A Final Appeal by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 14, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 23.

A Final Appeal

By Editor

As a fitting sequel to the series of sketches on the metropolis of Japan and its needs as a mission field, we present this week an appeal from Pastor H. Kuniya, one of our Japanese evangelists. We believe that this appeal, written by one who knows the people and their needs, will find a response in many liberal hearts.

"To Our Friends in America, Greeting:

"We began our work in Tokyo in 1895, and our Father Grainger then taught English Bible in the school in Shiba Park. He also published a monthly paper, Owari No Fukuin, in the same building. It was well known among the people, not only in the city but also in the country, because Shiba Park is a famous place from the days of the Tokugawa shoguns. And even now hundreds and thousands of pilgrims visit the place to worship at the large temple there. It seemed to me that unseen hands must have guided Father Grainger to shine out the truth from that place.

"But after his death everything was changed, and our mission station was moved too often, so that many thirsting souls tired out in trying to find our station. If we had had several hundred dollars, we could have bought a lot in Shiba then; but we were not able.

"After Father Grainger died, most of my life was spent in the country and in Korea, proclaiming this message. So I could not work in Tokyo very much. But in the spring of 1908 I came to this large city again, into which two million sinners are crowded. But neither I nor any one else can be satisfied to meet on the Sabbath in a room of a private house in the suburbs. From year before last I began again to work in Shiba, where Father Grainger started the Bible school. The first family that I began to give Bible readings to was one of our first subscribers to the Owari No Fukuin. God blessed my efforts, and seven souls were baptized, and others desire baptism.

"It is impossible for us to call the people in the city to a place in the suburbs. Tho we now have electric cars, the people will not come so far to meeting on the Sabbath. Japan is a small country, but Tokyo is a large city.

"So we have decided to build a memorial church in as central a place as possible. I am one of the locating committee. We have squeezed our purses; but most of our members are mission employees, and can not donate much. If our dear brethren and sisters in the States would help us some, we shall be very happy. When our canvassers and believers are asked where our church is in Tokyo, they can not tell, for we have none. Surely if we could build even a small church, it would be a great advantage to all. Can't you help us a penny or a dollar?

Yours in Christ, "H. KUNIYA."