nature. In spite, however, of the conservative power of the ancestral
influences, the patriotic incentives and the easy morals of Shint[=o]
under which lying and licentiousness shelter themselves, it is doubtful
whether with the pressure of Buddhism, and the spread of popular
education and Christianity, Shint[=o] can retain its hold upon the
Japanese people. Yet although this is our opinion, it is but fair, and
it is our duty, to judge every religion by its ideals and not by its
failings. The ideal of Shint[=o] is to make people pure and clean in all
their personal and household arrangements; it is to help them to live
simply, honestly and with mutual good will; it is to make the Japanese
love their country, honor their imperial house and obey their emperor.
Narrow and local as this religion is, it has had grand exemplars in
noble lives and winning characters.

So far as Shint[=o] is a religion, Christianity meets it not as
destroyer but fulfiller, for it too believes that cleanliness is not
only next to godliness but a part of it. Jesus as perfect man and
patriot, Captain of our salvation and Prince of peace, would not destroy
the Yamato damashii--the spirit of unconquerable Japan--but rather
enlarge, broaden, and deepen it, making it love for all humanity.
Reverence for ancestral virtue and example, so far from being weakened,
is strengthened, and as for devotion to king and ruler, law and society,
Christianity lends nobler motives and grander sanctions, while
showing clearly, not indeed the way of the eight million or more gods,
but the way to God--the one living, only and true, even through Him who
said "I am the Way."

CHAPTER IV - THE CHINESE ETHICAL SYSTEM IN JAPAN

"Things being investigated, knowledge became complete; knowledge
being complete, thoughts were sincere; thoughts being sincere,
hearts were rectified; hearts being rectified, persons were
cultivated; persons being cultivated, families were regulated;
families being regulated, states were rightly governed; states
being rightly governed, the whole nation was made tranquil and
happy."

"When you know a thing to hold that you know it; and when you do
not know a thing to allow that you do not know it; this is
knowledge."

"Old age sometimes becomes second childhood; why should not
filial piety become parental love?"

"The superior man accords with the course of the mean. Though he
may