Show I j lI NOT I I i k II l Tho war between nu i la and ani Japan i I ins the question whether wh Ja Jo Japan pan Is a n heathen nfl and a n Chris Lion linn Wo o friney the clo closet t I would flail find It II to HS es LiN any nn rIlon why one be he haI J I an as ll and the tha other oilIer Chris I Inn 1 About bollt twenty year ago van nc M declared to lo bo he the state slate religion nf ot oti i but bUI later inter religious liberty woe wan I t ranted and nil all religions have havo about j qUAI chances In i Japan an ns In this i 1 The number of li III l Tho are ore 1 I lIuch more numerous antI and In fact tho the thoo thoI I wo o 0 ore are ory very much mixed ml xI t L i 1111 the tho emperor wo we believe Is In tho the thoI I i tad tead of ot the and tho the arid aric i Ii lO of the tho ho country ore aro tho the main I 11 I 1 of ot that faith Tho The books book of ot tho the date J l torn ont om the tho beginning ot of tho tile eighth ten con teni i if ury my Ur of ot our era orn but they were werl com corn cornI comI I I t ft 1 posed centuries earlier pad and I r 11 I landed landel down town from generation Gen to tD gen HH i ti I C I I oration These works are aro strictly speaking histories but they the contain con tall nl ai aiso BO so mythology describing the tho origin of gods fod and men According to these helo books In the beginning Far 1 ar In the tho deep Infinitudes e of ot space Upon a II throne ot of silence Sat Bat Which name signifies The Lord of ot the Center of ot Heaven Around him was wu chaos Hut But soon coon como came forth patra par ot Of beings and last lut of them and lived In heaven the earth not yet et being formed farmed The Tho sun Iun moon and earth were just separating anti and a n heavenly bridge brill still I connected them On this bridge stood while giving to the tho earth mass a rotary motion and arid causing dry cIry land to ap appear appear appear pear and his wife now de cen ted arid nd created Japan tie the Im iiii pire of ot tho the RIght night J andl After Atter this gods gads were formed and gradually the tho continents and id Islands ands were lero made to appear eu to become clothed In verdure and Inhabited Ja Jo Japan pan however hoover Is I the center of this tills earthly creation Tho The stars star were wera made mada to guide gulde rs from foreign coun roan countries countries tries to the tta Mikado kalo who Is the son of ot heaven be before tore whom horn oil all should bow It Is claimed that for tor 1200 years y ar Shin bum with these Ideas Iden ot of creation was as the tho sole religion of Japan Im Implicit Implicit Illicit obedience to the Mikado Is IB Its Us fundamental aim atm It ban ball no creeds cred cre Good gods must be bo worshiped It says cays that good Rood gifts may be obtained and evil gods to appease them Twice each year festivals were vere ere held for tor or general purification and the he following prayer was wag then offered olt red up 0 O God that t In thin tho high plain of heaven who art urt divine In sub lub substance substance stance end and In Intellect and able to I give protection from guilt and Its pen penalties I to banish Impurity and aint to cleanse us from ts of ot Gods hear us and listen to peti pett petitions This gives some Home Idea of Shinto re religion reo ligion Its characteristics In Its Ita pure Plire state are arc an nn absence of nn ethical and doctrinal code of l of ot and of ot any teachings te con eon a II future futuro state and the deification tion of heroes emperors and greut great men together with the worship of certain c forces and oud objects In Iii nature It Is l claimed that the tho have gods of whom 37 hove have shrines It these thes features of ot Japanese religion are aro compared with prominent features In it forms torms of worship tho the differ difference once ence will wilt not appear so eQ Q greatly In favor ot of It If Japan Javan has haa Its II gods ant and I shrines Russia has her saints and so la a acred cred places and pilgrimages and fee fes festivals thal the Tho reverence duo the tho th Mikado as ni a the son lion of at heaven henon is III tt equaled by that paid vallI to tho the Czar C nr ns as the tho vice vicegerent gerent Kerent of ot God not to speak of tho the Hissed Holy Italy Patriarch of the Holy 01 City If It morality counts In this corn com parison Japan Is III ahead Alfred Stead says nays you OU can cnn go RO nil all over oer Japan atul never see n a drunken Is a n Japanese soldier When oft off duty sal nol diem d go about In tho the quietest man manner ner ncr Imaginable Ther principal diver diversion lion don Is 18 drinking ten tea with their friends trl or hanging about the ho hll old hook book ook chops Unless a n Jap Is II actually engaged In war you will find him nu nn extremely child childlike childlike childlike like creature And AnI this Is a national characteristic Tho The truth Is that Japan Is as much Christian its ito la is The Japanese are arc as moral us ILS and as ao its the tue Russians Neither Is a n Christian nation It if that word wordIs wor Is III taken to mean one ono that follows the tho ho divine IllIno In tn faith and practice If It they both bolli were vero Christian nations could not make war upon uon one an another other othur It U Is well to hear bear these th se facts In mind when the statement Is I mati that tho the war Is ono one between paganism and Christianity It ft Is la not It Is 18 emphatic emphatically ally oily n fI war ot or greed and und not of at pIes |