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The apostle Paul de- clared on Mars' hill, that Grod '* hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on aU the face of the earth;" and wherever the love of God is felt in its power and purity, there wUl be an eflfort to raise every individual within the * HougVs History of Christianity in India. III. PBIMITiVE INHABITANTS OP THE EARTH. 87 sphere of its influence to the highest pinnacle of moral and social dignity he can possibly attain. Were it known and acknowledged, according to the word of the Lord, that Jesus Christ, "by the grace of God, tasted death for every man ;" that in the communion of the gospel " there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scy- thian, bond, nor free, but Christ is all and in all ;" that *' in lowliness of mind each is to esteem another better than him- self ;'* and that " whatsoever we would that men should do unto us, we are to do unto them ;" as a necessary conse- quence, there would be one holy brotherhood throughout the world, whilst cruelty, oppression, and bondage would be things unknown. We have all proceeded from one pro- genitor; we have all one common nature; we are all re- deemed by the same precious blood ; we have all the same Father in heaven; and unto all, upon equal terms, mercy is offered, as we are all transgressors of the law.* The meanest outcaste, by an in.dividual recumbency upon the atonement, may receive the testimony that his iniquities are forgiven; and may know, by the Spirit's witness, that he is joined in a mystical union with Christ, '* the brightness of God's glory ;" and when his mortal shall put on immortality he will be welcomed to heaven with angelic sjrmphonies more sweet than ever yet were thrown from harp or lute by min- strel's hand, when even kings with their guerdons have listened, not again to descend to some lower position after the lapse of mighty ages, but to live for ever and for ever full, unutterably full, of all that is glorious and good. * All this waa beaaiif oUj set forth by one of the Mosaic InstitutioiiB. " The rich ahall not giye more, and the poor shall not giye lees than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, lo make an atonement for your soiUs." Exod. zzx. 15. See also. Job xxxir. 19 ; Prov. xxii. 2 ; £ph. Ti. 9 ; Col. ii. 25. IV. THE BUDHAS WHO PEECEDED g6tAMA. 06tAMA b6dHISAT BBSOLTBS UFOK BBCOKnr& a busha : bbcbitbb yabiovs BIBTBB , BXPBBB8B8 THB WISH HB HAD BOBKBD. — ^XAKY THOUBAITDB 07 BUDHAB AFPBAB. — a&SAMA. b6hiBAT BBCBITBS THB ABBUBAKOB THAT HB WILL BBOOMB BUDHA. — THB TWBNTT-BOUB BUDHAB WHO nOUEDIATBLY PBBCBDBD G^TAICA. — THB BITS BUSHAB OB THB PBB8BKT KALPA: KAXUBAHDA, k6kAOAKAKA, KABTAPA, o6tA]CA, ABD KAITBI. The Budlias appear after intervals regularly recurring, in a series that knows neither beginning nor end. It is supposed by the Singhalese that all traces of the Budhas previous to G6tama have been lost, with the exception of such particu- lars as were revealed respecting them by the great teacher or his inspired disciples ; and they maintain that the acts they performed, and the doctrines they taught, can be learnt from no other source. But it is thought by many orientalists, that 66tama was only the reviver of a system that had been previously taught by more ancient sages. In the inscription upon the great bell at Bangoon, it is stated that along with the eight hairs of Gotama enshrined in the ddgoba of the temple to which it is attached, there are " the three divine relics of the three deities" who were his immediate pre- decessors. Fa Hian mentions a great town in Oude, in the neighbourhood of Il&ma*s celebrated city, Ayodhya, which contained " the entire bones " of Kdsyapa, or " the relics of his entire body." This agrees with the Singhalese state- ment relative to the same Budha, that after his cremation the bones of his body still presented an unbroken skeleton ; and the coincidence is the more remarkable, as the same circum- stance is not related concerning any other Budha. The Chinese traveUer also mentions certain sectaries, some of whom worshipped the whole of the four Budhas, and others IV. THE BUDHAS WHO PRECEDED G(5tAMA. 89 who worshipped the three preceding Budhas^ but paid no respect to 66tama. On the Budhist temple at Sanchi there are images of the four Budhas in niches ; and in an inscrip- tion it is said that a female devotee, to prevent begging, caused an alms-house to be erected, and money was given for the lamps of the four Budhas. It may have been with the intention of placing themselves at as great a distance as pos- sible from the sectaries, that the followers of 66tama asserted that he was avToBt,8aKT09, teaching the same truths as the former Budhas, but deriving his knowledge from the intuitive power he received when he became Budha, and not from either reason or tradition. It is said in the Milinda Prasna : " The dharmma of all the Budhas is the same, but there are four things in which they differ. 1. Some are bom as brahmans and others as kings.* 2. Some are bom when men live to the age of a hundred years, and others when they live to a thousand. 3. The age of the Budhas when they attain nirwdna is regu- lated by the age of men ; on which account some Budhas dis- appear before they are one hundred years old, and others live to the age of many hundreds of thousands of years. 4. The Budhas differ in the size of their persons, some being much taller than others." There are other differences, but none of them are of very great importance, as it is the uniform tes- timony of the Singhalese authors that in doctrine the Budhas are one. This, indeed, follows as a matter of course, if they possess the power of knowing all things, as truth changes not with the revolutions of time. The date of the appearance of the three Budhas who pre- ceded Gotama has been calculated by Major Forbes (Joum. As. Soc. June, 1836). According to this theory, Kakusanda became a Budha, B.G. 3101 ; K6ndgamana, B.c. 2099 ; and K&syapa, B.o. 1014. The first of these dates is founded principally upon the supposition that Kakusanda appeared at the commencement of the present kalpa, and that the * The whole of the twenty-four Badhas who preceded GKStama were Kshatrijas, with the exception of the three last, who were Brahmans. 90 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM. Maha Bhadra kalpa of the Budhists is the same as the Kali yug of the Brahmans ; but neither of these ideas can be made to agree with the system as it is received in Ceylon. It may be, that Gotama presented himself to the world as the successor of men whose claims to supreme authority were then acknowledged ; but I have not yet met with any well- authenticated data of their doctrines or deeds. The beings who will in due course become Budhas are called B6dhisat. They are numberless; but the name, in common usage, is almost exclusively confined to those who have become avowed candidates for the high office. When many ages have elapsed without the appearance of a Budha, there are no beings to supply the continued diminution of the numbers in the brahma-16kas. This excites the attention of some compassionate brahma, who, when he has discovered the cause and the remedy, looks out to see in what world the B6dhisat exists who will next become an aspirant for the Budhaship; and when he has discovered the B6dhisat in question, he inspires him with the resolution that enables him to form the wish to become the teacher of the three worlds, that he may release sentient beings from the evils of existence. The ages that succeed this period are divided into three eras ; in each of which we have legends of Go- tama. 1. The era of resolution (1). 2. The era of expres- sion (2). 3. The era of nomination (3). We have little information of the innumerable Budhas who have appeared in past ages, until we come to the twenty-four who immediately preceded G6tama; and even their history consists of little more than names and correla- tive incidents. In Hodgson's "Illustrations of the Literature and Eeli- gion of the Buddhists (Serampore, 1841)," the names of 143 Budhas are given, compiled from the Lalita Vistdra, Kriya Sangraha, and Baksh& Bhagavati. The names in this list do not agree with those of the Budhas who are known in Cey- lon. " In the Samadhi Eaja," it is stated in the same work *' Sdrvarthasiddha (Sdkya, before he became a Budha) is IV. THE BUDHAS WHO PRECEDED GcJtAMA. 91 asked hj Maitreya and Vajra Pani how he acquired Samadhi Jny&n.