While this was, as we firmly believe, a very corrupt form of Christianity, we must remember that it was immeasurably better than any religion Japan had yet known. Although it taught Mariolatry, salvation in part by works, penance, and many other errors, it also taught that there is but one God, and that His Son died for men. It very much improved the morals of its adherents, and purified and exalted their lives.
At the present day very little remains of this century of Christianity besides the few scattered and corrupt congregations found by the Jesuits on their return, the introduction of firearms and a few rude tools, and the infusion of a handful of foreign words into the language. The most important effect of this period is an inborn and inveterate prejudice against and mistrust of Christianity on the part of the people, which to-day hinders much our work of evangelization.
IX
MODERN ROMAN AND GREEK MISSIONS
Roman Church
The Roman Church was not discouraged by the fierce persecutions she was called upon to endure during the seventeenth century. Nothing daunted, she continued to send missionaries at intervals during the eighteenth century; but they were thrown into prison or executed as soon as they landed. In order to be in readiness for the opening of the country, which could not be much longer delayed, the pope, in 1846, nominated a bishop and several missionaries to Japan. These men took up their station in the neighboring Liukiu Islands and patiently awaited their opportunity. As soon as the treaties with foreign nations were made, and the country was opened, they at once entered Japan, and resumed the work so rudely interrupted two hundred years before.
A few years later these priests had the joy of discovering in the neighborhood of Nagasaki several Christian communities that had survived the bloody persecutions and had perpetuated their faith for more than two centuries, in spite of the vigilance of the authorities and the rigid prohibitions of Christianity. Left for so long without direction and guidance, bound for the sake of their lives to strictest secrecy, and, above all, not having the Bible to enlighten them, the faith of these communities had become very corrupt. But they still retained a certain knowledge of God, of Jesus Christ, and of the Virgin Mary. The rite of baptism and some prayers also survived.