he case of
Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, which may perhaps be cited as
parallel, is in reality wholly different. Not only did Sakyamuni live
five centuries earlier than Jesus, among a people that have at no time
possessed the art of insuring authenticity in their records of events,
and at an era which is at best but dimly discerned through the mists of
fable and legend, but the work which he achieved lies wholly out of
the course of European history, and it is only in recent times that his
career has presented itself to us as a problem needing to be solved.
Jesus, on the other hand, appeared in an age which is familiarly and in
many respects minutely known to us, and among a people whose fortunes we
can trace with historic certainty for at least seven centuries previous
to his birth; while his life and achievements have probably had a
larger share in directing the entire subsequent intellectual and moral
development of Europe than those of any other man who has ever lived.
Nevertheless, the details of his personal career are shrouded in an
obscurity almost as dense as that which envelops the life of the remote
founder of Buddhism.

This phenomenon, however, appears less strange and paradoxical when we
come to examine it more closely. A little reflection will disclose to
us several good reasons why the historical records of the life of Jesus
should be so scanty as they are. In the first place, the activity of
Jesus was private rather than public. Confined within exceedingly narrow
limits, both of space and of duration, it made no impression whatever
upon the politics or the literature of the time. His name does not
occur in the pages of any contemporary writer, Roman, Greek, or Jewish.
Doubtless the case would have been wholly different, had he, like
Mohammed, lived to a ripe age, and had the exigencies of his peculiar
position as the Messiah of the Jewish people brought him into relations
with the Empire; though whether, in such case, the success of his grand
undertaking would have been as complete as it has actually been, may
well be doubted.

Secondly, Jesus did not, like Mohammed and Paul, leave behind him
authentic writings which might serve to throw light upon his mental
development as well as upon the external facts of his career. Without
the Koran and the four genuine Epistles of Paul, we should be nearly as
much in the dark concerning these great men as we now are concerning the
historical Jesus. We shou