The Three Hour Sermon on God, Sin and Salvation

We worshipped foxes and badgers, snakes and centipedes. We worshipped the fox, calling him Inari Sama. Of course, Inari means the god of rice, and learned people say that it is not a fox but a representation of the god of the rice crop so important to our country. But common people could not understand such a fine distinction, and they simply worshipped the fox as god of rice. If we saw a small fox we did not care much about him; but when a big old fox appeared, people began to say: " There comes the Fox God. We must offer him Abura age [fried bean curd], and Adzuki meshi [rice cooked with red beans], both of which foxes are very fond of. So they would bring these offerings to the den of the fox and leave them at the entrance. The fox might come out during the night and have a good time feasting on these offerings. I know that one of my friends even built a small hut near the fox's den and slept there during the night to keep company with the fox god.

In the same way people worshipped badgers, snakes, centipedes, whenever big ones appeared. These, you know, are mere beasts and worms. But we were so ignorant and superstitious that we stooped to worship even these base creatures.

Whenever an unusually fine tree was found in the forest people used to say that that tree had a spirit in it, just as men have spirits in them. Then they decorated the tree by putting the sacred straw rope around it and worshipped it as a god of big trees. There was even an old story that the spirit of a certain big willow tree became a beautiful woman and married a very honest and good man of the town.

When any peculiarly formed rocks were found in the mountains they were also bound with the sacred rope and worshipped as gods.

Anything and everything which looked a little strange and uncommon was soon made into a god. I was told that in some places people even worshipped cows and horses.

Such superstition is not confined however to old-time Japan. Even at this present time you see like superstitions prevailing all over the country, and perhaps even worse than the old ones.

You all know what kind of a man Ishikawa Goyemon was [the famous Japanese robber]. But now even he is worshipped by many people as a god. I wonder what kind of a god such a man can be.

At the grave of Nedzumi Kozo [a famous pickpocket] it is said that incense is always found burning. Who offers that incense? Why, all the pickpockets of the city of Tokyo burn incense there. He is the god of the pickpockets, while Ishikawa Goyemon is the god of thieves. When I was travelling in the southern part of the island of Kyushu one day I found in a certain temple a great many flags and banners flying. I asked the people of the place what kind of a god was in this temple " I see such a lot of flags and banners flying, it certainly must be a very famous god." The man told me, " It is the god of gamblers." All these flags and banners were offered by the gamblers from all parts of the country. And he said, moreover, " If you have faith in this god you will win in all games, whether in gambling or stock speculation, or even in wrestling and fighting."

And now, my friends, what do you think about these gods? Do you think that there are such gods as a god of thieves, a god of pickpockets, a god of gamblers? It is fearful even to think of such things. It would indeed be intolerable if such gods really existed in this world.

No, no, there can never be such gods in this world.

How can foxes and badgers, snakes and centipedes, trees and rocks be gods?

How can the sun, moon and stars be gods?

No intelligent person at the present time believes in such things as these.

But alas! in our country, even in this present day, there are hundreds of thousands who still believe in these false gods. Why? Because they are ignorant and untaught, and can not see the real nature of these so-called gods. It is mere superstition. Some of our people are yet very superstitious.

Superstition has increased immensely the number of gods. So much so that at the present time our government is rather troubled as to how to dispose of these innumerable false gods.

Of course, the government cannot tell the people in plain words that what they are now worshipping are all false gods, and therefore that they had better throw them away: No, the government cannot issue such orders. In place of that our government has given private instructions to the people in regard to the amalgamation of temples. According to these instructions many towns and villages have begun the amalgamation of their temples, and are thus reducing their number to a very few/

In one place there were over seventy temples and shrines. But now the people have reduced the number to four.

Poor gods! Those formerly living in big temples by themselves are now crowded into small box-like shrines, placed in rows of ten or twenty, just like the poor people's tenement houses in the new temple grounds. I asked a villager why they showed such unkindness to these poor gods they had been worshipping for so many years. " Oh," he said, " the cost of living is so high nowadays it is too great a burden for the poor villagers to support so many temples. Though it may be inconvenient and uncomfortable for these gods to live so crowded together, yet for the sake of the people we put them together in the new temple ground."

Well, it may be quite convenient for the villagers, but how about these poor gods?

Do you think that they are satisfied with such treatment by the villagers? Of course the villagers have not received permission from their gods to carry out such an amalgamation. They have done it without any consultation or conference with the gods themselves. If these gods are really living gods do you think they will be contented with such treatment by the villagers? You know our homes are our castles. It is the duty of every man to defend his castle. If any one should break into your house and carry you away without your consent and put you into a miserable hut, would you submit to such insolence without resistance? Oh, no, you would fight such an one with all your might. Now as these gods did not fight the insolent villagers we must conclude that they are not living gods. They are the work of human hands, the result of superstition.

In the old days of our childhood we used to boast of our country having so many gods. Perhaps there may not be another country on this whole earth which has eight million gods of its own. Ours is really the land of gods. But we boasted of this foolish thing because in those days we did not yet know anything of the other countries of the world. Since we have come to know other countries our boasting, is in vain. Look at the other nations. How numerous are their gods? Indeed, the nations of Europe and America have only one God to worship, because they are Christian countries.. Christians, as I told you: in the beginning, worship only one God. But look at China, India and all these savage nations of Africa. How numerous are their gods? India has the greatest number of gods of any nation in the world. The present population of India is said to be three hundred and fifteen millions. But if you ask an Indian how many gods he has in his country he would tell you three hundred and thirty million gods. That is, more than one god to each man. If a nation could boast of having many gods I think India would be the proudest nation of the whole world. Our eight million gods can not compete with their three hundred million gods. And why have they so many gods? How could they get them? Because Indians themselves make their own gods. If people begin to make their own gods there will be no end of god-making. If each of three hundred million people tries to make his own god, you can have at once three hundred million gods.

But I think this god-making business is not confined to India. All over the world, in heathen countries, people make their own gods. They carve various figures out of wood, stone and metal, and overlay them with gold and silver, and kneel down before them and wor- ship them. Yes, this god-making is a very simple process indeed.

We have asked such idol-worshippers often: "How can these stone or wooden images be gods? Are they not of the same kind of wood which you burn in your stoves, or of the same kind of metal and stone with which you build your houses? Are they not all the workmanship of carpenters or stone masons? " " Oh, yes," they say, " they were originally. But now they have the spirits of gods put into them, so they are gods and we must worship them."

" But how/' we ask, " did these spirits of gods get into these figures, or who put them there?"

" The priests did," they say.

"All right, but who are these priests? Are they not like other men, weak human beings? Are the gods inferior to men? Can spirits of gods be put into anything of stone or wood by the mere will of a human being? "

Nonsense! even to think of such a thing. But all these idol gods are made in this way, and are then worshipped by the very men who made them. Everywhere people are practising such nonsense in god-making. And the wonder is that they really believe in their manmade gods.

If you go to savage countries you will find more amusing things than god-making. For instance, when some men go out hunting and find a stick on the road they pick it up, stand it up by the roadside, kneel down and offer prayers. They earnestly pray for good luck in finding game. If they are fortunate enough to get game that day, on their return they bow down to their stick-god and offer him the best portion of the meat as a thank-offering. But if they do not get the game they prayed for they become angry and lay the entire blame upon the stick-god to whom they offered prayers in the morning. When they see the stick still standing there they rush at it and kick it over and trample it, even binding it with ropes and putting it in the river, saying they have punished their gods for not answering their prayers.

What an amazing thing it is! Man punishing his god for not answering his prayer!

But if you think it over you can see the reason at once. This stick-god is made by the man himself, it is his creature. To give him good luck he has created this god and so he has the power to punish the god. God here is the creature instead of the creator. Such a god is like the hunter's dog; if he obeys his master and does his work well he will be praised and rewarded. But if he does not do it, of course he will be punished and beaten.

We were laughing at the foolishness of these savage people, and saying how ridiculous it is for a man to pray to his own stick. But on reflection I say: " No." We can not laugh at these people because we ourselves have done the same thing. I do not know whether you have ever done such things or not, but I have quite often. I mean when I was young. Suppose I was travelling in an unfamiliar place and came to a crossroad and was puzzled which way to take, I would first try to find out by asking some one who knew the road. But finding no one, I would look for a guide-post. If there was no such post, what did I do? I used to take a cane if I happened to have one, or find a stick on the road, and stand it up at the crossing; then shutting my eyes I let the stick fall, and if I found it on the right I said the gods called me to take the turn to the right and I followed it. If I had neither cane nor stick, I held out my left hand and spit upon it, and struck it with two fingers of the right hand, believing the gods called me to go in the direction in which the spittle flew.

Thus you see I made a stick- or even a spittlegod.

Now, my friends, where is the difference between the stick-god of the savage man and my spittle-god? No difference, not a bit.

Everywhere ignorance breeds superstition. If you read our old books you will find many stories of man's beating and punishing his gods for not answering his prayers. Human nature works in the same manner everywhere. All over the world uncivilized peoples make their own gods. And these gods are nothing but the reflections of their hearts. So originated all sorts of gods, good, bad, high, low, strong, weak, merciful, cruel, and so on. As there are thieves, pickpockets and gamblers in this world so came the gods of thieves, pickpockets and gamblers. And as there are many bad women in the world, so came the god of licentiousness.