{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_74257/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_74257","id":"gutenberg_74257","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74257","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Kanamori, Paul M., 1857-1945"],"text":"[Illustration: Paul M. Kanamori]\n\n\n\n\n  Kanamori\u2019s\n  Life-Story\n\n  Told by Himself\n\n  _How the Higher Criticism wrecked\n  a Japanese Christian--and\n  how he came back_\n\n  Introduction by\n  J. Ross Stevenson, D.D., LL.D.\n\n  Philadelphia\n  The Sunday School Times Company\n  1921\n\n\n\n\n  _Copyright, 1921, by\n  The Sunday School Times Company_\n\n  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  I                                 PAGE\n  THE SERVANT SENT                     9\n\n  II\n  THE SERVANT DISOBEDIENT             34\n\n  III\n  THE SERVANT RESTORED                68\n\n  IV\n  THE SERVANT REAPING                 84\n\n  V\n  SOWING IN THE EVENING              104\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nA large number of Christian students in this and other lands have\nadopted as their watch-word \u201cThe Evangelization of the World in this\nGeneration.\u201d They thus express their conviction that the apostolic\nGospel is the power of God unto salvation, that it is intended to meet\nthe world\u2019s greatest need, and that the chief business of a Christian\ndisciple is to make this Gospel everywhere known, and thus best serve\nhis day and generation.\n\nStudents who have come under the power of a science that is largely\nmaterialistic and of a philosophy which has no place for the\nsupernatural regard this evangelistic program as being antiquated and\nnarrow, and, contemplating man as a mere creature of circumstance, they\nmaintain that the great objective of the Church should be to improve\nexternal conditions, to uplift the whole social order by education and\nby every advantage of an improved environment. To such, even though\nthey may commend in a general way a kind of social evangelism, the\npreaching of the apostolic Gospel is for the most part foolishness,\nand they show little if any interest in bringing unbelievers to an\nacceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.\n\nWhen one notes the small number of additions to the Church on\nconfession of faith, at home and on the mission field, following the\nlabor of a large number of ministers and Christian workers, he must\nconclude that very little is being done in the apostolic business of\nwinning souls to a personal allegiance to Jesus Christ. The main reason\nfor this is a lack of conviction as to the Gospel\u2019s incomparable value.\nOur ministers and our churches need to be reminded in the most forcible\nway that the living Christ is at work in the world, and that through\nthe power of his Spirit he is abundantly able to turn men from darkness\nto light and from the power of Satan unto God.\n\nThe testimony of Mr. Paul M. Kanamori, often called the Dwight L. Moody\nof Japan, should serve to stimulate faith in the power of God\u2019s Holy\nWord, in the saving power of Jesus Christ, God\u2019s only Son our Saviour,\nin the regenerating power of his Holy Spirit,--to rescue men from sin\nand make them apostles of the Gospel of the grace of God.\n\nThe story of Mr. Kanamori\u2019s conversion, of his departure from the fold\nof Christ, and his reclamation, is the same old message of God and sin\nand salvation wherein lies the only fundamental hope for a lost world.\nThis dramatic and appealing biography of a great modern evangelist\nshould serve as a warning to any who may be inclined to abandon the\nsimplicity that is in Christ, and should prove stimulating to all who\nare enlisted in the great enterprises of the Kingdom. For a preacher\nof the cross to win fifty thousand disciples for Christ shows that the\ndays of the apostles are not past, and proves that the evangelization\nof the world in this generation cannot be an idle dream to one who has\nexperienced the Gospel\u2019s power, and is convinced that there is none\nother name than that of Christ given under heaven among men whereby\nthey must be saved.\n\n                                                      J. ROSS STEVENSON.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE SERVANT SENT\n\n\nIn the year 1852 the Government of the United States sent an expedition\nunder Commodore Perry to the Far East. He came to Japan with four\nships, manned by 560 men, and concluded a treaty of commerce between\nthe United States and Japan, thus opening that hermit nation of the\nFar East to the light of modern civilization. This was the dawn of new\nJapan.\n\nAbout 1870, an American soldier, Captain L. L. Janes, came to my\ncountry. But his coming was entirely different from that of the former\none. He was not sent by the United States Government, but was invited\nby the Japanese Government to teach military tactics to her subjects.\n\nIn those days Japan was divided into about three hundred small\nprovinces, each having its own prince or lord, and each prince having\nan army of his own to fight with other princes. One of these feudal\nprinces of the southern island, called Kyushu, was quite an ambitious\nman. He schemed to have a strong army, which was drilled in quite\nup-to-date, modern military tactics of the \u201cWestern Nations,\u201d as the\nJapanese called the countries of Europe and America. For this purpose\nhe engaged Captain Janes, who was a graduate of the West Point Military\nAcademy, and a captain in the Union Army, and was said to have fought\nfour years in the Civil War, to come to his province and found a\nmilitary school.\n\nMeanwhile, this prince had selected about one hundred boys from among\nhis own subjects, by a special examination, and put them into this\nmilitary school. Thus the school was started. But soon after this a\ngreat political change took place in Japan, by which all the feudal\nlords of the country restored their territories to the Imperial\nGovernment, the whole country now being ruled by one supreme head, the\nEmperor of Japan, and all the provincial armies were dispersed. There\nbeing no longer any need of a provincial military school, this one\nwas changed in character, and became simply an English school, where\nCaptain Janes taught for seven years.\n\nIn this connection I must tell you how God in his providence turned\nthis school, originally intended for the training of military officers,\ninto a nursery for Christian workers. It was a wonderful providence,\nindeed, by which God raised up many \u201cchildren unto Abraham\u201d out of\nthese rude stones.\n\nCaptain Janes was not a missionary, and had no connection with any\nmission board in America. But he was an earnest Christian, filled\nwith a strong desire to lead to Christ those boys who came under his\ninstruction. His wife, too, who was a daughter of Doctor Scudder, an\nearly missionary to India, was a praying woman. I was told by her\nsister, and her brother, Dr. Doremus Scudder, when they came to my\ncountry as missionaries long years after this, how in those early days\nMrs. Janes used to spend many nights in prayer with tears.\n\nIn the beginning Captain Janes could not talk much about Christianity,\nbecause he did not know the language. He could not speak Japanese at\nall. He did not even attempt to learn Japanese. He used English alone\nfrom the very beginning of his teachings. When he taught the alphabet\nto his boys he spoke English to them. Nobody could understand him. He\ndid not employ an interpreter, because he did not like the idea of\nhaving a go-between with his students. He tried from the first to come\ninto direct contact with his pupils, and to inspire them through his\nown personality. And he did inspire them. The boys were fascinated and\ncaptivated by his unique personality long before they were converted to\nhis religious faith.\n\nIn the third year of his teaching, when the older boys began to\nunderstand him and he could talk with them in English, he began to talk\nabout Christianity. He could not teach Christianity in the school. It\nwas not a mission school, and to teach Christianity was not his object\nin coming, but he offered to teach us the Bible, if we would go to his\nhouse Saturday evenings. And he gave us several copies of the English\nBible. At first, out of mere curiosity, a few of the older boys went\nto read the Bible with him every Saturday evening. But the Bible was\na strange book to us, and we could not understand it at all. Also,\nCaptain Janes had a very peculiar way of teaching the Bible. He did\nnot explain much, nor argue much with his students; but from the very\nbeginning of the Bible reading he asked us to commit to memory certain\npassages, such as John 1:1-18, and 3:1-21, and we did so out of sheer\nrespect for our revered teacher. I have forgotten almost everything I\nheard in his Bible class, but these Scripture verses still remain in my\nmemory.\n\nThen in addition to this Bible reading, Captain Janes began to preach\nevery Sunday morning in his own parlor. Though he had no theological\ntraining he used to preach fine sermons, and very long ones, often two\nor three hours at a time. It may be that I learned my three-hour sermon\nfrom him. But as he was an eloquent speaker we were much impressed by\nhis Sunday morning preaching. One day when he was preaching on Paul and\nhis great missionary work, he suddenly turned to me and said, \u201cWhat do\nyou think of this man? Is it not a glorious thing to imitate such a\ngreat man as the Apostle Paul?\u201d From that time the name of Paul became\na part of my name. Through his preaching, about a dozen boys of the\nschool were converted. This was in the summer of 1875.\n\nAfter we were converted we became very much interested in reading the\nBible. But while the school was in session we could not get much time\nfor it, because we were so pressed with our daily lessons. So when the\nwinter vacation of that year came, a few of the Christian boys remained\nin the school, instead of going back to their own homes to enjoy the\nholidays. Our purpose in staying in the school was to read the Bible\nand pray together. During this vacation we tried to put aside all other\nbooks, and to read the Bible only. In those days we had no Japanese\nBible. We had only the English Bible, which our teacher gave us. We\nhad no commentaries to explain the difficult passages, nor a Bible\ndictionary to consult. But we spent the whole time of this vacation in\nreading the plain English Bible. We read mostly the Four Gospels, the\nActs of the Apostles, and the Epistles to the Romans. I remember how we\nenjoyed this Bible reading. We almost devoured the Book, just as young\npeople nowadays devour their sensational novels.\n\nThis Bible reading was the preparation for a powerful revival which\nsoon broke out in that school. This was the first revival in modern\nJapan, or rather it should be called the first outpouring of the Holy\nSpirit, because there was nothing yet to revive. We did not know that\nit was a revival of religion. We had neither heard nor read of such\nthings. We had not seen a single missionary. No missionary had ever\nvisited that part of the country. We were so ignorant of the Christian\nworld outside of us that we did not even know the modern institution\nof church and pastor. We did not know that the minister who preaches\nthe Gospel can be supported by the church. We thought if we were going\nto preach the Gospel we must do as Paul did,--working with our own\nhands and preaching the Gospel. All we knew were Bible truths and Bible\npersonages. We knew Jesus Christ and how he died upon the cross for us.\nWe knew Paul and Peter and John and James, and how they were filled\nwith the Holy Spirit and what mighty works they did. And we boys simply\ntried to imitate those great apostles.\n\nWithout knowing that it was a revival of religion, we had it, and that,\ntoo, a powerful one. It happened on this wise. When the winter vacation\nwas over, all the boys returned to school. These boys were quite young.\nI was one of the oldest among them, and I was only eighteen. When the\nyounger boys returned to the school, we older boys who had read the\nBible during vacation were now so full of it that we could not help\ntalking about it to these younger students. These students now became\nvery much interested in hearing Bible stories, and they also began\nto read the Bible themselves. So we formed Bible classes and taught\nthem. The whole school was thrown into such a fever of Bible reading\nthat, although the new term had already commenced, the school could\nnot resume its ordinary work because nobody cared to read any other\nbook but the Bible, Bible, Bible. Everybody was reading the Bible, and\neverywhere Bible classes were going on. Consequently, for the whole of\nthe first week of the term the regular studies were suspended, and the\nschool was given over to Bible reading. We thought at one time that the\nwhole school of one hundred boys was going to be converted at once.\nConversion after conversion occurred. There was a boy about fifteen\nyears of age who preached so powerfully among his fellow-students that\nas a result many were converted.\n\nThe revival did not confine itself within the school walls. We were not\nsatisfied with the conversion of the schoolboys alone. We went out\nof the school, preaching the Gospel in our own homes, to our parents,\nrelatives, and friends. We even went to our former Confucian teachers,\nand told them the new truths we had learned from the Bible. We were all\nConfucianists, and brought up in the Confucian school before we entered\nCaptain Janes\u2019 school. There were quite often very hot discussions\nbetween those old teachers and the newly converted Christian boys. But\nalways these boys were able to confound those old Confucian scholars.\nAs they could not withstand nor gainsay these boys\u2019 arguments, they\nwere enraged at them. One day I called on my old Confucian teacher, who\nloved me as dearly as one of his own sons, and I was also very much\nattached to him; but as I told him the new truths which I had learned\nfrom the Bible there arose a hot discussion between us. When he saw\nthat I would not obey his command to renounce the Christian faith, he\nwas greatly enraged, and said, \u201cYou must never come back again to my\nhouse to see me.\u201d\n\nI was almost driven out of his house, and I did not see him again\nbefore his death. But I am happy to tell you that not long after his\ndeath his widow became a Christian, and one of his grandsons is now the\npastor of a Christian church.\n\nIn the midst of such a sweeping revival a great enemy appeared.\nPersecution broke out, not by the government, but by the families,\nparents, relatives, and friends of the young converts. At the\ninstigation of the Confucian teachers, the parents and relatives tried\nto persuade their boys to renounce their Christian faith, and to return\nto the Confucian teaching.\n\nYou know that the first missionaries in Japan were Roman Catholics,\nsent about five hundred years ago, but the Japanese Government, as\nwell as the people, had for many centuries bitterly persecuted these\nRoman Catholics. Any one who professed to be Christian was in danger\nof bringing capital punishment upon himself and his family. People\nlooked upon Christians as traitors to the country, and feared that\nthey would become the tools of the foreign nations represented by the\nmissionaries. So the Christians were looked upon by the country at\nlarge as very detestable people, dangerous to the safety of the country.\n\nI remember that when I was a little boy we used to see the\nGovernment\u2019s notice boards set up everywhere with this statement: \u201cThe\nbelief in the evil religion of Jesus is strictly forbidden by order.\u201d\nIn some places, sometimes, the following statement was added: \u201cIf\nany one knowing a believer in this religion of Jesus will inform the\nauthorities, he shall be rewarded by the Government.\u201d These rewards\nwere given in money.\n\nMy grandfather was an officer of some position in our provincial\ngovernment. At one time he was appointed chief officer over a large\ndistrict. It was the duty of such officials to examine the religion of\nthe people over whom they were placed. For this purpose he used to call\nall the people of his district once a year to his official residence.\nThe day of such a gathering was counted among the great days of the\nyear. It was called the \u201cFeast of Picture Trampling.\u201d I remember my\ngrandfather had a small iron crucifix, such as the Roman Catholic\npriests carry with them. This crucifix was put in a small box, which\nwas covered with an iron grating, so that the figure within might be\nseen from the outside, and this box was placed in a small hole dug for\nthe purpose, in the middle of a large courtyard, where usually the\ncriminals were examined. Then the people were called in, one by one, by\nname, in the presence of the Government officers, all dressed in their\nofficial robes, with swords and spears to guard against emergencies.\nThe people of each township, headed by the mayor, were called in by\nthemselves, and when they came to the place where the box was placed\nthey trampled upon it and passed on. To this feast all people, men and\nwomen and even children, were ordered to come. When the women came into\nthe yard, after they themselves had stepped on the box, they put down\ntheir children and made their little feet touch the crucifix, thus\ntestifying that they were not of this religion. If any one refused to\ntrample upon the cross he was arrested at once, and put into prison on\nthe charge of being a Christian. My grandfather had a prison in which\nto put such men.\n\nOnce when I was watching those country folks trampling upon the box I\nasked my grandfather, \u201cWhat is that figure in the box, on which these\npeople are treading?\u201d\n\nHe turned to me and said: \u201cOh, that is an unclean worm! if it is not\nput in that box and trampled upon by the people, it will creep out and\ndo immense mischief to the country.\u201d\n\nThis was the first time I came in contact with the cross of Christ, and\nI was told that it was an \u201cunclean worm.\u201d And now, only a little over\nten years after those days, I myself became a Christian. No wonder that\nthe parents and relatives should be frightened at the prospect of their\nboys becoming the worshipers of that \u201cunclean worm.\u201d Fortunately, by\nthis time the government which had persecuted Christianity for so long\nwas overthrown, and the present Imperial Government came into power,\nand there was no danger of persecution coming from that quarter. But\nthe families tried in every way to drive out of their boys\u2019 heads what\nthey called \u201cthe foolish notion of believing in an unclean religion\u201d;\nbut it was too late. Christianity had already taken such a deep root\nin our hearts that nothing could uproot it. The fire once kindled by\nheaven cannot be quenched by any earthly means. Of course there were a\nfew weak ones among the believing boys, who fell away from the ranks of\nbelievers because of this persecution. But there remained about forty\nboys with the firm determination to hold on to their new faith, even\nunto death.\n\nI distinctly recall it now that it was on a fine Sunday morning,\nJanuary 30, 1876, the year after our conversion, that these forty\nChristian boys went up a little hill called Hanaoka, its literal\nmeaning being the \u201cMount of Flowers,\u201d just outside the city of\nKumamoto, where Captain Janes\u2019 school was located. At the top of\nthe \u201cMount of Flowers\u201d there was a big old pine tree spreading out\nits branches. This pine tree is still standing there after half a\ncentury of the most eventful life of new Japan. Under this grand\nold tree, at the top of the hill, those forty Christian boys had a\nservice dedicating themselves to God. First they drew up an article of\ndedication, the main meaning of which, as I remember it now, was as\nfollows: \u201cThis day we consecrate ourselves to the service of Christ,\nand pledge ourselves to preach his Gospel throughout the whole empire\nof Japan, even though it means death.\u201d After the reading of this\narticle each one signed his name to it. Then they sang several hymns.\n\nWe had no Japanese hymns as yet. We knew only the English hymns, which\nMrs. Janes had taught us to sing. Among them was that missionary hymn:\n\n  \u201cFrom Greenland\u2019s icy mountains,\n    From India\u2019s coral strand,\n  Where Afric\u2019s sunny fountains\n    Roll down their golden sand,\n  From many an ancient river,\n    From many a palmy plain,\n  They call us to deliver\n    Their land from error\u2019s chain.\u201d\n\nAnother was:\n\n  \u201cMust Jesus bear the Cross alone,\n    And all the world go free?\n  No, there\u2019s a cross for every one,\n    And there\u2019s a cross for me.\u201d\n\nOur favorite was:\n\n  \u201cJesus, I my cross have taken,\n    All to leave and follow thee,\n  Naked, poor, despised, forsaken,\n    Thou from hence my all shalt be.\n  Perish every fond ambition,\n    All I\u2019ve sought, or hoped, or known,\n  Yet how rich is my condition,\n    God and Heaven are still my own!\u201d\n\nThis hymn exactly expressed our situation at the time. Here at the top\nof the \u201cMount of Flowers\u201d we took up our cross, determined to follow\nJesus, even unto death. Here we forsook all our fond worldly ambitions.\nHeretofore we had dreamed of becoming great men of the world, either\nstatesmen or soldiers, or business men, perhaps millionaires. Human\nnature is the same everywhere. Young people are always dreaming of\ngreat things, but now we had chosen to become \u201cnaked, poor, despised,\nforsaken,\u201d for Christ\u2019s sake. Here we took our firm stand, and prepared\nto face a storm of persecution, which was just bursting upon us, to\ncrush and overthrow this little band of forty boys. Then, as the last\nact of our dedication service, I offered a prayer of consecration for\nall. Thus armed with power from above we descended the hill, singing\nand rejoicing. This was indeed a bold challenge to the enemies of\nChristianity.\n\nAs soon as the meeting of the Christian boys at the Mount of Flowers\nwas known abroad, our persecutors took stronger measures. Many of the\nChristian boys were taken out of the school and imprisoned in their own\nhomes, or other places, being cut off entirely from their Christian\nfriends in the school, and subjected to very severe treatment, in some\ncases even to cruelty.\n\nIn the home of one of the boys the mother was so grieved over her son\nbecoming a Christian that, when she saw no simple persuasion would\navail to turn his heart from following Jesus, she betook herself to a\nlast resort. In the olden days the high class ladies in Japan carried\nsmall swords in their bosoms as a means of protection; so now, with\nher sword in her hand, she faced her boy and demanded an immediate\nrenunciation of his Christian faith. And in case he would not do so\nwithin twenty-four hours, she threatened to commit suicide, to atone\nfor the sin of dishonoring her ancestors by letting her son become a\nfollower of an \u201cunclean religion.\u201d\n\nIt was not a mere threat. The mother was in earnest. I called on her\nthat very day and begged her to let me see her boy, who was one of\nmy dearest friends, just to bid him good-bye before we should die.\nIn those days we Christian boys, on our side, were determined to die\nbefore we would renounce our allegiance to Christ. It was a life\nand death struggle between us and our enemies. But when I saw her I\ntrembled, because she was in such a determined mood that I felt as\nthough I were standing before a dead person, pale and ghastly, and she\nsaid calmly to me:\n\n\u201cNo, you cannot see my boy, but if you insist on seeing him, kill me\nfirst, and then you may see him.\u201d\n\nI said to her, \u201cMy aunt, I did not come here to kill you, but only to\nsee your boy.\u201d Thus saying, I left her house with a heavy heart, full\nof fear and anxiety, thinking that before the next day dawned either\nthe mother or the son in that home would die.\n\nSomething happened, providentially. I cannot now recall what it was,\nbut the mother was prevented from committing suicide, and her son was\nsaved from renouncing his faith. And this same mother, long years\nafter, herself became a Christian, and died in the faith.\n\nThere were several such cases in the homes of these Christian boys.\nIn another home the father was so enraged that he came with his drawn\nsword in his hand, and actually attempted to take his son\u2019s life. You\nknow that in the olden days the Samurai class, which was the warrior\nclass in old Japan, used always to carry two swords, one long and the\nother short, and were in the habit of using them quite freely. These\nboys all belonged to this Samurai class.\n\nI was one of the most bitterly persecuted. After receiving severe\ntreatment at the hands of my relatives for many months, I was finally\ndisowned and cast out of my father\u2019s house. I lost everything except my\nEnglish Bible and Bunyan\u2019s \u201cPilgrim\u2019s Progress,\u201d which became now my\nsole possessions.\n\nThough they were made to pass through the ordeal of much persecution,\nthe Christian boys finally gained the victory. Persecution could\nnot accomplish the purpose of our enemies. The more bitterly they\npersecuted us, the more we were confirmed in our faith. We used to\ncomfort one another by saying, \u201cIs not this the living proof of the\ntruth of Christianity? We see right here in our midst the perfect\nfulfilment of the word of Christ spoken nineteen centuries ago, \u2018A\nman\u2019s foes shall be they of his own household.\u2019\u201d\n\nThis band of forty boys was afterwards called the \u201cKumamoto Band,\u201d well\nknown in the early history of Christian missions in modern Japan.\n\nThus far I have told you only one side of this story of the \u201cKumamoto\nBand.\u201d But there is another side to it, even more wonderful than this,\nwhich I must not omit. In the summer of 1865, just ten years before the\ntime of which I am speaking, a young Japanese arrived in the city of\nBoston. He had left his country a year before, in an American schooner.\nIn those days to leave the country was almost certain death to a\nJapanese. But the young man dared this certain death, and after a year\nof hardship and suffering in a sea voyage he finally reached his goal,\nthe land of liberty and enlightenment. He was poor and destitute, and\nwas without any friends to look after him in this strange land. He\nremained in this helpless condition after his arrival for many weeks.\nAt one time he was so discouraged that he almost despaired of obtaining\nthe object of his coming to America, and was on the verge of insanity.\nBut Heaven did not forsake him. A generous and noble-hearted Christian\ncitizen of Boston, Mr. Alpheus Hardy, owner of the ship in which he had\ncome, hearing of his case, took him into his home, and recognizing the\nfine spirit and noble ambition of this young man, Mr. Hardy decided\nto adopt him and give him a thorough American education. He was first\nplaced in the Phillips Academy at Andover, then was sent to Amherst\nCollege, and finally to the Andover Theological Seminary to be trained\nfor the Christian ministry.\n\nAfter ten years of training and preparation, this young man returned\nto Japan, in 1874, and the next year, 1875, which was the very year\nwhen those Kumamoto boys were converted, he opened a Christian school\nunder the auspices of the American Mission Board in Japan, in the city\nof Kyoto, the old capital. This was Dr. Joseph Hardy Neeshima, a man\nof God, and the greatest Christian leader in Japan. He was filled with\na burning zeal for the salvation of his countrymen, and was looking\neagerly for like-minded young men who would come and join him in the\ngreat work of evangelizing Japan.\n\nHere you see again the wonderful working of the providence of God.\nWhile on one hand God was preparing and disciplining those forty boys\nof the \u201cKumamoto Band\u201d by special education under Captain Janes, as\nwell as by bitter persecution, he was at the same time training this\ngreat Christian leader of Japan through the kind help of Alpheus Hardy\nin America. Dr. Neeshima knew nothing of these Kumamoto boys, and they\nknew nothing of Dr. Neeshima and his school. Though entirely unknown to\neach other, we were all in the same Hand, being moulded and shaped for\nthe coming work of his kingdom.\n\nIn the spring of 1876, when Captain Janes, through an American\nnewspaper, heard of Dr. Neeshima and his Christian school, he at once\ncommunicated with him, and told him all about the \u201cKumamoto Band.\u201d It\ncame as a great surprise to Dr. Neeshima and his colleagues. I was told\nby one of the missionary teachers who was with Dr. Neeshima at the time\nthat it seemed to them as though the forty boys fell down straight from\nheaven. They had never dreamed such a wonderful thing was going on in\nsuch an obscure part of the country.\n\nOn our side it was a great joy and comfort in the midst of persecution\nto hear of such a Christian man and school existing in our own country.\nBy the fall of that year almost all of the \u201cKumamoto Band,\u201d having\nbeen driven out of their homes and their native province, came to this\nschool of Dr. Neeshima, and joined him in his great work. Thus was\nstarted the first Christian college, \u201cThe Doshisha University,\u201d which\nwas destined to become a center of Christian education and Christian\ninfluence in Japan, and from which came the new impulse for Christian\nwork in that country, and Dr. Neeshima became its first president.\n\nOf the \u201cKumamoto Band,\u201d about fifteen boys who had already finished\ntheir preparatory education in Captain Janes\u2019 school, entered the\ntheological class, the first in Doshisha University. For three years\nthey received theological training and preparation for the Christian\nministry. After graduating in 1879, most of these boys went out as\nhome missionaries, preaching the Gospel of Christ all over Japan, and\nfounding Congregational churches in many parts of the country.\n\nIn Japan the Presbyterian churches now have the largest number of\nbelievers. Then come the Congregational churches, and after that those\nof other denominations. But though the Congregational churches come\nsecond in membership they have the largest number and the strongest\nchurches. This is due mostly to the work of the \u201cKumamoto Band.\u201d From\nit came forth the most influential and foremost preachers and pastors\nof the Congregational churches in Japan.\n\nOne of this band, a graduate of 1879, has been now over forty years a\npastor of a large Congregational church. He is called the Bishop of\nSouthern Japan, without appointment. Another of this band is one of\nthe greatest Christian scholars in Japan, and is now the President\nof the National Sunday-School Association. The present President\nof the Doshisha University is also a member of this band. After Dr.\nNeeshima, the first President, died, in 1890, four of the presidents\nof that university came from this band. Not only in the religious and\neducational work, but also in Government service, in the House of\nParliament, as well as in the business world, some of the members of\nthis band were able to hold quite important positions.\n\nSo you see this \u201cKumamoto Band\u201d was used mightily by the hand of\nGod for establishing a Christian testimony in modern Japan. And you\nknow now how it came about. It was not started by a missionary, nor\nby a minister. It was started by a layman, by a soldier who had no\ntheological training or ministerial experience, and who had not come\nto my country to teach Christianity, but to teach military tactics,\nthe English language and modern science. But as a by-product of this\nlayman\u2019s work this \u201cKumamoto Band\u201d sprang up and became a power in the\nChristian world of Japan. A wonderful working of Providence! Indeed,\nGod can use anything as his instrument to execute his own purpose. He\nused a jawbone of an ass in the hand of Samson to destroy a thousand\nPhilistines. It may be that the \u201cKumamoto Band\u201d and Captain Janes were\nas the jawbone of an ass.\n\nMy friends, do you think that there are no such promising young men to\nbe found in my country now? Oh, yes, there are the makings of \u201cKumamoto\nBands\u201d always and everywhere. If you will send out missionaries filled\nwith burning zeal for the salvation of souls, who will come into direct\npersonal touch with young men and women and inspire them through their\nown personalities by the aid of the Holy Spirit, you can find any\nnumber of such bands even now.\n\nNot only in Japan, but in all the mission fields of the world, there\nare thousands of such boys just waiting for some Captain Janes to come\nand form them into a band of Christian workers. Therefore the question\nis not whether we can find such \u201cKumamoto Bands\u201d now, but whether we\ncan find such Captain Janes\u2019.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE SERVANT DISOBEDIENT\n\n\nIn my first chapter I gave a brief account of the Kumamoto Band, their\nconversion and dedication, persecution, and victory, how they came to\nDr. Neeshima\u2019s school, how they went out again, preaching the Gospel\nand founding Congregational churches in all parts of Japan, and how\nthis band was mightily used by God for establishing a testimony to\nChrist in my country. So far I have told the good part of this story.\n\nBut now I must turn to my own part in it, because I am to tell you the\nstory of my own Christian life. But when I turn to my own part I am\nsorry to say that I cannot give the good part only, but I must give the\nbad part too. I was not a good boy, as some of my friends were, working\nfaithfully during half a century. I was a backsliding, prodigal son of\nmy Heavenly Father for many years. My life was shipwrecked on the rocks\nof doubt and unbelief. I have nothing to glory of, but only to confess\nmy sins and failures. It is not a pleasant thing for a man to speak\nof his own sins and failings. But I think it is our duty as Christians\nto confess our sins to one another. So I here wish to discharge that\nfirst duty, and, if possible, warn my young friends who are in danger\nof treading the same path, and falling into the same pit I did.\n\nI was the first one of the Kumamoto Band who came to Doshisha\nUniversity, in the summer of 1876. There was not a single building on\nthe whole University campus, so I was connected with that school from\nits very foundation. Also I was a member of the first graduating class,\nof 1879. After graduating from this school, I went down to the Province\nof Okayama as a missionary. I had no money, no salary, no help. As\nChrist told us, I went to a worthy man, who fed and clothed me for the\nfirst year of my ministry. There was an American Board mission station\nin Okayama, and I worked in connection with it, and after a year there\nsprang up a Congregational church of about fifty members, and I became\nits first pastor, receiving three dollars and a half for a month\u2019s\nsalary. But our work was very much blessed. Besides the central church\nthere sprang up many other churches all around, and this province\nbecame one of the strongest centers of the Christian world in Japan.\n\nThen I was called back by Dr. Neeshima to his school as a professor of\ntheology. So I came back to my alma mater and assisted Dr. Neeshima in\nteaching, and also in the work of the presidency. So, you see, at first\neven I was doing some good work for the cause of Christ. I was regarded\nas one of the most promising Christian workers of the country at the\ntime.\n\nNow comes my bad turn. During my stay in Doshisha University, as a\nprofessor of theology I read many books on that subject. Among them\nwere the books of German New Theology and the Higher Criticism. To me,\nbrought up in almost Puritan strictness of doctrine and practise, their\neasy and free way of handling the Word of God and interpreting the\ndoctrines of the Bible was so interesting and fascinating that I was\ncompletely carried away by their cunning argument. And my positions in\northodox theology were thrown down, one after another, by those fiery\ndoubts shot from the camp of New Theology. I thought I was standing\non the rocks of orthodox theology, but now those very rocks themselves\nseemed to melt under the heat of modern criticism.\n\nFinally I became a convert to this new doctrine, and its devout\nfollower. Not only that, but I became a very zealous propagandist.\nI began to propagate the new doctrine in preaching and writing. I\ntranslated Dr. Pfleiderer\u2019s \u201cPhilosophy of Religion\u201d into Japanese,\nunder the title of \u201cThe Liberal Theology.\u201d He was the professor of\ntheology in Berlin University, and was regarded as one of the foremost\nscholars of New Theology of the day. I myself wrote a book called\n\u201cPresent and Future Christianity of Japan.\u201d In this book I prophesied\nthat, though the present Christianity of Japan was orthodox, the future\nChristianity would be a liberal one. Some liberals say that prophecy\nhas been fulfilled, but I hope not. At any rate, I am sorry to say that\nthis book has led astray many young friends, but I am happy to say that\nit is out of print now. This book made some stir in the Christian world\nof Japan at the time.\n\nIn those days all the Congregational churches were orthodox and\nevangelical. Of course, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the\nEpiscopalians, and the Baptists were thoroughgoing orthodox, and\nCongregational ministers were the zealous defenders of the orthodox\nfaith. I was looked at as a very dangerous heretic, and was almost\nexcommunicated. I could not conscientiously stay in the orthodox\nchurch, since my theology so greatly differed from theirs, and so I\nleft the Congregational church in order to make my position clear to\nthe world; but when I left the church I left the Christian ministry\nalso.\n\nI wish to call special attention to this point: Why did I leave the\nministry when I left the Congregational church? Because, in the first\nplace, my New Theology and Higher Criticism had destroyed my faith in\nthe perfect, divine authority of the Bible; and in the second place,\nthey had destroyed my faith in the perfect deity of Christ. When I had\nlost these two things I had lost everything. I could not preach Christ\nalone, and him crucified. I could preach Christian theism, Christian\nmorality, and Christian sociology. In fact, I could preach all the\npractical side of Christianity, but not the central fundamental truths\nof Christianity, Christ and his salvation through the cross.\n\nIn those days there were many liberals who were saying, \u201cYou may have\nyour own theology in your study, but retain the commonly accepted\nChristian doctrine in the pulpit. There is no need of entering into the\ndiscussion of theological questions in the pulpit, because it is for\nthe common people, and not for the scholars.\u201d\n\nBut I said: \u201cI cannot use two theologies in my ministry, one for\nmyself, and the other for the people. I cannot handle the Word of God\nin such a double-handed way. What I have learned in my study that I\nwill preach in my pulpit.\u201d\n\nBut such was quite the common practise among the liberals of those\ndays. Not only in those days, but even now, there are many liberals\nwho are practising these worldly counsels of handling the Word of God\ncunningly and deceitfully. They are proclaiming from their pulpits, not\nthe salvation of souls by the blood of Christ, but only what they call\nsocial salvation, moral uplift, and world reconstruction by the example\nof Jesus of Nazareth, thus hiding their skeptical theology and agnostic\nphilosophy under the cloak of practical Christianity.\n\nSome liberal churches invited me to come to their side and help\nto spread the liberal Christianity in Japan. But I declined all\ninvitations. I thought if social reform and moral uplift are the only\nwork of the Christian ministry, and not the salvation of souls by the\nblood of Christ, there is no need of my staying in it any longer. Such\nsocial service could be rendered out of it just as well, if not better.\nSo I left the ministry, and joined a politico-social reform campaign\nin my country. Now I became a political and social reformer, and in\nthis capacity spent more than twenty years. Thus I squandered away the\nbest portion of my life in unprofitable worldly pursuit; thus my life\nwas shipwrecked in the midst of my life-work, and thus I turned away\nfrom Jesus Christ, whom I had found seventeen years before in such a\nwonderful manner, and to whom I had pledged my allegiance at the top\nof the Mount of Flowers. The purpose of the Devil, which could not be\naccomplished by bitter persecution, had been now accomplished by the\nhelp of the New Theology and Higher Criticism. This is the Devil\u2019s way\nof working. When he cannot gain his object by sword or fire, he resorts\nto an entirely different method.\n\nNow let me tell how the study of Higher Criticism and New Theology\ndestroyed my evangelical faith, and what a baneful influence they\nexerted upon my spiritual life, and how they finally dragged me down\nto the depths of doubt and unbelief. But before going farther, I must\nexplain what I call Higher Criticism and New Theology.\n\nWhen I addressed a body of theological students in a certain seminary\nwhere the New Theology and Higher Criticism are being taught now, I\ntold them plainly what havoc this New Theology and Higher Criticism\nhave made in my Christian life, and how they are sapping the very life\nof the Christian churches at present, and I warned them sincerely\nagainst this misleading, dangerous teaching.\n\nAfter the address, one of the professors who heard me came and\nasked, \u201cWhat do you mean by \u2018Higher Criticism\u2019? Do you mean by it\nthe destructive Higher Criticism only, or do you include even the\nconstructive Higher Criticism?\u201d\n\nI answered him: \u201cI don\u2019t know. It is very difficult to draw a line\nbetween \u2018destructive\u2019 and \u2018constructive\u2019 in the so-called modern\nHigher Criticism. But all criticism which destroys faith in the\nperfect, divine authority of the Bible I call Higher Criticism, and\nall theological teaching which destroys belief in the perfect deity of\nJesus Christ I call New Theology.\u201d\n\nThese are the definitions of these two terms which I use in this\nbook. Of course there are all grades of Higher Criticism and New\nTheology, ranging from the mildest, almost touching the border line\nof evangelical faith, down to the very deadliest, which never ceases\nblaspheming Christ and the Holy Scriptures; but whether they are mild\nor extreme, these doctrines are a real poison to the Christian faith.\nNot only did I almost kill my spiritual life by absorbing such poisons\ninto my own system, but also by introducing such poisons into the\nJapanese churches, I did great damage to the cause of Christ in my\ncountry.\n\nA friend has asked me whether I still feel the evil effects of the\nstudy of such books on my spiritual life.\n\nI answered him, \u201cYes. If you once absorb poison into your system it is\nvery hard to get entirely rid of the evil.\u201d\n\nHe also asked me whether it is wise for one to read such books in\norder to know our opponents\u2019 positions.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d I said. \u201cSometimes it is necessary for us to study books of this\nkind in order to find out their fallacies and untruths.\u201d\n\nBut even then we must be very careful not to be poisoned ourselves.\nIt is sometimes necessary for the student of chemistry to enter the\nchemical laboratory and handle deadly poisons, in order to make\nimportant experiments, but at such times the student must take as\nperfect precaution as possible not to take the poison into his own body\nand die.\n\nIn the same way, when you are going to make experiments with these\npoisonous doctrines of the enemy of the Gospel, you must take perfect\nprecautions not to absorb their poisons, as I did. Moreover, I like\nto caution my orthodox brothers and sisters against handling these\npoisonous books except under the urgent necessity of making important\nexperiments. Though we have to provide deadly poisons in our chemical\nlaboratories for the purpose of experiments, it is not at all necessary\nor advisable to put them in our kitchens and dining-rooms; no, it is\nnot wise to handle them too often.\n\nHowever, I am not going to discuss at present the question of New\nTheology. I am simply going to show you how baneful and destructive was\nits influence upon my own spiritual life. That is all I intend to do\nhere.\n\nSome of the professors of New Theology said to me, after hearing my\nlecture, \u201cYou have the facts which no theory can refute.\u201d Yes, I have\nthe facts, or rather I myself am the fact, and I am going to give this\nfact, and not theory, or argument. Now let me proceed to tell the\nprocesses and steps by which these studies destroyed my evangelical\nfaith.\n\nI was a lover of the Bible. I loved it and revered it as the Word of\nGod. I was converted by reading the Bible. I believed the Bible was\nthe Word of God, given by the Holy Spirit through the holy men of old;\nthat the Bible contained truth only, and no error. The Holy Spirit\ncannot be the author of error. God cannot make mistakes. I believed,\ntherefore, that all the historical facts of the Bible were true facts,\nand all the biographical narratives true narratives, and not made up by\nmen, and all the Biblical heroes true persons, and not fabulous ones.\nI believed that its doctrines and teachings were all true, good, and\nperfect and \u201cprofitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for\ninstruction in righteousness.\u201d In fact, I believed that the Bible was\na perfect revelation of the will and wisdom and love of God, that we\nhave only to dig into it and find out the precious truth of its deep\nmeaning, and honor it by belief and obedience. If I found any difficult\npassage in the Bible, which I could not understand, or reconcile with\nmy reason, I always put the blame of the doubt upon my own imperfect\nintellect, and believed that the Bible was all right, though I could\nnot understand it. Thus I believed in the absolute divine authority of\nthe Bible, and on this divine Book, as on the rock of ages, I built my\nfaith in Christianity as the absolute religion. Not _a_ religion, but\n_the_ religion of the world.\n\nNow came the higher critics and said, \u201cNo,\u201d to all of these my beliefs\nin the Bible. In the first place, they said, \u201cthe Bible is not the Word\nof God, given through the Holy Spirit, in any such sense as you have\nbelieved. The Bible is a book written by men, just as all other books\nare written. Therefore the words contained in it are not the words of\nGod himself, but the words of men, perhaps pious men, good men, devout\nmen, and religiously-minded men. But they are all men and nothing more.\nAnd as all men are liable to make mistakes, and are apt to invent\nstories, and manufacture the facts, so the Bible contains many untrue\nnarratives, and made-up stories. Many of the historical personages of\nthe Bible are imaginary heroes and not true persons. Moreover, the\ndoctrines propounded in the Bible are not all sound doctrines. Some\nare quite unsound. The teachings of the Bible are not all wise and\nprofitable, and some are not applicable to modern times at all. They\nmay have been good enough in the dark ages of the ancient world, but\nare not suitable to this modern age. So the Bible does not contain\ntruth only, but it contains error also.\n\n\u201cIn fact, the Bible is a mixture of truth and error, good and bad,\nwise and unwise. It contains myths, legends, and fables, just as all\nthe so-called sacred books of the world religions contain such a\nmixture. The Bible must in many cases be interpreted allegorically\nand figuratively, deducing only moral and spiritual lessons. You must\nnot swallow everything in the Bible as true, but must make careful\ndiscrimination. You must separate what is true from what is untrue,\nand what is good from what is bad. You must search and find out for\nyourself what part of the Biblical history is authentic, and what part\nof it is not, who are the true persons, and who are the imaginary ones,\nusing reason and common sense, just as when reading all other books\nwritten by men.\u201d This is what I was taught by Higher Criticism and New\nTheology.\n\nAccording to my orthodox faith I had looked upon the Bible as the\nperfect, revealed Word of God, and as a supreme Judge sitting on the\nbench giving an infallible judgment upon all matters pertaining to the\nspiritual as well as the moral welfare of man. This judgment I had\nlooked upon as final, with no one to dispute it. I sat before the Bible\nas a client or petitioner waiting for a final decision.\n\nNow came Higher Criticism and turned everything upside down and said,\n\u201cNo, you are not the petitioner, you yourself are the judge. You must\nsit upon the bench of the supreme judge and pronounce your judgment\nupon the contents of the Bible, as to whether it is true or untrue,\ngood or bad, applicable or inapplicable. The Bible, as all other\nbooks, must become a petitioner before you, and your reason.\u201d\n\nSo you see the Bible was in this way dragged down from the seat of the\nsupreme judge to the place of the petitioner, and man with his reason\nand common sense was exalted to the seat of the judge.\n\nWhat authority can such a Bible have over a man when he has to choose\nfrom its contents whatever seems good or suitable for his purpose, and\nwhatever does not seem so he has a right to discard? Do you think such\na Bible can command us to \u201cmeditate therein day and night,\u201d and \u201cturn\nnot from it to the right hand or to the left\u201d? What becomes of those\nprecious promises of God in the Bible if they are not the word of God\nin a true and exact sense? In the Old and New Testaments there are more\nthan thirty thousand promises, and they have been life and joy and\nstrength to Christians for nineteen centuries. But if these are not\nreally the promises given by God himself, but only the opinions and\nconjectures of human beings, how can we trust them? Do you think we can\nbuild the absolute religion of the world upon so fickle and unstable a\nfoundation as this? The Bible of the Higher Critics is not rock, but\nsand, and a house built upon it must fall, and great will be the fall\nthereof.\n\nNow they have dragged the Bible down to the level of the sacred\nwritings of other world religions, such as the sacred books of the\nBrahmans, the legendary stories of Shakamuni, the Koran of Mohammed,\nand others. The religion of the Bible must then become one of these\nworld religions founded by men. So Christianity also must share the\nfate of all other religions of the world. Once you have dragged\nChristianity down to a level with other religions of the world, you\ncannot save it alone amidst the wholesale destruction of all these\nsuperstitious world religions by the fires of modern civilization.\nAnd I believe the sooner they are destroyed the better it will be for\nmankind. And Christianity, according to New Theology, must share their\nfate sooner or later.\n\nIn Christian lands we see many who, while embracing such destructive\nviews of the Bible and Christianity, are yet holding on to Christian\npractise, not as a result of their own thinking, but as a result\nof time-honored customs, life-long habits, and early training and\neducation in the Christian homes, Christian institutions, and\nChristian society in which they were brought up. They are like men\nwho, when thrown into a deep well, instead of going down straight to\nthe bottom, cling to the stony sides, or hold on to the ropes, and\nso are prevented from dropping at once to the bottom. But Christians\nnewly converted, in a heathen land, having no such Christian homes\nor institutions to cling to, when thrown into the well of doubt and\nunbelief, will go straight to the bottom. We are standing only upon our\nown thinking, and if that thinking goes wrong, we shall fall at once\nand be drowned.\n\nAt least I fell to the bottom. I could not hang on the walls midway. I\ndid not hesitate to declare in my book that if Christianity is one of\nthe religions of the world, like Buddhism and Mohammedanism, then it\nmust share the common fate of all these religions. They may have been\nall right, and have done their work in their own time and in their\nown field, but now they will not be able to withstand the test of\nthe twentieth century civilization. In this melting pot of twentieth\ncentury civilization all the world religions will be melted together\nand a new religion, which is neither Buddhism nor Christianity, neither\nBrahmanism nor Mohammedanism, but which discards all the bad, and\nretains only the good, of those religions, will arise. In fact, a new\neclectic religion will arise out of the chaos of the old religions of\nthe world.\n\nYou may say, perhaps, that this is an arrogant and extravagant position\nto take. Yes, it is arrogant and extravagant, but it is the natural and\nlogical conclusion to which Higher Criticism and New Theology will lead\ntheir devout followers in heathen lands. There are many such now, but\nthey do not express their skeptical position as plainly and bluntly as\nI have done here.\n\nIt is a common saying among the educated heathen that all religions\nhave the same goal, and are like the mountain paths leading up to the\nsame top. Some go up from the east, and others from the west, some go\nup from the north, and others from the south, but they all lead you to\nthe same top, and when you get there you find no difference; whichever\npath you have taken you are at last at the top of the mountain and\nenjoying the fine view. If that is so, may it not be better to destroy\nall the crooked old narrow paths, and build one new, good road, on\nwhich people can drive their automobiles up to the very top?\n\nEven though Higher Criticism and New Theology may not lead you to such\na radical conclusion as this, yet they will certainly do away with\nthe claims of the Christian religion to be the only true religion\nof the world, and will make it only one of the world religions. If\nChristianity has to exist in this world side by side with all other\nreligions, possessing only one portion of humanity, while conceding the\nrest of it to other religions, it can never claim absolute allegiance\nfrom the people of the whole world.\n\nAccording to the New Theology the work of foreign missions is not to\nconvert the heathen, nor to save them from sin and error, but only to\nintroduce Christianity to them as one of the religions of the world.\nI heard some liberal missionaries making such statements as this when\nthey were preaching in heathen lands: \u201cWe missionaries did not come\nto you to ask you to throw away your own good religion which you have\nbelieved in for so many centuries, and to be converted to our religion,\nbut we came here simply to unite the good in our religion with the good\nin yours. The good in your religion we Christians desire to learn,\nbut Christianity also has good teachings which would certainly be of\nprofit to you. So we missionaries have come to unite the best in all\nreligions for the upbuilding of common humanity, not to impose our\nreligion upon you, and make you give up your own religion.\u201d These men\ncall themselves modern missionaries, and are entirely different from\nthe old ones who went to heathen lands to convert the people, and to\nsave them from sin. They call the earlier missionaries old-fashioned,\nout of date. But if this is true, these new missionaries are not the\nmessengers of God, but religious traders, and religious trade is not a\nprofitable thing at all. I am afraid if such is the case the missionary\nenterprise will cease to exist, and the heathen world will be left in\ndarkness and sin.\n\nThe New Theology says again, \u201cOh, don\u2019t bother about the Bible too\nmuch. We don\u2019t care nowadays whether men believe in the inspiration\nof the Bible or not, or what kind of inspiration they hold, total or\npartial, verbal or moral. One man believes the Bible contains truth and\nno error. Another man thinks it contains both truth and error. We don\u2019t\ncare about those things. To be too much concerned with these things\nwas the old-fashioned religious belief. Christianity does not stand\non the inspiration of the Bible. It stands on the unique personality\nof Christ. As long as we hold on to Christ there is no danger for\nChristianity.\u201d\n\nVery well; it may be so. Christ is our sure foundation. Christianity\nmust stand on this rock of ages. But may I ask a question here? Who is\nthis Christ? Who is this unique personality on which you try to stand\nas on the sure foundation? Is Christ God, or man? Is he the second\nperson of the Trinity, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father himself?\nIs he \u201cthe only begotten\u201d Son of God, who was in the bosom of the\nFather from \u201cbefore the foundation of the world,\u201d and who came down to\nthis world and became flesh himself in order to save this lost world?\nIs he the Word of God who was \u201cin the beginning,\u201d and \u201cwas with God,\u201d\nand who was God himself, and by whom all things were made, and \u201cwithout\nhim was not anything made that was made\u201d? In a word, is Christ the\nCreator or a creature, infinite or finite?\n\nTo these blunt questions New Theology has no other answer than \u201cNo!\u201d\nChrist, according to New Theology, is not God, but man. He is not the\nCreator, but a creature. He is not infinite, but finite. He may be a\ngodly man, or a man filled with God, or the Spirit of God, but still\nman, and not God. He may be the greatest, wisest, and holiest man among\nmen, but still he is a man, and not God. New Theology may exalt Christ\nas high as possible. It can never exalt him to the throne of God.\nBetween God and man there is an infinite distance, and no goodness or\ngreatness or holiness of mere man can ever bridge this distance. If you\nlook up from the plains below to the top of a very high mountain, you\nsee its peaks almost touching heaven, or kissing the blue sky above,\nbut if you climb the mountain and stand on that summit you find the\ndistance between the mountain top and the blue heaven above is just as\ngreat as when you were standing on the plain below. Though a man could\never attain to such a height of greatness, holiness, and goodness as to\nseem to the common eyes almost beside God himself, yet in reality he is\nas far from God as we common folks are.\n\nBut men are not a whit nearer to God by their own greatness and\ngoodness, so you see that though New Theology may exalt Christ as high\nas it can, yet it cannot raise him to God himself. Their Christ must\nstand always among men on this earth. According to its teachings, the\nChrist of God is gone, and only a human Jesus remains, the greatest,\nhighest, noblest, and holiest man among men. As such he is brought down\nto the same level as Confucius, Shakamuni, Mohammed, Socrates, and\nmultitudes of the holy men of the world. Can Christianity stand on such\na human Christ as this as its sure and unshakable foundation? Is this\nhuman Christ the rock of ages on which we can build the structure of\nthe whole Christian religion?\n\nA religion which has been founded by man can by no means be the\nabsolute religion of the world. If it is human in its origin it must\nbe human all the way through, and it must share the fate of all other\nhuman religions.\n\nBut here comes another exhortation from the camp of New Theology.\n\u201cDon\u2019t trouble yourself too much about the nature of Christ,--whether\nhe is God or man. Some think that Christ is God, and others think that\nhe is man. Some think that Christ was born miraculously of a virgin,\nconceived by the Holy Ghost; others think he was the real son of Mary\nand Joseph, born in the same way as their other sons and daughters.\nSome say he rose from the dead after three days, and others say that\nhe did not rise, and that what the Bible states as the resurrection\nof Christ was a mere vision, seen by his devout but ignorant and\nsuperstitious disciples, as a result of their own imagination. Thus we\nhave all kinds of views about the nature and the person of Christ, each\npreferring his own view. In the olden time Christians laid great stress\non these beliefs, but nowadays we pass over those things and don\u2019t make\nmuch fuss about them. We don\u2019t care much which way the people think\nabout the nature and person of Christ, whether he is God or man, if we\nonly love him and obey him with our whole heart. The supreme love and\nabsolute allegiance to our Lord are the only essentials which we should\nalways hold up as the life of our Christian faith. If we hold fast\nto these truths then we can safely let go such non-essentials as the\nVirgin Birth and the Resurrection.\u201d\n\nThus we are exhorted by New Theology to love Jesus supremely and obey\nhim absolutely, regardless of our belief about the person and nature\nof Christ. These exhortations sound very plausible, and seem to make\nthe new doctrine more spiritual and practical than the old-fashioned\northodox belief, which made so much of the nature and person of Christ.\nAt the present day we hear such statements even from the pulpits\nwhich are called evangelical. And many people are deceived by the\nvery plausibleness of this position, because they seem to be laying\nmore stress upon the practical side of Christianity than upon the\nintellectual definition of the terms of the Christian doctrine. I was\none of those who were deceived by this teaching, and was finally led\naway from the path of the truth.\n\nLet me show how such unsound teaching of the essentials of Christian\ndoctrine as denying the deity of Christ will exert its baneful\ninfluence upon the mind of the believer, especially upon the mind of\nthe newly converted Christian in a heathen land. Be sure that the\nbelief in the deity of Jesus Christ is not one of the non-essentials\nof the Christian doctrine, as those New Theologians try to make us\nbelieve, but it is the very life and essence of Christianity. If you\ntake away this belief from the Christian faith it will die.\n\nIn the first place, to speak plainly, do you think that we can love\nJesus Christ supremely if he is not God, but man? What is supreme love?\nIs it not a true, living, personal love? But if Jesus Christ was a mere\nman, born of Mary and Joseph, just as all other men were born, then\nhe must have been dead for nineteen centuries. And if he is not risen\nfrom the dead, can we love supremely such a dead man? We sometimes say\nthat we love such and such great men of history, such as Washington and\nLincoln, but in this case we mean we love their memory, not the persons\nthemselves. But we cannot love them as we love our fathers, mothers,\nwives, and husbands, who are really living among us now. We cannot have\nthe warm, living, personal love for those historical personages that\nwe have for those who are living right among us. What is that supreme\nlove which true Christians cherish toward their Saviour? Is it a loving\nmemory, or true personal, living love? To the true Christian is not\nJesus the ever-living and ever-present personal Saviour? Do we not love\nhim more than father or mother, wife or husband? Surely we love him as\na person, and not as a beautiful character who once lived upon this\nearth, and who is pictured for us by his biographers.\n\nI once listened to an eloquent preacher of New Theology who pictured\nthe character of Jesus before his audience as a perfect model in all\nrespects--holy, righteous, kind, loving, gentle, meek, humble, patient,\nstrong, brave, and so on. It was a most exquisite portraiture of human\ncharacter. But all the while I was listening I felt as though I was\nstanding before a marble statue, beautiful to look at, but cold and\nlifeless. He was not introducing a living Saviour to his audience,\nbut only showing them that there was such a good man who once lived\nupon this earth, and who had this beautiful character. That was all.\nThis Jesus may have had such deep love for his disciples who were\ncontemporary with him, but he could not have loved you and me, because\nhe could not have known us at such a distant time. He was a man of\nnineteen centuries ago. This preacher was praising the character of\nJesus just as the novelist praises his heroes. By listening to such\na painting of the character of the human Jesus how can we feel true\npersonal love toward him? True and supreme love comes from the living\nand direct touch of heart with heart, as a fire flashes by the friction\nof steel and flint.\n\nWhen I lost my faith in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ as my\never-living, personal Saviour, I lost my supreme love for him also.\nHenceforth I regarded and honored him as a historical personage,\nperhaps the holiest and greatest and best of all men who ever lived on\nthis earth. But that warmth and joy of the living, personal love to the\nliving, personal Saviour were all gone, and my Christian faith became\ndead and cold, or rather it should be said that it became simply an\nintellectual appreciation of the beautiful character of an old sage.\n\nAs to allegiance to Christ, do you think you can require of any man\nsuch absolute allegiance to a mere man, though he may have been the\ngreatest and best that the world has ever produced? My orthodox faith\ntaught me that I should obey Jesus because he is my Creator as well\nas my Saviour. In the first place, as God he created me, and then as\nSaviour he came down from heaven and died upon the cross to save me,\nbut he rose again from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of his\nFather, making intercession for me, and he will come again to rule the\nwhole world. Since Jesus is my living and personal Saviour, I must obey\nhim absolutely and unreservedly. I must love him more than father or\nmother, son or daughter, or even my own life itself. I must sacrifice\nmy life for him. But if he is not such a Saviour, but a mere teacher\nwho gave us wise precepts and doctrines, who led a beautiful life long\nyears ago, and who died at last upon the cross at the hand of his\nenemies, what right have you to ask absolute allegiance from me who\nhave no relation at all to him? There have been many great and good men\nin this world. Confucius, Socrates, Shakamuni, and all other founders\nof the world religions were more or less great, and we are indebted\nto them for their teachings and precepts and inspired by their fine\nexamples. But no one thinks of demanding from us absolute allegiance to\nthese great men, or asks us to sacrifice our lives for them. Thus, with\nthe downfall of the belief in the deity of Christ, the authority of\nJesus Christ as a divine Master must go also.\n\nOne of the glories of Christianity is that we have had such a multitude\nof martyrs for the cause of Christ during the nineteen centuries of its\nexistence. Do you think that a man would face unflinchingly the blazing\nfire of persecution simply on the strength of his belief in Jesus as a\ngreat moral teacher? Would frail women have calmly faced those roaring\nlions approaching slowly but surely to tear them to pieces with their\ncruel claws, merely on the strength of the belief that by Christ\u2019s\nhumane teaching womanhood was lifted up to the same level with manhood?\nIt was only in the strength of a belief that the living Saviour was\nright at their side with his outstretched arms to catch and carry\nthem straight into the bosom of our heavenly Father that the martyrs\nbraved the fire and sword. If such unsound doctrine as the liberals\nare now teaching had prevailed at the beginning of the introduction of\nChristianity into the world, there would have been no martyrdom for the\nChristian faith, and Christianity must have ceased to exist long ago.\n\nThus by the study of New Theology and Higher Criticism all belief in\nthe fundamental doctrines of Christianity were destroyed one after\nanother, and I was again left to my former self. I was introduced into\nthe Christian religion by the front gate of orthodoxy, and led out\nof it by the back gate of New Theology into my old heathen doubt and\nunbelief.\n\nThe enlightened heathen hold the same view as the liberals with regard\nto the Bible and Christ. They also believe that the Bible is a good\nbook, but that it contains both truth and error. They too believe that\nJesus was a great and good man, but a man only, and not God. So these\nenlightened heathen are standing on the same ground as the liberals,\nand there is no need of going to them and teaching them the doubts and\nunbeliefs they already have.\n\nBy this time my vision of the future world and eternal life became very\nvague and obscure. The unseen world became now very misty and foggy. I\ncould not see clearly, and so I was shut up to this world. I thought,\n\u201cLet the future take care of itself; my concern is in this world\nalone.\u201d Thus I became a man of the world. Now my philosophy was to be\nhealthy, wealthy, happy, and good. To have a strong body, a comfortable\nliving, a happy home, and a good reputation in this world is enough\nfor any man. It was not my theory only, but I put it into practise as\nmuch as I could, and I attained my objects pretty well, except for the\nsecond one. I had a good wife and nine children, all well and good, and\na happy home. I was strong and healthy, and was quite popular, and was\nregarded as one of the most successful social reformers in my country.\nI was not so selfish as to think only of my own happiness, but I tried\nto make other people happy also. I became a preacher of thrift and\neconomy; and during twenty years I was engaged in teaching the gospel\nof saving, not souls, but money. I traveled all over the country, from\none end to the other, and delivered several thousand lectures on the\nsubject of economy and saving. During this time I think I preached\nthe doctrine of saving to over five million people. I am known, even\nnow, in Japan, more as a preacher of saving money than a preacher of\nsaving souls. I think I have done some little good in this respect to\nthe people of my own country, and I believe the government, as well as\nmy people, recognize this fact. I was quite satisfied with my worldly\nsuccess, not knowing that such satisfaction is the most dangerous\nmenace to a man\u2019s spiritual life.\n\nBut all this was simply the outward appearance. If you look a little\ndeeper into the matter, you will soon find out what a dreadful state a\nbacksliding man can come into. At first it was a matter of intellectual\ndoubt and unbelief. I was shaken in my mind by the arguments of New\nTheology. But the work of the Devil did not stop here. I was now shaken\nmorally and spiritually. This moral shaking made most dreadful havoc in\nmy spiritual life. Sin crept in, and I was made a captive again. Oh,\nwhat a wretched man I was in those days of backsliding! Even to think\nof those days gives me unendurable pain. I strayed so far away that\neven my friends lost their hope of my returning. Yet there were two\nwomen, one an American and the other a Japanese, who, I was afterward\ntold, were praying for me without ceasing during those twenty years of\nmy prodigal life. God in his faithfulness watched over me during all\nthose years, and finally brought me back to fellowship with himself. He\nwill never forsake those he has once redeemed.\n\nBetween the Bible of the orthodox faith and that of New Theology there\nis the difference of heaven and earth. One is heavenly, divine, and\nholy; the other is earthly, human, and therefore unholy. One is the\nGod-given, infallible standard by which we measure all our conduct;\nthe other consists of rules and regulations given by men, which we may\nuse or not, as we may please. One is the Master whom we must obey\nabsolutely, the other is the servant whom we may employ or not. One is\nan inexhaustible mine of eternal truth stored up by God; the other is\na shallow pit dug by men. One is the living oracles of God; the other,\ndead documents of ancient wisdom. The Bible in the hand of New Theology\nhas become an entirely different thing from that of the true Christian\nfaith of the nineteenth century. It has entirely lost its divine\nauthority, and therefore its teachings and commandments have no more\nbinding power than mere human instruction.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE SERVANT RESTORED\n\n\nOne of my missionary friends in Japan asked me to write a tract on\nthe prodigal son. I told him I could not do it, because it would\nbe just like writing my own story. How can I write such a shameful\nstory? But now I would like to tell you a little about it, and show\nyou how patient and long-suffering was my Saviour toward such a poor,\nerring child as myself during those long years of disobedience and\nprodigality. Simply for the glory of God I will give you the following\nstory of my life.\n\nYou know, when the prodigal son left his father\u2019s home he forgot\neverything. He forgot his father, his brother, his home, and his\nservants, and was entirely absorbed in his present enjoyment of worldly\npleasures until a terrible calamity brought him to himself again. Then\nhe recalled for the first time since he left his father\u2019s home, \u201cHow\nmany hired servants of my father\u2019s have bread enough and to spare, and\nI perish with hunger.\u201d Then he started homeward with a heavy heart,\nfull of grief and remorse, and determined to reform and live a life of\ndevotion to his father. But during all those days, perhaps years, his\nfather had not forgotten his erring and wandering boy. He was waiting\nday and night for his return. Perhaps he was looking out from his\nwindows every morning and evening in the direction his son had gone.\nOne evening when he got a glimpse of his lost son he did not wait in\nhis room for him, but jumped up and ran from his house to meet that\nwretched son.\n\nJust so, my friend, during those twenty years of my prodigal life I\nforgot my heavenly Father, and my Saviour, and my spiritual home and\ninheritance. I had been absorbed entirely in my ambitious worldly\ncareer and earthly happiness, but my Father did not forget me. He\nhad not forsaken me. He was watching and waiting all the while for\nmy return. In his own time the Father himself arrested me in my wild\ncareer of worldly ambition and earthly enjoyment.\n\nIt was in this way. In the midst of my worldly prosperity and happiness\nmy Father came down and suddenly took away my dear wife, leaving behind\nher nine motherless children, the youngest of whom was not quite\nfour. I was overwhelmed with grief. But, oh, my children\u2019s grief!\nThey loved their mother very much. She was a devout woman, and not a\nbackslider like myself. During the quarter of a century of our married\nlife I had never heard a single murmur from her lips, nor a word of\ndiscouragement. She was always thankful and grateful for everything.\nShe led such a beautiful life of love and devotion before her children\nthat they almost worshiped her. When she was suddenly taken away from\nthem, they were all thrown into the deepest grief, and they cried and\nwailed day and night, clinging to their dead mother. My friends came to\ncomfort them, but they would not be comforted, because their mother was\ngone, and they could not see her again. Their grief was so intense that\nat one time I was afraid some of my children would go insane. A man may\nmarry a second wife, and love her just as much as the first, but when\nchildren lose their own mother they can never have a second one whom\nthey can love as their own. It was a most heartrending thought to me\nthat death had made these nine children motherless forever.\n\nWhile their mother was with them they thought their home was a\nsweet and bright home,--heaven on earth. They were all so happy and\ncontented, but when their dear mother was taken away from them the home\nbecame a dark, dismal hell on earth. Yes, in those days the home was\nfull of weeping and wailing day and night.\n\nIn the midst of this darkness a light as from heaven flashed into my\nhome, in this way. The children were crying because their mother was\ngone, and they could not see her again, but suddenly they changed their\ntone and began to say, \u201cNo, our mother is not gone. What we have buried\nin her grave was not mother herself, but only her body. Our mother has\ngone to heaven to be with her God. And if she has gone to heaven and\nis with God now, as God is everywhere our mother also might be here in\nspirit. Though we cannot see her, she might be seeing from there these\nnine poor motherless children crying day and night for her.\u201d\n\nThen, in order to realize their mother\u2019s spiritual presence in the\nhome, they began to decorate the whole house with her picture. They\nhung up large pictures of her in the dining-room, in the parlor, in the\nbedroom, and in other rooms. There was not a single room in the whole\nhouse where her picture was not hanging on the wall. And on all of\ntheir desks they placed their mother\u2019s picture.\n\nThus they began to say \u201cMama, mama,\u201d once more. \u201cMama\u201d is an English\nword, not Japanese, but as its sound was very endearing to their\nhearts, all my children used to call her by that name.\n\nYou know children love to say \u201cmama\u201d or \u201cmother.\u201d When they come back\nfrom school the first word they utter is \u201cmama,\u201d or \u201cmother.\u201d If they\ncannot use this endearing word they cannot be happy. Now my children\nhad suddenly been deprived of this dear word by the death of their\nmother, and so they were crying. But now, once more, they began to say\nthis dear word.\n\nPointing to those pictures of their mother, they began to say: \u201cThat is\na dining-room mama, that a parlor mama, and that your mama, and this\nmine, on my desk.\u201d There was a picture of her holding the youngest\nchild in her arms and kissing his cheeks. This picture the youngest boy\nalways called his own mama. Thus, you see, as soon as that endearing\nword \u201cmama\u201d came into the children\u2019s mouths, the whole house was\nbrightened up, and home became sweet again. These pictures were a\ngreat comfort to my children in those days of sorrow. They even became\na source of inspiration and encouragement in the times of trial and\ndifficulty.\n\nOne of my boys went to take the entrance examination of a medical\ncollege shortly after his mother\u2019s death. He went down to the college\ntown before the examination to prepare for it. One day, when I went\nto see how he was getting on, I found three boys studying in the\nsame room. On the desks of the other two boys I noticed pictures of\nGladstone and Bismarck. Perhaps these great men were the objects of\ntheir hero-worship, but on my boy\u2019s desk I saw his mother\u2019s picture,\nright in front, as usual. He thought his mother\u2019s picture was just\nas good for him, if not better, than those of great men. I was much\npleased with this expression of his love for his dead mother, even in\nsuch a place as this.\n\nThe examination was said to be hard, especially in mathematics. There\nwere five questions to answer. Four of them he disposed of quickly, but\nhe could make nothing out of the fifth. If he could not answer all\nfive questions satisfactorily, his failure to pass would be certain,\nbecause there were ten times more applicants for the examination than\nthe college could possibly take in that year. The time set for the\nexamination was quickly passing; so, closing his eyes, he tried very\nhard to think out the solution. Just at that moment his mother\u2019s figure\nflashed before him. In surprise he opened his eyes, and the solution\nof the problem was in his mind. He took up his pen and wrote it out\nsatisfactorily.\n\nHe entered the college at the head of his class, and wrote to me\nafterward, saying, \u201cSurely mama helped me.\u201d\n\nOne day my youngest girl came to me with a curious question. She said,\n\u201cPapa, when you go to any faraway place you always come back, don\u2019t\nyou?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d I said. \u201cThis is papa\u2019s home; papa has to come back always to\nhis home,--don\u2019t you see?\u201d\n\nThen she said, \u201cWell, then, you all say mama is gone to heaven from\nhere; and if she really went there, and is living there now, why can\u2019t\nshe come back, as you always do from a faraway place? Why can\u2019t she\ncome home again from heaven?\u201d\n\nI could not answer such a question. But simply to comfort her, I said:\n\n\u201cOh, I see! Perhaps God has some work for your mama in heaven.\nTherefore he is keeping her there, and your mama cannot come back here.\nYou know, mama must obey God; whatever God says mama must do. God does\nnot want your mama to come back to this world, so she cannot come home.\u201d\n\nI said this simply to satisfy her childish mind, which was wondering\nwhy her mama, if she is really living in heaven with God, cannot come\nback once more to her old home.\n\nInstantly she said, \u201cAll right, papa. Then why can\u2019t you go now to\nheaven yourself, and do mama\u2019s work and serve God in her place, and let\nmama come down here for one month? And when you get tired of heaven,\npapa, you might come down, and then we will send mama up again to\nheaven. It is very good to have papa with us always, but we want mama\nalso.\u201d\n\nYou see, in her childish mind there was no partition between heaven\nand earth. Heaven is joined to the earth by her dear mother being\nthere. She could see now right through to the throne of God, and her\ndear mother there. In those days they underwent various spiritual\nexperiences in a most wonderful manner.\n\nEvery evening their favorite hymn was that one which has in its chorus,\n\u201cOur friend is waiting on the other side.\u201d In Japanese \u201cfriend\u201d is\n_tomo_, and my children changed that _tomo_ into \u201cmama,\u201d almost the\nsame sound, and were singing, \u201cOur mama is waiting on the other side.\u201d\nTo them the unseen world seemed so near and real that they felt as if\nthey themselves were living in the same spiritual world with their\ndeparted mother.\n\nIn the midst of such a spiritual atmosphere, how could I resist the\ninfluence pouring in upon me from the other side? You know, I had been\na pastor at one time, as well as a professor of theology, so I must\nhave known intellectually things pertaining to the spiritual world. I\nhad not forgotten them, only they were clouded by doubt. Thus, while I\nwas watching these spiritual experiences of my children, gradually the\nclouds of doubt and unbelief began to disperse, and once more heaven\nopened, and with my spiritual eyes I saw Jesus Christ, my Saviour and\nLord, whom New Theology had taken away from me, still sitting at the\nright hand of God: \u201cJesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and\nfor ever.\u201d\n\nThen I could exclaim with doubting Thomas when he saw the prints of the\nnails in the hands of Jesus, \u201cMy Lord and my God!\u201d Jesus is my God, my\nvery God. \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,\nand the Word _was_ God.\u201d\n\nThese verses of Scripture, which I had committed to memory forty\nyears ago in Captain Janes\u2019 Bible class, now flashed into my mind as\nlightning from heaven, and the whole spiritual world was once more\nlighted up as in the noonday. Thus I was brought back to my old simple\nfaith by the words of my child. Indeed, \u201cout of the mouth of babes and\nsucklings thou hast perfected praise.\u201d Thus began my return.\n\nOn another occasion I was brought back to my old religious\nconsciousness thus: Just before my wife died she was talking with me,\nwith a smile on her face. She was weak in body, and had lain in bed\nfor many weeks; but she was perfectly sound in her mind. I found no\nsign of mental weakness to the very moment of her death. Then suddenly\na spasm caught her, as the physician told me afterward, and in a few\nminutes she was gone. Only a moment ago there she was, and now she is\nnot. Where is she? What has become of her? Her body lies here just as\nbefore, a little cold, perhaps, but where is that personality which\nshone so brightly through those eyes which are now shut? Has she\nvanished? Has she been destroyed? Is she annihilated? Impossible to\nthink such a thing at such a time. Do you think I could help following\nher into that world yonder whither she went so suddenly? Yes, I did\nfollow her. I was, as it were, peeping through the portal of death into\nthat eternal world where she had just been translated. There and then I\ncame face to face with the eternal reality of death.\n\nWhen you face death, either in yourself or in your friend, you face\neternity. When you face eternity, all things which are not eternal,\nwhich belong to this world alone, temporary things, such as wealth and\npossessions, houses and clothing, and all other earthly valuables,\nwhich have absorbed your attention while you were healthy and strong,\nnow sink into insignificance before the brightness of the eternal\nrealities. What use is there of wealth and possessions to a dying man?\nHe came naked into this world, and now he must go out of it naked\nagain. What comfort can gold and diamonds give to the dying girl? Can\nthe possession of pretty dresses and costly jewels make happy the heart\nof a dying girl? When a man comes to the last moment of his earthly\njourney, the sense of the nearness of eternity will overshadow all\nthings earthly and temporal.\n\nWhen I faced eternity in the death of my dear one, that solemn and\nawe-inspiring consciousness of the eternal destiny of man which lay so\nlong dormant in my heart now came back to me with overwhelming force\nand vividness. Then all the clouds of doubt and unbelief raised by my\ntoo much speculative thinking, and all the mists and fogs caused by\nworldly ambition and earthly enjoyment just vanished away, and I was\nlifted up into the third heaven.\n\nDeath is a sad thing. Especially is the death of our dearest one the\nsaddest experience of our life. But when you look at it in the light\nof heaven, the death of a dear friend is the most precious gift God\ncan ever give in this world. I confess I was revived by the death of\nmy wife. Certainly it can be said that she died in order to rouse me\nfrom the slumber of a backsliding and prodigal life. Oh, the wonderful\nmethod of God\u2019s dealing, always surpassing our human understanding!\nAlways and everywhere, the good suffer for the bad, the righteous for\nthe unrighteous, and saints for sinners.\n\nAs a natural consequence of this death experience, I was brought back\nonce more to that glorious scene on Calvary. I saw plainly why the\nholy and righteous Son of God, who knew no sin and in whom was found\nno guile, had to face that terrible death on the cross; why Jesus, the\nLamb of God, should have been bruised for our iniquities and wounded\nfor our transgressions; why the chastisement of our peace must be upon\nhim, and why we sinners must be healed by his stripes.\n\nWhen I look back to those days of sorrow and grief, I almost forget\nthe death of my human wife, and feel always as though I were standing\nat the foot of the cross on Calvary. Yes, it was Jesus who was with\nme during those long years of my wanderings, though I was entirely\nunconscious of his gracious presence. At every turn of my life Jesus\nwas there protecting and keeping, loving and suffering. When I\nsuccumbed to temptation and sin, and stumbled, he was there looking\nat me with sorrowful eyes, as he looked at Peter, who denied him. It\nwas by his unseen hand that I was kept and guarded and lifted up again\nand again, and was not utterly destroyed, though I was struck down\nnumberless times by my enemies. Though I pierced his heart again and\nagain with my sins, he never forsook me. Though I wilfully ran away\nfrom him, he always followed me. It is a terrible thing to think how\nI pained his heart, how sorrowful I must have made him, and finally\nhow I crucified him. He died for me on account of my sin, taking upon\nhimself all my iniquities and transgressions, and all their penalties\nand consequences. Oh, what a wonderful Saviour is Jesus, my Lord!\n\nI found once more the joy of my salvation in the cross of Christ. It\nis not by the work of social reform, or world reconstruction, or moral\nuplift, that this sin-stricken world may be saved. It is not by the\nteaching of Jesus, nor by his blessed life even, that we sinners are to\nbe saved, but it is only by the preaching of the cross of Christ that\nsalvation comes to this world.\n\nThen I said, \u201cNow I know the redeeming power of the cross of Christ.\nNow I will preach this cross to my fellow-sinners. I am determined not\nto know anything among men but Jesus Christ and him crucified.\u201d\n\nI returned to my old simple faith in Jesus as my Saviour and Lord,\nafter passing for many years through a tempestuous life of doubt and\nunbelief caused by the study of New Theology. Even after I returned\nto my old faith I read many books of New Theology, especially of\nthe German authors, in order to see their present situation in the\ntheological world. But this time my mental atmosphere was cleared by\nlight from heaven, and my perception of spiritual truth became so\nreal through my own experiences that no cunningness of mere argument\ncould lead my mind astray from the path of truth. Now I saw plainly\nenough the fallacies and shallowness in their reasonings, and no\namount of plausibleness in what they call the scientific method of\ntreating religious truth could longer shake my conviction, based on the\nexperimental knowledge of my own Christian life.\n\nI tell you, my friends, when you have once tasted how gracious is\nyour Lord, how real and true is his personal presence, and how sweet\nare his words, yea, \u201csweeter also than honey and the honeycomb,\u201d no\ndestructive criticism, and no evil teachings of New Theology, can\ndisturb your faith in the absolute divine authority of the Bible, as\nwell as in the perfect deity of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is only when\nwe have no such experimental knowledge of spiritual truth, when our\nminds are not enlightened from above, and our faith is cold, formal,\nand lifeless, that the crafty arguments of the enemies of the Gospel\ncan shake us. Just as when our bodies are weak and our vitality is\nlow, we are apt to be attacked by disease, so the best precaution\nagainst this disease of the soul, and the most effective remedy for the\npestilential doctrines of the present day, is the spiritual health and\nstrength gained by a vital knowledge of God and the unseen world. Thus\nreturning to my old simple faith in my Saviour and Lord, I became the\npreacher of his cross, and God has wonderfully blessed my work.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE SERVANT REAPING\n\n\nIn Japan I am known as the man of one sermon, because I preach the same\nsermon everywhere. This sermon consists of three parts,--God, Sin, and\nSalvation. In fact, I try to give all the fundamental doctrines of\nChristianity in one sermon. To preach it, therefore, requires three\nhours. Its English translation, published by Fleming H. Revell Company\nof New York, is called \u201cThe Three Hour Sermon.\u201d But though this sermon\nconsists of three parts, in reality it is on one subject. The first\ntwo parts, God and Sin, are like two posts on which rests the cross of\nChrist as the climax of the sermon. Thus I became literally a preacher\nof one sermon, on the cross of Christ.\n\nWhen I am engaged in an evangelistic campaign in any one place for\nseveral nights, sometimes a week or two at a time, I repeat this same\nsermon night after night. I tell my congregation each time that I am\ngoing to preach this same sermon every night: \u201cTherefore you who have\nheard it to-night need not come again. Your part now is to decide\nwhether you will accept or reject this offer of salvation through Jesus\nChrist. But in this place there are many people who have never yet\nheard this Gospel message. Perhaps such may be found in your own homes,\nor among your own friends. Why can\u2019t you send them, or bring them here\ntomorrow night, and let them also have the opportunity of hearing\nthe Gospel? And if you don\u2019t wish to stay, you may go back, leaving\nyour friends.\u201d Thus I change my congregation every night, instead of\nchanging my sermon, which amounts to the same thing. I need not be\ntroubled about getting a new audience every night, since I have sixty\nmillions yet to preach to.\n\nHowever, though I preach the same sermon, I usually have large\ncongregations. I do not preach now in the churches. Our church\nbuildings are too small to hold the large crowds which come every night\nto hear this one sermon. I am obliged everywhere to rent theaters for\nmy meeting places. The largest ones hold from three to four thousand,\nand they are packed every night.\n\nSince the fall of 1915 I have conducted evangelistic campaigns in all\nparts of Japan, and also among the Japanese in the island of Hawaii,\nand on the Pacific coast of America. I will give you here the exact\nfigures of these campaigns, by which you can judge for yourselves the\npresent situation of Christianity in Japan.\n\n\nPACIFIC COAST CAMPAIGN\n\n_From September, 1915, to February, 1916, Five months_\n\n  Places visited                                  64\n  Evangelistic meetings held                     142\n  Churches which took part in campaign            67\n  Denominations or missions co-operating           9\n  Total attendance                            30,000\n  Number of decisions for Christ               2,400\n\n\nCAMPAIGN IN JAPAN PROPER\n\n_From September, 1916, to June, 1919, Thirty-three months_\n\n  Cities and towns visited                       204\n  Evangelistic meetings held                     577\n  Churches which took part in the campaign       404\n  Denominations or missions co-operating          23\n  Total Attendance                           270,000\n  Number of decisions for Christ              43,370\n\n\nHAWAIIAN CAMPAIGN\n\n_From July, 1919, to October, 1919, Three months_\n\n  Places visited                                  32\n  Evangelistic meetings held                      82\n  Churches which took part in the campaign        18\n  Denominations co-operating                       3\n  Total attendance                            10,000\n  Number of decisions for Christ               2,080\n\n\nSECOND PACIFIC COAST CAMPAIGN\n\n_October, 1919, Half a month_\n\n  Places visited                                   5\n  Evangelistic meetings held                      11\n  Churches which took part in the campaign        14\n  Denominations co-operating                       5\n  Total attendance                             3,400\n  Number of decisions for Christ                 488\n\n\nGRAND TOTAL\n\n  Number of months engaged in campaigns           42\n  Places visited                                 305\n  Evangelistic meetings held                     812\n  Churches which took part in campaigns          502\n  Denominations or missions co-operating          40\n  Total attendance                           313,000\n  Number of decisions for Christ              48,338\n\nIn Japan proper I have already visited forty provinces out of the\nforty-seven. I have held evangelistic campaigns in more than two\nhundred cities and towns. Everywhere people flocked to hear the Gospel.\nThey are hungering and thirsting for the saving power of the Gospel.\nTheir old religious beliefs have been shattered and destroyed by\nthe light of modern civilization, and they are looking for the true\nreligion which can satisfy their spiritual need.\n\nAs I have said, Christianity in Japan was strictly forbidden for\nmany centuries, and people had very poor ideas about it. When the\nmissionaries first came they found the ground so very hard that it\nseemed almost impossible even to sow the seed; but for the last fifty\nyears they have been patiently working on this hard ground, plowing the\nfield and sowing the seed, yet without being able to see the longed-for\nfruits. Now the harvest has come. The time of ingathering has arrived.\nThroughout the whole country, from the highest to the lowest, all\npeople are ready to receive the message if you preach the Gospel of\nJesus Christ in its purity and simplicity. From the figures just\ngiven as a result of my four-years\u2019 campaign, you can easily see how\nreceptive the minds of the Japanese people have become to the Gospel\nmessage. But as an example of the great awakening in my country, I wish\nto tell you about the largest campaign I have ever had thus far in\nJapan.\n\nIn the spring of 1919 I conducted an evangelistic campaign for six\nnights in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. This campaign was\nundertaken by a Presbyterian church in Tokyo which is one of the\nlargest and strongest Japanese churches in the country. The pastor of\nthe church is one of the greatest Christian scholars, as well as one\nof the most thoroughgoing orthodox theologians, in Japan. The total\nmembership of his church is about a thousand, but those members who\nare living in and around the city of Tokyo are not over five hundred.\nThe campaign was conducted in the large auditorium of the Tokyo Y. M.\nC. A. building, which holds from eighteen hundred to two thousand.\nFor a whole year this church was earnestly praying in preparation for\nthis great campaign. When the time drew near, for five successive\nSunday mornings the services were turned over to me, that I might train\nthe whole church for the coming campaign. Before beginning on such a\ncampaign I had to instruct the Christians on the following points:\nFirst, how to prepare for the campaign; second, how to work during the\ncampaign; and third, how to follow up later the work of the campaign.\nUnless the churches taking part in the campaign are thoroughly\ninstructed on these points, it cannot be a successful one.\n\nWhen the first preparation Sunday came, almost the whole church\ngathered for instructions. At this time I set up two objectives for\nthe Christians to attain. First, they must try to get a total of ten\nthousand unbelievers,--not Christians of other churches,--to attend\nour meetings. Second, out of this number they must try to get at least\nfifteen hundred decisions for Christ.\n\nThe first thing needed was money. Where could we get it? War means\nmoney. Without money you cannot wage a successful campaign. I said to\nthe congregation:\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know how much this campaign will need in all, but I think\nwe must have at least fifteen hundred _yen_ ($750) to begin with. It\nwill be cheap indeed if we can save fifteen hundred souls with fifteen\nhundred _yen_, which means only one _yen_ a soul. Now for this fifteen\nhundred _yen_ you must not look to anybody else but to yourselves.\nThis is your campaign, and you must pay for it. This morning at the\nbeginning of the preparation I ask every one of you to give as much as\nyou can for this campaign fund. If there is any one among you here who\nsays he has no money to give, I advise him to sell his clothing and buy\na sword, as Christ told his disciples on the eve of a great conflict.\u201d\n\nThen I distributed paper and pencils among them, on which to write\nthe amounts which they were willing to give. When those papers were\ngathered up and counted, they brought the result to me, and I found\nexactly fifteen hundred and four _yen_.\n\nThen the people said, \u201cThis is not the work of man, but of God.\u201d\n\nTo attain these great objectives the next thing was to advertise the\nmeeting in various ways. Newspaper advertising was, of course, the\nfirst, and then many big advertising boards were set up in the crowded\nquarters of the city. Besides this, three hundred and fifty thousand\nposters or handbills were printed, and each member of the church\ndistributed five hundred of these during the campaign days. Even the\nSunday-school scholars, numbering over three hundred, were enlisted\nin this work. Each of the younger children distributed one hundred\nposters, and the older ones three hundred. Last of all, every church\nmember was requested to find twenty unbelievers who would promise to\nattend the campaign meetings. These we called the \u201cpledged hearers.\u201d\nThis plan of finding the \u201cpledged hearers\u201d before the campaign opened\nworked out very well, as the church people were thus brought into\ndirect personal contact with most of the people who came to our\nmeetings.\n\nWith this training and these objectives we began the campaign February\n5, 1919. But unfortunately we failed to attain our first objective.\nThere were two reasons for this: One was that on the very first morning\nof our campaign all the city papers made a public announcement from the\nheadquarters of the Police Department, strongly advising the people\nnot to attend any kind of a mass meeting on account of the terrible\ninfluenza, which was then raging throughout the whole city; the other\nwas such a big snowstorm on the fourth night that all the city trolley\ncars stopped running.\n\nBut in spite of these hindrances about eight thousand people came\nduring the six nights. Of these about two thousand were Christians, so\nthe unbelievers, who were the real object of the campaign, numbered\nonly about six thousand, a little over half of our objective.\n\n[Illustration: Mr. Kanamori\u2019s Decision Card\n\n  Translation of upper section: \u201cI believe in the one true living God;\n  I repent of my sin; I accept salvation through the Cross of Jesus\n  Christ; I follow Christ even unto death.\u201d\n\n  The two large characters signify \u201cHeart\u201d and \u201cDecision.\u201d Then follow\n  instructions and space for writing one\u2019s name and address.]\n\nWe had the most unexpected success in attaining our second objective.\nFrom the six thousand unbelievers we had three thousand and sixty-one\ndecisions for Christ. More than half of the unbelieving portion of\nthe audience decided to accept Christ. This was a great surprise. No\none ever dreamed of such a great result as this. Moreover, this\naudience of eight thousand people was made up of all classes. Among\nthem were high government officials, members of Parliament, professors\nof universities, teachers of all kinds of schools, students from\nthe universities, as well as high-school boys and girls, merchants,\nbankers, and business men; in fact, all classes of Japanese society\nwere represented in this audience. But the greatest surprise of all was\nthat out of the three thousand decisions we found about two thousand\nwere all educated young men and women, the essence of the rising\ngeneration of Japan. Here are the exact figures of the campaign.\n\n                      Total    Christian  Unbelieving  Decisions\n                   Attendance               Portion\n\n  First Night         1,000       250         750         390\n  Second Night        1,200       300         900         394\n  Third Night         1,300       300       1,000         429\n  Fourth Night          500       150         350         267\n    (big snow storm)\n  Fifth Night         1,600       350       1,250         690\n  Sixth Night         2,200       450       1,750         891\n                     ------    ------      ------      ------\n        Totals        7,800     1,800       6,000       3,061\n\nBut I must tell of the \u201cfollow-up work\u201d of the campaign. We began\nimmediately. For the five nights following the campaign we had meetings\nfor the new converts, during which I preached the practical side of\nChristianity, such as consecration, prayer, Bible reading, and so on.\nA little over sixteen hundred out of three thousand converts attended\nthese after-meetings. Then for a whole month the pastor and his\nassociates conducted special preaching services every night, just for\nthe purpose of educating and training these three thousand converts.\nAfter that about fifty Christian homes of the church were thrown open\nfor district meetings for the converts living in that district. And\nlastly, the names of the new converts were all printed on one big\nsheet and distributed to all the church-members, so that every one of\nthese new converts should come under the care of some member of the\nchurch. To each member were assigned from three to ten names, for whose\nspiritual training he would be responsible. In these ways we carried on\nour \u201cfollow-up work\u201d after the campaign. God wonderfully blessed that\ncampaign.\n\nImmediately after this a Congregational church carried on the same kind\nof an evangelistic campaign. In this we had two thousand decisions.\nAfter these two big campaigns we had twenty smaller ones in and around\nthe city of Tokyo, conducted by twenty churches, in which a little\nover five thousand decisions were made. So that the whole number of\ndecisions during the three months\u2019 campaign was 10,440. Of these\nconverts about one thousand were taken into the churches of their\nchoice before the summer of 1919.\n\nThus you can easily see how mightily the Spirit of God is now working\namong my people. And it is not man\u2019s work, but the work of God himself.\nIn the presence of such fire from heaven man must take off his shoes\nand praise the Lord only.\n\nIn this connection I must tell you one secret, if it can be called a\nsecret. In that big campaign in the Tokyo Y. M. C. A., if it can be\nsaid that I had any part in it, it was not by my preaching so much as\nby my praying. This I say to the glory of the Lord, and not my own.\nThough I made fifteen hundred decisions the objective for the church,\nI had my own secret objective, which was three thousand decisions. For\nthe last three years I had been conducting my evangelistic campaigns\nall over the country, except in Tokyo, the capital. And now at last\nGod had led me to this city of about three million people, to conduct\na campaign on a larger scale than I had ever attempted. Surely the\nresult of this campaign must exert great influence all over the\ncountry. So I prayed to God that he would pour out his Holy Spirit in\nthis campaign as he did at Pentecost in Jerusalem, and show forth his\npower and glory, and let all people know that our God is a living God.\n\nSo I prayed for three thousand decisions, the same number as at\nPentecost. For ten days of the campaign I left my own home, which is\nin the same city, and retired to a private room on the fourth floor of\nthe tower on the Y. M. C. A. building, and there spent a quiet time in\nprayer and fasting. It is my usual custom during these campaigns not to\nsee any one in the afternoon. After lunch I always retire and engage in\nprayer. When I preach my three-hour sermon to an unbelieving audience,\nI never take my evening meal. I lose my appetite as I feel the burden\nof my message to those thousands of unbelievers, whose eternal destiny\nis now in my hands. If they accept my message and believe in Jesus, it\nwill be life eternal to them, but if they reject it the result will be\njust the opposite. Who can feel equal to such a great responsibility as\nthis?\n\nWhen I was once asked, half jestingly, why I do not take food before I\npreach, I answered, \u201cCould you sit at your table, eating and drinking,\nlaughing and joking with your good friends, and in this manner spend\nthe last critical hour just before you appear before thousands of souls\nin the attempt to settle their eternal destiny?\u201d\n\nNo, I cannot do it. I always feel that the only place from which I\ncan go to my pulpit is \u201cthe mercy seat.\u201d Thus I prayed and fasted for\nthis blessing of getting three thousand decisions, and God answered\nmy prayer, and gave me exactly 3,061 decisions. Is not this a real\nPentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit? God is working mightily\nthrough his Holy Spirit throughout the length and breadth of my country.\n\nThis condition is not confined to the large cities alone, but in more\nthan two hundred places where I conducted similar campaigns we found\nthe same conditions. Of course there are some differences in the\nresults of the campaign. From my own experience I can say the result of\nsuch a campaign almost entirely depends upon the pastors and churches\nwhich have undertaken it. I always tell those pastors with whom I\nwork that the work of the evangelist is like that of a woodman who\ngoes to the forest and cuts down the trees big and small, and brings\nthem to the shop of the carpenter. There the woodman\u2019s work ends, and\nthe carpenter\u2019s work begins. Now the carpenter must work upon this\nraw material which the woodman has furnished him. He must cut and saw\nand plane, and make posts and boards and build the house. But if the\ncarpenter does not work, and lets the timber lie piled up outside his\nshop, the rain and frost will come, and the timber will surely rot and\ndecay. Who is responsible for the rotting of the timber? The woodman or\nthe carpenter? When I had faithful pastors and working churches I have\nalways seen fine results.\n\nI have received a printed report of the result of my five-months\u2019\ncampaign on the Pacific coast. Out of sixty-four places on the Pacific\ncoast where I worked during five months, fifty-six churches have sent\nin a report, one year after the campaign. There are two churches which\nhave received on confession of faith all converts within one year,\nthree churches took all but one, and thirteen churches have taken in\nmore than half of the converts during the same period. Altogether, out\nof 1,773 in these fifty-six churches, 625 persons were taken into their\nrespective churches within one year of this campaign, and 382 persons\nwere still under probation. So that altogether 1,007 decisions should\nbe regarded as the fruit of that campaign.\n\nAnd from Hawaii came another report, which is as follows: Out of 2,040\nconverts during a three-months\u2019 campaign 245 persons were taken into\nthe different churches on confession of faith. I think these figures\nshow how sound are these decisions, especially when you remember that\nthe large majority of my audiences hear from me the Gospel of Christ\nfor the first time in their lives.\n\nIn many parts of America I have found great misunderstanding and also\ngross misrepresentation of the present situation of the Christian\nwork in Japan. I hear even voices of discouragement. But I hope by\nthese statements out of my own experience those misunderstandings and\nmisrepresentations may be already cleared up. I can say now with a good\nconscience and a firm assurance that a great time has come for the\nevangelization of Japan. Indeed, \u201cthe fields ... are white already to\nharvest.\u201d Or, to change the figure, the iron is so very hot that if you\nstrike it at once you can make anything you like out of it, but if you\ndo not strike the iron will cool off, and you can do nothing with it,\nso, you see, the evangelization of Japan must be brought about quickly.\nAnd I believe it can be done if we do our part; that is, if we, obeying\nthe last command of Jesus, preach the Gospel to every creature in the\ncountry. My experience shows that if six persons hear the Gospel, at\nleast one will accept it. Then, if the whole sixty million can hear the\nGospel, there will be a possibility of gaining ten million souls for\nChrist at the present time in Japan.\n\nSeeing that such a wonderful opportunity presents itself before us, I\ncannot help making a desperate effort for the salvation of my people.\nSo I have resolved, the Lord willing, to reach the whole nation of\nsixty million with the Gospel of Jesus Christ within the next ten or\ntwenty years. But the question is, how can I reach so many millions\nwithin so short a time? Of course, I cannot expect to do it through\npreaching alone, and so I have decided upon another way; that is,\nthrough the printed page.\n\nFor this purpose I have written a book in Japanese called \u201cThe\nChristian Belief,\u201d which contains twelve chapters: First, The One True\nGod; second, The Heavenly Father; third, The Sinfulness of Sin; fourth,\nThe Divine Judgment; fifth, The Reality of the Future World; sixth,\nThe Deity of Christ; seventh, Salvation Through the Cross; eighth,\nChristian Consecration; ninth, Prayer; tenth, The Life of Trust;\neleventh, Bible Reading; twelfth, The One Soul Campaign.\n\nIf any one will read it through, he may be able to grasp at least the\noutline of Christian doctrine, both theoretical and practical. Though\nthis is a small book of about two hundred pages, when I wrote it, four\nyears ago, I spent five months over it actually upon my knees and\nfasting. And God has wonderfully blessed it. Within three years after\nits publication over 150,000 copies have been printed. I call these\nbooks my \u201cprinted preachers,\u201d because they are doing the same kind of\nwork of leading souls to Christ in their own quiet way. And now what\nI call the new plan of evangelization is this,--to put this book in\nthe hands of every Japanese, so that every soul in my country shall\nhave the opportunity of hearing the Gospel. And as the book is written\nin such easy and simple language that even a child can read it, any\nJapanese can read and understand it.\n\nVery fortunately for the free distribution of this book, my Japanese\npublisher, who is himself an earnest Christian, has kindly promised\nto let me have it at five cents a copy, which, in these days of the\nhigh cost of printing, is a great sacrifice on his part. So now, if\nI have one nickel in my hand I can give away one book, and one man\ncan hear the Gospel message. And if I have sixty million nickels for\nthis purpose, I can send out at once sixty million \u201cprinted preachers\u201d\nthroughout the whole Empire of Japan. This I think is the quickest way\nat the present time to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole\nnation.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nSOWING IN THE EVENING\n\n\nIn the Student Volunteer Convention at Des Moines, Iowa, there was a\nmotto set up high on the platform: \u201cThe Evangelization of the World in\nthis Generation.\u201d\n\nWhen I saw that motto I said to myself, \u201cThis is the very objective, so\nfar as our country is concerned, we are now determined to attain.\u201d\n\nWe cannot wait until the next generation, which will have its own work\nto carry on. The evangelization of the world must be the work of this\ngeneration, and I believe that if the church of Christ at the present\nday is really resolved to accomplish this great object, it can surely\nbe done in this generation. You have heard from the missionaries\nreturning from all parts of the world what wonderful openings there are\neverywhere on the mission field. Not only in Japan, but in China, in\nKorea, in India, in Africa, in South America, and in all other heathen\nlands the doors are widely thrown open for the Gospel message. The\ncall from the heathen lands for missionaries is now so loud and urgent\nthat, if the churches will really awaken to their opportunities and\nresponsibilities, they cannot help making a desperate effort for the\nimmediate evangelization of the whole world.\n\nYou have already heard those loud and urgent calls from the foreign\nfield through your own missionaries. Of course, they can represent to\nyou satisfactorily the condition of the heathen land where they are\nworking themselves. But if you could hear directly from the heathen\nthemselves, their need and their cry for your help, you would perhaps\nget a better and keener idea of the urgency of such calls. You know I\ncome from a heathen land. And at one time I was a heathen myself, and\nam still the subject of a heathen country. So I ought to be better\nqualified to represent the heathen people, and to furnish you with\nfirst hand information about the real situation of the heathen world at\nthe present time. And moreover, I believe I have a right to represent\nnot only my own heathen land, but also the whole world. Because, though\nI love my own country very dearly, yet my Christian heart is a little\ntoo big to confine itself to my own country alone. I love China, I love\nIndia, I love Africa, just as much in regard to the salvation of their\nsouls as I love the salvation of my own people. I always feel that if\nGod wants me for a missionary in Africa, I am more than ready to start\nat once. In our Christian love there are no national boundaries or\nracial distinctions.\n\nThus representing the whole heathen world, I wish to make my humble\nappeal to my Christian friends in America. Now may I be permitted to\nspeak plainly, freely, and unreservedly, though in deep humility, how\nwe of the heathen lands feel about foreign missionary enterprises?\n\nWhile thanking you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of my heathen\nbrethren for what you have already done, and are now doing, for the\nevangelization of our benighted land, yet I cannot refrain from asking,\n\u201cWhy can\u2019t, or why won\u2019t, you do more for the evangelization of the\nwhole world? Do you think that you have done, and are doing, enough?\nAre you satisfied with the result you have already attained? Are you\nreally trying to fulfill the last command of our Lord, \u2018Go ye into all\nthe world, and preach the gospel to every creature,\u2019 according to your\nability or talents given from above? Are you earnestly endeavoring\nto carry out that idea of \u2018The Evangelization of the World in this\nGeneration\u2019?\u201d\n\nSuppose in the last great European war America had sent out only a few\nhundred thousand soldiers to France to fight with the Germans,--do\nyou think you could have beaten that country and saved the world?\nThough the American soldiers may have been ever so brave and gallant\nindividually, yet what could a few hundred thousand Americans do\nagainst millions of Germans and Austrians? But you sent two millions,\nand were going to send more millions, to fight the Germans. You not\nonly spent a few millions of dollars, but several billions. You not\nonly gave up your men, but you gave up your white bread and butter,\nyour meat and sugar. You deprived yourselves of comfort and luxury. You\ndid not think any sacrifice too great for gaining your object. In a\nword, you made the beating of Germany and the saving of the world the\nsupreme effort of your nation. This was doing the work according to its\nmagnitude, and you gained your object.\n\nNow turn your eyes to the work of your foreign missions, which is the\nsame as conquering the heathen lands for Jesus Christ. Do you think\nconquering a whole heathen land for Christ is a smaller work or easier\ntask than conquering Germany? What is the heathen force of the world at\nthe present time? Taking the whole population of the world as sixteen\nhundred millions, only a little less than six hundred millions can be\ncounted as the Christian population, and that, of course, including\nseveral hundred million Roman and Greek Catholics; and the rest, more\nthan one billion, are among the so-called heathen population of the\nworld. In Japan and Korea we have eighty million heathen; in China,\nfour hundred million; in India, three hundred and thirty million; in\nAfrica, one hundred and fifty million; and in all countries taken\ntogether the heathen population of the world is over one billion. Now\nyour foreign mission work is to evangelize this heathen world. For this\npurpose, how strong an army of Christian soldiers have you despatched?\nHow many missionaries have you already sent out? Are you doing this\nwork of world evangelization according to the magnitude of the task?\n\nI know your missionaries. They are brave soldiers. They are gallant\nfighters individually, and they are faithful even unto death for the\ncause of their Lord. But what can this handful of a few thousand\nmissionaries do against the gigantic mass of a billion heathen? Do you\nthink they can evangelize the whole world in this generation? No, no;\nthis is not doing the work according to its magnitude.\n\nI know the American people, and I love them, because I was converted\nby the ministry of an American teacher, and was brought up by the\nAmerican missionaries. I regard America as my spiritual fatherland. I\nfeel perfectly at home in this country. Moreover, I admire the true\nAmerican spirit. When once that American spirit is roused up, and\nyou are determined to gain any object, you always get it. Why won\u2019t\nyou send out, not only a few thousand, but a few hundred thousand,\nChristian soldiers throughout the length and breadth of the whole earth\nto fight with the Devil? Why won\u2019t you sacrifice once more your boys\nand girls, for this great conflict of Christ and his enemies? In this\nwar girls are just as good a fighting force as boys, if not better.\nWhy won\u2019t you once more give up your white bread and butter, your\nmeat and sugar, and deprive yourselves of your comfort and luxury for\nthe cause of Christ? Why don\u2019t you spend, not only a few millions, but\nbillions, or tens of billions, of dollars for this great work of world\nevangelization? In a word, why won\u2019t you make this foreign mission\nwork, which is the fulfilment of the last command of Jesus Christ,\nthe supreme effort of the Christian churches in America, instead of\ntreating it as a mere appendix to your work at home?\n\nAmerica is blessed in every way. Yours is the strongest and wealthiest,\nmost intelligent and most enterprising, country in the world. No\ncountry on earth can compete with you. But do you think, my American\nfriends, that God has blessed you so abundantly for your own sake, for\nyour own comfort and luxury, for your own enjoyment and satisfaction\nalone? Do you think that God has so wonderfully blessed you because\nyou are his only favorite among all the nations of the world? No, no;\nGod has blessed America wonderfully, not for America\u2019s sake alone, but\nfor the sake of the whole world. He has blessed America to make her a\nblessing to the world through the power of Christ.\n\nSince I have come to this country your people call me by various names,\nsuch as the Moody of Japan, or the Billy Sunday of Japan, and so on;\nbut I don\u2019t like to be called by such great names. I am not such a\nbig man. I know I am a small man, not even worthy of being called a\nminister of Christ, because I have backslidden and forsaken my Lord\nfor many years. Not only for such reasons, but also because I have my\nown name I prefer to be called always by that name, even though it be\nan unknown one. But it you insist on calling me by any other than my\nown, I have one name by which I should like to be called. That is, a\nMacedonian. I am like the Macedonian in Paul\u2019s vision. He came from\nheathen Europe to Asia, and I came from heathen Asia to America; but\nthe object of the coming of these two Macedonians is the same, namely,\nto implore the help of the Christians for the heathen lands.\n\nWon\u2019t you come and help us? Won\u2019t you, my young American friends, take\nup the sword of the Spirit, and march out from your own beloved land\ninto the sin-stricken, desolate heathen lands and lay down your lives\nfor the salvation of the billion heathen souls? Do you realize that\nthese billion heathen are all in need of salvation just as much as you\nwere? Don\u2019t you know that the least of these is, in the sight of God,\njust as precious as the soul of your own mother or father, brother or\nsister? Do you think that God wants the salvation of your kinsmen only,\nand not the salvation of these heathen? Oh, I beg and entreat you,\nmy dear American friends, to look upon this billion of heathen souls\nwith the eye of your heavenly Father and the heart of your Lord Jesus\nChrist, who loved them and died for them. Then you cannot help making a\ndesperate effort for their salvation.\n\nAnd I believe that if you American Christians will seriously and\nearnestly take up the great work of evangelizing the world in this\ngeneration, and will do the work according to its magnitude, God on his\npart will surely bless you and your work, and the day of great victory\nwill be at hand.\n\n\u201cNot by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.\u201d\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES:\n\n\nItalicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.\n\nObvious typographical errors have been corrected.","title":"Kanamori's life-story : $b Told by himself; how the Higher Criticism wrecked a Japanese Christian\u2014and how he came back","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":21743}