311 this simple statement: "Then came unto him (or them) a company of Jews, mighty men of Israel, every one who freely devoted himself to the law." Such is the reading of the Greek text, in both the edition of Van Ess and that of Tischendorf. But Dr. Cheyne avails himself of a varied reading, which Tischendorf rejects to the margin (the one which was followed by King James's version in its day), which gives Asidæans instead of Jews, in order to get a definition," which even then is not there. The statement 46 defines or describes no class of men as such, but states that these men who came were " mighty men and devoted to the law." And this leads us to observe how plastic and convenient these "pious ones pious ones" becomes in the hands of our author. They are now "the Asidæans" (p. 48), now "mainly at least of the Asidæan party" (p. 56), and (p. 129) it is "not yet used as a party name," now (p. 117) it is "those who responded to God's covenant love by observing his commands at all cost and believing the promises of his Torah;" they were (p. 27) "the strict legalists," again (p. 119) "the strict Jehovists," and once more, in Ps. 1., the term (p. 150) "designates the entire body of nominal Israelites, good and bad alike, who are to assemble from the lands of the Dispersion that Jehovah may set before them his claims, and sever the good though imperfectly instructed Israelites from their unworthy fellows." It does not appear that on page 141 he would actually put "Rameses, Nebuchadnezzar, and the early Ptolemies" into this class-they not being Jews—although, after speaking of the "high hopes" entertained of them, he proceeds thus: names in the ancient sense of the word, of these righteous "The kings may have passed away, but their souls are in the hands of God, and may be their hopes are fulfilled in "the land of the silver sky." But we must pause with these specimens of the author's free-and-easy way of making a case. We give him credit for great and varied learning, however misapplied, and much skill of a certain kind in his reasonings, however invalid. The strength of the book consists largely in the art of obscuring the weakness of the argument by the multiplicity and multifariousness of the details which envelop it. We can conceive of young men not accustomed to scrutinize and weigh evidence, being taken with admiration of the discussion, and being drawn blindly to its conclusions, which are virtually its premises. But to others it may become a reductio ad absurdum of this style of argument. ARTICLE VII. JAPANESE BUDDHISM. BY THE REV. J. L. ATKINSON, A. M., MISSIONARY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. JAPAN has long been regarded as a remarkably vigorous stronghold of Buddhism. The many and costly temples, the numerous priests, and the great masses of devoted worshippers, have been considered as furnishing sufficient evidence of this. Christianity has been spoken of by some as essentially weak in comparison, and as having a task before it, in the conversion of the people, that may be truly spoken of as appallingly great and well-nigh hopeless. The writer has no intention of discussing the relative value and power of the two religions, in the present paper. His purpose is to give some account of Japanese Buddhism and of the teachings of some of the leading sects. Mr. Takahashi Goro, a native scholar well versed in the Buddhism of his country, has somewhat recently written a book in Japanese on the various great religions of the world. He has devoted one section of that work to an exhibit and brief exposition of Japanese Buddhism. This article is a free translation of that section of Mr. Takahashi's book. A few historical additions, and brief statements of the present condition of some of the sects, and of Buddhism in Japan as a whole, have been added by the translator, from his own knowledge and from other sources. A perusal of the article can hardly fail to give considerable satisfaction to American readers, to show the real and inherent weakness of Japanese Buddhism, and at the same time greatly to encourage all who are interested in the propagation of Christianity in Japan. VOL. XLIX. NO. 194. 1Ο 314 The reader will learn that Japanese Buddhism is not that Buddhism was originated and first taught by Gotama His father's name was Jobon. His Shaka-muni of India. mother's name was Maya. Buddhism spread east from India. It first reached Japan in the reign of the Emperor Kinmei Tenno, in the thirteenth year and tenth month of his reign Buddhism was introduced into Japan by -about 550 A. D. or retainer of the At that a Korean named Omei, who was a son king of the part of Korea called Hiyakusai Koku. time Korea was divided into three kingdoms, over each of which a separate king held sway. The king of Hiyakusai Koku despatched Omei to the emperor and court of Japan as special envoy. With him he sent Buddhistic sacred literature and golden idols. He also wrote an autograph letter to the emperor, explaining the virtues of the religion, and recommending it to his illustrious consideration. The emperor does not seem to have gone any farther than a tion" of the matter; but of his two chief retainers, one accepted the new religion as being a teaching for which one cannot be sufficiently grateful. He resigned his high office, forsook his home, donned the garb of a recluse, and became considera a priest. The other retainer ridiculed both the religion and the conduct of his colleague, saying, "Japan has its own gods and has no need of others." Buddhism, however, gradually gained adherents, and temples were erected. A few years after its introduction a great pestilence broke out in Japan, which, by the Shintoists, was attributed to the anger of the native gods at the defiling presence on their sacred soil of a foreign religion, with places, objects, and paraphernalia of worship. At Osaka the temple in which the idols. brought from Korea were lodged, was forcibly entered, the idols were hurled into the canal, and the building was burned. After this, and during the reign of the Empress Suiko Tenno, in the twenty-third (?) year of her reign-593 to 628 A. D.— at the beginning of the year, a priest named Yei Kwan came from another of the three kingdoms of Korea-Korai Koku -and brought with him three Buddhist works, entitled respectively, Hiyakuron, Jinnimonron, and Chiuron. The doctrines of these books he promulgated, and established a body called the Three-book sect. The empress openly declared herself in favor of the religion, and aided it. During the interval between the first and second coming of Buddhism to Japan, and from the second coming to its final establishment at the time Kyoto was elevated to the position of capital,-about the ninth century A. D.,—the fortunes of the religion were exceedingly varied. On the part of most there was jealousy of it as being a foreign religion, and great enmity. On the part of some there was strong belief and earnest zeal. A pestilence again broke out among the people, which, as before, was attributed to the anger of the national gods at the presence and encroachment of the foreign religion. A fierce persecution broke out. The priests were driven away and the temples burned to the ground. After this second introduction, a son of the Empress Suiko, named Umayado-no-Koji, aged 16, became a de voted Buddhist. A high official, in his zeal for the national |