rce the nightlike stars,
And with their mild persistence urge man's search
To vaster issues ...
This is life to come."

But Christ gave us a larger hope and a loftier purpose than this, even
the conscious possession of abundant life ourselves and the growing
knowledge of the boundless good which our earthly life has done for
others. To live in men is joy indeed; but that involves an ability to
feel that joy; and this, again, is a part only of the Eternal Life
which He gives to all who believe in Him.

It is His disciple only who can say:--

"Beloved, now are we the Sons of God. But we know not what we shall
be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we
shall see Him as He is."

CHAPTER XIII

MODERN RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT

In matters of faith, India has always been ultra-conservative. This is
largely owing, not to any fettering of thought, but rather to the
Hindu Caste System, which has been the most rigid guardian of the
Brahmanic faith and the doughty opponent of any new and independent
movements.

India has offered to her rishis and reformers unbounded latitude of
thought. And, as a consequence, her faith possesses within itself
every shade of religious speculation and philosophic conclusions. The
many antipodal and conflicting doctrines, theories, tendencies, and
institutions which obtain under the all-embracing name of Hinduism,
seem astonishing to every western investigator of this faith.

Even in matters of ritual, Brahmanism has always had its protestants,
sectarians, and "come-outers." During this stern dominance of the
Caste System, which is the most rigorous, if not the most cruel,
inquisition that the world has known, there have always been men free
to think and determined enough to push forward their ideas and their
new religious methods. And these have added picturesque variety to the
history of faith in India.

It is, however, a remarkable tribute to the power of caste and to the
unheroic character of Hindu reformers, that, of the myriad reforms and
protests against Brahmanism which have bristled throughout the
centuries, only one--Buddhism--has stood apart in persistent
isolation, and has maintained a separate identity and usefulness
through more than two millenniums. Of all these protesting creeds, it
alone has had sufficient masculine power and moral earnestness
permanently to impress itself upon the world as a great religion. It
has achieved this,