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The Hindus, it seems, as well as the Hebrews, were very fond of fairy tales, and both these peoples wrote them in their books. We are told that the venerable Pilindivaka once visited a park where the children, decked with garlands, were cele- brating a feast. But the family of the gatekeeper was so poor that it could afford no ornaments for their little girl, who ran about crying, "Give me a garland, give me an ornament!" Pilindivaka heard the child, and on learning why it wept, made a roll of grass called a "chumbat" and told its mother to bind that on the child's head, which when done the roll of grass instantly became a beautiful chaplet of gold. Shortly thereafter the child's father was arrested and thrown into prison, charged with procuring the chaplet by theft. On hearing this, Pilindivaka visited the king, who said, "Surely the gatekeeper procured the chaplet by theft; how else could he, being so poor, have got- ten such a thing?" Thereupon Pilindivaka turned, in- stantly, the king's whole palace into gold, and asked, "How did your majesty obtain so much gold, and so quickly?" The king, it is said, saw the miracle, and at once set the gatekeeper free. We justly dispute 38 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES this foolish Hindu tale, for we feel that it is absolutely untrue, because it contradicts and sets at defiance a law of universal observation. ( 14) But if we contradict the Hindu fable, why should we not likewise declare the following Hebrew fable untrue ? A company of people about nineteen hundred years ago, we are told, were gathered to celebrate a marriage in Galilee, and they had no wine. They loved wine and wanted some; but all they had was six empty water pots, containing two or three firkins each. The servants were told to fill these water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. They were then told to "draw out and bear unto the governor of the feast," which they did. That water, we are told, was instantly made into good wine; so good, in fact, that the ruler of the feast men- tioned its fine flavor. (15) If there ever was such a thing on earth as that a person, in the presence of others, could make his body invisible to them, and make it vanish out of sight, then in that matter Buddha set an example which the Scrip- tures tell us Jesus followed. In Vol. XI, Sacred Books of the East, page 49, we are told that Buddha could not only vanish away but that he could change his (14) Vol. 17, p. 64, Sacred Books of the East. (15) New Testament, John 2, v. 1 to 10. It will be noticed that both of these alleged miracles, if they were such, took place by reason of two feasts; the one in India being a village feast; that in Palestine because of a feast at a marriage where Bome wine bibbers lacked their usual beverage. Now if Jesus actually turned that water into wine, he must have forgotten Proverbs, ch. 20, v. 1, which says: "Wine is a mocker; itrong drink is raging." A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 39 color and his voice when he appeared before an audi- ence. Moreover, he would then make such a pleasing address that his hearers would ask, "Who is this, a man or a God ?" Then, making himself invisible, he would vanish away. (16) His books tell us that by virtue of his wonderful spiritual power he could not only transport himself, but a great congregation, dry-shod across a river. This is just as extravagant as feeding five thou- sand with two fishes and five loaves. Did Jesus' disciples, five hundred years later, copy from Buddha ? Or did the man of Galilee, in fact, pos- sess this same marvelous power? Or are both stories, the dreams of extravagant romancers ? However that may be, we are soberly told that when the Jews took up stones to cast at Jesus, he went out of the temple, through the midst of them, and thus escaped. (17) And Luke, ch. 4, 5-30, tells us that when those Nazarenes were about to pitch Jesus headlong from the brow of the hill, he escaped through the midst of them and went on his way. At another time "he vanished out of sight." (18) In fact, he could take another form. (19) Were these strange occurrences miracles? Or were Buddha and Jesus greatly gifted (16) Vol. 17, Sacred Books of the East, p. 104, Fo Sho Hing, Tsan, King, p. 251, Vol. XI, Sacred Book* of the East, p. 21, (17) John 8, V. 59. (18) Luke 24, v. 31. (19) Mark 16, v. 12. 40 A QUESTION OF MIR.'\CLES beyond others ? Or were these vanishings the children of Hvcly imaginations? Are they not from the reahn of dreams? This much is surely true; there are no more vanishings in India, and there have been none for twenty-three hundred years; and none in Palestine for eighteen hundred years. And there has been no case of feeding five thousand people a full meal on five loaves and two small fishes for more than eighteen hun- dred years. And there have been no more Mendakas in India since our friend had his granary filled twenty- three hundred years ago. CHAPTER III. The Miraculous Parentage of Jesus. Section i. Every man born into this world comes with clenched fist and a cry of pain. He is born with- out his asking, and goes hence without his requesting. Buddha and Jesus were no exceptions. They were born; they lived; they grew; they died. Nature did not turn her dial either backward or forward when they came, or when they went. The physical world turned on its axis at their com- ing and at their going, with the same regularity that it would if a mouse had been born, or had died. But the moral world, by reason of their coming, has been im- mensely moved and improved. One of these men was born in a beautiful grove, amid rejoicings; the son of a prince, the heir to a throne. The other was the reputed son of a humble carpenter, and was born in the gloom of a cave (i), or the filth of a barn; and was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a man- ger. (2) He was supposed to be of an extinct line of (1) The Protevangelium, or book of James, ch. 18, says Mary was taken to a cave about three miles from Bethlehem, while Joseph went for assistance. (2) Luke 2, v. 7. Mark's first mention of him (ch. 1, v. 9) is that he came from Galilee. Matt. 2, v. 11, is that the wise men found him in a "house." John 1, 45 and 46; Matt. 13:54; Mark 1:6 and 1:24; Acts, 2:22, designated Jesus of Nazareth as a man. Acts 3:6 calls him "Jesus Christ of Naza- reth." Pilate wrote the superscription on the cross: "Jesus of 41 42 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES kings; and if the record be true he was early sought that he might be slain. (3) Buddha, as we shall see, lived eighty years and died in peace, loved and lamented. Jesus did not reach half that i)eriod, and swooned away in agony, an innocent man (4) nailed to a cross by the very ones whom he sought to befriend. Both of these men commenced the great labor of their lives when about twenty-nine or thirty years of age, Buddha as a hermit, and Jesus as a preacher of a Gospel new to the Jews. As we have told of the legends and the miraculous at Buddha's birth, those told of Jesus at his coming must not be overlooked. There is, and has been for eighteen hundred years past, an unceasing controversy about the parentage of Jesus. As no charge similar to that laid against Mary has been made against any young woman for now nine- teen hundred years, let us inquire somewhat of her parentage and youth. Nazareth, King of the Jews." John 19:19; Luke 18:37; Micah, ch. 5, V. 2, 700 years B. C, is doubtful authority. John, ch. 7, Bays Jesus came from Nazareth. (3) There is no mention, except in Matt. 2nd, of Herod '■ slaying the innocents. Nor does history make mention of it. Mat- thew, when he made his compilation, followed a wrong author- ity. Moreover, the family of David had been extinct for more than 900 years. Luke's gospel, ch. 3, is fanciful and visionary. But all his life Jesus was called a Nazarene, and the proof is not wanting that he was born there. (4) It has been claimed that Jesus suffered justly, because h antagonized the law of Moses. We shall notice this when wt come to speak of his trial. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 43 The Book of James (5), written probably about the time of Matthew, sets forth that Joachim was lightly regarded by the scribes and elders, because he had no children; and that Anna, his wife, was in grief by reason of her barrenness.