been largely influenced
by Christianity, I suppose there is practically only one Religion which
would be in the least likely to appeal to a modern philosophical
student of Religion as a possible alternative to Christianity--and that
is Buddhism. But Buddhist Ethics are not the same as Christian Ethics.
Buddhist Ethics are ascetic: the Christianity which Christ taught was
anti-ascetic. In its view of the future, Buddhism is pessimistic;
Christianity is optimistic. Much as {151} Buddhism has done to
inculcate Humanity and Charity, the principle of Buddhist Humanity is
not the same as that of Christianity. Humanity is encouraged by the
Buddhist (in so far as he is really influenced by his own formal creed)
not from a motive of disinterested affection, but as a means of
escaping from the evils of personal and individual existence, and so
winning Nirvana. We cannot at one and the same time adhere to the
Ethics of Buddhism and to those of Christianity, though I am far from
saying that Christians have nothing to learn either from Buddhist
teaching or from Buddhist practice. Still less can we at one and the
same time be Atheists with the Buddhist and Theists with the Christian;
look forward with the Buddhist to the extinction of personal
consciousness and with the Christian to a fuller and more satisfying
life. To take an interest in comparative Religion is not to be
religious; to be religious implies a certain exclusive attachment to
some definite form of religious belief, though it may of course often
be a belief to which many historical influences have contributed.

I have been trying to lead you to a view of Revelation which recognizes
the existence and the importance of those exceptional religious minds
to whom is due the foundation and development of the great historical
Religions, while at the same time we refuse, in the last resort, to
recognize any {152} revelation as true except on the ground that its
truth can be independently verified. I do not mean to deny that the
individual must at first, and may quite reasonably in some cases
throughout life, accept much of his religious belief on authority; but
that is only because he may be justified in thinking that such and such
a person, or more probably such and such a religious community, is more
likely to be right than himself. Rational submission to authority in
this or that individual postulates independent judgement on the part of
others. I am far from sayi