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Xlbe  O^cn  Court 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE 

Wcvotc^  to  tbe  Science  of  IRelfoion,  tbe  IReliolon  of  Science,  an&  tbe 
lExtension  of  tbe  IRcliGious  parliament  tl^ea 

Founded  by  Edward  C.  Hegeler. 


VOL.  XXXIII  (No.  11)        NOVEMBER,  1919  NO.  762 


CONTENTS: 


FAGS 


Frontispiece.    The  Kondo,  Chief  Sanctuary  of  the  Horyuji  near  Nara,  Japan. 

National  Politics  in  Its  Psychological  Aspect.    Franklin  A.  Beecher 653 

Confucianism^  Buddhism,  and  Christianity.    Bendy  Kumar  Sarkar 661 

The  Frescoes  of  the  Horyuji.    (With  illustrations.)    Harada  Jiro 673 

Bible  Quotations  and  Chinese  Customs.    Julius  J.  Price 688 

The  Cosmos  and  Its  Meaning.    Frank  R.  Whitzel 693 

Mr.  Leonard's  Fables.    Traugott  Boehme 709 

"Savage  Life  and  Custom."    Peter  Filo  Schulte 712 

Book  Reviews 715 


XLbc  ©pen  Court  publtsbtng  Companie 

122  S.  Michigan  Ave.  Chicago,  Illinois 

Per  copy,  10  cents  (sixpence).    Yearly,  $1.00  (in  the  U.P.U.,  5s.  6d.). 

Entered  as  Second-Class  Matter  March  26,  1897,  at  the  Post  Office  at  Chicago,  111.,  under  Act  of  March  3,  1879 
Copyright  by  The  Open  Court  Publishing  Company,  1919. 


Problems  of  Science 

By  FEDERIGO  ENRIQUES 
Translated  by  Katharine  Royce  with  an  introduction  by  Josiah  Royce 

Pp.  392,  Cloth,  Price  $2.50 

A  scientific  methodology  with  numerous  references  to  contemporary 
interests  and  controversies. 


Press  Notices  ^ 

"Prof.  Royce  thinks  that  the  book  will  be  read  with  particular  interest  on 
account  of  the  opposition  that  it  offers  to  current  'anti-intellectual'  types  of 
philosophizing,  though  the  book  was  first  published  in  Italian  before  the  contro- 
versies about  'pragmatism,'  'intuitionism,'  etc.,  arose.  At  the  same  time, 
Enriques,  whose  disposition  is  that  of  the  mathematician  and  logician,  has, 
through  independent  thinking,  come  to  support  the  same  theses  as  the  prag- 
matists  regarding  the  'instrtunental'  or  the  'functional*  character  of  thought." — 
Springfield  Republican. 


"The  book  is  written  in  a  very  attractive  style,  and  presents  some  of  the 
most  difficult  problems  in  a  way  that  the  unprofessional  reader  can  understand. 
It  is  worthy  of  being  translated  into  English,  and  worthy  of  this  excellent 
translation." — Boston  Transcript. 


"Enriques,  as  Prof.  Royce  shows,  views  the  thinking  process  as  an  'adjust- 
ment' to  'situations,'  but  he  also  lays  great  stress  'upon  the  tendency  of  science 
to  seek  unity  upon  the  synthetic  aspect  of  scientific  theory,  upon  what  he  calls 
the  "association"  of  concepts  and  scientific  "representations."'  Enriques  treats 
all  these  questions  with  originality  as  well  as  great  depth  of  thought  and  the 
appearance  of  his  book  in  English  makes  an  important  addition  to  the  body  of 
metaphysical  literature  in  our  language." — Chicago  News. 


"The  Work  before  us  is  perhaps  the  most  considerable  since  Mill." — The 
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CHICAGO  —  LONDON 


THE  KONDO. 

Chief  sanctuary  of  the  Horyuji  near  Xara,  JaiKui. 


Froiitis^icc-e  to  The  Open  Cnnn. 


The  Open  Court 

A   MONTIII.V   MACAZIXIi; 

Devoted  to  the  Science  of  Religion,  the  Religion  of  Science,  and 
the  Extension  of  the  Religious  Parliament  Idea. 


VOL.  XXXIII  (No.  11)        NOVEMBER,  1919  NO.  762 


Copyright  by  The  Open  Court  Publishing  Company,  1919. 


XATTOXAL  TM)LTT[CS  IN  ITS  PSYCHOLOGICAL 

ASPECT. 

BV  FRANKLIN   A.   HEFXHER. 

/TAWS  psychical  existence  is  made  up  of  an  unending  stream 
of  sense-perceptions  and  impressions,  of  sights,  sounds,  and 
feehngs,  of  memories  and  judgments ;  and  man  is  only  stirred  to 
action  or  rctlection  hy  these  impressions  when  thev  hold  his  atten- 
tion and  are  recognized  hy  him  as  important  for  action.  These 
impressions  in  the  matured  man  do  not  fall  upon  virgin  soil,  hut 
are  predisposed  in  their  interpretation  to  the  beliefs  and  opinions 
formed  in  his  previous  experience,  education,  habits  of  mind,  and  his 
notion  of  personal  interest.  Thus,  his  accepted  dogma,  as  well  as 
his  economic,  political,  religious,  and  social  affinities  are  often  ob- 
stacles that  enter  into  the  question  as  to  his  acceptance  of  a  new 
view,  for  his  beliefs,  ideals,  views  of  life  and  of  the  world  largely 
influence  his  conduct.  Some  of  our  beliefs  are  founded  upon  tacit 
agreement,  many  others,  on  mere  faith,  and  the  reasons  for  most 
of  them  are  never  investigated  or  questioned  by  the  individual,  for 
we  accept  them  on  the  ''say  so"  of  somebody  else.  Prof.  William 
James  wisely  said:  "....^^'e  all  of  us  believe  in  democracy  and 
progress and  the  duty  of  fighting  for  'the  doctrine  of  the  im- 
mortal Monroe.'  all  for  no  reason  worthy  of  the  name.  We  see 
into  these  matters  with  no  more  inner  clearness,  and  probably  wath 
much  less,  than  any  disbeliever  in  them  might  possess.  His  un- 
con\cutionalily'  would  prol)a1)ly  have  some  grounds  to  show  for  its 
conclusions,  but  for  us.  not  insight,  but  the  prestige  of  the  opinions, 
is  what  makes  the  spark  shoot  from  them  and  light  up  our  sleeping 
magazines  of  faith." 

These  psychic  elements  of  the  individual  find  expression  in  the 
political  conduct  of  the  masses.    The  proposition  may  be  made  that 


654  -         -  .  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

what  is  psychologically  true  of  the  individual  is  essentially  psycho- 
logically true  of  the  collective.  The  binding  tie  that  holds  these 
units  together  in  the  aggregate,  or  the  individual  in  the  collective, 
is  the  national  consciousness,  founded  upon  association,  the  result 
of  affection,  sympathy,  and  imitation,  or  from  a  political  stand- 
point, the  result  of  love  of  country,  common  interests,  and  the 
desire  of  likeness. 

Since  government,  from  a  psychological  standpoint,  has  its 
source  largely  in  the  desire  and  ambition  of  man  to  control  his 
fellowmen  and  to  have  them  live  according  to  his  way  of  thinking, 
it  follows  that  politics,  in  a  narrow  sense,  is  the  psychology  of 
government.  The  old  political  doctrine  of  intellectualism,  founded 
upon  the  primitive  psychology  of  common  sense,  that  man  acts  solely 
from  self-interest  is  fallacious  and  contrary  to  the  teaching  of 
modern  psychology,  for  the  psychological  fact  is  well  established 
that  a  large  number  of  his  acts  are  done  unconsciously  and  in- 
voluntarily, and  therefore  without  foresight.  In  a  social  as  well 
as  in  a  political  sense  man  is  a  custom-making  animal,  and  there  is 
a  strong  inclination  in  his  nature  to  persist  in  repeating  what  he 
has  once  done,  and  the  tendency  to  repeat  the  action  increases 
with  the  number  of  repetitions.  Furthermore,  there  is  a  strong 
tendency  in  man  to  make  others  do  so,  without  their  questioning 
their  own  interests,  and,  owing  to  this  tendency  in  man  to  imitate 
others,  little  compulsion  is  required  to  make  him  respond  to  sug- 
gestion. 

Suggestion,  as  applied  to  the  domain  of  politics,  may  be  used: 
(1)  as  stimulation  by  association,  i.  e.,  the  suggestion  is  based  upon 
the  doctrine  of  association  of  ideas;  (2)  as  the  transmission  of  an 
idea  by  hint,  intimation,  or  insinuation;  (3)  as  a  means  of  modi- 
fying and  creating  belief.  Suggestion  has  been  defined  by  Prof. 
Baldwin  to  be  the  abrupt  entrance  from  without  into  consciousness 
of  an  idea  or  image  which  becomes  a  part  of  the  stream  of  thought 
and  tends  to  produce  the  muscular  and  volitional  effects  which 
ordinarily  would  follow  upon  its  presence.  Suggestion  may  be 
divided  into  direct  and  indirect.  Direct  suggestion  is  more  effica- 
cious upon  a  crowd  already  under  the  influence  of  a  dominant 
will,  while  indirect  suggestion  is  more  effective  between  indi- 
viduals. Thus  the  process  may  be  described  in  general  as  fol- 
lows. When  the  suggestion  of  an  idea  is  made,  it  is  born  and 
falls  in  a  network  of  emotions,  traditions,  and  beliefs,  of  which  the 
individual  mind  cannot  easily  divest  itself.  For  this  reason  it  meets 
\with  opposition  and  resistance  at  first.    Then,  by  continued  afifirma- 


NATIONAL   POLITICS    IX    ITS   PSYCHOLOGICAL   ASPECT.  655 

tive  repetition  of  tlie  snggestioii,  the  idea  begins  to  be  tolerated, 
when  it  spreads  like  eontagioii  in  the  consciousness  of  individuals 
until  it  enters  the  stream  of  popular  consciousness  and  seeks  pres- 
tige in  the  popular  mind  through  discussion,  by  which  means  it 
becomes  transformed  into  po]nilar  opinion.  This  transformation 
takes  effect  oftentimes  without  discussion,  which  depends  upon  the 
nature  of  the  subject-matter  of  the  idea  and  the  nianner  of  its 
suggestion.  In  the  formation  of  this  opinion,  reason  does  not  always 
predominate,  for  emotional  ideas  are  more  readilv  s])read  than 
ideas  of  an  intellectual  nature. 

Political  action  is  seldom  the  result  of  well-reasoned  conduct. 
In  illustration  of  this  process  the  instance  of  the  Pdaine-Cleveland 
campaign  will  prove  interesting.  This  campaign  was  bitterly  fought 
on  personal  lines  as  well  as  otherwise.  Blaine  was  charged  with 
being  a  Catholic,  which  he  vigorously  denied,  vindicating  himself 
by  obtaining  from  his  wife's  priest  a  certificate  that  he  was  not  a 
Catholic.  He  was  further  charged  with  impropriety  as  to  financial 
transactions  while  in  the  service  of  the  government.  For  this 
reason,  public  opinion,  particularly  in  New  York,  was  strongly 
against  him.  To  check  this  trend  of  public  opinion  a  counter- 
suggestion  was  made  by  a  party  of  clergymen  calling  upon  him  for 
the  purpose  of  showing  that  the  pulpit  had  not  lost  confidence  in 
his  integrity.  But  at  this  meeting  a  minister  by  the  name  of 
Burchard  unfortunately  threw  out  the  suggestion  that  Blaine  was 
fighting  rum,  Romanism,  and  rebellion,  meaning  thereby  that  the 
Democratic  party  was  the  party  of  rum,  Romanism,  and  rebellion. 
The  suggestion  fell  upon  fertile  soil.  The  hostile  press  took  it  up 
and  spread  it  broadcast.  No  denial  could  stem  the  tide.  It  con- 
tributed to  Blaine's  defeat. 

The  suggestion  in  itself  was  slanderous,  but  lies  and  slanderous 
statements  in  political  campaigns  are  frequently  successful  for  the 
purposes  intended.  In  the  Jackson-Adams  campaign — the  so-called 
campaign  of  lies— the  suggestion  of  the  false  idea  was  thrown  out 
that  Henry  Clay  had  sold  his  political  strength  for  the  cabinet 
position  of  Secretary  of  State,  which  was  untrue.  This  suggestion 
was  reenforced  by  John  Randolph  exclaiming  in  Congress :  "Let 
Judas  take  his  thirty  pieces  of  silver."  Counter-suggestions  of 
false  ideas  were  made,  yet  the  campaign  lies  favored  Jackson,  who 
was  elected. 

In  more  recent  times,  it  has  been  the  policy  of  campaign  man- 
agers to  hold  some  false  ideas  or  slanderous  statements  back,  usually 
based  upon  half  or  distorted  truths,   ready   for  suggestion  at  the 


656  '     ■ "  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

closing  moments  of  a  campaign,  for  the  purpose  of  forestalling  any 
discussion  or  vindication  of  the  party  accused.  Oftentimes  dis- 
cussion and  arguments  are  futile  against  a  suggestion  of  an  idea, 
whether  based  upon  falsehood  or  truth,  that  appeals  to  the  natural 
prejudices  of  mankind  or  those  of  a  class.  Reason  seldom  sways 
the  masses.  It  is  usually  a  subtle  suggestion  or  a  change  of  temper 
in  the  masses  which  brings  results  in  the  political  field.  Discussion 
may  offset  the  effects  of  a  forcible  suggestion  of  an  idea.  Thus, 
when  Bryan,  in  the  Democratic  convention  of  1896,  made  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  idea  of  the  cross  of  gold  by  exclaiming:  "We  will 
answer  their  demand  for  a  gold  standard  by  saying  to  them :  'You 
shall  not  press  down  upon  the  brow  of  labor  this  crown  of  thorns — 
you  shall  not  crucify  mankind  upon  a  cross  of  gold,'  "  the  imme- 
diate effect  was  overwhelming.  It  spread  with  increasing  rapidity, 
and  there  is  no  question  that  if  the  election  had  taken  place  the 
day  following  this  outburst,  Bryan  would  have  been  elected  presi- 
dent, in  fact  for  some  time  after,  but  discussion  after  a  while  caused 
a  change  of  sentiment.  However,  it  is  difficult  to  say  how  much 
is  due  to  discussion  for  change  of  sentiment  and  how  much  due  to 
money,  for  money  plays  an  important  part  in  political  campaigns. 

The  suggestion  was  the  climax  of  an  oration.  It  appealed  to 
the  emotions,  and  therefore  found  fertile  soil  for  the  rapid  con- 
tagion. It  was  sentiment,  lacking  logic.  How  the  suggestion  of 
an  emotional  idea  may  change  the  tide  of  sentiment,  based  upon 
vituperation  and  calumny,  is  demonstrated  when  Cleveland  was 
first  nominated  for  the  presidency.  During  the  session  of  the  con- 
vention a  Tammany  leader  delivered  a  tirade  against  Cleveland. 
But  when  General  Bragg  in  his  reply  threw  out  the  suggestion  of 
the  idea  by  exclaiming:  "We  love  Cleveland  for  the  enemies  he 
has  made,''  enthusiasm  became  contagious  and  spread  rapidly. 

The  suggestion  by  means  of  advertising  is  well  illustrated  in 
the  McKinley-Bryan  campaign  when  the  idea  of  the  "full  dinner- 
pail  and  what  it  meant"  was  diffused  by  large  posters  being  placarded 
on  billboards.     The  effect  was  convincing. 

The  fickleness  of  the  popular  mind  is  well  presented  in  the 
convention  that  nominated  Garfield.  A  strong  effort  was  made  to 
nominate  Grant.  The  leaders  representing  Grant's  interests  had 
arranged  to  pack  the  galleries  with  the  veterans  of  the  Civil  War. 
It  was  then  that  Conklin,  who  championed  Grant's  cause,  threw  out 
the  suggestion  that  every  delegate  of  the  convention  should  bind 
himself  to  support  the  nominee  of  the  convention,  which  was  en- 
thusiastically   received    by    the    convention.      A    counter-suggestion 


NATION. \I.    Tdl  ITUS    IN     ITS    I'SN  CI  K  U.i  n ',l(    \L    ASl'KCT.  657 

was  made  ])y  a  dolci^ate  from  X'irqinia.  of  tlic  idea  that  ho  could 
not  bind  himself  or  his  colleaj^ucs  until  he  had  eonsidted  with  his 
constituents.  This  suggestion  was  met  with  groans  and  hisses  until 
Garfield  in  a  \igorous  sj)eceh  full  of  suggestion  defended  the  ]iosi- 
tion  of  the  delegate. — and  the  ctn-rent  of  the  jiopular  mind  was 
changed.  Conklin  tried  to  stem  it  hy  further  eounter-suggcstions, 
but  was  hissed  and  forced  to  stop.  (  )r  take  the  Dewey  instance. 
The  suggestions  product- d  1)\-  his  actions  in  the  war  proclaimed  him 
a  hero.  The  enthusiasm  aroused  in  the  American  jieople  was  so 
great  that  they  would  have  bestowed  u])on  him  the  highest  office 
of  the  land,  irrespective  of  the  question  whether  he  was  fitted 
for  it  or  not.  Rut  later,  when  the  people  made  him  a  present  of  a 
home,  and  he  transferred  it  to  his  newly-wedded  wife,  popular 
sentiment  changed,  and  he  became  as  unpopular  as  he  was  popular 
after  the  battle  of  Manila  T^>ay. 

The  popular  mind  or  consciousness  is  susceptible  to  suggestion 
when  the  ideas  thrown  out  fall  within  the  subject-matter  agitating 
the  popular  mind.  Tndi\iduals.  groups,  classes,  comnnuiities.  and 
nations  li\e  in  a  continuous  stream  of  suggestions,  emanating  from 
various  sources.  But  it  is  onlv  those  stiggestions  which  hold  the 
attention  of  the  popular  mind  that  may  take  efifect  and  stimulate 
popular  opinion,  for  the  suggestion  of  ideas  which  run  counter  to 
the  common  prejudices,  traditions,  and  custr)ms  of  a  peo])le  are 
generally  ineffectual,  at  least  momentarily,  r^fomentarily — because 
if  the  suggestion  of  an  idea  is  thrown  out  in  advance  of  its  age, 
it  may  lie  dormant,  or  take  root  and  germinate  in  secret,  shaping 
the  unconscious  mind  of  a  few  individuals  of  the  next  generation 
who  disseminate  the  idea  more  widely.  When  the  hour  has  come, 
and  the  man.  action  is  taken,  making  it  expedient  to  modify  popular 
opinion  as  to  common  ])rejudices.  beliefs,  traditions,  customs,  and 
governmental  policies.  lUit  if  the  suggestion  accords  with,  or  is 
allied  to,  the  subject-matter  which  occupies  the  popular  mind,  popu- 
lar opinion  may  be  formed  instantaneously  without  agitation  or  dis- 
cussion ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  suggestion  is  incongruous 
with  the  spirit  of  the  times,  popular  opinion  may  be  formed  only 
by  agitation  and  discussion. 

Free  speech,  free  assemblage,  and  free  press  are  the  means  by 
which  the  characteristics  of  the  popular  mind  are  changed  and 
popular  opinion  is  modified  by  creating  a  new  sjMrit  of  the  times. 
Popular  opinion  is  transitory  and  is  formed  upon  a  concrete  case, 
wdiile  the  spirit  of  the  times  is  more  stable  and  lasting,  being  ab- 
stract and  general  in  content.     It  is  owing  to  this  fact  that  the  spirit 


658  '  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

of  the  times  during  any  decade  in  the  nation's  history  may  be  isolated 
and  investigated.  The  prevaiHng  thought  may  be  analyzed  for  the 
purpose  of  finding  its  temper  and  style,  also  the  mode  of  discussion 
which  caused  the  change  of  thought.  It  is  by  means  of  free  discus- 
sion that  all  subjects  are  brought  in  the  limelight,  for  nowadays 
there  is  no  subject  too  sacred  for  discussion,  nor  is  there  anything 
of  concern  to  human  beings  which  may  not  be  profitably  discussed 
in  the  right  spirit,  by  the  right  person  at  the  right  time.  But  it  is 
not  infrequent  that  the  impulsive  desire  in  man  to  control  others 
and  have  them  live  according  to  what  he  considers  the  right  stand- 
ard of  living,  and  his  desire  for  them  to  adopt  his  world-views, 
should  under  the  present  freedom  of  discussion  where  no  subject 
is  barred,  give  rise  to  absurdities  and  inconsistencies  in  his  demands 
which  are  apt  to  create  an  irrational  and  intolerant  public  opinion, 
one  that  defies  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  government. 

A  nation  is  made  up  of  groups  of  all  kinds.  In  general  they 
may  be  classified  into  political,  social,  religious,  ethical,  scientific, 
and  economic  types,  but  all  of  them  are  pervaded,  more  or  less, 
with  economic  considerations  for  the  reason  that  economics  is  the 
basis  of  the  order  of  organized  society,  and  the  principles,  doctrines, 
and  creeds  they  advocate  or  stand  for,  are  frequently  even  domi- 
nated by  economic  considerations.  Especially  is  this  fact  true  of 
the  subgroups  of  these  types,  so  that  their  principles,  doctrines,  and 
creeds  lack  at  times  that  free  expression  and  force  which  is  so 
essential  to  gain  prestige  in  the  popular  mind.  The  psychic  aspects 
of  the  subgroups  of  these  types  may  be  competitive,  antagonistic, 
or  harmonious.  In  some  instances  even  the  general  types  may  be 
antagonistic.  The  views  held  by  some  of  these  subgroups  may  be 
antagonistic  to  the  political  organization  of  the  government.  Thus, 
as  merely  illustrative  and  irrespective  of  the  merits  of  the  con- 
troversy, the  quotation  from  the  opinion  of  a  prominent  judge  ren- 
dered many  years  ago  will  be  to  the  point :  "And  it  is  a  matter  to  me 
of  deep  regret,  to  see  the  citizens  of  age,  intellect,  and  influence, 
and  among  them  moral  and  religious  teachers,  so  far  forget  their 
duty  as  such  citizens,  and  so  far  lose  sight  of  the  great  value  of  our 
constituted  system  of  government  and  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Christian  religion,  as  to  enter  into  the  political  contest,  touch- 
ing the  adoption  of  the  act  in  question,  openly  proclaiming  that  they 
did  not  care  whether  the  act  was  constitutional  or  not :  they  were 
determined  to  support  and  enforce  it ;  if  it  was  unconstitutional, 
the  judges  would  not  dare  to  declare  it  so  for  the  act  could  be  carried 
at  the  ballot  box  by  ten  thousand  majority.     Such  a  doctrine  is  of 


NATIONAL    rol.lTUS    1  X    ITS    I'SVflloLOC.UAI.    ASl'KcT.  659 

evil  tendeiicv.  and  treasonable  in  principle.  It  is  the  open  incnlca- 
tion  of  a  total  disre<:^ard  of  established  government  and  fundamental 
laws,  and  if  persisted  in,  must  have  a  most  pernicious  inlluence, 
especially  among  the  rising  generation.  Such  conduct  is  in  the 
highest  degree  reiu-ehensible,  and  sliould  e\er  l)e  rcprol^ated  and 
condemned,  and  the  perpetrators  spurned  as  traitors  to  their  gov- 
ernment, and  enemies  to  the  best  interests  of  their  fellowmen." 
Another  illustration  of  \  iews  held  by  iutlividuals  and  some  sub- 
groups is  here  given  by  a  recent  occurrence  where  a  minister  pub- 
licly charged  a  ])ublic  school  teacher  with  improper  conduct,  and 
when  called  upon  by  the  ]n-operly  constituted  authorities  to  submit 
the  facts,  he  refused,  under  the  pretext,  the  purport  of  which  was, 
that  he  was  only  amenable  to  his  God  for  what  he  said  concerning 
tlie  charges  against  the  teacher. 

Among  the  political  types  there  are  subgroups  such  as  the  an- 
archists, who  are  opposed  to  all  government,  and  such  as  the  so- 
cialists, who  are  antagonistic  to  the  economic  or  industrial  order  or 
system  of  organized  society. 

Again  there  are  those  of  the  economic-type  subgroup  of  organ- 
ized capital  who  are  antagonistic  to  organized  laljor  in  the  endeavor 
to  better  its  condition.  Labor,  in  turn.  oi)poses  all  efforts  to  further 
the  interest  of  organized  capital.  Special  interests  of  all  sorts  of 
social,  religious,  and  economic  subgroui)s  are  opposed  to  reforms 
and  changes  in  their  condition. 

Among  individuals,  it  has  been  said  that  there  are  those  who 
hold  tlie  view  as  to  economic  reform  that  successful  crime  in  the 
commercial  world  should  not  be  condemned  because  it  was  success- 
ful, that  the  trader  should  not  be  scourged  but  only  coaxed  out  of 
the  temple,  that  peace  is  more  desirable  than  jnirity.  Others  there 
are  who  believe  that  whatever  is  must  continue  to  be,  and  who  are 
constitutionally  a\erse  to  all  reforms  because  they  involve  changes 
and  readjustments  which  are  inconvenient. 

Thus,  an  effort  has  been  made  to  give  a  cursory  psychological 
A  iew  of  the  attitude  and  contents  of  the  individual  and  popular  minds 
in  their  relation  to  political  matters  and  government.  In  the  practical 
carrying-out  of  the  political  schemes  and  policies  the  electors  are  the 
elemental  factor.  They  consist  of  native  and  naturalized  citizens. 
The  naturalized  citizen  must  usually  remodel  his  national  conscious- 
ness and  his  political  conceptions  before  he  can  grasp  the  spirit  of 
our  government  and  liecome  an  independent  elector.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  he  is  more  easil\-  led  during  the  formative  period  than  the 
native-born  citizen. 


660  "  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

There  are  about  one  third  of  the  qualified  electors  who  exer- 
cise their  elective  franchise.  ■  and  of  these  only  one  sixth  vote 
intelligently.  A  larger  number  of  the  remaining  two  thirds,  among 
whom  are  some  of  the  leading  and  best  citizens,  do  not  exer- 
cise their  rights  because  they  are  not  interested,  and  if  they  vote, 
they  do  so  without  any  consideration  of  the  act.  Again,  there  are 
quite  a  number  of  electors  who  are  so  engrossed  in  their  businesses 
and  making  money  that  they  have  no  time  to  attend  to  their  political 
duties  ;  while  another  class  are  so  busy  in  providing  for  themselves 
and  families  that  they  cannot  devote  their  time  to  political  duties. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  the  average 
voter  has  no  clear  insight  into  political  questions,  nor  into  the  nature 
of  our  government  and  its  political  principles,  and  therefore  he  is  a 
good  subject  for  the  suggestive  treatment  by  unscrupulous  poli- 
ticians, who  have  no  compunctions  of  how  they  attain  their  ends. 
It  is  clear  that  under  such  conditions  the  professional  politicians 
and  political  bosses  thrive,  for  the  masses  of  the  voters  do  not  think, 
they  are  led.  Ignorance  of  the  nature  of  our  government,  indiffer- 
ence to  it,  the  selfish  interest  of  a  class  who  have  no  regard  for 
the  welfare  of  others,  and  the  lack  of  individual  thinking  and 
action,  are  the  causes  for  the  few  controlling  the  many. 

These  factors  contribute  to  the  immoral  conduct  in  politics. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  money  can  be  used  so  successfully  in 
politics,  and  that  it  is  the  most  powerful  weapon  by  which  the 
popular  will  may  be  thwarted,  stifled,  or  moulded,  according  to  the 
purpose  for  which  it  was  intended. 

Politics  in  practice  is  not  as  moral  as  it  might  be.  Every 
scheme,  device,  trick,  deception,  and  mendacity  are  usually  resorted 
to  in  political  campaigns.  Calumny  finds  ready  application,  for  the 
principle  has  its  foundation  upon  the  theory  that  "unquestionably 
the  calumniator  will  always  find  a  great  number  of  persons  inclined 
to  believe  him,  or  to  side  with  him;  it* therefore  follows  that  when- 
ever the  ol)ject  of  such  calumnies  is  once  lowered  in  credit  by  these 
means,  he  will  soon  lose  the  reputation  and  power  founded  on  that 
credit,  and  sink  under  the  permanent  and  vindictive  attacks  of  the 
calumniator." 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  standards  of  conduct  in  politics 
should  be  lower  than  those  which  apply  in  the  ordinary  walks  of 
life.  The  great  moral  reserve  force  which  is  so  essential  to  the 
existence  of  a  free  government  should  be  exercised  by  the  people, 
for  if  they,  as  individuals,  do  not  exercise  a  high  standard  of  con 
duct  popular  govenunent  is  impossible.    The  rules  of  conduct  which 


COXITCIANISM,    r.lDDlI  ISM,    AND   Cl  1  KI  STl  A  N  TIV.  661 

may  be  deduced  from  the  I'ill  of  Ri^lits  should  form  one  of  the 
standards  of  our  political  CDiidiicl — for  it  is  not  law,  nor  the  forced 
imposition,  bv  the  creation  of  an  intolerant  popular  oj)inion,  upon 
the  masses  bv  a  few  or  a  class  of  their  ideas  as  to  ])roper  conduct 
and  the  rig^ht  way  of  li\inc^,  irrespective  of  the  opinion  of  others, 
that  control  the  conduct  of  men  :  l)ut  it  is  the  exercise  of  the  moral 
reserve  force,  in  that  the  citizen  must  respect  the  rii,dits  of  his  fellow 
citizen  and  the  ric^hts  of  the  collective,  and  abo\e  all  must  not  ask 
of  others  what  he  would  not  ask  of  himself. 


COXFUCTAXIS^F.  r.rnDTIlSAF,  AXn  CHRISTIAX- 

V,y   I!i:.\(>\-    IvIMAR  SARKAR. 

Mcfliod  of  Af'proach. 
"XTfE  propose  to  re\iew  brietlv  three  great  religions  of  mankind 
»  »  in  their  historical  as  well  as  ])svchological  relations.  Let  us 
assume  for  our  present  consideration  the  fad  that  e\-ery  religious 
system  advances,  in  the  first  ])lace,  a  set  of  h\])()theses  generally 
known  as  theological  dogmas,  in  the  second  ])lace.  a  bo(l\-  of  ])rac- 
tices  and  notions  that  in  the  absence  of  a  better  term  ma\-  l)e  called 
superstitions,  and  in  the  third  ])lace,  a  cod?  of  moral  sanctions.  .\s 
a  rule,  it  is  the  higher  intellectuals  in  a  comnnmity  that  are  inter- 
ested in  the  doctrines  of  thcolog'y,  while  the  mrui  in  the  street  is 
more  attracted  by  the  theatrical,  scenic,  or  anecdotal  asj:)ects  of  God. 
the  soul,  and  the  other  world.  The  morals,  however,  though  they 
de|)end  in  the  last  analysis  on  the  individual's  status  in  the  econoiuic 
grades  or  classes  of  a  people,  may  for  ordinary  pur])oses  be  taken 
to  be  the  outcome  of  the  ]K'0})le's  general  consensus  of  o]iinion  and 
collecti\'e  tradition.  In  a  stud\-  of  com])aralive  religion  we  must 
take  care  to  point  out  exactly  which  of  these  three  piiases  of  socio- 
religiotis  life  we  have  singled  out  for  discussion,  for  it  is  clear  that 
it  would  be  unscientific  to  compare  the  popular  su])erstitions  and 
folk-l)eliefs  of  one  faith  with  the  metaj)hysical  specidations  in  which 
high-browed  Doctors  of  Divinity  indulge,  in  another. 

As  it  is  always  convenient  to  ])roceed  from  the  known  to  the 
unknown,  we  shall  begin  with  Christianity,  or  rather,  use  Christ- 
lore  as  the  peg  on  which  to  hang  liuddhism  and  Confucianism  cum 

1  A  lecture  delivered  at  Amherst  College. 


662  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

Taoism  for  analytical  and  historical  investigation.  And  instead  of 
dealing  with  abstractions  we  would  appraise  each  of  these  world 
religions  in  its  concrete  embodiments.  •    ■      - 

•      -  •  Clirist-lore  in  History. 

Dante,  the  greatest  poet-saint-mystic  of  Roman  Catholicism, 
was  very  much  agitated  over  the  "she-wolf,"  the  moral  and  political 
muddle  of  his  time.  He  used  to  predict  the  advent  of  a  "Grey- 
hound," a  "V^eltro."  or  deliverer,  who  would  restore  on  earth  the 
Universal  Italian  Empire,  both  temporal  and  spiritual.  His  proph- 
ecy finds  expression  in  several  eloquent  passages  of  the  Divine 
Comedy.  Thus  \'irgil,  the  "master  and  guide"  of  the  poet,  gives 
the  following  hope  in  the  first  canto : 

"This  beast 
At  whom  thou  criest,  her  way  will  suffer  none 
To  pass,  and  no  less  hindrance  makes  than  death  : 
To  many  an  animal  in  wedlock  vile 
She  fastens,  and  shall  yet  to  many  more. 
Until  that  Greyhound  come,  who  shall  destroy 
Her  with  sharp  pain.     He  will  not  life  support 
By  earth  nor  its  base  metals,  but  by  love, 
Wisdom,  and  virtue;  and  his  land  shall  be 
The  land  'twixt  either  Feltro.     In  his  might 
Shall  safety  to  Italia's  plains  arise. 
For  whose  fair  realm  Camilla,  virgin  pure, 
Nisus,  Euryalus,  and  Turnus  fell." 

The  same  apocalvptic  faith  in  a  yoogavafara  or  god  incarnate 
in  man  has  maintained  the  optimistic  Hindu  in  all  ages  of  national 
distress.  The  advent  of  IMessiahs  to  embody  each  successive  Zeit- 
geist is  thus  guaranteed  in  the  Gceta  by  Lord  Krishna  himself : 

"Whensoever  into  Order 

Corruption  creeps  in,  Bliarata, 
And  customs  bad  ascendant  be, 

Then  Myself  do  I  embody. 
For  the  advancement  of  the  good 

And  miscreants  to  overthrow 
And  for  setting  up  the  Order 

Do  I  appear  age  by  age." 

Medieval  Christianity  did  not  produce  only  one  Divine  Comedy. 
Each  of  the  Gothic  cathedrals  of  thirteenth-century  Europe  is  a 
Divine  Comedy  in  stone.  It  may  be  confidently  asserted  that  the 
spiritual  atmosphere  of  these  noble  structures  with  their  soul-inspir- 
ing sculptures  in  alabaster  and  bronze  has  not  been  surpassed  in  the 


COXFL'CIAMS.M.    lU'l  >!  >I  I  ISM  .    A  N  O   (,  1 1  Rl  S  11  A  N  ITV.  663 

arcliitccturc  of  the  I'^ast.  Tho  pillars  at  (liartrcs  with  their  has- 
relicfs  of  images  and  tlowers  cduUl  he  hodily  transtorred  to  the  hest 
rcHgious  edifices  of  lluddhist  Asia.  'J"he  elongated  \'irgin  at  the 
Paris  Xotre  Dame  is  almost  as  conventionalized  as  a  Korean  Kwan- 
non.  The  representation  of  virtues  and  vices  on  the  Portal  of  the 
Saviour  at  the  Amiens  Cathedral  suggests  the  moralizing  in  wood- 
work on  the  waJls  of  Nikko  in  Japan.  And  scenes  from  the  Passion 
on  the  tympanum  at  Strasshurg  or  from  the  Last  judgment  on  the 
tympanum  of  the  north  door  in  the  Cathedral  at  Paris  are  oriented 
to  the  same  jisvchological  hackground  as  the  hasreliefs  depicting 
incideiUs  in  the  hol_\-  career  of  r)uddha  with  which  the  stoopas 
(mounds)  of  Central  India  make  us  familiar,  or  of  the  Tibetan 
Dalai  Lama  on  the  surface  of  the  marble  pagoda  at  Peking. 

We  shall  now  compare  a  few  specimens  of  Christian  folk  cus- 
toms. On  Christmas  and  New  Year  days  the  folks  of  Christendom 
are  used  to  forecasting  their  lot  in  the  coming  year  according  to 
the  character  of  the  first  visitor.  And  what  is  the  burden  of  their 
queries?  'A\'hat  will  he  the  weather?"  they  ask,  and  "what  the 
crops?"  How,  besides,  are  they  to  "fare  in  love  and  the  begetting 
of  children?"  And  a  common  superstition  among  the  Haiisfraiioi 
enjoins  that  wealth  must  come  in.  and  not  be  given  out,  on  these 
days.  Such  days  and  such  notions  are  not  rare  in  Confucian-Taoist 
and  kluddhist  Asia.  It  is  well  known,  further,  that  in  southwest 
England  as  well  as  in  j)arts  of  continental  Europe  there  are  several 
taboos  in  regard  to  food.  Hares,  rabbits,  poultry,  for  instance,  are 
not  eaten  because  thev  are  "derived  from  his  father,"  as  the  peasant 
believes.  There  is  nothing  distinctivelv  Christian  in  these  customs 
and  traditions.  Asians  can  also  heartily  take  part  in  the  processions 
attending  the  bathing  of  images  and  other  customs  with  which  the 
rural  ])0])ulation  of  Christian  lands  celebrate  their  Ma\'  pole  dances 
or  summer  festivities.  And  they  would  easily  appreciate  how  men 
could  1)e  transformed  into  wolves  through  the  curse  of  St.  Natalis 
Cambrensis. 

Would  the  ritualism,  the  rosary,  the  relic-worship,  the  hagiol- 
ogy,  the  consecrated  edifices,  the  "eternal"  lamps  in  churches  and 
chapels,  pilgrimages,  prayers,  votive  offerings,  self-denial  during 
Lent,  fasts  and  chants  of  Christians  alienate  Shintoists.  Buddhists, 
or  Taoists?  By  no  means.  Indeed,  there  are  very  few  Chinese, 
Japanese,  or  Hindus  who  would  not  be  ins])ire<l  by  the  image  of 
Mary.  Xations  used  to  the  worship  of  Kwan-yin  or  Lakshmec 
could  not  find  a  fundamentally  new  mentality  or  \iew  of  life  in  the 
atmosphere  of  a  Greek  or  Catholic  church  ser\ice.    And  the  doctrine 


664  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

of  faith  (bJiakti,  soddlia),  the  worship  of  a  personal  God.  and  pre- 
paredness for  salvation  (  uiookti)  are  not  more  Christian  than  Bnd- 
dhist  or  Hindu. 

Men  and  women  who  do  not  feel  safe  without  postulating  a 
God  would  produce,  if  they  should  happen  to  be  intellectual,  almost 
the  same  philosophy  of  the  Infinite  and  of  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  wherever  they  may  live.  If  they  happen  to  be  emotional  or 
imaginative,  as  human  beings  generally  are.  they  would  create  more 
or  less  the  selfsame  religious  arts  (images,  pictures,  basreliefs, 
hymns,  prayers,  rituals,  fetishes,  charms).  Humanity  is,  in  short, 
essentially  one — in  spite  of  physical  and  physiognomic  diversities, 
and  in  spite  of  age-long  historic  race-prejudices.  The  effort  to 
understand  the  nature  of  God  or  the  relations  between  man  and 
Deity  is  the  least  part  of  a  person's  real  religion.  The  clan  vital 
of  human  life  has  always  and  everywhere  consisted  in  the  desire 
to  live  and  in  the  power  to  flourish  by  responding  to  the  thousand 
and  one  stimuli  of  the  universe  and  by  utilizing  the  innumerable 
world  forces. 

Confucian' s}]i  and  Buddhism  .!nalyccd. 

Hut  before  we  proceed  further  it  is  necessary  to  have  definite 
connotations  of  the  terms  Confucianism  and  Buddhism,  so  that  we 
may  know  precisely  to  what  phenomena  they  correspond  in  Chris- 
tianitv.     For  the  terms  are  reallv  aml)iguous  and  elastic. 

In  the  first  place,  Confucianism  is  the  name  wrongly  given  to 
the  cult  of  public  sacrifices  devoted  to  Shangti  (the  One  Supreme 
Being),  the  Tao  (or  the  Way),  and  ancestor-worship  that  has  been 
obtaining  among  the  Chinese  people  since  time  immemorial.  This 
cult  of  what  is  reahy  an  adoration  of  nature  forces  ha]~)pens  to  be 
called  Confucianism  simply  because  Confucius  (B.C.  551-479),  the 
librarian  at  Loo  State  in  Shantung,  compiled  or  edited  for  his 
countrymen  the  floating  ancient  classics,  the  Yi-king  (Book  of 
Changes),  the  Slioo-king  (Book  of  History),  the  Sh'h-king  (Ijook 
of  Poetrv).  and  others  in  which  the  traditional  faith  finds  ex- 
pression. The  work  of  Confucius  for  China  was  identical  with 
that  of  Ezra  (B.C.  450)  of  Juda  who  edited  for  the  Hebrews  the 
twenty-four  books  of  the  Old  Testament  that  were  in  danger  of 
being  lost.  In  this  sense,  to  use  the  misnomer,  Confucianism  had 
existed  among  the  Chinese  long  before  Confucius  was  born,  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  Homeric  poems  had  been  in  circulation  in  the 
Hellenic  world  ages  before  Pisistratus  of  Athens  had  them  brought 
together  in  well-edited  volumes. 


coNFrriAXisM,  r.rniniisM.  and  ciiKisri am  rv.  665 

In  the  scooiul  place,  C'onfticianisni  is  often  considered  as  not 
beini^-  a  rclii^ion  al  all.  h.canse  it  is  wroni^ly  taken  to  lie  e(|ni\alent 
to  positivism,  i.  e..  a  ^^^ocUess  system  of  mere  morals,  and  hence 
necessarily  inade(|nate  to  the  spiriinal  needs  of  man.  The  fact, 
however,  is  (jniie  otherwise.  The  Socratic  sayini^s  of  t'onfucius 
that  are  jireserved  in  the . /;/c//r(-/,s-.  in  the  Ihu-trinc  of  the  Mean,  and 
other  treatises.  ha\e  indeed  no  reference  to  the  sni>ernatural,  the 
unseen,  or  the  other  world.  The  fallacy  of  modern  sinologies 
consists  in  reqardiny-  these  moralizinfj^s  as  the  wlujle  messai::e  of 
China's  su])erman.  Strictly  speakinin;-.  they  shonld  he  treated  only 
as  ])arts  of  a  system  which  in  its  entirely  has  a  ])]acc  as  much  for 
the  gods,  sacrihces.  prayers,  astrolot^y.  demonoloi^y.  tortoise  wor- 
shij).  dixination,  and  so  forth,  of  Taoist  China  as  for  the  ])urely 
ethical  conceptions  of  the  duty  toward  one's  neighbor  or  the  ideal 
relations  between  human  beings. 

Thirdly,  this  alleged  positivism  or  atheism  of  Confucius,  and 
the  pre-Confncian  religion  of  ancient  China  which  for  all  ])ractical 
purposes  was  identical  with  the  ])olytheistic  nature-cult  of  the  ear- 
liest Indo-Germanic  races.  ha\e  to  be  shar])ly  distinguished  from 
another  Confucianism,  b^or  since  aliout  the  tifth  centtiry  A.l).  the 
worshi])  of  Confucius  as  a  god  has  been  ])lanted  firmly  in  the 
Chinese  consciousness  and  institutions.  This  latter-day  Confucius 
cult  is  a  cult  of  nature  forces  affiliated  to  the  primitive  Shangti 
cult.  Heaven  cult.  Tai  (  motuUain  )  cult,  etc..  of  the  Chinese.  In  this 
Confucianism  Confucius  is  a  god  among  gods. 

Similarly  in  lUtddhism  also  we  have  to  recognize  two  funda- 
mcntalh-  different  sets  of  phenomena.  There  are  two  Pniddbisms 
essentially  distinct  from  each  other.  The  iirst  is  the  religion  or 
system  of  moral  discipline  founded  Ijy  .Shakya  ('r).C.  563-483).  the 
son  of  the  {^resident  or  archon  (raja)  of  the  Sakiya  re])ublic  in 
eastern  India,  who  came  to  be  called  the  Ihuldha.  or  the  ICnlightened 
(the  Awakened).  Shakya  found, d  an  order  (saiiitjha)  of  monks, 
anrl  adumbrated  the  j)hiloso])liy  oi  the  twelve  H;(/(//a/,T  {  links  between 
ignorance  and  Inrtli )  and  the  ethics  of  the  Eightfold  I'ath.  In  this 
branch  of  lUiddhism,  which  should  really  be  called  ."^bakyaism. 
Buddha  is  of  course  neither  a  god  nor  a  ])rophet  of  (nxl.  but  only 
a  preacher  among  the  preachers  of  his  time.  The  system  is  generally 
known  as  Ilinayana  or  the  Lesser  \'chicle  of  r.uddhism.  Its  most 
prominent  tenet  is  that  of  Xirvana  or  the  cessation  of  misery  (an- 
nihilation of  pain). 

But  there  is  another  faith  in  which  Buddha  is  (/  or  rather  tlic 
god.     This  r>uddha  cult,  or  B.uddhism  strictly  so  called,  cannot  by 


666  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

any  means  be  fathered  upon  Shakya,  the  moraHst.  It  chanced  to 
evolve  out  of  the  schisms  among  his  followers.  Buddha  worship 
was  formulated  by  Ashvaghosha  and  came  into  existence  as  a 
distinct  creed  about  the  first  century  A.  D.  in  northwestern  India, 
during  the  reign  of  Kanishka,  the  Indo-Tartar  emperor.  This  faith, 
also  called  Mahayana  (the  Greater  Vehicle),  was  theologically  much 
allied  to,  and  in  ritual  and  mythology  did  not  really  differ  from, 
the  contemporary  Jaina  and  Puranic  Hinduisms  of  India.  It  is  this 
Buddhism  with  its  gods  and  goddesses  that  was  introduced  from 
Central  Asia  into  China  in  A.  D.  67,  from  China  into  Korea  in 
A.  D.  372,  and  from  Korea  into  Japan  in  A.  D.  552. 

The  contrast  between  Shakya  the  preacher  and  Buddha  the 
god,  or  Confucius  the  moralist  and  Confucius  the  god,  has  its 
parallel  in  Christology  also.  Modern  criticism  expresses  this  con- 
trast, says  Bacon  in  The  Making  of  the  Nezv  Testament,  in  its  dis- 
tinction of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  from  the  Gospel  about  Jesus.  The 
distinction  between  Shakyaism  and  Buddhism,  or  between  Confu- 
cianism as  the  system  of  tenets  in  the  body  of  literature  compiled 
by  Confucius,  and  Confucianism  in  wdiich  Confucius  figures  as  a 
divinity  on  a  footing  with  Shangti,  is  the  same  in  essence  as  that 
between  the  teachings  of  Jesus  the  Jew  and  the  teachings,  say,  of 
St.  Paul  about  Jesus  the  Christ  who  is  God  in  man. 

The  Doctrine  of  Avatara  {Deification  of  Man). 
The  incarnation  myths  of  the  Ramayana  and  similar  legends  of 
the  Jatakas  (Birth  Stories)  must  have  developed  as  early  as  the 
epoch  of  Maurya  imperialism  (B.  C.  322-185).  While  the  poets 
of  the  Rama  legend  sang,  "For  Vishnu's  self  disdained  not  mortal 
birth,  And  heaven  came  with  him  as  he  came  to  earth,"  and  Krishna 
proclaimed  in  the  Geeta  section  of  the  Mahahharata,  "Forsake  all 
dharmas  (ways,  taos,  creeds),  make  Me  alone  thy  way,"  the  sculp- 
tors of  India  were  carving  basreliefs  to  represent  scenes  in  the  life 
of  Shakya  deified  as  the  Buddha.  The  post-Asokan  but  pre-Chris- 
tian sculptures  at  Bharhut  (second  century  B.C.)  leave  no  doubt 
as  to  the  prevalence  of  a  faith  in  Buddha  whose  birth  was  believed 
to  be  supernatural  and  whose  career  was  to  anticipate  ideologically 
the  holy  ministrations  of  the  Syrian  Messiah.  Besides,  the  mind 
of  India  had  become  used  to  such  emphatic  pronouncements  as  the 
following : 

"I  am  the  Father,  and  the  fostering  Nurse, 
Grandsire,  and  Mother  of  the  Universe, 
I  am  the  Vedas,  and  the  Mystic  word, 


COXFL'CIAXISM,    lUl  U  )  1 1  ISM  ,   AND   CI  1  KI  STI  A  N  ITV.  667 

The  way,  support,  tlic  witness,  and  tlio  Lord. 
The  Seed  am  I,  of  deathless  quickening  power, 
The  Home  of  all,  the  mighty  Refuge-tower." 

The  Bucklha  cult  was  thus  l)orn  and  luirtiu-cd  in  a  perfectly 
congenial  atmospiiere. 

The  Tauhnc  tloctrinc  of  Jesus  as  an  az'ntara,  i.e.,  god  incarnated 
in  man,  was  also  ((uitc  in  kee])ing  with  the  spiritual  milieu  of  the 
age,  rife  as  it  was  with  tlie  notion  (if  redeemer-gods.  Here  an 
Osiris,  there  a  Mithra  was  commanding  the  devotion  of  the  civilized 
world  as  a  god  who  was  resurrected  after  death  to  save  mankind- 
Parallel  to  the  development  in  Iran  which  transformed  Zarathustra 
from  the  man-proplu't-singcr  of  the  (iaihas  into  a  supernatural  and 
semidi\ine  ligure,  there  was  in  Israel  the  continuous  and  progressive 
re-interpretation  of  traditional  lieliefs  and  symbols,  as  Canon  Charles 
points  out  in  the  Rcli(/ioits  fh'Z'clo/^iiiciit  Bctzcccii  the  Old  and  Xczv 
Tcstaiiioits.  From  the  third  century  B.  C.  on,  as  a  consequence, 
whole  histories  centered  roimd  such  concej)tions  as  soul,  spirit, 
Shcol,  Paradise,  Messianic  Kingdom,  the  ^Messiah,  the  Resurrection. 
The  idea  of  the  Redeemer  was  taking  defmite  shajKN  for  instance, 
in  the  following  verses  of  the  Psalms  of  Solomon  composed  about 
the  first  century  B.C.: 

"Behold,  O  Lord,  and  raise  up  unto  them 
Their  King,  tiie  son  of  David, 
At  the  time  in  which  thou  seest,  O  God, 
That  he  may  reign  over  Israel  Thy  servant, 
And  gird  him  with  strength  that  he  may 
Shatter  unrighteous  rulers 
And  that  he  may  purge  Jerusalem  from 
Nations  that  trample  her  down  to  destruction." 

In  India  the  rhapsodists  of  the  A^almikian  cycle  were  singing 
of  the  advent  of  the  Messiah  as  Rama,  and  Shakyan  monks  elabo- 
rating the  Buddhist  stories  of  incarnation  (Jataka)  in  the  selfsame 
strain.  Nor  was  China  to  be  left  without  an  avatara  or  a  deified 
human  personality.  In  the  fourth  century  B.  C,  IMencius,  the  St, 
Paid  of  Confucianism,  calls  his  great  master  chi  ta-chcng,  or  "the 
embodiment  of  highest  perfection."  Three  hundred  years  after  his 
death,  Confucius  w^as  made  duke  and  earl.  Sze  ]\Ia-chien,  the  Chi- 
nese Plerodotus  (first  century  B.C.),  describes  him  as  the  "divinest 
of  men."  But  by  the  end  of  the  first  century  A.  D.  the  birthplace 
of  Confucius  had  become  a  goal  for  the  pilgrim,  and  even  emperors 
wended  their  way  thither  to  pay  their  resi)ccts  at  his  shrine.  In 
A.  D.  178,  says  Giles  in  Confiicia}iism  and  Its  Riz'als,  a  likeness  of 


668  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

Confucius  had  been  placed  in  his  shrine  as  a  substitute  for  the 
wooden  tablet  in  use  up  to  that  date.  In  267  an  imperial  decree 
ordered  the  sacrifice  of  a  pig,  a  sheep,  and  an  ox  to  Confucius  at 
each  of  the  four  seasons.  The  first  complete  Confucian  temple 
was  built  and  dedicated  in  505.  About  555  it  was  enacted  that  a 
Confucian  temple  should  be  built  in  every  prefectural  city,  for  the 
people  had  come  to  "look  upon  Confucius  as  a  god  to  be  propitiated 
for  the  sake  of  worldly  advantages." 

This  heroification  and  deification  of  Confucius  was  not  an 
isolated  phenomenon  in  the  Chinese  world,  for  China  was  also 
simultaneously  transforming  Lao-tze,  his  senior  contemporary,  into 
a  divinity.  The  Taoist  writers  had  begun  to  describe  their  great 
prophet  as  an  incarnation  of  some  superior  being  coming  among 
men  in  human  shape  in  every  age.  They  also  told  the  various 
names  under  which  he  appeared,  from  the  highest  period  of  fabulous 
antiquity  down  to  as  late  a  time  as  the  sixth  century,  making  in 
all  seven  periods. 

Indeed,  the  spiritual  experience  of  the  entire  human  race  was 
passing  through  almost  the  same  climacteric.  Zoroastrianism  was 
evolving  Mithraism,  Chinese  classics  were  evolving  the  worship  of 
Confucius  and  Lao-tze,  Hinduism  was  evolving  the  Buddha  cult, 
Krishna  cult,  Rama  cult,  etc.,  and  Judaism  was  in  the  birth-throes 
of  the  Christ  cult. 

Rapj^rochoncnt  in  Religious  Psycliology. 

LIow  much  of  this  common  element  in  Confucianism,  Bud- 
dhism, and  Christianity  was  the  "joint  product"  of  the  same  socio- 
religious  antecedents?  How  much  again  was  autochthonous  in 
China,  India,  and  Asia  Minor,  i.  e.,  absolutely  independent  of  mutual 
influence?  The  question  of  the  indebtedness  of  one  race  to  another 
in  metaphysics  and  religion  cannot  be  solved  satisfactorily  for  want 
of  positive  evidence.  But  the  historic  background  was  unified  and 
internationalized  enough  to  admit  of  an  extraordinary  fusion  of 
cultures.  One  theater  of  such  cultural  intermixture  was  Central 
Asia.  Here,  during  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  police 
notices  were  written  in  Chinese,  the  letters  being  inscribed  in  a  form 
of  Sanskrit.  But  the  strings  with  which  the  wooden  tablets  were 
tied  were  sealed  mostly  with  Greek  seals  bearing  the  image  of 
Athena  or  Ikracles.  Here,  then,  as  Laurence  Binyon  remarks  in 
Painting  in  the  Far  East,  we  touch  three  great  civilizations  at  once: 
India,  Greece,  China. 

This  race-fusion  or  cultural  intermarriage  must  have  been  ir 


COXl-TflAX  IS.M  ,    lUDIill  ISM  ,    AND   (   1 1  K  1  S  II  A  M  lA'. 


<:/)<) 


full  swiiii^  while  the  incarnation-niyths  of  the  Hindus,  Jews,,  and 
Chinese  were  in  ihe  iiericnl  of  ^-eslalion.  i.  e.,  durin_<^  the  last  three 
centuries  of  the  pre-C  hristian  era.  I  "or.  cmiscious  and  deliheratc 
internationalism  was  the  distinctively  original  contrihution  of  Alex- 
ander to  the  cixilization  of  hair-Asia.  The  whole  epoch  he.c^inning 
with  his  accession  to  the  throne  may  he  said  to  ha\e  heen  one.  in 
which  racc-houndaries  were  hein«^  ohliterated,  cultural  aiii^ularilies 
rounded  off.  intellectual  horizons  enlar<jed.  antl  the  sense  of  uni- 
versal humanit\-  generated.  It  was  a  time  when  I'latonists.  Aristo- 
telians. C'ynics.  and  Stoics  were  likely  to  meet  apocaly{)tists.  Zoro- 
astrians.  Confucianists.  Taoists,  Xirvanists.  and  ^'ojLi^aists  on  a 
common  platform,  when  the  i^rammarians  and  logicians  of  Alexan- 
dria were  prohahl\-  comjKirins^  notes  with  the  Hindu  Paninians  and 
Darshanists,  when  the  Charakan  Ayoor\edists  (medical  men)  of 
India  could  hold  dehates  with  the  herhalists  of  Asia  Minor,  when, 
in  one  word,  culture  was  tending  to  he  developed  not  from  nationrd 
angles  hut  from  one  international  view-point  and  placed  as  fai:  as 
possihlc  on  a  cosmopolitan  hasis. 

The  courses  of  instruction  oliered  at  the  great  universities  of 
the  world,  e.  g..  those  of  Honanfu,  Taxila,  Patalipootra,  the  Alexan- 
drias,  and  Athens,  naturally  comprehended  the  whole  encyclopedia 
of  arts  and  sciences  known  to  hoth  Asia  and  h^urope.  The  literati, 
bliikslioos,  uuu/i.  and  saiixasiiis  of  the  h'ast  could  not  fail  to  meet 
the  mystics,  sophists,  gnostics,  and  ])erij3atetics  of  the  West  at  out- 
of-the-way  inns  or  caravansaries  or  at  the  recognized  academies 
and  seats  of  learning.  What  we  now  descrihe  as  a  "T'niversal  Races' 
Congress"  and  international  conferences  of  scientists  may  then  have 
been  matters  of  course;  and  everybody  who  was  anybody^llindu, 
Persian.  Chinese.  Jew.  Egyptian,  Greek — was  necessarily  a  student 
of  ll'cltlitrratnr  and  a  citizen  of  the  world.  Idic  socird  systems  of 
the  different  races  who  were  thrown  into  that  whirlpool  were  pro- 
foundly influenced  by  this  intelkctual  expansion.  Interracial  mar- 
riages may  he  belie\ed  to  ha\e  been  things  of  common  occurence, 
and  everywhere  there  was  a  rapprochciiiriif  in  ideals  of  life  and 
thought.  Mankind  was  fast  approaching  a  common  consciousness, 
a  common  conscience,  and  a  common  standard  of  ci\ilization. 

One  of  the  forms  in  which  this  uniform  psychological  devel- 
opment of  the  different  races  was  manifesting  itself  consisted  in 
the  elaboration  oi  "great  exemplars."  crratanis.  or  "su])ermen." 
The  types  of  ethical  and  spiritual  ""iJcrfection,"  i.  e.,  the  highest 
ideals  and  norms  in  human  ])ersonality  that,  during  the  i)receding 
centuries,  had  been   slowly  acquiring  prominence   in   India,  in   the 


670  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

Hellenistic  world,  and  in  China,  at  last  began  to  crystallize  out  of 
the  solution  of  race-experience,  and  emerge  as  distinctly  individual- 
ized entities.  The  world  forces  or  nature  powers  of  the  antique 
world,  viz.,  Mother  Earth  and  the  elemental  energies,  furnished 
no  doubt  the  basic  foundations  and  the  nuclei  for  these  types  or 
patterns.  Folk-imagination  in  brooding  over  the  past  and  recon- 
structing ancient  traditions  had  sanctified  certain  historic  personal- 
ities, legendary  heroes,  or  eponymous  culture  pioneers,  and  endowed 
their  names  with  a  halo  of  romance.  Philosophical  speculation 
had  been  groping  in  the  dark  as  to  the  mysteries  of  the  universe 
and  had  stumbled  upon  the  One,  the  Unknown,  the  Eternal,  the 
Absolute,  the  Infinite,  the  Ideal.  Last,  but  not  least,  are  the  con- 
tributions of  ''the  lover,  the  lunatic,  and  the  poet" — the  Luke,  the 
John,  the  Mencius,  the  Valmiki,  the  Ashvaghosha — who  came  to 
weld  together  all  these  elements  into  artistic  shapes,  "fashioning 
forth"  those  "sons  of  God" — concrete  human  personalities  to  em- 
body at  once  the  man-in-God  and  the  God-in-man. 

The  Ethical  Postulates  of  China,  India,  and  Christendom. 

The  ethical  conceptions  of  a  race  are  bound  up  so  inextri- 
cably with  its  economic  and  social  institutions  that  for  all  practical 
purposes  they  may  be  regarded  as  almost  independent  of  its  strictly 
religious  thought,  its  theological  doctrines,  and  the  hypotheses  of 
its  prophets  or  thinkers  regarding  the  nature  of  the  Godhead,  the 
soul,  and  the  relation  between  man  and  the  Creator.  While,  there- 
fore, the  "whole  duty  of  man"  is  sure  to  dififer  with  race  and  race, 
nay,  with  class  and  class,  and  also  with  epoch  and  epoch  in  each 
race  and  in  each  class,  it  is  still  remarkable  that  the  most  funda- 
mental categories  of  moral  life  all  the  world  over  have  been  the 
same.  The  ethical  systems  of  historic  Confucianism,  Buddhism,  and 
Christianity  are  broad-based  on  almost  identical  notions  of  the  Good 
and  the  Right. 

But  here  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  few  special  remarks  about 
Confucianism.  In  the  first  place,  suggestive  sex  ideas  associated 
with  such  concepts  as  the  "immaculate  conception"  in  Christ-lore, 
or  "energy"  (shakti,  the  female  "principle")  in  Buddhist  mythology, 
have  absolutely  no  place  either  in  the  Classics  compiled  by  Confucius 
the  man,  or  in  the  religion  in  which  Confucius  is  a  god.  From  the 
standpoint  of  conventional  morality.  Confucianism  is  the  most  chaste 
and  undefiled  of  the  great  world-religions. 

In  the  second  place,  one  must  not  argue  from  this  that  the 
Chinese  mentality  is  what  Confucius  presumes  it  to  be,  for  China 


coNi-"L'ciA.\is>r.  r.ri)i)ms.\r,  and  ciiristiamtv.  671 

is  not  merely  iDnfucius  iiias^iiified.  I'.wrv  (.'hinese  is  a  I'onfucianist, 
and  yet  somelhiiiL;-  more.  Like  llie  Japanese  who  is  at  once  a  bo- 
]ic\er  in  Shinto  i  the  "Way  of  tlie  (lods,"  a  polytheistic  cult  of 
nattire  forces)  and  a  l')Uddhi>t.  so  the  men  and  women  of  (diina, 
almost  each  and  all.  are  'J'aoists  ( followers  of  Lao-tze's  mystical 
cult)  and  P.uddhists  at  the  same  time  that  they  offer  sacrifices  to 
Confucius  and  Shanqti.  When  the  head  of  the  family  dies,  says 
"Wti  Tiui^-fans,'-,  the  funeral  ser\  ices  are  conducted  in  a  most  cosmo- 
politan way,  for  the  Taoist  priest  and  Ihiddhisl  monks  as  well  as 
nuns  are  usually  called  in  to  recite  prayers  for  the  dead  in  addition 
to  the  performance  of  ceremonies  in  conformily  with  the  Confucian 
rules  of  propriety.  'J'he  iiidrcs  of  L'hinese  life,  eclectic  as  it  is, 
cannot  thus  all  he  found  in  the  teaching's  of  the  L'hisslrs  alone. 

One  need  not  he  surprised,  therefore,  to  fmd  in  the  t "hinese 
Weltanschauung  a  place  for  the  pessimism  that  one  nuets  with  in 
the  pronotmcements  of  Jesus,  "lie  that  loveth  father  or  mother 
more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me,"  said  he.  And  further,  "If  any 
man  cometh  tmto  me,  and  lea\eth  not  his  father  and  mother  and 
wife  and  children,  he  cannot  l)e  my  disciple."  Here  is  the  origin 
of  the  system  that,  backed  by  .St.  Lauks  recommendation  of  celibacy 
for  Christ's  followers,  ultimately  dexeloped  into  Christian  uKjuasti- 
cism  and  the  ethics  of  retreat  from  the  "world  and  the  llesh."  The 
selfsame  doctrine  of  holiness  by  means  of  asceticism  and  self- 
mortification  has  had  a  long  tradition  in  jire-Confucian  China  as 
well  as  in  China  since  the  age  of  Lao-tze  and  Confucius.  Even  in 
the  earliest  ages  of  Chinese  history  perfection,  holiness,  or  divinity 
were  held  to  be  exclusively  attainable  by  dispassion,  ajxithy,  will- 
lessness,  unconcernedness  about  the  pleasures  and  pains  of  life, 
quietism,  or  wH-iL'ei.  Emperor  Hwang-ti  of  hoary  antiquity  is  men- 
tioned by  Chwang-tze  (fourth  century  B.C.).  the  great  follower 
of  Lao-tze,  as  having  retired  for  three  months  in  order  to  prepare 
himself  for  receiving  the  Tao  from  an  ascetic  who  practised  free- 
dom from  mental  agitation. 

Along  with  this  pessimistic  strand  of  Christianity,  Chinese 
moral  consciousness  can  also  display  the  mystical  leanings  of  Jesus 
as  manifest  in  such  declarations  as  "The  Kingdom  of  God  is  wdthin 
you,"  or  "j\Iy  Kingdom  is  not  of  this  world."  Thus,  says  Chwang- 
tze,  "Be  free  yourself  from  stibjcctive  ignorance  and  individual 
peculiarities,  find  the  Tao  in  your  own  being,  and  von  will  be  able 
to  find  it  in  others  too,  because  the  Tao  cannot  be  one  in  one  thing 
and  another  in  another."  And  according  to  the  Tao  Teh  Kijig.  the 
Bible  of  Taoism,  "mighty  is  he  who  con(]uers  himself."     k\irther, 


672  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

"If  you  keep  behind,  you  sHall  be  in  front,"  or  "He  who  is  content 
has  enough."  These  are  the  tenets  of  passivism  and  non-resistance 
that  Jesus  stood  for  when  he  advised  his  followers  to  "render  unto 
Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's." 

We  need  not  dwell  on  the  ascetic  or  pietistic  ideals  and  insti- 
tutions of  Buddhism,  as  the  Plotinuses,  the  St.  Francises,  the  Jaco- 
pone  da  Todis,  the  Boehmes,  the  Ruysbroeks,  and  the  Guyons  of 
India  are  too  well  known.  We  have  rather  to  emphasize,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  fact  that  transcendentalism,  idealism,  or  mysticism 
is  not  the  only  attitude  or  philosophy  of  ethical  life  advanced  by,  or 
associated  with,  the  religious  systems  of  the  world.  Not  less  is  the 
ethics  of  positivism,  i.  e.,  of  humanitarian  energism  (viriya)  and 
social  service  or  brotherhood  (sarva-sattva-uiaitrec) ,  a  prominent 
feature  in  Buddhism,  in  Christianity,  and  in  the  moral  dicta  of 
Chinese  sages  like  Confucius,  Moh-ti,  the  preacher  of  universal  love, 
and  Mencius,  the  advocate  of  tyrannicide.  There  is  no  doubt  a 
great  difference  in  the  manner  in  which  the  categories  have  been 
stated  in  the  three  systems,  especially  as  regards  the  intellectual 
analysis  or  psychological  classification  of  the  cardinal  virtues  and 
vices.  But  from  the  view-point  of  moral  discipline,  none  but  a 
hidebound  linguist  or  a  student  of  formal  logic  can  fail  to  notice 
the  pragmatic  identity  of  life  governed  by  the  "Eightfold  Path" 
of  Shakya,  the  "Five  Duties"  of  Confucius,  and  the  "Ten  Com- 
mandments" of  the  Bible.  Nay,  like  the  Mosaic  dictates,  the  Con- 
fucian and  Shakyan  principles  are  too  elementary  to  have  been 
missed  by  the  prophets  of  any  race. 

The  most  important  tenet  in  Confucius's  moral  creed  is  to  be 
found  in  the  idea  of  "reciprocity."  It  is  thus  worded  in  his  Doctrine 
of  the  Mean  :  "What  you  do  not  wish  others  should  do  unto  you, 
do  not  do  unto  them."  In  a  negative  form  this  is  indeed  the  golden 
rule  of  Luke :  "As  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  also 
to  them  likewise."  In  any  treatment  of  fellow-beings  Shakya's 
injunction  also  is  "to  put  oneself  in  the  place  of  others"  (attanam 
iipaiiiaui  kofz'ii) .     We  read  in  the  DJiammapada: 

"All  men  tremlile  at  punisliment,  all  men  fear  death:  Putting  yourself  in 
the  place  of  others,  kill  not  nor  cause  slaughter. 

All  men  tremhle  at  the  rod,  all  men  love  life.  Doing  as  you  would  be  done 
by,  kill  not  nor  cause  to  kill." 

Reciprocity  is  thtis  the  common  golden  rule  of  the  three  world- 
religions. 

The  formtilation  of  this   rtile  was  the  distinctive  contribution 


Tiir:  FRESCOES  OF  TiiF  HoKvrn.  673 

of  I'onfucius  to  C'hiiicso  life.  llis  c;ilcelii>in  nf  nigral  (lisci])line 
points  out.  further,  that  the  duties  of  uuixersal  ohh^ation  are  U\c, 
and  the  moral  i|u;dities  hv  whieh  the\'  are  carried  out  are  three. 
The  duties  are  those  hetween  ruler  aud  suliji'et.  hetweeu  lather  .and 
son.  hetween  hushaud  aud  wife,  hetweeu  elder  hrotiier  and  younj^er, 
and  those  in  the  iutereourse  hetweeu  friends.  Intellit^cuce,  moral 
character,  aud  courage,  these  are  the  three  universally  reco,i;uized 
moral  (|ualities  of  man.  'Jdie  ])crformauce  of  these  duties  is  the 
sine  qua  }ioii  of  "!.,food  manners."'  In  the  ("onfucian  system  the 
tenet  of  reciprocity  leads  thus  to  the  cult  of  "propriety."  lu  the 
Shakvau  discipline  also  we  ha\e  the  same  pro])ri.ty  in  the  doctrine 
of  sccla  ("'conduct"'),  'ihe  path  leadiuLC  to  cessation  of  misery 
is  descrihed  in  the  D'uiha  Xikaya  as  consisting-  in  ri^ht  helief.  right 
resolve,  rijj^ht  speech.  ri<^ht  hehavior.  risj^ht  occupation.  ri<,dit  elYort. 
riglit  contemplation,  and  right  concentration.  It  is  ohvious  that 
some  of  the  conditions  stated  here.  es])ecia]ly  those  in  regard  to 
speech,  hehavior.  and  occupation,  are  "other-regarding."  i.  e..  ha\e 
a  social  signiticance  in  the  system  of  self-culture. 

Lest  the  social  energism  of  Shakyan  morals  he  ignored,  it  is 
necessary  to  point  out  that  af^paiiiada.  or  vigilance,  streuuousuess, 
and  activity,  is  the  first  article  in  the  Buddhist  monk's  creed  of  life. 
''By  rousing  himself,  hy  earnestness,  by  restraint  and  control,"  says 
Shakya  in  the  Phamiiiapada.  "the  wise  man  may  make  for  himself 
an  island  that  no  flood  can  overwhelm....  Marnest  among  the 
thoughtless,  awake  among  the  sleepers,  the  wise  man  advances  like 
a  racer  leaving  behind  the  hack....  'fhe  mendicant  who  delights 
in  earnestness  and  looks  with  fear  on  thoughtlessness  moves  ahotit 
like  fire,  burning  all  his  fetters  small  and  large."  It  is  moral  and 
intellectual  gymnasts  such  as  these.  "mo\ing  about  like  fire."  that 
built  the  first  hospitals  of  the  world  for  men  and  animals,  estab- 
lished rest-houses  and  planted  trees  for  wayfarers,  popularized  the 
trial  1)v  jury  and  the  methods  of  election,  \oting.  quorum,  etc.,  in 
democratic  assemblies,  and  founded  imiversities,  academies,  and 
other  seats  of  learning  in  India,  China,  and  Japan. 

THE  FRESCOES  OF  THE  ITORYUJI. 

liV   HARADA  JIRO. 

TO\'KRS  of  old  art  of  Japan  are  much  concerned  in  the  rare 
V  frescoes  of  the  Horyiiji  near  Xara.  the  oldest  Piuddhistic  temple 
in  Japan.  Our  government  has  taken  an  active  interest  in  them  and 
the  Department  of  Education  has  recently  made  an  appropriation 


674 


THE  OPEN   COURT. 


and  appointed  a  committee  of   eight  to  investigate  the  ways  and 
means  for  their  preservation. 

Hekiga,  or  wall-paintings,^   are  extremely  rare  in  Japan,  and 
those  of  the   Horyuji  are  considered  to  be  most   important   from 


No.  1.* 


both  an  historic  and  an  art  standpoint.  The  frescoes  in  question 
are  on  twelve  walls :  four  large  and  eight  smaller  ones,  the  largest 
walls  m^suring  ten   feet  in  height  and  over  eight   feet  in  width, 

^Hcki-ga  is  tlie  Japanese  name  for   fresco,  hcki  meaning  "wall"  and  ga 
meaning  "painting." 

*  For  titles  and  explanatory  notes  see  end  of  article. 


TIIK    l"Ki:S(.(ii;S    OK     Till'.    IIORVI'J 


675 


while  the  others  are  the  same  in  liei^ht  and  ahoul  live  feel  in  width. 
The  fonr  large  freseoes.  a])i)arently  representing,^  domains  in  fonr 
direetions  of  the  nniverse.  are  not  located  on  the  four  sides  of  the 
hall  as  might  naturally  he  expected.  There  are.  to  be  exact,  one 
on  the  east  wall  south  of  the  eastern  entrance  (the  building  has 
entrances  on  four  sides),  another  on  the  we.st  wall  south  of  the 
western  entrance,  and  one  on  each  side  of  the  north  entrance  to  the 
huildin>:.     The  eiuht  smaller  walls  at  the  four  corners  of  the  build- 


U 


So.  2. 


ing  are  also  covered  witli  ])aintings.  there  being  only  one  small  fresco 
on  either  extreme  of  the  south  side  of  the  building,  at  the  middle  of 
which  is  the  front  entrance.  Besides  these,  there  are  between  the 
ceiling  and  the  horizontal  beams,  a  number  of  narrow  parts  of  walls, 
upon  which  are  painted  llying  angels  and  rakcDi  in  the  mountains. - 

-  Rakait  (Skt.  nrhant,  Pali  arnliat)  is  translated  "a  true  man.''  wlio  through 
discipline  has  reached  the  last  stage  of  human  development  and  needs  only 
one  more  existence  to  attain  Biuldhahood.  A  rakaii,  at  the  end  of  the  trans- 
migration of  soul,  .shall  not  be  born  again  to  die;  he  has  destroyed  all  evil 
thoughts  in  his  mind,  has  nothing  more  to  learn,  is  able  to  make  others  happy, 
and  conforms  to  the  truth. 


676 


THE  OlMLN   COURT. 


These  walls  are  on  the  inside  of  one  of  the  main  buildings  of 
the  Horyuji  named  Kondo,  the  chief  sanctuary,  erected  for  the  wor- 
ship of  Shaka-muni.'"'  The  Kondo  stands  opposite  the  Five-storied 
Pagoda.  These  two  structures,  together  with  the  San-mon,  the 
gate,"*  are  the  oldest  wooden  buildings  in  Japan,  being  the  remnants 
of  "the -^original  edifices  of  the  Horyuji,  which  was  found;d  by 
Shotoku-Taishi,  the  Constantine  of  Japanese  Buddhism,  and  corn- 


No.  3. 

pleted  in  607  of  the  Christian  era.  "The  Kondo  now  contains  a 
wonderful  collection  of  art  treasures,  the  acme  of  ancient  Bud- 
dhistic art  in  Japan,     .\mong  them  are  the  Tamamushi-no-zushi,"'  of 

'^  Sbakya-nnini   (Skt.)   is  called  Shaka-muni  in  Japanese. 

•*  A  saii-iiion  is  a  big  gateway,  or  a  gatehouse,  for  it  is  generally  in  two 
stories  with  a  roof,  and  in  the  shape  of  a  house  with  big  portals,  which  are  often 
guarded  by  immense  figures  of  ni-o  (two  deva  kings),  Indra  and  Brahma,  who 
keep  guard  at  the  outer  gate  of  temples  to  scare  away  demons. 

5  A  portable  shrine  magnificently  decorated  with  carvings  and  paintings. 
Wings  of  the  taiimnmslii  (an  insect)  are  held  under  carved  metal  work  for 
decoration — hence  the  name.  Hardly  any  wings  now  remain.  Ziishi  is  the 
Japanese  name  for  a  framework  in  which  sacred  images  are  kept. 


'«ti».'-. 


J^-^*s 


■•..^J 


?%:; 


No.  4. 


678  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

wonderful  workmanship,  some  hammered  figures  and  other  un- 
rivaled works  in  metal,  Shaka-muni.  Yakushi,''  and  several  other 
images  in  bronze,  and  Shitenno,'  Kwannon,  and  other  wooden 
sculptures.  They  all  occupy  a  very  important  position  among  our 
"national  treasures."'*  Whenever  I  meditate  among  these  venerable 
objects,  I  cannot  help  being  deeply  moved  by  the  very  spirit  of  these 
wondrous  figures — by  that  precious  something  which  seems  to  ethe- 
realize  the  hard  substances  of  which  the  images  are  made,  to  a  vision 
of  truth  conceived  by  the  great  spiritual  teacher  of  the  East.  Here 
the  spiritual  atmosphere,  with  its  mysterious  vibration,  is  overpow- 
ering. Some  of  the  figures  stand  as  living  witnesses  of  the  univer- 
sality of  truth,  the  oneness  of  the  light  toward  which  all  souls  turn. 

The  fresco  paintings  present  to  us  an  interesting  phase  of 
foreign  influence  upon  our  art.  It  is  apparent  that  Hindu  and  Persian 
influences  are  discernible  in  them,  in  general  form  and  features  of 
the  images,  in  the  quality  of  lines,  in  feeling,  and  in  technique. 
Whether  these  influences  have  come  direct  from  their  sources,  or 
through  Chinese  or  Korean  channels,  is  still  a  matter  of  dispute 
among  our  scholars.  Not  only  that,  but  we  have  been  unable  to  agree 
upon  the  period  of  the  paintings  on  these  walls,  much  less  upon  the 
artist  who  painted  them.  According  to  the  tradition  handed  down  at 
the  temple,  the  wall-paintings  were  executed  by  a  Korean  priest, 
Doncho.  So  far,  investigations  seem  to  indicate  that  the  walls  and 
paintings  are  as  old  as  the  building,  with  traces  of  restoration  at  a 
later  period.  Only  one  wall  is  an  exception,  the  large  wall  on  the 
east,  which  seems  to  have  been  reconstructed  and  newly  painted 
in  the  Kamakura  period."    However,  this  is  by  no  means  conclusive. 

To  add  to  our  troubles,  we  are  not  quite  clear  even  upon  the 
subjects  of  these  paintings  on  the  walls — at  least,  not  upon  most  of 
them.  The  four  large  walls  have  group  subjects,  while  the  eight 
others  treat  single  figures.     According  to  an  old  catalog  which  has 

6  Yakushi  is  the  Healing  Buddha.  He  heals  all  kinds  of  diseases  and  is 
also  called  upon  to  heal  in  the  next  life  the  miserable  condition  of  man's  pres- 
ent existence. 

^  Shi-tenno,  meaning  "four  heavenly  kings" — who  guard  the  world  against 
the  attacks  of  demons,  each  defending  one  quarter  of  the  horizon. 

^  By  a  committee  appointed  by  the  government  art  objects  in  possession 
of  Buddhist  temples  and  Shinto  shrines  are  examined  from  time  to  time  and 
worthy  objects  are  classed  as  "national  treasure"  to  be  taken  care  of  by  the 
government. 

^  The  Kamakura  period  begins  with  the  year  HSO  (according  to  the  Chris- 
tian era)  when  Yoritomo  established  his  capital  at  Kamakura,  and  lasted  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  It  was  in  the  latter  half  of  this  period  that  the 
minute  and  realistic  style  of  Buddhistic  paintings  was  first  highly  developed. 


No.  5. 


680  Tllli  OPEN   COURT. 

long  been  considered  authentic,  the  central  figures  in  the  groups 
of  the  four  big  walls  are:  Amida  (Amitayus)^'^  south  of  the  west 
entrance,  Ilosho  (Ratnasambhava)  south  of  the  east  entrance, 
Yakushi  (Bhaisajyaguruvaiduryaprabhasa-Tathagata)  east  of  the 
north  entrance,  and  Shaka-muni  west  of  the  north  entrance,  there 
being  no  mention  of  the  minor  wall-paintings.  However,  the  de- 
scription does  not  seem  to  suit  some  of  them.  The  names  for  the 
single  figures  on  the  eight  smaller  walls  have  not  been  agreed  upon 
either.  The  difficulty  lies  chiefly  in  our  inability  to  determine  the 
sutra  in  which  the  artist  must  have  sought  for  inspiration,  though 
it  is  now  conceded  by  many — and  not  without  reason — that  the 
subject  must  have  been  drawn  from  the  Konkoinyo  Siitra.'^^  The 
dispute  can  only  be  settled  by  further'study  and  investigation.  As 
shown  in  the  reproductions,  the  frescoes  are  badly  cracked  and 
partly  obliterated  by  time,  but  they  stand  unicjue  in  our  art. 

An  appeal  is  being  made  by  certain  scholars  to  take  a  radical 
step  for  a  permanent  protection  of  these  irreplaceable  art  treasures 
of  the  East.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  best  way  would  be  to 
construct  a  suitable  museum  building  on  the  temple  grounds,  to 
which  the  walls  should  be  moved  bodily  and  kept  in  a  horizontal 
position  under  glass.  However,  the  difficulty  is  that  the  paintings 
are  not  only  an  object  of  art  but  of  worship,  inseparable  from  the 
sanctuary  erected  some  thirteen  centuries  ago  for  the  worship  of 
Shaka-muni.  So  it  is  needless  to  say  that  the  temple  authorities 
are  adverse  to  the  proposition.  It  has  been  decided  for  the  time 
being  that  the  paintings  will  be  kept  in  their  present  position  under 
cover. 

For  us  it  is  extremely  interesting  to  consider,  in  this  connection, 
the  intimate  relation  of  art  to  religion,  of  the  sense  of  beauty  to  the 
spirit  of  worship,  and  to  ponder  upon  the  wonderful  works  of  art 
produced  in  ancient  times  when  Buddhism  was  strong  in  Japan, 
the  best  examples  of  which  are  yet  to  be  found  in  the  temples  at 
Nara,  the  ancient  capital  of  the  empire,  and  in  those  of  its  vicinity, 
such  as  the  Horyuji,  Yakushiji,  and  Toshodaiji. 

^°  Amida  is  the  Japanese  name  for  Skt.  Amitayus  or  Amitabha.  By  com- 
bining the  two  names  Amita  was  obtained,  and  the  Japanese  Amida  is  derived 
from  it.  Amida  was  originally  an  al^straction — the  ideal  of  "boundless  light." 
In  some  sects  Amida  is  a  powerful  deity  dwelling  in  a  lovely  paradise  to  the 
west. 

1^  The  Konkoinyo  Sutra  is  composed  of  four  volumes  with  eighteen  chap- 
ters. It  was  preached  widely  since  the  Nara  period  (from  709  to  784  in  the 
Christian  era,  when  Buddhism  flourished  in  Japan).  It  contains  teachings  now 
upheld  by  the  Tendai  sect.  The  following  are  the  six  principal  denominations 
of  Buddhism  existing  to-day  in  Japan,  classed  in  the  order  of  their  numerical 
importance  :  Zen,  Shin  or  Monto,  Shingon,  Jodo,  Nichiren  or  Hokke,  Tendai. 


kl 


■"•-iv 


0¥. 


-^f 


/? 


4^ 


I 


^MMmi 


No.  6. 


682  THE  OPEN   COURT. 


NOTES  ON  ILLUSTRATIONS.  -     / 

The  Horyiiji  consists  of  a  group  of  buildings.  Ji  at  the  end 
of  the  word  is  the  Chinese  pronunciation  of  a  character  which  stands 
for  "temple"  in  English.  It  is  tcra  in  Japanese  and  refers  only  to 
Buddhist  temples.  The  term  is  also  used  for  "monastery."  A 
tcra  may  be  a  single  building,  but  strictly  speaking  it  should  con- 
tain the  following  seven  structures : 

San-nion — a  gateway.  ' 

ButsH-dcn — a  large  building  containing  images  of  the  Buddha 
and  saints,  Bntsu  meaning  Buddha,  and  den  a  hall  or 
building. 

Ho-do — ho  meaning  the  Law  and  do  meaning  temple  or  hall. 
The  hall  in  which  Buddhism  is  expounded  and  preached. 

So-do — so  meaning  priests.    A  building  for  the  priests  to  live  in. 

Yoku-do — a  bath-house. 

Kuriya — kitchen. 

Kazvaya — water-closet,  a  separate  building  which  hundreds  of 
worshipers  may  use. 

Some  temples  have  additional  buildings.  The  Horyuji  has 
many,  such  as  the  Go-ju-no-to  ("Five-storied  Pagoda"),  the  Yume- 
dono  (literally  "Dream  Hall,"  which  was  used  for  meditation),  etc. 

The  Kondo  ("Golden  Hall,"  kon  meaning  gold,  and  do  a  hall) 
is  the  main  building,  the  chief  sanctuary,  corresponding  to  the 
Butsu-den  in  the  list  of  buildings  given  above.  The  name  kondo 
is  used  only  in  large  and  important  temples. 

No.  1.    The  Kondo  and  the  Five-storied  Pagoda  of  the  Horyuji. 

No.  2.  The  painting — Amida  and  a  group  of  Sonja  (high-souled 
venerable  disciples  of  the  Buddha) — on  the  large  west  wall  of  the 
Kondo. 

No.  3.  The  painting — possibly  Hosho-butsu  and  a  group  of 
Sonja — on  the  large  wall  east  of  the  north  entrance  of  the  Kondo. 

Hosho-butsu  is  one  of  the  Buddhas  and  controls  the  life  of  all 
things  with  a  power  to  bestow  the  enjoyment  of  life. 

No.  4.  A  part  of  the  painting — possibly  Ashiku-butsu  and  a 
group  of  Sonja- — on  a  large  space  between  pillars  on  the  east  wall 
of  the  Kondo. 

Ashiku  signifies  non-movement,  immovability,  and  non-anger. 
Butsu  is  honorific.  According  to  a  sutra,  countless  ages  ago,  Ashiku, 
through  the  influence  of  Dai-nichi  Nyorai,  turned  to  religion,  dis- 


No.  7. 


684  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

ciplined  himself  and  attained  Buddhahood  and  built  a  land  of  purity 
(an  imaginary  region)  where  he  still  preaches. 

Dai-nichi  Nyorai  is  the  personification  of  wisdom  and  of  ab- 
solute purity. 

No.  5.  The  painting — possibly  a  Bosatsu — on  the  partition  on 
the  east  wall  of  the  Kondo  at  the  southeast  corner. 

A  Bosatsu  is  a  Buddhistic  saint  of  high  attainment,  struggling 
to  obtain  perfect  enlightenment  and  seeking  to  save  the  world :  sub- 
mitting himself  to  discipline  with  great  craving  for  wisdom  from 
above  and  for  mercy  to  bestow  upon  those  below  him  in  the  world. 

No.  6.  The  painting — possibly  of  Sho-Kwannon — on  the  par- 
tition on  the  south  wall  at  the  southeast  corner  (facing  the  afore- 
mentioned Bosatsu)   of  the  Kondo. 

Sho-Kwannon  is  one  of  the  six  forms  of  Kwannon,  goddess  of 
mercy.  Sho-Kwannon  stands  for  wisdom  and  generally  has  a  lotus 
bud  in  her  left  hand,  and  is  showing  the  form  of  an  opened  lotus 
flower  in  her  right  hand.  This  form  signifies  her  power  to  open 
to  full  blossom  the  hidden  possibilities  in  men. 

No.  7.  The  painting  of  Fugen  Bosatsu  on  the  partition  of  the 
north  wall  at  the  northeast  corner  of  the  Kondo. 

Fugen  Bosatsu  is  the  highest  among  the  Bosatsu  and  is  always 
associated  with  Monju  Bosatsu.  Fugen  stands  for  compassion. 
Monju  for  wisdom.  Fugen  rides  on  a  white  elephant,  while  Monju 
rides  on  a  lion.  The  attributes  of  Fugen  are  symbolized  by  the 
elephant,  vi/hich  stands  for  the  latent  power  that  endures  and  accom- 
plishes things,  while  Monju  symbolizes  the  power  of  wisdom  to 
destroy  sham  and  find  the  truth  with  the  keenness  and  force  of  a 
lion  in  attack.  Fugen  and  Monju  are  seen  attendant  on  either  side 
of  Shaka-muni  (the  Perfect  One,  the  founder  of  Buddhism).  Fugen 
also  has  power  to  prolong  one's  life. 

No.  8.  The  painting — possibly  Juichimen  Kwannon  (eleven- 
faced  Kwannon) — on  the  partition  of  the  east  wall  at  the  northeast 
corner   (facing  Fugen  Bosatsu)   of  the  Kondo. 

Juichimen  Kwannon  is  one  of  the  six  forms  of  Kwannon,  god- 
dess of  mercy.  It  has  ten  small  heads  on  the  head  of  the  main 
figure,  the  three  front  heads  bearing  a  countenance  of  compassion, 
the  three  to  the  left  one  of  anger,  and  the  three  to  the  right  showing 
teeth.  They  represent  the  attributes  of  Juichimen  Kwannon  as 
rejoicing  at  the  good  and  sneering  and  laughing  at  the  bad.  The 
main  face  is  neither  laughing  nor  sad,  showing  the  bigness  of  the 
soul  to  swallow  both  good  and  bad,  the  pure  and  impure.  The  small 
head  on  the  top  shows  the  face  of  a  Buddha  of  true  enlightenment. 


No.  8. 


THE  OPEN   COURT. 


No.   9. 


No.  9.  The  painting — possibly  Miroku  Bosatsu — on  the  parti- 
tion of  the  north  wall  at  the  northwest  corner  of  the  Kondo. 

Miroku  Bosatsu  stands  preeminent  for  his  compassion  and  wis- 


FK1-: SCOLDS  c»F  Till':  ii(imr[i. 


687 


dom.  According  to  one  \orsion.  Mirokn  l)ci,fan  striving-  for  per- 
fection many  years  before  Shaka-mnni  aiul  is  to  appear  in  this  world 
as  a  perfect  P.nddlia  at  a  time  in  the  future  to  take  the  place  of 
Shaka-muni  in  Icadiuij  men  to  salvation. 


.No.  10. 


No.  10.  The  San-mon,  the  gateway,  and  the  Five-storied  Pagoda 
of  the  Horyuji. 


688  THE  OPEN   COURT. 


BIBLE  QUOTATIONS  AND  CHINESE  CUSTOMS. 

BY  JULIUS  J.   PRICE. 

SCHLEIERAIACHER  has  well  remarked  that  "no  religion  is 
wholly  new,  as  the  same  basic  ideas  reappear  in  all."^  And  if 
one  considers  the  universality  of  some  practices'-  he  might  believe 
that  it  points  to  a  time  when  the  ancestors  of  all  nations  lived  to- 
gether and  so  derived  the  knowledge  from  a  common  source.  But 
in  spite  of  this  fact,  each  religion  tries  to  realize  that  only  in  its 
respective  religious  consciousness  can  the  truth  be  possessed.^  On 
the  other  hand,  if  we  examine  the  sacred  books  of  the  three  great 
religions  of  the  world,  it  becomes  evident  even  to  the  most  casual 
observer  that  there  are  common  basic  ideas  in  all  of  them.  It  is 
now  an  accepted  fact,  advanced  by  theologians,  that  Christianity  bor- 
rowed largely  not  only  from  Judaism  but  also  from  the  pagan  cults 
with  which  it  came  in  contact.*  Mohammedanism  in  its  turn  bor- 
rowed from  both  Judaism  and  Christianity.  And  so  we  could  con- 
tinue comparisons''  to  show  that  no  religion  alone  "is  wholly  new, 
as  the  same  basic  ideas  reappear  in  all." 

In  the  light  of  such  facts  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  then,  that 
on  comparing  the  sacred  writings  and  customs  of  the  Chinese  with 
those  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,"  a  similitude  of  thought  as 
well  as  of  ideas  becomes  evident  to  the  student.'  The  following 
few  examples  will  illustrate  this  contention.^ 

In  Isaiah  Ivii.  6,  we  read,  "Among  the  smooth  stones  of  the 
stream  is  thy  portion  ;  they,  they  are  thy  lot ;  even  to  them  hast  thou 
poured  a  drink  ofifering,  thou  hast  offered  a  meat  offering."  The 
worship  of  smooth  stones''  is  attested  by  many  ancient  writers  to 

^  Stade,  Akadcuiische  Rcdcn,  etc.,  Giessen,  1899,  p.  57. 

-  Com]).,  e.  g.,  Lansdell,  The  Tithe  in  Scripture,  p.  18. 

"  Hegel's  Gcschiclite  der  Religion,  Vol.  I,  Chap.  5. 

*  Conybeare,  Mytli,  Magic,  Morals   (passim). 

5  Reinach,  Orpheus,  a  History  of  Religions  (passim). 

^  See  Bergson,  Introduction  to  Metaphysics. 

"^  Baron  von  Hiigel,  Mystical  Elements  of  Religion,  Vol.  I,  Chap.  2. 

s  Loisy,  The  Religion  of  Israel,  p.  SO. 

"  Comp.  Talmud  :  "R.  Simon  ben  Yochai  said,  'A  precious  stone  was  worn 
round  the  neck  by  our  father  Abraham,  and  every  sick  man  who  beheld  it 
was  restored  to  health.  When  our  father  Abraham  died  God  suspended  the 
stone  from  the  sun.'  Abbaye  said,  'This  accounts  for  the  proverb,  When  the 
sun  rises  the  illness  decreases.'  " — "Baba  Bathra,"  16B. 


im?LE  QUOTATIONS   AND   Cll  1  N  I'.Sl-:   CL'STOMS.  689 

have  been  an  outstanding  feature  in  tlie  character  of  heathen  wor- 
ship. Tlieophrastus  well  remarked  that  "jiassini^  by  the  anointed 
stones  in  the  streets,  the  heathen  takes  out  his  x'vaI  of  oil.  jjours  it 
on  them,  and  ha\ins:;[  fallen  on  his  knees  and  made  his  admonition, 
he  departs."  Amons^  the  Semites'"  there  must  have  been  a  belief 
that  a  stone  was  the  hal>itation  of  the  deity.  Herodotus"  tells  us 
that  the  Arab  had  j^rcit  reverence  for  stones,  lie  must  worship 
cverv  white  and  beautiful  stone,  and  when  it  was  impossible  to  find 
such,  he  was  so  crude  as  to  worship  a  hill  of  sand.  Tiefore  de])artin<^ 
on  a  iourney,  the  Arab  would  take  with  him  four  stones,  three  of 
Avhich  were  to  serve  the  purpose  of  a  hearth,  the  fourth  to  be  used 
as  an  idol.  In  cases  where  stones  were  not  a\ailal)le.  the  Aral)  while 
on  the  road  would  worship  any  stones  or  heap  of  sand  that  he  found 
in  the  neis^hborhood.^-  "The  adoration  of  stones  anions:  the  Ish- 
maelites."  says  Ibn  Ishak.  "ori,<jinated  in  the  custom  of  men  carrying 
a  stone  from  the  sacred  enclosure  of  Mecca  ;  where  they  went  they 
set  it  up  and  made  circuits  round  about  it  as  al)out  the  Kaa1)a.  till  at 
last  thev  adored  everv  goodly  stone  they  saw,  forgot  their  religion. 
and  changed  the  faith  of  Abraham  and  Ishmael  into  the  worship  of 
stones."  The  Deuteronomic  historian  regarded  the  downfall  of  the 
people  as  due  to  the  erecting  of  stones  by  Juda  in  Israel. 

In  China,  a  water-worn  stone  ele\ated  upon  a  rude  altar  repre- 
sented the  shaysliJi.  or  gods  of  the  land.  I'efore  this  altar,  incense 
sticks  were  constantly  Ijurned.  Every  village  and  every  street  of 
twenty-five  families  erected  one  of  these  altars,  and  in  the  s]iring 
and  autumn  worshiped  the  deities  su])posed  to  be  enshrined  ujion  it. 
These  gods  were  held  in  j^articular  veneration  bv  the  agricultural 
classes,  who  with  the  aid  of  the  priests  invoked  a  blessing  u]:)on  the 
season  at  certain  times,  generally  on  the  second  of  the  second  month. 
The  i)riests.  three  or  four  in  number,  not  loath  to  perform  so  jovous 
a  ceremony,  arri\-ed  dressed  in  robes  of  yellow  and  green,  accom- 
panied bv  a  few  musicians  with  their  instruments.  Thev  were  at- 
tended l)y  their  emjdoyers,  and  a  ser\ant  bearing  a  tray  filled  with 
cakes,  preserves,  and  meats  proceeded  them,  followed  by  another 
carrying  several  small  cups  and  a  can  of  spirits.  On  approaching 
the  altar  the  eatables  were  ])rescnted  before  the  stones,  and  then 
the  jjriests  made  a  libation  bjfore  .and  uj)oii  ii  of  three  cups  of  spirits. 

^"  Comp.   Gen.   xxviii ;   comp.   also   tlie   Greek   boclutus.     Tlie   PlKcnicians 
also  worshiped  stones  in  the  temple  of  Melkart  at  Tyre,  comp.  Herod.,  II,  44. 

1'  Comp.  Herod.,  Ill,  8. 

^-  Can   this  be   a   remnant   of  the   Canaanitcs'   custom    against   whicli    the 
Deuteronomic  Code  was  issued?    Comp.  Deut.  xii.  3,  also  xvi.  22. 


690  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

At  the  sound  of  a  flourish  upon  a  gong  and  trumpet,  the  priest 
mumbled  over  the  prescibed  form  of  blessing  upon  the  neighboring 
fields,  which  was  not  understood  by  reason  of  its  rapid  enunciation. 
After  the  prayer,  a  second  libation  was  sometimes  poured  out  before 
the  priest  and  attendants  passed  on  to  the  next  altar.  During  this 
ceremony,  great  glee  was  manifested  by  all  spectators,  caused  no 
doubt  by  the  seemingly  good  humor  of  the  priest.  The  landlord, 
considering  the  expense  incurred,  did  not  show  so  jovial  a  coun- 
tenance. One  can  almost  imagine  a  similar  custom  to  have  existed 
in  the  days  of  Isaiah. 

In  Proverbs  xxv.  3,  we  read  as  follows:  "The  heaven  for  height, 
and  the  earth  for  depth,  and  the  heart  of  kings  is  unsearchable."  In 
comparing  the  following  aphorism  from  the  Ming-sin  Paou  Keen, 
we  seem  to  find  the  very  same  thought.  Here  we  read,  "The  fish 
dwell  in  the  bottom  of  the  water,  and  the  eagles  in  the  sides  of 
heaven ;  the  one  though  high  may  be  reached  by  an  arrow,  and  the 
other  though  deep  may  be  angled  for ;  but  the  heart  of  man  at  only 
a  cubit's  distance  cannot  be  known.  Heaven  can  be  spanned,  earth 
can  be  fathomed,  but  the  heart  of  man  cannot  be  measured." 

In  Eccl.  vii.  6,  we  read,  "For  as  the  crackling  of  thorns  under 
a  pot  so  is  the  laughter  of  the  fool."  The  coarse  grass  which  grows 
upon  the  hillsides  in  the  islands  about  Macao  is  used  by  the  poor 
Chinese  as  a  substitute  for  wood,  which  is  too  expensive  for  cooking 
purposes.  It  consists  for  the  most  part  of  a  species  of  Andropogon. 
The  natives  cut  it  in  the  autumn  and  store  it  in  bundles  for  winter's 
use.  In  its  unsubstantial  nature  it  resembles  the  dry  thorns  used 
for  fuel  in  Judea  ;  and  its  crackling  blaze  and  great  flame  and  noise 
giving  no  heat  in  the  burning  or  coals  in  the  embers,  reminds  one 
of  the  laughter  of  a  fool. 

In  Job  xix.  23-24,  we  read,  "Oh  that  my  words  were  now  writ- 
ten !  oh  that  they  were  printed  in  a  book !  That  they  were  graven 
with  an  iron  pen  and  lead  in  the  rock  forever!"  Engraved  rocks, 
to  commemorate  remarkable  events,  are  seen  in  China,  though  not 
in  such  vast  numbers  as  in  Persia  and  India.  This  is  explained  by 
the  fact  that  the  literature  of  the  Chinese  obviates  the  necessity  for 
such  crude  expressions  of  commendation.  The  smoothened  surface 
of  rocks  in  Asitu,  when  they  lie  in  spots  esteemed  lucky,  are  en- 
graved with  characters  under  the  direction  of  geomancers  or  fung- 
shzviiy  doctors.  Characters  of  this  order  are  supposed  to  exert  a 
beneficial  influence  upon  the  surrounding  country.  Great  skill  is 
often  displayed  in  the  cutting  of  the  sentences  and  names  on  the 
pillars  and  door-posts  of  the  temples.     These  inscriptions  are  em- 


nUU.K   (jroTATKiNS    AND    (   1 1  1  N  l-.SK    Cl'STOMS.  691 

ployed  to  commemorate  distiiii^nnshecl  and  lionored  individuals,  but 
often  are  merclv  um-hI  for  ornament's  sake.  Just  as  the  Romans 
anciently  published  their  Twelve  Tables,  so  the  Chinese  government 
also  employed  this  mode  of  establishing  laws  and  regulations.  The 
characters  are  jjlainly  and  deeply  engraven  upon  the  marble,  and 
the  slab  is  set  np  in  a  conspicuous  place,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
shelter  it  from  the  destroying  influence  of  climatic  conditions. 

If  we  turn  to  the  New  Testament  and  compare  several  of  the 
customs  alluded  to  therein,  with  those  of  the  Chinese,  we  shall  be 
able  to  tind  a  ver\-  similitude  between  them  and  those  of  the  early 
inhabitants  of  the  Chinese  Empire.  The  more  we  examine  the  old 
in  a  new  illustration,  the  more  we  become  aware  of  their  exactitude. 

In  Matthew  vi.  7.  we  read,  'T.nt  when  yon  pray,  use  not  vain 
repetitions  as  the  heatlien  do  :  for  they  think  they  shall  be  heard  for 
their  much  sjx^aking."  The  following  passage  from  the  books  of 
the  Buddhists  may  show'  why  such  a  caution  had  to  be  given  by  the 
writers  of  the  Xew  Testament  as  well  as  by  later  Chinese  authorities. 
It  is  sup])Osed  to  be  a  canon  delivered  by  Fuh  to  be  repeated  for  the 
prevention  of  all  misfortunes  and  for  the  attaining  of  life  in  the 
world  to  come.  The  prayer  is  supposed  to  be  repeated  three  times. 
It  reads  as  1  ha\e  it  b.'fore  me:  "Xan-mo  ( )-me-to  po-yay,  to-ta-kae 
to-vay,  to-te-yay-ta,  ( )-me-Ie-too  po-kwan,  O-me-le-to,  seeh-tan-po- 
kwan,  ( )-me-leto,  kwan-kea-lan-te,  O-me-le-to,  kwan-kea-lan-te : 
kea-me-ne,   kea-kea-na,   chih-to-kca-le  po-po-ha." 

This  prayer  is  unintelligible  to  the  average  Chinaman.  It  is 
stated  on  very  good  authority  that  not  one  out  of  every  hundred 
priests  in  China  understands  it.  It  is  composed  of  bare  sounds  of 
Sanskrit  words  expressed  as  nearly  as  possible  by  Chinese  words. 
The  order  of  procedure  with  regard  to  this  prayer  was  as  fol- 
lows: wliile  the  pri'.st  would  rcju-at  the  prayer  very  (|uickly  another 
priest  would  beat  u])on  a  drum  in  order  to  arouse  the  god.  This 
dnuii  was  always  made  of  wood  inasmuch  as  it  was  a  common 
belief  that  the  e\il  spirit  could  not  attack  a  drum  made  of  wood. 
The  above  jumbled  phrases  were  mumbled  in  a  miserable  fashion 
by  the  Chinese  priest.  Translated  as  well  as  ])ossible,  they  mean: 
"The  God  Ometo  (Amita  )  rests  on  top  of  the  heads  of  those  who 
repeat  this  prayer  in  ord;:r  to  save  them  from  their  enemies,  to  render 
them  safe  and  comfortal)le  in  life,  and  to  confer  on  them  any  mode 
of  future  existence  which  they  may  at  the  hour  of  death  desire." 
I  have  been  informed,  if  the  prayer  is  recited  thirty  myriad  times, 
the  person  reciting  it  can  have  anything  he  desires  and  will  be  sure 
to  be  at  no  distance  from  the  personal  vision  of  the  god  (  )meto. 


692  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

Later  Chinese  theologians  as  w:ll  as  the  author  of  the  above- 
quoted  Xew  Testament  verse  began  to  condemn  those  who  repeated 
their  prayers  innumerably. 

But  to  proceed.  Tn  Matthew  xx.  3,  we  read,  "And  he  went 
out  about  the  third  hour,  and  saw  others  standing  idle  in  the 
market-place."  If  one  was  to  pass  through  the  streets  of  Peking 
or  Canton,  one  would  be  impressed  with  the  crowds  of  porters  or 
coolies  waiting  at  the  most  public  corners  in  the  hope  of  a  day's 
labor,  or  of  being  hired  for  a  week  or  more.  Each  individual  or 
couple  is  provided  with  a  carrying  pole  and  a  pair  of  rope  slings  ; 
and  with  these  they  perform  all  the  services  which  fall  to  their  lot. 
They  are  divid  d  into  companies  and  claim  to  do  all  the  porterage  in 
their  districts.  In  such  towns  where  the  coolies  are  hired  by  the 
month,  these  men  often  stand  idle  the  lifelong  day,  through  want  of 
employment. 

In  ]Mark  vii.  11,  we  read,  "Rut  ve  sav,  if  a  man  shall  say  to 
his  father  or  mother,  it  is  Corban,  that  is  to  say,  a  gift,  by  whatso- 
ever thou  mightest  be  profited  by  me  ;  he  shall  be  free."  In  China, 
it  is  the  custom  for  Buddhist  priests  to  take  an  entire  farewell  of 
the  parents  or  other  relations,  or  as  they  express  it.  chuh  kca,  "to 
go  out  of  the  family,"  and  separate  themselves  from  the  world. 
They  no  longer  owe  any  duty  to  their  parents,  and  according  to  their 
doctrine,  "have  aught  to  do  for  their  father  or  mother."  But  this 
tenet  is  as  directly  opposed  to  the  ethics  of  Confucius  as  to  the  Fifth 
Commandment,  and  is  consequently  practised  by  none  other  than 
the  devotees  of  Buddha.  It  is  among  the  Buddhists  as  it  was  among 
the  Pharisees,  an  unnatural  doctrine  of  the  sect. 

In  Luke  vi.  38.  we  read,  "Good  measure,  pressed  down  and 
shaken  together,  and  running  over,  shall  men  give  into  your  bosom." 
The  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Loochooan  costume  consists  of  a  number 
of  long  robes  similar  to  nightgowns,  which  overlap  in  front  and 
are  secured  1)y  a  girdle  at  the  waist.  One  of  the  gowns  is  fashioned 
and  used  extensively  to  carry  articles.  These  capacious  receptacles 
often  hold  writing-materials,  tobacco,  pipe,  and  pouch,  and  numerous 
other  commodities,  without  inconveniencing  the  wearer.  The  an- 
cient Greeks  and  Hebrews  were  also  accustomed  to  carrying  articles 
in  this  manner.  And  it  is  the  marvel  of  the  careful  observer  that 
they  were  able  to  appear  so  well  in  such  comely  garments. 

In  John  ii.  14,  we  read,  "...  .and  the  changers  of  money  sit- 
ting." The  practice  referred  to  here,  of  persons  keeping  small 
tables  where  money  can  be  changed,  is  more  common  in  China, 
perhaps,  than   in  any  of  the  several   Asiatic  countries  where  it   is 


Tllli:   COSMOS   AM)    ITS   .MKAMN'G.  693 

in  vogue.  Tho>c  who  engage  in  tliis  profession  usually  provide 
themselves  with  a  small  tahlc  ahont  three  feet  long  hy  fifteen  inches 
wide,  iuu\  estahlish  it  in  anv  hns\-  thoroughfare.  The  market,  tenij)le, 
and  street  corner  ]>ro\  c  their  ]>articnlar  haunts,  .and  the  garrulf)nsncss 
of  the  money-lender  adds  to  the  general  confusion  of  the  street 
noises.  The  strings  of  copper  cash,  often  secured  to  the  tahle  hy 
a  chain,  are  piled  u])  on  one  side,  and  the  siKer  together  with  the 
small  ivorv  vard  with  which  it  is  weighed  is  ke]>\  in  drawers.  Their 
sign  is  a  wooden  tigure  car\-ed  in  the  form  of  a  cylinder  to  represent 
a  string  of  cash. 


THE  COSMOS  AXl)  ITS  Ml'.AXJXG. 

r.V    I-KA.VK    R.    WIIITZF.L. 

[hi  tlic  following;'  article.  ^Iv.  Wliitzcl  offers  a  ])hilnsnpliic  interpretation 
of  tlie  tenets  of  the  Psycliical  Research  Society.  W'liile  fundanient.'illy  dis- 
agreeing with  liini  on  the  subject,  Thr  Of'cii  Cmtrt  presents  his  paper  as  an 
able  statement  of  what  some  regard  as  the  only  escape  from  intellectual  and 
moral  despair. — Kd.] 

^T()  one  can  a\-oi(l  holding  some  idea,  clear  or  hazy,  in  regard  to 
-  ^  the  mechanism  and  the  general  purpjDse  of  the  universe.  Since 
the  dawn  of  studv  e.xplanatorv  tlieories  ranging  froiu  crudest  anthro- 
{)omorphisiu  to  purest  suhjecti\isiu  have  hcen  advanced  and,  as 
knowledge  increased,  discarded  or  luodified  :  hut  inherent  weaknesses 
still  render  (hjuhtful  every  possil)le  h\-polhesis.  The  prohlem  has 
heen  approached  through  three  principal  chainiels,  philoso])hy.  reve- 
lation, and  science. 

Philosopiiw 
Ancient  ])hiIosophv,  hegiiming  with  high  confidence,  was  in  the 
end  unahle  to  answer  the  skeptics,  who  denied  that  anything  could 
be  really  proven  since  all  our  faculties  were  liable  to  error:  hence, 
it  was  constrainefl  to  adiuit  that  the  iuu\-crse  might  ])ossiblv  be  but 
a  mental  illusion.  In  luodern  philosoi)hy  the  system  known  as  ideal- 
ism, perceiving  that  nothing  can  be  known  save  as  it  presents  itself 
to  consciousness,  asserts  that  ])hysical  nature  is  the  expression  of 
thought,  necessarily  of  a  divine  thought.  Realism,  more  jirosaic, 
assumes  external  nature  to  be  a  fact  and  also  accepts  the  fimda- 
luental  data  of  science,  but  it  is  com])elled  to  do  both  practically  on 
faith  since  they  constitute  an  objective  reality  outside  of  conscious- 
ness.    Pragmatism,  a  species  of  realism  now  in  vogue,  argues  that, 


694  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

inasmuch  as  man  is  obliged  to  accept  some  things  he  cannot  demon- 
strate, he  should  accept  those  ideas  that  prove  most  useful :  they  are 
true  if  they  work. 

The  weak  point  of  all  philosophy  is  the  fact  that  we  are  con- 
nected with  external  phenomena  through  our  consciousness  alone ; 
that  is,  judgments  can  be  formed  only  through  our  physical  senses 
and  our  reason.  Now,  both  of  these  are  admittedly  fallible ;  hence 
no  reliable  criterion  of  truth  exists,  and  we  must  fall  back  on  the 
uncertain  ground  of  probability  or  the  common  experience  of  man- 
kind. Thus,  both  ancient  and  modern  philosophy  reach  the  melan- 
choly conclusion  that  all  knowledge,  save  only  of  the  existence  of 
consciousness,  is  of  doubtful  validity. 

Revelation. 

Present-day  religions  originated  in  prescientific  ages  and  are 
therefore  much  alike  in  their  cosmology.  They  display  very  ad- 
mirably man's  conceit  in  thinking  himself  the  most  important  prod- 
uct of  the  universe  and  his  incorrigible  habit  of  ascribing  to  some 
one  else  his  own  fine  fortune  or  achievements,  giving  credit  to  a 
god  for  the  good  of  earth  but  excusing  him  for  the  evil.  All  re- 
ligions adopted  at  their  origin  the  current  conceptions  of  the  cosmos 
and  very  soon  came  to  ascribe  its  existence  to  the  creative  act  of 
Deity  and  knowledge  of  it  to  revelation  ;  hence  their  horrified  oppo- 
sition to  new  ideas  in  science.  The  outer  universe,  so  they  taught, 
revolved  around  the  stationary  earth  which  itself  was  an  oblong 
plain  surrounded  by  waters  and  roofed  by  the  firmament,  above 
which  dwelt  the  celestial  spirits  busied  in  regulating  the  stars  and 
opening  the  windows  in  the  firmament  to  let  the  rain  fall  through. 
Somewhere  in  the  lower  regions  was  the  abode  of  fallen  angels  and 
lost  human  spirits,  ruled  by  the  Enemy,  the  rival  of  the  King  of 
Heaven.  In  the  upper  world  a  single  perfect  God  had  gradually 
evolved  from  the  previous  multiplicity  of  human-like  divinities, 
and  continual  war  was  represented  to  be  waging  between  the  good 
and  the  evil  angels.  Man  was  the  prize  of  victory  as  well  as  a 
combatant  and  was  thought  to  have  fallen  from  a  perfection  which 
his  religion  might  enable  him  to  reattain. 

Buddhism. 

On   this  basis,   with   individual  modifications,   are   builded   the 

three  great  religions  in  which  we  are  interested.     Christianity  and 

Mohammedanism  accepted   it   frankly,  and  the  latter  is   so  devoid 

of  originality  that  it  warrants  no  independent  treatment.     Gautama 


THE   COSMOS   AXn   ITS   MKAXIXG.  695 

Siddhartha  knew  of  no  king-doin  of  c\il,  whose  j^lace  was  taken  in 
the  system  of  his  people  by  soul-transmigration.  This  belief,  how- 
ever, he  reconstructed  in  a  singular  manner.  Tie  asserted  that  the 
total  result  of  the  activities  of  an  individual,  his  karjiia,  imme- 
diately ujion  his  death  incarnated  in  a  new  life;  but  he  denied  that 
there  was  any  indwelling  soul  which  passed  from  one  embodiment 
to  the  next.  preser\ing  its  idcntilv  throughout,  ^'et  he  further 
taught,  that  by  gradually  overcoming  the  desires  of  the  self  through 
life  after  life,  the  soul,  whose  existence  he  had  to  all  intents  denied, 
might  tind  Xir\ana  and  cease  rebirths.  The  contradiction  is  ob- 
vious and  is  sufficient  to  render  pure  Buddhism  repugnant  to  the 
modern  world  in  spite  of  the  worth  of  its  ethical  content. 

Christianity. 

Jesus  of  Nazareth,  less  abstruse  but  more  practical,  taught 
that  belief  and  righteous  action  would  enable  man  to  escape  Sheol 
and  enter  at  one  step  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  which  was  to  be 
established  immediately  after  the  destmction  of  the  world,  then 
impending.  He  had  nothing  new  to  oiler  as  to  the  scheme  of 
organization  of  either  the  material  or  the  spirit  world  and  but 
deemed  himself  a  chosen,  though  a  human  instrument  to  save  his 
people.  He  was  unsuccessful  in  his  mission,  quite  unknown  at  his 
death  and  mistaken  in  four  fifths  of  his  beliefs.  His  successors, 
in  winning  their  tremendous  victory,  idealized  the  man  out  of  all 
resemblance  to  the  Gospel  portrait  and  added  a  complex  body  of 
doctrine  to  which,  save  in  its  ever  valid  ethics,  he  was  a  total 
stranger.  The  (ieinile  invitation  and  all  the  great  Christian  tenetS; 
Atonement,  the  Sonship.  the  \'irgin  Birth,  the  Trinity,  were  later 
developments. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  outline  what  the  Church  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years  taught  to  be  the  tnfe  organization  of  the 
unseen  world  since  now  it  is  .all  r|uietly  disregarded.  The  dogmas 
and  the  childish  beliefs  of  orthodoxy  have  been  transformed  beyond 
recognition  or  sent  to  oblivion,  until  to-day  the  best  exemplars  of 
Christianity  mean  Ijy  the  word  something  wliolly  different  from 
what  Augustine  or  Ambrose  deemed  all-essential.  Most  of  them 
look  upon  Jesus  the  man  as  an  excellent  but  impossible  example 
and  have  a  hazy  idea  tliat.  as  a  vague  sort  of  sa\iour.  he  mav  in 
some  unknown  manner  help  in  a  still  less  understood  salvation.  This 
is  not  to  be  construed  as  an  attack  upon  the  historical  origin  or 
tiie  ethical  spirit  of  Christianity.  It  is  merely  a  statement  of  an 
obvious   fact,  that  the  orthodox  teachings  of   revelation   in   regrard 


696  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

to   the   order   and   arrangement    of   the    spiritual   universe    are   no 
longer  seriously  believed. 

Futility  and  Uncertainty. 

As  rationalism  has  upset  the  metaphysical  basis  of  Christianity, 
so  have  the  discoveries  of  modern  science  shattered  the  physical 
foundations  of  our  religions.  Their  priesthoods,  after  vainly  strug- 
gling against  the  facts,  have  been  reduced  to  pretending  that  these 
facts  do  not  matter.  And  now  we  have  the  spectacle  of  all  our  great 
religious  systems  based  wholly  upon  a  scheme  of  creation  that  no 
intelligent  man  believes  for  a  moment.  The  ancient  crude  ideas 
of  the  cosmos  permeate  all  sacred  writings  to  such  an  extent  that, 
removed,  little  is  left  save  a  lifeless  system  of  morality,  correct  but 
commonplace  and  expressed  in  the  outworn  terms  of  a  false  cos- 
mology. The  orthodox  God  simply  will  not  fit  present-day  ideas 
of  the  universe,  since  he  must  be  reduced  to  the  lordship  of  our 
pitiful  little  planet  alone — and  this  raises  again  the  suggestion  of  a 
multitude  of  gods — or  be  exalted  as  ruler  of  the  entire  cosmos,  in 
which  case  he  has  duties  so  tremendous  as  to  render  absurd  the 
idea  that  he  could  notice  such  an  insignificant  grain  of  sand  as  the 
earth. 

Some  perhaps  irreverent  people  have  even  asked  why  a  God  at 
all?  How  comes  it  that  one  spirit  is  so  superior  to  all  other  spirits? 
\^'hy  should  not  the  celestial  world  have  a  democratic  form  of 
government  such  as  on  earth  we  have  found  most  attractive,  rather 
than  conform  to  the  Oriental  despotisms  which  ruled  mankind 
when  orthodox  cosmogony  was  begotten?  Is  political  progress  im- 
possible in  spirit  land?  This  is,  of  course,  idle  speculation.  All 
we  can  say  certainly  is  that  revelation,  like  philosophy,  in  an  efifort 
to  supply  a  rational  explanation  of  the  cosmos,  definitely  fails. 

Science.  Dualism  and  Its  Shortcomings. 
Science  ofifers  two  principal  theories  explanatory  of  the  cosmic 
order,  dualism  and  monism.  Dualism  contends  that  all  reality  is 
divided  into  two  fields,  mind  and  matter,  God  and  nature,  the 
former  dominant  and  exhibiting  moral  purpose.  It  is  supported  by 
immemorial  opinion,  l)y  the  countless  tales  in  history  and  legend 
of  contact  with  a  world  of  spirits,  by  the  presence  of  intelligence 
in  nature  and  contrivance  in  organisms,  but  chiefly  by  our  well-nigh 
invincible  inner  conviction.  The  first  two  have  little  or  no  scien- 
tific sanction,  the  third  is  susceptible  of  another  explanation,  and 
the   last   may   be    quite    deceptive,    most    of    the   tangible    evidence 


THE  COSMOS   AXl)    ITS    M  l-'.A  X  1  .\(  I.  697 

ptjintin!^  tliat  waw  I'.ul  it  is  with  tlio  <4rcat  fonmlation  theories  of 
modern  knowledi^e.  conserwition  and  continuity,  that  (hudisin  di- 
rectl\-  colhdes.  The  exercise  of  \oHtion.  personal  initiation  of  any 
thought,  independent  control  of  the  physical  hy  the  mental  ]irocesscs, 
these  wonld  he  a  creation  of  energy,  hence  <|nite  inipossil)le  nnder 
conservation.  As  for  continuity,  like  results  must  always  follow 
like  conditions  or  else  all  certainty  of  conclusion,  even  any  possi- 
bilitv  of  progress  in  deci])]icring  nature  is  ]ircc]udcd.  And  indeed. 
so  far  as  exhaust i\e  experiment  can  determine,  cause  and  ettcct 
are  vmiversal  and  infallil)le.  whereas  ca])riciotis  or  at  least  inde])en- 
dent  action.  ])h\-sical  as  well  as  mental,  shduld  ])e  ])atent  if,  as  dualism 
holds,  nature  is  governed  hy  a  self-moti\ating  mind.  A  ( lod  who 
does  not  rule  becomes  a  "superlluous  hypothesis." 

}fo)iisiii  and  Its  Difficulties. 

These  considerations  have  led  science  to  the  general  adoption 
of  monism,  which  asserts  that  in  the  cosmos  there  is  hut  a  single 
substance  having  merelv  different  manifestations,  all  being  modes 
of  motion  and  strictly  mechanical.  This  is  the  theory  in  its  extreme 
form  to  which  its  logic  leads  if  unswer\-ingly  ])ursued,  but  the  less 
dogmatic  of  its  adxocates  fa\"or  certain  reasonable  modifications. 
Tn  general.  howe\er.  monism  accepts  determinism,  which  teaches 
that  the  whole  of  reality  is  governed  by  changeless  mechanical 
laws,  that  all  phenomena,  mental  or  physical,  including  the  close 
relation  between  the  two,  are  unalterable  and  are  due  to  previous 
fixed  conditions  stretching  back  in  unbroken  order  to  the  beginning 
of  time.  It  follows  that  life  is  reduced  to  terms  of  ])hysics  and 
chemistry  and  that  a  living  body  is  but  the  harmonious  union  of 
its  parts. 

()bjections  at  once  arise.  To  say  nr)thing  of  the  |)ractical  im- 
possibility of  lindiiig  anv  single  sul)stance  capable  of  manifesting 
itself  at  once  as  mind  and  it-^  ol)ject,  there  is  ()l)\iouslv  something 
indefinable  by  science  but  none  \hc  less  real  in  a  lixing  organism 
which  is  not  in  a  non-li\ing.  something  self-suj)porting,  self-renew- 
ing, self-impelling,  something  which  may  depart  ne\-er  to  return 
though  the  body  remain  undamaged.  The  relation  of  thought  to 
action,  or  more  precisely,  of  mental  to  the  accom])anving  j)hvsical 
phenomena,  is  wholly  inexplicable  if  mind  is  nf)t  permitted  of  its 
own  choice  to  control.  A  mechanical  connection  not  only  caiuiot 
be  obser\'ed  but  is  opjiosed  to  all  our  ideas  of  the  mode  of  this 
interaction.  And  if  it  be  mechanical,  then  there  is  no  room  in  the 
system  for  volition,  no  jjlace  for  initiation,  persuasion,  emotion,  no 


698  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

meaning  in  achievement  or  renunciation — all  are  but  inexorable 
results ;  even  cause  and  effect  cjuite  lose  their  character  and  become 
mere  secjuence  in  time.  But  no  one,  not  even  monists,  can  actually 
live  in  accordance  with  such  a  theory.  Forgetting  or  defying  con- 
tinuity, they  yield  in  their  daily  life  to  the  power  of  their  own 
intuition  and  assume  to  be  free  agents,  not  passive  automatons  as 
the  strict  logic  of  the  mechanical  theory  recjuires.  In  this  they  are 
no  more  inconsistent  than  dualists  who  must  in  their  research  work, 
like  all  true  investigators,  adopt  the  doctrine  of  continuity,  perhaps 
unconsciously  but  as  implicitly  as  the  most  uncompromising  monist. 

Doubtless  both  theories  contain  much  truth,  but  as  correct  and 
complete  explanations  of  reality  both  seem  to  succumb,  dualism  to 
the  necessity  and  observed  presence  of  continuity  in  physical  nature, 
monism  to  the  irresistible  appeal  of  volition  and  the  caprice  of 
mental  activity. 

Further  Enigmas. 

If  attention  be  turned  to  the  facts  of  nature  the  problem  ap- 
pears equally  insoluble  and  the  mechanical  theory  betrays  grave 
weaknesses.  To  note  but  a  few  of  the  perplexities.  Certain  stars 
are  moving  through  space  at  a  velocity  ten  times  greater  than  can 
be  accounted  for  by  gravity,  the  only  known  source  of  stellar 
motion.  Gravity  itself  seems  to  act  instantaneously  and  at  a  dis- 
tance without  a  connecting  medium,  an  absurdity  in  mechanics. 
This  same  force,  being  wholly  unresisted  in  space,  should  draw  all 
celestial  bodies  toward  their  common  center  of  gravity ;  and  as 
past  time  is  held  to  be  infinite  the  whole  stellar  universe  should 
long  ago  have  coalesced  into  a  single  compact  and  stable  system. 
Space  and  time  defy  all  analysis,  so  much  so  that  great  thinkers 
have  denied  them  objective  reality  and  termed  them  mere  "modes 
of  intuition."  Matter  becomes  unintelligibly  complex.  Its  indis- 
pensable attribute  is  weight,  yet  it  is  alleged  to  be  made  wholly  out 
of  electrons  which  have  no  weight  at  all.  It  is  perfectly  permeable 
by  these  electrons  in  the  form  of  ether ;  that  is,  a  given  space  holds 
free  ether  to  the  utmost  limit  and  in  addition  holds  the  ether  of 
which  is  composed  any  matter  that  happens  to  be  there.  This  ether 
is  affirmed  to  be  of  astounding  density  yet  unresisting,  perfectly 
continuous  yet  differentiated,  incompressible  yet  infinitely  elastic, 
having  internal  motion  rapid  as  that  of  light  but  with  no  impulse 
to  initiate  or  maintain  it.  Though  of  all  theories  of  matter  the 
electronic  is  by  far  the  most  strongly  attested,  it  yet  contains  many 
almost  hopeless  discrepancies. 

Turning  to  conditions  of  life  on  our  planet,  we  find  evil  to  be 


THE   COSMOS   AND   ITS   M  EAX  I  XC.  6*7-' 

ubiquitous  and  tniashamod.  Animals  cruelly  destroy  each  other, 
and  man  destroys  them  all.  Part  of  th.e  slaughter  may  be  wanton, 
but  much  of  it  seems  quite  imavoidable.  Social  institutions  have 
developed  into  a  system  wherein  the  vast  majority  must  toil  that 
the  few  mav  eniov,  even  so  in  our  own  country  where  the  harsh 
conditions  are  somewhat  softened.  \'iewing  the  horrors  of  natural 
selection  with  its  indiscriminate  and  merciless  butcheries,  contem- 
plating the  protluct  of  societv  in  its  slums  and  crime  schools,  even 
looking  at  the  middle  section  with  its  lack,  and  the  higher  with  its 
waste,  of  opportunities,  who  has  not  felt  that  if  creative  power 
had  been  his  he  would  have  fashioned  a  far  better  world,  or  else 
have  stayed  his  hand? 

Fiua!  Xcgafio)i. 
Thus,  in  all  theories  of  existence  are  to  be  found  aji]iarently 
fatal  defects.  We  are  encompassed  by  darkness  and  contradiction 
which  no  thought  of  the  brightest  minds  has  been  able  to  illumine, 
or  reconcile.  In  cosmic  processes  results  alone  are  to  be  observed, 
not  moral  design.  The  nature  and  purposes  of  reality  have  been 
found  so  ambiguous  that  philosophy  has  not  seldom  given  them 
up  and  with  the  courage  of  despair  preached  morality  for  its  own 
sake  alone.  After  more  than  two  millenniums  of  patient  study 
physical  reality  has  proved  inexplicable. 

Basis  of  Reconstruction. 

Constructive  criticism,  though  more  useful,  is  far  harder  than 
destructive,  yet  surely  it  must  be  possible  to  find  something  in 
nature  to  replace  the  mirages  of  philosophy  which  thus  so  readily 
dissolve.  On  the  whole  life  is  sweet,  and  no  man  willingly  con- 
cedes that  the  grave  is  its  final  goal.  Rather  does  he  cherish  an 
ineradicable  faith  that  all  this  living  and  dying  has  a  meaning  which 
somehow,  somewhere,  sometime  is  sure  to  be  made  plain.  Other- 
wise life  is  but  ashes  in  his  mouth. 

P.ut  in  the  face  of  nature's  puzzling  contradictions,  what  ra- 
tional explanation  of  it  can  be  imagined?  Take  the  case  of  matter. 
If  a  thing  absolutely  inconceivable  be  non-existent,  and  if  it  be 
inconceivable  that  matter  either  was  created  out  of  nothing  or  has 
existed  from  all  eternity,  must  we  decide  that  it  is  all  an  illusion  ? 
This  seems  like  the  only  conclusion  left  us,  and  it  is  not  so  absurd 
as  at  first  appears.  Why  are  octaves  in  a  musical  scale  identical 
in  tone?  Simply  because  the  human  consciousness,  functioning 
through  the  ear,  so  interprets  them.  Now,  if  every  living  conscious- 
ness should  be  so  organized  as  to  interpret  the  field  of  activity  alike, 


700  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

for  example  in  the  form  of  the  physical  universe,  then  for  each 
one  that  universe  would  be,  or  at  least  seem,  real,  no  matter  what 
it  might  be  in  fact.  All  creatures  would  see  the  same  world  and 
their  experiences  would  be  mutually  consistent.  If  after  death  our 
consciousness  survives  it  may  conceivably  enter  a  state  where  its 
environment  is  interpreted  differently ;  and  if  all  minds  should  still 
function  alike,  there  would  then  be  for  us  an  environing  cosmos 
differing  from  the  present  one  but  equally  real. 

Under  this  theory — a  form  of  subjective  idealism — we  might 
perceive  a  different  and  seemingly  genuine  universe  in  each  of  a 
series  of  existences,  nor  recognize  the  true  one  until  our  minds 
were  freed  from  all  possibility  of  error.  Two  objections  present 
themselves.  Common  sense  refuses  to  consider  external  nature  as 
aught  save  a  concrete  reality.  And  existing  consciousness  bears 
too  absurdly  small  a  ratio  in  both  quantity  and  time  to  the  whole 
cosmos  for  that  cosmos  to  be  in  fact  its  mere  appurtenance.  Let  us 
see  if  a  more  tolerable  solution  may  not  be  discovered. 

The  mental  horizon  of  mankind  has  always  been  too  circum- 
scribed. Ancient  sages  saw  only  the  middle  countries  of  the  old 
world,  India  and  the  Mediterranean  littoral,  which  they  imagined 
to  comprise  all  the  universe  that  mattered.  After  Columbus  the 
view  broadened,  and  men  thought  similarly  of  the  earth  in  its  en- 
tirety, or  of  the  solar  system.  With  the  discoveries  of  modern 
science  the  field  again  expanded,  until  now  it  embraces  all  the  stars, 
seen  and  unseen,  "that  dapple  vacancy."  If  still  we  find  no  reason- 
able answer  to  our  incessant  "why,"  perhaps  it  is  because  our  view 
is  still  too  narrow,  and  there  needs  another  widening  to  take  in 
realms  as  yet  unguessed. 

N^ecessary  Assumption. 

It  is  impossible  to  avoid  making  some  kind  of  an  assumption 
a1  the  starting-point  of  any  system  which  attempts  to  explain  reality ; 
the  best  that  can  be  done  is  to  choose  one  that  is  supported  by  the 
strongest  inferences  and  restricted  to  the  lowest  reducible  terms. 
Let  us,  then,  make  an  assumption  which  will  likely  command  the 
assent  of  all  save  the  incorrigible  pessimist.  Though  at  first  thought 
is  may  seem  to  discredit  the  whole  of  the  preceding  argument,  it 
will  perchance  on  further  examination  be  found  compatible  there- 
with. 

The  universe  is  purposive. 

A\'ise  men  have  found  it  irrational  simply  because  only  a  small 
part  of  it  has  been  open  to  their  inspection.     Seeing  one  term  of 


THE   COSMOS    AND    IIS    MKA.MXG. 


701 


the  cciualion  bul  not  the  factor  that  completes  it,  they  very  naturally 
are  nonplused  and  inclined  to  pronounce  it  insoluhle  ;  they  ri_<,ditly 
tuid  contradictions.  lUit  can  the  uni\erse,  its  apparent  discordances 
conceded,  he  heliewd  an  accident?  Can  any  one  contemplate  the 
vast  and  wondrous  lirmameut  doltrd  ])y  stars  in  millions,  some  so 
huge  otir  sun  might  he  their  i)lanet ;  can  he  rellect  on  the  immeas- 
urahle  voids  that  separate  celestial  hodies,  not  forgetting  that  our 
heavens  form  hut  a  single  galaxy,  and  of  galaxies  there  may  he 
many  so  unthinkahly  distant  they  appear  to  us  mere  hlmy  nehulas  ; 
can  he  turn  from  these  to  note  organisms  so  ephemeral  that  sun 
and  sun  enclose  a  lifetime  or  so  minute  as  to  defy  strongest 
lens  or  finest  filter,  known  only  hy  the  disturhances  they  induce ; 
or  can  he  consider  etheric  vihrations  ranging  hetween  those  slow 
enough  to  he  made  visihle  and  those  whose  infinite  rapidity  hank- 
ru{)ts  the  imagination;  and  after  all  this,  hearing  in  mind  that  every 
element  in  the  stupendous  whole,  ultra-microscopic  cell  no  less 
esteemetl  than  majestic  constellation,  moves  in  harmonious  ohedience 
to  changeless  law,  can  he  entertain  the  fancy  that  it  all  is  htit  a 
creation  of  hlind  chance,  destitute  of  intelligent  purpose? 

Supporting  Evidence. 

As  a  preliminary  it  may  he  remarked  that  the  stage  of  matter 
is  adequately  set.  Suns  are  ohserved  in  every  phase  of  development, 
from  star  mist  through  nehulas  and  jilanetaries  to  dying  and  even, 
it  is  helieved.  to  dead  smis.  cold  and  dark  ;  any  conceivahle  quality 
of  j)h\-sical  life  might  find  a  fitting  ch^micile. 

We  need  not  ground  our  assumption  upon  an  inner-' feeling 
of  its  truth.  This,  indeed,  statmchly  assures  us  that  so  vast"  a  pro- 
duction cannot  he  meaningless,  and  inner  feeling  has  such  potency 
that  it  overbears  every  argument  advanced  against  freedom  of  "the 
will.  But  to  some  subjective  considerations  we  may  fairly  appeal. 
Our  consciousness  tells  us  directly  that  we  ourselves  are  actuated 
by  purpose,  and  this  cannot  be  denied  without  impeaching  the  in- 
tegrity of  consciousness  itself,  the  final  arbiter  of  valid  knowledge. 
From  this  ptirpose.  intuitively  and  immediately  known,  we  can 
argue  without  hazard  of  refutation  to  the  reality  of  a  greater  cosmic 
purpose. 

The  existence  of  what  is  called  conscience  is  also  evidence  of 
telling  force  on  the  side  of  cosmic  design.  No  individual  is  without 
it  be  he  ever  so  ignorant  or  uncivilized ;  in  fact,  the  savage  is 
alleged  to  barken  to  it  more  obediently  than  his  enlightened  brother. 
But  no  one  can  live  quite  uj)  to  the  standard  of  his  conscience.  •  To 


702  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

every  person  it  speaks  from  a  plane  of  morality  many  degrees  higher 
than  his  own,  frequently  to  his  distress,  always  to  his  ethical  ad- 
vantage. Its  origin  is  unknown,  its  personal  benefit  doubtful.  Often 
it  approves  actions  that  bring  no  selfish  profit  and  causes  anguished 
remorse  for  those  that  do.  We  stand  before  it  dumb  and  naked 
while  unerring,  implacable,  it  reads  our  inmost  heart.  If  divinity 
i.^.,  it  is  divinity ;  and  it  oft'ers  unshakable  testimony  in  favor  of  a 
pure  purpose  behind  reality. 

Of  objective  evidence,  strong  support  is  afforded  our  assump- 
tion by  the  unchallenged  sway  of  the  principle  of  cause  and  effect. 
Dare  we  affirm  that  the  sum  of  all  is  exempt  from  the  law  which 
governs  every  part  and  parcel?  Intelligence  is  present  in  the  uni- 
verse. It  requires  a  cause  in  intelligence  just  as  imperatively  as 
does  the  physical  in  the  physical. 

Even  a  stronger  argument  is  to  be  found  in  organic  evolution. 
Despite  many  stumblings  and  backslidings  its  course  has  ever  been 
substantially  upward.  The  earliest  life  on  the  planet  was  the 
simplest,  and  development  has  been  at  all  times  toward  complexity 
and  specialization,  which  means  toward  higher  organisms.  The  line 
of  succession  was  marine  to  terrestrial,  mollusk  and  worm  to  verte- 
brate, fishes  to  batrachians  to  reptiles  to  birds  to  mammals. 

Man,  the  highest,  was  the  latest  comer,  but  he  made  entry  in 
a  state  little  different  from  the  more  advanced  ape.  Untold  and 
toilsome  ages  elapsed  before  he  achieved  sufficient  mentality  to  be 
able  to  record  his  struggles  ;  thenceforward  his  career  is  open  to 
our  view.  We  need  examine  but  a  single  collection  of  writings, 
the  Bible,  to  be  impressed  by  the  extraordinary  advance  in  ideals 
and  by  the  never  failing  upward  tendency  in  morals.  From  human 
sacrifices  plainly  indicated  by  the  stories  of  Isaac  and  of  Jephthah's 
daughter,  the  Jews  attain  to  x\mos  in  the  eighth  century  B.  C,  who 
quotes  Yahweh  as  saying,  "I  hate,  I  despise  your  feast-days  ;  burnt 
offerings  and  meat  offerings  I  will  not  accept"  ;  and  to  Hosea,  'T 
desired  mercy  and  not  sacrifice."  More  and  more  strongly  do  the 
prophets  urge  that  righteousness  consists  not  in  ceremonies  but  in 
dealing  justly  and  showing  mercy,  hating  evil  and  loving  good. 
What  an  improvement  over  the  false  and  bloodthirsty  God  of  the 
Patriarchs ! 

Profane  history  offers  equal  evidence  of  constant,  if  slow, 
improvement  in  man's  moral  ideals  and  conduct.  Wars  of  conquest, 
enslavement  of  the  conquered,  butchery  of  prisoners,  assassination 
of  political  opponents,  bills  of  attainder,  torture  and  barbarous 
executions,  even  undue  cruelty  to  animals,  all  once  thought  perfectly 


TlIK   (.OSMOS    AN'I)    ITS    M  i:.\  X  I  NT,.  703 

proper,  are  now  iini\ersall\- reproljated.  I'lisinrss  and  ])(ilitical  moral- 
ity has  often  receixed  ju>t  censure,  but  .i^reat  lias  l)een  the  chanijje 
for  the  better  within  the  last  two  deeades.  while  the  contrast  is 
strikinj;  with  the  customs  of  the  Middle  Ai^^es  or  with  those  earlier 
tia_\-s  when  Jacol)  and  I  .ahan  hilked  each  other  and  the  same  word 
meant  both  robber  and  nu'rchanl.  Time  was  when  a  need  of  indi- 
vidual or  nation  justitled  any  method  of  supi>l\in<;-  it.  I'nt  the  sense 
of  rii^ht  and  wron^;'  waxed  e\er  stronger  nnlil  now,  though  donlit- 
less  still  immature,  it  is  so  powerful  lli.at  the  world  alihors  a  word- 
breaker  and  niillii)ns  i;n  cbeerfnlK'  to  death  fur  an  idea,  ("an  this 
proi:;"rcssive  betterment  of  (.-ouscience  and  morals,  to  be  obser\ed  in 
politics  ami  business,  in  diplomacy  and  raci.al  intercourse,  in  re- 
liq'ion,  in  s])iritual  asjiirations,  and  in  private  conduct,  clearly  evident 
from  the  earliest  times  down  to  the  present  day,  be  ])urely  fortuitous, 
unmeaning?  It  seems  too  orderly,  too  consistent  despite  occasional 
slips,  to  be  witlunU  an   intelligent   impulse  behind   it, 

ContiiK/cJif  Truths. 
That  the  uni\ersal  cosmos  is  to  be  inter]M-eted  in  terms  of 
purpose  is  a  generalization  which,  like  all  others,  has  value  in 
proportion  as  it  leads  to  more  specific  knowledge.  Certain  im- 
portant deductions  issue  necessarily  therefrom  and  must  coinci- 
dcntly  be  accepted.  ( )nly  four  of  the  more  significant  can  be  men- 
tioned, btit  many  others  just  as  inevitably  though  perhaps  not  always 
so  ol)\iously  follow. 

1.  Intelligence  is  the  most  ])recious  quality. 

The  brain  has  developed  in  animal  structtire  from  a  mere 
swelling  of  the  nerve  at  one  end  of  the  notochord  into  a  large  and 
comj^lex  organ  to  which  every  unit  and  function  of  the  body  sub- 
serves, while  the  mind,  from  being  barely  able  to  supply  the  rudest 
of  living  needs,  has  synchronously  expanded  until  it  can  comprehend 
the  mechanism  of  the  universe  and  grapple  with  the  deepest  prob- 
lems of  eternity.  Cn-owth.  snail-slow  at  the  beginning,  has  been 
at  a  constantly  accelerating  rate,  and  the  reward  has  been  physical 
comfort,  a  bettered  environment,  conquest  over  nature,  conscious- 
ness of  invincible  power. 

2.  ^loralitv.  individual  character,  is  the  highest  valtie. 

From  its  first  dim  glimmer  man's  moral  sense  has  expanded, 
as  already  pointed  out.  until  now  it  is  the  dominating  force  which 
determines  the  conduct  not  of  indi\iduals  alone  but  also  of  all  en- 
lightened nations.  The  morality  of  to-day,  faulty  as  it  is,  only  a 
few   centuries   ago   would   have  been   deemed    fantastic   sentiment, 


704  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

possible  only  to  a  divinity.     But  it  finds  reward  in  a  satisfied  con- 
science and  in  the  respect  and  honor  of  mankind. 

3.  Effort  is  not  wasted. 

Only  through  sustained  effort  has  mankind  made  progress. 
To  this  assertion  of  its  value  all  will  agree.  But  it  is  not  so  easy 
to  see  intelligent  purpose  in  the  wholesale  destruction  of  potentially 
useful  vital  energy.  Life,  animal  and  vegetable,  is  produced  with 
limitless  prodigality,  all  but  the  merest  remnant  doomed  to  imme- 
diate extirpation.  Some  defense  of  the  necessity  for  this  massacre 
is  possible,  but  hardly  so,  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  is  a 
real  justification ;  and  the  fact  must  remain  an  argument  in  the 
mouths  of  those  who  can  deny  the  presence  of  design  within  the  cos- 
mos.    To  all  others  it  is  but  one  of  our  many  unsolved  problems. 

4.  All  values  are  preserved. 

Science  has  fully  demonstrated  that  no  smallest  mote  of  phys- 
ical value  is  ever  lost  no  matter  how  often  or  how  completely  it 
may  be  transformed.  Bodily  appetites  are  adapted  to  insure  the 
preservation  of  the  individual,  secondarily  of  the  race ;  similarly, 
the  concept  of  immortality  furnishes  the  means  and  the  incentive 
for  development  of  the  higher  mental  qualities.  As  personal  right- 
eousness is  the  very  highest  of  these  and  has  advanced  far  beyond 
collective  morality,  so  we  may  know  that  not  a  racial  ideal  or  some 
abstract  spiritual  entity  but  the  individual  unit  is  the  object  of 
nature's  solicitude.  Paramount  significance  is  given  to  character 
and  intelligence  ;  for  the  cosmic  forces  to  destroy  the  individuals 
in  which  these  qualities  are  personified  would  be  to  defeat  the  very 
ultimate  of  their  own  purpose,  and  is  not  to  be  imagined. 

Since  this  is  the  most  important  point  as  it  is  the  most  nearly 
novel  in  the  entire  discussion,  it  is  worthy  of  special  emphasis. 
If,  lying  back  of  the  cosmos,  there  is  an  intelligence  at  all  its  grand 
object  must  be  to  develop  mental  power  and  moral  character.  The 
strongest  single  force  tending  to  foster  them,  particularly  morality, 
has  been  the  belief  in  a  system  of  future  rewards  and  punishments. 
Where  do  we  now  see  these  qualities  most  clearly  displayed?  In  the 
nation?  In  the  city?  In  the  community?  Not  at  all.  The  morals 
of  a  state  always  come  far  short  of  those  of  its  best  citizens.  It 
has  been  abundantly  demonstrated  that  men  will  do  for  their  country 
base  deeds  to  which  they  would  scorn  to  stoop  on  their  own  account. 
Nay,  executives  of  a  business  corporation  will  sanction  in  that  com- 
pany acts  which  for  their  individual  profit  they  would  shrink  from  in 
shame.  And,  like  its  morals,  the  intelligence  of  a  community  is 
invariably  less  than  that  of  its  wisest  citizens  who  must  yield  some- 


THE   COSMOS   AXl)    ITS   M  i:.\  N  I  XG 


705 


thing  of  their  hcttor  jiul.i,nncnt  to  the  ignorance  of  their  associates. 
Plainlv  the  (luahties  of  inchistry.  scholarship,  sympathy,  justice, 
r.ll  those  suhsunied  under  the  names  of  virtue  and  knowledge,  hnd 
their  highest   expression   in   individuals,   not   in   groups. 

This  is  surely  intentional.  ( Hherwise  nature,  if  intelligent, 
stands  convicted  of  failure:  or,  if  unintelligent,  must  be  supposed 
to  have  wrouglit  blindly  the  same  result  that  intelligence  would 
bring  about  designedly.  Since  both  sup])Ositions  are  absurd,  it 
seems  clear  that  tlie  develojiment  of  personality  is  nature's  conscious 
method.  Such  being  the  case,  is  it  thinkable  that  the  cosmic  mind 
would  carelesslv  exterminate  tliose  person.al  luiits  who,  as  such. 
are  farthest  on  the  road  to  accomplish  its  design  and  devote  ex- 
clusive attention  to  a  transitory  society  which  lags  far  rearward? 
The  annihilation  of  the  individual  would  be  an  act  of  idiocy  quite 
inconsistent  with  any  intelligent  cosmic  purpose.  Therefore,  we 
must  either  deny  that  there  is  any  rationality  whatever  behind  the 
created  universe,  or  else  we  have  a  sure  basis  for  belief  in  the 
preservation,  along  with  other  and  minor  values,  of  our  integral 
identities. 

rifiiiiafc  Pcsiiiiy. 

Rearing  in  mind  these  necessary  deductions  from  the  purposive 
interpretation  of  the  cosmos,  let  us  endeavor  to  see  what  is  the 
goal  toward  which  humanity  is  imi)elled.  Mathematicians  can  plot 
a  curve  from  three  given  points.  The  straight  lines  in  a  picture, 
if  projected,  meet  at  a  center.  Tn  like  manner,  viewing  life  as  but 
a  segment  of  reality,  we  should  be  able  with  some  confidence  to 
trace  forward,  perhaps  also  backward,  the  course  of   its  journey. 

Intelligence  and  morality  have  steadily  increased.  What  can 
be  the  goal  but  perfect  intelligence  and  perfect  morality^  These 
are  unattainable  in  our  physical  existence.  P.ut  we  have  already 
seen  that  phvsical  existence  is  irrational,  al>o  that  our  ])ersonal 
identitv  is  jirolongcd  beyond  the  material  condition  ;  hence  s])rings 
the  valid  inference  that  the  goal  lies  in  another  sphere  of  being. 
Granted  such  a  sphere,  and  without  it  there  is  no  escape  from  the 
irrationalitv  of  creation,  our  j^roblem  at  once  becomes  easier  of 
solution.  The  danger  lies  in  its  being  too  easy  and  in  the  tempta- 
tion to  solve  all  difficulties  by  speculation  and  guesswork.  r)Ut  let 
ns  trv  to  admit  only  those  inferences  which  seem  indubitable  or  at 
furthest  to  keep  within  the  bounds  of  a  reasonable  probability. 

That  a  spiritual  realm  is  within  such  bounds  is  indicated  by  the 
work  of  those  who  have  devoted  their  talents  to  psychical  research, 
even  if  their  ultimate  conclusions  cannot  yet  be  universally  accepted. 


706  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

These  investigators  have  collected  a  prodigious  store  of  data  which 
will  bring  to  a  careful  reader,  if  not  conviction,  at  least  the  opinion 
that  a  spiritual  existence  is  no  mere  fantasy  and  that  it  may  in 
time  even  be  proven.  Their  methods  are  correct  and  their  work 
deserves  support  and  enlargement. 

Unfortunately  their  conclusions,  even  if  we  accept  them,  do 
not  wholly  read  our  riddle.  Rather  do  they  indicate  that  the  world 
immediately  contiguous  to  our  own  is  equally  irrational.  Evil  men 
become  evil  spirits ;  ignorance  and  maliciousness  abound ;  even  the 
better  of  the  alleged  communicators  seem  subject  to  human  limi- 
tations and  imperfections.  The  spirits  are  apparently  much  like 
ourselves ;  and  if  we  may  believe  their  unanimous  testimony,  exist- 
ence in  their  world  involves  difficulties,  effort,  achievement,  and 
even  so  failure  as  it  does  in  our  own.  Perhaps  we  have  no  right  to 
expect  otherwise,  but  the  conclusion  inevitably  follows  that  if  that 
life  _  is  also  irrational,  it,  too,  is  not  the  final  life.  There  must  be 
other  and  higher  realms  beyond.  In  the  same  way  there  may  be 
phases  of  existence  prior  to  our  own.  The  chief  point  is  that  the 
only  way  to  find  rationality  in  the  cosmic  order  is  to  postulate 
several  phases  of  existence  of  which  ours  is  but  one. 

Objections  of  Science.  Mallock's  Paradox. 
The  scruples  which  science  entertains  in  regard  to  such  a 
theory  are  based  upon  unsupported  negation,  and  it  has  been  well 
said  that  no  department  of  knowledge  is  competent  to  enter  com- 
prehensive denials.  When  the  basic  contradictions  of  purely  phys- 
ical science  are  considered,  its  summary  rejection  of  the  possibility 
of  a  supersensible  existence  need  not  disturb  us.  In  fact,  Mr.  W. 
H.  Mallock  has  founded  upon  these  very  contradictions  a  specious 
argument  for  our  spiritual  destiny.  If,  says  he,  we  can  and  do 
believe  in  time  and  space,  in  mass,  motion,  energy,  ether,  directly  in 
the  face  of  the  nullifying  contraries  which  inhere  in  their  very 
nature,  we  are  warranted  in  believing  in  God,  immortality,  and  moral 
responsibility  in  spite  of  the  no  worse  contradictions  which  those 
conceptions  involve.  If  we  can  accept  the  contradictions  of  physical 
nature  in  order  to  live  at  all,  we  can  accept  those  of  abstract  phi- 
losophy in  order  to  live  well ;  that  is,  to  progress  in  morality  and 
spirituality.  There  seems  no  serious  objection  to  this  reasoning, 
yet  it  shows  again  the  courage  of  despair,  not  of  hope,  unless  we 
broaden  his  conception  of  spiritual  nature  until  physical  nature 
shrinks  to  a  comparatively  unimportant  part  of  the  whole,  and 
expand  his  idea  of  the  cosmos  into  a  creation  large  enough  to  bar- 


TIIF.  COSMOS   AND    ITS   MKAXIXG.  707 

monize  all  those  phcuomona  which,  seen  onl)'  in  part  in  our  narrow 
rciiifion.  we  are  cieeeivetl  into  rei^arclini,f  as  irreconcilahle. 

77u'  Oiit'stio)i  of  Moiiory. 

Ae^ain.  the  utter  hlank  in  memory  touching  experience  in  any 
existence  previous  to  the  present  is  urged  against  the  ]:)Ossihility  of 
such  existence.  Two  replies  are  jxissihle.  If  the  totality  of  the 
existence  of  each  individual  l)e  made  up  of  a  succession  of  lifetimes, 
or  of  distinct  periods  of  sensihility  corresponding  to  that  now  known 
as  a  lifetime,  some  one  of  these  nuist  he  the  f'lrst.  and  the  series 
may  conceivahly  hegin  with  the  present  life.  I'ut  this  answer 
r:i)])ears  unconvincing.  Human  intelligence,  it  would  seem,  develops 
too  rapidlw  and  in  its  hesl  estate  attains  far  too  lofty  heights  for 
it  to  have  heen  initiated  with  the  life  in  which  it  now  finds  ex- 
pression. A  better  answer  is,  that  memory  is  suppressed  at  birth. 
Such  an  inhibition  of  faculty  is  supported  by  many  analogies;  in 
truth,  that  portion  of  the  memory  termed  specifically  recollection, 
tricksy  and  uncertain  even  at  noriual,  is  exceedingly  easily  tmdone. 
.'-Severe  illness,  physical  or  mental  shock,  violent  stress  of  emotion, 
each  has  been  known  to  cause  interruption  or  complete  submergence 
of  all  power  of  reinembrance.  In  cases  of  split  or  multiple  per- 
sonality total  arrest  of  memory  between  the  diti'erent  states  of 
consciousness  is  often  observed.  \  ery  evidently  the  crisis  of  birth, 
the  necessity  of  beginning  the  human  career  in  a  bodv  immature 
to  the  point  of  vacuity,  the  advantage  of  undivided  attention  in 
coping  with  earthly  environment,  perhaps,  too,  the  will  of  the  cosmic 
intelligence,  very  evidentlv  these  are  am]:)lv  sufticicnt  to  account 
tor  all  amnesia.  .\nd  we  may  legitimately  ])resume  that  memory 
will  eventually  be  regained  in  some  luore  ad\anccd  stage  of  ex- 
istence. 

Science  does  not  preclude  the  sort  of  organization  of  the  cos- 
mos which  is  suggested  ;  it  merely  demurs  that  we  have  no  valid 
evidence,  while  in  general  holding  aloof  from  examination  of  the 
phenomena  alleged  to  be  evidence,  largely  because  these  ])hcnoiueTia 
do  not  readily  lend  themselves  to  exact  experiment.  Hut  more  and 
more  the  attention  of  competent  investigators  is  turned  toward 
such  study,  and  we  have  reason  to  exjject  in  no  great  while  definite 
results  from  their  labors. 

The  Cosmic  Content. 
The  result  of  our  in(|uiry  may  now  be  stated  in  simple  terms 
The  cosmos  is  rational  and  purposive.     But  so   far  as  our  direct 


708  THE  Ol'EX   COURT. 

exajTiination  of  it  can  determine,  it  is  neither  rational  nor  pur- 
posive, as  shown  by  the  failure  of  philosophy,  revelation,  and 
science  to  otter  any  acceptable  explanation.  Hence  the  conclusion 
follows  coercivcly  that  we  are  able  to  examine  only  a  segment  of 
the.  whole  cosmos,  and  that  the  whole  cosmos  consists  of  a  series 
of  phases  of  existence  leading  upward  through  reality,  of  which 
our,  own  phase,  the  material,  is  but  one,  possibly  a  minor  one.  The 
chief  purpose  of  the  cosmic  process  is  the  development  of  intelligence 
and  character,  its  goal,  perhaps  unattainable  save  in  infinity,  being 
perfect  knowledge  and  perfect  morality.  The  intelligence  behind 
the  cosmos,  proved  by  the  presence  of  intelligence  in  material  nature, 
is  unknowable  to  us  in  this  sphere  of  existence,  and  speculation 
on  its  possible  personality  or  attributes  is  useless  ;  but  of  its  real 
existence. we  can  have  no  doubt. 

This  theory  seems  to  solve  at  least  in  a  measure  our  most 
puzzling  problems,  such  as  the  presence  of  evil  and  the  apparent 
futility  of  effort.  An  enforced  morality  is  no  morality,  hence  is 
worthless.  '\Ye  must  achieve  moral  character  through  our  own  exer- 
tions, and  the  possibility  of  such  voluntary  achievement  involves 
the  possibility  of  failure.  Unless  the  cosmic  intelligence  keeps 
hands  off  we  can  win  but  a  vicarious  morality,  and  if  it  does  keep 
hands  oft"  our  failures  must  engender  evil.  It  is  our  task  to  over- 
come this  evil.  As  to  animals,  their  development  doubtless  is  left 
as  free  as  our  own.  The  horrors  of  nature  are,  therefore,  a  normal 
product  and  but  constitute  the  price  which  all  sensate  creation  pays 
for  being  free,  not  slaves  of  some  outside  power. 

Our  Jlsioit  Cleared. 

But  under  this  conception  how  greatly  all  these  evils  shrink ! 
How  trivial  do  our  harshest  troubles  seem!  If  this  life  is  but  one 
of  many  stages  on  our  immeasurable  journey,  what  matter  if  it 
be  cut  short  a  few  inconsequential  months?  Of  what  account  our 
petty  pains  and  trials?  They  become  like  the  frequent  stops  of  a 
train  that  bears  us  homeward,  annoying  perhaps  but  of  no  real 
moment.  Life,  instead  of  being  the  whole  of  existence,  appears 
only  as  a  day  in  our  experience.  It  is  to  be  improved  to  our  very 
utmost,  but  after  all  it  is  but  a  day  and  could  be  omitted  without 
appreciable  loss.  The  worries  that  torment  us  hour  by  hour  will 
be  forgotten  on  the  morrow  or  remembered  with  a  smile,  and  ages 
hence  in  some  far  off'  higher  sphere  we  shall  look  back  upon  this 
life  as  we  do  now  upon  the  half-forgotten  troubles  of  our  childhood. 

Sic  transit  diim  crcscct  animula. 


MISCKI.I.AXnOL'S.  709 


-Misci-:llax1':()US. 

MR.  I.I'OXARIVS  I'AP.LES.i 

nV    TK  AlCnTT    BOEll  ME. 

The  .T'l'^opian  taMe  IkuI  lost  it.s  vitality  as  a  full-!;r<i\vn  type  nf  literature 
with  the  (lawn  of  the  nioclern  worUi.  It  coiitiiuied  to  he  taken  '-eriously  only 
in  sehools  and  pnlpits  as  a  \'ehicle  for  morality  in  eilueatin,^  ehihlren  an<l  simiilc 
folk.  La  Fontaine.  Gay.  Gellert,  Lessiny,  and  others  endeavored  to  hring  the 
primitive  charm  of  .TIsop's  fahles  up  to  date.  They  enriched  them  hy  the  com- 
plex social  experiences  of  the  age  of  Louis  XIV ;  they  overcharged  them  with 
the  niceties  of  enlightened  reason;  they  embellished  them  with  all  the  pol- 
ished artistry  of  language,  diction,  and  meter  relished  during  the  rationalistic 
age  of  poetry.  P.ut  they  hardly  dep.arted  from  the  primary  jinrposc  of  the 
.Esopian  fable,  which  had  been  no  other  than  to  teach  morality,  or  rather 
mores,  to  help  the  youngsters  grasp  and  mind  the  rules  of  good  behavior  and 
social  wisdom  which  their  elders  had  inherited  in  turn  from  their  own  fore- 
fathers. The  Age  of  Reason  was  naturally  attracted  toward  a  type  of  poetry 
that  lent  itself  so  easily  to  the  task  of  dealing  out  a  fixed  system  of  ethics  in 
small  doses  for  educational  purposes.  These  fable-tellers  had  their  vogue  while 
the  rationalistic  standard  of  ethics  remained  intact.  Nowadays  they  are  for- 
gotten, except  for  a  few  masterpieces  which  survive  in  readers  for  the  ele- 
mentary grades. 

It  is  a  safe  prediction  that  the  fables  of  Jisop  and  Ifyssol^  will  never  be 
reduced  to  a  simil.ar  stale  of  literary  "li\-ing  death"  in  the  schoolbooks. 
Teachers  may  and  will  appreciate  this  version  of  .ICsop  as  a  stimulating 
revelation  of  human  nature,  but  it  will  re(|uire  boldness  on  their  part  to  put  it 
into  the  hands  of  children.  Pervading  the  entire  collection  there  is  a  calm 
but  merciless  disregard  of  the  conventional  moral  creeds.  Some  of  the  "morals" 
may  appear  quite  harmless  to  the  unheedful;  but  how  "carefully  formulated" 
they  are.  is  often  revealed  if  they  are  taken  in  connection  with  the  preceding 
tale.  Then  their  real,  and  mostly  "wicked"  character  comes  out.  They  .are 
either  pointed  as-ertions  of  the  profound  amor.ality  of  man.  or  ironical  illus- 
trations of  the  futility  or  hypocrisy  of  moralistic  moti\ation.  This  "ethical 
naturalism"  is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  dogmatic  conceit  of  the  rational- 
istic fable-tellers,  but  it  is  not  entirely  irreconcilable  with  the  spirit  of  good  old 
practical  .Esop.  In  Mr.  Leonard's  hands,  however,  the  homely  humor  of 
.■Esop  assumes  an  intensity,  a  subtle  force  w'hicli  the  original  never  possessed 
These  fables  not  merely  expose  the  folly  of  men's  conduct,  but  also  the  fallacy 
of  their  reasoning  about  their  conduct.  But  the  humor,  if  tragic,  is  virile;  and 
there  is  a  note  of  heroical  defiance  and  the  optimism  of  an  ethical  freednm. 

It  is  preeminently  through  this  novel  method  of  "formulating  the  morals'" 
that  Mr.  Leonard  has  succeeded  in  awakening  an  almost  extinct  type  of  litera- 
ture to  a  new  and  vigorous  life. 

1  Jisop  and  Hyssop,  Bcinfi  Fables  Adapted  and  OrU^inal  witli  the  Morals 
Carefully  Forintilated,\>y  \\'illiam  Ellery  Leonard.    Open  Court  Pul)lishing  Co. 


710  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

In  the  "Original  Fables,"  more  fantastically  daring  in  vision  and  words 
than  the  adaptations,  still  another  new  factor  is  introduced.  They  are  used 
as  instruments  of  trenchant  personal  confessions  and  invectives;  a  human 
tragedy  of  overshadowing  magnitude  looms  up  behind  the  studied  playfulness 
of  many  of  these  side-glimpses  into  a  "universe  of  pain  and  yelling." 

While  I  have  rather  lengthily  dwelt  on  the  general  character  and  ten- 
dency of  the  fables,  I  do  not  underrate  their  purely  artistic  qualities.  There 
is  a  quaint  concreteness,  a  friendly  intimacy  about  the  animal  world  of  these 
fables  which  I  do  not  recall  to  have  found  anywhere  else.  Those  animals 
and  birds  and  insects  and  plants  are  not  merely  pegs  on  which  to  hang  a 
moral;  they  live  and  feel  and  are  our  brother  creatures.  This  nearness  to 
nature,  this  home-flavor  of  things  and  beings  reminds  me  of  Chaucer,  who 
seems  to  have  also  been  one  of  the  models  for  the  author's  management  of  the 
language. 

The  English  deserves  a  more  detailed  appreciation  than  I  can  give  here. 
It  is  no  castrated  poet's  English.  There  is  a  resourcefulness  in  the  choice  and 
order  of  words,  and  a  versatility  in  the  use  of  vocabulary  and  syntax  that  gives 
its  peculiar  atmosphere  to  each  fable,  whether  it  be  honest  rusticity  or  learned 
punctilio.  The  mother-tongue  seems  to  be  teased  that  she  may  betray  some 
hidden  aspects  of  her  temperament.  The  fabulist  plays  tricks  with  accents 
and  rhymes ;  he  experiments  with  many  meters,  from  classic  distichs  to  old 
ballad  verse  and  elaborate  Renaissance  stanzas ;  he  "dances  in  chains"  and 
enjoys  his  triumph  over  the  language  doubly  under  self-imposed  severities. 

Only  a  reader  equipped  with  an  extensive  literary  training  will  be  able 
to  recognize  the  finer  values  of  such  work.  Mr.  Leonard  has  sacrificed  old 
^sop's  democratic  popularity.  But  to  speak  of  a  sacrifice  is  an  injustice  to 
what  he  has  achieved;  just  as  it  is  unfair  to  blame  Hoffmannsthal  for  the  lack 
of  Sophoclean  simplicity  and  grandeur  in  his  stirring  Elcktra.  What  Mr. 
Leonard  offers  in  place  of  that  primitive  naivete  is  of  infinitely  higher  interest 
to  intellectuals  of  the  twentieth  century. 

[To  illustrate  some  of  Dr.  Boehme's  points,  we  wish  to  quote  a  few  of 
the  fables,  though  Dr.  Boehme  himself  did  not  select  them. — Ed.] 

From  "Fables  Adapted  from  /Esop"  (pp.  13,  54,  and  73)  : 


THE  DOG  AND   HIS   IMAGE. 

A  Dog,  who  clenched  between  his  teeth  a  bone, 
Was  crossing,  as  it  chanced,  a  bridge  alone, 
Intent  upon  a  thicket  where  he  might 
Unseen  indulge  his  canine  appetite : 
When  looking  down  beside  the  plank  he  spied 
His  image  in  the  water  magnified. 
"Another  Dog,  and  a  more  tempting  bone ; 
In  size,"  he  thinks,  "at  least  two  times  my  own.' 
He  makes  a  savage  spring  with  opened  jaws 
And  loses  both  the  edibles,  because : 

Moral. 
One  must  acquaint  oneself  with  Nature's  laws. 


Mist  i;i. LAN  KOUS.  711 


Till".  TKi:i'.s  AND  Tin-:  Rrs'iic. 

A  Rustic  Fellow  to  tlu'  fjjrecnwood  went. 

And  looked  about  iiiui.    "What  is  your  intent?'' 

Inquired  the  Beecii.   "A  stick  of  wood  that's  sound 

To  serve  as  handle  for  the  ax  I've  found." 

The  Trees  politely  grant  a  piece  of  ash  ; 

Which  having  fitted,  he  begins  to  thrash 

And  lay  about  him  stroke  by  villain  stroke; 

And  Beech  and  Ash  and  Hickory  and  Oak 

He  fells,  the  noblest  of  the  forest  there, 

And  lea\cs  a  wilderness  of  stump  and  weed. 

Moral. 
Of  all  concessions  unto  pri\ate  greed. 
Ye  Forests  and  yc  Waterways,  beware. 

TIIK  COAT  AND  THE  GOATIIKRD. 

A  Goatherd  in  a  fit  of  scorn 
Cracked  with  a  stone  a  Nanny's  horn. 
Unskilled  to  mend  with  paste  or  plaster, 
He  begged  her  not  to  tell  his  master. 
"You're  quite  as  silly,  sir,  as  violent — 
The  horn  will  speak,  though  I  be  silent." 

^fo^■al. 
Man  oft   repents  of  what  he  did — 
For  wicked  deeds  cannot  be  hid. 

From  "Original  Fables"   (pp.  123  and  146)  : 

THE   BE.\R   AND  THE  OWE. 

.A.  famished  Rear,  whose  foot  was  clenched 
Within  a  murderous  engine,  wrenched 
And  bounced  about  in  fright  and  pain 
Around  the  tree  that  held  the  chain, 
Emitting  many  a  hideous  howl. 
His  state  was  noticed  by  an  Owl. 
Who,  perched  abo\  e  him  fat  and  free, 
Philosophizefl  from  out  the  tree: 
"Of  wh.'it  avail  tliis  fuss  and  noise? — 
The  thing  you  need,  my  Bear,  is  poise." 

Mora!. 
Such  counsels  are  most  sage,  we  know — 
But  often  how  malapropos ! 

THE  AS.S  .\ND  THE  .SICK    LION. 

An  Ass  mistook  the  echo  of  his  bray 
For  a  celestial  call  to  preach  and  pray ; 
And  his  own  shadow,  big  upon  the  wall. 


712  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

He  deemed  the  everlasting  Lord  of  All. 

Besides  he  had  some  notions  how  to  treat 

Sinners  and  fetch  them  to  the  mercy  seat. 

So  in  a  broad-cloth  tailored  coat,  combined 

With  a  white  collar  buttoned  up  behind, 

He  got  himself  a  parish.     In  his  flock 

Was  a  sick  Lion,  panting  on  a  rock. 

(It  was  an  arrow  from  a  huntsman's  bow 

That  laid  this  miserable  Lion  low.) 

Him  on  his  pastoral  rounds  the  Reverend  Ears 

One  morning  thus  addressed :  "These  groans  and  tears, 

How  base  and  craven  in  the  King  of  Beasts ! 

You  need  a  moral  tonic  !     Godless  feasts 

And  midnight  games  and  evil  Lionesses 

Have  brought  you,  brother,  to  these  sad  distresses; 

Think  not  that  I  will  comfort  or  condole — ■ 

j\Iy  cure  is  drastic,  but  'twill  save  your  soul." 

Whereat  he  turned  and  in  the  Lion's  face 

Planted  his  hoofs  with  more  of  speed  than  grace. 

Knocked  out  the  teeth,  and  blinded  both  the  eyes. 

And  left  him,  dying,  to  the  sun  and  flies. 

Moral. 
This  little  fable,  children,  is  a  proof 
That  no  profession,  purpose,  or  disguise 
Can  change  the  action  of  an  Ass's  hoof. 


"SAVAGE  LIFE  AND  CUSTOM." 
To  the  Editor  of  The  Oj^oi  Court: 

In  the  articles  on  "Savage  Life  and  Custom,"  by  Edward  Lawrence,  that 
you  have  published  in  The  Open  Court,  some  views  are  expressed  which  show 
that  the  author's  knowledge  of  the  race  problems  is  very  piecemeal.  If  your 
magazine  represents  the  monistic  trend  of  thought,  of  which  the  late  Dr.  Paul 
Cams  was  such  an  able  exponent,  such  articles  should  find  no  place  in  your 
magazine  unless  the  peculiar  views  of  the  articles  are  corrected.  It  was  a 
peculiarity  of  the  late  Dr.  Carus  that  he  was  inclined  toward  cosmopolitanism, 
while  as  the  same  time  he  was  inclined  to  be  nationalistic.  This  was  a  point 
where  I  seemed  to  find  inconsistency  in  Dr.  Carus,  but  I  am  convinced  that 
if  I  could  have  stated  my  views  to  him  fully,  he  would  not  have  differed  from 
me.  Although  Dr.  Carus  was  an  incessant  student,  versed  in  all  departments 
of  knowledge,  yet  I  think  he  never  studied  the  race  problems  fully. 

The  monistic  philosophy  of  life,  of  which  the  late  Ernst  Haeckel  was  the 
chief  exponent,  would  be  in  favor  of  eliminating  and  exterminating  the  lower 
races,  rather  than  trying  to  civilize  them  and  to  favor  their  intermixture  and 
consequent  amalgamation  with  the  white  race.  After  an  elaborate  study  of  the 
race  problems,  it  is  clear  to  me  that  to  assimilate  the  savage  races  is  a  score 
or  more  times  as  cruel  as  to  eliminate  them,  since  to  intermix  with  and  assimi- 
late the  lower  races  involves  centuries  of  evil  social  conditions  in  which  life 


MISCELLANEOUS.  713 

will  not  be  fit  to  li\c  for  a  high  t\pc  of  people  endowed  with  sympathy.  The 
root  evil  of  our  present  social  conditions  is  race  intermixture.  A  social  mil- 
lennium is  not  possible  unless  we  have  a  homogeneous  race  and  one  without 
class  distinctions.     The  correct  view  of  life  is  also  required. 

The  principal  ideals  of  the  monistic  philosophy  of  life  arc: 

1.  To  work  in  agreement  with  the  evolutionary  creative  plan  of  God 
and  to  favor  and  foster  the  improvement  and  increase  of  the  higher  grades  of 
people:  to  favor  the  development  of  a  race  of  people  of  high-grade  intellectual, 
physical,  esthetic,  and  moral  qualities: 

2.  To  eliminate  the  evils  from  life,  and  to  bring  ahunt  a  state  of  society 
in  which  all  people  will  be  tolerably,  equally  well  supplied  with  material  goods. 

I  belie\  c  no  higher  realizable  ideals  can  be  stated. 

The  white  or  European  race  is,  without  doubt,  superior  to  tlic  non-white 
races  on  the  following  points : 

1.  Physicallv: 

2.  Intellectually; 

3.  Esthetically,  or  as  regards  the  form  and  beauty  of  body  and  face; 

4.  In  the  value  of  life.  Ernst  llaeckcl  regards  the  value  of  the  life  of  the 
lower  sa\ages  of  man  as  not  much  above  the  higher  mannnals.  I  agree  with 
him. 

As  regards  morality,  we  fnid  numerous  indi\iduals  of  the  white  race  that 
are  low  indeed.  But  if  one  regards  the  situation  squarely,  the  while  race 
stands,  in  general,  superior  to  the  others  in  regard  to  morality ;  although  I 
ha\e  no  objection  if  a  white  man  wants  to  regard  himself  morally  not  Ijettcr 
than  the  lowest  savage.  What  is  an  abomination,  is  the  high-browed  and 
self-conceited  sense  of  justice  fif  the  white  people.  The  defects  in  morality  of 
the  white  people  as  compared  with  the  lower  savages  arise  mainly  from  their 
wrong-headed  view  of  life. 

The  European  people  are  hybrids  or  intermixtures  and  have  no  race 
solidarity.  The  chief  fault  of  the  white  race  of  people  is  that  they  have  no 
race  pride,  no  race  ideals  ;  while  at  the  same  time  they  have  excessive  national 
pride.  The  w'hite  man  judges  people  by  Hieir  citizenship  rather  than  by  bio- 
logical race  differences.  The  wdiite  man  is  a  fiend  and  a  traitor  to  his  own 
race.  This  arises  mainly  from  his  wrong-headed  Christian  view  of  life  with 
the  obvious  falsehood  that  "all  men  are  created  equal."  The  more  I  think 
about  Christianity,  the  more  defective  it  appears  to  me  as  an  ethical  system. 
I  think  some  one  wanted  to  put  a  curse  on  the  European  people,  so  he  invented 
Christianity.  I  have  always  held  the  view  that  the  Christian  view  of  life 
would  lead  to  race  intermixture,  race  deterioration,  and  bring  overpopulation 
and  severe  economic  conditions,  resulting  in  the  most  disastrous  wars.  This 
has  been  "proved  to  a  finish"  by  the  world  war. 

The  author  of  "Savage  Life  and  Custom"  does  not  seem  to  know  enough 
about  biology  and  the  evolution  of  species  to  know  that  the  interests  of  widely 
different  races  are  in  irreconcilable  conflict.  For  instance,  the  conflict  between 
the  Mongolian  and  the  white  races  is  irreconcilable.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
interests  of  such  closely  related  peoples  as  the  Germans.  English,  and  French 
run  together.  For  them  to  disagree  is  hazardous,  for  them  to  quarrel  is  dis- 
astrous. War  between  them  is  a  w^ar  of  self-extermination.  The  European 
race  has  received  a  setback  of  over  twenty  million  in  number  as  a  result 
of  the  world  war.    This  cuts  like  an  exponential  function  into  the  future. 


714  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

The  laws  of  evolution  of  life  are  in  constant  operation.  The  white  race 
has  been  found  wanting  in  morality.  The  Slavic  branch  of  the  white  race 
and  the  Mongolian  race,  or  perhaps  a  hybrid  of  these  two  types,  will  dominate 
the  Eastern  Hemisphere  in  the  future  according  to  the  present  outlook;  and 
in  America  we  will  develop  a  race  of  mixed  breeds  and  mulattoes. 

The  interests  of  the  American  Indians  and  the  European  people  were  in 
conflict  in  America  and  the  intermixture  of  the  Indians  with  white  people 
deteriorates  them.  I  suppose  the  author  of  "Savage  Life  and  Custom"  would 
have  left,  in  the  name  of  justice,  the  United  States  eternally  to  be  inhabited 
b}'   less    than   one   million    savage    Indians. 

The  European  peoples  have  ascended  from  a  barbarous  or  savage  state 
and  have  superseded  the  other  races  in  progress.  The  superior  race  is  con- 
taminated by  contact  and  intermixture  with  the  savages  rather  than  the 
savage  by  the  white  man.  But  if  the  savage  degenerates  when  he  comes  in 
contact  with  civilization,  as  the  author  of  "Savage  Life  and  Custom"  argues,, 
that  only  proves  the  inferiority  of  the  savage.  The  white  people  degenerate 
morally  by  excessive  wealth  and  luxury;  most  lower  races  degenerate  by  mere 
contact  with  civilization,  that  is  true. 

Such  fundamental  facts  as  the  following  should  be  kept  in  mind.  The 
world  cannot  support  more  than  twice  the  present  population  on  an  adequate 
standard  of  living.  The  United  States  cannot  support  more  than  300  million 
on  an  adequate  standard  of  living.  Germany,  for  instance,  had  a  population  of 
67,800,000  in  the  year  1914.  I  estimated,  before  the  war,  that  Germany  could 
not  support  more  than  about  45  million  on  her  soil  products  on  an  adequate 
standard  of  living.  This  has  been  corroborated  during  the  war.  Germany  had 
a  rate  of  increase  of  15  per  cent,  in  excess  of  emigration  before  the  war.  Her 
economic  and  industrial  expansion  was  desirable,  but  the  fiends  of  the  white 
race  attempted  to  thwart  her,  with  the  consequent  disaster.  If  the  European 
countries  become  overpopulated,  it  is  much  better  if  the  people  expand  into 
other  countries  and  displace  the  backward  peoples  instead  of  killing  each  other. 
The  ability  of  population  to  increase  exceeds  all  bounds  of  food  supply  and, 
in  fact,  exceeds  standing  room  on  the  earth.  It  was  shown  by  Lamarck,  Dar- 
win, and  Haeckel  that  the  rapid  increase  in  numbers  is  an  important  factor  in 
the  evolution  of  organisms  and  a  necessary  factor  in  the  displacement  of  lower 
grades  of  organisms  by  higher.     This  applies  also  to  the  races  of  man. 

The  highest  ideal  of  life  is  to  favor  the  plan  of  nature  (God) — to  favor 
the  development  of  a  race  of  people  of  the  highest  grade,  till  a  certain  degree 
of  perfection  is  attained.  The  population  may  then  remain  stationary  in  num- 
ber. Having  also  attained  the  correct  view  of  life  and  complete  knowledge  of 
nature  a  millennium  will  be  possible.  The  monistic  philosophy  points  out  the 
way. 

You  may  print  this  letter  if  you  wish.  People  have  such  an  aversion  to 
truth  that  they  rather  choose  ruin  than  to  face  the  bold  facts.  People  seem  to 
be  unwilling  to  learn  the  lesson  of  life  except  by  hard  experience — by  being 
chastised  with  diseases,  wars,  and  death.  The  Creator  of  life  must  know  what 
he  is  doing  when  he  lets  such  scourges  as  the  world  war  prevail.  It  takes  such 
experiences  to  make  people  think  and  to  drive  a  new  idea  into  the  recalcitrant 
human  mind. 

Peter  Filo  Schulte. 


MiS("i:i,i..\xKoi's.  715 


BOOK  REVIEWS. 

Dkvii.s  ;  BiniE  \'KKSts  Pacan.  or  'I'iik  Pkoiu.km  or  l\\ii..  P.y  //,  R.  Bnuh-r, 
P.P.  lllustralotl.  Pul)Iislied  l)y  tlic  author.  1  larri-l.urij.  Pa.  [1918.] 
Pp.  x^  130. 

The  hook  uiuKt  ro\ic\v  is  composed  of  two  parts,  the  first  of  wiiich  was 
originally  puhlished  iiiulcr  the  title  Tlir  Bible  Peril.  This  has  heen  here  re- 
printed witliont  change,  hut  to  satisfy  tlie  (|ueslions  "of  P.ilile  te.icliers  wlio 
desired  information  upon  m.any  points  tliat  did  not  ci>nie  within  the  compass 
of  the  tirst  echtion"  (p.  71).  a  second  part  lias  heen  added  under  \\h:it  is  now 
the  title  of  tlie  whole  hook.  There  are  twehe  chapters  under  sundry  headings, 
sucli  as  Teachiiitr  of  the  ( )ld  'i'evtament,  l)e\ils  or  I  K'mons,  Tlu-  Pagan  Devil, 
The  Prohlem  c^f  l-Ail,  Pre\alcnce  of  DnaliMii  in  the  Days  of  (dirist,  Paul's 
"Thorn  in  the  Flesh."  etc. 

The  aim  of  the  author  is  to  estal)lish  the  purely  monotheistic  character  of 
the  Christian  religion,  which,  as  he  clearly  perceives,  is  somehow  punctured  hy  the 
doctrine  of  the  Devil.  He  claims  that  the  traditional  conception  of  the  Devil  as 
a  "personality"  is  not  P)ihlical  at  all  hut  is  fashioned  after  Milton's  creation. 
Says  he  ( pp.  76f)  : 

"The  dualistic  teaching  of  the  pagans  seems  to  have  come  hack,  or  to  liave 
been  revived  within  the  Church.  All  contrasts  lictween  the  Bible  and  the 
pagan  Devil  disappeared;  and  the  pagan  Devil,  as  a  fiendish,  supernatural  per- 
sonality, clothed  with  the  attrilnites  of  a  rival  Deity,  became  the  popular  faith, 
whose  harvest  was  the  witch  mania  that  overran  Europe  like  a  pestilence  of 
darkness.  L'nder  the  invisible  pressure  of  this  popular  conviction,  our  King 
James  translation  of  the  Scri])tures  appeared.  Milton  gave  the  pagan  concep- 
tion of  the  Devil  respectability,  and  the  King  James  translation  gave  it  author- 
ity. Xot  until  the  Revised  \'ersion  of  the  Scriptures  appeared  were  these  old 
implications  of  dualism  taken  seriously.  Since  then,  in  thought  centers  the 
old  conviction  of  a  personal,  supernatural,  historical  Devil  no  longer  exists." 

To  ju.stify  these  contentions,  all  references  in  the  Bible  to  "The  Adver- 
sary," "Satan,"  "The  Devil,"  etc.,  must  be  explained  away.  Thus  we  read  on 
page  27 : 

"The  Adversary  in  Job  symbolizes  an  accusing  attorney  at  court,  in  har- 
mony with  .\siatic  custom.  The  Adversary  is  not  the  ruler  of  a  kingdom, 
located  in  a  dark  underworld.  He  has  no  distinctive  hideousness,  nor  in  any 
sense  is  he  a  rival  ruler,  set  against  the  Kingdom  of  ("lod;  nor  is  he  a  fallen 
angel.  He  assembles  with  the  Sons  of  God;  is  not  reproved  for  being  out  of 
place,  and  is  entirely  subject  to  Divine  authority.  He  acts  only  by  Divine  per- 
mission, in  order  that,  by  a  severe  test,  the  possibility  of  an  unselfish  devotion 
to  righteousness  may  be  made  manifest." 

The  story  of  the  Temptation  of  Christ  is,  of  course,  incapable  of  literal 
interpretation — these  temptations  are  "visions."  But  we  may  gently  remind  the 
author  that  a  narrative  of  visions  of  a  Tempter  presupposes  belief  in  the 
existence  of  this  Tempter — or  else  it  is  fiction.  The  same  line  of  argument  is 
continued  in  the  second  part  of  the  book,  where  we  find  the  first  serious  dis- 
cussion of  the  New  Testament  stories  of  demons  cast  out  by  Jesus.  To  quote 
the  author's  words  (pp.  125f)  ;  "Also,  what  we  now  call  hypnotism,  telepathy, 
and  clairvoyance,  as  psychic  forces  of  human  life,  the  Old   World  attributed 


716  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

to  the  action  of  demons,  resident  in  the  bodies  of  men.... The  wisdom  of 
Christ  is  apparent  in  his  custom  of  meeting  the  multitude  on  their  own  ground. 
The  only  method  of  progress  was  to  drive  the  demons  out  of  their  minds,  by 
healing  them  of  their  maladies. ..  .Accordingly,  Jesus  rebukes  the  devil  or 
demon  as  though  he  were  a  person."     (The  italics  are  ours.) 

However,  a  belated  stud}'  of  the  Avesta  leads  the  author,  after  all,  "to 
conclude  that  there  existed  a  strong  disposition  in  the  people  toward  dualism" 
after  the  Exile  (p.  103),  and  he  even  admits  that  in  the  days  of  Christ  the 
Jewish  masses,  "cursed  by  the  Pharisees,  and  then  wandering  abroad  as  sheep 
without  a  shepherd"  (p.  120),  had  become  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  dualism, 
in  spite  of  the  teaching  of  their  Prophets.  Now,  it  is  a  well-established  fact 
that  the  religion  of  the  ancient  Jews  originally  knew  nothing  of  the  Devil, 
that  God  tempted  David  to  do  wrong,  etc.,  etc.  But  the  other  fact  is  just  as 
well  established  that  it  was  the  very  study  of  the  Bible,  revived  by  the  Refor- 
mation, that  led  the  people  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  as  well 
as  their  spiritual  leaders  to  that  insane  fear  of  the  Devil  and  his  servants 
which  characterizes  the  private  and  public  life  of  the  whole  age.  The  fact  is, 
there  is  a  Devil  in  the  Bible,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  if 
that  doctrine  is  proven  to  be  illogical,  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  doctrine  of 
monotheism,  this  argues  nothing  in  favor  of  Christian  theology  in  general. 
It  simply  shows  that  the  Devil  is  making  himself  so  obnoxious  in  modern 
Bible  interpretation  that  he  must  be  got  rid  of  at  almost  any  price. 

Finally,  even  if  we  discard  all  dualistic  teaching  of  the  Bible,  what  is 
thereby  gained?  A  more  logical  system,  to  be  sure,  but  the  problem  of  evil, 
figuring  in  the  title  of  Dr.  Bender's  book,  remains  as  unsolved  as  ever,  simply 
because  theology  cannot  solve  it.  The  best  the  author  has  to  offer  in  this  re- 
spect is  the  time-worn  theory  of  contrast:  "If  we  shrink  in  horror  at  man's 
capacity  for  brutal  degradation,  it  is  that  we  may  better  appreciate  the  out- 
come of  man's  redemption"  (p.  130).  Notice,  besides,  that  here — unconsciously, 
we  take  it — -for  "the  evil  outside  of  man,"  the  "moral  evil  within  man"  has  been 
substituted.  Such  solutions  of  the  greatest  ethical  problem  there  is  will 
satisfy  nobody  who  is  not  contented  to  cover  up  the  defects  of  this  best  of  all 
possible  worlds  with  platitudes  and  sophistry. 

We  do  not  doubt  that  the  book  will.be  read  with  interest  by  ministers  and 
Sunday-school  teachers. 


Books  By  Dr.   Paul  Cams 

SURD     OF    METAPHYSICS.        An     Inquiry     into     the     Question,    Are     There 
Things-In-Themselves.  75c    net 

Tliis  l)Ook  is  not  mctapliysical,  hut  anti-iiictaphysical.  The  idea  tliat  science 
and  pliilosophy  are  contrasts  still  prevails  in  many  circles  even  among  ad- 
vanced thinkers,  and  the  claim  is  frequently  made  that  philosophy  leaves  a 
surd,  some  irreducil)le  element  analogous  to  the  irrational  in  mathematics. 
Dr.  Cams  stands  for  the  opposite  view.  He  lielieves  in  the  efliciency  of 
.^^cience  and  to  him  the  true  philosophy  is  the  philosophy  of  science. 

KANT'S  PROLEGOMENA  TO  ANY  FUTURE  METAPHYSIC. 

Cloth,  75c  net;  paper,  60c 
Convinced  of  the  significance  oi  Kant's  Prolegomena,  Dr.  Cams  offers  a 
new  translation  of  this  most  important  Kantian  pamphlet,  which  is  prac- 
tically an  explanation  of  Kant  iiimself,  setting  forth  the  intention  of  his 
Criti(|ue  of  Pure  Reason. 

RELIGION   OF   SCIENCE.     From   the   Standpoint   of  Monism. 

Cloth,  50c;    paper,   25c 

THE   ETHICAL  PROBLEM.     Three  Lectures   on   Ethics  as  a  Science. 

Cloth,  $1.25;  paper,  60c 
The  puhlication  of  these  addresses  elicited  a  nunilicr  of  discus.sions  with 
Rev.  Wni.  M.  Salter  and  other  men  interested  in  the  philosophy  of  ethics, 
among  them  Prof.  Harald  Hoftding  of  Copenhagen,  Prof.  Friedrich  Jodl 
of  \'ienna.  Dr.  Rol)ert  Lewins,  the  English  philosopher  of  solipsism,  Dr. 
L.  AL  Billia  of  Italy,  etc.  The  hook  contains  also  discussions  of  the  views 
of  Goldwin  Smith,  (justav  Fechner,  PI.  Sidgwick,  John  Stuart  Alill, 
Rosmini.  etc. 

PERSONALITY.       With    Special    Reference    to    Super-Personalities    and    the 

Interpersonal   Character   of   Ideas.  Cloth,   75c   net 

In  this  hook  Dr.  Carus  explains  the  nature  of  personality  and  the  prohlems 
kin  to  it.  Among  other  matter,  it  contains  an  explanation  why  the  Trinity 
idea  is   so  prcdimiinant  in  all   religions. 

THE  NATURE  OF  THE  STATE.  Cloth,  50c  net;   paper,  20c 

The  Nature  of  the  State  is  a  small  treatise  conveying  a  great  truth,  throwing 
light  not  only  on  the  character  of  communal  life,  hut  also  on  the  nature 
of  nian"s  smil. 

THE   RISE   OF   MAN.     A  sketch   of  the  Origin   of   the   Human    Race. 

Boards,  cloth  back,  75c  net.  Illustrated 
In  this  hook  Dr.  Carus  upholds  the  divinity  of  man  from  the  standpoint 
of  evolution. 

THE  FOUNDATION  OF  MATHEMATICS.    A  Contribution  to  the  Philosophy 

of   Geometry.  Cloth,   gilt   top,   75c   net 

'J'he  enormous  significance  of  the  formal  sciences  makes  it  desiralile  that 
any  one  who  attempts  to  philosophize  should  understand  tlie  nature  of 
mathematics. 

THE    MECHANISTIC   PRINCIPLE   AND    THE    NON-MECHANICAL. 

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The  truth  of  the  mechanistic  principle  is  here  unreservedly  acknowledged 
without  any  equivocation  or  limitation,  and  it  is  pointed  out  that  the  laws 
of  mechanics  apply  without  exception  to  all  motions;  hut  they  do  not 
apply  to  things  tliat  are  not  motions. 

NIETZSCHE  and  other  Exponents   of   Individualism.  Cloth,  $1.25 

The  appearance  of  a  philos'ipher  sucli  as  Nietzsche  is  a  symptom  of  the 
times.  He  is  one  representative  among  several  others  of  an  anti-scientific 
tendency.  He  is  characterized  rather  as  a  poet  than  a  thinker,  as  a  leader 
and  an  exponent  of  certain  unruly  and  immature  minds.  Though  his 
philosophy  is  severely  criticised,  though  it  is  weighed  and  found  wanting, 
his  personality  is  descrihed  not  without  sympathy  and  with  an  appreciation 
of   his  genius. 

Ji'ritc  for  a   co}}]plctc   drscrif'thc   catalog   of  publication.';. 

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122  SOUTH  MICHIGAN  AVENUE  —  —  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


ESSAYS  IN  SCIENTIFIC  SYNTHESIS 


BY 
EUGENIC  RIGNANO 


254  pages 


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The  following  review  appeared  in  the  Nczv  York  Evening  Post  in 
the  issue  of  February  22nd. 


"These  essays  furnish  an  instance  of 
the  interest  which  the  war  has  awakened 
in  this  country  in  the  thought  and  ex- 
pression of  perhaps  the  least  well  under- 
derstood  of  our  allies,  Italy.  An  ac- 
quaintance with  English,  French,  even 
Russian,  literature  and  science  is  pre- 
supposed among  wellread  Americans ; 
but  most  of  us,  if  challenged,  could 
scarcely  proceed  beyond  Lombroso  in  a 
list  of  modern  Italian  scientists.  Eugenio 
Rignano  is  particularly  well  fitted  to 
help  bring  about  a  rapprochement  be- 
tween the  two  nations,  as  his  own  inter- 
ests are  avowedly  international :  Scicntia 
of  which  he  is  editor,  is  an  international 
review ;  and  Signer  Rignano's  essays 
have  appeared  in  magazines  as  diverse 
as  La  Revue  Philosophiquc,  Annalen  der 
Natur-philosophie,  and  our  own  Monist. 

The  special  purpose  of  the  present 
volume  is  to  give  examples  of  the  service 
which  the  general,  as  opposed  to  the 
highly  specialized,  scientist  may  perform 
in  the  criticism  of  old  theories  and  the 
discovery  of  new  laws.  The  author 
rightly  holds  that  psychology,  for  in- 
stance, cannot  properly  be  understood 
without  reference  to  physics,  and  that 
sociology  in  turn  depends  upon  pschology. 
It  is  such  bridges  as  these  that  he  is 
particularly  concerned  to  supply.  One 
becomes  skeptical  only  when  he  under- 
takes to  supply  so  many  of  them  in  his 
own  person.  The  case  for  the  synthetic 
mind,  which  compares  and  analyzes  the 
results  obtained  by  the  direct  experiment 
of  the  specialist,  is  a  good  one.  Perhaps 
the  modern  scientific  world  has  too 
violently  repudiated  Bacon's  magnificent, 
if  impossible,  declaration  :  "I  have  taken 
all  knowledge  to  be  my  province."  The 
counter-appeal    for    scientific    breadth    of 


view  is  not  misplaced.  Nevertheless, 
when  a  single  volume  propounds  a  re- 
conciliation of  the  war  between  vitalism 
and  mechanism  in  biology;  a  theory  of 
the  affective  elements  in  psychology ;  a 
new  definition  of  consciousness;  an 
evaluation  of  the  role  of  religion  in 
civilization;  and  a  discussion  of  the 
economic  explanation  of  history — more 
cautious  minds  cannot  help  suspecting  a 
tendency  toward  brilliant  guesswork  on 
the  part  of  so  versatile  an  expert. 

A  certain  unity  is  given  to  the  major 
portion  of  the  book  by  the  development 
of  a  stimulation,  though  by  no  means 
entirely  novel,  theory  of  memory  as  the 
central  phenomenon  in  both  purely  bio- 
logical and  higher  psychic  processes. 
Even  the  assimilation  performed  by  a 
unicellular  organism  is  essentially  memory, 
involving  the  power  to  experience  anew, 
and  yet  to  remain  the  same ;  to  repeat, 
with  novelty  in  the  repetition.  Moving 
upward  in  the  scale,  pleasant  and  un- 
pleasant experiences  are  intimately  con- 
cerned with  the  formation  of  habits, 
themselves  intimately  concerned  with 
memory — it  is  a  well-known  theory  in 
psychology  that  the  familiar  is  always 
pleasant.  Advancing  to  yet  more  com- 
plex processes,  the  author  finds  that  one 
of  the  chief  functions  of  religious  cere- 
mony was  to  fix  important  social  reg- 
ulations, customs,  dates,  even  boundaries 
of  land,  in  memory  by  surrounding  them 
with     special     rites.  On     the     whole, 

though  perhaps  dangerously  facile  for 
the  superfluous  mind,  which  may  be  en- 
couraged to  draw  large  conclusions  from 
insufficient  evidence,  this  volume  is 
stimulating  to  thought  in  a  wide  variety 
of  directions." 

— New  York  Evening  Post. 


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scribed as  a  ver\-   lair  imitation  of  Paradise. 

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pai;an  ni\  tholo<i\-.  A  charming  book." — liiu/lisli  Jcunnil.  Universitv  of  Chicajj;(j 
Press. 

WHAT  IS  A  DOGMA? 

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answered.  What  is  the  answer?  It  is  given  in  two  propositions:  (1)  The  intel- 
lectual conception  which  is  current  to  day  renders  the  great  number  of  objections 
raised  by  the  idea  of  dogma  unsolvable.  (2)  On  the  other  hand,  a  doctrine  of 
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Contributions  to  the  Founding  of  the 
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This  volume  contains  a  translation  of  the  two  very  important  memoirs  of 
Georg  Cantor  on  transfinite  numbers  which  appeared  in  1895  and  1897.  These 
memoirs  are  the  final  and  logically  purified  statement  of  many  of  the  most  important 
results  of  the  long  series  of  memoirs  begun  by  Cantor  in  1870.  A  very  full  historical 
account  of  this  work  and  the  work  of  others  which  led  up  to  it  is  given  in  the  intro- 
duction and  the  notes  at  the  end  contain  indications  of  the  progress  made  in  the 
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PRESS  NOTES 


"It  gives  one  distinct  pleasure  to  read  these  pages,  which  make  up 
the  hest  book  in  English  on  the  world's  greatest  living  man  of  letters." 
— The  Nation,  Neiv  York  City. 

"The  critical  chapter  with  which  this  book  ends  is  most  admirable." 
— Richmond  Neivs  Leader. 

"All  who  would  comprehend  the  work  of  the  greatest  of  living 
French  authors  should  read  this  book.  No  better  estimate  of  France  as 
man  and  author  is  likely  to  appear  in  the  near  future." — Stratford 
Journal,  Boston. 

"The  lovers  of  Anatole  France  will  set  a  great  value  upon  this 
book." — JVashington  Star. 

"Anatole  France  is  a  biography  of  the  French  author  and  a  critical 
study  of  his  forty  books." — The  Writer,  Boston. 

"Anatole  France  is  one  of  the  few  really  great  writers  of  to-day.  His 
genially  cynical  philosophy  of  life  is  capably  presented."- — Boston  Post. 

"Mr.  Shank's  volume  will  form  an  excellent  guide  to  the  work  and 
genius  of  Anatole  France." — Boston  Evening  Transcript. 


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The  Philosophy  of  B  rlr  nd  R  ss  II 

With   an   Appendix   of   Leading   Passages    From    Certain   Other   works. 
Edited    by    Philip    E.    B.    Jourdain.  Price    $1.00. 

Tlicre  is  a  great  deal  to  be  said  for  any  philosophy  that  can  stand  a  joke. 
Philosopliies  are  usually  too  dignified  for  that;  and  for  dignity  Mr.  P.*rtr*nd 
R*ss*Il  has  little  reverence  (see  Chap.  XX,  "On  Dignity").  It  is  a  method  of 
hiding  hollow  ignorance  under  a  pasteboard  covering  of  pomposity.  Laughter 
would  shake  down  the  house  of  cards. 

Now  what  has  given  rise  to  much  solemn  humbug  in  philosophy  is  the  vice 
of  system-making.  This  vice  the  great  contemporary  of  Mr.  B*rtr*nd  R*ss*ll — Mr. 
Bertrand  Russell — has  avoided  liy  a  frank  and  frequent  disavowal  of  any  of  his 
views  as  soon  as  later  consideration  has  rendered  them  untenable  without 
philosophic  contortions.  But  such  a  characteristic  is  a  little  disconcerting  to 
those  of  his  admirers  whose  loyalty  exceeds  their  powers  of  criticism.  Thus 
one  of  them,  referring  to  The  Problems  of  Philosophy  when  it  first  appeared, 
wrote:  "I  feel  in  Mr.  Russell's  book  the  interest  that  a  curate  would  feel  in  the 
publications  of  an  archbishop  who  made  important  modifications  in  Christian 
doctrine    every    year." 

Justice  in  War  Time 

By    Bertrand    Russell.  Cloth,    $1.00;    paper,    50c. 

This   book  was   written   in    1916. 

In  the  midst  of  the  uproar  of  anger  the  author  raised  his  voice  for  reason. 
His  pica  was  for  that  internationalism  which  will  establish  a  moral  high  court, 
a  tribunal  of  conscience  that  would  make  effective  the  Hague  Court.  He  has 
not  ceased  to  do  his  utmost  to  arouse  Europe  to  the  folly  and  madness  of  war 
and  to  recall  to  men's  minds  that  "co-operation  not  war,  is  the  right  and  destiny 
of  nations;  all  that  is  valuable  in  each  people  may  be  maintained  not  l)y  struggle 
against   but   by    friendly   intercourse   with    others." 

The  views  of  Mr.  Russell  oflfer  a  valuable  study  for  people  who  are 
interested  in  knowing  something  about  the  causes  of  war,  and  probable  rivalry 
which  the  future  may  bring  about,  the  prospects  of  permanent  peace,  America's 
policy,  etc.  It  is  important  that,  after  peace,  the  nations  should  feel  that  degree 
of   mutual   respect   which   will   make   co-operation   possible. 

Our   Knowledge    of    the    External   World   as    a    Field    for    Scientific 
Method  in   Philosophy. 

By   Bertrand   Russell.  Cloth,   $2.00. 

These  eight  lectures  attempt  to  show,  by  means  of  examples,  the  nature, 
capacity,  and  limitations  of  the  logico-analytical  method  in  philosophy.  These 
lectures  are  written,  as  the  Mathematical  Gazette  says,  with  that  clearness,  force, 
and  subtle  humor  that  readers  of  Mr.  Russell's  other  works  have  learned  to 
e.xpect;  and  are  the  first  publication  on  Mr.  Russell's  new  line  of  the  study  of 
the  foundation  of  Physics. 

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The  Rival  Philosophies 

of 

Jesus  and  Paul 

Being  an  Explanation  of  the  Failures  of  Organized  Christianity, 
and  a  Vindication  of  the  Teachings  of  Jesus,  which  are  shown  to  contain 
a  Religion  for  all  Men  and  for  all  Times.     By  Ignatius  Singer. 

Cloth,  $2.00 


"The  author's  general  position,  his  attitude  towards  institutional 
religion — the  churches  and  ecclesiastical  authority — are  clearly  set  forth. 
.  .  .  the  author  attributes  to  all  thinking  people  a  desire  to  know 
not  merely  why  the  church  has  failed,  but  why  Christianity  has  failed 
in  its  mission — by  w^iich  he  means,  not  the  religion  of  Jesus,  but  that  of 
the  Christian  churches.  .  .  .  Much  has  been  said  of  religious  unrest, 
of  uncertainty  and  "honest  doubt,"  of  absenteeism  from  church,  indif- 
ference to  religion,  and  cooling  of  religious  sentiment  in  which  there  is 
a  possible  confusion  of  cause  and  effect.  .  .  .  The  people  are  look- 
ing for  something  which  the  churches  do  not  supply.  .  .  .  The 
restoration  of  Reason  to  the  judicial  bench,  its  virtual  enthronement,  is 
the  key  to  the  volume,  the  distinctive  feature  of  the  structure  of  Mr. 
Singer's  building.  .  .  .  But  it  was  theology  that  fell,  and  not  Re- 
ligion. .  .  .  the  Christ  of  the  Gospel  is  held  to  be  a  myth.  He  was 
evolved  by  Saint  Paul  many  years  after  the  death  of  Jesus,  and  Saint 
Paul,  therefore,  was  the  founder  of  Christianity  as  the  word  is  now 
understood.  .  .  .  The  book  makes  strenuous  reading,  and  there  is 
in  it  more  strong  meat  for  man  than  milk  for  babies." — From  the  London 
Montrose  Standard. 


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EDUCATION  IN  ANCIENT  ISRAEL 

from  earliest  limes  lo  70  A.  D. 

Pp.  xii-137  $1-5  "ft 


Fletcher  Harper  Swift,  autlior  of  Educntiou  in  .liicicnt  Israel,  is  a  professor 
of  the  History  and  Philosophy  of  Education  in  tlie  College  of  Education, 
University  of  Minnesota.  Professor  Swift  graduated  from  Dartmouth  College 
in  1898,  received  the  degree  of  B.I),  from  tlie  Vn'ion  Theological  Seminary  in 
1903,  and  the  degree  of   Pli.D.   from  Columliia   University   in   1905. 

Professor  Swift's  little  volume,  though  modestly  professing  to  represent  a 
mere  heginning,  is,  nevertheless  a  genuine,  an  important  and  much  needed 
contrilnition  to  the  historical  literature  of  education  and  social  evolution.  He 
traces,  following  the  lines  of  the  best  contemporary  scholarships,  the  develop- 
ment of  Hebrew  social,  religious  and  educational  conceptions  and  institutions 
from  the  school-less  days  of  nomadism  up  to  the  system  of  universal  compulsory 
education  established  shortly  before  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  (70  A.  D.).  He  dis- 
cusses not  only  the  training  given  in  the  family  and  trilje,  the  evolution  of 
studies  and  of  social  and  educational  ideals,  the  rise  of  schools,  and  the  part 
played  Iiy  parents,  priests,  Levites,  prophets,  and  scribes  as  teachers,  but  many 
aspects  and  factors  for  which  one  searches  in  vain  in  other  accounts,  such  as 
military  training,  athletics  and  games,  adolescent  rites,  industrial  training,  ■  the 
teaching  of  manners,  conception  of  child  nature  and  doctrine  of  the  divine  right 
of    parents. 

The  treatment  is  divided  into  si.x  chapters:  I,  general  historical  survey  of 
the  Pre-exilic  period;  H,  education  in  tribe  and  family  during  the  Pre-exilic 
period;  HI,  general  historical  survey  of  the  Post-exilic  period;  IV,  education  in 
the  family  after  the  Exile;  V,  education  in  school  and  society  after  the  Exile; 
\T,  women  and  the  education  of  girls.  Students  will  be  greatly  aided  by  the 
analytical  table  of  contents,  the  center  and  marginal  topical  headings,  frequent 
footnotes,  selected  bibliography,  and  an   imusually  carefully   prepared   index. 

Education  in  Ancient  Israel  will  be  heartily  welcomed  the  world  over  by 
students  of  education  and  of  religious,  moral  and  social  evolution  who  have 
long  felt  tlie  need  of  such  a  volume.  Coming  at  a  time  when  a  world  war  has 
forced  an  unprecedented  universial  understanding  of  the  necessity  of  knowing 
the  historical  genesis  of  contemporary  social  ideals  and  institutions,  its  appear- 
ance  is   particularly   opportune. 


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LETTERS  TO  TEACHERS 

By  Hartley  B.  Alexander 

Pps.  256  Price,  Cloth  $].25 

CIVILIZATION  must  not  only  be  preserved,  but  re- 
constructed. Everywhere  the  problems  of  political 
and  economic  reconstruction  are  being  discussed ;  but 
underlying  these  and,  even  if  less  immediate,  more  essential 
than  these  are  the  problems 'of  educational  reconstruction. 
LETTERS  TO  TEACHERS  is  devoted  to  the  consideration 
of  the  problems  of  educational  reconstruction  as  they  affect 
the  public  schools  of  the  United  States :  the  fundamental 
question  which  they  treat  is.  What  should  our  public  schools 
do  to  preserve  our  democracy  and  to  promote  the  finest 
Americanism?  No  ])roblem  is  more  pressing  for  consider- 
ation not  only  b}^  the  teachers,  but  also  by  the  public  of 
America. 

In  the  general  view  of  the  problems  of  education  pre- 
sented by  LETTERS  TO  TEACHERS  attention  is  given  to 
the  significance  of  pageantry  as  a  form  of  community  art 
which  the  schools  should  cultivate.  The  author.  Professor 
Hartley  B.  Alexander  of  the  University  of  Nebraska,  is 
qualified  by  experience  to  speak  upon  this  interesting  ques- 
tion. He  has  taught  aesthetics  for  a  number  of  years  and  has 
written  not  only  upon  the  theoretical  side  of  the  subject 
(among  his  books  is  Poetry  and  the  Individual),  but  is  also 
the  author  of  several  poetic  works.  He  has  also  composed 
a  num])cr  of  pageants  which  have  been  successfully  pro- 
duced, including  the  "Pageants  of  Lincoln"  for  the  years 
1915,  1916,  1917,  and  University  pageants,  1918,  1919.  One 
feature  of  Mr.  Alexander's  work  has  been  his  use  of 
American  Indian  mythic  materials.  For  this  work  he  is  quali- 
fied by  special  studies.  He  is  the  author  of  the  volumes  on  the 
mythologies  of  the  Indians  of  North  and  of  South  America 
in  the  ]\l3^thology  of  All  Nations  series  (Boston,  1915  ff.), 
has  written  numerous  articles  on  American  Indian  religion 
for  the  Encyclopaedia  of  Religion  and  Ethics  and  two 
brochures  published  by  the  Open  Court  Publishing  Com- 
pany, The  Religious  Spirit  of  the  American  Indian,  and  The 
Mystery  of  Life  (1913) — the  latter  a  poetical  pageant  founded 
uj^on  the  beautiful  ritual  of  the  Plako  or  Wa-Wan  ceremonial. 

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WANDERSHIPS 

By  WILBUR  BASSETT,  Ensign  U.  S.  N.  R.  F. 
125  Pages,  price  $1.50 


PRESS  NOTES 

"  'Wanderships'  is  at  once  an  excellent  contribution  to  serious  litera- 
ture, a  charming  volume  for  recreational  reading  and  a  delightful  'item' 
for  the  collector  of  curious  works." — Chicago  Evening  Post. 

"It  is  to  a  sailor  himself,  Ensign  Wilbur  Bassett,  who  has  been  in 
life-long  contact  with  the  sea,  that  we  must  look  for  an  interpretation  of 
the  sea  and  its  endless  moods.  So  vivid  are  his  descriptions  of  the 
'Wanderships'  that  the  reader  unconsciously  becomes  a  thrilled  spectator 
to  the  uncanny  and  tragic  events  enacted  on  their  decks  and  in  their 
gloomy  cabins." — New  York  Telegram. 

"Not  the  least  interesting  part  of  the  volume  is  the  collection  of 
legends  cited  from  their  original  sources.  .  .  .  These  old  stories  per- 
sist because  of  their  living  appeal  to  the  human  imagination." — The 
Boston  Globe. 

"He  who  has  not  known  the  sea  has  lost  the  force  of  two-thirds  of 
our  literary  imagery,  and  men  who  have  not  known  the  way  of  a  ship  in 
the  sea  have  missed  half  the  magic  of  the  earth." — Review  of  Reviews. 

• 
"Fascinating  yarns." — London  Nation. 


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Religious  Books 

For  Modern  Men 

By  DR.  G.  B.  FOSTER 

The  Finality  of  the  Christian  Religion  $2.50,  postpaid  $2.75 

A  high  authority,  on  reading  the  proof-sheets,  predicted  that  this 
would  prove  to  be  *'the  most  important  religious  book  of  the  generation" 
— that  it  would  "occupy  in  theology  a  position  analogous  to  that  of  Kant's 
Critique  in  philosophy."  One  wonders  whether  America  has  hitherto 
produced  a  thinker  on  religious  problems  of  this  caliber. 

The  Function  of  Religion  in  Man's  Struggle  for  Existence 

$1.00,  postpaid  $1.15 

"It  is  one  of  the  few  popular  books  on  religion,  which  do  not  insult 
the  reader's  intelligence  and  dull  the  sense  of  reality." 

Tracing  the  development  of  religion  through  its  successive  stages, 
and  expounding  the  various  theories  as  to  its  origin — in  ancestor  wor- 
ship, in  general  revelation,  or  in  special  revelation,  our  author  points 
out  the  ultimate  facts  beneath  the  changing  forms. 

The  Function  of  Death  in  Human  Experience      25  cents,  postpaid  27  cents 

"The  Function  of  Death  in  Human  Experience"  which  appeared  in 
the  University  of  Chicago  Sermons  issued  by  the  University  of  Chicago 
Press,  has  now  been  re-issued  as  a  pamphlet. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  philosophical,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  solac- 
ing and  beautiful,  presentations  of  the  great  facts  of  death  and  life. 

By  EDWARD  SCRIBNER  AMES 

The  New  Orthodoxy  $1.00,  postpaid  $1.10 

This  book  is  a  popular,  constructive  interpretation  of  man's  religious 
life  in  the  light  of  Uie  learning  of  scholars  and  in  the  presence  of  a  new 
generation  of  spiritual  heroes.     The  author  says  in  his  preface: 

This  book  seeks  to  present  in  simple  terms  a  view  of  religion  con- 
sistent with  the  mental  habits  of  those  trained  in  the  sciences,  in  the 
professions,  and  in  the  expert  direction  of  practical  affairs. 

By  MEMBERS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  FACULTIES. 
Edited  by  THEODORE  G.  SOARES 

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This  book  contains  a  contribution  of  one  sermon  from  each  of  eighteen 
members  of  the  Faculties  of  the  University  of  Chicago — eighteen  ser- 
mons worthy  of  a  high  place  in  the  world's  homiletic  literature.  It  is 
unique  in  that  it  shows  the  varied,  yet  harmonious,  religious  thinking 
of  men  from  not  only  the  biblical  and  theological  departments  of  the 
University,  but  from  the  departments  of  education,  sociology,  and 
philosophy. 

By  GEORGE  ALBERT  COE 

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By  E.  ALBERT  COOK 

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