Buddhism follows the example of Brahmanism, in which gnomic poetry had always been cultivated with success. In the Mahabharata especially are found these maxims enshrined in a verse, a Sloka, distributed at intervals through episodes of which they point the moral. Bergaigne has collected some of these sentences; in them we find almost invariably the highest and purest morality. It is Hindoo wisdom at its noblest and most elevated. The Buddhistic writers, who did not compose warlike or heroic tales after the fashion of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, used, instead of the epic Sloka, prose for the most part commonplace and unpolished; they kept the poetic form only in these stanzas, which are like bright and perfumed flowers lost in a tangle of weeds and brambles.

Ancient collections of these gnomic verses are still extant. The most celebrated is the Dhammapada, which Oldenberg rightly considers as the book which best expresses the ethics of Buddha, and which best serves to understand what he calls "the inner soul" of Buddhism. But the discussion of this point must be deferred. At present, we shall relate briefly the last days of the sage whose name is indissolubly attached to this system of morality, although before his time it had supplied the basis of Brahmanism, at least in its main lines.

Buddha had now reached the age of eighty years; forty-four had passed since he received his illumination and propagated the true way, that of Deliverance, of Nirvana. The hour had come for him to enter into the happiness which he had promised to those who accepted his teaching. From the Mahaparinibhana-Sutta we shall draw the account of the last days which the Perfect One passed in this world. I shall merely give an abridgment of this document, following Oldenberg. About the year 480 of our era, Buddha left Rajagaha and started towards the North. He crossed the Ganges at a point where they were then building a village, for which he predicted a brilliant future. This was Patalipoutta, the new capital of Magadha, called by the Greeks in their writings Palibothra, and now known as Patna. Buddha spent his last rainy season at Belouva, not far from Vesali. There he fell seriously ill. Seeing that he had not long to live, he wished to see once more his dicsiples, whom he had dismissed, in order the better to spend the rainy season in solitude and recollection. Ananda hastened to him and was given the task of bringing his companions.

A last trial remained for the Buddah to undergo. Mara, the Evil One, wishing to hinder this final interview, tried to persuade him that he was already ripe for Nirvana, and that he might better enter therein without further delay. Buddha spurned him as he had done at the beginning of his evangelical career: "Concern thyself not with me, O Evil Onc. A little while, and the Perfect One shall possess Nirvana; three months hence and the Perfect One shall enter into Nirvana." At this moment the thunder was heard and the earth trembled. When his disciples were united around him, he gave them his last instructions. Following is this discourse, as we find it in the book above referred to. It is evident that the author has amended it, if indeed he has not invented it. However, it is interesting as a revelation of the ideas of the Buddhists of the time.

"Learn well, O disciples, the wisdom which I have acquired and which I have taught to you. Walk in its way; exercise yourselves and grow therein, so that this life of holiness may last for the prosperity of many men, for the joy of many men, through compassion for the world, for the salvation, the joy, the prosperity of Gods and mcn. And what is it, O disciples, this wisdom which I have acquired and have taught to you, which I have made you learn and practise and exercise and grow in that this life of holiness may last for the prosperity of many, for the joy of many, through compassion for the world, for the prosperity, the salvation, the joy of Gods and men? It is the fourfold vigilance, the fourfold good observance, the four parts of the sacred power, the five organs, the five forces, the seven terms of knowledge, the sacred way of eight branches, such, O disciples, is the wisdom which I have acquired and have taught to you."

The master continued: "Verily, O Bhikkhus, I say unto you: All things in the world are perishable; struggle without ceasing. A little while, and the Perfect One will possess Nirvana, three months hence, and the Perfect One shall enter Nirvana." He insists upon his approaching death. "My existence draws nigh to its close; the end of my life is at hand. I go away, and you remain; a place of shelter is ready for me. Watch without ceasing, and live ever in holiness; resolutely keeping your minds ready. He who without stumbling lives ever faithful to the word of truth, delivers himself from the hands of Birth and Death, and at one stroke comes to the end of all pain."

The Buddha went about begging for the last time in the streets of Vesali, and then turned his steps toward Kourinara, to-day, according to Cunningham, Kasia, to the east of Gorakhpur, on the Chota-Gandok. Buhler disputes this identification, but the point is not of much importance. Reaching Pava on his route, he accepted the hospitality of Counda, the son of a blacksmith. Here he partook of some pork, which caused indigestion. His illness increased; it was the end. He could only drag himself along to Kousinara. He spread his folded mantle on the ground on the banks of the river Hiranyavati under the Calas trees, which bloomed at once in flowers, though it was not the season. A heavenly melody was heard: it was the gods singing the praises of the Sublime One, who was about to join their ranks.

Ananda, however, wept at the thought of separation from a master whom he loved so much. Buddha sought to console him: "Do not go on thus, Ananda; weep not, nor despair. Have I not already told it to thee? From all that man loves, from all that attracts him, from all this he must separate, remove, detach himself. How, O Ananda, can that which is born, created, made, subject to change, be other than fleeting? It cannot but be so. But thou, Ananda, hast long honored the Perfect One with tenderness and kindness, with joy, without deceit, without restrictions, in thoughts, in words, in actions. Thou hast done well, O Ananda; persevere, and soon thou shalt be delivered from thy sins."

The principal inhabitants of Kousinara, the Mallis, of the caste of the Kshatriyas, to which the Buddha himself belonged, came to the woods of Calas to be present at his end. The monk Goubhadda, who also came to see him, became a convert-the last conquest of his personal teaching.

To Ananda the Buddha gave this final message, which was intended for all the disciples: "It may happen, O Ananda, that you. are thinking: The Word has lost its teacher; we have no longer a master. You must not so think, Ananda. The doctrine and the rule which I have preached-that will be your master when I have passed away." The last words he uttered were those which we have already recorded: "Verily, O disciples I say unto you: All that is created is perishable; strive without ceasing.”

A few moments later he entered into Nirvana. At that instant the thunder crashed and the earth quaked anew. Then was heard from heaven the voice of the god Brahma, who uttered these mem

orable words: "All the beings in the worlds will one day lay aside their bodily existence, just as to-day the Buddha, the Prince of Victory, the Supreme Master of the World, the Powerful, the Perfect One, has entered into Nirvana."

The body of Buddha was burned with royal splendors.

The element of celestial intervention in this legendary description of the death of Buddha is a new proof that the supposed atheism of primitive Buddhism must not be taken too literally. But we shall see more on this point in our next study, in which we shall take up the famous Dhamma and the doctrine of Buddha expressed therein.

University of Fribourg (Switzerland).

A. ROUSSEL

THE GOSPEL WITNESS TO ST. PETER

Vincent McNabb, O. P.

Were we asked to express in a phrase the change that has of late come about in the field of biblical exegesis-the difference between the older and more recent methods, we would say that biological categories have been successfully applied to the matter in hand and that the old mechanical view of inspiration has given place to a higher organic concept. In the process doubtless something has been lost, but also something gained. Those who still feel unsettled with the organic view are naturally inclined to fear that little has been gained and much lost, but the younger generation of exegetes are buoyant with the trust that when finally the time comes to strike a balance in the results of the discussion, the gains will be found to have far more than justified the losses.

In the controversy concerning the prerogatives of St. Peter, for instance, appeal was formerly made to Scripture from the mechanical or quantitative viewpoint. Nor is there any need to deny that, in ages when this way of dealing with the Sacred Writings was common to all Christians, the apologists of Peter's claim were easily victorious. Men who had no scruple about accepting infant baptism, or the supremacy of bishops for which there was not one explicit text in the Bible, could not long hold out against the claims of St. Peter for which a solid phalanx of texts could be brought forward from the chief writers of the New Testament. Indeed when texts were summed up mechanically, and, so to say, arithmetically, there was a greater array for the claim of Peter to be the visible Vicar of Christ, than for the claim of Christ Himself to be the invisible Son of God. Men like Allies and Passaglia by putting together the main texts and gathering up the fragmentary allusions that remained, could set before the non-Catholic mind an array of proofs tempting enough to win the assent of such as hungered and thirsted for the truth.

With the coming of the new organic view of Holy Writ, mere arithmetical processes were set aside. Texts were no longer put together and summed up as in a problem of compound addition. When it was once agreed that some of the most important truths were suggested rather than proved, and were postulated by the context rather than demonstrated. it was felt not without anxiety, that a new