THEY THAT SAT 
 IN DARKNESS 
 
 BV 
 
 3445 
 
 .S8 
 
 1912 
 
 YOSHIMICHI SUGIURA 
 
txhvary of t:he theological ^tminaxy 
 
 PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY 
 
 FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 ROBERT ELLIOTT SPEER 
 
 BV 3445 .S8 1912 
 
 Sugiura, Yoshimichi 
 
 They that sat in darkness 
 
Pi 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 ^; 
 
 I— I 
 
 o 
 
 « 
 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 o 
 
 hH 
 
 iz; 
 & 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 P3 
 
 pa 
 
THEY THAT SAT IN 
 
 DARKNESS x^^^^^^^o^^i 
 
 a 
 
 '4^ 
 
 A 
 
 ^EB 2 195; 
 
 &^ 
 
 ^e/CAL SB^^^i) 
 
 An Account of Rescue Work in Japan 
 in the words of 
 
 THE 
 
 REV. YOSHIMICHI SUGIURA 
 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY 
 
 281 FOURTH AVENUE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
Copyright, 19 12, by 
 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It was some thirty years ago, while a stu- 
 dent at St. Paul's College, Tokyo, that I began 
 to study the Bible with the guidance of the 
 late Bishop G. M. Williams, and by his kind 
 efforts and the great influence of his saintly 
 character, that acted upon my miserable self 
 thirsting only for the worldly fame and 
 riches, I was converted and baptized by the 
 Bishop, in December, 1881. 
 
 In those days the Christian influence in 
 this country was very weak, and almost all 
 the students even in this Christian college 
 were much disgusted with the religious in- 
 structions. My friends in this city were con- 
 stantly cautioning me not to believe the for- 
 eign religion but only to study English, as it 
 was advantageous to learn it in such school 
 taught by foreigners. When I was baptized, 
 however, I had contrived how to surprise 
 them by informing it. One Sunday evening, 
 when the Bishop was going to preach in a 
 chapel in Kanda, in which district many of my 
 
 3 
 
4 PREFACE 
 
 such anti-Christian friends were staying, I 
 called on them and persuaded them to come to 
 the chapel to hear this great man's sermon 
 once. Having got the Bishop's permission be- 
 forehand, I ascended to the pulpit to my 
 friends' surprise, and preached first and told 
 them that they were misunderstanding this 
 true religion. By this unexpected conduct of 
 mine, they had rather to give up their hope of 
 me, while one of them got very angry with me 
 and told others even that he would kill me. 
 
 Seeing such adverse circumstances of my 
 country and that the volunteers for the mis- 
 sion work were very rare, I was deeply im- 
 pressed with that it was really the most urgent 
 matter to consider, and I thought it necessary 
 to offer myself to Lord's service. But for 
 many years I could not prepare myself for 
 Holy orders on account of many hindrances. 
 So I worked as a layman and converted my 
 family and other people in my native town, 
 Obama, in Fukui Prefecture, and a church 
 was at last founded there. The church in 
 Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, was also 
 founded as a consequence of my work, when 
 I was in Osaka city, and a pastor was sent 
 to it from the Presbyterian church. 
 
PREFACE 5 
 
 At last, in 1888, I entered Trinity Divinity 
 School, Tokyo, as I was hoping for many 
 years. While I was a student there, Bishop 
 Williams asked me to take care of the True 
 Light Church. This church was formerly in 
 his care and is indeed the first church he ever 
 founded in Tokyo, thirty-seven years ago. 
 But when many churches and chapels were 
 built afterward in the city, many a member 
 of this church began very naturally to leave 
 it and attend those nearer and more conve- 
 nient to them, so that in about 1890 the church 
 was at its lowest ebb, and the Sunday attend- 
 ance was seldom more than ten, and there- 
 fore its remaining members asked the Bishop 
 to send me. I am working ever since for this 
 same church. 
 
 As soon as I began my work in this church 
 there occurred an event that aroused my sym- 
 pathy with the poor people in this part of 
 the city. In the afternoon of a Sunday in 
 Lent, 1890, a member of my church took me 
 by my request to a person who used to attend 
 the church before. He was a blind man, and 
 was very ill when I called on. His wife was 
 a blind woman too, and was out for her work 
 then. They were shampooers by trade, and 
 
6 PREFACE 
 
 they had no child hetween them. They were 
 poor, even more so now that this man fell in 
 his sick bed: feeble hand of the blind woman 
 had to support herself and her sick husband. 
 
 When I took my seat by his bedside the 
 sick man told me that he had been ill for 
 two months, and that, as there was no hope 
 of recovering his health, and as it was only to 
 give his wife a longer trouble to postpone 
 his death, he w^as refusing to receive the medi- 
 cal attendance for many weeks then. The 
 poor man's eager desire was only to die as 
 soon as possible! 
 
 This w^as my first experience I ever met 
 with in a slum. He was so much self-aban- 
 doning but lack of faith. But when we think 
 that he came to such a conclusion as to wish 
 death only because of misfortune and poverty 
 we cannot help feeling deep sympathy and 
 commiseration for him. So I taught him that 
 our life is in God's hand, and without His 
 permission it is impossible to make it longer 
 or shorter at our own will; and I prayed for 
 him by his side that the will of God would 
 be revealed and w^e shall be given the means 
 to proceed. 
 
 I continued to pray for him day after day 
 
PREFACE 7 
 
 for the whole week, and when I called on an- 
 other member of my church on the following 
 Sunday I got a very clear answer of God. 
 Among the friends of this man there was a 
 Christian by the name of Mr. R. Tsuda, who 
 belonged to a Presbyterian church, and he 
 happened to be present in my member's house 
 also. As our conversation went on, and when 
 I told of the poor blind man, Mr. Tsuda 
 clapped his hands and informed me that there 
 was just the man wanted, a physician, who 
 was looking for such poor sufferers to give 
 help. So I left the house at once, and hur- 
 ried away about three miles to see the phy- 
 sician, who was staying in a lodging house 
 near the Imperial University in Hongo dis- 
 trict. Though I was told the name of the 
 doctor, Michitaro Fukuhara, his exact ad- 
 dress was unknown to Mr. Tsuda, and con- 
 sequently it was a very difficult task to find 
 him out, as there were hundreds of the stu- 
 dents' lodging houses around the University. 
 I was wandering about there for nearly two 
 hours, and when it became dark in the evening 
 it was almost impossible to go on further 
 searching. I then began to question if it 
 was the answer of God. But courage, I said 
 
8 PREFACE 
 
 to myself, and ventured once more into a 
 hotel in a lane nearby, and lo! the gentle- 
 man that appeared before me answering 
 at the door was the very man I was looking 
 for. 
 
 Having agreed, we visited the blind man on 
 the next morning. After a careful examina- 
 tion, it was found that the disease was of se- 
 rious nature, and it was urgently necessary 
 to put him into a hospital at least for five 
 weeks. 
 
 Dr. Fukuhara was very obliging, and took 
 trouble to obtain for him a free bed at the 
 University hospital. When we visited the pa- 
 tient next time to convey him to the hospital, 
 the man declined to accept our kind offer upon 
 such foolish ground that he would rather die 
 in his own house, not in a hospital. His ob- 
 stinacy was never to yield, notwithstanding 
 my hard endeavor to bring the right idea 
 home to him. Dr. Fukuhara was much per- 
 plexed and despaired, for it was impossible 
 to perform surgical operation in this dirty 
 room. But I said that, since he wanted to die 
 as soon as possible, we did not need to be so 
 timid; if he die, that is all; it is the duty on 
 our part to do our best; should he desire it. 
 
PREFACE 9 
 
 we have no choice and must proceed to operate 
 even in this unsatisfactory v^ay. 
 
 On the next morning we visited him again. 
 The physician brought his instruments and I 
 a bottle of the carboHc-acid and other nec- 
 essary articles. Without giving the narcotic 
 help, and with such imperfect preparation we 
 began to venture the risk. While Dr. Fuku- 
 hara was cutting his body, I was to help his 
 operation, holding fast the patient's limbs, as 
 he cried and shook his body in pain. The 
 operation, however, was finished in a rather 
 satisfactory way. We used to visit him alter- 
 nately to wash the cut for about a month, and 
 he became a very strong man again, and was 
 baptized by me. He lived on for seven years 
 as a Christian, giving glory to God until he 
 was taken away of consumption. 
 
 This event, which occurred at the beginning 
 of my work in this peculiar part of the city, 
 led me to start "The Good Samaritan Dis- 
 pensary" for such people, whom I found al- 
 ways crowding in it, and at last I was induced 
 to organize the "Laborers' Reform Union," 
 after a long experience in my work among 
 them, as I give the explanation of it in this 
 little book. 
 
They That Sat in 
 Darkness 
 
 I. 
 
 We Depend Only on God's Power and 
 
 Help. 
 
 Tokyo, September 2, 19 lo. 
 Man plans his work first by raising the 
 money necessary for it, and starts it on the 
 scale according to the amount raised. But I 
 took a different course, and started the work 
 of the L. R. U. on the principle that where 
 there is the spirit there is the way ; and as to 
 the funds for it, I never cared for that, en- 
 tirely depending on the true commander's 
 supply, thinking that the only duty on my 
 part is to work, with earnest prayers, in union 
 with the will of God. I therefore asked that 
 He would send His faithful servants to help 
 me, that His mighty power be revealed in my 
 work through them. I am getting His an- 
 il 
 
12 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 swers so plentifully that I have often burst 
 into grateful tears, when I kneel down to 
 thank God for them. 
 
 I have also taught my poor members of the 
 Union that they should never rely upon human 
 power for help, but fight themselves with the 
 power which is within them. We are not 
 yet given special house for meeting, but in the 
 little house of a laborer, Mr. T. Gonda, the 
 work is going on very nicely as from the be- 
 ginning, to the astonishment of those who 
 come to see it, hearing its reputation. The 
 work, however, is not limited in this little 
 house only, for all the members of the Union 
 are preaching the Gospel daily according to 
 the rule of the Union, whenever the oppor- 
 tunity presents itself in their work houses or 
 in the streets. 
 
 And thus the Union is progressing on its 
 way, without any funds for the house and 
 workers, led by the mighty hand of God. 
 
IN DARKNESS 13 
 
 II. 
 
 The Origin of the L. R. U. 
 
 It is twenty years since I became the min- 
 ister-in-charge of the Shinko Kyokwai (True 
 Light Church). This church is in the indus- 
 trial part of Tokyo, which comprises the dis- 
 tricts of Fukagawa and Honjo. From the 
 beginning of my work in these districts I in- 
 vestigated the condition of the laborers and 
 my sympathy being roused I determined to 
 do what I could for them. To this end I 
 started the Good Samaritan Dispensary in 
 February, 1890, and tried to use their bodily 
 salvation as a means to bring about their spir- 
 itual salvation. The dispensary helped many 
 poor people, but as the lepers of old few re- 
 turned to give glory to God. 
 
 Beside the dispensary, I tried many other 
 methods of reaching them, but their character 
 was such that they gave thought only to the 
 things of this world. One of the great diffi- 
 culties was that their point of view and mine 
 were so absolutely different, that we mutu- 
 
14 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 ally misunderstood each other, and all my 
 plans ended with almost no fruits. These fail- 
 ures of my work for past seventeen years gave 
 me the knowledge as the preparation to plan 
 another, and I decided to select some of the 
 few that did understand and reach others 
 through them. That is how I came to organ- 
 ize the L. R. U. in April, 1907. The words 
 chosen for the name of this society are secu- 
 lar, and the people who attend the meetings 
 found that they are thrown with laborers like 
 themselves — men they could understand. So 
 the reputation of our society became great, 
 and many people began to attend the meet- 
 ings. 
 
 Truly their condition was like hell on earth. 
 They are refusing to partake of the heavenly 
 food offered them. They were drunkards and 
 gamblers; they were lazy and servile. So 
 first we taught them of an earthly paradise, to 
 enter which repentance for such sins was nec- 
 essary. Then I showed them the spirit of 
 self-denial, self-help and self-respect could 
 only come through God's help. Thus little 
 by little I brought the truth home to them. 
 Those who resolved on reform could become 
 members of the Union. 
 
IN DARKNESS 15 
 
 Laborers dreaming of an earthly paradise 
 came in and they conquered sin and improved 
 the condition of their lives; their thinking 
 became gradually higher and higher. At last 
 they realized that man does not live by bread 
 alone and their ideals reached beyond an 
 earthly paradise to the heavenly. Finally some 
 were baptized and became Christians. I used 
 those Christians as the officers of the Union, 
 and made them direct leaders and overseers 
 of their fellow laborers. This method works 
 wxll. Their influence is effective, where my 
 influence would amount to very little. 
 
i6 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 III. 
 
 Some of My Present Difficulties. 
 
 The society of our country has as yet no 
 sympathy for my work. So now, since almost 
 empty-handed I am facing the lowest stratum 
 of society and its darkest side and have well 
 begun the battle, the difficulties seem more 
 than I can tell. Yet I believe that God is with 
 me and ever miraculously sustains me. I am 
 carrying on the work without one penny, and 
 yet the results are comparatively great and 
 beautiful. As I have mentioned already, the 
 absolutely essential thing for my work is 
 workers. I thank God that it is that, rather 
 than money or furnishing. He has given the 
 Union the very men it needs. Among them 
 I can count Messrs. T. Gonda and T. Kikuchi, 
 who are the early converts of the Union, and 
 Messrs. K. Majima and N. Wada, who are 
 earnest Christians and rendered their help to 
 me in every possible way. Then there is Mr. 
 H. Hatano, who is a writer of a large maga- 
 zine in this city. The Jitsugyo no Nihon, has 
 
IN DARKNESS 17 
 
 joined us to render assistance with his mighty 
 pen. He wrote in his magazine Mr. Numari's 
 history, to show forth to the people God's 
 miraculous power, which had just begun to 
 work in the Union, in its numbers of June and 
 July, 1909. 
 
 I wish to mention in passing about Mr. M. 
 Numari. In November, 1907, he had called 
 on m.e and asked me very earnestly to give 
 him my assistance, confessing all his past sins 
 and crimes. He told me that he had spent his 
 life in committing dreadful crimes, having 
 been sentenced at least twenty times to im- 
 prisonment, after he had run away from his 
 father's house when he was but thirteen years 
 of age — 1895. He was released from the last 
 term a month before he came to me, and went 
 to his native town, where he found no one 
 who had love or sympathy to receive him — 
 even his own father had refused to take him 
 into his house, telling him that if he stayed 
 any longer in the town the father must com- 
 mit suicide, for he could not endure to be 
 called the father of such wicked fellow by 
 his townsmen. So he reluctantly came out 
 again to this dangerous city, where his old 
 companions were waiting to receive him into 
 
i8 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 their bands. Fortunately, however, he was 
 introduced to me by a deacon, Rev. S. Tsu- 
 chida, who was working in the town, and fell 
 into my hands. I gave him work immedi- 
 ately, and treated him most carefully, and 
 committed him to Mr. Wada, who volunteered 
 to take him into his house to enable him to 
 escape from the dangerous environment. He 
 was so much moved by the kindness of Mr. 
 Wada that he burst into a loud cry one day, 
 and told a friend that if he cannot be saved 
 this time there is no way to go in this world 
 but only death. By the kind help of Mr. Wada 
 he studied the Bible with the utmost zeal, 
 and his bad character was thoroughly sub- 
 dued by the amazing power of the Holy 
 Spirit. The change was so great that the po- 
 lice authorities of this city, who at first 
 doubted the repentance of such a famous thief, 
 and even cautioned me for my safety, had 
 thanked us for his complete reform. After 
 a few months I took him from Mr. Wada's 
 hand and made him live with other members 
 in the boarding house. After his conversion 
 he began to work with hunger to convert his 
 old friends, and many of them were moved 
 and repented. 
 
IN DARKNESS 19 
 
 Indeed, the essential for this work of the 
 Union is the workers God had thus far given. 
 On these men the work, the very existence, of 
 the Union depends. 
 
20 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 IV. 
 
 Mr. Numari's First Battle for His Faith. 
 
 It was not rare that our members were at- 
 tacked and persecuted by the ignorant people 
 when they tried to preach the Gospel at every- 
 where, and this is an instance of the cases : 
 
 It was in June, 1909, that Mr. Numari 
 went into Sunamura, where gangs of villains 
 are living. He was attacked by three of them. 
 It was the best test for his faith, for he was 
 very violent and fierce, and was easily waxed 
 warm in rage before. But he did not resist 
 their assault now and stood silently while they 
 thrashed him, and then told them that, as a 
 Christian, he will never get angry against 
 such violences, but rather have pity on them, 
 for he anticipate that awful punishment of 
 God is coming upon them. Saying this he 
 prostrated himself before them and prayed 
 God to pardon them. By this astonishing 
 conduct two of them were much moved, but 
 the third, who was intoxicated with "sake," 
 
THE WOUNDED SOLDIER IS WAITING FOR HIS 
 SECOND CAMPAIGN 
 
IN DARKNESS 21 
 
 was enraged even more fiercely, and gave 
 heavy blows with club and began to drag him 
 to throw him into a stream near by. But as 
 he made no resistance at all the other two 
 now turned to his side, and seeing his dan- 
 ger they treated him kindly and made him es- 
 cape. 
 
 As he had received many wounds, he waited 
 to recover for about ten days, and went again 
 to the same place with more vigor than ever, 
 and brought the enemy to repentance. When 
 he told this story in our meeting, he exclaimed 
 most emphatically: "Who can say among 
 you that there is no God or it is impossible to 
 see him? Such a saintly conduct was done 
 without any will of my own, and it is even the 
 astonishment of myself. Are you so blind and 
 foolish that you cannot see this visible power 
 of God, that lives so clearly within me? Take 
 it out from me now, then I would be the great 
 thief instantly as before who shall steal into 
 your house this night." 
 
22 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 Mr. Wada''s Journey to Northeast. 
 
 Mr. Wada, who undertook a delightful 
 plan to preach the Gospel and the purport of 
 the Union among the laborers outside of 
 Tokyo, started for the tour on the ist April, 
 1909. But as the Union is not yet rich 
 enough to pay the traveling expenses he had 
 entirely to rely upon Christ's words to His 
 disciples, when He sent them out preaching. 
 It was a matter of course that he was quite 
 prepared to take any work that God gives him 
 on his way, and if necessary to sleep in the 
 fields or on the mountainside. He pushed on 
 his way northward, town after town, village 
 after village, preaching in the street or in the 
 chapel, in the schoolhouse or in the factory, 
 always attracting a wonderfully great audi- 
 ence around him, and leaving the repentants 
 to the care of the churches there. Of course, 
 I had sent him money whenever I received the 
 gift for it, but the difficulties he had encoun- 
 
MR. WADA AS A MINER 
 
IN DARKNESS 23 
 
 tered were beyond imagination. By the 
 mighty protection of God, however, he re- 
 turned to Tokyo on i8th July, with more suc- 
 cess than we had hoped, after going round 
 even in some part of Hokkaido. 
 
 When he was staying at the Arakawa mine, 
 near the city of Akita, he actually became a 
 miner, with a view to get acquaintance with 
 those laborers in it, and worked with them. 
 After a few days' labor he held a meeting in 
 a schoolhouse and succeeded in gathering an 
 audience of about 700 workingmen and offi- 
 cers of the mine. Such a large meeting was 
 never held there before, notwithstanding the 
 great effort of these officials, with a hope to 
 give them the moral instruction. And there- 
 fore one of them has wrote to me thanking us 
 for our work, and informed me that they 
 will prepare to start a branch of the L. R. U. 
 there in a near future. 
 
24 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 yi. 
 
 The Effect of My Work on the Hearts 
 OF Poor People. 
 
 Most of the laborers can get money enough 
 to support their famihes by their own work. 
 God is not partial, and so long as they lead 
 their lives in honest way, there is no reason 
 that they should be so unfortunate that they 
 must depend upon others' help. Nay, they 
 are even able to promote their happiness by 
 their efforts, if they have the higher spirit. 
 However poor and miserable they might be, 
 all the laborers who became the members of 
 the Union w^ere excited to strive with wonder- 
 ful courage to overcome the devil's power, 
 which debase them, trusting only in God. Let 
 me describe here an instance of our triumph : 
 
 At the end of the year 1907, in which I 
 started this work, a gentleman called at my 
 house and asked my wife to give him assist- 
 ance by leading him to the poorest slum for 
 his charitable work. But as I was not at 
 
IN DARKNESS 25 
 
 home then my wife told him to go to the meet- 
 ing house of the Union, where he was di- 
 rected at last to the house of one of the poor- 
 est members of the Union, who lives in a 
 slum that seems more like hell than like this 
 world. 
 
 He was much pleased and satisfied that he 
 had come to such an ideal place for his pur- 
 pose. He then told the member about his 
 mighty plan, and asked him to help by dis- 
 tributing his charitable presents to his neigh- 
 bors, expecting that the member should ac- 
 cept the commission and be very much pleased. 
 Ah! How the friend answered? How he ac- 
 quitted himself? This was the true test not 
 only of him but of my own work! 
 
 Thank God. The member, showing the 
 greatest vigor and perseverance with his cheer- 
 ful smjles, answered as follows: *T was fet- 
 tered for more than thirty years of my past 
 life under the power of the devil, and lost 
 all the money that I could earn, wasting it in 
 merely drinking. I was so debased and poor 
 that I oftentimes was forced to ask my wife 
 to go abroad as a beggar. If this kind offer 
 had been made to me at that time I should 
 have accepted it with the utmost eagerness and 
 
26 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 heartfelt thanks for myself and for my 
 friends about here. But I cannot do so now, 
 as I am a member of the L. R. U. My only 
 hope is that you will understand the reason 
 of it perfectly. The people about here are 
 truly poor and miserable, as you may see for 
 yourself; most of them are shuddering in this 
 cold season without clothes and crying with 
 hunger for food. But what made them so 
 miserable? It is the necessary question to be 
 solved before you do that act of charity. God 
 gives them a good many jobs of work every 
 day, but they do not use the money thus given 
 for a proper purpose, and are losing it by 
 gambling, drinking, and committing every 
 other sin. It is by God's law and will that 
 they are in such a state, so long as they lead 
 their lives in the present way. I am an old 
 man over sixty years of age, and am not able 
 to work as hard as they can, but since I be- 
 came a servant of Christ, and my life was 
 changed, I am made so happy with my wife 
 and children. Not only can I supply the ne- 
 cessity of my family, but I am moreover able 
 to help others and to save money. You see by 
 this (and he showed him the book of a sav- 
 ings bank), and may know that I am speaking 
 
IN DARKNESS 27 
 
 the truth. I am a prophet among these poor 
 people, and am persuading them to repent 
 their sins and to yield to God to become happy 
 like myself, witnessing God's grace with this 
 actual change of my character and life. Now 
 my sincere hope for you is that you may un- 
 derstand perfectly that your charity can do no 
 good for them, except to make them lazy and 
 help them to go on in a more sinful way, 
 while they are declining to accept our instruc- 
 tion. Is it not more clear now, that man shall 
 not be saved by bread alone, in this case? 
 You had better spend your money in a more 
 useful way." 
 
 When this old member told me how he has 
 answered, with pleasing countenance, I praised 
 him highly, and received his report as if I had 
 heard the first shout of victory in my battle- 
 field, and Banzaied many times in my heart. 
 Whether this gentleman could have under- 
 stood the truth, or displeased by such proud 
 and unwelcome answer of this poor fellow at 
 that time, was unknown to me, but when he 
 called on me again a year afterward he praised 
 my work and promised to help it. 
 
28 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Key to Open the Obstinate Hearts 
 OF the Poor Laborers. 
 
 It is truly hard work to raise the debased 
 hearts of poor people to such a high spirit of 
 self-help and self-respect — much harder than 
 to see the mere nodding of their heads by the 
 simple charity of giving. I have decided, 
 however, to abstain from such fruitless char- 
 ity, and bend my whole energy to convert 
 their hearts at first for many years. But in 
 case of necessity I used to give in such a way 
 as the receivers could not feel it, and I got 
 at last a splendid result in the hearts of few 
 men. Among them are Mr. Gonda and Mr. 
 Kikuchi; and he was this last one, whom I 
 have mentioned in last chapter. 
 
 They served me as the key to open other 
 obstinate hearts, and afford me a great facil- 
 ity to push my work on, making first one and 
 then another a key to another in turn. The 
 whole number of the members of the Union 
 is about one hundred at present (August 17, 
 
xn 
 U 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
IN DARKNESS 29 
 
 1 910). And as the Union became known 
 rapidly thus among the poor people the num- 
 ber of those who come to ask our help has 
 increased month after month, and I am en- 
 deavoring to give the proper work to each 
 when I have found that he is worthy in his 
 spirit to receive it. The urgent necessity has 
 made me start a boarding house for those who 
 have no home in July i, 1909. As I did not 
 have money enough for it I have borrowed a 
 very small house in a slum, and very soon it 
 was filled with fifteen bodies. The house is 
 too small and too dirty, but I have no power 
 to improve it in any way at present. They are 
 crowded in a small space, and their miserable 
 condition is beyond description. Yet their 
 number is swelling day by day, and it seems 
 to demand me to enlarge it endlessly. 
 
 To them we are supplying many kinds of 
 articles to sell easily every morning, and when 
 they come back at the evening they make an 
 account, and take their interest. I am making 
 Mr. Gonda direct this business, which is going 
 on very well. They are holding prayer meet- 
 ings in the house with other members who live 
 in the vicinity to receive their spiritual salva- 
 tion as well. 
 
30 THEY THAT SAT . 
 
 When they could save some amount of 
 money in this way, I am making them start 
 their own business in a small scale independ- 
 ently. Some of them have succeeded very 
 well in it already, and made their own home. 
 
IN DARKNESS 31 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Their Sad Histories Before They Came 
 
 To Me. 
 
 Though their poor circumstances before 
 they came to me were divers and different, 
 they all alike deserve our deep sympathy and 
 commiseration. Let me describe a few in- 
 stances of them. 
 
 A POOR YOUNG ORPHAN. 
 
 One of them was a poor young orphan, who 
 came out from his native country to Tokyo 
 with a hope to get some work. When the 
 poor fellow was searching for it, he was de- 
 prived of all the money he had by bands of 
 certain wicked men, and was wandering about 
 for some days without taking any food. At 
 last he was advised to come to the Union by 
 a kind sympathizer. 
 
32 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 A SON OF SOME COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. 
 
 Another was the son of some country gen- 
 tleman near Tokyo, who died a few years ago, 
 upon which the whole property was seized by 
 his bad uncle and the family was reduced to 
 a miserable condition. So he left his native 
 place in agony to search for the uncle to ask 
 his merciful help. But when he found him 
 out in Yokohama, the uncle relentlessly re- 
 fused to accept his earnest entreaty, and drove 
 him away, without giving him a sen of money 
 or a little bit of bread. He then came to 
 Tokyo walking on foot, without any hope, 
 and wandered about in the city, sleeping in 
 an iron pipe of an aqueduct, which was thrown 
 on the wayside, at night, and fell into my 
 hands eventually. 
 
 MR. S. YOKOTA. 
 
 Another was a man, Shofu Yokota, who is 
 about forty years of age. He was once a 
 political speaker, an official of the government, 
 a speculator in the rice market and a stock 
 broker. At one time he made a fortune of 
 
IN DARKNESS 33 
 
 many thousands of dollars, but after failures 
 in the business he fell into such narrow cir- 
 cumstances that he could in no way support 
 his family. He thought in utter grief that it 
 was a great pity to leave his dear wife and 
 hungry children in such a severe pain of pov- 
 erty, and determined rather in his half-fren- 
 zied state of mind to put them into the eternal 
 rest, and that he should go after them. 
 
 Late one night, when they were fast asleep, 
 he silently rose from his bed, after a fierce 
 struggle in his heart with his love toward 
 them, and desperately forcing it back, and 
 w^ent first to the children, holding a glittering 
 sword in his hand. But at this dangerous 
 moment he saw a peaceful smile on the face 
 of his youngest child, who would perhaps 
 been in happy dream, and he felt suddenly a 
 strange emotion in his heart and his throat 
 was choked with bitter tears. 
 
 He stooped by its side to cry, and pondered 
 about his ow^n foolishness, and he then un- 
 derstood that this misfortune came not from 
 any other cause than his own sins; he remem- 
 bered that his previous life had been so licen- 
 tious, led by a mind that lacks any good mo- 
 tive, and that it was necessary to change his 
 
34 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 heart entirely, and lead his life in a new way. 
 Gnashing his teeth in regret, crying out his 
 sorrow, he apologized himself in his heart to 
 the sleeping family about such a horrible mis- 
 conduct, and determined to become an entirely 
 different man. 
 
 He then sent his wife and children to his 
 native city, Tsuyama in Okayama Prefecture, 
 for a while, and when he was searching for 
 work he read the poster of my Union on the 
 street, and came to me. He began to work in 
 the Union immediately with the bright hope 
 to prepare a new home for his dear ones. He 
 had entered into the boarding house in No- 
 vember, 1909, and by his hard effort he suc- 
 ceeded in providing a small house to live in, 
 and called his eldest girl to help him already. 
 
 MR. Y. JINZENJI. 
 
 Mr. Jinzenji is another one who have a 
 special history to be described. He was born 
 in an old and rich family, in the Jinzenji vil- 
 lage, Kochi Prefecture, forty-three years ago. 
 In his youth he received a good education, and 
 graduated from the Kochi Normal School and 
 the Imperial Agricultural College. But after 
 
IN DARKNESS 35 
 
 his parents had died, and he became the sole 
 master of that great wealth, he delivered 
 himself up to wantonness and squandered all 
 his property, which had been laid up through 
 many ages by his ancestors. 
 
 When he repented of his misconduct, how- 
 ever, it was too late, and he found himself in 
 the depth of poverty. He then left his native 
 place, and went out to Ibaraki Prefecture, 
 which is notable for its richness of coal mines. 
 There he engaged in the mine business for 
 more than ten years, with great zeal to re- 
 cover his lost wealth. Though there were 
 some ups and downs, he fell more and more 
 into the bottom of misery, and became utterly 
 helpless at the beginning of this year. 
 
 He came out to Tokyo, but there no better 
 fate waited him, and at last he determined 
 to commit suicide in despair by throwing him- 
 self into the sea at Shinagawa. On the eve- 
 ning of the 15th January he left his lodg- 
 ing in Ushigome, and went out to search for 
 a suitable place for death. Fortunately, how- 
 ever, it was ebb tide, when he arrived at 
 Shinagawa by the tram-car, and therefore he 
 directed his steps, without any will of his own, 
 toward Omori along the seaside. 
 
36 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 It was a very cold and dreary winter night, 
 and the snow began to fall heavily. He was 
 walking in an absent-minded state, and 
 reached to Omori at midnight. All the stores 
 and houses were shut, nobody was seen on the 
 street, and the wind was cold and high, the 
 snow flakes falling in every direction; a truly 
 lonesome scene it was ! While he was think- 
 ing how to die, he found, to his surprise, that 
 a man was standing before him under the 
 eaves of a house. He then approached and 
 asked him who he was. It was a young man, 
 who came from Kasukabe town, drawing a 
 large cart to carry merchandise to Yokohama, 
 where he must arrive before nine in the fol- 
 lowing morning. But being checked by this 
 snow storm, he was greatly harassed, and was 
 at a loss as to what to do. He told that his 
 parents had died when he was quite young, 
 and he was living with his grandfather, who 
 is very ill, and for whose sake he was striv- 
 ing against all the worldly distress in this 
 manner. 
 
 Hearing the story of this poor young fel- 
 low, Mr. Jinzenji was much ashamed, and 
 found that there were much more unfortunate 
 persons in this world than himself, and under- 
 
IN DARKNESS 37 
 
 stood that it was the voice of God to encour- 
 age him. So he gave up his weak purpose 
 and determined to try once more his fortune. 
 He began to work at once, and started for 
 Yokohama, with this young man, rendering 
 him help to draw the cart through the whirl- 
 ing snow. 
 
 After searching for work in vain, he re- 
 turned to Tokyo, and by the kindness of an 
 officer of the Salvation Army he was intro- 
 duced to Mr. K. Ozawa, a member of my 
 Union, and w^as sent to me. He has con- 
 fessed all his past sins, and asked for help. 
 I gave him work immediately, and he has been 
 working happily ever since as the member of 
 the Union. 
 
 MR. T. TANABE. 
 
 Mr. T. Tanabe is one who was saved very 
 early in the Union. When I had held the 
 first meeting of the Union on the ist of April, 
 1907, in the house of a laborer, thirteen bodies 
 were present at it, and Mr. Tanabe was one 
 of them. He was a man who did not attract 
 my attention specially, but looked to us to be 
 a man of avarice. At the beginning of this 
 
38 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 year, however, I found that there was the rea- 
 son for it. On a Sunday, in April, this year, 
 he came into my vestry after the service was 
 closed and reported to me that his elder sister 
 had been a harlot in the city of Niigata, and 
 that he had been working with all his might 
 to rescue her. She took up such a disgraceful 
 profession with mere hope to help her poor 
 sick father when her brothers were yet young 
 and the family was in a helpless state. She 
 was staying in such a sad condition until the 
 money which her father had received in ad- 
 vance should be paid back. 
 
 When Mr. Tanabe became our member, and 
 his heart was enlightened, he felt that it was 
 his duty to save his sister from that shameful 
 position. When his younger brother came to 
 Tokyo, and became our member also by his 
 influence, they both united to devote them- 
 selves with admirable zeal to the noble work, 
 though they kept it in secrecy, till they had 
 succeeded in it at last. All the members of 
 the Union were also much surprised and 
 showed them their profound respect and 
 praise when they heard it. 
 
IN DARKNESS 39 
 
 A POOR SICK YOUNG MAN. 
 
 It was at the beginning of Lent in this year 
 that a man sent to me a poor sick person, 
 Iseji Kato, who looked as if he was ready to 
 die in a short time. I was much perplexed 
 and murmured that the man is too foolish to 
 bring him to any one like myself, who was not 
 a physician, and not to a charitable hospital. 
 But as it was too late in the evening, Mr. 
 Gonda, the director of the boarding house, 
 was compelled to make him stay in it that 
 night. The young man was extremely pleased 
 by it, and told that it was for the first time 
 he could lie down in such a warm bed and 
 receive such sympathetic treatment. It seemed 
 that his words were not mere flattery, for he 
 looked to be so very grateful that his words 
 became choked in his throat as his talk went 
 on, and at last bursted into loud cry with 
 thankful tears. Noticing his hearty sincerity, 
 I inquired about his matter and heard of his 
 previous sad history. 
 
 Nothing was known by him about his 
 mother except that she came from elsewhere 
 to Sawane, a village in Saitama-prefecture. 
 
40 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 She has supported herself and the child by her 
 own work of sewing, until he grew up to the 
 age of five years, and then she died. Being 
 left helpless as a poor orphan, he exerted him- 
 self for his existence and grew up in a most 
 painful manner. He worked as if he were a 
 slave in the house of the farmer, Jinsaku 
 Sakurai, where his mother died. But when 
 he became sickly and weak he was driven 
 away by the merciless master and came to 
 Tokyo. While he was wandering about in the 
 city his energy was exhausted and he fell to 
 the ground perfectly helpless. 
 
 When we heard such a pitiable story we all 
 thought that God had sent him to us to render 
 him every possible help. To take the first 
 step, it was to inquire about his disease and 
 health, and made a physician examine him. 
 It became clear that the nature of his illness 
 was not fatal, though his health now is in 
 the most dangerous state by the long want of 
 nourishment. 
 
 So I have told all the members of the Union 
 that he might be saved if we would keep this 
 Lent with the spirit of love and give him our 
 life blood as a sacrifice for him. It was our 
 delightful work, and with the forty days and 
 
IN DARKNESS 41 
 
 forty nights, the man, who had nothing but 
 sure death to wait for, was saved by the mi- 
 raculous power of the Holy Spirit, who 
 wrought in the hearts of those selfish persons 
 who had been merciless thieves, gamblers, 
 drunkards, and so forth, letting them render 
 him that urgent help cheerfully. 
 
 Now he has become stronger and is able 
 to work as other people. Whenever we look 
 at him we can not help associating him with 
 that grateful memory of our privileged work 
 during the Lent of this year. 
 
 A POOR WORKING MAN^ G. IRIYAMA. 
 
 I wish to add one more story of a poor 
 working man, G. Iriyama. Some three years 
 ago there lived a working man by the name 
 of G. Iriyama not far from the meeting house 
 of the Union. He was working in a glass 
 factory. One hot day in the summer his wife 
 prepared a kind of food with flour, which she 
 bought from a shop by sending her eldest 
 son. 
 
 When this innocent boy was on his way 
 home he found on the street some flour much 
 like that he had just got. So he scooped it 
 
42 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 up with his hands and added it carelessly to 
 his own. It was arsenic acid, a deadly poison. 
 And no sooner the wife, unfortunate victim, 
 ate one piece of the food than she began to 
 feel the stomach ache, and the pain increased 
 every minute. The frightened children cried 
 out; all the neighbors assembled by the voice; 
 the doctor and her husband were sent for. 
 They all assembled together around her, but 
 there was no way nor time to find out the 
 remedy. And thus, after awful torments for 
 about two hours, she expired, surrounded by 
 the sobbing and crying family and friends. 
 
 The loss of his wife, however, was only the 
 beginning of this man's calamities. The 
 youngest son was but one year old, and unless 
 there was some one kind enough to take it 
 from his arms, he could not go to his work. 
 But it was impossible to find out so kind a 
 person among his companions, for they were 
 also too busy in the struggle for their own 
 existence. And when, moreover, the other two 
 children became very ill, he was left so poor 
 and helpless. Being thi -^wn into such despera- 
 tion, he understood t.iat this world is full of 
 miseries and truly a hell, where there is no 
 love nor sympathy, and the whole inhabitants 
 
THE MAN BORN AGAIN AND HIS FAMILY 
 
IN DARKNESS 43 
 
 in it appeared, in his hopeless eyes, as the 
 wild and remorseless beasts. 
 
 In such agony he made up his mind to go 
 into river to die rather than to endure the 
 pain to see his sick and hungry children with- 
 out any means to help them in his hands, for 
 he thought that if he would disappear himself 
 from this world the children might be rather 
 happy, being taken into the hands of some 
 charitable person. So he sold all his remain- 
 ing articles, and with that money he roamed 
 about in this city with them for two days, en- 
 tertaining them with the last fatherly love, 
 and at last he bade farewell in his breaking 
 heart, in disguise, and turned his tear-stream- 
 ing face away from them and ran away, leav- 
 ing them at the corner of some street near 
 Asakusa Park. 
 
 It was just at this last moment when one 
 of the workers of the Union met him on the 
 way to the real hell. Having inquired the 
 circumstances, he was led to us, and God gave 
 us means to help him, responding to our ear- 
 nest prayers, and the heart of this once de- 
 spairing father is now looking bright with 
 joy and hope, having been baptized by me. 
 
44 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 IX. 
 
 The Work for Children in Slums. 
 
 In carrying on my work for these poor 
 people I understood that it was most needful 
 to give religious instruction to their little chil- 
 dren, but at first I found it difficult to start 
 an efficient meeting for them. I had to hold 
 it on the same night, an hour before the 
 adults should be gathered, twice a month. But 
 to my surprise they were more unmanageable 
 than I had thought. They were so thoroughly 
 accustomed to the vicious and lawless life in 
 their homes that we were at our wits' end to 
 know how to teach them, for when they as- 
 sembled together in a room they cried, laughed, 
 romped or blackguarded each other, without 
 listening to any of our words, and moreover 
 some of them were carrying little babies on 
 their backs to add their noisy crying to this 
 abundant vociferation. Those who seemed so 
 gentle and quiet among them were either sick 
 or hungry. 
 
IN DARKNESS 45 
 
 My co-worker told me that he saw once in 
 a slum one drunkard, who sent his boy to the 
 charitable school one morning without giving 
 him any food to take beforehand, and when 
 the boy came home at noon and teased for 
 dinner, rebuked the boy violently, saying, **Be 
 quiet! Even your father has not taken his 
 breakfast yet, except drinking 'sake' only." 
 What a brutal slave to drinking! What an 
 unfortunate poor boy! 
 
 Some children in the meeting were seem- 
 ingly weak and sickly, but their parents were 
 supposed to be unable to take any care for 
 them, leaving them to their own fate. A boy 
 who came out from a poor large family looked 
 to be very tired, and when we called at his 
 house we found that his father had been long 
 ill, and understood that he was in sad and 
 pitiable state of hunger. 
 
 It is impossible to mention here all such in- 
 stances about these unhappy children. When 
 I looked at them at the meeting and found 
 that I was powerless to give them any ma- 
 terial help and comfort, I could not help break- 
 ing into tears from the sympathy that I felt 
 in my heart, and it is a burden almost greater 
 than I can bear. 
 
46 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 Those wayward and wretched children used 
 to come to attend our meeting only to excite 
 their own curiosity by singing out songs or 
 by looking at the pictures, which we occasion- 
 ally show them by the magic-lantern. 
 
 The ordinary hymns of our church are too 
 hard to understand their meanings for these 
 children, as well as adults about here, and are 
 not of much use for the meetings of the 
 Union, and so I was composing special ones, 
 which are suitable to excite their interest by 
 their purport as well as by the tunes. As I 
 got a few of them by the kind aid of my 
 friends, I have committed them to print and 
 got a nice little book, the ''Union Songs/' just 
 this month, August, 19 lo. 
 
 Little by little, however, this clamorous 
 meeting of the children became peaceful, and 
 after a few months it changed into an utterly 
 different state. The children became much 
 more courteous, and listened to our teaching 
 with keen interest. The change of their daily 
 life was also so manifest that their parents 
 were surprised by it, and many of them came 
 to thank us for it. I saw a mother one day 
 who heard such a good rumor of it in her so- 
 ciety, brought her rude boy with her, and 
 
IN DARKNESS 47 
 
 asked us, saying, *'Is it this house where as 
 they say I may apply to make this boy good 
 for something?" 
 
 At present I see many mothers who bring 
 their children at every meeting. From the 
 summer of last year I have increased the num- 
 ber of the meetings for these children, and 
 succeeded in starting the Sunday school for 
 them, opening it from 2 P. M. on every Sun- 
 day. The number of those children who are 
 present at every meeting is now from 50 to 
 70. We are obliged to limit their number by 
 the reason that I have no house large enough 
 to receive more, as it is in the case for adults. 
 
 We had a very nice Christmas with these 
 poor children last year for the first time. They 
 looked very grateful and happy, when they 
 received such nice presents as they had never 
 seen elsewhere. 
 
48 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 X. 
 
 A Visit to a Slum. 
 
 It was my long hope to become the friend 
 of the wicked villains, with the hope to con- 
 vert their hearts, and I wanted to pay my 
 visit to the slums, where they specially lived. 
 But it seemed very hard to make any success- 
 ful visit to them without the help of my con- 
 verted laborers. 
 
 Just after I had started the work of the 
 Union the first villain to whom my eyes were 
 directed was the jinrikisha-man, whose name 
 was Hijikata. He was a fierce looking, 
 wicked fellow, who was always intoxicated 
 while he had money in his pockets. His wife 
 had been taken away by a disease many years 
 ago, leaving three children behind her. 
 Though he might receive god wages for his 
 daily w^ork, he could not bring them to his 
 house, spending all the money merely for 
 drinking. He was not, however, without tears 
 of pity for his children, and when he started 
 from his house for his work in morning he 
 
IN DARKNESS 49 
 
 left many kind words of love to them, but he 
 lost the sense to feel pity for those who are 
 waiting for his return with hunger as soon 
 as he began to drink. Some members of our 
 Union, knowing it, had been accustomed to 
 give food to them whenever they passed by 
 the house on the way of their trade. At last 
 two of the younger children became very weak 
 and died, but the eldest girl was sent to be 
 employed in the spinning house and for- 
 tunately survived them. 
 
 At the end of the summer, 1907, there was 
 a flood, and all the people in his slum were 
 moved to the school house near by. While 
 he was staying there he became a friend with 
 a woman, and after the flood he took her home 
 as his second wife, who brought her two chil- 
 dren with her. After a few months, how- 
 ever, she disappeared with her own children 
 and brought away all her articles when he was 
 abroad at his work. 
 
 He then learned that he had been deceived 
 by her, who had her real husband and came 
 only to stay in his house for a while, for her 
 husband was a thief and had been in prison, 
 but as he was released from it she returned to 
 him. 
 
50 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 So he got very angry and determined to 
 kill the faithless woman. Casting off his 
 work and taking a dagger under his clothes 
 he began to search for her with bloody eyes 
 day after day. When we heard of it, and 
 were wanting to meet him, Mr. Gonda saw 
 him on a street and brought him to his house. 
 He endeavored to quiet the rageful man, and 
 succeeded to make him understand that it was 
 too foolish to become such a dreadful sinner 
 by her, and sent him to his home, plucking 
 away the dagger from him. 
 
 Catching this good opportunity, I wanted 
 to call on him at his house, and to hold a 
 meeting for the people about there at once. 
 But Mr. Gonda told me that it was yet dan- 
 gerous, and wanted me to let him make the 
 preparation for it. For there lived a band of 
 gamblers in the neighborhood of the house of 
 Bijikata, and they were so violent and igno- 
 rant that Mr. Gonda feared that they would 
 attack us while we were holding the meeting 
 there. 
 
 At that time Mr. Gonda's trade was to sell 
 some articles of food going round the streets. 
 When he came to pass the gamblers' house one 
 day one of them came out and, wanting to 
 
• IN DARKNESS 51 
 
 buy his articles, higgled the price of them. 
 Taking this opportunity, Mr. Gonda scoffed 
 at him, saying, "It is not only impossible to 
 lower the price for you, but I do not even 
 like to sell my articles to such a person as 
 yourself." This challenge of course provoked 
 the gambler as he expected, and their discus- 
 sion grew more and more harsh, and at last 
 the gambler demanded that Mr. Gonda should 
 come into his house to explain more about the 
 matter, for he told him, *'The Son of God 
 would not like anything to do with such sin- 
 fulness." 
 
 It was truly a dangerous risk. "Without 
 entering into the tiger's den one can not catch 
 the tiger's young," so says our proverb. And 
 our brave and faithful soldier of the cross 
 had entered into it. In the house he found 
 the villains were just in the heat of their 
 sinful business, and they were much surprised 
 when he appeared suddenly before them, and 
 encircled him ready to do violence at any 
 moment. 
 
 He then prayed earnestly for our Lord's 
 help, and began his eloquent speech calmly in 
 the following words : 
 
 "Dear brethren! Why do you think it is 
 
52 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 strange to hear that I called myself a son of 
 God ? I had not been a man so different from 
 you all. I used to gamble; I used to drink; 
 I used to do whatever you are doing to-day. 
 I have had all the experience that you have 
 now. But you must agree with me, such a 
 licentious life never affords us true happiness. 
 
 'T could never send my children to school. 
 I often left my family in hunger, without giv- 
 ing them anything to eat, and I quarreled day 
 by day with my wife, when I led my life in 
 your present way. I feel that my life was 
 much inferior to that of the birds and beasts. 
 
 ''But, dear brethren, when I became a mem- 
 ber of my Union, and this beautiful badge 
 on my breast began to shine, my heart was 
 thoroughly changed by the miraculous power 
 of God, and all such unhappy elements in my 
 house were cleared off. I can not only have 
 money enough for the livelihood of my fam- 
 ily, but I am able to contribute some of it to 
 charitable works at present. 
 
 ''Compare this with my former condition, 
 and if I was a son of devil, what do you say 
 I am to-day? My sincere hope for you all is 
 that you may become more happy men than 
 I am now, by the merciful help of our God," 
 
IN DARKNESS 53 
 
 Hearing this kind, fraternal advice, they 
 were much surprised, and some of them Vvrere 
 so much moved as to promise to come to our 
 meeting. This is a good explanation of how 
 much I owe to the earnest and faithful service 
 of my officers in doing the work of the Union. 
 
 The way to the slum being thus open, I had 
 visited the slum in the afternoon of the fol- 
 lowing Sunday, i6th February, 1908, and 
 called on the jinriksha-man's house. There 
 are many kinds of jinriksha-men in this city, 
 and he belonged to the worst kind of them, 
 which we call the "moro-shafu." They work 
 only in night, and are very greedy for out- 
 rageous gain with slightest possible work, in 
 the darkest side of our society. He was 
 then sleeping, and by our invitation he came 
 out with an astonished face, and was obliged 
 to receive us into his house, which was only 
 one room of intolerable dirt, with lousy mats, 
 and a few simple articles and furniture on the 
 floor. 
 
 He seemed to be much confused, and lost 
 his head as to what to do. Then Mr. Gonda 
 introduced me to him very solemnly and bade 
 him to go round the neighborhood and gather 
 the people for us. While he went out, we 
 
54 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 took our seats in the room. In a short time 
 he came home with his neighbors, and they 
 sat around me. A very wry-faced working 
 man, who was right next to my seat, was in- 
 troduced to me by Mr. Gonda with such 
 strange words : ''Sir, this is a man who abhors 
 Christianity so bitterly that he gave me a 
 heavy blow with a club the other day when I 
 met him on the street about here." 
 
 Being thrashed back with this unexpected 
 introduction he was greatly ashamed, and 
 nodded his head unhesitatingly before me. In 
 answer to this I began my speech, which lasted 
 for more than an hour. While I was speaking 
 their heads were dropping lower and lower, 
 and to my surprise I found that they were 
 very weak in their hearts, and easily sur- 
 rendered to us. I understood also that they 
 are liable to become slave to sins easily by the 
 same reason — a truly pitiable race, who want 
 to be taken care of by us constantly! Vicious 
 and pitiless as the master of this house was, 
 he fast melted into a flood of tears, and twice 
 he went away, while I was speaking, to soothe 
 his troubled conscience. Among the crowding 
 audience outside of the house were seen those 
 gamblers to whom Mr. Gonda had given his 
 
IN DARKNESS 55 
 
 first instruction already. The meeting was 
 closed with my prayer, and we came out of 
 the house, and heard the voice from the people 
 outside, which said, "Your teaching was very 
 useful to us and gave us the good instruction." 
 All the members of the Union were greatly 
 encouraged by this triumph, and began to fight 
 against the enemy with more vigor and con- 
 fidence than ever. It has opened the way be- 
 fore us to push our steps into such slums in 
 night to hold the open-air meeting with no 
 obstruction. 
 
 September 2, 19 10. 
 
56 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 XL 
 
 The Result of the Flood on My Work, 
 beginning of the overflow. 
 
 Following the rainy season of this year, suc- 
 cessive storms of rain have been experienced 
 in the eastern part of our empire throughout 
 the summer, and the water in many rivers in 
 and about Tokyo awfully increased at the be- 
 ginning of August, and we wtre very restless 
 and anxious for what would come about. 
 
 It was on the evening of nth August that 
 the Sumida River suddenly began to overflow 
 its banks at last, when I had just reached my 
 church to preach on my way home from Oji. 
 Many people who were present there reported 
 that they came through streets which were 
 flooded already as high as their knees, and the 
 matter seemed very urgent. So I decided to 
 suspend the meeting and proclaimed that those 
 persons who came from lower parts of the 
 city should go back to their homes and others 
 
Q 
 
IN DARKNESS 57 
 
 to visit their friends in the dangerous quarters 
 to render them help. 
 
 The field of my work, composed of the two 
 districts, Honjo and Kukagawa, is the lowest 
 part of the city, lying on the eastern side of 
 the River Sumida, and moreover the numer- 
 ous canals that ran through it in every direc- 
 tion gave the flooding water great facility to 
 submerge the whole part of it at once. 
 
 The night was passed by the terror-stricken 
 inhabitants, in whole part of these two dis- 
 tricts, without sleep in making their own re- 
 lief. On the next morning, however, the water 
 seemed to increase no more, and their hearts 
 were somewhat tranquilized. But when one 
 danger was over another great one was 
 coming. 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF THE TONE BANK. 
 
 In the afternoon of the next day, 12th Au- 
 gust, at about three o'clock, we received a 
 most terrible telegram that the strong embank- 
 ment of the Tone River was broken at a spot 
 about twenty-five miles from Tokyo, and its 
 furious water was rolling down toward us at 
 its full speed. We had a dreadful remem- 
 
58 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 brance that it was broken once, about one 
 hundred years ago, when the tremendous dam- 
 age ensued, it flooded over many districts of 
 the city, as high as fifteen feet at some places. 
 Of course, the telegram caused a panic of the 
 people, and in the mean time the new great 
 force of that water arrived and the flood be- 
 gan to swell suddenly. 
 
 In the eastern part of Honjo district the 
 water in the canals soon rose many feet higher 
 than their embankment and began to fall down 
 into the streets in the shape of a broad cata- 
 ract. So that it flooded there so suddenly that 
 a man in Umemoricho, for instance, whose 
 wife had just been in labor, could scarcely lift 
 her up on a shelf, and when he came to the 
 child, he found it dead in the merciless water. 
 
 A poor laborer, who had been living in 
 Oshima-machi, had a girl of eight years old 
 and twins, which were born only nine days 
 before the flood, and was nursing his wife, 
 who was seriously ill. When he found the 
 water like the sea around his house he was 
 much perplexed how to make good their es- 
 cape by his single power. They waded a long 
 way through deep water in dark night, direct- 
 ing their steps toward higher places, but 
 
IN DARKNESS 59 
 
 everywhere the flood became higher and 
 higher, and they were forced to change their 
 refuges three times in a night, until the energy 
 of that unfortunate wife was at last exhausted 
 and she died the next morning. In what con- 
 dition of distress he was at such time can 
 better be imagined than I can describe. 
 
 The loss of his wife was a severe blow to 
 this poor family. The man lost his entire 
 power to work from that day, having these 
 helpless children in his hands to be taken care 
 of by himself alone, and the consequence of it 
 was the starvation of the whole family! He 
 was one of the poor sufferers from the flood, 
 who were reported to me by our members, and 
 I tried to help him by paying the expenses 
 of a foster-mother for the twins, until they 
 died one after another before the end of this 
 year. 
 
 THE PROVIDENTIAL PROTECTION OF GOD OF THE 
 MEMBERS OF THE L. R. U. IN THE CALAMITY. 
 
 Almost all the houses of the members of 
 the Union who lived in these districts were in- 
 undated, but they fought this natural enemy 
 with the same faith and perseverance as in 
 
6o THEY THAT SAT 
 
 their daily life, and the flood itself seemed to 
 have been a great baptism to my work, and 
 renewed our faith by the practical experience 
 of God's gracious providence revealed very 
 clearly in it. 
 
 Before I describe a few instances of that 
 grace, however, I wish to deal with an example 
 that taught us how unavailing human power 
 and contrivance were at such a moment. 
 
 There lived a rich man, Mr. K. Watanabe, 
 in Rameido (eastern end of Tokyo), who had 
 built a fine large house and moved to it a few 
 months before the flood. When his house was 
 inundated a large boat was sent to him from 
 his kindred to save his family out of the dan- 
 ger. All the members of his family climbed 
 into it at once, and were about to leave the 
 place. The poor people around, who were 
 desperately crying for the help from the top 
 of their houses, saw this happy family, amaz- 
 ing at the wonderful efficiency of the power of 
 gold, and complained of their own sad fortune. 
 
 Receiving such a melancholy send-off, the 
 rich man's boat started, rowed by a strong 
 crew, and rode down over the rapid stream 
 along the streets of Taihei-cho and Umemori- 
 cho, and came near to the Honjo Railway Sta- 
 
IN DARKNESS 6i 
 
 tion. But when it was steering round the cor- 
 ner of Nagasaki bridge it went whirling round 
 at the mercy of the angry eddy, and at last 
 was overturned. Eighteen bodies in it were 
 all scattered about in the furious torrent be- 
 fore hundreds of spectators, who sent out 
 many life boats in an instant and endeavored 
 to save them. 
 
 Notwithstanding of their great efforts, the 
 eldest girl of the rich man, with many thou- 
 sands of yens of money, and a servant were 
 by no means saved, and the body of the former 
 was found afterwards in the canal near my 
 house, about a mile below, and the servant's 
 under a raft of timbers not far from the spot. 
 
 This unexpected news must have been a 
 great surprise to those poor people in Rameido, 
 who found themselves rather in safety on 
 their houses, and they understood that they 
 should be grateful that they were not so rich 
 as this unfortunate family. Such events oc- 
 curred everywhere in the flood, and I have no 
 time to describe them all. So now to com- 
 pare with this instance of the unreliability of 
 human power, I wish to return to the accounts 
 of our poor friends who were saved by God 
 even in the most dangerous circumstances. 
 
62 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 MR. SHIGEKICHI HASHIMOTO. 
 
 Mr. S. Hashimoto is a typical member of 
 the Union, full of the spirit of self-help and 
 self-respect. Formerly he worked in the 
 Hon jo Railway Station in this city, and had a 
 most unfortunate accident. 
 
 The accident happened on the 15th January, 
 1900, when a train was just running into the 
 depot. At that moment he lost his footing 
 from the platform, and no sooner had he 
 fallen flat upon the rail than the train went 
 over him, cutting his feet off by the middle 
 of the thighs. Though he was once in a most 
 critical condition, he held on to life, and under- 
 went a long surgical treatment in the Roto 
 Hospital, and recovered his health again. All 
 expenses in the hospital were paid for him by 
 the railway company, but as he could not re- 
 ceive a sufficient subsidy for future relief, he 
 soon fell into great privation with his family, 
 and encountered unspeakable hardships and 
 pains for many years. But all adverse cir- 
 cumstances could never conquer this feetless 
 man, and I used to encourage, whenever I 
 visited him. Carrying a trade in a small 
 
IN DARKNESS 63 
 
 scale, he supported his family, then the old 
 mother, the wife and a child. At the same 
 time he devoted himself to learning with great 
 perseverance, and at last he opened a private 
 school at the eastern end of Honjo district, 
 and now is teaching English, Chinese, mathe- 
 matics and book-keeping. His wife is also an 
 admirable woman. It is by her faithful ser- 
 vice that he attained his end. His mother 
 died when they were at the depth of their 
 poverty, and he has three children at present. 
 In lucky or unlucky days, he is always in a 
 most happy frame of mind, and every member 
 of the Union who called on him was encour- 
 aged by his good humor and faith. He is 
 truly a living sermon in my Union. 
 
 However vigorous in his spirit he might be 
 his house was in the most unfavorable posi- 
 tion in the flood, not far from the said rich 
 man, and, moreover, his wife had labor only 
 three days before the overflow. Even his 
 eldest son was only seven years old, and there- 
 fore there was no one who was strong enough 
 to do any work in such calamity. So I was 
 in the greatest anxiety about this helpless 
 family from the beginning. Therefore I sent 
 two strong young men, when the Sumida 
 
64 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 River began to overflow, on the evening of 
 nth August. But at that time there was not 
 so much water in Kameide, and his house was 
 in safety. On the next day, however, when 
 the bank of Tone River was broken, the water 
 from it had directly rushed into his part 
 and submerged his house immediately, 
 before I could send the relief hands. 
 When two strong men ventured to cross the 
 dangers on the way and visited him on 
 that night, I had not the slightest hope of 
 his safety. 
 
 When they reached there they found, to 
 their despair, that his house was flooded al- 
 ready, and that the rapid torrent with many 
 floating materials was dashing mercilessly 
 against its closed doors. But when a door was 
 open, to their ecstasy and surprise they saw 
 the whole family in ease on a strong shelf, 
 which was constructed very well. The new- 
 born child, knowing not anything of this 
 world, was peacefully sleeping with its mother 
 in the bed, only one foot high above the roar- 
 ing water, which was running through the 
 house from the front door down into the 
 canal behind. But whence had such a timely 
 relief come? The question in the visitors' 
 
THE FEETLESS OFFICER OF THE UNION AND HIS FAMILY 
 WITH THE BABY BORN IN THE FLOOD 
 
IN DARKNESS 65 
 
 hearts could never be solved. It was God 
 who sent it actually. 
 
 A friend of Mr. Hashimoto, who lived far 
 away in Tabata village, had come out to Tokyo 
 on that day, without thinking anything about 
 him, but when that person saw the telegram, 
 posted up by the side of Azuma bridge, and 
 learned that the Tone embankment was broken 
 just a few minutes before, a thought flashed 
 into his heart, and felt a great necessity to 
 render his assistance to his maimed friend. 
 He hurried on hither at rapid pace, with two 
 other bodies, who joined him while on the 
 road by his request. When they have arrived 
 here, no drop of water was seen around his 
 house, and Mr. Hashimoto could not under- 
 stand why they did come in so hasty a manner. 
 
 But when they had built the high tempo- 
 rary floor, and were putting up the family and 
 furniture on it one by one, the water began 
 to rise up at enormous speed and ran into the 
 house. It submerged the floor at last, when 
 their work was just finished. Thus this help- 
 less family was saved out of the great danger 
 beyond all human expectation. 
 
66 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 OTHER FAMILIES IN DANGER. 
 
 There were many other families among the 
 members of my church and the Union, in this 
 quarter, who were no less in need of help, and 
 though my heart was bursting with anxiety 
 for their fate, I could not get time and hands 
 enough to do so many things at once at such 
 an urgent moment. 
 
 Among them I can count Mr. Kurahashi, 
 who was a blind man; Mr. Otaki, Mr. Tani- 
 shima and Mr. Majima, who were in the worst 
 part of the flood ; and Mr. Sakurai, who missed 
 his mother and sister in the water, when they 
 were escaping from the danger in night, and 
 other sick men. But when circumstances al- 
 lowed me to visit around I found them all in 
 safety, and none of them lost even simple 
 pieces of their furniture, obviously protected 
 by the providential hand of the Almighty, 
 while many folks around them were receiv- 
 ing much damage to their property and even 
 to their lives. This clear contrast gave us a 
 profound instruction and made our confidence 
 in the words of God much stronger than ever, 
 as in the time of Noah. 
 
IN DARKNESS 67 
 
 THE TRIAL OF OUR MEMBERS COURAGE. 
 
 There could never have been before so good 
 opportunity as this great calamity to test the 
 faith and courage of our members. I would 
 conclude this description of the flood by re- 
 cording the interesting accounts of their strug- 
 gles in this battlefield of our faith. 
 
 MR. D. OTAKI. 
 
 Mr. D. Otaki was a poor artisan, living with 
 his wife and two children in the most danger- 
 ous quarter, as was said above. His work is 
 to make toys in his own little house. From 
 the morning of 12th August the water was in- 
 creasing little by little, and his neighbors were 
 in great consternation, and no one could take 
 their works. But as the member of the L. 
 R. U., he worked assiduously to make up some 
 toys before 3 P. M., as he promised to his 
 customer, while he ordered his wife to pre- 
 pare food for many days. When his work 
 was finished he carried out the products by a 
 cart and brought them to the customer. He 
 conveyed also his elder boy, important furni- 
 
68 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 tiire and clothes by the same cart to intrust 
 them to the care of a friend on his way. See- 
 ing his distress to draw that heavy cart 
 through muddy and flooded road, his wife 
 joined him to push the cart from behind, leav- 
 ing a baby to the care of their neighbor for 
 a while. 
 
 When they returned home and were making 
 precautions for the flood the water from Tone 
 just reached them and increased at every mo- 
 ment. Then the family climbed up higher and 
 higher as the water rose, until they were 
 driven into the ceiling, in which they were 
 trembling with terror, for the water came so 
 high up that they could reach its surface with 
 their hands. As it was a little house of only 
 one story, there was no higher place for them 
 to climb, and when the gloomy night fell they 
 were entirely sealed up in that narrow space 
 under the roof. I heard that a dead family 
 was found after the flood at somewhere in 
 Kameido, having been killed by the suffocation 
 in the same circumstance. 
 
 Mr. Otaki, however, broke a hole in the roof, 
 and climbed up to the top of the house to look 
 abroad. The surrounding scene was truly 
 sickening; the painful and urgent cry for help 
 
IN DARKNESS 69 
 
 from the neighboring inhabitants mingled with 
 the mournful echo of the cattle growling in 
 their last agony were arising in the dark as in 
 a sanguinary battlefield; the roof upon which 
 he was standing looked like a little rock to be 
 carried away at any moment by the roaring 
 torrent ; death truly stared him in the face ! 
 
 He feared that his wife should lose her 
 consciousness in an instant, if he allow her to 
 look out over this awful scene. So he deter- 
 mined rather to retire with his family to the 
 ceiling and cheer them, entrusting their fate 
 to God. Their prayer was answered, and the 
 water increased no more, standing still at a 
 few inches below them. They passed three 
 days in this state, having sufficient provision, 
 that was prepared by his wise foresight, and 
 were saved out by a life boat sent from the 
 city authorities in the morning of 15th. 
 Though there was much damage in this neigh- 
 borhood, he did not lose anything that be- 
 longed to him, and even got the more con- 
 fidence of his customer by his honest behavior 
 at such a time. 
 
70 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 THE MEMBERS IN THE BOARDING HOUSE. 
 
 The quarter where our boarding house 
 stood was soon inundated, when Sumida 
 River overflowed on the evening of nth. All 
 bodies in it constructed high shelves, and pre- 
 pared every thing for the coming calamity, as 
 far as they could. When the unexpected water 
 from the Tone united its new great force, 
 however, the place became very dangerous, 
 and the naval soldiers and poHcemen went 
 round about here with many life boats and 
 persuaded the people to flee. 
 
 Many thousands of the poor sufferers were 
 sent off to the school buildings, Buddhist tem- 
 ples and wrestling circus, where they were well 
 provided with all their daily necessities; there 
 they slept under the brilHant gas and electric 
 lights at night; there they passed their lazy 
 days without any toil for their livelihood ; they 
 were rather happy to stay longer there. There- 
 fore they are dreaming of the "gracious flood" 
 even now, and praying that it would come 
 again in next year. 
 
 But our members in the boarding house, 
 however poor and miserable they had been, 
 had an entirely different spirit. Mr. Gonda, 
 
IN DARKNESS 71 
 
 the director of the house, much grieved that 
 they must sacrifice the long-cherished spirit of 
 self-help and self-respect in their hearts be- 
 cause of receiving the merciful help of others 
 in this temporary trial. All persons under 
 him thought that such disgrace was more in- 
 tolerable than hunger or any other pain. 
 
 So they assembled together and held a 
 prayer meeting, standing in the water, and 
 asked God that they might save themselves out 
 from all dangers, without receiving others' 
 mercy, and they made up their minds to strive 
 for victory over all difficulties in the flood. 
 Mr. Gonda, however, persuaded that any one 
 who thinks himself to be unable to take such 
 hard work should go off at once, and two 
 weak men were carried away by a life boat. 
 Then Mr. Gonda sent the women and children 
 to my church, which was not flooded, to be 
 taken care of by other members of it, that the 
 remaining persons might struggle freely 
 against this strange trial. 
 
 All the neighbors had kindly told them that 
 it is too indiscreet to remain in such a dan- 
 gerous place, and earnestly tried to bring them 
 to the same opinion with themselves. But 
 when they saw our members' obstinacy would 
 
y2 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 never yield, they began to reproach and aban- 
 don them, crying, ''Barbarous Christians ! Ob- 
 stinate fools, who can not care for their own 
 lives!" 
 
 Then Mr. Gonda consulted with the mem- 
 bers how to support themselves in this circum- 
 stances, and they decided that every one should 
 go to certain places and buy any articles he 
 thought suitable, and go round in the water to 
 sell them to the sufferers, who were yet re- 
 maining at the far end of these districts. 
 
 As they foresaw, the water did not increase 
 higher than their breast on the street, and they 
 went about in the slums, especially where the 
 people had been missed by the officers sent to 
 save them and were in the most distressing 
 state of hunger. They tried to sell their ar- 
 ticles to such sufferers at the lowest possible 
 price at first, but as the time went on their 
 miserable condition became greater and 
 greater, and our members were at last obliged 
 often to forget their own matter, and give 
 their articles for nothing. So they were wel- 
 comed by the people at everywhere as their 
 saviors almost to be worshiped. When they 
 came home at evening they used to make ac- 
 count, but it was not the money that they 
 
IN DARKNESS 'jz 
 
 brought home, but diverse kinds of dehghtful 
 accounts of their day's work done for the poor 
 sufferers for the sake of our Lord. 
 
 There were not a few who understood the 
 true love of Christians for the first time by our 
 members' generous behavior during this flood. 
 One night, however, when they assembled to- 
 gether they found that they had all given up 
 their articles for nothing, each thinking he has 
 met with especially poor people, and on making 
 up their accounts, there were only three sens 
 in cash at all, and they passed that night with 
 hunger, each taking only a morsel of bread. 
 But timely relief came soon, when I visited 
 them to present a contribution of money that 
 had just reached my hands, without thinking 
 whether they were in such a condition. After 
 it, the contribution of money, rice, clothes and 
 many kinds of food began to reach me, fol- 
 lowing one after another, and it encouraged 
 them to devote themselves more diligently 
 than ever to such charitable work. They ven- 
 tured to go far and wide into the most dan- 
 gerous places, and exerted themselves to dis- 
 tribute the merciful presents to those hidden 
 sufferers, whom most people could never find 
 out. 
 
74 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 Unless we are poor and acquainted with all 
 their circumstances, we can not detect the se- 
 cret of poor people. Moreover most of them 
 are selfish and cunning, and therefore, how- 
 ever prudent and cautious the relievers should 
 endeavor to be, their alms will be easily seized 
 upon by idle rogues as their prey, and in many 
 cases their works end with no fruit, while the 
 innocent donors alone are proud of it, dream- 
 ing mighty success. I saw many facts of this 
 kind in the flood. Many poor people, who had 
 not so much damage, were deceiving the visit- 
 ors with admirable skill to attract their sym- 
 pathy to seize upon the charitable presents 
 intended only for true sufferers. There were 
 many vagabonds, w^ho took such opportunity 
 and entered into the flooded quarters from 
 other districts. They mixed with the true 
 refugees in order to be taken into the shelters, 
 and received undeserved entertainment. 
 
 Our members, however, had been living 
 among such people always, and therefore they 
 were not deceived, and served me as the most 
 eflicient distributors of the alms, and by their 
 diligent exertions our Union succeeded in con- 
 veying the love of our friends to those whose 
 circumstances most needed it. Led by the 
 
IN DARKNESS 75 
 
 hand of God, they were thus induced to do a 
 most momentous work at the most needed mo- 
 ment, when no help from the rich or authori- 
 ties could reach such people; and those who 
 received most of the grace of God were none 
 but our members, who, being called barbarians 
 or fools by other people, experienced such 
 mighty work that none can dream of. 
 
 The flood, that caused much damage to 
 crops, business, properties, and lives generally, 
 was thus a gracious baptism for my work, as 
 I said, which renewed and confirmed the faith 
 and spirit of all the members of the Union. 
 
 August 15th, 191 1. 
 
y6 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 XII. 
 
 An Old and New Men in One Person. 
 
 Every member of my Union, who was 
 blessed and born again by the grace of God, 
 has his own peculiar account about their 
 change of the character and life, which would 
 be very interesting to my readers. But as I 
 can not describe all of them here, I will men- 
 tion one case of Mr. M. Numari, of whose 
 conversion I described already in the preced- 
 ing chapter. 
 
 Though he had run away from his father 
 and committed crimes, his repentance was not 
 hopeless. According to his account, he feared 
 his sins dreadfully and repented from his heart 
 when he was first sentenced to imprisonment, 
 and really wanted to change his life at his re- 
 turn from prison. "If there was any kind 
 person who would have helped me," he con- 
 fessed to me, ''I should have been saved." 
 Unfortunately, however, there was none when 
 he was released. "When I came out from the 
 
NUMARI, THE EX=CRIMINAL 
 
IN DARKNESS yy 
 
 prison," he continued, *'I was clothed with 
 only a thin knit shirt and drawer in cold win- 
 ter, and without one penny — a poor hungering 
 dog! Unless one was a godly saint it is im- 
 possible for him to endure a holy death, not 
 committing any more sins for living. Under 
 such circumstances I was driven again to steal 
 the food and clothes for my existence as soon 
 as I left the gate of the prison." Thus he 
 has now great sympathy with ex-criminals in 
 the same condition, and is ready to receive 
 and convert them. 
 
 But as he was going on to continue in his 
 hellward course, his sensibilities of such fear 
 of sin had gradually disappeared from his 
 mind, and he became indifferent to it, and 
 grew into quite a wicked fellow. When he 
 was fourteen years old he was put in a non- 
 Christian asylum for ex-criminals, started by 
 a heathen, Zenkichi, Takahashi, as other kinds 
 of our Christian social works are imitated by 
 them. But there was no work of Holy Spirit 
 among them to convert his heart, and, when 
 the director of the asylum saw that he was so 
 stubborn and wild, he gave him a terrible 
 chastisement by binding him to a pole out 
 doors and poured a bucketful of water upon 
 
78 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 his head and exposed him in the freezing win- 
 ter for the whole night. On the next morn- 
 ing, however, the director still found him not 
 yielded, so that he determined to make him a 
 maimed person who might no longer go on in 
 his sinful ways. So he broke a joint of his 
 right hand, and set him free. 
 
 Having been treated with such a violence, 
 he thought that he would be killed soon if he 
 stayed any longer with such a heartless man, 
 and he ran away from the asylum. When he 
 was running on a street in Kyobashi district, 
 thinking how to get the remedy of his hand, 
 there was a fire and the people were in a great 
 confusion. So he stole some articles in the 
 broad day light, that he might be arrested. 
 He was sent into the prison, as he hoped, and 
 received the perfect medical treatment in the 
 prison hospital. He was much happier in the 
 prison than in the asylum of the hypocrite! 
 In the prison he met with other youngsters, 
 who were in the same asylum with him, hav- 
 ing been sentenced to much longer imprison- 
 ment than himself for the great crime, and he 
 understood that it was advantageous for him 
 that he did not stay longer in such asylum, 
 and united them to commit the crime with 
 
IN DARKNESS 79 
 
 them. When he grew up he became a very 
 famous thief among the poHcemen in this city, 
 as he had an admirable skill to flee from their 
 hands. Two policemen were dismissed from 
 their office in the police station of my district 
 on account of their failures to keep him. '*It 
 is a very easy work to escape from their hand," 
 he remarked to me, when he confessed his past 
 crimes, "if I can find one of the very many 
 careless moments of the policemen." 
 
 Once when he was arrested in the Honjo 
 Police Station he jumped up its high brick 
 wall in a moment leisure and flashed away 
 over it like a lightning before the policemen 
 stirred up after him. Having ran round along 
 the corner of the wall before the pursuers 
 caught his sight, he jumped over it again into 
 the compound of the station itself, when it 
 became comparatively a safe refuge, and con- 
 cealed himself in a narrow space of its back 
 building. The policemen rung telephones to 
 all other stations, and the extraordinary alarm 
 cordon was instantly arranged in the necessary 
 parts of the city. But all their efforts were in 
 vain, as the thief himself was coolly looking 
 at his watch in this unexpected refuge wait- 
 ing for the time the cordon should be put off. 
 
8o THEY THAT SAT 
 
 And then he came out from his hiding place 
 there in due course, having dressed his head 
 and face with a band that he made out of his 
 white undercloth, and with the shoes stolen 
 from the house of the head of that police 
 station. He walked slowly and silently in the 
 street as if one was going home from a hos- 
 pital, having received a surgical operation. 
 When he came to the Ryogeku bridge, where 
 a policeman was standing with yet vigilant 
 eyes, he approached the officer and asked in a 
 rural dialect what was the hour, and thus 
 escaped from their hands entirely, leaving the 
 words, ''Thank you, sir." 
 
 Such was his skill, and he was much feared 
 by policemen in duty with him. But he told 
 me that he could not run away when he was 
 treated kindly by a certain policeman, as he 
 felt so sorry if the policeman should be dis- 
 missed on his account. He behaved also very 
 wild in the prison and often received special 
 punishments of every kind in it. 
 
 He had, however, a peculiar patriotic spirit 
 and tried to do some good for the country. 
 Once he thought it is a patriotic deed to per- 
 secute the Christians and drive that foreign 
 religion out of this country. So he helped a 
 
IN DARKNESS 8i 
 
 Shinto priest, Shogen Hara, who lives near 
 the Hachiman shrine in my parish, and went 
 round the country, preaching their anti- 
 Christian purport. All the expenses for 
 this movement were paid by him from his 
 unlimited resource. He, at the head of his 
 band of the wicked men, often attacked the 
 Salvation Army, holding its open-air cam- 
 paign by the Takabashi bridge near my 
 church. 
 
 Such is his former life. But when he came 
 to my Union and was converted, he was en- 
 tirely changed. The first work I gave him 
 was to clean the street lamps. I told him 
 that God's name could be glorified by any 
 man irrespective of his work, and that he must 
 work most honestly as an ideal lamp cleaner. 
 He did just as I told him. One day, when 
 he was doing his work at the gate of a man- 
 sion in Azabu, the master of the house, whose 
 admiration had already been excited by his 
 daily work, came out and gave him some 
 money and said, "Take this little money; I 
 am surprised by your honesty; it is for your 
 tobacco; go on in your present way, and I 
 am sure you will become a happy man." *'No, 
 thank you, sir," responded the amazed fellow; 
 
82 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 "I am doing what I ought to do, receiving my 
 daily wages from my company, and there is 
 no reason on my part to receive such extra 
 present." But as the gentleman forced him 
 to take it, he brought it to the manager of 
 his company, but the manager only sneered 
 at him, saying, ''Don't be a fool; that is your 
 income." However, his conscience would not 
 let him keep it. So he came to me to ask 
 what to do, and according to my advice, he 
 bought a religious book with that money and 
 gave it to the gentleman, and told him what 
 made him different from other working men 
 is explained in that book. 
 
 The next work I gave him was to go round 
 the streets and sell some liquid. Now there 
 lived in Honjo district his former chief — a 
 man who was over fifty years old, also very 
 wicked and sentenced many times to long im- 
 prisonment, and once killed a policeman and 
 some other people. One day, when he came 
 round near this man's house, he accidentally 
 stumbled and fell down, pouring out all his 
 liquid on the road and lost it. Presently a maid 
 came out from his old chief's house, saw the 
 poor young man in despair, and was much sur- 
 prised to find him to be her old acquaintance. 
 
IN DARKNESS 83 
 
 She ran in and informed it to her master. The 
 master came out instantly, and seeing all that, 
 told him, *T was much moved having heard of 
 your recent change, and hope for your success. 
 I feel very sorry for you to see this unfortunate 
 accident, but I hope you will never be discour- 
 aged by it. So I propose to buy all the liquid 
 you have lost, and pay for it at your selling 
 price, so that you may go home without dam- 
 age by this accident." Mr. Numari under- 
 stood his kind intention and sympathy very 
 well, but at the same time he thought that he 
 must not yield to any merciful help from that 
 sinful man, whom he was to lead to God and 
 make repent. So he declined to accept his 
 kind proposal, saying, "It is very kind of you, 
 and thank you very much for your kind offer, 
 but there is a reason why I can not accept it. 
 One who makes me stumble and lose my article 
 to-day is none but the God, my new Lord," 
 and smiling at the old man's perplexed face, 
 he continued, "My God has seized my day's 
 earnings from my hands to-day. But do you 
 know why? There is a profound reason. As 
 you heard, I had repented and become a Chris- 
 tian, and many persons are praising me; but 
 there are great many sins more to repent in 
 
84 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 my heart. You know very well, I was igno- 
 rant of the true value of money, as I could get 
 it any time by an easy labor, and squandered 
 it most carelessly. So my God gave me a 
 very important lesson just now, and taught 
 me that the money I used to steal before was 
 so valuable that the people could earn it only 
 with such pains and difficulties as I have now 
 experienced. Now I understand more deeply 
 about my past sins to repent, hearing this 
 clear voice of God from above. I can not, 
 therefore, sell such a precious grace of God 
 to you whatever price you may offer me. It 
 is the will of God to polish and enlighten my 
 heart more and to lead me to the more happy 
 life. I would rather pass this day with fast- 
 ing and prayers, and receive this heavenly 
 food to my thankful spirit." His old chief 
 was greatly amazed and moved with this ex- 
 traordinary change in the young man, and 
 ever since he listens to his words with keen 
 interest and reverence. 
 
 On one occasion Mr. Numari called on a 
 police detective at Honjo Police Station, Mr. 
 G. Ashida, who warned me for my safety 
 when I took Mr. Numari into my Union. He 
 was arrested several times by this man, and 
 
IN DARKNESS 85 
 
 they were old acquaintances with each other. 
 Mr. Ashida is a Christian, but is not earnest, 
 and Mr. Numari found now that he had done 
 many things to him which were not becoming 
 to a Christian. So in his return he went there 
 to arrest him in the name of Christ, and per- 
 suaded him to become more earnest, and told 
 him before the audience of many astonished 
 policemen about the grace of God that changed 
 him so marvelously. 
 
 He has visited also the Shinto priest, Sho- 
 gen Hara, many times after his conversion, 
 and told him to repent and to become a Chris- 
 tian, demonstrating the powerlessness of his 
 work, by the fact that he could not convert 
 him when the priest was with him so long 
 time. The result of it is at least the priest's 
 silence against Christianity, and that he has 
 no more courage to do anything against my 
 work as he did against the Salvation Army 
 before. 
 
 Mr. Numari is one of my powerful weap- 
 ons against such ignorant people at present, 
 at the same time he is a good citizen, who 
 pays the taxes to the government, successful 
 in the trade of shoemaking, which work I 
 gave him at last. He married to a good 
 
86 THEY THAT SAT 
 
 Christian woman last year, and a lovely baby 
 was born to them this year, whom I named 
 "Nobuko," a daughter of the Faith. They 
 are enjoying the luxury of the bountiful bless- 
 ings of God in their wonderful happy home, 
 glorifying the name of our Lord in this miser- 
 able heathen society. 
 
 As Japan has made some progress in the 
 material civilization, some think that we are 
 also much advanced in religion and morality. 
 But it is a great mistake. Those who have 
 hitherto hated Christianity became indifferent 
 to it — that is about all of the present change. 
 It seems to me that all foreign churches should 
 now reinforce the missionaries and concen- 
 trate their forces, and do their very best for 
 solving the problem, "Can Christianity con- 
 quer Japan?" 
 
 However, the age of arguing is now past in 
 Japan; we must show the people the practical 
 good of Christianity to humanity. Such is my 
 humble desire in carrying the work of the 
 Laborers' Reform Union. I have already be- 
 gan it, and its foundation is laid upon my 
 past work of twenty years. If I may be al- 
 lowed to go on with my work in a greater 
 scale. It is not only a blessing to the poor peo- 
 

 -^ <1 
 
 
 Q Q 
 
 
 :z: «i 
 
 
 9^ 
 
 
 o . 
 
 
 H^ 
 
 
 ^ s - 
 
 
 ^ Pi 
 
 
 <<^ 
 
 o 
 
 <^^^ 
 
 Ci 
 
 ^^^B 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 :5 »«^ 
 
 hH 
 
 L£ I"! .J 
 
 o 
 
 ^ >^- S ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 • *^ 1 - 
 
 
 M . l-H 
 
 
 •« 2 ffi 
 
 t^ 
 
 ^ ^ fS !^ 
 
 «' 
 
 URA, ; 
 3YAGI 
 Bottom 
 AMAG 
 
 t— i 
 
 H 
 
 ffi 
 
 S^ >^ 
 
 H 
 
 1— 1 ^j 
 
 fo 
 
 W 02 ^ M 
 
 o 
 
 M tf ^ S' 
 
 M 
 
 .^<^ 
 
 Pi 
 
 Pi -S 
 
 1— 1 
 
 o 
 
 UGIURA 
 , C. SHI] 
 ATANO, 
 
 w 
 
 P.CC Pi ffi 
 
 
 ^ >-i '^ W 
 
 
 > < Pi 
 
 
 H Q 5 
 Pi ^ '^ 
 
 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 
 2 < 
 
 
 S >^ 
 
 
 0^ . 
 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 
 •I Pi 
 
 
 :^s 
 
IN DARKNESS 87 
 
 pie, but it will also do a tremendous good in 
 establishment of God's kingdom in this coun- 
 try by showing what His religion can actu- 
 ally do. 
 
 The following are the farewell words of 
 my father in faith, the late Bishop C. M. VVil- 
 lianis, which he wrote to me from Yokohama, 
 when he was about to leave Japan eternally 
 for Virginia: 
 "Sayonara : 
 
 "I hope your work among the poor wretched 
 people will continue to grow and be blessed 
 and that others will follow your example." 
 
 I am ready to serve our Lord until my end 
 against any hardship — my life and my all is 
 offered in sacrifice to Him. I hope my read- 
 ers in sympathy with my work will pray for 
 me and for my work. I tried to keep silent 
 for the last twenty years, but now I can not, 
 not for myself, but for His glory. 
 

 DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 ,M^ iniiiMt 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CAYLORO 
 
 
 
 PAINTEO IN U.S.A. 
 
BW8545 .S94 
 
 They that sat in darkness : an account 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00035 0175 
 
 '.fit.'itiitnt 
 
 m 
 
 » 
 
 I 
 
 ?