ND THE UNITED STATES IN 1872; WITH THE LADIES OF THE EMBASSY.

two swords were soon laid aside; important regulations were framed to promote the sacredness of marriage and to raise the condition of women; and above all, a move was made towards the toleration of Christianity.

In the meanwhile, Japan ratified her entrance into the comity of nations by sending an embassy of nobles and ministers of high rank, headed by Iwakura, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and one of the most enlightened men of the progressive party, to the courts of America and Europe. (See the picture on this page.) On the 4th of December, 1872, the ambassadors were received by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle.

The last eight years have been a period of great and continuous progress. A dozen daily newspapers are now published in Tokio, and hundreds in the provinces; in 1877 twenty-two millions of letters, six millions of postcards, and seven millions of newspapers, passed through the 3,700 post-offices of the empire. Light-houses stand on all the promontories; manufactories of all kinds are at work; the telegraph runs from end to end of the empire; the little railway between Tokio and Yokohama carried a million and a half of passengers as far back as 1874, and other lines have since been opened; Japanese packet and war steamers are to be met with thousands of miles from Dai Nippôn; and two millions of children are at school.

Yet with all this wonderful progress, the old Pagan spirit is not yet dead in Japan, although the Pagan religions have received a severe blow. In England, the Revolution. of the seventeenth century followed on the Reformation of the sixteenth, and was, in a sense, its crown and completion. Japan has now had its Revolution: Will that Revolution have its crown and completion in a true Reformation-in the adoption of the Yesu-no-michi, the Way of Jesus?

PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN JAPAN.

NGLAND opened the door for the Gospel to enter Japan, and America carried it in. Under Commodore Perry's limited Treaty nothing could be done, and it was Lord Elgin's Treaty in 1858 that secured liberty for foreigners to reside on the "concessions" at the specified ports. But American societies led the way in planting Missions there. As early as 1859-60, the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Board, and the Dutch Reformed Church,' were at work, with seven ordained men. But the missionaries could do little. Their very presence caused suspicion. Spies were sent by the government to call upon them, ostensibly to make friends with the foreign visitors, but really to discover what object these nontrading people had in coming to Japan at all. To preach or teach publicly would have been to bring upon themselves instant expulsion. They could but cautiously speak to such as came to them, and with equal caution sell such tracts and Scripture portions as had hastily been produced in Japanese. Some young men who came to one missionary to learn a little English were handed for that purpose copies of a book called The Christian Reader; when they at once erased the word "Christian from the title-page and cover, for fear it should be noticed by others. In 1865, the first Christian convert, who had been a teacher of the language to the missionaries, was baptized, on his deathbed, but at his own house, in the presence of his family, and

with their full consent.

In June, 1869, the experienced C.M.S. missionary in China, the Rev. W. A. (afterwards Bishop) Russell, visited Japan, and in his report to the Society laid especial stress upon the fact that while "against Christianity in a Roman Catholic garb, from what took place in the past, there no doubt existed a very bitter feeling," no hostility was manifested against Protestant Christianity," which the Japanese were already beginning to discern to be a very different thing." He found visitors to the missionaries speaking with reserve about religion till they ascertained them to be Protestants, "and then religious conversation was prosecuted without hesitation."

But in official circles no readiness was exhibited to draw such distinctions. Immediately after the Revolution of 1868, the Mikado's government had put up notice-boards all over the empire bearing imperial edicts, supplementary to the now venerable notice of 230 years before, which still faced the missionary wherever he turned. One of the new proclamations was as follows:

BOARD No. I.-LAW.

The evil sect called Christian is strictly prohibited. Suspicious persons should be reported to the proper officers, and rewards will be given. DAI JO KUAN.

Fourth Year Kei-o, Third Month.

In 1873 all these public notices were withdrawn. Not, indeed, those against Christianity only; and just as the laws respecting "murder, arson, and robbery," remained in force notwithstanding the removal of particular proclamations respecting them, so was it with the prohibition of the "evil sect.' Still it cannot be doubted that in course of time the result was favourable to missionary effort. The authorities were better able to ignore breaches of the law when its existence was less conspicuous; and toleration has gradually become, in practice, virtually complete.

In addition to the admirable work of the American missionaries, much good was done in the early days of cautious and tentative effort by the influence of the able and devoted Christian laymen, mostly also from the United States, who engaged in educational work under the Japanese Government. Unquestionably the toleration that now obtains is largely due to the spread, by their instrumentality, among the governing and literary class-the very class they came in contact with at the colleges and schools,

-of correct views at least of the high character of the Christian religion.

One of these gentlemen, Mr. E. Warren Clark, in his pleasant little book, Life and Adventure in Japan (published in England by Nisbet & Co.), gives incidentally some interesting glimpses of the exercise of this kind of Christian influence. He was engaged as a teacher of science at the city of Shidzuoka. He began the very first Sunday, and conducted a Bible-class the whole time he was there; and when he was transferred to the Imperial College at Tokio, he resolved to hold three every Sunday, for the convenience of different classes of students. Unusual difficulties arose here, but he persevered. "I confess," he wrote, "that when the feeling floods upon me, that these are souls for whom Christ died, and mine is the privilege to make the fact known unto them, it breaks through all bounds of mere expediency, and forces me to speak the truth at all risks. There is a solemnity beyond expression in the attempt to bring before these young

men the words of eternal life."

It was in 1872 that the first Native Japanese Christian Church was organised. It is now called the Union Church, and is connected with two American Presbyterian Societies and the Scottish "U. P. Church." Next in importance are the Missions of the American Board (Congregationalist). Other American denomiChurch under Bishop Williams. nations are actively at work, including the Protestant Episcopal Church under Bishop Williams. Of English societies, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Church Missionary Society have had Missions in Japan for some years; and the Baptists have lately sent an agent there. The Scottish United Presbyterians are represented, and the Edinburgh Medical Mission. Out of sixty ordained missionaries of all denominations in the country, three-fourths are from the United States. Five belong to the S.P.G. and nine to the C.M.S. At the end of 1879 there were 3,000 baptized Christians in Japan, and probably an equal number of adherents not yet baptized. The S.P.G. and C.M.S. had about 200 each.

The American missionaries, in addition to their directly evangelistic efforts, have done a noble work by their educational and literary labours. In female education especially, American ladies have rendered most valuable service. Dr. Hepburn's Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionary, the fruit of thirteen years' toil, the standard work on the language, must be specially mentioned. To him and his brethren is maiuly due New Testament has lately been completed. the progress already made in the translation of the Bible. The

Besides the Protestant Missions, the Church of Rome and the Russo-Greek Church maintain a large staff in Japan. The Romanists, expelled in the seventeenth century, have taken advantage of the toleration obtained by Protestant England and Protestant America, and their zeal is represented by three bishops, more than thirty priests, and a large number of nuns.

THE C.M.S. MISSION IN JAPAN.

HE publication, in the Church Missionary Intelligencer of June, 1866, of an appeal for prayer issued by the American Missionaries in Japan, may be regarded as the starting-point of the Society's Japan Mission. A spirit of prayer was evoked by it in C.M.S. circles; and within twelve months one answer to the supplications offered came in the shape of an anonymous donation of £4,000 as a nucleus for a special Japan Fund. In yet another twelve months the man also was given; and in the very year of the great Revolution, 1868, the Rev. George Ensor, B.A., of Queen's College, Cambridge, was designated as the first missionary from Christian England to the newly opened empire.

On the 23rd of January, 1869, eighteen days after the young

Mikado gave his first state reception at Tokio to the ministers of foreign nations (see page 114), Mr. Ensor landed at Nagasaki. One of the first things to catch his eye was the ominous notice posted up" The laws hitherto in force forbidding Christianity are to be strictly observed." What was he to do? He could not stand and preach in the streets. He could only receive the visits of any inquirers who chose to come to his house; and would a Japanese venture? They did venture. Ere a month had passed, his house was thronged with visitors, all curious to know something about England and her science and art and progress, but, most of all, about her religion. More serious inquirers would wait till the darkness of night, when the doors were closed and the windows barred. "When they left," says Mr. Ensor, "I scarce ever expected to see them again-for I was informed that an officer had been specially appointed to keep watch at my gate."

Some nine months after his arrival, when he had " dropped into an almost despairing frame of mind," a token for good was given to him:

:

I was sitting by myself in my study, and heard, in the darkness, a knock at the door. I went myself to answer it, and, standing between the palm-trees of my gate, I saw the dark figure of an armed Japanese. He paused a moment, and I beckoned to him to enter; and he came in and sat down, and I asked him what his business was. He replied, "A few days ago I had a copy of the Bible in my hands, and I wish to be a Christian." I warned him of his danger. "Yes," he said, "I know. Last night I came to your gate, and as I stood there, thinking of the terrible step I was about to take, fear overpowered me, and I returned. But there stood by me in the night one who came to me in my dreams, and said I was to go to the house of the missionary and nothing would happen to me, and I have come." And drawing his long sword, he held it up to me in a form signifying the Japanese oath, and promised that he would ever keep true to me, and I received him.

This man was afterwards baptized by the name of Titus; "for God," says Mr. Ensor, "who comforteth those who are cast down, comforted me by the coming of Titus." About a year after this, a man named Futagawa was baptized; but he was arrested and thrown into prison, where he suffered grievous hardships for two years, yet lost no opportunity of making known the Saviour for whose sake he was suffering.

The

Mr. Ensor was joined in 1871 by the Rev. H. Burnside; but both these brethren have been obliged by the failure of their health to retire from the field. It was in 1873, when toleration seemed likely to be established, that the Society's enlarged plans for missionary operations in Japan were formed; and in the next two years six new men were designated for the work. Rev. C. F. Warren, formerly of Hong Kong, arrived at Osaka on the last day of 1873; the Rev. J. Piper, also formerly of Hong Kong, took up his residence at Tokio, as Secretary of the Mission, in February, 1874; the Rev. W. Dening, transferred from Madagascar, proceeded to Hakodate in May of that year; the Rev. P. K. Fyson and the Rev. H. Evington (both University men who offered specially for Japan, Mr. Fyson from Cambridge, Mr. Evington from Oxford) joined the Mission later in the same year, 1874, the former being associated with Mr. Piper and the latter with Mr. Warren-but Mr. Fyson subsequently occupied Niigata; and the Rev. H. Maundrell, who had laboured ten years in Madagascar, took charge of Nagasaki in 1875. All these, by God's mercy, have continued at their posts, in addition to three others who have since joined the Mission, viz., the Rev. J. Williams, first at Hakodate and since at Tokio; Mr. Batchelor, at Hakodate; and the Rev. Walter Andrews, at Nagasaki. An English gentleman formerly in the employ of the Japanese Government, and who has since taken his degree at Cambridge, and been ordained, the Rev. G. H. Pole, also joins

the Mission this autumn.

Nagasaki, which was the first station, is also the most advanced. In 1875, a mission church was opened, by the efforts of Mr. Burnside, on the little islet of Deshima (the old Dutch settle

ment), close to the bridge leading to the native town, within a few minutes' walk of any part of it, and in full view of the harbour.* Bishop Burdon says of this church: " Its turret, surmounted by a cross, is quite a prominent object at the head of the beautiful bay. You will remember that Deshima is the very spot where the cross was laid down to be trampled on as a test of any natives suspected of Christianity. The raising of the cross on high at Deshima has, therefore, a significance it has not elsewhere." In November, 1877, a little college was established for training candidates for missionary work among their own countrymen, in the first place as evangelists, and then, if it please God to call them, as ordained ministers of the Church. Some of these students are from other cities in the interior, and their influence has spread thither the knowledge of the Gospel. At Kagoshima, in particular, the spot where Xavier landed in Japan, Mr. Maundrell, in April, 1879, found several earnest and wellinstructed candidates for baptism; one of whom, a medical man, was admitted into the visible Church on April 26th; five other adults and a child on May 1st; and six adults and six children on May 5th. The whole number of Christian adherents at Nagasaki and its out-stations at the end of 1879 was 110. At Osaka there are 35; at Tokio, 34; at Niigata, 6; at Hakodate, 12; 197 in all.

In past numbers of the GLEANER a good deal of information has been given concerning these different stations. The following list will be useful for reference :

General Accounts of the Mission:-Dec., 1874; Feb., 1879. Nagasaki: "My First Year at Nagasaki," by the Rev. G. Ensor, Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, 1875. Letters from Rev. H. Maundrell, Sept., 1876; Mar, 1877; Dec., 1878.

Osaka:-Letters from Rev. C. F. Warren, Nov., 1875; June and Dec., 1877; Aug, 1878.

Tokio: Great Fire," by Mrs. Piper, Apr., 1877. Letters from Rev. J. Piper, Feb., 1879, and Oct., 1880.

Letters, May, 1876, and Apr., 1878. The Great Fire, Mar., 1880.

Hakodate:-About the Ainos, Oct., 1875, and May, 1877. Other

Also, at different times, Notes on the Country and People, accompanying the pictures; in 1874, a series of Articles, by the Rev. G. Ensor; in 1880, a series of Articles by the Rev. A. B. Hutchinson.

STORY OF A JAPANESE POLICEMAN. From the Rev. J. Piper's Report for 1878. [The convert whose history is here related is No. 5 in the picture on the next page, and in Mr. Piper's accompanying letter.] CE was a policeman in this city, with a very slight knowledge of English. He was led to think and inquire about Christianity by a few sentences in (I think) Peter Parley's book. He came to see me first at the close of 1876, and, as usual with inquirers, I proposed that we should read a Gospel together. He expressed his willingness to do so, and we commenced reading that of St. Matthew in the Japanese language, as his knowledge of English was very limited indeed. He came very regularly, as his duties would permit him. We read as far as the twelfth chapter in the course of a few months, during which time he manifested a thoughtful and anxious interest. In March, 1877, soon after the Satsuma Rebellion broke out, he suddenly disappeared. Of course I felt anxious to know what had become of him. had become very much drawn towards him, and looked upon him as one "not far from the kingdom of God." About two months passed away without our hearing a word from or of him, when, to my thankful surprise, a short letter came from him, written amidst the scenes of the civil war. therein told me that he had been suddenly ordered to the south, and had no time to come and tell me. He further said he had not forgotten the truths he had learned with me-indeed, they had comforted him amidst the dreadful scenes through which he was passing.

He

Three months more passed over, and further tidings came from him. Again, at the end of that time, I received a few lines from him, informing me that he would like to come and see us, but was unable, because he was suffering from a bullet-wound received in the war, and had been brought back to Tokio, and was in a hospital some two miles from our house. One of our Christians and I took an early opportunity of finding him out at the hospital where he was lying. We found him cheerful, and with * See the pictures in the C.M. GLEANER of March, 1877, and Dec., 1878.

the Gospel by his bedside, not afraid of speaking of Christianity in the presence of his fellow-sufferers. We visited him several times, and he seemed to be gradually improving, when, to our sorrow, at our next visit, we saw him in a separate room, in a state of madness! His wife and child were there, but he did not know her or us. The dreadful sights at the seat of war had so told upon him, and the wound was so severe, that madness ensued. The next time we went to see him he was still raving, and even worse than before.

We came away feeling certain that he would soon die, and our hearts were very sad. You can imagine the feelings of gratitude and utter astonishment which came over us one morning at breakfast, when the servant came and announced the presence of this very man, restored, and "in his right mind"! He bad come as soon as he could to thank us for all our kindness, and to ask that he might soon be baptized. His lameness, and the strange, somewhat wild look on his face, excited in our hearts mingled feelings of sorrow and praise to God. After a short time I baptized him in our new church on Sunday, May 26th, rejoicing with all our Christians that this our brother, whom we had two or three times given up as "dead," "was alive again," and the more than once seemingly "lost" "found." It was meet that we should be "merry" in the highest sense. In our estimation his case is a deeply interesting episode connected with the great Satsuma Rebellion.

THE C.M.S. CONVERTS AT TOKIO.

LETTER FROM THE REV. JOHN PIPER.

TOKIO, February 21st, 1880. EAR MR. EDITOR,-I forward to you by this mail a photograph, taken by a Japanese, of some of our Christians, and the C.M.S. labourers in Tokio.

Several of the adults were absent at the time, and the children of the congregation could not be kept quiet enough to be taken in the group.

No. 1 is a rice merchant, who, with his wife (No. 13), were baptized last July (1879). They are the first fruits of our preaching place in the city. No. 15 is their adopted daughter. She was baptized last December. She is a bright girl, twelve years of age.

No. 2 is a policeman. He also was baptized in July of last year. No. 3, formerly a Buddhist priest, was baptized in Osaka by Mr. Warren, but left that city a year ago. We are glad that he came to anchor in our harbour in this city.

No. 4 is a builder and contractor; he and his wife (No. 16), after attending our services and Bible-classes at our old house, were admitted to the Church in December, 1877.

No. 5 is the policeman who was wounded in the Satsuma Rebellion, and of whose conversion I gave an account in my report for 1878 [see preceding article]; he is now the teacher in our day school.

No. 17 is his wife, who was baptized last December (1879).

No. 6 is a servant in our employment, who was baptized in December, 1877. His wife (No. 19) was the first who received that sacrament in our new church, in April, 1878.

No. 7 is another policeman, whom I baptized the first Sunday in 1879. No. 8 is also a policeman. He has been a soldier and a jinrikisha man. A short account of him is given in the C.M. Intelligencer of April, 1877. No. 20 is his wife, who was admitted to the Church in December, 1877. No. 14 is a tatami (Japanese floor matting) maker. He and his wife (No. 18), with their child, were baptized in October, 1876. He is the tradesman spoken of in my report of 1876 (C.M. Intell., April, 1877). No. 9, Rev. J. Williams. No. 10, Mrs. Williams. No. 11, myself. No. 12, my wife.

The photographs of the Japanese are very good indeed, and we think the group is a remarkably good picture.

Asking the readers of the GLEANER to pray for these and our other Christians "that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things," and for us, that we may be privileged to win more souls for Jesus, I remain yours sincerely, JOHN PIPER.