LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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190 MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. Japanese gods and his ancestors. By his consent I took down all the paper, wooden, earthen, and brass gods from shelves where they were kept, and burned them up. I send a few paper gods to you which my mother threw over in the fireplace. There are no gods nor images in this house now. I trust they will be worshipers of true God hereafter. How thankful I am that our lives have been spared these past ten years and we are permitted to meet once more before we depart from this world. I hope you will pray for me that I may keep myself nearer and closer to my Saviour and make an entire consecration for his cause. Beside my own friends my humble labor within three weeks in this place has been wonderfully blessed. You will doubtless be surprised at my success when I give you its account. On the 2d inst. I took a trip to a town where iron mines were recently discovered with eight of my acquaintances. We stopped in an inn near the place and on the following morning we awoke very early and began to talk some nonsense. Then I began to preach without any forms. There was one miserable drunkard among them. During my dis­course he listened to me very attentively and kept himself perfectly quiet. Since that time he began to reform himself entirely. He called on me another day and told me that since he stopped drinking he can arise early in the morning and work better than ever before. I have heard of another case of reform, and quite a number of others are seriously thinking of it. I preached several times in the school-house, and also to small audiences in different families: A week before last Sabbath I preached to a large audi­ence in a Buddhist Temple. All the priests in that community came to listen to the preaching of the new

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