" THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8538, 11 April 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

" THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD."

Some years ago Sir Edwin Arnold wrote " The Light of Asia," a poem which was widely read. The central figure was Buddha, and so interesting was the personality portrayed that many Christiana read with admiration, while some people who had no religion to speak of bogan to sample Buddhism ; indeed, in some quarters the author's appreciation of the Asian teacher was construed as devotion. Now, however, this mistake is corrected, and the book itself is overshadowed by a greater poem, "The Light of the World." The poem is in the main a dialogue between Mary Magdalene and a venerable Buddhist who comes from India to learn the results of the angelic promise at Bethlehem, of which the " Three Kings of Orient" had carried the news to their own land. The Indian questions Mary closely, , though reverently and sympathetically, during six days, compares the teachings of Jesus and Buddha, recognises the limitations of the latter and concludes that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. We give a few extracts :— AT BETHLEHEM. So many hills arising, green and gay, On Earth's large round, and that one hill to say, " I was His bearing place !" On Earth's wide breast So many maids ! and She— all most blest — Heavily mounting Bethlehem, to he , His Mother !—Holy Maid of Galilee! Hill, with the olives, and the little town ! If rivers from their crystal founts flow down, If 'twas the Dawn which did Day's gold unbar. Ye were beginnings of the best we are, The most we see, the highest that we kuow,

The lifting Heavenward of Man's life below. Therefore, though better lips ye shall not lack, Sutfice if one of modern mood steals back— Weary ami wayworn, from the Desert road . Of barren Thought; from Hope's Dead Sea, which Slowed With Love's fair mirage ; from the Poet's haunt, The scholar's lamp, tho statesman's scheme, the vaunt, The Failure, of all fond Philosophies— Back unto Thee, back to thy olive trees, : Thy neoplo, and thy story, and thy Son, Mary of Nazareth ! So long ngone Bearing us Him who made our Christendom, Ami came to save tho Earth, from Ueav'n, Ins homo.

High cause had they, at Bethlehem, that night . To lift tho curtain of Hope's hidden light, To break decree of silence with Love's cry, foreseeing how this Babe, born lowlily, Should— past dispute, since now achieved in this— Bring Karth great gifts of blessing and of bliss ; Date, from that crib, the Dynasty of Love ; . Strip his misused thunderbolts from Jove ; Bend to their knee lloiuo's Ciesars, break the chain Vnxax the slave's neck ; sit sick hearts free again Bitterly bound by priests, and scribes, and scrolls; And heal, with balm of pardon, sinking souls ; Should mercy to her vacant throne restore, Teach Right to Kings, and Patience to the poor ; Should by Mis sweet Name all names overthrow, Anil by His lovely words, the quick seeds sow Of golden equities, and brotherhood, Of Pity, Peace, and gentle praise of liood ; Of kliightly honour, holding life in trust For God, and Lord, ami all things pure and just J Lowly to Woman ; for Maid Mary's sake Lifting our sister from the dust, to take In homes her equal place, the Household's Queen. PALESTINE; Now all is changed—all save the changeless things— The mountains and tho waters and tho sky. These, us He saw them, have their glory yet At sunrise and at sunset, ami when noon Burns the blue vault into a cope of gold. And ofttimes, in the Syrian Spring, steals back Well nigh the ancient, beauty to those coasts Whore Christ's foot trod. That lily which lie loved And praised for .splendour passing Solomon's The scarlet martagon— herself still, Mindful of His high words, in red and gold, To meet the step of Summer. Cyclamens Lift their pals heads to see if He will pass, And amuryllis ami white hyacinths Pour from their pearly vases spikenard forth, Lest Ho should come unhonoured. In His paths Still, as of old, the lowly crocus spreads A golden carpet for him; anil the birdsSmall almoners of Heaven—as once Ho said— Who fall not unregarded— trill their hymns Of lively love and thanks in every thorn. Only what, man could do, Man hath well done To blot with blood and tsars His track divine, I'd sweep His holy footsteps from His earth.

PONTIUS PILATE AND HIS WIPE. And there were those who hoard what Pilate spake Upon the leowan leaning sad that night, Unbilled by lute, or Syrian dance, or plash Of fountains tinkling on the painted stones. For sloe]) came not; and she, beside him, saidClaudia Proeula—"My hold dooth ill To keep sick vigil, ■when soft beds are spread, And guards are sot, and even Galileo Lends so fair shelter that henceforth in Ronio Wo shall think gentlier of th' injurious land." "In Rome ! till, Rome I" stern Pontius cried ; "but Koine Held not my thought, great Claudia ! nor thesohogs We herded with our spear points, pricking them • Time after time to stunt. Cxsar is just, Ami C;esar will not judge rue heedlessly Friend of Sejanus, and for ten years, here. Keeping the heel of Home on Herod's neck— At word of vile Samaritans. But I All d ly long, as wo rude out from the plain Of JCsdraelou— Samaria To Nazareth, and threading Nazareth, With horse and foot and litters, clattered on Under the horns of Hattiii, and so down. Through that dark shadowed Valley of the Dove, To this green hollow where the .lonian gains Pence for a day before he hastens on To foam and fret and die—as rivers die. And men die—helplessly ; 1 bad in mind Tito .Man 1 did adjudge unrighteously. Know'st thou, fair Wife ! that was His dwelling place, The poor, while, clustered town amid the hills Where we clomb up from Kishon, and you saw The boopooesruu in the rye—Solomon's birds, Which knew the name of God !— Would I had

known On that ill day at the Prwtoriunj ! By P.in '. 1 tell thee all the way be came, The pale sweet man ; the matt that was " the King," And did adjudge us, his judiciaries. I saw him at Gerizim, whom I smote Those dogs of .Sych.tr - very pitiful Marking the blood. And, then, as if ho paced Effortless over bare Oiilboa, 'twas he Gazed at meat Mogiddo, and Jezreel; And Shunetn and Chesulloth, always pale, Alw.iys with that high look of godlike calm. Those eyes of far perception—-those mild eyes I saw that morn in the I'rieiorium. Accursed morn ! —more in my thoughts than Rome ! (Pilate describes the impression made upon him by Jesus during tho arraignment, trial, and leading away to crucifixion. Claudia, Pilate's wife, tells of her own dreams, or visions, concerning Jesus and of the'portents that followed the tragedy. Then she says :— " Did'st thou hear The talk ran that He had not died at all, Or, dying, grided back to life again ; Was seen ; ate, drank, walked, talked—Man among men— Or if not man (which could not be !) then shape, Larva, or Lemur, or some unnamed thing, Visible, seeming wliatsoe'er Life seems; And, lastly,'scaped from sight? Those whom he left, A band of honest ones, give stoutly forth lie was caught up in clouds, snatched to the Blue. And. day by day, my slave girls say, this grows— Making i sect, which bad no dread of Death ; lint will spend life and breath and gold and pains To succour any wretch ; because they hold This ' Christ' did die for him—grows, good my Lord ! Not only here, but in the coasts and Isles ; And toucheth Athens, and hath crept to Homo." THE MAGUS AND MARY MAGDALENE. " Art thou that Miriam of Magdala Whoso name is born tons with name of Him That was tho teacher here, anil wrought great works ; Ami died at last the death upon the cross Three springtimes back, thyself beholding this?" And Mary said :—".My name with II is great Name Was no more worthy to keep company Than the pale firefly with the risen Sun ! Vet am I sin: who in Ufa glorious light Through two years dwelled and breathed the blessed aitSweet with His breath, and in these happy ears Took the great music of If is wisdom. Sir ! How shall this stead you ? and what purposes Brought thy most honourable feet so far?" Ho made reply : —" I alone live, of Three Who, many winters past, came to thy land Led by a strange white Star, burst suddenly New from the spangled purple of the Night; And, while wo read tho sky, our knowledge grew That this beamed token of a teacher born Illumining the World, as that great Star Shot its fair splendours far. But, loving Light, And always seeking Light taught of JSuddh — We journeyed hither from our Indian hills Wending to Bethlehem ; and found that Babe Whom thou hast known as Man, divinely signed By praise and portent to bo Whom we sought, Mo, at those little feet were laid our gifts, Worshipping, and we looked upon tho face— 'lender and pure—of Her that bore tho Babe; Then, warned hetime of Herod's dark design, Homeward returned. There, while the years went by; Caimwyfeaontly, borne by tho caravans, Word of this wonder grown ; and, to our minds, The gold and silk and myrrh of all their bales Counted but dross to what was vafted us Of loftiest wisdom and large doctrines given To mend the old. Bui those who came with mo Beforetimes died ; desiring to know this; And I myself die soon—which is not feared By such as follow great Lord Buddha's Law ; Vet had I will unquenchable to learn The setting of the Star of men, whoso rise My younger „yes beheld. Therefore, once more, Over this weary way my steps have passed. To hear before I die. And, when men said In Majjdal, by the Bake of Galilee, She dwelleth, who did love and serve Him most, My face I turned, sweet Lady ! to thy gate And, by thy graciousness emboldened now, I make my prayer."

AT THIS SEPULCHRE. My left hand on tlio stone I laid, and shut The eager .•sunshine oft' with ray right hand, Kneeling, and looking in the Stpulchre. It was not dark within ! i deemed at first A lamp burned there, such radiance mild f saw Lighting the hewn walls, and tho linen-bands; And, in one corner, folded by itself, The face cloth. Coming closer, I espied Two men who sale there— watchfully— One at the head, the other at the foot Of that stone table where my Lord hath lain. Oh ! I say ' men'—l should have known no men Had eyes like theirs, shapes so mnjestical, Tongues tuned to such a music as the tone Wherewith they questioned me, 'Why weepest thou r 'All, sirs,' I said, 'my Lord is ta'en away, Nor wot we whither !' and thereat my tears Blotted all seeing. So I turned to wipe The hot drops off ; and look ! Another one Standing behind me, and my foolish eyes Hard gazing on Him and not knowing Him 1 For, while I lay there, sobbing at His feet. The word He spake— Lord !my King liny Christ! Was my name :— "' Mary I" If I say the Dead Catch tone of sorno such molting tenderness When first their lovers in the now Life flock And greet and kiss them, tolling them sweet things Of bliss beyond, and Love crowned Conqueror ; If I should speak of children, dreaming ill, And then grown 'ware it is the dear safe breast Of their fond Mother which they fret upon 1 If I should liken hopeless mariners Snatched sudden from black gulfs; or men condemned, Ransomed from chains, and led to marriage feasts:— With the swift comfort of that instant change, All must fall short! No language had I then. No language have I now ! only I turned My quick glance upward; saw Him; knew Him; sprang, Crying : ' Rabboni Lord! my Lord I dear Lord !'" •' . . « * "When I was fain To fling my arms around His knees, and pour My Hair upon His feet, and eat, eat, eat His garment's hem with kissing ; measuredly He stayed me, saying : ' Touch me not ! noli yet' Am I ascended to my Father ! Go ! Speak to my brethren ; say that I ascend Unto my Father and to yours— God And your God.' " " Was he seen again of men?" The Buddhist prayed. ' " Many whiles 1" answered she ; Three times on that First Hay, and, afterwards, In his old paths by silver Galilee : And in the Mountain ; where He met His own, And made their cheer celestial. Last of all He shewed in full midst of Jerusalem, Amongst the eleven—nail-marks on hands and foot Rose-red, and spear-gash scarring the white side ; And ate of fish and honey from their board ; ' Then blessed, and led them forth to Olivet; And passed—as if, they said, a waiting cloud Received Him out of sight." " Centurion !" The Indian cried :—" set there to see him <lie :— Truly the Sou of God I"—