The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 58

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58

In a cotton-mill town systematic distribution of
the Scriptures was undertaken. “God bless the
American Bible Society,”’ runs a message from this
town, “for bringing about changed conditions in our
community! Through the efforts of the people a
small church has been built and a Sunday-school
organized. In this Sunday-school an average of five
hundred chapters are read weekly. Every member
of the men’s Bible class, except the pastor, was
a moonshiner or drunkard. But they have become
converted and are praying Christians.”

A single copy of the New Testament bought by
an old lady and carried back to her home in Malolos,
Philippine Islands, led to the establishment of three
churches. This and similar incidents prompted the
declaration of Bishop Stuntz: —

“Tf the Bible Society did not exist, half of the
time of the missionary staff would need to be de-
voted to this pioneer work of translating and dis-
tributing the Word of God.” :

Japan and the Bible.

Among the early Protestant missionaries in
Japan were Dr. James Hepburn, Dr. D. C. Greene,
Dr. Nathan Brown, Archdeacon Shaw, and others,
who unflinchingly faced the stern wall of opposition
in those early days and devoted themselves to the
translation of the Word and to the formation of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Few
stop to think what an enormous task the translating
of the Scriptures is. It is hard to express a single
sentence in the meager vocabulary of the undevel-
oped languages and dialects. Then multiply that
by chapters and books. It is a long way from
Genesis to Revelation.

It is impossible to estimate the numbers who are
influenced by the Scriptures. The non-Christians
buy the majority of the Bibles that are being sold.
The demand is endless. Prince Tokugawa of Japan
estimates that there are about one million people in
Japan who have accepted the teachings of Christ as
contained in the Bible as their model of life.

At a Bible conference in Japan a quiet, unobtru-
sive young Shintoist enrolled for Bible study. His
Seriousness and frankness immediately won for him

_the open admiration of his teachers and companions.

As the conference neared its close, this young Shin-
toist openly renounced his former faith and whole-

heartedly accepted the Christian religion. He said
_ that ten years before’he had picked up a part of the

‘New Testament which some one had thrown away.

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

He had kept these mutilated pages and, in secret,
had studied them over and over during all these
years. He had never heard a Christian sermon or
seen a Christian missionary, but the Holy Spirit
had led him into deep communion with the holy
teachings until he had felt impelled to come to this
conference.

The first Protestant convert in Japan was a high
official named Wakasa, who was sent to patrol the
port of Nagasaki while English and French men-of-
war anchored there, just a few months before Perry
had negotiated the American treaty. It is a thrill-
ing story how he found a book floating upon the
water, which aroused his curiosity, and later he
found it to be a Dutch Bible. Learning that the
same book was translated into Chinese, he sent to
Shanghai and secured one. For three years he car-
ried on clandestine communications with the first
missionary in Japan, the Rev. Guido Verbeck, after
which time he openly espoused Christianity, was
baptized, and became one of the beginners of
the work.

In 1872, while there were but ten baptized
Christians in Japan, and while a public sign-board
near the home of the missionary bore the statement,
“The evil Christian sect is strictly forbidden. If
any one is suspected of being an adherent of it,
let it be known, and a reward will be given,”
Dr. J. C. Hepburn and S. R. Brown worked inde-
fatigably in translating.the Bible. They did their
work in secret, against the day when they knew their
work could be done openly. In those days all
Japanese printing was done by means of characters
carved in wooden blocks. It was only by strategy
that a man could be secured to work on these blocks,
and’ he continued to work only till he discovered
that he was working on the Christian Bible.

The Japanese New Testament was completed in
1874, at a cost to the society of $20,000. The Old
Testament was not completed till 1889.

The first Japanese New Testament was printed
from metal plates, in 1874.

It has been most fortunate that in Japan a single
translation conveys the message of the Word to her
sixty-odd millions of people.

From The Bible Remaking the Orient.

The Daily Round.

We were on our usual village work and were
trying hard to finish quickly, as the sun had begun
to set. We have no twilight in India, such as you