The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1897-10-08
INFLUENCES At WORK IN JAPAN
Modern Science and Civilization Are Destroying Much Of
Faith in the Old Doctrines

hism are practically atheistic and ia
talistic. The power of superior being:
10 help man is denied, though the OK
fstence of those beings is not utterly
rejected. In spite, therefore, of all theil
noble teachings, the ethnic faiths nave
left still much undone. / cannot stoI
to picture the sad deficiencies, th'
beartlessness TO human beings, tht
polygamy, the bastardy, the assassina
ton for political ends and even fol
private. commended; the approval Of
suicide; the failure to teach the duties
Of superfors and the rights of interiors;
the tacit sanction of the sale of daugh-
tiers and of infanticide; the failure to
teach absolute purity for men as well
as for women; the permission of di-
yorce to the man for the most trivial
! reasons divorces in Japan are as one
| to three marriages); marriage as a
matter wholly of contract and not of
affection or love; all these features
! and defects of Confucian and Buddhis-
tic ethics and practice Indicate grave
! DEFICIENCIES, wherein they need to be
filled out by Christian ideals and prac-
tees.
These. we know, are all based on the
one fundamental principle of supreme
I love to the Heavenly Father and equal
| love to all his children, our brothers.
| Christian ethics are not legalistic, nor
titualistic, nor pessimistic, nor fatal
istic, nor atheistic, nor do they rest on
mere utility. The right and the true
are not so by chance nor by fate, nor
by mere might. Christian ethics raise
to new meaning and power the old con-
ceptions of marriage, home, father,
mother, brother, sister, love, honor,
chastity, man, labor, etc, which are
all at bottom only truly conceived
when officially conceived in and
through Christ. AS a matter of his
tory, these higher ethical conceptions
of daily life have come from Christ.
8. But not only does Christ provide
a new and worthy object of worship,
and nObler ideals, but he also provides
their sufficient theoretic foundation,
the only foundation which can stand
the test of this keen, skeptical, mate
realistic and scientific age. Whence
came moral law? Why is right right,
and wrong wrong? Are they merely
matters of social custom? These are
vital questions, recognized by many
thoughtful Japanese. The rising gen
Grafton in their progress we laud are
refusing to sit longer at the feet of
COnfucius, a Chinaman, as well as
because many of his teachings are
wholly unsuited to the new industrial
and democratic and individual age.
1 Neither Buddhism no Confucianism fur
nish valid theoretic foundations for
moral law. The thoughtful and earnest
among japanese educators and moral
( lists are seriously searching for such
/ foundations.
The present tendency among the edu-
Gated is to take refuge in the Shinto
doctrine of the divine descent of the
( imperial line, and the rest the author
/ ity of the moral law on the edict of the
Emperor. Thus are the four and one
half million school children being
taught today Manifestly, however
this theory will no longer answer the
national needs. Science will not long
leave the divine descent of the royal
house untouched. When the masses OF
the people come to realize that the
emperor is only man like the rest OF
US, they will demand some more con-
elusive answer than they now have tC
the question why man must not steal
nor lie, nor kill. Moral law cannot ulti-
mately exist in the mere ipse dixit OF
any man, nor on the mere might of the
I government. Only when moral law is
traced back TO its ultimate source in
the final reality behind the phenomenal
universe, to the character of God made
known to us by Jesus Christ, only then
will it secure full belief and loyal ac-
ceptance
". Now it is the tracing back of the
moral law TO its source in the very
character of God himself that insures
the complete Identification of religion
and morals. According to the Christian
conception, true religion is impossible
if separated from the moral life. Nc
murderer, no liar, no impure person
no oppressor of the poor, no one living
only and wholly a selfish life, can BIZ
possibly counted true Christian, Of
be thought fit or able to render WORSHIP
acceptable to God. No pagan religion
Identifies in its fullness, religion anC
. morals. In Japan, as in ancient Greco,
and Rome, a man is no less a religious
man and may with perfect acceptanc,
, worship the gods, who has transgress
ed all the moral laws l can take vol
to temple in Osaka where the harlot
! worship, and with good conscience
pray the gods to prosper their business
and give thanks to the same witt
! votive offerings.
But with the incoming tide. of Chris
: tan thought and ideals this state o
things is beginning to pass away
Moral life is beginning to be consider
! ed an essential element of genuine re
ligion. In this identification of ethica
with religious life consists the grea
fructifying and vitalizing power of tn
! Christian faith which so peculiarly fit
it to be the religion of a high civiliz
: alton. 1t alone is able to grapple wit
g the temptations civilization multiple
: both in number and in destructiy
0 power; it alone can render the comm
+ in TO the orient OF the western civili7
I alton a genuine blessing instead of
= blasting curse. Even in ChristendoI
D civilization seems to be a curse t
multitudes, how much more so i
:, non-Christian lands?
: V. Yet still further, Christ comes t
|. Japan TO fulfill the old religions b
q the gift of a larger conception of lif'
r of its purpose and aim. He bring
e likewise new methods and principle
S of worship. Among those who hav