The first chapter is devoted to pointing out the chief causes that have operated to make Buddhism attractive in western lands. The first enumerated is the presumption in favor of a religion which has propagated itself by persuasion, and not by force, and gained control over the religious convictions of such vast multitudes of men. Buddhism has secured the largest vote of humanity in its favor, and many men are disposed to decide the question of truth or error by the largest show of hands. Again: "Buddhism recognizes no eternal being, only an eternal becoming." (Koppen.) It teaches, "that all that is, is simply the result of an evolution from a previous state of things, as also that state of things from one before, and so on, by an eternal process, of which a beginning is not even thinkable." Such teaching is pleasing to many men in western lands who see in it an essential harmony with the doctrine of evolution, which excuses men from believing that "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," that he formed man's body out of the dust of the earth, and breathed into it a living spirit. The teachings of Buddhism are in harmony with the natural dispositions of men to glory in man, in his powers and achievements. Christianity humbles man with a profound sense of guilt in the sight of God, and only exalts him through the road of repentance, and trust in the Divine Saviour; but Buddhism appeals to man's natural inclination to save himself by his own works, to atone for sin by works of righteousness, and at last to make for himself a seat among the gods. Buddhism leaves no place for God in its teachings. It does not explain the cause of the eternal succession of worlds, and thus it finds sympathizing apologists among the agnostic atheists of Christendom. Buddhism is pessimistic in its views of life. "Death is suffering; sickness is suffering; to be united to what is not loved is suffering; to be parted from what is loved is suffering; not to attain one's desires is suffering." Christianity makes suffering an incident of sin, and its counterpart is endless joy in a life of holiness. Buddhism makes suffering an incident of existence, and the goal of self-culture is to escape from its power in a state of unconsciousness. This sorrowful view of life awakens response in the hearts of many who have tasted of bitterness and disappointment, and who are without that joy and hope which is begotten by a living faith in Christ.

Dr. Kellogg further enumerates the high order of ethical teachings set forth in the Buddhistic system as a cause of its attractiveness. He is disposed in this respect to regard Buddhism as standing alone among the various religions of the nonchristian world. It is doubtful if he would have spoken so strongly had he been as well acquainted with the ethical teachings of Confucianism as with those of Buddhism. The two ethical systems have very much in common, and both have much that is in harmony with Christianity. On the whole the Confucian ethical system is more symmetrical and healthy than that of Buddhism. It teaches men their duties in the ordinary relations of life. It offends against Christian ethics by not tracing the grounds of human obligation to their ultimate source in God; but while Buddhism equally fails in this respect, its teachings, if practically carried out, in magnifying the duty of retiring from the world to escape its evils, and to make progress in virtue, would prove more deranging and disintegrating to society than those of Confucianism and so less in harmony with the true standard of social ethics. Buddhism was, still further, a revolt against the Brahminical system of pretended revelation, and thus commends itself to men who are disposed to reject authority in religion, who regard human reason as the only true guide in life, and look upon faith in the supernatural as superstition. Again there are certain analogies in the history and doctrines of Buddhism and Christianity which have been seized upon with gladness by men who wish to degrade Christianity from the supreme place which it assumes as the one true religion, to the humbler place of one of the great religions, performing along with others its part in the spiritual elevation of the race.

The second chapter is occupied with the discussion of the comparative historical value of the Buddhist and Christian scriptures. The time of the life of Christ is fixed and certain. A large company of disciples received their instructions directly from his lips. The story of Christ was written down by men who had special opportunities to learn the exact truth, in the time, and with the approval of living witnesses to the correctness of their record. If the time of the life of Christ were a matter of uncertainty; if the disciples who recorded his life

and teachings received their information not directly but by tradition, which had been subject to the corruption of oral transmission for one or two centuries, the credit of the witnesses to the life and teachings of Christ would be greatly weakened. But the date of the life of Buddha is a matter of uncertainty among the best scholars. Many scholars follow the southern school of Buddhists, and fix the date of the death of Buddha at 543 B. C. Other distinguished scholars give later dates, Müller 477 B. C., Rhys Davids 410 B. C., Weber 370 B. C. Thus there is an uncertainty of one or two hundred years as to the time of the life of Buddha. Yet further, if we accept the latest date proposed by scholars for the death of Buddha there yet elapsed a period of over three hundred years before the teachings of Buddha were committed to writing by his disciples (86-76 B. C.). Again, Christ lived in an age of the world the very best known in ancient history, in an illustrious period in the history of Rome. The period was one of intellectual enlightenment, when men were tired of old superstitions, and were disposed to challenge the truthfulness of teachings propounded to them. Christianity was itself a protest against superstition, and invited the closest scrutiny of its doctrinal teachings, and its statement of facts. It did not appear as something suddenly dropped down out of heaven, but pointed to a long history of God's peculiar dealing with a nation which he had taken under special pupilage, and that history culminated in the fully authenticated life and teachings of Christ. In contrast with all this, the life of Buddha was in an obscure, uncertain period of Indian history, without contemporaneous history to witness to the propagation of Buddhism. Dr. Hunter in his Article in the Britannica on India makes the external history to begin with the invasion of Alexander (327 B. C.), and Lenormant in his "Ancient History of the East" omits India, for the reason, as he informs the reader, that his purpose is to write reliable history, but that in the present state of knowledge a reliable history of India can not be written. Thus the teachings of Buddha were orally transmitted for several centuries by disciples destitute of the historical instinct, but with vivid imaginations, leading to great diversity in the accounts of the life and teachings of Buddha,

and the Buddhists themselves tell us that the canon was committed to writing to prevent hopeless corruption.

The conclusion is that while the New Testament scriptures are of the very highest historical value as a record of facts, and a truthful account of the teachings of Christ, the Buddhistic scriptures are of little historical value, as the student is compelled to trust to his critical judgment to discriminate between fact and fable. Christ's teachings were committed to writing by living witnesses of the highest order of integrity, many of them sealing their testimony with their lives. The evidence as to the life and teachings of Christ is more exact and complete than is the evidence as to the life and teachings of any ancient sage, for example, of Socrates or Confucius. These facts compelled acceptance in a critical age. Even the enemies of Christianity, Julian, Celsus, Porphyry, never called in question the great outlines of the life of Christ as a religious teacher. But the disciples of Buddha have produced no reliable life of their master. Their love of prodigies has run riot in wild fancies as to his words and acts, and facts and fiction have been cast into a well-nigh insoluble mass.

The third chapter gives a sketch of the life and legend of Buddha. He was probably born five or six centuries before Christ the son of a petty Indian prince. The accounts of his childhood and youth have no historical value, but Buddhist authorities do not attribute to him acquaintance with Vedic learning, in which Brahmin youth were educated. At twentynine years of age he was married to the beautiful Yasodhara, who bore him one son, Ràhula. The exact causes which led him to the adoption of the ascetic life may not be known, but it can be easily understood how the sight of poverty, sickness, and misery on every side operated on a sensitive and compassionate temperament, leading him to the solemn resolution to solve for himself and others the mystery of the world's sorrow. The end of all his strivings was to discover the way that should lead to the succession of pain. He sought in vain for instruction among the Brahmin teachers, and failing in this he took to a life of rigid penance and self-mortification, but all in vain. At length there came a decisive spiritual struggle, in which he believed himself to have solved the enigma of life, and to have

discovered the way of escape from pain. It was then that he discovered "The four noble truths" which form the basis of the Buddhist doctrinal system :-(1) Sorrow is inseparable from existence; (2) The cause of sorrow is "thirst," or "desire;" (3) The destruction of sorrow is effected by the destruction of thirst; (4) The way to this end is the eightfold holy path. He now began his career as a preacher of his newly-discovered method to extinguish sorrow, but at first men were slow in entering upon the celibate and mendicant life, as it was seen that it would break up families, and if strictly carried out would put an end to society. It was necessary to make room in the system for families and business communities. This was done by promulgating a secondary system of observances which could be kept by the householder; and though not leading directly to nirvana, would improve the condition of the present life, and lead to better conditions for the attainment of nirvana in the next life. The life of Buddha has therefore almost nothing in common with the life of Christ, and much that is in the sharpest contrast. Buddha was born in riches, Christ in poverty. Buddha was born in marriage, Christ of a pure virgin. Buddha struggled long to secure salvation from misery, Christ had no such struggle. Buddha died a natural death at a ripe old age, Christ died a violent death upon the cross. The legend of Buddha abounds in records of miracles supported by no evidence, akin to the wild, superstitious fancies that have sprung up at a certain stage in the development of almost every ancient nation. Buddha, we are told, was originally a rich Brahmin living in a remote period of the past. He resolved to renounce his wealth and become an ascetic that he might attain to the state in which there is no rebirth, and therefore no sorrow. But his self-renunciation was in its motives in sharpest contrast with the self-sacrifice of Christ. Christ veiled his divinity, and chose a life of shame and humiliation, that he might bring men back to their true relation to God; Buddha gave himself to a life of temporary discomfort and self-denial that he might ultimately attain to self-exaltation, a kind of self-deification, the end of all effort being, not as in Christianity a life of eternal blessedness, but an escape from misery. Five hundred births are enumerated, as man, as god, as bird, as