Part 49 (2/2)

This G.o.d, who was believed to have been an incarnation of Vishnu, was represented with holes in his hands and side.[188:3]

The incarnate G.o.d Buddha, although said to have expired peacefully at the foot of a tree, is nevertheless described as a suffering Saviour, who, ”when his mind was moved by pity (for the human race) _gave his life like gra.s.s for the sake of others_.”[188:4]

A hymn, addressed to Buddha, says:

”Persecutions without end, Revilings and many prisons, _Death and murder_, These hast thou suffered with love and patience (To secure the happiness of mankind), Forgiving thine executioners.”[188:5]

He was called the ”Great Physician,”[188:6] the ”Saviour of the World,”[188:7] the ”Blessed One,”[188:8] the ”G.o.d among G.o.ds,”[188:9]

the ”Anointed,” or the ”Christ,”[188:10] the ”Messiah,”[188:11] the ”Only Begotten,”[188:12] etc. He is described by the author of the ”Cambridge Key”[188:13] as sacrificing his life to wash away the offenses of mankind, and thereby to make them partakers of the kingdom of heaven. This induces him to say ”Can a Christian doubt that this Buddha was the TYPE of the Saviour of the World.”[189:1]

As a spirit in the fourth heaven, he resolves to give up ”all that glory, in order to be born into the world,” ”to rescue all men from their misery and every future consequence of it.” He vows ”to deliver all men, who are left as it were without a _Saviour_.”[189:2]

While in the realms of the blest, and when about to descend upon earth to be born as man, he said:

”I am now about to a.s.sume a body; not for the sake of gaining wealth, or enjoying the pleasures of sense, but I am about to descend and be born, among men, _simply to give peace and rest to all flesh; to remove all sorrow and grief from the world_.”[189:3]

M. l'Abbe Huc says:

”In the eyes of the Buddhists, this personage (Buddha) is sometimes a man and sometimes a G.o.d, or rather both one and the other--a divine incarnation, a man-G.o.d--who came into the world to enlighten men, to _redeem them_, and to indicate to them the way of safety. This idea of _redemption by a divine incarnation_ is so general and popular among the Buddhists, that during our travels in Upper Asia we everywhere found it expressed in a neat formula. If we addressed to a Mongol or a Thibetan the question 'Who is Buddha?' he would immediately reply: '_The Saviour of Men!_'”[189:4]

According to Prof. Max Muller, Buddha is reported as saying:

”_Let all the sins that were committed in this world fall on me, that the world may be delivered._”[189:5]

The _Indians_ are no strangers to the doctrine of _original sin_. It is their invariable belief that _man is a fallen being_; admitted by them from time immemorial.[189:6] And what we have seen concerning their beliefs in _Crishna_ and _Buddha_ unmistakably shows a belief in a _divine Saviour_, who _redeems man_, and takes upon himself the sins of the world; so that ”_Baddha_ paid it all, all to him is due.”[189:7]

The idea of redemption through the sufferings and death of a _Divine Saviour_, is to be found even in the ancient religions of China. One of their five sacred volumes, called the _Y-King_, says, in speaking of _Tien, the ”Holy One”_:

”The _Holy One_ will unite in himself all the virtues of heaven and earth. By his justice the world will be re-established in the ways of righteousness. He will labor and suffer much. He must pa.s.s the great torrent, whose waves shall enter into his soul; _but he alone can offer up to the Lord a sacrifice worthy of him_.”[190:1]

An ancient commentator says:

”The common people sacrifice their lives to gain bread; the philosophers to gain reputation; the n.o.bility to perpetuate their families. The _Holy One_ (_Tien_) does not seek himself, but the good of others. _He dies to save the world._”[190:2]

_Tien_, the Holy One, is always spoken of as one with G.o.d, existing with him from all eternity, ”before anything was made.”

_Osiris_ and _Horus_, the Egyptian virgin-born G.o.ds, suffered death.[190:3] Mr. Bonwick, speaking of _Osiris_, says:

”He is one of the _Saviours_ or deliverers of humanity, to be found in almost all lands.” ”In his efforts to do good, he encounters evil; in struggling with that he is overcome; he is killed.”[190:4]

Alexander Murray says:

”_The Egyptian Saviour Osiris_ was gratefully regarded as the great exemplar of self-sacrifice, in _giving his life for others_.”[190:5]

Sir J. G. Wilkinson says of him:

”The sufferings and death of _Osiris_ were the great Mystery of the Egyptian religion, and some traces of it are perceptible among other peoples of antiquity. His being the _Divine Goodness_, and the abstract idea of 'good,' his manifestation upon earth (like a Hindoo G.o.d), his death and resurrection, and his office as judge of the dead in a future state, _look like the early revelation of a future manifestation of the deity converted into a mythological fable_.”[190:6]

_Horus_ was also called ”The Saviour.” ”As Horus Sneb, he is the _Redeemer_. He is the Lord of Life and the Eternal One.”[190:7] He is also called ”The Only-Begotten.”[190:8]

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