THE KING’S BUSINESS
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mot to accept it and that they were no nearer to having a class prepared to receive the Gospel than when they began. Their method o f procedure- was wholly un- biblical, utterly irrational and thoroughly pernicious. It so happened that the head o f the institution who was chiefly responsible for this policy and who emphasized it, was ill 'at the time, o f my visit I to the college. The man in charge was thoroughly in sympathy with the preaching o f the Gospel and I was given liberty to preach the Gospel and to make an appeal, which I did-with most gratifying results. At One place in Japan that I visited, meetings were arranged for me with the student's ‘o f one o f the great universities, not a missionary university, a state university. I was advised not to preach the Gospel. The man who was chiefly responsible for my visiting the place, ‘said to me before the meeting, “ Now don’t preach a sermon. They are not ready for that yet. It is not a Chris tian school. As far as I know there is only one Christian teacher in the school and very few Christians amOng -the stu dents. Give them a lecture on the neces sity Of morality in education.” I had no lectures on that subject and would not have delivered one if I had. I preached to them on the text,, “What shall I do then with Jesus which is Called Christ?” I attempted to prove to them that Jesus Christ was a Divine Person and that He had made a perfect atonement for their sins by His death on the cross. When I finished my sermon I said to them, “ Now, I know that few, if any, o f you are Chris tians. Here are your fellow-students and your teachers and they are not Christians, but I believe that some o f you are as thor oughly convinced as I am that Jesus was a Divine Person and that He made a full atonement for your sin on the cross of Calvary. I do not know whether you have the courage o f your convictions or not, but I am going to give you a chance to show. Anyone o f you who will here and now accept Jesus Christ as your Divine
Saviour, surrender to Him as your Lord and Master, confess Him as such publicly before the world, and strive to live from this time on to please Him in everything day by day, please stand.” There was a short space o f absolute silence, then one large Japanese sprang to his feet and stood like a soldier in the ranks, then another and another and another, until everybody available, including the Catholic priest, was busy taking names and addresses, and when I left the city the next morning I was told by the man who had advised me not to preach a sermon that he had the names of 131 men who during the two days I had been in the city had made a public profes sion o f accepting Jesus Christ as his per sonal Divine Saviour. And my friend added, “I am going back to preaching the Gospel.” He ought never to have quit it. Let no man deceive you. They may urge upon you purely educational work. Don’t yield to the urging. Be a missionary, a Man with a Message, a message from God. Though you may teach, be sure that you constantly give the Missionary’s Message as God has given it to us in His w ord : That Christ died for our sins according to the Scrip tures, that He was buried, that He rose again and that some glad day He is com ing back again. And God will bless your efforts providing you give the message in the power o f the Holy Spirit who is at your disposal to work through you; and some glad day, when our King comes back He will say to you, His faithful ambassa dor, “Well done, good and faithful ser vant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things: enter thou in the joy o f thy Lord.” But if, for any cause, you allow yourself to be swept away from declaring the message .that your King has entrusted to you, in that day when the King comes back again, you will not hear, “Well done,” but a sad voice o f stern rebuke, and you will lose your crown.
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