,illustration3 ,paul ,m4 ,kanamori ,kanamori's ,life-,story ,told by ,himself ,how the ,higher ,criticism wrecked a ,japanese ,christian--and how he came back ,introduction by ,j4 ,ross ,stevenson1 ,d4,d41 ,,ll4,d4 ,philadelphia ,the ,sunday ,school ,times ,company #aiba ,copyright1 #aiba1 by ,the ,sunday ,school ,times ,company ,,printed ,,in ,,the ,,united ,,states ,,of ,,america ,,contents ,i ,,page ,,the ,,servant ,,sent #i ,,ii ,,the ,,servant ,,disobedient #cd ,,iii ,,the ,,servant ,,restored #fh ,,iv ,,the ,,servant ,,reaping #hd ,v ,,sowing ,,in ,,the ,,evening #ajd ,,introduction ,a large number of ,christian students in this and other lands have adopted as their watch-word 8,the ,evangelization of the ,world in this ,generation40 ,they thus express their conviction that the apostolic ,gospel is the power of ,god unto salvation1 that it is intended to meet the world's greatest need1 and that the chief business of a ,christian disciple is to make this ,gospel everywhere known1 and thus best serve his day and generation4 ,students who have come under the power of a science that is largely materialistic and of a philosophy which has no place for the supernatural regard this evangelistic program as being antiquated and narrow1 and1 contemplating man as a mere creature of circumstance1 they maintain that the great objective of the ,church should be to improve external conditions1 to uplift the whole social order by education and by every advantage of an improved environment4 ,to such1 even though they may commend in a general way a kind of social evangelism1 the preaching of the apostolic ,gospel is for the most part foolishness1 and they show little if any interest in bringing unbelievers to an acceptance of ,jesus ,christ as ,saviour and ,lord4 ,when one notes the small number of additions to the ,church on confession of faith1 at home and on the mission field1 following the labor of a large number of ministers and ,christian workers1 he must conclude that very little is being done in the apostolic business of winning souls to a personal allegiance to ,jesus ,christ4 ,the main reason for this is a lack of conviction as to the ,gospel's incomparable value4 ,our ministers and our churches need to be reminded in the most forcible way that the living ,christ is at work in the world1 and that through the power of his ,spirit he is abundantly able to turn men from darkness to light and from the power of ,satan unto ,god4 ,the testimony of ,mr4 ,paul ,m4 ,kanamori1 often called the ,dwight ,l4 ,moody of ,japan1 should serve to stimulate faith in the power of ,god's ,holy ,word1 in the saving power of ,jesus ,christ1 ,god's only ,son our ,saviour1 in the regenerating power of his ,holy ,spirit1--to rescue men from sin and make them apostles of the ,gospel of the grace of ,god4 ,the story of ,mr4 ,kanamori's conversion1 of his departure from the fold of ,christ1 and his reclamation1 is the same old message of ,god and sin and salvation wherein lies the only fundamental hope for a lost world4 ,this dramatic and appealing biography of a great modern evangelist should serve as a warning to any who may be inclined to abandon the simplicity that is in ,christ1 and should prove stimulating to all who are enlisted in the great enterprises of the ,kingdom4 ,for a preacher of the cross to win fifty thousand disciples for ,christ shows that the days of the apostles are not past1 and proves that the evangelization of the world in this generation cannot be an idle dream to one who has experienced the ,gospel's power1 and is convinced that there is none other name than that of ,christ given under heaven among men whereby they must be saved4 ,j4 ,,ross ,,stevenson4 ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,servant ,,sent ,in the year #aheb the ,government of the ,united ,states sent an expedition under ,commodore ,perry to the ,far ,east4 ,he came to ,japan with four ships1 manned by #efj men1 and concluded a treaty of commerce between the ,united ,states and ,japan1 thus opening that hermit nation of the ,far ,east to the light of modern civilization4 ,this was the dawn of new ,japan4 ,about #ahgj1 an ,american soldier1 ,captain ,l4 ,l4 ,janes1 came to my country4 ,but his coming was entirely different from that of the former one4 ,he was not sent by the ,united ,states ,government1 but was invited by the ,japanese ,government to teach military tactics to her subjects4 ,in those days ,japan was divided into about three hundred small provinces1 each having its own prince or lord1 and each prince having an army of his own to fight with other princes4 ,one of these feudal princes of the southern island1 called ,kyushu1 was quite an ambitious man4 ,he schemed to have a strong army1 which was drilled in quite up-to-date1 modern military tactics of the 8,western ,nations10 as the ,japanese called the countries of ,europe and ,america4 ,for this purpose he engaged ,captain ,janes1 who was a graduate of the ,west ,point ,military ,academy1 and a captain in the ,union ,army1 and was said to have fought four years in the ,civil ,war1 to come to his province and found a military school4 ,meanwhile1 this prince had selected about one hundred boys from among his own subjects1 by a special examination1 and put them into this military school4 ,thus the school was started4 ,but soon after this a great political change took place in ,japan1 by which all the feudal lords of the country restored their territories to the ,imperial ,government1 the whole country now being ruled by one supreme head1 the ,emperor of ,japan1 and all the provincial armies were dispersed4 ,there being no longer any need of a provincial military school1 this one was changed in character1 and became simply an ,english school1 where ,captain ,janes taught for seven years4 ,in this connection ,i must tell you how ,god in his providence turned this school1 originally intended for the training of military officers1 into a nursery for ,christian workers4 ,it was a wonderful providence1 indeed1 by which ,god raised up many 8children unto ,abraham0 out of these rude stones4 ,captain ,janes was not a missionary1 and had no connection with any mission board in ,america4 ,but he was an earnest ,christian1 filled with a strong desire to lead to ,christ those boys who came under his instruction4 ,his wife1 too1 who was a daughter of ,doctor ,scudder1 an early missionary to ,india1 was a praying woman4 ,i was told by her sister1 and her brother1 ,dr4 ,doremus ,scudder1 when they came to my country as missionaries long years after this1 how in those early days ,mrs4 ,janes used to spend many nights in prayer with tears4 ,in the beginning ,captain ,janes could not talk much about ,christianity1 because he did not know the language4 ,he could not speak ,japanese at all4 ,he did not even attempt to learn ,japanese4 ,he used ,english alone from the very beginning of his teachings4 ,when he taught the alphabet to his boys he spoke ,english to them4 ,nobody could understand him4 ,he did not employ an interpreter1 because he did not like the idea of having a go-between with his students4 ,he tried from the first to come into direct contact with his pupils1 and to inspire them through his own personality4 ,and he did inspire them4 ,the boys were fascinated and captivated by his unique personality long before they were converted to his religious faith4 ,in the third year of his teaching1 when the older boys began to understand him and he could talk with them in ,english1 he began to talk about ,christianity4 ,he could not teach ,christianity in the school4 ,it was not a mission school1 and to teach ,christianity was not his object in coming1 but he offered to teach us the ,bible1 if we would go to his house ,saturday evenings4 ,and he gave us several copies of the ,english ,bible4 ,at first1 out of mere curiosity1 a few of the older boys went to read the ,bible with him every ,saturday evening4 ,but the ,bible was a strange book to us1 and we could not understand it at all4 ,also1 ,captain ,janes had a very peculiar way of teaching the ,bible4 ,he did not explain much1 nor argue much with his students2 but from the very beginning of the ,bible reading he asked us to commit to memory certain passages1 such as ,john #a3a-ah1 and #c3a-ba1 and we did so out of sheer respect for our revered teacher4 ,i have forgotten almost everything ,i heard in his ,bible class1 but these ,scripture verses still remain in my memory4 ,then in addition to this ,bible reading1 ,captain ,janes began to preach every ,sunday morning in his own parlor4 ,though he had no theological training he used to preach fine sermons1 and very long ones1 often two or three hours at a time4 ,it may be that ,i learned my three-hour sermon from him4 ,but as he was an eloquent speaker we were much impressed by his ,sunday morning preaching4 ,one day when he was preaching on ,paul and his great missionary work1 he suddenly turned to me and said1 8,what do you think of this man8 ,is it not a glorious thing to imitate such a great man as the ,apostle ,paul80 ,from that time the name of ,paul became a part of my name4 ,through his preaching1 about a dozen boys of the school were converted4 ,this was in the summer of #ahge4 ,after we were converted we became very much interested in reading the ,bible4 ,but while the school was in session we could not get much time for it1 because we were so pressed with our daily lessons4 ,so when the winter vacation of that year came1 a few of the ,christian boys remained in the school1 instead of going back to their own homes to enjoy the holidays4 ,our purpose in staying in the school was to read the ,bible and pray together4 ,during this vacation we tried to put aside all other books1 and to read the ,bible only4 ,in those days we had no ,japanese ,bible4 ,we had only the ,english ,bible1 which our teacher gave us4 ,we had no commentaries to explain the difficult passages1 nor a ,bible dictionary to consult4 ,but we spent the whole time of this vacation in reading the plain ,english ,bible4 ,we read mostly the ,four ,gospels1 the ,acts of the ,apostles1 and the ,epistles to the ,romans4 ,i remember how we enjoyed this ,bible reading4 ,we almost devoured the ,book1 just as young people nowadays devour their sensational novels4 ,this ,bible reading was the preparation for a powerful revival which soon broke out in that school4 ,this was the first revival in modern ,japan1 or rather it should be called the first outpouring of the ,holy ,spirit1 because there was nothing yet to revive4 ,we did not know that it was a revival of religion4 ,we had neither heard nor read of such things4 ,we had not seen a single missionary4 ,no missionary had ever visited that part of the country4 ,we were so ignorant of the ,christian world outside of us that we did not even know the modern institution of church and pastor4 ,we did not know that the minister who preaches the ,gospel can be supported by the church4 ,we thought if we were going to preach the ,gospel we must do as ,paul did1--working with our own hands and preaching the ,gospel4 ,all we knew were ,bible truths and ,bible personages4 ,we knew ,jesus ,christ and how he died upon the cross for us4 ,we knew ,paul and ,peter and ,john and ,james1 and how they were filled with the ,holy ,spirit and what mighty works they did4 ,and we boys simply tried to imitate those great apostles4 ,without knowing that it was a revival of religion1 we had it1 and that1 too1 a powerful one4 ,it happened on this wise4 ,when the winter vacation was over1 all the boys returned to school4 ,these boys were quite young4 ,i was one of the oldest among them1 and ,i was only eighteen4 ,when the younger boys returned to the school1 we older boys who had read the ,bible during vacation were now so full of it that we could not help talking about it to these younger students4 ,these students now became very much interested in hearing ,bible stories1 and they also began to read the ,bible themselves4 ,so we formed ,bible classes and taught them4 ,the whole school was thrown into such a fever of ,bible reading that1 although the new term had already commenced1 the school could not resume its ordinary work because nobody cared to read any other book but the ,bible1 ,bible1 ,bible4 ,everybody was reading the ,bible1 and everywhere ,bible classes were going on4 ,consequently1 for the whole of the first week of the term the regular studies were suspended1 and the school was given over to ,bible reading4 ,we thought at one time that the whole school of one hundred boys was going to be converted at once4 ,conversion after conversion occurred4 ,there was a boy about fifteen years of age who preached so powerfully among his fellow-students that as a result many were converted4 ,the revival did not confine itself within the school walls4 ,we were not satisfied with the conversion of the schoolboys alone4 ,we went out of the school1 preaching the ,gospel in our own homes1 to our parents1 relatives1 and friends4 ,we even went to our former ,confucian teachers1 and told them the new truths we had learned from the ,bible4 ,we were all ,confucianists1 and brought up in the ,confucian school before we entered ,captain ,janes' school4 ,there were quite often very hot discussions between those old teachers and the newly converted ,christian boys4 ,but always these boys were able to confound those old ,confucian scholars4 ,as they could not withstand nor gainsay these boys' arguments1 they were enraged at them4 ,one day ,i called on my old ,confucian teacher1 who loved me as dearly as one of his own sons1 and ,i was also very much attached to him2 but as ,i told him the new truths which ,i had learned from the ,bible there arose a hot discussion between us4 ,when he saw that ,i would not obey his command to renounce the ,christian faith1 he was greatly enraged1 and said1 8,you must never come back again to my house to see me40 ,i was almost driven out of his house1 and ,i did not see him again before his death4 ,but ,i am happy to tell you that not long after his death his widow became a ,christian1 and one of his grandsons is now the pastor of a ,christian church4 ,in the midst of such a sweeping revival a great enemy appeared4 ,persecution broke out1 not by the government1 but by the families1 parents1 relatives1 and friends of the young converts4 ,at the instigation of the ,confucian teachers1 the parents and relatives tried to persuade their boys to renounce their ,christian faith1 and to return to the ,confucian teaching4 ,you know that the first missionaries in ,japan were ,roman ,catholics1 sent about five hundred years ago1 but the ,japanese ,government1 as well as the people1 had for many centuries bitterly persecuted these ,roman ,catholics4 ,any one who professed to be ,christian was in danger of bringing capital punishment upon himself and his family4 ,people looked upon ,christians as traitors to the country1 and feared that they would become the tools of the foreign nations represented by the missionaries4 ,so the ,christians were looked upon by the country at large as very detestable people1 dangerous to the safety of the country4 ,i remember that when ,i was a little boy we used to see the ,government's notice boards set up everywhere with this statement3 8,the belief in the evil religion of ,jesus is strictly forbidden by order40 ,in some places1 sometimes1 the following statement was added3 8,if any one knowing a believer in this religion of ,jesus will inform the authorities1 he shall be rewarded by the ,government40 ,these rewards were given in money4 ,my grandfather was an officer of some position in our provincial government4 ,at one time he was appointed chief officer over a large district4 ,it was the duty of such officials to examine the religion of the people over whom they were placed4 ,for this purpose he used to call all the people of his district once a year to his official residence4 ,the day of such a gathering was counted among the great days of the year4 ,it was called the 8,feast of ,picture ,trampling40 ,i remember my grandfather had a small iron crucifix1 such as the ,roman ,catholic priests carry with them4 ,this crucifix was put in a small box1 which was covered with an iron grating1 so that the figure within might be seen from the outside1 and this box was placed in a small hole dug for the purpose1 in the middle of a large courtyard1 where usually the criminals were examined4 ,then the people were called in1 one by one1 by name1 in the presence of the ,government officers1 all dressed in their official robes1 with swords and spears to guard against emergencies4 ,the people of each township1 headed by the mayor1 were called in by themselves1 and when they came to the place where the box was placed they trampled upon it and passed on4 ,to this feast all people1 men and women and even children1 were ordered to come4 ,when the women came into the yard1 after they themselves had stepped on the box1 they put down their children and made their little feet touch the crucifix1 thus testifying that they were not of this religion4 ,if any one refused to trample upon the cross he was arrested at once1 and put into prison on the charge of being a ,christian4 ,my grandfather had a prison in which to put such men4 ,once when ,i was watching those country folks trampling upon the box ,i asked my grandfather1 8,what is that figure in the box1 on which these people are treading80 ,he turned to me and said3 8,oh1 that is an unclean worm6 if it is not put in that box and trampled upon by the people1 it will creep out and do immense mischief to the country40 ,this was the first time ,i came in contact with the cross of ,christ1 and ,i was told that it was an 8unclean worm40 ,and now1 only a little over ten years after those days1 ,i myself became a ,christian4 ,no wonder that the parents and relatives should be frightened at the prospect of their boys becoming the worshipers of that 8unclean worm40 ,fortunately1 by this time the government which had persecuted ,christianity for so long was overthrown1 and the present ,imperial ,government came into power1 and there was no danger of persecution coming from that quarter4 ,but the families tried in every way to drive out of their boys' heads what they called 8the foolish notion of believing in an unclean religion02 but it was too late4 ,christianity had already taken such a deep root in our hearts that nothing could uproot it4 ,the fire once kindled by heaven cannot be quenched by any earthly means4 ,of course there were a few weak ones among the believing boys1 who fell away from the ranks of believers because of this persecution4 ,but there remained about forty boys with the firm determination to hold on to their new faith1 even unto death4 ,i distinctly recall it now that it was on a fine ,sunday morning1 ,january #cj1 #ahgf1 the year after our conversion1 that these forty ,christian boys went up a little hill called ,hanaoka1 its literal meaning being the 8,mount of ,flowers10 just outside the city of ,kumamoto1 where ,captain ,janes' school was located4 ,at the top of the 8,mount of ,flowers0 there was a big old pine tree spreading out its branches4 ,this pine tree is still standing there after half a century of the most eventful life of new ,japan4 ,under this grand old tree1 at the top of the hill1 those forty ,christian boys had a service dedicating themselves to ,god4 ,first they drew up an article of dedication1 the main meaning of which1 as ,i remember it now1 was as follows3 8,this day we consecrate ourselves to the service of ,christ1 and pledge ourselves to preach his ,gospel throughout the whole empire of ,japan1 even though it means death40 ,after the reading of this article each one signed his name to it4 ,then they sang several hymns4 ,we had no ,japanese hymns as yet4 ,we knew only the ,english hymns1 which ,mrs4 ,janes had taught us to sing4 ,among them was that missionary hymn3 8,from ,greenland's icy mountains1 ,from ,india's coral strand1 ,where ,afric's sunny fountains ,roll down their golden sand1 ,from many an ancient river1 ,from many a palmy plain1 ,they call us to deliver ,their land from error's chain40 ,another was3 8,must ,jesus bear the ,cross alone1 ,and all the world go free8 ,no1 there's a cross for every one1 ,and there's a cross for me40 ,our favorite was3 8,jesus1 ,i my cross have taken1 ,all to leave and follow thee1 ,naked1 poor1 despised1 forsaken1 ,thou from hence my all shalt be4 ,perish every fond ambition1 ,all ,i've sought1 or hoped1 or known1 ,yet how rich is my condition1 ,god and ,heaven are still my own60 ,this hymn exactly expressed our situation at the time4 ,here at the top of the 8,mount of ,flowers0 we took up our cross1 determined to follow ,jesus1 even unto death4 ,here we forsook all our fond worldly ambitions4 ,heretofore we had dreamed of becoming great men of the world1 either statesmen or soldiers1 or business men1 perhaps millionaires4 ,human nature is the same everywhere4 ,young people are always dreaming of great things1 but now we had chosen to become 8naked1 poor1 despised1 forsaken10 for ,christ's sake4 ,here we took our firm stand1 and prepared to face a storm of persecution1 which was just bursting upon us1 to crush and overthrow this little band of forty boys4 ,then1 as the last act of our dedication service1 ,i offered a prayer of consecration for all4 ,thus armed with power from above we descended the hill1 singing and rejoicing4 ,this was indeed a bold challenge to the enemies of ,christianity4 ,as soon as the meeting of the ,christian boys at the ,mount of ,flowers was known abroad1 our persecutors took stronger measures4 ,many of the ,christian boys were taken out of the school and imprisoned in their own homes1 or other places1 being cut off entirely from their ,christian friends in the school1 and subjected to very severe treatment1 in some cases even to cruelty4 ,in the home of one of the boys the mother was so grieved over her son becoming a ,christian that1 when she saw no simple persuasion would avail to turn his heart from following ,jesus1 she betook herself to a last resort4 ,in the olden days the high class ladies in ,japan carried small swords in their bosoms as a means of protection2 so now1 with her sword in her hand1 she faced her boy and demanded an immediate renunciation of his ,christian faith4 ,and in case he would not do so within twenty-four hours1 she threatened to commit suicide1 to atone for the sin of dishonoring her ancestors by letting her son become a follower of an 8unclean religion40 ,it was not a mere threat4 ,the mother was in earnest4 ,i called on her that very day and begged her to let me see her boy1 who was one of my dearest friends1 just to bid him good-bye before we should die4 ,in those days we ,christian boys1 on our side1 were determined to die before we would renounce our allegiance to ,christ4 ,it was a life and death struggle between us and our enemies4 ,but when ,i saw her ,i trembled1 because she was in such a determined mood that ,i felt as though ,i were standing before a dead person1 pale and ghastly1 and she said calmly to me3 8,no1 you cannot see my boy1 but if you insist on seeing him1 kill me first1 and then you may see him40 ,i said to her1 8,my aunt1 ,i did not come here to kill you1 but only to see your boy40 ,thus saying1 ,i left her house with a heavy heart1 full of fear and anxiety1 thinking that before the next day dawned either the mother or the son in that home would die4 ,something happened1 providentially4 ,i cannot now recall what it was1 but the mother was prevented from committing suicide1 and her son was saved from renouncing his faith4 ,and this same mother1 long years after1 herself became a ,christian1 and died in the faith4 ,there were several such cases in the homes of these ,christian boys4 ,in another home the father was so enraged that he came with his drawn sword in his hand1 and actually attempted to take his son's life4 ,you know that in the olden days the ,samurai class1 which was the warrior class in old ,japan1 used always to carry two swords1 one long and the other short1 and were in the habit of using them quite freely4 ,these boys all belonged to this ,samurai class4 ,i was one of the most bitterly persecuted4 ,after receiving severe treatment at the hands of my relatives for many months1 ,i was finally disowned and cast out of my father's house4 ,i lost everything except my ,english ,bible and ,bunyan's 8,pilgrim's ,progress10 which became now my sole possessions4 ,though they were made to pass through the ordeal of much persecution1 the ,christian boys finally gained the victory4 ,persecution could not accomplish the purpose of our enemies4 ,the more bitterly they persecuted us1 the more we were confirmed in our faith4 ,we used to comfort one another by saying1 8,is not this the living proof of the truth of ,christianity8 ,we see right here in our midst the perfect fulfilment of the word of ,christ spoken nineteen centuries ago1 #8,a man's foes shall be they of his own household4'0 ,this band of forty boys was afterwards called the 8,kumamoto ,band10 well known in the early history of ,christian missions in modern ,japan4 ,thus far ,i have told you only one side of this story of the 8,kumamoto ,band40 ,but there is another side to it1 even more wonderful than this1 which ,i must not omit4 ,in the summer of #ahfe1 just ten years before the time of which ,i am speaking1 a young ,japanese arrived in the city of ,boston4 ,he had left his country a year before1 in an ,american schooner4 ,in those days to leave the country was almost certain death to a ,japanese4 ,but the young man dared this certain death1 and after a year of hardship and suffering in a sea voyage he finally reached his goal1 the land of liberty and enlightenment4 ,he was poor and destitute1 and was without any friends to look after him in this strange land4 ,he remained in this helpless condition after his arrival for many weeks4 ,at one time he was so discouraged that he almost despaired of obtaining the object of his coming to ,america1 and was on the verge of insanity4 ,but ,heaven did not forsake him4 ,a generous and noble-hearted ,christian citizen of ,boston1 ,mr4 ,alpheus ,hardy1 owner of the ship in which he had come1 hearing of his case1 took him into his home1 and recognizing the fine spirit and noble ambition of this young man1 ,mr4 ,hardy decided to adopt him and give him a thorough ,american education4 ,he was first placed in the ,phillips ,academy at ,andover1 then was sent to ,amherst ,college1 and finally to the ,andover ,theological ,seminary to be trained for the ,christian ministry4 ,after ten years of training and preparation1 this young man returned to ,japan1 in #ahgd1 and the next year1 #ahge1 which was the very year when those ,kumamoto boys were converted1 he opened a ,christian school under the auspices of the ,american ,mission ,board in ,japan1 in the city of ,kyoto1 the old capital4 ,this was ,dr4 ,joseph ,hardy ,neeshima1 a man of ,god1 and the greatest ,christian leader in ,japan4 ,he was filled with a burning zeal for the salvation of his countrymen1 and was looking eagerly for like-minded young men who would come and join him in the great work of evangelizing ,japan4 ,here you see again the wonderful working of the providence of ,god4 ,while on one hand ,god was preparing and disciplining those forty boys of the 8,kumamoto ,band0 by special education under ,captain ,janes1 as well as by bitter persecution1 he was at the same time training this great ,christian leader of ,japan through the kind help of ,alpheus ,hardy in ,america4 ,dr4 ,neeshima knew nothing of these ,kumamoto boys1 and they knew nothing of ,dr4 ,neeshima and his school4 ,though entirely unknown to each other1 we were all in the same ,hand1 being moulded and shaped for the coming work of his kingdom4 ,in the spring of #ahgf1 when ,captain ,janes1 through an ,american newspaper1 heard of ,dr4 ,neeshima and his ,christian school1 he at once communicated with him1 and told him all about the 8,kumamoto ,band40 ,it came as a great surprise to ,dr4 ,neeshima and his colleagues4 ,i was told by one of the missionary teachers who was with ,dr4 ,neeshima at the time that it seemed to them as though the forty boys fell down straight from heaven4 ,they had never dreamed such a wonderful thing was going on in such an obscure part of the country4 ,on our side it was a great joy and comfort in the midst of persecution to hear of such a ,christian man and school existing in our own country4 ,by the fall of that year almost all of the 8,kumamoto ,band10 having been driven out of their homes and their native province1 came to this school of ,dr4 ,neeshima1 and joined him in his great work4 ,thus was started the first ,christian college1 8,the ,doshisha ,university10 which was destined to become a center of ,christian education and ,christian influence in ,japan1 and from which came the new impulse for ,christian work in that country1 and ,dr4 ,neeshima became its first president4 ,of the 8,kumamoto ,band10 about fifteen boys who had already finished their preparatory education in ,captain ,janes' school1 entered the theological class1 the first in ,doshisha ,university4 ,for three years they received theological training and preparation for the ,christian ministry4 ,after graduating in #ahgi1 most of these boys went out as home missionaries1 preaching the ,gospel of ,christ all over ,japan1 and founding ,congregational churches in many parts of the country4 ,in ,japan the ,presbyterian churches now have the largest number of believers4 ,then come the ,congregational churches1 and after that those of other denominations4 ,but though the ,congregational churches come second in membership they have the largest number and the strongest churches4 ,this is due mostly to the work of the 8,kumamoto ,band40 ,from it came forth the most influential and foremost preachers and pastors of the ,congregational churches in ,japan4 ,one of this band1 a graduate of #ahgi1 has been now over forty years a pastor of a large ,congregational church4 ,he is called the ,bishop of ,southern ,japan1 without appointment4 ,another of this band is one of the greatest ,christian scholars in ,japan1 and is now the ,president of the ,national ,sunday-,school ,association4 ,the present ,president of the ,doshisha ,university is also a member of this band4 ,after ,dr4 ,neeshima1 the first ,president1 died1 in #ahij1 four of the presidents of that university came from this band4 ,not only in the religious and educational work1 but also in ,government service1 in the ,house of ,parliament1 as well as in the business world1 some of the members of this band were able to hold quite important positions4 ,so you see this 8,kumamoto ,band0 was used mightily by the hand of ,god for establishing a ,christian testimony in modern ,japan4 ,and you know now how it came about4 ,it was not started by a missionary1 nor by a minister4 ,it was started by a layman1 by a soldier who had no theological training or ministerial experience1 and who had not come to my country to teach ,christianity1 but to teach military tactics1 the ,english language and modern science4 ,but as a by-product of this layman's work this 8,kumamoto ,band0 sprang up and became a power in the ,christian world of ,japan4 ,a wonderful working of ,providence6 ,indeed1 ,god can use anything as his instrument to execute his own purpose4 ,he used a jawbone of an ass in the hand of ,samson to destroy a thousand ,philistines4 ,it may be that the 8,kumamoto ,band0 and ,captain ,janes were as the jawbone of an ass4 ,my friends1 do you think that there are no such promising young men to be found in my country now8 ,oh1 yes1 there are the makings of 8,kumamoto ,bands0 always and everywhere4 ,if you will send out missionaries filled with burning zeal for the salvation of souls1 who will come into direct personal touch with young men and women and inspire them through their own personalities by the aid of the ,holy ,spirit1 you can find any number of such bands even now4 ,not only in ,japan1 but in all the mission fields of the world1 there are thousands of such boys just waiting for some ,captain ,janes to come and form them into a band of ,christian workers4 ,therefore the question is not whether we can find such 8,kumamoto ,bands0 now1 but whether we can find such ,captain ,janes'4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,servant ,,disobedient ,in my first chapter ,i gave a brief account of the ,kumamoto ,band1 their conversion and dedication1 persecution1 and victory1 how they came to ,dr4 ,neeshima's school1 how they went out again1 preaching the ,gospel and founding ,congregational churches in all parts of ,japan1 and how this band was mightily used by ,god for establishing a testimony to ,christ in my country4 ,so far ,i have told the good part of this story4 ,but now ,i must turn to my own part in it1 because ,i am to tell you the story of my own ,christian life4 ,but when ,i turn to my own part ,i am sorry to say that ,i cannot give the good part only1 but ,i must give the bad part too4 ,i was not a good boy1 as some of my friends were1 working faithfully during half a century4 ,i was a backsliding1 prodigal son of my ,heavenly ,father for many years4 ,my life was shipwrecked on the rocks of doubt and unbelief4 ,i have nothing to glory of1 but only to confess my sins and failures4 ,it is not a pleasant thing for a man to speak of his own sins and failings4 ,but ,i think it is our duty as ,christians to confess our sins to one another4 ,so ,i here wish to discharge that first duty1 and1 if possible1 warn my young friends who are in danger of treading the same path1 and falling into the same pit ,i did4 ,i was the first one of the ,kumamoto ,band who came to ,doshisha ,university1 in the summer of #ahgf4 ,there was not a single building on the whole ,university campus1 so ,i was connected with that school from its very foundation4 ,also ,i was a member of the first graduating class1 of #ahgi4 ,after graduating from this school1 ,i went down to the ,province of ,okayama as a missionary4 ,i had no money1 no salary1 no help4 ,as ,christ told us1 ,i went to a worthy man1 who fed and clothed me for the first year of my ministry4 ,there was an ,american ,board mission station in ,okayama1 and ,i worked in connection with it1 and after a year there sprang up a ,congregational church of about fifty members1 and ,i became its first pastor1 receiving three dollars and a half for a month's salary4 ,but our work was very much blessed4 ,besides the central church there sprang up many other churches all around1 and this province became one of the strongest centers of the ,christian world in ,japan4 ,then ,i was called back by ,dr4 ,neeshima to his school as a professor of theology4 ,so ,i came back to my alma mater and assisted ,dr4 ,neeshima in teaching1 and also in the work of the presidency4 ,so1 you see1 at first even ,i was doing some good work for the cause of ,christ4 ,i was regarded as one of the most promising ,christian workers of the country at the time4 ,now comes my bad turn4 ,during my stay in ,doshisha ,university1 as a professor of theology ,i read many books on that subject4 ,among them were the books of ,german ,new ,theology and the ,higher ,criticism4 ,to me1 brought up in almost ,puritan strictness of doctrine and practise1 their easy and free way of handling the ,word of ,god and interpreting the doctrines of the ,bible was so interesting and fascinating that ,i was completely carried away by their cunning argument4 ,and my positions in orthodox theology were thrown down1 one after another1 by those fiery doubts shot from the camp of ,new ,theology4 ,i thought ,i was standing on the rocks of orthodox theology1 but now those very rocks themselves seemed to melt under the heat of modern criticism4 ,finally ,i became a convert to this new doctrine1 and its devout follower4 ,not only that1 but ,i became a very zealous propagandist4 ,i began to propagate the new doctrine in preaching and writing4 ,i translated ,dr4 ,pfleiderer's 8,philosophy of ,religion0 into ,japanese1 under the title of 8,the ,liberal ,theology40 ,he was the professor of theology in ,berlin ,university1 and was regarded as one of the foremost scholars of ,new ,theology of the day4 ,i myself wrote a book called 8,present and ,future ,christianity of ,japan40 ,in this book ,i prophesied that1 though the present ,christianity of ,japan was orthodox1 the future ,christianity would be a liberal one4 ,some liberals say that prophecy has been fulfilled1 but ,i hope not4 ,at any rate1 ,i am sorry to say that this book has led astray many young friends1 but ,i am happy to say that it is out of print now4 ,this book made some stir in the ,christian world of ,japan at the time4 ,in those days all the ,congregational churches were orthodox and evangelical4 ,of course1 the ,presbyterians1 the ,methodists1 the ,episcopalians1 and the ,baptists were thoroughgoing orthodox1 and ,congregational ministers were the zealous defenders of the orthodox faith4 ,i was looked at as a very dangerous heretic1 and was almost excommunicated4 ,i could not conscientiously stay in the orthodox church1 since my theology so greatly differed from theirs1 and so ,i left the ,congregational church in order to make my position clear to the world2 but when ,i left the church ,i left the ,christian ministry also4 ,i wish to call special attention to this point3 ,why did ,i leave the ministry when ,i left the ,congregational church8 ,because1 in the first place1 my ,new ,theology and ,higher ,criticism had destroyed my faith in the perfect1 divine authority of the ,bible2 and in the second place1 they had destroyed my faith in the perfect deity of ,christ4 ,when ,i had lost these two things ,i had lost everything4 ,i could not preach ,christ alone1 and him crucified4 ,i could preach ,christian theism1 ,christian morality1 and ,christian sociology4 ,in fact1 ,i could preach all the practical side of ,christianity1 but not the central fundamental truths of ,christianity1 ,christ and his salvation through the cross4 ,in those days there were many liberals who were saying1 8,you may have your own theology in your study1 but retain the commonly accepted ,christian doctrine in the pulpit4 ,there is no need of entering into the discussion of theological questions in the pulpit1 because it is for the common people1 and not for the scholars40 ,but ,i said3 8,i cannot use two theologies in my ministry1 one for myself1 and the other for the people4 ,i cannot handle the ,word of ,god in such a double-handed way4 ,what ,i have learned in my study that ,i will preach in my pulpit40 ,but such was quite the common practise among the liberals of those days4 ,not only in those days1 but even now1 there are many liberals who are practising these worldly counsels of handling the ,word of ,god cunningly and deceitfully4 ,they are proclaiming from their pulpits1 not the salvation of souls by the blood of ,christ1 but only what they call social salvation1 moral uplift1 and world reconstruction by the example of ,jesus of ,nazareth1 thus hiding their skeptical theology and agnostic philosophy under the cloak of practical ,christianity4 ,some liberal churches invited me to come to their side and help to spread the liberal ,christianity in ,japan4 ,but ,i declined all invitations4 ,i thought if social reform and moral uplift are the only work of the ,christian ministry1 and not the salvation of souls by the blood of ,christ1 there is no need of my staying in it any longer4 ,such social service could be rendered out of it just as well1 if not better4 ,so ,i left the ministry1 and joined a politico-social reform campaign in my country4 ,now ,i became a political and social reformer1 and in this capacity spent more than twenty years4 ,thus ,i squandered away the best portion of my life in unprofitable worldly pursuit2 thus my life was shipwrecked in the midst of my life-work1 and thus ,i turned away from ,jesus ,christ1 whom ,i had found seventeen years before in such a wonderful manner1 and to whom ,i had pledged my allegiance at the top of the ,mount of ,flowers4 ,the purpose of the ,devil1 which could not be accomplished by bitter persecution1 had been now accomplished by the help of the ,new ,theology and ,higher ,criticism4 ,this is the ,devil's way of working4 ,when he cannot gain his object by sword or fire1 he resorts to an entirely different method4 ,now let me tell how the study of ,higher ,criticism and ,new ,theology destroyed my evangelical faith1 and what a baneful influence they exerted upon my spiritual life1 and how they finally dragged me down to the depths of doubt and unbelief4 ,but before going farther1 ,i must explain what ,i call ,higher ,criticism and ,new ,theology4 ,when ,i addressed a body of theological students in a certain seminary where the ,new ,theology and ,higher ,criticism are being taught now1 ,i told them plainly what havoc this ,new ,theology and ,higher ,criticism have made in my ,christian life1 and how they are sapping the very life of the ,christian churches at present1 and ,i warned them sincerely against this misleading1 dangerous teaching4 ,after the address1 one of the professors who heard me came and asked1 8,what do you mean by #8,higher ,criticism'8 ,do you mean by it the destructive ,higher ,criticism only1 or do you include even the constructive ,higher ,criticism80 ,i answered him3 8,i don't know4 ,it is very difficult to draw a line between #8destructive' and #8constructive' in the so-called modern ,higher ,criticism4 ,but all criticism which destroys faith in the perfect1 divine authority of the ,bible ,i call ,higher ,criticism1 and all theological teaching which destroys belief in the perfect deity of ,jesus ,christ ,i call ,new ,theology40 ,these are the definitions of these two terms which ,i use in this book4 ,of course there are all grades of ,higher ,criticism and ,new ,theology1 ranging from the mildest1 almost touching the border line of evangelical faith1 down to the very deadliest1 which never ceases blaspheming ,christ and the ,holy ,scriptures2 but whether they are mild or extreme1 these doctrines are a real poison to the ,christian faith4 ,not only did ,i almost kill my spiritual life by absorbing such poisons into my own system1 but also by introducing such poisons into the ,japanese churches1 ,i did great damage to the cause of ,christ in my country4 ,a friend has asked me whether ,i still feel the evil effects of the study of such books on my spiritual life4 ,i answered him1 8,yes4 ,if you once absorb poison into your system it is very hard to get entirely rid of the evil40 ,he also asked me whether it is wise for one to read such books in order to know our opponents' positions4 8,yes10 ,i said4 8,sometimes it is necessary for us to study books of this kind in order to find out their fallacies and untruths40 ,but even then we must be very careful not to be poisoned ourselves4 ,it is sometimes necessary for the student of chemistry to enter the chemical laboratory and handle deadly poisons1 in order to make important experiments1 but at such times the student must take as perfect precaution as possible not to take the poison into his own body and die4 ,in the same way1 when you are going to make experiments with these poisonous doctrines of the enemy of the ,gospel1 you must take perfect precautions not to absorb their poisons1 as ,i did4 ,moreover1 ,i like to caution my orthodox brothers and sisters against handling these poisonous books except under the urgent necessity of making important experiments4 ,though we have to provide deadly poisons in our chemical laboratories for the purpose of experiments1 it is not at all necessary or advisable to put them in our kitchens and dining-rooms2 no1 it is not wise to handle them too often4 ,however1 ,i am not going to discuss at present the question of ,new ,theology4 ,i am simply going to show you how baneful and destructive was its influence upon my own spiritual life4 ,that is all ,i intend to do here4 ,some of the professors of ,new ,theology said to me1 after hearing my lecture1 8,you have the facts which no theory can refute40 ,yes1 ,i have the facts1 or rather ,i myself am the fact1 and ,i am going to give this fact1 and not theory1 or argument4 ,now let me proceed to tell the processes and steps by which these studies destroyed my evangelical faith4 ,i was a lover of the ,bible4 ,i loved it and revered it as the ,word of ,god4 ,i was converted by reading the ,bible4 ,i believed the ,bible was the ,word of ,god1 given by the ,holy ,spirit through the holy men of old2 that the ,bible contained truth only1 and no error4 ,the ,holy ,spirit cannot be the author of error4 ,god cannot make mistakes4 ,i believed1 therefore1 that all the historical facts of the ,bible were true facts1 and all the biographical narratives true narratives1 and not made up by men1 and all the ,biblical heroes true persons1 and not fabulous ones4 ,i believed that its doctrines and teachings were all true1 good1 and perfect and 8profitable for doctrine1 for reproof1 for correction1 for instruction in righteousness40 ,in fact1 ,i believed that the ,bible was a perfect revelation of the will and wisdom and love of ,god1 that we have only to dig into it and find out the precious truth of its deep meaning1 and honor it by belief and obedience4 ,if ,i found any difficult passage in the ,bible1 which ,i could not understand1 or reconcile with my reason1 ,i always put the blame of the doubt upon my own imperfect intellect1 and believed that the ,bible was all right1 though ,i could not understand it4 ,thus ,i believed in the absolute divine authority of the ,bible1 and on this divine ,book1 as on the rock of ages1 ,i built my faith in ,christianity as the absolute religion4 ,not a religion1 but the religion of the world4 ,now came the higher critics and said1 8,no10 to all of these my beliefs in the ,bible4 ,in the first place1 they said1 8the ,bible is not the ,word of ,god1 given through the ,holy ,spirit1 in any such sense as you have believed4 ,the ,bible is a book written by men1 just as all other books are written4 ,therefore the words contained in it are not the words of ,god himself1 but the words of men1 perhaps pious men1 good men1 devout men1 and religiously-minded men4 ,but they are all men and nothing more4 ,and as all men are liable to make mistakes1 and are apt to invent stories1 and manufacture the facts1 so the ,bible contains many untrue narratives1 and made-up stories4 ,many of the historical personages of the ,bible are imaginary heroes and not true persons4 ,moreover1 the doctrines propounded in the ,bible are not all sound doctrines4 ,some are quite unsound4 ,the teachings of the ,bible are not all wise and profitable1 and some are not applicable to modern times at all4 ,they may have been good enough in the dark ages of the ancient world1 but are not suitable to this modern age4 ,so the ,bible does not contain truth only1 but it contains error also4 8,in fact1 the ,bible is a mixture of truth and error1 good and bad1 wise and unwise4 ,it contains myths1 legends1 and fables1 just as all the so-called sacred books of the world religions contain such a mixture4 ,the ,bible must in many cases be interpreted allegorically and figuratively1 deducing only moral and spiritual lessons4 ,you must not swallow everything in the ,bible as true1 but must make careful discrimination4 ,you must separate what is true from what is untrue1 and what is good from what is bad4 ,you must search and find out for yourself what part of the ,biblical history is authentic1 and what part of it is not1 who are the true persons1 and who are the imaginary ones1 using reason and common sense1 just as when reading all other books written by men40 ,this is what ,i was taught by ,higher ,criticism and ,new ,theology4 ,according to my orthodox faith ,i had looked upon the ,bible as the perfect1 revealed ,word of ,god1 and as a supreme ,judge sitting on the bench giving an infallible judgment upon all matters pertaining to the spiritual as well as the moral welfare of man4 ,this judgment ,i had looked upon as final1 with no one to dispute it4 ,i sat before the ,bible as a client or petitioner waiting for a final decision4 ,now came ,higher ,criticism and turned everything upside down and said1 8,no1 you are not the petitioner1 you yourself are the judge4 ,you must sit upon the bench of the supreme judge and pronounce your judgment upon the contents of the ,bible1 as to whether it is true or untrue1 good or bad1 applicable or inapplicable4 ,the ,bible1 as all other books1 must become a petitioner before you1 and your reason40 ,so you see the ,bible was in this way dragged down from the seat of the supreme judge to the place of the petitioner1 and man with his reason and common sense was exalted to the seat of the judge4 ,what authority can such a ,bible have over a man when he has to choose from its contents whatever seems good or suitable for his purpose1 and whatever does not seem so he has a right to discard8 ,do you think such a ,bible can command us to 8meditate therein day and night10 and 8turn not from it to the right hand or to the left08 ,what becomes of those precious promises of ,god in the ,bible if they are not the word of ,god in a true and exact sense8 ,in the ,old and ,new ,testaments there are more than thirty thousand promises1 and they have been life and joy and strength to ,christians for nineteen centuries4 ,but if these are not really the promises given by ,god himself1 but only the opinions and conjectures of human beings1 how can we trust them8 ,do you think we can build the absolute religion of the world upon so fickle and unstable a foundation as this8 ,the ,bible of the ,higher ,critics is not rock1 but sand1 and a house built upon it must fall1 and great will be the fall thereof4 ,now they have dragged the ,bible down to the level of the sacred writings of other world religions1 such as the sacred books of the ,brahmans1 the legendary stories of ,shakamuni1 the ,koran of ,mohammed1 and others4 ,the religion of the ,bible must then become one of these world religions founded by men4 ,so ,christianity also must share the fate of all other religions of the world4 ,once you have dragged ,christianity down to a level with other religions of the world1 you cannot save it alone amidst the wholesale destruction of all these superstitious world religions by the fires of modern civilization4 ,and ,i believe the sooner they are destroyed the better it will be for mankind4 ,and ,christianity1 according to ,new ,theology1 must share their fate sooner or later4 ,in ,christian lands we see many who1 while embracing such destructive views of the ,bible and ,christianity1 are yet holding on to ,christian practise1 not as a result of their own thinking1 but as a result of time-honored customs1 life-long habits1 and early training and education in the ,christian homes1 ,christian institutions1 and ,christian society in which they were brought up4 ,they are like men who1 when thrown into a deep well1 instead of going down straight to the bottom1 cling to the stony sides1 or hold on to the ropes1 and so are prevented from dropping at once to the bottom4 ,but ,christians newly converted1 in a heathen land1 having no such ,christian homes or institutions to cling to1 when thrown into the well of doubt and unbelief1 will go straight to the bottom4 ,we are standing only upon our own thinking1 and if that thinking goes wrong1 we shall fall at once and be drowned4 ,at least ,i fell to the bottom4 ,i could not hang on the walls midway4 ,i did not hesitate to declare in my book that if ,christianity is one of the religions of the world1 like ,buddhism and ,mohammedanism1 then it must share the common fate of all these religions4 ,they may have been all right1 and have done their work in their own time and in their own field1 but now they will not be able to withstand the test of the twentieth century civilization4 ,in this melting pot of twentieth century civilization all the world religions will be melted together and a new religion1 which is neither ,buddhism nor ,christianity1 neither ,brahmanism nor ,mohammedanism1 but which discards all the bad1 and retains only the good1 of those religions1 will arise4 ,in fact1 a new eclectic religion will arise out of the chaos of the old religions of the world4 ,you may say1 perhaps1 that this is an arrogant and extravagant position to take4 ,yes1 it is arrogant and extravagant1 but it is the natural and logical conclusion to which ,higher ,criticism and ,new ,theology will lead their devout followers in heathen lands4 ,there are many such now1 but they do not express their skeptical position as plainly and bluntly as ,i have done here4 ,it is a common saying among the educated heathen that all religions have the same goal1 and are like the mountain paths leading up to the same top4 ,some go up from the east1 and others from the west1 some go up from the north1 and others from the south1 but they all lead you to the same top1 and when you get there you find no difference2 whichever path you have taken you are at last at the top of the mountain and enjoying the fine view4 ,if that is so1 may it not be better to destroy all the crooked old narrow paths1 and build one new1 good road1 on which people can drive their automobiles up to the very top8 ,even though ,higher ,criticism and ,new ,theology may not lead you to such a radical conclusion as this1 yet they will certainly do away with the claims of the ,christian religion to be the only true religion of the world1 and will make it only one of the world religions4 ,if ,christianity has to exist in this world side by side with all other religions1 possessing only one portion of humanity1 while conceding the rest of it to other religions1 it can never claim absolute allegiance from the people of the whole world4 ,according to the ,new ,theology the work of foreign missions is not to convert the heathen1 nor to save them from sin and error1 but only to introduce ,christianity to them as one of the religions of the world4 ,i heard some liberal missionaries making such statements as this when they were preaching in heathen lands3 8,we missionaries did not come to you to ask you to throw away your own good religion which you have believed in for so many centuries1 and to be converted to our religion1 but we came here simply to unite the good in our religion with the good in yours4 ,the good in your religion we ,christians desire to learn1 but ,christianity also has good teachings which would certainly be of profit to you4 ,so we missionaries have come to unite the best in all religions for the upbuilding of common humanity1 not to impose our religion upon you1 and make you give up your own religion40 ,these men call themselves modern missionaries1 and are entirely different from the old ones who went to heathen lands to convert the people1 and to save them from sin4 ,they call the earlier missionaries old-fashioned1 out of date4 ,but if this is true1 these new missionaries are not the messengers of ,god1 but religious traders1 and religious trade is not a profitable thing at all4 ,i am afraid if such is the case the missionary enterprise will cease to exist1 and the heathen world will be left in darkness and sin4 ,the ,new ,theology says again1 8,oh1 don't bother about the ,bible too much4 ,we don't care nowadays whether men believe in the inspiration of the ,bible or not1 or what kind of inspiration they hold1 total or partial1 verbal or moral4 ,one man believes the ,bible contains truth and no error4 ,another man thinks it contains both truth and error4 ,we don't care about those things4 ,to be too much concerned with these things was the old-fashioned religious belief4 ,christianity does not stand on the inspiration of the ,bible4 ,it stands on the unique personality of ,christ4 ,as long as we hold on to ,christ there is no danger for ,christianity40 ,very well2 it may be so4 ,christ is our sure foundation4 ,christianity must stand on this rock of ages4 ,but may ,i ask a question here8 ,who is this ,christ8 ,who is this unique personality on which you try to stand as on the sure foundation8 ,is ,christ ,god1 or man8 ,is he the second person of the ,trinity1 co-equal and co-eternal with the ,father himself8 ,is he 8the only begotten0 ,son of ,god1 who was in the bosom of the ,father from 8before the foundation of the world10 and who came down to this world and became flesh himself in order to save this lost world8 ,is he the ,word of ,god who was 8in the beginning10 and 8was with ,god10 and who was ,god himself1 and by whom all things were made1 and 8without him was not anything made that was made08 ,in a word1 is ,christ the ,creator or a creature1 infinite or finite8 ,to these blunt questions ,new ,theology has no other answer than 8,no60 ,christ1 according to ,new ,theology1 is not ,god1 but man4 ,he is not the ,creator1 but a creature4 ,he is not infinite1 but finite4 ,he may be a godly man1 or a man filled with ,god1 or the ,spirit of ,god1 but still man1 and not ,god4 ,he may be the greatest1 wisest1 and holiest man among men1 but still he is a man1 and not ,god4 ,new ,theology may exalt ,christ as high as possible4 ,it can never exalt him to the throne of ,god4 ,between ,god and man there is an infinite distance1 and no goodness or greatness or holiness of mere man can ever bridge this distance4 ,if you look up from the plains below to the top of a very high mountain1 you see its peaks almost touching heaven1 or kissing the blue sky above1 but if you climb the mountain and stand on that summit you find the distance between the mountain top and the blue heaven above is just as great as when you were standing on the plain below4 ,though a man could ever attain to such a height of greatness1 holiness1 and goodness as to seem to the common eyes almost beside ,god himself1 yet in reality he is as far from ,god as we common folks are4 ,but men are not a whit nearer to ,god by their own greatness and goodness1 so you see that though ,new ,theology may exalt ,christ as high as it can1 yet it cannot raise him to ,god himself4 ,their ,christ must stand always among men on this earth4 ,according to its teachings1 the ,christ of ,god is gone1 and only a human ,jesus remains1 the greatest1 highest1 noblest1 and holiest man among men4 ,as such he is brought down to the same level as ,confucius1 ,shakamuni1 ,mohammed1 ,socrates1 and multitudes of the holy men of the world4 ,can ,christianity stand on such a human ,christ as this as its sure and unshakable foundation8 ,is this human ,christ the rock of ages on which we can build the structure of the whole ,christian religion8 ,a religion which has been founded by man can by no means be the absolute religion of the world4 ,if it is human in its origin it must be human all the way through1 and it must share the fate of all other human religions4 ,but here comes another exhortation from the camp of ,new ,theology4 8,don't trouble yourself too much about the nature of ,christ1--whether he is ,god or man4 ,some think that ,christ is ,god1 and others think that he is man4 ,some think that ,christ was born miraculously of a virgin1 conceived by the ,holy ,ghost2 others think he was the real son of ,mary and ,joseph1 born in the same way as their other sons and daughters4 ,some say he rose from the dead after three days1 and others say that he did not rise1 and that what the ,bible states as the resurrection of ,christ was a mere vision1 seen by his devout but ignorant and superstitious disciples1 as a result of their own imagination4 ,thus we have all kinds of views about the nature and the person of ,christ1 each preferring his own view4 ,in the olden time ,christians laid great stress on these beliefs1 but nowadays we pass over those things and don't make much fuss about them4 ,we don't care much which way the people think about the nature and person of ,christ1 whether he is ,god or man1 if we only love him and obey him with our whole heart4 ,the supreme love and absolute allegiance to our ,lord are the only essentials which we should always hold up as the life of our ,christian faith4 ,if we hold fast to these truths then we can safely let go such non-essentials as the ,virgin ,birth and the ,resurrection40 ,thus we are exhorted by ,new ,theology to love ,jesus supremely and obey him absolutely1 regardless of our belief about the person and nature of ,christ4 ,these exhortations sound very plausible1 and seem to make the new doctrine more spiritual and practical than the old-fashioned orthodox belief1 which made so much of the nature and person of ,christ4 ,at the present day we hear such statements even from the pulpits which are called evangelical4 ,and many people are deceived by the very plausibleness of this position1 because they seem to be laying more stress upon the practical side of ,christianity than upon the intellectual definition of the terms of the ,christian doctrine4 ,i was one of those who were deceived by this teaching1 and was finally led away from the path of the truth4 ,let me show how such unsound teaching of the essentials of ,christian doctrine as denying the deity of ,christ will exert its baneful influence upon the mind of the believer1 especially upon the mind of the newly converted ,christian in a heathen land4 ,be sure that the belief in the deity of ,jesus ,christ is not one of the non-essentials of the ,christian doctrine1 as those ,new ,theologians try to make us believe1 but it is the very life and essence of ,christianity4 ,if you take away this belief from the ,christian faith it will die4 ,in the first place1 to speak plainly1 do you think that we can love ,jesus ,christ supremely if he is not ,god1 but man8 ,what is supreme love8 ,is it not a true1 living1 personal love8 ,but if ,jesus ,christ was a mere man1 born of ,mary and ,joseph1 just as all other men were born1 then he must have been dead for nineteen centuries4 ,and if he is not risen from the dead1 can we love supremely such a dead man8 ,we sometimes say that we love such and such great men of history1 such as ,washington and ,lincoln1 but in this case we mean we love their memory1 not the persons themselves4 ,but we cannot love them as we love our fathers1 mothers1 wives1 and husbands1 who are really living among us now4 ,we cannot have the warm1 living1 personal love for those historical personages that we have for those who are living right among us4 ,what is that supreme love which true ,christians cherish toward their ,saviour8 ,is it a loving memory1 or true personal1 living love8 ,to the true ,christian is not ,jesus the ever-living and ever-present personal ,saviour8 ,do we not love him more than father or mother1 wife or husband8 ,surely we love him as a person1 and not as a beautiful character who once lived upon this earth1 and who is pictured for us by his biographers4 ,i once listened to an eloquent preacher of ,new ,theology who pictured the character of ,jesus before his audience as a perfect model in all respects--holy1 righteous1 kind1 loving1 gentle1 meek1 humble1 patient1 strong1 brave1 and so on4 ,it was a most exquisite portraiture of human character4 ,but all the while ,i was listening ,i felt as though ,i was standing before a marble statue1 beautiful to look at1 but cold and lifeless4 ,he was not introducing a living ,saviour to his audience1 but only showing them that there was such a good man who once lived upon this earth1 and who had this beautiful character4 ,that was all4 ,this ,jesus may have had such deep love for his disciples who were contemporary with him1 but he could not have loved you and me1 because he could not have known us at such a distant time4 ,he was a man of nineteen centuries ago4 ,this preacher was praising the character of ,jesus just as the novelist praises his heroes4 ,by listening to such a painting of the character of the human ,jesus how can we feel true personal love toward him8 ,true and supreme love comes from the living and direct touch of heart with heart1 as a fire flashes by the friction of steel and flint4 ,when ,i lost my faith in the deity of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ as my ever-living1 personal ,saviour1 ,i lost my supreme love for him also4 ,henceforth ,i regarded and honored him as a historical personage1 perhaps the holiest and greatest and best of all men who ever lived on this earth4 ,but that warmth and joy of the living1 personal love to the living1 personal ,saviour were all gone1 and my ,christian faith became dead and cold1 or rather it should be said that it became simply an intellectual appreciation of the beautiful character of an old sage4 ,as to allegiance to ,christ1 do you think you can require of any man such absolute allegiance to a mere man1 though he may have been the greatest and best that the world has ever produced8 ,my orthodox faith taught me that ,i should obey ,jesus because he is my ,creator as well as my ,saviour4 ,in the first place1 as ,god he created me1 and then as ,saviour he came down from heaven and died upon the cross to save me1 but he rose again from the dead1 and now sits at the right hand of his ,father1 making intercession for me1 and he will come again to rule the whole world4 ,since ,jesus is my living and personal ,saviour1 ,i must obey him absolutely and unreservedly4 ,i must love him more than father or mother1 son or daughter1 or even my own life itself4 ,i must sacrifice my life for him4 ,but if he is not such a ,saviour1 but a mere teacher who gave us wise precepts and doctrines1 who led a beautiful life long years ago1 and who died at last upon the cross at the hand of his enemies1 what right have you to ask absolute allegiance from me who have no relation at all to him8 ,there have been many great and good men in this world4 ,confucius1 ,socrates1 ,shakamuni1 and all other founders of the world religions were more or less great1 and we are indebted to them for their teachings and precepts and inspired by their fine examples4 ,but no one thinks of demanding from us absolute allegiance to these great men1 or asks us to sacrifice our lives for them4 ,thus1 with the downfall of the belief in the deity of ,christ1 the authority of ,jesus ,christ as a divine ,master must go also4 ,one of the glories of ,christianity is that we have had such a multitude of martyrs for the cause of ,christ during the nineteen centuries of its existence4 ,do you think that a man would face unflinchingly the blazing fire of persecution simply on the strength of his belief in ,jesus as a great moral teacher8 ,would frail women have calmly faced those roaring lions approaching slowly but surely to tear them to pieces with their cruel claws1 merely on the strength of the belief that by ,christ's humane teaching womanhood was lifted up to the same level with manhood8 ,it was only in the strength of a belief that the living ,saviour was right at their side with his outstretched arms to catch and carry them straight into the bosom of our heavenly ,father that the martyrs braved the fire and sword4 ,if such unsound doctrine as the liberals are now teaching had prevailed at the beginning of the introduction of ,christianity into the world1 there would have been no martyrdom for the ,christian faith1 and ,christianity must have ceased to exist long ago4 ,thus by the study of ,new ,theology and ,higher ,criticism all belief in the fundamental doctrines of ,christianity were destroyed one after another1 and ,i was again left to my former self4 ,i was introduced into the ,christian religion by the front gate of orthodoxy1 and led out of it by the back gate of ,new ,theology into my old heathen doubt and unbelief4 ,the enlightened heathen hold the same view as the liberals with regard to the ,bible and ,christ4 ,they also believe that the ,bible is a good book1 but that it contains both truth and error4 ,they too believe that ,jesus was a great and good man1 but a man only1 and not ,god4 ,so these enlightened heathen are standing on the same ground as the liberals1 and there is no need of going to them and teaching them the doubts and unbeliefs they already have4 ,by this time my vision of the future world and eternal life became very vague and obscure4 ,the unseen world became now very misty and foggy4 ,i could not see clearly1 and so ,i was shut up to this world4 ,i thought1 8,let the future take care of itself2 my concern is in this world alone40 ,thus ,i became a man of the world4 ,now my philosophy was to be healthy1 wealthy1 happy1 and good4 ,to have a strong body1 a comfortable living1 a happy home1 and a good reputation in this world is enough for any man4 ,it was not my theory only1 but ,i put it into practise as much as ,i could1 and ,i attained my objects pretty well1 except for the second one4 ,i had a good wife and nine children1 all well and good1 and a happy home4 ,i was strong and healthy1 and was quite popular1 and was regarded as one of the most successful social reformers in my country4 ,i was not so selfish as to think only of my own happiness1 but ,i tried to make other people happy also4 ,i became a preacher of thrift and economy2 and during twenty years ,i was engaged in teaching the gospel of saving1 not souls1 but money4 ,i traveled all over the country1 from one end to the other1 and delivered several thousand lectures on the subject of economy and saving4 ,during this time ,i think ,i preached the doctrine of saving to over five million people4 ,i am known1 even now1 in ,japan1 more as a preacher of saving money than a preacher of saving souls4 ,i think ,i have done some little good in this respect to the people of my own country1 and ,i believe the government1 as well as my people1 recognize this fact4 ,i was quite satisfied with my worldly success1 not knowing that such satisfaction is the most dangerous menace to a man's spiritual life4 ,but all this was simply the outward appearance4 ,if you look a little deeper into the matter1 you will soon find out what a dreadful state a backsliding man can come into4 ,at first it was a matter of intellectual doubt and unbelief4 ,i was shaken in my mind by the arguments of ,new ,theology4 ,but the work of the ,devil did not stop here4 ,i was now shaken morally and spiritually4 ,this moral shaking made most dreadful havoc in my spiritual life4 ,sin crept in1 and ,i was made a captive again4 ,oh1 what a wretched man ,i was in those days of backsliding6 ,even to think of those days gives me unendurable pain4 ,i strayed so far away that even my friends lost their hope of my returning4 ,yet there were two women1 one an ,american and the other a ,japanese1 who1 ,i was afterward told1 were praying for me without ceasing during those twenty years of my prodigal life4 ,god in his faithfulness watched over me during all those years1 and finally brought me back to fellowship with himself4 ,he will never forsake those he has once redeemed4 ,between the ,bible of the orthodox faith and that of ,new ,theology there is the difference of heaven and earth4 ,one is heavenly1 divine1 and holy2 the other is earthly1 human1 and therefore unholy4 ,one is the ,god-given1 infallible standard by which we measure all our conduct2 the other consists of rules and regulations given by men1 which we may use or not1 as we may please4 ,one is the ,master whom we must obey absolutely1 the other is the servant whom we may employ or not4 ,one is an inexhaustible mine of eternal truth stored up by ,god2 the other is a shallow pit dug by men4 ,one is the living oracles of ,god2 the other1 dead documents of ancient wisdom4 ,the ,bible in the hand of ,new ,theology has become an entirely different thing from that of the true ,christian faith of the nineteenth century4 ,it has entirely lost its divine authority1 and therefore its teachings and commandments have no more binding power than mere human instruction4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,servant ,,restored ,one of my missionary friends in ,japan asked me to write a tract on the prodigal son4 ,i told him ,i could not do it1 because it would be just like writing my own story4 ,how can ,i write such a shameful story8 ,but now ,i would like to tell you a little about it1 and show you how patient and long-suffering was my ,saviour toward such a poor1 erring child as myself during those long years of disobedience and prodigality4 ,simply for the glory of ,god ,i will give you the following story of my life4 ,you know1 when the prodigal son left his father's home he forgot everything4 ,he forgot his father1 his brother1 his home1 and his servants1 and was entirely absorbed in his present enjoyment of worldly pleasures until a terrible calamity brought him to himself again4 ,then he recalled for the first time since he left his father's home1 8,how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare1 and ,i perish with hunger40 ,then he started homeward with a heavy heart1 full of grief and remorse1 and determined to reform and live a life of devotion to his father4 ,but during all those days1 perhaps years1 his father had not forgotten his erring and wandering boy4 ,he was waiting day and night for his return4 ,perhaps he was looking out from his windows every morning and evening in the direction his son had gone4 ,one evening when he got a glimpse of his lost son he did not wait in his room for him1 but jumped up and ran from his house to meet that wretched son4 ,just so1 my friend1 during those twenty years of my prodigal life ,i forgot my heavenly ,father1 and my ,saviour1 and my spiritual home and inheritance4 ,i had been absorbed entirely in my ambitious worldly career and earthly happiness1 but my ,father did not forget me4 ,he had not forsaken me4 ,he was watching and waiting all the while for my return4 ,in his own time the ,father himself arrested me in my wild career of worldly ambition and earthly enjoyment4 ,it was in this way4 ,in the midst of my worldly prosperity and happiness my ,father came down and suddenly took away my dear wife1 leaving behind her nine motherless children1 the youngest of whom was not quite four4 ,i was overwhelmed with grief4 ,but1 oh1 my children's grief6 ,they loved their mother very much4 ,she was a devout woman1 and not a backslider like myself4 ,during the quarter of a century of our married life ,i had never heard a single murmur from her lips1 nor a word of discouragement4 ,she was always thankful and grateful for everything4 ,she led such a beautiful life of love and devotion before her children that they almost worshiped her4 ,when she was suddenly taken away from them1 they were all thrown into the deepest grief1 and they cried and wailed day and night1 clinging to their dead mother4 ,my friends came to comfort them1 but they would not be comforted1 because their mother was gone1 and they could not see her again4 ,their grief was so intense that at one time ,i was afraid some of my children would go insane4 ,a man may marry a second wife1 and love her just as much as the first1 but when children lose their own mother they can never have a second one whom they can love as their own4 ,it was a most heartrending thought to me that death had made these nine children motherless forever4 ,while their mother was with them they thought their home was a sweet and bright home1--heaven on earth4 ,they were all so happy and contented1 but when their dear mother was taken away from them the home became a dark1 dismal hell on earth4 ,yes1 in those days the home was full of weeping and wailing day and night4 ,in the midst of this darkness a light as from heaven flashed into my home1 in this way4 ,the children were crying because their mother was gone1 and they could not see her again1 but suddenly they changed their tone and began to say1 8,no1 our mother is not gone4 ,what we have buried in her grave was not mother herself1 but only her body4 ,our mother has gone to heaven to be with her ,god4 ,and if she has gone to heaven and is with ,god now1 as ,god is everywhere our mother also might be here in spirit4 ,though we cannot see her1 she might be seeing from there these nine poor motherless children crying day and night for her40 ,then1 in order to realize their mother's spiritual presence in the home1 they began to decorate the whole house with her picture4 ,they hung up large pictures of her in the dining-room1 in the parlor1 in the bedroom1 and in other rooms4 ,there was not a single room in the whole house where her picture was not hanging on the wall4 ,and on all of their desks they placed their mother's picture4 ,thus they began to say 8,mama1 mama10 once more4 8,mama0 is an ,english word1 not ,japanese1 but as its sound was very endearing to their hearts1 all my children used to call her by that name4 ,you know children love to say 8mama0 or 8mother40 ,when they come back from school the first word they utter is 8mama10 or 8mother40 ,if they cannot use this endearing word they cannot be happy4 ,now my children had suddenly been deprived of this dear word by the death of their mother1 and so they were crying4 ,but now1 once more1 they began to say this dear word4 ,pointing to those pictures of their mother1 they began to say3 8,that is a dining-room mama1 that a parlor mama1 and that your mama1 and this mine1 on my desk40 ,there was a picture of her holding the youngest child in her arms and kissing his cheeks4 ,this picture the youngest boy always called his own mama4 ,thus1 you see1 as soon as that endearing word 8mama0 came into the children's mouths1 the whole house was brightened up1 and home became sweet again4 ,these pictures were a great comfort to my children in those days of sorrow4 ,they even became a source of inspiration and encouragement in the times of trial and difficulty4 ,one of my boys went to take the entrance examination of a medical college shortly after his mother's death4 ,he went down to the college town before the examination to prepare for it4 ,one day1 when ,i went to see how he was getting on1 ,i found three boys studying in the same room4 ,on the desks of the other two boys ,i noticed pictures of ,gladstone and ,bismarck4 ,perhaps these great men were the objects of their hero-worship1 but on my boy's desk ,i saw his mother's picture1 right in front1 as usual4 ,he thought his mother's picture was just as good for him1 if not better1 than those of great men4 ,i was much pleased with this expression of his love for his dead mother1 even in such a place as this4 ,the examination was said to be hard1 especially in mathematics4 ,there were five questions to answer4 ,four of them he disposed of quickly1 but he could make nothing out of the fifth4 ,if he could not answer all five questions satisfactorily1 his failure to pass would be certain1 because there were ten times more applicants for the examination than the college could possibly take in that year4 ,the time set for the examination was quickly passing2 so1 closing his eyes1 he tried very hard to think out the solution4 ,just at that moment his mother's figure flashed before him4 ,in surprise he opened his eyes1 and the solution of the problem was in his mind4 ,he took up his pen and wrote it out satisfactorily4 ,he entered the college at the head of his class1 and wrote to me afterward1 saying1 8,surely mama helped me40 ,one day my youngest girl came to me with a curious question4 ,she said1 8,papa1 when you go to any faraway place you always come back1 don't you80 8,yes10 ,i said4 8,this is papa's home2 papa has to come back always to his home1--don't you see80 ,then she said1 8,well1 then1 you all say mama is gone to heaven from here2 and if she really went there1 and is living there now1 why can't she come back1 as you always do from a faraway place8 ,why can't she come home again from heaven80 ,i could not answer such a question4 ,but simply to comfort her1 ,i said3 8,oh1 ,i see6 ,perhaps ,god has some work for your mama in heaven4 ,therefore he is keeping her there1 and your mama cannot come back here4 ,you know1 mama must obey ,god2 whatever ,god says mama must do4 ,god does not want your mama to come back to this world1 so she cannot come home40 ,i said this simply to satisfy her childish mind1 which was wondering why her mama1 if she is really living in heaven with ,god1 cannot come back once more to her old home4 ,instantly she said1 8,all right1 papa4 ,then why can't you go now to heaven yourself1 and do mama's work and serve ,god in her place1 and let mama come down here for one month8 ,and when you get tired of heaven1 papa1 you might come down1 and then we will send mama up again to heaven4 ,it is very good to have papa with us always1 but we want mama also40 ,you see1 in her childish mind there was no partition between heaven and earth4 ,heaven is joined to the earth by her dear mother being there4 ,she could see now right through to the throne of ,god1 and her dear mother there4 ,in those days they underwent various spiritual experiences in a most wonderful manner4 ,every evening their favorite hymn was that one which has in its chorus1 8,our friend is waiting on the other side40 ,in ,japanese 8friend0 is tomo1 and my children changed that tomo into 8mama10 almost the same sound1 and were singing1 8,our mama is waiting on the other side40 ,to them the unseen world seemed so near and real that they felt as if they themselves were living in the same spiritual world with their departed mother4 ,in the midst of such a spiritual atmosphere1 how could ,i resist the influence pouring in upon me from the other side8 ,you know1 ,i had been a pastor at one time1 as well as a professor of theology1 so ,i must have known intellectually things pertaining to the spiritual world4 ,i had not forgotten them1 only they were clouded by doubt4 ,thus1 while ,i was watching these spiritual experiences of my children1 gradually the clouds of doubt and unbelief began to disperse1 and once more heaven opened1 and with my spiritual eyes ,i saw ,jesus ,christ1 my ,saviour and ,lord1 whom ,new ,theology had taken away from me1 still sitting at the right hand of ,god3 8,jesus ,christ the same yesterday1 and to-day1 and for ever40 ,then ,i could exclaim with doubting ,thomas when he saw the prints of the nails in the hands of ,jesus1 8,my ,lord and my ,god60 ,jesus is my ,god1 my very ,god4 8,in the beginning was the ,word1 and the ,word was with ,god1 and the ,word was ,god40 ,these verses of ,scripture1 which ,i had committed to memory forty years ago in ,captain ,janes' ,bible class1 now flashed into my mind as lightning from heaven1 and the whole spiritual world was once more lighted up as in the noonday4 ,thus ,i was brought back to my old simple faith by the words of my child4 ,indeed1 8out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise40 ,thus began my return4 ,on another occasion ,i was brought back to my old religious consciousness thus3 ,just before my wife died she was talking with me1 with a smile on her face4 ,she was weak in body1 and had lain in bed for many weeks2 but she was perfectly sound in her mind4 ,i found no sign of mental weakness to the very moment of her death4 ,then suddenly a spasm caught her1 as the physician told me afterward1 and in a few minutes she was gone4 ,only a moment ago there she was1 and now she is not4 ,where is she8 ,what has become of her8 ,her body lies here just as before1 a little cold1 perhaps1 but where is that personality which shone so brightly through those eyes which are now shut8 ,has she vanished8 ,has she been destroyed8 ,is she annihilated8 ,impossible to think such a thing at such a time4 ,do you think ,i could help following her into that world yonder whither she went so suddenly8 ,yes1 ,i did follow her4 ,i was1 as it were1 peeping through the portal of death into that eternal world where she had just been translated4 ,there and then ,i came face to face with the eternal reality of death4 ,when you face death1 either in yourself or in your friend1 you face eternity4 ,when you face eternity1 all things which are not eternal1 which belong to this world alone1 temporary things1 such as wealth and possessions1 houses and clothing1 and all other earthly valuables1 which have absorbed your attention while you were healthy and strong1 now sink into insignificance before the brightness of the eternal realities4 ,what use is there of wealth and possessions to a dying man8 ,he came naked into this world1 and now he must go out of it naked again4 ,what comfort can gold and diamonds give to the dying girl8 ,can the possession of pretty dresses and costly jewels make happy the heart of a dying girl8 ,when a man comes to the last moment of his earthly journey1 the sense of the nearness of eternity will overshadow all things earthly and temporal4 ,when ,i faced eternity in the death of my dear one1 that solemn and awe-inspiring consciousness of the eternal destiny of man which lay so long dormant in my heart now came back to me with overwhelming force and vividness4 ,then all the clouds of doubt and unbelief raised by my too much speculative thinking1 and all the mists and fogs caused by worldly ambition and earthly enjoyment just vanished away1 and ,i was lifted up into the third heaven4 ,death is a sad thing4 ,especially is the death of our dearest one the saddest experience of our life4 ,but when you look at it in the light of heaven1 the death of a dear friend is the most precious gift ,god can ever give in this world4 ,i confess ,i was revived by the death of my wife4 ,certainly it can be said that she died in order to rouse me from the slumber of a backsliding and prodigal life4 ,oh1 the wonderful method of ,god's dealing1 always surpassing our human understanding6 ,always and everywhere1 the good suffer for the bad1 the righteous for the unrighteous1 and saints for sinners4 ,as a natural consequence of this death experience1 ,i was brought back once more to that glorious scene on ,calvary4 ,i saw plainly why the holy and righteous ,son of ,god1 who knew no sin and in whom was found no guile1 had to face that terrible death on the cross2 why ,jesus1 the ,lamb of ,god1 should have been bruised for our iniquities and wounded for our transgressions2 why the chastisement of our peace must be upon him1 and why we sinners must be healed by his stripes4 ,when ,i look back to those days of sorrow and grief1 ,i almost forget the death of my human wife1 and feel always as though ,i were standing at the foot of the cross on ,calvary4 ,yes1 it was ,jesus who was with me during those long years of my wanderings1 though ,i was entirely unconscious of his gracious presence4 ,at every turn of my life ,jesus was there protecting and keeping1 loving and suffering4 ,when ,i succumbed to temptation and sin1 and stumbled1 he was there looking at me with sorrowful eyes1 as he looked at ,peter1 who denied him4 ,it was by his unseen hand that ,i was kept and guarded and lifted up again and again1 and was not utterly destroyed1 though ,i was struck down numberless times by my enemies4 ,though ,i pierced his heart again and again with my sins1 he never forsook me4 ,though ,i wilfully ran away from him1 he always followed me4 ,it is a terrible thing to think how ,i pained his heart1 how sorrowful ,i must have made him1 and finally how ,i crucified him4 ,he died for me on account of my sin1 taking upon himself all my iniquities and transgressions1 and all their penalties and consequences4 ,oh1 what a wonderful ,saviour is ,jesus1 my ,lord6 ,i found once more the joy of my salvation in the cross of ,christ4 ,it is not by the work of social reform1 or world reconstruction1 or moral uplift1 that this sin-stricken world may be saved4 ,it is not by the teaching of ,jesus1 nor by his blessed life even1 that we sinners are to be saved1 but it is only by the preaching of the cross of ,christ that salvation comes to this world4 ,then ,i said1 8,now ,i know the redeeming power of the cross of ,christ4 ,now ,i will preach this cross to my fellow-sinners4 ,i am determined not to know anything among men but ,jesus ,christ and him crucified40 ,i returned to my old simple faith in ,jesus as my ,saviour and ,lord1 after passing for many years through a tempestuous life of doubt and unbelief caused by the study of ,new ,theology4 ,even after ,i returned to my old faith ,i read many books of ,new ,theology1 especially of the ,german authors1 in order to see their present situation in the theological world4 ,but this time my mental atmosphere was cleared by light from heaven1 and my perception of spiritual truth became so real through my own experiences that no cunningness of mere argument could lead my mind astray from the path of truth4 ,now ,i saw plainly enough the fallacies and shallowness in their reasonings1 and no amount of plausibleness in what they call the scientific method of treating religious truth could longer shake my conviction1 based on the experimental knowledge of my own ,christian life4 ,i tell you1 my friends1 when you have once tasted how gracious is your ,lord1 how real and true is his personal presence1 and how sweet are his words1 yea1 8sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb10 no destructive criticism1 and no evil teachings of ,new ,theology1 can disturb your faith in the absolute divine authority of the ,bible1 as well as in the perfect deity of ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,it is only when we have no such experimental knowledge of spiritual truth1 when our minds are not enlightened from above1 and our faith is cold1 formal1 and lifeless1 that the crafty arguments of the enemies of the ,gospel can shake us4 ,just as when our bodies are weak and our vitality is low1 we are apt to be attacked by disease1 so the best precaution against this disease of the soul1 and the most effective remedy for the pestilential doctrines of the present day1 is the spiritual health and strength gained by a vital knowledge of ,god and the unseen world4 ,thus returning to my old simple faith in my ,saviour and ,lord1 ,i became the preacher of his cross1 and ,god has wonderfully blessed my work4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,servant ,,reaping ,in ,japan ,i am known as the man of one sermon1 because ,i preach the same sermon everywhere4 ,this sermon consists of three parts1--,god1 ,sin1 and ,salvation4 ,in fact1 ,i try to give all the fundamental doctrines of ,christianity in one sermon4 ,to preach it1 therefore1 requires three hours4 ,its ,english translation1 published by ,fleming ,h4 ,revell ,company of ,new ,york1 is called 8,the ,three ,hour ,sermon40 ,but though this sermon consists of three parts1 in reality it is on one subject4 ,the first two parts1 ,god and ,sin1 are like two posts on which rests the cross of ,christ as the climax of the sermon4 ,thus ,i became literally a preacher of one sermon1 on the cross of ,christ4 ,when ,i am engaged in an evangelistic campaign in any one place for several nights1 sometimes a week or two at a time1 ,i repeat this same sermon night after night4 ,i tell my congregation each time that ,i am going to preach this same sermon every night3 8,therefore you who have heard it to-night need not come again4 ,your part now is to decide whether you will accept or reject this offer of salvation through ,jesus ,christ4 ,but in this place there are many people who have never yet heard this ,gospel message4 ,perhaps such may be found in your own homes1 or among your own friends4 ,why can't you send them1 or bring them here tomorrow night1 and let them also have the opportunity of hearing the ,gospel8 ,and if you don't wish to stay1 you may go back1 leaving your friends40 ,thus ,i change my congregation every night1 instead of changing my sermon1 which amounts to the same thing4 ,i need not be troubled about getting a new audience every night1 since ,i have sixty millions yet to preach to4 ,however1 though ,i preach the same sermon1 ,i usually have large congregations4 ,i do not preach now in the churches4 ,our church buildings are too small to hold the large crowds which come every night to hear this one sermon4 ,i am obliged everywhere to rent theaters for my meeting places4 ,the largest ones hold from three to four thousand1 and they are packed every night4 ,since the fall of #aiae ,i have conducted evangelistic campaigns in all parts of ,japan1 and also among the ,japanese in the island of ,hawaii1 and on the ,pacific coast of ,america4 ,i will give you here the exact figures of these campaigns1 by which you can judge for yourselves the present situation of ,christianity in ,japan4 ,,pacific ,,coast ,,campaign ,from ,september1 #aiae1 to ,february1 #aiaf1 ,five months ,places visited #fd ,evangelistic meetings held #adb ,churches which took part in campaign #fg ,denominations or missions co-operating #i ,total attendance #cj1jjj ,number of decisions for ,christ #b1djj ,,campaign ,,in ,,japan ,,proper ,from ,september1 #aiaf1 to ,june1 #aiai1 ,thirty-three months ,cities and towns visited #bjd ,evangelistic meetings held #egg ,churches which took part in the campaign #djd ,denominations or missions co-operating #bc ,total ,attendance #bgj1jjj ,number of decisions for ,christ #dc1cgj ,,hawaiian ,,campaign ,from ,july1 #aiai1 to ,october1 #aiai1 ,three months ,places visited #cb ,evangelistic meetings held #hb ,churches which took part in the campaign #ah ,denominations co-operating #c ,total attendance #aj1jjj ,number of decisions for ,christ #b1jhj ,,second ,,pacific ,,coast ,,campaign ,october1 #aiai1 ,half a month ,places visited #e ,evangelistic meetings held #aa ,churches which took part in the campaign #ad ,denominations co-operating #e ,total attendance #c1djj ,number of decisions for ,christ #dhh ,,grand ,,total ,number of months engaged in campaigns #db ,places visited #cje ,evangelistic meetings held #hab ,churches which took part in campaigns #ejb ,denominations or missions co-operating #dj ,total attendance #cac1jjj ,number of decisions for ,christ #dh1cch ,in ,japan proper ,i have already visited forty provinces out of the forty-seven4 ,i have held evangelistic campaigns in more than two hundred cities and towns4 ,everywhere people flocked to hear the ,gospel4 ,they are hungering and thirsting for the saving power of the ,gospel4 ,their old religious beliefs have been shattered and destroyed by the light of modern civilization1 and they are looking for the true religion which can satisfy their spiritual need4 ,as ,i have said1 ,christianity in ,japan was strictly forbidden for many centuries1 and people had very poor ideas about it4 ,when the missionaries first came they found the ground so very hard that it seemed almost impossible even to sow the seed2 but for the last fifty years they have been patiently working on this hard ground1 plowing the field and sowing the seed1 yet without being able to see the longed-for fruits4 ,now the harvest has come4 ,the time of ingathering has arrived4 ,throughout the whole country1 from the highest to the lowest1 all people are ready to receive the message if you preach the ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ in its purity and simplicity4 ,from the figures just given as a result of my four-years' campaign1 you can easily see how receptive the minds of the ,japanese people have become to the ,gospel message4 ,but as an example of the great awakening in my country1 ,i wish to tell you about the largest campaign ,i have ever had thus far in ,japan4 ,in the spring of #aiai ,i conducted an evangelistic campaign for six nights in the city of ,tokyo1 the capital of ,japan4 ,this campaign was undertaken by a ,presbyterian church in ,tokyo which is one of the largest and strongest ,japanese churches in the country4 ,the pastor of the church is one of the greatest ,christian scholars1 as well as one of the most thoroughgoing orthodox theologians1 in ,japan4 ,the total membership of his church is about a thousand1 but those members who are living in and around the city of ,tokyo are not over five hundred4 ,the campaign was conducted in the large auditorium of the ,tokyo ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 building1 which holds from eighteen hundred to two thousand4 ,for a whole year this church was earnestly praying in preparation for this great campaign4 ,when the time drew near1 for five successive ,sunday mornings the services were turned over to me1 that ,i might train the whole church for the coming campaign4 ,before beginning on such a campaign ,i had to instruct the ,christians on the following points3 ,first1 how to prepare for the campaign2 second1 how to work during the campaign2 and third1 how to follow up later the work of the campaign4 ,unless the churches taking part in the campaign are thoroughly instructed on these points1 it cannot be a successful one4 ,when the first preparation ,sunday came1 almost the whole church gathered for instructions4 ,at this time ,i set up two objectives for the ,christians to attain4 ,first1 they must try to get a total of ten thousand unbelievers1--not ,christians of other churches1--to attend our meetings4 ,second1 out of this number they must try to get at least fifteen hundred decisions for ,christ4 ,the first thing needed was money4 ,where could we get it8 ,war means money4 ,without money you cannot wage a successful campaign4 ,i said to the congregation3 8,i don't know how much this campaign will need in all1 but ,i think we must have at least fifteen hundred yen 7#gej7 to begin with4 ,it will be cheap indeed if we can save fifteen hundred souls with fifteen hundred yen1 which means only one yen a soul4 ,now for this fifteen hundred yen you must not look to anybody else but to yourselves4 ,this is your campaign1 and you must pay for it4 ,this morning at the beginning of the preparation ,i ask every one of you to give as much as you can for this campaign fund4 ,if there is any one among you here who says he has no money to give1 ,i advise him to sell his clothing and buy a sword1 as ,christ told his disciples on the eve of a great conflict40 ,then ,i distributed paper and pencils among them1 on which to write the amounts which they were willing to give4 ,when those papers were gathered up and counted1 they brought the result to me1 and ,i found exactly fifteen hundred and four yen4 ,then the people said1 8,this is not the work of man1 but of ,god40 ,to attain these great objectives the next thing was to advertise the meeting in various ways4 ,newspaper advertising was1 of course1 the first1 and then many big advertising boards were set up in the crowded quarters of the city4 ,besides this1 three hundred and fifty thousand posters or handbills were printed1 and each member of the church distributed five hundred of these during the campaign days4 ,even the ,sunday-school scholars1 numbering over three hundred1 were enlisted in this work4 ,each of the younger children distributed one hundred posters1 and the older ones three hundred4 ,last of all1 every church member was requested to find twenty unbelievers who would promise to attend the campaign meetings4 ,these we called the 8pledged hearers40 ,this plan of finding the 8pledged hearers0 before the campaign opened worked out very well1 as the church people were thus brought into direct personal contact with most of the people who came to our meetings4 ,with this training and these objectives we began the campaign ,february #e1 #aiai4 ,but unfortunately we failed to attain our first objective4 ,there were two reasons for this3 ,one was that on the very first morning of our campaign all the city papers made a public announcement from the headquarters of the ,police ,department1 strongly advising the people not to attend any kind of a mass meeting on account of the terrible influenza1 which was then raging throughout the whole city2 the other was such a big snowstorm on the fourth night that all the city trolley cars stopped running4 ,but in spite of these hindrances about eight thousand people came during the six nights4 ,of these about two thousand were ,christians1 so the unbelievers1 who were the real object of the campaign1 numbered only about six thousand1 a little over half of our objective4 ,illustration3 ,mr4 ,kanamori's ,decision ,card ,translation of upper section3 8,i believe in the one true living ,god2 ,i repent of my sin2 ,i accept salvation through the ,cross of ,jesus ,christ2 ,i follow ,christ even unto death40 ,the two large characters signify 8,heart0 and 8,decision40 ,then follow instructions and space for writing one's name and address4 ,we had the most unexpected success in attaining our second objective4 ,from the six thousand unbelievers we had three thousand and sixty-one decisions for ,christ4 ,more than half of the unbelieving portion of the audience decided to accept ,christ4 ,this was a great surprise4 ,no one ever dreamed of such a great result as this4 ,moreover1 this audience of eight thousand people was made up of all classes4 ,among them were high government officials1 members of ,parliament1 professors of universities1 teachers of all kinds of schools1 students from the universities1 as well as high-school boys and girls1 merchants1 bankers1 and business men2 in fact1 all classes of ,japanese society were represented in this audience4 ,but the greatest surprise of all was that out of the three thousand decisions we found about two thousand were all educated young men and women1 the essence of the rising generation of ,japan4 ,here are the exact figures of the campaign4 ,total ,christian ,unbelieving ,decisions ,attendance ,portion ,first ,night #a1jjj #bej #gej #cij ,second ,night #a1bjj #cjj #ijj #cid ,third ,night #a1cjj #cjj #a1jjj #dbi ,fourth ,night #ejj #aej #cej #bfg 7big snow storm7 ,fifth ,night #a1fjj #cej #a1bej #fij ,sixth ,night #b1bjj #dej #a1gej #hia ------ ------ ------ ------ ,totals #g1hjj #a1hjj #f1jjj #c1jfa ,but ,i must tell of the 8follow-up work0 of the campaign4 ,we began immediately4 ,for the five nights following the campaign we had meetings for the new converts1 during which ,i preached the practical side of ,christianity1 such as consecration1 prayer1 ,bible reading1 and so on4 ,a little over sixteen hundred out of three thousand converts attended these after-meetings4 ,then for a whole month the pastor and his associates conducted special preaching services every night1 just for the purpose of educating and training these three thousand converts4 ,after that about fifty ,christian homes of the church were thrown open for district meetings for the converts living in that district4 ,and lastly1 the names of the new converts were all printed on one big sheet and distributed to all the church-members1 so that every one of these new converts should come under the care of some member of the church4 ,to each member were assigned from three to ten names1 for whose spiritual training he would be responsible4 ,in these ways we carried on our 8follow-up work0 after the campaign4 ,god wonderfully blessed that campaign4 ,immediately after this a ,congregational church carried on the same kind of an evangelistic campaign4 ,in this we had two thousand decisions4 ,after these two big campaigns we had twenty smaller ones in and around the city of ,tokyo1 conducted by twenty churches1 in which a little over five thousand decisions were made4 ,so that the whole number of decisions during the three months' campaign was #aj1ddj4 ,of these converts about one thousand were taken into the churches of their choice before the summer of #aiai4 ,thus you can easily see how mightily the ,spirit of ,god is now working among my people4 ,and it is not man's work1 but the work of ,god himself4 ,in the presence of such fire from heaven man must take off his shoes and praise the ,lord only4 ,in this connection ,i must tell you one secret1 if it can be called a secret4 ,in that big campaign in the ,tokyo ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a41 if it can be said that ,i had any part in it1 it was not by my preaching so much as by my praying4 ,this ,i say to the glory of the ,lord1 and not my own4 ,though ,i made fifteen hundred decisions the objective for the church1 ,i had my own secret objective1 which was three thousand decisions4 ,for the last three years ,i had been conducting my evangelistic campaigns all over the country1 except in ,tokyo1 the capital4 ,and now at last ,god had led me to this city of about three million people1 to conduct a campaign on a larger scale than ,i had ever attempted4 ,surely the result of this campaign must exert great influence all over the country4 ,so ,i prayed to ,god that he would pour out his ,holy ,spirit in this campaign as he did at ,pentecost in ,jerusalem1 and show forth his power and glory1 and let all people know that our ,god is a living ,god4 ,so ,i prayed for three thousand decisions1 the same number as at ,pentecost4 ,for ten days of the campaign ,i left my own home1 which is in the same city1 and retired to a private room on the fourth floor of the tower on the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 building1 and there spent a quiet time in prayer and fasting4 ,it is my usual custom during these campaigns not to see any one in the afternoon4 ,after lunch ,i always retire and engage in prayer4 ,when ,i preach my three-hour sermon to an unbelieving audience1 ,i never take my evening meal4 ,i lose my appetite as ,i feel the burden of my message to those thousands of unbelievers1 whose eternal destiny is now in my hands4 ,if they accept my message and believe in ,jesus1 it will be life eternal to them1 but if they reject it the result will be just the opposite4 ,who can feel equal to such a great responsibility as this8 ,when ,i was once asked1 half jestingly1 why ,i do not take food before ,i preach1 ,i answered1 8,could you sit at your table1 eating and drinking1 laughing and joking with your good friends1 and in this manner spend the last critical hour just before you appear before thousands of souls in the attempt to settle their eternal destiny80 ,no1 ,i cannot do it4 ,i always feel that the only place from which ,i can go to my pulpit is 8the mercy seat40 ,thus ,i prayed and fasted for this blessing of getting three thousand decisions1 and ,god answered my prayer1 and gave me exactly #c1jfa decisions4 ,is not this a real ,pentecostal outpouring of the ,holy ,spirit8 ,god is working mightily through his ,holy ,spirit throughout the length and breadth of my country4 ,this condition is not confined to the large cities alone1 but in more than two hundred places where ,i conducted similar campaigns we found the same conditions4 ,of course there are some differences in the results of the campaign4 ,from my own experience ,i can say the result of such a campaign almost entirely depends upon the pastors and churches which have undertaken it4 ,i always tell those pastors with whom ,i work that the work of the evangelist is like that of a woodman who goes to the forest and cuts down the trees big and small1 and brings them to the shop of the carpenter4 ,there the woodman's work ends1 and the carpenter's work begins4 ,now the carpenter must work upon this raw material which the woodman has furnished him4 ,he must cut and saw and plane1 and make posts and boards and build the house4 ,but if the carpenter does not work1 and lets the timber lie piled up outside his shop1 the rain and frost will come1 and the timber will surely rot and decay4 ,who is responsible for the rotting of the timber8 ,the woodman or the carpenter8 ,when ,i had faithful pastors and working churches ,i have always seen fine results4 ,i have received a printed report of the result of my five-months' campaign on the ,pacific coast4 ,out of sixty-four places on the ,pacific coast where ,i worked during five months1 fifty-six churches have sent in a report1 one year after the campaign4 ,there are two churches which have received on confession of faith all converts within one year1 three churches took all but one1 and thirteen churches have taken in more than half of the converts during the same period4 ,altogether1 out of #a1ggc in these fifty-six churches1 #fbe persons were taken into their respective churches within one year of this campaign1 and #chb persons were still under probation4 ,so that altogether #a1jjg decisions should be regarded as the fruit of that campaign4 ,and from ,hawaii came another report1 which is as follows3 ,out of #b1jdj converts during a three-months' campaign #bde persons were taken into the different churches on confession of faith4 ,i think these figures show how sound are these decisions1 especially when you remember that the large majority of my audiences hear from me the ,gospel of ,christ for the first time in their lives4 ,in many parts of ,america ,i have found great misunderstanding and also gross misrepresentation of the present situation of the ,christian work in ,japan4 ,i hear even voices of discouragement4 ,but ,i hope by these statements out of my own experience those misunderstandings and misrepresentations may be already cleared up4 ,i can say now with a good conscience and a firm assurance that a great time has come for the evangelization of ,japan4 ,indeed1 8the fields 444 are white already to harvest40 ,or1 to change the figure1 the iron is so very hot that if you strike it at once you can make anything you like out of it1 but if you do not strike the iron will cool off1 and you can do nothing with it1 so1 you see1 the evangelization of ,japan must be brought about quickly4 ,and ,i believe it can be done if we do our part2 that is1 if we1 obeying the last command of ,jesus1 preach the ,gospel to every creature in the country4 ,my experience shows that if six persons hear the ,gospel1 at least one will accept it4 ,then1 if the whole sixty million can hear the ,gospel1 there will be a possibility of gaining ten million souls for ,christ at the present time in ,japan4 ,seeing that such a wonderful opportunity presents itself before us1 ,i cannot help making a desperate effort for the salvation of my people4 ,so ,i have resolved1 the ,lord willing1 to reach the whole nation of sixty million with the ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ within the next ten or twenty years4 ,but the question is1 how can ,i reach so many millions within so short a time8 ,of course1 ,i cannot expect to do it through preaching alone1 and so ,i have decided upon another way2 that is1 through the printed page4 ,for this purpose ,i have written a book in ,japanese called 8,the ,christian ,belief10 which contains twelve chapters3 ,first1 ,the ,one ,true ,god2 second1 ,the ,heavenly ,father2 third1 ,the ,sinfulness of ,sin2 fourth1 ,the ,divine ,judgment2 fifth1 ,the ,reality of the ,future ,world2 sixth1 ,the ,deity of ,christ2 seventh1 ,salvation ,through the ,cross2 eighth1 ,christian ,consecration2 ninth1 ,prayer2 tenth1 ,the ,life of ,trust2 eleventh1 ,bible ,reading2 twelfth1 ,the ,one ,soul ,campaign4 ,if any one will read it through1 he may be able to grasp at least the outline of ,christian doctrine1 both theoretical and practical4 ,though this is a small book of about two hundred pages1 when ,i wrote it1 four years ago1 ,i spent five months over it actually upon my knees and fasting4 ,and ,god has wonderfully blessed it4 ,within three years after its publication over #aej1jjj copies have been printed4 ,i call these books my 8printed preachers10 because they are doing the same kind of work of leading souls to ,christ in their own quiet way4 ,and now what ,i call the new plan of evangelization is this1--to put this book in the hands of every ,japanese1 so that every soul in my country shall have the opportunity of hearing the ,gospel4 ,and as the book is written in such easy and simple language that even a child can read it1 any ,japanese can read and understand it4 ,very fortunately for the free distribution of this book1 my ,japanese publisher1 who is himself an earnest ,christian1 has kindly promised to let me have it at five cents a copy1 which1 in these days of the high cost of printing1 is a great sacrifice on his part4 ,so now1 if ,i have one nickel in my hand ,i can give away one book1 and one man can hear the ,gospel message4 ,and if ,i have sixty million nickels for this purpose1 ,i can send out at once sixty million 8printed preachers0 throughout the whole ,empire of ,japan4 ,this ,i think is the quickest way at the present time to preach the ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ to the whole nation4 ,,chapter ,v ,,sowing ,,in ,,the ,,evening ,in the ,student ,volunteer ,convention at ,des ,moines1 ,iowa1 there was a motto set up high on the platform3 8,the ,evangelization of the ,world in this ,generation40 ,when ,i saw that motto ,i said to myself1 8,this is the very objective1 so far as our country is concerned1 we are now determined to attain40 ,we cannot wait until the next generation1 which will have its own work to carry on4 ,the evangelization of the world must be the work of this generation1 and ,i believe that if the church of ,christ at the present day is really resolved to accomplish this great object1 it can surely be done in this generation4 ,you have heard from the missionaries returning from all parts of the world what wonderful openings there are everywhere on the mission field4 ,not only in ,japan1 but in ,china1 in ,korea1 in ,india1 in ,africa1 in ,south ,america1 and in all other heathen lands the doors are widely thrown open for the ,gospel message4 ,the call from the heathen lands for missionaries is now so loud and urgent that1 if the churches will really awaken to their opportunities and responsibilities1 they cannot help making a desperate effort for the immediate evangelization of the whole world4 ,you have already heard those loud and urgent calls from the foreign field through your own missionaries4 ,of course1 they can represent to you satisfactorily the condition of the heathen land where they are working themselves4 ,but if you could hear directly from the heathen themselves1 their need and their cry for your help1 you would perhaps get a better and keener idea of the urgency of such calls4 ,you know ,i come from a heathen land4 ,and at one time ,i was a heathen myself1 and am still the subject of a heathen country4 ,so ,i ought to be better qualified to represent the heathen people1 and to furnish you with first hand information about the real situation of the heathen world at the present time4 ,and moreover1 ,i believe ,i have a right to represent not only my own heathen land1 but also the whole world4 ,because1 though ,i love my own country very dearly1 yet my ,christian heart is a little too big to confine itself to my own country alone4 ,i love ,china1 ,i love ,india1 ,i love ,africa1 just as much in regard to the salvation of their souls as ,i love the salvation of my own people4 ,i always feel that if ,god wants me for a missionary in ,africa1 ,i am more than ready to start at once4 ,in our ,christian love there are no national boundaries or racial distinctions4 ,thus representing the whole heathen world1 ,i wish to make my humble appeal to my ,christian friends in ,america4 ,now may ,i be permitted to speak plainly1 freely1 and unreservedly1 though in deep humility1 how we of the heathen lands feel about foreign missionary enterprises8 ,while thanking you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of my heathen brethren for what you have already done1 and are now doing1 for the evangelization of our benighted land1 yet ,i cannot refrain from asking1 8,why can't1 or why won't1 you do more for the evangelization of the whole world8 ,do you think that you have done1 and are doing1 enough8 ,are you satisfied with the result you have already attained8 ,are you really trying to fulfill the last command of our ,lord1 #8,go ye into all the world1 and preach the gospel to every creature1' according to your ability or talents given from above8 ,are you earnestly endeavoring to carry out that idea of #8,the ,evangelization of the ,world in this ,generation'80 ,suppose in the last great ,european war ,america had sent out only a few hundred thousand soldiers to ,france to fight with the ,germans1--do you think you could have beaten that country and saved the world8 ,though the ,american soldiers may have been ever so brave and gallant individually1 yet what could a few hundred thousand ,americans do against millions of ,germans and ,austrians8 ,but you sent two millions1 and were going to send more millions1 to fight the ,germans4 ,you not only spent a few millions of dollars1 but several billions4 ,you not only gave up your men1 but you gave up your white bread and butter1 your meat and sugar4 ,you deprived yourselves of comfort and luxury4 ,you did not think any sacrifice too great for gaining your object4 ,in a word1 you made the beating of ,germany and the saving of the world the supreme effort of your nation4 ,this was doing the work according to its magnitude1 and you gained your object4 ,now turn your eyes to the work of your foreign missions1 which is the same as conquering the heathen lands for ,jesus ,christ4 ,do you think conquering a whole heathen land for ,christ is a smaller work or easier task than conquering ,germany8 ,what is the heathen force of the world at the present time8 ,taking the whole population of the world as sixteen hundred millions1 only a little less than six hundred millions can be counted as the ,christian population1 and that1 of course1 including several hundred million ,roman and ,greek ,catholics2 and the rest1 more than one billion1 are among the so-called heathen population of the world4 ,in ,japan and ,korea we have eighty million heathen2 in ,china1 four hundred million2 in ,india1 three hundred and thirty million2 in ,africa1 one hundred and fifty million2 and in all countries taken together the heathen population of the world is over one billion4 ,now your foreign mission work is to evangelize this heathen world4 ,for this purpose1 how strong an army of ,christian soldiers have you despatched8 ,how many missionaries have you already sent out8 ,are you doing this work of world evangelization according to the magnitude of the task8 ,i know your missionaries4 ,they are brave soldiers4 ,they are gallant fighters individually1 and they are faithful even unto death for the cause of their ,lord4 ,but what can this handful of a few thousand missionaries do against the gigantic mass of a billion heathen8 ,do you think they can evangelize the whole world in this generation8 ,no1 no2 this is not doing the work according to its magnitude4 ,i know the ,american people1 and ,i love them1 because ,i was converted by the ministry of an ,american teacher1 and was brought up by the ,american missionaries4 ,i regard ,america as my spiritual fatherland4 ,i feel perfectly at home in this country4 ,moreover1 ,i admire the true ,american spirit4 ,when once that ,american spirit is roused up1 and you are determined to gain any object1 you always get it4 ,why won't you send out1 not only a few thousand1 but a few hundred thousand1 ,christian soldiers throughout the length and breadth of the whole earth to fight with the ,devil8 ,why won't you sacrifice once more your boys and girls1 for this great conflict of ,christ and his enemies8 ,in this war girls are just as good a fighting force as boys1 if not better4 ,why won't you once more give up your white bread and butter1 your meat and sugar1 and deprive yourselves of your comfort and luxury for the cause of ,christ8 ,why don't you spend1 not only a few millions1 but billions1 or tens of billions1 of dollars for this great work of world evangelization8 ,in a word1 why won't you make this foreign mission work1 which is the fulfilment of the last command of ,jesus ,christ1 the supreme effort of the ,christian churches in ,america1 instead of treating it as a mere appendix to your work at home8 ,america is blessed in every way4 ,yours is the strongest and wealthiest1 most intelligent and most enterprising1 country in the world4 ,no country on earth can compete with you4 ,but do you think1 my ,american friends1 that ,god has blessed you so abundantly for your own sake1 for your own comfort and luxury1 for your own enjoyment and satisfaction alone8 ,do you think that ,god has so wonderfully blessed you because you are his only favorite among all the nations of the world8 ,no1 no2 ,god has blessed ,america wonderfully1 not for ,america's sake alone1 but for the sake of the whole world4 ,he has blessed ,america to make her a blessing to the world through the power of ,christ4 ,since ,i have come to this country your people call me by various names1 such as the ,moody of ,japan1 or the ,billy ,sunday of ,japan1 and so on2 but ,i don't like to be called by such great names4 ,i am not such a big man4 ,i know ,i am a small man1 not even worthy of being called a minister of ,christ1 because ,i have backslidden and forsaken my ,lord for many years4 ,not only for such reasons1 but also because ,i have my own name ,i prefer to be called always by that name1 even though it be an unknown one4 ,but it you insist on calling me by any other than my own1 ,i have one name by which ,i should like to be called4 ,that is1 a ,macedonian4 ,i am like the ,macedonian in ,paul's vision4 ,he came from heathen ,europe to ,asia1 and ,i came from heathen ,asia to ,america2 but the object of the coming of these two ,macedonians is the same1 namely1 to implore the help of the ,christians for the heathen lands4 ,won't you come and help us8 ,won't you1 my young ,american friends1 take up the sword of the ,spirit1 and march out from your own beloved land into the sin-stricken1 desolate heathen lands and lay down your lives for the salvation of the billion heathen souls8 ,do you realize that these billion heathen are all in need of salvation just as much as you were8 ,don't you know that the least of these is1 in the sight of ,god1 just as precious as the soul of your own mother or father1 brother or sister8 ,do you think that ,god wants the salvation of your kinsmen only1 and not the salvation of these heathen8 ,oh1 ,i beg and entreat you1 my dear ,american friends1 to look upon this billion of heathen souls with the eye of your heavenly ,father and the heart of your ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 who loved them and died for them4 ,then you cannot help making a desperate effort for their salvation4 ,and ,i believe that if you ,american ,christians will seriously and earnestly take up the great work of evangelizing the world in this generation1 and will do the work according to its magnitude1 ,god on his part will surely bless you and your work1 and the day of great victory will be at hand4 8,not by might1 nor by power1 but by my ,spirit1 saith the ,lord of hosts40 ,,the ,,end ,,transcriber',s ,,notes3 ,italicized text is surrounded by underscores3 italics4 ,obvious typographical errors have been corrected4