Mexico, let us say, we must needs begin with our sacred books.  And so it is with debased Buddhism in Japan.  The Buddhism of Ceylon and of the books is unknown to this people, and when it is used as the basis of argument or exposition we do not hit the mark.  Yet, after all, our debt is immeasurable to the societies and scholars that have made accessible the sources that have yielded at last such systems as are dominant here.

“The study of non-Christian systems is essential to the missionary, even though he does not refer to them in his preaching, but contents himself with delivering the Gospel message.  And that is the rule with missionaries, so far as I know.  But a knowledge of the native systems is imperative, that we may properly present our own.  Otherwise we waste time in teaching over again that which is already fully known, or we so speak that our truth takes on the form of error, or we so underestimate the thought of those whom we address, that the preaching of the wisdom of God sounds in their ears the preaching of foolishness.  The adaptation of preaching to the hearers of Asiatic lands is a task that may well make us thankful for every help that may be furnished us....  The missionary is far too apt to come from the West with exalted notions of his own superiority, and with a feeling of condescending pity for men who, perhaps, have pondered the deep things of the universe far more than he.  Let him really master a philosophy like the Confucian, and he will better illustrate the Christian grace of humility, and be so much the better prepared for his work.  His study will show him how astonishing is the light that has shone upon those men whom he has thought of as wholly in darkness.  It will thus show him the true way of approach, and enable him to follow the lines of least resistance.  It will also reveal to him what is the essential character of the divine message which he himself bears.  He will separate that peculiar and spiritual truth which is the Word of Life, and will bring it as glad tidings of great joy.  Surely no man can study these ethnic faiths, no matter with what appreciation of their measure of truth, and rejoicing in it, without a constantly growing conviction that the one power that converts men and establishes God’s kingdom on earth is the Word that is eternal, the Son of God.  He gathers in Himself all the truth of all the religions, and He adds that divine Salvation and Life for which all the nations have waited, and without which the highest and deepest thought remains unable to bring men into living communion with the God and Father of us all.”