DEDICATION

Dedicated to Myrtle, with affection and in grateful memory of the years spent together in college, in village pastorates, and on the foreign mission field.

PREFACE

N writing the chapters of this book, I have kept in mind the ordinary reader at home and have tried to

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give him a bird's-eye view of the whole missionary situation in Japan as one missionary sees it. I have also endeavoured to give information for those who are eager to know more of Japan and of the Gospel's conquests in these Islands. The book has been written in the hope that praise may ascend to God for the victories attained, and that intercession may be offered for the final triumph. That it might make some contribution, if ever so little, in stimulating some other life in mission endeavour, has been my chief inspiration in venturing before the public as an author. I have been especially desirous to influence young men and young women who ought to become Student Volunteers and those, also, whom God has blessed with wealth, who feel accountable to Him as stewards. The great world problem of to-day is the problem of the spread of Christianity, that a growth in righteousness and godliness may be rapid and universal enough to overtake and equalize the spread among all nations, of worldly wisdom, material power, discontent, and revolutionary ideas. Every contribution of a life or a fortune to missions is a direct contribution towards the peace, the tranquillity, and the well-being of the entire world.

Our day of Gospel opportunity has never been equalled and no man can say that the day will be forever protracted. Within a few decades, Asia will be covered with a network of railways which will bring to the dwellers of the most remote forest, mountain, or desert oasis all the accessories of our material civilization. The out

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