“I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been
    slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they
    held.”—­John.

    “That they should seek God, If haply they might feel after him,
    though he is not far from each one of us.”—­Paul.

    “Other sheep have I which are not of this fold:  them also I must
    bring, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one
    flock, one shepherd”—­Jesus.

CHAPTER XII — TWO CENTURIES OF SILENCE

The Japanese Shut In.

Sincerely regretting that we cannot pass more favorable judgments upon the Christianity of the seventeenth century in Japan, let us look into the two centuries of silence, and see what was the story between the paling of the Christian record in 1637, and the glowing of the palimpsest in 1859, when the new era begins.

The policy of the Japanese rulers, after the supposed utter extirpation of Christianity, was the double one of exclusion and inclusion.  A deliberate attempt, long persisted in and for centuries apparently successful, was made to insulate Japan from the shock of change.  The purpose was to draw a whole nation and people away from the currents and movements of humanity, and to stereotype national thought and custom.  This was carried out in two ways:  first, by exclusion, and then by inclusion.  All foreign influences were shut off, or reduced to a minimum.  The whole western world, especially Christendom, was put under ban.

Even the apparent exception made in favor of the Dutch was with the motive of making isolation more complete, and of securing the perfect safety which that isolation was expected to bring.  For, having built, not indeed with brick and mortar, but by means of edict and law, both open and secret, a great wall of exclusion more powerful than that of China’s, it was necessary that there should be a port-hole, for both sally and exit, and a slit for vigilant scrutiny of any attempt to force seclusion or violate the frontier.  Hence, the Hollanders were allowed to have a small place of residence in front of a large city and at the head of a land-locked harbor.  There, the foreigners being isolated and under strict guard, the government could have, as it were, a nerve which touched the distant nations, and could also, as with a telescope, sweep the horizon for signs of danger.

So, in 1640, the Hollanders were ordered to evacuate Hirado, and occupy the little “outer island” called Deshima, in front of the city of Nagasaki, and connected therewith by a bridge.  Any ships entering this hill-girdled harbor, it was believed, could be easily managed by the military resources possessed by the government.  Vessels were allowed yearly to bring the news from abroad and exchange the products of Japan for those of Europe.  The English, who had in 1617 opened a trade and conducted a factory for some years,[1] were unable to compete with the Dutch, and about 1624, after having lost in the venture forty thousand pounds sterling, withdrew entirely from the Japanese trade.  The Dutch were thus left without a rival from Christendom.