In this connection, however, I should not fail to refer to the fact that the Christians of the Kumiai churches,[BW] in their annual meeting (1898), took strong grounds as to the mismanagement of the Doshisha by the trustees.  The action of the latter in repealing the clause of the constitution which declared the six articles of the constitution forever unchangeable, and then of striking out the word “Christian” in regard to the nature of the moral education to be given in all departments of the institution, was characterized as “fu-ho,” that is to say, unlawful, unrighteous, or immoral.  Resolutions were also passed demanding that the trustees should either restore the expunged words or else resign and give place to men who would restore them and carry out the will of the donors.  This act on the part of a large majority of the delegates of the churches shows that a standard of business morality is arising in Japan that promises well for the future.

Before leaving this question, it is important for us to consider how widely in lands which have long been both Christian and commercial, the standards of truthfulness and business morality are transgressed.  I for one do not feel disposed to condemn Japanese failure very severely, when I think of the failure in Western lands.  Then, again, when we stop to think of it, is it not a pretty fine line that we draw between legitimate and illegitimate profits?  What a relative distinction this is!  Even the Westerner finds difficulty in discovering and observing it, especially so when the man with whom he is dealing happens to be ignorant of the real value of the goods in question.  Let us not be too severe, then, in condemning the Japanese, even though we must judge them to be deficient in ideals and conduct.  The explanation for the present state of Japan in regard to business morality is neither far to seek nor hard to find.  It has nothing whatever to do with brain structure or inherent race character, but is wholly a matter of changing social order.  Feudal communalism has given way to individualistic commercialism.  The results are inevitable.  Japan has suddenly entered upon that social order where the individuals of the nation are thrown upon their own choice for character and life as they have been at no previous time.  Old men, as well as young, are thrown off their feet by the new temptations into which they fall.

One of the strongest arguments in my mind for the necessity of a rapid introduction into Japan of the Gospel of Christ, is to be built on this fact.  An individualistic social order demands an individualizing religion.  So far as I know, the older religions, with the lofty moral teachings which one may freely admit them to have, make no determined or even distinct effort to secure the activity of the individual will in the adoption of moral ideals.  The place both of “conversion” and of the public avowal of one’s “faith” in the establishment of individual character, and the peculiar fitness