II.~ :Rv:.Llllipd .Abe
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¡JJ . II.~ :Rv:.llllipD .Abe. B. Simpsn, L Edtors j Vol. iv. No. i. i :R. Bue R. Smith, f . JULY, 1881. l Bible Hoos, New York" : JAPAN; MISSIONS .AONG THE JAPANSE i GENE ARTICLS, :MSSIONARY NEWS, ETO. i1 'i i i i ; I ! ! ¡I , ¡ i i FEDING THE TEIIPLE BIRDS IN JAPA.N. 2 THE GOSPEL IN ALL LANDS. -apan. potentate was regardedgenealogy with of 2,400superstitiöus years. Until withIii3 rêv~rence; few yeiu thisin- J i or emperor, who traces his royal descent in ln unbroken deed he was held to he invested with divine honors ex- The Country, People and Government of Japan. ceeding even those attributed to the Pope of Rome. ITe- A correspondent of the Canadian Presbyterian Record was too sacred a personage to be seen of men. No one- gives in the February number such an excellent account was permitted to look upon him ilxcept the very highest governmentof the country, of people Japan, and ence nobles. was confinedHis bodily within pres- that we transfer the same the limits of a small prin- to"The our Empirepages._ ofHe Japansays: nevercipality went. beyond Shrouded which inhe consists of four large is- mystëry, he had to sit,. Sikohulands-Niphon, Kiu-siu, motionless and as a statue,Yesso. Niph- his throne for hours at a.on on,long, the with largest, an average900 miles crown. time wearingHe was not a heavy sup- breadth of 100 miles, is posed to die. He only about one-fith larger than disappeared occasionally. theseGreat thereBritain are Besides an innum- It couldthat a monarchnot be expected like that islands.erable number The total of popu~ small . lengthshould of for time any exercise great lation at the time of the much control over a King- last33,338,504. census, inThe 1876, scenery was seventydom divided provinces, into sixty each or in many parts is very independent of the ~ther,. beautiful, and the cli- governed by local chiefs mate,season, except is delightfuL in the rainyThe and whose incontestable rue was absolute as that soil is fertile and well . of the chieftains of the cultivated. Minerals are Highland clans of Scot- teredoabundant. It is well wa- land In centuries short, it is a normal condition ofago. a.The inpleasant productions land, aboundingsuitable one country of ceaseless thus governed civil war. is forand thebeast. support The name, of man self The unequal Miado, to fidigthe task him- of Japan,rived fromis saìd the toChiese be de- ant governing elements, these in thediscord- year pan-gu,word Jih-pun-quo meang the or kig- Zi- .: 1142, esterial delegated functions his to maj- one Thedom people of the riêingsun,love to cal:i: of als, the who ablest had of in his reality gener- al- 'The Sunrise Kigdoin' The preeDt Mikado or lapaD. ready become his master. , O-hay-o' is the universal salutation with which the natives I This new chief offcer of the state, known as the Tycoon, greet each other at the peep of day. Early in the morning. soon seated hiself on a throne nearly as high as that of .the children sing oUt-'O-hay-o.' 'O-hay-o' say the servants the Mikado. The Mikado, or spiritual emperor, remained to their employers. 'O-hay-o' politely say the men and the head of the Church, the high-priest of the nation: women who meet on the hilside, on the busy mart 1- but the administration of the temporal afairs vested in 'The top of the morning to you,' as we would say. It is the Tycoon. The relations betwit the two came in the a popular mistake to imagie that Japan was originally course of time to be of the most delicate and embarras- colonized by the Chinese. The Japanese resent the im- ing kind. The longer they continued they grew the putation, deemig it a disgrce to be compared with the worse until, in 1868, they culmated in a revolution the Chinese-so long have they been accustomed to regad most remarkable iñ its charater and results of any that their nation a8 theiountain head of eastern civilization. ever befel a civilized nation since the world began, and The people are divided into classes, somewhat resembling in which the hand of an over-ruling Providence may be the ,castes of India, though the line is perhaps not quite clearly traced. 80 sharly drwn. The highest dignity is the Mikado, "The political change whch preceded this revolution THE GOSPEL IN ALL LANDS. -3 were not the result of human foresight or wisdom. The has been introduced. An excellent lighthouse system Japanese were led on, Unconsciously on their part, by has also been established. Railoads and telegraph lines successive steps to a consummation they never dreamed are in successful operation, and, what is more germane of. Christianity, which had very little to do with it, to our subject, the laws against the introduction of Chrs- looked on in-amazement and exclaimed,-' what hath God tianity have been greatly modified. The digusting wrought!' and now at God's bidding it has gone in to orgies connected with some of their religious festivals take possession of the Empire. The disintegrating forces have been prohibited by law. The numerous public holl- which were to' overturn the old feudal system had been days of the Empire, on which the people worshipped at long smouldering. The turning point in the history of the teml?les and shrines, are all done away, except New: J:apan was reached with the accession to throne of the Year's Day and the Mikado's Birthday. Sunday is present Emperor, Matu-Hito, on the 3rd of February, legally constituted' a day of Rest." Since 1837 it was a 1867. He was then a boy of seventeen, but soon gave law of the land that 'so long as the sun shall shine no proof that he was possessed of uncommon vigor and in- foreigner shall touch the soil of Japan and live: that no telligence. It may be enough to say here that at the native shall leave the country, under the pain of death: .0 JA1ANE5E (;OUCH. present time he is reputed to be one of the most en light- that all Japanese who return from abroad shall die: that ened men inJ apan. In the second year of his reign, the all persons who propagate the Christian doctrines, or 'offce of the Tycoon, that had existed for six,hundred bear this scandalous name, shall be imprisoned: that who- and seventy-six years, was abolished, the then incumbent soever shall presume to bring a letter from abroad, or to was banished; during the next few years the whole return after he has been banished, shall die, with all his feudal system was swept away; the Mikado, threw off his family;' all these, and other bloody decrees have been sacerdotal mask and took his position' like a man_' at the blotted out from the statute-book. head of the executive authority. The .laimios, as the "The Japanese are natúrally an industrious and in- provincial rulers were called, were stripped of their feudal genious people. They possess a certain nobilty of char- powers and nine-tenths of their revenues, their obsequi- .acter which even their great moral turpitude has not ous retainers were thrown upon their own resources for wholly effaced. They are. eminently intellectuaL. The their support, and the Japanese people raised~ fm a posi- poorer classes have a native courtesy of manner. The tion of serfdom, have now the exercise of pol ical rights higher classes are distinguished by a studied dignity and and advantages secured to them by the admini tion of refinement. But, they ar, on the other hand, a licen- a represeptative government. A Bureau of ;Public In- tious people. Their past government and religion have struction has been established and a national system of openly sanctioned vice. Deception is their forte. They Education instituted. In 1877 there were 25,459 elemen- pride themselves in lying. There is no country in which tary schools, with 59,525 teachers and 2,162,962 scholars. life has been held so cheap. It has even been said that There were 389 middle schools, with 910 teachers. At they have had but one punishment for all offences, small the head of the system is the U I1iversity of Tokio. There or great, and that one was death. A redeemin~ feature in are also Normal schools for training teachers. Thousands J ap~nese society, however, deserves mention-the non-ex- of volumes of English text-books have been importd istence of polygamy. Woman is recognized as a com- for use in the schools. The European system of postage panion and not treated as a mere chattel or slave. In 4 THE GOSPEL IN .ALL LANDS. thi respect her position is vastly superior to that of pan ions, and was the first to introduce Christianity. He women:in the East generally, and it shows itself in the met with little opposition. Indeed, when some of the superiority of character and the greater prevalence of heathen priests requested the Mikado to expel the foreign' domestic: virtues. One o( the fiI't fruits of the new monks, he asked how, many religious sects they already . 'regime in Japan was the appointment of an influential had in Japan. Thirty-five was the reply. ' Well,' said embassage to visit Europe and America. When in Lon- he,' where thirty-five sects can be tolerated, we can easily don, the embassadors are said to have asked Queen Vic- bear with thirty-six.' The new religion spread rapidly.