The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-01-06

Iul 10 Ln6 people. we DtSdn 10 eoLhDiloH
classes for teaching English. and after q
time the Japanese came to US in such large
numbers that schools were organized. Last
year six or seven hundred were thus under
the instruction of the missionaries OF the
American Board. They were afraid IL we
talked about religion, because the laws
against Christianity were very severe.
About year and a half after reached Jap
an my teacher was arrested by the govern
ment and be subsequently died in prison.
the only man who lost his life In connection
with the introduction Of Protestant Christi
anity to Japan. Among the incidental work
has been that Of educating cook for the
Mikado's palace. The speaker then told the
story Of japanese who came to this
country and studied hard. and
then went back 10 his own land and
devoted himself to preaching, accepting
as charge, church of twelve members.
with salary Of 81 month. He was man
OF poor health, not living many years, but
the influence Of his self-sacrifcing deeds
was very great. Fully 1900 came TO pay their
tribute OF respect TO this man when he died,
he whom they knew very we'll had sacrificed
himself for the cause of Christianity.
The real secret Of success Is sympathy on
the part OF the missionary. / want 10 en-
phasize that the missionaries are in no sense
bishops OF the Japanese churches. AS long
rs the worker makes it his main object to
help the people he will find opportunities
enough to give expression to his Christian
love and truth. He was very much Impress
ed by an incident at the celebration Of the
tenth anniversary of his church. One Of
the Japanese told him how he became inter-
ested, saying that he went to the service not
because he expected to receive any good, but
simply through a desire that Mr.. Greene
might not be disappointed by not having
many hearers, so he went to swell the con-
gregation.
One of the very great advantages which
hac - s..G- III.
tlanity to Japan is the changed view Of FAM
lily life. There is very different idea Of the
relations of the members Of the family to
one another, and 1t is change which has
been Of unspeakable benefit in my judgment.
A writer in the Century few months ago
said that the family life Of Japan was very
nearly the ideal Of family life. He had
lived three years there, but his idea Of the
FAMILY life was OF the most superficial kind.
Inc japanese are an affecti0nate people, and
1t renders very much in their life extremely
attractive, but If that man had come into
closer relations with them, so that he could
have, In any sense. been their confidant In
times of trouble, he would have seen how
much Of real trouble there is in Japan be-
cause of that wrong idea of the relation
Sf Srsh,ppa parents fo s,,o to r. children. and Of
family prevails to very large extent. The
father is made the head Of the family and
neither wife nor child has any right which
the father is bound to respect. The natural
result Is to brutalizs the parental heart.
when the children grow up the father feels
that he has right to force the life Of his
children into just such lines as will bring in
the greatest advantage to him. When par
ent reaches the age Of 40 he retires from
business. and throws all the responsibilities
of the family debts on his son. The father
says he was treated that way, and there Is
no reason why he should not get his pay
back. The Influence of the Christian reli-
gion has been to ameliorate these conditions.
Formerly II merchant went upon the
street he knew not whether he would return
alive. military man had the right to cut
his head off and say he was angered, and no
punishment would be inflicted. Now they
have pet5Gnal liberty almost as great as 10
this country. i cannot believe that the JAP
anese will say, as SOME people do In this
country, that the old civilization was good
deal better for them. The changed glew OF
erly they met death with stoielsm; suicide
was common. Now all Is vastly different
1t seems to me that all of us who have a
share In this great work in Japan cannot be
grateful enough for the privilege. which God
mas put upon us In making US His messen-
gers OF this inestim ible gospel.
THE FOURTH W. c. t. U. MEETING.
The fourth of the series OF meetings which
the w. c. I. U. is holding during the win
ter was held at the Congress Square Church
last evening, the speaker being Mrs. Mary
A. Livermore Of Boston. Mrs. Livermore in
opening said:
1t has come to the pass that people are
tired OF the temperance question because
there IS, they say, nothing new in IL and
they get tired of listening to the same old,
stale arguments, and the same narrowing
tales OF intemperauce. Continuing, the
speaker said that she had never been aecus-
toned to temporize and to disguise the tenn
perance question under the guise of any
thing. She had found that plain speaking
was the better way. She said that some
people thought after the defeats that the
cause had suffered in sixteen
states, and that they called Waterloo defeats
that they would give 1t up. They were not
respondent. The defeats were not Waterloo
defeats but Bull Run defeats, out of which,
by revealing the weak points Of the army of
temperance, would come future victory.
Sne then proceeded to pay her respects to
high license, which she declared was no bet
ter than free rum, by showing how 1t had
worked in Massachusetts. She said that the
Borton Horald, which had been a tremen-
dOus champion of the high license system,
had come around after sending its reporters
around to the saloons in the city of Boston
and canyassing the situation, to the belief
that the high license while 1t did Shut up a
lew saloons, did nothing toward stopping
the consumption Of liquor as the remaining
saloons had their business doubled. The
principal burden Of her discourse was on
this theme OF hostility to high license. She
SAID that where the saloon keepers were COM
pelled to pay thousand dollars for Ii
eense they recouped by gathering into their
tolls not only the men but the boys, for she
SAID that the liquor dealers realize that their
regular customers cannot last long, and that
unless they get fresh recruits they will soon
have no business and the traffic that was
making them rich will have ruined them. To
offset tAts she said they entice young BOYS
into their saloons and teachthem to l0ve the
taste of liquor. She said that she was not in
despair of good results. The world has
made progress since ancient times and il will
make more. 1t may not be in my time she
said, or in yours that the time will come
when the world will be free from the curse,
but 1t will come some time. We think that
the solid front of the liquor dealers Is gran
lite, strong as the everlasting hills themselves
but 1t is not, 1t is only conglomerate, a hard
and tongh conglomerate to be sure, but not
granite and not impenetrabe. Let the gem
eral public rise up and demand in its
strength that something be done and some
thing will be done.
CHESTNUT STREET CHURCH.
Rev. N. I. Whitaker, yesterday afternoon,
preached New Years exhortation to his
finding his text in two scriptu-
ral passages, Proverbs, xi-20, and Daniel
kills. The true Christian winneth souls and
receives as a special reward from God pecu-
liar glory that shall continue forever
Standing on the threshold Of the new year.
not knowing what awaits us or whether we
shall see It's close, conscious Of the failures
OF the year now erded. really anxious il we
witness the close of 1890 that it may be the
best year OF our lives in Christian service, il
Is hitting .ha. we consider the wisdom Of
such work and its reward
Ihen was noted and elaborated, that the
soul IS more valuable than any human mind
can estimate, its price is beyond value that
IL Is wise to save souls because God has re.
vealed the great truth that the saved are to
save the unsaved, which Is the great mission
OIL life. The uuconyerted man does not
grasp spiritual things. There are things
enough i'll this busy world to keep every hIl-
man being busy at work without thinking
about the world that Is to come, and multi
tudeS are giving themselves TO these things
forgetting the higher, nobler, better life It
requires kind words, backed by holy life,
to reach those that are wrapt up by the
things of this world, help. them remove the
scales from their eyes and see the better life
Ia closing, earnest thought was urged up
on thIee questions: Are you willing that
soul in your own family. or soul in this
community, shall be lost by your fault? Are