But when people of the same race profess different creeds, these creeds do influence one another and tend to approximate.  This is specially remarkable in India, where Islam, in theory the uncompromising opponent of image worship and polytheism, is sometimes in practice undistinguishable from the lower superstitions of Hinduism.  In the middle ages Buddhism and Hinduism converged until they coincided so completely that Buddhism disappeared.  In China it often needs an expert to distinguish the manifestations of Taoism and Buddhism:  in Japan Buddhism and the old national religion were combined in the mixed worship known as Ryobu Shinto.  In the British Isles an impartial observer would probably notice that Anglicans and English Roman Catholics (not Irish perhaps) have more in common than they think.

There are clearly two sets of causes which may divide a race between religions:  internal movements, such as the rise of Buddhism, and external impulses, such as missions or conquest.  Conquest pure and simple is best illustrated by the history of Islam, also by the conversion of Mexico and South America to Roman Catholicism.  But even when conversion is pacific, it will generally be found that, if it is successful on a large scale, it means the introduction of more than a creed.  The religious leader in his own country can trust to his eloquence and power over his hearers.  The real support of the missionary, however little he may like the idea, is usually that he represents a superior type of civilization.  At one time in their career Buddhism and Christianity were the greatest agencies for spreading civilization in Asia and Europe respectively.  They brought with them art and literature:  they had the encouragement of the most enlightened princes:  those who did not accept them in many cases remained obviously on a lower level.  Much the same thing happens in Africa to-day.  The natives who accept Mohammedanism or Christianity are moved, not by the arguments of the Koran or Bible, but by the idea that it is a fine thing to be like an Arab or a European.  A pagan in Uganda is literally a pagan; an uninstructed rustic from a distant village.

Now if we consider the relations of India with the west, we find on neither side the conditions which usually render propaganda successful.  Before the Mohammedan invasions and the Portuguese conquest of Goa, no faith can have presented itself to the Hindus with anything like the prestige which marked the advent of Buddhism in China and Japan.  Alexander opened a road to India for Hellenic culture and with it came some religious ideas, but the Greeks had no missionary spirit and if there were any early Christian missions they must have been on a small scale.  The same is true of the west:  if Asoka’s missions reached their destination, they failed to inspire any record of their doings.  Still there was traffic by land and sea.  The Hindus, if self-complacent, were not averse to new ideas, and before the establishment