I believe that fifty years hence our Christianity will control the minds high and low and form a standard of morals throughout the whole country.-I. MIYAGAWA. I have no doubt but that the Kingdom of God in Japan will move forward with a sweep that will surprise and gladden the whole Christian Church.-BISHOP M. C. HARRIS. During the last forty years Christian young men and women have been fighting on the one hand with the prepossessions and prejudice of the people, and on the other hand with Buddhism and Confucianism with European positivism, pantheism, materialism, agnosticism, and American mammonism.-D. Ebina, the Japan Evangelist, October, 1907, p. 352. It is Christianity that has begotten the conviction that the individual has a worth equalled by nothing in Heaven or on earth except God, and that if a man loses that worth, then it profits him nothing even though he gained the whole world.— D. EBINA, Christian Movement, 1910, p. 320. When I heard that the Christianity teaches the chastity of men and women, I was satisfied and desired to become a Christian. If it has done nothing more for Japan than this it has made a great contribution to the social reform of the nation.— A Japanese Christian's Testimony, Christian Movement, 1910, p. 299. Thou art the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. Thou art a conquering God. We claim for that work upon earth and for the accomplishment of Thy will the same irresistible power that brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the Sheep, Our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.-MRS. THOMAS S. GLADDING. God is working His purpose out, as year succeeds to year; From utmost East to utmost West, where'er man's foot hath trod, By the mouth of many messengers goes forth the word of God; Give ear to Me, ye continents, ye isles give ear to Me," That the earth may be filled with the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea. -Written for the Lambeth Conference. T II THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM HERE is no arithmetic or measuring rod for calculating the growth of the Kingdom. The darkest hour of the church may break into the glory of a noonday splendour. The Cross was followed by Pentecost. Stephen's martyrdom was the beginning of the churches all over Palestine. Nero's cruelties gave way to Constantine's partialities. The selfish church which for centuries forgot the pagan world, God has stirred into action by spirit-filled men, from Carey to Mott. Japan, once arrayed against the Cross, has given way to the will of God who decreed that " Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek Jehovah." When Perry came knocking at the gates of Japan, the Lord of Mito sent a protest of ten items to all the Daimios of the land.* The second article contained these prophetic words: "Notwithstanding the strict interdiction of Christianity, there are those guilty of the heinous crime of professing the doctrines of this evil sect. If now America be once admitted into our favour, the rise of the faith is a matter of certainty." If the author of those words were living now, he would think that faith has certainly risen. More than a thousand Japanese are preaching it and many thousands as patriotic as the Lord of Mito" are guilty of the heinous crime of professing the doctrine." The growth of the Christian Church in Japan, with all its schools, churches, converts, and benevolent institutions, is the more wonderful when we consider that it has all come about in the lifetime of a number of mis*"Life of Japan," p. 101. sionaries who are still among us. James H. Ballagh, who baptized the first convert and organized the first church, has passed through fifty years of service. David Thompson, who baptized some of the first converts and was the first pastor of the second Protestant church organized in Japan, has celebrated his fiftieth anniversary. More interesting than a talk with a war veteran or a traveller from some distant or unexplored land is an hour spent with these men or with a Greene, a Miller, a Correll, a Miss Crosby, a Miss Kidder, or some wife who yet lingers near the grave of her fallen brave who was sure of our day of victory even when assassins flourished their knives and missionaries moved about under armed escorts. An encouraging sign which has contributed to the growth of the faith is the change of sentiment toward Christianity. The condemnation of it, which was once so universal, remains mainly among those who have not had opportunity to know its meanings or its fruits. Baron Kato, an enemy of Christianity, said: "Last year, after the burning of the Yoshiwara quarters in Tokyo, the Christians stirred up wide public discussion of the abolition of licensed prostitution. I detest Christianity but I heartily approve the agitation of this abolition question. Last year, when Christian believers and Christian magazines were vehemently agitating the question, why was it that the educators who were connected with the girls' school, and who were continually talking about chastity, showed the utmost indifference?" * The Christian cause has won favour because of the high moral standing given the Christian and his faith. A prominent writer said in a newspaper that nine-tenths of the Buddhist priests were immoral. Whether so or not, there is no denying the fact that the Christian minister is esteemed morally far above the ordinary priest. According to newspaper report, a thief who had stolen Quoted from Naigai Kyoiku Hyoron, February 12, 1912, p. 14. |