It forms no part of my purpose to discuss these objections; which, let me add, are merely representative, and by no means exhaustive. With many of them we are already familiar at home; and the Japanese, I would mention, are fully aware of the unbelief prevalent in England, and well acquainted with its arguments. Indeed, few English people, it is probable, have any idea how closely their history and their literature are studied by nations living at the other side of the globe, who [pg 085] are to them simply “the heathen.” Some, again, of the above objections would seem to have been suggested by imperfect and distorted statements of Christian truth. I have thought it worth while to refer to them, in the hope that the fact of such questions being raised may serve to impress upon us these two important points:—(i) the need of missionaries, at the present day, being not only men of holy and devoted lives, but also fully equal in intellectual equipment and culture to our home clergy; and (ii) the fallacy of trusting to the circulation of the Bible, as an instrument of mission work, unless it be accompanied—or rather preceded—by the teaching of the living agent.
It must not, however, be imagined that the obstacles to the progress of the Gospel in Japan are wholly, or even mainly, of the character I have referred to. Another great hindrance is most unquestionably presented in the large number of competing sects and organizations, which, here as in other countries where mission work is being carried on, address the people in the name of Christianity. It is true that Buddhists themselves are divided into numerous sects and schools; but between these there can scarcely be said to be anything of party animosity and strife. It will, indeed, be heard with satisfaction that the feeling towards one another of the various Christian bodies in Japan is, speaking generally, free from bitterness; and that [pg 086] each would appear desirous of doing its own work, in the wide field before it, without interference with the efforts of others. “The feeling here,” it was observed to me, “is nothing like so bad as it is at home.”[28] And as in England bigotry and suspicion are steadily giving place to mutual toleration and respect, so may we hope that, both in our colonies and abroad, counsels of charity may more and more prevail. Still, at the best, so long as Romanists, Orthodox, Anglicans, and Sectarians adhere to the positions they at present occupy, so long must any real unity of action be impossible; neither can peace be sought by surrender or compromise of principle. But meanwhile there is, of course, a lamentable want of compactness among the converts—as a recent writer in the Japan Mail, remarked “they are more like scattered groups of soldiers than an army”;—while the perplexity occasioned to those we are seeking to convince is terrible and great.
The following extract from Miss Bickersteth's recently-published Japan as we saw it (Sampson Low, 1893), draws an able contrast between the religious condition of Japan at the present day [pg 087] and the position of Christianity in the time of St. Francis Xavier. “It was impossible not to be struck with the present complication of religious matters in the country as compared with the days of Xavier. Then, on the one side, there was the Buddhist-Shinto creed, undermined by no Western science, still powerful in its attraction for the popular mind, and presenting a more or less solid resistance to the foreign missionary; and, on the other, Christianity as represented by Roman Catholicism, imperfect truly, but without a rival in dogma or in ritual. Now the ranks of Buddhist-Shintoism are hopelessly broken; the superstition of its votaries is exposed by the strong light of modern science, and their enthusiasm too often quenched in the deeper darkness of atheism. Christianity, though present in much greater force than in the days of Xavier, is, alas, not proportionately stronger. The divisions of Christendom are nowhere more evident than in its foreign missions to an intellectual people like the Japanese. The Greek, the Roman, the Anglican churches, the endless ‘splits’ of Nonconformity, must and do present to the Japanese mind a bewildering selection of possibilities in religious truth.”
To refer to but one other hindrance to Christian progress in Japan—which, although the last mentioned, is by no means the least serious—I mean the estimate formed by the natives of [pg 088] the practical influence of the Christian religion upon English people and upon other nations professing it. Applying to Christianity the test of its results, they urge that it has, at any rate, only very partially succeeded. For instance, the Japanese comment upon the fact that numbers of Englishmen in Japan never attend the services of their Church; and that the lives of many of them display a flagrant disregard for the principles which should regulate the conduct of Christians. Without, however, denying either the justice of these charges, or the reasonableness of the mood which advances them, I think it may be urged with fairness that the influence of Christianity on us as a nation cannot rightly be estimated in this particular way. As a rule, the Englishman can scarcely be said to appear to advantage abroad. Too often he assumes an attitude of insolent superiority to the people whose guest he is; while the position in which our countrymen are placed in a country like Japan—coupled with the freedom from restraint, so much greater than at home—has, for reasons which we need not now enter into, its peculiar difficulties. Neither is it by any means certain that a Japanese, paying a short visit to England, will gather any just impression of what hold Christianity has on us as a people. In all probability the range of his observations will be very limited and superficial; his wanderings will [pg 089] be chiefly confined to the great thoroughfares of the principal cities; while the circle of his acquaintance will, it is likely, be equally restricted, and equally unrepresentative of English life. Not that, in saying this, we would seek to excuse ourselves, or deny that there is far more truth than we could wish, and than there ought to be, in the charges brought against us. We would merely submit that there is another side to the picture which ought not, in fairness, to be overlooked. Admitting as we must, for instance, the great prevalence of infidelity in our England of to-day, there is yet to be placed over against it,—and may I not add, drawing it out into the light?—the increased activity of the Church during this last half-century, the remarkable power she has exhibited of adapting herself to meet the needs of her times, the influence for good that she has not only been in the past, but remains at the present day, in the nation at large, and in thousands and thousands of English homes. “By their fruits ye shall know them”: and Christianity must not and need not deprecate the application of that test to herself. Only, we would urge, that is not a fair judgment, which takes account only of what the Church of Jesus Christ has failed to do, without recognizing also all that, in the strength of her Divine Head, she has been permitted to accomplish.
V. Christianity In Japan.
I propose now to place before my readers some account of the various Missions at work in Japan. I am enabled to do this the better from having obtained, in the course of my visit, a useful table, compiled by the Rev. H. Loomis, of the American Bible Society, Yokohama, giving statistics of the different organizations up to the beginning of the year 1893. The plan adopted by Mr. Loomis is to arrange his statistics into three classes: (1) “Protestant Missions,” (2) “Catholic Missions,” and (3) “The Greek Church in Japan.” Under the head of “Protestant Missions,” are included the Church of England, the Episcopal Church of America, a large number of other American denominations, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Swiss Evangelical Protestant Mission, the Society of Friends, U.S.A., Universalists, Unitarians and others; while under the head of “Catholic Missions” we find particulars of only one branch of the Holy Catholic Church—the Church of Rome. This is not the arrangement I should have made myself; but, as a matter of [pg 091] convenience, we will follow it more or less closely.[29] It is right to add that of the thirty “Protestant Missions” seven are grouped together under the title of the “Church of Christ in Japan,” and work, it would appear, in general harmony on Presbyterian principles. In the same way, the American Episcopal Church, the Church of England—represented by both the Church Missionary Society and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel—and the Mission of Wyckliffe College, Canada, are associated together; leaving some twenty sects working independently.[30]
Before, however, proceeding to an examination of Mr. Loomis' table, we must briefly observe the past history of Christianity in Japan. This dates from the arrival of St. Francis Xavier in 1549, seven years after the country was discovered by the Portuguese. For some while the missionaries [pg 092] were permitted to prosecute their work without molestation, and considerable progress was being effected. A deputation of native priests appealed to the Tycoon, but their remonstrances were unheeded. With thirty-five religious sects already represented in Japan, the country, he answered, might very well find room for a thirty-sixth religion, viz. Christianity. Presently, however, the Jesuits being followed by the Dominicans and Franciscans, mutual factions broke out; while, elated by their success, some of the missionaries began to adopt an attitude of high-handed intolerance and interference. For the first time in their history, the Japanese found themselves entangled in all the turmoil and animosity of religious strife. In 1587 the first persecution of the Christians took place, but apparently soon subsided. The warning, however, was disregarded; and the fatal policy of arrogance and oppression was still persisted in. Native priests were put to death; Buddhist monasteries were destroyed; the Inquisition was set up. In 1614 we find a Japanese embassy despatched to Rome, in order, so it is said, to make an act of submission to the spiritual supremacy of the Pope. Meanwhile the Dutch, jealous of the position that was being gained by the Portuguese traders, accused the Roman propagandists to the Japanese authorities of aiming at a territorial ascendency; and that intrigues were actually being [pg 093] carried on by the Jesuits for the overthrow of the Shogun there seems little doubt. In the massacre which ensued several thousand Christians were put to death. “Their unflinching devotion compels our admiration. One may search the grim history of early Christian martyrology without finding anything to surpass the heroism of the Roman Catholic Martyrs of Japan. Burnt on stakes made of crosses, torn limb from limb, buried alive, they yet refused to recant. We are told of one Jesuit priest, Christopher Ferreya, who, after enduring horrible tortures, was at length hung by his feet in such a way that his head was buried in a hole in the ground from which air and light were excluded. His right-hand was left loose that he might make the sign of recantation. He hung for four hours, and then made the sign; whereupon, with a rare refinement of cruelty, he was appointed the president of the tribunal before which Christians were brought for condemnation. Then, after a lull, in 1637 thousands of Christians rose in armed rebellion. After two months they were forced to surrender, and 37,000 were slaughtered. Stern decrees were then issued, forbidding the admission of any foreign vessel; an exception being made in favour of the Chinese and Dutch. For more than two hundred years, notice-boards stood beside highways, ferries, and mountain-passes, containing, among other prohibitions, the following:—‘So [pg 094] long as the sun shall warm the earth, let no Christian be so bold as to come to Japan; and let all know that the King of Spain himself, or the Christians' God, or the great God of all, if he violate this commandment, shall pay for it with his head.’ For centuries the name ‘Christian’ would blanch the cheek and pale the lip. Christianity was remembered only as an awful scar on the national annals. But in the Southern Island the smouldering fire was never quite extinguished; while, as recently as 1829, six men and an old woman were crucified at Osaka.”[31]
At the time of the closing of the country to foreigners, an exception was made of the one port of Nagasaki, the scene of the final great massacre, when thousands of native Christians were hurled from a rocky islet into the sea. Here, however, as has been already mentioned, the Dutch were the only Europeans permitted to trade; they being closely confined to the small island of Deshima. In addition to having pay a heavy rental, they were subjected to the closest espionage, not being suffered, under any circumstances, to pass beyond the narrow limits assigned to them. Several times in each year they were summoned before the authorities, and required to tread under foot the Crucifix, and other symbols of the Catholic [pg 095] Faith. Several of the trampling-boards employed on these occasions are still to be seen at the Ueno Museum, Tokio. The Dutch, it would appear, quieted any qualms of conscience by regarding their action as amounting to an abnegation, not of Christianity, but of Romanism. It was not until thirty years ago that intercourse between Japan and other nations began to be resumed; and that, after a short period of ill-feeling and suspicion, circumstances were brought about which enabled both Roman Catholics and other Christians to work without hindrance. In 1872 the interdict against Christianity was formally removed; and the release from imprisonment and return from banishment of hundreds of Christians took place.