The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-02-25
A PEN-PICTURE
A. Japanese Describes Japan's
Christian Missions.
With NerO'S and EliZabeth'S EX-
cuses For Destruction.

Bile article on THE Early Days of
christian Missions in Japan" 1t is
Impossible to describe the subtle and
exquisite charm of the writer's style:
Or the hatred of the Catholic church
which burns in every one of the lovely
and carefully studied words. The
Catholic reader feels rs if he had
picked up Il string of shimmering
DpaIS and blstered his hands. with
them. says the Boston Pilot.
Yet the Japanese passion for the
heroic compclS tribute of admiration
to the early missionaries and martyrs,
and perhaps the best description OF
the most horrible religious pcrsecu-
ton since the days Of Nero. But as
Nobuna@a, the first protector of the
christians is credited only with Il de-
sire for personal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i'll
bringing in the missionaries TO divide
,. power of the Buddhist priests, so
is Ic>ayu, who with the help of the
S.utch teStants.-reuctant, ac-
sor,Iin@ t. Mr.. KinnOSrkc,-swcptt the
1ouri>Liny Japanese church Off the
sasr If the land. justified by the ven
rrallr fiction that he must thus pre-
secvc the integrity of the Empire.
Here is the writer's pen-picture of
the Apostle of Japan:
"ThiS new faith came in Il striking
mannrr. We had never seen such Il
pTnpltrt us Ii" who preached it in our
streets New. even to the hemedgc
ri his garments. Yet there was some
tl,n= ,uch more striking than the
complexion aud costume Of the preach
cr Of the new faith. The story he told
KITS that of n life. How amazingly
uew WIS the life. 1t was heroic, that
iifv: ii was unsrlli>h; in spite of its
striking novelty of conduct, there was
slGit in it which went straight to the
llc;lgt of the samurai. You can see
e,jS fur yourself if you think of it {;
titi!r---ispthing gives the Imagination
ST the race of here worShiperS called
9it,- Of Jesus Christ The amazing
originality of his courage. of his UNI
ity to his duty, his way of looking
ulaus this life of earth ightly--con
xlnri1g these. we see it was not by
,rci,trut that the JeSuitS achieved
thrr almost incredible success in
shesr happy days of the first flush of
our toreign intercourse. Moreover,
&ht. iurl. from SatSumE to MatSumai.
WIS thoroughly weary of bloolshed.
lIrrr WAS the type of hcroism that
VAS without blood. AS il the new cult
wrtr no! striking enough in it's, nov
hsy- the way it WAS preached was
quite us striking as it's creed. In two
a-;hTs tire Gospel was preached. Both
OF tiicu were extremes. The one was
sitter the ilnrllnnorrh manner of the
ucudirant, the aScrtc. common to the
iifr of faith in the Far East. The
ptl"r. through Il princely pomp and
soyai ceremony. To the lords of many
CASTLES. especially in Ilyusllu. to the
hAsnlil in BunGn. the new faith intro
ducrd itself With many II costly pres
rilt- Francis Nnvier, who stood i'm
:Ilt> sad and empty streets of Kyoto
Tn the last days of .\shikag:t Yoshi-
serT. rercivrd from home in two years
Sllr thousand tlnuhlnunS uiftrrn tliOuS-
and dollars, to spend for this end"
We quot" furthrr:-
"F'rnnc;S Navipr landed ut Sntsuna
i'll fIlo. In 1851 there were two hun
hrrd c!nrrllcs dedicated to the wor-
ship Of The Christian God: and that
WAS the gear which mHrkrd the con-
crl'sion Of the ,l;lnliO of the province
nj i:'n@o to christianity. In 1883.
sIlcr, was sent by the daimo Of
k!ust'u IN embassy to Rome. 1t WAS
tlis s;uipr REGARD: The converts to
Christianity number two million
xDul>. l'rlil. pS he was somewhat i'm
agi,N,iiyv. ti!is historian: nevertheless
tllc ":rly i,rn-r; - of the missionary
work in Niplnal is strikimgly Indicated.
''Iryasu found two million converts
throughout his domain: two hundred
foreign missionaries were minsteriny
TO their spiritual needs All of the
provinces of Ky,lSl,u save IIyuya and
GSumi;l were under Christian intlu-
s,lcrS. At Osaka. as we'll as in the
anci@nt city Of Kyoto, in Sendai in
She north. in KnnaGawn in the PROV
fIier Of linGn. there We're already seen
enclnons> fruits ct missionary enter
prise III fact. only eight out of the
siNty-Si:; flUvincr> Of Nippon We're
free from The missionary zeal. DOmn-
ic''n friars were in SatSuma. while
Fi;,risranS in Yrdo ana .csuits in
The provinces round about the capital
ttty Of kyoto. and also in the south
ern PROVINCES down to Satsuma, help
GU 10 divide the empire Ieyasu, who
did all things thoroughly and with
+ wetl-studieh system, established Il
:. special commission, under the pictur
eslue maine of 1<iristan Bugyo, OF
''tl.c Christian Commission" whose
duty il WAS to investigate carefully