being, formed for 
 Bome great purpose, and after his creation sent forth from the 
 midst of ** the excellent glory," that he might perform the 
 behest of God, was clear, as he declared to the listeners in 
 the temple, *' Before Abraham was, I am ; " and when the hour 
 of his glorification drew nigh, in prayer presented before the 
 eternal throne he said, " O, Father, glorify Me with thine own 
 self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world 
 was." John xvii. 5. We hereby learn that Jesus Christ is 
 " the Lord from heaven," and we are told by St. Paul, that he 
 is " the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Heb. xiii. 8. 
 
 IV. OF FOKMER BUDDHAS. 
 
 As regards existence, Sakya Muni possessed no privilege 
 that is not equally the heritage of all sentient beings. No 
 beginning can be discovered to any person or thing in which 
 there is the principle of life. According to the more definite 
 teachings of Buddha himself, the life that now is never existed 
 before. Indeed, strictly speaking, he admits of no ego ; 
 no self or soul ; but in referring to the past, the Muni, incon- 
 sistently with his other deliverances, makes use of the language 
 common to other systems, and says that in former ages he hiui" 
 self, or bome other individual being did certain specified acts. 
 
There have been former Buddhas, but there can be no first 
 Buddha. Beings that are to become Buddhas always existed, 
 and always will. When manifested, they differ in age, stature 
 and caste ; but there is no dissidence in the doctrines they teach. 
 In some ages (kalpa) there have been four Buddhas ; in others 
 more, and in some only one ; but in the present more favoured 
 age there will be five, of whom Sakya Muni was the fourth, 
 and another, who will be called Maitri, has yet to come. 
 By Hodgson the names of 14o Buddhas are given; but he tells 
 us that on one occasion the Muni spoke of 800,000,000 different 
 Buddhas, by all of whom he had himself been instructed. 
 It is frequently affirmed that all knowledge of the Buddhas 
 who existed previously to the last manifestation had passed 
 away ; and that all we can now know about them is from 
 the revelations of the sage himself; but these statements are 
 inconsistent with recorded facts, and with other parts of the 
 system. It was a favourite exercise of Sakya Muni to tell 
 the story of former Buddhas, or to listen to a similar recital 
 from the lips of his principal disciples. 
 
 V. THE PROMISE. 
 
 When compared with the wild assertions of the Dharma in 
 relation to the acts of Sakya Muni and other Buddhas in 
 former states of existence, there is a sobriety, consistency, and 
 grandeur of purpose, in the revelations of the Bible connected 
 with the existence of Christ, before the incarnation that 
 at once commands our sympathy, and our confidence in it 
 as a record of truth. There is on these subjects, a marked 
 reticence in the teachings of our Lord, and we notice the same 
 kind of reserve in the writings of the prophets and apostles. 
 Yet the apostle Peter speaks of Christ as " being foreordained 
 before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these 
 last times." 1 Peter, i. 20 ; and he is spoken of by St. John 
 as " the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world." 
 Rev. xiii. 8. It were little to tell the church that God foreknew, 
 or foreordained, the sacrifice of the cross, as " known unto God 
 are all his works from the benrinnino^ of the world." Acts. xv. 
 16; and we must, therefore, conclude that the reference is 
 to solemn and formal occasion, when it was first made known 
 to the hierarchies of heaven, that a Redeemer \vould be pro- 
 vided for man; who was as yet uncreated, but in after ages 
 to be formed in the divine likeness, and then to fall from liis 
 first estate. This conclusion is confirmed by a passage in 
 the fortieth Psalm, ver. 7, where we learn from a vision of 
 heaven that a Redeemer was sought for man, but none was 
 found, until '* the everlasting Son oi the Father " said, "' La, 
 
Sl8 
 
 I come, to do Thy will, O Grod," Heb. x. T, and then the pro- 
 mise was written in the volume of the booi: and remained as 
 one of the great traditions of the celestial host. There are 
 other passages in the Psalms, xiv 6, ex. 4, in which the Son 
 is represented as being addressed by the Father, and the dignity 
 of the priestly office he has to assume acknowledged. We have 
 the authority of St. Paul for affirming that the divine Person 
 here spoken of is the Lord's Christ. — Heb i. 8: v. 6. Before 
 the song was heard in the riven sky above the hill side where 
 the shepherds of Bethlehem fed their flocks, the angel Jehovah 
 had appeared to the ancient dwellers in the same land, 
 as the Messenger of the Covenant ; and we learn from Malachi, 
 iii. 1, that the Messenger was manifested as Jesus Christ, 
 *■' whose goings forth have been from of old^ from the days of 
 eternity." Micah v 2. We are only permitted to see these 
 things now " through a glass, darkly, and must wait for 
 the hour of a revelation. We know enough to give us an in- 
 structive, insight into *' the analogy of faith ; " but the vain 
 curiosity is repressed that would seek to intrude further into 
 this mystic region. 
 
 VI. THE PERIOD. 
 
 Guided by the voice of the Scriptures, we acknowledge 
 the proper and perfect divinity of Jesus Christ, that he is 
 *' over all, God blessed for ever," "from everlasting to ever- 
 lasting " But here as elsewhere, when away from the record, 
 we enter upon questions connected with infinity and eternity, 
 we are at once in mazes lost ; wandering away in the dark, 
 with no object before us upon which the mind can rest; as if 
 we realized nonentity, and yet lived. We can think; but our 
 thoughts seem incapable of being conveyed in the definite 
 terms of speech. Words lose their meaning, and we can only 
 utter them with the consciousness that what we say is unreal. 
 As we thus reflect, we are prompted to ask, " When did it first 
 enter into the mind of God to resolve upon providing a ransom 
 for mankind?" But eternity knows no "■ when " There is 
 no answer to our question ; there can be none. We may be 
 able to tell why the advent of " Him who was to come," 
 the promised One, was delayed so many thousand years. 
 History presents reasons why the incarnation should have been 
 at th ' particular period when it actually took place It was 
 " the fullness of time," the era spoken of as " the ends of 
 the world," as to its mediatorial economy ; the parenthesis when 
 the separated nations were made to run into each other by the 
 fusion of conquest, so as to form one grand and far extended 
 realm, with a unity of pursuit and purpose that the world 
 
Jiad never prevlDUfily seen. But ae to the reason why our earth 
 was created "in the beginning" and not before, or at what time 
 there was the first annunciation of God's love for his creature, 
 man, or under what circumstances the thought of providing 
 an atonement for him was formed in the divine mind ; these are 
 mysteries that we are without the means of explaining, as we 
 have no access to the records of heaven, and the way of the 
 Infinite is hid from finite comprehension. It is sufficient for us 
 to know that we have the oath of God to assure us that He has 
 '* no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked 
 turn from his way and live." Ezek. xxxiii. 11 ; and that " God 
 so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that 
 whosoever belie^eth in Him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life" John iii. 16. 
 
 VII. THE WISH. 
 
 The more dreamy seems here to be the more definite ; 
 but it is only in appearance. Were we able to form characters 
 upon the face of the blue sky, as it extends in its vastness 
 from horizon to horizon, it would be possible to calculate, 
 from the given data on the myriads of ages that elapsed 
 between the period when a sentient being in one of the worlds 
 then existing, after their own manner, formed the resolution to 
 enter upon the course that would end in his becoming a supreme 
 Buddha, and the night in which this wish was realized, under 
 a bo-tree in the Indian forest. According to the Pitakas, when 
 the world has entered upon a period in which wickedness 
 universally prevails, there are none to pass after death into 
 the superior heavens, and they become comparatively empty, 
 as their former inhabitants, from their appointed term of resi- 
 dence in these having expired, have migrated to other states of 
 existence. Long ages ago, one of the dwellers therein, finding 
 the universe in this position, and knowing that no one but 
 a Buddha could bring to it the hope of deliverance, looked 
 everywhere for the intelligence who would be most likely 
 to become an aspirant for the office ; and when he had discovered 
 the being for whom he sought, he awoke within him a feeling 
 of pity for the erring and the helpless, and then the thought of 
 becoming their deliverer. The act that attracted attention 
 towards this being was one that bespoke strong affection as well 
 as the possession of much courage and determined resolution. 
 He and his mother were wrecked in a storm at sea, when 
 the future Buddha, supporting his parent, swam towards 
 the shore, amidst sharks and other monsters, by which he 
 succeeded in saving her life. This was the period when he 
 first formed the wish to become "the teacher of the three worlds." 
 
40 
 
 This wish was cherished during the successive existence of 
 123,000, Buddhas. There was then the expression of the wish 
 during the existence of 387,000 Buddhas ; after which he 
 received an assurance from the twenty-four Buddhas who sub- 
 sequently appeared that he would be their successor. 
 
 These periods appear to have no foundation in fact. They 
 are not astronomical cycles, nor are they the exaggeration of 
 a series of historical eras. They are purely imaginary ; but 
 the vast and marvellous extent of time that they shadow forth 
 adds to the reverence with which the Buddhists regard the sage 
 in whose words they place their religious trust, as they suppose 
 him to have been seeking, during all this incomprehensible 
 period, the benefit of sentient existence. 
 
 c »^^<ggj^e^ ^ ■ 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PURPOSE AND PREPARATION. 
 
 I. TRANSGRESSION. 11. THE ATONEMENT. 
 III. SAKYA muni's previous BIRTHS AND 
 THEIR INFLUENCE. IV. THE CONTRAST. 
 
 I. TRANSGRESSION. 
 
 There came disorder into the universe when there came 
 the existence of sin. The time must have been when " God 
 saw everything," without exception or limit, *' that He had 
 made, and behold it was very good." In every part of creation, 
 all was then subjectively pure and objectively beautiful. 
 The manner of the worlds first marring or the time when, 
 we are not told ; but it is the divine decree, co-extensive with 
 intelligent creation, that " the soul that sinneth shall die." 
 By a strong anthropomorphism, the Lord represents himself as 
 grieved when his creatures commit iniquity ; *•' grieved at His 
 heart " The particular circumstances connected with the ante- 
 mundane rebellion have not been revealed ; but we are permitted 
 to learn something of its terrible consequences. The '* ever- 
 lasting fire " was " prepared for the devil and his angels." 
 Matt. XXV. 41. " The angels which kept not their first estate, 
 but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting 
 chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." 
 Jude. 6. Yet never, for a moment, has the song of the sera- 
 phim been intermitted, " Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts ; " 
 and if we could learn the whole of the events connected with 
 the expulsion of the fallen angels from heaven, we should 
 doubtless see that the love ot God was throughout as clearly- 
 displayed as the righteousness of God, and that their punish- 
 ment is as just as that of finally impenitent men. 
 
42 
 
 il. THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 There are difficulties involved in the remission of sin, 
 without an infringement of the justice of God. If possible 
 at all, it must be in some manner consistent with reverence 
 for the divine authority. The majesty of the divine law has 
 to be asserted ; and '' the wrath of God " appeased. The par- 
 don of the transgressor cannot be by a simple gratuitous act ; 
 nor can it be by an all-comprehensive amnesty. From neither of 
 these courses could man on earth have learnt *' the exceeding 
 sinfulness of sin ;" and other intelligences, from man's impunity, 
 might have been tempted to commit iniquity, thoughtlessly, 
 and fearlessly, under the supposition that no evil of permanent 
 consequence would follow. Nor can the present or the future 
 atone for the past, when even perfection of service is no more 
 than is rightfully required. But in the appointment and 
 acceptance of an atonement of infinite worth, when the iniqui- 
 ties of us all were laid by the divine hand upon Jesus Christ ; 
 when the sword that was awoke by the Lord of Hosts was 
 uplifted against the fellow of the Lord of Hosts ^ when, in 
 the hour of His utmost agony, with His sweat, as great drops 
 of blood falling to the ground, He still said, " Thy will be 
 done " ; it was seen that a plan had been devised, and its purpose 
 accomplished, by which God could be " faithful and just 
 to forgive us our sins : " and the same infinitely gracious act 
 became at once the greatest proof of the divine holiness, and 
 of God's earnestness of desire that man should be saved. 
 By tne atonement of the Son, the love of the Father was not 
 increased in any degree : but through its influence it became 
 possible for the triune Lord God, without the infringement of 
 any of the divine attributes, leaving them still in the infinity of 
 their perfection, to offer pardon to all men, who will accept it 
 upon the terms on which it can now be righteously presented. 
 
 III. SAKYA muni's PREVIOUS BIRTHS 
 AND THEIR INFLUENCE. 
 
 Though Buddhism has no right understanding of the guilt 
 of sin, in the antecedents given to Sakya Muni it confesses 
 the necessity of some power not in the possession of ordinary 
 mortriis before man can learn the way of release from the con- 
 se>|uence of his acts. It offers no help that will impart strength 
 in weakness, but it professes to give instruction to the ignorant 
 and the word of guidance to those who err. 
 
 From the time of his call to the Buddhaship incomprehensi- 
 bly distant, until his appearance in Magadha, Sakya Muni, 
 
43 
 
 in each of the myriad existences through which he passer!, 
 excelled in one or other of the ten primary virtues — alms- 
 giving, obedience, abandonment of the world, instruction of 
 the ignorant, courage, forbearance, truthfulness, resolution, 
 kindness, or equanimity. Many hundreds of stories are given 
 in proof of his fulfilment of these obligations. In illustration 
 of his kindness, it is said that he sacrificed himself so many 
 times, in his various births, in order to become food for hungry 
 lions, tigers, and demons, and thus prevent them from perishing; 
 that he gave for this purpose more eyes than there are stars 
 in the heavens, more blood than there is water in the four 
 oceans, and more flesh than there is earth in all the continents 
 of the world. In the Chariya Pitaka, in which he gives 
 an account of his previous states of existence, he relates 
 the story of numerous instances of alms-giving, in one of 
 which he collected the sticks, kindled a fire, and cooked himself 
 that he might give his skin, flesh, tendons, and bones to be 
 eaten. At the conclusion he says, *' All this was done^ that I 
 might become a Buddha" In his penultimate birth, he 
 resigned his kingdom with all its treasures and retired to the 
 forest, when he gave his own children in alms to an ascetic 
 who asked them from him ; and this was only a repetition of 
 what he had done in other states of existence. These tales 
 may be read with interest, as eastern stories, or as illustrating 
 the manner and customs of former times in India, and some of 
 them may be founded on actual occurrence ; but in the greater 
 portion we can discover neither aim nor instructivencps. 
 
 To uphold the dignity of the Buddha throughout these births, 
 we are told that he never existed as an insect, or as any small 
 or insignificant animal: nor was he ever defective in any of 
 the senses, or subject to any loathsome disease- nor was he eyer 
 a sceptic: the greater sins he always avoided: and he was never 
 a sprite or a demon. 
 
 In the earliest of the mystic ages in which Sakya Muni is 
 made to appear as an individual personage, he might have 
 attained Nirvana, and thus have secured freedom from all 
 sorrow and suffering for ever: but out of pity for the various 
 orders of sentient existence, that he might by his teachings 
 release them from the misery to which they are subjected by 
 repeated births, he voluntarily chose to remain in the stream of 
 continued existence, and still to live, and migrate from form 
 to form. But he always avoided being born in any world 
 where his stay would have had to be prolonged, or in which 
 there would be no opportunity for the exercise of the virtues 
 that must unceasingly be exerted by one who aspires to 
 the Buddhaship. It was usually in the world of men that he 
 appeared, though not always as a human being. 
 
44 
 
 There can be no attainment of Nirvana, except by an atten- 
 tion to the truths revealed by a Buddha. After long intervals, 
 regularly and necessarily recurring, a time arrives when, 
 through the perversity of all the sentient beings then in 
 existence, ignorance begins everywhere to prevail, and all 
 rememberance of the truths that have been taught by the 
 Buddhas is lost. It is the great object of a postulant for the 
 Buddhaship to gain the power that will enable him to recover 
 the knowledge that has thus perished. This is all that he can 
 effect in behalf of those whom he seeks to benefit. He can 
 impart no grace: but he can point out to them the path by 
 which they may successfully seek its equivalent. He is, in no 
 sense, man's substitute or atonement : but he proclaims to him 
 the peril attendant upon acts of demerit, and the advantage of 
 following an opposite course. The most precious distinction 
 that he can arrive at is, that he may become a guide to the path 
 by which final release may be gained from all that is connected 
 with 'Mmpermanency, sorrow, and unreality." To secure this 
 high position he passes through existences numberless, in many 
 of which his privations and sufferings are of the most appalling 
 kind : but he willingly submits even to the most painful, with 
 expressions of satisfaction and joy, from the prospect presented 
 to him of ultimately becoming the unerring revealer of the 
 paths that lead to rest. 
 
 The entire character of the course predicated of Sakya 
 Muni in his pre-existent state is an instructive comment on 
 the Buddhistic ideas of the helplessness of man as a moral 
 agent. It is strongly illustrative of the unrest under which 
 all live, who are of woman born, and of their earnest longing 
 for a state of repose. Whilst the necessity of an atonement 
 by substitution is unacknowledged, the thought itself runs 
 through the whole tissue of the wondrous fable: and as it is 
 seen that no intelligence, according to the principles assumed, 
 can perform so great a work as to render him, worthy to present 
 a sacrifice that would avail for the salvation of others, this lack 
 is sought to be supplied by multiplied repetition of wise and 
 virtuous acts, that, when taken se})arately, would be confessed- 
 ly inadequate for the purpose, but when presented in the 
 mighty aggregate seem to have an excellence beyond all 
 possible estimate. The conception is one of the noblest ever 
 formed in the heathen mind, that a sentient being should 
 voluntarily suffer during myriads of ages for the sake of 
 misguided men. But when we remember that it is a mere 
 phantasy, we can only admire the inventiveness of the imagina- 
 tion whence it sprang, and acknowledge how tnuch there is 
 about it that wouhl socni- il it were a reality, to meet the great 
 desiderata of a wailinn" universe. 
 
45 
 
 IV. THE CONTRAST. 
 
 In the Son of God there was all the pity for man that by the 
 Dharma is falsely attributed to Buddha. With the divine 
 Kedeemer there was no actual suffering until the time of hi;? 
 reception of the manhood, but there was a perfection of fore- 
 sight in relation to all that was afterwards to be endured that 
 no finite mind can comprehend. The victim reeking upon 
 the patriarchal altar was a frequent remembrance presented 
 before the throne, of the promise made previous to the founda- 
 tian of the world. The command given to the man of God 
 to offer up his only son, in the same region in which the real 
 sacrifice was afterwards to be slain ; the inspired words he was 
 enabled to speak, at the most painful moment of his trial, 
 "The Lord will provide;" the service of the priesthood, 
 constantly presented in the tabernacle ; the burden of such 
 Psalms as the twenty-second, sung daily in the temple ; and 
 the revelations of the prophets, more ^particularly of Isaiah 
 terribly graphic, in which there is a crowded grouping of the 
 the scenes of agony, through which the Redeemer would have 
 to pass in his last hours, were all significant in their utterance, 
 and seemed to repeat unceasingly the word of troth spoken 
 to the Father, " Lo, I come." Tiie glorious character of the 
 Mediator, the infinity of the distance between Him who came 
 and thoi=G for whom he came; the groatness of the antecedent 
 abnegation, when He who possessed the riches of the universe, 
 *' emptied Himself " and became poor, a homeless wanderer, 
 that the rebels against His authority, " through His poverty 
 might be rich- ' the unutterable anguish that He endured when 
 there was wrung from His dying lips, in this hour of darkness, 
 the mysterious exclamation, '•'' My God, My God, why hast 
 Thou forsaken Me?" bring home tons, since Christ came, 
 in still clearer and brighter characters, the limitless grandeur 
 of the heart-solacing truth, " God is Love," and illustrate the 
 constraining activity and indomitable strength of our Lord's 
 merciful resolve to accomplish the salvation of the world. 
 
 0>^^i(?^Xi>^=»^^ 
 
CHAPTER III.* 
 
 THE INCARNATION. 
 
 Whatever may have been the origin of the thought, there 
 can be no doubt that there was a wide-spread expectation, 
 about the time of the advent of Jesus Christ, that some great 
 King was about to arise in the east who would attain to 
 universal dominion. The first intimation of the near approach 
 of this event was in the appearance of the angel Gabriel 
 to the aged Zachariah, as he was exercising the priest's office in 
 the temple at Jerusalem He was told that his wife Elizabeth 
 would bear a son at whose birth many would rejoice as he 
 would " go before (the Lord their God} in the spirit and power 
 of Elias " Six months afterwards, the same angel appeared 
 to Mary, a virgin then resident at Nazareth, in humble 
 circumstances, though of the royal house of David, from whom 
 she learnt that without knowing man, through the agency of 
 the Holy Ghost, she would conceive and bring forth a son, 
 and that because of " the overshadowing of the power of 
 the Highest," He who was to be born of her should be called 
 the Son of God. 
 
 These are the more important of the circumstances that 
 have been revealed concerning the miraculous conception. 
 The manner in which the virgin became a mother is thus told 
 us in terms the most unaffected ; and yet they are sufficiently 
 precise to assure us of the fulfihnent of the prophecy which 
 foretold that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's 
 head. Gen iii. 15, Through the veil of purity that invested 
 Mary, we are permitted to mark her entire submissiveness to 
 the will of God, as she timidly, but trustfully, listens to the 
 strange words spoken to her by the messenger from heaven, 
 
 * From this chapter the headings of paragraphs are not inserted 
 in the MS. 
 
47 
 
 The scene of the annunciation has called forth the utmost skill 
 of some of the noblest painters that the world ever produced; 
 but we are perplexed by the multitude of their Madonnas ; 
 and there is an image revealed to the thoughtful soul that sur- 
 passes in gentle grace and calm dignity, the most successful 
 product of the easel 
 
 " When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His 
 Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them 
 that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of 
 sons." Gal. iv. 4. The Scriptural record of the birth of Christ 
 is too quiet and unpretending to be an invention. "There 
 were shepherds abiding in the fields keeping watch over their 
 flocks by night." The pasture-ground of these favoured men 
 was nigh to " Bethlehem, the city of David." It might be, 
 that they had been conversing together on the extreme beauty 
 of the words written by one who had there kept a similar 
 night-watch in the days of his youth ; and of the glorious 
 scenes that he had afterwards been permitted to sketch, under 
 the guidance of the Holy Sf)irit, in relation to the King who 
 *' shall deliver the needy when he crieth ; the |X)or also, and 
 him that hath no helper: " and when their hearts were full 
 of rapture at the joyous thought, they may have broken out 
 into holy song, and made the hills around re-echo with 
 the concluding words of the same Psalm, in which is presented 
 the uttermost wish-thought of a devout spirit. " Let the whole 
 earth be filled with His glory " They might have heard 
 the common report that the Messiah was to be expected about 
 this time ; and have remembered the prophecy that he was 
 to be born in their own land, and have said to each other, 
 "How glorious if it were now!" Suddenly, there was with 
 the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and 
 saying, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
 good will to men " On the departure of the celestial visitants, 
 the shepherds came to Bethlehem, where they found the new- 
 born Child, lying in a manger, '* because there was no room 
 for them in the inn." This was "Christ, the Lord." The 
 inspired physician who pens this narrative, does it with 
 the same calmness as that with which he writes out the tabulated 
 genealogy of our Lord. We are led by it to infer that not 
 a single inhabitant of the adjacent city was awoke by the song, 
 and that no warden keeping watch on the towers of Jerusalem, 
 saw the angelic glory. The entire spirit of the scene is thus 
 in strong contrast with the record of the spurious gospels; and 
 with the events said to have been connected with the birth of 
 nearly all the personages of fiction to whom divinity is ascribed. 
 
48 
 
 It IB regarded an e.*?(ential, that the Biiddhas possess 
 the human nature, and that they be of woman-born. Other- 
 wise, the marvellous acts that they perform might be attributed 
 to an influence that they share in common with celestial 
 intelligences. They would then be looked on as deities 
 inheriting supernatural power by means of their divine origin, 
 and not as beings who have attained to perfection in wisdom 
 and supremacy in power, by a long course of noble and vir- 
 tuous deeds. It was thought that by the accomplishment of 
 the unparallelled course through which he had passed, Sakya 
 Muni had acquired the right to become an authoritative 
 teacher, superseding and setting aside, all other instructors. 
 It was this alleged superiority, that was supposed to give men 
 an assurance that the faith they exercise in the Dharma he 
 taught rests upon an immovable basis. 
 
 The preparation for the final birth of Buddha was witnessed 
 by the residents of the heaven in which he lived rather than 
 by men upon earth. Like the dew resting upon the smooth 
 stem of a tree in the forest, his body was seen to exude 
 moisture, and the ornaments of his person began to fade and 
 become dim. At an auspicious moment, he left his place in 
 heaven, and entered the human world as the child of Suddho- 
 dana and Maya, the king and queen of Kapilavastu, a city of 
 Northern India, the exact site of which has not been ascertained. 
 There are many statements in the native books, the tendency 
 of which is, to suggest the idea of the virginity of the beautiful 
 Maya at the time of his birth, and it is said that seven days 
 afterwards she died. This notion is strongly insisted on by 
 the Mongols,* but it is not taught explicitly by the southern 
 Buddhists or by the Tibetans It must have prevailed more 
 generally in the fifth century, as Jerome says, that Buddha 
 was believed to have been born of a virgin, and to have come 
 from his mother's side. 
 
 Though the character of Maya is presented to us as spotless, 
 and she is invested with every feminine attribute that can 
 command respect, and all the glory that the oriental imagination 
 can invent is thrown around her, she has no place among 
 the objects of worship received by the Buddhists. They have 
 too much veneration for the sage through whom they seek 
 to be taught the way of truth, to share his honour even with 
 
 • Schmidt quoting a Mongol legend says, " // ejif7-a, sous la 
 forme cfun rayon de lumiere de cinq couleurs, dans le sein de la 
 reine Maha Mdya.^'' Foe Koue Ki, 2'1'6 
 
49 
 
 tills most virtuous of women, whom they compare to "the 
 ^Msket that has held the most precious jewel that ever dazzled 
 the vision of men " This may partly arise from the low estimate 
 in which women are regarded in almost every part of the east; 
 but in this abstinence they have shewn more discretion and 
 greater })ropriety than the Greek and Latin churches, by whom 
 Mary, r( orarded with a morbid feeling, in which sensuousness 
 and superstition equally mingle, is worshipped as the queen of 
 heaven. When the predicted outpouring of the Spirit shall 
 come, the Mariolatry of this and preceding ages will be con- 
 templated with the utmost astonishment and indignation. 
 
 The moment of the assumption of humanity by Buddha 
 was marked by the appearance of a light that illumined all 
 worlds, and by many wonders still more incredible. Until 
 his birth, Brahma and other deities kept watch around 
 the couch of his mother. At the end of the appointed months, 
 when on the way to visit the home ot her parents, who resided 
 at a city not far distant, she resolved to rest during the heat of 
 the day in a pleasant garden, through which she had to pass; 
 and whilst in this place, listening to the hum of bees and 
 inhaling the fragrance of numberless flowers, her son, Sakya 
 Muni, was born A friendly tree bent its boughs around her, 
 and formed a screen that hid her from the observation of her 
 attendants; and the future sage was brought forth in purity 
 and without pain. The prince of the deities, Brahma, received 
 the long-hoped-for child upon a golden net-w^ork. By him 
 the precious treasure was delivered to the divine guardians of 
 the four qnarters, and by them to the nobles of the palace, 
 who gave him to the royal nurses. The Muni at once stepped 
 upon the ground, and after looking in every direction, said 
 " I am the most exalted in the world: I am chief in the world: 
 I am the most excellent in the world: hereafter, I shall not 
 receive another birth," When presented by the king to his 
 chief counsellor, that aged minister worshipped him, and 
 declared his future greatness. 
 
 As thus presented, the advent of Sakya Muni can have few 
 parallels among other incarnations. It was not an avatar^ like 
 that of the Hindu gods These became men, and walked 
 the earth, still retaining their divinity, though they appeared 
 for a time under another guise ; and when the purpose had been 
 fulfilled for which they visited our world, they returned to 
 their former position. But it is not thus with the Buddhas. 
 When they die, their being ceases; they have no further 
 existence ; the voice of the instructor is thenceforth silent 
 lor ever. 
 
60 
 
 It has been supposed that the idea of incarnation is so familiar 
 to the Hindus, that they are prepared at once to receive 
 the teaching of Scripture, that " God was manifest in the flesh ; '* 
 but the missionaries tell us that they are sometimes asked by 
 the natives, *' How could God become incarnate ? "* From 
 tliis it would seem that we have been much mistaken as to 
 the form in which this mystery appears to the Hindu mind, 
 and have transferred to them our own notions upon the subject, 
 founded vipon revelation. We have been wrong in applying 
 to these the precision of cultivated thought. As regards all 
 psychological speculation, there is vagueness in their minds, 
 connected with impressions that to us appear utterly childish. 
 Naturalness, or congruity of sequence, forms no part of their 
 dialectics. Among mankind, the sex may be changed, even 
 in adult life, from the male to the female and from the female 
 (to the male. Nagas, whose proper shape is that of the serpent, 
 may assume the human form, and procreate children by human 
 mothers. Among the gods, one deity may have a multiplicity 
 of forms at the same time, as in the case of the five Pandavas, 
 who were said by the sage Vyasa to be five incarnations of 
 India, " and consequently the same as one man."t But 
 the acts attributed to the gods are, in many instances, reduced 
 to a seeming, and are not regarded as a reality even by the 
 chroniclers of their deeds. 
 
 Whilst the Buddhists are anxious, for the reasons they assign, 
 to prove the humanity of Sakya Muni, there ha\e been 
 heresiarchs in the church who have taught, less wisely, that 
 the human nature of our Lord was in appearance only, his 
 body not having a real existence ; so that he had divinity 
 without humanity, and did not possess a human soul. It was 
 in reference to a similar error that the apostle John said, 
 *' Many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not 
 that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and 
 an antichrist." 2 John. 7. The heterodox notion arose from 
 the belief that all matter is inherently and necessarily connected 
 with contamination But the church is taught that Jesus Christ 
 is '* perfect man," as well as " perfect God ; " " of a reasonable 
 soul and human flesh subsisting;" and that "two whole and 
 perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and the manhood 
 were joined together in one person, never to be divided, 
 whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man." Unless 
 
 * Chronicle of the London Missionary Society, 1867: 
 t Wheeler's Maha Bharata, 134. 
 
51 
 
 we receive this doctrine in its unbroken simplicity, that the 
 divine Logos was made flesh, a great part both of the Old 
 Testament and the New is without meaning, and we are 
 **yet in our sins." It was because the blood that was shed 
 for our redemption was the blood of man, human blood in 
 which was human life, that it became a homoousian substitute 
 for mankind ; and it was because the same blood, through the 
 hypostatic union, was '^ the blood of God " (or as some readings 
 say, of the Lord), that on being shed it became a sacrifice 
 of infinite worth and unlimited efficacy. In the humanity 
 perfect, in the Divinity equally perfect, our Redeemer was 
 nevertheless one Christ; so that in the union of the two natures 
 there is neither confusion nor conversion ; though there is one 
 volition, manifested in perfect oneness of operation. The 
 manner of this union we cannot explain, as we cannot explain 
 how the body and soul form one man. 
 
 ' — -<^'s^^:fe^«=^.-— =» 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE EARLY LIFE. 
 
 We are again reminded, by the absence of all extravagance 
 in the records we receive from the sacred historians, that we 
 are still called upon to deal with the realities of sober troth, 
 and not with the fancies of the poet or the sensational incidents- 
 of romance. We are simply told of the child Jesus, in addition 
 to the visit of the shepherds, that Plerod, the king, sought his 
 life; he was circumcised, and received a name descriptive of his 
 office and work ^ he was presented in the temple, when tlie 
 venerable Simeon was there, who was " waiting tor the conso- 
 lation of Israel *, " wise men from the further east offered to 
 him gifts, consisting of gold, frankincense, and myrrh ; he and 
 his mother were taken to Egypt, that they might be safe from 
 the murderous designs of the crime-haunted monarch ^ he dvveU 
 in a city called Nazareth ^ he ''grew and waxed strong in spirit, 
 filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him." 
 There is here no straining after effect ; no detail of prodigies 
 attendant upon the youth of w^hom so high a destiny had beea 
 predicted. Nearly every incident we have named might have 
 occurred to any peasant of the same land. Assuring dreams, 
 the appearance of a star, and the message and song of the 
 heavenly host, are the only events of a }turely supernatural 
 character. At an early age the word of God must have been 
 his constant study. We know that he read and wrote ; and 
 when, at twelve years of age, he sat in the temple, in the midst 
 of the doctors, " both hearing them and asking questions," we 
 are certain, from the place of the assembly, from the known 
 studies of the learned men, whom he encountered, and his own 
 character, that the questions lie himself asked, whatever might 
 be the form of those he was called upon to answer, were 
 founded upon subjects connected with his '' Father's business," 
 the elevated nature of which he had learnt from the fountain of 
 inspiration. The teachei-s of the east did not confine themselves 
 
5S 
 
 to the formal address of the lecture room. They were readv 
 to meet all comers in the arena of controversy ; and in propor- 
 tion to the readiness and skill exhibited on these occasions was 
 the renown of the rabbi or the pundits. The only thing in the 
 position taken by Christ, that would appear to be out of the 
 usual course, would arise from his youth, and from the wisdom 
 shewn in the answers he gave ; which would be the more marked, 
 from the contrast they presented to the platitudes and puerili- 
 ties of which the Mishna and the Talmud were afterwards the 
 perfected efflorescence. 
 
 At this time, it was the custom of Jesus to attend the reli- 
 gious festivals appointed in the law : and we are told that he 
 was '* subject to them," i. e. his parents, to Joseph as well as 
 to Mary. The great lesson of " obedience " that he had to 
 learn, and by which he was made " made perfect," had already 
 commenced, to be carried on and consummated in the more 
 terrible discipline of a later period, when '' he offiered up 
 prayers, and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto 
 Him that was able to save him from death." Increasing alike 
 *' in wisdom and stature," or age, helikia, with the increase of 
 bodily strength there was an increase also in the capacity and 
 power of the mind, and in its endowments. From the question, 
 *^ Is not this the carpenter ? " asked in "• his own country," by 
 those who must have known him well, we may suppose that he 
 had personally worked by the side of Joseph's bench ; unless 
 it were a kind of caste name that was given him, in reference 
 to the trade of his reputed father rather than to labour wrought 
 out by his own hand. The favour with which he was regarded 
 by God rested upon him in an increasing degree, to be more 
 openly manifested at a later period of his life, when, amidst 
 a radiance that overpowered the senses of the disciples that 
 were with him, so that they wist not what they spake, the voice 
 of the Father said, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
 well pleased." 
 
 The increase of favour was not only with God, but " with 
 man." From this expression we receive an instructive insight 
 into the manner of the life of Jesus whilst resident at Nazareth. 
 
 It was in perfect contrast to that of John. We read not 
 that the son of Zechariah w^as ever called a craftsman, nor have 
 we any hint that he ever engaged in manual labour or learnt 
 any art ^ though this course was then customary even among 
 the Jews that were brought up to the study of the law. 
 " Pie was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel." 
 Wandering in solitude; living on locusts that he might catch 
 with his own hand as " they marched every one on his own way," 
 
54 
 
 without breaking their ranks, and on honey that he gathered 
 from the cleft of the rock near which he lay as the jackal 
 prowled around \ and clothed in a rough dark garment of 
 camel's hair, he was regarded by the people with awe ; and as 
 they whispered to each other of his strange ways, they said, 
 " He hath a devil." On the other hand, Jesus Christ lived 
 in the midst of the domestic circle, probably working at a trade, 
 and he frequented the synagogue on the sabbath. From what 
 travellers have told us of the locality we may fancy ourselves 
 tracing his footsteps We now see him at the door of the 
 carpenter's d\velling, with the sacred scroll in his hand, which 
 he attentively reads, as the turtle-dove murmurs, and the breeze 
 rustles, among the fronds of the palm-tree above him, or the 
 shades of evening throw around the sombre olive-trees growing 
 near an air of still deeper pensivness : we now watch him as 
 he treads the bank of the mountain rill, which trickles and 
 foams in its hurried rushing toward the cultivated plain of 
 Esdrailon •, and we now accompany him as his eye glances over 
 the rich and varied scenery that is commanded by many a spot 
 within an easy walk from the gate of Nazareth. By all he is 
 regarded with respect ; and the more pious of the neighbours 
 look -on him with bright anticipations of an undefined future. 
 And yet there are evidences of deep thoughtfulness, and the 
 foreshadowing of that look of sadness which was seen in still 
 greater sorrow when " his visage was marred more than any 
 man," and they who saw him " did esteem him stricken, smitten 
 of God, and afflicted." But in the midst of all this subdued- 
 ness of manner, there was so much gentleness and goodness, 
 so strong an attractiveness in the way of his every-day life, 
 that though it must have been known among the other villages 
 that there awaited him some high and important place in the 
 kingdom of God, so far from envy being at this time excited, 
 or a spirit of jealousy aroused, we have evidence that he was 
 regarded with favour by the dwellers in this secluded nook of 
 Galilee. He had favour with man, as well as with God, and 
 in that favour there was an increase day by day. 
 
 We have prolix accounts of the childhood and youth of 
 Sakya Muni ; but all that is said of his early life, is so essen- 
 tially different to the picture presented of Christ by the 
 evangelists, and is in itself so unhistorical and untruthful, that 
 we should hesitate to notice it at all, were it not that the scenes 
 of Nazareth are not only dissimilar, in their entire voice and 
 vision, from the acts ascribed to the prince of Magadha, 
 but also in perfect contrast, we repeat, with what is told us of 
 any other person who has founded a religion or become an object 
 
55 
 
 of worship; so that were the facts given in connexion with 
 the early biography of Jesus placed side by side with any of 
 the legends to which we refer, it would at once be seen, 
 without any collateral argument, which is the record of truth. 
 The future Buddha was nursed by a thousand princesses. 
 The architect of the gods prepared for him a magnificent 
 bath. When five months old, he sat in the air, without any 
 visible support, and as his retinue gathered together in wonder, 
 and ofi'ered him worship, the sun so ordered its rays that the 
 tree above threw around him a vertical shadow. When it was 
 intended to appoint his court, from the habits he was known 
 to have formed, he was regarded as a weak and spiritless youth, 
 a mere student, an object of pity rather than of pride, and 
 there was diflficulty in filling up his zenana from the royal 
 families of the province. But to convince the reluctant princes 
 that they were wrong in the estimate they had formed of his 
 character, in the presence of vast multitudes he drew a bow 
 with the greatest ease that a thousand men could not bend, 
 and blind"folded he .shot an arrow with so sure an aim, that 
 it severed a hair from which a small object was suspended in 
 the distance. With another arrow he pierced, in one flight, 
 four trees that were planted at each corner of a square. 
 
 It had been predicted that he would become a Buddha. 
 This was against the wish of his father, who intended that he 
 should ascend the throne and reign as king, surrounded by 
 splendour and state. To prevent the issue that he so much 
 dreaded, the monarch surrounded his son by objects that were 
 designed to allure him to a life of pleasure and dissipation ; 
 and guards were placed around him that were to prevent the 
 approach of any object, or the occurrence of any event, that 
 might tend to lead his mind in a contrary direction. But these 
 precautions were in vain. He saw, at intervals, when seated 
 in his chariot, first a loathsome leper, then an emaciated 
 old man, a dead body, on its way to the grave- yard, and a reli- 
 gious mendicant. The sight of the three objects of distress 
 gave him a clear insight into the vanity of every thing existent, 
 and the becoming deportment of the ascetic having inspired 
 him with an intense desire to embrace a religious life, the reso- 
 lution was formed that at the first opportunity which presented 
 itself he would abandon the world Not long afterwards 
 the apearance of the palace after a night of revelry, with the 
 festive garlands faded, every thing in disorder, the attendants 
 jaded, all around sad and silent, and the courtezans, robbed of 
 all attractiveness and grace, either listlessly yawning or asleep, 
 confirmed him in the resolution he had made. When a festival 
 
VC^ns hckl in honour of the birth of his son, as his gnarfls relaxed 
 their vigihmce, after taking a farewell look ot the mother and 
 her babe, who were placidly sleeping at the time, he mounted 
 a horse, and without telling any one of his intention, fled away 
 into the forest, where, after proceeding many miles, he com- 
 manded the attendant to take the animal back to the palace. 
 He then cut off his hair, and assumed the garb of a mendicant, 
 and visiting the city of Rajagaha, he proceeded from house to 
 house with the alms-bowl in search of food. Though it was of 
 the commonest description, he ate what he received meditativelyj 
 reflecting on its impurities, to which he compared the elements 
 and secretions of which his own body was composed. From 
 this time, he was never known to laugh ; though sometimes seen 
 to smile. Five Brahmans accompanied him in the performance 
 of the ascetic exercises he now began to practice, but as he had 
 not obtained the Buddhaship after the penance of six years, 
 in which he gradually reduced the quantity of food he ate, 
 until he lived upon a single pepper corn daily, ; they left him, 
 and went to reside on the city of Benares. 
 
 We have here presented only the residuum of a vast mass 
 of incidents with which the infancy and youth of Sakya Muni 
 are invested in the Asiatic biographies. It would be easy 
 to form from them an instructive narrative, but there would 
 be no reliance upon it as a record of fact. Resident in a palace, 
 married at the age of sixteen years to a beautiful and virtuous 
 princess, possessed of every advantage that could be supposed 
 to aflbrd the means of happiness or give zest to life, his mind 
 was still far from being at rest ^ he found that what are called 
 the pleasures of the world were agitating and unsatisfactory, 
 and he longed for the peace that he thought solitude, and 
 opportunity for meditation, would bring to his perturbed spirit. 
 Pie did not retain possession of wealth and power until com- 
 pelled to relinquish them by political reverses or the approach 
 of old age- It was in the hey-day of his manhood that 
 he resigned them, and became a wanderer in the wilderness. 
 This supposed example, presenting the kind of attractiveness 
 best calculated to influence the thoughtful eastern mind, would 
 be made prominent in the discourses of his disci})les, when 
 they sought to persuade men to join their fraternity and assume 
 the alms-bowl. 
 
57 
 
 The public ministry of Jesus Christ commenced when '* he 
 began to be about thirty years of age." Sakya Muni fled 
 from the attractions of the palace when twenty-nine years of 
 age; but he remained in the solitudes of the forest seven years 
 before he gained the Buddhaship, and proclaimed himseli as the 
 unerring teacher. The preparation of the Muni for the exer- 
 cise of this office was by acts of penance, severe and long-con- 
 tinued; but the Messiah, from the earliest dawn of reason, 
 had the grace of God resting upon him, and was taught of the 
 Spirit. At the baptism in Jordan, the Holy Ghost came down 
 upon him visibly, and probably in greater measure ; in that 
 limitless fulness which is said to have been " without measure." 
 There are many circumstances connected with the history of 
 Christ. The meaning of which will be inexplicable, unless we 
 constantly bear in mind the primal truth that he became mani- 
 fest in order that the Lord might lay upon him " the iniquity 
 of us all," and that he made him to be "sin for us who knew 
 no sin." It, therefore, behoved him, under this idea, ''to fulfil 
 all righteousness ;" to pass through all those forms of ceremonial 
 observance, and all those phases of mental exercise, that are 
 meted out to the sinner de facto, though he himself was 
 "without sin." He who had been circumcised, though he 
 needed it not ; and " as his custom was " went into the syna- 
 gogue on the Sabbath day, though all the angels of God were 
 called upon to worship him; and attended the festival of the 
 passover, though he himself was the divine antitype of the 
 slain lambj now received baptism at the hands of John, 
 though he wanted no lustration by water, and was hiniself 
 the "greater than John." A further design was accomplished 
 by his attendance upon the rite. The prophets, in ancient 
 times, had foretold many things that were descriptive of his 
 manner and mission ; but it had been declared to John, " Upon 
 whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending from heaven, and 
 remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the 
 Holy Ghost." It must have been consolatory to the mind of 
 John, and a confirmation of his faith in him that was to come, 
 as he still abode in the wilderness, honoured by thousands of 
 his country-men, but his life sought by the monarch who at 
 last cast him into prison and then put him to death. But he w^as 
 permitted to see with his own eyes his kinsman Jesus, of whom 
 his mother must have told him many a tale of wonder when 
 he dwelt at home, preparing for the high position he was about 
 to assume as "the forerunner of the Lord." If he had had 
 any doubts previously as to the supreme dignity of his relative 
 they were removed by the attesting voice of God, and the 
 
 H 
 
53 
 
 visible descent upon him of the Holy Ghost, whether it was, 
 as some suppose, literally in the shape of a dove, or as others 
 think, with the hovering fluttering motion of the dove when 
 about to fold its wings and alight. To Jesus himself, at the 
 commencement of his ministry, the same tokens were not without 
 an important significance. The Jews were prepared for the 
 present appearance of some one of the house of Israel through 
 whom the Lord would perform the oath he had sworn to their 
 father Abraham. The seers of old had said that he would 
 come, and the aged Simeon had said he was come ; and though 
 the multitude knew not of the word spoken in the temple 
 there was a general belief that the time of the nation's 
 deliverance was at hand. This we learn from St Luke: "The 
 people were in expectation and all men mused in their hearts 
 of John, whether he was the Christ or not." When John 
 declared that one mightier than himself would come, the latchet 
 of whose shoes he was not worthy to unloose, their musings 
 would be turned away from the Baptist and go out in search 
 of the Mighty One whose advent had been so long foretold. 
 It was, therefore, to the Jews a strong proof of the Messiah- 
 ship of Jesus, when the divinely appointed messenger could 
 say of him, that he had seen and heard the sealing of the 
 Father, made known to him under circumstances that left no 
 doubt as to the divinity of its origin ; and when under the im- 
 pulse of the same power he could say, with uplifted hand, 
 *' Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the 
 world," it was clearly seen that He of whom the prophets 
 spoke was in their midst. 
 
 The consecration of Sakya Muni to the Buddhaship was not 
 attended by any similar act. For years he sought in vain the 
 requisite power and attainments, until his companions, wearied 
 out by repeated disappointment, left him to pursue the further 
 search alone. It was his office to teach, and not to "take away 
 sin;" and we have no reference to any such initiatory rite 
 as that of baptism. 
 
 •^--*v:^vS%yS<S2!2?=''^— 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE TEMPTATIO^^ 
 
 — s»oa&^,3ie^^tsH« — 
 
 The oldest prophecy contained in the word of God relative 
 to the Messiah, and the one that is almost more comprehensive 
 and more perfectly descriptive, than any other taken separately 
 of the work he would come to accomplish is contained in the 
 sentence passed upon the serpent in Eden, "It (the seed of 
 the woman} shall bruise thy head." We have here an agent 
 of evil, called the serpent, possessed of reason, and endowed 
 with speech. His abrupt appearance startles us, as would the 
 rustling of the same reptile, with its rapid movements, and 
 sharply fascinating eye, amidst the crass leaves that lie in our 
 pathway. To tempt man to an act of rebellion against God 
 is his first recorded act. The mental power he possesses tells 
 us that he is no ordinary serpent ; and the malignity he exhibits, 
 that he is a spirit of evil. When Christ addressed the unbelieving 
 Jews, he said, " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts 
 of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the begin- 
 ning." The apostle John twice speaks of " that old serpent, 
 called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." 
 By the existence of this being we can account for many a strono* 
 and sudden suggestion to do wrong that shoots across the 
 mind of even sincere servants of God ; and for the bitterness, 
 and intensity of viciousness, that make some men utterly 
 defiant of all power and authority. 
 
 We are prepared, by previous notices of the character of 
 Satan, to learn that all his subtlety was put forth to frustrate 
 the design of the advent of Christ. We know not how far, or 
 with what clearness he saw into the future, when he first 
 tempted men ; but we may infer that the great outline of the 
 effects of the fall must have been in some measure understood 
 by the spiritual intelligences then existent ; and if this thought 
 be correct, he might have known that his stratagem would 
 
60 
 
 succeed for a time, tliongli he might still be ignorant of Its 
 present consequences or of its final results. But when he made 
 the assault upon the Kedeemer, it must have been with a 
 different anticipation : as the same voice that had foretold the 
 fall of man had made known the triumph of the Son of God. 
 The bruising of the heel had been accomplished ; but the more 
 effective and more terrible bruising of the head had yet to come. 
 Warily, with all the forethought that demon spirits can exer- 
 cise, would the snare be laid, upon the success of which the 
 most important of all issues was to depend. 1 In the insidi- 
 ousness attendant on the temptation by which the second Adam 
 was assailed, there is some resemblance to that which had 
 succeeded with the first Adam. '•■ Command that these stones 
 be made bread." It was not wrong to eat of the fruit of a 
 tree ; He who was afterwards to multiply a few barley loaves 
 and small fishes for the nourishment of hungry thousands, might 
 be supposed, when away from all sustenance, to change the 
 products of the desert into wholesome and convenient food 
 without the transgression of any divine law. The sin consists 
 in the peculiarity of the circumstances The first was a direct 
 infringement of God's positive command ; the second would 
 have been an expression of distrust in God. But when tempted 
 to this act, Christ said, quoting the Scripture, " Man shall not 
 live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of 
 the mouth of God." 2. " Then the devil taketh him up to the 
 holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and 
 saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God cast thyself down, 
 for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee; 
 and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou 
 dash thy foot against a stone." Thus Satan, taking ready 
 advantage of the scriptural quotation just made by Christ, 
 soucrht apparently, to carry out the same thought: " True^ 
 thou art specially provided for by the Source of all protective 
 power ; then test the reality of that divine guardianship, and 
 put honour upon it, by an open manifestation of thy trust in it 
 as the word of God." To have yielded to this temptation 
 would have been to presume upon the interference of God in 
 a case where there was no necessity for its exercise, and no 
 authority to look for its exhibition, and thus to commit the 
 same evil, under a converse form, that would have been atten- 
 dant upon yielding to the former suggestion ; by presenting an 
 evidence of dissatisfaction with the arrangements of divine 
 Providence, and an unwillingness to submit to the prescribed 
 economy of the Father. It would have been a direct violation 
 of the promise recorded in the volume of the book. " Lo, I 
 
61 
 
 come to do thy will, O God." 3. The third count of the 
 temptation was of a similar character. The sin of man consists 
 in a want of acquiescence in the position in which he has been 
 placed by God, leading to a vain endeavour to free himself 
 from the influence ol the circumstances that are appointed to 
 be his lot, and to an ambition that prompts him to grasp at 
 things forbidden and make himself lord of whatever presents 
 itself alluring to his senses. In Eden, man wanted to know 
 all things ; since his fall, he wants to possess all things. Un- 
 derstanding, as the result of much keen watching, what is man, 
 Satan, in his attempts to ensnare the Messiah, employed a 
 device that had hitherto seldom failed in its exercise. " Again, 
 the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and 
 sheweth him all the kingdom of the Avorld, and the glory of 
 them ; and saith unto him. All these things will I give thee, 
 if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Here the mask was 
 thrown off, and the climax of the devil's audacity was per- 
 fected. There appears to be a morbid anxiety in Satan to 
 receive religious homage from mankind, and in this respect 
 to be '•'• as God." But ''- hitherto shalt thou go and no lurther." 
 Christ, who had until now, for our sakes, submitted to the 
 insolence of the adversary, when his words were too audacious- 
 ly outspoken to be suffered to continue, assumed the majesty 
 of the divine Sonship, and said, ••* Get thee behind me Satan! " 
 and discomfitting him with the weapon w^ierewith he had him- 
 self presumptuously attempted to conquer, said, " Thou shalt 
 worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." 
 These words were the last sharp arrow drawn from the quiver 
 of God, and must have struck upon his chased spirit as a 
 weapon of mighty power from the hand of the Omnipotent. 
 
 All these acts are in perfect keeping with the other revela- 
 tions of Scripture upon demoniacal subjects. The devil is 
 represented ae the great adversary of man, seeking continually 
 to deceive him by his '^ snares," " devices," and " wiles." There 
 is one evil spirit who is called *' the prince of this world," '*the 
 prince of the power of the air," " the god of this world \ " 
 but confederated in the same league there are unclean intelli- 
 gences who are '* the rulers of the darkness of this world." 
 They were originally happy and holy beings ; but they kept 
 not their first estate, and it would appear that it was through 
 pride they forfeited the privileges of the inheritance to which 
 they were created, still retaining for a time a limited or res- 
 tricted rule. We read '' the power of Satan. " and we know 
 that in the time of Christ and the earlier Christians, the devils 
 " possessed " men, and not only excited them to do wickedly. 
 
62 
 
 but tormented tliem and inflicted on them sore disease and 
 distress. 
 
 We receive the accounts of the temptation in the wilderness 
 in their plain and straightforward meaning, without personi- 
 fication or metaphor, and as recording the acts of a spirit that 
 even now " worketh in the children of disobedience," but who 
 shall be bound, bruised, beaten down, and destroyed by,^'- the 
 Lord and Giver of life " We also regard the event as an 
 actual occurrence. ' We may further remark, that as presented 
 in the Gospel narrative, the temptation by which Christ was 
 assailed was of a character entirely diflPerent, in many important 
 particulars, from what is recorded of the contests of other 
 minds, with the powers of evil. There is throughout an implied 
 consciousness that it was not a mere man who was assailed ; 
 and the record is as remarkable for what it omits as for what 
 it brings forward. 
 
 In Buddhism, the existence of an order of beings is taught 
 who are called yakas, but they neither answer to the daimoiiioi 
 of the Greeks nor the devils of Scripture. They are found on 
 the earth, in the waters, and in the heavens. They present 
 various degrees of malignity ; and in some instances are free 
 from any greater amount of evil in their dispositions than is predi- 
 cated of other intelligences. The same beings are at other times 
 regarded as demigods. They are the guardians of the north- 
 ern quarters of the heaven of Indra ; but they are also represent- 
 ed as devouring men when caught in the lonely pool or the 
 unfrequented jungle ; and as inhabiting remote islands, where 
 they exercise great cruelty over those who fall within their 
 grasp. Sakya Muni taught a form of exorcism, the repetition 
 of which would prevent their approach to his followers with a 
 sinister design, whether they were "walking, standing, sitting, 
 or reclining. " But there is a want of definiteness and uni- 
 formity in the accounts we receive of these beings; and it is 
 probable that some of the attributes now given to these were 
 unacknowledged by the Muni, and a belief in their extreme 
 maliciousness may have arisen from an older and more general 
 superstition. 
 
 The great opponent of Sakya Muni was Mara, the ruler of 
 the sixth heaven ( Deva-loka. ) The most determined of his 
 attacks was immediately previous to the reception of the Budd- 
 haship ; but it was not so much in the form of a temptation, as 
 in that of a direct assault, with martial weapons of earthly 
 temper, transfered to the hands of beings of supernatural pow- 
 
63 
 
 er. No reason is given for the enmity of Mara that might not 
 have been affirmed of any other supreme deva. The legend 
 tells us that he was afraid lest the ministry of Buddha should 
 impart so much merit to men as to make them worthy of an 
 entrance into a heaven superior to his own, and tluis rob him 
 of the homage and fealty of those who would otherwise have 
 been his subjects, and prevent the world he governed from 
 being peopled by its usual number of occupants. We give a 
 rapid sketch of what is said to be recorded in the sacred books. 
 There is too little interest about it to demand a more extended 
 notice. 
 
 The first snare intended to place the reception of the Budd- 
 haship by iSakya Muni in peril was brought forward at the 
 time when the prince was forming the design to abandon the 
 world, disgusted with the appearance of the palace after the 
 grand festival held in honour of the birth of his son. Whilst 
 reflecting on this scene, Mara who saw his intention proclaimed 
 to him that if he would forego the search for a knowledge of 
 the Dharma he would receive, in its stead, universal empire, 
 with the honours and riches of all worlds poured at his feet. But 
 he rejected the thought \ and as soon might the waters of the 
 Ganges flow back to their source amidst the snows in the forest 
 of the Himalayas, as for such a course to have been taken by 
 the Muni. "Begone! hinder me not, " was said by him, as 
 with the voice of a lion, and Mara retired gnashing his teeth 
 with rage. Seven years afterwards, during the whole of 
 which period the opposition of Mara never ceased, the prince 
 said that the hour of victory had come, and he seated himself 
 at the foot of the bo-tree, looking towards the east, that he 
 might prepare for assault. An offering of food presented to 
 him by the daughter of a noble was opportune, as he was after- 
 wards to fast seven times seven days. He was alone ; no rela- 
 tive or friend was near him, but there was with him an effectual 
 power of protection derived from the virtues he had practised 
 during myriads of ages, that were in the stead of defensive, 
 weapons or a walled rampart. There were nine several attacks 
 made by Mara ; not merely to prevent him from continuing in 
 the new path he had chosen, but to destroy him utterly. 
 They were by wind, rain, rocks, arms, walls of fire, hot ashes, 
 burning sand, mire and filth, and darkness, and in addition, by 
 the hurling of the magical discus. But the sage remained 
 calm and tearless : the blast of the storm was changed into a 
 pleasant breeze, the deluge of rain into gentle dew, the rocks 
 into festive garlands, the arms into lotus flowers, the coals into 
 rich rubies, the sand into pearls, and the darkness into intense 
 
64 
 
 radiance. At each fresh attempt, Mara was assisted by serpents 
 with hissing tongues, by beasts of huge size and formidable 
 strength, and by all orders of monsters, and sprites, and demons. 
 But all these efforts were without avail, and when Mara saw 
 that he was conquered, he retired to his own world, and all the 
 dwellers in the celestial spheres came to acknowledge the sup- 
 remacy of the Muni and rejoice that the Buddhaship had been 
 obtained. On the retreat of Mara, his three daughters, whose 
 names are significant of all that is sensual, sought to seduce the 
 sage by their wiles and wantonness, but he still remained im- 
 movable as the crystal rock.* 
 
 This Buddhist episode is without consistency, and difficult to 
 explain on any principle that would give it a set purpose, or 
 harmony of action. We have a fierce antagonism, without any 
 adequate reason for its intensityf The Erinnyes of the Greeks, 
 with serpents entwined among*^ their dark hair, are the aven- 
 gers, and empower the curse to reach the victim, against whom 
 it has been uttered The religious system of the Zoroastians 
 acknowledges the existence of "two co-eval principles, the one 
 working what is good in the universe, and the other what is 
 evil. The ancient epics of the Aryans represent the gods as 
 interfering in human affairs, and exhibiting all the hate and 
 envy of this lower world. The early Christian anchorets had 
 to^ contend with demons, who haunted them in their retirement 
 with every form of enticement and overawing4 The scene at 
 the bo-tree, both in the main action, and in the development of 
 the plot diverges so much from the general spirit of the events 
 recorded in other portions of the Pitakas, that we may at once 
 pronounce it to be an interpolation. It is much more in con- 
 sonance with Brahmanism, from which it must have been de- 
 rived. 
 
 There is the appearance of the daughters of Mara, which 
 must not be overlooked. In the Sanskrit lexicons Mara is 
 
 * Throughout his life, Mara remained as close to Sakya Muni 
 as his own shadow ; and three months before his death, he tempted 
 the sage to precipitate his entrance into nirvana by trying to per- 
 snadehim that he had already taught the various orders of sentient 
 beings all that it was necessary for them to learn. 
 
 t In all religions with which we are acquainted the existence is 
 acknowledged of an instrumentality supposed to be the cause of 
 man's misfortune, either immediately or as an agent, with which 
 most frequently another power is connected, that seeks to thwart 
 him in the carrying out of his best and noblest purposes. 
 
 J All these instances of antagonism are in harmony with the 
 systems to which they belong. 
 
65 
 
 said to be a name of Kama, tlie Hindu Eros ; and under this 
 idea the whole may resolve itself into an allegorical contest 
 between purity and sensuality ; it represents, in strong terms, 
 the fierceness of the struggle, but there is none of the danger- 
 ous seductiveness that the Greeks have thrown around the 
 story of passion. Eros would disdain to use arrows of so rude 
 a shape as those of Mara. But the introduction of the celestial 
 wantons appears to be an afterthought, as if to make up for 
 the strange omission that the being who is represented as the 
 personification of sensuality never once employed this mode of 
 allurement to overcome the resolution of the Muni. Under 
 another form, Mara is represented as the regent of death, as if 
 to make known the extent of his empire, and to teach that all 
 that place themselves under the influence of Mara, as the genius 
 of evil passion, must also submit to Mara as the genius of death. 
 By the Burmans, again the word Mara is said to signify pride, 
 which introduces a new element, more in harmony with the 
 general sentiment of the imagery by which the contest is cha- 
 racterized. These conclusions appear naturally to arise from 
 the Buddhist story, and they may have been present to the 
 mind of the original narrators ; but in the native record there 
 appears to be no intimation of anything beyond the bald literal 
 meaning, and the stolid writers seem ignorant that any moral 
 is to be learnt therefrom beside the simple fact of the supe- 
 riority of the Muni to the Mara. 
 
 In the presentation of the glories of the universe and their rejec- 
 tion, in the fasting connected with the trial and in the period 
 of its duration; in the malignity of the opposing agent; in the 
 majesty with which the command to depart was given ; in the 
 vehement longing for supremacy exhibited by the adversary ; 
 in the solitariness of the position in which the opponent was 
 met : in the serenity of mind exhibited bythe conqueror ; in the 
 ministration of the celestial beings when the victory had been 
 gained ; and in the final triumph — there is some resemblance 
 between the narration of the Scriptures and that of the 
 Dharma. But no voice of comforting instruction proceeds 
 from the bo-tree like that which is spoken by the apostle Paul 
 '* In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his breth- 
 ren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in 
 things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins 
 of the people. For that he himself hath suffered, being tempt- 
 ed, he is able to succour them that are tempted." 
 
m 
 
 BOOK III. THE MINISTRY 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE COMMENCEMENT. 
 
 FIRST WORDS. 
 
 Nazareth, the despised, from its quietude and seclusion, 
 was a place admirably adapted for forming the character of a 
 Teacher whose doctrines and deliverances were to have little 
 in common with any of the schools or sects then in existence. 
 But Christ came not to teach alone, but to preach. He 
 had to address the multitude " without," as well as to speak 
 privately to the more favoured few, to whom it was '' given to 
 know the mystery of the kingdom of God." The light he 
 was about to enkindle was not to be hid under a bushel, or to 
 be of limited influence, but to blaze from the uplifted candle- 
 stick, that it might illumine the house of the world. 
 "Leaving Nazareth/' he took up his abode in a central position, 
 and dwelt in a city that lay between a region the most intense- 
 ly Jewish and a population the most decidedly Gentile. From 
 this locality, " he went about all Galilee," thence his fame 
 passed quickly onward, until it reached Jerusalem ; but as the 
 new prophet was of a province proverbially dark as the shadow 
 of death, the report of his doings excited little attention on 
 the part of the learned men of the metropolis. They took it 
 for granted that no rival power they need fear could have its 
 origin in the midst of a people so mixed in race, so ignorant of 
 the law, and so turbulent in disposition. 
 
 The command that was to move the whole community was 
 propounded in terms at once simple, authoritative and full of 
 meaning: "Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 
 But these were regarded by the spiritual guides of the people 
 as harmless words The old prophetrs had long ago inculcated 
 repentance, but the effect they ha^ produced was of small con- 
 sequence- The Baptist had spoken of "the kingdom of heaven," 
 but his influence was already on the wane. There was another 
 element of a more marked character. It was said that he 
 healed all manner of diseases, and cast out devils \ but similar 
 statements had been made of many men whose attempts to 
 subvert the old polity had speedily come to nought. Meanwhile 
 the leaven was beginning to work in the meal, the mustard- 
 seep was passing from its littleness into a tree, and the kingdom 
 
67 
 
 was forming in the hearts of men. A mighty effect had been 
 produced, before the rulers awoke to the consciousness, that a 
 force was now existent, that would tend to the overthrow, of 
 the entire fabric of the ecclesiastical system then in the ascen- 
 dent. 
 
 THE SERMON ON THE BIOUNT. 
 
 The unanointed peasant resident, as the Anointed of God, 
 in a part of the land that was semi-heathen, was regarded 
 at the beginning of his ministry with a feeling bordering 
 upon disdain ; but as the works he performed were such 
 as none other man did, his character soon became mi re 
 extensively known, and more reverently appreciated. Thu^e 
 who saw them were struck with astonishment, and told 
 everywhere the story of what they had witnessed. The 
 report was carried to many a homestead, and repeated 
 with an earnestness of soul that sought to add to the impor- 
 tance of the announcement. "Where is he?" was the cry. 
 Then Jesus, *' seeing the multitude," who were gathering a- 
 round him, and knowing that they were prepared to listen to 
 his words, went up into a mountain in the same region, and 
 placed himself in the position of one who was about to deliver 
 a solemn address. The more thoughtful of those present 
 wished to learn something further about "the kingdom" 
 than they could learn from a mere echo of the words of John ; 
 and they were soon as much astonished at his doctrines as 
 they had previously been at his deeds. They were so unlike 
 all they had ever heard before that they were beside them- 
 selves, and concluded that the nation was on the eve of 
 times that were to be glorious for Israel. The mystery of *'the 
 Jiingdom" is first explained. " Blessed are the poor in spirit; 
 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;" is the opening sentence 
 of the address: referring again to the kingdom of which he 
 had previously spoken. The effect of these first words of 
 Christ was of varied character, as we have seen the flicker of the 
 shadow when the cloud has passed rapidly over the corn-field 
 waving on the hill side. The countenances of many assume 
 an appearance that tells of sad disappointm«^.nt and deep regret; 
 whilst the frowning brow and angry scowl of others betoken a 
 more indignant feeling. All these to be the princes and pow- 
 ers of the new kingdom; "the poor in spirit?" Is this the 
 kind of monarchy that is to be established, and that has been 
 ushered in by events that have made so many thousands won- 
 der? But hear further. It may be that revelations are to be 
 
68 
 
 made that will be more in accordance with the general hope. 
 " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted," is 
 the next utterance from-the Teacher's lips; a twin sentence to 
 the former ; and in the like manner full of cheering encouragce- 
 ment to the humble and contrite in heart. Five other beati- 
 tudes follow in succession, all in perfect harmony with his 
 first soft words, that have fallen gently and refreshingly upon 
 the minds of those who are seeking a spiritual kingdom, in 
 which shall reign unbroken peace ; but acting like the flame 
 lit up in the dry stubble-field upon those who would rather 
 listen to a trumpet-blast mustering the hosts of Zion for the 
 slaughter of the Philistines, the Gentile enemies of God. In 
 the minds of some of the crowd there is agitation and perplexi- 
 ty, as if they know not whether to sanction or condemn ; al- 
 most ready to express disapproval, but listening still, in the 
 hope that something will be said that will be more soothing to 
 their self-righteousness and more flattering to their pride. 
 These are mostly of the Pharisees, to be easily distinguished by 
 their broad phylacteries and the large and lettered borders of 
 their robes. The doubt of the moment passes into lasting 
 hatred and enmity, when the multitudes are taught rebel words 
 against the men who regard themselves as the most enlightened 
 exponents of the word of the Lord and the most exact in the 
 practice of its precepts. " I say unto you, that except your 
 righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and 
 Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of hea- 
 
 ven." 
 
 Glancing round at the expectant audience, the attention of 
 Christ is attracted towards those whom he knows to be the 
 sincere servants of God, and passing by the more pretentious 
 of the groups who are before him, he comes at once to the 
 timid, the afflicted, and the down-trodden ; those who are most 
 in need of consolation, and who are most overlooked in all 
 systems that derive their authority from sources that are mere- 
 ly humau,or that are invented for an earthly purpose. Sweet 
 are the words of sympathy that as from an overflowing foun- 
 tain of goodness, he pours into their grateful souls. Then 
 seeing that there are many who are less prepared to enter into 
 the kingdom, but who are sincerely jealous for the divine law, 
 he next allays their rising doubts by assuring them that he had 
 not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil. 
 Leaving all who are faithful with these thoughts, with a new life 
 infused into their hearts, more joyous that the carol of the lark 
 when it pours forth its soul that its music may mingle with the 
 radiance of the summer's sunshine he assumes a graver aspect, 
 
69 
 
 and severely rebukes the subverters of the law, who have made 
 it of none-effect, by their glosses and unauthorized additions. 
 The principal subterfuges by which they have sought to make 
 void the commands of God are unsparingly exposed ; and in 
 this revealing, the more specious of the sins of all communities 
 are noted and condemned. The higher claims of the divine 
 law are propounded, and an entire severance insisted upon 
 from all affections that are incompatible with supreme love ta 
 God. But under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty 
 the righteous may rest in entire confidence. No care that 
 distresses need linger in the human breast ; as men are under 
 the constant regard of Him who feeds the ravens, and clothes 
 the grass of the field with a glory greater than that of Solo- 
 mon, and who will much more feed and clothe His own loving 
 children, and supply all their wants. 
 
 Sakya Muni's Pir^t Sermon. 
 
 The circumstances attendant upon the delivering of the first 
 sermon preached by Sakya Muni are minutely recorded; but 
 with the usual want of historical truthfulness. There then 
 surrounded him, not only "multitudes;" but we are told that 
 all worlds poured forth their inhabitants that they might hear 
 him, so that the congregation assembled was in numbers infinite. 
 On the blowing of the shell of Indra " all became -=still as a 
 waveless sea." The usual expression, when the Buddhists 
 speak of the preaching of their sage, is, '* he opened his lotus- 
 like mouth." The evening upon which he thus preached is 
 likened to a lovely female, with the stars as pearls around her 
 neck, the fleecy clouds as her braided hair, and the expanse of 
 the azure sky as her flowing robe ; whilst her voice was like 
 the hum of bees, her eyes were like expanded lilies, and the 
 radiance of the lingering sunset as her golden crown. The 
 poverty of the human beings who listened to the Muni was in 
 contrast to the multitude who came from other w^orlds. His 
 first audience consisted of the five ascetics who had lived with 
 him for a time in the forest. When they saw him first after 
 he had assumed the Buddhaship they resolved that they would 
 pay him no respect as a teacher, though they were willing to 
 honour him as a prince; but when they discovered the supreme 
 dignity of his present character, they brought water to wash 
 his feet, and treated him with the deference that was his due. 
 These men were brahmans, of the highest, most honoured, and 
 probably the most intelligent of the castes ; so that it would 
 appear that the first adherents of the Muni were men who were 
 
70 
 
 held In honour by the people, though he afterwards opened the 
 privilege of discipleship equally to persons of all classes and 
 conditions. 
 
 The discourse now delivered is called Dharma Chakka, the 
 Circle, or the Wheel of the Truth. It contains the germ of 
 the doctrines that are regarded as the most important in Bud- 
 dhism, but no native work is known that professes to give a 
 systematic account of his entire system. At the commence- 
 ment he states that he has discovered a middle path, equally 
 free from sensuous gratification and severe penance. " O priests, 
 avoiding both these extremes, Buddha has perceived a middle 
 path for the attainment of mental vision, true knowledge, sub- 
 dued passion, the perception of the paths leading to the su- 
 preme good, the preparation necessary for attaining it, and the 
 entrance to Nirvana." The first firm step in the march of 
 discovery establishes the truth that ''sorrow is connected with 
 every mode of existence. " The second step reveals the further 
 conclusion, that this sorrow must continue so long as there is 
 the existence of desire (the cleaving to sensuous objects.) This 
 leads on to a third, that the extinction of desire must be attained 
 by those who seek the destruction of sorrow ; and then the 
 assurance is given, that the extinction of desire can be attain- 
 ed by entering into " the path." Relative to this important 
 concatenation he says, '^ O priests, possess the eye to perceive 
 this previously undiscovered truth, the knowledge of its na- 
 ture, the understanding of its cause, the wisdom to guide into 
 the path of tranquillity, and the light to dispel darkness from 
 it" There is no formal explanation of what is meant by the 
 "path", but towards the conclusion he declares, "At that time 
 ( the night in which the truths now propounded were discover- 
 ed) I know that I had acquired the most complete and irrefuta- 
 ble wisdom attainable in the universe. This wisdom and know- 
 ledge have sprung up Avithin me. My mental deliverance is 
 permanent. This is my last birth. I shall transmigrate no 
 longer/' After the first mention of nirvana there is no repe- 
 tition of the mysterious word, but the meaning is to be gather- 
 ed from the last sentence — it is the cessation of transmigratory 
 existence. 
 
 The beatitudes of Christ might have been spoken on set 
 purpose to disprove the conclusion of the Aryan Muni ; so per- 
 fect is the contrast In the Dharma we have the confession, 
 that by searching men cannot find unmixed happiness or per- 
 fect peace. Not only Is vanity written upon all that is earth- 
 ly — the petal of the expanded flower, the portal of the strong 
 city, the centre circle of worldly pleasure, the scroll of the 
 
71 
 
 student, the treasure-house of the wealthy, and the sceptre of 
 the monarch — inasmuch as all these must pass away. But the 
 unrest of earth is found also in the hisfhest state of bliss to 
 which sentient existence can attain. The residence in heaven 
 of the brightest and most glorious being among the celestial 
 hosts is only for a limited period. There is no permanency in 
 anything existent. The thought that all the pleasures Para* 
 dise can give are but transitory, and must be exchanged for 
 some less privileged state, mars the sweetest of its enjoyments, 
 and is as the evil eye ever overlooking the scene of joy, the 
 sharp sword always hanging over the plenty of the banquet 
 hall, the grim skeleton still standing near the wall of the man- 
 sion, by the side of youth and beauty, even when the trip of 
 the dance is lightest and the music swells with its most mad- 
 dening rush. 
 
 The confession of Muni is the deliberate conviction of an 
 eastern philosopher, who has spent a series of years in the 
 search of happiness and always in the mode most approved by 
 the wise and good ; and j^et this is the cheerless terminus at 
 w^hich he arrives — to be free from sorrow there must be the 
 suicide of existence. Live and you must necessarily be unhap- 
 py. Breathe ; and you must necessarily be restless and in fear. 
 The thought, thus presented, is the more depressing, as it is, 
 to a great extent, an embodiment of the great mass of all pa- 
 gan experience — not always expressed in terms so utterly hope- 
 less; brightened, indeed, at times, by gleams of a better land; 
 but seldom affording a resting-place for the soul in its hour of 
 need, when the tempest gathers, and the streams rise and the 
 howl of the wind is as the sigh of death The aim of the sage, 
 we are free to confess, cannot have been to drive men to despair; 
 and he reproduces the maxim, '* Let us eat and drink for to- 
 morrow we die' By thus presenting sentient existence — not 
 only human life, but all existence — in its utmost helplessness, 
 and declaring that there is no way to obtain release from its 
 sorrows and sufferings but by following a prescribed course — 
 moral and virtuous in the highest degree, so far as he under- 
 stood the principles of morality and virtue — he sought to per- 
 suade men to avoid all that is evil and practice only that which 
 is pure and good. We may consider that the motive of the 
 Muni was right, whilst we deny entirely his conclusions, 
 and equally question their power. We cannot conceive of men 
 being deterred from sin by the thought that a holy life will 
 lead him the more certainly to the nothingness of a nirvana. 
 
 The people were astonished at the Doctrine of Christ "for 
 he taught them as one having authority and not as the Scribes 
 
72 
 
 CHAPTER. II. 
 
 THE ASSERTION OF THE SUPREMACY. 
 
 "Be not ye called Rabbi, neither be called masters." Thus 
 spake Jesus Christ, and he declared further. " He that is great- 
 est among you shall be your servant." 
 
 No teacher of men has so thoroughly exposed the various 
 phases of pride as Christ, or set forth with equal clearness, the 
 beauty, power and heart-hallowing influence of humility. 
 This was not done merely by dry precept or cold definition, 
 but by the presentation of living example. Placing a little 
 child in the midst of the twelve, w^ho had disputed among them- 
 selves as to who was to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven 
 he said, "Verily I say unto you. Except ye be converted 
 and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of 
 heaven. Matt. 18- 4. The Pharisees were rebuked by him be- 
 cause they loved the uppermost seats in the synagogue ; his dis- 
 ciples were to choose the lowest room when bidden to a feast; 
 and it was declared that '' whosoever exalteth himself shall 
 be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." 
 Luke. 14. 11. 
 
 And yet no one among the sons of men has asserted his own 
 greatness more openly, more explicitly, or with greater cons- 
 tancy Though he refused to exercise the functions of the se- 
 cular judge, and would pronounce no sentence affecting the in- 
 terpretation of the national law, and rejected the offer of lead- 
 ership made by the Jews in a moment of enthusiasm in all that 
 related to the kingdom of God he assumed an authority that 
 no human being had ever claimed before him, and that in any 
 other teacher would have been the voice of blasphemy. In all 
 his recorded sayings there is not one confession of inferiority, 
 save in reference to the Father "I say unto you'' were the 
 words he used, when making known the divine will. The 
 claim to receive equal honour with the Father was first asserted 
 in a locality at a distance from the shadow of the sanhedrim, 
 and might have seemed to be a daring act, done thus openly 
 because there was no present fear of the consequences. But we 
 see him, not long afterwards, in the heart of the holy city, in 
 the very temple itself, with a scourge of small cords driving 
 out the cattle-dealers and shrofs ; saying also to them who sold 
 doves, " Take these things hence; make not my Father's house 
 an house of merchandise." 
 
 The stranger from Nazareth, who had come up with the other 
 pilgrims to the feast of the Passover, though preceded by no 
 herald, and attended by no lictor, was now acting as if he were 
 
73 
 
 held In honour by the people, though he afterwards opened the 
 privilege of disclpleship equally to persons of all classes and 
 conditions. 
 
 The discourse now delivered is called Dliarma Chakka, the 
 Circle, or the Wheel of the Truth. It contains the germ of 
 the doctrines that are regarded as the most important in Bud- 
 dhism, but no native work is known that professes to give a 
 systematic account of his entire system. At the commence- 
 ment he states that he has discovered a middle path, equally 
 free from sensuous gratification and severe penance *' O priests, 
 avoiding both these extremes, Buddha has perceived a raiadle 
 path for the attainment of mental vision, true knowledcre^ sub- 
 dued passion, the perception of the paths leading to the su- 
 preme good, the preparation necessary for attaining it, and the 
 entrance to nirvana. " The first firm step in the march of 
 discovery establishes the truth that " sorrow is connected with 
 every mode of existence " The second step reveals the further 
 conclusion, that this sorrow must continue so long as there is 
 the existence of desire (the cleaving to sensuous objeets.) This 
 leads on to a third, that the extinction of desire must be attained 
 by those who seek the destruction of sorrow 5 and then the 
 assurance is given, that the extinction of desire can be attain- 
 ed by entering into " the path, " Kelative to this important 
 concatenation he says, "1,0 priests, possess the eye to perceive 
 this previously undiscovered truth, the knowledge of its na- 
 ture, the understanding of its cause, the wisdom to guide into 
 the path of tranquillity, and the light to dispel darkness from 
 it" There is no formal explanation of what is meant by the 
 *' path ', but towards the conclusion he declares, '^ At that time 
 (the night in which the truths now propounded were discover- 
 ed) I know that I had acquired the most complete and irrefuta- 
 ble wisdom attainable in the universe. This wisdom and know- 
 ledge have sprung up within me. My mental deliverance is 
 permanent. This is my last birth. I shall transmigrate no 
 longer. " After the first mention of nirvana there is no repe- 
 tition of the mysterious word, but the meaning is to be gather- 
 ed from the last sentence — it is the cessation of transmigratory 
 existence. 
 
 The beatitudes of Christ might have been spoken on set 
 purpose to disprove the conclusion of the Aryan Muni; so per- 
 fect is the contrast. In the Dharma we have the confession, 
 
1-i 
 
 that by searching men cannot find out unmixed happiness or 
 perfect peace. Not only is vanity written upon all that is earth- 
 ly — the petal of the expanded flower, the portal of the strong 
 city, the entire circle of worldly pleasure, the scroll of the 
 student, the treasure-house of the wealthy, and the sceptre of 
 the monarch — inasmuch as all these must pass away. But the 
 unrest of earth is found also in the highest state of bliss to 
 which sentient existence can attain. There is no permanency 
 in anything existent. The residence in heaven of the bright- 
 est and most glorious being among the celestial hosts is only 
 for a limited period. The thought that all the pleasures Para- 
 dise can give are but transitory, and must be exchanged for 
 some less privileged state, mars the sweetest of its enjoyments, 
 and is as the evil eye ever overlooking the scene of joy, the 
 sharp sword always hanging over the plenty of the banquet 
 hall, the grim skeleton still standing near the wall of the man- 
 sion, by the side of youth and beauty, even when the 'i^rip of 
 the dance is lightest and the music swells with its most mad- 
 dening ru.sh. 
 
 The confession of Muni is the deliberate conviction of a 
 calm philosopher, who has spent a series of years in the 
 search of happiness and always in the mode most approved by 
 the wise and good ; and yet this is the cheerless terminus at 
 which he arrives— to be free from sorrow there must be the 
 suicide for existence. Breathe ; and you must necessarily be 
 restless and in fear. Live and you must necessarily be unhappy. 
 The thought, thus presented, is the more depressing, as it is, 
 to a great extent, an embodiment of the great mass of all pa- 
 gan experience — not always expressed in terms so utterly hope- 
 less; brightened, indeed, at times, by gleams of a better land ^ 
 but seldom affording a resting-place for the soul in its hour of 
 need, when the tempest gathers, and the streams rise and the 
 howl of the wind is as the sough of death. The aim of the sage, 
 we are free to confess, cannot have been to drive men to despair; 
 and he repudiates the maxim, ^' Let us eat and drink for to- 
 morrow we die." By thus presenting sentient existence — not 
 only human life, but all existence— in its utmost helplessness, 
 and declaring that there is no way to obtain release from its 
 sorrows and sufferings but by following a prescribed course — 
 moral and virtuous in the highest degree, so far as he under- 
 stood the principles of morality and virtue— he sought to per- 
 suade men to avoid all that is evil and practice only that which 
 is pure and good. We may consider that the motive of the 
 Muni was right, whilst we deny entirely his conclusions, 
 
75 
 
 and equally question their power. We cannot conceive of men 
 being deterred from sin by the thought that a holy life will 
 lead him the more certainly to the nothingness^of a nirvana. 
 
 Tlie people were astonished at the doctrine of Christ, 
 "for he taught them as one having authority and not as 
 the scribes." 
 
 - o>^ < S g»^=^ 
 
16 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 THE ASSERTION OF THE SUPREMACY. 
 
 " Be not ye called Rabbi, neither be called masters " Thus 
 spake Jesus Christ, and he declared further, " He that is great- 
 est among you shall be your servant. " 
 
 No teacher of men has so thoroughly expressed the various 
 phases of pride as Christ, or set forth with equal clearness, the 
 beaiity, power and heart-hallowing influence of humility. 
 This was not done merely by dry precept or cold definition, 
 but by the presentation of living example. Placing a little 
 child in the midst of the twelve, who had disputed among them- 
 selves as to who was to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven 
 he said, '* Yerily I say unto you. Except ye be converted 
 and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom 
 of heaven " Matt 11. 4. The Pharisees were rebuked by him 
 because they loved the uppermost seats in the synagogue ; his 
 disciples were to choose the lowest room when bidden to a 
 feast ; and it was declared that '' whosoever exalteth himself 
 shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." 
 Luke 14. 11. 
 
 And yet no one among the sons of men has asserted his own 
 greatness more openly, more explicitly, or with greater con- 
 stancy. Though he refused to exercise the functions of the 
 secular judge, and would pronounce no sentence affecting the 
 interpretation of the national law, and rejected the offer of 
 leadership made by the Jews in a moment of enthusiasm, in all 
 that related to the kingdom of God he assumed an authority 
 that no human being had ever claimed before him, and that in 
 any other teacher would have been the voice of blasphemy. 
 In all his recorded sayings there is not one confiession of in- 
 feriority, save in reference to the Father. " I say unto you " 
 were the words he used, when making known the divine will. 
 The claim to receive equal honour with the Father was first 
 asserted in a locality at a distance from the shadow of the 
 sanhedrim, and might have seemed to be a daring act, done 
 thus openly because there was no present fear of the conse- 
 quences. But we see him, not long afterwards, in the heart of 
 the holy city, in the very temple itself, with a scourge of 
 
77 
 
 small cords driving out the cattle-dealers and shrofs ; saying 
 also to them who sold doves, " Take these things hence ; make 
 not my Father's house an house of merchandise." 
 
 The stranger from Nazareth, who had come up with the other 
 pilgrims to the feast of the Passover, though preceded by no 
 herald, and attended by no lictor, was now acting as if he were 
 already ''king in Jeshurun; and was enunciating utterances 
 that involved a claim to the profession of the very throne of 
 Jehovah. The kingdom was spoken of still, but henceforth 
 there was more frequent reference to the Father : yet ever 
 avoiding the phrase, " Our Father," as if he alone inherited the 
 higher Sonship, and possessed it in some sense essentially differ- 
 ent to the adoption that is the common privilege of the children 
 of Grod. To one of his earliest disciples he said, " Hereafter 
 ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending 
 and descending upon the Son of man." John i. 51 By the 
 *^ Son of man " we are made to understand that he himself 
 is intended, as he asks at another time, '* Whom do men say 
 that I, the Son of man, am?" Matt. xvi. 13. There are subse- 
 quently words of strongest power, spoken in relation to his 
 character by himself , and not by some ardent disciple, who 
 might have been mistaken in the conclusion he formed respect- 
 ing his mysterious Master. " Neither knoweth any man the 
 Father, save the Son." Matt. xi. 27. "My Father worketh 
 hitherto, and I work." John v. 17. "All men should honour 
 the Son even as they honour the Father." v. 23. "As the 
 Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the 
 Son quickeneth whom he will." v. 21. "All things that the 
 Father hath are mine." xvi. 15. "He that hath seen me hath 
 seen the Father." xiv. 9 "I and my Father are one." x. 30. 
 At the utterance of the last expression, " the Jews took up 
 stones again to stone him: " they knew its import. 
 
 The claim to equality with God, thus plainly asserted, was 
 inf'erentially reiterated in the power he assumed over the Church 
 of the future, and in the promises and commands he gave to 
 its pastor and people. He has the bread of life, and proclaims 
 that whoever came to him should never hunger, and that who- 
 ever believed on him should never thirst. John v. 36. He 
 gave to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Matt. xvi. 
 19. He said, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men 
 after me." John xii. 37. As the Father had sent him, 
 so he sent his disciples. As Lord of the Sabbath, he defined 
 the requirements of the sacred day. Mark ii 28. With the 
 simple preface, " I will " or, " I say," he established the law, 
 
78 
 
 Matt. V. 28, forgave sins, Mark ii. 9. He asserted the power 
 to lay down his own life, and to take it up again ; and made 
 known that whosoever kept his sayings should not see death, 
 that the dead would hear his voice, and at tke hearing thereof 
 would rise from their graves and live ; he said that he would 
 come in the clouds of heaven, in the glory of the Father and 
 of the holy angels ; and that before him would be gathered all 
 nations, when he would place some on his right hand, assigning 
 to these everlasting blessedness, and some on his left hand, to 
 whom he would appoint the doom of everlasting woe. After 
 his resurrection he breathed on them and said unto them, 
 *• Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remited unto them; and 
 whose soever sins ye retain they are retained." John xx. 21. 
 And just before his departure from earth when the everlasting 
 door were about to be uplifted for the entrance of the King of 
 Glory upon the royal state he had possessed before the world 
 was, he said to the apostles, "Go ye, therefore and teach all 
 nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all 
 things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with 
 you always, even unto the end of the world." 
 
 After listening to these sayings of Christ, we are placed in 
 this position, that we must either say with Peter, " Thou art 
 the Christ, the Son of the living God ; " or we must say with 
 the unbelieving Jews, " Nay, but he deceiveth the people." 
 But we accept the conclusion of Nicodemus, " Kabbi, we 
 know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can 
 do the miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." 
 It follows, as a necessary corollary, that we are called upon to 
 present him the homage of the whole heart, and place our en- 
 tire trust in his Gospel, as containing " the words of eternal 
 life." 
 
 In the earlier chapters of revelation , there is no assertion 
 of the supremacy of God, nor any definition of the divine 
 attributes. We see God first in the act of creation: and as the 
 light bursts forth upon the world at his command, and the 
 waters separate from the dry land, and the low grass creeps 
 over the far-extending lea, and the cereals yield the seed that 
 is to produce the golden harvest, and the trees are laden with 
 the rich fruits that are presently to be the food of man ; and 
 the sun, moon, and stars appear ; and the fish glide rapidly 
 through the waters, the insect hums in the air, the bird utters 
 its first notes of sweet song, and the beast paws the ground 
 in majesty ; and the man and woman, gifted with all that is 
 lovely or graceful, assume the universal sovereignty ; we learn 
 
tlierefrom more about the grandeur of the Godhead than could 
 have been taught by many volumes filled with comment and 
 exposition. We are thus prepared for the proclaiming of the 
 divine law, and are ready at once to acknowledge its authority 
 and the justice of its demands upon the obedience of the hu- 
 man race. Somewhat after the same manner, the dignity of 
 Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who rescued the moral world 
 from chaos, and is its second Creator, was first revealed to the 
 men of Israel. After an announcement relative to the coming 
 kingdom, he plainly intimated his right to the monarchy of 
 the new realm by cleansing the leper, imparting sight to the 
 blind, and casting out devils ; and then there was the authori- 
 tative annunciation of the doctrines that were to be taught and 
 the laws that were to be enacted when the new polity was 
 established. But if Christ had spoken from the throne of God, 
 surrounded by lightnings vivid as those that flashed from the 
 crests of Sinai, and in tones terrible as its thunders, he could 
 not have asserted his claiqi to be acknowledged by all nations 
 as their Master and Lord, in terms more commanding or com- 
 prehensive than are heard in the sayings that are recorded as 
 proceeding from his lips. 
 
 The wisdom ascribed to Sakya Muni, and by virtue of which 
 he claimed the supreme Buddhaship was said to be self-emana- 
 ted. He was called the Tathagata, meaning that he had 
 come in the same way as the previous Buddhas. But each 
 Buddha teaches the same doctrines ; not because they have 
 been taught by his predecessors, but because they are im- 
 mutable and eternal truths We may smile at the absur- 
 dity of the legend, that immediately after his birth he pro- 
 ceeded seven steps, and after looking in every direction 
 exclaimed as with the voice of a fearless lion, " I am the 
 most exalted being in the world, the chief and the most ex- 
 cellent. " But in the discourses he is said to have delivered 
 after he became Buddha, there is assertion, continually repeat- 
 ed, of the same arrogant character. He declared that there 
 was no being in the whole universe who was entitled to receive 
 from him salutation or reverence, or before whom he ought to 
 stand up, or whom he ought to invite to be seated in his 
 presence- nay, that if he condescended thus to act, and the invi- 
 tation were accepted, the head of the person so presuming 
 would undoubtedly fall from his body. The reason why this 
 deference should be paid to him is found towards the end of 
 the first discourse on the Parajeka, in addressing a brahmin who 
 had come to converse with him, and who expostulated with 
 him on the marks of respect he claimed, as " not consistent 
 
80 
 
 With propriety. '^ The extract * we make from this discourse is a 
 fair specimen of the mode of thought presented in the Dharma 
 and gives as clear an in-sight into its general principles as any 
 example within our reach, and in the same compass. 
 
 " Bramin, if eight, ten, or twelve eggs are placed under a 
 hen and carefully hatched, what appellation is given to tlie 
 bird who with his foot, his spur, his head, or his beak, first breaks 
 his egg^ and is perfectly formed ? " " Such an one, venerable 
 Goutama. should be called * The Chief (^^d'(^^^) he is the first 
 born." " Even so, Bramin, havinsf broken the shell of igrnor- 
 ance by which, enveloped in darkness, all beings were encom- 
 passed, I stood alone in the Universe, in the full ascertainment 
 of unerring and all-perfect knowledge. I, Bramin, am the 
 first born, the Chief of the World. Bramin, I was persever- 
 ing and diligent, thoughtful and intelligent, tranquil in body 
 and mind, with a pure heart and with singleness of purpose. 
 Being, Bramin, free from sensuality and criminal propensities, 
 I enjoyed the pleasures of the first^Jhana (or course of pro- 
 found meditation) produced by retirement spent in examination 
 and investigation. 
 
 " Investigation and research being terminated, with internal 
 serenity and a mind concentrated in itself, I enjoyed the plea- 
 sure of the Second Jhana, produced by the tranquillity which 
 is undisturbed by enquiry or investigation. 
 
 "Free from the disturbances of pleasure, contented, thought- 
 ful and wise, and possessed of health of body, I experienced 
 the happiness of the third Jhana, called by holy sages the 
 happy state of thoughtful contentment. 
 
 " Free from the emotions of joy or sorrow, previous exult- 
 ation and depression being annihilated, I lived with a conte^nt- 
 ed mind, unmoved either by pleasure or pain, and being 
 perfectly holy, attained to the fourth Jh4na, 
 
 "Being thus mentally tranquil, pure and holy, free from 
 passion or pollution, serene, and competent to the effort, I 
 addressed my mind to the recollection of former stages of 
 existence. I remembered these states of previous being from 
 one birth up to those experienced during many revolutions of 
 kalpas, and recalled to mind the place where I resided, the 
 name I bore, my race and family, my circumstances, personal 
 appearance, enjoyments and sufferings, and the duration of 
 
 * Vide Essay on Buddhism, read by the Rev. D. J. Gogerly, be- 
 fore the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, part 1 page 6. 
 May. 1 st, 1845. 
 
61 
 
 life, at the conclusion of which I ceased to live there and was 
 born in another place, until I was born in this world. Thus I 
 recalled to mind former states of existence, with their circum- 
 stances and causes. Thus Bramin, during the first watch of 
 the night, ignorance passed away and knowledge was obtained; 
 darkness was dispersed and the light shone forth ; and by my 
 persevering and holy exertion, like the first hatched chicken, 
 I first chipped the shell of ignorance. 
 
 "Being thus mentally tranquil, pure and holy, free from 
 the pollution of the passions, serene and competent to the 
 effort, I addressed myself to the consideration of the birth and 
 death of intelligent beings, and with a clear and godlike vision, 
 transcending that of men, I looked upon beings, dyino- and 
 being born, whether noble or base, beautiful or deformed, 
 happy or sorrowful, according to the desert of their previous 
 conduct. I saw some whose conduct was evil in thought word 
 and deed, revilers of holy men, holders of false doctrines and 
 attached to the observances of a false religion ; these, upon 
 the dissolution of the body after death, were produced in hell, 
 increasing in misery, wretchedness and torments. 
 
 " I saw some who were virtuous in thought word and deed, 
 who reverenced holy men, were of a pure faith, and attached 
 to the observances of the true religion ; these upon the dissolu- 
 tion of the body, after death, were born in heaven endued 
 with felicity. Thus Bramin, during the second watch of the 
 night, the second part of ignorance passed away and knowledge 
 was obtained^ darkness was dispersed and the light shone forth; 
 and by my persevering and holy exertion, like the first hatch- 
 ed chicken, I again chipped the shell of ignorance. 
 
 " Being thus mentally tranquil, pure and holy, free from 
 the pollution of the passions, serene and competent to the 
 effort, I turned my attention to that wisdom by which desire 
 can be extinguished: and clearly discerned, according to its 
 real nature, this is sorrow; ti)is is the source of sorrow; this is 
 the cessation of sorrow ; this is the path by which cessation 
 from sorrow may be obtained. These cne the desires: these 
 are the causes of their production. This is the extinction of 
 of desire. This is the path leading to the cessation of desire. 
 Having understood and perceived these truths, my mind 
 became free from sensual desires, free from the desire of con- 
 tinual existence, and free from ignorance ; I became conscious 
 that I possessed this freedom, and certainly knew that my 
 transmigrations were terminated, my course of virtues com- 
 
 L 
 
82 
 
 pleted, my needful work accomplished, and that nothing more 
 remained to be done. 
 
 " Thus Bramin, during the third watch of the night, the 
 third part of ignorance passed away and knowledge was ob- 
 tained^ the darkness was dispersed and the light shone forth; 
 and by my persevering and holy exertion, like the first hatched 
 chicken I broke the shell of ignorance." 
 
 From this extract we learn that Sakya Muni founded his 
 claim to supremacy upon being perfect in purity, entirely free 
 from the influence of desire whether in reference to bodily and 
 mental sensation or the continuance of transmigratory existence, 
 and upon his being perfect in knowledge, of whatever kind. 
 Acknowledging no teacher, no inspiration from a higher source, 
 he declares himself to be the fountain of knowledge for all ex- 
 isting beings, w^hatever may be their dignity. But we can 
 place no confidence in himself, or in the system that bears his 
 name, as his life is a myth, his teaching a mass of error, his 
 code of morals imperfect, and his religion founded on principles 
 that have no substantiality. 
 
S3 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EVIDENCE IN PROOF OF THE 
 SUPREMACY. 
 
 No prophet has ever been divinely commissioned to make a 
 new announcement, enforce a new command, institute a new 
 ceremony, or teach a new doctrine, who has not been enabled 
 to fortify his declaration, " thus saith the Lord, " by the power 
 to stay, or modify, or intensify some process in the usual econo- 
 my of the world, that no man could accomplish unless through 
 the power of God. Nearly all pretenders to inspiration have 
 claimed the possession of this order of witness ; and if it was 
 not in something that could be made manifest to others, its pre- 
 sence was nevertheless asserted, as in the memorable instance 
 of Mahomet, who wrought '^ no miracle, " as the phenomenon 
 is usually defined ; but by affirming that the Angel Gabriel 
 spoke to him the words of Allah, he would have it to be un- 
 derstood that this voice superseded all outward and visible 
 signs and wonders, and rendered them unnecessary for the con- 
 firmation of his mission. So all who are convinced of the ex- 
 istence of God, and that we have proofs of the divine interest 
 and interference in the governance of the world, the probabili- 
 ty of the occurrence of what are called miracles will be apparent. 
 Otherwise, we seek to reduce God to a mere machine, mov- 
 ing in one undeviating course, like the stellar system in its regu- 
 larity. Or, in other words, we give to God less freedom than is 
 possessed by the most insignificant creature that has a will. 
 
 In mercy to man, God has appointed certain sequences that 
 we call the laws of nature, which under ordinary circumstances 
 work according to one rule, without variableness. But in 
 equal mercy, for the promotion of his own glory or the greater 
 benefit to mankind, there are occasions when this law is super- 
 seded by another law, for the time of greater importance. We 
 give to this working the name of law, on the same principle 
 that we say the sun rises ; because the sequence appears like a 
 law to us, and the miracle an exception ; but in the mind of 
 God the exception is as much a part of the law as the usual 
 sequence. Given the fact that the divine interference is ever 
 occurrent in human affairs, there will be little diflSculty in con- 
 
84 
 
 ceding that evidences of its existence will be seen the most 
 clearly in matters that affect the higher interests of mankind, 
 those connected with religion. 
 
 A miracle is only an extension of the law of exceptions; of 
 which we have so many similar instances in the events that 
 take place in the world around us. 
 
 The mission of the ancient prophets was to individuals, or 
 at the most to separated nations, so that it was commonly local 
 or temporary in its influence. That of Christ was to all gen- 
 erations and people who should afterwards exist, even to the 
 end of the world We are not prepared for a new order of 
 miracles, to give evidence that it was of God, as this would 
 have been a deviation tending to excite doubt; but we expect 
 to see a manifestation of the same class of events, in greater 
 frequency of occurence and with stronger signs of beneficence 
 of character ; and from his divinity we infer that they will be 
 accompanied by more decided proofs of self-emanation in their 
 origin, that they will be of wider range and present a greater 
 grandeur of purpose. All these desiderata concentrate in the 
 miracles of Christ. 
 
 1 Of the frequency of their occurrence, it may be enough to 
 say, that from the beginning of miracles at Cana of Galilee, 
 when the water was turned into wine, to the healing of the 
 ear of the servant Malchus in the garden of Gethsemane, there 
 is scarcely a page in the narration of the evangelists on which 
 some mighty work is not recorded In many cases, one record 
 includes many separate acts, as when it is said that "■ he healed 
 them all" — the sick, the diseased, the lunatic, and those pos- 
 sessed by devils, — and when he fed the multitude with a lew 
 barley loaves and two small fishes; and the apostle John tells 
 us that there " are also many other things which Jesus did" 
 that are not written. 
 
 2 With the exception of the entrance of the devils into the 
 herd of swine and the withering of the fig-tree, all the miracles 
 ot Christ were at once seen to be of a merciful character. In 
 the former instance, if the swineherds were Gentiles, they 
 were presenting a dangerous temptation to the Jews to break 
 the law, by preparing hog's flesh for the market ^ and if they 
 were Jews, they were following an unlawful occupation; and 
 tiie permission to enter into the swine was given at the request 
 of the devils themselves, for some reason we may not be able 
 fully to comprehend In the other instance, the non-sentient 
 fig-tree was rendered unfruitful '•• for ever, " that the generation 
 ot living Jews might learn an instructive lesson, and turn from 
 
85 
 
 their sins, lest a greater condemnation should befall them. We 
 are not necessitated to homologate the words of Peter, and 
 say that it was " cursed, " as if the withering was an unholy 
 act of sudden indignation. 
 
 There is a delicacy of kindness and good-will about many of 
 the miracles of Christ that immeasurably highten their beauty, 
 as the mosaic of the story is arranged on the sacred page. By 
 his first miracle, he sanctified the rejoicing at the wedding feast 
 in celebration of all virtuous nuptials; his compassion was ex- 
 tended to the leper, whose touch was regarded as pollution ; 
 the " grievously tormented, " for whom his aid was sought by 
 the centurion, was only a servant, but he did not upon that ac- 
 count refuse to listen to the request ; the great multitude of 
 fishes was enclosed in the net which brake, that they who were 
 now called to be ' fishers of men" might receive courage to 
 trust in One who had no earthly possession, but for whom they 
 were about to leave " all " the impotant man, labouring 
 under the infirmity of thirty and eighty years, was made 
 whole, because he saw that he had been now a long time in 
 that case ; it was to hush the fears of his disciples when there 
 was a great tempest, that he stilled the winds and the sea, and 
 said to them, " Peace, be still ; " the sick of the palsy, borne of 
 lour, received the forgiveness of his sins, as well as the power 
 to walk ; the voice of the despised woman was as powerful to 
 gain his sympathy as that of the lordly man ; in the gift of 
 sight to the blind there was imparted the power savingly to be- 
 lieve ; he fed the thousands in the wilderness by the multiplying 
 of a few loaves and fishes, lest on their return home they should 
 faint in the way ; he cast out the devil at the foot of the mount 
 of transfiguration, with ex[)ressions of deep sorrow for the un- 
 belief of his disciples ; he healed the blind men who were sit- 
 ting by the way-side because he had compassion on them; the 
 voice that cried out at the grave near Bethany, " Lazarus, come 
 forth, " had a few moments previously been broken by the 
 groan of anguish, which told how tenderly he loved the dead ; 
 when in the garden that was saturated with his own blood, he 
 healed the servant of the high priest, though that servant had 
 accompanied the men who came to seize him as a wrong- doer. 
 Each of these events was as much a miracle of beneficence as 
 of power ; of mercy as of might. 
 
 3. In no instance was there the seeking of foreign aid ; nor 
 was there any acknowledgment by which trust in an influence 
 or potentiality not inherent in himself could be infered. Be- 
 fore the mourners at Bethany he thanked the Father, '' because 
 of the people which stood by, " and he asked the Father to 
 
glorify his own name ; but we have no instance in which he pray- 
 ed to the Father to assist him in the working of a miracle. 
 In the power he exerted over the natural world there was the 
 same great exercise of conscious prerogative that was evinced 
 in relation to the divine law and its requirements. The effect 
 was sometimes produced by a touch from his own hand ^ some- 
 times by the contact of others with his person, or even his rai- 
 ment; but more usually by a simple utterance. " He spake 
 and it was done. " Though faith was declared as being so ne- 
 cessary upon the part of his disciples, it is never represented as 
 being exercised by Christ. The miracle was never the conse- 
 quence of spell, or incantation, or exorcism. Peter, at the 
 gate called Beautiful, when the lame man was restored, said 
 unto the people, " Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this ? 
 or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own pow- 
 er we had made this man to walk ? " but when the apostles 
 worshipped Christ after the storm, because the winds and the 
 waves obeyed him, he did not rebuke them, or refuse to receive 
 their homage. 
 
 4. The power exercised by Christ was of the most extended 
 and diversified character. The fish caught in the net when it 
 was let down at his " command, " and the stater brought in the 
 mouth of the fish for the payment of tribute, the sap arrested 
 in the blighted fig-tree, gave evidence to his rule over the 
 animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. The instant slum- 
 bering of the winds that had rushed down in fury from the 
 mountains a 'moment before, and the calm upon the sea that at 
 once succeeded the agitation of the storm, gave witness that 
 when he spake the elements of air and water alike obeyed his 
 voice. Each member of the body, whether it were the eye, 
 the ear, the tongue, the hand, or the foot, though previously 
 inert or motionless, stirred into health and use at his bidding. 
 Each disease, whether from fever, leprosy, or paralysis, fled at 
 his rebuke. The devils departed from the souls they had poss- 
 essed at what time, or in what manner, he decreed. In the 
 chamber of death, by the uplifted bier, at the grave itself, it 
 was seen, in a manner that none could gainsay that his autho- 
 rity extended to other worlds, and that he had only to issue his 
 decree, and sheol would give up its dead. 
 
 5. Jesus Christ ever referred to his own resurrection as the 
 greatest and most convincing proof the Jews would receive 
 that he spake the word of truth. This was the final link in 
 the chain of testimony completing the evidence that he had 
 '' come from God. " While he was yet alive, he repeatedly 
 
8T 
 
 declared that in three days after his death he would rise acram. 
 The chief priests were aware of the prediction, and of the 
 time to which its fulfilment was limited. We may be sure that 
 all possible care would be taken to prevent it. But on the 
 morning of the third day it was announced that the sepulchre 
 was empty ; the body was not there. The soldiers on ^uard 
 did not see him rise, as our painters represent. It was whilst 
 the seal of the sanhedrim was yet unbroken, and the watch 
 were yet unconscious that their vigilance had been in vain, 
 that he arose ; and it was on the appearance of an ano;el that 
 the soldiers shook with fear, and " became as dead men. " The 
 death of Christ had been openly declared, after official inquest. 
 Had the body not been in the possession of his enemies, it 
 might have been said that the foretelling was invented to pre- 
 pare the minds of the people for the story told by the disciples. 
 But they had the body in their own keeping. Thus, they 
 were themselves the principal witnesses of the truth of the 
 event they had hoped to hinder. They said that whilst the 
 guard slept the body was stolen by the disciples. If the sol- 
 diers were asleep, we ask the careless custodes how they knew 
 in what manner, or by whom the theft was accomplished ; and 
 if what they said was true, we ask, why did not the priests 
 insist on the guard being put to death, according to usage, for 
 a breach of military discipline, when they saw that their neo-- 
 lect would produce the most disastrous issue that could possibly 
 have happened to their polity. The real thought of these wretch- 
 ed men was revealed, when they confessed to fear lest the con- 
 sequences of his death might be brought upon them, and in the 
 great day that was to overtake the then existing generation the 
 appalling spectre of " this man's blood " must have produced 
 overwhelming terror. The populace possibly knew nothino- 
 about the guard, as it is evident that the women did not ; and 
 from their stand-point it was not so unlikely a conclusion that 
 the body had been furtively taken away. But if the disciples 
 were connected with the alleged theft, we are very certain 
 that Peter would have been foremost in the larceny : and yet 
 this man, a few days afterwards, and in the same place, with 
 the consciousness that if he would only confess to having joined 
 in a deceptive deed, untold wealth was at his command, fearless- 
 ly proclaimed to the house of Israel that he whom they had 
 crucified was "both Lord and Christ," nor could the thong of 
 the scourger or the gaoler's gyves deter him from its repetition. 
 
 We are now prepared to acknowledge the full force and ab- 
 solute conclusiveness of the words of Christ. " I have great- 
 er witness than that of John, for the works that the Father 
 
88 
 
 hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness 
 of me, that the Father hath sent me. " From the nature of 
 these works, they could not be, as the ancient heathen said 
 and as the Jews now say, by the power of magic ; and from 
 their design they could not be, as his contemporaries said, by 
 the power of the devil ; and we are shut up to the conviction 
 that they were wrought, as he himself says, *' by the finger of 
 God. " 
 
 The miraculous powers attributed to Sakya Muni are far 
 beyond the comprehension of the western mind ; and their in- 
 tended purpose is defeated by their exaggerated character, 
 which is hyperbolical, beyond all precedent. The importance 
 of having accredited witnesses to the validity of his claim to 
 the Buddhaship was acknowledged by himself, at so early a 
 period as his contest with Mara. But as events that we should 
 regard as supernatural were then of every day occurence, and 
 were acknowledged to be within the power of unbelievers as 
 well as his own disciples, he professed not to appeal to miracles 
 as an evidence that his teachings were true, affecting to des- 
 pise them in comparison with the power of the Dharma itself 
 to produce conviction ; and instancing the case of a fire-worship- 
 per, who had witnessed great numbers of miracles unmoved, 
 but was converted to the faith by listening to one single dis- 
 course of the Muni. 
 
 According to the commonly-received legends, the sage was 
 accompanied by miracles through the whole of his existence. 
 On his first appearance among men the thirty-two wonders 
 that were seen, including the temporary cessation of the pains 
 and penalties of hell, extended to ten thousand worlds. We 
 liave already recorded the words he uttered immediately after 
 his birth. When five months old, he sat in the air, without 
 any visible support, at a ploughing festival. From the time of 
 his reception of the Buddhaship, there was a halo of glory en- 
 circli^ig ^i^ head, that extended to a distance of six cubits. 
 It is represented in the image made of him as of the same 
 shape as the cloven tongues of fire, figured by our painters as 
 resting upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost. All ob- 
 structions removed from his pathway of their own accord; mud- 
 dy places became dry ; depressions were filled up and eleva- 
 tions levelled ; all pains ceased at his approach, and at every 
 step a lotus flower sprung up from the ground. He could 
 walk in a space not larger than a mustard-seed, and could 
 mount to the top of the large mountain in the centre of the 
 world in three steps; yet he did not increase in size, or the moun- 
 
89 
 
 tain become less. When he delivered a discourse, each being in 
 the extended circle around him supposed that his eyes were 
 fixed upon himself. Though he spoke' in the language of Ma- 
 gadha, each listener thought he was addressed in his own lan- 
 guage; and even birds and animals could so far understand 
 him, as to receive merit from his instruction. 
 
 In that which is intended for history, the incidents recorded 
 of the life are of a similar description. When he threw to- 
 wards the heavens the hair he cut off on becoming a mendi- 
 cant, it remained suspended in the skj^ ^ and the alms-bowl he 
 was afterwards to use was brouiiht to him by the four divine 
 guardians of heaven. When the disciples of the fire-worship- 
 per, Uruwela, were attempting to cleave wood for an offering, 
 the Muni made the logs appear as if they were of pitch or lead 
 so that they could not be cloven, and the arms of some, when 
 uplifted, remained fixed in the air. The wood would not kindle 
 until Buddha gave permission, and then the fire could not be 
 extinguished without his interference. During one of bis vi- 
 sits to the Nigrodha grove he caused a fire to proceed from his 
 person; but though it extended to many worlds, it did not burn 
 even a cobweb; and at the same place, he caused an image of 
 himself to appear in the sky, and the two Buddhas held a con- 
 versation with each other. He thrice visited Ceylon, going to 
 it through the air ; at the third visit leaving an impression of 
 his foot; which was to be a seal that Lanka was taken under his 
 protection, and that his religion would there flourish. The 
 city of Wisata being afflicted at one and the same time by pes- 
 tilence, famine, and sprites, by whom the death of multitudes 
 was caused, a request was made to the Muni that he would 
 visit the place and free the people from the calamities by 
 which they were afflicted. On entering the city he command- 
 ed his attendant, Ananda, to take his alms-bowl, and sprinkle 
 water from it, as he went along. At once the sick were re- 
 stored to health, and the sprites fled to some other place. In 
 the city of Sewat, after eating a mangoe fruit, he directed his 
 attendants to set it in the ground, and to throw on it the wa- 
 ter with which he had rinsed his mouth; when, in a moment, 
 the earth clove, a sprout appeared, and a tree arose, which 
 overspread the city. But on the same occasion the monk 
 Mugalan declared that he could roll up the earth like a mat, 
 and cover it with his finger, and that he could turn the world 
 upside down, as if it were a water-jug. 
 
 Three several times Buddha's life was sought ; b}^ means of 
 an intoxicated elephant, a company of archers, and a machine 
 that could hurl rocks; but the elephant, on seeing him, in- 
 
 M 
 
90 
 
 stantly became sober ; the archers on listening to him, felt so 
 much aifection for him that they at once became his friends ; 
 and the rock on approaching his person, having become bro- 
 ken into two pieces, only a small fragment struck his foot, 
 causing a slight wound. On seeing these things, his enemies 
 were convinced that it was not possible to do him any serious 
 injury, and they desisted from any further attempt against him. 
 
 One of the most notable exhibitions of the power and glory 
 of the Muni was in a visit he paid to the heaven of Indra, for 
 the purpose of preaching the Dharma to its inhabitants. 
 Eighty-three days were occupied in the service, during which 
 he recited the whole of the Abhidharma Pitaka. The faith- 
 ful awaited his return to earth in anxious expectation. Seven 
 days after the conclusion of the discourse, Indra caused a lad- 
 der of glory to extend from heaven to earth, on each side of 
 which was another ladder, one of gold, by which the celestial 
 choristers descended, and the other of silver, on which the gods 
 appeared, bearing canopies, and banners To the people who 
 saw these wonders, the ladders seemed like so many rainbows. 
 Thus attended, Buddha came down from the abode of the de- 
 was, surrounded by all the splendour with which heaven could 
 grace his descent. The central ladder disappeared under the 
 earth. 
 
 We have here presented only a few specimens of the numer- 
 ous tales that appear in the sacred books of the Buddhists, in- 
 vented to add to the reverence with which his followers are 
 taught to regard their sage ; but in reality throwing doubt and 
 denial upon the whole series of narratives, by the impossibility 
 of their occurrence. By history and science they are equally 
 disproved. There could not have been men flying through 
 the air in the time of the prophet Daniel, without some record 
 of the event in western lore ; and no power ever exercised 
 among men could put a mountain into the shell of a mustard 
 seed. 
 
 There are a few, and but a few, coincidences between the 
 miracles ascribed to Buddha and those recorded of Christ. 
 The miracles of the Muni were all intended to confer some 
 benefit upon those who witnessed them or in whose behalf they 
 were performed. Even when he declared that in seven days 
 his unbelieving father-in-law would go down to hell, and the 
 earth opened and sent forth flames, the punishment was not 
 caused by the prediction, but was the consequence of his own 
 misdeeds. Buddha never wrought a miracle for the supply of 
 his own wants, and after the performance of one he would 
 
91 
 
 never allow his monks to seek alms in the same place, as he 
 said that this would be like the manner of mountebanks and 
 jugglers, who exhibit their skill, and then make a collection 
 from the crowd. But the witnesses to the works performed 
 by the Muni fail in the testimony they present. We might as 
 soon believe the stories we are told of Sinbad the sailor, and 
 of the valiant giant-slayer of Cornwall, as the tales that are 
 related of Sakya Muni and his disciples ; whilst the miracles 
 of Christ were many of them seen by the writers from whom 
 we receive the account of them, and were not denied by the 
 opponents of the Gospel, though they ascribed them to a 
 wrong source. They are simple, possible and credible^ above 
 reason, but not contradicting it ; suited to the circumstances 
 under which they took place ; consistent with the character of 
 God ; instructive in the lessons they teach ; and ever accom- 
 panied by high and holy purpose. 
 
 ~^&«3p^§^55^5*r2f^,j-i-- 
 
92 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE VOICE OF THE TEACHER. 
 
 We should conclude, from a priori reasoning, if we were 
 told that a being had come down from heaven, and appeared 
 among men, that he would have little about him that was pure- 
 ly human, and that the imearthliness of his origin would be 
 apparent even to the less discriminating observer, and detected 
 in all his words and ways; and if such a being were a creature 
 of the imagination alone, we should still conclude, that in or- 
 der to make the high character given to him appear natural, 
 he would be represented as living in a sphere far away from 
 the influences that aiTect ordinary mortals. But in the accounts 
 we possess of Jesus Christ, we have the reverse of these in- 
 ductions. He stands before us, a thorough man in all things 
 that are ''without sin;" the most human of human beings. 
 The russet of home, warm in its texture, and of spotless puri- 
 ty is the drapery with which the Saviour is invested in the 
 evangelical portraiture of the Son of man. The sympathies 
 of the heart are seen in unbroken outflow. He is a man of 
 sorrows, and touched with the feeling of man's infirmities. 
 He is as familiar with the sighs of earth as with the songs of 
 heaven j and the quiet scenes of domestic life rise up before his 
 mind as readily as the music and majesty of the palace of God. 
 
 The similitudes and illustrations used by Christ are of a 
 like homely order. When he would tell of '' Solomon in all 
 his glory," he does not go to the angel of bliss or the morning 
 stars, but to the lily of the field ; probably some plant that 
 grew wild near the shore of the sea of Galilee, the form of 
 which was known to all. If a bird is required to express the 
 care of God for man, he does not take us to the eagle, sailing 
 majestically in the blue ether far away from the shaft of the 
 most skilful archer, but to the sparrow, with no elevation in its 
 flio-ht, no attractiveness in the colour of its plumage, and no 
 melody in its voice ; as he knew that it accompanies man in all 
 his wanderings, and nestles under the eaves of his dwelling in 
 all climes; so that it is called in Chinese "the home bird," and 
 seems almost conscious of its divine commission, as it every- 
 where cheers man by its twitter and chirp. 
 
93 
 
 When the people were unwilling to receive what he taught 
 them as to the real nature of "the kingdom," Christ adopted 
 less frequently the mode of instruction in fragment or outline, 
 as seen in the salt of the household, the oven with its kindling 
 of grass, the city on the hill, and the corrupt tree bringing 
 forth evil fruit, and used the parable in its perfect pictorial form, 
 sometimes without comment or exegesis. This attracted the at- 
 tention of the twelve, who said to him, "Why speakest thou unto 
 them in parables ? " The reply was in union with a great law in 
 the moral government of God; that ' whosoever hath, to him 
 shall be given, and he shall have more abundance ; but whoso- 
 ever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath." 
 By the interest of the story the attention of the multitude 
 was secured. It was then within their own power to profit by 
 the word or reject its guidance. Nothing was said on set pur- 
 pose to mystify the Saviour's meaning. The living seed is pro- 
 vided, and it remains with the husbandman to let it abide as 
 it falls, unfruitful until its vitality is gone, or to harrow it in- 
 to the earth of the mind, and by culture make it yield a rich 
 harvest. The light is presented before the eye ; but if they 
 who see it, wander away from its influence into the darkness, 
 their gloom of soul becomes deeper thereby ; whilst, if they 
 are willing to be guided by it, and follow in the way that it 
 indicates as the path of safety, it will lead them onward to the 
 unclouded sunshine of the perfect day. 
 
 With two exceptions, the scene of all the parables in the 
 Gospel is laid in some familiar portion of the Jewish house or vil- 
 lage, or in some well-known locality. Much might be witnessed 
 without stirring away from the shelter of the good man's own 
 dwelling, or the shadow of the tree near which his children played 
 his evening meal was taken in the soft twilight, and his neigh- 
 bours sat when they came to gossip- Inside the house, we 
 have the lighted candle, the bushel, the salt, the leaven, the 
 loaves of bread, the yoke, the new and old bottles, the patches 
 of cloth, and the lost piece of silver. All these become vocal 
 at the call of Christ, and speak words pregnant with saving 
 knowledge. The children of the bride chamber, the labourers 
 waiting to be hired; the cloud, the sound of the wind, and the 
 red sky; the tares, the basket of fish, and the spreading fig-tree ; 
 the shepherd and his flock, the unfaithful steward and his ten 
 thousand talents, and the rich man with his overflowing barns :i 
 are instances in which a single fact may represent a multitude 
 of others, of a similar character, that appear in the instruc- 
 tions given by Christ to those who thronged around him that 
 they might listen to his attractive words. The two exceptions 
 
94 
 
 to which we have referred relate to the seven more wicked spirits 
 and to the rich man tormented in hell; but the truths they 
 taught could not have been conveyed by means of earthly ima- 
 gery alone 5 and yet they were too important to remain with- 
 out announcement. 
 
 In the synagogue and the temple the doctrines of the Gos- 
 pel were revealed to the people, but they were most commonly 
 given, especially in the early part of his ministry, in the places 
 where the neglected multitudes could the most readily be ga- 
 thered together He taught in the house, and the street, on 
 the slope of the hill ; by the way-side and the sea-shore ; and 
 the lay character of the surrounding scenery must in many 
 instances have been in unison with the simplicity of the style 
 he adopted, so unlike what would have been heard if one of 
 their own doctors had been the prolocutor. It was as unlike 
 that of any other teacher, as his works were unlike those of 
 any other prophet. There was a nearer creeping to man's 
 heart of sorrow ; a more reverent listening to its murmur and 
 mourning, as seen when the bent ear of affection seeks most 
 anxiously to catch the scarcely audible expression of its wants. 
 It seems so natural to be told of the beloved disciple — that he 
 learned upon Jesus' bosom. We learn further, that "the com- 
 mon people heard him gladly." He spoke to them in their 
 own mothers' talk ; every word a household word ; and subjects 
 that when handled in the schools were deep mysteries, he ex- 
 plained in such manner that the commonest understanding 
 could comprehend them. Even the uninstructed did not weary 
 with listening to him. He had on more than one occasion to 
 send his audience away; for in the wilderness thousands were 
 still waiting to hear more, though they had been there three 
 I days, and had nothing to eat. 
 
 I When there were evidences of sincerity of purpose, all who 
 
 came to Christ to be instructed, or to have their doubts remov- 
 ed in relation to his kingdom and its ordinances or institutions, 
 
 I were welcomed, and readily listened to and taught. The man- 
 
 ner in which he gave heed to the timid inquirer was so assur- 
 ing, that it was said of him '* a bruised reed shall he not break, 
 and smoking flax shall he not quench. " When we are told of 
 those whom he encountered, that he " answered them saying, " 
 
 iwe usually find that he replied to them in the manner regarded 
 aa most effective in some other schools of great celebrity, by 
 asking questions, which either led in themselves to the confes- 
 sion he wished to elicit, or put the reasoners to silence through 
 their inability to answer. His opponents were convinced at last 
 that all their eflforts to catch him in the snare of controversy 
 
were in vain ; and we are told that the Pharisees, the Sad- 
 ducees and scribes were successively worsted, that the tempt- 
 ing lawyer was silenced, and that others were confounded by 
 the asking of the simple question, " What think ye of Christ ? 
 Whose son is he ? " 
 
 The power of Christ to know the thoughts of men gave him 
 an advantage that no other teacher ever possessed ; and there 
 are evidences of the existence of this faculty in some of the 
 replies that are recorded, that seem rather adapted to some 
 unrevealed circumstance connected with the enquirer than to 
 any word spoken at the time. The insight which his divinity 
 gave him into the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the perfect 
 knowledge he had of the moral position of man, " far gone 
 from original righteousness " and with a heart " desperately 
 wicked," gave a tone of deep solemnity to all his declarations. 
 From the same cause, the weight of the rebukes he sometimes 
 administered, and the severity of his condemnations, extending 
 even to the eternal destruction of body and soul, were only a 
 foreshadowing of the sentence he will pronounce as "Judge of 
 all men " when seated upon the throne of doom. 
 
 In the halls of the Aryan pandits there is more that is allied 
 to the prophets of the Jews than to the philosophers of Greece. 
 The unseen world was to the Indian sages of paramount in- 
 terest. They realised it more powerfully than the teachers of 
 the west, thought on it more profoundly, and were greatly 
 more elaborate in their speculations on its mysteries. The 
 members of the pantheistic school regarding absorption into 
 the deity as the summum bonum, taught that it is the part of 
 a wise man to seek to free himself from all present entangle- 
 ments, and thus prepare himself for deliverance from all future 
 influences and responsibilities. This thought gave an air of 
 great seriousness to their investigation; and enlisted the sym- 
 pathies of a wide circle of persons, who were thereby interested 
 in what they did and said. Women had then enrolled disciples, 
 as well as men. And as the heretics incidentallv introduced 
 into the history of Buddhism are not unfrequently represented 
 as of low origin, and yet as possessing great influence, we may 
 infer that the acknowledged guides of the people were found 
 among all classes and castes. The followers of the atheistic 
 school professed to believe in nothing further than the mental 
 phenomena of the passing moment; but as each successive mo- 
 
96 
 
 itterit must necessarily and unavoidably bring with it some de- 
 gree of sorrow, they sought, by profound meditation, and other 
 exercises, to prevent the continuance of existence, which they 
 thought could be overcome by the destruction of the vitality 
 in the seed of being, as where a grain of wheat has been sub- 
 jected to the process of boiling it has lost for ever its fructi- 
 fying energy. 
 
 In nearly all the schools, there were one or two more promi- 
 nent tenets, that were regarded as the watch-words of the sys- 
 tem ; and there were certain forms and usages required to be 
 observed by the postulants : but none of the great teachers of 
 the post-Vedic ages, with whose history we are acquainted, re- 
 duced their systems of doctrine or codes of discipline to the 
 same perfection of order as Sakya Muni. The mode in which 
 he taught was well adapted to the nature of the circumstances 
 under which he sought to impart instruction.* 
 
 He did not always wait for an application from those whom 
 he saw were prepared to profit by the light of the Dharma. 
 It was his custom to look through the world, with his divine 
 
 * A Brahman who was celebrating a ploughing festival, on see- 
 ing the approach of Sayka Muni said to the attendants, "See, now, 
 this great mendicant has come to spoil our sport. Were he to work 
 like us who are husbandmen, he might achieve an enviable great- 
 ness; but now he does nothing: spending his time in idleness, and 
 coming to different festivals that he may beg something to eat." 
 Then addressing himself to Buddha, he said, ''Muni, I plough and 
 sow ; and from my ploughing and sowing I receive grain, and 
 enjoy the produce : Muni, it would be better if you were to plough 
 and to sow, and then you would have food to eat." Buddha replied, 
 "Brahman, I do plough and sow; and from my ploughing and 
 sowing I reap immortal fruit." On hearing this, the Brahman 
 thought thus: "The Muni says that he ploughs and sows ; but he 
 has neither plough nor any other instrument ; he must have spoken 
 falsely." Yet on looking at him, he thought it impossible tliat ao 
 comely a person could tell an untruth ; and he, therefore, said, "Mu- 
 ni, I see no plough : no goad : no oxen ; if you perform the work of 
 a husbandman, where are your implements ? " In reply Buddha 
 informed him, that his field was the Dharma; the weeds that he 
 plucked up, the cleaving to existence; the plough that he used, 
 wisdom ; the seed that he sowed, the seeking of purity ; the work 
 that he performed, attention to precepts; the harvest that he reap- 
 ed, nirvana; and when he had explained these matters at greater 
 length, he exhorted the Brahman to sow in the same Jfield, unfold- 
 ing before him the advantage of obtaining an entrance to the paths 
 that lead to the destruction of sorrow. 
 
9t 
 
 eyes, to see ^:ho was ready to be caught in the net of truth? 
 and then to frame some reason for visiting the spot where the 
 hopeful man or woman was to be found. It was not to man- 
 kind alone that wisdom was imparted, but on addressinjr the 
 dewas of the heavens, he spoke to them as if they were as 
 much under the influence of human passions as men them-selves, 
 and gave the same advices and directions, when in their pre* 
 sence still extolling the excellence of the Dharma. A d^wa 
 having proposed four questions to his companions, which they 
 were unable to answer, it was agreed that the matter should be 
 referred to Buddha.* The members of the deputation, after 
 due reverence paid, said to him, " Which is the best mode of 
 bestowing alms ? What is more acceptable and pleasurable 
 than anything else ? What is the best mode of putting an 
 end to sensuous desire F" To these questions he answered by 
 one word, *'the Dharma." ''The giving of alms " he said 
 ''though good in itself, cannot introduce any one into the paths 
 of deliverance. The preaching of the Dharma, and the eflPort 
 to communicate it toothers, were therefore, the most excellent 
 alms. All that is in the world captivates the senses. It is 
 but a means to plunge man the more deeply in the vortex of 
 existence and sorrow. But the hearing of the Dharma reioices 
 the heart to such an extent as often to open a spring of joyful 
 tears. It destroys all passion, and establishes man in the state 
 of an arhat It is therefore, the most excellent of all thino-s,^' 
 The Muni frequently took notice of passing events, that he 
 might make them the medium of teaching some important les- 
 son. On one occasion, having risen early that he'might visit 
 the city of Rajagaha, in order to procure alms, he saw'a Brah- 
 man engaged in his devotions, with wet hair and drippinp- gar- 
 ments bending in the six directions, and worshiping thT se- 
 veral quarters, towards which he inclined his head? Wh^n 
 a?ked whv he did this, he said that as his father wasdyino- he 
 directed him to perform this ceremony. But Buddha informed 
 him that this Was not the proper way in which to worship the 
 six directions ; and said that it was to be done by the prnctice 
 of six modes of virtuous action, and by avoiding six modes of 
 evil conduct, each of which he enumerated and explained. 
 
 When any one came to him with a good motive, however 
 Ignorant or even skilful he might be, he was listened to kindly 
 and with patience. The opinions of the enonlrer were found 
 out by some confession drawn from his own Hpe, bv which he 
 was brought unconsciously to make statements, and utter «»eii- 
 
 Bigandet, page 232 
 
98 
 
 timents, that gradually led to an acknowledgement of the 
 truth, and by this means it was shewn that principles were al- 
 ready held that could not possibly agree with the conclusions 
 to which they were thought to lead. We have an instance of 
 the manner in which he used a similar mode of argument, on 
 an occasion when he exercised the congenial office of a peace- 
 maker. Two parties belonging to his own royal race were 
 preparing to fight, in consequence of a dispute that has had 
 its parallel in other lands. Tt was about the embankment of a 
 stream of water. On going to the combatants he said, after 
 he had learnt the cause of the quarrel, " What is the value of 
 water ? " " It is trifling" said the princes. " What of earth ?" 
 "It is inconsiderable" *' What of (the blood of) kings?" 
 " It is unspeakably great." " Then," said he, " would you 
 destroy that which is of unspeakable value for that which in 
 comparison is worthless.^" By this means the battle was pre- 
 vented; and other princes might learn wisdom from the same 
 lesson. 
 
 In what are called the Jatakas, or Birth Stanzas, five hun- 
 dred and fifty in number, a discourse is iounded on some re- 
 cent occurrence, on which the Muni comments, uttering some 
 apt aphorism, and then refierring to some event that took place, 
 of a similar character, in reference to the same persons in a 
 former state of existence. For instance, there is the verse 
 "Fraudful cunning does not in the end produce permanent ad- 
 vantage. The fraudulent person may be circumvented, as the 
 crab was by the crane." This is followed by the story of a 
 priest who cheated another priest in relation to a robe. Upon 
 being told of the circumstance, Buddha related the legend of a 
 crab that by its nippers cut off the neck of a crane that intend- 
 ed to take his life, as he had done that of many fishes that had 
 lived in the same pond. The verse was repeated as the moral 
 of the story, much after the manner of our own fables, not a 
 few of which are identical with more attributed to Sakya 
 Muni. In some instances one story runs into another, in per- 
 plexing succession, as in the most popular of the tales translated 
 from the Arabic, but most of them add some new feature to 
 the narration, and contribute to the force of the maxim w^ith 
 which it is connected. Some of the Jatakas are of consider- 
 able length. 
 
 In graver disquisitions, or in those parts of the Dharma that 
 treat on subjects more abstract or profound, though the syllo- 
 gistic form of reasoning is largely used, it is in connection w^ith 
 tei:ms and distinctions, that are extended and elaborated to a 
 
99 
 
 degree almost incredible. These definition? are presented the 
 most prominently in the last division of the Tripitaka, or the 
 works founded on it. But in the manner in which the Muni 
 is usually represented as teaching his disciples, we seem to have 
 two men alternately before us, one eminently metaphysical in 
 the trains of thought he pursued with the greatest earnestness, 
 and logical in the manner in which they are presented ; so that 
 the false reasoner is entangled in the meshes of well-conducted 
 argument, without the power to set himself free ; and the other 
 commencing with some unsound principle or mistaken postu- 
 late, lengthens out an involved discourse, with propositions that 
 have no interest in themselves, and that are puerile in the man- 
 ner of their illustration, and without practical purpose in their 
 conclusions. 
 
 Jesus Christ is never detected in an error. He is always 
 ready to meet the gainsayer, and even the officers of the high 
 priests, sent on set purpose to take him, confessed to their dis- 
 appointed superiors, " Never man spake like this man." In 
 the manner of teaching said to have been adopted by the 
 Muni, as seen in the readiness to impart knowledge, the plain- 
 ness with which it was communicated, the asking of tentative 
 questions, and the sincerity of purpose apparent in many of 
 the discourses, there is, perhaps a nearer approach to that 
 which is presented in the narrative of the Gospels than in any 
 other portion of his recorded character, but there is still suffi- 
 cient difference to tell at once which is the erring mortal and 
 which the divine Instructor. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 THE EULE OF LIFE. 
 
CHAPTER L 
 
 THE RULE OF LIFE. 
 
 in this chapter, we shall regard as coming within our pro- 
 vince, all that concerns human conduct; all that tells the cha- 
 racter of the inner man, as the statue or portrait would reveal 
 his outward form With the believer in revelation, the Rule 
 of Life has a far wider inclusiveness than can possibly enter 
 into the mind of the teacher whose code of morals is founded 
 solely upon the sugcrestions of intuition. We learn from the 
 word of the Lord that there are two sjreat classes of obliga- 
 tion that are binding upon all intelligent creatures; their duty 
 towards God, the Creator, and their duty to the beings that 
 are the workmanship of the Creator's hand. In addition, when 
 our responsibility to God is acknowledged, an entirely new 
 phase, and one that involves consequences the most serious, is 
 given to the whole economy of existence. It becomes, un- 
 speakably greater in its importance: and no code of moral law 
 can be perfect in which this principle is overlooked, or in 
 which it is made to hold a secondary place. 
 
 In the revelations of Christ there is a further individuality. 
 The unsoiling of the soul is not necessarily by a gradual pro- 
 cess. It may be accomplished by a specific act, in its exercise 
 of universal influence. When man has to work out his own 
 salvation, without the working within him of the sanctifying 
 influences of the Holy Spirit, he must slowly approach the 
 citadel of evil, contesting with the enemy for every inch of 
 ground he gains. He has to confess, " When I would do good 
 evil is present with me." But when aided by God, the soldier 
 of the cross can overcome all antagonisms, whether from with- 
 in or without, as by a coup de main. He has yet to fight; 
 but if he is faithful to the grace that will be communicated to 
 him, in his new position, victory will be as frequent as battle. 
 Hence, Jesus Christ had no school for the teaching of the in- 
 dividual disciple, who was to be led on slowly from the rudi- 
 ments of the Gospel to instruction in the whole truth. As he 
 said to the blind man, " See 1 " and he saw, and to the leper, 
 " Be clean 1" and he was cleansed, there and then : so he assert- 
 ed the ])Osses«ion of a power upon earth, to sav to the contrite 
 s[)irit that believed iu him, '' Thy sins are forgiven thee" and 
 
i04 
 
 it was declared by the Forerunner that he was the Lamb oi 
 God, "which taketh away the sin of the world " On this ac- 
 count, his commands were issued with authority, and the pro- 
 mise of aid to accomplish all that was inculcated was given at 
 the same time as the decree. " If thine eye be single, thy 
 whole body shall be full of lio^ht." " Make the tree ^ood, and 
 his fruit good; for the tree is known by his fruit." When the 
 fountain is made clean, all that proceeds from it partakes of its 
 clearness: its natural outflow is purity. And until this is ac- 
 complished, all appearances of reformation are too much like 
 the green weed that spreads itself over the mud of the treacher- 
 ous morass, hiding its foulness, and even giving to it a degree 
 of attractiveness, but leaving it still, in reality a dirty, deceit* 
 ful, noxious swamp. 
 
 The constancy of the attention of Christ to these principles 
 must never be lost sight of by those who seek to form a correct 
 estimate of the povVer of the Gospel as a purifier of morals. 
 it meets us at all stages of the Saviour's ministry, from its 
 commencement. " Except a man be born again, he cannot see 
 the kingdom of God." The old man is to be slain, and a new 
 spirit to be communicated, as different to the former one as 
 life from death. There are to be new motives, new powers, 
 new pursuits, new aims. Outcast man is to be raised from his 
 state of degradation; his presence is no longer to be a pollu- 
 tion; and there is to be granted to him the privilege of adoption 
 into the holy family of God, with all its rights, immunities, 
 dignities, and wealth of inheritance. The glory of that pos- 
 session far transcends all that the apostles were led to expect at 
 the time when they were called upon to separate themselves 
 from all secular pursuits, and follow Christ. They were told 
 that when their faithfulness had been proved,^ they were to 
 "sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." 
 The glory upon which they had once fixed their vision w^as 
 never to be realised after the manner they had supposed, in 
 the earthliness of their uninformed imaginations, but they 
 were to attain to far higher privilege: not to be mere servitors 
 in God*s realms, but themselves to be invested with the rector^ 
 nl office, sitting upon thrones of judgment. 
 
 The grandeur of the aim of Christ was seen in the fact, 
 that his commands Were not to be regarded as of local or limit- 
 efl obli^zation. Even when denouncing local customs, the con- 
 demnation was to be understood as unfolding principles of 
 general iin[)ortance. This limitlessness of area was recognized 
 throushout the whole range of his utterances. ^'Except ye 
 repeat ye shall all likewise perish," "What I say unto you^ I 
 
105 
 
 say unto all, Watch." ''And I, if I be lifted up from the earth 
 will draw all men after me." '' God so loved the world, that 
 he gave his only beootten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
 him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
 
 At the commencement of our Lord's ministry it was an- 
 nounced, that no part of the old law was to be abrogated. "I 
 am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Not one jot or tittle 
 was to pass from it, until all had been perfected. All its re- 
 quirements were to be transferred to the laws of the new kino-- 
 dom ; all its prohibitions were equally to be regarded; and the 
 whole system of its rewards and punishments was to be equal- 
 ly oj^erative and influential. Its power was increasingly forti- 
 fied by stern reproof of the attempts that had been made to 
 weaken it, and the evil designs of the men were unsparingly 
 exposed who had sought to make it utter mandates that were 
 not in accordance with the will of God. The sect most earn- 
 est in upholding its forms were told that their zeal was not ac- 
 cepted ; and the multitude learnt that unless they secured a 
 righteousness exceeding that of the Pharisees there was no 
 entrance for them into the kingdom of heaven. There was 
 significance in the words he uttered, and often repeated, ^' 1 
 say unto you." He Avas not simply a corrector of abuses; an 
 asserter only of the original precept, just a restorer of the 
 primitive canon, and nothing more. He assumed a right that 
 had been claimed by no previous interpreter, and that no one 
 had asserted in the " old time " of which he spoke. The peo- 
 ple acknowledged the authority with which he addressed them 
 but their hearts were waxed gross, and they did not perceive 
 that in his discourse on the mount he had uplifted morality to 
 a higher position than any it had previously occupied, not 
 only as taught from the chair of the scribe but in the school of 
 the most enlightened prophet. There may be perfectness of 
 propriety as to the outward conduct, and blamelessness of life, 
 whilst, in the sight of God there is fatal deficiency and even 
 much depravity. There may be murder, without the move- 
 ment of a muscle; theft, without the abstraction of the small- 
 est possession ; and adultery, without the least approach to- 
 wards outward criminality. It is the heart that God looks 
 upon, as the source whence the motive proceeds, that may vi- 
 tiate what has the look of innocence and render that which has 
 the semblance of purity exceedingly sinful. When Christ had 
 asserted the supremacy of the law, and explained the spiritu- 
 ality of its meaning, he proceeded to operate upon the heart as 
 a skilful sculptor works upon the clay in which he is forming 
 
 Q 
 
106 
 
 ills model, preparing it to receive the impress of the diving 
 hand. 
 
 Jesus Christ was the first teacher who gave to woman her 
 rightful position. We are introduced to her in his discourses 
 as she grinds at the mill, casts her leaven into the meal, joins 
 in the marriage procession, and rejoices the bridegroom as his 
 bride. He would have iilan look at her as it was intended that 
 he should " from the beginning. " Those were gratnd words 
 of God, when he said, '* 1 will miake hint a help meet for him." 
 This was to be her privilege for ever. She vj^as to be " a help" 
 to man. The former part of these words of solerain consecra- 
 tion he remembers — " A help; " but he forgets the other part, 
 the thought linked with it, wedded to it from the moment he 
 first saw her in her primal beauty, " a help meet, " meet id 
 help: not, as in nearly all places away from the hearing of the 
 voice of Christ, to do all the hard work of the world alone, " a 
 help me6t for him " worthy to be his second self; not only 
 bone of his bone, but soul of his soul, with One warm heart 
 and one brave hope. She first seen after the fall prepares us 
 for woman's subsequent history. In man's ungenerous attempt 
 to throw the blame ot the transgression on the woman, she saw 
 what she would have to expect when the gate of Paradise was 
 closed. And yet there seems to be mercy to the woman in the 
 sentence passed upon the man, " Thorns also and thistles shall 
 the ground bring forth to thee. In the sweat of thy face shalt 
 thou eat bread." It wa^ evidently intended that mani should do' 
 all the severe toil. It was his hand that was to be pierced by 
 the thorn, and it was he who was to expose himself to the 
 scratch of the thistle ; and thus make the work of the world so 
 far pleasant to the woman. It was his turn to be the help- 
 meet ; the bread winner ; the woman ruler, but exercising his 
 authority so gently and lovingly that, according to God's holy 
 ordinance he shall still be the desire of the woman's heSrt. 
 Women of all classes are connected with the history of Christ. 
 He was born of a pure virgin ; he raised from the dead one of 
 the maidens of Israel, about twelve years of age ; a sick woman 
 was healed of her infirmity by touching the hem of his garment j 
 a poor woman was commended because she had cast into the 
 treasury more than all the rest ; " for they did cast in of the 
 abundance, but she of her v^ant did cast in all that she had, even 
 all her living. " Well may the females of India say, as they 
 listen to the word of God when read to them in their zenanas 
 by their fair sisters from the west, " Your bible is a woman's 
 bible ; our religious books say nothing of woman but what is 
 cruel, but your bible is full of kind and loving words tovvards^ 
 us." 
 
107 
 
 The whole life of Christ was one continued didactic dis- 
 course. In his own person was exemplified perfectly all he 
 taught ; and the spotless beauty of his character has so struck 
 the sceptic, that he has been led to acknowledore its grandeur 
 in words eloquent as the voices of heaven, though himself 
 without sin, it was his study to render assistance to sinful men, 
 helping their infirmities, bringing into activity the hope that 
 the world would have crushed out and destroyed, and breathing 
 health and power into spirits ready to droop and give way to 
 despair. The apostle sums up the whole series of his benevo- 
 lent acts by saying, *' he went about doing good." No one 
 but '' the Greeks that came up to worship at the feast," and 
 who knew him not, ever seemed afraid to approach him, or to 
 enter into conversation with him, or to seek his advice, or to 
 ask for his assistance. But one sight of the living loving man 
 will tell more than many sentences of exposition. The mothers 
 of Israel ventured to request that he would put his hands up- 
 on their children. The little ones themselves seem to have 
 been eager to attract his notice, and the permission had not to 
 be given them in these terms, " Then bring them to me ; " or 
 ** Send them;" but " Suffer them to come," as if they were 
 already anxious to come to the Saviour ; so attractive was his 
 presence. There was none of the morosenesa too often assumed 
 by the successful teacher; nor of the awe that usually accom- 
 panies the man who exercises the power of working miracles. 
 " Forgive and be forgiven," " Love and be beloved," were 
 precepts, with an accompanying promise and privilege. In the 
 all embracing arms of his own affection were expressly includ- 
 ed his enemies and persecutors; publicans, sinners, and Sama- 
 ritans. The love that he taught and upon the constant exer- 
 cise of which he insisted, was not to be cribbed and confined 
 to each man s own caste, or guild, or school, or creed, or nation, 
 but to be so expansive as to reach the whole estate of univer- 
 sal man. 
 
 The word Gospel, though not used in the Old Testament, 
 must have had a definite meaning before the coming of Christ, 
 as he appeared before the Jews saying, " Repent, and believe 
 the gospel." The perfect church of the Gospel was not formed 
 before the resurrection; but its platform was prepared and its 
 foundation laid, (ieep and broad. '* U})on this rock, I will 
 build, (oikodomeso) my church." The Holy Ghost was to col^ 
 lect the living stones of the temple about to be erected. It 
 was by his hand that they were to be polished, and placed in 
 situ, and it was through his presence that the intended shrine 
 was to be filled with the divine glory, *'But the Holy Ghost 
 
108 
 
 was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.'' 
 To see the temple in its full majesty we must turn towards the 
 writings of the apostles, and to know all the "peace" and "good 
 will" proceeding therefrom, we must visit every land where it 
 has been received in its integrity. This broad view would, 
 however take us beyond the limits to which we have proposed 
 to confine ourselves, and we must be content with saying that 
 it is the aim of Christ's religion to make all men, everywhere, 
 and always, happy and holy ; putting away from the practice of 
 men all things connected with tyranny and oppression ; mak- 
 ing them willing to bear the burdens of each other, by extend- 
 ing the hand of help, wherever it is needed or will be welcome; 
 banishing from the earth all that is cold or churlish and that 
 partakes of narrowness of mind or heart : and so changing the 
 human heart that every act of the Christian man shall be hon- 
 est in the sight of God, and kind towards his fellow man, 
 and even his thoughts ever pure, and free from semblance 
 of guile or guise. This is the morality of the gospel of the 
 Son of God. 
 
 It is in the comparative superiority of its moral code that 
 the principal excellence of the Dharma is supposed to consist ; 
 and we enter upon our examination of its ethical character 
 with no disposition to depreciate its work or deny the advanta- 
 ges it has conferred upon India and the nations further east. 
 By the adoption of this course we think that we promote the 
 interests of truth. Revelation tells us, that " when the Gen- 
 tiles which have not the law, do by nature [phusei in their 
 natural state, unaided by an immediate revelation] the things 
 contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto 
 themselves ; which shew the work of the law written in their 
 hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts, 
 the mean while, accusing or else excusing one another." 
 The moral state of the heathen world proves most clearly the 
 necessity of a divine revelation ; but both from the writings of 
 their ancient sages, and the conversations recorded by our mod- 
 ern missionaries as having taken place between them and the 
 Buddhists of India and the heathen of other lands, there appears a 
 sense of right and wrong sometimes dim and feeble, but often felt 
 by them in a painful and oppressive degree : and this, whilst it is 
 a proof of the good-will of God towards all his intelligent 
 creatures, indicates his justice in making them amenable to a 
 general judgment. The mercy of God becomes more apparent 
 according to the extent of light that men receive, but the puni- 
 tive' justice that he exercises is seen to be righteous, from the 
 game cause. Even when the existence of God is denied, or 
 
109 
 
 entirely unknown, the conscience exists, and asserts its claims, 
 and in numberless instances it is successfully appealed to, to 
 convince men of the evil of sin and the necessity of an atone- 
 ment. 
 
 If the axiom we have previously laid down be correct, that 
 no system of morals can be perfect in which the existence of 
 an intelligent Supreme Being is not recognized, as the source 
 of all law and obligation, everywhere present and regardful of 
 the acts of all his creatures to whom he has given a moral 
 sense, then must Buddhism be regarded, without further in- 
 vestigation, as a religion destitute of the requisite authority ; 
 not as a religion in the strict sense, but as system of ethics. In the 
 Dharma there is properly speaking, no lawgiver, and therefore 
 no law. There are precepts given by Sakya Muni ; but he is 
 not himself their originator ; he merely makes known what he 
 regards as eternal truths ; but who first declared them, or by 
 what authority they are now rendered obligatory, we are not 
 informed. With him, sin is not sin, as it is not the transgres- 
 sion of a law\ It is an inconvenience but little more. We 
 may infer that it is an evil and it may be a pollution, but there 
 is nothing about it that implies guilt. The power to declare 
 what is good and what is evil was first received by Buddha as 
 he sat at the foot of the bo-tree, and was the result of his " all 
 knowingness," which was itself the result of the entire des- 
 truction of all cleaving to sensuous objects, or the overcoming 
 of all evil desire, '* As a [supreme] Buddha, he acknowledges 
 no teacher, admits of no inspiration or revelation from a higher 
 source; but declares himself to be the fountain of knowledge 
 for all existing beings, whatever may be their dignity." But 
 upon his own principles, we may refuse to acknowledge his 
 authority, as so far from bring all wise, he betrays ignorance 
 and mistakes upon almost every subject about which his sup- 
 posed opinions are recorded. , 
 
 When inquiry was made from Christ as to the way of pre- 
 paration for eternal life, he said, " What is written in the 
 law?" meaning, as we learn from the context, the law of God. 
 At other times, there were his words, " I say unto you; " but 
 he declared that what he said was by the authority of the 
 Father, with whom he was " one." *' The word which ye hear 
 is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." The commands 
 of Christ were, therefore the commands of God, whose right it 
 is to rule, and who requires a loving obedience from all his 
 creatures, to be ceaselessly presented, and bringing to its exer- 
 cise every affection of the heart, and the utmost earnestness of 
 soul. " The Father hath committed all judgment unto the 
 
110 
 
 Son." In the discourse on the mount he exclaimcrl, " Who- 
 soever therefore shall break one of these least coinniandments, 
 and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the king- 
 dom of heaven." With this compare the words of James. 
 ^' Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet oflFend in one 
 point, he is guilty of all." The law of God requires perfect 
 obedience, and no power that is less than divine can rescind, or 
 revoke any of its precepts, or alter them in the least degree. 
 They are fixed, as God's immutability ; extended, in their re-^ 
 quirements, as the authority of God ; and include all times, 
 places and persons. The ordinances of Buddha, as we have 
 seen are not imperative commands. The observance of them 
 implies no deserving ; the non-observance of them no crimina-? 
 lity. In the Dharma there is no such sentence as this : " The 
 Lord is longsufFering, and of great n^ercy, forgiving iniquity 
 3,nd transgression, and sin, and by no means clearing the guilty." 
 
 T-^-C^^-^^^f^^^^r-^ 
 
ill 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE ECO^^OMY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 in the conversation ttat \vas held by Christ with the \V0" 
 man of Samaria, ^s he sat by Jacob's well, Wear^ with his 
 journfey which must have beeii over miles of limestone rockj 
 exposed to the intense glare of the sun, as it tiras then the 
 hour of noon, lie re-asserted a ttuth too Idng forgotten,^ that 
 had been acknowledged not far from the same spot, in the 
 distant past. Another wearied pilgrim — the same whose 
 name had been given to the well by which Jesus s^t — coming 
 from a locality further south, saw a vision bf God, not at 
 noon, but in the night ; not near to a, frequented pathwaiy, but 
 in the loneliness of utter solitude. When Jacob awoke out of 
 his sleep, he said, " Surely the Lbtd is in this place and I 
 knew it nOt 1 " And he was afraid, and said, " Hov^ dreadful 
 to this place ; this is nOne other but the hotise of God, and 
 this is the gate of heaven ! " The spangling df ilie toof of 
 that hallowed house had only the stars for its aLddrnfhent, 
 for the sun had set when he lighted upon thatt place ; the veil 
 that was drawn aside in the Soft rogeate blush of the morning 
 was the receding darkness in the midst of which he had slept, 
 as his head lay upon a pillow of stone and the Solemn hush 
 that rested everywhere, as if preparing the world for the rest 
 bf a Sabbath day, were all scenes presented in the wilderness ; 
 yet the shekinah was there ; it was " the house of God," and 
 " the gate of heaven." Had men been willing to learn the 
 important lesson thus taught, they would have seeii that the 
 whole earth is one bonsecrated temple of JehoVah, and that 
 in any part of it they may hold holy Converse with God ; but 
 the Israelites sought to confine the privilege to Jerusalem and 
 the Samaritans to Gerizim, near the shadow of which Christ 
 was then set. They mistook the restriction on sacrifice for a 
 restriction on worship. Greatly must it have puzzled " Sama- 
 ria's daughter," when Christ said, " The hour cometh, when 
 ye shall neither in this mountain [exclusivelyj nor yet at 
 Jerusalem, worship the Father.. .The hour cometh, and now 'm 
 
112 
 
 when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit 
 and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 
 God is a Spirit ; and they that worship him, must worship 
 him in spirit and in truth." This was the old truth, more 
 clearly affirmed, taught in the vision seen by the wanderer 
 whom the woman called ^^ our father Jacob." It was evident, 
 therefore, that the kingdom to be established by Christ, was 
 not to be local in its influence or limited in its extent by 
 mountains or seas, the usual termini of nationality. Both 
 Jesus and the woman spoke of '* worship," and of that alone. 
 There was no mention of sacrifice^ or of any other rite. 
 There was not, indeed at any time, a formal abrogation of sac- 
 rifice ; but the character of the future had been already re- 
 vealed. It had been shewn, inferentially, first, that the sacri- 
 fice of a slain animal was no loiiger needed when drawing nigh 
 to God ; and then that its continuance would not be possible, 
 in conformity with the old canon. Christ had said to his 
 disciples, " Where two or three are gathered together in my 
 name there am I in the midst of them." When he afterwards 
 sent them forth, he said, ** Go ye, into all the world, and 
 preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and 
 is baptised shall be saved." They were to preach the gospel^ 
 everywhere and to all people, and the Lord promised to be 
 with them alway. In the terms of their commission, there 
 was no mention of any observance that had been in force con- 
 tiected with the Mosaic dispensation. If the passover for in- 
 stance, was to be kept, it could not be after the old manner, 
 as it would have taken half a lifetime., for some of the members 
 of the church to have gone from their own homes to the loca-, 
 lity of which it was said, that it was the " place where the 
 Lord shall choose to place his name there; " and which was 
 the only spot in the whole world where the paschal lamb was 
 permitted to be slain. At the period of the crucifixion there 
 was the occurrence of a significant event; perplexing to the 
 jews ; but most instructive to the follows of Him who then 
 expired upon the cros.^. " The veil of the temple," that no 
 one could pass but the high priest alone and he only on one 
 festival of the year, " was rent in twain from the top to the 
 bottom." We see the importance of baptism as an initial rite 
 to be received of all men who would enter into Christ's church, 
 in the accounts that are given of the struggles carried on in 
 the minds of many of the heathen, when their sincerity is 
 thereby tested, and the soul has to be wrenched at once from 
 all that is held dear upon earth, and all forsaken for Christ. 
 J^ut though this significant ordinance, first brought into 
 
113 
 
 prominent notice by John, was to be continued, there was an 
 effectual bar placed upon the repetition of the service of the 
 Levitical priesthood. Christ had said of the temple, " There 
 shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be 
 thrown down." He had previously called it "his Father shousei" 
 but he now called it " your house," and said, ** Your house 
 is left unto you desolate ; " and desolate it was tu remain, un- 
 til they were prepared to say, " Blessed is he that cometh in 
 the name of the Lord." It was plain, therefore, that the liead 
 of the kiiigdou) was not to be Jeruc^alcm, and that the priest- 
 hood was not to be confined to the sons of Aaron. 
 
 There were not more than two occasions on which the Mes- 
 siah spoke particularly ot the church. On the former of the 
 two, he said to the apostle whom he had first called, " Thou 
 art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the 
 gates of hell shall not prevail against it." From these words 
 we learn, 1. that Christ was about to establish a church; 
 2 that it would be opposed by the legions of hell ; 3. that this 
 opposition would not j)revail ; and, 4. that it was to be built 
 upon something connected with, or represented by, Peter. 
 That it should be built upon Peter personally was not possible. 
 The meaning must, therefore, be a figurative one and may 
 declare that the church was to be built, i e. proceed from, or 
 be commenced by Peter, in his official capacity ; or it may de- 
 clare that it was to be built upon the confession he had just 
 made that Christ was " the Son of the living God." At this 
 time, as upon so many other occasions, Peter was regarded as 
 the representative of the twelve. Both immediately before 
 and after the confession the word "ye" is used, and in the con- 
 fession that was made as well as the charge received, all the 
 apostles were included. The keys of the kingdom were con- 
 nected with the power of binding and loosing ; as was after- 
 wards more clearly explained by Christ, when he said, the 
 other apo-tles being present, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 
 whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and 
 whose soever sins ye retain they are retained." With the 
 Jews there was the complaint that one school loosed, and an- 
 other bound ; but as Christ breathed U{)on all the disciples, 
 and to all imparted the guidance of the Spirit, in one and the 
 same manner, there could be no similar variance between the 
 doctrines they taught, or the discipline they exercised. We 
 learn from these revelations that the church of Christ is to be 
 founded on and ever linked to, the confession of Peter ; and 
 we may learn, further, that where this faith is not, the church 
 of Christ is not. It is to endure for ever, for ''the gates of 
 hell," the power of Hades, ** shall not prevail against it," 
 
 p 
 
114 
 
 The notices given by Christ previous to his death, of his 
 intended church, are few and indefinite. Knowing that it 
 was to extend far and to exist to distant ages, it appears 
 singular that more specific rules were not formed for its 
 government. When we look at the position of the church as 
 it appears on the day of the resurrection and at the state of 
 the world, it seems impossible that so feeble a cause can 
 succeed in the battle it will forthwith have to commence, in 
 order to gain influence and authority. But we may learn 
 thereupon two lessons: 1. That the power of the Gospel was 
 not regarded by its Author as consisting in the form of its 
 ecclesiastical government, or in any system of hierarchical- 
 polity. Otherwise Christ, in his infinite wisdom, would have 
 made authoritative arrangement for the early settlement of all 
 the more important church questions. 2. Christ must have 
 foreseen the certain accomplishment of the promise he had 
 given that the Holy Ghost would be communicated to the 
 apostles, in a greater degree than that in which His power 
 had rested upon them whilst their Master was yet with them ; 
 joining these thoughts together, we may discover the reason 
 why it was not seen to be necessary by Christ that the church 
 should be definitely constituted, or its polity authoritatively 
 defined, before his death. But we learn from Matthew xviii. 
 20 that it w^as to be connected with a particular form of faith^ 
 a belief in the divinity of the Son of God. The Apostles, in 
 order that it might be established were to preach and baptize, 
 but in what manner they were to ordain other apostles, or by 
 whom the gospel was to be taken to those parts of " the world " 
 they could not personally visit, was not specially revealed. 
 Immediately previous to his death, Christ instituted another 
 ordinance, that has been regarded, with a few exceptions by all 
 Christians, as of universal obligation, called in Scripture, " the 
 Lord's Supper. ' But even here, we have no positive direction 
 as to the persons by whom it was to be administered, though we 
 learn that all were to partake of it, and we know that the blood 
 represented by the wine to be poured out and drunk was to be 
 shed for " the many," and that all believers are as much 
 interested in it as the apostles to whom the command was 
 first given. The time, place and form of celebration was left 
 to be arranged by the ofiftcers of the church, according to 
 circumstances; but there is no authority for the mystery that 
 has been thrown around it by men who would assume the 
 priesthood in a church in which there can be only one Priest, 
 Jesus Christ, who is both Ofi'erer and Ho^^t, and the same men 
 would change a simple rite into a histrionic perfomance and a 
 gorgeous superstition. 
 
115 
 
 The followers of Christ were not yet prepared for the estab- 
 lishment of a church that was to be permanent in its form and 
 constitution: the elements to form it were not yet in existence 
 in many places: and if the power of the gospel had consisted 
 in anything outward or human, its existence would have been 
 imperilled when Jesus was taken up to heaven. But there 
 wa>5 the rich legacy of promise previously given to the disciples ; 
 and in the fifty days of prayer and supplication, their memories 
 would go back to the instructions they had receivtd from 
 Christ, Every word that each apostle could remember would 
 be added to the general store, as a priceless treasure ; and 
 among them would doubtless be, the words he had spoken 
 about binding and loosing ; the retaining of sin, and the remit- 
 ting ; the coming of the Comforter, by whom they were to be 
 led into the way of all truth, and the constancy of the Saviour's 
 presence, tbat was to accompany them *•* even unto the end of 
 the world ! " 
 
 Under the guidance of the same divine Spirit, the apostles 
 appointed '' bishops and deacons," or as they are sometimes 
 called, "elders and deacons; " gifts were commiinicated '■'with 
 the laying on of the hands of the presbytery ; " and to Timo- 
 thy this charge was given by Paul : ** The things that thou 
 hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit 
 thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." 
 
 The existence of the church, even if it were nothing more 
 than a simple ekklhia would necessitate a number of arrange- 
 ments, such as, the autliority to call it, the preparation 
 of a place in which to hold it, the rules to be observed in 
 conducting it, and a reason would have to be assigned why it 
 was called too:ether ; but thouorh with it there was to be con- 
 nected also preaching and teaching, the administration of the 
 sacraments, the exercise of discipline and the adjustment of 
 other matters of high importance ; beyond certain rudimentary 
 principles, neither in the gospels nor the epistles, is there 
 presented so distinct an outline that it will be at once recogniz- 
 ed as the intended form of the future church. But this matter 
 does not fall within our province for exhaustive discussion, as 
 we confine ourselves almost exclusively to the times of Christ. 
 As to the doctrines to be taught, all possible pains were to be 
 taken to preserve and present them in their original purity 
 without any addition whatever from unauthorized sources ; so 
 that the apostle of the Gentiles said : •"* Though we or an 
 angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that 
 which we have preached unto you let him be accurserl ; " and 
 the apostle John said, ^^. Whosoever transgresseth, and abide t'h 
 not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abidcth 
 
116 
 
 in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the 
 Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, 
 receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. 
 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil 
 deeds." 2 John 9, 10. 
 
 The ecclesiastical arranirements of Sakya Muni are in 
 many respects, just the reverse of those of Jesus Christ. He 
 vrd3 comparatively careless about doctrine, but there are given 
 in his name the most minute directions as to the discipline to 
 be observed by those who sought to receive the full benefit of 
 the Dharma From the date of its establishment, there is 
 throughout one radical difference The commands of Christ 
 were binding upon all men : the privileges of the gospel were 
 to be .shared by all. In what concerns the inner life, and 
 power over sin, the evidence of acceptance with God, freedom 
 of access to the throne of the heavenly grace, and the full 
 assurance of hope in relation to a glorious immortality, no 
 difference was made between the layman and the priest ; in the 
 gospel there was no esoteric school, founded upon ecclesiastical 
 position, no path of privilege into which men were officially per- 
 mitted to enter But the aid to be received from the teaching 
 of the Muni was of little or no avail to those who did not possess 
 previous merit ; it had no power to prevent the consequence of 
 sin ; and its highest position of privilege could only be attained 
 by those who formally abandoned the world, and took upon 
 themselves the profession of a religious life, which was 
 connected with restraints that prevented the possibility of its 
 being universally embraced. All could not carry the alms- 
 towi, or where were the alms-giver ? All could not preserve 
 strict continence, or how was the race to be perpetuated.'' 
 
 The laws of profession were modified, as circumstances 
 arose that necessitated an alteration in their form. This was 
 brought forward as an argument against the power of the Muni 
 to see into the future ; but it was replied, that a physician may 
 be perfectly acquainted with the properties of all kinds of 
 medicinal preparations, but he does not administer them pre- 
 viously to the appearance of the disease ; so, though Buddha 
 knew all things, he did not forbid certain practices until the 
 necessity arose for their prohibition. To this elasticity, the 
 sytitem has been indebted for its continuance during so many 
 centuries, and under circumstances so diversified. Had it been 
 a product of abstract thought, and not of actual experience, 
 or had it been propounded as perlect and unchangeable, from 
 the beginning, without the power of adaptation or alteration. 
 Its immobility would have been its destruction. In these 
 
117 
 
 arranoements, the Muni displayed a correct knowledge of 
 human nature, as there was in them a wise preparation for 
 future contingencies, that from the first, was seen to be a great 
 conservative power. 
 
 In illustration of the manner in which these arrangements 
 were carried into effect, we may instance what was done in 
 reference to the ordination of the monks, and the appointment 
 of the various officers who were required for their guidance 
 and government The heads of the religion are commonly 
 called priests by European writers, but Buddhism admits of 
 no proper priesthood ; and when we use the word ordination, 
 and other church terms, it must be understood that they are 
 used in a sense consistent with the system, and not in their 
 more modern acceptation. The doctrines of Buddha are not 
 arranged systematically in any one discourse; but are to be 
 found in detached sermons and different books ; nor was his 
 criminal and ecclesiastical code formed at once, but enacted as 
 circumstances occurred. At the first many of the monks being 
 uninstructed, were slovenly in their dress; they solicited alms 
 in an improper manner and were noisy and rude in conversation. 
 The people were displeased at this conduct, and loudly 
 expressed their disapprobation. The more modest monks, also, 
 were aggrieved by it, and reported the circumstances to the 
 Muni, who convened a chapter, censured the offenders, and 
 itesued the following precept ; " Monks, I permit (or direct) 
 that there should be spiritual superiors." He then defines the 
 relative duties of the superior and the co-resident. The superior 
 is to regard the other as his son. and the co-resident is to regard 
 the superior as his father ; and they are mutually to respect and 
 honour each other. Some of the co-residents having refused 
 to perform their duty to the superiors, the Muni decreed : " It 
 is not proper, monks, that a co-resident should not perform his 
 duty to his superior. He who does not do his duty is guilty 
 of an offence requiring confession and absolution." They still 
 remaining disobedient, the Muni decreed : *' I permit, monks, 
 that the disobedient shall be suspended (from his position as 
 co-resident)." He was then to be placed under discipline. 
 The superior might declare by words, or intimate by signs, 
 " I suspend you," or he might say, " Return not to this place," 
 or, '* Take away your alms-bowl and robes ; " or, *' 1 have no 
 need of your service." When any of these forms were used, 
 the co-resident was suspended. A co-resident, who was thus 
 suspended, not seeking reconciliation, it was decreed : " I direct, 
 monks, that those who are suspended shall not remain without 
 seeking forgi^ eness. He who does not seek forgiveness is 
 guilty of an oilence." Some superiors, on forgiveness being 
 
lis 
 
 requested, refusino; to be reconciled, Vie decreed : •' I direct, 
 monks, that forgiveness be granted " Still, some of the 
 superiors would not forgive, and the co-residents, being dis- 
 couraged, left the community, and joined themselves to other 
 religious orders. Upon this, Buddha decreed : "• It is not 
 proper, monks, to refuse forgiveness when it is solicited. He 
 who refuses to forgive is guilty of an offence." Some pre- 
 ceptors having suspended the obedient and permitted the 
 disobedient to remain without suspension, on the fact being 
 reported, Buddha decreed • *•* Monks, it is improper to suspend 
 those who do their duty. He who does so is guilty of the first 
 offence. It is im{)roper not to suspend those who neglect their 
 duty. He who does not place such under suspension is guilty 
 of the first offence." Five reasons are assigned why a pupil 
 may be placed under suspension. If he does not manifest 
 proper affection, attachment and respect to his preceptor, or if 
 he is without modesty of deportment, or neglects his studies. 
 
 There were at that time monks of more than ten years 
 standing who were unwise and unlearned, and who yet received 
 other monks as pupils. In consequence of this, in some instances 
 the preceptor was ignorant and the pupil learned, and much 
 discontent arose ; both monks and people complaining of the 
 impropriety. But when Buddha had investigated the cir- 
 cumstances, he reproved the offenders, and decreed : '' Monks, 
 a person who is unw^ise and incompetent shall not receive 
 a resident pupil. I permit wise and competent monks, of ten 
 or more years standing to receive resident pupils." 
 
 Some of the superiors and preceptors having left their 
 former place of residence, and others having left the y)riesthood 
 or joined other fraternities, and some having died, the monks 
 did not know how far they were released from the duty of 
 attending upon them. The subject was brought to the notice 
 of Buddha who decreed: ''Monks, for these five reasons, 
 a monk is released from the duty of living with Ids superior. 
 If the superior remove to another place ; if he leave the priest- 
 hood ; if he die ; if he join some other fraternity ; or if he give 
 leave of absence." 
 
 Buddha then defined the qualifications necessary to be 
 possessed by those who become superiors, preceptors, or who 
 have novices under them. *' He should be perlect in moral 
 virtue (i. e. without any need of further instruction or advice 
 respecting virtue , in meditation, in wisdom, in deliverance 
 from desire, and in the knowledije re.->ultino: from that deliver- 
 ance. He must also be able to establish others in the same 
 virtues and excellencies." 
 
ill 
 
 Ai* (he.-e arc qiuilltie?' possessed only l)y the arliats, or tIio.«e 
 delivered from the bonds of existence, and as, for many cen- 
 turies, no monk has attained to this perfection, the above rule 
 Is not binding- at ])resent. but the foUov^ring qualifications are 
 still required : He must be orthodox, modest and grave in his 
 deportment, dilicrent, vv^ise, able to instruct his pu]-ils and 
 resolve their doubts, well acquainted with the rules of ecclesi- 
 astical discipline, free from ecclesiastical censure, and often or 
 more years standing in the profession. 
 
 One who had been a member of another body of teachers 
 became a monk ; but disputing the doctrines taught by his 
 superior, he left the fraternity and returned to the society to 
 which he formerly belonged. Afterwards he came back, and 
 requested admission as a Buddhist monk; but the case being 
 brought before Bu^idha, he decreed : " Monks, if any one who 
 has been a member of another body of teachers shall become 
 a monk, and disputing the doctrines taught by his superior, 
 unite himself again to the body to which he formerly belonged: 
 should he return he must not be re-admitted to the higher 
 profession." 
 
 - Should any one, formerly a member of another body of 
 teachers, have a desire to embrace this doctrine and discipline, 
 to become a monk and embrace the higher profession, he shall 
 be received on probation for four months. The permission 
 shall be granted as follows: 
 
 First, having caused the head and beard to be shaven, and 
 a yellow garment to be put on, the candidate shall remove his 
 garment from one shoulder, worship the feet of the monks, and 
 kneeling down, say with uplifted hands, " I take refuge in 
 Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the 
 Sangha, the associated priesthood. A second time, I take 
 refuge in Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. A third 
 time, I take refuge in Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha." 
 
 Then, the candidate shall come to the Sangha. remove his 
 garment from one shoulder, worship the feet of the monks and 
 kneeling down say with uplifted hands, " Lords, 1, N — , have 
 been a member of such a body of teachers, I desire to receive 
 this doctrine and discipline, and to obtain the higher profession. 
 Lords, I request four months' probation." A second and a 
 tbird time he is to make this request. A fluent and a learned 
 priest shall then make this known to the Sangha, saying, 
 "■• Hear me, my lord the Sangha, this person, formerly a member 
 of another body of teachers, desires to receive this doctrine 
 and discipline, and to obtain the higher profession. He re- 
 quests to be admitted to a probation of four months. If it be 
 
1120 
 
 a convenient time for the Sangha, the Sangha will admit thk 
 person^ formerly a member of another body of teachers to a 
 probation of four months. This is the proposition. The 
 Sangha grants a probation of four months to this person, 
 formerly a member of another body of teachers. If any 
 venerable one consents to grant four months' probation to 
 this person, formerly a member of another body of teachers, 
 let him remain silent. If he do not consent let him speak. 
 Probation for four months is given by the Sangha to this per* 
 son, formerly a member of another body of teachers. The 
 Sangha consents; and therefore is silent, and thus I receive it." 
 
 Buddha then explains the reason of this proceeding, arising 
 from the habits of these teachers of other bodies ; viz , that 
 they visit the houses for alms at unseasonable hours (when the 
 w^omen may be careless as to their dress, or the exposure of 
 their persons) ; that they resort for alms to places where there 
 are loose women, widows, and grown-up girls, or when there 
 are catamites or female ascetics ; that they are loud and over- 
 bearing in conversation ; not careful in what ought to engage 
 their attention ; indolent, inquisitive, not under control, dull 
 in understanding, lose their temper when the doctrines they 
 hold are controverted, and speak against Buddha, the Dharma 
 and the Sangha. He then states, that if they continue thus, 
 they ought not to receive the higher profession at the end of 
 their probation. 
 
 He also directs, that if the person who seeks to be admitted 
 on probation be a nude ascetic, the superior shall supply him 
 with garments, and see to his head being shaved ; that if any 
 ascetic with clotted hair, or a fire-worshipper, seek admission 
 to the order, he may be admitted without probation as their 
 doctrines are correct respecting the results of moral conduct; 
 and that any one who is of the Sakya race is to have the same 
 privilege, although he may have been a member of another 
 body of teachers ; and that he concedes this to them as being 
 oi the same race as himself. 
 
 At one period great sickness prevailed in Magadha, especially 
 from leprosy, ulcers, eruptions of various kinds, consump- 
 tion, and epilepsy; these were named the five (principal) 
 diseases. A number of persons sought the aid of the king's 
 physician, offering him the whole of their property, and even 
 to become his slaves, if he would undertake their cure. The 
 physician replied, that he could not possibly attend to them, 
 his duty to the king, the royal household, to Buddha and his 
 monks, who were placed under his care by the king, occupying 
 the whole of his time. Upon this some of the men determined 
 
121 
 
 to join the fraternity, that they might obtain the aid of the 
 royal physician. They accordingly went to the Sangha, and 
 Tvere admitted to profession. Beinjr monks, the physician 
 prescribed for them, and they were restored to health. After 
 this, they left the fraternity. The physician meeting one of 
 them recognized him, and said, '' Were you not a monk?" 
 He acknowledged it, and stated that he had become a monx 
 solely to obtain his aid as a physician, and that upon beiiig 
 cured he had returned to his family. The physician was ranch 
 displeased, and complained to Buddha, requesting him to pro- 
 hibit those who had then diseases from being admitted as 
 monks. Buddha soothed his mind with religious discourse, 
 and upon his departure, decreed: 
 
 " Monks, it is not proper to admit into the order any person 
 who is afflicted with the five diseases. He who admits such 
 a person is guilty of the first offence." 
 
 Disturbances having broken out in the provinces, the king 
 of Magadha ordered his troops to quell them. Some of the 
 warriors thought, that if they went, delighting in war, they 
 would commit sin, and bring much demerit upon themselves ; 
 by what means shall we escape, so as to avoid committing sin, 
 and be able to perform good works? The monks are good and 
 virtuous men ; if we join them, our object will be accomplished. 
 They accordingly applied to the Sangha,. and were admitted 
 to profession. But when the commander of the forces enquired 
 where such and such persons were, he was informed that they 
 had become monks. Upon learning this, he was much dis- 
 pleased, and reported the case to the king, stating that such 
 persons ought to be capitally punished, together with those 
 who admitted them to profession. 
 
 The king, upon this, waited on the Muni, and said, " There 
 are in my kingdom persons destitute of faith and strongly dis- 
 posed to injure the monks, so it will be well for them not to 
 admit into their order any person belonging to the king's 
 forces." When the king was gone, Buddha called the priests 
 together, stated the case, and decreed: 
 
 " Monks, no person in the king's pay shall be made a monk. 
 He who admits such a person is guilty of the first offence.' 
 
 The noted thief, Angulimala, was admitted as a monk; but 
 the people on seeing him, were alarmed and terrified, and fled 
 away to other places, which caused , extreme dissatisfaction; 
 but when the monks reported it to Buddha, he decreed: 
 
 " Monks, no outlawed felon shall be admitted to profession • 
 he who admits him is guilty of the first offence." 
 
 Q 
 
J 22 
 
 The kinc had commanded th&t no violence should be offered 
 to any of the monks of Buddha, as they were holy and vir- 
 tuous men. On one occasion, a thief had been cast into 
 prison ; but he breaking out of prison, escaped, and obtained 
 admission as a monk- He was afterwards recognized ; but 
 when some persons went to apprehend him, they were re- 
 minded of the king's command. The people murmured, and 
 said, " These sons of Sakya are privileged to do what they 
 like. Why do they admit thieves who have broken out of 
 prison ? " Upon being informed of this, Buddha decreed : 
 
 " Monks, no thief who has broken out of prison shall be 
 admitted by you ; for he who admits him is guilty of the first 
 offence." 
 
 Under similar circumstances the following laws were enact- 
 ed : 
 
 No proclaimed thief shall be admitted into the order. 
 
 No person w^ho has been flogged by a judicial sentence? 
 shall be admitted. 
 
 No person who has been branded by a judicial sentence, 
 shall be admitted. 
 
 No person who is in debt shall be admitted. 
 
 No person who is a slave shall be admitted. He who 
 admits any of these persons is guilty of the first offence. 
 
 The son of a goldsmith having quarelled with his parents, 
 went to the monastery, and was admitted as a novice. His 
 parents enquired of the monks if they had seen such a lad there. 
 They, not being aware of what had occurred, said that they 
 had not seen him. After further search, he was found, he 
 having been admitted as a novice. The parents loudly com- 
 plained that the priests were shameless liars. It would seem 
 that the monks then admitted novices on their own responsibi- 
 lity, without any reference to the Sangha, regularly assembled. 
 To prevent such irregularities, when the case was reported to 
 Buddha, he decreed: 
 
 " I direct, monks, that the shaving of the head shall be 
 reported to the Sangha." 
 
 In consequence of this law, whenever a youth is to be ad- 
 mitted as a novice, the Sangha is to be assembled, and the 
 circumstances stated to the meeting prior to the head of the 
 candidate being shaved. 
 
 There were in Rajagaha seventeen children who were 
 iriends, Upali being the principal of them. His parents 
 
123 
 
 thought much about a profession for him, by which he mipjht 
 obtain his livelihood after their death. They thought of his 
 being a scribe, but remembered that writing tires the fingers. 
 Then of his being an accountant, but that would be injurious 
 to his chest ; and were he to become a painter, that would try 
 his eyes. They then reflected that the sons of Sakya were 
 virtuous men ; that they were well fed and comfortably clothed, 
 and that it would be desirable to make him a priest. Upali 
 being pleased with the intention of his parents, went to his 
 young friends, and proposed that they all should become monks. 
 They replied, *' If you, Upali, become a monk, we also will 
 become monks ; " and each child requested his parent's per- 
 mission to join the order. The whole of the parents were 
 pleased with the proposition, and took them to the monks, who 
 admitted them as novices In the night they became restless, 
 and cried for gruel and something to eat, and though the priests 
 tried to pacify them, it was without success. The Muni, on 
 hearing the noise, enquired the reason. Ananda informed him ; 
 on which he assembled the priests, and enquired if they had 
 admitted to profession those whom they knew to be under 
 twenty years of age. They acknowledged that they had done 
 so ; but he reproved them, stating that youths under twenty 
 years of age were not able to endure the hardships connected 
 with being monks, and decreed : 
 
 *' Monks, it is not proper to admit to profession one who 
 is known to be less than twenty years of age. Whoever 
 admits such a person is guilty of the first oflTence." 
 
 A whole family, except the father and a male child, having 
 died, they became monks, and went out together to collect food. 
 When food was given to the father, the child was heard to say, 
 " Father, give me some ! " which caused the people to murmur 
 and insinuate that the sons of Sakya were incontinent The 
 other monks reported the case to Buddha, who decreed: 
 
 ** Monks, it is not proper that a child under five years of 
 age should be admitted to profession ; he who admits him is 
 guilty of the first offence." 
 
 A pious and faithful family who had ministered to Ananda, 
 was cut off by pestilence, only two male children, under five 
 years of age being left, who having been accustomed to see 
 the monks, and administer to them, wept because they did not 
 see them as usual. Ananda in order that they might be 
 retained in the right way, admitted them before they were of 
 the prescribed age. When he mentioned the case to Buddha, 
 the Muni enquired if they were able to drive away the crowa, 
 
124 
 
 and when he was told that they were, he assembled the monks 
 and waid, 
 
 "Monks, I permit children under five years of age to be 
 admitted, if they be able to drive away the crows." 
 
 'ihe first Upananda had two novices, who, living together, 
 committed sin ; but when the circumstance became known, 
 Buddha decreed: 
 
 " Monke, two novices shall not be under one person. He 
 who receives two novices is guilty of the first offence." 
 
 When Sakya Muni had spent a whole year in Rajagaha, 
 the inhabitants complained that the place was darkened with 
 the number of priests. Upon this beinor reported to Buddha, 
 he determined to visit another place, Dakkhinigiri, and sent 
 Ananda to inform the monks, that as many of them as w^ere 
 inclined might accompany him. They replied, that the Muni 
 had commanded them to remain near their superiors and pre- 
 ceptors ten years. " If they go," they said, " we will accom- 
 pany them ; otherwise we cannot go." In consequence of this 
 the Muni had but few attendants ; and upon his return he 
 decreed: 
 
 " Monks, I decree, that fluent-speaking and well-informed 
 monks shall remain as pupils five year&. They who are 
 not fluent-speaking shall remain as pupils as long as they 
 live " 
 
 The qualifications requisite to free a monk of five years' 
 standing are : that he be reverent and modest in his deport- 
 ment, diligent, intelligent, free from ecclesiastical censure, 
 orthodox, learned, wise, well acquainted with the ecclesiastical 
 laws, and able distinctly, clearly, and in proper order, to recite 
 the two Prdtimokshas. 
 
 The Muni having resided in Rajagaha as long as he thought 
 proper, left the place to visit his native city, Kapilavastu ; and 
 on arriving there he took up his abode at Nigrodha grove. 
 The mother of Rahula, who was the wife of Buddha, before 
 he became a monk, said to her son, " Your father is come : go 
 and ask for your inheritance." Then the prince went to Bud- 
 dha, and, standing before him, said, " Pleasant is your shadow. 
 Muni." Buddha then rose from his seat, and departed ; bu t 
 Rahula followed him, saying, " Monk, give me my inheritance ! 
 Monk, give me my inheritance! " Then Buddha called one of 
 his two principal monks, Sariputta, and said, *' Sariputta, ad- 
 mit prince Rahula to profession." The monk asked in what 
 manner it should be done ; upon which Buddha assembled the 
 monks and said: 
 
125 
 
 " Monks, I ordain that a novice shall be admitted by 
 thrice repeating the sarana. And thus shall he be admitted: 
 First, let the head and beard be shaved, yellow robes put on 
 him, and one shoulder being bared, let him worship the feet of 
 the monks, and kneeling down with joined hands say, ' I take 
 refuge in Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge 
 in the Sangha' A second time, ' I take refuge in Buddha, &c.' 
 A third time, ' I take refuge in Buddha, &c.' I direct, monks, 
 that by thus thrice repeating the sarana, a novice shall be ad- 
 mitted." 
 
 The prince Rahula was thus received, but his grandfather, 
 Suddhodaua, came to Buddha, and said that he had experienced 
 much sorrow when he himself (Gotama, afterwards Buddha) 
 became a monk ; that this was much increased when Ananda 
 received profession, and that the reception of Rahula, whom 
 he loved with the most tender affection, was like tearing off 
 the skin, and crushing the bones and marrow ; and requested 
 that in future no person should be admitted unless he had first 
 obtained the consent of his parents. Buddha consoled his father 
 by explaining the Dharma to him ; and when he had retired, 
 he assembled the monks and said: 
 
 **• Monks, no person should be received by you, who has 
 not previously obtained the consent of his parents. He who 
 receives him is guilty of the first offence." 
 
 Afterwards Buddha left Kapilavastu, and went to live at 
 Sdwatti. At that time a family who ministered to Sariputta, 
 brought one of their sons to him, and requested that he would 
 receive him as a novice. Sariputta, although desirous to meet 
 their wishes, remembered that Buddha had prohibited any 
 priest from having more than one novice under his charge, and 
 he already had Rahula. He stated the circumstance to 
 Buddha, who decreed: 
 
 " I permit, monks, that an eloquent and well-informed 
 monk may have two novices under his care, or as many as he 
 can advise and instruct." 
 
 The novices then desired to know what precepts they were 
 to observe, when Buddha decreed: 
 
 " I direct, monks, that novices shall be taught the ten 
 precepts, and obey them. To abstain from destroying life ; to 
 abstain from theft ; to abstain from incontinence ; to abstain 
 from lying; to abstain from intoxicating liquors; to abstain 
 from taking food after mid-day, from dancing, singing, playing 
 on musical instruments, and theatrical representations ; from 
 the use of flowers, garlands, perfumes, and coameticb i from 
 
126' 
 
 the use of high or large couches ; and from receiving gold or 
 silver. I direct, monks, that the novices shall be taught these 
 ten precepts, and be subject to them." 
 
 Some samaneros became careless, and disrespectful, and dis- 
 obedient, to the older monks. This being reported to Buddha 
 he decreed: 
 
 *•■ Monks, I direct that novices guilty of the five acts 
 following shall be subject to penal discipline (danda kamman) : 
 viz., if they strive to diminish the prosperity of the monks, 
 to render them uncomfortable, to remove them from their 
 dwellings, if they speak insolently and abusively to the monks, 
 or if they excite dissentions between monks ; I direct, monks, 
 that for any of these five offences, a novice shall be placed 
 under penal discipline. 
 
CHAPTER TIT. 
 
 THE ISSUES OF LIFE.* 
 
 I. THE DEATH OF BUDDHA. 
 
 The circumstances immediately preceding the death of Sakya 
 Muni are related at length in the three j^itakas, as are those 
 connected with the death of Jesus Christ in the four go-^pels. 
 The Buddhist story professes to be related by Ananda, as an 
 eye-witness ; St. John had the same privilege, and was the 
 author of the fourth of the synoptical gospels. 
 
 Whilst Sakya Muni resided at Rajagaha, he commanded the 
 priests to be collected together in the Hall of Assembly ; and 
 then seated on his throne, he delivered an address, informino: 
 them that so long as they abstained from establishing that 
 which had not been prescribed, or from abrogating that which 
 had been establislied, and, accepting the precepts as they were 
 laid down, should inculcate and maintain them, the Dharrna 
 would prosper. He also gave them five series of '■* imperishable 
 precepts," the second of which was to the following effect : 
 That the same prosperity would continue as long as they ab- 
 stained from excessive indulgence in things allowable, and from 
 unprofitable gossip, from an indolent (sleepyj way of existence 
 
 * The concluding chapter exists only in the rough draft of the 
 Author, not having been fairly written out and revised by him as 
 were the former parts of this work. It has been deciphered with 
 some difTic'ulty, 1>nt it is believed with accuracy. It must however 
 be remembered that the following pa^es have not hud the benefit of 
 Mr. Hardy's final correctiou. In the firs| diai't, the present chapter 
 is entitled " The issues of death .'' the title as given above is found 
 in the table of contents at the beginning of the revised MS. Ed. 
 
128 
 
 and from an unprofitable mode of life, and did not evade meet- 
 ing together in the (Sanghaj congregation, shunned the society 
 and friendship of the sinful, and were not discouraged from the 
 pursuit of arhathood by having met with some trifling impedi- 
 rnents. After this, he retired to one of the royal gardens not 
 far distant, and thence went in order to Nalanda, Patali, Koti, 
 Nadika, and Wesali. At We*ali he took up his residence 
 in a mango garden belonging to the courtezan Ambapali, who 
 requested him to accept a repast she would on the next day 
 prepare for him and his attendant monks. This invitation he 
 accepted, and delivered a discourse, confirming her in the faith, 
 comforting her, and making her steadfastly confide therein. 
 On her return to the city she met the rulers of Wesali, but 
 her suite compelled them to make way for her, and she refused 
 to listen to their entreaty to resign to them the honour of en- 
 tertaining Buddha on the next day ; and though they applied 
 to the Muni himself, he adhered to the promise he had given 
 To the courtezan, who presented the garden as an alms offering 
 to him and the Sangha. 
 
 He then went from Wesdli to Belugamako, where he 
 called his disciples together, and told them that they were to 
 keep the festival of Wass in the different villages around, to 
 which they might have been invited, he himself intending to 
 keep it where he then was. But he was now attacked by a 
 severe illness, and had to endure much agony. He however 
 retained his mental faculties and self-possession, and thought 
 thus : *' It would be unworthy of me were I to enter nirwana 
 without assembling those who have assisted me, and without 
 having spoken to the monks. It is indispensable that I should 
 submit to this trial with fortitude, maintaining my profession 
 as to the transitory matters of this life." From this sickness 
 the Muni partially recovered, and was able to sit up in the 
 pulpit. The monks expressed the hope that they might receive 
 further instruction from him ; and he gave them an assurance 
 that he would not, like other teachers, withhold anything from 
 them, announcing at the same time, that he could not survive 
 the infirmities under which he then laboured, and that his 
 career was drawing to a close. After going on moving through 
 Wesali in search of alms, he repaired for his noonday rest to the 
 tope Chapala and made known that it was in the power of any 
 supreme Buddha to prolong his existence for an age, if, whilst 
 sojourning in this or other topes that he named, he was duly 
 entreated thereto. Mara prevented Ananda from comprehend- 
 ing this saying, though repeated twice, or he would have made 
 it with all earnestness, and when he discovered that he had 
 
129 
 
 allowed so golden an opportunity to pass by without improve- 
 ment he retired to the foot of a tree disconcerted. Mara then 
 seated himself by the side of the Muni, and said, "Vouchsafe 
 to realize nirvana now. Muni; this is the appointed time 
 for it ; it has been so declared by thee on a former occasion ; " 
 (he had said at the foot of the bo-tree that he would continue 
 his mission until the Dharma had been perfectly established.) 
 The Muni said that his attainment of nirvana would be in three 
 months, and announcing that he had resigned all connection 
 with this transitory state of existence, he chanted this stanza: 
 *' Having voluntarily overcome his desire for this life, the Muni 
 has vouchsafed to relinquish all that is transitory, connected 
 either with his human or divine essence, casting existence from 
 him as a victorious combatant who divests himself of his 
 armour." This statement appears to be inconsistent with what 
 is said of the spiritual attainments of the Muni at the time he 
 received perfect illumination at the foot of the bo-tree ; but it 
 is regarded as marking an important era in his acquirement 
 of the powers that led towards final emancipation, as it is 
 one of six great occasions when the earth is said to have 
 quaked, to do him honour, or to mark some step in his progress 
 towards the goal at which he aimed. 
 
 On the announcement of the renunciation being made of 
 all connection with transitory existence, when it is said that 
 there was an earthquake, Ananda inquiring what were the 
 causes of earthquakes, the Sakya stated eight reasons, all of 
 which are miraculous except the first which is contrary to fact. 
 He said that the great earth rests on water— the water being 
 sustained by wind, and the wind by air— and " when a storm 
 prevails a natural earthquake is produced." Ananda now in- 
 terfered, and requested the Muni to live an age, " for the hap- 
 piness of multitudes, out of compassion for the world and for 
 the welfare of all beings divine and human." But the Muni 
 said that the time was now passed for this entreaty to be made, 
 and somewhat disingenuously attached blame to his attendant, 
 because he had not made it when it might have been of some 
 avail, and requested, that as he was to die in three months, he 
 might not be further afflicted by unavailing importunity. Then 
 addressing himself to the assembly of monks,* he told them not 
 to be self-opinionated nor hasty in adopting the opinions of 
 other monks ; but if any such doctrines were set forth, to 
 examine them dispassionately, with reference to his own Dhar- 
 ma ; if they agreed with it, they were to adopt them, if not, 
 they were to be rejected. 
 
 * Jouru R. A. S. N© 84, p. 1003. 
 
130 
 
 On visiting the mango grove belonging to a smith named 
 Chunda, and consenting to receive from him a repast, he said 
 to his host, " Chunda, if any pork is to be dressed by thee 
 (for the occasion) serve to me only, and let the monks have 
 other provisions." This charge he repeated, and said that if 
 any pork was left it was to be buried, under the plea that 
 there was no other being in the universe who could digest it 
 if he partook of it. The promise was given that his orders 
 should be strictly obeyed. Soon afterwards he was attacked 
 by a violent fit of dysentery, but he succeeded in reaching the 
 city of Kusinari. Ananda entreated him to go to a spot 
 a little higher up the Kukuttha river, as the water near 
 the place where he was had been fouled by the passing of five 
 hundred carts ; but by a miracle he rendered it perfectly clear, 
 and the owner of the carts bestowed in alms two pieces of cloth 
 of gold, one to Buddha and one to Ananda; these were thrown 
 around him by his attendant, as his sufferings from the disease 
 were great. The Muni then entered the stream, bathed in it, 
 and drank of the water; and when he reached the opposite 
 bank, proceeded to another mango grove ; when he enjoined 
 Ananda to relieve the mind of the goldsmith from all appre- 
 hension about his death, and to tell him of the reward he 
 would receive for that act of charity and faith. He then 
 repaired to a grove of sal-trees, below two of which he 
 requested Ananda to prepare his bed, placing his head to the 
 north ; on which he lay down on his left side. Flowers in the 
 grove, though it was not the time for their blooming, descended 
 spontaneously on his head, celestial musicians that had assem- 
 bled made the air ring with the music of the heavens, and 
 flowers of various kinds were showered down upon him from 
 above in his last hours ; but he said on noticing it, that the 
 observance of the Dharma would be a recognition of him 
 equally acceptable He requested one of his disciples, 
 Upawano, who was fanning him to retire : and when Ananda 
 asked the reason, he said that the deities of ten thousand 
 worlds were hovering in the air, and lamenting his death, and 
 that they ought not to be prevented from seeing him by the 
 body of the disciple being interposed between him and them, 
 Ananda retired to weep in private, but the Muni sent for him, 
 and comforted him by expressing approbation of his past con- 
 duct, and giving him an assurance that he would shortly attain 
 arhathood. He was directed to inform the Mallawa princes of 
 Kusinari that in the last watch of that night he would attain 
 nirwana, and that he would wish them to be present. On 
 hearing this, there was great lamentation throughout the 
 
131 
 
 city ; and as the people attended in such numbers that they 
 could not individually pay reverence to the dying sage, 
 A nanda divided them into sections, according to their tribes ; 
 and the members of each tribe bowed down at the same time, 
 with their hands raised over their heads, he calling out, 
 " Muni, such a tribe, with their sons, daughters, and followers 
 are bowing down at the feet of Bhagawa with uplifted hands " 
 But Buddha made no reply, though he afterwards held a con- 
 versation with Subhadra, one of his disciples, by which hig 
 doubts were removed, and he was admitted to arhathood, he 
 being the last person to whom the privilege was personally 
 vouchsafed by the Muni. He gave advice to his monks as to 
 the manner in which they were henceforth to address each 
 other, the younger monks being respectful to the elder ; and 
 he then asked whether they had any doubts as to the Dharma 
 or its meaning, and if so they were now to declare them, that 
 they might not reproach themselves afterwards by saying, 
 " When the Muni was present with us we lost the opportunity 
 he gave us of making personal enquiry from him." But on 
 on being thus addressed they remained silent ; and when ex- 
 horted a second and a third time, they still remained silent. 
 They were told if it was out of reverence for their master that 
 they abstained from making inquiry, they were to commission 
 one of their number to speak for the rest, but still they re- 
 mained silent as before. Ananda said, " This is wonderful, 
 not in any one monk is there any doubt or want of compre- 
 hension ; " when Buddha informed him that he could see with 
 his divine eyes that the conclusion of his attendant was true. 
 The last words that he said were : '* Transitory things are 
 perishable ; without delay address yourselves for the reception 
 of nirvana." He then became absorbed in the exercise of pro- 
 found meditation, ascending step by step through its various 
 stages ; after which he descended, and between the fourth and 
 fifth stage, he expired, " in the full possession of his mental 
 faculties, like the extinction of the flame of a lamp." 
 
 We can scarcely read this record without some emotion, 
 though conscious that it is a fiction ; and the fictitiousness of 
 its character adds to our regret, as we are called upon to regard 
 it as presenting the most hopeful circumstances that men edu- 
 cated in his system can imagine concerning the manner of his 
 death. A venerable man, of most irreproachable conduct, after 
 essaying to instruct the world in the most important problems 
 of human thought, for the long space of forty-five years, retires 
 to a grove of trees, that he may die in the midst of his disciples 
 and followers. We may reject the music of the heavenly 
 
1S2 
 
 choristers, and the floral shower poured down from celestial 
 hands, and confine ourselves to the simple record of the old 
 man's last hours. There are the old evidences of the spirit of 
 kindness that had ever marked all his course, in the message 
 he sent to the smith, the words he spoke to the monks, and his 
 tender sympathy with his attendant, Ananda ; but as a severe 
 disease racks his body, though it leaves his mind still collected, 
 there is no expression of hope for the future. To him there is 
 to be no future ; according to his own teaching, " life's fitful 
 fever " is over ; his mortal will put on no immortality ; the 
 mind that had silenced so many reasonings is now to become 
 as though it had never been, and to be nothing, like the last 
 wave of the pebble that dies away on the surface of the pleas- 
 ant lake, or the last flicker of the flame that had shone from 
 the bright lamp the oil of which is now expended. As his 
 followers can scarcely hope to rise to a higher state of privi- 
 lege than their founder, we are prepared to learn that myriads 
 of his disciples die without any bright ray to gild their pathway, 
 to the gates of death. 
 
 II, THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 
 
 There was one thing that so exclusively occupied the 
 mind of the apostle Paul, and was so prominent a sub- 
 ject in all his instructions, that he could say " we preach 
 Christ crucified ; to the Jews a stumbling-block and to 
 the Greeks foolishness, but to those which are called. Christ the 
 power of God and the wisdom of God." This is not an isolated 
 instance in the record of the lessons received by the members of 
 the Church of God. In the prophets, not only the general features 
 in the character of Jesus are presented, but the most minute 
 circumstances are foretold connected with His death and burial. 
 In the conversations He held with His disciples, His own 
 thoughts seemed continually to revert to the same event ; and 
 80 much importance did He attach to it, that when He had 
 spoken of its approach, and Peter had remonstrated with Him 
 saying, *' Be it far from Thee, Lord ; this shall not be to Thee," 
 He replied, with unwonted earnestness, that the apostle was 
 " an offence to Him, as he savoured not the things that are of 
 God, but those that are of men ;" thus showing that he was 
 unconsciously putting forth a suggestion of Satan in seeking 
 to make Him reluctant to endure the sufferings that were 
 before Him. Only once were beings permitted to come from 
 the other world and converse with Him, but in the short space 
 
133 
 
 occupied by their conversation, they " spake of the decease 
 He would accomplish at Jerusalem." On all other occasions 
 nature seemed unheedful of the circumstance that Christ was 
 present, but at His death we are told that *' the veil of the 
 temple was rent in twain." (Matt, xxvii. 50.) Even in heaven 
 there is an attention to the same subject ; it is first amonc the 
 celestial hosts as among the members of the Church on earth. 
 In preparing us for the sight of Christ's power and majesty, 
 the apostle John says, '' Unto Him that loved us, aud washed 
 us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and 
 priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and domi- 
 nion for ever and ever. Amen." (Rev. i. 5.) The many 
 angels round about the Throne, and the beasts, and the elders, 
 the number of them being ten thousand times ten thousand, 
 and thousands of thousands, sing with a loud voice, " Worthy 
 is the Lamb." (Rev. v. 1'2.) And again they cry, " Blessing 
 and honour, and glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth 
 upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." (Rev. 
 v. 13.) Yet in the same book we have one of thoee worship- 
 ping angels saying unto John who had fallen down before his 
 feet to worship him, " See that thou do it not: for I am thy 
 fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of those 
 that keep the sayings of this book: worship God." (Rev. xxii. 8.) 
 Then, upon the testimony of the angels, Jesus is not a fellow 
 servant ; not one among even the most exalted of the holy fol- 
 lowers of the prophets. Any one of those it would have been 
 wrong to worship ; but Jesus was worthy, as He sat upon the 
 throne of God, and " was God." 
 
 The great mystery constantly meets us, " God manifested 
 in the flesh:" and in all instances which we have recorded, 
 the principal fact to which reference is made, is not so much 
 to the incarnation as to the redemption by blood. His agony 
 and death. The only sacrament He ordained to be continually 
 repeated was instituted only a short time before the death 
 struggle had commenced, and the bread that was to be eaten 
 and the wine to be drunk, were appointed as emblems of His 
 wounded and bleeding body, and the wine was called the 
 blood of the new Testament, which is shed for many for the 
 remission of sins. Unless the words of Christ were figurative, 
 if He held in His hand parts of His own body, He being yet 
 alive, the doctrine of the Church cannot be true that " He was 
 proper man, of human flesh subsisting," and the guilty sinner 
 is left without a sufficient atonement for his iniquities. The 
 safety of the Church is placed in peril by those who hold the 
 corporal presence in the celebration of this rite or who would 
 
134 
 
 nullify the whole meaning of Christ's redemption by daring 
 to say, " Our hands have touched God." 
 
 It is supposed that the anointing of the Lord '^ for His 
 burial" was on the first of the month of April, or on the 9th of 
 Nisan. When Christ said, ^' against the day of my burying 
 hath she kept this ; " the near approach of the hour of the 
 great Sacrifice was made known. The next day was the time 
 appointed for the separation of the paschal lamb, when Christ 
 the true Passover saw Jerusalem and entered in triumph, after 
 the multitude had cried out, " Hosanna to the Son of David." 
 so that the whole city was said to be moved and alarmed. It 
 was on the same day that he wept over Jerusalem, now to be 
 left desolate, and the same day the fig tree was withered. 
 The Jews were now more anxious than ever to draw Him into 
 some utterance upon which they might lay hold, and have 
 a pretext for presenting Him before the tribunals of the land, 
 either secular or ecclesiastical; but, in both of the questions they 
 asked from him, and in the one about the payment of money, 
 and in the question He asked from them, when He said 
 ^' What think ye of Christ," they were foiled by their 
 own weapons, and the intended accusation was made to 
 recoil upon their own heads. In the temple there was a reasser- 
 tion of the terrible truth, first spoken among his tears and 
 re-echoed by the seared fig-tree, when he said, " O Jerusalem, 
 Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them 
 which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered 
 thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens 
 under her wings, and ye would not ! Behold your house is left 
 unto you desolate." On Wednesday, the 5th, the powers of 
 hell entered into a confederacy with earth, and " the devil put 
 into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him." 
 Thursday, the 6th, was the "first day of unleavened bread," 
 when the passover was prepared by the disciples, and Jesus 
 announced that one of His disciples would betray Him. Of 
 Judas, who had already sold himself to the evil one, we are 
 told that '* Satan now entered into him." There was now the 
 institution of the Lord's Supper, the great purpose of which 
 was to " shew forth the Lords death till He come." The 
 agony of the garden soon followed, in the midst of which Jesus 
 gently and lovingly apologized for the sleeping of the disciples 
 by saying, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak ; " and 
 when the ground upon which he knelt was softened with drops 
 of His own blood that had fallen in that hour of darkness, 
 His soul was sorrowful unto death. He said, " Father, Thy 
 will be done ! " These were evidences of Christ's majesty in 
 
135 
 
 the midst of all the indignities He was made to suffer at the 
 hands of wicked men. 
 
 When Jesus said to the men who entered the garden to 
 seize His person, '•' I am He," they went backwards and fell 
 to the ground. There appeared an angel from heaven, strength- 
 ening Him. To Peter He said, " Thinkest thou that I cannot 
 now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give me more 
 than twelve legions of angels ? " Throughout the entire period 
 of these unexampled trials we have proof that the ingratitude 
 of men had not changed, in any degree, the outflowing of His 
 love towards the world he had come to redeem. With the 
 highest displays of the love of the Son of God there are con- 
 nected the saddest evidences of the meanness and hard-hearted- 
 ness of men. '* Of the people there are none with me." We 
 might ask, Where are the lepers whom He cleansed ; the blind 
 to whom He gave sight ; the dumb whose tongues He had 
 unloosed ; the multitudes whom He had fed in the wilderness ; 
 relations and friends, at least, of those of the three, whom 
 He had raised from the dead? We sometimes say that 
 women were the last at the cross and the first at the sepulchre. 
 But this is not their only honour. The wife of Pilate entreat- 
 ed the governor on His behalf, and the women of Jerusalem 
 followed Him, bewailing Him and lamenting Him. The only 
 voices uplifted in His behalf, expressing grief for His sufferino-, 
 were those of women. The disciples all forsook Him and fled. 
 By one disciple He was betrayed, by another denied. The 
 indignities He had to suffer from the servants and the soldiers 
 were so great, and of such a nature, that we wonder the arm 
 was not paralyzed when uplifted to strike, and they themselves 
 not smitten dead in the act But He came not to destroy man's 
 life but to save. Even His last moments were disturbed by 
 the railing and insults of the people, who said, wagging their 
 heads, " Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in 
 three days, save Thyself." Those who came with Judas are still 
 addressed in words of kindness. To His captors He said, " If 
 ye seek me, let these (my unfaithful disciples) go their way." 
 He healed Malchus who had come with the rest to bind Him 
 He turned to Peter in the act of transgression, with the old 
 look of compassion and love, in a manner that brought him to 
 repentance. To the malefactor who had previously reviled 
 Him, He said, " To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." 
 Upon the cross He prayed for His murderers, " Father, forgive 
 them, for they know not what they do." To the very °last 
 never man loved like this Man 1 *' When Jesus saw His 
 mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He said 
 
136 
 
 unto His mother, Woman behold thy son ! Then said He to 
 the disciple. Behold thy mother ! And from that hour that 
 disciple took her to his own house." 
 
 When all had been accomplished, the example was perfect, 
 and the work of redemption complete, Jesus said, " Father, 
 into Thy hands I commend My spirit ; And having said this, 
 He bowed His head and gave up the ghost." We cannot follow 
 His glorified spirit into the other world, as we have been able 
 to trace His steps from the manger to the sepulchre, but a little 
 we are permitted to know by inference and immediate revela- 
 tion. 
 
 The death of Christ was not, as with the Muni, the end 
 of existence ; it was the beginning of a more glorious life in 
 which he was to abide in bliss, " world without end, for ever 
 and ever." 
 
 Turning from Buddha to Christ is like passing away 
 from the deep darkness to the most intense light. When He said, 
 " It is finished," it was not despairingly as the Muni would 
 have said it, but in hope, the most exultant and joyful. The 
 last pain had been endured, the last drop of the bitter cup had 
 been drunk, the last moment of oppression from the crushing 
 weight o: the world's guilt was about to pass away. The last 
 onslaught of Satan had been triumphantly met : " for this Man 
 after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down at 
 the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting, till His 
 enemies be made His footstool." Heb. x. 12. 
 
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'W Wiu'l 
 
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 ncelon Iheological bemmary-bpeer Library 
 
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