fact which the pious church father attributes to the machinations of evil spirits, instituted for the purpose of confounding the faithful. And Tertullian, referring to the same fact, ascribes it to Satan, saying that it is the policy of Satan to imitate the sacraments of God.

Eucharists or love-feasts, though different from communion feasts, served a similar purpose. They were celebrated among the Greeks, the old Romans, and the Jews; but the sectarians, especially the Nazarenes and the so-called disciples, seem to have had a peculiar way of breaking bread and of giving thanks.1

Paul, no doubt, was familiar with both the Jewish and Gentile practices, and he regulated the communion in the Gentile church, giving it his own peculiar interpretation. Being born in the diaspora, he was imbued with the spirit of Gentile civilisation, and it was natural that he should have transformed the idea of a messiah and made it acceptable to the Gentiles. He dropped the properly Nazir features of the Christian congregations, and it was he who translated the word messiah by Christos.2

All these historical conditions are woven into the story The Crown of Thorns, and indicate the way in which Christianity developed from Judaism through the messianic hopes of the Nazarenes as interpreted by the Apostle Paul of Tarsus. How different the Christianity of Paul was from the Christianity of St. Peter, the personal disciple of Jesus, is obvious in the canonical documents of the New Testament and is sufficiently known.

Paul, in the story, being a Gentile to the Gentiles and a Jew to the Jews, is careful not to give offence to the Jews; and thus his way of celebrating the Lord's Supper is not carried so far as to interpret the wine as the blood of Jesus and the bread as his body,—a self-restraint quite in keeping with the character of the apostle; but otherwise he propounds to his host without reserve his interpretation of the new faith.

St. Paul's view that the coming of the Lord was near at hand was a common notion in his day, and was entertained even by Jesus who in his eschatological prophecies solemnly declared:

"Verily I say unto you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done."— Mark xiii. 30; Matth. xxv. 34, and Luke xxii. 32.

And again :

"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."-Matth. 27-28.

This idea formed one of the main doctrines of the early Church and was for a long time inculcated with great seriousness.

Longinus is, according to an old tradition, the name of the centurion under the cross, and it is said that he as well as the Roman troops to which he belonged, who were garrisoned in Palestine at the time of Christ, were natives of Germany.

That Salome, the wife of Zebedee, was visiting in Jerusalem at the time of the Crucifixion is based upon canonical evidence, for the fact is mentioned in the New Testament.

1 Articles on the origin of Christianity, giving further details of the historical origin of the Lord's Supper and of other institutions of the Christian religion, have appeared periodically in The Open Court and The Monist.

2 The word Xplatós is by no means a proper translation of "Messiah." It does not mean "the Anointed One," but "he who should be and is about to be anointed."

Ben-Midrash, the main character of the story, represents the educated Jew of the time of Christ, who, in spite of his objections to the Nazir sectarianism, is represented as being in sympathy with the new doctrines,- -an assumption which is not improbable, for we know from the Talmud that there were orthodox Jews who were by no means hostile to members of the Nazir congregation.1

While Ben-Midrash, by reason of his personal relations with Zebedee, Jesus, and Paul, acquired a comprehension of the significance of the new religion the germs of which were developed in his country and partly in his immediate surroundings, we cannot wonder that the large mass of the Jews held aloof. Paul's Christianity made too many concessions to Gentile modes of thoughts and it left their dearest hopes, viz., of a restitution of their national independence, unfulfilled. While primitive Christianity contained ideas which had to be abandoned by the Church, we cannot be blind to the fact that from the beginning there was in it a moral earnestness, a longing for purity of heart, a love of righteousness and the

spirit of charity and good-will, which overshadowed all other doctrines and institutions so as to be the keynote of the whole movement. These features of the new faith, together with its firm conviction of the doctrine of Christ's resurrection2 and the belief in immortality, constituted then and at all times, as they do still, the backbone of Christianity.

*

The illustrations of our story were made by Eduard Biedermann. Mr. Biedermann was born in Gotha, Germany, and educated in Munich and Weimar. He has travelled extensively on the Continent and in Northern Africa. Engaged in artistic work for some time in Freiburg, Germany, and in Louisville, Ky., he has lately established himself in Chicago. There is no need of praising his talents, for

1 See Dr. Hirsch Grätz, Gnosticismus und Fudenthum, p. 24.

2As to Christ's resurrection and the present conception of it in Christian theology see the article of the Rev. Wm. Weber in the current number of The Monist, Vol. XI., No. 3, pp. 361-404.

the pictures speak for themselves. The composition as well as the technique reach a height which shows an unusual degree of artistic mastership.

The portrait of St. Paul, the Apostle, is drawn with a leaning toward the traditional view, but also with regard to the description of his personality preserved in the Acts of Thekla, according to which Paul had lively dark eyes, and was at times so enthusiastic that he seemed like an angel. His nose was long and somewhat bent; his eyebrows met, and the hair on the top of his head was scanty. That this document, leaving out the accretions of later ages, is genuine and must be assumed to contain first-hand information, has on the strength of incidental data been proved by F. C. Conybeare of Oxford in the preface to his Monuments of Early Christianity.1

In our frontispiece, Mr. Biedermann represents Christ not altogether as a passive sufferer, as a lamb that suffers itself to be slaughtered in dumb submission to fate. While following the traditional artistic conception of Christ and utilising especially the picture of Sodoma at Sienna, our artist has succeeded in showing the thorn-crowned man of sorrow not in a collapse of physical and mental agony, but as a man who in his sufferings exhibits both strength and depth of comprehension. P. C.

BUDDHA RELICS.2

Important archæological discoveries in regard to the birthplace of Buddha, have been made by Mr. William Clanton Peppe, Birdpore estate, Gorakhur, N. W. P., India, and it will be of interest to give some account of the work he has achieved. The story of the birth of Buddha is, of course, well known, and it will be sufficient here to recall the main facts. Buddha was born in the fifth century B. C., and was the son of Mahamaya, a daughter of the Raja of Koli, and one of the principal wives of Suddhodana, who, in the words of one authority, "ruled over a tribe who were called the Sakyas, and who, from their well-watered rice fields, could see the giant Himalayas looming up against the clear blue of the Indian sky." Suddhodana's capital was Kapilavastu, a few days' journey north of Benares, and the Raja had as wives two of the daughters of Koli, of whom Mahayama was the elder. Both were childless, and there was great rejoicing when, in about the forty-fifth year of her age, Mahamaya promised her husband a son. In due time she started with the intention of being confined at her parents' home, but the party halting on the way under the shade of some lofty satin trees, in a pleasant garden called Lumbini, on the banks of the river Rohini, the modern Kohana, her son, the future Buddha, was unexpectedly born. The Birdpore estate is situated in the Buddha country, and it was on a 'stupa" on his estate that Mr. Peppe made an important discovery of Buddha relics, the stupa being situated at Piprahwa, close to the frontier, and about eleven miles nearly due south of the eastern end of the ancient city of Kapilavastu, the position of which has now been fixed with certainty, as well as that of the Lumbini garden, which is marked by a pillar erected by the Emperor Aoska in the third century B. C. to commemorate his visit to the holy spot in the third year of his reign.

"Since the discovery of the pillar at the Lumbini Garden commemorating

1 The passage is quoted in the article "The Cross of Golgotha" in The Open Court, 1899, Vol. XIII., No. 8. p. 476.

2 Communicated by John Sandison. From the Aberdeen Gazette.

the birth-place of Buddha Gautama," writes Mr. Peppe, "considerable curiosity has been aroused regarding the different mounds, or 'kots' as they are locally called, to be found dotted over the country, ranging from Kapilavastu to the northwest, the Lumbini Garden to the north-east, and the British frontier to the south. One such mound, more prominent than the rest owing to its size and general marked appearance, is situated in the Birdpore estate, Basti district of the NorthWest Provinces of India, at the 19.75 mile on the Nipal Uska road, and about one half mile south of Pillar No. 44 on the Nipal and British frontier. Last year I excavated a passage through the cone of this mound, ten feet broad and eight feet deep, and found it was built up of bricks 16 inches by 101⁄2 by 3, 15 inches by 10 by 3 laid in concentric circles, in clay, layer over layer, and thus establishing that this mound was a Buddhist stupa. In October Mr. Vincent Smith inspected it, and pronounced it to be a very ancient stupa, and told me that if anything was to be found it would be found in the centre and at the ground line. Subsequent events have proved how correct was his surmise.

"In the beginning of January the excavation was continued, and a well 10 feet square was dug down the centre of the stupa. At ten feet from the crown a small broken soap-stone urn, similar to those found lower down, was found full of clay, and embedded in this clay were some beads, crystals, gold ornaments, cut stones, etc. From 10 feet a circular pipe, one foot in diamater, filled with clay and encased in brick work, descended to two feet, it then narrowed to four inches in diameter. The bricks surrounding this pipe were sometimes roughly cut and sometimes moulded into the required shapes. After digging through eighteen feet of solid brick work set in clay, a huge slab of stone was unearthed lying due magnetic north and south, and 31.50 inches to the east of the centre of the clay pipe mentioned above. On further excavation this slab was found to be the cover of a huge sandstone chest measuring 4 feet 4 inches by 2 feet 84 inches by 2 feet 24 inches. The lid was cracked in four pieces, evidently by the pressure of the brickwork above it, but yet the chest was perfectly closed. Fortunately the deep groove in the lid fitting so perfectly on the flange of the chest prevented the lid from falling in when it was first broken and also when we were removing it. On removing the lid the following articles were found: One soap-stone urn, 71⁄2 inches high and 41⁄2 inches diameter. A similar soap-stone urn, 6 inches high and 4 inches diameter. One soap-stone lota shaped vessel, 51⁄2 inches high and 51⁄2 inches diameter, with a well-fitting lid, which was lying apart from the 'lota.' One small soap-stone round box, 334 inches in diameter and 11⁄2 inches high. One crystal bowl, 34 inches in diameter and 31⁄2 inches high, with a hollow fish, full of gold leaf ornaments for a handle. The lower portion of the bowl was lying at the south end of the chest or casket, and the cover was lying in the centre of the casket with its handle downwards, and it contained some gold and stone ornaments. The urns are beautifully turned, and the chisel marks seem quite fresh, as if it had been made a few days ago. The crystal bowl is most highly polished, and has all the appearance of a glass bowl of the present day.

"It so happened that we delayed opening this casket three days after we had unearthed it, and our curiosity was raised to its utmost. Our surprise can be imagined when, on removing the lid, we found an empty chest save for these few miniature vases, standing up as they had been placed probably two thousand years ago. The stone casket is of a very superior hard sandstone, and was cut out of one solid piece of rock. It is in a perfect state of preservation, with its sides very smoothly cut; it fact, it is all but polished. I do not think the stone came from

the hills north of this district. The weight of the lid is 408 lbs., and I calculate the weight of the whole chest to be 1537 lbs. The brickwork continued for two feet below the bottom of the chest. The round clay pipe at the level of the bottom of the chest took the form of a rectangle, 17 inches by 5 for one layer, and the edge of this rectangle was 21.50 inches from the side of the chest. After this it resumed the circular shape of 4 inches diameter, and ended with the brickwork at two feet below the bottom of the chest. I was most careful in searching this pipe all the way down, but nothing whatever was found in it. The level of the ground inside the stupa is the same as the level of the ground at the outward circumference of the stupa.

"The relic urns contained pieces of bone, which are quite recognisable, and might have been picked up a few days ago. The urns contained also ornaments in gold, gold beads; impression of a woman on gold leaf two inches long, upper portion naked, lower portion clothed; another figure in gold leaf naked; a large circular piece of rather thicker gold leaf, scrolled on the outside, 2 inches diameter, and may represent the top of a miniature umbrella; the impression of an elephant on gold leaf, several pieces impressed with a lion, with trident over his back and the Buddhist cross in front; several pieces with the impression of the Buddhist cross; one piece of solid gold 4 inches by 4 by ; quantities of stars or flowers, both in silver and gold, with six and eight petals. The silver is tarnished, but the gold is beautifully bright, and was so when the chest was opened. Pearls of sizes, many welded together in sets of two, three, and four. Also quantities of flowers or stars, leaves serrated and veined, Buddhist tridents, pyramids, pierced and drilled beads of sizes and other shapes cut in white and red cornelian, amethyst, topaz, garnets, coral, inlaid stones, and shells. There is one bird cut in red cornelian and one bird in metal.

"I have compared these ornaments with those illustrated in Archæological Survey of India, New Imperial Series, Vol. XV., South Indian Buddhist Antiquities, and I find almost every form in my collection, besides a great variety of others. The only inscription of any kind is scratched on the cover of one of the smaller urns. The letters are in the Pâli character and about 7-16th of an inch

long."

INTERNATIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.

The recent appearance of the first number of the modest little journal of the International Psychological Institute at Paris recalls to mind the organisation of an undertaking which, if its development is carried out along the same critical lines which its program and the names of its founders would naturally lead us to expect, will contribute greatly to the advancement and practical application of mental science. The proposal to establish an international center for all persons interested in psychology in the form of an institute devoted to the furthering of experimental research in the several branches of this science, has from its initial stages received the support of the most eminent representatives of mental science in nearly every country,- -a fact which is evidence of the usefulness of the project and in addition confirms its necessity as meeting a requirement of our time.

The program of the organisation, which was submitted by Dr. Pierre Janet to the fourth International Congress of Psychology, held in Paris last August, accordingly received the hearty support and approval of all its members. After speaking of the great benefits which humanity owes to the discoveries made in the physical