The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1912-09-21

were graded as fOllOWS. L. Iuc en-
peror. above all; 2. the mobiles: 3. the
Samurai, 4, the farmers: 3, artists
and artisans: s, the merchants and
traders; 7, the criminals and out
casts.
In no country in the world Is there
more religious freedom than In Japan
Three religions flourish - Shintoism.
Buddhism and Christianity. Shintoism
is the indigenous religion Of Japan. Its
foundation stones are loyalty, and the
worship OF ancestors, heroes and Nd
ture. Shintoism is the religion OF the
emperor, and consequently is favored
by the government. Its moral precepts
are taught in the schools.
Buddhism has for its central doc
trine the unity of all life and the broth
erhood of man, while its ideal Is HE
made glorious by self-conquest and ex-
allied by boundless love and wisdom
A Japanese can be, and often Is. an al
herent Of both Shintoism Ind budd
hism.
Temples Beautiful.
Buddhism alone of all the world re-
ligions has never carried on Its propa-
ganda by the sword 1t Is now divided
| into a great number OF sects. Or late
It has witnessed a decided revival In
Japan Though neither Shlntolsm nor
Buddhism has the clear conception OF
a personal God that Christianity oners.
the great man Of noble character Is
held to be the direct impersonation Of
the divine spirit.
"Of course a large part OF our sight
| seeing was visiting the shrines and
temples many of them beautiful De-
yond description. l can never tor
get the Shinto shrines In woodland
slades, which no human being ever
enters. where the many gaze reverent-
ly through the latticed windows into
the twilight silence within and where
abide divinities and ghosts Of noble
men. Nor can ] cease to remember
the soft enchantment of the Budd-
hist temples, the deep music Of the
! great bells, the green peace Of the
gardens haunted by fearless things,
doves that flutter down at call. fishes
rising to be fed.
! Il shall be expected to say some
thing about the present status Of Chris
tianity in Japan. Most travellers re-
turn from Japan either pro-missionary
or anti-missionary. II they have made
their headquarters. as perhaps most
do. in Yokohama and Kobe and min.
gled almost exclusively with the for
eign business men they are likely to
take the anti-missionary point Of view.
They will not set an .! -::.::ssionar.
impression. however, ii they spend
most Of their time among the Japan.
csc as 1 did.
while 1t is true that Christianity
is probably not keeping pace with
the growth Of population. Christian
ethical standards have already per-
meated the nation and are univer-
sally incorporated into the Japanese
social system. Acceptance of Chris
tianity as such has hardly touched the
upper and lower classes. 1t has its
footing almost entirely in the middle
class The students. as with US. are
considered especially susceptible to Its
appeal
The two chief hindrances to the
spread Of Christianity aside from
worldwide causes seem to be the pres
ent diversity and antagonism of de-
nominations and the quite obvious dis
crepancy between Christian profession
and practice. When Christian nations
offer themselves az moral leaders, aft
er the rapacity with which they have
established themselves in the Orient.
the educated japanese 10 tempted to
smile ct the inconSruity"