imself, while in each his hell, with a vividness that does like credit
to its religious imagination, is painted for him by those of the cult
who are themselves confident of escaping it. Into the lap of each mother
church the pious believer drops his little votive offering with the same
affectionate zeal, and in Asia, as in Europe, the mites of the many make
the might of the mass.

But behind all this is the religion of the few,--of those to whom
sensuous forms cannot suffice to represent super-sensuous cravings;
whose god is something more than an anthropomorphic creation; to whom
worship means not the cramping of the body, but the expansion of the
soul.

The rays of the truth, like the rays of the sun, which universally seems
to have been man's first adoration, have two properties equally inherent
in their essence, warmth and light. And as for the life of all things
on this globe both attributes of sunshine are necessary, so to the
development of that something which constitutes the ego both qualities
of the truth are vital. We sometimes speak of character as if it were
a thing wholly apart from mind; but, in fact, the two things are so
interwoven that to perceive the right course is the strongest possible
of incentives to pursue it. In the end the two are one. Now, while
clearness of head is all-important, kindness of heart is none the less
so. The first, perhaps, is more needed in our communings with ourselves,
the second in our commerce with others. For, dark and dense bodies
that we are, we can radiate affection much more effectively than we can
reflect views.

That Christianity is a religion of love needs no mention; that Buddhism
is equally such is perhaps not so generally appreciated. But just as the
gospel of the disciple who loved and was loved the most begins its story
by telling us of the Light that came into the world, so none the less
surely could the Light of Asia but be also its warmth. Half of the
teachings of Buddhism are spent in inculcating charity. Not only to men
is man enjoined to show kindliness, but to all other animals as well.
The people practise what their scriptures preach. The effect indirectly
on the condition of the brutes is almost as marked as its more direct
effect on the character of mankind. In heart, at least, Buddhism and
Christianity are very close.

But here the two paths to a something beyond an earthly life diverge. Up
to this point the two religions are alike, but from thi