FROM SOLDIER TO CIVILIAN. Ill 



lasting and striking in its effects. It is felt even in 

 India ; I cannot say more than that. 



" You should come and live in India for five 

 years," he adds, "if you wished to feel the benefit 

 of our ' established ' forms of Christianity. Even 

 the outward signs and tokens of its profession — 

 cathedrals, churches, colleges, tombs, hospitals, 

 almshouses — have, I am now more than ever con- 

 vinced, an influence on men's minds and principles 

 and actions which none but those who have been 

 removed from their influence for years can feel or 

 appreciate thoroughly. ... A few cathedrals and 

 venerable-looking edifices would do wonders in our 

 colonies. Here we have nothing physical to remind 

 us of any creed but Islamism and Hinduism. The 

 comjDarative purity of the Moslem's creed is shown 

 admirably in the superiority in taste and form of 

 their places of prayer. Christianity alone is thrust 

 out of sight ! A barrack - room, a ball - room, a 

 dining-room, perhaps a court of justice, serve the 

 purpose for which the ' wisdom and piety of our 

 ancestors ' constructed such noble and stately 

 temples ; feeling, justl}^, that the human mind in 

 its weakness required to be called to the exercise 

 of devotion by the senses as well as by reason and 

 will ; that separation from the ordinary scenes of 

 everyday life, its cares, its toils, its amusements, 

 is necessary to train the feelings and thoughts to 

 that state in which religious impressions are con- 

 veyed, I have not seen a church for three years 

 and more, nor heard the service of the Church read, 

 save at intervals in a room in which, perhaps, the 

 night before, I had been crushed by a great dinner- 



