40 SIR MONIER MONIER-WILLIAMS. 
tell you, is a genuine Hindu idea. It is of the very essence of 
Brahmanism and Hinduism. It is equally a Mohammedan idea. 
Tt is even more a Buddhist idea. Buddhism recognises the terrible 
consequences of evil actions, but provides no remedy except the 
accumulation of merit by good actions as a counterpoise. The Buddha 
never claimed to be a deliverer from sin. He never pretended to 
set any one free from the bondage of sinful acts and sinful habits. 
He never professed to provide any remedy for the leprosy of sin, 
any medicine for a dying sinner. On the contrary, by his doctrine 
of Karma be bound a man hand and foot to the consequences of his - 
own acts with chains of adamant. He said, in effect, to every one 
of his disciples, ‘ You are in slavery to a tyrant of your own setting 
“up ; your own deeds, words, and thoughts in the present and for- 
mer states of being are your own avengers through a countless 
series of existences. If you have been a murderer, a thief, a liar, 
impure, a drunkard, you must pay the penalty in your next birth ; 
either in one of the hells, or as an unclean animal, or as an evil 
spirit, orasademon. You cannot escape, and I am powerless to set 
you free.’ ‘Notin the heavens’ (says the Dhamma-pada), ‘not 
in the midst of the sea, not if thou hidest thyself in the clefts of the 
mountains, wilt thou find a place where thou canst escape the force 
of thine own evil actions.’ Contrast the first sermon of Christ, 
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath sent me to 
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to 
them that are bound.’ Yes, in Christ alone there is deliverance 
from the bondage of former transgressions, from the prison-house 
of former sins ; a total cancelling of the past, a complete blotting 
out of the handwriting, that is against us; the opening of a clear 
course for every man to start afresh ; the free gift of pardon and of 
life to every criminal, to every sinner—even the most heinous. 
But here, again, I seem to hear some admirers of Buddhism 
say :—‘ We admit the force of these contrasts, but surely you will 
allow that in the law of Buddha we find precepts which tell us not 
to love the world, not to love money, not to show enmity towards 
our enemies, not to do unrighteous acts, not to commit impurities, 
to overcome evil by good, and to do to others as we would be done 
by?’ Yes, I admit all this ; nay, I admit even more. I allow 
that some Buddhist precepts go beyond corresponding Christian 
injunctions ; for the laws of Buddha prohibit all killing, even of 
animals for food. They demand total abstinence from stimulating 
drinks, disallowing even moderation in their use. They bid all 
