The Gist of Japan: The Islands, Their People, and Missions

by R. B. Peery

Of the existence of these Christian communities, and the perpetuation of their faith in secrecy for more than two hundred years, there is not the slightest room for doubt. The persecuting spirit, which had also survived, found large numbers of them in 1867, and more than 4000 who refused to renounce their faith were banished. After six years of exile they were permitted to return to their homes.

The mistake of the Romanists here, as elsewhere, was in not translating the Bible into the vernacular. Xavier and his successors did not give the Word of God to the churches, and hence when the priests all were banished the people were left without any light to guide them. Had they possessed a Japanese Bible, the reopening of the country would have shown us, instead of a few corrupt Christian communities, a vigorous, aggressive native church, only made stronger by persecution. Such was the case in Madagascar, and such probably it would have been in Japan had the people been given the Word of God.

The relative importance of the Bible to the Romanist and the Protestant is well shown in this matter of Bible translation. One of the first efforts of the Protestant Churches in Japan was a translation of the Bible, and an excellent version was prepared and published more than ten years ago. The Roman Church, with more than a century of unprecedented prosperity in former times, and with the same advantages enjoyed by the Protestants in recent years, has not yet published its Bible in Japanese. Some priests and native scholars are now engaged on a translation of the Vulgate, which will doubtless be published soon.

Ever since the opening of the country the Church of Rome has been very earnest and zealous in her efforts to evangelize this land. She has used a great many men, who have labored hard and faithfully, and has expended large sums of money. Her success has not been great, because she has had to contend against fearful odds. The hindrances that have made the progress of Protestant missions in this land very slow have had to be overcome also by Catholicism, besides some other strong militating influences. I will mention two of the most important of these hindrances peculiar to Catholicism.

1. The genius of the Catholic Church is not adapted to Japan. The priority of the spiritual over the temporal ruler, the exaltation of church over state, the allegiance required to a foreign pope, the unqualified obedience to foreign ecclesiastical authority, and numerous other things, come into conflict with the strong national feeling now animating the Japanese, and seem to them to conflict with the great duty of loyalty. The celibacy of the clergy and the rite of extreme unction are also very unpopular. Both Catholicism and Protestantism are regarded as evils, but the former is, on account of its nature and organization, considered the greater.

2. The past history of Catholicism in Japan also militates very much against its progress. The people recognize it as the specific form of Christianity that the government, in former times, felt bound, for the sake of its own safety, to persecute to the death. They cannot forget that, although under great provocation, it dared bare its arm against the imperial Japanese government and inaugurate a bitter rebellion. In their work to-day the priests encounter all of these objections, and must satisfactorily explain them away—a difficult task.

But, notwithstanding, the Roman Church has enjoyed an equal degree of prosperity with the Protestant Churches since the opening of Japan in 1858. The statistics for the year 1895 show 50,302 adherents—about 10,000 more than the Protestants. But the manner of compiling statistics differs so much that these figures do not fairly represent the numerical strength of the two bodies. The Catholics not only count all baptized children, but all nominal adherents; while Protestants count no nominal adherents, and many of the denominations do not even count baptized children. If the same method of compiling statistics were used by both bodies, their numerical strength would probably appear to be about equal.

These 50,302 adherents are comprised in two hundred and fifty congregations. There are one hundred and sixty-nine churches and chapels; one theological seminary, with 46 pupils; two colleges, with 181 pupils; three boarding-schools for girls, with 171 pupils; twenty-six industrial schools, with 764 pupils; and forty-one primary schools, with 2924 pupils.

The Catholic Church throughout the East is noted for its splendid charities. It is doing more to care for the helpless, aged, and infirm than all the Protestant bodies combined. It supports in Japan one hospital for lepers that is exceedingly popular with that unfortunate class. The government has one good leper hospital, but it is said that the lepers much prefer going to the Catholic hospital, because there they are treated so much more kindly and considerately. There are 70 lepers in this Catholic hospital. The Catholic Church has also one hospital for the aged, with 31 inmates; and nineteen orphanages, with 2080 children in them. This large number of charitable institutions supported by the Roman Church makes a strong appeal to the Japanese public and does much toward overcoming the prejudice against her.

The active working force of the Catholic mission, besides the lay members of the native church, consists of 1 archbishop, 3 bishops, 88 European missionaries, 20 native priests, 304 native catechists, 25 European friars, 85 European sisters, and 42 novices. The archbishop and bishops reside respectively in Nagasaki, Osaka, Tokyo, and Hakodate.