The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1897-12-28

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measure from the public. treasury,
and you find no idol, it is true. but
a mirror. symbolical of the female
origin of life, and a sword, symbolical
OF the male. Examine into the rites
Of this so-called nature worship, in
ouire into the meaning Of all its sym
! hoIism. YOU will find no inspiration
70 higher achievements or worthier
aims. only the animal in human ma
ture exalted above the spiritual. AS
YOU see the individuals who enter these
temples. clap their hands to call the
attention OF the deity to whom the
shrine is specially dedicated, humble
brief prayer and jabbering mere
form Of words. throwing a copper coin
or two into the box that serves as the
treasury. you think how sordid all this
is. how dresry, how desolate, how
dirty
co into any of the Buddhist temples
with which Japan is filled, that have
largely supplanted the primitive Shin
10 cult. and see the gilded shrine OF
the Buddha sitting in the lotus, while
back Of the bronze image is the So
called halo. and before it stand the
three symbols of the worship rendered,
the flower vase, the incense burner,
the stork holding a candle on branch
of the lotus as it stands on the back Of
fringed tortoise, and when you in
duire into the meaning of all this sym
bolism. you will draw back from all
such proclamation of the mystery of
he ~
on its forehead, said to symbolic su-
pernal wisdom, and the look of So
called serenity on its face as though
oblivious of all earthly trouble, seems
to you rather an embodiment Of stolid
stupidity. and the sacred wart the
mark OF the beast in man rather than
of the wisdom that is from above.
You cannot develop either Shinto-
ism or Buddhism into a spiritual and
soul-purifying religion any more than
YOU can develop the phosphorescence
of putrefaction into light, TO illumine
the home, or to guide the benighted
traveller 1t was the universal testi-
mony of all the missionaries of the
Gospel with whom I conversed, who
were at all conversant with the facts
IN regard to the family, social and re-
ligious life of the Japanese, that the
old ideas that underlie their civiliZa-
ton and religion, must be utterly
abandoned, entirely supplanted by the
principles and teachings of Christian
ity. the doctrines connected with the
Cross of Christ, and all the institutions
for which the cross stands as the SYM
Dol and type. Their testimony agrees
with that given by Sir Monier Will
liams, d distinguished scientist, fami
liar with Eastern learning, who says,
Christianity cannot be, must not be
watered down to suit the palate of
Hindu, Parsee, Confucianist, Buddhist,
or Mohammedan. whatsoever wishes
to pass from the false religion to the
true. can never hope TO do so by the
rickety planks of compromise or by the
help of faltering hands held out by
half-hearted Christians. He must, in
faith leap the gulf between the false
and the true. The Living Christ will
spread His everlasting arms beneath
him, and land him safely on the Eter-
nal Rock"
1t is a thought that has plausibility
and currency for those over whose
minds sentiment has greater influence
than clear perception of truth, that
man is on the way to higher and bet
ter things, and sons of God, heirs of
heaven. are to become such under the
tutelage of sensuality and scepticism
and superstition. | do not so read the
lesson of history and the facts of OBJ
seryation. Mission work in Japan is
and must be the same as mission work
everywhere. There is contrast and OPP
position only between the true and the
false. the holy and the vile. The true
must supplant the false, not supple
ment it: the holy must exclude the
vile, and not cover it over. Christian
ity is exclusive, as we'll as inclusive.
1t is four square, with sharp corners,
and its angularity is not to be made
less prominent, as l saw attempted
in the palace wall of Kioto. 1t is
japanese superstition that evil influ
ences enter at the North East corner:
so TO avoid a corner at that point, there
is a re-entrant angle instead of the
usual square corner. The new Jeru-
salem has its gates open, it is true,
on every side: but it has its gates, for
the security of those within, and to
exclude from free entrance those who
would only defile its purity and could
not enjoy its blessedness.
Mission work in Japan is a heroic
struggle against great odds. Only faith
in Him, who sent forth His messen-
gers, as lambs in the midst of wolves,
yet said "All power is given unto me
in heaven and on earth: go We and dis
ciple all nations" can qualify any one
10 undertake the work. Nineteen CEN
turtles nave rolled away, and the era
of Triumphant Christianity has not yet
dawned. Ours is still a militant faith.
But among all the nations that have
/ come to walk in the light of it, none
/ has surpassed in interest the history
/ of its progress in Japan. l have seen
the public proclamation, denouncing
Christianity and prescribing death as
the penalty for any one who should
presume to adopt or promulgate that
faith. For over two centuries Japan
was closed against the Gospel, as well
as against all foreign intercourse. Only
43 years ago did the guns of Commo-
dore Perry's vessels open the ports OF
Japan. When the Japanese themselves
sought the commercial and social bene-
] a..