worn on special occasions, the original of which they pretend was the gift of the Virgin Mary to one of the brethren.

The spirit of Franciscanism underwent a change as success and popularity made the Order wealthy. With wealth, the possession of which itself was a departure from the rule of the Founder, luxury and vice crept in among them, and degradation from the early idea came as a natural consequence. It is somewhat astonishing how quickly this result arose. Matthew Paris says: "It is a matter of melancholy presage, that, within the four-and-twenty years of "their establishment in England, these friars have piled up their mansions to a "royal altitude. Impudently transgressing the bounds of poverty, the very "basis of their profession, they fulfil, to the letter, the ancient prophecies of Hildegard, and exhibit inestimable treasures within their spacious edifices and "lofty walls. They beset the dying bed of the noble and the wealthy, in order "to extort secret bequests from the fears of guilt or superstition. No one now has "any hope of salvation but through the ministry of the Preachers, or the Minorites." So greatly did this abuse extend that we have the authority of Hallam for saying that the Statute of Mortmain, passed shortly after this, was occasioned by the rapacity of the Mendicants. They are found," continues the chronicler, "at the Court, in the characters of counsellors, and chamber"lains, and treasurers, and negociators of marriage. As the agents of Papal "extortion" (this was the secret of the hatred afterwards displayed by the English towards them), "they are incessantly applying the arts of flattery, "the stings of rebuke, or the terrors of confession." He further complains that "with overbearing insolence, they frequently inquired of the devout by "whom they had been confessed. And if the answer was, by my own priest, they replied, and who is that ignoramus ? He never heard lectures on theology, he never gave his nights to the study of decrees, he never learnt "to unravel knotty questions. They are all blind, and leaders of the blind. "Come to us, who know how to distinguish leper from leper." The charge against them was that in this way they caused a great degeneration of morals, by receiving confession and granting absolution in cases in which the parish priests would have refused it; also that people were the more ready to commit sin which they would have been ashamed to confess their own priest, but which they hesitated not to confess to the itinerant friar, whom they were not likely to see again. We dare say there is truth in this, though it should not be forgotten that the persons making the charge were the priests who were aggrieved by the invasion of their province and privileges by the friars. Be this as it may, however, the growing wealth, rapacity, and depravity of very many among the Mendicants is a fact too well established, and too much in the natural order of things, to be doubted, even if the history of the Orders were not itself proof of the fact. Learning, too, which was repudiated by St. Francis, is now found in their ranks; and it is a somewhat remarkable fact, that all the great intellects of the thirteenth, and the early part of the fourteenth centuries, are found in the ranks of one or the other of the Mendicant Orders. This fact led to the influence of the Papacy being by their means carried into the Universities.

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A feud, ere long, arose within the Franciscan body, between those who desired to stand by the rule of the Founder and continue to abide in "holy poverty," and those who were for enriching the Order, and departing at least from the letter of St. Francis's rule. The learned Franciscans, by their learning, were departing no less from the rule, than the lower and sensual * A name by which the Dominicans were known.

among them were by their luxurious lives and hunt after money. Opposed to both these (as living in abrogation of the rule of life they had sworn to adopt), were the stern fanatical class of minds, who desired to see the rule observed in all its strict severity; who insisted upon the renunciation of all worldly property, and contended that no man was truly a disciple of the blessed St. Francis until he was absolutely destitute, and unless he refused to accept money on any pretence whatever, and possessed only the "two tunics, one " with a hood and one without, the girdle and the breeches " allowed by the rule; unless, too, he despised and eschewed all human learning, and carefully avoided all ostentation of eloquence, sedulously seeking to hide aught that might raise him, in any way, in the estimation of his fellows. It was out of this opposition arose the fatal schism in the Franciscan ranks, which altogether changed the character of the Order, and turned the true Franciscans from obedient sons of the Church, and ardent adherents of the Pope, into wild heretics, and the greatest enemies of the Papacy; stirring up, too, once more into active life, the Inquisition and the flames of persecution.

When the dispute first arose the Popes were appealed to; Gregory IX. relaxed the stern code of Francis, but the Spirituals (as the sterner Franciscans called themselves) refused to admit his authority. After that Innocent

IV. sought to settle the matter by a clever equivocation; he decreed that all the houses, domains, church furniture, and property amassed by the Order, should be held to belong to the Pope, and he would grant the usufruct thereof to the Brethren, who would thus enjoy their wealth and obey their Founder too. The intractable Spirituals, however, would not allow the Pope to seduce them to palter with their consciences in this way, and the feud continued. For a time, however, it led to no open breach, and the dispute was kept within the Order, the Spirituals contenting themselves with denouncing the sin of their brethren, both in words and action. The more zealous amongst them retired from the luxurious convents and palatial residences in which the Order had now lodged itself, to take up their residence in huts and caves, many of them seeking the loftiest peaks of the Apennines, in order there, by their solitude and poverty, the more forcibly to protest against the wickedness of their degenerate brethren.

JAS. L. GOODING.

THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF SAKYA (BUDDHA).

§ 5.-FINAL EMANCIPATION OF SAKYA.

WHEN Sakya had been relieved from the oppression of starvation theories, and though ceasing to believe that peace within was obtainable only upon condition of his pursuing a formal course in relation to his dietary, he was brought more into accordance with nature, and ate, and drank, and slept, and bathed the same as other men. From this time he lived freely, entered into sports, and, in fact, became as other men. From that hour he looked with more intentness into the actual-the mighty system of the Universe, and although he never learnt the order of nature as it is known in modern Europe, he rose to the perception of many truths of surpassing importance and value. He desired earnestly enough to be instructed in relation to them, but there were none to teach, and within his sphere there were no means through which he could pass into the possession of the knowledge which was his aim.

But although this beneficial change was wrought, it was not without

much pain and suffering. It was then that he was tempted by Mara (or as Europeans name him, "Satan,") the "Lord of Pleasure;" the triumphant "Lord of Death;" the powerful "Worker of Iniquity;" the "Source of "monster Sins." Mara, who was all this and more, became alarmed, lest, as he conceived, Sakya should succeed in achieving the purpose of his heart; for, "in that case the evil kingdom would be sorely shaken, and sin would "be checked in its progress." Feeling this, Mara (Satan) resolved to tempt Sakya to his ruin, and to that end, appearing before him, he laid out immense treasures, and declared that for one act of worship he would give them all to Sakya. "All that thou seest," said Mara, "will I give thee if thou wilt be "obedient unto my commands, and will grant my requests." It appears, however, that Mara had tempted him before. The Hon. George Turnour furnishes us with the following translation from the Pali Buddhist Books. Sakya, when overcome with emotion, rising from his princely bed at the time when he had resolved upon a new course of life, and was about making his escape from his palace in order to pursue the search for true happiness, was thus tempted: Mara, or the Prince of Serpents and Devils, the agent of sin, said, Let me stop this great mortal, and rising aloft into the air, thus addressed him: Sakya, "depart not, on the seventh day from hence, the heavenly Chakkatanan will most certainly come to pass. Then thou shalt exercise sovereignty over "the four great quarters of the earth, together with their two thousand "islands blessed (one) wait. Sakya then asked, Who art thou? I am "Wassawatto. Then said Sakya, I am aware that both empire and universal "dominion are proffered to me, I am not, however, destined for royalty. "Depart, Mara, approach not this subject or place." So that he was not to be won over by any offer of wealth or dominion, and could not submit himself to the direction of one who had deliberately taken up arms against the Highest. The Buddhists are very proud of this triumph, which they conceive could not have been gained by any mere man. Evidently it was difficult for them to conceive of a human being resisting the temptation to become rich, which, as we know, was a weakness upon their part which we have no difficulty in repudiating, even although we look upon Sakya merely as a man. They, however, who view him as a God, are not seemingly aware of the absurdity lurking in the supposition that a God, as they say Sakya was, could have experienced any difficulty in the matter. But when such subjects are advanced, there is no thought exercised by any who are believers. They accept the common notions as lying beyond the pale of inquiry, and within the realm of faith. There is, upon the part of the Buddhist, no doubt regarding the truth of the narrative, any more than the Chistian doubts the truth of the narratives relating to the temptation of Jesus. Neither is it of much avail to raise a debate upon the absurdities involved in them, simply because they who can look with their own eyes, and with human interest into this Universe, and still believe in the action of Mara or Satan, are still wearing their long clothes, and are little fitted for comprehending the deeper mysteries of being.

After the temptation of wealth had failed, Mara resolved upon trying the power of beauty, to which end he brought "troops of the most ravishing maidens," all ready to woo and win the pious hero over to the paths of incontinence and sin; but Sakya, like St. Anthony, is reported to have banished them all, so that he passed with perfect safety through the trying

Prinseps. Bengal Asiatic Journal, vol. vii. p. 807. For an account of the great fight between Sakya and Mara, see ditto, p. 812.

ordeal. Beauty had no all-potent charm for his eye, and he was as freezing ice to all their winning endeavours, and the result was the same in all the other trials. The Thibetian and Ceylonese, the Japanese and Chinese, as well as the Nepaulese books, are well stored with long narrations of how at this stage Satan (Mara) vexed this thinker; but all relate in a tone of triumph the story of his glorious victories and final overthrow of his enemy. He spent seven weeks in complete solitude, seven successive weeks far removed from the haunts of men, beneath the trees of the forests, devoted to "heaven"moving prayer," to earnest thought, and to that kind of serious self-examination which exalts and spiritualises the human mind into affinity with God; and during this long fast the devil tempted him in the most subtle ways, o'er and o'er again, but all in vain, for he had achieved his victory, he had emancipated himself from the dominion of all mere sensual enjoyments, and was now in truth a Buddha, he had entered into Buddhahood and bliss.

The Buddhists of our age, and indeed through many centuries, have contended for a physical devil, a substantial Mara, but if we take the words of Sakya himself, as reported in the Sacred Books of the Thibetians, we are better fitted for giving our assent, seeing that with him there is no bodily presence. 'I must soon triumph over the Satan. Thy first troop which thou usest to "assail men is composed of wishes and desire, the second is displeasure, the "third is hunger and thirst, in the fourth stands passion and lust, in the fifth "dulness and sleep, in the sixth fear and dread, the seventh is thy scruple or doubt, the eighth is anger and hypocrisy. Those that seek only for profit or gain, for praise such as is bestowed in verse, for honour or ill-gained renown, men praising themselves and blaming others. Those are the troops that belong to the black Mara,"* (Spirit of evil). So that if these words are a fair report of his speech, Sakya had conceived the idea that temptations of the Devil are rather to be conceived and spoken of as internal; as affecting solely the inner man, than proceeding from outward causes, or, as the Germans say, the temptations and appearances were subjective and not objective. They had an internal but no external reality.

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But in whatever sense these stories are to be understood, we are now to recognise that Sakya had emancipated himself; he was now free; he had gained the great victory, and was no longer the slave of doubt, of anger, or of pain, and it was because of that deliverance the hosts of heaven praised him. His followers, as in the instance of Jesus of Nazareth, now heard voices from heaven, "holy voices," calling him blessed, and it was in a distinct style they spake or sang-using the following language:-"There "has arisen the Illuminator of the world-the world's Protector-the Maker "of Light who gives eyes to the world, that has grown blind, to cast "away the burdens of sin. Thou hast been victorious in the battle. Thy "intention is accomplished by thy moral excellence. All thy virtues are "perfect. Thou shalt now satisfy men with good things. Gautama Sakya is "without sin. He is out of the mire, he stands on dry ground. He "will save other animal beings that are carried off by the mighty stream. "Great genius thou art eminent; in all the three worlds there is none "like thee. To this world, sleeping for a long time immersed in thick "darkness, cause thou the light of understanding to arise. The living "world has long been suffering the diseases of corruption. The Prince of physicians is come to cure them of all diseases. Protector of the world, "through thy appearance all the mansions of distress shall be made empty.

* Cosma Korosi. The Tibetian books. Bengal Asiat. Trans. xx.

"Henceforth both Gods and men shall enjoy true happiness. None of "those who came to see thee, the chief and best of men, shall for a thousand ages go to hell, or see the place of damnation. They who hearing thy instruction grow wise and sound, shall not be afraid at the destruction of the body. Having cut off the bonds of distress, and being entirely freed from "all farther incumberance, shall find the fruit of the highest virtue (enjoy the greatest happiness.) These are the persons on whom alms may be bestowed, "and who may receive them. Great shall be the reward of such alms, for they "shall contribute to the offerers' final deliverance from pain."* Thus ends the address delivered by the Angelic Ones-by the Holy Voices-in the hearing of all who had become followers-from out the highest heaven, and we cannot avoid being struck by the resemblance between this and what is related in the Gospels as occurring in the case of Jesus. Modern Missionaries have asked if the Buddhists have not copied from the Christian books, and many of them, to make the matter easy, have rushed to the conclusion that the remarkable similarities are not to be accounted for in any other way. If they succeed in proving this, the history of Christianity will become the history of Buddhism, for there is no room for doubting about which was first preached unto men. We do not say that the later form is copied from the earlier, but we do say that many of the things originally believed of Buddha alone, are now believed of Jesus. In the Alexandrian School the legends were blended, and many men have been induced to believe certain things of Jesus which were wholly unknown to the converts who founded the early Church.

P. W. P.

OUR EXPENDITURE AND THE POPULAR FALLACIES. It was said by men of ancient nations that "there is a time for all things," and that "every dog has his day." Judging from the tone of the Press, it appears the hour is not far distant when this English nation will survey the recent career of the Commons, and demand to know where the money goes. The discovery has been made that our National Expenditure is enormously out of proportion to our means, to our wants, and to the value received in return for what we expend. Our annual outgoings exceed our means, not only in the sense of outstripping our income, but in this also, that the enormous expenditure presses unduly and iniquitously upon the labouring classes, who are the creators of our national wealth, and the sources of our prosperity.

The public writers seem, at length, to have made the discovery that it is utterly impossible to continue spending as we have done without ensuring want in the cottage, and the neglect of education-two evils which will create in the breasts of the toiling millions a spirit of bitterness and hatred that the lapse of ages cannot obliterate. Abstractedly considered, the average rate of wages may be good, but not so when considered in relation to the weight of taxation and the price of provisions. The weekly earnings of nineteen out of every twenty who labour, are absorbed in procuring what is needed to supply the table, leaving them nothing wherewith to procure what is required to meet educational and intellectual needs. If we continue this course the law of retrogression will assert its supremacy. Deny the means of intellectual culture, now that we have advanced so far, and but one *Cosma Korosi, Bengal Researches.