or does it mean annihilation? If the summum bonum of the Supreme Buddha himself is, like that of all conscious existence, cessation of being, then Nirvâna does not mean deliverance simply, it means nihilism; and belief in a God who ultimately achieves annihilation in his own person is almost tantamount to atheism. The soul-theory of the Buddhist, and of the Brahman too, is rooted in metempsychosis. The highest good for both is to escape, or rather to get to an end of, an interminable series of transmutations. For those who firmly believe that for thousands of years they will have to pass through stages of inferior life-that from being a tiger they may become a pig, and from a pig may pass into a scorpion or a spiderabsorption into a higher state, even at the cost of selfconsciousness, must seem a consummation devoutly to be wished. If THAT into which they are absorbed also tends to cessation, this in no wise diminishes the transcendent advantage of Nirvâna.

This, however, is not material to our inquiry. What we have to ask is: How much does Christianity owe to Buddhism? In framing a reply to the question, it is necessary to take into account the religious state of the populations among which the new creed was first disseminated. The comprehensive term Polytheism may here be indiscriminately applied. But throughout the Westcertainly in Asia Minor, and as far as Egypt, the creeds of the pagan world were strongly impregnated with Orientalism. Enthusiasts have striven to show that, the channels of communication between the Eastern and Western worlds had not been sufficiently open, before the Christian epoch, to warrant the charge of derivation from the former. Such an argument cannot for a moment be sustained. If

1 "Orientalism had made considerable progress towards the West before the appearance of Christianity. While the popular Pharisaism of the Jews had embodied some of the moral practical tenets of Zoroas

trianism, the doctrines of the remoter East had found a welcome

reception with the Essene."-Milman's History of Christianity, book ii. chap. v.

we hesitate to accept the testimony of the rock edicts of Asoka, which record the conversion, by that king's missionaries, of Greece and Egypt, 250 B.C., the conquests of Alexander, which extended from the Sutlej to the Nile, must inevitably have brought to the city he founded a plentiful admixture of Oriental doctrines. Nor must it be forgotten that extreme flexibility of belief was an inherent feature of paganism. Unlike the nearly allied Christian brotherhoods, and religionists of modern nations, the heathens of the old world were always more anxious to detect resemblances than to quarrel over trivial distinctions. They were singularly ready to admit to their own pantheons every alien deity with whom accidental contact made them acquainted. This toleration, which proceeded from genuine superstition on the part of the masses, was fostered afterwards for political ends. When Christianity was introduced, nearly the whole civilised world was under the dominion of the Romans. And to quote the familiar words of Gibbon: "The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true, by the philosopher as equally false, and by the magistrate as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord.” 1

Of all places in the world, Alexandria was best adapted to the reception of the new creed. Greeks, Romans, Syrians, Egyptians, and Jews, formed its native population; while its advantageous locality made it the emporium alike for East and West. Here the religions of India, Persia, Egypt, and Greece found a common home; and out of the ashes of these pagan creeds, Christianity rose like a glowing phoenix. Here a small body of learned and pious men, chiefly Hebrews, devoted themselves to theological and metaphysical studies. About the middle of the second century before the Christian era, certain Alexandrian Jews were deeply absorbed in the mystic philosophy of Plato. 1 Chap. ii.

The threefold conception of the First Cause, under which the Logos or "Divine Reason" is included, furnished the essential elements of the Christian Trinity, and of the manifestation of the Godhead in the promised Messiah. Embued with Zoroastrian dualism, and belief in the malignity of matter which characterised both Brahmanism and Buddhism, it was incumbent upon the principles of these Judæo-Platonists, no less than accordant to prophecy, that the Second Person of the Trinity-now identified with the Messiah-should be born into the world without taint; the more fastidious indeed ventured to think even the womb of a virgin a questionable situation for the God of the universe.

While the idea of an emanation of the Deity was thus rife among speculatists, the fraternities of the Essenians and the Therapeuta were preaching and practising the doctrines and rites which for the most part were gradually embodied in an elaborate system by the majority who first constituted the orthodox church. These doctrines, and more especially the rites, were distinctly derived from the East. "The Therapeutic or contemplative monks of Egypt, described by Philo, whom Eusebius by an anachronism confounds with the early Christians, appear to have sprung from a union of the Alexandrian Judaism. with the precepts and modes of life of the Buddhist devotees." 1 The vital tenet of these sects was the defiling contact of matter with spirit. Hence, as with the Buddhists, ecstatic contemplation of the Deity was (mainly with the Essenes and entirely with the Therapeuts) the first and last object of their lives. With the Gnostics the resemblance was, in this one respect, perhaps still closer. The Deity was contemplated and adored as the Unspeakable, the Nameless, the self-existing Pleroma or fulness of the Godhead. From this Pleroma, which comprehended the universe, all spiritual being emanated, and into it man was to be absorbed and mingle again into one indissoluble 1 Mansel's Gnostic Heresies, p. 31.

unity. Redemption from the polluting influence of matter was the highest conceivable good.

The ceremonies of the law were entirely disregarded by the Essenes, nor did they even attend the great national festivals. Like the Buddhists, they abhorred the shedding of blood, and consequently abstained from and deprecated the use of sacrifice. But while they despised the outward ceremonies then prevalent, they inculcated with warmth the religion of the heart. The love of God and the love of man were the foundations of the Essenian faith. Seeking to withdraw entirely from the contamination of the world, they adopted the monasticism of the Buddhist ascetics in the fulness of its austerity. They were averse from marriage, and as a rule observed inviolable celibacy. The angelic and demoniac doctrines of the Zendavesta were prominent features of their belief; and it was a regular practice of the Essenes to cast out devils and heal the sick by the imposition of hands.

In Simon Magus, who is but slightingly spoken of in the Acts (viii. 9), an example is presented of the spiritualist and mystic of the day. Simon, as it is there written, was one "to whom all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God." He professed to be an emanation of the Deity, and assumed the title of the "Word of God," "the Paraclete," and of "God" himself. It must not be supposed from the contemptuous mention of him in the Acts, as a rival miracle-worker, that Simon was a mere impostor or agent of the devil. "The avowed object of Simon," says Dean Milman, "was to destroy the authority of the evil spirits, and emancipate mankind from their control." 1 The petulance of Peter in abusively refusing Simon's offer to become a convert, seems scarcely justified by the answer of Simon, "Pray ye to the Lord for me," &c. The assumption of divine authority evidently provoked the jealousy of Peter. Yet Simon was not alone in his pre1 Hist. of Christianity, Bk. ii. chap. v.

tensions; Menander, also a Judæo-Platonist and mystic of the same school, invested himself with sacred attributes; and doubtless many others did the same.

But of all men to whose agency we must look for the immediate antecedent of Christianity, John the Baptist, as the Gospels assure us, stands alone. It was John who in every sense prepared the way for Christ. It is probable, indeed, that John indirectly prompted Jesus himself, as he directly prompted the believing masses, with the insinuation of the divine character which Jesus ultimately accepted at the hands of his followers. And John the Baptist was an Essenian. In his dress, in his food, in his solitary habits, in his use of baptism, in his mysticism, he was an Essenian. Thus it was that Christianity was an outgrowth of Essenism. And allowance being made for the Pythagorean, Platonic, and Hebrew elements, the nearest of kin to Essenism was the religion of Buddha.

Such a conclusion may not accord with notions that have been long and fondly cherished; but if we picture to ourselves the peculiar character of the religious ferment going on at that precise period-originating, as one may suppose, in the remarkable conflux of speculative opinion brought about by conditions such as Alexandria alone could have offered;-if we consider how the presence of an extraordinary man like Jesus would be sure to operate in such a conjuncture, we may be inclined to regard the net result as the natural evolution of a great intellectual movement, to which the pressure of outward circumstances gradually gave a definite form.

It is no part of my office to dwell upon the character of Jesus, or upon the consequences to the world of the religion which has taken his name. I have simply had to examine the claims put forth in behalf of that religion to a superhuman or miraculous origin. In closing the inquiry, I may be permitted to observe that, until our mental vision has been trained to penetrate the glamour of divinity, we shall never discern the grandeur of the