A New Bible Story

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 8, 1906

A New Bible Story

DURING the siege of Port Arthur, a Japanese soldier lost both his eyes by a cruel bullet. Again and again he begged his comrades to kill him, but, of course, they would not. He was brought to one of the military hospitals in Tokyo to be cared for until able to return home.

Here also he pleaded with the other soldiers to end his life, and as he began to recover his health, he became more and more sad. One day he said: “Well, I will go home and let my family see me just once, then no one can prevent my killing myself. No harm in putting an end to my own misery.”

Every few days a missionary visited this hospital, taking the soldiers flowers, Gospels, tracts, etc., and taught them about Jesus. Some of the officials of the hospital said to her: “There is a man there who has lost his eyes and seems quite lonely. If you have time, we should like to have you visit him.”

They did not tell how he had wanted to die, and how he had threatened to kill himself. This missionary went to his bedside and talked to him several times. At first he did not take very much interest in anything she said, but gradually he became quite friendly.

Finally she asked him if he would not like to learn to read, and he was so surprised at such a question, for while he could read before going to battle, how could he ever do so again? But the missionary taught him to read the blind man’s Bible, just as blind people in America are taught to read, and he was just as happy as the blind man whom Jesus healed. Day by day he read the Bible, and became a happy Christian.

The other soldiers could not believe that he could read, and tried to tease him, so he said: “You may pick out any verse you please, and I will show you that I can read.” So they kept selecting, and to their astonishment he could read everything and enjoyed doing so, all the more because he wanted to teach the Bible to the other men.

When this blind soldier was able to return home, some one said to him, just as he was leaving the hospital, “Are you going to kill yourself after you have seen your family?” and he replied, “No, I am going home to teach my wife and children Christianity; I am glad that I was wounded, for now I am a Christian.”—Selected.