“Japan”
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BIPOC Voices in the Victorian Periodical Press
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V.—Japan.
[...]
5. LETTER FROM A NATIVE MISSIONARY.
At the present time there are about fifty missionaries in Japan, consisting of a few English brethren and the great majority from America. Successful efforts also are being made towards raising up a native ministry. A young man of the latter class, NEE SIMA by name, on his return to his native land from America, writes to the secretary of the society with which he is connected as follows:—
"Soon after my arrival at home, I presented your kind letter to my father. Before I got half through all of them began to weep, being much affected by your parental kindness shown to me. My father told me that you were our saviours and our gods. Then I told him that he must worship that God, the only one God, the Creator of the universe, the Saviour of mankind, the God of his American friends. I mentioned still further that these friends became so good and kind, even to a wandering stranger, because they are the true worshippers of God and the humble followers of Christ, who is, indeed, the Saviour of mankind. He came to this sinful world to save the poor and lost. These friends saved me from a miserable condition, and gave me necessary education, so that I might become a teacher of the glad tidings of salvation to our benighted people. They loved our people as much as their own American people, and gave me good education, hoping that I might render some service to our people, especially in leading them to the way of life.
"Since that time my poor father has discontinued to worship the Japanese gods and his ancestors. By his consent I took down all the paper, wooden, earthen, and brass gods from shelves where they were kept, and burned them up. I send a few paper gods for you, which my mother threw over in the fire-place. There are no gods or images in this house now. I trust they will be the worshippers of the true God hereafter.
"Beside my home friends, my humble labour within three weeks in this place has been wonderfully blessed. I have preached several times in the school-house in this town, and also preached to small audiences in different families. A week before the last Sabbath I preached to a large audience in a Buddhist temple. All the priests in this community came, and listened to the preaching of the new religion. There were over two-hundred in number present, consisting of priests, laymen, a few women and children.
"Thirty men in this town (Annaka) and a few men out of the town took up a collection for purchasing some Christian books for themselves. One of them gave six en (nearly six dollars in gold), and a few others gave one en. The contributors are over thirty, and the amount of contributions is nearly 17.35 dollars in gold. They requested me to buy some Christian books when I go to Tokio or Yokohama. They are hungry and thirsty for the Christian truth. I find here everything ready for the Gospel. The field is white for the harvest."
Digital Publication Details
Title: “Japan”
Subtitle(s): “Letter From a Native Missionary”
Creator(s): Anonymous; Nee Sima
Publication date: (1876) 2022
Digital publishers: One More Voice, COVE
Critical encoding: Trevor Bleick, Kenneth C. Crowell, Kasey Peters, Adrian S. Wisnicki
One More Voice identifier: liv_025052
Cite (Chicago Author-Date): Anonymous, and Nee Sima. (1876) 2022. “Japan.” Edited by Trevor Bleick, Kenneth C. Crowell, and Kasey Peters. In “BIPOC Voices,” One More Voice, solidarity edition; Collaborative Organization for Virtual Education (COVE). https://onemorevoice.org/html/bipoc-voices/digital-editions-soas/liv_025052_HTML.html.
Rights: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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