Page:The Praises of Amida, 1907.djvu/84

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74
The Praises of Amida.

put himself before them in his true colours, as a sinful man, as a religious humbug, without concealment, and without glossing things over. A convict in a prison at Zeze, in Gōshiū, once said to the chaplain: "So long as I was in the world outside, I could never get a moment's peace, nor enjoy a single night of quiet rest. Since I have been here, I have always slept peacefully." This is again a case in point. As long as this man was in the world outside, he was sailing under false colours, and pretending to be an honest man, and it was no wonder that he could not rest. In prison, he stood before men in his right colours, as a convict, without concealment or disguise, and so he gained peace of mind.

Peace of mind, therefore, has, as we see, no connection with pride of birth or station, with reputation or wealth, with life or death, with the outside world, or the body of flesh; it depends entirely on the presence or absence of falsehood. Be our station never so lowly, our rank never so mean, let our names be branded