ine of self-sacrifice for the
ignorant and the unworthy. His ideal of the "superior man" would have
been tarnished by that contact with the lowly and degraded which was the
glory of the Christ. And when his cotemporary, Laotze, taught the duty
of doing good, even to enemies, he repudiated the principle as uncalled
for in the relative duties which should govern mankind.[213]

With respect to personality, probably a higher claim has been made for
Gautama than for either of the characters who have been named. Sir Edwin
Arnold, in his preface to the "Light of Asia," has assigned to him a
virtual sinlessness, and such is doubtless the character which his
followers would claim for him. But as a model for the great masses of
men Gautama was very far from perfection. He had little of the genial
sunlight of humanity; in every fibre of his nature he was a recluse; his
views of life were pessimistic; he had no glad tidings for the
sorrowing; no encouragement for the weary and the heavy laden.[214] His
agnosticism was ill adapted to the irrepressible wants of mankind, for
they must place their trust in a higher power, real or imagined.[215]
But while he cast a cloud over the being of God he drove his despairing
countrymen to the worship of serpents and evil spirits. In Ceylon, which
is _par eminence_ an orthodox Buddhist country, ninety per cent. of the
population are said to be devil worshippers, and the devil jugglers are
patronized even by the Buddhist monks.[216] As the philosophy of Gautama
was above the comprehension of the common people, so his example was
also above their reach. It utterly lacked the element of trust, and
involved the very destruction of society. To "wander apart like a
rhinoceros" and "be silent as a broken gong" might be practicable for a
chosen few, if only self were to be considered, but silence and
isolation are not worthy ideals in a world of mutual dependence and
where all life's blessings are enhanced by the ministries of the strong
to the necessities of the weak. Infinitely higher was the example of Him
who said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work;" and who accordingly
exhorted his disciples to work while the day lasts. Christ prayed not
that they should be taken out of the world, but that they should be kept
from the evil.

Again the Buddha's life furnished but a poor example in the domestic
duties. His abandonment of his wife and child cannot be justified upon
any sound theory of life. What