vidualism. Paul's figure of the various parts of
the human frame as illustrating the body of Christ, mutual in the
interdependence of all its members, would be wholly out of place in
Buddhism. Even the Buddhist monks are so many units of introverted
self-righteousness. And individualism differently applied is the
characteristic of our age, and therefore a bond of sympathy is supplied.
"Every man for himself," appeals to modern society in many ways.

Again, Gautama magnified the human intellect and the power of the human
will. "O Ananda," he said, "be lamps unto yourselves; depend upon no
other." He claimed to have thought out, and thought through every
problem of existence, to have penetrated every secret of human nature in
the present, and in the life to come, and his example was commended to
all, that they might follow in their measure. So also our transcendental
philosophers have glorified the powers and possibilities of humanity,
and have made genius superior to saintliness.[87] There are tens of
thousands who in this respect believe in a religion of humanity, and who
worship, if they worship at all, the goddess of reason. All such have a
natural affinity for Buddhism.

Another point in common between this system and the spirit of our age is
its broad humanitarianism--beneficence to the lower grades of life. When
love transcends the bounds of the human family it does not rise up
toward God, it descends toward the lower orders of the animal world.
"Show pity toward everything that exists," is its motto, and the insect
and the worm hold a larger relative place in the Buddhist than in the
Christian view. The question "Are ye not of more value than many
sparrows?" might be doubtful in the Buddhist estimate, for the teacher
himself, in his pre-existent states, had often been incarnate in
inferior creatures. It is by no means conceded that Jesus, in asking his
disciples this question, had less pity for the sparrows than the Buddha,
or that his beneficence was less thoughtful of the meanest thing that
glides through the air or creeps upon the earth; but the spirit of
Christianity is more discriminating, and its love rises up to heaven,
where, beginning with God, it descends through every grade of being.

Yet it is quite in accordance with the spirit and aim of thousands to
magnify the charity that confines itself to bodily wants and
distresses, to sneer at the relief which religion may bring to the far
greater anguish of