each and asked them to read them. In the afternoon they came again and said that it was the first time they had ever read or heard about Christianity, and that they wanted to hear more, as what they had read had gone to their hearts. I gave them several texts of Scripture, and explained to them as well as I could the way of salvation, and they eagerly drank in everything. After nearly two hours they each bought Testaments and went to their homes in a village about four miles from here. Since then they have written to me saying they have read the literature and are reading the Testaments, and are hoping soon to hear more. We intend going out to their village soon to have a meeting there. In Yamanashi Ken I found quite a real inquiring spirit as I went from house to house among the farmers. Many, as soon as they found I had a Christian book for sale, got their money at once and said that they wanted to hear about Jesus Christ. The Lord wonderfully answered prayer, and helped me so much in the language, that I was able to have quite long conversations with some as to my past life, and what the Lord had done for me. They listened so attentively, and said that they understood all I said. At Ichikawa I sold a Japanese five-sen Testament to a young man of about twenty-five. He is the son of a sake (wine) dealer, and his father is a strict Nichiren (Buddhist) follower. It appears that the father saw the son reading the Testament, and he took it from him, tore it up, and threw it into the fire, he was so angry. The son spoke to one of the Christians, and asked him to buy another one from me, and he would take care his father did not see it. He was determined to read it, as he wanted to know about Jesus Christ. We are finding more and more that, in answer to prayer, the Lord can do wonders. He puts the inquiring spirit upon the people, and he gives us grace among the people, and in many places where they have never seen a foreigner, they are not at all afraid, but are very kind to us and give us a hearty welcome. Our total sales of Bibles and Testaments for the past year is 4,248 volumes, made up as follows: Yamanashi Ken (eight months), 2,200; Yokohama and district (four days), 265; Hachioji and district (three days), 147; Niigata and district (one month), 801; Fukushima and district (two months), 835. This makes the sales from the beginning, September 14, 1907, as follows: 28,484 Japanese, 5,277 English, 801 Chinese, 114 German, 8 French; a total of 34,684 volumes. The past year's work means that we have visited about eighty different cities, towns, and villages, going from house to house in each place, and distributiong thousands of Gospel tracts, and in many places the people had never heard the gospel. May the Lord give us the strength to get to many more of these neglected places during this coming year. [Mr. Whitney and his wife receive no salary from the Bible Society, They but simply a commission on their sales and their railroad fare. do their work not for money, but wholly from love for souls and devotion to the Master.] Chinese Students in Japan and the Bible From Mr. J. H. Wallace : Bible Institute.-Referring to the special activities of the Young Men's Christian Association during the year the first event to be noted was the holding of a Bible Institute on October 8th and 9th as the first step in an endeavor to enlist more men, and especially those who had already become Christians in definite systematic Bible study. This is a difficult task anywhere, for it is only in recent years that Church leaders in the West have awakened to the vital necessity of such study, but among the Chinese students it is doubly difficult. Some day a body of Chinese translators may do for the Chinese Bible what the translators of the King James Version did for our English Bible-make it one of the classic books of the language; but such a day is still far distant. Not only does the veneration for a classical and erudite style, only understandable by the most highly educated, make translation difficult labour, but the fact that many of the ideas and modes of expression of the Bible are utterly foreign to Chinese thought, makes it almost impossible to produce a translation which adheres at all closely to the original and at the same time is pleasing to Chinese literary taste. So that when his interest is stimulated to the point of reading, he finds himself in the position of the Ethiopian eunuch whom Philip overtook on the way. It is only when they have become thoroughly in earnest in their study of Christianity, that they rise superior to their literary pride and are willing to ask help. Our Bible Institute, which was addressed by Japanese and American Christian leaders, was a good influence in helping to break down this prejudice. But while good work was done during the year in Bible study, the problem of getting large numbers of men into regular classes is still unsolved; but we are still striving to reach a solution. Baptisms. During the year thirty-three students have joined the Chinese Student Union Church through baptism. Two of these were baptized and introduced to the Union Church by the Rev. W. H. Elwin of the C. M. S., the remainder being baptized by the Rev. Mark Liu, pastor of the Union Church. Association Membership.-The membership of the association has increased steadily throughout the year, in spite of the fact that the number of the students is decreasing. Our membership is now drawn from all the eighteen provinces of China proper, and from Manchuria, as during the year one student from far Kansuh, the only province hitherto unrepresented, became a member. From the Rev. W. H. Elwin: "At the Y. M. C. A. meeting for six hundred Chinese students, at which Mr. Eddy spoke, 66 New Testaments were sold among the audience at five sen each. Sometimes a man has not a New Testament, because his friend has borrowed it to read. This may show slackness in one man, letting his only Bible go, but it at least shows keenness in the borrower, and he is a type of many more who are wanting to find out how far our Scriptures are the word of life. Many students value the parallel New Testaments, Chinese with English, and English with Japanese. One man said he should like to bring out a trilingual edition-English, Chinese, and Japanese. "At one time in our Sunday Bible class five languages were quoted, English, German, Greek, Chinese, Japanese. Many are studying thus in other languages, where the Chinese translation does not appeal to them. One man, a Chinese, I may mention, who, after finding' the New Testament, bought a parallel Japanese-English copy and read it to such purpose that almost every verse was underlined in red ink. Another tells me that if he does not read and pray every morning he feels at a loss all day. To another I said, 'My brother, how is it that though at first you said the Bible was badly translated and you did not care to read it, yet now you study the Mandarin version daily with joy?' 'It was a case of compulsion,' he answered; i. e., he knew from our addresses which he heard that there was truth in the Bible, and he compelled himself to find it. He is one of the keenest personal workers (or witnesses) I have met of any nationality, and for a year has been a remarkable helper in our work here in Tokyo. "At Kyoto on Sunday we had an afternoon meeting with twentyfour present; and at night, in their little students' club, nine men met again with me. It was real Bible study. One man put me question after question from St. Mark's Gospel, which he had been studying. The same man afterward stayed in our hotel in Tokyo, and after much Bible study as to what 'faith' was he asked for baptism, and, with others, was admitted by me into the Church of Christ before his return to China. "I feel sure that if I had somehow been working as I have among the students, without assurance as to the New Testament being the Word of God, what I have seen among the students would have been overwhelming proof. Again, if I had not believed in the power of Christ, what I have seen among the students in the last three months would have convinced me." Testimonials as to the Value of This Work The Rev. Hardy Jowett, of the English Wesleyan Mission, Hunan, who assisted in the work in Tokyo for a year, writes from his mission station in Hunan in regard to the influence of returned students. "We are already reaping in a fine and encouraging form the results of your work in Tokyo. Every Ping Kiang man who has returned has come back with views about Christianity very different from those he took away with him. The sons of our wealthiest men and most powerful gentry are being converted from anti into pro-Christian. I do not know of a single anti-Christian Chinese student in our country who has returned from Tokyo. "Keep at it. It is worth all you put into the struggle." Fletcher S. Brockman, National Secretary of the Y. M. C. A. for China, writes in part: "In speaking a few days ago with H. E. Wu Ting Fang, he said that the Chinese students who were returning from Japan were already being put into positions of great influence in Peking. The government colleges of China are now difficult for us to influence, but these men are perfectly accessible, and they are bound soon to be in control, not only of the government colleges, but of the government itself." Specials Reason for Thanksgiving From Mr. J. H. Wallace: "There have been many things in the year's work which give cause for sincere thanksgiving, but I will only mention two. The first is that the attitude of the majority of the Chinese students in Japan toward Christianity is one of growing sympathy and openmindedness. One of the greatest causes of this changing attitude has been the growing perplexity and distress which they feel in regard to the future of China. "National humiliation has caused serious searching of heart, and most of these men know that the causes of their country's weakness are too deep to be removed by any outward reform. They know that it is regeneration, not a mere acceptance of the outward forms of Western civilization, which China needs, and many of them, a great many more than have openly accepted Christianity, feel that it alone has power sufficient to change weak, self-seeking, corrupt men into strong, unselfish, upright citizens. To-day we are face to face with a greater opportunity than ever before in connection with the Christian work among the Chinese students here. They are open-minded, approachable, sympathetic. The fields are white unto harvest, the laborers all too few." Conference on Religion-Aim of Proposed Conference of Representatives Explained The public announcement that it is the purpose of the Vice-Minister of Home Affairs to hold a conference of representatives of Shintoism, Buddhism, and Christianity has awakened wide interest. It could not be otherwise. But among the statements that have appeared in the press there are some which have been written without a clear knowledge of what is intended; and, in order to prevent possible misunderstanding, the Vice-Minister has sanctioned the pablication of the following statement: 1. The primary intention in holding the conference is to direct attention to religion as a necessary means to the highest spiritual and moral welfare of both the individual and the nation. For a number of years 2. No attempt is intended to unite the adherents of the several 3. Shintoism and Buddhism have long had a recognized place as The total issues are 6,868 Bibles, 61,270 Testaments, and 155,995 parts. Summary of Scriptures Circulated During the Year 1911 By Colporteurs*.. Jap. Eng. Mis. Jap. Eng. Mis. Parts 215 25 1,447 47 254 29 3,184 9 7 4,063 1,076 68 16,390 5,181 50 3,674 91 660 49 660 49 584 82 293 47 2,047 12 1,368 08 16,108 85 13,631 87 13,631 87 Totals.......................... 4,556 1,233 166 46,720 5,437 • Forty-nine colporteurs have been employed for the whole or a part of the past year. parts. 25 |