The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1924, Page 30

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30

The Lutheran Pioneer.

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Is It Nothing to You?

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?
Lam. 1, 12.
Is it nothing to you, O ye Christians,
That millions of beings to-day,
In the heathen darkness of China,
Are rapidly passing away?
They have never heard the story
Of the loving Lord, who saves,
And “fourteen hundred every hour
Are sinking to Christless graves.”
Is it nothing to you, O ye Christians?
Can you say you have naught to do?
Millions in China are dying unsaved;

And it is nothing to you?
G. P. TruMBuLe.

Working under Difficulties.

Dr. Davis, a missionary in Japan since the early
seventies of the past century, in his life of Joseph
Hardy Neesima, writes as follows of the difficulties
they encountered in that country fifty years ago: —

To show the difficulty we encountered in trying
to teach Christianity at this time, one example may
be given. A physician of Fushimi, o southern
suburb of Kyoto, asked us to come down to his
house and teach the Gospel. The writer went down
one Sunday and gave him, and a few of his friends
who had assembled at his house, a talk about the
true God. The next Sunday Mr. Neesima went
down and talked to the five or six people who had
assembled; for this the physician was summoned
to appear at the Kyoto-Fu and told that he must
not allow such meetings at his house. All who had
listened or had received any tracts were also sum-
moned to appear at the office and very closely ques-
tioned and frightened. The physician was thus
summoned on three separate occasions.

The following is a part of the conversation which
occurred between the Fu officials and this physician
on the last day, when he was discharged: — ;

“This man Davis came here to teach an English
school, did he not?” -

“Yes,”” :'

“Then he is like a man that has a license to sell
deer-meat, but sells dog-meat?”

“Well, is it dog-meat? I used to think go, but
on tasting of it, I found that it was a great deal
better than deer-meat; and I would like to ask you
one question: This way is allowed to be taught
publicly in Kobe, in Osaka, and in twenty or thirty

’

places in Tokyo; how is it that here in Kyoto-Fu
a man is not allowed to hear it in his own home?
Are we not all under the same government? I do
not understand this.”

“Well,” said the official, “I do not say that way
is either good or bad, and I do not say that you and
your friends cannot hear it in your house; but you
let in the common people, the lower classes, who
cannot understand it. We cannot allow this. We
have good and sufficient religions here in Japan ;
we do not want any more. We have Confucianism
for scholars such as you and Buddhism for the
masses.”

“I would like to ask you one thing,” the doctor
replied: “If Confucianism is an all-sufficient re-
ligion, why is it, since its founder lived hundreds
of years before Christ and taught during a long life,
that this way has not spread beyond China and
Japan? So if Buddhism is an. all-sufficient reli-
gion, started by Buddha hundreds of years before
Christ and taught by him through a long life, how.
is it that it has not spread beyond India, China,
and Japan? And if Christianity is a bad way, how
is it, since its Founder taught only three years and
was put to death when He was thirty-three years
old, that it has spread all over Europe and America
and is spreading all over Africa and Asia and all
the islands of the seas?” .

“Well, we do not say that it is either good or
bad, but you must not allow people to meet at your
house. You are discharged,” replied the official. .

The physician came from the Fu right to my
house and told me this, and I copied it into my
diary. He borrowed a number of books and tracts,
took them home, and lent them to his neighbors ;
but his practise gradually fell off, and he was
brought near to starvation, so prejudiced did the
people become against him; and he finally, alas!
lost his interest in Christianity.

“The Blood of Jesus Christ, His Son,
Cleanseth Us from All Sin.’ 1 John 1,7.

There was once a ‘caravan crossing to the north
of India and numbering in its company a godly and
devout missionary. As it passed along, a poor old
man was overcome by the heat and labors of the
journey and, sinking down, was left to perish on
the road. The missionary saw him and, kneeling
down at his side, when the rest had passed along,
whispered into his ear, “What is your hope?” ‘The