At Home and Abroad
O ne of the most useful Christian work ers in Japan is a lady of noble birth namea Hiroaka. She was converted to Christ at the age of 61, and particularly likes in her public addresses to own herself a sinner saved by grace. C hina has a Protestant church member ship of 470,000, with 546 ordained pastors and 5364 unordained workers. These Chi nese churches contributed last year $320,900. They have 235 hospitals, in which in the name and for the love of Christ 1,322,802 sufferers were ministered to by nurse and physician. M rs . J ohn S. K ennedy of New York put a $7000 yacht under the charge of Rev. Alexander McDonald. He visits fifty set tlements on islands of the coast of Maine, holding gospel meetings, Sunday schools and ministering to the sick. The price of one dreadnaught would supply about 2000 such “Sunbeams." T he C hinese say, “ For each pair of bound feet there have been shed a tubful of tears.” Foot binding is fast becoming unpopular. But oceans of tears are being shed because of feet ensnared in the meshes of sin and spiritual darkness which wait the “beautiful feet” that “publish glad tidings, glad tidings of peace.” T he B aptists recently celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the American Baptist Mission. A hundred years ago they raised $1000, last year over $1,000,000. 330,- 000 souls have confessed Christ through their missionary labors in heathendom, and 250,000 in European countries. Sixty per cent of their mission churches are self-sup porting. S tones of stumbling that became chief stones in the building. The Rev. S. H Wainwright of Japan tells of a stone, in scribed with the words “Stone of Persecu tion," which lay on the platform of a church he visited in Japan. Others like it were
built into the foundation. These stones at. an earlier day had been thrown at the first Gospel preacher in the town. I t is reported that Japan has 232 Roman Catholic churches, totaling 66,689 members; and 265 Greek Catholic churches and chap els with 32,246 members. The Protestants have 2110 churches and 90,469 members. Evangelistic work in Japan began about fifty years ago. The “ Christian” popula tion is about 200,000. What are these among 55,000,000? Seed and salt. T he mayor of Kurashiki, Japan, Kimura by name, gathers his household (he has ten children) after breakfast and reads from a Bible which his wife brings to him and from notes of the International Bible Associa tion for family worship, and then leads the home company in prayer. No doubt we have some American mayors who do the same. May God give us more. I n a window of the American Bible So ciety in the City of Mexico, there recently hung a large poster on which were the ten commandments in Spanish. The poster has attracted remarkable attention. What would Moses Have thought of his law being still a novelty in any part of the world nearly 3500 years after it was proclaimed and in a land which claims to be Christian?”» Missionary Review. M r . C orkey , a Presbyterian pastor of Ulster, in a recent speech in London, brought out the significant fact that in the city of Belfast all the appointments made by the City Corporation áre made by Prot estants. Yet so tolerant and indulgent is this body that it gives employment to 900 Roman Catholics, paying them £47,000 an nually in wages. The Roman Catholics of the city pay but £17,000 annually in taxes. M r . P ieters speaks of a Japanese who is known as “the Christian blacksmith.” When a customer comes in to have a piece of work done he props up his Bible on the
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