iform system of transliteration used by Hepburn,
Satow and other standard writers, wherein consonants have the same
general value as in English (except that initial g is always hard),
while the vowels are pronounced as in Italian. Double vowels must be
pronounced double, as in Meiji (m[=a]-[=e]-j[=e]); those which are long
are marked, as in [=o] or [=u]; i before o or u is short. Most of the
important Japanese, as well as Sanskrit and Chinese, terms used, are
duly expressed and defined in the Century Dictionary.

I wish also to thank especially my friends, Riu Watanabe, Ph.D., of
Cornell University, and William Nelson Noble, Esq., of Ithaca. The
former kindly assisted me with criticisms and suggestions, while to the
latter, who has taken time to read all the proofs, I am grateful for
considerable improvement in the English form of the sentences.

In closing, I trust that whatever charges may be brought against me by
competent critics, lack of sympathy will not be one. I write in sight of
beautiful Lake Cayuga, on the fertile and sloping shores of which in old
time the Iroquois Indian confessed the mysteries of life. Having planted
his corn, he made his pregnant squaw walk round the seed-bed in hope of
receiving from the Source of life increased blessing and sustenance for
body and mind. Between such a truly religious act of the savage, and
that of the Christian sage, Joseph Henry, who uncovered his head while
investigating electro-magnetism to "ask God a question," or that of
Samuel F.B. Morse, who sent as his first telegraphic message "What hath
God wrought," I see no essential difference. All three were acts of
faith and acknowledgment of a power greater than man. Religion is one,
though religions are many. As Principal Fairbairn, my honored
predecessor in the Morse lectureship, says: "What we call superstition
of the savage is not superstition _in him_. Superstition is the
perpetuation of a low form of belief along with a higher knowledge....
Between fetichism and Christian faith there is a great distance, but a
great affinity--the recognition of a supra-sensible life."

"For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing
of the sons of God.... The creation itself shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of
God."

W.E.G.

ITHACA, N.Y., October 27, 1894.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS, PAG