Uganda, March 30th, 1881.

You will, I know, unite with me in praise to our blessed Heavenly Father for bringing us to our journey's end in safety. We arrived in Rubaga on Friday, March 18th.

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We were twenty days on the Lake. We encountered heavy storms. day we were nearly lost. We had to stay six or seven days on the islands and shore to await good weather and get food; but we landed at Bwâya. I had a raging fever, and was carried a little. Next day I walked a long journey to the capital. Having had a rest for three days, the king sent to see me. I went with Pearson. Owing to a kind of plague being in Rubaga, the king and his chiefs had shifted their residence some two miles farther off, to Nabulagala. It was a stiff walk, over lofty hills waving with plantains (bananas), and down the sides of hills where the thatched conical houses of the better classes were nestled among the verdant trees, only their tops being seen; across a huge bog, where tall, thick reeds ten or twelve feet long were being cut by the Natives for building purposes; up to the summit of a steep bare hill, where the kabbaka and his chiefs had their residence. I was accompanied thither by a brigade of pages and officials. I reached the summit. The Royal Guard and chiefs-those not at the war-met me with a royal salute, blazing of powder, rattling of drums, and sounds of music. I took off my hat and bowed. Soon I was brought into the king's presence. He was lying on a grassy couch, covered over slightly with calico and mbugu cloth (made from bark of a certain tree). He (the king) reached forth his thin, nervous hand; I shook it; then followed the chiefs, whom I included in one Oriental salaam. I got an iron stool and was seated. I then took out my letters, had them read, opened up the

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presents, and presented them one by He especially enjoyed the carving-knife, &c., and the tasteful way in which the ivory of the hafts were pointed; the iron plates, cups and saucers, and the steam-engine, &c. Having received all, he had them put into their places. He seemed pleased, but better pleased if he got guns and powder. He enjoyed the Queen's photograph, with the painted portraits of the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Connaught. He said, regarding the Prince of Wales, "This is my brother." I told him of English ships, cannons, riches, churches, &c. I gave him the Bible as the key of the secret of England's greatness and glory. I told him that if England got a present of Zanzibar and Uganda together she would not have them, therefore not to believe the Arabs' misrepresentations. He asked about the Egyptian troops, Gordon Pasha, &c., and being tired, he dismissed the Court.

Two days afterwards I went to see the king. He asked me to show him, his wives, and chiefs how they drilled in the English army. With reluctance I got up, went through the dumb-bell practices, manual and platoon exercises, the infantry and cavalry sword exercises, &c. He and his court were highly delighted. He then brought in the smartest of his officers. He went through his facings and movements with his sword. I was annoyed at his slovenliness; put him into shape, and corrected his movements like lightning, to the great amusement of all. He then asked me to drill his troops, but I refused, saying that they would not understand my language, that they would be jealous, invent lies, and thereby I could do no good; but that I was willing, by-and-by, to teach them, and drill their souls for the army of the Great Creator. I then asked him for material and permission to build a house,

in no religion whatever, this is owing to their having allowed the religious sense in them to be so suppressed by outward things as not to be able to develope itself, and they are to be compared to those plants whose growth and development have been hindered by their being kept in a dark room.

Buckle's remark—“ Although discussion about religion prevailed to a large extent in former days, now men spend their zeal on secular things "-entirely misrepresents the facts of the case, and may be pronounced to be unreliable; for on a close investigation of the present condition of Europe and America, we find that even in this nineteenth century the religious consciousness gives not the slightest sign of growing weak; but, on the contrary, makes its influence felt in the strongest possible manner. The most fruitful topic of discussion in the books, newspapers, and periodicals of the present day is religion; and even in political circles the subject of government is discussed not without some reference to religion, though it may be of an indirect kind. That great German scholar, Goethe, says: 'In the history of men and the world, of all questions that have engaged men's thoughts, there is none so momentous as the conflict between faith and scepticism." Such statements as these are sufficient to enable us to form some idea of the position that religion occupies in the hearts of all civilized people of the present day.

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We see, then, that the religious consciousness is deeply rooted in man's nature, and cannot be got rid of even for a moment; so that to put aside religion as something alien, to refuse to examine its truths, never to take into consideration what man's future destiny may be, but to employ one's mind exclusively on a civilization that is merely material and superficial, this is to leave the depths of human nature unexplored, and to rest in ignorance of the principles tanght by universal history.

The world is something that lives and moves the advance of human affairs, the onward march of the world's great events is not delayed for a single day; and in consequence of this progress the positives of bygone days become the negatives of to-day; the errors of the ancients become the truths of our modern time. Not one of any of the

thoughts or actions of men can escape the uncertainty that attends their future lot. They may hold a prominent position in the world, or they may fade away into insignificance; they may go on from strength to strength, or they may die a natural death. Therefore of all religions invented by man, there is not one that can escape deterioration as time advances and circumstances change.

As

Neander says: "Paganism loses its influence as people's learning advances." Again he says: "When men's knowledge increases their old creeds gradually lose their influence and an age of scep ticism sets in, and when this has reached its zenith then comes a reaction, and there proceeds from man's nature once more a desire for religion. But after a nation has sufficiently advanced in general knowledge to become conscious of the folly of their old religion, even if it wishes to restore it, it finds it impossible really to believe in it; there can only be produced a forced and unwilling faith which, not proceeding from real conviction, will soon become the ally of desire and inclination, and, in the end, drift away into superstition." countries become enlightened, men are conscious that their old religion is unworthy of being retained, and this gives rise to teaching which is subversive of all religion whatever, and often results in a nation becoming altogether irreligious. ligious. But in accordance with the principle contained in the saying, "Nature abhors a vacuum," these religious aspirations, which are deeply seated in man's original nature, will awake out of their unnatural slumber, and a fervent longing to meet with a religion already prepared for their acceptance will spring up again. If at this time this desire is not satisfied by the imparting of а pure and unadulterated faith, the people of whom we speak will again look to their false creeds for help, and will be like the

and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first."

We must now show by a reference to the testimony of history that it is impossible for a nation to rest long without any religion whatever. In the age of Louis XIV. a superstitious religion was unable to withstand the light of science. The Roman Catholic religion in France had gradually lost its influence, and at the time of the Reformation irreligion was at its height. But the people, after suffering for some time from the want of anything calculated to satisfy their religious aspirations, again manifested a great thirst for religion, and at this time that great ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte, restored the Roman Catholic faith to its old position. The learned men of Paris ridiculed this, and said the step was useless for the purpose of government; but the Emperor remarked,

I have in this only followed the genuine and fervent desires of the people."

At the time of the close of the Shogun's Government-all kinds of laws and customs having lost their vital power-there came about (in our country) a general reformation by one great change which issued in the concentration of the government. Vital energy was again restored, and a step was taken which will prove the fruitful source of all the future prosperity of our country. Whilst all this was happening, religion was just what it had been, it made no advance whatever; consequently, that which should be a living power to preserve virtue among the people and satisfy the natural desire for worship, a few decades ago, was over. thrown, and gradually becoming a useless thing, could not escape the accusation of being something that was needlessly robbing the exchequer. Is not this a subject for deep regret? And even now, if for the salvation of this country a true religion be not found, that it will again lapse into the condition of the "dog returning to its vomit" is as clear as though seen in a mirror.

Some controversialist may say, "Your argument is good, but why seek a religion elsewhere-why not rather reform our native religion? If its vital power be restored it will suffice." Ah! this is an empty argument, which may look well on paper but can never be carried into practice. In days gone by, the Romans regretted the deterioration of their ancient creed, and attempted by supplementing it with doctrines derived from other religions to reform it and make it prosperous once more; but all to no pur. pose-within a very short period it was overthrown. By this we may learn that in the case of a religion that has once lost its vital power, although it may be to a certain extent reformed, yet it can never be so patched up as to make it hold together for any length of time.

We believe that the only religion that can satisfy the religious aspirations of the Japanese people to-day is Christianity; and therefore our desire is to strain every nerve in spreading it abroad, and thus, first, manifest the glory of God, and, secondly, preserve and promote virtue among our fellow-men.

The Frenchman, Danton, says: " Even if my name be blotted out, my desire is that France may be free!" What a forgetfulness of self and noble patriotism! From whence does the genuine patriotic spirit come? From faith in Christianity. Moses says: "O God, if Thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written." Paul says: "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." If the Christianity that imparts such benevolence and such patriotism be prac tised throughout the empire, the day is not far distant when evil customs will be reformed, and the land will overflow with peace and happiness; the political rights of the people will be extended, and our country will wax stronger and stronger. It is said in one of the psalms, "Blessed is the people who have the Lord for their God."

that at first sight appear bad, that in reality are good. If the difficulty of putting them into practice be excepted,

there is nothing in any way calculated to lead to harm in these things that at first sight appear to be bad, but in reality are good. But the things which at first sight seem to be good, but in reality are bad, in blinding the eyes of the misinformed and in deceiving the masses do no small amount of harm.

In looking over the Meikiyo Shiushi of the 10th of this month I noticed that there was a Mr. Kawai Kiyomaru who was desirous of obtaining the opinion of his friends on a plan that he had devised for founding a true religion, the doctrines of which should be culled from the creeds of different countries, and specially adapted to the customs and feelings of our people. On a perusal of this proposition, I found that in the first place, for the preservation of our customs inviolate, and the prosperity of the whole country, it was considered that religion is indispensable; and in the next place it is maintained that the existing religions, Shintoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity, all being deficient in some respects, not one of them should be exclusively followed-and lastly, the writer urges the necessity of founding a true religion. This is something that at first sight appears to be good, but in reality is bad; although, no doubt, it will form a subject of rejoicing to men whose learning is superficial and knowledge very limited.

There is no knowing how many times in ancient and modern days this has been attempted in different parts of the world. In ancient times, viz., in the third century A.D., there was a Persian called Manes who, seeing how Christianity was gradually spreading itself all over the land, and not being able any longer to believe in his own religion, nor prepared to accept Christianity, and yet being impressed with the idea that some religion was necessary, resolved to select from the Persian, the Christian, and the Buddhist systems, materials wherewith to compile a creed of his own. This has been known as the Manichean religion. It flourished for a short time, but after a few hundred years all traces of it were lost.

About the year 1600 A.D., Lord Herbert of Cherbury, forsaking the Christianity of Revelation, originated something that he called Natural Religion. It became very popular at that

time, but after about fifty or sixty years it came to nothing. In more recent times, in France Comte, and in America Frothingham, have attempted to found a religion on the basis of philosophy; like the summer lightning, after one bright flash it has vanished. And not long ago, for the first time in our country, by a combination of Buddhism and Shintoism, a creed consisting of three articles was founded, and by the aid of government prestige was propagated; but before twenty years had passed it was destroyed and not a trace of it is visible.

How is it that all these have come to nothing? Is it not that their fundamental principle is based on a misconception? The idea that any ordinary man can compile a true religion is contrary to reason. True religion is something that must have its seat in our original nature, and must be something that takes Revelation as its teacher. That great English scholar Bacon says: "Man is only the interpreter of Nature." We see then that the scholar is one who investigates and interprets the laws and principles of universal Nature. However renowned then a man may be for acquirement of knowledge, after all he is unable to invent truth. This principle is as capable of being applied to religion as to anything else. In our country men have from ancient times become so permeated with religions that have been invented, that it has become like a second nature to us to have recourse to them.

That there should be so many who think that religion is something that is capable of being invented by man, that at his will he can either found or reform it, is calculated to excite our compassion. Recently, Shinto priests have been discussing the subject of the Reformation of Shintoism-this god they take away and that one they add and the like: all sorts of noisy wrangling goes on. What a spectacle!

Seeing that religious devotion has its origin in faith, even supposing that a perfect religion could be invented, if it failed to enlist the faith of men what would be the use of it? And indeed, unless its truths were acknowledged to be established beyond all doubt and incapable of change, this faith could not be forthcoming.

What does the accumulated learning

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