shall gradually come to lose all sense of self, whether it be our own profit, or the satisfaction of our desires. This 'denial of self ' (for that is what it amounts to) makes us ready to endure all sufferings and pain, kills our pride, and makes us feel that our whole duty lies in being thankful. When we reach this frame of mind all our actions become true and straight (shinsei #), and naturally tend to the advancement of religion.

We now come to a paragraph of which I only write with the utmost reluctance. It is always painful to find fault, more especially so when one has to point out the shortcomings of a rival religion, which is accepted honestly and in good faith by thousands of good men. I hope that all that I have hitherto said of the Shinshu Creed will save me now from the charge of captious fault-finding.

If a man consecrates his whole daily life as a thank-offering for Amida's mercies, in what light are we to consider the lies and sharp practices which form an inseparable portion of that daily life [**]?

We are told in reply that lies and sharp practices are not, in themselves, "thank-offerings." But when a man is very zealous for the propagation of his religion, and offers his whole life, lies, sharp-practices, and all, to that end, the whole offering is acceptable, and lies and sharp practices, seeing that

they become aids to the propagation of the Faith, become parts of an acceptable offering, and are thus accepted.

Truly, an offering of leavened bread! After that one ceases to wonder that the Japanese merchant gets the reputation of being occasionally "slim," There is no need to discuss this teaching. It bears its own reprobation on its face.

But one can see from this paragraph, where the Christian, with an almost identical creed, but one based on a sure rock of historical fact, and with a consequently more robust faith, and a morality which need fear nothing, will find his message to deliver to the Shinshu. One can see, too, where the conversion of the Shinshu must begin. It is a case for "purging out the leaven," and when the purging has been done, one of the great obstacles in the way of the recognition of Christ will have been removed. There are always some, however, who will not come to the Light, "lest their deeds should be reproved."

Footnotes

^118:* kikyo dosa.

^119:* Shinja no tonaeru Nembutsu wa, to no mishin no mono go kikimashite, nochi innen jukusuru toki wa, kore no yorite shin (#) wo emasu. Mi-juku no mono mo mata shinjin no en wo musubimasu kara shizen to Nyorai no rishoke-yaku wo tasukuru ko (#) ga aru koto ni narimasu.

^119:+ Chokusetsu kansetsu tomo ni Buddha no mi-nori no kasei wo itashimasu yue ho-on ni narimasu. With the verb kasei suru, (#) it is interesting to compare the Pauline expression, "we are fellow-workers with God."