[343] Lafcadio Hearn, Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation, 1904, p. 313; cp. p. 46. [↑]
[344] Thus the third emperor of the Ming dynasty in China (1425–1435), referring to the belief in a future life, makes the avowal: “I am fain to sigh with despair when I see that in our own day men are just as superstitious as ever” (Prof. E. H. Parker, China and Religion, 1905, p. 99). [↑]
[345] See Hearn, as cited, passim. [↑]
[346] Cp. Sir F. S. P. Lely, Suggestions for the Better Governing of India, 1906, p. 59. [↑]
[347] See article on “The Future of Turkey” in the Contemporary Review, April, 1899, by “A Turkish Official.” [↑]
[348] Yet, as early as the date of the Crimean War, it was noted by an observer that “young Turkey makes profession of atheism.” Ubicini, La Turquie actuelle, 1855, p. 361. Cp. Sir G. Campbell, A Very Recent View of Turkey, 2nd ed. 1878, p. 65. Vambéry makes somewhat light of such tendencies (Der Islam im 19ten Jahrhundert, 1875, pp. 185,187); but admits cases of atheism even among mollahs, as a result of European culture (p. 101). [↑]
[349] Ubicini (p. 344), with Vambéry and most other observers, pronounces the Turks the most religious people in Europe. [↑]
[350] H. M. Baird, Modern Greece, New York, 1856, pp. 123–24. [↑]