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BY CAREFUL PHYSICAL TRAINING ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY, SHANGHAI, IS HELPING TO DIMINISH THE NUMBER OF POSSIBLE USERS OF OPIUM

those intended for the bonfire, which were mostly made of wood, were dipped in a kerosene can and then stacked in two square heaps on a couple of large stones.

On one of the tables were two small trays, each each containing a complete opium-smoking outfit. A written sheet. of paper, accompanying them, stated that they were the offerings of Mr. Lien Yue-ming, manager of the East Asiatic Dispensary, and Kua Kuei-yen, a singing girl, respectively. Both these quondam opium-smokers sent in their

The Speeches

The work of destruction being almost completed, Mr. Sun Ching-foong delivered what appeared to be a very powerful exhortation, from an improvised platform in front of the hall. His comments on the afternoon's entertainment were received with loud manifestations of approval.

But an even greater impression appeared to be made by Mr. Wong Chinfoo, who spoke at some length. This speaker stated that the committee of the

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THE FRUITS OF SEVEN YEARS OF SEED SOWING-HOW KAWAGOE
LOST ITS CHURCH BY FIRE-A FORMER BUDDHIST PRIEST PRF-
PARING TO ENTER THE CHURCH'S MINISTRY-A PACKING BOX
CHURCH-A POINTED QUESTION SOME MODEST REQUIREMENTS

UST thirty years ago, in January of
the eleventh year of Meiji, Bishop
Williams and a young man who
was living in his home and study-

J

ing under him for the university, pored over a map of Tokyo and its environs. They were looking for suitable places for opening up work in some of the nearby towns, and one of the places determined upon was Kawagoe, thirtysix miles from Tokyo and the largest city in the province of Saitama. Not long after, on a cold day in January, Mr. Tai, now the oldest clergyman in the mission, then the young man studying under Bishop Williams, made the first visit to Kawagoe, travelling all day in

an open two-horse stage and arriving a his destination late in the even:rz After this first visit of inspection be made regular trips to Kawagon, at first using one of the rooms of the hotel for his preaching. But after a few visits the hotel proprietor refused him that privilege, as it was injuring his business So then Mr. Tai rented a room on one of the main streets of the town, and mary a night found him standing alone in an otherwise empty room, preaching in as loud a voice as possible in the hope that something might reach the ears of the passers by or hold the attention of the few stragglers who would occasions" gather around the entrance.

Kawagoe and Its People

One evening a man and woman came into the room together and Mr. Tai, thinking them husband and wife, talked about Christian homes. They came regularly after that and gradually revealed their history. They had deserted, the one a wife, the other a husband, and run away from Tokyo to Kawagoe. After Mr. Tai had been visiting Kawagoe for seven years and a catechist had been stationed here some time, these two were baptized and went back to their own homes. These were the first fruits of seven years of seed sowing and cultivating, and the progress of the work was still very slow and the baptisms few and far between.

One year an impetus was given by the opposition of the Buddhist priests. They began to protest against the men teaching, and Mr. Tai says that at his first visit after their crusade had begun, he had a larger audience than ever before, and these became inquirers. Those priests remind one of the mother who told her children not to put beans up their noses.

After eight or nine years of labor, the conditions seemed to justify the building of a church, and one was accordingly put up in a good central location. Five years later a terrible fire swept over Kawagoe, destroying about four-fifths of it completely and including the Christian church in the general devastation. The Christians rose valiantly to the occasion, raised money and bought rice from Tokyo, which the young men distributed free to the sufferers who had no money, and at half price to those who could pay. The whole. town was grateful for these efforts and the Christians rose much higher in popular estimation. At this time, eleven years ago, a temporary church was put up quickly and at as little expense as possible, to be used for a year or two until more money could be raised for a permanent building. We are still worshipping in that temporary building.

But although the church itself has remained the same, the membership and

721

The

attendance soon greatly altered. number of communicants is forty-four, and the average attendance at the services is twenty-one. There is a mid-week song service and Bible lecture meeting at the different Christians' houses in turn, and having an average attendance of from fifteen to twenty. Once a month a women's meeting is held, when the usual attendance is twenty-five or thirty, of whom the larger number are non-Christians. During the last year, there were fifteen baptisms, making the total of baptisms in the Kawagoe church eighty-five.

One great trouble, or perhaps blessing, is that Kawagoe offers little or no opportunity to young men who have finished their education and want to start in business; also Tokyo is near, and they all naturally go there. Of the young men baptized during the last year, five left Kawagoe within a very short time to enter business in some more progressive city. This fact weakens the Church here, but it is a cause of thankfulness when one thinks of it as a means of spreading the good tidings further.

The stories of several of the baptisms of the past year have been interesting. One beautiful morning in the fall, the foreign worker was walking along a lonely country path when she overtook a young Buddhist priest. They entered into conversation in the course of which the priest told of a friend of his, a priest, who wished to become a Christian. It was really his own story, and after that walk and talk he began visiting at the foreigner's house, reading Christian books and finally attending church. His father was a priest and his father before him, and his mother's dying request had been that he should enter the priesthood. Distasteful as it was, he had done so at the age of sixteen, and at this time was just about to be advanced to be the head of a temple. His family were much displeased with his Christian tendencies and refused to do anything for him if he left the priesthood. But he argued that if he was to spend his life serving a god, he would rather it should be the one true

God, and so now he is trying to finish his course at a middle school in order eventually to become a Christian missionary.

At Christmas time last year, a very interesting party was held. It was interesting because it was the Christmas party of a family of whom all the members are Christian. Three years ago the mother and grandmother were baptized together and about a year afterwards the father and head of the family was baptized.

Then the little box shrine at the

Christian and since all my family have become Christians, I am happier than I ever was before, and no matter what troubles may come, I shall still be happy because I believe in Jesus Christ."

Another woman, the mother of seven grown-up children, who was baptized during the past year, said: "Oh, I am an happy to have become a Christian. I wan to tell everyone about it; I wish I could write about it to the newspaper, became surely if people only knew about it, they would all become Christians. And please

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"THE KAWAGOE CHURCH HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS A PACKING BOX"

entrance disappeared, family prayers were held, the little son of ten was brought to the church for baptism, and the Kawagoe church had increased by one family. And it is when whole families become Christian that the church really gains strength. But to return to the Christmas party, every one present was expected to contribute something in the way of song or story. When it came to the grandmother's turn she modestly refused to do anything, but when no refusal would be accepted, she stepped to the head of the room and said: "I cannot sing a song or tell a story; I can only say this, that since I became a

teach my children and persuade thes also to become Christians." Where could one find more enthusiastic mission ary spirit or better testimony to wha: the Church can do?

But the Church here in Kawagoe is not doing all that it might, and in the m important way in which it might m prove just now, it requires the aid of the Church at home. Kawagoe is not a place to attract many sight-seers, br when a visitor does come, there are s eral interesting and beautiful Bud... temples, as well as a large silk factory, a new police station and a reform sebon. But I never heard of anyone being take

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The foreign women are Miss Heywood (in the centre) and Deaconess Ranson (at the left). The Japanese help in the work among women. The Rev. Mr. Tai (in the centre of the rear row) is minister-in-charge of Christ Church, Kawagoe.

The three laymen are vestrymen

to see the Christian church; in fact very few residents probably know just where it is. Every day in the year, and especially at New Year's time and on holidays, people from the country round about swarm into Kawagoe for marketing and amusement. Not one in fifty probably ever chanced to notice the one Christian church of the town, withdrawing its unattractive self into oblivion between two protruding and over-topping shops.

The present church was built eleven years ago as a temporary place for worship. It has been described as a "packing-box" and is worthy of the name. No Christian seeing it would recognize it by any churchly marks and no non-Christian on having it pointed out to him as a Christian church would be at all impressed with the strength and beauty of the Christian faith. Rather would he think that a religion represented by such a poverty-stricken, forlorn place of worship were better let alone, and not even worth investigation.

It is exactly for this purpose of having a worthy witness to the strength and

beauty of our religion, to represent to the thousands of unbelievers who should see it daily that Christianity is not a forlorn hope, another worn-out superstition, but a living, life-giving faith-for this want a new church in

reason

Kawagoe.

we

A second reason is that we want a suitable place of worship for the Christians. A man or woman who becomes a Christian in this country, even though not an active, believing Buddhist, must break away from all the centuries-old traditions of his family. He runs the chance of incurring the deep displeasure of his relatives, must cease going with them to worship or reverence the spirits of his loved dead, and when he dies himself must be buried away from his own people among strangers, and in many places there is no Christian burial place at all. His faith is new, the teaching is all new, the customs and practices are new, and the temptations to become cold and indifferent are many and constant. Who needs the more careful nurture and the most helpful surroundings, such a Christian or the one who, like most

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