contents of Buddhism in general are
supported by the doctrine of evolution, and that this religion needs
therefore only to be regenerated on modern lines in order to find
universal acceptance."

The "Reformation" of 1868 in Japan followed much the same course in
regard to religious matters as the Reformation in England. It laid
vandal hands on Buddhist temples and ornaments of priceless value. The
objective point of this religious Reformation was presumably very much
the same as that which occurred in this country, viz., a reversion to
simplicity in religion. The Shinto Temple which is invariably thatched
is a development of the ancient Japanese hut, whereas the Buddhist
Temple, which is of Indian origin, is tiled, and as regards its
internal fittings and ornamentation is elaborate in comparison with
the plain appearance of the Shinto edifice.

So far as the Japan of to-day is concerned these two religions may be
regarded as moribund, although their temples are still thronged by the
lower classes of the people. They exist because they are there, but
they have no vitality, no message for the people, and it is
questionable whether any of Japan's great thinkers or the educated
classes in the country, whichever religion they may nominally belong
to, have faith or belief in it. A man may have, or for sundry reasons
profess, a creed in Japan as in other countries without believing in
it. Custom and prejudices are as strong there as elsewhere, and it is
often easier to appear to acquiesce in a religion than to openly
reject it.

There are, I know, some optimistic persons who believe, or affect to
believe, that Christianity is in due course destined to replace the
ancient faiths in Japan. They point to what was effected by St.
Francis Xavier in the sixteenth century, and they imagine that the
Japan of the twentieth century is only waiting to finally unshackle
itself from Shintoism and Buddhism before arraying itself in the garb
of Christianity. Well, Christian missions have had a fair field in
Japan for many years past, and though many members of those missions
have been men of great piety, zeal, and learning, they have made
comparatively little headway among and have exercised extremely little
influence on the mass of the Japanese people. Indeed, the fair field
that all Christian missions without distinction have had, in my
opinion, accounts for the small amount of progress they have made.
Because all the leading Christian