Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 48:192 (Oct 1891)
Article: A Study Of The Causes Of The Failure Of The Recent Efforts To Secure Organic Church Union In Japan
Author: Anonymous

BSac 48:192 (Oct 1891) p. 605

A Study Of The Causes Of The Failure Of The Recent Efforts To Secure Organic Church Union In Japan

[Concluded from Page 509]

IV. The Second Six Months Of Discussion And Committee Work

In this period came the turning-point of the movement. But it came so silently that it was not observed by the majority at the time, and it was hardly recognized when it did come. Even after the final decision had been reached, the true positions of the two churches were not appreciated, nor, so far as has yet appeared in print, are they even now fully appreciated either here or in the United States. How has it come about that those on both sides, once so eager for the union, now rest satisfied, each church satisfied with its own final attitude on the subject? This is the question for which we seek an answer.

A. The Kumiai Kyōkwai (Congregationalists).—The first sound to break the silence after the Osaka convention was the clear trumpet-blast of the “Irreconcilables.” Two Christian newspaper editors of Tokyo issued a circular letter to the Kumiai churches, taking a strong position in opposition to the particular constitution which had been proposed, and to union under any constitution of Presbyterian affinities; no constitution which united the local congregations into a single compact organization, with prescribed laws for the conduct of church business and especially with “church courts,” would suit them. “We advocate neither Congre-

BSac 48:192 (Oct 1891) p. 606

gationalism nor Presbyterianism.” “We are friends of the nineteenth century civilization, and any constitution that is not in line with this, will not do.” This letter made its appearance within two weeks after the close of the convention.

By the middle of December letters were sent to the churches by one of the missionaries of the American Board, Dr. D. W. Leonard, who had been, and still was, on the union committee, giving a full explanation of the proposed constitution, answering the various criticisms that had been made against it before and during the Osaka convention, and urging a careful study and final union for the sake of the spread of the gospel in Japan.

Toward the end of December, the revision committee sent invitations to all the churches, and to the American Board missionaries, asking them to send in, before the end of January, suggestions as to the changes desired in the proposed constitution. To respond to this invitation, the churches felt that they needed to give the matter more study than they had as yet given it, and that to do so they needed to get more material than had come within their reach. They needed to know more of the history of the churches of other l...