The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-12-23

hellSlOn OF the Empire, suppoi lcu III
measure from the public treasury.
and you find no idol. it is true, but
mirror symbOlical of the female
origin of life, and sword, symbolical
of the male. Examine into the rites
of this so-called nature worship, in
quire into the meaning of all its SYM
bolism. you will find no inspiration
to 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 |
a brief PRAYER and jabbering a mere
form of words, throwing copper coin |
or two into the box that serves as the
treasury, you think how sordid all this |
is how dreary, how desolate, how |
dirty
Go into any of the Buddhist temples |
with which Japan is filled, that have
largely supplanted the primitive Shin
| to 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 candle on branch
of the lotus as it stands on the back of
a fringed tortoise, and when you in
quire into the meaning of all this SYM
bolism, you will draw back from all
such proclamation of the mystery of
life. The bronze image with the wart
on it's forehead, said to symbolic SUI
l oy,d hn 1on1 nf ca
called serenity on it's 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 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 l conversed, who
were at all conversant with the facts
in regard to the family, social and re-
l ligious life of the Japanese, that the
a old ideas that underlie their civiliZa-
I ton and religion, must be utterly
i 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
boil and type. Their testimony agrees
e with that given by Sir Monier Will
: liams, a distinguished scientist, fami
n liar with Eastern learning, who says
S "Christianity cannot be, must not bt
q watered down to suit the palate o.
h Hindu, Parsee, Confucianist, Buddhist
s or Mohammedan. Whosoever wishe!
) to pass from the false religion to thu
e true, can never hope to do so by thu
ir rickety planks of compromise or by thu
t. help of faltering hands held out b!
4 half-hearted Christians. He must, il
@ faith leap the gulf between the falls
@ and the true. The Living Christ will
q him, and land him safely ON the Eter
a nal Rock
r. 1t is a thought that has plausibilit
and currency for those over who's
1t minds sentiment has greater inf1uenc
is than clear perception of truth, tina
j. man is on the way to higher and bet
&c ter things, and sons of God, heirs Q
J. heaven, are to become such under tn
IS tutelage of sensuality and scepticisr
at and superstition. do not so read tn
as lesson of history and the facts of OF
III servation. Mission work in Japan
v. and must be the same as mission wOr
is everywhere. There is contrast and or
position only between the true and tn
Id false, the holy and the vile. The tru
err must supplant the false, not supple
a, ment it.: the holy must exclude tn
of vile, and not cover it over. Christian
re ity is exclusive, as we'll as inclusiv
t. It is four square, with sharp corner
and it's angularity is not to be mad
of less prominent, as / saw attempte
ly in the palace wall of KiOtO 1t is
nd Japanese superstition that evil infi1
nd ences enter at the North East corne
p so to avoid corner at that point, thel
m, is a re-entrant angle instead of tt
to usual square corner. The new Jerl
ar salem has it's gates open, it is tru
ny on every side: but it has it's gates, II
n the security of those within, and
at exclude from free entrance those WI
an would only defile it's purity and cou
IS not enjoy it's blessedness.
SUI, Mission work in Japan is hero
ge struggle against great odds. Only fat
tai in Him, who sent forth His messel
ut. gers as lambs in the midst of wOlve
;es yet said "All power is given unto n
10 in heaven and on earth: go We and di
lily ciple all nations" can qualify any OF
lid to undertake the work. Nineteen ce
NJ turtles have rolled away, and the e.
i'm of Triumphant Christianity has not y
,se dawned Ours is still a militant fait
he But among all the nations that ha'
Ia come to walk in the light of it, MOI
cts has surpassed in interest the histO
,se of it's progress in Japan. l have SCI
gal the public proclamation, denouncil
m Christianity and prescribing death
en- the penalty for any one who shou
presume to adopt or promulgate tn
as faith For over two centuries Jap;
ry, was closed against the Gospel, as W.
nd as against all foreign intercourse. On
he 43 years ago did the guns of Comm
ed dore Perry's vessels open the ports
in Japan. When the Japanese themselv
le- sought the commercial and social ben
Ia fits to be secured only through fire
see intercourse with the rest of mankin
ay. it was marvellous with what eagerne