The Gist of Japan Part 11

The trustees affirm that it is their intention to keep the school strictly Christian, but they refuse to define the term "Christian."

Such vital matters as the divinity of Christ and the immortality of the soul are not positively affirmed. The rationalism which has emanated from this school has perhaps done as much in recent years to impede the progress of Christianity as any other one cause. It is very sad to see an inst.i.tution, built up at great expense by bequests of earnest Christian people, intended by its founder to lead the evangelical Christianity of this country, thus turned aside from its original purpose. {182} We trust that a gradual growth of a deeper Christian consciousness and a more positive faith in the hearts of the trustees and professors may yet lead them to make of this school a positive force for evangelical Christianity.

The mission of the American Board has experienced more trouble in recent years than any other, especially in the attempt properly to adjust the relations between the native and foreign workers, and in the matter of mission property. Most of the valuable property of the mission has pa.s.sed into native hands, and in some instances has been perverted from its original purpose. The missionaries are regarded with jealousy by many in the native church; they are entirely excluded from the church councils, and are being gradually pushed out of the most important positions, and their places filled with j.a.panese. It is a question just how far the policy adopted by this mission from the beginning is to blame for this unfortunate state of affairs. This policy has been to push the native workers to the front, to give them the important positions, and to allow them perfect freedom in all church matters. As a consequence, that which was at first granted as a concession is now demanded as a right. As a teacher in one of their own schools has comically put it, the mission said in the beginning--in j.a.panese phraseology--to the native brethren, {183} "Please honorably condescend to take the first place," and they are just doing what they were bidden to do. Other boards, with a different policy, have fared better. The Episcopal Church of j.a.pan, which is one of the most active, vigorous bodies at work here, is governed by foreign bishops, and nearly all the positions of importance are filled by foreign missionaries, and yet the relations between the native and foreign workers are, on the whole, cordial and harmonious. The Methodist Church is governed by foreign bishops, and nearly all the presiding elders are foreign missionaries, yet complete harmony prevails between the native and the foreign ministry. The Presbyterian Church, with a policy somewhat resembling the Congregational, is encountering the same difficulties in a milder form. These facts seem to indicate that, at least in part, the policy of the mission is itself responsible for the position in which it now finds itself.

But in nearly every mission field, as soon as a strong native church is developed, misunderstandings and friction between the native and foreign workers have arisen. Questions regarding the position of the native church and its relation to the foreign boards and missionaries almost inevitably arise. Therefore what the American Board has encountered may be partially encountered by all as soon as a stronger native church is {184} developed. Perhaps the national characteristics of the people are to some extent responsible also for this trouble and friction.

_The Church of Christ in j.a.pan_

This body represents an attempt at church union on a large scale. It is composed of all the Presbyterian and Reformed churches working in j.a.pan. These are the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, the Reformed Church in America, the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Reformed Church in the United States, the Presbyterian Church in the United States (South), the Woman's Union Missionary Society, and the c.u.mberland Presbyterian Church. All of these bodies are engaged in building up one and the same native church--the Church of Christ in j.a.pan. Yet each has its own field and is doing its own individual work.

The growth and success of this body have been phenomenal. It has 11,100 members, 60 ordained native ministers, 113 unordained catechists, and 146 missionaries. Its leading educational inst.i.tution is the Meiji Gakuin, in Tokyo, with both an academic and a theological department. This is a large, well-equipped school, with a good faculty.

In connection with this Church of Christ there {185} is a good academic and theological school in Nagasaki, known as Steele College, and supported by the Dutch Reformed and Southern Presbyterian missions.

This school is as thoroughly evangelical and positive in its teachings as any to be found in j.a.pan.

There are besides these five boarding-schools for boys, with 376 students, and sixteen boarding-schools for girls, with 795 pupils.

The representatives of the Church of Christ are found throughout the length and breadth of the land and are doing a good work. It is likely that this church will take the lead in the future.

_Methodist Churches_

There are five branches of the Methodist Church at work, namely, the American Methodist Episcopal, the Canadian Methodist Episcopal, the Evangelical a.s.sociation of North America, the Methodist Protestant, and the American Methodist Episcopal (South). There is no organic union between these bodies, but harmony and fraternity prevail. Efforts at union have been made time and again, but have been as yet unsuccessful.

We hope the future Methodist Church of j.a.pan will be a united body.

At present each one of these different bodies supports its own schools; their efficiency is thus {186} impaired, and great loss of men, time, and money entailed. In the whole Methodist Church there are five boys'

boarding-schools, with 329 scholars; sixteen girls' boarding-schools, with 970 scholars; and five theological schools, with 60 students.

There are 143 missionaries, 115 native ministers, 116 catechists, and 7678 members.

The Methodist missions have had a rapid, substantial growth and are exerting a strong influence. They surpa.s.s all other bodies in annual contributions per member, and I think it may be said that the native Methodist churches have shown less of self-seeking and more of self-sacrifice than the others. The emotional character of Methodism adapts it to the taste of the people.

_Episcopalians_

The five branches of this church working in j.a.pan are laboring unitedly for the establishment of one native church, called _Nippon Sei Kokwai_.

These five bodies are the American Protestant Episcopal Church, the Church Missionary Society (English), the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (English), the Wyclif College Mission (Canada), and the English Church in Canada. The united body has 149 missionaries, 30 native ministers, 124 unordained helpers, and 5555 communicant members.

{187}

This church conducts five boarding-schools for boys, with 169 scholars; eight boarding-schools for girls, with 263 scholars; and four theological schools, with 52 students. This body has done a great deal of hard, substantial work, and has enjoyed a fair degree of the popular favor. During these late reactionary years, when other missions have made little progress, its growth has continued uninterruptedly. The Nippon Sei Kokwai is presided over by five bishops, four of whom are English and one American. Two are located in Tokyo, one in Hokkaido, one in Osaka, and one in Nagasaki.

_Baptists_

There are four Baptist societies doing mission work in j.a.pan: the Baptist Missionary Union (United States), the Disciples of Christ, the Christian Church of America, and the Southern Baptist Convention.

There is no organic union between them, but the first- and last-named bodies work together. The four bodies unitedly have 92 missionaries, 14 native ministers, 68 native catechists, and 2327 members.

They have one boarding-school for boys, with 14 students; six boarding-schools for girls, with 205 students; and two theological schools, with 21 students.

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The Baptist missionaries laboring in j.a.pan are an able, hard-working, evangelical body of men, and there are some good, strong native Baptist ministers.

_Lutherans_

The Lutheran Church began mission work in j.a.pan only four years ago, and as yet her mission is small. It is supported by the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South (United States). The Lutheran Church in the United States has occupied a peculiar position.

A large per cent. of the emigrants from the Old World are of Lutheran antecedents. Hundreds of thousands of them have come over and settled in the West, and the energies of the American Lutheran Church have been largely expended in caring for these unhoused and unshepherded sheep of her own flock. It seems that Providence has allotted to her this special work. No other church in America is carrying on home mission work on so large a scale, among so many different nationalities, and in so many languages. Because of the great home mission work that has naturally fallen into her hands and demanded her men and money she has not engaged in foreign work as extensively as some other American bodies.

And yet the American contingent of this old {189} mother church of Protestantism has a foreign-mission record of which she is not ashamed.

She has supported for many years a mission on the west coast of Africa, at Muhlenberg, that is by universal consent the most successful mission in West Africa. She is also supporting two large and successful missions in India.

The Lutheran mission in j.a.pan was begun as a venture. The after development of the work has amply justified the wisdom of the undertaking. It is not the purpose of the Lutheran Church to antagonize any of the bodies now at work in j.a.pan, but rather to stand, amid all the doctrinal unrest characteristic of j.a.panese Christianity, for pure doctrine, as she has always done. It is her purpose to teach a positive, evangelical Christianity.

The working force of the mission consists of 2 missionaries and their wives, 2 native helpers, and 1 Bible-woman. The field occupied is small. There is only one station, and that is in the city of Saga, on the island of Kyushu. Much work is done in the surrounding villages and towns from Saga as a center. It is not the purpose of this mission to use large numbers of men and great quant.i.ties of money, as some others have done. It purposes working intensively rather than extensively. It attempts to devote all of its time to evangelistic work, and does not engage in {190} educational work further than theological instruction.

Although the missionaries came to j.a.pan in 1892, the station was not opened until 1893. Since that time about 55 converts have been baptized.

There are numerous small Christian bodies at work, such as the Scandinavian j.a.pan Alliance, the Society of Friends, the International Missionary Alliance, the Hephzibah Faith Missionary a.s.sociation, and the Salvation Army. There are also three liberal bodies working here, generally cla.s.sed as unevangelical: the Evangelical Protestant Missionary Society, the Universalist mission, and the Unitarian mission.

The English and American Bible and tract societies have ably seconded these missionary bodies by the circulation of large numbers of Bibles, tracts, and various kinds of Christian books. The value of their work can hardly be estimated. The American Bible Society, the National Bible Society of Scotland, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Tract Society, and the London Religious Tract Society have all had a part in the work.

Such is a brief enumeration of the Christian forces at work in j.a.pan.

With so large a body of consecrated workers and so much missionary {191} machinery, it seems that the work of evangelization ought to go on rapidly. A great deal has already been accomplished, as the figures given above show. A native church of 40,000 people is no mean prize; but this is only the smallest part of the work of the missions. They have created a Christian literature, disseminated a certain knowledge of the gospel among the people, and in a hundred different ways indirectly influenced the life of this nation. j.a.panese missions have been a brilliant success.

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XI

QUALIFICATIONS FOR MISSION WORK IN j.a.pAN

For mission work, as for every other calling in life, some men are naturally adapted, others are not. Those by nature fitted for the work will in all probability have a reasonable degree of success, while no amount of zeal or spiritual fervor can make successful those not so fitted. It is true to a large extent that missionaries are born, not made.

How important it becomes, then, that mission boards and societies should carefully consider the qualifications of all applicants before they are sent to the mission field! How necessary it is for all those contemplating work in certain fields, before offering their services to the boards, to examine whether their qualifications are such as to justify an expectation of a reasonable degree of success in those fields!

For the benefit of the various missionary {193} societies that are annually choosing and sending out new men to j.a.pan, as well as for the advantage of those who contemplate offering themselves for work in this field, I will put down a few thoughts on the necessary qualifications for successful mission work here.

These may be roughly cla.s.sified as physical, spiritual, and mental.