OUTLOOK FOR CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN. An Addrp;ss delivered before the Tokyo Conference, December 6th, 1894. BY Eev. D. C. GEEENE, D.D. Printed by the Yokohama Seishi Bunsha. THE OUTLOOK FOR CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN. An Address delivered before the Tokyo Conference, December Gth, 189 - 1 . In pi:eps,ring this address for publication, some changes have been introduced, both in the form and in the thought. These changes consist chiefly in the introduction of certain illustra- tions which, owing to the pressure of time and other reasons, were necessarily omitted. They do not, however, o.ft'ect the substance of the address. In appearing before you this afternoon in respon.se to the urgent invitation of certain friends, I must not be understood as presuming to pass a dogmatic judgment upon tbe very complicated situation wbicli confronts ns. Even a satisfactory analysis of this situation is, for tbe present at least, beyond onr reacli. Certainly I shall not attempt any thorough-going analysis, but shall content myself with the more modest task of setting forth certain opinions which have gradually formed themselves in my mind, together with a few of the considerations upon which those opinions are based. If, in doing so, I fail to dwell npon what some call “ spiritual ” forces, it is not because I ignore them or underrate them. It is simply tliat I am forced to limit myself to one side of a great subject, a subject so great, indeed, that even with this limitation, it cannot he treated adequately in the time at my disposal. You will not, however, infer that I admit that the forces with which this address deals are in any projier sense less spiritual than those to which, (hat term is sometimes restricted. As I have thought — 2 — over tliis subject, tlie words of Clirist liave stood out before my mind in letters of burnished gold, — “ My Father Avorlteth hitherto.” God is in His world ; its forces are His and the ultimate goal of their operation is the establishment of His Kingdom of righteousness and peace ; and the movements which I shall endeavour to describe are simply the methods of a Divine Providence working in human society. I will not claim the right to declare “ those things which are most surely believed among us,” and yet as I have personally gained much encouragement from the considerations which I am about to set forth, I am not without hopes that they may so far commend themselves to others, tliat they too may gain similar encouragement. In the first stage of the missionary work-, which roughly speaking may be said to have closed with the year 1871, the prospect was far from bright. After twelve years of labour the results were small, the op- portunities for evangelistic effort few, and the opposition bitter and persistent. In the next stage, which may he said to have closed with the year 1890, the restrictions were in large degree removed, and the progress of Christianity was encouraged rather than hindered by those in positions of authority'. So rapid was the growth, that the most sanguine prophecies of the final victory seemed by no means incredible. During the third period now current, it is seen plainly that the growth was less healthy than had been supposed, and that the < brilliant promise of former years cannot be realized for many y'ears to come. While thus frankly admitting tl’.at we have in the past underestimated the difficulties which oppose the progress of Christianity, is it not possible, on the other hand, that, impressed as we naturally are by these difficulties, we lose sight of those auxiliary forces, the sappers and miners of the Christian army, if we may call them so, which a.re destroying the foundations of the trusted strongholds of our opponents ? Their operation is unobtrusive and is easily overlooked, but yet their efficiency can hardly be overestimated. It will be my main purjwse this afternoon to enumerate some of these auxiliary forces and indicate the part which, ill my view, tliey are playing in the drama now unfolding itself hefnre us. First of all, however, I shall endeavour to set before you, possibly with unnecessary fullness, certain features of the present situation which must be borne in mind tliroughout this discussion. The first feature which I wish to nKuitioii is the lack of a vivid sense of personality on the part of the .Japanese people. This lack may be emphasized unduly. Mr. Percival Lowell has, as I think, so emphasized it in his book, “ The Soul of the Far East.” Still, that the sense of personality has developed more slowly in Japan than in most western countries must be .admitted. This slower development has been in large degree owing to the influence of Buddhistic and Confucian philosophy, and has served to make the people less responsive to the appe.als of Christianity. A prominent Japanese scholar, who is also well read in the philosophical literature of the West, not long since denied in my hearing that there was among bis countrymen any conscious longing after a personal God. The deep yearning after communion with a iiersonal God embodied in that pathetic utterance of Professor Cliflbrd (I quote from memory) “ I have seen the sun go down on a soulless heaven ; the great Companion is dead,” would seem to have been quite foreign to his mind. The late Profe.ssor Komanes, in a period of great despondency, wrote to a friend that with the loss of his faith “ all the worth passed out of life.” The Psalmist in like distress cried out ; — “ Oh that I knew where I might find him 1” Such a longing after God is dependent upon a vivid sense of personality. This sense of personality is the natural concomitant of theism and has been markedly develoxred in the West since the Protestant Keformation. Where it exists, it predisposes the heart to faith. In so far as it is undeveloped, faith must suffer. In earlier ye.ars we did not notice this undeveloped sense of personality. Our attention had not been called to the matter, and it was natural to attribute to superficial causes what was duo to a different habit of mind. — 4 Moreover, since all such national characteristics are relative, and are not evenly distributed through the nation, there were early brought in contact with the niissionai'ies some, at least, wdiose mental habit was inclined towards faith. Then again, the necessarily direct relations of the missiouaries to the individual Christians during the first years served to foster in their Japanese associates the development of this sense of personality "svliich Dr. Martineau has called the great gift of the West to the East. In those days when the work was small, nearly every Japanese Christian was in close relations with some missionary, and was able in a degree to see spiritual things through the eyes of his foreign teacher. Now, however, our relations are necessarily more remote. We come near to individuals still, but so far as the great mass of the 100,000 Christian Japanese are concerned, they hardly come within the circle of the personal acquaintance of any missionary. This is not on the whole to be regretted. It is eminently fitting that the growth of Christianity, both as an organization and as spiritual life, should be a natural, unforced growth. The immediate result might seem better if wp could transplant our own faith into the hearts of our Japanese hearers as freely as in other days, but that is impossible, and it is doubtless well that it should be so. During the past few years, the old philosophies have seemed to be re-asserting themselves. Even in Christian circles the attempt is made to trim Christianity to the measure of a pantheistic faith. In a recent number of the Rikugo Zasslii there appeared an article which has been described by a Japanese reader as- nothing more nor less than the old Confucian philosophy of the Tokugawa days clothed in Christian phrase. The writer, apparently an agnostic as regards the existence of a personal God, ridiculed as idolaters all who insist on the existence of such a God, as an object of faith and worship. Men of this class emphasize ethical Christianity, but their grasp of the personal element is weak. Their faith can not rise to the passionate loyalty of a Bernard of Clairvaux, and ill tlie face of a strong social movement it fades away, as tlieir loyalty to tlie chiefs of tlieir old clans in ilie short sjiace of tweut3'’-live years has faded out of sight. This rajiid decadence of the sense of loyalty toward the feudal lords is, I may remark in jiassing, of much significance. As a social force it no longer exists. Keen observers, not foreigners only but Japanese statesmen as well, were at one time deeplj' an.xious lest even the sense of loyalty towards the Emperor should be seriously weakened by the political controversies of the day. Happily that danger has passed awaj’. The war now in progress has been the means of bringing the Emperor much nearer to his people. It iias given opportunity for the manifestation of iiersonal traits which have won for him the affectionate, the personal, regard of his subjects. Loyalty is no longer directed mainly to the Mihadotlunn, as a German observer has expressed it, but to the Emperor himself. Without undeiTatiiig the impressive exhibitions of devotion which have marked tlie history of Japan in the past, it certainly will not be denied by any well-informed student of history, that the moulding force of the principle of loyalty upon life and character would have been far greater, if there could have been added to it a larger element of that personal reverence and ail'ection which, as now directed towards His Imperial Majesty, is, I believe, one of the greatest blessings incident to the present war. The .same causes which rendered this loyalty weak in a time of great political excitement, have served also to sap the foundations of religious faith in many minds, and to causes analogous to those which liave revived and en- nobled that loyalty, we may look for much help towards a deeper and brighter faith in a personal God. Another feature of the present situation which I will notice is the sensitiveness of the Japanese people to tlie great world movements of the age. This is, perhaps, owing in part to their long seclusion, but there are other reasons to be assigned for this very abnormal degree of sensitiveness. The most important of these lies in the smallness of the educated class and the gulf which separates it from the mass of the people. This gulf is ~ 6 gradunlly closing as the result of the common school sj'stem ; hut the scholars of Japan still live hi a world relatively remote from the mass of their countrymen. There are those among them who have gained an enviable place in the world’s estimation. There are many others, less known but not less worthy, who have been initiated into the cosmopolitan guild of scholarship. While they are not less patriotic than their countrymen, their minds are open to the currents of the world’s thought, and owing to their, as yet, relatively small numbers, the resistance to these currents is less marked than in the case of their European compeers. In the Christian community this sensitiveness to the world movements is very strong. It has often been said that the Christians are found cliiclly among the lower classes. There could not be a greater mistake. The whole Christian community numbers not far from 100,000, that is, about one-fourth of one per cent, of the total population. I think I am quite ivithin bounds in sayhig that 25,000 of these are shizoku, who constitute five per cent, of the population- This means that there are five times the normal number of shizoku among the Christians. In a recent Cabinet, one minister was a Christian, besides two or three vice-ministers, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and several judges of the Court of Appeals are Christians. In the first Diet twelve members were Christians, including the President of the Loiver House and the Chairman of the Committee f>f the AVhole — sixteen times the normal pi-oportion. In the Upper House, the proportion was about six times tlie normal. In the later Diets the number of Christia-ns has v.aried. In the present, I think there are seven Christians, including the Vice-President of the Lower House. In the Imperial University, both among the professors and students, the proportion is also several times above what would naturally be expected. This disproportionate number of men of education and in- fluence among the Christians, taken in connection with the smallness of the educated class in the country at large, w'ill, I think, account for the amenability of the leaders of public opinion in general and the _ 7 — Christians in jiarticular to the great world movements of tlie age. Let me refer to some of these in the order in which they have attracted my attention. The first which I will mention is the evangelistic movement, which was at its height during tlie two decades closing with 181)0. There was great enthusiasm all over the Western vrorld. The missionaiy societies were umxsually prosperous. The Young Men’s Christian Association took on new life. Tlie Christian Endeavour movement began and attained to great proportions in all English spenhiug countries. In Germany the evangelistic efforts of Dr. Stocker and Counts Bernsdorf and Piickler met with large success. A prominent Japanese statesman who visited Germany during this period told the late Dr. Neesima that the Emperor William, Prince Bismarck, and the Grand Duke of Saxe- Weimar, if I mistake not, all expressed to him their great interest in the progress of Christianity in Japan. He further said that though he had formerly believed that religion with these men was a mere matter of political expediency, he was now convinced of the sincerity of their faith and the earnestness of their evange- listic purpose. Here in Japan not merely the mis- sionary body, hut very many teachers in the Government schools entered heart and soul into evangelistic service. Japanese returning from America, England, and Germany brought with them in some degree the same spirit. It was natural that this enthusiasm should spread, and that the whole community should be in a condition of great expectancy. That this enthusiasm has been to some extent dulled must he confessed — not merely in Japian, but ill other parts of the world. In my judgment, this is owing partly, if not mainly, to the readjustments which have followed the general acceptance of the theory of evolution. The attention of the Church is occupied more largely than at any other time during recent years with the intellectual aspect of religion. Many men who would otherwise be leaders of evangelistic effort, arc giving themselves to the solution of the new problems of theology. It is not strange that in such a time of intellectual ferment 8 there is some lettiii" flown from the high stawhu'ds of evangelistic entliusiasm of more peaceful days. The great movement has slackened, and we feel the lack of its stimulus and support. It has slackened, but it has not ceased. Another movement which I will notice is that wliich leads towards nationalism. It is seen in Russia in the persistent efl’ort to secure homogeneity throughout that great empire. A similartendency has manifested itself in Germany. In America and Australia, the agitation against immigration is but another manifestation of the same spirit which induces an emphasis of the national as against the universal. The so-called reaction in -Japan is, as I believe, a result of this wide current which has affected so strongly the national life of nearly every country of the West, it takes on a special form in -Japan and combines with itself certain reactionary tendencies excited by the rapid growth of the Christian community in nnmbers and inlluence, hut it is none tlie less a part of the same move- ment. This tide has gained greater momentum here chiefly because of the less degree of inertia which the small educated class possesses ; but oven in other lands, its inlluence has led to a strange blindness to the principle of unity in history. The late Prof. Green of Oxford seemed inclined to deny tlie unity of Christianity, so great was ins insistence upon the national element iu tlie Christianity of different countries. To ns who can take onr position in a sense outside of the civilization of Europe, such emphasis of the national seems strangely forced ; but it is not to be wondered at that many of our -Jajianese associates should be imjiressed by it and stimulated to originate in -Japan a distinct form of Cliris- tianity. This puiiiose on their part is due to a misreading of histoiy through an overestimate of the part which national characteristics have played iu the development of Christianity. Another of these world movements is the liberal move- ment ill theology. As distinguished from the rationalism of the latter part of the eighteenth and thetirst half of the eiirrent century, liberalism is a new movement und has — 9 only become a factor of special ])ower in Engliind and America, at least, witliin very recent years. However much we may be convinced that its positions are extreme and untenable, we must admit that it has a part to play in the great scheme of Divine ProHdence and will doubtless lead to a more just and symmetrical view of God in his relations to His wmiid. Extreme though this movement has shown itself in the West, it has yet, so far as the Cliurch at large is concerned, been restrained by important checks which are lacking in Japan. The first of tliese cheeks is found in the dependence of the leaders of pxrblio opinion upon the general sentiment of the community. The second of them is the influence of mysticism even upon many advanced theologians. Along with this my- sticism there is a strong sense of jxersonal loyalty to Christ displayed even in the most unexpected quarters. Some of the most impressive tributes to Christ liave come from the lips of men wdiose theories about His person seem to us to render personal loyalty impossible. John Stuart Mill’s eloquent words illustrate the deep hold which the personality of Christ has had, and has still, upon minds which intellectually speaking are very far removed from us. In Japan these checks, so far as they exist at all, operate more feebly, and, as I have already said, wm see interpretations put irpou the doctrines of Christianiiy which appall many men who are in full sympathy with the so-called new theology. The liberal movement in the absence of these restraints has gained an exaggerated impetus wdiich justly awakens much anxiety, not because w'e are doubtfixl of the final issue, but because w'e are impressed with the sad losses to individual faith and to the immediate w'ell-being of society wdiioh must be caused by this strong tide. Allow' me to say in passing, that, know'ing as I do the re])resentativcs of the new theology in .Japan, I feel, radical though their views may sometimes seem, that on the whole, they are acting with us as a conserving force in Jiqiauese society. In wliat I have said of the extreme position of the Japanese in matters of theology, while I have had in mind — 10 — certain leaders of thonglit among the Cliristinns, my main purpose has been to indicate the general trend of thought in educated circles. I believe the great body of the Christians while less assertive than in other days, still chcrisli the faith delivered to them. What then is the outlook for Christianity ? Are the high hopes of other years to be utterly lost ? While the forces which are in oiieration against the missionary work seem at times so strong and their effects so lamentable, what are the sources of hope and encouragement ? I have already indicated my belief that there are such sources of hope. They might be all summed up in one, namely, the well-recognized tendency towards unity which is to be seen in the general progress of modern civilization. Our attention has often been called to the fact that whereas in ancient times, there were many and varied civilizations, in these modem days civilization is essentially one. Over and above all distinctions of nationality, the principle of unity is conspicuous in the social life of the West. The rate of pr-ogress may vary, but history moves on along essentially the same lines in the different countries of Europe and America. Japan, in joining hands with the nations of the West, has become a partner in their history. In spite of much that is untoward in that history, its main current is in the direction of Christiairity, The spirit of Christianity becomes year by year more manifest in it. In view of the increasing intimacy of Japan’s relations to the Western world, however much she may emphasize her own past, her future is inseparably bound up with that of her new allies. The volume of influeirce which comes to her from them is to be the controlling factor in her history. The times are past never to return when any nation, however favourably situated, can erect barriers to stay the tide which makes for unity. The inertia of an immense mass of population, as in China, may seem for a time to resist successfully, but even that empire mnst sooner or later give way. As regards Japan, the progress of the past thirty years indicates how strongly she has been moved. I am aware that some maintain that the changes around us are 11 — supei'licial and liave liarAIy affected tlie mass of the people. I confess I do not know the ineaiiing of the term superficial when used in tliis connection. I am not so much impressed as some hy the material evidences of civilization, the steamers, railways, telegraphs, electric lights, though these in many ways are alTo'cting the social, and indirectly the spiritual life of the people ; but I am profoundly impressed by what I have seen in twentj'-live years of careful observation of the social life of the p.eople. Let any one read Mr. Milford’s repro- duction of the story of Sakura Sogoro and comjiare the utter helplessness of the lower classes in those days with the freedom now enjoyed throughout the land, and it will be impossible for him to call these changes super- ficial. There is a new principle at wmrk at the very foundations of society, and there is not a man or w'oman in .Japan who does not feel its influence. Look at the changed relations of the difi'erent classes to one another. The privileges of the samurai under the old regime meant the ojipression of the poor. Only ten days ago I visited a valley in the north-w'estern part of Musashi, where the peasants once actually belonged to the soil, with no liberty worth mentioning. In the family also the same principle is at work, and the limitations of the paternal authority are many and various. There is not a child in Japan but w’hich lives a markedly different life from that of the children of thirty years ago. The whole atmosphere wdiich he breathes is permeated by the new thought of the value of the individual. He is bound to grow up wdth a riper sense of personality. Some have thought to break the force of these con- siderations by asserting that in practice all these changes lag far behind tlie theory. This is true in all lands, but it is no small matter to have a high ideal represented in the laws of the land. Moreover, it must be admitted by all candid men that the practical working of the law's shows an immense gain, My time w'ill not allow of extended illustration, but one case often occurs to my mind in this connection. It w'as this : — Some years since a man felt himself aggrieved at a ruling of the — 12 — Minister of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce and appealed to the courts against it. He lost his case, it is true, but his right to appeal was recognized as well as the right of the courts to review, within limits, the acts of the executive officers of the Government. Wliat- ever criticisms may be legitimately passed upon the courts by foreign observers, and I concede that some of these criticisms have much weight, the fact remains that they have won the confidence of the Japanese people to an extent which can hardly be overstated. Even in the case of political contests, where the courts, have intervened, there has been a remarkable acquies- cence in the equity of the judicial decisions. I have re- peatedly listened to testimony to this effect from men most bitterly opposed to the Government. There could hardly be a more impressive indication of the influence this new conception of the rights of the individrial is exerting upon the pnl)lic sentiment of the nation than is exhibited in the practical working of the judicial system. Thus beneath the surface agitations which seem adverse to the interests of our work, there is a current which in import- ant respects is favoimable to it — a current which is a part of tlie one great stream of modern histor 3 ^ Through what channels does this influence from the W est flow ? The first which I will mention is that afforded by the missionary work. I do not claim that this is the most important, but siraplj’ that the influence of the missionary is great and is important. There were, according to a late report 776 adult foreigners connected with the missionary work. Each one of these has a circle of influence larger or smaller. Some of them are very widely known, and have an influence which any man might covet. There were according to the same report 824 organized Christian congregations. Adding to these tlie less organized communities and evangelistic stations, at a low estimate, we ma}' say there are more than 1,200 places where Christianity is regularly' taught, not to speak of many others which are occasionally visited. In the Protestant schools alone tliere were re^jorled 7,393 — 13 — scholars. If we suppose each scholar to spend four years in school, we have over 1,800 young men and young women going out of these schools each year, and in spite of many discouragements the number of scholars in these schools is increasing. Allowing everything that can reasonably be asked, and we have here a large body of young people who for a considerable time have kept before their minds the Christian idea of God in his relations to mankind. They may not all accept this view in its entirety, but it is sure to affect in an important degree their conception of life and its duties. As they go out into the world they wiU have a share in moulding the public sentiment of the nation. The circulation of the Scriptures has reached large proportions. At a low estimate over a million cojiies have been distributed within the past thirty years, and about 75,000 copies during the present year. Naturally this circulation has been attended with some waste, hut a very large number of thoughtful readers has been found even outside the Christian community. Not long since, at a public meeting in the interest of one of the irregirlar Shinto sects, a speaker had much to say about the Lord of Heaven ( Tentei). His sect is nominally poly- theistic, but here he was preaching monotheism. There is no question, but that he found his monotheism in the New Testament. As a matter of fact, he was rebuked by the next speaker for his Christian opinions, hut this very man, confessedly hostile to Christianity who thus publicly condemned the heresy of his colleague, then delivered a discourse upon sincerity in religion, the thought of which was really taken from the Sermon on the Mount, and which contained several almost verbatim quotations from the sixth chapter of Matthew. Thus men inimical to Christianity illustrate its influence upon society and are directly propagating its truths. Again we may mention the foreign communities as an important auxiliary. I am not unaware of the dark side in the life of these communities. At times it .seems dark indeed, and we are inclined to agree with a .Japan- ese writer who recently declared them to he the greatest — li — existing obstacle to the spread of Cliristiauity ; but lay what stress we may on tliis dark side of the picture, it cannot be denied that these •communities have stood for some important truths, and by their emphasis upon these truths have done incalculable service to Japan. They have been an object lesson, for one thing, of the value which we of the West set upon the individual. No doubt this stress upon individualism has often been excessive ; but without it, we may well question whether tlie recent legal and judicial reforms in Japan would have been possible. Then we may confidently say, that in spite of much laxity of morals, which I certainly have no purpose to excuse or palliate, there have been ex- hibited in these communities examples of the Christian family of the most attractive type. Further, the Christian ideal of commercial honour, after making all allowance which the severest critic can ask, is clearly to be read in the life of these foreign settlements. Eminent Japanese writers have at difierent times conceded all that I assert. What they have recognized amounts, m the aggregate, to a lesson of inesthuable value. Further still, while many speak lightly of material civilization which these communities in an especial sense may be said to re- present, in my judgment, it is tributary in many ways to the general movement which is tending to increase the sympathy of the Japanese -people with Western thought. This is too large a subject to be dealt with in passing, but I may say that it is no mere accident that has made the races which possess in its ripest form the idea of personality, at the same time the foremost in material civilization. We find still another auxiliary in the literature of Europe and Ameifica. This literature is being widely disseminated, partly in its 2'rpper dress and jrartly by means of translations. A walk through the streets of Kanda in Tokyo, where the bookstalls are so numerous, will convince anyone of the great number of those who are busied with foreign books. On the editorial tables of the ca^jital will be found the best of English and American jjeriodicals. One editor of my acquaintance subscribes for seventeen such periodicals, including, the Spectator, 15 — the Speaker, the Nineteenth Century, the Contemporary lieview, the Forum, the Political Science hlonthly, the Nation, etc. ■ In some nieasiire his own subscribers get the benefit of his reading. The scliools, too, are stimulating the circulation of this literature which embodies our sense of pcn'sonality. It is claimed by some that this literature after all only touches the surface of Japanese society. This is a great mistake. Its influence is seen in the most unexpected cprarter. Some time since I had occasion to pass from one of the Joshu valleys to another. My road lay over a rugged mountain path and since jini'ikishas w'ere not to be had, I arranged for a farmer’s sou to carry my luggage. As we w’alked along he told of his home life and how in his leisure hours he was reading the poetical books of the Old Testament. He had also read Tenny- son’s “ Enoch Arden ” and some of Lougfellow'’s poenis. My objective point was a village of a few hundred houses on the Mikuni Kaido some half a dozen miles from the summit of the pass. In these days there is little travel along that way and one might suppose that the influence of western thought would be scarcely felt. On my arrival I was invited by my host, a young man of twenty-three or four, to spend the night at some hot springs near-by, and in the evening he invited in one of the village schoolmasters who was a graduate of the Prefectural Normal School. Though he could not talli English, he w’as, I found, a great reader of English books. He had read in English translations Guizot’s “ History of Prance ” and also his “ History of Civiliza- tion.” He had read Carlyle’s “ Heroes and Hero Worship,” one or more of his biographies, besides considerable of the witings of Lord Macauley. In the same village was another schoolmaster, a graduate of Mr. Pukuzawa’s School, also a reading man. There were besides these, two graduates of the Doshisha, both of whom were men of intelligence and industrious readers of English books. At the request of these young men, after my return home I sent up two recently published lives of Washiugtmi. I do not maintain that these — 16 — students were in a position to "fain all from their boohs that one of ns niiciht gain, hut their minds were nevei-- theless busied with English thought. The children who came to them for instruction could not fail to catch, in some degree, their spirit. All school teachers in Japan may not be equal to this standard, but hundreds of men are going out from the normal schools with a similar taste for foreign literature and are disseminating through their scholars thoughts which are dominated by a radically different theory of God and of nature from any which p.revailed in olden times and the leaven of these thoughts is working in the minds of tens of thousands of children. The influence of foreign literature is strikingly illustrated by the development of the Japanese language. A new vocabulary has grown up. Japan tiuds her philological materials chiefly in a Chinese quarry, but she builds up her verbal structures to meet the needs of modern — cosmopolitan — thought. The rapid growth of this vocabulary is evidence of the firm hold these thoughts have already gained. Some of these new words are very interesting, for they indicate not merely new ideas, but a new habit of mind. Such a word is ktitaclii- tsukuru, meaning to form, as a substitute for the verb to he. But more than the new words certain changes in the idiom deserve our attention. All students of Japanese grammar Imow how the genius of the old language rebels against the use of an inanimate thing as the subject of a transitive verb, either in the active or tlie passive voice. Under the pressure of foreign literature, however, the stiff rules of the old speech have had to yield. In modern writing the usage as regards these points conforms very nearly to the English standard. Gradually this spirit of grammatical indep- endence is finding its way into the colloquial. How often of late have we heard the boys cry out, Ryojwikri ya senryo serareta (Port Arthur has been taken) ! A Japanese of thirty years ago W'ould hardly have so used the passive voice. To do so involves a breach of two important rules of the old grammar, but the new wine has burst the old bottles. — 17 — To my mind all these changes represent a Divine Providence. They do not necessarilj' mean the triumph of Christianity in the near future, hut they do mean a more congenial attitude of mind, a more fertile soil in which to sow the seed of Christian truth, a healthier growth and a more vigorous plant. The direct work goes on receiving ever increasing support from those deep-seated forces which are guided by our Father’s hand, our Father “who worketh hitherto.” But it may be said these mental and moral tendencies must needs require time — perhaps hundreds of years — to reach their goal. This, many assert, is the lesson of history. Is it not possible, however, that we may read the lesson too literally and forget the new conditions of life and the more rapid progress which they imply ? Some years ago, when in company witli tlie late Prof. Whitney the conversation turned upon the development of language, he referred to the common school system of Italy and its influence upon the Italian language, intimating that it had within a few years induced changes in the local dialects which in former days would have been impossible. Japan has been introduced into the family of nations. She feels her community of interest more and more strongly every year. The influence of these new ties is exerted directly upon her. With almost weekly mails, and daily messages from the centres of western life, she is brought very near to her sister nations. As I sat in that mountain hotel to which I have referred I heard for the first time, perhaps within sixty hours of the event, that the Home Rule Bill liad passed the second reading in the British Parliament. Thus the very pulse beats of the world’s life are felt in the I’emote valleys of Jaj)an. Under such circumstances progress must be rapid. How far particular organizations of Christians will prosper we may not know, but that the Spirit of Chris- tianity is to rule in Japan we cannot doubt. Even now outside the Christian Cliurch are many who believe in a personal God. The Great Companion whom Clifi'ord lost, they have found. I believe that these and a multitude — 18 — of others, the results of the influences I have sought to describe, the fruit of our Father’s work, will ere many years recognize Him in the face of Jesus Christ and cry out with Thomas : “ My Lord and my God 1”