THE THREE RELIGIONS OF INDIA COMPARED

WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH

CHRISTIANITY.

LET me begin by declaring my conviction that the time is approaching, if not already arrived, when all thoughtful Christians will have to reconsider their position, and, so to speak, readjust themselves to their altered environments.

Be it observed, I do not say readjust their most holy faith-not the doctrines once for all delivered to the saints, which cannot change one iota with changing circumstances-but readjust themselves and their own personal views. All the inhabitants of the globe are being rapidly drawn together by facilities of communication, and St. Paul's grand saying, that God has made all nations of the earth of one blood, is being brought home to us more forcibly every day.

Steam-presses, railroads, electric telegraphs, telephones, are producing effects quite without a parallel in the records of the past, and imposing on us Englishmen, the principal colonizers of the world, new duties and responsibilities.

A mighty stir and upheaving of thought is shaking the foundations of ancient creeds to their very centre; and those not reared on the living Rock are tottering and ready to fall. Thinkers, speakers, and writers, Christian and anti-Christian, throughout Europe, America, and Asia, are eagerly interchanging ideas on all the unsolved problems that have for ages baffled the powers of the human mind.

Christians, whether they will or no, are forced to regard the most sacred questions as admitting of other points of view besides their own. Christianity itself is tested like everything else-its time-honoured records placed (so to speak) in the crucible; its cherished dogmas submitted to that potent solvent, Reason.

Muslims, Brahmans, Pārsīs, and even Buddhists and Confucianists, no longer ignore our Bible, presented to them in their own languages. Intelligent and educated adherents of these creeds are found to look upon Christianity with respect, though they regard it from their own respective stand-points, and examine it by the light of their own hereditary knowledge and traditional doctrines.

In fact, a conviction is everywhere deepening in men's minds, that it is becoming more and more the duty of all the nations of the world to study each other; to inquire into and compare each other's systems of belief; to avoid expressions of contempt in speaking of the sincere and earnest believers in any creed; and to search diligently whether the principles and doctrines which guide their own faith and practice rest on the true foundation or not.

And thus we have arrived at an important epoch in the history of the human race. Thoughtful men in the East and West are fairly trying to understand each other's opinions, and impartially weighing all that can be said in favour of every religion opposed to their own.

And we Christians are taking the lead, and setting the example. We are labouring to translate our own Holy Scriptures into all the languages of the world. We are sparing no expense in printing and distributing them. lavishly. We are saying to unbelievers everywhere: 'Read, mark, learn,' judge for yourselves.

But this is not all. We are doing for the adherents of other religious systems what they are slow to do for themselves. We are printing, editing, translating, and publishing the ancient books which claim to be the inspired repositories of their several creeds. And thus to us

Christians is mainly due that now, for the first time, it is possible for the adherents of the four chief antagonistic systems prevalent in the world-Christianity, Brāhmanism, Buddhism, and Islam-to study each other's dogmas in the books held sacred by each.

First,

Here, then, we have before us four sets of books. and in the forefront, our own Holy Bible. All honour to our Bible Society! this sacred book, which we hope may one day be carried into every corner of the globe, has already been translated into 210 languages; and if we include the labours of other societies, 296 different versions of it exist. Secondly, the Veda, a word meaning knowledge, on which Brahmanism rests. There are four Vedas (namely, Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva, written in an ancient form of Sanskrit), each containing three divisionsMantra, Brāhmaṇa, and Unpanishad-nearly all of which have been edited and nearly all translated. Besides the four Vedas, there are the eighteen Purānas which constitute the bible of popular Hinduism. Thirdly, we have the Tri-pitaka, or three baskets, that is, the three collections of writings on which Buddhism rests (written in an ancient language of the Sanskrit family, called Pāli). Three important portions of these collections have been edited by European scholars, and recently translated into English. They are called the Dhamma-pada, Precepts of Law; Sutta-nipāta, occasional discourses;' Jātaka, previous births of the Buddha.' Fourthly, we have the Kurān, in Arabic, a word meaning the book to be read by all,' on which, as every one knows, Islām rests, and of which Sale's excellent English translation has been long available.

I now give specimens of select passages from the Veda and Purāņas, from the Tri-piṭaka, and from the Kuran.

From the Atharva-Veda (IV. 16).

The mighty Varuna, who rules above, looks down
Upon these worlds, his kingdom, as if close at hand.

When men imagine they do ought by stealth, he knows it.

No one can stand, or walk, or softly glide along,
Or hide in dark recess, or lurk in secret cell;
The God detects him, and his conduct spies.
Two persons may devise some plot, together sitting
In private and alone, but he, the king, is there

A third-and sees it all. This boundless earth is his,
His the vast sky, whose depth no mortal e'er can fathom.
Both oceans find a place within his body, yet

In that small pool he lies contained. Whoe'er should flee
Far, far beyond the sky, would not escape his grasp,
His messengers descend, for ever traversing

This world and scanning with a thousand eyes its inmates.
Whate'er exists within this earth, and all within the sky,
Yea, all that is beyond, the mighty king perceives.

From the Katha Upanishad (Valli 2).

The good, the pleasant, these are separate ends.
The one or other all mankind pursue,

But those who seek the good, alone are blest.

The careless youth, by lust of gain deceived,
Knows but one world, one life; to him the Now
Alone exists, the Future is a dream.

The highest aim of knowledge is the soul;
This is a miracle, beyond the ken

Of common mortals, thought of though it be,
And variously explained by skilful teachers.
Who gains this knowledge is a marvel too;
He lives above the cares-the griefs and joys
Of time and sense-seeking to penetrate
The fathomless unborn eternal essence.
The slayer thinks he slays, the slain
Believes himself destroyed, the thoughts of both
Are false, the soul survives, nor kills, nor dies;
"Tis subtler than the subtlest, greater than
The greatest, infinitely small, yet vast,
Asleep, yet restless, moving everywhere
Among the bodies-ever bodiless-

Think not to grasp it by the reasoning mind;
The wicked ne'er can know it: soul alone
Knows soul, to none but soul is soul revealed.

From the Vishnu-purāņa (V. 23).

Lord of the Universe, the only refuge
Of living beings, the alleviator

Of pain, the benefactor of mankind,

Show me thy favour and deliver me
From evil; O creator of the world,
Maker of all that has been and will be,

Of all that moves and is immovable,

Worthy of praise, I come to thee, my refuge,
Renouncing all attachment to the world,
Longing for fulness of felicity-
Extinction of myself, absorption into thee.

From the Tri-piṭaka (Dhamma-pada).

Conquer a man who never gives, by gifts;
Subdue untruthful men by truthfulness;
Vanquish an angry man by gentleness;
And overcome the evil man by goodness.

The following is a prophecy from the Lalita-vistara of what the Buddha was to do for the world (translated by Dr. John Muir).

The world of men and gods to bless,

The way of rest and peace to teach,
A holy law thy son shall preach-
A law of stainless righteousness.

By him shall suffering men be freed
From weakness, sickness, pain, and grief,
From all the ills shall find relief
Which hatred, love, illusion, breed.

His hand shall loose the chains of all

Who groan in fleshly bonds confined;
With healing touch the wounds shall bind
Of those whom pain's sharp arrows gall.

His potent words shall put to flight
The dull array of leaden clouds

Which helpless mortals' vision shrouds,

And clear their intellectual sight.

By him shall men who, now untaught,
In devious paths of error stray,
Be led to find a perfect way—
To final calm at last be brought.

From the Tri-piṭaka (Sutta-nipāta).

How can a man who has fallen into a river, having bottomless water and a swift-flowing current, being himself carried away, and following the current, cause others to cross it?