[paragraph continues] God's own Presence, O'er His ransomed People shed"); and they are continually under the protection of all "gods, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas," the beings who hold in the Buddhist mind a place analogous to that occupied in the Christian system by ministering angels forth sent to minister to the heirs of salvation. The consequence of the clear light in which they dwell is that they are able to estimate rightly the importance of human virtue, that they set their minds to becoming active promoters of the peaceful welfare of society, rightly deeming that social duties are so important and weighty in their nature that the believer cannot afford to neglect them. This state of mind is that which is known in the Shinshu theology as Zokutaimon--the frame of mind which enables a man to discharge his duty towards his neighbour.

In the succeeding paragraph ( section 72) we are brought to the question of works done before justification. The Zokutaimon, we are asked, is it something that is obligatory upon a man before he receives the justifying faith in Amida, or is it merely something to be done after justification?

The author begins with a somewhat suggestive expression. Shin wo ete hajimete Shinshu no UTSUWA to naru no desu. " It is not until a man has received faith that he becomes a VESSEL, of the Shinshu." There is a sort of Pauline echo about the phrase which is not without significance. [**] Before

the acceptance of faith a man cannot be said to be Shinshugyoja, a practising believer of the Shinshu Faith. [**] The Zokutaimon of the Shinshu Faith is therefore, properly speaking, an obligation which does not come into full force until a man has definitely accepted the Faith in Amida as laid down in the Shintaimon portion of the Shinshu creed.

Still, we are told, there are men who are within (kamei # suru) the fold (hani #) of the Shinshu, who have not yet made a personal acceptance of the faith upon which the Shinshu system is based, just as there are amongst ourselves persons who by Infant Baptism have entered into the congregation of Christ's Church without any very definite heart-acceptance of their Christian privilege. For such persons, because they belong to the Shinshu, it is more than expedient that they should understand and practise the religious obligations of life. It is a most important religious principle that, so long as men have to be in the world, they should do their duties as citizens of the world, and these duties ought not to be shirked as indifferent, even though a man have not yet received the grace of a Saving Faith. (Koto ni seken futsu no seikwatsu ni majiwarite tsutawaru shufu # de aru kara, nao nao mishin no aida wa do de mo yoi to iu wake de wa arimasenu.)

The next paragraph ( section 73) treats of the authorities that may be quoted for this view of the Zokutaimon. It need not delay us here, it is fully treated of