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Preach the doctrine, glorious in letter and in spirit, the doctrine of a holy, pure, chaste life." (20) Such was the feeble beginning of the two greatest religions that have ever been preached on this earth. Yet, strange as it may seem, both of them have been (18) Fo Sho, se. 1978 to 1981. (19) Matt. 6: v. 33. Vol. 13, p. 113, Sacred Books of the East. (20) Vol. 13, p. 112, Sacred Books of the East. Luke 10: v. 1. Jesus Bends his disciples two and two; Buddha sends each on alone. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 227 driven from the countries of their birth. The Brah- mans of India battled Buddhism fiercely for fourteen hundred years before they expelled it; but it found lodging places in China, Japan, Thibet, Assam and Cey- lon. Nor is it too much to say that, had it remained master of India, we would have no missionaries bring- ing back silly idols which the people there worship, Buddha preached against idols. He ridiculed them. Not only that, but he condemned the foolish practice of sacrificing even rice cakes to the gods. Buddha sent his followers from house to house (21) ; Jesus told his disciples not to go from house to house. (22) The seventy were greatly pleased to return and report to Jesus that even the devils were subject unto them. (23) In India the head devil (Mara), it is said, came to Buddha and told him that he had him bound in such strong fetters that he could not escape; that he must give up his religion and go back to the world. Buddha confronted that Hindu devil so resolutely that the devil, "sad and af- flicted vanished away." (24) Jesus believed in devils, but he could cast them out whenever he chose. (25) The Hindu devils all possessed the gift of speech, but many of the Jewish devils were dumb, and sometimes blind. (26) (21) S. B. E., p. 112, Vol. 13. (22) Luke 10, v. 7. (23) Luke 10, v. 17. (24) Vol. 13, p. 116, S. B. E. (25) Matt. 6: v. 13, and Matt. 8: v. 16. Vol. 13, S. B. E., p. 116. (26) Luke 11: v. 14. Matt. 12: v. 22. 228 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES Section 3. Buddha, more than twenty-three hun- dred years ago, said: "Few only, go to heaven." {2y) The hea\en of Jesus is also a very difficult place to reach ; the way there being so narrow, we are told, that few only can find it. But the way to hell is broad ; so broad, in fact, that it is filled with "many." (28) In other words, a great procession is continually on its march, night and day, towards that awful "furnace of fire," where they wail and gnash their teeth (29) "and gnaw their tongues for pain" (30), and "the smoke of their torment ascendeth for- ever." Moreover the furnace of fire is to burn everlast- ingly, for it was, and is, especially prepared for the devil and his angels. (31) Jesus, therefore, to save his followers from such a terrible fate, said, "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee." It is better that one member should perish than "that thy whole body should be cast into hell." And if a man's hand offend, he should cut it off and cast it away, rather than that his whole body be cast into hell. (32) It must not be overlooked that Jesus puts the body, (27) Vol. 10, S. B. E., p. 48. (28) Vol. 10, S. B. E., p. 48. Matt. 7: v. 13 and 14. Luke 13: V. 24. (29) Matt. 13: v. 50. (30) Eev. 16, V. 10. (31) Matt. 25: v. 41. Mark 9: v. 43. There is evidently to be a groat waste of anthracite, (32) Matt. 5, V. 29. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 229 the zvhole body, of the impenitent into the furnace of fire and burns it unceasingly. It is also a dark place, like the Persian hell ; only the Persian hell freezes in- stead of burning the wicked. A great burn, it is said by physicians, causes a more intense and awful agony than any other kind of wound or suffering. The savage Indian tribes of America burn their prisoners ; but in an hour or two that hellish torture is ended. The bodies of the victims were soon reduced to ashes, and if they "wailed and gnashed their teeth" in the flames, death soon ended the tragedy and agony. Is it possible that Jesus of Nazareth is more cruel than the wild savages of the wilderness ? The savage destroyed his prisoner, lest that prisoner might escape and destroy him. Both Buddha and Jesus send men to hell because they do not love the Lord. Then there is the excessiveness of the punishment; the intensity of the pain and its awful duration. To illustrate : suppose Judas, for the betrayal of his master, was sent to hell nineteen hundred years ago. Is Judas still roasting in that furnace of fire? And must he still broil on for millions of years? The question arises, how did either of those men — Buddha or Jesus — know about the hells they describe? Neither of them had ever been there; nor had either of them ever seen any one who came from there. In fact, there is only one case in all history (and that is exceedingly questionable) where the man in hell could ever send back a word of warning to the wicked. 230 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES The rich man. \vc arc told, who had enjoyed many good tilings in this life, finally fetched up in hell. He was in torment; for he was, it is said, suffering in the flames. He was thirsty, and his tongue was parched. There was, and is, no water in hell, and he wanted Abraham to send the beggar Lazarus with even a drop. Abraham refused. But that wicked rich man in hell, it seems, had more sympathy for mankind than Abraham, the saint, who was safely housed in glory. For he besought Abraham to send and warn his brothers, that they might escape the "furnace." Abraham replied that his brothers had Moses and the prophets, and if they would not hear them they would not be persuaded even if one rose from the dead, (32) Now, if the above be true, how is it that the flames did not consume the body? A man's body in a furnace of fire would soon be destroyed. Jesus never explains this; he was not as philosophical as the Hindus, for they construct a "strong body," one that the flames cannot consume; and when the term of punishment has expired, the sinner, in India, is given another chance. (33) Section 4. From what Jesus and Buddha tell us, heaven will not be a very populous place. (34) In (32) Luke 16: v. 19 to 31. Manu 12, sec. 16 to 22. We may also notice that heaven and hell are within speaking distance of each other; just across a gulf, but plainly visible. (33) Manu 12:17. (34) Dhammapada, Vol. 10, S. B. E., says: "Few only go to heaven." (P. 48, sec. 174.) A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 231 fact, the heaven of Jesus is so sparsely filled that when even one sinner is reclaimed there is much rejoicing. (35) Nevertheless the keynote to all of Jesus' sermons is, to teach us how to reach that delightful, blessed, joyful, never-ending place of bliss — heaven. And he promises that if a man will leave house or parents, or brethren, or wife and children, for the kingdom, he shall receive manifold more even in the present life; and in the world to come, life everlasting. Here we notice a seeming marked difference be- tween the teaching of Buddha and Jesus. Buddha insisted that good thoughts, kind words and good deeds must fill and possess one without any ulterior object ivhatever. The Jew was offered heaven on the condition that he would forsake parents and wife and home and follow Jesus. The Hindu was told that he must not even long for, or desire, a life beyond the grave. Goodness, a pure and chaste life, he was told, must be practiced for itself alone. (36) The Jew was promised a consideration for his piety. (37) But after all, is not this distinction more apparent than real? If a Buddhist turned his back upon the (35) Luke 15, v. 7. (36) I think I ought to add that after Jesus and 144,000 fol- lowers reached heaven (Rev. 14) there was war in heaven and Michael, an Irish angel, and his angels, fought the dragon and his angels, and prevailed against the dragon and drove him and his angels down to the earth. (Rev. 12.) I have elsewhere quoted Revelations as an authority, but after more careful study I think it is no more inspired than Milton's Paradise Lost, or Dante 'a Inferno, or Homer's Iliad. Revelations is the work of a vigor- ous imagination. (37) Matt. 19, V. 29. 232 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES ten fetters, he was certain to reach Nirvana (heaven) whether the thought or hope of heaven was upper- most in his mind or not.