effect this by bringing the gods down to man in a long series of inconsistent incarnations; the latter, by raising men into gods in a long series of deified saints. Brahminism failed to accomplish the former, and Buddhism has equally failed to accomplish the latter. Both have signally failed; consequently, in those countries where these systems prevail, the people must now be prepared to receive the doctrine of the true incarnation which in Christianity has realized to humanity the blessed fact-after which these systems of error are but blind gropings -that the Word, which has ever been the light and the life of men, was made flesh.

Sakya-Muni, having repudiated the Brahminical gods, was necessitated also to reject the cosmogony of the Hindus. He could hardly substitute Buddha for Brahma. Such a step would have been fatal to the success of his system. It would have been just as though Mohammed had called himself God instead of simply his prophet. Such a course would have been fatal to the success of the mission of Mohammed, and such a course, on the part of Gautama, would have been equally fatal to the success of Buddhism. But if Buddha put not himself in the place of Brahma, he put something even below himself there-nothingness. Yes, nothingness is the original god of Buddhism. Nothing originated all things, and all things spring from nothing. This system is the nearest approach to Atheism the world has ever seen. But men either will not or cannot be Atheists, and the followers of Buddha, not willing to be without a god, or to have nothing for their god, have made a god of their master. "So far is this the case," says Mr. Edkins, "in Mongolia, that in the Protestant translation of the Bible into the language of that country, Buddha—or, as it is called, Borhan-is used for God."

The word Buddha signifies wisdom, or superior intelligence. Buddha present is the teacher-a teacher who ever lives; for though Gautama departed this life, yet he is being continually incarnated in the living Buddhas, and thus he is continually teaching men what the Brahminical gods failed to teach them-how to escape the evils of existence. The Brahminical doctrine was, that when men lead a bad life, they were sent again into the world under more unfavourable conditions. Buddha accepted this doctrine, but professed that he came to provide a cure for it, by putting a stop to the metempsychosis, and obtaining for man, as a great favour, and as a reward of virtue, annihilation. This indicates its second great point of departure from Brahminism. Buddhism is one of the deepest acknowledgments of the existence and power of evil, and one of the most resolute attempts without revelation to free man from its dominion the world has ever witnessed. We have said that nothingness is the god of the Buddhist, and we will now add that nothingness is the great Buddhistic panacea of the world's ills. According to it, man is not to contend against and to overcome the evils of life, but to forget them. Its idea of redemption is not that of procuring pardon, but of conquering the sensual nature, and obtaining perfect rest. It proposes to save by the employment of a system of means. It says-Kill not, steal not, marry not, speak not falsely, drink no wine, adopt the monastic life, think nothing, feel nothing, do nothing, be nothing, and thou shalt be saved

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—that is, thou shalt attain to ANNIHILATION. This "is the ceaseless aim and burning aspiration of every Buddhist-the satisfaction of the supreme Buddha himself." The nearer man can approach to this in the present life, the more perfect he is; and as a specimen of the manner in which this is sought to be accomplished at the present time in China by the Buddhist priests, we give the following account of one as seen by Mr. Edkins :-" We saw him," says he, "in his monkish costume, sitting on a board in the sunshine, his face turned towards a wall. We were informed that he never spoke. He had not done so for six or seven years, and was under a vow not to break silence again for the rest of his life. He constantly wore the same dress, and limited himself to the luxury of combing his long hair, which was never cut with razor or scissors, and washing his face. He eat like other priests, but scarcely ever left his apartment. He could read, but never took book in hand. His only employment was to mutter the prayers of his religion in a low voice. We wrote on a piece of paper a sentence, 'Your vow not to speak is of no benefit to you.' He looked on the paper, read it, and gave a faint smile. He refused to write any reply. We said to the bonze who had led us in, 'You can exhort men to repent of their sins, but he cannot.' 'Ah!' he replied, I am not so good as he is.' Soon after we saw him, we subsequently heard, he was found sitting on a board in the sunshine, dead." And this is the highest attainment on earth in the path of Buddhist progress!

But this progress must come under the head of Buddha future, which is symbolical of it, and of its end. The power that controls the world, according to Buddha, is Karma; literally, action consisting of merit and demerit. This power, or Karma, exists after the elements of being have been dissipated. There is no such thing as an immaterial spirit; but the moment that a human being expires, his merit and demerit in its totality is transferred to some other being, the new being originating in the Karma of the previous being, which regulates also all the circumstances of his existence, whether fitted to produce happiness or misery. It is this theory by which they account for the inequality of character and condition in the world. But though this inequality exists, all men were originally equal. There is, therefore, no difference between the four tribes, or castes, save that arising from their merit or demerit; consequently all men are entitled to the same treatment, and any one may aspire to the priesthood. This indicates in the spirit of Buddhism its third great point of departure from the religion of the Hindus. This was the abolition of caste, and especially of the priestly caste, which made the system of Buddha cosmopolitan in its character. This is the great secret of its almost universal extension over Eastern Asia.

The six classes through which living beings pass, by continual transformations, according to their merit or demerit, before they attain the apex of perfection, are angels, demons, men, quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles. This is the Buddhist doctrine of retribution, and a terrible one it is; for, according to it, "He who is now the most degraded of the demons may one day rule the highest of the heavens ;

"Faiths of the World."

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and he who is at present seated upon the most honourable of the celestial thrones may one day writhe amidst the agonies of hell; while the worm we crush under our feet may, in the course of ages, become a supreme Buddha." When the Buddhist devotee attains the apex perfection, he is Buddha; and there is but one step between Buddha and Nirvana, or annihilation. True, Buddha keeps out of Nirvana, but this is an act of self-sacrifice on his part, as he only deprives himself of the supreme bliss of annihilation for the express purpose of assisting men in their progress to Nirvana.

There are several other religious sects in China, as Mohammedans, Jews, Woo-wei Buddhists, and Roman Catholics; but they are comparatively few in numbers, and unimportant in influence. Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are the three great national religions of the Chinese. The first, it is true, is the orthodox doctrine, but the others are equally tolerated, and even encouraged by the Chinese government; while, I suppose, it is not uncommon to find even intelligent Chinamen themselves attending to and supporting all three at the same time.

My space has allowed me to indicate only a few of the leading principles and facts of these gigantic systems of error, without dwelling but indirectly upon the religious condition of the people. However, enough, I think, has been said to show that China has a claim upon the Christian sympathy and efforts of the Church of God.

The throne of the Chinese emperor is called "the dragon throne," the dragon being, I believe, the sacred symbol of the empire. It is also symbolical of its spiritual condition. There the dragon of the pit, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, reigns with almost undisputed sway and crushing despotism over four hundred millions of human beings, who are bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh-the children of our common Father! There the ten thousand evils of the worst systems of error that have ever afflicted our race brood with dragon wings, and inflict with more than scorpion sting untold misery and woe upon four hundred millions of souls, redeemed with the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. There, indeed, darkness—a darkness almost unrelieved by a single ray of heavenly light-covers the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people. But, blessed be God! the true light, in which there is life, is beginning to shine upon this benighted people, and before it the darkness shall flee away. I am thankful to belong to a Church, which, though few and feeble, has had the Christian courage and faith to embark in an enterprise so arduous and important, and which, I believe, will prove glorious in its results. The Chinese have been spiritually dead for thousands of years, and it may take a long time to produce much impression upon them as a people; but I anticipate that when the impression shall have been made, and the truth shall have taken effect, they will come over to Jesus, not in unities, like many other peoples, but in hundreds and thousands. This will, however, have to be a work of time. Let us not be too sanguine at the first, and let us not be discouraged if for years we secure but little results. Above all, let us labour on, and

give on, and pray on, with true hearts and brave, and in faith holding up the hands of our missionaries, and, in the midst of their toils and anxieties, cheering the spirits, by a little self-sacrifice on our part, of those brave and heroic men, who, at our call and the call of God, have sacrificed their all for the salvation of the Chinese; and then many of the so-called "Celestials" shall be celestials indeed, for they shall be unto us, as a Church, our joy and crown of rejoicing "in that day." Nottingham. T. CLIFTON.

THOUGHTS FOR GOOD FRIDAY.

THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.

SUFFERING formed an essential element in the working out of human redemption. Astounding as the fact appears, especially when the personal character of the Redeemer is considered, such is the unmistakable teaching of the Divine record. Intimations of this truth, by no means obscure, were given to the ancient Church. The piatical offerings kept continually before the minds of those by whom they were presented, the idea of suffering as a condition of pardon. The teachings of the prophetical communications on the subject are represented by the words of Isaiah: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

The consciousness that it was by means of anguish that his work was to be accomplished was never absent from the Redeemer's mind. In his own impressive words, this was "the baptism" with which he was to be baptized, and "the cup" which his Father had given him to drink. Towards the termination of his life, in evident allusion to the representation which he had made at the outset of his public career, he said to his disciples, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." The Evangelist adds, "This he said, signifying what death he should die." In making these communications respecting his sufferings, he uttered no complaints; but, while declaring the guilt of men by whom they were so largely inflicted, showed that such was the form in which the gracious objects of his mission were to be gained.

It is to Christ as the sufferer and the crucified that men are to look as the Saviour. Inexplicable as may be the union between his anguish and his power to save, that union is unequivocally declared to exist. As the two disciples walked on their way to Emmaus, on the day of his resurrection, pondering in sadness over the fact of his death, they were rebuked by Jesus for their mistaken notions, and for their groundless fears. "He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" He was "made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death," and was then "crowned with glory." His death is uniformly presented as the determining event in his mediatorial work. So far from the sufferings of Christ detracting from his fitness to be the Saviour of man, a strong ground

of confidence in him is thereby supplied. The consciousness that sin must be punished, or that some equivalent must take its place, although unable to understand the precise mode in which his death removes our sin, gives to his character, as a Saviour through suffering, an allpowerful claim upon our faith and love. Were he not presented to us in this aspect, doubts might arise respecting his ability to meet the moral necessities of our condition; or our conviction of the perfect rectitude of the Divine government might be weakened, from the compromise with the just claims of law which the procedure would seem to involve. That the innocent is thereby made to suffer for the guilty is no valid objection to the doctrine of redemption as the fruit of the death of Christ. His sufferings were voluntary, which precludes the idea of injustice. That the innocent in various ways do suffer for the guilty is in course of daily illustration in the experience of men. This forms a mysterious but acknowledged feature in the government of God. What, therefore, may be seen everywhere and every day may surely be found in the extraordinary system of means which God has made for the redemption of men, without awakening distrust, or even surprise. But such is the method which he has seen fit to employ, and which he has revealed to us in his Word. His justice, love, and wisdom cannot be impugned; and, therefore, accepting the Divine authority of the Scriptures, the doctrine of redemption through the sufferings of Christ claims to be cordially and gratefully received.

It is, however, the consideration of the sufferings themselves which chiefly and imperatively demands our attention. It is true that we recoil with a strong instinctive dread from the sight, and even from the contemplation of distress. But there are times when duty demands that the sacrifice of our own ease be made, that the sorrows of the wretched may be relieved, or the wrongs of the injured redressed. Morbidness of feeling may derive pleasure from witnessing, or dwelling in imagination on scenes of agony; but a morbidness no less real and unnatural may lead to the shrinking from such scenes. But of all sorrows demanding the earnest and devout thought of men, the foremost place belongs to those which the Lord of life and glory underwent to redeem their souls from death. His bitter woes were borne, his tears were shed, his strong cries were made, for the salvation of our fallen world. To be callous, or to be indifferent before his anguish, betrays the coldest apathy and the blackest form of ingratitude. The whole of his earthly life was furrowed with bitter griefs. The simple but eloquent representation of his coming into the world proves his grace through the depth of his humiliation: "Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." The few and brief notices of his early life show that he was in no respect exempted from the hardships and struggles incident to men's earthly condition. His public ministry was inaugurated by a baptism of sorrow. Having received the attesting seal of his mission at the banks of the Jordan, he was led by "the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." Only a partial glimpse is afforded us of the scenes which took place during those forty days. The sacredness of the profound woe was such as could not be intruded upon by human eyes. The presence of the angelic band ministering to him proved the