A MONTHLY MAGAZINE APR 2 1918 Devoted to the Science of Religion, the Religion of science, and the DIVINITY SCHOOL Extension of the Religious Pakttament foea Ceremony Celebrated under the Chinese Republic in Honor of Confucius. EDITOR. Is Japanese Easy or Difficult? Dr. A. GRAMATZKY.. PAGE 129 141 155 .. 173 The Centrum Party's Influence in German Affairs. The Future Contest Between Clericalism and Socialism. EDWARD T. HEYN ... 180 Arthur Machen and "The Angels of Mons." VINCENT STARRETT ... 191 Book Review 192 The Open Court Publishing Company CHICAGO Per copy, 10 cents (sixpence). Yearly, $1.00 (in the U.P.U., 5s. 6d.). Entered as Second-Class Matter March 26, 1897, at the Post Office at Chicago, Ill., under Act of March 3, 1879 Copyright by The Open Court Publishing Company, 1918 By DR. PAUL CARUS Pocket Edition. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.00; flexible leather, $1.50 This edition is a photographic reproduction of the edition de luxe which was printed in Leipsic in 1913 and ready for shipment in time to be caught by the embargo Great Britain put on all articles exported from Germany. Luckily two copies of the above edition escaped, and these were used to make the photographic reproduction of this latest edition. While the Buddhist Bible could not in any way be considered a contraband of war yet the publishers were forced to hold back many hundred orders for the book on account of orders in council of Great Britain. When the book was first published His Majesty, the King of Siam, sent the following communication through his private secretary: "Dear Sir: I am commanded by His Most Gracious Majesty, the King of Siam, to acknowledge, with many thanks, the receipt of your letter and the book, The Gospel of Buddha, which he esteems very much; and he expresses his sincerest thanks for the very hard and difficult task of compilation you have considerately undertaken in the interest of our religion. I avail myself of this favorable opportunity to wish the book every success." His Royal Highness, Prince Chandradat Chudhadharn, official delegate of Siamese Buddhism to the Chicago Parliament of Religions, writes: "As regards the contents of the book, and as far as I could see, it is one of the best Buddhist Scriptures ever published. Those who wish to know the life of Buddha and the spirit of his Dharma may be recommended to read this work which is so ably edited that it comprises almost all knowledge of Buddhism itself." The book has been introduced as a reader in private Buddhist schools of Ceylon. Mrs. Marie H. Higgins, Principal of the Musaeus School and Orphanage for Buddhist Girls, Cinnamon Gardens, Ceylon, writes as follows: "It is the best work I have read on Buddhism. This opinion is endorsed by all who read it here. I propose to make it a text-book of study for my girls." THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 122 S. MICHIGAN AVENUE CHICAGO ILLINOIS A MONTHLY MAGAZINE Devoted to the Science of Religion, the Religion of Science, and the Extension of the Religious Parliament Idea. VOL. XXXII (No. 3) MARCH, 1918 Copyright by The Open Court Publishing Company, 1918 NO. 742 THE VOLTAIRE AND ENGLISH LIBERTY. BY FLORENCE DONNELL WHITE. HE story of past relations between England and France is varied and significant. In the light of present events, it is particularly interesting to recall how large a part was played by English influence in the period which was to produce that gigantic struggle for liberty, the French Revolution. For Frenchman of the early eighteenth century England was, intellectually, an undiscovered country. It was Voltaire, in whose character modesty had small part, who claimed the glory of having made known to his fellowcitizens the land across the channel. And indeed it would be difficult to overestimate the importance of the years Voltaire spent in England while still a young man, and the influence of his published impressions of English institutions, philosophy, science and literature, the famous Lettres anglaises or Lettres philosophiques. Some four years ago an eminent French scholar, now at the front, spoke of a letter of Voltaire's, written from a town near London, as containing the warmest praise of England that has ever come from the pen of a Frenchman.' Throughout his long life Voltaire retained a vital interest in things English although he never revisited English shores. He had, it is true, gone to the country under circumstances calculated to give him a somewhat exaggerated idea of the liberty and the manifold privileges enjoyed by its citizens. He had thrown himself upon their hospitality as an outcast from Paris. He had had a trivial quarrel with a nobleman, had been beaten by hirelings of his adversary and had, to his surprise, been deserted by the persons of rank who had previously been his warmest friends and admirers. In a contemporary journal we read: "The poor beaten Voltaire shows himself as often as possible at court 1 Lucien Foulet, Correspondance de Voltaire (1726-1729), Paris, 1913, p. xii. |