CHAPTER XIV.

After Justification.

( section 71, 72, 73, 74, 75)

We have now reached that portion of the Shinshu Catechism which deals with Zokutaimon, i.e. with the earthly life of the believer after he has received justification by Faith in Amida, has cast all his cares upon Him, and has entered into the Sacred Heart of Buddha. We shall find it necessary to consider many questions relating to Grace and Sanctification, and again we shall be astonished by the similarities between the Shinshu and the Christian systems of Theology.

And first, let me summarize what I have been taught, as a Christian, concerning God's grace. It will enable me to describe more accurately the Shinshu position.

Grace consists in the direct illumination of the mind, and the inspiration of the will, by God. [**] It is necessary for all good actions: it is indispensible to the just man, because, without it, he cannot persevere in the state of grace, or work out his own salvation: it is equally necessary to the man outside the covenant of grace, because, without it, he can not only not turn to the safe refuge of religion, but cannot even do any action that is good. All that is ethically good in human life comes through the grace of God. But the grace of God is over all his works:

there is not one that is excluded from it. It is God's spiritual sunshine that gives light to the just as well as to the unjust. It is not limited to priests and monks, nor to that class of people whom the Japanese call Shukyoka (religiously minded persons): it illuminates and inspires the statesman in his cabinet, the merchant at his desk, the carpenter in his workshop: it is the inner soul (as it were) of all good actions, secular as well as religious, and there is no man, be he the most despicable of creatures, who does anything in accordance with the promptings of God's grace, that shall fail to receive from the all-just tribunal of Heaven his due meed of praise and encouragement. If I may express myself in Buddhist terminology, the grace of God is the source (the in #) of all good karma. [**]

Turning now to the Shinshu Hyakuwa, I find (in section 71) that the earthly life of a believer after receiving the Believing Heart may be compared to a day spent on the road along which one travels to enter into the full happiness of the Fruits of Enlightenment. (Shinjin wo etaru ue no jinsei-seikwatsu wa, Bukkwa no kofuku ni iru dochu no hi-okuri de arimasu).

The travellers along this road dwell continually in the Glory of Mida's Light ("One the Light of