has ever been revised by the said sage, or can be relied on. Do not believe in what you have fancied, thinking that, because an idea is extraordinary, it must have been implanted by a Deva, or some wonderful being.

"Do not believe in guesses, that is, assuming something at haphazard, as a starting point, and then drawing conclusions from it reckoning your two and your three and your four before you have fixed your number one.

"Do not believe because you think there is an analogy, that is, a suitability in things and occurrences—such as believing that there must be walls of the world because you see water in a basin, or that Mount Meru must exist because you have seen the reflection of trees, or that there must be a creating god because houses and towers have builders.

"Do not believe in the truth of that to which you have become attached by habit, as every nation believes in the superiority of its own dress, and ornaments, and language.

"Do not believe because your informant appears to be a credible person, as, for instance, when you see anyone having a very sharp appearance, conclude that he must be clever and trustworthy: or, when you see anyone who has powers and abilities beyond what men generally possess, believe in what he tells; or think that a great nobleman is to be believed, as he would not be raised by the king to high station unless he were a good man.

"Do not believe merely on the authority of your teachers. and masters, or believe and practise merely because they believe and practise.

"I tell you all, you must of yourselves know, that 'this is evil, this is punishable, this is censured by wise men, belief in this will bring no advantage to anyone, but will cause sorrow;' and when you know this, then eschew it" (pp. 45-47). Then follows a long account of the examples which Buddha gave to his disciples, examining them by questions, whose

answer is obvious; but these, though wonderfully to the point, are too long for quotation, and we must refer our readers to the book itself. Nor do we act thus, reluctantly, for we believe that every honest inquirer will thank us for the introduction. We should rejoice if some of our divines became acquainted with it. They might draw as many valuable texts from the discourses attributed to Buddha, herein described, as they do now from Jesus' sermon on the mount. We may add, in passing, that, in the conversation of Sakya Muni, he says, "it is better to believe in a future life, in which happiness or misery can be felt, for if the heart believes therein, it will abandon sin and act virtuously; and even if there is no resurrection, such a life will bring a good name and the regard of men. But those who believe in extinction at death, will not fail to commit any sin that they may choose, because of their disbelief in a future; and if there should happen to be a future after all, they will be at a disadvantage-they will be like travellers without provisions' (p. 54).

The following exposition of modern Buddhist belief well deserves attention.

"Buddhists believe that every act, word, or thought, has its consequence, which will appear sooner or later in the present, or in some future state. Evil acts will produce evil consequences, i.e., may cause a man misfortune in this world, or an evil birth in hell, or as an animal in some future existence. Good acts, etc., will produce good consequences; prosperity in this world, or birth in heaven, or in a high position in the world in some future state" (p. 57).

We will only add, that if the value of Buddhism, like Christianity, is to be known by its fruits, it is clear, that the former, as practised generally in Siam, is decidedly superior to the latter as practised in Great Britain, America, and Christendom, generally.

CHAPTER V.

Priority of Buddhism to Christianity. Strange assumptions. When was India first known to Christians? Thomas the Apostle. When Asceticism was introduced into Christianity. Results of inquiry into the introduction of Christianity into India. Tarshish and Ceylon. Peacocks known as the Persian birds to the Greeks, temp. Aristophanes. Indian elephants in army of Darius. Roman traffic with India, B.C. 30. Buddhist missionaries. The gift of tongues. Rise of Asceticism in Western Asia. Essenes again. Collection of Buddhist writings, 450 B.C. Degeneracy of original Faith. Missionaries from China to Hindostan in search of Buddhist works and knowledge. Travels of Fah Hian, their experience and remarks. Quotations from their writings. Footprints of Buddha and Peter. Immaculate conception of Sakya. Old Simeon—a repetition. Wise men from the East. St. Ursula. Three Buddhist councils to compile scriptures. Buddhism lapsed into image-worship and processions. Progress of the pilgrims. Return by sea. Deductions. Developments of Christianity and Asceticism. Observations about travelling. Conclusions.

WITH the usual pertinacity of Englishmen, there are many devout individuals who, on finding that Buddhism and Christianity very closely resemble each other, asseverate, with all the vehemence of an assumed orthodoxy, that the first has proceeded from the second. Nor can the absurdity of attempting to prove that the future must precede the past deter them from declaring that Buddhism was promulgated originally by Christian missionaries from Judea, and then became deteriorated by Brahminical and other fancies! It is really difficult, sometimes, to discover what are the real tenets of the obstinate orthodox to whom we refer; but, so far as we can learn from the character of their opposition, it would appear that they do not deny the existence of such

a man as Sakya Muni, to whom his followers gave the name of Buddha. Just in the same way, we may add, as his followers gave the name of Jesus Christ to Ben Panther. Whilst allowing that Siddartha founded a new religion, the orthodox assert that all its bad parts are human, whilst all its good parts consist of doctrines tacked on to the original, after Christianity had been introduced into India, by one or more of Jesus' apostles or disciples.

If, for the sake of argument, we accord to such cavillers the position of reasonable beings, and ask them to give us some proof of the assertion, that early Christian people went to Hindostan and preached the gospel there; or even to point out, in history, valid proofs that India was known to a single apostle, we find that they have nothing to say beyond the vaguest gossip.

What the testimony is we may find by turning to the article THOMAS, in Kitto's Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, which was written by a learned professor of Gottingen. Therein we see, and the statement is amply vouched by quotation from authorities, that the Apostle in question is said to have preached the gospel in Parthia and in Persia, and to have been buried in Edessa; and that, according to a later tradition, Thomas went to India, and suffered martyrdom there. Then follows a statement that this account has been assailed, &c. Similar traditions are mentioned by Dean Stanley in Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible," with the addition that it is now believed that the Thomas of Malabar

Christian fame was a Nestorian missionary.

Eusebius writes, book v., ch. 10, speaking of Pantænus, about A.D. 190—"He is said to have displayed such ardour that he was constituted a herald of the gospel of Christ to the nations of the East, and advanced even as far as India; and the report is, that he there found his own. arrival anticipated by some who were acquainted with

the gospel of Matthew, to whom Bartholomew, one of the Apostles, had preached, and had left them the gospel of Matthew in the Hebrew, which was also preserved unto this time. Pantænus became finally the head of the Alexandrian school." Such a piece of gossip no historian can trust for a moment.

Socrates, in his Ecclesiastical History, about A.D. 420, writes, "We must now mention by what means the profession of Christianity was extended in Constantine's reign, for it was in his time that the nations, both of the Indians in the interior, and the Iberians, first embraced the Christian faith. But it may be needful briefly to explain why the expression in the interior is appended. When the apostles went forth. by lot amongst the nations, Thomas received the apostleship of the Parthians. Matthew was allotted Ethiopia, and Bartholomew the part of India contiguous to that country; but the interior of India, which was inhabited by many barbarous nations, using different languages, was not enlightened by Christian doctrine before the time of Constantine," about 320 A.D. Then follows a story of a Tyrian philosopher, who, with two youths, took ship, and arrived somewhere in India, just after the violation of a treaty between that country and the Romans. Everyone in the ship was killed but the two lads, who, being young, were sent as a present to the Indian king. One became a cupbearer, the other the royal recorder. The king died, freeing the youths, and the queen, left with a young son, made the strangers his tutors, or regents. One, who was the highest, then began to inquire whether, amongst the Roman merchants trafficking with that country, there were any Christians to be found. Having discovered some, he induced them to select a place for worship, and he subsequently built a church, into which he admitted some Indians, after previous instruction. The other youth comes back to Tyre, and then the regent comes to Alexandria, talks to