The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-10-05

isfaction in the beings whom Christ
has presented for our worship, the
loving heavenly Father, of whom
Christ is himself the supreme revela-
ton. In presenting to the nations of
the earth this loving and lovable God
as the supreme and only object of wor-
ship, Christ provides worthy substi-
tute for all the objects of worship of
the Eethnic faiths, one which mater
ialistic science can never destroy or SUI
persede, one which fulfils and satisfies
all the deepest longings and aspira-
tons of every religious heart Christ,
therefore, does not in reality DESTROY,
but rather fulfils the ethnic faiths in
the gift Of worthy and adequate con-
ception OF God.
2. Christ further fulfils the old re-
igions by ennobling their ethical
ideals. The old faiths have not a little
of genuine ethical teaching and effort.
In the systematic statement of the de-
| tails Of mans various duties, both
Confucianism and Buddhism are far
more minute than Christianity. Con-
| fucius sums up the duties of life in
what is called in Japan "go vim no
michi," the way of the five relations;
| they are those of king and minister,
father and son, husband and wife, eld-
er and younger brothers and friends.
! give few striking sentences from
Confucius: 'Thou shalt rise UP before
a hoary head, and honor the face of
an old man." "All that dwell between
! the four seas are brothers." ITO be
poor without mourning is difficult; to
be rich without being proud is not
easy Man is born for uprightness.' -
| do not unto others what you would
not have them do to. YOU" A passage
| from the first book which boys learn at
school may be fifty quoted here: At
lection between father and son; con-
cord between husband and wife; kind
ness on the part of the elder brother,
and Difference on the part of the
younger; order between seniors and
juniors; sincerity between friends and
associates; respect on the part of the
ruler, and loyalty on that of the min
lister; these are the ten righteous
courses equally binding on all men,"
Buddhistic ethics are summed up in
the ''Holy Eight-fold PATH" namely:
Right belief, right aspiration, right
speech, right conduct, right means OF
livelihood, right endeavor, right mem
DRY and right meditation
l give few gems also from Budd-
ism: Hatred does not cease by al
any time, hatred ceases by love; this
is an old rule" "If a man conquer in
battle thousand times thousand
men, and if another conquer himself
he is the greatest of conquerors." "Cut
down the whole forest of lust, not q
single tree only"
The influence on the Japanese ma.
tional character of these two systems
of ethics has been enrmous, and, or
. the whole, exceedingly beneficial. The
keen sense of honor, though not al.
ways according to Western standards
the superb loyalty, the fearlessness
; the dauntless courage, the universal
knowledge of and compliance with the
common rules of politeness and order
the comparatively high degree Of cul
ture and artistic taste even among the
lowest classes of society, the quiet
bearing and gentleness of voice snt
manner, and the uniform self-poist
and modesty of the women and girls
all these with other characteristic
traits are due in large measure to thu
rigid enforcement for hundreds o.
) years of the ethical teachings of Con
5 fucius.
And yet despite the fact that gems o.
religious insight and moral worth sucf
as have cited may be found here ant
there in the immense dreary deserts O.
their sacred literatures the actual re
; ligions of India and China and Japar
are very defective. The gems surround
; ed by masses of scholastic pedantry
I and senseless superstition shed little
light, give little inspiration. Buddhis
tic ethics rest on profound pessimisn
and absolute skepticiSm. The sim D
!. moral life is not righteousness, :)u
! nirvane, cessation of personal con
seriousness. The highest ideal is to dt
i nothing, to do neither good nor evil
for either will produce "ingwa," desert
and this will necessitate continued ex
istence, which is itself the greatest evil
5 Confucian ethics are wholly utilitarial
and fatalistic. Not righteousness ,se
Sc, but propriety and order in tn,
family and in the state is what il
taught and sought. The constant EN-
phasis is on the rights of the superior
and the duties of the inferior. Boil
Confucianism and thoughtful Budd
/ hlsm are practically atheiStic and ia
Y talistic. The power of superior being
l to help man is denied, though the ~ex
istence of those beings is not utterl,
l rejected. In spite, therefore, of all thei
e noble teachings, the ethnic faiths nav
f left still much undone. I cannot stol
e to picture the sad deficiencies, thu
: heartlessness to human beings, tn,
5 polygamy, the bastardy, the assassina
E ton for political ends and even TO
: private, commended; the approval o
3 suicide; the failure to teach the dutie
r of superiors and the rights of interiors
: the tacit sanction of the sale of daugh
tiers and of infanticide; the failure tt
e teach absolute purity for men as wei
: as for women; the permission of di
vorce to the man for the most trivia
! reasons divorces in Japan are as on
5 to three marriages); marriage as /;
matter wholly of contract and not o
affection or love; all these feature
: and defects of Confucian and Buddhis
5 tic ethics and practice indicate grav
c DEFICIENCIES, wherein they need to b.
| filled out by Christian ideals and prac
+ tees.
} These, we know, are all based on thu
: one fundamental principle of suprem