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K i n g ’ s
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April 1927
the Saviour, in whom he' learned to trust after more than threescore years and ten of heathen darknesi, A The pile of volumes which rests upon the stand at his left is the fruit of his first three years of labor—the final: volume having been completed after the photograph was taken. The work is executed in large character, the body of the text being written with ‘black ink and the heading of chapters and verses in red, so as to assist the eye. Tie also used a magnifying glass, and is said to have spoiled only one sheet'of paper. Fre quently also both the Chinese character and the Japanese Kana are introduced side f>y side, to aid in grasping the meaning of the text. Mr. Oshima, in spite of the increasing infirmities of age, was one of our most regular attendants at church, and,'unless he had received some intimation as to what the subject of the sermon would be, thus enabling him topelect the proper volume before hand, he brought the whole twenty volumes with him and laid them on a small stand just in front of him and close to the speaker. When the chapter was, announced, die searched out the needed volume, and, finding the place, followed along with the public reading of the Scriptures, Mr. Oshima’s .Christian character was held-in highest esteem, and even those who might have felt disposed at times to speak harshly. of others, always -/spoke of him in terms of appreciative praise/ He was always a. welcome figure at the social ¡gather ings of our little company, of believers “over there.” Having peculiarly happy gifts as a story-teller, he was frequently in demand. When he told his tales’ o f,the olden days, he kept his audience in fixed attention or convulsed with laughter, at his will. I trust that -the relation: of this bit of ^personal .history will serve to quicken the zeal of God’s people for the cause which lies so close to the Saviour’s heart, that they may be unresting in their prayers and efforts to send abroad to every creature that Gospel which has ever been the power of God- uhto salvation to every one that believeth, and to disseminate widely the wondrous Book that is the fountainhead of all Christian truth. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (Published with permission of American Bible Society.) Bob Shuler Speaking F o r m y s e l f , i am s ic k a n d ; t i r e d of men saying that Jesus was a good man but not actually God. How can a liar be a good man? How can a hypocrite, who lays claim to Deity, be the world’s invincible teacher ? IIow can a brag gart, who boasts that He is come to redeem and save humanity, be a mighty pattern by which honest men should map out their lives? Indeed, the Unitarian position is an impossible position, it matters not as to the brain capacity of the man who Undertakes to defend it. Either Jesus Christ was very God or else He was and is a mighty poor specimen of a man. Either He is from ever lasting to everlasting, the eternal Jehovah, or else I can pick a dozen men in my community who are more honest than was He. The atheist cannot utter blasphemous accusations enough concerning Jesus of Nazareth, if it is actually true that He undertook to put over the hoax on humanity that is recorded in the New Testament—that is, if His claims of Deity were a hoax! I hold that Jesus the man was also the Christ of God. Otherwise, He is ridiculous.
This Man Prepared His Own Bible B y H enry , T ucker G raham T HE accompanying photograph was taken some years ago at the instance of the writer at Tokushima, Japan, where he was then laboring as a missionary of the Southern Presbyterian Church. Stumbling upon it recently in my files, it awakened memories of other days/ that are impressive and, inspiring. A b o u t this
p h o t o g r a p h gathers a story of devotion so u n i q u e a n d challenging that it d e s e r v e s to be w i d e l y known by those who l o v e the Book of bookg, as well as by those who have drifted a wa y f r'o m ,■ - “t h e BooJ? our mo thers read.” It presents . Mr. Tasaburo.. Osh ima (Oshima
■Tasaburo San/ as our Oriental friends would put it) and his Bible and hymn book, laborious ly copied out by h is ow n hand. He was long a beloved member .of the Tokushima Presbyterian Church, but now he is ' at home with his blessed Lord. MR. TASABURO OSHIMA Mr. Oshima was baptized by the Rev. Brown on November 10, 1889, in the seventy-second year of his age, and was, therefore, when this photograph was taken, in his seventy- sixth year. His case is one of deep interest, not merely because of the advanced age at which he became a believer in Christ, but especially because of the remarkable and suggestive efforts he made to secure free access to the Word of God. The Japanese Bible was then printed in small text. Mr. Oshima’s advancing years and failing sight threatened to deprive him of the privilege of reading the Book. So, in the late evening of life, he set about the task of preparing with his own hands a text which would keep him within' reach of the oracles of God, a task from which many a younger man would have shrunk in dismay. He began his self-appointed task by writing out the hymn book, that thus he might join in the ,songs of the sanctuary. This was completed in March, 1890, and then he began work on the New Testament, commencing with the Gospel of Matthew and taking up the remaining books in regular succession. So earnest and persistent were his labors, that in three years he carried his work as far as the Third Epistle of John, haying then writ ten nineteen volumes, varying in thickness from three quarters of an inch to an inch and a half. The twentieth volume, which included Jude and Revelation, was finished in the following June—the full task embracing a period of about forty months. His complete New Testament and hymn book make an imposing library of twenty volumes—eloquent in its story of devotion to
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