danger of assuming that Christian life must be
adorned with only those western traits and excellences of character
which are foreign and unpalatable to the East--the very fault which
also characterizes the Hindu on his side, and which makes him feel so
superior at times and so inaccessible to Christian influence. For, let
it not be forgotten that the Hindu regards what we call our foibles of
petulance, arrogance, and intolerance, with the same disapprobation
and disgust as we do their more frequent violation of the seventh,
eighth, and ninth commandments of the Decalogue. And who is to decide
as to which catalogue is the worse and the more heinous in the sight
of God?

IV

_The Hindu Conception of Ultimate Salvation presents Another Point of
Divergence from the Christian Ideal of Life Beyond_

Even in the methods and processes of redemption pursued by the two
religions we see fundamental differences. In Christianity, God is the
prime Agent in human salvation. He worketh for us, in us, and through
us. In our own redemption we are only co-labourers with Him.

In Hinduism, man stands absolutely alone as the agent and cause of his
salvation. And, as the stupendous task rests upon his shoulders, it is
no wonder that he has sought relief in the doctrine of metempsychosis,
whereby it is believed that millions of rebirths furnish to him an
adequate time and a sufficient variety of opportunity for the great
consummation. But he has never given to himself, or to us, the first
reason for believing that this endless fugue of rebirths will
accomplish that which he accepts without questioning; namely, the
ultimate glorification of all souls. There is nothing in this long and
tedious process itself which assures us that any soul will reach final
beatification rather than permanent and irremediable degradation. And
yet the ultimate absorption of all souls into the Divine is assumed as
a matter of course by him. This process, and that of Christianity, are
expressive of the characteristics of the two faiths and of the two
peoples. The slow and patient East, and the faith which it has
begotten, spins out its theory of time and of human existence almost
_ad infinitum_. Multitudinous births alone can satisfy the demands of
the tedious process of human emancipation. But, in Christianity, one
passage through this world, with human hands clasped in the Divine,
suffices to open the door of eternal bliss to the redeemed soul. And
this ide