Earlier text: Introducing the Protestant MagazineJapan
By Irwin Henry Evans
Since the day that Commodore Perry dropped anchor in one of the beautiful harbors of Japan, that country has been more and more attracting public attention. It is only in recent years that the civilized nations of the West have come to know and appreciate Japan’s progress and struggles for national growth. The fascinating stories told by travelers of Japan’s enchanting beauties seemed more like romance than reality, but to-day the world has come to know Japan, and those who know must acknowledge that the half was never told. Japan is not simply a place of beauty, but by her push and enterprise, in both commerce and war, she has taught the world that she is a power to be reckoned with, and the Western nations concede that in all matters pertaining to the far East, Japan’s wishes must be considered. Probably history offers no parallel to Japan in the rapid progress she has made in adapting herself to Western civilization, in her growth in the arts and sciences, in manufacturing and commerce. Forty-eight millions of people acknowledge the sovereignty of the Japanese government, and they are densely crowded into the rich valleys of the mountainous islands that compose the kingdom. Most of the Japanese people are short in stature, rather heavily built, and are intelligent, industrious, economical, and very ambitious to keep pace with the progress of the Western nations. Perhaps there is no nation in the world to-day whose government is more highly regarded by its subjects than is the government of Japan. The emperor is considered almost divine, and his subjects have great respect for law. The government is a strong military administration; and when one sees the almost constant drills and maneuvering of troops, the military uniforms worn by the high-school and college boys, and the constant visits to the shrines of emperors and leading statesmen by the various schools of Japan, he is reminded of the military government of Germany. The Japanese have a high regard for education, and believe their progress during the last half century is largely due to the education of the masses. Education of the children is compulsory by law. The government supplies the country with school buildings and with teachers. A tuition is generally charged, but is remitted in cases of extreme poverty. The teachers are required to have a certificate from one of the normal schools approved by the government. None are permitted to teach in the lower grades who have not received governmental recognition as qualified teachers. In this country, the lower grades are not provided for as in Japan. In our country, they are often supplied with inferior teachers, while in Japan the best teachers that can be secured are placed in charge of the children in the lowest grades of the school. Japan is well supplied with daily papers and other literary matter, which is continually issuing from the press. Most of this educational growth and progress has been made in the last fifty years, and in this respect Japan is a marvel to the nations of the world. Judging from the progress made by Japan in the past, we may reasonably expect its future to be bright and propitious in both intellectual and material growth. The Japanese as a people are what the Christian nations would call heathen. Buddhism, Shintoism, and Confucianism are all blended together in various forms of worship, or are carried on as separate classes of religion, according to the taste of the individual. Costly temples, beautifully decorated, are in most of the larger cities, while simpler edifices can be counted in almost every village and hamlet. Ancestor worship is generally practised, from the emperor to the lowest coolie laborer, in some form or other. The Japanese do not seem to be prejudiced against the Christian religion, and are ready to read the Christian Bible, though it is difficult for them to see the superiority of the Christian religion over the teachings of Buddha until they have given their hearts to God. The teachings of our denomination are tolerated in Japan; and as the Japanese recognize no Sabbath, Seventh-day Adventists have the same opportunities, with the exception of the difficulties with the military laws, for teaching in the country as have other denominations. In our worship, we are protected by the civil authorities, and our meetings are never broken up. We began our work in Japan in 1895. Since that time we have had some workers in Japan, but until recently our progress has been slow. To-day we have six foreign missionaries in Japan to teach the third angel’s message. Besides these six workers, we have two competent native preachers, Brother T. H. Okohira and Brother H. Kuniya, who are earnest, faithful men in preaching the truth for this time. But what are six foreign missionaries to do with a population of nearly forty-eight million, scattered on many little islands, as are the inhabitants of Japan? These six foreign missionaries in Japan each have a population of about eight million to look after, and to warn concerning the coming of Christ. That means that one man would have as much work to do in warning the Japanese people of the soon coming of Christ, as he would have were he placed in charge of all the territory in the United States west of the State of Iowa, from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south, and made responsible for warning the people by giving them the third angel’s message. In other words, each worker will have to preach the truth to as many people as the following States contained in 1900: Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Colorado, Idaho, and Kansas. We must not forget that while the Japanese are making rapid progress in education and in the modern methods of civilized life, yet they remain a heathen people, worshiping at temples and shrines filled with heathen deities, and do not acknowledge the true God, nor do they recognize the Christian Bible.7 During the last year our brethren in Japan have been very desirous of securing a little plot of ground, of about five acres, on which they might erect a little printing plant, a school, and a small sanitarium. They have not asked for any such facilities as we have in the United States, though they have more than half the population of this country. To-day Japan is conducting its printing work in a small room in the basement of Brother W. D. Burden’s private house. They have a small cylinder press, which is turned by hand; and the running of this press requires all the strength of a strong man. The printed matter has to be carried up-stairs through a very narrow, dark stairway, and the facilities are in every way inadequate for the work of that kingdom. Other denominations have gone into Japan, erected splendid printing plants, fine colleges, and costly hospitals, but up to date this denomination has invested comparatively nothing in Japan in institutional work. Last year a school was conducted by our brethren in Japan, at which there were thirty-eight grown people in attendance. This school was held in a room in Brother Burden’s home. As I looked into the intelligent, earnest faces of the students, who study there about eight hours a day, my heart went out in great sympathy for them, and I could but feel that it was an injustice to our work in Japan to see them supplied with such meager facilities. Up to the present time, the Mission Board has not felt that it was warranted in investing money in the purchase of land, and the starting of a printing plant and school in that country. But these conditions will have to be remedied, and if our work is not crushed in its infancy in Japan, the workers must have some facilities with which to reach the people. Two boys who went out from the school conducted last winter, have raised up a nice little company of fifteen or twenty Sabbath-keepers. The literature that has come from the press has been taken by the students in the school, and the sales have been most encouraging. When I was in Kobe last winter, one brother, whom I met on the street, told me that he had sold, that week, five hundred copies of the Japanese paper. Dr. Kiku Noma and her husband, with some of our native brethren and sisters, have erected a nice little sanitarium at Kobe. They have done this with money they borrowed from the Japanese, and the General Conference has not invested a dollar in the sanitarium. This little institution is bringing many people into the truth. A good spirit permeates the work, and I have never been in an institution where there seemed to be a more earnest desire on the part of those who were conducting the work to lead the employees and the patients to Christ than in the Eisein Sanitarium. From every standpoint, Japan appeals to our denomination to quicken its pace in getting the message before the Japanese. There ought to be another physician to go to Japan at once and master the language. There ought to be at least three or four good strong evangelists placed in Japan this year, who would learn the language and be able to locate in different parts of the empire, to help direct the work. If ever God has called to this people to arise and do something in these heathen lands, he is calling now. In our history there have never been such opportunities for service, there have never been such calls made to the denomination for men and means, as at the present time. If we fail at this time to do our duty, what will our future be? We earnestly ask our people to pray that God will raise up workers for Japan. May he give our people liberal hearts that the General Conference may have means with which to supply the much-needed facilities called for in that country. Acquiring Foreign Languages
By W. A. S.
WE in the home lands are interested also in the resolution passed at the General Conference, as follows:— Whereas, The Bible teaches, and missionary experience everywhere demonstrates, that the gospel most quickly and effectively reaches the various nationalities of earth if carried to them in their own tongues; therefore,— Resolved, That we encourage our workers to make every possible effort to acquire the language of the people among whom they are called to labor. It is a cheering message that comes to us from abroad when we hear that this one and that one sent out are preaching the message in a new tongue. And our missionaries are learning these languages. It must have brought gladness to many supporters of missions to hear, a little time ago, that at one station, German East Africa, our workers have put the four Gospels into a tongue that never before bore the good news, and the translations are to be printed on our own press in Hamburg. Our missionaries will agree that the following homely proverb from a Scottish paper is good counsel for those struggling to acquire a foreign language:— Better blunder than do nothing, if only you know you are blundering, and are really trying to do well, and are properly ashamed of yourself for not doing better. The worker least afraid of making mistakes and most persistent in actually using the little he has gained, will make the most rapid progress. With this must go the painstaking study to acquire accuracy. The workers among strange tongues may know that at home we are praying God to help them to master the languages so that the precious truth may be clearly told. W. A. S. Are We Losing Our Simplicity?
By F. M. W.
Much is being said and written to-day about a return to simple living. It is quite generally recognized that the world has departed a long way from simple, natural methods. This is true as applied to nearly every department of human experience. It is recognized that simple ways belong to our fathers, and that much that they considered luxuries have apparently become to us a part of life's necessities. The question naturally arises whether Seventh-day Adventists are partaking of this spirit of departure from simple, natural ways. Has the spirit of worldly excess and expenditure found access to our hearts in common with the great majority of mankind? This certainly is a question for consideration, particularly in view of the demands now being made upon us for the carrying forward of great missionary enterprises. Repeatedly we have been admonished to bind about our supposed wants, that we might have more to give to the needy cause of missions. How many have taken this seriously, and subjected themselves and their doings to careful scrutiny to see wherein proper application of the principle might be made? We are convinced that even among this people thousands of dollars are annually spent in the gratification of personal desires which are positively a detriment, physically and spiritually, to those who indulge in them. How many costly house furnishings might be dispensed with! How much might be saved in the purchase of personal attire! How much might be given to missions now being spent for candy, chewing gum, and thousands of other useless and positively injurious articles of confectionery and diet! Doubtless thousands of dollars might be saved in these ways, and saved, too, by those who would not only be none the poorer for so doing, but be benefited in both body and soul. The heroes of the American Revolution pledged to the cause of freedom “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.” Those who triumph with this cause can do no less. Every call that comes from the unwarned millions is a call to lay aside useless expenditure and dedicate to God the means he entrusts to our care. When the burden of this work rests with weight upon the soul, greater pleasure will be found in giving fifty cents or a dollar to the spreading of the gospel than will come in spending it for some idle pleasure of an hour, or in ministering to some abnormal desire of appetite or inclination. The call of God is for simple and Christian living. With the demands upon us as a people, the blandishments and foibles of the world should lose their power. Who, in this great hour of opportunity, when all the world is waiting the proclamation of the message, will consecrate himself, soul, mind, and body, to a life of living sacrifice? Who will turn a deaf ear to the siren song of pleasure, the clamors of appetite, the demands of fashion and display, the enchantments of social pleasure, and dedicate himself, his substance, and all his powers to the service of the living God. Are you losing your simplicity of life and experience? If so, may you return to God, and with the thousands who will triumph with this message, seek that preparation of heart and life that will enable you to be used as an instrument in the accomplishment of this great work. The Decadence of Spiritual Life
WRITING to the Christian World (London), Rev. F. B. Meyer sounds a clear note concerning the decadence of spiritual life in the church:— We have heard a great deal of the arrested progress of the church; and, alas! there are but too many evidences of it. As I travel over the country, I meet with few exceptions to the general lament over the recession of the tide. But, in my judgment, it is not due to the New Theology, nor to the rise of Christian Socialism, but to the diluted spirituality of the church. The old-time temperature, in which prayer-meetings, missionary effort, family prayer, and twice-attendance at the place of worship used to flourish, is very sensibly lowered. . . . I am no sour-faced bigot; but it breaks my heart to see the decay of the old strong spiritual robustness of our forefathers, due to the material wealth, the love of pleasure, the superficiality and scrappiness of our age. This testimony from one who is well prepared to speak on the subject, but who is not an alarmist, is clear and impressive. We now face the falling away of Protestantism. Better Things
By George Macdonald
BETTER to feel a love within
Than ’be lovely to the sight,
Better a homely tenderness
Than beauty’s wild delight. Better to love than to be beloved,
Though lonely all the day;
Better the fountain in the heart
Than the fountain by the way. Better to be a little wise
Than learned overmuch,
Better than high are lowly thoughts,
For truthful thoughts are such. Better to have a quiet grief
Than a tumultuous joy;
Better than manhood age’s face,
If the heart be of a boy. Better a death when work is done
Than earth’s most favored birth;
Better a child in God’s great house,
Than the king of all the earth. An Appeal for Self-Sacrificing Effort
By Ellen G. White
THE Lord claims the service of all who believe the truth for this time. They are to be laborers together with Christ in proclaiming the message of mercy to the world. God has committed to each talents to be used for his name’s glory. The vineyard is the world. The soil to be cultivated is found in every city, in every village, in the highways and byways, in places near and afar off. Seed is to be sown in good works that will benefit those who have not had the light of present truth. The kind of ministry brought to view in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah is to be faithfully done. Those who are arrayed in Christ’s righteousness, the beautiful garments of truth, and whose lives are being sanctified by the truth, will go forth to labor for all classes with equal solicitude. They will not be bound about by bands of selfishness, but will regard all the world as the field. ‘Let your light so shine before men,’ the Saviour declared, ‘that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.’ There is to be no limit to the places where the light should shine. It is to reach to the regions beyond. Tell it, urge upon all with earnest force, to give their service for those who are in the darkness of error. To teach the word of God to unbelievers, to unite our prayers for them, are duties that we owe to our Redeemer. This is a time when every church and every family should be exercised unto godliness. I feel sad as I see men and women and youth spending time and energy in self-gratification. Selfishness is occupying much time that the Lord would have devoted to religious activities. I have been shown that the money that is lavishly spent by many believers for unnecessary things should be given to the work of winning souls that are ready to perish. It is time that our people felt the need of being laborers together with God. Self-denial and self-sacrifice are highly appropriate for this time. ‘We are laborers together with God,’ the Spirit through Paul declares. If unbelievers see in our works and lives devotion and self-sacrifice in order to save souls ready to perish, they will be impressed with the reality of the truths we profess. The truth that sanctifies the receiver will make its impression upon them. This is a time when every soul needs to cling earnestly to God. Those whom the Lord is leading to do his last work in the earth are to stand as Micah and Zephaniah and Zechariah stood in their day, to call to repentance and good works. The writings of these prophets contain warnings and instruction applicable to this time, and should receive our careful study. They should teach us to shun every phase of evil that made such warnings essential to the people of the past. Let every soul arouse and make diligent examination of self, that everything that would separate the people of God from righteousness may be put away. O that our people would arouse and put away all weakness of the flesh and spirit! It was for this that Christ wept and prayed. The heart of Infinite Love was stirred as he saw souls being snared and selling themselves for worldly gain. ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,’ he said, ‘where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye can not serve God and Mammon.’ I have thought much of how little burden is carried by those who know the truth for those who know it not. Christ came to this world to call sinners, not the righteous, to repentance. Those who know the truths of the Word of God are not to hide their light in obscurity, but as faithful missionaries are to give the warning message to unbelieving neighbors and friends. They are to work as Christ has given them example. All who have a knowledge of the testing truths for this time should ask themselves the question, Am I giving the time and labor to the work of saving souls that Christ requires of his followers? I would say to all our people, Place yourselves in the light, that you may reflect light, and that souls may be led to see the great and soul-saving truths of the Word of God. Every believer in Christ should be a laborer together with him in drawing souls from sin to righteousness. We are to keep in view the life that measures with the life of God. We are to watch for opportunities to bring the truths of the Word before those who do not see and understand. Christ is not now with us in person, but through the agency of the Holy Spirit, he is present to impart his power and grace and great salvation. A review of our churches is being made by the One who says, ‘I know thy works.’ The need of the church to-day is true conversion, consecration, zeal, and whole-hearted service. These elements, brought into the life, will make church-members vessels unto honor, men and women through whom the Lord can communicate the teachings of his Spirit. Another great need of the church is humility,—the deep humility of Christ. Believers need to see the necessity of working as Christ worked. O for that devotion and humility of heart that will lead God’s people to do those things that Christ has commanded, and still in all humility and truth say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done only that which it was our duty to do! But many, many are swelling with pride and importance, who in God’s estimation are lukewarm. Self-gratification is revealed because of a few things accomplished. Where do we hear the testimony of hearts that are broken in repentance and confession before God? Where do we see professed believers wearing the yoke of Christ? How little time is given to fervent prayer, the result of which would be the possession of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price. When the Captain of our salvation descended to earth, he brought with him the interests of all heaven. He advanced to Calvary with all the lovers of mercy and the friends of mankind in his train. I ask, Had angels of God taken the place of human agencies in the administering of the gospel, think you there would be whole regions to-day sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death? Were angels given power to revolutionize and prescribe the duties of the church, would they not say, ‘Go, stand and speak . . . to the people all the words of this life’? How can those who have been converted, be so indifferent? I call upon them in the name of the Lord, ‘Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.’ The Lord demands the cultivation of9 every talent. ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.’ Our words, our prayers, our voluntary and sincere service, our humble, earnest efforts to represent precious, saving truth,—by all these we are to show our love for him who gave this life for us. O that our efforts to bless others might be in proportion to the light we have received! But we do not render to God returns that are proportionate to the wonderful truths we claim to believe. My brethren and sisters who claim to believe the truth for this time, let the books of heaven record of you a righteous zeal; let it be said there, as God views your self-denying, self-sacrificing works, that you are laborers together with God. I speak to all, lay members as well as ministers: Be laborers together with God. Let humility be cultivated. Christ will be your efficiency if you will look unto him, the Author and Finisher of your faith. Spiritual Gifts for the Church in All Ages
By George I. Butler
“And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” 1 Cor. 12:28. The apostle has been teaching a lesson of unity in the church, likening it to the human body and its members. He sums his arguments up in these words: “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” Verse 27. Then come the words quoted above. The gifts of the Spirit are the agencies designed to bring about and maintain union in Christ’s spiritual body; they, especially the spirit of prophecy, are absolutely essential for the accomplishment of that object. Human nature, unaided by the Holy Spirit, since the moral fall of man under Satan’s temptations, is selfish, morally weak, given to pride and vainglory. It can not raise itself to holiness, love of God, and fitness for the life eternal. The body of believers in Christ is simply a company of human beings full of human infirmity. The Spirit of God with its heavenly agencies, placed in the church, will enable the church to rise above human infirmity, and be a unit, even as Christ and the Father are one. John 17. The apostolic church was thus a unit, and was a mighty power for good in this world of sin. The gospel, through the help of this divine influence, went in one generation to the ends of the earth. Rom. 10:18; Col. 1:23. But gradually the church backslid, and did not realize its need of this constant Helper; it began to absorb the spirit of the world, and became more and more like the world, by mixing heathen doctrines and practises with the pure doctrines which Christ and the apostles taught. Corruption was the sure result. The church was tainted with the doctrines of paganism. Many false doctrines were believed and advocated. Error seemed to hold well-nigh supreme control, and truth was at a discount. It might be classed as an axiom, a self-evident truth, that God’s Spirit could no longer acknowledge such a church as his true representative on earth. Then there came the great Reformation of the sixteenth century. The Bible, and the Bible alone, was the motto of this great religious movement. Tradition was rejected. An excellent work was done, and God wrought mightily in behalf of his servants to bring the church back again to apostolic purity of doctrine and holy living. But soon the spirit of reformation lost its vitality. The great Protestant churches became converted by the influences which they opposed, and at the present time we see many so-called Protestant churches rejecting the Word of God and accepting modern traditions and theories. The doctrine of the Sunday Sabbath, the immortality of the soul, the conscious state of the dead, sprinkling instead of the true mode of baptism, and other beliefs which might be mentioned and which are still believed by Protestants, show that the Reformation failed in fully accomplishing the work that God designed it to do. And added to these evils are other great errors which are sapping the very foundations of Christian faith, such as the modern doctrine of evolution as taught in some of the great Christian universities and colleges. It is time now in the providence of God for a new movement to rise which will stanchly stand for the Word of God as a basis of Christian faith, and reject all fellowship with these disintegrating and infidel-making theories that are now revolutionizing the great religious world. It is a time to cry aloud and spare not, to lift up our voices like a trumpet, and show God’s people their transgressions and the house of Israel their sins, as the prophet of old declared. Isa. 58:1. This is the last great religious movement of God’s people in our world, proclaiming the coming of the Son of man the second time without sin-offering unto salvation. Can such a movement be carried on successfully without those spiritual gifts God ‘set’ in his church? We see no possible hope that it could be. Every evidence of God’s dealings in the past with his people in important crises in the earth demonstrates that the presence of the special gifts of the Spirit were essential to the accomplishment of his work. In Noah’s time, when the world was to be warned of the coming deluge, God had inspired Noah as a preacher of righteousness to understand his will about the flood and warn all who would listen. When the great mass of mankind again had gone into idolatry, he raised up Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and commenced an important work with them, which accomplished vast results in preserving the knowledge of God in the world. All of these were inspired men of God. After a long captivity in Egypt, and such a wonderful schooling in sorrow that they felt a great need of help from God, the time came for their deliverance. Moses and Aaron were raised up, and a wonderful work of miraculous power was manifested. God’s servants had special spiritual gifts imparted to them, or nothing could have been done for the deliverance of that people. It was a great era in the history of God’s work in the world, and a wonderful record concerning it has been left for the world’s perusal. So it has ever been. Samuel was a mighty prophet. The era of David and Solomon was the most glorious in the history of Israel. Spiritual gifts and power were most manifest. It was so in every important crises. In the return of the captivity, Ezra, Nehemiah, and other prophets were spiritually endowed to enable them to do their work successfully. What a remarkable display of spiritual agencies was manifested at Christ’s first advent. It far exceeded any previous movement. The Son of God came down and was incarnated among men. His apostles were inspired, and the world was wonderfully blessed by these agencies. And now after ages of backsliding, apostasy, false doctrine, and perversions of God’s truth, we have come down to the very last days of this world’s history. The cry has gone forth, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh!” Some thirteen lines of prophecy all center here at this time, and are fulfilled before our eyes. The Lord is coming in this generation. We are in the very closing of the time of the end. The message is sounding to the ends of the earth, solemnly announcing the rapid approach of the greatest event of all the ages. The Lord of glory is about to come as a triumphant conqueror, to put down forever all rebellion in God’s universe, and gather every true believer into the mansions of glory. Will any person in his senses, in view of such an event, suppose for a moment that there will be no spiritual gifts in connection with it, no manifestation of spiritual agencies out of the ordinary routine of Christian work? Such a conclusion would be preposterous. It would be in direct contradiction of Christ’s words to the revelator, when speaking to him of the remnant of God’s church, the last church of this world’s history, which has the testimony of Jesus Christ, defined to be the spirit of prophecy.