introduction was in the 61st year of the Christian era, under the Emperor Ming Ti of the Han dynasty. The extension and position of the Buddhist religion not only in China but also in the land of its birth three hundred years later, may well be a matter of careful study. The "Travels" afford us such a study. From various Chinese sources we find traces of the repute of the "Illustrious Monk" who wrote the book. The earliest is from the "Memoirs of Eminent Monks," compiled A. D. 519.

We learn that the author, Fa-Hien, whose family name was Kung, was a native of Wu Yang, in Ping Yang Fu, a departmental city of the province of Shansi. The other sons of this family having died in infancy, this lad was devoted as children still are in China, to the Buddhist service. He was placed in a monastery at the age of ten. On entering into full orders, his earnest courage, clear intelligence, and strict regulation of character were conspicuous. At the age of twenty-five, or thereabouts, he undertook his journey to India in search of complete copies of the Vinaya-pitaka. The Buddhist Tripitaka or canon consists of three collections which according to Eitel's "Handbook of Chinese Buddhism (p. 150) consist of "works on doctrine;" "works on discipline;" and "works on metaphysics." It was in the works of the second class that the Chinese Monasteries were deficient. In search of these works of discipline, FaHien and four friends set out to make the long journey to India. The interest centers upon the geographical details of the journey en route and the record of their adventures in India 1,500 years ago. The travelers started from the city Chang An, the principal city in the department of Si Ngan Fu, in Shansi the early capital of the great Han dynasty. An interesting sketch map accompanies the volume by which we are able to follow the enthusiastic travelers from Chang An, along the northern route into central Asia to the modern Kulja, thence south to Khoten, and so onward until they were able to enter India from the west, crossing the Indus and passing southward to the original home of Siddhartha in the city, Kapila-Vastu. Having visited and admired all the resting places of the "World Honoured One," with the famous cities and shrines of Asoka, the great king and devotee of early Buddhism, Fa-Hien spends three years at the monasteries of Patna and Benares, copying the books which he finds here suited to his purpose. Thence he takes his journey to

Singhala, of which there is a beautiful description. In this lovely island of Ceylon he spent two years still copying manuscript.

At last he starts homeward, this time journeying by sea, making a perilous voyage to Java, thence to the coast of China, which he reaches with difficulty. He now finds himself upon the southern coast of Shantung, and near the prefecture Ping Tu. With his precious documents he goes to the capital of the Empire, then at Nan King, and spends some years in the translation of his treasures, having as assistant an Indian priest, Buddha-bhadra, familiar with the Sanscrit. It is recorded that his life was spent in this work, that he removed to King Chow, in the province of Hupeh, and that he died at the monastery of Sin at the age of 88.

The efforts in this century to bring this unique and interesting narrative before the students of Buddhistic literature have all been commendable. They begin with that of M. Remusat (1836) and continue with those of Rev. Samuel Beal, Her Majesty's Chaplain in China (London, 1869). There was a revision of the same in "Trübner's Oriental Series" (1884), by Mr. Herbert A. Giles, of H. M. Consular Service in China (1877), and an essay by Mr. T. Watters, H. M. Consul at I Chang, "Fa-Hien and his English translators" (China Review, 1879, 1880.)

The difficulties of determining the names of places passed en route, and of transliterating the Sanscrit names and words, which appear constantly, were originally very great. Those difficulties have been somewhat lessened by the array of special "handbooks" now at the command of the students of Buddhism. The principal helps are the elaborate and adequate handbook of Eitel referred to; Mr. Spence Hardy's "Eastern Monachism," and "Manual of Buddhism," as well as the various books of Dr. Rhys Davids, whose studies in Buddhism have made him the first authority. Dr. Legge, while avoiding the textual and linguistic controversies which have marred some of the discussions arising over particular words and phrases, has given us a distinct advance in the interpretation of some of the more obscure passages. He has had the advantage of as good a text as could perhaps be procured. This is the Corean recension of the Chinese text sent from Japan by Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio. The text was published in Japan in 1779 and taken from the Corean text of 1726. The variant text removes some of the difficulties of the earlier translations and affords a larger basis of comparison.

The volume under review is finely illustrated by ten pictures introduced from an edition of the "History of Buddha" recently

re-published at Hang Chowin, Che-kiang, and profusely illustrated in the best style of Chinese art. The Chinese style of FaHien is remarkably clear and straightforward. He turns aside very seldom to elaborate or describe. His statements are seemingly the more credible. Were it not for the intrinsic difficulties of the local names and the Sanscrit and Buddhistic references, the translator would not be at a loss to exactly reproduce the meaning. Dr. Legge has succeeded perhaps better than his predecessors in bringing to the reader a clear and consistent narrative. The value of the brochure will however be in the very copious notes which adorn and lend value to every page of the translation. It is not likely that the final word has been said as to the exact meaning of the more difficult passages, or the exact location of the multitude of places named. These are for the experts to determine. But the vast field of Buddhistic literature opening before the Chinese scholar, in the lands to which this religion has removed its habitat, will make the more attractive this little book, bound in yellow, with Buddha seated on the Lotus throne in his noble pagoda, encircled by cabalistic words in Sanscrit, which the Clarendon press now sends out for study and commendation.

One practical question broached by Dr. Legge deserves notice and its method of treatment special commendation. The estimate of the number of Buddhists in the world is a constantly re-appearing one. In 1854 General Cunningham estimated "the Buddhists as about 222 millions." Prof. Max Müller in his "Chips" (Vol. i.) estimates them at 455 millions. Berghaus in his "Physical Atlas" estimates the Buddhists as 31.2 per cent., and the Christians, as 30.7 per cent., Rhys Davids in his "Manual" gives "Northern Buddhists 470 millions," of which he assigns 414 millions to China. In his Article in the Encyclopedia Britannica the same author estimates the number of Buddhists at 440 millions.

It will be noticed that these large figures are all obtained by counting in the total population of China. Dr. Legge very properly dissents from such an estimate. It is a pure guess unworthy of any scholar. His verdict is, "It does seem to me preposterous to credit Buddhism with the whole of the vast populalation of China, the great majority of whom are Confucianists." In this judgment the residents of China both missionaries and others will no doubt concur. They will not however say that

there are no more Buddhists than Mohammedans in China as our author is inclined to say. The estimate of Mohammedans is usually placed at 20 millions. Dr. Happer of Canton, who has given the question much study and has written upon it, estimates actual Buddhists at 40 millions. A more recent writer has said: "There are 40 millions of priests, nuns, residents at temples, and special adherents who are properly to be called Buddhists." And yet multitudes of the people look with favor upon this still "illicit religion" and are as Dr. Eitel says, "emotionally" Buddhists, while "theoretically" they are "Confucianists." As to the relative rank of Buddhism, we may perhaps agree with Dr. Legge, who gives his personal estimate in this order: Christianity, Confucianism, Brahmanism, Mohammedanism, and Buddhism. In such a state of things, it is always wise for scholars as well as the uninformed to hold themselves in a wise reserve.

HENRY D. PORTER.

THE NATURE AND METHOD OF REVELATION.*-The importance for all branches of Christian theology of the doctrine of Revelation abundantly justifies the prominence it assumes and the attention it recieves in our day. The contents of the volume before us, although it is a small one of less than three hundred pages and although no attempt is made to discuss the subject exhaustively, suggest by direct reference as well as incidentally how wide a range of topics in Christian theology the doctrine may touch. We note its bearing upon theology in its specific sense, that is upon our conception of the nature and character of God, the Being who is revealed, its bearing upon Christology or our conception of the person of the Revealer, its bearing upon our conception of the kingdom of God in its historic manifestation, its bearing upon psychology or our conception of the state and attitude of the recipient of the revelation, its bearing upon the order of nature involving the question of miracles, its bearing upon Bibliology or our conception of the record of the revelation, involving the question of inspiration, its bearing upon eschatology or upon the consummation of the kingdom of God as it is concieved and represented in the Biblical record. In one or another way the bearing of revelation upon all these topics is touched and

*The Nature and Method of Revelation. By GEORGE PARK FISHER, D.D., LL.D., Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Yale University. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1890.

many things of a very helpful and suggestive character are said. But it is not the object of the author to cover the whole field of discussion. The work is not an elaborate treatise. The main object is to elucidate four aspects of the subject, the relation of Revelation to the Biblical record, the progressive character of Revelation, the relation of the two great sections of Revelation -the preparatory stage in Hebraism and the consummation in Christianity-and the relation of Revelation to faith. These four chapters, which are the expanded form of Articles that appeared recently in "The Century Magazine," constitute the main substance of the book. Perhaps its most significant and valuable contribution is the eminently judicious and altogether helpful presentation of the relation of Revelation to the Biblical record. While it is no doubt the aim of the author to touch upon many questions now in debate, and to contribute something towards their solution by holding them in the light of just views of Reve lation itself, it is perhaps his main purpose to discuss such questions as take close connection with the Biblical record of the Revelation. At any rate the first chapter upon "Revelation and the Bible" is the most important chapter, giving the key note to the whole discussion and it is to be noticed that the five "Supplementary Essays" all bear directly upon critical questions connected with the Biblical record.

It is enough to say that the work is done in Professor Fisher's best manner. He shows himself thoroughly familiar with the subject discussed. We are struck with his mastery of the material and we read much between the lines. He illustrates for us the value to the theologian of familiarity with more than one branch of theology. We see especially and in a very marked manner the value of the historic spirit, and of thorough familiarity with historic studies in the investigation of critical Biblical questions. We see the importance of the capacity to weigh historic evidence in any one who would undertake to investigate such critical questions. A lack of this capacity is a marked defect in a good deal of our modern Biblical criticism. In the volume before us we find the author's most marked and admirable qualities as a writer upon theological subjects, the judicial attitude, the well balanced judgment, the comprehensiveness, the sense of perspective, the positiveness, the caution, and yet the candor, the easy handling and judicious selection of details in the illustration of a general topic, the clearness and