THE INFLUENCE OF CHARACTER.
An influential character is within the reach of everyone. Nothing has given as much force to the Christian religion as the character of Jesus Christ. The most outspoken infidel will admit that he was "a good man," and many of them will quote his words and cite his example in opposition to his professed followers. If the most obscure Christian will but imitate the example of his humble, unselfish Master, and fill his mind with the word of truth, he cannot help wielding an influence for good. Christ could not be hid, even when he sought retirement in uninhabited places. The following from the Evangelical Christian illustrates the power of true Christian character:— After the expulsion of the Roman Catholic missionaries from Japan, and before Protestant missionaries had begun to preach, the Scriptures entered where missionaries could not go. After some ships had left the harbor of Yeddo, a Japanese gentleman of rank, a counselor of his Damio, saw a small object floating on the water. He sent an attendant to bring it. When placed in his hands he saw it was a book he could not read. Taking it to the Dutch traders at Kanayawa, he learned that it was a New Testament in English. Upon further inquiry he found that it had been translated into Chinese. He sent to Shanghai and obtained a copy. Then, at the court of his prince, gathering around him some five or six of his companions, he sat down to study it. Desiring further instructions, he found Rev. G. F. Verback, then at Nagasaka, and this first native Bible class was handed over to him. The Japanese noble who had obtained the little English New Testament said to him in effect: "Sir, I cannot tell you my feelings when for the first time in my life I read the account of the character and work of Jesus Christ. I had never seen or heard or read of or dreamed of or imagined such a person. I was filled with admiration, overwhelmed with emotions, and taken captive by the life of Jesus Christ." This nobleman, so taken captive by the work of God, was, with two of his companions, baptized, and it is thought they were the first Protestant Japanese Christians.