was performed in Buddhist temples, and Buddhism seized religious power. In 1700 a Shinto priest founded "pure" Shintoism, declaring that his doctrine was the one given by the gods, and that everything relating to Buddhism was but delusion. Pure Shinto differed in rite and ceremony from Buddhism, imperceptibly in doctrine. Between 1776 and 1843 two reformers endeavored to restore the original faith. They taught that the teachings of existent Buddhist and Shinto sects were deceptions. Their fundamental doctrines were that Shinto was transmitted through the first parents of the Japanese to the progenitor of the mikados; that the primitive faith should be studied in the Kojiki and the Nohongi; and that Buddhism and Confucianism, while useful in India and China, were man-founded, and useless in Japan, which the gods had from the beginning blessed peculiarly.

Shinto has now nine sects, each with many branches, almost all worshiping the gods named in the ancient chronicles, and all respecting these chronicles. These are their canonical books. The Kojiki was completed in 712, the Nihongi in 720, and almost their every word is considered undeniable truth.

3. The Pre-Shinto Religion.-This had no individual founder or name or book. It grew with the growth of nationality. Generation handed it down to generation. To it are due whatever power and purity and virtue existed in Japan. It taught loyalty, filial piety and right conduct. It was smothered before reaching maturity, but Buddhism and Confucianism had to disguise and change in order to enter Japan.

The Kojiki makes these statements as to the object of worship, the nature of God, and the future of man: In the beginning were three gods in heaven. They were persons of one supreme Creator, the object of worship, a spirit and invisible. He hated sin, and men must purify themselves. They ought to revere him and serve him gladly. In remembrance of his moral excellence the people observed festivals of thanksgiving, offering the first fruits of the harvests. Good and evil spirits existed, the former leading men to righteousness, the latter trying to lead them astray. Sin necessitated sacrifice, gave the evil spirit immediate opportunity to lead man further into wickedness, but could be removed by purification. Human spirits went after death to hades, governed separately from this world, and hell was a place filled with uncleanness. Man consisted of body and spirit, the latter far superior and endowed with marvelous powers, and its acts the source of happiness. God governed all human spirits.

Any wonderful object was a god, though at one time the term had been limited to the supreme God. In one deity are two natures, that of divinity and that of humanity.

It is not difficult to judge that faith by its result, the present morality of Japan. Loyalty and patriotism are peculiarly strong because that faith teaches that God inspired the foundation of the mikadoate, and that it is therefore sacred. Our filial piety, connubial affection, parental tenderness

originate in our reverence for God. The relation of husband and wife began in the first parents of Japan when God bade them "establish and rule this unsettled land." His command implied choice of them, and the achievement of all work by the fellow working of man and woman.

4. Conclusion.-The fundamental doctrine of Confucianism is different from that of our faith. It is that “the fate of the imperial throne is not fixed, that heaven always hears the people and puts down the king they hate;" ours is that the throne is fixed by God, and is unchangeable. Buddhism asserts that Buddha, its scriptures and its order are the most important things in the world, and that the mikado deserves only the respect accorded to ordinary men. Christianity alone can satisfy our every demand. All Shinto sects hate Christianity, but Japan's primitive religion does not oppose it, and is ready to transfer to it its power and influence.

THE SHINTO RELIGION.

BY P. GORO KABURAGI.

"Shinto means "the way of God." The religion was formed in "the land of great peace (Japan), and teaches one eternal God, too honorable to receive homage or prayer directly. He must be addressed through inferior gods. In his temple is neither picture nor image. The temples are extremely simple, standing generally in some sequestered site. The books comprise Kojiki, compiled A.D. 712, Nihongi and Manyoshin, the latter two nearly as old and valuable as the first. The language is ancient Japanese; hence the common people cannot understand them. Shintoism observes an impressive sacrifice, but its god does not accept dead animals. There is a ceremony called Yu-Kagura, i. e.,“ making-the-gods-pleasing ceremony of the hot water." The priest sets a large boiler on the ground filled with pure water. When it boils, he puts in pure salt, takes boughs of the holy tree, and sprinkles the congregation to purify their uncleanness. This act pleases the gods, and takes away their iniquities. On festival days virgins in new white robes dance the holy dance of the children of the gods. Shinto has no written moral code, no system of abstract doctrine, because the laws of God are engrossed in the heart. This indwelling is the living law governing the moral nature. Formal prayer is not of much importance, but believers observe prayer services. Confession of sin is made, and the wrath of the Highest Being averted. The emperor is the representative of the entire nation and must therefore be its model. So our sovereigns have always worshiped the gods in person, and prayed that their people might enjoy sufficiency. In the sixth and twelfth months the people assemble at the rivers, wash and pray, and by general purification purge the nation of

offense and pollution. This is the most striking characteristic of Shinto. Since the mikado is the divine vicegerent, it is the duty of all to obey him. His words were originally our sole law. . . . . Punishment of evil-doers and reward for the just are strictly observed in Shinto. Yet many superstitions were practiced. If Shinto has a dogma, it is purity. The very idea is carried out in many ceremonies. The priest must cover mouth and nose with pure white paper that his breath may not defile the sacrifice. Shintoists must neither touch nor look upon dead or unclean things. Shintoism possesses three divine regalia, the mirror, the sword and the seal. The mirror is the emblem of the soul of the sun-goddess, who gave them to our first emperor. The regalia still receive homage at the shrine of Ese. Shinto teaches that all men were born of the sun-goddess, acknowledges a heaven, but has no hell. The soul can not be defiled. The flesh can, and God punishes sins in the flesh. Death is the highest punishment, and through it the soul escapes punishment and pollution. But Shinto has no theology, every Shintoist forming his own. It is dying, not because of its own weakness, but because a better religion has appeared-the teaching of Jesus. Christianity is the rising sun of Japan.

THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF SHINTOISM.

BY NISHIKAWA SUGAO, PRIEST AND VICE-ADMINSTRATOR OF THE JITSKOSHU.

Three principles must be strictly followed that the state be well governed worship, adminstration, teaching. : Worship (the rite or the spiritual attitude) means the union of our hearts to the gods, an inseparable union. Worship occupies the most important place in life. It is the spirit of the national constitution, the foundation of adminstration, the fount of morality, the source of doctrine. Worship is the spirit of our constitution, because the gods created and commanded worship; the foundation of administration, because the latter's multitudinous branches are only adjuncts to the mikado's duty of worshiping his ancestors and praying for his people; the fount of morality, because filial piety requires ancestor-worship; and the source of teaching, because our moral ideas rose in worship and the sun-goddess taught duty. Worship is the body, administration its activities. Politicians too often forget this, and consider administration more important than worship. No mischief to the state can be greater. Teaching signifies pity for people ignorant of the profound meanings and intimate connections of worship and administration. Thus they sin. Hidden sins are punished by the gods, manifest ones by the mikado. The subjects of teaching include mysteries and manifest things. "Mysteries" search into divine existence, and

communion with divine spirits. The result is reform of conduct. "Manifest" things refer to understanding human relations, and achieving peace and prosperity for the state. The result is blessedness of heart. "Mysteries" influence the external by cultivating the internal; "manifest" things influence the internal by reforming the external. Both aim at human peace and happiness.

RELATIONS OF THE SCIENCE OF RELIGIONS TO PHILOSOPHY.

BY MR. MERWIN-MARie Snell.

Exact knowledge may be divided into the metempiric sciences, the empiric, and the mixed. The science of comparative religion, or hierology, belongs in the last class. There are those who, following strictly empiric methods, try to construct a history of religion with religion left out-confining their attention to material accessories of worship, or at farthest studying empirically the traditionary epics, the religious literatures and the dogma, thinking thus to cover the whole field.

But the science of religion may be extended to include the philosophy of religion in its application to the history of religions. As analytic and comparative processes enlarge and deepen, the history of religions transforms itself into a history of religion, and then into the philosophy of relig ions, which is a speculative science. The science of religions is compelled to assume among its materials nearly the whole content of the history of philosophy. Every religion implies a world-conception which becomes a philosophy as soon as clearly thought out. Every philosophy carries certain religious consequences. Religions are veiled philosophies. Only when wedded with the philosophy of religion 'does the importance of the science of religions become fully manifest.

There is not a perfect parallel between the science of religions and that of history. The philosophy of history is an illumination of historical science. The philosophy of religion is the very heart of religious science.

Of course, the empiric and the philosophical sides of the science of religions have a reciprocal function. When religions come to be studied by specialists who unite to a natural aptitude for scientific analysis and philosophic synthesis a thorough training in the history of philosophy and the philosophy of religion, hierology will stride toward a position in which it will be able not only to furnish an incalculable aid to the determination of practical problems of life and duty, but in some measure to pay its debt to philosophy.

THE TENKALAI S'RI VAISHNAVA, OR SOUTHERN

RAMANUJA RELIGION.

BY S. PARTHASARATHY AIYangar, Madras.

The Visishtadvaiti theology recognizes five elements in religion: the Lord; man; objects of the soul's endeavor; divine grace, the means to the attainment of the highest goal; and obstacles to be overcome. The height of religious knowledge is the thorough comprehension of these five elements in the five subdivisions into which they are divided. I. The Lord has five manifestations: Supreme manifestation, as the beautiful, refulgent, omnipresent Lord, “gracing the highest heaven;" operative manifestation, as the Impartial Absorber, as the Illuminator, and as the Unhindered; distinctive manifestation in his avatars, as Râma, Krishna, etc.; pervasive manifestation, the divine presence in the believer's heart and soul; and worship-manifestation in all existing things. II. Souls are of five classes: The eternals, "the commander of hosts," and his fellow angels or gods; the released, i. e., redeemed souls enjoying the blessedness of heaven; the bound, i. e., men plunged in the delusions of sense; the self-satisfied, they who have risen to the perception of the soul by means of knowledge-discipline, and are thus content without going on to the vision of God; and the god-satisfied or salvation-seekers, those who are desirous of being saved from selfishness or self-sufficiency. III. The goal of endeavor is fivefold Virtue or duty; wealth and its right use; delight in sense-objects and in the pleasure of the celestial worlds; enjoyment of self in freedom from the consciousness of pain, or in the consciousness of self alone; and godsatisfaction, which has eleven stages, culminating in the enjoyment of God in eternal bliss. IV. The means to the attainment of the goal are: Works; knowledge; holy love; faith; and the teacher's grace. V. The obstacles are: Self-essence; sovereignty; the soul's goal; means; and attainment. This theology looks upon man as essentially a mutable spiritual monad distinct from the body, eternal from the eternal operation of divine grace, having knowledge and bliss, and intended for God's service alone.

:

The body is mortal and ever-changing, the breeder of endless woe, the source of endless delusion. The body and the material world fall under twenty-four categories, spirit constitutes the twenty fifth category, and the supreme Deity the twenty-sixth and highest. Relatives and worldly ties are obstacles to Godward progress, encourage selfishness, and prevent the acquisition of spiritual knowledge. Those who pursue the objects of sense or of any form of selfish knowledge or delectation are enemies to the serv