They revered the gods and obeyed the Mikado, and
that was the chief end of man, in those ancient times when Japan was the
world and Heaven was just above the earth. Not exactly on Paul's
principle of "where there is no law there is no transgression," but
utterly scouting the idea that formulated ethics were necessary for
these pure-minded people, the modern revivalists of Shint[=o] teach that
all that is "of faith" now is to revere the gods, keep the heart pure,
and follow its dictates.[17] The naivete of the representatives of
Shint[=o] at Chicago in A.D. 1893, was almost as great as that of the
revivalists who wrote when Japan was a hermit nation.
The very fact that there was no moral commandments, not even of loyalty
or obedience such as Confucianism afterward promulgated and formulated,
is proof to the modern Shint[=o]ist that the primeval Japanese were pure
and holy; they did right, naturally, and hence he does not hesitate to
call Japan, the Land of the Gods, the Country of the Holy Spirits, the
Region Between Heaven and Earth, the Island of the Congealed Drop, the
Sun's Nest, the Princess Country, the Land of Great Peace, the Land of
Great Gentleness, the Mikado's Empire, the Country ruled by a Theocratic
Dynasty.
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