The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-08-12

C~Hv,sss.ity Compared With s-ssAis- s.s

sOME VIEW BoOEs.
$500 --
o~Av,sessity Compared pith BsssAis- 80
fsiaw.
A book which has divided attention with Ben
jsmin Kids 4" Social Evolution is The Claims o
Chrtridnup. by wIbLiAu SAMUEL Lilly ZAP
plstons). IL Ia. Of course, = fact too widel,
known to need mcie than cursory allusion that
Mr.. lilly. while a man Of remarkable acquire
meuts and singular literary ability, Is also a con.
vinced and deyout Catholic. II follows that
While breadth, openness. candor, and tolerance
are characteristic Of the authors mind, his
puint Of view should never he lost sight of by the
reader Of this volume. IL Is not, indeed, his pur.
pose 10 consider what Christianity requires men
10 believe and TO do, or To scrutinize the grounds
wherein IL bases its claims as a teacher
of faith and morals. His aim is not that Of the
theologian, but rather that Of what may
be termed the student Of events; in other
words, his book deals with Christianity as a fact
in the worlds history. The claims which as a
matter OF history Christianity has from
the first made against the world are here re-
duced TO two. First, as q religion. IL claims to be
the sole and sufficient oracle OF divine truth.
superseding all other modes of faith. Secondly,
- . Church. II claims TO be n pollty perfect and
complete in itself. counting its subjects in all
lands. collateral with secular States. but belong
ing 10 none OF tntm. III bub Noiuhlo 'heoo
claims Of Christianity are considered. FIRST, as
regards the two other creeds besides the Chris
tian which claim NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and
Islam--and then as affecting and affected by
civil society in the middle ages. in the epoch Of
the Renaissance and the Reformation, and In
this new age. II Is the first Of these topics to
which for the present we confne ourselves.
II IL acknowledged by Mr.. Lilly that, Judged
by the test Of statistics. Buddhism must DO ac-
counted the most prevailing of the worlds
religions. Bergbaus reckons some 500, 900, 900,
n third Of the human race, as protesting II,
while Christians Of all sorts are set down by the
same authority at 327 ZOO. 900 and the votaries
of Islam Mt 1856. 900, 900. But In this calcula-
tion all the inhabitants OF China are counted as
Buddhists. So they may be in a sense, for, as
Dr. Edkins has put 1t in his "Asiatic Studies"
the Chinese believe in three religions at once"
that Is TO say. In Confucianism, Tsoism, and
buddhism. But however large the number
Of professors OF the Buddhist faith may
be. Mr.. Lilly takes IL that few persons would
seriously maintain that Buddhism can really
rival the ecumenical claims Of Christianity, and
those few in his opinion hardly merit q serious
reply. Great as may be our admiration for the
figure of Gautama. unquestionably one Of the
purest and most winning in all history. It seems
TO the author of this book indisputable that his
religion In decadent and even moribund. The
chief tests Of the vitality Of q creed are its fdel-
ity to its original idea and its power Of propaga-
tion. These are the true c~riteria Of a standing
nr a falling church. 1t is pronounced certain
that the noblest elements OF the Buddha's
teaching have long been buried under childish
fables. and that the missionary activity Of this
religion Is extinct.
There Is. however, another point of view from
which It is admitted that Buddhism is entitled
TO consideration. IL has been asserted that
Christianity is largely plagiarized from that
older religion; that the obligations Of the gospel
Of Christ TO the gospel of Gautama are undenia-
BILE. Thus We are told by N. Emile Bournouf
that the details OF the Buddhist legend were APP
piled TO Jesus during His life and after His
death; that the doctrine Of the incarnation is
borrowed from Buddhism, while the ascension
recalls Nirvana: that only at Nicea did the
Christian faith oficially break with Buddhism;
and that even in the creed named after the
council held at that place, may be found the de-
velopment of the formula. THE Buddha, the
law, and the Church. II is manifest that II this
view were true the historical character OF the
evangelical narratives could no longer be main
tanned; and assuredly the claims of Christianity
Are inseparably bound up with the historical
character Of those narr atives. As Goethe has
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leave the discussion OF the question which has
arisen regarding the analogies between 1t and
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