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And a full century more elapsed before Abraham Lincoln came forth, another great soul, who could say to his people : "Let us go forward, with charity for all, but with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right." The germs for these two quo- tations are found in the Hindu bible and the New Testament ; and we shall find further along many striking parallels in those two books, and in the lives of the great Hindu and the great Galilean, as well. The births of both Buddha and Jesus, if the records A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 15 do not mislead us, were as extraordinary as their subsequent lives were beneficent. Of Buddha it is said he had been born time and again in innumerable kalpas (3); in every grade of life; yet through the exercise of wisdom, patience, love and charity, he had progressed upward, until as a Bodhisat, he reposed securely in the Tusita, or fourth heaven. But the earth was rolling in darkness; and that he might bring salvation to man, we are told that he voluntarily renounced his blissful abode in the Hindu heaven, and became incarnate, to be born a Buddha. (4) Whether it be true that a Bodhisat, when about to be incarnated, can, or could, select his parents, his time, and his country in which to be born, also his period of gestation, it is highly problematical; but if Buddha made the choice herein mentioned, he was both wise and fortunate. For at that time, 500 to 543 years b. c, Suddhodana, a raja, or prince of the Sakhyas, held sway at Kapilavastu; an unimportant place, fifty or sixty miles north of Benares in India. The mighty Ganges rolled its waters a short distance south of Kapilavastu; and here lived Suddhodana and Maya, his Queen. Maya has a very remarkable (3) A Kalpa is a Tagt period of time, equal to millions aad millions of years, (4) The Hindus have seven heavens and the Tusita heaven ia the fourth. Our Gospels give us only three heavens. Paul was caught up to the third. (2 Cor. 12.) Jesus was carried up into heaven (Luke 24, v. 51), and that, too, just after eating a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb. (Luke 24:42.) However, ihej eat and drink in the Jewish Heaven.) i6 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES dream (5) ; and in that dream she sees a white ele- phant hovering above her; then it vanishes, she hears music, and beholds the devas (Hindu angels) scatter- ing flowers about her, and she inhales their fragrance. The seers interpret the dream, and tell her that it means the descent of the Holy Spirit (Shing-Shin) into her womb; and that the child to be born will be an all-powerful monarch, ruling the world; or a Buddha, whose mission will be to save all mankind. When the Queen felt that her time was approaching, she visited the garden of Lumbini, a quiet retreat, where, it is said, with thousands of attendants and amid flowers and fountains, her son, the future Buddha, was born without pain, from her right side. Angels sang for gladness, the same as they did when Jesus was born (6) and many marvelous events tran- spired, indicating joy at the nativity. Among other things the star Pushya came down to welcome the new-born wonder. It may have been the same star that 500 years later came down and stood over another young child, not far from Jerusalem. (7) Section 3. The biographers of Buddha are even more careless and extravagant in their statements (5) The reader should notice that in our Bible Joseph dreamt the dream. Matt. 1, v. 20. (6) Luke 2, v. 13. (7) The Hindus grow wildly extravagant about Buddha's incarnation and birth, and set forth that ten thousand world systems quaked and trembled. But the most astonishing and in- credulous thing of all is that a star should "come dotvn," either in Palestine or India, to welcome either Buddha or Jesus. But I will notice that wild statement hereafter. ^^ A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 17 than Matthew and Luke; for they state that, at Buddha's birth, the earth was so severely shaken that all the hilly places suddenly became smooth; that all trees spontaneously bore fruit; that even dead trees sprouted leaves and Howers; that great droves of lions roamed about Kapilavastu without harming anyone, being probably the same breed of lions that refused to devour Daniel (8) ; that the devas (angels) caused a perfumed rain to fall on every part of the globe ; and that fountains of pure water spontaneously gushed forth in the king's palace; that tens of thousands of angels thronged together in the air; and heavenly music sounded entrancingly through all space. It will not be very hard to believe the statement that the sun and moon stood still at this event; because Joshua had accustomed them to obey orders, some nine hun- dred years before this, when he was down there having trouble with the Amorites at Gilgal and Gibeon. (9) Even the wicked were benefited by Buddha's birth; for we read that the terrors and pains in the different Hindu hells (and the Hindus have many of them) were assuaged for a time; and young children that day, born deaf and blind, were at once restored to sight and hearing. Moreover, the spirit inhabiting the tree under which this wonderful child was born, bent down its branches in silent adoration. In short, if the record sets forth the truth, some thirty odd super- natural events occurred, to herald forth the greatness (8) Daniel 6, v. 22. (9) Joshua X., V. 10 to 14. l8 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES of the occasion; llic child hiiiisclt adding to the amazement of every one, by deHberately taking seven steps, and declaring that he had been "born to save tlie world." Mary at nine months, took nine steps. ( lo) Heaven itself seemed willing to add to the joy of the moment; for we are told that at the birth of Buddha two pure streams of water, one warm and the oilier cool, spouted forth and baptized the prodigy without delay. Malevolence and contentions for a time were ban- ished from all minds; concord and good-will pre- vailed; diseases cured themselves without medicine; and if the angels (devas) did not shout "peace on earth and good will toward men," those Hindus pro- claimed the same sentiment most vigorously. Mara, the king of the evil world, alone objected. ( 1 1 ) A seer of renown, in studying signs and portents, predicted that the boy would either become a mighty monarch, ruling empires in righteousness; or, as a heavenly teacher, he would put an end to evil, and bring universal deliverance to mankind. Asita, another seer, at that time appeared before the king, and said, "As I was coming on the Sun's way ( 12) , I heard the angels in space rejoicing because the king had born to him a son who would teach the (10) Protevangelium, ch. 4 and 7. (11) Matthew, chap. 2, v. 11, says wise men brought gems of gold and treasures. Buddha also has treasures and angels at his birth. Vol. 10, 2nd part, Sacred Books, p. 123. (12) That is, from the East. In the days of Herod wise men saw a star as they came from the East. Simeon visited Jesus (Luke, 2:25,35). He was the Asita of the East. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 19 true way of emancipation from sin. Moreover, I be- held other portents, which constrained me to now seek thy presence." Asita thereupon examined the child, and finding nu- merous birth marks foreshowing a wonderful career, was observed to sigh and weep. The king, alarmed at this, and thinking that the seer had observed that his beautiful son must shortly die, besought him to forbid it, for his father's sake, and for the kingdom's weal. To this pathetic entreaty, Asita replied: "The king desires that his son shall live, to inherit his wealth and his kingdom. But his son is born to bless all that lives: he will forsake his kingdom; and he will prac- tice austerities; he will grasp the truth; and as the world is led captive by lust and covetousness, he has been born to open out a way of salvation." Thereupon, the seer, it is said, ascended into space and disappeared. (13) When the child was ten days old he was named Siddhartha, and the king ordered a sacrifice to the gods; Samanas (priests) invoked blessings from heaven; and, moreover, the king be- stowed gifts upon all the poor, and opened the prison doors and set all captives free. But with all this rejoicing, there was one dark cloud of sudden grief. Queen Maya, beholding her son, with a beauty not before seen on earth, died of excessive joy.