It is interesting to compare St. Paul's treatment of a somewhat similar problem in the Epistle to the Ephesians, which, like Colossians, is treating of some Gnostic or quasi-Gnostic difficulties. In it (Ephes. iv.) we have Christ the centre of all ministerial authority; and, issuing from Him, a fourfold ministry: Apostles, centres of authority, who appeal to the will; Prophets, whose sphere lies in the imagination; Evangelists, who appeal to men as reasonable beings; Pastors and Teachers, who guide men through the emotions and affections. Men do not always express themselves alike; in this case, however, the underlying thought is the same. God has many ways of saving lost mankind.

^63:1 E.g. Col. i. 19.

^63:2 Japanese has no l sound. Hence I write here mandara, not mandala. This word has become naturalized. But Kha-la-ka-ba-a is always written in Sanskrit letters, hence I write it with an l.

^64:1 I have consulted, for the purposes of this comparison, (i.) the chapter on Shingon in Dr. Nanjo's "Short History of the Twelve Japanese Buddhist Sects;" (ii.) Dr. Wallis Budge, the "Gods of Egypt;" and (iii.) the accounts of the Gnostic sects given by Hippolytus, Irenaeus, and Epiphanius. The Greek word used is metra. See Bousset on Gnosticism.

^64:2 This gives us the point of contact with the Japanese Shinto. It was the policy of the Shingon and other early sects to identify the Japanese Sun-goddess Amaterasu with Vairoc'ana. Amaterasu is the fabled divine ancestress of the Imperial House, and the sixteen-petal chrysanthemum, which is the Imperial crest, is said to be a Buddhist emblem, an expansion of the Hachi-yo-in, adopted circa A.D. 1120 at the suggestion of a courtly Buddhist monk by the Emperor Toba, who was an ardent Buddhist. Strangely enough, Dr. N. G. Munro, of Yokohama, has found the sixteen-petal chrysanthemum on an Egyptian tomb. It is also found in "Pistis Sophia."

^64:3 Dr. Nanjo (p. 91) speaks of the "Mandala of nine Assemblies of the Vajradhatu, which corresponds to the nine Beings of the Hachi-yo-in." It is also noteworthy that there are nine stages in our knowledge of Amida, who is accordingly sometimes represented by nine figures, each a little different from the rest. There are also nine forms of Osiris.

^65:1 The thirteen Buddhas of the Shingon are Fudo (one week after death), S'akyamuni (2nd week), Manjus'ri (3rd week), Samantabhadra (4th week), Kshitigarbha (5th week), Maitreya (6th week), Bhaishajyaguru (7th week); Avalokites'vara (100 days), Mahasthamaprapta (1 year), Amitabha (3 years), Akshobya (7 years), Vairoc'ana and Kokuzo, for ever. To these correspond a series of thirteen planets and heavenly deities. See "Catalogue of Musee Guimet," p. 191 (1883).