REPEATEDLY, during the past few years, have the readers of the "Signs of the Times" had their attention called to the errors and evils of the modern theology. Warning after warning has been given showing that in essentially every principle this much-vaunted advancement is not more nor less than paganism.
All should have been able to see whither this travesty upon Christian teaching was leading, but if any are still blinded, the following extract taken from the issue of the Rangoon "Gazette" of Nov. 17, 1908, should serve to settle all doubt in their minds concerning the results of such teaching as is heard from many pulpits.
Before giving the excerpt, a brief word of explanation. There are in Burma several Europeans who adopted the yellow robes of Buddhist priesthood. Among these is one, by birth bearing the good old Scotch name of MacGregor, which name has been laid aside for Ananda Metteya, a Pali term of some religious significance. Ananda Metteya bears the official title — I am not sure the exact rank it indicates — of bhikku.
Some nine months ago Bhikku Ananda Metteya, accompanied by some prominent Buddhists, went on a mission to England. He has just returned. His account of the work done is instructive to the student of prophecy.
"The local society of Buddhists which the mission formed in England now numbers 150 members, the chairman of which is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and the president is the well-known Pali scholar, Prof. Rhys David. Of these 150 members, the majority of the intellectual class, several are well known in scientific, literary, and artistic circles. It was to these classes in particular that the mission was directed, representing as they do the brains of the nation.
"In speaking of his reception in London, the Bhikku stated that it was most cordial from the first meeting which he addressed at the rooms of the Royal Asiatic Society. Other meetings met with equal favor, but it was at the meeting of the City Temple Literary and Debating Society, when the members of the Rev. R. J. Campbell's congregation attended, that the assemblage seemed best to understand and appreciate his address, as their intelligent discussion after the discourse showed. His hearers at this meeting were men and women who talk intelligently to others on the Buddhist explanation of life, and would doubtless do much to spread, in the more religious classes in England, those ideals in Buddhism which most appealed to them."
A Burmese Buddha.
Thus the Buddhist teacher charges a professed minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with having prepared his flock for the reception of heathenism. Thus are shown the fruits of the departure from the plain teachings of the word of God. Thus do those "who believed not the truth," those "intellectual classes" who "by wisdom knew not God," or who, "when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God," turn to the world-old deceptions of the devil.
A Burmese Gentleman.
Buddhism as TAUGHT by its apostles in the West and Buddhism as lived in the East bear little resemblance one to the other.
