1. The Intellectual Environment
By J. H. DeForest
THE JAPANESE ENVIRONMENT AND CHRISTIANITY.
[J. H. DeForest, D.D., in the Missionary Herald.] HE who would really understand the problems confronting Christianity in Japan, must know not only the redeeming and victorious power of Christ's life and words, but must also know the environment which this new life is to affect. It is of prime importance that the Christian Church, which sends eight hundred missionary men and women here, should be acquainted with the conditions under which they are working, in order that their work may not end in embarrassments. The great elements that make up the Japanese environment are four: [We omit the fourth.—Ed. S. or T.]13 1. The Intellectual Environment.
Christianity can not thrive in an atmosphere of ignorance. Its great victories heretofore have been among the peoples who were the most enlightened of their times. And to-day we are in the presence of a nation of 46,000,000, among whose characteristics is now, and always has been, the very marked one of love of knowledge. No sooner were the doors of seclusion opened, than the coronation oath of the present emperor was taken, containing these impressive words, "Knowledge shall be sought for throughout the whole world." Ever since then the one conspicuous trait of this people has been its burning love of new truth and its great sacrifices to win priceless knowledge. Especially are the young men of Japan intensely eager to acquire all possible information. They really hunger and thirst after knowledge as the young men of no other nation ever did. Schools abound all through the empire. Newspapers and magazines are read by nearly everybody. The scholars of Japan have won names of international interest. Truly, in spite of seeming streaks of narrowness and abiding superstitions, it must be said that the Japanese are the most open-minded people that ever existed, welcoming truth, honoring all, natives or foreigners, who can bring to them the treasures of knowledge. Now, how can Christianity enter successfully such an environment? Without knowledge it is impossible to win the confidence and respect of these lovers of knowledge. No matter how firmly we believe in the deity of Christ, unless our message can be presented in terms that reveal the possession of up-to-date, modern knowledge, however the spirit of the missionary may affect a few individuals, it will not touch the national life and thought. It is now, as it always has been and ever will be: no religion can arouse the emotions and permanently hold the heart, unless it also convinces the intellect. In every crisis of the church it is not men of faith alone, but also of consecrated knowledge, who have saved the church from corruption and superstition, and made it in some measure the light of the world. So here in Japan, where knowledge is prized, and its possessors are revered, the extension of Christianity by missions, so as to affect the national life and pervade the national thought, is impossible without high grade schools and trained thinkers, who are familiar with the language. 2. The Political Environment.
Never before was there a great non-Christian nation in which the people had such perfect liberty of religious faith as is permitted in Japan. And wherever religious liberty prevails, there also exist the other great liberties of speech and press, of civil and political and educational freedom. Christianity never before had such an opportunity. There are those who sometimes venture to think that Christianity flourishes best under oppression and persecution. Well, look at Russia and Turkey; if intolerance and violence make a good environment for Christianity, there are ample fields yet remaining for enthusiasts who never feel quite right unless they are persecuted. True, out of persecutions have come a few splendid Christian heroes, whose blood has been indeed the seed of the church. But the vast crop of hypocrites and renegades and pitifully weak people who have been produced by persecutions, who can estimate? Where, throughout the world, has Christianity risen to its highest grades and done the widest missionary work? Only where there is liberty, is the Spirit of God able to elevate and inspire the hearts of nations. 3. The Moral Environment.
I used to think that all non-Christian nations were necessarily rotten, and that they were truthfully represented in those sweeping words in the first chapter of Romans. But I have come to see that the horrible catalog of wickednesses recorded in Romans can be found to some extent in every great city of the Christian nations; and I have learned that the "virtues of the heathen," which have been called "splendid vices," are, rather, splendid fragments of the "light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." In ethical life, the world now ranks Japan much higher than so-called Christian Russia. To be sure, the history of Japan reveals glaring immoralities, side by side with lofty virtues. Her commercial and sexual immoralities are known all over the world. Yet it is her virtues, not her vices, that have controlled the destiny of the nation. Everybody knows the place occupied by Chū-kō, Loyalty and Filial Piety. But the manifestation of these virtues lies in the spirit of self-sacrifice for others, even unto death. The path of moral progress is blazed with the precious names of men and women who have unhesitatingly and lovingly given their lives to save others, or to vindicate a righteous purpose. It is because of this that the people so highly appreciate the ethics based on the love that Christ taught, and the righteousness that is dearer than life. The nation that produced Sakura Sogoro, who incurred death by crucifixion in order to save his friends from ruin, is providentially educated to see the eternal truth that shines forth from the cross of Christ.—Missionary Herald.