Page:The Praises of Amida, 1907.djvu/85

 as criminals or rogues, let poverty or death stare us in the face,—so long as our inmost heart is free from falsehood, so long shall we be at peace. When this peace is attained the Gate of True Religion opens to us. 11. When we go out of town on a snowy day we are struck by the peaceful solemnity of the ancient trees among the white mountains. Why is this? Need I say that it is because the mountains and trees are so absolutely devoid of all adornments and adventitious aids to beauty? They have cast aside the leaves, green and red, which they put on in Spring, and wore right through to the end of Autumn, and now they stand there openly revealed before us. And when we have torn off the gaudy trickeries of deceit, and cast aside all its embellishments, the true heart within us raises its head and comes to the surface, and we can then, for the first time, put our foot inside the Gate of True Religion. The bare winter of self-revealment must precede the spring-time of spiritual life. 12. Religion does not, therefore, ask whether