an old incense boat and spoon for these occasions. And while we are talking-aren't there lots of churches which possess an old white cope which is never used and which the stains of sea and mud would hardly injure, but of which the fastenings are not yet quite eaten away by cockroaches? Be assured that the Bishop would gratefully welcome such a gift.

But the writer of this article must not conclude without a word about the afternoon service held over on the other cay for the benefit of the Baptists and Methodists. There again it was a most attentive and enthusiastic congregation which joined in Evensong. The 23rd Psalm was sung to Barnby's ever-popular chant, and the Canticles to Tonus Regius. Before the sermon, "Hark, hark my soul" was sung to the familiar lilting melody given in the English Hymnal with the many variations sanctioned by the tradition of the local Baptist chapels, and then all sat and listened to Canon Webb as he addressed them in his own homely, inimitable way from the text in the Apocalypse, "The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." After the closing hymn, "Abide with me," the Bishop, following the line of Canon Webb's sermon, recited the commendatory prayer for the souls of all the spongers who had died at sea or on the mud, and then gave the blessing. One verse of "God save the King," for there are no stauncher patriots in the British Empire than our colored Bahamian people—and then the scramble for tobacco.

We have often heard that we cannot expect to bring the people to the church unless we will take the church to the people.

To do this in the Bahamas means the sailing over many hundreds of miles of sea; often the experiencing of very dirty weather -such as that on the night which followed this actual Sundayalways a certain amount of hardship and discomfort, sometimes even danger. But it is tremendously worth while.

"If only more of our young priests realized the delightfulness of the life of the Island Missionary of the Bahamas, or the joy in the responsiveness of the people," says Canon Webb after 28 years' experience, "we should not have to complain of the shortage of clergy."

The State of the Non-Christian

Departed

THE REV. JOHN COLE MCKIM, M.A., B.D.

[NOTE: This paper was originally published in Japanese in the KIRISUTO-KYO SHUHO, the semi-official weekly of the Nippon Sei Ko Kwai (Japan Holy Catholic Church.) I have followed the original closely, not merely to save myself labour, but in the hope that the local flavour may add something to the enjoyment of American readers.]

TH

HE purpose of this paper is to deal with the eternal condition of those who, in their sojourn here in earth, were unavoidably prevented from holding the Christian religion.

I

It is sometimes asserted in old Japanese histories and, for polemic purposes, by contemporary Protestants that one of the chief obstacles to the spread of Christianity in Japan in the XVI and XVII centuries by St. Francis Xavier and his successors was their teaching that our non-Christian ancestors suffer eternal pain.

It would be somewhat to the point to inquire why, then, did Christianity spread so much more rapidly then than it is spreading now; but, leaving that question in the air, I go on to suggest reasons for doubting if any such teaching was ever given by. Jesuit missionaries. For not only does such teaching form no part of the doctrine of the Catholic Church, but it goes strongly against the general trend of Jesuit theology and is also inconsistent with the Jesuit practice of avoiding, if possible, statements likely to alienate their hearers. It is possible that statements intelligible in this sense may have been made by the less learned friars or by lay preachers (like our modern dendoshi) who wished to frighten their hearers into becoming Christians. We know that even today dendoshi or, still more often, voluntary lay speakers sometimes utter statements which astound the very priests who have tried to teach them.

I venture to think, therefore, that while statements implying the eternal pain of all the unbaptized may have been heard at times,

they did not characterize the teaching of the missionaries who first had the honour of proclaiming the Sun of Righteousness in the great islands of the rising sun. We must remember that after the attempted suppression of our religion in the XVII century, the historians of the Bakufu made every effort to represent the true faith in the worst possible light. They would, therefore, make the most of, or might even invent, such statements as those which we now consider.

As for modern non-Catholic polemics based upon these pseudohistorical allegations, it covers the case to say that use has been made of highly doubtful statements in the effort to discredit the heroic martyrs of Japan by attributing to them beliefs which the Church does not hold.

In this particular connection, it seems to be true that the belief that the heathen are doomed to endless torment was far more common among non-Catholic teachers than among Catholic theologians down into the XIX century when the rise of "higher criticism" and "Darwinism" accelerated among various sects those processes of disintegration which are today so visibly operative. This is probably because, retaining a technical theological word damnatio, they read into it a new meaning, so that, when they saw such texts as "He that believeth not shall be damned," they took them to mean that the heathen (as well as many Christians who disagreed with them) were doomed to endless fire. No wonder that, when XIX century scepticism afforded a pretext for discarding a tenet so hideous, there occurred a reaction whose force, unchecked by authority (since the authority of Scripture had been, for them, undermined) carried many Protestants so far from definite corporate belief that they appear to find in vested interests and inherited organizations their principle cohesive force.

It must be understood that the above historical survey, necessarily brief, is only an attempt to generalize fairly. There is no space for minute detail. It is fair to remind ourselves in passing that not all Catholic preachers in each and every utterance keep within the limits of strictly orthodox doctrine. Nor have all Protestant writers been deliberately unjust. Catholic flowers are no less fair for growing in Protestant gardens. Time would fail me to expatiate upon their beauty. For the purposes of this article this tribute and this summary must suffice.

II.

Of more interest to the readers of the Kirisutokyo-Shuho will be the question: what is the teaching of the Sei Ko Kwai (Holy Catholic Church) in this matter. The readers do not, of course, wish for an expression of personal views, but for an exposition of authoritative teaching. In this article I shall rely heavily upon Jesuit theologians, not because they are the only writers on the subject (for there are Anglican theologians in full agreement with what is here drawn from them) but because, since the first missionaries to Japan were Jesuits, Jesuit teaching upon the subject is of special interest to those who desire to consider the question in its Japanese aspects.

III.

There are two sorts of endless penalty or forfeit recognized by theologians of the Sei Ko Kwai. They are the "penalty of loss" (Poena damni) and the "penalty of pain" (Poena sensus). It is only the second of these that can be called, in the ordinary sense of the words, punishment or torment. God punishes sin and it is only those who commit what they understand to be sins that render themselves liable to this punishment. Even the word punishment does not properly convey the idea. Many theologians would prefer to think of eternal pain as the inevitable and logical consequence of voluntary acts. Persons, whether Christian or not, who die in unrepented mortal sin render themselves liable to these consequences. The incitements to penitence offered him by his religion give the Christian so great an opportunity of dying in grace that there is doubtless a larger number of heathen than of Christians who die impenitent. But God, who is the source of all justice, never permits this penalty to fall upon those who, in their lives, were just according to their lights. Thus there could be, in Catholic teaching, no foundation for the statement that, since our ancestors were nonChristian, they are, for that reason, in endless torment.

IV.

Some misunderstanding has been caused to rise from the teaching that though the just heathen are exempt from the penalty of pain, they do stand in danger of what is called the penalty of loss

(Poena damni). This is possible partly because some English derivatives of this word damnum and its congeners have acquired, in popular use, a more sinister significance than attaches to them in the language of theology. The damnum or loss here contemplated is the loss or lack in part or in full of the "Beatific Vision" which is the highest of all the rewards promised to the faithful.

There is room here for some legitimate difference of speculative opinion. Jesuit theologians are tolerant of the view that those who incur this loss may be, in some instances, unconscious of it. This seems reasonable in the light of the distinction that has been set up between Pain and Loss. At any rate, those not liable to the penalty of pain must, even if aware of the loss, be in some way reconciled to it since, otherwise, the consciousness would be painful. This, of course, applies only to those to whom the great reward has never sensibly been offered. Once made aware of the means of Grace, men must either accept or reject it.

By way of illustration, let me suggest the case of a student of philosophy who finds an unique pleasure in contemplative meditation. His brother, who never pursued the studies, cannot share the pleasure. Yet, in many cases he will be quite insensible of his loss. Had he once felt the aspiration and then, through sloth and neglect of study, failed to satisfy it, the case would be different. But since he has never been aware of the pleasure, he is not afflicted by its lack. Yet the pleasure is real and so, therefore, is the lack of it.

V.

But, it may be objected by opponents who have skimmed the surface of Catholic theology, "have not our writers cited mediaeval theologians in support of our statement that recognized Catholic teachers have taught than non-Christians are ipso facto doomed to eternal punishment?"

Yes, it is quite true that a number of such quotations have been made by anti-Catholic writers, but it is also true that the use made of these quotations is either ignorant or unfair. In some instances they are not taken directly from the works of the theologians quoted, but from the footnotes or appendices of more modern works.

The most eminent of all these theologians is St. Thomas