CHURCH FEDERATION IN JAPAN
By B. O. Wade
If it had been the aim of the third General Conference of Protestant Missionaries to guide the great majority of its followers to a proper observance of the Sabbath, and to secure for the Church the purity, the blessing, and the power of which it is now robbed by its open and flagrant desecration, this, in itself, and to them, would have been an important epoch in their work. But when it became necessary for them to put forth a united and earnest effort to secure a general observance of the same by both the church-members and the general public, in a land of confessed heathenism, it at once divests itself of every local characteristic, and assumes a position that entitles it to a place among the events of the world. Recognizing the fact that, under the present “unscriptural divisions,” they could not accomplish their great purpose, they have sent forth the following proclamation and resolution:— This conference of missionaries, assembled in the city of Tokio, proclaims its belief that all who are one with Christ by faith, are one body; and it calls upon all those who love the Lord Jesus and His Church in sincerity and truth, to pray and to labor for the full realization of such a corporate oneness as the Master himself prayed for on the night in which He was betrayed. Whereas, While this Conference gratefully recognizes the high degree of harmony and cordial co-operation which has marked the history of Protestant missions in Japan, it is at the same time convinced that the work of evangelization is often retarded by an unhappy competition, especially in the smaller fields, and by the duplication of machinery which our present arrangements involve: Therefore,— Resolved, That this Conference elect, upon the nomination of the President and Vice-Presidents, a Promoting Committee of ten, whose duty it shall be to prepare a plan for the formation of a Representative Standing Committee of the Missions; such plan to be submitted to the various missions for their approval, and to go into operation as soon as approved by such a number of missions as include in their membership not less than two thirds of the Protestant missionaries in Japan. In the interpretation of this proclamation and resolution, we have the mind of the Conference itself. The Rt. Rev. Bishop Awry, of the Church of England, in objecting to the word “corporate,” stated that should the Conference take any steps that would in any way discriminate against those members of Christ who constitute the great body of Christians in Japan, represented by the Roman and Greek churches, he could not act with them. The writer of the proclamation then interpreted it by saying that although he wrote it as an expression of his own mind, yet he was willing to write anything necessary to meet the demand. It was further stated by numerous members of this “Protestant” Conference, that their belief, from childhood, in the validity of the Roman Catholic Church’s claim to oneness with God was unshaken; that they had desired that the bishops of the Roman and Greek Catholic churches might have joined with them in council; and that they regretted that the time had not arrived when it was possible. How easily is the line of distinction swept away, and the priceless jewel of a free conscience set at naught! These men are not unmindful of the conditions upon which Rome based her proposition for this desired union. A former extract from an official organ of the Catholic Church will be in place here:— “To apply the terms “liberal,” “progressive,” and “conservative,” to Christian sects and parties sounds very grand; but it smacks of medicine-puffing advertisements. The more ineffectual the thing, the more noise is made about it. This principle of liberty of conscience, of which the Protestants make so much, has proved a snare and a delusion to them. Unitarianism is its natural result. In making freedom of belief the foundation of the Church, the Protestants have built upon sand. Men who have given up all the chief articles of the Christian faith, and who have nothing but unoccupied building ground to offer, are soliciting Buddhists and Shintoists to provide them with material to erect a structure to take the place of the building that has fallen to pieces over their heads. They fail to distinguish between pearls and pebbles, truth and error. And this kind of action they call progress. To us it looks much like retrogression. This talk of union among Protestants is mere idle prating. What have they to unite them? Do they not all advocate independence of judgment? Is it not a case of there being no standard to which all will alike bow? This cry for union shows that they are ill at ease, and well they may be. What elements of union are there in the whole system? We are united because our Church is founded on the teaching of Christ as transmitted by St. Peter. Our Church distinguishes between truth and error, and we all obey her. But it is of the very essence of Protestantism to split up into a hundred sects. Each man is free to set up a sect of his own if he disagrees with his fellow Christians; and so we see disorganization on every hand. The foundation of the whole system is shaky, and hence the superstructure is constantly tumbling. There are Protestant sects that seem to have nothing more to hold them together except the name that they bear, which is no more useful for this purpose than a signboard. It is evident that the terms are not liberal, yet some sorrow that the union can not be effected at once. All desire it, and with one exception are ready to do anything in order to effect co-operation. In view of these things it is not a strange thing that one year ago a bill for the regulation of religion in Japan was introduced into the diet. The bill provided for the organization, power, and procedure of a religious council, in which all religious controversies not amenable to the jurisdiction of civil courts would be adjudged. The present conditions demand such a council; and the people are prepared to meet the demand; for when the promoting committee shall have formulated its union-laws, they will simply be dead letters unless backed by an authoritative voice. Persecution under Diocletian against Christianity as a profession developed a union whose falsity was clearly shown when Constantine tossed to them the prize box of imperial favor. A false union to-day will meet the same fate. It sounds well to talk union, but the natural heart has not yet learned the Christian virtue: “in honor preferring one another.” Rome is too much Rome to effect any union in which the harvest will be for others than “the legitimate and most holy Catholic religion.” “The records of the past clearly teach us the real enmity of Rome toward the true Sabbath and its defenders, and the means which she employs to honor the institution of her creating. The word of God teaches that those scenes are to be repeated as papists and Protestants unite for the exaltation of Sunday. Protestants do not know what they are doing when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. “As the work of Sabbath reform extends, this rejection of divine law will become well-nigh universal. The Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. We shall soon see and feel what the purpose of the Roman element is.” Is the world ready for this? Are Seventh-day Adventists ready for it? B. O. WADE.
Tokio, Japan.