LIBRARY University of California Class Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding Jrom Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/buddhaofchristenOOanderich THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM .-THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM H BooF? for tbe present Crisis BY ROBERT ANDERSON, C.B., LL.D ASSISTANT COMMISSIOXER OF POLICE OF THE METROPOLIS ; AUTHOR OF "THE SILENCE OF GOD," ETC. HODDER AND STOUGHTON 27, PATERNOSTER ROW MDCCCXCIX k^ p/> ■\^ t.^' V PREFACE. ^ I ^HE Reformation has been well described as "the greatest achievement in English his- tory." To emphasise its true character and aim, so strangely ignored in the Ritualistic controversy, is the chief design of the present volume. "It was the main purpose of the then rulers of the Church," the Archbishops declared in their decision in the Incense case, "to put prominently forward the supremacy of the Bible." Rome maintains the supremacy of " the Church " : it is the foundation of her entire system. The Re- formers rejected the pretensions of the Church, and made the Bible the supreme standard of authority. This was the vital question at issue in the sixteenth century : it is the vital question at issue to-day. 112595 vi PREFACE And here the Ritualists are on the side of Rome. Their refusal to accept the judgment of the very tribunal for which they clamoured is due, not to the decision itself, but to the grounds on which it is based. They were prepared to obey "the Church." But at Lambeth the Archbishops, instead of speaking ex cathedra in the name of " the Church," appealed to Holy Scripture and the law of the realm. In a word, abandoning the position assumed in their letter of February 19, 1897, in reply to the Papal Bull on Anglican Orders — the position which the Ritualists have hitherto maintained with episcopal approval — they recognised " the Reformation Settlement," and sank to the level of " mere Protestants." Hence the indignation of the Ritualists : they think they have been betrayed. All who accept the Ritualists' conception of the Church are on a road which, as every logical and unprejudiced thinker acknowledges, leads straight to Rome. They who accept the Reformers' con- ception of the Church are separated from Rome by a barrier which is impassable and indestruc- tible. The one position is the religion of Chris- PREFACE vii tendom and of its Buddha : the other is Christianity. The " argument " of these pages is so plain that no further prefatory words are needed, save to thank my friend, the Rev. E. W. BulHnger, D.D., for his kind help in reading the proofs and pre- paring the index. R. A. 39, Linden Gardens, W. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGK How did life begin ? — Lord Kelvin's testimony — Mr. Herbert Spencer quoted to refute abiogenesis — Absurdity of the hypothesis — If man was developed from a life-germ, the life-germ must have been eternal — Tyndall's problem, "Who made God? " — Mr. Spencer further quoted . . i CHAPTER II. Creation: " the orthodox belief" — The transcendental philo- sophy and our conception of the existence of God — What Genesis teaches about creation — The creation "day" — The language of Scripture allows of evolution in the case of the lower creation ; but not in the case of man — Charles Darwin quoted — Evidence of design — " Missing links " — The question discussed — The testimony of philo- logy — Professor Max MixUer quoted .... X CONTENTS CHAPTER III. PAGE Man is a religious animal — Renan's dictum — Testimony of Professor Tiele, Professor Max Miiller, and Charles Dar- win — How can the fact be explained ? — How can man's evil propensities be accounted for ? — These appear in the spiritual, more universally than in the moral, sphere — The Pelagian heresy — If man is a religious being, why is not religion always pure and true? — The tendency of all religions is to degenerate and to corrupt mankind — The only possible explanation of this ..... 24 CHAPTER IV. It follows that religion should always be regarded with sus- picion — By what standard, then, can its truth be tested ? The Christian answers, "By the Bible"; and yet most Christians set up the Church as the authority — What and where is the Church ? — The Church of England claims no such position — The claim of Rome is an instance of " the confidence trick" — How, then, is the question to be decided ? — The claims of the Greek Church are superior to those of Rome, but in England they are ignored — The dogma of Papal supremacy stated and discussed — It is unsupported by evidence and refuted by Scripture — The Apostle Peter's ministry — To him were given the keys of the kingdom, which Rome confounds with the Church — The acceptance of the dogma confirms the story of the Eden fall 38 CPIAPTER V. The main doctrines of the religion of Christendom — Are they true? — And on what ground are they presented to our CONTENTS XI PAGE faith ? — Dr. Pusey's answer : Scripture as interpreted by the Fathers — This is refuted by the testimony of the Fathers themselves, and by the condition of the early Church — T\viBa/npton Lecture, 1864, quoted — The Church of Christendom was founded, not on the Apostles, but on the Fathers — Augustine's position and influence — His Confessions — The teaching of the Greek School contrasted with that of the Latin Fathers — Clement and Augustine— Dean Farrar on the Church as formulated by Augustine . 53 CHAPTER VI. The teaching of Gautama and the corruptions of Buddhism — The Lamaism of Tibet — The Christian religion marked by corruptions akin to those of Buddhism and the old classic cults — The explanation of this strange phenomenon — The Divine religion of Judaism differed from all other religions — The character of the apostasy it suffered — The " Golden Calf" 72 CHAPTER VII. The religion of Christendom refuses an appeal to Scripture — Not so was it with the Reformers — Article XX. — The true character of the Reformation — Henry VIII. and Paul III. — The vital question is whether the supreme authority is the Bible or the Church — Canon Gore cited as an ex- ponent of the Romish view — Lux Mundi and . The Ministry of the Christian Church — The absurdity and effrontery of his position — Professor Harnack quoted — The figment of Apostolic Succession, as championed by Canon Gore, stated and refuted ....... 87 xii CONTENTS CHAPTER VIII. PAGE With the Romanisers the Church is paramount — The one mediator — This is the cause of the secessions to Rome — The true character of Protestantism — Salvation a personal matter — The teaching of the Law and the Gospel con- trasted : Moses and Paul — The sense in which " relit^ion " is used in this work : Trench and Carlyle quoted — The Times correspondence on Ritualism — A typical letter quoted — What these men mean by "The Church" — The Reformers' definition of it — The vital importance of the distinction — The revival of the Confessional in England — The filthy character of the manuals in use by priests — The profanity of priestly absolution — An appeal to Scrij:)- ture condemns it — Its degrading effect on national cha- racter .......... 109 CHAPTER IX. The fate of an unbaptised infant — The change alleged to be caused by baptism — "What* kind of God is this that is thus presented to us?" — Three facts established by an appeal to Scripture — Baptismal regeneration traced to the classic cults of Paganism — Mithras worship — The Eleu- sinian mysteries — Description of the cult, and its influence on the Christian Church — The Hibbert Lectures, 1888 — Similar rites in Mexico and Tibet— The early corruption of the other " Sacrament " 131 CHAPTER X. "The illuminated mind of primitive Christendom" — The Church of Christendom and ' ' the Church in the wilder- ( CONTENTS xiii PAGE ness "--The early Church marked by false doctrine and low morality — Cyprian and his times — The prevalence of pledged celibacy and asceticism — Nuns and nunneries — Tertullian's baneful teaching — The testimony of Cyprian and Clement to its evil effects — Chrysostom and the state of the Church in his day — The Imperial Edict of 370 to shield women from the greed of the clergy — Cyril of Alexandria and the Council of 431 — The "Council of Robbers "— Salvian and his testimony to the state of the Church in his time — "A sink of vices" — Ritualism appeals to this " primitive Church," whereas the Re- formers appealed to the Christianity of the New Testa- ment — The decline of the Evangelical party, and its causes 153 CHAPTER XL The title of this volume — The religion of Christendom an apostasy in a deeper sense than "the Jews' religion" — The apostasy of Buddhism affords a juster parallel — But for Satan's influence the religion of Christendom could not have survived the sixteenth century — Alexander VI. and his infamous immoralities — The Emperor Charles V. and his dreams of reform — The Edict of Worms — Charles' efforts to obtain the calling of a Council — The Council of Trent and Paul III. — The Massacre of St. Bartholomew and Gregory XIII. — And yet submission to the Pope is declared to be the way of salvation — Cardinal Vaughan's statement of this— Macaulay's problem — Human religion has been a curse to mankind — Mill's dictum discussed and justified — The God of the historic Church of Chris- tendom a monster . 181 xiv CONTENTS CHAPTER XII. PAGE The true method of theological study — The typology of Scrip- ture shown to be a safeguard against the false teaching of Ritualism — The Passover ; the Exodus ; Sinai ; the Cove- nant — Redemption was thus completed entirely apart from priesthood— The antitype of all this in Christianity, as unfolded in the New Testament — Latin theology ignores or denies the truth of it — Canon Gore again cited as an exponent of the Romish view of the Church — The covenant is for the covenant people : How, then, can men be brought within it ? — The answer is to be found in the great fundamental, but forgotten, truth of Grace — The doctrine explained and vindicated 206 CHAPTER XIII. Martyrs of disgust " — Ritualism promoted by certain types of Protestantism — With the many Christ is not a living person but a dead Buddha— This appears from the manner in which He is named — The habits of speech of the post- apostolic Fathers contrasted with those of the Christians of the New Testament — The Lordship of Christ — This rests on revelation; i.e., not the Church, but the Scrip- tures — Cardinal Newman's position- — Pope Leo XIII. quoted — Lordship connected with Grace — Sentiment versus faith — Concluding remarks upon the present crisis ; its character, and the influences that have led to it — The vital question is the pretensions of " The Church." The martyrs were the opponents and victims of the Church — Every true Christian is of necessity a Protestant . . 234 CONTENTS XV APPENDIX I. PAGE Christian Baptism and Baptismal Regeneration . . . 259 APPENDIX II. Romish Propagand ism ........ 274 APPENDIX III. Paolo Sarpi and the Council of Trent 281 APPENDIX IV. NOTK I. Bishops 290 II. "Deacons" 291 III. "The Church" 293 IV. " The Priest in Absolution " 296 V, Death-dates of leading Fathers 298 VI. The " Virgin Mary " myth 298 VII. The Apostle Paul on Celibacy 299 VIII. " We have an altar " 301 IX. The Epistles of Ignatius 304 X. Prevailing Irreverence in the use of the Lord's Names . 305 XI. Popular Hymnology 309 INDEX . . 315 CHAPTER I OOME men would deny, with Berkeley, the ^^-^ reality of matter ; others, with Hume, the reality of mind ; but neither the idealist nor the sceptic ever questioned the fact of his own exist- ence. Here it is that knowledge begins ; and at this point knowledge is absolute. I EXIST : this is a fact enthroned beyond the sphere where doubt is possible. But the question remains, How did I come to exist ? I live : How did life begin ? To say I am descended from a first man is no solution of it. Where did the first man come from ? To reply that he was evolved or developed from a life-germ, is merely to put the difficulty back. How is the life-germ to be accounted for? 2 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM The greatest living authority to whom we can appeal will tell us that " inanimate matter cannot become living except under the influence of matter already living. This," he adds, " is a fact in science which seems to me as well ascertained as the law of gravitation." And again, " I am ready to accept as an article of faith in science, valid for all time and in all space, that life is produced by life and only by life." ^ The falseness of the alternative proposition — that life originally came from nowhere out of nothing — is apparent. " Besides being absolutely without evidence to give it external support, this hypothesis cannot support itself internally — cannot be framed into a coherent thought. It is one of those illegitimate symbolic conceptions so con- tinually mistaken for legitimate symbolic concep- tions because they remain untested. Immediately an attempt is made to elaborate the idea into anything like a definite shape, it proves to be a pseud-idea, admitting of no definite shape." It " implies the establishment of a relation in thought between nothing and something — a relation of ' Lord Kelvin, Brit. Assoc, Edinburgh, 1871. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 3 which one term is absent — an impossible relation." '' The case is one of those where men do not really believe, but rather believe they believe. For belief, properly so called, implies a mental representation of the thing believed ; and no such mental repre- sentation is here possible." These words are borrowed from Mr. Herbert Spencer ^ — borrowed " without permission," of course ; for it is needless to say they are not intended by their author to refute, as in fact they do refute, the figment of abiogenesis,^ upon which his own biological system rests. He assumes that, at some time or other, " living matter must have arisen from not-living matter ; " although his own words so pitilessly expose the absurdity of the suggestion. For it involves a " pseud-idea " ; and therefore, as he tells us, it cannot be believed, because " belief implies a mental representation of the thing believed, and no such representation is here possible." The question before us is, not how the various ^ " Principles of Biology," § 112. = Abiogenesis is what used to be called "spontaneous generation. Huxley it was who coined the new term. 4 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM developments of life can be explained, but how life itself can be accounted for. And this inquiry leads us abruptly to the startling conclusion that the human mind is incapable not only of believing, but even of thinking that life ever came except from life ; or, in other words, that life ever had a beginning. But, it may be urged, the only possible alter- native to the hypothesis of evolution is that of creation ; and Mr. Spencer's argument, while clearly destructive of the one, is no less valid against the other. I The objection is an unintelligent one. All are agreed, of course, that there must have been a first man — let us call him Adam ; and the question is how Adam came into existence. That he suddenly began to be, begotten by nothing out of nothing, is a suggestion the absurdity of which is manifest. But not a whit less prepos- terous is the notion that, at some moment in an " abysmal past," a life-germ from which he ' I do not forget that Mr. Spencer's argument is aimed against special creations. But that is merely a side issue. Every act of creation must be " special," and if his argument is valid, it is valid against belief in creation generally. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 5 was gradually developed was begotten by nothing out of nothing. The evolutionist requires of us that we shall * postulate " this germ, or, in other words, that we shall take for granted the origin of life. Nor is this a gratuitous " leap in the dark." There is no escape from it, and we only stultify ourselves by imagining that we can avoid it by putting back the event to the year B.C. 100,000,000. Here again we are shut up to one of two alternatives. Either this germ from which all life has been developed must have been produced by a Creator ; or else it was self-existent and eternal, and inherently capable of such infinite development that it became the parent of all the wonderful forms of life in the world. Let us then accept this hypothesis, and the question arises. By what term shall this life- germ be known to us? The biologist may try to delude us by giving it the uncouth yet un- pretending designation of "a particle of living protoplasm," but there is only one word known to human language by which a great first cause, self-existent and eternal, can be adequately de- scribed, and that word is GOD. 6 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM Let no one here fling down the book as though this were but an abstract metaphysical inquiry devoid of practical importance. There is a sen- tence in one of Tyndall's treatises ^ which might well excite pathetic interest in this discussion in every house where there is a children's nursery or a baby's cot. " Athwart all play and amusement," he wrote, " a thread of seriousness ran through my character ; and many a sleepless night of my childhood has been passed, fretted by the ques- tion ' Who made God ? '" ^ And in many a home to-day there are little brains perplexed with kindred problems, which, in the strange isolation of child life, they brood over in the darkness. For the sceptical philosophy of the nursery is too often met by ridicule or reproof, or else by pious plati- tudes, instead of by wise and sympathetic words. The youngest child can be made to understand that the question "Who made God?" is essentially absurd. For no matter how much we try, we cannot get rid of the thought of a being that had ^ " Prof. Virchow and Evolution." = John Stuart Mill tells in his "Autobiography" (p. 43) how his father urged this absurd problem upon him in childhood. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 7 no beginning, and therefore was never " made ; " and this is our primary conception of God. And while the evolutionist, perchance, would train his babies to bow down to some "symbolic concep- tion " of the great " primordial germ," the cult being regulated by the Principles of Biology, others, with the help of a very different book, will teach their children to worship the "God who created the heavens and the earth." "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." I And he is a fool, not because his thesis is heretical, but because it is absurd — absurd because his own existence implies the existence of God. His words are thus an outrage upon reason. The existence of God is, next to our own, the most certain fact in the whole range of human knowledge. For let us not forget that in seeking the origin of life in the world our choice is strictly limited to one of two hypotheses, creation or abiogenesis. And abiogenesis proves wholly worthless — "worth- less in its intrinsic incoherence ; worthless as abso- lutely without evidence; worthless as not supplying ' Psa. xiv. and liii. 8 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM an intellectual need ; worthless as not satisfying a moral want. We must, therefore, consider it as counting for nothing in opposition to any other hypothesis respecting the origin of organic beings." These words also are Mr. Herbert Spencer's. They are used by him, of course, to refute the hypothesis of creation ; but while they tell with relentless force against his own position, it is obvious that here they have no validity what- ever. ^ For, as we have seen, science itself guides us into a path which leads to belief in God ; and once we recognise a God, no chasm separates us from the acknowledgment of a Creator. Nor will it avail to plead that we cannot understand crea- tion. Some of the most familiar processes in nature we cannot understand. But while we can believe what is incomprehensible, it is impossible, as Mr. Spencer has shown us, really to believe what is unthinkable. Our choice here lies, as he himself insists, between creation and abiogenesis ; * The abiogenesis theory may be expressed by the formula, "Some- thing has been produced by nothing " ; the creation hypothesis, '* Something has been produced by something." THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 9 that is, between what is incomprehensible and what is absurd, between an insoluble mystery and un- thinkable nonsense.^ * The " Abiogenesist " who resents this plain speaking is like the man who, when a weapon with which he has been inflicting pain on others, is wrenched from his hand and turned against himself, makes a whining protest against violence. For he it is who seeks to brand the greatest thinkers and scholars not only of the past, but of his own age, as the ignorant dupes of a " pseud-idea," a " formula for ignorance." And this in spite of the fact that, as Huxley admits, "the present state of knowledge furnishes us with no link between the living and the not living;" and as Tyndall declares, "every attempt made in our day to generate life independently of ante- cedent life has utterly broken down." CHAPTER II O IX thousand years ago this universe of ours ^^^ had no existence. Infinite space was an empty waste where darkness and silence reigned. But on a certain day — the week date is known, it was a Sunday — God created this earth on which we dwell. A shapeless mass it was at first, but Monday and Tuesday sufficed to fashion and furnish it as a home for life. To create the sun and moon and stars was Wednesday's task. On Thursday the sea and air were filled with fish and fowl ; and on the Friday the land became peopled with its inhabitants, man himself being the crown- ing triumph of creative power. Such was once " the orthodox belief" And as the creed of " the Catholic Church " can never change, such, presumably, is its belief still. And THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM ii not a few who pose as scholars, and claim even to be teachers, suppose that this is what the Bible teaches ! No book in all the world is so little understood. No book has been so wronged by its adherents, so travestied and maligned by critics. The Transcendental philosophy has taught us that ideas of a certain kind give proof, not of the power and liberty of the human mind, but of its subjection. In the wild license of fancy, for example, we can imagine the annihilation of the universe, nothing remaining by which to measure space or time ; but no madman's dream can compass the thought that space and time could ever cease to exist. By the law of our being, the mind is governed by these ideas and cannot divest itself of them. And our conception of the existence of God is in the same category. Were it otherwise a revela- tion would of course be impossible ; for a revelation implies this knowledge on the part of those to whom it is addressed. ^ The Bible, therefore, nowhere asserts the existence of the Deity ; but, assuming it, opens by declaring that " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." ' As Aristotle pointed out, all intellectual teaching is based upon what is previously known to the person taught. 12 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM As to when that was, revelation is silent. And science, so called, would be less unworthy of its name if it were silent too ; for people who talk about untold millions of years are like babies who prattle about untold millions of money. " God created." The emphasis here is commonly mis- placed. It is not that the earth was created, but that God created it. When, and how, we know not ; for as to this, I repeat, revelation is silent. And it says nothing about the manner of its crea- tion, ^ but merely asserts the fact, and then goes on to record that, at the epoch of the narrative, it existed in a chaotic state. That this was not its original condition, Scripture expressly declares.^ But how its ruin came about — it was probably ^ With many the use of the word "create" is taken as settling the whole question, for they assume it can only mean " to make out of nothing." That this is a blunder is obvious from the statement that man was created out of the dust of the earth. The fact is that neither in Hebrew nor in English is there a word for "making out of nothing" (Query, is there in any language?), any more than there was in the old languages a word to express the idea which the term ajinihilate was coined to convey. The word "make," used in Gen. i. 7, 16, 25, 26, is elastic in meaning. The heavenly bodies, ex. gr., were made, or appointed, "to give light upon the earth" (ver. 17), just as the cities of Numb. xxxv. 6, were appointed (it is the same Hebrew word) to be "cities of refuge." In Gen. i. the the word " create " is used only in verses 1,21, and 27. = Isa. xlv. 18. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 13 due to some cataclysm which engulfed an earlier economy of life — and what was the duration of the ages that had intervened, we cannot tell. What concerns us is the fact that at the epoch here in view, " the earth was waste and void." ^ The narrative proceeds to notice in brief out- line the stages by which our planet was rendered a fitting home for its new tenant, man. The Bible has been discredited by insisting on giving a literal meaning to the word " day " in the creation story. That God could not have refurnished the earth in a few brief hours is the ignorant dogmatism of unbelief. But in insisting that He did so in fact, theology has committed the typical blunder of identifying the language of Scripture with what is mere inference and exegesis. A Divine revelation can be made only in human language ; but we must never forget that with God limitations of time have no place.2 Again we have the fact that it was ^ Literally " became." The opening sentences of the Bible are these :— *' In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth became waste and void." Within these words lie all the ages of which geology speaks. ^ 2 Pet. iii. 8 applies here. 14 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM not till the fourth creation "day" that the heavenly bodies shone upon our planet, and therefore it may be urged that to speak here of a day of twenty- four hours is an obvious anachronism. Further, we have the fact that the seventh " day " is still running its course. God, indeed, is working, because sin has broken His " sabbath " ; but the Creator rests. Here Science and Revelation are at one. And, finally, this conclusion is confirmed by an appeal to the deeper teaching of Scripture, which tells of an eighth creation "day" that is yet to come ; for the epoch of the new creation is still future. What has been said of the earth itself applies also to its population. All living things are God's creatures, but of the methods by which He made them we know nothing. If Charles Darwin's attention had been called to the language of the first chapter of Genesis he would doubtless have appealed to it in support of his hypothesis. For its language is most striking. " And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth : and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass,'' &c.i ' Gen. i. ii, 12. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 15 Again : " And God said, Let the waters bring foi'th abundantly the moving creature that hath life." I And so also of" the land population," we read, " And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind : and it was so." 2 That God made them is expressly declared, but how He made them is an open question ; and it is idle to deny that these words are consistent with the hypothesis of evolution — an hypothesis which is legitimate and reasonable, and which, though incapable of proof, can appeal to a con- siderable volume of indirect evidence in its support. But all this only serves to lend increased emphasis to the marked and striking difference in the language used when the creation of man is recorded. " And God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . . And God created man in His own image!' 3 This seems plainly to indicate that man was God's creature in a more immediate sense than the brute. And even if it were proved that the brute was produced by the operation of natural laws, this would only ' Gen. i. 20, ^ Gen. i. 24. 3 Gen. i. 26, 27. i6 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM serve to create a presumption that man has been similarly developed. That presumption would no doubt be immensely strengthened by the facts of physiology. But those facts admit of an alter- native explanation. It is only those who boast of their ignorance of God — they delight to pro- claim themselves Agnostics — who venture to assert that God could not have created man otherwise than by evolution ; or that, had He done so, man could not have the mysterious physiological peculiarities which characterise him. Such assertions — whatever else may be said of them — are too silly for discussion. Indeed it may be averred that the evolution theory implies a far more amazing act of creative power than orthodox theology dreams of.^ The thought that even the Almighty created a germ capable of the infinite developments of life in the world is absolutely overwhelming. And remember, the fact that all living things are His creatures is no longer in dispute. The only question open is as to the method of His working. For, as ^ In an article in the Westminster Review of July, 1858, Mr. Spencer used this argument in almost an extreme form in defending the Nebular hypothesis. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 17 Darwin, the apostle of evolution, declares, " The birth both of the species and of the individual are equally parts of that grand sequence of events which our minds refuse to accept as the result of blind chance." ^ It is not easy indeed to speak with conventional respect of those who find in the most trifling evidence of design — as, for example, a shaped piece of flint — a sufficient proof that man has been at work, and yet deny that the infinite wonders of nature afford proof that God has been at work. Moreover, if their theory be true their argument is false. If man be the product of evolution, the entire mass of evidence offered us as proof that intelligent beings were living upon earth during a remote past would not avail to prove the antiquity of the human race. For, ex hypo- thesis long ages before the appearance upon earth of a being with any claim to the dignified title of man^ his " hairy ancestors " may have acquired suf- ficient intelligence to account for their forming and using rough instruments of husbandry or of war. In fact, the evolutionist is, to use a legal term, ' " Descent of Man," part ii., chap. xxi. 3 i8 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM estopped from appealing to paleontology in proof of the antiquity of the race. For his theory implies that man is the product of processes which must have operated slowly and without a break, during vast periods of time, whereas his argument assumes that the transition from the brute stage to the man stage of his development was brief and sudden. Even if the truth of evolution were established, the exhibits of the paleontologist might reasonably be assigned to the " missing link " era. Moreover the fact that there are " missing links " must not be dismissed in the light way common with evolutionists. Words are supposed to be subordinate to thoughts, but sometimes thoughts are controlled by them ; and this is a case in point. People talk as though man was united to the brute by a chain which only needs certain links to make it complete. There is no " chain " whatever in the case. And having regard to his higher nature, he is separated from the brute by a gulf as impassable as that which divides the living from the nut-living. Even Huxley has protested against the misrepre- THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 19 sentation which makes evolutionists " seem to say that the structural differences between man and even the highest apes are small and insignificant." " No one," he says, " is more strongly convinced than I am of the vastness of the gulf between civilised man and the brutes." Even as to his animal structure this gulf is so great that, if he was evolved from the brute, the process must have occupied myriads of ages. And millions of creatures intermediate between them must have been produced. But where are the traces of them ? Nor should we be dependent here upon " the testimony of the rocks." As any intelligent schoolboy can see, we should be sur- rounded by creatures in every conceivable stage of development between the two. One of two conclusions we must here accept : either man is not the product of evolution at all ; or else, at a certain stage of the creature's development, the Creator intervened to raise him to the high position he now occupies in the scale of creation. That is to say, the only question open is whether the matter of which he was created was inanimate matter as Genesis seems 20 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM to teach, or matter already living as this alter- native theory would assume. In either case the fact remains that man is the product of a " special creation." ^ In all this moreover we are thinking of man merely as the highest type of animal. Thus regarded, Darwin declares in the closing sentence of his treatise, " Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin." But what account can be given of his moral nature ? And what of his spiritual nature ? ^ To dismiss such considerations with a few high- sounding phrases is to stultify ourselves by mere words. No reasonable account of them has ever been attempted.3 ^ A third suggestion is perhaps theoretically possible. Just as a builder, when his edifice is reared, destroys all traces of the scaffolding ; so the Creator, as soon as evolution had fulfilled His purpose, destroyed all traces of the transitional economy of the life between the ape and the man. ^ These considerations led A. R. Wallace, who shares with Darwin the fame of formulating the evolution hypothesis, to account for man's moral and spiritual nature by immediate Divine inter- vention. 3 No book that has yet been written deals seriously with the problem. Mr. Clodd's " Pioneers of Evolution from Thales to Huxley" is an example of the sort of stuff which satisfies the credulous on these subjects. I should not notice this work were THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 21 The phenomena of language again present insuperable difficulties which evolutionists studi-* ously ignore. If man were the product of evolu- tion we should confidently expect to find that, with advancing civilisation, language would ever tend to gain in precision, to acquire new powers, and to become more elaborate ; whereas it is a well-known fact that its tendency is to change in a direction the very opposite. " Nor is this a peculiar feature of one language, but the universal law of all." ^ But this is not all. The language of the race gives testimony still more definite. Professor Max Mliller writes as follows : — " As far as we can trace back the footsteps of men, even on the lowest strata of history, we see that the Divine gift it not that, to the great discredit of the Oxford University Extension movement, the delegates have included it in their list. Here is a choice extract from it : " Only the mentally ancemic, the emotionally overwrought, the unbalanced, and the epileptic are the victims, whether of the lofty illusions of august visions such as carried St. Paul, St. Theresa, and Joan of Arc into the presence of the holiest ; or hallucination of drowned cat, thin and dripping with water, born of the disordered nerves of Mrs. Gordon Jones " (p. 142). The man in whom such profane drivel excites no emotion of disgust and indignation is incapable of generous, or even gentlemanly, feeling. ' Archbishop Trench, " English Past and Present," lect. iii. 22 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM of a sound and sober intellect belonged to him from the very first ; and the idea of a humanity merging slowly from the depths of an animal brutality can never be main- tained again. The earliest work of art wrought by the human mind, more ancient than any literary document, and prior even to the first whisperings of tradition — the human language — forms an uninterrupted chain from the dawn of history down to our own times. We still speak the language of the first ancestors of our race, and this language, with its wonderful structure, bears witness against such gratuitous imputations." ^ In a word, the theory that man is the product of evolution is vetoed by the philologist. Still more emphatically is it vetoed by the Christian. There is no reason perhaps why the various Buddhas, including the Buddha of Chris- tendom — the traditional Jesus of the so-called " Christian religion," should not have been de- rived from an ape. But the suggestion that the Lord Jesus Christ of Christianity was thus derived, is one from which the Christian will in- stinctively recoil. The more he knows of Chris- tianity the more thoroughly will his intelligent convictions confirm the judgment of his spiritual instincts. Our Divine Lord is declared to be " the ' " Chips from a German Workshop," vol. ii. p. 8. f I THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 23 image of the invisible God," "the very image of His substance." ^ Words full of mystery, and yet they enable us to grasp the thought contained in the Creation record, " Let us make man in our image." Not Adam, but "the second man, the Lord from heaven," was the " type," the ideal representative, whose likeness the redeemed of earth shall bear.^ ' Col. i. 15 ; Heb. i. 3. - I Cor. XV. 47-49. It may perhaps be urged that God may have worked by evolution in producing a species conformable to the " type." I will only say that if such an hypothesis satisfies any one, he is welcome to it. One general remark in conclusion. I deprecate the idea that these opening chapters are intended as a treatise on the evolution contro- versy. I have been compelled to notice it in so far as the origin of man is concerned, but apart from that special question I have sought to avoid it. " There ought to be a clear distinction made between science in a state of hypothesis and science in a state of fact. And inasmuch as it is still in its hypothetical stage, the bar of exclusion ought to fall on the theory of evolution. Those who hold the theory are by no means ignorant of the uncertainty of their data, and thus only yield to it a provisional assent." These words of Tyndall's leave nothing to be desired. But some writers of emi- nence as scientists are wholly devoid of the judgment needed for dealing with any question of the kind. And, it may be added, many people are evolutionists for the same reason that small boys smoke cigarettes — it seems naughty, and they imagine it shows their independence ! CHAPTER III "AS soon as man grew distinct from the ■^ ^ animal he became religious." No one gifted with a sense of humour could have gravely penned a suggestion so grotesque as this. That the remote descendant of an ape might become intelligent, philosophical, mathematical, musical, poetical, scientific — all this possibly we could understand ; but why should he become religions ? And yet this dictum of Renan's ^ is most im- portant as a testimony from such a quarter to the fact that man is a religious being. The universality of religion has, indeed, been denied ; ^ but the ' " Vie de Jesus," chap. i. ^ See ex. gr. Sir John Lubbock's " Prehistoric Times," chaps, xi., xii., xiii. 24 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 25 following testimony will carry conviction that the denial is based on grounds that are inadequate. " The statement," says Professor Tiele, "that there are nations or tribes which possess no religion, rests either on inaccurate observations, or on a confusion of ideas. No tribe or nation has yet been met with destitute of belief in any higher beings, and travellers who asserted their existence have been afterwards refuted by facts. It is legitimate, therefore, to call religion, in its most general sense, an universal phenomenon of humanity." And in quoting these words, Professor Max Mliller declares : " We may safely say that, in all researches, no human beings have been found anywhere who do not possess something which to them is religion." ^ And Charles Darwin himself admits that "a belief in all-pervading spiritual agencies seems to be universal." 2 Accepting the conclusion, therefore, that man is by nature religious, the question remains. How can this fact be accounted for? Philosophers may amuse themselves with the theory that it is due ' " Origin and Growth of Religion," lect. ii ^ "T)escent of Man," part iii., chap. xxi. 26 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM to his losing a tail and learning to talk ; but all who acknowledge the reign of law, and insist on seeking a cause for an effect, will see in it a proof that, as even heathen poets taught, man is in a special sense the offspring of God.^ This conclusion suggests the inquiry why it is that he is so unworthy of his origin. Were there a competent court to issue the writs, what damages human nature might obtain in libel actions against biological science and Augustinian theology ! Bad as it is to proclaim that man is the child of an anthropoid ape, it is almost worse to declare that, through and through, and in every sense, he is only and altogether bad. True it is that the history of the race has been black and hateful. No less true is it that wrong-doing is easy, whereas well-doing calls for sustained effort. But in this connection such facts, important though they be, are not everything. In a real sense the truest test of a man is not what he does, but what ^ The words of Aratus {tov yap icai yevog ter/jki') are quoted in Acts xvii. 28. Twice again the Apostle Paul quotes from heathen poets. In I Cor. xv. 33, "Evil communications corrupt good manners," is from the Comic poet Menander, who possibly took it from Euripides. And in Titus i. 12, he quotes Epimenides (Alford). THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 27 he approves ; not what he is, but what he would wish to be. Vicious indulgence may have so depraved him that vice seems no longer vicious. Just as his physical faculties may be destroyed by abuse, so his conscience may become " seered as with a hot iron." But this is an abnormal condition. What is called the " moral " law is so described because it Is the law of our being. It was not the commandment which made thieving wrong. It was because it was wrong that the commandment was given. It has been said, indeed, by a modern disciple of Hobbes, that " Thou shalt not steal " is merely the selfish precept of the hog in the clover to warn off the hog outside the fence. But such teaching is the outcome of a reprobate mind, and merely exemplifies the fact that a man may sink morally to the level of a hog. But, it may be urged, we can point to communities that see no evil in theft. True ; and we could also point to a nation whose women have stumps instead of feet. But let the lowest savage and the Chinese woman be removed in infancy from the influences which distort the conscience of the one and the limbs of the other, and in both cases nature will assert itself. 28 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM A full discussion of this problem would fill a volume. But no such discussion is necessary here. For no infidel will raise the question ; and in the case of the believer an appeal to Scripture should settle it. Its testimony is clear : " When Gentiles which have no law do by nature the things of the law, these, having no law, are a law unto them- selves ; in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them." ^ Words could not be plainer. A heathen, though destitute of a Divine revelation, has a knowledge of good and evil, for that is inherent in man. That such a knowledge was implanted in him by his Creator will be very generally admitted, but the popularity of a belief is no pledge of its truth. According to Scripture man was created innocetzt, and it was his lapse from innocency that brought him the knowledge of evil. But the knowledge of good and evil would not ^ Rom. ii. 14-15, R.V. It may be useful to note that it is not the law, but the wo7-k of the law, which is written in man's heart by nature. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 29 of itself make man religious. He was religious before he acquired that knowledge, and the atheistic evolutionist is theoretically right in hold- ing that he might possess it now apart from religion. The fact is that what is so commonly mistaken for " conscience " is but a subordinate characteristic of conscience. For it is what may be termed God-consciousness, and not the know- ledge of good and evil, which constitutes man a religious being ; and it was this that the Creator implanted in him when He made him a spiritual being. Here then is the question : Man being the " off- spring of God," and having instincts befitting his origin, how is it that he does not always choose the good and turn from the evil? Who will dare to answer that it is because he cannot ? Not the Christian, certainly ; for his Scriptures assert the responsibility of man ; and indeed the whole doctrine of future judgment is based upon that truth. Nor yet the infidel, for the dignity of humanity is his favourite theme. But the fact remains that while some, not only among Pagans, but even among those who, like Renan for example. 30 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM affect to ignore all religions, can lead worthy and excellent lives, these are few and exceptional. The lives of the vast majority of men are evil. And they choose the evil in spite of knowing that it is evil, and in spite of a fitful desire to shun it. Apart from special depravity, a man's higher nature turns towards the good even while he yields to the evil. He praises virtue though he practises vice. It is his will that is paralysed, not his judgment. He is like a bird with a broken wing, whose instincts prompt it to fly while it flounders helplessly on the ground. Man has instincts ^ and aspirations which indicate for him a noble origin and a still nobler destiny, but yet he is practically a failure. How is this to be accounted for? In the whole range of nature, man excepted, there is nothing to correspond with it. It must of course be due to the operation of some law which applies only to the human race. All other creatures fulfil ' I speak of a religious instinct with knowledge of what Professor Max Miiller and others have urged against the expression (" Origin of Religion," lecture iv.). But if I might venture to do so, I would express a doubt whether the objector always distinguishes between "instinct" and "faculty." It is not instinct which enables a duckling to swim ; but it is instinct which leads it to seek the water. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 31 the patent purpose of their being : man alone not merely falls short of this but outrages it. How is this mystery to be explained ? It may be said perhaps that man's vaces are merely the natural propensities of the brute from which he is derived. But here we can silence the evolutionist once again by appealing to the phenomena of religion. The religious instincts of the race are certainly not derived from the brute, and it is precisely in this sphere that the corruption and perversity of human nature are most manifest. If it were merely a question of animal-worship among Pagan races, the evolu- tionist might again bring in his theories. But the fact to be explained is that, in the most advanced civilisations, whether of classic heathendom or of modern Christendom, religion has invariably tended to degenerate, and to make its votaries a prey to superstition. Let us approach the matter from another stand- point. The bird is unable to fly : is it unreason- able to suppose that some mishap must have occurred to it ? Let us then tentatively adopt the suggestion that; some disaster in the moral and 32 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM spiritual sphere befell the human race in primeval times ; and let us consider what results might be expected as the consequence of such a catastrophe ? Man's moral equilibrium would of course be dis- turbed. The machinery of his moral being would, so to speak, be thrown out of gear. But the effect upon his spiritual nature, by reason of its greater delicacy and sensitiveness, would be absolutely disastrous. A broken water-pipe may in a measure serve its purpose, but no electricity will pass along a broken wire. And is not this precisely in accordance with experience? In the sphere of morals men differ vastly from one another. Apart from Christianity altogether, some men lead pure and excellent lives. Others are steeped in vice. And the fact that some are moral is proof that all might be so. In this limited sphere, indeed, we may, even at the risk of being made the quarry in a heresy hunt, adopt the dogma of Pelagius, " That as man has ability to sin, so has he also not only ability to discern what is good, but likewise to desire it and to perform it." And the truth of this is recognised when our selfish interests are involved. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 33 If a man steals his neighbour's cash, he goes to gaol ; for " original sin " is no defence to a criminal charge. True it is that a thief comes in time to weaken his moral power to keep his hands out of his neighbour's pocket. But prison discipline is rightly deemed a useful tonic in such a case. And what the fear of human judgment is to the criminal, the fear of Divine judgment is intended to be to the sinner. But orthodoxy so dins it into men's ears that they have no power to live moral and virtuous lives, that they naturally believe it, and cease to make the effort. That they can, but will not, is the righteous basis of the judgment that awaits them. The vital error of the Pelagian heresy was the application of it in the spiritual sphere. But in the fifth century, revealed truth had been swamped by theology, and the distinction was ignored. A traveller who has missed his way in a forest can stand upright and walk like a man ; but so long as the heavens are shut out from his view, he cannot direct his steps, he is lost. The morality of Saul of Tarsus, the profane persecutor, was as unimpeachable as that of Paul, the inspired apostle ; 34 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM but his splendid morality only served to bring into stronger relief the depth of his spiritual blindness and depravity.! Man, then, is a religious being, not moral, merely, but religious. And he is religious because he is spiritual. Here is the parting of the ways, where we must break once for all with the mere evolutionist. It is idle for him to talk to us of " embryonic developments " — dog's teeth and donkey's ears, and any amount besides. Even if we accept his account of the origin of man's animal structure, the fact remains that the spiritual element in his complex being must have come from God. ^ Some people are held in high esteem by all who do not know them : the Apostle Paul could appeal to those who had known him from his youth (Acts xxvi. 4, 5). "I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day," he could declare in the scene of his early life (xxiii. i). His life throughout had been blameless {clih^-ktoq : Phil. iii. 6). Never perhaps did any other mere man live a life so perfect. Therefore it was he wrote the words : " Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whoj?i I am chief (i Tim. i. 15). The claim to stand forth as "first" [irpCjTOQ), in all the long line of sinners, was not inspired (as with thousands who since have adopted the words) by ' ' the pride that apes humility ; " it was due to the fact that while he had had advantages which raised him above all other men, his religion had served only to make him a God-hater, "a blasphemer and a persecutor." Mere religion always drags a man down spiritually. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 35 But this only serves to emphasise our diffi- culties. Were we to reason out the matter a priori, we should expect to find complete unity in the religious beliefs of the race, and they would have for us the same certainty as the truths and facts which are apparent to reason or the senses. And further, religion would always and inevitably tend to elevate and ennoble mankind. But if we could imagine any so ignorant and simple as to cherish such dreams, the records of the past and the facts of life on earth should bring them a rude awakening. As for the religious beliefs of the world, there is nothing too crude, too wild, too false, too monstrous, to find enthusiastic adherents. And whenever a great teacher has appeared, and has sought to elevate the religion of men, his system has soon been perverted and depraved. It has ever been so. Of the early Egyptian religion, all that was sublime was demonstrably ancient, and its last stage was the grossest and most corrupt. In China the lofty system of ethics formulated by Confucius has suffered the utmost deterioration. In India the pure nature- 36 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM worship of the Vedas has ended in superstitious pueriHties. And the teaching of Gautama, sub- hme in its rejection of all idolatry and priest- craft, has ended in the gross asceticisms and superstitions of modern Buddhism. The Divine revelation of Judaism was degraded to the level of " the Jew's religion," which made that race the common enemy of God and His people. And Christianity itself has been almost swamped by the religion of Christendom, that tangled skein of Divine truth and Pagan superstition. The whole history of the race records no excep- tion to the rule. It is a law, like that of gravita- tion, that religion ever tends to degenerate, and in its decadence to corrupt and deprave mankind. This subject will claim further notice in these pages. The question here is. What explanation can be given of facts so patent and yet so extra- ordinary ? In the moral sphere we have to account for the phenomenon of a right judgment thwarted and violated. But in the spiritual sphere the problem is stranger still. It is not that the bird has a broken wing, but that instead of endeavouring THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM y] to soar, its normal instinct is utterly perverted, and it clings to the ground and even struggles to burrow into it. How is this mystery to be accounted for? Only one solution of it has ever been proposed, and that is the story of the Eden Fall. And that explanation is so entirely reasonable and adequate that if it had been left for some thinker to suggest it, the dis- covery might well have evoked an exclamation such as that with which Huxley is said to have greeted the Darwinian theory of the origin of species, " How stupid not to have thought of that ! " I ^ I do not stop to inquire whether the story of the Fall should be taken literally or as an allegory, for I desire to avoid here all side issues. If any choose to regard the forbidden tree as a "sacra- ment " (I use the word in the classical, not the superstitious, sense), it will not affect the argument. CHAPTER IV /^^NE of the most obvious consequences of the ^^ conclusion reached in the last chapter is neglected or refused by many who profess to accept that conclusion most unreservedly. If it be the spiritual side of man's complex being that has suffered most by the disaster which has be- fallen him, it is here that the result will be most apparent. And while his moral nature may be capable of self-adjustment, we shall expect to find that, in the spiritual sphere, he is absolutely de- pendent upon a Divine revelation. In fact, nothing relating to man should be regarded with so much distrust as his religion, and yet this is precisely the sphere where self-satisfaction most prevails. The phenomenon is all the stranger because every one is convinced that all religions are wrong save 38 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 39 one ; the exception of course being the particular cult of which he himself is a votary. And the unanimity felt by people who agree becomes to them a strong confirmation of their faith. After shouting " Great is Diana of the Ephesians ! " " with one voice for about the space of two hours," the worship of Diana is raised to the level of " things that cannot be spoken against." ' At the close of his Essays on Religion, John Stuart Mill states thus the result of his argument : " It follows that the rational attitude of a thinking mind towards the supernatural, whether in natural or revealed religion, is that of scepticism as dis- tinguished from belief on the one hand and from atheism on the other." This position is generally regarded as hostile to faith ; but our nature being what it is, it becomes a test and safeguard of faith. No matter how excellent my chronometer may be, I am glad at all times to test it by the sun in the heavens. And as I belong to a fallen race, and it is in the sphere of religion that the effects of the catastrophe are most felt, I ought to be ' Acts xix. 34-36. 40 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM ever ready to test my religious tenets by whatever standard is the true one. Men may differ as to the standard, and as to how the testing process should be carried out, but all will agree upon the principle here enunciated.^ What guarantee have we that the religion which prevails in Christendom to-day is true ? To many the very statement of the question will seem scandalous and profane. They will set themselves angrily to shout it down, as the Ephesian Diana worshippers treated what they deemed to be the Christian heresy. But thoughtful people will welcome the inquiry. Assuming that Christianity is a Divine revelation, the question still remains, How far may we not have departed from " the faith once for all delivered " ? We know h'ow we can test our chronometers. Is there any standard by which we can test our religion ? " All who profess and call themselves Christians " will reply with united voice in pointing us to the Bible. But this unanimity is merely apparent, not ^ To the evolutionist this argument should appeal with irresistible force. If man is struggling from the brute condition towards God he is doubly dependent on some higher authority to guide him in all that pertains to religion. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 41 real. The vast majority of Christians will object to our appealing to the Bible directly and imme- diately. We must in turning to it subject our minds to an authority that claims to be its inter- preter. Every citizen is supposed to know the laws of his country ; but though the statute-book is the standard of authority, the interpretation of the statutes does not depend on the citizen's private reading of them, but on the decisions of competent tribunals. So also in the religious sphere. The Bible is the only, as it is the infallible, standard of faith and practice, but the Church claims to be its authorised exponent. At first sight nothing can be simpler than this, nothing more reasonable, nothing more practical. But no sooner do we attempt to act upon it than difficulties overwhelm us. What is the Church? and where are we to find it? There are rival claimants to the title ; to which of them shall it be accorded ? Answ-er will be made that the Eastern Church is heretical. But what tribunal has so decided ? And by what standard ? The tribunal, we shall be told, was the Catholic Church, and the standard was the common faith. But this is a 42 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM most transparent begging of the question. What took place was that the head of the Western Church excommunicated the Eastern Church for refusing to acknowledge his supremacy, which supremacy the Eastern Church denounces as " the chief heresy of the latter days." Which, then, is in the right ? If we appeal to the Church of England, her answer will be definite and clear, that both are wrong, and that they have " erred, not only in their living and manners of ceremonies, but also in matters of faith." ^ Nor need we look to the Church of England to claim for herself the place she refuses to accord to any other Church, of being ''the witness and keeper" of the truth. Hers is the humbler position of being "<^ witness and a keeper of Holy Writ " ; and to that supreme authority she appeals as the only sanction for her practice and her teaching.^ But, we are told, Christ did not write a book ; He founded a Church ; and He speaks in and through the Church ; our part, therefore, is to commit ourselves to the Church's teaching and guidance. • Article xix. '^ Article xx. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 43 This is merely an attempt to get behind the question which it pretends to solve. How do I know that Christ founded a Church? And how do I know that I can trust myself to the teaching of what claims to be the Church ? The only pos- sible answer to these questions is an appeal either to the Church itself or else to the New Testament. If the former, then I am to trust the Church because the Church claims my confidence — a flagrant case of what in another sphere is known as "the confidence trick." If the latter, then by all means let me turn to the New Testament. But no "thimble-rigging" can be tolerated here. If the Church speaks with inherent authority, I must render unreasoning obedience to her teach- ing ; but if she appeals to Holy Scripture, she must place an open Bible in my hands.i If we accept the former alternative we find our- selves again at the point from which the argument has moved away. What, and where, is the Church? Is this question to be decided by a plebiscite ? Are we to be content to settle it by ^ Such is the position assumed by the Reformers in the plain language of Articles xix., xx., and xxi. 44 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM blindly joining the biggest crowd ? Or are we to yield to whichever authority presents its claims with the greatest arrogance ? It is not thus that in sublunary affairs the thoughtful direct their conduct. But it is precisely thus that in highly- favoured England, in this enlightened age, people of culture decide a question which concerns their eternal destiny ! If our choice must be limited to one or other of the two most ancient Churches, it is extraordinary that educated Englishmen, acquainted with the history of both, should hesitate for a moment which to choose. That Rome should loom greater in our view is natural, but that Rome should engross our attention can be accounted for only by our insular ignorance and prejudice. For, as Dean Stanley writes — " That figure which seemed so imposing when it was the only one which met our view, changes all its proportions when we see that it is overtopped by a vaster, loftier, darker figure behind. If we are bent on having dogmatical belief and conservative tradition to its fullest extent, we must go, not to the Church which calls itself Catholic, but to the Church which calls itself Orthodox." ' Eastern Church," p. 45. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 45 And yet the fact is clear that in a book addressed to EngHsh readers the Eastern Church may be ignored as absohitely as though it had no existence. Papal supremacy is the special characteristic of the Western Church. Even if the history of Christendom had run differently, and this dogma was accepted by Christians of every name, a sceptic would be none the less entitled to ask on what authority it rests. Christ, we are told, entrusted to the Apostle Peter the keys of the Church, thus conferring upon him the primacy of the Church. Peter became Bishop of Rome, and every after-occupant of the See of Rome has succeeded to the Primacy. The Bishop of Rome, therefore, is supreme Pontiff, Christ's Vicar upon earth. By all means let us investigate this without prejudice or passion. Let us refuse to be in- fluenced by the fact that some of those who have filled the Papal throne were shameless pro- fligates of infamous character. Let us refuse also to take account of the high personal qualities of its present occupant. And his environment is nothing to us. Gorgeous vestments, a magnifi- 46 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM cent ceremonial, regal dignity and pomp — all these serve but to prove the faith of those who accept his claims. What concerns us is the evidence on which those claims are based. Suppose it be conceded that the Apostle Peter held the place thus claimed for him, what ground is there for believing that his successors in the See of Rome had equal precedence and power? The only ground is that they themselves have asserted it, and that half Christendom has yielded them the position. Evidence there is absolutely none. What ground, again, is there for believing that the Apostle Peter was ever the Bishop of Rome? The only ground is that the Roman Church asserts it. Evidence there is absolutely none. Indeed the very statement itself implies an anachronism as glaring as if it were asserted that the apostle was a cardinal. Of course there must have been bishops in the Church in Rome, as in the other Churches, but the thought of a bishop with a diocese, or see, belongs to post- apostolic times ; the New Testament knows nothing of it. And as Dean Alford bluntly THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 47 says, " The episkopoi of the New Testament have officially nothing in common with our bishops!' I Moreover the bishops were, appointed by an apostle, and therefore if Peter was a bishop in Rome he must, instead of being superior to any of his brethren, have become sub- ordinate to them all — a complete reductio ad absurdum. It is proverbially difficult to prove a negative; but the absence of all reference to Peter in Romans makes it reasonably certain that he had no relations with the Church in Rome when that Epistle was written : the last chapter of The Acts makes it practically certain that he was not in Rome during Paul's first imprisonment ; and the last chapter of 2 Timothy leaves no doubt whatever that he was not there during Paul's last imprisonment. And to turn to a witness of post-apostolic times, Clement of Rome, will confirm us in this conclusion. He was ad- ' " Gr. Test. Com.," i Tim. iii. i. He adds : " The identity of kTritTKOTTOQ and irpfrrfivTepog in apostolic times is evident from Titus i. 5-7." See Appendix IV., Note I. 48 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM mittedly bishop of the Church in Rome before the end of the first century, and his Epistle to the Corinthians is admittedly genuine. Can any honest-minded man believe that his Epistle was written with the knowledge that the Apostle Peter had ever preceded him in the bishopric ? ^ Lastly, what ground is there for supposing that the Apostle Peter was entrusted with the keys of the Church ? The only ground is the fact that to him were given " the keys of the kingdom of heaven," and that that Church which proudly boasts of being the keeper of Holy Writ is so crassly ignorant of Scripture that it confounds " the kingdom of heaven " with the Church ! Every well-instructed Sunday-school child is aware that the book which records these words is the Hebrew Gospel, " The book of the genera- ^ The letter in question was written in the name, not of Clement, but of the Church in Rome. The only reference which it contains to Peter is in the following passage : " Peter by unjust envy under- went not one or two, but many labours, and thus having borne testimony unto death, he went unto the place of glory which was due to him." THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 49 tion of Jesus Christ, the son of David^ the son of Abraham'' ^ — in a word, the book which presents Him as Israel's Messiah. It deals only with the favoured nation — the covenant people — to the ex- clusion of Gentiles altogether. The gospel of the Grace of God is not in it. The very word " Grace " does not occur in it even once. And the reason why the Apostles were twelve in number was be- cause the "tribes of Israel" were twelve in number.^ And among the twelve, Peter held the foremost place. To him were committed " the keys of the kingdom of the heavens " — an expression that is used only in connection with Israel.3 To him, therefore, it was that, at Pentecost, the ^ Matt. i. I. " 2 jyja^-j ^j^_ 28. ^ The expression occurs only in Matthew. In the loose way of reading Scripture which prevails, it is wrongly taken as synonymous with the " kingdom of God." But the one is strictly limited to the kingdom in its earthly aspect ; the other embraces the entire sphere of God's rule and action in relation to the earth. Therefore it is that sometimes they may be used interchangeably, just as sometimes the same things may be averred of England and of the British Empire. And if the accurate Bible student will examine the passages in Matthew where " kingdom of God" occurs he cannot fail to see that "kingdom of heaven" could not be used (viz.. Matt. vi. 33; xii. 28; xix. 24; xxi. 31 and 43). Take, ex. gt\, the last : although the kingdom of heaven has been (temporarily) taken from the Jew, it could not be said that it would be given to 5 50 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM proclamation of the great amnesty to Israel was entrusted.! And when "the word which God sent unto the children oj Israel'' was to be carried to Gentile proselytes,^ he was the appointed messenger. Throughout what theologians de- scribe as " the Hebraic portion " of the Acts, his ministry is pre-eminent. He is the foremost, the commanding figure. But when Israel proved again impenitent and finally rejected the gospel of the kingdom, the very name of " the Apostle of the Circumcision " disappears from the narrative.3 Nay more, it disappears from the New Testa- ment, save for his two Epistles addressed to " the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion," 4 that is of Israel ; and again for that passage in the Epistle to the Galatians, which proves to de- monstration that he had no precedence whatever except in relation to Israel. In the Gentile Church another nation. But the Lord's actual words were fulfilled when the gospel turned from the Jew to the Gentile. * Acts ii. 22 ; iii. 12. = Acts X. 36. 3 Peter is named only once in the last sixteen chapters of Acts (viz., in XV. 7) whereas in the first twelve chapters his name occurs no less than fifty-six times. ■* I Peter i. i : and 2 Peter iii. I. See R.V. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 51 of this Gentile dispensation the pre-eminence is with " the Apostle of the Gentiles." ^ We are not dealing here with deep theological problems beyond the power of common men to investigate. And the conclusion is clear ; first, that even if it could be shown that Peter was " the Vicar of Christ on earth," the fact would give no such precedence or dignity to the Roman Popes — a bishop might as well claim to be a cardinal or a marquis because his predecessor in the see wore the hat of the one or the coronet of the other ; secondly, that the story that Peter was ever Bishop of Rome is the merest legend, and absolutely inconsistent with his office of Apostle ; and, thirdly, that the figment of his having had a position of supreme authority in the Church is exploded by the very Scripture to which appeal is made in its support. Some errors are based on misread passages of Scripture. Others grow up apart from Scripture altogether, and Scripture is afterwards perverted to support them. In this latter category is the figment of the supremacy of Rome. It had its * No one can read Gal. ii. 1-14 vvilhout recognising Ihis. 52 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM origin in the pride begotten of citizenship in the Imperial city — in what Augustine himself de- scribed as " the insolence of the city of Rome." ^ Such is the foundation upon which rests the claim of the Pope to be the Vicar of Christ on earth. And yet his pretensions are acknowledged, not merely by ignorant peasants and superstitious women, but by educated and sensible men ; by men reputed to be thinkers and scholars ; by some even who are trained lawyers, holding high judicial offices. How, then, is the phenomenon to be ac- counted for? In presence of such facts evolution- talk is idle. When human ingenuity can suggest an answer, it will claim consideration. Meanwhile the story of the Eden fall holds the field. ' Until I came to pen these pages I had not read any Roman Catholic work on this subject ; and I have always supposed that a fair pH/nd facie case could be made out for the Papal claims. But a perusal of Rev. Luke Rivington's " Primitive Church and the See of Peter " — a work of high repute, to which Cardinal Vaughan has contributed a preface — has destroyed that illusion. Any one who is versed in Holy Scripture or accustomed to deal with evidence will search these 480 pages in vain for either. All that the writer proves may be freely conceded — namely, that the Pope has been acknowledged by vast numbers of people from very early times. CHAPTER V A THEORY, a legend, and a blunder — such, •^ -^^ as we have seen, are the pillars upon which rest the proud pretensions of the great Western Church of Christendom. And the discovery may well lead us to distrust the Church's teaching, and fearlessly to investigate the truth of every dogma for which she claims our faith. The incarnation of Christ ; His death as a propitiatory sacrifice for human sin ; His resur- rection from the dead ; His ascension ; His session at the right hand of God ; His coming again to judgment ; the sending of the Holy Spirit ; re- generation and remission of sins by the sacrament of baptism ; the maintenance of grace by the sacrament of the Eucharist — the efficacy of both 54 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM sacraments being dependent on the continuance in the Church of a body of men mystically endowed as successors of the apostles, and empowered to forgive sins and to mediate on behalf of Christ between the sinner and God — such are, in brief, the chief doctrines of the religion of Christendom. Are they true? And on what ground are they presented to our faith ? If true, they are without exception transcendent truths ; it is idle therefore to appeal to human experience or human authority in their support. Scepticism is here the only rational attitude of mind. A Divine revelation alone can justify our accepting them. Have we such a revelation ? And will an appeal to it convince us of their truth ? To the first of these questions Christians of every name and creed will reply in perfect unison. But when we come to the second our suspicions will be aroused, not only by the fact that some of these doctrines the Churches of the Reformation repudiate, but also by the reluctance of those who champion them to permit an un- fettered appeal to the authority on which they THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 55 are supposed to rest. The Church Is to limit and control our access to the Scriptures, either directly, in virtue of its own mystical autho- rity — one of the very points at issue — or else indirectly, by insisting that we shall interpret the Scriptures in accordance with the writings of the Fathers. Scripture, we are told, is "reverenced as para- mount." " The Old and New Testaments are the fountain, the Catholic Fathers the channel, through which it has flowed down to us. The contrast, then, in point of authority is not between Holy Scripture and the Fathers, but between the Fathers and iisT They are not " equalled, much less preferred, to Holy Scripture, but only to ourselves : i.e., the ancient to the modern, the waters near the fountain to the troubled estuary rolled backward and forward by the varying tide of human opinion, and rendered brackish by the continued contact with the bitter waters of the world." I This is the language of a teacher than whom no one has borne bolder testimony to the supreme ' " Library of the Fathers," vol. i. Preface. 56 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM authority and value of Holy Scripture. In the preface to his Daniel the Pj'ophet, Dr. Pusey writes : " No book can be written in behalf of the Bible like the Bible itself Man's defences are man's word ; they may help to beat off attacks, they may draw out some portion of its meaning. The Bible is God's Word, and through it God the Holy Ghost, who spake it, speaks to the soul which closes not itself against it." That he who wrote these words should thus seek to identify the Bible with the writings of men gives proof how well he knew that, apart from the writings of men, the Bible would lend no sanction to the system with which his name is associated. Let us apply this principle in another sphere. " Nature is reverenced as paramount. But we should interpret nature by the great Masters of the past. The contrast in point of authority is not between nature and the Masters, but between the Masters and us. They are not equalled, much less preferred to nature, but only to ourselves!' If successiv^e generations of artists had acted on this principle for centuries, modern art would THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 57 probably bear the same relation to nature that theology now bears to Holy Writ. And yet how plausible it is ! It seems the perfection of reasonableness. The simple reader might suppose that in regard to doctrine and practice the Fathers were agreed. But the Fathers differed, and the Churches with which they were severally connected differed ; and their differences led to many a division, many a feud. And so Dr. Pusey goes on to warn us that no Father in particular is to be accepted as our guide, but we are to follow them only so far as their teaching was " universally received." " It is this only," he adds, "which according to Vincentius' in- valuable rule, was received ' by all, in all Churches, and at all times,' which has the degree of evidence upon which we can undoubtedly pronounce that it is Apostolic." More plausible still ! But, in fact, it is but dust flung into our eyes. If the " Catholic faith " is to be thus limited to doctrines universally accepted, we shall jettison at once not a few of the Pagan superstitions which are " un- doubtedly pronounced to be Apostolic ; " but with them will disappear also such vital truths as the 58 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM divinity of Christ and the atonement, and we shall be left with nothing but what is called " the Apostles' Creed," which asserts neither the one nor the other of these great fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. ^ And who is to decide for us what is the resi- duum of mingled truth and error which is to serve as a creed by which we shall mould our character and shape our course in view of the solemnities of our existence ? The most honoured of the Fathers were men whose minds were impregnated by the superstitions of Pagan religion, and the subtleties of Pagan philosophy : are we to assume that nineteen centuries of the Christian religion have so enfeebled or depraved the intellect of Christendom that we are less capable of under- standing the Scriptures than they were ? They were "near the fountain" of Christianity, forsooth ; yes, but they were nearer still to the cesspool of Paganism. And inquiry will show that it is ' I would not be understood as saying that the framers of the creed did not hold these truths. I merely refer to the fact that the creed does not assert them. Hence its universal acceptance ; for Arians, Unitarians, and Sadducees of all sorts, can place their own meaning on it. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 59 to the cesspool that we should attribute every perversion of the truth which to-day defaces what is called the Christian religion. The Christian turns to the Bible to hear in it the voice of his living Saviour and Master and Lord, who, by the Holy Spirit, sent down from heaven to that very end, " speaks " in and through that Word, " to the soul which closes not itself against it." But the founder of this religious system is the Buddha of Christendom, who died nineteen centuries ago, the pure waters of whose teaching are now dissipated in " the troubled estuary rolled backward and forward by the vary- ing tide " of the opinions of the Fathers, and " rendered brackish by the continued contact with the bitter waters " of a corrupt and apostate Church. Let those who thus appeal to the Fathers hear the Fathers. No one among them is held in higher esteem than Chrysostom. The most famous of the Greek Fathers, he has been canon- ised by the Roman Church ; and both Greek and Roman Churches celebrate his festival. And with abundant reason. For he lived a pure and noble 6o THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM life in an age when this much-vaunted " primitive Church " was characterised by shameless profligacy and corruption. Here is Chrysostom's testimony to the Scriptures : — "And why does he bid all Christians at that time to betake themselves to the Scriptures? Because at that time, when heresy hath got possession of those Churches, there can be no proof of true Christianity, nor any other refuge for Christians wishing to know the true faith but ihc Divine Scriptures. For before it was shown in many ways which was the Church of Christ, and which heathenism ; but now it is known in no way to those who wish to ascertain which is the true Church of Christ, but only through the Scriptures. Why ? Because all those things which are properly Christ's in the truth, those heresies have also in their schism : Churches alike, the Holy Scripture alike, bishops alike, and the other orders of clergy, baptism alike, the eucharist alike, and everything else ; nay, even Christ Himself. Therefore, if any one wishes to ascertain which is the true Church of Christ, whence can he ascertain it, in the confusion arising from so great a similitude, but only by the Scriptures f . . . " Therefore the Lord, knowing that such a confusion of things would take place in the last days, commands on that account, that the Christians who are- in Christianity, and desirous of availing themselves of the strength of the true faith, should betake themselves to nothing else but the Scriptures ; otherwise, if they should look to other things, they shall stumble and perish, not understanding which is the true Church," ' " Matt. Horn." xliii. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 6i These were the words of the most famous of the Greek Fathers : now let us hear the testimony of Augustine, the most famous of the Latin Fathers. He says — " I declare unto you that the Holy Scriptures which are called canonical, are the only books in the world to which I have learned to pay such honour and reverence, that I most firmly believe that none of their authors has committed any error therein. Other authors are read by me with the persuasion that however they may e.xcel in holiness and learning, what they write is not true because they write it, but because they can prove it to be true either by Scripture or reason." ' In "all things that pertain to hfe and godliness" the words of Holy Writ are so simple and clear that a little child can grasp their meaning. Thus the apostle could write to Timothy, " From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." But who is to interpret the Fathers for us ? Rival schools of Christian thought appeal to them in support of their opposing tenets ; who, then, is to arbitrate between them ? And by what standard ? And why should we turn from what is plain and simple ' Wordsworth's "Church History," vol. iii. p. 222. 62 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM to writings which are a maze of mingled heresy and truth ? " Near the fountain ! " These men talk as though the apostles left behind them a pure and united Church, and the Ante-Nicene Fathers had entered without a break upon the heritage. But what are the facts ? " While the apostles wrote, the actual state of the visible tendencies of things showed too plainly what Church history would be." The quotation is from the B amp ton Lectures for 1864, one of the most valuable works in our standard theological literature ; and the writer goes on to say — '' I know not how any man, in closing the Epistles, could expect to find the subsequent history of the Church essentially different from what it is. In those writings we seem, as it were, not to witness some passing storms which clear the air, but to feel the whole atmosphere charged with the elements of future tempest and death. Every moment the forces of evil show themselves more plainly. They are encountered, but not dissipated "The fact which I observe is not merely that these indications of the future are in the Epistles, but that they increase as we approach the close, and after the doctrines of the gospel have been fully wrought out, and the fulness of personal salvation and the ideal character of the Church have been placed in the clearest light, the shadows gather and deepen on the external history. The last words of St. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 63 Paul in the second Epistle to Timothy, and those of St. Peter in his second Epistle, with the Epistles of St. John and St. Jude, breathe the language of a time in which the tendencies of that history had distinctly shown themselves ; and in this respect these writings form a prelude and a passage to the Apocalypse." ' In very truth those " last words " were wrung from men depressed by patent signs of general apostasy. The same apostle who had exulted in the fact that "all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus," 2 lived to pen the sad lament, " This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia turned away from me." 3 And then, taking a still wider view of the condition of the Church, he indited the solemn forecast, " Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." 4 And for more than a century before Irenaeus, the earliest of the Patristic theologians, appeared upon the scene, the leaven had been working. That heresies should be the subject of the only treatise we possess from his pen, may indicate the state into which the Church had ^ Lecture viii. ^ Acts xix. 10. 3 2 Tim. i. 15. ^2 Tim. iii. ij. 64 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM already passed. " Dogs," " Evil workers," " the Concision," ^ warned against even in apostolic times, increased m number and in influence, as the traditions of apostolic times lost their power in the Church. Such men were ever at work, lowering the standard of Christian life, and corrupting the purity and simplicity of the Christian faith and the Christian ordinances. Error is a weed of rank and rapid growth. But it was not until more than a century after Irenaeus had gone to his rest, when the last and fiercest of the persecutions had ended, and, with the advent of Constantine, the wolf of paganism openly assumed the sheep's clothing of " the Christian religion," that the errors, which were in the very warp and woof of that religion, began to ripen and spread un- checked ; and ere another century had passed, the standard even of outward morality in the professing Church sank to the level of that of the heathen world.2 The Church of God is " built upon the founda- tion of the apostles and prophets " ; the Church of ' Phil. iii. 2. ^ These words shall be established in the sequel. See especially Chap. X. post. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 65 Christendom is built upon the foundation of the Latin Fathers. What the Apostle Paul was to the one, Augustine of Hippo was to the other. Though inferior to Jerome in learning, he was practically the founder of the Latin Church. The personal greatness of the man is beyond question. His writings give proof of it. Throughout the Middle Ages their authority was supreme, and their influence is felt to the present hour. Till yesterday his Confessions were known only to the theologian and the student ; but, as one of the much advertised Hundred Best Books ^ the work now finds a place in thousands of English homes. But, as the inspired apostle wrote, " God accepteth no man's person," so we may fearlessly bring the teaching of Augustine to the test of Scripture. Can any spiritually intelligent Christian read the Confessions without being struck by the ignorance it betokens of Christian doctrine ? It reveals the experience of a great and pure and earnest soul reaching out after God in the midst of mists and darkness which the sunlight of Christianity would have dispelled. Intense reverence for God, and desire to please Him — these are manifest in it 66 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM throughout. But it all savours of what the apostle describes as the effort to be "made perfect in the flesh." Indeed it is startling to notice how little there is of Christ in it all, even in the theology ot it. It is possible of course that men unknown to fame, of whom no record has come down to us, may have been spiritually in advance of their ecclesiastical superiors. What is true in our own day may have been true in the days of the Fathers. But if the Patristic literature is to be our guide, the great truth of Grace disappeared from the Church with the Apostles who were its heralds. And ignorance of Grace will go far to account for the differences which marked the systems of Greek and Latin theology, and for the heresies by which the one and the other were corrupted. Before the law of gravitation was discovered, various problems in astronomy were solved as clearly and accurately as they are to-day ; but there was no unity in the science, and much per- taining to it was incomprehensible. And so, if Grace be unknown, various Christian doctrines may still be understood, but the central principle which binds them together is wanting, and there THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 67 are elements not only of darkness, but even of seeming contradiction. The truth of Grace having been lost, the doctrine of Divine wrath, eternal and inexorable, against human sin, became overwhelming and intolerable ; and the theologies of the Fathers struggled to bridge over the chasm which separated God from men. The Greek school, under the influence of the Neo-Platonism of which Alexandria was the cradle and the home, leant towards the conception of a Deity "immanent" in the world, and especially in humanity. The incarnation, not the cross, was to them the climax of the Divine revelation to men. But though a climax it was not a crisis. It was rather the unfolding and display of the principle on which the Supreme had been working throughout the ages. Thus it was that God restored relations with the fallen race, alienated and lost by sin. Thus was humanity redeemed ; for the true emblem of Redemption was not the Cross of Calvary, but the manger of Bethlehem It was Paganism in a Christian dress.^ ^ I refer here merely to the doctrine of redemption by incarnation, not to the general teaching of the Alexandrian school. Indeed there is, in many respects, more of Christianity in the writings of Clement than in those of most of the Latin Fathers. 68 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM The theology of the Latin Fathers, on the other hand, was governed by the old Platonic conception of the " transcendent " Deity, a God far removed from men ; whose alienation, moreover, was ren- dered more terrible by the doctrine of original sin. In their view the benefits of the work of Christ were limited to a privileged few, and their system aimed at extending the number of that minority, and mitigating for them the perils of their position. The simple baptism of the New Testament — a public confession of Christ by those whom the gospel had won to the ranks of His disciples — was re- modelled on Pagan lines,i as a mystical regenera- tion and cleansing from sin, bringing the sinner from under the storm-cloud of Divine wrath into the sphere where a mystically endowed priesthood could minister to him further grace. For in this theology Divine sovereignty became sheer favouritism ; election was degraded to mean no more than immunity from wrath ; and grace, instead of being, as in the New Testament, the principle of the Divine action, and the characteristic of the Divine attitude towards ' See Chap. lX.J>osi. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 69 mankind was regarded rather as a sort of spiritual electricity, to be communicated to the favoured few by ordinances which owed their validity to a sacerdotal class. The Church, which in their system meant the hierarchy, was the mediator between an alienated and angry God, and men depraved and doomed. The horrors of the system became further alleviated by the fig- ment of a purgatory, prayers and masses for the dead, the invocation of saints, and all the super- stitions which, to the present day, characterise the religion of Christendom. Paganism, again, in a Christian dress. It is not that these conflicting views were taught thus plainly by all the leaders of the rival schools of Christian thought. Far from it. But in vary- ing degrees the writings of all are tainted by them. Clement of Alexandria, rival claimant with Irenaeus to the title of father of Greek theology, and Augustine of Hippo, so specially honoured by the Latin Church, are the most pronounced ex- ponents of them. Though the fame of Clement is eclipsed by that of his brilliant disciple and successor as head of the Alexandrian catechetical 70 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM school, I he remains to the present hour the " patron saint " of " the sect of the Sadducees." It was not till two centuries after his time that the Roman Church was moulded by Augustine into the form it has ever since maintained. Of all the errors that later centuries developed in her teaching there is scarcely one that cannot be found in embryo in his writings.^ " The Church to him," says the Dean of Canter- bury, " was an external establishment, subjected to the autocracy of bishops, largely dependent on the opinion of Rome. It was a Church represented almost exclusively by a sacerdotal caste, cut off by celibacy from ordinary human interests, armed with fearful spiritual weapons, and possessing the sole right to administer a grace which came magic- ally through none but mechanical channels. And this Church might, nay, was bound to, enforce the acceptance of its own dogmas and customs even in ^ Origen is really the founder of dogmatic theology. And, it may be added, he alone of the Greek Fathers, as Jerome of the Latin, could read the Hebrew Scriptures. 2 No one of his predecessors, as Professor Harnack has some- where said, in so determined and open a manner rested Christendom upon the authority of the Church, or confounded the living authority of Christ with the authority of the Church. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 71 minute details and in outward organisation. It was justified in enforcing unity by using the arm of the State to fetter free consciences by cruel per- secution. And outside this Church, with its many abuses, its (gw elect, its vast masses arbitrarily doomed to certain destruction, its acknowledged multitudes of ambitious, greedy, ignorant and un- worthy priests — there was no salvation ! Augustine substituted an organised Church and a super- natural hierarchy for an ever-present Christ. To Augustine more than to any one else is due the theory which is most prolific of the abiding curse inflicted on many generations by an arrogant and usurping priestcraft. " The outward Church of Augustine was Judaic, not Christian. The whole Epistle to the Hebrews is a protest against it And all that was most deplorable in this theology and ecclesiasticism became the most cherished heritage of the Church of the Middle Ages in exact proportion to its narrowest ignorance, its tyrannous ambition, its moral corruption, and its unscrupulous cruelty." ^ * " Lives of the Fathers," vol. ii. p. 603. T CHAPTER VI HE extravagances which disfigure the record and practice of Buddhism are to be referred to that inevitable degradation which priesthoods always inflict upon great ideas com- mitted to their charge." Thus writes Sir Edwin Arnold, in the preface to his great Indian poem ; and the words may serve to " point a moral " here. In its origin Buddhism was no more than " a mere system of morality and philosophy, founded on a pessimistic theory of life." ^ It was lacking in the essential element of a religion, for it had no God. And yet it had much in common with Christianity. It resembled it notably in its re- ' Sir Monier Williams, " Buddhism," lect. xviii. 72 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 73 pudiation of idolatry and priestcraft and asceti- cism, and in its contempt for everything unworthy, material, and base. And not only in these respects, but also in its doctrine of the " path," it comes nearer to Christianity than does the religion of Christendom. A man's acts and words, important though they be, are in one respect not so important as his aims, and the belief that inspires them. For his acts and words may be like the clothes he wears, assumed ; but his aims bespeak the deeper currents of his inner life, and his beliefs are part and parcel of himself. ^ But though the teaching traditionally attributed to Gautama was thus beautiful and pure, the Buddhism of to-day is one of the most degraded forms of Paganism. But what concerns us here is to mark that, though Buddhism and Christianity have flowed in channels wholly separate, the cor- ruptions of both are of the same type, both having developed errors and superstitions so precisely ^ The principles of "the noble eightfold path" are (i) right belief; (2) right aims ; {3) right speech ; (4) right actions ; (5) right means of livelihood; (6) right endeavour; (7) right mindfulness; and (8) right meditation. The more this is studied the more will the order be approved. 74 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM similar that the apparatus of the one cult could easily be adapted to the other. The following most striking language is used by Dr. Rhys Davids ^ in describing the Lamaism of Tibet : — " Lamaism, indeed, with its shaven priests, its bells, and rosaries, its images, and holy water, and gorgeous dresses ; its service with double choirs, and processions, and creeds, and mystic rites, and incense, in which the laity are spectators only ; its abbots and monks, and nuns of many grades ; its worship of the double Virgin, and of the saints and angels ; its fasts, confessions, and purgatory ; its images, its idols, and its pictures ; its huge monasteries, and its gorgeous cathedrals, its powerful hierarchy, its cardinals, its Pope, bears outwardly at least a strong resemblance to Romanism, in spite of the essential dif- ference of its teachings, and of its mode of thought." Such is Buddhism in countries where it has made its home. Is it any wonder that when Roman Catholic missionaries settled in certain provinces of China, they were amazed to find all the externals of their own religion ready to their hand ; and that a change of images and of nomen- clature alone seemed needed to " Christianise " the native cult? But more than this, both Christianity and Bud- ' " Buddhism," ch. ix. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 75 dhism in their decadence bear a family resemblance to the religions of classic Paganism, and to the old-world cults of Babylon and Egypt. What is common to all is the presence of some material representation of the God, a priesthood and an altar, and mystical rites and ceremonies of essen- tially kindred types. This intensely interesting fact has escaped the attention it deserves. How is it to be accounted for? Evolution-talk about " cells and sacs and nerves " and " abnormal reversions " will throw no light on it. Neither dogs, nor donkeys, nor anthropoid apes, display the least appreciation of images, or priests, or millinery, or "incense used cere- monially." Therefore, even if it were only among degraded races that these frauds and fooleries of human religion prevailed, evolution could claim no hearing. Not so, indeed, if men turned naturally to atheism ; for the lapse might fairly be described as an " abnormal reversion." But atheism is always a revolt against a false religion, and it nev^er maintains its hold upon the minds of men. The problem here, however, is that the super- stitions which prevail in the midst of Western 76 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM civilisation are essentially identical with those of Buddhism in its most depraved form, and with those of the Pagan religions of the ancient world. Quod semper y quod ubique^ quod ab omnibus ! The same phenomena apparent everywhere, whether in ancient Babylon or in modern England ; whether in the decaying civilisations of the East or the advancing civilisation of the West. One explanation only is possible, and it is that already urged. Man is by nature the slave of perverted religious instincts. The existence of such instincts is proof of the Divine origin of the race ; the perversion of them is proof of a great catastrophe in its primeval history. Man is God's creature in a special sense ; but he is a fallen creature, and it is in his religion that the effects of the fall first and most declare them- selves. And not only is man, regarded as a spiritual being, thus subject to a law of "degeneration," but there is some mysterious influence which so guides the operation of that law, that it invariably leads to similar results. No matter what the point of departure, no matter what the environ- THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM -j-] ment, man's religion assumes the same phase, and displays the same general characteristics. In a world so full of doubt it is not easy to find a " rough and ready " test by which to distinguish truth from error. But " Vincent's famous rule," ^ already cited, will rarely fail us. The method of its application, however, must depend upon the sphere in which it is to be applied. Speaking generally, what mankind in the mass approves is seldom wrong. And the intuitive judgment of the many is not infrequently a safer guide than the reason of the few. But in one province, at least, the presumption is reversed. Quod semper^ quod ubiquey quod ab omnibus : In the religious sphere anything which satisfies this threefold test we may with reasonable confidence reject. It may generally be taken as an authentic " hall- mark " of falsehood. In no other sphere save that of religion do men of intelligence and culture willingly subject their minds to delusions. The " historic Church " ^ See p. 57 ante. It is said that this "famous rule" was for- mulated by Vincent of Lerins as a caveat against the teaching of Augustine, who was distrusted by the Lerins school. 78 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM once tried to compel belief that this planet was the fixed centre of the solar system ; but who believes it now ? Men cannot be made to believe that water runs up-hill, or that five and five make anything but ten. In no other sphere can they be induced to stultify reason and common sense. But in religion there seems to be no limit to their credulity. And in every age, and in all kinds of different environments, credulity fastens, and feeds itself, upon errors and superstitions of a kindred type. One exception only has there been to this rule. In the ages when His people were in a state of tutelage, God gave them a religion. It was a con- cession to the weakness of human nature. That Divine religion is expressly described as " a shadow of the good things to come," namely, Christianity ; for, to the spiritual discernment, Christ Himself was the sum and substance of it all. It was the only Divine religion the world has ever known ; for Christianity is not, strictly speaking, a " religion " at all, but a revelation and a faith. And how did it differ from human religions, not excepting that which calls itself THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 79 Christian ? It differed essentially in these re- spects : — (i) In the absence of any material representa- tion of God. (2) In the absence of mystical rites. (3) In the absence of a mystically endowed priesthood. (4) In the absence of tradition. It was based altogether upon a Divine revelation which every Israelite was expected to study and obey. And though in their apostasy the Jews lapsed into idolatry, the evil was eradicated by the judg- ments which fell on them in the era of the Captivity ; and after the great revival under Ezra it never again declared itself The post-Captivity apostasy was not due to idolatry, but to the prevalence of human tradition, by which, as the Lord declared, they " made the word of God of none effect," " teaching for doctrines the com- mandments of men." ^ ^ Matt. XV. 3, 6, 9. The Sermon on the Mount was largely a protest and a warning against the traditions by which the Scriptures were perverted. The Great Synagogue and the Great Sanhedrim were to the Jews' religion what the "historic Church" is to the Christians' religion. Therefore it was they had to be saved as 8o THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM But never even in the darkest period of the nation's history was their rehgion corrupted by the Pagan conception of priesthood. " The Jews' religion " was, I repeat, an apostasy ; but it never sank to the level to which " the Christians' religion " has fallen. It never knew the degradation of openly displaying those brand-marks of Paganism — mys- tical ordinances and a priesthood with mystical powers. " Sacraments " ^ abounded. The priest himself, the appointed rites which he discharged, the altars at which he ministered, the sacrifices which were offered on them, the shrine, and every detail of its divinely ordered furniture — each and all proclaimed some spiritual truth, and pointed forward to the Messiah who was the reality of every type, the substance of every shadow, of the national religion. But there was not a single act, a single rite, in the prescribed ritual, even for the high-priest himself, which the humblest Israelite really from their religion as from their sins — as the Apostle Peter declared, " redeemed from their vain manner of life received by tradition from their fathers " (i Pet. i. i8). ' I use the word "sacrament" in the Christian sense, as an outward symbol of a spiritual truth — not in the Pagan sense, in which the religion of Christendom has adopted it (see " The Silence of God," Appendix IV., Note V.). THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 8i might not have discharged. The priest's position was unique, his privileges and duties were ex- clusively his own ; but mystical powers he had absolutely none. The prophets in Israel were specially inspired. They uttered God -breathed words : they " spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." But if the members of the Aaronic house were, like the prophets, a class apart, it was solely and altogether in virtue of the Divine appointment which separated them to the service of the altar. In no respect did they differ from the people in whose behalf they ministered. The book has yet to be written which will describe what Israel might have been, and the world would have been, had the favoured nation been true to the revelation God entrusted to them. Solomon's prophetic prayer at the dedication of the temple gives a transient glimpse of the vision.^ Blessed with the knowledge of the true God in a world that had wilfully lost it, they would have been a rallying centre to which earnest souls of every kindred might have come to seek and find the light. Professing a sublime faith, and commend- ^ I Kings viii. and 2 Chron. vi. 7 82 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM ing it by noble and blameless living, they would have been missionaries to all the nations. The traditions of Eden, which even now still linger in some of the old religions of the world, of a coming deliverer, destined to bring blessing to mankind, would have been voiced by every part of their national cult. But that ritual was maintained solely in the interests of a carnal and corrupt priest- hood. False prophets were honoured in propor- tion to the audacity with which they pandered to the nation's pride, and God-sent messengers were persecuted and slain. Appeal followed appeal, warning succeeded warning, one judgment after another fell on them ; but all without avail. Their divinely taught religion, became utterly degraded and in its degradation dragged down the nation to still lower depths ; until at last, in the name of that religion — in the name of the God who gave it them — they became " the betrayers and murderers" of the Son of God. And these were nominally " the people of God," and their priests were " the priests of God" ; and during His life on earth our blessed Lord acknow- ledged them, and called them to repentance on THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 83 the ground of their divinely given promises and covenant. If ever there was a people who had seemingly a right to boast of knowing the true God, and of having a divinely ordained religion, it was the Hebrews. In every detail their cult was ordered by an express revelation. During all their pilgrimage from the house of bondage to the land of promise the tabernacle of Jehovah was in their midst. But what was the judgment of God who reads the heart? We here recall the words of the prophet, quoted by the martyr Stephen : " Have ye offered unto me slain beasts and saorifices forty years in the wilderness ? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch^ ^ Outwardly and with their hands they bore the tabernacle of Jehovah ; but inwardly and with their hearts they were carrying the tabernacle of Moloch. Who was the. god they served when they stoned the prophets and persecuted the messengers of heaven ? That god was Moloch, the god of blood ; though Jehovah was the name by which they ' Acts vii. 42, 43. The suggestion that they had a Pagan shrine which they carried about with them in secret, is refuted by the whole testimony of Scripture. Heaven was not silent in that dispensation, and open apostasy was openly judged. 84 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM called him. Who was the god they served when they " killed the Prince of life " ? That god was Moloch, though the name they gave him was Jehovah. The nation as a whole had in all respects the same ordinances, and used the same nomenclature, as those among them who were the true " Israel of God " ; but they knew nothing of their spiritual significance ; they were dead to their spiritual power. It will be said that the making of the golden calf is proof that the Jews were always idolaters, whereas the Christians' religion has a pure and spiritual worship. The plea will not avail. Idolatry in the sense this argument implies has no exis- tence save perhaps among the more degraded races of mankind. The golden calf was to fill the place of Moses, not of God. But yesterday, Moses the mediator of the covenant had offered the sacrifice by which the covenant was dedicated, and now he had gone up to the Mount, where for forty days he remained with God.^ The tabernacle had not yet been made : the daily ritual had not yet been appointed. So they cried out for something ' Exod. xxiv. or THE UNIVERSITY OF THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 85 to represent to them and make vivid to their minds the solemnities of their rehgion. And to this end they made an effigy of the calf which was the appointed victim in the great sacrifice of the covenant ^ ; and Aaron forthwith proclaimed a feast, but it was a feast to Jehovah? It is the crassest stupidity to suppose that these men imagined that the image of the calf was the God of their deliverance. It was nothing but an outward symbol. It met the craving of man's fallen nature for something material in religion. It was idolatry, no doubt, but it was idolatry of the kind in which the Christians' religion is steeped. Altars and crucifixes, images and pictures, relics and the " hocus-pocus " 3 of the mass — these fill precisely the same place in the religion of Christen- dom which the golden calf was designed by Aaron to hold in the cult of Israel. But " God is Spirit,4 and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit." All such idolatry is hateful to Him. 5 ^ Comp. Heb. ix. 19 with Exod. xxiv. ^ Exod. xxxii. I-5. ^ The derivation of the word is supposed to be the " hoc est corpus'''' of the mass. •♦ irvvoyia 6 9eoc, John iv. 24. 3 Therefore " God gave them up," Acts vii. 42. 86 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM And are we to learn nothing from all this in our judgment of Christendom ? The religion entrusted to the Jews was Divine, but yet "the Jews' religion " was false ; false, moreover, although in externals it had right ordinances, and it used a correct nomenclature. Why, then, should we suppose that the religion of Christendom is different? Like apostate Judaism, it is a human religion based upon a Divine ideal ; and, as we have seen, every human religion gravitates towards error and evil. CHAPTER VII ^"^HE great religions of the world appeal to ^ sacred writings for their sanction. But the religion of Christendom differs in this respect from the religions of the East, that its pretended appeal to Scripture is but a juggler's trick. It claims our acceptance of doctrines which none but the credulous would believe on human testimony ; and when we demand to know when and where has God revealed them, the answer given us is that " He has founded a Church, and in and through the Church He speaks to us." When we seek authority for this we are referred back to Holy Scripture ; but when in turn we claim to be allowed access to Scripture, human tradition is foisted upon us instead. This sort of thing is 87 88 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM well known in another sphere : " ringing the changes " is what the vulgar call it ! How different, this, from the attitude and lan- guage of the great men who, in the sixteenth century, sought to free England from the toils and tricks of priestcraft. Here are their words : — " It is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything that is contrary to God's Word written ; neither may it expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore although the Church be a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree anything against the same, so, besides the same, ought it not to enforce anything to be believed for necessity of salvation." ' This was precisely the question at issue in the sixteenth century. Obviously so ; for the Refor- mation was essentially a revolt against the pre- tensions of "the Church," and an appeal to the supreme authority of Holy Scripture. Different sorts of men of course were moved by different motives. With the devout, the ruling influence was love of truth : with others, it was detestation of the Church's immoralities and tyrannies. As for Henry VHL, he cared little for either piety or morals. What he wanted was to be master in his ^ Article xx. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 89 own realm. Roman Catholics seek to discredit the movement in England by representing Henry as its leader. But they are on dangerous ground. They forget that it was from the Pope that Henry obtained the title of " Defender of the Faith." Immorality and hypocrisy were no bar to Papal favour. Let them paint the King as black as they can, and brand him as hypocrite and scoundrel, the fact remains that he was no worse than the man who then sat in "the chair of St. Peter." The vices of Henry VHI. were of a kind that the Church habitually condoned. But what shall be said of Paul HI. ? This " Vicar of Christ on earth," so far from being ashamed of his immoralities, flaunted them in the face of the world. The Duchies of Parma and Piacenza he conferred upon his illegitimate son Lewis, and he made provision for two of his grandsons, although they were schoolboys in their teens, by appointing them Cardinals.! These things need to be remembered ^ They were aged 15 and 14 respectively. Julius III., who, as Cardinal Del Monte, had presided for Paul III. at the Council of Trent, made a Cardinal of a boy whom he had brought into his house on account of his taking a fancy to him on the stage, and whom he had employed in keeping his monkey-house. Such were the men that settled the creed of Christendom ! 90 . THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM in these days when the salaried servants of the Church of the Reformation are trying to under- mine the work of the Reformation. Nothing is more unfair in controversy than to state in our own words the tenets of others from whom we differ. And to many the discussion of principles, apart from the men who champion them, seems too academic to be interesting. Let us then select an exponent of the views it is here desired to challenge. Dr. Pusey's immediate suc- cessor, as head of the House which bears his name, will serve the purpose admirably. All the more so because he is deemed a man of moderate opinions and of Christian spirit. His personal contribution to Lux Mundi gave prominent ex- pression to certain of the errors here assailed, and The Ministry of the Christian Church was written in defence of them.^ " How irrational it is," he says, " considering the intimate links by which the New Testament canon is bound up with the historic Church, not to accept the mind of that Church as interpreting the mind ^ "The Mission of the Church" presents the same teaching in a briefer and more popular form. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 91 of the apostolic writers." ^ The logic of this is charming. Let us test it by a parallel case. " How irrational it is, considering the intimate links by which the Old Testament canon is bound up with the Jews (and they, moreover, were the divinely appointed custodians of them), not to accept the mind of the Jews as interpreting the Messianic prophecies." The glaring fallacy of this argument lies in confounding questions of fact with interpretations of doctrine. The question of the genuineness of the books of the New Testament is of the same character as issues of fact such as are dealt with every day in our courts of justice.^ We owe our obligations to the historic Church in early times for settling and preserving the sacred canon. But this does not blind us to the fact that the hatred of the Scriptures which it displayed in later times was the natural fruit of the false teaching of the Fathers. » " Lux Mundi," pp. 339, 340. - Ex. gr., whether a footpath was used by the public before a certain time. A number of very old people are called to give their evidence ; and possibly the best witness may be the most notorious old rascal in the parish ! I well remember such a case at the assizes. 92 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM But the statement above cited calls for further criticism. First, it raises the whole question whether we possess a Divine revelation at all.^ Secondly, the question again presents itself. What is the Church? The argument assumes that it means the clergy — a figment which no one accepts who has not already given up his Bible. And, thirdly, waiving that point. How is the mind of the Church to be ascertained ? If by the decrees of Councils, then we are met by the fact that the mind of the Church was not declared until after the epoch when " the mind of the apostolic writers " would, by lapse of time, have been lost. If by the writings of the Fathers, then the fact obtrudes itself that the Councils were convened to detect and expose their heresies, and, therefore, they cannot be safe guides to the " apostolic mind." But our author is logical enough to see that this position is untenable, so he abandons it for another. Pusey reverenced the Bible as supreme but his disciple is unembarrassed by any enthusiasm * "The mind of the apostolic writers" is the nearest approach this author can make to an acknowledgment of inspiration. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 93 of faith in Holy Scripture. In his opinion "the Scriptures have suffered greatly from being isolated." ^ " Nor can a hard-and-fast line be drawn between what lies within, and what lies without, the canon." 2 And lest any one should miss the meaning of these monstrous statements, he explains them by an illustration. " The Epistle to the Hebrews and S. Clement's letter are closely linked together." And, he adds, " How impossible to tear the one from the other." Suf- fice it to say that in the letter referred to, appeal is made to the Pagan myth of the Phoenix, not incidentally, nor as an allegory or illustration, but gravely and as a fact, to establish the truth of the resurrection.3 Impossible to tear apart the Scrip- ' "Lux Mundi," p. 337. ^ Ibid., p. 339. ^ And yet the letter which is traditionally attributed to Clement of Rome is in some respects vastly superior to the writings of the later Fathers. Suffice it here to say that while expressly connected with the apostolic Epistles to the Corinthians, it has nothing whatever in common with the Epistle to the Hebrews. Why then bracket them thus together ? The answer to this question may be gleaned from the following sentence : ' ' For Clement interprets the high-priesthood of Christ in a sense which, instead of excluding, makes it the basis of, the ministerial hierarchy of the Church." Now, first, this appeal to Clement is an admission that Scripture will not support what is pleaded for. And, secondly, the view here attributed to Clement the ordinary reader will search for 94 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM tures from puerilities and blunders like these ! Could any one have written the sentence above quoted who believed the New Testament to be a Divine revelation ? Having thus undermined confidence in Holy Scripture, the writer goes on to set up the autho- rity of "the Church" in its place. In a word, he falls back upon the position of mediaeval super- stition which was repudiated at the Reformation by the Church of which he is a minister. The immense importance of the subject must be my apology for pursuing it ; for this is the teaching by which the people of this nation are being insidiously drawn back to the darkness, the intel- lectual and spiritual degradation, from which the Reformation delivered our forefathers. Proceeding with his argument upon inspiration, he says : — " Let us bear carefully in mind the place which the in vain. In the clause referred to he enforces the maxim of i Cor. xiv. 40 (that "all things should be done in order") by referring to the Jewish orders of chief priest, priest, levite, and layman, each having his fitting duties ; but in the next clause but one he gives clear proof (as has been noticed by numberless writers) that he knew nothing of a "ministerial hierarchy." THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 95 doctrine holds in the building up of a Christian faith. It is, in fact, an important part of the superstructure, but it is not among the bases of the Christian belief. The Christian creed asserts the reality of certain historical facts. To these facts, in the Church's name, we claim assent ; but we do so on grounds which, so far, are quite independent of the inspiration of the evangelic records. All that we claim to show at this stage is that they are historical ; not his- torical so as to be absolutely without error, but historical in the general sense, so as to be trustworthy. All that is necessary for faith in Christ is to be found in the moral dispositions which predispose to belief, and make intel- ligible and credible the thing to be believed ; coupled with such acceptance of the generally historical character of the Gospels, and of the trustworthiness of the other apostolic documents, as justifies belief that our Lord was actually born of the Virgin Mary. , . ." (p. 340). Here in a single clause — and it is the climax of an argument — we have the root error of the apostasy, as definitely formulated by Augustine of Hippo. As Professor Harnack expresses it, " The Church guaranteed the truth of the faith, when the individual could not perceive it."^ ' In the same connection he says, "When he (Augustine) threw himself into the arms of the Catholic Church he was perfectly con- scious that he needed its authority not to sink in scepticism or nihilism " (" History of Dogma," vol. v. ch. iii.). We are asked to follow the teaching of Augustine, and yet he himself was simply following the crowd — superstition calls it "the Church" — because, like a timid man in the dark, he could not trust himself to be alone ! 96 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM " To these facts, in the Church's name, we claim assent." If ever there was an appeal to ignorance and superstition it is here. Having regard to the Church's history the effrontery of it is amazing. Its folly will be apparent to any one who brings reason and common sense to bear upon the question at issue. The first of " these facts," upon which all the rest depend, is that the Nazarene was the Son of God. The founder of Rome was believed to be the divinely begotten child of a vestal virgin. And in the old Babylonian mysteries a similar parentage was ascribed to the martyred son of Semiramis, Queen of Heaven. What reason have we, then, for distinguishing the birth at Beth- lehem from these and other kindred legends of the ancient world ? These men disparage the Scriptures, and, though yielding a conventional assent to their claim to inspiration, they refuse even to pledge themselves to their truth ; and yet in the Church's name " they claim assent " to that to which no consensus of mere human testimony could lend even an a priori probability. All we need for faith is to be found, forsooth. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 97 in " the moral dispositions which predispose to beh'ef." When the weak-nerved guest who has been plied with tales about the haunted room, retires to rest with " the moral dispositions which predispose to belief" in ghosts, the ghost is certain to appear, and the reality of ghosts is never questioned more ! And so also here : if we will but allow our minds to be hypnotised by priests, we shall be prepared to believe in the Incarnation, the sacrifice of Calvary, the sacrifice of the Mass, apostolic succession, and the mystic efficacy of the sacraments. And we shall swallow all these doctrines without any exercise of mind or heart or conscience, and without any capacity to dis- tinguish between Divine truth and human error and superstition. If, on the other hand, the New Testament is a Divine revelation ; if " the evangelic records " are, in the language of the Apostle Paul, " God- breathed Scriptures," then indeed the Christian can face his fellow men with the confession of his faith that the crucified Jew was the Son of God. But, apart from such a revelation, faith in any- thing which is outside the sphere of reason and 8 98 THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM the senses is mere superstition. The foundation fact of Christianity is of that character ; and those who accept it on the authority of " the Church " are poor superstitious creatures who would beHeve anything. And such these men prove themselves to be. They believe that the Nazarene was the Son of God ; they believe the same, and on the same authority, of a piece of bread from the baker's oven. They are like the schoolboy who answers that six and seven are thirteen, and later on, in reply to a further question, says that six and eight are thirteen. The wrong answer destroys the value of the right one, by showing that it rests on no intelligent basis. And so here. Faith in that which is true is not necessarily true faith. In this instance it would seem to be sheer credulity. One quotation more to make clearer still the anti-christian character of this system : — " If we believe . . . that our Lord founded a visible Church, and that this Church with her creed and Scriptures, ministry and sacraments, is the instrument which He has given us to use, our course is clear. We must devote our energies to making the Church adequate to the Divine intention — as strong in principle, as broad in spirit, as our THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM 99 Lord intended her to be ; trusting that, in proportion as her true motherhood is reahsed, her children will lind their peace within her bosom. We cannot believe that there is any religious need which at the last resort the resources of the Church are inadequate to meet." ^ What does a man need in the spiritual sphere ? Forgiveness of his sins ? — the Church will grant him absolution. Peace with God ? — he will find it in the Church's '* bosom." "Grace to help in time of need " ? Comfort in sorrow ? Strength for the struggles of life, and support in the solemn hour of death ? The whole mass of his need " the resources of the Church " are adequate to meet. Christ is all in all in Christianity. But the Buddha of this religion holds a position akin to that of the Sovereign in the British Constitution. Supreme in a sense, of course, the Queen must be regarded ; but the Queen never touches the life of the ordinary citizen. And so here. Professor Harnack describes it admirably in a single sen- tence : "Christ as a person is forgotten. The fun- damental questions of salvation are not answered by reference to Him ; and in life the baptized has ' " The Mission of the Church," p. vii. loo THE HUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM to depend on means which exist partly alongside, partly independent of Him, or merely bear His badge." ^ These words, descriptive of the Romish system under Gregory the Great, might be fitly placed upon the title-page of The Church and the Ministry. Witness the prevalence of such lan- guage as " salvation through the Church," " grace communicated from without " — expressions and ideas wholly foreign to Scripture, but well known in Romish theology. The work opens, of course, with an appeal to tradition. As soon as the writer comes to Scripture he at once betrays hopeless confusion between the kingdom of heaven and the Church of God.^ The kingdom was the burden of Hebrew prophecy ; the Church was a " mystery " revealed after Israel's rejection of Messiah. He goes on to confound the Church regarded as " the body of Christ," with the Church as an organised society on earth. The former necessarily includes all the redeemed of the Christian dispensation ; the latter is as necessarily ^ " History of Dogma," vol. v. ch. v. 2 P. 43, see pp. 48-49 ante. THE BUDDHA OF CHRISTENDOM loi limited to those who are actually in the world at any particular time. Distinctions of this kind, so clear upon the open page of Scripture, Romish theology ignores ; and ignorance . of them makes the New Testament seem a maze of inconsis- tencies and contradictions.^ Apostolic Succession, which is the burden of the book, is the special subject of the second chapter. The pundits of the Council of Trent had to face the fact that the Papal system rested upon a single text 2 ; the figment of Apostolic Succession ^ Such distinctions explain, ex. gr., how the Lord could say, " I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel " ; " Go not into the way of the Gentiles," &c. ; and yet how He could speak of Divine love to the world, and eternal life for ' ' whosoever believeth in Him " ! And as regards the twofold aspect of the Church, we find, in Eph. iv. ii, the ministry designed to fulfil the Divine pur- pose for the one, and, in i Cor. xii. 28, we have the provision for the needs of the other. " For the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph. iv. 12) we have (in addition to apostles, prophets, and teachers, which are common to both) evangelists or preachers of the gospel. In the Church as organised on earth we have no evangelists (for the Church is supposed to be composed of those who have been brought in by the gospel), but we have " helps, governments," &c. The sphere of government is the Church on earth ; the sphere of the ministry of the gospel is the world. The Apostle Paul had this double ministry. "The gospel . . . whereof I am made a minister" ; and " the Church whereof I am made a minister " (Col. i. 23-25). - " Thou art Peter," 166 Polycarp » 169 Irenasus ?5 200 Clement (of Alexandria) 95 217 Tertullian Latin 220 Origen Greek 253 Cyprian Latin . 258 Athanasius . Greek 373 Ambrose Latin 397 Chrysostom . Greek 407 Jerome .... Latin 420 Augustine ?j 430 Cyril (of Alexandria) . Greek 444 Note VI.— The "Virgin Mary" Myth If, in the face of the plain statements of the 19th, 20th, and 25th verses of the first chapter of Matthew, people can deny that the mother of our Lord became Joseph's wife, it is idle to argue the question. Jerome it was who first formulated the Virgin Mary myth in a systematic way. With reference to the verses, above cited, he exposed the fallacy of holding, as Hooker expresses it, " that a thing denied with special circumstance doth import an opposite affirmative when once that circum- APPENDICES 299 stance is expired." Sound logic this, provided " the thing denied " be something against the doing of which there exists a presumption, on account of its being vicious or wrong. And this Jerome's argument assumes, thus begging the whole question. If we deny that a man committed some grossly immoral act on the day when a wife whom he dearly loved lay dying, we do not imply that he committed such acts on other days, but merely give a special reason for rejecting the charge that he did so on the day in question. But if we assert that a man did not eat meat during Lent we do distinctly imply that he did do so at Easter. Some who deplore Mariolatry may perhaps shrink from the thought that Mary became the wife of Joseph. But the question arises, how far that feeling may be due to the very error which God intended to correct by recording so plainly that she, whom all generations call blessed, entered into the marriage relationship. " Let marriage be had in honour among ALL " (Heb. xiii. 4). Note VII. — The Apostle Paul on Celibacy The Apostle Paul's words in i Cor. vii. 25-40 have been misused in support of pernicious teach- ing on the subject of celibacy. But as Dr. Chr. Wordsworth writes {Church History, vol. iii. chap, vi.), he " qualifies his commendations of celibacy by grounding them on considerations of the present distress (in i Cor. vii. 26) in which the Christian Church was, in that age of per- 300 APPENDICES secution ; and he condemns in the strongest terms those who forbid to marry, even as contravening the divine truths which flow from the doctrine of the Incarnation, and as led astray by seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, and declares his will that younger women should marry and bear children (i Tim. v. 14), and that every man should have his own wife, and every woman her own husband (i Cor. vii. 2), and that marriage is honourable in all (Heb. xiii. 4) and ' a great mystery,' being a figure of Christ's union with His Church (Eph. v. 23-33)." But the Bishop overlooks the fact that the Apostle never contemplates pledged celibacy. A life pledge not to do that which God sanctions to be done is entirely beyond the scope of his words. And any suggestion of monasticism is absolutely abhorrent to his teaching. And further, not only are these words of counsel framed with special reference to the persecution then prevailing, but they form no par't of the inspired Sci'iptures. The Apostle prefaces them by the express warning, " Now concerning virgins / have no commandment of the Lordr And when at the close of the passage he expresses his judg- ment that a widow is happier to remain a widow, he adds, " And / think also that I have the Spirit of God." These reservations are of immense im- portance as indicating the meaning of inspiration, and the supreme authority of inspired Scripture. " The exception proves the rule," and of the rest of the Epistle the Apostle could write, " If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him APPENDICES 301 acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord" (i Cor. xiv. 37). Nothing can be more exphcit than the distinction. In the one case it is, " I command, yet not I, but the Lord"; in the other case it is, "But to the rest speak I, not the Lord" (i Cor. vii. 10, 12). Note VIII. — "We have an Altar" The language of Heb. xiii. 10 is freely used against the truth which it is the main object of the Epistle to establish. Here is the passage : " We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth, there- fore, unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." The briefest summary of the views of commen- tators upon the words " We have an altar," would fill many a page. And it would convey the false impression that the statement is a hopeless enigma ; whereas, in fact, its meaning is simple and clear to those who understand the language in which it is written, i.e.^ the typology of Scripture, " now entirely neglected " (as Hengstenberg so truly says) by theologians. But let us keep in view: (i) That the passage belongs, not to the doctrinal, but to the practical teaching of the Epistle ; (2) That so far from its being the promul- 302 APPENDICES gation of some deep or mysterious truth, it is merely an incidental appeal to one of the plainest and best known ordinances of the law, and this, as the basis of the practical exhortation of verse 1 3 ; and (3) That there is no emphasis on the pronouns " we " and " they " : as a matter of fact they are not expressed in the original at all. We may therefore at once rule out any explana- tion which makes the " we " refer to Christians and the " they " to Jews ; or which " involves the ana- chronism of a distinction between clergy and laity, which certainly then had no place " ( Alford). The words "Exojuev Ovaia ,, described by Justin Martyr, 151 >» „ corruptions of, 149-152 Lordship of Christ, 241 Lux Muiidi quoted, 90, 93 Macaulay, Lord, quoted, 197 Man, origin of, i Man, a religious animal proved, 24 ,, his religion to be dis- trusted, 38 ,, his responsibility, 29 ,, and the ape, 26 Manning, Cardinal, quoted, 129 ,, his Love of Jestis to Penitents^ 306 Martyrs of Pagan and Papal Rome, the, 257 ,, the Church of the, 155 Mass, the, 85, 98, 117, 189, 221 Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 193 Matthew : the scope of his Gospel, 49 Mediator, the Church or Christ — which? 109, no Melchisedek, order of, 221 "Mesopotamia," that sweet word, 249, 312 Mill, John Stuart, quoted, 39, 199, 203 Milman, Dean, quoted, 167 Missing-link, the, 18 Moloch, 83 Monti, Cardinal del, 284-287 Moral law, the, 27 Moral nature adjustable ; not the spiritual, 32-38 Motherhood of the Church, 245 Muller, Prof. Max, quoted, 21, 25, 30 Neo Romanists, no, 117, 121 Nidocemus, 260 Norwich, Dean of, quoted, 102 Newman, Cardinal, quoted, 243, 248 320 INDEX OF SUBJECTS Nunneries, 159, 160 "Orders," Ecclesiastical, 104 Origen, 70 Origin of man, i „ life, 5 Oxford Movement, the, 293 Pagan Sacraments, 80 Paganism in the Church of the Fathers, 137 Pallavicino, Cardinal, quoted, 192 Papal supremacy, 45 Peace of God," "The, and its counterfeit, 248 Pelagius, the dogma of 32, 33 Penal laws against apostasy to Paganism, 177 Persecution so-called, 129 " Personally conducted " Re- ligion, 248 Peter never Bishop of Rome, 46 „ ministry of, 49, 50 Philology vetoes Evolution, 23 Phoenix, The myth used by Clement, 93 Pliny's letter, 203 Plummer, Dr., quoted, 157 Polycarp, 202, 240 Popes, the immorality of 89, 189, 192 Pope Alexander VI., 189 ,, Clement VII., 191 , Gregory XIII., 194 ,, John XXIII., 192 „ Julius III., 89 ,, Leo X., 191 ,, Leo XIII. , 195, 244, 253 Pope Paul III., 89, 191, 284- 287 Paul v., 282, 283 Prescott's Conquest of Mexico quoted, 148 Prophecy ignored by theology, 207 Protestantism, iii, 234, 236 Protoplasm, 5 Priest, the position and duties of the Jewish, 81 ,, first consecration of 215, 217 Priest in Absolution, the, 296 Priesthood of Christ, 221 ,, Pagan corruption of 217 Priesthoods, their influence, 72 Presbyter, 221 Pusey, Dr. quoted, 55, 56 ,, ,, his manual for con- fessors, 296 Ramsey, Professor, quoted, 139 Rationalism, 239, 247 Redesdale, Lord, 297 Reformation, the, 88, 94, 119, 121, 253 Reformers' attitude to Scripture, 88 ,, attitude to human religion, 257 Regeneration," " In the, 264 Religion, use of the word in this work, 114 ,, universality of, 25 ,, its tendency to become degenerate and to corrupt mankind, 34-37, 76-78, 86 INDEX OF SUBJECTS ,21 Religion, the only God-given, jS „ the Jews', distinctive character and purity of. 79-83 ,, turns men to fiends, 200 ,, the great persecutor of God's people, 2(X)- 202 ,, the crucifier of Christ, 201 ,, characterised by irre- verence, 237 Kenan quoted, 24, 247 " Rest of the Creator," the, 14 Revelation: its limitations, 13 ,. the silences of, 17 Rivington, Rev. Luke, quoted, 52 Romans, Epistle to, 228 Rome, Pagan and Modern, 257 „ the aims of in England, 129 " aggression of, 251 Romish propagandism in Eng- land, no, 274 Sacrament of Baptism, 131 J, of the Lord's Supper, 149 "Safe in Jehovah's keeping," 312 Salvation through the Church a venerable lie, in Salvian of Marseilles, 170 „ on corruption in the Church, 1 71-175 " Saint," avoidance of the title in these pages, 241 Sarpi, Fra Paolo, of Venice, the historian of the Council o. Trent, 191, 281 ! Satan's sphere of influence, 189 Selborne, Lord, on "a good I hymn," 309 I Sentiment in religion, 248 I Sheldon's, fV/ia^ tuoiild /csiis do ? 306 Silence of God, the, 170 I Sinai, events at, 213 Sincerity useless in itself, 198 Spencer, Mr. Herbert, quoted, 3, 4, 8, 16 Stanley, Dean, quoted, 44 Submission to the Church, 195 Tertvdlian, 143, 149, 151, 160, 175, 240 Theophilus of Alexandria, 167 " Thimble-rigging," 43 Times, The, quoted, 115 Tiele, Professor, quoted, 25 Trajan, 202, 203 Trench, Archbishop, quoted, 21, 114 Trent, Council of, 191, 281, 283-289 Transcendental Philosophy, the II Tyndall, Professor, 6, 9, 23 Typology ignored by theolo- gians, 207 Typical teaching of the Bible, 208 Unbelief, its dogmatism, 13 Vaughan, Cardinal, quoted, 105, 196, 253, 254 Vincentius's famous rule, 57, 77 Virgin Mary myth, the, 298 INDEX OF SUBJECTS Virgins of the Church, 162 Voice of the Church, the, 244 Walsh, Mr. Walter, his Secret History of the Oxford Move- ment^ 297 Wallace, A. R. quoted, 20 Water, the ceremonial use of, 265 Westminster Review quoted, 16 "Who made God?" 6 Williams, Sir Monier, quoted, 72, 148 Wordsworth, Bishop, quoted, 61, 166, 299 INDEX OF TEXTS Genesis. PAGE Numbers PACK i 12 xix. 17 . 263 i. 2 . i. II, 12 i. 20 . i. 24 . 13 14 15 xvi. 9 XXX. II Deuteronomy. -14 . 183 . 112 i. 26, 27 • 15 I Kings. viii. 4 xiv. 18, 19 . 212 221 viii. . . . 81 Exodus. 2 Kings. iv. 10-16 . 221 xviii. 4 . • 153 xii. 12, 13, 23 xii. 35, 36, 40 : 210 211 vi. 2 Chronicles. . 81 xii. 41 212 xiv. 21-28 212 Psalms. xxiv. . 84 xiv. I . • 7 xxiv. I, 2 • 214 liii. I . • 7 xxiv. 8 xxiv. 9- 1 1 XXV. 8 • 303 215 215 ix. 8 . ECCLESIASTES. .265 xxviii. . 215 Canticles. xxxii. xxxii. 1-5 xxxiii. 7 • 154 154 85 ,303 iv. 2 . Isaiah. .263 Leviticus. xiv. 18 . 12 xvi 303 Ezekiel. xxiii. 10-16 . 183 xxxvi, , xxxvii. . . 2C 4, 265 324 INDEX OF TEXTS Matthew PAGE PAGE viii. 4 . . 125 i. I . . 49 viii. 22-24 . 127 i.^ 19, 20, 25 . 298 X. 36 . . SO xiii. 41 . 224 X. 43- 125 XV. 3, 6, 9 • • 79 xiii. 38 125 xvi. 17 • 244 xvii. 28 26 xix. 28, 49 . 262 xix. 1-6 261 xxiii. 38 • 235 xix. 10 63 XXV. 31 . 227 xix. 13, 15 241 xxvi. 28 . 225 xix. 34-36 39 xxviii. 19 . . 268-270 XX. 28-32 . 305 xxii. 16 269 Mark. xxii. 22, 23 231 xiv. 58 . . . .201 xxvi. 4, 5 . 34 XV. 29 . . . 201 xvi. 16 ... . 270 Romans. ii. 14. 15 • • . • 28 Luke. iii. 19 . 227 vi. 46 .... 238 V. 15. • 230 xi. 50, 51 . . . .120 v. 21 . . 228 xix. 31, 34 . . . 238 vi. 23 • 230 xxii. II . . .238 viii. II X. 2 . • 308 . 198 ■John. X- 5-9 • 113 iii. 5, 8 . . . .260 X. 9 . . 242 iii. 16, 17 . . 229 xi. 26 . 271 iv. 24 . . . 85, 181 xii. 2 . 262 V. 22 . . 227 xiv. 17 . 182 V. 22, 23 . • 305 XV. 8 . 226 vi. 45 . . . • 244 XV. 8, 9 . 247 xii. 31 . . . . 226 xvi. 25 . . 227 XX. 17 . . . . 246 XX. 23 . . . • 293 I Cor I NTH I A> "S. i. 2 . • 113 Acts. i. 13-17 . . 268 ii. 22 ... • 50 1 i. 30 . . 219 ii. 36 ... 246 iii. 5 • . 127 iii. 12 . . . 50 vii. 25-40 . • 299 vii. 48 . . . 201 X. 6 . . 212 vii. 38 . . . 154 xi. 25 . 225 vii. 42, 43 . • 83 xiv. 37 301 INDEX OP^ TEXTS 2 Timothy. XIV. 40 XV. 6 . XV. 20, 23 XV. 33 XV. 47-49 2 Corinthians. IV. 10, II xi. 2 . xii. II 11. 1-14 vi. 14 ii. 8, 9 ii. 12 iv. 21 V. 26 Galaitan Ephesians Philippian III. 2 . iii. 6 . Colossians i. 6 . i. 15 . ii. 20-23 iv. 9 . PAGE 94 271 183 26 23 . 308 160, 161 . 128 51 303 • 230 222, 247 ■ 308 262, 265 I Thessalonians. IV. 14 iv. 16, 17 . Timothy. 1. 15 . ii. 5, 6 iii. I . 64 34 . 231 • 23 • 159 • 232 307 271 • 34 . no • 47 1- 15 ii. 22 iii. 13 1. I . i. 12 . ii. II, 12 iii. 5 . Titus. II, 16 Epistle i-3 • ii. II ii. ]6 V. 10 V. 12 vii. 1-2 1 viii. 4 viii. 8 ix. 19 X. 1-4 X. 22 X. 26 xii. 26-29 xiii. 4 xiii, 10 xiii. 13 Philemon Hebrews 161, James. V. 13-16 . Peter. 1. I i. Ii 325 '\C,F. 63 158 63 231 26 232 262 232 2C6 23 246 225 221 206 221 221 225 218 269 220 251 299 301 155 126 50 80 326 INDEX OF TEXTS u iS, 19 i. 23 . iii. 15 iii. 21 111. I iii. 8 2 Peter. >AGE I John. 210 PACK 267 iv. 9 . . 224 241 267 Revelation. i. 5 . . 265 i. 16-18 . . 250 50 xvii. 5 • • • • 245 13 xviii. 4, 5 . . 120 UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKIXO AND LONDON. WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 'ublished by JAMES NISBET & CO., 21, Berners St., W. THE GOSPEL AND ITS MINISTRY. A Handbook of Evangelical Truth. Eighth Edition. Cloth, gilt, 2s. 6d. Published by WM. BLACKWOOD & SONS, 37, Paternoster Row, E.C. ; and Edinburgh. DANIEL IN THE CRITICS' DEN. 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