Babylon some 600 years before Christ, and during the seventy years of their exile there, they came into contact with the Persian religion and derived from it ideas about the immortality of the soul, which their own religion did not contain. They also borrowed from it their belief in a multitude of angels, and in Satan as the ruler over evil spirits. The ease with which man believes in unearthly powers working for his hurt prepares a people to admit into its creed the doctrine of evil spirits, and although it is certain that the Jews had no belief in such spirits before their captivity in Babylon, they spoke of Satan (which means an adversary) as a messenger sent from God to watch the deeds of men and accuse them to Him for their wrong-doing. Satan thus becoming by degrees an object of dread, upon whom all the evil which befel men was charged, the minds of the Jews were ripe for accepting the Persian doctrine of Ahriman with his legions of devils. Ahriman became the Jewish Satan, a belief in whom formed part of early Christian doctrine, and is now but slowly dying out. What fearful ills it has caused, history has many a page to tell. The

doctrine that Satan, once an angel of light, had been cast from heaven for rebellion against God, and had ever since played havoc among mankind, gave rise to the belief that he and his demons could possess the souls of men and animals at pleasure. Hence grew the belief in wizards and witches, under which millions of creatures, both young and old, were cruelly tortured and put to death.

We turn over the smeared pages of this history in haste, thankful that from such a nightmare the world has wakened, and assured that God tempts us not, neither devil nor wicked angel, but that, as Jesus said, 'out of the heart' proceed evil thoughts and all that doth defile. (See on this matter Childhood of the World,' pp. 92-94.)

CHAPTER IX.

BUDDHISM.

ALTHOUGH Buddhism, which numbers more followers than any other faith, is hundreds of years younger than the old Hindu religion, we know less about it. We miss in it the gladness which bursts forth in the hymns of the Veda, and to turn from them to it is like reading the sad thoughts in the Book of Ecclesiastes after the cheerful songs of praise in the Book of Psalms. But if clouds and darkness are round about it, and our learned men differ as to what much of it really means, this should not surprise us, since a knowledge of it has come to hand only within the last few years. Even Christians are split up into many sects, because they cannot agree as to the exact meaning of many parts of Scripture, although the loving research of centuries has been given to find it out.

We saw at page 151 how the Brahmans had

coiled their rules round men's souls and bodies, and placed upon them burdens grievous to be borne, without in any way satisfying the cravings of the human spirit. It was against all this that Buddhism revolted, just as in the reign of Henry VIII., the people of England and Germany threw off the shackles of Rome, and made possible the freedom which we now enjoy.

The founder of Buddhism was of princely birth. He was born 628 years before Christ, in Kapilavastu, the royal city of his father, who was ruler of a kingdom north of Oude, in India. He was called Gautama, from the tribe to which his family belonged; Sakya-Muni, or the monk of the race of Sâkya;' Siddartha, a name given him by his father, and meaning 'He in whom wishes are fulfilled;' and in later years Buddha, or more correctly, the Buddha; the enlightened; from the root budh, to know. (For legends of his birth, see Note I.)

His mother, to whom the future greatness and mighty sway of her boy over men's hearts were made known in a dream, died a few days after his birth. He grew up a beautiful and clever boy,

and never felt so happy as when he could sit alone lost in thought in the deep shadows of the forest,' although, as he proved when a young man, no unskilled foe to meet in tournament or war. So sad and serious did he become, that his father feared he would grow up a mere dreamer, and, with the view of calling him to an active life, chose a lovely princess to become his wife. He lived happily with her, but was still given to much thought about life and death. Prof. Max Müller tells us that he used to say, 'Nothing on earth is stable, nothing is real. Life is as transitory as a spark of fire, or the sound of a lyre. There must be some supreme intelligence where we could find rest. If I attained it I could bring light to men; if I deliver the world.'

were free myself, I could His friends tried to divert

his thoughts from these matters by gay scenes and courtly splendours, but it was in vain. At this time he met three sights which deepened his sadness, for they told him what awaited him. These were a feeble old man; a fever-sick and mud-stained man; and a dead body. Afterwards he met a devotee, and resolved, like him, to