crystalized, 25 per cent.; molasses, 10 per cent.; cotton, raw, waste, and spun, free; yarns, 10 per cent.; sewing thread and other manufactures of, 15 per cent. It has been truthfully written that "Trade and the Almighty Dollar whether among men or among nations, has no 'coat of arms,' no marks of patriotism and exhibits no gratitude for the past or philanthropic ambitions for the future." That may be true as a rule; yet the picture which the lantern casts on the canvas of the future, will portray the United States as a great rock in a weary land" under whose shadow and protection Japan first sought refuge and liberty not in vain. Other nations followed but did not lead our country, in this grand achievement for justice and humanity. CHAPTER XVIII. THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN AND PROGRESS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. HE religions of Japan are Buddhism and Shintoism. The authodox world would classify these beliefs as "pagan" and "heathen." The Japan of to-day resents this last imputation because of the offensive definitions attached thereto by the English lexicons. In the meaning of sensual depravity, and barbarism and that sort of superstition in Church and State, unrelieved by the light of civilization, this people are heterodox, it is true, but not "heathen." The creed of the Buddhists for 2500 years, like the Koran of Mohammed, the philosophy and pandects of Confucius and Mencius teaches a code of good morals, presenting the duties of the subject to his home and to his country, and to his fellowman (largely embracing in substance, the "Ten Commandments" of our own Hebrew Bible), in spirit that must be honored by all christian lands, without reference to its origin or its creed. And yet, in their religion, one finds no permanent solace here, or hope for the hereafter. Searching therefor he wanders and gropes in a night of mystery and gloom. There is to him no polar star rising above that night to guide his ship to ports of security and everlasting rest. The author proposes to speak only of the prevailing religions of to-day in Japan, and not of the centuries of their existence, for Buddhism claims to antedate the christian era by over 500 years. It is the oldest form of worship known to men, excepting only that disclosed in the Hebrew Bible, wherein prophets and "holy men of old" wrote |