The author solemnly explained that the two creeds were alike in things in which all creeds are alike, or else he described them as alike in some point in which they are quite obviously different.

Thus, as a case of the first class, he said that both Christ and Buddha were called by the divine voice coming out of the sky, as if you would expect the divine voice to come out of the coal-cellar.

Or, again, it was gravely urged that these two Eastern teachers, by a singular coincidence, both had to do with the washing of feet.

You might as well say that it was a remarkable coincidence that they both had feet to wash.

And the other class of similarities were those which simply were not similar.