The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
a short prayer. According to their views of such matters, this could, of
course, be easily effected by the agency of the Evil One, and they were
confirmed in the idea by the wording of an invocation used on similar
occasions, and which certainly appears to indicate some infernal
bargain. Instead, therefore, of suspecting trickery, they only
considered how they could best prove the superiority of prayer over
incantations, and neutralize the power of the devil. They determined to
be present at the ceremony, and, in the midst of the diabolical
invocation, to stand forward, and in the name of the true God to arrest
the charm. An unforeseen accident fortunately prevented their reaching
the scene of action in time, or it is very possible that their journey
might have terminated then and there in martyrdom, in spite of
Buddhistic toleration. Faith and courage are, however, no subjects for
sarcasm, wherever they may be exhibited, and it seems to us that there
was a good deal of both in the above plan.
Our readers will see that these volumes are interesting, not only by the
facts they contain, but also from the peculiar manner in which the
writer judges them. Not the least amusing feature in the case is, that
we find him continually noting as absurd Buddhistic abuses many customs
which are common to his own Church. On the very outset of their journey,
the missionaries took advantage of their stay at Tolon-Noor, a town
famous for its foundries, to have a large crucifix cast. M. Huc mentions
that the large statues of Buddha almost all come from thence, but these
he calls idols, whereas the crucifix was an image. The pilgrimages,
genuflexions, and vows of the Buddhist devotees surprise him, as though
there were no steps at Rome worn bare by thousands of knees--no shrines
in France visited by bare-footed pilgrims--no children dressed in white
from their birth to please the Virgin Mary! In one description of a Lama
seminary, he remarks that the canonical books of Buddhism being all
written in the language of Thibet, the Lamas of Mongolia pass their
lives in studying their religion in a foreign idiom, while they scarcely
know their own language. Let us see what improvement the introduction of
Catholicism would effect, in this state of things. We open a recent
work[16] on French missions in Cochin-China and Corea; and in a
description of the Catholic seminary of Pulo-Ticoux, near Pinang, we
read: "Both teachers and pupils speak only Latin in their class--not the
barbarous Latin of our schools, but a pure, harmonious tongue, such as I
never heard spoken before. With the exception of a few elementary
notions of geography, modern history, and arithmetic, the children
receive an exclusively religious education." There is one invention,
however, in which Buddhism has no rival, and which throws the Roman
Catholic idea of praying by proxy quite into shade. We never heard of a
prayer-mill before. A piece of pasteboard, of a cylindrical form, is
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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