That the majesty of our Imperial House towers high
above everything to be found in the world, and that
it is as durable as heaven and earth, is too well
known to need dwelling on here...... If it is
considered that our country needs a religious faith,
then, I say, let it be converted to a belief in the
religion of patriotism and loyalty, the religion of
Imperialism--in other words, to Emperor-worship.

The Rev. Dr. Ebina,[2] one of the leading lights of the
Protestant pastorate in Japan, plunges more deeply still into
this doctrine, according to which, as already noted, the whole
Japanese nation is, in a manner, apotheosised. Says he:--

Though the encouragement of ancestor-worship cannot
be regarded as part of the essential teaching of
Christianity (!), it [3] is not opposed to the
notion that, when the Japanese Empire was founded,
its early rulers were in communication with the
Great Spirit that rules the universe. Christians,
according to this theory, without doing violence
to their creed, may acknowledge that the Japanese
nation has a divine origin. It is only when we
realise that the Imperial Ancestors were in close
communion with God (or the Gods), that we understand
how sacred is the country in which we live. [Dr.
Ebina ends by recommending the Imperial Rescript on
Education as a text for Christian sermons.]

[Note 2] We quote from the translation given