And from the moment when his steamer entered Yokohama Harbour to that of his departure, nothing was omitted that could open his way to the ears and hearts of the entire nation.  I had the pleasure myself to witness those unforgettable scenes, and to notice The General’s own astonishment at the universal interest of the people.  In each city he found the railway station decorated.  A platform was erected, generally in some public space, whence he could address the multitudes who came out to hear him.  The largest public buildings were crowded for his indoor services, and hundreds came out publicly in reply to his appeals for their surrender to Christ.

Not only was he received by the late Emperor in his palace, and welcomed to every provincial centre by the Governors of the Provinces, and the Mayors of the Cities, but again and again the most eminent men gave him opportunities to plead with them for Christ.  What a sight it was to see the great platform crowded with all the chief men of a city, singing like the rest of the audience “Stand up, stand up for Jesus.”  The General was accepted by almost unanimous consent, as representing a life of entire self-abandonment to the glory of God and the Salvation of the lost, and far beyond anything even that at the moment appeared, was his Campaign a general victory for the Saviour.

There could be no mistake as to the message he delivered, for, even to the vast crowds of students gathered in the quadrangle of the University, or in and around the Theatre of Kobe to hear him, he stood and cried in no new terms, although with due adaptation to their ways of thought, just as he might have cried to any English audience, that God demanded and deserved a whole-hearted, life-long service from every one.

“What?” asked the Ambassador of a great power, “Do you really want me to come out on to the stage and confess my sins before everybody?” when a woman-Officer invited him to one of The General’s last Meetings.  Had His Excellency done so, no Japanese would have thought it anything beneath the highest human dignity, for they all recognised the value of that courage for Christ and His War which The General personified to them.

We are still few in number and struggling hard for victory in Japan, for the very appreciation of all that is excellent tends to create in the people a self-satisfaction that fortifies them against all appeals for repentance.  But one of the leading officials of the Japanese Home Office has recently paid a tribute to The General’s helpfulness to every people.

Mr. Tomioka says, in his Society and Humanity, after having studied The Army in England and America, as well as in Japan, that he considers it to be “the greatest and most successful Organisation in the world for dealing with and helping the poor and unfortunate classes of society.”  He attributes our success to the following reasons:—­

1.  The great personality of The General, whose character greatly resembled that of his Divine Master—­the Founder of Christianity.