The Spirit of missions . amed whenwe compare ourwork with that ofthe KomanChurch in the oldtimes. The effectof the persecu-tion and prohibi-tion of Christian-ity by the iSho-guns govern-ment, however,lasted longamong the peo-ple, and theywere afraid tobelieve in the prohibited religion. Even the wordChristianity brought a feeling ofterror or of hatred to many people,so unless men were ready to give theirlives even unto death for Yaso, orChrist, they would not come into theChurch. The first three or four years I was inthe Kanda Church were, on account ofthe persecutions which some of theChristi
The Spirit of missions . amed whenwe compare ourwork with that ofthe KomanChurch in the oldtimes. The effectof the persecu-tion and prohibi-tion of Christian-ity by the iSho-guns govern-ment, however,lasted longamong the peo-ple, and theywere afraid tobelieve in the prohibited religion. Even the wordChristianity brought a feeling ofterror or of hatred to many people,so unless men were ready to give theirlives even unto death for Yaso, orChrist, they would not come into theChurch. The first three or four years I was inthe Kanda Church were, on account ofthe persecutions which some of theChristians suffered, more terrible, Ithink, than war. But, having gonethrough the persecutions of the past,the Church in our diocese alone has in-creased thirty-fold. In remembrance of that day fiftyyears ago when Bishop Williams firstset foot in Japan we have decided tohave evangelistic meetings all over thecountry, and we pray that from themthere may arise many brave Christianswho will bring victory to our Church inthis Rev. Masakazu Tai 774. Keminiscences of the Early Days IV. BISHOP WILLIAMS AS I KNEW HIM By Tomosuke Shimizu IN 1870 I came up to Tokyo to study,and entered St. Pauls, one of thetwo schools in Tsukiji. There hadjust been a fire, and the school wasin a temporary building. You canjudge what it was like by its beingcalled the BeggarSchool. The dor-mitory also wasvery poor, while theschool was not verysuccessful and theChristians were few. Bishop Williamswas the Englishteacher. He wasof fine appearance,short for a for-eigner, but well pro-portioned, and hislong beard was thenjust beginning to bestreaked with gentle characterwas that of a saint,and when he cameinto the class roomwe seemed tobreathe an atmos-phere of love, andeven noisy stu-dents unconsciouslymended their man-ners. Religionseemed to be expressed in him fromthe crown of his head to the soleof his foot. Even non-Christians con-fessed to feeling this and respected himas a truly religious man.
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