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334 may be a measure of truth in the assertion often made in religious circles that missionary enterprise is impeded by the openly im moral lives of many of the (so-called) Christian residents. We feel absolutely certain of another thing, namely, that missionary enter prise is impeded by the openly immoral politics of the (so-called) Christian nations. When Protestant England grabs at Hongkong, Weihaiwei, and Thibet, while "Holy" Russia grabs at sundry other provinces of a country which has never done either of the aggressors any harm; when France and German}, anti-clerical at home, eagerly avail themselves of each bespattered priest or battered mission-house to exact some commercial advantage or snatch some strip of territory abroad, what is the Far-Eastern to think? He thinks precisely as we ourselves should think, mutatis mutandis; he thinks, and thinks rightly, that our professions of religion are a mere cloak for vulgar greed. The Japanese perhaps, being strong enough to protect themselves, might be deemed likely to feel this consideration less than other Orientals. They do feel it, however, as expressions of opinion in their press testify from time to time. They feel that physical compulsion and spiritual influence cannot be successfully yoked together, that what has come to be known as the "gospel and gunboat policy" is a contradiction in terms, and that if the missionaries are ever to assert themselves as an apostolic force, they must, like the apostles, dissociate their personal status from all reliance on alien intervention. The naturalisation of the missionaries in the land of their labours, their complete subjection to native law, and rejection of all diplomatic interference on their behalf, would at once enormously increase their influence. But doubt less such a step would be viewed with disfavour by home politicians, to whose mind the sole advantage of missionary enterprise is that it may open markets and pave the way for annexation.

Books recommended. (I. Catholic.) The traditional Catholic standpoint is embodied in Crasset's Histoire de la Religion Chrétienne au Japon, Charlevoix Histoire du Christianisme dans l'Empire du Japan, Leon Pagès Histoire de la Religion Chrétienne an Japon, Marnas' Religion de Jésus Ressuscitée au Japan, and Steichen's Christian Daimyōs. The critical standpoint is assumed in Murdoch's History of Japan during the Century of Early European Intercourse (1542-1651), and in Haas's