M.R. DENING AND CHURCH MISSIONS IN JAPAN.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR"] SIR,—Yon so often express interest in Asiatic affairs, that you will probably not object to inform your readers of an event which promises well for Christianity in Japan, and in Buddhist countries generally. A distinguished Missionary of the Church Missionary Society has just been ejected from his office in Hakodade, in consequence of his open refusal to teach Christ- ianity any longer on the doctrinal basis of the lower Evangelical School, which holds that mankind is born under the curse of an hereditary immortality of sin and misery, through Adam's transgression, and that the unsaved part of mankind is destined to everlasting torment in hell, their natural immortality securing the eternity of the infliction. Mr. Dening, chiefly as the result of Biblical study under the condition of close contact with the educated classes of Japan, has come to think that Christianity has for its object, in the Divine Incarnation, to bestow renewal of character and immortal life on all of mankind who do not reject the proffered boon, the ultimate issue of wilful and persistent rejection being, in fact, that awful nirvana, or dissolution of individual existence, which Scripture threatens, under the name of "everlasting destruction." The effect of these persuasions is not to shake, but to confirm, men's faith in the main doctrines of orthodox Christianity, both on their formidable and gracious sides.
But the Directors of the Church Missionary Society, sum- moning Mr. Dening to England, have just determined, on the 8th instant, after allowing him one interview with the Ecclesias- tical (or Clerical) Sub-Committee, to " disconnect " him from their service forthwith, without granting even a hearing by the General Committee, because contrary to their custom. Even the Sanhedrim did not stone Stephen until they had heard him, much less did they resolve to put an end to his mission on the recommendation of a Rabbinical sub-committee. However, the -deed is done, and January 8th will be a red-letter day in the Missionary calendar of Asia, for the work then performed will precipitate the inevitable reconstruction of the Sectarian Missionary Societies. From the whole world of thinking Christendom and Heathendom will arise, let us hope, a speedy demand for the modification of these organisations, which, notwithstanding their many eminent merits, entreat the central control over the business of teaching Christianity to Asia, with its 800,000,000 of souls, to Boards (" I speak as a man ") who seem to be incapable of understanding Buddhism, or of present- ing the Gospel in a quite credible and Scriptural form to the human race. The London Missionary Society is already ex- ceptionally tolerant.
The qualifications of Mr. Dening add a peculiar emphasis to the resolve of the Church Missionary Society, since they would scarcely, except under the fixed determination that all their Missionaries shall teach the doctrine of endless torment to the Buddhists (one-third of the human race), have sacrificed so valuable a Missioner. Mr. Dening's dismissal means this, or it means nothing. He has obtained by ten years' practice an unusual command of the literary language of Japan, and has translated such books as Canon Mozley's "Lectures on Miracles " into the dialect of the upper classes of scholars, besides commanding the popular ear by a fluent use of the vernacular. There seems to be a general agreement that an abler and more hard-working Missionary is not found on the roll of this Society.
Now comes the question,—Shall the holding and teaching of such beliefs as Mr. Dening's any longer be regarded as penal P Nearly all England will reply to the Church Missionary Society, that they shall not be so regarded. The interests of Christianity in Asia are at stake. If the doctrinal programme of this Com- mittee be insisted on, the Buddhists will cry again, as they did formerly to Xavier, " Give us our own nirvana rather, as the summuln bonum." And they will reject Christ, the life of the world, and receive Herbert Spencer instead.
A strong Church of England Committee is being formed at Cambridge, founded on the simple demand for toleration of such beliefs as Mr. Dening's, with a view of collecting funds to enable him to resume his interrupted work in Japan. It is certain that there is not one word in the authorised standards of the Church of England forbidding him to hold his interpretations of Holy Scripture ; and the Bishops at home are believed to be unanimously in favour of comprehension. Surely this is a case, all things considered, at least as urgently demanding toleration as the Ritualistic variations of Miles Platting. I am glad, therefore, to know that gentlemen so distinguished as Professor Stokes, the Dean of Peterborough, Dr. Swainson, Master of Christ's College, the Rev, W. Hay Aitken, and others, intend to give the movement for toleration a decided support.—I am, Sir,.
Previous page
