New-York tribune., 1900-04-01
RELIGION IN JAPAN.


article on missions to Japanese magazine, In
which he takes the ground that Christianity Is
making little headway in Japan. While he gives
full credit to the missionaries for the good work
they have done, he believes nevertheless, that
there is great discrepancy between their
preaching and practice. "The first prOpagators
of Christianity he says, "men like Paul and
"Barnabas, underwent untold hardships In
spreading their faith. Their devotion and self
denial attracted the attention and drew forth
1.-The admiration of all with whom they came in
Contact. But the lives led by foreign mission
"aries in Japan to us Japanese, appear luXu-
''rous, and we cannot help feeling that preach
ling and practice are not in harmony. Take the
missionaries Iaboring in semi-civilized coun-
"tries-ought they not to be prepared to suffer
violence for the sake of the Gospel? Paul had
mo men-of-war at his beck and call, and would
mot have used them If he had had The events
''of the last few years have done irreparable
harm TO the Christian cause, and under exist
ling circumstances the missionaries would do
better We're they to become naturalized in the
countries where they are labOring They would
thus effectually put stop TO the practice of
making their special grievances an excuse for
foreign interference
OF course, neither the missionaries nor the
missionary societies would admit the force of
to believe that missionaries generally live lives
OF great self denial, and many of them may
justly be classed martyrs In will If not III
deed. Certainly there is abundant testimony
from men In many cases not friendly to mis-
sions that missionaries are doing most yalu-
able work pioneers of civilization. Yet when
all that is said Mr. Kaseki's point of view de-
serves some consideration. The very modest
comfort In which the families of missionaries
live in Japan doubtless seems entirely proper to
them. They have been delicately reared at
home and however jealous the missionaries
themselves may De they would consider it an
unnecessary hardship to force their wives ard
children to live like the poorest of the natives
to whom they minister. Yet apparently that is
what the natives expect. They do not under
stand why the modern missionary should be
unwilling to do what the Apostolic missionaries,
Paul and Barnabas did a matter of course.
and what many great missionaries have done in
every age since Perhaps in this they are I'M
reasonable. Perhaps they fail to understand
that changed conditions of life must modify the
methods of propagating Christianity But their
unreasona beness, If such 1t be, Is part of the
modern problem of missions that must be taken
into account If the present system fails to
reach the people it is question for the Church to
decide whether 1t might not wisely be changed.
The suggestion that missionaries in foreign
lands become naturalized and thus deprive
themselves of the right to appeal to their own
country when they are prosecuted, would un-
doubtedly be vetoed by the mission boards. The
churches would almost certainly refuse to con-
tribute to the support of missionaries thus ex-
patriated. Nor is it likely that many would
desire to enter the foreign field under such cir
cumstances. Even under the strong protection
of their own governments their position is often
Gull 0p and hat
moved they would almost surely be killed in
some countries. The Jesuit missionaries in
China who have done that are often pointed to
as an example worthy of imitation. But it can
not be said that the tangible results of their
heroism are relatively any greater than those of
the Protestant missionaries. The whole ques-
ton Is one of great difficulty, and ready made
solution of it seems to be possible Coming back
to the question of religion in Japan a sugges-
ton thrown out recently by Count Okuma is in
teresting, though its feasibility is open to doubt
"The fundamental idea of Confucianism" he
says, sis benevolence; that of Buddhism is COM
passion or mercy, and that of Christianity love-
"These feelings form the basis of all religion
''The founders of the different religions knew
"their own people, and their own part of the
world only. and hence could not devise any
| System of teaching that should suit all coun-
tries alike, but they did an immense deal in
"the way of drawing attention to the import
lance of certain principles. What is most de-
'sirable now Is to get rid of the superstructure
land lay bare the foundation Benevolence
compassion and love! Cannot Buddhsts. Chris
"tians and Confucianists come together on these
principles and work in harmony? This union
may not be witnessed in my time, but II will
"come some day"
The difficulty with this suggestion is that when
| the people are ready to adopt 1t they will be
thoroughly Indifferent to the need of any religion
| whatever.
March didn't go out precisely like lamb but