St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-01-04
CHRIST Or BUDDHA !?
A Sermon Suggested by the
Visit Of Sir Edwin
Arnold.
There Is Much in Common
With Christianity and
Buddhism,
But Rev. w. S. Vail Favops the
Teachings Of the MAJ
apene.
He Is Unable to See the Least
Evidence for Reinear-
nation.

nation.
"Christ or Buddha?' Such was the
subject discussed by Rev. w. 5. Vail in
his sermon yesterday morning before
the First UniverSaliSt society in the
Grand opera house. The reverend gen.
tleman said:
The sermon | will preach is born of
the visit of Sir Edwin Arnold to St.
Paul. and written especially because the
poem he is chiefly noted for is stepped
with the essence Of Buddhistic thought;
and his attempt to do the same for
Christian history that he did for Bud
dhiSt history resulted in comparative
failure. When it is remembered, too,
that one-third of mankind accepts this
religion: that the stream of humanity is
rushing with ceaSeleSs tread through the
door of death under its name and ban
ner; that, if popular theology is true,
these are all eternally lost; that in some
respects it seems to be gaining, rather
than losing its grip upon the world;
that it is creeping into our literature and
asking our attenti0n-it seemed to me
that a consideration of the theme III
some way that would make this book
central point of interest would be of
value.
The book is colored by the preco1-
ceived ideas, by the associations. by the
culture ami historical knowledge, by
the travel and general information, and
by all the influences that make its au
thor q citizen, not of England. but of
The Civilized world.
In Bret Harte's story of faithfuluess
represented in "TenneSSee'S Partner
we had the local col0ring OF high mount
aims, deep gOrgeS. mines and claims,
ShantieS, rude dances. savage trials be-
fore Judge Lynch, and the vicious, ig-
norant man, filed with the spirit of
complete loyalty to a friend. Ard this
gives it supreme tenderness that
caught the sympathy of all readers.
But the loyalty rs the idea of the author.
He could have made the same man de-
void of all these qualities without max
ing him in the least unreal. So in the
Interpretation of this work we find the
same ideas that we would find in any
work that took the ideal of this story
and held it on the highest lines. 1t is
cOlOred by the man.
And from this point raise another
question. growing out of it as a matter
of necessity. What shall we say as we
study side by side two religions, one
Christian, the other heather, and find
the same thoughts recurring in both?
Three things may be most briefly said.
We are to be sure that we do find them,
that the sentiments of Buddha and the
sentiments of Christ are in ways SINH
lar. Then we shall be forced to the
alternative of saying that they must
either be
The Earnest Struggle
Of souls to understand the same ideas
and the same fundamental principles.
or they must be a mere accident when
occurring in India and a sublime truth
when occcrring in Palestine. 1t is too
late TO deny that many Of the things
that we find i'll the Bible are found else
where. The cardinal truths of the
gospel do crop out in other religions.
And it seems IN me that the one con-
cluSion that we are to see in the whole
matter might lie formulated in words
something like these: The human soul
finds its revelation of truth in the teach
ing that love is the central and trans
forming force, and that its highest man
Hesitation Is i'll the sacrifice of self for
Others; and that, in our own experience,
the sacrifice OF the lower to the higher
is the way of life. This idea is the cen
ter of the Christian gospel. But it also
pears it indicates that they, too, were
struggling to find the way OF life. If a
man comes and brings piece of quartz,
and you have a rich piece to show him,
you are all the better satisfied with your
discovery, because you are found in
company with others who have found
the same, and are sure of its value. So
when we find truth, and know that
men throughout the world have par
TALLY discovered the same, we are sure
that there must be more
Truth ia Ours.
What. then, is the moving influence
~ this Buddha;s life?
Of noble birth, he is marked from
babyhoOd by gentleness. His first
characteristic trait is revealed when
flock of swans are flying through the
upper air, and a SWift-winged arrow
strikes the leader from his place
and he falls, his blood staining
boy withdrawS the arrow, SOotheS the
wound and gives the bird his freedom of
the upper air once more.
$50 cur Lord Buddha began his wor ks
of mercy"
Shut up within golden palace. given
80 life IN a garden of Oriental luxury,
having chosen wife who. according to
the legend, was a mate of his in the pre-
historic period of life they two roamed
the world in form and nature of the
tiger, he knows nothing of the life be-
You'd his gates. A visit to the plain
and hill and grove shows all
the loneliness of the outward
world: but, alas. it shows him. too,
the fact that life subsists on life; show
lizard fed on ant and snake on him. and
Kite on both, till everywhere each slew
a slayer and in tarn was slain. life liv-
Ing upon death" And once more he
saw the crouching form Of age to,be
surprised that man must lose his power:
and, still again, he saw
The Funeral Esyre,
and heard tie note Of wailing sorrow.
and felt sudden thrill of pain, as the
wind blew away the Smoke and
the ashes seemed all that was left of a
man once like himself, with passions.
desires, hopes and fears like his and
like those Of other men. He sought the
forest dnpth. He sought the silence and
the solitude. His one hope to find en-
hghtenment, and to see the path of life.
The central motive of his life was COM
passion. In this he was like the Naza-
rine. In his gentleness, i'll his mercy,
In his tendency to find the light within
hinioNll lO W III diSD Ike TIC NdZd-
rene. But in his theory he was
different, and still not so much
unlike but that we might find
similarity. He found this world flied
with sorrow and yeXation. In the
Christian system this has been the con-
clusion of many. Your chief difficulty
In listening TO Il sermon is that there IS
pressure upon you destroying YOUR
aOllIty to enter into an enjoyment of
this hour. You are like man coming