THE SON OF A PASTOR IN CHINA asked concerning the educational system in Japan. The usual answer was that the system was all right, but there was a continuous failure to apply the system. There was so much to acquire that the process had become one of infilling and informing rather than of development. A Cambridge teacher in speaking of Hebrew education as observed in the Bible says, "Education was adapted to mold the minds, the principles, the habits and manners of the young. It was development as distinguished from instruction." The missionary. schools are surely filling a great need in this country where the end sought is development as distinguished from instruction. That any one should speak as tho missionaries were no these are Meccas for the tourist. Of course, in Japan, there is the same desire to see the religious life of this people. A visit to the great Diabutsu was of intense interest; its passive face was supposed to give the expression of the perfection of education and the subjugation of all passion. Yet Yet it was all so lifeless and try as you would you could see no relationship between this image and the boys and girls of the surrounding villages. With their hearty "Banzai" you felt that tho they might reverently bow before the image, it offered for them no assistance in the thick of the fight of life. The symbolism of the Temples at Nikko seemed in part strangely Christian-the Goddess of Mercy showering out blessings yet she gives none to her worshipers. As some one has said, "Paint a fire, it will not therefore burn." Again the Buddhas coming out of the lotus flowers, purity out of impurity, and yet they give no real help toward the pure life. AT KARUIZAWA, JAPAN The well-known monkeys on the stable of the Sacred Pony with their caution to hear, see and speak no evil yet never the impulse or help to cast it out. The pilgrims toiling to the top of some high mountain, all drest in white, reminded one of the Scripture teaching of those whose robes. are made white, and yet you painfully realize that there is no transfigured Christ for them on these mountain peaks, for no one has yet made Him known. The strange ceremony of drinking wine from the cup so like our symbolic wine, with yet no sense of communion, with the Christ. So one looks in vain in these centers for some expression of hope on the faces of the worshipers who know not what it means to worship God in spirit and in truth. Missionaries The advantage of going to the Orient in the summer-time is that one can go to the summer resorts of the missionaries. Karuizawa, nestled among the hills, with its attractive MISSION SCHOOL CHILDREN RECEIVING DIPLOMAS IN CHINA homes, its places of recreation, its inimitable single street where you can do your daily visiting and shopping, all of this makes you glad to be there. Never imagine an idle body of missionaries at these resorts, one only wonders when they rest. It is surely a privilege to be in the company of men and women who have counted the cost and made large ventures of faith. That going to the foreign field is a guarantee to saintship-do not think! In no other situation are the conditions so trying, the temptations so great, nor the obstacles so tremendous. It is a superficial observer who brings home pictures of the residences of the missionaries with never an appreciation of what a small part of his life is the framework of his house. One problem of great consequences on the field is that of church unity, of the cooperation of various boards in educational and other work, of the demand for union Bible and theologi cal work, all of this to conserve effort and eliminate waste. The Union Bible School in Nanking, China, a union of the Northern and Southern Presbyterian Churches, of the Christian Church and the Methodist Church, seems a wonderful portent of what may be done in the near future all over the Orient. The Oriental to whom our denominationalism is only a hindrance and a menace, for it is of AngloSaxon origin, whereas Christianity is universal. The only difficulty thus far experienced in Nanking was that the Presbyterian cook complained because the Methodist cook paid too much for rice! It was good, indeed, to see the new dormitory at Nanking to be used for this Bible School and to realize that it was erected by the Christian Church on Presbyterian soil. The same union work is now being carried on in Korea and a similar movement in Japan is in progress. One of the wonderful times of the summer was to be present at a meet ing at Karuizawa, which did not. close till eleven at night, when there was a full and free discussion of the necessity for the united action of the Christian Churches in order that the Christians may show to the world that they are in very truth "one body in Christ." Native Christians is continuously put to shame in the Orient by the white light of the native Christians. We attended one meeting in Korea where 4,000 people gathered in the hot sun, in the early afternoon, many of them having walked for miles. When that vast company sang, "All hail the power of Jesus' name," it thrilled one to think that all men would one day give Him the honor and glory which is His due. When Jesus Christ came to the Sitting on the platform of the Gen such poor homes that all they have to eat is boiled sweet-potato rinds, it is all but incredible. The poverty of Korea immediately strikes an American, for the people live in such tiny homes. The average Korean room is 8x8 feet. One Korean woman visited the simple missionary home, stood on the threshold as she entered and said, "Is heaven like this?" She later explained to another Korean, "Just think! They have one room just for eating, one KINDERGARTEN, JAPAN and drear-which finds no natural outlet or relief in word or sigh or tear"-this is to feel the hopelessness of the Far East. From such you turn to the universities and schools filled with the finest men and women making ready to guide the feet of such as these into the paths of peace. Or as you turn to the Union Bible School, with the teeming life of the city on one side and the ground covered with grave mounds on the other, or, as the Chinese say, the school that stands |