ebooks Japanese New Religions in Global Perspective (Curzon Studies in New Religious Movements) by Peter B Clarke; Peter B. Clarke in History

Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890 edition. Excerpt: ... by Gautama Buddha; and these; as you may verify for yourself from the first three Gospels; were the cardinal doctrines preached by Jesus. You have only to read Matthew; v; 3-12; 43-48; vi vii; xii; 50 ; xiii; 41-43 ; xix; 16-22; xxv; 31-46 ; and parallel passages; to see that; despite isolated texts; on which a different construction may be put; the leal essence of Christ's Christianity was; " they that have done evil shall go into everlasting (or prolonged) punishment; and they that have done good into Life eternal (or of long duration)." Not those; lie said; who called him Lord; Lord; i.e.; who professed belief in him; but those who did the will of His Father in heaven; i.e.; did good; were to reap this reward. The doctrine of vicarious expiation of wrong-doing --of the atonement in fact--now supposed to be the corner-stone of Christianity; was evolved long after Christ's own time by a section of the then Church; so much so that it was quite unknown to some of the early fathers; and rejected by others; whom; in consequence; the existing Churches; which are the offspring of that section; have ever regarded as heterodox or heretic. So you cannot call Theosophy either Buddhism without Buddha; or Christianity without Christ; it is Buddhism without the legends with which the Buddhist Churches have; as years rolled by; disfigured the fair fabric of their founder; it is Christianity without the doctrines with which Christian Churches have overloaded the simple purity of their founder's work ; it is a fresh outburst from that primeval font of sacred truth in which both Buddhism and Christianity; and a hundred other creeds; whose names even have long been forgotten; had their source. Such at least is the contention of the supposed Brothers...