WE have now reached the time when the growth of the Protestant churches and the eagerness of the people to learn about Christianity were such as to arouse the highest hopes of the missionaries, and to excite the wonder of the whole Christian world. Many persons were led to ask the old question with a tone that implied an affirmative answer: “Shall a nation be born in a day?”
Though there is no one point that specifically marks the beginning of this period of rapid growth, the year 1883 has usually been considered as opening a new chapter in the history of the Protestant churches. This is partly because it was the year when important conventions were held, and partly because it saw the beginning of a series of revivals that exerted a powerful influence upon the Christians, and through them upon unbelievers.
The first of the meetings was the Second Conference of the Protestant Missionaries of Japan* It was held in the Municipal Hall of the Foreign Concession in Osaka, from Monday, April 16, to Saturday, April 21, 1883. One hundred and six missionaries (fifty-eight men and forty-eight women) were in attendance; representing sixteen missionary societies, four Bible societies, and two societies working for seamen.
The first morning Rev. J. H. Ballagh of the Reformed Church Mission, preached a sermon on “The Need and Promise of the Power of the Holy Spirit in Our Work as Missionaries,” the text being Acts i, 8. “By the thought pervading this sermon,” wrote Dr. G. W. Knox, “the conference was borne along; it showed itself at every devotional meeting and found expression again and again in the various addresses.”
The Conference was organised with three Chairmen:— J. C. Hepburn, M.D., LL.D., of the American Presbyterian Mission; Rev. R. S. Maclay, D.D., of the Methodist Episcopal Mission; and Rev. C. F. Warren of the Church Missionary Society. The first of these, in replying to an address of welcome, referred to the fact that twenty-four years ago that month he and his wife had started from New York on their way to Japan, They knew not whether they would be allowed to land; and when, in October, their ship entered the Bay of Yedo, they knelt down to pray that in some way a home might be provided for them, and that they might be guided in the work they were about to undertake. He did not then know whether he should ever see one Japanese brought to Christ; he little thought that he would ever be privileged to preside over such a meeting as was now being held.
The first paper presented to the Conference was a “History of Protestant Missions in Japan,” by Rev. G. F. Verbeck; a paper that has been the authority for many of the statements contained in the present work. Other papers dealt with the different forms of missionary activity, the obstacles to the reception of Christianity by the Japanese, and other allied themes. One day was given to the consideration of “Self-support of the Native Churches,” the most radical views being those contained in a paper by Rev. H. H. Leavitt of the American Board Mission, who contended that no aid from mission funds should be given to churches, evangelists, or schools. In the evening the subject was further considered at a united Conference of Japanese and Foreign Workers. Rev. Paul Sawayama, who had been closely associated with Mr. Leavitt, and whose own church had been conducted on the principles he advocated, read a paper in which he took the ground that the Japanese Church should “provide money sufficient to cover the whole expense of the evangelistic, pastoral, and educational work of the Church, without receiving any pecuniary assistance whatever from foreign missionary societies,” the latter providing only for the support of the missionaries. A paper by Rev. Paul Kanamori advocated that, while the church expenses and the support of native evangelists should be provided by the Japanese, foreign help should be given for schools and for the production of Christian literature. Other Japanese that joined in the discussion were not ready to take so radical positions as these speakers.
The evident spirit of unity among the missionaries present at this Conference made a great impression on the Japanese that attended the meetings or heard of them through the reports in the Christian papers. The missionaries had come together full of courage and hope. The remarkable success attending past labours led to a strong belief that, under God’s blessing, Japan would in a few years be a Christian nation. Some went so far as to say that, if the call sent out by the Conference asking for re-enforcements was heeded by the churches at home, the work of evangelising Japan could be accomplished within ten years, or at least before the close of the century. Lastly, there was a deep devotional spirit. Some had come with hearts warmed by revival scenes among foreigners and Japanese at Yokohama and Tokyo. The Conference had for weeks been made the subject of much prayer. During the sessions, several Japanese churches in different parts of the land held special meetings to ask God’s blessing on all that was done. The devotional meetings held in connection with the Conference itself, were pervaded with an earnest desire that those present might receive power from on high to fit them for the work to which they had been called.
Among the acts of the Conference was the preparation of a letter addressed to the Convention of the Japanese Churches, which was to meet the next month in Tokyo. It told of the unity of spirit and harmony of opinion that had prevailed among the missionaries in their meeting, expressed sympathy with the Japanese workers, and prayed that a blessing might rest upon them during their deliberations, and in all their work.
The Convention of the Japanese churches had been preceded by events that prepared the way for making it a meeting full of power and enthusiasm. A deep religious interest that began among the foreign sailors in Yokohama had spread to the churches of that city and Tokyo. During the Week of Prayer at the beginning of the year, great earnestness in seeking a blessing from God and in carrying the Gospel to non-believers, had been manifested among the churches. Dr. Maclay of the American Methodist Episcopal Mission, wrote early in the spring:
“A spirit of religious revival, bringing times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, is spreading in Japan, both among the foreign community and among Japanese Christians. I have not before seen anything like it since coming to Japan, and trust we are about to witness signal displays of divine mercy in the conversion of souls.”
Just before the meeting of the Convention, Rev. H. Kozaki, the pastor of a Kumi-ai* church in Tokyo, wrote:
“Thank God! He is doing a mighty work among us. The Day of Pentecost is now being realised here. Many churches about Tokyo are just now undergoing the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Our church and the Methodist church are especially blessed. We are holding prayer-meetings every evening this week through. Every evening many were blessed with the Spirit, and many new ones confessed their faith in Christ, while all were undergoing the most extraordinary experience. I now realise the prophecy of the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out My Spirit,’ etc. The last night I could not sleep till one o’clock because of the anxious enquirers after the truth; this morning about half-past five, they came again to see me.”
In Osaka a few Christians began to meet daily, to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Their earnestness extended to others, so that the churches of different denominations soon united in daily prayer-meetings. “There was no excitement, but intense fervour and definiteness, both in prayer and exhortation.”
The Osaka Conference of Missionaries exerted a helpful influence upon the Convention in Tokyo. Japanese Christians in attendance at the former gathering had been impressed by its spirit of harmony and earnestness. They were thus the better prepared to promote a similar spirit in their own meeting. Those of them that were connected with the Kumi-ai churches were further helped by a meeting of their Missionary Society held in Kyoto the last of April.
Perhaps the Tokyo Convention will be best described by extracts from a letter sent by Mr. Neesima to the missionaries of the American Board who were at the same time holding their annual meeting in Kyoto. He wrote May 11:
“I am anxious to write you a few lines telling how the Lord blessed us in our great fellowship meeting. We commenced it on Tuesday with a one-hour prayer-meeting. It was the most impressive service I ever attended in my life. A spirit of union was greatly manifested in that meeting. In the afternoon we had reports from the delegates. It was a most enjoyable part of the conference. I can assure you that the Lord blessed us far more than we asked for. On Wednesday we bad a prayer-meeting from eight to nine a. m. ; public meeting for speaking in the afternoon. About seven hundred were present. Thursday’s programme was just the same. I preached this morning at the communion service. There was an hour of prayer-meeting before the communion. Mr. Okuno served at the communion table. It was the richest part of the meeting. All the people burst into tears. For this afternoon, topics on personal faith, education of preachers, and self-support were brought out for discussion, but I found myself so exhausted I did not attend. There is perfect union between the native brethren and the missionaries, and these two united parties are happily united in the Lord.
“May 12. I will add a few more lines to my yesterday’s note to you. I attended the union prayer-meeting last night. The house was completely filled for the largest prayer-meeting I ever attended in Japan. It commenced promptly at eight p. m., and closed at ten p. m.No vain and useless words were uttered either in remarks or prayers. Three or four persons stood up at once, and the leader of the meeting was obliged to ask others to wait until one finished. At the same time they seemed calm and serious. There was no undue excitement. The spirit of union was wonderfully manifested then. Numbers of our native brethren confessed that they have been very ungrateful toward the missionaries, and begged their pardon for it. A few missionary brethren made very impressive remarks, and seemed so glad and happy.”
The delegates in Tokyo hastened to inform their churches by letter or telegram of the blessings that were being received. Though most of the pastors and evangelists were in attendance on the Convention, the Christians, whom they had left behind, continued with new earnestness the daily prayer-meetings that had been already inaugurated, or began them where they had not previously been held. Hitherto the acceptance of Christianity had, with many, been only an intellectual acknowledment of its truth; but now there came to them a real sense of personal sin, an acceptance of Christ as a personal Saviour, and an earnest desire for the spiritual welfare of others.
Soon the delegates returned to their churches. “They were like new men. They had evidently received fresh light, grace, and power from on high,” Ere long the letters of the missionaries began to he filled with joyful accounts of the revival. Rev. C. F. Warren, of the Church Missionary Society, wrote from Osaka:
“During the whole of my ministerial experience of nearly twenty years, whether in China, England, or Japan, I never before witnessed such tokens of the presence and power of the Spirit of God. It was a blessed time of refreshing, and, thank God, the results have not been transient.”
Rev. C. S. Long, of the Methodist Episcopal Mission, reported:
“The Lord is doing a glorious work in Nagasaki. The Holy Spirit is being poured out upon the missionaries and natives in marvellous showers. Scores are being genuinely converted, testifying to the truth and power of the new religion. Persons who have been members of the Church for years are being born into the kingdom of grace and glory, and for the first time are realising the joy of sins forgiven and adoption into the spiritual kingdom of Christ. The Lord is certainly doing a wonderful work among us. The news is spreading through the city, and hundreds are flocking to the church. The members of other churches are becoming interested, and there is every indication that the glorious work will spread in every direction, and that hundreds will be brought to a knowledge of the true God. It is marvellous indeed. I never saw anything more striking at home.”*
In August Rev, M. L. Gordon, of the American Board Mission, wrote from Kyoto:
“The sense of sin, and the need of the Holy Spirit, and His actual working also, have been experienced as never before and to an extent which mere words, even the words of Scripture, could not effect, but which, when effected by the Spirit, most naturally find expression in the words of Scripture. A great many touching incidents have occurred. I heard one of our most devoted and self-denying pastors. . . tell how one night after they had retired, a brother sprang on him the question: ‘If ambition were subtracted from your heart, what would the remainder be?’ ‘It pierced,’ he said, ’like an arrow; for my heart told me that the true reply would be zero! He told, in the same address, how reading the life of Luther had done him great harm by filling his mind with thoughts of doing great and astonishing work rather than attending to the humble and faithful performance of the work God gave him to do.
“Mr. Neesima went to the great meeting in Tokyo prepared to advocate very strongly the necessity of union and harmony, first among the Japanese Christians themselves, and also between them and the missionaries; but he found no need of the speech he had prepared, for the whole assembly were already enthusiastically committed to the idea of union."†
In nearly all places where Christian work had been established the churches were crowded with eager listeners. Requests were constantly coming to the missionaries, urging them to visit cities where people desired instruction. There were large accessions to the membership of the churches. The pastors and the missionaries were filled with the highest hopes. An editorial in the Independent (New York) of September 6, 1883, fairly represents the feelings of those that were interested in the evangelisation of Japan. It says:
“It is not an extravagant anticipation that Japan may become a Christian nation in seventeen years. The Christian missionaries in Japan are now working with a strong hope that the twentieth century will open upon that island empire no longer a foreign mission field, but predominantly Christian, converted from shadowy paganisms and vague philosophies which now retain but a feeble hold upon the people, and received into the brotherhood of Christendom. A Japanese Constantine is not far off.”
The year 1884 saw the movement in favour of Christianity extending and deepening. It was about this time that the word rebaiburu (revival) gained a place in the vocabulary of the Christians; and there was constant occasion for its use in connection with the spiritual awakenings that took place in the churches and Christian schools. One of the most marked of these was in the Doshisha. About the first of March, several of the Christian students began a daily meeting, which was held at half-past nine in the evening at the close of study-hours, The numbers in attendance and the interest constantly increased until, on Sunday, March 16, the whole school showed that it was greatly moved. The different classes held meetings in which for hours they engaged in prayer, confession of sins, and praise. Through the following week the young men could think of hardly anything else than their relations to God. But few in the school remained unmoved. The students were eager to go out and tell others of the blessings they had deceived. It was with difficulty that they were induced to be satisfied with choosing three representatives who should carry the report to the churches, while the others should wait until the approaching vacation. To those that know the excitable nature of the young men of Japan, it will not seem strange that there were some extravagances. The teachers, and especially the missionaries, endeavoured to guard against excesses; urging “as strongly as they knew how, that the regularity of school life be maintained as regards studies, meals, exercise, and sleep; that the prayer-meetings be held early in the evening and be rigidly restricted to one hour; and that special pains be taken to secure quiet during the evening.”
Among the churches there were many revivals. We read of prayer-meetings “full of tears, sobbings, and broken confessions of sins.” In theatres and other buildings large audiences listened quietly and earnestly to the preaching of the Gospel. In Tokyo, where formerly such meetings had been subject to disturbance, four thousand people assembled in one of the theatres and showed no signs of opposition.
The rapid growth of the churches at this time is exemplified by that of the Kumi-ai body. In the year ending March 31, 1884, the total membership increased sixty-eight per cent.; and in the next year, fifty-three per cent.
It will be remembered that so late as 1881 Mr. Fukuzawa Yukichi had published essays in which he opposed Christianity as dangerous to the nation, and had even gone so far as to urge that the Government take measures to prevent its extension. It seems very strange to find this leader of public opinion publishing only three years later an essay entitled “The Adoption of the Foreign Religion is Necessary.” After speaking of the way in which some animals protect themselves from danger by taking on the colour of their surroundings, he said;
“It is an undeniable fact that the civilised countries of Europe and America excel all other lands not only in political institutions, but also in religion, in customs, and manners. It is natural therefore that they should be inclined to despise nations that differ from them in these particulars, as that other nations should appreciate their superiority and strive to imitate their example. Thus these features of a superior civilisation in Europe and America constitute a certain social distinctive colour world-wide in its character. Any nation therefore which lacks this distinctive badge of Western civilisation stands in the position of an opponent, and is not only unable to cope with the superiority of enlightened Americans and Europeans, but is directly or indirectly exposed to their derision. Hence one of the disadvantages under which inferior nations labour when they present a different colour from that of Western nations. The adoption of Western religion, along with institutions and customs, is the only means by which the social colour can become so assimilated as to remove this bar to intercourse and this cause of opposition….
“The civilised nations of Europe and America have always held that non-Christian countries could not be treated as enlightened nations. Such being the case, if we desire to maintain our intercourse with Western nations on the basis of international law, it is first of all absolutely necessary that we remove completely the stigma from our land of being an anti-Christian country, and obtain the recognition of fellowship by the adoption of their social color.
“Our suggestion may seem to imply a base currency and a subordination of our country to the sway of foreign powers, but such is by no means the case. According to the natural principle of all mundane intercourse, the inferior party can never hope to exercise a superior influence over the stronger. . . . To yield to enlightenment and to adopt civilised manners would not by any means indicate the policy of a sycophant, but simply a policy of self-defence by adopting the protective color of civilisation among civilised nations.
“Looked at from this point, it would appear that we ought to adopt a religion which, prevailing in Europe and America, exerts so considerable an influence over human affairs and social intercourse, so that our country may become a part of Christendom, presenting the same social appearance as Western powers, and sharing with them the advantages and disadvantages of their civilisation. We believe that the diplomatic adjustment of international intercourse with the outer world can be effected only by pursuing the course here suggested.
“As before stated, if we are not mistaken in our arguments, there is no alternative for our own country but to adopt the social colour of civilised nations in order to maintain our independence on a footing of equality with the various powers of the West. As an absolutely necessary preliminary, however, the Christian religion must be introduced from Europe and America, where it is propagated with the utmost enthusiasm. The adoption of this religion will not fail to bring the feelings of our people and the institutions of our land into harmony with those of the lands of the Occident. We earnestly desire, therefore, for the sake of our national administration that steps be taken for the introduction of Christianity as the religion of Japan.
“It must, however, be borne in mind that, although we have frequently adverted to religious subjects, we have refrained from expressing an opinion as to the nature of any—i.e., as to their truth or falsity. From the standpoint of a private individual, we may say that we take little or no interest in the subject of religion, as it does not affect our personal feelings or sentiments.”*
In a later article Mr. Fukuzawa said that in order to have Japan put on an equal footing with other nations.
“We must change our professed belief and wear a religious dress uniform with others. We mean by professed belief, what we profess to believe apart from the question of what may be our true doctrine. It would be sufficient to make it publicly known that Japan is a Christian country. . . . We do not mean that the majority of our countrymen should be Christians. A small number, one for every hundred, wilt he sufficient. All that is required is the assumption of the title of a Christian country. The steps necessary for the Christianisation of the country are to register the creed of Japanese Christians, permit the conduct of funeral ceremonies by missionaries, and gradually introduce baptism among the upper and middle classes. We cannot attach too much importance to Japan’s entrance into the comity of Christian nations."†
Astonishing as it may seem to the reader that a man in Mr. Fukuzawa’s position should be willing to advocate such hypocrisy, he was followed by others that spoke and wrote in favour of the same policy. It is said that some of them went so far as to urge that the Emperor receive baptism so that Japan might at once be counted as a Christian country. Among the politicians that were agitating in favour of a constitutional government were some that hoped to make Christianity a tool for accomplishing their purpose. Many other influential persons recognised the moral power of Christianity and, though not willing themselves to yield to its restraints, they sent their children to Christian schools and contributed to the support of Christian institutions.
The leader of the Liberal Party, which was agitating for popular government, was Mr, (afterwards Count) Itagaki. Early in 1884 he visited Imabari, Shikoku, in order to give a political lecture. This town was the seat of one of the most flourishing churches in Japan; and some of his party residing there had said that their leader would give the foreign religion its deathblow. Great was their surprise when Mr. Itagaki invited the pastor of the church to deliver an address upon the Christian view of politics. Not only did Mr. Itagaki applaud the sentiments that were expressed, but in his own speech he said that Christianity was one of the needs of the hour, for Japan could not hope to rank with Western nations until it possessed their religion. Soon after this, Mr. Itagaki invited the missionaries of the Reformed and Presbyterian Churches to visit Kochi, the city in which he lived. He asked the leading merchants, bankers, and politicians to meet them, was himself present at the public gatherings, and delivered an address in which he advocated the adoption of Christianity. There had before this been some interest in Christianity aroused by visits of Rev. J. L. Atkinson, and it was now greatly increased. Mr. Itagaki did all he could to aid the movement from outside, but did not profess to become himself a follower of Christ. Others, however, and among them some who afterwards held prominent places in political circles, became believers. A few months later, a church was formed that was self-supporting from the first, Mr. Itagaki presenting it with a building, and promising to pay one-half of the pastor’s salary.
The Japan Mail (July 12, 1884), speaking of the great change in public opinion, said that the best minds in Japan were beginning to appreciate what the Christian work of previous years had accomplished.
“The quiet work of these years, in school and chapel, by means of tens of thousands of books and tracts assiduously circulated, together with the influence of pure personal and family life, has prepared the way for such a movement as the present. The Christian Church in Japan, small though it be, is making a good record for itself—so good, indeed, that rascals make it profitable to counterfeit the true—while the indirect results of the new faith are traceable far beyond the reach of nominal believers.”
As might be supposed, the missionaries were much encouraged at the outlook. Many of them felt that the time had come for broader plans and more vigorous efforts. An address by Rev. C. S. Eby of the Canadian Methodist Mission, entitled “The Immediate Christianisation of Japan: Prospects, Plans, Results,” excited much interest in those who heard it, and in others who read it as afterwards printed. The special plans it urged included the establishment of “a national Christian University, which shall not only offer better advantages than the Imperial University of Tokyo, but vie with the best universities in our home lands,” for which two million dollars should be asked from Christian philanthropists of the West; a “central Apologetical Institute or Lectureship of Christian Philosophy, which should be housed in an imposing building of solid construction containing a hall capable of seating from one thousand to five thousand people, and a library of choice apologetic and other literature;” the increase of the “missionary force by one hundred or more evangelists who shall have nothing to do but to preach;” and the uniting of churches having nearly the same polity and belief, so that there should be but five denominations, all “working in harmony to gather in the fruits and build for all time.”
The Tokyo and Yokohama Missionary Conference, before which this paper was read, gave it an enthusiastic approval and drew up an elaborate plan for carrying out its recommendations. Doubtless the difficulties involved in such a programme were more or less evident to all; but none felt like opposing what was in itself desirable, however Utopian the plan might appear. It is needless to say that men and means were never supplied. The paper cannot be said, however, to have been without any good results. It did something to aid the slowly developing movement for union among closely related churches; and the establishment in Tokyo, at a later date, of the Central Tabernacle by Mr. Eby’s own mission, was a partial carrying out of his plan for an Apologetical Institute.
The educational work carried on by the different missions kept pace with the rapid advance in other directions. Already in 1883 the Methodist Episcopal Mis-sion had established in Tokyo the Aoyama Gakuin, comprising a theological school, a college, and an academy for boys; as also a seminary for girls. In 1884 the Canadian Methodists opened the Toyo Eiwa Gakko in Tokyo; the Evangelical Association, a seminary in the same city; the Church Missionary Society, a school for boys and also a divinity school, both in Osaka; the Baptists, a theological seminary in Yokohama; and the American Board, a school for Bible-women in Kobe. The same year the Scripture Union was established, its object being to encourage the reading of the Bible. A programme of daily readings was prepared for its members, many of whom were not members of churches, but promised to read the passages selected. The society soon gained members in all parts of the Empire.
In August, 1884, the Government issued a notification to the effect that “the Shinto and Buddhist Official Priesthood has been abolished, and the power of appointing and discharging incumbents of religious temples and monasteries, and the promotion and degradation in rank of preceptors, has been transferred to the religious superintendents of those sects;” under certain regulations that were of such a nature as to relieve the Government from all responsibility for the conduct of religious affairs. Thus the connection of these religions with the State was almost completely severed. One practical result of the new regulations accompanying this notification was that permission was given the people to bury their dead under such forms as they preferred, This greatly lessened the power of the Buddhist priests to annoy the Christians, though they were still able to prevent burials in cemeteries that belonged to the temples.
Notwithstanding the evident intention of the Government to favour religious liberty, priests and local officials often attempted to put obstacles in the way of Christianity. One of the under officials in a town near Kobe was forbidden by his superior to attend Christian services, to have family worship, or even to read the Bible. He accordingly resigned his office, but was soon after appointed to a higher position. In another place, when a Christian was chosen upon the school-hoard, the mayor united with others in holding back the returns and refusing to let him serve. They also endeavoured to get a Christian teacher to feign sickness or plead some other excuse for handing in his resignation. He refused to oblige them, and they could bring no complaint against him except his religion.
In several places chapels were stoned, windows broken, and occasionally personal injury inflicted. In one town the stones were so large and numerous that the Christians preserved them and used them a few years later as part of the foundation of a church building. In other places such missiles were inscribed: “Persecution Stones,” and kept as mementoes. In Takahashi, Bitchiu, where drums were beaten and other methods taken to disturb Christian meetings, an amusing incident occurred. Some young men had managed to catch a large number of black snakes. These they carried in a basket one evening to the Christian chapel with the intention of throwing them into the midst of the worshippers. There was a crowd of people before the open front of the house, trying in its own way to cause annoyance, and the young men attempted to throw the basket over the heads of these people into the house. As it left their hands, it accidentally caught in such a way as to turn it upside down, dropping its contents on the heads of the outsiders, and it was they instead of the Christians who were startled and put to flight by the uncanny reptiles.
It was commonly believed that the Buddhist priests in Kyoto had instigated attacks that were made upon the Christians. The Governor of the prefecture, therefore, called together the heads of the different sects that he might remonstrate with them. After reminding them that the Japanese Government was endeavouring to get foreign nations to consent to a revision of the treaties, he told them that, if success attended these efforts, foreigners would be permitted to reside in the interior, and must be left free to believe and to preach their religion. He then said: “We have recently heard that Buddhist believers sometimes interrupt the Protestant and Roman Catholic preachers, destroy their houses and property, and injure Christian converts. If such riotous actions be frequently indulged in, it is a thousand to one if the matter do not become a question with every foreign government. . . . Seek to influence the priests of your sects to instruct their followers and not suffer them to make mistakes and injure our country.” It was probably because of this warning that the Chief Abbot of the Shin sect issued a letter calling on the priests to be submissive to notifications issued by the Government and not to use violence in their efforts to prevent people from becoming Christians.
The following letter was received by missionaries in Kyoto:
“To the Four American Barbarians; Davis, Gordon, Learned, and Greene; We speak to you who have come with words that are sweet in the mouth but a sword in the heart, bad priests, American barbarians, four robbers. You have come from a far country with the evil religion of Christ and as slaves of the Japanese robber Neesima. With bad teaching you are gradually deceiving the people; but we know your hearts, and hence we shall soon with Japanese swords inflict the punishment of heaven upon you. Japan being truly a flourishing, excellent country, in ancient times when Buddhism first came to Japan, those who brought it were killed; in the same way you must be killed. But we do not want to defile the sacred soil of Japan with your abominable blood; for this reason we wait two weeks and you must leave Kyoto and go to your country; if not, the little robbers of the Doshisha School, and all the believers of this way in the city, will be killed; hence, take your families and go quickly.
“Patriots in the Peaceful City; Believers in Shinto.”
After a while the efforts of the Buddhists against Christianity took the form of what was known as Yase Taiji, or Movement for the Extermination of the Religion of Jesus. Priests and others visited different parts of the country delivering lectures, forming societies, and stirring up the people to resist the progress of Christianity. One of the leading arguments they advanced against it was that it required its followers to abstain from war, and, therefore, in case Japan should be attacked, they would do nothing for the defence of their country.
It is said that these agitators were officially warned that they must give up the use of the word taiji. However this may have been, there continued to be from time to time incidents that showed the Government to be in favour of toleration. Among these the Japan Mail called attention to what took place at the funeral of Mr. Davidow, the Russian Minister, in December, 1885. It says of the ceremony, which was conducted in accordance with the rites of the Greek Church:
“It was essentially official. Japanese princes were present in the chapel; Japanese Ministers of State in full uniform walked behind the bier; Japanese artillery fired minute guns; and the body of the deceased Minister was deposited in a mausoleum erected by the Japanese Government. But at the head of the cortège marched a body of Japanese Christians; Japanese priests took a prominent part in performing the funeral rites; and a choir of Japanese girls and boys sang the requiem for the dead.”
In 1885 three new missions began work in Japan. They were those of the Presbyterian Church of the United States,* of the American Society of Friends, and of the Evangelical Protestant Missionary Society (German and Swiss). As this last society is not well known by American and English Christians, and as its principles and methods differ in some respects from those of others working in Japan, a few words concerning it will not be out of place. The society was organised in 1884, being “the first attempt of Liberal Christianity to co-operate in mission work in accordance with its own convictions.” One of its promoters expressed the principles of the society in the following theses:
“We must bring the Gospel to the civilised heathen nations:
“1. Not as human wisdom, but as a divine revelation;
“2. Not as the sole, but as a perfect revelation;
“3. Not as a new culture, but as a help in moral distress;
“4. Not as a party or denominational matter, but as a testimony of the one and only Saviour;
“5. Not as a collection of remarkable doctrines, but as an act of God for our salvation;
“6. Not as the history of something past, but as a power of God experienced by the Christian in his own heart.”
Its representatives in Japan, as described by one of their number:
“Aim at a reconciliation of Christianity with the modern view of the world by striving after an up-to-date expression of the eternal truth of the simple Gospel of Jesus, adapted at the same time to the particular needs of the Japanese, instead of offering ancient but transient formulas of Western dogmatics and worship.”
The first missionary of this society was Pastor Wilfred Spinner, D.D. Almost immediately after his arrival, he began to publish a monthly magazine, entitled Shinri (Truth), This was sent gratuitously to many of the leading preachers, among whom it soon exerted a strong influence. Dr. Spinner himself was invited to teach history in a school preparatory to the Imperial University. His scholarly attainments attracted many to the addresses on religious and philosophical subjects that he soon commenced to give. In 1887 the first church was organised, taking the name, Fukyu Fukuin Kyokwai, or General Evangelical Church. A theological school was opened the same year.
Bishop Poole, who had come in 1883, to supervise the work carried on by the missions of the Church of England, spent but ten months in the country before ill health made it necessary for him to return to England, There he died in 1885. The next year Bishop Edward Bickersteth succeeded to the office. He was the son of the Bishop of Exeter and, like his predecessor, had been a missionary in India.
Work among the Ainu, the aborigines living in Yezo, had been begun by Rev. J. Batchelor of the Church Missionary Society. It was attended by many difficulties. The language had to be studied without help from books. The Ainu were addicted to strong drink, and the Japanese that dwelt among them and often tyrannised over them tried to keep them from coming under the influence of the missionaries. In 1885 the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the hymn “Jesus Loves Me”—“the first things ever printed in the Ainu language”—were struck off by Mr. Batchelor on a small hand-press. At later dates he published translations of the Scriptures and the Prayer Book. He has also published in English, books upon the Ainu language, as well as descriptions of the people and their customs. On Christmas Day, 1885, the first Ainu was baptised. He was the son of a village chief. After this, a few baptisms occurred from time to time, until in 1893 there was an ingathering of one hundred and seventy-one persons. At the time of the Tokyo Conference in 1900, there were more than eleven hundred and fifty Ainu Christians. In addition to direct evangelistic work Mr. Batchelor and his associates opened schools and established in Sapporo a “Rest-house” to accommodate Ainu out-patients that come to receive treatment at the Japanese hospital in that city. A sad feature of the efforts made for the evangelisation of the Ainu is the knowledge that, as Mr. Batchelor says, “The race is a dying one, and nothing that can now be done can save it.”
Several essays published in 1886 by Japanese writers are noteworthy for the favourable, though patronising, tone in which they speak of Christianity. Professor Toyama of the Imperial University, in an article on the education of girls, said that it would be a great advantage if they could be instructed by European or American ladies. The most feasible way of bringing this about would be by the aid of Christian missionaries, whom he advised to establish five or six large schools in Tokyo. To those missionaries who might object that they came to Japan for purposes of propagandism, not of education, he replied that the most effective way of extending their religion would be by educating girls of the higher classes; for conversion to a new faith, as history teaches, begins with women. Let them believe, and the faith of the children would certainly follow. There was no reason to fear that the people of the higher classes would be so averse to Christianity as not to send their daughters to these schools. The Japanese were not hostile to any particular religion, though contemptuous of all. If convinced that benefits came from any creed, they would not show antipathy to it. The present schools were not of sufficiently high grade, nor were they centrally located. There ought also to be classes for adult women where they could learn Western customs.
The great desire among the upper classes to adopt Western ways was, indeed, at its height. Officials were required to wear the European style of dress while on duty, and women were urged to exchange their robes for the dresses worn by their Western sisters. This movement was largely political, for those that promoted it said: “So long as we are attired in Oriental garb, we are treated as Orientals; if we wish to be regarded by Europeans as on an equality with themselves, we must put on their outward appearance.” With the same end in view, balls and other Occidental forms of entertainment were introduced. It was under such circumstances that Professor Toyama issued a pamphlet on “The Relations between Social Reforms and Christianity.” In it he advocated the adoption of Christianity for the following reasons:—1. Christianity assists in the improvement of music; 2. Its adoption will help to develop ability for combination and union, in which Japanese are very deficient; 3. Its influence will elevate the position of women, and bring the sexes together in a way that will benefit both. He closed by saying:
“The reformers of society must not be contented with such paltry measures as the inauguration of balls and garden parties. Those who, while enthusiastically admiring the customs and manners of the West, do not exert themselves to further the introduction of that religion which has the most intimate connection with those manners and customs, must lay themselves open to the charge of being either ignorant or cowardly,”
Somewhat later Professor Toyama published “A New Plea for the Advancement of Christianity.” This manifested the same desire to make that religion a tool for advancing the causes in which he was interested. While still advocating the education of girls in Christian schools, he also urged the missionaries to establish preparatory schools to fit students for entrance to the Imperial University, since public opinion would become favourable to Christianity when the highest institution of learning was permeated with that religion.
A Japanese gentleman contributed to the Japan Mail, in May, 1886, an essay upon “Christianity in Japan.” He referred to a scene witnessed seven years before at the graduation exercises of the University. The students had been acting very rudely, wearing their hats, coughing, and making various noises to interrupt the addresses. At last, as one of the speakers came upon the platform, he rebuked this conduct. The only effect was to increase the disturbance; but when the speaker announced that his subject was “Christianity,” the hall was suddenly hushed into silence, while the students, one by one, removed their hats and all listened respectfully to hear what would be said by one who was known to be a strenuous opponent of the religion concerning which he was to speak. Great was their satisfaction when he fervently denounced it as the most hateful enemy of reason, of science, and of everything good. The essayist said of the students of that time: “We hated Christianity and Christians, because these words were in our minds synonymous with whatever was opposed to the honour and independence of the nation.” A marvellous change, however, had been wrought in seven years. The persevering efforts of missionaries and native believers had doubtless been the principal agents in leading the nation to its present attitude towards Christianity; but they had been aided by various factors, political and social. Among the former was the problem of treaty revision, Mr. Fukuzawa and others having shown the people that in order to be treated as equals, their laws, system of government, education, and above all, religion, must be recast upon Western models. The attitude of the missionaries, who had said and written much in favour of a revision of the treaties, had won the good will of the people. Moreover, the religion of Christ was believed to be favourable to those principles of human equality and liberty that a majority of progressive young men were advocating, and thus they had been led to regard that religion in an entirely different light from that shed upon it by their traditional prejudices. Under social influences the writer referred to the impressions that had been made upon students who had studied abroad, and to the closer relations that had been established between Japanese and the foreign residents. Among the principal reasons for what the essayist regarded as slow progress in gaining converts, he mentioned sectarian strife, want of funds, and the failure of missionaries to present Christianity in the form best suited to the national genius of the Japanese. Enlarging on the last point, he urged the teaching of Christianity “in its rationalistic aspect” without superstition, he being convinced that in its rigid, orthodox form it would never obtain any general or firm hold on the minds of educated Japanese. He would have the native churches become as soon as possible entirely independent, and as a help to this they should be united. They should cut themselves “entirely free from the history of Christianity in the West and begin a new experience on an entirely new and enlightened basis—a basis laid in the Bible and preserved from decay by the healthy light of modern science.”
A writer in the Tokyo Independent recommended Unitarianism as a state religion and would reconcile a belief in one God with Shinto rites by considering the shrines erected in honour of emperors and heroes to be like mausoleums of such great men as Napoleon and Washington.
The desire for Western civilisation was naturally accompanied by increased interest in the study of the English language. In 1885 forty thousand books were imported from England and fifty-nine thousand from America; while in 1886 the numbers increased to eighty-five thousand and one hundred and nineteen thousand respectively. The efforts of the Government to have English taught in the public schools was hampered by the lack of teachers. Mission schools were crowded. In several places the native Christians established schools and urged missionaries to aid in the teaching. In other cities, companies largely or wholly composed of non-believers proposed to establish schools that should be taught by missionaries and native Christians, more or less freedom being given them to teach the Bible and to exert a religious influence upon the pupils.
Among the schools was one established in Sendai. A wealthy and influential gentleman of that city, who had formerly been the Japanese Consul in New York, asked Mr. Neesima to lend his name to the founding of a school that it was hoped would gradually develop into a college like those of New England. This gentleman said that if the American Board would promise to furnish teachers for ten years, the people of Sendai would provide buildings, salaries for native teachers, and all other necessary funds. When Mr. Neesima with a member of the Mission visited Sendai, they were welcomed by the Governor and other prominent men, were told that five thousand yen was pledged for the new school, and were assured that its religious basis should be the same as that of the Doshisha, The Mission decided to accept the invitation. Rev. J. H. DeForest, D.D., was assigned to the work and others were at different times associated with him. The school was opened in October, 1886, the exercises including prayer and the reading of the Scriptures. Of the seven members of the faculty, six were Christians, though none of the patrons of the schools were professed believers. There were at first one hundred and twenty-two pupils. Twenty of these were baptised the first year. The Bible was one of the text-books, though its study was optional. The general exercises held each morning included a prayer.
A more formal opening of the school took place in June, 1887. It was attended by the Governor, Vice-Governor, Mayor, judges, generals, and leading citizens. Here, too, the Christian character of the school was openly declared.
At times the school was the object of severe attacks by the local press and by persons who were opposed to the teaching of Christianity. At last the prefectural government decided to establish another school of similar grade. This was in accordance with the policy of the Educational Department, which was opposed to private schools. Knowing that financial reasons would make it impossible to contend against this new difficulty, the teachers decided to resign. The closing exercises in 1891, like those that opened the school four years before, were attended by officials and prominent citizens, much regret being expressed that an institution which had done such good work must be closed. The experiment of a Christian school supported and governed by non-Christians was thus brought to an untimely end. It was felt, however, by the American Board Mission that the strength expended on it had not been lost. Several of the students had become Christians, some of them entered the theological or other departments of the Doshisha, and much evangelistic work had been done in the city by the teachers.
Another school was opened at Sendai in the same year as the one we have been considering; and the histories of the two institutions present points of comparison that perhaps are not without instructive lessons. The second school in its beginning did not attract much attention, nor did it enjoy the favour of prominent citizens. The prospects of permanence and future influence seemed less promising than those of the other. Some time previous to this, evangelistic work had been begun in Sendai by Rev. Oshikawa Masayoshi and another preacher. In 1886 Rev. W. E. Hoy of the Reformed (German) Church in the United States took up his residence in the same city; and in June of that year he and Mr. Oshikawa gathered seven young men, candidates for the Christian ministry, into a class that was at first held in an old dwelling house on the outskirts of the city. After one or two removals it had in 1888 a small building of its own, the pupils then numbering twenty-eight. When a new brick building was dedicated in 1892, there were seventeen theological and one hundred and thirty-three other students. Though not free from difficulties and vicissitudes, the school that began so humbly has in the main been prospered, and as the Tohoku Gakuin has become one of the most influential Christian institutions in the land.
Somewhat similar to the history of the first of these Sendai schools was that of one opened in Niigata, although in this case the leading trustees were Christians. The school met with much opposition from Buddhists and others. It also suffered from internal dissensions; one of its presidents and afterwards the principal of the school attempting to eliminate Christianity, and to minimise the influence of missionary teachers. Financial difficulties that here, as in Sendai, were intensified by the establishment of a government school, finally necessitated the abandonment of the enterprise.
Several schools for girls were started about this time under Christian auspices. An incident occurring in Niigata Prefecture shows how the desire for education had penetrated into even this, one of the most backward sections of the country. Four girls who were eager to obtain an education, resolved that they would either do this or die in the attempt. They took a solemn oath by which each promised to commit suicide unless she could induce her family to send her to school. One of them wrote a letter to the principal of an academy, and the reply fell into the hands of her parents, who severely rebuked her, saying that women did not need an education. After listening in silence to their reproofs, she went to her own room and there committed suicide. The brother of another of these girls was a student in the Tokyo Imperial University. After his graduation she begged him to take her with him to Tokyo and put her in a girls’ school. He showed no sympathy with her desires, and she also took her own life. The third girl became a Christian. This led to her being so severely persecuted by her parents that she was driven into insanity. The fourth of the band, more fortunate than the others, was allowed to enter the normal school in Niigata.*
The year 1886 witnessed a renewed interest in the cause of temperance. This was aroused by lectures delivered in many cities by Mrs. Mary Clemmer Leavitt, who had come from America as the representative of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Several temperance societies were formed under Christian auspices, though in many cases persons of other faiths became members. One of the most active of these societies was organised a year later in Sapporo. Taking the name “Hokkaido Temperance Society,” it organised branches in different parts of the island of Yezo. In 1894 it had two thousand members. Most of the organisations in Japan united after a time in a National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, which established its headquarters in Tokyo, where it published a paper and other literature.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, established a mission in 1886. The same year a lecture-room holding seventeen hundred persons was erected for the Young Men’s Christian Association in Osaka, by means of gifts sent by friends in England, America, and Australia. Thus was supplied a need that had long been felt in that city for a large auditorium under the control of the Christians.
While most of the churches were rejoicing in great prosperity, there were in several places special manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s presence. A letter describing what occurred in the Girls’ School connected with the English Church Mission in Osaka says:
“The blessing of a revival which God graciously granted to many of his servants in Japan, foreign as well as native, extended also to some of the older girls in the school, who gave proof that they had been drawn nearer to God. Emotions of envy and jealousy, deeply rooted, were mutually confessed and wept over, and pardon was sought for them in united prayer, and the girls began to love each other more sincerely and cordially.”
In November, 1886, a noteworthy revival began in Sendai. The churches of different denominations had united in a series of meetings. Large audiences gathered, and many of the Christians were so impressed that they went into the fields or to the hills for prayer, it always being difficult in a Japanese house to obtain privacy. Others remained in the church until three o’clock in the morning. Some went to the houses of the pastors to confess their sins and seek help, while many made a public acknowledgment of their sins. Persons who had before shown no sympathy with revivals now acknowledged their mistake. The report of these things spread abroad and led to the holding of similar meetings in other cities.
In view of the advance being made in the various departments of work and of the calls that were coming from all parts of the field, it is not strange to find one missionary writing: “The avalanche of opportunities that slides down upon us almost stuns us.” Yet there were sections of the country where even fairly intelligent men knew nothing of the great changes that were coming upon their land. One of these persons, who lived among the mountains of Yamato, came on business to the town of Shingu in the province of Kii. In the evening he lodged at the house of a friend whom he had not seen for years. As the two sat talking together, the master of the house inquired:
“Have you ever heard anything about Christianity?”
His guest, with a frightened air, lowered his voice, and said: “Be cautious. If you talk of such things, you will surely be beheaded.”
“What makes you think so?”
“Why, are you so ignorant as not to know that Christianity is strictly prohibited?”
“Can it be,” said the host, “that you are unaware of the great changes that have taken place? We are now free to believe in Christianity. In this city there is a church of which I am a member, and it is constantly growing larger and larger.”
“I never dreamed of such a thing. I myself am a Christian, For ten generations the religion has been handed down in our family from father to son. I supposed that the laws against it were still in force, and so I have never told others of my faith. God be praised if I am now at liberty to speak of it!”
He was instructed by his friend and a few months later became a member of the Shingu Church.
The year 1887 is to be remembered among other things for various movements having for their aim the bringing together of churches that had hitherto been separate. We have already seen how several Presbyterian churches were united in one. In a similar way the Episcopalian churches were now brought together. The missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and of the American Episcopal Mission had already joined in the preparation of a Prayer Book and in other matters of common interest. They had also sought the approval of home churches for the formation of a united church whose doctrinal basis should be the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-nine Articles. The Convention of the American Episcopal Church had in 1886 disapproved of the acceptance of the Articles. In February, 1887, the missionaries met with delegates of the churches in a synod that was thus described by Bishop Bickersteth:
“It was a freely elected body, in which Europeans and Americans were greatly outnumbered by Japanese. Of the Japanese delegates the majority were men of education. In consequence, questions were discussed on their merits, not results merely accepted on authority. The main decisions arrived at were unanimious. A Japanese Church was organised. A constitution was laid down on the basis of the Holy Scriptures, the Nicene Creed, the Sacraments, and the Three Orders. The Anglican Prayer Book and Articles were retained for present use. Regulations were made for the regular meeting of a Synod and local councils. A Japanese Missionary Society was set on foot.”
The name adopted for this organisation was Nippon Sei-Ko-Kwai (Holy Catholic Church of Japan). At that time it had about thirteen hundred members.
By the passage of the following resolution, the Episcopalian missionaries expressed their desire for a more comprehensive union:
“This United Conference of Missionaries of the Church of England and of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, now assembled in Osaka, wishes to place on record the desire for the establishment in Japan of a Christian Church which, by imposing no non-essential conditions of communion, shall include as many as possible of the Christians of this country.”
A committee was appointed “to enter into communication on the subject with any committee that may be authorised to act in like manner on behalf of other Christian bodies in Japan.”
Unfortunately for the success of this movement, Bishop Bickersteth, who as Chairman reported this action to the secretaries of other missions, said in his letter: “May I ask your acceptance at the same time of a copy of two sermons which I have lately published,” and included these with the other document. Among other passages in the sermons, the following attracted attention, since it was naturally supposed to indicate the kind of “union” that was desired. In speaking of the Anglican communion, the Bishop said:
“Nor can I doubt, more expecially if we are given liberty after careful thought to lay aside all that is purely national in our system and formularies, and which will not, however needful to ourselves, bear transplanting into another soil, that by degrees many noble-hearted workers for God who now stand apart from us will, with those whom under many forms they have led to Christ, find a rallying point in the only Communion which, if I judge rightly, has touch and contact with them all. The Holy Scriptures, the Creeds, the Orders of the Ministry, and the Sacraments, together with the initial rite of Confirmation, include all that seems to me essential to a Church which would abide in the teaching and fellowship of the Apostles.”
The Mission of the American Board, in replying to this communication, expressed its sympathy with all desires for strengthening the bonds of union between Christians, but drew attention to the fact that it had no ecclesiastical relations with the churches that had grown up in connection with its work, and that these churches must decide for themselves about any action looking towards union with others. At the same time, it expressed its readiness to send a committee to any conference where it might be desirable to have it represented as a mission.
The Council of Missions Connected with the United Church of Christ in Japan (Presbyterian) replied at considerable length, asking the meaning of the resolutions, calling attention to several expressions in the Bishop’s sermons, and saying that representatives of their Church could not meet those of another except upon terms of absolute ecclesiastical equality.
This letter led to an animated correspondence. Bishop Bickersteth, writing as an individual, expressed regret that he had not sent the sermons in a separate enclosure, since they were not to be taken as necessarily representing the views of the Conference. He was also grieved that umbrage had been given by his use of the word “non-conformist” in speaking of those not connected with the Episcopalian Church, and said that “in consultation, the representatives of the various missionary societies would meet on a footing of perfect equality, as being alike by virtue of their Baptism members of Christ’s Church.”
The Secretary of the Council, in referring to the sentence last quoted, objected that the proposed conference would then be that of a body of private Christians, not a company of ministers and laymen representing various churches. In another letter he said that a committee of the United Church would be glad to meet with the Episcopalian committee if it were understood that the episcopate was not to be taken as one of the essentials of the proposed Church, and if the conferees could meet as equals.
The replies of other missions, so far as made public, were more formal, and the whole matter was dropped.
A union of the United Church of Christ in Japan and the Kumi-ai (Congregational) Churches had often been advocated, and in order to have a conference between the two bodies it was decided that in May, 1887, each should hold its annual meeting in Tokyo, At these meetings a joint committee was appointed which drew up a general plan embodying a basis of union. This having been approved by each side, a larger committee was entrusted with the duty of preparing standards of doctrine and government, which should be submitted to the churches at least six months before special meetings of each body that should be convened for their consideration. In May, 1888, it issued a report that included the draft of a constitution and by-laws. During the six months now available for the consideration of the plan, it became evident that, save for the strong objections of two Japanese ministers who considered that important doctrines were not sufficiently safeguarded, the work of the committee was regarded with favour by the United Church. Among the Kumi-ai Churches, however, adverse criticism soon began to be heard. They were unaccustomed to such minute rules and feared that the liberty of the local churches would be lost. While most of the missionaries of the American Board were in favour of the proposed union, two of their number issued pamphlets in which they drew attention to what they considered objectionable in the plan. Protests against it appeared in two American religious journals, and the Associations of the Congregational Churches of California and Nebraska passed votes in which it was suggested that, in case the union took place, the American Board might well withdraw financial aid. A number of young men in Tokyo became active opponents of the proposed scheme of government. Accordingly, when the meetings were held in November, the United Church had but three or four changes to suggest in the plan of the committee; while the Kumai-ai Churches hesitated about taking any action. Several churches declined to send delegates, saying that more time was needed for deliberation. Others sent representatives who were to hear and report what was said, but were not empowered to vote on the main question. Several days were spent in discussion, and it was decided to postpone action until the annual meeting in May, 1889. A committee was appointed to receive from the churches proposals of amendment and to confer with the committee of the United Church concerning revision.
As described by one who favoured its adoption, the revised constitution finally prepared did “not so much change the character of the basis of union as make its real meaning and nature plain and tend towards brevity.” The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Articles of the Evangelical Alliance were to be the standards of doctrine. The Westminster Catechism, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Plymouth Declaration were “to be held in veneration,” since “they have served a high purpose in the past, and are still to be regarded as of lasting value for the instruction and edification of believers.” Local churches could adopt such forms of internal organisation as they deemed advisable. Certain powers, however, were to be delegated to two bodies, called Bukwai and Sokwai. The former were local associations made up of a pastor and delegate from each church within their respective bounds. They would license preachers; ordain, retire, and discipline ministers; install and release pastors at the request of churches; organise or aid in organising churches; afford counsel and aid to those within their bounds; appoint representatives to the Sokwai; and decide cases of discipline referred to them by the churches. The Sokwai, an annual meeting of representatives from the Bukwai, was to receive and impart information concerning the work of the Church; to recommend such measures as it deemed expedient; to organise Bukwai; and to decide cases of discipline referred to it by them.
Though there had been some adverse criticism, it was the general expectation when the annual meetings opened in May, 1889, that both bodies would vote in favour of union; and it seems probable that, had the two meetings been in the same city so as to afford opportunities for consultation, some ground of agreement would have been found. The United Church, which met in Tokyo, desired only a few minor changes in the revised constitution; the Kumi-ai Churches, whose delegates met in Kobe, voted in favour of more radical amendments. Misunderstandings arose that might perhaps have been removed by conference. The United Church did, indeed, send a committee to Kobe; but owing to the failure of a telegram to reach the proper person, the Kumi-ai convention had adjourned before the committee’s arrival. Though the question of union between the two bodies nominally remained open for another year, it had practically been settled in the negative.
The year 1887 saw the opening of two forms of philanthropic work—the Nurses’ Training School in Kyoto, and the Orphan Asylum in Okayama. The former was established through the efforts of J. C. Berry, M.D., and from the first won the good will of the Japanese people. Its graduates were not only in demand for private nursing, but were also in many cases sought for important positions in government hospitals.
The Okayama Orphanage originated in the love and devotion of Mr. Ishii Juji, a native of the province of Hyuga, whence he had gone to Okayama for the study of medicine. He there became a Roman Catholic; but study of the New Testament, combined with other influences, led him to join a Kumi-ai church. While in the medical school, in order to obtain funds for his own support and that of a friend whom he was aiding, he worked evenings as a masseur. This gave opportunities to tell his patrons about his religious belief, so that several of them were led to accept Christianity, In 1886 George Müller visited Japan. Mr. Ishii was greatly stirred by the reports that he read of Mr. Midler’s addresses and by accounts of his work for orphans. Ill health interrupting his studies, he went to a small village near Okayama, where he began to practise medicine. One day in June, 1887, a beggar woman with two children came to a hut near his house and remained there over night. Mr. Ishii carried a bowl of rice to the eight-year-old boy, who immediately passed it over to a crippled sister. The woman, who had gone out to beg, soon returned, and in reply to questions said that, though she could support herself and the girl, she could not earn enough for all three. Mr. Ishii at once offered to adopt the boy. The woman, after some hesitation, gave her consent. Mr. Ishii soon returned to Okayama, and there in September he rented an old Buddhist temple into which he moved with his family, the child above mentioned, and two other boys whom he had picked up. Though nearly at the end of his medical course, he decided to give up study and to consecrate his life to work for children. The number of those under his care rapidly increased, as did the number of friends who, on hearing of the good work, gave substantial proof of their interest in it. There were indeed seasons of trial. The asylum was “reduced at times to its last bucket of rice, but the prayer of faith has brought relief and sometimes just at the moment of dire need.” Several instances are narrated that bear a close resemblance to those that Mr. Müller tells of wonderful deliverances in answer to prayer. Rev. J. H. Pertee, D.D., was almost from the first Mr. Ishii’s counsellor and helper in this work, as also the channel through which contributions from foreign friends helped in providing the institution with buildings and funds for other purposes. The asylum became an incentive and a model for similar institutions in other parts of Japan.
The desire of women to learn Western ways afforded opportunities for reaching them by various indirect methods. In some places the missionary ladies taught cooking. Still more common were classes for instruction in knitting and sewing. By means of these, access was gained to many that otherwise could not easily have been reached. Such quiet work gave opportunity for conversation that frequently ran in religious lines, and sometimes one of the company would be detailed to read aloud while the others plied their needles. In many places it was possible to combine Bible study with these gatherings.
The call for teachers of English in public and private schools opened another means of influence. A committee connected with the Young Men’s Christian Association was formed in New York, that sent out young men who were willing to spend three years in Japan, It was made known that these persons were open for engagement in schools where teachers of good education and upright characters were desired. Though they could say nothing in the public schools about religion, they did much to allay prejudice; and outside of school hours they gave Biblical instruction to those desiring it. Some of them became so much interested in the country that they ultimately entered the ranks of the missionaries.
The way in which high hopes were sometimes succeeded by disappointment was exemplified in Oyamada, a farming village in the province of Chikugo. It was defeated in a lawsuit that it had with another village concerning the division of land. The costs were so great that the inhabitants were heavily burdened with debt. By various devices they sought to gain help from their deities. Many of them on cold winter nights went without clothing to worship at a certain shrine and to bathe in icy waters. All their prayers were in vain. Then it was reported to them that Christian missionaries would be willing to pay a considerable sum to any person that would become a believer. About four hundred decided to take this method of retrieving their fortunes. When they learned that the report was incorrect, many of them relinquished all thought of becoming Christians. Others had become so dissatisfied with their former religion that they were still resolved to make a change. The people of a neighbouring village urged them not to give up their ancestral faith, and even proposed to use force in order to hold them back, Buddhist and Shinto priests, and also the prefectural governor, expostulated with them in vain. The villagers threw away or burned their idols and removed their own names from the records of the temples. Two men were sent to Nagasaki bearing a petition in which the heads of twenty-six families asked that some one be sent to teach them Christianity. On reaching the city, they began to make enquiries where they could find a missionary. A crafty fellow whom they met told them that if they would give him thirty yen with which to prepare a feast he would bring a missionary and intercede in their behalf. The money was paid to the man, who went to a Bible-store and told the one in charge of it that two persons desired to meet a missionary. The Bible-seller took them to Rev. A. B. Hutchinson of the Church Missionary Society. He sent a catechist to instruct the people, and when he himself visited the village several months later, he baptised seventy adults. The next year ninety-five adults and fifty-eight children were baptised. For some time Oyamada seemed “one of the brightest spots in Japan;” but, unfortunately, a few years later many of the people yielded to the strenuous efforts that were made to lead them back to their old beliefs. Several consented to sign a paper promising to give up the outward observance of Christianity on condition that certain wealthy men of the province would present the village with ten thousand yen.
It was in part owing to the suggestions of Japanese who, while abroad, had come in contact with Unitarianism, that the American Unitarian Association decided to send Rev. A. M. Knapp to Japan as a representative of its faith. Reaching Japan in 1887, he preferred not to be called a missionary but an envoy or ambassador that had come to “express the sympathy of the Unitarians of America for progressive religious movements in Japan, and give all necessary information to the leaders of religious thought and action in that country.” He said:
“The errand of Unitarianism in Japan is based upon the now familiar idea of the ‘sympathy of religions.’ With the conviction that we are messengers of distinctive and valuable truths which have not here been emphasised, and that in return there is much in your faith and life which to our harm we have not emphasised, receive us not as theological propagandists but as messengers of the new gospel of human brotherhood in the religious life of mankind.”
What has already been said of the views expressed by Mr. Fukuzawa and other writers shows that many persons were prepared to regard with favour a form of Christianity that minimised supernatural elements. Even some of the Buddhists joined in the welcome, though one reason for this may be found in the remark of a catechism published by the Shin sect: ‘Unitarianism will not be productive of any positive benefit; but as it will be negatively useful in neutralising the evil effects of Christianity, we approve the spread of that religion for the sake of the country—nay, for the sake of our Shin sect.” Mr. Knapp by interviews with influential men, by lectures, and by the use of the press, vigorously propagated his views. He was severely critical of the work and methods of other missionaries; so much so that a member of the liberal German Evangelical Protestant Mission, who to a considerable extent was in sympathy with Unitarian doctrines, wrote:
“I do not understand how it is that the representative of the American Unitarians, who has been residing in Tokyo for a year, takes an attitude apparently more friendly to Buddhists than to Christians. . . . I, too, had a time at my study-table at home when I thought that a fundamental change of methods of missions was desirable. But now I do not hesitate to confess that I do not know how missions in Japan, in particular Protestant missions, could labour more wisely or more in accordance with their aim.”
Mr. Knapp himself was very much elated at the promising opening of his work. Returning in 1889 to America to report progress, he said at the annual meeting of the Unitarian Association that its messenger might “fairly claim that his work in its results during the past year has exceeded a hundred-fold the average of the orthodox worker.” This success, however, did not consist in making converts, a work that he disclaimed any desire to undertake, hut in the fact that “one in a thousand of the Japanese had heard that there is such a thing as Unitarianism, and one in one hundred thousand understands what it is, and is more or less interested in its success.” Mr. Knapp soon went again to Japan, this time accompanied by Rev. Clay MacCauley, D.D., as a colleague, and by three teachers who had been appointed to positions in Mr. Fukuzawa’s school. Though these teachers disclaimed any connection with the Unitarian Mission, they sympathised with its work, and in various ways gave it their aid. In 1890 a Unitarian church was established in Tokyo, and the publication of a monthly magazine begun. The impression the movement made upon the Japanese is shown by an article written for the Unitarian Review of Boston, by Mr. Kishimoto Nobuta, a Kumi-ai Christian of liberal tendencies. He wrote:
“The first impression we have received is that Unitarianism has a strong sectarian spirit. This we anticipated to some extent; and this anticipation has been confirmed by the strange choice of a challenging title, The Unitarian, for its organ-magazine, and by the hostile attitude which articles contained in this magazine show towards the other sects of Christianity. The second impression is that Unitarianism is a philosophy rather than a religion. The Unitarian declares that Unitarianism is a positive religion; but among its advocates are found either those who are indifferent towards any religion or those purely agnostic or atheistic. Among them some of the noted Buddhist monks are also found. Strange to say, the Unitarianism of Japan shows a strong sympathy towards Buddhism, while it shows a strong hostile feeling towards its brother sects of Christianity. These facts have led our people to conclude that Unitarianism (at least, the Unitarianism of Japan,) cannot be a religion and that, if it can be a religion, it will be a religion of philosophers.”
To this article the editor appended a note, saying of a prominent Unitarian clergyman:
“Mr. Williams, who has recently returned from a visit to Japan, writes us that Unitarianism is hostile to Orthodox theology, and that this has given our Japanese brother a false impression; that it sympathises with Buddhism no more than with Confucianism. But, as its policy is to recognise spiritual truth in all these religions, and to meet their adherents in a spirit of courtesy and free inquiry, this attitude has been naturally misunderstood by those to whom such a policy implies a distrust of Christianity.”
Near the close of 1890, Mr. Knapp, on account of poor health, left Japan. The next year a school for teaching liberal theology grew out of courses of lectures on religious, ethical, and social topics. Gradually the teachers employed in Mr. Fukuzawa’s school and others who had come out to the Mission withdrew, so that Dr. MacCauley was left alone.
As early as 1867 a company of several hundred Japanese had gone to Hawaii, where they found employment on sugar plantations. When the Imperial Government was established in power, it for a long time did not favour the emigration of its subjects; but in 1885 a treaty negotiated with Hawaii opened the way by which some thousands, mostly from the farming class, went thither to labour for terms of three or six years. The interest of the Christian people in Hawaii was aroused in these immigrants, and Dr. Hyde, a missionary of the American Board, established meetings for their benefit Near the close of 1887 Mr. Miyama, an evangelist connected with the Methodist Episcopal Mission to the Japanese and Chinese in San Francisco, visited the islands. The immigrants gladly received one that could speak to them in their own language. Sunday schools and other Christian services were established, and ere long a Japanese Young Men’s Christian Association was organised. At this time the Japanese Consul was Mr. Ando Taro, a man deeply interested in the welfare of his countrymen. He had been much troubled by the amount of vice that prevailed among them. Though he had tried to work a reform by issuing notifications and in other ways, the condition of these people seemed to be growing worse. He saw with interest the good work accomplished by Mr. Miyama, of which he afterwards wrote:
“Gamblers threw away their dice, drunkards began to break their glasses, ruffians became gentle, and as a consequence the business of the Consul’s office experienced a great falling off. Even such an obstinate anti-Christian as I could not help being taken with surprise. I thought for the first time that Christianity must be good, at least for ignorant people, if it is so influential as this.”
Further study led Mr. Ando to a personal belief in Christ. The account of his religious experience was afterwards published in Japan as a tract, which was widely circulated and accomplished much good. In July, 1888, he with nine others was baptised and joined in a celebration of the Lord’s Supper when Japanese, Americans, Hawaiians, Chinese, and Gilbert Islanders united in remembering the dying love of their one Master. An arrangement was made by which the Methodists co-operated with the Hawaiian Evangelical Association for continuing the work. They afterwards withdrew, but in 1894 again sent a preacher to Honolulu. The same year Rev. and Mrs. O. H. Gulick, who for twenty-two years had been connected with the American Board’s Mission in Japan, removed to Honolulu. They had been born in Hawaii, where their parents had been missionaries; and hence they were well fitted to take charge of the work that the Evangelical Association was conducting among the Japanese. Because of the beneficial effect upon the labourers the managers of many plantations were glad to pay the money needed for the support of evangelists procured from Japan. In 1903 Rev. Doremus Scudder, D.D., who had at one time been a missionary of the American Board in Japan, went to Hawaii as superintendent of this work. In 1907 his place was taken by Rev. Frank S. Scudder. The Methodist Episcopal Church also sent American workers there to labour among the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans.
In 1888 the Christian schools of Japan were at the height of their prosperity. For example, the Doshisha had in its Theological Department 80 pupils; in the Academic Department, 410; in the Preparatory Department, 208; and in the Girls’ School, 180. One teacher wrote: “We should be quite overwhelmed with students if we had not made a strict resolution not to admit another student into the new class this year.”
In the spring this school was visited by Count Inoue, who had just resigned the post of Foreign Minister. In an address to the students he expressed his approval of it as an institution that aimed “at the promotion of moral and intellectual culture equally and simultaneously.” “We have made,” he added, “progress in scientific knowledge. We may even hope to attain in this to a level with the Occident. How, then, can we rest satisfied with ethical systems adapted only to Oriental standards?” Though too much must not be made of complimentary speeches, the mere fact of the appearance of such a person at a Christian school showed a change in public sentiment. A few months later, the Doshisha was visited by the Head of the Household Department.
There was more substantial proof of the interest that influential men were taking in these schools. In November, 1888, there appeared in twenty of the leading journals of Japan a plea by Mr. Neesima for funds by which the Doshisha should be made a university. It began by telling how in his youth he had gone to America and obtained an education, of the desire he had imbibed to give his own people such opportunities as existed there, of the way in which he had been enabled to open the schools in Kyoto, and of his belief that the time had come for establishing a university. He had already been encouraged by contributions of one thousand yen each from Counts Okuma and Inoue, five hundred yen from Count Aoki, and sums varying from two thousand to six thousand yen from eight business men. Counts Ito and Katsu, and Viscount Enomoto had promised aid, as had also friends in America. The document abounded in references to Christianity. It said:
“To express our hopes in brief, we seek to send out into the world not only men versed in literature and science, but young men of strong and noble character by which they can use their learning for the good of their fellowmen. This, we are convinced, can never be accomplished by abstract, speculative teaching, nor by strict and complicated rules, but only by Christian principles—the living and powerful principles of Christianity— and therefore we adopt these principles as the unchangeable foundation of our educational work, and devote our energies to their realisation.”
To this new enterprise Mr. Neesima now gave all his strength, alas! too much enfeebled for such a great undertaking. Not only did he receive money and promises from individuals, but the Prefectural Assembly of Nagoya promised one thousand yen, and it seemed probable that some other prefectures, desiring a university in that part of Japan, might follow this example. Hon. J. N. Harris of New London, Connecticut, gave $100,000 gold for the establishment of a scientific department. Useless though such meditations may be, one cannot always refrain from thinking of history as it might have been written had not certain events occurred. Had Mr. Neesima’s life been spared and had the reaction against Western ideas been postponed for a few years, it seems probable that there would have been established in Kyoto a strong Christian university whose influence would have greatly affected the educational and religious development of Japan.
Christian students were to be found in other than Christian schools. A graduate of the Doshisha, who was continuing his studies in the First Higher Middle School in Tokyo, conceived the plan of having a Young Men’s Christian Association to bind together the believers that were in that school, the Imperial University, and the High Commercial School. It was feared that their number was hardly sufficient to make the organisation practicable; but to the surprise of those who called a meeting to consider the subject, there was an attendance of thirty young men, who earnestly expressed the belief that some sort of union would greatly help them in the Christian life. Instead of one association as had been proposed, three allied societies, one for each school, were formed, and thus a movement began that afterwards grew into an extensive work for students in public and private schools.
Another movement in connection with education may find mention in this place. Beginning with 1876, several kindergartens had been opened in connection with the public schools of Japan. To missionaries acquainted with Froebel’s ideas, these institutions, where religious teaching and influence were excluded, seemed very imperfect. It also seemed to them that Christian kindergartens might be effective instruments for exerting a helpful influence upon children and upon the families to which they belonged. The Presbyterian Mission had opened one in Tokyo sometime previous to 1887. In that year Miss Annie L. Howe, an enthusiastic advocate of the system, was sent to the Mission of the American Board that she might open a school in Kobe for the training of kindergartners. In 1888 she gave instruction to a few pupils and thus laid the foundations of what soon became a flourishing training-school. The same year she was invited to give lectures on kindergarten methods to the students of the High Normal School in Tokyo. These were printed for the use of teachers in the government kindergartens. The Christian women of Kobe raised money for the establishment of a kindergarten where their own children might be educated, and this gave those being trained as teachers an opportunity for practical instruction. The graduates from the training-school were soon in great demand, not only for Christian kindergartens, but also for those established by the government.
In sad contrast with the kindergartens where laughing, innocent children engage in happy games and pleasant occupations are the prisons with their bars and locks, and with the clanking chains that fetter the movements of the gloomy inmates. Yet Christianity seeks everywhere its opportunities to help men, and He who took the children in His arms to bless them said that a part of His mission was to preach deliverance to captives. We have already seen how at times Japanese prisons had proved fertile fields for Christian effort, and some further incidents may here be related.
The Kumi-ai Church in Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku had obtained permission to have some one go every noon to the local prisons and preach to any that cared to listen. Usually about fifty persons attended these services. On rainy days the evangelists would enter the rooms of the prison to explain the Bible to those that desired it. This teaching was made more effective by the change in the conduct of the chief warden, who had been led by a missionary lady to accept Christ as his Saviour, Whereas he had formerly been very severe in his treatment of the prisoners, he now became forbearing and kind. In 1888 a man that had been convicted of murdering three persons was in prison awaiting the day set for his execution. He was led by the evangelist to repentance and a belief in Christ. On the fatal day he was brought to the place of execution, where his eyes were bandaged and the official sentence of condemnation was read to him. He was then asked whether there was any article of food or drink that he would like to receive as a last favour before suffering the penalty of the law. The man replied that he would soon be beyond thoughts of hunger and thirst, and so he would be glad to have the cost of the promised gift spent in buying some delicacy for any of the prisoners that might be ill. Then, having received permission to pray, he did so in the following words, as they were reported by one of the officials:
“Heavenly Father, I have been a great sinner and must now die for my crimes; but while I was in prison Thou didst greatly bless me by opening my heart, baptising me with the Gospel of Jesus, and filling my soul with joy and peace through the atonement that He made on the cross. At this time of suffering the penalty of death, Thou hast given me hope and everlasting peace. O Father, now I go to Thee. Receive my soul. I beseech Thee, O Father, have mercy on my mother and my sister. I beseech Thee to lead them to believe in Thee. As Thou hast saved me, I beseech Thee to save all these my brother and sister prisoners who are in this jail.”
Rising from his knees, he made a few last requests to the warden. The principal one was: “Please see that my aged mother and my young sister soon learn to know the truth as it is in Jesus, and become believers. Please say to them that this is my dying wish and legacy.” The man’s evident sincerity made a deep impression on all the officers that were present.
Not all prisoners are hardened criminals. In December, 1887, a number of persons had gone to Tokyo in order to petition the Government in behalf of certain political reforms. The Government issued “Regulations for the Preservation of the Public Peace,” and commanded the leading petitioners to leave the city. Some of them thought it their duty to protest against what they considered a tyrannical order by disobeying it. They were arrested and sent to prison. Some of these were men that afterwards occupied high official positions. Among them was Mr. Kataoka Kenkichi, a Christian, who a few years later became Chairman of the National House of Representatives, Another Christian has written an interesting account of his own experiences at this time. When arrested, he had taken his Bible, but was told that the rules prohibited prisoners from bringing anything with them. Saying that he was a Christian and therefore felt the need of a Bible, he asked permission to petition for one; but the keeper refused to forward his request to the higher authorities. Afterwards it was learned that the Department of Home Affairs had refused to let the Christians have Bibles. At a later date this restriction was removed, and the writer feelingly describes the great joy with which he spent the moments of leisure from menial and distasteful tasks in perusing the sacred pages. He also says:
“After we were permitted to have the Bible and other religious books, many of the prisoners who were not believers began to read them. As many as five hundred of them read more or less, some of them became earnest Christians and gave us great joy. Several of these, as they went out to labour or to become nurses in the hospital, became the means of spreading the story of God’s love among other prisoners, and some were converted. Thus we were not imprisoned in vain. It was the will of God that we should receive training in a practical school of theology.”
A still more noteworthy event in connection with prisons was the appointment of men as teachers of morality; or, since Christians were deliberately chosen and were expected to use Christian methods and motives, they might be called chaplains. In the northern island of Yezo large prisons had been established to which were sent criminals from all parts of Japan who were under sentence of twelve years or more. The newly appointed warden of one of those prisons, a man who was earnest in seeking the welfare of those under his charge, was convinced that they could be most helped through some one imbued with the principles of Christianity, Hence he secured the services of Mr. Hara Taneaki as instructor in morals. A little later, Rev. Tomeoka Kosuke was given a similar position in another prison. Both of these men have since become widely known for what they have done to help prisoners, discharged convicts, and wayward youths. At one time, all five of the prisons for long-sentence criminals had such chaplains. In addition to the ethical instruction given to all the inmates, they taught Christianity to those who desired to learn about it, were ever ready to give helpful counsel to those that sought personal interviews, and in other ways exerted an influence that proved the means of fitting many to lead upright lives after their terms of imprisonment were over. This good work continued until in 1895 a new superintendent of the prisons imposed restrictions that led to the withdrawal of the chaplains.
The period of rapid development may be considered as closing with the year 1888, The check was not so sudden that the succeeding years did not show considerable growth; such growth, indeed, as in some other countries would have filled the hearts of missionaries with great joy. Those in Japan had seen such rapid growth that their hopes had been unduly excited, and thus the years of comparative unproductiveness caused great disappointment. The statistics of the Protestant missions for 1888 show something of what had been accomplished up to that time. There were 150 male missionaries, 27 unmarried male missionaries, and 124 unmarried female missionaries; making a total, including wives, of 451. Of 249 churches, 92 were wholly self-supporting, The church-members numbered 25,514,* the adult baptisms for a year being 6,959; boys’ schools had 2,709 pupils, while 39 girls’ schools had 3,663, There were also 47 day schools with 3,299 pupils, 14 theological seminaries with 287 students, 3 schools for Bible-women with 92 pupils, and a school for nurses with 14 pupils. There were 142 ordained Japanese ministers, 257 unordained preachers and helpers, 8 colporteurs, and 70 Bible-women. The contributions of the Christians for all purposes in a year amounted to 64,454 yen, a yen at that time being worth about three-fourths of a gold dollar.
Christianity had gained the respect and to a considerable extent the approval of many outside of the churches. It was indeed true then, as it has always been, that some travellers, spending a few weeks in Japan without visiting Christian schools or churches, but taking up the loose talk that prevails on the steamers and in the smoking-rooms of hotels, went back to write books and articles in which they declared that the missionaries were accomplishing nothing. In some cases people with better opportunities for informing themselves allowed dislike of missionaries and their teaching to blind their eyes to what was going on. The Unitarian workers were inclined, as we have seen, to belittle what others were doing; and some of their coreligionists in America seemed glad to believe that evangelical missionaries were labouring in vain. An example of this was seen the next year in the reception accorded to Mr. (afterwards Baron) Kaneko Kentaro, and the remarks he made before the officers of the American Unitarian Association, which were reported in full in the Christian Register, a Unitarian paper published in Boston. Mr. Kaneko was at this time a secretary of the Privy Council, and had been sent to America and Europe to examine the parliamentary systems of different countries. Among other remarks derogatory to missionaries he said: “The missionary idea has never penetrated the upper classes. They report a large number of converts, but we see little or no sign of their influence.” This remark led Rev. D. C. Greene, D.D., to write an article in which he spoke of the headway Christianity was making among the influential classes. He showed that, although the shizoku (those formerly belonging to the military class, and at this time including most of the leaders of thought) constituted less than six per cent, of the population, they furnished about thirty per cent, of the church-members. He then went on to say:
“Not less than thirty students of the Imperial University are avowed Christians. Among the members of a single Congregational church are a judge of the Supreme Court of Japan, a professor in the Imperial University, three Government secretaries (holding a rank hardly, if any, inferior to Mr. Kaneko himself), members of at least two noble families; while in a Presbyterian church are the three most prominent members of the Liberal Party, one of them a count in the new peerage. Two influential members of the legislature of the prefecture of Tokyo, one of them the editor of the Keizai Zasshi, the ablest financial journal in Japan, are also members of a Congregational church. In the prefectures of Kyoto and Ehime, the Christians have two representatives in each local legislature. In the prefecture of Gumma, the President and Vice-President and three other members of the legislature are Christians, and in the Executive Committee, out of a total of five, three are Protestant Christians.”
Though these words were written a few months later, they were true of the conditions at the close of 1888. The list of Christians belonging to the influential classes, as given by Dr. Greene, might have been considerably lengthened. Indeed, among some Christian workers it was a cause for regret that the progress thus far made had been so disproportionately among those usually designated as the “upper-middle” classes, and the question was often asked how those belonging to the lower strata of society could be reached more effectively.
Footnotes
* The first was held in 1872.
* Though the designation “Kumi-ai” did not come into general use until a later date, it is convenient to employ it when speaking of the churches that afterwards adopted it as their name. These churches, which had grown up in connection with the work of the American Board Mission, had at first no distinctive name. They would gladly have continued to be known simply as Christian churches; but some convenient way of designating them became almost a necessity. It became evident that, if they did not choose some name for themselves, one would be fastened upon them by others; and at last, with considerable reluctance, they formally adopted the title “Kumi-ai.” Though it might be more convenient for most readers of this book to have the term “Congregational” used for these churches, their own preferences in the matter make it better to keep the Japanese word.
* Quoted by Mis, Herald, September, 1883, from Northern Christian Advocate.
† Mis. Herald, November, 1883.
* Translation in Japan Weekly Mail, July 12, 1884.
† Translation in Japan Weekly Mail, January 24, 1885.
* That of the Southern States of the American Union, the corresponding one of the Northern States being the Presbyterian Church in the United States.
* “A Modern Paul in Japan,” p. 171.
Japan Evangelist, June and August, 1896.
* The reports of some churches had been gathered so early that it was thought the total membership December 31 was about ten per cent, larger than that given above.