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Show EARLY JAPANESE CHRISTIANS. Thotr Cenvsmlnn fUeovred to Date -. Ilaek to antoonth ten to 17. j From documents recently uneartlieol In the Vatican archives It appears that I an embassy of Jspanese Christiana via- I lied the pope at Home early In the seventeenth century. From these doc- J, umenla G. Mltaukurl of the University t of Tokyo has drawn a hlntory, here- I lofore untold, of the drat Chrlstlanlxa- i Hon of Japan In the sixteenth century. a history which haa an Intereet of It" own and which la Important In that It parallels the history of the later ' and existing missionary endeavor In Japan and China, and ngaln empha-sixes empha-sixes the mistakes and difficulties) whlrh aeem peculiar to such work. We f translate from the article by Mr. Mlt- 1, sukurt in the lllstorlarhe Zeltacbrlft: j In 1M. eight yeara wfter the "die- ! covery" of Japan by the Portuguese. I' Xavler, tbe nuimlle of the Indies, came I Into the country to try to preach the 1 teachings of Christ and at the end of tbe century the number of Cbrla- i' tlana reached 400.000. The reasons for thla nalniilshlng phenomenon were I these: When Xavler begnn bla nils- j aion Japan waa divided Into countless I small prim ipiillllca, continually at t war with each other. Buddhism and J Bhlntolsni, then less separated thau I lo-dny, were corrupt to a degree. f Hence the people let themselves be t readily carried away by tha fresh ami . sturdy ChrlMton propaganda. But a reaction against this universal ills-, memherment of the realm appeared. First a prince, Nohunaga, called "Enemy "Ene-my of Huil.lha," because he attacked unsparingly the powerful Buddhist monasteries, showed the more favor to the Christian learnings, In order to t gain support against the Buddhist priests, and the new doctrine spread rapidly, especially In tha southern provinces. But these favorable conditions were) not to Inst. In l'.ti? Nobunaga waa murdered. The attitude toward the Christiana of hla auccessor, the powerful pow-erful llldcyoehl, waa very dlfferont. and persecution began, which waa due; partly to the Intrigues of the Hud- dhlats, the arrogance of the Christian) prices in Ihelr attitude toward the ruler, and the donating declarittlon ot a Spanish ship captain that the : tnlghly king of Hpnln waa sending hi priests Into foreign lands In order first to convert the people and through thla means to mnke their conquest more easy. But the true reason was the desire for unity among the Japanese. The Christian priests used tbeli IHiwer to aid conversion by violence and persecution. There wna a'so strife-and strife-and Jealousy between the different orders. or-ders. It Is. therefore, rrdi:y, Intelli gible, says the Baltimore American, that the ruler, lid by an Idi a of unity,, planned to remove tho rcll::lous differences dif-ferences Btid to rely rather on tho older old-er religion. Buddhism, which retalnnl ita hold over the majority of tho peo- pie. In 16N7 llldeyoshl ordered the catholic priests to leave the country. 1 To give emphanltt to tho decree, sic I monks and twenty Jupnneno Christiana wire rruelncd. Ills successors in the . main followed hla policy, and gradually gradual-ly a firm policy wua eatabllahed whlcb , ; could oulleat the deith of any one I chief, and to thla system belonged th" ( extermination of tho drat Christian church In Japan. . ' |