Archdeacon Wilson gives two reasons for accepting the doctrines of
Christ's divinity and Resurrection as true. The first of these reasons
is, the success of the Christian religion; the second is, the evolution
of the Christlike type of character.
If the success of the Christian religion proves that Christ was God,
what does the success of the Buddhist religion prove? What does the
success of the Mohammedan religion prove?
Was Buddha God? Was Mahomet God?
The archdeacon does not believe in any miracles but those of his own
religion. But if the spread of a faith proves its miracles to be
true, what can be said about the spread of the Buddhist and Mohammedan
religions?
Islam spread faster and farther than Christianity. So did Buddhism.
To-day the numbers of these religions are somewhat as follows:
Buddhist: 450 millions.
Christians: 375 millions, of which only 180 millions are Protestants.
Hindus: 200 millions.
Mohammedans: 160 millions.
It will be seen that the Buddhist religion is older than Christianity,
and has more followers. What does that prove?
But as to the reasons for the great growth of these two religions I will
say more by and by. At present I merely repeat that the Buddhist faith
owed a great deal to the fact that King Asoka made it the State religion
of a great kingdom, and that Christianity owes a great deal to the fact
that Constantine adopted it as the State religion of the Roman Empire.
We come now to the archdeacon's second argument: that the divinity of
Christ is proved by the evolution of the Christlike type of character.
And here the archdeacon makes a most surprising statement, for he says
that type of character was unknown on this globe until Christ came.
Then how are we to account for King Asoka?
The King Asoka of the Rock Edicts was as spiritual, as gentle, as pure,
and as loving as the Christ of the Gospels.
The King Asoka of the Rock Edicts was wiser, more tolerant, more humane
than the Christ of the Gospels.
Nowhere did Christ or the Fathers of His Church forbid slavery; nowhere
did they forbid religious intolerance; nowhere did they forbid cruelty
to animals.
The type of character displayed by the rock inscriptions of King Asoka
was a higher and sweeter type than the type of character displayed by
the Jesus of the Gospels.
Does this prove that King Asoka or his teacher, Buddha, was divine? Does
it prove that the Buddhist faith is the only true faith? I shall treat
this question more fully in another chapter.
Another Christian argument is the claim that the faithfulness of
the Christian martyrs proves Christianity to be true. A most amazing
argument. The fact that a man dies for a faith does not prove the faith
to be true; it proves that he believes it to be true--a very different
thing.
The Jews denied the Christian faith, and died for their own. Does that
prove that Christianity was not true? Did the Protestant martyrs prove
Protestantism true? Then the Catholic martyrs proved the reverse.
The Christians martyred or murdered millions, many millions, of innocent
men and women. Does _that_ prove that Christ was divine? No: it only
proves that Christians could be fanatical, intolerant, bloody, and
cruel.
And now, will you ponder these words of Arthur Lillie, M.A., the author
of _Buddha and Buddhism_? Speaking of the astonishing success of the
Buddhist missionaries, Mr. Lillie says:
This success was effected by moral means alone, for Buddhism
_is the one religion guiltless of coercion_.
Christians are always boasting of the wonderful good works wrought by
their religion. They are silent about the horrors, infamies, and shames
of which it has been guilty.
Buddhism is the only religion with no blood upon its hands. I submit
another very significant quotation from Mr. Lillie:
I will write down a few of the achievements of this inactive Buddha and
the army of Bhikshus that he directed:
1. The most formidable priestly tyranny that the world had ever seen
crumbled away before his attack, and the followers of Buddha were
paramount in India for a thousand years.