The Three Hour Sermon on God, Sin and Salvation

THIS is a theatre. It is therefore usually a place of amusement. But tonight we have changed it into a Christion church in order that we may hold a religious service in place of a dramatic performance.

It is a custom among us Christians, as you doubtless know, to offer prayer to our God at the beginning of such a service. God is everywhere. He is with us here this evening. And now as I speak to Him in prayer, invoking His blessing upon this meeting, will you kindly keep perfectly quiet and give me your help either by silently offering your own prayer with mine or at least by keeping yourselves in a prayerful mood? Let us pray.

'Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, we thank Thee for this great gathering of the people tonight to hear from the lips of Thine unworthy servant the wondrous gospel of Thy Son Jesus Christ. We beseech Thee, our Heavenly Father, that Thou wilt give Thy servant wisdom and power from above that he may be able truthfully and impressively to present the gospel of Christ in its purity and simplicity. Help him to be bold and fearless in proclaiming Thy truths to those who need them.

We pray Thee, our Father, that Thou wilt pour out Thy Holy Spirit upon this great congregation. And, now, open Thou their spiritual ears and let them hear not the voice of man but the voice of God. Open their spiritual eyes and let them see not merely the things w^hich are visible to the natural eye but the* things also which are invisible. May their hearts be opened and may they receive the light from heaven and being enlightened by it, may they be able to find out for themselves that they are great sinners in the sight of God. And thus being convicted of sin may they be drawn to the cross of Jesus Christ the blessed Saviour of the world. Oh Father; let these people know that there is none other God beside Thee. Thou art the only true and living God of the universe. Show thyself to them here and now, and lei them see Thy glory and be saved. We ask this in the precious name of Thy only Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

My friends, the subject of my discourse tonight is, What is Christianity, or what is the true nature of the religion of Jesus?

In this congregation I believe there are many Christians, and many others who have known for some time more or less about the Christian religion. But I feel sure that there are also very many in this audience who have not yet become acquainted with the teachings of this great religion and who tonight for the first time in their lives will hear a Christian sermon. And be it understood from the start that my talk this evening is for this last-named class of hearers only. Because tonight I propose to speak about the fundamental truths of Christianity, the A B C of the Christian religion.

Therefore to many present my talk may contain nothing that is really new, and to such I fear it may prove quite uninteresting. Still I believe that the whole of Christianity is contained in these fundamental truths just as an oak tree is contained in an acorn. Therefore, if you understand these fundamentals thoroughly you can grasp all the teachings of the Christian religion. So I feel that it is very important for those who wish to know what Christianity is to have first of all a clear conception of these primal truths. I hope you all will be kind enough to listen patiently to my talk on these first principles of Christianity.

You all know that in this country of ours the Christian religion has secured as yet but a very small number of followers compared with other religions. There are only a little over one hundred thousand Christians of all the various Protestant denominations. That is indeed a very small proportion of our people.

The whole population of Japan proper at present is about sixty millions. Therefore the proportion of Protestant Christians to the entire population is but one in six hundred. And I think the. first and most important reason why there are so few Christians in Japan is that the larger part of our people have not yet had an opportunity of having the gospel of Christ presented to them. They have never heard Christian sermons nor read Christian books. They do not know what the Christian religion is. They are ignorant of the teachings of Christ. People can not believe in a religion about which they know nothing. Without a knowledge of the true nature of the religion of Christ how can they believe? Unless some one goes to them and preaches the gospel to them how can they know it? So I should say that this ignorance of our people as to the true nature of Christianity is the main reason why they do not believe in it, and why there are so few Christians in the country.

But there is yet another reason which has kept back our people from believing in Christianity. It was not simply because they did not understand it, but because they were afraid to have anything to do with it. They had been taught to hate it and had come to despise its very name.

You know that for many centuries before the Restoration of 1868 Christianity was strictly prohibited in our country. All who professed to be Christians ran the risk of suffering capital punishment. I remember the time when we used to see the government notice boards set up in various places, stating that " Belief in the evil religion of Christ is strictly forbidden by order."

I have seen many times people trampling upon the cross of Christ by order of government officials. This was called picture trampling, because people were ordered to trample upon a picture of Jesus upon the cross. It was a great occasion and was counted as one of the great festivals of the year. If any one refused to step upon the picture he would be arrested on the spot and thrown into prison. Even after the Restoration there were found many Christians in the prisons in various parts of the country. No wonder Japanese people at large should be afraid of believing in a religion thus despised.

Although at the present time there is no such barbarous law on the statute books of Japan, yet the odium of the olden time prohibition still attaches to the name of the religion of Jesus. So you see it is of the first importance that these prejudices be removed by teaching our people the true nature of the Christian religion, and helping them to see for themselves its lasting truth and beauty.

I am now a Christian, and I am preaching Christianity to my fellow countrymen. But at first I did not like this new religion. I believed with the rest of my countrymen that it was a false faith and that the introduction of such an evil religion into our beloved country would be a great misfortune. I thought it the duty of all patriots to oppose in every way the spread of such a religion in our country.

When I really heard Christian preaching and read the Bible and studied it carefully, I came to the conclusion that Christianity is not only a good religion but it is the best religion, in fact the only true religion in the world. Its introduction into our country is not only useful but urgently necessary. Without its teachings no country can ever become truly civilized, powerful and righteous.

Now, you know, when we have found anything good and profitable to our people and our country it is our highest duty to tell it to our fellow countrymen, and share with them the benefits thereof. On the other hand, when we have found anything bad and harmful to our fellow countrymen it is also our paramount duty to warn them of it. We must share with our fellow countrymen our knowledge of all things good or bad. This is true patriotism.

My friends, this is the only motive which impels me to preach Christianity to my countrymen. I am not preaching for my own profit. Please do not misunderstand me on this point.

My one and only object in preaching tonight is to give you an opportunity to examine and understand the true nature of the Christian religion, and accept it for your own sake. That is all and nothing else. Therefore, after hearing me tonight, if you feel that you are convinced of the truth and the worth of the Christian religion, I earnestly urge you to accept it now and become a follower of Jesus Christ. But if you are not so convinced, and still think that it is not a good religion, you are free to reject it. I have no wish to force it upon you. You are at liberty either to accept or reject it. But after being fully convinced of the truth of the Christian religion, if you still resist that conviction and refuse to follow its leading through fear of unpleasant consequences, then I should call that an act of cowardice.

You know the saying of our venerable sage, " If a man will not obey the mandate of his conscience and reason, it should be counted to him as an act of cowardice/'

It is my duty, friends, this evening to present the great truths of Christianity in such a way that you may grasp them in one hearing, and make an intelligent decision as to whether or not you will accept them.

Now to accomplish such a purpose I must necessarily proceed a little differently from our usual method of preaching. Generally we preach one truth or one part of this great religion at a time. One Sunday I might be preaching about the love of God. Another Sunday about the righteousness of God, and so on. So that if you should come to our service but one Sunday you could learn but one truth or one side of the Christian religion. If you come continuously, after hearing many sermons you might be able to learn the whole truth. But tonight I am going to give you the whole truth at one time. I will try to pack the truths of Christianity into one sermon, so that you may grasp the whole at one hearing and make your final decision for it at this time.

If you were going to tell the people what the form of a human body is you would not speak about the feet or hands only. Because though they are very important members of the human body yet they do not constitute the whole body. You might explain the construction of these members as fully and as minutely as possible, yet you could never in this way alone make people understand what the shape of the human body is. In order to make people understand this you must show them the whole body from head to foot at one view. You must show them that the human head is a round thing, resting on the neck and trunk; that the arms and hands hang on the sides of the trunk; while the legs and feet support the whole. Then they can get some idea of the general shape and appearance of the human body.

In the same way I will show you tonight the whole of Christianity, from head to foot, in one long look.

Before I proceed, however, I must ask one favor from you all, a favor I ask in every place where I speak on this subject. That is, please do not leave the place in the middle of my sermon. As you have come to hear me preach, please stay to the very end. If you leave before the close not only will you fail to understand my sermon, but I am afraid you will misunderstand it. I have been several times misunderstood by those who have heard only a part of my sermon, especially as the last section in which I deal with what may be called the soul or life of the Christian religion is the most important part. If you miss that last section you can never get the living form of

Christianity, for without it Christianity is a dead religion.

But if you stay to the end and hear my whole sermon I believe you can get a fair knowledge of the outline of the Christian religion. Of course in a one-night talk I can not go into details and speak of the deep things of Christianity; but I hope I can give you at least such a bird's-eye view of Christianity as you would get of a city from an airplane flying above it.

One thing more, I preach here tomorrow night also. But I am going to preach the same sermon again, exactly the same sermon as tonight. Therefore, those who hear me tonight need not come again tomorrow evening. One hearing is enough. And there are many in this city who could not come tonight and who have not yet heard Christian preaching. Perhaps there are many such in your own homes or among your friends. Won't you send them or bring them here tomorrow evening and let them also hear the gospel of Christ? I desire that all our people should have an opportunity to hear the way of salvation. Of course if there are any among you who wish to hear the same sermon again, then come tomorrow evening also. I will not object to your coming again, and perhaps you can understand it better by hearing it twice.