The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-09-03
HAWAII SHIMPO
AND CHRISTIANIT Y

J umns to the general failure of Christian
Missionaries to make a deep impression
on japanese and TO the lack of sincerity
J among those Japanese who are listed as
converts to Christianity" After dwell
ing upon this charge of hypocrisy on the
part of the Christian japanese both at
home and in Hawaii it advances two So
called reasons for ''the failure" First
japanese patriotism Will tolerate no God
except the Emperor. Second. the Mis-
Sionary IS regarded as the advance agent
OF land-grabbing Powers No one OF
these statements IS original or new. They
are the stock objections popular ten
r. years or more ago in Japan but utterly
worn out there today 1t is strange that
they should be offered by a Japanese OF
intelligence at this late date.
Take up the first assertion "the 1act,
of sincerity among those japanese who
are listed as converts to Christianity. .
The author of this article knows Cor
should know that there are today no
fewer than 10000 communicates in the
Christian churches of Japan. He is
| fouling his own national nest by pro-
claiming the majority or even a respect
able minority of these to be insincere
He knows that the 1900 Protestant
communicates are drawn from the more
intelligent classes OF the community,
having very high percentage of edu-
/ Gated men and women. He should know
| that of the SIS Protestant churches in
| Japan % are wholly self-supporting and
| $40 partly self-supporting, while these
1900 Christians have expended
! for their own Christian work last year
! I34.o4I yen. Rather princely giving for a
; set of hyprocrltes He knows that such
men as the late Hon. Kenkichi Kataoka,
four times Speaker of the Imperial Diet,
F! Hon. Soroku Ebara, nominated recently
by the Emperor as one of three. candi-
date for Speaker of the Diet, Hon. Taro
| Ando, Hawaii's great gift to Japanese
/ Christianity, Hon. Toliwo Yolloi, Pres
! ident Shimomura of the Doshisha, and
the Revs. Kozaki, Uemura, Ebina, Ibuka,
Harada and Honda, Mr.. Kanzo Uchi-
nura and hundred other Christian
leaders who might be named are men
OF whom any nation on earth might be
proud. The writer of the article in Ha-
wall Shimpo would not think of calling
/, any large proportion of his Christian
countrynen insincere in the presence of
such a company Of course there are
Judases in everv band of disciples and
there are also Peters who fail in emer-
gency but as whole JaDanese Christians
are true, noble men. We do not think
as hardly of Japan as the Shimpo. We
believe the great majority of Japanese,
like the great majority of any nation,
mean we'll and are in the main sincere.
When they become Christians they do
this because they believe it to be the
truth. Let us be chary of calling any
large number of men hypocrites. The
Emperor of Japan who has nominated
Christians to the Imperial Diets as
Speakers at least 6 out of 9 possible
times and the Diets themselves which
have elected them 5 out of 9 times have
evidently entertained nobler sentiments
on this subject than the author of that
Shmpo leader So also do the military
authorities who require that the inter
prefers furnished the foreign correspond
ents with the army must be Christians,
because so many interpreters previously
employed have proved dishonest and de-
ceitful
AS for the God versus Emperor idea,
very little need be said. In the early
days OF the Meiji era it was hard for
Japanese to reconcile their ideas of fealty
to the material Emperor and loyalty to
the Spiritual God But that this troubles |
no thinking person in Japan today the |
writer of the article in question ought |
certainly to know. In the army and |
navy the very hotbed of patriotism Chris |
tian soldiers and sailors fight side by |
side with their non-Christian comrades. |
One of the brave heroes chosen to man |
the hulks sunk off Port Arthur was a |
Christian on whose body when recovered |
a copy of the Scriptures was found |
soaked with his life blood. Of the two |
spies captured at Hardin, Capt. Jokoka,
IL az H.
captors who ordered him shot He left |
his money to the Russian Red Cross say
ing that he wished TO show his obedience
to the law of his Master, Love your
enemies" No wonder that Prime Min
lister Count Katsura and Minister of
War General Terauchi are taking earn
est interest in affording the National
Committee of the Young Mems Chris
tan Associations every facility for work
o.. behalf of soldiers and sailors. In
the face of these instances and many
others such as the Emperor's recent dec
Grating of Mr.. Ishii, the head of the
Okayana Orphan Asylum. one Of the
most widely known Christians in the
Empire, it IS futile TO say that anywhere
among intelligent Japanese sentiment
exists that Christianity antagonizes pat
-iotism.
In view of Japan's ernergence upon the
scene of world politics as one of the
Great Powers, the old-time scare crow
i 20 years ago that missionaries were
he advance guard OF foreign conquering
armies has lost all its power to fright
n It is no compliment to the intelli-
renee of Japanese, their courage or their {
OF power to claim that
hey are to be scared away from faith
n Jesus by any such childish notions as I
hese. The japanese are highly intel
ectual people The truth taught by
esus has already won its way largely
o their hearts. Witness in proof of this
he Red Cross Society with its million
# members. The reasons why more of
hem are not found in the churches are
arin,,s The chief one is that the nmrn-