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Show VlL. nnAr wTkiirw-jn viT a mTrarnnink Tho Present Critical State of Christian 4 MISSIONARIES WANTED s tnMv? 1 Foreign Control, and Joalous of Mis- Am THE JAPANESE. v"Sl T. ELUS. jjThat many or most 'QU'LiP' 6a' no morc "or" re wanted in Japan, ypf the strongest mis-jrcc mis-jrcc with them, at ,4nt. of saying that no '$lbo sent out for the tjfcher sensational con-JP con-JP gTBI have been forced Ifi4 .dy the mission- . Wconfronts the mis-A mis-A gV-How serious' it is ,, jpT in America have lYThat au open rupture it lupous and the Jan-has Jan-has been narrowly a dangerous pos-k pos-k admitted on all sides. lljMlfjio situation is rccog-i rccog-i ly concerned. It af-?ious af-?ious conditions in l 9': more important still, -j upon tho future of ii : IT n almost every I foil rld. The questions 71. ' 'settlement here and J 't'o a precedent for ' jM.lands. The very I jL R crisis has sobered I feed, so that tho bit-llities bit-llities which marked IT" of the controversy t I,' and on every side m ,arc bein modiQcd. ( r ' Is Assert Themselves. Ibso situation has its v pirit of Japanese na-' na-' people is exceedingly , md. It resents with i ircagm being called 'Ition, and thus being natives of Africa and Viands. Equally is it JsupE' m under foreign Huge in its religious Tfent which caused "the" era-territorial political tors, and which to this T. Japanese prints to Sreign communities as fj;ents," is keenly alive DT)lWto 1)0 an altitude of jMe part of the mission- -JI have heard one of rTRal and earnest of the jgiiese pastors speak vpresence of a large iJapanose, of the day .HJese ministers were fwpers'' bv the oreign-tJtfi)f oreign-tJtfi)f thing has touched 'pproblem also, is the , .tserad i ca bl e Anglo-Sax-Ar3iority to other races. 38?n enough to warraut 1 Ojere is ground for the jJSfncss on this subiect. .jparies conduct thern-vraE-'' Japanese prenchera i ifes owaid nian. a fiqual. Such men are cjt'.'rsould be called home. Lslhere is ended, if it .eiSKfetlns attitude on the m.?oreigners. may be 7 "Jyastical iriconsiderate-f?pstility iriconsiderate-f?pstility of the Japan-;nWnot Japan-;nWnot a fe"' know as t ' ministry what, it is irasl K?ffa hurt. trfeljtne matter has been .1a?vern1K Japanese Sisfe? Iarfie8t of these is " SfiiWcsus Christ in Jap-fe&s,?n Jap-fe&s,?n the Presbylor-yiili'bodies: Presbylor-yiili'bodies: there are here jesfyterian sub-divisions vtrSfcnca. Next in size or Congregational rt Oom will shortly be tftr Brethren and Sreth-' Sreth-' dW phQ Japanese Mefch-ibt Mefch-ibt ih', South, and Cana-' lh peeking consolidation, rouwgn boards across the 'fiWpierposofl obstacles ?bi$?,te3' but the Japan-out Japan-out F0 promptly os. iWbarriers to the crea-r crea-r I tdist church in Japau ancl next spring Coition will be effected. rfl3Sfil?lnd liave likewise t-rhere is little doubt foment will conlinue, liBts and the Presby- nt an early date. AM Sole Cdy x"1011 of a11 -fllflf.one Japanese Chris- Sl JU, mie denom-,rll5ctarian denom-,rll5ctarian divisions of jP) 1 Can"ofc 1)0 pcr" i.,i'ol!ed. 'nombership of t.M m Japan, by the tflPjff'-. t,ie Paat year aS ijnt.1Mrcn8c througli OUiaied, in the statistics. eapOu8t year in New York nft Conference on Fcd-T Fcd-T .ted n soundly estab-SlSlJfranization estab-SlSlJfranization here the ' iiife o Co-operating 0Hha8 efTccted several I rncluding the produc-lg. produc-lg. & hymn book for all 'I iicJ-18tat0,V?pt i true, tfthai while tho roln-. roln-. wWJa ,n?lvlunl mission-''S?d,la-' Jnpftueso Chris-'OtSprdial, Chris-'OtSprdial, the relations lrtClT0,8 ?ml ll,e native ra strained. Im'vSH fl"est'on has boen Jtorms and the funds. A" The missionary and hi6 personal helpers help-ers have worked in and for the local congregations, but the latter kayo, had no control over them. The missionary mission-ary is entiroly outside the jurisdiction of" the native church. He works when and where and how ho pleases, or as his mission directs. So, too, tho evangelists evan-gelists cmplo-ed by the missionary are governed in "the matter of salary and Tabor entirely by the missionary. 'When it has chanced "that ono of these evangelists evan-gelists has received a larger salary than the regular pastor of the church itself, there lias naturally been feeling. Indeed, some Japanese have gone so far as to say that it is not fair for the foreign missionary to receive four times the salary of tho Japanese pastor. It must be remembered that the missionary in Japan is not a pastor. He has no congregation duties and responsibilities, such as ordinarily are borne by a preacher in America. Every Ev-ery congregation has its own native pastor and officers. These may con- ! suit with the missionary, but lie cannot can-not "boss" them. Tho preaching mis- sionary's work is evangelistic: he pioneers Christianity into new places. In this he is assisted by evangelists, who work under his personal supervision. super-vision. The money, however, is in the missionary's mis-sionary's control. Not all the churches, bv any means, are self-supporting. They must look to America and England Eng-land for help. With the control of the money has gone, to a greater or less dogree, a voice in the direction of the work. Right here comes the rub. The Japanese want to control the money, and in some cases the missionary, too. The talk is all of "cooperation," but it is not a cooperation in which the missionary plays almoner. In fact, since the Japanese churches have their own mission boards they feel .or, at least, an outspoken' wing of them feel that the latter should have the entire administration of "mission methods and money, with, of course, the full control of the missionaries. The Congregationalists have gone ' l Missionaries on a Holiday. practically thus far. The "Kiimiai" are practically independent Tho American board makes to them an annual grant of money for a specific term of years, at the ond of which time, it is presumed, the churches will have become self-supporting. The entire en-tire independency movement faces toward to-ward the day when the Japanese churches will bo "self-governing, self-supporting self-supporting and self-propagating." The missionaries of tho American Board very generally yield themselves to the counsel of their Japanese associates. One man told me-the other day that, in council with the native pastors, they had assigned him his work for the coming year. He says that he finds this relation perfectly satisfactory satisfac-tory and that tho attitude of the .Japanese .Jap-anese is in no wise dictatorial, but that all arc together seeking the ono end of tho work's welfare. The Young Men's Christian association, associa-tion, in similar manner, fully concedes to tho desire of tho Japanese. All the associations in this country, even where maintained by American money, arc entirely managed, in detail and iii general, by Japanese officials. Tho American secretaries hero govern only by advice, and that on Li rely suggestive sug-gestive and tentative. The magnificent magnifi-cent work of the Young .Ion's Christian Chris-tian association, which everybody praises, would be impossible wero tho American secretaries not the most tactful, far-sighted and self-effacing of men. None of them has any actual authority at all. The Japanese Typo of Christianity. All this is no mere racial jealousy. Tt. gocB deep. Are the Japanese qualified quali-fied for ecclesiastical self-govornment, as they have proved Llieir fitness for political self-government? Akin to this is the consideration whether a mission land is forever to remain a mission land, nurtured by outside agencies. The native church in Japan covers the entire empire. Tt has many fc'elf-supporting congregations, nnd powerful loaders not a fow. It is snid that in remoto government schools i where there was not a Single Christian, Chris-tian, the students are nevertheless divided into Uemura and Ebana camps these latter being the names of tho preachers who are the leaders of two parties in the churches, whose vigorous vigor-ous newspaper controversies are familiar fa-miliar to a wide constituencj-. The Japanese church has an established foreign mission work of its own in Formosa and Korea. T have been at pains to inquire as to the character of Jap.biese Christians. On all sides I hear that the intelligent devotion of Japanese Christians to the central truths of Christianity is unquestioned. Whatever the outcome of the present controversy, tho native church will remain loyal to the teachings teach-ings which it has had from the missionaries. mis-sionaries. I personally have seen "congregations "con-gregations of Christians here, of several sev-eral denominational names, whose devotion de-votion and sincerity was apparent to an' observer. A riper or more saintly character it would, be hard to fiud than one old blind man with whom I talked, who has been through long persecution per-secution for the sako of his faith. Undoubtedly, too, Christianity has come to have a recognized nlace in the life of the nation. It is a factor in tho present thought and development of Japan which no Japanese leader pretends pre-tends to ignore. Broadly speaking, there is now no hostility to Christianity, Chris-tianity, vet I vesierdav saw one of the old edict boards which fifty years ago decorated the highways, threatening threaten-ing with death any one accepting Christianity or harboring a Christian. All of tho mau3' Japanese writers and teachers with whom I have thus far talked frecb' concede at least an important place in Japan's future to Christianity; while Christian authors, like Mntsumurn, confidently declare that, it is bound to swallow up Buddhism- and -;Shintoism.- Japanese- Christians Chris-tians are beginning" to" hnvo'-their own schools and orphanages, supported by themselves, as well as their own religious re-ligious books und periodicals. There seems to be some .jingoism about a certain typo of Japanese preacher. He talks largely about Japan furnishing a distinct type of Christianity, and about Jn pan's' forthcoming forth-coming substantial contribution to tho sum of Christian knowledge. He demands de-mands considerable theological liconse for himself. The spirit of Christianity seems to appeal to him more strongly than its definite doctrines. "Liberty" is his word; ho cares little for tho Old Testament, and it ia by no means the invariable rule for Japanese Christians to shut up their shops on Sunday. The old straw of the similarity between Christianity, Buddhism and Confucianism Confucian-ism has been nrettv thoroughly thrashed, over- bv tho Japanese preacher, v.'hose national prido is intense. in-tense. Ono fnmous clorgyman who, liko most Japanese, feels that ho holds a brief for Japan and will admit little that seems in any wise fo reflect upon her nssured mo that from of old the Japanese samurai have held a belief in ono supreme being, and that Christianity Chris-tianity was but a little fuller expression expres-sion of this tenchhiir. Tho newest in theolo" anneals to the native minister,, and in the short history of the Japanese church there has been n'deal of swaying to and fro theologically; perhaps tho lack of centuries cen-turies of Christian training and tradition tradi-tion lias something to . do with this want of theological balance. Many who were, onco shining lights in the Christian -church shine no more; the abandonment of their religious position posi-tion was in tho case of many Japanese Japan-ese part of the reaction 01 a fow years ago. At present there seems to "be a more distinctly evangelistic treud among the Japanese churches; and revivals re-vivals are reported from several directions. direc-tions. Ono ecclesiastical leader, who had come to bo regarded outside tho orthodox fellowship, is now reported to bo veering back to his old moorings. Tho forogoing is an endeavor to givo a clear glimpse of a situation that sccnifi to ho understood verv slightly in America. Back hero one hears cachoes-of fervid reports of " 'Japan's lleligioue Awakening." and "Japan's plea for missionaries." Over these I have seen old missionaries shake their heads. At tho recent meeting of the Council of Missions of the Presbyterian Presby-terian nnd Reformed churches, winch struggled with tho present burning issues, is-sues, it was declared oponly that no more new missionaries should be sent here until the present problematic situation has been adjusted. It may be that Homo men already here will have to return home. To a mere observer it appoars reasonable that a man who has boon in Japan many j'oars without having hav-ing learned the language, or acquired the Japanese viewpoint, or attained sympathetic and fraternal relations with the native Christians, should consider con-sider himself called to some more congenial con-genial field of labor. A recent issue of Mission News, a monthly published in Kobe in the interests of the American Ameri-can Board Mission, contained these striking sentences: "The time for 'extra-territorial' Christianity in Japan is rapidly drawing to an .end, if ii is not alread3' passed. Missions and missionaries mis-sionaries aro being tested. They have accoiopplished a mighty wont in the past, and it is in their power to do even greater work in the present and immediate future. Will the' moot the test and rise to the opportunity that is theirs?" On this last point the Japanese are quito insistent. They say the new day demands a new kind of help from America. Instead of men to do preaching preach-ing and teaching for which some assert as-sert there are now sufficient qualified Japanese they want men of the character char-acter and calibre of President Charles Cuthbert Hall, of Union Seminary, New York, who made g pronounced impression during his recent visit to Japan. They want statesmanlike leaders, lead-ers, men of large culture, great learning learn-ing and broad sympathies. The best that America has in tho way of teachers teach-ers and pastors may profitably be sent to Japan to lead her native leaders and inspire her native inspirers. In the meantime the majority of missionaries, as well as man' Japanese, Japan-ese, declare that Japan still needs the missionaries. The native church is not strong enough, either in men or money, to go it alono. Japanese preachers from outlying parts of tho empire say frankly that this whole uproar 'is ' a Tokio product, and they hint at ths ambition of certain Tokio leaders to control the .Tapaneso church An English missionary told me that the control of funds could not be turned over to Japanese until tho latter, lat-ter, as a nation, have learned new ideas of trusteeship. He cited the case of a treasurer who used trust funds to pay his father's debts, saying naively that his obligations to his father took precedence to all other obligations. On the other hand, some missionaries assert as-sert that, such charges are the mere race prejudice of the white man. Out of the confusion of hundreds of conflicting opinions upon this all-absorbing topic of Japanese ecclesiastical independence, I have gathered at least one conviction, namely, that so long as the present state of uncertainty and turmoil exists, the American missionary organizations would do well to send no more young preachers to Japan, although' al-though' the field for uuordained teachers is largo. |