omenon in Japan. It may not immediately pass away, but it
must eventually. Religion freed from superstition and ceremonialism,
resting in reality, identifying moral and scientific with religious
truth, is already finding hearty support from many of Japan's educated
men. If appeal is made under the right conditions, the Japanese
manifest no lack of a genuine religious nature. That they seem to be
deficient in the sense of reverence is held by some to be proof
presumptive of a deficient religious nature. A few illustrations will
make clear what the critic means and will guide us to an
interpretation of the phenomena. Occidentals are accustomed to
consider a religious service as a time of solemn quiet, for we feel
ourselves in a special sense in the presence of God; His majesty and
glory are realities to the believing worshiper. But much occurs during
a Christian service in Japanese churches which would seem to indicate
a lack of this feeling. It is by no means uncommon for little children
to run about without restraint during the service, for mothers to
nurse their infants, and for adults to converse with each other in an
undertone, though not so low but that the sound of the conversation
may be heard by all. I know a deacon occupying a front mat in church
who spends a large part of service time during the first two sabbaths
of each month in making out the receipts of the monthly contributions
and distributing them among the members. His apparent supposition is
that he disturbs no one (and it is amazing how undisturbed the rest of
the congregation is), but also that he is in no way interfering with
the solemnity or value of the service. The freedom, too, with which
individuals come and go during the service is in marked contrast to
our custom. From our standpoint, there is lack of reverence.

I recently attended a young men's meeting at which the places for each
were assigned by written quotations, from the Bible, one-half of which
was given to the individual and the other half placed at the seat. One
quotation so used was the text, "The birds of the air have nests, but
the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." It would hardly seem
as if earnest Christians could have made such use of this text. Some
months ago at a social gathering held in connection with the annual
meeting of the churches of Shikoku, one of the comic performances
consisted in the effort on the part of three old men to sing through
to the end withou