THE HAND OF GOD IN JAPAN.
By A. D. Gring
WE may, perhaps, be brought into greater sympathy with the Japanese Government by pointing out some of the great difficulties with which they have had to contend. The grounds of their opposition to Christianity are:— 1. Their fear that Christianity will destroy their government. 2. That Christianity which preaches the divinity of Christ will destroy the belief of the people in the divinity of their emperor. In the light of the Jesuit attempt to interfere with matters political in the work begun by Xavier in 1549, we can have a great deal of sympathy with the Japanese in their fear that Christianity might interfere with the government. So, also, we may be able to sympathize to some extent with their fear that a belief in the divinity of Christ would do much to lessen the faith of the people in their emperor. But, thanks be to God, the careful avoidance of all political criticism, and the loyal conduct of the native Christians to their emperor, have completely convinced the thinking people of Japan that the missionaries are not there to interfere with their government, and that it is possible for a Japanese to be a devout Christian and still be loyal to his emperor and to his country. Japan is now in search of a new religion. The faith in the old cults is giving way. The atmosphere of modern Japan is uncongenial to their old religions. Nothing but the Gospel of love, sympathy, liberty, and reason, can meet the demands of the hour. The door is completely open. We have but to enter in, and, by the lives of the missionaries and native Christians, and deep sympathy for all classes and conditions of men, convince the people of the superiority of the Christian religion. There is here a tremendous responsibility. Let us catch the enthusiasm of this responsibility.—Rev. A. D. Gring.