With us the idea seems the bitter fruit of material philosophy; by them it was looked upon as the fairest flower of their faith.

What is dreaded now as the impious suggestion of the godless four thousand years ago was reverenced as a sacred tenet of religion.
Shorter even than his short threescore years and ten is that soul's life of which man is directly cognizant.

Bounded by two seemingly impersonal states is the personal consciousness of which he is made aware: the one the infantile existence that precedes his boyish discovery, the other the gloom that grows with years,--two twilights that fringe the two borders of his day.

But with the Far Oriental, life is all twilight.

For in Japan and China both states are found together.